Canadian cartoonist Steve Mielczarek starts ComicsDC-inspired blog

A month or so ago, Canadian cartoonist Steve Mielczarek sent a cartoon to me, in response to a previous post.

Today, he wrote again, "I just want to say thanks for posting my cartoon and letter on your site a while back. And, Thanks to you, I realized that I too, could set up a blog. Of my own cartoons. If you'd like, take a look:

http://alienspaceworms.blogspot.com/

Best of luck, Steve!

April 28 Nick Bertozzi at Big Planet Bethesda UPDATED

Nick Bertozzi signed his two new books Houdini and The Salon, as well as the older Boswash and The Masochist at Big Planet today. A few non-comics readers stopped in and bought The Salon, which I think is one of the best graphic novels of the year. Nick was very pleasant and it was a joy to talk with him. His 6-year old daughter was there, and was helpful in pointing out when your drawing was dry and you could take your book. ;^) Nick talked a little about his books - showing me the page of The Salon that's gotten Gordon Lee in trouble in Georgia (it shows Picasso's penis swinging as he jumps across his studio) and saying that he never wants to draw another bowler hat after Houdini's crowd scenes.

Nick's got an interesting question he asks when he meets you - I won't give it away except to note that answers were INXS / PIL; Clapton or Jason and the Scorchers; and The Who opening for Herman's Hermits. His next project, which should be excellent, is a graphic novel on Lennie Bruce with Harvey Pekar.

This was a good signing - Nick says he'll be at SPX in the fall - if you didn't make this, go to that. And Tom Spurgeon's got a new interview up.

Morin's Herblock award, Bryan Talbot, French & American Cartoons, Nick Bertozzi pictures

I'm behind on transcribing my notes, so I've loaded pictures at Flickr. These are of Jim Morin accepting the Herblock award; Bryan Talbot signing at Big Planet; KAL, Nick Galifiankas, Ted Rall and Jeff Danziger speaking at Alliance Francaise; and Nick Bertozzi signing at Big Planet. There's also other shots I took of various comics and cartoon events over the past year. These are Creative Commons copyright - feel free to use them, just credit me and let me know please.

Eventually I'll move them over here with appropriate commentary.

May 5: Free Comic Book Day

Next Saturday, the day after Spider-Man 3 opens, will be the 6th annual Free Comic Book Day. Simply present yourself at a comic book store and pick up the freebies. I know Big Planet is participating. Anyone else in the area?

Pakistan needs comic strips like the Washington Post has

"POSTCARD USA: Cartoon-time USA" by Khalid Hasan in the Pakistan Daily Times (April 22 2007) is actually a fairly touching article in which he runs through the Sunday Post's comic section and concludes, "It is time we had a national comic strip running in all Pakistani newspapers."

Tom the Dancing Bug on VA Tech tragedy in Post

In the back pages of the Post's Weekend section, Reuben Bolling did a fairly tasteful cartoon on the killings at VA Tech. It's not online yet, but should eventually appear here.

Breathed and Lust in the new Onion

Thurday's Onion had a couple of articles on comics.
"Random Rules: Berkeley Breathed" by Tasha Robinson is an interview about his taste in music. The online version is about twice as long as the print one.

The second article is a review by Keith Phipps of the 1950s graphic (in both senses) novel "It Rhymes With Lust" by Arnold Drake, Leslie Waller, and Matt Baker just reissued by Dark Horse, in the same spring when both writers Drake and Waller died.

DC Anime Club movie showing

The Post's Weekend section says the Anime Club will be meeting at the Martin Luther King library at 1 pm on Saturday in room A9 to screen Elfenlied, Azumanga Daioh and (I love this) BYO anime. They also list Wednesday at 6 pm. Phone is 202-262-2083.

