Update to Big Planet customers

The comic books are in! Please disregard the message posted previously.

Note to Big Planet customers

Joel Pollack says, "UPS delays due to Inaugural events, may result in a delay for comics appearing on our racks until mid-afternoon Wednesday, and that's a best-case scenario. Please bear with us, and join us as we welcome our new President to town."

Wordless comics bibliography available now

Some years ago I helped put together a bibliography of wordless comics that was published in the International Journal of Comic Art 2:2 (Fall 2000). Today questions about those comics were raised on the comix-scholars list with some people sending in suggestions about titles. I pulled up my old list to take a look at it and decided to make an update available.

I whipped up a corrected and updated version of the 2000 version of the list I had and stuck it on Lulu.com at http://www.lulu.com/content/5790271 as Stories Without Words: A Bibliography with Annotations 2008 edition. You can download a pdf for $1 (it wouldn't let me set it any lower), or buy a print version for $10.00.

Dave Horsey reflects on Civil Rights

Dave Horsey hung around in Falls Church rather than downtown on Sunday, but reflected on Washington and the struggle for Civil Rights - "Novus ordo seclorum," by David Horsey at January 19, 2009.

If I can descend to editorializing, it's been a long time coming. I feel good about my country and what it stands for - life, liberty, equality and the pursuit of happiness - for the first time in a long while.

Comic strip characters in DC for Inauguration

Verne from Over the Hedge probably gets the closest although Prickly City did ok too. The Rudy Park cast apparently hasn't heard that all the highways from Virginia are closed - maybe they're coming from Maryland where the roads stayed open? Secret Asian Man is watching it on tv.

And Curtis is in trouble! I never realized he lived in DC before, but he just took a bus into town so he must.

Ted Rall's coverage of President Obama's first day

OT: Links to friends of Mike continued

Sacha Adorno - Communicator - my buddy Brian Biggs significant other, about whom he writes "Sacha is a writer, who mainly works for non-profits. I suppose you'd call some of it public relations. When you get materials, reports, fund-raising materials, and other ephemera from your local museum, private school, hospital, etc, she is the person who writes it. She went freelance last year and is looking to expand outside of the Philadelphia area, as far as clients are concerned."

Brian's an artist and cartoonist so here's his site too - MrBiggs.com.

Dave Horsey at Dupont Circle Starbucks at 6 pm on Monday

Pulitzer winning cartoonist Dave Horsey will be at Dupont Circle Starbucks at 6 pm on Monday for a meeting with other Seattlites in town for the ceremonies. Caution: the native Seattlite is reported to be "cold, distant and not trusting" according to this article featuring alt cartoonist John Roberson.

There's no way in Hades that I will anywhere near the District today (except for living 5 miles from downtown) so I won't be at Starbucks although Horsey's work is great.

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 01-21-09

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 01-21-09
By John Judy

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583 (Second Print Obama Appearance) by A Simple Comic Book Company That Just Wants All Your Money. Check out the comic that has poor old Erik Larsen feeling soooo upset and doesn’t cost 75 bucks on E-Bay. BTW, the lead story by Waid, Kitson and Farmer is pretty great. And the back-up does have Obama giving Spidey the “terrorist fist-jab” even if it’s written like one of those old Hostess snack cake ads. Treat yourself. At cover price, of course.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #584 by Marc Guggenheim and John Romita Jr. This one has all the answers to all the questions raised in the past year’s worth of Spidey titles! Who is Menace? Who is the Spider-Tracer Killer? Why couldn’t retailers get all the Obama covers they could have sold last week? (Okay, how about MOST of the questions…)

ASTONISHING X-MEN #28 by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. Did Cyclops really cut off his own head? Did Armor really kill a crippled Wolverine by cooking him over an open fire? Will any of this stuff ever be acknowledged in mainstream X-book continuity? It’s a week of questions at the House of Ideas!

DARK AVENGERS #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr. Who are they? What do they want? And how long will it take Bendis to tell us? More questions!

FACES OF EVIL: DEATHSTROKE #1 by David Hine and Georges Jeanty. Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator, the guy whose name can never be bad-ass enough, is making a comeback with a Face so Evil he has to hide it behind a mask, even though that mask just screams out “Punch me on the right side! That’s where I’m completely blind!” Just sayin’…

FINAL CRISIS: SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 of 2 by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke. It’s Grant Morrison and it comes with 3-D glasses. For most people that should be enough.

