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.

My pictures of the 2010 Herblock Award

Matt Wuerker making his acceptance speech.


George Stevens Jr. speaking about his Herblock film while Frank Swoboda looks on.


Richard Thompson and Rob Rogers.


Michael Cavna and Kevin Rechin.


Nick G's friend from Greece and Richard Thompson.


Kevin Rechin, Nick's friend from Greece and the back of Nick's head.


Nick Galifianakis with his friend from Greece and Richard Thompson (in the red tie) in the background.


Matt Wuerker's contemplating the uses to which the award may be put.


Everyone wants a picture of Matt with his award.


Richard Thompson - not ALL of those drinks were his.


Kevin Rechin's STILL contemplating the award.


Kevin Rechin's now got it all - the award, the girl, the cheesy grin. It's better not to ask questions.

Richard Thompson interview on David-Wasting-Paper blog this week

Richard Thompson - Cartoonist Survey #125, May 17, 2010.

Degas? Really?

Richard Thompson interview due on David-Wasting-Paper blog this week

It should be number 125 here.

Our Man Thompson's new website

Richard Thompson unveils his new website, a fine job courtesy of Chris Sparks...

...although he's getting away from being OUR Man Thompson, sob.

...although apparently I'm driving him to HeroesCon on June 4th - not that we've talked about it lately.

Post launches cartoon contest - updated

America's Next Great Cartoonist Contest. Enter now. Chance to win a one-month stint in the Washington Post Style section. Work for the man for free. No purchase necessary.

Our Man Thompson, who got paid for his Post Style cartoon appearances, is one of the judges, as is Garry "Greatest cartoonist of the 4th quarter of the 20th century" Trudeau, the Post's Gene Weingarten the latest person to break onto their comics page, and Tom "that darn" Toles as well as Stephan Pastis and Jerry Scott. Cavna's blog post on it is here and be sure to read the comments about legal concerns being raised.

I'm feeling slightly less cranky as I update this, so I will say it's a good opportunity for someone to break out of the syndication pack.

Richard Thompson youtube interviews direct links

From Chris Sparks' ears to yours -

Richard Thompson and before Cul de Sac audio interview part 1
March 31 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q39HC7EtRAA

Richard Thompson & Cul de Sac audio interview Part 2
April 1 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJxH-_a3o7w

jeditrue — April 01, 2010 — Part two explores the early years of Cul de sac, web comics and his editor.

Richard Thompson chats about Bill Watterson and deadlines part 3
jeditrue — April 02, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_GOTmhlc18

Richard Thompson chats about Bill Watterson writing the foreword to his first Cul de Sac collection and him dealing with deadlines and how easy ideas come to him.

Richard Thompson discusses Alice and Petey audio interview part 4
— April 03, 2010 —
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-4y2xhYU9k

Richard goes into detail about the origins of Alice and Petey from Cul de Sac!

Richard Thompson discussing the Cul de Sac family and friends audio interview part 5
April 3 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtHSrFRafS4

Richard Thompson discussing more of the Cul de Sac gang part 6
April 4 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWKbtWHifEo

Richard Thompson on having Parkinsons disease and the future of Cul deSac ...part 7
From: jeditrue | April 04, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=903XlJk3yPA

In the last part of this long but entertaining interview Richard is talking about
Parkinsons and his plans for Cul de Sac. I hope you have enjoyed the interview. There will be more art drawing videos and a shorter interview this summer.

Cul de Sac to conquer world soon

Having abandoned his plan to conquer the Washington Post by single-handedly illustrating every section, Our Man Thompson has moved on to greener, or at least moving, pastures. According to his blog, three new Cul de Sac animations are out as is a 7-part interview on Youtube.

No wonder he won't answer my phone calls...

New map of Cul de Sac will let YOU visit Alice

Richard's got a blogpost up with a nice watercolor of Cul de Sac land, which if you squint, vaguely resembles Washington, DC. Squint harder.

How to draw Cul de Sac video

Richard's got a blog post up linking to a Youtube video where he draws Alice from Cul de Sac. This is only sped up about 1.5x - the guy's an absolute menace to be standing next to, as he draws and his arms flail around and that razor-sharp pen nib comes within millimeters of you...

R.C. Harvey on the Reuben, syndication, and by extension, Cul de Sac

Bob Harvey talks about what it takes to win the National Cartoonist Society's Rueben Award, which Our Man Thompson is up for this year. Harvey gets his opinion of the strip in too - "Thompson’s quirky stylistic mannerism is a good part of his strip’s charm, which is considerable. I like his work, both art and comedy, a great deal; some say his strip is the new Calvin and Hobbes, and while it embodies an active imagination as a vital part of childhood, I wouldn’t go so far as to say Thompson is the new Watterson. Thompson’s comedy is different; ditto his take on childhood."

Comic Riffs' Michael Cavna interviewed at Tall Tales Radio

Episode 77 – Michael Cavna, "Comic Riffs"

By Tom Racine on March 8th, 2010
http://talltalefeatures.com/2010/03/08/episode-77-michael-cavna-comic-riffs/

Thanks to Our Man Thompson for the tip - he's been on the show too.

Richard Thompson is up for the Reuben and we forgot to mention it

Richard Thompson is up for the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award, which is the big enchilada. He told me before he was fleeing town recently and I stupidly forgot to scoop my peers and post something about it here. Now I'm sure it's spread all over Facebook already.

We're rooting for you, Richard!

Obscure Richard Thompson advertising art

Well, it was obscure Richard Thompson advertising art until he posted it on his website. Now it's just cool.

Check out today's Cul de Sac

Check out today's Cul de Sac. Cartoonist have been saving themselves some effort on redrawing similar figures, at least since photocopiers became common, and certainly today with the prevalence of scanners. But not our Richard - note how Alice and Petey are slightly different in every drawing - and then enjoy that madcap 3rd panel. I think this gag actually works better in black and white too - the 3rd panel looks both more and less busy sans color.