Quarantine Q&A with TJ Kirsch

 I missed this yesterday, but the video is available at Facebook.

 

Quarantine Q&A with TJ Kirsch

Leah Ly

Fantom Comics October 7 2020

https://www.facebook.com/FantomComics/videos/2821270501479009

We're doing another comic creator event for your enjoyment. We'll be talking to cartoonist TJ Kirsch about his work; in particular about his newest project Willie Nelson: A Graphic History, in which he teams up with several other artists to tell the story of this country music icon from Hill County, Texas.

Mike Jenkins has outdone himself - this year's Trump pumpkin caricature

by Mike Rhode

In 2015, Arlington cartoonist Mike Jenkins carved a pumpkin into Donald Trump's likeness; it went viral. 

This year, Mike has returned to the same theme. But bigger. And badder.

Look at those little orange hands!

 

 

Mike's available to caricature anyone you choose, too. In fact, I've asked him to draw me this Trump caricature in ink when he has time. Here's our coronavirus interview with him.

 

Just to be clear, Mike's on the right (but really to the left)

Look at the size of this monster!

Even the number means something

 

I've asked Mike to make postcards and Halloween cards via a print-on-demand service of this great caricature, and I'll let you know if he does.

Tom Toles retiring?!

News is leaking out of the Washington Post that Tom Toles, Washington Post cartoonist since 2002 has put in his retirement notice, effective in November.

Toles, although he doesn't look it, is 68 years old, born on October 22, 1951. More information on his career is at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Toles

 

UPDATED: 

 

The Washingtonian has more details:

 

Tom Toles Will Leave the Washington Post

Written by Andrew Beaujon

October 8, 2020

https://www.washingtonian.com/2020/10/08/tom-toles-will-leave-the-washington-post/

 

Editorial Cartoon by Steve Artley

 

Recent Cartoon (click on Image for larger view)

"Lord of the Fly"

©2020 Steven G Artley • artleytoons • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "Instant Karma!"

From DC's anarchist cartoonist, Mike Flugennock -

"Instant Karma!"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=3076

So, aaaanyway... everybody and their cat have been speculating for months about what they think the "October Surprise" will be in this campaign, and wot'tha FUUUUU—

Welp... you were looking for an October Surprise and October says "hold my beer". Clown Emperor Bleach Trump and First Lady Melania hydroxychloroquine Trump have tested positive, with the Donster being taken to Walter Reed for treatment, following hot on the heels of one his senior advisors, and a big face-to-face, mask-off event for GOP donors, and the president of Notre Dame University who attended the Supreme Court nomination ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett, and... oh, FUUUUUU—

Christ, that's what — three or four potential "super-spreader" events with that gang in the past two weeks or so? For that matter, everywhere that sonofabitch goes is a super-spreader event. Dude's a super-duper-spreader.

Meanwhile, Rachel Maddow is asking those of us who can't afford the kind of healthcare Trump is getting to pray for the guy who's supposed to be an Existential Threat™ and a Russian Asset™ and an Enemy Of Democracy™ and The Worst President Ever™, and getting her snippy little ass shredded.

The U.S. Left — Lord love 'em — have been throwing everything they had
at that bunch and couldn't make a dent, and the bastards end up being  brought down by a friggin' virus... y'know, kinda like the end of War Of The Worlds.

I'm not gonna lie to y'all. I can't pretend I'm not enjoying this.

Batman: The Animated Series' Artbook Creator on Being an Artist During COVID-19

Alexandra Bowman

The Hilltop Show Oct 4, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrzYs5nfzuw

We sat down with Justin Erickson, the creative director behind the anticipated "Batman: The Animated Series: The Phantom City Creative Collection," to talk about how he creates art and works with other artists during this unprecedented time. "Batman: The Animated Series: The Phantom City Creative Collection" will be released on October 6th. Preorder your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Animate... Learn about Phantom City Creative here: https://phantomcitycreative.bigcartel... Follow @PhantomCityCreative here: https://www.instagram.com/phantomcity...

Protest, Plague, and Politics: 2020 in Comics

Moderator: Matt Lubchansky Panelists: Malaka Gharib, Ben Passmore, Bianca Xunise

CXC Festival October 4 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBFu-vgq_ds

 

CXC + MICE crossover special event: We've almost made it! As the Month of MICE takes place, the infamous year 2020 is entering its final phase. This panel takes a look at how the tumult of 2020 has been processed by three comics creators, very much in the thick of the year's controversies and conflicts: the pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and the national politics overhanging it all. How have the crises been reflected in their work? What is the relationship between creativity, career, and political engagement? What role can comics play in such crucial public debates and movements? Moderator: Matt Lubchansky Panelists: Malaka Gharib, Ben Passmore, Bianca Xunise This panel is presented by the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo

Mo Willems: National Book Festival 2020

Mo Willems: National Book Festival 2020

Carla Hayden

September 25, 2020

https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-9401/

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/media/webcasts/2020/s089_a118_Willems_Final/data/s089_a118_Willems_Final_1280x720_2000.mp4

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/media/webcasts/captions/2020/s089_a118_Willems_Final.txt

Summary

The bestselling author and illustrator Mo Willems, winner of three Caldecott Awards and creator of the Pigeon series as well as Elephant & Piggie, talks to Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden about his creative process and the "garden" that inspires his stories and his art. He launches "An Elephant & Piggie Biggie! Volume 3" (Hyperion) and "Unlimited Squirrels: I Want to Sleep Under the Stars" (Hyperion) at the Festival.

Gene Luen Yang: National Book Festival 2020

Gene Luen Yang: National Book Festival 2020

September 25, 2020

https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-9395/

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/media/webcasts/2020/s014_a015_Yang_Final/data/s014_a015_Yang_Final_1280x720_2000.mp4

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/media/webcasts/captions/2020/s014_a015_Yang_Final.txt

Summary

In "Dragon Hoops" (First Second),bestselling graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, basketball and the high school where he teaches. In "Superman Smashes the Klan" (DC Comics), a Chinese-American teenager awakens to find his house surrounded by the Klan of the Fiery Kross. Naturally, Superman leaps to the family's help, but a mysterious green rock has left him weak. Can the teen and his best friend help Superman smash the Klan?

Jerry Craft: National Book Festival 2020

Jerry Craft: National Book Festival 2020

September 25, 2020

https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-9379/

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/media/webcasts/2020/s026_a027_Craft_Final/data/s026_a027_Craft_Final_1280x720_2000.mp4

Summary

Winner of the 2019 Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature, Jerry Craft's "New Kid" (Quill Tree) is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real.

Running Time

20 minutes 6 seconds

Language

English

Online Format

video

image

Original Format

film, video

Oct 27: Roxane Gay, Tracy Lynne Oliver & Rebecca Kirby at Powell's Books

Roxane Gay, Tracy Lynne Oliver & Rebecca Kirby Ticketed Event Tuesday, October 27 @ 6pm (PT) Buy the Book-Inclusive Event Ticket

In The Sacrifice of Darkness (Archaia), Roxane Gay, Tracy Lynne Oliver, and Rebecca Kirby adapt Gay's New York Times bestselling short story, "We Are the Sacrifice of Darkness," as a full-length graphic novel, expanding and further developing the unforgettable world where the sun no longer shines. "When I was a young girl, my husband's father flew an air machine into the sun. Since then, the days have been dark, the nights bright." Follow one woman's powerful journey through this new landscape as she discovers love, family, and the true light in a world seemingly robbed of any. As she challenges notions of identity, guilt, and survival, she'll find that no matter the darkness, there remains sources of hope that can pierce the veil. Please note: This is a ticketed event. Purchasing a preorder copy of The Sacrifice of Darkness ($24.99) entitles you to attend our virtual event with Gay, Oliver, and Kirby on Tuesday, October 27, at 6pm (PT). After you've purchased the book, we will automatically register you for the Zoom event, and will send you an email two days prior to the event containing a link to the event and instructions on how to access it. Your copy of The Sacrifice of Darkness will ship on the day of the event.

Oct 15: Merrill Markoe at Powell's Books

Merrill Markoe Thursday, October 15 @ 6pm (PT) Register for the Zoom event   Buy the Book

In her first-ever graphic memoir, four-time Emmy-winning comedy writer Merrill Markoe unearths her treasured diaries, long kept under lock and key, to illustrate the hilarious story of her preteen and teen years and how she came to realize that her secret power was her humor. Wielding her layered and comically absurd style, Markoe takes readers back through her time as a Girl Scout, where she learned that "scouting" was really more about learning housewifery skills, to her earliest crushes on uniquely awful boys and her growing obsession with television. Much has changed in our world since Markoe wrote in her diaries, or has it? Climate change wasn't yet a rallying call, but the growing hole in the ozone preoccupied Markoe's young mind. No one was flocking to the desert for Burning Man, but Markoe readily partook in the Ken Kesey Acid Test. As she charts the divide between her adolescence and adulthood, Markoe questions and berates her younger self, revealing how much is opaque to us in those young years. Perfect for fans of Roz Chast, Allie Brosh, and Lynda Barry, We Saw Scenery (Algonquin) is a laugh-out-loud story of a girl growing up, told from the perspective of the woman she became, and it will speak to all who wanted to understand themselves in the midst of their own maturing.

New from Sarah Boxer - Lynda Barry reviewed and President Poo

Back to the Drawing Board

Sarah Boxer

September 24, 2020 Issue

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/09/24/lynda-barry-back-to-drawing-board/

Making Comics

by Lynda Barry

Drawn and Quarterly, 199 pp., $22.95 (paper)

and for her new scatalogical political cartoon visit her Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/boxer.sarah/

Fwd: Max Meow Creator John Gallagher Exclusive Launch Live Stream!

Only at Beyond Comics - Tuesday, October 6th 6:30pm to 7:30pm

Let Everyone Know - Share the Event! Live Stream With Max Meow Creator John Gallagher Tuesday, October 6th 6:30pm to 7:30pm Live Streamed From Beyond Comics! Join John and the Beyond Comics Team for the International Launch of the Year! Find out about Max and his origins, learn about John, ask questions, and have a great time with all. Visit The Facebook Event! Buy Your Copy Here! About Max Meow Book 1: Cat Crusader "Fans of Dav Pilkey's "Dog Man" series will love this quirky graphic novel."    — School Library Journal "Funny, furry and fantastic!" –Judd Winick, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Hilo series Calling all graphic novel fans! Do you like to laugh? Meet Max Meow, Cat Crusader–a secret superhero with CAT-ITUDE in this purr-fectly awesome, hiss-sterically funny new middle grade series! Max is just a regular cat in Kittyopolis, trying to make it big as a podcaster UNTIL he accidentally takes a bite of an RADIOACTIVE SPACE MEATBALL at his best friend, scientist Mindy's, SECRET LAB. Then before you can say MEOWZA, Max becomes…(drum roll!)…The CAT CRUSADER! Being a super hero is fun (Super strength? Check! Flying? YES!!!)–but not if you get so cocky, you forget your best friend! Will Max learn to listen? Will he and Mindy make up? And together, can Max and Mindy save Kittyopolis from the evil Agent M and BIG BOSS?! Find out in Max Meow: Cat Crusader-a laugh out loud, furr-ociously funny, action-packed new series filled with so many twists, turns, and terrific jokes it makes bad guys FLEA and kids cheer with glee! BONUS: Includes how to draw Max Meow! "Cats and kittens alike will be thrilled to finally have a hero they can look up to." –Mike Maihack, Author of Cleopatra in Space series "Meowza! Let's hear it for the coolest new cat crusader, Max!" –Jennifer & Matthew Holm, co-creators of the Babymouse series "Max Meow's super heroics will have kids meow-ling with laughter!" –John Patrick Green, author of the InvestiGators series "A heaping helping of candy colored fun!" –Ben Hatke, author of the Zita the Spacegirl and Mighty Jack series "Max Meow is sure to save any young reader's day with super-laughs on every page!" –Norm Feuti, syndicated cartoonist and creator of the Hello, Hedgehog series Buy Your Copy Here! ‌ ‌ ‌

That darn Mark Trail, Dilbert and Speed Bump

Note the Mark Trail letter shows no awareness that this is a decades-old reprint. Won't they be shocked when it switches to the new cartoonist next week!

Washington Post October 3 2020

Online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/letters-to-the-editor/readers-critique-the-post-judging-justice-ginsburg--and-the-coverage-of-her-death/2020/10/02/c5a28e56-04d0-11eb-897d-3a6201d6643f_story.html

Abandon the Trail to the awards show [Mark Trail].

Jonathan and Alexis Smallridge

The show must go on, virtually ["Speed Bump" ]

Patricia A. Miller

One strike, you're out [Dilbert]

J.P. Newell, Washington

The Post's obituary for Quino

Quino, Argentine cartoonist who created the beloved character Mafalda, dies at 88 [in print as Cartoonist created cultural icon to talk about politics]

Harrison Smith

Washington Post Oct. 2, 2020 p. B6

online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/quino-argentine-cartoonist-who-created-the-beloved-character-mafalda-dies-at-88/2020/10/01/04a2e28a-03f1-11eb-897d-3a6201d6643f_story.html

730DC interviews Josh Kramer as the project wraps up

How We Made Dispatches from 2121

Hayden Higgins, 730DC (October 2 2020):

https://medium.com/@hscotthiggins/how-we-made-dispatches-from-2121-a02cbeba08a2

Editorial Cartoon by Steven G Artley

Recent Cartoon (click on Image for larger view)

"POTUS v FLOTUS" or, "Quarantine Quarrel"

©2020 Steven G Artley • artleytoons • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

Tom King Talks Strange Adventures Rorschach Bat Cat and more

 Sep 29, 2020

wordballoon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfU3xa69J5Y

'The Legend Of Korra' Is Fire (And Air And Earth And Water)

Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson, Gene Demby ,Kiana Fitzgerald

Pop Culture Happy Hour September 30, 2020

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/24/916552890/the-legend-of-korra-is-fire-and-air-and-earth-and-water 

Bolin, Korra, and Mako are three of the heroes in the Nickelodeon series The Legend of Korra.

