JohnnyEnzyme

I'll be honest-- outside of my champion B&W artist-hero Jaime (i.e. Mexican-American Jaime Hernandez), I really do love fine, water-colored comics. But then... dash-it-all, THEN I demand a nuanced, real-world storyline on top of that! I mean, how ungrateful can one get??

Which brings us to this little "JC Acquefacques" classic, which I really didn't like at first. Well, at least for me, I felt it strangling, Kafkaesque, horribly dated, annoying, and just plain irrelevant, TBH. But then... page after page... I started smirking, then giggling, then finally... my eyes just blazed with admiration. (is that a phrase? well now it is!)

----> https://imgur.com/a/6luNkBt <----

YES, I know... not everyone's going to like this niche, meta series, which tends to express itself in rather 50-ish terms, but for those interested--

LBK:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/mathieu_m.htm
BDT:
https://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-201-BD-Mathieu-Marc-Antoine.html

EDIT: hahaha, there's even a song for this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA142IsjQiE

I found this a lovely little series, ostensibly meant for young Czech readers, but rather Grimm at times (as you can see).

(page 2)

I'm guessing the series was published in the ~1970's. Happily for English-speakers, it was recently translated by one "Tomalakis." So then, here's 13 mini-chapters you can read:

----> https://imgur.com/t/pochal <----

Artist Jiří Kalousek worked effectively in a variety of styles, and passed away in 1986. More samples of the artist here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22jiri+kalousek%22+artist&udm=2

Now how would that convo have gone?
Credit to @darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Anyway, if I understand correctly, this is from the V&L album, The City of Shifting Waters.

(and I told you and TOLD you to get the hell out of Mos Eisley!!)

I had no idea this otherwise-classic painter did so many of these oddball portraits, and so had to share! Note: these aren't really the best quality, but you can find higher-res versions with a bit of searching.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527 - 1593), was an Italian Renaissance painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books, i.e. grotesques. --WP

Vertumnus (1590) & Water (1566)

These works form a distinct category from his other productions. He was a conventional court painter of portraits for three Holy Roman Emperors in Vienna and Prague; also producing religious subjects and, among other things, a series of coloured drawings of exotic animals in the imperial menagerie.

The Waiter (1574) & The Librarian (1566)

The still life portraits were clearly partly intended as curiosities to amuse the court, but critics have speculated as to how seriously they engaged with Renaissance Neo-Platonism or other intellectual currents of the day.

Winter (1563) & Spring (1563)

Much more on his life:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Arcimboldo

While I love legit, informational, open-minded arguments in general, there were a couple hate-speech attacks against a recent, Belgian/Jewish-themed post here that immediately smashed our #1 rule here ("Netiquette") to bits.

Those came from two individuals in particular (same instance), and disgusted both myself and my co-mod.

I want to remind everyone here-- for anyone new to this community, it's both common-sense and classic Netiquette to suggest that if one wants to argue hard, it's best to start with some politeness where possible.

The two banned can appeal, if they like. I'm not opposed to talking things out, assuming good-faith is involved.

I also want to clarify that the original comic by no means attempted to 'pick international sides.' It was in fact an attempt to depict internal strife between people within a small community. That, and nothing more.

EDIT: I've made some major revisions in my message above, seeking for better clarity. Thank you for re-reading.

Michel Kichka is a cartoonist borne in Belgium with Jewish roots, who became intrigued with Israel, and decided to do a permanent move, marrying and raising a family there with his French wife.

* "Aliyah" is a somewhat complicated word as I grasp it, but from what I understand at the basic level, refers to going back to one's roots / homeland.

-----> https://imgur.com/a/kjMohrs <-----

The way the sequence above concluded really shocked me, and even brought a tear to my eye, honestly. Me, I'm not remotely used to dealing with people like that, and yet I guess that's how it works in certain parts of the world? (gadzooks, mistress goose)

In terms of the comic itself, I found this sequence rather current & relevant to the USA, and a pretty excellent, interesting survey of the artist's life and Israeli culture. At the same time, it established little to no emotional connection with the characters, which is usually how we do these things, but... oh well?

https://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-23699-BD-Kichka-Michel.html

EDIT: As we've clarified multiple times here, this story snippet has to do with neighborhood relations in an Israeli city. It is by no means addressing anything on a national basis, including Israeli relations with other peoples or nations. Attempts to highjack the thread in that direction directly breaks our #1 rule here (practice netiquette) and will be dealt with accordingly. Thank you for your cooperation.

