Wednesday, July 16, 2025

PR: Announcing Small Press Expo 2025 International Special Guests

For Immediate Release

Small Press Expo Announces Carlos Sanchez, Ingrīda Pičukāne, Lee Lai, Štěpánka Jislová, Joonas Sildre, Kit Anderson, Vivianna Maria Stanislavka, Marc Torices, and Rachel Coad as International Special Guests for SPX 2025

Bethesda, Maryland -July 16, 2025

Media Release - Small Press Expo is proud to announce the International Special Guests for SPX 2025. The show takes place on Saturday, September 13, and Sunday, September 14, with programming and workshops about the amazing world of independent comics as well as an exhibitor floor featuring over 500 creators.

Additional Special Guests will be announced over the next few weeks.

SPX 2025 is honored to have the following creators as Special Guests to this year's show:

Visit the SPX 2025 Website for More Info

Carlos Sánchez

Carlos Sánchez is appearing all the way from Barcelona. His debut graphic novel, Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces, which he will be signing at the event, became the first graphic novel to win a Waterstones Children's Book Prize category award in the history of the prize. It has also been shortlisted for Best Graphic Novel at The Week Jr. Awards 2025. It won Best Graphic Novel at the British Book Design & Production Awards, 2024.

His forthcoming book, Rune: The Tale of the Obisidian Maze also published by Flying Eye Books, is due for release in 2025.

Ingrīda Pičukāne

Ingrīda's Pičukāne's new book Feminae Explorarum is a selection of comics, often set in vibrant forest worlds, inhabited by women engaged in quiet, personal acts of exploration. Blending myth and realism, the stories embrace states like menstruation, drunkenness, and solitude as meaningful experiences rather than trivialities. The forests are neither untouched nor idealized—they are tangled spaces of nature and human debris, magical and reflective. Ingrīda Pičukāne challenges expectations of femininity, offering a richly subjective and feminist perspective on what it means to truly observe and exist.

Lee Lai

A LAMBDA Award winner and breakout fiction sensation returns with a darkly funny slice of friendship strife.

Under the swampy nighttime cover of a Montreal heat-wave, this is where we meet our protagonist, Cannon, dripping in little beads of regret sweat. She was supposed to be closing the restaurant for the night, but instead, well, she destroyed it. The mess feels a bit like a horror-scape—not unlike the horror films Cannon and her best friend, Trish, watch together. In high school, they were each other's lifeline—two queer second-generation Chinese nerds trapped in the suburbs. Now, on the uncool side of their twenties, the essentialness of one another feels harder to pin down.

In Cannon, Lee Lai's much anticipated follow-up to the critically-acclaimed and award-winning Stone Fruit, the full palette of a nervous breakdown is just a slice of what Lai has on offer.

Štěpánka Jislová

Štěpánka Jislová is an award-winning comics artist based in Prague and the cofounder of the Czech branch of Laydeez do Comics, an international organization that promotes female comic artists and their work. Jislová collaborated with Czech writer Tereza Čechová on the 2021 Muriel prize–winning Bez vlasů, later published by Graphic Mundi in English as Bald. Her new graphic novel Srdcovka (the original Czech edition of Heartcore) received the Muriel Award in three categories in 2024, including the main prize.

Joonas Sildre

Joonas Sildre is the author of the graphic novel "Between Two Sounds," which tells the story of the acclaimed Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The graphic novel follows the celebrated Estonian composer through the cultural, political, personal, and spiritual upheavals that led to the distinctive style that made him the most performed living composer in the world. It is based on years of research and close collaboration with Arvo Pärt himself. The English translation of the book was published in 2024, bringing the total number of languages in which the book has been published to nine, following its original 2018 release. In the US, the book has received three top awards from the independent publishers' associations.

Kit Anderson

Kit Anderson's short stories have been published by Parsifal Press and collected by Avery Hill in the graphic novel Safer Places. Kit lives near Zürich with her partner and tiny dog where she enjoys walking in the woods and making comics about memory, nature, and wizards sometimes, too. Her latest graphic novel is the science fiction adventure Second Shift.

