Oskar Aspman – författare

First volume with comics by the new editorial crew! New design! New paper stock! New logos! New hope! This is a glimpse of an exciting future. We live in interesting times. See how we deal with it through our comics. Please do not be afraid. CBA (formerly known as C'est Bon Anthology) contains avant-garde comics from all over the world. What we’re looking for in the selection is comics with a will to experiment and a passion for storytelling, a mix of established artists and new talent, with unique creative voices and stories that matter.

CBA is an international comics anthology for experimental storytelling. The theme of this volume is Worst Case Scenario: 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?

Science and fiction rule our lives. The laws of physics seem set in stone while the laws of man are arbitrary mirrors of the morality of the times. Gods and spirits are creations of the mind but also the explanation when comprehension fails. What lies beyond our understanding? Is it more science or something else? What dark forces lurk outside our field of vision? What machineries of death and destruction are we yet to invent in the name of money (which used to be metal and paper but is now to a great extent nothing but speculation and expectations)? What (or who) else meet in the intersection between science fiction and real science? What came first? The egg or the hatching machine?

New issue of the international comics anthology CBA: Have you ever had to just stop what you’re doing and go: “Wait, is this a dream?” When the unknown starts bleeding into reality and you are forced to question your sanity, if just a little bit. You know the sort of thing that happens in dreams that makes you sure it’s just a dream? How do you cope when it happens in the waking world?

Stories are a way to escape reality, but also a way to communicate and to help us understand the world around us. These are stories on different subjects, told with different voices in different ways by 13 creators from 8 countries. This volume of CBA has no theme, it’s just stories.

Liminal space, a concept that deconstructs the notion of fixed boundaries and absolute realities. It is a space that challenges the dualities of self and other, inside and outside, past and future. A bridge to cross, a door to open. A place to question and transcend. Liminality has always been a part of humanity. Maybe not as a state of transition but rather as a state of constant becoming. It is a space that disrupts the linearity of time and questions the stability of identity. That area of blurred boundaries is very much an integral part of the creative process for us as humans and artists. A realm of ambiguity. A pause in time, a shift in state. A realm of potentiality. Where form and meaning await. Here (or in there) we can push the boundaries of the unexpected. With comics, the idea of the liminal space can be used to craft stories and narratives that exist between different realms of reality.

In C'est Bon Anthology vol. 11 - Variations, Sofia Falkenhem, Martin Flink, and Jamil Mani interpret each others' previous CBA contributions in a threesome of playful trolls (THE BOY), urban totem animals (DUSK), and personal purgatory (ROOM). Allan Haverholm counterpoints Mattias Elftorp's short story VIOLENCE with SEX, and Oskar Aspman remixes Niklas Asker's critically acclaimed SECOND THOUGHTS as SCND THGHTS. In total, volume 11 features work by Oskar Aspman (SE), Mattias Elftorp (SE), Sofia Falkenhem (SE), Martin Flink (DK), Allan Haverholm (DK), Susanne Johansson (SE) and Jamil Mani (SE). The best short stories by some of the most talented graphic artists out there.

This volume of C'est Bon Anthology explores the Good, the Bad, and the Putrid. An Expiration Date is the point dividing a period of time in "before" and "after". And the after rarely smells very good. The graphic short stories in C'est Bon Anthology vol. 12 Expiration Date, all deal with things that expire, whether it be bodily flesh, or emotions that change and turn sour. Although we like to think that C'est Bon Anthology ages like fine wine, you should definitely read this issue while it's fresh. Volume 12 features Mari Ahokoivu (FI), Oskar Aspman (SE), Ole Comoll (DK), Davide Catania (IT), Carolin Hansson (SE), Victor Kerlow (US), Sarah Kläpp (SE) and Jess Smart Smiley (US). Fine, fine narrative art, by the best professionals anywhere.

10 years of C’est Bon, 10 years of broadening the horizons of what comics can be, 10 years of comics as art, of art as comics. We celebrate this with return appearances of some of the great artists who have been in the anthology before and a CBQ&A with one of the founding members, Oskar Aspman.