Showing posts with label Greg Bennett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greg Bennett. Show all posts

Monday, July 10, 2023

Greg Bennett collection of cartoon drawings at Library of Congress

Greg Bennett may have sold his share of Big Planet Comics and decamped to Northern Europe, but part of him remains here... at the Library of Congress. Most of these pictured are from SPX when Greg was more involved in organizing it. The Stan Sakai might have been done at a signing at the store, and I don't recognize Mike Luce at all, but I remember most of the others. Whatever happened to Joe Chiapetta anyway? Reference photos are by Sara Duke.

Bryan Talbot

Craig Thompson

Jonathan Ames by Dean Haspiel

Bacchus by Eddie Campbell

Farel Dalrymple, The Wrenchies,

Jeff Smith

Jessica Abel

Joe Chiapetta

Jhonen C. Vasquez's Squee

Jon Lewis

Metaphrog

Mike Luce

Ronja Berge from Tusj magazine, Norway

Stan Sakai

Unknown Mexican cartoonist

[The Greg Bennett collection of cartoon drawings]

Published/Created

  • [between 1992 and 2020]

More Information

Description

  • 41 items ; sheets 61 x 46 cm and smaller.

Rights advisory

Access advisory

LC classification

  • Unprocessed in PR 13 CN 2023:074

Contents

  • 1. Darick W. Robertson, Damned space beavers, 2002, ink drawing; -- 2. Mark Burrier, [Underground pool], stamped Sep 23 2009, ink drawing; -- 3. Nick Bertozzi (artist), Bill Weaver (writer), Incredible drinkiN' buddies versus postmodernism, ©1998, 6 ink drawings; -- 4. [Drawing of man playing guitar flying over another man], graphite on tracing paper; -- 5. Brett Warnock, Cherry poppin' daddies, © 1992, porous point pen drawing; -- 6. Jon Lewis (writer and penciler), Dave Nothing (inker), and Jeff Mason, letterer, Veiled phantom, 5 drawings; -- 7. Thom Hartigan, [Sea captain], 9/17/97, porous point pen drawing; -- 8. Dean Haspiel, [Yellow man wearing suit jacket], 2008, watercolor and charcoal; -- 9. Jessica Abel, [Four people reading comics, perhaps SPX promotional art], 2007, ink drawing; -- 10. Joe Chiapetta, [Young child clutching crayons and drawing], 1992, ink wash drawing; -- 11. Pete Sickman-Garner, Hey, Mister comics #4, [1998], porous point pen drawing; -- 12. Tom Scioli, Philip K Dick Total recall, [between 2001 and 2020], porous point pen drawing; -- 13. Nick Bertozzi, Living with Dean [Haspiel], 1998, porous point pen on envelope; -- 14. Matt Wagner, For Greg [Robot lifting off into space], colored pencil, porous point pen on black paper; -- 15. G., [Four panel vertical drawing featuring a turtle, rabbit, and a fox, as well as a dachshund wearing "policia secreta"], ink drawing; -- 16. Hurricane Lamps, [between 1999 and 2004], ink and blue pencil drawing; -- 17. Tom Hart, Is that all of them?, 1998, ink and tonal film overlay drawing (w/letter); -- 18. [Comic about music in English and Danish, 5 out of 7 drawings], 5 drawings, watercolor, ink, and graphite with overlays; -- 19. Jeff Smith, [Presentation drawing featuring characters from Bone] [2013?], porous point pen drawing; -- 20. Brian Talbot, [Presentation drawing featuring a woman with her hair tied up and wearing a red hat], 2000, watercolor and ink drawing; -- 21. Jhonen C. Vasquez, [Presentation drawing featuring the character Squee], porous point pen drawing; -- 22. Stan Sakai [Japanese-American artist], [Presentation drawing featuring the character Miyamoto Usagi from the series Usagi Yojimbo], 2000, porous point pen drawing accompanied by letter; -- 23. John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs aka Metaphrog, [Presentation drawing featuring a turtle and a bee], 2001 watercolor and ink drawing; -- 24. Callum Campbell, [Presentation drawing featuring an insect-like creature], 2001 crayon and charcoal drawing; -- 25. Farel Dalrymple, Petite investigator gets in this sheet, [ca. 2013] watercolor and ink drawing accompanied by letter; -- 26. [Five design drawings for a mini comic cover] 5 ink wash and graphite drawings, some with blue pencil; -- 27. [J. J. Liu?], [Rat or guinea pig], 1997 porous point pen drawing; -- 28. Eddie Campbell, Eddie Campbell's Bacchus [2002?] porous point pen and opaque white drawing; -- 29. Mike Luce, [Drawings for and of iron, includes letter and illustrated envelope, 1997 ink and porous point pen drawings; -- 30. Jim Woodring, Small Press Expo 2011, 2011, 1 print accompanied by envelope; -- 31. Farel Dalrymple, The Wrenchies, [ca. 2014], 1 print; -- 32. Hope Larson, Salamander dream, [2005] risograph print accompanied by sticker; -- 33. Paul Pope, Pulphope, [2021?] photomechanical print on mount; -- 34. [Hurricane lamps logo design], [between 1999 and 2004], photocopy with ballpoint inscription; -- 35. John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs aka Metaphrog, [Character facing window in bedroom with robot Comforter] 17/50 photomechanical print; -- 36. Primal Groove Press, So distinctly Top Shelf, © 1996, photomechanical print; -- 37. Brian Biggs, Topshelf on parade, 1998, screenprint; -- 38. John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs aka Metaphrog, [Woman lying on bed] photomechanical print; -- 39. The first ever AdHouse patch, embroidery mounted on photomechanical print; -- 40. Craig Thompson, Neil Gaiman The last angel, [2000] screenprint; -- 41. Mike Zulli, Neil Gaiman The guardian angel tour, © 1994, offset lithograph, 2 variants

