FDI Cast 154: SPX Mofongo Your Own Way
We report in with our homework for our Yacht Rock project, and Jamie recounts his Small Press Expo food adventures!
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FDI Cast 153: It’s Tuesday, Lemon
Technically, it’s Wednesday, but we record Tuesday. We continue our plans for our yacht rock band and Brando has things to say.
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‘Bundle for Ukraine’ is a Stellar Deal to Support a Great Cause
Have you been looking for ways to help people in Ukraine? Do you also like playing interesting and unique games from indie developers? Then Necrosoft Games have the perfect bundle for you. The Bundle for Ukraine is a itch.io bundle hosted by Necrosoft Games with content from 732 creators containing over 1,000 games, tabletop RPGs, books, and soundtracks aimed at helping the people in Ukraine through this tumultuous time of Russian forces invading their country: all at the starting price of $10 with the option to give more for the goal of raising $2 million.
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Ray Fawkes’ ‘One Line’ is a Visual Symphony
There’s something oracular about Ray Fawkes’ One Line — the whole One Soul series, frankly — but this book particularly stretches the boundaries of sequential art and meta-comics, and reading it gives me the sense that as I turn the pages, the book is also reading me. You don’t need to have read One Soul or The People Inside to enjoy One Line, though it helps in appreciating the journey of the series’ experimental, multilinear form.
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‘Made In Korea’ Review: Parents By Proxy
Every so often there comes a comic that manages to pique my interest almost instantly. A book that catches my eye before I’m even finished with the first panel, let alone the first page.
That’s the case with Made in Korea, a new six-issue limited series written by Jeremy Holt and George Shall.
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Top Shelf’s ‘Ballad for Sophie’ Coming September 2021
Top Shelf Productions has announced Ballad for Sophie will be published in September.
When a young journalist prompts a reclusive musical superstar to finally break his silence, he pours out an astonishing saga of rivalry and regret, starring child prodigies and bitter old men, beautiful dancers and demonic managers, Nazi commandants, compassionate nuns, and lifesaving animals.
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Image Comics Goes Way Down to Hadestown with ‘Punderworld’ Graphic Novel
One of my favorite parts of the Tony-Award winning Broadway musical Hadestown is the story of Patrick Page’s Hades and Amber Gray’s Persephone. Also, I’m always down for interesting reinterpretations of Greek myths. Now, one of the biggest webcomics on the internet, Punderworld, is coming to comic shops from fan-favorite creator Linda Šejić. Think of it as a kind of prequel to Hadestown.
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Welcome to Solid Comix
As a comic book writer I have been fortunate enough to work for such incredible publishers as DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Boom, Dynamite, and Lion Forge. I’ve also had the opportunity to write some of my favorite characters and work with some of the best artists in the business. Now it is time to embark on a new adventure… Solid Comix.
10 Ways to Really Support Diversity in Comics
We have reached a crucial crossroads when it comes to diversity in comics, and I fear that if things don’t change, we will lose ground. It is not enough to demand diversity in comics, we must support what’s out there now, or there won’t be more in the future. Money talks, and those that want diversity in comics must learn to use the system currently in place, while also creating a new system of sales and promotion.
To that end, here are ten lessons in Comics & Diversity, via twitter.
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Artists Matt Huynh and Yumi Sakugawa Live From #CrossLines
Even though the Smithsonian’s CrossLines pop-up culture lab on intersectionality happened two months ago, we’ve been milking our live artist conversations ever since. Sadly, today marks the final live edition of Hard NOC Life, but it’s definitely worth the wait! Join acclaimed artists Matt Huynh and Yumi Sakugawa as they talk about their work and installations presented at the Smithsonian.
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Comics, Culture, and Cooking with Robin Ha at #CrossLines
On the second day of the Smithsonian’s CrossLines pop-up culture lab on intersectionality, artist Robin Ha stopped by the NOC Reading Lounge to talk about her new book Cook Korean, which takes Korean recipes and presents them in a comic book format.
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Bernard Chang Wants to Give You Original King Art
King, the dystopian sci-fi adventure from Joshua Hale Fialkov, Bernard Chang, and Marcelo Maiolo, is now available in graphic novel form. And artist Bernard Chang wants to give you original art from the book!
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Kickstart This: Black
Over the years, we’ve been pretty selective about which crowdfunding campaigns to support on this site. Once in a while, though, a campaign comes through our inbox or news feed that is too brilliant to ignore. The campaign to publish the graphic novel Black is one of those. Created by long time comic pros Kwanza Osajyefo and Tim Smith 3, with art by occasional NOC contributor Jamal Igle and cover artist Khary Randolph, Black posits the question, what if only Black people had superpowers?
