Oct 24: DC Counter Culture Festival

This Sunday, the DC Counter Culture Festival 5 will see a lot of cartoonists hanging around downtown, many of them with the DC Conspiracy. Click here for a list of attendees.

This Sunday, October 24th
12 noon -- 8pm
RFD's
810 7th St NW
Washington DC 20001

OT PR: Comica Festival 2010

This is from my friend Paul, the man at the crossroads of comics. Anything Paul's involved with is good. If you're in England, go see it.

NEWS FROM PAUL GRAVETT - COMICA - ESCAPE BOOKS COMICA FESTIVAL 2010 Where: London Print Studio and other venues When: Throughout November 2010 Friday, 22 October 2010 saw the opening of the Comica Festival 2010 and the exhibition I have curated with a full two-month run at the London Print Studio, 425 Harrow Road, London W10, on till 18 December and admission free. Entitled That's Novel: Lifting Comics Off The Page, it presents original artworks and specially conceived digital prints by a range of British and transnational creators. The accent here is on innovation and on how comics can transcend their printed forms, both literally and physically in Karrie Fransman's and Philippa Rice's hand-crafted three-dimensional comics, or adapted for the big and small screens, such as Charlie Adlard's Walking Dead or Pulp Theatre's Alien Ink for Channel 4's website, as well as more subtly, for example being used to help carers, patients and relatives coping with depression or mental illness in Brick's Depresso or Darryl Cunningham's Psychiatric Tales, or as searing personal testimonies and astonishing works of art in their own right, as in the case the late John Hicklenton's last, tortured masterwork, 100 Months. More details... The exhibition at the London Print Studio forms the hub of this year's Comica Festival and already we've got an array of brilliant events lined up there, kicking off with Comica Conversations with Brick and Darryl Cunningham, and with Charlie Adlard and Alex Fitch, on Saturday 6 November, and a rare UK appearance by Ho Che Anderson, graphic biographer of Martin Luther King Jr, on Monday 15 November, talking with UK artist Paul Peart-Smith. More amazing events to come at LPS but meantime be sure to book tickets online as numbers are limited. And we have not left the ICA, by no means. The grand finale event on 1 December will be at the ICA's Cinema 1 where two legends of British comics, Steve Bell and Bryan Talbot, get together to reveal all about their prolific careers and launch their brand new books. More details.... In tune with the times, Comica Festival also continues to offer you great free events, and this year's programme kicks off again on Friday 5 November - 'Remember, Remember!' - with a free full-day Comica Symposium. The whole day's schedule is now online. Come and hear, and engage with, some of the UK's brightest researchers into all kinds of comics culture, from manga to superheroes, bandes dessinées to autobiography, and watch the fireworks fly! More details... And we're adding an exciting new venue and attraction to the regular free Comica Comiket Independent Comics Fair this year from 12-5pm at the Royal National Hotel, Bloomsbury on Sunday 7 November. As well as a dazzling variety of self-publishers, small presses, zinesters and collectives offering you the chance to buy their latest titles direct, we've invited a range of exciting artists from this scene to a 'Drawing Parade', in which they will draw live, before your very eyes, and inside their books if you like, and have their performances viewable on a large overhead screen. Among those taking part are: Charlie Adlard (Walking Dead), Paul Duffield (Freak Angels), Hunt Emerson (Firkin, Fortean Times), Garen Ewing (Rainbow Orchid), Paul Grist (Jack Staff, Torchwood), Roger Langridge (Muppets, Thor), Ellen Lindner (Whores of Mensa) and others. More details... This year's 4th Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize has once again unearthed some amazing UK-based talents. The winner will have their 4-page strip printed in The Observer on Sunday 7 November, but you can see many of the finalists on show at Orbital Comics Gallery from Monday 1 November till the end of the month. We're also compiling links again to as many entrants' stories as we can, so do please contact us once you've posted yours online. More details... And a last plug for two imminent events that I'm involved with. First up, today (Saturday 23 October) at 7pm, I am chairing a panel on Indian Graphic Novels as part of the new DSC South Asian Literary Festival, with special guests Mustashrik, Kripa Joshi, Woodrow Phoenix and S. Anand plus, technology willing, a live Skype-chat with Vishwajyoti Ghosh in New Delhi. The Indian comics scene is blossoming, come and discover its latest blooms! More details... And secondly, The Crick Crack Club are bringing to London (Tuesday evening 26 October) and Oxford (Wednesday lunchtime 27 October) a totally wild and thrilling 21st century version of Kamishibai, the Japanese performance storytelling tradition which is a major precursor of both manga and anime. Spice Arhur 702 have to be seen to be believed - you can see a video of them in action here. A unique chance to experience this inventive manga-performance troupe in the UK! More details... I'll sign off there, with the promise of more frequent newsletters as the Comica Festival season bubbles into life and as our very first Escape Book, The Great Unwashed by Warren and Gary Pleece, nears completion, ready for us to preview to you soon. More details... Thanks again for supporting my websites and the varied events and projects that spin out of them. Your continued interest means a lot to me and do hope you can spread the word to let more people know about them. I hope you'll enjoy more of the wonders of the comics world with me. Warmest wishes. Paul Gravett Comica Director www.PAULGRAVETT.com  -  www.COMICAFESTIVAL.com  -  www.ESCAPE-BOOKS.com

