Big Planet January hardcover sale

Comics on the Rack (Quick Picks for Comics Due 01-06-10) by John Judy

The former Quick Reviews with a new name for a new year. Happy 2010!

COMICS ON THE RACK

(Quick Picks for Comics Due 01-06-10)

by John Judy

 

BLACKEST NIGHT: WONDER WOMAN #2 of 3 by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott.  Diana must battle the Black Lanterns, a hot-tempered fish-woman and Death itself!  Did I mention the hot-tempered fish-woman?

 

BPRD: KING OF FEAR #1 of 5 by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis.  The BPRD is gonna put the frog menace to rest once and for all!  And that's just for starters!  How can any red-blooded American resist?

 

THE BOYS #38 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson.  The secret origin of The Female, in the inimitable BOYS fashion.  Recommended.  Not for kids.

 

DOOM PATROL#6 by Keith Giffen and Matthew Clark.  This month features everyone who's ever been wrapped completely in radiation-proof bandages to keep from killing their team-mates.  Plus, the Metal Men.

 

JSA ALL-STARS #2 by Matthew Sturges and Freddie Williams II.  Big fights and loud arguments!  And that's before the bad guys show up!

 

LIFE & TIMES OF SCROOGE McDUCK , VOL. 1 HC written and drawn by Don Rosa.  What it sounds like, kids: The biography of the fowl plutocrat who makes Monty Burns look like a dude wearing a paper hat at the deep fryer.  Great for all ages.  Recommended.

 

MARVEL BOY: THE URANIAN #1 of 3 by Jeff Parker, Marko Djurdjevic and Felix Ruiz.  A little background on your favorite Agent of Atlas: bubble-helmeted saucer jockey, Bob Grayson, the boy who fell to Earth.

 

NATION X: X-FACTOR #1 by Peter David and Valentine DeLandro.  Yeah, so like Cyclops is asking X-Factor to move into Utopia with him?  And it's like, y'know, maybe it's too soon?  Cuz, there are still, like, issues?  And Cyke's a bit of a control freak and X-Factor likes their space.  On the other hand, he would totally pay for utilities!

 

ORC STAIN #1 written and drawn by James Stokoe.  I really just wanted to type the title.  From Image Comics.

 

PREVIEWS by Marvel and Diamond Comics.  "It's 2010.  Do you know what your comics are?"

 

SIEGE #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel.  This is the big one:  Norman Osborn versus the World.  Or is it the other way around?

 

STUMPTOWN #2 by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth.  Chronic gambler and private investigator Dex must be getting closer to her target because the bullets keep getting closer to her.  Good stuff, set in Portland, Oregon, one of America's great cities.  Recommended.

 

SUICIDE SQUAD: BLACKEST NIGHT #67 by John Ostrander, Gail Simone and J. Calafiore.  A one issue revival of a classic DC title as the Squad goes after the Secret Six, the Black Lanterns and anyone else that happens along.  It's a ruckus!

 

SUPERMAN WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #11 by Greg Rucka, James Robinson and Pete Woods.  Supes and Adam Strange uncover some shenanigans in their murder investigation on New Krypton.  Super-shenanigans!

 

UNCLOTHED MAN IN THE 35^TH CENTURY AD HC written and drawn by Dash Shaw.  A series of short stories from the creator of the acclaimed BOTTOMLESS BELLY BUTTON, plus some production material from his series airing on IFC.com.  Gotta look.

 

UNWRITTEN, VOL. 1: TOMMY TAYLOR AND THE BOGUS IDENTITY SC by Mike Carey and Peter Gross.  Collecting the first five issues of the breakout hit series that blurs the line where fictional characters end and real people begin.  Clever, scary stuff for mature readers.  Recommended.

 

WALKING DEAD, VOL. 11: FEAR THE HUNTERS SC by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard.  Collecting one of the creepiest story arcs yet, in which the flesh-eating threat is no longer coming from the zombies.  Rough stuff, even for this bunch.  Recommended.  Not for kids.

 

WEIRD WESTERN TALES #71 by Dan DiDio and Renato Arlem.  Come on, admit it, you've always wanted to see DC's old Western heroes rise from the dead as evil Black Lanterns!  Y'see where the "Weird" part comes in here?  Eh?  Eh?  Yippee-ki-yay, Black Lanterns!

 

www.johnjudy.net

 

Spider-Man fan film continues

I'm still working on a book-length listing of films adapted from comics - Randy Scott's got it for indexing at the moment. I just got an email that part four of a Spider-man fan film has been put online - PETER'S WEB "BURIED ALIVE" is now available for viewing at bagandboardproductions.com

NPR's Weldon's year in review

2009: The Comics That Clung, By Glen Weldon, National Public Radio's Monkey See blog December 30, 2009.

Michigan State U's Comic Art Collection's year in review

2009 in the Comic Art Collection at Michigan State University Libraries is featured in the International Journal of Comic Art's blog this morning. Ohio State's Billy Ireland Library and Museum will be appearing tomorrow.