SPX’s Black Art Matters Panel is Online
Back in September, we tried to get you all hyped for the 21st annual Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD. One of the main reasons for that excitement was the (controversially named) “Black Art Matters” panel moderated by legendary cartoonist Keith Knight and featuring artists C. Spike Trotman, Whit Taylor, Ron Wimberly, and Darryl Ayo.
If you missed out on SPX this year, you can still see the panel in its entirety after the jump since the show organizers have just posted it online.
The Happy Hour Review: Image Comics’ Paper Girls
Paper Girls #1 is a finely crafted, unpredictable marvel. I haven’t been this hooked this instantaneously on a comic since maybe all the way back to Dark Knight Returns, or the first Eastman and Laird TMNT books, stuff I loved as a kid. Paper Girls gives me that kind of nostalgic sensation, like I’m in middle school again. But I was never as cool as these night-riding, shit-talking 12-year-olds.
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Knowing Our Passions: More with Marjorie Liu
Yesterday, we published the first part of my sprawling interview with fantasy novelist and comic book writer Marjorie Liu. She was at New York Comic-Con promoting next month’s release of her first creator-owned comic for Image Monstress.
For the second half of our interview, I ask her about her previous career as a lawyer, how she decided to become a writer, and what it means to be a prominent Asian American in the media.
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Making Monstress: An Exclusive Conversation with Marjorie Liu
I spent this past weekend at New York Comic-Con. When I wasn’t manning the Epic Proportions booth, I was able to sneak away and meet with writer Marjorie Liu. She makes her long-awaited return to comics with Image Comics’ Monstress, reuniting her with X-23 artist Sana Takeda.
In the first part of this exclusive, wide-ranging interview, Marjorie and I discuss the origins of the book, her childhood obsession with the apocalypse, the influence of pre-World War II China, and what it was like reuniting with artist Sana Takeda.
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APAture2015: Interview with Artist Thi Bui
Kearny Street Workshop, one of the oldest and well-known arts organization in the Asian Pacific American community, proudly presents APAture2015: Future Tense, a series of showcases featuring emerging artists from the San Francisco Bay Area.
On Saturday, October 10, the Comics & Illustration Showcase will feature a number of comic book artists. Below is a brief Q&A with Thi Bui, who is the featured artist at this year’s showcase.
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How to Be Black in Comics
by Darryl Ayo
[Ed. Note: This essay originally appeared as a series of tweets on Darryl’s Twitter timeline.]
I’ve tried for years to draw black people as real characters as well as visibly dark; it’s expensive with screentones.
Are You Ready for This Year’s Small Press Expo?
In less than 24 hours, the world’s best cartoonists and indie comics makers bring their talents to the DMV (that would be the DC-Maryland-Virginia area of the country, and not, alas, where you get your drivers’ license renewed) at the 21st annual Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD.
In addition to hosting esteemed guests like Noelle Stevenson, Scott McCloud, and C. Spike Trotman (among many others), SPX is also home to the Ignatz Awards and a venue for fans of the medium to support some of the hardest working artists in all of comics. After the cut, we’re going to highlight a few of the things we’re most excited to see this weekend.
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A King Among Men, Dinosaurs, and Robot Karate Bears
It’s the distant future, it’s Los Angeles. So the desolate wasteland in King — a new creator-owned comic by Joshua Hale Fialkov, Bernard Chang, and Marcelo Maiolo — is no stretch. The titular man is the last of his kind, left on an Earth we recognize only in its rubble, surrounded somehow by talking dinosaurs, humanoid animals they call CrossFreaks, and of course, giant karate robot bears.
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What I Learned by Failing in Comics: Hustle & Flow
Let me start by saying, I’m not a writer. I’m a hustla that raps a lot. For the duration of this causerie, I’m a rapper. Like your favorite rhymes sayer: I got a story to tell.
About decade ago, there was a cipher with the man who gave Bruce Leroy his glow. That build set me on a journey; I took my lyrics and went looking for Sun Dum Goy.
My rhymes, evolved into a screenplay. I rapped in the studio, my rhymes became a novel. I kept on rapping until I had a demo tape.
When I was hustling my original novel in the streets, OGs put me on to the comic book route. Considering the nature of my rhymes: martial arts fantasy fiction, many figured it was best way for people see me lyrically.
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The Art of Monstress
by Marjorie Liu
Well, last Thursday was a big day.
I took the stage at Image Expo to discuss my new creator-owned title, Monstress, which I’m working on with Sana Takeda (who is brilliant and kicking ass). I gave an extensive interview at Newsarama, so check that out — but in short, it’s a privilege and honor to be creating this book with her at Image, where we can finally stretch our wings. We’ve also got Rus Wooton on letters and design, and editing is being handled by Jennifer Smith, my former assistant editor at Marvel.
I’ll be writing more about Monstress, but in the meantime, here’s a full rundown of all the art we showed at the release — and it’ll give you a hint of what’s in store for readers this summer.