A little bit of New York(er) in DC

While waiting for the American Empire talk, I noticed this rack of New Yorker cartoon cards in Politics and Prose. Bob Mankoff has done an amazing job at making money for both cartoonists and the magazine, hasn't he?

Mike Konopacki at Politics and Prose

Labor cartoonist Mike Konopacki was at Politics and Prose this afternoon to discuss his new book A People's History of American Empire. Howard Zinn who wrote the original that this graphic history (Konopacki kept stumbling over what to call it since it isn't a novel) was based on called in sick, disappointing some in the crowd, but not me, as Konopacki talked comics for 45 minutes instead.


Since the early 1970s, Konopacki and his partner Gary Huck have been doing labor editorial cartoons, with a detour into doing a comic book on the World Bank for a labor union in the 1990s. This was Konopacki's first longform work though. You can order a cd of the talk from Politics and Prose. He worked with pen and ink, and tracing paper and then scanned in the art and reworked it in Photoshop. To add verisimilitude, he used many photographs including famous AP ones like the girl burned by napalm in Vietnam.

Konopacki did a promo video for the book too which can be seen on youtube -
A People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn

And here's some more shots:

So, how do you find these new acquisitions?

Book sales, among other places.



This is three days worth of book-sale hauls, from two sales. Most of it is going to Michigan State University's Comic Art collection. The nice thing about being in DC is the international culture - almost 100 of these books are manga in Japanese, and there's even a Jacques Tardi album that MSU doesn't have yet.

And sometimes your family provides, like this nifty light-up Superman bust. Oddly enough, my wife wouldn't let me keep the whole cake.

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 04-16-08

Click for some visual links (covers)

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 04-16-08
By John Judy

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #11 by Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli. “Killed in Action” wraps up here with Camp Hammond giving Camp Crystal Lake a run for its blood money! Recommended.

BRAVE AND BOLD #12 by Mark Waid and George Perez. All twelve issues have led up to this grand finale: A big fight with an evil wizard. Those are always great!

CAPTAIN AMERICA #37 by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. Cap still “dead.” Red Skull still evil. This comic still awesome anyway. Recommended.

DC WILDSTORM DREAMWAR #1 of 6 by Keith Giffen, Lee Garbett, and Trevor Scott. A cross-over between the big guns of the DCU and all those Wildstorm guys you’re not reading.

DMZ #30 by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli. Intrepid indy journalist Matty Roth gets his story rejected by all major news outlets. That’ll teach him to write about John McCain’s lobbyist girlfriend! Look! Kitty-cats with string!

GHOST RIDER #22 by Jason Aaron and Roland Boschi. The story is called “Deathrace on Ghost Cannibal Highway” and it’s written by the guy who created SCALPED. If you don’t read this you’re crazier than the guys who greenlit the “Ghost Rider” screenplay. Highly recommended for teens on up.

GRENDEL: BEHOLD THE DEVIL #6 of 8 written and drawn by Matt Wagner. If you’re being pursued by a mystical super-predator sometimes it feels really good to take out all your frustrations on the Korean mob. At least that’s what Grandma always said. Recommended.

HELLBLAZER #243 by Andy Diggle and Giuseppe Camuncoli. Bad doings at the Vatican, even worse than usual. So who ya gonna call? The start of a blasphemously fun two-parter. Recommended.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Gene Colan, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Others. Collecting TALES OF SUSPENSE #39-83 and TALES TO ASTONISH #82, this volume has the earliest IM adventures from the bad old days of the Cold War, plus lots of extras. Great for all ages, highly recommended.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: CAPTAIN MARVEL VOL. 3 HC by Jim Starlin and Others. Okay, if you buy one Captain Mar-Vell book in your life this should probably be it. This one collects issues #22-33 in which Mar-Vell went cosmic and Starlin started channeling Steve Ditko through an LSD filter. This is the stuff that defined the character and made us all kind of happy when Starlin killed him off so nobody else could screw him up. At least not for 20 years or so… Highly Recommended.

NIXON’S PALS GN by Joe Casey and Chris Burnham. The story of an LA parole officer on the super-villain beat. “Elmore Leonard meets Jack Kirby!” Not for kids but otherwise recommended!

PIGEONS FROM HELL #1 by Joe R. Lansdale and Nathan Fox. A modern-day adaptation of a classic Robert E. Howard tale about… well, y’know… pigeons. From Hell. It’s really pretty cool. Take a look.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES VOL.2 SC by Jerry Siegel, Jim Shooter, Curt Swan, Jim Mooney, and Others. Classic tales from the Silver-Age of super sci-fi. Great stuff for all ages. Recommended.

SUPERMAN #675 by Kurt Busiek and Renato Guedes. Busiek’s final issue! Alex Ross cover! Galactic Golem! And Supes fights everybody! This week’s “Gotta-look!”

WAR IS HELL: FIRST FLIGHT OF THE PHANTOM EAGLE #2 of 5 by Garth Ennis and Howard Chaykin. World War I flying ace Karl Kaufman must prove his worth as a fighter before his fellow fliers discover that maybe he ain’t supposed to be there… Ennis/Chaykin level mature themes so this is recommended only for older teens and up. But highly so.

