Call for submissions: CBA vol 45 – Qtopia

In everyday life, we witness LGBTQ narratives all the time, in films or TV, in comics, from our friends. All too often, they end badly because some kinds of love still aren’t accepted by mainstream conservative society. These stories are important to tell because they happen in real life and we need to talk about them to stop it from happening anymore. But other narratives are also possible. We want our new anthology to be an island of queer stories without oppression.

As important as fighting for equal/LGBTQ rights today is, we may also find value in celebrating and exploring what could come after the fight. What we are looking for in this volume of CBA is stories that tell different tales. Queer tales about situations involving LGBTQ characters. Utopian queer tales where everything might not be perfect, but at least the horrible things that happen don’t have anything to do with the characters sexual orientation.

We welcome a wide variety of stories: heartbreaks, murders, deep space sci-fi, everyday life, abstract comics, whatever flickers your interest. All we ask is for a queer perspective that doesn’t involve negative aspects tied to the actual queerness.

Let’s create a Qtopia!

CBA vol 45 – Qtopia
This volume has no main editor as the whole CBK crew will be editors.
As usual we are looking for both comics and text articles.

DEADLINE: 15 April 2019

—SUBMISSION GUIDELINES—
Please read and follow these guidelines:
Number of pages: We prefer comics that are about 5-30 pages, but any number is welcome.
Format: 20x26cm
Color: Color/ Black and white
Language: English
Format: .TIF
Resolution: 1200 dpi line art or 300 dpi CMYK
Length (texts): A good size for a text is ca 7500 characters (including spaces), but it can also be longer or shorter.
Bleed: 5mm. Think you know how to handle bleed? Read this to make sure you know what we mean.
Within this space, there are no limits.

Delivery: We prefer download links that do NOT require us to login anywhere (wetransfer usually works fine, for example).
Request: Please don’t use Comic Sans. We don’t like it and will ask you to change to another font.
And again; check our guidelines concerning bleed.

Please send us high-resolution files from the start.
Include a short presentation text about yourself, with one URL (if you have a website).
Please ask us if you are unsure about formats, resolution, bleed, etc. We prefer stupid questions to bad files. And there are no stupid questions!

Unfortunately we cannot offer you any payment for participating. If we publish your submission you will receive 10 free copies of the issue. That’s all we can offer at this time. Hopefully you will find being in CBA an enjoyable experience. Naturally, copyright for your material stays with you.

–TEXT AND COMICS GUIDELINES–
Comics and/or texts should visualize stories from a queer perspective without negative aspects tied to characters sexuality/queerness. Other than that you are free to create what your heart desires.

Send your comics to: submissions [at] cbkcomics [dot] com

Exhibition: MaU @ Hybriden

This weekend, the comics course at Malmö University will present a comics axhibition at Hybriden.

Opening: Friday, Jan 18, 17-20
The exhibition will last for two more days (Jan 19-20) between 12-15.

At the opening there will be some snacks and (non-alcoholic) drinks, so drop by and read some comics!

 

Call for submissions: CBA vol 43

CBA vol 43 – Corners
Call for submissions for comics & texts

I’ll see you around the corner. Yeah, cool, but where exactly is that?
Corners are physical and mental places. Whether it’s is in your room or by the street down the block, they can be mysterious and shady spots. Corners have secrets to hide and stories to tell. Streets are packed with them, but so are the insights of the mind and its verging thoughts; so are comics as a panelled narration form.
They host dust and spider webs, they might be grimy and smell like shit, but overall corners are meeting points. Literally the angle made when two ways intersect. But also where two feelings or two people collide.

Deadline: NOVEMBER 1
Main editor: Gonzalo de las Heras

—SUBMISSION GUIDELINES—

COMICS
Please read and follow these guidelines:
Number of pages: We prefer comics that are about 5-30 pages, but any number is welcome.
Format: 20x26cm
Color: Color/ Black and white
Language: English
Format: .TIF
Resolution: 1200 dpi line art or 300 dpi CMYK
Bleed: 5mm. Think you know how to handle bleed? READ THIS to make sure you know what we mean.
Within this space, there are no limits.

Delivery: We prefer download links that do NOT require us to login anywhere (wetransfer usually works fine, for example).
Request: Please don’t use Comic Sans. We don’t like it and will ask you to change to another font.
And once more, check our guidelines for bleed.

Also, please send us high-resolution files from the start.
Also include a short presentation text about yourself, with one URL (if you have a website).
Please ask us if you are unsure about formats, resolution, bleed, etc. We prefer stupid questions to bad files. And there are no stupid questions!

TEXTS
A good size for a text is ca 7500 characters (including spaces), but it can also be longer or shorter.

