Oct 11 2pm - Herblock webcast from Library of Congress

Sara Duke reports that she will be lecturing for an online webcast:

Cartoons and Political Opinion

Join the Library of Congress in the OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) online classroom as it explores the resonant work of political cartoonist Herblock, through the Library of Congress's new exhibition: Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by Herblock. Sara Duke, Curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art, will delve into the treasure trove of material from the Prints and Photographs Division and show cartoons related to perennial topics such as the environment, ethics, privacy, the Middle East, and more.

When: Wednesday, October 11, 2 p.m. (E.D.T.), 1:00 p.m. CST

To attend, go to
http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0

Type your name and click Enter to go into the online room. A small software applet will download to your computer as you enter the room. All that is needed is an Internet connection, sound card, and speakers. A headset with microphone will enable you to speak to the group.

Note: Use of Internet Explorer is recommended. Log on 5 minutes early to allow for the web conference software to be downloaded automatically to your computer.

For more information about upcoming programs, see Online Programming for All Libraries (OPAL) at http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm.

To learn more about the Library of Congress, see http://www.loc.gov/, especially:

Prints & Photographs Division: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/

Online Exhibition: Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by Herblock - http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/herblock-intro.html

Nov 18 - Academic panels - “Comics, Graphic Novels, and the Bible”

A. David Lewis reports that he will be speaking at the following session next month. More details if I get them, but it sounds interesting. Besides the obvious issue of the propriety of the Danish Islam cartoons, there has been a lot of growth in Christian and Jewish comics in the US. (BTW, I think that's Andre, not Andrea).

Program for 2006 National Academy of American Religion/Society of Biblical Literature

SBL Forum Special Session, Nov. 18, 1pm – DC Convention Center
“Comics, Graphic Novels, and the Bible”
Dan W. Clanton, Jr., Presider

Papers

G. Andrew Tooze, Winston-Salem, NC, “Do Superheroes Read Scripture? The Bible and Comic Books” (30 minutes)

Terry Clark, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, “Biblical Graphic Novels: Adaptation, Interpretation, and Pedagogy” (30 minutes)

Andrea Molinari, Creighton University, “Climbing the Dragon’s Ladder: Perpetua, Felicitas, Graphic Novels and the Possibility of Modern Hagiography” (30 minutes)

Panel Discussion (60 minutes)

Greg Garrett, Professor of English, Baylor University
A. David Lewis, author of The Lone and Level Sands
Steve Ross, author of Marked
JT Waldman, author of Megillat Esther

Article - DC resident reviews NYC's Masters of American Comics

You can find it here:

Wecker, Menachem. 2006.
What’s New With Jewish-American Superheroes?
Jewish Press (October 4).

and here's the details for 1/2 the exhibit at least:

Masters of American Comics
September 15, 2006-January 28, 2007
The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue – at 92nd Street, New York
212-423-3200, http://www.thejewishmuseum.org

I don't know Mr. Wecker, but his bio on the JP site says, "Menachem Wecker is a painter and assistant editor of B’nai B’rith Magazine in Washington, D.C. He welcomes comments at mwecker@gmail.com." The number of people interested in comics in Washington continues to surprise me.

Oct 8 - Animation Festival - National Geographic REPOST

This slid off the main heading's list so I'll repost it in case anyone's looking for something to do today.

As part of their All Roads Film Festival, Nat'l Geo has a morning showing of animated shorts at their 16th and M Sts, NW location. There is a charge to see these.

Sunday, October 8
11 a.m. ANIMATION PROGRAM
Traditional tales from around the world come alive in animated form.
*How the Elephant Lost his Wings
Tara Douglas
4 min/India/2006
World Premiere

A story from the Muria Gond culture about conflict between the first elephant and man.
*Pot of Gold
Nitin Donde
5 min/India/2006
World Premiere

A tale from the Warli tribe of Maharashtra tells what happens when a husband and wife find a pot of gold.
*Best of the Best
Leslie MacKenzie
5 min /India/2006
World Premiere

