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Some memories from my comics workshop at SOS Kinderdorf, Bremen, 20-21 April 2017.

Seven kids (ages 10-12) attended the workshop. We kicked off with some drawing games, gradually slipped into group storytelling (starting with an abstract circle we brought to life, moving on to characters) and ended up creating little A4 comic zines on the second day. The local newspaper also paid us a surprise visit. Clown comic by Alma, created towards the end of the first day!

I really enjoy doing comics workshops. It’s fascinating to see what the kids come up with intuitively, how fast they pick up and incorporate new input and how they progress, individually, in the course of one or two days. It’s so rewarding to return home with a feeling that the kids enjoyed the experience and took pride in their achievements, and that I was able to pass something on.

But it is always a learning process for me, too, and always will be, thankfully. Preparing the workshop, interacting with the kids and discussing questions that come up for them in their own work, really forces me to reflect on my own practice, on drawing and storytelling in general, and allows me to experience different approaches and points of view, and to broaden my own perspective, not just as far as drawing comics is concerned but also on an interpersonal level. I’m really glad that I can have this experience.

I always make sure to bring a broad selection of books, too, so that they can have reading breaks whenever they like. My personal collection of comics is very international, and initially I used to regret not having a wider range of German-language (all ages) comics available. Many of the books I own are in French or English, and I have zines in Dutch, Arabic, Korean,... But I’ve found that the language barrier can actually have a very positive effect, since it leads the kids to engage more intensely with the drawings themselves and pay closer attention to style and visual storytelling. 

Special thanks to Monika and SOS Kinderdorf for the warm welcome and great support!

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Pre-production drawings and concept painting by Dorothea Holt Redmond (May 18, 1910 - February 27, 2009) for the films Shadow Of A Doubt (1943) and Gone With The Wind (1939).

Dorothea Holt was an illustrator and production designer. In 1938 she became the first woman to work in motion-picture production design. Apparently, out of resentment, male co-workers demanded that she work in a walled-off area separated from theirs.

Widely considered to be one of the most talented illustrators in the film industry in her day, Dorothea Holt contributed to many legendary film projects, including Gone With The Wind, and is credited with heavily influencing Alfred Hitchcock’s trademark German Expressionist aesthetic.

She later worked for Disney, designing portions of Disneyland and the Walt Disney World Resort. She also did interior designs for the L.A. International Airport and County Museum of Art, and was involved in the designing of the Seattle Space Needle.

In 1940 she married Harry Redmond Jr., himself a respected special effects artist who contributed to such films as King Kong, Last Days Of Pompeii and The Woman In The Window.

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Happy birthday, Scharlih! :-)

According to Wikipedia, Karl May (1842-1912) is “one of the best-selling German writers of all time with about 200 million copies worldwide.”

I drew these shortly before my tenth birthday, in April 1992. Scenes from various Karl May movies, depicting Donald Duck versions of some of his main Wild West characters: Old Shatterhand, Winnetou and Old Surehand.

Back then, I was a passionate fan of Karl May (the books, the movies, even the Native American dictionary he used, of which I hold a bound photocopy to this day) and one of my many dreams was to become a writer of Wild West stories just like him. I also wanted to become a Disney cartoonist and bring Winnetou to the Lustiges Taschenbuch series. Obviously :-)

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Äddi Roger Leiner :-( Mäin häerzlecht Bäileed senger Famill a senge Frënn!

Very sad and unexpected news: Luxembourg’s most famous comic artist Roger Leiner died yesterday, aged 61. Together with writer Lucien Czuga he was the creator of Superjhemp, the very stereotypically Luxembourgish version of Superman: Charel Kuddel, a somewhat stocky civil servant who draws his secret special powers from eating Kachkéis (a kind of spreadable cheese). I’ve included an article in English below (first link).

Leiner and Czuga were not the first to create comics in Luxembourg (see for example Péil Schlechter’s De Bim an de Jopi, 1948-1952, or the adventures of Mil by Gab Weis, 1952-1972), but Superjhemp (1988-2014) certainly put comics on the national map once and for all like no other Luxembourgish comic before it.

The (not quite so secret) special power of the Superjhemp universe (called ‘Luxusbourg’) is that it is one big caricature of Luxembourg, appealing to all ages and effectively marrying political satire and references to national history, culture, quirks, local and international celebrities and current affairs with adventure, many nods to (especially Franco-Belgian) comic culture and a very peculiar, chipper sense of humour that could be almost pythonesque in one panel and then just as unflinchingly knee-slapping in the next.

