Shannon Messenger, Keeper of the Lost Cities Graphic Novel, with B.B. Alston

East City Bookshop  Nov 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0vk6Nlss_8

East City Bookshop welcomes Shannon Messenger to discuss the new Keeper of the Lost Cities Graphic Novel. Joining her for the discussion and to play Keeper of the Lost Cities trivia is B.B. Alston, author of Amari and the Night Brothers. Buy the graphic novel here: https://eastcitybookshop.com/item/71j... Check our Amari and the Night Brothers here: https://eastcitybookshop.com/item/kQH... or consider supporting our events program with a one-time donation here: https://ko-fi.com/eastcitybookshop

Meet an Upcoming Graphic Novelist: A Chat with Brigitta Blair

by Mike Rhode

I recently met Brigitta at an Arlington County Library event and was glad to hear that she had a graphic novel coming out... in 2027! Since that's right around the corner, we sent her our usual questions. They came back with few of her own slipped in (a good sign IMHO).

What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?

I’m an author-illustrator that makes slice-of-life, memoir, and fantasy graphic novels. I typically write about identity and disability, but have been known to throw in a nerdy reference or pun.

How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?

I work on an iPad Pro in Clip Studio Paint to make the art and design the pages. I also use Scrivener for plotting/scripting and InDesign for lettering. If I have a location I know my character will be at a lot, I’ll 3D model it in SketchUp or Blender. One of the perks to working in tech outside of comics is I have a rolodex of software knowledge, which has been really helpful with my graphic novel process!

When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?

I was born in 1993 in NOVA (Northern Virginia).

What is your training and/or education in cartooning?

Mostly self-taught, although I’ve taken some online graphic novel and writing courses over the years. The OC Studio Arts “Graphic Novels 101” course was a game-changer for me, so I always try to recommend that one for people starting out!

Have you always worked in comics?

I haven’t! For most of my career, I’ve worked in tech. Everything from being a UI Tech Artist for a video game company, teaching coding workshops at makerspaces, to working at an augmented reality Escape Room. Experiences fuel my desire to create, so I’m very thankful to have gotten the opportunity to learn a lot of different things at some wonderful companies.

Working in tech has also greatly increased my productivity for making graphic novels. If something is taking me too long to do, I’ll figure out a way to make the process and software more ethically efficient. For example, I could never find a Scrivener template I liked to write my manuscript with, so I made the Scrivener Standard Comic Script template alongside Steenz and Camilla Zhang.

What's CRAMMING (Little Brown, 2027) about? How did you get a contract for it - do you have an agent, or did you pitch it directly?

CRAMMING is a story about trying to fit in when you feel like you don’t. It follows a middle school girl named Ari who navigates the challenges of fitting into school, sports, family, and a scoliosis brace.
I got my agent, the incredible Chelsea Eberly, through a Twitter Pitch! During one of the #DVPit (diversity pitch) events where agents “like” pitches on Twitter posts that they want to see more of, I got a request from my agent to submit to her. During the agent offer call, our synergy was off the charts, so much that we came up with an idea for a new book…which ended up becoming my debut graphic novel, CRAMMING!

What would you like to do or work on in the future?

More slice-of-life, fantasy, queer, and disability-focused graphic novels please! I’d also love to do more speaking events, particularly at hospitals or schools. Working on more accessible videos games would also be pretty neat.

What do you do when you're in a rut or have writer's block?

I usually take a break, do research by reading other books, or watch documentaries (especially historical ones). Consuming stories helps me come up with stories, so I try to absorb as much I can when I’m not creating. Brainstorming with my critique group, agent, editor, or partner also greatly helps.

What do you think will be the future of publishing?

The pandemic has been a huge shift in the publishing industry. With the push to remote work, we’ve seen a lot of agencies/publishers become more tech-friendly, flexible, and diverse. We’ve also seen recent changes in publishing with the success of the Harper Collins Strike, the rejection of Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon and Schuster, the emergence of AI tools, book banning, and changes in Barnes and Nobles policies.

In general, I see graphic novels growing. More graphic novel film and TV show adaptations such as Heartstopper, Nimona, and American Born Chinese means more money for the publishing industry. I also see technology playing a larger role in creating graphic novels (especially when it comes to expediting processes) and more diversity throughout publishing at all levels. The results from book banning and AI class action lawsuits could also present shifts in the industry. We’re already starting to see AI clauses in publishing contracts, and I’m sure that’s going to grow with the technology.

