Nov 3 - Fluggenock poster spotted

Driving home tonight, I spotted a Mike Fluggenock poster on the lightpost base at 21st and Massachussets Ave, NW. Fluggenock's a local anarchist who puts his cartoon work on the web for anyone to print and use. The poster I saw, pictured above, can also be downloaded here.

DC needs more Fluggenocks.

Dec 13 - Booksigning - Neal Gabler on Walt Disney

Gabler's signing his new biography on Disney at 7 pm at Politics and Prose.

Salon's run an excerpt of this recently.

And apparently there's been some criticism of the book? Anyone know anything?

Nov 30 - Booksigning - Matt Diffee

Matt Diffee signs The Rejection Collection at Politics and Prose at 7 pm. These are the cartoons the New Yorker didn't want. I'll be going to this one.

For further information,

The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco has an exhibit of the cartoons through March - 655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 - 415-CAR-TOON, http://www.cartoonart.org

Reviews of the book:

Dernavich, Drew. 2006.
Back to the drawing board: A new anthology collects cartoons that were too dirty, too wacky, or just too dumb to make it into The New Yorker.
Boston Globe (October 15).

SCHILLINGER, LIESL. 2006.
Crossing the Line, Laughing All the Way.
New York Times (October 22): ST13

Washington Post editorial cartoonist Coffin in GWU magazine

I got my alumni copy of GW Magazine from George Washington University last night and my wife pointed out that there's an article on 19th century Washington Post editorial cartoonist George Yost Coffin in it by Lyle Slovick, one of the University's archivist. Coffin's papers are in the Gelman Library. It's a good article and worth reading.

Nov 3 - Aardman Animation's Flushed Away opens in DC

Reviews of the new movie by the Wallace & Gromit studio can be found in the Post, Washington Times, Sally Kline's in the Examiner and an Associated Press bit in the Express. In spite of the subject matter (rat flushed down the toilet into the sewers), I'm looking forward to seeing this.

Also in the Post is a review of Class of 3000, a new animated tv show.

Nov 2 - Cartoonists in City Paper

The cover story in the City Paper is illustrated by my friend Rob Ullman - Rob regularly illustrates the Savage Love column in the paper, although he's based in Richmond. He was up here recently for SPX and the City Paper's festival so I bought some more art from him. Most of the illos can be seen on the website, but look much better in the paper.

Also, Josh Neufeld, another nice guy who does some good travel comics called Vagabond, has an illo in the paper too.

Mike

Nov 2 - Zadzooks on comics-related video games

In this article, he reviews a Peanuts videogame as well as the dvd for the animated Monster House.

Snoopy's dogfight with Red Baron
By Joseph Szadkowski
WASHINGTON TIMES November 2, 2006

Nov 2 - Cartoon America opens, mentioned in newspapers

I'll try to post a few pictures and quotes from the opening later, but in the meantime, the Express has a small article by Arion Berger on the exhibit, with an illustration by E. Simms Campbell. The Examiner has a blurb on the inside front cover with a completely inappropriate picture of people looking at life-size Hanna-Barbera characters. Nothing in the Post yet.

Nov 2 - Cartoon America opens at Library of Congress

I was privileged to go to the preview opening today, and hear remarks by collector and cartoonist Art Wood, Librarian of Congress James Billington, curator/author Harry Katz and noted cartoonists Jules Feiffer, Ann Telnaes and Kal, as well as meeting the Post's Richard Thompson ... and all of this occured in the gilded 'members' room of the Library of Congress. A very attractive room that was. Anyway, I'll try to post more on this in the next day, or so, but here's the press release for this absolutely fantastic exhibit. The Nast original alone is worth making the trip downtown to see. Martha and Sara have done another fine job. And don't forget that they've got a Herblock exhibit on the floor above as well.


Library of Congress Exhibition "Cartoon America" Opens Nov. 2
Exhibition Features America's Best Cartoons from the Art Wood Collection

"Cartoon America: Highlights from the Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature" will open at the Library of Congress on Thursday, Nov. 2, in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. On view through Jan. 27, 2007, the exhibition is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday.

The exhibition will feature 100 masterworks of such celebrated artists as political cartoonists Thomas Nast, Rube Goldberg, Bill Mauldin and Patrick Oliphant; comic strip creators Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Chic Young, Milt Caniff, Charles Schulz and Lynn Johnston; humorous gag cartoonists Peter Arno and William Steig; caricaturists Al Hirschfeld and David Levine; animation drawings and cels from Walt Disney Productions and Hanna-Barbera; and illustrations by Edwin A. Abbey, John Held and Michael Hague.

Drawings selected for the exhibition reflect the primary collecting interests of J. Arthur Wood Jr., a connoisseur of popular graphic art. Wood's collection of more than 36,000 original cartoon drawings * the Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature * is now housed in the Library's Prints and Photographs Division. The collection came to the Library in 2003 through a gift-purchase agreement made possible in part by a generous contribution from H. Fred Krimendahl II, a member of the Library's Madison Council, and the generosity of Wood himself.

The collection, spanning three centuries, is distinctive and unparalleled because of the depth of holdings in political cartoons and comic strips and the specific landmark pieces in all major genres. It stands out as a jewel among the Library's special collections, illuminating the history of American cartoon art forms and greatly enhancing the Library's extensive holdings of cartoon art.

According to exhibition co-curators Sara W. Duke and Martha H. Kennedy, the exhibition presents stellar examples from Wood's collection that reflect the vitality of an innovative, indigenous art form. The exhibition features the major genres of cartoon art: political cartoons, illustration, comic strips, gag and single-panel cartoons, illustration, and animation drawings and cels. An overview of highlights includes:

* Political cartoons by leading practitioners of the "ungentlemanly art," who comment pointedly on corruption, war and public figures from the 19th century's Gilded Age to recent times. Their visual editorials reflect diverse viewpoints conveyed in a wide variety of artistic approaches, including the classic cross-hatching techniques of Harper's Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast and Washington Star cartoonist Clifford Berryman, the broad crayon strokes of Rube Goldberg and Bill Mauldin, and the painterly styles of contemporary cartoonists Paul Conrad and Patrick Oliphant.

* Rare early comics in large, multi-panel formats include portrayals of the Yellow Kid and Buster Brown, two early famous comic strip characters created by Richard Outcault. Family strips such as "Bringing Up Father" by George McManus, "Gasoline Alley" by Frank King and "For Better or for Worse" by Lynn Johnston chronicle the humorous ups and downs of family life. Selections include adventure strips "Secret Agent X-9" by Alex Raymond and "Terry and the Pirates" by Milt Caniff; artfully innovative strips "Krazy Kat" by George Herriman and "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend" by Winsor McCay; and timeless classics "Popeye" by Elzie Segar and "Peanuts" by Charles Schulz. All transport viewers to other, self-contained, captivating worlds.

* Gag cartoons by Peter Arno, Barbara Shermund, George Price and others lampoon behavioral quirks and foibles that madden and amuse readers of The New Yorker and other popular magazines.

* Caricatures of Stokely Carmichael, by David Levine, and of performers Jimmy Durante and Paul Whiteman, in a 1935 staging of "Jumbo" by Al Hirschfeld, offer incisive insights and display witty and magical use of the pen.

* Treasures of animation art include a Walt Disney Productions cel of Mickey Mouse from "Fantasia"; a delightful drawing of Dumbo the elephant bathing himself; a storyboard drawing for "Bambi" by Tyrus Wong; a presentation drawing of all of the Seven Dwarfs; and a beautiful animation cel of Snow White for Disney's groundbreaking first full-length animated feature "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937).

* America's Golden Age of Illustration (1880s to 1920s) is represented by drawings created by Edwin Austin Abbey, James Montgomery Flagg, Dean Cornwell and their pioneering women counterparts, Nell Brinkley, Rose O'Neill and Katherine Pyle.

Wood, an award-winning cartoonist himself, began collecting original drawings at the age of 12. During a period of 60 years, he contacted and befriended numerous older masters of cartoon art forms, as well as leading contemporary creators in the field, and obtained selections of their work, primarily by gift and some by purchase. During his professional life, Wood worked diligently to establish a museum or gallery to preserve and showcase his collection. He achieved his goal in 1995 with the opening of the National Gallery of Caricature and Cartoon Art in downtown Washington, D.C., but the gallery closed in 1997, due to a lack of sustained funding. Undeterred, Wood turned to the Library of Congress, where he had worked early in his career, to preserve and present his collection.

A companion book titled "Cartoon America: Comic Art in the Library of Congress" will be published by Harry N. Abrams, in association with the Library of Congress. The book is edited by Harry Katz, former head curator of the Library's Prints and Photographs Division. Images of many cartoon drawings in the exhibition will be included among the 275 full-color illustrations in the book, which also surveys the Library's other holdings of related art.

The exhibition and an accompanying brochure are funded through the generous support of the Caroline and Erwin Swann Memorial Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon. The Swann Foundation showcases the collections of the Library of Congress in rotating exhibitions and promotes the continuing Swann Foundation program in the study of cartoon, caricature and illustration, while also offering a provocative and informative selection of works by masters from the past and present.

Nov 1 - articles in today's papers

The Express has an article on Jonah Hex by Scott Rosenberg, and the Examiner has Truitt's regular New Comic Book Releases column and a review of a new Family Guy videogame.

