Rob Tornoe inauguration toons

Rob and I were never able to meet up, but he's got 6 inauguration cartoons on Daryl Cagle's big site where he's got a blog.

Kal and Cavna were at the Inauguration too

KAL made two short films at the Inauguration yesterday - you can see them through his blog here and here. The second one, on the Economist website, I'll embed here as I'm not sure his link will last.



Comic Riffs writer Michael Cavna's got some very nice sketches of his experiences online too.

And there's a cool video of amateur SuperObama art on the Economist too.

Dame Darcy exhibit reviewed in Examiner

Surprisingly (to me at least), Dame Darcy's exhibit is reviewed quite positively in today's Examiner - "There’s nothing like Dame Darcy," By Chris Klimek, Washington Examiner 1/21/09.

Update to Big Planet customers

The comic books are in! Please disregard the message posted previously.

Note to Big Planet customers

Joel Pollack says, "UPS delays due to Inaugural events, may result in a delay for comics appearing on our racks until mid-afternoon Wednesday, and that's a best-case scenario. Please bear with us, and join us as we welcome our new President to town."

Wordless comics bibliography available now

Some years ago I helped put together a bibliography of wordless comics that was published in the International Journal of Comic Art 2:2 (Fall 2000). Today questions about those comics were raised on the comix-scholars list with some people sending in suggestions about titles. I pulled up my old list to take a look at it and decided to make an update available.

I whipped up a corrected and updated version of the 2000 version of the list I had and stuck it on Lulu.com at http://www.lulu.com/content/5790271 as Stories Without Words: A Bibliography with Annotations 2008 edition. You can download a pdf for $1 (it wouldn't let me set it any lower), or buy a print version for $10.00.

Dave Horsey reflects on Civil Rights

Dave Horsey hung around in Falls Church rather than downtown on Sunday, but reflected on Washington and the struggle for Civil Rights - "Novus ordo seclorum," by David Horsey at January 19, 2009.

If I can descend to editorializing, it's been a long time coming. I feel good about my country and what it stands for - life, liberty, equality and the pursuit of happiness - for the first time in a long while.

Comic strip characters in DC for Inauguration

Verne from Over the Hedge probably gets the closest although Prickly City did ok too. The Rudy Park cast apparently hasn't heard that all the highways from Virginia are closed - maybe they're coming from Maryland where the roads stayed open? Secret Asian Man is watching it on tv.

And Curtis is in trouble! I never realized he lived in DC before, but he just took a bus into town so he must.

Ted Rall's coverage of President Obama's first day

OT: Links to friends of Mike continued

Sacha Adorno - Communicator - my buddy Brian Biggs significant other, about whom he writes "Sacha is a writer, who mainly works for non-profits. I suppose you'd call some of it public relations. When you get materials, reports, fund-raising materials, and other ephemera from your local museum, private school, hospital, etc, she is the person who writes it. She went freelance last year and is looking to expand outside of the Philadelphia area, as far as clients are concerned."

Brian's an artist and cartoonist so here's his site too - MrBiggs.com.

Dave Horsey at Dupont Circle Starbucks at 6 pm on Monday

Pulitzer winning cartoonist Dave Horsey will be at Dupont Circle Starbucks at 6 pm on Monday for a meeting with other Seattlites in town for the ceremonies. Caution: the native Seattlite is reported to be "cold, distant and not trusting" according to this article featuring alt cartoonist John Roberson.

There's no way in Hades that I will anywhere near the District today (except for living 5 miles from downtown) so I won't be at Starbucks although Horsey's work is great.

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 01-21-09

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 01-21-09
By John Judy

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583 (Second Print Obama Appearance) by A Simple Comic Book Company That Just Wants All Your Money. Check out the comic that has poor old Erik Larsen feeling soooo upset and doesn’t cost 75 bucks on E-Bay. BTW, the lead story by Waid, Kitson and Farmer is pretty great. And the back-up does have Obama giving Spidey the “terrorist fist-jab” even if it’s written like one of those old Hostess snack cake ads. Treat yourself. At cover price, of course.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #584 by Marc Guggenheim and John Romita Jr. This one has all the answers to all the questions raised in the past year’s worth of Spidey titles! Who is Menace? Who is the Spider-Tracer Killer? Why couldn’t retailers get all the Obama covers they could have sold last week? (Okay, how about MOST of the questions…)

ASTONISHING X-MEN #28 by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. Did Cyclops really cut off his own head? Did Armor really kill a crippled Wolverine by cooking him over an open fire? Will any of this stuff ever be acknowledged in mainstream X-book continuity? It’s a week of questions at the House of Ideas!

DARK AVENGERS #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr. Who are they? What do they want? And how long will it take Bendis to tell us? More questions!

FACES OF EVIL: DEATHSTROKE #1 by David Hine and Georges Jeanty. Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator, the guy whose name can never be bad-ass enough, is making a comeback with a Face so Evil he has to hide it behind a mask, even though that mask just screams out “Punch me on the right side! That’s where I’m completely blind!” Just sayin’…

FINAL CRISIS: SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 of 2 by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke. It’s Grant Morrison and it comes with 3-D glasses. For most people that should be enough.

GARTH ENNIS’ BATTLEFIELDS: NIGHT WITCHES #3 of 3 by Garth and Russ Braun. Concluding a brutal series about the dust-ups between the Nazis and the Russians back in the day. Not for kids or anyone else still wishing to find anything glorious in war. Recommended.

GREEN LANTERN #37 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. In which we ask the musical question “Why don’t the Red Lanterns die of anemia from all that blood they’re vomiting in every single panel?!?” Not a great power, Red Lanterns!

HELLBLAZER #251 by Peter Milligan and Giuseppe Camuncoli. PioneeringVertigo author Milligan takes his turn at the plate with the life and fortunes of John Constantine. The storyarc “Scab” begins here. This one’s an absolute “Gotta-Look!”

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #29 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes. Hats off to McDuffie for bringing back Starbreaker, the galactic vampire who devours solar systems for snacks! Few things compare to the pleasure of seeing a villain you haven’t seen since you were a kid reading the original JLA title back in the year 19… Ah, nevermind.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #21 by Dan Slott and Khoi Pham. Wow! Hank Pym is back wearing his dead wife’s clothes, dating her robot clone and it sure looks like the Scarlet Witch is back from the Phantom Zone or Trans-Bagelburg or wherever they stuck her! And Dan Slott’s at the helm! Yet another “Gotta-Look!” Recommended.

PUNISHER: FRANK CASTLE MAX #66 by Duane Swiercynski and Michel Lacombe. It’s “D.O.A.” Punisher-style! Some punks dose Frank with poison and tell him he’s gotta dance if he wants the fix-it juice. Stupid punks… Note the new title distinguishing this book from the one where Frank’s shooting capes with stolen Skrull artillery.

RUINS #1 by Warren Ellis and Cliff & Terese Nielsen. A reprinting of Ellis’ 1995 thumb in the eye to MARVELS, in which every one of the Marvel Universe heroes meets a horrible, depressing fate. Both issues collected here. For some reason there’s always a new generation that wants to read this story. Enjoy.

SPIDER-MAN: NOIR #2 of 4 by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky and Carmine DiGiandomenico. It’s the story of Spidey told as if he had lived in Depression Era New York. For lovers of all things Pulp and Parker.

THUNDERBOLTS #128 by Andy Diggle and Roberto De La Torre. The beginning of a new arc, a new order and a new creative team on a book that shows you how fun it can be playing The Bad Guy.

UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #2 by Matt Fraction and Mitch Breitweiser. Focusing on the life and loves of White Queen Emma Frost. Okay, maybe love isn’t the right term here.

X-FACTOR #39 by Peter David and Valentine Delandro. Siren and Madrox enjoy a blessed event. Wait, that was nine months ago. Now they’re just having a baby.

X-MEN: LEGACY #220 by Mike Carey and Scot Eaton. Rogue’s back.

www.johnjudy.net

Rob Tornoe in DC for inauguration too

Rob Tornoe, cartoonist for Editor and Publisher's online site, tells me he'll be in town for the inauguration. He's the second editorial cartoonist I know of coming in to observe and do direct cartoon journalism - Dave Horsey was mentioned here yesterday. Anyone else?

Baltimore's Closed Caption Comics in NYC

Baltimore's Closed Caption Comics has a show at a gallery in New York City through early February.

Richard's Poor Almanack previews the inaugural parade

Yesterday's Richard's Poor Almanack previewed the inaugural parade. Now you can skip it and stay home and warm, or go to work and do something productive.