What local cons do you attend? The Small Press Expo, Awesome Con, or others? Any comments about attending them?

All the above and more! My favorite local cons are MAGFest and Small Press Expo. As a gamer and a video game developer, MAGFest has a special place in my heart. Not only does it have one of the biggest arcades I’ve ever been to, but the indie game and music scene is booming there!

What comic books do you read regularly or recommend?

I read a lot of fantasy, queer romance, school dramas, historical fiction, and experimental indie graphic novels; basically, what I like to make is what I like to read! Ones that came out in the past few years that I usually recommend are The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang, It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood, and Salt Magic by Hope Larson and Rebecca Mock. I also adore manga and could gush over the paneling in Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama all day.

What's your favorite thing about DC?

The food (especially brunch)! Also, the height cap on the buildings makes the city feel really open and clean which I love. Can’t go wrong with the Cherry Blossom season, various music venues, architecture, or the rich diverse culture either!

Least favorite?

Late night public transit solo. Be careful, folks!

What monument or museum do you like to take visitors to?

Depends on the interest of the person, but the Hirshhorn, Artechouse, and the Smithsonian are some of my favorites.

How about a favorite local restaurant?

Oooh I have a lot! Founding Farmer’s is my favorite brunch place. If you want a cute cafe with amazing drinks/food, Tryst in Adam’s Morgan is lovely. I’m also a big fan of Busboys and Poets and Kramers; can’t go wrong with a restaurant-bookstore!

Do you have a website or blog?

I do! My website is https://brigittablair.com/ . I blog about my experiences in publishing there along with posting updates on my book and portfolio. I’m also active on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky at @brigittablair.

Where can we get your book?

It’s not available yet, but you can add it on Goodreads! Adding books you’re interested in on Goodreads really helps authors because it lets the publishers know there’s interest. Keep a lookout for CRAMMING in 2027!

The Occasionally Fabulous Cartooning Life of Eric Orner, part 2: Smahtguy: The Life and Times of Barney Frank

by Mike Rhode

Last month, I posted the beginning of an interview with Eric Orner in which we talked about his career prior to 2022. The second part of the interview is about his new graphic biography Smahtguy: The Life and Times of Barney Frank. It's one of my favorite books of this year, and I recommend it to you. As you see in this interview, Eric's thought deeply about his craft, and telling Frank's story, and produced a lively biography that's well-worth reading even if you're not particularly interested in politics or gay rights.

MR: Let's talk about Smahtguy: The Life and Times of Barney Frank.

EO: Glad you pronounced Smahtguy right. It's just a Boston accent. Some people get all tangled up with it. They say “Schhhmartguy” injecting all this weird Yiddish sounding ‘schhhh’ y’know? I tell them “just think of the TV shows Cheers, or Mark Whalberg: “pahk your cah in Hahvahd yahd.” Don’t enunciate the “rs”…

MR: My first basic question is, how did the new book come about? It's a biography of Barney Frank, who eventually became identified as a gay Congressman from Massachusetts. When I saw you speak in D.C., you went into two parts of his life. There was the Congressman part and then there was the closeted gay man who's outed part. I think you gave about equal weight to both of them. So how did this come about? You'd worked for Representative Frank. He retired, so presumably you lost that job again.

EO:  It came about in a pretty matter of fact way, but then there's also sort of the question of “why is this a book?”

MR: Yes, there's that question too, and also “how did you guys sell it?”

EO:  I juggled my cartooning life with a full-time job as a staff counsel, and later as a press secretary on Capitol Hill, working for the committee Barney chaired, House Financial Services. After Barney retired, I stayed on the hill for a while, worked as a speech writer for Maxine Waters, but eventually I had left Washington. Barney remained my friend and at some point about four years ago, he mentioned to me his ambivalence about what had been written about him and frankly, I think even what he had written about himself.  In autobiography, you feel constrained by your relationships with people you care about. There's that constraint and the standard biography of him is sort of a legislative history, and not necessarily multifaceted in terms a person's struggle.

