Voting Begins For 2008 Science Idol Editorial Cartoon Contest
July 10 2008
Artists draw attention to political interference in science
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today announced the 12 finalists in its third annual Science Idol: Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest.
About Science Day 2008 Science Idol Finalists
Now, it's the public's turn to vote.
UCS received hundreds of cartoon entries from artists of all ages across the country who used humor to shed light on a serious issue: the distortion, suppression and manipulation of federal science. A panel of award-winning cartoonists helped UCS narrow down the entries to the 12 that will appear in the 2009 UCS scientific integrity calendar. The celebrity judges were: Dave Coverly, the creator of "Speed Bump;" Wiley Miller, the creator of "Non Sequitur;" Kevin Kallaugher (Kal), editorial cartoonist at the Economist; Mike Keefe, editorial cartoonist at the Denver Post; Signe Wilkinson, the Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist at the Philadelphia Daily News; and Jesse Springer, winner of last year's Science Idol contest.
People can vote for their favorite cartoon today through August 8 at http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/science_idol/. All participants have the chance to win copies of the 2009 calendar.
Besides having the winning cartoon featured on the cover of the 2009 Scientific Integrity Calendar, the top cartoonist will receive a $500 prize, an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., and a signed copy of Kevin Kallaugher's book, "Kal Draws Criticism."
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Beeler's caricatures
I saw Nate Beeler today, and he says that he's doing caricatures for the Examiner chain. Three caricatures a week, one each for the Washington, Baltimore and San Francisco editions, published on the new Sunday paper. You can see the first ones on his blog now - the one I've lifted is DC Mayor Fenty.
Franco Appearance at Laughing Ogre Comics
Laughing Ogre Comics is proud to welcome Franco, writer of Tiny Titans. He will be signing at their Lansdowne, VA location (19340 Promenade Drive, Lansdowne, VA 20176) on Sunday, July 13th from 2pm-5pm.
Laughing Ogre used to be known as Phoenix Comics. They acquired the Laughing Ogre store in Columbus, OH, and recently moved to adopt its name (which I think is attrocious, but apparently, it had to do with getting a trademark on "Phoenix" being a non-starter!).
Franco is also the writer of Patrick the Wolf-Boy, also an amusing read.
Laughing Ogre used to be known as Phoenix Comics. They acquired the Laughing Ogre store in Columbus, OH, and recently moved to adopt its name (which I think is attrocious, but apparently, it had to do with getting a trademark on "Phoenix" being a non-starter!).
Franco is also the writer of Patrick the Wolf-Boy, also an amusing read.
Wall-E continues to draw in editorial writers CORRECTED
The Washington Times goes first because I only saw theirs online - "'WALL-E's critics miss point: Pixar films have traditional values," Scott Galupo, Washington Times Friday, July 11, 2008.
The Post also ran one on Friday - "A Robot Who Offers Renewal" by Michael Gerson. Gerson writes, "'Wall-E' is partly an environmental parable, but its primary point is moral. The movie argues that human beings, aided by technology, can become imprisoned by their consumption. ... The pursuit of our rhinestone desires manages to obscure our view of the stars." A valid point, but one I feel a bit conflicted about, given that I am sitting alone retyping this, but also that I'm reaching a larger audience, some of whom have become my friends. (Thanks to alert reader Aziz Gökdemir who pointed out I had my newspapers mixed up!)
The Post also ran one on Friday - "A Robot Who Offers Renewal" by Michael Gerson. Gerson writes, "'Wall-E' is partly an environmental parable, but its primary point is moral. The movie argues that human beings, aided by technology, can become imprisoned by their consumption. ... The pursuit of our rhinestone desires manages to obscure our view of the stars." A valid point, but one I feel a bit conflicted about, given that I am sitting alone retyping this, but also that I'm reaching a larger audience, some of whom have become my friends. (Thanks to alert reader Aziz Gökdemir who pointed out I had my newspapers mixed up!)
Cartoons at National Gallery of Art
There's some animated shorts at the National Gallery of Art this weekend and next and then in early August:
Artistic Journeys
July 12, 16, 23 at 10:30AM, 11:30AM
July 13 at 11:30AM
East Building Concourse, Large Auditorium
(ages 4 and up) Join us for a screening of creative journeys. See what happens when a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti walks out of the museum in search of its soul mate in Walking Man (Michael Lindbough and Mads Tobias, Denmark, 1999, 4 minutes); watch a group of mice explore the unfamiliar in Seven Blind Mice (Weston Woods Studios, USA, 2007, 8 minutes); meet a dog who collects some wonderful treasures in Aston's Stones (Lotta and Uzi Geffenblad, Sweden, 2007, 9 minutes); and learn about the life and work of artist Mary Cassatt in the animated biography Mary Cassatt (Mike Venezia, USA, 2008, 24 minutes).
Reel Fun
August 2, 6, 13 at 10:30AM, 11:30AM
August 3 at 11:30AM
East Building Concourse, Large Auditorium
(ages 4 and up) This series of animated shorts will put a smile on your face. Films include My Happy End (Milen Vitanov, Germany, 2007, 5 minutes); A Sunny Day (Gil Alkabetz, Germany, 2007, 6 minutes); Giraffes Can't Dance (Weston Woods Studios, USA, 2007, 10 minutes); Puss and the Moon (Suzanne Tuynman, Netherlands, 2005, 5 minutes); Charlie and Lola: Welcome to Lolaland
Artistic Journeys
July 12, 16, 23 at 10:30AM, 11:30AM
July 13 at 11:30AM
East Building Concourse, Large Auditorium
(ages 4 and up) Join us for a screening of creative journeys. See what happens when a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti walks out of the museum in search of its soul mate in Walking Man (Michael Lindbough and Mads Tobias, Denmark, 1999, 4 minutes); watch a group of mice explore the unfamiliar in Seven Blind Mice (Weston Woods Studios, USA, 2007, 8 minutes); meet a dog who collects some wonderful treasures in Aston's Stones (Lotta and Uzi Geffenblad, Sweden, 2007, 9 minutes); and learn about the life and work of artist Mary Cassatt in the animated biography Mary Cassatt (Mike Venezia, USA, 2008, 24 minutes).
Reel Fun
August 2, 6, 13 at 10:30AM, 11:30AM
August 3 at 11:30AM
East Building Concourse, Large Auditorium
(ages 4 and up) This series of animated shorts will put a smile on your face. Films include My Happy End (Milen Vitanov, Germany, 2007, 5 minutes); A Sunny Day (Gil Alkabetz, Germany, 2007, 6 minutes); Giraffes Can't Dance (Weston Woods Studios, USA, 2007, 10 minutes); Puss and the Moon (Suzanne Tuynman, Netherlands, 2005, 5 minutes); Charlie and Lola: Welcome to Lolaland
Self-referentialism in today's Post comic strips
Three comic strips today benefited from some inside knowledge of reading them regularly perhaps.
Today's Pearls Before Swine builds on a week of Pastis referring to deaths in comic strips - after taking a passing swipe at Family Circus, Pastis killed himself in the strip - today he meets his syndicate rep as a giant floating head in heaven who tells him he can't kill the strip because of the ancillary products making money.
Candorville's been doing a tribute to the late comedian George Carlin all week, but today he got into criticizing obituary editorial cartoons which frequently feature a character at heaven's pearly gates. This almost certainly comes off a discussion at the Associations of American Editorial Cartoonists that Dave Astor covered.
Finally, Agnes (pick the July 12th one) is on the fact that Peanuts is still appearing in reruns years after Schulz's death.
Today's Pearls Before Swine builds on a week of Pastis referring to deaths in comic strips - after taking a passing swipe at Family Circus, Pastis killed himself in the strip - today he meets his syndicate rep as a giant floating head in heaven who tells him he can't kill the strip because of the ancillary products making money.
Candorville's been doing a tribute to the late comedian George Carlin all week, but today he got into criticizing obituary editorial cartoons which frequently feature a character at heaven's pearly gates. This almost certainly comes off a discussion at the Associations of American Editorial Cartoonists that Dave Astor covered.
Finally, Agnes (pick the July 12th one) is on the fact that Peanuts is still appearing in reruns years after Schulz's death.
Kung Fu Panda's reception in China
The Post picked up a story idea that's been making the rounds of the newswires and did some more reporting to provide an interesting take on China's feeling that Kung Fu Panda mines their heritage. Off course, Disney already did this for all of Europe (and in fact there's a book and an exhibit on those borrowings), a bit of South America (The Three Caballeros), and North America so they shouldn't feel special. "'Kung Fu Panda' Hits A Sore Spot in China: Why a Quintessentially Chinese Movie Was Made in Hollywood," By Maureen Fan, Washington Post Foreign Service, Saturday, July 12, 2008; C01.
Express poll on comic book movies
Do you think Hollywood is making too many movies based on comic books?
I voted no, and as of 11 am Saturday, the results were:
46% Yes
54% No
Like anything else, the source material shouldn't control the quality of the adaptation, at least in my opinion. If I forget to check on Monday, hopefully someone will post the final results in the comments.
I voted no, and as of 11 am Saturday, the results were:
46% Yes
54% No
Like anything else, the source material shouldn't control the quality of the adaptation, at least in my opinion. If I forget to check on Monday, hopefully someone will post the final results in the comments.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Off to Hellboy2
The neighborhood geeks are rolling at 9:15...
...and the followup review - it was goofy, but I enjoyed it. Large plant elemental, royal elves, sentient ectoplasm and two love stories. What more does a movie need?
...and the followup review - it was goofy, but I enjoyed it. Large plant elemental, royal elves, sentient ectoplasm and two love stories. What more does a movie need?
Times Post Times on Hellboy 2
'Hellboy' chaos: Del Toro's otherworldly beasts, sets no substitute for a story
Christian Toto
Washington Times Friday, July 11, 2008
Monsters Brawl; 'Hellboy II': Things Get a Little Punchy In Guillermo del Toro's Richly Imagined World
By Ann Hornaday
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 11, 2008; C01
Like Bogey, but With a Really Big Fist
By A. O. SCOTT
New York Times July 11, 2008
Christian Toto
Washington Times Friday, July 11, 2008
Monsters Brawl; 'Hellboy II': Things Get a Little Punchy In Guillermo del Toro's Richly Imagined World
By Ann Hornaday
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 11, 2008; C01
Like Bogey, but With a Really Big Fist
By A. O. SCOTT
New York Times July 11, 2008
Zadzooks on Hulk games
The movie spinoffs just keep coming. See "ZADZOOKS: Hulk is game for smashing," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, July 10, 2008 for a review of some of them.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
New online comic story by Harvey Pekar and Rick Veitch
My book collecting interviews from twenty years of Harvey's career should be out in a couple of months. In the meantime, here's a new story - Exclusive: A New Comic by Harvey Pekar and Rick Veitch. At some point, I heard that Veitch's family was from around here, and there's a Veitch street that intersects Columbia Pike in Arlington.
Washington Post Writers Group has success with Pickles.
Dave Astor's got the story and the quotes at "'Pickles' Comic Strip Signs Its 500th Newspaper," E&P July 10, 208.
Baltimore Sun blogger gets comics recommendations
See "Check It Out: Comics galore," by Nancy Johnston on July 9, 2008 for the Comics Kingdom store's recommendations. I've read about 1/3rd of them since I don't read too many superhero series any more ... can't take the long, drawn-out storylines or the multi-book crossovers.
July 20: Lost Ones booksigning with Panter and Niles
Steve Niles and Gary Panter will be signing their new graphic novel, The Lost Ones, at Big Planet Comics in Bethesda on July 20th at 2-4 pm. The book, from Microsoft's Zune Arts, will be given away for free!
I'll be there as well. Anybody else? (Date corrected per Our Man Thompson)
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Robots exhibit in Baltimore
This little ad at the bottom of an edition of the Examiner led me to Port Discovery, Baltimore's children's museum and the traveling exhibit based on the cartoon Robots which is there from May 24-September 8. Here's their description:Robots: The Interactive Exhibition is a one-of-a-kind exhibit that features characters from the blockbuster movie "ROBOTS." Each of the characters introduces children to the exciting and wondrous world of robotics through more than 15 interactive and hands-on experiences.
Embodying the spirit of technology and imagination, this exhibit is designed to engage, entertain, and enlighten visitors to the ever-changing field of science.
I enjoyed the cartoon, which I don't think did great at the box office. It had design work by William Joyce whom I always like.
Post censors comics again; punning headline writers despair
Gene Weingarten's July 8th chat reveals that the Post once again censored the comics section, this time Breathed's Opus. Weingarten wrote:
And lastly, HERE is Sunday's Opus. No, that's not the one you saw in The Post, which ran a sub. I believe the editors perceived a racial-ethnic insensitivity.
Bad decision. Nothing wrong with that comic. I really liked the real-world "available now" labeling.
A click on the 'censorship' label below will pull up the other examples for you.
And lastly, HERE is Sunday's Opus. No, that's not the one you saw in The Post, which ran a sub. I believe the editors perceived a racial-ethnic insensitivity.
Bad decision. Nothing wrong with that comic. I really liked the real-world "available now" labeling.
A click on the 'censorship' label below will pull up the other examples for you.
Minor comics articles in the NY Times
For the new Batman movie, "Many Movie Theaters Decide to Leave the Bat Signal on Till Dawn," By MICHAEL CIEPLY, New York Times July 9, 2008.
In Internet avatar animation, "Google Introduces a Cartoonlike Method for Talking in Chat Rooms," By BRAD STONE, New York Times July 9, 2008.
In Internet avatar animation, "Google Introduces a Cartoonlike Method for Talking in Chat Rooms," By BRAD STONE, New York Times July 9, 2008.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Will more become less?
I noticed the above ad in a recent issue of the New Yorker and wondered about it since the two titles weren't familiar. Following the link to this page and doublechecking against Amazon shows that at least 4 of these books are self-published - The Book of Moms, The Book of Dads, The Graduation Collection and Will You Be Mine? I'd rather see more in print of course, but this does highlight a problem with both collecting and bibliography that's accelerating rapidly. It's very unlikely that any of these four books will end up in a library collection for example, unless they're actively sought out. I probably won't buy them as the price is a bit steep - $25 for 100 pages? Or$100 for four slim books?