Post goes with Cory Thomas' 'Watch Your Head'

I don't think that La Cucaracha by Lalo Alcaraz got its full tryout time, but yesterday the Post ran this notice:

A NOTE TO COMICS READERS
Washington Post Monday, October 30, 2006; Page C10


Today, "Watch Your Head" by Cory Thomas returns to the comics pages to replace "Boondocks," whose creator, Aaron McGruder, decided not to continue the strip after a six-month sabbatical. Written by Cory Thomas, a Howard University graduate, "Watch Your Head," chronicles the lives of six students at a historically black university. If it looks familiar, it may be because it was the first tryout strip The Post ran in place of "Boondocks" during McGruder's absence.

As always, we welcome reader feedback on this or any other feature on our comics pages. Call our comics hotline at 202-334-4775, e-mail comics@washpost.com or write to: Comics Feedback, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071.

Oct 31 - Satrapi signing and article; DC caricaturist

Marjane Satrapi's signing Chicken with Plums about her musician granduncle tonight at Politics and Prose in the District.

An article about her is in today's Express -

Rosenberg, Scott. 2006.
A life in 8 days: Graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi traces family history.
[Washington Post] Express (October 31): 17

There's also an article of interest in the Post's Health section. Mike Caplanis writes about changing his career from advertising to being a caricaturist.

Truth in Advertising -- And Art
Live Reports from the Midlife Adventure
Washington Post Tuesday, October 31, 2006; Page HE03

Oct 31 - Marjane Satrapi booksigning REPOST

Politics & Prose Bookstore
October 31, 7 pm
Her new book is Chicken with Plums.

Given that it's Halloween, I won't be there unfortunately. She's an entertaining speaker. However, I have ordered a signed copy and an audio cd of the event. These are a nice innovation by P&P - for $7.50 you can get a recording of the talk. I've bought cds of the Attitude 3 group, Scott McCloud and Alison Bechdel in the past 2 weeks. The Feiffer audio was substandard so that's not available.

Oct 29 - two more days to see Simplicissimus!

It's closing on October 31, 2006.
Simplicissimus and the Empire 1896-1914
ADDRESS:812 Seventh St. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown202-289-1200
www.goethe.de/washington

Oct 29 - Addams article in today's Post

Jonathan Yardley is kinder than most of the reviewers have been for the new book Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis - see his review "The man behind that macabre family wasn't creepy or kooky."
Washington Post Book World Sunday, October 29, 2006; BW02

Also in the BW is a review of Susanna Clarke's new collection of short stories, and the Post used two of Charles Vess' illustration. I'd be buying this for the Vess alone, but I also enjoyed her first book Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell and my wife just loved it. Also illustrating a review of Robert Kagan's new book on realpolitick is a WA Roger's political cartoon on the Monroe Doctrine from the fine capitalists at Bettman/Corbis. At least they didn't slap a copyright symbol on it, as I'd estimate this dates from Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet diplomacy.

Oct 26 - Toles to receive conservation award tonight

Dave Astor reports the story over at Editor and Publisher. His Syndicate World articles are well-worth following btw.

About a year and a half-ago, the Washington Post Magazine ran a long article by Toles on his garden.

Conservation Honor for Editorial Cartoonist Tom Toles
By E&P Staff
Published: October 25, 2006 2:35 PM ET

Oct 24 - Also in today's Post - comics aren't educational

This article -
Assigned Books Often Are a Few Sizes Too Big
By Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 24, 2006; Page A10 -

speaks to one of my pet peeves which is the de-intellectualizing (is that a word?) of books or rather the forcing of books on an audience that's too young for them. Twain didn't write Tom Sawyer for children, and this article points out some other good example. I was forced to read Kafka in 11th grade, and I can assure you that I didn't relate.

Anyway, here's the comics content, which is bothersome in a different way:

"Sofi Sinozich, a seventh-grader in the Humanities and Communications Magnet Program at Eastern Middle School in Montgomery County, said she would like to be assigned books that speak to her.

In sixth-grade English, "graphic novels [were] excluded, which annoyed many of us," said Sofi, who is partial to Japanese comics called manga because she finds the style beautiful and the stories well done.

Many teachers exclude graphic novels and comics from reading lists, even though a graphic novel was nominated for the National Book Award this year. And Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has said he learned to read through comics after his schoolmaster father disregarded others who said they would lead to no good.

So should kids read Shakespeare or the comics? Graphic novels or "To Kill a Mockingbird"? Reading experts say they should read everything -- when they are ready to understand what they are reading."

Oct 24 - Trudeau article - Weingarten chat followup

I just snipped the four questions that related to his interview with Trudeau - to see the whole chat, follow the link.

Chatalogical Humor aka Tuesdays With Moron
Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 24, 2006; 12:00 PM



Baby Woman: Gene,

Thanks for running my comment yesterday. I did not know that Joanie was named after the National Women's Political Caucus, though it makes sense. (My mom was active in it around the time I was born.) So ­­ while in no way encouraging insubordination ­­ what else did you leave out? BTW, I'm a huge fan of "A Prairie Home Companion," too, so I was thrilled to hear that Trudeau is friends with Fred Newman.

Gene Weingarten: Joanie Caucus was modeled after a real person in Trudeau's life.

If you recall, Joanie arrived at Walden Commune after having jettisoned her husband and family one day. Complimenting her on her cooking, her husband had said to his friends "I think I'll keep her," and Joanie broke his nose. Then split.

So, it turns out that Trudeau had an aunt who did that, almost exactly. Suburban wife of a banker. Walked out of a car containing her husband and kids, and never came back. Lived in communes, and an Indian teepee in Oregan, called herself "Sasha Wildflower."

_______________________

Trudeau: So you are doing a profile of someone you clearly admire. How do you avoid sinking into hagiography? Do you ask yourself, "How would Pat Buchannan view this subject?" Do you try to empty your mind of any preconceived notions?

Gene Weingarten: This is in reference to my cover story Sunday about Garry Trudeau, someone I do, indeed, admire.

It was a problem. The way you deal with it is you keep an open mind, make negative judgments where they are appropriate, but don't go out of your way to seek negativity for "balance," because that's unfair in its own right. Garry made this very hard because he is, in fact, a terrific, unassuming, gracious, brilliant guy.

In the end, I decided the most honest way to deal with it was to acknowledge it in the story: I like the guy a lot. I'm sure plenty of people feel it WAS hagiography.

_______________________

When I knew Garry was a genius: In 1976, he did a strip showing Joanie's phone ringing in her empty bedroom. As if in a movie, the camera panned out her window. Next day, a pan across the rooftops of the town. The next day, a pan into Rick's window, where Rick was sleeping and Joanie was lying awake next to him. I clipped them, pasted them together, and put them in a scrapbook. 1976.

Gene Weingarten: Yes, this was one of his most famous sequences. As a sign of the times: Many papers pulled it, because it seemed to be endorsing unmarried sex. One conservative writer said that it seemed to him that the sex Joanie and Rick had was "joyless."

_______________________

St. Paul, Minn.: I'm reading Maus right now with some friends. And got wondering after I read your Trudeau piece ­­ what's the difference between a novel like Maus and comics like Doonesbury. Is it just the difference between a novel and a short story (or something like that) or is it more? Thanks.

Gene Weingarten: A novel and a short story is close, sure. In Doonesbury, various storylines are progressing in a parallel fashion. He revisits each, for a week or two, every few weeks. So actually, that is kind of novelistic

Oct 24 - Cartoon Medicine Show in today's Post, starts tomorrow

The 2-day Nat'l Library of Medicine / Nat'l Academy of Sciences animation festival that starts tomorrow got a write-up in the Post's health section. They buried it online, but follow the helpful link:

Dr. Seuss and Other Masters Of Public Health
'Cartoon Medicine Show' Highlights Early Animators' Role in Educating People About Disease and Hygiene
By Suz Redfearn
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, October 24, 2006; HE07

Oct 23 - Weingarten chat on Trudeau online

It ran today here and was fairly interesting as Weingarten included a few more anecdotes.

Speaking of which, Garry Trudeau donated the original art for two strips to the National Museum of Health & Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center - the one where BD is shown to have lost a leg and the one a couple of days later when the surgeon tells Ray that he's saved BD's life. They're on display now, if you've got any interest in what an original Doonesbury looks like - althoug the rest of the exhibit is being remounted, these are still on view. Original Doonesbury art is not easy to come by you know, but thanks to Mr. Trudeau's generosity, you can see these two.

Oct 25-26 The Cartoon Medicine Show: Animated Cartoons from the Collection of the National Library of Medicine REPOST

I'll be at both - stop by and say hello, if you can recognize me. I suppose you can ask curator Mike Sappol to point me out...

Join the National Academy of Sciences for a two day film festival of rare animated medical cartoons from the 1920s to the 1960s. The event will take place on October 25 and 26 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the National Academy of Sciences, 2100 C St, N.W., Washington, D.C.

DETAILS:
From the silent film era to the present, physicians, health professionals, government agencies like the U.S. Public Health Service, and voluntary associations such as the American Cancer Society, have used motion pictures to advance medical science, train doctors and nurses, and educate the public.

"The Cartoon Medicine Show: Animated Cartoons from the Collection of the National Library of Medicine," curated by Michael Sappol of the National Library of Medicine, will feature a rich sampling of rarely screened animated medical cartoons from the 1920s to the 1960s. The film series will present a variety of medical themes and genres, including dental hygiene, physical fitness, physiology, mental health, malaria, venereal disease, cancer, radiology, and sanitary food preparation. Each evening will consist of a different selection of 10 to 15 short animated medical cartoons by animators both obscure and well-known, including Walt Disney, Friz Freleng, Zack Schwartz, Walter Lantz, and Shamus Culhane.

