#kevin czap

[hesfrombarcelona]

White Bird by R. J. Palacio

Genre:

This is a historical fiction graphic novel (historical fiction category).

Target Age Group:

White Bird is intended for middle grade readers, generally ages 9-14.

Summary:

White Bird is a story within a story. The narrator is the grandmother of Julian, who readers might remember as the bully from the author's bestselling novel Wonder. Julian's grandmother tells him the story of how she survived the Nazi occupation of France with the help of a classmate's family, who hid her in the hayloft of their barn.

Justification:

White Bird received a starred review from Kirkus, was named a New York City Public Library Best Book of the Year, and was "highly recommended" in a review from the Jewish Book Council (Schnieder, 2019).

Evaluation:

For this review I will be evaluating the characters, illustrations and content.

Characters

The main characters, Julian, his grandmother, and her schoolmate/rescuer, all show change and personal growth over the course of the story. Supporting characters are generally flatter, depicted as either good or bad, with little nuance or complication about them. The main characters are also close in age to the intended audience of the book, and dealing with typical issues for their age. Even with the dramatic events which provide the backdrop for the main characters' personal stories, their everyday emotions and struggles are still taken seriously and treated with respect, which may help young readers to see themselves in the characters.

Illustrations

Kevin Czap's illustrations are beautiful and colorful, conveying great emotion through relatively simple art. The monotony of the main character's daily life is conveyed through repetitive sketches depicting her stark hiding place. As the setting shrinks, closeups of the character's faces lend an almost claustrophobic feeling to the story. These scenes are contrasted with dream or fantasy sequences with beautiful, vibrant illustrations, letting the reader share in the character's feelings of reprieve and momentary escape.

Content

In an interview with Anjali Enjeti, author R. J. Palacio explained one of her reasons for writing White Bird, “We need an age-appropriate curriculum in school that highlights how people are singled out and scapegoated and must do more to introduce students to historical events—the good and the bad." (Enjeti, 2019). This book tells the story of the holocaust from a victim-centered viewpoint, and on a level appropriate for middle grade students. The end of the book also draws parallels from history to current events and encourages readers to engage with causes they believe in. This story could provide a great opening for discussions about some difficult and complex subjects including racism, disability, and political protest.

While White Bird is written for middle grade aged children, it is written and illustrated well enough to be enjoyable and engaging for adults too. The content is not graphic but due to the subject matter, children reading it might benefit from processing it with a teacher or adult family member.

References

Enjeti, A. (2019, October 1). Wonder Author R.J. Palacio Discusses Her Graphic Novel of the Holocaust, White Bird. Kirkus. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/wonder-author-rj-palacio-discusses-her-graphic-nov/

Palacio, R. J. (2019). White Bird (K. Czap Illus.). Knopf.

Schnieder, E. (2019, October 10). Review: White Bird: A Wonder Story. Jewish Book Council. https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/white-bird-a-wonder-story

[centerforcartoonstudies]

http://kck.st/2J2jVft

[counterintuitivecomics]

I did the OC Meme!

Big thanks to @sev-elbows​ for including my character Shifter in their version of the meme! I really enjoying going through my comics and picking who to draw (so much so that I kind of overdid it and hurt my hands, ha) and I hope I did them all justice. C: I officially release people from any obligation to draw their own though!

Here are all the credits, going from top to bottom in columns from left to right:

Iris from Darryl Ayo’s comic “Little Garden” @littlegardencomics​

Bobby Dal from Mimi Chrzanowski’s issue of Ley Lines, “Made with Love in Hell” @bbytown​

Agony from Gwendolyn @skeletonpendeja​‘s webcomic “Nothing Girl” @nothinggirlcomic​

Jane Doe by Sara Freya aka Sev @sev-arts​

Rosie and Isabelle from Juniper’s webcomic “Close Your Eyes Look at the Mountains” @cyelatm​