He asked me if writing his biography was something I would be interested in?  My first thought was “not really.”  Political work is my Plan B—like working as a housepainter because your brother-in-law happens to own a painting business, and you need the cash.  I’m first and foremost a cartoonist. And the marriage of cartooning with my Plan B—this workaday life I led during the week as a lawyer and political aide on Capitol Hill—wasn’t something I was dying to do. Also, I'm not a biographer—again, I’m a cartoonist—known for strips about a gay guy’s social life! I have never had any ambition to be Robert Caro or Ron Chernow. Still, it occurred to me that I could certainly draw Barney’s bio. And if I drew it, I could express a great many things that I had encountered, and experienced and felt during a long association with him, marked by a lot of parallels:  My family's from Massachusetts. Because of him, I ended up working in Washington. I'm gay, I'm Jewish. So, at the outset, I'm pretty well positioned to talk about this person's life and times. But then the question is, “Why would I want to do that?” Just because I worked for him? Or admire him? Those reasons weren’t persuasive.  The last thing in the world I wanted to do was create a hagiographic biography—or even an authorized biography of Barney. I had no interest in that sort of sanitized version of storytelling . If you read my Ethan stuff, you’ll know I'm opinionated, I want the right to shoot my mouth off.

 But, I am fascinated by politics and American political history. I’d hoped to be a newspaper editorial cartoonist as a kid, and started out that way after college, before newspapers across the country went broke or belly up.  Also: I do think that every once in a while, there are political leaders that come up through Congress that have a cultural import on American society. I think Barney is one of them. Bella Abzug is another example: the personification of American feminism. John Lewis , another, the personification of the American civil rights movement in Congress.  Jeanette Rankin, represents a strain of nonalignment that runs through our politics.  She got elected Congress twice, for single terms separated by 20 years. In her first term she voted against American involvement in the first World War. And then she finally gets back to Congress, 20 years later from Montana of all places, and she votes against the second World War. Each in their own way represents the advance of American democracy, which in the history of the planet is pretty unique. Even if, sure, it’s flawed, like Winston Churchill noted, it's the worst system, except for all the other systems”.

To tell a life story of an important participant in all that, struck me as worth telling. When I brought the idea to Macmillan/Henry Holt Books, I think they were attracted to it because Barney was the first voluntarily out gay members of Congress, and not the kid of someone famous. His rise wasn’t because he was good looking or charming. There’s an anti-hero aspect of him and I thought that makes it a good story. Flaws make it interesting. Try writing about someone who's not flawed; you're bored after the third page.

MR: You mentioned John Lewis. Did you look at The March trilogy, three graphic novels done about his life done with his cooperation? And did you take any lessons from it?

EO:  I'm holding it in my hand, but I admit to you, I haven't read it. And I didn't read it because that goes back to the very first thing we talked about, where my roots were in cartooning. It strikes me more as a non-ironic story, as in some of those old DC comics of Superman, where good and evil are typified. I'm not knocking it. It's like the difference between a John Wayne movie and a Jerry Seinfeld TV show. It's a different kind of storytelling and not, I admit, one that’s for me. I'm looking at it right now and it's obviously a beautiful work. I have total admiration for the achievement, but it doesn’t have the wise-ass posture—think Bechdel, or Crumb or Lynda Barry –that keeps me engaged.

One thing that has worried me all along in this project is that yes. I have a longstanding relationship, friendship, and respect for Barney, but no, he was not involved in creating Smahtguy. He had no right of refusal. He wasn't looking at pages and saying, “No none of that,” and I'm a little bit sensitive that people might think that.

MR: So this was a totally independent artwork by you after the idea came up between the two of you. That's good to know, because March is certainly a community effort between the three of them. That's good to get that one settled. Let's go back to your work. How did you do it? I believe you used traditional pen and ink, at least for the drawing, right?

EO: My artistic process has been… muddled is probably the best word because of my decade-long experience in animation. It's still pen and ink -based. Here's the process. My goal is to not have tightness until I absolutely have no choice. I storyboard everything on real loose, crappy post-it notes. Then it's a question of capturing that action. It's worked out on a post-it note and a post-it note is such a terrible surface that it prevents you from getting too precious. But if you try five times to get the expression you want, it's just little marks on a paper, but you captured it. Then I pull those post-it notes into the computer, and I blow them up to a larger size. And then I try sketching over them because I really do work out the gestures and the expressions on those notes. It's a very strange process.

MR: When you say you're trying to draw over them, I missed if that was on the computer, or do you print them back out again larger to draw on?