Andrews McMeel's publishing through Lulu.com leads to the same problems. I can see a return to the earliest days of print when small publishers brought out items and now copies may not exist of their publications...
Monday, July 07, 2008
Big Planet TV commercials on YouTube
Joel sent a link to these a couple of weeks ago. Who knew? There's three of them on YouTube from this May. The note says, "Commercial for Big Planet Comics. Produced & Directed by Paul Nadjmabadi & Angela Ottinger." I don't recognize anyone in #1 at least. Here's #2 and #3. Anybody seen these on tv yet?
Heroescon hangover or holdover or something
Our host at Heroes Con (really Our Man Thompson's as I was the driver and go-fer) Dustin Harbin's just posted a cool blog post and drawing about cartoonists he's met and liked recently. Our Man Thompson is not actual size.
Neat, isn't it?
Neat, isn't it?
Washington realtors have a new hero
The real estate multiple listing service, Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., of Washington launched its own DC-based web superhero.
For details, see "Introducing 'Mr. Is,' an MLS superhero; Comic strip promotes Web site relaunch," Inman News, Thursday, June 26, 2008.
To read the strip Mr. Is, click here. He's even got a backstory!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Rory Root memorial photographs
Miron Murcury sent in these three pictures and encouraged me to post them. Please note that these are Miron's titles and the pictures are copyrighted by him.
Mark Bode at Rory Root memorial. June 21, 2008
Ron, Last Gasp, Turner
Why's everybody looking at me?
Mark Bode at Rory Root memorial. June 21, 2008
Ron, Last Gasp, Turner
Why's everybody looking at me?
DC (Comics, that is) fan films
Chris Cowan must have noted my "Films and TV Adaptations" book and sent in the following note the other day. I've got to say that I'm a big proponent of the idea of fan films. I've seen some really good ones. In Japan, this type of fan participation with fans writing comic books and having whole conventions devoted to them has been popular for years. And I really loved What If (Marvel) and Elseworlds (DC) before both companies went for that extra dollar and published too many to keep track of. Anyway, here's the note:
I'm a filmmaker who loves making films dealing with SciFi and Comicbook Universes. Lex Randleman (a long time friend of mine and aspiring comicbook writer) and I are creating a new webseries for DC Fans called "Elseworlds". Its based upon the DC Comics Elseworlds series where heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into alternate realities. (All done just for fun out of the love for the DC universe - No Budget). They will be a series of five 2-8 minute original story webisodes dealing with some of the famous characters in the DC Universe (Different groups of characters but following one linear story arc overall). Part 4 should be up in the next week and a half. Please take a look for yourself. We're trying to do something really different. Its not your average fanfilm.
A little bit of info:
Chris Cowan (24 yrs old - The Ohio State University Graduate: Film Production Focus) - Director/Editor/Camera/Cyborg
Lex Randleman (24 yrs old - The Ohio State University Graduate: Creative Writing Focus) - Writer/Concept/Costume/Mister Terrific
DC Elseworlds Part One - "Fair Play" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sseVgcEmx1A
DC Elseworlds Part Two - "Titans" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQ3UjeLcRE
DC Elseworlds Part Three - "What's in a name?" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iguQCdU1K_o
I'm a filmmaker who loves making films dealing with SciFi and Comicbook Universes. Lex Randleman (a long time friend of mine and aspiring comicbook writer) and I are creating a new webseries for DC Fans called "Elseworlds". Its based upon the DC Comics Elseworlds series where heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into alternate realities. (All done just for fun out of the love for the DC universe - No Budget). They will be a series of five 2-8 minute original story webisodes dealing with some of the famous characters in the DC Universe (Different groups of characters but following one linear story arc overall). Part 4 should be up in the next week and a half. Please take a look for yourself. We're trying to do something really different. Its not your average fanfilm.
A little bit of info:
Chris Cowan (24 yrs old - The Ohio State University Graduate: Film Production Focus) - Director/Editor/Camera/Cyborg
Lex Randleman (24 yrs old - The Ohio State University Graduate: Creative Writing Focus) - Writer/Concept/Costume/Mister Terrific
DC Elseworlds Part One - "Fair Play" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sseVgcEmx1A
DC Elseworlds Part Two - "Titans" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQ3UjeLcRE
DC Elseworlds Part Three - "What's in a name?" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iguQCdU1K_o
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE THURSDAY (not Wednesday) 07-10-08
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE THURSDAY (not Wednesday) 07-10-08
By John Judy
BOOSTER GOLD #1,000,000 by Geoff Johns, Jeff Katz and Dan Jurgens. Booster meets Peter Platinum, who is a superhero, NOT a star of a certain type of movie! So don’t even go there, pal!
BPRD: THE WARNING #1 of 5 by Matt Wagner, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. Armageddon threatens. Time for the team to punch in.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #0 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Look what happens when “Heroes” gets shut down by a writers strike! (Not saying this should happen more often…)
CRIMINAL VOL. 3: DEAD AND DYING SC by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Collecting the done-in-one masterpieces we all must have in our glass-covered, climate-controlled bookcases. Highly Recommended.
DEAD SHE SAID #2 by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson. Posthumous noir by horror’s master illustrator. IDW Publishing is doing its best to keep all knowledge of this series to itself. Don’t let them!
FINAL CRISIS: REQUIEM #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke. DC says this is “a very special FINAL CRISIS one-shot” which, given that it’s a tie-in to this year’s huge Summer cross-over series, may be code for “this one doesn’t suck.”
GOON #26 by Eric Powell. “Bill, ya can’t eat a whole bag of cookies and follow it up with a whole chocolate-covered cat! You’ll ruin yer dinner!” Also featuring machine guns and axes. Recommended!
I KILL GIANTS #1 of 7 by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura. The story of a 5th grade girl and her Norse giant-killing war hammer. “Hello kitty!” Gotta look.
JOKER’S ASYLUM: PENGUIN by Jason Aaron and Jason Pearson. This is written by Jason Aaron, therefore all must read it.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #17 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. This and ASTRO CITY are the last two projects with which Alex Ross is even tangentally associated that don’t make me want to break things and give up comics.
KYLE BAKER’S NAT TURNER HC & SC by KB. For all of us who wondered whatever happened to this title. Still recommended because Baker’s a friggin’ genius.
NEIL GAIMAN’S CORALINE GN by NG and P. Craig Russell. It was text with illustrations. Now it’s the opposite. P. Craig and Neil: ALWAYS a winning combination. Recommended.
SECRET INVASION #4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. Skrulls! They kick puppies! They green-lit “The Love Guru!” They rigged the last two elections! Miley Cyrus is a dirty !@#$* Skrull!
ULTIMATE ORIGINS #2 of 5 by Brian Michael Bendis and Butch Guice. It’s Ultimate Project Pegasus! No lie! And the origin of Ultimate Captain America. No Skrulls. Yet.
WOLFSKIN ANNUAL #1 by Warren Ellis Mike Wolfer and Gianluca Pagliarani. Wolfskin. He’s Conan without the sensitivity. Plot credit to Ellis so it probably contains the requisite Depraved Indifference to Human Life we demand of such things.
www.johnjudy.net
By John Judy
BOOSTER GOLD #1,000,000 by Geoff Johns, Jeff Katz and Dan Jurgens. Booster meets Peter Platinum, who is a superhero, NOT a star of a certain type of movie! So don’t even go there, pal!
BPRD: THE WARNING #1 of 5 by Matt Wagner, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. Armageddon threatens. Time for the team to punch in.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #0 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Look what happens when “Heroes” gets shut down by a writers strike! (Not saying this should happen more often…)
CRIMINAL VOL. 3: DEAD AND DYING SC by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Collecting the done-in-one masterpieces we all must have in our glass-covered, climate-controlled bookcases. Highly Recommended.
DEAD SHE SAID #2 by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson. Posthumous noir by horror’s master illustrator. IDW Publishing is doing its best to keep all knowledge of this series to itself. Don’t let them!
FINAL CRISIS: REQUIEM #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke. DC says this is “a very special FINAL CRISIS one-shot” which, given that it’s a tie-in to this year’s huge Summer cross-over series, may be code for “this one doesn’t suck.”
GOON #26 by Eric Powell. “Bill, ya can’t eat a whole bag of cookies and follow it up with a whole chocolate-covered cat! You’ll ruin yer dinner!” Also featuring machine guns and axes. Recommended!
I KILL GIANTS #1 of 7 by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura. The story of a 5th grade girl and her Norse giant-killing war hammer. “Hello kitty!” Gotta look.
JOKER’S ASYLUM: PENGUIN by Jason Aaron and Jason Pearson. This is written by Jason Aaron, therefore all must read it.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #17 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. This and ASTRO CITY are the last two projects with which Alex Ross is even tangentally associated that don’t make me want to break things and give up comics.
KYLE BAKER’S NAT TURNER HC & SC by KB. For all of us who wondered whatever happened to this title. Still recommended because Baker’s a friggin’ genius.
NEIL GAIMAN’S CORALINE GN by NG and P. Craig Russell. It was text with illustrations. Now it’s the opposite. P. Craig and Neil: ALWAYS a winning combination. Recommended.
SECRET INVASION #4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. Skrulls! They kick puppies! They green-lit “The Love Guru!” They rigged the last two elections! Miley Cyrus is a dirty !@#$* Skrull!
ULTIMATE ORIGINS #2 of 5 by Brian Michael Bendis and Butch Guice. It’s Ultimate Project Pegasus! No lie! And the origin of Ultimate Captain America. No Skrulls. Yet.
WOLFSKIN ANNUAL #1 by Warren Ellis Mike Wolfer and Gianluca Pagliarani. Wolfskin. He’s Conan without the sensitivity. Plot credit to Ellis so it probably contains the requisite Depraved Indifference to Human Life we demand of such things.
www.johnjudy.net
These Times demand the Times
5 comics-related pieces this Sunday:
"Michael Turner, 37, Creator of Superheroines, Is Dead," By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES, New York Times July 6, 2008
Rob Esmay, a local artist whose cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker curates an exhibit in a hardware store - "In Williamsburg Store, Customers Find Art Among the Wrenches," By JUSTIN PORTER, New York Times July 6, 2008
Hellboy II's director del Toro's character-design artwork is featured in "Elves and Killer Beanstalks From Director’s Personal ‘Hell’," By DAVE ITZKOFF, New York Times July 6, 2008 with audio commentary at "Dear Diary," New York Times July 6, 2008.
An editorial calls for a bold new direction - "Wall-E for President," By FRANK RICH, New York Times July 6, 2008.
Finally, Rutu Modan is doing the comic strip in the Magazine.
"Michael Turner, 37, Creator of Superheroines, Is Dead," By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES, New York Times July 6, 2008
Rob Esmay, a local artist whose cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker curates an exhibit in a hardware store - "In Williamsburg Store, Customers Find Art Among the Wrenches," By JUSTIN PORTER, New York Times July 6, 2008
Hellboy II's director del Toro's character-design artwork is featured in "Elves and Killer Beanstalks From Director’s Personal ‘Hell’," By DAVE ITZKOFF, New York Times July 6, 2008 with audio commentary at "Dear Diary," New York Times July 6, 2008.
An editorial calls for a bold new direction - "Wall-E for President," By FRANK RICH, New York Times July 6, 2008.
Finally, Rutu Modan is doing the comic strip in the Magazine.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Ed Stein's cartoon journalism
I got an email from Ed Stein's newspaper, which I reproduce below. I was a big fan of Stein's Denver Square strip, and cartoon journalism's been an interest of mine as well. This should be good - it's great to see people experimenting with the artform.
CONTACT:
Ed Stein
101 W. Colfax Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80218
303-954-5479
stein@rockymountainnews.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Ed Stein, veteran editorial cartoonist for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, debuts "Long Time Passing," a new graphic blog series to run every Friday from July 4 through the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 25-28. Told in a unique and engaging first-person narrative, the special series will cover the build-up to the convention and the current political climate in light of Ed's personal experiences at the Chicago convention 1968 and as a seasoned journalist 40 years later.
The first installment, to be pulished tomorrow, July 4, focuses on what democracy, freedom and independence truly means to a cartoonist who has covered national politics and elections since Jimmy Carter was in office.
Ed Stein has served as the editorial cartoonist for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado, since 1978. He graduated from the University of Denver with a degree in fine arts in 1969. Stein recently retired his popular local comic strip, "Denver Square," after 11 years to focus on his editorial cartoons. "Long Time Passing" will run every Friday from Friday, July 4 until August 24 and daily during the convention from August 25 to 28.
This week's installment is attached to this email and can be re-posted with a link to Stein's blog at the Rocky Mountain News website, http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/stein/ . Subsequent editions can be read every Friday on his blog or via RSS here: feed://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/stein/index.xml .
For more information, contact Ed Stein directly.
Book review: Marvel Graphic Novels and Related Publications
This will appear in the fall's International Journal of Comic Art, but I'll give Rob a plug here as well.
Robert G. Weiner. Marvel Graphic Novels and Related Publications: An Annotated Guide to Comics, Prose Novels, Children's Books, Articles, Criticism and Reference Works, 1965-2005. McFarland, 2008. $49.95. ISBN-13: 978-0786425006. www.mcfarlandpub.com or 800-253-2187.
Rob Weiner, a librarian at Texas Tech University, has attempted a Herculean task in this amazingly ambitious annotated bibliography. Marvel’s publishing history runs for over sixty years and, through licensing, covers dozens of publishers. In his preface, he notes, “This volume is intended to be a handbook, not only for the Marvel Comics fan and collector, but also for academic, public, and school librarians, who want to include Marvel graphic novels in their collections. While many of the publications in this work are known to most Marvel collectors, it is my hope that even the most knowledgeable collectors will find something new in it. There are some entries in this volume, which, to my knowledge, describe material not documented anywhere else.”
Weiner lists citations with annotations for all kinds of publications from Marvel. He has attempted to bring some order to the citations by breaking them up into seventeen categories, three of which are appendices, along with two introductory “Background Highlights” sections on the history of both graphic novels and Marvel Comics.
