Sunday, September 22, 2013

D.C. Conspiracy meet and greet at the Artisphere

Photos from last night's D.C. Conspiracy meet and greet at the Artisphere to celebrate the Comics Making Workshop/Magic Bullet exhibit, which runs through Nov. 3. (Photos mostly by Rafer Roberts; a few by me).

Cartoons at National Book Festival day 1

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Those darn comics!

Letter to the Editor
Fools aspire to match 'Pearls Before Swine's' wit
Andy Moursund, Kensington
Ruth Salinger, Bethesda
Washington Post September 21 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fools-aspire-to-match-pearls-before-swines-wit/2013/09/20/288430be-1f01-11e3-9ad0-96244100e647_story.html

Today and tomorrow: Cartoonists at the National Book Festival

Saturday Sept 21: 4:00-4:30 Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm are brother-and-sister collaborators on the children's graphic novel series "Babymouse" and "Squish"; their most recent volumes are "Extreme Babymouse" and "Squish: Game On!" Jennifer has also written the novels "Turtle in Paradise" and "Penny from Heaven," as well as the "May Amelia" and "Boston Jane" series. Signing at 2.

11:50-12:35 Brad Meltzer offers this advice to budding writers: "Don't let anyone tell you no. I got 24 rejection letters on my first novel." A week after the 24th rejection, he began the book that became the best-selling "The Tenth Justice." His new thriller is "The Fifth Assassin." Signing at 1.

Sunday:

Noon-12:45 Lynda Barry is the author of 19 books, and her work has appeared in such publications as Vanity Fair, Esquire, the New York Times and Salon. She is assistant professor in interdisciplinary creativity at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a fellow at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. Her new graphic novel is "The Freddie Stories." Signing at 1.

12:55-1:40 Gilbert Hernandez collaborated with his brothers Jaime and Mario to create the "Love and Rockets" comic book series, to which he regularly contributes stories. His latest works are "Marble Season," "Julio's Day" and "The Children of Palomar." Signing at 3.

1:50-2:35 Jaime Hernandez's primary contributions to "Love and Rockets" (see preceding entry) are the "Locas" stories, which focus on a group of Latinas in California, where he grew up. His latest work is in "Love and Rockets: The Covers." Signing at 3.

3:40-4:25 Fred Chao wrote and illustrated the graphic novel "Johnny Hiro," which was included in "The Best American Comics 2010." His new graphic novel is "Johnny Hiro: Half Asian, All Hero." Signing at 4:45.

The Holms did a piece for Team Cul de Sac and are in that book. I'll be doing the interview with Jaime Hernandez.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Last weekend to back Cartozia Kickstarter campaign

Washington's Michael Wenthe's Cartozia anthology comic, done with Isaac Cates, is down to the wire on it's fundraising campaign. Click here for the latest update and to pledge.

Dust Elves Website

September 20, 2013

Dust Elves Website is live.

Many thanks to all those who stopped by to see Gordon at the Small Press Expo last weekend. It was quite overwhelming, so kudos to those that made it out alive (and with money still in the bank).

For those that couldn't be there, copies of The Secret Origin of the Dust Elves are now available on the website. Just click here or on the image above.

The Post reviews play based around Simpsons

'Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play,' from Woolly Mammoth debut to off-Broadway smash

By Peter Marks, Washington Post September 20 2013

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/mr-burns-a-post-electric-play-from-woolly-mammoth-debut-to-broadway-smash/2013/09/19/ca29076e-2159-11e3-ad1a-1a919f2ed890_story.html

Sept 22: Jaime Hernandez interview at Book Festival

I was asked if I would interview Love & Rockets' cartoonist Jaime Hernandez this Sunday at the Library of Congress Book Festival. Please come by, or feel free to suggest any questions you'd like me to ask.

1:50-2:35 interview

Jaime Hernandez

3:00-4:00 Signing

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Team Cul de Sac panel at Baltimore Comic-Con

ZARVOX PRESENTS: The Team Cul De Sac – BCC13 Panel

EPISODE 244
Download! Subscribe! iTunes! Stitcher!

The Carolyn and Joe Show has been hijacked by aliens once again!
The alien warlord ZARVOX has intercepted the original show that was intended to be released this week and has used their alien technology to rewarp what they believe is a more important show to broadcast on the Carolyn and Joe Show, The Baltimore Comic Con 2013 – TEAM CUL DE SAC panel with Barbara Dale, Dawn Griffin, Carolyn Belefski, Chris Sparks and Joe Sutliff. Enjoy…humans.

Taking aim at video games--again

The Daily Beast responds to the links between violent video games and the Washington Navy Yard shooter--and reminds folks comic books were once considered a menace to society, too.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Sept 21: Fubar signing at Beyond Comics

For immediate release

FUBAR: AMERICAN HISTORY Z signing

The intrepid men of the American historical zombie series FUBAR will be participating in a mass signing at Beyond Comics in Frederick, Maryland on Saturday, the 21st of September.

Over eight contributors to this New York Times Best Selling series will be on hand signing and sketching books from 12-4. Included in this lineup of small press commandos are local creators Mike Imboden, Rafer Roberts and John Shine. They will be signing copies of their new release, FUBAR American History Z, which chronicles zombie outbreaks throughout all of American history, spanning from the discovery of the new world to modern warfare.

FUBAR is an American historical fiction zombie comic book series now into its third volume. The first two volumes, FUBAR European Theater of the Damned, and FUBAR Empire of the Rising Dead, both followed the events of a zombie outbreak in World War II. This third volume, American History Z, spans ALL of American history which should appeal to fans of "The Walking Dead", horror in general and the zombie sub-genre in particular.

