Comics Workshop April 5 at the Norman Rockwell Museum

On Saturday April 5 I'll be doing a comics workshop from 10AM to 4 PM at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. It's part of the programming connected to the LitGraphic show, which is up until May 26. The workshop is already close to fully enrolled so sign up now if you're able to make it:

Adult Writing Workshop: 99 Ways to Tell a Story! How to Write a Graphic Novel

Sharpen your pencils and get ready to think outside the box! Illustrator Matt Madden, the author and illustrator of 99 Ways to Tell a Story, will lead engaging exercises in literary and artistic style that will inspire the graphic novelist in you. Point of view, personal narration, and the interplay of pictures and words will be explored during this exciting interactive program. Materials will be provided.

Please bring lunch; beverages and snacks will be provided.
$15, $10 members

I'm looking forward to seeing the exhibit myself for the first time. I've heard good reports about it. I haven't seen Lauren Weinstein's elaborate invitation card posted anywhere so here's a little peek at it:


[If you click on the fold-out you can pretty much read the comic.]

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It's Here!!!

We just got our advance copies of our comics textbook
Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and it looks fantastic! Official release date isn't until June 10 but we'll be doing some events sooner than that--I'll post info here soon.


[click photos for a larger image] Read more...

Poor Sof' Boy!!

Readers of alternative comics will remember Archer Prewitt's character Sof'Boy, the cheerful doughboy who is regularly submitted to Mr.Bill-esque torments which he accepts with an oblivious grin on his face. Here's a cover of one of the pamphlets published by Drawn & Quarterly:


Well, Archer lives in Chicago and when Jessica lived there she got her hands on a tiny, inch-tall Sof' Boy figurine in a little vending machine bubble. It's not the fancier, more recent Press Pop figurine, it's something that I think was produced in Chicago. In any event, we keep it on a shelf along with other comics-related gewgaws and baubles (and a Homie or two). The other day I passed by that book case and noticed something was amiss:


Was Sof' Boy leaking? Closer inspection revealed that Sof' Boy had come to a tragic end right out of his own comics!


I guess his poor li'l chemical structure broke down over the last few years and he just kind of... turned to gooey mush. However, true to his character, he still has that blissful grin:

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Stijloefeningen: Available at Better Belgian Comics Shops Near You!

My translator Wim Lockefeer just sent me this photo of the Belgian edition of 99 Ways to Tell a Story on sale at Het Besloten Land, one of those mythically great European comics shops I've been hearing about for years:


I got my copies of the book recently and it looks fantastic. It's a hardcover and it's printed on smooth, slightly glossy paper which surprised me at first but which looks really good. Like most of the European editions, it has several pages in color that are black-and-white in the US and UK editions.

And speaking of foreign editions, I just heard that the South Korean edition is still in the works and should be out in fall '08.

Incidentally, Wim has a really fun blog where he posts all kinds of rare comics ephemera. I'll be sending him a little package one of these days in the hopes that some of the stuff (from me and Jessica but also other artists) will turn up there Read more...

Dupuy and Berberian Report

My talk with Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian at Housing Works Bookstore was a huge success. The only downside was that Philippe and Charles were on such a whirlwind visit that I barely got to chat with them after our onstage chat...

Here's a photo taken for me by Isaac Cates, who also wrote up the event on his blog (that's Charles on the right and Philippe in the middle):


You can also find a few more photos at the Drawn & Quarterly website (where you can see just how big the turnout was), and possibly soon at The Beat.

I was really happy Philippe and Charles were both game for reading excerpts of their work. I was talking afterwards with Bob Sikoryak, who regularly hosts a comics slide show/readings series called Carousel and we agreed that although it's far from the ideal way to experience comics, there is definitely something to be learned by looking at a projection while the author reads the text. It's great to be able to talk about specific ways that the artists make comics--for instance, the way Philippe did a "mash-up" his autobio comic and the Monsieur Jean book he was working on at the time (from Maybe Later):


or the way the duo use extended visual metaphors in their work (from Get a Life):


It's very hard to talk about in the abstract, especially to an audience with many readers who are new to comics.

Last but not least, the event was recorded by an NPR producer as part of a segment he is pitching on graphic novels. I'll post here if that piece gets aired in the next few weeks. Read more...