Month: October 2017

Halloween Q&A: Gareth Hinds on ‘Poe’

The creator discusses how he’s adapted a number of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems into comics form.

Gareth Hinds has made a career of adapting great works of literature into comics. From The Odyssey to MacBeth, Beowulf to King Lear.

His new book Poe adapts a number of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems into comics form and is out now from Candlewick Press. Adapting the work of Poe has a number of technical challenges and Hinds found some inventive and striking ways to think through them. From the way he adapts the poems into comics to the complicated ways he draws and colors The Pit and the Pendulum, Hinds finds visual inventive ways to make these familiar stories new.

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Halloween Q&A: Molly Ostertag on ‘The Witch Boy’

The creator of ‘Strong Female Protagonist’ discusses her new book, which is being published this week by Scholastic’s Graphix imprint.

In a very short time Molly Ostertag has become an incredibly busy artist. She’s one half of the team behind the webcomic Strong Female Protagonist, she works on the TV show Star vs. the Forces of Evil, she illustrated the graphic novel Shattered Warrior which was released earlier this year, and this week Scholastic’s Graphix imprint is releasing The Witch Boy.

Written, illustrated and colored by Ostertag the book is a middle grade fantasy story that’s also a thoughtful, funny, and sometimes creepy tale of magic, gender expectations, friendship and family.

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Inktober spotlight: Skottie Young

The creator of ‘I Hate Fairyland’ turns his pen to Carrie, Freddy, Leatherface and more this October.

In addition to being the spookiest month, October is also Inktober, an art challenge where artists from all over the world create a different ink drawing every day of the month. While the official Inktober site provides a list of “prompts” to help inspire artists, many of them choose their own themes.

With many comic artists are participating this year — you can find a lot of them on Twitter or Tumblr using the #inktober hashtag, and we’ve been posting a bunch on our own Tumblr — we thought we’d spotlight a few of the “can’t miss” ones we’ve seen so far.

Skottie Young is an award-winning creator whose work includes I Hate Fairyland, Rocket Raccoon, Marvel’s Oz adaptations and Little Marvels. For Inktober, he’s been drawing horror icons in his unique style, including Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, Carrie and the not-so-scary Casper the Friendly Ghost. You can find some of them below, and see more on his Tumblr.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Eroyn Franklin

The co-founder of Seattle’s Short Run Festival discusses this year’s show, her comics and more.

Eroyn Franklin won a Xeric grant in 2008 for her comic Another Glorious Day at the Nothing Factory. Since then she’s gone on to make a number of comics like A New Home and Detained and Just Noise. Her work has appeared on The Nib and her work has made the Notables list in two volumes of Best American Comics. Franklin is interested in playing with style and form, in experimenting with the physicality of the object in really interesting ways and the final product is often defined as much by the shape and design as it is by the subject matter.

Franklin is also one of the co-founders and organizers of the Short Run Festival in Seattle. The seventh annual festival will take place Nov. 4 and this year has teamed up with ICAF, the International Comic Art Forum, to provide programming for the event. We spoke with her over e-mail about her work and the show.

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Oni announces ‘Aquicorn Cove’ by Katie O’Neill

The new graphic novel by the creator of ‘Princess Princess Ever After’ and ‘The Tea Dragon Society’ arrives in October 2018.

Oni Press has announced plans to publish Aquicorn Cove, by Princess Princess Ever After and The Tea Dragon Society creator Katie O’Neill.

“As a kid I was obsessed with books about marine biology and ocean creatures. It felt like such a magical world! In this story I wanted to combine aquatic fantasy elements with the feelings I get from the tiny seaside villages in my home country of New Zealand,” O’Neill said. “Marine conservation has always been extremely important here, and I wanted to explore the point of view of a child living in a world where the actions—or inactions—of her guardians already have had environmental consequences, and she must find her own strength in order to protect what’s important to her.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Olivia Dinnall on ‘Bi-Assed’

‘The Purple Alien’ discusses her work on the popular Line Webtoon comic, which explores what it means to be biracial and bisexual.

Olivia Dinnall aka “The Purple Alien” is a cartoonist and illustrator whose webcomic Bi-Assed runs on Line Webtoon. The comic explores what it means to be biracial and bisexual. As Dinnall describes the book:

“You would think that ones race and sexual orientation wouldn’t have anything in common, and for the most part, that’s true. But when you’re a biracial and bisexual person growing up, you come to realize that the two have more things in common then you would think…..those things being the ridiculous stuff people say to you based on the two.”

The result is a comic that will make you cringe in sympathy – or cringe because you’ve encountered those comments in your own life. It’s a great comic, and following Dinnall on social media one can see that she’s always drawing, often in different styles and approaches. She’s working as hard as ever on the webcomic and planning future projects, but is also collaborating with a friend and making some changes to Bi-Assed, and we talked recently about how she works.

