April 2: Anime at Cherry Blossom time in Freer Gallery

FESTIVAL NATIONAL CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL ANIME MARATHON* Saturday, April 2, 11 am|Freer, Meyer Auditorium   The Freer's ninth annual anime marathon is hosted by anime expert Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the US. It features a Miyazaki kids' classic, a cosplay contest, a Makoto Shinkai feature and sneak preview, and a tribute to the late Satoshi Kon, who visited the marathon in 2007.    This event is cosponsored by Otakorp, Inc., and copresented with the DC Anime Club.

PR: Watch America's Greatest Otaku in DC

Watch America's Greatest Otaku Episode 5 on Hulu! March 24, 2011    AGO EPISODE 5 WATCH IT ON HULU NOW!!!   A BIG shout out to Baltimore, Washington DC, and New York!!   (And of course, don't forget about our contests just for AGO Fans -- details at the bottom!) America's Greatest Otaku, a revealing eight-episode documentary series that searches the United States for the number one American otaku, heads to Baltimore, Washington DC, and New York!    Stu and the Otaku six are fueling up for another week!  Sully looks like he wants to finish his breakfast...     Who's Da Entertainer?  Home Made Kazoku! Let's keep in all in the Familia     But let's not forget the classics: here's Italy playing the flute!    With all this music going around, let's dance.   And we have special guest star M. Alice LeGrow, creator of Bizenghast!     With her, the awesome author brought along Bubbles!     Aww, Bubbles is so cute...      ... but ninja are scary!!    Hot spots in this episode includes Otakon, Geppi's Entertainment Museum, the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, Alice's Tea Cup, New York Ninja, and interviews with Dr. Natsu Onoda Power, Reni Mimura, and I-ChiP!       Be sure to tune in to Hulu every Thursday for new episodes of America's Greatest Otaku!     CONTEST DETAILS! Yay for another AGO contest! Watch EPISODE 5 NOW, and we'll post up how to enter the contest on the AGO website later today :)      To learn more about the show, as well see exclusive bonus content (such as extended interviews, clips, etc.), be sure to keep visiting americasgreatestotaku.com!                                    Get TPOP News Live! Follow Stu Levy on Twitter! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

NPR's Monkey See blog staff to read Sandman, and write technical report

Ok, so maybe they're not doing a technical report...

The 'I Will If You Will' Book Club: Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman: Dream Country'

by Linda Holmes

 National Public Radio's Monkey See blog March 29, 2011

 http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/03/29/133372647/the-i-will-if-you-will-book-club-neil-gaimans-the-sandman-dream-country

2 local strips in Charlotte Observer comics poll

Both Barney & Clyde and Cul de Sac are in the running.  Good luck gentlemen.

 

Help us pick a new comic

Mar. 29, 2011

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/03/29/2180009/help-us-pick-a-new-comic.html

Tonight: Dueling comics events

On March 29 at Busboys and Poets (14th and V in Washington, D.C., 6:30-8:30) discussing 'Trickster' will be editor Matt Dembicki, contributing artists Michael Auger and Jacob Warrenfeltz, as well as Christopher Cardinale, illustrator of 'Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush,' who will be talking about that book.

Also on March 29, Ben Katchor is at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Here's their PR:

The Picture Stories of Ben Katchor
Tuesday, March 29
7 p.m.
Members $12; Public $15
Hailed by The New York Times as "the most poetic, deeply layered artist ever to draw a comic strip," Ben Katchor has collected both a cult and mainstream following for his wry, perceptive, and slightly surreal comic strips of urban life. The author of The Jew of New York and Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: The Beauty Supply District, Katchor's work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Forward, and Metropolis. The first cartoonist to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, Ben Katchor discusses his first book in more than 10 years, The Cardboard Valise (Random House, 2011)- the whimsical graphic novel which follows the intertwined lives of three characters who travel to the fantastical nation of Outer Canthus. A book signing follows the talk.

Comic Riffs talks to Mike Peters

POLITICAL CARTOONS: Mike Peters reacts to winning National Headliner Award
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 28 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/political-cartoons-mike-peters-wins-national-headliner-award/2011/03/28/AFJww3oB_blog.html

Leftist cartoonist Christopher Cardinale, in town and interviewed

Meet a Visiting Cartoonist: A Chat With Christopher Cardinale
 by Mike Rhode on Mar. 28, 2011
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2011/03/28/meet-a-visiting-cartoonist-a-chat-with-christopher-cardinale/

 

He'll be appearing at Busboys and Poets on March 29th at 6:30 pm, at the 14th and V Store, with some of the people from the Trickster anthology of American Indian tales.

Magic Bullet featured in City Paper

...and not by me!

Monday Morning Commuters: Grab a Copy of Magic Bullet
by Megan Arellano on Mar. 27, 2011
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2011/03/27/monday-morning-commuters-grab-a-copy-of-magic-bullet/

Comic Riffs talks to Matt Wuerker on syndication

Politico's MATT WUERKER reacts to his new Universal UClick deal
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 25 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/politicos-matt-wuerker-reacts-to-his-new-universal-uclick-deal/2011/03/26/AFHteoZB_blog.html

Matt Wuerker's Team Cul de Sac donation

Matt Wuerker's Team Cul de Sac donation is lovely. Check it out now.