EO:  No, I print them out. A lot of my friends say, “Why do you do that? At this point? You can just take a stylus and draw on a tablet.” Maybe I'll get to that point. I'm never going to get to the point where I where I do the initial drawings in the computer, I think there's too much temptation to then clean them up because you have the tools to do so. Can't clean on much on a post-It note. It looks crappy to begin with, and the point is to not to make it too clean, too fast.

MR: There is one cartoonist to publish a book of his drawings on post-it notes, drawn with highlighters. Frank Santoro's Pittsburgh.

EO:  What I like about the digital side of the process, which comes next is, I can blow up or reduce drawings, or part of drawings. And I can layer them just like animation so I can reuse backgrounds and have figures as if they were on a cel and move across those backgrounds. Also, I can achieve a sort of vibrancy colorwise that is important to me. But my digital skillset isn't sufficient to allow me to capture gesture and movement and expression, unless I'm starting out with my hand.

MR: Do you end up with a standard page at some point?

EO:  In the end, I build this whole thing using these different iterations of each panel from post-it note to a drawing, that's assembled with different pieces of drawn material. That's scanned and, I end up assembling a completed page. That is a digital collage, basically all these different post-It notes and scraps of paper, and only then, I print out this messy-looking collage that I can put on a light table. Even though it's messy looking, it has all the information I want. All the drawing is there; they just weren't all done at the same time or with the same tools. Again, it's a collage I print out and I put it on a light table, and I ink it then. I want a variation of thickness and line; I want movement in the line itself. I don't quite know how to create that with a stylus and a tablet. I'm sure it's doable and I see tools all the time that I think about buying, but in the end, I do ink it using brush pens.

MR: That makes perfect sense. But the color is done on Photoshop, right?

EO:  Yeah. I might scan different fabrics or surfaces for textures. And then I add color visually, but I lower the transparency, so in some places it’s a combination I get to achieve the colors. I want a combination of digital color, but also some sort of original paper with some texture.

MR: About the colors in the book, you used a pretty basic palette and it's all flat color for the most part. Does the color have any significance, like if it's blue, is it a specific type of scene, or if it's tan, is it a different one or is it more just aesthetics?

EO:  I might push back on your basic color statement, as the whole creative scheme for the book was a limited palette. I’m not interested in having a multicolored page. There are instances I would cheat because I have this certain color scheme, these three colors that I think accurately represent the mood of this scene, but the scene might shift. I'm looking on page 102 and the scene shifts from a long extended period in Boston to a discussion of the Vatican.  And for the Vatican, I wanted to use that Vatican yellow that you see on their flags. So sometimes I cheat, but it was important to me, for mood, to select a very limited palette for the major landscapes of the book. Boston, DC, and stick to them. That's mostly just because I think it looks cool, and it allowed me to like set the mood in a way that I thought it'd be less successful if I used multicolor.

MR: Is there a split between Boston being one color and DC being a different color?

EO:  I think when you're drawing a graphic novel or a cartoon, it's sort of like you're trying to show the reader the imagined landscape, you see in your head. Boston in my mind is very rich with large variation of reds; Think of the way the sun hits a Boston sidewalk, a brick sidewalk at 4PM in June. And then the very different red, think the red of a brick school on a dreary day in November. The Boston sections are heavy on red, and the DC sections are heavy on different versions of ivory. My goal is to use color, as a painter, not just because I can, or because it’s the correct color assigned to a certain thing: A frog, painted green, for example. But to evoke a mood.

MR: You don't want the color to draw a reader away from the story.

EO:  Right, and I do think it's easy to have that happen. If it supports the mood, that's good, but I don't want people dropping out of the story.

MR: Do you make any of your income by selling original art?

 

EO:  Sure, I sell original art. I’d draw every day, even if I didn’t get paid it. It's how I live. It's a practice, like the way other people do yoga. I go out with a sketch pad and one of the great joys of my life is just to go out and sketch. I've done it everywhere I lived, and I don't take pictures on vacation. I make drawings. And it's those drawings that I make specifically just to entertain myself, that I post on Facebook. There's always one over that banner that you have on Facebook at the top, which I change out about once a week, depending on how I'm drawing. Those are the drawings that I sell more of. People reach out to me and say “I want that drawing of Main street in Santa Monica,” or of “that sexy guy standing outside a bus station in Utica” or whatever. I travel a lot. I have an opportunity to sketch a lot and that brings me a lot of joy. Sometimes people call for Ethan originals, but they all want the same handful of 15 or 20 episodes that the originals are gone, and I offer to make them prints, which, people feel differently about.

