I always enjoy the new Supernatural Law comic and Batton is one of the nicest guys you'd want to meet at a con. I usually try to buy anything new he's got at SPX, and this year got a guidebook to Supernatural Law while my daughter got some of the Archie comics he's writing. Here's a new interview with him by Tom Spurgeon:
CR Holiday Interview #9: Batton Lash, Comics Reporter (December 31 2008).
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Super-balloons
Hulk, Spider-Man and Superman balloons at the Arlington County Fair, August 2006. I think there's a Jimmy Neutron poking up too. I ran across this photo so I thought I'd put it up. Look for Smithsonian shots of lunch boxes and Disneyland stuff soon.
OT: David Lozell Martin's new book
My friend David Martin has a new book out, and it's reviewed by the New York Times.
LOSING EVERYTHING
By David Lozell Martin
201 pages. Simon & Schuster. $24.
David's a better writer than the Times reviewer credits him as, but I can't imagine this book was easy to write. I've only read his fiction, and I'm both looking forward to, and dreading this autobiography. I'd recommend David's books, especially Crazy Love and Pelikan, and be sure to search by his middle name as you'll get relevant results.
LOSING EVERYTHING
By David Lozell Martin
201 pages. Simon & Schuster. $24.
David's a better writer than the Times reviewer credits him as, but I can't imagine this book was easy to write. I've only read his fiction, and I'm both looking forward to, and dreading this autobiography. I'd recommend David's books, especially Crazy Love and Pelikan, and be sure to search by his middle name as you'll get relevant results.
Comic Riffs on the decimation of editorial cartoonists in 2008
One would think that a presidential election year wouldn't be one in which you'd let your political cartoonist go, but apparently I know nothing about the deep thinking that goes into running a newspaper. Michael Cavna's got a list and comments about the year's shrinkage.
Spiegelman's Breakdowns on sale at Politics and Prose
Minor bit from today's newletter - BREAKDOWNS: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*! by Art Spiegelman, $27.50 now $18.43 - but they might still have signed copies from when he was there.
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919 or (800) 722-0790
Fax: (202) 966-7532
www.moderntimescoffeehouse.com
www.politics-prose.com
e-mail: books@politics-prose.com
Store Hours:
Monday-Saturday: 9 a.m.-10 p.m
Sunday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919 or (800) 722-0790
Fax: (202) 966-7532
www.moderntimescoffeehouse.com
www.politics-prose.com
e-mail: books@politics-prose.com
Store Hours:
Monday-Saturday: 9 a.m.-10 p.m
Sunday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Harvey Pekar: Conversations reviewed a second time
Nice review here:
Harvey Pekar: Mensch
A Review of Harvey Pekar: Conversations by Michael G. Rhode
by Paul Buhle, November 20, 2008
Paul Buhle writes non-fiction comics too.
Harvey Pekar: Mensch
A Review of Harvey Pekar: Conversations by Michael G. Rhode
by Paul Buhle, November 20, 2008
Paul Buhle writes non-fiction comics too.
January '09 BASH Magazine On Stands Now!
I didn't see it at the Vienna Metro Station when I got on the train this morning, but it was staring me in the face when I got off at Gallery Place/Chinatown today!
The latest issue of BASH! Magazine comes complete with a full-color cover (plus some color on the interior as well), with a great looking caricature of Obama by Greg Halbert -- just in time for the inauguration! I expect this'll grab quite a few visitors' eyes when they're in for the event and looking for affordable pieces of collectible history...
The latest issue of BASH! Magazine comes complete with a full-color cover (plus some color on the interior as well), with a great looking caricature of Obama by Greg Halbert -- just in time for the inauguration! I expect this'll grab quite a few visitors' eyes when they're in for the event and looking for affordable pieces of collectible history...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Kal's Credit Crunch board game, in action
I broke out the Credit Crunch game from the Economist today and got destroyed by my 10-year old daughter. My ex-high school teacher of economics father-in-law didn't do much better than me though.
Kal asked for comments. The using coins to figure out moves is a bit clunky, but I don't have any better ideas. Also when one reaches the end, are you supposed to continue through Start and go around again? If so, do you collect $500 mil again? (We did). We also sold our Financial Risk Cards, or at least bribed each other to influence the results. We only made it around the track once - two of us were bankrupt while Claire made it past the Start line with a few hundred million left. Overall the game was fun. I'd play it again. It's like Life and Monopoly mashed together.
