Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sept 27: Gaiman, Meltzer at National Book Festival

Here's some info from the Library of Congress. These events are always mob scenes.

Jim Henson exhibit at Smithsonian

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I've been lax on posting about this, even though DC blogger and work buddy Master Ibid recommended it to me. I've never really considered Henson a cartoonist, but the show opens with gag and strip cartoons he did. Also when you look at some of the early concept sketches for his puppets, he appears to have been influenced by Searle. You can get details and a podcast on the Smithsonian's traveling exhibits site. The exhibit is up through October 5th and is in the Ripley center under the Haupt garden, behind the Castle.

Oliphant cartoon draws complaints for Post's website


The cartoon in question.

The Post's readers have been complaining about an online Oliphant cartoon - in "Campaign, and Complaints, Heat Up," By Deborah Howell, Washington Post Sunday, September 14, 2008; Page B06, she says, Speaking of overdoing it, a political cartoon by Pat Oliphant that appeared on washingtonpost.com Wednesday prompted complaints from about 350 readers who said he lampooned their faith. The cartoon showed Palin speaking in tongues, an aspect of worship in some Pentecostal churches, and then God telling St. Peter that he didn't understand what she was saying -- "All I can hear is some dam' right-wing politician spouting gibberish." Readers were right to complain; I will deal with political cartooning in another column. Political cartoons and comics aren't selected at washingtonpost.com the way they are for The Post in print; they are automatically posted.

Like my recent post on Zapiro, I'd have to say "what issue?"

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Washington City Paper on Bash's Onion Head

See "Five Minutes with Onion Head," by Mike Riggs, Washington City Paper's City Desks blog Sep. 12, 2008 for an interview with Bryan Stone on his feature in the Bash comics tabloid.

Bennet's Best Back at Zadzooks

This week Greg recommends Gotham Central and Omega the Unknown. See Bennett's Best for the week of September 7 By Greg Bennett.

Zadzooks on Star Wars Clone Wars and its artist

"ZADZOOKS: Clones at war again," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, September 4, 2008.

"ZADZOOKS: Scott Hepburn tackles 'The Clone Wars'," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, September 11, 2008

Baltimore City Paper annual comics issue out now


Baltimore City Paper's annual comics issue (Sept 10, 2008) is out now. It's got an article by Emily Flake on how-to books, and the results of their annual comics contest. It also has a comic strip "Ten Jobs I Have Known" by Eamon Espey, "War Profits: New Biography Reveals WWII's Toll On Willie & Joe Cartoonist Bill Mauldin," By Christopher Skokna, and "Open Secret: Closed Caption Comics Creators Gaining Local Notice Just as Some Are Leaving Town," by Michael Northrup on a Maryland Institute College of Art comics collective.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Dan Nadel interview on Rory Hayes

Former Big Planet Comics clerk, and now comics historian and publisher Dan Nadel has a new book on Rory Hayes out. Here's an interview - "Where Demented Wented: Nadel on Rory Hayes," by Van Jensen, Guest Contributor, Thu, September 11th, 2008.

Rosenthal illustration in Post

Back to Washington, Marc Rosenthal did a lovely cover to the Post's Weekend section. Here's the snippet the paper had online.

Harvey Awards at Baltimore Comic-con Press Release

Harvey Awards Dinner Tickets Available!
Brian Michael Bendis to be Keynote Speaker!
Dinner Gift Bag Contents Announced!

BALTIMORE, MD (September 11, 2008) - The Harvey Awards dinner and presentation ceremony, featuring Emcee Kyle Baker and Keynote speaker Brian Michael Bendis, will be held on Saturday, September 27th, at the Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards. Tickets are now available for the event, which will begin at 7:00pm with a cocktail hour, to be followed by dinner and the awards ceremony at 8:00pm .

The Harveys, named after the legendary MAD founding editor and master storyteller Harvey Kurtzman, recognize outstanding achievements in over 20 categories. They are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals.

