June comic books / Cómics de junio

Exactly one day after my birthday, my DCBS package arrived home: 20 new comics that I would read in a couple of days. Here they are, as per solicitations:
50 GIRLS 50 #1 
story FRANK CHO & DOUG MURRAY art AXEL MEDELLIN cover FRANK CHO Hot on the heels of his blockbuster New Ultimates run, FRANK CHO teams with Co-writer DOUG MURRAY (The 'Nam) and artist AXEL MEDELLIN (ELEPHANTMEN) to unleash a new universe-spanning sci-fi epic! Join in the fantastic voyage of the Space Vessel ESS Savannah and her beautiful crew as they fight their way from hostile aliens and exotic worlds, searching for the wormhole that will take them to their ultimate destination: Home. 

ALL WINNERS SQUAD BAND OF HEROES #1   
Written by Paul Jenkins Art by Carmine Di Giandomenico Cover by MICO SUAYAN It's World War II super-action as Captain America heads up a top-secret, all-hero unit of the U.S. military! But a mystery surrounding the Band of Heroes rears its ugly head in the present…and you won't believe how deep it goes. Join the wartime adventures of the toughest, most exceptional band of soldiers in American military history, in this series by acclaimed writer Paul Jenkins (SENTRY: FALLEN SUN) and rising star Carmine Di Giandomenico (INVINCIBLE IRON MAN ANNUAL, IRON MAN 2.0)! 32 PGS./Rated T+ 


AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE #6 (OF 9) 
Written by ALLAN HEINBERG Pencils & Cover by JIM CHEUNG THE SCARLET WITCH RETURNS WITH A VENGEANCE!  With her memory and her powers finally restored, The Scarlet Witch returns to Avengers Mansion for a revealing reunion with Clint Barton and a fiery reckoning with the Avengers that provokes the Beast, Jessica Jones, and the mutant detectives of X-Factor to join the crusade.  But will the Scarlet Witch continue the decimation she began in 'House of M'?  Or will she become the new mutant messiah? 32 PGS./Rated T+ 


CALIGULA #2 (OF 6) (MR) 
David (Crossed) Lapham unveils a new tale of ancient Rome and the most feared emperor of all time.  The one name that still speaks volumes of how absolute power can corrupt - Caligula.   After his assassination attempt goes horribly and horrifyingly wrong young Junius finds himself taken in by Caligula, who renames him Felix, meaning 'lucky one', and becomes the Emperor's pet, confidant, whipping boy, lover, apprentice, and biographer. Caligula lavishes money and women on Felix one minute than beats him the next. Felix must play along if he's to find out the secret behind Caligula's mysterious supernatural power over life and death. Virgin blood ceremonies, gladiator fights rigged for added brutality, and dinner parties where guests are randomly slaughtered, is there any limit to Caligula's depravity? Can Felix keep his focus and sanity in the face of so much misery and horror? A modern master of horror, Lapham digs deep into the world of Rome 37 AD and offers a unique epic of sin. Joined by new talent German Nobile who promises to serve up fully-painted pages dripping with blood, this all-new, full-color series will be six issues of evil that will make any Crossed fan smile with glee. For in the age of Caligula, all roads lead to Hell. Caligula #2 is available with a Regular cover by Jacen Burrows, a Wraparound cover by series artist German Nobile, and a special rare Golden retailer incentive.

EX MACHINA #41 (MR)
Written by Brian K. Vaughan Art by Tony Harris & Jim Clark Cover by Tony Harris It's the beginning of a new storyline - one that will finally reveal the true source of the Great Machine's strange powers! As New Year's Eve approaches, Mayor Mitchell Hundred makes a shocking announcement while the retired Super Hero's past returns to haunt Times Square. On sale April 22 • 32 pg, FC MATURE READERS


HERC #1 
The son of Zeus returns.