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Inktober spotlight: Francesco Francavilla’s movie monsters

The artist tackles Beetlejuice, Darkman and more, just in time for Halloween.

October is not only the scariest month, but it’s also Inktober, where artists from all over the world create a different ink drawing every day of the month. While the official Inktober site provides a list of “prompts” to help inspire artists, many of them choose their own themes.

With many comic artists are participating this year — you can find a lot of them on Twitter or Tumblr using the #inktober hashtag, and we’ve been posting a bunch on our own Tumblr — we thought we’d spotlight a few of the “can’t miss” ones we’ve seen so far.

Artist Francesco Francavilla is no stranger to horror, having worked on Archie Comics’ flagship horror title Afterlife with Archie. The artist celebrates both Halloween and Inktober with a series of sketches of movie monsters, from classics like the Bride of Frankenstein to more modern horrors like Beetlejuice. Check out some of them below, and you can see more of them on Twitter.

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Smash Pages Q&A: The Nib’s Eleri Harris on ‘Reported Missing’

The deputy editor of The Nib discusses her new project for the site, a long-form comic about Tasmania’s most controversial murder conviction.

Eleri Harris is the deputy editor of The Nib. The publication has emerged as one of the best and most important comics publishers in recent years — not just for its political cartoons but for long-form comics. Harris has a unique background, having worked as an editor and journalist before she went back to school and earned an MFA at the Center for Cartoon Studies.

Harris’ new project launches today on The Nib, which according to the site is about:

What’s it like to have your Mum charged with murder? In 2010, a yacht was found sinking on its moorings, Sarah’s step-father was missing and her Mum was charged with his murder. There was no body, no murder weapon, no witnesses and no motive. In The Nib’s first serialized work of comics journalism, Eleri Harris explores the emotional nightmare behind Tasmania’s most controversial murder conviction — releasing just one week before the Supreme Court appeal that could change everything.

I spoke with Harris about politics, editing, Australia, The Nib and this project.

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Lemire creates charity print to honor Gord Downie

Proceeds benefit the charity the Tragically Hip frontman helped found and support, the Downie Wenjack fund.

Jeff Lemire teamed up with Gord Downie, lead singer of the Tragically Hip, last year for a multimedia project that told the story of Chanie “Charlie” Wenjack, an Ojibwa boy who died of exposure and hunger back in the 1960s. The Secret Path included poems, songs and a graphic novel, with proceeds from sales going to The Gord Downie Secret Path Fund.

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Derington covers ‘Redneck’ to benefit Houston charity

‘Doom Patrol’ artist Nick Derington creates a variant cover for ‘Redneck’ #7 to help raise money for the Houston Coalition for the Homeless.

Two Texas comics creators have come together to help out the Houston Coalition for the Homeless, which continues to help victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Skybound and Donny Cates, writer of Redneck, have enlisted Doom Patrol artist Nick Derington to create a variant cover for issue #7 of the Texas vampire comic. Check it out below:

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Smash Pages Q&A: Elizabeth LaPensée on ‘Deer Woman: An Anthology’

The professor, writer and game designer discusses her latest anthology, a collection of stories about resistance, healing, empowerment and hope.

Elizabeth LaPensée seems to lead many lives. She’s an assistant professor at Michigan State University, a visual artist and also designs games like Thunder Strike and Honour Water. She’s also a comics writer and artist and editor. Her work has appeared in both volumes of the MOONSHOT anthology, and she’s also made a number of webcomics including The Nature of Snakes, Fala, and The West was Lost. LaPensée is also writing and drawing short comics and editing or co-editing a number of upcoming anthologies including Sovereign Traces: Not Just Another and Relational Constellation.

Her comic Deer Woman was a success and struck a chord with many readers and creators and this fall Native Realities Press is publishing Deer Woman: An Anthology, which LaPensée co-edited, featuring the work of a number of creators who use the story of the deer woman to tell stories of resistance, healing, empowerment and hope. After a successful Kickstarter, the anthology is out this fall and LaPensée spoke about the project and her work.

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Inktober spotlight: Nelson Daniel feels the force

The ‘Clue’ artist celebrates Inktober by tackling Star Wars and other pop culture drawings.

October is Inktober, an art challenge where artists from all over the world create a different ink drawing every day of the month. While the official Inktober site provides a list of “prompts” to help inspire artists, many of them choose their own themes.

With many comic artists participating this year — you can find a lot of them on Twitter or Tumblr using the #inktober hashtag, and we’ve been posting a bunch on our own Tumblr — we thought we’d spotlight a few of the “can’t miss” ones we’ve seen so far.

Nelson Daniel is the artist of IDW’s Clue, and has also worked on titles like The Cape, Judge Dredd and Dungeons & Dragons. For Inktober, he started out with several Star Wars pieces, but has since turned to other areas of pop culture, with drawings of the Iron Giant, Gorillaz, Thundercats and The Fifth Element. Check out his Tumblr and Twitter feeds to see more.

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