Thursday, September 27, 2012

Oct 6: Stephan Pastis at Politics and Prose

Stephan Pastis - Pearls Freaks the #*%# out

Oct 6 2012 1:00 pm
Oct 6 2012 2:00 pm
 
The latest Treasury from the attorney-turned-cartoonist includes all strips from Larry in Wonderland and Because Sometimes You Just Gotta Draw a Cover with Your Left Hand, along with responses from readers and Pastis's own remarks about the sources of particular themes and motifs. 
 
Location: Politics and Prose
Street:
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
City:
Washington
,
Province:
District Of Columbia
Postal Code:
20008

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Carolyn Belefski on Association of American Editorial Cartoonists meeting

Carolyn Belefski has written her impressions of the first day of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists meeting at George Washington University. She and I both missed day 2 in favor of SPX where she was making money and I was spending it. She's posted her photographs on Facebook.

Heinrich Kley: two new Lost Art Books cover his life, color illustrations


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 25, 2012
Contact: Joe Procopio,
joseph.procopio@lostartbooks.com
Renowned artist Heinrich Kley's life and work celebrated in new two-volume set
Lost Art Books publishes first U.S. collection of German master's work in 50 years
SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND--Picture This Press, a publishing house devoted to the graphic arts, has released two volumes on German cartoonist and illustrator Heinrich Kley as part of its ongoing series, Lost Art Books. Although Kley has long been considered one of the world's great draftsman and a noted influence on Walt Disney's films, these are the first books of his work to appear in the United States in 50 years and are by far the most comprehensive overview to date, including a large number of his seldom-seen color works.
"There'll be a lot of excitement throughout the world once these books are available to the throng," said artist Michael Wm. Kaluta, who also contributed the foreword to Volume One.
The Lost Art of Heinrich Kley Volumes One & Two collect over 450 drawings and paintings from a wide array of sources. Neither volume significantly overlaps with past books on Kley, as nearly none of these drawings have been collected and reprinted since their original publication a century or more ago. Both volumes also provide groundbreaking scholarship on Kley's life and work by German art historian Alexander Kunkel--whose recent research is presented in these volumes for the first time in English--along with incisive appreciations by contemporary artists Michael Wm. Kaluta and Jesse Hamm.
Volume One focuses on Kley's ink drawings and reprints for the first time a substantial selection of his illustration work for children's books and adult genre fiction, a side of Kley's career previously unexplored in other collections. This volume also includes a wide sampling of Kley's cartoons and magazine work, with newly collected examples taken directly from a variety of rare sources, such as Jugend, Simplicissimus, and the historic Der Orchideengarten (the world's first fantasy fiction magazine). In all, over 300 Kley illustrations and cartoons fill this first volume.
Volume Two also breaks new ground by being the first book to present a large number of Kley's paintings and preparatory drawings, some reproduced directly from the original art. These color works reveal a heretofore rarely glimpsed side to Kley's talents and expand on the subject matter traditionally associated with the artist by including examples of his landscapes and industrial paintings. This volume's preparatory drawings are culled from the untapped Kley archive of the Library of Congress and show the artist working out concepts for book illustrations, reworking ink drawings into color paintings, and doodling for his own amusement. Approximately 150 drawings, many in color, appear in this volume.
Both of these volumes represent an important advancement to the English-language scholarship on Heinrich Kley, and the abundance of art within should delight his admirers, new and old alike.
Copies can be ordered exclusively from the publisher at www.LostArtBooks.com.
About
Picture This Press is dedicated to broadening the appreciation and awareness of artists who work in the fields of illustration, cartooning, graphic arts, photography, and poster design. Picture This Press founder Joseph Procopio and co-publisher Ellen Levy have a combined 40 years of publishing experience as writers, managing editors, and publications directors for a variety of organizations in the New York City and Washington, D.C. areas.
Lost Art Books, the flagship series from Picture This Press, collects and preserves the works of illustrators and cartoonists from the first half of the 20th century. Too many of these artists have gone underappreciated for too long, with much of their work uncollected or unexamined for decades, if at all. The Lost Art Books series aims to preserve this cultural heritage by re-introducing these artists to new generations of working illustrators, historians, and admirers of things beautiful.

