Truitt on Marvel's 2012 slugfest

Marvel Comics pits 'Avengers vs. X-Men' in 2012
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY December 6 2011
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2011-12-06/avengers-x-men-marvel-2012-series/51672646/1

and

Marvel event reaches 'critical mass' on social media
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY December 6 2011
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2011-12-06/marvel-comics-avengers-x-men/51672784/1

Of course, we first saw this in X-Men #9 from January 1965, where they wrapped it up in a single issue. 1987's X-Men Vs. the Avengers took four issues. 2012 -- a whole year? At least the Avengers finally get top billing after 47 years...

Post on Disneyworld at Christmastime

A Disney home for the holidays
By Steve Hendrix, Washington Post December 4 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/at-disney-its-home-for-the-holidays/2011/11/15/gIQA0pqaHO_story.html

Michael Uslan interview coming to the City Paper tomorrow

I'll post the link when it appears, but I did a 45-minute telephone interview with the Batman movie producer, which touched on his new autobiography, his writing for Archie comics, and of course, on Batman:

Michael Uslan: Yeah, The Boy Who Loved Batman is about the boy who loved Batman, the ultimate fanboy geek who learned to read from comics before he was four, and the adventures and misadventures I had collecting comics, going to the world's first comics convention ever held, becoming an early member of comics fandom, finding a way to incorporate my love of comic books and superheroes, in particular Batman, into my work and life with my attempt to restore dignity to Batman after the tv show and finding the ways for a blue-collar kid from New Jersey to make it to Hollywood to show them the potential of dark and serious Batman movies, even though I didn't come from money, and couldn't buy my way into Hollywood. I didn't know anyone and didn't have any relatives in the business, so it's really my story of a life's journey of what you can do to make your dreams come true – for me I was able to pull it off ultimately.

He'll be appearing on Thurs, Dec 8th in Silver Spring at the Discovery building.

Randy T discovers Corey Finkle, another local comics writer

Corey Finkle has written an adaption of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper.

Post columnist on Brian Selznick

Brian Selznick's 'Wonderstruck' is a worthy family tradition [in print, Dec. 1 as "Lightning strikes twice for author"p. AX17].
By Tracy Grant, Washington Post November 30 2011 http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/advice/brian-selznicks-wonderstruck-is-a-worthy-family-tradition/2011/11/20/gIQAOOgPCO_story.html

 

Truitt on Super Friends app and Flash Gordon

DC's Super Friends have Santa's back on app
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY November 29 2011
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2011-11-29/DC-Super-Friends-comics-iPad-app/51470794/1

Flash Gordon is retro cool in new 'Zeitgeist' series
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY November 29 2011
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2011-11-29/Flash-Gordon-Zeigeist-comic-series/51458500/1

Capicon comics show today

PR--Sunday, Dec 4--Capicons Comic Book and Pop Culture Con

Capicons Comic Book & Pop Culture Con
Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011
10 am - 3 pm
Dunn Loring Volunteer Fire Hall, 

2148 Gallows Rd, Dunn Loring, Virginia
Admission $3 - Kids FREE!

Open to the public from 10 am - 3 pm. Buy, sell & trade: Gold, Silver,
Bronze Age comics; Indie & Modern comics, Publishers & Creators, TV &
Movie Collectibles. Non-sport cards; Videos & DVDs; Horror/Sci-Fi;
figures, toys; Star Wars & Star Trek memorabilia; original artwork,
posters and other comic-related collectibles.

FEATURING:
* John Dimes, author, artist, singer, actor and award-winning comedian
(a.k.a Horror Host Dr. Sarcofiguy from the Spooky Movie Show)
* Tim Dzon, Artist
* Chris Flick, Capes N Babes webcomic
* Bill McKay
* Michael Munshaw
* Dan Nokes, 21st Century Sandshark Studios
* Pete Tapang, Artist (featured in Mystique Magazine, FHM, Artcore
Magazine, V.A.M.P, Glamourcon)
* Dave Wilson, Model Maker Extraordinaire
* Ulysses E. Campbell from "Fantastic Forum" & Larry Reclusado of "The
NOVA Comic Book Show"
* Paul Gyurcsanszky will host a demo of Osiris Sanction: a new L.A.R.P.
created by Ford Ivey! "It's not your kid's laser tag."
...and MORE!!

Directions to DLVFRD: 
Take I-495 (DC/Capital Beltway) to Exit 47A
(Rt. 7 West). Go 1/2 Mile, Left on Gallows Rd. 1 mile to 2148 Gallows Rd

Capicons
PO Box 2488
Merrifield, VA 22116
http://capicons.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Capicons-Comic-Book-Pop-Culture-Con/221236176794#!/pages/Capicons-Comic-Book-Pop-Culture-Con/221236176794

McNeil's Finder makes Texas papers 'best of' comics list

A look at the best -- and worst -- of this year's comics
Joe Gross, The Reader
Austin AMERICAN-STATESMAN Dec. 3, 2011
http://www.statesman.com/life/books/a-look-at-the-best-and-worst-of-2010712.html

Dec 9: Howl's Moving Castle at JICC

A great Miyazaki movie.

