NPR on Ghost River and Jake the Fake

How A Graphic Novel Resurrected A Forgotten Chapter In American History [Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga by Lee Francis IV and Weshoyot Alvitr]

Jess Kung
NPR's Code Switch February 26, 2020 
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/02/26/806124981/how-a-graphic-novel-resurrected-a-forgotten-chapter-in-american-history 


Not Too Rude, Not Too Tame, 'Jake The Fake' Is A Just-Right Read [Keith Knight]. 
Juanita Giles
NPR February 21, 2020

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/21/807861511/not-too-rude-not-too-tame-jake-the-fake-is-a-just-right-read

Nancy to replace Knight Life in Sunday Post

Keith Knight has cancelled his daily strip, The Knight Life, in favor of working on a television adaptation of his life. The last strip, which only ran on Sunday in the Post, had a header saying the Post would replace it with Nancy.

Knight was actually in the area this past weekend, attending SPX. Unfortunately I didn't see the news in time to ask him about it. The strip was a favorite of mine, and I was annoyed that the Post didn't run it daily.

A Big Trip to the Small Press Expo: A Guest Post by Charles Brubaker

John Kovaleski and Charles Brubaker

by Charles Brubaker

One thing that became apparent to me as I became serious about cartooning is that vending in conventions is very important. Not only are comic conventions the best way to network with other comics professionals, but also are a good way of gaining new readers as well.

Figuring out which cons work best for me is a case of trial and error. Even if I focus on cons that are friendly to indie comics, it's still a gamble. I tried everything from a big ones like Baltimore Comic Con to smaller ones like SPACE in Columbus. However, one con I really wanted to go to was Small Press Expo (SPX), which was held this year on September 16 and 17.

Long regarded as the ultimate indie comic convention in the US, I was very curious about what it's like. Getting a booth there wasn't easy, as SPX gets thousands of application every year, while only being able to take a small number (I believe that nearly 600 people exhibited this year), so they choose who gets to have a table by using a raffle system.

To say it took me a while to get a space there is an understatement. In fact, it took me 2 years until luck shined on me. SPX was the fifth con I went to in 2017 (including a free table space I got at a children's book festival in my local library). I normally try to reserve my number of conventions to three due to cost factor, but I decided to take the SPX offer because, well, it took me years to finally get an opportunity.

I would normally fly to conventions, but after several airplane trips and going through TSA, I decided to drive to Bethesda, Maryland with my dad. It was a long trip from western Tennessee; it took two days, with a stop in Huntington, West Virginia.

I arrived with several boxes, containing paperbacks of my "Ask a Cat"  and "The Fuzzy Princess" comics, plus left-over minis and floppies from my other cons. Both of my on-going comics feature cats as leading characters. So naturally, the SPX people saw fit to put me in booth K-9 (har har), where I shared space with Lucy Bellwood, who traveled a lot further than I did, coming from Oregon. I don't know if the SPX people gave me that table number on purpose, but I'd like to think they did. It would fit with their sense of humor.

In previous cons, I would normally only sell floppies and mini-comics. I had my "Fuzzy Princess" stories printed in individual standard-sized issues, and minis collecting "Ask a Cat" strips. However for SPX, I had paperback books, having drawn enough material for both comics. I was worried that I would have harder time selling paperback books over the comparatively cheaper minis, but the opposite was the case. I ended up selling far more paperbacks than minis and floppies. As Lucy told me, "people like books with spines." I especially sold a lot of "The Fuzzy Princess Vol. 1," which is more story-oriented. Graphic novels are popular there, it seems.

While I still plan to continue making mini-comics, since they're easy to make, and also because they make great perks for my Patreon, I've been thinking of phasing out my floppies because of the cost. The cost of printing full-color comic books is about the same as printing up a 150-page black and white paperback book, and people would rather pay for $10 paperbacks with tons of content, even in black and white, over a 30-page color comic books that cost $5.

Of course, with nearly 600 people vending, and over a thousand or so people attending, you are bound to run into familiar faces. Pretty much everyone I worked for was there, but I was meeting them in person for the first time. These include Chris Duffy (editor for SpongeBob Comics), Ryan Flanders (art director for MAD Magazine), and Shena Wolf (editor at Andrews McMeel). Other familiar faces included comic creators. It was nice seeing Keith Knight again; the last time I saw him was over 10 years ago, when I was still in high school. Among people who were near my booth were Sponge Bob-contributor Joey Weiser (Mermin), whom I already met a year before at FLUKE in Athens, GA, Drew Weing, who draws "The Creepy Casefiles of Margo Maloo", and Steve Conley, who draws "The Middle Age" for GoComics. I also ran into John Kovaleski, who drew one of my favorite comic strips, "Bo Nanas", years ago. I had my online readers come visit me, which is always a pleasant experience (and a special mention to Mike Rhode, who suggested I write this post when I saw him).

