This past weekend I was privileged to participate in two different panels at the first Wizard World comics con held in Pittsburgh.
One was listed in the program as follows:
1940: WORLD WAR II AND COMICS: THE JOKER, ROBIN, THE FLASH, CAPTAIN AMERICA, CAPTAIN MARVEL, AND THE SPIRIT! With FINGEROTH, WISE, HASTINGS, GAVALIER & MAVERICK
75 years ago, in 1940, as the Nazi conquest of Europe continued and the Battle of Britain raged, the United States watched from the sidelines while instituting the first peacetime draft. At the same time, the world of comics was experiencing an incredible sustained period of invention, as The Joker, Robin, Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman, the Spirit, Catwoman, and Captains America and Marvel all debuted! (Not to mention the debuts of pop culture icons Bugs Bunny, and Brenda Starr, and classic movies Fantasia and The Great Dictator!) Showing and discussing historical and cultural factors that made that year so important is a panel including moderator Danny Fingeroth (Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero) as well as an array of history and pop culture experts including Wayne Wise (Chatham University), Waller Hastings (West Liberty University), Chris Gavlier (Washington & Lee University) and Chris Maverick (Duquesne University of Pennsylvania).
Given the topic I was surprised at how well attended this panel was. The conversation went really well. I was pleased to join these other academic professionals.
The other panel was about the Independent Comic Book Scene in Pittsburgh. The panel was moderated by Dan Greenwald from the Comic Book Pitt Podcast. I was joined by Scott Hedlund, Jim Rugg, and Marcel Walker.
You can watch it here.
Showing posts with label Marcel Walker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marcel Walker. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Chutz-POW! Cover Synchronicity
Marcel has talked about his process creating the cover for the Chutz-POW! comics anthology. You can read about it at his blog. What I want to mention in this short blog is a great little visual synchronicity that happened a couple of weeks ago. First, here's the cover as a visual reminder.
As I mentioned in my last blog my father, Keith Wise, served in the 7th Armored Division in World War II. When I showed him a proof copy of the comic he started talking about some of his experiences. Dad doesn't really talk about the more difficult experiences of the War. He drove a jeep and was part of the division that held Saint Vith against the German assault during the Battle of the Bulge.
While we were talking he brought out a small well-worn booklet that he was given after the War detailing the activities of the 7th Armored. I had seen this book before but it had been a long time.
The booklet is an overview of what the 7th Armored did during the war with tons of pictures and and maps of their route through Europe, ending near the Baltic where they met the Russian Army.
When I turned the book over and saw the back cover I was stunned.
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| Art by Marcel L. Walker |
As I mentioned in my last blog my father, Keith Wise, served in the 7th Armored Division in World War II. When I showed him a proof copy of the comic he started talking about some of his experiences. Dad doesn't really talk about the more difficult experiences of the War. He drove a jeep and was part of the division that held Saint Vith against the German assault during the Battle of the Bulge.
While we were talking he brought out a small well-worn booklet that he was given after the War detailing the activities of the 7th Armored. I had seen this book before but it had been a long time.
The booklet is an overview of what the 7th Armored did during the war with tons of pictures and and maps of their route through Europe, ending near the Baltic where they met the Russian Army.
When I turned the book over and saw the back cover I was stunned.
I had completely forgotten this image, and Marcel never saw this picture until well after the book went to the printer. Our cover was simply meant to be.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Chutz-POW!: The Comic Book – Moshe and Malka Baran
The
second story in the Chutz-POW! anthology is actually two stories in
one. Moshe and Malka Baran met in a displaced persons camp in Austria
after World War II. They were married and spent the rest of their
lives together. Though their experiences during the Holocaust were
very different I thought it was important to tell them as one tale,
linking their lives both before and after they met. Given the
complexities of telling two stories in one this ended up as the
longest story in the book at eight pages.
Here's
the first page of their story with art by Marcel (M.L.) Walker.
Moshe
was a partisan resistance fighter. He lived in the forests and swamps
of Poland for two years fighting a guerrilla war against the Nazis.
One of the questions that people seem to ask when trying to
understand how the Holocaust could have happened is, “Why didn't
the Jews fight back?” Historically speaking there are probably lots
of answers to this. Moshe's answer is direct and simple.
“I
fought back!”
Malka
was imprisoned in a labor camp when she was a young teenager. She
spent over three years there, wearing the same clothes, forced to
clean shell casings in a Nazi war factory. She survived until the
camp was liberated. But there is another piece of her story that is
so amazing that it sounds completely unbelievable, though completely
true. It's the focus of the story in the book, so I won't relate it
here in full, but...
Malka
and the other women prisoners kept a small child in their barracks,
hidden from the Nazi guards.
In all of the stories I tried to use the actual words of the Upstanders wherever I could. These were their stories and in most cases their words carried more weight and were more powerful than mine. In the case of Malka this was not only easy, but was also a joy. Malka was a poet and spent much of her life trying to communicate her experience through her art. In her written words and in interviews, both on paper and on video, she was elegant and powerful. For many of the panels in this story I decided to just step out of the way and let her speak.
In all of the stories I tried to use the actual words of the Upstanders wherever I could. These were their stories and in most cases their words carried more weight and were more powerful than mine. In the case of Malka this was not only easy, but was also a joy. Malka was a poet and spent much of her life trying to communicate her experience through her art. In her written words and in interviews, both on paper and on video, she was elegant and powerful. For many of the panels in this story I decided to just step out of the way and let her speak.
The
story was drawn by Marcel Walker and of all my scripts this is the
one that went through the most structural change from the written
page to the final artwork. Wanting to tell both of their stories in
the same piece presented a structural challenge that was unique in
this volume. I essentially wrote Moshe's story, then wrote Malka's.
The question then was how to unite the two. In my thumbnails I played
with having one of them in its entirety, followed by the other, then
uniting them on the last page. I toyed with the idea of alternating
pages, one at a time for each of them.
For
the framing sequence I came up with the idea of the older versions of
them speaking at an event, telling their stories to an audience. This
allowed some leeway in the way the stories were presented.
Marcel
read the scripts and rearranged the information I gave him,
maintaining the stories I wrote but presenting them in a sequential
order I hadn't considered. It made the story stronger (you can read
his process blog about drawing this story HERE).
Marcel
and I added a personal reference to the story.
My
father, Keith Wise, served in the 7th Armored Division in
World War II. He drove a jeep for his company Captain, William Borcherding.
In
Moshe's narrative he relates how, near the end of the War his group
of partisans joined the Russian army. He then recounts how they met
the American Army near the Baltic in the first week of May, 1945. My
father was there, so Marcel drew him into the story.
Dad
has told me stories of meeting the Russians and sharing food and
cigars with them. When I read Moshe's story I remembered those
stories. Now I realize that the chances of Dad and Moshe actually
having met are remote, but it made for a very personal connection for
me that I felt I had to slip into the book.
Marcel Walker writes and draws his own self-published comic book called Hero Corps. You can read more about his work at http://www.marcelwalker.com/
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Chutz-POW! The Rest of the Exhibit
In
addition to my drawing of Sophie Scholl, the Chutz-POW! exhibit at the 3
Rivers Arts Festival also features artwork from four other Pittsburgh
cartoonists representing other Holocaust Upstanders. In addition to the artwork each panel features photos and a lengthy description of each of the people featured. I'm not going to reproduce the text here, more for the sake of brevity than anything else. Go see the exhibit, or if you don't have the opportunity and are interested in the stories of these Upstanders look them up. There are amazing stories here.
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| Art by Marcel Walker http://www.marcelwalker.com/ |
The
first panel pictured here is a reproduction of the cover of the comic
book that will be released later this summer. This features stories
about Pittsburgh Upstanders, most of whom are not featured in the
Exhibit. I'll talk about that in more detail when the book is
released.
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| Art by Mark Zingarelli https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.58217367146.67779.58207207146 |
The
one person who is featured in both the exhibit and the comic is Les
Banos. Les's story is pretty unbelievable, and deserves a full graphic
novel or movie instead of the six pages I tried to fit the info into. (That's true of all of these people, really). Les Banos is a famous Pittsburgh sports photographer. He was Jewish and during the Holocaust was part of the Hungarian Resistance. He was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner of the C.I.A.), and became an SS officer and served as a double agent! The artwork here is a preview of the upcoming comic.
