The New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium

The 376th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 7pm ET. Free and open to the public. Visit https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com for more information. Shary Boyle on Storyshifting Shary will revisit some early zines and comics, and talk about transitioning from 2D narrative to overhead projection performance ‘moving pictures’ to sculpture. There will be a side path to visit some spectacular Inuit story-drawers from the Arctic, whose work she discovered while travelling north to collaborate with the cosmic-graphic genius, Shuvinai Ashoona. Shary Boyle’s work considers the social history of ceramic figures, animist mythologies and folk-art forms to create a symbolic, feminist and politically charged language uniquely her own. She is the recipient of a 2021 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Ontario College of Art and Design University where she graduated from in 1994, before developing a multidisciplinary practice centred on drawing, sculpture and performance. Boyle activates her practice through collaboration and mentorship, engaging other creative communities and disciplines with a characteristically inclusive spirit. Her solo touring exhibition Outside the Palace of Me was presented by The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2022, the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2023, and the Museum of Art and Design, NYC in 2023/24.

The 375th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 1 pm ET. Visit https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com for more events. Thierry Groensteen: 1880-1914 : The Birth of the Comics industry in France Thierry Groensteen will summarize the main facts established in his latest essay, La Bande dessinée en France à la Belle Epoque (2022). During the period that precedes the First World War, comics, which until then existed only as a handful of books, experienced a spectacular development both in the children’s press and in the satirical magazines for adults. Moreover, the provincial newspapers started publishing comic sections that were conceived for them in Paris. Animal strips, silent comics and trooper comedy were some of the most popular genres. About 180 artists produced comics on a regular basis and the period saw the birth of popular characters such as Bécassine and Les Pieds Nickelés whose careers would last for decades. Born in Brussels in 1957, Thierry Groensteen has curated the Comics Museum in Angoulême from 1993 to 2001. He has also been the chief-editor of two important journals: Les Cahiers de la bande dessinee and Neuvième Art. The latter has become the online journal NeuviemeArt2.0. Groensteen is the founder of the publishing company L’An 2, now a department of the group Actes Sud. He has long tauught at the Ecole européenne supérieure de l’Image, in Angoulême, and curated many exhibitions. An occasional scriptwriter and novelist, he is the author of numerous books about the history, the semiotics and the aesthetics of comics. The University Press of Mississippi have translated three of his authoritative essays: The System of Comics, Comics and Narration and An Expanding Art.

The 370th meeting of theNY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday,October 10, 2023 at 7 pm ET. The New School, University Center, Room UL104, lower-level, 63 5th Ave., New York, NY. Free and open to the public. Bill Griffith on the legacy of Nancy and Ernie Bushmiller Bill Griffith will discuss the importance of Ernie Bushmiller, Nancy, and Three Rocks and present a slideshow about his new book, Three Rocks: The story of Ernie Bushmiller, The Man Who Created Nancy. Bill Griffithis the creator of the syndicated daily comic stripZippyand the author ofNobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead. Griffith’s prolific output has been included in such publications as theVillage Voice,National Lampoon, andThe New Yorker. According to Bartlett, Griffith coined the popular phrase, “Are we having fun yet?” He lives in Hadlyme, Connecticut.

The 369th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023 at 7pm ET. LIVE and IN-PERSON AT UNNAMEABLE BOOKS, 615 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238. Juliette Collet: I don’t know anything Comics Readings, Puppet Shows, Music, and Costume Changes from Juliette Collet and Special Guests. Juliette Collet is a young son of a gun with an appetite for magic and truth.

The 366th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023 at 7pm. Mack White: The Creative Process The origin of ideas, and how a single idea can mushroom into a story. Often, because comics as a medium is visual, the creative process begins with an image. But because comics also include words, it can begin with words, even one word. Many times, the title comes first, then the story. The process is a little different each time, but the end is always the same: a comic story. Mack White was born in 1952 in Mineral Wells, Texas, and is a lifelong resident of the state. His first mini-comics were published in the 1980s. Later his work was published in numerous anthologies, including Buzz, Snake Eyes, and Hotwire. In 2016, his series (in collaboration with author Mike Kirby) Texas Tales Illustrated won the Will Rogers Medallion Award, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Award, and the San Antonio Conservation Society Award. His books include The Mutant Book of the Dead, Villa of the Mysteries 1-3, and the upcoming Bison Bill's Weird West.

