Suspicious Minds & memories of a comics festival

(Decided to rewrite this post as most of its content disappeared due to the massive inconveniences www.blogger.com experienced last week. Seems like I have waited in vain for its restoration...)
So here's the second love child of my recent civil rights activism and ongoing comics activity. For the first one, check out the Gyöngyöspata post below. This is a naive little one, suggesting trust instead of suspicion through a roma boy - non-roma girl love story.
Normally I don't draw comics for Elvis's songs but this time I was inspired by a workshop linked to our Comics Festival, where the special guests from the Netherlands, Finland and Estonia paid tribute to the King. Why here and now? Well, Elvis recently became a honorary citizen of Budapest, which fact I'm sure he deeply appreciates wherever he resides now. The final product was printed superquickly and was on sale at festival, but you can also purchase it here: http://www.nyitottkonyv.hu/konyveink/konyv/161/Elvis_Budapest
The festival itself was good craic again - fun fact: it was held on my former university campus which turned into a bar and concert venue since I graduated - here are a couple of photos just for a feel of the atmosphere:

The Comics Battle is raging - they took no prisoners :)
The best comics artists of 2010: Róbert Vass, Zoltán Fritz and Gergely Oravecz
I had the pleasure of running the Comics Association's stall for most of the day
(This is clearly not as cool as the original post. Well, that's life, ain't it? Things get lost, broken etc...)

Comic Jam és Képregényfesztivál

Hullo again Folks. Here's my entry for the special issue of Pesti Est - our local free weekly programme magazine - for the upcoming 7th Hungarian Comics Festival.
In March the Hungarian Comics Association issued a call for its members to participate in some "comic jamming", ie. to draw and write a story on a page with predesigned empty panels and speech bubbles ASAP. The only instruction was that it has to take place in a career advice office and has to feature a balding secretary who wears glasses.
My entry didn't make it to Pesti Est but I had fun drawing it and like it nonetheless.



Panel 1
Director: Good morning Aranka! You look upset. What's the matter?
Panel 2
Secretary: Boss, it's a disaster! I made the same appointment with Gábor Vona (the leader of the right-extremist Jobbik party) and the Dalai Lama by mistake! They are already in the waiting room!
Panel 3
Director: No worries, we have dealt with tougher situations too! We'll come up with an idea in a minute. Till then could you have a look to see how are they getting on?
Panel 7
Secretary: Gentlemen, please come in! I hope you don't mind if we are having a competitive interview. Act as natural as possible!
Panel 8
Vona: We must be worthy of the glory of our ancestors once again! If we cannot plunder Western Europe anymore while shooting arrows backwards, at least let our ultra-hungarian blood reign in our own counties!
Dalai Lama: My dear young friend, all this fuming may make your heart chakra congested pretty soon! I suggest that you often drink ginseng tea and take up volunteering in a disadvantaged rural area!
(A little footnote on Vona: he and his parliamentary party are highly responsible for the topic of the previous post - "Gyöngyöspata: a visit for a reason" - as some of the paramilitary groups are closely linked with them. Merrily making fun of him is not enough in the light of what has happened recently in different parts of Hungary.)

To end on a higher note, the Comics Festival is coming up indeed, as it's gonna take place next Saturday in Dürer Kert.

The programme looks really promising with special guests from the Netherlands, Finnland and Estonia, as well as exhibitions in several venues to complement the festival. Drop in if you're free!
More info for Hungarian speakers at http://kepregenyfesztival.blog.hu/

Gyöngyöspata: a visit for a reason

Ismét Szüfrazset City jelentkezik. Alább látható március 15-e estéjének szubjektív krónikája.


The translation for English speakers follows below, but first a bit of explanation on the recent events that took place in Gyöngyöspata (hopefully it is proper to use the past tense) http://errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=3816. Also, some background to the opening panel: http://www.budapesttimes.hu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17132&Itemid=220
Panel 1
On 15th March I went to the demonstration for free press.
"This is so dam good! It's not only about the media law though anymore. Such a big protest could even generate some sensible thinking among the government, couldn't it?"
Panel 2
After the demo I met Kati and Tamer by chance on the spot.
Kati: The locals asked us to go back in the evening. Are you joining us?
Panel 3
I joined them. About twenty of us left for the village riding in five cars.
Panel 4
For those who have missed out on the news, in early March some "civic guard" organizations - curiously resembling the legally banned Hungarian Guard militia - took the maintenance of "public security" to their own hands in Gyöngyöspata. In reality it meant that they kept harassing the Roma residents of the village night and day. The police merely stood by and nobody intervened to protect the Roma - i.e. Hungarian citizens - on behalf of the government.
The civic demonstration held in the village on 15th March was the first time when active solidarity was shown towards these people.
Panel 5
The locals greeted our arrival also because otherwise the Guard would not have left them in peace during the night either.
Woman: They shout at night and bang on the doors. Our children are afraid.
Man: How can this be tolerated? Where is the prime minister when we need him?
Panel 6
The guards and the "outlaws" seemed to appreciate our presence too in their own way.
Guards: Queerjewfaggot green liberal scums!!! Now what?!
Me (thinking): A better today for you, fuckers!