A vain mouse gets what she deserves in this story from the Gondi tribe.
First Fire
Nathan Young
10 min/USA/2004
Cherokee with English Subtitles
DC Premiere

Stop-motion claymation depicts the origin of fire from the Cherokee Nation.
Un Poquito De... (A Little Bit Of...)
Dominique Jonard
11 min/Mexico/2003
Spanish with English subtitles
US Premiere

Schoolchildren wrote and illustrated this story showing the fun lives of people living near Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico.
Raven and the First People
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006

In the first of two new episodes from the award-winning series about Pacific North Coast tribes, Raven Tales, Eagle and Raven are at odds over how to take care of the world entrusted to them.
Raven and the Seawolf
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006
US Premiere

The first man is dismayed to find he has no skill as a fisherman and that his skills as an artisan are unappreciated, so he calls out a mythical sea monster to help him.

Oct 14 5 pm - Terri Witek poetry reading UPDATED with CORRECTED TIME

Terri Witek will be reading at Chapters, a literary bookstore. Terri's a friend of mine, and her poetry is frequently about graphic images. Her current book, Carnal World, is on her responses to paintings.

Chapters has a description up now:

Time: Saturday, October 14, 2006 5:00 PM
Title of Event: Steve Scafidi & Terri Witek
"This is a return trip for Steve Scafidi, whose second collection, For Love of Common Words exuberantly embodies that title, in being both meditative and defiant about our common losses. Terri Witek, whom we know and admire from the West Chester Poetry Conference, reads from Carnal World, her smart, funny, and keenly observant poems on paintings."

Terri's in town with her husband, Joseph 'Rusty' Witek, who's attending ICAF and is the author of Comic Books as History: the Narrative Art of Jack Jackson, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar.

Oct 7 - Get Your War On article in Post and other tidbits UPDATED

Pressley, Nelson. 2006.
Internet Comic Strip 'Get Your War On' Goes 3-D on Stage.
Washington Post (October 7): C1.

The article's about the staging of a clip art comic strip, rather than a review of the performance.

Also in the Style section is another of Richard Thompson's caricature finger puppets. Don Rumsfield will be joining the previous ones on my book shelves -- and pushing them around apparently!


The City Paper also has a bit on Get Your War On. They've also got an illustration by Josh Neufeld on an article about rats. Josh hopefully should be attending ICAF this year as he's been a regular for years.

Over in the Washington Times, Zadzooks! reviews games and toys based on comics. Oddly enough, he's been doing this column for at least a decade and I've never run into him.

Szadkowski, Joseph. 2006.
Hong Kong Phooey bats at villains in 3-D action.
WASHINGTON TIMES (October 7).

Finally, the Express had the Spider-Man Collectible Series 8 comic book, reprinting part of Amazing Spider-Man #4 - remember steal a copy from your neighbor's lawn!

Oct 11 - Presidential Doodles booksigning

David Greenberg - Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles & Scrawls from the Oval Office
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 07:00 PM at Olsson's The Lansburgh/Penn Quarter, 418 7th St., NW, (202) 638-7610

What were the leaders of the free world really doing during all those meetings? As the creators of Cabinet magazine reveal here for the first time, they were doodling! Includes a powerpoint presentation.

National Public Radio had a story on this book a few days ago -
Siegel, Robert. 2006.
'Presidential Doodles:' Oval Office Artists.
National Public Radio's All Things Considered (September 21) .
online at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6118892

Oct 12-14 - Cartoonists with Attitude appearances

Tom Spurgeon's fine blog, The Comics Reporter, pointed to Cartoonists with Attitude's website today. CWA is a group of young, mostly editorial, cartoonists centered around the frequently controversial. Mikhaela Reid and Jen "Slowpoke" Sorenson have been regulars at SPX for years now, and I recommend their works. On Oct 12, the group will be at Politics and Prose at 7 pm. On the 13th and 14th, they'll be at the Small Press Expo in Upper Bethesda, or Lower Rockville, near the White Flint Mall.

