Scoop on Awesome Con

Convention Recap: Awesome Con
Amanda Sheriff
http://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1017?ArticleID=210753

Awesome Con in Photos
http://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1018?ArticleID=210759

On March 30 through April 1, 2018, comics and pop culture fans traveled to Washington, DC for the annual Awesome Con. Here we present photos of booths, exhibits, guests, and cosplayers that could be found throughout the convention center. Photos were provided by Gemstone Associate Editor Amanda Sheriff.

Awesome Con Interview: Count Gore De Vol
http://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1018?ArticleID=210777

Count Gore De Vol, the popular TV and internet horror host from the Washington, DC area, was among the many celebrity guests at Awesome Con. Scoop stopped by his booth during the event to chat about conventions, the upcoming anniversary of his show, and how he got into horror hosting.

NPR interviews Ed Piskor

From B-Boys To X-Men: Alt-Comics' Ed Piskor Goes Mainstream

Etelka Lehoczky

April 5, 2018
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/05/599480808/from-b-boys-to-x-men-alt-comics-ed-piskor-goes-mainstream

April 26: Tom Toles at National Press Club

Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles speaks and sings at Silver Owls Hoot on April 26

April 4, 2018 | By Richard Ryan

http://www.press.org/news-multimedia/news/washington-post-cartoonist-tom-toles-speaks-and-sings-silver-owls-hoot-april-26

Tom Toles, the Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist, will headline the National Press Club Silver Owls' Spring Hoot at 6 p.m. Thursday, Apr. 26, in the ballroom. He also will sing and play with his rock band, Suspicious Package.

This will be his and the band's second appearance at a Hoot. The last time, in 2015, was a sellout, so early reservations are recommended.

The Hoot is open to all Club members and their guests. Tickets are $35, which include dinner preceded by a cash bar. Reservations can be made at press.org or by contacting the Club's reservations department at 202-662-7501 or reservations@press.org.

Toles, whose work appears in some 100 newspapers, will discuss the current status and future of editorial and political cartooning. He also plays drums and sings harmony with his five-piece rock band that has appeared in numerous venues in Washington.

Toles has been drawing his award winning cartoons at the Washington Post since 2002. He previously served as editorial cartoonist for the Buffalo News, Buffalo Courier-Express, New York Daily News, The New Republic, and U.S. News and World Report.

Toles won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1990 and was a finalist on two other occasions. He was named Cartoonist of the Year by Editor and Publisher magazine in 2002 and by the National Cartoonists Society a year later. He received a National Headliners Award in 2005 and the Herblock Prize, named for his predecessor at the Post, in 2011.

Wm. L. Brown cartoon: Fox News Executive Branch

Local cartoonist/illustrator William L. Brown issues a weekly wordless (usually) commentary.

Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "Blue Wave"

From DC's anarchist cartoonist Mike Flugennock:

"Blue Wave"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=2449

From all the howling in the MSM these days, you'd think they were expecting not just a "Blue Wave", but a "Blue Tsunami" -- except the numbers say they'll be lucky to get a "Blue Ripple", and in Texas right now it's looking more like a "Blue Tidepool", pitting a bland corporate-looking white-boy Democrat against an incumbent whose head is sculpted entirely of suet pudding.

This on top of the fact that on social media, the Democratic Party politburo, trolls and fangirls are going with the formula that worked so well for them last time:

• Run a bland, donor class-approved corporate Centrist.
• Threaten and shame Left voters.
• Gaslight, insult, and lie to Left voters.
• Bully and smear Left electoral challengers.
• Hope the GOP candidate is revealed to be a pedophile.

Cowabunga, dudes.

Fine Books blog on Drawn to Purpose exhibit

"Drawn to Purpose" Book Launch at the Library of Congress Tackles Gender Bias in Art

By Jennifer Howard on March 16, 2018

https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2018/03/drawn-to-purpose-book-launch-at-the-library-of-congress-tackles-gender-bias-in-art.phtml

April 7: 'Not Too High, Not Too Low' panel discussion

The panel discussion on April 7 (2-4 p.m.) will feature some of the artists from the gallery exhibition "Not Too High, Not Too Low" Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Hyattsville, Md. This event is free an open to the public.

Per the Facebook event page: "Engage and learn more from the women behind not too high, not too low! Curator Amy Lokoff is joined by artists Jessica Agüero, Toni Lane, Anna Sellheim, and Lenora Yerkes from not too high, not too low for an intimate conversation about their work in the show, artistic influences, diversity in comics, and DC's zine scene. Bring your questions and curiosity!"

