Saturday, September 19, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Steve Artley

 "A Mitch in Time Saves Nine" (click on image for larger view)

©2020 Steven G Artley • artleytoons • ALL RIGHTS RSERVED


Friday, September 18, 2020

PR: Tomorrow is BATMAN DAY 2020 at all Third Eye Locations!


Hey there, Third Eye Faithful!

One of our favorite days of the year is BATMAN DAY, and we're pretty darn stoked to be celebrating BATMAN DAY tomorrow, with a ton of fun stuff going on!

We'll be offering up big BAT-SAVINGS, including:

  • 15% OFF ALL BATMAN and BATMAN-related GRAPHIC NOVELS!
  • 15% OFF ALL BATMAN and BATMAN-related toys & statues
  • 15% OFF ALL BATMAN and BATMAN-related TABLETOP Games!

And, with every purchase, we'll give you a FREE DC Comic (while supplies last!)

This is valid at all locations, and the hours for each are:

ANNAPOLIS SHOPS - 11AM-9PM
LEXINGTON PARK - 11AM-7PM
RICHMOND VA (MECHANICSVILLE) - 11AM-8PM


STAY CONNECTED  

Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "DNC Headquarters, Nov. 4 2020"

From Mike Fluggenock, DC's anarchist cartoonist -

"DNC Headquarters, Nov 4, 2020"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=3068

After observing the behavior and positions of Joe Biden, the Democrats, and their supporters, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Senator Nothing Will Fundamentally Change is going to lose, and bigly. Beaten like a drum. Roasted like a nut. Smoked like a roach.

...and I'm going to be so goddamn there for it.

(special thanks to Gallifreyan Jedi for the inspiration.)

13 x 12 inch medium-res color .jpg image, 1.1mb

----

"US Elections Rank Last Among All Western Democracies", Electoral Integrity Project 01.07.2017 
https://www.electoralintegrityproject.com/eip-blogs/2017/1/7/its-even-worse-than-the-news-about-north-carolina-american-elections-rank-last-among-all-western-democracies

"Democrats are gonna lose this election and think 'we should have yelled at poor people more'." Gallifreyan Jedi on Twitter, 09.15.2020
https://twitter.com/JediofGallifrey/status/1306073801214623747

Dead Reckoning's Atlas at War reviewed in the NY Times

Revisiting the 'Violent Ballets' of Jack Kirby

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Winsor McCay's son returns home from World War I

 The Library of Congress has introduced a new search feature for their newspaper collection's images - News Navigator.


Times Artist and His Soldier-Son
Washington Times March 11 1919

Winsor McCay, the famous cartoonist, whose drawings often appear on the editorial page of The Times, welcoming his son, Sergt. Robert Winsor McCay, jr., who returned from France recently with the Twenty-seventh New York Division. Sergeant McCay was awarded the British Military Medal for gallantry in action during the attack by the Twenty-seventh on the Hindenburg line last September. 


That one's fairly blurry, so here's a later, better print.
 
 
LITTLE NEMO HOME WITH WAR HONORS
4/26/1919 Yerington times.

Sergt. Robert Winsor McKay. Jr., son of Winsor McKay (sic), the cartoonist and creator of "Little Nemo,” lias returned from France with the British military medal won (luring the smash of the Twenty-seventh division on the Hindenburg line last September. Sergeant McKay, who was the inspiration for his father’s cartoon character some years ago, was a member of the headquarters troops of the Twenty seventh. He returned the other on the...

and finally, here's a War Bonds ad he drew from El Paso Herald, Oct 20, 1917.