Oct 5 - Get Your War On article in Express

Berger, Arion. 2006.
What is it good for? A prickly Web strip comes to life as 'Get Your War On,' the play.
[Washington Post] Express (October 5): E11

- that's the paper in the yellow box. It's an interview with Kirk Lynn who adapted the strip to the stage. The article's not online so you'll have to get it today if you want it.

Oct 7 - Comic book signing

Joel Pollack, owner of Big Planet Comics, told me today that he'd have two comic book creators at his store this Saturday during the Taste of Bethesda festivities. John "Buzzboy" Gallagher and Shannon "Marvel Adventures Avengers" Gallant will be appearing. Gallagher most likely from 1-4 and Gallant from 11-2.

Oct 15 - Comic Book convention

Labelling themselves "Washington, DC's only ComiCon" on their flyer, Capital Associates' convention is in Tyson's Corner at the Dunn Loring Volunteer Fire Department at 2148 Gallows Road from 10-3 on 10/15 with an admission of $3.00.

Article - Herblock exhibit

The new Library of Congress Information Bulletin for July-August has a profile, or apparently a re-written press release with a lot of pictures in it. Unfortunately, the LoC's website is way behind on loading these, so you'll have to see if you can scrounge a copy from an acquaintance who works in a library.

Here's the citation for those keeping track:
'Enduring Outrage': Editorial Cartoons by Herblock on display.
Library of Congress Information Bulletin (July-August 2006): 177-181

Toles in Buffalo

The school newspaper had the story of Toles' speech last weekend -
Kim, Jungmin. 2006.
Pulitzer Prizewinner Toles discusses censorship in society.
University of Buffalo Spectrum (October 5).
online at http://spectrum.buffalo.edu/article.php?id=28540.

Article - Big Planet Comics in PW Comics Week

Publisher's Weekly electronic comics newsletter covered Big Planet Comics this week - the store I've been shopping at since The Dark Knight Returns dragged me back into comic books. See '20 Years of Retailing at Big Planet Comics,'
by Chris Arrant, PW Comics Week, October 3, 2006

Gaiman booksigning report, of sorts

I'm sure a lot of other blogs covered this, and better, but here's my notes from the P&P signing.

Gaiman attracted a crowd of about 450-500 people to the site in the church. This was the first signing that P&P had there, and it's a good venue, although it was a bit strange to see Gaiman in a pulpit. He noted that these are all the stories he's written since the last collection, except for a story called "Orange" I think. He talked about putting poetry in the book, which his fans are divided about, but included it because the book would be the same length whether or not it was included. So he read his included poem, The Day The Saucers Came to a good bit of laughter.

He then read the first story in his book, A Study in Emerald after determining that he'd read another one at a con in Baltimore recently. After that, he took questions.

Asked what is Alan Moore like, Gaiman gave an amusing description of meeting him with Moore while Moore was wearing a bright red suit. He also gave an amusing account of Moore deciding to short-circuit his midlife crisis by worshipping an imaginary snake.

Asked how he can let characters go, Gaiman noted that 10 years of Sandman was long enough and it was a relief for all parties to let go some times.

Asked how long American Gods took to write, he explained 2 years, but the book had been gestating for longer.

Anansi was the central figure of the sequel because 8 years earlier he'd been working with Lenny Henry on his audiobooks. Henry noted that there were no black characters in horror movies because they all get killed offstage. Lenny's a bespectacled comics nerd offstage, but wanted a role written for him, so Anansi Boys is all written with Caribbean black characters unless otherwise noted. Originally it was to be a novella, along with Stardust and Neverwhere stories, but editor Jenny Brown insisted it would be a book.

Asked about his personal relationship with God, as it were, he said, "I think religions are the coolest things on earth and I hope people keep making them up until the end of time." He followed this by stating, "I think they're really cool and odd and I wish people wouldn't kill each other over them."

After questions, he gave his film FAQ.

John Hodgeman is the father in Coraline which is being done as stop-motion and will be ready in 2008. The misic is by They Might Be Giants. Also Ian McShane will be the upstairs neighbor.

The 1st movie out, March 2007, will be Stardust. Filmed in Highland Studios in England.

