2006 Disneyland: The First 50 Years exhibit

A small exhibit was at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art in 2006, in conjunction with the donation of some artifacts from the theme park. I'm ambivalent about these exhibits (or postage stamps) that help advertise an ongoing concern, but there's no denying that Disney(land) is part of American popular culture.

Big Monkey Comics breaks street date for comics this week

I got a tip that Big Monkey Comics had a note on their website today that read:

NEW COMICS ARE IN!
In our last post, we told you we weren't expecting our books until Friday 01/02/09. BUT IN FACT, we did get them today, through the blessings of the postal gods. So new comics will be available for you ON WEDNESDAY 12/31/08!.

This is a big no-no in the comics retailing world since it would let retailers steal customers based on how soon they were able to get their comics from Diamond (which is a monopoly so there's no one else to get new comics from), and I'm sure they got called on the carpet for it as the notice later disappeared.

Am I the only one who actually misses comics arriving on Friday? I much preferred that - you could pick them up after work or school and read them as late as you liked.

Curtis - Kwanzaa or not?

In "Please bring back 'Curtis'" by Brian Steinberg, Comics Examiner December 31, 2008, Steinberg argues that the annual Kwanzaa stories by Ray Billingsley detract from the strip overall. I beg to differ. While I don't celebrate Kwanzaa, I look forward to the strips in the Post, especially in the variety in the art style. In fact, when this year's strips started, I thought to myself that Billingsley should collect the whole run in a book. I think he should have enough by now and print-on-demand is making specialty collections easy and economically feasible.

Book review: Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories

This book came over the transom a few months ago, and I'm just catching up to reviewing it. This review should also appear in print in the International Journal of Comic Art's 11:1 issue in the late Spring.




Owen King and John McNally, editors. Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories. Free Press, 2008. 432 pages. $16.00. ISBN-10: 1416566449; ISBN-13: 978-1416566441.

Superhero novels have been published off and on since George Lowther’s 1942 novel The Adventures of Superman. Most times these books are based directly on existing comic book superheroes, frequently due to a media tie-in, as in the novel and the radio show in which Lowther wrote for both. The 1960s saw Batman novels due to the television show, and Marvel Comics had a series of novels based on their superheroes in the 1970s. In recent years, many of these types of books, frequently labeled ‘media tie-in’ have been produced, but this book hearkens back to a different trend. In the 1970s, some superhero novels such as Robert Mayers’ 1977 Superfolks attempted to be ‘serious fiction.’ This trend continued with infrequent novels such as 1994’s What They Did to Princess Paragon by Robert Rodi until the recent success of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem inspired new attempts.

Of the twenty-two stories in the book, six have previously appeared, and of that six, three of them were in the Virginia Quarterly Review. Although the author notes at the end list each one’s favorite superhero, judging from their answers, it appears that few of them are serious superhero comic book readers and none are comic book writers. This lack of familiarity with the genre can lead to some awkward or uninteresting writing at times.

The book starts off strongly with Stephanie Harrell’s “Girl Reporter,” a strong take on an alternative Superman – Lois Lane type of relationship, told from the reporter’s point of view. “The Quick Stop 5®” by Sam Weller is a good example of a story that would not work well in a comic book, but partly because Weller mocks the genre. The characters gain their powers in a typical freak accident, but the powers are not necessarily ones that would be desired. Prophylactic Girl, with rubber powers, also has a condom tip on her head while Dip is a walking wad of chewing tobacco in the mold of Swamp Thing or Man-Thing. The story is a satire, and is amusing though. John McNally’s “Remains of the Night” is another satire in which the narrator appears to work for a hero named the Silverfish – one can only go in one direction with a premise like that although McNally’s writing is competent. “The Pentecostal Home for Flying Children” by Will Clarke takes the premise of the X-Men, mutant children in a special school, and turns it on its side. Clarke wrote, “Unfortunately, the Redbird didn’t possess the necessary might to be a major-league superhero. In the world of superpowers, flight was pretty much table stakes. … So the Redbird was relegated to working in the superhero farm leagues. … However as the years passed, it became apparent that the Redbird had moved to Shreveport for less-than-savory reasons. Turns out the Redbird came to our town not just for the easy work, but for our chronically bored housewives, our prodigal daughters, and our all-too-easily seduced Baptist Ladies Prayer Circle.” (p. 110) The children of his liaisons end up becoming a problem for the whole town.

Another story that alters a typical superhero tale is “Mr. Big Deal” by Sean Doolittle, in which a police officer’s superpower is that he can disable other peoples powers permanently. His father, a superhero called The Hard Bargain, never felt comfortable around him because his son could take away his powers at any time, but now the father lies in a coma in a hospital bed because “For Four decades, in the service of the common good, he absorbed gunshots, stabbings, conflagrations, falls from great heights, and the kind of damage that would spread a natural over a country mile like so much fertilizer. And then, finally, little by little, my father’s jungle of internal scar tissue began to strangle his won organs, shutting him down one function at a time.” (p. 298) The story ends with a twist that O. Henry might have tried.

Some of the stories, especially the shortest ones do not work quite as well, but the collection as a whole is worth reading especially if you have an interest in the superhero genre. I am not sure if this type of fiction is sustainable in the long run, but one might as well enjoy it while it appears. The book is capably illustrated throughout by Chris Burnham who has worked for Image Comics. The cover photograph and design is well done too.

2006 Smithsonian lunchbox exhibit

In 2006 the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History had an exhibit of lunchboxes, many of which featured comic and cartoon characters, outside of its cafeteria. I've loaded the pictures on my Flickr site, but here's a few to whet your appetite.


Tom Corbett, Space Cadet - a tv show, but soon a Dell comic book too.


How many Peanuts lunchboxes have there been?


It looks like late-period Caniff, but Steve Canyon is still cool.


Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker is essentially forgotten now, but was big in its day.

More pics at the flickr link above...