X-FACTOR #30 by Peter David and Valentine DeLandro. It’s the return of Arcade, the villain who builds giant pinball machines to kill superheroes with! How come they never do that in the movies, huh? Classic stuff.

X-MEN: DIVIDED WE STAND #1 of 2 by Lotsa People. This has mutants.

And don’t forget Free Comic Book Day coming up Saturday May 3rd at respectable comic stores everywhere!

www.johnjudy.net

That darn Toles

This time he's making fun of dementia!

Dementia Is Not a Prop
Washington Post April 12 2008

Tom Toles's March 28 cartoon based on the report linking being overweight with dementia was in extremely poor taste. It is incomprehensible that you would allow a political cartoon to make fun of dementia.

Dementia is a serious condition affecting our aging population and is the leading reason for placing elderly people in institutions such as nursing homes. Surely you could use something benign to make your political points without making a medical condition a prop.

-- John Fuller

Fairfax

The writer is the diversity and equal employment opportunity officer for Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and a consultant for the National Council for Support of Disability Issues.

OT: Emett of Punch

Here's another new acquisition from a library sale. I'd never heard of Emett before, but his book Far Twittering was in the expensive section so I took a look. The book is all reprint drawings from Punch.



And there was the reason - this lovely sketch by Pietro Lazzari (see Chris Brown's comment below).



Punch imploded for the 2nd time in 2002, but you can still find collections of their cartoons easily.

Baltimore Comic-Con news: Mike Mignola Joins the Baltimore Comic-Con

Mike Mignola Joins the Baltimore Comic-Con



Hellboy creator and Disney Atlantis artist Mike Mignola, last year’s Guest of Honor t the Baltimore Comic-Con, is returning to the Baltimore Convention Center on September 27-28, 2008 for this year’s edition of the convention. This summer will see the release of the second Hellboy feature film and the popularity of both creator and character couldn’t be higher.

“We’re extremely happy to welcome back Mike Mignola to Baltimore. Our fans were thrilled to see him last year, and we know they’ll be even happier to have him return this year,” said Marc Nathan, the show’s promoter.

Swamp Thing co-creator and Frankenstein artist Bernie Wrightson will be the Guest of Honor at this year’s show.

Mignola and Wrightson are among the headliners that also include , in alphabetical order, Kyle Baker (The Bakers), Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, New Avengers), Jim Califiore (Exiles, Captain Marvel), Howard Chaykin (American Flagg), Cliff Chiang (Green Arrow & Black Canary), Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows, Mighty Avengers), Steve Conley (Star Trek, The Escapist), Amanda Conner (JSA Classified, Terra), Darwyn Cooke (The Sprit, New Frontier), Todd Dezago (Tellos), David Finch (World War Hulk, New Avengers), Ramona Fradon (Aquaman), John Gallagher (Buzzboy, Roboy Red), Ron Garney (Wolverine), Michael Golden (Micronauts, The ’Nam), Cully Hamner (Blue Beetle, Black Lightning), Adam Hughes (Catwoman), Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, Action Comics), J.G. Jones (52, Wonder Woman), Dean Haspiel (Brawl), Stuart Immonen (Ultimate Spider-Man), Robert Kirkman (Invincible, Ultimate X-Men), Barry Kitson (Empire, The Order), Jim Lee (Batman: Hush, Wildcats), David Mack (Kabuki, Daredevil), Phil Noto (Danger Girl, Jonah Hex), Michael Avon Oeming (Mice Templar, Powers), Jimmy Palmiotti (Painkiller Jane, Jonah Hex), Brandon Peterson (Ultimate X-Men, Strange), Eric Powell (The Goon), Tom Raney (Ultimate X-Men), John Romita, Sr. (Amazing Spider-Man), Craig Rousseau (Perhapanauts, Ruule), Andy Runton (Owly), Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween, Heroes), Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man, Feast of the Seven Fishes), Jim Shooter (Legion of Super-Heroes), Vincent Spencer (Zombie-Proof), Robert Tinnell (EZ Street), Herb Trimpe (Incredible Hulk), J.C. Vaughn (Zombie-Proof, 24), Neil Vokes (The Black Forest, The Wicked West), Mike Vosburg (Lori Lovecraft), Matt Wagner (Zorro, Grendel), Mark Waid (Flash, Boom! Studios), and Mark Wheatley (Frankenstein Mobster).

The Harvey Awards will return to the Baltimore Comic-Con for the third consecutive year. The awards dinner and ceremony will be held Saturday night, September 27, 2008, following the convention’s normal hours. As in 2007, the first 300 paid attendees and honorees at the 2008 Harvey Awards Ceremonies will receive a Hollywood-style bag of swag. Last year’s bag included The EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales - Volume 1 from Gemstone Publishing, a complete base set of the soon-to-be-released Jericho Season One trading cards from Inkworks, an exclusive pin from AdHouse Books, a Comic-Con exclusive edition of 30 Days of Night: Red Snow 1 from IDW Publishing, a Toon Tumbler from Popfun Merchandising, and an exclusive Harvey Awards keychain from LaserMach. Nominating ballots are presently online at www.harveyawards.org. Kyle Baker will return as Master of Ceremonies for the evening’s events.

For more information about the Baltimore Comic-Con, e-mail cardscomicscollectilbes@yahoo.com or call (410) 526-7410. The guest list and other information can be found on the convention’s website or on its MySpace page.

