Editor’s note: In May, Peter Kuper made a presentation on his new book, Drawn to New York PM Press 2013), at The New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, a weekly forum for discussing the tradition and future of text/image work. This report is based on his commentary at that event.

Peter Kuper’s personal connection to New York began in 1977 when he disembarked a bus from his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, ready for a job he was promised at an animation agency. The song playing in his head was Frank Sinatra’s classic, “New York, New York.” The city he beheld was dirty, decaying and dangerous, but he felt he had arrived in heaven.

When the animation job fell through, he pounded the pavement looking for any art-related work he could find, completely engrossed in the city’s architecture.

Ever since, each day has held for him the promise of a thrilling adventure “minus the 20 dollars walking out of the door fee,” Kuper joked. He flipped through a few spreads of the sketchbook diary he regularly carries around with him showing some of the excerpts that are included in this new book. The diversity of the moments observed accommodates his love of experimentation with a variety of drawing instruments. From a multi-colored pencil, collages of ticket stubs and restaurant bills, watercolors, stencils to felt tip pens and ink brushes.

Throughout his talk, Kuper made numerous allusions to the movie industry. “This is the best movie ever!” he exclaims whenever he catches a film set in New York City. He laughingly referred to “real-estate porn;” movies that show impossibly large apartments like most Woody Allen films. When he saw “Rosemary’s Baby” recently, he found himself noting the "classic-six" apartment thinking, "sure you'd have to be room-mates with Satan, but think of the space!"

Whereas New York has always been one of the main backdrops for the movie industry, the everyday experience of the city is much more similar to comics than film. The city randomly organizes its people into isolated static frames/moments, pausing (or not) at traffic lights, bus-stops, and movie lines. Creating a story means contemplating the mysteries of the tissue connecting them. A sequential artist’s question, as Kuper posed in his graphic novel The System (below), asking what might be the element holding together all the different people in a packed subway car and whether it’s strong enough to stop them from disappearing completely from each other’s lives as it screeches to a halt. In his presentation, he further demonstrated this idea of connections with his wordless story One Dollar accompanying it with a jazzy Miles Davis tune playing from his iPhone.

Comics is a medium that is a direct reflection of the musicality, the architecture, and the sense of time that may be perceived as both static and dynamic at one glance. It is clear to see why the city has always been a Mecca of cartooning, but having said that, he allowed, “I consider just surviving for decades in this city as any kind of artist, an achievement in its own right.”

Another unique aspect of the city Kuper touched upon was the way its architecture challenges the definitions of high and low. The city’s population disappears underground and then resurfaces only to disappear again before arriving at the top of a skyscraper. The skyline dips and ducks, the streets are strewn with gaping holes. Everyone has a different destination but the rhythm is unanimous. As crowds pump the city with a continuous stream of traffic, the visual chronicles of the city merge into a single musical continuum.

Kuper talked a lot about nostalgia in an environment that is undergoing constant change. He noted " The city never ceases to inspire in whatever new form it takes, the present is over-laid on the past and becomes something original. This is not a place to be if you don't like change! I think one of the things that has drawn me to New York is the feeling that I'm a visitor arriving for the first time."

Through the eyes of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo, we may learn about a cityscape that once was, and through the eyes of Ben Katchor’s Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer, Kuper finds himself reminiscing about a city that has never existed. This sense of nostalgia provides the crucial emotional connection to the city Kuper has made his home.

Kuper added that the best way he has of feeling at home in New York is to venture away from it and realize how much he genuinely fears being anywhere else. He told us about his most recent out of town travel. He arrived at La Guardia Airport only to find out all flights had been delayed indefinitely on account of the air traffic control budget cuts. As he canceled his flight he thought that nothing would make him happier but the sight of Manhattan’s skyline.

After the events of 9/11 he wished art could do more, ultimately realizing that “creation in the face of destruction was at least some form of action.” In this context Kuper mentioned the importance of alternative media such as WW3  Illustrated as an outlet for personal and political expression when the mainstream venues were unavailable.

Kuper explained his decision in recent years to take on long-term projects and cut back on editorial illustration jobs. He said his political illustrations had a greater relevance during the Bush administration when mainstream magazines such as Time were willing to publish more political and angst-driven illustrations. However, now there seems to be  aneditorial attitude that strong political images are less important and should be toned down, as if “everything is fixed.” Art copyright © Peter Kuper, courtesy the artist.

Peter Kuper has a number of events in the coming weeks for Drawn to New York, World War 3 Illustrated, and The Graphic Canon, Vol. 3: 

Thursday, June 6, 7-9 pm: World War 3 Illustrated artists celebrate the launch of new and upcoming books with a joint reading at Bluestockings. Featured will be Peter Kuper (Drawn To New York), Sabrina Jones (Race To Incarcerate) and Seth Tobocman (War in the Neighborhood). Bluestockings Books, 172 Allen Street, NY, NY. Information.

Saturday, June 8, 10am-11:50 am: World War 3 Illustrated: 33 Years Of Confrontational Comix. Since 1980 World War 3 illustrated has been addressing personal and political ideas using the medium of comics. The magazine has been an historical document of these times from Reagan to Obama as well as international politics. Contributing editors Peter Kuper, Sabrina Jones , Seth Tobocman and Sandy Jimenez will discuss this history and the magazine’s future with visual presentations and Q+A. The Left Forum, Pace University, Room W522, 1 Pace Plaza, NY, NY. Register.

Saturday, June 9, noon-1:50 pm: Political Cartooning. Avant-garde leftist cartoonists like Peter Kuper (“World War 3 Illustrated”), Ted Rall (“Search and Destroy”), and Stephanie McMillan (“Minimum Security”), utilize the cartoon form to spread propaganda designed to shift the discussion, helping the struggle to save the Earth from ecocidal capitalism. The Left Forum, Pace University, Room W522, 1 Pace Plaza, NY, NY. Register.

Monday, June 10, 6-8 pm The Graphic Canon Vol 3 book release and art show. Join artists Sandy Jimenez, Peter Kuper, and Rebecca Migdal as well as Robert Sikoryak, Lauren Weinstein and many more for the opening reception of a show of original art from the book. El Taller Latino Americano, Grady Alexis Gallery, 2710 Broadway (at 104^th Street), 3^rd Floor, NY, NY. Information.

Wednesday, June 13, 7-9 pm: Book Release For Drawn To New York. Desert Island Comics, 540 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn. Join artist PeterKuper for a presentation and discussion of his new book, Drawn To New York (PM Press 2013).

Keren Katz has a tattoo of a helicopter by Peter Kuper above her right knee. She is the illustrating half of The Katz Sisters duo and also the half that is not fictitious. Her latest graphic novel The Night Poetry Class in Room 1001 debuted in April. Check out more her projects here, and more of her books here. This article appeared in a somewhat different form in The Rumpus.