Memories of 2016…

As we have seen in The Troll. memories work both backwards and forwards in what we usually see as the linear flow of time.

thetroll-memories

They’re not always exactly corresponding to what actually happens when it actually happens, so bear that in mind when reading these recollections from the future:

SPACE

CBK and Tusen Serier will move into a new space together at Mitt Möllan. It will work as a combined exhibition space and studio, with the possibility for workshops and a store for buying our books, as well as stuff from Wormgod, Ritualen and others that are connected to CBK or Tusen Serier in some way.

BOOKS

Personally, I really really want to get started on the next Piracy is Liberation book. I also have ideas for The Troll 2, but I promised myself I would make another Piracy book first. It’s been far too long…

gdpiracy-vollogo

I wrote the script for a book that is now being drawn by Shko Askari, to be published by Tusen Serier pretty soon, I hope. I have a preliminary title for it, but I’m trying to think of a better one, so I won’t tell you what it is.

I didn’t manage to make the Transgressions 2 book last year, which would have a soundtrack by Brazilian band Anarcho Vomit Noise, but with any luck that could also happen this year.

gdtransgressionslogo

PUBLISHING

Apart from the Askari book, there are several more books planned from Tusen Serier. Here are a few of them:

Myling by Amanda Casanellas & Yossra El Said:

myling-1

Five stories about prostituters by Amalia Alvarez:

prostituerande-1

Void by Susanne Johansson (published as a collaboration between Wormgod & Tusen Serier):

voidcover

Mapuche – Jordens folk by Jorge Varilla

mapuchecvr.jpg

 

From CBK, CBA vol 30 already came from the printer but hasn’t been officially released yet, so that will happen when we get the new space up and running:

cbavol30cover

This is actually the last issue from last year, so there will be 4 more in 2016. But more on those later. We’re right now in the process of finishing the selection for vol 32, which has been a far more complicated process that expected, then there’s a graphic novel issue by Julia Scott (some time around May) and two more anthology issues before the year is over. We’re right now preparing the call for submissions for those books.

I will be the main editor of vol 37, but that’s not until 2018. No hurry…

EXHIBITIONS

The Troll exhibition is still up at the old Tusen Serier place, but it’s not really open for the public any longer…

We also have some other stuff planned for the new place, but it’s all very vague so far, so I can’t say any more about it yet…

I’ve been asked to have an exhibition at the comics centre in Oulu in August. That’s gonna be fun, especially if I’ll be able to go there to see it myself. Tommi Musturi will have an exhibition there at the same time, so that could turn out really nice.

FESTIVALS

So the AltCom festival will happen in August, after all (for a while we thought we would have no budget for it at all, but then we got some so now everything is ok). We will try to figure out the last details in the coming few months, and then there will be some kind of announcement about it.

AltCom2016promo

Not sure yet which other festivals I’m going to, but here’s a preliminary plan for the tour of 2016:

Uppsala Comix
Fumetto
SIS
CRACK!
Helsinki
Novo Doba

Maybe also Å-fest and possibly something else. It all depends on funding, mostly. Anyway, see you there, hopefully!

MORE

Oh, and did I mention that I am currently unemployed? Luckily, there should be no problem with the unemployment insurance, so it’s ok, but I will need to spend some time looking for new paid jobs. Some of the above will come with some money, but most of it is pure creativity and lack of self-preservation skills.

As you may have noticed, I didn’t include any links here, so for more information you can go to www.elftorp.com and find your way to most of what I’ve mentioned here.

Anyway. The future is coming towards us and not all of it is bright. As usual. So let’s just do our best and I’ll see you when it arrives.

Tystnaden efter tumultet (recension)

Recension av Piracy is Liberation vol 01 & 02 i Helsingborgs Dagblad, skriven av Jonas Thente:

wormgodbook024piracyv02

Men i huvudsak handlar det hela om upproret mot en fascistisk stat som håller befolkningen i ett järngrepp av konsumtion och tv-tittande. Vi befinner oss i en stadsstat vars topografi påminner om Fritz Langs dystra “Metropolis” eller Alex Proyas klaustrofobiska “Dark City”, skevt tecknad i svartvitexpressionism av Elftorp. Arbetarna kallas oförblommerat för slavar och de övre samhällsklasserna för härskare – eller slaves/masters eftersom serien är på engelska.

hd-piracy-ill01

Det finns andra inslag också, varav några ganska mystiska – såsom de valliknande, Lovecraft-inspirerade “gudar” som svävar in från en annan dimension då och då. Eller de metainslag då personer rör sig genom tiden, över serierutornas nivå. På något ställe finns här rentav ytterligare en nivå, när två av dessa personer utanför serievärlden frågar sig om det kan finnas någon ytterligare dimension med någon som betraktar dem. Det finns det ju: vi läsare.

hd-piracy-ill02

Allt som allt verkar Mattias Elftorps kreativa energi bygga på just den praktik som hans huvudfigurer Pirate, Information, Purple och de andra berusar sig med: slumpmässig information bestående av politisk teori, litteratur, film, musik och annat som han centrifugerar ut i sitt universum.