A typical citation, chosen at random (p. 73), reads:
DeFalco, Tom, Pat Olliffe, Al Williamson, et al. Spider-Girl: A Fresh Start. New York: Marvel, 1999. ISBN: 0785107207. Reprints Spider-Girl 1-2.
Peter Parker’s teen-age daughter, May Day, inherits amazing powers from her father. She becomes Spider-Girl, much to her father’s dismay. She defeats Crazy Eight and encounters Dark Devil.
One can see both the strengths and limitations of bibliography here. One is given the basic information about the book, along with a plot summary of the story and who Spider-Girl actually is, except that in standard Marvel continuity, Spider-Man does not have any children. In fact, since 2008, he is not even married – a deal with the devil erased his marriage to save his Aunt May’s life. So one must come to a project like this with a good bit of existing knowledge, namely that Marvel published a series of comic books set in their character’s ‘future’ in which the normal aging not usually permitted fictional characters had taken place.
As mentioned above, Weiner broke up the book into sections. The major category “Marvel’s Superheroes” is divided into sections like “Major Characters, Teams, and Team-Ups” which is then further reduced into subsections like “Conan / Kull” and “Fantastic Four / Dr. Doom and Inhumans.” A sampling of other subsections include “Epic Comics Graphic Novels,” “Marvel/DC Crossovers,” “Movies and Television,” “Prose Novels” and “Scholarly Publications,” the last of which cites several articles from this Journal. The three appendices include single line citations for 2005 publications, game books, and possibly unpublished books for which an ISBN exists.
As with any project of this size and complexity, one can quibble. Weiner’s introduction is too concerned with rationalizing the importance of the study of comic books. Anyone willing to even glance at his bibliography does not need to read an argument which sums up “Epic Stories like Earth X, Kree/Skrull War and Marvels exhibit as much character development, and thought, as any work by Shakespeare, Stephen King, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, Margaret Mitchell, or Jack London.” (p. 7) By engaging theoretical critics, Weiner gives them both too much credibility and ammunition. His work is a bibliography of an aspect of popular culture, and as such, does not need defense or apology, let alone attempting to reach an intellectual high ground. Any library or scholar interested in studying Marvel Comics, and especially their publishing history, should add this bibliography to their collection.
In today's Times...
Disney on Ice lets the company slide into new markets - "A Solid Surface for Disney Success," By BROOKS BARNES, New York Times July 5, 2008.
On the editorial page, James Stevenson's got another one of his great Lost and Found New York pages - Best Rocks of the Bronx.
On the editorial page, James Stevenson's got another one of his great Lost and Found New York pages - Best Rocks of the Bronx.
Nate Beeler featured in American University's magazine
I found this magazine in the library's sale section today:
Which led to finding this link to American University's alumni magazine for you gentle readers - "Drawn to Washington: Editorial cartoonist for the Washington Examiner, Nate Beeler '02 has a ringside seat for D.C.'s political circus," by Adrienne Frank, American (Spring 2008): 26-27. I don't know why he doesn't tell me about these things - maybe it's the new baby. By the way, the Examiner started running his work in color this past week.
Bought at the same library - three Story magazines, just for R.O. Blechman's covers:
If you haven't read Blechman's graphic novels, such as The Juggler of Our Lady, step away from this website and hunt them up through a used bookseller NOW.
Which led to finding this link to American University's alumni magazine for you gentle readers - "Drawn to Washington: Editorial cartoonist for the Washington Examiner, Nate Beeler '02 has a ringside seat for D.C.'s political circus," by Adrienne Frank, American (Spring 2008): 26-27. I don't know why he doesn't tell me about these things - maybe it's the new baby. By the way, the Examiner started running his work in color this past week.
Bought at the same library - three Story magazines, just for R.O. Blechman's covers:
If you haven't read Blechman's graphic novels, such as The Juggler of Our Lady, step away from this website and hunt them up through a used bookseller NOW.
Comics-related obituaries from the Post
Today the print paper had Michael Turner's obit from the LA Times. Here's a link to it from the Times - "Comic-book artist Michael Turner dies at 37: Turner became known for the highly stylized covers he created for major titles and his depictions of curvaceous female characters," By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, July 4, 2008.
Yesterday we had a Bozo obit which touched on an animated version - "Larry Harmon, 83; Actor Made Bozo the Clown a Household Name," By John Rogers, Associated Press, Friday, July 4, 2008; B07.
And a local obituary for a former NY Herald Tribune cartoonist - "Charles E. Kavenagh, Graphic Artist," - Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Friday, July 4, 2008; Page B08.
Yesterday we had a Bozo obit which touched on an animated version - "Larry Harmon, 83; Actor Made Bozo the Clown a Household Name," By John Rogers, Associated Press, Friday, July 4, 2008; B07.
And a local obituary for a former NY Herald Tribune cartoonist - "Charles E. Kavenagh, Graphic Artist," - Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Friday, July 4, 2008; Page B08.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Washington writer on superheroes for NPR.org
See "Holy Bookworms! Superheroes Take To The Page," by Glen Weldon, NPR.org, July 3, 2008 for a look at fiction and non-fiction prose about superheroes.
Secret History of Comics includes Crumb, courtesy of Warren Bernard
Warren writes in with a modern piece:
I went last month to Stripdagen, the biennial comics show in Haarlem, The Netherlands. Found myself at the booth which does the printing for lithos and prints by Chris Ware and Joost Swarte. While poking around their amazing collection of prints, I struck up a conversation with one of the people running the booth. In the middle of the conversation the guy stops and asks, "Are you a Robert Crumb fan?". After saying yes, he handed me the flyer you now see.
It's for a concert in Paris and I was real lucky to get this. I am sure thousands were printed, but how many will actually make it to America?
So, regardless if it's Crumb or Gluyas Williams for Texaco or Charles Schulz for Metropolitan Life, there is a ton of commercial art by great and famous cartoonists that needs to be revealed by SHOC.
I went last month to Stripdagen, the biennial comics show in Haarlem, The Netherlands. Found myself at the booth which does the printing for lithos and prints by Chris Ware and Joost Swarte. While poking around their amazing collection of prints, I struck up a conversation with one of the people running the booth. In the middle of the conversation the guy stops and asks, "Are you a Robert Crumb fan?". After saying yes, he handed me the flyer you now see.
It's for a concert in Paris and I was real lucky to get this. I am sure thousands were printed, but how many will actually make it to America?
So, regardless if it's Crumb or Gluyas Williams for Texaco or Charles Schulz for Metropolitan Life, there is a ton of commercial art by great and famous cartoonists that needs to be revealed by SHOC.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
In today's papers
Zadzooks reviews Frank Miller's Batman - "Batman becomes too brutal," by Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, July 3, 2008.
Online only, the Express rails against animated bears selling toilet paper - "Tissue Issue: The Charmin Bears Have Got to Go," by Greg Barber, ReadExpress.com July 2, 2008.
Also online only is an interview with Robert Grossman - "Grossman Land," By Steven Heller, New York Times' Campaign Stops blog July 2, 2008.
Online only, the Express rails against animated bears selling toilet paper - "Tissue Issue: The Charmin Bears Have Got to Go," by Greg Barber, ReadExpress.com July 2, 2008.
Also online only is an interview with Robert Grossman - "Grossman Land," By Steven Heller, New York Times' Campaign Stops blog July 2, 2008.
July 27: Babymouse at ALADDIN’S LAMP
MEET AUTHOR JENNIFER HOLM: Sunday, July 27 at 1:30 p.m. Author Jennifer Holm will discuss her graphic novel series about a sassy mouse with attitude to spare ... BABYMOUSE! In addition to the eight Babymouse books, Ms. Holm is the author of the Newbery Honor novels A Penny From Heaven and Our Only May Amelia. The ninth Babymouse book, Monster Mash, will be coming out in August. Grades 2-6. Please call to register.
ALADDIN’S LAMP
Children’s Books & Other Treasures
703-241-8281
aladlamp@speakeasy.org
In the Lee Harrison Shopping Center
Lower Level Shops
2499 N. Harrison St, Suite 10, Arlington, VA 22207
STORE HOURS: Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday & Thursday 10 am to 8 pm, Sunday 11 am to 5 pm
ALADDIN’S LAMP
Children’s Books & Other Treasures
703-241-8281
aladlamp@speakeasy.org
In the Lee Harrison Shopping Center
Lower Level Shops
2499 N. Harrison St, Suite 10, Arlington, VA 22207
STORE HOURS: Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday & Thursday 10 am to 8 pm, Sunday 11 am to 5 pm
Payne, Bat-Senator and Wall-E complaint today in the Post
Caricaturist CF Payne has a large drawing of Tiger Woods on the front of a special AT&T National Section in today's paper. It's not online.
To read about the Bat-Senator, see "Leahy's Hat Trick as a Batman Cameo," By Mary Ann Akers And Paul Kane, Washington Post Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A15...
...and a Letter writer to the Editor missed an e-bay opportunity:
Why a Movie Has Disney in the Dumps
Washington Post Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A16
In his review of Pixar's new movie "Wall-E" ["From Pixar, a Droid Piece of Filmmaking," Style, June 27], John Anderson pointed out that the movie's dark messages are making co-producer and distributor Disney nervous.
Should I therefore assume that it was the Walt Disney Co.'s marketing machine that had the great idea to hand out useless, trashy plastic watches (complete with excessive packaging) to every child attending the movie? This movie is about the impact of trashing our planet -- literally.
My family came home from the movie with four of these watches. They are all in the garbage today, heading out to the dump to meet the tons of other silly, free plastic "toys" generated by Disney and distributed every day through McDonald's and Burger King.
If Disney is nervous about the movie, it is because the movie challenges the core of Disney's moneymaking strategy: insatiable consumerism.
ALLISON SCURIATTI
Washington
To read about the Bat-Senator, see "Leahy's Hat Trick as a Batman Cameo," By Mary Ann Akers And Paul Kane, Washington Post Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A15...
...and a Letter writer to the Editor missed an e-bay opportunity:
Why a Movie Has Disney in the Dumps
Washington Post Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A16
In his review of Pixar's new movie "Wall-E" ["From Pixar, a Droid Piece of Filmmaking," Style, June 27], John Anderson pointed out that the movie's dark messages are making co-producer and distributor Disney nervous.
Should I therefore assume that it was the Walt Disney Co.'s marketing machine that had the great idea to hand out useless, trashy plastic watches (complete with excessive packaging) to every child attending the movie? This movie is about the impact of trashing our planet -- literally.
My family came home from the movie with four of these watches. They are all in the garbage today, heading out to the dump to meet the tons of other silly, free plastic "toys" generated by Disney and distributed every day through McDonald's and Burger King.
If Disney is nervous about the movie, it is because the movie challenges the core of Disney's moneymaking strategy: insatiable consumerism.
ALLISON SCURIATTI
Washington
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Reviews for three local exhibits
Here are reviews for the fall issue of the International Journal of Comic Art that I just turned in tonight. I'm posting them here first because I usually say that I'll be doing a more complete review, but don't get around to it until the last minute. 2 of these shows are gone, but the Herblock exhibit is still up and well worth seeing.
Scrooged! Arnold Blumberg, Andy Herschberger, and John K. Snyder Jr. Baltimore, MD: Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, February 29-May 31, 2008. http://www.geppismuseum.com/
Thanks to the generosity of curator Arnold Blumberg, I saw this exhibit almost a month before it officially opened. All the artwork had been hung, but its final form was different with more labeling and information. Carl Barks was the focus of the exhibit – the title derives from Uncle Scrooge, Barks’ most enduring creation for Disney. The exhibit was rather diffuse, not focusing on any particular aspect of either Scrooge or Barks. It included the complete original artwork for the Scrooge story “North of the Yukon,” oil paintings of the Disney Ducks, oil paintings of landscapes from the 1960s, prints of “Famous Characters In Fictions As Waterfowl,” i.e. Robin Hood as a anthropometric duck, from when Disney was not permitting Barks to paint their ducks, pencil sketches of Disney work, and Another Rainbow objects such as a Faberge egg with Scrooge inside. All the items exhibited are apparently owned by museum founder and Diamond Distributors owner Steve Geppi.
Certainly displaying the entire original “North of the Yukon” artwork is justification enough for a small exhibit on Barks, and I enjoyed this show even though it did not really hold together. See Barks’ small landscapes which were obviously done for his own pleasure, scenes as so many cartoonists do in their retirement, was satisfying. Seeing him draw rather sexy dancing female ducks was odd, but interesting. Blumberg said to me, “I found it most fascinating looking at the paintings. There’s something really luminescent in the way the characters leap off the painting. It’s so much more than a casual viewer expects from a cartoonist.” Blumberg may be selling many cartoonists a bit short, but there is a peculiar fascination in seeing Donald Duck rendered using Old Master techniques, and the exhibit was worth visiting to see examples of Barks’ art beyond the pages of the comic book.
The museum’s current exhibit is “Out of the Box” – a playroom for the type of toys that will eventually make it into the Museum.
Heroes of the Negro League. Mark Chiarello, Michael Barry and Leslie Combemale. Reston, VA: ArtInsights, March 29-May 30, 2008. http://www.artinsights.com/
This exhibit is reviewed by virtue of Chiarello’s position as art editor for DC Comics. In 1990, Chiarello, in collaboration with his best friend Jack Morelli, created baseball cards for forgotten baseball players from the Negro Leagues, who had never had cards in America before. These paintings were watercolors over pencil that were based on photographs. The exhibit came about as the paintings were collected in a book, Heroes of the Negro Leagues (Abrams, 2007; $19.95, ISBN-10: 0810994348). Chiarello and Morelli did research at Cooperstown and the Schomburg Center in Harlem, and Chiarello painted the images from photographs and, surprisingly baseball cards – which had been issued in Cuba and Venezuela for some of the players.
Gallery co-owner Leslie Combemale interviewed Chiarello for a March 10th press release that is no longer on the gallery’s website. An exchange on Chiarello’s techniques is worthy of reprinting here:
LC- The Negro Leagues players portraits have a depth that goes beyond just (an image) How do you find the perfect picture to use?