The second day was a lot slower, selling fewer books, so I took the opportunity to walk around the con more. The thing about cons this big is that there will be creators you admire, but had no idea they were going to be here. That was the case with KC Green and Meredith Gran. It's impossible to keep track of everyone you know who's going to be here.

In spite of the slow second day, my overall experience was very good. It was a jam-packed event, from seeing everyone who is enthusiastic about comics, to the lively Ignatz Awards ceremony, and the legendary chocolate fountain. Here's hoping I can go back in 2018.

Charles Brubaker is a cartoonist based in Martin, TN. He draws Ask a Cat (http://www.gocomics.com/ask-a-cat) and The Fuzzy Princess (http://fuzzy-princess.com/), and also contributes to SpongeBob Comics and MAD Magazine. His blog is http://bakertoons.tumblr.com/

Catching up with Keith Knight before SPX

by Mike Rhode

Michael Cavna, Keith Knight and Lalo Alcaraz

Keith Knight is one of my favorite cartoonists and one of the hardest working men in comics. His 7-day strip Knight Life appears in the Washington Post (only on Sundays, boo!). He does another panel each week called (Th)ink). And his first 1-page multi-panel, The K Chronicles, is still running. You can see them all at http://www.kchronicles.com/

Keith was in town last weekend for the National Book Festival (link to my pictures) and we started chatting until he had to go on stage. He's had a lot of changes in his life in the past year or so. First read my 2011 interview with Keith.

MR: Why did you move to North Carolina from California? How's that working out? 

KK: One of my first comic strip slideshows was in the Research Triangle of North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill)..I had such a great time and really enjoyed the area..so it was always in the back of my mind...Then my mom moved down to South Carolina from Boston, so there's that...  Affordability was also a huge factor.  The boys have a yard to run in...

MR: What's the story behind your NAACP award?

K: I was recognized, along with a number of other activists, for my cartoon slideshow about police brutality.  It's not really an award, just recognition.

MR: You're taking on the serious topic of police violence against black people in more ways than just drawing a cartoon. Can you tell us about that, and why you feel the need to do so?

 
KK: I felt like a slideshow of 20 years of my police brutality cartoons would be a good way to engage audiences to ask why these incidents continue unabated.  I was really frustrated drawing yet another cartoon after Ferguson. I used to say to myself, "I hope this is the last time I have to draw one of these." Clearly, it never is.

And this Shaun King quote really resonated with me: "LISTEN: If you ever wondered what you would do if you were alive in the Civil Rights Movement, NOW IS THE TIME to find out." 

MR: Your children are bi-racial, you live in a progressive part of NC, and you've chosen to home-school them. Why?

KK:  A number of reasons, but the biggest being that we felt it was a doable. The amount of resources the Research Triangle offers to secular folks who decide to home-school is incredible.  Classes for home-schoolers are held at libraries, the Y,  the university..There's even a homeschooling store near our place.

Keith's sign language interpreter kept cracking up.

MR: You've told me that your business model has been changing from sales of books to sales of prints, and that you're doing better at art shows than you do at comic cons. Can you expand on that?

KK: Comic book conventions give folks a chance to get their fantasy on, so I can understand how they don't want to be confronted with the ugly reality of some of the stuff I do.  To balance things, I've been doing comics celebrating some of the people I've looked up to who have recently passed.  Folks like Julian Bond, Maya Angelou, and Nelson Mandela. I do their portraits, along with some of their quotes.  They go over really well in non-comic book settings.  Sometimes it's better being the one cartoonist at an art show, than one of 500  at a comic book convention.

MR: Keith returns to DC next weekend for the Small Press Expo. I can't recommend his work highly enough.

Meet a Visiting SPX Cartoonist: A Chat With Keith Knight

 by Mike Rhode on Sep. 1, 2011

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/visual-arts/2011/09/01/meet-a-visiting-cartoonist-a-chat-with-keith-knight/

 

The first of the SPX-specific interviews launches...