Links
Home page: http://www.lostartbooks.com/
Facebook group:
http://tiny.cc/2uw2i
Interview in the Washington City Paper: http://tiny.cc/47nl4
Kley video book trailer on YouTube: http://youtu.be/-DPdI1F5MoM


Cover images: (.jpg) (for larger cover images, email your request or go to URL below, right click on image, and select 'copy')
The Lost Art Heinrich Kley -- Volume 1: Drawings. (larger image available at http://tinyurl.com/ck4h5xn)
224pages, black & white, perfect bound, ISBN: 978-098292765-6



The Lost Art of Heinrich Kley -- Volume 2: Paintings & Sketches. (larger image available at
http://tinyurl.com/cneuvcn)
148 pages, color, perfect bound, ISBN: 978-098292767-0

 

Double DC comic strip hit

Comics update: 'Frazz,' 'Tundra' join the lineup
Tue, 09/25/2012 
John Beck
 
Comics fans have noticed some changes this week to The News-Gazette's daily and Sunday comics pages. "Frazz" and "Tundra" have joined the daily lineup, replacing "Cul de Sac" and "Barney & Clyde."
 
Barney & Clyde is written by Washington's Gene Weingarten.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The undrawn last Cul de Sac

My last strip

Richard Thompson

September 23, 2012

http://richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-last-strip_23.html

Nov 10: Animation voice Phil LaMarr at Anime USA

Anime USA welcomes Phil LaMarr

Voice actor to appear at Anime USA 2012

 

Actor/comedian Phil LaMarr is best known as a cast member of Fox's "Mad TV" and as the guy who got his brains blown out in PULP FICTION. He has also appeared in the films, IT'S PAT (the writers are friends from the Groundlings), BIO-DOME (the director's a friend from college) and EAT YOUR HEART OUT (no reason).

 

A native of Los Angeles, Phil was a member of The Groundlings, the award-winning sketch and improv comedy group. In addition, he has studied improv at Second City and at the ImprovOlympic in Chicago with Del Close. Phil has also improvised with Cold Tofu, Off the Wall, and the Purple Crayon of Yale University of which he was a founding member.

 

His television credits include guest starring on "Happy Endings,"  "State of Georgia," "Castle," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Big Time Rush"  "Cold Case,""Reno 911," "Without A Trace," "The Bernie Mac Show," "NYPD Blue," "Living Single," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "Murphy Brown." His stage credits include: THE TEMPEST, AS YOU LIKE IT, GUYS AND DOLLS, ASYLUM at The Actors Gang, and South Coast Repertory's MAKE THE BREAK and Sacred Fools Theatre's inaugural production of THE FATTY ARBUCKLE SPOOKHOUSE REVUE.

 

Phil was profiled in TV Guide for his voice-over work as well, which includes featured roles in HOODWINKED TOO!, ZAMBEZIA and MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA; regular roles on the animated series "Futurama," "Kaijudo," Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends," "Static Shock," "Ozzy & Drix," "Evil con Carne," "Samurai Jack" and "Justice League Unlimited" as well as recurring roles on "King of the Hill," "Family Guy," "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," "Young Justice" "The Proud Family," and "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron."

 

Phil has had a good time doing voices for video games as well. He can be heard on such projects as METAL GEAR SOLID 4, DOOM 3, JAK 3, MERCENARIES 2, MEN OF VALOR, DARKSIDERS, RAGE, INFAMOUS 2, and DEAD ISLAND

 

On the big screen, LaMarr has also appeared in the comedies STEP BROTHERS, KILL THE MAN, FREE ENTERPRISE, CHERISH and MANNA FROM HEAVEN. As well as SPEAKING OF SEX with Bill Murray and Catherine O'Hara and Rodney Dangerfield's BACK BY MIDNIGHT. Phil also played the lead role in director Tim Russ' A NIGHT AT THE BIJOU, had a supporting role in QUID PRO QUO, a 2008 Sundance Film Festival selection in the Spectrum category and a cameo in SPIDER-MAN 2, which will wind up paying more in residuals than all of the others combined.

