Sweaty Batman

So here's another entry from the "recent happenings in the press" file, as well as a few more pictures from the "what I did on my summer vacation" files, in case anyone is keeping track.

When I was at ComicCon in July I did an interview with Brian Heater for his podcast RIYL. It was a great conversation ranging from questions of authenticity and the artist's sketchbook to how brains work to what it means to make art from grief. Also there's a parade of pedi-cabs and cosplayers going by the whole time, a few of which we describe for the listener. Peter Pan with a lightsaber? Check. Sweaty Batman? Well... he came later. More images from ComicCon below. 

Michael Deforge wasn't in costume, but he did have rabbit ears that he could move using his brain waves.

As an aside, this last picture notwithstanding, I noticed more gender-bending in the cosplay this year than I have before. There were several lady Captain Americas, a lady Han Solo and a lady Spiderman (not the same as 'Spiderwoman', that's a different character/costume, if I remember my Marvel Universe correctly). I noticed little or no crossover in the opposite direction (maybe next year?) but it was cool to see, and bodes well (maybe?) for where the culture is headed.

Happenings in the press

BOOOOOOOM just put up a little interview with me on their site and they managed to make my book look very attractive. I think I might start requiring people to gather a nice rock, some tea and a bit of crochet before reading my work. Also there has to be a bit of sun coming in the window. How good does that look? Damn. They are also giving away a couple of copies of the book to people who leave a favorite poem in the comments section. I managed to shout out some favorite people in Chicago and elsewhere, and work in a little thing about how Benjamin Franklin supposedly had to be naked to get any writing done.

•oOOo•

I'm doing a reading next Tuesday

at the Ridgedale Library in Minnetonka, Minnesota. September 29th, 7pm.

I'll be talking about Poetry is Useless and reading from some of the memoir-ish/travelogue pieces from that book and talking a bit about how my sketchbooks fit into my work, generally speaking.

Some of what happened at PFC

Here are a few images from some of what happened at PFC last month. The little wood guy that pops up here was originally drawn during an exercise by Helge Reumann, and subsequently became something like the main protagonist in the group book we all made. As seen in the last image, he made an impression (two people got tattoos of him after it was all over).

Marc Bell

Jillian Tamaki

Anders Nilsen

Marc Bell

drawing: Jillian Tamaki, Text: Marc Bell

Drawing: Jillian Tamaki, Text: me

Not sure who this is.

Helge Reumann

Top: Ines Estrada, Bottom: Nylso

Marc Bell

Antoine Marchalot

Not sure who this is

Laura Park

Jillian Tamaki

Antoine Marchalot

Antoine Marchalot

(Pierre Feuille Ciseux Is Back) Want An Amazing Artists Book? (Pierre Feuille Ciseux Is Back)

Artists Book "Hercules" from PFC3, Arc et Senans, 2011

I first did the unique artist residency that is Pierre Feuille Ciseaux in 2011, just after the publication of Big Questions. I went to a tiny village in France with 19 other artists from 6 or 8 different countries – almost all complete strangers – and worked on structured collaborative comics experiments for a week. I had no idea what to expect going in, and was probably a little skeptical. But it was amazing. Conceptual comics Summer camp in the best possible way.

In 2013 Zak Sally (another 2011 attendee) and June Misserey had the idea to bring PFC to Minneapolis, and I ended up helping make it happen, along with ChiFouMi, Barb Schulz and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. And again, it worked out better than any of us could have hoped. Well, now it's back. Artists will begin arriving a week from today. June is already on the ground.

PFC Artists Book "Some Breath King" from PFC4, Minneapolis, 2013

We've got luminaries like Charles Burns and Jillian Tamaki joining us this year along with experimentalists like Aidan Koch and underground heroes like Laura Park. The full list is below, and it again includes a slew of European artists like Dominique Goblet, Elvis Studios' Helge Reumann and one representative of the lively Mexico City comics scene, Ines Estrada.

Artists Book from mini PFC (4.5), Saint Claude, France 2014

Every iteration of PFC produces an editioned, hand-made artist's book with contributions from all of the artists. That's true again this year but for the first time we are making the book (screenprinted cover, risograph interior), along with a narrative comics screenprint available to the public. We should have been doing this all along, of course, but this year there was a slight shortfall in funding to bring some of the European artists over, and so our hand has been forced, for the better. So last week we launched a Kickstarter, which functions basically as a presale of the book and print.

Go here to find out more, to get a copy, and to give us a hand.

Here's a list of whose work will grace both the book and the print:

Josh Bayer (US)
Marc Bell (CAN)
Gabrielle Bell (US)
Charles Burns (US)
Rachel Deville (FR)
Inés Estrada (MEX)
Edie Fake (US)
Pierre Ferrero (FR)
Dominique Goblet (BE)
Sammy Harkham (US)
Aidan Koch (US)
Antoine Marchalot (FR)
Pascal Matthey (SW)
Jean-Christophe Menu (FR)
Anders Nilsen (US)
Jean-Michel / Nylso (FR)
Laura Park (US)
Helge Reumann (SW)
Zak Sally (US)
Jillian Tamaki (CAN)

The LA Times likes it

The LA Times did a really nice, perceptive piece on Poetry is Useless, here.