I feel like Brandon Graham and Frank Santoro are guys that I need to be doing annual check-ins with, and luckily this year, Michael Deforge was around to join us. We chatted with a specific subject in mind, the idea of fusion in modern comics. Frank can put it better than I, so take a listen and enjoy.

This show is a little different, it is two separate interviews with the collaborators of To Teach, Bill Ayers and Ryan Alexander-Tanner. I was really curios to hear about this project from the different directions of how this project came about and how it works. I think its pretty interesting two-parter.

Quebecer cartoonist Philippe Girard first English translated book, Ruts and Gullies is a delightful and subdued piece of work. Philippe is part of a Canadian world of cartooning that I still know way to little about, but there seems to be a good chunk of great Quebecer books coming out from Conundrum and Drawn & Quarterly.

Also, just for full disclosure, the Inkstuds book is being published by Condundrum Press, the same publisher as Philippe’s translated work in English.

CC Colbert aka American historian Catherine Clinton joined me for a chat about her book, Booth, from First Second Books. It was a great talk about the history of not only John Wilkes Booth himself, but also the use of history is a discipline in creating comics. For those that don’t know, over the last several years, I have been working on my own BA degree in History, so this one was especially interesting for me.

Catherine will be signing at Ford’s Theatre on July 10th, what better place to discuss the book.

Michael DeForge picked some great music for his interview a couple of months ago, so when i asked to do a mixtape, I couldn’t say no. And you know what, he brought the awesome.
1. Betty Davis – Game Is My Middle Name
2. The Soul Seven – Mr. Chicken
3. The Dirtbombs – I Can’t Stop Thinking About It
4. Gloria Jones – Tainted Love
5. The Cramps with the McMartin Preschool Choir – People Ain’t No Good
6. Dinks – Nina Koka Nina
7. Sheriff and the Revels – Shombolar
8. The Rivingtons – Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow
9. Cool Jerks – Skip a Beat
10. Bobby Womack – Quicksand
11. Jim Ford – Harland County
12. Bette Williams – A Feeling (For Someone Else Has Grown)
13. Prince – Bambi (from The Undertaker)
14. Spiderman Rock Reflections – Spider-Man
15. The Compulsive Gamblers – Wait a Bit, Joe
16. Lavern Baker – Hey Memphis
17. Chuck Rives – Say I Love You
18. The Five Royales – I Ain’t Getting Caught
19. Robert Mitchum – Little Ol’ Wine Drinker Me
20. Dean Martin – Houston
21. James Hand – When You Stopped Loving Me, So Did I
22. Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs – For All This
23. Les Paul and Mary Ford – I Wish I Had Never Seen Sunshine
24. Crumb Brothers – Seat in the Kingdom
25. Precious Bryant – If I Could Hear My Mother Pray
26. Elvis Presley – Puppet on a String
27. $100 – Someday Soon (Ian Tyson cover)
28. Bobbie Gentry – Fancy
29. Lee Hazlewood – You Look Like a Lady
30. Rowlf – It’s Not Where You Start, It’s Where You Finish

Cosmic Canadian Cartooning Cat lover, Keith Jones stops by for a chat about his epic comic, Catland Empire. It’s probably one the crazier comics I have read this year, so that means it’s great!

Swedish hedonistic cartoonist Simon Gardenfors joined me to discuss his new translated book from Top Shelf, 120 Days of Simon. Its a pretty fun journey of madness and unique look at Swedish cartooning.

Gabby Schulz joined me for a lively chat about his Eisner nominated book Monsters. I really really liked this book. Very much in the same vein as Justin Green, with cartooning that can’t be beat.

Hello,

Here’s some more of  what I like best about comic books.

Here’s an 80′s manga where the artist manages to work some comic book alchemy and turn the dull sport of golf into something I find exciting.

I really like how the scene is set,:the continent, the city, the ball and the hole. and then the layout of the whole course.

And there’s this Toth page that even manages to show a closet sized room in an exciting way.

It’s intesting to me that in both these examples the text is a big part of how cool it looks.

you know?

Here’s a simmular 2 cops enter a room from different sides –scene draw by two serious dudes.

Masamune Shirow, Appleseed:

And Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Cinder and Ashe:

Here’s some old Manara pages from one of his Giuseppe Bergman books where he really plays around with storytelling,

Here he takes his male and female characters and switches their clothes and gender.

And this “am i a little girl or a drawing?”

It’s like the teenage girl version of of the” this is not a pipe” picture.

 he goes into how she would change with minor differences in how shes drawn.

ending with her skirt abover her waist. 

I really like this page where the girl comes up with a villan for the story.

