Mattias Elftorp's Blog, page 2

Nominated for Urhunden 2025!

This is big!

It was just announced at Uppsala Comix that Piracy is Liberation 013: Missile Crisis has been nominated for Urhunden 2025: bästa originalsvenska seriebok 2024 (best Swedish original graphic novel)!! It’s kind of the Swedish version of the Eisner Award, and not normally given to a sci fi comic, which makes it extra special. I wasn’t there myself to receive the nomination but the lovely Patrik Schylström took it my place.

I’m not always one to put a lot of weight on awards in general, but I think this is my best book so far and I really appreciate the recognition for it.

 

New prints (Brand & Galago)

I have new prints for sale!

Sizes vary from ca A3 to 110cm height.

The zombie images, by me and Susanne Johansson, were originally made for the exhibition Wormgod: ZOMBIES at AltCom 2010

I recently remastered and color-separated them to be published in Brand #1.2025, so that’s the version I used for these prints, though they don’t look at all like they did in the actual magazine.

And then there’s The Sun, a comic I made a long time ago for a publication where it wasn’t used, then I published it myself in A Subtle Fuck You v01, re-arranged it for a 6-page version in CBA vol 17 and now re-arranged it again as 7 pages with a Swedish title for its most recent reincarnation in Galago #166.

It’s a compact love story about fucking around and finding out.

All these prints (and more) are available at Hybriden.

Brand new (old) zombies

I recently remastered some of mine and Susanne Johansson’s zombie paintings for the upcoming issue of Brand!

Back in 2010, one of the early Wormgod exhibitions was called ZOMBIES. These paintings were put up along the walls so visitors went into a landscape in the dark with flashlights, we had a smoke machine, it was great!

Afterwards, we turned it into a comic in Dystopia #10, and some of them were used as illustrations in Brand’s special pamphlet called Life in Limbo, with a text by Turbulence. One of the writers of that text, Keir Milburn, is being interviewed in Brand #1/2025, so they wanted to use the same images again. In the end, I used some other pictures and reworked them for the 3-color format that Brand uses these days.

Subscribe to Brand, Sweden’s oldest anarchist magazine.

And here are the zombies:

CBA vol 66|67 behind the scenes

CBA vol 66|67 is officially out today!

Go to CBK to see sample images from this 144 page issue where I was main editor and also made a comic, wrote a text with illustrations and did the cover.You can get it at Hybriden, where all the money goes directly to CBK but you have to pay for shipping. If you prefer other alternatives, there is a list in the end of the samples blogpost at CBK. Here are a few extra samples of my contributions.

The comic is called The 5D Weave Theory of Consciousness and is kind of a mash-up/remix of dialogue from The Troll with images from Piracy is Liberation 013 and some other sources. I made it originally for the KOLAŻ issue (CBA vol 65), but Kinga chose to use another collage comic of mine for that, so we included it in this issue instead.

I figured that not a lot of people have read The Troll, and I liked the theory I put forth there about how consciousness works, so I might as well re-use it. It also made sense for the concept to use a mix of images from different comics to go with the dialogue. Is this something I believe in, as a serious solution to the mystery of the mind? Not exactly in a scientific sense, but philosophically I think it kind of makes sense. You’ll have to judge for yourself if you read it:

In CBA vol 60: STORIES, I wrote a text titled Stories, myths and other narratives, where I talked a bit about stories as escapism, as a way to build community, and as the basis of religions (and a bit about religions as fandoms). Also about how political movements have their myths, especially the ones preoccupied with the myth of national identity.

So for this issue I wrote kind of a sequel, about Lost stories. How some old stories can appear new, how genocides can murder not only people but their stories, as well as how some pieces of information and media can get lost in the current whirlpool of algorithms and the conflict/interchange between streaming services and file-sharing. And about how current and colonial viewpoints can distort the view of history and “other” cultures, respectively.

Maybe I’ll figure out a way to turn it into a tied-together text trilogy in a text for the nect STORIES issue of CBA?

I also wrote an alternative version of my introduction, written from the perspective of an AI text generator. See if you can spot the difference:

In turn, we tell stories to try out ideas, to vent frustrations, to share thoughts and experiences, to explore concepts and actions we couldn’t or wouldn’t do in real life, sometimes just to see if we can get away with it. We experiment with unreliable narrators, shifting perspectives, autobiography or pure fantasies. Sometimes these stories simply come to us, whirl around in the back of our minds until they just need to be let out into the world.

vs

And in turn, we tell stories to try to emulate how people write, striving to represent how people normally go about creating a believable text, often to create something that will make people more susceptible to our marketing. If the reader can recognize what they’re used to liking, we can tap into the nostalgia factor and that means it’s a good text.