For more information about the Harvey Awards, including sponsorship opportunities, e-mail baltimorecomiccon@yahoo.com.

OT: Underground comics mag find part two - A Secret History of Comics Special

As you can see in the comments for part one, Steve Rowe notes that these were an attempt to sponge off National Lampoon's readership and were definitely ground-level, available in newsstands. However, due to the cartoonists involved, I'll keep calling them underground. Here's the 2nd issue with cartoonists I have, Apple Pie July 1975. The two issues from 1976 didn't have cartoonists in them. All four are going to Michigan State University's Comic Art Collection this spring, should one need to see them for research. Or a laugh.



Another Terry Austin editorial cartoon.


An ad for the mag by Howard Chaykin using some of his usual tropes of the time.


Two one-pages by Justin Green.



Michael Kaluta draws Buster Brown!



Two pages of pirate violence from S. Clay Wilson.



Four pages of vegetarian activism from Kim Deitch.

Charlottesville's Jen Sorenson interviewed about new book

See "SORENSEN'S SLOWPOKE A QUICK HIT," by Jennifer M. Contino, Comicon's The Pulse 04-10-2008 and then order the book, or plan to buy it at the Small Press Expo.

April 12: Howard Zinn and Mike Konopacki

Saturday, April 12, 1 p.m at Politics and Prose - HOWARD ZINN & MIKE KONOPACKI's A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF AMERICAN EMPIRE: A GRAPHIC ADAPTATION (Metropolitan, $17).

The people’s historian has teamed up with labor cartoonist Mike Konopacki for a graphic presentation of American imperialism. Zinn’s primary-source accounts are illuminated by the artist’s pen, making for a dramatic and bracing retelling of the darker side of our national story.

I'm going to try to attend in spite of this less-than-stellar review from Dave Carter.

Kelts on anime showing at the Smithsonian

See "SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Anime enthrall from sea to shining sea," by Roland Kelts, The Daily Yomiuri (Apr. 11, 2008) for his thoughts on the recent anime fest at the Sackler Gallery of Art.

OT: Underground comics mag find part one - A Secret History of Comics Special

I picked up a couple of underground magazines - well they were probably ground-level for the time - that are going to be passed along to MSU's Comic Art Collection soon. Before I do that, here's some of the more famous underground cartoonists from Apple Pie May 1975.



Neal Adams art on this.


Terry Austin, the great inker, apparently did editorial cartoons too.


A couple of one-pagers by Justin Green.





Paul Kirchner did the surrealist strip The Bus for alternative weekly newspapers, until I seem to remember that he came into money - Ninja Turtle money maybe?



And a three-page strip by Kirchner:

THE BETHESDA WRITER’S CENTER PRESENTS “WRITING FOR COMICS”

THE BETHESDA WRITER’S CENTER PRESENTS “WRITING FOR COMICS”

Panel 1
We’re at the Bethesda Writer’s Center (http://www.writer.org), America ’s premier independent literary center. It’s 7:30PM on Tuesday, April 15th. Four panelists are sitting in front of a crowded auditorium. This is a promotional event for the Writer’s Center’s upcoming Writing for Comics 12-week course.

Panel 2
Tight on Matt Dembicki. He’s the artist and writer behind the Day Prize-nominated Mr. Big. He’s talking a bit about self-publishing your comic.

MATT: When you self-publish, you find you have the freedom to do your comic the way you want to do it. You’re your own editor.

Panel 3
Cut to political cartoonist Carlton Stoiber. He’s talking about balancing a day job while making comics.
CARLTON : I maintain a consulting practice on nuclear security and safety issues by day and create comics by night.

Panel 4
Chris Piers is standing up now. He’s talking about the challenges writers face when collaborating with artists.
CHRIS: If you’re trying to find an artist with a full script in hand, you’re probably too late.

Panel 5
It’s comic editor Jason Rodriguez’s turn to talk. He’s discussing the business of comics and how someone publishes their work in the current market.
JASON: There’re a lot of publishers out there looking for comics. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of people looking for publishers.

Panel 6
Writer’s Center Executive Director and panel moderator Greg Robison’s giving his closing remarks.
GREG: We’d like to thank the generous grant from the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation. It’s paying for this panel and will also sponsor three high-school students looking to take this course. Contact the Writer’s Center for more information (postmaster@writer.org, 301-654-8664).

Willie and Joe: The War Years by Mauldin out

This is the project that I went down to the Library of Congress a couple of times to try to make scans for. I don't think anything I got was ever used as the volumes were bound and a hand-scanner didn't work. K Stocker came with me and took photographs of some pages too, and we're both thanked in the acknowledgments as is Martha Kennedy of the Library who found the final image Fantagraphics needed. See Tom Spurgeon's review for more details and my buddy Charles Hatfield blogged about Mauldin and DePastino's biography of him today as well.

Apparently Mike Luckovich was in DC this week getting an award

This says he was at the Four Season's a couple of days ago - "THE WEEK Magazine Announces Winners for Fifth Annual Opinion Awards: The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mike Luckovich, and Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall Honored in Washington, DC," April 9 2008. My invitation must have gotten lost.

