June 28: Crafty Bastards fair in Silver Spring

The Washington City Paper's crafts fair has gone bi-annual. There's usually cartoonists selling material of one sort or another.

Examiner covers New York Comic-Con

See "Costumed crusaders hit Big Apple," by Jeremy Monken, The Examiner Apr 21, 2008. It's on page 22 of the print edition. There's also a sidebar "Comic cinema."

So, who's Monken? A new comics columnist for the Examiner, replacing Rosenberg and Truitt of years gone by?

Stan Lee interview on Express website

See "Still a Marvel: Stan Lee," posted by Scott Rosenberg at 7:14 AM on April 21, 2008/

Zadzooks on Scholastic's Pickles

See "Great Pickle's food fight with evil vegetable cabal," By Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times April 19, 2008. This is a comic by Scott Morse. He also reviews The Twelve from Marvel.

KAL and Second City taking it on the road

Alan at the Daily Cartoonist has posted a story that Baltimore's KAL and Second City comedy troupe are taking the Art of Satire on the road as a live variety show.

KAL, let go by the Baltimore Sun several years ago in a move of stunning ignorance, continues to reinvent himself and the definition of cartoonist. Let's hope this comes to the DC area. You can sign up on the website to be notified of where KAL's appearing.

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 04-23-08

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 04-23-08
By John Judy

AVENGERS: KREE-SKRULL WAR SC by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, and the Buscema Bros. (John & Sal). A new printing of a timeless classic coinciding with the current Marvel “Secret Invasion” storyline. Remember: If you don’t know who the Skrull is in the room, it’s YOU!

BATMAN #675 by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel. Warming up for “Batman: R.I.P.” in which Bucky becomes Batman.

COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #1 by Various Short-Straw Holders. Our long national nightmare is over.

DAREDEVIL, VOL.2: HELL TO PAY SC by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark. Collecting DD #100-105 in which Matt Murdock’s life falls apart again and again. Honestly, he envies Spider-Man, the tsuris is that bad…

DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #8 of 8 by Jim Starlin and Jim Starlin. It’s the Starlinest!

HULK #3 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. It’s the Hulk vs. the Abomination even though one’s red and the other’s dead! Hey, if it made sense it wouldn’t be Marvel! You tell the Hulk he’s not an “Autumn!” I dare ya!

HULK VS. HERCULES: WHEN TITANS COLLIDE #1 by Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, and Leonard Kirk. A monograph on grain production quotas as they may affect fuel prices in former Soviet Bloc nations next quarter. Don’t let the title fool ya, True Believer!

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #20 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ethan Van Sciver. The Flash and Wonder Woman are trapped in a giant bee hive with honey being poured all over them. Years of therapy begin here!!!

MIGHTY AVENGERS #12 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. So what does Nick Fury think about all this Skrull “Secret Invasion” to-do? And what about the whole “Hasselhoff/Samuel L. Jackson” controversy? And if Bucky gets a bionic arm why can’t Nick Fury get a bionic eye? Or at least a good razor and some nicotine gum? Okay, I think I’ve given away enough…

NORTHLANDERS #5 by Brian Wood and David Gianfelice. It’s the secret origin of Prince Sven the Uber-Viking! Highly recommended!

PREVIEWS from Diamond and Marvel Comics.

SHE-HULK #28 by Peter David and Val Semeiks. Worth it just for the Eisner “Spirit” tribute cover by Mike Deodato. Honest.

SPIRIT #16 by Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragones, and Paul Smith. It’s murder at the movie studio and contract talks have barely begun!

THOR #8 by J. Michael Straczynski and Marco Djurdjevic. Thor-Sleepy Time is over and it’s back to work: Ruling New Asgard and bringing the hammer down on anyone who thinks looking like an eighties hair-rocker makes you a sissy! Recommended!

UNCANNY X-MEN #497 by Ed Brubaker and Michael Choi. Archangel, Cyclops, and the White Queen battle the menace of San Francisco retro clothing! Another trippy cover from the House of Ideas.

Okay, honestly while there us certainly some quality stuff out this week it’s still a little thin. Why not fill the gap by picking up the first and second paperbacks of either SCALPED by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera and/or CRIMINAL by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips?

You’ll be glad you did.

And don’t forget: Free Comic Book Day next Saturday May 3rd!

www.johnjudy.net

Telnaes on what a Pulitzer Prize meant to her

See "Past Pulitzer Winners Describe What It Meant to Them," by Dave Astor, Editor and Publisher, April 18, 2008.

Should we switch to stalking Ms. Telnaes as opposed to Richard "Cul de Sac" Thompson? After all, he may be a dead-end! Hahahahahahha!

Sorry, not enough sleep. Rest assured, we're sticking with Our Man Richard.

Staake comic strip contest in Style Invitational

Today's Post has a contest based on three comic strips drawn by Bob Staake - Week 761: Strip Mining, Saturday, April 19, 2008; Page C02. Remember, you don't have to live in DC to enter the contest.

