Saturday, November 20, 2010

Followup to Colleen Doran's editorial on piracy and copyright

The Post's excellent tech columnist Rob Pegoraro explains what the bill that Doran editorialized in favor of actually is:

Congress's latest awful tech-policy idea: the Net-censorship bill
By Rob Pegoraro

Essentially it's a bill to force Internet providers to block traffic to sites accused of piracy, including aggragators of links to scans - like TCJ.Com's Journalista and multiple other comics sites that point out when something rare has gone online.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Another possible area cartoonist?

Masked Military Man Is Superhero for Troops
By THOM SHANKER
November 19, 2010

WASHINGTON — Faster than a fleeting bullet point in an Army briefing slide. Able to leap Pentagon jargon in a single bound. While he's not a classic superhero like the Man of Steel, he's certainly a man of irony. Meet Doctrine Man...

Dembicki's District Comics website

This sounds really cool to me too:

Matt Dembicki writes in:
District Comics is an online comics anthology that will feature stories about the history of Washington, D.C., from its beginnings to contemporary times. The site will be open to the public. We want schools, libraries, comics readers and everyone else to visit the site to read some really cool stories pertaining to the nation's capital. We're currently looking for story pitches. For more info: http://district-comics.blogspot.com/



Matt Dembicki on Inkstuds

Robin McConnell interviews Matt Dembicki
 November 15, 2010 by Inkstuds
http://www.inkstuds.org/?p=3247
http://www.inkstuds.org/wp-content/podcast/101113_Matt_Dembicki.mp3

Matt Dembicki has put together a great comic anthology collecting and adapting First Nations folklore stories called Trickster.

Pearls Before Swine gives stunning call out to Cul de Sac

Pastis likes Richard! He really likes him!
 
Honestly, I can't recall anything similar to this in the comics. Anyone?

Tonight: “Party Crashers” and Comic Book Culture at Arlington Art Center

"Party Crashers" and Comic Book Culture at Arlington Art Center

Posted by Mike Rhode
 
I'm hoping to make it between 7-8 tonight. I think there's a catalogue as well and will try to get details of that for you.

Comicsgirl sums up 'In Between the Panels' panel

In Between the Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene

 Nov 18, 2010
 
Now, aren't you sorry you didn't go?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Comic Riffs on National Cartoonists Society USO trip in Afghanistan

Artists in Afghanistan: Luckovich, Pastis & Keane moved by latest USO Tour
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs November 18 2010

Nov 19: Party Crashers comic art exhibit opens in Arlington

I wrote up some details of the Party Crashers comic art exhibit for the City Paper.

Smurfs, Human Target and Peanuts in local papers

Macy's has a 1/2 page Smurfs ad in the Post, the Examiner has a wire story on the return of the Human Target tv show which has now lasted longer than any of the comic books -
 
'Human Target' adds characters -- and character
Rob Owen / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Washington Examiner November 18, 2010   , p. 28
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lifestyle/tv/Fox_s-retooled-_Human-Target_-adds-characters----and-character-1596570-108725999.html
 
- and the Peanuts gang is available again -

Holidays with Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Deluxe Holiday Collection on Blu-Ray
by Express contributor Sarah Anne Hughes
November 18 2010, p. E8
http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/11/peanuts-deluxe-holiday-collection-blu-ray-charles-schulz.php

 

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

1969 editorial cartoon still rings true

I've got some old newspapers that I'm clipping the comics out of to send to Michigan State University. Here's John Fischetti's December 6, 1969 cartoon from the Chicago Daily News:



and here it is with one word edited out to make it relevant 40 years later:



Some may argue that you don't need to alter it to make it relevant, but I don't think extending tax cuts for the rich is a 'reform.'

Colleen Doran on piracy at local blog

I'm posting this because it's in a local publication although I don't remotely agree with her conclusion about copyright. Or about DC's Vertigo's financial problems either.

The "real" victims of online piracy
By Colleen Doran
The Hill's Congress Blog 11/17/10

In my opinion, the carriage makers that survived started making cars, not by continuing to make horse carriages. Technology's changed the world and no matter how Draconian you'd like to make copyright law, it isn't going to matter.  As Rob Pegora says in the Post today, apropos of the Beatles and mp3s, "This is a point that often gets overlooked in entertainment circles: The market continues to function even if the logical and rightful supplier of a product refuses to participate. The ease of duplicating and transmitting digital data ensures that somebody else will fill that vacancy.You can mope about the massive copyright infringement that results from this dynamic, but the best way for artists to reverse it is to get into the market themselves."

That's what's happened with comic book publishers and digital comics. As I like to point out, if the current copyright law was retroactive from when it passed, the Spanish-American War would still be in copyright.  Anyone remember that war? No. Because it happened in 1898. On the other hand, Disney, the chief financier of the law, wouldn't have been able to make any of their movies based on Grimm's fairy tales like Snow White or Cinderella because those original tales would have been in copyright when the films were made in the 1940s.

NPR's Weldon also has an opinion on 'Superman vs. Muhammad Ali'

Float Like a Snagriff, Sting Like a Fish-Snake: 'Superman vs. Muhammad Ali'
by Glen Weldon
National Public Radio's Monkey See blog (November 17, 2010)

Tonight: Between the Panels panel - Free!


In Between the Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene

http://www.wnba-books.org/wash/events.php#graphicnovel

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Busboys & Poets, 5th & K Streets, Washington, DC
Cost: FREE and open to the public!

