Cavna and Thompson address new feature and turfing of CdS

Michael Cavna mentions "Our Town," his new feature of cartoon reporting on Comic Riffs today and also pulls in Our Man Thompson in the comments for answers to the B&W issues of today.

Post magazine editors want you to embrace change

Here's the relevant sections from their chat. Cul de Sac was dismissed with "we had a note to tell you where to find it":

chi-town: Sad that "Editor's Query" has disappeared. Loved those.

What exactly is the point of "Our Town?" I like Michael Cavna and his work with Comic Riffs, but I didn't really understand the point of the Our Town illustration. Was he actually there, drawing the sights? Is this what it will be every week? Because 1) I imagine it will get old after a few weeks, and 2) I think it would be better in photograph form. Cavna's artistic abilities would be better suited for some other feature...maybe a "Six Chix" type of arrangement with rotating artists but more comic-strippish.

washingtonpost.com: Our Town (Post Magazine, Sept. 27, 2009)

Debra Leithauser and Janet Michaud: The point of Our Town is to capture a slice of life in the metro area, as told via artwork rather than a traditional story. And, yes, Cavna certainly was there.

Quick Reviews for Comics Due 09-30-09

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 09-30-09

By John Judy

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #607 by Joe Kelly and Mike McKone.  Dear Spidey, It's actually pretty great if a Black Cat crosses your path.  Just don't marry her…

 

ASTRO CITY: ASTRA SPECIAL #1 of 2 by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson.  Little hopscotch playing Astra of the First Family graduates college!  Now it's time for a road trip as only super-heroes can do it!

 

BATMAN: WIDENING GYRE #2 of 6 by Kevin Smith and Walter Flanagan.  An issue of a Kevin Smith mini-series appears to have shipped on time.  In related news, Satan needs a pair of ice skates.

 

BOOK OF GENESIS ILLUSTRATED HC by Robert Crumb.  Yes, you will go to Hell if you read this.  Me first!  Highly recommended.

 

BOYS: HEROGASM #5 of 6 by Garth Ennis and John McCrea.  It's the best awards show ever: The Supies, celebrating the outstanding achievements of your favorite corporate-controlled heroes!  And isn't Neil Patrick Harris doing a fabulous job at the mic?  Not for kids.

 

GREEN LANTERN #46 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke.  Mongul and Sinestro battle for control of the Yellow Lantern gang, which is sort "deck chairs on the Titanic" when you've got the Black Lanterns gunning to kill everyone in the universe.  Recommended.

 

HULK #15 by Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill.  The Red Hulk hijinks continue as different characters try to figure out who he is and long-time fans try to figure out WHY he is.

 

ICON: A HERO'S WELCOME SC by Dwayne McDuffie and M.D. Bright.  Collecting the first eight issues of ICON, Milestone Comics' original black Superman from 1992!  Highly recommended.

 

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 80-PAGE GIANT #1 by Many, Many People.  The JLA fights all kinds of people all across the timestream.  That's it really.

 

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #31 by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges and Jesus Merino.  Magog and Wildcat duke it out while a dirty traitor in the ranks stands revealed!

 

MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN #5 by Fred Van Lente and Wellinton Alves.  Meet the Zombie Avengers.  Hopefully this is now out of everyone's system.  "Or is it..?"

 

PREVIEWS by Marvel and Diamond Comics.  Featuring lots of your favorite characters sitting in sleighs with Santa suits over their spandex!

 

THOR #603 by J. Michael Straczynski and Marko Djurdjevic.  Dear Loki, God(dess) of Mischief, Manipulating and generally screwing with Thor, Balder and your fellow Asgardians is, let's face it, pretty easy.  Not a lot of brains under the stylish headgear.  Doctor Doom, however….

 

THUNDERBOLTS #136 by Rick Remender and Mahmud A. Asrar.  Norman Osborn has somehow co-opted Luke Cage and Iron Fist, Heroes for Hire, into his employ.  Because he is clever, that one.

 

TROTSKY HC written and drawn by Rick Geary.  A graphic biography of Stalin's arch-nemesis, and it ain't Hitler.  Two pick-axes up!  Recommended!

 

WOLVERINE WEAPON X #5 by Jason Aaron and Ron Garney.  Wolvie and the Adamantium Men, the final round! Guess whose name isn't on the cover, kids?  Recommended.

 

WONDER WOMAN #36 by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti.  The Olympian gods send Achilles to take Wonder Woman's place!  Let's hope WW finally breaks a heel.

 

X-FACTOR #49 by Peter David and Valentine DeLandro.  Cortex, Madrox's evil cyborg twin from the future….  Oh nevermind.  I'm pretty sure Peter David lost a bet.