Om man vill hålla sig till seriemediet så är det framför allt en modern klassiker man associerar Elftorps prestation med. Det är Warren Ellis anarkistiska sf-berättelse “Transmetropolitan”, i vilken den utan tvekan Hunter S Thompson-inspirerade journalisten Spider Jerusalem ar sig an det moderna konsumtionssamhället i en rasande satir över USA.

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Den främsta drivkraften är en utopisk vrede som blir alltmer komplicerad ju längre serien framskrider.

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Jag tänker också att Elftorps unika, magnifikt konstruerade och passionerat genomförda framtidsparabel, kommer att bli än mer intressant nu när han har börjat tackla tystnaden efter tumultet.

Piracy is Liberation vol 01: ONLY SINNERS DISOBEY

It is finally here! The collection of the first 6 Piracy is Liberation books! Bigger format, better paper, new material, and it’s heavy as Hell with its 436 pages!

Order it from the website: www.elftorp.com/freeinformation!

 

v01cvrbook

The story of a future city where Capitalism has become religion. A future city where the people are being kept ignorant and obedient through mandatory television, not knowing that things have ever been different or that anything exists outside the city.
A city where downloading random information is used as a drug. An illegal drug, and if you go against the commandments you are a sinner and nobody loves a sinner.
A city where the Priests, Masters and Police run everything, using deadly force to ensure order and profits.
A city not unlike our own world.
A city where only sinners disobey.

A city that is ready to burst.

 

180sek | 20 eur | 25 usd (+shipping)

Release/exhibition at Kafé 44, Stockholm, April 26 (Facebook event)!

 

Buy Infotrip (1st ed) in support of AMD!

I’m donating most of the remaining copies of Piracy is Liberation: Infotrip (1st ed) to Aktion Mot Deportation.

This is the second book in the Piracy is Liberation series, but it is also my debut graphic novel. The first edition is a bigger size than the usual version and it contains the Desert Anarchist Manifesto which was cut out from the second edition. I think there’s also a typo in there somewhere. Otherwise there’s no real difference apart from the size and cover.

It’s yours for 50 SEK and all the money goes to the struggle against the current deportation politics of Sweden and Europe. Yesterday, the Tribunal 12 presented a comprehensive accusation against Europe. Hopefully, the recordings will be available somewhere for everyone who missed it.

Send an email to me or antidep@gmail.com to order a copy (shipping will be added).

Warren Ellis (writer of Transmetropolitan, Planetary, Doktor Sleepless, The Authority, Black Summer etc) about the book:

INFOTRIP is a graphic novel by Mattias Elftorp that I read (and then somehow lost) in Copenhagen the other day. It’s postfuture science fiction with an art style that seems to me to combine Brian Wood with Ben Templesmith, to jagged, hate-ridden, nervous effect. I really like it, and I’m pissed off that my copy got mislaid.

(He got a new copy next time I met him.)

Demockracy

Piracy is Liberation 011: Demockracy
Coming soon!

Election Day is coming! But it’s an election where there is no real choice. A two-party system where both parties follow the will of the Market, the will of the Holy Corporations and their Priests. Where your influence is an illusion designed to keep you consuming, keep you selling your time to produce wealth for the Masters.

Compete, consume, conform, and vote!

Story, art, design and cover by Mattias Elftorp
56 pgs, b/w
Published by Wormgod

Piracy is Liberation site

SEX & VIOLENCE

New book from Wormgod, coming soon! Look for it at Stockholm International Comics Festival and MoCCA:

SEX & VIOLENCE
by Allan Haverholm & Mattias Elftorp
from Wormgod

 

This book is about exactly what you’d expect from the title.
Read it from one side and it’s about violence: a brutal journey into trauma-induced unconsciousness, directed by Mattias Elftorp, the writer/artist of Piracy is Liberation, Arg Kanin, etc.
Then flip the book and read it from the other side and you get sex: Allan Haverholm (Sortmund) offers a much more pleasant variation on the same scenario, building up to another kind of climax.

Two stories, two simple concepts, boiled down to experiences that ultimately are very human but extraordinary in their simplicity.

The stories have been published before. VIOLENCE in C’est Bon Anthology vol 3, Piracy is Liberation 005: Free Section and Excessive Force, SEX in C’est Bon Anthology vol 11.

Kristiina Kolehmainen

Kristiina Kolehmainen
1956 – 2012

Being part of the international and Swedish comics scene, I have a lot to thank Kristiina Kolehmainen for. She broke down some of the borders between Sweden and the rest of the world and gave me access to parts of the international comics scene I may very well have missed if it wasn’t for her.

The last time I met her, we shared a few beers after the end of the I Seriernas Värld comics festival in Malmö 2011. I was disillusioned over Sweden in general and she helped me see, not that I was wrong but that I had an ally. Someone who understood exactly what I mean and could give me some added insights into what’s wrong with this place. It meant a lot to me right then. Still does.

I miss you, Kristiina.