Progress on my Pekar book

I got a letter from the University Press of Mississippi today telling me that they'd be sending the page proofs soon! Whoo-hoo! And thanks to Randy Scott of Michigan State U's Comic Art Collection for doing the index for me.

Nate Beeler wins Virginia Press Association award

Today's Examiner is reporting that Nate Beeler won the the Virginia Press Association's first place in editorial cartooning on Sunday. The formal award appears to be "Best in Show for Daily Art" but I can't find it on either the Examiner or the VPA website. In any event, congratulations, Nate!

Darrin Bell's Candorville appears to chastise Post

Darrin Bell in today's Candorville appears to chastise the Post for dropping his strip two weeks ago. His main character Lemont Brown says "I wrote a series of posts satirizing how the Secret Service isn't diligent enough in protecting presidential candidates, and the Chronicle wouldn't run it!" Methinks he wrote chronicles that the Post wouldn't run.

Zadzooks on New Frontier DVD

See "New Frontier DVD puts Justice League in focus," Washington Times March 15, 2008, By Joseph Szadkowski.

Tom Toles video on Post website

See Tom Toles in timelapse photography from sketch to finished drawing in "Timelapse: From Sketch to Cartoon."

Onion swings at Marmaduke

This article's in the paper edition that's out now too - Some Old Man Still Churning Out Marmaduke, Onion March 14, 2008 | Issue 44•11.

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 03-19-08

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 03-19-08
By John “I get paid $5500 an hour to do this!” Judy

AL CAPP’S COMPLETE SHMOO: THE COMIC BOOKS HC written and illustrated by Capp Studios. Featuring Super Shmoo, Frankenshmoo, and Fu Manshoo! If you have to ask…

ALL WE EVER DO IS TALK ABOUT WOOD GN written and illustrated by Tom Horacek. A collection of Horacek’s morbidly funny single panel cartoons. Definitely for fans of Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Ivan Brunetti. Recommended.

ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL #5 by Brian Lynch and Franco Urru. So he’s not a vampire anymore….?

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL EDITION by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. A special hardcover 20th anniversary edition designed to torture Alan Moore by reminding him of how tied he remains to DC even though he refuses to cash their checks. Of course some of us are tortured by the knowledge that it’s been 20 years since we bought this book new on the stands… Also contains the story “An Innocent Guy” from BATMAN: BLACK & WHITE.

BRAVE AND BOLD #11 by Mark Waid and Jerry Ordway. Superman and Ultraman team up to save the day. Sorry manga fans, it’s a different Ultraman.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #36 by Ed Brubaker, Butch Guice, and Mike Perkins. Bucky continues making the role of Captain America his own. Hard.

EX MACHINA #5 by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. Mayor Hundred is haunted by the ghosts of African slaves. And metaphors.

GHOST RIDER #21 by Jason Aaron and Roland Boschi. Pure, out of control motorcycle madness, reminiscent of the best of Garth Ennis's PREACHER. Highly recommended, even though you hated the movie.

GRENDEL: BEHOLD THE DEVIL #5 of 8 written and illustrated by Matt Wagner. Gee fights monsters! Recommended.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #13 by Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker, Tonci Zonjic, and David Aja. Okay, when the "What Has Gone Before" page starts reading like a novella you may be getting a tad challenging for new readers to get on board. Just sayin'... Pretty good comic anyway.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 4 HC by Stan Lee, John Buscema, Gene Colan, and John Romita Sr. Collecting CAPTAIN AMERICA #114-124, featuring the Red Skull, the Falcon, MODOK, Nick Fury, AIM, and the cosmic cube! The more things change…

OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE VOL. 38 HC & SC with your choice of covers: Marvel Villains by Mark Sparacio or Star Wars by Doug Wheatley. For some reason there also seems to be a Joe Shuster Superman cover being advertised on the net but there’s no mention of this from the publisher. Weird.

SUPER FRIENDS #1 by Sholly Fisch and Dario Brizuela. Fun for all ages, featuring smiling Batman with the yellow oval on his chest!

TANGENT: SUPERMAN’S REIGN #1 of 12 by Dan Jurgens and Friends. It’s trademark renewin’ time, kids! Alternate universe super-heroes meet their namesakes. Personally I wanna see the Just Imagine Stan Lee and Realworlds versions roll in! If you get these references you’re old.

THOR #7 J. Michael Straczynski and Marko Djurdjevic. A really great issue, among the high points for JMS and Thor in general. Setting up what will no doubt be some very interesting stories in months to come. Highly recommended.