FLY #1 (MR)  
What if there was a drug that gave you the power to fly? How far would you go to possess it and who would you hurt to get your next fix? This is the story of Eddie Patron. Eddie was trying to live a normal life. A rundown broken life but a normal life nonetheless. But Eddie has a secret and that secret is coming back to haunt him and his life will never be the same again. From the mind of Raven Gregory, writer of Image Comics THE GIFT, the Wonderland trilogy and The Waking comes the latest brand new ongoing tale of horror and first tale of a world where the superheroes aren't heroes at all. Featuring 4 covers by superstar artists Ebas (Witchblade, Grimm Fairy Tales), Artgerm (Batman, Bird's of Prey), Eric J (JSA, Rex Mundi), and a Tyler Kirkham cover (Green Lantern Corps, Stryke Force, The Gift) as an exclusive. Don't miss what is guaranteed to be the hottest new series of the year! ONLY $2.99!!! As an added bonus retailers who order 20 copies of cover A get 5 additional copies free. 


HACK SLASH #5 CVR B ESQUEJO (MR) 
story TIM SEELEY art KYLE STRAHM cover B RODIN ESQUEJO  Guest-artist KYLE STRAHM (We Will Bury You) steps in as the skull-faced mystery woman Fantomah comes to Cassie and Vlad for help. But, what could a super powerful goddess, known for her horrible (yet creative) methods of tormenting evil doers, need with a teenage girl and a mutant with a machete? 


KIRBY GENESIS #1  
(W) Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross (A) Jackson Herbert, Alex Ross (C) Alex Ross (3 Covers, 33% Each), Ryan Sook (1-in-5), Paul Renaud (1-in-10), Dale Keown (1-in-15) KIRBY: GENESIS explodes into action! A message to space has been heard and answered -- but what has come to Earth isn't what anyone would expect! As cosmic visitors begin to be revealed to the world, a deadly battle begins -- and three ordinary people are caught up in it. Featuring: Captain Victory, Silver Star, the Glory Knights and more -- and this is just the beginning! Superstars Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross bring Jack 'King' Kirby's creations to life in a way you'll never forget! This is the beginning! This is the GENESIS!


LAST MORTAL #1 (OF 4) 
Story JOHN MAHONEY & FILIP SABLIK, art & cover THOMAS NACHLIK  Alec King is a born loser.  A small time criminal who has never succeeded at anything in life and whose fear of failure has crippled him. When his only friend, Brian, the brains and charm of their two-man operation, convinces Alec to help him with a hit contract on a mayoral candidate his life unravels to rock bottom. But sometimes we need to hit rock bottom to begin the climb towards a better day… 


MORNING GLORIES #10 
Story NICK SPENCER, art JOE EISMA, cover RODIN ESQUEJO  Since enrolling at Morning Glory Academy, perhaps no new student has been through more than Jade. But it turns out, sadly, this is one girl who is no stranger to pain and suffering - learn more about who she is, what she's been through, and what the Academy wants with her right here! 


RED MASS FOR MARS #4 (OF 4) 
story JONATHAN HICKMAN art & cover RYAN BODENHEIM 'FRATERNITY'-The smashing conclusion to the tale of Mars as the fate of the world hangs in the balance and the one person who could save the Earth must make his decision. SEPTEMBER 10 • 32 PAGES • FC


RUSE #1 (OF 4) 
Written by Mark Waid Art by MIRCO PIERFEDERICI Cover by BUTCH GUICE & MIKE PERKINS Variant Cover by MITCH BREITWEISER Renowned as the Victorian world's greatest detective, Simon Archard is the most intelligent of men. But when he crosses paths with the mysterious and enchanting Emma Bishop, has the smartest man in the world met his equal? Brought to readers by superstar writer Mark Waid (Amazing Spider-Man) and red-hot artist Mirco Pierfederici (Tron: Original Movie Adaptation), this is the new comic series that'll leave you breathless. 32 PGS./Rated T+


SIGIL #1 (OF 4) 
Written by MIKE CAREY Penciled by LEONARD KIRK Cover by JELENA KEVIC-DJURJEVIC Variant Cover by ED McGUINNESS In the war for forever, time is only an?obstacle. Warriors jump from century to century, their battlefields span all of history but have led them to a stalemate. But now a 16 year old girl from present-day South Carolina will turn the tide. The symbol on her chest makes her part of this war, but will she save us or damn all of creation? New York Times best-selling scribe Mike Carey (Age of X, The Unwritten) and Leonard Kirk (New Mutants) begin the next great comic epic. 32 PGS./Rated T+ 


SAMURAIS BLOOD #1 (OF 6) (MR)  
story OWEN WISEMAN art NAM KIM, MATTHEW DALTON & JESSICA KHOLINNE cover JO CHEN In an era when lineage defined you, three teenagers must make their way through the world hiding their identities in order to find their destinies. As their village burns behind them, they are headed for a city they'd heard about only in stories. The three young samurai must now struggle to stay alive and take vengeance on the evil usurper who has destroyed the rest of their clan and the only world they'd ever known. Will they rise on the tides of vengeance, or they will they fall on the swords of fate? 