The Women's National Book Association, DC Chapter will sponsor a panel discussion on the DC graphic novel scene. The panel for the event, to be held at Busboys & Poets , from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., will include Carolyn Belefski, Molly Lawless, Matt Dembicki, and Mike Rhode. The event is free and open to the public.

Carolyn Belefski is the mastermind behind the web comic Curls. She is also one of the creators of several other comic books: Kid Roxy, Black Magic Tales, and The Legettes, and an indefatigable (nightly) poster to her blog, Sketch Before Sleep. Her work has appeared in USA WEEKEND Magazine, The Commonwealth Times, Virginia Living Magazine, Magic Bullet, CROQ Zine, and The Pulse on COMICON.com. Ms. Belefski is a nominee for the Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer for 2010.

Matt Dembicki is a DC-based cartoonist whose work includes the award-winning nature parable Mr. Big, The Great White Shark Story, Xoc, and The Brewmaster's Castle, about legendary DC brewer Christian Heurich. His latest anthology, Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection, has received rave reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal and has been nominated as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. In addition to his own work, Dembicki also hosts kids' workshops in the DC area and beyond on making comic books.

Molly Lawless, a Boston native, moved to the DC area in 2005. She has self-published mini comics as well as a compilation, Infandum! Ad Infinitum. She is currently working on a full-length graphic novel for McFarland Publishing titled Hit by Pitch. She is an avid blogger and includes stories about her family in her daily posts.

Mike Rhode, panel moderator, is co-author of the comics research bibliography, editor of Exhibition and Media Reviews for the International Journal of Comic Art, and a contributing writer for Hogan's Alley. In 2008, he was named Best (Comics) Art Blogger by the Washington City Paper for his Comics DC blog. Rhode edited Harvey Pekar: Conversations, a book of interviews with the late underground comic book writer and author of American Splendor published by the University Press of Mississippi. He has written for the Comics Journal and was selected as an RFK Journalism Awards judge for the editorial cartoon division of Comics Journal in 2009 and 2010. Rhode currently writes about comics for the City Paper.

This event is FREE and open to the public!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Brad Meltzer geeks out

Brad Meltzer, the formerly local comics writer, forever outs himself in "Why ‘Superman vs Muhammad Ali’ is still the greatest"

My friend Comics Professor Hatfield justifies his life...


...on YouTube no less! "Interesting Classes CSUN English 333 Comics and Graphic Novels with Prof. Charles Hatfield" - I'd take that.

Charles used to be in DC every year with ICAF and we'd hang around - the above is me, Claire, Charles and Spanish comics scholar Ana Merino, in October 2005, post-ICAF, lounging in my backyard.

Tomorrow: In Between the Panels - free!


In Between the Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene

http://www.wnba-books.org/wash/events.php#graphicnovel

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Busboys & Poets, 5th & K Streets, Washington, DC
Cost: FREE and open to the public!

The Women's National Book Association, DC Chapter will sponsor a panel discussion on the DC graphic novel scene. The panel for the event, to be held at Busboys & Poets , from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., will include Carolyn Belefski, Molly Lawless, Matt Dembicki, and Mike Rhode. The event is free and open to the public.

Carolyn Belefski is the mastermind behind the web comic Curls. She is also one of the creators of several other comic books: Kid Roxy, Black Magic Tales, and The Legettes, and an indefatigable (nightly) poster to her blog, Sketch Before Sleep. Her work has appeared in USA WEEKEND Magazine, The Commonwealth Times, Virginia Living Magazine, Magic Bullet, CROQ Zine, and The Pulse on COMICON.com. Ms. Belefski is a nominee for the Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer for 2010.

Matt Dembicki is a DC-based cartoonist whose work includes the award-winning nature parable Mr. Big, The Great White Shark Story, Xoc, and The Brewmaster's Castle, about legendary DC brewer Christian Heurich. His latest anthology, Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection, has received rave reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal and has been nominated as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. In addition to his own work, Dembicki also hosts kids' workshops in the DC area and beyond on making comic books.

Molly Lawless, a Boston native, moved to the DC area in 2005. She has self-published mini comics as well as a compilation, Infandum! Ad Infinitum. She is currently working on a full-length graphic novel for McFarland Publishing titled Hit by Pitch. She is an avid blogger and includes stories about her family in her daily posts.

Mike Rhode, panel moderator, is co-author of the comics research bibliography, editor of Exhibition and Media Reviews for the International Journal of Comic Art, and a contributing writer for Hogan's Alley. In 2008, he was named Best (Comics) Art Blogger by the Washington City Paper for his Comics DC blog. Rhode edited Harvey Pekar: Conversations, a book of interviews with the late underground comic book writer and author of American Splendor published by the University Press of Mississippi. He has written for the Comics Journal and was selected as an RFK Journalism Awards judge for the editorial cartoon division of Comics Journal in 2009 and 2010. Rhode currently writes about comics for the City Paper.

