PR: Awesome Con- Our latest newsletter!

Artist Alley is almost sold out, more hotel information and comic guests!  PROGRAMMING The deadline for panel applications is the end of this month! We don't want you to miss it! Submit your ideas to be part of Awesome Con's super sweet programming! FOLLOW US! Facebook Twitter Tumblr Instagram YouTube Website Email ARTIST ALLEY IS NEARLY SOLD OUT! We are almost sold out of space in our artist alley! Applications are online and easier than ever to submit, so hurry and get a table before they're gone! GRAND HYATT HOTEL BLOCK We are pleased to announce that our hotel room block at the Grand Hyatt is up and ready for your reservation! Rates start at $149 a night.  Do not fear! This is not the only hotel block that we have! Keep checking out our travel page for the latest on hotels where we have a room block. More to come very soon! COMIC GUESTS! We have some awesome comic guests coming to Awesome Con this year! Check them out!  Billy Martin                          Bob Greenberger Bryan Tillman                      Bryan Turner Carolyn Belefski                  Dario Brizuela David A. Rodriguez             Duncan Rouleau Gerry Duggan                     J.K. Woodward Jamal Igle                           Jamar Nicholas Jeff Balke                            Jeff Schultz Jeremy Whitley                   Jerry Gaylord Jim Calafiore                       Joe Harris Joe Kelly                             Joe Rubinstein Justin Jordan                       Ken Hunt Kevin Eastman                    Laura Lee Gulledge Mark McKenna                    Mike McKone Mike Raicht                         Penelope Gaylord Rafer Roberts                     S.L. Gallant Sam Ellis                            Sorah Shibao Steve Conley                      Steven T. Seagle Super Art Fight                   Thom Zahler Tom Raney                         Tony Fleecs   Share Tweet +1 Share Forward Copyright © 2015 Awesome Con, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you wanted more information about Awesome Con. Our mailing address is: Awesome Con 8639B 16th Street #317 Silver Spring, MD 20910

Teresa Logan illustrations on Youtube

Teresa Logan did the illustrations for the American Lung Association's Power Plants and Pollution now on Youtube.

Marc Singer on Morrison's Multiversity for DC Comics

Pax Americana

Thunderworld

The Multiversity Guidebook

Marc, who teaches at Howard, is the author of a book on Morrison.

Feb 5: George O'Connor returns to the Takoma Park MD Library

George O'Connor returns to the Takoma Park MD Library, Thursday Feb 5th, 7:30 in the kids room at the Takoma Park Maryland Library.  If you can't make his signing earlier in the day come find him here.  He's introducing Ares: Bringer of War, the newest in his Olympians series.
Talk process, research,  story, characters, etc. with a real chill dude who has managed to carve a nice space for himself on the bookshelves of your local library and in schools etc. Nice guy does well.  Hang out and have fun.

Sign up for Takoma Park Alert to receive emergency information via e-mail, text message and more. | http://www.takomaparkmd.gov/alert

Wiley's Non Sequitur on the Charlie Hebdo massacre today

Wiley's comic strip Non Sequitur is on the Charlie Hebdo massacre today in The Post.

Comic Riffs on Shrinkage and Tamaki's awards

KICKSTARTER OF THE WEEK: For Farrago Comics, 'Conan' writer Rob Kutner goes full frontal-lobe in political 'Shrinkage'

By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog February 3 2015
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/02/03/kickstarter-of-the-week-for-farrago-comics-conan-writer-rob-kutner-goes-full-frontal-lobe-in-political-shrinkage/

CALDECOTT, PRINTZ HONORS: 'This One Summer' co-authors 'grateful' for graphic-novel milestone as Honor Book

By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog February 2 2015
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/02/02/caldecott-printz-honors-this-one-summer-co-authors-grateful-for-graphic-novel-milestone-as-honor-book/

Jamie Noguchi's Kitsune Hoodie Kickstarter project

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/112838146/kitsune-fox-spirit-hoodie is the sign up link (with the video)

Hey book kickers! At some point this year, I'm going to be publishing volume 3 of Yellow Peril which will collect the remaining black and white strips.