Vivianna Maria Stanislavka

Vivianna is attending on behalf of publisher kuš! - she has been featured in multiple kuš! anthologies. She's also bringing a limited edition zine for those who regularly delete their internet search history. Warning - she will doodle in your books!

kuš! (speak koosh!) is a comic art publisher from Latvia founded in Riga in 2007. It is most well known for its signature pocket-sized anthologies and its mini-kuš! series. Kuš! popularizes comics in a country where this medium is practically non-existent and to promotes Latvian comics abroad.

Marc Torices

Horrifying and hilarious, Cornelius the dog is a spectacular trainwreck—you just can't look away.

Cornelius is a fumbling loser, the butt of everyone's jokes. When his friend Alspacka is kidnapped, the subsequent criminal investigation turns into a dramatic and emotional ordeal, upending Cornelius's life. Torn between his desire to be a writer and his immense guilt over his cowardly role in Alspacka's abduction, Cornelius is a classic Faustian figure: an aspiring artist so hungry for success that he will pay any price.

Exquisitely drawn, Cornelius's kaleidoscope of styles pays homage to the comics medium, an unabashed love letter to the form itself. Translated from the Spanish by Eisner Award-winner Andrea Rosenberg, Marc Torices's critically acclaimed and award-winning Cornelius is mesmerizing in its originality.

Rachel Coad

Rachel Coad will be at SPX showcasing both her 2023 book NEW YORK CITY GLOW and 2025 release, S TRAY CATS AND BAD FISH, Silence of the Eels, as well as her illustration work.

London 1977. A fish called 'Creasy' lives in the cistern of the men's room at the Holborn tube station. He's a key player in London's underworld. His nemesis Ratty from Spitalfields is gaining power. Ratty's money launderer disappears, all animal appendages' point to Creasy.

Punk is here, and punkfish rule the waterways of London. Coked-up eels, a lion finds his purpose, and a fish improves his art collection.

Small Press Expo (SPX) is the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels, and alternative political cartoons. SPX is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings together more than 500 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. The expo includes a series of panel discussions and interviews with this year's guests.

The Ignatz Award is a festival prize held every year at SPX recognizing outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning, with the winners chosen by attendees at the show.

For more information on the Small Press Expo, please visit http://www.smallpressexpo.com.

Small Press Expo

P.O. Box 5704

Bethesda, Maryland

20824

www.smallpressexpo.com

Email: press@smallpressexpo.com

STAY CONNECTED

Small Press Expo | PO Box 5704 | Bethesda, MD 20824 US

Catching up with WaPo's Shifts comics

I've been falling behind on letting people know that the Post started these again, and they've been very interesting.

This link appears to list them all, via editor Beatrix Lockwood. Here's the 2025 ones, most of which appeared in print. The CBC picked up one to follow up on at Former N.L. lighthouse keeper's tale gets comic book treatment in the U.S.

July 16, 2025

Opinions

This job is a North American symbol. It looks different now.

How a former door-to-door salesman thinks about his job.

July 15, 2025

Why I'm a film projectionist | Opinion

Carolyn Funk projects film in one of the last cities where it's still a job. Her booth is a hidden world of machines, images and sound.

July 14, 2025

Opinions

'The opposite of fast fashion': The romance of a well-made shoe

Part of Shifts, an illustrated history of work.

July 9, 2025

Opinions

How a film projectionist creates 'visions on screen'

Part of Shifts, an illustrated history of work.

July 7, 2025

Opinions

'I lived on a cliff with 10,000-year-old icebergs and a beagle'

How a former lighthouse keeper thinks about the job.

July 2, 2025

ShiftsOpinion

These jobs are disappearing. What can they tell us about the future?

An illustrated history of work.

Comics Research Bibliography citations update, 7/15/2025

On the Record about Off the Record, DC's cartoon bar

by Mike Rhode

ComicsDC blog July 14, 2025

https://comicsdc.blogspot.com/2025/07/on-record-about-off-record-dcs-cartoon.html

IS SUPERMAN FINALLY THE COMIC BOOK MOVIE THAT SELLS COMICS?

