Feb 11 - Capital Associates comic book convention

A local convention will be out at 2148 Gallows Road in Tyson's Corner, at the Dunn Loring Volunteer Fire Dept from 10 - 3, with a $3 admission.

Regards from Serbia

In the tooting my own horn department, Regards from Serbia by Aleksandar Zograf is out this week from Top Shelf. One might wonder why I'm mentioning a book about the Yugoslavian Civil War here. Zograf posted daily emails reporting on the war to an email group on alternative comics, Comix@ that I belonged to. Zograf lost his electronic copies of his letters, but fortunately I had saved the emails and was able to provide them to Top Shelf so they could put the book together more easily. That archivist instinct to save material occasionally pays off, and I'm glad to have been able to help out with this project.

Top Shelf's website says:

"The Serbian cartoonist Aleksandar Zograf has created some of the most compelling comics of the last 15 years. His war stories about the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia, heartbreaking dissections of the cartoonist's inner and outer life as his world fell to pieces all around him, are as fine a group of testimonials as exists concerning the emotional and physical disruptions caused by proximity to death and destruction." -- Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

As the NATO bombs fell on his hometown of Pančevo in 1999, Serbian cartoonist Aleksandar Zograf used his diary comics and e-mail to reach out to the world and offer a glimpse at the effects of the attacks. Over the weeks and months of the war, Zograf documented not only how the bombings shattered the lives of his friends and neighbors, but also how the routine of daily life remained unchanged. The most recent attacks on Pancevo's oil refinery are contrasted with the latest local soccer matches -- and American propaganda flyers are as likely to fall from the sky as American comics are to arrive in the mail.

In today’s ratings-driven era of globetrotting correspondents and embedded reportage, Regards From Serbia rings with the truth of a man who had the headlines come to him, and offers a comprehensive account of the conflict as only a local could tell it. -- 288 pages, Graphic Novel, Diamond: NOV063909, ISBN 978-1-891830-42-6, $19.95 (US)

Howard Pyle and Illustrators of the Brandywine School

A small exhibit, Howard Pyle and Illustrators of the Brandywine School, is at the Federal Reserve Board's headquarters, on 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. I saw it earlier this week. The art is mostly from the Free Library of Philadelphia and includes some Pyle pirates and other illustration work, some original Maxfield Parrish paintings, and a lovely book cover painting - The Cobra's Head by Frank Schoonover.

There's only 24 pieces in the show and you have to telephone for a reservation at least a day in advance and then go through a metal detector and be accompanied by a guard, but the artwork is good. The number is 202-452-3778 and the show will be up through March 30. Admission is free, and they give you a nice full color booklet.

Stephen King midnight madness at Big Planet Comics followup

When I picked up my comics today, I asked about the midnight Stephen King event. Joel had 4 people waiting in line when he opened the store at 11:45, and got a total of twelve people, all of whom got free copies of Dark Tower. The crowd apparently was held down by the cold weather and snow, as Joel says other retailers from across the country reported it was a success. On the positive side, all of the people were new to his store, and mostly were directed by Stephen King's website, not the City Paper ad. Some even drove in from Manassas - although at that time of night, even the Beltway probably wasn't too bad.

Tuesday Night - Dark Tower at Big Planet

Here's the press release they sent out today (which looks wordsmithed by Marvel to me):

BIG PLANET COMICS AND MARVEL OFFER FIRST-EVER MIDNIGHT RELEASE TO CELEBRATE LAUNCH OF HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW COMIC SERIES BASED ON STEPHEN KING’S EPIC

THE DARK TOWER

Special Midnight Opening to Take Place on February 6, 2007

Phenomenal Excitement Surrounds New Comic Series that Explores the Origin of the Notorious Gunslinger Character

To celebrate the launch of the ground-breaking new comic book series adapted from Stephen King’s magnum opus, The Dark Tower, Big Planet Comics and Marvel Comics will offer a first-ever midnight release of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1 the night of Tuesday, February 6, 2007. Big Planet Comics located at 4908 Fairmont Ave., Bethesda, MD, will open at midnight on Tuesday (effectively 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, February 7, 2007) so Stephen King fans can get their hands on the debut issue of this historic comic.

Under the direction and guidance of Stephen King, the creative team of Robin Furth (Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: A Concordance), The New York Times-bestselling author Peter David, Eisner Award-winning artist Jae Lee and fan-favorite Richard Isanove, the seven issue series will expand the saga of King’s epic hero, Roland Deschain, whose quest to save the Dark Tower is captured in seven best-selling novels published over the course of twenty-five years. King’s unparalleled storytelling power will inform new stories that delve into the life and times of the young Roland, revealing the trials and conflicts that lead to the burden of destiny he must assume as a man, the last Gunslinger from a world that has moved on. The comics will work in conjunction with the novels, further supplementing and defining the saga’s mythology under the direction of the acclaimed author himself.