Bruce Guthrie's Small Press Expo photos

Bruce has two pages of pictures up - one from panels and one from the floor. When you go to one of his pages, the little pencil icon under the picture lets you create a caption for the image. Some caption fairies would be helpful, because Bruce doesn't do that - he's too busy taking more pictures.

That's is the great New Zealand expat Roger Langridge being interviewed.

And this is Kate Beaton and Julia Wertz on Dustin Harbin's panel blowing attendance for my counter-programmed one out of the water.



But we looked gooood.


Me, Richard Thompson, Marguerite Dabaie and Keith Knight.

Oooh, and Spurgeon linked to a video of Dean Haspiel's shirtless SPX moment.

And Dirk Deppey pointed out Brian Heater's con report. I love the Daily Cross Hatch and have never managed to run into Brian at the show.

Brave New Comic Strips panel at SPX audio is online

I had a good time doing this, and I think everyone was happy with it, so here's my recording for those who couldn't make it.

Brave New Comic Strips (September 12, 2010)


Small Press Expo panel from September 12, 2010.

The newspaper industry, long the home of American comics first popular dedicated format, faces an existential crisis presented by the emergence and proliferation of digital media. Against all odds, artists interested in the daily strip format continue to produce work with an eye for print. Mike Rhode will discuss the present and the future of the newspaper comic strip with Marguerite Dabaie, Keith Knight, and Richard Thompson.

A couple of SPX links and a Politics and Prose set

Greg McElhatton took some nice photos and has them online now.

Bruce Guthrie thinks his will be online tomorrow, but in the meantime has 2 sets (set 1, set 2) of pictures from Richard Thompson and Keith Knight's appearances at Politics and Prose bookstore.


Animator Marc Crisafulli, Politics & Prose's Adam Waterreus, SPX's Warren Bernard, Keith Knight, Politics & Prose's Mike G, Richard Thompson and Mike Rhode.

And here's my friend, and crack cartoonist, Ben Towle on his experiences. I talked to him on Saturday night, around the time that last picture was being taken and followed up on his recs on Sunday.

Off to SPX and Intervention

I'll be hanging around SPX until around 4 today, and then moving over to Intervention. Tomorrow I'll be at SPX and running a panel with Richard Thompson, Keith Knight and Marguerite Dabaie.

Tonight! Keith Knight and Richard Thompson duet

They're at Politics and Prose bookstore on Conn Ave, NW in the District -

Thursday September 9
Richard Thompson & Keith Knight
7 p.m. In conjunction with the Small Press Expo (September 11-12 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center), we're delighted to host two artists who excel at contemplating the minutiae of everyday life and making it hilarious. Thompson's strip is focused on a loveable family in a suburban development, while Knight's is told through the eyes of a city dweller.

and the following evening-

Friday September 10
James Sturm - Market Day
8 p.m. Co-founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies, Sturm has set this beautifully crafted historical fiction in the Eastern European countryside of the 1900s. His day in the life of Mendleman, a carpet peddler, uses spare narrative and finely-honed images to achieve a powerful emotional resonance.

Sept 9: One Night Only! Richard Thompson + Keith Knight LIVE

They're at Politics and Prose bookstore on Conn Ave, NW in the District -

Thursday September 9
Richard Thompson & Keith Knight
7 p.m. In conjunction with the Small Press Expo (September 11-12 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center), we're delighted to host two artists who excel at contemplating the minutiae of everyday life and making it hilarious. Thompson's strip is focused on a loveable family in a suburban development, while Knight's is told through the eyes of a city dweller.

and the following evening-

Friday September 10
James Sturm - Market Day
8 p.m. Co-founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies, Sturm has set this beautifully crafted historical fiction in the Eastern European countryside of the 1900s. His day in the life of Mendleman, a carpet peddler, uses spare narrative and finely-honed images to achieve a powerful emotional resonance.

Comic Riffs interviews Keith Knight and Dan DiDio

COMIC-CON 2010: Keith Knight talks new books, Nappy Hours & why he won't be on an Angry Black Panel
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog July 22, 2010


COMIC-CON 2010: DC's DAN DiDIO talks Superman, Wonder Woman & why he loves fan interaction
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog July 22, 2010

Is it Live? Or is it Richard Thompson?

Tom Racine recorded one of the panels Our Man Thompson was on at San Diego - and it's on his Tall Tale Radio site (which has lots of other interviews on it). Return with us to the thrilling days of yestermonth as Thompson, Stephan Pastis and Keith Knight ride again!

