Bill Kartalopoulos Explained

Bill Kartalopoulos
Birth Date:26 March 1975[1]
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:Dartmouth College
The New School
Occupation:
  • Comics editor
  • Event organizer
  • Educator

Bill Kartalopoulos is a New York-based comics critic, educator, curator and editor. From 2014 to 2019 he was the Series Editor for the Best American Comics series of annual comics anthologies published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He was a co-founder of the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival and has also directed programming for the Small Press Expo and the MoCCA Festival. He teaches courses about comics at Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts.

Background

Kartalopoulos graduated from Dartmouth College, where he co-founded the student comics anthology Vox Pop Comix.[2] In 2002, he launched a comics newsblog called EGON and from 2004 to 2005 served as the editor of Indy Magazine, an online magazine about comics.[3] Features for that publication included an extensive two-part history of RAW Magazine for which Kartalopoulos conducted interviews with Françoise Mouly, Charles Burns, Kim Deitch, Gary Panter, Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, and others. Comics journalist Tom Spurgeon wrote that "Kartalopoulos engineered both this decade's best on-line, magazine-style effort about comics (Indy Magazine), and its most useful support web site (EGON)."[4] In 2005 Indy Magazine was nominated for both the Harvey Award[5] and the Eisner Award.[6] Subsequently, he worked for several years as Spiegelman's studio assistant. In 2013 he completed a master's degree in media studies at The New School.[7]

Comics festivals

Kartalopoulos has worked extensively organizing comics festivals, with emphases on programming and international guests. In 2006 he began working as programming coordinator for the Small Press Expo[8] and continued in that role through 2014.[9] In 2006, comics journalist Heidi MacDonald wrote: "Bill Kartalopoulos did the programming... and he definitely elevated it to the level that a serious festival of intelligent comics needed." In 2009, he co-founded the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival (BCGF) with Desert Island owner Gabe Fowler and PictureBox publisher Dan Nadel.[10] For the 2012 edition of the BCGF, Kartalopoulos conducted a conversation with Richard McGuire, Spiegelman, and Ware at the Knitting Factory and organized international programming featuring guests from France, Belgium, Finland, Mexico and Croatia.[11] [12] The BCGF concluded as an ongoing project in 2013.[13] Since 2014, Kartalopoulos has been the Programming Director for the MoCCA Festival, organized annually in Manhattan by the Society of Illustrators.[14] Kartalopoulos has continued to feature international artists at this event, including Dutch artist Joost Swarte, Belgian artist Brecht Vandenbroucke, and French artists including Yvan Alagbé, Marion Fayolle, Annie Goetzinger, Florent Ruppert, and others.[15]

Editing and publishing

From 2014 to 2019 Kartalopoulos was the Series Editor for the Best American Comics series published annually by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In that role, he collaborated each year with a selected Guest Editor:

The Best American Comics series appeared regularly on the New York Times Hardcover Graphic Books list during Kartalopoulos's tenure, with the 2016 edition entering the list at #1.[16] In September 2020, Kartalopoulos announced that the series was one of several "Best American" titles that had been cancelled by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.[17] These cancellations came as part of several waves of cutbacks prior to the publisher's eventual sale to HarperCollins.[18] [19]

In addition to his tenure editing Best American Comics, Kartalopoulos has also edited a number of other book and periodical projects. Kartalopoulos edited and published a 2013 English-language edition of Florent Ruppert and Jérôme Mulot's 2006 graphic novel Panier de singe, which won the Prix Révélation at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Kartalopoulos published the book in North America as Barrel of Monkeys under his own Rebus Books imprint, operating out of a live/work space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn called "Cartoon House" for its high concentration of comics artists and professionals.[20] [21] Critic Daniel Levin Becker named Barrel of Monkeys his top book of the year for Salon.com, calling the book "so blackly funny, so morbid and joyously awful, that it would be completely appalling if it weren't carried off just right.[22] " Slate books editor Dan Kois named the book among his top 15 books of the year.[23]

In 2016, he edited and designed After Nothing Comes, a collection of formative zines by Aidan Koch, for Koyama Press.[24] Artforum called the book "an exciting break from the traditional graphic-novel medium.[25] Writing for Thrillist, critic Sean T. Collins named the book among the "33 Greatest Graphic Novels of All Time.[26] "

Kartalopoulos guest-edited the March 2016 issue of World Literature Today, focusing on international comics.[27] He also guest-edited the February–March 2015 comics-themed issue of the American Book Review, featuring contributions from Austin English, John Hankiewicz, Nicole Rudick, Dash Shaw, and others.[28]

Kartalopoulos additionally served as Associate Editor for Multimedia on Art Spiegelman's 2012 book MetaMaus, which included a DVD with video, audio, photos, and an interactive version of Maus.[29] He also worked as a production and editorial assistant for the first two seasons of Françoise Mouly's TOON Books imprint of comics for early readers.

Curatorial work

Kartalopoulos has curated a number of comics-related exhibits in the US and internationally, showing work by artists including Lynda Barry, Alexis Beauclair, Kim Deitch, Aidan Koch, Javier Mariscal, Richard McGuire, Son Ni, Paper Rad, Raymond Pettibon, Deb Sokolow, Saul Steinberg, Chris Ware, and others. Curated exhibitions include:

Other work

Kartalopoulos teaches undergraduate courses about comics at Parsons.[36] He also teaches in the MFA Visual Narrative program at the School of Visual Arts.[37]

Kartalopoulos has written about comics for venues including The Paris Review, The Huffington Post, and The Brooklyn Rail. He has contributed essays to books including The Search for Smilin' Ed by Kim Deitch; Vanishing Perspective by Alexis Beauclair; and Society is Nix! edited by Peter Maresca.[38] [39] [40]

Kartalopoulos is a frequent public speaker about comics. Two of his public discussions, on the subject of comics and post-war avant-garde art, were delivered as part of Ben Katchor's New York Comics and Picture-Story Symposium and are archived online.[41] [42]

Kartalopoulos has been working on a book about comics to be published by Princeton University Press in 2024.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Johnston . Rich . The Daily LITG, 26th March 2020 – Happy Birthday Clydene Nee . 23 October 2022 . Bleeding Cool . March 26, 2020.
  2. Web site: CBR Staff . "Nelson talks Rex Mundi and Religion" . CBR . 22 October 2022 . September 17, 2008.
  3. Web site: Indy Magazine is Back! . Alternative Comics . 22 October 2022.
  4. Web site: Spurgeon . Tom . CR Holiday Interview #20—Bill Kartalopoulos On Kramers Ergot Vol. 4 . The Comics Reporter . 22 October 2022.
  5. Web site: 2005 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners . Comic Book Awards Almanac . Joel Hahn . 22 October 2022.
  6. Web site: 2005 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards . Comic Book Awards Almanac . Joel Hahn . 22 October 2022.
  7. Web site: on-panel.com . on-panel.com . 22 October 2022.
  8. Web site: MacDonald . Heidi . SPX: The Transitioning . The Beat . 17 October 2006 . 22 October 2022.
  9. Web site: MacDonald . Heidi . SPX 2015 programming is here, with new curators . The Beat . 3 September 2015 . 22 October 2022.
  10. Web site: MacDonald . Heidi . This weekend: Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival . The Beat . December 2009 . 22 October 2022.
  11. Web site: MacDonald . Heidi . Indie Comics End Year on a High Note With Brooklyn Fest . Publishers Weekly . 22 October 2022.
  12. Web site: MacDonald . Heidi . The mystery and joy of BCGF . The Beat . 21 November 2012 . 22 October 2022.
  13. Web site: Hodler . Tim . THE BROOKLYN COMICS AND GRAPHICS FESTIVAL ENDS . The Comics Journal . 17 May 2013 . Fantagraphics Books . 22 October 2022.
  14. Web site: MacDonald . Heidi and Calvin Reid . It's a Good MoCCA Festival Charlie Brown! . Publishers Weekly . 22 October 2022.
  15. Web site: Why Do French Comics Sell Abroad? . Cultural Services of the French Embassy . 22 October 2022.
  16. News: Hardcover Graphic Books (October 23,2016) . 23 October 2022 . The New York Times . October 23, 2016.
  17. Web site: Kartalopoulos . Bill . On the Conclusion of the Best American Comics Series . on-panel.com .
  18. Web site: HMH Could Cut Hundreds of Employees As Part of Business Strategy . EdSurge . 17 October 2019 . 23 October 2022.
  19. Web site: Milliot . Jim . HarperCollins to Acquire HMH Trade . Publishers Weekly . 23 October 2022.
  20. News: MacDonald . Heidi . Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival Launches With New Publisher, Transit Concerns . 23 October 2022 . Publishers Weekly . Sep 11, 2013.
  21. News: Chapman . Robyn . Meet The Micropress: The Publishers of Cartoon House . 23 October 2022 . Publishers Weekly . November 6, 2012.
  22. News: Filgate . Michele . Salon's What to Read Awards: Top critics choose the best books of 2013 . 23 October 2022 . Salon.com . December 27, 2013.
  23. News: Kois . Dan . Dan Kois' Favorite Books of 2013 . 23 October 2022 . Slate . December 5, 2013.
  24. Web site: After Nothing Comes . Koyama Press . 23 October 2022.
  25. News: Novgorodoff . Danica . AIDAN KOCH'S AFTER NOTHING COMES . 23 October 2022 . Artforum . 55 . 2 . October 2016.
  26. News: Collins . Sean T. . The 33 Greatest Graphic Novels of All Time . 23 October 2022 . Thrillist . October 10, 2016.
  27. Web site: Volume 90 No. 2, March 2016 . World Literature Today . 8 February 2016 . 23 October 2022.
  28. Web site: Focus: Comics — January / February 2015 . American Book Review . 22 January 2015 . 23 October 2022.
  29. News: New York Times . After a Quarter-Century, an Author Looks Back at His Holocaust Comic . Dwight . Garner . 2011-10-12 . 2013-03-13.
  30. News: Comic Evolution: Exhibition Illustrates Cartooning's Legacy . 23 October 2022 . The New School . January 21, 2011.
  31. News: MacDonald . Heidi . A guide to tonight's comics/art events . 23 October 2022 . The Beat . November 9, 2012.
  32. Web site: Uncanny Valleys . Soloway . Soloway Gallery . 23 October 2022.
  33. Web site: KIM DEITCH . Mains d'Oeuvres . 23 October 2022.
  34. Web site: The Best American Comics Selections: 2014 – 2017 . South Bend Museum of Art . 14 October 2017 . 23 October 2022.
  35. Web site: Fumetto 2019 . Fumetto . 23 October 2022.
  36. Web site: Bill Kartalopoulos, Parsons School of Design . The New School . 23 October 2022.
  37. Web site: Bill Kartalopoulos - SVA . School of Visual Arts . 23 October 2022.
  38. Web site: The Search for Smilin' Ed . Fantagraphics Books . 23 October 2022.
  39. Web site: Vanishing Perspective . 2dcloud . 23 October 2022.
  40. Web site: Society is Nix! . Sunday Press Books . 23 October 2022.
  41. Web site: Kartalopoulos . Bill . Avant-Garde Comics Histories 1945-1970 . YouTube . New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium.
  42. Web site: Kartalopoulos . Bill . Avant-Garde Comics Histories 1970-1990 . YouTube . New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium . 23 October 2022.