Browse by shelf order

Notes

  • This catalog record contains preliminary data.
  • Title devised by Library staff.

Acquisition source

  • Gift; Greg Bennett; 2023; (DLC/PP-2023:074).

LCCN

  • 2023631531  

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.

Friday, January 03, 2014

Jef Thompson let go from Big Planet Comics Bethesda (revised)

I'm updating this as some of the material I tried to quote from Facebook didn't appear, nor did other material that I had in the draft version. My apologies to my readers.

Jef Thompson has reported on Facebook that he's been let go from Big Planet Comics Bethesda, after working there for sixteen years. The decision is purely a financial one according to the store's owners. Jef was the most recognizable employee behind the counter since former employee Peter Casazza purchased Liberty Comics & Books (nee Closet of Comics) and turned it into Big Planet Comics College Park. Joel Pollack, founder and co-owner of the store with Greg Bennett, said on Jef's Facebook page, "I assure you, it was a sad day for me. A simple"thank you" cannot express my gratitude for all you did for Big Planet and for me personally. This wasn't an easy decision." The store will be solely staffed by the two owners for the near future.

Both Joel and Greg have assured me that Big Planet Bethesda is financially healthy, and making a profit, but noted they're both taking a salary from it. Joel also needs to plan for the future as he approaches retirement age -- which is hard for me to believe, but when I think about it, I've been going to his store for over 25 years now.

Jef works as a professional illustrator and his website is http://www.jefthompson.com/ - you can also buy his original artwork online from him on Etsy. He noted that the job "gave me a cushion cash wise to earn money as an artist." I've got some of his art decorating my office and home, and will be buying more now, I'm sure.

All three people in this posting are friends of mine, but I feel this was worth noting both because Jef's been a regular presence at the store for so long on comic book day (aka Wednesday) and will be missed. The long-term viability of comic book stores is regularly debated, but Newsrama reported today that some stores are reporting that sales are up. Assumptions are dangerous, but the federal government's sequestration and the following shut-down affected salaries in the area, and may very well have affected sales at the store; I know that I cut back on my personal spending in the summer and fall due to those events.

In any event, my best wishes go to everyone involved.