This event is FREE and open to the public!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Nov 19: Party Crashers exhibit opens in Arlington

PARTY CRASHERS:

COMIC CULTURE INVADES THE ART WORLD

NOV 19, 2010 – JAN 16, 2011

Rosaire Appel - Victor Kerlow

Rina Ayuyang - Blaise Larmee

Derik Badman - Andrei Molotiu

Gabrielle Bell - Robert Pruitt

Jeffrey Brown - Jim Rugg

Joshua Cotter - Dash Shaw

Warren Craghead III - Deb Sokolow

Anton Kannemeyer - Olav Westphalen

OPENING RECEPTION:

November 19, 7 – 9pm

THE SHOW:

PARTY CRASHERS mashes up comic art and contemporary gallery culture, and features artists who pass back and forth between the two worlds. This massive two venue show results from a crosstown collaboration between AAC Director of Exhibitions Jeffry Cudlin and Artisphere Gallery Director Cynthia Connolly. The show's two independent halves feature different types of work: Connolly's show presents fine artists who mimic the appearance of comic art; Cudlin's show at AAC contains:

alternative comic artists who also show their original pages and drawings in art galleries

fine and comic artists working side-by-side on a national curated project (Creative Time Comics)

fine and comic artists creating avante-garde, purely abstract sequential art without words or recognizeable imagery

THE BACKGROUND:

In the late 1960s, Andy Warhol, Pop Art, and Fluxus caused a radical shift in what could be shown in galleries or museums—art went from being rarefied, academic and anti-literary to embracing narrative, mass media, and the stuff of everyday life.

Yet the underground comics that began to emerge at that same time were arguably more transgressive and more influential on a subsequent generation of fine artists than any gallery or museum show.

Now MFA students are as likely to be influenced by comics as by art history. In addition, many comic artists also show their original drawings in galleries alongside contemporary painters, sculptors, and photographers.

THE ARTISTS:

Philadelphia artist Jim Rugg's Afrodisiac refers to '70s blaxploitation and mimics the look of aging pop artifacts—each page features simulated yellowing and tattered edges. Rugg uses comic tropes in unexpected ways: advancing a narrative through fragments, covers for nonexistent stories, or sketched, incomplete splash pages.
London-born, NY-based
Gabrielle Bell is known for her confessional autobiographical mini-comic, Lucky, which documents her life as a struggling twenty-something artist in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her style is decidedly unironic and disarmingly direct.
 
Chicago artist Deb Sokolow contributed to Creative Time Comics. In her art, viewers must follow directional arrows through tangles of drawings and diagrams that describing outlandish conspiracy theories concerning pop culture, politics, and the artist's own neighborhood.

Philadelphia's Derik Badman is a critic, librarian, and comic artist, who transforms found texts, images, and even other comics to acheive unexpected results.

Chicago artist Robert Pruitt, another Creative Time Comics participant, creates large afro-futurist drawings in which isolated black figures are shown wearing the trappings of superhero and science fiction culture—as well as references to avante-garde early 20th century European art.

New York artist Victor Kerlow not only creates surreal stories that bridge the gap between urban ennui and paranoid fantasy, but also observes his environment with a reporter's eye, making energetic line drawings of the city in which he lives and places to which he has traveled.

Portland, Oregon artist Blaise Larmee creates washed-out black-and-white worlds populated by childlike young adults. His current book, Young Lions, highlights the artist's fascination with 'zine culture, bohemian lifestyles, and Yoko Ono. (Larmee also designed and illustrated the PARTY CRASHERS catalogue.)

Charlottesville, VA artist Warren Craghead III creates drawings, collages, books, and mail art inspired by his everyday life experiences. Craghead's stories are free associative and decidedly nonlinear.

Capetown, South Africa-based artist Anton Kannemeyer (aka Joe Dog) creates potent, troubling drawings that explore the legacy of Western colonialism in his home country; the hypocrisy and racism hiding beneath the surface of white society; and the corruption of South Africa's political elite.

Chicago artist Jeffrey Brown draws gently humorous autobiographical pieces, exploring not only the author's experiences with fantasy and comic culture, but also his relationships with his own wife and son. Brown was also featured in the Creative Time Comics series.

New York artist Dash Shaw pairs a powerful, reductive drawing style with sprawling, convoluted narratives. His latest book, Body World, follows botanist Professor Panther's encounters with a strange new psychedelic drug that threatens to turn humanity into a single hive mind, open to alien influences.

New York artist Rosaire Appel creates books and sequential images with asemic writing—a wordless form of writing that often resembles pictograms or reflects the mechanical act of producing text.

Bloomington, Indiana-based artist and scholar Andrei Molotiu is the editor of the award-winning Abstract Comics anthology. Molotiu offers digital animations, abstract comic drawings, and a catalogue essay about the uneasy relationships between comics, literature, and contemporary art in the present tense.

Oakland, California based Rina Ayuyang's Whirlwind Wonderland follows the daily life of a Filipino American girl, navigating, in the artist's words: "sleepy suburban sprawls, empty diners, fantasy-filled commuter traffic jams, misplaced football fanaticism, ethnic identity crash courses, and just good ole family hi-jinx."

Chicago artist Joshua Cotter's latest book, Driven by Lemons, is a sprawling sketchbook packed with ideas, story fragments, and intricate abstract exercises, all struggling against the boundaries of the comic form.

Hamburg, born, New York based artist Olav Westphalen uses the conventions of comics and caricatures to challenge the traditional baggage of fine art, creating outsized (and outlandish) sculptures, drawings, and performances. Westphalen was also featured in the Creative Time Comics series.

Founded in 1974, the AAC is primarily dedicated to supporting new work by contemporary artists in the Mid-Atlantic region. Located in the historic Maury School building, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, it mounts five exhibitions of contemporary art per year, rents studio spaces, and conducts educational programs for students of all ages. Normal public hours are Wednesday through Friday from 1 pm to 7 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5pm. For more information, call 703.248.6800 or visit www.findyourartist.org

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat With Molly Lawless

Now up at the City Paper -

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat With Molly Lawless

 
 
"As far as comic artists, the first one I really got into was Dan Clowes. I saw his work and it really resonated—it has that perfect combo of rational realism and absurdity that I love."

