Sekventiellt

News: Inkalen in DN

2010-03-09T10:43:00.002+01:00

It was with great pleasure that I found a long, well written review of the new, complete volume of Jodorowsky's and Moebius' Inkalen (The Incal) in Dagens Nyheter, the major newspaper in Sweden. The book has been published in Swedish by the Danish publisher Faraos Cigarrer, and this is their first foray into our country and language. Pleasure, both since this is without a doubt a major comics masterpiece, deserving to be available to the general public, but maybe more importantly since Faraos Cigarrer is a kind of publisher we lack in Sweden, focusing on the classic French comics, and publishing them in beautiful, big hardcovers. In short, I do hope that this book will work out financially for the publisher, and that it will be followed by many others, so that the Swedish market for comics will expand.

News: International Womens Day

2010-03-08T09:37:00.002+01:00

Again, I must start by apologizing for not being able to uphold a steady flow of writings here, as the combination of finishing the book Swedish Comics History, finishing an issue of Bild & Bubbla and writing several papers for my PhD studies is just zapping all energy out of me.

Today, though, I can't help but write about the fact that it is the International Women's day. And what better day then to write a few lines about the feminist Dotterbolaget (lit. Subsidiary, but in Swedish also Daughter Company), created in 2005. Yesterday there was a major article about Dotterbolaget in our local newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet (seven pages!), and I was just going to link to that, but it doesn't seem to be online... If it does go online, please tell me!

In the meantime, here are some links that you might find interesting:

There's the official site, but that's sadly, pretty deserted as far as I can tell. Right now, though, there's a major exhibition about Dotterbolaget at Arbetets Museum (The Museum of Work) in Norrköping. Then there's the anthology Dotterbolaget Antologin from 2009, collecting some of the best comics from the group’s earlier mini comics, released on doob, a publishing company run by one of the members. For basic information, there's the entry in the Swedish Comics Wiki. Oh, and here's a pretty recent article in Dagens Nyheter, and here's an ever more recent interview from the magazine Malmö Fria.

Well, you get the picture. Google the net for Dotterbolaget, and you will find loads more of information, interviews, articles etc.

News: Groo in Herman Hedning

2010-03-04T10:15:00.003+01:00

OK, so I've never tried to hide that Sekventiellt is my own private blog, and even though I do report on all kinds of things, always trying to be equal and fair, it's bound to be a personal choice what I write about. Anyway, this is just a disclaimer, because I feel that in reporting this, I reveal myself as an old fan boy.

When I started to look outside of Sweden for new comics, way back in the 1980s, one of the titles that really got me excited was Groo by Aragonés and Evanier. It was very silly, but Aragonés's drawings were inspired and the atmosphere of the comic book, with all the stupid remarks on the letter page etc., made me feel like part of a family. Now I realize that the latter was a continuation of the MAD tradition, but for me, in the 1980s, it was magic.

Anyway, this was a roundabout way of getting to the fact that in the new issue of the Swedish comic book Herman Hedning - which now that I come to think about it works just about the same way with letter pages, editorial texts etc. - has a new episode of... Groo! Let's see if a new generation of Swedish readers gets as excited as I was.

News: The 1980s in the History

2010-03-02T10:47:00.000+01:00

OK, so today's assignment is to write the chapter in the book Swedish Comics History on the 1980s and the introduction of comics for an older audience. Please join me at Facebook, and tell me which artists should be included.

News: Tivoli still here

2010-03-02T10:37:00.001+01:00

The still rather new Swedish comic book for kids, Tivoli med vänner (Tivoli with Friends) have entered their second year, and I'm impressed.

Firstly for them to still be around. Making a brand new comic book work financially without having the backing of a major publishing corporation is almost impossible. I don't know how much they sell and if they are actually breaking even, but simply the fact that they are still publishing once a month is, like I said, impressive.

Secondly, for the slowly but surely raising of the artistic level of the comics. To start with, the comics were, to be honest, so-so. The ambition was there, and the comic book did work as a whole, but the comics were lacking both in script and in images. The very competent Annika Giannini has taken over the responsibility for the art in the main comic and the equally competent Sara Olausson starts in this issue, as I have reported about before, with the adaptation of the classic children's novel Loranga, Masarin och Dartanjang. Yes, the quality is there, now it's just a question of staying power, to make sure that the number of readers slowly grow enough to make it all profitable.

News: Comic Art Propaganda!

