Dec 4: Illustrator exhibit opens in Rockville

Casey Shaw of USA Weekend reminded me that this exhibit is opening:

-VisArts at Rockville Exhibition: "TURNING THE PAGE: the fine art behind illustrations" and "THE ART OF THE BOOK" ­ December 4, 2008-February 21, 2009

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, December 4, 6:30-8:30pm
115 Gibbs Street #300
Rockville, Maryland 20850
http://www.visartscenter.org/exhibitions.html

I'm not sure if the opening is open to the public, so check first. This is a really nice space and I'm sure the exhibit will be good.

ComicsDC logo - 2nd shot

Ok, here's the second attempt.



The photo is one from the 1890s from the National Museum of Health & Medicine - see their flickr site for the full-size image which shows the unpaved road out front of the Capitol.

Bash #5 is out; website has new comic calendar

Jonathan Hampton, Managing Editor of BASH Magazine wrote in today to say, "I'm writing to let you know that BASH #5 is out and about in the D.C. area. Likewise, our BASH Comic Calendar for December has been posted. The calendar is our online distribution mechanism for our print comics and web-only features. We're at work getting additional content for the calendar. Enjoy!"

I'll be scoring my copy tomorrow as well as the ones I pick up for comics libraries around the country.

Ot: John Kovaleski in Gettysburg

Got this email a few minutes ago, as I'd bought his book and minis at SPX:

Christmas is coming (perhaps you've heard - it's in all the papers) and that means
shopping shopping shopping. So, with that in mind, I'm doing a booking signing at Gallery 30 (30 York St, Gettysburg PA) on Friday, December 5, 5:30-8:00. I'll be signing my new book APPEELING: The Best of Bo Nanas and my not-so-new book Bo Nanas: Monkey Meets World.

At the same time, in the same place, my wife, Jocelyn Swigger, will be having a release shindig for her new CD, "Piano Recital."

I know it's pretty unlikely that you'll all be in southern central Pennsylvania this Friday. So if you feel the need to gift-up, you can find my books here: http://www.kovaleski.com/shop.htm

And my wife's CD here:
http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Recital-Jocelyn-Swigger/dp/B001F0TR8A/ref=sr_1_1/178-5369906-5073922?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1227139109&sr=1-1

And for more info than you'd ever need/want about me, please visit my blog. I post about 4 times a week about my cartooning life for your time-wasting pleasure.
http://kovaleski.wordpress.com/

ComicsDC logo - first shot

I'm obviously not an artist, but I kind of like this one, and Our Man Thompson approved of it. I'm sticking it on a Zazzle mug now. It's also on a magnet so you can stick it on your computer and remember to check this site (if it wipes your hard drive, I don't want to hear about it. You should know better than to put magnets around computers).

Comic advertisements - a few old snapshots

Here's some more advertisements using comics motifs.


Dick Tracy advertisement for Franklin Bookman standup - Crown Books March 1998.


Spider-Man advertisement - Hardees May 1999 (in Kentucky, I think).


Thing from Fantastic Four - Dodge Caravan advertisement - NJ Turnpike September 1999.


Spider-Man - Got Milk Metrobus advertisement, August 1999, Washington, DC.


Disneyland ashtray.

This week's Zadzooks

ZADZOOKS: Video game review, Gears of War 2: Fenix's foe tougher, Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, November 27, 2008. Meanwhile in Bennett's Best, Greg recommends Fables and Twisted Toyfare Theater. I must confess to enjoying Wizard's fotonovella abuse of toys.

Help me have a happy holiday; OR ComicsDC goes commercial

Just kidding with that title (right now!), but I'm playing around with Zazzle's line of products prefatory to really nagging cartoonists I know to start making some neat stuff I can buy. Bill Griffith of Zippy sells stamps and cards there for example and I just ordered a complete set of both of them.

In the meantime, here's a mug* featuring the original photograph (as seen above) for my book Film & TV Adaptations of Comics - 2007 edition. I'm working on the 2008 edition of the book now - and a new Punisher movie opens next week. Oh boy!

