That darn Mark Trail

Letters to the Editor

The saguaro cactus grows in the Sonoran Desert, not the Chihuahuan Desert [in print as 'A spine in the side of Mark Trail']

Casey Dowell, Alexandria

Washington Post (January 23, 2016): https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-saguaro-cactus-grows-in-the-sonoran-desert-not-the-chihuahuan-desert/2016/01/21/f3ce67d2-bed5-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.html

Ben Hatke receives an award

Little Robot receives Gryphon Award

Graduate School of Library and Information Science January 22, 2016
http://www.lis.illinois.edu/articles/2016/01/little-robot-receives-gryphon-award

The Post on Disney's mid-1990s movies

Researchers have found a major problem with 'The Little Mermaid' and other Disney movies

By Jeff Guo
Wonkblog January 25 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/25/researchers-have-discovered-a-major-problem-with-the-little-mermaid-and-other-disney-movies/

Magic Bullet 12 cover peak

Here's a sneak peak of the cover image for Magic Bullet 12, which will be hitting the streets, soon.

We're excited to unveil a sneak peek of the next cover for "Magic Bullet"! Designed by Matt Rawson, this will be the twelfth issue of the newspaper, and features over thirty five different comic artists from around the area. It will be hitting the streets of the city in the last week of January and through February. Look for it in your favorite comic book stores, or check out www.magicbulletcomics.blogspot.com for an updated list of places that carry it.

DC cartoonist Dana Maier added to Go Comics site

I'm afraid I haven't been familiar with her before, but ComicsDC sends out congratulations. From their press release:

GoComics Introduces Four New Webcomics in January

More than 300 comic strips, panels and editorial cartoons are now available for daily and weekly reading online and via the free GoComics mobile app.

Kansas City, Mo. (January 25, 2016) — GoComics, a part of the Universal Uclick
syndicate family, is excited to announce the addition of four new features to its lineup of classic and new comic strips. Offering classic archives including Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield and Dilbert, and popular syndicated and webcomics such as The Argyle Sweater, Pearls Before Swine, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and Jim Benton Cartoons, GoComics provides new, fresh and free content every day. All are available at GoComics.com or on the free GoComics mobile app on multiple platforms.

The Worried Well by Dana Maier

Dana Jeri Maier's comics provide useful advice, philosophical musings and spot-on witticisms. She shows us ourselves, not unkindly, as silly and vain and self-involved. Her cartoons feel very interior, a mind watching the world and muttering to itself. They're what that person standing by themselves at the party, not talking to anyone, pretending to look vaguely interested in nothing in particular, has been secretly thinking the whole time.

Dana Jeri Maier is an artist and cartoonist living in Washington, DC. She has exhibited widely throughout the DC Metro area and various street corners, if you know where to look. Maier's site-specific mural, Inscrutable Comic, is on permanent display at the Flashpoint Gallery in Washington, DC.

Read The Worried Well at http://gocomics.com/the-worried-well.

And John K is a friend of mine, so we'll point out his new strip too.

Dadding Badly by John Kovaleski

Dadding Badly documents one dad's experience of raising a miniature version of himself who can't talk, walk, forage for food or have any concept of proper bathroom habits.

John Kovaleski is a cartoonist and writer living somewhere above ground. He is the creator of the comic strip Bo Nanas, and a contributor to MAD Magazine. He is also a father of his own small human, who seems to be turning out OK so far. Fingers crossed.

Read Dadding Badly at http://gocomics.com/dadding-badly.

Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "#DCBlizzard"

"#DCBlizzard"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=1838

I rather like the shoveling -- repetitive, relaxing, meditative. Big ol' mug of coffee, smoke a bowl, suit up, stomp on out there and just kinda get into it. Some of my neighbors are out shoveling, too, so everybody's taking a break and hanging out. Round 2 begins soon -- or soonish, seeing as it's 8:30 on Sunday morning as I write this...


--

Mike Flugennock

The Post on Chinese animation

He's having an animated baby. Scared, kids? [online as The Chinese smash-hit 'Monster Hunt' makes its way to the U.S.]

By Stephanie Merry Washington Post (January 22 2015): Weekend 26
https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/the-chinese-smash-hit-monster-hunt-makes-its-way-to-the-us/2016/01/21/0a490310-bbb5-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html

Kremos books available from Lost Art Books

Joe Procopio has published two new, fine-looking books about the Italian cartoonist.