GARTH ENNIS’ BATTLEFIELDS: NIGHT WITCHES #3 of 3 by Garth and Russ Braun. Concluding a brutal series about the dust-ups between the Nazis and the Russians back in the day. Not for kids or anyone else still wishing to find anything glorious in war. Recommended.

GREEN LANTERN #37 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. In which we ask the musical question “Why don’t the Red Lanterns die of anemia from all that blood they’re vomiting in every single panel?!?” Not a great power, Red Lanterns!

HELLBLAZER #251 by Peter Milligan and Giuseppe Camuncoli. PioneeringVertigo author Milligan takes his turn at the plate with the life and fortunes of John Constantine. The storyarc “Scab” begins here. This one’s an absolute “Gotta-Look!”

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #29 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes. Hats off to McDuffie for bringing back Starbreaker, the galactic vampire who devours solar systems for snacks! Few things compare to the pleasure of seeing a villain you haven’t seen since you were a kid reading the original JLA title back in the year 19… Ah, nevermind.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #21 by Dan Slott and Khoi Pham. Wow! Hank Pym is back wearing his dead wife’s clothes, dating her robot clone and it sure looks like the Scarlet Witch is back from the Phantom Zone or Trans-Bagelburg or wherever they stuck her! And Dan Slott’s at the helm! Yet another “Gotta-Look!” Recommended.

PUNISHER: FRANK CASTLE MAX #66 by Duane Swiercynski and Michel Lacombe. It’s “D.O.A.” Punisher-style! Some punks dose Frank with poison and tell him he’s gotta dance if he wants the fix-it juice. Stupid punks… Note the new title distinguishing this book from the one where Frank’s shooting capes with stolen Skrull artillery.

RUINS #1 by Warren Ellis and Cliff & Terese Nielsen. A reprinting of Ellis’ 1995 thumb in the eye to MARVELS, in which every one of the Marvel Universe heroes meets a horrible, depressing fate. Both issues collected here. For some reason there’s always a new generation that wants to read this story. Enjoy.

SPIDER-MAN: NOIR #2 of 4 by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky and Carmine DiGiandomenico. It’s the story of Spidey told as if he had lived in Depression Era New York. For lovers of all things Pulp and Parker.

THUNDERBOLTS #128 by Andy Diggle and Roberto De La Torre. The beginning of a new arc, a new order and a new creative team on a book that shows you how fun it can be playing The Bad Guy.

UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #2 by Matt Fraction and Mitch Breitweiser. Focusing on the life and loves of White Queen Emma Frost. Okay, maybe love isn’t the right term here.

X-FACTOR #39 by Peter David and Valentine Delandro. Siren and Madrox enjoy a blessed event. Wait, that was nine months ago. Now they’re just having a baby.

X-MEN: LEGACY #220 by Mike Carey and Scot Eaton. Rogue’s back.

www.johnjudy.net

Rob Tornoe in DC for inauguration too

Rob Tornoe, cartoonist for Editor and Publisher's online site, tells me he'll be in town for the inauguration. He's the second editorial cartoonist I know of coming in to observe and do direct cartoon journalism - Dave Horsey was mentioned here yesterday. Anyone else?

Baltimore's Closed Caption Comics in NYC

Baltimore's Closed Caption Comics has a show at a gallery in New York City through early February.

Richard's Poor Almanack previews the inaugural parade

Yesterday's Richard's Poor Almanack previewed the inaugural parade. Now you can skip it and stay home and warm, or go to work and do something productive.

Beeler's Obama caricature covers Examiner

Today's free Washington Examiner has a big caricature of Obama by editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler.

Zadzooks on Prince of Persia video game

Another videogame this week - ZADZOOKS: Prince of Persia review: Heroes must save Persia," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Wednesday, January 14, 2009.

At some point, videogames moved into the field of comic art, with the increased quality of their animation. I'm not sure what point that was, or when they'll move back out of it, but I do know that not enough attention is being paid to the animation art in them.

Catching up on Greg Bennett's recommendations - "Bennett's Best for the week of January 11," Zadzooks Blog January 14 2009 - The Walking Dead and... Secret Invasion? Nah, he's got to be kidding.

The previous week - "Bennett's Best for the week of January 4," Zadzooks Blog January 14 2009 - was Runaways and Incognito.

Dave Horsey in DC too

In addition to all the comic strip characters coming to DC, Dave Horsey is here as well. The ex-presidential candidates from Scott Stantis' Prickly City just arrived as well.

Spider-Man and Obama bits

Erik Larsen, Savage Dragon cartoonist, feels that Marvel Comics got the idea of putting Obama on the cover from him, since he did it in the fall.