Carla Speed McNeil hooked by X-Men

Maryland cartoonist Carla Speed McNeil, who does Finder, was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly's website about her first comic book, along with 15 other cartoonists. Her choice makes me feel old...

I don't have a clue about what my first comic was anymore, but Joel Pollack, founder of Big Planet Comics, wrote "My first comic was Adventure Comics #237, featuring "The Robot War of Smallville.""

Jason Rodriguez mentioned in NY Times

In the New York Times April 10, 2008, "Names That Match Forge a Bond on the Internet," by STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM we find this mention of Jason:


Jason Rodriguez, 30, an editor of comic and graphic novels in Arlington, Va., feels connected to another Jason Rodriguez, a stuntman who has worked on films (some inspired by graphic novels) including sequels to “Spider-Man” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

“He’s a really good stuntman,” Mr. Rodriguez said with a hint of pride. He likens himself and the stuntman — whom he has never met — to the physically incongruous brothers in the comedy “Twins” played by Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“We both sort of have this connection,” said Mr. Rodriguez, who casts himself in the Danny DeVito role. “We both support this nerd world.”

Scott Rosenberg reviews That Salty Air

See "Young Man & the Sea: 'That Salty Air'," by Scott Rosenberg, ReadExpress.com April 9, 2008. That's two articles in two weeks for Scott; maybe he's not completely left us for the big city.

OT: New webcomic edited by Dean Haspiel

My buddy Dean's joined his old friend Josh Neufeld at Smith magazine to edit a webcomic. The first appears to be by Nick Bertozzi and features, yes, you guessed it - nudity.*

See "NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR - True Life Webcomix Anthology, edited by Dean Haspiel, Launches on SMITH Magazine 04.08.08,"

*Bertozzi's depiction of a naked Picasso in Salon has rubbed a bluenose prosecutor the wrong way. He indicted a comic book store owner and this has run up bills for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Another Jeff Kinney profile

Didn't succeed; tried again: Jeff Kinney was a failure as a cartoonist, but his million-selling "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books are being compared to "Harry Potter." By David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer April 9 2008. There's a bit more about his University of Maryland strip in here.

Oliphant exhibit in April mentioned in E&P

Dave Astor had a brief story today - "Oliphant Exhibit Comes to D.C. Starting Next Week." The Stanford gallery mentioned is actually in Woodley Park on Connecticut Ave.

2008 QUARTERLY COMICS REPORT guest column by John Judy of Quick Reviews

John sent this in a couple of days ago, but it slid down my email list. Fortunately, it's still current! Enjoy.

2008 QUARTERLY COMICS REPORT
(What’s good so far this year)
By John Judy

Everything below is recommended as among the best stuff I’ve found on the stands so far this year. Some of it may have appeared earlier, but I only lucked onto it in 2008.

Where some material is better suited to specific age groups I mention it. Other times I don’t.

My object is to identify material that could be handed to an average reader with reasonable assurance it would be enjoyed.

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. This comic won the 2007 Eisner Award for “Best Continuing Series.” It comes out slowly, but one can still enjoy each issue by itself. You really have no choice at least until the whole thing’s collected in trade. There is a larger story being told but it’s not essential to getting a good read whenever the next issue hits the stands. Good for all ages.

ALL WE EVER DO IS TALK ABOUT WOOD GN written and illustrated by Tom Horacek. A collection of Horacek’s morbidly funny single panel cartoons. Definitely for fans of Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Ivan Brunetti. Recommended for teens and up.

AMERICAN SPLENDOR SEASON TWO. A four-issue mini-series by Harvey Pekar and Assorted Talents. The J. Alfred Prufrock of comics returns with his autobiographical shorts illustrated by Chris Weston, David Lapham, and other gifted collaborators. Recommended for teens and up.

ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL by Joss Whedon, Brian Lynch, and Franco Urru. The art here honestly isn’t great, but the story is essential for us fans of the show who always wondered what happened after the suits decided network TV might be getting too good.

ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN by Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard. The further adventures of the most conflicted lycanthrope hero on the stands today. Good stuff, somewhat graphic violence, appropriate for teens and up.

AVENGERS: INITIATIVE by Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli. A series about young heroes in boot camp. Pretty heavily tied in with Marvel Universe continuity but with mostly original characters making it easy to enjoy without being an uber-fan.

THE BAKERS: BABIES AND KITTENS HC written and illustrated by Kyle Baker, the Greatest Cartoonist of All Time. Two cats are adopted into Kyle’s home against his wishes. Hijinks ensue. Beautifully drawn hijinks. Recommended by me, my wife, and four year-old kid.

BAT LASH by Sergio Aragones, Peter Brandvold, and John Severin. Mostly for western fans but a great example of a classic cowboy story. Beautiful art by industry legend John Severin.

BLACK SUMMER by Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp. An ultra-violent, post-Iraq, anti-hero adventure featuring the assassination of an un-named U.S. President and his cabinet. Chaos ensues. Teens and up.

BONE COLOR EDITION VOL.7: GHOST CIRCLES HC & SC written and illustrated by Jeff Smith. Great stuff for all ages, hugely popular among kids according to my school librarian aunt. Seriously.

BOOSTER GOLD by Geoff Johns and Dan Jurgens. Time travel stories that don’t suck from Johns and great super-hero art from Jurgens.

THE BOYS by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. The continuing adventures of a black-ops squad charged with keeping super-heroes in line. So extreme that DC Comics actually cut the title loose to a new publisher. Older teens and adults only. You’ve been warned.

BRAVE AND BOLD by Mark Waid and George Perez. Classic Silver-Age style fun from an author who lives and breathes it. Best enjoyed by long-time fans but accessible for all ages.

CAPTAIN AMERICA by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. The continuing story of Captain America’s old side-kick Bucky filling in for Cap while he’s “dead.” Probably not for the non-initiated but if you know the characters it’s great stuff.

CRIME BIBLE: FIVE LESSONS OF BLOOD by Greg Rucka and Diego Olmos. Recently collected in trade, this is the first solo series of the new Question, relentlessly seeking out a mysterious Holy Book for criminals.

DAN DARE by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine. Space opera, zap-gun fights, a war comic in sci-fi clothing. All done up Ennis style. Good for young teens and up.

DAREDEVIL by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark. Like Captain America it helps to know the back-story here, but basically it’s Marvel’s most “realistic” super-hero trying to cope with the kinds of crises that would come up when too many people know your secret identity.

DMZ by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli. A dystopian fantasy about a reporter navigating New York City after the U.S. has been torn apart by civil war. There are now four paperback collections available for anyone wishing to get up to speed. It’s worth doing.

DOKTOR SLEEPLESS by Warren Ellis and Ivan Rodriguez. A weird sci-fi misadventure about a politically subversive scientist in corruption-riddled city.

DOOM PATROL VOL. 6: PLANET LOVE SC by Grant Morrison, Richard Case, and Friends. The final volume of Morrison’s legendary run on the junkyard dogs of DC’s super-teams. Collecting DP #58-63 and DOOM FORCE SPECIAL #1. Mid-eighties weirdness from the beginnings of Morrison’s career.

EC ARCHIVES: CRIME SUSPENSTORIES, VOL. 1 HC by Feldstein, Wood, Craig, Ingels, Kurtzman, Kamen, David, and Roussos. The EC Gods of 1950-51 have willed us these 24 twisted masterpieces. The first six issues of this series are all here. Hold onto your wallets because you’ll end up wanting a complete run of these beautiful hardcover editions.

EX MACHINA by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. The continuing story of a super-hero turned New York City Mayor who can talk to machines. Teens and up. Lots of trade collections available for starting at the beginning.

FELL by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith. The stand-alone stories of Detective Richard Fell, a cop banished from his home city for some yet-unknown breach of conduct. Teens and up.

GHOST RIDER by Jason Aaron and Roland Boschi. Pure, out of control motorcycle madness from the author/creator of SCALPED. Highly recommended, even though you hated the movie.

GREEN LANTERN by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Simply the best version of this character yet done. An epic police procedural drama set across the universe. Helps if you know your GL history but not essential. The future’s more interesting anyway.

GRENDEL: BEHOLD THE DEVIL written and illustrated by Matt Wagner. The return of Wagner’s masterpiece character, a novelist by day and super-crimelord by night, the baddest of the bad. Except now he’s got a stalker who may be even worse. Older teens and up.

GRAVEL by Warren Ellis Mike Wolfer, and Raulo Caceres. The adventures of a “Combat Magician” out to reclaim his territory after being written off for dead. It’s John Constantine on steroids without any delusions of higher morality. Older teens and up.

HARVEY COMICS CLASSICS VOL. 3: HOT STUFF SC by Various Creators. Collecting over 100 tales of comics’ original Little Devil, the Demon in a Diaper: HOT STUFF! A perfect gateway for all age groups into hardcore Satanism! A great follow-up to the earlier Harvey collections of CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST and RICHIE RICH. All ages.

HELLBLAZER by Andy Diggle and Leonardo Manco. Speaking of John Constantine, the Diggle/Manco run is universally acclaimed for bringing coherence and edge back to the original punk magician. Older teens, etc.

HOLMES GN written and illustrated by Omaha Perez. Author Perez explains it best: “What if Sherlock Holmes is constantly out of his head and Watson’s not much better off, the Dr. Gonzo to Holmes’s Raoul Duke?” This was great fun. Older teens, etc.

I SHALL DESTROY ALL CIVILIZED PLANETS: THE COMICS OF FLETCHER HANKS by Fletcher Hanks and Paul Karasik. A collection of the weirdly brilliant Golden-Age comics of Hanks, followed by the sad epilogue in which Karasik tracks down the artist’s only surviving relative to learn of his ultimate fate. Disturbing but moving stuff.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and David Aja. A martial arts epic set in the Marvel Universe. The story wanders all over the place but if you can keep track of all the flash-backs and intrigue it’s a good ride. Helps to be familiar with the characters.

INCOGNEGRO HC by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece. Part-Mystery, Part-History describes this story of a light-skinned Northern black man passing for white (“going incognegro”) to investigate his brother’s arrest in the virulently racist Mississippi of early 20th century America. Powerful stuff, deserving wider notice.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, and Dale Eaglesham. Best enjoyed by long-time fans, probably confusing to newbies. Still a great series of stories building on the legends of the original super-team of the Golden-Age.

KICK-ASS by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. A new series exploring the hideous results of a normal person trying to be a super-hero. Graphic violence, older teens and up.