The 364th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 7pm EDT. Visit nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com for more information about this series. Comics from Juvenile Entertainment to Aspiring Graphic Literature. Gary Groth in conversation with Ben Katchor, moderated by Austin English Some of the fans who grew up in the late 1960s comics fandom era went on to work at Marvel and DC. But Ben Katchor and Gary Groth went in the opposite direction in their own very different ways — rejecting the prevailing idiom in mainstream comics and pursuing comics as a form of literature. Both moved from beloved childhood genre comics to the very different aesthetics they embraced as adults. The question this discussion between Groth and Katchor will try to answer is: Why? How? What did their respective paths look like? How did their childhood love of comics affect their later mature views of the art form? A wide-ranging discussion of comics aesthetics. Gary Groth is the editor in chief of The Comics Journal, and co-founder of Fantagraphics Books. Ben Katchor is a cartoonist. He teaches at Parsons, The New School and, since 2011, helps run the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium. Austin English is a cartoonist and writer living in New York. His most recent book is Meskin and Umezo. He teaches art and cartooning at Parsons and SVA.

The 360th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 7pm ET. Ana Woulfe on Trans Surrealism A look at the intertwining and complicated histories of trans identities and surrealism, as well as how trans artists have historically been pushed into autobiographical & realist modes of making in order to appeal to cis audiences. Ana Woulfe is an artist, transexuelle, vegan, cyclist, weirdo, smiley face, etc etc living on occupied Lenape land (“Philadelphia”). http://deeperclarity.net

The 359th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium, Tuesday, April 11, 2023 Lisa Pearson on “Sideways to Sense and Nonsense” A heterodoxical wander through the work of artists Siglio has published who appropriate comics and re-form them through collage, who use comics as a vehicle for poetry and absurdity, and who use a comic-like sequences to narrate their autobiographies and shape their own cosmos. Lisa Pearson is a publisher, editor, designer as well as the founder of Siglio Press, an independent publishing house driven by its feminist ethos and committed to publishing uncommon books that live at the intersection of art and literature. She lives and works in the Hudson River Valley, New York. https://sigliopress.com

The 358th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium, Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Diana Schutz on Independent Comics: The Intersection of Politics and Aesthetics Following the underground comix years, in the early days of independent comics the primary division between publishing houses was political, based on the then-revolutionary idea of creators’ rights and IP ownership. Only later would that division become an aesthetic one, thanks to comics that straddled the line, like Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor. Join longtime comics editor Diana Schutz for a look at the legacy of the 1980s and what that decade brought to the contemporary scene. Diana Schutz has worked in the comics industry for over 40 years, as an award-winning editor, writer, educator, and now translator. Best known for editing Sin City, Usagi Yojimbo, and American Splendor, among many others, Schutz has also taught Comics Studies courses in the Portland area for the last 20 years.

The 357th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium, Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 7pm ET. Ron Regé on Gnostic Sophia, Hermeticism, Wonder Woman & The Muse Ron will discuss the classical concept of The Poet and The Muse, as well as aspects of The Goddess in Gnostic & Hermetic thought, drawing a line through history to the original Wonder Woman of William Moulton Marston – and how interest in such topics has shaped his work over the last decade. Ron Regé, Jr. is an artist and musician (Lavender Diamond) living in Echo Park, CA. Ron's Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ronregejr Instagram @ ronregejr