The fund-raising Interplanetary Journal of Comic Art is still available. Proceeds support IJOCA. And it's funny.

Comicsgirl interviews with Jo Chen, Laura Martin and Tonya Kay

I just realized I hadn't been reading Comicsgirl this fall (sorry!), so I ran back through her blog until summer. Here's 3 other good interviews she's done:

Five questions with Tonya Kay, Monday, 19 October 2009 - with 'superhero' reality show star.

Five questions with Laura Martin, Thursday, 8 October 2009 - with one of the best colorists in the business.

Five questions with Jo Chen, Thursday, 1 October 2009 - with our local comics cover painter.

Comicsgirl interviewed DC Ass't editor who's also ... a woman!

I missed this earlier, but it's still good - Comicsgirl interviewed a DC Ass't editor in "Five Questions with Janelle Siegel," Tuesday, 24 November 2009.

Nate Beeler wraps it all up

I can't agree more with Nate's cartoon today. And the 21st century had such promise. Instead we're getting 1984, 25 years late.

Jan 1: Big Planet Comics annual sale

20% off everything. Friday, Jan 1, Noon-5 pm at all 4 stores.

Bill Mauldin and Sunday Funnies US stamps coming in 2010

On my Cartoonphilately blog, you can see more details about Bill Mauldin and Sunday Funnies US stamps coming in 2010

The Real World: D.C. features a cartoonist of sorts

The Real World: D.C., a reality show thing filmed on Dupont Circle this summer, features Andrew, a would-be cartoonist of sorts. The Express and the LA Times mention his chosen career in passing. I'm sorry I didn't find out sooner so we could have had a ComicsDC event over the summer with him. On the other hand, he didn't contact us either.

Seth 'Family Guy' MacFarlane interview in Express

Seth 'Family Guy' McFarlane has an interview in today's free Express paper, reprinted from the LA Times.

The Express cropped the last question which totally changed the tenor of the end of the interview. The last Q&A was:

How did it make you feel?

Like I had no spine.

Toles through the decade feature on Post website

A Tom Toles through the decade feature is on the Post website. "Washington Post political cartoonist Tom Toles talks about highs and lows of "the Aughts" and the inspiration behind some of his most memorable cartoons from the past 10 years."

Little Nemo animation entered into Library of Congress Registry

Winsor McCay's Little Nemo animation entered into Library of Congress Registry, reports the Associated Press on the Washington Post website.

The Library's press release says:

Little Nemo (1911)

This classic work, a mix of live action and animation, was adapted from Winsor McCay’s famed 1905 comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland." Its fluidity, graphics and story-telling was light years beyond other films made during that time. A seminal figure in both animation and comic art, McCay profoundly influenced many generations of future animators, including Walt Disney.

This is not the 1990s Japanese animation of course. Speaking of McCay, I had an original of one of his political drawings in my hands this weekend. Hoo-hah!

Another cartoon I'm not familiar with was added as well:

Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)

"Quasi at the Quackadero" has earned the term "unique." Once described as a "mixture of 1930s Van Beuren cartoons and 1960s R. Crumb comics with a dash of Sam Flax," and a descendent of the "Depression-era funny animal cartoon," Sally Cruikshank’s wildly imaginative tale of odd creatures visiting a psychedelic amusement park careens creatively from strange to truly wacky scenes. It became a favorite of the Midnight Movie circuit in the 1970s. Cruikshank later created animation sequences for "Sesame Street," the 1986 film "Ruthless People" and the "Cartoon Land" sequence in the 1983 film "Twilight Zone: The Movie."

Caricaturist David Levine dies, Post runs AP obit

David Levine, one of the best American caricaturists of the 20th century, has died of complications from prostate cancer. The Post ran an Associated Press obituary (which does note that his work is in the Library of Congress - go here and enter "David Levine" in your search and you'll get 78 hits including this McDonald's illustration). Read the NY Times for more information.

Michael Cavna had a good piece on Comic Riffs though. The Times is running an appreciation, or rather an appraisal tomorrow too.

Maira Kalman reviewed in Post

Kalman's done these clever blog posts for the NY Times which are sort of comics. The past year's have focused on American holidays, but the 2008's have been collected in The Principles of Uncertainty. The Post reviewed it today.

Herblock! exhibit review

Another one for the International J of Comic Art that you're getting to see first...

Herblock! Sara Duke, Martha Kennedy and Cynthia Wayne. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, October 13, 2009-May 1, 2010.

By the terms of Herbert “Herblock” Block’s will, the Library of Congress must mount an exhibit of his work every three years. In spite of Block’s staggering 72-year long professional career and four Pulitzer Prizes, this reviewer begins to feel a bit jaded. Fortunately, this is an excellent exhibition that is well worth seeing and is accompanied by an excellent companion book, Herblock by Haynes Johnson and Harry Katz (New York, Norton, 2009) that also has a cd of 18,000 of Block’s cartoons (produced by Warren Bernard). The occasion for the large scale of these events was Herblock’s 100th birthday.