KIRBY: KING OF COMICS HC by Mark Evanier. Years in the making, this is Evanier’s tribute to his former boss and long-time friend, Jack Kirby, the guy who co-created the foundations of the Marvel Universe and a lot more. Already going back to press, this book is a must for all subjects of The King. Highly Recommended.

LOGAN by Brian K. Vaughan and Eduardo Risso. A thrilling three-parter about Wolverine’s early adventures in a little city called Hiroshima.

NORTHLANDERS by Brian Wood and Davide Gianfelice. A new Vertigo series set a thousand years ago in the bleak world of a Viking village. Prince Sven, a prodigal son, returns from the Holy Land to claim his inheritance. That’s where the story begins. This is a bloody, fascinating adventure that draws the reader in with its depictions of how desolate and empty the Vikings’ world was back then and how one determined outsider could change the entire order of such a place. Not for kids.

PUNISHER by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov. The final series of Ennis stories in which the Punisher is stripped down to the grim core of his character. Perfectly complimented by Gorlav’s outlandish style. Easily the best run ever of a guy who started out as an occasional foil to Spider-Man.

RUNAWAYS by Joss Whedon and Michael Ryan. My admiration of the creative team notwithstanding this book was last seen in October of 2007 so it’s kind of hard to recall who’s doing what to whom. Fun stuff if you like “Back to the Future Meets Gangs of New York Meets X-Men.” And I kinda do…. Still, I’d like my own time machine so I could travel into the future to see how this all wraps up.

SATCHEL PAIGE: STRIKING OUT JIM CROW HC and SC by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso. A fictionalized account of the legendary ball-player’s life, from his early days to the peak of his career in the Negro Leagues. Highly recommended, as are all of Mr. Sturm’s other works. A preview is available online at www.cartoonstudies.org

SCALPED by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. The story of F.B.I. Special Agent Dash Bad Horse’s return to the Indian reservation he thought he’d escaped forever. This is a dark crime series that quickly becomes addictive as Bad Horse stares deeper and deeper into his personal abyss. Grown-ups only. Two trades out for those needing to catch up.

SERENITY: BETTER DAYS by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, and Will Conrad. A story from the pre-Big Screen days of Captain Mal Reynolds and his crew. Y’know, back when everyone was still alive. Previews available at Dark Horse’s website.

THE SPIRIT by Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragones, and Mike Ploog. Following Darwyn Cooke’s run on Will Eisner’s most famous masked gumshoe, this is a series most enjoyable to fans of Eisner and pulp-era detectives. Pure fun, good for older kids on up.

STREETS OF GLORY by Garth Ennis and Mike Wolfer. A mini-series told in flashback about the closing days of the Wild West. Extreme graphic violence, but good for fans of Garth Ennis and Clint Eastwood. Not for kids.

STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY GN by Harvey Pekar, Gary Dumm, and historian Paul Buhle. A non-fiction account of the rise and fall of one of the most ambitious and controversial activist groups of the 1960s. For grown-ups and interested parties. Very well-timed publication.

THOR by J. Michael Straczynski and Marko Djurdjevic. An impressive revamping of the classic Marvel thunder god, exploring the meanings in myth and the question of what happens after ragnorok.

THUNDERBOLTS by Warren Ellis, Mike Deodato, and Others. Ellis’ take on a team of government sanctioned super-villains, wrapping up this year. Dark stuff, teens and up.

TRANSHUMAN by Jonathan Hickman and Jm Ringuet. A four-issue mockumentary-style comic about the creation and marketing of the world’s first superhumans by the creator of NIGHTLY NEWS, PAX ROMANA, and RED MASS FOR MARS. “Spinal Tap” Meets Supers! Very promising debut issue.

THE TWELVE by J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston. A 12-issue series about golden-age super-heroes awaking in the 21st century and all the culture shock it would entail. Gorgeously rendered by Weston. Great for older kids and up. Already a contender for Best Book of the Year.

ULTIMATE HUMAN by Warren Ellis and Cary Nord. A four-issue mini-series where Ultimate Hulk fights Ultimate Iron Man. Hey, sometimes you just need an easy read amidst the heavy stuff.

WALKING DEAD by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. The ongoing stories of the last humans alive after a zombie plague wipes out civilization. Imagine if the Romero movies never ended. Incredible suspense and continuous surprises derived from the systematic breaking of formula. You never know who might die (or worse) next. A guaranteed gut-punch per issue. Too intense for kids, but engrossing for older readers.

WAR IS HELL: THE FIRST FLIGHT OF THE PHANTOM EAGLE by Garth Ennis and Howard Chaykin. A foppish allied aviator meets World War I in “graphic” style. Not for kids.

WOLVERINE by Jason Aaron and Ron Garney. Aaron and Garney open their run on this title with a wild chase across the globe after Wolverine is tasked with the assassination of a long-time X-Men foe. Between this and LOGAN, Wolverine may be having his best creative year in a long while.

Y THE LAST MAN by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. The series ended recently but is now available in trade paperback form. The saga of the last man on an Earth excelled past its cheesy sci-fi premise with issue one and never looked back. A real masterpiece worthy of sitting beside WATCHMEN and SANDMAN on bookshelves everywhere.