Beeler's Obama caricature covers Examiner

Today's free Washington Examiner has a big caricature of Obama by editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler.

Zadzooks on Prince of Persia video game

Another videogame this week - ZADZOOKS: Prince of Persia review: Heroes must save Persia," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Wednesday, January 14, 2009.

At some point, videogames moved into the field of comic art, with the increased quality of their animation. I'm not sure what point that was, or when they'll move back out of it, but I do know that not enough attention is being paid to the animation art in them.

Catching up on Greg Bennett's recommendations - "Bennett's Best for the week of January 11," Zadzooks Blog January 14 2009 - The Walking Dead and... Secret Invasion? Nah, he's got to be kidding.

The previous week - "Bennett's Best for the week of January 4," Zadzooks Blog January 14 2009 - was Runaways and Incognito.

Dave Horsey in DC too

In addition to all the comic strip characters coming to DC, Dave Horsey is here as well. The ex-presidential candidates from Scott Stantis' Prickly City just arrived as well.

Spider-Man and Obama bits

Erik Larsen, Savage Dragon cartoonist, feels that Marvel Comics got the idea of putting Obama on the cover from him, since he did it in the fall.

And in the first case of comic book store profiteering I've heard of, Past Present Future Comics, 1387 N. Military Trail in West Palm Beach, FL was charging $49.95 for the Spider-Man comic book according to blogger Rick Christie, who bought one, not appearing to realize that the book will be worth $8 or so in a month - flip it now Rick!

Florida seems to have some issues with trademarks as well, as we can see in this add from the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, although they reported that their local store sold out of the comic.

Pekar's upcoming opera - more information

See "Harvey Pekar Talks "Leave Me Alone!" Opera," by Michael San Giacomo, Guest Contributor, Mon, January 12th, 2009 which also has a downloadable audio file of Pekar and Crumb. For those who want to read more about Pekar's love of music, my book of interviews has a bit on that.

OT: Comic museum and library news

Readers may have noticed a certain interest of mine in libraries and museums of comics. Here's two new articles - "Andrew Farago, Cartoon Art Museum Gallery Manager/Curator" and on a new collection given to U Penn - "Passion for comic books," By Ruth Rovner, Delaware County, PA Daily Times Friday, January 16, 2009/

OT: More fashion in comics

Years ago, Isaac Mizrahi did an expensive booklet series called Sandee the Supermodel. Last year, there was an exhibit on superhero fashion (or lack thereof) in New York. And now the press release that follows points out this new Italian book which seems interesting... AND has another cartoon picture of Obama!

Available in the best bookstores as from February 2009
aleXsandro Palombo
VANITAS, INSHALLAH
XI years of dreamlike color

The fashion world portrayed in the incisive and brilliant illustrations of aleXsandro Palombo in a poetic and colorful universe, surreal and provocative in a new book in the series "Chic et Simpliciter" from Hazard Editions. The first catwalk-book ever.

VANITAS, INSHALLAH is a veritable illustrated tale, extravagant and provocative right from the title, which leads into the imaginary and poetic universe of aleXsandro Palombo, revisiting eleven years of his creations: colors and memories, places and icons, slogans and insights.

A journey into the world of fashion in which real and surreal pursue each other along the lines traced by one of the most original and surprising talents in Italian and international fashion, a succession of illustrations with an unmistakable line that conveys with utter simplicity the thoughts and inner world of the artist, an endless moving archive, a gallery of relics and surreal hypotheses, precognitions and fantasies.

One hundred unpublished plates, composing a hymn to the poetic of color and epitomizing Palombo’s whole development, enable readers to experience a dream called fashion between imagination and provocation.

Accompanying readers on this adventure is Vanitas, the clown whose task is to act as a guide to memories and dreams, until the fateful moment of the fashion show in which the journey culminates. And it is at this point that Vanitas reveals Palombo’s new creations in the world’s first illustrated fashion show.

The reader becomes a privileged guest who can share the rituals of fashion - the show and favored guests, backstage and the catwalk, the creations and provocations, models and fashion writers…

As in a powerful snapshot, Palombo’s rapid, profound line illustrates the vices and virtues of the fashion world, building up with scathing irony to a surprising finale.

The power of the pages illustrated by Palombo needs no commentary and for this reason the volume contains no critical texts but only a series of intimate and private presentations written by those with a close knowledge of his personality, rich and intuitive, retiring and reserved.

This volume reveals the dreams of Palombo as illustrator and narrator of anecdotes, revealing an artistic temperament, unknown even to those who follow carefully his many-sided activities, which he has always maintained complete reserve.

He does so in the simple language of dreams, of fantasies that are joyous and sad, rich and allusive, original and profound, while always preserving that elusive and unrepeatable element which is a trait of his style.

The publisher Giovanni Miriantini declares: "I at once realized I was dealing with a great artist. His illustrations, graphically and chromatically perfect, create a sort of interplay between earthly and celestial, human and divine."

Founded in 1986, Hazard Editions is distinguished by the high quality of its publications in the field of comics d’auteur and artistic illustration. Its publications include works by authors such as Dino Battaglia, Enki Bilal, Silvio Cadelo, Philippe Druillet, Federico Fellini and Milo Manara, Hans Rüdi Giger, Dave McKean, Leiji Matsumoto, Lorenzo Mattotti, Sanpei Shirato, Josè Munoz, Posy Simmonds, Jacques Tardi and Osamu Tezuka.

The series "Chic et Simpliciter", devoted to great fashion illustrators, over the years has brought out volumes devoted to Maddalena Sisto, Ruben Toledo, Antonio Lopez and François Berthoud.

OT: Mautner's Dilbert interview

Chris Mautner has posted his entire interview with Scott Adams on his blog and it's really interesting.

Thompson and Cavna - together like never again

Cavna at Comic Riffs has Our Man Thompson's deep reflections on Bush's departure - and hopefully that'll be the last time we see them reflect on Turdblossom's nom-de-guerre bestower.

And remember you can still buy Richard's drawing of FD Obamavelt on stuff too.

Curtis joining Luann in DC for inauguration

Curtis is apparently joining Luann , the Rudy Park cast, and Verne in DC for Obama's inauguration. The Post is raising its price from 75 cents to 2 dollars on Tuesday, so perhaps the strips are getting an extra cut and can afford the trip.

Nah, I didn't think so either. Maybe they're all crashing with the Cul de Sac gang.

April 15: NEW ANIME CONVENTION IN MARYLAND

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For information, contact:
Sophie Song
President of Centennial High School Anime Club
president.chsanime@gmail.com
609.220.1955

NEW ANIME CONVETION IN MARYLAND
Officially called CHS Otaku Fest 2009

Ellicott City, MD January 11, 2009 – Centennial High School Anime Club is pleased to announce that it will be hosting its first ever anime convention on April 25th, 2009 called CHS Otaku Fest.

This one day convention is a celebration of all things anime and otaku. Our activities will include 1) Anime and Japanese movie screening 2) Discussion panels and workshops hosted by fans 3) Video Game room and tournaments 4) Masquerade 5) AMV contest 6) Dealer’s Area 7) Artist Alley 8) Asian food and Snacks 9) Crazy Otaku Challenges (i.e. Ramen Eating Contest, Haruhi Dance Competition, etc) 10) Cosplay Photo Areas (visit our cosplay meet up thread on the forum) and 11)Live Band performance (Local bands). Other activities may be announced over time.

Those interested in attending, becoming a sponsor, dealer, panelist, selling your art or advertising with us or anything else please visit our website at otaku-fest.webs.com or contact president.chsanime@gmail.com. General information about the convention on the bottom.

About The Centennial High Anime club: This organization is an entirely high school based club with about 40 active members. The club has been an establishment in the school since 2005 and is gaining membership annually. It is a place for otaku to gather and meet while relaxing and discussing anime and the community at large. Our elected leadership is always looking to expand the club’s reach, educate our members and get them involved in the otaku community. We’ve recently begun hosting public events and we have high hopes for this con. Our current leadership, President Sophie Song, and other organizers for this event have been with the club since its founding and are excited to see it expand.