'Tangled' wire story in today's Express

Disney's next animated movie 'Tangled' is the subject of a wire story in today's Express.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Donna Lewis' Reply All comic strip launches

Washington continues to be an incubator for comics strips, and they're not coming from the University of Maryland's Diamondback (Liberty Meadows, Boondocks, Watch Your Head) all the time now.

Local cartoonist Donna Lewis' Reply All comic strip will launch soon from the Washington Post Writer's Group. The strip is described as "Reply All is about those moments in today's information-overloaded environment when you forget your adult-self and toss the megaphone to your fifth-grade inner child. The strip explores the value of honesty, the power of knowledge and the impact of a bad-hair day on one's self-perception." It launches on February 28. Donna recently told me that she's reworking her earlier webcomics because she thinks her art has improved.

Congratulations, Donna! My interview with her quoted in the PR is here.

New Trickster review online (again)

Graphic Youth: Trickster by Rich Kreiner, TCJ.com November 12th, 2010

Richard Thompson interview

There's a Richard Thompson interview embedded in this press release -

Web and Mobile Content Platform also Acquires First-Run Rights to Previously Unpublished Interviews with Today's Most Renowned Animators
NEW YORK & LONDON, November 11, 2010 | SHOOT Publicity Wire

which leads you to 'Gifted but not talented' and 'Frankenstein Monsters' and 'Cross-hatching' and 'Venn Diagrams' and 'High Point of Invention' and 'Meet the Otterloops' as well as a bunch of adaptations of Cul de Sac strips.

Groening and Panter curate exhibit in Baltimore

Matt Groening and Gary Panter worked on an exhibit for Baltimore's Visionary Art Museum-
 
By Robert DiGiacomo
Washington Post November 12, 2010; T25

 

Xavier Xerexes reviews 2 books

Two All Ages Comics: Guinea PI and Adventures in Cartooning

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Pekar on NPR

There won't be new interviews with Harvey to print out and put in your copy of Harvey Pekar: Conversations, but here's another NPR piece on him.

Conan, Neal.  2010.
Harvey Pekar: Chronicler Of America's Everyman.
National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation (November 10)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131220021&ft=1&f=1008
http://public.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/totn/2010/11/20101110_totn_02.mp3?dl=1
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=131220021

LaSalle's Legacy, local webcomic

Jennifer Z Smith wrote in to tell me about her webcomic - "It's a manga-inspired fantasy graphic novel entitled "LaSalle's Legacy"

I've only just started looking at it, but the strip looks like fun with nice clean art. Check it out.

Comic Riffs on latest editorial cartoon layoffs

Pink-slipping the Pulitzer: Editorial cartoonists are cut in Election Day's wake
By Michael Cavna
Comic Riffs November 11 2010

Matt Davies and Marshall Ramsey - Davies won the Herblock award a couple of years ago.

TONIGHT: Meet a Local Cartoonist - Nick Galifianakis

You can meet him tonight in Falls Church and you can read an interview beforehand -

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat With Nick Galifianakis

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Cohen and Dembicki visit site of their graphic story

Matt Dembicki and Andrew Cohen got invited to the Heurich Mansion's annual gala due to their comic book The Brewmaster's Castle and Matt's got the story on his blog.

Guarnaccia in the Post

Not the Picasso painting, but humorous illustrator Steve Guarnaccia is in the Post's Food section today. He's one of the greats that we don't see as often in Washington publications.

PR: Beyond Comics 5 DAY SALE!


Beyond Comics

Wednesday - Sunday
November 10th to 14th
GRAPHIC NOVEL SALE!
Buy 1 Get 10% OFF
Buy 2 Get 20% OFF
Buy 3 or More Get 25% OFF

(Use cash for 3 or more and get 30% OFF)


Excludes new arrivals (last two weeks). Excludes Walking Dead.
Not redeemable for subscriptions, special orders, or on hold items.
All books must be purchased...we will not hold any books.





 
 
Please Note, some items are not available at all store locations. For more information please speak with any store representative. Some items may also be allocated by the manufacturer and may not be available. Beyond Comics does not guarantee items being in stock; however we will do our best to keep them available.

Email:
Gaithersburg
John Shine Mgr
or

Frederick
Jon Cohen Mgr

Gaithersburg Store
536 North Frederick Ave

Gaithersburg, MD
(301) 216-0007

Hours: M,Tu 11-8;
W-Sat 10-9; Sun 12-6


Frederick Store
5632 Route 85

Frederick, MD
(301) 668-8202

Hours: M,Tu 10-8;
W-Sat 10-9; Sun 12-6

TCJ.com reviewer uses my Wertham City Paper article

It's always nice to see that one's writing hasn't completely gone into the void.
The Horror! The Horror!

Posted by Kent Worcester on November 9th, 2010

Kent reviews the latest coffee table slab from Abrams ComicArts.

Monday, November 08, 2010

That darn Toles! (continued)

This time a blog called the Oregon Catalyst doesn't like Tom Toles' cartoon.

Death of USNWR lets Spurgeon dig up Richard Thompson's comics history

Tom Spurgeon looks at the end of US News & World Report through a peculiarly comics lens - he gets Richard Thompson to comment on his time working for them -

USN&WR Ending Its Print Iteration.
Comics Reporter (November 8 2010).