-- Mike Rhode

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Zadzooks and Bennett's Best

Comic book review: 'Fractured Fables'
by Joseph Szadkowski
Monday, August 16, 2010 - Zadzooks - Comics and Video Games

Bennett's Best: 'Cuba: My Revolution' and 'I Am Legion'
By Greg Bennett, Special to Zadzooks
Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Bennett's Best: 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' 'Thor,' 'Wolverine' and 'Batman: Cacophony'
By Greg Bennett, Special to Zadzooks Wednesday, September 8, 2010


Bennett's Best: 'New Orleans After the Deluge,' 'Superman/Batman' and 'Guarding the Globe'

By Greg Bennett, Special to Zadzooks
Sunday, August 29, 2010

Bennett's Best: 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' 'The Doom Patrol,' 'Little Lulu's Pal Tubby'
By Greg Bennett, Special to Zadzooks Thursday, August 26, 2010

Bennett's Best: 'Bone,' 'Strange Science Fantasy,' 'Avengers' and 'Unwritten'
By Greg Bennett, Special to Zadzooks Friday, August 20, 2010

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Bennett's Best on Zadzooks

A couple of week's of catchup here.

Bennett's Best: Justice League of America and Wonder Woman
By Greg Bennett, Special to Zadzooks Sunday, July 4, 2010.

Bennett's Best: Batman: The Odyssey, Scarlet and more
By Greg Bennett, Special to Zadzooks Friday, July 9, 2010

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Greg Bennet's band, Jet Age, reviewed in Post and appearing in DC

Album review: The Jet Age's 'In "Love" '
by Mark Jenkins
Washington Post Friday, June 25, 2010; WE07

THE JET AGE - "In 'Love' ''

Show: With the Electricutions on Wednesday at the Black Cat. Show starts at 9 p.m. 202-667-4490. http://www.blackcatdc.com.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Bennett's Best with two good recs


Bennett's Best: First Wave and Strange Tales By Greg Bennett, Special to Zadzooks Thursday, March 4, 2010.

Can't go wrong with either Doc Savage or people satirizing Marvel, even if Marvel is paying them to do it. Well, actually, you can - I had forgotten about What The?!

(Image courtesy of the Grand Comics Database)

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Catching up with Bennett's Best at Zadzooks blog

I saw Greg Bennett yesterday and found out that he's still doing his Bennett's Best mini-reviews at Zadzooks blog - the Times had changed the address of the site. Here are links to what we missed, although it looks like only 2010 is still up so we definitely missed a bunch from 2009 unfortunately.

Bennett's Best: Ignition City and Kick Ass
Greg Bennett provides a pair of recommendations for comic book lovers for the week of February 14, 2010. This week its Ignition City: Volume 1 and Kick Ass.

Bennett's Best: Hicksville: Definitive Edition and Hellblazer: Pandemonium
Legendary comic book store owner Greg Bennett provides a pair of recommendations for comic book lovers for the week of February 7, 2010. This week its Hicksville: Definitive Edition and Hellblazer: Pandemonium

Bennett's Best: Ultimate Comics X and Demo
Legendary comic book store owner Greg Bennett provides a pair of recommendations for comic book lovers for the week of January 31, 2010. This week its Ultimate Comics X, No. 1 and Demo: Volume 2, No. 1.

Bennett's Best: Ultimate Comics Enemy and Atom and Hawkman
Legendary comic book store owner Greg Bennett provides a pair of recommendations for comic book lovers for the week of January 24, 2010. This week its Ultimate Comics Enemy, No. 1 and Atom and Hawkman, No. 46.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Lise Myhre video interview

Lise Myhre, the Norwegian cartoonist behind Nemi, is in a video interview here.

Why is ComicsDC linking to this? Well, she's a friend of Greg Bennett of Big Planet who helps her on the translations into English. And Titan's sent me a review copy of the current collection which I still need to post on here.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

The Jet Age - a comic? No, a band

Big Planet Comics owner Greg Bennett plays in a local band - The Jet Age. They've got a new album coming out on October 27th, and you can hear snippets online now. It sounds good - check it out.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Zadzooks on Ghostbusters videogame

See "Zadzooks: Ghostbusters: The Video Game review,"
Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, June 18, 2009, which has a passing mention of the IDW comic book series.

Bennett's best returns - "Bennett's Best for the week of June 7", June 17, 2009 at Zadzooks' blog.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Bennett's best

Zadzooks' column was on videogames again, but Batman & Robin and Coraline are recommended in "Bennett's Best for the week of May 31," By Greg Bennett, June 14, 2009 Zadzooks blog.