For more information, please contact:

Beyond Comics

Jon Cohen

5632 Buckeystown Pike

Frederick, MD 21704

(301)668-8202

jon@beyondcomics.com

"Art and Style of Graphic Novels" pictures

Bruce Guthrie's put his photos online of the Politics & Prose Panel "Art and Style of Graphic Novels" with Glen Weldon, Laura Lee Gulledge, Rutu Modan, Matt Phelan, and Gene Yang.

Local creators out and about this Sat.

This Saturday from noon to 5p.m. Matt Dembicki (that's me!) will be at the National Book Festival in the Pavilion of the States (Wisconsin booth) signing promo posters for the upcoming Wild Ocean anthology from Fulcrum Publishing.

Meanwhile, Rafer Roberts, John Shine and a handful of other contributors to Fubar: American History Z will be signing copies of the anthology at Beyond Comics in Frederick, Md., on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

At night, head over to the Artisphere in Arlington, Va., for a meet-and-greet with the D.C. Conspiracy as part of the group's Comics Making Workshop gallery. That runs from 6-9 p.m. and will include music by Triage, a local band that includes D.C. Conspirator Jacob Warrenfeltz.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

'District Comics' up for a Shel Dorf Award

District Comics: An Unconventional History of Washington, D.C., which includes many D.C.-area comics writers and artists, is a 2013 Shel Dorf Award nominee in the category of best original graphic novel. Voting is open to everyone, so support your favorites.

Free government mental health comic book

People Recover

Educational Comic Book: Co-Occurring Disorders

Price: FREE (shipping charges may apply)

Uses a comic book format to tell the story of people who are dealing with co-occurring disorders. Presents a hopeful message of recovery for people with a substance use disorder and mental illness, and provides resources for more information.

People Recover

This comic can also be downloaded from the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

'March' artist Powell interviewed

Hogan, John. 2013.
Time Marches On: Nate Powell Discusses March.
Graphic Novel Reporter
(September):http://graphicnovelreporter.com/content/time-marches-nate-powell-discusses-march-interview

Comic Riffs checks in with Gene Yang

2013 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS: 'Boxers & Saints' graphic novelist Gene Yang calls long-list honor 'mind-blowing'

By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog September 17 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/2013-national-book-awards-boxers-and-saints-graphic-novelist-gene-yang-calls-long-list-honor-mind-blowing/2013/09/17/c906b17e-1fc9-11e3-b7d1-7153ad47b549_blog.html#pagebreak

Jacob Warrenfeltz's new Tumblr for King Ink Comics

http://kinginkcomics.tumblr.com/ is the site

Holocaust education through comics

Forward has an article about Washington, D.C.'s David Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies launching an initiative to enlist comics powerhouses such Stan Lee, Joe Quesada, Harlan Ellison and Art Spiegelman to educate Americans about the Shoah and other genocides.

Tonight: Gene Yang at Cleveland Park Library

Note the change in venue.

Gene Yang Boxers & Saints at Cleveland Park Library
Tuesday, September 17, 7 pm
Yang, a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Printz Award, discusses Boxers & Saints (First Second Books, $34.99), his most recent graphic novel, which tells two parallel stories within the Boxer Rebellion—one of the most controversial episodes of modern Chinese history.

His publisher announced that he's a finalist for a National Book Award:

GENE LUEN YANG’S BOXERS & SAINTS MAKES THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST

The National Book Awards announced their Longlist in the category of Young People’s Literature this morning, including Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel diptych about the Boxer Rebellion, Boxers & Saints.

Boxers & Saints is the only graphic novel to make the list. This follows Yang’s American Born Chinese, the first graphic novel ever to be a finalist for the National Book Awards.

Boxers & Saints has received critical praise from across the industry: “Read this, and come away shaking,” says Newbery Honor-winning author Gary Schmidt, while Dave Eggers calls the book “masterful.” The Guardian says it is “remarkable,” while The LA Times calls it “at once humorous and heartbreaking” and The Washington Post describes it as “epic.”

Boxers & Saints is one of the most ambitious graphic novels First Second has ever published. It offers a penetrating insight into not only one of the most controversial episodes of modern Chinese history, but into the very core of our human nature, tackling the difficult subjects of nationalism, faith, and coming-of-age. Gene Luen Yang is rightly called a master of the comics form, and he brings all his formidable talents to bear in this astonishing new work.

In two volumes, Boxers & Saints tells two parallel stories. The first is of Little Bao, a Chinese peasant boy whose village is abused and plundered by Westerners claiming the role of missionaries. Little Bao, inspired by visions of the Chinese gods, joins a violent uprising against the Western interlopers. Against all odds, their grass-roots rebellion is successful. But in the second volume, Yang lays out the opposite side of the conflict. A girl whose village has no place for her is taken in by Christian missionaries and finds, for the first time, a home with them. As the Boxer Rebellion gains momentum, Vibiana must decide whether to abandon her Christian friends or to commit herself fully to Christianity.

Gene Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. He was an established figure in the independent comics scene when he published his first book with First Second, American Born Chinese, which is now in print in over ten languages. ABC's instant critical and commercial success, along with its status as a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Printz Award, catapulted Yang into stardom as a brilliant writer for teens and young adults.

Here’s a link to the full list of nominees: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2013.html#.UjcMh39Cxc-