Contributing artists to the exhibit.

Awesome Con photos at Brightest Young Things

https://brightestyoungthings.com/articles/awesome-con-2018-photos

New non-comics children's book from Marc Tyler Nobleman

Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real



Published by Clarion and luminously illustrated by Eliza Wheeler, it's out 4/24/18—but the biggest way one can support an upcoming book is by pre-ordering it. Why? See the P.S.

Also, ordering now will ensure it arrives in time to prepare for fairy-finding season. Let's say that's May.

Options:

• independent bookstore near you
• Amazon
• magic spell (offline/DIY)

P.S. Pre-sales...

• indicate a book's potential, which may encourage retailers to increase order quantities
• count toward first week sales, which improves the chances a book makes a bestseller list
• boost visibility, which may trigger sales via other ways (word of mouth, hand-selling by booksellers, press coverage, etc.)

April 7: Fantom Comics -Writers Workshop & Isola Signing with Brenden Fletcher

Saturday, April 7 (3:00pm – 10:00pm) – Writers Workshop & Isola Signing with Brenden Fletcher – Motor Crush. Gotham Academy. Batgirl. Black Canary. Power Rangers: Pink. Attack on Titan. Assassin's Creed. Brenden Fletcher's writing has something for everyone, and with his brand-new series, Isola, he's taking on the world of high fantasy with a story 20 years in the making! Come chat with us and Brenden as we learn more about our new favorite comic! Refreshments will be served!

Retrofit / Big Planet Comics publishing Kickstarter

2018 Kickstarter launched! Posted by Retrofit Comics (Creator)

Hi again everyone, We just wanted to let you know our NEW Kickstarter for our 2018 lineup has just launched! We are publishing 12 graphic novels this year, and we hope you will continue to support us! We're really excited about all of these, please check out the new page for images and descriptions. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/retrofitcomics/retrofit-comics-2018-12-new-graphic-novels

PR: DC Zinefest 2018: Digital registration opens Friday, April 6th

Dear zinesters,

We're excited to announce the start of our digital registration on Friday, April 6 at 12pm EDT. Visit our website at dczinefest.com to register for a table to represent your zines. Demand for tables is high, so don't delay!

DC Zinefest 2018 will take place on Saturday, July 21st 2018 at a new location: Art Enables in Northeast DC.

We are once again offering a grant to help elevate the voices of people that are often marginalized in the zine community:

• people of color
• people with disabilities
• people who identify as LGBTQIA+
• people who earn low incomes

Each grant gets you $50 and a quarter table at the fest. Grant applications are included as part of the online registration. If you've already applied through mail-in, don't worry! We'll ask you about your interest when we get in touch about tabling information. In an effort to make sure that as many people hear about this grant as possible, grant submissions will remain open even after all other tables are full. If more people are interested than there are grants available, awarding of grants will be decided by a lottery.

Please contact us with any comments or questions. Thanks!

- Your DC Zinefest organizers

--

DC Zinefest

dczinefest@gmail.com

dczinefest.com | twitter | facebook 

Zinefest 2018 = Saturday, July 21st

Comics writer Mike Cowgill has a short story online

Hedge Apple Magazine

Today's featured piece is Michael Cowgill's adorable short story, "This Girl" about an all-female Beatles tribute band.
http://hedgeapplemagazine.com/?p=1828

From the Artleytoons Vault

From the Vault of Artleytoons

This cartoon, "Reagan’s Leaky Leaks" from 1986 addressed an aggressive U.S.G. disinformation campaign directed toward Libyian strong-arm leader Moammar Kadafi. The campaign released false statements and purposely crafted fake leaks to the American Press designed to destabilize the Lybian regime. The operation was devised to provoke Kadafi into careless acts of terrorism, thus justifying U.S. military strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi. Once the real story was leaked to W.P. reporter Bob Woodward, the Administration scrambled to identify the person(s) responsible for disclosing the classified Op. In the end, no Administration heads rolled and President Reagan — known to be a bit too loose-lipped whenever he went off script — managed to keep his Teflon coating intact. (click on images for larger view).