 

www.johnjudy.net

Zadzooks on comics, this week

Zadzooks: Reviews of Star Wars Adventures, Archibald Aardvark and more, By Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times September 24 2009

Oct 25: Bechdel day at Katzen Arts Center

* 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
* Visiting Writing Series presents Department of Literature Annual Colloquium, featuring Alison Bechdel
* Battelle-Tompkins Atrium

Alison Bechdel, Fun Home

Welcome! Each year, the American University students, faculty, staff, alumni and other members of the greater community come together for one day to explore a great book. Subjects of previous colloquia include Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita.

We invite you to participate in the seventh annual Department of Literature Colloquium, featuring Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel.


About the Author and the Book

Named by Time magazine in 2006 as one of the “10 Best Booksof the Year,” Bechdel’s Fun Home was a finalist for a 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award and the winner of the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work. Of Bechdel’s memoir, Amy Bloom has written: “If David Sedaris could draw, and if Bleak House had been a little funnier, you’d have Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.” Bechdel is also known for her acclaimed, long-running comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For. A graduate of Oberlin College, she lives near Burlington, Vermont, where she is now completing a second graphic memoir, Love Life: A Case Study. Alison Bechdel’s appearance is sponsored by the Visiting Writers Series and the Bishop McCabe Lecture Series.
Schedule: Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009

Register Online (by Oct. 21)

9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Colloquium in
Battelle-Tompkins Atrium
(Presentations to be announced!)
See Campus Directions/Maps

3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Lecture with Alison Bechdel,
Katzen Arts Center,
Abramson Family Recital Hall

Questions?

Literature
202-885-2971
lit@american.edu
Battelle Tompkins, Room 237

Thanks to Rick Banning for the tip.

Cul de Sac to appear in B&W in Sunday's Post

Today's newly-redesigned Washington Post Magazine says Cul de Sac, the strip it began and nurtured before syndication is being turfed from the magazine and will run in the Style section, presumably always sans color. Bad decision. You can tell the editors that too, in their upcoming chat on Monday at 11 am.

Gahan Wilson in the Spotlight at SPX

Gary Groth was running late so Gahan Wilson began speaking without an introduction. I missed the very beginning where he said he thought he'd like to live an academic life, but you can listen to the rest of his talk...


...or you can download it here.

Post debuts new cartoon journalism feature

Michael Cavna and another cartoonist are illustrating "Our Town" in the Post's Magazine, starting tomorrow. I love comics journalism and I have high hopes for this feature.

Wash Times on Disney purchase of Marvel

Out of characters: Disney should go indie, By Sonny Bunch, Washington Times September 25 2009.

SPX the first day

Spx crowd scene including Jeff Alexander

Some quick notes that are essentally stream of conciousness. Richard was under the weather and didn't come. My photos are here.
Carol Tyler

The show appears to be a success with good, but not overwhelming crowds. I bought a lot from Fanfare and Fantagraphics. Gahan Wilson and Carol Tyler both had shorter lines that I expected. The big draw at the show, based solely on line length, appears to be Kate Beaton.

Gary Groth

Gahan Wilson is a born storyteller and his off the cuff talk (now online!) was very fun to hear, if not overly insightful. Look for the 3-volume set of Playboy cartoons coming from Fantagraphics, which has an interview and a biography by Gary Groth. Pre-orders at the show get a signed print and free shipping.

Gahan Wilson and Gary Groth

Frank Camusso has a new Knights of the Lunch Table, his retelling of King Arthur. My daughter said Oh boy! when I brought it home tonight. Emily Flake, whose work appears in the Baltimore City Paper has a new collection as does Rob Ullman whose work used to appear in the Washington CP. I bought both.

Emily Flake and Warren Bernard

Some of the usual suspects are missing this year including Batton Lash and Jackie Estrada. Cartoonists with Attitude is not there, except Ted Rall and Stephanie McMillan are holding down an NBM table. Ted's got a new graphic biography and Stephanie a new comic.

R. Sikoryak

James Kochalka is hanging out at the Top Shelf table as is Matt Kindt and Andy Runton. R Sikoryak is at Drawn and Quarterly and will draw Little Nemo in your book.

David Malki

Dustin Harbin has a new book out and is holding my IOU for $47. He'll draw Alan Moore in a sketchbook if you ask him to.

Dustin Harbin

Peter Kuper's got a new book out on his experiences living in Mexico. His publisher is in the far left corner as you face into the room.

Peter Kuper

Chris Mautner's pre-plan for SPX

Richard Thompson and I should be cruising around today, starting when it opens. Tomorrow I'll be on my own. I'm going to try to go to the sessions on Sikoryak, Kuper, Wilson, Tyler, and Neufeld

Meanwhile, see Chris Mautner's pre-plan for SPX.

Oct 20: Cartoonist Ding Cong Symposium at LOC

Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC   20540

September 25, 2009

Public contact:  Robert Saladini (202) 707-2692, rsal@loc.gov

Library of Congress Symposium Celebrates
Chinese Cartoonist and Artist Ding Cong, Oct. 20

A Library of Congress symposium, "Public Art and Illustrations: The Cartoons and Art of Ding Cong," will celebrate the life and work of China's famous cartoonist and artist, Ding Cong, who provided daring social commentary on Chinese society during China's turbulent 20th century.