Rob Salkowitz on July 14, 2025

https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/60035/is-superman-finally-comic-book-movie-that-sells-comics

DYNAMITE GOES WITH SIMON & SCHUSTER For Book Channel

Milton Griepp on July 15, 2025

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/60037/dynamite-goes-simon-schuster

With $217 Million in Ticket Sales, 'Superman' Helps Save Warner Bros., Too

Brooks Barnes

A version of this article appears in print on July 14, 2025, Section B, Page 5 of the New York edition with the headline: 'Superman' Helps Save Warner Bros. as Sales Fly In at $217 Million.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/13/business/media/superman-warner-bros-box-office.html

That Mark Millar Scene From The New Superman Movie (SPOILERS)

That Mark Millar and Frank Quitely scene from The Authority seemed to pop up in the new Superman movie. (Big Spoilers)

14 Jul 2025 https://bleedingcool.com/movies/that-mark-millar-scene-from-the-new-superman-movie-spoilers/

by Rich Johnston

Diamond Comics Was Already Looking For A New Owner Back In 2023

According to unsealed court reports, Diamond Comic Distributors was already looking for a buyer back in 2023

14 Jul 2025 https://bleedingcool.com/comics/diamond-comics-was-already-looking-for-a-new-buyer-back-in-2023/

by Rich Johnston

Image Supports Diamond Moving Liquidation Date To SDCC Thursday/Friday

Image Comics supports Diamond Comic Distributors' plan to move the liquidation court date to the Thursday and Friday of San Diego Comic-Con

, 14 Jul 2025 https://bleedingcool.com/comics/image-supports-diamond-moving-liquidation-date-to-sdcc-thursday-friday/

by Rich Johnston

Avatar Press Joins Anti-Diamond Liquidation Publisher Coalition

Avatar Press joins anti-Diamond Liquidation comic book publisher coalition, alongside Dynamite, Fantagraphics and Drawn And Quarterly

14 Jul 2025 https://bleedingcool.com/comics/avatar-press-joins-anti-diamond-liquidation-publisher-coalition/

by Rich Johnston

Now Mad Cave Studios Makes Staff Layoffs

Staff layoffs now coming from Mad Cave Studios including Keith Davidsen

14 Jul 2025

by Rich Johnston

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/now-mad-cave-studios-makes-staff-layoffs/

Kevin Maguire Posts His Justice League 3000 Art Before He Was Fired

14 Jul 2025

by Rich Johnston

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/kevin-maguire-posts-his-justice-league-3000-art-before-he-was-fired/

Masters of wit caught in a storm of change

In the digital age, cartoonists face shrinking pages, faster news cycles and, now, AI. [Singapore]

Shefali Rekhi

Straits Times Jul 15, 2025 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/masters-of-wit-caught-in-a-storm-of-change

India's Top Court Unconvinced in Hemant Malviya Free Speech Case

Alan Gardner

July 14, 2025

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2025/07/14/indias-top-court-unconvinced-in-hemant-malviya-free-speech-case/

PM, RSS cartoons: SC says right to free speech being 'abused' [Hemant Malviya]

Source: PTI - Edited By: Utkarsh Mishra

July 14, 2025 https://www.rediff.com/news/report/pm-rss-cartoons-sc-says-right-to-free-speech-being-abused/20250714.htm

SC to hear anticipatory bail plea of cartoonist accused of objectionable posts on July 14 [Hemant Malviya]

Suchitra Kalyan Mohanty

11 Jul 2025 https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Jul/11/sc-to-hear-anticipatory-bail-plea-of-cartoonist-accused-of-objectionable-posts-on-july-14

'Inflammatory, immature': Cartoonist deletes caricature of PM Modi and RSS after Supreme Court's rebuke

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Malviya, said the cartoonist will delete the post and make a statement that he was not endorsing the objectionable comments.

Written by FE Online

July 14, 2025 https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/inflammatory-immature-cartoonist-deletes-caricature-of-pm-modi-and-rss-after-supreme-courts-rebuke/3913867/

Cartoonist Hemant Malviya moves Supreme Court after MP High Court denies relief for caricature on PM, RSS

Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had denied anticipatory bail to Malviya.