The unnamed protagonist from April Malig’s comic “Questions of Space Travel” @aprilmalig​

Kimberley Yu from gray Folie’s webcomic “Fresh Meat” @pluralthey​

Diana from Casey Nowak’s comic “Diana’s Electric Tongue” @caseyboots​

The unnamed protagonist from Karen Charm’s comic “Te Gusta Así” in their book Fütchi Perf @czapbooks​

[graphicpolicy]

Review: Jacky Ha-Ha: My Life is a Joke

Jacky Ha-Ha: My Life is a Joke is a solid tale of theater and summer friendships #Comics #ComicBooks

Jacky talks about the year on the Shore when she started to appreciate Shakespeare, lost her job, and ruined so many friendships. By: James Patterson, Chris GrabensteinAdapted by: Adam RauArt: Betty C. TangColor: Kevin Czap Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below. Amazon…

[torontocomics]

DEBUTING IN TCAF 2018 - FOUR YEARS PT. 1 by Kevin Czap

Betty Yaris finally gets her ears pierced at the age of 32. Still buzzing from the experience, she introduces us to her circle of friends in Providence, RI and their transcendent love. The first part of a new short story by Kevin Czap about friendship and getting older.

Exhibiting Creator: Kevin Czap Publisher: Czap Books Price: $10 CAD

[czapbooks]

Czap Books at SPX 2017 - Table L1

It’s that beautiful time of year again - the Small Press Expo in Bethesda MD is this weekend, 9/16 and 9/17. And once again, Czap Books will be there, this time right at one of the many entrances, at table L1.

We’re snug up with some other amazing publishers, seating directly next to Retrofit Comics (with Laura Knetzger and Bug Boys #15 in tow - by the way, did you read this interview yet?) and closeby to Koyama Press (who have an unbeatable release slate this weekend at M1-2), Silver Sprocket (Table J1), and our good friends/co-publisher Grindstone Comics (Table K2, hi L!). Liz Suburbia will be hanging out for the weekend, flitting between the various collectives and groups she calls home (Out of Step Arts is back in the corner again at W44-46)

Our big debut book is the 12th issue of Ley Lines, “Maqsood-I-Kainaat” by Shreyas R. Krishnan. This beautiful comic is a reflection on the music of Sufi singer Abida Parveen and how it awakens the spiritual flame in an atheistic artist. Not to be missed! It’ll be joining the rest of the 2017 Ley Lines releases by Eric Kostiuk Williams and Tommi Parrish, as well as the other issues we still have in stock (There will be some over at table K2, as well).

This is also the first opportunity for SPX goers to grab copies of Jessi Zabarsky’s remarkable Witchlight, so please plan accordingly.

You may remember that one year when we had copies of Fütchi Perf before it sold out? Well we’re happy to say that Uncivilized Books (Table H1) has just printed a beautiful new edition - offset and perfect bound with french flaps (!) - and it will make it’s first appearance at the show. Be on the lookout for news about Kevin Czap’s (that’s me) signing times.

Not only is my book available again, but I also have the amazing honor to join Carta Monir, Jeremy Sorese, and Rio Aubrey Taylor on a panel moderated by L Nichols talking about Genderfluidity, Technology, and Futurism. The talk will be on Saturday at 3pm in the White Flint Auditorium, click here for the full details

All in all, it’s going to be an amazing show, and it’s just around the corner! See you there, my friends ♥

[charmgardens]

I'm going on a little tour to share my joy over the Uncivilized Books release of Fütchi Perf!

Things kick off on Wednesday, September 27th at the fabled Bluestockings Bookstore in NYC for the book release event. I'm very very excited to be hosted there, and I really hope I see a lot of familiar and unfamiliar faces there.

Then I'll be doing a reading at Copacetic Comics in Pittsburgh the next day, September 28th. Pittsburgh plays large in my first moments of being a part of this comics community, so it feels great to go back.

Over the weekend, I'll be camped out in Columbus for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC), returning to the show that helped begin this current chapter.