Ann Telnaes spoke in NYC this week

Dave Astor has the story at Editor and Publisher. Remember her editorial cartoon animations are appearing twice weekly in the Post.

And Trina Robbins will be reviewing the Sex and Sensibility exhibit that Telnaes appears in for the next issue of the International Journal of Comic Art, which has a new issue available now in spite of the website's datedness.

Post chat transcripts of Rubino and Martinbrough online

You can read the hour-long q&a's at

Comics: Drawing 'Noir' and New York Comic Con
Gangsters, Superheros and Other Creatures of the Underworld
Shawn Martinbrough
Illustrator and Author, 'How to Draw Noir Comics'
Friday, April 18, 2008; 12:00 PM

and

Meet the Comics Pages: Tony Rubino, Cartoonist -- "Daddy's Home"
Friday, April 18, 2008; 1:00 PM.

I sent a couple of questions in to the Rubino chat early as ComicsDC that he answered.

Wash Post on Simpsons

One great thing about the Post, and sadly few other American newspapers, is that they're still staffing foreign bureaus. Yesterday they ran their own original reporting on the Simpsons evolving foreign policy crisis - "D'oh! 'Simpsons' Again Angers South Americans," By Monte Reel, Washington Post Foreign Service, Thursday, April 17, 2008; A18.

Later in the day, they ran this wire service report on their website -
"`The Simpsons' return on Venezuela television," The Associated Press, Thursday, April 17, 2008.

April 18 noon: Post chat with Shawn Martinbrough

Comics: Drawing 'Noir' and New York Comic Con: Gangsters, Superheros and Other Creatures of the Underworld - Shawn Martinbrough, Illustrator and Author, 'How to Draw Noir Comics', Friday, April 18, 2008; 12:00 PM

Best of DC 2008 - Richard Thompson is Best Cartoonist!

From Washington City Paper's 2008 Best of DC (April 18, 2008)...

Best Cartoonist - Richard Thompson!

...and the crowd goes wild!

Mark Athitakis has a nice writeup of Richard's virtues. The WCP also selected this site as...

Best (Comic) Art Blogger - ComicsDC

Thank you very much! That's very kind, especially after I beat up on the WCP so much this past year about their comics losses. I now feel a very teensy bit guilty. Teensy though.


Both of these were spotted by my friend and houseguest Nick "The System of Comics" Nguyen.

Eisner's PS Magazine scanned and online at VCU Library

Virginia Commonwealth University of Richmond has scanned and posted 162 issues of PS Magazine, Will Eisner's military training comic book.

Bob Andelman will be interviewing the librarian in charge of the project Cindy Jackson, as well as the author of the upcoming book, Will Eisner & PS Magazine, Paul Fitzgerald, on FRIDAY, APRIL 18 at 1 p.m. The URL is: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mrmedia/2008/04/18/Cindy-Jackson-and-Paul-Fitzgerald-WILL-EISNER-PS-MAGAZINE-VCU-librarian-and-author-Mr-Media and you can participate in a simultaneous web chat or call in and ask the experts your own questions at (646) 595-3135.

VCU's library is also the home of Tom Inge's comic book collection.

April 25: Tony Rubino on Washington Post chat

Join Washington Post Comics page editor Suzanne Tobin on Friday, April 18 at 1 p.m. ET for a discussion with "Daddy's Home" creator Tony Rubino at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/04/15/DI2008041502007.html.

Comic by D.C. natives launches at NYC Comic Con

Arthur Delaney writes in "myself and three other D.C. natives are launching our DIY comic NANOMAN: THE POST - HUMAN PROMETHEUS at the NYC Comic Con this weekend. What we've got right now is a 52 page "beta" book. Check out our website: www.NewAmericanGraphicNovels.com."

Best of luck with your new comic book, Arthur, and we look forward to hearing more about it.

Ex-Express reporter Rosenberg on NYC comic events

Scott Rosenberg's got a couple of articles in his new paper AM NY - see his Ten-Cent Plague review at "Curse of the comics," by Scott A. Rosenberg, April 15, 2008 and "An iFanboy guide to Surviving Comic Con," by Scott A. Rosenberg, April 15, 2008.

Oliphant exhibit coverage from television

There's a video here too -- "Political Cartoonist, Presidential Candidates Appear In D.C.," NBC 4 April 15, 2008.

The exhibit is excellent by the way. More details to follow.

Wuerker cartoon offends Californians

See "Perspectives on Heston and heaven," Readers' Representative Journal (April 15 2008) in which the article starts, "Bob Smith of Glendale calls him Chuck Heston -- he knew the man for 20 years and spent time with him at the L.A. Tennis Club -- and was horrified to see the Matt Wuerker cartoon in The Times' opinion pages on April 8."

Matt, Matt, Matt...

Washington writer reviews new gag comics book on Nazis

See "Is It Kosher To Laugh At Swastikas?," by Menachem Wecker, Jewish Press April 9, 2008 for his review of We Have Ways of Making You Laugh: 120 Funny Swastika Cartoons by Sam Gross.