Weldon, Cavna on San Diego Comic-Con

"Comic-Con: The Post-Mortem," by Glen Weldon, National Public Radio's Monkey See blog July 29, 2009.

Michael Cavna had a few quotes from 3 of my favorite cartoonists, including Our Man Thompson. The other two are Keith Knight and Stephan Pastis.

Knight Life hits the Sunday Post

Comic Riffs has the story of how it's replacing Opus.

SPX political cartoonists appearances

“Outside Looking In: Alternative Political Cartooning in 2008” Announces Guests Jen Sorensen, Keith Knight and Nate Beeler

For Immediate Release
Contact: Warren Bernard


Phone: 301-537-4615

E-Mail:webernard@mindspring.com

Bethesda, Maryland; September 9, 2008 - The Small Press Expo (SPX), the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comic books, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, is proud to announce Jen Sorensen, Keith Knight and Nate Beeler as guests for the SPX 2008 special event, “Outside Looking In: Alternative Political Cartooning in 2008”.

Jen, Keith and Nate join the prestigious and street cred ready talents of Tom Tomorrow (Saturday, October 4 only), Lloyd Dangle, Ruben Bolling, Matt Wuerker and Ted Rall for a special symposium on political cartooning in this most political of election years.

Jen Sorensen (“Slowpoke”) - http://www.slowpokecomics.com – Jen is now the political cartoonist for The Village Voice, as well as being syndicated nationally and is (unfortunately) one of the few women political cartoonists. She will be at SPX to sign her latest book, One Nation, Oh My God.

Keith Knight (“The K Chronicles”, “(th)ink”) - http://www.kchronicles.com/ - Keith Knight is an the creator of the syndicated daily and Sunday strip “The Knight Life”. His latest books are The Complete K Chronicles from Dark Horse books and his self published I Left My Arse In San Francisco. He draws regularly for Mad Magazine and ESPN the Magazine

Nate Beeler – http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/NateBeelerToons - Nate is the syndicated political cartoonist from The Washington Examiner. He won the John Locher Memorial Award as The Best College Political Cartoonist and will be making his first appearance at SPX.

Be sure to stop by the Cartoonists With Attitude booth at SPX, where many of the announced political cartoonists will be available to sign books and pontificate on the latest news from this historic election year.

The events surrounding “Outside Looking In: Alternative Political Cartooning in 2008” is included with the SPX admission fee of $8 for a single day and $15 for both days.

BASH! Magazine #2..."featuring new stories from D.C. artists in your monthly comic alternative"

I noticed issue #2 of BASH! Magazine was on the stands today at the Vienna Metro station (though not in the kiosk at Gallery Place yet!). Says the cover, "This month in Bash Magazine read about the strange fates awaiting those who dare take fake vacations, walk obsure forest paths, order frozen lobster, travel to Cuba, or ride the bus!" It truly is a cornucopia of variety and strangeness. From your political-leaning cartoons by the likes of Keith Knight and Jen Sorensen to the illustrated poetry of John Dimes.

For your edification, the Table of Contents:

Something Peculiar by John Dimes
As I Wait by Theo Ellsworth
Something Happens by Thomas K. Dye
Limbs of the Megalith by Eamon Espey
Onionhead by Bryan Stone
K Chronicles by Keith Knight
One Cannot Travel Where There are Not Roads by Morgan Pielli
Slow Wave by Jesse Rekaw and Susan Ortiz
Cuba Libre by Dan Archer
Tiny Sepuku by Ken Cursoe
slowpoke by Jen Sorensen
Animal Stew by Matt Dembicki

All that, and free to boot!

Complete K Chronicles gets A- from Post

The Source section had a little bit on Keith Knight's Complete K Chronicles book in which Evan Narcisse gave it an A- grade.

Keith Knight on Post chat last week

Keith Knight did a Washington Post chat last Friday. I missed this as I was deep in the Charlotte Convention Center when it happened, but Ephemerist blogger Wim Lockefeer let me know about it. Check out Wim's blog too - he finds really cool stuff, and he's in Belgium so a lot of it is new to me.

Argyle Sweater selected by Post?

In Sunday's paper, The Knight Life was dropped in favor of The Argyle Sweater - production mixup, or early preview of the Post's decision on the tryout comics? Or was Sunday's strip, with a mention of homelessness, just too insensitive for them?