The “ebook” has been the slow-burner for years at book fairs. At Comic Festivals, of course, events are organized about the e-Comic, although the approach is comparatively reserved and tentative. Facing up to the digital revolution – sooner or later this will also impact on the comic – is not happening as consistently as it…
Comic and Graphic Novel
Comic and Graphic Novel
The angst of growth/ Die Angst vor dem Wachstum
by Christian Gasser •
Picture the scene: your job is in an area that will have experienced growth – and more, and more growth – for almost twenty years. Yet, by now your biggest worry is nothing more than this boom. This superficially paradoxical case describes the current state of the French comics market that is still Europe’s largest…
Comic and Graphic Novel
Angoulême 2015 – Breath of nostalgia/ Windhauch der Nostalgie
by Christian Gasser •
The Angoulême International Comics Festival is the mecca of the comic scene. Angoulême’s 42nd exhibition programme showcased some big names: the Japanese poet Jiro Taniguchi, whose subtle mangas are now more successful in Europe than in his home country, was honoured with the first retrospective outside Japan. The focus on Taniguchi’s obsessions like the close…
Comic and Graphic Novel
Angoulême 2015 – Charlie Hebdo
by Christian Gasser •
The Angoulême International Comics Festival is the mecca of the comic scene. For the 42nd festival, illustrators, writers, publishers and journalists from around the world and over 200,000 comic fans gathered in the small town in south-west France. The comic world’s big festival was overshadowed this year by the Charlie Hebdo attack. The security measures…
2014, Comic and Graphic Novel
War in Comic-books/ Der Krieg im Comic. Part/ Teil 3: Rutu Modan
by Christian Gasser •
Rutu Modan: A Suppressed War In complete contrast to both Tardi and Sacco, the Israeli author Rutu Modan, in her graphic novel Exit Wounds, deals with a current war, the Israel-Palestine conflict. She tackles it only indirectly, but reflects its impact on life in Israel, and in so doing, describes Israelis’ lives and attitudes more…
Comic and Graphic Novel
War in Comic-books/ Der Krieg im Comic. Part/ Teil 2: Joe Sacco
by Christian Gasser •
Joe Sacco: Truth or Objectivity In contrast to Jacques Tardi (Blog Tardi), Joe Sacco approaches the subject of war journalistically. War is not fiction for him, but documentary re-creation. He is not a frontline reporter, sending back his immediate impressions. He writes Comics and is much too slow for that: he takes several years to…
Comic and Graphic Novel
War in Comic-books/ Der Krieg im Comic. Part/ Teil 1: Jacques Tardi
by Christian Gasser •
There have always been war Comics. As elsewhere in popular culture, they satisfy the need both for heroic action and pacifist debate. As a result, they frequently suffer the same problems as the portrayal of war in films: even the best and most pacifist intentions are undermined by the power of the images, and distorted…
2014, Comic and Graphic Novel
Graphiv novel – Literature?/ Literatur?
by Vea Kaiser •
Auf den Vortrag von Christian Gasser bei den Europäischen Literaturtagen 2013 freute ich mich schon seit zwölf Stunden. Auf dem nächtlichen Weg von der Eröffnungsveranstaltung ins Hotel zog er ein unendlich süffisantes, charmantes Lächeln auf und bemerkte: „Seit es den Terminus Graphic Novel gibt, wird einer wie ich zu solchen Veranstaltungen eingeladen. In Frankreich ist…
2014, Comic and Graphic Novel, e-literature
The Digital Graphic Novel
by Gottfried Gusenbauer •
At the 2014 NEXT COMIC Festival in Linz, Austria, Daniel Lieske presented his Wormworld Saga in the Ars Electronica Centre. It’s a fantasy adventure story, a graphic novel in digital format, which has enchanted readers with its powerful imagery; it’s been translated into 19 languages and read by well over a million people. It’s a…