OT: Spurgeon's Batton Lash interview

I always enjoy the new Supernatural Law comic and Batton is one of the nicest guys you'd want to meet at a con. I usually try to buy anything new he's got at SPX, and this year got a guidebook to Supernatural Law while my daughter got some of the Archie comics he's writing. Here's a new interview with him by Tom Spurgeon:
CR Holiday Interview #9: Batton Lash, Comics Reporter (December 31 2008).

Super-balloons

Hulk, Spider-Man and Superman balloons at the Arlington County Fair, August 2006. I think there's a Jimmy Neutron poking up too. I ran across this photo so I thought I'd put it up. Look for Smithsonian shots of lunch boxes and Disneyland stuff soon.

OT: David Lozell Martin's new book

My friend David Martin has a new book out, and it's reviewed by the New York Times.

LOSING EVERYTHING
By David Lozell Martin
201 pages. Simon & Schuster. $24.

David's a better writer than the Times reviewer credits him as, but I can't imagine this book was easy to write. I've only read his fiction, and I'm both looking forward to, and dreading this autobiography. I'd recommend David's books, especially Crazy Love and Pelikan, and be sure to search by his middle name as you'll get relevant results.

Comic Riffs on the decimation of editorial cartoonists in 2008

One would think that a presidential election year wouldn't be one in which you'd let your political cartoonist go, but apparently I know nothing about the deep thinking that goes into running a newspaper. Michael Cavna's got a list and comments about the year's shrinkage.

Spiegelman's Breakdowns on sale at Politics and Prose

Minor bit from today's newletter - BREAKDOWNS: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*! by Art Spiegelman, $27.50 now $18.43 - but they might still have signed copies from when he was there.

Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919 or (800) 722-0790
Fax: (202) 966-7532

www.moderntimescoffeehouse.com
www.politics-prose.com
e-mail: books@politics-prose.com

Store Hours:

Monday-Saturday: 9 a.m.-10 p.m
Sunday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Harvey Pekar: Conversations reviewed a second time

Nice review here:
Harvey Pekar: Mensch
A Review of Harvey Pekar: Conversations by Michael G. Rhode
by Paul Buhle, November 20, 2008

Paul Buhle writes non-fiction comics too.

January '09 BASH Magazine On Stands Now!

I didn't see it at the Vienna Metro Station when I got on the train this morning, but it was staring me in the face when I got off at Gallery Place/Chinatown today!

The latest issue of BASH! Magazine comes complete with a full-color cover (plus some color on the interior as well), with a great looking caricature of Obama by Greg Halbert -- just in time for the inauguration! I expect this'll grab quite a few visitors' eyes when they're in for the event and looking for affordable pieces of collectible history...

Kal's Credit Crunch board game, in action

I broke out the Credit Crunch game from the Economist today and got destroyed by my 10-year old daughter. My ex-high school teacher of economics father-in-law didn't do much better than me though.



Kal asked for comments. The using coins to figure out moves is a bit clunky, but I don't have any better ideas. Also when one reaches the end, are you supposed to continue through Start and go around again? If so, do you collect $500 mil again? (We did). We also sold our Financial Risk Cards, or at least bribed each other to influence the results. We only made it around the track once - two of us were bankrupt while Claire made it past the Start line with a few hundred million left. Overall the game was fun. I'd play it again. It's like Life and Monopoly mashed together.

Claire modeling Richard's Poor Almanack t-shirt

100_6708
Originally uploaded by mgrhode1

A entomologist contacted Richard Thompson about making a t-shirt from his Richard's Poor Almanack panel featuring the camel cricket. Richard, being a thoroughly nice guy, said yes and got some of the shirts in return. Modeled by Claire because they're all small.

Good luck in finding one of these collectibles!

Thompson illustrates Barry in Post Magazine

Dave Barry's annual Year in Review in the Washington Post magazine is illustrated by Our Man Thompson and the pics are on the Post website.

Richard's got a post up on it too.

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE FRIDAY (Not Wednesday) 01-02-09

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE FRIDAY (Not Wednesday) 01-02-09
By John Judy

(Why kiss a loved one at midnight when you could be reading comics?!)

30 DAYS OF NIGHT: TIL DEATH #2 written and drawn by David Lapham. The creator of STRAY BULLETS is delivering his strongest work (and best 30 DAYS series) in a long time. Definitely worth a look if you think the world post-Barrow has been a bit of a let-down.

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #20 by Dan Slott, Christos Gage and Steve Kurth. Lots of post- Secret Invasion doings as the real Hank Pym returns and Mutant Zero stands revealed.

BATMAN: CACOPHONY #2 of 3 by Kevin Smith and Walt J. Flanagan. The Good News: Kevin Smith managed to hit a deadline on a monthly book. The Bad News: Did you see issue one?

CAPTAIN AMERICA #45 by Ed Brubaker and Luke Ross. Bucky America has to beat the French fiend Batroc the Leaper and find whoever’s left of the Invaders. I recommend shouting in German and checking Facebook.

FANTASTIC FOUR #562 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. The funeral of the Invisible Woman. They say it’s empty casket but how can you tell?

FINAL CRISIS: SECRET FILES #1 by Various Creators. Perhaps this will reveal the secret of why FINAL CRISIS is taking so long to wrap up already.

GOON #31 written and drawn by Eric Powell. “That’s the man who killed Kizzie! And it’s long past time that I dealt with him!” Highly recommended.

GREEN LANTERN #36 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke. Hal and the gang rush to duke it out with the wrathful Red Lanterns while the Controllers seek out the greed-powered Orange Lanterns. So “Orange = Greed.” A subtle swipe at a certain California county? Why not?

INCOGNITO #1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This new series is why CRIMINAL is going on hiatus so it must, must, must be awesome! Thankfully it looks like it is. The premise: What if you were a super-villain in Federal Witness Protection and you just couldn’t stand it anymore? Highly Recommended.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #28 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes. The JLA versus the Shadow Cabinet. Watch for flying splinters.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #22 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. Gog’s big, fat other shoe has dropped and now it’s time to throw it at him. Big Fight!

