Wormgod – Page 4 – A Subtle Fuck You

Death to 2016…

2016 ends and it’s time for a summation. I could comment on the new migration laws, on the ongoing/invigorated persecution of undocumented as well as beggars, the seeming rise of general stupidity, the steady decline of hope as species are going extinct at a rate we haven’t seen since the last ice age, various mad-people in power, abuses perpetrated by various states etc etc (I could also talk about celebrity deaths but why?). But I’m probably going to keep this personal and up-beat(?).

So here are some things I made/was involved in during the year. Mostly unpaid work as usual, which I’m getting increasingly tired of, but what are you going to do? Up-beat, was it? Right. Ok. This is me when I’m unemployed:

COMICS:
The Troll actually came out in the end of 2015, but it was still new when this year started, and it was also my only solo book, so I still feel that it counts.
I had some other plans for upcoming solo books, but none of them have turned into reality. Yet…

Publication-wise when it comes to my own comics, this has been more of an anthology year, with some comics being published in several places:
Viral was drawn in 2015 but published this year in CBAvol30.
Medication, published in CBAvol35: BLEED, Komikaze #42 (web) and #15 (paper) and possibly Alkom’x #9
Idle hands & recreation in CBAvol34: Re: Creation and idleness and possibly Alkom’x #9
Fragments will be in CBAvol37 and possibly Alkom’x #9
Arg Kanin om Samma gamla visa in Asylkalendern 2017.

I sent some of these stories to some other places as well so they may turn up in more places in the future…

ASSOCIATIONS:
Some big steps forward were taken for both Tusen Serier and CBK. Both associations broke some ties with the Swedish Comics Association this year, which feels nice for various reasons that shall remain untold for now. It meant that CBK left the Comics Centre in the Mazetti building where we had been since 2005. Tusen Serier also finished the last project period that was run through the Comics Association. Both of these things lead up to both groups moving together and starting our new exhibition/store/studio/library/storage space Hybriden. We officially opened in March but it definitely feels like we’ve been there for more than a year… The new space also brought a brand-new webshop with it into existence.

CBK also started to get its shit together with the release of CBAvol30: A new hope, which was the first volume made/compiled completely by the new editorial crew. We also published our last graphic novel issue, CBAvol33: Repeat Offenders by Julia Scott, and 3 more anthologies.

FESTIVALS:
There was of course the AltCom 2016 festival, themed WORK. In many ways it felt like it was the best AltCom so far. We managed to create our own pocket universe during those few days in the end of July.

Also visited some other festivals/events (not as many as planned, but enough):
SIS, CRACK!, Oulu art night, Novo Doba, Örebro.

EXHIBITIONS:
–Vasta-Aine was an exhibition at the Oulu Comics Centre, featuring 3 of my recent comics, Medication, Fragments and Happiness.
-I had an exhibition at the CUK Imago in Belgrade during Novo Doba, with some of my old Wormgod prints and some original paintings.
-And, also during Novo Doba, I painted a mural at the Zemun-based cultural centre Matrijaršija.
-The BLEED group exhibition at Hybriden, organized by CBK and Kinga Dukaj, was the coolest exhibition I’ve been a part of for a long while. I made three paintings for this exhibition that took place in the midst of a seriel killer’s murder scene, walls and ceiling covered with plastic sheets, blood (most of it fake) spattered everywhere, special music by Feberdröm…

MORE BOOKS:
Tusen Serier released a batch of new books this year:
Fem historier om prostituerande by Amalia Alvarez
Myling by Amanda Casanellas & Yossra El Said
Mapuche by Jorge Varas Varilla
Void by Susanne Johansson (published in cooperation with Wormgod)
Cool Cykel by Tanja Komadina

THE ANGERED THING:
In November I took over from Amanda Casanellas who was there in October as the Tusen Serier residence artist at Konstepidemin in Gothenburg, a special residency that they had in cooperation with Blå Stället in Angered. During one month I could (mostly) concentrate on one thing instead of a hundred, which was probably quite healthy. I took some breaks to be at the BLEED exhibition and the Örebro festival, but still managed to draw 55 pages based on Amanda’s ideas, which were based on stories from Angered. Urban legends, folk tales, local mythology which we will work into a story to be published at some point during 2017…

LIKE TEARS IN RAIN:
There were probably some more things that might be worth mentioning, some short comics, illustrations, book covers, maybe some project or other, but I simply can’t remember everything and I’m too lazy to look it up.