The Harveys are also very excited to announce Brian Michael Bendis as the keynote speaker for this year's awards ceremony. Brian is one of the most prolific and successful writers working in mainstream comics today. For well over six years, Brian's titles have consistently charted in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic sales rankings.

Brian is one of the premiere architects of Marvel Comics' Ultimate Universe, a line of comics created specifically for the new generation of comics readers. Since it's best-selling launch, he has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man to date, and has also written Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X-men, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, and Ultimate Six. In addition to scripting the action in the Ultimate Universe, Brian is also responsible for the writing duties on titles such as Secret Invasion, New Avengers, and Mighty Avengers. His creator-owned title, Powers (with series co-creator and artist Mike Oeming), has brought acclaim and accolades as well.

Brian has been nominated for 4 Harvey Awards, for his work on Powers, Daredevil, and New Avengers. He has also won five prestigious Eisner awards, including 'Best Writer of the year' two years in a row.

He is creator of the Jinx line of crime comics published by Image Comics. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out.

"We are thrilled to be hosting the Harvey Awards again this year, " said Marc Nathan, promoter of the Baltimore Comic-Con. "Award shows are all about having a moment that you will remember. Last year, Kyle Baker was a great MC, Rich Koslowski danced onto stage to present an award, James Jean gave us all a little bit too much information as he won an award, Erik Larsen made us laugh with a single line read, and we were able to see industry legend Joe Kubert honored by HERO Initiative. These are the moments that stood out to me. With Brian added to the event as our keynote speaker, I can't wait to see what happens this year. We hope as many fans as possible will join us."

Guests for dinner and the awards ceremony will enjoy a full banquet-style dinner of filet mignon and Baltimore-style crabcake. For the third year, we are pleased to have Kyle Baker to act as our Master of Ceremonies for the evening. In addition, the 3rd Annual Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented.

Continuing the very successful promotion from last year, a gift bag will be available to all dinner guests. The first 200 attendees will receive The MAD Archives vol. 1 from DC Comics, Diary of a Wimpy Kid from Amulet Books, an imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Beowulf Trade Paperback, based on the screenplay by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary from IDW, Creator Chronicles Preview DVD Featuring Michael Golden from Woodcrest Productions and Eva Ink, Stephen King's Dark Tower : The Gunslinger Born, courtesy of Cards, Comics, and Collectibles & The Baltimore Comic-Con, a Toon Tumbler drinking glass from Popfun merchandising, and an exclusive Harvey Awards keychain from LaserMach.

Harvey Awards tickets are on sale now. Tickets to the event, which includes the full cocktail hour (cash bar), full service dinner, awards ceremony, and gift bag are now available for $90. Tickets are available by calling Cards, Comics & Collectibles in Reisterstown, Maryland at (410) 526-7410. Major Credit Cards will be accepted for payment. Dinner tickets must be purchased by Wednesday, September 24th and will not be available at the door.

For those who wish to attend the ceremony only, tickets are available for $10, or free with a two-day pass to the convention. The hall will be opened for those ticket holders at approximately 8:45pm. Attendees who purchase a ceremony-only ticket are not eligible to receive the gift bag. The two-day convention tickets may be purchased through Ticketmaster, accessible from www.baltimorecomiccon.com.

In addition to the Baltimore Comic-Con, named sponsors of the 2008 Harvey Awards include DC Comics, ComiXology.com, Top Shelf Comix, Top Cow Productions, Painted Visions Comics, Cards, and Games, and Brett's Comic Pile. Without these sponsors, the event would not be possible and the Baltimore Comic-Con staff expresses their gratitude. While time is short, there are still sponsorship opportunities available.

For more information about The Harvey Awards, visit www.harveyawards.org.

For more information about the convention, visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com.

For additional directions to the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards, visit
www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bwiih-baltimore-marriott-inner-harbor-at-camden-yards

Thompson does Nickelodeon cover

Alan Gardner at the Daily Cartoonist is reporting that Our Man Thompson will be doing a cover for Nickelodeon magazine. I can add the totally uninteresting factoid that Nickelodeon cartoon editor Chris Duffy and Richard actually met in person at HeroesCon this year, demonstrating conclusively that ... well, I don't know what... networking helps, maybe?

