Friday, April 06, 2018

April 18: Jade Feng Lee (aka Dumpling Heart) at Fantom Comics

Jade Feng Lee (aka Dumpling Heart) appears at Fantom Comics on Wednesday, April 18th at 7:00 PM to sign her variant cover for Steven Universe #15 from Boom! Studios.

RSVP on Facebook!

Fantom Comics
2010 P St NW, Washington, DC 20036
202-241-6498

Scoop on Awesome Con

On March 30 through April 1, 2018, comics and pop culture fans traveled to Washington, DC for the annual Awesome Con. Here we present photos of booths, exhibits, guests, and cosplayers that could be found throughout the convention center. Photos were provided by Gemstone Associate Editor Amanda Sheriff.



Count Gore De Vol, the popular TV and internet horror host from the Washington, DC area, was among the many celebrity guests at Awesome Con. Scoop stopped by his booth during the event to chat about conventions, the upcoming anniversary of his show, and how he got into horror hosting.

Thursday, April 05, 2018

NPR interviews Ed Piskor

From B-Boys To X-Men: Alt-Comics' Ed Piskor Goes Mainstream


April 26: Tom Toles at National Press Club

Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles speaks and sings at Silver Owls Hoot on April 26

April 4, 2018 | By Richard Ryan


Tom Toles, the Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist, will headline the National Press Club Silver Owls' Spring Hoot at 6 p.m. Thursday, Apr. 26, in the ballroom. He also will sing and play with his rock band, Suspicious Package.

This will be his and the band's second appearance at a Hoot. The last time, in 2015, was a sellout, so early reservations are recommended.

The Hoot is open to all Club members and their guests. Tickets are $35, which include dinner preceded by a cash bar. Reservations can be made at press.org or by contacting the Club's reservations department at 202-662-7501 or reservations@press.org.

Toles, whose work appears in some 100 newspapers, will discuss the current status and future of editorial and political cartooning. He also plays drums and sings harmony with his five-piece rock band that has appeared in numerous venues in Washington.

Toles has been drawing his award winning cartoons at the Washington Post since 2002. He previously served as editorial cartoonist for the Buffalo News, Buffalo Courier-Express, New York Daily News, The New Republic, and U.S. News and World Report.

Toles won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1990 and was a finalist on two other occasions. He was named Cartoonist of the Year by Editor and Publisher magazine in 2002 and by the National Cartoonists Society a year later. He received a National Headliners Award in 2005 and the Herblock Prize, named for his predecessor at the Post, in 2011.

Wm. L. Brown cartoon: Fox News Executive Branch

Local cartoonist/illustrator William L. Brown issues a weekly wordless (usually) commentary.



Wednesday, April 04, 2018

Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "Blue Wave"

From DC's anarchist cartoonist Mike Flugennock:

"Blue Wave"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=2449

From all the howling in the MSM these days, you'd think they were expecting not just a "Blue Wave", but a "Blue Tsunami" -- except the numbers say they'll be lucky to get a "Blue Ripple", and in Texas right now it's looking more like a "Blue Tidepool", pitting a bland corporate-looking white-boy Democrat against an incumbent whose head is sculpted entirely of suet pudding.

This on top of the fact that on social media, the Democratic Party politburo, trolls and fangirls are going with the formula that worked so well for them last time:

• Run a bland, donor class-approved corporate Centrist.
• Threaten and shame Left voters.
• Gaslight, insult, and lie to Left voters.
• Bully and smear Left electoral challengers.
• Hope the GOP candidate is revealed to be a pedophile.

Cowabunga, dudes.


Fine Books blog on Drawn to Purpose exhibit

"Drawn to Purpose" Book Launch at the Library of Congress Tackles Gender Bias in Art


April 7: 'Not Too High, Not Too Low' panel discussion

The panel discussion on April 7 (2-4 p.m.) will feature some of the artists from the gallery exhibition "Not Too High, Not Too Low" Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Hyattsville, Md. This event is free an open to the public.

Per the Facebook event page: "Engage and learn more from the women behind not too high, not too low! Curator Amy Lokoff is joined by artists Jessica Agüero, Toni Lane, Anna Sellheim, and Lenora Yerkes from not too high, not too low for an intimate conversation about their work in the show, artistic influences, diversity in comics, and DC's zine scene. Bring your questions and curiosity!"

Contributing artists to the exhibit.


Tuesday, April 03, 2018

Awesome Con photos at Brightest Young Things

New non-comics children's book from Marc Tyler Nobleman

Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real



Published by Clarion and luminously illustrated by Eliza Wheeler, it's out 4/24/18—but the biggest way one can support an upcoming book is by pre-ordering it. Why? See the P.S.

Also, ordering now will ensure it arrives in time to prepare for fairy-finding season. Let's say that's May.

Options:

P.S. Pre-sales...

  • indicate a book's potential, which may encourage retailers to increase order quantities
  • count toward first week sales, which improves the chances a book makes a bestseller list
  • boost visibility, which may trigger sales via other ways (word of mouth, hand-selling by booksellers, press coverage, etc.)

April 7: Fantom Comics -Writers Workshop & Isola Signing with Brenden Fletcher

Saturday, April 7 (3:00pm – 10:00pm) – Writers Workshop & Isola Signing with Brenden Fletcher – Motor Crush. Gotham Academy. Batgirl. Black Canary. Power Rangers: Pink. Attack on Titan. Assassin's Creed. Brenden Fletcher's writing has something for everyone, and with his brand-new series, Isola, he's taking on the world of high fantasy with a story 20 years in the making! Come chat with us and Brenden as we learn more about our new favorite comic! Refreshments will be served!

