Fred Van Lente in DC

Chris Shields, of the cIndy.com interview podcast site (linked on the right), reports, "I had lunch with Fred Van Lente at Zola earlier today. The attached picture is in front of the National Portrait Gallery where he is doing some research for his upcoming "Action Presidents" title. He was heading over to the "Hall of Presidents"...

Van Lente does the excellent Action Philosophers comic book filled with hard-hitting Kantian action. Visit his blog where he reports that he was in town for the ALA convention and mentions the new title.

"Bush Leaguers: Cartoonists Take on the White House" exhibit opens soon

Dave Astor reports 'AAEC Editorial Cartoon Show Opens This Saturday in D.C E&P Online, June 26, 2007.

The exhibit of political cartoons sponsored by the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists is at American University's Katzen Arts Center. It should be good.

Postcards from Zito, Bill Crouch and Percy Crosby

I hit a local antique show this weekend and picked up some prints of Opper, Nast and the Puck gang including Keppler. They're big - too big to scan easily - but these postcards I also picked up weren't.

I don't know anything about Zito. At first judging from the above cartoon, I thought he was a girly cartoonist.

Then as I found a couple more, it became obvious that he was a dog cartoonist. The third seems to be a World War II cartoon, but it's hard to tell. The top two are credited to the Novel Art Picture Co of New York while the "Victim" doesn't say anything.



This one is signed by Bill Crouch - anyone know if it's the comics historian? This is from the Mayrose Co. Publishers, Linden, NJ.

Finally, I think this is an early Percy Crosby. The postmark is Nova, OH, January 20 1912 and Pa asks his children to try to buy some clover seed when they're downtown and notes Mrs. Amos Woolfe died suddenly of a stroke of paralysis. Percy Crosby did the excellent "Skippy" comic strip for many years and it's overdue for a reprint.

Yang and Siegel signed books at Politics and Prose

I stopped in Politics and Prose on Nebraska Ave, NW to pick up a novel today and noticed in the children's section that they had signed copies of Gene Yang's award-winning American Born Chinese and Mark and Siena Cherson Siegel's To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel. They didn't have an instore event but just stopped by to sign some books probably before the ALA meeting previously posted on. I already had ABC, but bought both anyway as I like a signed book.

Part two of Jeff Smith interview in Saturday's Washington Times

Bone creator sees skies sunny ahead for industry by Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times June 23, 2007.

ICv2 on ALA in DC

How's that for acronyms? The web-based comics publication ICv2 is reporting on the American Library Association's new love for graphic novels today as they meet in Washington. Here's the story.

June 25: Author Appearance - Alison Bechdel, award-winning author of Fun Home

Dirk at Journalista noted that Alison Bechdel will be in town tomorrow at Lambda Rising on Dupont Circle (why do I have to read blogs based out of Seattle to find this out?). This was one of my favorite books of last year - I strongly recommend it. I already have a signed copy, but if anyone wants to go, let me know and I might drive back in.

Author Appearance - Alison Bechdel, award-winning author of Fun Home

Lambda Rising Time: Monday, June 25, 2007 7:00 PM
Location: Washington DC
Alison Bechdel, author of the popular comic series "Dykes to Watch Out For", will be returning to Lambda Rising to sign her graphic memoir Fun Home. Having won multiple awards, including the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir/Biography and Time Magazine's Book of the Year, this title has been newly released to paperback.

Come and meet Alison and get a copy of this masterpiece signed!

the Thompsons go to the beach

Actually, that's really the Rhodes go to the beach. We're sponging off some neighbors at Rehobeth, DE, and laughed out loud at Richard Thompson's Richard's Poor Alamanack on last minute beach house rentals. Unfortunately, it's not online yet, but you can make a Fred Thompson finger puppet instead.

Star Wars exhibit opens at Geppi's Entertainment Museum

A few days ago I was lucky enough to attend the opening of a Star Wars toys exhibit at Geppi's museum in Baltimore. I'm not a Star Wars aficianado although I'm the right age to be one, but it was fun to see Thomas Atkinson's collection and hear about how he turned his whole house into a museum. I was hoping to get a few pics up, but my friend who accompanied me still has them. You can see some pics and get some details at the Scoop site here and here.