2010-03-01T10:10:00.011+01:00

It's finally here! I've waited what seems like an extraordinarily long time to see the fruits of all my labour, and now it has arrived. The US edition of Comic Art Propaganda has been published, and the distribution is under way. It's still on pre-order at Amazon, but should be available any time soon and it's actually already available in Swedish book stores.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with the results. I wrote this book in a fury of creativity last summer and spent an enormous amount of money ad time to get hold of some really strange objects to include. I think the book can appeal to both hardcore comic fans, who will find some things they've never seen before, as well as general readers, interested in visual propaganda.

All of you who helped put, I will soon get a box of copies and will start handing them out. The UK edition will be published later this month. Looking forward to see how that turns out.

News: Swedish Comics History in the making

2010-02-28T12:57:00.001+01:00

Sorry for the quiet spell here, but I'm not allowing myself as much blog time as usual (or any time for anything, really), as I have a very tight deadline in order to get the new, expanded, full-color version of Swedish Comics History finished.

If you want to take part in the process, and help me decide what should be included in each chapter, log onto FaceBook and take part in the discussions there. All help is appreciated. Today's chapter (I'm finishing one chapter a day right now) will deal with organised fandom, organisations and institutions. What should be included? The space allotted is limited...

News: Comics Battle Stockholm

2010-02-25T11:41:00.004+01:00

The last few year, comics battles on stage has become a big thing in Sweden, often instigated by the cartoonists Max Gustafsson. Now it's time for another bout, with contenders like Johan Wanloo, Jimmy Wallin, Max Gustafson, Jonas Darnell, Johanna Kristiansson, Malin Biller, Karolina Bång, Marcus Ivarsson and Kim W. Andersson.

The event will take place In Stockholm this Saturday at Clarion Hotel. It all starts at 19.00, but before that there will be a chance to buy comics and partake in a brunch. More information, here.

News: Swedish artist on the iPhone

2010-02-23T11:08:00.002+01:00

Those of you who are regular readers, know that I take a special interest in Swedish comics being exported to the rest of the world, as well as in all the digital possibilities for both comics readers and comics creators - which by the way seem to be growing exponentially these days. Combining these two themes is of course doubly interesting. So, finding the Swedish artist Hedvig Häggman-Sund having a sketchbook app for the iPhone was of course a treat. Go check it out!

Thanks to Jonas Lidström Isegim for the tip.

News: Real-time historical fiction?

2010-02-22T23:08:00.004+01:00

Last Friday, the publisher First Second launched a new web comic, Zahra’s Paradise, which has the potential to be really fascinating. It will be set in Iran and mix real events with fictitious characters. It will also be produced by artists with first person experience of life in Iran, with the publisher keeping their names secret, so as to not expose them to the government of Iran.

There are several aspects of this, which I find interesting. Firstly, of course, the blend of reality and fiction, a mix which in this case, with all the political aspects of life in Iran, promises to both grab hold of the reader and at the same time communicate facts about a historically, socially and culturally interesting time and place.

And then, there's the fact that First Second launches this project as a free web comic, thus aknowledging the impact of this publishing venue not only for up and coming artists to make a name for themselves, or for independent web cartoonists specializing in this way of communicating, but also as a way to build an interest and a fan base for projects realised at major publishers.

Oh well, all of this is purely academical. It will all come down to the story telling abilities of the artists involved. Go and see for yourselves, at zahrasparadise.com.

News: Swedish Comics 2009

2010-02-19T11:54:00.004+01:00

Every year, The Swedish Comics Association, or more accurately the secretary of the Urhunden Jury - Ola Hammarlund, compiles a summing up of the number of album, graphic novels etc. which have been published in Swedish. This makes for an interesting reading, as the statistics over the years give a clear indication of trends in the publishing of comics in Sweden.

In 2009, 306 graphic novels, albums and manga books were published in Swedish. This was a marked drop from the previous year, which ended on 332 - an all time high. The drop was mostly due to the manga market virtually collapsing in Sweden.

Two more conclusions can be drawn from the list. One is the marked upsurge in publisher, with 48 different publishers 2009, compared with 24 for 2008. Granted some of these are self-publishers, with "books" which are more or less mini-comics however laboriously produced, but it is still an indication of the renewed interest in comics, from many different publishers.

Another conclusion can be drawn from the consistent rising number of original Swedish graphic novels. 101 published during 2009, as compared to 32 in 2001. That's an impressive increase in the number of Swedish comics published, and a clear indication of what's going on. Comics produced in Sweden is gaining market shares, as more and more Swedish comics creators and publishers are entering the market. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we are right now entering into a golden age of Swedish comics.