No wonder, the adventures of Superjhemp quickly achieved mainstream success and became a major inspiration to all comic artists from my generation (this may sound a little exaggerated to outsiders but it is a very small country and Superjhemp really is huge). For almost thirty years one thing I could be 100% sure about was that for Christmas my parents would get me the latest publication(s) by Leiner and Czuga.

I never met Roger Leiner personally apart from having a few of my books signed, but he always seemed like a really down-to-earth kinda guy who was just so glad that he could afford to do nothing but draw - and who was happy to draw for literally anyone. Over the years he created cartoons and comics for many a good cause, for public information campaigns, for small businesses and countless local clubs, even if a village was so small it had only enough inhabitants to form a one-man table tennis team. His work is plastered all over Luxembourg.

Even though, or rather: because (since his personal career certainly served as a catalyst), the (active) comics scene in Luxembourg is more alive and diverse than ever, the death of Roger Leiner is going to leave a huge gap.

Very sad news indeed :-(

Links: Superhero Comics / Roger Leiner @ Lambiek / RogerLeiner.lu / Superjhemp @ Wikipedia

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Anna Haifisch in Le Monde Diplomatique, 8 December 2016.

Links: Anna Haifisch / The Millionaires Club

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Some memories from the comics workshop at Deutsche Schule Hurghada (Egypt), 2-4 December 2016.

Mohamed and I really enjoyed it! Our fourteen participants (from grades 7 to 10) did so well and were such fun to work with! They created lots of comics (published in a collective zine) and over thirty six-page mini-zines! We celebrated the end of the workshop with a little group exhibition. The most exciting development, to me personally, is that the kids’ work was so inspiring to their peers that comics have since been added to the school’s arts curriculum! :-)

Many thanks to Robert Bosch Stiftung / Goethe Institut, Egypt Comix Week / Sefsafa Publishing, Deutsche Schule Hurghada and CC Red Sea for having us and being such lovely hosts!

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On my way to Cairo to meet up with Mohamed Wahba :-) We met in Erlangen this year. Now, six months later, Egypt Comix Week 3 is about to kick off and the two of us are teaming up to run a comics workshop at Deutsche Schule Hurghada. I’m really excited and curious. Whoopdeedoo!! :-)

Links: Mohamed’s Youtube Channel (Live Drawing / Sketchbook)

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The Van Pelt: Nanzen Kills A Cat (live) [LP: Tramonto - Live in Ferrara; 2016; Flying Kids / Gringo Records]

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The Van Pelt: The Young Alchemists (live) [LP: Tramonto - Live in Ferrara; 2016; Flying Kids / Gringo Records]

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Bart de Ligt (1883-1938) [from my sketchbooks/diaries; 2012]

Bartholomeus de Ligt was a pacifist/antimilitarist and anarcho-syndicalist from the Netherlands.

Throughout his life, on his personal spiritual/intellectual journey, in his tireless activism and his dialogue with contemporaries (most prominently perhaps, Aldous Huxley and Mahatma Gandhi), de Ligt concerned himself mostly with the question of violence (both horizontal and vertical, structural and immediate) and, in a specifically social-revolutionary context, the reconciliation of ends and means.

He took the view that any revolution that adopts the violent methods of the very conditions it is trying to overcome is doomed to either be defeated or fail its most essential aims.

Link: Wikipedia / The Conquest of Violence

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Stereolab: French Disko (live) [7″: French Disko / Jenny Ondioline; 1993; Duophonic Records]

Though this world's essentially An absurd place to be living in It doesn't call for total/bubble withdrawal

Thanks Stereolab for getting me through yesterday.

Link: Music video with lyrics

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Various works by Annie Pootoogook (see captions for titles).

Annie Pootoogook (1969-2016) was an artist originally from Cape Dorset, Nunavut (Canada). Unfortunately I found out about her and her work only through a post by 5centsapound announcing her untimely death. Her body was found in Rideau River, Ottawa, on 19 September 2016.

My internet research revealed a compelling artist who, in her late twenties or early thirties, had followed in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother (also very talented and interesting artists) to depict every-day scenes from her home (Inuit) community as well as very intimate personal subjects, achieved international recognition, and (very sadly) found herself struggling, in recent years, with harsh poverty, personal drama and substance abuse.

Both her work and her personal story tie into a much larger, very complex context I don’t feel entitled or informed enough to write about here in any more detail (as a white male European who has never been to North America or had personal contact with Annie’s community) - if you go on to do your own research (as I hope you will), you’re bound to figure for yourself.

