It’s a week before I’m leaving for MoCCA’s Art Fest, and the material for the singles isn’t done yet by a long stretch. Head is literally spinning with stress.

Don’t worry though, the book(s) will be out. Printers work fast these days

So starting today I have 12 days to finish three works in progress, prepare them for print, get them back from the printer, and drag them to New York for MoCCA’s Art Fest.
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Here’s a couple of shots I took on the move.
One is a bull that I might use as an inspirational piece for Dry Spot or Ariadne (there’s a lot of cross referencing all across the book)

The other just struck me as funny the way it forms a Venus from Willendorf-like figure in the formal language of emotica. I guess it’s a shape that fascinates across the millennia, which just fuels my pictorial fundamentalisms

I have passed the old railroad hotel by Copenhagen Central more often than I can count, but not until I was well into my work on the Astoria sessions did I notice that it was an Astoria hotel.

The signs are beautiful, late Art Deco (-influenced?) rising against the usually drab Danish sky, and the winged wheel that was the logo of then-national Danish railways balances one end of the roof like a 12 feet, concrete hood ornament.

It goes without saying that I went right past those and photographed the tacky secondfloor neon sign instead

Astoria creator Allan Haverholm will be at Stockholm’s own SPX festival this weekend, April 25th thru 26th.

He will bring some uncommiting Astoria sketches, hoping to garner some preliminary interest in the project.

Allan will have booth duties with C’est Bon Kultur both days.

The first single for the Astoria album is coming out in time for the MoCCA Art Fest on June 6th-7th.

The single outing will be Resistansen, a song by Norwegian Kaizer’s Orchestra covered for the first time in comic form!

It is a tale of death, lust and delirium in the port city of Bergen sometime in between World Wars, released by discerning Danish “small press, big effect” publisher Aben Maler.

The Resistansen single is published as part of Aben Maler’s 676 spring collection. The 676 series of standalone books are all 13×13 cm, 24 pages, black and white publications with two-color covers.

Also out in time for MoCCA is From Wonderland With Love, an anthology featuring the best new comics out of Denmark in recent years, including Astoria visual artist Allan Haverholm.

From Wonderland… is co-published by Aben Maler and Fantagraphics Books.

I am negotiating a possible demo release of Astoria to be published in time for MoCCA. No details as yet about format.

Will return with more announcements here!

My older sister is just returned from South Africa, and along with loads of pictures of the wildlife, she brought home an unusual souvenir that vaguely fits this blog.
Pictured below is a bag made out of two vinyl records and some material inn between. Not exactly how I’d treat discarded records, but it’s a nice bag!
Photo courtesy of the happy owner, my brother’s little sister (as they say on Facebook, “it’s complicated”) Lykke.

I dare think we have established the concept of Astoria by now (and for those who came in late, see the “About” page) but there’s still one important part of the project we haven’t touched upon yet. As a further twist on the music-translated-into-comics concept, there is now being made a soundtrack to the book!

Astoria will be put into music by one of the most gifted young musicians I know, singer of up and coming Danish thrashcore band Angrified, my own brother Martin “Martincore” Haverholm. The family tie is really just a convenient means of extortion (“If you don’t finish that demo on time, I’ll tell mom!”), I don’t think it would be possible to find a more fitting collaboration outside my family

Martin is as committed to rock as I am to visual narrative, and about as prone to experimentation in his chosen medium. Also, we share much of the same tastes in music, which is why he has been given free reins in converting Astoria into sound.

Like the graphic album, Astoria: the Soundtrack will consist of thirteen songs that closely correspond to the comic counterparts. The musical material is intended to be pressed in vinyl and ship as an integrated part of the book, stressing again the close relationship between music and visuals in this project.

Martin is now officially a co-author of the production blog, and will soon post demos and news about his work progress and inspirations. Unless he’s out touring with his little band …

Mo-o-om!!

Photos: Jesper Bolo Petersen

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As you can see from recent posts, I am trying to elaborate on the basic descriptions of songs in “abstracts” that should give a more in-depth sense of the individual concepts.

Without making excuses for myself or my general pace, I’m finding it very hard to put into words what I’m working on. Currently, I am in the middle of evolving the visuals and semantics of several installments at a time; Engine City is still a little unrefined, whereas Cerebration is more or less good to go, and Passion is more or less a shambles.

When I first started developing the Astoria project, I was taking almost entirely written notes, researching and conceptualizing as much as I could beforehand, as I wanted a sound basis for the work in advance of what I considered (an consider) the actual work. Over the last six months, the bucket has turned.

Since I started drafting on Astoria in September, I have gone on to work with thumbnails and sketches alone, adding new elements more intuitively (although based on my thorough conceptual documents) and all the time stretching myself to avoid repetition or derivation.

And often I stretch out of language. And then I sit down and try to write my abstract … So forgive me if I’m slow in typing up these abstracts; I will get through the pile, but I don’t speak words much anymore. It’s an occupational hazard, and one I can fortunately (?) only afford for a brief period while I finish Astoria.