Tuesday, April 18, 2017

'Classic Archie' returns to soda stands... no, it's comic books

Fan-favorite artist Dan Parent is bringing back Archie's classic look — with a twist


Artist Dan Parent is returning to a new monthly Archie Comics series "Your Pal Archie" debuting in July. (Archie Comics)

Monday, April 17, 2017

April 22: Creator Con in Silver Spring, Md.

2017 Creator Con is this Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. in Silver Spring, Md. Admission is free. 

According to the organizers, Creator Con "is a grass-roots interactive media festival that provides a down-to-earth, positive celebration for communities to learn, create, collaborate and become inspired to pursue their passions towards careers in the arts, computer science, gaming, interactive media and technology industries."

The 3rd Annual Creator Con will include art & gaming competitions, special guest presentations, designer challenges, workshops, panels, kidzone, live music, food trucks, vendors, and interactive hands-on demos.

In addition to panels & demonstrations, Creator Con will showcase more than 150 artists & developers from the comic book and gaming industries in a comic-con setting to allow attendees direct access to walk-up and meet all of the amazing artists, creators and developers.


Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "Won't Somebody Think Of The Children?"

From DC's anarchist cartoonist Mike Flugennock:

"Oh, Won't Somebody Think Of The Children?"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=2236

When Uncle Sam starts waving the bloody dead children around, you know they're scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to lame excuses for war. It's a wheeze that goes back to World War I and earlier. It's as if they aren't even trying anymore.

Here's House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi -- a classic craven, crawling Democrat if ever there was one -- with just the kind of lame, basic horseshit that really sticks in my craw:

https://twitter.com/NancyPelosi/status/850478908675956736
https://twitter.com/NancyPelosi/status/850521682892685317


Is there any chance La Nan gave any thought to the children of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Gaza, and everywhere else the US has slaughtered children -- either directly or by proxy -- in the past twenty or thirty years? Any chance she thought of the thousands of black youth murdered by police in the US in the past twenty, twenty-five years? Nahh, not a chance in hell, are you kidding?

Then came this huge blooper, about a week after Nancy's uninspired pro-war queefage:

http://sinkers.org/posters/thinkofthechildren/wapoApr1417pgA1_crop600w.jpg

So, they were "mistakenly identified" as ISIS, then? So, if the Post says they were "Allied Forces", then it's probably better than even money that a few of them were kids. D'ohhh.

And let's also not forget -- Nancypants is no stranger to kissing up to warmongers. Check her out here: first on NBC "Today" in 2002 describing how the Democrats stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Bush as he lied us into war in Iraq; then on "Meet The Press" in 2006, talking about how the Democrats are "not about impeachment...".

Oh, how I laughed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSWa4km5hv0


Sunday, April 16, 2017

April 22: Curls Studio at McKay Books in Manassas


Please join Curls Studio at McKay Books this coming Saturday, April 22 from 11AM to 5PM. Swing by to say hello and pick up gifts for your loved ones. I will draw a sketch in every book purchased and would enjoy meeting you in-person. Sean Causley, creator of Panda Force, will also be there!

If you are planning to go to this small comic con, you can also bring in your used records, movies, books, etc. Look at their website for details about what they can except for store credit or cash/check.

McKay is located at 8345 Sudley Road, Manassas, VA 20109 in the Manaport Shopping Center across from the Manassas Mall.

Sean Causey of Panda Force will also be there.

Letters to the Post on comic strips

Fact-checking those funny pages


(Mort, Brian & Greg Walker/King Features Syndicate)

Tom Munger, Vienna and

Jack Aubert, Falls Church

Washington Post April 15 ,2017, p. A11



Saturday, April 15, 2017

Metro Weekly talks to Bechdel

Print copies are available locally at Metro stops in purple bins. Alison is on the cover.

Drawing on Life: An interview with "Fun Home's" Alison Bechdel

Cartoonist Alison Bechdel couldn't have sketched out a more successful career if she'd tried

Friday, April 14, 2017

Kickstarter for Retrofit/Big Planet Comics spring 2017 line

Retrofit/Big Planet Comics has launched a new $18,700 Kickstarter campaign to fund their spring 2017 line, which includes six new graphic novels/comics, including Virginia resident Warren Craghead III's TRUMPTRUMP Vol. 1: Nomination to Inauguration.