SHIELD #1  
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN Penciled by DUSTIN WEAVER Cover by GERALD PAREL Historical Variant Cover by DUSTIN WEAVER The most acclaimed book of 2010 is back in 2011! The second volume of S.H.I.E.L.D. has arrived and Jonathan Hickman (FANTASTIC FOUR) and Dustin Weaver (X-MEN) are making the second volume of S.H.I.E.L.D. even better than the first! In this issue, the secret history of Michelangelo. He has been pulling the strings for years and is now becoming the prime mover. Can he keep Da Vinci and Newton from killing each other and destroying the Brotherhood of the Shield? Don't miss this new start of the book that everyone is talking about! 40 PGS./Rated T+ 


THAT HELLBOUND TRAIN #1 (OF 3)  
Robert Bloch, Joe and John Lansdale (w) Dave Wachter (a) Menton Matthews III (c) Take a trip back in time on Robert Bloch's That Hellbound Train! Join Martin, an out-of-luck orphan, as he struggles to fulfill the American dream. As Martin comes of age, fate conspires against him at every turn. On the verge of giving up hope, our young protagonist is visited by a monstrous train, one whose conductor might just have a ticket to fame and riches... if Martin is willing to pay the price! Scribes Joe and John Lansdale (30 Days of Night: Night, Again) and artist Dave Wachter bring this unique tale of American folklore to life! 


WITCH DOCTOR #1 (OF 4)  
story BRANDON SEIFERT art & cover LUKAS KETNER HOUSE M.D. MEETS FRINGE IN THE FIRST SKYBOUND ORIGINAL FROM ROBERT KIRKMAN's NEW COMICS IMPRINT! Meet Vincent Morrow, a doctor looking for a vaccine... for the apocalypse! In this stand-alone first issue, a family needs Dr. Morrow's help with their son's illness: Demonic possession. But when Morrow attempts an experimental cure, he discovers the boy's disease isn't all spinning heads and pea soup - it's like nothing you've seen before! Horror gets a brain transplant in WITCH DOCTOR, the book WARREN ELLIS calls 'Mental.' 


WALKING DEAD #86 (MR) 
story ROBERT KIRKMAN art & cover CHARLIE ADLARD & CLIFF RATHBURN  How do we deal with what comes next?


WOLVERINE #1
Written by JASON AARON Penciled by RENATO GUEDES Cover by JAE LEE Variant Cover by STEVE MCNIVEN Variant Cover by PAUL SMITH Variant Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC Sketch Variant Cover by JAE LEE Blank Variant Cover also available! Acclaimed author JASON AARON (ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN AND WOLVERINE, WEAPON X) and superstar artist RENATO GUEDES (Action Comics, Adventures of Superman) launch an all-new ongoing Wolverine series as Wolverine goes to hell… literally! Someone's out to destroy Wolverine-permanently-and they may have succeeded. But if Wolverine's soul is in hell, how is his body terrorizing those closest to him? 40 PGS./Parental Advisory 


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Exactamente un día después de mi cumpleaños, llegó a mi puerta el paquete de DCBS: 20 cómics nuevos que leería en tan sólo un par de días. Ahí van.


50 GIRLS 50 #1
Empieza el fantástico viaje del bajel espacial ESS Savannah y de su atractiva tripulación. Encontrarán extraterrestres hostiles y mundos exóticos.


ALL WINNERS SQUAD BAND OF HEROES #1    
El Capitán América lidera un grupo secreto en WWII.

AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE #6 (OF 9) 
Con su memoria y poderes restaurados, la Bruja Escarlata regresa a la mansión de los Vengadores. ¿Continuará la misión que provocó su caída o se convertirá en la nueva adalid de la comunidad mutante? 


