#the nib

[berniesrevolution]

We Have to Protect the Trees We Have Left

Without reducing the global rates of deforestation, humanity probably can’t prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

by Eleri Harris

(Continue Reading)

Thenib.com

@thenib

[sagecoffey]

I can't believe it's been 3 years since my top surgery! I maintain it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. Trans Day of Visibility is more than showing that we exist - It's proving our survival.

We will ALWAYS be here.

This comic was for The Nib's FUTURE issue.

[sam-keeper]

Hey Look At This Comic: The Nib

the kind of essay comics published in The Nib (now sadly defunct) tended to lean towards illustrative panel contents. in a lot of their comics, the images show, basically, what the text describes. it's a way of producing comics that emphasizes clarity of information delivery and tends to have some level of redundancy, with relatively straightforward metaphors. one piece in the "color" issue by Erlend Sandøy bucks that trend in really extravagant fashion. the comic goes against an awful lot of conventional advice about clarity of panel layouts, often choosing sprawling nonlinear layouts or notional strips that run from top to bottom (see the two pages above). the metaphors also come thick and fast, and although most are straightforward there's enough just happening on every page that it enforces a kind of slower exploration of the details.

like, I love the way color (fittingly) and composition work in the fourth page. the smiling bike riders in the bottom catch me, they're discordant with the primary subject of the page--the failure of green parties in coalition to enact their plans and stick to their promises. what's harder to see at a quick glance is the third bike rider who's careened straight into the smog that makes up the frame. it's obscure enough in the print that I totally missed it and put my big dumb fat fingers over it when I was taking the photo! 😩 it's a fun little trick cause it takes the frame, which I think tends even when representational to recede into the background, into another area of panel content. but more than that it brings into sharper focus the overall rhetoric of the page: that green movements have achieved mainly small areas of apparent natural recovery, pushing the deeper structural issues to the margins of discourse. those issues are, however, inescapable.

(I do think the bit about the german greens totally failing to reduce coal power but succeeding in banning nuclear power is quite funny, like gosh do you think those two facts might have some causal relationship? ha ha oops)

the sprawling nonlinearity is also really well suited to a page like the overview of the countries where green parties hold power, which IS a sprawling, informationally non-hierarchical subject. how the reader navigates this page doesn't matter, and it's nice to see someone breaking from the McCloudian/Eisnerian focus on the sequence as be all end all. more than that, though, I just think it's clever and charming! What a good looking gosh darned page! composing the globe out of foliage and having pop-out informational panels be branches with their own leaves? it's great stuff, a pretty immediately graspable visual device that's both pertinent and super flexible. there's all these interesting little details--like look at the ballots flowing out of the US like leaves stuffing that ballot box, juxtaposed with the text pointing out that first past the post means all these votes go, essentially, into the void. the image doesn't make that last bit clear, and the text doesn't spell out the leaf metaphor, it's a gestalt. that's comix, baby! awoo!

the whole coverage within this comic in particular feels like a very even handed account of the green political movement's achievements and also some of its ideological failures--again, often conveyed not directly through fairly neutral text but instantiated in the art itself. it's just one of a number of comics in this issue that feel bold and experimental, and when I first wrote this review in 2023 I suggested picking up a copy of the Color Issue. in fact, it looks like you still can--I guess that must be one issue that remains in stock. but The Nib itself is no more and most of its issues, including gems of experimental documentary comicking like this, are out of print. thankfully, on the way out founder Matt Bors decided to put the entire collection onto the Internet Archive. you can read the color issue there.

this review originally ran on Cohost, Thu, Feb 23, 2023. I am porting these reviews with minor editing over to Tumblr and eventually to my own website, because websites and periodicals may die, but comics are forever.

[wardsutton]

I feel the country is caught in the worst repeat cycle possible, and as such I'm going to be reposting my cartoons from the Trump years because sometimes drawing new ones feels incredibly redundant. Like today, leading up to tonight's acceptance speech, pundits are STILL pining for the "he'll redeem himself" narrative. Here's my cartoon for The Nib from back in 2017:

[terror-billie]

The Nib is no longer going to make new comics and they've put all their PDFs up for free, with an option to make a donation to the archive if you like.

The Nib is an online satire comic created by Matt Bors, who made the "we should improve society somewhat" comic

The comics feature a variety of authors telling their stories and making political satire.

[eastsidemags]

Tale of One-Inch Bozo Signing

East Side Mags is stoked to announce that we’ll be hosting local comic creator Taku Ward and his newest comic creation - THE TALE OF THE ONE-INCH BOZO!

About the comic: "The Tale of One-Inch Bozo" is a 40-page, all-age adventure comic about a one-inch tall boy who gets lost in a forest filled with all sorts of dangerous animals and monsters. A retelling of the Japanese folktale, "The One-Inch Samurai," read to find out what it really takes to become a samurai as a one-inch boy in a big, big world.

About the creator: Taku Ward is a cartoonist born and raised in New Jersey. He attended and graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a Bachelor's Degree in Cartooning in 2020. His comics have been published in anthologies such as Level Ground Comics' "The Greatest Hits: A Comic Mixtape," Chidrawgo's "I Like Robots," and The Nib's "Cities" issue. During his free time, Taku likes to work on his comics, go on walks, and pet his cats.

This comic is perfect for all ages including kids so bring the family, your friends and yourself and come on down and check out this amazing comic by an equally amazing creator! And support local creators and comics!

[thoughtportal]

The Nib magazines are free to download!

The Nib is wrapping up ten years of publishing and closing down at the end of August. But before we go, we are making all 15 issues of our Eisner and Ignatz award-winning magazine available for anyone to download for free. That’s more than 1,600 pages of comics, including our out of print Secrets, Nature, Food, and Color issues.

Through the month of August, you can download a PDF of any of our issues below and, if you feel like it, kick us a few bucks to help preserve the website. If you prefer print, pick up issues of the magazine from our store.

[wakewithgiggli]

[graphicpolicy]

Around the Tubes

Some comic news and reviews from around the web to start the day #comics #comicbooks

It’s a new week and we’ve got a lot coming. There’s still SDCC and Otakon coverage and so much more. Stay tuned! We’re kicking off the day with news and reviews from around the web in our morning roundup. Deadline – ‘The Incredible Hulk’ Director On The Scrapped Sequel Plans: “There Was A Lot Of Good Stuff We Were Planning” – Better than bad stuff. Kotaku – Fortnite Has A Museum Dedicated To…

[bowelfly]

Brother Ignatz trying to get out of dish duty by pretending to be a stand of reeds. again.

[wakewithgiggli]

That's an excellent comic.

why are straight white guys so obsessed with world war 2

[crookedtines]

I finally took the time to photograph my vintage dip pen nib collection, and I need to share with you all how wonderful and diverse their designs are.

These two are my favorite. Just look at them! One of them is named Gorille and the other Mephisto, but to me they're little pumpkins.

And of course you gotta love the Pinocchio nib. You get to write with the nose of a tiny guy! Just not something you get to do anymore.

[purple-ocity]

very normal non sexual hobby

[smashedpages]

Happy birthday to Matt Bors!