If you're not reading The Comics Reporter, you should be. It's one of three comics blogs I read every day.

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat with Jamie Noguchi

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat with Jamie Noguchi
by Mike Rhode on Nov. 8, 2010
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2010/11/08/meet-a-local-cartoonist-a-chat-with-jamie-noguchi/

 

Nov 17: In Between the Panels reminder


Now with pictures!

In Between the Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene

http://www.wnba-books.org/wash/events.php#graphicnovel

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Busboys & Poets, 5th & K Streets, Washington, DC
Cost: FREE and open to the public!

The Women's National Book Association, DC Chapter will sponsor a panel discussion on the DC graphic novel scene. The panel for the event, to be held at Busboys & Poets 5th & K Streets, Washington, DC, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., will include Carolyn Belefski, Molly Lawless, Matt Dembicki, and Mike Rhode. The event is free and open to the public.

Carolyn Belefski is the mastermind behind the web comic Curls. She is also one of the creators of several other comic books: Kid Roxy, Black Magic Tales, and The Legettes, and an indefatigable (nightly) poster to her blog, Sketch Before Sleep. Her work has appeared in USA WEEKEND Magazine, The Commonwealth Times, Virginia Living Magazine, Magic Bullet, CROQ Zine, and The Pulse on COMICON.com. Ms. Belefski is a nominee for the Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer for 2010.

Matt Dembicki is a DC-based cartoonist whose work includes the award-winning nature parable Mr. Big, The Great White Shark Story, Xoc, and The Brewmaster's Castle, about legendary DC brewer Christian Heurich. His latest anthology, Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection, has received rave reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal and has been nominated as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. In addition to his own work, Dembicki also hosts kids' workshops in the DC area and beyond on making comic books.

Molly Lawless, a Boston native, moved to the DC area in 2005. She has self-published mini comics as well as a compilation, Infandum! Ad Infinitum. She is currently working on a full-length graphic novel for McFarland Publishing titled Hit by Pitch. She is an avid blogger and includes stories about her family in her daily posts.

Mike Rhode, panel moderator, is co-author of the comics research bibliography, editor of Exhibition and Media Reviews for the International Journal of Comic Art, and a contributing writer for Hogan's Alley. In 2008, he was named Best (Comics) Art Blogger by the Washington City Paper for his Comics DC blog. Rhode edited Harvey Pekar: Conversations, a book of interviews with the late underground comic book writer and author of American Splendor published by the University Press of Mississippi. He has written for the Comics Journal and was selected as an RFK Journalism Awards judge for the editorial cartoon division of Comics Journal in 2009 and 2010. Rhode currently writes about comics for the City Paper.

This event is FREE and open to the public!

Nov 9 and 11th: Nick Galifianakis signs his new book

Nick writes in,
Though the book doesn't officially come out until November 23, advance copies will be available at my book signing on November 11, Thursday, 7 pm at the Falls Church Art Space. The link is below:

http://www.fallschurcharts.org/

For those of you that happen to be traipsing around DC two night
before, I'll be at the National press Club Book Fair:

http://press.org/bookfair

Friday, November 05, 2010

How Ann Telnaes does it (modern edition)

Ann Telnaes: From sketch to animation
November 4 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/11/04/VI2010110405529.html

Barney and Clyde channels Doonesbury


The Weingartens and Clark strip Barney and Clyde is channeling 1971 Doonesbury yesterday and today. That's Marvelous Mark Slackmeyer before he became an NPR host. Gene W, a friend of Trudeau's, is undoubtedly paying tribute to the 40th anniversary celebration of the strip - which is still one of the absolute best running.

Post on Megamind and My Dog Tulip

Mwahahaha: Plenty of laughs, evil or otherwise
By Michael O'Sullivan
Friday, November 5, 2010
 
It's a fetching story. So sit, stay
By Michael O'Sullivan
Friday, November 5, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/my-dog-tulip,1168130/critic-review.html

Express compares Megamind to Paradise Lost

Now this is my kind of film reviewer -
 
Mega-Milton: 'Megamind,' In Theaters
 By Kristen Page-Kirby
Express November 5, 2010
http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/11/megamind-review.php

 

Thursday, November 04, 2010

New website links for local creators

As I'm getting ready for some new City Paper interviews, here's some links to local creators sites.

Molly Lawless' Hooray For Mollywood blog: http://tyrnyx.wordpress.com/ Come meet Molly at Busboys and Poets on November 17th.

Editorial cartoonist Clay Jones' Toon Talk blog: http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/toontalk/

Cartoonist Jamie Noguchi's Yellow Peril comic strip at http://ypcomic.com and blog at http://angryzenmaster.com

Truitt on Batman, Inc.

'Batman and Robin' brings a 'game-changer' for Bruce Wayne
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY November 3 2010

Intervention con putting panel videos online

Panel Video: We Are The Intervention
http://interventioncon.com/2010/10/21/panel-video-we-are-the-intervention/
As part of our ongoing effort to place our panel content from the 2010 Intervention event online you can now view the following panel entitled "We Are The Intervention" which was hosted by Harknell and Onezumi, the Co-con chairs for the 2010 event.

Description: Why did Intervention happen? What motivated Harknell and Onezumi to create and get this con going? Come talk to the Co-Con Chairs of Intervention and find out directly from the founders the whats and whys of the con, and where it's going in the future.
Panelists: Harknell, Onezumi

Intervention Panel Video: Duel In The Somme Launch Event
http://interventioncon.com/2010/10/23/intervention-panel-video-duel-in-the-somme-launch-event/
This video is of the Panel "A Duel in the Somme: Official Launch" which happened at Intervention 2010.