On November 22, 2007, Beowulf, starring John Malkovich, Anthony Hopkins, Crispin Glover predictably as Grendel, and Angelie Jolie as Grendel's mother. He began the script with a friend in 1998. The friend planned to direct it until Zimeckis offered them, not one, which wasn't enough, but two wheelbarrows of money. It's being done like Polar Express but better.

Corrections, especially those of names, are welcomed.

Alison Bechdel booksigning followup UPDATED

Politics and Prose put an interview with Bechdel on their website.

Also they sell recordings of the event and noted in their newsletter that Bechdel is available. I've ordered mine.

Bechdel wrote about the booksigning in her blog as did Jenny Miller on her blog.

Article - editorial cartoons in Health & Medicine museum exhibit

Captions: Reception for the exhibit; Wayne Stayskal, Tampa Tribune, June 24, 1997; and Mike Keefe, Denver Post, 1997

Here's an article on the editorial cartoon exhibit on smoking on display at the museum through early spring. The museum's 5 miles north of the White House on 16th St. I work in this museum, but didn't have anything to do with this exhibit so I can say without self-promotion that it's good and worth seeing.

Bell, John R. 2006.
Museum Exhibit Shows Shift in Thinking About Tobacco.
Family Practice News 36 (18; September 15): 4.
http://www.familypracticenews.com/article/PIIS0300707306738191/fulltext.

Oct 2 Booksigning - Alison Bechdel REMINDER

Just a reminder - and note the time is an hour later than usual. I probably won't make it to this, but if anyone goes, feel free to comment here. Again, this is one of the best graphic novels of 2006.

Politics and Prose
Monday, October 2, 8 p.m.
ALISON BECHDEL
FUN HOME (Houghton Mifflin, $19.95)

In this illustrated memoir, Bechdel tells the story of her relationship with her father—an artistic, obsessive, and tragically repressed man. Bechdel has won acclaim for her hilarious, high-minded comic portraits of lesbian life, and this rich, beautiful work is a remarkable demonstration of her power as a storyteller.

Oct 8 - Animation Festival - National Geographic

As part of their All Roads Film Festival, Nat'l Geo has a morning showing of animated shorts at their 16th and M Sts, NW location. There is a charge to see these.

Sunday, October 8
11 a.m. ANIMATION PROGRAM
Traditional tales from around the world come alive in animated form.
*How the Elephant Lost his Wings
Tara Douglas
4 min/India/2006
World Premiere

A story from the Muria Gond culture about conflict between the first elephant and man.
*Pot of Gold
Nitin Donde
5 min/India/2006
World Premiere

A tale from the Warli tribe of Maharashtra tells what happens when a husband and wife find a pot of gold.
*Best of the Best
Leslie MacKenzie
5 min /India/2006
World Premiere

A vain mouse gets what she deserves in this story from the Gondi tribe.
First Fire
Nathan Young
10 min/USA/2004
Cherokee with English Subtitles
DC Premiere

Stop-motion claymation depicts the origin of fire from the Cherokee Nation.
Un Poquito De... (A Little Bit Of...)
Dominique Jonard
11 min/Mexico/2003
Spanish with English subtitles
US Premiere

Schoolchildren wrote and illustrated this story showing the fun lives of people living near Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico.
Raven and the First People
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006

In the first of two new episodes from the award-winning series about Pacific North Coast tribes, Raven Tales, Eagle and Raven are at odds over how to take care of the world entrusted to them.
Raven and the Seawolf
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006
US Premiere

The first man is dismayed to find he has no skill as a fisherman and that his skills as an artisan are unappreciated, so he calls out a mythical sea monster to help him.

Oct 1 Book review in Post - Gaiman

Joyce, Graham. 2006.
Beyond Imagination: Dazzling tales from a master of the fantastic [Gaiman].
Washington Post Book World (October 1): 7
online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092801423.html.

also, there's a review of Brad (Green Arrow, Identity Crisis, JLA) Meltzer's new thriller The Book of Fate and, in Style or Arts, a mention of his appearance at the National Book Festival.

Speaking of the NBF, the Library of Congress usually puts up links to videos of the festival. When they do, I'll post the link.