Gary Groth recalls his "drive into Georgetown (in Washington, DC) ..."

[to] buy [underground] comics at wholesale rates from a head shop." And from those humble beginnings, the mighty Fantagraphics empire arose.

Crafting a Complete Zap

BY Dan Nadel Dec 3, 2014

http://www.tcj.com/gary-groth-on-zap/

Short cuts on The Art of Richard Thompson film, if not the book

Noel Murray December 03, 2014

Short Cuts: "The Art Of Richard Thompson," a documentary about one of this era's best cartoonists

http://thedissolve.com/news/4138-short-cuts-the-art-of-richard-thompson-a-documenta/

Brumsic Brandon obituary from NY Times

Brumsic Brandon Jr., Creator of 'Luther' Comic Strip, Dies at 87
By PAUL VITELLO
DEC. 2, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/arts/design/brumsic-brandon-jr-creator-of-luther-comic-strip-dies-at-87.html

"Mr. Brandon's gently satirical comic strip, syndicated from 1968 to 1986, chronicled the exploits of Luther, a wide-eyed African-American third grader, and his friends in a ghetto neighborhood not unlike the Benning Road section of northeast Washington, where Mr. Brandon grew up."

John Cuneo appreciates Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson draws funny.
by John Cuneo
Drawger blog December 2, 2014
http://drawger.com/johncuneo/?section=articles&article_id=15145

Hagen paintings at Cafe Nola

David Hagen says, "Hagen paintings are on display at Cafe Nola...

....for the whole month of December!  Only problem is you have to hike up to Frederick.

The info is here."

I personally am giving a Hagen original as a gift this Christmas.

Clifford Berryman on Ghosts of DC blog

D.C. Lacks National Representation … Still

This print is still appropriate today … sadly. We found this in the awesome collection provided by the DC Public Library. If you...

The Post on Frozen, again

Parents beware: this round of "Frozen"-mania won't end after the holidays. Idina Menzel says a sequel is in the works. [in print as A 'Frozen' sequel? Our blood runs cold, December 1, 2014]

By Jessica Contrera November 30 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/11/30/parents-beware-this-round-of-frozen-mania-wont-end-after-the-holidays-idina-menzel-says-a-sequel-is-in-the-works/

RIP Brumsic Brandon, Jr.

Brumsic Brandon, Jr. creator of the Luther comic strip has passed away.  Brandon was born in Washington, DC. More information at http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/floridatoday/obituary.aspx?n=Brumsic-Brandon&pid=173333233

Thanks to DD Degg for the tip.

Dec. 14: Keatinge, Duca at Big Planet

Joe Keatinge and Leila Del Duca, co-creators of the series Shutter from Image Comics, will be signing at Big Plant Comics at College Park from noon to 2 p.m. on Dec. 14. The store will also have an exclusive Big Planet Comics variant of the next issue, Shutter #7.

Dec. 3: Meet the Author Night

Gene Weingarten (Me & Dog) and Matt Dembicki (Wild Ocean) and will be among the local authors at the 25^th annual Meet the Author Night and Book Fair Dec. 3 (5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.) at the University Club of Washington, D.C.  The free event is open to the public. Click for the full list of participating authors.

Dec. 14: Bmore into Comics #5

Bmore Into Comics holds its fifth local comics show on Dec. 14 noon to 5 p.m. at the Wind-Up Space in Baltimore. 

Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year Series ends its 42 Year Run

Posted by Steve Artley

Pelican Publishing Company, which produced the annual collection of editorial cartoons, Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year, announced on November 18 that it has ceased production of the series, ending with the 2014 edition released last spring. The series, originally edited by editorial cartoonist Charles Brooks began in the early seventies and for many years was the only publication of its kind that showcased the year's political cartoons from across America, featuring work from members of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Following Brooks' death in 2011, editing duties fell to cartoonist Steve Kelley. 

At the time the publication began, nearly every American city had a morning and evening newspaper, and each paper had a full time editorial cartoonist. By the mid 1980's, with a greater number of newspapers being bought up by large news conglomerates that relied more on syndicated stories and art, the number began to dwindle. Now, there are less than 40 full time editorial cartoonists on staff at metropolitan newspapers in the United States. Public interest in traditional political cartooning has waned, as well. Within the past few years, online cartoon anthologies such as TIME and NPR, along with cartoon roundups once popular in the New York Times, Newsweek, and other print publications have been eliminated. 

