“Comics, in some ways, are already structurally more synesthetic than “text-only” writing, with their combination of pictures and words inducing a flowing sense of movement and sound and sometimes even smell.”
Comics
The Comics Journal No. 126, January 1989
Featuring interviews of Jaime, Gilbert, and Mario Hernandez; a review of Harvey Pekar; pages from Jose Munoz’s sketchbook.
I bought this the day it came out and it was like a bible for me for several years.
(Jaime Hernandez, THE DEATH OF SPEEDY)
reblogging mattfractionblog:
“One of my favorite pages of comics ever. That second tier– the things happening between each panel, the bravado it takes to cut like that, are even today unparalleled. (Juxtapose this with that quote I ran the other day from Jaime, frustrated about his choice to not use captions to clarify things– and yet captions here would ruin the effect and, indeed, the story’s denouement).
Every time I talk about wanting an audience of co-conspirators rather than consumers, it’s because of pages like this and the effect they had – and still have – on me.”
The Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez Interview
“Well, anyway it was that. And I used to get pooh-poohed for that, but that’s how stuff’s created. It’s an image that you just work with from scratch. Dan Clowes does that all the time, you just draw somebody and … Wilson was just a drawing, he said, and then he did a whole book from there.”
Work Hard and Be Kind:
“To work as hard as possible, and then, when you think you’re done, to work just a little bit harder. To know that if it feels “right” it may actually be completely wrong, and that if it feels “wrong” it may be completely right. There’s no governing principle to any of this except that strange instinct and feeling within yourself that you simply have to learn to trust, but which is always unreliably changing. To create something for people who have not been born yet. To pay attention to how it actually feels to be alive, to the lies you tell yourself and others. Not to overreach—but also not to get too comfortable with your own work. To avoid giving in to either self-doubt or self-confidence, depending on your leaning, and especially to resist giving over your opinion of yourself to others—which means not to seek fame or recognition, which can restrain rather than open your possibility for artistic development. With all this in mind, not to expect anything and to be grateful for any true, non-exploitative opportunity that presents itself, however modest. And to understand that being able to say “I don’t know what to do with my life” is an incredible privilege that 99% of the rest of the world will never enjoy.”
—Chris Ware
via kateoplis
from “Sentences and Paragraphs.” (1931)
“Sentences are made wonderfully one at a time. Who makes them. Nobody can make them because nobody can what ever they do see.
All this makes sentences so clear I know how I like them.
What is a sentence mostly what is a sentence. With them a sentence is with us about us all about us we will be willing with what a sentence is. A sentence is that they cannot be carefully there is a doubt about it.
The great question is can you think a sentence. What is a sentence. He thought a sentence. Who calls him to come which he did.
…What is a sentence. A sentence is a duplicate. An exact duplicate is depreciated. Why is a duplicated sentence not depreciated. Because it is a witness. No witnesses are without value.”
“Graphic Novelist, Chris Ware”
Author raises $1m to self-publish Order of the Stick webcomic book
“Unless you have the marketing department of a large corporation behind you, you’re not likely to get enough people to take a chance on your unknown property, even through Kickstarter,“ Burlew said. “On the other hand, if you give it away first, people will form their opinion of you and your work before you ask them for money. And readers are a lot more likely to spend money on things they know they like than things they hope they will like. People want to own what they love, so rather than selling access to the content, sell the permanent incarnation of it – be that a book or an ebook or a DVD or whatever. The best thing about giving away your content first is that when it comes time to sell the final product, you’re going to have almost 100% customer satisfaction. No one is going to complain that they didn’t like the story they bought, because every one of your customers knew they liked it before paying.”
Detailed Cross-section of the Kowloon Walled City by Japanese researchers led by anthropologist Kani Hioraki
“Kowloon Walled City was a largely ungoverned, densely populated settlement in Kowloon City in Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, the Walled City became an enclave after the New Territories were leased to Britain by China in 1898. Its population increased dramatically following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. By 1990, the Walled City contained 50,000 residents[1][2] within its 2.6-hectare (6.4-acre) borders. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by local triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling and drug abuse.”
“The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was once the most densely populated place on earth. And without a single architect or any oversight whatsoever, the ungoverned hive of interlinking buildings became a haven for drugs, crime and prostitution. This is perhaps why the surreal, M.C. Escher-like structure, where one couldn’t even begin to imagine what life was like, captured the interest of the Japanese.”
(link fixed 2014)
Paul Greer 