Today + near future news

The Tusen Serier/Sverok wall/jam comics exhibition that’s been going on this week will be finished today, which we will celebrate with alcohol, of course. We have three jam comics going on the walls, and yesterday we made some connections between the different stories, so they will all be concluded today in a SUPER RAVE PARTY OF DEATH. Literally (or at least in some kind of literal form).

We start at 16 and go on until 22-ish, depending on when we run out of wine…

1000nerd_pride

In other news:

As you may know, I’ve been organizing the AltCom festival (website will soon be updated) for the Swedish Comics Association since 2010. The next edition, however, will be run by CBK in cooperation with Tusen Serier. I will still be the main organizer, but it still feels new and exciting.

And speaking of Tusen Serier, it just completed the transition from a project run by the Comics Association into an organization in its own rights. Which also feels great!

And one last item. A new book from CBK is nearing completion: Creation of a god / Att skapa en gud by Henrik Möller & Lars Krantz, based on a short story by Richard Stanley. Here’s the first official preview of the cover:

vallondencvr

 

All these things…

Ok, so here’s the deal.

Current comics projects:

I was going to get started on Piracy is Liberation v03 this fall, but right now I don’t see it happening. I also had to postpone the Transgressions 2 project I was planning to get started with Brazilian noise band Anarcho Vomit Noise. But I finished The Troll, and when the publisher gets hold of some 3D glasses it’s going to get a proper release somehow. I also have to make the Swedish translation of it as soon as I get some five spare minutes…

viralnail

First, some short stories. I told you before about Viral that I made for CBA vol 30. I’m also mentally sketching a cover illustration for that issue, together with Kinga Dukaj. I’ve also written a script for something that is currently called Immunology, intended for the Oulu comics festival horror comics competition, whose deadline is approaching. It’s probably going to end up in CBA sooner or later as well. And I have a script for another troll story, but a different kind, for the upcoming Novo Doba festival anthology. Working title: These fucked up things they are doing to us.

Oh, and I’m supposed to make a lino cut contribution to Éric Ferrier’s new zine. Deadline sometime in August, of course. Maybe I’ll do it this weekend…

Spell casting: 

A few years ago, I decided that things got more interesting if I view application-writing as casting spells. Because it is a bit like magic. You formulate a spell, you offer it to the gods/spirits/institutions in a kind of ritual that may include going to the post office or completing certain steps online, and then, if these higher powers decide to smile upon you, you get the money you ask for. And then you have to work for it, sacrificing your time and creativity, putting their power sigils/logos on whatever you produce within the boundaries of the spell.

spells

So this is also something I’m going to be doing for a while now. Projects that need financing:
– AltCom 2016: WORK (this time organized by CBK & Tusen Serier)
– Tusen Serier (which was just transformed from a project under the Swedish Comics Association into its own organization. Now we’re just waiting for our magic number that will give us access to new sorts of magic).
– CBK (luckily I’m not responsible for writing these. Mine is more a consulting role. But still, deadline approaching…)

CBK:

So I just finished putting together the new issue of CBA (vol 29), which is a solo issue called What we knew, by Sarah Kläpp. With any luck, we’ll have it in time for the Helsinki festival…

cbavol29cvrnail

And we’re in the process of making comics for CBA vol 30. Well, the others are. I’ve been done for ages. Luckily.

And some submissions have already come in for CBA vol 32. It’s always a joy to see all the nice comics people are sending to us.

And I hear that Mari Ahokoivu is preparing the material for he solo issue (vol 31).

All of these releases are supposed to result in exhibitions sooner or later.

We just need to sort out the mess that the former editorial crew left behind. A mess that may pose a big problem for us new people. Long story. We’ll sort it out somehow.

Edit: And yes, on top of all this, I’m also going to put togehter another book for CBK: Creation of a god / Vallonden som byggde gud. Comics adaptation by Henrik Möller & Lars Krantz of a Richard Stanley (who made films like Hardware and Dust Devil) short story. My self preservation skills are at 0. I just can’t help myself…

Wormgod:

Not much happening here for the moment, which is probably saving my life right now, because:

Tusen Serier:

August 4-7: Nerd at Pride

1000nerd_pride

We’ll be making a jam comic on the walls during this event. An interactive exhibition with some kind of LGBT/Sci Fi theme that we will figure out as we go along.