On the way back home, I'll have a reading at Gutter Pop Comics in Buffalo on 10/3 - the great shop owned and operated by good friend and publisher Stephen Floyd.

After a little break, I'll get to go home and read at Ada Books in Providence on Friday the 13th (in October, no less). Rumor has it this will be a double bill, shared with Mickey Z.

Again, I'm so excited about this trip, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all ♥

Here are the dates for the search engines:

9/27 - Bluestockings Books, NYC

9/28 - Copacetic Comics, Pittsburgh

9/30 & 10/1 - CXC, Columbus

10/3 - Gutter Pop Comics, Buffalo

10/13 - Ada Books, Providence

There will be a few more things to talk about down the road, so stay tuned!

[madeleinejubileesaito]

It's nearly November, and that means it's time for #30dayscomics !

How to do it: ⁠ ⁠

1. Choose a set of formal constraints:⁠ ⁠

- Number & layout of panels (1 panel? 2 panels stacked? 2 panels side by side? 3 panels? 4 panels as a swipe through on instagram? 4 panels as a cube?)⁠ ⁠

- Medium (Pencil? Ink? Digital? Arrangements of emoji over photos on snapchat? Collage?) ⁠ ⁠

- Topic or subject (Inspired by a favorite album or sacred text? Written as letters to a friend or lover? A narrative story?)⁠ ⁠

- Text (Will there be text? No text? Will you write it yourself? Find a collaborator? Use found text? e.g. Kevin Czap did #30dayscomics a few years ago using only lyrics from one Joni Mitchell album and I loved that.)⁠ ⁠

- Color palette (This one is important—the fewer the better.)⁠ ⁠

- Time or environmental constraints (Will you spend a certain amount of time on each comic? 30 minutes? An hour? Will you draw only in your bedroom? Only after meditating? etc.)⁠ ⁠

2. Make a comic every day for 30 days for the month of November (unless you don't)⁠ ⁠

3. Follow your constraints (unless you don't)⁠ ⁠ See you soon! 👋🏻

#30dayscomics created by @madinkbeard 💛

[inkbrick]

All good things must come to an end. We at Ink Brick have poured our hearts into the journal series since we first had the idea for it in 2013. Since then we’ve published over 800 pages of original comics poetry by more than 100 creators. I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished, but as our energies are pulled in various directions by career changes, professional opportunities, and growing families, it’s time to put the series on hiatus. 

I can tell you that we’re going out with a bang—INK BRICK no. 10 is 136 full-color pages of original work by some of the most exciting practitioners of comics poetry working today. 

Debuting November 2 at Comic Arts Brooklyn. In stores November 8. Available for preorder now. 

Full contributor list:

Kimball Anderson Alyssa Berg Warren Craghead Kevin Czap Allie Doersch Amanda Green Thomas Hamlyn-Harris Ileana Haberman-Ducey John Hankiewicz Tom Hart Emma Jensen Keren Katz Mario Klingemann Laurel Lynn Leake Alexander Rothman Daryl Seitchik Alexey Sokolin Bianca Stone Noemi Charlotte Thieves Noel Suthers Paul K. Tunis Andrew White Madeleine Witt

[tonybreed]

Wow! Look at all those little pink stars! Each one is a table where you will find queer artists and/or queer stories. (Dang, comics has gotten real queer, folks.)

It’s also exciting to me that SPX has 4 LGBTQ special guests this yes: Molly Ostertag, Lawrence Lindell, Ngozi Ukazu, and… drumroll… REBECCA SUGAR.

Here’s the list of who these fine people all are:

Exhibitors: Alecia Gatlin W13 Amanda Lafrenais  W72-73 Andrea Shockling W46B Archie Bongiovanni J12A April Malig W62B Beth Barnett K4A Blue Delliquanti  W74 Britt Sabo A14 C Spike Trotman (Iron Circus, Smut Peddler) W72-73 Carey Pietsch  E7A Carta Monir N1A Cathy G. Johnson  N6B E Jackson E4B Ed Luce N14 Danielle Corsetto W29 Evan Dahm D8 Haley Boros W9A HamletMachine K7 Hazel Newlevant J12B Io Clast J1 Isabella Rotman J11B Jade Armstrong H13B Jayme Brodie D11A Jess Fink W28 Jon Mastantuono G7A Josie Breck W5A Joyana McDiarmid  C5B Kate Leth W31-33 Kendra & Kat w48 Kevin Czap J13B Kevin Jay Stanton N7 L Nichols N3-4  Laura Terry K5 Lawrence Lindell M13B Lora Merriman W17A M. R. Trower H14B M. Sabine Rear W13 (with the Soft Skills Comics Collective) Madison Bacon D12A Maia Kobabe I5A Matt Lubchansky W34 Megan James F4B Molly Ostertag W9B Nechama K7 Ngozi Okazu W6 Penina Gal H5 (with One Percent Press) Rachel Dukes J3B Sage Coffee J13A Shoona Brownig C4 Soltian K7 Stephanie Hovden C7A Sunmi F3A Taneka Stotts I1A Victor Martins H13B

Special Guest, not exhibiting: Rebecca Sugar

Panelist, not exhibiting: Sara L. Jewell

Walking around: Jared Axelrod

I can’t be at SPX this year myself, but my heart will be there, and I’ll see you all in 2019. HUGS!

[centerforcartoonstudies]

COMICS MOM: 

Three Questions with 2017-18 CCS Fellow Kevin Czap!

Kevin Czap, creator of Fütchi Perf, founder of Czap Books, and winner of the CXC ‘16 Emerging Talent Award took the time to answer a few of our questions about life as a CCS Fellow so far:

Q: How's life at CCS so far? Have White River Junction and the school inspired/delighted/challenged you in any unexpected ways?

KC: Life is going well at CCS! It feels fulfilling to be in such a comics-soaked environment after focusing more on other aspects of my life while I lived in Providence (not that I ever strayed far from my beloved comics haha). I probably should have predicted feeling this way, but I have been a little surprised at how quickly I've developed familial, should I say motherly, feelings about the whole crew here. I definitely feel tender about the class of first years and have been learning first-hand why everyone loves the individual faculty members. I'm most thankful for the studio and storage space the school has given me access to - I can't remember the last time I had so much space, it really feels great to have different places to go when it's time to work! Also I've been sketching so much whenever I can attend a Visiting Artist talk. As far as challenges go, just missing people back home, but I knew I'd feel like that. Q: Is there a certain quality that makes a Czap Book? What are you looking for in the books you make and the books you publish? 

KC: There's a visual point of view and a commitment to a specific artistic voice, I think that's the most succinct way I've been able to put it. I came up in comics at a time where I saw a conversation going on about "fusion," or work that combined various comics traditions from around the world, and that informs some of what we look to publish. I think most if not all of the artists we work with are students of comics, so to speak. It also matters a lot to me who is making the comics - there needs to be a mutual trust in place, and everyone's heart should be in the right place. I want whatever we contribute to comics to help move things in a better direction. Q: Can you tell us what you're working on during your Fellowship year?

KC: I'm working on tempering my expectations! Half kidding - I have a big, paid, colorist gig that I'm working on. I'm also making time to work on a medium-length comic about friendship that I'm calling "Four Years." There are a few other mini-projects I'm taking on in addition to making sure I take full advantage of this opportunity!

Visit Kevin’s Patreon for updates on Four Years and other new projects. Their book Fütchi Perf is available now from Uncivilized Books. Also check out Kevin’s interview with The Beat!