Below you can find links to a thought-provoking article by Deborah Root (Inuit Art and the Limits of Authenticity), followed by a detailed article on Annie Pootoogook’s work and reception (by Nancy Campbell) on the same page, as well as a link to an online gallery called ‘Expanding Inuit’, which serves as an introduction to the work of many Inuit artists, including Annie Pootoogook’s mother, uncle and grandmother.

Links: Articles on Annie Pootoogook / Expanding Inuit Online Gallery

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The Ex: That’s Not A Virus (live) [7″: How Thick You Think / That’s Not A Virus; 2014; Ex Records]

I saw The Ex live last night. They’re one of my all-time favourite bands. The third time I’ve had the chance to catch them live in Bremen, the third time I felt totally alive and timelessly happy, the third time I danced through the whole set (minus the occasional break inflicted by the effects of my bad smoking habit). Every time they come here, I look forward to their show for months and it feels like being home, lost - as a figure of speech, while actually it feels more like: grounded, rooted deep - in the music. Thank you, The Ex! Please come back soon! I love what you do, and how you do it!

Links: The Ex / The Ex @ Bandcamp

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Es ist soweit!! :-) Am 30. September 2016 erscheint endlich Comic Culture Clash: In 20 Konflikten um die Welt, streitbare 264 Seiten dick, mit jeweils sechsseitigen Beiträgen von 40 Künstler*innen aus aller Welt, welche sich zeichnerisch mit insgesamt 20 Konflikten auseinandergesetzt haben.

Die Idee zu diesem spannenden Buch hatten die umtriebigen Tintenherzen von Moga Mobo und Epidermophytie.

Oben ein paar Bilder dazu. Das Buchcover (Illustration: Marek Rubec), zwei Fotos aus dem Entstehungsprozess (Fotos: Comic Culture Clash), sowie zwei Details aus meinem Beitrag (Linework und kolorierte Seite).

Das Buch ist bald in ausgewählten Läden gratis (jawoll!) erhältlich. Ausserdem gibt es die Möglichkeit, es gegen Erstattung der Verpackungs- und Versandkosten (das macht sympathische vier Euro!) bequem zu sich nach Hause zu bestellen.

Ich bin megaglücklich und ein bisschen stolz und sehr dankbar, dass ich auch einen Beitrag zu diesem Band beisteuern konnte! Vielen Dank für diese tolle Idee, die liebe und geduldige Begleitung, und die ganze Arbeit bis zur Veröffentlichung!

Die Veröffentlichungsparty zum Buch startet am 30. September um 18 Uhr im taz-Café in Berlin und zieht anschließend weiter in die Galerie Knoth & Krüger.

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Aerial Boundaries by Andy Rench. [made for Frank Santoro’s Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2016] (re-blogged from andrewrench)

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Bad Smell by Fion Fitzgerald. [made for Frank Santoro’s Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2016] (re-blogged from fionfitzgerald)

So many entries this year, pretty amazing! Here’s the full list, well worth digging through:

