underground / art / avantgarde comics

[Jaakko V.]

The X-magazine comics by the Finnish underground legend Läjä Äijälä (Terveet Kädet etc.) have been released in book format. In Finnish language...



http://www.huudahuuda.com/

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I was considering it. It's black "leather" hardcover with red foil print on front. All glossy offset print. Bondage/sm/rubber/kekkonen/betty page/elvis/etc etc.. But fortunately I do have all the original X magazines (as well as all Sarjari and all Kannus magazines which frequently included Läjä's works), so it seems also kind of pointless to buy such re-issue when originals are already in shelves. 20€ wasn't too bad for it, though.

Latest brilliant purchases would be for example Jyrki Nissinen with his new hardcover album. Totally absurd. Last weekend comic festival included plenty of alternative / art comics (or should we say, that dominates the field in finland!). Even silk screened art book of EVIL MOISTURE was available in some stall.

[Ernpe]

I was considering it. It's black "leather" hardcover with red foil print on front. All glossy offset print. Bondage/sm/rubber/kekkonen/betty page/elvis/etc etc.. But fortunately I do have all the original X magazines (as well as all Sarjari and all Kannus magazines which frequently included Läjä's works), so it seems also kind of pointless to buy such re-issue when originals are already in shelves. 20€ wasn't too bad for it, though.

The recent one has also a long story intended to be in X Special (which never materialised), nothing states if it has been printed elsewhere. Anyway, paid 25 euro for this, worth the money. Attention & money has been put into the book.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Recent UG comic reading is for example:
Yale university press An Anthology of graphic fiction, cartoons and true stories vol. 2.
400 pages, hardcover book, that is available relatively decent price. If you are lazy and bored to hunt down every album and comic book around, anthologies are the best way to get to know. This series, being also very good for "basic education", since it includes many of the mandatory legends.

Rober Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Jess, Harvey Kurtzman, Milt Gross, Kaz, Gilbert Hernandez, Megan Kelso, JEssica abel, Joe Matt, Joe Sacco, Seth, Jaime Hernandez, David Heatley,  Chris Ware, and so on and on. Dozens and dozens more. Some full color, some b/w. Cover price 16£ or 28$ for thing like this, pretty decent.


For Finns, one could recommend Fok-it and new Jyrki Nissinen album. Both neat hardcover comicbooks of clumsy stuff of boy'ish humore. Very good!

[FreakAnimalFinland]

For Finns only... unfortunately:
Kundipimu #6. Much better than issues #4 and 5, I think! They are getting better. Full color utmost obscenities and bad taste. Happy Horse publication, you may have tough time finding it, but Sarvilevyt has couple..

Pitkis. Tribute comic book for Pitkämies comic shop, which was alternative comic shop in Helsinki, which stopped due financial troubles. And in deed, while alternative comics are celebrated and high profile and also often receiving quite significant funds for being what they are, there hardly is financial reality that allows shops/distributors to operate. I visited shop several times and bought many things, but to me, it appeared from first time I walked in, that this ain't going to last. Pitkis is ok. But it also reveals the too tightly inner-circle type comic scene of the country. And that interest is pretty much that. Often crying about business failures and lack of support of buying audience seems as if I would open shop dedicated to noise exclusively and then cry about lack of sales. Some things just are for very narrow and small audience. And the "hits" that actually get attention of bigger crowd, are very few and very far away from each other. This is the reality. I'm glad people try, but I think realism often doesn't get accepted by misunderstood genius.

