Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Comic Riffs asks, what is animation?
'The Lion King' remake's trailer confuses the Internet: Just what is 'live action' anymore? ['Lion King' sparks uproar about definition of 'live action']
Jamie Noguchi and Super Art Fight profiled by The Post Magazine
The Art Gladiators
Jamie's webcomic Yellow Peril is at https://www.ypcomic.com/ and it's great fun. I look forward to buying the compilation every year at SPX because I'm old school and like my comics on paper.
Monday, November 26, 2018
The Post reviews Gorey biography
A peek inside Edward Gorey's modern Gothic world [in print as A gift for making sinister not quite safe].
By Ernest Hilbert
Washington Post November 25 2018, p. E13
That darn Mike du Jour
Lisa Szymanski, Vienna
Friday, November 23, 2018
Exhibit Review: The Very Best Of Slovenian Comics
Tomaž Lavrič |
The Very Best Of Slovenian Comics. Izar Lunaček (with translation assistance by Nejc Juren). Washington, DC: Embassy of Slovenia. November 2, 2018 – February 8, 2019. Open Monday-Friday 9 am-5 pm, by appointment via sloembassy.washington(at)gov.si or 202-386-6601. http://www.washington.embassy.si/
This no-frills exhibit of reproduction of pages mounted on foam core may not be the most beautiful and certainly not monetarily valuable exhibit on display in Washington now, but it does provide an overview of a largely-invisible European comics scene. Lunaček, who visited DC recently to promote the Animal Noir comic that he did with Juren, opened the exhibit with a short lecture on the history of Slovenian cartooning both before and after the breakup of Yugoslavia. The exhibit itself is rather minimalistic in regards to explanatory text, which is only provided via Lunaček's cartoon history that runs along one wall. The exhibit would have definitely benefitted from additional panels explaining the transitions from funny animals to punk / alternative to the current wide variety of styles and stories. Having heard his lecture, I am able to put the images into context with the changing world including big issues such as the fall of Communism and the dissolution of Yugoslavia, to the small but vital anthology and cooperative Stripburger, which published many of the modern-era cartoonists in the show.
Miki Muster |
Kostja Gatnik |
In the 1970s, Muster's style was challenged by Kostja Gatnik, whom Lunaček referred to as a hippy and their "Robert Crumb." Three pages of material that was clearly from the 1970s showed Gatnik's range of styles, but to make a living he switched to illustrating children's books. In the 1980s, comics were tame in Slovenia with only Marijan Amalietti's erotic comics worthy of notice. The Slovenian scene was jolted out of its classical period by a journalist who died young in the war, but before that he wrote widely on European comics. The most famous cartoonist to come out of the new wave/punk music and comics scene was Tomaž Lavrič with his stories Red Alert (1993) and Bosnian Fables (1994). Fables was one of Bosnia's biggest international success, translated into European languages, and "is little tales of the Bosnian war, but from all sides." Two pages showed Zoran Smiljanić's historical comics about the (fictional) last Yugoslavian soldier abandoned in Slovenia. The next panel was of Dušan Kastelic's short strip from 2000 about conformism and literally knocking down the one person sticking up in a crowd which he turned into The Box, an award-winning computer-animated cartoon in 2017. The exhibit then turned to alternative cartoonists who worked in their fanzine Stripburger in the 2000s. The magazine became the training home of many young cartoonists. Lunaček who also started there, put a couple of his newspaper comic strips in the exhibit, as well as some pages from Animal Noir. The exhibit ended with work from the last decade by Kaja Avberšek and her diagrammatic comics, Stripburger's current editor David Krančan and his Drunken Rabbit, and Miha Hančič.
Miha Hančič |
The Post reviews the new Ralph cartoon
'Ralph Breaks the Internet' looks amazing. But its touching story of friendship is even better. [in print as Animated sequel one-ups the original]
Exhibit review: Superheroes at the National Museum of American History
Superheroes. Washington, DC: National Museum of American History. November 20, 2018 to September 2, 2019. http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/super-heroes
courtesy of Grand Comics Database |
Bruce Guthrie has an extensive series of photographs including the individual comic books at http://www.bguthriephotos.com/graphlib.nsf/keys/2018_11_22D2_SIAH_Superheroes
(This review was written for the International Journal of Comic Art 20:2, but this version appears on both the IJOCA and ComicsDC websites on November 23, 2018, while the exhibit is still open for viewing.)