What I did last year(s)

It’s been a while since I made one of these, so instead of showing off what I did in 2024, this is more of a highlights from the last few years. That’s also a bit more representative for how I experience time, since a lot of it flows together into the category of “I guess this happened pretty recently”…

So, among the comics I made pretty recently, let’s start with the books:

Piracy is Liberation 012: Outer Enemy (graphic novel) (2022) & Piracy is Liberation 013: Missile Crisis (graphic novel) (2024)

The first two new Piracy is Liberation books since book 011 which came in 2012. I still consider this series my main work and hopwfully I’ll be able to finish this new trilogy in the near future. All I need is time and a bit of money…

Arg Kanin om ett folkmord / Angry Animal about a genocide (zine) (2024)

Originally made for the exhibition Rum för frihet, in protest against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. You can read the whole comic here.

Sannolikhetsdrift (graphic novella) / Probability Drive: a space operette (zine) (2024)

Made for a collaboration with Ruokangas Guitars, also published in English in CBAvol64 and in Swedish in Portal #9.

Polisen|Vara Svensk (zine) (2022)

This is the zine version of two chapters from the book Jag & min Pappa & Zlatan / Me & my Daddy & Zlatan that I thought worked well together as sort of a summary of how the Swedish migration policies can affect people.

Other comics I made, for various contexts:

Sten -Asylkalendern 2025, originally made as Rock, for the performance Music on top as a thought @ Oulu comics festival 2023Arg Kanin (har en del att säga) om Yttrandefriheten -exhibition at Seriefest i Väst 2024Arg Kanin om Angiverisamhällets Baksidor -Angiverisamhällets Baksidor (exhibition)Meanwhile (falling apart) -CBA vol 65Until Death -CBA vol 62|63, excerpt from Piracy is Liberation 013I Förhörsrummet -Portal #1/2023, also in English as Interrogation -CBA vol 58. Excerpt from Piracy is Liberation 012Arg Kanin om kulturkanon -Brand #1/2023, originally made for (Anti)rasism (exhibition)Arg Kanin om Drömmar -Asylkalendern 2023Arg Kanin om NATO 2022 -Tecknaruppropet mot kärnvapen och NatoOutside -CBA vol 56|57Cocoon of Circular Horror -CBA vol 54|55

I also published a newspeak dictionary, first in English in CBAvol58, then a Swedish version at Magasinet Konkret. They’ve announced a book version, which will come out as soon as they have enough money to print it (hopefully soon)…

Also, belonging to December of 2024, but delays and will be available soon: CBAvol66|67, of which I was the main editor and also made a comic, some texts, illustrations and the cover:

The 5D Weave Theory of Consciousness

Other volumes of CBA I’ve been main editor and cover artist for:

I’ve also been in a bunch of exhibitions, but I won’t list them here. There’s a new section on my website for that, so go there and check it out.

I’ll tie this whole thing together with some various illustrations and a book cover:

CBAvol60CBAvol60CBAvol54|55

There you go! I hope you enjoyed this list. I think I make these mostly for myself, to better be able to remember what I’ve been up to…

Hope the new year will be kinder to us all!

And also: don’t miss the winter SALE at Hybriden! It last until this Tuseday…

Winter SALE!

WINTER SALE at Hybriden! From today until Jan 7.

All books from CBK, Tusen Serier and Wormgod, and also prints are included in this deal!
This also includes subscriptions on CBA (but not renewals).

Use coupon code: winter2024 in the checkout to get 40% off.

Orders will ship after the sale is over.

KOLAŻ | THE BOX photos

The KOLAŻ | THE BOX exhibition is over, but here are some photos of my entries. Go to CBK to see pics from the rest of the exhibition.

The covers: CBAvol64 by me, CBAvol65 by Kinga DukajMiku Maria Gustavsson, me and Markus SamnellSara Alma Safije Sheikhi, Julia Nascimento and meThe whole thing, from behind…

Speaking of CBK, a call for submissions for the next issue of CBA was just activated. Go check it out, maybe send us some comics?

Angiverilagsutredningen

The official inquiry about the Snitch Law was made official about two weeks ago. I wrote this about it for Tusen Serier, as kind of a follow-up to the exhibition Angiverisamhällets Baksidor (which is still up at Fish Tank Gallery/Panora, and readable here), and I wanted to share it here as well.

The text is in Swedish because it’s about Swedish politics, but in short: The proposed snitch law looks like it’ll affect fewer institutions than the right wing coalition originally wanted, but employees in 6 different authorities will still be forced by the law to report on anyone they come in contact with who is undocumented. AND there will be other measures to make it easier to deport people. Kind of like it already was, which was bad enough, but worse, with less respect for personal integrity etc. Another step in the process of dehumanising immigrants, asylum seekers and the like.

Here’s what I wrote:

Slutbetänkande av Utredningen om stärkt återvändandeverksamhet är nu lämnat till regeringen och den presenterar ”vissa åtgärder för stärkt återvändandeverksamhet och utlänningskontroll”.