Send your submissions to: submissions@cbkcomics.com

Unfortunately we cannot offer you any payment for participating. If we publish your submission you will receive 10 free copies of the issue. That’s all we can offer at this date. Hopefully you will find being in CBA an enjoyable experience. Naturally, copyright for your material will stay in your hands.

Deadline is around the corner. See you there!

CBA vol 40|41 out now!

CBA vol 40|41 – Worst Case Scenario is finally here!

What’s the worst that could happen? And if that happens, what’s the worst that could happen? And if that happens, what’s the worst that could happen? And so on…

There’s a psychiatric method in cognitive behavioral therapy called “The Downward Arrow Technique” where you begin by writing down the answers to this repeated question and we thought it’d be the perfect theme for our upcoming CBA vol 40. Especially since this is an election year in Sweden. Especially since war and famine and climate change and personal disasters are on the horizon. So how bad can it get?

ORDER IT HERE
Give it a try, what’s the worst that could happen?

Comics:
Martin Böer [DE], Henrik Rogowski [SE], Oskar Aspman [SE], Katharina Vittenlind [SE], Stef Gaines [SE], Aiden Kvarnström [SE], Nicolas Krizan [SE], António José Lopes [PT], Anna Krztoń [PL], Manuel Rodriguez [DE], Leviathan [SE], Mattias Elftorp [SE], Madhav Nair [IN], Vladimir Palibrk [SR], Lina Lefevre [FR].

Texts:
Raquel Lozano [SE], Merima Dizdarević [SE].

Illustrations:
Kinga Dukaj [SE], Ver Eversum [IT], Mattias Elftorp [SE].

Cover artist & main editor:
Kinga Dukaj [SE]

 

Table reservations are open for AltCom 2018!

For comics collectives, small press publishers and individual creators: It is now finally possible to book tables at AltCom 2018!

The market will take place Sat-Sun, August 25-26 at Panora in Malmö (but don’t miss that the festival begins already on the 23rd).

ALL THE INFO YOU NEED IS AT THE AltCom website.

Please note that having a table at AltCom 2018 is FREE of charge.

Fridhem 2018 exhibition @ Hybriden

We’re taking a small break from the Best of CBK exhibition for a guest appearance:


Fridhem Folkhögskola invites you to come see their final exhibitions at Mitt Möllan for various of their courses (Grafisk Design, Måleri, Serieteckning och Foto). The comics course is at Hybriden.

Opening: May 25 at 17-21
also open:
Saturday, May 26: 09-20
Sunday, May 27: 12-16

Welcome!

The Best of CBK exhibition will return next weekend with part 2 in a slightly different form. Stick around for more info coming soon.

SIS 2018

CBK will be at SIS (Stockholms Internationella Seriefestival), May 5-6 at Kulturhuset, together with Tusen Serier and Wormgod and several of our crew members and artists. You’ll find us at tables H5-H8 (in Hörsalen).

We will receive fanzines for the new Fosfor distro that will soon open at Hybriden.se/fosfor! We’ll take a maximum of 5 copies of each title!
Along with your zines we also need presentation texts about each title (preferably via email). You can also give us zines for Fosfor in other ways. If you are in Malmö, you can bring them to Hybriden (but check beforehand to see that we are there since we’re not open every day) or you can send them via snailmail.
Contact us at fosfor [at] hybriden [dot] se for more info.

We will also have a presentation on stage, Saturday May 5 at 14:

AltCom 2018, Fanzineverkstaden & Fosfor
Mattias Elftorp and Kinga Dukaj will present some of the things organized by Tusen Serier (in collaboration with CBK) in Malmö this year:
In May, Fanzineverkstaden (the Zine Workshop), an open collective workshop for selfpublishing comics creators, will open. In conjunction with this we’ll also re-open the zine distro Fosfor.
In August 23-26 it’s time for the latest edition of the international alternative comics festival AltCom. This year’s theme is HOW TO SURVIVE A DICTATORSHIP.

See you there!

We need YOU for CBK!

Vi behöver dig i CBK!

(Sorry for the Swedish, by the way, it’s because this is more of a local concern. In short, we’re looking for new crew members for CBK…)

Du som brinner för serier och vill se mediet utvecklas. Du som vill vara med och ge ut snygga nyskapande serier som gör intressanta saker med historieberättande i serieform. Du som är intresserad av att tillsammans med en grupp andra serieskapare ge ut en tidning, arrangera utställningar och jobba med annat som har med förlagsarbete att göra. Du som vill ha ett utrymme att också ge ut dina egna serier som del av en antologi, i ett sammanhang där nybörjare delar utrymme med tunga namn inom internationella alternativ- och undergroundserier.