A true villan with a poo poo heart, I head the guy that runs Latveria has that condition.

And here’s a Manara page where he used a story as kind of a what kind of creep are you -sex quiz

I love  comic book choose your own adventures. Also that dude in the gorilla suit has some nerve!

  And here’s a couple pages from a Pat McEown short (from the back of Weasle #1) Where he switches up the way it’s read. Each row of panels is a floor of a building
and you read it by following the characters in whatever direction they might go as opposed to just reading left to right.

So cool.

 Rebecca Dart’s awesome Rabbit head book that starts as a single line of panels following one character

and then as new characters are added new rows of panels are added until you get a full page.

here’s a Cerebus issue where Dave Sim used reapeating panels of Cerebus
upset and drinking along with chunks of a larger picture of him looking big and dramatic.

It gives the issue a feeling like its a music video.  

——————————————————————————————————————–

Another thing I like to see in comics is where the story is helped out by what’s printed around it.

Like this Steelgrip Starkey comic that has a fold out ad for the fictinal company the main characters work for.

I love this Enki Bilal book, The woman Trap.  where the main Character, Jill is writing articles about her future world and sending them back in time with her scriptwalker machine.

The 80′s printing of it came with a seperate newspaper with articles written by her.

The one on theleft is the origonal look of the newspaper and the right is the 2005 reprint.

And here’s an Otomo book that starts with a story about a group of  kids going underground and the cover acts like part of the story.

And I really like this set up from paul Popes Smoke Navigator– where before you even get into the story he shows you all these scenes that are part of the later comic.

And a Daisauke Igarashi table of contents that I thought was cool.

————————————————-

And here’s some more pages I meant to get to last time.

Nick Bertozzi’s RUBBER NECKER. I just like how he did the lower panel here. with a cutaway and multiple versions of the same dude to show that hes looking through the place.

This one is amazing to me how well it works. With the 2 guys hanging out on top of a bridge and jumping off –but for some reason the final panel is in the center.

and it works.

And another guy whose work always gets me hyped about comics is Thomas Herpich.

From his Cusp book, I love how once he’s shown you what “do this”  means then he doesn’t even need to show the drawing for it to work.

And another page of Tom’s with a panel just scratched out. This is another thing where I’m amazed he even tried it but it’s fantastic.

My all time favorite thing to run into in comics is seeing someone who is fully capable just having a blast and fucking around.

I love this page from Moebius’ The horney goof with the naration in the lower panel talking about how it doesnt need to be there but how it looks nice.

And it does look nice.

And another Horney goof page with the compleatly unnecessary ham sandwich in the 4th panel.

And a great scene from a Newmen porn manga, Secret Plot deep– Where a part of the story is deleted for security reasons.

I really dig that arrow pointed at the building on the horizon.

Here’s a Katsuhiro Otomo comic that I like. Just because it feels like him messing around.

i imagine this is what he’d do if he was in Heavy metal in ’82

And an akira toriyama Dr slump page with lettering violence!. He does so much cool shit in his early books.

Like this great scene where he draws himself as a alien with a pen head –just as an excuse to skip a scene.

And Here’s some James Stokoe, (from Won ton soup 2 hyper wontonsoup twoton soup the quickening 2 …soup) –where his characters get so doped up that the pages go blank and the reader has to finish it themselves.

I love the nerve of this ozamu tezuka scene, where he has a characer interupt an important flash back.

Often when I read a comic that I don’t enjoy I feel like I’m a chef taking a sip from a ladel and saying “needs more crazy”

i’ll leave you for this week on these Joe Wight’s Twilight X pages. Not because it anything crazy but just because I think it’s a really well done reveal and I think that’s worth a lot.

thanks ,

Brandon

http://royalboiler.livejournal.com

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Michel Fiffe is one of the founding dudes of the Act-i-vate comics collective and a mighty fine cartoonist himself. He did this mix quite a while ago, and I have been way too slow on posting it. Its a fine mix that needs to be listened to.

Dash Shaw returns for a catch  up on his latest projects, Bodyworld, Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. and his film projects. We also have a little bit of a follow up discussion to the panel from TCAF.

Hello,
I’m Brandon, I make comics. King city(Image) and Multiple warheads (oni)
Robin was nice enough to let me use his space.
Some months back I got to go out to the SCAD art school to talk about comics.

A lot of these images were put together for a slide show I did out there on things that excite me about this comic book
medium and how it’s affected my own work.

Here’s a panel from Asterix, I really like how Uderzo used a change in style to show the change in language.

One of the comics that had the biggest impact on me growing up was Fil Barlows Zooniverse:

I really like how willing to take side roads into other parts of the world away from the main story Barlow was willing to go.