WAR IS HELL: THE FIRST FLIGHT OF THE PHANTOM EAGLE #1 by Garth Ennis and Howard Chaykin. A heavy-hitting creative team tackles the World War I aviator’s adventures in “graphic” style. Not for kids. Highly recommended.

WOLVERINE ORIGINS #23 Daniel Way and Steve Dillon. Okay, Daniel Way is starting to win me over now that he is writing a Three Stooges comic with blood. He’s found a groove that works for him. Now let's make this non-continuity and have a ball. Not for younger kids. Seriously.

www.johnjudy.net

Picoult booksigning CANCELLED for this Saturday

I called Borders today to check on the availability of her Wonder Woman story arc and was told that she had to cancel her appearance.

Washington Times comics survey

The Times actually has a pretty good comics page. I frequently pick it up in Walter Reed's lobby and tear it out for Michigan State's collection. Harry Bliss' panel is particularly interesting since he'd been known as a New Yorker cartoonist before starting this, but also has been doing children's books. I don't know why they put this on their website, but not in the paper though. Seems to defeat the purpose of it...

Calling all funnies afficionados

The Washington Times is evaluating the items on our Comics page, and we'd like your input.

As it stands, we've got 17 comic strips running on our page. We want to know what you like, what you don't like and even what you feel we're missing.

Our collection ranges from a playful pair of fraternal twins and their grandmother in Grand Avenue to the saucy quips of Fred Basset and the motherly musings of Rose is Rose.

We've also got the indomitable Crankshaft, the geeky but genial Monty and the lovable pup Buckles.

And of course, we've got the daily high school dramas in the long-running Funky Winkerbean, The Buckets' family foibles and the good-natured ribbings of Herb & Jamaal .

The dashing Dick Tracy sniffs out criminals on our page, and the characters of Crock lampoon society and each other out in the desert while the cavemen of B.C. escape the jaws of dinosaurs.

Our Rubes strip is biting but side-splitting, and Bizarro is, well, bizarre.

Rounding out our team is the intrepid maid Hazel, the self-titled strip of Harry Bliss and feline frolicking in Cats With Hands.

For the next two weeks, we're asking our readers to e-mail us the names of their four favorite comic strips. We'd also like to know which ones don't tickle your funny bone and even the names of 'toons we aren't running but are worth a look.

Please send your comments to comics@washingtontimes.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

--Carrie Sheffield, Web editor, The Washington Times

Posted on March 11, 2008

March 26: Gene Yang booksigning at Big Planet Comics

On Wednesday, March 26, from 7-8, Gene Yang will be signing copies of his award-winning American Born Chinese at Big Planet Comics, 4908 Fairmont Ave., Bethesda, MD, 301-654-6856.

Post censors Candorville again

Gene Weingarten posted the information about the Post censoring Candorville again on his chat - again the Post didn't tell us that they were keeping us safe from thinking on the comics page.

Weingarten wrote, Once again, The Post dropped a few Candorvilles because they (see them online here) dealt with security for Barack Obama. I am beginning to think this is a mistake by The Post. Darrin Bell has a point he wants to make: This one is based on stories in the Dallas paper that security was not as tight as it should have been for an Obama visit, given the unusual threats he faces.

They appear to have dropped the whole week of March 3rd strips.

March 15: Jodi Picoult signs

March 15th, 7:30 P.M. Jodi Picoult reads from and signs her new novel, Change of Heart, at Borders Books-Baileys Crossroads, 703-998-0404.

I'm sure she'd sign the collected Wonder Woman arc that came out recently too.

Thanks to Randy T for the tip.

That Thurber anecdote redux

Richard's got a longer and better version on his blog now.

"All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why." – James Thurber, writer and cartoonist.

ICAF moves to Chicago; Rhode refuses to attend

This will be the first one that I've missed. Bah.

The Thirteenth Annual INTERNATIONAL COMIC ARTS FORUM (ICAF)
October 9-11, 2008

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (http://www.saic.edu)

The International Comic Arts Forum invites scholarly paper presentations for its thirteenth annual meeting, to be held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, from Thursday, October 9, through Saturday, October 11, 2008. The deadline to submit proposals is May 1, 2008 (see below for proposal guidelines and submission information). Proposals will be refereed via blind review.

We welcome original proposals from a variety of disciplines and theoretical perspectives on any aspect of comics or cartooning, including comic strips, comic books, albums, graphic novels, manga, webcomics, political cartoons, gag cartoons, and caricature. Studies of aesthetics, production, distribution, reception, and social, ideological, and historical significance are all equally welcome, as are studies that address larger theoretical issues linked to comics or cartooning, such as image/text relationships. In keeping with its mission, ICAF is particularly interested in studies that reflect an international perspective.