Also, I owe Mr. Duffy a shout-out for sending me a set of Nickelodeon's carton magazines in exchange for my Interplanetary Journal of Comic Art. Thanks, Chris!

OT: Zapiro's editorial cartoon controversy in South Africa

Obviously South Africa is a bit off this blog's usual beat, but reader Lorrainne Thompson wrote in a few minutes ago, "I was wondering what you thought about the recent caricature done by Zapiro (and the resulting furor) in South Africa?"

Since we're in America and I'm a First Amendment absolutist, here's the cartoon:



Now that's a strong and unpleasant cartoon. However, editorial cartoonists don't view their job as making a politician's life sweetness and light, and god bless them for that. Neither do I.

Secondly, Zuma and Zapiro have a history of going at each other. Last year when Zapiro was at the Cartoonists Rights Network to accept an award, it was because Zuma was suing him over another cartoon. This was reflected in the press release from the CRN which said:

Two of Shapiro's three "Zuma" cartoons are cited in a US$2 million defamation suit ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma has brought against the cartoonist, editors and South African publishers. Zuma's political pedigree includes resistance organizer, 10-year Robben Island prisoner, exile, ANC negotiator, party official and former deputy president of South Africa. In recent years, Zuma has drawn criticism from the press due to his in-fighting for ANC leadership and the company he keeps. There are allegations of tax evasion, corruption and rape.

The rape case did go to trial and was deemed consensual sex by the court 8 May 2006. However, Zuma's own testimony outraged HIV/AIDS educators. This former chair of the National AIDS Council testified that he did not use a condom. He said he minimized the risk of infection from the 32-year-old HIV positive woman by taking a shower.


So we can see some of the same issues and motifs of concern to Zapiro popping up in this drawing - the shower head on Zuma's head, the rape threat, the complicity of South African political parties in the scandal. At this point, Zuma's a leading candidate for President, filling a seat once held by Nelson Mandela, in spite of being on trial for corruption charges. For more details, see
"Zuma's Cartoon Character,"
by Barrett Sheridan, Newsweek blog Wednesday, September 10, 2008.

Earlier this year in "Freedom of expression in Jester's space," April 15 2008, Zapiro defined his idea of an editorial cartoonists responsibility and rights: "The line stops when you make a tangible connection between what you are saying and instances of people going out and doing violence or causing physical hurt or death because of what you say," he said.

"Its about taboos, about whether a cartoonist has the right to go beyond a certain point. I am a freedom of expression junkie. I don't gratuitously go out of my way to piss people off."


In conclusion - I think Zapiro was perfectly right to draw what he wanted to, and I applaud his newspaper for standing behind him. Many of the articles I've seen have been generated by complaints from the parties depicted in the cartoon. If they, and Jacob Zuma, had ignored the cartoon, it would have been forgotten in a week. Instead it's being blogged about in Washington, DC. I welcome any comments others (or Lorraine) would care to make.


For those with a continuing interest, here's another article on Zapiro's career, followed by much of what I've compiled for the Comics Research Bibliography on this:

"Shooting Sacred Cows: A POLITICAL CARTOONIST DISCUSSES THE PERILS OF RIDICULING GEORGE W. BUSH--AND WHY HE GOT A PERSONAL PHONE CALL FROM NELSON MANDELA," Arlene Getz, Newsweek Web Exclusive, Oct 17, 2007.

Alan Gardner of the Daily Cartoonist found this interview - "Times Q & A with South African cartoonist under attack; Zapiro defends his cartoon depicting ANC chief and presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma as about to rape the justice system, which has drawn criticism from his supporters," By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, September 12, 2008.

IOL polled its readers and in 'Zapiro's cartoon was very much appropriate', By Fundile Majola, September 10 2008, reported:

With the cartoon having been a central theme of the international media this week, Shapiro himself has expressed shock at the volume of response. "I've had some pretty huge responses, but nothing has come close to this," he said.