Comic Riffs on Bingo Love

'Bingo Love' writer Tee Franklin looks to tell a tale of romance rarely seen in comics


Washington Post Comic Riffs blog April 11 2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/04/11/bingo-love-writer-tee-franklin-looks-to-tell-a-tale-of-romance-rarely-seen-in-comics/
 

Comic Riffs talks to MAD Jake Tapper

April 28: Swann Foundation Fellow to Discuss German Cartoonist

Swann Foundation Fellow to Discuss German Cartoonist

Elizabeth Nijdam in Presentation on German Cartoonist Anke Feuchtenberger, April 28

Public Contact: Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov

Swann Foundation Fellow Elizabeth (Biz) Nijdam, in a lecture at the Library of Congress, will discuss the comic art of the East German-born artist Anke Feuchtenberger in the context of her artistic training and the political climate in which she developed.

Nijdam will present "'It's Not Just Horror and Black:' The Comics of Anke Feuchtenberger and Their Many Expressionisms" at noon on Friday, April 28, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the Library's James Madison Building, 101 Independence Avenue  S.E., Washington, D.C.  The lecture is free and open to the public.  Tickets are not needed.

Feuchtenberger studied at the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts.  It was not until after 1989, the year the Berlin Wall came down, that she embraced comics, an art form virtually non-existent for adult audiences in the German Democratic Republic. According to Nijdam, a striking feature of Feuchtenberger's art is its expressionist visual rhetoric. Her sequential art recalls early German modernism, emulating the aesthetic of the woodcut print, the claustrophobic and angular space of German expressionist cinema and the deformed bodies and elongated appendages of the work of Otto Dix and Georg Grosz.

This visual language predates Feuchtenberger's artistic production by more than seven decades, and raises the question—how did she come to adopt an early German expressionist style? Nijdam's presentation investigates the many sources of Feuchtenberger's woodcut aesthetic, tracing its influences to her East German training in the graphic arts, Weimar modernism, East German neo-expressionism and American alternative comics.

Nijdam is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  Her research focuses on German comics after 1989, and her dissertation traces East German artistic traditions influencing the post-unification comics of Anke Feuchtenberger and Henning Wagenbreth, members of the PGH Glühende Zukunft (Glowing Future), a group that Feuchtenberger and fellow students founded. Nijdam's dissertation research has been published in the International Journal of Comic Art and World Literature Today. She has worked extensively on comics in the classroom and wrote a chapter on teaching German history with graphic novels in the book "Class, Please Open Your Comics" (2015).

Nijdam is the secretary for the executive committee of the International Comic Arts Forum and a member-at-large on the executive board of the Comics Studies Society's Graduate Student Caucus.  She is also the founding organizer for the Transnational Comics Studies Workshop at the University of Michigan. In 2017, she received the Rackham Outstanding Instructor Award for her teaching on comics.  In October, she will begin work on her book, "Panelled Pasts: East German History and Memory in the German Graphic Novel," as a postdoctoral fellow in the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.             

This presentation, sponsored by the Swann Foundation and the Library's Prints and Photographs Division, is part of the foundation's continuing activities to support the study, interpretation, preservation and appreciation of original works of humorous and satiric art by graphic artists from around the world.

The Swann Foundation's advisory board includes scholars, collectors, cartoonists and Library of Congress staff members.  The foundation awards fellowships annually (or biennially) to assist scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. Applications for the 2017-2018 academic year will be due Monday, Feb. 15, 2018.  For more information, visit loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome/ or e-mail swann@loc.gov.

The Library of Congress is the world's largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov, and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.

Paula Bannerman: An Artomatic Interview

20170331_203542by Mike Rhode

Paula Bannerman doesn't consider herself a cartoonist, but her display at Artomatic revolves around a cartoon character: "Hello Kitty Gone Wrong is a series of iPad drawings that puts Hello Kitty in Action, Suspense, and mostly Horror situations." She's kindly answered our usual questions anyway.

What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?

I'm unsure how to answer this question because I never thought of myself as a comic artist. I like to use bold colors. Everything depends on what I'm using to create.

How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination? 

It's drawn on my iPad. I usually draw while riding on the Metro, especially the red line. I get some much done during Safe Tracking.

When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?

Late 70's, Washington, DC

Why are you in Washington now? What neighborhood or area do you live in?

The Washington, DC-area has always been my home. I do love traveling to other places, but I always love coming back to home, even with the changes.

20170331_203527

What is your training and/or education in art?

I have been doing art since I was five years old. I managed to stay in art classes from elementary school to high school. Right now, when I go to the Portrait Gallery’s Open Studio, they have each week a different lesson which is great.

Who are your influences?

My family, my friends, Andy Warhol, Yayoi Kusama, and my art teachers: Roland Colmus, Annette Cross, and Jill Galloway.

If you could, what in your career would you do-over or change?

I wouldn't make any changes over because I am here right now for a reason.

What work are you best-known for?

