8/9: Tom King at Third Eye Comics

Saturday 8/9/14 11AM-1PM    at THIRD EYE ANNAPOLIS Click here for event info on FACEBOOK. First 30 in line receive a FREE gift! Signing from 11AM-1PM! Hello Third Eye Faithful! You guys know us -- we're huge fans of NIGHTWING, and hot damn, we know you guys are too!   So, when we found out that the rising star writer behind the hit new DC Comics series, GRAYSON, would be able to pop by Third Eye and sign copies of his incredible new ongoing series starring the one and only DICK GRAYSON -- we had to make it happen!    This Saturday, we're totally pumped to have Tom King in-store to sign copies of GRAYSON #1 & #2, as we celebrate the release of this past Wednesday's GRAYSON #2!   We'll also have plenty of Tom's own NIGHTWING #30 on hand, which is the perfect set-up issue for GRAYSON, as it concludes the NIGHTWING run and sets the stage for what's happening now!    Make sure to line up early, and score yourself a super cool piece of free swag!   We know a lot of you guys are excited about this one (because hey, Nightwing fans are LEGION!), so we're super pumped to see you all bright and early Saturday morning for the fun! Click here to for the info on the event on FACEBOOK.

Skip Williamson documentary coming soon

Local cartoonist and filmmaker John Kinhart has a teaser for his upcoming documentary “Pigheaded” about underground comix artist Skip Williamson. The documentary will include appearances by Jay Lynch, Kim Deitch, Cayetano Garza Jr., Stephen Bissette, Robert W. Cox and Patrick Rosenkranz, according to Kinhart. (Folks, this looks amazing!)

Click on image to see trailer

Sept. 4-7: Marvel Universe LIVE!

Marvel Universe LIVE! hits the Verizon Center Sept. 4-7. 

From the press release: “To defeat Loki, Marvel’s biggest Super Heroes must band together, including The Avengers - Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor along with Spider-Man and Wolverine, must trek across the globe to retrieve the Cosmic Cube fragments and unite them. As the Super Heroes track the Cube, they will encounter some of their biggest adversaries including Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Red Skull, Madame Hydra, Aldrich Killian, Electro and more, in the quest for the very same fragments. These foes have no problem teaming up if it gets them closer to their ultimate goal of world domination.”

Photo: Feld Entertainment

PSA: Help support Asian comics at Michigan State University's Comic Art Collection UPDATED

Asian Comics Cataloging at Michigan State University

reprinted from Insight May 2014 - http://img.lib.msu.edu/giving/insight/Insight_May2014.pdf

"I always recommend the MSU Comic Art Collection to fellow comic researchers since it is the world's most comprehensive and internationally oriented collection in the field." Matthias Harbeck, doctoral candidate, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg, Germany

Help make our Asian comics accessible!

Comics are truly a global phenomenon, and an important goal of our Comic Art Collection is to document how cultures around the world have adopted and transformed the medium.

That's why our collection ranges from Golden Age adventure strips to South American fotonovelas, and from Japanese manga to a nearly complete run of THE 99 – the world's first comic series with Muslim superheroes.

However, it's not enough to acquire these diverse materials. It's essential to catalog them as well, so users near and far can determine what we have available.

Thanks to recent gifts, we have far more Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese comics waiting to be cataloged than we can handle – even with the broad range of language skills among the cataloging team!

Fortunately, help is available. We can send the work to an outside contractor, Backstage, which performs research-level cataloging in some 70 different languages. Backstage can complete about 150 of the most needed items for $5000 – and we have already have a generous gift of $1000 to start us off.

The Comic Art Collection is heavily used by MSU students and faculty working in the fields of history, literature, and cultural studies. Help us support their research by putting more Asian comics on the shelf!

Below is a link to a giving page that allows one to make a donation to support the cataloging of our Asian Comics.  Thanks for your interest and help with this project.

https://givingto.msu.edu/gift/?sid=1625

Paul Pope visits the Washington Post

PAUL POPE: With 'Escapo' and 'Battling Boy,' 2014 Eisner winner deftly blends the old with the new

By Michael Cavna Washington Post Comic Riffs blog August 5 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/08/05/paul-pope-with-escapo-and-battling-boy-2014-eisner-winner-deftly-blends-the-old-with-the-new/

Aug 5: Despicable Me 2 in DC at NoMa

Tonight: Despicable Me 2; National Night Out

Join us tonight, August 5 for a screening of Despicable Me 2 at Family Film Night! Free food and water courtesy of Harris Teeter will be provided for the first 100 people at 7 PM. This free outdoor movie series takes place in the plaza at L and First Streets, NW. Please note that this is a different location than the NoMa Summer Screen field. The film will start at 8:30 PM.