While no details have been released from Pelican on its decision to cease publication, this action comes as no surprise to those of us in the editorial cartooning field.

Amy and Richard Thompson's first Thanksgiving, and a toe

A HIGH-STEPPING THANKSGIVING TALE or: How 'Cul de Sac's' Richard Thompson got a toehold in the world of humor-column writing

By Michael Cavna

Washington Post Comic Riffs blog November 27 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/11/27/a-high-stepping-thanksgiving-tale-or-how-cul-de-sacs-richard-thompson-got-a-toehold-in-the-world-of-humor-column-writing/

Apatoff on Thompson, day 4

THE ART OF RICHARD THOMPSON, day 4

http://illustrationart.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-art-of-richard-thompson-day-4.html

Nov 29: Rashin Kheiriyeh, children’s book author, illustrator, and animator

5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Rashin Kheiriyeh, children's book author, illustrator, and animator Politics & Prose is excited to join the Small Business Saturday festivities again this year. A great way to support local businesses in our community right as the holiday season gets into full swing, we hope you can join us and "Shop Small" on Saturday, November 29. We have a great lineup of authors who've answered the Indies First challenge and will be moonlighting as booksellers—joining our own fantastic staff—in support of the day. Come by and have one of the following writers rummage the shelves to recommend the perfect book for you or a great gift for a loved one of any age.

Post blog on St Louis arches cartoons

Cartoonist says his divided-arch cartoon about Ferguson was 'very obvious,' 'almost too easy'

By Erik Wemple
Washington Post's  Erik Wemple blog November 26 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/11/26/st-louis-cartoonist-says-his-divided-arch-cartoon-about-ferguson-was-very-obvious-almost-too-easy/

Thankful: Recent additions to the ComicsDC bookshelf

I'm trying to slowly compile a bookshelf, or two, of books by local cartoonists.

Here's what came in through the late summer and early fall (Stossel and Sala aren't local, but their subject is).

Clockwise from top, ending in the center:

Benbow, Hannah.  2013.
Munch Munch Crunch Crunch: Healthy Words From A to Z.
Washington, DC: Hannamations

Churn, Todd and Hannah Benbow.  2014.
Zoey Goes To The Beach.
Washington, DC: Todd Churn and Hannah Benbow

Apatoff, David, Nick Galifianakis, Mike Rhode, Chris Sparks, and Bill Watterson. 2014.
The Art of Richard Thompson.
Kansas City: Andrews McMeel

The Third Annual Ameriprint The You-Gotta-Be-Kidding, Is-This-For-Real? Off-The-Wall 1994 Wall Calendar.
Vienna, VA: Ameriprint
Pages of made-up holidays by local Washington-DC area illustrators including Richard Thompson.

Weingarten, Gene and Eric Shansby (ill).  2014.
Me and Dog.
New York: Simon and Schuster

Nilsen, Anna, Richard Sala (ill) and Betsy France.  2008.
Gallery Ghost: Find the ghost who paints the most!
Palo Alto, CA: Birdcage Press
Works of art from the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Stossel, Sage.  2013.
On The Loose In Washington, D.C.: A Find-the-Animals Book.
Carlisle, MA: Commonwealth Editions

Mullins, Linda.  2002.
The Teddy Bear Men: Theodore Roosevelt & Clifford Berryman, 2nd Edition.
Grantsville, MD: Hobby House Press

Berryman, Florence Seville and Clifford Berryman (ill).  1925.
Early American Bookplates.
University Press of Sewanee Tennessee

Happy Thanksgiving from ComicsDC

 

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Dec 8: Animation Films about the Berlin Wall

Animation Films about the Berlin Wall

The Wall in Our Heads – Arts – Civil Society and Walls: Current Perspectives

Film
Monday, 8 December 2014, 6:30 pm
Goethe-Institut Washington, GoetheForum
$7/$4
+ 1 (202) 289-1200
info@washington.goethe.org

A selection of films dealing with the topic of the Berlin Wall, curated by Annegret Richter, Head of Animation at DOK Leipzig.

All films either have English subtitles or no dialogue.

