Sunday, March 01, 2009

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 03-04-09

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 03-04-09
By John Judy


AGENTS OF ATLAS #2 by Jeff Parker and Carlo Pagulayan. This funky little fifties retro comic continues to be way cooler than it has any right to be. For readers who like the odder corners of the Marvel Universe. Recommended.

BATMAN CACOPHONY #3 of 3 by Kevin Smith and Walter J. Flanagan. If you like your Joker gay and your comics bi- (monthly) then Kevin Smith has a comic for you!

BLACK PANTHER #2 by Reginald Hudlin and Kan Lashley. The Black Panther is a girl now. This is the sort of stunt I usually hate but Hudlin is making it work so far. That cover by J. Scott Campbell has got to go though. Dr. Doom with a big “D” belt buckle? Please. Is this the Big Bad of the Marvel Universe or a Texas pimp?

THE BOYS #28 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Wee Hughie’s undercover gig starts going seriously pear-shaped. Not for kids.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #23 by Drew Z. Greenberg and Georges Jeanty. Buffy and Andrew together on a mission to Italy. What’s Italian for “Kill me now?”

DAREDEVIL #116 by Ed Brubaker and David Aja. So what’s the Kingpin been up to lately? From the Dream Team who revamped IRON FIST into a readable title. Recommended.

GOON #32 (10th ANNIVERSARY ISSUE!) written and drawn by Eric Powell. “Okay, you drunken miscreants, it’s the Goon’s birthday and we’re gonna make it a good one, see!” Featuring pin-ups by Mignola, Jeff Smith and Bernie Wrightson! Recommended!

SECRET SIX #7 by Gail Simone and Nicola Scott. After last issue’s big betrayal and twisted revelation the only possible follow-up is a Seriously Big Fight. Guest-starring everyone. Recommended.

SOLOMON GRUNDY #1 of 7 by written and drawn by Scott Kolins. The hulking monster of Slaughter Swamp teams up with his alter-ego Bruce Banner to… oh, wait…

SUPERMAN WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #1 of 12 by Greg Rucka & James Robinson and Pete Woods. Not a hoax, not a dream, not an imaginary story! The Last Son of Krypton (except for those 100,000 other guys, give or take) is going to spend a year screwing around on the other side of the sun with all the other Last Sons and Daughters of K-Town. Expect lots of intrigue and punch ‘em ups, starting here. And what about Zod?

ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS HULK #3 of 6 by Damon Lindelof and Leinil Yu. I hesitate to mention this book until all six issues have been published and collected in trade paperback but… three years after issue two hit the stands… IT’S BACK! A big, hopelessly outdated by continuity fight between, well, y’know, it’s in the title. Gotta look. Too violent for younger kids.

www.johnjudy.net

Examiner's USA Weekend magazine on Watchmen


The Washington Examiner's USA Weekend Sunday magazine is on Watchmen. That's the free paper that's delivered to some homes in the area. They commissioned Dave Gibbons to make them a new poster too, as seen on the right. I just walked around my neighborhood in the snow picking up copies for the libraries I supply. The poster's interesting - Gibbons used features of the actors so it's a curious blend of the graphic novel and the movie.

FYE in Georgetown has some Watchmen giveaway material too, I'm told.

Cul de Sac gets animated UPDATED

Now it can be told. Cul de Sac is being animated for cellphones by Ring Tales and Andrews McMeel has loaded an episode onto YouTube. They've also put up one for Argyle Sweater.

Apparently it can't be told. They took them back down a day later - although Michael Jantze of Jantze Studio wrote in to say that he worked worked on it. Jantze used to do a strip/book called The Norm which I enjoyed a lot.


Updated again - Alan Gardner notes that Ring Tales, not Andrews McMeel has the distribution rights to the animation.

Mardi Gras parade with life-size Thompson finger puppets

The planning:

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Design sketches for BonoTom's Richard Thompson-influenced entry at the Clarendon Mardi Gras parade in Arlington, VA.

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The parade on Fat Tuesday in Clarendon, Arlington, Va:

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The Secret Service clotheslined the guy in the vest seconds after this picture was taken.

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That's the head of last year's float.

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A print of two of Thompson's caricatures is wrapped around the beads they're tossing.

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Zadzooks on Toy Fair

See "Zadzooks: Hasbro powers toy fair," Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, February 26, 2009 and "Watchmen, The End is Nigh and Halo Wars," BY JOE SZADKOWSKI, Zadzooks Blog February 26 2009.

In "Bennett's Best for the week of February 15," By Greg Bennett, Zadzooks Blog February 26 2009 recommends Urasawa. In "Bennett's Best for the week of February 22," By Greg Bennett, Zadzooks Blog February 26 2009, he recommends Scott Pilgrim and Black Panther.