MR: How do people actually contact you if they want to buy, because I am not finding a website for you?

EO: I had a website for years, but right now I think the easiest thing to do is to go through my author page on McMillan. The best way is to contact me is through my publisher, or via social media.

MR: You should give or sell art from this book to the Library of Congress. It would fit right into their comic art collection.

EO:  Well, I love the LOC.  In my career as a congressional staffer, there were times I would just have a big lunch and I would just need five minutes to shut my eyes. But there's no place to do that in Rayburn. I would take a tunnel down underneath the capital over to the Library and find some place in the stacks to sit on a stool and shut my eyes.  It's one of my favorite memories about DC. I like the cafeteria too, which is a way of getting away from the hill for a minute even though you hadn't really left.

MR: What was the time period when you were in Washington?

EO:  2008 through 2012. There was also a brief stint during the Gingrich speakership in ‘94-95. I lived in Adams Morgan.

MR: Do you have anybody you'd like to list as your influences?

EO:  People I very much look up to in a cartooning world are Lynda Barry, Mimi Pond, Ed Sorel, Robert Goodman, RO Blechman, the Pushpin people, but also Mad magazine writers and artists Harvey Kurtzman, Sergio Aragones, Jack Davis. And Alison Bechdel. She and I just did this wonderful thing together for Smahtguy with the Society of Illustrators in New York.

MR: I have one other name to ask you about. You mentioned Gay Comix, and I was wondering if Howard Cruse had influenced you at all?

Cartoon that broke Orner's Twitter account

EO:  I have great respect for Howard Cruse, but it gets back to that sensibility thing. You like what you like. Howard’s work has a lot of integrity and a lot of sweetness. I'm a lot more Jules Feiffer than I am Howard Cruse. Yes, we're both gay men writing comics. but that's basically where the similarity ends. Once we did a piece on that for The Advocate where we just made fun of the fact that we didn't do similar work.

MR: His name was out there early in the field, so if you were going to see a gay out cartoonist, it was probably going to be Howard Cruse.

EO:  Yeah, if you're talking about 1989, not if you're talking 1995. I ran in The Advocate then.

MR: I was talking more like 1976.

EO:  Yeah, definitely then. Absolutely. Even when I was in The Advocate, there are permutations to everything, and there are in the gay press too. The Advocate was out of Los Angeles, and it had a different sensibility than Out Magazine or Out Week or, or these much more politically agitated publications. I was very young during AIDS, so there was an immediacy and urgency and anger, and to me, all those things usually blend into humor. Part of the way I get angry about something is to be funny about it. There’s a difference between an east coast and a west coast sensibility in comics. You would think San Francisco was more aligned with east coast (at least politically), but in terms of comics, it’s west coast and the vibe was different.

MR: If you could, what in your career would you do over or change?

EO:  I would've insisted on much more editorial control over the Ethan movie. I would've pursued television animation rather than feature animation in Los Angeles, and animation with an editorial bent that mirrored my own sensibilities. I decided to try and make a living as an artist, and so I segued into animation and was busy when maybe I could have done an Ethan Green graphic novel. But to me, Ethan Green graphic novel wouldn't be a lot different than sitting down with the four Ethan Green books from St. Martin's Press because they're all on-running stories. They're not like comic strips, with here's the episode, here's the punchline, move on to the next episode.

MR: What work do you think you are best known for? It's probably Ethan Green. But do you think it's going to be Smahtguy?

EO: Well, I guess it's too early to tell. I draw every day, whether somebody's interested in looking at it or paying me for it or not. So, I think of myself as maybe mid-career and I hope there's a lot more books in me. Ethan was around a long time and my name is associated with it. Smahtguy came out five weeks ago [on May 3, 2022] and it's getting good reviews. It got a nice review from NPR, so we'll see.

MR: What would you like to do in the future or work on in the future? Do you want to do more works like this? Do you want to do a travelogue? European comics have a lot of people that just do travelogues.

EO:  Because of animation, I lived in Tel Aviv, and then in Sydney for the better part of a decade. My boss from Disney got hired to create a studio in Jerusalem and he took a bunch of Disney artists with him. I lived there for almost three years and did a lot of comics about that experience, but I'm working on something now that's an expansion of a short story that I did called Porno. It was printed in a compilation that Robert Kirby edited called QU33R and it came out 10 years ago from Northwest Press. My story is the first story in the book, and it's about a murder that happened in Chicago that I had a very peripheral involvement with, and I would like to draw that story, book length. That's what I'm working on now and, I admit in my heart of hearts, I think that that would make a good film. Maybe animated or maybe just live action. A guy can dream.

