Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/614946
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2015 30 This Week 30 Heroes, caught with their pants down Fresh from launching the first issue of superhero parody comic – The League of Extraordinary Underpants – which he co-created with his wife Moira Zahra, illustrator and MaltaToday cartoonist Mark Scicluna gives TEODOR RELJIC the skinny on this new project, and the challenges of going the self- publishing route In a nutshell, could you tell us what this comic is about? The comic is about an aging su- perhero team called The League of Extraordinary Underpants. The team has been famous for a number of years but their material is getting a bit stale. In this first episode we are taken through the team's story on- and off-set, as we see them filming their latest film, but things soon start going a bit awry. What led you to go for this particu- lar format? And why did you go for it at this particular point in time? We had the characters, then we had a story and we wanted to get it off our chest. A comic seemed to be the most feasible way to do so be- cause it is one of the simplest and quickest ways to tell a story. Unlike films or animation, it doesn't require actors, a film crew, a film set, anima- tors or any other expensive resourc- es. All we needed was pens, paper, a computer, drawing skills and plenty of imagination. Superheroes are an obvious choice of subject for a comic book, but you are obviously taking a more parodic tack to the ever-popular genre. What led you to this stylistic choice? I have been interested in satire and parody every since I started draw- ing, when I first came up with the characters, Moira and I were at the Malta Comic Con and we noticed that most of the artists were drawing superheroes. I actually like superhe- roes but the League was my remedy for the overdose of superheroes that we were seeing at the time and that we still experience now. I convinced Moira to write a story for my characters, but her dislike for superheroes and the parodic nature of the characters resulted in some sort of indie/superhero mashup rather than a classic su- perhero story. What are some of the challeng- es of self-publishing in this way? Getting the work done, especially when you're a freelancer, is actually quite challenging because it is temp- ing to put the project aside and work on projects that will actually pay. Self-publishing means having no guarantee whatsoever that you will sell any of the comics. Distribution is also a problem so we would really like to thank the Malta Comic Con for hosting the event, otherwise sell- ing a self-published comic would be much harder. Promotion is also a challenge. Hav- ing a good quality comic is great but promoting it is equally important and this requires a lot of planning and work at a time when an artist is usually overtired from finishing a project. We like to dedicate at least a few weeks to promotion. What's your long-term plan for this comic? We have the story of the League all planned out so we aim on having the whole story published as a comic eventually. Since the response for the first issue has been fantastic, this has encouraged us to start working on the second issue. For more information, log on to: http://www.markscicluna.com/ Unchaining the Ahead of a conference aiming to highlight and celebrate the works of Maltese sculptor Josef Kalleya – also within the remit of a discussion of Rodin – Mdina Biennale artistic director and lecturer in History of Art, Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about the need to look at Kalleya's works within a global artistic context Why was Rodin a starting point for this conference? Rodin was and still is a tower- ing giant. He defined and deter- mined the whole development of sculptural art throughout the 20th century. His radical effect on Brancusi, Bourdelle, Sciorti- no, Apap, Moore is inestimable and cannot be 'mathematically' gauged. Yet he retained a superb fundamental historical link, a direct one I might add, with pre- vious masters, including with Michelangelo. He enslaved all: he success- fully 'unchained' Prometheus, challenged the skies and Hades. At the same time, for quite different reasons, he pro- voked an anti- m o v e m e n t : a different p h i l o s o p h y of sculp- tural art, a d i f f e r e n t a e s t h e t i c w h i c h u s h e r e d a radical departure from his artistic monopoly. And here we find, amongst others, Kalleya. What do you hope the Josef Ka- lleya dimension will bring to the discussion? As a scholar studying and reading art, I have to analyse the Malta scene within an interna- tional context with all its inte- gral complexities and contradic- tions. It is really tiring to see that Maltese scholarship on modern art is still anchored within a dangerous exclusive parameter. We have to study and analyse all without drawing restrictive lines. The discussion at this conference will be juxtapos- ing several inter- national artists who struggled with the gen- ius strength of Rodin, p a r t i c u - larly Me- dardo Ros- so, Hans J o s e p h s o h n and others. I am very sure that this is the challenged the skies and At the same time, for quite different reasons, he pro- voked an anti- m o v e m e n t : a different p h i l o s o p h y of sculp- from his lines. The discussion at this conference will be juxtapos- ing several inter- national artists who struggled with the gen- ius strength J o s e p h s o h n and others. I am very sure that this is the Josef Kalleya, Doors for the M.U.S.E.U.M Chapel, photomontage Josef Kalleya, Protezzjoni and this requires a lot of planning Mark Scicluna • Photo by Ray Attard Cikka (Pia Zammit) and Bex (Jo Caruana) during a previous edition of the Comedy Knights stage show • Photo by Rebecca Galea Urpani