Superheroes at American History Museum in Bruce Guthrie's photos
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Comic Riffs on self-mocking Disney princesses
How 'Ralph Breaks the Internet' spoofs the Disney Princess industrial complex
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Animator Pablo Ferro's obituary in The Post
Pablo Ferro, evocative title designer of 'Dr. Strangelove' and 'Bullitt,' dies at 83 [in print as Pablo Ferro, 83; Animator and evocative title designer of 'Dr. Strangelove' and 'Bullitt']
Monday, November 19, 2018
Comics writer Mike Carey's new novel reviewed in The Post
'Lucifer' writer Mike Carey continues to cement his status as a novelist [in print as Latest from Carey puts a fresh spin on spooky].
PR: Inaugural Issue of Stan Lee's The Incredible Hulk Sells for $167,280
For Immediate Release
Contact: Sam Heller
Huggins & Scott Auctions, Silver Spring, MD
+1 310 927 6273 |
sam@samhellercommunications.com
Inaugural Issue of The Incredible Hulk Sells for $167,280
LOS ANGELES, November 19, 2018 –A high-grade issue of The Incredible Hulk #1 from May 1962 sold for $167,280 on Friday.
This first issue is considered one of the most valuable and prestigious comics of the Silver Age. Marvel Comics published the inaugural issue of the Incredible Hulk in May 1962, which was part of an enormous resurgence of super-hero comics in the early 1960's. This comic book earned a Universal Grade of 8.5 from the leading comic book grader CGC.
The consignor read this 56-year old Hulk Comic once as a youth and kept it in storage since 1962. Well known to be a super tough comic to find in upper grades, this high-demand pivotal issue continues to show astonishing sale price increases, reaching a Fair Market Value of $175,000 in recent years for the few known examples that have been graded at the 8.5 level.
The popularity of the Incredible Hulk comic series led to Marvel Studio producing a superhero film The Incredible Hulk in 2008. The film starred Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/Hulk. Mark Ruffalo replaced Norton as the Hulk in the 2012 film The Avengers. Ruffalo reprised the Hulk role in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers: Infinity War.
The comic book was estimated to sell between $125,000 to $175,000.
Additional information on the comic book can be found at https://hugginsandscott.com/cgi-bin/showitem.pl?itemid=32004
About Huggins & Scott Auctions
Huggins and Scott, based in Silver Spring MD and founded in 2002, is a leading catalog auction company specializing in sports and Americana collectibles. The company was founded by current president Bill Huggins, who has been in the collectibles business since 1976 when he opened his baseball card store. Specializing in vintage sports and non-sports cards, autographs, memorabilia, and a wide range of collectibles for every level of collector, Huggins and Scott runs four online Masterpiece Auctions per year.
TCJ reprints a Stan Lee interview by Falls Church's Ted White
New Kickstarter from Roye Okupe
E.X.O. Returns in Rise of AVON!
A sci-fi superhero story set in a futuristic Africa where an Android with the mind & ambition of a conqueror, plans to "reset" humanity
The E.X.O. Part 3 graphic novel is COMPLETE! The plan is to ship the books & rewards two weeks after the Kickstarter is successfully funded(fingers crossed).
This Kickstarter is for three weeks ONLY. After that, the book will not officially release till late February 2019. The only way to get it months before (and cheaper) anyone is by pre-ordering via this Kickstarter ;) Haven't read part 1 or part 2 yet? No worries. This Kickstarter has a bundle that saves you 40% of the cost.
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Review: Black and White / Thoughts in Cartoon by Mohammad Sabaaneh
Malcolm |
The Weight of Occupation |
The Dictator’s Melody |
She carries remembered worlds |
Resisting settler colonialism everywhere |
Can you chain a heart? |
History of Palestine Frieze segment |
That darn Beetle Bailey
T.H. Otwell, Silver Spring
Washington Post November 17 2018, p. A17
Regarding the Nov. 5 "Beetle Bailey" comic strip: