S P U T N I K

Ang Nawawala poster by AJ Dimarucot, EverywhereWeShoot!, and...

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:46:38 +0800

Ang Nawawala poster by AJ Dimarucot, EverywhereWeShoot!, and myself.

We made a movie. This is the poster. :)

Moving Out

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 01:56:58 +0800

Moving Out:

see you there!

Superman by Keron Grant Just look at that awesome illustration!...

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:40:46 +0800

Superman by Keron Grant

Just look at that awesome illustration! Comics (especially superheroes/action stuff) needs more of these extreme angles and hyper-distortion! I remember when Morrison’s JLA was new, people were ragging on Howard Porter’s art. So okay, maybe he wasn’t the best artist in the world, but I do remember him doing these crazy angles, wild page layouts/borders and extreme foreshortening, just to make the pages pop, make the action feel like it’s going for your face, and I appreciated them. Most superhero comics don’t have half the energy and wild go-for-broke antics those issues had.

Keron Grant’s come a long way from his work in the ’90s that I can remember. This here piece is my new wallpaper.

- ramon

Batman by Rafael Grampa - ramon

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:10:14 +0800

Batman by Rafael Grampa

- ramon

Awesome comics writers/husband-wife Matt Fraction & Kelly...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 03:15:51 +0800

Awesome comics writers/husband-wife Matt Fraction & Kelly Sue DeConnick

- ramon

Ivan Brunetti, photo by Kurt Lauer Here’s another one, of...

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:23:22 +0800

Ivan Brunetti, photo by Kurt Lauer

Here’s another one, of one of my cartooning heroes.

- ramon

Ellen Forney, photo by Mike Urban It’s rare to find good...

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:22:00 +0800

Ellen Forney, photo by Mike Urban

It’s rare to find good author photos of cartoonists.

- ramon

Here’s a lovely page from Nico Nemiri, who’s got one...

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:46:00 +0800

Here’s a lovely page from Nico Nemiri, who’s got one of those breathtaking, graceful styles that look effortless. Sketchy lines shaping space, a minimum of clutter and just the right tones that limn surfaces. Notice how the panels move the reader’s eye. The colors tell the story just as much as the compositions do, with a dreamy, gauzy quality.

- ramon

Best Comics Covers of 2010 (according to Robot 6)

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:46:46 +0800

Best Comics Covers of 2010 (according to Robot 6):

Sorry to be so busy, but here’s a link I couldn’t pass up sending your way: CBR blog Robot 6’s rundown of their favorite comics covers from last year. Some genuine loveliness in there. Mostly from Diamond’s Big 5 publishers.

AWESOME COVERS Uptight # 4 by Jordan Crane One of my favorite...

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 02:32:56 +0800

AWESOME COVERS

Uptight # 4 by Jordan Crane

One of my favorite image-makers, Crane is the silkscreen master. I bought a poster of the cover of Uptight # 3. Three levels working on this one.

- ramon

The Imp

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:38:57 +0800

The Imp:

Daniel Raeburn has made all four issues of his zine about comics, The Imp, available for free download. This is a swell resource. Back in the day, this was the most information on Daniel Clowes & Chris Ware I could find. When the Chris Ware monograph came out, it was by Raeburn, and much of it was repurposed from his Ware issue of The Imp. He’s also a good, fun writer about comics, well-informed without seeming elitist, and that style of writing used to be in short supply. Now it’s a little more common, especially online, but I can’t help but wonder how much of a role The Imp played in influencing those writers. Add to that, Raeburn’s got a good eye for design, as well.

- ramon

AWESOME COVERS Incognito: Bad Influences # 1 (variant) by Sean...

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:49:48 +0800

AWESOME COVERS

Incognito: Bad Influences # 1 (variant) by Sean Phillips

Made to look like the cover of one of the pulp paperbacks that are its main influence, this cover of Incognito is a beaut. Check out the distressed wear and tear and that type treatment. Scrumptious!

You’re all reading Incognito, right? From the excellent Criminal team of Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips?

- ramon

Dave McKean’s hour-long talk/presentation at OFFSET 2009....

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:04:06 +0800

Dave McKean’s hour-long talk/presentation at OFFSET 2009. McKean’s one of the best artists full stop. Not just in comics. Even within comics he’s known more for his illustration work on covers, but seek out his books Cages and Pictures That Tick if you can. Amazing stuff. And, of course, his work with Neil Gaiman like Violent Cases, Signal To Noise and Black Orchid. Most especially, Mr. Punch, which is a stone-cold classic in my book. Any opportunity to see/hear the guy speak at length about his work and process should be grabbed.

- ramon

The guys who gave you “Catching Up,” Ed Brisson...

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 01:50:58 +0800

The guys who gave you “Catching Up,” Ed Brisson & Simon Roy, are back with another sweet little blunt kick to the head of a crime tale. “Skimming The Till” can be found here. Take the time to read it; the twists and turns are worth it.

- ramon

teaching comics

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:38:00 +0800

teaching comics:

Recording of a panel from the recently concluded San Diego Comic-Con called “Understanding, Making and Teaching Comics” with Scott McCloud & James Sturm. Definitely the two best people to talk about this topic. McCloud is the medium’s eminent theorist and literally wrote/drew the books on the topic, and Sturm founded the Center for Cartoon Studies.

- ramon

Zac Gorman’s put up the entirety of “The Magician...

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 01:11:36 +0800

Zac Gorman’s put up the entirety of “The Magician and The Snake” online for us all to enjoy here. A very short story illustrated by the mighty Mike Mignola and co-written with his then-7-year-old daughter Katie, it won the Eisner the year it was published for Best Short Story. Thus making Katie the youngest Eisner winner ever. Reading it, one gets the joyous sensation of spontaneous creation that can only come from a child’s imagination, where it’s not second-guessing itself with things like “realism” or “plot logic.” Just, “what’s next?” and “what’s cool?” All great stories, I believe, still start like this. We just have to tap into that pool of imagination without bringing the “adult” parts with us. We can temper the inspiration we bring back, but we’ll be able to surprise ourselves again.

And for such a short tale, it still has an emotional punch. Giving that panel with the kite a sad sting, and especially that last page, is a skill of Mignola’s I’m always in awe of, even with such a flight of fancy as this. Remarkable.

“The Magician and The Snake” will be included in the forthcoming book The Amazing Screw-On Head & Other Curious Objects, collecting Mignola’s non-Hellboy-related short stories over the last several years. Needless to say, it’s gonna be good.

- ramon

scott pilgrim's finest hour

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:59:50 +0800

is finally in Sputnik. My guess is if the first batch hasn’t sold out by this Friday’s big Manila Design Week shebang, it’ll all go that evening, so hop to it! Resolution!

Cartoonist/Kramers Ergot editor Sammy Harkham has a nice...

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:26:09 +0800

Cartoonist/Kramers Ergot editor Sammy Harkham has a nice introduction to Richard McGuire here.

The above page is an excerpt from McGuire’s classic short story “Here,” first published in Raw magazine in the early ’80s by art spiegelman and Francoise Mouly. For its time, his experimentation with the form (cutting up “time,” commenting on the nature of panels as “captured moments” while occupying the same spaces) was groundbreaking, and became an inspiration to many a cartoonist at the time, including Chris Ware. McGuire’s only done two comics stories, apparently, and one is an inarguable classic. What a batting average!

I never knew he was in Liquid Liquid, though, and the creator of one of the most sampled bass loops of all time.

- ramon

"A graphic novel without graphic design is like a building without girders. Everything hangs on it...."

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 03:50:00 +0800

“

A graphic novel without graphic design is like a building without girders. Everything hangs on it. It’s essential to construction. Whether it’s visible or not, it allows you to move through space instead of a pile of debris.”

- James Sturm

”

- Taken from this article on comics artists and graphic design. Sturm’s excellent books include James Sturm’s America and Market Day. He also wrote the excellent Fantastic Four book Unstable Molecules with art by Guy Davis.

- ramon

AWESOME COVERS The Best American Comics 2010 by Michael Cho An...

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:54:00 +0800

AWESOME COVERS

The Best American Comics 2010 by Michael Cho

An angry, bespectacled teen. Clash button on his jacket. Is it an accusing or defiant expression? Is he tossing the comics onto the fire or trying to save them? Either way, the message is clear: the world will burn for what you’ve done!

Of note: they’ve a major book publisher behind them, but opt for a mostly monochrome cover. Some spot greys, but mostly harsh black and white (apart from the type-only orange). With some good design sense and a clever use of contrast (see how the boy is framed by the flames) it’s an arresting image.

- ramon