Otaku Fest information
Date: Saturday April 25th, 2009
Time: 9:30 am to 9:30 pm
Location: Centennial High School
4300 Centennial Lane
Ellicott City, MD 21042
Registration fee: $15 before April 5th and $20 after. There is a $3 discount to groups of 10 or more ($12 per person before 4/5/09 and $17 after 4/5/09). At-the-door registration is $22.
For additional information visit: otaku-fest.webs.com
E-mail: president.chsanime@gmail.com

March 5: Book of Esther comic art exhibit

Sayeth Edward Gunts in the Baltimore Sun:

5. Biblical art: From March 5 to July 26, the Jewish Museum of Maryland (jewishmuseummd.org), 15 Lloyd St.,will present Drawing on Tradition: The Book of Esther as Graphic Novel. It's a retelling of the Book of Esther in comic-strip form by artist J.T. Waldman.

Comics Riffs checks in with Stantis and Luckovich

Cavna continues his roll by getting comments on post-Bush political cartooning from Mike Luckovich and Scott Stantis - "Cartoonists Bemoan the Bush Buh-Bye (Part 2)," By Michael Cavna, January 15, 2009.

Ullman, Ullman, Ullman, Ullman, Ullman

Five illos by Rob Ullman in this week's (January 15) Washington City Paper, one of which is the traditional scantily-clad girl that we got used to seeing when he illustrated Savage Love. One's on Obama-influenced menus. One's on the difficulty of counting attendees when the Park Service refuses to do it for you. Unfortunately one is just a broom and another is a Masonic symbol. Still, it's good to see him in there again.

Even Federal Computer Week's cartoonist is doing inauguration cartoons

John Klossner, in a post "You’re new around here, aren’t you?" Federal Computer Week's John Klossner blog Jan 13, 2009, does a couple of inauguration cartoons while noting, "Having never lived in the greater Washington, D.C., region, I've never experienced a presidential transition on the streets. From the stories I've heard, it sounds like every August/September in a college town (an experience I have had), only with better dressed people and less drinking (I'm referring to the college town). I imagine it helps that this happens only once every 4 or 8 years. Is it like giving birth, where you forget the pain, allowing you to go through it again?"

Yeah, it's something like that, John.

Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers 1971 film - more on the lost short

Joel Pollack's original art for the movie poster. Thanks to Joel for letting me use it (and then giving it to me!)

I spoke with one of the men behind the movie The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Acquire a Groupie (USA: Reel Meat, ca 1971) tonight after Joel Pollack passed along his contact information. Joel Jacobson called and we talked about his role in creating the short film. The amateur live action short was originally approved by Shelton, although his permission was later revoked. The filmmakers were Bill Pace and Celia Symborski, aided to a large extent by Joel Jacobson who did much of the actual production work. The actors were Jeff Wolfe as Fat Freddy, Tom Scott as Freewheelin' Frank, and Dave Eisner as Phineas.

Mr. Jacobson told me how he got involved in the project.

“I was producing films, actually freelancing. I ended up making education films, but I was doing freelance editing and camera work. I owned everything, all my lights, and sound gear, and I had an editing room in my house. I had a whole bunch of stuff so I could work with an assistant if I needed to.”

“As a kid, I remember seeing the entire Captain Marvel series in Atlanta, GA around 1942 at the neighborhood theater. That was the serial I saw every single chapter of. The Janus Theater showed the entire Batman serial end to end all the way through around 1965.”

“Prior to 1971, in 1969 I did a thing on the Counter-Inauguration with the Yippies demonstrating against the real inauguration of Nixon. That was shown at the Circle Theater, although I didn’t make any money on it. Sometime in the 1970s I started producing stuff.”

He wanted to help Pace and Symbarski because he thought he’d give them the help that he would have liked to have gotten as a young filmmaker. He essentially shot the film for them, using his equipment including sound equipment, lights and a Steenbeck film editing machine. They shot the film in Takoma Park, MD, “where Bill and Cel worked at Maggie’s Farm, a head shop, as well as being students at the University of Maryland, so a lot of the props probably came from there.” This wasn’t an official school project for them though. Eventually he realized that he was doing a lot of the work for them, which to him meant they wouldn’t mature as filmmakers, so he stopped doing so much (which appears to have led to some tensions).

“The show itself didn’t really follow the comic strip faithfully.” Instead of the Princess and the pea ending of the comic strip, “We ended up with the guys taking a toke on a bong. What I did was, I shot the guy and then I shot the scene without the guy, and then I had vibrating thing like a jew’s-harp make a sound, and then the guy vanishes to the bwoooiiing sound when taking a bong hit… It drew a really big laugh.”

Eventually they had to scratch out “Fabulous Furry Freak Bros.” on the release print after Gilbert Shelton objected. The movie was shown to the public though. It was shown at Biograph Theater by Alan Rubin, one of the theater owners.

“They used to have something called Expose Yourself where people would bring films to show. Bill and Cel showed up on Alan’s night and asked if they could show it, and Al said yes and showed it that night. They thought they’d have to go through a procedure, but Al just set up a 16mm projector and showed it right then.” It was shown several times.

Neither he nor Joel Pollack know what happened to Bill Pace. Mr. Jacobson noted that Bill Pace always “carried a wine skin with him and always had a buzz.” Celia Symbarski died after a motorcycle accident. Neither man knows if any copies of the film survive.

Another entry for the Secret History of Comics. If anyone knows of the whereabouts of the film, please contact us!

[1/27/2020: Symbarski corrected to Symborski, per Joel Pollack].

Spider-Man and Obama - a missed opportunity editorial

Marvel completely shot themselves and comics retailers in the collective foot by the way they handled this. I stopped at Big Planet at lunchtime and the phone was ringing off the hook with people calling for the Obama cover of Amazing Spider-Man 583 - which Big Planet didn't have due to the way Marvel released it. Marvel isn't going to make any money on the secondary market for these, and most retailers won't either.

What if you invited people to a party and then didn't actually have it? That's pretty much what Marvel did here, leaving all kinds of money in people's pockets instead of providing the comic book that they did want. It's no wonder that comic books are in trouble, with sales falling year after year, if this is the way they market them.

Stan Lee AND Zombie comics at Comic Riffs

Cavna ups the Washington comics blogger ante by getting Stan Lee to talk about Obama meeting Spider-Man - "Obama the Comic Superstar: Stan Lee Explains All..." By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Comic Riffs blog January 14, 2009. I think it's a little unfair because he can say he's from the Washington Post...

But he's not writing about the type of zombies you'd expect from visiting a comic book store where there's at least 2 good-selling zombie comics, one of which deserves to be (Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead) and the other which is just a bad idea even if it makes money (Marvel Zombies). Cavna writes about strips that are either done by dead people (Peanuts) or continued by other hands (Blondie, Dennis the Menace, Hagar). And he's got another neat chart.

Jillian Tamaki illo for NY Times today

Jillian Tamaki's been doing illos for NY Times for a while and there's one in today's Science Times section.

Rob Ullman's Richmond Magazine strip

Every time I pick up the City Paper, I miss Rob's illos for Savage Love. In fact, I barely bother to glance at the column anymore. Rob's got a new gig, Traffic & Weather, which appears to be a weekly online strip, for Richmond Magazine. Kudos to Journalista! for noticing it.

Library of Congress Swann Fellowship applications due next month

Feb. 13 is deadline to receive Swann Fellowship applications. Up to $15,000 is awarded annually to a qualified graduate student applicant or smaller award(s) to several to support scholarly research in caricature and cartoon by the Swann Foundation administered by the Library of Congress. For criteria, application forms, and list of funded projects, please see http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome.html. Email swann@loc.gov if you have questions.

Martha H. Kennedy
Associate Curator, Popular & Applied Graphic Art
Prints and Photographs Division
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20540-4730
Ph.: 202/707-9115 Fax: 202/707-6647

Greg Bennett notes Robert Goodin's blog

Greg Bennett forward Robert Goodin's message about his new blog to me. Since Greg has excellent taste, I'm noting it for you, and planning on buying The Man Man Who Loved Breasts tomorrow:

I've just launched a blog called Covered that has an artist redrawing a comic cover in their own style. Participating artists will come from the fields of comics, animation, graphic design, and galleries from all over the world and some will be well known and some not so well known.

Please check it out and feel free to leave feedback in the comments section. I just ask that you be civil.

http://coveredblog.blogspot.com

Rob

http://www.robertgoodin.com/

original art available at:

http://www.comicartcollective.com/goodin/

More on Harvey Pekar's opera

This blog post talks about how Robert Crumb ties into Harvey's libretto - "Harvey Pekar's jazz opera to be performed this month in Oberlin," by Michael Heaton/Plain Dealer Reporter, Monday January 12, 2009.

Stan Lee interview on Comic Riffs blog tomorrow

Michael Cavna has snaffled up another great interview - Stan Lee will be ... um quoted, he's already been interviewed... tomorrow!