 

Recently, Phil took on the role of "Cowboy Curtis" in THE PEE-WEE HERMAN SHOW both on Broadway and in the  Emmy-nominated HBO special and appeared in the Dreamworks feature REAL STEEL with Hugh Jackman

 

For biographical information and pictures, please check out www.phillamarr.com.

 

About Anime USA: In 1999 Anime USA began as a northern Virginia convention started by fans, and in 2004 become a non-profit educational organization. Our mission is to educate the public about and promote Japanese arts and popular culture. As in the beginning, we remain a convention of fans, by fans, and for fans. Anime USA is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit.

 

Anime USA 2012 will be held November 9-11 in our new location: the Marriott Wardham Park in Washington, D.C. For more information and to register for the convention, visit us at www.animeusa.org.

Cartoonist Rights Network International videos on YouTube

The Northern Virginia-based anti-censorship organization Cartoonist Rights Network International has put eight videos on YouTube.

Russell, Robert.  2012.
CRNI Interview of American cartoonist Susie Cagle, Sept 2012
Sep 21, 2012 by CartoonistsRights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZVjE-lH6HM

CRNI Robert Russell ACEC 2012 Speech [aka "Cartoonists & Censorship: Past, Present and Future"].
Aug 25, 2012 by CartoonistsRights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgPBtwMHQd4&feature=plcp

Rougier-Chapman, Drew.  2012.
CRNI Interview of American-Canadian cartoonist Dan Murphy, July 5, 2012
Cartoonist Rights Network International July 10 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XttgbLhMqYk

Rougier-Chapman, Drew.  2012.
CRNI Interview of Iranian Canadian cartoonist Nik Kowsar, May 2012
 Aug 19, 2012 by CartoonistsRights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbqjQtyLov8

Iranian-Canadian cartoonist Nik Kowsar speaks out against the sentencing of Iranian cartoonist Mahmud Shokraye to 25 lashes for drawing a caricature of parliamentarian Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani. Nik notes that this awful punishment if enforced will set a terrible precedent.

Rougier-Chapman, Drew.  2012.
CRNI April 2012 Interview of Matt Wuerker on Ali Ferzat
 Jun 27, 2012 by CartoonistsRights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITR4o8TT0I

This is an audio interview of CRNI Board Member Matt Wuerker, the editorial cartoonist for Politico.com, about Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat. This April 2012 interview took place shortly after Time magazine released its annual edition of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Time magazine asked Matt Wuerker to write the article on Ali Ferzat. In this interview, CRNI Deputy Director Drew Rougier-Chapman asks Matt why he believes Ali was deemed one of the most influential people in the world.

Rougier-Chapman, Drew.  2012.
CRNI Interview of Venezuelan cartoonist Rayma Suprani, March 2012
Jul 3, 2012 by CartoonistsRights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOQWOCUjolc

This is a March 30, 2012, interview of Rayma Suprani. Rayma is an opinion writer and editorial cartoonist for the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal. The interview took place in Atlanta, Georgia at the Cartooning for Peace - America Inaugural Symposium. Rayma answered questions about the threats she has received after television host Mario Silva, on the Venezuelan state-run television program La Hojilla (The Razorblade), accused her of being a hate-filled racist and elitist. The accusations were in response to a cartoon by Rayma that criticizes the government's treatment of the homeless. Despite the on-air attacks on the state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) and the ensuing threats via Twitter, Rayma continues to bravely express her opinions.

Rougier-Chapman, Drew.  2012.
CRNI Interview of French cartoonist/editor Stéphane Charb Charbonnier, May 2012.
 Jul 4, 2012 by CartoonistsRights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqetKpsuIq4

This is an interview of French cartoonist Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier, the editor of the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Six months prior to this interview the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo were firebombed by Islamic extremists. The interview was conducted by Drew Rougier-Chapman, the Deputy Director of the Cartoonists Rights Network International.