That darn Jim Morin

Offensive cartoon caricaturing Muslims is no laughing matter [in print as Unflattering depictions of the war in Gaza].
Gerald Serotta, Chevy Chase
Washington Post August 2 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/unflattering-depictions-of-the-gaza-war/2014/08/01/5cbe9108-1659-11e4-88f7-96ed767bb747_story.html

SPX 2014 Guest Announcement

SPX 2014 GUEST ANNOUNCEMENT Hey Everyone, This year is SPX's 20th birthday (one more year and we can drink!!). So in the name of having a party to remember we've rounded up a bunch of great guests to help us celebrate, and a special theme for this years show. The SPX 2014 Particulars: Be sure to come to SPX 2014 September 13-14 at our normal place, the North Bethesda Marriott Conference Center across from the White Flint Metro station. Admission is:  $15 Saturday, Sept. 13  /  $10 Sunday, Sept. 14  /  $20 for both days. Only 9 more weeks, and we are excited already!! But, per the title of this note, you were promised guests!   So here goes! A Salute to the Great Alt-Weekly Cartoonists: Now, everyone has read about the slow death of the alt-weekly newspaper. Well, the alt-weekly world has given a number of cartoonists their first start, and to celebrate, we have gathered the largest group of alt-weekly cartoonists ever assembled. Check out this list of alt-weekly cartooning dignitaries: Jules Feiffer! Lynda Barry!! Charles Burns!!! Jen Sorensen!!!! Derf!!!!! Shannon Wheeler!!!!!! Ben Katchor!!!!!!! Tom Tomorrow!!!!!!!! SPX First-Timers: We also have coming to the show a bunch of people that have never been to SPX before, and we are totally stoked they are gonna be here: Emily Carroll! Brandon Graham!! Drew Friedman!!! Robert Mankoff!!!! Featured International Guests: And coming to SPX from foreign lands across the vast oceans: Simon Hansleman! Aisha Franz!! The Best of Independent Comics Because the above are not enough for you, we also have some of the coolest indie comics people In The Universe joining us as special guests: Box Brown! Michael DeForge!! Renee French!!! John Porcellino!!!! Roman Muradov!!!!! Nick Abadzis!!!!!! Raina Telgemeier!!!!!!! Ben Hatke!!!!!!!! Jillian Tamaki!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!! Here at SPX Galactic HQ, our heads are exploding over all the cool creators who will be at the show. We will have updates on Debuts, programming, table layout, and other stuff over the next 2 months. Off to get mops to clean up the exploded heads. We'll be seeing you! Mike, Eden, Sam, Sarah, Catherine, Bill, Greg, Dan, Charles, John, Nate, Joe, Rusty, Tom and Warren   Want to lend a helping hand?   We could sure use your help to spread the word about SPX 2014!  Click here to download a printable copy of John Porcellino's flyer for the show and share it wherever the indy comics faithful may gather in your hood! Tumblr Twitter Facebook YouTube The Mothership

Marvel Day at Barnes and Noble

Watterson / Pastis auction for Team Cul de Sac reaches almost $30,000

The Watterson / Pastis auction of artwork for Team Cul de Sac is almost at $30,000 combined for the three comic strips.

Seven days until the entire auction goes live and the clock is ticking.

The Post's Guardians of the Galaxy reviews

'Guardians of the Galaxy' review: Marvel makes the perfect summer
movie [in print as Rocket's Perfect Landing]
By Michael O'Sullivan Washington Post August 1 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/guardians-of-the-galaxy-review-marvel-makes-the-perfect-summer-movie/2014/07/30/4db27338-1428-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9_story.html

Don't like sci-fi or comics? You'll still like 'Guardians of the
Galaxy' [in print as Funny, Not Comic]
By Kristen Page-Kirby [Washington Post] Express August 1 2014 p. 15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2014/08/01/dont-like-sci-fi-or-comics-youll-still-like-guardians-of-the-galaxy/

Small Press Expo (SPX) 2014 opens its Facebook page

The Small Press Expo (SPX) 2014 opens its Facebook page. See you there!