Truitt on Marvel's Fear Itself

'Fear Itself' for Marvel Comics' Big Three
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY March 25 2011
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2011-03-25-fearitself24_ST_N.htm

South Park duo's Book of Mormon play reviewed in Post

'Book of Mormon' deserves worship
By Peter Marks,
Washington Post March 25 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/review-of-broadways-the-book-of-mormon/2011/03/24/ABguJSRB_story.html

Wash Post review of Wimpy Kid movie

A middle school Holden Caulfield
By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post March 28, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-rodrick-rules,1163249/critic-review.html

Shannon Gallant Baroness fundraising drawing on ebay

Shannon Gallant has contributed a fullcolor drawing of GI Joe's Baroness for a fundraising effort on Ebay to help a comic book store owner with cancer.

Comic Riffs has a spate of interviews

I can see why Cavna didn't make it to Sarah Glidden's talk last night... the last of these was posted at 11:59 pm.

POLITICAL HUMOR: Detroit, Denver cartoonists react to winning top awards
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 24 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/political-humor-detroit-denver-cartoonists-react-to-winning-top-awards/2011/03/24/AB8UZTSB_blog.html

The 'Riffs Interview: Top college cartoonist JOHN VESTEVICH is 'shocked' by national Schulz award
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 24 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/the-riffs-interview-top-college-cartoonist-john-vestevich-is-shocked-by-national-schulz-award/2011/03/24/ABTb4lSB_blog.html

The 'Riffs Interview': JEFF KINNEY 'more relaxed' about new 'DIARY OF A WIMPY KID' sequel
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 24 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/the-riffs-interview-jeff-kinney-more-relaxed-about-new-diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-sequel/2011/03/24/ABO0g2SB_blog.html

April 21: Library of Congress Lecture on South African Artist William Kentridge

Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington DC   20540 

March 25, 2011

Public contact:  Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115, mkenn@loc.gov

 

Swann Foundation Fellow Leora Maltz-Leca
To Discuss the Work of South African Artist William Kentridge, April 21

South African artist William Kentridge is considered one of the most significant artists working today.  He is largely responsible for bringing drawing in general—and animated drawing in particular—to the forefront of contemporary international art.

 Swann Foundation fellow Leora Maltz-Leca will discuss the artist's work in her lecture "William Kentridge: 'Stone Age Drawing,' Cartoon Logic and South Africa's Process of Change" at noon on Thursday, April 21, in the Whittall Pavilion on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street. S.E., Washington, D.C.

 In her illustrated talk, Maltz-Leca will relate Kentridge's studio processes of drawing and animation to South Africa's transformative political change, and address the peculiar timeliness of Kentridge's method.  He developed his distinctive process of animation in 1989, the same year that ushered in the seismic changes that finally ended apartheid in South Africa.

Kentridge, born in 1955, is well-known for a signature animation process that he describes as "stone age."  In this process, Kentridge continuously draws and erases on a single charcoal drawing, all the time taking photographs of his changing drawing.  He then films his photographic record and, thereby, produces film narratives that often feature his stock characters Soho Teitelbaum and Felix Eckstein.

In her lecture, Maltz-Leca will trace the genesis of Kentridge's animation method to early cartoon strips and flip-books.  She will ultimately argue that Kentridge's timely embrace of the dynamism of animation—a medium that speaks of material change—suggests how his unorthodox animation process is embedded in political processes of revolutionary change.

Maltz-Leca is an assistant professor in the History of Art Department at the Rhode Island School of Design.  She is the recipient of the 2011 Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writer's Grant, and she is completing a book on Kentridge titled "Process as Metaphor and Other Doubtful Enterprises."  Maltz-Leca holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Yale, a master's from Brown University and a master's and doctorate in art history from Harvard.

This presentation, sponsored by the Swann Foundation and Prints & Photographs Division, is part of the 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 comprised of scholars, collectors, cartoonists and Library of Congress staff members. The foundation strives to award one fellowship annually to assist scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon.  Applications for the 2012-2013 academic year are due Feb. 15, 2012. For more information, visit  www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome  or by e-mail swann@loc.gov.

# # #

 

PR11-70
3/25/11
ISSN: 0731-3527

  

Big Planet Comics March newsletter online

Big Planet Comics' March Orbit newsletter is online now.

March 25: Ian Rankin at Politics and Prose

Rankin's written the recent Dark Entries Hellblazer graphic novel for DC Comics. This signing is for his new detective novel, but I'm sure he'll sign and take questions about the comic. I've seen him before and he's an entertaining speaker. I'll be there.

Ian Rankin
The Complaints
Start: Mar 25 2011 7:00 pm

In his latest crime novel the Scottish creator of John Rebus introduces a new hero: Malcolm Fox, an Edinburgh cop. Fox’s beat is the police force itself, and he must be on the trail of something big, because his colleagues are conspiring to frame him, and his only ally is a detective suspected of selling child porn.

Small Press Expo cited as Best of DC

This is by me of course, although I had to pitch it to my editor.

 

Best Comics Convention: Small Press Expo.
Washington City Paper (March 24 2011).
online at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/bestofdc/artsandentertainment/2011/best-comics-convention

Glen Weldon on Marineman

Torrid Comics Confessions: 'I'm Cheating On The Sea-King With MARINEMAN!'
by Glen Weldon
March 24, 2011
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/03/24/134760062/torrid-comics-confessions-im-cheating-on-the-sea-king-with-marineman