Android Blues is a 10-year comics passion-project by Stahlberg, a Swedish artist settled in Australia. So far, I find the art very interesting in that it ranges from rigid LC, to a looser style, all the way up to near photo-realistic work. (you sure don't see that very often)

.
https://i.imgur.com/b2nBUUJ.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/R8kEAdW.jpeg

In terms of storytelling and concept, I thought those aspects pretty solid. Where I struggled was in accepting the dynamics of the various relationships, which mostly seemed like something from a lonely male otaku's dream. Seriously, there's a strong 'salaryman manga' vibe going on here, for better or ze wurst.

That said, I found the dialogue fairly witty, even if like Futurama, they seem a bit obsessed with talking about civilisation from long before. (if you know what I mean) Still, it's meant to amuse us moderns, and I guess it does just that.

https://i.imgur.com/H2bv8V1.jpeg

Speaking of Futurama-- Good news, everyone! You can read the entire, 450pp, finished comic below, courtesy of herr Stahlberg: https://androidblues.thecomicseries.com/comics/1/

Now traditionally, I've been extremely mindful of our host's 'no porn' rule, but I feel like I kind of over-corrected for that, across time. Here then are some BD nudes I found tasteful and worth sharing:

https://imgur.com/a/XY1XHUp

I also want to point out that this SubLemmy (community) is open to all tasteful nudes, including male-nudes. In fact I'd rather not we go in the 'nudes' direction in general, but fairplay is fairplay.

Oh, daggit... links! Links! Links to the artist!

https://www.artstation.com/stahlberg
http://stahlberg.cgsociety.org/
https://www.patreon.com/Stahlberg
https://www.androidblues.com/sample-page/

I had a little fun with the panel above from Epileptic. (you can see the original one below) For some reason I never read this classic before, but I'm doing so now.

It's the story of David's early childhood and adolescence, focusing on his relationship with his older brother and younger sister. His brother develops severe and intractable epilepsy, causing the family to seek a variety of solutions from alternative medicine, most dramatically by moving to a commune based on macrobiotic principles.

https://i.imgur.com/C5nYvq9.jpeg

As the epileptic brother loses control of his own life, the artist develops solitary obsessions with cartoons, mythology and war. The book's graphic style becomes increasingly elaborate as the children's fantasy life takes over, with their dreams and fears (including epilepsy itself) appearing as living creatures. In brief interludes, the children appear as adults when the artist begins the process of writing the story. --WP

https://i.imgur.com/uT0YyGJ.jpeg

To be clear, the disease / trauma of his older brother's sends young David in to a world of coping mechanisms, a general process perhaps familiar to most of us.

https://i.imgur.com/ZfVzabe.jpeg

So far I'm seeing a number of parallels to the equally-classic L'Arabe du futur ("The Arab of the Future), by Riad Sattouf. They're both anecdotal, imaginative looks at these authors' respective childhoods... works in which you can see events and principles which shaped the personality of the future adults. Also of interest is that they bring uniquely Arabic perspectives to the BD-sphere.

LBK on David B:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/b_david.htm

This comes from a rather ambitious, five-tome series called Le jour des Magiciens ("Day of the Magicians"), by an Italian duo, Michelangelo La Neve & Marco Nizzoli. I found it much in the style of Alejandro Jodorowsky, full of fanciful ideas and powerful sequences that sometimes hit the mark, and sometimes seemed a bit nonsensical.

The plot involves "Lancaster," a renegade, modern-day magician, who's disgusted by the stagnation of his order, who has the idea to father an offspring to become a sort of new magi-messiah. This doesn't sit well with his old order, who keep trying to kidnap his son and assassinate the father. The mother of the boy is in fact "Ash" (the lead assassin's) sister, so the bad blood only builds, as you can see:

---> https://imgur.com/gallery/movie-esque-sequence-from-day-of-magicians-by-la-neve-nizzoli-bFiAH7N <---

(I thought it was a neat, movie-like juxtaposition, having the main action run concurrent with a children's story)

To be clear, the sequence above is fairly atypical, as this is mostly a plot and narrative-driven work, but with some intense moments as above. Here and there it can sag a bit under the weight of exposition, but otherwise moves forward with good storytelling, and of course delightful art.

Btw, if you've already read this series and seen the sci-fi movie Zardoz, did you happen to make this connection?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwq5RYrm5kE

It's always the other kids, daggit!

Like... the ones who can yank the string to make the top spin best, to skip the stone across the lake until it reaches the other side, and... I think that's enough time to keep placing & dating myself. (whoops)

Alright alright, here's some small updates:

• You won't see a "new post" pop up, but I went back to Borderline and edited in about 3x new content & conclusions. Make of that how you will.

• Over the past few weeks, I've had an idea to select from my ~200 favorite browser games in order to condense a tight '20-30' best, sharing it here as an online arcade, just for fun. A sort of community recreational-project, if you will.