Comic-making workshop in D.C. area

Matt Dembicki's written in to say,

I'm the founder and one of the organizers of the D.C. Conspiracy (the comics-creating group - Mike). In conjunction with promoting our graphic novel "Mr. Big," my wife, Carol, and I will be holding several local creating comics workshops this summer. Here's a list of what's lined up so far (and they're all free to the public):

May 9, Free Comic Book Day, Big Planet Comics, Vienna, Va., noon-2 p.m. (I'll also have a free mini-comic made especially for FCBD by the D.C. Conspiracy!)

June 25, Chantilly Regional Library, Chantilly, Va., 7
p.m.

June 28, George Mason Regional Library, Annandale,
Va., 7 p.m.

July 10, Dolley Madison Library, McLean, Va., 4 p.m.

July 17, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, Va., 7 p.m.

July 24, Great Falls Library, Great Falls, Va., 7 p.m.

July 25, Patrick Henry Library, Vienna, Va., 7 p.m.

July 30, Reston Regional Library, Reston, Va., 7 p.m.

July 31, Centreville Regional Library, Centreville, Va., 7 p.m.

August 2, John Marshall Library, Alexandria, Va., 7 p.m.

August 6, Kings Park Library, Burke, Va., 7 p.m.

Matt can be reached at m@waspcomics.com or http://www.comicspace.com/dembicki

April 28 - Disney illustrator in Reston

Toby Bluth will be at ArtInsights animation art and framing shop in Reston (11921 Freedom Dr.; 703-478-0778) on Saturday from 2-7. According to the Post, he's illustrated children's books and will be displaying the art.

Bertozzi article in today's Express; benefit in NYC

Scott Rosenberg interviewed Nick Bertozzi who will be at Big Planet Bethesda on Saturday from 2-4 pm. You can see the article as a pdf at the website, scroll down past the main paper to page E15. UPDATE - Scott's posted it online so you can see the article on the main page now with added information about the CBLDF.

The Salon was an excellent book, but unfortunately has led to a ridiculous prosecution of a comic book store owner in Georgia. There's a benefit in New York tonight for him:

This Thursday, April 26, The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is proud to present a benefit book launch party for Nick Bertozzi's controversial graphic novel THE SALON. Bertozzi's graphic novel about the birth of Cubism is the subject of the Fund's current casework. The launch party will be at The Village Pourhouse at 64 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, and will feature an open bar & appetizer reception from 7 - 8 PM, live music by The Cangelosi Cards all night, and a free signed Picasso print by Bertozzi for all attendees.

Since 2005, The Fund has been defending Georgia retailer Gordon Lee for distributing a preview of THE SALON which depicted Picasso in the nude. To date the case has cost upwards of $80,000, with the Fund successfully knocking out 5 of the 7 charges originally brought against Mr. Lee. A trial is expected in early June where the Fund's legal team will work to defeat the two remaining counts.

The Salon benefit launch party is presented to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in cooperation with JahFurry and St. Martins Press. The Village Pourhouse is located at 64 Third Avenue at 11th Street in Manhattan. The party is this Thursday, April 26 from 7 PM to Midnight. For more information, please contact Charles Brownstein at 212.679.7151. For further details, please see: http://www.nickbertozzi.com/pourhouse_invite.jpg

French and American Politics... In Cartoons!

This event was extremely well attended and overflowed the Alliance Francaise's living room (ok, it was the living room before the townhouse was converted). In addition to KAL, Nick Galifianakis, Ted Rall and Jeff Danziger (in seating order), Cameroon cartoonist Issa Nyaphaga was there. The moderator Claude Porsella, Correspondent for Radio France Internationale,* had some good questions, and each cartoonist took a shot at drawing a cartoon relevant to the French election. I'll try to read my notes and post something more extensive with pictures possibly in a couple of nights.

*corrected from earlier version.

Dykes to Watch Out For publishing schedule changes

I'd been blaming the Blade's incompetent strip editing (which is still a problem - why are we getting Paige Braddock's Jane's World strips from 4 years ago?)