Taas Sieltä Jostakin. Works of Ville Tiihonen. I'm quite glad, this type of politically incorrect strip comics or cartoons are getting popular. I mean, stuff like this was popular in underground for long, but nowadays foreign stuff like Hugleikur Dagsson has been pretty much "mainstream" bestsellers.  Those who don't know: http://www.dagsson.com/
Tiihonen approaches from much less common angle. His drawings are awfully clumsy, and the "jokes", sometimes they are easy, but sometimes just amusing due way they are presented. Bizarre, ugly, strange, often not very "correct". This book is second one of the 3 similar ones.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Kyky Ahonen "stadipunkin kuulustelupöytäkirja"
Based mostly on anekdotes about Pete Malmi - singer of supposedly first finnish punk band Briard. (hear sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmmnqowRov4 ). Andy McCoy, guitarist of band, went and formed Hanoi Rocks after this. It's quite amusing real life documents of one to few pages incidents. Drawing quality varies from almost photo-realistic to utter goofball newspaper humor comic style. It lacks uniform style as well as real talent on composition of pages. Kyky is veteran of punk / self financed comics, but this appears like really more of just sketch/diary type of comic with no real effort on visuals. For guys only into comics, probably does very little. For guys into some of these rock heroes and legends, will work out. Been published also in Germany, so I assume its german version?

Borgtron #13
6 years of Brogtron! Fuck, time goes fast! Couple latest issues have been better again. Absurd and utterly weird humor with dirty twist. All pages include english subtitles in bottom of pages.

Bendik Kaltenborn: Ei mitään Muistikuvaa (english: I don't remember)
Norwegian comics? Don't know much about it. With help of Nordic minister fund or whatever, Huuda Huuda financed this. Finnish version with english subtitles printed on bottom of each page. Very good and bizarre comic of business meeting going wrong. Drinks, whores, violence, accidents, but not in sleazy way - but in very absurd and funny ways.



Florent Ruppert & Jérôme mulot "Herrasmiessafari" (original "Safari Monseigneur")
This was the break-through album on these guys in France. L'Association must be there quite big profile name in alternative comics. Style of drawing is kind of sketch-like. Very thin lines of sharp pen giving quite vague forms, but also very stylish. This is already 4th publication in Finland, which therefore appeared in non-chronological order, and most certainly this is not the best, but still intense. The way they put together fragile story, weird solutions of page compositions and how story jumps forward.. just unique. Add intense dialogue, absurdity, violence, obscenities and again - not in sleaze and obvious way, but very clever and fresh. Despite one could recommend some of others (like Apinatarha!) more, this is essential nevertheless. In France, I've been told, these guys are celebrated heroes. In english speaking world... who knows? I didn't see any links. Luckily I live in country with such a enthusiastic comic activists like mr. Tommi Musturi who keeps pushing his high quality publishing company year after year with remarkable publications despite running at loss...

[online prowler]

PUSHWAGNER - SOFT CITY

Epic comic by Norwegian artist Hariton Pushwagner (Terje Brofos) made in the late '60s, early '70s. Lost for decades, released in 2008 on No comprendo press http://www.nocomprendopress.com/. Depicts a near dystopian future, where every action and behavior is strictly under state and consumerism's control. No free will, no life, puppets for the machine. A true gem.





http://www.pushwagner.no/

[Black_Angkar]

Comic scene in Sweden suck. During the heyday in the Eighties it was really good with guys like Pirinen and Max Andersson but today it is just emochicks (of both sexes) with no drawing skills whatsoever that's retelling their miserable lives.

I wish that Dan Park would do some comics....

I agree with the general mediocrity of Swedish comics, it is the same as with swedish art. "Cool", clean (thematically at least) and generally boring personal stories (where personal equals pointless). I DO think that a couple female creators today have the right absurdist skills and a wicked sarcastic humour. I can imagine the PC under/overtones might put some people of, but I think that both Nina Hemmingsson and Sara Granér are both really good artwise, as well as funny on a level I can relate to. But as for the rest...

Dan Park would be interesting as a comic character in himself

Otherwise, growing up in sweden during the Epix-years was great. Pox, Epix, Tung Metall (roughly swedish version of Tung Metall).

I think S Clay Wilson, Jaime Hernandez, and Foerster are my absolute favourites, with Muñoz&Sampayo, Liberatore, Nazario (the FANTASTIC Anarcoma, Copi's daughter etc), Daniel Clowes and Chester Brown as other stand outs . One could of course discuss the differences between american and european comics for ages, and there are some easily detected ones...