Du får gärna kunna InDesign, Photoshop etc. Du får gärna vara bra på att jobba med marknadsföring, distribution osv.

Du bör ha förmågan och tycka det är kul att se sammanhang och hur saker hänger ihop i processen att göra och ge ut en tidning, arrangera utställningar, driva en lokal som ställer ut och säljer serier, med allt vad det innebär (du behöver inte ha full koll från start, tycker du det är intressant i grunden så kommer du att lära dig).

Det finns i nuläget inga pengar till ersättning, så du bör vara engagerad och intresserad av att vara med av andra anledningar än att tjäna pengar. CBK och CBA har alltid gjorts med ideella krafter när det gäller både serieskapare och redaktion, på gott och ont, och det ser ut att fortsätta så ett tag till.

Är du intresserad?
Kontakta oss så styr vi upp ett möte!

Best of CBK (13 april)

Retrospective exhibition of 15 years with CBK
Place: Hybriden (Mitt Möllan, Bangatan 5, Malmö)
Part 1 opening: April 13, 17-22
Lasts until: May 23
Part 2 opening: June 2, 17-22
Lasts until: August 16

C’est Bon Kultur (CBK) became an official association in 2003, with the formal purpose of creating and promoting comics that are visually interesting and that approach comics storytelling in experimental ways. It is now 15 years later and with approximately 60 publications and about as many exhibitions behind us, we have a big selection of comics and artworks in storage that we’d like to share with the world.

Nostalgia for some, news to others, we promise an interesting art experience. Big names in experimental and art comics will share the space with local talents and several generations of the CBA editorial crew. Over the years, we’ve strived to add something special in the translation from the comics page to the exhibition wall space. From acetone prints to apocalyptic scrap metal installations with DIY polaroids, blown-up postcards and blood-splattered plastic covers. One motto that runs through it all is: COMICS AS ART, ART AS COMICS.

Feel free to invite people to the Facebook event.

The exhibition is presented in cooperation with Fanzineverkstaden, with support from Malmö Kulturnämnd.

—IN SWEDISH—

2003 bildades kulturföreningen C’est Bon Kultur (CBK) med syftet att skapa och sprida serier som är visuellt intressanta och som experimenterar med berättandet i serieformen. Nu är det 15 år senare och med ca 60 publikationer och ungefär lika många utställningar bakom oss har vi samlat på oss ett stort lager av serier och konstverk som vi vill dela med oss av.

En nostalgitripp för gamla fans och en intressant upplevelse för dem som upptäckt oss på senare år. Stora namn inom konst- och experimentserier blandas med lokala förmågor och flera generationer av redaktionen för den internationella serieantologin CBA. Vi har genom åren gått in för att skapa något nytt och originellt i översättningen från tidning till utställningsvägg. Från acetontryck till skrotinstallation med gör-det-självpolaroider, förstorade vykort och blodstänkta plastskynken. Ett motto som genomsyrat verksamheten är: SERIER SOM KONST, KONST SOM SERIER.

Bjud gärna in dina vänner till vårt event på Facebook.

Utställningen presenteras i samarbete med Fanzineverkstaden, med stöd från Malmö Kulturnämnd.

FRAGMENTS exhibition/release

Welcome to the opening of the exhibition FRAGMENTS, which is also the release of the brand new CBA vol 38|39!

Feb 9, 17-22
@ HYBRIDEN (Mitt Möllan, Bangatan 5)

The past can be found in the form of small parts inside your body. Some parts are impossible to get rid of. Maybe they’re important, maybe they’re not. But they do exist for a reason. What is your reason?
Even though your past time is out of reach, there is always the possibility of deciding how it will look in front of other people. What would your fragments look like if you showed them in public?

The exhibition will showcase fragments of the comics from the new issue, and there is also an interactive element. Join us by drawing your own memories on the wall during the exhibition opening.

We have crayons!

Christina Cromnow, the main editor of vol 38|39, says about the theme:
“I’m remembering my own life in fragments. There are only pieces left of my past time. But what interests me is just that, WHICH pieces are the ones remaining? And why? And what story does all of this tell? The simple story should be that whatever’s left are the moments that made an impression. It doesn’t matter if it’s nonsense or vitality. It’s there because it influenced me somehow.”

Artists featured in the exhibition: Marie Jacotey-Voyatzis, Victor Expolio, Mattias Elftorp, Martin López Lam, Anna Krztoń, Diego Shim, Stefan Petrini, Hanna Lundin Tistelö, Insulina Kid, Rakel Stammer, Henrik Rogowski, Gonzalo de las Heras, Johanna Rojola, Kinga Dukaj

As usual, there will be some snacks, wine and non-alcoholic alternatives.

The exhibition lasts until April 11 and is organised with support from Malmö Kulturstöd.