And Michael's actually drawn something for his blog, mocking Sally Forth's poor husband Ted. Nice chart though!

Political humor CFP in DC

A call for papers announcement courtesy of ComicsDC buddy Jeff Reznick. Although this says it's in DC, it appears to be run by the University of Southern California?

ASA--Political Humor in the post-9/11 Era
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Call for Papers Date: 2009-01-17 (in 4 days)
Date Submitted: 2009-01-08
Announcement ID: 166146

Political Humor in the post-9/11 Era:
Papers on all aspects of political humor and satire are welcome: stand-up, visual and cartoon humor, film and television, etc. Papers focusing on humor and 9/11, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Guantanamo, Dick Cheney, or any other political question of the era are welcome. Focus should be on humor in the 2000s from an American or cross-cultural perspective. Comparative pieces discussing connections between another era and the 2000s will also be considered.

Proposals are due by January 17, 2009.

Lanita Jacobs-Huey
Department of Anthropology
Program in American Studies and Ethnicity
jacobshu@usc.edu

Luann is coming to DC, but so is everyone else...

Luann is coming to DC, but so is everyone else ...except for her buddy Delta whose idea it was.

In the meantime, we also appear to be getting Verne, the turtle from Over the Hedge and the entire cast from Rudy Park.

Spider-Man and Obama cover at Annapolis store

This letter came over the e-transom today; I think Annapolis is close enough for real comics collectors, don't you? By the way, those three links are the most I've seen for a comics store - the Web 2.0 idea is spreading.

Not sure how close you'd consider Annapolis in relation to the DC area, but we will have a good number of the Obama cover on hand, to at least last us through the week (I might be overly optimistic about this though). Just wanted to give you the heads up after seeing your blog post on this big event. We plan on tomorrow being a very big day here at the shop.

Thanks!

Steve

http://www.thirdeyecomics.com
http://www.myspace.com/3rdeyecomics
http://thirdeyecomicsblog.blogspot.com
15 Old Solomon's Island Rd
Suite 102
Annapolis, MD 21401
(410)897-0322

More on Jeff Kinney and Wimpy Kid

The former U of Md cartoonist was featured in USA Today to go with the weekend profile in the NY Times. See "'Wimpy Kid: Last Straw' opens another 'gateway' to reading," By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY January 12 2009. At the end of this article, one of the five series he recommends to get kids reading is Calvin and Hobbes. I always liked the Encyclopedia Brown books he also suggests and recently picked some up for my daughter (who reads Wimpy Kid too).

Mark Wheatley interview

Marylander Mark Wheatley is interviewed by Amanda Sheriff (I think) about his new e-strip in "Lone Justice: Crash! -- Free Scoop Preview," Scoop (January 9 2009). The article begins, "Scoop covered EZ Street when it debuted, when it concluded, and when it made its limited edition print debut, so it only makes sense that we'd also feature the spin-off "created" by the main characters of the previous story when it became its own graphic novel, right?

Say what?

If that doesn't exactly make sense – and we're not voting either way – here's how it worked out: In EZ Street, creators Mark Wheatley (Mars, Breathtaker) and Robert Tinnell (The Black Forest, Feast of the Seven Fishes) told the story of two brothers who were creators in the worlds of comics and film. Intermingled with the story of the brothers was the story the brothers were attempting to create, Lone Justice."

I completely missed the print edition. Did anyone see it?

Comic Riffs calls cartoonists on Bush

See "What Will You Miss About Bush? Top Cartoonists Tell Us," By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Comic Riffs January 12, 2009.

Michael's got quotes from some local cartoonists too like Might Matt Wuerker and Terrible Ann Telnaes... oh, wait, this isn't my wrestling blog...

More on Pekar's opera

See "Cleveland’s chronicler of the mundane is going avant-garde with an opera at Oberlin College," Cindy Leise, The Chronicle-Telegram January 11 2009.

Pekar, Feiffer and Jaffee interviewed in NYC

These should be good. I've never met Jaffee, but Feiffer and Pekar are fun to hear.

INTERVIEW SERIES WITH AL JAFFEE, JULES FEIFFER, HARVEY PEKAR IN NEW YORK BEGINS WEDS. JANUARY 21.

New York, January 11, 2009

From Danny Fingeroth:

The YIVO Institute presents one-on-one interviews with three titans comics, whose work has had seismic effects on the general culture.

Al JAFFEE, JULES FEIFFER, and HARVEY PEKAR will be interviewed by comics writer and critic DANNY FINGEROTH.

YIVO’s “Comics and the American Jewish Dream” series kicks off WEDS. JAN 21 at 7:00 pm with:

"The MAD, MAD, MAD (Jewish) World of AL JAFFEE"

A graduate of New York’s High School of Art and Design, JAFFEE worked as an editor, writer and artist for Stan Lee at Timely (later Marvel) Comics during the 1940s. In 1955, Jaffee joined “the Usual Gang of Idiots” at MAD Magazine, where he’s been a mainstay ever since, entertaining generations with his Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions and Mad Fold-Ins. Join us as JAFFEE provides snappy answers to provocative questions about his art and life, including his new book, Tall Tales (Abrams).

About Danny Fingeroth:
Series curator and moderator DANNY FINGEROTH, a longtime writer and editor at Marvel Comics, has spoken about comics at the Smithsonian Institution and The New School. He’s the author of Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero (Continuum) and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels (Penguin).

Wednesday, January 21, 7:00
The YIVO Institute For Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street / New York, NY 10011

Series Continues With
JULES FEIFFER: Tuesday, February 3, 7:00 P.M.
HARVEY PEKAR: Tuesday, February 17, 7:00 P.M.

ADMISSION TO PROGRAMS: $25 / YIVO members: $18 / students: $12
FOR TICKETS: Call 212-868-4444 or visit WWW.SMARTTIX.COM
FOR MORE INFO VISIT WWW.YIVO.ORG

Hero Initiative charity selling memberships

To go along with my Comic Book Legal Defense Fund membership, I've joined Hero Initiative which is now offering memberships. Hero Initiative helps down-on-their-luck comic book creators. Different levels of membership can be purchased through this site.

NY Times on Waltz with Bashir and Radical Children's books

"Children of the Left, Unite!," By CALEB CRAIN, New York Times Book Review January 11, 2009 reviews Julia L. Mickenberg and Philip Nel's Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature (New York University, $32.95) which features Syd Hoff and Walt Kelly.

"The Peacemaker: Questions for Ari Folman," Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON, New York Times Magazine January 11, 2009 is more about Folman than his animated movie.

And Gene Yang's Prime Baby comic strip is still appearing.

"Where can I get the President Obama meets Spider-Man comic book?"

People who know I collect comics have been asking me about getting copies of Amazing Spider-Man 583, the President Obama meets Spider-Man issue, coming out this Wednesday. The issue will have two covers - one of which features Obama (pictured on right) and one regular issue which does not (pictured below). All of the stores listed here will have gotten the regular issue as part of their normal ordering process and should have copies of that for sale. Marvel Comics made getting the Obama cover more difficult by first not telling retailers that it would be a special issue, and then offering the two covers and requiring retailers to buy a certain amount of the standard cover before they could order the Obama cover.

Marvel's website has a story on the comic - "Marvel Team-Up: Spidey/Obama Spider-Man editor Steve Wacker talks about the Webhead’s historic meeting with president-elect Barack Obama" By Matt Powell, 2009-01-09.

In my first real act of reporting, I've called some local stores to see if they'll have the Obama meets Spider-Man cover.

Laughing Ogre stores in Lansdowne and Fairfax (near Burke) are going to be your best bet. One of the clerks, Frazier says, "We're taking reservations, but will only have so many." Drew, the assistant manager, told me, "We're limiting people to two copies at first to make sure that everyone who wants a copy will get one. It was a special order thing so you had to be on top of it."

Alliance Comics is in Silver Spring (the store that used to be Geppi's back in the day) and Bowie, MD. Troy Allen of the Silver Spring store says "Marvel dropped this on people at the last minute and our orders had already been placed so we're hoping to have enough to get through the day and then they'll probably fast-track the reprint, if the Death of Captain America is any indication." Some of the people in the store are working on their own comic book as well, so check back for more details.

Big Monkey Comics has been reserving comics for people who have been calling in and hopes to have some to sell on the rack - Assistant Manager of the DC store James Rambo says, "We've been reserving copies and have gotten a ton of reserves. We're definitely going to have to get extra copies in."