My editor at Holt, she also edits Riad Sattouf, this important cartoonist out of Paris who's Syrian and is doing The Arab of the Future. I've been reading those. She’s also Joe Sacco’s editor, and stuff with an international bent always interests me. I'm very interested in the politics of anywhere. I went to Tufts which had a special school of diplomacy. if you're talking about foreign politics, I'm interested whether it's Persepolis, or Pyongyang or The Arab of the Future or Rutu Modan’s books about Israel, I get into all of that. I always recommend Persepolis.

MR: It's interesting that she walked away from the field for the most part after that and went into movie making.

EO:  In a way this doesn't surprise me because I think graphic noveling is a little like movie making. I always start out with a tight script, and I tell other people to do that. I can't imagine wasting drawing time. It's like wasting film or screen time when you’re paying for these actors. You have to start out with a screenplay and then essentially you are not filming it, you're drawing it. But it works the same way. You have to understand where your locations are. You have to understand where the camera is, unless you're just coming up with something very flat. Sometimes I look at some books that are just pages of talking heads and I'm just like, “Well…”

MR: I saw Tilly Walden recently, who used to do autobiographical comics, but now she just did a Walking Dead spin off, based on a video game. And she said she just sits down and just draws a whole chapter and gives it to her editor who then tells her, “This makes no sense,” or whatever. Then she draws it again, and sometimes she just keeps redrawing it and she said something like “Yeah, it's a lot of work, but you get better every time you redraw the same scenes.”

EO: That makes some sense to me, but I do think that it's a division in this field between people who really just want to draw. I really just want to tell a story, and the drawing is the medium for doing it. And I do love to draw, but I think if you're drawing without a tight story, you fall into this place like Tim Burton’s movies where it's amazing looking, but the storytelling's a mess.

MR: What's your favorite thing about DC?

EO:  I have a real specific and weird answer to this and it's alluded to in Smahtguy. It is something so quiet and weird. I run a lot, and DC’s often very hot and stinky. Something I loved about DC was when you descend it down into Rock Creek Park from the street level and you take a path down and suddenly, you’re looking up at those giant bridges and you get this sort of miraculous relief because the temperature has dropped 15 degrees. That's my favorite thing about DC.

MR: The counterpoint to that was, what was your least favorite?

EO:  I found that DC was not super appreciative of a policy person or a Capitol Hill aide who had artistic interests. There's a feeling there, “Well, then that's not a serious person.” It's very focused. I've lived in places that are more supportive of having a creative life on the side. There's a big split in Smahtguy between Boston, which is funny. Boston's funny at the outset. Cheers was funny, Marky Mark was funny, the Red Sox are funny. DC’s not funny. This makes me sound like I'm knocking DC. DC's also a lot of things that I admire enormously. I was talking about them earlier, like the miracle of democracy. But it’s got a heavy load to shoulder, and that responsibility prevents it from being a particularly lighthearted place. It's not really fair to the real city because I always thought you're talking about two different things. Are you talking about the District and everything that it represents, it’s African-American roots and Chocolate City vibe? It's jazziness, it's sophistication? That’s the District versus Washington, which is very forbidding and not particularly lighthearted concept.

MR: What monument or museum did you prefer to take a visitor to, or like to go to yourself?  

EO: Here is my answer as a good Bostonian. My answer to this is the absence of the monument that I think should be there. There should be a monument to the Adamses. The idea that this city lacks a monument to a founding fathers who was against slavery, was appalled by it, doesn’t make sense.  There should be a monument to Abigail, John and John Quincy. And when you put it up, I'll be happy to say that's my favorite. It actually drives me crazy. I thought [it might happen] when David McCullough’s book came out generation ago.  Even in Boston itself, the Adams historical site is in Quincy. It's 20 miles from Boston and it’s modest as they were because they were Yankee Protestants who weren't interested in showoffy self-importance. But their ideals… when you read things that Abigail and he were writing to each other, you think “These are the Americans we should admire.” I also like the Duke Ellington bridge.

MR: Finally, how did the COVID-19 outbreak affect you personally or professionally?