KICK-ASS #5 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Remember this series? Issue four came out in August. Look for the trade collection of the first six issues in December of 2008. Oh, wait….

MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA #2 of 6 by Kurt Busiek and Jay Anacieto. Photojournalist Phil Sheldon is still tracking the super goings-on in the Marvel Universe but he’s got troubles of his own. Cancer. An engaging follow-up to the classic MARVELS series.

NORTHLANDERS #13 by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly. The Irish guerilla and the Viking enforcer finally come face to face and it ain’t gonna be resolved with a drinking contest. Great stuff. Recommended.

PUNISHER WAR ZONE #4 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Wow, so it looks like this comic has already outlasted its namesake’s run in theatres. Deservedly so. Anyway, it looks like Frank’s gonna have to take out an army of Ma Gnucci zombie-clones. Seriously. Recommended, but not for kids or people with a low tolerance for the Ennis-style dark, silly humor.

SCALPED #24 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. My favorite comic continues to come out despite the best efforts of the buying public to keep it down on The Rez. Too intense for kids and those with a low tolerance for Total Awesomeness. Highly recommended.

THE STAND: CAPTAIN TRIPS #4 of 5 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Mike Perkins. It’s the end of the world as we know it and it looks fine! The best adaptation yet of Stephen King’s epic novel. Recommended!

SUPERMAN #683 by James Robinson, Geoff Johns and Renato Guedes. Imagine if you tried passing discriminatory laws like California’s Prop 8 against 100,000 people, each with the all powers of Superman. An intriguing issue.

ULTIMATE HULK ANNUAL #1 by Jeph Loeb and Marko Djurdjevic. This is quite an accomplishment since Ultimate Hulk never actually had his own series. Anyway, for some reason the mass-murdering Hulk of the Ultimates Universe is teaming up with the mass-murdering Power Princess from the Squadron Supreme Universe. Makes you wonder what these crazy kids will get up to, doesn’t it?

WOLVERINE #70 by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. The twisted alternate future road-trip continues with blind Hawkeye doing the violence and Old Man Logan not. Impressive they’ve maintained such a status quo all the way through part five of eight of this entertaining story.

WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY #3 of 4 by Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia. Wolverine must unite all the kung-fu schools in Chinatown to defeat the Black Dragon Tong. And that, my friends, is a movie! If you enjoy these Jason Aaron Wolverine stories as much as I, do yourself a favor and pick up his other title, SCALPED. You’ll have the rest of your life to thank me.

X-MEN: MAGNETO TESTAMENT #4 of 5 by Greg Pak and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Young Magneto finds himself in Auschwitz. It bears repeating that this is a genuinely powerful series, focusing less on super-heroics and super-villainy than on the horrors of a Jewish boy’s coming of age during the holocaust. Both Pak and Di Giandomenico deserve credit for taking what could have been a hideous trivialization of the 20th century’s darkest moment and making it into something both restrained and moving. Highly recommended.

www.johnjudy.net

Zadzooks Christmas column

ZADZOOKS: Offbeat holiday offerings
Joseph Szadkowski
Washington Times Thursday, December 25, 2008.

I really like Paul Dini's Jingle Belle.

Crane and Bell with Comic Riffs anecdotes

"Fave Fan Anecdotes: 'Pickles' & 'Candorville'," By Michael Cavna, December 26, 2008.

New York Times on future of comic strips

This is a pretty good article - "Prototype: The Comics Are Feeling the Pain of Print," By LESLIE BERLIN, New York Times December 28, 2008.

New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff is quoted in this article about financial humor - "I’m Penniless, but the Laugh’s on Them," By LIZ ALDERMAN, New York Times December 28, 2008.

Baltimore's Greg LaRocque interview on Newsarama

Baltimore's Greg LaRocque has an interview on Newsarama. LaRocque was one of my favorite DC artists in the late 80s, and I got to meet him and buy some art at one of the Baltimore Comic-Cons. Here's links to his website and Myspace pages.

Blogs and websites of my friends part 2

Cartoonist Darko Macan's blog (in Croatian) and the Ephemerist blog of neat cartoonist bits.

Blogs and websites of my friends

I just stuck a new widget up on the side linking to my friends, on topics that may or may not be comics-related. Check them out. First up is Dean Haspiel, cartoonist and Lisa Cherkasky, food fluffer.

Spirit interview in Post's Weekend section

Eva Mendes, Looking Through The Layers
By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 26, 2008; WE26

Happy Holidays from ComicsDC!

Comic Riffs anecdotes from Walker and Pastis

Fave Fan Anecdotes: 'Pearls Before Swine' & 'Hi and Lois'
By Michael Cavna | December 25, 2008;

New Year's Day sale at Big Planet Comics

If you're a Comicsvore* like I am, you didn't get everything comics-related for the holidays that you really, really needed. Big Planet Comics is ready to help. For their January 1 sale, take 20% off everything in the stores. How can you go wrong?



BIG PLANET COMICS
4908 Fairmont Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-654-6856

BIG PLANET COMICS
3145 Dumbarton St. NW
Washington, DC 20007
202-342-1961

BIG PLANET COMICS
426 Maple Ave. East
Vienna, VA 22180
703-242-9412

BIG PLANET COMICS
7315 Baltimore Ave.
College Park, MD 20740
301-699-0498

*coined to describe me by cartoonist and comics writer Darko Macan

Spirit movie reviews, and some other movie bits

People aren't liking it much.

'The Spirit': Enough Ham To Lay a Great Big Egg
By Carina Chocano
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, December 25, 2008; C05

Returned From the Dead, Ducking Villains and Vixens
By A. O. SCOTT
New York Times December 25, 2008

Movie review: Don't waste money on 'The Spirit'
Peter Hartlaub, Chronicle Pop Culture Critic
Thursday, December 25, 2008
This article appeared on page E - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Except for the Kansas City Star.