Beyond Comics of Frederick and Gaithersburg, MD has enough to cover to their subscribers and a couple of extra copies because "Marvel didn't release news about what would be in the issue until the after the initial order, and then had a very short reorder period" during the week before Christmas.

Joel Pollack of Big Planet Comics's Bethesda store said, "Marvel, in their infinite wisdom, made it impossible for us to get a reasonable number of copies of the Obama cover. We will try to fulfill subs with the Obama cover, but cannot guarantee it. We will be getting the Obama cover second-prints, hopefully on January 21."

Fantom Comics in Tenleytown and Union Station will have just the regular Spider-man issue, which still has the story featuring Obama, and hopes to have enough copies for people to drop in and buy them.

Barbarian Book Store is in the Wheaton Triangle, but does not appear to have a functioning website and the telephone number I found on the web goes to a payphone.

Any other stores in the area who would like to let me know about their plans is welcome to write in: mrhode@gmail.com

For those who like to collect this type of comic, Obama met Savage Dragon last fall and also appeared before the election in a biographical comic book. And as Randy noted last week, the free alternative comics Bash Magazine that's on the streets now has an Obama caricature by Halbert as the cover.

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 01-14-09

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 01-14-09
By John Judy

ACTION COMICS #873 by Geoff Johns and Pete Woods. It’s the “New Krypton” finale featuring the fate of 100,000 peeved Kryptonians. What could go wrong?

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583 by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson. Okay, there’s some hearts and flowers in this one, but what you really care about is that THIS IS THE ONE WITH BARACK OBAMA ON THE COVER!!! Yes, the one that all the stupid mainstream media has been talking about, getting all the straights excited to get a copy even if they use it as a dartboard in their unfinished rec room/meth labs. Point being: If you’re a regular reader and want to be sure you get a copy of this book you should contact your Favorite Retailer immediately to arrange a set-aside. Or just buy the non-Obama cover. This one will no doubt be on E-Bay quickly to squeeze the feebs who think it’ll be worth $$$ someday so brace yourselves. And rest assured Marvel will have a second printing out in a couple of weeks.

BONE COLOR EDITION, VOL. 9: CROWN OF HORNS SC written and drawn by Jeff Smith. Collecting and colorizing the final six issues of Smith’s epic comic fantasy, this is fine addition to any bookshelf. Great fun for all ages and one of Time magazine’s Top Ten Graphic Novels of All Time. Recommended!

BPRD: BLACK GODDESS #1 of 5 by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. Agent Liz Sherman’s been kidnapped and it’s up to her fellow BPRDers to get her back! That should be good for a few dust-ups and knockings of the heads. Plus gators. Angry, hungry gators!

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI:13 #9 by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk. The gang’s in Hell after being betrayed by that rat Captain Midlands. Also Meggan is back (honest!) and the Black Knight faces some personal discomfort. This is a much better book than you old EXCALIBUR readers might think. Give ‘er a spin!

FACES OF EVIL: PROMETHEUS #1 by Sterling Gates and Frederico Dalbochio. The guy who once defeated the JLA all by his lonesome is back at his old tricks. This time will the heroes stay defeated?

FINAL CRISIS #6 of 7 by Grant Morrison and His Band of Renown. Darkseid, Apokolips, New Gods, Anti-Life, Monitors, Multiverse… Oops. I think I just leaked the script. Sorry.

PUNISHER WAR ZONE #5 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Frank and his drugged out stoolie just had their car machine-gunned to bits by a mad Yuppie and his vengeful Mafia zombie-clone. Does it get better than this? No, it does not. Read it!

RASL, VOL. 1: DRIFT SC written and drawn by Jeff Smith. The first trade edition of Smith’s bad-boy, dimension-hopping art thief includes and extra three-page scene that got cut from the regular comic. Add to that the larger 9”x12” page dimensions and you’ve got one handsome bit of graphic novel goodness. Recommended.

SOLOMON KANE #4 of 5 by Scott Allie and Mario Guevara. At last, the Puritan Punisher is fighting a guy who turns into a wolf! Come on! Give it a look! It’s good!

TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA HC written and drawn by Shaun Tan. Fifteen short stories from the award-winning creator of THE ARRIVAL. Teens and up.

www.johnjudy.net

Maryland creator Mike Imboden profiled at Pulse!

See "MIKE IMBODEN RAISING THE FIST OF JUSTICE," Jennifer M. Contino, Comicon's The Pulse (January 6 2009).

Zadzooks on Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings

This week's column is mostly about toys, but has a bit about comics at the end - "Gandalf the Grey and Indiana Jones," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Wednesday, January 7, 2009.

Paul Richard on Walt Disney's fine art status

Here's an excellent article - although when these start appearing, you have to worry about the art form having ossified -
"UNDER WALT'S SPELL: Disney Is No Mickey Mouse Figure in the World of Art" By Paul Richard, Special to The Washington Post, Sunday, January 11, 2009; M06. Given the 'fine art' pieces that Richard quotes, which cover a period of 40 years at least, I suppose that argument is already over about Disney.

Maryland animation festival reported a success

See "Annual cartoon fest draws young and old," By Ashley Andyshak, Frederick News-Post Staff January 11, 2009.

That Darn Toles ... continued

More Toles Is the Solution
Washington Post (January 11 2009)

As with many of the world's complex problems, a solution may be so simple that it is overlooked. Take, for example, The Post's declining print circulation. The obvious solution is to simply chain Tom Toles to his desk and force him to produce not one but two editorial cartoons per day, seven days a week. Problem solved. Subscriptions will skyrocket. The Post is giving Toles way too much time off.

-- Dean Harger

Germantown

Dame Darcy exhibit in DC

The Post reported yesterday that Dame Darcy was in town for exhibit opening, and I missed it. The exhibit continues though: Also at the gallery is "Gasoline," featuring works by Dame Darcy, creator of the comic "Meat Cake." The show features work from Darcy's "Gasoline" graphic novel. The shows open tonight with a reception that includes a performance. (After the opening, an after-party is slated for Comet Ping Pong). Free. 7-10 p.m. (Dame Darcy will perform music at 9). The show runs through Feb. 7. Civilian Art Projects, 406 Seventh St. NW. 202-347-0022 or http://www.civilianartprojects.com.

Comics and movies

As longtime readers of this know, I have a running list of movies and tv adapted from comics that I publish as a book annually (theoretically at least, as I'm still doing the index to 2008's edition).

A couple of things to note this morning:

My buddy Bart Beaty's new book got an excellent review. The book is David Cronenberg's A History of Violence, By Bart Beaty, University of Toronto Press, 138 pages, $16.95. The review is "Good director, bon directeur," BY PIERS HANDLING, Toronto Globe and Mail Update January 8, 2009. Handling says, among other things, "Beaty does a superb job dissecting, interpreting and unpacking all the key moments of the film, revealing the tools a filmmaker, working at the height of his powers, brings to his canvas."

And then there's the Watchmen movie - "Studios Try to Settle ‘Watchmen’ Dispute," By MICHAEL CIEPLY, New York Times January 10, 2009. Cieply writes, "Mr. Karasik, joined by lawyers for Warner, had asked a court clerk on Friday if the judge would conduct a hearing in chambers, because they planned to discuss what he called “settlement issues.” The clerk conferred with Judge Feess, then returned to say that the judge would insist on a session open to the public." Hahahahaha! Good for the judge.

Cul de Sac sums up the end of the holidays

Richard's Jan 10th Cul de Sac strip absolutely captures the end of the holidays feeling that I'm having as I face taking down the Christmas tree and outside ornaments today...

Geppi luncheon talk covered.

"Steven Geppi: Hard Work Gets Noticed," Jack McLaughlin, HBL Editor, Harford Business ledger 12/26/08. This was linked to from Scoop which is Diamond's weekly collector's e-newsletter.

Former U of MD cartoonist Jeff Kinney and Wimpy Kid profiled in NYT

Appearing on Sunday, but we've got it for you early - "Jeff Kinney: A Profile of the ‘Wimpy Kid’ Author," By JAN HOFFMAN, New York Times January 11, 2009 and "Hapless Boy Wins Eager Friends," By JAN HOFFMAN, New York Times January 11, 2009. If you get the paper, as I do, you'll have to remember that this is in the Style & Fashion section for some reason.

Fredericksburg, VA letterwriters slap around editorial cartoonist

Here's a couple of letters sent to the Fredericksburg (Virginia) Free Lance-Star about Clay Jones - Your cartoonist is not funny, FLS! and Throwing shoes at a president isn't funny.