MM- I can look through 200 or more pictures and only one is just right. With my portraits, I try to let the viewer know who that person is, just by looking in their eyes. I think the Cool Papa Bell is the most successful at that...it's why I chose it for the cover. I know the moment I find the right picture for reference, and I'll keep looking as long as it takes...
LC- Once you find that picture, how do you proceed from there?
MC- I pencil it out as tightly as I can. It’s my roadmap, so there's not much guesswork. After that I just try to get out of the way.
LC- I see your two styles of painting as so different from each other. One being the watercolor you used for the Negro League illustrations and the other the style you paint in oil, used for the Star Wars Celebration "Enlist Now" propaganda limited edition. I think of watercolors as unforgiving, hard to do, and hard to control.
MC- A lot of people say that and I disagree. Maybe it can't be controlled, but that's what's so great about it. After I pencil the image in, painting in watercolor is all about feel, control is beside the point. Your brain has to stay out of it and you have to stay out of the way of the paint. It becomes itself.
LC- What do you mean by that?
MC- For me it becomes about the emotional connection between the artist, the subject, and the wetness of the paint. The watercolor helps you-
LC- If you know what you're doing...
MC- Watercolor is in the moment. It flows into weird shapes and if you corral these shapes, they form the person's face. But you'll never see it if you have expectations or try to control the outcome too much from the beginning. With watercolor, once you have the roadmap a drawing creates, you've done most the work. After that you just have to enjoy the ride...Really my two styles are diametrically opposed. When I paint in oil it's very cerebral, I have to map the entire piece out from start to finish. It’s very precise work. Watercolor is all about flow.
Chiarello was also featured in the April issue of Juxtapose magazine for anyone who would like more details on this project; the paintings were technically excellent and appealing and the exhibit was worth seeing.
The gallery, which sells artwork (including the Negro League paintings) had other items of interest to IJOCA readers. There was an original story book artwork page from Snow White as well as an original movie cel with a background. Other cels from Lady and the Tramp, The Fox and the Hound, Aristocats, Fantasia and Peanuts lined the walls. Combemale told me that for fourteen years the focus of the gallery had been on animation, but recently they were widening their scope. "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color," their next exhibit, opens on July 12th.
Herblock’s Presidents: ‘Puncturing Pomposity’. Sidney Hart. Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery, May 2-November 30, 2008.
Herbert ‘Herblock’ Block died in 2001, but his images linger on in Washington, at least partly because his estate donated over 10,000 of his cartoons to the Library of Congress with the proviso that they be displayed regularly. Curator Sidney Hart, a historian by trade, undertook the current exhibition and did a very credible job. Hart made two key decisions to define the show – it would be on presidents and the cartoon had to be negative. Hoover was not included because he “didn’t fit the theme of our show.” The two decisions had three points backing them up – 1.) Herblock’s presidential cartoons were among his most powerful, 2.) a negative cartoon was a more constructive force and, 3.) the exhibit went into the Presidential Gallery space.
The show was arranged by president beginning with Roosevelt. Herblock’s line was visibly smoother and he used the texture of the paper for shading. On the gallery tour, Hart pointed out some of his favorite cartoons. In one on McArthur and Truman, Truman is on a treadmill that McArthur is pulling in a different direction. For Eisenhower, Herblock drew him in a boat, blowing on a paper sale, while not running the motor on the boat. Another Eisenhower cartoon featured Herblock’s hated foe, Senator McCarthy, who is shown mugging the State Department and the Army, while Eisenhower is told, “Relax – he hasn’t gotten to you yet.” Hart noted the curious omission of no Kennedy cartoon for the Bay of Pigs; the JFK cartoons were usually positive so it was harder to find ones for the exhibit. Herblock’s best cartoon of Lyndon Johnson, from January 6, 1967 read “That’s a little better, but couldn’t you do it in luminous paint.” It showed Johnson looking at a painting of himself and referred to his official White House portrait -- which showed a heroic Johnson, but since LBJ did not like it, it rests in the next gallery over in the Portrait Gallery. Herblock’s Nixon cartoons were among his most famous – the exhibit included ones of Vice President Spiro Agnew in a sewer and the Saturday Night Massacre when Justice Department investigators of the Watergate break-in were fired on Nixon’s orders.
The Ford cartoon that Hart focused on showed both the President and the economy going to hell in a hand basket. Reflecting Block’s fondness for Alice in Wonderland, Jimmy Carter was depicted as the Cheshire Cat. One of the Carter cartoons showed an amazing detail from Block’s working methods – the paste-up corrections were done on mailing labels! Reagan and Nixon got the most cartoons with five each. Reagan was the president that Block disliked the most and his cartoons showed it. Clinton disappointed Herblock and his cartoons frequently showed Clinton with mud from scandals on him.
There was one major flaw in this exhibit for viewers. Some cartoons were matted badly and had their titles covered, or had no titles on them. The June 28, 1990 cartoon of George H.W. Bush crossing a bridge labeled “no new taxes” makes little sense without its caption “Anyhow, it got us across.” Frequently the individual cartoon labels, while full of historical information, were no where near the piece they were describing.
Also on display were Block’s Pulitzer Prize from 1941, a Reuben Award from 1956 and his Presidential Medal of Freedom from 1994 as well as some of his art supplies. A kiosk in the corner had hundreds more cartoons on it. The exhibit had only forty cartoons in it, but they were well selected. The exhibit was of the artwork, not necessarily the content, and seeing the cartoons on a screen detracted from the ideal of the museum in this reviewer’s opinion. As a museum curator myself, I would have stuck the kiosk in the exhibit as well since one always feels that more information is better, but it was not really needed in the show. I believe it became technically possible this year as the Herblock Foundation is planning on issuing a book with an accompanying DVD of 16,000 cartoons for Block’s 100th birthday next year.
Herblock: Drawn from Memory was an accompanying program by Hart who moderated with Pulitzer prize-winning Washington Post reporter Haynes Johnson, Washington Post editorial writer Roger Wilkins and Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth. The three men mainly talked about Herblock’s mid-career at the Post, especially the Nixon and Johnson years. Block’s internationalist, and thus interventionalist, approach to foreign policy and the display of this in his cartoons was a particularly interesting part of the evening. Auth also made an extremely interesting observation. While Block was a good enough caricaturist to avoid labeling everyone, he still used labels on characters regularly. Auth said, “I was struck going through the exhibit here today – I always thought of cartoons as having kind of a half-life. They being to lose their power – and sometimes it’s a very long half-life and sometimes it’s eternal because it’s beyond the moment – but many cartoons have a relatively short half-life. I realized his use of labels extends that so that coming to a cartoon of his that was done forty years ago, you really can figure out what it’s about whereas a lot of cartoonists expend a lot of energy trying to get away from labels and they end up with cartoons that maybe a week, or two weeks later, you can’t figure out because you don’t know exactly what stimulated this drawing.” For those interested in the program, a recording of it can be found at http://www.archive.org/details/Herblock-drawnFromMemory
Overall Hart did an excellent job boiling down a massive amount of material to a coherent exhibit which, while not large, was well-done and informative.
Scrooged! Arnold Blumberg, Andy Herschberger, and John K. Snyder Jr. Baltimore, MD: Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, February 29-May 31, 2008. http://www.geppismuseum.com/
Thanks to the generosity of curator Arnold Blumberg, I saw this exhibit almost a month before it officially opened. All the artwork had been hung, but its final form was different with more labeling and information. Carl Barks was the focus of the exhibit – the title derives from Uncle Scrooge, Barks’ most enduring creation for Disney. The exhibit was rather diffuse, not focusing on any particular aspect of either Scrooge or Barks. It included the complete original artwork for the Scrooge story “North of the Yukon,” oil paintings of the Disney Ducks, oil paintings of landscapes from the 1960s, prints of “Famous Characters In Fictions As Waterfowl,” i.e. Robin Hood as a anthropometric duck, from when Disney was not permitting Barks to paint their ducks, pencil sketches of Disney work, and Another Rainbow objects such as a Faberge egg with Scrooge inside. All the items exhibited are apparently owned by museum founder and Diamond Distributors owner Steve Geppi.
Certainly displaying the entire original “North of the Yukon” artwork is justification enough for a small exhibit on Barks, and I enjoyed this show even though it did not really hold together. See Barks’ small landscapes which were obviously done for his own pleasure, scenes as so many cartoonists do in their retirement, was satisfying. Seeing him draw rather sexy dancing female ducks was odd, but interesting. Blumberg said to me, “I found it most fascinating looking at the paintings. There’s something really luminescent in the way the characters leap off the painting. It’s so much more than a casual viewer expects from a cartoonist.” Blumberg may be selling many cartoonists a bit short, but there is a peculiar fascination in seeing Donald Duck rendered using Old Master techniques, and the exhibit was worth visiting to see examples of Barks’ art beyond the pages of the comic book.
The museum’s current exhibit is “Out of the Box” – a playroom for the type of toys that will eventually make it into the Museum.
Heroes of the Negro League. Mark Chiarello, Michael Barry and Leslie Combemale. Reston, VA: ArtInsights, March 29-May 30, 2008. http://www.artinsights.com/
This exhibit is reviewed by virtue of Chiarello’s position as art editor for DC Comics. In 1990, Chiarello, in collaboration with his best friend Jack Morelli, created baseball cards for forgotten baseball players from the Negro Leagues, who had never had cards in America before. These paintings were watercolors over pencil that were based on photographs. The exhibit came about as the paintings were collected in a book, Heroes of the Negro Leagues (Abrams, 2007; $19.95, ISBN-10: 0810994348). Chiarello and Morelli did research at Cooperstown and the Schomburg Center in Harlem, and Chiarello painted the images from photographs and, surprisingly baseball cards – which had been issued in Cuba and Venezuela for some of the players.
Gallery co-owner Leslie Combemale interviewed Chiarello for a March 10th press release that is no longer on the gallery’s website. An exchange on Chiarello’s techniques is worthy of reprinting here:
LC- The Negro Leagues players portraits have a depth that goes beyond just (an image) How do you find the perfect picture to use?
MM- I can look through 200 or more pictures and only one is just right. With my portraits, I try to let the viewer know who that person is, just by looking in their eyes. I think the Cool Papa Bell is the most successful at that...it's why I chose it for the cover. I know the moment I find the right picture for reference, and I'll keep looking as long as it takes...
LC- Once you find that picture, how do you proceed from there?
MC- I pencil it out as tightly as I can. It’s my roadmap, so there's not much guesswork. After that I just try to get out of the way.
LC- I see your two styles of painting as so different from each other. One being the watercolor you used for the Negro League illustrations and the other the style you paint in oil, used for the Star Wars Celebration "Enlist Now" propaganda limited edition. I think of watercolors as unforgiving, hard to do, and hard to control.
MC- A lot of people say that and I disagree. Maybe it can't be controlled, but that's what's so great about it. After I pencil the image in, painting in watercolor is all about feel, control is beside the point. Your brain has to stay out of it and you have to stay out of the way of the paint. It becomes itself.
LC- What do you mean by that?
MC- For me it becomes about the emotional connection between the artist, the subject, and the wetness of the paint. The watercolor helps you-
LC- If you know what you're doing...
MC- Watercolor is in the moment. It flows into weird shapes and if you corral these shapes, they form the person's face. But you'll never see it if you have expectations or try to control the outcome too much from the beginning. With watercolor, once you have the roadmap a drawing creates, you've done most the work. After that you just have to enjoy the ride...Really my two styles are diametrically opposed. When I paint in oil it's very cerebral, I have to map the entire piece out from start to finish. It’s very precise work. Watercolor is all about flow.
Chiarello was also featured in the April issue of Juxtapose magazine for anyone who would like more details on this project; the paintings were technically excellent and appealing and the exhibit was worth seeing.
The gallery, which sells artwork (including the Negro League paintings) had other items of interest to IJOCA readers. There was an original story book artwork page from Snow White as well as an original movie cel with a background. Other cels from Lady and the Tramp, The Fox and the Hound, Aristocats, Fantasia and Peanuts lined the walls. Combemale told me that for fourteen years the focus of the gallery had been on animation, but recently they were widening their scope. "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color," their next exhibit, opens on July 12th.
Herblock’s Presidents: ‘Puncturing Pomposity’. Sidney Hart. Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery, May 2-November 30, 2008.
Herbert ‘Herblock’ Block died in 2001, but his images linger on in Washington, at least partly because his estate donated over 10,000 of his cartoons to the Library of Congress with the proviso that they be displayed regularly. Curator Sidney Hart, a historian by trade, undertook the current exhibition and did a very credible job. Hart made two key decisions to define the show – it would be on presidents and the cartoon had to be negative. Hoover was not included because he “didn’t fit the theme of our show.” The two decisions had three points backing them up – 1.) Herblock’s presidential cartoons were among his most powerful, 2.) a negative cartoon was a more constructive force and, 3.) the exhibit went into the Presidential Gallery space.
The show was arranged by president beginning with Roosevelt. Herblock’s line was visibly smoother and he used the texture of the paper for shading. On the gallery tour, Hart pointed out some of his favorite cartoons. In one on McArthur and Truman, Truman is on a treadmill that McArthur is pulling in a different direction. For Eisenhower, Herblock drew him in a boat, blowing on a paper sale, while not running the motor on the boat. Another Eisenhower cartoon featured Herblock’s hated foe, Senator McCarthy, who is shown mugging the State Department and the Army, while Eisenhower is told, “Relax – he hasn’t gotten to you yet.” Hart noted the curious omission of no Kennedy cartoon for the Bay of Pigs; the JFK cartoons were usually positive so it was harder to find ones for the exhibit. Herblock’s best cartoon of Lyndon Johnson, from January 6, 1967 read “That’s a little better, but couldn’t you do it in luminous paint.” It showed Johnson looking at a painting of himself and referred to his official White House portrait -- which showed a heroic Johnson, but since LBJ did not like it, it rests in the next gallery over in the Portrait Gallery. Herblock’s Nixon cartoons were among his most famous – the exhibit included ones of Vice President Spiro Agnew in a sewer and the Saturday Night Massacre when Justice Department investigators of the Watergate break-in were fired on Nixon’s orders.
