I had some questions for Tales Designed to Thrizzle creator Michael Kupperman, which he graciously answered over email. All links below were added by me. MB: In the new issue of Thrizzle, apart from the move to full color, there also seem to be fewer short strips and gags and more multi-page stories — what led to this? Is this indicative of an evolutionary shift in the comic? MK: Well, yes — the comic has to keep evolving to keep going. For this issue I had been developing these three story ideas for a while, and it just worked out…
Diaflogue: Cathy Malkasian exclusive Q&A
We're very pleased to present this interview with Cathy Malkasian conducted by contributing Mome cartoonist Robert Goodin. We typically have Fantagraphics staff members conduct these “Diaflogue” interviews, but when assigning an interviewer to talk to Cathy, I couldn't think of anyone better than Rob, who has known Cathy for years and published her first minicomics under his Robot Publishing banner. I was thrilled when Rob and Cathy agreed to have this conversation. Robert Goodin: I think you had a bit of an unusual path to comics. Why don't you tell us about your background like education and your main profession. …
Diaflogue: Charles Schneider – exclusive Q&A about Catalog No. 439
This interview originally appeared on Flog! The Fantagraphics Blog. It was conducted by Comics Journal editorial intern Christine Texeira and proofread by TCJ's Kristy Valenti and myself. Thanks to all! –Ed. Christine Texeira: This catalog is a reprinting of an original DeMoulin Bros. catalog from 1930, but there were other DeMoulin Bros. catalogs and earlier catalogs from competing companies (Pettibone, etc.) — why this catalog in particular? Charles Schneider: Catalog #439 cannot be topped. It has nearly all of the devices ever created by the company. All of the stops were pulled out and the kitchen sink was thrown in….
Diaflogue: Charles Schneider – exclusive Q&A about Catalog No. 439
This interview was conducted by Comics Journal editorial intern Christine Texeira and proofread by TCJ's Kristy Valenti and myself. Thanks to all! –Ed.
Christine Texeira: This catalog is a reprinting of an original DeMoulin Bros. catalog from 1930, but there were other DeMoulin Bros. catalogs and earlier catalogs from competing companies (Pettibone, etc.) — why this catalog in particular?
Charles Schneider: Catalog #439 cannot be topped. It has nearly all of the devices ever created by the company. All of the stops were pulled out and the kitchen sink was thrown in. It is the best and final edition of this sort of thing and it's likes will never be seen again. It was, as historian John Goldsmith has stated, the "Christmas wishbook" of the DeMoulin Brothers. They put the most insane and ultimately super-wackiest things in it after YEARS of MADCAP creating. This was their final bid at creating lovingly crafted, truly inventive, deliciously surreal, nasty and often diabolically cruel works of art that were both appealed to the highest and lowest of aesthetics all at once. Often decadent dandies make the most merciless pranksters.
CT: Can you define exactly what "burlesque paraphernalia" and "side-degree specialties" are?
CS: They are props, devices, gags and gadgets designed to assist fraternal orders on creating dramatic, pseudo-esoteric initiation (or hazing) dramas.
CT: Can you give us a little history of pranks and fraternal organizations?
CS: Fraternal organizations discovered that they could gain members by increasing the fun and outrageous drama of the initiation "rituals." It is fun to be part of a "secret" club. And after going through a humiliating prank initiation, it was all the more fun to anticipate a friend's face — when he goes through the same gauntlet of goats and shocks!
CT: Specifically: fraternal organizations, like the Freemasons, never took part in any of these pranks — who did? How were they affiliated to established fraternal organizations, like the Freemasons?
CS: Groups such as The Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of the Maccabees, The Woodmen of the World, the Knights of Pythias, The Improved Order of Redmen, The Elks, the Odd Fellows were just SOME of the groups that used the DeMoulin Bros. creations. Often, men would be members of multiple groups. Some people are just "joiners," and collect membership cards like badges. The[re] might be a member of the quite serious Freemasons, as well as groups which focus more on social interaction and networking.
CT: How were masks, wigs, beards, costumes, etc. used in "side-degree" initiations vs. traditional initiations?
CS: The wigs, costumes and beards etc. were used in the initiation skits. In fact, there are suggestions given for various costumes to be worn in connection with specific devices. Such as — wearing a donkey or tramp or "yellow kid" head while leading a man to his potential spiked and electrified doom.
Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s – Previews, Pre-Order
Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s by various artists; edited by John Benson and Greg Sadowski 320-page full-color 7.5" x 10.5" softcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-343-9 Ships in: September 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Of the myriad genres comic books ventured into during its golden age, none was as controversial as or came at a greater cost than horror; the public outrage it incited almost destroyed the entire industry. Yet before the watchdog groups and Congress could intercede, horror books were flying off the newsstands. During its peak period (1951-54) over fifty titles appeared each month….
SPX teaser
We're still working on our official Small Press Expo announcement with our signing schedule, debut books, etc. (stay tuned!), but the programming schedule has been posted on the SPX website and features Gary Groth, Jaime Hernandez, Drew Weing, Kevin Huizenga, Roger Langridge, Tom Kaczynski, Gabrielle Bell, Frank Santoro, Jon Vermilyea, a panel about (but not including) Daniel Clowes and much more. Also note that, unless you come to our offices or one of our Bookstore events, this is your only chance this year to catch Gary Groth & Kim Thompson in the same place at the same time.
Highwater Books retrospective art show in Boston
This is a can't miss show if you have the ways & means — Right Thing the Wrong Way: The Story of Highwater Books comes to Fourth Wall Project in Boston in October, featuring Megan Kelso, Jordan Crane, Kurt Wolfgang and other alumni of Tom Devlin's fabled and influential imprint before he joined D&Q. Opening reception's October 1st, 6-9 PM. Old skool. Poster image above by Marc Bell. Someone wanna pick me up the exhibition catalog?
“How Much Do You Know About Your Mutual Fund Manager?” by Michael Kupperman
Introduction by Michael Kupperman: "I'm including the rough as well as the finish because the rough has more charm… This was originally a page I pitched to a business magazine — rhymes with diplingers — on their request. The art director seemed quite shaken by it. "This is just, I don't know, really disturbing," he informed me, his voice shaky with emotion. "We're all a little freaked out." They rejected both it and the more benign, fluffy substitute I proposed — too frightened. "At that time The New Yorker was regularly shaking me down for comics, and I passed this…
Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s – Introduction & Table of Contents
Digital edition available from comiXology Introduction by John Benson Those wonderful, terrible horror comics of the 1950s are still so embedded in our popular culture that it’s hard to realize that those who actually remember reading them when they came out are now in their late sixties or early seventies. That these old comics still seem contemporary is largely due to the Entertaining Comics (EC) titles Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror and Haunt of Fear, which have been made into several feature films and a popular HBO series, and have been in print continuously for over forty years…
Daily OCD: 8/26/10
Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "There's lots to love in the latest gleeful offering from the pen of BUST's genius cartoonist-in-residence Esther Pearl Watson. …[T]he sturdily bound, sparkly cover encloses lavish, whole-page panels that allow for lingering close-up absorption of Watson's creation, which lovingly combines gross-out comic-book camp with bittersweet teenage nostalgia. […] Bursting with late-80s pop-cultural references and buoyed by the exuberance of Watson's flamboyant heroine, Unlovable, Vol. 2 is an irresistibly hilarious, tenderly drawn treat for your inner teen." – Renate Robertson, BUST • Coming Attractions: Robot 6's Michael May looks ahead to November: "The Littlest…