Anyway Alison Bechdel's announced a new book contract and a thus a reduced Dykes strip schedule. Read the whole post on her blog, but here's the relevant bits:

Man. I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been working on a post about the blog for days, and it’s about 12 pages long and completely disjointed. But before I get to that, I have to make an announcement. I’ve made the very difficult decision to temporarily cut back to one new Dykes to Watch Out For episode every four weeks, instead of every two weeks. I’ll be interspersing these new strips here and in the newspapers with “archive” strips from 1987, 20 years ago. ...

...The reason I’m doing this is that I have to crank out a new memoir by 2009. I just signed a contract for it. (MLK, thank you for raising the very interesting question a while ago about the difference between writing without a contract, and with one. I’ll get to that in a minute.) As many of you know, Fun Home took me seven years to complete. And most of those were spent quietly and reclusively at home, not galavanting around the country (and beyond) yammering about myself to all and sundry, like I’ve been doing for the past year.

Dykes is still one of the best soap opera strips running and I'm sorry to get less of it, but Fun Home was one of my favorite graphic novels last year.

Exhibition Opening: Cities are for People: The Visual Voice of John Wiebenson- 13 Years of Political Cartoons

Presumably at the University of Maryland... more news when I get it.

Exhibition Opening: Cities are for People: The Visual Voice of John Wiebenson- 13 Years of Political Cartoons
ID: 9984

When: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 6:00 PM - Wednesday, May 09, 2007 4:00 PM
Where: Architecture : Kibel Gallery
Event Type(s): Art Exhibition

Washington-based architect and educator, John Wiebenson, expressed his belief in people and social activism through his design work but also through his cartoons. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Archihorse appeared regularly in the DC Gazette, an alternative and progressive newspaper edited by Sam Smith.

Some of the many issues that Archihorse tackled included urban disinvestment, historic preservation, public transportation, and redevelopment insensitive to existing neighborhoods. The means were humorous and the goal was simple - a just, equitable, diverse, active, historic, imaginative and well-designed city where citizens' voices were heard and government was responsive.

For more information, contact:
Ronit Eisenbach
+1 301 405 6298
rze@umd.edu

Danish Islam cartoon editor to speak in DC again

Editor and Publisher, in a story most likely by David Astor, is reporting that Flemming Rose will speak at the editorial cartoonists' AAEC gathering in DC over the July 4th holiday weekend. Rose is known (or notorious) for publishing those pesky cartoons considered by some to be disrespectful of Islam. He's previously spoken in DC at Georgetown University.

Brad Meltzer novel

Brad Meltzer, a recovering Big Planet customer* and real sweetheart of a best-selling author, should be known to us as the writer of DC's "Identity Crisis" and the new "Justice League of America." Oddly enough he also dabbles in prose and has sent out the following info (I hear this book has an ad for the JLA in the back of it):

Is there a new book out? I wish -- but I'm way too slow for that (darn research and character development). But today, The Book of Fate comes out in paperback (Smaller! Cheaper! Teenier font!) and if I didn't tell my family and friends about it, then my Uncle Richie would give me major headache since he still refuses to pay full price for the hardback. No joke. And I even put his name in this one.

So...if you missed the hardback, or want to buy someone a really cheap (but thoughtful and generous) present, boy, is this one for you.

It's got a main character that may be my favorite I've ever written, former Presidents, and Freemasons.

To buy it, here's the link:

http://www.bradmeltzer.com/fate_buy.php

And if you want to see the new covers on all the other books (with lots of little men looking mysterious as they run nowhere in particular), they're here: http://www.bradmeltzer.com/blog.html.

And of course, thanks again -- especially those who were so amazing and bought the hardback those first days (not you, Uncle Rich). That means more than I can ever possibly express.

*he moved to Florida

Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened interviews

DC-area comics writer Jason Rodriguez has interviewed some of the creators in his new Postcards book over the past week:

"POSTCARDS" PART 4: MATT KINDT ON "THE HISTORY OF MARRIAGE", April 24, 2007.

