Leesburg, VA man outs himself as a furry

Pittsburgh inundated by furries -- fans of animated animals
PITTSBURGH | Fri Jun 24, 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-convention-furries-idUSTRE75N5JA20110624

Attendee Karl Jorgensen, of Leesburg, Virginia, said being a furry was rooted in his longtime appreciation for Looney Tunes and Warner Bros. cartoons. "I'm interested in animation," he said. "The playfulness ... I mean, who doesn't like watching cartoons, right?"

Uh-huh. And then perhaps dress up as Pepe LePew?

Truitt interviews Transformer voice actor

As Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen brings humanity to 'Transformers' franchise
Brian Truitt
USA Weekend's Who's News blog June 24th, 2011
http://whosnews.usaweekend.com/2011/06/as-optimus-prime-peter-cullen-brings-humanity-to-transformers-franchise/

PBS Newshour on Gladstone and Neufeld's The Influencing Machine

Brooke Gladstone's Graphic Commentary of Media's 'Influencing Machine'
Jeffrey Brown
PBS Newshour's Art Beat blog June 24, 2011
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/06/conversation-brooke-gladstones-the-influencing-machine.html

PRI's The World on State Dept's disinviting Palestinian cartoonist Majed Badra

Palestinian cartoonist Majed Badra accused of anti-Semitism
Lisa Mullins
PRI's The World 23 June, 2011
http://www.pri.org/arts-entertainment/arts/palestinian-cartoonist-majed-badra-accused-of-anti-semitism4565.html
http://media.theworld.org/audio/062220113.mp3

Monkey See blog on Cars 2

'Cars 2': Unfortunately, It's Just About Cars
by Linda Holmes
National Public Radio's Monkey See blog June 24, 2011
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/06/24/137346135/cars-2-unfortunately-its-just-about-cars

Local papers unimpressed with Cars 2

Not much under the hood in 'Cars 2'
By: Kelly Jane Torrance
 Washington Examiner 06/23/11: http://washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/2011/06/not-much-under-hood-cars-2

Alas, Poor Mater: 'Cars 2' Falls Short of the Original
By Kristen Page-Kirby
Express June 24, 2011, p. 30
http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2011/06/cars-2-falls-short-original.php

Lightning, Mater on the road, again
By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post June 24, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/cars-2,1177333/critic-review.html

Sidekick Tries to Tow a Sequel
By A. O. SCOTT
June 23, 2011
http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/movies/pixars-cars-2-with-larry-the-cable-guy-and-owen-wilson-review.html

Cartoon book reviews up at City Paper

I'm way behind on this, but here's a start -

International Ink: A Summer Comics Gift List
 by Mike Rhode on Jun. 24, 2011
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2011/06/24/international-ink-a-summer-comics-gift-list/

Trickster picks up book awards

Matt Dembicki's anthology Trickster picked up a couple of book awards recently. (Spotted by Tom Spurgeon)

MAGIC BULLET #3 fundraising begins on Kickstarter

Hey everyone, We here at the DC Conspiracy hope that you enjoyed MAGIC BULLET #2 and once again thank you for supporting that project. We are sending out this quick note to let you know that we are now raising funds for MAGIC BULLET #3 on Kickstarter. We've got a bunch of new prizes for pledging, including the easiest way for you to get your hands on a copy of the upcoming issue. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/plasticfarm/magic-bullet-3 Please, if you enjoyed MAGIC BULLET #2, take a moment to check out our pledge drive for #3. We'll also be updating the page often as we finalize our contributor list and as artwork comes in. Thanks again, Rafer Roberts

Comic Riffs interviews Neil Gaiman

Here's Michael Cavna's teaser post.

Tom Gammill and Arnold Roth namecheck Richard Thompson

Tom Gammill Lesson 27
Jun 20, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIFnA8p_wU

The 27th installment of Learn To Draw with Tom Gammill, where the creator of The Doozies visits the famous cartoonist and illustrator Arnold Roth and his wife Caroline at their NY apartment.

New Flugennock cartoon online

Latest'n'Greatest: "Don't Call Us – We'll Call You"

http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=899
Don't Call Us – We'll Call You

Click through for Mike's commentary on his cartoon.

Weldon on Woodring, Gross on Niemann

A Weird, And Wonderful, Cartoon 'Congress'
by Glen Weldon
National Public Radio's Books We Like (June 22, 2011)
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/22/137317502/a-weird-and-wonderful-cartoon-congress

and not quite DC, but Niemann's one of my favorites -

 

'That's How' Christoph Niemann Explains It All
by Terry Gross
Fresh Air from WHYY June 22, 2011
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/22/137197285/-that-s-how-an-illustrator-explains-it-all
http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/fa/2011/06/20110622_fa_02.mp3?dl=1
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=137197285

 

Job opportunity: cartoonist/letterist needed...urgent.

Nate (whom I don't know) has requested that I put this up on ComicsDC.

 

From: nathan <nate_888@yahoo.com>

Hi,  Came across comics dc and thought you might be the right person to ask - I'm looking for a skilled, experienced cartoonist/illustrator with great lettering skills to hire for a 1-2 day shoot that starts tomorrow. We're doing a project that is inspired by the RSA Animate series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc We will speed up the artist's hand drawing the images on a dry erase board, and match to a voiceover like they did in the link above.  The drawings look simple, but they are harder than they appear.  If you know anyone or have suggestions about where to post this request, I'd certainly appreciate it.  Nate

June 23: Brooke Gladstone at Politics and Prose, interviewed in Express

An Animated Personality: Brooke Gladstone, 'The Influencing Machine,' at Politics and Prose [in print: Meet an Animated Personality: Brooke Gladstone's graphic book sheds light on media history].
By Katie Aberbach
Express June 23, 2011
http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2011/06/brooke-gladstone-the-influencing-machine-politics-and-prose.php

Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; Thu., 7 p.m., free; 202-364-1919, Politics-prose.com. (Van Ness)

Comic Riffs on a Spider-Man death

RIP, SPIDER-MAN: In Memoriam, a fan's tribute to Peter Parker
By David Betancourt
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog June 22 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/rip-spider-man-in-memoriam-a-fans-tribute-to-peter-parker/2011/06/22/AGykb4fH_blog.html#pagebreak

Monkey See blog on the latest comic book death

"Spider-Man ... No More!" Some More: RIP, Peter Parker

by Glen Weldon

National Public Radio's Monkey See blog (June 22, 2011)

  http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/06/22/137333177/-spider-man-no-more-some-more-rip-peter-parker

One missing cartoonist from State Dept tour

I had an excellent time at the reception for these cartoonists last night and should have pictures up soon. That said, one cartoonist Majed Badra of Palestine was dis-invited, albeit not by the Washington office of the International Visitor Leadership Program, but rather by Consular Affairs. Here's what appears to me to be a good article -

Dept. of State rejects cartoonist over 'anti-Semitic' drawings
— Clara Hogan
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press June 20 2011
http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=11932

- and I particularly like this quote, which seems to go to the heart of the matter to me - "The young cartoonist noted that the U.S. government interfered with his freedom of speech in the context of a program that is meant to support it."

Conan Takes a Prize

Here's a Conan drawing by SL Gallant for my friend Ahmed, who requested that the severed head resemble me. Ahhh, friends...

Tom Gauld in yesterday's Washington Post

For the record, crack British cartoonist Tom Gauld had illustrations in the June 19th Washington Post Book Review. Gauld does regular illustrations for the New York Times Magazine, and has done book-related illustrations for a British newspaper for years.