Nickelodeon

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Avatar': We're Thinking Of Bending Things

The Legend of Korra is a sequel to the hugely popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. It takes place 70 years later, in a darker, more industrialized world where bending the elements is commonplace. Korra is now the Avatar, and she's everything her predecessor Aang wasn't. She's a confident, headstrong teenage girl much more comfortable with combat than with the spiritual aspect of her role.

The audio was produced and edited by Mike Kat

Hyperallergic talks to NGA head about Guston postponement

National Gallery of Art Director Discusses the Decision to Delay the Philip Guston Exhibition

I talked to Kaywin Feldman to ask why the museum chose to delay the show by the well-known American artist.

Hrag Vartanian

Hyperallergic Podcast  (80; October 1, 2020):

https://hyperallergic.com/591929/national-gallery-of-art-director-discusses-the-decision-to-delay-the-philip-guston-exhibition/

Oct 8: Mark Wheatley music debut

Artist Mark Wheatley to Debut Song on POPXP!

Scoop October 2 2020

https://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1012?ArticleID=246187

Artist Mark Wheatley is set to appear on the YouTube program POPXP! on Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 9 PM ET to present the world premiere of his latest progressive rock song. The new song, "The Witch of Everwhen" will be accompanied by an original animated music video.

Fantom Comics newsletter excerpts

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7TH @ 6:30PM: QUARANTINE Q&A WITH TJ KIRSCH:
We'll be talking to cartoonist TJ Kirsch about his work; in particular about his newest project Willie Nelson: A Graphic History, in which he teams up with several other artists to tell the story of this country music icon from Hill County, Texas.

For further details: https://www.facebook.com/events/682967962314207?active_tab=about

You can order his work by reaching out to us via fantomhq@fantomcomics.com or by calling 202-241-6498.


SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24TH @ 4PM: BLACK EXCELLENCE BOOK CLUB - BIG BLACK: STAND AT ATTICA

Fantom and Pop Culture Uncovered is together again to bring this month's read, Big Black: Stand at Attica; written by Frank Smith and Jared Reinmuth with art by Ameziane published by Boom Studios!

The uprising at Attica Prison remains one of the bloodiest civil rights confrontations in American history. ... but without Frank "Big Black" Smith it could have been even worse. Now for the first time, the late Frank "Big Black" Smith shares his experience at the center of this uprising, struggling to protect hostages, prisoners and negotiators alike.

Before his death, Frank "Big Black" Smith worked with Jared Reinmuth, the son of his lawyer, to share the true story of his time in Attica State Prison. Adapted to a graphic novel by Ameziane (Dark Horse's Muhammad Ali), this is an unflinching look at the price of standing up to injustice.

For further event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/452214572340102?active_tab=about

You can find Big Black: Stand At Attica for purchase on fantomcomics.com or in store!

- WASHINGTON CITY PAPER'S BEST OF DC 2020 RESULTS ARE IN: FANTOM COMICS VOTED BEST COMIC BOOK STORE:
We just wanted to mention how appreciative we are for everyone who has supported us through the years, but especially this year, we wouldn't be here without you. HUGE thanks to everyone and we hope to continue to serve everyone with books that bring some fun and escapism through Ragnarok and beyond! We love you 3000!

Check out the rest of the results: https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/322412/best-of-d-c-2020/

Welcome to the New World on NPR

A Syrian Refugee Family's Resettlement In The U.S. Is Captured In Graphic Novel

Deborah Amos

September 29, 2020 All Things Considered https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/915769774/a-syrian-refugee-familys-resettlement-in-the-u-s-is-captured-in-graphic-novel

https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/atc/2020/09/20200929_atc_a_syrian_refugee_familys_resettlement_in_the_us_is_captured_in_graphic_novel.mp3

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/915769774

Matt Dembicki's minicomics collection in the Library of Congress

I was chatting with the serials librarians (electronically) today after dropping off some comics and minicomics for their collection (curbside), and Matt Dembicki (former ComicsDC writer and our logo artist) came up. He donated his minicomics collection to the Library of Congress a few years back and this search will let you find the 355 issues that he passed along, as the "Matt Dembicki Mini-Comics Collection" nestles in the main comic book collection. The "Small Press Expo Collection" has 3250 pieces cataloged, but the librarians solicit those at the con (when there is one).