Comic books at the USA Science and Engineering Festival

Today and tomorrow on the Mall by the Smithsonian, hundreds of scientific groups have set up including ASME's Heroes of Engineering comic panels.






ed

Catching up with some photos

OSU's Wexner's book store had my Pekar book for sale! I couldn't believe it. More pictures from the OSU Festival of Comic Art are here.


Matt Groening and Tom Gammill.




Jeff Stahler construction cartoons at the Columbus Museum of Art.


Jen Sorenson and Richard Thompson admiring Crumb's line.



Pictures of Ted Rall at Busboys and Poets are here.

Caro on SPX minicomic buy Alexis Frederick-Frost’s "Voyage”

Here Be Lovely Monsters: Alexis Frederick-Frost's Voyage

Mark Zaid's legal comics exhibit coverage continues

Opening Statements - Comic-Con: The Legal Edition
By Jill Schachner Chanen
Posted Nov 1, 2010
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/comic-con/

"The Book in Art & Science," deadline November 30, 2010. SHARP meeting, Washington DC 14 July through Sunday, 17 July 2011

I did a paper for this conference a few years ago - it's a neat venue.

A reminder that the deadline for individual and panel proposals for the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP) 2011 conference, CFP "The Book in Art & Science," is November 30, 2010. The links to the electronic proposal submission forms can be found at http://www.sharpweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=360&Itemid=62&phpMyAdmin=1326493665cf5bcaf15cc4e30ad5ea2c&lang=en

SHARP's  nineteenth annual conference will be held in Washington, DC, Thursday, 14 July through Sunday, 17 July 2011. The sponsors of the conference are the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, the Library of Congress, the Folger Shakespeare Library and Institute, and the Corcoran College of Art + Design. The National Library of Medicine will be the site for welcome ceremonies and the conference's opening keynote address by Dr. Jon Topham, Senior Lecturer in History of Science & Director of the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science, University of Leeds.

Evoking Washington's status as an artistic and scientific center, "The Book in Art & Science" is a theme open to multiple interpretations. Besides prompting considerations of the book as a force in either art or science or the two fields working in tandem, it also encourages examinations of the scientific text; the book as a work of art; the art and science of manuscript, print, or digital textual production; the role of censorship and politics in the creation, production, distribution, or reception of particular scientific or artistic texts; the relationship between the verbal and the visual in works of art or science; art and science titles from the standpoint of publishing history or the histories of specific publishers; and much more.

