Hey, look! It’s Clark Kent in a Superman costume!
Yup…
Sketches: Skulls & girls…
A while ago I downloaded an app called Draw n Sketch. I wanted something that would allow me to draw stuff without having to leave my bed in the morning. It’s pretty fun to play around with, even if it’s limited when it comes to work-related stuff. Which didn’t stop me from making a few comics on it. Anyway, here are some loose sketches:
Thing is that I usually don’t do sketches, and I hardly ever draw stuff when it’s not meant for something specific. So this got me started doing some non-workrelated stuff. Which was fun, I guess.
I’ll show you some more of this stuff later. Probably…
SIS – Stockholm International Comics festival
I’m going to be at this year’s Stockholms Internationella Seriefestival (SIS), at the tables of Wormgod, Tusen Serier and C’est Bon Kultur (but mainly with Wormgod – check the others’ websites to see what they will bring)!
I will bring the Wormgod titles:
NEW: After the ends of the world by Wormgod (Me, Susanne Johansson & Heidi Somero) with soundtrack by Concrete Threat, Knullkraft, Feberdröm, Nimam Spregleda & Dekoder
Transgressions by me and Susanne Johansson, soundtrack by Feberdröm
Me & my Daddy & Zlatan by me
Piracy is Liberation v01: Only Sinners Disobey by me (cyberpunk postapocalypse, collection of books 001-006)
Piracy is Liberation v02: Download Everything by me (cyberpunk postapocalypse, collection of books 007-011)
A Subtle Fuck You by me (collection of short stories)
and a bunch of prints…
I will also bring an assortment of other stuff that I’ve been involved with in some way, or that I just like and want to share:
ner0blio # V
Slutsnackat
Trettionde november
La Korto
Komikaze
QCDA
etc
Review: Jag & min Pappa & Zlatan
Review (in Swedish) at Bild & Bubbla of my book Jag & min Pappa & Zlatan, published by Tusen Serier & Wormgod.The book is available in both Swedish and English…
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.
CBA vol 28: Signs and science!
Rumors are going around that I’m back in C’est Bon Kultur, the comics association I started together with three others back in 2001, publisher of the international art comics anthology CBA. The rumors are true, and it actually feels good. I left in 2009 to start Wormgod with Suss, because CBK was going in directions I just wasn’t interested in, and it felt like that was a finished chapter. Obviously I was wrong, even though I was right at the time.
I’m still not sure what direction this (almost completely) new editorial crew is going, but I’m looking forward to finding out. The breaking point will be CBA vol 30, coming out in September(?), which will be the first anthology issue with the new crew, but I have also been involved in CBA vol 28 which is released this Thursday.
In this issue is my story Singularity, which you may have read before in the Novo Doba 2014 anthology (Turbo Comix) or in After the ends of the world (Wormgod, 2015). And also I helped put the issue together since the old crew had left it haning and we needed to finish some of their stuff before going on with the new. Don’t get me wrong, this issue has some good stuff. It is the last issue compiled be the former crew, the end of an era.
In any case, the release event will be at the Tusen Serier place (Mitt Möllan, Claesgatan 8 in Malmö) (see how all the things in my life converge?) on Thursday, April 23, 17-21 and there will be an exhibition called SPACE, which has been shown in Norway and will also be in Finland soon, with Frøydis Sollid Simonsen, Karoline Stjernfelt and Mari Ahokoivu. We’ve also added some of the other material from the issue to the exhibition, since they both came out of the same concept.
So anyway, see you Thursday!
Slutsnackat
Cover I made for the book Slutsnackat, edited by Frances Tuuloskorpi.
It’s the third part of a series of anthologies about work-related conflicts.
Here’s the (Swedish) back cover text:
– Det spelar ingen roll om jag säger ifrån på jobbet.
Det är ofta sant. Men testa att byta ut jag mot vi. Testa att byta ut jag mot alla. Då kan det bli folkrörelse i stället för gnäll. Som här i Slutsnackat där brevbärare och tågvärdar berättar om hur de kommer fram till att sätta stopp för övertidsarbete. Sopgubbar följer regler till punkt och pricka så att chefen sliter sitt hår. Sjuksköterskestudenter i Inte under 24000-rörelsen förvandlar anställningsintervjuer till lönekamp. Personliga assistenter sätter ner foten för att få månadslön. Sjuksköterskor säger upp sig kollektivt inför hotande försämringar. Deltidare och visstidare tar täten i striden för ett hotat helgtillägg. Timanställda tackar nej till kortare arbetspass. Bemanningsanställda säger Solidarnosc! Här finner du också en urskruvad saftblandare, tio kilo gömd blandfärs, nästan en ockupation, en uppviglande tomte och den stora kjolstriden.
Read more about it at Folkrörelselinjen.
VAMPYRES!
From Kunst Kabinet 451:
The new issue of ner0blio black zine is ready!
ner0blio # V – Vampyr –
a5 size, b/w, cover screenprinted gold,
lim ed. 50 copies numbered
Special number featuring a lot of international artists: JULIEN KAFARD -MAXIME TACCARDI – AKAB -NICOLAS KRIZAN – LE NEVRALGIE COSTANTI – MARTA LODOLA – CORINA PACURAR – REIJO KARKAINEN – SOFIA FERREIRA – LE CRABE – ROBIN WIBERG – NATHALIE COHEN – ZIGENDEMONIC – KINGA DUCAJ – PAOLA VERDE – SHALTMIRA – SERHIY KRYKUN – RICALETTO – CLOPINE MALAUSSENE – MATTIAS ELFTORP – ZEKE – RAC- TIMOLEUM B.
Release party TONIGHT (but far from where I am right now so I won’t be there) at Urban Strasse 88, Berlin Hermannplatz…
My contributions (I haven’t seen the book myself so I don’t know if they used both or just one):
After the ends of the world
AFTER THE ENDS OF THE WORLD, the newest book from Wormgod, is now available!
Art/stories by Susanne Johansson, Mattias Elftorp & Heidi Somero
Industrial/HNW soundtrack (downloadable) by Dekoder, Nimam Spregleda, Feberdröm, Knullkraft & Concrete Threat
Order it from Wormgod, Agera Distribution or one of the Swedish internet bookstores. Will also be at Textival (Göteborg March 27-28), SIS (Stockholm May 9-10), CRACK! (Rome June 25-28) etc.
The world ended in many different ways at once, creating time lines diverging from the straight line that used to be known as history. Self-destruction! All-consuming fire! Undeath! Catastrophe! These are visions of the futures that may yet come after the end of life as you know it.
The book is an expansion of the Wormgod exhibition of the same name, held at AltCom 2014.
Want a review copy? Write to us at info (at) wormgod (dot) net
Edit: WATCH OUT FOR NEWS OF A FUTURE RELEASE EVENT! There may be a live gig involved, depending on the success of our plans…
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: La Korto
Yarden: en berättelse by Kristian Lundberg will soon be published in Esperanto, titled La Korto: rakonto.
I made the cover (this is a poster version):