I think I'm more known for usually drawing on my iPad while riding the Metro (trains and buses); outside of that, I think I am known for one of my first iPad drawings, "In Her Eyes," where you see a red decorated face with a yellow eye. And recently, I think my Hello Kitty's Gone Wrong series is becoming popular because I started receiving Hello Kitty toys, stickers and other merchandise from friends.
20170331_203509
What work are you most proud of?

I'm proud of finishing a piece than just one work.

What would you like to do or work on in the future?

Ever since I started getting involved in the STEM/STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) movement, I would like to work on having large scale pieces with more of a strong emphasis on technology. Then with the pieces, I would love to inspire others to create something amazing as well.

What do you do when you're in a rut or have writer's block?

I go to the Portrait Gallery, spend time at my friend’s store in Union Station, travel somewhere, listen to music like the Cirque du Soleil soundtracks or just start doodling.

What do you think will be the future of your field?

In the past three years of drawing on the iPad, I went from just doing small sketches that I thought wouldn't go far, to now creating work wondering what other possibilities can I do with it, then going to conventions and showing others to create more. I feel that within drawing and creating there will always be a need to promote the importance of art, and with that, I see my field as always growing, even with opposition. Art is everywhere and is a powerful force that can't be stopped.

What local cons do you attend? The Small Press Expo, Awesome Con, Intervention, or others? Any comments about attending them?

So far I have done Awesomecon (taking a break this year), Tee con, T-mode, CreatorCon, Makers Day Nova, National Makers Faire, and Girl Scout Makers Day.

My comment about them is regardless of if you are a vendor or visiting, it's always good to have a comfortable pair of shoes and snacks. As well as map out the bathrooms and the cheap restaurants inside and outside of the convention.

20170331_203505
What's your favorite thing about DC?

My favorite thing about DC is the fact there are so many opportunities out there to be able to do whatever they dream of doing for little or to no money. For example, I wanted to learn the coding language, Python. So I went to Hear Me Code, and I was able to get three free Python lessons. Don't get me started on the DC library and their amazing resources!

Least favorite?

Parking

What monument or museum do you like to take visitors to?

The Portrait Gallery because they have the free open studio on Fridays and they have art challenges in the Luce Center on Tuesdays. Also on the weekends, they have free coffee in the Luce Center.

How about a favorite local restaurant?

Pho 88.

Do you have a website or blog?

www.dcartist.com

The Post on 'Fun Home'

It's built around a funeral home, but there's nothing funereal about 'Fun Home' [in print as 'Home' is where the heartbreak is].


Theater critic
Washington Post April 14 2017, p. Weekend 18-19
online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/its-built-around-a-funeral-home-but-theres-nothing-funereal-about-fun-home/2017/04/13/9cfd37bc-1d57-11e7-a0a7-8b2a45e3dc84_story.html

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

NPR on Eartha by Malkasian

Long-Buried Secrets, Scampering Dreams And A Cat That Talks: 'Eartha'

A moment of discovery from Cathy Malkasian's richly melancholic graphic novel Eartha.

Comic Riffs wants your Trump drawing

So Trump's a visual learner? You can send your message to him now with #MyDoodle4Donald


Washington Post
Comic Riffs blog April 12 2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/04/12/so-trumps-a-visual-learner-you-can-send-your-message-to-him-now-with-mydoodle4donald/

Comic Riffs on X-Men artist's secret anti-tolerance messge

Roz Chast does 2017 Book Festival poster


2017 National Book Festival Poster Depicts Delightful World of Books



2017 National Book Festival poster by cartoonist Roz Chast.

Spring is in the air and with it begins anticipation for our summer celebration of books and reading – the Library of Congress National Book Festival – which this year will take place on Sept. 2. Two weeks ago the diverse author lineup for the 2017 festival was announced and today the poster is being revealed!

The poster artist is Roz Chast, a cartoonist whose work has been published in The New Yorker, Scientific American, the Harvard Business Review, Redbook, and more. Chast started drawing cartoons as a child growing up in Brooklyn, and went on to graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has won numerous awards for her books and illustrations.

Cindy Moore, a graphic specialist at the Library of Congress, led a team of other graphics specialists at the Library in selecting Chast to design this year's poster. However, the theme Chast came up with was all her own.

"Books have always been a major part of my life from the time I learned to read," explains Chast. "They are a way to escape from the world, but also a way to feel more deeply connected to it. I wanted to make a poster that expressed the excitement, appreciation, and delight I have for the books of my life."

By the looks of this lively whimsical poster, she succeeded wildly!

You can download a copy of the poster from the Library of Congress National Book Festival website.
The 2017 Library of Congress National Book Festival, which is free for everyone, will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday, Sept. 2. The festival is made possible by the generosity of sponsors. You too can support the festival by making a gift now.