In the mean time, I've launched another project! If you like hoodies and foxes or like seeing my work on things, then the Kitsune Hoodie is totally for you! I don't have too many crazy rewards or stretch goals. It's more like a pre-order to see if anyone out there would want to wear something like this.

The campaign runs until February 27 so check it out and pass it around! Thanks!

Feb 4: George O'Connor at Big Planet Comics College Park

• George O'Connor signing - Olympians Wednesday at 5:00pm - 8:00pm 2 days from now · 52°F / 33°F Partly Cloudy

• Show Map Big Planet Comics of College Park 7315 Baltimore Ave, College Park, Maryland 20740

Big Planet Comics is proud to welcome New York Times bestselling creator George O'Connor, for his series Olympians!

The newest book in the Olympians series is Ares: Bringer of War. In Ares, the myth continues in the tenth year of the fabled Trojan War where two infamous gods of war go to battle. The spotlight is thrown on Ares, god of war, and primarily focuses on his battle with the clever and powerful Athena. As the battle culminates and the gods try to one-up each other to win, the human death toll mounts. Who will win this epic clash of power? And how many will have to die first?

Olympians website: http://www.olympiansrule.com/

Feb 5: Teresa Logan's Framed in Black show opens

From: Teresa Logan (aka The Laughing Redhead):

I have an art show, FRAMED IN BLACK, opening at Kafe Bohem on Thursday night - it goes from 7 - 10/11, and I'd love it if you could attend. Kafe Bohem aka Bistro Bohem (very near the Shaw/Howard metro stop), is a Czech restaurant (the food is delicious omigosh!) and they are doing signature cocktails specials for our event, plus of course the regular menu is available.

One of my dear friends, Nicole Belanus, who is a singer/songwriter, will be playing live during the reception.

www.LaughingRedhead.com

p.s. - I also will be showing several pieces this month at UDC's Gallery 42, opening tomorrow night February 3rd, celebrating writers of the Harlem Renaissance - that opening goes from 6:30-8.

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Flashbacks, a DC comic strip we've overlooked

Every Sunday, for years, Patrick M. Reynolds has been producing Flashbacks, a comic strip for the Washington Post. His Flashbacks recalls aspects of DC history. Reynolds doesn't actually live around here, and does similar strips for New York City, Texas and Pennsylvania, but it should have been noted here earlier.

He's collected some of the early strips into two books.

Cartoonists at Politics and Prose in February

3rd

George O'Connor - Ares: Bringer of War

Start: 10:30 am

4th

@ Busboys and Poets Brookland: John Lewis and Andrew Aydin - March: Book Two

Start: 6:30 pm

5th

George O'Connor - Ares: Bringer of War — at Takoma Park Library (MD)

Start: 7:30 pm

6th

Scott McCloud - The Sculptor

Start: 7:00 pm

17th

Gareth Hinds - Macbeth **FOR TEENS AND ADULTS

Start: 10:30 am

23rd

Gareth Hinds - Macbeth — at Takoma Park Library **FOR TEENS AND ADULTS

Start: 7:30 pm

PR: The SPX 2015 Exhibitor Table Lottery Is Now Open!