ICAF is proud to be hosted this year by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a leader in art education and a vital part of Chicago's arts community. In order to create a conference program that reaches out to that community and reflects Chicago's rich heritage of comic art, we particularly invite proposals which touch on cartoonists and publications from the city and surrounding region. Chicago is a major hub of American cartooning, the wellspring of a tremendous variety of work: from the political cartoons of John T. McCutcheon and Bill Mauldin, to the pioneering comic strips of the Chicago Tribune, to the seminal underground cartooning in the Chicago Mirror, Chicago Seed, and Bijou Funnies, to the "independent" comics boom of the 1980s, to contemporary alternative comics by Chris Ware and a host of others. In hopes of building a conference that responds to this important heritage, ICAF invites proposals with special interest in comics and cartoons from Chicago and the American Midwest.

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES: For its refereed presentations, ICAF prefers argumentative, thesis-driven papers that are clearly linked to larger critical, artistic, or cultural issues; we strive to avoid presentations that are merely summative or survey-like in character. We can accept only original papers that have not been presented or accepted for publication elsewhere. Presenters should assume an audience versed in comics and the fundamentals of comics studies. Where possible, papers should be illustrated by relevant images. In all cases, presentations should be timed to finish within the strict limit of twenty (20) minutes (that is, roughly eight to nine typed, double-spaced pages). Proposals should not exceed 300 words.

AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT: ICAF's preferred format for the display of images is MS PowerPoint. Regretfully we cannot accommodate non-digital media such as transparencies, slides, or VHS tapes. Presenters should bring their PowerPoint or other electronic files on a USB key or CD, not just on the hard drive of a portable computer. We cannot guarantee the compatibility of our equipment with presenters' individual laptops.

REVIEW PROCESS: All proposals will be subject to blind review by the ICAF Executive Committee, with preference given to proposals that observe the above standards. The final number of papers accepted will depend on the needs of the conference program. Due to increasing interest in the conference, in recent years ICAF has typically been able to accept only one third to one half of the proposals it has received.

SEND ABSTRACTS (with COMPLETE contact information) by May 1, 2008, to Prof. Cécile Danehy, ICAF Academic Coordinator, via email at .

Receipt of proposals will be acknowledged immediately; if you do not receive acknowledgment within three days of sending your proposal, please resubmit. Applicants should expect to receive confirmation of acceptance or rejection by May 16, 2008.

C.D. Batchelor's anti-VD campaign

C.D. Batchelor was a Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist whose career lasted for almost 50 years in New York. One can see similarities in the 1937 Pulitzer winning cartoon and the anti-venereal disease cartoons reproduced below from the collections of the National Museum of Health and Medicine.


"Warning: these enemies are still lurking around. Syphilis.
Gonorrhea." Cartoon by C..D. Batchelor of the New York Daily News for the American Social Hygiene Association, 1790 Broadway, New York, N.Y. (Reeve79101-67)


"Two girls I know want to meet you in the worst way." C.D. Batchelor, American Social Hygiene Association. (Reeve79101-62)


"The glory of manhood is strength. Keep clean for the heritage of the cleanly is strength." Cartoon by C..D. Batchelor of the New York Daily News for the American Social Hygiene Association, 1790 Broadway, New York, N.Y. (Reeve79101-52)


"Boys your sweetheart, your wife or your parents may never know it if you contract a venereal disease - but I'll know it and I'll suffer from it." Cartoon by C.D. Batchelor of the New York Daily News for the American Social Hygiene Association, 1790 Broadway, New York, N.Y. (Reeve79101-11)


"Enemy agent. U.S. War Effort. Venereal Disease." Cartoon by C.D. Batchelor of the New York Daily News for the American Social Hygiene Association, 1790 Broadway, New York, N.Y. (Reeve79101-16)


"'My boy was wounded in the African landing.' 'Mine was wounded in this country by a street walker.'" Cartoon by C..D. Batchelor of the New York Daily News for the American Social Hygiene Association, 1790 Broadway, New York, N.Y. (Reeve79101-31)

Note the difference in quality between Batchelor's original above, and the Army's copy below:


"My boy was wounded in the African landing. Mine was wounded in this country by a street walker." World War 2. "Cartoon by C.C. Batchelor of the New York Daily News for the American Social Hygene Asociation, 1790 Broadway, New York, N.Y. Reproduced by Div. S.S.C. for distribution by Surgeon 3rd Armored Div." (Reeve74964-6.jpg)

Collections of his papers are in Witchita State University's Library in THE CARTOON COLLECTION OF C. D. BATCHELOR, MS 90-16 and C. D. Batchelor Papers - An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University.