'Waltz with Bashir' interview on Washington Times

See "'Waltz' with Ari: Israeli documentarian looks at first Lebanon war," Sonny Bunch, Washington Times Friday, January 9, 2009. The movie opens here on the 16th the article says. Anyone want to go see it?

Weingarten's Chatalogical Humor chat on some comics

Here's some comments on comic strips from Gene Weingarten's January 6th chat that mirror some of the concerns of this blog lately:

2D, color on Sunday: You once called 9 Chickweed Lane "reprehensible." Why? Is it the pseudo-sophistication? The unbearably snotty and phony way the characters speak? The lack of chins?

While we're there, have you followed the latest story, in which Amos and Edda finally have sex? I wonder: Is this the first time a character has lost his or her virginity ("maidenhood" in the strip) in the comics?

And finally, I had to laugh when I saw this,* in which McEldowney whines about the cruel realities of deadline to explain why the loss-of-virginity storyline is on hiatus.

Gene Weingarten: Interestingly enough, we appear to be watching the deflowering of Cory this very week in "Watch Your Head."

Liz, can we link to one or two?

washingtonpost.com: Watch Your Head: Jan. 3 | Jan. 5 | Jan. 6

_______________________

comic,AL: What's your opinion on the "pseudo-affair" plot line in Sally Forth? Although it would be scandalous, and since the strip is called "Sally Forth," unlikely, for Ted to take Aria up on her offer I think it would be a huge improvement to the strip for him to develop a backbone. Otherwise I think Sally will just say "walkies!" and he will follow her home like the good dog that he is.

Gene Weingarten: I am annoyed by possessiveness in marrige, so I am annoyed by this plot line. Having said that, it is an interestingly ambiguous dynamic, and I respect the writers for it: Nothing is "going on," and yet both parties are disturbed. So is, in fact, something "going on"?

To me, the great part of the Sally Forth storyline is Sally's ma constantly intimating that Ted is a woman.


*one of our famed local comic strip artists was also caught short by his syndicate deadlines, but worked through a family vacation to stay on time...

Spider-Man and Obama

As is the case with pretty much every other major news media outlet, The Examiner has a blurb on Obama being in an upcoming issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (p. 10 in the 1/9/08 edition). The story originally ran in USA Today.

Jan 11: Mo Willems at Tysons Barnes & Noble

Thanks to Our Man Thompson for the tip that Mo Willems will be at the Tysons Corner Barnes and Noble store on Sunday, Jan 11th at 2 pm.

Richard Thompson on 2009 at The Beat

See Heidi MacDonald's "The Beat’s Annual Yearend Survey, 2009 Edition: Part 1," The Beat blog (January 5).

Richard's about halfway down. I haven't seen any other Washington-area types yet.

Twizzlers?

Shadow artist obituary

As a kid, I loved the Shadow... the radio show, the pulp (Pyramid was reprinting them with Steranko covers), the DC Comics (Kaluta!)... Edd Cartier, one of the last links to the original pulps, died last week. The best obituary I've seen appeared today in "Edd Cartier, 94, Pulp Illustrator, Dies," By WILLIAM GRIMES, New York Times January 8, 2009.

Warren Craghead exhibit in Charlottesville

Gallery owner Rob Jones sent in the following PR about his Warren Craghead show in Charlottesville:

The Dot and The Line
Drawings by Warren Craghead and Brian Mallman
Migration: A Gallery
Charlottesville, Virginia
www.MigrationGallery.com

This show's opening is past, but it will remain up until the end of January.

Here are a couple of reviews:

http://artpark.typepad.com/artblog/2008/12/drawings-by-warren-craghead-and-brian-mallman.html

http://artpark.typepad.com/artblog/2009/01/the-dot-and-the-line.html (- this link leads to a post with a free downloadable Craghead book - Mike).

Rob Jones
www.artPark.typepad.com
fresh air art blogging

Jan 12: Mo Willems at Politics and Prose

The cartoonist and children's book author will be at Politics and Prose on:

Monday, January 12, 4 p.m.
Mo Willems
NAKED MOLE RAT GETS DRESSED (Hyperion, $16.99)
Emmy, Caldecott Honor, and Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal-winner Mo Willems is back with a new hero: Wilbur, the naked mole rat, who likes to wear clothes. Clothes allow Wilbur to let his imagination run wild, but what will Grandfather naked mole rat do when he discovers Wilbur’s secret? Ages 3 and up

Wondermark and Frisky Dingos in today's papers

The January 8th Onion has another special Wondermark strip by David Malki in it - a strip about the Onion dropping its comics. This one's probably not going online either so get your copy of the Onion now, or send me a pitiful begging note asking me to clip one for you.

Also, in the Express, Stephen Deusner explains what a Frisky Dingo is - a cartoon on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim that made it into a couple of DVDs, but isn't being renewed.

Comic Riffs' Cavna interviews Peters over coffee lawsuit

This is really a stupid lawsuit, and my wife laughed when I told her about it, but Michael Cavna, being a good journalist, interviewed Mike Peters about it (well she laughed at Peters' gag and then kept going): "'Mother Goose & Grimm' vs. Juan Valdez--The Lawsuit," By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Comic Riffs blog (January 8, 2009).

Jan 16: The World of Anime Fandom

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Chris Wanamaker, (202) 262 2083 president@dcanimeclub.org
DC Anime Club and Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan Present:
The World of Anime Fandom


DC Anime Club and Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC), Embassy of Japan Present “The World of Anime Fandom” on Friday January 16, 2009 at 6:30pm. This event is in celebration of the one year anniversary of the monthly Anime screening series held at the JICC.

During this event DC Anime Club will explain via a power point presentation about the World of Anime Fandom from what is Anime (Japanese Animation) and Manga (Japanese Comics), special anime conventions that are held around the US to explanations for all the parents who wonder why they’re child is so in awe about Anime and Manga.

This event will also feature the new DC Anime Club dancers who will perform a dance routine based upon popular Anime Films and will be dressed in hand made costumes.

Attendees of this event who come in costume will receive a prize.

This event will be held at the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan located at Lafayette Center III 1155 21st Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-3308.

Seating for this event is limited and attendees are encouraged to rsvp by sending an e-mail to jiccrsvpwinter08@embjapan.org.

This program is free and open to the public. For more information please visit the Japan Information and Culture Center website at http://www.us.embjapan.go.jp/jicc/ or visit DC Anime Club website at http://dcanimeclub.org.

About DC Anime Club:
DCAC was established in 2003 to introduce and educate people in the Washington,DC area about East Asian culture, through viewing and discussion of Japanese animation (also known as anime) and Japanese comics (manga). DCAC is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization, contributions to DC Anime Club are taxed deductible to the extent allowable under the law.

The club also works to provide a positive, alternative activity to the youth in the area by exposing them to foreign culture, encouraging artistic expression and creativity, and providing opportunities for participation in community activities and leadership.

In addition to our weekly meetings, the club holds an Annual Art Show, an Annual Costume fundraising event, and visits local schools to do presentations on anime. The club also works with the Smithsonian Freer Gallery and DCAsian Pacific American Film Festival on their anime screenings, and has helped locally promote performances for Japanese bands such as Puffy Ami Yumi and Pine am. DC Anime Club was founded by Chris Wanamaker (President), Jules Chang (Vice President) and Craig Vaughn (Sgt in ARMS) on Saturday June 5, 2003. We have a strong membership that continues to grow -- most of which are teenagers.

About Japan Information and Culture Center:
The Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC) is the cultural and public affairs section of the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. Our primary role is to promote better understanding of Japan and Japanese culture by providing a wide range of
information, educational services and programs to the public. The JICC is located on the lower level of the glass-enclosed Galleria at Lafayette Centre III in downtown Washington, D.C. Its facilities include a research library, a 152-seat auditorium, and a 1,500-square-foot exhibition gallery where a wide variety of events sponsored by the JICC are hosted throughout the year.

--
Christopher Wanamaker
DC Anime Club President
http://www.dcanimeclub.org
202 262 2083

Another virgin gone

After 9 Chickweed Lane's characters experienced their shared joy, perhaps it was inevitable that others on the comics page should lose their virginity as well. Today's example is apparently Watch Your Head with a 27-second life-changing moment.

And while I don't want to take over Comic Riffs role, I can't help but note the flat-out sincere insincerity of Wiley's Non Sequiter today.