Live: The Comic Art School on the move

2010-02-17T18:45:00.004+01:00

I've reported on this before, but after each new visit, I get even more exited. The Comic Art School of Malmö is about to leave the old factory building which has served us well these last 11 years, and move into another old factory building: the chocolate factory Mazetti, a.k.a. The Cultural Center of Malmö.

We just had a tour of all the new rooms, which have been built after our requirments at the very top of the building, and they look great! We're not moving in until this summer, but the refurbishing of this part of the house is already almost completed.

Anyway, here are some photos to give you a glimpse of what it will look like:

News: Classic Swedish children's book as comics

2010-02-16T09:55:00.002+01:00

No sooner had I reported about the upsurge in the US of comics based on novels, then we get similar news here in Sweden. The classic children's book Loranga, Masarin och Dartanjang by Barbro Lindgren, a whimsy story of a father and his son which has been loved my generations of Swedish children and their parents, will become comics. The comics are to be published in the new children's comic book Tivoli med vänner (Tivoli and friends), and will be drawn by the artist Sara Olausson, who, as it turns out, is a relative to Barbro Lindgren.

The sample image shown looks beautiful, and in light of what I wrote in the previous blog entry, I hope that the author will let Olausson cut loose and really create her own version of this story.

The full press-release can be found here.

News: The Twilight of comics

2010-02-15T10:16:00.002+01:00

As everyone who has read a fair amount of comics is surely aware of, comics based on stories previously presented in other arts, like novels or films, doesn't exactly always imply a good reading experience. More often than not, comics based on other media have been uninspired at the best. Still, if you have a true artist, deciding to actually tell a good story, using comics for what it is good at (and not just transporting a story from one media to another) as was the case with Karasik's and Mazzucchelli's comic version of Paul Auster's City of Glass, the results can be breathtaking.

No matter the quality, sales will always be higher, if there is a connection to a successful film or book. In an article in The New York Times, it is disclosed that the print run of the first graphic novel based on the incredibly popular franchise Twilight, will have an initial print run of a staggering 350 000 copies. This is not the first, and certainly not the last we will see in this vein, as I am sure many publishers across the world is right now looking into transforming their best-sellers into comics. Let's just hope they work with artists with a lot of integrity, who will be able to withstand the inevitable demands of the publisher to stay as true as possible to the original, and make new and interesting works of art out of their assignments.

Thanks to Lotten Peterson, for the tip.

News: Rediscover Maus

2010-02-14T11:56:00.000+01:00

Maus by Art Spiegelman is one of the most important graphic novels, ever. Stating that is rather like saying that Hamlet is an important play... Much has been said about Maus, still we have decided to honour this masterpiece in the magazine Bild & Bubbla, and we're doing this by inviting cartoonists and authors to give their view of Spiegelman's work. The full info on this can be found here, in Swedish...

News: The Swedish Interviews

2010-02-13T17:55:00.001+01:00

The buzz is starting to get going on the internet, about The Swedish Invasion. Right now, you can read brand new interviews - at the blog Avoid the Future - with the three Swedish artists who will have their English debut books out in time for this year's MoCCA festival. So, go there and be enlightened as to what is going on.

News: Covered

2010-02-11T15:12:00.000+01:00

Just found an interesting website, Covered, which publishes reinterpretations of comic books covers. Some really funny interpretations there. I, who has just finished a book on propaganda in comics, was really fascinated by the above reinterpretation of Hansi - The Girl Who Loved the Swastika, an obscure Christian comic book from the 1970s. The new cover, by Diego J. Pereira is by far, much more appropriate.

Thanks to Kolbeinn Karlsson, who hopefully will contribute to this project, for the tip. I would love to see him do an interpretation of, well just about anything really.

News: New book by Åsa Grennvall

2010-02-08T12:25:00.000+01:00

A new book by one of my favourite Swedish comics artists, Åsa Grennvall, has hit the shelves. Haven't had the time to read it yet, but I promise I will get back to you with a proper review. For now, I'll settle for directing you to this raving review.

News: Bamse for the very young

2010-02-07T20:51:00.001+01:00

The funny-animal comic book Bamse is a main-stay in Swedish children's comics. Since its inception in 1973, the comic book has dominated the market for the youngest readers, with only the Swedish edition of the Donald Duck comic book getting higher sales. The character is so popular that there is nowadays a full range of products, ranging form reprint projects to merchandise and so on.

