April 15: Bethesda Writer's Center on Writing Comics

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

This Feiffer cartoon dropped out of a book I was buying. I was amazed at its timeliness - he's still got it!




Keep reading...

A little further...


Actually, below is the real unmodified cartoon - from the New Republic of October 15, 1972. Sad, isn't it? You can make almost a one-for-one switch of wartime scandals.



But at least we've still got Jules Feiffer to kick around! And my apologies to him for the liberties I took with his cartoon to make a point that should be obvious. And I apologize to everyone for misspelling Guantanamo, but I'm even sorrier that the whole world is familiar with how to spell an obscure American naval base's name.

A little bit of New York(er) in DC

While waiting for the American Empire talk, I noticed this rack of New Yorker cartoon cards in Politics and Prose. Bob Mankoff has done an amazing job at making money for both cartoonists and the magazine, hasn't he?

Mike Konopacki at Politics and Prose

Labor cartoonist Mike Konopacki was at Politics and Prose this afternoon to discuss his new book A People's History of American Empire. Howard Zinn who wrote the original that this graphic history (Konopacki kept stumbling over what to call it since it isn't a novel) was based on called in sick, disappointing some in the crowd, but not me, as Konopacki talked comics for 45 minutes instead.


Since the early 1970s, Konopacki and his partner Gary Huck have been doing labor editorial cartoons, with a detour into doing a comic book on the World Bank for a labor union in the 1990s. This was Konopacki's first longform work though. You can order a cd of the talk from Politics and Prose. He worked with pen and ink, and tracing paper and then scanned in the art and reworked it in Photoshop. To add verisimilitude, he used many photographs including famous AP ones like the girl burned by napalm in Vietnam.

Konopacki did a promo video for the book too which can be seen on youtube -
A People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn

And here's some more shots:

So, how do you find these new acquisitions?

Book sales, among other places.



This is three days worth of book-sale hauls, from two sales. Most of it is going to Michigan State University's Comic Art collection. The nice thing about being in DC is the international culture - almost 100 of these books are manga in Japanese, and there's even a Jacques Tardi album that MSU doesn't have yet.

And sometimes your family provides, like this nifty light-up Superman bust. Oddly enough, my wife wouldn't let me keep the whole cake.

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 04-16-08

Click for some visual links (covers)

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 04-16-08
By John Judy

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #11 by Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli. “Killed in Action” wraps up here with Camp Hammond giving Camp Crystal Lake a run for its blood money! Recommended.

BRAVE AND BOLD #12 by Mark Waid and George Perez. All twelve issues have led up to this grand finale: A big fight with an evil wizard. Those are always great!

CAPTAIN AMERICA #37 by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. Cap still “dead.” Red Skull still evil. This comic still awesome anyway. Recommended.

DC WILDSTORM DREAMWAR #1 of 6 by Keith Giffen, Lee Garbett, and Trevor Scott. A cross-over between the big guns of the DCU and all those Wildstorm guys you’re not reading.

DMZ #30 by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli. Intrepid indy journalist Matty Roth gets his story rejected by all major news outlets. That’ll teach him to write about John McCain’s lobbyist girlfriend! Look! Kitty-cats with string!

GHOST RIDER #22 by Jason Aaron and Roland Boschi. The story is called “Deathrace on Ghost Cannibal Highway” and it’s written by the guy who created SCALPED. If you don’t read this you’re crazier than the guys who greenlit the “Ghost Rider” screenplay. Highly recommended for teens on up.

GRENDEL: BEHOLD THE DEVIL #6 of 8 written and drawn by Matt Wagner. If you’re being pursued by a mystical super-predator sometimes it feels really good to take out all your frustrations on the Korean mob. At least that’s what Grandma always said. Recommended.

HELLBLAZER #243 by Andy Diggle and Giuseppe Camuncoli. Bad doings at the Vatican, even worse than usual. So who ya gonna call? The start of a blasphemously fun two-parter. Recommended.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Gene Colan, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Others. Collecting TALES OF SUSPENSE #39-83 and TALES TO ASTONISH #82, this volume has the earliest IM adventures from the bad old days of the Cold War, plus lots of extras. Great for all ages, highly recommended.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: CAPTAIN MARVEL VOL. 3 HC by Jim Starlin and Others. Okay, if you buy one Captain Mar-Vell book in your life this should probably be it. This one collects issues #22-33 in which Mar-Vell went cosmic and Starlin started channeling Steve Ditko through an LSD filter. This is the stuff that defined the character and made us all kind of happy when Starlin killed him off so nobody else could screw him up. At least not for 20 years or so… Highly Recommended.

