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.

Bruce Guthrie's Baltimore Comic-Con photos

Richard Thompson and 'Cul de Sac' website manager Chris Sparks.

Bruce Guthrie has put his Baltimore Comic-Con photos online, in spite of an illegal towing of his car. Bruce is a long-time friend of Richard Thompson, and a maniac photographer who puts his material online through essentially a Creative Commons, attribution, non-commercial use license. Be sure to check out this crazy Little Nemo commission that Jeremy Bastian did.

MD -- Baltimore Comic-Con (2010) -- Day 2 (of 2) -- Miscellaneous (Partially reviewed)

MD -- Baltimore Comic-Con (2010) -- Day 2 (of 2) -- Artists
Artists in sequence: Marv Wolfman, Jim Shooter, Jim Calafiore, Barry Kitson, Jerry Robinson, Paul Pope, Howard Chaykin, Tom Raney, Jim Starlin, Ron Marz. Brian Pulido, Bob McLeod, Antonio Clark, Brad Samuelson, ???, Jose Garcia-Lopez, Matt Wagner, John K. Snyder III, Walter Simonson, Louise Simonson,... (Partially reviewed)

MD -- Baltimore Comic-Con (2010) -- Day 2 (of 2) -- Greg LaRocque and friends (Partially reviewed)

MD -- Baltimore Comic-Con (2010) -- Day 2 (of 2) -- Richard Thompson and friends (Partially reviewed)

MD -- Baltimore Comic-Con (2010) -- Day 1 (of 2) -- Miscellaneous (Partially reviewed)

MD -- Baltimore Comic-Con (2010) -- Day 1 (of 2) -- Artists
Artists in sequence: Dennis O'Neil, Jerry Robinson, Matt Wagner, John Snyder III, Marv Wolfman, Jim Shooter, Michael Golden, Joe Jusko, Mark Wheatley, Denis Kitchen, Steve Conley, Tim Truman, Todd McFarlane, Timothy Lantz, Bryan Brown, Terry Moore, Bill Tucci, Walt Simonson, Paul Pope, Don Rosa, Sergio... (Partially reviewed)


MD -- Baltimore Comic-Con (2010) -- Day 1 (of 2) -- Greg LaRocque and friends
Artists here: Greg LaRocque, Julie (Ms Marvel), and Cesar Castillo Jr. (Partially reviewed)

MD -- Baltimore Comic-Con (2010) -- Day 1 (of 2) -- Richard Thompson and friends
Artists: Richard Thompson and Shannon Gallant. (Partially reviewed)

Baltimore Comic-Con on Sunday

I'm a bit tired so here's some new pictures.

A few of interest:


Shannon Gallant and his Valkyrie sketch.


Don Rosa sketching Uncle Scrooge.


Frank Cho's painting of Mara Herning as Zatanna, being air-dried by Mara before auctioning.


Chris Sparks, Sergio Aragones and Richard Thompson share a laugh


Frederick, MD's Stephen Blickenstaff and his monsters.

Publisher's Weekly calls Cul de Sac "A sublime piece of work"

It's true - right here -

Comics Review: 8/23/2010
by PW Staff
Aug 23, 2010

Cul de Sac and Act-I-Vate up for Harvey Awards

The Harvey Awards have 2 local candidates - Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for best syndicated strip and Act-I-Vate featuring local writer Jim Dougan for best anthology.

Wondermark's David Malki likes Cul de Sac too

Richard's fan club is growing today, after a Facebook post by Chris "Crogan's Vengeance" Schweizer and now David "Wondermark" Malki's blogging about it. You have to love Malki's opinion "Despite running in newspapers, this is a great comic strip."

Perhaps coincidentally, Richard sat next to both of them at HeroesCon and they may have been infected by his meme.

Also, I read all three of these cartoonists regularly and like their works.

Cul de Sac favored by comics historian Craig Yoe

Comics historian Craig Yoe says, "There is some hope [for comic strips], with Patrick McDonnell’s “Mutts” and Richard Thompson’s “Cul de Sac” and a couple of others. We need more strips like that!"

The whole interview with pictures is at Print's new blog -

Craig Yoe Talks ICON, Krazy Kat, and Whether Today’s Cartoonists Ever Get Laid, by Michael Dooley, Imprint blog July 7 2010.