Migrationsminister Johan Forssell (M) säger att ”Samarbetspartierna är överens om att skola, vård, socialtjänst och bibliotek ska undantas från den föreslagna informationsplikten”, dvs lagen blir inte så långtgående som det var tänkt från början. Antagligen delvis på grund av att det har funnits en proteströrelse mot det här lagförslaget. Amnesty och Civil Rights Defenders har gjort en namninsamling med 25 769 underskrifter som säger nej till anmälningsplikten. Den lämnades visserligen in strax innan pressträffen om slutbetänkandet som hölls den 26 nov, dvs efter att utredningen redan var klar, så det är oklart hur namninsamligen påverkade resultatet.

Både fackförbund, arbetsgivarorganisationer, kommuner, patientorganisationer och privatpersoner har dock protesterat på olika sätt under paroller som VI ANGER INTE, där målet inte bara har varit att stoppa lagförslaget utan också att sprida en kultur av att vägra anmäla om/när lagen införts. Det kan också vara så att de undantagna myndigheterna helt enkelt inte kunde inkluderas för att det hade brutit för tydligt mot grundlag och konventioner som Sverige har skrivit under. Visserligen bryter vi redan ofta mot till exempel barnkonventionen, men den gör det väl svårare att motivera en lag som uttryckligen skulle tvinga offentligt anställda att bryta mot den.

Men där slutar de positiva nyheterna.

För de som nu enligt lag ska bli skyldiga att polisanmäla när de kommer i kontakt med personer som vistas i Sverige utan tillstånd är ”endast” Arbetsförmedlingen, Kronofogden, Försäkringskassan, Pensionsmyndigheten, Kriminalvården och Skatteverket. Detta är myndigheter som redan har en kultur av att kontrollera och misstro sina klienter och det är potentiellt många människor i redan utsatta situationer som kommer att påverkas. De kommer nu behöva hitta alternativa lösningar i de situationer det är möjligt för att undvika kontakt med de här myndigheterna (vilket många redan tidigare har varit tvungna att göra).

Men insatserna för att stärka ”återvändandeverksamhet och utlänningskontroll” tar inte slut vid angiverilagen, för i den här satsningen kommer också att ingå saker som att:
– Polisen ska få arbeta underrättelsebaserat och göra selektiva kontroller grundat på information.
– Mobiler och datorer ska få omhändertas och sökas igenom för att bättre kunna klarlägga en misstänkt utlännings identitet i syfte att underlätta avvisning. Sådan kommunikationsutrustning får omhändertas med hjälp av husrannsakan.
– Det ska bli möjligt att lagra biometri som fingeravtryck i alla ärenden om uppehållstillstånd (tidigare har det bara fått lagras i asylärenden).
Åldersgränsen för fingeravtryck ska sänkas från 14 till 6 år.
Biometri ska även få användas i medborgarskapsärenden för att kontrollera identitet och kravet på vandel.

Det handlar alltså om ganska stora inskränkningar i den personliga integriteten som ingår i utredningens förslag. Och vi ska inte glömma att hela syftet med utredningen klargörs redan i titeln. Det handlar om att göra det lättare att slänga ut folk ur landet, en grundinställning som av de flesta politiker och många journalister numera inte överhuvudtaget ifrågasätts.

Men rörelsen som motsätter sig lagen lever vidare och förhoppningsvis kommer det finnas personer på olika myndigheter och samhällsinstitutioner som är beredda att bryta mot sådana här lagar för att skydda medmänskligheten.

Du kan fortfarande se vår utställning Angiverisamhällets Baksidor på Fish Tank Gallery/Panora i Malmö, och även läsa de utstälda serierna här, där sju serieskapare ger sin syn på saken.

Here’s my comic for the exhibition, in its entirety:

Fanzineverkstadenutställningen 2024

Next Friday, Dec 13, Tusen Serier opens an exhibition with members of Fanzineverkstaden who will exhibit and sell zines and prints.
The opening/mini market will be between 16-20 and it all takes place at Rum för Serier (Friisgatan 12, Malmö).

So it’ll be me and 15 other artists with what I think will be quite a wide variaety of material. Come by and have a look and a drink and maybe get some christmas shopping out of the way, if that’s your thing
And/or just hang out a while and look at the pretty pictures!

In other news, I’m busy putting together the upcoming CBA and also another thing and I have a comic in Portal #9 which will be released Jan 24. That’s on top of everything else that’s been happening recently, some of which is still going on… But more on all that later…

Asylkalendern 2025

I have a comic in next year’s Asylkalendern, the calendar sold by Asylgruppen i Malmö as a way for them to raise money for helping asylum seekers who are in hiding in Sweden.

There’s ordering info at their instagram.
If you’re like me and don’t like to use Instagram, here’s the short version:
Send them an email (asylkalendern @ gmail . com) with your name, address and how many you want of each version. There are 2 calendars, a pocket version (the one with my comic) and a wall version, so let them know which one you want (150:- each). Ask them for the payment info.
Or buy it at Mitt Möllan’s julmarknad (Nov 30-Dec 1).

I originally made the comic for a music performance collaboration at the Oulu comics festival, and it was also in Fantastikbokklubbens julkalender last year, but I thought it’d fit here as well, and this is the first paper publication in Swedish. A short, kind of autobiographical rumination…