SPEAKERS:
Film historian Donald Crafton and medical historians Michael Sappol and David Cantor will provide commentary. Donald Crafton is the chair of the department of film, television, and theater at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898- 1928 (MIT Press, 1984). Michael Sappol is a curator and historian at the National Library of Medicine. His scholarly work focuses on the body, anatomy, medical illustration, and medicine in film. He is the author of A Traffic of Dead Bodies (Princeton University Press, 2002). David Cantor is the editor of Reinventing Hippocrates (Ashgate, 2002). His scholarly work focuses on the history of 20th century medicine, most recently the history of cancer.

EVENT: The Cartoon Medicine Show: Animated Cartoons from the Collection of the National Library of Medicine
DATE: October 25 and 26
TIME: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
LOCATION: National Academy of Sciences Auditorium, 2100 C St., N.W., Washington, D.C.
COST: Admission is free, but seating is limited
RSVP: arts@nas.edu or (202) 334-2436
METRO: Foggy Bottom on the blue and orange lines

Swann Fellowship at Library of Congress

The fine people at LoC are making their yearly announcement of a cartoon-study stipend (say it 3 times fast).


The Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, Library of Congress, is now accepting applications for the Swann Fellowship for the 2007-2008 academic year. Annual award of $15,000 to support scholarly graduate research in caricature and cartoon. Applicants must be enrolled in an accredited M.A. or Ph.D program in a university in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. Deadline: Feb. 15, 2007. Access guidelines and application at:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swann-fellow.html
Contact Martha Kennedy with questions at 202/707-9115 or email swann@loc.gov

My apologies for cross listing.
My sincere thanks for the opportunity to post this notice.


Martha H. Kennedy
Curatorial Assistant for Caricature and Cartoon
Prints and Photographs Division
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20540-4730
tel.: 202/707-9115; fax: 202/707-6647

Oct 23 7:30 pm - Simpson's voice Harry Shearer

Shearer's appearing to read and sign his first novel, Not Enough Indians at Barnes & Nobles - Georgetown, 2040 M St, NW, 202-965-9880. In my experiences, authors will read from what they're promoting now, but are usually pleased to answer questions about their other works.

Also in the weekend's papers

The Oct 21&22 Examiner had a review of the Kal exhibit at Strathmore in Bethesda. They also had the Spider-Man Collectible Series vol. 10, which is a bit of Amazing Spider-Man #5.

The Friday Post Weekend section had a review of Aardman Animation's Creature Comforts. The Sunday Source had a review of Bill Willingham's new Fables hardcover from DC Comics.

Oct 22 - Howard Pyle exhibit

The Post is reporting that a Howard Pyle exhibit opened in a fortified DC building -

Howard Pyle, the First Action Hero
Scholars Dismiss Him, but the Illustrator Cast a Big Shadow on the Art World
By Paul Richard
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, October 22, 2006; Page N02

While not a cartoonist, Pyle definitely influenced them as well as the filmmakers that Richard mentions.

Oct 23 12 noon - Weingarten online chat about Doonesbury article

The Post's website tells us:

Revealing more about himself than he ever has, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau gives us tantalizing clues about what's behind his venerable comic strip's recent burst of genius, and pain.

In this week's Washington Post Magazine, Gene Weingarten profiles the publicity-shy Trudeau, who with his strip's searing storyline of an Iraq War amputee, is getting new attention.

Today, Weingarten will be online fielding questions and comments.

Oct 22 - Doonesbury article in Washington Post Magazine

A very long article on Doonesbury and Trudeau's response to the current war will be appearing in tomorrow's magazine. Those of us who get the Sunday paper delivered at home have it already, and the article's already online as well.

The citation for those keeping track:
Weingarten, Gene. 2006.
Doonesbury's War: Revealing more about himself than he ever has, Garry Trudeau gives us tantalizing clues about what's behind his venerable comic strip's recent burst of genius, and pain.
Washington Post Magazine (October 22): 14.

Article - Lanham, MD cartoonist Corey Thomas gets syndicated

The Washington Post ran his strip as a replacement for Boondocks for a few weeks as they apparently feel that they need another minority strip. Actually, Watch Your Head was well done and I enjoyed it. Corey Thomas was profiled in yesterday's Montgomery Gazette -

Lanham cartoonist goes national: ‘Watch Your Head,’ Cory Thomas’ comic strip, wins syndication.
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006
by Brooke N. Garner

Oct 20 7 pm - Animated films at National Archives

Tonight at 7 pm at the National Archives at 7th and Constitution, NW, films from Selling Democracy - Films of the Marshall Plan, 1948-1953 will be shown for free. Two are cartoons:

Shoemaker and the Hatter, The* A prize-winning cartoon made by the same husband and wife team that later turned Orwell’s Animal Farm into a classic of animated storytelling. Two neighbors, a shoemaker and a hatter, argue about how best to recover their livelihoods after the war. The hatter believes in producing few hats at a high profit per hat, protected by tariff. The shoemaker sees the need for lots of shoes. He wants to lower their cost through mass production and make his profit through export and free trade. After many adventures, the shoemaker eventually proves that free trade can bring prosperity to them both. Since the free trade vs. protectionism argument is still in today’s headlines, the film is as fresh as ever. One of the most popular Marshall Plan films, it was shown in eleven language versions in movie houses throughout Western Europe. Produced by John Halas and Joy Batchelor Ltd, London, for ECA, supervised by Philip Stapp. 16 min, 1950.

Without Fear. This British-made animated film addresses Europe’s condition five years after the war, and speculates about the continent’s future. Hemsing stated that anyone seeking insights into the Europeans’ hopes, fears and emotions during the period of the Cold War would find this flawed, but powerful, film revealing. Even as the world grows smaller, Europe remains split. West Europeans can either heed the siren song from the East — unity but without liberty — or work for a more prosperous, more just society. The preachy narration is matched by the strong images—a tide of Technicolor red engulfing all of Europe. Students of propaganda technique will be well rewarded. Director Peter Sachs, script Allan Mackinnon, production supervision Philip Stapp, W. M. Larkins Studio, with Producers Guild, London, for ECA. Color, 15 min, 1951.

For more information see http://www.sellingdemocracy.org/ or http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2006/nr06-131.html

Oct 19 - Exhibit - Simplicissimus open late tonight

This is a great exhibit and it's cartoonists you're not likely to see anywhere else.

Simplicissimus and the Empire: 1896-1914
Tonight, Thursday, October 19, 6 - 8 pm
Exhibit

View caricatures from Simplicissimus, one of the earliest and most significant of the late nineteenth-century satirical periodicals that nurtured and embodied the developing spirit of Expressionism in Germany.

Gallery hours: M-Th 9-5; F 9-3; closing October

Oct 19 - Auction: Cartoons and Cocktails

'Cartoons & Cocktails' to Benefit D.C. Youth and International Cartoonists

10/17/2006 11:51:00 AM

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=74454
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor

Contact: Jean Caplanis of the Newseum, 703-284-3593, jcaplanis@newseum.org

News Advisory:

WHAT: Cartoons & Cocktails, D.C.'s largest auction of original political cartoons by the nation's top cartoonists. News personalities will auction dozens of cartoons, while guests enjoy an open bar, tapas and dessert buffet. More than 200 cartoons will be available through live and silent auctions.

WHO:

Mike Luckovich, honorary chairman, Cartoons & Cocktails 2006, and 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, The Atlanta Journal- Constitution

Jonathan D. Salant, co-chairman and president, National Press Club

Auctioneers to Include:

Dorothy Gilliam, Prime Movers

Sari Horowitz, The Washington Post

Kal Kallagher, The Economist

Carol Knopes, Radio and Television News Directors Foundation

Dave Marash, Al Jazeera International

Joan Mower, Voice of America, Broadcasting Board of Governors

Joe Pett, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader

Mark Plotkin, WTOP News Radio

Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post

WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 19

Silent auction begins at 6 p.m.

Live auction begins at 7 p.m.

WHERE: National Press Club, 529 14th Street, N.W., 13th Floor Washington, D.C.

Admission: This event is open to the public. Tickets are $50 and will be available at the door or can be charged by calling the National Press Club's ticket hotline (202-662-7501) in advance.

BACKGROUND: This year's program marks the 19th annual Cartoons & Cocktails auction. This sale of original editorial cartoon art from across the country and beyond will benefit Young D.C., the independent newspaper by and for D.C., Maryland and Virginia teens, and the Cartoonists Rights Network, an organization dedicated to assisting international editorial cartoonists who face threats, imprisonment or death for their commentary. Proceeds also will fund the National Press Club's Ellen Masin Persina Scholarship for Minorities in Journalism and the national Young D.C. scholarship for an aspiring editorial cartoonist. For more information, visit http://www.cartoonsandcocktails.org.

Media: Media who would like to cover this event are asked to contact Jean Caplanis at 703-284-3593 or jcaplanis@newseum.org. No admission charge for covering media.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

Oct 18 - Articles in the Examiner

I haven't mentioned it before but every Wednesday, the Examiner runs a brief "New Comic Book Releases" column by Brian Truitt. Unfortunately, it's no longer online so you have to pick up the paper.

Also in today's issue is:

Dufour, Jeff and Patrick Gavin. 2006.
Will The Palm erase Foley's face?; If politicians could travel back in time [caricature; Physics of Superheroes].
Washington Examiner (October 18): 6

SPX report at Publisher's Weekly

Wolk, Douglas. 2006.
Graphic Novel Time at SPX 2006.
PW Comics Week (October 17): http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6381905.html?nid=2789

Ok, go read that and then come back.

