"Party Crashers" and Comic Book Culture at Arlington Art Center
Posted by Mike Rhode
I'm hoping to make it between 7-8 tonight. I think there's a catalogue as well and will try to get details of that for you.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Comic Riffs on National Cartoonists Society USO trip in Afghanistan
Artists in Afghanistan: Luckovich, Pastis & Keane moved by latest USO Tour
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs November 18 2010
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs November 18 2010
Nov 19: Party Crashers comic art exhibit opens in Arlington
I wrote up some details of the Party Crashers comic art exhibit for the City Paper.
Smurfs, Human Target and Peanuts in local papers
Macy's has a 1/2 page Smurfs ad in the Post, the Examiner has a wire story on the return of the Human Target tv show which has now lasted longer than any of the comic books -
'Human Target' adds characters -- and character
Rob Owen / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Washington Examiner November 18, 2010 , p. 28
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lifestyle/tv/Fox_s-retooled-_Human-Target_-adds-characters----and-character-1596570-108725999.html
Rob Owen / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Washington Examiner November 18, 2010 , p. 28
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lifestyle/tv/Fox_s-retooled-_Human-Target_-adds-characters----and-character-1596570-108725999.html
- and the Peanuts gang is available again -
Holidays with Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Deluxe Holiday Collection on Blu-Ray
by Express contributor Sarah Anne Hughes
November 18 2010, p. E8
http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/11/peanuts-deluxe-holiday-collection-blu-ray-charles-schulz.php
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
1969 editorial cartoon still rings true
I've got some old newspapers that I'm clipping the comics out of to send to Michigan State University. Here's John Fischetti's December 6, 1969 cartoon from the Chicago Daily News:
and here it is with one word edited out to make it relevant 40 years later:
Some may argue that you don't need to alter it to make it relevant, but I don't think extending tax cuts for the rich is a 'reform.'
and here it is with one word edited out to make it relevant 40 years later:
Some may argue that you don't need to alter it to make it relevant, but I don't think extending tax cuts for the rich is a 'reform.'
Colleen Doran on piracy at local blog
I'm posting this because it's in a local publication although I don't remotely agree with her conclusion about copyright. Or about DC's Vertigo's financial problems either.
The "real" victims of online piracy
By Colleen Doran
The Hill's Congress Blog 11/17/10
In my opinion, the carriage makers that survived started making cars, not by continuing to make horse carriages. Technology's changed the world and no matter how Draconian you'd like to make copyright law, it isn't going to matter. As Rob Pegora says in the Post today, apropos of the Beatles and mp3s, "This is a point that often gets overlooked in entertainment circles: The market continues to function even if the logical and rightful supplier of a product refuses to participate. The ease of duplicating and transmitting digital data ensures that somebody else will fill that vacancy.You can mope about the massive copyright infringement that results from this dynamic, but the best way for artists to reverse it is to get into the market themselves."
That's what's happened with comic book publishers and digital comics. As I like to point out, if the current copyright law was retroactive from when it passed, the Spanish-American War would still be in copyright. Anyone remember that war? No. Because it happened in 1898. On the other hand, Disney, the chief financier of the law, wouldn't have been able to make any of their movies based on Grimm's fairy tales like Snow White or Cinderella because those original tales would have been in copyright when the films were made in the 1940s.
The "real" victims of online piracy
By Colleen Doran
The Hill's Congress Blog 11/17/10
In my opinion, the carriage makers that survived started making cars, not by continuing to make horse carriages. Technology's changed the world and no matter how Draconian you'd like to make copyright law, it isn't going to matter. As Rob Pegora says in the Post today, apropos of the Beatles and mp3s, "This is a point that often gets overlooked in entertainment circles: The market continues to function even if the logical and rightful supplier of a product refuses to participate. The ease of duplicating and transmitting digital data ensures that somebody else will fill that vacancy.You can mope about the massive copyright infringement that results from this dynamic, but the best way for artists to reverse it is to get into the market themselves."
That's what's happened with comic book publishers and digital comics. As I like to point out, if the current copyright law was retroactive from when it passed, the Spanish-American War would still be in copyright. Anyone remember that war? No. Because it happened in 1898. On the other hand, Disney, the chief financier of the law, wouldn't have been able to make any of their movies based on Grimm's fairy tales like Snow White or Cinderella because those original tales would have been in copyright when the films were made in the 1940s.
NPR's Weldon also has an opinion on 'Superman vs. Muhammad Ali'
Float Like a Snagriff, Sting Like a Fish-Snake: 'Superman vs. Muhammad Ali'
by Glen Weldon
National Public Radio's Monkey See blog (November 17, 2010)
by Glen Weldon
National Public Radio's Monkey See blog (November 17, 2010)
Tonight: Between the Panels panel - Free!