Richard Thompson interview by Tom Spurgeon online now

Tom Spurgeon interviewed Richard Thompson at Heroes Con last month, and has transcribed the interview - CR Sunday Interview: Richard Thompson (From Heroes Con 2010), July 4, 2010. Tom's a former editor of the Comics Journal and one of the more knowledgeable people who write about comics. I read his Comics Reporter every day and you should too.

Cul de Sac picks up Times Leader

Joe Butkiewicz justifies his comics pages changes in Change can be good, and also funny , June 28 2010, but he's ok with us because he's added Cul de Sac.

American's Next Great Cartoonist top 10 posted, and Joe Sutliff is among them

The Post's American's Next Great Cartoonist contest top 10 finalists is posted, and NOVA's own Joe Sutliff is among them. I interviewed Joe for the City Paper recently.

The main page is here and the top 10 page is here.

Gag cartoonists Bob Erskine and Thomas Mullany, as well as Olivia Walch are also from this area, and Richard Thompson likes Dave Mitchell's strip.

Heroes Con 2010 pictures continued

More photos from Heroes Con 2010.


Richard Thompson IS ready for business.



Ben Towle namechecked me - we had a nice conversation in the Westin bar.


Richard Thompson, Cul de Sac webmonkey Chris Sparks and Shannon Gallant.


The great Bernie Wrightson. I actually bought a piece of art from him. I never thought I'd own a Wrightson page. BTW, Joel, he says hello.


Comics cover god Brian Bolland.

More of my pictures are online here.

Finally, Our Man Thompson in Joe Lambert's photo.

Heroes Con 2010 pictures

Evan Dorkin's perhaps ashamed to be caught buying a mainstream comic strip book from Richard Thompson.


After talking about the Thomas Boatwright painting of Lamont Cranston I bought, Jim Amash drew this Shadow sketch for me.


Richard Thompson is a fan of Kate Beaton.


Raina Telgemeier and her fine Smile.


And then there's Dazzler.

More pictures online here. Labels to follow.

Cul de Sac like "an anchor" says Comic Reporter readers

Tom Spurgeon often asks a Friday question of readers of his excellent The Comics Reporter blog (the only one I read 'cover to cover' although Journalista is a close second), and this past week he asked which five comic strips should be used to anchor a comic strip section. Many answered 'Cul de Sac' although there was a surprise 'Barney and Clyde' vote - a surprise since the strip didn't start until 3 days after the poll.

Heroes Con pic of 3 cartoonists, 1 professor and 2 fanboy stalkers.

Dinner at Heroes Con. Left to right: Richard "Cul de Sac" Thompson, Mike "ComicsDC" Rhode, Shannon "G.I. Joe Gallant, Craig "Appalachian State" Fischer, Chris "Crogan's Vengeance" Schweizer and Chris "Cul de Sac webmaster" Sparks. Sparks and I are the fanboy stalkers because Fischer gets paid to do this stuff. The picture is Sparks' and we all had to really overtip the waitress by the time he was done asking her to take it.

ComicsDC goes to Heroes Con; so does Thompson and Gallant

...but you shouldn't care about that. What you should care about is that crack local cartoonists Shannon "GI Joe" Gallant and Richard "Cul de Sac" Thompson will be appearing in Charlotte, NC at Heroes Con for three days only! No rain checks!

Cavna on Reuben awards

Michael Cavna's got the story of who actually won what award here -'Bizarro' creator Dan Piraro named Cartoonist of the Year at Reuben Awards
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 31, 2010; C04

Heroes Con, Or Stuck Inside of Charlotte with the Cul de Sac Blues Again

Richard and I will be motoring down to Heroes Con next Thursday - I think this is pretty much a go since the schedule posted today says:

June 5 Saturday

3.00 PM

IN CONVERSATION | Richard Thompson
Room 206
Reuben Award -nominated Richard Thompson is widely hailed as one of the most talented cartoonists working today. From his strip Cul de Sac to his Richard's Poor Almanac humor strip to his illustrations for the New Yorker, the Washington Post, and more, he's a fascinating creator. Tom Spurgeon sits down to talk with Richard in this informal conversation.

Presumably I'll be the table monkey and miss it again.

Shannon "G.I. Joe" Gallant is also going down from DC. My buddy Craig Fischer's doing his thing again too.