Showing posts sorted by date for query richard thompson. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

John Kascht in DC, in light of new Watterson book collaboration

New is breaking of a new book written by Bill Watterson and illustrated by John Kascht. The two met at Richard's house while working on The Art of Richard Thompson, (of which I was an editor), and it's a real pleasure to hear that they kept working together after that project. John is a go-to caricaturist for major publications, and talked about that aspect of Richard's career in the book.

John's got a lot of material in the National Portrait Gallery thanks to curator Wendy Wick Reaves and we got a tour of it from the man himself years ago. Here's an article on his caricature work for them and this search will pull up a score of caricatures the Museum owns.

Wednesday, January 04, 2023

Comics Research Bibliography citations update, 1/3/23

Gosaku Ota, Mazinger Z Artist, Dies at Age 74

By Miki Suzuki

CBR January 2 2023

https://www.cbr.com/gosaku-ota-mazinger-z-artist-dies-74/

Manga Creator Gosaku Ota Passes Away; Mazinger Z, UFO Robo Grandizer, Mach SOS manga artist was 74

2023-01-02 by Crystalyn Hodgkins

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-01-02/manga-creator-gosaku-ota-passes-away/.193518

2022: Debuts, Departures and the Dearly Departed – Part One: Newspaper Debuts and Departures

D. D. Degg

January 2 2023

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2023/01/02/2022-debuts-departures-and-the-dearly-departed-part-one-newspaper-debuts-and-departures/

2022: Debuts, Departures, and the Dearly Departed – Part Two: Detours and Deviations

D. D. Degg

January 2 2023

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2023/01/02/2022-debuts-departures-and-the-dearly-departed-part-two-detours-and-deviations/

2022: Debuts, Departures, and the Dearly Departed – Part Three: The Dearly Departed

D. D. Degg

Daily Cartoonist January 3 2023

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2023/01/03/2022-debuts-departures-and-the-dearly-departed-part-three-the-dearly-departed/

Three Comic Stores Closed In December – And One Opened

January 2, 2023

by Rich Johnston

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/three-comic-stores-closed-in-december-but-one-opened/

Brainstorm Comics and Gaming closing its Walkersville location

Clara Niel, The Frederick News-Post, Md.

Fri, December 30, 2022

https://news.yahoo.com/brainstorm-comics-gaming-closing-walkersville-075100672.html

Big Planet Comics Bethesda store changes owners, continues on course set in 1986

by Mike Rhode

ComicsDC blog January 03, 2023 https://comicsdc.blogspot.com/2023/01/big-planet-bethesda-store-changes.html

Thompson, Richard, Mike Rhode and Chris Sparks. Compleating Cul de Sac, 2nd Expanded Edition. Arlington, VA: ComicsDC & Asheville, NC: Team Cul de Sac, 2022.

'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' Cinematographer Reflects on "One of the Most Beautiful Endings"

Carolyn Giardina

DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw describes how she and Ryan Coogler approached capturing the emotions and themes of the Disney/Marvel blockbuster.

January 2, 2023

This story first appeared in a December stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/black-panther-wakanda-forever-cinematographer-film-ending-1235286447/

Comics dominated France's Top 50 bestselling books of 2022 list

World Without End is France's highest selling book and the manga explosion is well-represented in the Top 50

Dean Simons

01/03/2023

https://www.comicsbeat.com/comics-top-france-top-50-bestselling-books-2022/

The Beat 2023 Creator Survey Part 4: The biggest story of 2022 was…

Spoiler: AI art

Heidi MacDonald

01/03/2023

https://www.comicsbeat.com/the-beat-2023-creator-survey-part-4-the-biggest-story-of-2022-was/

WHAT'S AHEAD FOR THE COMICS BUSINESS IN 2023?

by Rob Salkowitz on January 3, 2023

https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/52960/whats-ahead-comics-business-2023

'MARVEL AGE OMNIBUS' GOES BACK TO THE 1980S

With Three Years' Worth of Classic Promo Magazines

by Brigid Alverson on December 29, 2022

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/52955/marvel-age-omnibus-goes-back-1980s

Tuesday, January 03, 2023

Big Planet Comics Bethesda store changes owners, continues on course set in 1986 [updated w/ quotes]

Joel and the logo he designed

by Mike Rhode

[updated at 9:47 with 2 quotes from Joel]

First, here's the minimalist press release they sent out tonight...