Geppi's museum is awesome. There's a fantastic selection of material on display. Original comic strips, movie posters, a whole room devoted to comics and Big Little Books, a ton of historic comic memorabilia from the Yellow Kid, Buster Brown and others... it's well worth seeing.

new ImageText available

The UFL has announced that "ImageTexT Volume 3, Issue 3 is now available:
http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/"

I'm mentioning this because it's co-edited by my buddy, Charles Hatfield, infrequent house guest and International Comics Arts Festival board member.

Volume 3, Issue 3, a special issue devoted to Comics and Childhood," is edited by Cathlena Martin and Charles Hatfield. It seeks to examine the intersection of comics and childhood from several vantages, including comics and children's literature, comics and education, comics and publishing, and comics and revisions of literature.

This issue features essays from Gorg Mallia, Daniel Yezbick, James Bucky Carter, Philip Sandifer, Veronique Bragard, Cari Keebaugh, Kathy Merlock Jackson and Mark D. Arnold, as well as original art by Sam Hester. This special issue includes several ImageTexT firsts. The journal's first roundtable links scholars Meredith Collins, Tof Eklund, Charles Hatfield and Kenneth Kidd in conversation about Lost Girls. And we have included Jesse Cohn’s translation of and commentary on Benoît Peeters's "Four
Conceptions of the Page," we hope the first of many such new translations of important comics theory and criticism previously unavailable in English.


Table of Contents:

Articles:

“Learning from the Sequence: The Use of Comics in Instruction,” Gorg Mallia

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/mallia/

“Riddles of Engagement: Narrative Play in the Children’s Media and Comic Art of George Carlson,” Daniel Yezbick

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/yezbick/

“The Many Sides of Hank: Modifications, Adjustments, and Adaptations of Mark Twain's /A //Connecticut// Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” /Cari Keebaugh

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/keebaugh/

“Crossovers and Changeovers: Reading Lynn Johnston through Margaret Mahy,” Sam Hester

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/hester/

“When Real Things Happen to Imaginary Tigers,” Philip Sandifer

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/sandifer/

“Imagetext in /The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,” /James Bucky Carter

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/carter/

“Opening-Up Aesop's Fables: Heteroglossia in Slade & Toni Morrison and Pascal Lemaître's 'The Ant or the Grasshopper?',” Veronique Bragard

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/bragard/

“Baby-Boom Children and Harvey Comics After the Code: A Neighborhood of Little Girls and Boys,” Kathy Merlock Jackson and Mark D. Arnold

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/jackson/

Roundtable:

A roundtable on /Lost Girls /includes articles by Kenneth Kidd, Tof Eklund, Meredith Collins, and Charles Hatfield.

Translation:

Also included in the issue is Jesse Cohn's translation of and commentary on Benoît Peeters's "Four Conceptions of the Page."

Future issues include one celebrating the comics work of Neil Gaiman, another on the Picture Book, and a general issue.

George Coffin, Washington Post editorial cartoonist

I just got a copy of the new Washington History journal as I've got an article in it and found this. He was a Post cartoonist back in the day.

Slovick, Lyle. 2007.
George Y. Coffin: A Schoolboy's Life in 19th-Century Washington
[editorial cartoonist].
Washington History 18 (1&2): 98-119

There's something online about him too - perhaps from George Washington University. I'll try to poke around and find it unless someone beats me to it.

Paul Hornscheimer article in Express

Scott Rosenberg's got another article in today's Express (June 21, 2007): E7 - "Intelligent Designer: Memory intertwines with philosophy in 'Three
Paradoxes'" an interview with Paul Hornscheimer whom he met up with at HeroesCon in Charlottesville. Anyone go to the signing in Baltimore tonight?

cIndy Podcast update - Comic book writer Marc Bernardin

Chris writes in to say (I'll make the links hot later, sorry):

This week on the cIndyCenter.com Podcast: We have the very very talented Entertainment Weekly Senior Editor, & Comic book writer Marc Bernardin.