The Ford cartoon that Hart focused on showed both the President and the economy going to hell in a hand basket. Reflecting Block’s fondness for Alice in Wonderland, Jimmy Carter was depicted as the Cheshire Cat. One of the Carter cartoons showed an amazing detail from Block’s working methods – the paste-up corrections were done on mailing labels! Reagan and Nixon got the most cartoons with five each. Reagan was the president that Block disliked the most and his cartoons showed it. Clinton disappointed Herblock and his cartoons frequently showed Clinton with mud from scandals on him.
There was one major flaw in this exhibit for viewers. Some cartoons were matted badly and had their titles covered, or had no titles on them. The June 28, 1990 cartoon of George H.W. Bush crossing a bridge labeled “no new taxes” makes little sense without its caption “Anyhow, it got us across.” Frequently the individual cartoon labels, while full of historical information, were no where near the piece they were describing.
Also on display were Block’s Pulitzer Prize from 1941, a Reuben Award from 1956 and his Presidential Medal of Freedom from 1994 as well as some of his art supplies. A kiosk in the corner had hundreds more cartoons on it. The exhibit had only forty cartoons in it, but they were well selected. The exhibit was of the artwork, not necessarily the content, and seeing the cartoons on a screen detracted from the ideal of the museum in this reviewer’s opinion. As a museum curator myself, I would have stuck the kiosk in the exhibit as well since one always feels that more information is better, but it was not really needed in the show. I believe it became technically possible this year as the Herblock Foundation is planning on issuing a book with an accompanying DVD of 16,000 cartoons for Block’s 100th birthday next year.
Herblock: Drawn from Memory was an accompanying program by Hart who moderated with Pulitzer prize-winning Washington Post reporter Haynes Johnson, Washington Post editorial writer Roger Wilkins and Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth. The three men mainly talked about Herblock’s mid-career at the Post, especially the Nixon and Johnson years. Block’s internationalist, and thus interventionalist, approach to foreign policy and the display of this in his cartoons was a particularly interesting part of the evening. Auth also made an extremely interesting observation. While Block was a good enough caricaturist to avoid labeling everyone, he still used labels on characters regularly. Auth said, “I was struck going through the exhibit here today – I always thought of cartoons as having kind of a half-life. They being to lose their power – and sometimes it’s a very long half-life and sometimes it’s eternal because it’s beyond the moment – but many cartoons have a relatively short half-life. I realized his use of labels extends that so that coming to a cartoon of his that was done forty years ago, you really can figure out what it’s about whereas a lot of cartoonists expend a lot of energy trying to get away from labels and they end up with cartoons that maybe a week, or two weeks later, you can’t figure out because you don’t know exactly what stimulated this drawing.” For those interested in the program, a recording of it can be found at http://www.archive.org/details/Herblock-drawnFromMemory
Overall Hart did an excellent job boiling down a massive amount of material to a coherent exhibit which, while not large, was well-done and informative.
July 12: "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color" at ArtInsights gallery in Reston
Co-owner Leslie Combemale posted on their website:
Also, we have Disney interpretive and 2006 official olympic poster artist Tim Rogerson coming to the opening weekend of his show "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color". Not sure honestly how many originals we'll be getting for the show as he just had a baby, but what we are getting is wonderful, and there'll be color concepts for his newest works which my clients get first dibs on, and the originals they are sending are really cool! He has a website of his Disney and non-Disney art, www.timrogerson.com. Let us know if you are interested in some of the art you see, and remember you can commission him when he's here!
The show starts on July 12th, and he'll be here 2-6 pm, along with Merrie Lasky, who has worked for Disney for many years and is now with Collectors Editions, who represents all Disney interpretive art. She will not only be helping out with orders for Tim, but will be onhand to explain the new Disney Fine Art Glass we just started carrying, that is gorgeous and very intricately designed and created.
Also, we have Disney interpretive and 2006 official olympic poster artist Tim Rogerson coming to the opening weekend of his show "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color". Not sure honestly how many originals we'll be getting for the show as he just had a baby, but what we are getting is wonderful, and there'll be color concepts for his newest works which my clients get first dibs on, and the originals they are sending are really cool! He has a website of his Disney and non-Disney art, www.timrogerson.com. Let us know if you are interested in some of the art you see, and remember you can commission him when he's here!
The show starts on July 12th, and he'll be here 2-6 pm, along with Merrie Lasky, who has worked for Disney for many years and is now with Collectors Editions, who represents all Disney interpretive art. She will not only be helping out with orders for Tim, but will be onhand to explain the new Disney Fine Art Glass we just started carrying, that is gorgeous and very intricately designed and created.
Hancock reviews in today's papers
Both the Post and the NY Times gave so-so reviews to it.
"Man of Bent Steel: 'Hancock' Runs Into a Kryptonite Plot Twist and Loses Its Superpowers," By Stephen Hunter, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, July 2, 2008; C01.
"Able to Leap Tall Buildings, Even if Hung Over," By MANOHLA DARGIS, New York Times July 2, 2008.
I'm going out on a limb here and guess the twist that's referred to in both reviews:
Hunter: ...and then the movie takes the strangest turn in quite possibly movie history, which I will not disclose. It's as if the screenwriters were working in their bungalow one day, stuck on a plot point, and one said to the other, "What if --" and the other said, "No way," and the first said, "Okay, genius, you come up with something better!" and genius never did.
Dargis: The extent of that complexity doesn’t emerge until the big reveal, which involves Ms. Theron’s character and is so surprising that I heard several grown men loudly gasp. (“No way!”)
My guess, without anything beyond those two sentences, is that Theron's character is actually a superhero, just one who does things right and keeps a secret identity secret. Feel free to write in and let me know if I got it.
"Man of Bent Steel: 'Hancock' Runs Into a Kryptonite Plot Twist and Loses Its Superpowers," By Stephen Hunter, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, July 2, 2008; C01.
"Able to Leap Tall Buildings, Even if Hung Over," By MANOHLA DARGIS, New York Times July 2, 2008.
I'm going out on a limb here and guess the twist that's referred to in both reviews:
Hunter: ...and then the movie takes the strangest turn in quite possibly movie history, which I will not disclose. It's as if the screenwriters were working in their bungalow one day, stuck on a plot point, and one said to the other, "What if --" and the other said, "No way," and the first said, "Okay, genius, you come up with something better!" and genius never did.
Dargis: The extent of that complexity doesn’t emerge until the big reveal, which involves Ms. Theron’s character and is so surprising that I heard several grown men loudly gasp. (“No way!”)
My guess, without anything beyond those two sentences, is that Theron's character is actually a superhero, just one who does things right and keeps a secret identity secret. Feel free to write in and let me know if I got it.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Kal is back, back, back in the USA
He reports on his trip on his blog at "Kal talks Cartoons in Azerbaijan" from June 29 2008.
Post likes local Lion King
See "The Circle Is Unbroken: 'Lion King' Still Roars," By Peter Marks, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, July 1, 2008; C01. Unfortunately for anyone who was waiting for a review, the story says it's sold out.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday's papers
The NY Times continues to be the paper of comic art, with at least four new articles:
"From Trash to Auction, Faster Than a Speeding ...Well, You Know," By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES, New York Times June 30, 2008 is on collecting original comic book art.
"In China, Jeers and Cheers for ‘Kung Fu Panda’," By DAVID BARBOZA, New York Times June 30, 2008.
"Free to Follow His Heart Right Back to 'Star Wars'," By DAVE ITZKOFF, New York Times June 29, 2008 on the coming Clone Wars cartoon movie.
"Google and Creator of 'Family Guy' Strike a Deal," By BROOKS BARNES, New York Times June 30, 2008.
and a local article, "DVD Review: 'Futurama: Beast With a Billion Backs'," by Rudi Greenberg, Express June 30 2008
"From Trash to Auction, Faster Than a Speeding ...Well, You Know," By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES, New York Times June 30, 2008 is on collecting original comic book art.
"In China, Jeers and Cheers for ‘Kung Fu Panda’," By DAVID BARBOZA, New York Times June 30, 2008.
"Free to Follow His Heart Right Back to 'Star Wars'," By DAVE ITZKOFF, New York Times June 29, 2008 on the coming Clone Wars cartoon movie.
"Google and Creator of 'Family Guy' Strike a Deal," By BROOKS BARNES, New York Times June 30, 2008.
and a local article, "DVD Review: 'Futurama: Beast With a Billion Backs'," by Rudi Greenberg, Express June 30 2008
Richmond comic book store profiled
See "Patrick Godfrey: We get 20 answers from the co-owner of Velocity Comics," by Ryan Brosmer, Richmond.com Monday, June 30, 2008.
SWANN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES AWARDS FOR 2008‑2009
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
June 30, 2008
Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
Public contact: Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115, mkenn@loc.gov
SWANN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES AWARDS FOR 2008‑2009
The Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, administered by the Library of Congress, announces the awarding of academic grants to five applicants for the 2008-2009 Swann Fellowship: Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire, Mazie Harris, Jared Richman, Christina Smylitopoulos and Veronica White.
Because of an unusually large number of strong applications, the foundation’s advisory board chose to support five applicants with smaller awards instead of selecting a single recipient of the fellowship.
Delamaire, a doctoral candidate in art history and archaeology at Columbia University, will receive an award of $3,000 to support her research on the influence of French academic painting traditions on the work of Thomas Nast, a predominant American political cartoonist in the second half of the 19th century. In her dissertation, titled “Transatlantic Encounters: Franco-American Exchanges in the Civil War and Reconstruction Era,” she will contend that Nast, who collected prints of paintings by such artists as Paul Delaroche and Jean Léon Gérôme, used pictorial and technical conventions that characterize these and other French artists’ work in his compositions.
Harris, a doctoral candidate in the history of art at Brown University, will receive $3,500 for research for her dissertation titled, “A Colorful Union: Patriotic Caricature and Characterization in Henry Louis Stephens’ Civil War Chromolithographs.” In her study of this underappreciated graphic artist, she will analyze the vacillation between caricature and characterization in Stephens’ two chromolithographic series, published in 1863, and clarify his struggle to portray race relations as a motivation for the Union cause.
Richman will receive $2,000 for research into political caricature as part of the visual culture that shaped popular attitudes toward America during the Romantic Era. He plans to study prints in the Library’s collection of British satires to illuminate the conceptual treatment of America during the period before, during and after the Revolutionary War. Analysis of this material will inform a key part of his dissertation titled “Transatlantic Realms: The Idea of America in the British Literary Imagination.” Richman is a doctoral candidate in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania.
Smylitopoulos, a doctoral candidate in art history and communication studies at McGill University, will receive $3,000 to support her research for her dissertation titled “A Nabob’s Progress: Graphic Satire, The Grand Master and British Excess, 1770-1830.” She intends to strengthen the broad art historical context for the figure of the nabob (a provincial governor in the Mogul empire in India, also often a person of great wealth or prominence) by conducting research in the Library’s outstanding holdings of British satires in the Prints and Photographs Division.
White, who will soon complete her doctorate in art history at Columbia University, will receive $2,000 to help underwrite work on postdoctoral research. Embarking on a new project titled, “Dangerous Domestics: Satirical Depiction of Wives in English Prints from 1745 to 1821,” she intends to identify and analyze the varied artistic treatments of married women during the Golden Age of British Satire through exploring the Library’s collection.
New York advertising executive Erwin Swann (1906‑1973) established the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon in 1967. An avid collector, Swann assembled a large group of original drawings by more than 500 artists, spanning two centuries, which his estate bequeathed to the Library of Congress in the 1970s. Swann’ s original purpose was to build a collection of original drawings by significant creators of humorous and satiric art and to encourage the study of original cartoon and caricature drawings as works of art.
# # #
PR08-122
6/30/08
ISSN: 0731-3527
June 30, 2008
Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
Public contact: Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115, mkenn@loc.gov
SWANN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES AWARDS FOR 2008‑2009
The Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, administered by the Library of Congress, announces the awarding of academic grants to five applicants for the 2008-2009 Swann Fellowship: Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire, Mazie Harris, Jared Richman, Christina Smylitopoulos and Veronica White.
Because of an unusually large number of strong applications, the foundation’s advisory board chose to support five applicants with smaller awards instead of selecting a single recipient of the fellowship.
Delamaire, a doctoral candidate in art history and archaeology at Columbia University, will receive an award of $3,000 to support her research on the influence of French academic painting traditions on the work of Thomas Nast, a predominant American political cartoonist in the second half of the 19th century. In her dissertation, titled “Transatlantic Encounters: Franco-American Exchanges in the Civil War and Reconstruction Era,” she will contend that Nast, who collected prints of paintings by such artists as Paul Delaroche and Jean Léon Gérôme, used pictorial and technical conventions that characterize these and other French artists’ work in his compositions.
Harris, a doctoral candidate in the history of art at Brown University, will receive $3,500 for research for her dissertation titled, “A Colorful Union: Patriotic Caricature and Characterization in Henry Louis Stephens’ Civil War Chromolithographs.” In her study of this underappreciated graphic artist, she will analyze the vacillation between caricature and characterization in Stephens’ two chromolithographic series, published in 1863, and clarify his struggle to portray race relations as a motivation for the Union cause.
Richman will receive $2,000 for research into political caricature as part of the visual culture that shaped popular attitudes toward America during the Romantic Era. He plans to study prints in the Library’s collection of British satires to illuminate the conceptual treatment of America during the period before, during and after the Revolutionary War. Analysis of this material will inform a key part of his dissertation titled “Transatlantic Realms: The Idea of America in the British Literary Imagination.” Richman is a doctoral candidate in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania.
Smylitopoulos, a doctoral candidate in art history and communication studies at McGill University, will receive $3,000 to support her research for her dissertation titled “A Nabob’s Progress: Graphic Satire, The Grand Master and British Excess, 1770-1830.” She intends to strengthen the broad art historical context for the figure of the nabob (a provincial governor in the Mogul empire in India, also often a person of great wealth or prominence) by conducting research in the Library’s outstanding holdings of British satires in the Prints and Photographs Division.
White, who will soon complete her doctorate in art history at Columbia University, will receive $2,000 to help underwrite work on postdoctoral research. Embarking on a new project titled, “Dangerous Domestics: Satirical Depiction of Wives in English Prints from 1745 to 1821,” she intends to identify and analyze the varied artistic treatments of married women during the Golden Age of British Satire through exploring the Library’s collection.