Like on this page where the lower 4 panels are an entirely seprate from the main plot we get a thing about an alien race that would be a huge threat if anyone could actually hear their threats.

And here’s a trick on the lower left of ths page, where Barlow takes the dot of an exlamation point and turns it into a space station.

Also I should point out how great the politician aliens on this page are, with a garden below them fertilized by their excrement.
so many cool ideas.

Another fantastic artist whose work I grew up on is Matt Howarth.
Here’s the start of an issue of his Post brothers that has an entry exam to get into the comic.

Howarth does a lot of storytelling that is specific to comics but this one from his WRAB: pirate televison is
the example I like to bring up to show something that only works with printed paper comics.

This page shows Ron post doing a cooking show and printed on the back of the same page is subliminals

So you can see them when you hold the page up to the light:

Here’s a Post brothers issue where the brothers split up and splitting the panels of the book for the entire issue. following one on the top row and the other below until they meet up again at the end and the pages go back to normal.

And I like how this scene from his Keif Llama shows what lies in all the directions the space ship could go.

And this Post brothers page, I like the key showing what all the different textures on the page are.

Howarth did a lot of stuff in his work that before I’d only seen in japanese comics.
like this scene using blank panels to show the characters dive.

And this, that I think of as the most effective way to show a fast zoom in comics.
Showing the same character closer without a panel boarder getting in the way.

ZOOM!
Here’s the same trick done my Masamune Shirow in his Orion book:

I’m always amazed going back and looking at Shirows storytelling.

I really like how in this scene from Appleseed the characters are shown ordering food and having it brought to them by the waitress.
But the dialog never mentions the food.

And Its done so smooth.

Here’s another similar scene. Where the characters are talking in the park and you see an ice cream wagon, and in the next panel they have ice cream but the dialog never takes a break for ice cream.

I sometimes wonder if Shirow was just seeing what he could get away with.
Like this Appleseed page that has a panel in the gutter showing a character walking out of the main story.

I think a lot about things that can be added to a story that wont be missed if you don’t catch them, nonsense panels.
You see it a fair amount in Japanese porn comics.

Here’s an Appleseed page where Deunan gets hit by a car and you get this broken glass panel put behind another panel:

And here’s a less severe example with the lower center panel by her robots foot–

I feel like that panel reads like a beat on the page, giving her time to get out of her suit
–it might as well be blank.

I really like this scene from an Appleseed knife fight. Deunan has an eye patch on and you get all these dense panels
and then there’s a blank space on the lower right when one of the guys gets on her blind side.
So you don’t see what she can’t see.

I like the idea of comics as a kind of call and response art form, where artists will sometimes do work because they were
inspired by the work of others. This next guy Locke is really Shirow influenced (while still maintaining his own voice)
Here’s some pages from his comic Ride and a link to the actual thing so you can read it before I ruin the end on here:

Locke was kind of the older comics brother of dudes like Brian O’malley and Corey Lewis.

I really like how he starts this scene with just these simple elements

And then shows you the whole scene–

So the girl in the story goes off a buildings edge.

And falls

And as she falls you see the windows as flashbacks to different parts of their relationship.

At the end her dude jumps off after her with the line,
“all or nothing this is love”

And the whole 22 page comic leading up to this one poetic line that Locke
took off of a spear stuck in a guys face in an Appleseed comic:

I love that shit!

Anyway I’ve got lots more to get into, I’ll be putting these up here for a couple more weeks.
Thanks,
Brandon

Picture Box bigwig Dan Nadel returns for a full length chat about his latest book, Art In Time, Comics Comics, Jack Kirby and some of the future Picture Box releases. I always enjoy talking to Dan and this was no exception. This interview has a rare time were I freak out over something Dan mentions. Gondry et Doucet!

Dusty Peas aka Jamie Q and James Kirkpatrick are in town for an art show they are putting together at Lucky’s Comics this weekend. There collaborative work kind of falls into a style that i have a lot of love for. It was excellent to talk to both of them together about process, collaboration and more.

Part of my Toronto trip, was spent interviewing a couple of folks that who’s work is really exciting me right now. Michael DeForge is certainly near the top of my list of new creators doing amazing work. His first 2 issues of Lose have come out swinging with an eye for comics lore and stellar cartooning. This interview was conducted a couple of days before his much deserved Doug Wright award win. Go do yourself a favor and check out his livejournal for more info.