Debayan Roy

11 Jul 2025, https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/cartoonist-hemant-malviya-moves-supreme-court-after-mp-high-court-denies-relief-for-caricature-on-pm-rss

CSotD: Media Literacy and Political Cartoons

Mike Peterson

July 15, 2025

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2025/07/15/csotd-media-literacy-and-political-cartoons/

The right-wing outrage machine gears up, and a cartoonist gets death threats

The scary aftermath of an editorial cartoon about Texas [Adam Zyglis]

Margaret Sullivan

American Crisis Jul 14, 2025 https://margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/the-right-wing-outrage-machine-strikes

Here Are the 596 Books Being Banned by Defense Department Schools

Military.com | By Rebecca Kheel

July 14, 2025 https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/07/14/here-are-596-books-being-banned-defense-department-schools.html

Gustines, George Gene. 2025. Superman's Other Secret Weakness? Journalism Ethics [in print as An Ethics Issue at The Daily Planet]. New York Times (July 14): C6. Online at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/arts/superman-lois-lane-clark-kent-journalism.html

Zuckerman, Esther. 2025. What Superman's Pet Owes to a Badly Behaved Rescue Dog [in print as Bad Dog, but a Good Model for Superman's Pet]. New York Times (July 14): C1. Online at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/movies/superman-krypto-dog-james-gunn.html

Iggy Pop on Closing Out 'Superman' Soundtrack: Hero is "the Best Friend You Could Have"
Seth Abramovitch.
July 15, 2025 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/iggy-pop-superman-soundtrack-punkrocker-james-gunn-1236315320/

Unassuming Barber Shop: SUPERMAN is a political protest
Brad Ricca on 07/15/2025 https://www.comicsbeat.com/unassuming-barber-shop-superman-is-a-political-protest/

Krypto's 'Superman' Spotlight Is Inspiring People to Adopt Their Own Superdog
The DC Studios mascot has sparked a new wave of interest in rescue pets.
By Sabina Graves
io9 July 15, 2025 https://gizmodo.com/kryptos-superman-spotlight-is-inspiring-people-to-adopt-their-own-superdog-2000629753

We Can't Get Enough of Jimmy Olsen in 'Superman'
Skyler Gisondo plays the Daily Planet reporter in a way we've never seen him before.
By Germain Lussier
io9 July 15, 2025
https://gizmodo.com/we-cant-get-enough-of-jimmy-olsen-in-superman-2000629490

James Gunn's Superman launches a universe, not a character
A massive supporting cast helps separate the tone from the DCEU, but the hero at the core is as shallow as ever.
By Caroline Siede | July 15, 2025 https://www.avclub.com/superman-launches-a-universe-not-a-character

Zuckerman, Esther. 2025. A Tiny Chef Inspires an Outsize Outpouring [in print as No, Chef! Cancellation Rallies Fans]. New York Times (July 12): C4. Online at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/arts/television/tiny-chef-show-nickelodeon.html

Video Game Actors End Contract Dispute Over A.I.
Reggie Ugwu
A version of this article appears in print on July 12, 2025, Section C, Page 5 of the New York edition with the headline: Video Game Actors End Contract Dispute Over A.I..
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/arts/video-game-actors-contract-ai.html

Taylor, Derrick Bryson. 2025. 'Ne Zha 2,' Blockbuster Chinese Animated Film, Will Get English Version [in print as 'Ne Zha 2,' a Chinese Blockbuster, Will Get an English Version]. New York Times (July 12): C3. Online at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/movies/ne-zha-2-english-us-theaters.html

James Carter Cathcart, a Voice of 'Pokémon' Characters, Dies at 71
Mark Walker
July 10, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/arts/television/james-carter-cathcart-dead-voice-actor-pokemon.html

GlobalComix goes print!
Matias De la Piedra on 07/15/2025
https://www.comicsbeat.com/globalcomix-goes-print/

Trey Parker and Matt Stone reportedly hire Justin Baldoni's lawyer for Paramount dispute
The fight over South Park's future keeps getting messier.
By Emma Keates | July 15, 2025
https://www.avclub.com/trey-parker-matt-stone-bryan-freedman-paramount

Reviews: Tsunami [ Ned Wenlock]
Kevin Brown | July 8, 2025
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/tsunami/

'I became much happier and healthier when I started telling stories': A talk with Jeff Lemire
Jason Bergman | July 15, 2025
https://www.tcj.com/i-became-much-happier-and-healthier-when-i-started-telling-stories-a-talk-with-jeff-lemire/

Reviews: Holy Lacrimony [Michael DeForge]
Tegan O'Neil | July 15, 2025 https://www.tcj.com/reviews/holy-lacrimony/

Reviews: Last Summer at Camp Righteous [Ollie Hicks]
Tom Shapira | July 10, 2025
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/last-summer-at-camp-righteous/

