Crumb, Clowes, Ware, and Tomine together in France.
Alvin Buenaventura, publisher of Buenaventura Press, took this photo when he and his posse of cartoonists went to France. You're looking at the cream of the crop here. From left to right: Robert Crumb, Chris Ware, Mellisa P. Coats (of Buenaventura Press), Dan Clowes, and Adrian Tomine.
Plenty more photos here.
Alvin also let me know about two brand new very-limited hand-made book releases from BP:
Swipe File, by Charles Burns.
and
New Character Parade #2 by Johnny Ryan.
the latest
latest episodes
"All rights reserved" and no large photo version, not the coolest way to store this on Flickr.
Anyway, sad to realize I missed Daniel Clowes at Angoulemene. Or are there other signings of his in Europe/ is he still there?
Robert Crumb is mah hero. I still have my collection of his comics from my head shop days.
@1: Eh, flickr's security isn't. Unfortunately the uploaded original isn't much bigger.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/3272291175_4615fee66c_b.jpg
Tomine? Really?
oh my god, Daniel Clowes is my hero.
@ Tdawg, I was thinking the exact same thing.
A group of geniuses; it figures they're in France.
I logged in just to agree with you guys about Tomine. He's probably the most overrated artist in the indie comics world. His Optic Nerve stuff I've read is like an emo-boy comic about an awkward breakup with the last two pages missing.
Where's Pee Bag?
A bit harsh with the Tomine criticism eh? -- by those same standards, you could disregard Robert Crumb's work because on occasion it features "ugly drug addicts" and "dirty hippy chicks."
So just because the story or art doesn't fit your particular aesthetics doesn't mean it has objectively less value.
That said, I don't really like Tomine's comics-- but I like his drawing style (yay, clean simplified realism), so I see no reason to bash 'em on the internet just because certain aspects aren't my cup of tea.
Why in the hell did I thought Robert Crumb was dead??
Now I see not only he's alive, but climbing mountains as well.
Great picture.
@10, who's bashing? I happen to love Tomine's style: he's a terrific artist, has a great line, amazing compositions, and a novelist's sense of pacing and character. It's not about style or subject matter. But putting him up with those three heavyweights, each of whom has produced not only tons of work, but arguably seminal (ahem) or genre-defining works--Crumb's sixties stuff, Ware's Corrigan, Clowes's various works (especially, for me, Ice Haven)--is quite unfair to Tomine. He's terrific, we can all agree, it's just that his bibliography is a bit lacking. Would you place Optic Nerve and those cloyingly cute New Yorker covers in the ring with the works just listed? Hellz no, so quit posturing.
i like and dont like stufff from all these guys.
tomine no exception, and i cant bash the guy who introduced me to "bite the curb." That was an affecting comic story.
that said, this picture could be titled "four artists that dont know what to do with their hands"
Must be a laugh-a-minute hanging out with that crowd.
Doesn't Crumb live in France already?
I totally agree with you Tdawwg, my earlier response was mostly directed at waltisfrozen comment.
Perhaps Crumb should have invited Joe Sacco to his southern France estate instead-- though the guy would probably depress everyone with war stories.
Hey! One of them is my friend! (well, my MySpace friend, anyway)
:D
Okay, I'll jump on this dog pile. I think Tomine is a pretty good storyteller. I think the comparisons to Raymond Carver aren't entirely just hype.
In your *hat*, Waltisfrozen, in your *hat*.
Maybe Tomine is there as some kind of apprentice.