In Between the Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene
http://www.wnba-books.org/wash/events.php#graphicnovelWednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Busboys & Poets, 5th & K Streets, Washington, DC
Cost: FREE and open to the public!
The Women's National Book Association, DC Chapter will sponsor a panel discussion on the DC graphic novel scene. The panel for the event, to be held at Busboys & Poets , from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., will include Carolyn Belefski, Molly Lawless, Matt Dembicki, and Mike Rhode. The event is free and open to the public.
Carolyn Belefski is the mastermind behind the web comic Curls. She is also one of the creators of several other comic books: Kid Roxy, Black Magic Tales, and The Legettes, and an indefatigable (nightly) poster to her blog, Sketch Before Sleep. Her work has appeared in USA WEEKEND Magazine, The Commonwealth Times, Virginia Living Magazine, Magic Bullet, CROQ Zine, and The Pulse on COMICON.com. Ms. Belefski is a nominee for the Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer for 2010.
Matt Dembicki is a DC-based cartoonist whose work includes the award-winning nature parable Mr. Big, The Great White Shark Story, Xoc, and The Brewmaster's Castle, about legendary DC brewer Christian Heurich. His latest anthology, Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection, has received rave reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal and has been nominated as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. In addition to his own work, Dembicki also hosts kids' workshops in the DC area and beyond on making comic books.
Molly Lawless, a Boston native, moved to the DC area in 2005. She has self-published mini comics as well as a compilation, Infandum! Ad Infinitum. She is currently working on a full-length graphic novel for McFarland Publishing titled Hit by Pitch. She is an avid blogger and includes stories about her family in her daily posts.
Mike Rhode, panel moderator, is co-author of the comics research bibliography, editor of Exhibition and Media Reviews for the International Journal of Comic Art, and a contributing writer for Hogan's Alley. In 2008, he was named Best (Comics) Art Blogger by the Washington City Paper for his Comics DC blog. Rhode edited Harvey Pekar: Conversations, a book of interviews with the late underground comic book writer and author of American Splendor published by the University Press of Mississippi. He has written for the Comics Journal and was selected as an RFK Journalism Awards judge for the editorial cartoon division of Comics Journal in 2009 and 2010. Rhode currently writes about comics for the City Paper.
This event is FREE and open to the public!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Brad Meltzer geeks out
Brad Meltzer, the formerly local comics writer, forever outs himself in "Why ‘Superman vs Muhammad Ali’ is still the greatest"
My friend Comics Professor Hatfield justifies his life...
...on YouTube no less! "Interesting Classes CSUN English 333 Comics and Graphic Novels with Prof. Charles Hatfield" - I'd take that.
Charles used to be in DC every year with ICAF and we'd hang around - the above is me, Claire, Charles and Spanish comics scholar Ana Merino, in October 2005, post-ICAF, lounging in my backyard.
Tomorrow: In Between the Panels - free!
In Between the Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene
http://www.wnba-books.org/wash/events.php#graphicnovelWednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Busboys & Poets, 5th & K Streets, Washington, DC
Cost: FREE and open to the public!
The Women's National Book Association, DC Chapter will sponsor a panel discussion on the DC graphic novel scene. The panel for the event, to be held at Busboys & Poets , from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., will include Carolyn Belefski, Molly Lawless, Matt Dembicki, and Mike Rhode. The event is free and open to the public.
Carolyn Belefski is the mastermind behind the web comic Curls. She is also one of the creators of several other comic books: Kid Roxy, Black Magic Tales, and The Legettes, and an indefatigable (nightly) poster to her blog, Sketch Before Sleep. Her work has appeared in USA WEEKEND Magazine, The Commonwealth Times, Virginia Living Magazine, Magic Bullet, CROQ Zine, and The Pulse on COMICON.com. Ms. Belefski is a nominee for the Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer for 2010.
Matt Dembicki is a DC-based cartoonist whose work includes the award-winning nature parable Mr. Big, The Great White Shark Story, Xoc, and The Brewmaster's Castle, about legendary DC brewer Christian Heurich. His latest anthology, Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection, has received rave reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal and has been nominated as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. In addition to his own work, Dembicki also hosts kids' workshops in the DC area and beyond on making comic books.
Molly Lawless, a Boston native, moved to the DC area in 2005. She has self-published mini comics as well as a compilation, Infandum! Ad Infinitum. She is currently working on a full-length graphic novel for McFarland Publishing titled Hit by Pitch. She is an avid blogger and includes stories about her family in her daily posts.