The lottery is now open! Now, on February 1, 2015, the long awaited SPX 2015 Exhibitor Table Lottery is now open. It will be available for two weeks and only takes a few minutes. There is no benefit to applying early or late. This email contains a general run down of the lottery procedure. After you review the info below, please do reach out with any questions or concerns by sending an e-mail to exhibitors@spxpo.com.    SPX 2015 LOTTERY REGISTRATION FAQ AND INFO PAGE SPX 2015 LOTTERY REGISTRATION PAGE LINK You Will Have Plenty of Time   Registration for The Table Lottery will run from February 1 through February 15, 2015. This will allow everyone plenty of time to register. And just as importantly, this should help to keep our poor web site from crashing to the ground.   The Lottery Process is Easy   There are just a few steps to the process: - Beginning February 1, go to the Lottery Registration Form and submit your info. - An e-mail will be sent back confirming your registration application. - Within 48 hours we will send you another e-mail with a 6 digit random number provided by Random.org - We will sort the lottery entrant list by random number in either ascending or order descending based on a coin flip. - We'll apportion tables in the order dictated until we run out. - Remaining lottery registrants will be preserved in their lottery order as the 2015 Wait List. - Lottery winners will be announced mid-March, 2015. - Information about the process for paying for the tables will be made available in March. - Winners will be given until April 15, 2015 to pay for their tables. Payment not received in that time frame will result in those tables in being forfeited and used for the Wait List.   There are Lots of Tables Available   Our goal is to keep the show pretty evenly split between invited exhibitors and exhibitors registering from the lottery. Depending on the number of legacy invitations that are accepted, one half to one third of the tables at SPX will be filled this way, leaving around 110 tables available for the lottery.   The Table Lottery Process Will Result In an Official Wait List   Once The Table Lottery winners are determined, the remaining names will be shifted to the official 2015 Exhibitors Wait List. The Wait List will show where you are on the list and as tables become available, we will work the list off, top to bottom.    Please Play Fair   Other festivals that have a lottery system for table registration have seen people attempt to game the system, with multiple entries per person to try to gain an advantage. As we see such actions as against the Spirit of SPX, we will be enforcing these simple lottery rules:   1. One lottery entry per person. 2. You can register for up to 2 tables, in half table increments. Each half table gets a free badge, extra badges will be $10.   3. Please use the name on your lottery entry that will go into the Program Guide and on the SPX Exhibitors web page. Lottery entries using alias names will be disqualified.   4. Tables can only be transferred or assigned to a tablemate whose badge is registered for the winning table(s) at the time the payment is made.    5. Payments for tables won in the lottery must be made by April 15. Tables not paid for by April 15 will be released to the Wait List.   6. By participating in The Table Lottery you are agreeing that the SPX Steering Committee will serve as the sole arbiter for any penalties resulting from misconduct during your participation in the SPX Table Lottery.   In response to incidents of cheating SPX reserves the right to exclude the offending entrants from future table lottery participation and SPX show promotional materials. Please follow the rules, play fair and uphold the community spirit of SPX that makes this show fun to put on and participate in.   Please Register For Your Group If you are sharing tables with other people, please have only 1 registration for your group. You will be able to list all of your table mates for the SPX web site, program guide and badges when you go to pay for the table. Further Details   There is an FAQ at http://www.spxpo.com/lottery where you'll find more info on The Table Lottery process.   Stay tuned for the announcement of the availability of The Table Lottery Registration Form, coming to an e-mail inbox or social media stream near you.   Thanks, Sam, Mike, and Warren   Copyright © 2015 Small Press Expo, All rights reserved. You are on the Combined Master Exhibitor List for Small Press Expo to whom this e-mail is directed. Our mailing address is: Small Press Expo P.O. Box 5704 Bethesda, Maryland 20824

Kal in Bermuda

From KAL:

In the summer of 2014 I had the honor of being the Artist-in-Residence at the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art. During my 3 month sojourn, I embarked on a quest to capture in satirical style my observations of the island. 

I have now posted on my website the collection of work I created while on the island. You will find some inside Bermuda jokes, but on the whole, I hope you will appreciate the gist of the narative. 

A limited edition set of the large cartoons have been produced by the Museum and are available for purchase. Have a read and let me know your thoughts!

Inquiries should be made directly with the Museum. The number of sets is quite small... I think maybe only 30...  for the set of high-quality 13 prints in a special box.  The person to contact is Kate Ross at the museum at artmworks@logic.bm

Best

Kal

Kaltoons Team

shop@katoons.com

www.Kaltoons.com

Kal's New retrospective collection Daggers Drawn is now available to order.

Comic strips and consumer culture, 1890-1945 online for free

Comic strips and consumer culture, 1890-1945, by Ian Gordon, is now online for free. 

Ian is now a friend of mine, but well before I ever met him, I thought that this book, originally published by the Smithsonian and researched while he worked there, was one of the best books about comic strips that I've ever read. I highly recommend it. You should download it in case he changes his mind; I just did even though I own the paperback.

