Thursday, May 09, 2019

May 14: Mass Culture and The Elite: The Intersection of Popular Culture and the Fine Arts

Panel Discussion & Web Project Launch | Tuesday, May 14, 5:30 pm

Mass Culture and The Elite: The Intersection of Popular Culture and the Fine Arts

To what extent do elite culture and popular culture inform each other and shape one another? How do elements of culture shift back and forth between elite and popular? At what point did jazz music, for instance, cross over from a niche genre of popular music into a sophisticated and smart form of "high art"? How did comics transform from fleeting entertainment printed onto throwaway newspapers into an art form used for advanced narrative storytelling? When did the making and consumption of beer transition from unremarkable everyday routine to a "craft" as cosmopolitan as viticulture? How, why, and when does "culture" with a lowercase C become "Culture" with a capital C? Join the discussion, listen to jazz pianist Jon Ozment perform, chat with publisher Bill Campbell, and taste craft beer at the launch of The Elite and the Popular in the Arts on May 14.

Mass Culture and The Elite

Contact

Goethe-Institut Washington
1990 K St. NW, Suite 03
(entrance on 20th St. NW, lower level)
Washington, DC 20006, USA
Tel. +1 202 8474700
Fax +1 202 8474727
info-washington@goethe.de


Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "Defending the Embassy, Defending Liberty"


Another viewpoint from Mike Flugennock, DC's anarchist cartoonist:
"Defending the Embassy, Defending Liberty"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=2724

A new low was reached this week when, at the direction of the US Secret Service, Potomac Electric Power Co. cut off the electricity to the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, in an effort to force out members of Code Pink and other organizations there at the invitation of the staff defending the Embassy against a siege by thuggish supporters of the attempted putsch by US-backed fascist failson Juan "Guido" Guaidò.

This is in addition to ongoing attempts to prevent the delivery of food to the Embassy, ironically mirroring the economic warfare being waged against the people of Venezuela by the US Empire.

------------

"US cuts off power to Venezuelan Embassy with activists besieged inside", RT, 05.09.19
https://www.rt.com/usa/458837-embassy-blackout-activists-collective/

"24/7 Defense of Venezuelan Embassy", Code Pink
https://www.codepink.org/venezuela

The rest of Mark Fiore's winning RFK Award portfolio

The press release for the 2019 Robert F. Kennedy journalism award for editorial cartooning linked only to Mark Fiore's submission of his animated cartoons about the border crisis entitled "Family Separation in Cartoons." However, he also submitted one long-form and multiple single panel cartoons which contributed to his winning the award. I wrote to him today asking about them and he added the rest of his submission to his website. 




I encourage everyone to check them out and reflect on them.


May 18: Cartoonists at the Gaithersburg Book Festival

Gaithersburg Book Festival

Saturday  May 18, 2019 10am – 6pm

http://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/

Gaithersburg City Hall
31 South Summit Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Malaka Gharib

Latest Title: I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir

Malaka Gharib is a journalist at NPR. She is the author of "I Was Their American Dream," a graphic memoir about being Filipino-Egyptian-American. She is the founder of The Runcible Spoon, a food zine, and the co-founder of the D.C. Art Book Fair. She lives in a rowhouse with her husband in Washington, D.C.

Facebook

Twitter: @MalakaGharib

Author Schedule:

Venue(s): Rachel Carson Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:4:15 pm

Presentation End Time:5:05 pm

Signing Time:5:15 pm

Author Website:https://www.npr.org/people/469106148/malaka-gharib


Alex Graudins

Latest Title:

Science Comics: The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine

Alex Graudins is a a Rhode Island-based cartoonist and illustrator of "Science Comics: The Brain." She graduated from the School of Visual Arts' Cartooning program in 2016 and has since contributed comics to sites like The Nib and CollegeHumor. Alex loves drawing memoirs and YA fiction focusing on mental illness and friendship. But when she's not working, she challenges her social anxiety with improv comedy.

Twitter: @toonyballoony

Author Schedule:

Venue(s): Willa Cather Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:1:15 pm

Presentation End Time:2:05 pm

Signing Time:2:15 pm

Author Website:http://toonyart.com/


Gareth Hinds

Latest Title:

The Iliad

Gareth Hinds is a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator of critically-acclaimed graphic novels based on the classics, including "Beowulf," "The Odyssey," "POE: Stories and Poems," and now his most ambitious and epic book ever, "The Iliad." He also has illustrated picture books, such as "Gifts From the Gods," award-winning non-fiction such as "Samurai Rising," video games, museum exhibits, and more. Gareth is a recipient of the Boston Public Library's "Literary Lights for Children" award, and his books are excerpted in textbooks and used to teach the classics in English classrooms across the country.