Marc is promoting his new book The Highwaymen, a five-issue miniseries from Wildstorm/DC, also written with Adam Freeman, is being drawn by Lee Garbett. The first issue will be on stands on June 20, 2007.... Listen to hear why Bill Clinton is in the series....

http://www.cindycenter.com/MarcBFinal.mp3

http://www.cindycenter.com


Thanks,
Chris

P.S. Big stuff is going on with cIndyCenter.com this Summer:
1. Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen artist, Scott Chantler is visiting with us on Wednesday evening. So if you have a question for him: post it to: http://cindycenter.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=355

2. Batgirl friend, Dean Trippe is going to be a guest reporter for cIndyCenter.com at MOCCA this weekend.... he'll do a report when he returns from his trip.

3. Published by Random House [Postcards] and Harry Potter book is shipping the same day. cIndyCenter.com friend Jason Rodriguez's [Postcards] and a number of the postcard gang did a group interview... his site is: http://www.eximiouspress.com/postcards/

Richard Thompson attempts to fill all Post pages by himself

In addition to his Saturday panel, Richard's Poor Almanack in Style, and his Sunday (and soon to be daily and syndicated) strip Cul de Sac in the magazine, RT is now doing spot illos for a column in the Health section on Tuesday. Yesterday's punch line was "Delusional Mesh Shirt Purchase."

At this rate, it'll only be about another year before he's filling every page of every section.

Michigan State U's Comic Art Collection librarian blows into town on collecting trip

Michigan State U's Comic Art Collection librarian Randy Scott, the man who built their collection from 6,000 comics to 200,000 with another 40K of related material, stopped in this Sunday. I was handing off 2 boxes of clippings and ephemera, 22 boxes of manga, and 3 boxes of miscellaneous comics publications. Randy had already stopped in State College, Pennsylvania and loaded up with 3 boxes of half-price obscure graphic novels and collections. I'd never heard of a bunch of it. Whilst here, we ran out to Big Planet Vienna and bought another 2 boxes of European, non-English language comics. On Monday, he had a brief meeting with Library of Congress staff about the future of comics collecting before riding off into the heat. In about six months, all of this material should be catalogued and available for use.

Anyone who reads this blog should consider donating comic stuff to him. I must say I had a hard time passing on the self-published 1984 book of computer-drawn cartoons* but I did.

Randy's on the right above, btw. As is the link to the Library.

*Hansen, Janet V. 1984.
So You Want to Start your Own Business? [computer-created gag cartoons; copy at MSU].
Mt. Prospect, IL: Janet V. Hansen

June 21: Paul Hornschemeier in Baltimore

He's skipping DC, and was in Richmond today, but on Thursday, Paul Hornschemeier will be in Baltimore signing The Three Paradoxes which came out a couple of weeks ago -

WHEN: Thursday, June 21, 7:00 - 9:00PM
WHERE: Atomic POP (w/Tao Lin)
3620 Falls Rd.
Baltimore, MD
410-366-1004
http://atomicpop.blogspot.com/

Jason Rodriguez interviewed by PW Comics Week

DC area writer and anthologist Jason is interviewed in "Rodriguez Sends His Best Regards via Postcards" by Ian Brill, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 6/19/2007

July 12: comic book writer Mike Carey signing

Randy T alerts us to the fact that Mike Carey will be in town signing his new novel, and presumably his comic books as well. He's got a busy day:

WASHINGTON, DC
July 12th

1:00pm – 2:00pm Big Planet Comics, Vienna
4:00pm – 5:30pm Big Monkey Comics
7:00pm Olsson’s, Court House

I'll probably go to the Olsson's which is close to my house.

Ok, I need help here. His website says he's writing Ultimate Fantastic Four and some X-Men title, but didn't he make his name writing for Vertigo? Which trades should I pick up at Big Planet?

June 23: David Macaulay at Building Museum

Macaulay, the architectural children's book author will be at the National Building Museum on Saturday for '"The Big Draw with David Macauley," a family-friendly hands-on event' from 10 -4:30. An exhibit based on his drawings will be up through January 21st.

Anime director Satoshi Kon interview in Sunday's Post

Pressley, Nelson. 2007.
Satoshi Kon, Anime's Dream Weaver
The Japanese Filmmaker Goes Inside His Characters' Heads to Get Inside Moviegoers' Hearts.
Washington Post Sunday, June 17, 2007; N03