NIXON’S PALS GN by Joe Casey and Chris Burnham. The story of an LA parole officer on the super-villain beat. “Elmore Leonard meets Jack Kirby!” Not for kids but otherwise recommended!

PIGEONS FROM HELL #1 by Joe R. Lansdale and Nathan Fox. A modern-day adaptation of a classic Robert E. Howard tale about… well, y’know… pigeons. From Hell. It’s really pretty cool. Take a look.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES VOL.2 SC by Jerry Siegel, Jim Shooter, Curt Swan, Jim Mooney, and Others. Classic tales from the Silver-Age of super sci-fi. Great stuff for all ages. Recommended.

SUPERMAN #675 by Kurt Busiek and Renato Guedes. Busiek’s final issue! Alex Ross cover! Galactic Golem! And Supes fights everybody! This week’s “Gotta-look!”

WAR IS HELL: FIRST FLIGHT OF THE PHANTOM EAGLE #2 of 5 by Garth Ennis and Howard Chaykin. World War I flying ace Karl Kaufman must prove his worth as a fighter before his fellow fliers discover that maybe he ain’t supposed to be there… Ennis/Chaykin level mature themes so this is recommended only for older teens and up. But highly so.

X-FACTOR #30 by Peter David and Valentine DeLandro. It’s the return of Arcade, the villain who builds giant pinball machines to kill superheroes with! How come they never do that in the movies, huh? Classic stuff.

X-MEN: DIVIDED WE STAND #1 of 2 by Lotsa People. This has mutants.

And don’t forget Free Comic Book Day coming up Saturday May 3rd at respectable comic stores everywhere!

www.johnjudy.net

That darn Toles

This time he's making fun of dementia!

Dementia Is Not a Prop
Washington Post April 12 2008

Tom Toles's March 28 cartoon based on the report linking being overweight with dementia was in extremely poor taste. It is incomprehensible that you would allow a political cartoon to make fun of dementia.

Dementia is a serious condition affecting our aging population and is the leading reason for placing elderly people in institutions such as nursing homes. Surely you could use something benign to make your political points without making a medical condition a prop.

-- John Fuller

Fairfax

The writer is the diversity and equal employment opportunity officer for Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and a consultant for the National Council for Support of Disability Issues.

OT: Emett of Punch

Here's another new acquisition from a library sale. I'd never heard of Emett before, but his book Far Twittering was in the expensive section so I took a look. The book is all reprint drawings from Punch.



And there was the reason - this lovely sketch by Pietro Lazzari (see Chris Brown's comment below).



Punch imploded for the 2nd time in 2002, but you can still find collections of their cartoons easily.

Baltimore Comic-Con news: Mike Mignola Joins the Baltimore Comic-Con

Mike Mignola Joins the Baltimore Comic-Con



Hellboy creator and Disney Atlantis artist Mike Mignola, last year’s Guest of Honor t the Baltimore Comic-Con, is returning to the Baltimore Convention Center on September 27-28, 2008 for this year’s edition of the convention. This summer will see the release of the second Hellboy feature film and the popularity of both creator and character couldn’t be higher.

“We’re extremely happy to welcome back Mike Mignola to Baltimore. Our fans were thrilled to see him last year, and we know they’ll be even happier to have him return this year,” said Marc Nathan, the show’s promoter.

Swamp Thing co-creator and Frankenstein artist Bernie Wrightson will be the Guest of Honor at this year’s show.