The 355th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 7pm ET. For more info visit: https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/ Banned Comics: Old Problems, New Forms. A Will Eisner Week event with Jeff Smith, Jerry Craft, Denis Kitchen, Jeff Trexler, Michael Dooley and Danny Fingeroth. Will Eisner believed that artistic freedom —in his own work and that of other cartoonists—was of utmost importance. He was an early ally of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Eisner lived through the controversies over comics of the ’40s, ‘50s, and until his 2005 death, and made use of new freedoms for his own graphic novel work. With the current controversies over graphic novels in schools just the latest in the decades-long battle over free speech vs. community standards, comics historians and creators including Jeff Smith (Bone), Jerry Craft (New Kid), Denis Kitchen (Kitchen Sink Press),Jeff Trexler (acting director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) and Michael Dooley (The Education of a Comics Artist) discuss comics censorship over the decades, and what we can learn from Eisner’s career and work to help deal with these latest challenges. Danny Fingeroth (Will Eisner Studios) moderates.

The 354th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held live and in-person on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at 7pm ET at Parsons The New School in the Bark Room, lobby of 2 West 13th Street, NYC – and also streamed ONLINE VIA ZOOM. Deadcrow Comix A Faction of the Deadcrow Comix Corporation that includes Jade Mar, Sam Seigel, Chaia Startz, Floyd Tangeman and Virgil Warren will elaborate, expand and expound upon the history and future of Deadcrow publications -simultaneously imbibing individual cartooning exploits and philosophies. The Deadcrow Comix (DC Comix) Corporation is a shadowy network of American underground cartoonists and dreamwalkers, originating in San Francisco, California circa 2008. https://deadcrow.bigcartel.com

The 353rd meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023 at 7pm ET. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. Please email comicssymposium@gmail.com to register for this event. Free and open to the public. CF on Clean Sweep – Self-Destructive Scroll Continuum “Scrolling” has become a dominant mode of interacting with media. When something is posted to the internet it is hard to remove. It has the implication of ephemera but in fact is “carved in silicon”. When comic strips are printed on a strip of receipt paper, the images are degraded by the printer, and the paper slowly self destructs and falls apart over a decade. Scrolls are one of the first portable document formats, with a kind of built-in privacy feature. The images are hidden inside until you get to them, no flipping through in the bookstore. Comics are typically printed on a page wherein we may see a bit of what’s coming, and flipping pages with eye movement from the bottom to the top creates an implicit rhythm of its own. In the scroll, the rhythm becomes a continuum determined only by panel shapes and the spaces between them. CF is based in NY. He has exhibited internationally and published with Picturebox, Anthology Editions, Mania Press, and Landfill Editions among others. Forthcoming books include a collection of early work from NYRB and a book for Breakdown press. “Clean Sweep” is a series of scrolls by different artists printed on receipt paper. He self publishes a monthly one-sheet “Causeway” available through Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/333cf). In addition to drawing, he makes lamps from metal, acrylic, and folded paper, as well as electronic instruments from scratch that are used in solo sound project “Universal Cell Unlock” CF's scroll comics can be purchased here: https://333cf.org

The 350th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, January 31, 2023 at 7pm ET. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. Please email comicssymposium@gmail.com to register for this event. Free and open to the public. Margot Ferrick: Sweet Emergence Trying to tie together the narratives which have been the most important to me over the past year, mainly Takashi Ishii’s Sweet Whip, Shindo L’s Emergence, Fromsoft games, and some fragments of Catholicism. Margot Ferrick was born in 1988 on Long Island and now lives in Illinois. Their published work includes Yours (2dcloud) and Dognurse (Perfectly Acceptable Press), both of which were included in Best American Comics. They have also done comics and illustrations for Vice, Lagon Revue and Gucci.

The 349th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium, Tuesday, January 24th, 2023 at 7pm EST. The Outlaw God Victor Cayro Drawing, tools-methods-application. Secrets, tips, Learning techniques, habits, diet, etcetera, inspiration. Art Life. Perhaps some dos and dont’s. Victor Cayro had been drawing since 4 years old. He loves artwork and laughing with his audience. Wants to sell out but their soul won’t let them. Victor Cayro met Joe Rogan irl , Rogan scolded security as Cayro walked away for allowing him to get so close. Life long Artist in comics, illustration, apparel, 3D Known for KramERS Ergot and Bittersweet Romance