Mike Rhode, panel moderator, is co-author of the comics research bibliography, editor of Exhibition and Media Reviews for the International Journal of Comic Art, and a contributing writer for Hogan's Alley. In 2008, he was named Best (Comics) Art Blogger by the Washington City Paper for his Comics DC blog. Rhode edited Harvey Pekar: Conversations, a book of interviews with the late underground comic book writer and author of American Splendor published by the University Press of Mississippi. He has written for the Comics Journal and was selected as an RFK Journalism Awards judge for the editorial cartoon division of Comics Journal in 2009 and 2010. Rhode currently writes about comics for the City Paper.
This event is FREE and open to the public!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Nov 19: Party Crashers exhibit opens in Arlington
COMIC CULTURE INVADES THE ART WORLD
NOV 19, 2010 – JAN 16, 2011
Rosaire Appel - Victor Kerlow
Rina Ayuyang - Blaise Larmee
Derik Badman - Andrei Molotiu
Gabrielle Bell - Robert Pruitt
Jeffrey Brown - Jim Rugg
Joshua Cotter - Dash Shaw
Warren Craghead III - Deb Sokolow
Anton Kannemeyer - Olav Westphalen
OPENING RECEPTION:
November 19, 7 – 9pm
THE SHOW:
PARTY CRASHERS mashes up comic art and contemporary gallery culture, and features artists who pass back and forth between the two worlds. This massive two venue show results from a crosstown collaboration between AAC Director of Exhibitions Jeffry Cudlin and Artisphere Gallery Director Cynthia Connolly. The show's two independent halves feature different types of work: Connolly's show presents fine artists who mimic the appearance of comic art; Cudlin's show at AAC contains:•
alternative comic artists who also show their original pages and drawings in art galleries•
fine and comic artists working side-by-side on a national curated project (Creative Time Comics)•
fine and comic artists creating avante-garde, purely abstract sequential art without words or recognizeable imageryTHE BACKGROUND:
In the late 1960s, Andy Warhol, Pop Art, and Fluxus caused a radical shift in what could be shown in galleries or museums—art went from being rarefied, academic and anti-literary to embracing narrative, mass media, and the stuff of everyday life.Yet the underground comics that began to emerge at that same time were arguably more transgressive and more influential on a subsequent generation of fine artists than any gallery or museum show.
Now MFA students are as likely to be influenced by comics as by art history. In addition, many comic artists also show their original drawings in galleries alongside contemporary painters, sculptors, and photographers.
THE ARTISTS:
Philadelphia artist Jim Rugg's Afrodisiac refers to '70s blaxploitation and mimics the look of aging pop artifacts—each page features simulated yellowing and tattered edges. Rugg uses comic tropes in unexpected ways: advancing a narrative through fragments, covers for nonexistent stories, or sketched, incomplete splash pages.London-born, NY-based
Gabrielle Bell is known for her confessional autobiographical mini-comic, Lucky, which documents her life as a struggling twenty-something artist in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her style is decidedly unironic and disarmingly direct. Chicago artist Deb Sokolow contributed to Creative Time Comics. In her art, viewers must follow directional arrows through tangles of drawings and diagrams that describing outlandish conspiracy theories concerning pop culture, politics, and the artist's own neighborhood.
Philadelphia's Derik Badman is a critic, librarian, and comic artist, who transforms found texts, images, and even other comics to acheive unexpected results.
Chicago artist Robert Pruitt, another Creative Time Comics participant, creates large afro-futurist drawings in which isolated black figures are shown wearing the trappings of superhero and science fiction culture—as well as references to avante-garde early 20th century European art.
New York artist Victor Kerlow not only creates surreal stories that bridge the gap between urban ennui and paranoid fantasy, but also observes his environment with a reporter's eye, making energetic line drawings of the city in which he lives and places to which he has traveled.
Portland, Oregon artist Blaise Larmee creates washed-out black-and-white worlds populated by childlike young adults. His current book, Young Lions, highlights the artist's fascination with 'zine culture, bohemian lifestyles, and Yoko Ono. (Larmee also designed and illustrated the PARTY CRASHERS catalogue.)
Charlottesville, VA artist Warren Craghead III creates drawings, collages, books, and mail art inspired by his everyday life experiences. Craghead's stories are free associative and decidedly nonlinear.
Capetown, South Africa-based artist Anton Kannemeyer (aka Joe Dog) creates potent, troubling drawings that explore the legacy of Western colonialism in his home country; the hypocrisy and racism hiding beneath the surface of white society; and the corruption of South Africa's political elite.