‘The Spirit’ review: A dazzling visual style | 3 stars
By JASON HECK
Special to The Kansas City Star December 24 2008

And the Times reported this morning that Watchmen's legal woes continue.

Judge Says Fox Owns Rights to a Warner Movie
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
New York Times December 25, 2008

While the latest Batman movie isn't coming to China.

WB shrouds 'Dark Knight' from Chinese audiences
Associated Press Thu Dec 25, 2008

Can you tell I'm working on the 2008 edition of Film & TV Adaptations of Comics? It should be available in mid-January. Would anyone like to see an expanded bibliography section in the next edition for 2009, one that gives you a lot of citations per film, rather than just one or two key ones? Work on the published edition of the Comics Research Bibliography website should be advanced enough to let me do that, but it'll add dozens of pages and cost more.

Another satisfied Cul de Sac reader

Here's my daughter enjoying her Christmas Cul de Sac book.





And here's Richard's drawing in it.

Drawn! blogger picks Cul de Sac book

Richard's first Cul de Sac collection was number one for the Drawn! blog this year. Of the rest of the picks, I've only read Sempe's Nicholas which everyone should check out. I mean to buy Heatley's book though, based on his New York Times' strips. In part 2, I match tastes much better, Wacky Packages is a cool book and I have Bat-Manga, Ojingogo (signed at SPX), As I See It, and What It Is.

I need the St. Trinian's and the Guy Delisle books.

Drawn! is a good blog that I don't look at often enough - time to add them to the Google Reader feed.

Happy Holidays from ComicsDC!

Comic Riffs fan anecdotes from Stantis and Peirce

See "Fave Fan Anecdotes: 'The Buckets' & 'Big Nate'."

Richard Thompson's fanciful progenitor

Check out Richard's blog for a story of Virginia, Santa Claus and possibly how a thread of talent works through generations.

New Wuerker book!

Librarian Martha Kennedy reports, "Matt Wuerker and Sara Thaves just published Inks Campaign '08, a book of election cartoons, [with] a selection of cartoons by leading cartoonists including 8 Pulitzer Prize winners. Published by The Cartoonist Group, ISBN 0-9773284-4-9. Looks good!"

So, any more details, Matt?

Comic Riffs gets anecdotes from Wilkinson and Johnston

Michael Cavna's got two more today - "Fave Fan Anecdotes: 'For Better or For Worse' & Signe Wilkinson".

Kal's Christmas card and online story

Kal sent this note in today and gave his permission to reproduce his excellent Christmas e-card:

On December 15 The Baltimore based Stoop Storytelling series came to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall for a Holiday extravaganza. The crowd of 1600 enjoyed an evening of entertaining and compelling stories and music. I was honored to be one of the guest storytellers. I recounted my "Strange and wonderful" relationship with Maryland Governor/Comptroller William Donald Schaefer. You can listen in on the 7 minute story online here: http://www.stoopstorytelling.com/shows/35/storytellers/248

The story is really funny - go listen to it.

Comics Articles in Today's Free Papers UPDATED

And there's an online-only Aqua Teen Hunger Force bit at the Express today - "Hunger Forced: 5 Ridiculous Moments From 'Aqua Teen's' Shake."

Porter, Christopher. 2008.
Noisy, brutal genius: The second season of 'Metalocalypse' is a hilarious headbanger.
[Washington Post] Express (December 23): 17

Greenberg, Rudi. 2008.
Just keeps getting quirkier: The sixth volume of 'Aqua Teen' is as whacked as ever.
[Washington Post] Express (December 23): 15

Associated Press. 2008.
Batman and Japan: In a new book, perfect together.
Washington Examiner (December 23); 18

20-year-old Thompson illos

I was sorting through some clippings I inherited (so to speak), and ran across these two 1987 Thompson drawings from the August 17th Washington Post Health section on humor and health.

OT: Dan Reynolds writes in (updated)

Dan Reynolds wrote in a few minutes ago to complement me on the site and ask why he's not mentioned here. I think it's because he has nothing to do with DC. But I own at least one of his books, Christmas Meltdown, and think I have his Belt Height book too, so heck that's close enough for now given this economy. Go check out his site at Go Comics for his Reynolds Unwrapped panel. As you can see from this cartoon I grabbed from the site, he's topical (and funny, but we're all about topicality here).

Dan wrote in, "I'm in the snowbound regions of Upstate NY. I'm located in what's called a snowbelt area north of Syracuse, NY. I'm published in almost every issue of the Reader's Digest and have been for years... My main gig is in the greeting card business. You may not realize it, but my cards are everywhere...they've appeared on American Greetings cards, but most prominently on Recycled Paper greetings (for18 years) and Papyrus Greetings (with whom I have my own line.

My work is basically in every city in the country. Next time you go into the store to get a card, one that sells RPG or Papyrus, look and you will find.

Also, EVERY year I can almost guarantee you you receive my work in forwarded email during the Thanksgiving and Xmas season. You know those cartoon emails with 5 or 6 cartoons...at least one of them is mine every time. (True! I have) I even receive these from people who don't know they're my work!

Dan's working it hard with a daily email of current comic panels, "For sign up of 365 REYNOLDS UNWRAPPED cartoons for one year, please send $10 cash, check or money order (or if you REALLY want to support keeping me in black ink instead of red, you can throw in a cartoonist tip) to Dan Reynolds, PO BOX 444, Brewerton, NY 13029
or send at least $11 via pay pal using this info: dan@reynoldsunwrapped.com Your daily REYNOLDS UNWRAPPED will commence as soon as received. My web site is: www.reynoldsunwrapped.com"

So there you have it, information about the sadly underexposed world of greeting card cartoonists, and a look at a new business model for cartoons.

I think we might start calling this "Support Your Local Cartoonist." I imagine at least as many people will get that, as get the "Reynolds Unwrapped" title.

There's a Washington Webtoonists group?

