Archive | May, 2011

Where in Hell

25 May
by Kevin Czap

Matt Groening Life in Hell

I’ll admit, I had another idea for a post but some last minute research toppled the whole premise. Looking through my bookshelf in a panic, I landed on my Life in Hell books. If nothing else, this post is intended to help keep Matt Groening’s old strip in our public consciousness. It’s easy to forget about this stuff, in the wake of the Simpson‘s franchisement, but Groening is a great comics artist first and foremost. If for no other reason, he should be celebrated forever for creating Akbar and Jeff. Continue reading →

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NERVOUSYSTEM X SPECIAL EFFECTS

20 May

By Darryl Ayo

Sometimes people who like comics get embarrassed by comics. One thing that has happened to me is that I have embraced the stupidness in the comic medium. In Andrea Juno’s book of artist interviews, Dangerous Drawings, the multiple-award-winning cartoonist Chris Ware said of comics’ visual vocabulary that “we are trying to communicate complex, deep stories using tools designed to tell jokes.” Or something to that effect.

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Everybody Wants Somethin’ – TCAF 2011

18 May
by Kevin Czap

A worm’s eye view of the impressive architecture that houses the Toronto Comics Arts Festival, which I was very lucky to be able to go to the other weekend. It was especially nice since that weekend I turned 26, so the whole experience was a perfect birthday present for a comics lover such as myself. Since I’m about a week behind in writing this up, there are already many many excellent recaps of the show by folks more eloquent than I. One of the amazing things about this show is that so many of these folks all have the same things to say about it, so please take time to read some of these other blog posts, as they say most of what I would say anyway. Continue reading →

NERVOUSYSTEM x NONPLAYER

13 May
by Darryl Ayo

I have been off of the blog for a few weeks to let some bad vibes blow over and get out of my system. Comix Cube in general and Freestyle Friday in particular are not supposed to be about anger. When it comes to ME, the mission statement is always “talk about comics.” I know that a lot of us comic readers are striving to create spaces in which to discuss comics and discuss visual culture, art, literature and ideas. So let’s go.

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A word from the author

11 May
by Kevin Czap

So I was at TCAF last weekend. It was great. I’m going to write more, but I need more time to recover. EDIT: Check out the report here

More importantly, did you know that tomorrow is L’s birthday? Happy birthday, L.

L

Sketch

4 May
by Kevin Czap

sketch

So my Cube compatriots here were all talking about sketching and process over twitter sometime last week, and Darryl had the good idea of devoting time to write on the subject here. This idea caught me at a time when I’ve been doing some philosophizing about process and the whole idea of practice, so unfortunately that means you will have to bear with me.
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