Category Archives: from the Internet

from the Internet

Understanding the Refugee Crisis through Comics (Panels.net)

(The following article by Monica Friedman first appeared at Panels.net on 9/15/2015. It is presented here with her permission.)

Empathy by Design

Nobody desires refugee status. No one asks to flee their homeland in terror, to inculcate themselves into a foreign nation where they may not speak the language, or understand the customs, or expect a warm welcome from the citizenry.

When humans become refugees, we can’t distill their experience down to some reactionary common denominator. To understand the suffering and pain that would inspire someone to leave behind their worldly possession and flee the only place they’ve ever known, we need to hear their stories.

From “Syria’s Climate Conflict” by Audrey Quinn and Jackie Roche

Comics, as always, are an accessible medium for sharing those stories.
Writer Audrey Quinn and artist Jackie Roche created “Syria’s Climate Conflict” to explain to English readers the origins of the Syrian civil war. Prolonged drought caused the death of livestock and the withering of crops, resulting in starving farmers relocating to cities ill-equipped to serve their needs. Tensions ran high, the government responded violently, and the country exploded, but the most powerless victims—those living in fear and hunger, blameless, seeking only survival—lost the most. This gorgeously watercolored comic stands as a stark and sharp piece, demonstrating the global nature of local trouble. Globally and locally, the Syrian government’s response to the questions asked by the Syrian people were unexpected, and those asking such questions were unprepared for the consequences. Continue reading Understanding the Refugee Crisis through Comics (Panels.net) →

from the Internet

Graphic novel “Our Friend Satan” Meets Funding Goal

Last week, Imagomedia succeeded in their campaign to raise funds for their Our Friend Satan graphic novel, the first 18 pages of which can be viewed for free on their website.

The book, also planned as a short, live-action film, features Satan in the midst of “a midlife crisis.” In turn, he moves to sue the Papacy for defamation of character.

Fans of The Chronicles of Wormwood, Battle Pope, or Holy F*ck will want to check this out in May of next year.

 

from the Internet

Eid Mubarak! A Look at Muslims in Comics (Panels.net)

(The following article by Ardo Omer first appeared at Panels.net on 7/17/2015. It is presented here with her permission.)

Eid Mubarak, readers! For most Muslims, today marks the end of Ramadan – an Islamic month – which is roughly 30 days of fasting, and Muslims are expected to not consume food or drink from sunrise to sunset. Eid al-Fitr is a celebration of the end of Ramadan, and marks the start of a new Islamic month: Shawwal. I thought it would be great to celebrate alongside some fellow Muslims in comics to mark the occassion on Panels. I hope you all join in on the festivities, and if you happen to see a Muslim today, greet them with Eid Mubarak. Now onwards!

Qahera: The Superhero

Qahera

Qahera is a webcomic about a Muslim female superhero who fights misogyny, and Islamophobia. She’s created by a Muslim Egyptian woman, and it’s a great read.

Shahara Hasan from Bodies (Vertigo)

Shahara Hasan

Shahara Hasan is a character in a limited Vertigo series called Bodies by Si Spenser, Meghan Hetrick, Dean Ormston, Tula Lotay, and Phil Winslade. She’s a Detective Sergeant who’s one of four detectives across four time periods trying to solve a murder. She tries to balance her faith, her duty, being a Muslim, and identifying as British which sounds like an interesting read. It’s a comic I definitely want to check out.

Continue reading Eid Mubarak! A Look at Muslims in Comics (Panels.net) →

from the Internet

What an Old Lady Can Do for the Greek Gods

Earlier this year, French cartoonist Boulet (aka Gilles Roussel) focused his annual 24-hour comic on the Greco-Roman gods, specifically Zeus and his near-defeat at the hands of renewed Titans. However, mortal woman Genevieve Menard was there to save the day, and thus The Gaeneviad began:

Panels from The Gaeneviad by Boulet,
Courtesy of io9

In as much as there it is mildly NSFW with male nudity, The Gaeneviad is a wonderful, humanizing romp through the Olympian gods’ confusion over humans. In addition to their theology, there’s a philosophy behind Zeus’s favor of Genevieve that makes the story insightful while also amusing:

“In our celestial patheon made of blood, fire and steel, we could really use an old lady helps wounded birds.”

Art by Boulet
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CFP – Sacred Texts and Comics: Religion, Faith, and Graphic Narratives

(NOTE: The following announcement can be found in full here.)

Sacred Texts and Comics: Religion, Faith, and Graphic Narratives
Edited by Ken Koltun-Fromm and Assaf Gamzou
Proposed volume for the “Critical Approaches to Comics Artists” series, University Press of Mississippi
In addition: Symposium on “Sacred Texts and Comics” at Haverford College, May 5th and 6th, 2016 (workshops for contributors to this proposed volume are included)

The last decade has produced critical and expressive studies in sacred canonical texts and comics. Witness, for example, the artistic works from R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis (2009) and JT Waldman’s Megillat Esther (2005), as well as scholarly publications from Karline McLain’s India’s Immortal Comic Books (2009), A. David Lewis’s edited volume Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (2010), and Samantha Baskind’s and Ranen Omer-Sherman’s editorial work for The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches (2010).

Sacred Texts and Comics: Religion, Faith, and Graphic Narratives is a proposed volume for the “Critical Approaches to Comics Artists” series at the University Press of Mississippi that builds upon, but also beyond, Western or “major” religious traditions to develop a broader landscape of religious graphic mediums. We encourage submissions that engage Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Native American, African Diaspora traditions, or other religious communities from a variety of disciplinary or cross-disciplinary perspectives. Such critical approaches may include studies in religion, literature, theology, art history, culture, anthropology, political science, or other disciplines that work with the multi-dimensional features of graphic narratives.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Depictions of the sacred in comics.
  • The place of historical exegesis and critical, religious interpretation in graphic narratives.
  • Comics as a form and method of interpretation.
  • The ways in which the graphic, formal features engage notions of the sacred.
  • The modes by which graphic narratives represent the sacred or conceptions of religion.
  • The ways in which religious identity and belief are represented and explored in graphic mediums.
  • The multiple ways that visual culture informs religious practice.

Please send a 500-1000 word abstract, CV, and contact information to Ken Koltun-Fromm (kkoltunf@haverford.edu) and Assaf Gamzou (assaf@cartoon.org.il) by August 21, 2015.

Haverford College will host a symposium on “Sacred Texts and Comics” on May 5th and 6th, 2016 that will include workshops for contributors to this proposed volume. Please indicate your interest in and availability to participate in the symposium (all expenses will be paid, including a small stipend).