Comic Riffs runs illustrated movie interview

Riffing with RICHARD LINKLATER: The director illuminates his brilliant new 'Boyhood' [A VISUAL TALE]

By Michael Cavna Washington Post Comic Riffs blog July 30 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/07/30/riffing-with-richard-linklater-our-illustrated-interview-about-the-directors-brilliant-boyhood/

National Book Festival interviews Bob Staake

Bob Staake: 2014 National Book Festival

http://loc.gov/podcasts/bookfest14/podcast_staake.html

http://loc.gov/podcasts/bookfest14/transcripts/pod-NBF14_staake.pdf

Speaker: Bob Staake
Series: 2014 National Book Festival
Date: July 28, 2014
Running Time: 11:08 minutes

 Download MP3
 Download Transcript (PDF, 14KB)

Monkey See on 'Guardians Of The Galaxy'

'Guardians Of The Galaxy': Let's Hear It For F.U.N.

by LINDA HOLMES

July 31, 2014 http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2014/07/31/336819152/guardians-of-the-galaxy-lets-hear-it-for-f-u-n

Aug 2: Nguyen Nguyen at Strathmore

From: Nguyen Nguyen: 

It's the culmination of my year-long residency there and I'll be showing original drawings, prints and more from my multimedia graphic novel: "The Gulf." 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Michael Fila (301) 581-5194 mfila@strathmore.org

Strathmore Fine Arts Presents

2013-2014 Fine Artists in Residence Exhibition

Saturday, August 2 through Sunday, August 24, 2014 Gudelsky Gallery Suite

Gallery Hours

Strathmore Fine Art Presents
2013-2014 FINE ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE EXHIBITION Featuring New Works by chukwumaa, Ali Halperin, Ariel Klein, Nguyen Nguyen with mentors John Anderson, June Linowitz, John Wang, Eileen Martin

NORTH BETHESDA, MD – Emerging visual artists chukwumaa, Ali Halperin Ariel Klein, and Nguyen Nguyen will conclude their residency experience at Strathmore by unveiling new works in the art center's Fine Artists in Residence Exhibition. Their unique voices and contemporary perspectives are expressed through oil paint, hand drawn and digital illustration, mixed media, performance art, and soft sculpture. The exhibition is on view from Saturday, August 2 through Sunday, August 24, 2014 in the Mansion at Strathmore. The multidimensional exhibition will also include work from Fine Artists in Residence (Fine AIR) mentors—multidisciplinary artist John Anderson, sculptor June Linowitz, calligrapher John Wang, and glass artist Eileen Martin. For more information, call (301) 581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

The first floor of the Mansion will feature past works by the Fine AIRs, collaborative works created with their mentors, as well as original works by the mentors. The second floor will feature new works exclusively by the Fine AIRs, with each artist highlighted in their own gallery space.

Strathmore's Fine Artist in Residence program cultivates local visual arts talent in the Washington, D.C. area by pairing artists early in their careers with established professionals in related disciplines and mediums. Fine AIR residencies last eight months, during which participants expand their craft and explore new artistic possibilities in professional development workshops, attend site visits, build their audience, develop a curatorial perspective, solidify their artistic voice and, ultimately, premiere a new body of work commissioned by Strathmore.

Artists Unveiling New Projects at the Fine Artists in Residence Exhibition

chukwumaa: Mixed-media sculptor and performance artist chukwumaa's work explores the concept of "belonging" by exploring the interactions between individuals and the group. He shares these observances using surreal performances and new media soft sculpture, using impermanent material such as video,

cardboard, store bought tape, found objects and bungee cords. chukwumaa will present a new perspective, positioning, and understanding of an older work called "HURR POEM," featuring performance, video and impermanent sculpture. The new work is titled "HURR POEM (Document)."

Ali Halperin: In her exploration of consumer culture, mixed media artist Ali Halperin entombs clothing in black tar. She pairs these works with plush handcrafted knits and fur textiles to construct bodily wall sculptures. She applies a hardening formula to the fabric, that she created herself over time, to couple the soft material with a rigid surface. The tar simultaneously represents the "elite" through its slick, black sheen, while nodding to the ostracized or maligned, those "tarred and feathered." She deconstructs the relationship between the physical body and commercial objects, exploring the fetishism of commodities and concepts of luxury and leanness.

Halperin received her BA from Barnard College at Columbia University in New York City, her Post-Baccalaureate Certificate at Maryland Institute College of Art, and a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ariel Klein: For his 2014 exhibition at Strathmore, Ariel Klein painted "The President's Own" United States Marine Band from life. Klein shadowed the musicians at public concerts, ceremonies, nighttime parades and to the funeral of a three-star general at Arlington National Cemetery, using his iPad as a canvas to make digital sketches which he then translated into oil paintings. By capturing band members in a contemporary style, Klein creates a fresh visual interpretation of the patriotic spirit represented by "The President's Own" United States Marine Band.