David Lloyd is making a quick trip to the west coast of Canada and that brought a great opportunity for me to have a chat with co-creator of one of the most formative influences on me as a comic reader. V for Vendetta is one of the those books that has a timeless quality that asks the tough questions that need asking. As a creator, David has been following through with a unique uncompromised vision, maintaining a minimal but strong output. His latest book, Kickback fell under the radar, but is well worth checking out, to see where his work has developed in time and what stories are important for him to tell.

David will be in Victoria on Saturday the 29th at the most excellent Legends Comics and in Vancouver on the 30th at the Vancouver Comicon at Main and 15th.

Vancouver funnymen, James Lloyd and Ian Boothby popped by to talk about their fancy new book from Abrams, The Simpsons/Futurama Crossover Crisis. Be sure and check out their work online. James can be found here and Ian has twitter and his site.  James will at the Vancouver Comicon on May 30th, appearing next to David Lloyd.

Here is the second panel I moderated at TCAF. I was a little nervous going in, since I am still pretty new at this moderating in public type of thing, but everyone was really great and seemed pretty happy with the outcome.

Here is the official description. “Is comics a solitary pursuit, in creation and enjoyment? Or can there be community, sharing, support, and all of the headaches that come with it? More importantly, should there be? And what happens when it comes time to get away from it all? Join creators Kate Beaton, Ray Fawkes, Jeff Rowland, Rich Stevens, and James Sturm, to hear what they have to say about building communities and using social media, and getting away from the internet entirely!”

One of the things I was most excited about for TCAF, was my spotlight panel with Dash Shaw and Paul Pope. They are two modern creators, creating very modern work.

Here is the official description of the panel – “TCAF Featured Guests Paul Pope and Dash Shaw are two of the most exciting creators in comics, mixing their influences and innovations to create groundbreaking work. Now Inkstuds Radio/Podcast host Robin McConnell will moderate a conversation between these two creators about the role that influences play in creating comics, ranging from traditional comics to film and music and from classical to contemporary works. This also includes a discussion of education, some key points in creating your own vision in comics, and an examination of how to make influences work and finding out where they lead you.”

Wolf’s narrative is interspersed with sketched post-its and lists, including an awesome one of band names like snake sandwich! and metal summer, that make plain both his boredom and lack of lofty aspirations. I especially like the melancholy of Wolf’s failure to receive punk rock’s promise of a better life come through in his sketches and in the detail of his patched jacket as he slumps his way through the park, back to grandma’s house.

Forsman’s thin lines give the book an airy, almost ephemeral quality, like the story could just blow away if the wind picked up. Considering that it captures a time and place that feels sluggish, this makes for an interesting juxtaposition.

Wolf is sad and lovely all at once. Read it.

TCAF was really amazing for me. I interviewed the insanely talented Michael Deforge and the very inspiring Ho Che Anderson this week, as well as a couple of panels at TCAF proper. My first panel was with Paul Pope and Dash Shaw. It was really great. Paul seemed to open up quite a lot and Dash was intelligent and inspiring as always. The second panel I did was “Comics and social media” with Kate Beaton, Ray Fawkes, Jeff Rowland, Rich Stevens, and James Sturm. I was a little worried that it would be a train wreck, with five panelists, but it was quite excellent. Gina and Christopher picked a perfect group of folks for it. All the panelists are very intelligent creators that have a lot to offer as well as a fantastic sense of humor. I am hoping both panels recorded nicely. I won’t know until tmrw, but will try and get it posted as soon as possible.

I spent most of the weekend with the creators at Conundrum Press, including publisher Andy Brown, and cartoonists Joe Ollman, Sully, and possibly my new favorite person in comics, Phillipe Girard as well as Simon Bosse.

Some of the events I attended were very inspiring. James Sturm gave a very fascinating talk in regards to his Market Day book. It is a fantastic book and you should really read it. Vancouver buddy Miriam Libicki, presented as well, and it was great to see her in this context. She has really come into her own over the last four years since I first came across her comics at Vancouver’s humble conventions. The following night was Daniel Clowes’ talk, which was more excellent than i could of imagined. There is no arguing his importance in comics and he is obviously a man that loves comics. The talk was a conversation that included a slide show of his own work as well as work that has influenced him. You know when someone starts out a talk with the first page of Wally Wood’s My World, it is going to be interesting. Meeting him is a highlight for me personally. Reading a Velvet Glove Cast In Iron many years ago, probably wrecked me for life, by tossing my 15 year old mind into a completely new world and moving my comic obsession from the childish into the host of this fine radio show.

