I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of ghosts, of places holding onto echoes of their inhabitants; when I was a kid in Florida, I spent a summer riding my bike to the library everyday and reading every book on ghost photography I could get my hands on… It probably had to do with me losing one of my grandfathers early on and seeing him hanging around our house for a few years afterwards. But when you cross that obsession and sensitivity with a love of history and culture, all of a sudden those echoes contain music, perfumes, context… and there’s a certain romance to that, of old times that have passed on but still remain.
It was also an opportunity for Seth to showcase some of his excellent photography we’ve done together over the last few years for various book projects, like the following pic:
I love this pic for two reasons: 1) it’s a total fake… I’m still in my old bedroom in Brooklyn, floating against a photoshopped Miami background and Seth lit me to match the beach moonlight, and 2) that leather loveseat is where I wrote Red Light Properties’ final 7th draft; I left it behind in Williamsburg when we moved down to São Paulo and my heart still aches for my cool and smooshy place to sit and dream.
Our current couch here aches my tuchus after extended sessions; stay tuned for fuckin’ fascinating future furniture developments.
As a guest of this year’s Miami Book Fair International, I’m doing a closed-session talk on my experiences and techniques with publishing comics online (you can still register here) and then sharing the stage with two dear Joshes I know talking about our politically-themed books, all part of the Fair’s increasingly-impressive Comic Galaxy program:
Friday, Nov. 13, Session 2B (1:00–1:50 p.m.)
Room 7128 (Building 7, 1st Floor) Creating Web Comics: The New Sunday Funnies with Dan Goldman, Comics Creator
Before the birth of the Internet, comics artists had very few outlets where they could effectively promote their work. The Sunday funny pages were the ultimate sign of success, but to get there, one had to work hard to get exposure via underground papers, free papers or even self-publishing. The Web has flung the doors open to reveal a global audience of readers hungry for comics of all shapes and sizes, styles and genres. Dan Goldman discusses the various aspects of creating web comics, such as creating memorable characters and series, ways to move seamlessly between digital and print, what makes a web comic successful online and how to market your own.
NOTE: THIS TALK IS FREE BUT YOU NEED TO REGISTER FIRST
Saturday, Nov. 14, 11:30 a.m.
Centre Gallery (Building 1, 3rd Floor, Room 1365) Panel Discussion: Dan Goldman on 08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail, Josh Neufeld, on A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge and Joshua Dysart on Unknown Soldier
THIS PANEL IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
If you’re in Miami and would like to meet up, please drop me a line and come introduce yourself at the events. It’s always a pleasure to meet you other-side-of-the-screen cats in person.
My affection for Toronto is no secret, having visited twice last year (and again next month for TCAF), so it’s great to read things like this review from Sunday’s Toronto Star:
At our Book Court signing last night, Michael Crowley and I presented a signed copy of 08 to Alan Balicki of the New York Historical Society, who will place the book in their permanent archives as a historical record of the 2008 presidential election… in comics form.
Alan rattled off an incredible list of people who’d dedicated printed materials with the phrase “Presented to the NY Historical Society” before us and it’s an honor to be a part of that tradition:
This unexpected clip brightened my morning: my favorite TV news anchor Rachel Maddow lists her favorite graphic novels, shaking her fist as she insists her interviewer “HAS to read” SHOOTING WAR:
NPR’s Books We Like reviews “08″ and really hones in on my approach to covering the election in words and pictures:
08 strikes out on its own to create a method of visual storytelling that owes as much to ’60s magazine layouts as it does to modern Web design. It’s largely thanks to Goldman’s singular graphical style that this book, essentially a time capsule of the campaign’s conventional wisdom, feels so defiantly and refreshingly unconventional.
This week’s Approval Matrix in New York Magazine dubs 08 “highbrow/brilliant,” placing us between Michelle Obama and “Capt. Sully.”
About Mister Goldman
Dan Goldman is the author of the real-estate horror series RED LIGHT PROPERTIES currently being serialized at Tor.com.
A frequent speaker on both digital comic processes and distribution, Dan is the creator of the Eisner-nominated web-to-print comic SHOOTING WAR and a founding member of the webcomics collective ACT-I-VATE.
His recent nonfiction graphic novel 08: A GRAPHIC DIARY OF THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL has been archived in the New York Historical Society's permanent collection as a historical document of the 2008 election.
Detroit-born, Miami-bred and a New Yorker of eleven years, Dan currently lives in São Paulo, Brasil.
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