The exhibit is in a new gallery, created recently from a reading room, and to get to it, one has to walk through a recreation of Thomas Jefferson’s library – a highlight for any book lover. The curators (who are my friends) cleverly chose 82 original drawings that have not bee on display before. These are out of the 14,460 cartoons and 250,000 roughs he left to the library. They also added the twelve books of his cartoons that Block published in his lifetime. These copies, unlike the ones originally added to the Library, have their dustjackets because they are a recent donation to the Prints and Photographs division from the Herb Block Foundation.

The exhibit opens with a précis of who Block was and includes some of his iconic images such as the footsteps leading from the Watergate break-in to Nixon’s White House. “The Approaching Perils” covers his early years. One can see Block’s early typical Midwestern cartoonist style using pen and ink – a style that is unrecognizable to us as Herblock. This style soon gives way to his familiar use of heavy crayon or graphite lines. Some notable works were “Winged Victory” (1938) in which he quoted the sculpture from Samothrace, and “What ‘Peace Now’ Would Mean” (1940) in which he showed Hitler armed with a machine gun and sitting on the globe.

Other sections were “Psychopathic Ward” on the Depression, fascism and World War II, “White is Black, Black is White, Night is Day—“ on the Cold War, “Naughty, Naughty” on McCarthyism, “Everything’s [Not] Okay” on the 1960s, “Here He Comes Now” on Richard Nixon, “It Gets Into Everything” on the 1970s and terrorism, “Joy to the World” on Ronald Reagan, “Closing Years, Contrasting Styles of Leadership” on Clinton and the elder George Bush, and “Classic Cartoons by a Master” to catch anything that might have been missed.

One could easily select favorite drawings from each section – my notebook is full of notations such as “Man’s Reach” (1968) in which he drew, apropos of Apollo 8, a white hand with its finger and thumb meeting to encircle the moon on top of a black layer covering most of the paper. By the end of his life, and thus the end of the exhibit, Block’s ability was slipping somewhat and the images are covered with Avery labels and ink redrawings. “Creationism or Evolution – That’s Up to the States” has Bush’s head reworked and pasted on, but the final image in print would have looked fine.

During the press tour Harry Katz noted that in the future “you’re not going to see cartoons on the wall – newspapers are changing” and “With Herblock missing, we need to get the voice of the cartoonist out there and revitalizing the art form” – two sentiments that most readers of IJOCA (and this blog!) can agree with and hope for the best.

The Real Story of Superheroes exhbit review

I've submitted this for the spring issue of the International Journal of Comic Art, but will share it with my readers here first.

The Real Story of the Superheroes: Photographs by Dulce Pinzón. Washington, DC: Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, November 4-28, 2009.

Photographer Dulce Pinzón clothed Mexicans working in New York City in Halloween superhero costumes loosely related to their jobs, and photographed them doing that work. Thirteen large images were displayed. Pinzón’s biographical data sheet noted, “As a young Mexican artist living in the US, Dulce soon found new inspiration for her photography in feelings of nostalgia, questions of identity, and political and cultural frustrations. … ‘The Real Story of the Superheroes’ comes full circle to introduce the Mexican immigrant in New York in a satirical documentary style featuring ordinary men and women in their work environment donning superhero garb, thus raising questions of both our definition of heroism and our ignorance of and indifference to the workforce that fuels our ever-consuming economy.” While one should generally read press release material with ones critical faculties engaged, I actually agree strongly with the second sentence. The images do not quite stand by themselves, but with captions that explain whom the people and what their occupations are, one is easily led to musing about socio-economics and superheroes.

Some photographs were disturbing: an image of a young man in a Robin costume standing at night on a city street illuminated by a peepshow sign and a police car is labeled, “Robin. Ernesto Mendez from Mexico City works as a male prostitute in Times Square New York. He sends 200 dollars a week.” Other images are less disturbing, but still thought-provoking. “Elasticman [actually Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four – ed.]. Sergio Garcia from the State of Mexico works as a waiter in New York. He sends 350 a week.” The photograph shows him in costume reaching across a diner to present a plate to a seated woman. A cook is shown as the Human Torch, Batman is a taxi driver, Spider-man is a professional window cleaner, Acuaman (sic, Aquaman) works in a fishmarket and the Hulk loads trucks for a greengrocer.

Pinzón had a clever conceit, took thoughtful photographs and the exhibit was well worth seeing. The images were for sale in several sizes and prices ranging from US$1250-$2500.

Bugs recommends

Here's a couple more shots of a cartoon character popping up in DC.





I love the homemade cartoon art, and the impulse that makes people do it.

It's a jungle out there

Here's a couple of shots from this fall of a Disney's Jungle Book nutrition ad for the USDA on a Washington, DC bus stop.