Great stuff so far and it’s only April. J

www.johnjudy.net

Whoops - Jeff Kinney went to the U of Maryland and did a comic strip for them

Boy, have I missed linking to a lot of Diary of a Wimpy Kid articles as I didn't realize that Jeff Kinney did a comic strip for the University of Maryland's Diamondback (as did Frank "Liberty Meadows" Cho and Corey "Watch Your Head" Thomas). If there's any interest, let me know in the comments and I'll cull my Comics Research Bibliography holding file for links. In the meantime, see "Story of the weak: Jeff Kinney's 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' draws on relatable school experiences," by David Mehegan, Boston Globe Staff, April 7, 2008.

Owen, not Stephen, King on comics

In "The Kings of Fiction: Stephen, Tabitha and Owen Offer A Family-Style Look at the Literary Life," by Bob Thompson (who's lately been at a few comics events including the Folger), Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, April 7, 2008; C01, we find the following quotes about Owen King's interest in comic books.

At some point in his childhood, the 31-year-old King explains to his young listeners -- gathered this day as part of the PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools program -- he was reading a Fantastic Four comic and the question of superhero sex occurred to him. "I was looking at Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman and I was thinking, well, how does this, you know, how do they do it?"

This draws a bit of nervous laughter.

"Dirty-minded as I am," he says the question never left him. And when the Fantastic Four movie came out, with Jessica Alba, "it was even more on my mind."

He goes on a bit after that to talk about how that idea became a short story about a superhero meerkat.

David Hajdu photographs UPDATED

Quick post of photos from the talk at Politics and Prose, which you should be able to order on cd from them. It was interesting, especially when he talked about interviewing cartoonists affected at the time. Bruce Guthrie, the professional amateur photographer, put his pictures online too and they're much better than mine so you should check them out. Anybody looking for more information on the book, reviews, or interviews, should check out Gene Kannenberg's Comics Research page.

Shakespeare + Manga, Folger Shakespeare Library review

Shakespeare + Manga. Adam Sexton, Yali Lin and Marc Singer (moderator). Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library, March 31, 2008, $12.

As part of their Words on Will lecture series, the Folger tilted towards the mini-movement of adapting Shakespeare into comics by having two adaptors speak. The publisher John Wiley hired Adam Sexton to adapt four of Shakespeare’s plays to comics form, theoretically in a manga style, a point to which I will return.

Writer Adam Sexton and artist Yali Lin, adaptors of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: The Manga Edition. Booksigning after lecture at Folger Shakespeare Library.


Sexton opened by reading his introduction to the Romeo and Juliet volume in which he noted that he sees a graphic novel as more visual than a theater play. His example is that the fairy Queen Mab or Ophelia’s death can be clearly depicted and not just described as one would find in the written play or most theater versions. Another point in favor of a graphic adaptation is that one can move at one’s own pace and linger over the reading.

Sexton noted that he had a fairly detailed plan to adapt Shakespeare. First he cut extraneous material. Then he shaped the words to resemble speech rather than poetry, closing line breaks when necessary. He punctuated and italicized for clarity, and highlighted puns and themes. His example, which he showed on a screen, came from the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet, where he noted that Juliet consistently referred to death, while Romeo spoke of love. Juliet is the younger, but more mature character, so he needed to make sure the reader could see that. In the end, he had a script like a film script.



The artist Yali Lin took up the narrative at this point, explaining how she converted this script to a comic. She was born in China, but has been in America since the mid-1990s and attended the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York. She spoke briefly of her influences – Romiko Takahashi’s Ranma ½ (and showed a Romeo and Juliet scene from it) and especially Yukari Kawachi. She read the story and pictured it in her mind, then read it again and then began to draw it. She started with character designs which she showed to Sexton (and to the audience onscreen), who suggested that she make Juliet look a bit older, although as Lin noted, she was only fourteen in the play. Then she did what she called mini-thumbnails – sketches on the script next to the text for initial panel breakdowns. After this she does thumbnails which are still rough, but have the start of the dialogue and are the size of the finished paperback. Of the layout she noted, “Almost every page should have an establishing shot” so the reader knows where to focus. Her pencils are 11x14 inches on Bristol board. She then inks with both a pen nib and brushes, and said, “I really enjoy inking because it’s the easiest stage…”

After erasing her pencil marks, she scans in the artwork and then starts toning it digitally using Manga Studio for its tones, creating layers of them in Photoshop. The lettering is done last, using Illustrator. Long speech balloons were broken up in multiple bubbles to give a reader some relief. She worked act by act in the adaptation, finishing one and then moving onto the next one. As such, she thought her work on the first act, which took the longest, was the weakest.




At this point, moderator Marc Singer joined them on stage. He asked the two why they chose a manga style and Sexton replied, “We were told by the publisher.” Lin followed that by stating that, “Manga is expressionistic…” which let her use bleeds and irregular panels. It seems to this reviewer that the choice of ‘manga’ is a marketing one – of most forms of comic art, manga seems to be the highest selling at the moment. Even though a true manga adaptation of Shakespeare would probably run thousands of pages and for years, a pseudo-manga style could be created for an American audience.