Blog: Hindsight

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter: @garethhinds

Tumblr: garethhinds

Author Schedule:

Venue(s): Ogden Nash Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:10:00 am

Presentation End Time:11:05 am

Signing Time:11:15 am

Andy Hirsch

Latest Title: Science Comics: Trees: Kings of the Forest

Andy Hirsch is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Dallas, whose current projects include several entries in the totally great "Science Comics" line from First Second Books, including "Dogs," "Trees" and "Cats."

Andy is the co-creator of "The Baker Street Peculiars," illustrator of the graphic novel "The Royal Historian of Oz" (a 2013 YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens), and contributor to the "Garfield," "Regular Show" and "Adventure Time" ongoing comic book series. His first solo graphic novel, "Varmints," was released in 2016.

Facebook

Instagram: @itsandyhirsch

Twitter: @ItsAndyHirsch

Author Schedule:

Venue(s): Willa Cather Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:1:15 pm

Presentation End Time:2:05 pm

Signing Time:2:15 pm

Author Website:https://aforandy.com/


Paul Noth

Latest Title:

How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth

Paul Noth is a writer and artist whose cartoons appear regularly in The New Yorker and occasionally in other publications, including The Wall Street Journal. He was a regular guest writer for "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," for which he created the cartoon "Pale Force," and was an animation consultant for Saturday Night Live. He has also written for CBS's "The Late Late Show" and other television programs.  His latest book is "How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth."

Twitter: @PaulNoth

Author Schedule:

Venue(s):Willa Cather Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:12:15 pm

Presentation End Time:1:05 pm

Signing Time:1:15 pm

Dave Roman

Latest Title: Astronaut Academy: Re-entry

Dave Roman is a cartoonist and full-time waffle enthusiast. He is the author/illustrator of the "Astronaut Academy" series (winner of Maryland's Black-Eyed Susan Book Award) and writer of the graphic novels, "Teen Boat! Race for Boatlantis" and "Agnes Quill: An Anthology of Mystery." He has contributed stories and art to "Goosebumps Graphix: Slappy's Tales of Horror," "Pluto is Peeved!" and "Nursery Rhyme Comics."

Dave is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts, a former editor at Nickelodeon Magazine and is currently series editor for First Second's "Science Comics" series of non-fiction graphic novels. He lives in New York City and draws a webcomic called Starbunny, Inc.

Facebook

Twitter: @yaytime

 Author Schedule:

Venue(s): Willa Cather Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:1:15 pm

Presentation End Time:2:05 pm

Signing Time:2:15 pm

Author Website:http://yaytime.com/

May 11: Brian Jay Jones - Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination — at Politics and Prose at Union Market

Brian Jay Jones - Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination — at Politics and Prose at Union Market

As Dr. Seuss, Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991) wrote and illustrated more than sixty books, and nearly thirty years after his death many of these classics continue to sell as fast as ever. In his new biography, Jones, the author of bestselling lives of Jim Henson and George Lucas, recounts in detail the story of a man as colorful as the characters he invented. Geisel, who never had children, started drawing in college and then went into advertising, cartooning, and making training films during the Second World War. His shift into writing for children was gradual, driven by his determination to encourage children to read by making it fun—a focus that, along with the moral and environmental messages of books like The Lorax, revolutionized reading education.

 

This event is free to attend with no reservation required. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis.
Click here for more information.


Politics and Prose at Union Market   1270 5th Street NE   Washington   DC    20002

The City Paper reviews Pokemon movie 'Detective Pikachu'

Detective Pikachu Only Half-Earns Its Weird Existence

The first live-action movie of the worldwide sensation is better than it has any right to be—but that doesn't exactly make it a good film.

Washington City Paper May 8, 2019
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/film-tv/article/21067899/detective-pikachu-reviewed

Pokemon Detective Pikachu

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

Malaka Gharib's essay on being an American

Wonder Woman archives in Smithsonian Library

Smithsonian's Wonder Woman Collection is the Beginning

Mark Fiore wins the 2019 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award editorial cartoon category

From their press release on May 3rd:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - May 3, 2019 – Today, in celebration of World Press Freedom Day, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights has announced the winners of its 2019 Robert F. Kennedy Book & Journalism Awards. The author of the winning book selection and first place winners in 13 categories - including high school and college print and broadcast, international and domestic print and photography, new media, cartoon and more - will all be honored at a ceremony on Thursday, May 23 at 6:30 pm at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Historian, author and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’ Book Award Chair Michael Beschloss will serve as master of ceremonies joining the organization’s President Kerry Kennedy and Journalism Award Chair, playwright and author Margaret Engel in presenting the awards.  The full list of winners for each category is included below.