New York advertising executive Erwin Swann (1906‑1973) established the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon in 1967. An avid collector, Swann assembled a large group of original drawings by more than 500 artists, spanning two centuries, which his estate bequeathed to the Library of Congress in the 1970s. Swann’ s original purpose was to build a collection of original drawings by significant creators of humorous and satiric art and to encourage the study of original cartoon and caricature drawings as works of art.
# # #
PR08-122
6/30/08
ISSN: 0731-3527
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 07-02-08
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 07-02-08
By John Judy
(Good news! They’re all better than “Hancock!”)
ASTONISHING X-MEN #25 by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. If anyone can follow the imprisonment of Kitty Pryde in an asteroid-sized metal phallus it’s Warren “Internet Jesus” Ellis. Brace yourselves. Recommended.
ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #7 by Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard. Wolfie gets outed as a murderer! And he seemed like such a nice werewolf…
AVENGERS/INVADERS #3 of 12 by Alex Ross, Jim Kreuger and Steve Sadowski. Only nine more to go til it stops.
BATMAN #678 by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel. Bruce is having a bad day and only has three more issues to get it together. Or 17 if you want to count all those crossover issues of other series you don’t otherwise read. Yeah, me neither. Nice try, DC.
BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #1 written and drawn by Mike Kunkel. The creator of HEROBEAR takes the reins in this out-of-continuity tale of the original Captain Marvel, picking up where Jeff Smith left off at the end of “Monster Society of Evil.” Appropriate for all ages. Recommended.
BOYS #20 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. The true origins of the supers continue. Recommended. Not for the faint of gorge. Or kids. Ever.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #16 by Joss Whedon and Jo Chen. Buffy meets Fray and giant Dawn appears to be having giant cramps! Nuff said!
HELLBLAZER PRESENTS: CHAS - THE KNOWLEDGE #1 of 5 by Simon Oliver and Goran Sudzuka. Chas Chandler is a London cabbie and John Constantine’s oldest surviving friend. Can he use his knowledge of London’s streets and landmarks to defeat a Big Bad without the aid of his trench-coated pal? Gotta look.
HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN #1 of 3 by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben. Hellboy tries to save a man who sold his soul to a demon from West Virginia. Don’t laugh! That demon got the truck started real good!
NORTHLANDERS #7 by Brian Wood and Davide Gianfelice. It’s Go-Time for Sven the Viking as wicked Uncle Gorm decides to stop screwing around. Like “Hamlet” with less talk, more rock. Recommended.
PATSY WALKER: HELLCAT #1 of 5 by Kathryn Immonen and David Lafuente Garcia. The resurrected super-heroine has been tasked with defending Alaska from… whatever Alaska needs protecting from? Exxon-Mobil, maybe?
SQUADRON SUPREME 2 #1 written by someone who is not J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by someone who is not the guy who drew the cover. Okay, maybe they’re not all better than “Hancock.”
STEPHEN COLBERT’S TEK JANSEN #2 of 5 by People who are not Stephen Colbert. Why? Why? Why? (See above.)
TRINITY #5 by Kurt Busiek and Everyone. Okay, last issue was a big fight and a forgettable back-up story. Much as I like Busiek’s work elsewhere this is starting to smell like COUNTDOWN and it’s only issue five.
WALKING DEAD #50 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. Did Rick really kill himself? Will his son have to put him down for good? A stand-alone tale that no doubt will mess with whatever uneaten brains you have left. Recommended. NOT for kids.
www.johnjudy.net
By John Judy
(Good news! They’re all better than “Hancock!”)
ASTONISHING X-MEN #25 by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. If anyone can follow the imprisonment of Kitty Pryde in an asteroid-sized metal phallus it’s Warren “Internet Jesus” Ellis. Brace yourselves. Recommended.
ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #7 by Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard. Wolfie gets outed as a murderer! And he seemed like such a nice werewolf…
AVENGERS/INVADERS #3 of 12 by Alex Ross, Jim Kreuger and Steve Sadowski. Only nine more to go til it stops.
BATMAN #678 by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel. Bruce is having a bad day and only has three more issues to get it together. Or 17 if you want to count all those crossover issues of other series you don’t otherwise read. Yeah, me neither. Nice try, DC.
BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #1 written and drawn by Mike Kunkel. The creator of HEROBEAR takes the reins in this out-of-continuity tale of the original Captain Marvel, picking up where Jeff Smith left off at the end of “Monster Society of Evil.” Appropriate for all ages. Recommended.
BOYS #20 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. The true origins of the supers continue. Recommended. Not for the faint of gorge. Or kids. Ever.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #16 by Joss Whedon and Jo Chen. Buffy meets Fray and giant Dawn appears to be having giant cramps! Nuff said!
HELLBLAZER PRESENTS: CHAS - THE KNOWLEDGE #1 of 5 by Simon Oliver and Goran Sudzuka. Chas Chandler is a London cabbie and John Constantine’s oldest surviving friend. Can he use his knowledge of London’s streets and landmarks to defeat a Big Bad without the aid of his trench-coated pal? Gotta look.
HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN #1 of 3 by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben. Hellboy tries to save a man who sold his soul to a demon from West Virginia. Don’t laugh! That demon got the truck started real good!
NORTHLANDERS #7 by Brian Wood and Davide Gianfelice. It’s Go-Time for Sven the Viking as wicked Uncle Gorm decides to stop screwing around. Like “Hamlet” with less talk, more rock. Recommended.
PATSY WALKER: HELLCAT #1 of 5 by Kathryn Immonen and David Lafuente Garcia. The resurrected super-heroine has been tasked with defending Alaska from… whatever Alaska needs protecting from? Exxon-Mobil, maybe?
SQUADRON SUPREME 2 #1 written by someone who is not J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by someone who is not the guy who drew the cover. Okay, maybe they’re not all better than “Hancock.”
STEPHEN COLBERT’S TEK JANSEN #2 of 5 by People who are not Stephen Colbert. Why? Why? Why? (See above.)
TRINITY #5 by Kurt Busiek and Everyone. Okay, last issue was a big fight and a forgettable back-up story. Much as I like Busiek’s work elsewhere this is starting to smell like COUNTDOWN and it’s only issue five.
WALKING DEAD #50 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. Did Rick really kill himself? Will his son have to put him down for good? A stand-alone tale that no doubt will mess with whatever uneaten brains you have left. Recommended. NOT for kids.
www.johnjudy.net
Sunday, June 29, 2008
"What were they thinking?" department
Here's an American Express ad that's been running in the New York Times.
What are they trying to say here? "I own a comic book company so I can pay my Amex bill?" or "I collect comics, so I need an Amex card because they're expensive?"
What are they trying to say here? "I own a comic book company so I can pay my Amex bill?" or "I collect comics, so I need an Amex card because they're expensive?"
Sketches from Heroes Con
Chris Grine's Chickenhare sketch from Heroes Con.
Aaron Renier's Spiral-Bound sketch from Heroes Con.
Aaron Renier's King Arthur sketch from Heroes Con.
Claire loved her Soup-erman doll handmade by Maris Wicks.
Kevin Rechin's DC Lottery cartoons
I went to a Nationals game today (they lost in extra innings) and was the first to come up with pictures of Kevin Rechin's DC Lottery art that's used in ads in the subway. Here's some and the rest are on Flickr.
Hellboy manhole covers!
Last night in Chinatown, or whatever they're calling that neighborhood now, I saw manhole covers that had Hellboy crawling out of them! Cool! It's actually a photograph stuck onto the real sewer cover of course. Didn't get a snap, but if anyone does, send it along.
Post on theater's animation adaptations
"A Roaring Success and Its Effects on Broadway: 'Lion King' Changed Everything, and the Stampede Isn't Over," By Nelson Pressley, Washington Post Sunday, June 29, 2008; M03.
To be honest, when these adaptations started they seemed like a really, really dumb idea. Why try to bring something to an earthbound stage when you've got unlimited imagination in animation? Not having seen one yet, I'm still unsure. But comic strips have been adapted to the stage and screen since forever (or the 1890s) so why should animation be any different?
To be honest, when these adaptations started they seemed like a really, really dumb idea. Why try to bring something to an earthbound stage when you've got unlimited imagination in animation? Not having seen one yet, I'm still unsure. But comic strips have been adapted to the stage and screen since forever (or the 1890s) so why should animation be any different?
Olsson's slides into bankruptcy (fixed to add link)
"Olsson's Braces For Chapter 11 Filing," By Anita Huslin, Washington Post Staff Writer, Saturday, June 28, 2008; Page D01. I was very sorry to see this. I've bought a lot of books at Olsson's, saw some great cartoonists including Joann Sfar (did I record that? I'll check and upload it if so), and like it as a local chain.
Heroes Con hangover
Richard had a table next to Stuart and Kathryn Immonen so I talked to them briefly. Ms. Immomen had some copies of her Hellcat comics at the table and it sounded interesting. Here's an interview about the new miniseries: "Hell's Belle," Lowdown by Tony Ingram, June 26, 2008.
Post reviews Pixar book
"Incredibles, Inc.: The story of how computer programmers transformed the art of movie animation." by Rob Pegoraro, Washington Post Book World Sunday, June 29, 2008; Page BW08
The book is:
THE PIXAR TOUCH
The Making of a Company
By David A. Price
Knopf. 308 pp. $27.95
Politics and Prose had the author last weekend, and probably still has signed copies. Also they sell a cd recording of the talks. Since I was at Heroes Con I bought the cd .
The book is:
THE PIXAR TOUCH
The Making of a Company
By David A. Price
Knopf. 308 pp. $27.95
Politics and Prose had the author last weekend, and probably still has signed copies. Also they sell a cd recording of the talks. Since I was at Heroes Con I bought the cd .
Saturday, June 28, 2008
AAEC touches on Washington issues
"At AAEC Confab, Cartoonist and Columnist Debate the Fate of Wrong-on-Iraq Pundits," by Dave Astor, E and P Online June 26, 2008.
I hope Dave won't mind if I repost the Herblock memory from that story, which is about editorial writer David Ignatius who was totally rolled by the Bush White House on Iraq, as I want to make a point off of it:
One of his strongest early Post memories was meeting Herblock and being thrilled that he became one of the people the editorial cartoonist would show his sketches to.
But one day Herblock showed Ignatius a cartoon idea in which King Hussein of Jordan was depicted in a very nasty way. "That's a little rough," said Ignatius -- and Herblock never came to him with a sketch again.
Speaking more generally of editorial cartoonists, Ignatius said he and other columnists are a little jealous of them. "You guys get to be caustic, irreverent, and crusading. We're pundits and, if we're in Washington, we're Beltway insiders. We use layers and layers of words. We wish we could be as quick and clean."
Roger Wilkins, an editorial writer for the Post during Watergate, made the exact same point about an editor at the Post being jealous of Herblock.
Herblock was also mentioned by Harry Katz at another panel - "Animated Discussion of Animation at Cartoon Confab," By Dave Astor, E and P Online June 27, 2008.
Tony Auth mentioned doing this at the Herblock event linked to in an earlier post. Graham was the publisher of the Washington Post - "Editorial Cartoonists Hear LBJ and Kay (Graham) on Tape," By Dave Astor, E and P Online June 27, 2008.
I hope Dave won't mind if I repost the Herblock memory from that story, which is about editorial writer David Ignatius who was totally rolled by the Bush White House on Iraq, as I want to make a point off of it:
One of his strongest early Post memories was meeting Herblock and being thrilled that he became one of the people the editorial cartoonist would show his sketches to.
But one day Herblock showed Ignatius a cartoon idea in which King Hussein of Jordan was depicted in a very nasty way. "That's a little rough," said Ignatius -- and Herblock never came to him with a sketch again.
Speaking more generally of editorial cartoonists, Ignatius said he and other columnists are a little jealous of them. "You guys get to be caustic, irreverent, and crusading. We're pundits and, if we're in Washington, we're Beltway insiders. We use layers and layers of words. We wish we could be as quick and clean."
Roger Wilkins, an editorial writer for the Post during Watergate, made the exact same point about an editor at the Post being jealous of Herblock.
Herblock was also mentioned by Harry Katz at another panel - "Animated Discussion of Animation at Cartoon Confab," By Dave Astor, E and P Online June 27, 2008.
Tony Auth mentioned doing this at the Herblock event linked to in an earlier post. Graham was the publisher of the Washington Post - "Editorial Cartoonists Hear LBJ and Kay (Graham) on Tape," By Dave Astor, E and P Online June 27, 2008.
Friday's newspapers - Ed Arno, Wall-E and Wanted
In the local papers on Friday, one could find a lot of comics articles:
"Ed Arno, Cartoonist of New Yorker Whimsy, Is Dead at 92," By WILLIAM GRIMES, New York Times June 27, 2008 namechecks and quotes two bloggers, Michael Maslin and Mike Lynch. This is the first obituary I've seen that's taken information from blogs, I think.
Wall-E's all over the place:
"In a World Left Silent, One Heart Beeps," By A. O. SCOTT, New York Times June 27, 2008.
"From Pixar, A Droid Piece of Filmmaking," By John Anderson, Washington Post Friday, June 27, 2008; C01.
"'Wall•E's' world Strong visuals, comic brilliance can't save environmental fable," by Christian Toto, Washington Times Friday, June 27, 2008.
[this is longer than the print version...]
"Wall-E director Andrew Stanton," Interviewed by Tasha Robinson, Onion June 26th, 2008.
Millar and Jones' Wanted, based a comic that I hadn't read, was widely reviewed:
"'Wanted': This Angelina Jolie Is Not One for the Kiddies," By Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Friday, June 27, 2008; C01.
"You Talkin' to Me, Boys? (Bang-Bang, My Pretties)," By MANOHLA DARGIS, New York Times June 27, 2008.
"Wanting more: A brotherhood of assassins fails to discover any deeper meaning," by Sonny Bunch, Washington Times Friday, June 27, 2008.
