Showing posts with label Graphic Novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Graphic Novel. Show all posts

Saturday, January 11, 2014

APE SPECIAL 2013

Dylan & Nicole break the silence with their recap of San Francisco's Alternative Press Expo! 
Spoiler Alert: Babies.Download this episode (right click and save)




COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
FOURTH WAY COMICS - fourthwaycomics.moonfruit.com 
Tale With a Soul
This artist enclave is doing some truly wonderful things with the medium. Last year they really wowed Dylan with their book Vibration Incorporate. And Tale With a Soul was definitely a stand-out book for Nicole and Dylan this year as well. The aversion to narrative their books posses is such a pallet cleanser after a long trudge up traditional narrative mountain.


BOGUS BOOKS - bogusbooks.com
Doctor Muscles Journal 2 & Holli Hoxxx Volume 2
These guys are doing Sci-Fi comics with a serious Heavy Metal influence. If you like Moebius, Juan Jimenez and that batch of lunatics, these books are definitely up your alley.


 ACTION LAB ENTERTAINMENT - actionlabcomics.com
Princeless
Emily C. Martin (a.k.a. Megamoth)
No San Francisco comic convention is complete without an appearance by the biggest little publisher in comics: Action Lab Entertainment.
Jeremy Whitley's all-ages fantasy series about "a princess that decides to save herself" has been a huge hit with critics. And Volume 2 with art provided by Emily C. Martin is no different!
If you know a person of reduced chronological experience, then they are sure to enjoy it. Heck, you will to!
Still not convinced? Here is an interview Dylan conducted with Emily & Jeremy a while back.

TILDOG PRESS - castingbones.com
Casting Bones
Written byDavid Wrangham
Art by Jordan SgandurraKevin Caron Nate HamelLucas Schneider

This graphic novel feels like Sword in the Stone meets Old Man and the Sea. It's a coming of age story about a young boy apprenticed to an old sorcerer but instead of whacky adventures and learning about responsibility, he is resigned to a cold life of near cruelty. The dialogue is sparse, and David Wrangham shows but one facet of a world that cannot be contained by this small story.
Check out the preview pages on their website.


"THE COMIC STRIP CLUB"
This group of three artists have one thing in common: they are hysterical!
Their pulpy mini-comics are worth hunting down and get exponentially more polished with each issue. At this rate, RoK #10 will be poly-bagged with a holo-foil cover.

Katie Longua - klongua.com 
RÖK 4
 
This book is epic awesome of epic awesomeness. Do you like vikings? Do you like metal? Do you think Sailor Moon needed more Black Metal? Then this is the mini-comic series for you!

Kelly Martin - ms-martin.tumblr.com/
Doctor Lollipop

This series is delightfully demented. Imagine House, but it's a world of mythical creatures. The cartoon doesn't quite do it justice, but it's still worth a look to get an idea of what this series is like.

Jemma Salume - oxboxer.deviantart.com
Make Me a Sandwich
Her mini-comic about cooking doesn't seem to be available online, but I bet if you asked her real nicely, she might be able to send you one for a small fee... insolent mortals!

COMIC BOOK SERIES 
Written by Josh Self & Orlando Rivera II
Art by Sam Whol
This is a world where nightmares become reality and Sam Whol's incredible pencils convey that darkness perfectly. While Josh Self & Orlando Rivera pack this first issue with a lot of exposition, what is here is exciting and certainly worth a peak if you're into exploding heads and crazy beasts.

Misunderstanding Comics - misunderstandingcomics.com
Written by Tim Heiderich
Art by Mike Rosen

If you are at all familiar with Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, and think it needs to be taken down a peg, then this book is for you! Want to know what corners to cut and still have your book sell a million copies? Tim and Mike will reveal all, dear reader. Just make sure you get all five variant covers. You never know which one might become valuable later.


WEB COMICS
The Adventures of the 19XX - adventuresofthe19xx.com

by Paul Roman Martinez
We have been meaning to do an interview with Paul Roman Martinez for a while. His web comic The Adventures of the 19XX is a well researched and fully realized alternate history of the world between WWI & WWII where Tesla and Houdini can rub elbows saving the world from the forces of evil. If you like pulp heroes or the adventures of Tin Tin, this throwback to early comic strips with a modern art sheen is certainly going to scratch a rather niche itch.