 



Troy-Jeffrey Allen talks to Darick Robertson and Jim Rugg

Got It Covered: Darick Robertson on 'The Boys: Dear Becky'

by Troy-Jeffrey Allen

OCTOBRIANA: A Comic Talk with JIM RUGG

by Troy-Jeffrey Allen
 Sep 8, 2020

NPR on Yanow's Contradictions

'The Contradictions' Chronicles A Classic College Experience

Book Talk: "The Adventures of Barry and Joe" with Adam Reid 6:15 EDT today

Book Talk: "The Adventures of Barry and Joe" with Adam Reid

Online Event



Today at 6:15 PM
Public · Hosted by The Hilltop Show
Meet Adam Reid, creator of the satirical graphic novel "The Adventures of Barry and Joe," which, in Adam's words, is both graphic and novel.
Doors open at 6:00 PM EST.
Submit your questions for Adam in advance to hilltopshow@gmail.com.
RSVP here to join us:

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Goodwyn Cartoons 9/16/20

Fantom Comics newsletter excerpts

- LAST CALL TO ORDER/PICK UP FCBSUMMER TITLES:
This will be the very LAST week to order/pick up any FCBSummer titles you may have missed! After this week, they'll be off the web and no longer available in store, so swing on into the shop or check out fantomcomics.com to grab these before they're no longer available!

For a list of all 2020 FCBSummer titles, check out: https://www.freecomicbookday.com/Article/243418-Free-Comic-Book-Day-2020-to-Take-Place-July-15-through-September-9


- HUGE THANKS FOR FCBS DONATIONS:
Free Comic Book Summer was a HUGE success, but not because of the free books that were given out! The huge thanks goes to YOU, the folks who donated to charities such as Bread For the City, Capital Area Food Bank, Casa Ruby, Hips, and So Others Might Eat when picking up or ordering FCBS titles! Counting up all donations, we raised $490 in total and couldn't have done any of it without YOUR help, so THANK YOU! Hopefully, it brings some needed aide to those trying to get through these trying times!


- SEPTEMBER IS LATINX HERITAGE MONTH:
Recommendations are underway on our social media platforms and we've also set up an in store display featuring a number of these reads! Just like we did with Pride Month, Independent Publishers Month, and Back to School Month, we are highlighting great reads that represent characters and/or creators of Latin descent!

Stay tuned to our social media platforms so you don't miss out on the recommendations and stop on in store to check out the display table featuring a number of these reads! And if you want to check out everything recommended from Back to School Month, check out: https://t.co/49iu47UEtl?amp=1

Meet a Local Punk Cartoonist: A Quick Chat with Reid Muoio

My daughter shaving my hair old school punk style  

by Mike Rhode

A few weeks ago I got a text saying that a local cartoonist was doing a punk rock comic that he was giving away. I sent a note to the email, and entered into an amusing exchange with Reid Muoio, arguing over who was going to do the work in typing answers to my standard interview questions. As you can see, we both won. Or lost. Without further explanation, here's his answers.

What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?

Through friends I found a graphic designer and self-published “a d.c. punk” during the pandemic.   Going through the boxes now with a view towards getting out another one or two.  Think the next will be called “stag.”

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

I have been writing and drawing comics my whole life.  Throwing them in a box. Simple remembrances. 

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

My parents moved their young family to DC in the wake of the race riots because housing was cheap.  I live in that house now. Pretty close to Comet Pizza. Neighbors are old as balls. One hobbled over the other day and waved his cane at me while I jammed outside with a friend. He’s a nice guy. We were drunk.  



Front cover, page, and back cover from "a d.c. punk."

What is your training and/or education in cartooning?

No formal training.  Can’t imagine life without art.

The DC Conspiracy is a group of part-time local cartoonists, one of whom, Evan Keeling, does comics about the punk scene. 

I am heartened to know there is a D.C. comic community. Maybe I’ll get to know some of you. Does anyone sing? Band could use a singer. And its not punk.  Just about everything else.      

Do you have a website or blog?
 
Don’t have a website. Don’t understand the commerce of comix. Does not appear to be any money in it. Draw what you love.    

How does one get a copy of "a d.c. punk" then?

Right now I’m giving “a d.c. punk” away to anyone who emails me at muoiocomix@gmail.com.  

a page from Stag

 

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat with Sierra Barnes

by Mike Rhode

 Sierra Barnes, aka Sierra Bravo, is a local webcomics creator. I'm going to lift her bio from her website, since we haven't met in person during these crazy times.