OT: Hembeck. Fred Hembeck

I was out tonight with some other comics-loving people and Fred Hembeck came up. Fred is one of the funniest people to ever 'do' superheroes (along with Don Rosa), but the other guys didn't know he was doing a column now at the LA Times Hero Complex blog. So here's links to the first three:

Fred Hembeck's Hero Complex: Captain America (Part 1)
Feb 1 2009

Fred Hembeck's Hero Complex: Captain America (Part 2)
Feb 8 2009

Fred Hembeck's Hero Complex: The Hulk (Part 1)
Feb 18 2009

Seek out his new collection now for more Silver Age greatness.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Get yer ComicsDC t-shirt at a discount this weekend


Get yer ComicsDC t-shirt at a discount this weekend. Zazzle's got a $4 off sale for shirts this weekend - Use code PATTYSHIRT09 during checkout. (Muscles not included).

Thanks again to local cartoonist David Hagen for the artwork, and remember he's got an exhibit opening in Arlington in March. Click on his name below to see the previous posts about him.

Ed Stein interview at Comics Riffs

After talking to Drew Litton yesterday, Michael also called the Rocky Mountain News' other cartoonist, Ed Stein - "As More Cartoonists Draw Severance, Honor Them While You Can," Michael Cavna, Washington Post Comic Riffs February 27, 2009. Stein also did Denver Square, an excellent strip that he ended a year or so ago.

Here's my review from the International Journal of Comic Art 6:1, Spring 2004, which is sadly dated now especially the line about newspapers supporting their cartoonists:

Charles Brooks, editor. Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 2003 Edition, Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2003. ISBN 1-58980-090-7.
Ed Stein. Denver Square: We Need a Bigger House!, Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2003. ISBN 1-58980-115-6.
John Chase. The Louisiana Purchase: An American Story, Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2002. ISBN 1-58980-084-2.
Bob Artley. Christmas on the Farm, Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2003. ISBN 1-58980-108-3.
Bob Artley. Once Upon a Farm, Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2001. ISBN 1-56554-753-5.
Una Belle Townsend and Bob Artley. Grady’s in the Silo, Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2003. ISBN 1-58980-098-2.

The decline of comic art in America, whether comic strips, comic books, editorial cartoons or most recently hand-drawn animation, has been an accepted belief for at least a decade. Given the proliferation of cartoon characters in all media with attendant licensing, the movies based on comic books, dozens of museum and library exhibits per year, and the rising consumption of manga, I wonder how accurate this truism is. When a small American publisher like Pelican publishes over a dozen books by cartoonists, perhaps the field is changing and not diminishing. Pelican’s recent offerings run an interesting gamut – for this review, I have one editorial cartoon collection, one comic strip collection by an editorial cartoonist, one historical comic strip collection, and three apparent children’s books by an editorial cartoonist (see IJoCA 3:1 & 4:2 for other Pelican reviews).

Brooks’ 31st collection of editorial cartoons continues his useful sampling and should be a regular purchase by anyone interested in the field. Clay Bennett of the Christian Science Monitor (see IJoCA 5:1) won most of the major awards in 2002, including the Pulitzer, but to my eyes, his obviously computer-generated work is overly slick and reproduces badly in black and white. Ongoing Catholic church scandals got a hard-hitting section, as did, in a sign of the second Gilded Age, Enron’s collapse. 2002, and thus the book, was heavy on terrorism cartoons, and the youthful suicide bomber wrapped in dynamite sticks needs to be retired. An especially unfortunate example of a terrorism cartoon was Steve Kelley’s cartoon of Snoopy deciding to go after Bin Laden. Inexplicably, no cartoons by 2001 Pulitzer winner Ann Telnaes were included.

Ed Stein is a political cartoonist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News, and he also does a non-syndicated comic strip for them. “Denver Square” has been published since 1997, and a selection of strips from five years is included in the book. The strip follows a middle-class family of three, who are joined by live-in in-laws. Stein consciously decided to make his strip local, so the Denver Broncos football team, local wildfires, the Columbine High School murders, and the excesses of the tragic Jon Benet Ramsey murder investigation all are topics of the strip. As this list makes clear, Stein’s political cartoonist instincts are frequently on display in the strip. Both despite and because of its local focus, Stein’s strip is a good one, and this book is a nice example about what is still possible when newspapers support their cartoonists.