The 348th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022 at 7pm EST. Heather Faye Kahn on the versatility & ubiquity of cartoon characters Since at least the post-modernist 80s, “low brow” & “high brow” symbols have become increasingly interchangeable. Cartoon characters, for example, travel freely between class, social identities, spatial dimensions, & time. Because cartoon characters usually possess expressive faces & bodies similar to ours, they are relatable in a way other symbols are not. What does it feel like to be a cartoon character who can move freely between these dimensions? How do we determine the difference between fine art & an illustration when the symbols being used are the same? Faye Kahn is based in New York. From 2011-2017 she hosted a weekly music show on WFMU, an independent radio station located in Jersey City, NJ. During this time she also created 2 risograph comic books, one self published & one published by Perfectly Acceptable Press, & made countless animated gifs & illustrations for her Tumblr “Yex.” She still occasionally makes appearances on WFMU. Faye's arena page discussed in the talk https://www.are.na/faye-kahn/cartoon-vernacular-in-fine-art

The 347th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022 at 7pm EST. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. Please email comicssymposium@gmail.com to register for this event. Free and open to the public. Tim Goodyear on Glyph Flipping and other matters. Atomized reading Mad Magazine Syndrome Relevance of taste Tim Goodyear loves comic books, since Howard the Duck #6 and only wants to help you find that strange truth and confusion that he did that day.

The 346th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022 at 7pm EST. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. Please email comicssymposium@gmail.com to register for this event. Free and open to the public. Cristian Castelo on AGE OF ANTHOLOGY Age of the Anthology: Are you tired of feeling like an outcast in a world of outcasts? Tired of feeling bogged down by cool-guy cliques and gatekeeping dicks? Well, it’s time to craft your own lock and key by starting an anthology! In this talk, Cristian Castelo (author of WILD! and co-founder of Freak Comix) discusses the importance of self-publishing and community building through the confusing and seemingly impenetrable world of comics! Cristian Castelo is a cartoonist working out of Daly City, California. He is the author of the soon-to-be-published series WILD and co-creator of the comic anthology FREAK. A link to Freak Comix https://www.freakcomix.com Cristian's new WILD collection https://onipress.com/collections/all-products/products/wild-or-so-i-was-born-to-be

The 345th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, November 15th, 2022 at 7pm EST. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. For more info: https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/ Caroline Sury on the psychoanalytical path that leads to the drawing and construction of the story board of comics. In 1993, Caroline Sury became co-founder with Pakito Bolino of Le Dernier Cri. They produced wildly beautiful silk-screened publications (books and posters, as well as the magazine Hôpital Brut) and hard-core animated films filled with artwork by various known and unknown art brut/visionary artists (Caroline also contributed the sculptured puppet animation in their films). Caroline studied fine arts in Bordeaux. In the early nineties, she made several silk-screened portfolios, including Dog Time, Scènes d'un Cirque and Bête Verte. She worked on a number of "comics travel-notebooks", such as 'Holidays in Blooby land'. Her latest album One morning with miss Pie was in selection 2020 prize for Angoulème France.

The 344th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, November 1st, 2022 at 7pm EST. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. For more info: https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/ Walker Mettling is a cartoonist and printmaker in Providence, Rhode Island. Since 2010 he’s run the Providence Comics Consortium – a far out intergenerational comics publishing project! He’s also printed and edited the Providence (sunday) Wipeout anthology since 2016!

The 343rd meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, October 25th, 2022 at 7pm EST. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. For more info: https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/ Bhanu Pratap on An attempt to look at the unfolding folds of the body and gaps produced therein, along with figuring out the process of aiming close enough to your mark while producing work. Bhanu Pratap is a cartoonist and painter based out of Kolkata, India. His debut book “Dear Mother And Other Stories” came out in November 2021 from strangers fanzine publishing.