The Beat Digest 07/15/25: Catching up with Ignition Press
Christopher Chiu-Tabet on 07/15/2025 https://www.comicsbeat.com/digest-071525/

Report: Comics sales were up in 2024, periodicals hit 15 year high
Heidi MacDonald on 07/15/2025 https://www.comicsbeat.com/report-comics-sales-were-up-in-2024-periodicals-hit-15-year-high/

Dynamite joins Simon & Schuster for bookstore distribution
Heidi MacDonald on 07/15/2025 https://www.comicsbeat.com/dynamite-joins-simon-schuster-for-bookstore-distribution/

Comics Crowdfunding Round-Up: FIRST ENCOUNTER, FLYBOY, YOUR WINGS AND MINE, and two more projects you'll love!
Diego Higuera on 07/11/2025 https://www.comicsbeat.com/comics-crowdfunding-round-up-first-encounter-flyboy-your-wings-and-mine-and-two-more-projects-youll-love/

Interview: Al Ewing and Dan Cornwell take Judge Dredd on holiday in the 2000AD SCI-FI SPECIAL 2025
Zack Quaintance on 07/10/2025 https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-al-ewing-and-dan-cornwell-take-judge-dredd-on-holiday-in-the-2000ad-sci-fi-special-2025/

Whisper Of The Heart left a lo-fi legacy unique to Studio Ghibli
Yoshifumi Kondō's mundane, romantic 1995 cult classic remains a prescient rejoinder to technological advances.
By Autumn Wright | July 15, 2025 https://www.avclub.com/whisper-of-the-heart-lo-fi-girl-studio-ghibli-legacy

Jim Keefe
The Cartoon Inn [Ireland]
Jul 15, 2025 https://www.patreon.com/posts/cartoon-inn-134149723/

Martyn Turner: An Irishman's Diary about reviving the Rathdrum cartoon festival
'The weekend is a tribute to Terry Willers and the festival he created. He would have loved it'
Martyn Turner
Tue Jul 25 2017
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/martyn-turner-an-irishman-s-diary-about-reviving-the-rathdrum-cartoon-festival-1.3165549

Andi Watson
Jul 15, 2025
L'autre Tournée cover [design process]
https://www.patreon.com/posts/lautre-tournee-133952206/

Paul Cornell's Friday Newsletter Jul 15, 2025 a
So I Started a Comics Company! [Cosmic Lighthouse]
https://pauls-newsletter-2914ab.beehiiv.com/p/so-i-started-a-comics-company-01f6

Episode 2019 (July 14, 2025)
Talking 10,000 Ink Stains: A Memoir with Jeff Lemire
https://www.comicgeekspeak.com/episodeDetails.html?episodeId=2940
https://media.libsyn.com/media/comicgeekspeak/ComicGeekSpeak2019.mp3

Through comics, 'Essex County' creator shows us the struggles, triumphs of his career
Tahneer Oksman
July 14, 2025
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/14/nx-s1-5461152/10000-ink-stains-memoir-review-jeff-lemire

Beyond the Book: Jesse Byrd's 'Dream Warriors' [sponsored interview]
Regina Brooks
Jul 14, 2025
A version of this article appeared in the 07/14/2025 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/98161-pw-studio-beyond-the-book-jesse-byrd-s-dream-warriors.html

Beyond the Book: Jesse Byrd's 'Dream Warriors' [sponsored interview]
Regina Brooks
publisherswkly
Jul 12, 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo7QRErdElE

Pop Culture SquadCast - Live: Episode #100 With Special Guest Mike Norton
Pop Culture Squad
Jul 8, 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93JpBpJ6o4c

Pop Culture SquadCast - Live: With Special Guest Jordan Clark
Pop Culture Squad July 15 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goWQP4uMJg4

Dan Jurgens Superman History Lessons
wordballoon
Jul 14, 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdmuSnYFxZ0

NPR reviews Jeff Lemire's new autobio

Through comics, 'Essex County' creator shows us the struggles, triumphs of his career

Tahneer Oksman

July 14, 2025

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/14/nx-s1-5461152/10000-ink-stains-memoir-review-jeff-lemire

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Rain Rain Go Away! by Daniel Boris

Comics Research Bibliography citations update, 7/14/2025

DIAMOND CONSIGNMENT SUPPLIERS UNITING TO FIGHT INVENTORY SEIZURE

Filing this Week to Block Move

Milton Griepp on July 14, 2025 https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/60022/diamond-consignment-suppliers-uniting-fight-inventory-seizure

The week in Diamond: Publishers band together to get their inventory back…and a precedent found?