Non-fiction comic strips such as “Texas History Movies” (see IJoCA 5:2) have recently been rediscovered, and Chase’s “The Louisiana Purchase” is a reprint of 1950s strips with a text introduction that adds more detailed context. Moving far beyond Jefferson’s purchase, Chase begins with the discovery of America, and slowly moves through various explorers and a basic history of the settlement of the United States, even including two strips on the creation of the dollar sign. The strips are well-drawn competent basic history which I enjoyed, and much of IJoCA’s readership should too, but I am not sure today’s students have enough interest in comic strips for this reprint to attract a school-age audience.

Cartoonists have written children’s books (i.e. books written specifically for children and not collections of their work) throughout the entire twentieth century, and many recent notable examples spring to mind – masters such as Steig and Seuss, but also Breathed, Larson, Bliss, Spiegelman, Sfar, and Stamaty. Retired midwestern editorial cartoonist Artley illustrated Townsend’s true story of a cow caught in a feed silo. There is nothing particularly ‘cartoony’ about his illustrations, and my five-year-old daughter pronounced the story as ‘nice.’ Artley’s other two books recall his experiences growing up on a farm in the 1920s and collect drawings from his syndicated cartoons and “Once Upon A Farm” weekly half-page. These books are packaged as children’s books, but are really for an older audience; perhaps even one that remembers a lost rural way of life. Artley’s text is serviceable, and his drawings, either pen and ink or watercolor, are very good. There is some overlap between the two books, and the cartoon component of either is slight, but both are recommended.

Kevin Pope, formerly of Express ads

When the free Express paper started years ago, Juniper ran ads by cartoonist Kevin Pope. There were probably about 10 different full page ones before the campaign stopped in the paper. However, it continued online, until now. See "Juniper Kills the Cartoons!" Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading, FEBRUARY 24, 2009 and "Juniper's Cartoonist Isn't Bitter," Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading, FEBRUARY 27, 2009.

Unfortunately, the company also took the cartoons off their website, depriving us of an opportunity to play catchup.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Katsucon by Kelts continued

See "SOFT POWER HARD TRUTHS / Cosplayers a breath of fresh air for D.C.," Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri (February 27 2009)

Richard Thompson, before he was world-famous

Richard Thompson, before he was world-famous, was just another Washington Post hack artist. Here's a couple of drawings I found today.


Lost in Translation, Washington Post March 1, 1992.


Hooked on Horror, Washington Post, Washington Post August 13, 1989.

Sports cartoonist Drew Litton interview on Comic Riffs

See "The Interview: Drew Litton of the (RIP) Rocky Mountain News," By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Comic Riffs blog February 27, 2009.

Video game movies

Video game movies have animation blended into their DNA, so here's an online-only story on them. The hardcopy Express had an interview with Kristin Kreuk about her role in Street Fighter. See "Fightin' Words: Video Game Movies," by Express contributor Roxana Hadadi, February 25, 2009.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Experimental comics exhibit in Charlottesville

Pedro Moura sent a note to the comix-scholar's list about a new exhibit he's worked on. Quoted with permission:

Next March the 6th, a show is opening at the Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia, called Impera et Divide, which will host six artists who're working on the verge of what one might call experimental comics, or simply a very contemporary strand of comics. The artists are Frédéric Coché (France), Aerim Lee (South Korea), André Lemos (Portugal), Ilan Manouach (Greece), Andrei Molotiu (US) and Fabio Zimbres (Brazil). This show was curated by Charlottesville's own Warren Craghead III (of How to be everywhere fame) and yours truly.

To put it in a nutshell, this is a very heterogeneous group of people, but they're all can be seen as working in a fine line of experimental comics. I try to clear that up in an obstruse, tangled text (hey, English's not my language) to be published in a book I've edited and published with the artists' work. It is not a catalogue, but a companion publication. It's being printed as we speak, so I hope to have a few copies by the time I leave to the US. It's called Divide et Impera and it also has work from Craghead.

Here's the link to the gallery: http://www.secondstreetgallery.org/
And a blog put up by Craghead: http://imperaetdivide.blogspot.com/

The show will be held until April the 25th.

OT: MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY COMICS FORUM 2009

The Library's Comic Art Collection is where I send all my duplicate material (well I also send it to Ohio State's Cartoon Art Library and Museum and the Library of Congress' Prints and Photos Division, but MSU gets first crack):

ANNOUNCING THE MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY COMICS FORUM 2009
An Event for Scholars, Creators, and Fans

EAST LANSING, MI (February, 23 2009)- The Michigan State University Comics Forum is an annual event that brings together scholars, creators, and fans in order to explore and celebrate the medium of comics, graphic storytelling, and sequential art. The Michigan State University Comics Forum 2009 is scheduled to take place March 27-28 on the campus of Michigan State University.