...a new tv cartoon - 'Three Delivery' - that I'll probably never see -
"With 3 You Get Egg Roll and a Side of Adventure," By MIKE HALE, New York Times June 27, 2008
...an animation voice was interviewed - the online version is much, much longer than the July 26th print one...
"Random Roles: Billy West," by David Wolinsky, June 18th, 2008.
Finally, it's online only this month, but the Onion also reviewed comic books...
"Comics Panel: June 27, 2008," Reviewed by Noel Murray, Keith Phipps, Tasha Robinson, Onion June 27th, 2008,
...and published this guide to Pixar...
"Primer: Pixar,"
by Donna Bowman, Noel Murray, Onion June 27th, 2008.
Whew! No wonder I'm two days late with this.
"Ed Arno, Cartoonist of New Yorker Whimsy, Is Dead at 92," By WILLIAM GRIMES, New York Times June 27, 2008 namechecks and quotes two bloggers, Michael Maslin and Mike Lynch. This is the first obituary I've seen that's taken information from blogs, I think.
Wall-E's all over the place:
"In a World Left Silent, One Heart Beeps," By A. O. SCOTT, New York Times June 27, 2008.
"From Pixar, A Droid Piece of Filmmaking," By John Anderson, Washington Post Friday, June 27, 2008; C01.
"'Wall•E's' world Strong visuals, comic brilliance can't save environmental fable," by Christian Toto, Washington Times Friday, June 27, 2008.
[this is longer than the print version...]
"Wall-E director Andrew Stanton," Interviewed by Tasha Robinson, Onion June 26th, 2008.
Millar and Jones' Wanted, based a comic that I hadn't read, was widely reviewed:
"'Wanted': This Angelina Jolie Is Not One for the Kiddies," By Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Friday, June 27, 2008; C01.
"You Talkin' to Me, Boys? (Bang-Bang, My Pretties)," By MANOHLA DARGIS, New York Times June 27, 2008.
"Wanting more: A brotherhood of assassins fails to discover any deeper meaning," by Sonny Bunch, Washington Times Friday, June 27, 2008.
...a new tv cartoon - 'Three Delivery' - that I'll probably never see -
"With 3 You Get Egg Roll and a Side of Adventure," By MIKE HALE, New York Times June 27, 2008
...an animation voice was interviewed - the online version is much, much longer than the July 26th print one...
"Random Roles: Billy West," by David Wolinsky, June 18th, 2008.
Finally, it's online only this month, but the Onion also reviewed comic books...
"Comics Panel: June 27, 2008," Reviewed by Noel Murray, Keith Phipps, Tasha Robinson, Onion June 27th, 2008,
...and published this guide to Pixar...
"Primer: Pixar,"
by Donna Bowman, Noel Murray, Onion June 27th, 2008.
Whew! No wonder I'm two days late with this.
Herblock, Drawn from Memory panel recording
I caught the National Portrait Gallery's excellent panel on Herblock last night. Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, here's a link to download it. The NPG's description of the event read: The political cartoons of Herbert Lawrence Block (1909-2001), known by the pen name "Herblock," appeared in American newspapers for more than seventy years. National Portrait Gallery senior historian Sid Hart, Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Haynes Johnson, historian Roger Wilkins together with Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth, will join in a conversation about the life and work of one of the nation's greatest political cartoonists, Herblock.
More commentary to follow after I visit Afghanistan (at the National Gallery of Art) and Bhutan (Smithsonian Folklife Festival). Also Bruce Guthrie took photographs which I'll track down
More commentary to follow after I visit Afghanistan (at the National Gallery of Art) and Bhutan (Smithsonian Folklife Festival). Also Bruce Guthrie took photographs which I'll track down
Friday, June 27, 2008
July 25: Anime showing in DC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Chris Wanamaker, (202) 262 2083 president@dcanimeclub.org
DC Anime Club and Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan
Present:Shinobi: Heart under blade
The DC Anime Club and the Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC), Embassy of Japan Present the Shinobi : Heart under blade on Friday July 25 ,2008 at 6:30pm as part of the Anime Summer Series. A live-action ninja movie featuring two rising stars of Japanese cinema- Joe Odagiri and Yukie Nakama. Shinobi is about two rival ninja clans, the Koga and the Iga, who have honed their skills to super human levels. The screening will be held at the Japanese Information and Culture Center, Embasy of Japan located at Lafayette Center III 1155 21st Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-3308. Seating for the screening of Shinobi is limited and attendees are encouraged to rsvp by sending an e-mail to jiccrsvpspring08@embjapan.org.
This program is free and open to the public. For more information please visit the Japanese Information and Culture Center website at http://www.us.embjapan.go.jp/jicc/ or visit the DC Anime Club website
at http://dcanimeclub.org.
About DC Anime Club:
DCAC was established in 2003 to introduce and educate people in the Washington,DC area about East Asian culture, through viewing and discussion of Japanese animation (also known as anime) and Japanese comics (manga). DCAC is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization, contributions to DC Anime Club are taxed deductible to the extent allowable under the law.
The club also works to provide a positive, alternative activity to the youth in the area by exposing them to foreign culture, encouraging artistic expression and creativity, and providing opportunities for participation in community activities and leadership.
In addition to our weekly meetings, the club holds an Annual Art Show, an Annual Costume fundraising event, and visits local schools to do presentations on anime. The club also works with the Smithsonian Freer Gallery and DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival on their anime screenings, and has helped locally promote performances for Japanese bands such as Puffy Ami Yumi and Pine am. DC Anime Club was founded by Chris Wanamaker (President), Jules Chang (Vice President) and Craig Vaughn (Sgt in ARMS) on Saturday June 5, 2003. We have a strong membership that continues to grow -- most of which are teenagers.
About Japan Information and Culture Center:
The Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC) is the cultural and public affairs section of the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. Our primary role is to promote better understanding of Japan and Japanese culture by providing a wide range of
information, educational services and programs to the public. The JICC is located on the lower level of the glass-enclosed Galleria at Lafayette Centre III in downtown Washington, D.C. Its facilities include a research library, a 152-seat auditorium, and a 1,500-square-foot exhibition gallery where a wide variety of events sponsored by the JICC are hosted throughout the year.
CONTACT: Chris Wanamaker, (202) 262 2083 president@dcanimeclub.org
DC Anime Club and Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan
Present:Shinobi: Heart under blade
The DC Anime Club and the Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC), Embassy of Japan Present the Shinobi : Heart under blade on Friday July 25 ,2008 at 6:30pm as part of the Anime Summer Series. A live-action ninja movie featuring two rising stars of Japanese cinema- Joe Odagiri and Yukie Nakama. Shinobi is about two rival ninja clans, the Koga and the Iga, who have honed their skills to super human levels. The screening will be held at the Japanese Information and Culture Center, Embasy of Japan located at Lafayette Center III 1155 21st Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-3308. Seating for the screening of Shinobi is limited and attendees are encouraged to rsvp by sending an e-mail to jiccrsvpspring08@embjapan.org.
This program is free and open to the public. For more information please visit the Japanese Information and Culture Center website at http://www.us.embjapan.go.jp/jicc/ or visit the DC Anime Club website
at http://dcanimeclub.org.
About DC Anime Club:
DCAC was established in 2003 to introduce and educate people in the Washington,DC area about East Asian culture, through viewing and discussion of Japanese animation (also known as anime) and Japanese comics (manga). DCAC is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization, contributions to DC Anime Club are taxed deductible to the extent allowable under the law.
The club also works to provide a positive, alternative activity to the youth in the area by exposing them to foreign culture, encouraging artistic expression and creativity, and providing opportunities for participation in community activities and leadership.
In addition to our weekly meetings, the club holds an Annual Art Show, an Annual Costume fundraising event, and visits local schools to do presentations on anime. The club also works with the Smithsonian Freer Gallery and DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival on their anime screenings, and has helped locally promote performances for Japanese bands such as Puffy Ami Yumi and Pine am. DC Anime Club was founded by Chris Wanamaker (President), Jules Chang (Vice President) and Craig Vaughn (Sgt in ARMS) on Saturday June 5, 2003. We have a strong membership that continues to grow -- most of which are teenagers.
About Japan Information and Culture Center:
The Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC) is the cultural and public affairs section of the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. Our primary role is to promote better understanding of Japan and Japanese culture by providing a wide range of
information, educational services and programs to the public. The JICC is located on the lower level of the glass-enclosed Galleria at Lafayette Centre III in downtown Washington, D.C. Its facilities include a research library, a 152-seat auditorium, and a 1,500-square-foot exhibition gallery where a wide variety of events sponsored by the JICC are hosted throughout the year.
Comic Creators at Shore Leave Sci-Fi Con in B-More
Baltimore hosts the July 11-13, 2008 Shore Leave Sci-Fi Convention at the Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn. While I've never attended myself, they bring in comics and comics-related guests every year.
This year's media guests have all played characters represented in comics: David Hewlett (Stargate: Atlantis & Stargate: SG-1's Dr. Rodney McKay), George Takei (Star Trek's Lt. Hikaru Sulu, Heroes' Kaito Nakamura), Malcolm McDowell (Star Trek: Generations' Dr. Soran, Heroes' Mr. Linderman), Jewel Staite (Firefly's Kaylee Frye, Stargate: Atlantis's Dr. Jennifer Keller), Kate Hewlett (Stargate: Atlantis' Jeanie Miller), Mark Sheppard (Battlestar Galactica's Romo Lampkin, Bionic Woman's Anthony Anthos, Firefly's Badger, 24's Ivan Erwich), and W. Morgan Sheppard (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country's Klingon Commander, Babylon 5's Soul Hunter, Transformers' Captain Witwicky).
Their writer guest list is pretty long and broad, and includes a number of noteworthy names who have created comics work as well as sci-fi stories and novels, including: T.A. Chafin, Greg Cox, Peter David, Keith DeCandido, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Jeffrey Lang, Polly Luttrull, David Mack (no, not the Kabuki one, the other one), Marco Palmieri, and Howard Weinstein.
Some of the other guests may also be part of the industry and I just don't know -- see the full list for more details!
This year's media guests have all played characters represented in comics: David Hewlett (Stargate: Atlantis & Stargate: SG-1's Dr. Rodney McKay), George Takei (Star Trek's Lt. Hikaru Sulu, Heroes' Kaito Nakamura), Malcolm McDowell (Star Trek: Generations' Dr. Soran, Heroes' Mr. Linderman), Jewel Staite (Firefly's Kaylee Frye, Stargate: Atlantis's Dr. Jennifer Keller), Kate Hewlett (Stargate: Atlantis' Jeanie Miller), Mark Sheppard (Battlestar Galactica's Romo Lampkin, Bionic Woman's Anthony Anthos, Firefly's Badger, 24's Ivan Erwich), and W. Morgan Sheppard (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country's Klingon Commander, Babylon 5's Soul Hunter, Transformers' Captain Witwicky).
Their writer guest list is pretty long and broad, and includes a number of noteworthy names who have created comics work as well as sci-fi stories and novels, including: T.A. Chafin, Greg Cox, Peter David, Keith DeCandido, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Jeffrey Lang, Polly Luttrull, David Mack (no, not the Kabuki one, the other one), Marco Palmieri, and Howard Weinstein.
Some of the other guests may also be part of the industry and I just don't know -- see the full list for more details!
Clifford Berryman exhibit press preview remarks
Here's another audio file. I found this again as I wrote my review for the International Journal of Comic Art, so I figured I'd make it available. It features the Archivist of the United States Howard Weinstein and the curators of the exhibit when the exhibit was previewed for the press.
Press preview remarks to the Clifford Berryman exhibit, "Running for Office: Candidates, Campaigns, and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman" at the National Archives, Washington, DC from February 8 - August 17th, 2008.
Press preview remarks to the Clifford Berryman exhibit, "Running for Office: Candidates, Campaigns, and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman" at the National Archives, Washington, DC from February 8 - August 17th, 2008.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Chris Oarr, former Silver Spring resident, on ADV Manga
Chris used to live just outside of DC in Silver Spring, frequented Big Planet Comics and organized SPX. And he left the area to run the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Here's a story about what he's up to now - "ADV Manga Is Still in the Picture," By Brigid Alverson -- Publishers Weekly, 6/23/2008.
Heroes Con Feldstein (and Friends) panel recording online
Al Feldstein and Ben Towle
I've uploaded Craig Fischer and Ben Towle's panel to the Internet Archive as an mp3. Click on the link to download it.
NOT THE USUAL GANG OF IDIOTS: EC COMICS PANEL
Part 2: A Chat With Al Feldstein (and Friends)
Ben Towle and Craig Fischer host an in-depth interview with Al Feldstein, EC artist and writer and MAD MAGAZINE editor extraordinaire! Along for the ride is a pair of celebrity funsters - FRED THE CLOWN and FIN FANG FOUR cartoonist Roger Langridge and CUL DE SAC comic stripper Richard Thompson - ready to roast and grill Feldstein about The Lighter Side of Editing America's #1 Humor Magazine!
Craig Fischer, Richard Thompson, Roger Langridge, Al Feldstein.
Comics in the Fairfax County Public Library system
I'm probably going to miss some of the entries they put in here, but I was flipping through the Fairfax County Public Library catalog of free events and other news tonight and noticed that a good number of branches have comics-oriented events. In the "For Teens" blurb, a bullet reads "Find your inner artist -- create comics with graphic artist Matt Dembicki". Matt's featured at quite a few branches actually. Take a look!
Burke Center:
Teens - Monday, July 21, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Centreville Regional:
School Age - Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2:30 - Artful Doodles! A graphic artist presents drawing basics in this hands-on program. Age 6-12.
Teens - Thursday, July 17, 1:00 - Anime Afternoon. Anime and refreshments. Call for movie title. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Centreville Regional Library. Age 12-18.
Wednesday, July 30, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Chantilly Regional:
Teens - Monday, June 7, 7:00/Monday, July 7, 7:00/Monday, Aug. 4, 7:00 - Monday Night Manga. Discuss your favorite manga and anime titles with other teens. Age 12-18.
Monday, July 14, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
City of Fairfax Regional:
Teens - Wednesday, July 9, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
George Mason Regional:
Teens - Monday, June 23, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
John Marshall:
Teens - Wednesday, Aug. 6, 6:00 - Anime Night. Come watch anime moview and discuss your favorites. Age 13-18.