Tom Spurgeon had a link to a Washington Webtoonists group. If you guys are still functional, drop me a line please.

Our Man Thompsons coughs up a cover

John Read's Stay Tooned mag, a good collection of interviews at a reasonable price, will feature Our Man Thompson on the cover says the Daily Cartoonist. It will have as well an interview conducted at a secret secure location at HeroesCon (during which I sat at his table and watched crestfallen faces when I explained that I wasn't Richard Thompson, but was in fact several inches taller, and they could have easily told us apart if I hadn't been sitting down. I also claimed he was a black Jamaican Rastafarian that they should look for in the crowd if someone was particularly persistent).

Comic Riffs interviews cartoonists

Cavna mentions one of his anecdotes about being a sports cartoonist, and then gets stories for "Favorite Fan Anecdotes: 'Speed Bump' and 'Sherman's Lagoon'". This is a nice idea, and I've liked all three stories so far. Be sure to read the first comment too.

That Darn Toles ... continued

Balancing the Cartoonist
Washington Post Saturday, December 20, 2008; A15

Dec. 13 Free for All writer Jim Welch proposed that The Post use a conservative cartoonist a couple of times a week.

No need to worry; there are already two alternatives: George F. Will and Charles Krauthammer, both of them harsh in their agenda, sufficiently extremist and frequently sketchy enough to provide more than a balance for Toles.

-- James Oglethorpe

Falls Church

·

I'd like to offer an alternative to Jim Welch's suggestion.

I have no problem with Toles's politics, although I don't share them. What I object to is that he, like Herblock before him, is seldom funny.

I'd prefer a cartoonist who shares your editorial page's political views but presents them in an amusing, sophisticated and light-handed way.

-- Myron Ebell

Cheverly

·

Pay no attention to the letter asking that you not run Tom Toles. He is the best part of the editorial page.

-- Gloria Berg

Arlington

Cul de Sac book inscriptions

Guess what I'm giving out for Christmas this year.









And here's another satisfied reader - my Dad.

OT: Dean Haspiel's NY Times comic about holiday drinking

Dean Haspiel did a cartoon for the New York Times Proof blog - Snow Dope - starring himself. A couple of days ago he wrote an entry for their blog, and then followed that up with a post on his own blog.

Comic Art in today's Washington Post

The Opinion section has what purports to be "The Year in Cartoons." It's not a very good selection.

Steve Brodner illustrates 2009 predictions in the last Sunday Source section, which also presumably means that we won't see Danny Hellman's illustrations in the paper anymore either.

A wire story on Broadway's Shrek musical (sigh) was interesting - "The Star of 'Shrek' Basks in the Green Light," By Kristen A. Lee / Associated Press, Washington Post Sunday, December 21, 2008; M10.

Dave Betancourt's review of "The DC Comics Encyclopedia," Washington Post Sunday, December 21, 2008; Page BW14

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 12-24-08

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 12-24-08
By John “Krampus” Judy

(Wishing you and yours a Super Saturnalia and a Sizzlin’ Solstice!)

AMERICAN FLAGG DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, VOL. 1 TP written and drawn by Howard Chaykin. The first seven issues of the Eagle Award-winning sci-fi cop adventure series that put Chaykin on the map!

ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #11 by Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard. Guest-starring Invincible, who had better hope he can live up to his name.

BATMAN #683 by Grant Morrison and Lee Garbett. More musings and strung together vignettes from Morrison’s batcave opium dream.

BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #3 written and drawn by Mike Kunkel. The continuing saga of Captain Marvel versus Black Adam, told in an all-ages appropriate style. Fun, out of continuity stuff!

DAREDEVIL #114 by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark. High-kickin’, ninja-killin’, blind as a bat, kung-fu action! Recommended!

HULK #9 by Jeph Loeb, Art Adams and Frank Cho. If you liked last issue you’ll like this one too!

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #21 by Duane Swierczynski and Travel Foreman. The Iron Fist of the future fights a kung-fu robot! Honest!

NEW AVENGERS #48 by Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan. There have been a few changes in the line-up since Norman Osborn took over the show from Tony Stark. Hence the “New” in the title.

PREVIEWS by Marvel and Diamond Comics. The Magic Eightball of the comics biz!

PUNISHER WAR ZONE #3 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Spare yourself the pain. Skip the movie and buy the comic. Recommended.

THOR #12 by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel. Sure, Loki’s schemes are bound to put Asgard in a tizzy right quick, but what’s it all mean to Broxton, Oklahoma? Will the wavin’ wheat still smell sweet? The wheat-watch starts here!

TOP TEN SEASON TWO #3 of 4 by Zander Canon and Gene Ha. More quality time with the good peace officers of Neopolis. Amazingly good stuff even without Alan Moore. Recommended.

ULTIMATUM #2 of 5 by Jeph Loeb and David Finch. Glug, glug, glug, Magneto, glug, glug, glug…

UNKNOWN SOLDIER #3 by Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli. The Doctor becomes The Soldier in this latest iteration of the classic DC war hero. Recommended.

www.johnjudy.net

Cartoons can put you in jail in America and Australia

People were mocking an Australian judge for declaring that cartoons using the Simpsons children in sexual situations wasn't just bad taste or copyright violations, but rather "Fake Simpsons cartoon 'is porn'" The BBC article by Nick Bryant noted, "An appeal judge in Australia has ruled that an animation depicting well-known cartoon characters engaging in sexual acts is child pornography."

Well, here in America, judges in Richmond (90 miles from DC) just did the same thing - "Child porn cartoon conviction upheld in Va." by LARRY O'DELL, The Associated Press, Friday, December 19, 2008. O'Dell wrote, "Child pornography is illegal even if the pictures are drawn, a federal appeals panel said in affirming the nation's first conviction under a 2003 federal law against such cartoons. ... Judge Paul V. Niemeyer noted in the majority opinion that the statute under which Whorley was convicted, the PROTECT Act of 2003, clearly states that "it is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exists.""