So I’m going to leave you with a (surprisingly long) list of stuff I’ve watched/played/read in the sessions of downtime squeezed in between all the rest. It’s not all from this year, because only idiots think that there’s no past. And yes, these are just from the top of my head, things I recommend that happened to not slip my mind:

PS3/4:
DMC | Beyond: Two Souls | Enslaved | Alice 2 | The Last Guardian (finally!) | Shadow of the Beast (worthy remake of childhood nostalgia) | Life is strange (just started but seems promising)

TV SERIES (the most noteworthy new discoveries / steady classics):
South Park | Rick & Morty | Westworld | Crazy Head | The OA | Orphan Black | Preacher | Daredevil | Jessica Jones | Luke Cage | Doctor Who (even if there was only one new episodes)

FILMS:
Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen (Kitano is back!) | Sausage Party(!) | Maps to the stars | Lamerica | He never died | Extracted | Mr Six | Batman v Superman (Martha?!) | May Allah bless France | M. Butterfly | Borgman | The Lobster | High-Rise | Schizopolis | Kontroll | The Witch | Urge | Upstream Color | Ghostbusters | Vanishing Waves (ok, I saw this in 2015, but still worth mentioning) | + of course the MCU stuff…

COMICS:
Low | The Wicked + the Divine | Supreme Blue Rose | Starve | Punk Rock Jesus | Empty Zone | Monstress | (all of) Hellblazer | Deadenders | Bitch Planet | Velvet | New Lone Wolf & Cub | Lazarus | Saga | Nameless | Injection | Caliban | Blackgas | Stormwatch (Ellis) | Animal Man (finally caught up on Morrison’s run)| Trees | Deadly Class | Miracleman | Annihilator | + caught up on the X-books up until Secret Wars…

BOOKS:
Woman on the edge of time by Marge Piercy | The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin

Yeah, regular books take me a long time, so 2 in one year is unusually good.

LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH:
Hope you found something interesting that you might have otherwise missed in these lists, and enjoy the last few hours of the year…

Örebro comics festival poster

I’m proud to have been involved in the creation of Susanne Johansson‘s poster for the Örebro comics festival. My part was assisting with the design, but the image is all hers.

She will also show the Void exhibition at the festival (formerly exhibited at this year’s AltCom festival).

And the Hybrid of publishers I am involved in, Tusen Serier, CBK and Wormgod, will also be present with tables at the festival.

Exhibition @ Novo Doba 2016 + Myling @ Hybriden

I’m having an exhibition at CUK Imago in Beograd, Friday Sep 23, starting at 19!

As far as I understand, there will also be a couple of other exhibitions (Great Libertine Comics, Unobserved) at the same place, and also live music (Feberdröm, Nike Eyes).

It’s all part, of course, of the NOVO DOBA festival.

It’ll be a mix of prints, mostly Wormgod stuff, and a painting or two. And my books will be there, we’ll all be drunk, it’ll be great!

newagerun

Also, don’t miss the Myling exhibition this Friday (Sep 16, 18-22) at Hybriden. Original drawings by Yossra El Said, Ida Mårdhed will read from Amanda Casanellas‘ short story, we’ll all be drunk, it’ll be great!

Only your life, you animated clay doll fuck…

thetrollsample-1 thetrollsample-2 thetrollsample-3 thetrollsample-4

To be continued in The Troll…

The coming of The Hybrid

We’re finally ready to open The Hybrid, the new space we’ve been building since the beginning of the year!

The Hybrid is Malmö’s new comics hang-out! A space for exhibitions and workshops, an artists’ studio and comic shop/library, open for anyone (if not necessarily at all times). Here, you will be able to see exhibitions of comics you’ve never heard of, by recognized and unknown comic creators. Join workshops to learn how to draw comics or experiment with new forms of storytelling. In our shop you will find books from CBK, Tusen Serier, Wormgod and exquisitely selected international comics found at various festivals in different countries. We also have a comics library section where you with zines, anthologies and graphic novels where you can sit and read in our sofas.

WHAT: Opening/exhibition/release/workshop
WHERE: Hybriden @ Mitt Möllan, Claesgatan 8, Malmö
WHEN: Friday, March 11, 16-22

invigningeventbild2

EXHIBITION
The comics in the international comics anthology CBA have been called “supposedly poetical”. They have also been called “witty, challenging and eye-opening”. Judge for yourself when the all-new editorial crew show their own comics and artworks.
Same goes for Tusen Serier, where the inner circle shows their own works along with samples from the upcoming titles.
Artists: Amanda Casanellas, Christina Cromnow, Henrik Rogowski, Kinga Dukaj, Luddvig Melin, Mattias Elftorp, Oskar Aspman, Stefan Petrini, Steve Nyberg, Susanne Johansson, Shko Askari, Amalia Alvarez, Tanja Komadina, Jorge Varas Varilla, and Yossra El Said.