Bash Magazine publisher profiled at City Paper

Randy spotted this blog post in which the Bash Magazine publisher is profiled - "Talkin’ Bash," Posted by Andrew Beaujon, Washington City Paper's City Desk blog Jul. 28, 2008.

Jan 9: Toles' band in Journopalooza at National Press Club

He'd probably sign the Obama post-election cartoon if you brought it...

That's Journopalooza.com

A new favorite small publisher - Fanfare / Ponent Mon

Deb Aoki was manning (womanning?) Fanfare / Ponent Mon's booth at SPX this year and I recognized her from her photo on About.com. Since I really enjoy her writing and interviews, I stopped to talk. The company sells manga, frequently created with Franco-Belgian collaborators, and I'm coming a bit late to them, I think. She recommended some titles to me and I bought a few more so over the next week I'll feature reviews of five of the company's books:

TÔKYÔ IS MY GARDEN
Boilet - Peeters
Translation: Vanessa Champion and Elizabeth Tiernan
Pages: 152
US Price: $18.99

Disappearance diary
Hideo Azuma
Translation: Kumar Sivasubramanian & Elizabeth Tiernan
Pages: 200
US Price: $22.99

The Ice Wanderer and other stories
Jiro Taniguchi
Translation: Elizabeth Tiernan and Shizuka Shimoyama
Pages: 240
US Price: $21.99

The Walking Man
Jiro Taniguchi
Translation: Stephen Albert
Pages: 152
US Price: $16.99

Japan
various authors
Translation: Vanessa Champion, Elizabeth Tierman and Shizuka Shimoyama
Pages: 256
US Price: $25.00

I've finished 3 of the 5 so far, and I liked these so much that I'm going to add the entire company line to my pull list at Big Planet Comics - something I've done in recent years with First Second (still going ok) and Toon Books (eh). I like a lot of what Top Shelf and Drawn and Quarterly publish and you should definitely check out their lines if you're not already, but not everything they publish works for me. On reflection, I think I'm getting most of what Cinebook is putting out too.

Jan 27: Material Culture Forum, "Collecting Popular Culture" Smithsonian event

This sounds interesting and on target even if they don't mention comic art. Thanks to Jeff Reznick for the tip. Jeff's venturing into the world of comics scholarship by writing a review of a Peanuts exhibit for the next issue of IJOCA.

Material Culture Forum, "Collecting Popular Culture"

The Smithsonian Forum on Material Culture invites you to attend its 83rd Quarterly Meeting “Collecting Popular Culture,” at the National Portrait Gallery, Donald W. Reynolds Center, 8th and F Street, NW on January 27, 2009.

SCHEDULE

GALLERY TOUR: 3:30-4:15pm, “Ballyhoo! Posters as Portraiture” lead by Wendy Wick Reaves, Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Portrait Gallery, 2nd floor west, open and free to all

PRESENTATIONS & DISCUSSION: 4:30-6:00pm, McEvoy Auditorium, sub-level 1,

Welcoming Remarks by Martin Sullivan, Director, National Portrait Gallery

Moderated by Wendy Wick Reaves, Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Portrait Gallery

“Imported Textiles, Local Meaning,” Bryna Freyer, Curator, National Museum of African Art

“Ray Guns, Spaceships and Action Figures: Outer Space in Popular Culture,” Margaret Weitekamp, Curator, Division of Space History, National Air and Space Museum

“But Is It History?” Ellen Roney Hughes, Curator, Division of Music, Sports, and Entertainment History, National Museum of American History

WINE RECEPTION & INFORMAL DISCUSSION: 6:15-7:00pm, Multipurpose Rooms, 1st floor, open and free to all

BUFFET DINNER & DISCUSSIONS: 7:15-8:45pm, Kogod Courtyard, open to all by reservation, $30.00 per person

To reserve a place for dinner, please email Stephanie Hornbeck at shornbec.si.edu. To pay for dinner, please send a check made out to “Smithsonian Institution,” for $30.00 per person, to Stephanie Hornbeck, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012 Room 1109, MRC 708, Washington, DC 20013-7012.

For questions about this event, please contact Stephanie Hornbeck at 202-633-4615.

Dave Astor interview

Boy, I miss Dave's work for Editor and Publisher. See "Talking Comics with Tim: Dave Astor," by Tim O'Shea, Comic Book Resources' Robot 6 blog January 5, 2009.

Blade's Year in Cartoons issue

The current Washington Blade (January 2nd), on the newstands until Thursday, has two tabloid pages of 28 of Paul Berge's cartoons from the past year, making this the most complete 'year in cartoons' I've seen to date. ... although they're all generally on topics of interest to a homosexual newspaper of course...

Comic Riffs interviews Tim Rickard on Brewster Rockit

See "The Interview: 'Brewster Rockit' Cartoonist Tim Rickard," By Michael Cavna, January 6, 2009.

I like this strip. I got to say hello to Rickard at HeroesCon this year and asked about buying original art, but he draws figures in any old way and then photoshops them into a strip format. Sigh. Technology marches on.

Here's another recent interview with him for you: "Episode 60 - The Tim Rickard Interview," Comics Coast To Coast Tuesday, 23 December 2008.

More on Wondermark and Onion comic strips

David Malki has a blog post confirming that Wondermark is leaving the Onion. He writes:

In late 2006, the satirical newspaper The Onion launched a comics page in its print edition (currently available free on newsstands in 10 metropolitan areas). I was thrilled to feature Wondermark on that page in every market, and for about two and a half years, the comic ran in 700,000 papers every week.

Now, however, the Onion comics page is going away. The issue appearing on newsstands in a few days will be the last to feature a Wondermark strip.*

The asterix is because he did a special strip for the Onion this week which isn't on the website. I'm not going to reproduce it here, because heck, if he wanted you to see it, he would have put it on HIS website.

Look at those numbers though - 700,000 papers per week. And they can't afford to keep in some syndicated strips? Hopefully Malki's resulting move to the MCT Syndicate will pay off for him though.

Cul de Sac picks up Oregon paper

See "New comics debut in News-Review," Vicki Menard, The News-Review January 5 2009, for the thrilling details as Our Man Thompson's empire continues to grow.

New York Times on Spirit movie posters

This is buried on the Times' website, but it's pretty interesting - "Inside the Layers of a Print Campaign," New York Times.com December 25 2008 - the poster campaign is discussed while alongside the posters themselves load. The last poster shown made it into comic book stores, or at least Big Planet, but I didn't get any of the earlier ones. Hint, hint.

Luann is coming to DC!

Luann is coming to DC! Hopefully Toni the firewoman will stop by too. Nobody's visited us since the Family Circus last fall.

Spider-Man strip reboot explained

Michael Cavna touched on Spider-Man's suddenly lacking a wife in Comic Riffs last week, and I can't be bothered to explain it so here's Graeme McMillan to do so for anyone following the strip in the Post. Brian Steinberg at the Examiner just posted on this as well, and appears as cranky about it as I am.

Onion dropping comic strips?

In the January 1 issue of the Onion, Wondermark by David Malki has a strip that says "In three weeks, The Onion will cease printing a comics page." Malki suggests visiting his website and signing up for having the strip emailed, but that's just not the same as reading the paper, is it? DC is one of the two or three places to have a print copy of the paper - it's in New York City, and possibly still in Madison, WI.

Other strips on the next-to-last page are Shannon Wheeler's Postage Stamp Funnies (recently collected by Dark Horse Comics, as was Wondermark), Red Meat by Max Cannon (fugitive from the City Paper and soon homeless again apparently), The Spats, Ziggy (in Spanish... what a waste) and P.S. Mueller's panel.

Earlier in the paper is Ward Sutton's fake editorial cartoon, nominally by 'Kelly.'

Where in the world is ComicsDC?

Well, nominally we cover a small mid-Atlantic area in the United States, but apparently people pop in from all over. I've got a couple of maps in the lower right corner, and the one from ClustrMaps just added statistics by country - which I find amazing. I'm not sure what I'm doing to attract people from all over the world, but thanks for reading! Here's the numbers for our recent 3/4 of a year - from April 2008 when I put the map up, until now.

