Ivana Filipovic

The pandemic was supposed to have a deadline, most of us agreed on a year. CBA deadlines are like the pandemic:we’re still open for submissions for the theme PLACEHOLDER. The world is paused for an indefinite time. What does this do to our experience of our existence? How do we replace our routines? We’re waiting, and in our wait, we imitate the “real” we hope will soon return. Like placeholders in our own lives.

New issue of the international comics anthology: Where were you born? Where are you from? When these questions are asked really what the person means often is, who are you? In the new volume of CBA we want you to ask yourselves some questions. Who are humanity as a collective consciousness? Where do we come from? All these little specks of life in this big dark space of nothing, and for what?

New issue of the international comics anthology: CBA vol 48 is about cats. Cats and the lifelong friendships we form with our furry friends. Bonds so strong and endearment so deep and ancient, it permeates our lives through time. You find cats in scary stories, in cute stories, they’re a sign of bad luck in some cultures and good luck in others, worshipped as deities or shunned like pests. Remnants of our relationships with the floofy furs are found not just all over the world, but all over the internet as well. Here’s our contribution to the Cat Library of Time.

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?

What do we find in the depths? What lies in the depths in the oceans? What hides in the deep darkness of the corner of your room when you’re about to fall asleep? What thoughts trickle through your mind when looking deeply inwards, what do we find when we look where we can’t see?

Folklore – it’s the stories our parents told us as children as well as a glimpse into another world, of fairies, trolls, and magic. But folklore is more than just stories about bad children who get eaten by witches; it’s our shared fears, hopes and dreams and they often share similar themes across the world. Folk tales have been told by an infinite number of people with equally infinite motives; some to warn, others to encourage and some who just try to make sense of the world around them. In volume 44 of CBA we want to dig deep into the roots of folklore from different cultures and explore what it has to say about ourselves as human beings regardless of nationality.