Chicago artist Jeffrey Brown draws gently humorous autobiographical pieces, exploring not only the author's experiences with fantasy and comic culture, but also his relationships with his own wife and son. Brown was also featured in the Creative Time Comics series.
New York artist Dash Shaw pairs a powerful, reductive drawing style with sprawling, convoluted narratives. His latest book, Body World, follows botanist Professor Panther's encounters with a strange new psychedelic drug that threatens to turn humanity into a single hive mind, open to alien influences.
New York artist Rosaire Appel creates books and sequential images with asemic writing—a wordless form of writing that often resembles pictograms or reflects the mechanical act of producing text.
Bloomington, Indiana-based artist and scholar Andrei Molotiu is the editor of the award-winning Abstract Comics anthology. Molotiu offers digital animations, abstract comic drawings, and a catalogue essay about the uneasy relationships between comics, literature, and contemporary art in the present tense.
Oakland, California based Rina Ayuyang's Whirlwind Wonderland follows the daily life of a Filipino American girl, navigating, in the artist's words: "sleepy suburban sprawls, empty diners, fantasy-filled commuter traffic jams, misplaced football fanaticism, ethnic identity crash courses, and just good ole family hi-jinx."
Chicago artist Joshua Cotter's latest book, Driven by Lemons, is a sprawling sketchbook packed with ideas, story fragments, and intricate abstract exercises, all struggling against the boundaries of the comic form.
Hamburg, born, New York based artist Olav Westphalen uses the conventions of comics and caricatures to challenge the traditional baggage of fine art, creating outsized (and outlandish) sculptures, drawings, and performances. Westphalen was also featured in the Creative Time Comics series.
Founded in 1974, the AAC is primarily dedicated to supporting new work by contemporary artists in the Mid-Atlantic region. Located in the historic Maury School building, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, it mounts five exhibitions of contemporary art per year, rents studio spaces, and conducts educational programs for students of all ages. Normal public hours are Wednesday through Friday from 1 pm to 7 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5pm. For more information, call 703.248.6800 or visit www.findyourartist.org
Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat With Molly Lawless
Now up at the City Paper -
Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat With Molly Lawless
"As far as comic artists, the first one I really got into was Dan Clowes. I saw his work and it really resonated—it has that perfect combo of rational realism and absurdity that I love."
'Tangled' wire story in today's Express
Disney's next animated movie 'Tangled' is the subject of a wire story in today's Express.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Groening interview on Baltimore exhibit
Matt Groening leaves his mark on Baltimore
'Simpsons' creator co-curates AVAM exhibit
by Edward Gunts, The Baltimore Sun November 14, 2010
'Simpsons' creator co-curates AVAM exhibit
by Edward Gunts, The Baltimore Sun November 14, 2010
Sarah Glidden and Scott Pilgrim reviews in today's papers
Sarah Glidden's graphic book memoir on Israel, reviewed by Lisa Bonos
Washington Post November 14, 2010
Zadzooks: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Predators; Scott Pilgrim's progress is absurdist fun
By Joseph Szadkowski
The Washington Times, November 14, 2010
Washington Post November 14, 2010
Zadzooks: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Predators; Scott Pilgrim's progress is absurdist fun
By Joseph Szadkowski
The Washington Times, November 14, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Donna Lewis' Reply All comic strip launches
Washington continues to be an incubator for comics strips, and they're not coming from the University of Maryland's Diamondback (Liberty Meadows, Boondocks, Watch Your Head) all the time now.
Local cartoonist Donna Lewis' Reply All comic strip will launch soon from the Washington Post Writer's Group. The strip is described as "Reply All is about those moments in today's information-overloaded environment when you forget your adult-self and toss the megaphone to your fifth-grade inner child. The strip explores the value of honesty, the power of knowledge and the impact of a bad-hair day on one's self-perception." It launches on February 28. Donna recently told me that she's reworking her earlier webcomics because she thinks her art has improved.
Congratulations, Donna! My interview with her quoted in the PR is here.
Local cartoonist Donna Lewis' Reply All comic strip will launch soon from the Washington Post Writer's Group. The strip is described as "Reply All is about those moments in today's information-overloaded environment when you forget your adult-self and toss the megaphone to your fifth-grade inner child. The strip explores the value of honesty, the power of knowledge and the impact of a bad-hair day on one's self-perception." It launches on February 28. Donna recently told me that she's reworking her earlier webcomics because she thinks her art has improved.
Congratulations, Donna! My interview with her quoted in the PR is here.
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