CALIGULA #2 (OF 6) (MR) 
Tras sobrevivir a un intento de asesinato, Félix se convierte en el confidente de Calígula, en su mascota, en su aprendiz, en su biógrafo, incluso en su amante. Ceremonias con sangre de vírgenes, peleas con gladiadores y fiestas donde los invitados son asesinados al azar. ¿Hay límites para la  depravación de Calígula? ¿Podrá Félix mantener su cordura?


FLY #1 (MR)
¿Y si existiese una droga que te diera el poder de volar? ¿Qué tan lejos irías para conseguirla y a quién harías daño con tal de tener la próxima dosis? La vida de Eddie ha sido triste pero normal. Pero él tiene un secreto que lo acosa y ahora su vida no volverá a ser la misma… nunca más. 


EX MACHINA #41 (MR)  
Se revela el origen de los poderes de la Gran Maquinaria. 


HERC #1  
Regresa una vez más el hijo de Zeus. 


HACK SLASH #5    
¿Qué podría buscar una poderosa diosa en la agencia de una chica joven y su compañero, un mutante con un machete?


KIRBY GENESIS #1  
El mensaje espacial ha sido escuchado y respondido. Pero nadie podría imaginar lo que arribará a la Tierra. La llegada de los visitantes cósmicos da inicio a una batalla mortal. Y tres personas ordinarias se ven involucradas.


LAST MORTAL #1 (OF 4)  
King es un fracasado. Un criminal de poca monta que nunca ha dado el gran golpe. Cuando su único amigo Brian, el cerebro detrás de sus operaciones, le sugiere asesinar a un político todo empeorará.  


MORNING GLORIES #10  
Tal vez ningún otro estudiante ha padecido tanto como Jade. Pero resulta que Jade ya conocía el dolor y el sufrimiento. ¿Cuál es su pasado?


RED MASS FOR MARS #4 (OF 4)  
El relato de Marte llega a su conclusión. El destino del mundo está en la balanza: él único capaz de salvar la Tierra debe tomar una decisión. 


RUSE #1 (OF 4)  
Conocido como el más grande detective victoriano, Simon es el hombre más inteligente. ¿Qué sucederá si conoce a la misteriosa Emma? 


SAMURAIS BLOOD #1 (OF 6) (MR) 
En una era definida por los linajes, tres adolescentes deben descubrir su lugar en el mundo ocultando sus identidades para encontrar su destino. Cuando su aldea es incendiada se dirigen a una ciudad que conocen solamente por historias. Allí los tres jóvenes samuráis buscarán venganza.


SHIELD #1 
La historia secreta de Miguel Ángel… él ha estado actuando de manera encubierta todo este tiempo, pero ¿podrá evitar que Da Vinci y Newton se maten el uno al otro, y salvar así a la Hermandad de SHIELD? 

Avengers Children's Crusade

SIGIL #1 (OF 4)  
En la guerra por la eternidad, el tiempo es solamente un obstáculo. Los guerreros viajan de un siglo a otro, sus campos de batalla se extienden a lo largo de la historia pero siguen empatados en la lucha. Hasta que una chica de dieciséis años, en Carolina de Sur, entra en el conflicto. 


THAT HELLBOUND TRAIN #1 (OF 3) 
Martin es un desafortunado huérfano que lucha por alcanzar el sueño americano. Cuando está a punto de rendirse, este joven sube a un monstruoso tren que podría traerle riqueza y fama pero ¿a qué precio?


WALKING DEAD #86 (MR) 
¿Cómo sobrellevar lo que ocurrirá ahora?


WITCH DOCTOR #1 (OF 4) 
Conoced a Morrow, un doctor que busca una vacuna… para el apocalipsis. Cuando una familia necesita la ayuda del doctor para salvar a su hijo de una posesión demoniaca, la cura experimental de Morrow será letal.  


WOLVERINE #1  
Alguien quiere destruir a WOLVERINE para siempre. 

Caligula (David Lapham & German Nobile)

Power corrupts. We’re all aware of that. But how fast can it corrupt us? Junius, the protagonist of “Caligula”, had vowed to seek vengeance for the murder of her mother and siblings. He had gone through great efforts to breach into the emperor’s inner circle.

