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The truth about Markovia

Ephemerist: The Truth About Markovia

I guess this message is well past it’s sell-by date, but just to make a point, I’d like to present to you : Markovia has been doing all right, even without Batman’s help. In Batman And The Outsiders #1 (1983), Batman leaves the JLA and joins a ragtag band of second-rank superheroes in their battle against the evil oppressor of Markovia, a “small country in Eastern Europe”. However, the first…

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Broken Promise

Ephemerist : Broken Promise

There’s a Batman blockbuster with oodles of marketing money, and then there’s Stephen Trumble who goes ahead and creates a great Batman animated short all on his own (ok, with some pretty good voice talent). Broken Promise features two of the best Batman villains ever, the Ventriloquist and Two-face, in a showdown that doesn’t stop with just one split personality conundrum. This is brilliant…

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Shoe gazing helps when social distancing

Ephemerist : Shoe gazing helps when social distancing

The pandemic may slowly be on its way to be a thing of the past (at least in Europe), but you do still find them around: floor stickers reminding you to keep 1.5 meters apart in shops and other venues where people typically gather. This one I spotted in a bookstore in Haarlem, home to design and illustration legend Joost Swarte. I like the metaphor of the cat and the songbird — it’s almost as if…

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Dem Bones ain't movin' yet

Ephemerist : Dem Bones ain't movin' yet.

Netflix seems to be doing not that well : stocks are dropping, subscribers are leaving, things are bad. Which in turn means that costs are getting cut, and productions here and there are axed. Among them the animated series project centered around Jeff Smith’s celebrated Bone stories, which seems to have been in and out of (pre)production for as long as the original comic run has been completed.…

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Super board games!

Ephemerist: Super Board Games

Earlier this month I visited the Fumetto comics festival in Luzern, Switzerland. One of the main items on the agenda was an exhibition by Peter Poplaski on the 20th Century super-hero and his precursors, relation to classical pantheons and appearances in modern media. Poplaski’s obsession with Zorro is well-documented, and the original Caped Crusader played a heavy part in this show as…

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Yoko Ono Cartoonist

Ephemerist: Yoko Ono Cartoonist

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Thank you for waiting

The Ephemerist : Thank you for waiting

While en route to a client meeting near the Gare du Nord in Brussels, I noticed a rather peculiar use of comics. Near one of the many pedestrian stop lights, somebody had posted the February, 2022 edition of the Gazette du Feu Rouge, or Red Light Paper. According to its byline, it’s a “sheet of more or less interesting information for pedestrians while they have to wait”. In this issue, the paper…

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Evens Mural is History

Ephemerist: Evens Mural I History

Since the current owner of the Oever building on the Antwerp Steenhouwersvest has torn down / is tearing down the wall that has sported Brecht Evens‘s wonderful mural for more than ten years, it’s a good thing I made pictures of it back in 2012. The mural was part of the Antwerp Stripmuren Route (comic mural route), along sides similar walls with works by Jan van der Veken, Dick Matena, Marc…

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Superheroes offer support

Ephemerist: Superheroes offer support

Rode Neuzendag is an annual awareness in Flanders, focusing on specific aspects of health and well-being. This year the spotlight was on the effect the corona pandemic has had on our mental health, and especially with childeren and young adults, who often felt isolated and shut off from their peers. The aim of the campaign was to train teachers in competences that will help them to notice signs…

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Idiotic Eureka Moment - The Sound Of Bullets

Ephemerist: The sound of bullets

ricochet – noun [ric·?o·?chet | \ ?ri-k?-?sh?]  : a glancing rebound (as of a projectile off a flat surface) the ricochet of the bullet off the wall also : an object that ricochets. He was hit by a ricochet. Turns out it’s the same in English as in French. Who knew? Rick O’Shay by Stan Lynde Ric Hochet by André-Paul Duchâteau and Tibet (Ideotic Eureka Moment, hat tip to Frank Skinner)

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Who read comics, the far-out version

Ephemerist : Who read comics, the far-out version

In 1970 Italian photographer Fausto Giaconni was in London and heard about the Isle of Whight festival. He went there and focused on the gathering, rather than the performance. His photographs went on to chronicle the great youth gathering of the end of the sixties. In addition to chanting crowds, piles of trash and naked hippies, Giaconni also found makeshift news stands and book stores,…

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Stamps of interest 2022 - Belgium

Ephemerist: Stamps of interest 2022

In 2022 we celebrate the 100th birthday of Flemish cartoonist (and bonafide legend) Marc Sleen, as well as the 75th of his most famous creation, Nero. Two very good reasons for the Belgian Post Office to issue two stamps commemorating the event. On one of them we see Nero toasting his “spiritual father”, while the second one shows Sleen returning the courtesy. The stamps are presented in a…

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Look back to the labyrinth

Ephemerist: Look Back At The Labyrinth

Every year the Belgian town of Durbuy turns a corn field into a labyrinth that takes you on a journey past various short plays and sketches, games and puzzles. Each edition has its own theme, and in 2005 everything was about Tintin. I remember a very entertaining afternoon with all the characters from Hergé’s books telling a story that was more or less based around Marlinspike or scenes from…

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Murder covers

Ephemerist: Murder covers

In 2016 Dutch gothic Wunderkind Erik Kriek published In The Pines, a collection of short stories inspired by classic murder ballads, songs about murder, unrequited love and betrayal, all rendered with heavy swatches of black and only one extra colour. Stories included Pretty Polly, Long Black Veil, Taneytown, Where the Wild Roses Grow, and Caleb Meyer. Together with the Dutch americana purists…

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You are the part you play (also, Batman)

Ephemerist: You are the part that you play (also, Batman)

I’m not too proud to shamelessly steal stuff from Facebook or Reddit, and when it’s a piece of meta ephemera, a right click is quickly made. Here we have an actor who, apparently, identified with his most famous role to such an extend that he trolled people in real life. Adam West, who played Batman in the 60s series that redefined “zany��� (he played a lot of other parts, but mainly Batman). Near…

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Stanislas = Mr. Hergé

Ephemerist : Stanislas = Mr. Hergé

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Crossing the streams, Tintin style

Ephemerist : Crossing the streams, Tintin style

Thanks to the French comics news site ActuaBD, we now know that even American creators know their classics. In this short comic from 2009, Paul Tobin and Dustin Weaver show how The Thing dreams in a clear line style (albeit with a less than clear line story). Keen eyes will notice that Weaver also included Tintin creator Hergé in the first panel, but also his long time collaborators E.P. Jacobs…