Marvel's Senior Vice President of Sales David Gabriel said, "As the first visualization of The Dark Tower characters and stories in the sequential arts medium, these midnight openings provides fans with the same first chance, gotta-be there-the-second-it-comes-out opportunities that Harry Potter fans have enjoyed at mass market book stores."

To learn more about The Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born comic book series please visit www.marvel.com/darktower.

Drew Friedman - another suprise in the Post

Drew Friedman illustrated an article in the magazine today - the first time he's worked for the Post? He's got a new book out - Old Jewish Comedians from Fantagraphics.

Wiley on editorial cartooning

Wiley Miller's Non Sequiter today is on the dwindling ranks of editorial cartooning.

Sunday's Post - Edwin Fotheringham

The New Yorker illustrator Edwin Fotheringham did all of the illustrations for today's Post travel section. Thumbnails, but not the nice full page illustration he did, can be seen here.

Express Shojo manga exhibit review

The Express put its review of the local Shojo manga exhibit on the web (it was published on 2/1). The exhibit is open weekdays, 9-5 at Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan, Lafayette Center III, 1155 21st St. NW; through March 16; 202-238-6949.

I'll put the pictures I took of the show up soon.

Today's Spider-Man comic book

The Examiner has another part of the original Amazing Spider-Man issue 10 as Spider-Man Collectible Series vol. 22. This is worth noting for another new cover, but I liked the Enforcers as Ditko drew them better.

Post follows up on cartoon Panic in Detroit, rather Boston

Lisa de Moraes' column follows up on the marketing television side of things "Cartoon Show Marketers Send Their Regrets" Saturday, February 3, 2007; Page C07.

Meanwhile, Richard Thompson (there's that name again) takes a whack at Superbowl commercials, and smacks Disney and this year's cartoon controversy in one panel. Unfortunately it's not online yet.

Post on Zimbabwe newspaper editor threatened over cartoon

"Zimbabwe Paper Hits 'Big Nerve': Criticism of Military Pay Brings a Threat to Editor" by Craig Timberg, Washington Post Foreign Service, Friday, February 2, 2007; Page A10. I'm glad the Post picked this up - I have seen a couple of wire stories, but nothing else by a major newspaper. This is a good article about the dwindling press freedom in the country. The important points, quoting Timberg, are:

A single bullet and a threatening note arrived in a package delivered to one of Zimbabwe's last independent newspapers in what journalists said Thursday was the latest sign of the dangers to press freedoms in that country. ... The package, addressed simply to "editor," contained a cartoon from Sunday's paper mocking low pay in the military. According to Saidi, the handwritten note said: "Whats this editor? Watch your step."

And we can turn to Wikipedia for information on Zimbawe.

Feb 3 & 4 - Little Polar Bear cartoon at NGA

The National Gallery of Art is showing the German film, The Little Polar Bear: The Mysterious Island Saturday at 10:30 and Sunday at 11:30.

Cartoonists Take Up Smoking exhibit photos

Here's some shots of the editorial cartoon exhibit in the National Museum of Health & Medicine. Curated by Alan Blum, this layout is by Steve Hill and Bill Discher. Bill did the big cutouts in particular. The exhibit's up for two more months.

Stephen King midnight madness at Big Planet Comics

Big Planet's running an ad in the City Paper saying their Bethesda store will be open at 12:01 AM on February 7th (ie Wednesday morning) for any wanker... I mean hardcore fan... who wants to buy the new Stephen King "Dark Tower" comic, the one that's written by Peter David, not King, that is. I think Marvel is working with one store per area* to have this promo. I have no idea who's getting stuck working the midnight shift either, although there should still be some bars open even if it is Tuesday night.


*read the comment in which Joel corrects me to say that anyone could open early, but he was the only one in the area wise enough to accept the challenge. He and Greg will be manning the register. Stay tuned for further breaking updates, as they break.

Checking out this week's City Paper

Quite a bit in the paper (February 2 issue) this week. The cover article is one of the illustrated types they've done a bit lately, with pictures by Greg Houston.

Comics Greeks by Trey Graham reviews the play Rough Magic by comic book writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and gives them the marketing-pleasing quote, "If you see only one play during the six-month-long Shakespeare in Washington festival, see Rough Magic."

The exhibit Shojo Manga! Girl Power!: Girls' Comics From Japan is reviewed by Jason Powell.

