"The Next Day" is the latest project from Canadian multimedia upstart Pop Sandbox, the guys behind last year's graphic novel (and soon to be documentary) Kenk. That project was fortunate enough to have as its subject matter a highly controversial bike-thief/convict/urban legend, Igor Kenk, which helped it generate a truck-load of publicity.
Their latest project tackles the somewhat weightier (and perhaps harder-to-sell) subject matter of suicide. What really caught my attention about The Next Day graphic novel is that it will feature art by John Porcellino, the legendary minimalist cartoonist behind King-Cat Comics (which have been collected as King-Cat Classix, Map of My Heart, Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man and Perfect Example). The book itself looks great, with Porcellino's simple line-work paired nicely with the first-person accounts of depression and attempted suicide. (Here's an excerpt.)
But what really perked up my ears was a trailer I just saw for an "interactive documentary" that Porcellino has apparently worked on, that expands on the subject matter in the book. It's a blissful, haunting little clip that brings John's art to life perfectly:
The Next Day - Trailer from Pop Sandbox on Vimeo.
Looks great, no? I want to say this is the first time his art has been animated, but that just seems wrong. Surely this can't be the first time?
The Cultural Magpie: the blog of writer Brad Mackay
Monday, 21 March 2011
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Michael DeForge gets animated
I don't know what it is with animation lately, but I've been stumbling over some odd stuff in the past week or so. Like this disturbo bit of animation from Toronto tour-de-force cartoonist Michael DeForge. Set to an old Elvis track, I think the characters in this have something to do with Wet Cough, his fine 2010 mini-comic. I can't get enough of this guy:
Michael is doing something special for this year's Doug Wright Awards that I can't really reveal yet --but I am really excited about.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Batman Anime circa 1960 (plus "Batboy and Rubin")
No other title can really describe this inspired bit of animation from the under-appreciated kids' cartoon Batman: The Brave and the Bold. What other big-budget show would have the gumption to: 1) introduce Bat-Mite as a recurring character and 2) then use him as a way of exploring different incarnations of Batman?
In this case, that means they made an animated version of "Bat-Boy and Rubin", the classic Mad magazine parody written by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder, and -- AND -- an animated version of Jiro Kurwata's 1960s Japanese manga interpretation of the Caped Crusader (which features his Lord Death Man villain character).
It's pretty remarkable, and a lot of fun to watch (while it lasts) on YouTube:
Sunday, 30 January 2011
The many (weird) faces of Curt Swan's Superman
If you know me at all, you know I like my superhero comics old and boring. As in Wayne Boring, Kurt Schaffenberger or, best of all, Curt Swan. Thanks to those Blue Ribbon cheapo reprints of old DC comics that were around in the 1970s, these guys defined Superman for me, as he should be: lantern-jawed, broad-chested and incapable of expressing human emotion.
There was something about the 1950s-era Superman of Swan that was almost right. Just-about-perfect, yet somehow charmingly stilted. So imagine how pleased I was as I was flipping through this behemoth of a book called DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle and came a cross this wonderfully odd two-page spread of what looks to be character studies (or maybe an artists' guide?) of Kal-El by Mister Curt Swan himself:
What a great find, right? More than two dozen head shots of Supes in various states of awkwrad emotional distress. But, like any good 1950s Superman artist, some of the emotions are hard to parse.
Take this one for instance:
Is the Last Son of Krypton shocked here? Surprised? Without a story or word balloons, the mind struggles to pin it down, right?
Then there's this pair:
Is that a knowing jovial wink, or something more -- ewww -- flirty? GROSS! And what's he doing on the right?? I odn;t even want to think about what's happening off frame....
But my fave head shots of the bunch has to be this trio:
I know that first look! That's the unmistakable look of someone who's just eaten at a Taco Bell, Number Two could be a whole host of things, but it looks to me like the Man of Steel's heart is getting just a little crushed (Jimmy Olsen probably got a real job in a better city). Then there's that last one, which is probably supposed to be Supes soaking up the life-giving rays of Earth's yellow sun. Yes.
Er.....
Best not to ponder this one too much. I imagine Swan didn't, so you shouldn't either.
What was my point again? Yes, Curt Swan is the Greatest Superman Artist Of All Time, Period; in part because his art was just slightly off. He was 90 percent there most of the time, but there were plenty of times that Big Blue just looked kind of odd. Which is a better batting percentage of most artists these days, who seem to have two or three standard expressions. Maybe this was intentional! Perhaps Swan figured that Superman was an alien, and would therefore never be fully at ease with humans. Thus, the weird expressions. (It coulda happened!)
Whoever your favourite Superman artist is you owe it to yourself to give this book a look. It takes 75 years of DC Comics history and spends a few pages on each exploring the important characters, events and creators that marked that particular period. (It starts with New Fun #1 in February 1935.) As it suggests in the intro, flip to the year you were 13 and read those pages first -- since this is supposedly the age that most kids get into superheroes.
It's a hell of a lot of fun -- and worth a look.
There was something about the 1950s-era Superman of Swan that was almost right. Just-about-perfect, yet somehow charmingly stilted. So imagine how pleased I was as I was flipping through this behemoth of a book called DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle and came a cross this wonderfully odd two-page spread of what looks to be character studies (or maybe an artists' guide?) of Kal-El by Mister Curt Swan himself:
What a great find, right? More than two dozen head shots of Supes in various states of awkwrad emotional distress. But, like any good 1950s Superman artist, some of the emotions are hard to parse.
Take this one for instance:
Is the Last Son of Krypton shocked here? Surprised? Without a story or word balloons, the mind struggles to pin it down, right?
Then there's this pair:
Is that a knowing jovial wink, or something more -- ewww -- flirty? GROSS! And what's he doing on the right?? I odn;t even want to think about what's happening off frame....
But my fave head shots of the bunch has to be this trio:
I know that first look! That's the unmistakable look of someone who's just eaten at a Taco Bell, Number Two could be a whole host of things, but it looks to me like the Man of Steel's heart is getting just a little crushed (Jimmy Olsen probably got a real job in a better city). Then there's that last one, which is probably supposed to be Supes soaking up the life-giving rays of Earth's yellow sun. Yes.
Er.....
Best not to ponder this one too much. I imagine Swan didn't, so you shouldn't either.
What was my point again? Yes, Curt Swan is the Greatest Superman Artist Of All Time, Period; in part because his art was just slightly off. He was 90 percent there most of the time, but there were plenty of times that Big Blue just looked kind of odd. Which is a better batting percentage of most artists these days, who seem to have two or three standard expressions. Maybe this was intentional! Perhaps Swan figured that Superman was an alien, and would therefore never be fully at ease with humans. Thus, the weird expressions. (It coulda happened!)
Whoever your favourite Superman artist is you owe it to yourself to give this book a look. It takes 75 years of DC Comics history and spends a few pages on each exploring the important characters, events and creators that marked that particular period. (It starts with New Fun #1 in February 1935.) As it suggests in the intro, flip to the year you were 13 and read those pages first -- since this is supposedly the age that most kids get into superheroes.
It's a hell of a lot of fun -- and worth a look.
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