Zunar 2011 CRNI Courage Award Acceptance Speech.
 Aug 19, 2012 by CartoonistsRights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zceicp3gGOs

Every year the Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) gives its Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning to a cartoonist in great danger or who has demonstrated exceptional courage in the exercise of free speech rights. On July 7, 2011, in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA, Malaysian cartoonist Zunar accepted the CRNI's Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning.

Wuerker on French Islam cartoons


Cartoonists Weigh In On The Cartoon Controversy
by Jordan G. Teicher
NPR.org September 25, 2012
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/24/161710200/cartoonists-weigh-in-on-the-cartoon-controversy

More on Cul de Sac's end

Furst Draft: End of the road for 'Cul de Sac'
Jay Furst
Posted: Sep 25, 2012
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1509477

Illness forces end of a comic road for 'Cul de Sac' strip
Boston Globe September 24, 2012
http://articles.boston.com/2012-09-24/arts/34037425_1_universal-uclick-happy-couples-share-ignatz

Snoopy in Navy Medicine

12-0186-015

Naval Hospital, Port Hueneme, 1973. Of All Things--Snoopy is a permanent resident in the Pediatric playroom. [Peanuts, comic strip].


published in Navy Medicine, September 1973.

BUMED Navy Medicine Historical Files Collection - Facilities - Port Hueneme #12-0186-015

Today is purportedly National Comic Book Day, and other comic strip bits

 
Meanwhile Sherman's Lagoon continues to explore Washington, with Sherman the shark enjoying the Reflecting Pool, thus giving park rangers another good reason to keep people from cooling their feet in the water.
 
Of note to me and a few other medical historians interested in popular culture, Baldo continues week 2 of introducing Rayna, who has polycystic kidney disease and attends school via a robot.
 
Mike Lester's Lester du Jour squeezes in 6 panels for its second appearance, but it's not carried on the Post's comics site yet.

Donald Duck in Navy medicine

I was filing some material at work today, and ran across this image of Donald Duck.
12-0185-003
There's two other uses of the same image in the book that can be seen on the Flickr site. The caption for this one is:
Disney's Donald Duck "Mob 8 Insignia" page 160 of The Story of U.S. Naval Mobile Hospital Number 8 by CAPT. William H.H. Turville, NY: Robert W. Kelly Publishing Corp, ca. 1946.
From BUMED's Navy Medicine Historical Files Collection - Facilities - Base Hospitals.  12-0185-003

PR: PEDESTRIAN update


September 25, 2012

PEDESTRIAN ePUB IS DONE

Gordon has uploaded the final digital version of PEDESTRIAN to Graphicly and it will be available for the iPad, Kindle, iOS, NOOK and even the web in the next week or two. It's currently being reviewed by Graphicly for final delivery and sale.

RayFB logo

BIG PLANET BOOK SIGNING THIS SATURDAY from 3 to 5 at 426 Maple Ave. East in Vienna, Virginia. Here's a picture of the store front. For those planning to come, the store is located in the Wolftrappe Shops plaza which is perpendicular to -- and hard to see from -- Maple Ave.

 



Monday, September 24, 2012

Oct 12: City Paper's Ben Claassen III's new book's launch party

Dirtfarm Release Party & Art Show
By Atomic Books

  • Ben Claassen III, creator of the strip Dirtfarm which runs in the Baltimore City Paper, has a new comic collection and artwork. Join us for a release party and exhibit!

    Adult beverages will be served.

'Cul de Sac' replacement announcements

Here's a nice article about the strip:


OFFBEAT: Cul de Sac comic ends as homage to 'dying yet mighty art form'
 By Philip Potempa philip.potempa@nwi.com,
September 24 2012
http://www.nwitimes.com/entertainment/columnists/offbeat/offbeat-cul-de-sac-comic-ends-as-homage-to-dying/article_855ad874-00c8-50c9-8657-48748fad59f3.html


and a podcast about the strip's end:


Tim Young, and Tom Spurgeon.
#331 The End of the Road for "Cul de Sac"
Deconstructing Comics podcast September 17th, 2012.
http://deconstructingcomics.com/?p=2849
http://media.libsyn.com/media/stingpin/120917.mp3


The Post is going with a new strip by Mike Lester:


'Mike du Jour' coming to The Post.