The Wright Awards were also fabulous. All the winners are well deserved and represent not only some of the best in Canadian comics, but also the best in comics period. Seth, Marc Bell and Michael Deforge really represent the modern Canadian identity in comics; uncompromising, developed and advanced work. Seth’s acceptance speech was quite inspiring and poignant. I was really struck by the passion when he stated – “Do your work for yourself–don’t think about what others want you to do.  There’s no point in doing the work if it isn’t done the way you believe it should be done.   Don’t strive to be a professional–think of yourself as an artist.” Seth is an important modern creator who not only creates excellent comics but also talks good comics.

While i am rocking it up in Toronto, you should go see what Marv Newland is selling off at his studio sale. How often do you get the chance to own something buy one of the most important animators of the 20th century.

On top of the panel, I will also be doing my first real appearance at a comics event. I will be at the Conundrum Press table on both days from 1-2pm. Please come by and say hi. I will have the first piece of Inkstuds Merchandise for sale at the table. It’s a t-shirt done with a special silk-screening technique that will make it very different from most other shirts. The illustration on the shirt is by Inkstud buddy, Brandon Graham. He is swell for doing a great image. I won’t be posting any pics of the shirts before the festival, but they sure are pretty sweet. I will also have dvd discs I made of every Inkstuds interview. Those are free. So come say hi and get a free disc or you know, buy a shirt.

Since I will be in Toronto all week. Email me, I may have some free time.

Dylan Horrocks’ joined me for chat about the re-release of his magnificent Hicksville. I really think the world of this book and it is one of the most read comics.

Craig Yoe returns for a chat about his latest offerings, including new imprint Yoe Books with IDW. We talk about Ditko, Decarlo, Gross, Herriman and a certain displeasure for war. Most of the creators that Craig looks into, seem to have an important impact on comics that at this point, is unmeasurable.

I have been wanting to talk to Eleanor Davis for quite awhile. Her work spans from fun kids comics to really honest personal work. This interview was conducted before latest book The Secret Science Alliance was nominated for an Eisner. It’s a well deserved recognition of a very talented creator.

Comics expert Paul Gravett and biographer of Tove Jansson, Juhani Tolvanen, joined me for a really exciting and engaging conversation about all things Tove Jansson and Moomin. Many thanks to both of these gentlemen for coming on, it was very late for them and they were great. Paul curated a wonderful sounding show in Brussels, covering a wide range of Tove Jansson’s work. As well, Juhani will wrote a biography of Tove’s life that has been published in Finland and France, and will be out eventually from Drawn & Quarterly.

For more information on the Moomin work, check Drawn & Quarterly’s fine series of strip reprints as well more of Tove’s work here.

In The Studio was one of the really strong formative influences on helping me decide what I wanted to do with the show. Really great interviews with interviewing cartoonists that strayed from the normal topics. I won’t say that I have reached that level of standards, but it set an expectation for myself.

So getting the offer to chat comics with Todd Hignite was something I could turn down. His latest book is the very fine Jaime Hernandez art book. Being a fan of both parties involved, makes me partial towards really liking it off the bat. Todd was also the driving force behind Comic Art Magazine and a contributor to the delightful Blog Flume.

Well folks, I have been sitting on this for a little while and waiting to show you. My publisher at Conundrum posted this image on his blog, so here it – the wonderful cover to the Inkstuds book by the very amazing Britt Wilson. I have mentioned Britt before, she is really an amazing talent that will blow up soon. Her friends like to tease her that she is the next big thing, and I agree, that is why I am really happy that she agreed to do that cover and blew my mind in the process.

We will have a proper press release soon, hopefully before TCAF about the content of the book. It is a really amazing list of interviews. Some of my favorite folks in comics are in it.

Mini Comix vets, Michael Dowers, Mary Fleener, Wayno, and of course Colin Upton, were on to discuss the Newave Mini Comix collection from Fantagraphics. It was a great discussion with lots of stories, including some great early days of fantagraphics stuff.

For more on Mini Comix, go check out Rick Bradford’s Poopsheet Foundation and the fine Mineshaft magazine, for similar material that is continuing the tradition.

Grickle himself, Graham Annable was on the show today, to discuss the wide world of Grickle and his new book from Darkhorse. Be sure to also check out his cartoons on Youtube and timely Lost panel gags.

Benjamin Marra makes some pretty hard ass comics that kicks you in straight in the balls. Night Business and Gangsta Rap Posse are both prime example of what people should be picking up on new comic day. I really appreciate that Benjamin utilizes the old school comic format and love the work he produces. Go Buy His Comics Now.

Comic genius Jason Shiga creates some wonderfully unusual works that range from infinitely complex Meanwhile to the delightful and charming Bookhunter. I really love Jason’s work, he is making good comics.

Jeet Heer, Frank Young and Gail Singer joined me for a lively chat about the work of John Stanley. We had some some technical difficulties, but the three guests really pulled together a great conversation. For more on John Stanley, check out Frank’s incredible blog Stanley Stories. And of course, the wonderful John Stanley Library from Drawn and Quarterly – Melvin The Monster, Thirteen Going On Eighteen and Nancy as well as Dark Horse’s Little Lulu collections.

Here are some great follow up points from Jeet.

Afrodisiac is one the most ass-kickingest comics of the year, so talking to Jim Rugg was a must to do. It’s a fine mix of spoilation films and 1970′s comic style His other recent release is One Model Nation, a story of a fictional krautrock band from the late 70′s early 80′s. If you know my personal music taste, that book was of interest to me.  Be sure to check out Street Angel and The Plain Janes for more Jim’s great stuff.

First off, here is a peice I commissioned the Ass-Kicking Hellen Jo to do.

You should really consider getting her to do something. I think her rates are stupidly cheap and should be 3 times that, so get in while the gettin’s good.

CCS librarian extreme Jen Vaughn is going to SXSW and needs your help. Go help a young lady go to Austin and drink, since the rest of us won’t be able. She promises a lovely zine in return. Her comics are great, so I am sure the zine will be as well.
Here is what she has to say:

Cartoonist Jen Vaughn is thrilled to announce her first SXSW InteractiviZINE! From March 12th to March 16th, she will attend the SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive Festival in Austin, TX and will “cover” the event multimedia-style in her Interactivitizine! SXSW is chock full of panels, events, and of course parties, related to social media, convergence, video games, start-ups and anything Internet. Upon the conclusion of her visit, Jen will post her drawings, notes, photos and other ephemera from the festival on her website for everyone to share the wealth of information gleaned.

Jen is accepting donations of $5 and up towards her SXSW InteractiviZINE experience via her website (http://www.mermaidhostel.com/sxsw-interactivizine-fundraiser/). Anyone who donates will receive a LIMITED EDITION (PRINT) SXSW InteractiviZINE full of panel notes, comics and other special goodies made especially by Jen Vaughn.

Ok, i am tired, interviews to do tmrw. More postings throughout the week.

KC Green has to be one of the fastest cartoonists on the scene. His webcomics seem to provide an endless supply of laughs. His new book, Horribleville is a great jumping point and a fine collection in itself.

Someone suggested Malcy Duff as a guest that I should have on, so I checked out his comics and loved them and wanted to talk to him. He has a really great eye for interpreting reality and infusing some really unique ideas. Check out his stuff. Very impressive cartooning.

Inkstuds favorite, Farel Dalrymple stepped up to the plate, holding true to the mixtape idea. His mix comes in 2 parts, side A and side B and includes artwork to print out for your extra enjoyment. The high-res version is here.

Side A

1. Eddie Cantor – When My Ship Comes In
2. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Artifact
3. Akron Family – I’ll Be On The Water
4. Moondog – High On A Rocky Ledge
5. Earth – Harvey
6. Evangelicals – What An Actress Does Best
7. Unrest – When It All Comes Down
8. Spiderstraw – Red Taurus
9. Jason Spaceman – Garden Walk
10. The Angels Of Light – My Sister Said
11. The Verlaines – Lying In State
12. Billy Bragg – A New England
13. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Business You’re Doin’
14. David Pajo – Attitude

Side B

1. Lil Troy – Wanna Be A Baller
2. Apse – Blackwood Gates
3. The Clean – Big Soft Punch
4. Coachwhips – Extinguish Me
5. Ancient Justice – Manhattan Bridge
6. The Mountain Goats – Song For Dennis Brown
7. Beck – Go Where You Want
8. The Gris Gris – Me Queda Em Bejou
9. Swans – Can’t Find My Way Home
10. Exuma – Damn Fool
11. Paul Simon – Born At The Right Time (Original Acoustic Demo)
12. Bright Lights – Spy Novel

Today’s episode of Inkstuds takes a detour East, with a chat about Japanese manga for indie comics readers with your guest host, Deb Aoki, Manga Editor for About.com (manga.about.com) and special guests:

Chris Butcher, manager of The Beguiling, comics blogger (comics212.net) and co-founder of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival.

David P. Welsh, manga and comics blogger at The Manga Curmudgeon, and former columnist for Flipped!, a weekly feature on Japanese comics for The Comics Reporter.

Ryan Sands, indie/horror manga and comics blogger at Same Hat!, editor of Electric Ant Zine and translator/editor for Tokyo Zombie by Yusaku Hanakuma and the upcoming The Strange Tale of Panorama Island by Suehiro Maruo, both from Last Gasp.

Our chat delves into alternative manga past and present, including VIZ Media’s “too hip for the room” anthology magazine PULP and their online alt-manga website, SigIkki.com, eclectic anthologies like Comics Underground Japan, Secret Comics Japan and the upcoming AX: A Collection of Alternative Manga from Top Shelf. We also talk about must-read manga beyond Tezuka, Tatsumi and Urasawa, and why 2010 is a great time to sample Japanese comics that goes beyond what you might think manga can be.

READING LIST

We talk about a LOT of manga in this episode of Inkstuds, so to make it easier to check out the titles we mentioned, here they are, presented in the order that we discussed them. Some older titles are out of print, and are notated by (OOP).

• Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo (Kodansha Comics)
• PULP magazine (VIZ Media) – (1997 – 2002)
• Tekkon Kinkreet (Black and White) by Taiyo Matsumoto (VIZ Media)
• Voyeurs Inc. by Hideo Yamamoto (VIZ Media) (OOP)
• Sgt. Frog by Mine Yoshizaki (TokyoPop)
• Hot Gimmick by Miki Aihara (Shojo Beat / VIZ Media)
• Ice Blade by Tsutomu Takahashi (TokyoPop) (OOP)
• Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaaki (Del Rey Manga)
• Magic Knight Rayearth by CLAMP (TokyoPop / Dark Horse) (TokyoPop edition OOP, Dark Horse edition to be released in 2010-2011)
• Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi (TokyoPop) (OOP)
• Comics Underground Japan by Various (Blast Books) (OOP)
• Secret Comics Japan by Various (VIZ Media) (OOP)
• Strain by Burunson, Ryoichi Ikegami (VIZ Media) (OOP)
• Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu (VIZ Media)
• Emma by Kaoru Mori (CMX Manga)
• Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu by Junko Mizuno (Last Gasp)
• Astral Project by marginal (a.k.a. Garon Tsuchiya, author of Old Boy) and Syuji Takeya (CMX Manga)
• Saint Young Men (Saint Oniisan) by Hikaru Nakamura (Kodansha – not available in English yet)
• Coppers by Natsume Ono (Kodansha – not available in English yet)
• No. 5 by Taiyo Matsumoto (VIZ Media)
• Bakune Young by Toyokazu Matsunaga (VIZ Media) (OOP)
• Tokyo Zombie by Yusaku Hanakuma (Last Gasp)
• Berserk by Kentaro Miura (Dark Horse)
• Biomega by Tsutomu Nihei (VIZ Signature / VIZ Media)
• Blame! by Tsutomu Nihei (TokyoPop)
• Japan as Seen by 17 Creators by Various (Fanfare – Ponent Mon)
• Sexy Voice and Robo by Tou Kuroda (VIZ Media)
• AX: A Collection of Alternative Manga by Various, edited by Sean Michael Wilson, stories compiled by Mitsuhiro Asakawa (Top Shelf) (due out Summer 2010)
• Gyo by Junji Ito (VIZ Media)
• Uzumaki by Junji Ito (VIZ Media)
• Travel by Yuichi Yokoyama (Picturebox)
• New Engineering by Yuichi Yokoyama (Picturebox)
• Monster Men Bureiko Lullaby by Takashi Nemoto (Picturebox)
• GoGo Monster by Taiyo Matsumoto (VIZ Signature / VIZ Media)
• Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service by Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki (Dark Horse)
• Ohikkoshi by Hiroaki Samura (Dark Horse)
• Tanpenshu by Hiroki Endo (Dark Horse)
• Eden: It’s a Endless World by Hiroki Endo (Dark Horse)
• Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida (VIZ Signature / VIZ Media)
• Red Snow by Susumu Katsumata (Drawn & Quarterly)

The Mixtapes return with a nice lowfi installment by Sam Gaskin.

1. Kemialliset Ystävät – “Himmeli Kutsuu Minua”
2. Sord – “How Many Times”
3. Caethua – “The Blood Beneath Our Skin”
4. Orphan Fairytale – “Suicidal Childswing”
5. Lazy Magnet – “Masters of Science Fiction”
6. Russian Tsarlag – “Special Leg”
7. The Cherry Blossoms – “Charlie Prim”
8. Maher Shalal Hash Baz – “Different Daylight”
9. Colin Langenus – “Woe is Me”
10. Foot Village – “Brazil”
11. Ducktails – “Backyard”
12. Grass Widow – “Black Hole”
13. Dunebuggy – “Money Honey”
14. the Terribles – “Church”
15. Fat Day – “Sex On Drugs”
16. Defneg – “(untitled)”
17. Bone Zone – “I Am the Ear”
18. No Sound – “Down Sunday”

Jordan Crane and Sammy Harkham chat with me about What Things Do. It’s a webcomic site put together by Jordan that features some great stuff by Jordan, Sammy, Ted May, John Porcellino and Steven Weissman. It was a really great to have the two of them on together, the conversation gets pretty heated at some points.