"POSTCARDS" PART 3: ROBERT TINNELL'S "MIDNIGHT CALLER", April 23, 2007.

"POSTCARDS" PART 2: ANDE PARKS, April 20, 2007 .

"POSTCARDS" PART 1: RICK SPEARS & ROB G, April 19, 2007.

and was interviewed himself at MAIL CALL: JASON RODRIGUEZ TALKS POSTCARDS by Chris Arrant, April 18, 2007.

Images of Irish-American Immigrants Featured in Swann Fellow’s Talk on May 15

Martha Kennedy of the Library of Congress reports: Images of Irish-American Immigrants Featured in Swann Fellow’s Talk on May 15

Swann Foundation Fellow Sharrona Pearl will discuss depictions of Irish-American immigrants in mid-19th century prints and explore how such imagery conveyed ambiguous perceptions about this group, in a lecture at the Library of Congress on May 15.

Pearl will present the lecture titled "Black and White: Drawing the Irish-American Immigrant in Shades of Grey,” at noon on Tuesday May 15, 2007, in the West Dining Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC.

Pearl’s illustrated presentation is based on research conducted at the Library of Congress during her fellowship awarded by the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon. The Library administers the foundation. The lecture, sponsored by the foundation and the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division, is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.

Irish-Americans at mid-19th century held rights of citizenship and voting and quickly became the most important political force on the east coast. Pearl will discuss the ambiguity of graphic art that pictures members of this immigrant group. Many prints show politicians and others seeking support from the Irish, even as the imagery also suggests that they were racially and religiously different. Pearl will argue that close examination of selected prints from the 1830s through the 1860s demonstrates that Irishness was depicted more noticeably through linguistic and external symbols such as clothing and weaponry, rather than through distinct racial and facial markers. Mindful of links between race and class in the 19th century, Pearl observes that the poor Irish were often depicted as more strongly distinct than were their more wealthy counterparts. Although often compared with African-Americans, Irish-Americans, unlike their compatriots, had social mobility and were not always represented with common identifying features. The Irish, despite many historiographical claims to the contrary, were not black. Rather, Pearl will show that they were often drawn in literal and metaphorical shades of grey.

Pearl completed a Ph.D. in the History of Science at Harvard University in November, 2005. Strongly interdisciplinary, her doctoral research focused on physiognomy in nineteenth century Britain. She is currently working on her book manuscript, which is tentatively titled, “Facing the Victorians: Physiognomy in Nineteenth Century Britain,” under contract with Harvard University Press. Pearl has published articles on a number of related topics, including her new research on science and theater. She is a lecturer on the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature at Harvard University, which is a three year post-doctoral fellowship.

This presentation is part of the Swann 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 is composed of scholars, collectors, cartoonists and Library of Congress staff members. The foundation customarily awards one fellowship annually (with a stipend of $15,000) to assist scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. Applications for the academic year 2007-2008 were due on Feb.15, 2007. More information about the fellowship is available through the Swann Foundation’s Web site: www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome or by e-mailing swann@loc.gov.

Local award for Jules Feiffer

Alan Fern, former director of the National Portrait Gallery, says "Monday, 30 April, Jules Feiffer will be at the Cosmos Club to receive the McGovern Award from the Cosmos Club Foundation." That's an impressive set of recipients of the award.

April 25: French and American Politics... in Cartoons! UPDATED

My buddy Rick Banning pointed this out in the new City Paper. The ad reads "Panel discussion featuring cartoonists Jeff Danziger, Ted Rall, KAL and Nick Galifianakis and TF1 correspondent Guillaume Debre. Alliance Francaise de Washington, 2141 Wyoming Ave, NW, Wednesday, 4/25 at 6:30 pm. $12. (202) 234-7911." It's $12 if you sign up today and tomorrow by phone or online. If you show up and buy a ticket for the thing, they charge you an extra $2.

This should be good. I've seen Danziger, Rall and Kal before and they're all entertaining speakers. I think I'll cough up the dough to go.