By Michael Cavna,

Washington Post September 24 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/mike-du-jour-coming-to-the-post/2012/09/23/083cec7c-0596-11e2-a8dc-fd7db4d7c996_story.html


Snuggle up to The Star's newest comic strip, 'Pooch Cafe'

Comic strip, about more than just dogs, debuts in FYI Monday.

By TIM ENGLE

The Kansas City Star 2012-09-23

 http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/23/3827242/snuggle-up-to-our-new-comic-strip.html


'Big Nate' replacing discontinued 'Cul de Sac' strip

Daily Progress September 23 2012

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2012/sep/23/big-nate-replacing-discontinued-cul-de-sac-strip-ar-2228308/


Vicki Menard
"Baby Blues" comic strip debuts in News-Review
 News-Review September 24, 2012
http://www.nrtoday.com/news/2635219-113/strip-baby-blues-comic

and Jimmy Delach has started summarizing statistics:

Which comic strips are trending after Cul de Sac retirement
 by Alan Gardner
Daily Cartoonist September 24, 2012
http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2012/09/24/which-comic-strips-are-trending-after-cul-de-sac-retirement/


Mike Lester's 'Mike du Jour' starts in the Post

'Mike du Jour' coming to The Post
By Michael Cavna,
Washington Post September 24 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/mike-du-jour-coming-to-the-post/2012/09/23/083cec7c-0596-11e2-a8dc-fd7db4d7c996_story.html

Ann Telnaes releases an iPhone political cartoon app

Ann Telnaes Releases Election-Themed App

 

Seattle, WA September 24, 2012 –  As interest in the 2012 presidential election builds, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes releases "POTUS Pick."

 

Is POTUS Pick an editorial cartoon?  Is it an app?  Telnaes explains "It is an interactive editorial cartoon created exclusively as an app.  So, it is an app cartoon."   Telnaes believes that POTUS Pick is the first editorial cartoon created exclusively as an app.

 

Telnaes has been intrigued by how apps could allow cartoonists to approach editorial cartoons in new ways.  "In print, users are passive – meaning that editors determine what they see."  She adds "Online, readers have more content choice but it's still a passive experience.  With apps, the evolution of the relationship between users and cartoons takes a big step forward due to the potential for interactive and non-linear content."

 

Telnaes created 24 original animation sequences for POTUS Pick.  Users experience and navigate among the sequences using a combination of touching, dragging and shaking their devices.  Telnaes notes that "the number of ways a user may proceed through the app cartoon is greater than the number of Romney gaffes."

 

Many of Telnaes' loyal readers may be surprised by how Telnaes treats both Romney and Obama in the app cartoon.  Considered by many to be on the liberal end of the political spectrum, Telnaes structured the app so that each received the same number of segments.  Telnaes notes "Romney may be the more well-known flip flopper but Obama has made his fair share."  As a cartoonist, Telnaes has a point-of-view and she states "now users are able to interact with it."

 

Is the first of many app cartoons?  She answers by noting that "while other cartoon apps help to reach new users with content that is available online, POTUS Pick goes in a different direction:  this is all new content created for a specific environment."  She adds "Hence the difference in cartoon app versus app cartoon."  She plans to make a decision about next steps when her computer has a chance to cool down following the generation of so much material for POTUS Pick.

 

The Cartoonist Group worked with Telnaes to produce the app and was inspired to do so by the desire to see how an app could support its efforts to license leading comics and cartoons for reprints.   Sara Thaves, Cartoonist Group's Founder, notes that "The links included in POTUS Pick take users to cartoons we know that they are interested in based on their purchase of the app."  She concludes "So, it is a win-win: the links add value to the app and app helps us reach a targeted audience."