*My photographs of flowers on mugs and cards are also available for your mothers.

QUICK REVIEWS OF COMICS DUE THURSDAY (Not Wednesday) 12-04-08

QUICK REVIEWS OF COMICS DUE THURSDAY (Not Wednesday) 12-04-08
By John Judy

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #579 by Mark Waid and Marcos Martin. Our hero is trapped underground with the father of his worst enemy. What to do? What to do? Good comics!

ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #10 by Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard. The Secret Origin of Zechariah, the world’s most bi-polar vampire.

BATMAN #682 by Grant Morrison and Lee Garbett. Well, now that Batman is “dead” at the hands of his dad or “Mr. Hurt” or The Devil or whoever, we are to be treated to a retrospective of his life by Alfred the faithful butler on his deathbed. More fun from Grant Morrison’s collection of soggy cocktail napkins, strung together with pictures! WARNING! MAY CONTAIN COHERENT NARRATIVE! (kidding!)

THE BOYS #25 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Wee Hughie a.k.a. “Bagpipe” meets the G-Men and their founder. Meanwhile his team-mates are up to their own shenanigans. Ennis-style action and debauchery! Not for kids. Recommended otherwise.

CRIMINAL 2 #7 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This latest arc comes to a conclusion as Jacob the beat-up forger/cartoonist must figure out how to double-cross his double-crossers. Highly Recommended!

ESSENTIAL DYKES TO WATCH OUT FOR HC written and drawn by Alison Bechdel. The best strips from the past eleven volumes of DTWOF, plus sixty new ones not previously collected. Twenty-five years worth of funny, opinionated, challenging stuff. Recommended, especially for Mormons.

HAUNTED TANK #1 of 5 by Frank Marraffino and Henry Flint. The classic DC war comic about the ghost of a Confederate General who makes himself available to aid his tank-driving descendents gets a great twist here. The General’s latest descendent is a black man serving in Iraq. I already love this comic. Recommended!

HELLBOY: THE WILD HUNT #1 of 8 by Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo. HB’s fightin’ giants! But of course nothing’s ever that simple in his world. The follow-up to last year’s DARKNESS CALLS.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #20 by Duane Swierczynski and Travel Foreman. Danny Rand faces down his latest and most deadly nemesis, the weird demon critter who’s been killing Iron Fists for centuries. I’m betting on the guy with his name on the comic.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #21 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. Anytime a God says “Worship me!” you know you’re in trouble. Next thing you know you’ve got guys in bad suits and worse haircuts asking for money. Good thing the JSA is here to put a stop to all that. The penultimate chapter of “One World, Under Gog.”

MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA #1 of 6 by Kurt Busiek and Jay Anacieto. A sequel to the ground-breaking 1994 series MARVELS, in which we learn again what it’s like to be an everyman in a world of supermen. Nobody writes such stories better than Kurt Busiek. Recommended.

NEW AVENGERS #47 by Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan. An issue focusing on the consequences of the Skrull invasion, specifically as they affect Luke Cage. Look for green people getting punched in the brain.

PUNISHER MAX: X-MAS SPECIAL #1 by Jason Aaron and Roland Boschi. A little something for all of us who were beginning to doubt Santa Claus: A Punisher story by Jason frickin’ Aaron! The author of SCALPED! You probably want to draw the blinds and turn off your phones for this one. Not for kids. Highly recommended!

SANDMAN: DREAM HUNTERS #2 of 4 by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell. A beautiful adaptation of an earlier Sandman novella. Highly recommended.

SECRET INVASION #8 of 8 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. The final chapter. Radical stuff occurs. “He loves you!”

SHE-HULK: COSMIC COLLISION #1 by Peter David and Mahmud S Asrar. For all you Shulk Completists out there! It’s okay! Come out into the light! Featuring powerful chicks in tight clothes!

