Brandon Graham's Blog, page 98

polychroniadis:Frank Herfort, Ball in forest.

polychroniadis:

Frank Herfort, Ball in forest.

I drew some stuff in my sketchbook today in between breathing...

I drew some stuff in my sketchbook today in between breathing air and eating Brusselsss sprouts 

when it comes to sci fi/fantasy do you prefer a work that tries to be completely unique or something that puts a new twist on an old formula? Maybe somewhere in the middle?

I think how a story is told is much more important to my enjoyment of it than what the story is. 

I recently read Charles Burns Last Look (that collected his 3 part series- Xed out, Hive and Sugar Skull)  It’s him using a mix of slice of life mixed with playing off of Tintin to tell a story that feels like something new.

I think that might be my ideal– you take the tools you know to tell your own story. 

Where is all this new work you're talking about getting published? Hopefully through diamond so I can pre-order it all. ++ I hope that space butler series/onemanthology goes many issues instead of another Island situation. Can't wait for that oversized Har

Yeah, Everything I mentioned is through Image comics, so it should be easy to find. 

The art book I’m working on will be the 1st book of mine to go hardcover in English. (I have a copy of John Prophet – what they call Prophet in French.)

“You know what they call Prophet in France?”

What is this "Version" manga you tweet of? I can't seem to find anything on it. Also, can you recommend any other lesser-known manga or black-and-white boom (for lack of a better term) comics from the 80/90's? Also also, more Nura please, even if it is jus

Version was a manga by Hisashi Sakaguchi (who started out working in animation under Tezuka.) Studio Proteus put out through Dark horse comics in the 90′s

It’s a fantastic book about a woman who hires a detective to find her missing scientist father- who has created a new lifeform called EGOS! They’re pursued by a weird Illuminati boss with robot dogs and an army of men in black suits. 

The American release covers were early computer art that I don’t think did the book justice. 

 Here’s some other Hisashi Sakaguchi pages from his Shower Moonlight, that was never translated into English 

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Hisashi Sakaguchi Passed away on December 22, 1995 due to heart failure. He was only 49. 

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As far as other manga from that era that are worth tracking down. Venus wars– is fantastic. 3X3 eyes, I dunno if it’s lesser known but Gunsmith cats too.

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& yeah, Nura shows up in the last chunk of Warheads– she’s too fun to draw.

Hi Brandon, I was thinking... you said your next work is 2nd Warheads, but, if I can ask, what's next? Any plan? Other works alone or with other artists? Thanks :)

Right after Warheads (in about 15 more pages) I’m finishing up my Royalboiler artbook– it’ll be an oversized hardcover 

And then I’m starting a series that I keep thinking of as a space butler comic–(The cat from King city isn’t actually in it– I just wanted to draw him) 

The idea is to run that series in a kind of 8Ball, Sunbakery, Paklis style one man anthology –that will contain a chapter of that and then some other short story work & Sketchbook drawings. 

That series should be longer than King city if all goes as planned – In general I’m doing a lot less collaborative work– but maybe some short things just for fun. –and thanks. 

Photo

Arclight by Brandon Graham and Marian Churchland

ourcomicsourselves:

Hi, I’m Jacob Shapiro and I run Fantom Comics in Washington, DC! I was asked to guest curate this page with comics from my personal collection that matter to me. My penultimate post is on Marian Churchland and Brandon Graham’s four-issue miniseries Arclight.

Arclight is a high fantasy in a world full of genderfluid characters and blood-based magic. It deals with concepts of bodies and dysphoria with minimalist dialogue in the vein of Graham’s previous big collaborative project, Prophet. Because it was shortened to a miniseries, Arclight never gets to fully explore the beautiful world it establishes, but it ends up being a very personal small-scale story of identity.

Originally, Arclight was part of a bigger sci-fi/fantasy project by Brandon Graham and Emma Ríos called 8house, a loosely shared universe by a plethora of different artists who could create the books at their own pace in their own voice and style. That concept was a bit too heady for readers and retailers, and the series was cancelled after about a year, but not before giving us Arclight, along with Ríos’ gorgeous watercolor series Mirror that’s still ongoing.

This period a year or two ago at Image Comics represented a high water mark for the publisher, where creators were putting out new experimental work and they seemed unstoppable. This was the perfect bridge between the mainstream comics world and indie small press comics, but alas, the books stopped selling and the series all folded. Since then, unfortunately the company has reverted back to an early-’00s-Vertigo style of grim crime and sci-fi by writers who made their names at Marvel and DC, still pumping out great comics but far fewer books that capture the imagination the way they did in 2015.

Generally these days my favorite comics are art-driven, and I very rarely pick up a book because of the writer. Brandon Graham works so well as a writer because he’s an artist first and foremost, and you can tell when he writes, he’s writing with the artist in mind. No giant blocks of text with exposition, but instead only the necessary dialogue with room for the art to breathe. As I alluded to earlier, it’s less reminiscent of his King City and Multiple Warheads work (aside from the occasional sweet pun) and more reminiscent of Prophet.

Marian Churchland is the real star here. She’s an enigmatic figure in comics, with her two major published complete books being only the graphic novel Beast in 2009 (which is amazing, and 100% worth checking out also)… and then Arclight. She’s run a blog with art updates called Hchom for years, but that’s just ended, and who knows what’s next for her. So we have to savor Arclight.

Churchland’s painted art is meticulous and unique in the comics industry. She takes huge influence from high fantasy video games, especially Dragon Age. She cultivates an androgynous aesthetic that carries through to all her characters in Arclight, the most obvious being the titular character. But along with Sir Arclight is his Lady, a woman searching for her lost human body while inhabiting a wooden form.

Bodies carry over to every aspect of the world, from the violent-but-elegant blood magic to the armor worn by knights, made out of bone. One of my favorite aspects of the book is Churchland’s use of color, from Arclight’s evolving makeup to texture in landscapes, giving the world a graceful, lonely feeling.

You can find Marian on Instagram here, and Brandon is on Tumblr at @royalboiler. I’m on Tumblr at @aleneigen, and Fantom Comics is on Tumblr at @fantomcomics.

Kenichi SOnada

Kenichi SOnada 

black-to-the-bones:He was an activist who inspired millions to...

black-to-the-bones:

He was an activist who inspired millions to fight for their rights. He knew what was wrong with our country and risked his life to help his people achieve equality.  In the society where black were treated like animal he did everything possible to change this. His brave soul, his will and courage changed the history of America , changed the people. He made us believe we can win this war. He payed for it with his life. He will always be remembered.