August 14: Tusen Stafettserier

1000stafett_malmonail

Tusen Stafettserier, our jam comics project that we’ve been working on for the last year is now finished and the exhibition which started in Stockholm recently will now be shown in Malmö before going on to Sjöbo, Gothenburg and back to Stockholm again.

August 21: Sofie Hoff (guest exhibition)

sofiehoff

We’re lending out the Tusen Serier place for a guest exhibition.

August 28-30: Helsinki sarjakuvafestivaali

helsinki2015nail

Tusen Serier, CBK and Wormgod goes to the Helsinki comics festival! Which is always nice, especially since I haven’t been there for a while now.

September 5: Lillebrors fantastiska mardrömmar release/exhibition/performance

lillebrorcvrnail

The official release of Lillebrors fantastiska mardrömmar!

September 12-13: Comic Con Malmö

comiccon

Not sure how this will work out, but worth a try anyway. Tusen Serier & Wormgod at the first Comic Con in Malmö. They seem to base this more on the image of San Diego Comic Con that you see in popular culture rather than focusing on comics. We’ll see…

September 22-27: Novo Doba

novodoba2015

Going to Serbia once more for the Novo Doba festival. Family reunion…

September 26: Some exhibition

mittmollannail

I won’t be here for this one, but we’ll put some kind of exhibition together.

September 27: Amalia Alvarez at the Gothenburg book fair

bokmassan2015

Amalia Alvarez will represent Tusen Serier and talk about her new book about prostitutes. Another thing I won’t be here for…

So that’s it…

…for August and September. And after that there is still the issue of the After the ends of the world release party/mini noise festival that was supposed to have happened already, but the venue didn’t work out for different reasons (mainly construction work).

And we were going to show the 8. exhibition in Malmö, maybe in conjunction with a release event for The Troll (and of course for the 8. book). Whenever there is time.

Where is the time? Have you seen it?

Also, could you remind me of all the things I’ve forgotten in this description of what is filling my head right now, because I don’t know where they are or what they look like or what I was even talking about…

Anyway, see you around, somewhere.

Storage…

Storage is a comic I made for the AltCom 2012 NO BORDERS anthology.

On page 3, you can see a deportee being strapped to a special chair that is used for transporting “difficult” persons by plane. People who, for some reason, do not want to be forcibly deported, even though the Swedish authorities have declared that it is correct, almost that it is done with the best interests for the person in mind. Because why would the Swedish authorities do something like that if it wasn’t the right thing to do?

storage-irl

Instructions: If you see someone being taken on the same plane as you against their will, stand up, make a fuss, etc. Get more people to do the same. The plane is not allowed to take off until everyone is seated, and the pilot has the final say. Several deportations have been stopped in this manner. This may give the person more time to appeal again and maybe even get residency. Also, they may not have to be drugged and wake up in another country where they may have no viable prospects for a decent life.

As for the comic, it was inspired by a passage from Fortets Murar, a report from various detentions centers (prisons for asylum seekers/refugees whose only crime was to try to stay within the wrong borders. In Sweden, they are called “storage”) in Europe.

Click images for bigger, more readable, versions:

storage-1 storage-2 storage-3 storage-4 storage-5

Review: Jag & min Pappa & Zlatan

Review (in Swedish) at Bild & Bubbla of my book Jag & min Pappa & Zlatan, published by Tusen SerierWormgod.The book is available in both Swedish and English…

 

wormgodbook1006zlatan_2ed

Med sin berättelse om Sara ger Elftorp en tankeväckande bild av ett svenskt samhälle präglat av en förtäckt men passionerad strävan efter assimilering. Ett samhälle där svaret ”jag bor i Sverige och vi har fått uppehållstillstånd” så klart inte är tillräckligt för fröken i förberedelseklassen som frågar varför man känner sig som en svensk. Ett samhälle där fröken istället ger luddiga förklaringar till vad svenskhet innebär, förklaringar som bara landar i självgoda plattityder om att Sverige är bra och att svenskar är ordentliga och gör rätt för sig.