I really enjoyed this chat with Zak Sally. If you are not already reading his work, you will want to after listening to this. Check out his new stuff from Fantagraphics, Like a Dog and Sammy The Mouse 1,2. We also discuss some of the stuff he publishes under La Mano 21 including an exclusive on his next big publishing project. It sounds really exciting and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Most of the music on this show is from his solo album Fear of Song.

I don’t normally post this kind of thing, but Robin Konstabaris was an integral part of getting this show together and one of my favorite people in the local comics community. Please come and support event if you can, and if not, try and do something nice for Robin, she is good people!

and for fun, read her wonderful blog, documenting the cross country adventure undertaken by Robin and her special fella.

Friday, 05 February 2010 at 23:15
The New Revue Stage on Granville Island
1601 Johnston Street, Vancouver

Presented by the Vancouver Theatresports League this promises to be an evening full of laughter. Come out and show your support! Please share this event with your friends.
The suggested donation at the door is $10.00 the proceeds will go to Robin Konstabaris. Thank you to the Vancouver Theatresports League and their very talented artists for supporting this wonderful event.

About the artist:

Robin Konstabaris has been active in the Vancouver arts community for over 20 years, at various times a fine artist, author (Scrambled Brains), and modern cartoonist. She has exhibited in numerous galleries across Canada, and is most well known for her comic strip Clip ‘n’ Save, which appeared weekly in Vancouver’s Westender from 1998 until 2005.

On Christmas Day, 2009, her studio containing most of her life’s work as well as over 2 decades of accumulated equipment and inventory was destroyed by fire. A fraction of the work, including some colour documentation and most of the Clip ‘n’ Save originals, were eventually and miraculously recovered from the rubble but require professional restoration.

“I am forced to rebuild my studio from scratch,” says the artist, “beginning with finding some affordable space. Once I do that there is quite a bit of required equipment to get up to even the bare minimum of a functional space, including a desk, chair, cutting mat, squares, rulers, pencils, pens, pastels, charcoals, tracing paper, rag paper, illustration board, and other various odds and ends. It all seems like little things but it really adds up.”

The emotional aspects have been hard to deal with, the artist admits, but the situation has been made easier by the help she has received from the community, for which she is deeply grateful.

As most of the world knows, the Olympics start in two greuling weeks. Travelling within Vancouver is going to be an unheard of hell, with much of the city locked off like some kind of terrible version of Escape from New York. With the upcoming madness, I have decided to take a little ‘studs break for the last two weeks of February. I am a little overwhelmed right now with work, school(finally finishing in August), The inkstuds book, which i will need to sit down and read well over 300 pages of and edit and plan out artwork.

I do have show’s planned out for the next couple of weeks, but after that, I need to shift gears temporarily and hopefully return renewed.

So, during the break, what to do? Christopher Butcher had the great suggestion of fill-ins. If you are interested in doing a fill-in, shoot me an email with a proposal. You can find me at inkstuds@inkstuds.com or on the old twitter that everyone seems to love @inkstuds.

Amy Lockhart came on to discuss her new book from Drawn and quarterly, Dirty Dishes, the Dizzler, her animation work, including the excellent Walk for Walk and her zine making days in Nog A Dod.

“Logging Sanjay” is atmospheric autobio that combines two pillars of the genre: guilt and humor. Two friends decide to freak out a third, and up the ante with each attack. The victim’s family mistakes the disjointed efforts of the boys to be threats, and I like that you can sense that the author’s younger self thinks that his is pretty cool, despite the fact that it made his friend’s life kina fucked up for awhile. Yost captures the reality of a mundane topic–stupid things kids do—and uses detail to put us in the moment.

The final three stories, “All Is Forgiven,” “Roadtrip,” and “Running Away With the Circus/Running Away From the Circus,” focus on cruelty to animals and question how we can ignore suffering in beings so much like ourselves. “All Is Forgiven” is the best, and the panel that makes it so shows a cat with something mechanical glued to its head (presumably from experimentation) licking the hand of the man who inflicted the gash when he is crying over a lost relationship. Balancing preachy and poignant in “issue” comics is difficult and Yost pulls it off better than most.

Old Man Winter and Other Sordid Tales is another example of why the Xeric folks’ seal of approval actually means something to me, unlike other awards which shall remain nameless.