I'm not sure if I agree with Wolk here - most of the 'graphic novels' he mentioned are by major writers (Moore's From Hell), actually something else (Brunetti's Yale anthology or Jansson's Moomins), or year's old (Veitch's Abraxas, originally in Marvel's Epic magazine; I'm glad he's got it back into print).

Still, there was a lot of youthful energy at this show, and perhaps we'll be hearing from some new names in the next few years.

ICAF and SPX followup - Bart Beaty opines

My friend Bart renders his opinion at the Comics Reporter in First Person: Bart Beaty Reports on ICAF and SPX, 2006.

Bart and I don't always agree on things, but I do think his take is pretty good on both events. Personally, I'd still like to see ICAF engage a wider public - there's been, as you can see here, a lot of interest in comics in DC lately. I've learned a lot by attending ICAF over the years, and even when every paper doesn't engage or interest me, I still enjoy the Festival (now a Forum according to rumor).

I did speak to a non-comics reading colleague at work today and was suprised to find that she had gone to SPX on Saturday morning. Although she bought more t-shirts than comics, she's a trained medical illustrator and enjoyed the Con as a casual visitor.

Unfortunately both events were scheduled by coincidence for the same weekend - Bart says that's the only way he'll pay over $1000 to come down from Canada and I can't argue with that logic. But I'm sorry that I had to miss events that I would have liked to have seen in both cons.

For those who would like to see more commentary about SPX, Tom Spurgeon's gathered up links at Collective Memory: Small Press Expo 2006.

Ann Telnaes at United Nations

This one's late, but here's a press release on Cartooning for Peace The Responsibility of Political Cartoonists? Washington's Ann Telnaes, a very excellent cartoonist, and good speaker appeared.

The reason I'm still posting it is that webcasts of at least three sessions are available. Click here and go down to 16 October 06. There's a morning and afternoon session and a press conference with Plantu, the French cartoonist. Speaking of DC, he spoke at the Library of Congress a couple of years ago. You can see Ann Telnaes making remarks at the afternoon session at 1:14:50 for example.



Venue
United Natons Headquarters in New York
16 October 2006
10:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Conference Room 2


The fifth seminar in the Unlearning Intolerance seminar series of the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), entitled "Cartooning for Peace: The Responsibility of Political Cartoonists?", will explore the rights, roles and responsibilities of political cartoonists in promoting peace issues.

The anger and divisiveness engendered by the publication of the caricature of Prophet Mohammed and the recent controversial exhibit on the Holocaust suggest both a sense of the power and of the necessity of responsibility in the art of cartooning. The choice of this particular topic at the present time will, we hope, offer another opportunity for the United Nations to be a forum where difficult, but necessary, questions are raised and addressed, not only to suggest answers but to spur non-confrontational thought, debate, and enquiry.

The Department of Public Information is grateful for the generous contribution of
Emory University's Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning
in support of this Unlearning Intolerance Seminar.

The seminar will be webcast live at www.un.org/webcast


Welcoming Remarks
Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor

Opening Statement
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan

Keynote Address
French cartoonist Jean Plantu, at Le Monde since 1972



Invited Participants
Jean Plantu, France
Hussein Moustafa, Egypt
Michel Kichka, Israel
Baha Boukhari, Palestine
Hassan Karimzadeh, Iran
Norio Yamanoi, Japan
Liza Donnelly, US
Ranan Lurie, US
Carsten Graabæk, Denmark
Cintia Bolio, Mexico
Godfrey Amon Mwampembwa (Gado), Kenya
Ann Telnaes, US
Mike Luckovich, US
Jeff Danziger, US



Programme


Registration
9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
United Nations lobby, First Avenue at 46th Street

Welcoming Remarks by Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor
10:05 a.m. - 10:10 a.m.

Opening Statement by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
10:10 a.m. - 10:20 a.m.

Keynote Speech by Jean Plantu
10:20 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Morning Panel
10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Should the Cartoonist Educate?
(The Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information to open and moderate the panel discussion)

Question and Answer Session
11:30 a.m. - 12:25 p.m.

Open discussion between and among the panelists, discussants and the audience

Break
12:25 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Afternoon Panel
3:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

Should Responsibilities Abridge Rights?
(The Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information to open and moderate the panel discussion)

Question and Answer Session
4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Open discussion between and among the panelists, discussants and the audience

Closing remarks
5:30 p.m - 5:45 p.m.

Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor and Dr. Holli A. Semetko, Director of Emory University's
The Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning


The seminar will be webcast live at: www.un.org/webcast



Cartoooning for Peace Exhibit:
In conjunction with the Seminar, an exhibit, organized by the Outreach Division and the United Nations Regional Information Centre (Brussels) of the Department of Public Information, in association with Salon international du dessin de presse et d'humour de Saint-Just-le-Martel, showcases the work of cartoonists from Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Palestine, Switzerland and the United States. It may be viewed in the Visitors Lobby.

To Attend:
The seminar is open to members of the public, non-governmental organizations and media representatives who register in advance. Those in possession of a valid UN grounds pass, such as delegations of Member States, UN-affiliated non-governmental organizations and media representatives need not register. Registration is free for the public.

Registration & ID pickup:
UN Visitors Lobby. Enter at First Avenue and 46th Street.

To register, please write, providing your name and affiliation, to:
Jose Rene Tanoy, Academic Initiative Section, Civil Society Service, Outreach Division, DPI
E-Mail: tanoy@un.org; tel.: 1-917-367-9326; fax: 1-917-367-6075


For media accreditation, please visit: www.un.org/media/accreditation/index.htm:
Mr. Gary Fowlie, Chief, Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, United Nations Headquarters, Room S-250, New York, NY 10017. Tel: 1-212-963-6937; fax: 1-212-963-4642


More information about the Unlearning Intolerance seminar series can be found on the UN Chronicle Online at www.un.org/chronicle. The UN Chronicle print edition is published by the Department of Public Information in English and French. It is not an official record; the views expressed in individual articles do not necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

To subscribe to the magazine, contact UN Publications at publications@un.org or call (800) 253-9646, or go to www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/order.htm for details on a special Internet offer of US$10 per year.

Oct 17 - Fables article in Express

Scott Rosenberg has an article on Bill Willingham's Fables from DC / Vertigo on p. 22 of today's Express. That's the Washington Post spin-off in the yellow boxes. Fables is about what happens to fairy tales after they're driven from their homelands by an occupying army and move into New York. It's good.

PR - Cartoon America book goes with Library of Congress exhibit

October 16, 2006
Press contact: Audrey Fischer (202) 707-0022, afis@loc.gov
Lisa Sherman-Cohen, Harry N. Abrams Inc. (212) 519-1202,
lsherman@hnabooks.com

COMIC ART IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IS SUBJECT OF NEW BOOK

“Cartoon America” to Be Published in Conjunction with Art Wood Exhibition

“Cartoon America: Comic Art in the Library of Congress” will be published next month by the Library of Congress in association with Harry N. Abrams. Published in conjunction with the Library of Congress’ exhibition of original art from the collection of J. Arthur Wood Jr., “Cartoon America” is a treasure trove for scholars and enthusiasts of this distinctly American art form.

“The Library of Congress began to collect and preserve cartoons and caricatures within decades of its founding in 1800, recognizing their value as vehicles of social and political commentary and as original works of art,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “As a result, the Library has amassed one of the greatest collections of original cartoon art – a cornucopia of cartoon treasures and creative genius drawn from the American past.”

Edited by Harry Katz, former head curator of the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division, “Cartoon America” celebrates 250 years of American cartooning with examples of original works by the most accomplished creators in the history of comic illustration, including Thomas Nast, Charles Schultz, Jules Feiffer, Rube Goldberg and many others. With accompanying essays written exclusively for this volume by such luminaries as John Updike, Art Spiegelman and Chris Ware, “Cartoon America” includes many firsts and one-of-a-kinds, including cels from Walt Disney Productions and Hanna-Barbera, vintage editorial cartoons, award-winning drawings, magazine illustrations and much more.

The book is a companion volume to the exhibition titled “Cartoon America: Highlights from the Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature,” which will be on display from Nov. 2, 2006, through Jan. 27, 2007, in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building. The exhibition will feature 100 masterworks from Wood’s collection of more than 36,000 original cartoons drawings, which are housed in the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division.

“Cartoon America,” a 324-page hardcover book featuring 275 full-color illustrations, is available for $50 in bookstores nationwide and the Library of Congress Sales Shop, Washington, DC 20540-4985. Credit card orders are taken at (888) 682-3557. Online orders can be placed at www.loc.gov/shop.

# # #
PR 06-196
10/16/06
ISSN 0731-3527

Oct 17 - Physics of Superheroes at Library of Congress

It's not too often that I get an email from a physics librarian, but Margaret of the LoC would like to invite us to hear a comics-related lecture. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it, although I've got his book sitting in my briefcase, just in case.



On Tuesday, October 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the West Dining Room of the James Madison Building at the Library of Congress: Dr. James Kakalios will speak on "The Physics of Superheroes." The event is co-sponsored by the Science, Technology & Business Division and the Serial and Government Publications Division.

Dr. Kakalios is a professor in the School of of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota, where he has taught since 1988; his class "Everything I Needed to Know About Physics I Learned From Reading Comic Books," is a popular freshman seminar. He is the author of "The Physics of Superheroes" (Gotham Books, 2005), and copies of the book will be available for purchase at this event. The book explores everything from energy to thermodynamics, to quantum mechanics, to solid state physics, and Kakalios relates the physics in comic books to such real-world applications as automobile airbags, microwave ovens, and transistors.