Sierra Barnes is a historian-turned-comic-creator who currently lives in Washington, DC making webcomics and print comics based on history and folklore. She graduated in 2014 from the College of William & Mary with a double-major in History and German Studies, and graduated in August of 2019 with a MFA in Comics from California College of the Arts. She is particularly interested in the relationship between history, mythology, and memory, and her comics (including webcomic HANS VOGEL IS DEAD) reflect this. When she’s not making comics, you can usually find her haunting cafes and museums like a very nerdy ghost.




What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?

I do graphic novels and webcomics! Mostly long-form a la Monstress and Namesake.

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

Digital art all the way, baby. I started out drawing pencils and scanning in but found it really cumbersome, so now I work directly in photoshop/clip studio with a Cintiq tablet.

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

I was born in 1991 in Houston, Texas! Don't ask me anything about it though, my family moved out of state six months later.

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

I moved to Arlington to be with my fiancee (I've spent most of my life in Northern California), but mostly because I was done living in a small rural town with not a lot of art prospects.

What is your training and/or education in cartooning?

I taught myself how to draw with help from my mother, who is a fine artist, and got an MFA in Comics from California College of the Arts last year.

Who are your influences?

Writing-wise I love Susanna Clarke, John Connolly, and Marjorie Liu, and visual art-wise I draw a lot from Mike Mignola, Natasha Alterici, Ivan Bilibin, and Alex Alice. I love Eastern European folk art as well!

Is Sierra Bravo a pen name that you use?

Sierra Bravo is a pen name I use! It's just my initials in the NATO alphabet, but since my first name is also Sierra, I thought it was kinda funny.

Are you a full-time artist now, or do you have a job that pays the bills?

I wish I were arting full time! I work part-time as an admin assistant for AASHTO's publications wing working with transportation and infrastructure oversight. My favorite part about the gig--other than my coworkers haha--is that they have all the records of transportation standards and whatnot stretching back to 1914, so I've gotten the chance to look at some really cool transportation history in America! Road materials in 1920 pre-standardization were WILD.

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

I don't think my career is far enough along for me to have regrets, per say, but I think I definitely would have resized all my pages to be industry standard comic size if I knew five years ago I would spend 40+ hours trying to format my weirdly-sized webcomic pages for print!!

What work are you best-known for?

I would say my webcomic of five years, Hans Vogel is Dead. A dead Nazi realizes in the afterlife his actions in our world have had greater consequences than he could have imagined, and must journey through the world of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales to rectify them. 

What work are you most proud of?

Probably still Hans Vogel is Dead, I finished Volume 1 in August of this year and had a print run that sold out in three days!! Very exciting.

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

I'd love to be picked up by a publisher for HViD, but I also have another series I've been pitching around to agents as a print-only run. I really would love to be working on graphic novels full-time someday...

Why are you doing a World War II flying story? 


I did a lot of work studying various aspects of aviation history and mythology in undergrad: the Nazification of the German air force from 1918 to 1940, how that was framed in popular culture, the general myth of the "Knights of the Skies," how Manfred von Richthofen's life was weaponized as propaganda--stuff like that. I found the intersection of the popular conception of heroic and chivalric pilots and the reality of the 2-week life expectancy and horrible deaths to be really interesting, and I also found that the weaponization of those popular conceptions went hand-in-hand with how the German Air Corps of WWI became the Luftwaffe of WWII. I knew I wanted to tell a story about how regular people could become radicalized, and with my background in aviation history and the rich imagery of WWI and WWII pilots, I felt like pulling from the visual library of the Battle of Britain and the Luftwaffe would have some cool and poignant results. I did a lot of research while I was living in Austria on my Fulbright, spoke to people, and visited a lot of war memorials to get more information on how that trauma was processed--and is being processed now--in collective consciousness, and sort of solidified the idea of Hans Vogel as who he was and how he became what he did. While I was there, the far-right FPÖ party gained power in the state where I was living, and seeing the rise in right-wing nationalism around the world since has galvanized me in my decision of making this anti-fascist story. I hate it when people try and divorce things like the German Military in WWII from politics--and I see it a lot in military history nerd circles!--you just can't do that ethically. In a lot of ways, Hans Vogel is very much pushing back against the whole "Good German" myth and trying to have a conversation about culpability even when you don't "mean" to do bad things. You gotta step up.