There's a similar case going on now in now in Iowa that the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is helping with.

I have a child, and have no interest in this type of thing, but one wonders why the First Amendment only applies once in a while. I don't recall any add-ons that say "except for photographs or artwork that we really don't like."

The Tale of Despereaux reviews

"The Mouse That Bored: 'Despereaux' Delivers Exquisite Technology -- Storytellers Simply Failed To Affix a Proper Tale," By John Anderson, The Washington Post
Friday, December 19, 2008; C01.

"Killer Soup, and a Mouse to the Rescue," By MANOHLA DARGIS, New York Times December 19, 2008.

Our Man Thompson's Obama-nation

The New Yorker is selling prints of the drawing of Obama as FDR that Richard did for them a few week ago.

Kal designs new board game

The subject line "Kal designs new board game" sucked me right into the email:

If your financial indicators are looking down, there is one way to pick your spirits up. Play "Credit Crunch", the new board game launched in this week's Christmas double edition of The Economist. The game (designed and created by Kal ) is also available to all online. Go to

www.Economist.com/boardgame

to download the board, currency, playing cards, rules, and player icons.

Let me know if you play the game and how it works out. We can tweak the rules with feedback from readers.

Oh, man, I just love this stuff. I'll be assembling one of these babies. There's a hard copy in the December 20th issue, as well as a Tintin article.

A not-quite-ready for Bollywood Superman

This is a fun little story about a quirky small budget Superman movie being made in India, although I'm sure that the Time-Warner lawyers have already descended on them as a result of this article - "Spinning Quirky Yarns: Film Industry in Small Indian Textile Town Makes Low-Budget Parodies Of Bollywood Smash Hits With a Lot of Heart, Local Flavor and Ingenuity," By Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post Foreign Service, Thursday, December 18, 2008; A19.

A couple of Baltimore comics events this weekend

Tom Chalkley, whose work I've seen in the Baltimore City Paper and who spoke at SPX/ICAF years ago has a caricature poster on Baltimore history out now. He'll be signing it this weekend - "Local artist Tom Chalkley will be signing copies of his Ultimate Cartoon Map of Baltimore this Friday at the Women’s Industrial Exchange from noon to 1:30 p.m. and this Sunday at the Red Canoe Bookstore/Café from 1-3 p.m."

Meanwhile the Post reports, "Super Art Fight, which will kick off its third edition Saturday night at Baltimore's Ottobar, pits indie comics artists against one another in head-to-head drawing battles." $10. Doors open at 8 p.m. Saturday. 2549 N. Howard St., Baltimore. 410-662-0069 or http://www.superartfight.com.

Zadzooks holiday gift ideas

"ZADZOOKS: Superhero gift ideas in comics, figures and video games; At play in comics, film worlds," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, December 18, 2008.

Meanwhile Greg recommends Secret Invasion #8 (eh) and a Spirit collection (yes!) in "Bennett's Best for the week of November 30," By Greg Bennett, Zadzooks Blog December 14 2008.

Spirit movie advertisements showing up in comic stores

Some of the advertising material for the Spirit movie that was distributed to comic book shops. That's a temporary lipstick tattoo, a set of 4 trading cards of the women in the movie and the box they're in, and a glow-in-the-dark sneaker print sticker. Big Planet Comics Bethesda has a pile of movie posters that they're giving away. I've also seen a keychain with recordings from the movie on it.

Variety didn't like the movie very much (tip from Mr. Media Bob Andelman).

Darrin Bell of Candorville interviewed at Comic Riffs

Yesterday and today - "The Interview: 'Candorville' Cartoonist Darrin Bell" By Michael Cavna | December 17, 2008; "The Interview: 'Candorville' Cartoonist Darrin Bell (Pt. 2)," By Michael Cavna | December 18, 2008.

Bell's been riffing on Congressional hearings for comic book characters all week. It's been fun. As Tom Inge says (and in fact wrote a book about), "Anything can happen in a comic strip."

OT: Kirk Anderson's new book of political cartoons

Political cartoonist Kirk Anderson wrote in (and note that Washington Post connection!) so I'll give him some electrons too (and coincidentally, here's an editorial he wrote that I just ran across):

My new book, Banana Republic: Adventures in Amnesia, is a collection of the weekly, quarter-page cartoons of the same name that ran in the Minneapolis Star Tribune for years, a sort of serialized graphic novel in a mainstream family newspaper. The fictional banana republic of Amnesia parodies America's War on Terror. More information is below and at the website. I have been a political cartoonist for 20 years, including eight as the staff editorial cartoonist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. My work has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Onion, Newsweek, and hundreds of other trusted publications around the world.

BANANA REPUBLIC
- Adventures in Amnesia -
the small backward Third World nation with hearts of silver and mines of gold

www.MolotovComix.com

BANANA REPUBLIC follows the mischievous death squads and hilarious junta hijinks of Amnesia, a zany Third World dictatorship that is the polar opposite of America! In Amnesia, Generalissimo Wally engages in roughhousing practices we would consider unconstitutional in our own country, such as torture, warrentless surveillance, and imprisonment without charge! Why, even secret prisons are not unheard of! Unlike the advanced American system, the Amnesian regime only serves the wealthy elite, not the peasant classes; in fact, politicians openly take money from wealthy businessmen with direct financial stakes in pending legislation! From the Amnesians' overflowing prisons to their state propaganda, from their crippling foreign debt to their questionable elections, from their privately contracted paramilitaries to their millions without basic health care, you'll be chuckling, "Thank God WE don't live in a banana republic!"