Somebody besides Cavna at The Post talks to Roz Chast

Author and New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast changed gears for "Around the Clock" [online as Roz Chast talks about her new children's book, 'Around the Clock"

By Carole Burns
Washington Post February 1 2015, p. E38
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/roz-chast-talks-about-her-new-childrens-book-around-the-clock/2015/01/28/020e25ec-a237-11e4-b146-577832eafcb4_story.html

Prickly City is tribute to Charlie Hebdo cartoonists

Today's Prickly City is a tribute to 4 of the 5 murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonists.

Juana Medina children's book promo online

Mike Lynch has picked up Juana Medina children's book Smick has a promo online.

City Paper reviews Oscar short animation

Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Animated and Live Action A suicide story, a cute little piggie, and a whole lot of meh

By Tricia Olszewski

Washington City Paper January 30, 2015, p. 32.

online at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/46808/oscar-nominated-shorts-reviewed-a-suicide-story-a-cute-little/

Animation movies reviewed in today's Post

'Song of the Sea' movie review: A dreamlike voyage home

By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post January 30 2015
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/song-of-the-sea-movie-review-a-dreamlike-voyage-home/2015/01/28/c6fcbd80-a590-11e4-a7c2-03d37af98440_story.html

Oscar Shorts feature a platter of bite-size contenders

By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post January 30 2015
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/oscar-shorts-feature-a-platter-of-bite-size-contenders/2015/01/29/5fab71d4-a64f-11e4-a2b2-776095f393b2_story.html

Prickly City on Charlie Hebdo massacre for the 4th day

Prickly City is on Charlie Hebdo massacre for the 4th day. Here's today's strip.

Catching up with Comic Riffs

Since Cavna has gone full-time producing Comic Riffs, I won't be linking to all of his stories anymore. Still, here's the rest of today's pieces.

THE RIFF: So 'Supergirl's' Jimmy Olsen is black. A fanboy weighs what we read into Hollywood's attempts at superhero-story diversity

By David Betancourt
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog (January 29): http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/01/29/the-riff-so-supergirls-jimmy-olsen-is-black-a-fanboy-weighs-what-we-read-into-hollywoods-attempts-at-superhero-story-diversity/

'EXPLODING KITTENS': It's now officially the most-backed Kickstarter campaign ever. Here's how game's co-creator is dealing with that.

By Michael Cavna

Washington Post Comic Riffs blog (January 29): http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/01/29/exploding-kittens-its-now-officially-the-most-backed-kickstarter-campaign-ever-heres-how-games-co-creator-is-dealing-with-that/

Angoulême: comiXology ups its presence — and international curated context — for 2015 festival

By Michael Cavna

Washington Post Comic Riffs blog (January 29): http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/01/29/angouleme-comixology-ups-its-presence-and-international-curated-context-for-2015-festival/

2015 Angoulême: Bill Watterson's work goes on display today as grand comics festival kicks off

By Michael Cavna

Washington Post Comic Riffs blog (January 29):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/01/29/2015-angouleme-bill-wattersons-work-goes-on-display-today-as-grand-comics-festival-kicks-off/

The Post on a Pew report on Mohammad cartoons

The impact of Charlie Hebdo: Americans now back Muhammad cartoons

By Aaron Blake
Washington Post's The Fix blog (January 29 2015): http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/01/29/americans-support-publishing-muhammad-cartoons-nine-years-after-saying-they-were-irresponsible/

and the report is here:

After Charlie Hebdo, Balancing Press Freedom and Respect for Religion

Majority Says Publishing Cartoons Was 'Okay,' But About Half of Non-Whites Say 'Not Okay'

By Jeffrey Gottfried and Michael Barthel

Pew Research Center January 28, 2015

http://www.journalism.org/2015/01/28/after-charlie-hebdo-balancing-press-freedom-and-respect-for-religion/

http://www.journalism.org/files/2015/01/2015.01.28_CharlieHebdo_FINAL.pdf

http://www.journalism.org/files/2015/01/2015.01.28_CharlieHebdo_TOPLINE.pdf

Prickly City continues its Mohammad cartoon commentary in today's Post

Prickly City continues its Mohammad cartoon commentary in today's Post.