Named a distinguished Scholar in the Arts by Governor Martin O'Malley, the Silver Spring resident studied painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Bellas Artes.

Nguyen Khoi Nguyen: Nguyen Khoi Nguyen is a multidisciplinary artist with expertise in drawing, painting, film-making, and music. He is currently working on a multimedia graphic novel titled The Gulf, the third chapter of which he created for his residency at Strathmore. The project is a nonlinear narrative; each story is its own vignette. The Gulf is inspired by Nguyen's experiences and family history, particularly living in Vietnam, Southwest Florida, and Washington, D.C., and includes stories, drawings, music, and animation. The title refers to the physical location of the Gulf Coast of Florida, where the artist was raised, as well as the idea of division—between adulthood and childhood, parent and child, and Vietnamese and American identity.

Nguyen studied visual art at the Cooper Union, music and integrated arts at Bard College, and completed a master's degree in jazz piano at the University of Maryland. Nguyen was the recipient of the DC Commission for the Arts Artist Fellowship Grant for 2012.

Strathmore Fine Artist in Residence Mentors

John James Anderson (mentor to chukwumaa): John James Anderson is an associate professor of art, and program coordinator of Visual Communication at Prince George's Community College. His work has received several grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and is represented locally by Adah Rose Gallery. He has also written art criticism for Washington City Paper, Art in America, and Sculpture. Anderson's work often defies categorization as he moves fluidly between painting, performance, sculpture, and mixed media. His work often references issues of social consciousness, such as labor issues, culturally marginalized peoples, gentrification, and urban places in transition.

However, his work at Strathmore represents a departure for Anderson as he returns to his roots in painting. Canvases cut into unconventional shapes are streaked with neon and brightly hued lines, creating linear abstractions.

For their collaborative piece, Anderson and chukwumaa are merging their performance styles by blending performance art with text.

June Linowitz (mentor to Ali Halperin): Sculptor June Linwotiz has been a working artist for nearly 30 years. Her current work is an evolving series of wall hanging, three dimensional heads that explore emotions and states of mind. The series explores several universal concepts: masks, emotions, and human facial expression. Most often, the bottom part of each head displays the facial expression associated with an emotion, while the top part interprets or comments on that emotion. Linowitz's wall hangings are primarily sculpted from polystyrene and wood, and painted with encaustic, a wax material.

For her collaborative piece, Linowitz and mentee Ali Halperin created a zombie mask, infusing Linowitz's current series with a cheeky pop culture reference. They will also display a work depicting an old and a young woman, created using digital illustration and traditional sculptural techniques.

John Wang (mentor to Ariel Klein): John Wang expanded an early interest in calligraphy and painting into the field of Chinese seal carving. He blends these related skill sets in his fine art. In 2014 he was designated a Seal Carving Master by the Maryland State Fine Arts Council. Wang currently teaches calligraphy at the George Washington University. He displays several traditional Chinese calligraphic works at Strathmore.

During weekly studio visits throughout the residency, Wang demonstrated for Klein the art of traditional Chinese calligraphy. Together they developed a calligraphic digital illustration for Strathmore.

Eileen Martin (mentor to Nguyen Nguyen): While glass artist Eileen Martin began her career in lead and copper foil stained glass fabrication and glass painting, she has expanded into fused and kiln-formed glass, lamination and sand-blasting. She incorporates a variety of other media into her sculptural works, including clay, metal, rubber, concrete, paper, stone and wood. She also does on-site restoration of stained glass in historic structures and churches. She is a member of the National Capital Art Glass Guild and the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths. At Strathmore she displays colorful layered glass sculptures that are textured, but also flat like a canvas.

Martin collaborated with pupil Nguyen Nguyen to mount panels of his graphic novel on glass, isolating the work from its larger narrative and inviting the viewer to perceive the piece in a new way.

About Strathmore

Strathmore is an arts presenter and cultural destination serving to nurture art, artists and community through creative and diverse programming of the highest quality. The Mansion at Strathmore is located at 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda, MD, one half-mile north of the Capital Beltway and immediately adjacent to the Grosvenor-Strathmore station on Metro's Red Line.

###

Strathmore is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of Business & Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to non-profit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities.
Strathmore is also supported in part by the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.