And in the first case of comic book store profiteering I've heard of, Past Present Future Comics, 1387 N. Military Trail in West Palm Beach, FL was charging $49.95 for the Spider-Man comic book according to blogger Rick Christie, who bought one, not appearing to realize that the book will be worth $8 or so in a month - flip it now Rick!

Florida seems to have some issues with trademarks as well, as we can see in this add from the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, although they reported that their local store sold out of the comic.

Pekar's upcoming opera - more information

See "Harvey Pekar Talks "Leave Me Alone!" Opera," by Michael San Giacomo, Guest Contributor, Mon, January 12th, 2009 which also has a downloadable audio file of Pekar and Crumb. For those who want to read more about Pekar's love of music, my book of interviews has a bit on that.

OT: Comic museum and library news

Readers may have noticed a certain interest of mine in libraries and museums of comics. Here's two new articles - "Andrew Farago, Cartoon Art Museum Gallery Manager/Curator" and on a new collection given to U Penn - "Passion for comic books," By Ruth Rovner, Delaware County, PA Daily Times Friday, January 16, 2009/

OT: More fashion in comics

Years ago, Isaac Mizrahi did an expensive booklet series called Sandee the Supermodel. Last year, there was an exhibit on superhero fashion (or lack thereof) in New York. And now the press release that follows points out this new Italian book which seems interesting... AND has another cartoon picture of Obama!

Available in the best bookstores as from February 2009
aleXsandro Palombo
VANITAS, INSHALLAH
XI years of dreamlike color

The fashion world portrayed in the incisive and brilliant illustrations of aleXsandro Palombo in a poetic and colorful universe, surreal and provocative in a new book in the series "Chic et Simpliciter" from Hazard Editions. The first catwalk-book ever.

VANITAS, INSHALLAH is a veritable illustrated tale, extravagant and provocative right from the title, which leads into the imaginary and poetic universe of aleXsandro Palombo, revisiting eleven years of his creations: colors and memories, places and icons, slogans and insights.

A journey into the world of fashion in which real and surreal pursue each other along the lines traced by one of the most original and surprising talents in Italian and international fashion, a succession of illustrations with an unmistakable line that conveys with utter simplicity the thoughts and inner world of the artist, an endless moving archive, a gallery of relics and surreal hypotheses, precognitions and fantasies.

One hundred unpublished plates, composing a hymn to the poetic of color and epitomizing Palombo’s whole development, enable readers to experience a dream called fashion between imagination and provocation.

Accompanying readers on this adventure is Vanitas, the clown whose task is to act as a guide to memories and dreams, until the fateful moment of the fashion show in which the journey culminates. And it is at this point that Vanitas reveals Palombo’s new creations in the world’s first illustrated fashion show.

The reader becomes a privileged guest who can share the rituals of fashion - the show and favored guests, backstage and the catwalk, the creations and provocations, models and fashion writers…

As in a powerful snapshot, Palombo’s rapid, profound line illustrates the vices and virtues of the fashion world, building up with scathing irony to a surprising finale.

The power of the pages illustrated by Palombo needs no commentary and for this reason the volume contains no critical texts but only a series of intimate and private presentations written by those with a close knowledge of his personality, rich and intuitive, retiring and reserved.

This volume reveals the dreams of Palombo as illustrator and narrator of anecdotes, revealing an artistic temperament, unknown even to those who follow carefully his many-sided activities, which he has always maintained complete reserve.

He does so in the simple language of dreams, of fantasies that are joyous and sad, rich and allusive, original and profound, while always preserving that elusive and unrepeatable element which is a trait of his style.

The publisher Giovanni Miriantini declares: "I at once realized I was dealing with a great artist. His illustrations, graphically and chromatically perfect, create a sort of interplay between earthly and celestial, human and divine."

Founded in 1986, Hazard Editions is distinguished by the high quality of its publications in the field of comics d’auteur and artistic illustration. Its publications include works by authors such as Dino Battaglia, Enki Bilal, Silvio Cadelo, Philippe Druillet, Federico Fellini and Milo Manara, Hans Rüdi Giger, Dave McKean, Leiji Matsumoto, Lorenzo Mattotti, Sanpei Shirato, Josè Munoz, Posy Simmonds, Jacques Tardi and Osamu Tezuka.

The series "Chic et Simpliciter", devoted to great fashion illustrators, over the years has brought out volumes devoted to Maddalena Sisto, Ruben Toledo, Antonio Lopez and François Berthoud.

OT: Mautner's Dilbert interview

Chris Mautner has posted his entire interview with Scott Adams on his blog and it's really interesting.