A display of selected comic books from the Library's collection will also be featured at this event. For more information please contact the ST&B Division at 202-707-5664.

The book will be on sale and Dr. Kakalios will be available for signing after the talk.

ICAF followup - Article on Rwandan cartoonist

I'll try to post some of my pictures soon, but here's an article on Rupert, as he signs his art.

And apparently GW makes you register. Sorry about that. Give 'em a fake name.

Rwandan genocide survivor illustrates tragedy: Comic book chronicles life during 1994 mass murders
by Megan Marinos
GW Hatchet Reporter
Issue date: 10/16/06 Section: Life

Article - Get Your War On review in college paper

Well, the play's over and I didn't see it. Here's another review though.

"Get Your War On" delivers belly-laughs and biting wit
by Jeffrey Parker
Senior Staff Writer
GW Hatchet Online Issue date: 10/12/06 Section: Arts

Oct 13 - Exhibit by Webcomics artist

Dirk Deppey's Journalista blog pointed out this article:

Gooden, Kim. 2006.
Pitchers at an Exhibition: Chris Bishop shows his bold paintings in…a pool bar [webcomic artist].
Washington City Paper (October 13).

Oct 13 - today at SPX

SPX's programming schedule

Friday:

2:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kids Comics with Brian Ralph!
Brian Ralph, creator of Reggie-12, the graphic novels Cave-In and Climbing Out, and comic strips for Nickelodeon Magazine, will talk about his comics for kids and how he makes them.


TBA
3:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jules Feiffer Q+A
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer inaugurated the contemporary weekly cartoon format in the Village Voice with groundbreaking cartoons about psychology, social mores, relationships, and politics. Feiffer is also a screenwriter and playwright, and has in recent years authored a number of award-winning children's books. He most recently drew illustrations for The Long Chalkboard, a collection of stories by his wife, the comedian and writer Jenny Allen. Tim Kreider will ask Feiffer questions about his work and the state of the world today.


Auditorium
8:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Millionaire Q+A
Tony Millionaire's weekly Maakies strip is traditionalist and subversive, horrific and comic, beautiful and profane. Millionaire has also written and drawn the Sock Monkey series of comic books and several children's books. Gary Groth interviews the man whose exquisitely drawn strip about drunken animals, sea battles, and much more is arguably the most delightful comic strip on newsprint today.

Oct 14 - Superheroes at ICAF tomorrow

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14

10:30-12:00: Panel #6: Early comics
Chair: Marc Singer, ICAF Executive Committee
Gerry Beegan, “’Leaving Out’: Imaging the Cockney in the Caricatures of Phil May”
David Olsen, “’Monkeying with the ink bottle’: The Signifying Potential of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat”
Jared Gardner, “Gutter Stories: Comics, Film, and Modernity, 1897-1917”

12:00-1:30: Lunch

1:30-3:00: Comics production roundtable
Stuart Moore and Jamal Igle (Firestorm) discuss the steps of assembling a comic book for a major US publisher

3:00-3:15: Break

3:15-4:45: Comics and politics
Phil Jiminez (The Invisibles, Infinite Crisis, Otherworld) and Denny O’Neil (Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow) discuss the challenges of addressing political issues in superhero comics

Oct 13 - today at ICAF

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13

9:00-10:30: Panel #3: Collaborative authorship
Chair: Charles Hatfield, ICAF Executive Committee
Adam Rosenblatt, “The Making and Remaking of El Eternauta”
Michael Wenthe, “The Rules of the Game“
Isaac Cates, “The Many Hands of Alan Moore“

10:30-11:00: Break

11:00-12:30: Panel #4: Comics and memory
Chair: Ana Merino, ICAF Executive Committee
Natsu Onoda, “Comics, College, and Collective Memory”
Pedro Perez-Del-Solar, “Spanish War Stories:Constructing Spanish Civil War from the Underground“
Michael Chaney, “Re-Membering, Re-mediating Slavery”

12:30-2: Lunch

2:00-3:00: Lent Scholarship Lecture: Barbara Postema (Michigan State University)

3:00-3:30: Break

3:30-5:00: Panel #5: The frontiers of the comics form
Chair: Craig Fischer, ICAF Executive Committee
Robert Peterson, “The Acoustics of Manga: Narrative Erotics and Visual Presence of Sound”
John Jennings, Damian Duffy, and Rose Marchack, “Virtual Unreality and the Shape of Time: Virtual comics, postmodern self-referentiality, and the fourth dimension”

5:00-7:30: Dinner

7:30-9:30: Smile Through the Tears: Bearing witness to the Rwandan genocide through comic arts
A special event at the George Washington University’s Gelman Library featuring Rupert Bazambanza, Ellen Yamshon, and moderator Steven Livingston

Oct 11 - Baltimore City Paper comics issue

Tom's Comics Reporter pointed this out yesterday - http://www.citypaper.com/special/

Oct 12 - articles on SPX, ICAF, Get Your War On

Apologies for the late notice, but I've been at ICAF. Jules Feiffer was especially interesting tonight and can be seen tomorrow at SPX at 3 pm and Politics & Prose at 7 pm. With his permission, I recorded his talk and hope to get it in a future issue of the International Journal of Comic Art.

In the meantime, the Express ran an article on SPX, another on a local DC cartoonist and a blurb on ICAF. The City Paper reviewed the Get Your War On play.

Oct 12 Cartoonists with Attitude

Politics and Prose at 7 pm - Ted Rall and the young editorial cartoonists in Attitude 3.

Oct 12-14 ICAF schedule REPOST

The Eleventh AnnualInternational Comic Arts Festival (ICAF)
Festival International de la Bande Dessinée
-->OCTOBER 12-14, 2006
Washington, D.C.
The Library of Congress, James Madison Building
With thanks to our many sponsors.
Read more about ICAF's mission here.
All events will be held in the Mumford Room, Library of Congress Madison Building, unless otherwise noted

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12

9:00-9:15: ICAF Welcome and Introduction

9:15-10:45: Panel #1: Cultural exchanges in French comics
Chair: Guy Spielmann, ICAF Executive Committee
Karen Leader, “Les caricaturistes peints par eux-mêmes”
Jennifer Worth, “Framing and Unveiling: Marjane Satrapi’s Performance of Persepolis“
Bart Beaty, “Appropriating la nouvelle bande dessinée: The Question of Cultural Change”

10:45-11:00: Break

11:00-12:30: Panel #2: Manga and Japanese society
Chair: Ana Merino, ICAF Executive Committee
Ryan Holmberg, “Japan, a country with guns: Armament and Manga in the 1960s”
Steven Clark, “Boxing Manga and the Fictionality Vector “
Kukhee Choo, “Manga: Japanese Governement Marketing Strategy”

12:30-2:00: Lunch

2:00-3:00: Georgia Higley, “Researching Comic Books in the Library of Congress”

3:00-3:45: Display of drawings and manuscript materials by Jules Feiffer in the Prints & Photographs Reading Room
Courtesy of the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon
Curated by Sara Duke & Martha Kennedy, The Swann Foundation

3:45-4:00: Break

4:00-5:00: Tour of “Enduring Outrage: Editoral Cartoons by Herb Block” in the American Treasures Gallery, Library of Congress Jefferson Building
Tour conducted by Martha Kennedy and Sara Duke

5:00-7:00: Dinner

7:00-8:30: An Evening with Jules Feiffer
The legendary cartoonist and author discusses his career


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13

9:00-10:30: Panel #3: Collaborative authorship
Chair: Charles Hatfield, ICAF Executive Committee
Adam Rosenblatt, “The Making and Remaking of El Eternauta”
Michael Wenthe, “The Rules of the Game“
Isaac Cates, “The Many Hands of Alan Moore“

10:30-11:00: Break

11:00-12:30: Panel #4: Comics and memory
Chair: Ana Merino, ICAF Executive Committee
Natsu Onoda, “Comics, College, and Collective Memory”
Pedro Perez-Del-Solar, “Spanish War Stories:Constructing Spanish Civil War from the Underground“
Michael Chaney, “Re-Membering, Re-mediating Slavery”

12:30-2: Lunch

2:00-3:00: Lent Scholarship Lecture: Barbara Postema (Michigan State University)

3:00-3:30: Break

3:30-5:00: Panel #5: The frontiers of the comics form
Chair: Craig Fischer, ICAF Executive Committee
Robert Peterson, “The Acoustics of Manga: Narrative Erotics and Visual Presence of Sound”
John Jennings, Damian Duffy, and Rose Marchack, “Virtual Unreality and the Shape of Time: Virtual comics, postmodern self-referentiality, and the fourth dimension”

5:00-7:30: Dinner

7:30-9:30: Smile Through the Tears: Bearing witness to the Rwandan genocide through comic arts
A special event at the George Washington University’s Gelman Library featuring Rupert Bazambanza, Ellen Yamshon, and moderator Steven Livingston

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14

10:30-12:00: Panel #6: Early comics
Chair: Marc Singer, ICAF Executive Committee
Gerry Beegan, “’Leaving Out’: Imaging the Cockney in the Caricatures of Phil May”
David Olsen, “’Monkeying with the ink bottle’: The Signifying Potential of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat”
Jared Gardner, “Gutter Stories: Comics, Film, and Modernity, 1897-1917”

12:00-1:30: Lunch

1:30-3:00: Comics production roundtable
Stuart Moore and Jamal Igle (Firestorm) discuss the steps of assembling a comic book for a major US publisher

3:00-3:15: Break

3:15-4:45: Comics and politics
Phil Jiminez (The Invisibles, Infinite Crisis, Otherworld) and Denny O’Neil (Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow) discuss the challenges of addressing political issues in superhero comics

Oct 13-14: D+Q at SPX

Peggy Burns of Drawn and Quarterly just sent me this PR. I buy most of D&Q's line - the Moomin book is especially good.