[Black_Angkar]

By the way, has anyone here read the Waters of Deadmoon series? A quite marvellous, stylistically superb dystopian sci-fistory by Adamov and Cothias. In a barren Paris, where food and water is short a bizarre degenerate princely court spends the end of days with debauchery. Cannibalism, decadene, sex, mutations and violence in a truly hopeless setting. This is one of the best sci-fi comics I've read. They made another one "La Emperatriz Roja", which I don't own and only encountered in spanish, not sure if ean english version exists. There exists one called "Dayak" as well which ran in american Heavy Metral in the nineties I think.

Also: "I wanna be your dog" by Ho che anderson is great, porn and perversion as a storytelling vehicle that works really well.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

The absolute best purchases of 2012 alternative comics:


http://www.aaronshunga.com/

I don't know is it is conscious or not, but strong influence/feel of Shintaro Kago.
Weird absurd story of Abraham Lincoln starting apocalypse by announcing day free of penalties for any criminal actions. Instantly entire population appears to plan for child rape and murder. Vacuum cleaners from outer-space are approaching to annihilate mankind. And all sorts of weirdness.

Finnish language version is easily available over here.  I think the other version is English / portuguese. bi-lingual version. Should be worth grabbing if you see somewhere.

[hsv]

This spring at the Sthlm Small Press Expo I picked up a copy of this:
http://www.decadencecomics.com/Home/olympic-games
+ some of their other small zines. All nicely drawn & printed but still firmly DIY publications (very nice choice of paper, some were even proper bound books rather than stapled zines). The ones I got where kinda artsy sci-fi-action with a philosophical undertone, reminiscent of european 80's underground. It reminds me a bit of some Enki Bilal comics or other things that could be found in POX, Epix etc. The comics didn't rock my world but it was nice to see ambitious, stylish and serious comics with their own style, amid the hell of crappy manga, ripoffs and wannabes that populate 85% of the market...

[Cementimental]

Met those guys at a zine fair, nice and unique stuff indeed. Just picked up the latest issue of their 'Island 3" the other day.

My friends' collective Famicon are a pretty odd mix of different styles of kind of heta-uma/doodley sci-fi stuff and cute/ugly styles, I really like it anyway:
http://famiconexpress.co.uk/
http://www.pictureboxinc.com/topics/famicon

[hsv]

Looks interesting... for the moment the "alternative comics" scene here is mostly dominated by political essays/rants (and the occasional black and white self-biographic/sociorelastic venture, or artsy, "silent" comics), which gets me longing for actual stories. I like comics that are clearly underground/experimental but still not afraid of a bit of excitement, even action, so I think I will pick up that "Police worx" book.

[Black_Angkar]

Looks interesting... for the moment the "alternative comics" scene here is mostly dominated by political essays/rants (and the occasional black and white self-biographic/sociorelastic venture, or artsy, "silent" comics), which gets me longing for actual stories. I like comics that are clearly underground/experimental but still not afraid of a bit of excitement, even action, so I think I will pick up that "Police worx" book.

it's a typical thing for swedish comics, the fear of working with genres besides the mentioned political rants, sarcasm and poorly drawn social realism/autobiography (often of the lives of highly uninteresting people). Or pure shit like Rocky. Sweden has been a comics wasteland with a few water holes since the scandalous defeat of Epix. This country is so extremely sensitive to liberal ironism and a total fucking middle class bias on everything, and so only few people seems interested in doing comics in a way that treats the artform as a medium actually appropriate for the telling of stories from every field. Assholes.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I have read Finnish comic journalism mostly refer this "new wave of Sweden" most of all in positive light, heh... I guess in some cases its up to debate whether some of works fall under "comics" or perhaps something else. But I guess it's feminist women with autobiographical books consisting drawings & text what rules?

Latest what I bought, not really that "underground", but perhaps fall under art comics:

Moebius & Jodorowsky "The Eyes Of the cat"
Re-issue (obviously), including decent foreword. Like Moebius said, story didn't feel like worth of full album, but Jodorowsky insisted one image per page, and story is very simple, yet quite morbid. Couple short lines of text on few pages, mostly just visual journey through this morbid incident.