ANIMEZING 2011 © Walt Disney Pictures © Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. Friday, December 9th @ 6:30 pm   Mark your calendars!   J-Film Series TBA 12/15@ 6:30 pm   2012 Nengajo Design Contest Commemorating friendship between Japan and the U.S. in the Year of the Dragon Deadline: 12/19      Where: JICC 1150 18th St., NW   Washington, DC 20036   (202) 238-6900  jicc@ws.mofa.go.jp      Directions Add to my calendar     Sophie, a diligent teenage girl working in her family's hat shop, finds her quiet life thrown into chaos when the dashing, mysterious wizard Howl comes into her life. Their friendship quickly catches the ire of the Witch of the Waste, who casts a spell on pretty, young Sophie, transforming her into a ragged old woman. Unrecognizable to her family, friends, and even Howl, Sophie seeks shelter in the magnificent moving castle, hoping to find a way to reverse the witches' spell. There she discovers that she is not the only one dealing with a strange transformation - Howl has a secret of his own.     Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese animation director who wowed audiences worldwide with his Oscar award-winning film Spirited Away, brings another visually spectacular tale  to life on the big screen. Based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, the Oscar-nominated Howl's Moving Castle is a flight of fancy for the whole family-transporting audiences to a distant land of dreams and scenes more beautiful than our own.   Japanese with English subtitles. Rated PG. 119 min, 2004. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.   This event is free and open to the public. Please note that seating is limited and registration does not guarantee guests a seat. Registered guests will be seated first. Open seats will be given to guests on standby when the program begins. Register Now!

Embassy of Japan | 1150 18th St., NW | Suite 100 | Washington | DC | 20036

'ComicBacks' Yahoo group is local now

A couple of years ago, Ray Bottorff Jr moved here from Detroit, and brought his project to produce a bibliography / price guide to paperback books related to comics with him. Ray's got a ComicBacks Yahoo group which he describes as:

"...a list designed to appeal to both fans of Comic Books and Paperbacks. ComicBacks is a term copyrighted by Ray Bottorff Jr to refer to mostly mass-market sized paperbacks that are comic-related. Comic-related means that the paperback has its origins in Comic Books, Comic Strips, Animation, Hero Pulps or other related Sister Arts. I have no problem including paperbacks in this list which may not have originated in comics, but are of a Super-Hero theme. The list can cover both comic reprinted work and prose material from comics or comic characters.
And if you wish to talk about Big Little Books, Oversize Paperbacks, Oblong Paperbacks or Trade Paperbacks of this "genre" feel free to do so.
Also feel free to post your buy/sell/trade lists!"

He's recently posted a link to a 700-page illustrated e-version of his list of ComicBacks. You can join the group through the above link.

Comic Riffs on Josh Neufeld's comics journalism

COMICS JOURNALISM: Today, 'A.D.'s' Josh Neufeld renders the compelling lines of 'Bahrain'
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog December 2 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/comics-journalism-today-ads-josh-neufeld-renders-the-compelling-lines-of-bahrain/2011/12/01/gIQARpwkKO_blog.html

Dec 15: Al Jaffee & His Biographer at the Washington JCC

Authors Out Loud: Mary-Lou Weisman & Al Jaffee Washington DCJCC

   Mary-Lou Weissman - author, Al Jaffee- illustrator
Al Jaffee's Mad Life: A Biography
Thursday, December 15, 7:30 pm
$10, $8 Members/Seniors/Students

At 89, iconic American cartoonist Al Jaffee remains MAD magazine's oldest and most prolific contributor. Behind Jaffee's trademark dark humor lurks an even darker story of a childhood spent between two alien worlds, Lithuania and America. Mary-Lou Weisman tells the off-kilter life story of the man who countless fans know and love as the inventor of MAD's "fold-ins" and "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions."

Al Jaffee's Mad Life is illustrated by more than 65 original four-color original drawing by the master himself.

Mary-Lou Weisman is a journalist and author whose books include My Baby Boomer Baby Book, Traveling While Married, and Intensive Care: A Family Love Story.

Al Jaffee is an award-winning cartoonist whose work has appeared in more 440 issues of MAD magazine.

"Al Jaffee's Mad Life lays bare in harrowing yet often riotous detail how a Southern boy, twice uprooted by his mother to Lithuanian shtetls on the eve of World War II, grew up to become a tireless satirist for some of America's cheekier magazines."
-The New York Times

 "It's an unnerving biography with a moving graphic novel hidden inside it."
-Art Spiegelman, author of MAUS

Partner: 16th Street J's Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery Off the Wall series

 

Date: Thursday, December 15, 2011
Time: 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Address:
1529 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
United States

If you'd like to attend this event you can purchase tickets online.

Dec 8: "An Evening with Michael Uslan, Executive Producer of The Dark Night"

"An Evening with Michael Uslan, Executive Producer of The Dark Night"

CINE is co-hosting a book party with PGA-East for Michael Uslan, who is the Executive Producer of The Dark Knight and the other Batman movies in Silver Spring on December 8 at 6:30 pm. To pre-register, go to www.cine.org - there is a charge which varies between $10 and $30. Uslan will be mingling and available to chat as well as signing books.