(…)

en intim, berörande serieberättelse som skildrar såväl dessa minnen och mardrömmar som Saras nuvarande vardag i ett nytt och – åtminstone på ytan – tryggare land. Som läsare är det svårt att värja sig för den finstämda porträtteringen av det oförstående, utsatta barnet Sara.

2015

So. We’re a couple of months into 2015 and for the moment there’s a lot of different projects that are approaching completion. Here are a few:

TUSEN SERIER
Four books are in the works. In order of probably appearance:

Lillebrors fantastiska mardrömmar
This one is finished. Just waiting for test prints to see that the colors are ok. It’s been a complex process, not without problems, but finally we are at the finishing line. By Meisam Azimi, Aida Ghardagian, Mauritz Tistelö and Bekim Gaši, translated into Farsi, Bosnian and English, this will be the first book to be published under the TUSEN SERIER GRÄNSLAND imprint (even if Destruktörerna was technically the first) for books in the borderlands between comics and illustrated litterature.

Finsmakarna
I finished most of the other work last night, so now I’m working on the translation for this sequel to Destruktörerna from 2013. Written by Rubén Aguilera, with beautiful art by Marco Leal. Another GRÄNSLAND book.

Myling
Yossra El Said is currently adapting Amanda Casanellas‘ short story. Both versions of the story will be included in the book.

Fem prostituerade kvinnors historier
I will soon meet with Amalia Alvarez to see her work so far on her follow-up to Fem papperslösa kvinnors historier

There are also more coming, but later during the year.

Tusen Stafettserier
This subproject to Tusen Serier is getting closer to be properly launched and finished at more or less the same time. The last workshops will happen during March and then there will be a book + exhibition of jam comics that will tour some Swedish cities during the spring.

WORMGOD
I so wish I had time to start working on Piracy is Liberation vol 03, but it looks like that’s gonna take a while longer. There are also plans for making the first two volumes available in digital form, but that’s probably going to wait some more as well.
On the other hand:

After the ends of the world
This one is being printed as we speak and should be available pretty soon, with an expanded revisiting of the exhibition of the same name from AltCom 2014. Look for it! By me, Susanne Johansson and Heidi Somero, with a soundtrack by Dekoder, Nimam Spregleda, Feberdröm, Knullkraft and Concrete Threat.

THE TROLL
This is a book that was supposed to come out last year, a re-publishing by Komika förlag of an old 24-hour comic of mine. Since it was delayed, we’ve been talking about expanding the story with more pages. I’m aiming at between 48-72 new pages of story. A new beginning and a new ending. Like the original story, this new creature will be heavily inspired by the films of Shinya Tsukamoto and the music of Chu Ishikawa. Probably some more Manga/Anime influences as well. If all goes as planned, it will be released in time for the Stockholm International Comics Festival (SIS).

FESTIVALS
So far, I’ve been to Å-fest in Borgå/Porvoo (Finland) to represent Tusen Serier.
Next one will be Textival in Göteborg in the end of March.
And I guess the next one after that will be SIS in May, but there’s also a book fair(?) in Botkyrka (Stockholm) in April…

C’EST BON KULTUR
I’M BACK IN CBK! After a 5 year absence, I’m back where I started 15 years ago, in an almost completely new editorial crew. So far it’s mostly been about finishing up after the former crew, putting together their last issue (CBA vol 28), where I happen to have a comic (Singularity, which is also published in the Novo Doba 2014 anthology and After the ends of the world. It is being printed right now and will come soon. I’m going to look at some proofs today.
I also made a comic, Viral, for the first anthology issue featuring the new crew: CBA vol 30, coming this fall. I also sent a b/w version of this story to Stripburger, so maybe you’ll see it there first. Maybe…

What else is happening?
Oh yeah, there’s some union-related stuff happening at work (the Comics Association). More on that later, unless it gets resolved.
Also some conflicts at my freelance work, after Sydsvenskan bought Helsingborgs Dagblad. More on that also later unless it gets resolved…

Also coming later: sample art, etc.