KREMOS: The Lost Art of Niso Ramponi — Volumes 1 & 2

Volume 1: Bodacious Black & White

Introduction by Mario Verger • Edited by Joseph V. Procopio

Volume 2: Curvaceous Color
Foreword by Jerry Carr • Edited by Joseph V. Procopio
He worked under numerous names—Kremos, Niso, Nys O'Ramp—but he occupies a singular space as Italy's cartooning Casanova, and he finally gets his due in this new two-volume set from Lost Art Books. From the mid-1940s through the early 1960s, Niso Ramponi's work was everywhere, from collaborating with friend Federico Fellini in Italy's animation industry to drawing newspaper strips to creating movie posters for Walt Disney. Ramponi made his name, however, in Italy's weekly satire magazines, for which he drew some of the world's prettiest "good girl" gag cartoons and covers for over a decade. Volume 1 collects over 200 of Kremos' bodacious black & white cartoons and illustrations, while Volume 2 adds 250 of his curvaceous color comics and covers to the set. Combined, these volumes offer a comprehensive overview of the maverick artist when he was at the height of his powers.

Vol. 1: $27.95 • 200 pp. • B&W • paper • ISBN: 978-0-9906932-3-9

Vol. 2: $34.95 • 260 pp. • Color • paper • ISBN: 978-0-9906932-4-6

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE SHIPMENT

- See more at: http://www.picturethispress.com/kremos-lost-art-of-niso-ramponi-volumes-1-2/#sthash.u3DzjX0Y.dpuf

Jan 22-24: Animore con in Baltimore?

AniMore 2016

Convention Schedule 2016

Hyatt Regency Baltimore

Welcome to AniMore, a convention to be held January 22-24, 2016.

Three days of cosplay, exhibitors, music, anime, gaming, and more. AniMore will be a fan-centric convention with fans getting the opportunity to cosplay, meet voice actors and other famous guests, and have a great time in the celebration of the love of anime, video games, and Japanese culture.

Pre-registration is available online, and gets you in at a discount. You can also register at the convention in person. We may expect to have an attendance cap, as our venue can only hold up to 2,500 attendees. (Though we know that we're much more likely to get about 1,000 attendees.)

Guests and events can be found on the guests and events pages.

One-time local collector Greg Reece profiled

WHAT'S YOUR BEST PRICE: Greg Reece
Art Cloos

Scoop January 22 2016
http://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1017?ArticleID=173812

"GR: I first saw them in 1972 on a spinner rack at a 7-Eleven in Gaithersburg, MD. I was instantly drawn to the vibrant art and incredible colors. They just blew me away!"

March 5: GARY LUCAS’ FLEISCHEREI

GARY LUCAS' FLEISCHEREI:
Music From Max Fleischer Cartoons

And now, for something different! Celebrating the release of the titular album–on Silver Spring based label Cuneiform–legendary guitarist Gary Lucas joins forces with Tony®- nominated singer and actress Sarah Stiles (Avenue Q, Hand to God) for a loving musical tribute to the swinging, jazzy soundtracks that adorned master animator Max Fleischer's surreal, wacky and Yiddish-inflected Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons of the 1930's.

Backed by the cartoons themselves, and the cream of NYC's jazz performers (Jeff Lederer on reeds, Rob Jost on bass, Rob Garcia on drums and Mingus Big Band's Joe Fiedler on trombone), Lucas and Stiles have a rare evening in store.

Get ready for a swirling melting-pot of jungle-band jazz, Tin Pan Alley torch songs, raucous vaudeville turns, and Dixieland mixed with a pinch of Klezmer.

SPOTLIGHT EVENING
Saturday, March 5, 8:30 pm
AFI Silver Theater
8633 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, MD

Julian Lytle talks to Warren Bernard

julian lytle:

Ignorant Bliss 34: A chat with Warren Bernard

Longboxes & 22's blog January 2016

http://longboxeson22s.tumblr.com/post/137784751817/julianlytle-so-i-had-the-pleasure-of-meeting

So I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Warren Bernard, executive director of @spx and author of the book Cartoons for Victory. I met him at this past year's SPX and was kind enough to invite me over to his house to see his extensive collections of comics, cartoons, and books library then to talk to me for this here show. This might be the closest to an interview I've done so I hope you enjoy it. Check out the blog post to see some a pic of stuff from the visit and please check out @spx if you haven't and a link to the book.

The Post on Batman and Wonder Woman

Lynda Carter won't appear in the new Wonder Woman movie

[in print as Lynda Carter won't wear the golden lasso in 'Wonder Woman'

By Emily Heil January 21 2016, p. C2
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2016/01/20/lynda-carter-wont-appear-in-the-new-wonder-woman-movie/

How one Batman writer conquered the concern: 'What if everybody hates it?'

