ComicsTN: Some cartoon content in Knoxville's East Tennessee History Museum

 

an uncredited editorial cartoonist in the Knoxville newspaper in their temporary exhibit on movies

 

 

 

Al Capp;s Little Abner's Kickapoo juice in a section on hillbilly stereotypes

 

 

Beverly Hillbillies comic book in a section on stereotypes

 

ComicsDC on the road - Tall Man of Knoxville, TN

 I was visiting in Knoxville and stopped into a Tall Man Toys & Comics, a local shop near the Museum of Art. Putting the toys before comics in their name is accurate, as you can see from these photos, but they had a decent selection of new comics, with a buy 3, get 1 free discount, and the same graphic novel discount too, as well as good-sized back issue collection. The staff was quite nice, even when I left without buying anything, after I asked if they had anything produced locally (no). This is close to the University of Tennessee and the Worlds Fair Park, so I guess those two groups provide their customer base.

The Knoxville Museum of Art had an exhibit by woman artists with a superhero link as seen below. The museum is definitely a local one with no Western old masters, but there was a good glass exhibit, an excellent show by woman artist's and another good one of local artists and their history.

ComicsDC on the road: Mountain Top Comics and Collectibles of Cookeville, TN

I visit Cookeville, TN regularly to see my wife's family and off and on have visited local comics shops. I thought they were all gone, but last year for Free Comic Book Day, my in-laws heard about Mountain Top Comics and kindly stopped in for me. I took the opportunity to visit recently and met the owner Michael Hargis. It's the only shop left in Cookeville, which at one point in the 90s had at least three of them. The shop at, 1683 S. Jefferson Ave, has a good assortment of new comics. Hargis probably stocks more new floppies than the Big Planet stores around DC that I regularly shop at.  Hargis has a good run of the non-big two comics, including a reasonable shelf of indy graphic novels, and lots of Image and Boom comics. He also has a fun selection of comics-based toys, a decent amount of back issues and a little bit of games. If I lived here, I'd be perfectly happy with this as my regular shop. Today's purchases were Camelot 3000 chosen by my daughter, Batman 66 trade for me, and a Conan print and The Haunt of Wylding Wood minicomic by local cartoonist Matt Knieling (pictured below).

 

Back issues for sale in a side room

OT: Cookeville, Tennessee produces comic book writer

My wife's from Cookeville, a smallish town in middle Tennessee, so I was surprised to see this pop up today about an adaptation of the Hindu epic the Ramayana: "Barbara Jackson releases her first graphic novel," Margaret Shuster, Cookeville Herald-Citizen Staff, Sunday, Jun 08, 2008. A late-1980s comic book artist named Barry Crain also lived there.