Mark Zingarelli
is a native of Pittsburgh and a freelance cartoonist /
illustrator for over 35 years. He has had art studios in San Diego,
Seattle and now lives in Western Pennsylvania. His award winning
illustration work and comics have been published internationally and
he is currently finishing a graphic novel for Farrar Strauss &
Giroux.
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| Art by Gary Morgan http://www.gmorganart.com |
The next panel is of the Bielski Brothers. The
Bielski Partisan group led by Tuvia Bielski operating in the forests
of Western Belorussia was one of the most renowned resistance groups
against the Nazis in World War II. Together with his brothers, Zusya,
Asael, and Aharon, Tuvia disrupted enemy lines and secured arms
allowing his partisan movement to grow in numbers.
Gary Morgan is a freelance artist and illustrator. He went to college at I.U.P., and graduated with a B.F.A. in metals and drawing. His comics work can be seen in The Field at the Edge of the Woods.
Gary Morgan is a freelance artist and illustrator. He went to college at I.U.P., and graduated with a B.F.A. in metals and drawing. His comics work can be seen in The Field at the Edge of the Woods.
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| Art by Marcel Walker http://www.marcelwalker.com/ |
Irena Sendler used her position as a social worker to gain access to the Warsaw Ghetto and help smuggle children out of the horrible conditions and into a network of safe houses, churches, and other hiding places. She issued hundreds of false documents with forged signatures, giving the Jewish children temporary identities. Irena kept records of each child’s true identity in coded form and buried them in jars beneath an apple tree in a neighbor’s back yard, across the street from the German barracks. It is estimated that these jars contained the names of 2,500 children. In 1943 her efforts were discovered and she was arrested, severely tortured, and sentenced to death by the Gestapo. Even under these circumstances she refused to give the Germans any information. While awaiting execution she was saved. Irena continued working under a false identity.
Marcel Lamont (M.L.) Walker is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native. He graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and from 1993 to 1999 was an art instructor at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Today he is the Artist-in-Residence at Pittsburgh’s ToonSeum, The Museum of Cartoon Art, where he teaches workshops and has contributed artwork to their NORTH and OAKLAND anthology comic-books. In 2014, Walker was the portrait artist for scientists depicted in the nationally-touring exhibit COMIC-TANIUM!: THE SUPER MATERIALS OF THE SUPERHEROES. Currently, he is also the creator/writer/artist of the comic-book HERO CORP., INTERNATIONAL, a mash-up of the workaday worlds of superheroes and the machinations of corporate America.
Marcel Lamont (M.L.) Walker is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native. He graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and from 1993 to 1999 was an art instructor at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Today he is the Artist-in-Residence at Pittsburgh’s ToonSeum, The Museum of Cartoon Art, where he teaches workshops and has contributed artwork to their NORTH and OAKLAND anthology comic-books. In 2014, Walker was the portrait artist for scientists depicted in the nationally-touring exhibit COMIC-TANIUM!: THE SUPER MATERIALS OF THE SUPERHEROES. Currently, he is also the creator/writer/artist of the comic-book HERO CORP., INTERNATIONAL, a mash-up of the workaday worlds of superheroes and the machinations of corporate America.
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| Art by Loran J. Skinkis http://www.skinkis.com/ |
The final panel is of Raoul Wallenberg. Wallenberg was recruited by the US War Refugee Board. Wallenberg’s task was to save as many Jews as he could in Hungary from the Nazi regime. He was given the status of a Swedish foreign diplomat, which allowed him issue thousands of Swedish Embassy stamped “protective passports” to Hungarian Jews. The fate of Raoul Wallenberg is unknown. He was last seen with Soviet officials under suspicion of espionage. Rumor has it that he died in a Soviet Prison.
Loran J. Skinkis is a full-time illustrator and graphic designer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After attending Mt. Lebanon Senior High in 1989, Loran joined the United States Marine Corps Reserves. His unit was activated and sent overseas to Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War (1991). After returning home, Loran went to school at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Loran has worked on such titles as Photocopy Comix Illustrated, The Electric Owl, Pastaman, Star & Stripes, Burgh-Man, The Pittsburgh Steel-Man and most recently The Field on the Edge of the Woods.
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