By David Betancourt
January 21 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/01/21/how-one-batman-writer-conquered-the-concern-what-if-everybody-hates-it/

Ed Piskor, Michael Ramirez, and Gene Yang announced for National Book Festival in 2016

Update: Darrin Bell has also confirmed his attendance.

Sweet Sixteen: The 2016 National Book Festival Announced!

January 21, 2016 by Lola Pyne
http://blogs.loc.gov/national-book-festival/2016/01/sweet-sixteen-the-2016-national-book-festival-announced/

Many authors have already accepted the festival's invitations this year, and they include:

• Kwame Alexander, Newbery Medal winner
• Douglas Brinkley, prize-winning historian
• Christopher Buckley, author of such satirical works as "Thank You for Smoking"
• Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and author
• Philip Glass, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
• Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Winston Groom, author of "Forrest Gump"
• Stephen King, best-selling, prize-winning author and literacy advocate
• James McBride, National Book Award winner
• Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian
• Joyce Carol Oates, prize-winning author of more than 70 books
• Ed Piskor, alternative comics artist
• Michael Ramirez, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
• Diane Rehm, NPR host and author
• Salman Rushdie, Man Booker Prize winner
• Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Bob Woodward, Pulitzer prize winner and author of 17 No. 1 best-sellers
• Luis Alberto Urrea, prize-winning author of "The Devil's Highway"
• Gene Luen Yang, Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

The National Book Festival poster will be designed this year by Yuko Shimizu, an illustrator based in New York City and an instructor at the School of Visual Arts. Her work has appeared on The Gap T-shirts, Pepsi cans, Visa card billboards and Microsoft and Target ads, as well as on book covers for Penguin, Scholastic and DC Comics. She has published work in the pages of The New York Times, Time magazine, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and many other publications.

Big Planet Comics Bethesda 50% off all hardcovers

With the impending snow storm, 50% off all hardcovers starts today. Bethesda store only.

--
Joel Pollack
BIG PLANET COMICS

4849 Cordell Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814

Ryan Holmberg's latest article

Here's a new one by the sometime Silver Spring resident.

Singing Our Own Song: Hayashi Seiichi vs. Sasaki Maki, 1969

BY Ryan Holmberg Jan 20, 2016
http://www.tcj.com/singing-our-own-song-hayashi-seiichi-vs-sasaki-maki-1969/

Animator Butch Hartman in The Post

Meet Butch Hartman, the magical animator behind 'Fairly OddParents'

As 10th season of "OddParents" premieres, Hartman works on beastly new Nickelodeon show.

[in print as Artist Butch Hartmans' 'FairlyOdd' career].

By Harrison Smith
Washington Post January 19 2016 C8

online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/meet-butch-hartman-the-magical-animator-behind-fairly-oddparents/2016/01/15/87aa5f64-b56d-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html

Towles' Captain America

D.C. mural artist Kelly Towles recently finished a commission of Captain American on a 12x12 wood panel using spray paint.

Posted with permission from Kelly Towles

Pope's Google doodle

Richmond, Va., illustrator/cartoonist Richie Pope did the Google doodle for Jan. 18, MLK Day.  Here's an article about it in today's Richmond Post-Dispatch.

2 new SPX videos both featuring local creators

SPX 2015 Panel - SPX Spotlight on Kathryn and Stuart Immonen

SmallPressExpo Jan 16, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5yu-bWyvJg

The incredibly impressive Immonens are comics creators who have done it all! Kathryn Immonen has written for Marvel Comics (Runaways, Journey into Mystery) and Stuart Immonen has drawn for Marvel and DC (Ultimate Spider-man, All New X-men, Superman), as well as collaborating on the wonderfully written and gorgeously illustrated independent graphic novel "Moving Pictures" and their 2015 release "Russian Olive to Red King." In this panel they discuss the intricacies of their latest story, one that visits the wild haunts of the Northern wilderness and the lonely worlds inhabited by broken hearts. Moderated by Jim Dougan.

SPX 2015 Panel -Tasty Comics

SmallPressExpo

Jan 11, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtOgNKM7rvk

What's more delicious than the devastatingly perfect combination of COMICS and FOOD?! This tasty panel chews on the delectable dilemma of portraying food and its importance in our lives in comic book form! Welcome chefs Robin Ha (Banchan), Jade Lee (Dumpling Zine), Eric Colossal (Rutabaga the Adventure Chef), and Jessi Zabarsky (I Want to Eat Everything). Moderated by Head Chef Lauren Jordan.