ComicsDC

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

April 13: Hess and Northrup on political cartoons at National Archives

Stephen Hess and Sandy Northrup speak on their new book, Drawn & Quartered: The History of American Political Cartoons tomorrow:

Wednesday, April 13, 7PM, National Archives, McGowan Theater

I'll be at this.

A Drop's Life cartoon on the DC water pollution

Here's the article about a nice little cartoon on about treating runoff pollution - "A Drop's Life," produced by Free Range Studios, tells the story of DC Water's Clean Rivers Project from the perspective of a single water drop."

New Cartoon Explains DC Water Project
(WUSA) Apr 12, 2011
http://wusa9.com/news/article/146465/373/New-Cartoon-Explains-DC-Water-Project

And the A Drop's Life cartoon is on Youtube.

Flugennock answers "Are You In?"

http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=824 - click here to see his comments and cartoons.

May 6 - June 4: We Are Monsters exhibit features local cartoonists

Lifted from Facebook, courtesy of Carolyn Belefski. Marc Crisafulli, Carolyn and Evan Keeling are cartoonists that I know.

We Are Monsters

Friday, May 6 at 7:00pm - June 4 at 6:00pm
________________________________
Location
Pleasant Plains Workshop
2608 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, DC
________________________________
More Info
A hand-picked group of over twenty artists, illustrators, and designers are bringing the beasts to the heart of DC. Dual heads, third-eyes, cloven hoofs, purple fur, and forked tongues will be found in obscene abundance. Media will include painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, maybe even a little video.

Opening Friday May 6, from 7–9pm at Pleasant Plains Workshop. Artists include

Marc Crisafulli
Carolyn Belefski
Greg Pizzoli
Dana Jeri Maier
Antonio Peters
Adam Dwight
Elizabeth Graeber
John Foster
Rich Bernett
Tim Gibbon
Melinda Rainsberger
Catherine Smith
Josh Dihle
Mike O'Brien
Allison Glancey
Ivan Anic
Evan Keeling
Kristina Bilonick
Stephanie Kwak
Steve Loya
Jodi Hoover
Lisa Adang
Pia Blumenthal
Anthony Dihle

Monday, April 11, 2011

PR: Alterna Comics and Rafer Roberts present PLASTIC FARM: SOWING SEEDS ON FERTILE SOIL TPB

Alterna Comics and Rafer Roberts present PLASTIC FARM: SOWING SEEDS ON FERTILE SOIL TPB

A revised edition of the critically acclaimed underground comic book series PLASTIC FARM to be released through Alterna.

Alterna Publisher Peter Simeti and Plastic Farm creator Rafer Roberts have announced that a new revised edition of PLASTIC FARM: SOWING SEEDS ON FERTILE SOIL will be released through Alterna Comics in June 2011 and can be found in Diamond's April Previews catalog, order code APR110754. "Sowing Seeds" is the first volume in the epic PLASTIC FARM comic book series about a man who is losing his mind and how that madness reshapes reality in many strange, terrifying and hilarious ways.

To celebrate this new edition, creator Rafer Roberts has gone back into these early works and digitally cleaned up much of the artwork and re-lettered a large portion of the comic."I didn't know what I was doing early on," says Roberts. "Most of the lettering in the early issues was pretty terrible and mostly unreadable and I saw this team-up with Alterna as the perfect opportunity to correct some my youthful ignorance." Roberts sates that he spent "about a month doing new hand-lettering for the book. There's at least 100 pages with new lettering, which works out to be about a third of the book." Roberts laughs when thinking about the process. "This process about killed my wrist, but seeing the final product, I can say it was absolutely worth it."

Aside from an obvious facelift, the edition being released through Alterna will boast 352 pages in black and white with an affordable price tag of $19.99.
Alterna has been publishing creator-owned titles since 2006 and PLASTIC FARM will be no exception to that rule. With a line-up of more than 30 graphic novels in 5 years, Alterna has one of the largest libraries of creator-owned work for a small press publisher. The partnership with Alterna will allow for wider distribution and visibility for PLASTIC FARM.

"I'm ecstatic about partnering with Peter and Alterna", says Roberts. "I've long admired the other books they've put out, like AMERICAN TERROR and THE CHAIR, and to be part of this team is a thrill."Simeti echoed Roberts' comments, "Rafer has been great to work with and I couldn't be happier about having PLASTIC FARM as the second addition to our Partnership Program. We've already had a lot of success with Jeff McComsey's FUBAR as our initial selection for the program and I feel strongly that we'll repeat that success with PLASTIC FARM. It's a great book with a compelling story – what more could you want?"