For immediate release:

January 3, 2023

The end of an era.... A passing of the torch....

Big Planet Comics founder Joel Pollack has retired after more than 36 years at the helm of the Bethesda landmark.

The shop will continue on in the more-than-capable hands of Nick Liappis, manager of the Big Planet U St shop for the past decade, and member of the Big Planet family going all the way back to the old days of the Vienna store.

After operating curbside only since 2020, the shop will now be open for in-store shopping,

Tuesday-Friday 11-7
Saturday 11-6
Closed Sunday and Monday.

7939 Norfolk Ave, Suite 200
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-654-6856

Now, my comments...

Joel opened the store in July of 1986, just as some great adult comics such as The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen were hitting. There were competing stores around, including Geppi's, Barbarian and Another Universe, but he's outlasted all of them via wise stewardship. The initial store has remained in Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle for all the intervening years. It opened on the 2nd floor of a building on Cordell Ave, moved to a ground floor space on Fairmont Ave, and then back to another building on Cordell but on the ground floor. COVID-19 hit the business hard and it moved to the second floor of the building above the California Tortilla (which also was founded in Bethesda). The store survived by being pickup only in the current space, a situation that is now changing as Nick builds out the space for customers. I've seen it and it has the usual great BP selection. When I sent this blog post to him, Joel provided detailed information on the store's moves, stating "We started in 1986 on the second-floor of 4865 Cordell Ave. In 1991, we moved to 4908 Fairmont Ave. When the wrecking ball came for the Fairmont store in 2012, we high-tailed it to 4849 Cordell where we spent eight glorious years until Covid struck. We were forced to seek radically lower rent which we did by moving to a second-floor location at 7939 Norfolk. So I started on a second-floor and finished on a second floor. Funny, the same family owns both of those buildings."

Matt Wagner and Greg Bennett at SPX

Co-owner Greg Bennett, who began working at the store when it opened, and he was 16, has also sold his stake. He tells me he's considering moving to Europe to work in the field there. Greg had previously owned and operated a branch in Georgetown which metamorphosed into the U St store, now owned by Mars Imports founder (a great 1980s project to import European comic books) Jared Smith. Smith also owns the 3rd store in the chain in Vienna. The 4th store was bought into the chain by another employee, Peter Casazza and co-owned with Jared, until it was recently sold earlier this year to 3rd Eye Comics. As you can see, the chain has grown by bringing employees into ownership positions - something that has always impressed me. Dan Nadel escaped though to become an art historian of comics. Joel and Greg were big supporters of the Small Press Expo (SPX) since its very earliest days as well. The local comics scene owes Big Planet an immeasurable debt and wouldn't have been the same without them.

The Fairmont Ave store awaiting demolition

Joel has been part of my life ever since that July he opened, when I was brought up there by a girlfriend who had heard about it. We've become friends and hit the road to tour exhibits together. For many, many years I would take my Wednesday lunch time at his store, while my coworkers ate in the local restaurants. I've met some great cartoonists there too. For years, Joel & Greg saved me the ephemeral advertising that comic book companies put out, and lots of it is in the Library of Congress and Michigan State University among other collections; some went in the mail to MSU today in fact. They also regularly set me up with Halloween comics and Free Comic Book day floppies that I could hand out for Halloween, as well as donate sets to those comics collections.

As the years went by and my work situation changed, I couldn't head up every week, and I was becoming disenchanted with big two companies anyway. The guys would set aside material they thought I'd be interested in for me, and I usually was. Whenever I'd go in, I'd find more to buy as well -- including last Thursday. I've still got my pull box of the original #45 though and I'll be visiting monthly to give Nick my money.

As for Joel? "My love of the comics medium was a driving force in Big Planet's creation, but it was the wonderful people I got to meet through my business that sustained me all of these years."

Leigh Tyberg and Morgan Epstein in 2015 at the 2nd Cordell location

Joel and I plan to sit down soon for an oral history, and I've mentioned wanting to do one with Greg as well. There will be "more to come" to steal a line from some other real comics journalists...

Richard Thompson and Joel, who introduced me to him and changed my life.

A new graphic logo for the 21st century

The pickup table during the start of the Covid downturn

The Georgetown location run by Greg.

The current U St NW store and Belgian comics museum curator Willem Degraeve.