[secretacres]

SUNDAY: A Better World - the Queer Comics of L. Nichols and Kevin Czap

Finally, we present a logical reason to love New York. You need Flocks (which is kind of sold out already). We all need as much Kevin Czap as possible. The world needs the Bureau of General Services Queer Division, and all our fam needs the city’s LGBT Center. We are ecstatic to provide all this, this Sunday, with L. Nichols and Kevin Czap reading from their latest comics, including Ley Lines, which they make together. Between the likes of Flocks and Fütchi Perf, these guys are all about finding your way home and making a better world. In fact, the world depends on you showing up because it’s hell out there right now. The fun starts on Sunday at 3:00PM sharp, at the Bureau of General Services Queer Division in the LGBT Center. Get the deets right here. See you in a few...

[smashpages]

Slate announces 2018 Cartoonist Studio Prize shortlists

The Slate Book Review and the Center for Cartoon Studies have announced the nominees for its annual Cartoonist Studio Prize, which awards $1,000 to the creator of one print comic and one webcomic.

Slate began the program in 2012 in conjunction with the Center for Cartoon Studies. Previous winners include Noelle Stevenson for Nimona, Chris Ware for Building Stories, Taiyo Matsumoto for Sunny, Winston Rowntree for Watching, Carol Tyler for Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand My WWII Veteran Father, and last year’s winners, Eleanor Davis for Libby’s Dad and Christina Tran for “On Beauty.”

The shortlists for both prizes are:

Print:

The Academic Hour by Keren Katz. Secret Acres. The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. Abrams ComicArts. Boundless by Jillian Tamaki. Drawn and Quarterly. “Breath, Plucked from Heaven��� by Shivana Sookdeo in Elements: Fire. Beyond Press. “Gaylord Phoenix No. 7” by Edie Fake. Perfectly Acceptable. Language Barrier by Hannah K. Lee. Koyama Press. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris. Fantagraphics. One More Year by Simon Hanselmann. Fantagraphics. Tenements, Towers & Trash by Julia Wertz. Black Dog & Leventhal. You & a Bike & a Road by Eleanor Davis. Koyama Press.

Webcomic:

“A Fire Story” by Brian Fies. Agents of the Realm by Mildred Louis. “A GoFundMe Campaign Is Not Health Insurance” by Ted Closson. Leaving Richard’s Valley by Michael DeForge. Neighbors by Christina Tran. “The Price of Acceptance” by Sarah Winifred Searle. Reported Missing by Eleri Harris “Somebody Told Me” by Jesse England. “Whose Free Speech? ” by Ben Passmore. Wonderlust by Diana Nock.

The nominees were selected by Slate’s Jacob Brogan; the faculty and students of the Center for Cartoon Studies, represented by Kevin Czap; and this year’s guest judge, Andrew Farago of San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum.

[czapbooks]

Little Teeth coming from Czap Books

Preorder Nov 1 – Nov 20

We are so excited to kick off our 2019 Spring season with Little Teeth, the new graphic novel from the Seattle-based team of artist Rory Frances and writer Jae Bearhat. Little Teeth tracks the relationships and struggles of a group of young queers living in the fictional Pacific Northwest city of Woodlands. Told as a string of vignettes and anecdotes, the reader follows the various subgroups of friends and lovers as they interact with each other and do their best to grow. As serious as that may sound, their vulnerabilities are covered up with humor, and it’s very easy to laugh even as we relate to their struggles.

Little Teeth will be released generally in April 2019 in time for convention season, with plans to be sold at MoCCAFest, TCAF, CAKE, and more. In anticipation of the release, Little Teeth will be available to pre-order online beginning November 1st through November 20th, 2018 at czapbooks.com/product/little-teeth. Pre-ordered copies are expected to ship as early as December 2018.