See more recent work by Steve Artley at Artleytoons

Click on image for larger view

Library of Congress exhibit on women cartoonists featuring in Chicago Tribune

Back to the drawing table? Women have been there all along, says the book/exhibit 'Drawn to Purpose'

Darcel Rockett
Chicago Tribune March 30 2018
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-drawn-to-purpose-20180327-story.html

Martha Kennedy, author of 'Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists' (Library of Congress photo)

Staake does the Simpsons in The Post

Style Invitational Week 1273: Come to our aid(e) — restocking the Cabinet [in print as Har heads; winning bank headlines]

Tell us who (or what!) would be a better hire in a federal job; plus winning 'bank heads'

By Pat Myers
Washington Post April 1 2018
 https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/style-invitational-week-1273-come-to-our-aide--restocking-the-cabinet/2018/03/29/d9127156-316d-11e8-8abc-22a366b72f2d_story.html

He'd probably give a better "60 Minutes" interview, too. (Bob Staake for The Washington Post, with apologies to Matt Groening and "The Simpsons" )

That darn Pastis

Letters to the Editor

Opinion

This 'Pearls Before Swine' speaks for a lot of parents and teachers [in print as This comic spoke for a lot of parents]

Joseph Maniscalco, Bluffton, S.C.

Washington Post March 31 201, p. A13

online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-pearls-before-swine-speaks-for-a-lot-of-parents-and-teachers/2018/03/29/c8408170-322a-11e8-b6bd-0084a1666987_story.html

National Archives blogs on Clifford Berryman

Play Ball!

National Archives Pieces of History blog March 29, 2018 by  jessie kratz
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2018/03/29/play-ball/

President Theodore Roosevelt dodges "amendments" to the proposed Hepburn Rate Act, by Clifford Berryman, 5/12/1906. (National Archives Identifier 306091)

...and, for the record, the Cosmos Club in DC has 10 original Berryman cartoons in its billiards room that I didn't know about before.

Awesome Con Sunday photos

I popped back in for a couple of hours today and saw some local cartoonists I'd missed on Friday, met and was upsold by Neal Adams, saw Bruce Guthrie taking photos, and enjoyed more of the Con that I don't usually go to like the children's section.

Here's more local people...

Joe Sergi whose done a law history book - The Law for Comic Book Creators - that I'm looking forward to reading. Watch for an interview with him coming soon.

Jared Smith of Big Planet Comics; I can always find something in their cheap graphic novels.

Marc Hempel, Sandman artist who lives around Baltimore.

Mark Wheatley of Insight Studios. We're going to have an interview with him about his book illustration work.

Arsia Rozegar who's illustrating a Persian epic now.

And some pictures for fun.

Wonder Woman and Batman cosplayers in mail. They clanked.

Starlord and Gamora cosplayers taking a break.

A signing line at the DC Comics booth.

Awesome Con Friday photos

I had a good time walking around the Con yesterday, talking to local cartoonists and a few visiting ones. I did an interview with Andrew Looney of Looney Labs, a College Park-based game maker who has licensed comic properties and hires artists to illustrate his Fluxx card games. That'll appear in a few days.

I also quite enjoyed the science side and talked to people from NASA, the Smithsonian and National Geographic, and would recommend that as well.

We have a new correspondent who does live sketching at local events and we should see some work from him as he's attending today.

David Betancourt of the Washington Post interviewed Paul Levitz and Dan Jurgens about Superman at the Library of Congress on Thursday night.

Paul Levitz and Dan Jurgens at the Library of Congress on Thursday night.

Andrew Looney of Looney Labs with Doctor Who Fluxx game.

Cuddles and Rage with their new minicomic Snuggle Bites.

Carolyn Belefski of Curls Studio shows her new Sad Fish project, while Joe Carabeo looks on.

Michael Cho, comic book cover artist, is from Canada.

SL Gallant's new comic is the Six Million Dollar Man meeting GI Joe.

Local cartoonist Rafer Roberts has been writing for Valiant, but is about to launch a new comic, Modern Fantasy, from Dark Horse. It's in Previews now.

John Gallagher's kid-friendly Sky Dog Comics.

ComicsDC author Matt Dembicki showing artwork from his ReDistricted webcomic project.

March's Andrew Aydin also has X-Files comics for sale. He's working with Congressman Lewis on more stories.

Keith Giffen did my absolute favorite run on Legion of Superheroes. I was able to buy a piece of original art of his Ambush Bug character a few stalls away.

Colleen Doran has a wide variety of her work for sale, including Sandman comics.

Joe Harris is visiting from NY, and Andrew Aydin recommends his work. Rockstars is his creator-owned book that's just been collected.

Sean Causeley and Julian Lytle are tabling together and both have new books out.

Local cartoonist and illustrator Jason Axtell.

Local cartoonist Bill McKay does a lot of cover art.

Local cartoonist Evan Keeling works for the Smithsonian and also makes a lot of minicomics for them. These are free, and totally cool.