HAPPY AT 90 MILES

More panels added, have a look! (click on the picture) And don’t forget to watch the slideshow in fullscreen.

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A couple of more slides, click on the image to read the update.

I’m aware that the slideshow’s not the best way to be following updates, and have looked into a better way to present the material. Turns out there’s a WordPress theme tailored for webcomics called Comicpress.

I’ll have to look into a way to integrate it into the blog, but in any case, it’ll have to wait until I finish chapter 4 (which I’ve jumped ahead to for publishing submission purposes) and can go back to working chronologically from chapter 1.

In the meantime, thank you all for your patience with my slideshow presentations, please make sure you’re using the full screen viewing option.

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Expat Iranians use images from Marjane Satrapi’s famous graphic novel to recount the recent events surrounding the disputed election.The Iranian government has tried to silence the protesters, who in turn have become more and more creative in their ways of voicing dissent in the face of repression.

Read the resulting comic HERE

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Google’s 3D modeling application Sketchup is what a good tool should be: Intuitive to learn, easy to use and best of all; free!

I’ve found Sketchup to be a huge help in imagining environments and as a guide for drawing. In the example of the visiting hall of Canaleta prison, I had Jorge describe the place for me. From his information I gleaned the approximate dimensions, the open air nature of the room with the chain link fence screens and the benches.

In under an hour I had the room built in Sketchup, using readymade elements such as the chain link and benches from the Sketchup “warehouse“, a user generated depository of items you can download. No sense in building a bench if 3 other people have already done it.

The model of the visiting hall

The purpose of using this tool is not so much the tracing, but the great help in determining “camera angles” when an environment’s relation to the subjects is important. (more…)

Melissa Lockhart runs The Cuba section of Foreign Policy Blogs, and this Monday she mentioned Happy at 90 Miles in her post New lens for viewing Cuba: graphic novels
The other upcoming GNs mentioned are Dean Haspiel’s Cuba: One Story, Michel Fiffe’s Cuba, and Spain Rodriguez’ Che: A Graphic Biography. (Although the last two authors aren’t identified.)

I’m glad to see this confluence of words and pictures about Cuba spontaneously appear at the same time and receive attention as another part of the debate that surrounds the island.

About Foreign Policy Blogs:
Foreign Policy Blogs is the largest network of global affairs blogs online. Staffed by scores of professional contributors from the worlds of journalism, academia, business, non-profits and think tanks, the FPB network tracks global developments from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between, daily. The FPB network is a production of the Foreign Policy Association. Founded in 1918 by a group of concerned journalists and citizens, the Foreign Policy Association serves as a catalyst for developing awareness, understanding of, and providing informed opinions on global issues.

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I’m happy to see that Dean Haspiel has announced that he’s doing a graphic novel with a Cuban theme.

Cuba: One Story, an original graphic novel planned for 2010 is a collaboration with writer/artist/friend, Inverna Lockpez, a Cuban emigree who will write the story based on her experiences as a surgeon in Castro’s army. Haspiel is a talented artist with dynamic bold lines and excellent sense of composition who has previously collaborated with comics legend Harvey Pekar.

The book is described as “a memoir with a little fiction mixed in”. The extreme and harrowing situations so often present in the context of the Cuban Revolution readily lends itself to nonfiction treatments, and I’m glad that comics is becoming part of that. Sequential storytelling has a lot to offer the genre, combining words and images to recreate real events in ways unique to the medium, as seen in the work of Joe Sacco and Marjane Satrapi.

I wish Dean and Inverna luck with their project, hopefully Happy At 90 Miles and Cuba: One Story will be sharing space on the bookshelves of stores and in homes, shedding light on the individual experiences that are so often lost in the churning of historical drama.

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More character sketches, this is all for the scenes at Canaleta prison.

Doctor Felix

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You might not get thrown in jail by the thought police in the United States for writing suspect material, but it will get you detained for hours by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration)

TSA officials are basically bureaucrats, a species that in all corners of the world harass ordinary people in the name of rules and regulations and the common good. In their unrelenting quest to keep the American flying public safe no granny will remain unfrisked and no comic book writer may carry scripts dealing with terrorism.

The offending evidence...

Writer Mark Sable was detained for some hours at L.A. airport in May when a search of his bags turned up a script for his comic series “Unthinkable”. In it, several terrorist plots, including 9/11 is mentioned, which set off alarm bells in the TSA agent motherboards. Ironically, the plot of Unthinkable concerns a writer who when contracted by a government think tank to imagine possible terrorist scenarios, becomes a suspect when several of his imaginary plots are carried out.

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In another look on the intersection of Human Rights issues and Comics, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has comissioned a comic book for its operations in Africa that aims to educate children and young people on the facts and human rights issues surrounding HIV and AIDS.

Unlike most comics made for institutions this one sports compelling illustrations and typography. It seems well produced, with versions in English, French and Arabic. Hopefully the booklet will be able to make a difference in the refugee camps with this difficult yet inescapable subject.

Click on the images to see PDF versions of the books.

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