Heidi MacDonald on 07/14/2025 https://www.comicsbeat.com/the-week-in-diamond-publishers-band-together-to-get-their-inventory-back-and-a-precedent-found/

The Diamond Bankruptcy: At Last, It All Starts to Make Sense

Brigid Alverson | July 14, 2025 https://www.tcj.com/the-diamond-bankruptcy-at-last-it-all-starts-to-make-sense/

The Love We Leave Behind [Jules Feiffer]

Roger Rosenblatt

July 13, 2025

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/13/opinion/immortality-death-love.html

Why the World Needs Superman

Is James Gunn's new feature the best Man of Steel movie ever? Maybe not. But it's the Superman we could all really use right now. Plus, THR ranks the rest.

Benjamin Svetkey

July 14, 2025 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/superman-james-gunn-movies-ranked/superman-1978/

I saw the new liberal 'Superman' movie and it gave me the woke mind virus | Opinion

The last thing I want to do is go to the movie theater and hear something that doesn't precisely conform to my worldview.

Rex Huppke

USA TODAYJuly 11 2025

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/07/11/superman-2025-woke-immigrants-james-gunn/84535442007/

The Fantastic Four Were Too OP For the Infinity Saga

Sounds like Thanos caught a lucky break the Fantastic Four weren't there to wreck his shop come 'Avengers: Endgame.'

By Justin Carter

io9 July 13, 2025 https://gizmodo.com/the-fantastic-four-were-too-op-for-the-infinity-saga-2000628605

Felix the Cat heirs claim they were cut out of $100M in business from popular cartoon feline

Kathianne Boniello

July 12, 2025, https://nypost.com/2025/07/12/us-news/felix-the-cat-heirs-claim-they-were-cut-out-of-100-million-lawsuit/

LA cartoonist 'Summer of ICE' painting goes viral with powerful message

Alcaraz said the painting asks the question: If a mild-mannered ice cream vendor can be snapped up off the street, what about everybody else in the U.S.?

By Gordon Tokumatsu

July 9, 2025 • https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/los-angeles-cartoonist-painting-viral-immigration/3741730/

Interview: Brandon Rogers on HELLUVA BOSS and HAZBIN HOTEL

By Avery Kaplan on 07/14/2025 https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-brandon-rogers-on-helluva-boss-and-hazbin-hotel/

Universal Distribution's Angelo Exarhakos speaks: "We hope to bring in new readers to the comic book marketplace."

By Heidi MacDonald on 07/14/2025 https://www.comicsbeat.com/universal-distributions-angelo-exarhakos-speaks-we-hope-to-bring-in-new-readers-to-the-comic-book-marketplace/

Superman gets a big, blue reboot that supercharges a beleaguered genre
James Gunn's film is a much-needed course correction for DC's Man Of Steel.
By Jarrod Jones | July 8, 2025
https://www.avclub.com/superman-review

'Superman': The original superhero is back, with a brisk new attitude
Review by Ann Hornaday
Washington Post July 9 2025: B1, 3
online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/07/08/superman-corenswet-gunn-review/

Superman's father taught me how to write
It wasn't Bradley Cooper, who is in the new movie, nor Marlon Brando. I'll always have my own favorite.
By Jennifer Finney Boylan
July 13, 2025
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/13/superman-fd-christopher-reeve-father-jor-el/

Fear of a 'woke' Superman
Conservatives are upset with a very un-MAGA Superman movie. But the character has always engaged with the politics of his time.
Larry Tye
July 12, 2025 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/12/superman-woke-controversy-immigration-trump/

Dean Cain offers inexplicable take on Superman and Somalia
Cain agrees Superman is an immigrant, but also thinks the "immigrant thing" will hurt the movie's "numbers."
By Mary Kate Carr | July 10, 2025
https://www.avclub.com/superman-dean-cain-woke-politics