Wait, it's getting personal... Szüfrazset City

Szürke egy februárunk volt. Nem csoda, hogy kedvet kaptam egy személyes jellegű webcomichoz...

There are some really cool webcomics around which document the author's personal deeds, e.g a local one is http://csordasdaniel.blog.hu/, and I finally felt like trying my hand in something along these lines. This spring seems pretty eventful so far.
I realized that the translation can be tricky but let's give it a go anyway:

Suffragette City, no. 1 - The Idea
Panel 1
So it started like...
I should do a webcomic...On something topical of course.
Panel 2
Here's this city... A complete chaos... But also a lot of cool places and cool people.
Panel 3
And here's me too... Coming and going, seeing and hearing all sorts of things.
Panel 4
Aloud: Hey, it should be about me then! (thinking): About what I do, what I think, what happens to me!
Panel 5
Getting started right now!

It wasn't that tricky after all. Now, let's admire the song that provided the title of this fine piece of art:

A következő rész Gyöngyöspatáról szól majd/ The next episode will be about a place called Gyöngyöspata. I suggest googling it, especially the current news items.
Stay tuned, Corvin is not forgotten either.

The calm before the storm

Panel 1
Colin: You mean that we look like strangers?
Borka: You certainly don't look like honest peasants, and only those types live here.
Panel 2
Borka: Besides, your hairstyle is pretty unusual around here, Mister Gara!
Colin: I beg your pardon, this is the latest fashion in Mil..
Pip: O 'Gara, respectfully!
Panel 3
Thug: The girl went in there, boss!
Kaspar: Excellent! Now we're gonna catch her. We'll strike as soon as the boys get here!
Panel 4
Pip: We hear your ladyship is heading for Ravencastle. Can we volunteer to be your escorts?
Borka: That is a real honour. May I ask what business you sirs have there?
Colin: We have a message for Lord Corvin from an old friend of his.
Panel 5
Borka: How interesting! Who can that old friend be?
Colin: Francesco Sforza, the Duke of Milan.
Panel 6
Borka: Wow! You must have had a long and exciting journey all the way from Milan. Please, do tell me about it!
Pip: We would love to, but the whole journey seemed to take only a moment somehow!
Colin: Indeed, the Duke sent us here on the shortest possible route ...

It's good to be back working on Corvin. For next time you can expect some strong excitement and mild violence...

Doodling at work

Sometimes it's good if your job is not the most creative one in the world as long as it allows for the occasional ball point pen artwork over a pile of unopened business letters.
If you can detect some Sandman atmosphere, that's not mere coincidence as I started doodling as a result of buying The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country. Real comics lovers probably need no introduction to the Sandman series, the amazing collaboration of writer Neil Gaiman and several master artists. Those of you waiting for the first encounter, check out this book at http://www.amazon.com/Sandman-Vol-Country-Graphic-Novels/dp/1401229352/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296341098&sr=1-13
Reading The Sandman was such a spur for my creativity that I actually resumed drawing Corvin, and the A4 size draft of the next page is nearing completion. So stay tuned as you might behold the finished page in a couple of weeks. And the rest will follow till one day commercial success knocks on my door ;o)

2010 - the year in comics

As a way of saying goodbye to the old year I decided to to take a stock of the comic books I got hold of since January. Some of them are not brand new and there aren't so many of them altogether, but here they are one by one:

After spanning the storyline of Bone - my all time favourite comic book - for 15 years, Jeff Smith explored new territories with Rasl, the dimension-hopping art thief. More adult-oriented topic and film noir storytelling this time around.

Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra starts its plot with a rather haunting idea. In the summer of 2002 a mysterious plague wipes out all the male mammals of Earth expect for a young American guy and his capuchin monkey. According to this series an all-female world is not necessarily a better and more peaceful place than the one we know.

1566 - The Siege of Szigetvár was made by Endre Sarlós, one of the old masters of Hungarian comics. It commemorates how a small garrison of Hungarian and Croatian soldiers faced the vast army of Ottoman Turkey and fought to the last man. So here is the Hungarian 300 if you like...

Now, a perfectly fresh one. Pinkhell is the occasionally published magazine of a group of artists called the Hungarian Academy of Comics (a somewhat ironic name in response to the old cliché claiming that comics is art for the dumb). The new issue was published for Hungarocomix, the big end-of-year comic event in Budapest, and contains some seriously smashing stuff. Some pages can be previewed here: http://neroblanco.blog.hu/2010/12/16/hc_ajanlo_pinkhell_7#more2518798




Last, but not at all least, The Art of Bone, aka the perfect Christmas present for a die-hard Bone fan like myself. In 2007 Jeff Smith generously let the editors of Dark Horse Comics look through his archives and comply an amazing album of sketches, drafts, cover illusrations, let alone Smith's childhood drawings and the comic strips he published at college. An utterly amazing compilation for fans and aspiring artists :o)

So, happy new year evryone, and I'll try my best to get some Corvin updates - that is, new pages - up here quite soon. Fingers crossed.