RELEASE: CBA vol 30: A NEW HOPE
The members of the new crew have made the comics in CBA vol 30: A NEW HOPE, to signal a kind of new beginning for the series, and because we wanted to find out what we’re actually doing. Anything from angst-ridden animals to a psychosomatic virus to a postapocalyptic Malmö and fragments of lego. You have to see for yourself what all this means in the new issue…

JAM COMIC WORKSHOP
Between 16-19 you can join a jam comic workshop where we collectively create a story on the theme of WHATEVER. No pressure, we’re just drawing togehter because it’s fun! No experience required, just bring a bit of imagination!

COMICS!
And of course, all our books will be available, as well as a few extra titles, in the bookstore section.

We’re going until 22 or when we fall asleep/run out of wine!

www.hybriden.tk
www.tusenserier.com
www.cbkcomics.com

+ You will also find us at the SciFi-mässan (Malmö) this weekend, March 5-6, where CBK & Tusen Serier share a table with Wormgod and the comics course of Malmö Högskola!

+ Also do not miss the ongoing (until Monday, March 7) special offer at our new webshop!

WELCOME!

invigningeventbild

Second Christmas!

Let’s celebrating the birth of the CBK web-shop!

You can find most of my books at the site, and a whole lot of other stuff.

From the site:

Once upon a time, there was a small group of comic artists with a big dream. 15 years later the shop was finally born. We invite you to celebrate this magnificent event, internally known as “Second Christmas.”

2ndXmas

Saunter through our virtual bookshelves, sigh with pleasure upon seeing our works in all their glory and find that not only CBK‘s works are presented. Tusen Serier and Wormgod are our first affiliates that we are proud to represent.

Use coupon code: newcbkshop2016 to get a 20% discount on everything but subscriptions in our new shop.

We love taking orders from you!

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.

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:

Five stories about prostituters by Amalia Alvarez:

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

Mapuche – Jordens folk by Jorge Varilla

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:

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.

Christmas is coming…

The Holidays are coming, when we celebrate Capitalism and its Prophit, the Coca Cola-colored Santa Claus who will bring us gifts, bought in the finest stores and prepared by his many sweatshop workers, the elves.

Here are a few suggestions for things to give to your loves ones etc (unless otherwise stated, these are all in English):

zlatancvr-2ed — Jag & min Pappa & ZlatanAvailable in Swedish or English

120 sek

By Mattias Elftorp
You can try to hide the ugly face of Sweden by forcing all immigrants to wear masks, but will it work? Sara’s dream is to meet Zlatan, but will her dreams come true or her nightmares?

wormgodbook027thetroll — The Troll150 sek

By Mattias Elftorp
5D consciousness explained! Claypocalypse! Troll magic! Includes 3D glasses.

wormgodbook026after — After The Ends Of The World120 sek

By Mattias Elftorp, Susanne Johansson & Heidi Somero
Visions from after the ends of the world.
Includes soundtrack by Comcrete Threat, Knullkraft, Feberdröm, Nimam Spregleda & Dekoder.

transgressionscvr — Transgressions120 sek

By Mattias Elftorp & Susanne Johansson
A story about transgressing borders of gender, nations, species and even reality itself.
Includes soundtrack by Feberdröm.

wormgodbook023piracyv01 — Piracy is Liberation vol 01: Only Sinners Disobey180 sek

By Mattias Elftorp
Cyberpunk postapocalypse!
Collecting books 001-006. 436 pages!

wormgodbook024piracyv02 — Piracy is Liberation vol 02: Download everything180 sek

By Mattias Elftorp
Cyberpunk postapocalypse!
Collecting books 007-011. 336 pages!

wormgodbook016asfu1 — A Subtle Fuck You80 sek

By Mattias Elftorp
Collection of short stories.

HOW TO ORDER

You can order these and more using PayPal or bank transfer from www.wormgod.net or from the Swedish web-based bookstores, lika AdLibris, Bokus, etc.

The story behind The Troll…

If you’re into comics, you may have come across a phenomenon called the 24 hour comic challenge. The rules are that you have to make a comic of 24 pages within 24 hours, from idea to finished story. It’s a great experiment, because after you’ve done it at least once, deadlines seem less intimidating and your self-esteem gets a boost.