Monday, April 02, 2018

Retrofit / Big Planet Comics publishing Kickstarter

2018 Kickstarter launched!
Posted by Retrofit Comics (Creator)

Hi again everyone,

We just wanted to let you know our NEW Kickstarter for our 2018 lineup has just launched! We are publishing 12 graphic novels this year, and we hope you will continue to support us! We're really excited about all of these, please check out the new page for images and descriptions.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/retrofitcomics/retrofit-comics-2018-12-new-graphic-novels


PR: DC Zinefest 2018: Digital registration opens Friday, April 6th


Dear zinesters,

We're excited to announce the start of our digital registration on Friday, April 6 at 12pm EDT. Visit our website at dczinefest.com to register for a table to represent your zines. Demand for tables is high, so don't delay!

DC Zinefest 2018 will take place on Saturday, July 21st 2018 at a new location: Art Enables in Northeast DC.

We are once again offering a grant to help elevate the voices of people that are often marginalized in the zine community:
  • people of color
  • people with disabilities
  • people who identify as LGBTQIA+
  • people who earn low incomes

Each grant gets you $50 and a quarter table at the fest. Grant applications are included as part of the online registration. If you've already applied through mail-in, don't worry! We'll ask you about your interest when we get in touch about tabling information. In an effort to make sure that as many people hear about this grant as possible, grant submissions will remain open even after all other tables are full. If more people are interested than there are grants available, awarding of grants will be decided by a lottery.


Please contact us with any comments or questions. Thanks!


- Your DC Zinefest organizers


--


DC Zinefest

dczinefest@gmail.com

dczinefest.com | twitter | facebook 

Zinefest 2018 = Saturday, July 21st


Comics writer Mike Cowgill has a short story online

Hedge Apple Magazine

Today's featured piece is Michael Cowgill's adorable short story, "This Girl" about an all-female Beatles tribute band.
http://hedgeapplemagazine.com/?p=1828

From the Artleytoons Vault

From the Vault of Artleytoons
This cartoon, "Reagan’s Leaky Leaks" from 1986 addressed an aggressive U.S.G. disinformation campaign directed toward Libyian strong-arm leader Moammar Kadafi. The campaign released false statements and purposely crafted fake leaks to the American Press designed to destabilize the Lybian regime. The operation was devised to provoke Kadafi into careless acts of terrorism, thus justifying U.S. military strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi. Once the real story was leaked to W.P. reporter Bob Woodward, the Administration scrambled to identify the person(s) responsible for disclosing the classified Op. In the end, no Administration heads rolled and President Reagan — known to be a bit too loose-lipped whenever he went off script — managed to keep his Teflon coating intact. (click on images for larger view).

See more recent work by Steve Artley at Artleytoons



Click on image for larger view

Library of Congress exhibit on women cartoonists featuring in Chicago Tribune

Back to the drawing table? Women have been there all along, says the book/exhibit 'Drawn to Purpose'


Darcel Rockett
Chicago Tribune March 30 2018
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-drawn-to-purpose-20180327-story.html



Sunday, April 01, 2018

Staake does the Simpsons in The Post

Style Invitational Week 1273: Come to our aid(e) — restocking the Cabinet [in print as Har heads; winning bank headlines]

Tell us who (or what!) would be a better hire in a federal job; plus winning 'bank heads'



He'd probably give a better "60 Minutes" interview, too. (Bob Staake for The Washington Post, with apologies to Matt Groening and "The Simpsons" )


That darn Pastis

This 'Pearls Before Swine' speaks for a lot of parents and teachers [in print as This comic spoke for a lot of parents]

Joseph Maniscalco, Bluffton, S.C.

Washington Post March 31 201, p. A13

online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-pearls-before-swine-speaks-for-a-lot-of-parents-and-teachers/2018/03/29/c8408170-322a-11e8-b6bd-0084a1666987_story.html


National Archives blogs on Clifford Berryman

Play Ball!

a0111

President Theodore Roosevelt dodges "amendments" to the proposed Hepburn Rate Act, by Clifford Berryman, 5/12/1906. (National Archives Identifier 306091)

...and, for the record, the Cosmos Club in DC has 10 original Berryman cartoons in its billiards room that I didn't know about before.




Awesome Con Sunday photos

I popped back in for a couple of hours today and saw some local cartoonists I'd missed on Friday, met and was upsold by Neal Adams, saw Bruce Guthrie taking photos, and enjoyed more of the Con that I don't usually go to like the children's section.

Here's more local people...

Joe Sergi whose done a law history book - The Law for Comic Book Creators - that I'm looking forward to reading. Watch for an interview with him coming soon.

Jared Smith of Big Planet Comics; I can always find something in their cheap graphic novels.

Marc Hempel, Sandman artist who lives around Baltimore.

Mark Wheatley of Insight Studios. We're going to have an interview with him about his book illustration work.

Arsia Rozegar who's illustrating a Persian epic now.

And some pictures for fun.


Wonder Woman and Batman cosplayers in mail. They clanked.

Starlord and Gamora cosplayers taking a break.

A signing line at the DC Comics booth.