Will Hans Vogel have a second printing?

Hans Vogel will have a second printing, but I'm waiting to hear back from a publisher before I pull the trigger on ordering a second print run myself. I should know by mid-October, so I'll be making an announcement then! 

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

Despair mostly. I'm really struggling with figuring that out!

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

I've really loved seeing the growth in digital and webcomics recently, as well as seeing a rise in independent and self-published comics. I think there's a real future in non-superhero comics and comics from smaller, independent creator-owned publishers! There have been some truly fantastic indie comics, especially webcomics, that have come out in the last few years and I think the industry is coming around to recognizing these self-published pieces can be really great. Seeing the success from smaller publishers like Iron Circus and Vault has given me hope that this is the future of comics.

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

I've done one year of Small Press Expo in-person, one year of AwesomeCon in-person, and one year of DCZinefest digitally (scheduling issues between COVID and masters program has made things complicated!). I highly recommend all of them, although I will say that SPX and DCZinefest are much more indie-friendly than AwesomeCon. Even so, all of them were a great time!

What's your favorite thing about DC?

Oh man, I can't pick just one!! I love the museums, I love the National Zoo, we've got some really great restaurants, but also the hiking and kayaking around here is great? I guess most of those things are "before-COVID" pastimes but someday I believe we'll be able to go back in and draw animals at the zoo again... I appreciate that there's a lot of boba tea places near me that do good takeout at least!

Least favorite?

The weather. I don't think I'll ever be used to the humidity, or the summer thunderstorms, or snow. It's just so wet all the time here...

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

I always make people visit the Air and Space Museum with me, I love to go look at the planes in the WWI and WWII exhibits. A few years ago they had a traveling exhibit on WWI artists that was INCREDIBLE. I was really happy I got to go see it.

How about a favorite local restaurant?

Daikaya in Chinatown, Sakuramen in Adams Morgan, and Hanabi Ramen in Clarendon! I'm a huge ramen fan. I also love Chill Zone in Arlington, it's a lil mom and pop Vietnamese place that I used to go pop down and grab banh mi and work for a bit.

Do you have a website or blog?

My art website is here: https://www.sierrabravoart.com/
webcomic is here: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/hans-vogel-is-dead/list?title_no=62633
Twitter: @chjorniy_voron
Instagram: @sierra_bravo_art

How has the COVID-19 outbreak affected you, personally and professionally?



Closing shows has really bummed me out, and that's really the biggest impact it's had on my professional career as well. Online shows have not had the same response as in-person, and they're nowhere near as fun. I miss getting to do the networking and hanging out. Personally, it's been a struggle to keep up with productivity and burnout is real, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to use the end of the year to kinda collect myself and figure out how to start the next volume of my webcomic and get some more pitches out there!

Saturday, September 12, 2020

PR: Third Eye is Hiring (Annapolis)



Hey Third Eye Faithful!

We are currently looking for team members to fill the following positions at our stores:

ANNAPOLIS MD - Part-Time Sales Associate

Requirements - 1+ year of retail (preferred) or service sector experience (waiting tables, bartending, etc.). Willing to work evenings and weekends. Friendly, outgoing, and reliable.

MAIL ORDER TEAM MEMBER

ANNAPOLIS MD - Part-Time & Full-Time Mail Order Team Members

Requirements - Experience in handling comics & collectibles, a plus. Able to lift at least 50 pounds, can work long shifts on feet.

If you have already submitted your resume prior, please do so again, as we get many resumes daily, and it's always good to have a fresh one handy!






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Third Eye Comics | 209 CHINQUAPIN ROUND RD, SUITE 200, Annapolis, MD 21401