SOLOMON KANE #3 of 5 by Scott Allie and Mario Guevara. Intrigues abound as Robert E. Howard’s puritan Punisher is drawn deeper into a mystery that can only be resolved with steel and powder. Very solid stuff. Recommended.

WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY #2 of 4 by Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia. Wolvie gets his butt kicked all over Chinatown by a girl. It’s swell. Jason Aaron strikes again!

X-MEN: NOIR #1 of 4 by Fred Van Lente and Dennis Calero. What if the X-Men had been created and written by pulp crime novelists back in 1930-something? Imagine Mickey Spillane writing Wolverine! Highly recommended and hopefully the gateway through which X-maniacs will find their way to SCALPED and CRIMINAL. Recommended.

www.johnjudy.net

My Thompson collection grows

Holy Tango of Literature by Francis Heaney (Author) and Richard Thompson (Illustrator) arrived in the mail today. Richard did caricatures of authors such as Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost for the 2004 book. The Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data doesn't list Richard, caricature or cartooning so many of us may have missed this.

That darn Toles, continued

Bush Forfeited Respect
Washington Post November 29 2008

Regarding the Nov. 22 Free for All letter objecting to Tom Toles's Nov. 18 cartoon:

I thought Toles's depiction of the torturer in chief departing the White House was spot on.

I have heard before the argument that the president deserves respect, but may I remind the letter writer that it's the office of the presidency as defined in our Constitution, not the individual, that deserves deference.

When an individual disgraces that office, as George W. Bush has surely done, that individual is no longer worthy of respect. He's lucky he hasn't been subjected to the Dick Cheney-Alberto Gonzales-style justice that has besmirched our nation.

-- Cathy Clary
Afton

Richard Thompson wraps up his White House visit

Here's part 3.

Books I've liked lately

I don't have the inclination, nor the discipline to do a 'year in review' column, but here's a few titles I've enjoyed lately. Of course, I've got tons unread so if a title that I've mentioned buying recently (Derf, Get Your War On) isn't on here, I probably just have gotten around to it yet.

Bourbon Island 1730 - Apollo and Trondheim tell a tale of a search for the dodo on Reunion Island. The search quickly gets derailed by pirates, romance and a brewing war between ex-slaves and the island's government. It's taken me a little while to get used to Trondheim's funny animal characters, but now I enjoy them.



Skitzy by Don Freeman - this is a minor graphic novel from 1955, but it's enjoyable. It could run in today's New Yorker without too much trouble. Freeman is best known today as a children's book author, but this story is for adults and tells about the conflict between a man's artistic and professional sides. There's an excellent afterword with information on Freeman's wide-ranging professional career.



The Venice Chronicles by Enrico Casarosa - Casarosa is an Italian artist working in the US on animation. This book is a graphic travelogue of a trip with his girlfriend back to Italy where they go exploring Venice, meeting his family, and running into Hugo Pratt's daughter. It's done in a sketchy style with watercolor that is very appealing. I bought mine from Casarosa's website and got a little sketch in it. I bought all his other books at the same time - they're slighter sketchbooks, but still fun.




Crogan's Vengeance by Chris Schweizer - I talked to Chris at HeroesCon and bought some of his artwork so I'm thrilled to see this out. It's another pirate story, this time in the grand swashbuckling tradition of Rafael Sabatini. The Crogan family is apparently given to much derring-do and this is the first installment. Other members have been gunfighters, secret agents and French Legionnaires. In this "Catfoot" Crogan is a reluctant pirate, but proves to be quite good at it. Chris' art style is more cartoony than one might expect in an adventure tale, but he's got a fine handle on action (see the bottom of page 75 for example). I'm definitely looking forward to more in this series.



Various sketchbooks by Ryan Claytor - Ryan's been doing comics-format journals and publishing them for a while. I ran into him online and liked the idea of that so I bought them all from him. He's kind of like Harvey Pekar with drawing ability and better-controlled angst (although I've got issues with his music tastes that I don't have with Harvey - sorry Ryan). I'm reading these now, and enjoying them, but I seem to have bought the last copy of his masters thesis in comics form.