Strathmore Fine Arts Presents

2013-2014 Fine Artists in Residence Exhibition

Saturday, August 2 through Sunday, August 24, 2014 Gudelsky Gallery Suite

Gallery Hours

Mansion at Strathmore
10701 Rockville Pike
North Bethesda, MD 20852
For additional information or to purchase tickets visit www.strathmore.org or call (301) 581-5100.

ChinaWatch in The Post profiles animator

Bringing animated dreams to life: From studios in Xi'an, Victory Wind C.E.O. Han Han leads a team that tells tales from ancient China through film and games.

By Clare Buchanan
Washington Post's ChinaWatch advertising supplement  July 30, 2014
http://chinawatch.washingtonpost.com/2014/07/bringing-animated-dreams-to-life.php

The Post reviews comics-influenced novel Tigerman

Heroics in an apocalyptic time ['Tigerman,' by Nick Harkaway]

By Ron Charles Washington Post July 30 2014, p. C3

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/tigerman-by-nick-harkaway/2014/07/29/d62fc172-11c4-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9_story.html

NPR's Linda Holmes went to Comic-Con

On Dipping An Introverted Toe In The Comic-Con Ocean

by LINDA HOLMES

July 30, 2014

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2014/07/30/336512127/on-dipping-an-introverted-toe-in-the-comic-con-ocean

PSA: Help support Asian comics at Michigan State University's Comic Art Collection

Asian Comics Cataloging at Michigan State University

reprinted from Insight May 2014 - http://img.lib.msu.edu/giving/insight/Insight_May2014.pdf

"I always recommend the MSU Comic Art Collection to fellow comic researchers since it is the world's most comprehensive and internationally oriented collection in the field." Matthias Harbeck, doctoral candidate, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg, Germany

Help make our Asian comics accessible!

Comics are truly a global phenomenon, and an important goal of our Comic Art Collection is to document how cultures around the world have adopted and transformed the medium.

That's why our collection ranges from Golden Age adventure strips to South American fotonovelas, and from Japanese manga to a nearly complete run of THE 99 – the world's first comic series with Muslim superheroes.

However, it's not enough to acquire these diverse materials. It's essential to catalog them as well, so users near and far can determine what we have available.

Thanks to recent gifts, we have far more Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese comics waiting to be cataloged than we can handle – even with the broad range of language skills among the cataloging team!

Fortunately, help is available. We can send the work to an outside contractor, Backstage, which performs research-level cataloging in some 70 different languages. Backstage can complete about 150 of the most needed items for $5000 – and we have already have a generous gift of $1000 to start us off.

The Comic Art Collection is heavily used by MSU students and faculty working in the fields of history, literature, and cultural studies. Help us support their research by putting more Asian comics on the shelf!

Comic Riffs checks in with Eisner Award winners

COMIC-CON EISNER AWARDS: What the winners say in the afterglow of the honor

By Michael Cavna 

Washington Post Comic Riffs blog July 28 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/07/28/comic-con-eisner-awards-what-the-winners-say-in-the-afterglow-of-the-honor/ 

Ivan the Terrible paper matryoshka

Local comics artist Art Hondros and former local artist Scott Mills have crafted a paper matryoshka based on their webcomic about Ivan the Terrible. Click for a free PDF to print and build. 

Glen Weldon interviewed on Batman

At 75, Batman Still Seeks Justice, Not Revenge

by ARUN RATH,

National Public Radio's Weekend Edition (July 27, 2014 )

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2014/07/27/335588932/at-75-batman-still-seeks-justice-not-revenge
http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/wesun/2014/07/20140727_wesun_at_75_batman_still_seeks_justice_not_revenge.mp3
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=335588932

Katherine Roeder, of GMU, interviewed on Winsor McCay

Katherine Roeder is "Wide Awake in Slumberland"

Alex Dueben,

Comic Book Resources Tue, July 15th, 2014 

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=54054

Comic Riffs talks to Inman and Modan

COMIC-CON EISNER AWARDS: 'The Oatmeal's' Matthew Inman honored after creative shift: 'Writing these comics was risky for me'

By Michael Cavna

Washington Post Comics Riffs July 28 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/07/28/comic-con-eisner-awards-the-oatmeals-matthew-inman-honored-after-creative-shift-writing-these-comics-was-risky-for-me/

 

COMIC-CON EISNER AWARDS: Israeli graphic novelist Rutu Modan draws upon war — as she hopes for peace

By Michael Cavna

Washington Post Comics Riffs July 28 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/07/28/comic-con-eisner-awards-israeli-graphic-novelist-rutu-modan-draws-upon-war-as-she-hopes-for-peace/