Such topics raise a host of possible questions:

What tensions exist between the book in art and the book in science? What collaborations emerge? How do these tensions or collaborations differ according to time or place? What roles have materialforms-manuscript, print or digital embodiments or books, periodicals, journals, editions-played in the histories of artistic and scientific works?  How does the lens of art or science inform histories of reading and readers?  What does this lens reveal about histories of authorship?
How have commercial factors or economics influenced the production or distribution of scientific or artistic works? What roles have states or institutions played in the history of the book in art and science?

The conference hopes to welcome many longstanding SHARP members but also aims to attract new members. The conference's address of art and science in its title invites those working on the history of science, technology, knowledge production, or the scientific book, to join us.

The full CFP is available now at www.sharpweb.org

Eleanor F. Shevlin, Ph.D.
Dept. of English
548 Main Hall
West Chester University
610-436-2463
eshevlin@wcupa.edu


Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP)
Membership Secretary<mailto:eshev@loc.gov>
members@sharpweb.org<mailto:members@sharpweb.org>

Home/Mailing Address

2006 Columbia Road, NW
Apt. 42
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 202-462-3105

History of the Book in the West, Vol. 3, 1700-1800
http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754627685

Comic Riffs talks to Pastis on Pearls before screens

Casting 'PEARLS BEFORE SWINE': Stephan Pastis & RingTales take aim at screens big and small
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog (October 22, 2010):
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2010/10/pearls_before_swine_animations.html

Note that Ringtales also did an interview with Richard Thompson, according to this.

"Tamara Drewe" movie review in Post

I love Posy Simmonds' work and the graphic novel this was based on.

 

A silly tale that wins by a nose
By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post October 22, 2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/tamara-drewe,1167026/critic-review.html

Cartoons continue to show up in weird court cases

`South Park' Cartoon Threats Result in Terror Guilty Plea for Virginia Man
By William McQuillen - Oct 20, 2010
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-20/-south-park-threats-result-in-terrorism-guilty-plea-for-virginia-man.html

Joe and other local cartoonists will be at the DC Counter Culture Festival downtown tomorrow.

Meet a Local Comic Book Writer: A Chat with Joe Carabeo

Posted by Mike Rhode on Oct. 22, 2010

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2010/10/22/meet-a-local-comic-book-writer-a-chat-with-joe-carabeo/

Nate Beeler Youtube interview that we may never have linked to

Cartoonist Nate Beeler interviewed by Daryl Cagle
CagleCartoons | June 20, 2010


Daryl Cagle, the political cartoonist for msnbc.com and owner of the Cagle Cartoons syndicate, speaks with Nate Beeler, the editorial cartoonist for the Washington Examiner, at the 2010 AAEC Convention in Portland, Oregon.

Our Man Thompson on Our OSU Trip

Richard blogs about the trip to OSU's Cartoon Festival, so I don't have to. However, I do have pictures waiting to go up on Flickr. And more people knew who he was - must be something about having your name in a couple hundred papers, rather than a blog and a local paper, that leads people to recognize you. At least that's the only thing I can figure.

PR: Lynd Ward graphic novel prize established

Wordless comics have been a minor interest of mine - you can still buy a 2008 bibliography of them I did. Lynn Ward actually had more influence on me via his illustration work - my grandfather had a copy of the Frankenstein that Ward illustrated. His engravings for that are stunning. It's one of my favorite books, partly due to Pop's owning it, of course. Georgetown University here in DC also has a sizable Ward collection in its Library's special collections.

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 8, 2010

Penn State announces new graphic novel award in honor of Lynd Ward

University Park, PA—Penn State University Libraries and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book are pleased to announce the creation of the Lynd Ward Prize for Graphic Novel of the Year.

The Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize honors Ward's seminal influence in the development of the graphic novel and celebrates the gift of an extensive collection of Ward's wood engravings, original book illustrations and other graphic art donated to Penn State University Libraries by his daughters, Robin Ward Savage and Nanda Weedon Ward. Between 1929 and 1937 Ward published his six ground-breaking wordless novels—"Gods' Man," "Madman's Drum," "Wild Pilgrimage," "Prelude to a Million Years," "Song without Words" and "Vertigo"—which are being re-issued this month by

The Library of America in a two-volume boxed set entitled "Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts," the first time the nonprofit publisher has included a graphic novelist in its award-winning series.

Sponsored by Penn State University Libraries and administered by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize will be presented annually to the best graphic novel, fiction or non-fiction, published in the previous calendar year in the United States by a living American citizen or resident. The announcement of the award will take place each spring and the prize of $2500, the two volume set of Ward's six novels published by

The Library of America, and a suitable commemorative will be presented each fall to the winner at a ceremony to be held at Penn State.

The selection jury for the award will have representatives from various Penn State academic departments who use the graphic novel in their teaching or research, as well as representatives with graphic novel expertise from among Penn State's alumni. The inaugural selection jury for 2011 includes John Meier, an assistant librarian in the Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library; Jarod Rosello, a cartoonist, writer and doctoral student in curriculum and instruction in the College of Education; Jean Sanders, an associate professor of art in the School of Visual Arts; Scott T. Smith, an assistant professor of English and comparative literature in the College of the Liberal Arts; and Jerry Zolten, an associate professor of communication arts and sciences and American studies at Penn State Altoona.

For more information about the selection criteria and how to submit books for consideration for the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, contact Steven Herb at 814-863-2141 or visit the Pennsylvania Center for the Book website http://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/activities/ward/index.html

Dustin Harbin draws me in a comic strip

My buddy Dustin Harbin drew me (and Richard Thompson and Roger Langridge) in a comic strip about a meal at SPX - how cool is that?

Zadzooks on Spider-Man videogame and comic book movies

Zadzooks: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions review
Re-piecing reality in 4 Spidey universes
By Joseph Szadkowski
Washington Times October 13, 2010

Zadzooks: Jonah Hex, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse and 30 Days of Night
By Joseph Szadkowski
Washington Times, October 20, 2010

Oct 28: Cartoons & Cocktails

The annual auction of editorial cartoons at Cartoons & Cocktails is coming on October 28th. Tickets are on sale now.

Comic Riffs' Cyanide and Happiness webcomic interview

The 'Riffs Interview: 'CYANIDE & HAPPINESS's' Dave McElfatrick tackles visas, viscera & American humor
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog October 20, 2010

OSU Festival of Cartoon Art report from Isaac Cates

My friend Isaac Cates (who has a very cute Halloween minicomic to give out to kids in his neighborhood) has a good report on the OSU Festival on his blog. I'll try to get one of mine written up soon.

Mark Zaid's comic book lawyer exhibit continued

Mark Zaid's exhibit on the law in comic books continues to spin off online interest. Here's some new bits:

Video of "Superheroes in Court!" talk is now available by Mike Widener, Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog October 18, 2010

Mark's talk on the exhibit - Superheroes on Court! Lawyers, Law and Comic Books by Yale Law Librarians Oct 18, 2010

An audio interview - Where We Live: It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's A Lawyer! Today Lawyers become Superheroes and Comics, Kind of

Host: John Dankosky

Guest: * Mark S. Zaid
* Michael Widener
* Joey Novick
* Dale Cendali
WNPR's Where We Live Oct 04, 2010 and the mp3.

And an interview by lawyers - Abnormal Interviews: Lawyer/Comic Book Collector Mark Zaid, by Phil Reeves and Stephanie Flynn, Abnormal Use blog October 18, 2010

And finally, Mark's other career as a lawyer is mentioned here in the NY Times - A Stimulus Plan, Disguised as Censorship, By JOHN SCHWARTZ, October 9, 2010