Greg, Nick Bertozzi, Joel, and Jason Little on Fairmont.

Nick Bertozzi brought Picasso with him to Fairmont Ave., but this is a picture of me.

Baltimore Comic Con's Randy Tischler talks to Gene Yang on Fairmont Ave.

Jared and Peter set up at Baltimore Comic Con.

The FCBD rack at the Vienna store was typical of the whole chain.

A post SPX party night at the Fairmont Ave location.

Greg at the counter of the 2nd Cordell Ave store.

Jared likes to publish comics too. Cartoonist is Chris Artiga-Oliver

Halloween comics to hand out in 2016.

The Vienna store.


David Lasky dedicace from his signing in 2014.

Here's 184 photographs tagged with "Big Planet" on my Flickr account. I'm sure there's many others waiting to be labelled.

Sunday, December 18, 2022

Compleating Cul de Sac 2nd edition available in print now

Yesterday, we finally got the proof copies of the books. We don't think these will print, ship and be there in time for Christmas, and definitely not for Hanukkah. Maybe for New Years? But you can print out and use the attached IOU if you need to. If you just quickly want a cheaper ebook as a DRM-free pdf, use this link to the Compleating Cul de Sac 2022 edition. If you donate at least $10 using the link and let us know, we will send you a PDF of the new book. - Mike & Chris

Compleating Cul de Sac, 2nd edition paperback

https://www.lulu.com/shop/chris-sparks-and-mike-rhode-and-richard-thompson/compleating-cul-de-sac-2nd-edition/paperback/product-q9j5vk.html - this has glossy paper (we hope)

Compleating Cul de Sac, 2nd edition hardcover

https://www.lulu.com/shop/chris-sparks-and-mike-rhode-and-richard-thompson/compleating-cul-de-sac-2nd-edition/hardcover/product-m85k4v.html - this has flat paper (to hold the cost down)

Here's the description one more time -

The Complete Cul de Sac isn't. Complete, that is. Compiling it while ill, Richard accidentally left out some strips. Others were purposely left out, either because he had redrawn them for syndication, or they were too tied to the Washington, D.C. origins of the strip to make sense for a worldwide audience, or he "just felt some were not funny." Over 100 are not in The Complete CDS. But if you're a cartoon completist, or just want a little bit more CDS, we understand and we're here for you. We've collected the lost water-colored Washington Post Magazine strips, the early inchoate musings about what the strip should be, the promotional material, the sketches for fans, and finally some fugitive Team Cul de Sac charity art. This whole book is about community—the people that loved Richard and CDS and what he gave to us and what we tried to give back to him. As Anna Straight noted when sending in a contribution, "Cul de Sac integrated into our lives and became the running comedy track for our family." With Richard's blessing, or at least active acquiescence, any money the book makes will go to Team Cul de Sac to fight Parkinson's disease. We initially published this as a print-on-demand book through Lulu in 2015, but after Richard passed away, people have continued to do tributes to him and the strip, and we were glad to take the opportunity to add over 100 pages of artwork and interviews to a new edition.

Tuesday, December 06, 2022

Comics Research Bibliography citations update, 12/3-5/22

Aline Kominsky Crumb: Me and Mr Crumb

April 3, 2016

The article originally appeared in The Independent on Sunday Review, March 11th, 2007

http://paulgravett.com/articles/article/aline_kominsky_crumb

Remembering the Artist Aline Kominsky-Crumb, a Trailblazing Funny Woman

Her comics are intimate, self-deprecating, and liberating. Her personality was larger than life.

By Françoise Mouly

December 2, 2022

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/remembering-the-artist-aline-kominsky-crumb-a-trailblazing-funny-woman

Aline Kominsky-Crumb, underground cartoonist and wife of Robert Crumb, dies at 74

Jocelyn Noveck

Associated Press

December 1 2022

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2022/12/01/aline-kominsky-crumb-underground-cartoonist-dies/10812841002/

Archie remembers artist Tim Kennedy

Jesse Post December 2, 2022

https://archiecomics.com/archie-remembers-artist-tim-kennedy/

Avengers Assemble: Jason Aaron Details His Epic Multiversal Finale

By Dave Richards

December 1 2022

https://www.cbr.com/jason-aaron-avengers-assemble-interview/

Screened on the Spot Dec 1 2022

Get to Know Jason Aaron Through Movies

https://omny.fm/shows/screened-on-the-spot/get-to-know-jason-aaron-through-movies

WaPo Kills Style Invitational; Staake Loses Job

D. D. Degg

December 2, 2022

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2022/12/02/wapo-kills-the-style-invitational-staake-loses-job/

Paul Levitz

[I heard today of the passing of DC alum Maura Healy, a smart and cheerful lady who worked for us on contract and legal matters for a solid stretch.]

