Question: what do you get when you cross Piraro and Larson roots with the stumpiness of Mr. Men, the Aragones organic stretchiness (and deceptive art adeptness!), the work humour topics of Adams, Kolchalka‘s naked brain exhibitionistic streak, and an ability to still sing out complete originality despite all this influence?
…
Stymied yet? Well, so is Peter Conrad.
Feb.15/03: The Comixpedia editors get together for an impromptu chat to discuss plans for future issues. Since I had assigned mostly journal comics to my reviewers for the month of April, I suggest that we make Journal Comics the main theme of the issue. The other editors seem to like this idea, and in a fit of zeal, I foolishly offer to write up a feature on the subject. The editors warm up to the pitch, and I find myself committed to the feature – d’oh!
Here are the complete question-and-answer transcripts that were originally amassed for part 2 of the April 2003 Journal Comics Explored feature. As with any feature, all of the answers can never be used in the final copy, and some questions are always dropped for purposes of focus and clarity.
Comixpedia has chosen to include the entire set of interviews here – verbatim (typos and all) – so that those curious to know as much as they can about the thoughts lurking inside their favorite journal comic artists' heads can do so without having to resort to guerilla brain surgery. Continue Reading
Les McClaine proudly proclaims himself an incurable egotist. James Kochalka says he’s trying to delve into the mysteries of being human. Drew Weing draws them because he couldn’t keep track of his life otherwise – he has a pretty horrible memory. Whether you accept these answers, or ask any of the growing host of other journal comic artists out there why they draw their journal comics, you’ll find that, just like so many other things in life, or life itself, there is no easy cookie-cutter answer. Continue Reading
Like A Disease
Three AM on a Saturday and I am barely conscious. Sleepily, my fingers tap across the keyboard, editing the html code on the screen before me. I upload the page onto the server and hope that the third time will be the charm. Alas, no; the link between the main page and the latest archive page is still broken. I am dead tired and just want to go to bed. Still, I am compelled to stay awake by one thing alone; the comic. I can’t let myself go to bed before I finish updating my webcomic.
It’s like a disease sometimes. Continue Reading
Vancouver cartoonist Colin Upton has taken journal comics one step further, choosing to look at life around him through war-colored glasses.
Upton’s Gulf War Diary offers an outsider’s view on the war — a non-military and non-journalist’s take on what has been going on half a world away, but that is transmitted to him through various forms of media almost instantaneously.
This ongoing project, almost a cross between Sacco’s Palestine or Spiegelman’s Maus and Weing’s The Journal Comic, is described by Upton on his site as follows:
The Gulf War Diary started almost spontaniuosly. I was sitting watching the news and grabbed paper and pencil and began drawing a cartoon, starting March 28th I think it was. I didn’t know what to do with it so I had it put up on my web site. The cartoons are drawn fast, written pencilled and inked in about an hour.
As he further points out, the webcomic medium serves as the perfect outlet for his need for expression:
The great limitation I found with print comics was by the time I drew them I had worked and reworked them so much the passion, the urgency was gone. And by the time they were printed and available, months after the event, they were now history. This is, I think, the major advantages of on-line comics, topicality and reach, a genre that otherwise holds little interest for me. I will try to post a cartoon strip day for who knows how long. I’m told what I’m doing is a “blog”, which sounds to me like Australian slang for vomiting, so I guess it’s not all that orginial. I just knew I had to say something about this war. I’ve written letters to the editor but I am at heart a cartoonist. This is how I howl…
Just as the world is experiencing its first “instant media” war, so does Upton choose to use the webcomic medium as his own “instant expression” outlet.
The Gulf War Diary updates daily.
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You’ve heard of parents living vicariously through their children, right? Well, living vicariously has now been taken to new extremes. Lo and behold, if you’re not satisfied with leeching life from a REAL person, you can now enjoy the satisfaction of pretending to be uber-cool through completely MADE-UP folks.
Wait, wait, wait… you’re thinking this is about Role-Playing, right?
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Curious to know what's going on inside your favorite creator's head, but haven't found any of them willing to lay on your operating table for a quick scalpel job and brain yoink? Tired of having to call up your local phone psychic to find out what Joe Cartoonist had for dinner last night? Well, don't despair: an interesting alternative has crept onto the webcomics scene, one that may prove to satisfy all your needs for (voyeuristic?) curiosity – without the need for spiritual guidance at 9.99 a minute, or an abduction by burlap sack followed by water-torture interrogation. Continue Reading
Kean Soo‘s journal comic, hosted on his own site (Keaner.net), is one of the more recent additions to the webcomic world. Started at the turn of the new year, and updated in blocks of two or three ‘daily’ comics at a time (i.e., he draws daily comics, but only updates in batches), it provides the reader with a glimpse into Soo’s life and thoughts, while trying to make us laugh a little along the way. Continue Reading
Daniel "Merlin" Goodbrey has been skulking around the webcomics scene for years now, shamelessly exposing small gaggles of readers and creators alike to the wanton nakedness of his raw Imagination. While not a ‘mainstream biggie’ (yet), e-merl.com holds its own in any measuring contest when it comes to quality of writing and entertainment value, and leaves the pack behind when it comes to breaking new ground in our burgeoning digital field.
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