EO: COVID happened in the time where I was halfway through the book, so professionally it didn't affect me much at all. It's just the rest of the world was suddenly doing what I had to do, which was stay in and sit on my deck. It was really odd because suddenly my neighborhood became very populated. I was two years into what had been a four-year project, so it was odd in that sense.

Scott McCloud in Conversation with Michael Cavna (February 6, 2015) UPDATED

The recording of the event, 1 1/2 hours long, is at this link:

https://archive.org/details/PP150206ScottMcCloudAndMichaelCavna

This may be the only recording as I'm not sure if the store recorded it. Someone was videoing it, but they weren't from P&P.

Nice things were said about local cartoonist Richard Thompson, and less nice things about Bob "Batman" Kane. McCloud had some things to say that rang true to me and I'll try to excerpt them in a post early next week.

More photographs by me are online here.

Better photographs by Bruce Guthrie are online here.

Cartoonist Gareth Hinds did some live-sketching of the event.

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat with Nguyen Nguyen (updated regarding a paper version)

Nguyen Nguyen (pronounced Win Win) is self-publishing a graphic novel drawing on his family's experiences in the Vietnam War. He's posting it by chapter in the iTunes store. His website has a nice biographical note, so I'll just repost it here:

Nguyen Khoi Nguyen is a multi-disciplinary artist.  He was born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, raised in Cape Coral, Fl. and resides in Washington D.C. He studied visual art at the Cooper Union, music and integrated arts at Bard College and completed a master’s degree in jazz piano at the University of Maryland.  Nguyen leads the jazz trio, “Superior Cling,” which performs in the D.C. metro area and released its first album this summer. As a filmmaker, Nguyen produces a wide range of content including art films, documentaries and promotional videos for non-profits and institutions. He was the recipient of the 2013 Artist Fellowship Grant from the DC Commission for the Arts. Nguyen is currently a 2014 Strathmore Fine Artist in Residence.

This week he's holding a release party for the third chapter of ten (details at the bottom of the post)

ComicsDC: What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?

Nguyen Nguyen: I make multimedia comics that include stories, drawings, music and animation. I am working on my first graphic novel called "The Gulf." The first three chapters are available now in the iBooks store.

"The Gulf,"  a digital mutlimedia comic, is about a Vietnamese-American man and his family.  The stories are set in D.C., my hometown, the Gulf Coast city of Cape Coral, FL, and in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  Each chapter includes music and animation.  I'm releasing the individual chapters in the iBooks store.  They can be viewed on the iPad, iPad mini, and any Mac with OSX Mavericks.

I received a 2013 Artist Fellowship to work on this project from the DC Commission on the Arts and I've been selected for a Strathmore Fine Artist Residency to keep working on it in 2014.

I do hope to make paper versions of "The Gulf" in the future and to add a Kindle version. The trick is that I try to make the multimedia elements not just add-ons but essential to the story. So a paper version of the gulf would be a different experience.

How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?

I draw and ink everything by hand.  The images are then scanned, colored and laid out on the computer.  I write and perform the music with various instruments and software.  I draw the animation on the iPad.

When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?

I was born in 1981, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Why are you in Washington now?  What neighborhood or area do you live in?

I have found a great community of artists and friends here in DC. I live in the wonderful Le Droit Park neighborhood.

What is your training and/or education in cartooning?

I've always loved to draw and began taking drawing classes when I was ten.  I was very fortunate to attend an arts high school in Florida, and then went on to art school in New York.

Who are your influences?

My influences in comics include: Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Alison Bechdel, Adrian Tomine, Bill Watterson.

If you could, what in your career would you do-over or change?

Nothing.

What work are you most proud of?

I'm very proud of the most recent chapter of my graphic novel that I've released: "The Gulf: #3 Fifty Needles."

The story is based on my mother's memories of learning how to sew as a girl in Vietnam in the 1960's.

What would you like to do  or work on in the future?

I've set a goal to do ten chapters of "The Gulf." I'm three-tenths done now and that's taken over a year and a half of research, planning and then finally making the art!   I'll be super happy when I finish but I'm sure I'll look to the next challenge.  Ten more chapters?! Who knows?

What do you do when you're in a rut or have writer's block?

I try to work in a different medium or discipline to scramble my brain like playing  piano or dancing.  Also, I'll go for a run around the neighborhood reservoir.

What do you think will be the future of your field?

Digital comics.