A Duel in the Somme is a 24-page standalone comic book co-written by Rob Balder (Erfworld, PartiallyClips) and Ben Bova (six-time Hugo winning SF author and editor), and illustrated by Bill Holbrook (Kevin & Kell, Safe Havens, On the Fastrack). The worldwide debut of the printed book happens here! Rob and Bill will be present to talk about the story behind the project, sign copies and answer questions.


Intervention Panel Video: Cell Shading And Other Advanced Photoshop Techniques
http://interventioncon.com/2010/11/01/intervention-panel-video-cell-shading-and-other-advanced-photoshop-techniques/
The next Intervention 2010 panel video we have available for view is "Cel Shading And Other Advanced Photoshop Techniques".

Description: Hawk, the artist for the comic Applegeeks, will be demonstrating some of the techniques he uses in Photoshop to create his comic and other digital output. Cel shading and comic composition are two of the major areas covered in this panel.

Panelists: Hawk


Intervention Panel Video: Digital Versus Traditional Art
http://interventioncon.com/2010/10/27/intervention-panel-video-digital-versus-traditional-art/
The following panel occurred at Intervention 2010 and was entitled "Digital Vs. Traditional: The Pros And Cons Of Each"

Description: Some artists love digital. Some artists love pen and ink. Digital art gives you more flexibility, but traditional gives you the ability to sell originals at conventions. Come and listen to a FRIENDLY discussion about the pros and cons of each.

Panelists: Chris Flick, Ben McCormick, Ryan Thompson, Danny Valentini

Gutterbrawl - a new blog on the comics industry from the small press POV

Matt Rhodes (no relation) (also see my City Paper interview) just shot me the following note about a new blog he's started -

Gutterbrawl.org was created by Adam Knave and R.M. Rhodes as a place to discuss the state of the comics industry (especially the so-called Indirect Market of independant comics creators). After several weeks of laying out the issues, we've turned the corner and are making the suggestion that we, the Indirect Market, should create a common marketing platform. This week's post makes the case for what form that platform should take, but it will only work if we can get a large number of people talking about it and - ultimately - participating.

http://www.gutterbrawl.org/?p=19

We welcome thoughts and opinions about this topic and hope to start the conversation.



Class of '63
Oceanus Procellarum Book Two
the new webcomic
by R. M. Rhodes
http://oletheros.com




Weldon on Lynd Ward

Lynd Ward's 'Woodcuts' Tell Novels Without Words by Glen Weldon, National Public Radio's Books We Like (November 1, 2010)

And in other NPR reviews, I liked these stories a lot as they appeared on the NY Times website:

In Hard Times, The Tenacious 'Pursuit Of Happiness' by Heller McAlpin
National Public Radio's Books We Like (November 2):

And The Pursuit Of Happiness
By Maira Kalman
Hardcover, 480 pages
Penguin Press HC
List price: $29.95

Zach Galifianakas recommends his cousin Nick's book

http://www.hulu.com/watch/190621/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-wed-nov-3-2010?c=863%3A954

Nate Beeler on Fox News



We still like him anyway. In fact, he's the reason I pick up the Examiner every day.

Yet another Megamind interview

These are popping up all over the web, although this is the first I've seen in a DC paper.
 
It Isn't Easy Being Blue: Will Ferrell on Voicing 'Megamind' [in print: Will Ferrell Is Kinda Blue]
Written by Express contributor Roxana Hadadi
Express (November 4 2010): E9
http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/11/will-ferrell-megamind-dreamworks.php

 

Express on 'Naughty' Simpsons

Naughty Treehouse: 'Simpsons' Halloween Episode Gets Gratuitous
Written by Express contributor Marc Silver
Express  November 4, 2010
http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/11/simpsons-treehouse-of-horror.php

 

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Weldon on Flash vs The Flash; Caro on Hatfield's Alternative Comics

Your Handy Field Guide to the Spandex Set, Volume I: Space Guy or Speedster?
by Glen Weldon
National Public Radio's Monkey See blog November 3, 2010
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/11/02/131022221/your-handy-field-guide-to-the-spandex-set-volume-the-first-space-guy-or-speedster


Blog Versus Professor: Aline Kominsky-Crumb is Authentic, Too
Posted by Caro
Hooded Utilitarian November 3 2010
http://www.tcj.com/hoodedutilitarian/2010/11/blog-versus-professor-aline-kominsky-crumb-is-authentic-too/

Small Press Expo Announces Dates for SPX 2011 and 2nd Annual Small Press Expo Animation Showcase


Small Press Expo Announces Dates for SPX 2011 and 2nd Annual Small Press Expo Animation Showcase

For Immediate Release                              Contact: Warren Bernard


                                                                          E-Mail: warren@spxpo.com


Bethesda, Maryland, November 3, 2010 - Small Press Expo, t

he preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, is pleased to announce that 

SPX 2011 will be held
 Saturday, September 10, 2011 from 11AM to 7PM, and Sunday September 11, 2011 from 
noon-6PM
. Admission will be $10 for a single day and $15 for both days. 

Applications for Exhibitor tables can be submitted as of January 1, 2011 via our website at
 
http://www.spxpo.com. Early bird table prices will be $300 until February 28, 2011, after March 1, 2011 they will be $370.