So, question-- got any super-favorite browser-games worth mentioning, mateys? <3

• Me, I continue to just... take a break from this sub whenever I need it. It might be two days; it might be 4-5-6. Whatever. Trying to post almost 1x per day turned out to be a disaster for me, and that's part of why I say the sub belongs to everyone, now.

• Oh, and yes!... I'm utterly fascinated by this thought (again courtesy of Kerzgesagt, from the lead image) about how massive black-holes might operate, in fact:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71eUes30gwc

This is from Borderline (Point du rupture), a grim, violent, Skynet-esque, dystopian, post-apoc work he did with fellow countryman Carlos Trillo.

I'm re-reading it now, and frankly, I don't remember how well I liked it before. That's usually not a tremendously encouraging sign, but... let's see how things shake out this time. For others of the post-apoc genre, I still maintain my master list at the evil empire, for those curious.

Anyway, I love Risso's art. More here:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/r/risso_eduardo.htm

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/image/r/risso_eduardo/risso_100bullets2.jpg

EDIT:

Just finished the four-tome series (link added above).
Now I don't think there's any question that this one's patterned after Miller's Sin City, altho yes, the setting is quite different. I'd say what immediately stands out is the difference in focus.

For example, while Miller was a bit 'loosy-goosy' in following various characters across his nightmarish version of 'Vegas,' he chose to dedicate long story-arcs to each chapter & book. Meanwhile, Trillo & Risso focused their entire time on a specific, local clash between ruling factions and their minions, parsed in to short stories. (and yes, they were often part of an arc)

TBH-- altho I'm not nearly a fan of Frank Miller as I used to be (in his own words, he loves to aim 'way over the top,' while I'm more 'ordinary people' inclined), I don't think there's any question that Sin City has the better focus, dramatics, and storyline.

Now this is maybe foolish, or maybe appropriate to our reality, but one thing I really appreciate is when there's something of a background, or at least basic research, in to the relevant science of a story. Instead, it seems to me that the logic and science in Borderline are mostly there just to serve the story. That's completely common of course, but...

OTOH, the art really is phenomenal, the core ideas are out of classic pulp-SF, and my impression of American audiences is that they won't mind the violence too much. In short, I suspect this is perhaps one of those series which sort of stylistically divides The Americas from Europe, if I may make so bold a statement, hehe.

NOTE: Bedetheque has plenty of page-samples, linked early above, and here's what google's got:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22borderline%22+%22risso%22+%22trillo%22&udm=2

I found La vengeance du Comte Skarbek to be a nifty story by Belgian Yves Sente, with painterly art by Polishman Grzegorz Rosinski. They're both major players in BD of course, with Sente working on titles like Blake & Mortimer, XIII, and Thorgal, and Rosinski working on Buddy Longway, Ballad of the Lost Moors, Chninkel, and... Thorgal.

A Parisian street scene.

The story itself is a clever riff on The Count of Monte Cristo, set in 1843. Here, a young Polish artist named "Skarbek" is forced to flee to Paris, where he takes on the name "Paulus," and meets a beautiful young model who becomes his muse. His paintings become known to a prominent art dealer who contracts him, and all seems well until he realises he's been entrapped by the duo. Things take a turn when the model falls in love with him, followed by Paulus becoming outraged when he discovers that the art dealer's been sexually and mentally abusing her. They fight, a bystander gets accidentally killed, and unfortunately Paulus looks for all the world like the guilty party.

As is often the case, I'm a sucker for tall ship shots.

And so he flees by ship! Which, wouldn't you know it, gets attacked by "Alexander," the pirate master. Alexander's lieutenant "Violette" notices that he's an artist, and persuades the pirate-master to spare him. From there, he's installed as a prisoner and resident painter at Alexander's island retreat.

And there was a trial.

Paulus eventually returns to Paris, looking for his revenge, and persuades two prominent, aggrieved patrons of the art dealer to sue him. What follows is a sprawling, highly entertaining courtroom trial, which features much of the island and pirate backstory, helping to explain why these panels cut back and forth.

Those red sails against the harbor colors really send me(!)

Note: Rosinski is one of those who seems to tailor his style to each particular work. In this two-tome series, I guess he's using gouache (opaque watercolor) to simulate oil painting (which he does in some other series), in this case using a loose, but effective style as I found it.

More island shots.

I've given you the broad strokes of the storyline, but what really makes this story work is a triple plot-twist that works beautifully with the trial setting and dramatic story ending. Besides the clear Dumas reference, this story has also been cited as being distinctly Hugo-esque. Other than the seeming absurdity of a prominent pirate operating in the Mediterranean in the mid-1800's, I found this quite satisfying historical fiction.

More:
https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-8289-BD-Vengeance-du-Comte-Skarbek.html