The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Oct. 20, in Room 119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C.  The event is sponsored by the Library's John W. Kluge Center, and reservations or tickets are not needed.

Ding Cong (1916-2009), who worked under the pen name Xiao Ding, was born in Shanghai into a family of artists.  He was a frequent admirer of the magazines The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, which were available in treaty-port Shanghai.  From these and other Western influences, Ding Cong developed his art.

Ding Cong used his cartoons and illustrations to reveal the true state of Chinese society, which faced corruption and turmoil during most of the 20th century.  His popularity stemmed from an intellectual and artistic integrity that made the inept of both the right and left fair game for his art.  But the cartoonist paid dearly for his efforts, as he was exiled twice to the countryside and borderlands, effectively losing more than 20 years of his artistic life.

The symposium features lectures by preeminent scholars of Chinese cartoons as well as family and friends of the artist.

9:00-9:05 Welcome by Carolyn Brown, director of the John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress

9:05-9:25 "Ding Cong:  The Artist and Art Form" by Marcia Ristaino, visiting scholar, John W. Kluge Center

9:25-9:45 "Ding Cong's Art During the Years of Hardship" by Shelley Drake Hawks, lecturer, Boston University

9:45-10:10 "Ding Cong: His Artistic Circle and Contributions" by John A. Lent, publisher and editor-in-chief, International Journal of Comic Art

10:10-10:30 Break

10:30-10:55 "One Who Saw China As It Really Was: Ding Cong in the Forties" by Michael Sullivan, fellow emeritus of St. Catherine's College, Oxford

10:55-11:20 "The Relationship Between Chinese Visual Art and Society" (tentative) by Carma Hinton, documentary filmmaker and Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies, George Mason University

11:20-11:40 "Herblock's Caricature of Mao Zedong: A Window onto Resources for Cartoon-Related Research in the Library's Prints and Photographs Division" by Martha Kennedy, curator, Library of Congress

11:40-12:00 Questions and Discussion

At 1:45 p.m., an exhibition of 30 reproductions of Ding Cong's work may be viewed at the Mason Atrium Art Gallery, School of Visual and Performing Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., along with additional commentary from speakers, his widow and friends.  For more information, visit http://today.gmu.edu/48188/.

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world's best thinkers to stimulate and energize one another to distill wisdom from the Library's rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington.  For further information on the Kluge Center, visit www.loc.gov/kluge/.

# # #

PR09-188
9/25/09
ISSN: 0731-3527

 

Speaking of SPX, in a way

This isn't directly about comics, but many of the lessons here are used by cartoonists, or should be -

On Web, A Most Novel Approach
With Promotion Money Tight, Authors Take to Online Sites To Toot Their Own Horns
By Neely Tucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 24, 2009

PR: John Kovaleski at Small Press Expo

I bought everything John had last year ...

Hi there-

Just a quick little note to tell you that I'll be at the Small Press Expo this weekend (September 26 and 27) in Bethesda, MD. I'll be signing "Bo Nanas," "Jack N. Box" and "Great Scott" books for your personal reading enjoyment at table C9. Hope to see you there.

For more info  http://www.spxpo.com/

Best,
John Kovaleski


You can see more of my work here:
http://www.kovaleski.com/

As always you can find out too much about me on my blog:
http://kovaleski.wordpress.com/

Or follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/johnkovaleski


BIO: Before becoming a cartoonist, John Kovaleski had "done time" at an ad agency, a consulting firm, a newspaper and a big, faceless corporation.

His humorous scribblings have adorned magazines, newspapers, greeting cards, puzzles, billboards, and that new-fangled Internet that all the kids are talking about.

In 2003 his comic strip "Bo Nanas" was unleashed on an unsuspecting world by the fine folks at The Washington Post Writers Group.

In 2006 he became "one of the usual gang of idiots." In other words, a contributor to MAD Magazine.

In his spare time he practices the ukulele and does the occasional escape-artist trick

Rob Clough's SPX recommendations

Rob Clough's SPX recommendations can be seen here.

USA Today cartoonist Joel Pett featured in campus newstory

See "What in the world is so funny? Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Joel Pett talks politics at Whitman," By Eric Nickeson-Mendheim, Whitman Pioneer September 22, 2009.

National Book Festival, the OTHER Saturday event

Cartoonist Jeff Kinney will be among the authors at the Library of Congress' National Book Festival on the Mall on Sept 26th. Also appearing are Jodi Picoult who briefly wrote Wonder Woman, and Junot Diaz who's influenced by comics.

SPX programming times online now

Click here for the SPX programming times.

Daily Cross Hatch previews SPX

The excellent site Daily Cross Hatch previews SPX - they're much hipper than I am so pay attention to what they say. Also they run excellent interviews, usually by Brian Heater so check the site regularly.

KAL speaks to Maryland students

See Web site hopes to spark high school students' interest in current events
by Amber Parcher
The Gazette September 23 2009