We are also pleased to announce the return of the Small Press Expo Animation Showcase, which features the best in juried animation. Call for submissions will run from January 1, 2011 to May 1, 2011.

Stay tuned for more details on SPX 2011.

SPX is a registered 501(c)3 which brings together more than 300 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers and distributors each year. Graphic novels, mini comics and alternative comics will all be on display and for sale by their authors and illustrators. 

As in previous years, profits from the SPX will go to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), protecting the First Amendment rights of comic book readers and professionals.  For more information on the CBLDF, go to their website at http://www.cbldf.org/.  


Roger Langridge's The Shadow sketch

Roger Langridge - Shadow

A late holdover from SPX 2010 - this great sketch Roger Langridge did for me. I just figured out how to use my new scanner/printer/copier/changing table.

PR: Fantom Comics Launches New Website: SubcultureForTheCultured.com

 
Fantom Comics - Where there is a comic book for everyone
 
 
It's Halloween, and Fantom Comics is officially celebrating our 5th anniversary by launching a brand new website:
 
 
This is the site that puts comic books at the center of the entertainment universe, and will provide our followers with all of the comic-related things that we at Fantom Comics are excited about ourselves.
 
The launch of the new site is timed to coincide with Halloween 2010, which brings something that we are very excited about: Tonight's premiere of The Walking Dead on AMC TV. At 10:00 PM tonight we will have the opportunity to experience the first true adaptation of a comic book to a TV series in recent memory - and possibly ever! We've been following this book since it was first published in 2003, and have been selling the monthly issues as well as the trade paperback collections like hotcakes since we opened Fantom Comics in 2005. Subculture for the Cultured is honoring this historic event by featuring 2 new columns dedicated to The Walking Dead. These columns are designed to enhance your appreciation of a series that is sure to be another hit for AMC. Could we see our first Eisner winner become an Emmy winner? Tune in or at least hit the record button on your DVR to find out.
 
Subculture for the Cultured  also provides an ongoing column for The Comics Journeyman, an imaginary-yet-well-traveled comic book character who will serve as the de facto host of Subculture for the Cultured. Check out The Comics Journeyman's post on the historical significance of tonight's The Walking Dead premiere, as well as a design contest inviting any artistically inclined folks to submit designs for exactly what The Comics Journeyman will look like. For a character who is as colorful as all of the comic books he has read in his life, the dude needs a visual representation....
 
We hope you like what you find at SubcultureForTheCultured.com and return often. To ensure that you don't miss anything, be sure to add each column to your RSS feed by subscribing to posts, or follow each column by using the Google Friend Connect link which can also be used to link in your Twitter account.
 
And as always, please share this email with your friends by forwarding or clicking the "Share This" link above. The more people we can connect with through our email list, the better.
 
Happy Zombie Watching!
 
Fantom Comics





Union Station - 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE | Washington, DC 20002 | 202-216-9478
www.fantomcomics.com

 

In Between the Panels: DC’s Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene

In Between the Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene

http://www.wnba-books.org/wash/events.php#graphicnovel

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Busboys & Poets, 5th & K Streets, Washington, DC
Cost: FREE and open to the public!

The Women's National Book Association, DC Chapter will sponsor a panel discussion on the DC graphic novel scene. The panel for the event, to be held at Busboys & Poets in Mt. Vernon, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., will include Carolyn Belefski, Molly Lawless, Matt Dembicki, and Mike Rhode. The event is free and open to the public.

Carolyn Belefski is the mastermind behind the web comic Curls. She is also one of the creators of several other comic books: Kid Roxy, Black Magic Tales, and The Legettes, and an indefatigable (nightly) poster to her blog, Sketch Before Sleep. Her work has appeared in USA WEEKEND Magazine, The Commonwealth Times, Virginia Living Magazine, Magic Bullet, CROQ Zine, and The Pulse on COMICON.com. Ms. Belefski is a nominee for the Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer for 2010.

Matt Dembicki is a DC-based cartoonist whose work includes the award-winning nature parable Mr. Big, The Great White Shark Story, Xoc, and The Brewmaster's Castle, about legendary DC brewer Christian Heurich. His latest anthology, Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection, has received rave reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal and has been nominated as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. In addition to his own work, Dembicki also hosts kids' workshops in the DC area and beyond on making comic books.

Molly Lawless, a Boston native, moved to the DC area in 2005. She has self-published mini comics as well as a compilation, Infandum! Ad Infinitum. She is currently working on a full-length graphic novel for McFarland Publishing titled Hit by Pitch. She is an avid blogger and includes stories about her family in her daily posts.

Mike Rhode, panel moderator, is co-author of the comics research bibliography, editor of Exhibition and Media Reviews for the International Journal of Comic Art, and a contributing writer for Hogan's Alley. In 2008, he was named Best (Comics) Art Blogger by the Washington City Paper for his Comics DC blog. Rhode edited Harvey Pekar: Conversations, a book of interviews with the late underground comic book writer and author of American Splendor published by the University Press of Mississippi. He has written for the Comics Journal and was selected as an RFK Journalism Awards judge for the editorial cartoon division of Comics Journal in 2009 and 2010. Rhode currently writes about comics for the City Paper.

This event is FREE and open to the public!