PLASTIC FARM has been described as "A really strange, really engrossing good comic book" by CEREBUS creator Dave Sim and as "An epic descent into madness and, not coincidentally, hilarity" by Rob Vollmar, the Eisner nominated author of CASTAWAYS and BLUESMAN.

PLASTIC FARM began publication in 2000 as a series of mini-comics and has been published in print and online. PLASTIC FARM: SOWING SEEDS ON FERTILE SOIL is written and mostly drawn by Rafer Roberts, and features artwork from Danielle Corsetto (Girls With Slingshots), Dennis Culver (ONI's TRUE TALES OF ROLLER DERBY), Dave Morgan, Wendi Strang-Frost (JOHNNY PUBLIC, ELFQUEST) and Jake Warrenfeltz (MAGIC BULLET, TRICKSTER).

For more information about PLASTIC FARM, please visit: http://www.plasticfarm.com
ISBN: 9780981457024
For more information about Alterna Comics and their Partnership Program, please visit: http://www.alternacomics.com

A pdf preview of the collection can be downloaded here:
http://plasticfarm.com/alterna/PlasticFarm-free-preview.pdf

###

Rafer Roberts
Plastic Farm Press
http://www.plasticfarm.com
813 S. Potomac Street
Hagerstown, MD 21740
301-992-7719

Comic books uh-oh

Beyond Comics puts out a weekly newsletter, listing the new comics and the like coming out that week.

This list caught my eye as an egregious sign that speculation is back in the comic book market:

Variant Covers
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN THOR GOES HOLLYWOOD VAR #658
BATMAN AND ROBIN VAR ED #22
BLACK PANTHER MAN WITHOUT FEAR THOR GOES TO HOLLYWOOD #517
FLASH VAR ED #10
GI JOE VOL 2 10 COPY INCV #1
HELLBOY BUSTER OAKLEY GETS HIS WISH MIGNOLA VAR
IRON MAN 2.0 DJURDJEVIC VAR #3
JOHN BYRNE NEXT MEN 10 COPY INCV #5
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY A ADAMS VAR #622
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY THOR GOES HOLLYWOOD VAR #62
JUSTICE LEAGUE GENERATION LOST VAR ED #23
NEW AVENGERS THOR GOES HOLLYWOOD VAR #11
SHIELD INFINITY WEAVER VAR
SKAAR KING OF SAVAGE LAND TAN VAR #1
SUPERMAN VAR ED #710
TRANSFORMERS ONGOING 10 COPY INCV #18
TRANSFORMERS RISING STORM 10 COPY INCV #3
ULTIMATE AVENGERS VS NEW ULTIMATES CHO VAR #3
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN MCGUINNESS VAR #157
UNCANNY X-FORCE THOR GOES HOLLYWOOD VAR #7
UNCANNY X-MEN THOR GOES HOLLYWOOD VAR #535
WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS 10 COPY A ADAMS VIRGIN VAR #2
X-MEN LEGACY THOR GOES HOLLYWOOD VAR #247

...almost 25 variant covers in one week? Not good.

More on the Stafford County Sun's Frank Lewis

Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter dug more into Frank Lewis' career and found these two articles:

Lewis contributes to children's book
By Stafford County Sun Staff
January 26, 2011
http://www2.staffordcountysun.com/news/2011/jan/26/lewis-contributes-childrens-book-ar-800749/

Frank Lewis: cartoonist and combatant
By BEN BLANKENSHIP / Stafford County Sun
May 09, 2007
http://www2.staffordcountysun.com/lifestyles/2007/may/09/frank_lewis_cartoonist_and_combatant_05_09_07_scs-ar-296219/

Richard Thompson quoted in Little Nemo article

Winsor McCay's 'Little Nemo' brought a new animated spirit to film 100 years ago
Charles Solomon
April 11, 2011
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/04/11/winsor-mccays-little-nemo-brought-a-new-animated-spirit-to-film-100-years-ago/

Daniel Boris still in Cartoonist Studio contest

According to his Facebook page, Daniel Boris is still in the running for the Cartoonist Studio contest.

Al Goodwyn is still in Cartoonist Studio contest

Al Goodwyn wrote in:

Just wanted you to know that the contest is still progressing. So far I've made it into Round 7 of this 10 Round competition. They've eliminated 70 cartoonists so far.

Here's the link to this week's entry of mine:http://tinyurl.com/6y9llrn

Here's the link to what they call the Amateur Cubicle where I have quite a few of my cartoons posted:http://tinyurl.com/3o4tzos

Artley wins 2 Virginia Press Association Awards

Steve Artley has won a couple of awards -

Saturday, I attended the Virginia Press Association awards banquet in Norfolk. I and several hundred others received awards. Just like last year, I got 1st and 2nd place for editorial cartooning in non-daily publications (they call the category "illustrations"). Last year I came home with the Best in Show plaque, but didn't get it this time (sniff).

First Place: http://www.omnicontests3.com/vpa/omnigallery/entry/gallery_item_info.cfm?child=1&client_id=1&entry_id=4126&competition_id=2&gallery_item_id=743

Second Place: http://www.omnicontests3.com/vpa/omnigallery/entry/gallery_item_info.cfm?child=1&client_id=1&entry_id=4128&competition_id=2&gallery_item_id=1021

Saturday, April 09, 2011

Tomorrow: Capicons convention

Capicons Comic Book and Pop Culture Con
Sunday, April 10 · 10:00am - 3:00pm
________________________________
Location
Dunn Loring Volunteer Fire And Rescue Department
2148 Gallows Road
Dunn Loring, VA
________________________________
More Info
Special Guest: Rafer Roberts--creator of Plastic Farm, and editor of D.C. Conspiracy's Magic Bullet! More TBA!

Admission $3 - Kids FREE!

Open to the public from 10 am - 3 pm. Buy, sell & trade: Gold, Silver, Bronze Age comics; Indie & Modern comics, Publishers & Creators, TV & Movie Collectibles. Non-sport cards; Videos & DVDs; Horror/Sci-Fi; figures, toys; Star Wars & Star Trek memorabilia; original artwork, posters and other comic-related collectibles.

Friday, April 08, 2011

Baltimore's Tim Kreider is not happy

What Is to Be Done? A Snapshot of Our Profession
BY Tim Kreider Apr 8, 2011
http://www.tcj.com/what-is-to-be-done/

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Former local comics journalist Scott Rosenberg recommends comics in NY

MoCCA: Seek out these comics and graphic novels
By Scott A. Rosenberg
amNY 4/6/11
http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/mocca-seek-out-these-comics-and-graphic-novels-1.2804543

Washingtonian Shannon Gallant identified as 'Oklahoman S.L. Gallant' in profile

Former Oklahoman S.L. Gallant to draw Family Guy comics
Matt Price
nerdblog April 6, 2011M
http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/2011/04/06/former-oklahoman-s-l-gallant-to-draw-family-guy-comics/

Library of Congress Personal Archiving Day on April 30

Many comic collectors have their own archive of course...

April 7, 2011

Public contact: William Lefurgy (202) 707-8618, wlef@loc.gov

Pass It On: Personal Archiving Day at the Library of Congress on April 30

Personal treasures should be safeguarded so that future generations can share in the collective memories of loved ones. Advice on how to preserve and protect precious digital and traditional photos, documents, recordings and more will be presented on Personal Archiving Day at the Library of Congress.

Pass it On: Personal Archiving Day at the Library of Congress will be held on Saturday, April 30, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in LJ 119, first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington D.C. The event is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed.

Library staff will be on hand to talk directly with individuals about how to manage and preserve their collections. There will also be videos and printed information available. For security reasons, attendees are asked not to bring collection materials to the event. No appraisals will be provided. For information about visiting the Library go to www.loc.gov/visit/.

Pass it On: Personal Archiving Day at the Library of Congress celebrates Preservation Week (April 24-30), www.ala.org/preservationweek/. This joint initiative of the Library, the American Library Association, the Institute for Museum and Library Services and other partner organizations highlights libraries and other collecting institutions as excellent sources of preservation information. The Library's Personal Archiving Day is co-sponsored by the Library's Office of Strategic Initiatives and Library Services.

"It is a great pleasure for us to be able to help families preserve their photograph collections," said Laura Campbell, associate librarian for Strategic Initiatives. "Digital technology in particular provides new challenges and opportunities to keeping photographs accessible over time and across generations."

Deanna Marcum, associate librarian for Library Services, said "Many of the collections currently held by the Library of Congress came originally from personal collectors. It is in the best interest of the Library to help families preserve memorabilia that help trace the history of our communities and nation."

To learn more about the event and to sign up for free digital preservation updates, visit www.digitalpreservation.gov.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, with nearly 145 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site, in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill, and through its award-winning website at www.loc.gov. Many of the Library's rich resources and treasures may also be accessed via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.

The Office of Strategic Initiatives, National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program is pursuing a national strategy to collect, preserve and make available significant digital content, especially information that is created in digital form only, for current and future generations.

# # #

PR 11-077
04/07/10
ISSN 0731-3527

The Comics Issue: If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don't They Pay?

Drawn and nickled and dimed

By Roy Edroso

Apr 6 2011

http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-04-06/news/the-comics-issue-if-cartoons-are-so-big-why-don-t-they-pay/

David Hagen's Carrot Ride featured in today's Express

David Hagen's Carrot Ride is the illustration featured in today's Express highlighting an Artomatic show at National Airport.