I’ve done it a few times, with varying results. There’s a rumor that one time I didnät have time to spend 24h, so instead I made 24 pages in 24 minutes. But I don’t remember and I can’t remember seeing the result. Stress can do that to you.

seqtrollet

Anyway. They usually do it once a year at the Comics school in Malmö, where I took my second year in 2005. I think I was done writing and drawing after 18h, and I spent the rest of the time scanning and doing halftones etc. In the end I think I had one minute to spare or something. The result was The Troll.

I was quite happy with it, so in 2008 I asked Mikke Schirén who was running Komika förlag if he wanted to publish it, which he did. Shortly after it came out, Komika was closed down. So there were a some copies (I think the print run was pretty small, possibly Print on Demand) but it didn’t even make it onto Komika’s website and there was probably no distribution at all. I got a few author’s copies, but since it was a Swedish edition and I mostly do stuff in English, so it took me a while to get rid of them.

I always liked the story, however. It was heavily inspired by the films of Shinya Tsukamoto and their soundtracks composed by Chu Ishikawa. Tsukamoto is probably best known for the Japanese cyberpunk classic Tetsuo: the Iron man, but his other movies are also really great (best are possibly Tokyo Fist, A Snake of June, Kotoko and I could go on but I won’t). They’ve calmed down in later years, but they still manage to be really intense at the same time. If you’ve seen his Bullet Ballet, you may notice that the gun from that film made an appearance in The Troll.

troll-bulletballet-gun

So when I heard that Mikke was resurrecting Komika in 2014, I asked him if he’d be interested in republishing the story, and he said yes. So I prepared the files for a bigger size and for two editions, one in Swedish and one in English. And then nothing happened. I think I was waiting for an ISBN or something, until I got tired and thought: While I wait, why don’t I make it longer?

So I added a prequel chapter and planned to make two more chapters after the original story. I had an idea for the prequel, so I started with that, but I didn’t really know what would happen after the original story (which was now chapter 2).

When I made the first 24h story, it felt right to end it with an apocalyptic scenario and a quote paraphrasing Tetsuo, but it made it harder to continue the story afterwards. Then, one night I was watching Star Trek Voyager with Kinga Dukaj. For some reason (this probably happened during a bathroom break, because I kind of remember having a shit) I started thinking about memory. Maybe something in the Star Trek episode reminded me of something from my childhood and got me thinking about how different persons can remember the same event completely differently.

Anyway, I came back and we started talking about memory, and how it works, and how maybe memories differ because they originate in parallel timelines, and we just went on from there. I realised that I should take notes. I also realised that this might be the key to what was going to happen in the two final chapters of The Troll. And it was.
So this book that started out as a regular apocalypse story, with a manga-esque family trauma for a prequel, turned into a philosophical discussion about the nature of human consciousness, largely inspired by various youtube videos about extra dimensions,the multiverse and string theory. And when I decided to introduce a 5-dimensional character and realised that I could make that character in 3D, it got really interesting. There are also some elements about corporate logic and an evil boss and war, but I won’t spoil the ending by talking more about that.

troll_5d_sketch — Yep, this is what the beginning of a script looks like…

I finished the English version first, and got a few copies (Print on Demand) just in time for the CRACK! festival and a visit to Le Garage L in Forcalquier, France. But when I wanted more copies for the festivals of the fall, circumstances prevented Mikke from giving me more than 10 more copies and no 3D glasses. So we came to an agreement, because I’ve also had a job for a while so I had saved some money, that I would publish the English version as a Wormgod book instead. And here we are now, as the books arrived today and I couldn’t be happier about how it finally turned out!

troll_arrived

There will be a release party/exhibition on December 12 at Tusen Serier, and because I could be happier about a lot of things, half of what I sell for at the release will go to Kontrapunkt and their work with refugees and the local Roma people who were thrown out of their camp by the Social Democrats and the City of Malmö.

Facebook event

thetrollexhib04

It's 3D!! — It’s 3D!!

8.

It’s been going on since the 4th, but I haven’t really had time to sit down by my computer until now, so, during July and possibly longer, I’m having an exhibition together with Kinga Dukaj (of CBK & Tusen Serier) at Le Garage L in Forcalcier, France.

After the CRACK! festival, we went there to hang out for a while, set up the exhibition and make a small book together. It’s my first screenprinted/handmade book, and it feels really good to have done it, especially at this great place that is the bookshop/print workshop/exhibition space/etc of Le Garage L.

(Both images made by Kinga)

For the exhibition, I brought mostly my Wormgod stuff but also some new prints. Some of them containing 3D images from The Troll, which I got from the printer just the day before leaving for this small European tour.

More on The Troll later, as there will be some kind of release event in Malmö, we’re just waiting to get the 3D glasses so it can be officially released…