What local cons do you attend? The Small Press Expo, Intervention, or others? Any comments about attending them?

I've had great experiences at the conventions; talking shop with artists, meeting my heroes and just seeing what's out there. I love going to SPX and I attended the first Smudge convention a month ago.  I'm looking forward to Awesome Con!

What's your favorite thing about DC?

Metro's green line.

Least favorite?

The red line.

What monument or museum do like to take visitors to?

The Hirshhorn for their exhibits and the American Indian Museum for their cafeteria.

How about a favorite local restaurant?

So many to choose from: Fast Gourmet, Woodlands, The Big Greek Cafe in Silver Spring. La Mano Coffee bar is a fantastic coffee shop.

Do you have a website or blog?

My blog for "The Gulf:" http://ngknguyen.com/175725/978020/home/sketches-for-the-gulf

My website: http://ngknguyen.com

My etsy shop: http://etsy.com/shop/Nguyenmade

Nguyen is launching the third chapter of his story this week:

The Gulf 3/10ths Party
Thursday, April 17th at 7:00 PM
Shaw's Tavern, 2nd Floor
520 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC

Arlington County's Central Library has a stand-alone graphic novel section now

Arlington County's Central Library has a stand-alone graphic novel section now - I found this out a few weeks ago and was quite surprised. There's a decent selection here too - let's name the titles in the comments. I'll start off here.

300 by Frank Miller, Breakdowns by Art Spiegelman, Shooting War, Late Bloomer by Carol Tyler, Jimbo in Purgatory by Gary Panter...

Terry Brooks signing in Bailey's Crossroads

Terry Brooks, an author whose Dark Wraith of Shannara title has been adapted as a Graphic Novel, will be signing this week:

September 3, 7:30pm
Borders Books & Music
5871 Crossroads Center Way
Baileys Crossroads, VA 22041
Reading, Q&A, Signing

The title is from Del Rey books, is adapted by Robert Napton, and has art by Edwin David.

Anthony Lappe talk at Library of Congress report and 2nd appearance later in the evening

Anthony Lappe, author of the graphic novel, Shooting War, spoke at the Library of Congress today at lunchtime. Lappe, an editor at Guerrilla News Network had been to Iraq as an embedded reporter and produced a film about his trip there (which is available on their website). He will also be appearing at Bourbon tonight at 9 pm.

Lappe returned from Iraq disillusioned with both bloggers and mass media and wrote this satirical graphic novel (which started as a film). In 2011, blogger Jimmy Burns, accidentally films a suicide bombing for his blog, and then parleys that fame into a reporting trip to cover the Iraq War. His blogger character Burns arrives in Iraq with no journalistic experience, but is mentored by Dan Rather who's reinvigorating his career at the front. Lappe noted later that Rather had sent a nice note about his appearance in the book, and that none of the actual people or references in the book objected.

The artwork is done on a computer, probably a Wacom tablet. Lappe found his collaborator, artist Dan Goldman by placing an ad on Craig's List. Although Goldman wasn't at the event, Lappe showed some of the artwork, and the process of arriving at a finished page. Goldman seems to draw the figures, then layer in a real photograph as background.He did point out that all of the logos had to be replaced by Goldman for the UK edition due to their differing laws.

The project first appeared on Smith Magazine and can still be seen at http://www.shootingwar.com although that version is different than the final book.

For the hardcore superhero fans, Lappe pointed out that he was influenced by Spider-Man when writing this. His character gains great power like Peter Parker (by being the only person to videoblog a terrorist event) and then tries to live up to that power while still being a normal guy. Not a comic book reader, Lappe was surprised that no reviewer had picked up that link.

In the Q&A period, Lappe noted that the main character may return as a tv series with a concurrent series of comic books. He also said that he had no editorial interference from Grand Central Books (formerly Warner Books), his co-author is working on a graphic story about the current election, and while he admires the work of Joe Sacco, he really didn't want to repeat his movie as a comic book. He also railed against the comic industry a bit, noting that while up for an Eisner at San Diego, he found very few works that addressed the war. He was asked about veterans views on the book - the talk was sponsored by an LOC vet group - and said that his friends who were veterans liked the book, but that might be just because they were his friends. However, he did change one character, a Lt. Colonel, and his reaction to the death of one of his soldiers, based on responses to the online story.



Obviously I bought a copy of the book and had it signed. I'm looking forward to reading it. More notes later as they occur to me.