Following the uproar, IOL decided to engage their readers on the issue, asking if they thought the picture was indeed inappropriate. Of the 548 readers who responded, an overwhelming 76 percent (412 votes) thought the cartoon was in fact the most appropriate reflection of what the judiciary is going through under the Zuma camp while a not-so-convincing 17 percent (94 votes) thought it was inappropriate and the remaining 6 percent (32 votes) just couldn't care less.
I don't know who IOL's readers are - perhaps literacy is another unspoken issue in this - but that's a pretty lopsided vote of confidence in Shapiro.

This is typical of the press releases from parties pictured in the cartoon - "YCL calls on SAHRC to investigate Zapiro cartoon - Statement issued by National Secretary Buti Manamela," September 11 2008.

"Zapiro: cartoonists join the fray," September 10 2008.

"Paper supports cartoonist,"
Port Elizabeth Herald September 11 2008.

This is a good article about what's been going on, without the hyperbole - "Editor stands by Zapiro cartoon," Sapa, 10 Sep 2008.

"South Africa: We Should Draw on Our Humility in Cartoon Saga," Business Day (Johannesburg) COLUMN by Sipho Seepe, 10 September 2008.

"Zapiro cartoon gets SA talking," September 09 2008.

"Zuma camp vents fury over rape cartoon," By Ian Evans in Cape Town, Tuesday, 9 September 2008

Fleminger, David. 2008. "A Zap in the Face," The Times of South Africa' In My Humble Opinion blog 9 September 2008.

"Why, Zapiro? An open letter to Zapiro from Sandisiwe Vilakazi"

"Zuma cartoon: Worth a thousand words?," MAIL & GUARDIAN ONLINE REPORTER AND SAPA, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, Sep 09 2008.

and a few older articles:

"Zapiro: 'Strange things happening' in media freedom," by NATASHA MARRIAN, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, Apr 15 2008.

Berger, Guy. 2008. Dr Zapiro dispenses his muti. Mail and Guardian (April 2). Online at http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=336076&area=/insight/insight__converse/

Enwemeka, Zeninjor. 2006. Cape Times cartoonist Zapiro wins top award [in South Africa].
IOL (April 7). Online at http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3015&art_id=vn20060407015346380C125851

Thorpe, Lindsey. 2006. Public figures fair game - Zapiro. Saturday Argus (July 8): 10. online at http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20060708103232744C351304

Unknown. 2006. Safm and Independent Newspapers scoop Journalism Awards. Media Online (August 30): http://www.themedia.co.za/article.aspx?articleid=282412&area=/media_news/

Geppi's Entertainment Museum sponsers mystery authors booksignings

Here's the article - "Geppi’s Entertainment Museum Welcomes Bouchercon" which lists a bunch of comic book writers appearing as well. Although it gives the details, In celebration of the arrival of Bouchercon XXXIX, the preeminent annual gathering of crime fiction authors, editors, artists, and fans, and in conjunction with Crimespree magazine, Geppi’s Entertainment Museum (GEM) will host a signing on Friday, October 10, 2008, from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM, at the museum’s 301 West Camden Street facility in Baltimore, Maryland. the article doesn't say if you have to have signed up for Bouchercon or need to pay to get into the museum.

Also in Scoop, curator Arnold Blumberg talks about his UMD comics course.

NY Times on Frank Miller's latest

In "Arts, Briefly: A Superhero Glitch," By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES, New York Times September 12, 2008, he reports that DC has called for the destruction of shipped issues of All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #10 due to language. Black bars were printed over top of Batgirl's profanity. Gustines says, "Unlike other series that are aimed at an older readership, this Batman title does not have a “Suggested for Mature Readers” label," but given the copy that I saw, DC wouldn't have published some of these words in any of their lines. This also begs the question of 'why letter them in, if you're going to suppress them?' It's not like they appear magically - somebody has to put them there and then sanitize them.

