Allan Haverholm » Events & Appearances

Karriere moves

Allan Haverholm — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:28:27 +0000

For those in the area, Copenhagen’s Karriere Bar is the place to be on Friday night.
Celebrating the release of From Wonderland With Love, an anthology of Danish comics published by Aben Maler/Fantagraphics Books, there shall be much chatting up and sipping of wine, continental style.

Gearing up for MoCCA

Allan Haverholm — Tue, 26 May 2009 06:08:07 +0000

Work on Astoria singles progressing at a steady pace, even though I have dropped everything else to prepare singles in time for MoCCA Art Fest June 6th-7th.

Scaling down from 12″ to 7″ square pagesize freshens up the work, as does the tight schedule. It’s both exciting and counter-productive to work against the clock like this but I often find it a great way of getting stuff out.

Besides, I have spent way too long thinking and planning the project, which doesn’t exactly characterise the 2-3-go rock’n'roll I usually favor.

Better to just bang some great comics out, even if the planned singles are played sort of safe — Black Sabbath and Engine City being riffs on other people’s work (Sabbath and Jack Kirby, respectively).

The B-side to each single will give pointers to some of the other directions I am taking Astoria. Thankyou’s to my Danish editor Torben Hansen of Fwd Pub for reminding me there should *be* B-sides to complete the concept

Train-a-lot

Allan Haverholm — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:45:33 +0000

And I’m off to the Oscars. No, wait. Been reading Matt Fractions Twitter coverage (twitterage?) of the awards.
I’m really off to teach comics for the next four weeks. It’s going to be a logistic limbo of connecting trains between Malmoe and Holbak (Shit Creek, Denmark) since I want to go home and see my kids every day. The school has set me up with a room on the premises but I’d rather commute five hrs a day(!) than be away from the family.
Plus, I can get some (comic lettering) work done on the train, so I’m fully paid up for my time
Starting off today by repeating the same speech four times to different groups of students to enlist them to the course/cause. Repetition is fun (?) and hopefully effective. Should keep statistic lists of enrollment by group to check on own performance. First group is an obvious no-win since I will have no clue what I’m saying. By last session I’ll be going on pure coffee-induced stamina and routine, so that’s a goner, too.
Betting the rest of the course on groups two and three. If I get my little speech together, that is, otherwise there’ll be lots of quality time with the young’uns…

[Edit: seems like I landed a whopping fifth of the entire student body for my little course, or my maths are awhack. Who said comics were dead, motherfucker?!]
Below: a picture from scenic Holbak (iPhone keyboard won’t take international signs, so I included the correct spelling on the sign at the top)

There shall be a hanging

Allan Haverholm — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:12:43 +0000

Okay, I put this in the Events category, but it’s nothing to do with me, really. Not other than I lent a hand hanging the exhibition in question, comics and prints by the esteemed Anke Feuchtenberger.
The show is held by Malmoe-based comic activists C’est Bon Kultur, at an abandoned wharf building called Stappelbadden (if you pardon my lousy Swedish), which serves as a run-down, industrial setting for the event.
On show is a comic called Balsaal (Ballroom), a montage representation of the artist’s book The Whore W, a film (which I don’t have any info on) and seven large, original prints.
The following pics are taken at the point in any hanging where you think you’re almost there but in reality have three hours ahead of you.

Don’t hold your breath. Just … Don’t.

Allan Haverholm — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:39:47 +0000

Sorry, still no shots of my tools ( I *mean* drawing equipment, thank you!).
I’m breaking my wrist to get the Resistansen demo ready for publication, which is good except for the wrist-breaking part. Because it’s going to be a kickass little book, but alas, it also means not so much casual posting this week.
Next week begins my teaching stint at Holbak Art School, which means I might be blogging like crazy while 20+ students are approaching wrist breakage
If there’s time in between, I’ll have some pics from Resistansen up soon. Maybe, I hope.

Komiks dot Dee Kay, j’accuse, mildly.

Allan Haverholm — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:07:27 +0000

The countdown clock is ticking for this year’s Danish comic festival, Komiks.dk, held on May 31st and June 1st.

Like previous years, I have been invited to participate, and once again, I find myself wonderfullly under-utilized and free to do whatever I want. Which usually amounts to hanging out with colleagues during and after opening hours.

One signing of Black Mouth is scheduled on Sunday June 1st (at the Faraos Cigarer stall), but there will probably be another on Saturday at the Brun Blomst stall. Otherwise I will be at Gimle Studio’s booth most of the time, doodling, humming, having a laugh.. Wasting time. The usual.

Lest we forget the other guests, the festival has managed to attract such alternative (ie, non-superhero, non-duck and off-mainstream bande-desinées) creators as have been lacking in previous years. David B (Epileptic, Babel), Martin tom Dieck (Der Unschuldige Passagier, Hundert Ansichten der Speicherstadt) and theorist Thierry Groensteen are attending this year, along with more reader-friendly Italian fumettioli (is that a word?) Barbucci & Canepa (Sky Doll) and Duck-maestro Giorgio Cavazzano.

I make light of the fact that I haven’t been callled to participate in panels and such, but I can’t help noticing that my book has been casually omitted from the shortlist for the grand prize of the festival. The decision has to do with the publication date, I’m told, but books published on the same date have been taken into consideration, and I suspect there are other motives to the lapse. My publisher was told off the record that Black Mouth has had enough media coverage as it is, and it is true that I went on national tv twice in promotion of the book.

Well, pardon me for getting air time. I’m sorry for getting good reviews. And I’m terribly sorry that the nominators of the festival don’t see that as a value. Really. But one mustn’t forget that the festival at this point is a non-profit event, and the people behind it, enthusiast grassroots. For their effort and engagement, I salute them.