December 4 2022

https://www.facebook.com/paul.levitz/posts/pfbid02J1LUYRKS4ahDoVDpq5cMm8jkiKEWNPyfdtbeeTZJsWzVXTXqj6ozWwGcyvSahf4ul

Plastic Off the Sofa

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" doesn't shy away from big subjects like grief and colonization. The hosts of "Still Processing" are ready for it.

Hosted by Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham

New York Time's Still Processing Nov. 29, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/29/podcasts/still-processing-black-panther-wakanda-forever.html

Still Processing: We Sink Our Claws Into 'Black Panther' With Ta-Nehisi Coates

By Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham

Still Processing March 16, 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/podcasts/still-processing-we-sink-our-claws-into-black-panther-with-ta-nehisi-coates.html

'Batgirl' Directors on Becoming Part of "Movie History" Due to Cancellation, Why They'd Still Work With Warner Bros.

Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi discuss the fallout from the controversial scrapping of their $90 million superhero feature and the huge outpouring of support they've received from across the industry.

Alex Ritman

December 5, 2022

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/batgirl-directors-interview-bilall-fallah-adil-el-arbi-1235274960/

'Scrooge: A Christmas Carol' Review: Slightly Off Key

By Lisa Kennedy

Dec. 1, 2022

A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 2, 2022, Section C, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/movies/scrooge-a-christmas-carol-review.html

'Ainbo' Review: Saved by a Princess

The eponymous young huntress of this animated feature forges a plan to protect her village in the Amazon rainforest.

By Beandrea July

Nov. 29, 2022

A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 2, 2022, Section C, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: Ainbo

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/29/movies/ainbo-review.html

Book Review: Meri Nazaar Mein Pran: A Biography on Cartoonist Pran

reviewed by John A. Lent

International Journal Of Comic Art Blog December 3, 2022

https://ijoca.blogspot.com/2022/12/book-review-meri-nazaar-mein-pran.html

Asha Pran. Meri Nazar Mein Pran. From a Sign Board Painter to Padma Shri Awardee. Creator of Chacha Chaudhary, Cartoonist Pran. New Delhi: Pran's Features LLP, 2019. 80 pp. ISBN: 978-81-94070-33-7. https://www.amazon.com/Meri-Nazaar-Mein-Pran-Cartoonist-ebook/dp/B082LV1ZYW/

Book Review: Tokyo Rose--Zero Hour: A Japanese American Woman's Persecution and Ultimate Redemption After World War II.

reviewed by John A. Lent

International Journal Of Comic Art Blog December 4, 2022

https://ijoca.blogspot.com/2022/12/book-review-tokyo-rose-zero-hour.html

Andre Frattino and Kate Kasenow (ill.). Tokyo Rose--Zero Hour: A Japanese American Woman's Persecution and Ultimate Redemption After World War II. Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 2022. 128

Exhibit Review: Chris Ware

reviewed by Martha Kennedy

International Journal Of Comic Art Blog December 5, 2022

https://ijoca.blogspot.com/2022/12/exhibit-review-chris-ware.html

Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Pioneering Comics Memoirist, Dies at 74

By Richard Sandomir

A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 5, 2022, Section D, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Pioneer of Autobiographical Comics, Dies at 74.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/arts/aline-kominsky-crumb-dead.html

Aline Kominsky-Crumb, 1948-2022

John Kelly | December 5, 2022

https://www.tcj.com/aline-kominsky-crumb-1948-2022/

The Aline Kominsky-Crumb Interview

Peter Bagge

Reprinted from The Comics Journal #139 (December 1990).

Online at https://www.tcj.com/the-aline-kominsky-crumb-interview/

RASH OF BURGLARIES HITS CALIFORNIA COMICS AND COLLECTIBLE STORES

They Came in Through the Ceiling to Rob One Store

by Brigid Alverson on December 4, 2022

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/52787/rash-burglaries-hits-california-comics-collectible-stores