Dec 2: Superhero Rabbi talk

Sara Duke noted this in some editions of the Post today:

Tuesday, December 2, 7pm, for ages 13 and older

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein will discuss his book "Up, Up and Oy Vey!" about how Jewish history, culture and values helped shape the early years of the comic book industry. Chabad of Upper Montgomery County, 11520 Darnestown Road, Gaithersburg, registration required, $20, but $15 in advance. Call 301-926-3632 or go online http://www.ourshul.org.

Full page o' Our Man Thompson in Thanksgiving Post Magazine

The last page of the Post Magazine on Thanksgiving has a full-page Cul de Sac strip. I have a suspicion this one is recycled, because it looks like watercolors rather than the Syndicate's limited palette. Also... it's not Sunday! So this is probably just a gimme for the Post.

Since Cavna's presumably taking the day off, also in Watch Your Head, Lio and his pet Cthulu (see HP Lovecraft in Wikipedia) make a guest appearance. Whoa, just checked and he did pick Thanksgiving strips to mention - however, we've got a 10-point deduction for not recognizing one of the Elder Gods.

New issue of International Journal of Comic Art shipped

The latest issue of IJOCA shipped earlier this week John tells me. He's also working on getting the website updated. It's renewal time and next year goes to three issues per volume, so send him your check ($45 for individuals in the US) now! And remember, you can still order the parody Interplanetary Journal of Comic Art with the proceeds going to support the real thing.

Richmond's AdHouse Books best of 2008

With Best of 2008, AdHouse Books blog (November 24 2008), Richmond's Chris Pitzer decides to lead the pack with a month still left to go in the year - I haven't read any of his picks yet although I've got Alan's War.

Dec 6: DC Anime Club's Osamu Tezuka Marathon

DC Anime Club's Osamu Tezuka Marathon
A tribute to the God of Manga

The DC Anime Club, an organization whose purpose is to educate the Washington, DC community about East Asian culture through the art form known as Anime (Japanese animation) will host a Marathon of Anime Films based upon the Manga (Japanese Comics) works by Dr.Osamu Tezuka on December 6, 2008 from 2pm-5pm at the Martin Luthur King, Jr Memorial Library in 901 G St NW Washington, DC 20001 in Room A10. During the Marathon such anime as Phoenix , Kimba The White Lion and Black Jack and or course Tetsuwan Atom best known to American audience as Astroboy will be shown.

About Dr.Osmamu Tezuka:
Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫 Tezuka Osamu?, November 3, 1928 – February 9, 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the god of Manga." His grave is located in Tokyo's Souzen-ji Temple Cemetery.

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 tax 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.

This program is free and open to the public. For more information please visit the DC Anime Club website at http://www.dcanimeclub.org or call DC Anime Club at 202 262 2083.

# # #

--
Christopher Wanamaker
DC Anime Club President
http://www.dcanimeclub.org
202 262 2083

Videogame animation voice actors featured in Post

See "The Voices of Video Games: Local Actors Give Life to the Elves and Villains Who Wander the Teeming Cyberspace Underworld," By Ashley Halsey III, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, November 24, 2008; B01, for a look at the least-appreciated part of animation.

VOA visits NoVA comics store

Voice of America visited the Northern Virginia comic book store NOVA Comics and Games in Springfield, Virginia, and talked to sales clerk Dave Weinberger who says, "Comics are too expensive for kids. And they’ve changed -- ". This show is to help non-English speakers, so it's a bit basic, but hey, before the Internet, you couldn't even hear VOA in America. Both John Lent and I have been on programs we've never heard.

Ember, Steve and Barbara Klein. 2008.
Batman, Spider-Man Face a Growing Crowd in Comics, Graphic Novels, Voice of America's Special English This Is America 24 November 2008.
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-11-24-voa2.cfm