Drawn & Quarterly will be at this year's SPX this Friday, October 13th and Saturday the 14th , which please note, is in a brand new location at the Marriot Bethesda North in Bethesda, MD. Please visit http://spxpo.com/ for more information.

We will have the following new books on sale!

LUCKY by Gabrielle Bell
CURSES by Kevin Huizenga
MOOMIN by Tove Jansson
BIG QUESTIONS 9 and DON'T GO WHERE I CAN'T FOLLOW by Anders Nilsen
FALLEN ANGEL by Nicolas Robel

Anders, Kevin and Gabrielle as well as Dan Zettwoch from D+Q SHOWCASE VOLUME
FOUR will be in attendance, here is our signing and programming schedule:

Friday, October 13th:
3:00 - 5:00 Kevin Huizenga & Dan Zettwoch
5:00 - 7:00 Gabrielle Bell & Anders Nilsen

Saturday, October 14th:
12:00 - 1:00 Dan Zettwoch

1:00 - 3:00 Gabrielle Bell & Anders Nilsen

3:30-4:30 A panel discussion with Anders, Kevin and Gabrielle "How to Draw
Thinking" from 3:30 to 4:30 on Saturday, in Brookside A. With moderator
Isaac Cates, they will discuss the pleasures and problems of making pictures
that think.

4:45 - 6:45 Kevin Huizenga

D+Q staffers Rebecca Rosen and Morgan Charles will be on hand to see that
all goes well at tables #C14-16.

Don't be shy!


Peggy Burns
Drawn & Quarterly
Director, Marketing & Publicity
http://drawnandquarterly.com/blog/

Oct 25-26 The Cartoon Medicine Show: Animated Cartoons from the Collection of the National Library of Medicine

This press release arrived a little while ago. This should be great fun - Mike Sappol's a very sharp historian of medicine, as is David Cantor. Donald Crafton's book is a must-have for anyone interested in the history of animation.


Join the National Academy of Sciences for a two day film festival of rare animated medical cartoons from the 1920s to the 1960s. The event will take place on October 25 and 26 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the National Academy of Sciences, 2100 C St, N.W., Washington, D.C.

DETAILS:
From the silent film era to the present, physicians, health professionals, government agencies like the U.S. Public Health Service, and voluntary associations such as the American Cancer Society, have used motion pictures to advance medical science, train doctors and nurses, and educate the public.

"The Cartoon Medicine Show: Animated Cartoons from the Collection of the National Library of Medicine," curated by Michael Sappol of the National Library of Medicine, will feature a rich sampling of rarely screened animated medical cartoons from the 1920s to the 1960s. The film series will present a variety of medical themes and genres, including dental hygiene, physical fitness, physiology, mental health, malaria, venereal disease, cancer, radiology, and sanitary food preparation. Each evening will consist of a different selection of 10 to 15 short animated medical cartoons by animators both obscure and well-known, including Walt Disney, Friz Freleng, Zack Schwartz, Walter Lantz, and Shamus Culhane.

SPEAKERS:
Film historian Donald Crafton and medical historians Michael Sappol and David Cantor will provide commentary. Donald Crafton is the chair of the department of film, television, and theater at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898- 1928 (MIT Press, 1984). Michael Sappol is a curator and historian at the National Library of Medicine. His scholarly work focuses on the body, anatomy, medical illustration, and medicine in film. He is the author of A Traffic of Dead Bodies (Princeton University Press, 2002). David Cantor is the editor of Reinventing Hippocrates (Ashgate, 2002). His scholarly work focuses on the history of 20th century medicine, most recently the history of cancer.

EVENT: The Cartoon Medicine Show: Animated Cartoons from the Collection of the National Library of Medicine
DATE: October 25 and 26
TIME: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
LOCATION: National Academy of Sciences Auditorium, 2100 C St., N.W., Washington, D.C.
COST: Admission is free, but seating is limited
RSVP: arts@nas.edu or (202) 334-2436
METRO: Foggy Bottom on the blue and orange lines

Oct 10 - Get Your War On review in Post

The Post gave a very good review to the play based on David Rees' clip art comic strip. The play runs through Oct 14th.

Marks, Peter. 2006.
'Get Your War On': Precision Weapons Of Mass Derision.
Washington Post (October 10): C1

Oct 11 - Presidential Doodles booksigning REPOST

David Greenberg - Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles & Scrawls from the Oval Office
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 07:00 PM at Olsson's The Lansburgh/Penn Quarter, 418 7th St., NW, (202) 638-7610

What were the leaders of the free world really doing during all those meetings? As the creators of Cabinet magazine reveal here for the first time, they were doodling! Includes a powerpoint presentation.

[I'm doing these reposts to try to keep the relevant date and information on the main page - if anyone's got any comments or suggestions, let me know]

Oct 12 - Roadtrip! Ed Stein opens political cartoon exhibit at William & Mary

Google maps, which appears to be much smarter than Mapquest at this point, says it's 154 miles from DC. Actually, I can't recommend attending this with both ICAF and SPX underway in DC, even though I like Stein's comic strip a lot, but the exhibit runs through January.

Cartoonist Ed Stein to open Swem exhibit with lecture
News · Press Releases · Ed Stein to open Swem exhibit
Author: Suzanne Seurattan, Source: Press Releases
Date: Oct 09, 2006

(Williamsburg, Va.)—Internationally-syndicated editorial cartoonist, Ed Stein, will speak at the College of William and Mary's Earl Gregg Swem Library on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 4 p.m. Stein currently draws for the Rocky Mountain News but his cartoons have also appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and other publications. He will share his experiences as an editorial cartoonist, as well as the place of a political cartoonist in the modern world. Some of Stein‚s cartoons are currently on display in the library‚s Botetourt Gallery as part of an American Political Cartoonists exhibit which will run until Jan. 2007. A reception will immediately follow the lecture. The event is free and open to the public.

The American Political Cartoonists exhibit features the works of significant American cartoonists from the last 150 years including: Thomas Nast, Bill Mauldin, Dr. Seuss, Herbert Block (Herblock), Pat Oliphant, Garry Trudeau, Signe Wilkinson, Stein and Hugh Haynie. The exhibit can be seen in the Botetourt Gallery on the ground floor of Swem Library. Exhibit hours coincide with those of the library.

A special section of the exhibit (on the 1st floor) focuses on the works of Haynie, a 1950 graduate of the College, and cartoonist for the Louisville Courier Journal for forty years. To view more about Hugh Haynie's work, visit http://swem.wm.edu/exhibits/political-cartoons/.

The American Political Cartoonists exhibit, website, and corresponding events are were made possible by through the support of the Roy R. Charles Center, Swem Library and the hard work of junior, Jocelyn Krieger. For more information on the lecture or exhibit, please contact Rebecca Beasley, rlbeas@wm.edu, 757.221.3123.

Oct 13-14 SPX Programming schedule

Tom Spurgeon at the Comics Reporter noted that SPX's programming schedule is up.

Some good stuff on both days. Note Jules Feiffer's appearance is only on Friday; I've seen him speak several times and he's always entertaining. Note also that Saturday's events are parallel and an hour long each, so you're always missing something good. I think this is Douglas Wolk's first ICAF, and fairly positive that it's Tony Millionaire's as well. Watching Nadel, Groth and Brunetti duke out the idea of a canon should be entertaining - hopefully a transcript of that will run in The Comics Journal or moderator Kartopolis' Indy Magazine. Yoe's session should be fun, McCloud's interesting and Brownstein's political cartoons one disturbing. It all looks good.

Friday:

2:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kids Comics with Brian Ralph!
Brian Ralph, creator of Reggie-12, the graphic novels Cave-In and Climbing Out, and comic strips for Nickelodeon Magazine, will talk about his comics for kids and how he makes them.


TBA
3:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jules Feiffer Q+A
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer inaugurated the contemporary weekly cartoon format in the Village Voice with groundbreaking cartoons about psychology, social mores, relationships, and politics. Feiffer is also a screenwriter and playwright, and has in recent years authored a number of award-winning children's books. He most recently drew illustrations for The Long Chalkboard, a collection of stories by his wife, the comedian and writer Jenny Allen. Tim Kreider will ask Feiffer questions about his work and the state of the world today.


Auditorium
8:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Millionaire Q+A
Tony Millionaire's weekly Maakies strip is traditionalist and subversive, horrific and comic, beautiful and profane. Millionaire has also written and drawn the Sock Monkey series of comic books and several children's books. Gary Groth interviews the man whose exquisitely drawn strip about drunken animals, sea battles, and much more is arguably the most delightful comic strip on newsprint today.


SATURDAY
11:30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Graphic Novels: First Authors
What challenges face a cartoonist making a long-form work for the first time? Writer Douglas Wolk talks about problems, solutions, and methodologies with Austin English, Megan Kelso and Matthias Lehmann, all of whom have recently finished their first graphic novels.

12:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Masters, Canons and Anti-Canons
In light of the "Masters of American Comics" show and several new books that seek to expand or challenge our notions of comics' greatest works, Ivan Brunetti, Gary Groth and Dan Nadel will address the concept of a canon as it relates to comics, discuss its necessity and consider its possible function. Moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos


12:30
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Center for Cartoon Studies: Presentation and Workshop
Robyn Chapman joins us from the Center for Cartoon Studies, a recently-founded two-year educational institution for budding cartoonists in White River Junction, Vermont. Robyn will talk about this unique school and will lead a hands-on cartooning workshop. No matter how little experience you have, you will leave this panel having drawn a comics page!

1:00
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Craig Yoe: Arf Lover
Twisted archivist of the ridiculous and the sublime Craig Yoe presents for your pleasure and scandalization selections from the collection of comics, gags, and graffix which form the source for his eccentric series of "Arf" anthology books. Outrageous obscurities and eyeball-kicks are practically guaranteed! (Offer not valid where offer may apply.)


1:30
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Ways of Drawing
What do different styles of cartooning mean to cartoonists? What are cartoonists trying to get across with their brushstrokes? Why draw with thick or soft lines? Is drawing style a conscious choice or does it evolve naturally? Is it pleasureable to draw? Or is it a struggle? Ben Catmull, John Hankiewicz, Megan Kelso, Onsmith and Frank Santoro discuss these questions and more with moderator Austin English

2:00
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Scott McCloud Q+A
Scott McCloud has become a leading spokesman and thinker in American comics through his treatises-in-comics form, Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics. Now he follows up his analyses with a new approach to practical application in Making Comics. McCloud will discuss his ideas with moderator Bill Kartalopoulos and answer questions from the audience.


2:30
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Political Cartooning in 2006
One year ago Danish newspaper cartoons sparked deadly global riots. Earlier this year the Joint Chiefs of Staff protested a political cartoon about troop injuries in Iraq. Last month a graphic novel adaptation of the 9/11 Commission Report became a New York Times bestseller. Charles Brownstein talks to Tim Kreider, Ted Rall, Mikhaela Reid, Jen Sorensen and Rick Veitch about the interesting times these cartoonists live within and how their work responds.

3:00
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Ivan Brunetti Q+A
Ivan Brunetti has drawn raging screeds against the void, gag cartoons from hell's lower circles, sensitive biographies of dead artists, and observant slices-of-life. His cartooning style has transformed over the years from harsh and anguished to geometric and delicate. He is also an educator, editor, historian, curator, and spiritual seeker. Jesse Fuchs leads a discussion with the artist who calls his comic book "Schizo."


3:30
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How to Draw Thinking
Some say that because comics is a visual medium, it's better suited for action and spectacle than for rumination or the internal life of the mind. Comics by Gabrielle Bell, Kevin Huizenga, and Anders Nilsen consistently prove this notion wrong. With moderator Isaac Cates, they will discuss the pleasures and problems of making pictures that think.

4:00
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Brian Chippendale Q+A
Brian Chippendale co-founded the seminal Fort Thunder artists' space in Providence, Rhode Island in 1995. His first book, Ninja, has just been published. He is also the author of numerous mini-comics, including the Maggots series, and has appeared in anthologies including Paper Rodeo, Non, and Coober Skeeber. Chippendale also plays drums and sings as one-half of the band Lightning Bolt. Dan Nadel asks the questions

Oct 11 2pm - Herblock webcast from Library of Congress

Sara Duke reports that she will be lecturing for an online webcast:

Cartoons and Political Opinion

Join the Library of Congress in the OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) online classroom as it explores the resonant work of political cartoonist Herblock, through the Library of Congress's new exhibition: Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by Herblock. Sara Duke, Curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art, will delve into the treasure trove of material from the Prints and Photographs Division and show cartoons related to perennial topics such as the environment, ethics, privacy, the Middle East, and more.

When: Wednesday, October 11, 2 p.m. (E.D.T.), 1:00 p.m. CST

To attend, go to
http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0

Type your name and click Enter to go into the online room. A small software applet will download to your computer as you enter the room. All that is needed is an Internet connection, sound card, and speakers. A headset with microphone will enable you to speak to the group.

Note: Use of Internet Explorer is recommended. Log on 5 minutes early to allow for the web conference software to be downloaded automatically to your computer.

For more information about upcoming programs, see Online Programming for All Libraries (OPAL) at http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm.

To learn more about the Library of Congress, see http://www.loc.gov/, especially:

Prints & Photographs Division: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/

Online Exhibition: Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by Herblock - http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/herblock-intro.html

Nov 18 - Academic panels - “Comics, Graphic Novels, and the Bible”

A. David Lewis reports that he will be speaking at the following session next month. More details if I get them, but it sounds interesting. Besides the obvious issue of the propriety of the Danish Islam cartoons, there has been a lot of growth in Christian and Jewish comics in the US. (BTW, I think that's Andre, not Andrea).

Program for 2006 National Academy of American Religion/Society of Biblical Literature

SBL Forum Special Session, Nov. 18, 1pm – DC Convention Center
“Comics, Graphic Novels, and the Bible”
Dan W. Clanton, Jr., Presider

Papers

G. Andrew Tooze, Winston-Salem, NC, “Do Superheroes Read Scripture? The Bible and Comic Books” (30 minutes)

Terry Clark, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, “Biblical Graphic Novels: Adaptation, Interpretation, and Pedagogy” (30 minutes)

Andrea Molinari, Creighton University, “Climbing the Dragon’s Ladder: Perpetua, Felicitas, Graphic Novels and the Possibility of Modern Hagiography” (30 minutes)

Panel Discussion (60 minutes)

Greg Garrett, Professor of English, Baylor University
A. David Lewis, author of The Lone and Level Sands
Steve Ross, author of Marked
JT Waldman, author of Megillat Esther

Article - DC resident reviews NYC's Masters of American Comics

You can find it here:

Wecker, Menachem. 2006.
What’s New With Jewish-American Superheroes?
Jewish Press (October 4).

and here's the details for 1/2 the exhibit at least:

Masters of American Comics
September 15, 2006-January 28, 2007
The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue – at 92nd Street, New York
212-423-3200, http://www.thejewishmuseum.org

I don't know Mr. Wecker, but his bio on the JP site says, "Menachem Wecker is a painter and assistant editor of B’nai B’rith Magazine in Washington, D.C. He welcomes comments at mwecker@gmail.com." The number of people interested in comics in Washington continues to surprise me.

Oct 8 - Animation Festival - National Geographic REPOST

This slid off the main heading's list so I'll repost it in case anyone's looking for something to do today.

As part of their All Roads Film Festival, Nat'l Geo has a morning showing of animated shorts at their 16th and M Sts, NW location. There is a charge to see these.

Sunday, October 8
11 a.m. ANIMATION PROGRAM
Traditional tales from around the world come alive in animated form.
*How the Elephant Lost his Wings
Tara Douglas
4 min/India/2006
World Premiere

A story from the Muria Gond culture about conflict between the first elephant and man.
*Pot of Gold
Nitin Donde
5 min/India/2006
World Premiere

A tale from the Warli tribe of Maharashtra tells what happens when a husband and wife find a pot of gold.
*Best of the Best
Leslie MacKenzie
5 min /India/2006
World Premiere

A vain mouse gets what she deserves in this story from the Gondi tribe.
First Fire
Nathan Young
10 min/USA/2004
Cherokee with English Subtitles
DC Premiere

Stop-motion claymation depicts the origin of fire from the Cherokee Nation.
Un Poquito De... (A Little Bit Of...)
Dominique Jonard
11 min/Mexico/2003
Spanish with English subtitles
US Premiere

Schoolchildren wrote and illustrated this story showing the fun lives of people living near Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico.
Raven and the First People
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006

In the first of two new episodes from the award-winning series about Pacific North Coast tribes, Raven Tales, Eagle and Raven are at odds over how to take care of the world entrusted to them.
Raven and the Seawolf
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006
US Premiere

The first man is dismayed to find he has no skill as a fisherman and that his skills as an artisan are unappreciated, so he calls out a mythical sea monster to help him.

Oct 14 5 pm - Terri Witek poetry reading UPDATED with CORRECTED TIME

Terri Witek will be reading at Chapters, a literary bookstore. Terri's a friend of mine, and her poetry is frequently about graphic images. Her current book, Carnal World, is on her responses to paintings.

Chapters has a description up now:

Time: Saturday, October 14, 2006 5:00 PM
Title of Event: Steve Scafidi & Terri Witek
"This is a return trip for Steve Scafidi, whose second collection, For Love of Common Words exuberantly embodies that title, in being both meditative and defiant about our common losses. Terri Witek, whom we know and admire from the West Chester Poetry Conference, reads from Carnal World, her smart, funny, and keenly observant poems on paintings."

Terri's in town with her husband, Joseph 'Rusty' Witek, who's attending ICAF and is the author of Comic Books as History: the Narrative Art of Jack Jackson, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar.

Oct 7 - Get Your War On article in Post and other tidbits UPDATED

Pressley, Nelson. 2006.
Internet Comic Strip 'Get Your War On' Goes 3-D on Stage.
Washington Post (October 7): C1.

The article's about the staging of a clip art comic strip, rather than a review of the performance.

Also in the Style section is another of Richard Thompson's caricature finger puppets. Don Rumsfield will be joining the previous ones on my book shelves -- and pushing them around apparently!


The City Paper also has a bit on Get Your War On. They've also got an illustration by Josh Neufeld on an article about rats. Josh hopefully should be attending ICAF this year as he's been a regular for years.

Over in the Washington Times, Zadzooks! reviews games and toys based on comics. Oddly enough, he's been doing this column for at least a decade and I've never run into him.

Szadkowski, Joseph. 2006.
Hong Kong Phooey bats at villains in 3-D action.
WASHINGTON TIMES (October 7).