 

About Ann Telnaes:  Ann Telnaes (Http://www.anntelnaes.com) is a Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist (2001) who now creates animated cartoons for the Washington Post. Telnaes attended California Institute of the Arts and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in character animation. Before beginning her career as an editorial cartoonist, Telnaes worked for several years as a designer for Walt Disney Imagineering. She has also animated and designed for various studios in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Taiwan. Her television and radio appearances include: - The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, C-Span, NPR, BBC radio, Sirius Radio, The Editors, World Affairs Television, Canada.

 

About the Cartoonist Group:  The Cartoonist Group (http://www.cartoonistgroup.com) markets the reprints of over fifty leading creators of comic strips and editorial cartoons, including nine winners of Pulitzer Prize.  In the process, the Cartoonist Group coordinates efforts with the cartoonists and with leading syndicates:  Creators, King Features and the Washington Post Writers Group.  The Cartoonist Group's inventory grows daily and now includes over 70,000 cartoons all of which are keyword-searchable as well as 14,000+ subject-specific pages accessible by web users.  The Cartoonist Group operates two affiliated sites, both of which offer the same search capabilities and subject-specific pages:  http://www.thecomicstrips.com and http://www.theeditorialcartoons.com/

 

App Summary:  In POTUS Pick users pick Obama, then Romney, then Obama,  then Romney – and in the process users may see the candidates flip-flop, hear them speak, make the candidates' noses grow, cause them to be buried under campaign cash and more.  The Cartoonist Group's link takes users to 1,500+ 2012 election-related cartoons by fifty leading cartoonists.

 

POTUS Pick (http://www.potuspick.com) is sold at the iTunes store  (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/potus-pick/id551868858?ls=1&mt=8) for .99$.

 

POTUS Pick is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5,  iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.
 
I saw a sample of this at the Editorial Cartoon convention a couple of weekends ago, and it looks like great fun - Mike

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Annapolis' Third Eye Comics site of Justin Jordan interview

 PREVIEWSworld Exclusive: A Brief Moment With Team Player, Justin Jordan
by Vince Brusio
September 2012
http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/71/977?articleID=125944
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHVvxkBX5WI

Lio and The Buckets pay tribute to Cul de Sac

Lio and The Buckets pay tribute this weekend to Cul de Sac, which ends today.

Thanks to Master Ibid for the tip.

Meet a Local Cartoonist: Megami Jadeheart, a Special Intervention Convention Interview




Megami Jadeheart is a local webcomics cartoonist who is appearing this weekend at Intervention Con in Gaithersburg. I suspect she’s operating under a non de plume, but being polite, I didn’t ask. Ms. Jadeheart has been taking a break from her ongoing strip, Annie a Space Western, for health reasons but it is planning on returning to it. She was inking panels when I asked her to do this interview.

ComicsDC: What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?

Megami Jadeheart: I tend to do full page continuing narrative style comics, in the style of American Graphic Novels and Japanese Manga.

ComicsDC: How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?

MJ: Different comics are worked different ways.  Annie is usually drawn in pencil and inked by hand.  Then scanned and colored or shaded, and lettered digitally, but there are some pages that were drawn entirely on the computer, and some that were colored with Copic markers.  Annie is my experimental art style comic.

MJ:  I have worked on another comic called Sword Of Survival, which is a Zombie apocalypse story that very, very rarely gets touched, that is worked completely digitally but in the style of charcoal drawings.

ComicsDC: When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?

MJ: I was born in the 80's in Dayton, Ohio.  There was a lot of corn and baseball when I was growing up.  And air shows.  The Dayton Air and Space Museum is awesome. XD.
 
ComicsDC: Why are you in Washington now?  What neighborhood or area do you live in?

Mom's work moved the family when I was ten, and after living briefly in Crofton and Bowie they settled us in Columbia.  I ran away to join the circus in Ithaca NY for a while though.

ComicsDC: What is your training and/or education in cartooning?

MJ: An associate’s degree in Fine Arts obtained at the wonderful HCC,  and most of an Animation Degree bounced off of it at UMBC.

ComicsDC: Who are your influences?