David Zaslav reportedly "dismissed" a Black Superman movie for being "too woke"
Ta-Nehisi Coates' script for a movie focused on a Black Superman made headlines in 2021—and then disappeared shortly after Zaslav took over Warner Bros. Discovery.
By William Hughes | July 10, 2025 https://www.avclub.com/david-zaslav-ta-nahesi-coates-black-superman-movie-too-woke

Episode 10: Supernerds [Superman]
Joe MacLeod and Sam Thielman
Flaming Hydra Round Table 13 Jun 2025 · 31 minutes
https://pod.link/1734067425/episode/9e0b7450be608914ed51cbab40df0ebe

Episode 11: The Ultimate Truth of Superman
Joe MacLeod., Josephine Riesman, S.I. Rosenbaum, Sam Thielman, and Zach Rabiroff.
Flaming Hydra Round Table 14 Jul 2025 · 46 minutes
https://pod.link/1734067425/episode/8346f69dd8ef9d6319aae20ff0bd7d07

Superman Is as Good as We Can Stand Him Being
by Zach Rabiroff
Flaming Hydra 14 Jul 2025
https://flaminghydra.com/issue-359/#superman-is-as-good-as-we-can-stand-him-being

INTERVIEW: Paul Pope (7/7/25) | The Oblivion Bar
The Oblivion Bar: A Comic Book Podcast
Jul 7, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjteZzQCh1M

Interview: Brandon Rogers on Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel
Avery Kaplan
Comics Beat July 14 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSuW0kOi32A

The Numbers Game: On the surge of comics and covers, what that really looks like, and how retailers are feeling about it.
By David Harper
July 10, 2025
sktchd.com/longform/too-many-comics-2025/

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David Harper
July 9, 2025
https://sktchd.com/longform/retailer-feature-july-2025/

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred forty-four | Greg Rucka, part one
Jul 14, 2025
https://ashcanpress.substack.com/p/is-there-any-more-of-this-recording

Greg Rucka Front Towards Enemy newsletter. 2025-
https://front-towards-enemy.ghost.io/

Jaffe, Alex. 2025. Greg Rucka Maintains Integrity As A Freelance Comics Writer So Alex Jaffe Thinks You Can Too. Attach Your Resume (July 10): https://open.spotify.com/episode/2C7MXshEhSorDxjg2aCqeQ

Sifu Mimi Chan interviews Greg Rucka & Nicola Scott on Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League. [aka Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott on creating Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League]
Wah Lum Films
420; May 13, 2025 The Sifu Mimi Chan Show Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XbOCZyEsn4
https://www.sifumimichan.com/greg-rucka-nicola-scott/
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/culturechatpodcast/420_mixdown.mp3

Wattpad Webtoon Studios Rebrands, Names David Madden President
Jul 14, 2025
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief/index.html?record=5448

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Eric Silver and Amanda McLoughlin,
Attach Your Résumé
February 6, 2025
https://multitude.productions/attach-your-rsum-episodes/alex-jaffe

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Winston Cho, Gary Baum, Alex Weprin
July 14, 2025 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/south-park-skydance-paramount-fight-1236314541/

Seth Green says anyone who would have greenlit a full season of Robot Chicken "got fired"
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By Drew Gillis | July 14, 2025
https://www.avclub.com/seth-green-robot-chicken-20th-anniversary

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By Emma Keates | July 14, 2025 https://www.avclub.com/spider-man-brand-new-day-leaving-soundstage-real-locations

Krysten Ritter spent the last two years lying about Jessica Jones
William Hughes | July 11, 2025 https://www.avclub.com/krysten-ritter-lying-for-two-years-jessica-jones

10 years and 15 superhero movies weren't enough to fight the DCEU out of second place
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By Jesse Hassenger | July 10, 2025
https://www.avclub.com/dceu-run-the-series

Local Artist Creates Painting to Protest Deportations [ Lalo Alcaraz]
Gordon Tokumatsu
NBC4 News July 9, 2025
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/los-angeles-cartoonist-painting-viral-immigration/3741730/

Kevin KAL Kallaugher
Freelance Follies #1: Cartoon Coasters for The Famous Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington DC
Kal Draws The Line Jul 14, 2025
https://kaltoons.substack.com/p/freelance-follies-1

Monday, July 14, 2025

On the Record about Off the Record, DC's cartoon bar

by Mike Rhode

7/15: updates to the original post marked with * - 4 pieces from KAL, and one sheet of photos so far.