Claire modeling Richard's Poor Almanack t-shirt
100_6708
Originally uploaded by mgrhode1
A entomologist contacted Richard Thompson about making a t-shirt from his Richard's Poor Almanack panel featuring the camel cricket. Richard, being a thoroughly nice guy, said yes and got some of the shirts in return. Modeled by Claire because they're all small.
Good luck in finding one of these collectibles!Thompson illustrates Barry in Post Magazine
Dave Barry's annual Year in Review in the Washington Post magazine is illustrated by Our Man Thompson and the pics are on the Post website.
Richard's got a post up on it too.
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE FRIDAY (Not Wednesday) 01-02-09
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE FRIDAY (Not Wednesday) 01-02-09
By John Judy
(Why kiss a loved one at midnight when you could be reading comics?!)
30 DAYS OF NIGHT: TIL DEATH #2 written and drawn by David Lapham. The creator of STRAY BULLETS is delivering his strongest work (and best 30 DAYS series) in a long time. Definitely worth a look if you think the world post-Barrow has been a bit of a let-down.
AVENGERS INITIATIVE #20 by Dan Slott, Christos Gage and Steve Kurth. Lots of post- Secret Invasion doings as the real Hank Pym returns and Mutant Zero stands revealed.
BATMAN: CACOPHONY #2 of 3 by Kevin Smith and Walt J. Flanagan. The Good News: Kevin Smith managed to hit a deadline on a monthly book. The Bad News: Did you see issue one?
CAPTAIN AMERICA #45 by Ed Brubaker and Luke Ross. Bucky America has to beat the French fiend Batroc the Leaper and find whoever’s left of the Invaders. I recommend shouting in German and checking Facebook.
FANTASTIC FOUR #562 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. The funeral of the Invisible Woman. They say it’s empty casket but how can you tell?
FINAL CRISIS: SECRET FILES #1 by Various Creators. Perhaps this will reveal the secret of why FINAL CRISIS is taking so long to wrap up already.
GOON #31 written and drawn by Eric Powell. “That’s the man who killed Kizzie! And it’s long past time that I dealt with him!” Highly recommended.
GREEN LANTERN #36 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke. Hal and the gang rush to duke it out with the wrathful Red Lanterns while the Controllers seek out the greed-powered Orange Lanterns. So “Orange = Greed.” A subtle swipe at a certain California county? Why not?
INCOGNITO #1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This new series is why CRIMINAL is going on hiatus so it must, must, must be awesome! Thankfully it looks like it is. The premise: What if you were a super-villain in Federal Witness Protection and you just couldn’t stand it anymore? Highly Recommended.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #28 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes. The JLA versus the Shadow Cabinet. Watch for flying splinters.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #22 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. Gog’s big, fat other shoe has dropped and now it’s time to throw it at him. Big Fight!
KICK-ASS #5 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Remember this series? Issue four came out in August. Look for the trade collection of the first six issues in December of 2008. Oh, wait….
MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA #2 of 6 by Kurt Busiek and Jay Anacieto. Photojournalist Phil Sheldon is still tracking the super goings-on in the Marvel Universe but he’s got troubles of his own. Cancer. An engaging follow-up to the classic MARVELS series.
NORTHLANDERS #13 by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly. The Irish guerilla and the Viking enforcer finally come face to face and it ain’t gonna be resolved with a drinking contest. Great stuff. Recommended.
PUNISHER WAR ZONE #4 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Wow, so it looks like this comic has already outlasted its namesake’s run in theatres. Deservedly so. Anyway, it looks like Frank’s gonna have to take out an army of Ma Gnucci zombie-clones. Seriously. Recommended, but not for kids or people with a low tolerance for the Ennis-style dark, silly humor.
SCALPED #24 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. My favorite comic continues to come out despite the best efforts of the buying public to keep it down on The Rez. Too intense for kids and those with a low tolerance for Total Awesomeness. Highly recommended.
THE STAND: CAPTAIN TRIPS #4 of 5 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Mike Perkins. It’s the end of the world as we know it and it looks fine! The best adaptation yet of Stephen King’s epic novel. Recommended!
SUPERMAN #683 by James Robinson, Geoff Johns and Renato Guedes. Imagine if you tried passing discriminatory laws like California’s Prop 8 against 100,000 people, each with the all powers of Superman. An intriguing issue.