I rail against censorship in the comic strips in this blog, but there's only one word for Miller's writing here. Ridiculous.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Political cartoonist Chris Riddell at Aladdin's Lamp

Here's some pictures from Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart's excellent talk at Aladdin's Lamp bookstore in Arlington, VA. I bought a set of all their books and I'm looking forward to reading them after my daughter's done with them. Riddell is a cartoonist for the Observer of London. He drew a neat werewolf from their new book Barnaby Grimes: Curse of the Night Wolf while Stewart showed some of the props they carried over from England.

The link above has more photos (and check out the "talk" link), but here's a quick assortment showing the werewolf being drawn.

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and that's Our Man Thompson in the blue shirt. Riddle was very complimentary about the level of American comic strips compared to UK ones.

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Here's a couple more articles on Riddell from my Comics Research Bibliography:

Interview with David Fickling, saviour of the great British comic; For those of a certain age, comics are but a fond childhood memory, irrelevant to today's generation - until now. Tom Gatti meets the man behind the movement
Times 5/10/2008
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article3896701.ece

Interview with Edge Chronicles creators
Feb 4 2008 by Hilarie Stelfox, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
http://www.examiner.co.uk/leisure-and-entertainment/arts-news/2008/02/04/interview-with-edge-chronicles-creators-86081-20430934/

Drawn to the charms of an ogre: Chris Riddell celebrates the master storytelling on display in Claudia J Nahson's The Art of William Steig
Saturday March 15, 2008 The Guardian
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/childrenandteens/0,,2265542,00.html

Riddell at the Observer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/newsroom/story/0,,2238638,00.html#article_continue
This announcement has 3 links, including one to an audio interview.

Drawn, quartered ... and now hung; As the Observer's political cartoonist for 13 years, Chris Riddell has chronicled a tumultuous period in history - the reshaping of
post-communist Europe, the rise of New Labour, 9/11 and the Iraq war. On the eve of an exhibition of his work, he talks to Phil Hogan about the inspiration and method behind his polemical art, and chooses some of his favourites
Sunday January 27, 2008
The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2247375,00.html

From fantasy to satire. Elspeth Hyams talks to Chris Riddell
Cilip 29 November 2005
http://www.cilip.org.uk/publications/updatemagazine/archive/archive2005/december/interviewwithchrisriddell.htm

Through the Looking Glass: Tenniel did it, and so did EH Shepard. Chris Riddell, who does it himself, explains why political cartoonists who illustrate children's books have always fascinated him
Saturday July 9, 2005 The Guardian
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1523520,00.html

More on Toles-quoting Obama speeches


Toles was contacted for this story and is quoted in it - "Obama Repeatedly Quotes Cartoonist While on Campaign Trail," by FOXNews.com, Wednesday, September 10, 2008.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

1926 article on Clifford Berryman

Allan Holtz has reprinted a 1926 article on Washington Star cartoonist Clifford Berryman - "Cartoons Growing In Popularity Berryman Says; Washington Star Veteran Cites Government Officials and Congressmen Who Declare Powerful Cartoons Influence Po­litical Contests-Backs Them Against Humorous Writing," By Mary M. Crenshaw (E&P 5/29/26).

Marc Singer on the new Love & Rockets

See his review on his blog. I read the comic yesterday - I'm still not sure what to make of it. Jaime's artwork was lovely, but as surreal as his strips ever have been.

Emily Flake on how-to books

Presumably in the current hardcopy as well, but see Drawing Blood: Lulu Eightball's Creator Sits Down With Instructional Tomes On How to Bring Comics to Life, By Emily Flake, Baltimore City Paper September 10 2008.

Scott Rosenberg on 9-11 book

Scott used to live here and write for the Express. He's off to the big city now (and has a chapter in my Pekar book). For his look at "American
Widow," written by Alissa Torres and drawn by Sungyoon Choi, see "9/11 book seeks to explain tragedy" By Scott A. Rosenberg, AM New York September 10, 2008. I bought a copy of the book today, but haven't looked at it yet.