Little Teeth was first published online in installments on Hazlitt from Fall 2015 to Summer 2016. According to Czap Books publisher Kevin Czap, the comic was noteworthy for the “humor, inventiveness, and humanity” in its depiction of the ensemble cast. Bearhat explains, "Little Teeth has been a labor of love, but specifically a collaborative one, a work born intentionally through the back-and-forth between us. I feel like the process is essential to the stories we wanted to tell, stories that are told at the intersection of multiple narratives.” “Little Teeth is our baby,” says Frances. “We put a lot of ourselves into it and we wanted to create a world with queer characters that feels really lived in."

On choosing to publish with Czap Books, Frances cites “they really care about their artists and what they're trying to put out into the world,” while Bearhat adds “I’m glad that we are working with a publisher who understands the joy of communal creation, joining a library of other works that celebrate inter-dependency, community, cooperation.” The Czap Books edition includes the entirety of these installments, retouched and reformatted for print, as well as an additional 80 pages of story.

Preorder Now!

Praise for Little Teeth

“Little Teeth is a total feast. It’s warm, biting, devastating in both hilarity and realness, raucous and sweet like a hard-partying old friend. Jae Bearhat and Rory Frances have brought to life a lush and lovingly rendered world of gay antics that is as comical as it is compassionate.” -- Sophia Foster-Dimino, author of Sex Fantasy

“Little Teeth pulls you in with its impeccable grasp on how different personalities work and banter that never feels contrived. The ongoing glimpses of the lives (both outward and inner) of these critters will have you feeling their embarrassments, yearnings, and knowing all their inside jokes.” -- Jen Lee, author of Garbage Night, Thunderpaw

“Some of the juiciest, messiest, realest gay animals that I’ve ever seen.” -- Robert Yang, author of The Tearoom

About the Artists

Rory Frances is a Seattle-based cartoonist and illustrator, and is the author of the critically acclaimed webcomic Boys Are Slapstick. roryfrances.com

Jae Bearhat is a Seattle-based writer and is Editor-in-Chief of the video game and culture website ZEAL. jbearhat.itch.io

About Czap Books

Czap Books is dedicated to publishing comics that celebrate the poetic, the personal, and the weird. Their goal is to support and nurture a growing family of artists who pull from a wide net of influence and explore what the comics medium is capable of. They’ve published a collection of the Ignatz-nominated Bug Boys, work by Liz Suburbia and Jessi Zabarsky, as well as co-publishing the Ignatz-nominated Ley Lines series with Grindstone Comics.

[sneevish]

From “White Bird” by R.J. Palacio, inked by Kevin Czap. If you need a good cathartic cry, this #YA #graphicnovel set in WWII will do the trick! https://www.instagram.com/p/B-ZLv2VH3Nk/?igshid=18rg4ysra4jh4

[lgbtq-spx]

It’s the official LGBTQ@SPX list for 2017!

Check out these creators!

Amanda Lafrenais W72-73

Anna Archie Bongiovanni I2B

April Malig F14

Audrey Redpath E9

Barbara Perez E5

Bitmap Prager C11

Blue Delliquanti W72-73

Bob Glasscock I3A

Carey Pietsch E7A

Carta Monir E6

Danielle Corsetto W29

E Jackson E5A

Ed Luce N14

Evan Dahm D8

Hazel Newlevant H14A

Isabella Rotman I2B

Jade Lee W6

Jess Fink W28

Jon Drawdoer Mastantuono G7A

Joyana McDiarmid H12A

Kat Sheldon W48

Kate Leth W31-33

Kendra Kountz W48

Kevin Czap L1

Kevin Jay Stanton N7

Kori Michele G5

L Nichols K2

Matt R. Trower H13B

Melanie Gillman G5

Miles Cook M11B

MK Reed N1

Pan K10

Penina Gal D13

Rachel Dukes J2

Sabin Cauldron F10A

Sara Goetter E7B

Simon Hanselmann W56-61

Sunmi J13

Tillie Walden G3

Tony Breed I3B

Tyler Cohen I3B

And these publishers!

Fantagraphics W56-61

Iron Circus W72-73

Koyama M1-2

MASSIVE GOODS M13

Secret Acres N3-4