"Kirk Anderson is an outrageously bold and talented cartoonist. [Banana Republic] entertained me hugely... a hilarious education in recent history." – Howard Zinn, historian and author of A People's History of the United States

OT: Mark Doeffinger cartoon blog

This one came over the transom a few days ago. I don't know Mark, nor where he's based, but with the market for a lot of cartoonists imploding, I figured there's no reason not to use a few electrons to try to help:

I just started a website which is also a blog of my cartoons. I update my cartoons 5 to 6 days per week. The address of my website is: thelitestuffcartoons.com

The cartoons are, I hope, witty and clever. If you like my cartoons, I would appreciate it if you would tell your readers about my website. I have been drawing cartoons for many years.

Many thanks.

Mark Doeffinger

The It's a Small World Department

My correspondence buddy Wim Lockefeer (we trade comics ephemera and stamps) has put up his best of the year list and on it is Chris Grine's Chickenhare: Fire in the Hole. Our Man Thompson sat next to Chris at HeroesCon this year so we talked to him quite a bit. I wholeheartedly agree with Wim's endorsement - I bought both of his books for my daughter.

That darn Oliphant... and the Post too!

Bygod, the Post isn't coordinating its editorial page, its syndicated editorial cartoons and its news reporting! For details, see "Forty miles (and some fuel): Oliphant and Washington Post ignorantly smear GM and plug-in hybrids," by Joseph Romm (Guest Contributor), Grist 15 Dec 2008. Cartoons aren't meant to be funny apparently, but should be educational and truthful without exaggeration. We should call them something else maybe. Any suggestions?

Shrek the Musical reviews

This just seems like a bad idea to me, but then again I didn't like the movies.

"The Belching Green Ogre Has a Song in His Heart," By BEN BRANTLEY, New York Times December 15, 2008

"Here Comes 'Shrek.' Hold Your Nose," By Peter Marks, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, December 15, 2008; C01

and here's Bloomberg News just to be different: "Lovable Shrek, Fiona Animate Broadway’s New Cartoon," Review by John Simon.

Best Wishes to Greg McElhatton

ComicsDC sends our Best Wishes to Greg McElhatton, who had some surgery today. I usually only run into Greg once a year at SPX which he's worked on. It's amazing how spread out the DC comics community can be.

QUICK REVIEWS OF COMICS DUE 12-17-08

QUICK REVIEWS OF COMICS DUE 12-17-08
By John Judy

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #581 by Dan Slott and Mike McKone. So how did Harry Osborn come back to life anyway?

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #19 by Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli. Okay, so the Skrull invasion ended a week or so ago but some of these titles are still catching up with the Big Fights and such. Watch Dan Slott make it work. It’s eerie.

BEANWORLD HOLIDAY SPECIAL ONE-SHOT written a drawn by Larry Marder. Dark Horse Comics gives us the first new BEANWORLD in over a decade. Reads a bit like LITTLE NEMO. Looks a bit like nothing else. Not saying you should alter your consciousness before reading but neither am I saying you shouldn’t.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #20 by Jeph Loeb, Georges Jeanty and Eric Wright. A Buffy comic inspired by the Buffy animated series that never was. And yes, you can detect a distinct SCOOBY-DOO influence.

DARK REIGN: NEW NATION #1 by Lotsa People. Basically giving you the lay of the new Marvel Universe, post-Skrull, in the Age of Osborn.

DCU HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2008 by Various Creators. Your yearly anthology of all-ages fun. Makes a great stocking stuffer!

EX MACHINA #40 by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. A stand-alone story of Mayor Hundred’s search for a biographer who can do graphic novels. Such a cool series. Recommended.

GHOST RIDER #30 by Jason Aaron and Tan Eng Huat. League of Extraordinary Ghost Riders? Ghost Rider League of America? The X-Ghost Riders? There’s more than one is what I’m getting at here…

HELLBLAZER #250 by Lots of Amazing Talent. Featuring five tales of John Constantine and the holidays. Your must-have Vertigo book of the month!

MIGHTY AVENGERS #20 by Brian Michael Bendis and Khoi Pham. The Wasp is dead. We’re almost certain of it. Set your resurrection clocks… NOW!

PUNISHER MAX #65 by Gregg Hurwitz and Laurence Campbell. Punisher versus Jigsaw in old Mexico. The fur will fly. Not for kids.

PUNISHER WAR ZONE #2 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Tony Harris. Ma Gnucci is challenging Jigsaw for the title of “Punisher Foe Who Remains Alive Beyond All Reasonable Expectation.” It’s Ennis so expect depravity on a Roman scale. Recommended.

SPIDER-MAN: NOIR #1 of 4 by David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky. Based on the excellence of X-MEN: NOIR I’m already calling this the coolest alternate universe in years! Iconic Marvel characters done up thirties gangland style. “Wid great power dere comes watchya call yer great responsibility, see?” Recommended!

SUPERGIRL #36 by Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle. SG’s dad, Zor-El, just got kryptonite-lasered through the heart. Hope he’s okay.

THUNDERBOLTS #127 by Andy Diggle and Roberto De La Torre. The old order changeth. The hard way. Will Songbird survive Bullseye’s undivided attention? Gotta look!

WALKING DEAD #56 by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard. Kirkman/Adlard trees bear strange fruit. Brrr… Not for kids. Recommended.

X-MEN LEGACY #219 by Mike Carey and Phil Briones. Professor X versus Juggernaut. This could be a real short issue….

www.johnjudy.net

Noon Today: Washington Post Chat with Blind Comic Artist

Andre Campbell and David Rowell
Comic Artist; Washington Post Magazine Articles Editor
Monday, December 15, 2008; 12:00 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/12/11/DI2008121102592.html

Andre Campbell's vision is severely limited, which hasn't stopped him from pursuing his dream of making it as a comic book artist. But will he ever see success?

Andre Campbell, president of Heritage Comics HSQ, and Washington Post Magazine articles editor David Rowell will be online Monday, December 15 at 12 noon ET to discuss Rowell's cover story, "Comic Book Hero."

Boys of Steel author pics

Marc Tyler Nobleman was in town yesterday to sign his children's biography of Siegel and Shuster, Boys of Steel. This was just a signing with no remarks, but I did ask how he got Ross MacDonald as the artist. It was the publisher's idea. Worked out well, I think. He's hoping to do a book on Batman writer/artist Bill Finger too.

