Random Thoughts

Life Under Sanctions, Psychonaut #1-2 by Aleksandar Zograf.

These comics were written during (and after) the ex-Yugoslavian wars in the early to mid nineties, and are like despatches that try to explain what’s going on.

Jim Woodring provides the introduction, which you might think is an odd choice for a book about war. But Zograf is a very introspective artist, and writes as much about his dreams and hypnagogic visions than he does about war.

Zograf’s art is somewhat primitive, but filled with symbols and strange emanations. He also puts these intra-panel symbols on most his pages (here there’s just a simple triangle, but they can become quite complex).

Zograf’s analysis of the war, however, isn’t really that insightful, I’m sorry to say. That is, I don’t really feel I’ve learned anything much from reading these comics that wasn’t readily apparent anyway.

Zograf’s inability to make sense of the conflict may be the result of his rather particular world-view. Things are imbued with mystical meaning…

It may also be because of Zograf’s approach internal. These two panels are a good illustration of what he’s doing: The first panel is basically a summation of what Zograf has (I would guess) read in the newspapers. The second panel is about one of Zograf’s dream. There’s very little about what Zograf or his friends are actually experiencing during the war.

The few short pieces written by Gordana Basta are very different. (Zograf is Basta’s boyfriend, and the Saŝa mentioned is Zograf’s real name, I think). She writes about what’s happening to them personally, what she’s seen while out working as a nurse, and what people are doing. It’s a strikingly different storytelling approach.

Zograf can be kinda funny, though.

A third issue of Psychonaut was published by Monster Pants Comics, and Zograf has continued to publish in English occasionally. The last book was apparently Regards from Serbia from Top Shelf Productions in 2007.

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.

Verbatim #1-2 by Carl Belfast.

Autobio comics is one of the major genres in art comics now, and it’s difficult to recall just how controversial they were in some circles in the early 90s.

This is yet another parody of the genre, and it’s not completely successful, I think.

Gaze into his navel…

Belfast’s art style is a bit hard to pin down. I think I see some Peter Kuper in that drawing, for instance, but…

… not here at all. (Having the mother look into the camera is pretty amusing here.)  Here the artwork looks more like Dave Cooper, perhaps?

The autobio artist has to make sure that they utilise every experience in their work.

Hm… I guess that’s Julie Doucet, Lloyd Dangle, uhm… Roy Xero? Who can that be?, Harvey Pekar and Daniel Clowes.

The second issue isn’t autobio parody. It’s about the author moving to hillbilly country in Tennessee, and the adventures that ensue.

It’s all rather odd, but amusing.

It looks like Belfast has done very little else in comics but these two issues. He’s written a story in One-Fisted Tales published earlier, but I can’t find anything afterwards. Perhaps “Carl Belfast” is a pseudonym?

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.

Insomnia by Andrew Moran.

This is a rather odd tale (an insomniac drives to Ohio to attend a sleep clinic) drawn in a rather original fashion, rather.

Hm… slightly early 80s-ish New York scratchy style?

Yeah, New Jersey.

As you know, here at the Paper Quality Blog, what we’re most concerned about is the paper that comics are printed on. I find it slightly ironic that Fantagraphics were publishing so many comics on newsprint in the early 90s, since they had made a point of tsk, tsk-ing newsprint in the mid-80s. But I guess that’s economics.

As far as I can tell, this is Andrew Moran’s only comic book published, but he’s got a name that’s difficult to google. There’s an Andrew Moran that works for the Insomnia Coffee Company, though.

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.

Laundryland by Forg & Jeans.

A rather mysterious comic book. There’s no introduction, no editorial text: Just the comics themselves. Is this a translated comic? Where are Forg & Jeans from? What’s going on?

It’s about a woman who runs a laundry, and her friends. The first issue is very laid back. What happens is that she gets a house guest that she then gets rid of. It has a very appealing slice-of-life kind of atmosphere. The last three issues are more plot driven, though.

I find this style of artwork very attractive, too. It’s easy but charming.

Solving the age-old “how do you draw characters against a black background?” conundrum is solved by adding a white outline outside the black outline.

The artwork is somewhat uneven, though. The four issues were published with a nine month gap between each issue (approx.), so perhaps this wasn’t exactly the creator’s day job…

Finally! In the fourth and final issue we get a smidgen of information: The artists live in Calgary. I guessed it was Canadian, because it had that BD/US crossover synergy going on.

And that’s it. The somewhat complicated plot was even resolved in this issue. No mention of it being the last issue, of course.

I wonder whether Forg & Jeans have made anything else? This was a rather pleasant and diverting little read… They have names that are rather difficult to google. Nope. Can’t find anything other than Laundryland.

Which reminds me of this. Robert Boyd talks about survivorship bias and comics: The idea that comics artists are in it for the long run, and that it’s something unique for the art form. Some are, but they are the minority. Writing this series of articles has really driven home the point of how prevalent dropping out is.

The typical arc of an alternative comic book creator is 1) appearing in a few anthologies and self-published minis, before 2) Fantagraphics publishes three issues of your comic before cancelling it due to low sales, and then 3a) publishing one more issue via Neverheardof Comics or 3c) never publish anything again.

A fair number end up in adjacent industries that actually pay money, like magazine illustration or animation, but most just seem to get a normal day job and give up on the entire thing.

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.