Weldon on the changing look of unchanging Superman

Truth, Jawlines And The American Way: The Changing Face Of Superman

by Glen Weldon

December 1, 2011

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/12/01/142935250/truth-jawlines-and-the-american-way-the-changing-face-of-superman

Library of Congress' Swann Foundation accepting fellowship applications

The Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon is accepting applications for its graduate fellowship, one of the few in the field, for the 2012-2013 academic year. The Foundation is administered by the Library of Congress. Deadline for receipt of applications is February 15, 2012. Please email swann@loc.gov or call (202) 707-9115 if you have questions. For criteria, guidelines, and application forms, please see:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swann-fellow.html

 

For titles of projects funded, see:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swann-fellowslist.html

 

We appreciate the opportunity to post this notice. My apologies for cross listing.

 

 

Martha H. Kennedy

Curator, Popular & Applied Graphic Art

Prints and Photographs Division

Library of Congress

101 Independence Ave. SE

Washington, DC   20540-4730

Ph.: 202/707-9115     Fax: 202/707-6647

 

 

 

Dec 9: John Fantucchio at Del Ray Artisans December Show

Passing this along from John...

The Del Ray Artisans Exhibit for the month of December  theme is 'It's All About the Little Things' - December 9 - 18, 2011.  The Del Ray Artisans Gallery is located at 2704 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria, VA., 22301-1124.  Opening reception is Friday, December 9, 7 - 10 p.m.  Fantucchio will be there for the reception.  He will have three 8:" by 10" paintings showing the versatility of this prolific artist's range - three completely different approaches, all very thought-provoking and priced for the holidays at way under $200 each.   Bring a friend or two.  Mouth-watering food and drink will be served.  A unique opportunity to meet other patrons of the arts, and a good time to talk with John and ask him questions about his recent works.  If you're not able to attend the reception, John will also make a special appearance on Saturday, December 17, 12:30 - 3:30.  (Sorry, no food or drinks at this time.)  Now is the time to corner him on the meanings of his works. 

Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, MD has Upcoming In-Store Appearances

Charles Soule, writer of "27" from Image Comics, will appear at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, MD on January 7, 2012 from 11am-2pm.



On February 18, 2012 from 11am-2pm, Justin Jordan, writer, and Tradd Moore, artist, will be at Third Eye to promote their "Strange Talent of Luther Strode" title, also from Image Comics.

Cards Comics & Collectibles of Reistertown, MD December Sale, Coupons, Ron Marz In-Store in January

Cards Comics & Collectibles of Reistertown, MD (the store that brings you the Baltimore Comic-Con) is having a sale and offering coupons in December.

They are also featuring Ron Marz (Artifacts, Voodoo) in the store on January 28, 2012

Comic Riffs on Action Comics #1 auction

SUPERMAN SOARS! Rare 1938 comic book sells for record $2M
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog November 30 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/superman-soars-rare-1938-comic-book-sells-for-record-2m/2011/11/30/gIQAtXOOEO_blog.html

PR: Richard Thompson in Pittsburgh

Actually, one of his comic strips may be in this exhibit curated by our mutual friend, John Read. It depends on what was picked to go in this version.  I saw the show at HeroesCon this year, and it's definitely worth checking out.

Wed, Nov 30, 2011

For Immediate Release:
Press Release
TOONSEUM
945 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh PA 15222

One Fine Sunday at the ToonSeum

The ToonSeum presents an exhibition of epic funny page proportions! More than 50 pieces of original comic strip art -- all from the same Sunday in 2010.

The exhibit is a who's who of the modern American comic strip, featuring the likes of Garfield, Beetle Bailey, Doonesbury and many more.
The ToonSeum's new Lou Scheimer Gallery is transformed into a ginormous slice of everyone's favorite section of the newspaper.

Exhibit curator and publisher John Read called upon members of the National Cartoonists Society to loan strips from the same Sunday. That Sunday is April 11, 2010. While that date holds no specific significance, it offers a look at a day in the life of the comic strip, a uniquely American art form.

Many of the strips featured presently run in Pittsburgh-area newspapers. Others are ones that ToonSeum Executive Director Joe Wos says should be featured locally!

"We had over 100 strips to pick from for the display, and some will rotate into the exhibit over the next month or so," Wos said. "It was a difficult task to narrow it down. We tried to choose ones that the public loved, as well as ones that we felt were underappreciated in Pittsburgh."

The ToonSeum is hoping the public and area newspapers will take notice of comic strips such as "The Pajama Diaries" and "Zippy the Pinhead."

The exhibit will open Dec. 9th and run through the end of January in the ToonSeum's Lou Scheimer Gallery.

The ToonSeum is located at 945 Liberty Ave. in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.
Admission is $4 for adults and free for children 12 and younger.
For more information, visit toonseum.org or call 412-232-0199.