Cover / portada

And now, confronted with the Emperor of Rome, he’s unable to kill him. What happens next? Caligula bestows upon him the sobriquet Felix (“the lucky one”) and takes him to the races. As other emperors, Caligula was a gambler. And within the confines of the Roman circus, the people get hysterically enthusiastic about gambling. This fact has been documented by historians such as Suetonius: teams would bear a primary color and compete with each other, people would place bets, fortunes would be won and lost. 

Power & corruption / corrupción y poder

Felix is now drifting amidst the world of the rulers, the world of those not controlled by rules but by sheer desire. It is in that situation in which this young man must decide what to do about the man he had sworn to kill.

Violent, strong and erotically adventurous, the second issue of the miniseries by David Lapham and German Nobile shows us the horror of civilization and gives us a glimpse of the supernatural.

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El poder corrompe. Todos conocemos esa frase. ¿Pero qué tan rápido puede corrompernos? Junius, el protagonista de "Calígula", había jurado vengarse por el asesinato de su madre y hermanos. Había hecho todo tipo de esfuerzos para llegar al círculo interno del emperador.

Caligula & Felix

Y ahora, ¿qué sucederá al descubrir que no puede matar al emperador de Roma? Calígula le otorga el sobrenombre Félix ("el afortunado"), y lo lleva a las carreras. Como otros emperadores, Calígula era un apostador. Dentro de los confines del circo romano, el histérico pueblo se entusiasma apostando. Este fenómeno ha sido bien documentado por historiadores como Suetonio: diferentes equipos llevarían distintos colores, y competerían entre sí, la gente apostaría, y fortunas enteras serían ganadas o perdidas.

Sexuality / sexualidad

Félix está ahora a la deriva en el mundo de los gobernantes, en el mundo de aquellos controlados no por la ley sino por el deseo. Es en esta situación en la que el joven deberá decidir qué hacer con el hombre que había jurado asesinar.

Violento, fuerte y con cierta carga erótica, el segundo número de la miniserie de David Lapham y German Nobile nos muestra el horror de la civilización y nos da un vistazo a lo sobrenatural.   

For whom the bell tolls / Por quién doblan las campanas

Psychoanalysis can be a tempestuous battle between two minds, a sustained fight where one intellectuality faces against another, in which our perspectives, instead of crumbling down, acquire an unsuspected power before the last death rattle, a moment in which the communication helps to bring forth countless problems and situations buried in our protected unconscious, in addition, a metadialogue able to create a breach in our absolutist and exclusivist posture, a new view of something that we believe to have analyzed from every angle, an interpretation and, why not, a reinterpretation and a reconstruction of our essence and our identity.  

  
It’s been a few years since I said goodbye to my psychoanalyst. Sometimes I do really miss our sessions. Now, for example, that I dwell on the absence of some friends... Or as Shakespeare would phrase it “O how this spring of love resembleth the uncertain glory of an April day; which now shows all the beauty of the sun and by, and by a cloud takes all away”.

I would like to start thinking again in a more optimistic way. John Donne wrote once “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”.


So even if I have decided not to celebrate my 27th birthday this Monday, I still feel connected to my friends, here and now. And I guess that’s what matters the most. 

Giancarlo Scaglia

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Ya ha pasado la mitad del año, y en este segundo trimestre he tenido la oportunidad de ir a numerosas inauguraciones, que he ido comentando oportunamente. Ahora les doy un rápido vistazo a las invitaciones y catálogos de las muestras. 

My first page / mi primera página

Tal como prometí en el último post, incluyo una versión en formato reducido del cuadro de Giancarlo Scaglia. “Un matin dans le sale de bain en train le montre le pipi” (a ver quién se anima a traducir el título). Les recomiendo que busquen en Google a Scaglia, no aparecen muchos cuadros pero los que están merecen nuestra atención.


Finalmente incluyo mi primera página publicada, apareció en  julio de 2010.


Aprovecho para hacer la actualización ahora porque el resto del lunes, día de mi cumpleaños, estaré bastante ocupado (algo que no deja de ser paradójico teniendo en cuenta que esta es la primera vez en más de una década que no haré absolutamente nada para celebrar el día). Entre el fracaso con la Cooperación Alemana, la sensación de estar viejo (sí, 27 años me hacen sentir viejo), y el año de la muerte de Juana Cueto, amiga y cómplice de la cocina, no estoy de ánimos para celebrar nada. Aunque igual tengo la agenda llena de actividades.     