ULTIMATE HULK ANNUAL #1 by Jeph Loeb and Marko Djurdjevic. This is quite an accomplishment since Ultimate Hulk never actually had his own series. Anyway, for some reason the mass-murdering Hulk of the Ultimates Universe is teaming up with the mass-murdering Power Princess from the Squadron Supreme Universe. Makes you wonder what these crazy kids will get up to, doesn’t it?
WOLVERINE #70 by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. The twisted alternate future road-trip continues with blind Hawkeye doing the violence and Old Man Logan not. Impressive they’ve maintained such a status quo all the way through part five of eight of this entertaining story.
WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY #3 of 4 by Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia. Wolverine must unite all the kung-fu schools in Chinatown to defeat the Black Dragon Tong. And that, my friends, is a movie! If you enjoy these Jason Aaron Wolverine stories as much as I, do yourself a favor and pick up his other title, SCALPED. You’ll have the rest of your life to thank me.
X-MEN: MAGNETO TESTAMENT #4 of 5 by Greg Pak and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Young Magneto finds himself in Auschwitz. It bears repeating that this is a genuinely powerful series, focusing less on super-heroics and super-villainy than on the horrors of a Jewish boy’s coming of age during the holocaust. Both Pak and Di Giandomenico deserve credit for taking what could have been a hideous trivialization of the 20th century’s darkest moment and making it into something both restrained and moving. Highly recommended.
www.johnjudy.net
By John Judy
(Why kiss a loved one at midnight when you could be reading comics?!)
30 DAYS OF NIGHT: TIL DEATH #2 written and drawn by David Lapham. The creator of STRAY BULLETS is delivering his strongest work (and best 30 DAYS series) in a long time. Definitely worth a look if you think the world post-Barrow has been a bit of a let-down.
AVENGERS INITIATIVE #20 by Dan Slott, Christos Gage and Steve Kurth. Lots of post- Secret Invasion doings as the real Hank Pym returns and Mutant Zero stands revealed.
BATMAN: CACOPHONY #2 of 3 by Kevin Smith and Walt J. Flanagan. The Good News: Kevin Smith managed to hit a deadline on a monthly book. The Bad News: Did you see issue one?
CAPTAIN AMERICA #45 by Ed Brubaker and Luke Ross. Bucky America has to beat the French fiend Batroc the Leaper and find whoever’s left of the Invaders. I recommend shouting in German and checking Facebook.
FANTASTIC FOUR #562 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. The funeral of the Invisible Woman. They say it’s empty casket but how can you tell?
FINAL CRISIS: SECRET FILES #1 by Various Creators. Perhaps this will reveal the secret of why FINAL CRISIS is taking so long to wrap up already.
GOON #31 written and drawn by Eric Powell. “That’s the man who killed Kizzie! And it’s long past time that I dealt with him!” Highly recommended.
GREEN LANTERN #36 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke. Hal and the gang rush to duke it out with the wrathful Red Lanterns while the Controllers seek out the greed-powered Orange Lanterns. So “Orange = Greed.” A subtle swipe at a certain California county? Why not?
INCOGNITO #1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This new series is why CRIMINAL is going on hiatus so it must, must, must be awesome! Thankfully it looks like it is. The premise: What if you were a super-villain in Federal Witness Protection and you just couldn’t stand it anymore? Highly Recommended.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #28 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes. The JLA versus the Shadow Cabinet. Watch for flying splinters.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #22 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. Gog’s big, fat other shoe has dropped and now it’s time to throw it at him. Big Fight!
KICK-ASS #5 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Remember this series? Issue four came out in August. Look for the trade collection of the first six issues in December of 2008. Oh, wait….
MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA #2 of 6 by Kurt Busiek and Jay Anacieto. Photojournalist Phil Sheldon is still tracking the super goings-on in the Marvel Universe but he’s got troubles of his own. Cancer. An engaging follow-up to the classic MARVELS series.
NORTHLANDERS #13 by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly. The Irish guerilla and the Viking enforcer finally come face to face and it ain’t gonna be resolved with a drinking contest. Great stuff. Recommended.