 Just Another Sheep - justanothersheep.com
Written by Matt Heagerty
Art by JD Faith

Check out this far-out groovy web comic (updates Tuesday) set in the 1960s, it's got crazy powers and a social revolution. If you're not going to open up your mind to what these dudes are preachin', then you're just another sheep.

Erstwhile, Missing Monday & The Littlest Elle - mysky.net
Elle Skinner

A regular contributor to the Erstwhile fairytale anthology, and creator of the ongoing web comics Missing Monday, & the autobiographical comic The Littlest Elle, Elle Skinner is a very busy creator! Take a sick day off of work and get better acquainted with her work. We talked to your boss already. They're cool with it. You won't regret it.

Forgotten Order - forgottenordercomic.com
by Christy Bontrager
This beautiful web comic feels like you're cracking open a book of Grimm's fairy tales for the first time. Christy's lush colors bring a strong mood to the series without being overbearing. And since the story is just beginning, now is the best time to dive in and get to know Trystan and her magical cursed doll (still waiting for a plush).


ARTISTS
Joko Budiono - jokosart.blogspot.com
We love checking in with Joko at every convention because his energy is infectious. If you haven't heard our interview with him from a while back, do yourself a favor and give it a listen.
Joko Budiono's Teddy-1 is a wordless graphic novel that was easily one of the best books of 2012. The level of detail and emotional impact that he manages to get from a story about firefighters in giant robots will astonish you. You can get a copy off of Amazon for a pretty reasonable price.

Jen Oaks - jenoaks.com

















Jen Oaks' illustrations have a clear clean line that is hard to resist. At home with copious detail work or light figures, her compositions have a great sense of balance and beautiful color.


CRAFTS PEOPLE
Jackie Huang - jackiehuang.com
Take a look at the paper sculpting skills of Jackie Huang. She makes incredible 3D art with vibrant colored paper that captures emotional moments simply, yet incredibly baroque with flair.































 
















Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the exciting event that is APE. We hope they find a new location and that we can bring you even more comics that are off the beaten path next year. 
Thanks for listening!
 

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Friday, October 19, 2012

APE SPECIAL 2012



We had a busy time at APE this past weekend and Chris, Dylan, Keith, Nicole & Vicky recorded for quite a while talking about all of the awesome creators we met that weekend. This massive list is just the tip of the iceberg. If you're in the Bay Area in October next year, you need to go to this show.

Photo by Keith Ingram

THE COMIC STRIP CLUB
These gals are awesome! They put out three fantastic comics. If you get the chance to meet them, buy everything they have! You'll recognize their pink sparkly booth. And yell at Kelly Martin for taking so long to make issues of Doctor Lollipop.
The suave pink unicorn PHD returns! This time, the magical forest is plagued with a sickness that is sickeningly sweet. Kelly Martin's book is fun and possibly frivolous, if it weren't for her layouts. This issue feels oddly inspired by J.H. Williams III. She goes all out with her layouts. Her layouts are so well composed, that it is hard to deny she's capable of more than having a lot fun drawing transvestite candy makers and puking forest critters. Doctor Lollipop is such an excellent book, and Kelly Martin is a creator to watch.
RöK Mini!
Katie Longua has been writing RöK for about as long as we've been podcasting. The heavy metal adventures of the norse gods is such an excellent concept, it can be a little hard waiting more than a month for each issue. For APE, Katie made a mini-comic to help take the edge off. She was selling the original art for this mini-comic, and she had drawn each page exactly the same size as it would appear in the mini-comic. It was amazing to see how much detail she was able to fit into each oddly sized page. Find this book!

Captain Kitten #2 & #3
Jemma Salume
Did someone say, "kitten" in front of Dylan? Yeah. They did. Captain Kitten is a series about a female cat that pilots an airship and has exciting adventures in a nondescript prehistoric time full of dinosaurs and sabertooth tigers. The art is a little flat, but a look at Jemma's deviant art shows that she is NO SLOUCH with her art.


Action Lab is a comic company of the 21st Century. The whole studio is spread out all over the country. With Jeremy Whitley in the South, Shawn Prior in the North East, and Dave Dwonch here in the West, it helps make sure there is an Action Lab booth at every convention in the country, but it also means it's hard sometimes to see your favorite Action Lab creator.

Emily C. Martin - "Artemis"                          Brett Grunig- "Selene"

Luckily, the new artist on Princeless, Emily C. Martin, is a West Coast creator so we were able to meet her and Brett Grunig. She showed us pages from future Princeless issues, and told us about her art school where she teaches young teens how to draw. At the end of the semester, Megamoth Studio publishes their work and the kids get to have a book with their work on their shelf. If you see the Megamoth booth at a convention, stop by and take a look. She and Brett are really talented artists and they are doing something very important for the future of the industry.

In the same vein of Monster's Inc., "Monsters Are Just Like Us" by Super Ugly is a book that needs to be on every kid's bookshelf. Super Ugly humanizes monsters, and shows them doing every-day activities with bored and apathetic expressions. They aren't scary, their neighbors and friends. Some of the references may go over most kids heads ("They thought it was safe to go back in the water, just like you!"), but it still gives children a fun image to associate with monsters that will make bedtime a lot less scary.


JD Arnold & Tony Guaraldi-Brown turn completely 180, this series is definitely NOT for kids. Action Lab Entertainment may make a lot of money producing stories for children, but that doesn't mean their whole line is kid friendly. The Rabid is a zombie apocalypse with a bit of a twist. Instead of infecting humans, this virus infects small mammals and is gradually making its way up the food-chain to humans. And unlike traditional zombies, they don't die if you chop of the head. These nasty critters keep twitching. You have to squish the things down to nothing to stop them. Tony Guaraldi-Brown's artwork is moody and will induce queasiness in the squeamish.


These people put out some awesome comics! Whether it's clowns fighting each other, or a group of people defending a moon base from alien tourists, you're sure to find something you've never seen. While we were talking at the Action Lab booth, we showed Dave Dwonch a copy of Pluto Moon Base and he said "WHERE'S THIS BOOTH? I want this NOW." And if you're a fan of Dave Dwonch's Double Jumpers, these guys are definitely making books that are right up your alley.


Photo by Keith Ingram 
It was a lot of fun seeing Josh and Kat again. They've been some of our most vocal supporters. This time around they had the re-coloring of Utopiates for sale and if you haven't heard us say it before, it's gorgeous. Their photorealistic style is blended nicely with dramatic silhouettes to create a sci-fi noir book that is unlike anything you've read before.
We also asked them a bit about the fate of Michael Corbet's series Crazy Mary, and while it has had more setbacks than you can count, it is finally being released digitally through Comics+.
If you see Kat & Josh at a convention, tell them "Comic Book of the Month Podcast sent me." They'll appreciate it.


This family owned comic group is putting out some amazing stuff. They just got started this year, but they already have a great catalog of work. Their books seem pricey, but it is a quality product and their art is incredible. A lot of their stories a silent or light on dialog, the kinds of books that fit right into our wheelhouse. Check out their website to get a sample of this group's amazing art.


These artists dive deep into their subconscious and pull up to the surface whatever they find. Influenced by John Cage, their books are about process and how it informs content. It has to be seen to be understood, so head over to their website and give it a look. Really wonderful stuff.

OTHER COMIC PROJECTS

Story by Ryan North, Art by Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb
This TV show was the big hit of the convention. Just about every booth had some Adventure time themed print ofg one sort or another. KABOOM has the licensing rights to this crazy show, and even though it's a very complex and animator-centric show, Ryan North, Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb manage to really capture the experience of watching the show right down to the character's signature noodly appendages. Nicole loves this series so much, but has fallen behind on the comics. So this was the perfect opportunity for her to pick up every issue. Look for her reviews in the coming months.

Photo by Keith Ingram
What would a Bay Area convention be without everyone's favorite sculptor/turned storyboard artist/turned comic book creator? We had a lot of fun catching up since our interview with him, and talking about what he has planned for volume 2 of the Teddy-1 series. If you ever have a chance, aside from looking at his amazing original art, take a look at his used comic bin that he carts around with him from convention to convention  He always has great rare stuff from really talented artists for really reasonable prices. Joko: The one stop comic convention.

This is the fine group of people that put together the Titanium Rain Audio drama you might have heard about. They have been around for a couple years now, and have quite a few series under their belt. And we had the chance to hear Lance Roger Axt's vocal versatility in person. Whether you're a fan of radio dramas, or you can't wait for Titanium Rain volume 2, give their work a look.


This guy's work speaks for it self, but we are going to explain it anyway.
As you can see, he works mostly in graphic silhouette. It's beautiful, macabre stuff. A great fit for SLG.


A warped sci-fi tale of one man's self-discovery, and female assassins. All with twisted colors and layouts from the mind of our listener Adam S. Lichi.




Home for Tomas Overbai's series: Ichido & convention favorite: "You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon..." If you ever hear someone walking around a convention hall saying Han Solo lines with a bad Christopher Walken impersonation, this guy is the culprit. His work is excellent and really deserves some attention. He's going to be launching a Kickstarter for his book Ichido in the next few months and we will be sharing and Tweeting the hell out of it. You can see some of the concept art here.






Silent mini-comics made by Jef Bambas and published by SLG. Robot high-jinx! CHEAP!




This short book (but long comic) by Lucy Bellwood is excellent. She tackles themes of life, spirituality and art in simple poignant terms. You definitely need to get a copy. We will definitely be inviting her on the show at some point to talk about this book.

Matt Sheean & Malachi Ward have made a series that is what Prometheus should have been. Definitely worth your time. Hear Dylan's comments on the podcast for more infrmation.



Created by Kristopher White, this series is based upon a kabalistic legend about 36 people destined to save the world. But how do you get 36 people to agree on what's best for everyone? George Zapata's art is excellent. You can expect this to be a Book of the Month at some point.



Gabe Swarr knows his audience. If you were an 80s kid growing up at the death of analog and the birth of digital, this series will give you some serious nostalgia. It might lean a bit too heavy on nostalgia, but it's still a lot of fun.



We kept passing by Jamaica Dyer's table all weekend and finally, as she was packing up her stuff, decided to grab what we could. Her art is beautifully brushy, and versatile. Take a look and drown yourself in its detail.



Check out her varied art projects. very cool stuff.

We hope you get to experience this booth some day. Don't really want to tell you much about it, because it needs to be experienced to be believed... Although we spoil the hell out of it in the episode...


WEBCOMICS

A fairy tale anthology featuring often overlooked tales from the Brother's Grimm adapted by Gina Biggs. The first book features art by Gina Biggs, Louisa Roy & Elle Skinner. (Dylan recommends the story All Fur) If you're a fan of the Brother's Grimm, it's definitely nice to see some of these forgotten classics dusted off and retold.

The Bean
Check out this series by Travis Hanson & listen to what Chris has to say about this fantasy webcomic.


Writing a fairy tale is a lot harder than it seems. Morgan Bontrager is incredibly successful in just these first couple of chapters. She has decompressed the shortform story to let the characters breath, and what results is a very modern take on a myth that probably never existed. Trystan is an assistant in her uncle's magic shop, and she is looked down upon by the village for not being very adept at magic, but her world changes when she encounters a charmed doll that has a journey it seeks to fulfill. If you love fantasy of the fairy tale ilk, then this webcomic is for you.


This webcomic by Jack Kent, is about Seagulls. That's right. Seagulls. While it occasionally has multipart storylines, hitting the Random button is just as entertaining.


ILLUSTRATORS
Megan Elizabeth Carlsen 
Robin Holstein
These two artists were sharing a table. Both of them work for TinyCo as concept artists, but are very prolific beyond that. We talked with them for quite a bit and Megan sketched a really adorable frog for Nicole. And the whole time Robin & Dylan kept trying to figure out where they knew each other from. If anyone knows, please let US know.
Dylan & Nicole keep saying "derpy deer!" This is what they are talking about.


Another Bay-Area convention regular. Jen Oaks' illustrations are excellent. Her use of pastels are soft and feminine, but not necessarily "girly." Content ranges from nick-knacks, niche-pop-culture icons to curvy pin-up calendars. You should check out her work when you get a chance. And if you're a Breaking Bad fan, check out her husband's podcast: The Roof Pizza Chronicles.


CRAFTY-CRAFT-PEOPLE

Rick and Jeff Marson have stumbled upon an idea that will revolutionize the way you looks at zombies. These cuddly stuffed zombies are the perfect gift for kids (and adults really) this Christmas. Beyond the large number of themed zombie characters with clever names and backstories, they have created an interactive experience where you can share your zombie attack story on their website, and share it with the ZOMS community.
CAUTION: You may become so desensitized to zombies, that you suddenly find them cuddly, and become worthless during the inevitable apocalypse.


This gal makes some incredibly cute phone charms and fan art.


Photo by Chris Snyder
Photo by Chris Snyder
Yetis and Friends & Shark Bites
These guys produce some great stuff. Check out those yetis and the puppets they make for Shark Bites.

Hweeeew! If you stuck through all of that, you deserve a medal. Or at least a sticker. You'll definitely get a badge that says, "I Survived CBotMP's APE 2012 Recap." Feel free to put it on whatever piece of the internet you call home.
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