KAL's newsletter post about his coaster artwork inspired me to finally finish this.

Supreme Court justices for the circular corner booth, courtesy of Ann Telnaes

A few months ago, Matt Wuerker created this guide to who was who in the 1990s caricatures by Edmund Valtman and Ron Coddington on the wall (note 1) in the bar in the Hay-Adams Hotel. He was able to identify everybody but one. To learn more about them, you can read “On The Record With Off The Record's Cartoonists,” White House History (48; Winter 2018): 60-71 at https://issuu.com/whhapubl/docs/whha_journal_48

the unknown caricature

There are other cartoons and caricatures on the walls, but Matt was concerned with identifying these.

Now, an attempt to list all of the coasters they've produced.

Kim Jong-un by Matt and Angela Merkel by Kal

Here's an almost certainly incomplete list of caricatures, with who drew them, and the year when known. I had a short list of ones I didn't own, but I think I've lost that. There were more foreigner leaders iirc, and perhaps a Pope.

Mitch McConnell by KAL and Putin by Matt

*Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC)	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2025
Angela Merkel	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2017
Ben Carson	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
Boris Johnson	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2022
Carly Fiorina	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
Donald Trump	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
*Elizabeth Warren	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
Gavin Newsom	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2023
George W. Bush with Barack Obama	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
Joe Biden	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
*John Kerry	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
*Kristi Noem	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2025
Mike Pence	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
Mitch McConnell	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2014
Paul Ryan	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
*Pete Buttigieg	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2025
Robert Mueller	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2018
Ted Cruz with Canadian Club whiskey	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
Ted Cruz with tea	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
Chris Christie	Telnaes, Ann	2015
Hillary Clinton	Telnaes, Ann	2015
J.D. Vance	Telnaes, Ann	2024
Kamala Harris	Telnaes, Ann	2021
Lindsay Graham	Telnaes, Ann	2022
Melania Trump and the Trump children	Telnaes, Ann	2016
Ruth Bader Ginsberg	Telnaes, Ann	2017
Anthony Fauci	Wuerker, Matt	2021
Bernie Sanders	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Bernie Sanders with FDR on the wall	Wuerker, Matt	2019
Biden vs. Trump	Wuerker, Matt	2024?
Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi	Wuerker, Matt	2016
Chris Christie and Michellee Obama	Wuerker, Matt
Donald and Melania Trump decorating the White House	Wuerker, Matt	2025
Elizabeth Warren with Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O'Rourke	Wuerker, Matt	2019
George HW, Barbara, George W and Jeb Bush	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Hakeem Jeffries	Wuerker, Matt	2024?
Hillary Clinton with Bill Clinton	Wuerker, Matt
Jeb Bush	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Joe and Jill Biden	Wuerker, Matt
John Boehner	Wuerker, Matt
John Boswell	Wuerker, Matt
Kamala Harris with Joe Biden	Wuerker, Matt	2019
Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, George Santos. Republican representatives.	Wuerker, Matt	2023
Kim Jong-un	Wuerker, Matt	2017
Marco Rubio	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Mike Johnson	Wuerker, Matt	2024?
Omarosa Manigault Newman	Wuerker, Matt	2018
Rand Paul	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Ron DeSantis	Wuerker, Matt	2023
Sarah Huckabee Sanders	Wuerker, Matt	2018
Scott Walker	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Tim Kaine with Hillary Clinton	Wuerker, Matt
Tim Waltz	Wuerker, Matt	2024
Vladimir Putin	Wuerker, Matt	2017

my collection mounted in a portfolio

*updated - missed this page originally

Ruth Ginsberg by Ann

John Boehner by Matt

Melania and Trump by Matt

(1) These are part of the Library of Congress' Art Wood collection, but were hung in the bar before the Library acquired it from Wood.

KAL on the Off the Record coaster art

Kevin KAL Kallaugher

Freelance Follies #1: Cartoon Coasters for The Famous Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington DC

Kal Draws The Line Jul 14, 2025

https://kaltoons.substack.com/p/freelance-follies-1

KAL got me to finally get my post listing the cartoonists and their subjects from the coasters, as well as posting Matt Wuerker's key to the Valtman and Coddington caricatures on the wall.