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Jim Dougan's "SAM & LILAH" webcomic updated




Jim DouganNovember 1, 2010 at 6:43pm
Subject: SAM & LILAH: The Conclusion of Chapter 3!
It's the conclusion of Chapter 3!

http://www.facebook.com/l/06500yrQ6t7CdAgQ7JcYTEdfFgw;www.activatecomix.com/42-3-35.comic

In case you were wondering, it's right after this where the story from the ACT-I-VATE PRIMER takes place. What? You mean you haven't read the PRIMER? What are you waiting for? Pick up a copy at your local comic shop, or here:

http://www.facebook.com/l/065003nD3_w_CO3wlnXtsDr-iqw;www.amazon.com/gp/product/1600105289

If you're a little behind, get caught up here:

Chapter 1: http://www.facebook.com/l/06500qXajBF284yvfLWXvcxhx7Q;www.activatecomix.com/42-1-1.comic

Chapter 2: http://www.facebook.com/l/06500waiWvCRTE0rVYSnTPHvWKg;www.activatecomix.com/42-2-1.comic

Chapter 3: http://www.facebook.com/l/06500zfzmMFivCf53IUYOarCMJw;www.activatecomix.com/42-3-1.comic

We'll be back later this month with the beginning of CHAPTER FOUR!!

In the meantime, here's where to go for all the OTHER great comix at ACT-I-VATE:

http://www.facebook.com/l/06500VGvBgc_-CyfVtEthKDaiIg;www.activatecomix.com


News from KAL

Kal writes in:

I have finally posted some pics and info from my recent cartoon-related trip to Russia. I also wanted to mention the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco has now made the official announcement of the open of my show later this week. ( http://cartoonart.org/2010/11/drawn-from-the-economist-the-editorial-art-of-kal/) I will at a reception at the Museum November 12.

Many thanks!

Best

Kal


New Luna Brothers interview online

Just a couple of days ago, I had a short interview with the Luna Brothers. Now one of the big comics sites has a longer one:

SWORD's Final Cut: The Luna Brothers & Their HC
By Chris Arrant, Newsarama 01 November 2010

Nov 11: Galifianakis returns to Falls Church

Well, actually he lives there. But on Nov 11th, he won't be hiding in his studio.

Cartoonist Nick Galafianakis at ArtSpace
By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF
November 2, 2010


Fredericksburg's editorial cartoonist Clay Jones blogging on election

The Daily Cartoonist noted that Fredericksburg's editorial cartoonist Clay Jones is blogging on tonight on the election

Nov 3: Orson Scott Card chat at Washington Post

Nov 3 at 1 pm, Orson Scott Card will chat at the Washington Post website, but you can submit questions now. Card wrote Iron Man, among other titles.

Marvel recently (Oct 28) put out a press release about Card's return to writing comics:

Marvel & Orson Scott Card Bring FORMIC WARS To Life!

New York Times best-selling author Orson Scott Card revolutionized science-fiction with Ender's Game and now returns to write the most requested sci-fi story in the world with Marvel Entertainment in February's Formic Wars #1 (of 7). Selling millions of copies worldwide, Ender's Game is one of the most popular science fiction epics of all time, with fans begging for Card to tell the origins of this universe! Now Orson Scott Card himself, teaming with co-writer Aaron Johnston and rising star artist Giancarlo Caracuzzo, returns to write the prequel in graphic fiction format. Long before Ender Wiggin fought the Third Formic War, humans battled the Formics on our own turf. Twice. Outgunned and unprepared, the human race stands on the brink of total annihilation.

"I've been so happy with Marvel's comic-book adaptation of Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, Ender in Exile and Speaker of the Dead that I wanted my long-imagined story of the Formic Wars to appear first in this wonderfully visualized form," said Orson Scott Card, "With a whole new set of characters, putting together a ragtag fleet of improvised and adapted spacecraft to take on an alien invader, I think these are some of the best, most inspiring stories in the Ender's Game future history, and through the work of Marvel's great team of writers and artists, my tales are coming to life with a power and reality I never could have managed on my own."

This action-packed prequel to Ender's Game answers the questions fans have been asking while delivering a jaw-dropping story perfect for new  readers.

"There are few writers as prolific and popular as Orson Scott Card," said David Gabriel, SVP Sales & Circulation, Marvel Entertainment. "We're extremely thrilled to bring Formic Wars to life for the first time in any medium and even more excited to have Orson Scott Card at the helm. If you're a fan of the Ender's books, or just a fan of classic sci-fi, you won't want to miss this series."

The most requested sci-fi action-thriller of the century is now here-you can't afford to miss Formic Wars #1, hitting comic shops in February 2011.

Plus, don't miss the graphic fiction adaptations of Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, now available in hardcover collections at comic shops and book stores nationwide!

For more on Orson Scott Card and Ender's Game, please visit www.hatrack.com and www.marvel.com

Monday, November 01, 2010

Cul de Sac picks up another paper

Comics page offers something new today*
Mansfield News Journal November 1, 2010

*i.e. a fine, fine strip produced here in America, and not outsourced to North Korea.

Nov 17: In Between the Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene

Matt Dembicki, Carolyn Belefski and Molly Lawless will talk about comics, moderated by me. 
 
In Between the Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene
Wednesday, November 17 at 6:00pm
Location: Busboys & Poets, 5th & K Streets location

Reasons to pick up the Oct 28th Onion

The paper's still on the stands and has a cartoon by 'Kelly' (ie Ward Sutton) criticizing Bil Keane for licensing a Family Circus movie, an interview with Frank Darabont on the Walking Dead tv show, and an interview with Brendon Small of the animated Metalocalypse.