Mignola and Wrightson are among the headliners that also include , in alphabetical order, Kyle Baker (The Bakers), Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, New Avengers), Jim Califiore (Exiles, Captain Marvel), Howard Chaykin (American Flagg), Cliff Chiang (Green Arrow & Black Canary), Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows, Mighty Avengers), Steve Conley (Star Trek, The Escapist), Amanda Conner (JSA Classified, Terra), Darwyn Cooke (The Sprit, New Frontier), Todd Dezago (Tellos), David Finch (World War Hulk, New Avengers), Ramona Fradon (Aquaman), John Gallagher (Buzzboy, Roboy Red), Ron Garney (Wolverine), Michael Golden (Micronauts, The ’Nam), Cully Hamner (Blue Beetle, Black Lightning), Adam Hughes (Catwoman), Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, Action Comics), J.G. Jones (52, Wonder Woman), Dean Haspiel (Brawl), Stuart Immonen (Ultimate Spider-Man), Robert Kirkman (Invincible, Ultimate X-Men), Barry Kitson (Empire, The Order), Jim Lee (Batman: Hush, Wildcats), David Mack (Kabuki, Daredevil), Phil Noto (Danger Girl, Jonah Hex), Michael Avon Oeming (Mice Templar, Powers), Jimmy Palmiotti (Painkiller Jane, Jonah Hex), Brandon Peterson (Ultimate X-Men, Strange), Eric Powell (The Goon), Tom Raney (Ultimate X-Men), John Romita, Sr. (Amazing Spider-Man), Craig Rousseau (Perhapanauts, Ruule), Andy Runton (Owly), Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween, Heroes), Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man, Feast of the Seven Fishes), Jim Shooter (Legion of Super-Heroes), Vincent Spencer (Zombie-Proof), Robert Tinnell (EZ Street), Herb Trimpe (Incredible Hulk), J.C. Vaughn (Zombie-Proof, 24), Neil Vokes (The Black Forest, The Wicked West), Mike Vosburg (Lori Lovecraft), Matt Wagner (Zorro, Grendel), Mark Waid (Flash, Boom! Studios), and Mark Wheatley (Frankenstein Mobster).

The Harvey Awards will return to the Baltimore Comic-Con for the third consecutive year. The awards dinner and ceremony will be held Saturday night, September 27, 2008, following the convention’s normal hours. As in 2007, the first 300 paid attendees and honorees at the 2008 Harvey Awards Ceremonies will receive a Hollywood-style bag of swag. Last year’s bag included The EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales - Volume 1 from Gemstone Publishing, a complete base set of the soon-to-be-released Jericho Season One trading cards from Inkworks, an exclusive pin from AdHouse Books, a Comic-Con exclusive edition of 30 Days of Night: Red Snow 1 from IDW Publishing, a Toon Tumbler from Popfun Merchandising, and an exclusive Harvey Awards keychain from LaserMach. Nominating ballots are presently online at www.harveyawards.org. Kyle Baker will return as Master of Ceremonies for the evening’s events.

For more information about the Baltimore Comic-Con, e-mail cardscomicscollectilbes@yahoo.com or call (410) 526-7410. The guest list and other information can be found on the convention’s website or on its MySpace page.

For more information about the Harvey Awards, including sponsorship opportunities, e-mail baltimorecomiccon@yahoo.com.

OT: Underground comics mag find part two - A Secret History of Comics Special

As you can see in the comments for part one, Steve Rowe notes that these were an attempt to sponge off National Lampoon's readership and were definitely ground-level, available in newsstands. However, due to the cartoonists involved, I'll keep calling them underground. Here's the 2nd issue with cartoonists I have, Apple Pie July 1975. The two issues from 1976 didn't have cartoonists in them. All four are going to Michigan State University's Comic Art Collection this spring, should one need to see them for research. Or a laugh.



Another Terry Austin editorial cartoon.


An ad for the mag by Howard Chaykin using some of his usual tropes of the time.


Two one-pages by Justin Green.



Michael Kaluta draws Buster Brown!



Two pages of pirate violence from S. Clay Wilson.



Four pages of vegetarian activism from Kim Deitch.

Charlottesville's Jen Sorenson interviewed about new book

See "SORENSEN'S SLOWPOKE A QUICK HIT," by Jennifer M. Contino, Comicon's The Pulse 04-10-2008 and then order the book, or plan to buy it at the Small Press Expo.

April 12: Howard Zinn and Mike Konopacki

Saturday, April 12, 1 p.m at Politics and Prose - HOWARD ZINN & MIKE KONOPACKI's A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF AMERICAN EMPIRE: A GRAPHIC ADAPTATION (Metropolitan, $17).

The people’s historian has teamed up with labor cartoonist Mike Konopacki for a graphic presentation of American imperialism. Zinn’s primary-source accounts are illuminated by the artist’s pen, making for a dramatic and bracing retelling of the darker side of our national story.

I'm going to try to attend in spite of this less-than-stellar review from Dave Carter.

Kelts on anime showing at the Smithsonian

See "SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Anime enthrall from sea to shining sea," by Roland Kelts, The Daily Yomiuri (Apr. 11, 2008) for his thoughts on the recent anime fest at the Sackler Gallery of Art.