Other points of interest emerged as the two continued to speak. Sexton said that the publisher asked him to maintain soliloquies. Lin said that as English is her second language at times she had problems understanding Shakespeare’s point, although Sexton disagreed with her and said she did usually have it right. Each book took about a year. Sexton’s biggest challenge was in the cutting – he thought Julius Caesar in particular would be a disaster as it’s a play about rhetoric in which characters try to persuade each other to do things. The two joined the project in different ways. Sexton got a call from a Wiley editor whom he had worked with before and who knew that he was a Shakespeare fan. A conversation with Matt Madden and Jessica Abel of SVA led to the five artists being selected.



Sexton noted that the publisher doesn’t quite know what to expect … “It’s hoped that these will be taken seriously enough to be used in the classroom, not replacing the original text, but perhaps in conjunction.” He said it was easier not to use the Classics Illustrated model of traditional Western comic books with added material and text boxes explaining what was happening, but to just use only Shakespeare’s actual words. “I think it’s more valuable consisting exclusively of Shakespeare’s language.”

The evening ended with an eight-year old girl’s observation that her teacher said she couldn’t read Julius Caesar at school because it was too violent. Sexton agreed with her that it was a violent play, but thought that her reading of it should be up to her parents. The little girl replied that she just decided to read it at home. The future of America looks brighter again, doesn't it?

Hajdu at Politics and Prose, in the Express and on the Express's website

David Hajdu is speaking on censorship and comic books tonight at 7 pm, but there's also an article about him in the Express and a different one with a longer interview online at "Not So Funny: David Hajdu on Comic Book Controversies," by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner, Express April 7, 2008

Guggenheim interview on Express website

See "Cursed to Write: TV & Comics Scribe Marc Guggenheim," by Scott Rosenberg, ReadExpress.com April 7, 2008.

Oglethorpe strip? Gibson Girl sketch? Wrightson Batman?

These and other questions were raised by some of my new acquisitions at the flea market. Here's some crummy pictures to illustrate the questions.



This is labelled "Oglethorpe" in pencil at the top of the strip. It's not one I've heard of, nor have I heard of the artist Jorge Mercer. A Google search didn't turn up anything for the strip or the artist, but I haven't checked my reference books yet. The gag is lame, but the art is interesting.



"The Story of His Life" looks like a Gibson Girl. It's signed G.F.T./08. Who? It's definitely a 1908 piece - the artwork is acid-burned by the mat, the cardboard backing is disintegrating...



Obviously a bit newer item than the others, I was ignoring this radio-controlled Batman motorcycle until Claire asked for it (that's my girl!). What's of interest about this is that a better look reveals that the Batman is completely modeled after Berni Wrightson's version as seen in The Cult below(picture from the GCD). That's got to be off the model sheet - why choose this version?



Comments, questions and especially answers are welcome!

Two bookish things by me still available.

Film & TV Adaptations of Comics - 2007 edition by Rhode and Vogel is still available for order.

149 pages long, it's a listing of the thousands of adaptations to film and television of hundreds of comic strips and books. Worldwide, it includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, the Netherlands, Senegal, India, Turkey, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia among others. Cross-referenced by cartoonist and translated titles, it includes a bibliography and index.

You can buy it via Lulu.com for $12.99 (plus shipping) or $3.00 for a pdf download at http://www.lulu.com/content/1677433.

Also, the
INTERPLANETARY JOURNAL OF COMIC ART: A Festschrift in Honor of John Lent is still available.

Editor's note - The first issue of the new InterPlanetary Journal of Comic Art (or IPJOCA as we call it around the virtual office) is now available. We are proud to invite you to the 43rd indispensable academic organ published by JOHN LENT MULTIMEDIA ENTERPRISES. All are personally hand-edited by our founder and publisher JOHN LENT, and we remind you that any suggestions of forced labor or involuntary servitude were completely dismissed in Temple University grad students v. JOHN LENT FAMILY CONGLOMERATE. This issue is slightly late, and we apologize for that. Editor JOHN LENT was traveling widely with stops on Pluto, Venus, Charon, Deimos and Phobos, Antarctica, Cyprus, Monte Carlo and the French Riviera, interviewing aging cartoonists and presenting learned discourses on the history of comic art. LENT's presentation on Pluto, "Which came first? The planet or the dog?" was particularly well-received and will appear in a future issue of IPJOCA. IPJOCA is a proud successor to the Colonial Journal of Comic Art, the Union Journal of Comic Art, the Confederate Journal of Comic Art, and the Imperial Journal of Comic Art, as well as the continuing flagship International Journal of Comic Art.

Actually, IPJOCA is a work of satire and parody, published on the occasion of John's seventieth birthday in 2006, give or take a few months. Since 1960, John has published, taught, and lectured widely on comic art, and since 1999 has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of the academic International Journal of Comic Art. In March of this year, John served on the Pulitzer Prize Nominating Juries in Journalism. John has published over 70 books and 800 articles on comic art, mass communication and Asian studies.

John's colleagues in the comic world have come together to create a tribute book, and presented it to him at the Popular Culture Association meeting in Boston. The fully-illustrated book features a front cover by cartoonist Nick Thorkelson, and a back cover by Ralph Steadman as well as 100 pages of witty articles.

To order your copy for $10, go to http://www.lulu.com/content/679026; to subscribe to the International Journal of Comic Art, go to
http://www.ijoca.com and follow the instructions.