Exciting times…

KOMMER SNART: Lillebrors fantastiska mardrömmar

Kommer snart från Tusen Serier:

LILLEBRORS FANTASTISKA MARDRÖMMAR
av Meisam Azimi, Aida Ghardagian, Mauritz Tistelö, Bekim Gaši

– Jag spelar inte teater, det är inte så jag ser det. Jag spelar roller, roller som jag under mitt liv blivit påtvingad.
– Om jag tror på ödet?
– Det som händer kommer att hända.

lillebror-cover
Omslag av Aida Ghardagian

Denna bok bygger på Mejsams mardrömmar. Hans berättelse byggs ihop med medförfattarnas mardrömmar och blir till en lång färd mot befrielse och uppvaknande.
Vad som från början var ett terapeutiskt arbete har förvandlats till en bok som också är ett möte mellan fyra konstnärer. Ett konstprojekt och samtidigt ett möte mellan det existentiella i, och det samhälle som skapar förutsättningarna för, våra drömmar och mardrömmar.
Drömberättelsen är ett sätt att komma bort från de roller som lagts över oss; papperslösa, medborgare, arbetare, konstnärer.
Ett sätt att fly och förstå våra liv.

Håll ögonen öppna för kommande releasefest med utställning av bilder ur boken.

Lillebrors fantastiska mardrömmar ingår i Tusen Seriers nya underkategori GRÄNSLAND, med böcker som befinner sig i gränslandet mellan serier och illustrerad litteratur.

1000logo-gransland

MYLING closing party…

Last chance to see the Tusen Serier: Myling exhibition will be on Friday (Dec 19, 17-22)!

mylingeventbild

Based on a short story by Amanda Casanellas, I’m one of nine artists who have made interpretations of parts of the story. This is my contribution:

altcom2014foto307

A triptych of paintings made with a roller, which was just as fun to do as I had planned it to be.

Come on Friday to see them in real life!

 

 

Triple exhibition opening during AltCom 2014

The upcoming Tusen Serier exhibition Myling is one of three exhibitions taking place at the same time at Mitt Möllan (Claesgatan 8, Malmö) Nov 6 at 17-22:

Tusen Serier: MYLING

exhibtusenposter
The Myling is a child who has been murdered by its mother and buried secretly in the woods or beneath the floor boards. Stuck between two dimensions, not alive, but alive enough to fuel their little bodies to keep growing in their graves in an unnatural way. A way that is not of our world.

Amanda Casanellas has taken this mythological creature and brought it into a new postapocalyptic context in a short story that has now been illustrated for this exhibition by different comics artists.

Tusen Serier

Yvan Alagbé & Amandine Boucher: MYSTERIES OF LOVE

exhibfrmkposter

Love, love, love. In every novel, every movie, every song. For sure, we know of many love stories, were they real or imagined. What about a history of love? Where to begin? Love is the start. Love is the end. Love is the way. Love is the mystery of live.

By Yvan Alagbé with Amandine Boucher of FREMOK.


Chili Com Carnne: QCDA

exhibcccposter

WHAT DOES QCDA STAND FOR?
QUINTESSENTIAL COMICS FOR DOCTORS AND ACCOUNTANTS?
QUOTES FROM CATHOLIC DUCKS ON ACID?
QUICK COMICS FOR DOPEY ATHLETES?
QUEST FOR CRAZY DOCTOR AUTOPSY?
QUATRO CHAVALOS DO APOPCALIPSE?

WHO CARES!!! We are not looking for treasures or answers. Our efforts and wanderings may seem futile, purposeless, and even our flesh garments meaningless, but even without a battle or mission there is an incorporeal ambition in us. We know that nothing rises from rotten bodies.

QCDA is Giant/size/Comix/zine of Chili Com Carne that brings the Portuguese new breed of comic authors in the format of four dudes (Afonso Ferreira, André Pereira, Rudolfo and Zé Burnay) and four damsels (Amanda Baeza, Hetamoé, Sílvia Rodrigues and Sofia Neto). Their works are dazzled and confused in such a way that embody the contemporary “4 knights of aPOPcalipse”: Anorexia, Smart Shops, Hooliganism and Cancer.

Chili Com Carne

AltCom 2014 is organized by the Swedish Comics Association, with support from Malmö stad, Kulturrådet and Sparbanksstiftelsen Skåne, in cooperation with Folkets Park and C’est Bon Kultur. Projekct manager: Mattias Elftorp.
www.altcomfestival.se
www.serieframjandet.se