PUNISHER WAR ZONE #4 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Wow, so it looks like this comic has already outlasted its namesake’s run in theatres. Deservedly so. Anyway, it looks like Frank’s gonna have to take out an army of Ma Gnucci zombie-clones. Seriously. Recommended, but not for kids or people with a low tolerance for the Ennis-style dark, silly humor.
SCALPED #24 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. My favorite comic continues to come out despite the best efforts of the buying public to keep it down on The Rez. Too intense for kids and those with a low tolerance for Total Awesomeness. Highly recommended.
THE STAND: CAPTAIN TRIPS #4 of 5 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Mike Perkins. It’s the end of the world as we know it and it looks fine! The best adaptation yet of Stephen King’s epic novel. Recommended!
SUPERMAN #683 by James Robinson, Geoff Johns and Renato Guedes. Imagine if you tried passing discriminatory laws like California’s Prop 8 against 100,000 people, each with the all powers of Superman. An intriguing issue.
ULTIMATE HULK ANNUAL #1 by Jeph Loeb and Marko Djurdjevic. This is quite an accomplishment since Ultimate Hulk never actually had his own series. Anyway, for some reason the mass-murdering Hulk of the Ultimates Universe is teaming up with the mass-murdering Power Princess from the Squadron Supreme Universe. Makes you wonder what these crazy kids will get up to, doesn’t it?
WOLVERINE #70 by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. The twisted alternate future road-trip continues with blind Hawkeye doing the violence and Old Man Logan not. Impressive they’ve maintained such a status quo all the way through part five of eight of this entertaining story.
WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY #3 of 4 by Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia. Wolverine must unite all the kung-fu schools in Chinatown to defeat the Black Dragon Tong. And that, my friends, is a movie! If you enjoy these Jason Aaron Wolverine stories as much as I, do yourself a favor and pick up his other title, SCALPED. You’ll have the rest of your life to thank me.
X-MEN: MAGNETO TESTAMENT #4 of 5 by Greg Pak and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Young Magneto finds himself in Auschwitz. It bears repeating that this is a genuinely powerful series, focusing less on super-heroics and super-villainy than on the horrors of a Jewish boy’s coming of age during the holocaust. Both Pak and Di Giandomenico deserve credit for taking what could have been a hideous trivialization of the 20th century’s darkest moment and making it into something both restrained and moving. Highly recommended.
www.johnjudy.net
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Zadzooks Christmas column
ZADZOOKS: Offbeat holiday offerings
Joseph Szadkowski
Washington Times Thursday, December 25, 2008.
I really like Paul Dini's Jingle Belle.
Joseph Szadkowski
Washington Times Thursday, December 25, 2008.
I really like Paul Dini's Jingle Belle.
Crane and Bell with Comic Riffs anecdotes
"Fave Fan Anecdotes: 'Pickles' & 'Candorville'," By Michael Cavna, December 26, 2008.
New York Times on future of comic strips
This is a pretty good article - "Prototype: The Comics Are Feeling the Pain of Print," By LESLIE BERLIN, New York Times December 28, 2008.
New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff is quoted in this article about financial humor - "I’m Penniless, but the Laugh’s on Them," By LIZ ALDERMAN, New York Times December 28, 2008.
New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff is quoted in this article about financial humor - "I’m Penniless, but the Laugh’s on Them," By LIZ ALDERMAN, New York Times December 28, 2008.
Baltimore's Greg LaRocque interview on Newsarama
Baltimore's Greg LaRocque has an interview on Newsarama. LaRocque was one of my favorite DC artists in the late 80s, and I got to meet him and buy some art at one of the Baltimore Comic-Cons. Here's links to his website and Myspace pages.
Blogs and websites of my friends part 2
Cartoonist Darko Macan's blog (in Croatian) and the Ephemerist blog of neat cartoonist bits.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Blogs and websites of my friends
I just stuck a new widget up on the side linking to my friends, on topics that may or may not be comics-related. Check them out. First up is Dean Haspiel, cartoonist and Lisa Cherkasky, food fluffer.
Spirit interview in Post's Weekend section
Eva Mendes, Looking Through The Layers
By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 26, 2008; WE26
By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 26, 2008; WE26
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Comic Riffs anecdotes from Walker and Pastis
Fave Fan Anecdotes: 'Pearls Before Swine' & 'Hi and Lois'
By Michael Cavna | December 25, 2008;
By Michael Cavna | December 25, 2008;
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