The latest new product with the Bamse characters is the above depicted comic book Bamse för de yngsta (Bamse for the very young), which will contain comics for "readers" between 1 and 4 years of age (the traditional comic book Bamse aims for readers between 4 and 8). To reach this audience, the comics will lower the amount of information on each page, averaging two panels a page and less text. This I find very interesting.

Having a six-year old son, who of his own accord has already outgrown Bamse, this comic book will probably not be read for the sheer reading pleasure, but I am looking forward to seeing how the cartoonists working on this title have adjusted their communication to suit this very young audience. And I am also looking forward to seeing if the comic book is a hit with families with kids in the right age bracket.

News: Anders Loves Maria ends!

2010-02-06T10:21:00.003+01:00

The most popular Swedish web comic ever, Anders Loves Maria by Rene Engström, was just finished. After several years of work and a constantly growing fan base, the saga is now finally concluded. In fact, this is such a big event that Anders Loves Maria is right now trending on Twitter.

If you have been following this story, go and read the very touching end, and if you are new to Anders Loves Maria, go there and start from the beginning!

News: Comix Influx

2010-02-05T14:16:00.000+01:00

Another interesting iPhone related bit of news, concerning comics. I've been aware of Comix Influx for a while, seeing as I am - at the very best - able to order food and buy tickets etc. in my self taught French. The translations that Influx supplies makes it possible to quickly look up the words I don't understand. It' not a perfect reading experience, and the number of translated books are still not huge, but it's a start.

Now, Comix Influx can be found as an app for the iPhone, and suddenly I realise that this was what was missing, as this means that I can keep the translation directly by my side while reading. Maybe not a revolution of the reading of comics, but a helpful tool all the same.

Thanks to Jonas Lidström Isengrim for the tip.

News: iPad + comics?

2010-02-04T18:13:00.000+01:00

So, finally Apple has announced the facts about their new device, the iPad. This happened when I was at the big comics festival in Angouleme, and it was the focus of a lot of discussions there. There has also been a lot of talk on the net in the comics community about what the iPad implies for comics. Just looking at it, it is quite clear that it beats most other e-readers out there, especially with the possibility of good colour reproducing abilities. The fact that so many publishers already deliver comics to iPhones, through various applications, says that this very iPhone-friendly new device will get a flying start when it comes to comics related content.

I will most suredly get back to the iPad in the future, and once I get the chance to actually hold one and test its abilities I might also buy one to really try the reading experience. For now, I'll settle for recommending an article at Publishers Weekly, which contains interviews with some of the major American publishers on their plans for the iPad.

News: Lecture in Gothenburg

2010-02-03T15:07:00.000+01:00

Just arrived home after spending a week in Angouleme and Paris. My last entry from Angouleme seems to have been lost in translation - or something - as it hasn't been published. Oh well, I'll write a new entry on my views on the French comics market in general and Angouleme in particular, in a few days. Right now I'm extremely busy with getting everything going again at home. My first assignment will be to give a lecture tomorrow in Gothenburg, in a seminar for teachers and librarians, arranged by the Nordic Watercolour Museum - which right now has a major exhibition about Nordic comics.

Live: The new comics museum

2010-01-30T17:59:00.004+01:00

Every year, when visiting the comics festival in Angoueleme, I always make sure I visit the comics museum. This year, that was a somewhat strange experience, as the building which has housed the museum for many, many years, has been abandoned for another building on the other side of the river. A beautiful old building, chosen because it is a lot bigger than the old one, making it possible to do more and bigger exhibitions.

The permanent exhibition on the history of comics was beautiful, winding its way almost organically through one big, open room.

The history of comics was shown through physical examples of books, magazines and original art, all shown in low, glass covered boxes.

In an inner room, more original art was displayed as traditional art, hung on the walls in big, golden frames.

All in all, the exhibitions were very well made and I think the move was a good thing. It all still feels a bit like being at the house of someone who has just moved in and hasn't had time to make it cosy and comfortable. I look forward to coming back next year to see if the museum feels more finished by then.

Live: Europe and Asia

2010-01-30T17:30:00.002+01:00

Today I've visited an exhibition in one of the big cathedrals in Angouleme. I do this every year, but it's still a bit strange to see comics exhibitions and comics for sale in a church.

It's a bit hard to show the exhibition here, with my shoddy iPhone photos, but it was well made and very interesting. The theme was how the comics cultures of Europe and Asia have influenced each other back and forth over the centuries, with loads of examples of Japan in European comics and Europe in Japanese comics.

The exhibition was accompanied by a huge catalogue/book, which I really look forward to reading when I get back.