Finally, the Express had the Spider-Man Collectible Series 8 comic book, reprinting part of Amazing Spider-Man #4 - remember steal a copy from your neighbor's lawn!

Oct 11 - Presidential Doodles booksigning

David Greenberg - Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles & Scrawls from the Oval Office
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 07:00 PM at Olsson's The Lansburgh/Penn Quarter, 418 7th St., NW, (202) 638-7610

What were the leaders of the free world really doing during all those meetings? As the creators of Cabinet magazine reveal here for the first time, they were doodling! Includes a powerpoint presentation.

National Public Radio had a story on this book a few days ago -
Siegel, Robert. 2006.
'Presidential Doodles:' Oval Office Artists.
National Public Radio's All Things Considered (September 21) .
online at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6118892

Oct 12-14 - Cartoonists with Attitude appearances

Tom Spurgeon's fine blog, The Comics Reporter, pointed to Cartoonists with Attitude's website today. CWA is a group of young, mostly editorial, cartoonists centered around the frequently controversial. Mikhaela Reid and Jen "Slowpoke" Sorenson have been regulars at SPX for years now, and I recommend their works. On Oct 12, the group will be at Politics and Prose at 7 pm. On the 13th and 14th, they'll be at the Small Press Expo in Upper Bethesda, or Lower Rockville, near the White Flint Mall.

Oct 5 - Get Your War On article in Express

Berger, Arion. 2006.
What is it good for? A prickly Web strip comes to life as 'Get Your War On,' the play.
[Washington Post] Express (October 5): E11

- that's the paper in the yellow box. It's an interview with Kirk Lynn who adapted the strip to the stage. The article's not online so you'll have to get it today if you want it.

Oct 7 - Comic book signing

Joel Pollack, owner of Big Planet Comics, told me today that he'd have two comic book creators at his store this Saturday during the Taste of Bethesda festivities. John "Buzzboy" Gallagher and Shannon "Marvel Adventures Avengers" Gallant will be appearing. Gallagher most likely from 1-4 and Gallant from 11-2.

Oct 15 - Comic Book convention

Labelling themselves "Washington, DC's only ComiCon" on their flyer, Capital Associates' convention is in Tyson's Corner at the Dunn Loring Volunteer Fire Department at 2148 Gallows Road from 10-3 on 10/15 with an admission of $3.00.

Article - Herblock exhibit

The new Library of Congress Information Bulletin for July-August has a profile, or apparently a re-written press release with a lot of pictures in it. Unfortunately, the LoC's website is way behind on loading these, so you'll have to see if you can scrounge a copy from an acquaintance who works in a library.

Here's the citation for those keeping track:
'Enduring Outrage': Editorial Cartoons by Herblock on display.
Library of Congress Information Bulletin (July-August 2006): 177-181

Toles in Buffalo

The school newspaper had the story of Toles' speech last weekend -
Kim, Jungmin. 2006.
Pulitzer Prizewinner Toles discusses censorship in society.
University of Buffalo Spectrum (October 5).
online at http://spectrum.buffalo.edu/article.php?id=28540.

Article - Big Planet Comics in PW Comics Week

Publisher's Weekly electronic comics newsletter covered Big Planet Comics this week - the store I've been shopping at since The Dark Knight Returns dragged me back into comic books. See '20 Years of Retailing at Big Planet Comics,'
by Chris Arrant, PW Comics Week, October 3, 2006

Gaiman booksigning report, of sorts

I'm sure a lot of other blogs covered this, and better, but here's my notes from the P&P signing.

Gaiman attracted a crowd of about 450-500 people to the site in the church. This was the first signing that P&P had there, and it's a good venue, although it was a bit strange to see Gaiman in a pulpit. He noted that these are all the stories he's written since the last collection, except for a story called "Orange" I think. He talked about putting poetry in the book, which his fans are divided about, but included it because the book would be the same length whether or not it was included. So he read his included poem, The Day The Saucers Came to a good bit of laughter.

He then read the first story in his book, A Study in Emerald after determining that he'd read another one at a con in Baltimore recently. After that, he took questions.

Asked what is Alan Moore like, Gaiman gave an amusing description of meeting him with Moore while Moore was wearing a bright red suit. He also gave an amusing account of Moore deciding to short-circuit his midlife crisis by worshipping an imaginary snake.

Asked how he can let characters go, Gaiman noted that 10 years of Sandman was long enough and it was a relief for all parties to let go some times.

Asked how long American Gods took to write, he explained 2 years, but the book had been gestating for longer.

Anansi was the central figure of the sequel because 8 years earlier he'd been working with Lenny Henry on his audiobooks. Henry noted that there were no black characters in horror movies because they all get killed offstage. Lenny's a bespectacled comics nerd offstage, but wanted a role written for him, so Anansi Boys is all written with Caribbean black characters unless otherwise noted. Originally it was to be a novella, along with Stardust and Neverwhere stories, but editor Jenny Brown insisted it would be a book.

Asked about his personal relationship with God, as it were, he said, "I think religions are the coolest things on earth and I hope people keep making them up until the end of time." He followed this by stating, "I think they're really cool and odd and I wish people wouldn't kill each other over them."

After questions, he gave his film FAQ.

John Hodgeman is the father in Coraline which is being done as stop-motion and will be ready in 2008. The misic is by They Might Be Giants. Also Ian McShane will be the upstairs neighbor.

The 1st movie out, March 2007, will be Stardust. Filmed in Highland Studios in England.

On November 22, 2007, Beowulf, starring John Malkovich, Anthony Hopkins, Crispin Glover predictably as Grendel, and Angelie Jolie as Grendel's mother. He began the script with a friend in 1998. The friend planned to direct it until Zimeckis offered them, not one, which wasn't enough, but two wheelbarrows of money. It's being done like Polar Express but better.

Corrections, especially those of names, are welcomed.

Alison Bechdel booksigning followup UPDATED

Politics and Prose put an interview with Bechdel on their website.

Also they sell recordings of the event and noted in their newsletter that Bechdel is available. I've ordered mine.

Bechdel wrote about the booksigning in her blog as did Jenny Miller on her blog.

Article - editorial cartoons in Health & Medicine museum exhibit

Captions: Reception for the exhibit; Wayne Stayskal, Tampa Tribune, June 24, 1997; and Mike Keefe, Denver Post, 1997

Here's an article on the editorial cartoon exhibit on smoking on display at the museum through early spring. The museum's 5 miles north of the White House on 16th St. I work in this museum, but didn't have anything to do with this exhibit so I can say without self-promotion that it's good and worth seeing.

Bell, John R. 2006.
Museum Exhibit Shows Shift in Thinking About Tobacco.
Family Practice News 36 (18; September 15): 4.
http://www.familypracticenews.com/article/PIIS0300707306738191/fulltext.

Oct 2 Booksigning - Alison Bechdel REMINDER

Just a reminder - and note the time is an hour later than usual. I probably won't make it to this, but if anyone goes, feel free to comment here. Again, this is one of the best graphic novels of 2006.

Politics and Prose
Monday, October 2, 8 p.m.
ALISON BECHDEL
FUN HOME (Houghton Mifflin, $19.95)

In this illustrated memoir, Bechdel tells the story of her relationship with her father—an artistic, obsessive, and tragically repressed man. Bechdel has won acclaim for her hilarious, high-minded comic portraits of lesbian life, and this rich, beautiful work is a remarkable demonstration of her power as a storyteller.

Oct 8 - Animation Festival - National Geographic

As part of their All Roads Film Festival, Nat'l Geo has a morning showing of animated shorts at their 16th and M Sts, NW location. There is a charge to see these.

Sunday, October 8
11 a.m. ANIMATION PROGRAM
Traditional tales from around the world come alive in animated form.
*How the Elephant Lost his Wings
Tara Douglas
4 min/India/2006
World Premiere

A story from the Muria Gond culture about conflict between the first elephant and man.
*Pot of Gold
Nitin Donde
5 min/India/2006
World Premiere

A tale from the Warli tribe of Maharashtra tells what happens when a husband and wife find a pot of gold.
*Best of the Best
Leslie MacKenzie
5 min /India/2006
World Premiere

A vain mouse gets what she deserves in this story from the Gondi tribe.
First Fire
Nathan Young
10 min/USA/2004
Cherokee with English Subtitles
DC Premiere

Stop-motion claymation depicts the origin of fire from the Cherokee Nation.
Un Poquito De... (A Little Bit Of...)
Dominique Jonard
11 min/Mexico/2003
Spanish with English subtitles
US Premiere

Schoolchildren wrote and illustrated this story showing the fun lives of people living near Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico.
Raven and the First People
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006

In the first of two new episodes from the award-winning series about Pacific North Coast tribes, Raven Tales, Eagle and Raven are at odds over how to take care of the world entrusted to them.
Raven and the Seawolf
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006
US Premiere

The first man is dismayed to find he has no skill as a fisherman and that his skills as an artisan are unappreciated, so he calls out a mythical sea monster to help him.

Oct 1 Book review in Post - Gaiman

Joyce, Graham. 2006.
Beyond Imagination: Dazzling tales from a master of the fantastic [Gaiman].
Washington Post Book World (October 1): 7
online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092801423.html.

also, there's a review of Brad (Green Arrow, Identity Crisis, JLA) Meltzer's new thriller The Book of Fate and, in Style or Arts, a mention of his appearance at the National Book Festival.

Speaking of the NBF, the Library of Congress usually puts up links to videos of the festival. When they do, I'll post the link.