This year’s keynote address will be given by David Petersen, creator of the critically acclaimed Mouse Guard. David Petersen won the 2007 Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer. In 2008, David won the Eisner Awards for Best Publication for Kids (Mouse Guard Fall 1152 & Winter 1152) and Best Graphic Album – Reprint (Mouse Guard Fall 1152 Hardcover).

The event will also feature an Artist’s Alley as well as several panel discussions with academics studying comic books and professionals working in the comic book industry.

The Michigan State University Comics Forum is accepting entries for the 2009 Original Comics Collection. Ten finalists will be chosen from among the entries, from which judges will choose a single winner who will receive a $150 award. Entries will be judged based on their creativity, quality, and storytelling. The work of all finalists will be displayed at the Michigan State University Comics Forum 2009, and be collected, archived, and preserved in the Comic Art Collection housed in Michigan State University’s Special Collections. The Comic Art Collection holds over 200,000 items and is the primary library resource for the study of U.S. comic book publications.

For more information concerning The Michigan State University Comics Forum 2009, as well as submission guidelines for the 2009 Original Comics Collection, please visit http://www.comicsforum.msu.edu/. You can also follow the The Michigan State University Comics Forum 2009 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/msucomicsforum

Thompson's Super-Size Me Finger Puppets

Here's some shots from Tuesday's Mardi Gras parade showing the life-size Richard Thompson Obama finger-puppet. I haven't checked my photos yet due to having a cold and feeling lazy.

Spider-Man on WAMU on Friday

Listen to "Spidey at the Library of Congress" on WAMU's Metro Connection tomorrow.

Last year, an anonymous donor gave the Library of Congress original drawings of the first comic book appearance of Spider-Man. The pen and ink illustrations made by creator Steve Ditko in 1962 are available for Spidey-scholars to peruse - and the acquisition was an instant hit. Sara Duke is Curator of the graphic arts division of the Library. Back in May of last year, Stephanie Kaye spoke with Duke, as she opened the long, flat archive boxes these Spider-Man images now call home.

I'm not sure why it took them 9 months to get the story on the air though - Sara doesn't usually need that much editing.

City Paper on Nanoman web comic / proto graphic novel

See "The Future Is Closer than You Think: A Review of Nanoman: The Post-Human Prometheus," by Mike Riggs, Washington City Paper's City Desk blog Feb. 26, 2009. We had a press release of this here earlier, Riggs says the editor of the graphic novel, Arthur Delaney, also writes for the City Paper which is cool to know. The first issue is online or for sale as print on demand, but it's planned to be a 144-page graphic novel.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

What‛s so funny about the economic crisis? Comics!

My friend Nick Thorkelson's got a new comic book out. He's sent me a copy and I'll be reviewing it, but here's the PR in the meantime.

February 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

What‛s so funny about the economic crisis?

ECONOMIC MELTDOWN FUNNIES
By Chuck Collins & Nick Thorkelson. Illustrated by Nick Thorkelson

Published by Jobs with Justice and the Institute for Policy Studies

Everyone’s looking for a straightforward explanation of what went wrong with the economy — and we all could use a good laugh, too.

Jobs with Justice and the Institute for Policy Studies Program on Inequality and the Common Good have just published an engaging 20-page comic book that graphically explains the causes of our current economic crisis, and how we can get the economy working again for working families.

“Economic Meltdown Funnies” is accessible,entertaining, and filled with facts to help you understand the causes and consequences of the current crisis. Formatted as a comic book, it’s a graphic explanation of how Wall Street and Washington caused the financial crisis, how it’s affecting real people in the real economy, and what we can do about it.

The book is available at a special rate for classrooms, unions or other organizations.

Bulk orders are just $5 each for 1-10 copies, $3.50 each for 11-99 copies, and $2 each for 100 copies or more. The book can also be downloaded for free at www.economicmeltdownfunnies.org. The website also features links to action and educational resources.

“Economic Meltdown Funnies” offers a sharp and witty progressive analysis and makes for a great workshop and organizing tool. The website also offers an opportunity for readers to leave comments, questions and suggestions.

Download the book, read it online, or order print copies at www.economicmeltdownfunnies.org, or call 617-541-0500, x302.

Wonder Woman writer Jodi Picoult

Colin S. reports, Wonder Woman writer Jodi Picoult is coming through your area soon on the book tour for her new novel:

MONDAY March 9 WASHINGTON DC AREA 7:30 PM Borders, 5871 Crossroads Center Way, Bailey's Crossroads VA. Contact 703-998-0404

TUESDAY March 10 BALTIMORE, MD 7 PM Digital Harbor High School, 1100 Covington Street, sponsored by B&N. Contact 410-385-1709.