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I must’ve had this conversation a dozen times in the past few weeks, to varying degrees. With good reason! Hopefully this comic will make the project and my goals for it all the more clearer. As for examples of real-time reporting, the only one that springs to mind are Matt Bors and Ted Ralls’ graphic reports from Afghanistan in 2010. Of course, Joe Sacco beat us all to the punch in the 90s with Palestine, but that was before the ubiquity of the internets. Feel free to correct me if you know of any by leaving a link in the comments below.
For those of you who missed the chance to pre-order your comic (you know who you are) via the successful chipin campaign that finished last week, fear not! Copies of the latest comic Adam Bessie and I put together on understanding education reform in the US will be available at San Francisco’s Alternative Press Expo this weekend. It’s at the Concourse Exhibition Center in SoMa. I’ll be there with Nomi Kane at the Center for Cartoon Studies table, so be sure to stop by. In the meantime, here are some sneak peeks at the first finished proof, which I approved for printing but a few moments ago (cheers to Keness printers in SF for their appreciation of a pre-APE deadline and fine sarcasm – a requisite for printers nowadays).
The glistening front cover
Full bleeds, footnotes, glorious CMYK – what more could you want? (Tea not included)
Updates three times a week as of today. I’ll leave the exposition to the panels so you’ll just have to keep coming back. News updates are below the comics posts, so you’ll have to scroll down to see a preview of my latest comic’s cover, and learn about APE this weekend.
Update: for those of you interested, Japanese encephalitis is a mosquito-bourne virus prevalent in domestic pigs (apparently more outdoor-bound ones aren’t at risk) and herons. And the lower-lying areas of Nepal (along the southern part of the country) known as the Terai. A ton of threads on various traveller forums suggest that for the huge cost and minimal risk, it’s not worth it, but given the symptoms and low probability of recovery once infected, I thought I’d not risk it:
severe rigors mark the onset of this disease in humans. Fever, headache and malaise are other non-specific symptoms of this disease which may last for a period of between 1 and 6 days. Signs which develop during the acute encephalitic stage include neck rigidity, cachexia, hemiparesis, convulsions and a raised body temperature between 38 and 41 degrees Celsius. Mental retardation developed from this disease usually leads to coma.
I love the reassuring use of “usually” in that last sentence.
Belated thanks to all of you who pre-ordered a copy of the education reform comic, which I’m delighted to say is currently at the printers, ahead of this weekend’s Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. (It’s in the Concourse Exhbition Center in SoMA, like always). Be sure to stop by the Center for Cartoon Studies table where I’ll be both days and say hi
We were able to raise over $500 to cover the printing overheads, and copies will be shipping next week. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the press release for a quick intro to the project here.
The comic has footnotes, appendices, interviews and introductory notes in addition to the full colour pages that ran on Truthout, plus a raft of resources and links you can check out for more information on the education debacle. I mean debate.
Other big news is that this week I’m launching a webcomic to chronicle my next big project, starting tomorrow. Be sure to check back in and spread the word!
This week saw the publication of my latest piece for the San Francisco Public Press, featuring an interview with a survivor of domestic violence. Read it online here. Print copies are available around the city, or email me if you want to order a copy for a few $.
On Friday, Erin Polgreen, Susie Cagle, Wendy Macnaughton and talked about graphic journalism at the Online News Association conference – there’s quotes and related media from it here on the ONA site
Last but not least, if you haven’t done already then order your print copy of the Education Reform Comic Adam Bessie and I put together for Truthout – using the widget below in the right hand sidebar. Only a few days left to get your copies! Just click on the “Chipin!” button and it’ll take you directly to paypal. Or email me if you’re allergic to Paypal. Thanks for your support!
If you’re a regular visitor to Archcomix, a graphic journalist enthusiast or just a first-timer here, then please consider contributing to the print run for my latest comic, The Disaster Capitalism Curriculum: The High Price of Education Reform, a comics primer to the US Education Reform debate. If you want to know the backstory to this week’s teacher’s strike in Chicago, or the origins of the reforms and their divisive effect on the political landscape – not to mention the view from the ground (or classroom) from several teachers and staff working in education, then look no further. $8 plus shipping through paypal. Use the link below or the widget on the right-hand toolbar. Thanks for your support!
Click here to visit the chipin page where you can pre-order your comic.
Above is a wee taste of my latest collaboration to be published by Harper Collins: Man Vs Markets, by Paddy Hirsch. Its honourable goal is to explain the ins and outs of the financial system that we’re so used to seeing splashed over the front pages. I did the explainer doodles and cover art. Look inside the book here or order your very own copy here.
The latest Archcomix Newsletters is teetering towards completion, so expect that in your inboxes first thing next week. Not signed up? Click here to never miss another monthly missive again.
This month sees me, Susie Cagle, Erin Polgreen and Wendy MacNaughton discussing comics journalism at the Online News Association Annual Conference in San Francisco on Friday the 21st. More on the dramatically named panel (“Blow Up the Funny Pages”) here.
At last! The whole education reform comic Adam Bessie and I did for Truthout has finally aired. Check out part 1, part 2 and now, part 3. If you’ve enjoyed them then: share/tweet/do all the social stuff AND chipin in via the widget below to help get us a print run off the ground.
In case you missed it, part two of my comic on education reform went line on Truthout on Friday. Check out the first episode here and click here for the latest instalment.
Like a latter day Jimi Hendrix (swapping a laptop for a left-handed guitar), I had a great being part of the panel and keynote events over the weekend at the Woodstock Digital Media Festival. Saturday morning’s panel, Telling [TRUE] Stories, saw myself and Annie Correal, Community Manager at Cowbird, talk about our work and the different perspectives of single author/crowdsourced authoring online frameworks, moderated by Emily Bell, Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia. The conversation really got going after our mini presentations, and the audience asked some great questions about monetizing (of course), audience demographics and the software behind it all.
During the afternoon I had the chance to talk to some of the other participants and discuss the pros/cons of mobile location apps, apple’s penchant for deliberate obsolescence and the future of long form storytelling, all against the verdant background of Vermont’s premier picture-perfect little sleepy town. Then that evening myself and three others (the digital media curator at NYC’s MoMA, the founder of Artfagcity art blog, and a technophile champion of the local fisheries) had the opportunity to wax lyrical about our respective fields for 20 mins before fielding questions over booze at Billings Farm afterwards. A wonderful chance to chat with like-minded new media folk and swap anecdotes about working with GIFs, the future of visual storytelling, and why latin america just cannot make it into the news these days (bar Mexico’s cartel war).
image courtesy of sukdith punjasthitkul