Sitis
East Germany, 1987, 11 min, Director: Rainer Schade
The cartoonist for this film, which depicts a character who runs his life into a wall, is still surprised that an East German state operated and controlled studio would produce a film with such a storyboard.
Rainer Schade is a German painter, graphic artist, cartoonist and university lecturer. He serves on appointment committees for universities in Halle, Dessau and Schneeberg, and has been chair of the art association Leipziger Jahresausstellung e.V. since 1995.

The Other Side (Die andere Seite)
UK/ Germany, 2007, 5 min, Director: Ellie Land
In this starkly animated documentary about the Berlin Wall, the subjects recall what they imagined was on the other side of the Wall.
Ellie Land is an award-winning filmmaker internationally, and works with documentary and animation. Her films have received awards and commendations from a variety of prestigious international film festivals. She lives in England, where she serves as senior lecturer in animation at Northumbria University, directs commercial animation and is developing a cross-media animated documentary project.

The Scent of the West (Der Duft des Westens)
Germany, 2013, 5 min, Directors: Mark Huff and Arne Breusing
A story of escape - between 1949 and 1989 about three million people left the GDR and the Soviet-occupied zone. Reinhold Huff, Mark Huff's father, escaped in September 1973 through the inner German border into Bavaria in western Germany.
Mark Huff is a motion graphic designer at Gravity Germany. Arne Breusing is a 3D and motion designer who works at Kochstrasse, a design studio in Hannover, Germany. He was a guest lecturer in 2010 at Hefei University in China. Their debut film, The Scent of the West, was their bachelor thesis at the University of Hannover.

Micki
Germany, 2014, 5 min, Director: Alexander Lahl
Micki recounts the story of Marienetta Jirkowsky, who tried to escape across the Berlin Wall for love. With only a few more meters remaining to climb, her story came to a tragic end.
Alexander Lahl was born 1979 in Berlin (GDR). He studied cultural sciences in Berlin, Wroclaw and Frankfurt (Oder). He works as a writer and filmmaker in Berlin. He is currently working on an ARTE documentary about the world's oceans.

Esterhazy
Germany/Poland, 2009, 23 min, Director: Izabela Plucińska
A small Esterhazy rabbit travels to Berlin in 1989. After months of looking for the mysterious wall, he finally finds it and meets Mimi. Right in that moment, the Berlin Wall falls.
Izabela Plucińska was born in 1974 in Koszalin/Poland. Following film studies in Lodz, she received a scholarship for the Konrad Wolf University of Film & Television in Potsdam- Babelsberg. Plucińska received a Silver Bear at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival for this film, which premiered internationally at the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Hollow Land (Terre d'écueil)
France, 2013, 14 min, Directors: Uri and Michelle Kranot
A story about the eternal human search for home, Hollow Land begins with the dream of utopia. Solomon and Berta are two seekers who arrive in a land that promises respite from their many journeys. Hollow Land captures the state of being displaced—whether by circumstance or by choice.
Michelle and Uri Kranot are independent filmmakers, interdisciplinary artists and immigrants. Originally from Israel, they have been living away from their homeland for many years. Their films have appeared in numerous film festivals and won many international prizes.

Chronicle of Oldrich S. (Kronika Oldricha S.)
Czech Republic, 2011, 18 min, Director: Rudolf Smid
Mr. Sedlacek wrote one-sentence entries in his journal from 1981 to 2005, recording everyday stories of his family's life, the life of the village and its surroundings, and international events.
Rudolf Smid is a sociologist, photographer, and freelance writer. The animated film Chronicle of Oldřich S. is his directorial debut.

Annegret Richter, a member of the selection committee, is the Head of Animation at DOK Leipzig. She was formerly Festival Director of the International Short Film Festival – Filmfest Dresden, film editor for various radio stations and magazines, and the curator of the 2008 special animated documentary program at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animation Film.

Nov 29: Big Nate: The Musical in Bethesda

Big Nate: The Musical

Children's Theater

Nate, an active, rebellious sixth-grader, attempts to win over his crush by competing for first prize in his school's battle of the bands contest. The comic musical, performed by Adventure Theater Musical Theater Center, is based on Lincoln Peirce's popular comic strip. 

10:30 am, 12:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 29

Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club

7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD

$15, $12 students

Web site

240-330-4500