Just bought this beauty, with a painting of the Swedish comics character 91:an. OK, so now I’ll probably have to buy the christmas album from 1939, which quite obviously was the model of the drawing.
Archive for June, 2016
Review: Världens bästa morfar
Världens bästa morfar by Tome
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Le Petit Spirou is a spinoff of the classic Belgian comic Spirou and Fantasio, about the protagonist as a child, probably set somewhere during the 1950s and actually more successful than the main series. Le Petit Spirou is made by the duo Tome (Philippe Vandevelde) and Janry (Jean-Richard Geurts), who for a period of time also were the creators behind Spirou and Fantasio. The comic mostly consists of one pagers with a joke at the end and is clearly geared towards boys in their tweenies.
SJoCA 2: 2 is published!
Everything is right now coming together, after months of working all hours, all days of the week. Here’s the brand new issue of SJoCA, with a beautiful cover illustration by the inimitable Nina Hemmingsson.
Bild & Bubbla 207 is here!
And the hits just keep on coming. The latest issue of the journal Bild & Bubbla, which I edit, just arrived. Extremely proud of the feature on the incredible Ulli Lust.
New teacher’s guide on comics for primary school
A new teacher’s guide by yours truly was just made available online. It’s in Swedish and geared towards teachers in Swedish primary school, containing sections on why comics should be used in the classroom, how this matches the instructions in the government’s policy documents etc, as well as more practically oriented tips on workshops for different levels and different school subjects. Do spread the word, as this is free of use for all teachers.
Interview on The Comics City of Malmö
A brand new interview with your’s truly (in Swedish) about the work I do to establish comics in my home town.
Review: Spirou 1984-1987
Spirou 1984-1987 by Tome
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Danish-Swedish publisher Mooz continues the publication of hardcover collections with the classic French children’s comic Spirou. This volume contains three albums from the 1980s by Tome and Janry. This creative team was clearly the heirs to the undisputed master among Spirou artists, André Franquin, both in terms of the art, which has the same expressive, fast paced feel to it, and in the storylines, which are often linked to Franquin’s characters and comics.
And the hits just keep on coming
This “little” tome (it’s almost 500 pages long) was published a while ago, but I just now got a copy. I contributed with the article “Propaganda in Graphic Novels: Sex, War & Politics!”.
The Second book from the Comics Archive
More brand new books with contributions by yours truly. This is the second book from the Swedish Comics Archive, focusing on the comics culture in Sweden in the 1960s. I’ve contributed an interview with pioneering comics historian Sture Hegerfors, and an article about the likewise pioneering female comics artist Ulla van Rooy, who illustrated a graphic novel as early as 1960.
Artist talk with Abel and Madden online
And here’s my talk with the impressive creative couple Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, the jet-setters of the international comics culture.
Artist talk with Rutu Modan online
It’s that time of the year when all the hard work that you have put in throughout the winter/spring comes to fruition. There are no less than five publication with material by your’s truly out or about to be published, and now the artist talks that I did at the comics festival in Stockholm are available online. Here’s my talk with the incredible Rutu Modan.
Review: Ljusförgörerskan
Ljusförgörerskan by Li Österberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The second graphic novel with Li Österberg’s contemporary take on the Greek gods, and a much better, more coherent story than that in the first, Nekyia. We here follow the young woman Persefone, a minor goddess who is the daughter (and granddaughter…) of the god Zeus and the goddess Demeter. Persefone is a goddess, but is very much depicted like a woman of flesh and blood, and her thoughts and feeling feels more based in the modern world than in ancient Greece.
Review: Spirou 1969-1972
Spirou 1969-1972 by Jean-Claude Fournier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Danish/Swedish publisher Mooz continues the publication of hardcover collections with the classical French album comic Spirou and Fantasio. This volume contains the first three albums by Franquin’s successor, the then young and inexperienced Jean-Claude Fournier. Taking over after the recognized master was surely no easy task and both art and storytelling are quite clunky at first, but gradually gets better.
Review: Nekyia
Nekyia by Li Österberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Re-reading this book in preparation for taking on Ljusförgörerslan (The Light Destroyer), the second graphic novel by Li Österberg set in her version of the Greek mythological world.
Review: Superhästen
Superhästen by Emmanuel Guibert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ariol is quickly becoming my favourite children’s comic. Guibert constantly delivers scripts that really feel like they depicts the reality of children, as opposed to all those stories about children, written by adults from a safe distance. In this volume, for instance, I loved the little story of how the hesitant Ariol tries hard to impress the resolute and confident girl he loves, or the one about the obsession of collecting cards that can transcend generational gaps.
Review: W obcej skórze
W obcej skórze by Anna Andruchowicz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a weird and wonderful original Polish graphic novel, which title loosely translates to “In a foreign skin”. It’s an eerie, silent story of a wolf in a forest populated with a combination of traditional animals and what looks like huge fantasy creatures.
Review: Den svarta undulaten
Den svarta undulaten by Lars Sjunnesson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lars Sjunnesson is one of Sweden’s most internationally well-known and respected comics artists, which is not surprising. Since his debut in the 80s, he has consistently created provocative and distinctive comics with high artistic integrity. Sjunnesson’s most famous characters are the permanently agitated anarchist Åke Jävel and the more phlegmatic Tjocke-Bo. The latter is part of the story in Den svarta undulaten (The Black Budgie), the eighth book in Sjunnesson’s slow but steady production, which picks up where the last book, Möte med monsunen (Meeting with the monsoon) from 2010, left off.
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