$100 by Katelyn Haugdahl (Blame it on the) Night Moves by Janne Marie Dauer ‘Coach?’ by Tanya Guryel 2 Frogs on a Log by Alex Williams 42 by Alexey Sokolin A Boy’s Guide to Wilderness Survival by Ron Hotz A POOL by Amy Wang A Quick and Easy Guide to Finding a Husband by Hannah Kaplan A Tale by mLenaghan Abandoned by Preston Pettigrew Aerial Boundaries by Andy Rench All Imp a Days Work by Jeff Schwartzbauer Any Mood From the Feel Cart by Joan Reilly APPLE EXPLODES by John McGuire Olsen At the Base of the Statue of God by Drew Lerman Bad Smell by Fion Fitzgerald Bananas by Amanda Kay Baker Beauty is Eveywhere by Corey Bechelli Between Water and Air by Jason Hart Bloom by Evan M Cohen Body Work by Harry Deane Willmott Breach by R. Adams Carbon by Mike Shea Carnivalence by Graeme Shorten Adams Carrion Cheese by Jayro Lantigua Catnip Mice by ZEKM Cedar Grove Community Hall Circa 2002 by Josh Hicks Cock of the Walk by Erik Nebel Cold Sands by James and Adam Norfolk Congress by Oliver East Crazy Straw by Paul Daniel CYMKA by Matthew McDaniel Death Mask by Ioan Morris Diamond Comix by Danny Ceballos Did it hurt… by Mark Wang Dim Sum by li xu (disqualified) Disappoint by Jonx Rainer (disqualified) Dr. Dracula by Kalen Knowles (disqualified) Dream Sequence by Nicole Johnson Dry Season by Heron Prado Enjoy by Spencer Hicks Extragalactic by Luke Howard Eyes Out On Stalks by Karneeleus eyes wide shut // the intangible beauty of dreaming by Dennis Stratmann falling by Phillip Dokes First Performance by Ann Lewis FISH IN A TUB by Serene Lusano for a lack of better words by Cameron Nicholson Frisky in a Godless Universe by JOMM Frog.TV by Mateus Gonzales Fulfillment by Veronika Hanáková Gathering Dust by Wesley Russell (disqualified) GLGLGL by Pablo Selín glos·so·la·li·a by Louis Deux Half the Fun by Chris Anderson (disqualified) Hammer Lock by John Shields Heavy Mettle by Nicole Pergue & Jackie Kirby Hibiscus Vigilate by Nicolás Méndez Palacios I Called You My Peony by Tor Brandt I Got a Job by Jillian Fleck I know it’s not about me, but I don’t want to die. by Shee Phon I Love Trees by Rui Soares Imperative by Nilas RD In The Grass by Reilly Hadden Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow by Sienna Cittadino Kiddie Pool Bummer by Alicia Rose Obermeyer Kissing Scrapes by John Hexer La Petite Mort by Guarazú lo priestess by Courtney Loberg MAD DOG by Michael Kennedy Man in a Furnished Cell By Jon Aye MANNI by Daniel Isles mister poppers came running by emil brahe MOON CHILD by Carlos Bergfeld Muse by Alex Idei (deleted) Mute by Jesse Rimler Mxgical Gurl Xhristina by Tommy Kempen My Only Remembered Dream by Sam Meister New Beginnings by Ephameron Night Swimming by Shannon Durbin NO COPS by Alisha Rae Notes for Improvement by Mark Wang Oasis by Cameron Arthur Odds by R. Feiereisel Ojoroido by Matt Aucoin Old Friend by Kimball Anderson Patience by Shannon Durbin (disqualified) Pest, written by Zach Buil and drawn by Robert Rusch Post Sappy Update by Patrick Allaby RECOVERY by Elisa Mask reflection by lina madöry Respawn by Amanda Hamilton Sapa by Brandon Meged Self by Mariana Yatsuda Ikuta Shell Creature by Faith Wiley Shellacking by Jackson J Edge Soap Star Joe by Juan Fernandez Sombra by Sebastian Valbuena Splitting Heirs by Finn Jordan stashed by Rick Chillot Static by Jakob Streiff SUB  OMNI  TROPICA by daniel tuucaan starflower (disqualified) Summer Session by Steven Arenius Summer’s Cauldron. Story by Jason Das (disqualified) Śūnyatā by Niall Breen Super by Oliver East Sweet Success by Alexis Johnson Swimmer’s Dilemma by Casey Kolodin The Blue Framework by Louis Deux and Graymoon The Child by Cesar Erhard The Devourer of Kingdoms by Carla Acácio the Eating of the Wolves by Ward Zwart The Grass Eater by Emy Peyret The Investigation by Graham Mason The Kind Of Cat I Am by Lauren Flinner The Last Time I Saw Tate by Lisa Wilkinson The Legend of the Nipple Story by Devon (age 27) THE MORPHOGENESIS by Dana The Rialto Variations by Louis Deux The Savage State by Alice Blank The Story About The Succulent, The Suspect, The Sailor, The Ants And Me by Ronja Paffrath The Sword of Souls by Ryan Holgersen The Tontine Ten by Sara Sarmiento The Toxic Land by Maya Templer Twenty Eight by Drew Lerman untitled by Louise Aleksiejew Urania’s Atelier by Rachel M Thornton VERTICAL ZERO by Lucas S. Teixeira Vintage Violence by Paul Vueltas by ErzE Waiting Room by Ghadi Ghosn Warsan the Warrior by Hugh Madden Where am I? by stc019 Where Does Your Money Go? by Stella Salumaa White Bones by Clarissa Hart (disqualified) X by Shanita Wannapat

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Four pieces from Sally’s Surprise (series) by Jerry Moriarty: Tree-Pee, Bus, Marie, Laundry [2000-2004, oil on linen, 46″ x 60″].

“The girl paintings I call Sally's Surprise. She is me at age 12 in 1950. During those pre Playboy days puberty came as a huge surprise. Doing me at age 12 from memory felt phony, so I invented Sally. She forced me to think less as a male which is a relief at my age. None of the events actually happened but parts did.”

Jerry Moriarty (*1938) describes himself as a “paintoonist”. His work has been published in RAW, various comic anthologies and by Buenaventura Press.

Links: Interview with Chris Ware (2009) / Exhibition Catalogue (2004)