MJ: Spider-Man and Rumiko Takahashi.  A bit more seriously, my mother ran the art shows at science fiction conventions when I was a wee young thing, and was something of an artist herself.  She and her father always encouraged me in my art as a child, and after I lost my way in the confusion of middle school, my high school art teacher, Mrs. Coulson, reminded me that art was my love and passion, and encouraged me to push past the limits of a cartoony style and draw the real world.  She gave me a gentle push towards her art teacher, Jim Adkins, who teaches at HCC, and is one of the best artists, best teachers, and best people I have ever met.  He is right up there next to Stan Lee and Takahashi-San in my book.  Also, Phil Foglio and Wendi Pini.  Dear goodness, I probably misspelled all of those names.  This is why I draw and make people proofread my scripts.

ComicsDC: If you could, what in your career would you do-over or change?

MJ: I would have started earlier!   I also would have tried taking school down to part time when my health went bad, and tried finishing my animation degree.  I still love animating, and wish I got to do a little more of it.  Maybe if I get the chance, I'll animate part of Annie.

ComicsDC: What work are you best-known for?

MJ: Probably Annie, and a partially finished protect on DeviantArt where I set of to write a novelization of a video game.  That went over pretty well.

ComicsDC: What work are you most proud of?

MJ: Annie!  She is my baby, and my pride and joy.

ComicsDC: What would you like to do or work on in the future?

MJ: Dear goodness, there are so many other ideas.  Finish Annie, of course.  I want to work more on S.O.S.  There's a comedy series outlined called "The Adventures of Captain Michiko and the Starship Innuendo".  There's this theme in my work, I guess, women and space.  There's also a comic called I have a hundred or so pages thumbnailed for, inspired by a friend's novels.  But that one will wait to be released in tandem with the novel it's set during.

ComicsDC: What do you do when you're in a rut or have writer's block?

MJ: Spin my wheels in frustration.  For a while anyway.  Often, talking to my best friend will help me bring the idea bubbling back up.  And if I'm simply burnt out from doing, say, nothing but Annie for three to seven weeks, sometimes I just need to give my brain a vacation and go to one of the other worlds and work on S.O.S. or the novel one.  Or I play a video game, or I role play, or I sew something.  Sometimes your brain needs a break XD not to mention your hands.

ComicsDC:  What do you think will be the future of your field?

MJ: That's a tricky one.  Web comics are certainly big and very very accessible now.  I love print media, but web is so accessible, and there's no submission criteria.  You just do it and put it out there and people find you.  There are also people like Hussie of MS Paint who combine flash animation with comics and games, and I've seen both Marvel and Square-Enix play with adding games and interactivity to comics in app-comics for the iPad.  But in my personal experience and opinion, it doesn't always Add to the comic reading experience, to the story consuming and mood conveying, to have random mini games for the hell of it.  If multimedia is going to keep getting woven into comics, it needs to be done skillfully and very very intentionally.

ComicsDC: What local cons do you attend ? The Small Press Expo, Intervention, or others? Any comments about attending them?

MJ: Oh, I go to a lot of local cons.  Mostly Anime cons.  Intervention of course, Katsucon and Otakon.  Anime USA, CHS Otakufest and Tigercon. Anime Midatlantic, Nekocon.  I'll be going to Magfest for the first time this year, and will be looking into T-Mode and Zenkaikon, too. I'm even looking at Anime Boston.

ComicsDC: What's your favorite thing about DC?

MJ: The Smithsonian

ComicsDC: Least favorite?

MJ: How hard it is to drive through, and how awkward it can be to Metro around if you live outside Metro reach.

ComicsDC: What monument or museum do like to take visitors to?

MJ: Smithsonian!

ComicsDC: How about a favorite local restaurant?

MJ: My favorite local restaurant is, of course, up Columbia way.  There is a little family run sushi restaurant called Hanamura.  Best unagidon ever.

ComicsDC: Do you have a website or blog?

MJ: http://ww.emeraldixia.com . Also http://megamijadeheart.deviantart.com . But I am a notorious net hermit.  Shy until you get me talking.