JICC show of of paintings by manga artist Shigeru Mizuki.

The Japanese Information and Culture Center downtown has a show of paintings by manga artist Shigeru Mizuki. See "Iconic Edo Landscapes? Not Quite," By Lavanya Ramanathan, Washington Post Saturday, March 8, 2008; C12.

April 24: Poe in Comics exhibit opening (revised date)

The Incredible Mr. Poe: Edgar Allan Poe in the Comics
An Exhibition

In 1941, Russian immigrant Albert Lewis Kanter tried to introduce young people in the United States to fine literature by incorporating the classics into something they were already reading—comic books. In 1944, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” appeared in Kanter’s Classic Comics series, and ever since adaptations of both Poe and his works have been regular features in comic books and graphic novels, many of which will be on display April 24 to October 31 at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond (www.poemuseum.org). Poe has even appeared as a comics hero himself alongside Batman and Scooby Doo.

M. Thomas Inge, Blackwell Professor of Humanities at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, and Poe Foundation trustee, has studied comic art for over forty years and published several books on the subject. His collection of comic books from childhood will form the core of the upcoming exhibition which is curated by Richmond artist Chris Semtner.

Also featured will be original artwork by such comic artists and illustrators as Rick Geary, Richard Corben, Gahan Wilson, Gris Grimly, Bill Griffith, and Patrick McDonnell, as well as proof sheets and original pages for some of the Classics Illustrated and other comic book versions loaned by collector Jim Vacca of Boulder, Colorado. An illustrated book and catalog will be available for purchase from the Museum Gift Shop with proceeds going to the Museum.

This will be the first exhibition ever devoted to the comic books and graphic narratives that have helped keep Poe’s name and works in the public eye for over sixty years. An opening reception will be held Thursday evening April 24, 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., with an Unhappy Hour, food, and music, free and open to the public. The Edgar Allan Poe Museum is located at 1914 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23223, phone 804 648-5523. For more information contact Rebecca Jones at becca@poemuseum.org or call toll free 888 21EAPOE.

Greg LaRoque article in Sun

Greg LaRoque, who lives outside Baltimore is featured in "LaRoque: Quick on the draw; Illustrator to put his touch on Velocity miniseries," By Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun Movie Critic, March 9, 2008.

I always enjoyed his work and got to tell him so and buy some original art at last year's Baltimore Comic-Con.

James Thurber anecdote courtesy of Richard Thompson

Richard reports, "So at my neighbor's daughter's Bat Mitzvah I was chatting with one of his co-workers, a guy who'd grown up around here. He told me that James Thurber had his childhood bow and arrow eyeball accident at a farm that used to be off Rte 7 in Falls Church, and there's even a James Thurber Court there now that marks where the farm stood. I thought it all happened in Columbus OH."

Me too! Who knew a famous cartoonist almost blinded here?

Adrian Tomine "Shortcomings" signing pictures

Here's some photographs from Adrian Tomine's signing of Shortcomings at Politics and Prose. He spoke for about 45 minutes and you can buy a cd recording from the bookstore.


This slide shows a page of original art that he sketched and then changed when inking it. Previous to "Shortcomings" he wrote a full script before drawing anything.


This and the next slide show real buildings he drew.





Tomine's been asked if this is autobiographical, partly due to the resemblance you can see between him and his main character Ben Tanaka, "who's a prick".



There have been a lot of Tomine interviews done lately (list available on request) and you can see a link to Scott Rosenberg's on this blog. Tomine specifically singled out an NPR one as asking him a question he hates - why he hasn't done more "Asian-American experience" comics. That would probably be this interview -

Gross, Terry. 2008.
Adrian Tomine, Drawing Delicately from Life.
National Public Radio and WHYY's Fresh Air (January 31).
online at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18571923

Movie-theater owner Ben Tanaka is having relationship issues; his girlfriend, Miko, suspects he's secretly attracted to white women. (She's right, but he won't admit it.)

In Shortcomings, Asian-American graphic novelist Adrian Tomine (Scrapbook, Summer Blonde) has finally done what many fans and critics have suggested he should: addressed race in his work.

Tomine is celebrated for the grace and sophistication of his work; novelist Jonathan Lethem says that "his mastery of literary time suggests Alice Munro," and Junot Diaz says Tomine's "dramatic instincts are second-to-none."

- and of course, one of the four or five questions he got at P&P was this question too.