OT: Underground comics mag find part one - A Secret History of Comics Special

I picked up a couple of underground magazines - well they were probably ground-level for the time - that are going to be passed along to MSU's Comic Art Collection soon. Before I do that, here's some of the more famous underground cartoonists from Apple Pie May 1975.



Neal Adams art on this.


Terry Austin, the great inker, apparently did editorial cartoons too.


A couple of one-pagers by Justin Green.





Paul Kirchner did the surrealist strip The Bus for alternative weekly newspapers, until I seem to remember that he came into money - Ninja Turtle money maybe?



And a three-page strip by Kirchner:

THE BETHESDA WRITER’S CENTER PRESENTS “WRITING FOR COMICS”

THE BETHESDA WRITER’S CENTER PRESENTS “WRITING FOR COMICS”

Panel 1
We’re at the Bethesda Writer’s Center (http://www.writer.org), America ’s premier independent literary center. It’s 7:30PM on Tuesday, April 15th. Four panelists are sitting in front of a crowded auditorium. This is a promotional event for the Writer’s Center’s upcoming Writing for Comics 12-week course.

Panel 2
Tight on Matt Dembicki. He’s the artist and writer behind the Day Prize-nominated Mr. Big. He’s talking a bit about self-publishing your comic.

MATT: When you self-publish, you find you have the freedom to do your comic the way you want to do it. You’re your own editor.

Panel 3
Cut to political cartoonist Carlton Stoiber. He’s talking about balancing a day job while making comics.
CARLTON : I maintain a consulting practice on nuclear security and safety issues by day and create comics by night.

Panel 4
Chris Piers is standing up now. He’s talking about the challenges writers face when collaborating with artists.
CHRIS: If you’re trying to find an artist with a full script in hand, you’re probably too late.

Panel 5
It’s comic editor Jason Rodriguez’s turn to talk. He’s discussing the business of comics and how someone publishes their work in the current market.
JASON: There’re a lot of publishers out there looking for comics. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of people looking for publishers.

Panel 6
Writer’s Center Executive Director and panel moderator Greg Robison’s giving his closing remarks.
GREG: We’d like to thank the generous grant from the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation. It’s paying for this panel and will also sponsor three high-school students looking to take this course. Contact the Writer’s Center for more information (postmaster@writer.org, 301-654-8664).

Willie and Joe: The War Years by Mauldin out

This is the project that I went down to the Library of Congress a couple of times to try to make scans for. I don't think anything I got was ever used as the volumes were bound and a hand-scanner didn't work. K Stocker came with me and took photographs of some pages too, and we're both thanked in the acknowledgments as is Martha Kennedy of the Library who found the final image Fantagraphics needed. See Tom Spurgeon's review for more details and my buddy Charles Hatfield blogged about Mauldin and DePastino's biography of him today as well.

Apparently Mike Luckovich was in DC this week getting an award

This says he was at the Four Season's a couple of days ago - "THE WEEK Magazine Announces Winners for Fifth Annual Opinion Awards: The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mike Luckovich, and Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall Honored in Washington, DC," April 9 2008. My invitation must have gotten lost.

Carla Speed McNeil hooked by X-Men

Maryland cartoonist Carla Speed McNeil, who does Finder, was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly's website about her first comic book, along with 15 other cartoonists. Her choice makes me feel old...

I don't have a clue about what my first comic was anymore, but Joel Pollack, founder of Big Planet Comics, wrote "My first comic was Adventure Comics #237, featuring "The Robot War of Smallville.""

Jason Rodriguez mentioned in NY Times

In the New York Times April 10, 2008, "Names That Match Forge a Bond on the Internet," by STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM we find this mention of Jason:


Jason Rodriguez, 30, an editor of comic and graphic novels in Arlington, Va., feels connected to another Jason Rodriguez, a stuntman who has worked on films (some inspired by graphic novels) including sequels to “Spider-Man” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

“He’s a really good stuntman,” Mr. Rodriguez said with a hint of pride. He likens himself and the stuntman — whom he has never met — to the physically incongruous brothers in the comedy “Twins” played by Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“We both sort of have this connection,” said Mr. Rodriguez, who casts himself in the Danny DeVito role. “We both support this nerd world.”

Scott Rosenberg reviews That Salty Air

See "Young Man & the Sea: 'That Salty Air'," by Scott Rosenberg, ReadExpress.com April 9, 2008. That's two articles in two weeks for Scott; maybe he's not completely left us for the big city.