LO+POP -Antonio de Felipe (Galería Enlace)

Pink Mirón - Antonio de Felipe

“Love is the general name of the quality of attachment and it is capable of infinite degradation and it is the source of our greatest errors”. - Iris Murdoch. I was just remembering this quote today, of all days, because twelve months have already passed since I last saw Juana Cueto. Her departure saddened me deeply; the death of a great friend doesn’t simply wear off after a few weeks. Juana had promised me that she would return home just in time for her birthday. I owe her a cake. I had just received her last call, from Chincha, only a few hours away from the city. She had told me “I’ll be in Lima in June” and I looked myself in the mirror and said to myself “when she gets here I am going to give her a surprise; I am going to buy her a cake, something she hasn’t tasted before; it will be a surprise”. She had sore feet.  She was always worried because I also had sore feet, that’s why she would insist that I should eat veggies and fruits and do some exercise (which I do now, every day). So we both had sore feet. Once we were here in the house, probably in this very same room, and she said she didn’t notice any pain at all because I looked so sad (she would always be able to tell when I wasn’t feeling too good). And we had a war about our feet. And to think that Juana no longer needs to use his feet; that we can no longer share those silly moments, that for her it’s all over…

Arcadio B. (AKA Arion)
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Sketch / boceto

Ayer se inauguró en la Galería Enlace la muestra LO+POP del artista español Antonio de Felipe. Con impecables grabados que nos remiten a la estética pop, Antonio de Felipe reproduce el estilo casual y dinámico de los artistas pop más representativos del siglo XX; así, por ejemplo, realiza retratos de gran dimensión de Marilyn Monroe, en todos la imagen de base es la misma pero para cada caso desarrolla un estilo específico: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, pin-ups de la década del 40, etc.

Me encontré con varios amigos, aunque en esta ocasión me quedé conversando un buen rato con el artista Roberto Cores. Después de haber pasado una tarde bien provisto de alcohol, decidí que lo más prudente durante la noche era no tomar más de tres o cuatro copas de vino tinto, y en efecto logré mantener este límite autoimpuesto. 

My first version / mi primera versión

El jueves también almorcé con mi amigo Rafael Velásquez, nos quedamos conversando cerca de tres horas. Creo que ambos estábamos un poco desanimados, aunque por distintos motivos, yo porque en junio se cumplía un año de la muerte de Juana Cueto y además por no haber sido contratado por la Cooperación Alemana justo en el momento en el que un buen sueldo hubiese concretado diversos proyectos y viajes. Nos terminamos un malbec argentino antes de la hora del almuerzo, y no sé si eso habrá aumentado las horas de conversa. Mientras estaba ojeando el libro Lima Perú editado por el famosísimo Mario Testino, me quedé impresionado por la variedad y calidad de fotos y, también, por los cuadros de diversos artistas que forman parte de la edición. Rafael me dijo que seguramente reconocía a los artistas en cada una de las páginas, y efectivamente, así fue con los cuadros de Ricardo Wiese o de Pablo Patrucco, hasta que llegué a la reproducción a doble página de “Un matin dans le sale de bain en train le montre le pipi” obra del joven artista limeño Giancarlo Scaglia. Quedé realmente impresionado; se trataba, por cierto, de la primera vez que veía la obra de Scaglia. Rafael ya había ido antes a una de sus muestras en Lucía de la Puente, pero yo simplemente no había tenido la oportunidad de ver esa pintura. Así que para el próximo post trataré de incluir una imagen del cuadro en cuestión, a ver qué les parece.

My final version / mi versión final

Y ya para terminar, los dejo con la figura que me sirvió para desarrollar dos viñetas distintas para una historia que se publicará  próximamente; así como el paso previo antes de llegar a la versión final. Ahora que ya pasó la mitad del año, me alegra comprobar que la cantidad de visitantes ha seguido en aumento, espero que siga así y que sigan escribiendo comentarios en este y en todos los futuros posts. 