United States (US) 45,193
Canada (CA) 3,622
United Kingdom (GB) 3,028
Germany (DE) 1,068
France (FR) 816
Australia (AU) 787
Spain (ES) 672
Italy (IT) 600
India (IN) 573
Netherlands (NL) 469
Brazil (BR) 464
Philippines (PH) 364
Mexico (MX) 306
Japan (JP) 278
Belgium (BE) 250
Sweden (SE) 245
Poland (PL) 243
Turkey (TR) 241
Indonesia (ID) 236
South Africa (ZA) 234
Malaysia (MY) 211
Denmark (DK) 210
Singapore (SG) 203
Argentina (AR) 181
Finland (FI) 165
Switzerland (CH) 158
Norway (NO) 157
Russian Federation (RU) 157
Greece (GR) 155
Ireland (IE) 151
New Zealand (NZ) 144
Portugal (PT) 143
Thailand (TH) 139
Romania (RO) 131
Israel (IL) 131
Austria (AT) 127
Saudi Arabia (SA) 118
Chile (CL) 117
Serbia (RS) 110
Hong Kong (HK) 102
Korea, Republic of (KR) 101
Hungary (HU) 92
China (CN) 89
Czech Republic (CZ) 87
Croatia (HR) 87
Egypt (EG) 79
Peru (PE) 79
Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR) 76
United Arab Emirates (AE) 76
Colombia (CO) 63
Pakistan (PK) 62
Europe (EU) 62
Cote D'Ivoire (CI) 55
Taiwan (TW) 49
Bulgaria (BG) 49
Slovakia (SK) 46
Vietnam (VN) 45
Nigeria (NG) 45
Ukraine (UA) 45
Venezuela (VE) 38
Puerto Rico (PR) 38
Guyana (GY) 36
Morocco (MA) 35
Slovenia (SI) 29
Lithuania (LT) 27
Costa Rica (CR) 25
Macedonia (MK) 24
Kuwait (KW) 23
Qatar (QA) 22
Trinidad and Tobago (TT) 22
Estonia (EE) 21
Ecuador (EC) 21
Sri Lanka (LK) 20
Dominican Republic (DO) 20
Latvia (LV) 19
Lebanon (LB) 18
Bangladesh (BD) 18
Guatemala (GT) 17
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA) 17
Malta (MT) 17
Jamaica (JM) 17
Uruguay (UY) 17
Algeria (DZ) 15
El Salvador (SV) 13
Jordan (JO) 13
Oman (OM) 12
Ghana (GH) 12
Tunisia (TN) 11
Nicaragua (NI) 10
Barbados (BB) 10
Georgia (GE) 10
Bolivia (BO) 10
Panama (PA) 10
Netherlands Antilles (AN) 9
Iceland (IS) 9
Asia/Pacific Region (AP) 8
Luxembourg (LU) 8
Sudan (SD) 8
Kenya (KE) 8
Senegal (SN) 8
Cyprus (CY) 7
Belarus (BY) 7
Palestinian Territory (PS) 7
Togo (TG) 7
Yemen (YE) 6
Macau (MO) 6
Guam (GU) 6
Montenegro (ME) 6
Mongolia (MN) 6
Mauritius (MU) 6
Bermuda (BM) 6
Moldova, Republic of (MD) 5
Albania (AL) 5
Benin (BJ) 5
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (LY) 5
Bahamas (BS) 5
Brunei Darussalam (BN) 5
Maldives (MV) 5
Bahrain (BH) 5
Reunion (RE) 4
Honduras (HN) 4
Martinique (MQ) 4
Burkina Faso (BF) 4
Kazakstan (KZ) 3
Armenia (AM) 3
Malawi (MW) 3
Virgin Islands, U.S. (VI) 3
Syrian Arab Republic (SY) 3
Cayman Islands (KY) 3
Gibraltar (GI) 3
Fiji (FJ) 3
Nepal (NP) 3
Saint Lucia (LC) 3
Paraguay (PY) 2
Iraq (IQ) 2
Azerbaijan (AZ) 2
French Polynesia (PF) 2
Guinea (GN) 2
Guadeloupe (GP) 2
Namibia (NA) 2
Uganda (UG) 2
Greenland (GL) 1
Botswana (BW) 1
Mozambique (MZ) 1
Aruba (AW) 1
Cuba (CU) 1
Cape Verde (CV) 1
Cameroon (CM) 1
Virgin Islands, British (VG) 1
Northern Mariana Islands (MP) 1
Myanmar (MM) 1
Saint Kitts and Nevis (KN) 1
Mali (ML) 1
Somalia (SO) 1
Seychelles (SC) 1
Kyrgyzstan (KG) 1
Zimbabwe (ZW) 1
Cambodia (KH) 1
Rwanda (RW) 1
Gabon (GA) 1
Turkmenistan (TM) 1
Suriname (SR) 1

Bob Staake wrote in the other day after I posted something about him, and noted how long he's been in our paper - "17 consecutive years on the Style Invitational -- and over 25 with the Post." That's amazing. Here's 3 Style illos from the past year that caught my eye and got clipped.

Cameroonian and Marylander cartoonist Issa Nyaphaga's exhibit in NYC

Issa's sent me the following press release about his new exhibit:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ARTBREAK GALLERY presents
BARACKUDA: POST-ELECTION CARTOON SHOW
by ISSA NYAPHAGA

January 4 - February 6, 2009
Opening reception Friday, January 9th from 5 to 9 PM

ARTBREAK GALLERY is proud to present the work of ISSA NYAPHAGA, an international artist/activist who is working on global issues with FREEDIMENSIONAL here in NYC.

ISSA began his career working as a political cartoonist and reporter in a weekly satirical newspaper in his home country of Cameroon, Le Messager Popoli. His opposition to the political regime in Cameroon led him to several trips to jail in 1994 for his publications. In 1996 he escaped from his country to seek asylum in France, where he began collaborating with the famous photographer Jacqueline Hyde, a former assistant to Man Ray.

Being known as an activist devoted to the issues of refugees and immigrants, ISSA NYAPHAGA was invited on June 16, 2001 to20speak before the French National Assembly on the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees for the U.N.H.C.R. He also co-founded the organization JAFE (African Journalists in Exile), which defends and protects journalists in danger, and in 1999 he co-authored Comment la France traite l'asile politique (L'Harmattan ed.), a book
that deals with political asylum in France and analyzes the exile experience.

As a way of remaining in contact with his native country ISSA founded the Association "HITIP" (Hope International for Tikar People), which contributes to the development of rural areas in Cameroon, especially in the cultural exchange, health and education sectors.

ISSA NYAPHAGA is currently participating in a three-month residency program in NYC with the HARLEM STUDIO FELLOWSHIP. He is one of many emerging black artists who followed the last presidential election campaign in the US very closely, which then inspired him to produce the body of work in this show.

"As a political cartoonist I was censured and jailed. Today, after 12 years in exile, I seek to examine contemporary society with an expression that transcends the primary function of caricature. For me, drawing cartoons has always been about examining current events in newspapers, and transferring this expression onto a huge canvas or into an installation gives me immense pleasure," explains ISSA.

As part of his 'URBAN WAY' project, on the night of the reception ISSA will be performing on stage with live music.

The show will run from January 4th to February 6th.

For more information go to www.artbreakgallery.com , www.freedimensional.org or www.nyaphaga.com

ARTBREAK GALLERY
195 Grand Street
2nd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718 302 1021
www.artbreakgallery.com
info@artbreakgallery.com

Seth, Tomine, Neely illos among others in today's NY Times Magazine

Seth, Tomine, and Neely have illos among others in today's NY Times Magazine in this article - "Risk Mismanagement" - click on each page at the bottom to see the next set.

Jillian Tamaki illustrated a book review and a few days ago, J.D. Salinger.

Last week, David Hajdu eulogized Will Elder in "His Mad World," By DAVID HAJDU, New York Times Magazine December 28, 2008.

OT: Another review of Losing Everything

Here's another review of Losing Everything by my friend David Lozell Martin: "A novelist's harrowing journey," REVIEW BY PETE CROATTO, Bookpage, January 2009.

And on a more chipper note, the Post recently ran a story about Wonder Book and Video in Frederick, MD which has sold me a few comics and cartoon things over the years.

Another Luna Brothers interview online

"Keeping The Sword Sharp: Talking to the Luna Brothers," By Vaneta Rogers, Newsarama 30 December 2008 .

The Year According to Toles came out last week

Whoops. December 28th, p. B8 for anyone who kept the paper.

Since all of his Post cartoons are online, I guess it doesn't matter much.

But, hey, look - the Post is selling a print of his post-Obama election cartoon for $30; a bargain compared to the $200 for the signed one.

And although I'm poking fun at them, more power to them for figuring out more ways to make money and keep paying a cartoonist. Personally I think they should do a collection for each year of Toles' cartoons through a print-on-demand service. No upfront cost besides the intern time to put it together and I'd buy one each year.