Kings Park:
School Age - Thursday, June 26, 10:30 - Artful Doodles! A graphic artist presents drawing basics in this hands-on program. Age 6-12.
Kingstowne:
School Age - Wednesday, July 16, 10:30 - Artful Doodles! A graphic artist presents drawing basics in this hands-on program. Age 6-12.
Teens - Saturday, July 19, 2:30 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Lorton:
Teens - Tuesday, July 15, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Martha Washington:
Teens - Monday, July 7, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Patrick Henry:
Teens - Saturdays, June 7 & 21, 11:00/Saturdays, July 5 & 19, 11:00/Saturdays, Aug. 2, 16, & 30, 11:00 - Manga Club. Manga, Anime and refreshments. Age 12-18.
Adults - Thursday, June 5, 7:00 - Manga and Japanese Pop Culture. Confused about manga? Why are these Japanese comics so popular in the U.S.? Charles Nguyen will present a rough guide to this literary medium and its import to the American market.
It is worth noting that there are a ton of other interesting programs available. Additionally, in the Teen Summer Reading List, under Fiction, are The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (though I suspect this is the prose and not the comics/TPB), The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci, and American Born Chinese by Gene Yang, and in Non-Fiction, Flight, Volume Four by kazu Kibuishi and Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi.
Burke Center:
Teens - Monday, July 21, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Centreville Regional:
School Age - Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2:30 - Artful Doodles! A graphic artist presents drawing basics in this hands-on program. Age 6-12.
Teens - Thursday, July 17, 1:00 - Anime Afternoon. Anime and refreshments. Call for movie title. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Centreville Regional Library. Age 12-18.
Wednesday, July 30, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Chantilly Regional:
Teens - Monday, June 7, 7:00/Monday, July 7, 7:00/Monday, Aug. 4, 7:00 - Monday Night Manga. Discuss your favorite manga and anime titles with other teens. Age 12-18.
Monday, July 14, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
City of Fairfax Regional:
Teens - Wednesday, July 9, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
George Mason Regional:
Teens - Monday, June 23, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
John Marshall:
Teens - Wednesday, Aug. 6, 6:00 - Anime Night. Come watch anime moview and discuss your favorites. Age 13-18.
Kings Park:
School Age - Thursday, June 26, 10:30 - Artful Doodles! A graphic artist presents drawing basics in this hands-on program. Age 6-12.
Kingstowne:
School Age - Wednesday, July 16, 10:30 - Artful Doodles! A graphic artist presents drawing basics in this hands-on program. Age 6-12.
Teens - Saturday, July 19, 2:30 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Lorton:
Teens - Tuesday, July 15, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Martha Washington:
Teens - Monday, July 7, 7:00 - Comics Around the World. See comics from around the world and create your own with graphic artist and author Matt Dembicki. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Kings Park Library. Age 12-18.
Patrick Henry:
Teens - Saturdays, June 7 & 21, 11:00/Saturdays, July 5 & 19, 11:00/Saturdays, Aug. 2, 16, & 30, 11:00 - Manga Club. Manga, Anime and refreshments. Age 12-18.
Adults - Thursday, June 5, 7:00 - Manga and Japanese Pop Culture. Confused about manga? Why are these Japanese comics so popular in the U.S.? Charles Nguyen will present a rough guide to this literary medium and its import to the American market.
It is worth noting that there are a ton of other interesting programs available. Additionally, in the Teen Summer Reading List, under Fiction, are The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (though I suspect this is the prose and not the comics/TPB), The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci, and American Born Chinese by Gene Yang, and in Non-Fiction, Flight, Volume Four by kazu Kibuishi and Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi.
Today's newspapers roundup
Cartoon Network's Dethklok animation series - "As Seen on TV: Dethklok" by Glenn Dixon, Express June 26, 2008
Wall-E review - "Droid to the World," by Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper June 26, 2008.
Zadzooks on the Hulk - "ZADZOOKS: Hulk, foe take rivalry to stores," by Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, June 26, 2008.
Wall-E review - "Droid to the World," by Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper June 26, 2008.
Zadzooks on the Hulk - "ZADZOOKS: Hulk, foe take rivalry to stores," by Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, June 26, 2008.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
New York Times on Disney.com
"In Overhaul, Disney.com Seeks a Path to More Fun," By BROOKS BARNES, New York Times June 25, 2008.
The Walt Disney Company, concerned that its main Web site is too corporate and not fun enough, is moving once again to overhaul Disney.com.
Barnes is rapidly becoming one of my favorite animation writers.
The Walt Disney Company, concerned that its main Web site is too corporate and not fun enough, is moving once again to overhaul Disney.com.
Barnes is rapidly becoming one of my favorite animation writers.
Jim Dougan in new anthology
I still haven't met local cartoonist Jim Dougan, but Joel Pollack of Big Planet Comics told me today that his work will be appearing in No Formula: Stories from The Chemistry Set vol. 1, (Desperado) and you can order it from the June Previews using Jun083849 as your code. So I ordered it. My buddy Dean Haspiel appears to be in it as well.
Ullman and Hellman
Rob Ullman did this cover to the Washington City Paper's June 20th edition. I saw Rob at Heroes Con and bought another three pieces of original art from him.
and Danny Hellman, who's illustrating a column in the Post's Source section on Sunday has a podcast interview by Robin McConnell at Inkstuds (June 19 2008).
Mark Wheatley interview online today
See "Interview: Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell on 'EZ Street'," by Rick Marshall, Wed Jun 25, 2008 for information on the Maryland cartoonist's latest work, the webcomic EZ Street.
Rory Root's memorial - guest column part 2
Here's Miron's remarks from the memorial:
Rory was the kind of knowledgeable reader who'd pick up a coverless comic and say, 'Atlas, I knew them well.'
He was a marvel who supported many of the industry's dark horses. His interests, as many speakers will attest, ran the spectrum from AC to DC, Archie to Zap, Little Lulu to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. For a celibate guy, he sure enjoyed a lot of sects.
I've known Rory for about 25 years. We first met as employees of Bob Beerbohm's 'Best of Two Worlds' comicbook shop, on Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, California. He understood the value and need of selling anything and everything. If there were a rainbow flag made from four colors Rory, a real life comic book guy, might have inspired it.
Some will say, 'He never grew up.'
I will say, 'Rory brought his childhood sweetheart forward through life and time. He bravely married his fortunes to the art that dared not speak it's name at a time when society shunned comicbook love. To the surprise of professional critics and cynical skeptics, they survived and prospered.
It was a good, independent life for them both. Like many happy couples they watched their children, named the Store and the Industry, grow, mature and have many successful children of their own. Tonight I see Rory, a loveable racantour, posed imitating a Grant Wood painting: He is Outstanding in his field.
Thank you Rory.
In realizing his dream he provided serious comic relief many.
Friends forever, pals for life.
Yours,
Miron Murcury
Rory was the kind of knowledgeable reader who'd pick up a coverless comic and say, 'Atlas, I knew them well.'
He was a marvel who supported many of the industry's dark horses. His interests, as many speakers will attest, ran the spectrum from AC to DC, Archie to Zap, Little Lulu to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. For a celibate guy, he sure enjoyed a lot of sects.
I've known Rory for about 25 years. We first met as employees of Bob Beerbohm's 'Best of Two Worlds' comicbook shop, on Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, California. He understood the value and need of selling anything and everything. If there were a rainbow flag made from four colors Rory, a real life comic book guy, might have inspired it.
Some will say, 'He never grew up.'
I will say, 'Rory brought his childhood sweetheart forward through life and time. He bravely married his fortunes to the art that dared not speak it's name at a time when society shunned comicbook love. To the surprise of professional critics and cynical skeptics, they survived and prospered.
It was a good, independent life for them both. Like many happy couples they watched their children, named the Store and the Industry, grow, mature and have many successful children of their own. Tonight I see Rory, a loveable racantour, posed imitating a Grant Wood painting: He is Outstanding in his field.
Thank you Rory.
In realizing his dream he provided serious comic relief many.
Friends forever, pals for life.
Yours,
Miron Murcury
Rory Root's memorial - guest column
Our California correspondent Miron Mercury sent this in tonight:
June 21 the first day of summer was as hot as a barb on Q and the longest day in memory. My birthday and Rory Root's memorial shared the same heat drenched day.
Comic Relief, the famous Berkeley, California comicbook shop that Rory and Mike Patchen opened in April 1987, hosted the memorial party.
Hundreds of geeks and freaks, punks and hippies, parents with their children and children who found a home in the warm embrace of a comics store came to pay homage to a fallen brother.
The crowd littered the sidewalk like scree spilled from a mountain hidden in the store. The store floor was packed, resembling a crowded George Perez superhero poster. In attendance were heroes and heroines from many companies, countries and decades.
Ron Turner, still looking like himself, Joe Field, a founder of WonderCon, owner of Flying Colors, creator of Free Comics Day, and representatives of the Berkeley Downtown improvement
Everyone toasted Rory with stories and remembrances. Some people, actually lots of friends, toasted Rory with glasses drank in his memory. Salute. La Chaim. We drink to life.
The event felt like a warm fuzzy Viking's funeral. I do suspect that if Rory were there he'd want a pyre.
Mark and Molly Bode were there. Things are good for them. You know about the (not so) recent cartoon movie deal. Also, he's been working with Puma, the sneaker manufacturer. There's some kind of Bode Lizard 'Hoodie' that's going to be made. The future bodes well ... for us all.
More then a two dozen people spoke on Rory's behalf.
Bob Wayne, representing DC comics, spoke highly of Rory's devotion to comics. He reminded the attentive audience that Rory was always, 'Asking, cajoling and bothering me to get DC to publish graphic novels and keep them in print. He was never slow to pay a compliment and just as quick to call me up over an error our company was making.'
The lovely Sequential Tart reminded every one of Rory's quick and immediate support. She was, like many speakers, grateful to Rory.
My short piece felt twice to long when in front of a watching crowd.
Some speeches went on for hours! Were those people part Ent?
??? Hey??? What's this white cylindrical object in my pocket in an Altoids tin? Ahh, it's labeled ''Rory Root Rocket.'' It must be a memorial thing.
Picture a small group of astro nuts walking two baby blocks to the alley behind the original Comic Relief store. Once in the alley one large rotund guy in a Green Lantern shirt says to a short underground gent wearing a Jack Kirby Silver Surfer, 'Hey, you have a Larry Todd Proto Pipe! :) Well, let me fill that up.'
Then a guy came running into the alley pulling at his shirt buttons. He saw the crowd and exclaimed, 'Sheesh, there's never an empty ally any more!' He seem to be wearing a strange red undershirt with a huge S on it.
The Rory rocket was ignited without NASA's guidance. It sent everyone to the moon.
The memorial was a happy couple of hours. It provided an opportunity for old and new friends to renew their connections and remember rewarding decades now past. The smiles on everyone's face said, I'm glad I knew Rory. Our spirit was boosted by the warmth of friends, pals and comics countrymen.
Yours,
Alee O'Saurous
June 21 the first day of summer was as hot as a barb on Q and the longest day in memory. My birthday and Rory Root's memorial shared the same heat drenched day.
Comic Relief, the famous Berkeley, California comicbook shop that Rory and Mike Patchen opened in April 1987, hosted the memorial party.
Hundreds of geeks and freaks, punks and hippies, parents with their children and children who found a home in the warm embrace of a comics store came to pay homage to a fallen brother.
The crowd littered the sidewalk like scree spilled from a mountain hidden in the store. The store floor was packed, resembling a crowded George Perez superhero poster. In attendance were heroes and heroines from many companies, countries and decades.
Ron Turner, still looking like himself, Joe Field, a founder of WonderCon, owner of Flying Colors, creator of Free Comics Day, and representatives of the Berkeley Downtown improvement
Everyone toasted Rory with stories and remembrances. Some people, actually lots of friends, toasted Rory with glasses drank in his memory. Salute. La Chaim. We drink to life.
The event felt like a warm fuzzy Viking's funeral. I do suspect that if Rory were there he'd want a pyre.
Mark and Molly Bode were there. Things are good for them. You know about the (not so) recent cartoon movie deal. Also, he's been working with Puma, the sneaker manufacturer. There's some kind of Bode Lizard 'Hoodie' that's going to be made. The future bodes well ... for us all.
More then a two dozen people spoke on Rory's behalf.
Bob Wayne, representing DC comics, spoke highly of Rory's devotion to comics. He reminded the attentive audience that Rory was always, 'Asking, cajoling and bothering me to get DC to publish graphic novels and keep them in print. He was never slow to pay a compliment and just as quick to call me up over an error our company was making.'
The lovely Sequential Tart reminded every one of Rory's quick and immediate support. She was, like many speakers, grateful to Rory.
My short piece felt twice to long when in front of a watching crowd.
Some speeches went on for hours! Were those people part Ent?
??? Hey??? What's this white cylindrical object in my pocket in an Altoids tin? Ahh, it's labeled ''Rory Root Rocket.'' It must be a memorial thing.
Picture a small group of astro nuts walking two baby blocks to the alley behind the original Comic Relief store. Once in the alley one large rotund guy in a Green Lantern shirt says to a short underground gent wearing a Jack Kirby Silver Surfer, 'Hey, you have a Larry Todd Proto Pipe! :) Well, let me fill that up.'
Then a guy came running into the alley pulling at his shirt buttons. He saw the crowd and exclaimed, 'Sheesh, there's never an empty ally any more!' He seem to be wearing a strange red undershirt with a huge S on it.
The Rory rocket was ignited without NASA's guidance. It sent everyone to the moon.
The memorial was a happy couple of hours. It provided an opportunity for old and new friends to renew their connections and remember rewarding decades now past. The smiles on everyone's face said, I'm glad I knew Rory. Our spirit was boosted by the warmth of friends, pals and comics countrymen.
Yours,
Alee O'Saurous
Matt Dembicki interview about new anthology
Dirk at Journalista pointed out that Arlington's Matt Dembicki's got an interview onlne about his new anthology - see "Trickster' - a Native anthology of tales in graphic novel form," by: Robert Schmidt, Pechanga.net June 25, 2008.
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