Aftertime Comics store

Since 1985, Aftertime Comics has been in Old Town Alexandria on the end of King Street closer to the subway. It's a small store as you can tell from the photos, but they've always crammed a good assortment of comics and books into it. When I stopped in yesterday, I found some obscure stuff:

You Are Maggie Thatcher by Hunt Emerson and Pat Mills
Fandom: Confidential by Ron Frantz
Don Rosa Collection II: The Adventures of Captain Kentucky (Swedish edition!) by Don Rosa

This isn't stuff you could find in most comics stores, including my store, Big Planet. Joel Pollack, founder of the BP chain wrote in to say, "Aftertime is an amazing use of space. Great store, and you can quote me on that."

The address is 1304 King St, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-548-5030.

President Bill (not Clinton)

At a used book store yesterday, I ran across President Bill by William L. Brown. This panel used to run in the Washington City Paper in the late 1980s - the Bill is not Clinton, but Bill of Takoma Park, MD who is chosen at random to be the president. Bill's pretty left-wing and had some odd ideas about how to run a country. Brown's artwork was done on scratchboard, leading to a woodcut-like look. The book has an introduction by Jules Feiffer. The story holds up okay, especially after the past 8 years.

Brown still does illustrations every once in a while for Washington papers.

Big Planet on USA Today's Pop Candy blog

I didn't even know that Pop Candy blogger Whitney Matheson was based in DC, but she's moved to New York and has a list of things she misses about DC - one of which is 24. Well-organized shelves at Big Planet Comics.

Somehow I never ran into her and I'm sorry I missed her.

Bettie Page in Post and Times

Bettie Page was a pinup model who was rediscovered by a later generation of comic book fanboys, particularly Dave Stevens, the Rocketeer cartoonist. Here's some articles about her:

"Bettie Page, Queen of Pinups, Dies at 85," By ROBERT D. McFADDEN, New York Times December 12, 2008.

"Bettie Page; '50s Cheesecake Icon Revered as Queen of Retro Kitsch," By Joe Holley and Matt Schudel, Washington Post Staff Writers, Saturday, December 13, 2008; B05.

"Bettie Page Let Us Peep, Perchance To Dream," By Stephen Hunter, Washington Post Staff Writer, Saturday, December 13, 2008; C01.

"An Appraisal - Always Comfortable in Her Own Skin," By MANOHLA DARGIS, New York Times December 13, 2008.

That darn Toles, continued

Another winning letter to the editor!

Balancing Toles
Washington Post December 13 2008

Here's a suggestion: Why not use a conservative cartoonist a couple of times a week, as a supplement to Tom Toles?

If that doesn't appeal to you, perhaps you could at least find some neutral cartoonist who might dilute the harsh liberalism of Mr. Toles's agenda.

-- Jim Welch

Annapolis

Editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe laid off

The Daily Cartoonist is reporting that editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe was laid off. Rob isn't based around DC, but he has provided us with tips. The DC article says he's working on a freelance career and I wish him the best of luck.

Today: Beatles animator in Frederick, MD

Animator Ron Campbell will be in Frederick, MD today - see "Beatles cartoon artist to write, tell stories at rock show," By Lauren LaRocca, Frederick News-Post December 12, 2008 which gives this information:


If you go

What: “100.7 The Bay Classic Rock Art Show”

When: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

Where: Town Mall of Westminster (in front of Belk), 400 N. Center Drive, Westminster

Pentagon and Marvel propaganda comic books program questioned

"Exclusive: Pentagon Pro-Troop Group Misspent Millions, Report Says," By Noah Shachtman, December 12, 2008. These comics, credited to AAFES, are sometimes available at Walter Reed. They're not good. As I read this article, the comics in particular are not a problem, and it's the whole program instead.

Thanks to Tim for the tip.

Zadzooks interviews Joshua Ortega; Baltimore City Paper's Krall interviewed

"ZADZOOKS: Writer's career in high gear," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, December 11, 2008.

Also I've been noticed Daniel Krall's work in the Baltimore City Paper - here's an article on him "Up and Coming: Daniel Krall," By Chris Arrant, 10 December 2008.

Post's Source section has list of best comics

This year's list - "The Best Books, CDs, Comics, DVDs and Video Games of 2008," Washington Post Sunday, December 7, 2008; N05.

Reminder - Nobleman speaks on Boys of Steel on Saturday.

I'll be there.

Bechdel, Delgo, Shag and Azur reviews in today's papers

Although the Blade ran Dykes to Watch Out For for years, albeit badly running it years out of date (literally! They were running pre-election cartoons a year after Bush was in office), you'd never know it now. They did run a minor review of the last book today though - "Blah-battling books: Sedaris, Bechdel collections perfect tonics for holiday blues," KATHI WOLFE, Washington Blade December 12, 2008.

Meanwhile the animated film Delgo, which had a really bad trailer in my opinion, isn't getting good reviews either:

"'Delgo': Colorful but Convoluted," Jane Horwitz, Washington Post Friday, December 12, 2008; WE30.

"Something Rotten in the State of Jhamora (Ask Freddie Prinze Jr.)," By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS, New York Times December 12, 2008

French animation comes off slightly better than the Atlantans did:
"'Azur & Asmar': Less Is More," Jen Chaney, Washington Post Friday, December 12, 2008; WE30.

Finally, Shag, who does 1960 cartoony-type paintings and had a show here in DC a couple of years ago that I liked, has one in NYC now - "Art in Review," New York Times December 12, 2008. It's on the second page of the reviews.

Sunday Post magazine on blind comic book artist

See "Comic Book Hero: Andre Campbell's vision is severely limited, but that hasn't stopped him from pursuing his dream of making it as a comic book artist. Will he ever see success?" By David Rowell, Washington Post Magazine Sunday, December 14, 2008; W08.