The 329th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, March 8 2022 at 7pm EST. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. For more information: https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/ Dustin Holland on Slapstick Poetics – poetry, play and madness in comics. In this talk, Dustin will explore the long-standing relationship between poetry and comics, and discuss the ways in which an understanding of poetic devices can enhance both the process of reading and making comics. Starting with readings of Winsor McCay, Walt Kelly and Ernie Bushmiller before moving on to William S. Burroughs’ failed forrays into the comics medium and contemporary artists like Jim Woodring and Keren Katz in addition to his own work – Dustin will attempt to illustrate the numerous ways in which poetics have helped to push comics towards new and exciting directions. Dustin Holland is a cartoonist living in Colorado. He is the former poetry editor of Kleft Jaw Press and Cheeseburger Nebula Galactic Press. Dustin writes about comics for Comic Book Resources. His work has appeared in Bubbles Fanzine, Meow Wolf’s Convergence Station News Stand and numerous self-published zines and comics, many of which can be found for sale on Wigshop Webshop and Domino Books. Visit his website: Gorchverse.com

The 342nd meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 at 7pm EST. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. For more info: https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/ Megan Kelso discusses her new book from Fantagraphics, Who Will Makes The Pancakes? Following a brief stint at art school, Megan Kelso completed her B.A. at The Evergreen State College in 1991 where she studied history and political science. Inspired by the explosion of zines, bands, and DIY art projects in Olympia, she started her “Girlhero” mini comic which ran for six issues. She was the first woman to receive the Xeric Foundation self publishing grant. In 1998, comics from “Girlhero” were compiled into a book published by Highwater, titled “Queen of the Black Black.” Kelso received two Ignatz awards for her graphic novel “Artichoke Tales.” In 2007, she was invited by The New York Times Magazine to serialize her “Watergate Sue” comic as part of a weekly Funny Pages feature. In 2019 she was selected for a public art commission as part of the Climate Pledge Arena renovation in Seattle Center. The piece, “Crow Commute,” was installed in December 2021. Kelso’s third collection of short stories, “Who Will Make the Pancakes” will debut from Fantagraphics in November 2022. Kelso currently lives in Seattle.

The 341st meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, October 4th, 2022 at 7pm EST. ONLINE PRESENTATION VIA ZOOM. For more info: https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/ Bill Kartalopoulos on Avant-Garde Histories of Comics: 1970-1990 View Part 1 of Bill's history of avant-garde comics here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY5gCNSR9VE&t=1s Kartalopoulos traces points of contact between comics and avant-garde art movements in the post-Pop period. Developments in photography, street art, performance, conceptual art, artists’ books, and serial art contributed to a range of narrative image-making projects across disciplines, often by artists of diverse identities whose stories had rarely been told. Bill Kartalopoulos is an internationally recognized comics critic, educator, curator, and editor. He served as the Series Editor for the #1 New York Times—bestselling Best American Comics (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) series for six annual volumes, beginning in 2014. He teaches courses about comics at the undergraduate and graduate levels at Parsons and at the School of Visual Arts. He has curated exhibits about comics across North America and in Greece, Switzerland and France, and currently serves as the programming director for the MoCCA Arts Festival in New York, NY. He is currently writing a history of comics, forthcoming from Princeton University Press. For more information, please visit on-panel.com

The 339th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium. For more info: https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/ View Part 1, where Inés presents her Cartoon Spirituality essay, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQRH8cgvDS8 Inés Estrada on “Cartoon Spirituality” “Cartoon Spirituality” is an essay zine originally self-published by Inés Estrada in spring 2022 about cartoons, magic, consciousness, faith and fandom, and the ideas in it will be presented and expanded in this talk. An exploration on the power of imagination, the relation in between cartoon characters and religious icons, how drawing has evolved together with human culture and belief since the beginning of time, and how this has brought us to our current era in which spiritual and psychic warfare is being inflicted on us, as the real and the unreal become increasingly inseparable from each other. Inés Estrada is a cartoonist from Mexico City, where she currently resides. She has been self-publishing her comics since 2006 and has also been published in Sweden, Spain and the US. Her last book, Alienation, a sci-fi/horror graphic novel about a future in which reality and the virtual are indistinguishable, came out in 2019 from Fantagraphics and is currently sold out.