Feb 17: Cartoonists Take Up Smoking lecture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 26, 2007
Contact: Jennifer Heilman, 202-782-2671, jennifer.heilman@afip.osd.mil
Steven Solomon, 202-782-2672, steven.solomon@afip.osd.mil

“WHEN MORE DOCTORS SMOKED CAMELS:
A CENTURY OF HEALTH CLAIMS IN CIGARETTE ADVERTISING”

WASHINGTON – The National Museum of Health and Medicine will host “When More Doctors Smoked Camels: A Century of Health Claims in Cigarette Advertising,” a free illustrated lecture and gallery talk presented by Alan Blum, M.D., on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m., highlighting the exhibit “Cartoonists Take Up Smoking,” on display through April 1, 2007.
Week in and week out from the 1920s through the 1950s, tobacco companies used images of physicians and their implied endorsements to help sell cigarettes. Such advertisements appeared not only in most issues of Life, Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report, but also in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Through the years, cigarette advertising depicted doctors almost as often as movie stars and sports heroes,” said Blum, curator of the exhibit, and whose lecture will feature many such ads and vintage television commercials.
Although cigarette advertisements were banned from TV in 1971, their print counterparts did not completely disappear from medical journals until the 1980s.
Blum also cites recent ads, such as the one in Time and People Magazine in 2001 for a brand by Liggett called Omni, which claimed to have “less carcinogens.”
“Such hokum isn’t much different than the same company’s advertisements that proclaimed ‘Stay safe, smoke Chesterfield’ and ‘L & M, just what the doctor ordered’ in the 1950s,” he said.
He describes the creation of the filter, low-tar brands and “light” cigarettes as marketing ploys to allay public anxiety about smoking.
“Cartoonists Take Up Smoking,” is an exhibition of original newspaper editorial cartoons retracing the 40-year battle over the use and promotion of cigarettes since the publication of the landmark Surgeon General's report on smoking and health in 1964. It also addresses complacency on the part of organized medicine, politicians, and the mass media in ending the tobacco pandemic.
The exhibit features 55 original cartoons by more than 50 nationally known American editorial cartoonists and is supplemented by smoking-related items, from the original newspaper headlines that inspired the cartoons to advertisements promoting the health benefits of lighting up.
In addition to the cartoons, several mini-exhibitions are on view, including the airline flight attendants’ battle to get Congress to pass the ban on smoking on commercial aircraft; a history of the Kent Micronite Filter, made from asbestos; the advertising of cigarettes in medical journals from the 1920s to the 1980s; and the selection of cigarette commercials and smoking scenes from TV and the movies.
Two preserved lungs from the museum’s anatomical collection—one showing the ill effects of smoking and the other a healthy lung—highlight the exhibit.
“Cartoonists Take Up Smoking” is curated from the collections of the University of
Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society that Blum founded and directs. It holds one of the largest sociocultural archives on tobacco, including more than 300 original editorial cartoon artworks on smoking-related themes.
“The wide ranging controversies surrounding tobacco are captured in the cartoons, from the misguided quest for a safe cigarette to the targeting of tobacco advertising to women and minority groups,” Blum said. “Cartoons on smoking have had an impact at both local and national levels. Editorial cartoons practically laughed Joe Camel out of town and helped pass countless clean indoor air laws.”
The exhibit will be on display at the museum, which is open every day except Dec. 25 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The museum is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue and Elder Street, NW, Washington, D.C. For more information call (202) 782-2200 or visit www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum. Admission and parking are free. For the online news release and to download images, please visit: http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/news/pdf/Blum_Gallery_Release.pdf.

Disney on Ice contest entry

A couple of entries down, I mentioned the Examiner's contest. Well, I just sent in my entry with my name, address, email and phone number to contests@dcexaminer.com. Remember, winners will be chosen randomly and their entries will be printed in the February 6th paper.

So here it is - let the comments begin!

Lightly, the Princesses swirl on the ice;
Are there twelve? Or less?
No matter.
The Mouse will rule o'er all.

Mandatory weekly Richard Thompson message

A small drawing by RT snuck into the Post's local sections, Arlington/Alexandria in my case. It's an ad for the Corcoran College of Art and Design's Aspiring Artists program. Unfortunately, the pic isn't online.

Thursday's papers - the cartoon bits UPDATED

Uncensored image from Seattle P-I, photo by Todd Vanderlin.

Finally saw the Post, and the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare marketing debacle played on the front page, above the fold as they say, with the middle finger salute pre-fuzzed out before the Post got the picture, obviating the need for those hard decisions. See
Marketing Gimmick Goes Bad in Boston; Light Devices Cause Bomb Scare by Michael Powell, Washington Post Staff Writer, .Thursday, February 1, 2007; Page A03 for an account of the ridiculousness.

There's a positive review of the Japanese Cultural Information Center's Shojo Manga exhibit in today's Express, and a short version of AP's article on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare in Boston in the Examiner. On the odder side, Kohl's has an ad on p. 7 of the Examiner for Sandra Boynton books, cds and toys as well as an ad for Disney on Ice celebrating "100 Years of Magic." I assume that's 100 years since Disney's birth because I'm pretty sure there wasn't any Disney on Ice in 1907. The ad asks for a poem of 100 words or less, sent to contests@dcexaminer.com on "Is the Disney Magic a part of your life?" to win tickets for 4 to the show. Oddly enough they say, "Winners will be randomly selected" so I wouldn't worry about the quality of the poetry.

Finally, the Express has a picture of Greg Bennett of Big Planet Comics on page E25, in his role in the band Jet Age. I believe this is the 3rd time they have run this pic.