Carolyn Belefski interviewed by Jen Sorensen

Cartooning for the White House: A chat with the artist behind the #GetCovered comics

 By Jen Sorensen @JenSorensen

 01/29/2015 

http://fusion.net/story/41243/cartooning-for-the-white-house-a-chat-with-the-artist-behind-the-getcovered-comics/

New Eric Shansby painting for Team Cul de Sac

Washington Post cartoonist Eric Shansby has done a painting for Team Cul de Sac's fundraising effort to defeat Parkinson's disease. The painting will be auctioned this spring, but money can be donated at any time.

Shansby took over illustrating Gene Weingarten's Below the Beltway column from Richard Thompson, when Thompson moved on to doing Cul de Sac.

The painting shows Alice and Petey from Cul de Sac, climbing on Ben Franklin, an inspiration for Richard's other Washington Post strip, Richard's Poor Almanac. It is acrylic on canvas board and measures approximately 9"x12".

The painting will also be reproduced in the forthcoming fundraising book, Compleating Cul de Sac, which includes interviews, sketches and 100 Washington Post strips left out of the Complete Cul de Sac.

Telnaes and Galifianakis on being on the other side of the caricature

2015 REUBEN AWARDS: So what's it like to be caricatured by MAD's Tom Richmond? (Event speakers talk back.)

By Michael Cavna

Washington Post Comic Riffs blog (January 29 2015):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/01/29/2015-reuben-awards-so-whats-it-like-to-be-caricatured-by-mads-tom-richmond-event-speakers-talk-back/

3 of 8 speakers at NCS annual meeting from DC

Tom Richmond, president of the National Cartoonists Society has posted the following:

2015 Reuben Awards Cover Art and Speakers

Clockwise from far left: Nick Galifianakis, Mort Drucker,
Brian Crane, Doug Mahnke, Mark Anderson, Jeff Keane,
Ann Telnaes and Juana Medina- (Clicky to Embiggen)

Members of the National Cartoonists Society will be receiving the official brochure for the 2015 Reuben Award Weekend in their mailboxes in the next week or so. My cover art above. With it goes the announcements of the speaker lineup and special award winners:

• Mort Drucker- First recipient of the "NCS Medal of Honor"; Speaker
• Jeff Keane- Recipient of the NCS "Silver T-Square" for outstanding dedication to the Society
• Brian Crane- Reuben winning creator of the syndicated comic strip "Pickles"; speaker
• Doug Mahnke- Superstar comic book artist; speaker
• Mark Anderson- Gag cartoonist, "Andertoons.com"; speaker
• Juana Medina- Illustrator, first recipient of the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship; speaker
• Nick Galifianakis- Cartoonist, author, illustrator; speaker
• Ann Telnaes, Pulitizer prize winning editorial cartoonist; moderating a panel on "Cartooning and Free Speech"

Medina, Telnaes and Galifianakis are local to us.

Prickly City continues its Mohammad drawing storyline in today's Post

Prickly City continues its Mohammad drawing storyline in today's Post.

Pictures of Fantom Comics' March vol. 2 signing

Bruce Guthrie's pictures of Fantom Comics' March vol. 2 signing with Rep. John Lewis and Andrew Aydin are online now.

Congressman Lewis on what it meant to be a Freedom Rider

Click to view a video excerpt from his Fantom Comics appearance in which Rep. John Lewis discusses being beaten while standing up for his civil rights.

Second Story Books window display

The used book store Second Story Books (Dupont Circle) has some neat original pulp magazines (and a few Robert Crumb comics) with fantastic covers in their storefront window. (I couldn't get a photo without a glare from the plastic display bags.)

Carolyn Belefski's cartooning for the White House

Wow. Click through to see them.

Remind You of Someone? You Should Share These:

As more Americans gain coverage and we near the February 15th HealthCare.gov enrollment deadline, one artist highlights what these diverse Americans have in common in a series of shareable graphics.