Asesinos Delicados - Gabriel Alayza (Galería Forum)

Bebé Requin

Claudio Gallina

Perhaps the best Pascal-Alex Vincent's short film to date, "Bebé Requin" neatly weaves three stories of teenage relationships and the lack of communication in postmodern society. And by postmodern we could understand 'fragmented', that yearns for the whole. Here such fragmentation is related directly to the advent of technology. In the first story, a boy and a girl sit together semi-naked whilst the boy entertains himself with online gaming (technology). The cries of death come from the game as a mumbled cacophony that fills the room. There is not a word spoken between them, and when the doorbell rings, they're forced to get dressed. A boy has come to visit them. And while he stares taciturnly into the screen, he seems to make a decision and "breaks the ice", so to speak.

The recently arrived boy removes his shirt, unzips his pants and walks towards the other boy, demanding to have his penis sucked. Of course, there is no reasonable reaction from either the girl or the boy. They continue to sit down, he continues to play and only ventures that the distraction is going to make him lose, even so he briefly practices fellatio on his friend, although the girl refuses to do the same. They are deeply concentrated on the screen, which is only mirroring the indifference of our time. But what does our era enjoin us to do? We must either survive through the simulacrum or succumb to the real, this foreclosure bequeaths us or sustains turning away from communication. When the girl refuses to provide pleasure to the boy, he hits them both with his skateboard. Once he's gone, we still see the boy and the girl, faces covered in blood, sitting on the couch, and he's still playing with the same feeling of boredom in his eyes.

The second story is a hyperbole of the lack of communication, as a teenager tries, day after day, to talk to another boy. He talks and talks and talks, and he never receives an answer; his interlocutor barely looks at him and keeps on walking. As philosopher Alan Badiou would explain, communication transmits a universe made up of disconnected images, remarks, statements and commentaries whose accepted principle is incoherence. And it's only through the incoherent ramblings of the lonely teenager that we understand the relevance of true rapport.

In the third story, the male body is the center of the narrative. Quoting Badiou: "We will call 'body' the worldly dimension of the subject and 'trace' that which, on the basis of the event, determines the active orientation of the body. A subject is therefore a formal synthesis between the statics of the body and its dynamics, between its composition and its effectuation". It's only fitting, then, to observe the body duplicated, in this case, in twin brothers that carry out different dynamics. After all, one of them is gladly involved in a sexual relationship with a girl, and subsequently the other one is furiously jealous. When one of the brothers hits the other in order to supplant him during the intercourse, it's made clear that the "active orientation of the body" can easily surmount the established boundaries.

Why is this short film a work of art? As Badiou would define it "Art is not the sublime descent of the infinite into the finite abjection of the body and sexuality. It is the production of an infinite subjective series through the finite means of a material subtraction". Pascal-Alex Vincent successfully blends subjectivity with sexuality and provides us with an honest insight into the heart of adolescence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyMkiX3D-74 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOI56AzTWE0

Gabriel Alayza

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Gabriel Alayza

Aunque no pude estar el día de la inauguración de "Asesinos Delicados", sabía que debía ir a la muestra de Gabriel Alayza, actualmente en exposición en la Galería Forum (hasta este sábado). Como un apasionado del noveno arte, me fascina encontrar una propuesta como la de Alayza, que mezcla la libertad expresiva del cómic con personajes de inigualable originalidad; cada cuadro del artista es un manifiesto visual de gran osadía. Hay que tomarse un buen tiempo para ver y leer todo lo que se encuentra en la muestra, no solamente por la inmensa cantidad de cuadros –y hasta esculturas– del artista sino sobre todo por el gran cuidado y dedicación que está detrás de todos los trabajos seleccionados.

My first version / mi primera versión

My final page / mi página final

Me encontré con Gabriel Alayza el jueves pasado en la Galería Cecilia González y le prometí que iría a ver su muestra. He cumplido con mi palabra. A todos los que puedan, les recomiendo que se den una vuelta por Forum. No lo lamentarán.

Adicionalmente estoy incluyendo algunas viñetas de la historia que estoy dibujando para el volumen quinto de THE GATHERING.

Y, finalmente, recordando que la única vez que intenté hacer malfattis desde la masa no me quedaron muy bien, decidí pedirlos a la hora del almuerzo. Hasta ahora mi especialidad siguen siendo los ñoquis, y como le he prometido a mi amiga María Fe, apenas esté lista la mini-cosecha de camote de la casa –plantada al lado de la vereda– le prepararé ñoquis de camote.

malfatti