Annapolis cartoonist Jim Orton dies

Alan Gardner caught the death of Jim Orton at 81. Alan also linked to Roy Delgado's remembrance of Orton's DC years.
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Dick Tracy at Nat'l Museum of American History

It's a book in Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn - http://www.si.edu/Exhibitions/Details/Paper-Engineering-Fold-Pull-Pop--Turn-896

There were some neat books in this show as you'd expect, including a Dick Tracy pop-up. A Terry and the Pirates book is shown in the free brochure.

There's a blog too.

PR: $1 Comic Book Sale at Beyond Comics

OUR BIGGEST $1 Dollar Comic Book Blowout Ever $1 Dollar COMICS Almost 30,000 Comics $1 Each   Marvels, DC Comics, Image, Dark Horse and others... Titles include: Batman, X-men, Captain America, Justice League, Superman, Spider-man, Wolverine, Daredevil, let's just say...almost every comic book title you can think of.   Sale Starts Sunday June 26th Ends Monday July 4th Pre - Sale Saturay June 25th after 6pm   Hours Sun 12-9 * Mon, Tues 10-8 * Wed - Sat 10-9 * July 4th 10 - 6  Gaithersburg                                       Frederick  Gaithersburg Square                       Route 85 536 North Frederick Ave                  5632 Buckeystown Pike Gaithersburg, MD 20877                  Frederick, MD 21704 301-668-8202                               (301) 6668-8202 All sales subject to availability. Sales do not apply to recent arrivals except where noted. Sale prices not applicable to special orders, on hold items or subscriptions. Discounts may not be combined with any other sales or promotions. Certain exclusions apply, see individual stores for details. Subscriber's not in good standing may be excluded from sales as deemed appropriate. Please visit our stores any time. Gaithersburg                                       Frederick Gaithersburg Square                       Route 85 536 North Frederick Ave                  5632 Buckeystown Pike Gaithersburg, MD 20877                  Frederick, MD 21704 301-668-8202                               (301) 6668-8202

Larry Rodman's Gene Colan interview reprinted online

In the 1990s-early 2000s, Larry Rodman was the Comics Journal's man on the ground in DC and did a lot of stories for them. He's become a school teacher now, and isn't as involved in comics as he was, but you can still spot him lurking at SPX at times.

Here's a piece he did a decade ago, reprinted due to Gene Colan's death this week -

The Gene Colan Interview
BY TCJ.com Jun 24, 2011
From The Comics Journal #231 (March 2001). Conducted by Larry Rodman.
http://www.tcj.com/the-gene-colan-interview/

Comic Riffs interviews Neil Gaiman

NEIL GAIMAN'S TWITTER VISION: Author plans to write about #Twitter in new 'American Gods 2'
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog June 24 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/neil-gaimans-twitter-vision-author-plans-to-write-about-twitter-in-new-american-gods-2/2011/06/24/AGgs8PjH_blog.html

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)