Professional and student journalist winners of the 2019 Journalism Awards chronicled topics including firsthand accounts of asylum seekers as part of a migrant caravan, the horrors of human trafficking, sex abuse, and gang life, the war in Yemen, and much more.  Their fearless exploration of controversial topics comes at a time of continued attacks on the press by the current administration in the US and abroad. The 2019 Book Award will be awarded to author Shane Bauer for his book American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment (Penguin Press) exploring the horrors of for-profit prisons, which he witnessed as an undercover corrections officer.

....

2019 Journalism Award winners were selected from a pool of over 300 applicants in thirteen categories which are reviewed by professionals from across the media landscape.  The Book Award was chosen from a field of nearly 100 applicants. Judges for the award included historian and author Ted Widmer; Georgetown University Law Professor and author, Peter Edelman; and Harvard University Law Professor, Annette Gordon Reed.

Please see below for a complete list of this year’s winners & RSVP to our May 23rd Event: 

“Family Separation in Cartoons”
KQED News and online news outlets
Mark Fiore

Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award's Editorial Cartoon winners 2020-1983


Harvested from Wikipedia and the AAEC's website, here are the past winners.

2020: J.D. Crowe, "J.D. Crowe 2019 work," Alabama Media Group

2019: Mark Fiore

2018: Ruben Bolling, "Tom the Dancing Bug" Syndicated by Andrews McMeel Syndication

2017: Mike Thompson, "The Flint Water Scandal," Detroit Free Press

2016: Angelo Lopez, "Editorial Cartoons," Philippines Today

2015: Darrin Bell, "Darrin Bell 2014 Editorial Cartoons," The Washington Post Writers Group

2014: David Horsey, "Portfolio by David Horsey," Los Angeles Times

2013: Jen Sorensen, self-syndicated

2012: Stephanie McMillan, "The Beginning of the American Fall and Code Green" South Florida Sun-Sentinel

2011: Gary Varvel, "The Path to Hope" The Indianapolis Star

2010: Bill Day, Series of cartoons, United Feature Syndicate

2009: Jack Ohman, The Oregonian

2008: Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News

2007: Clay Bennett, Christian Science Monitor

2006: John Backderf, "The City"

2005: Mark Fiore

2004: John Sherffius

2003: Dan Perkins ("Tom Tomorrow"), "This Modern World"

2002: Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News

2001: Matt Davies,The Journal News

2000: Ted Rall, Universal Press Syndicate

1999: Joel Pett, Lexington Herald Leader

1998: Dan Perkins ("Tom Tomorrow"), "This Modern World"

1997: Doug Marlette, Newsday

1996: Walt Handelsman, Times Picayune

1995: Ted Rall, Chronicle Features

1994: Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Constitution

1993: Paul Conrad, Los Angeles Times

1992: Paul Conrad, Los Angeles Times

1991: Wiley Miller, San Fransisco Examiner

1990: Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News

1988: Don Wright, Miami News

1987: Sam Rawls, Atlanta Constitution

1986: Bill Day, Detroit Free Press

1985: Paul Conrad, Los Angeles Times

1984: Doug Marlette, Charlotte Observer

1983: Don Wright, Miami News

Book Launch Tour: Little Girls (plus musical guests) at Fantom Comics


Book Launch Tour: Little Girls (plus musical guests)

The creative team behind Image Comics' graphic novel LITTLE GIRLS is going on tour and coming to Fantom Comics! In addition to signing their debut graphic novel, LITTLE GIRLS, they are also collaborating with local bands at each stop for a live music & comics event!

The book's synopsis:
Something hunts people on the outskirts of town… Sam and Lielet are two new friends living in Ethiopia. They're dealing with the kind of problems that all kids have: judgmental social cliques, condescending adults, alienation… and a legendary brain-eating monster straight out of folklore. Sure, it's not going to be easy, but all they have to do is live through it. Showcasing a quietly unsettling plot and building tension similar to NICK DRNASO's Sabrina and ADRIAN TOMINE's Killing and Dying, debut creative team NICHOLAS AFLLEJE and SARAH DeLAINE construct a poignant story of otherness and mystery.

Musical Guests:
BRNDA -- https://brendadc.bandcamp.com/
Miss, Understand Me -- https://missunderstandme.bandcamp.com/



Find Fantom Comics at:
www.fantomcomics.com
www.twitter.com/fantomcomics
www.facebook.com/fantomcomics

Tuesday, May 07, 2019

Historic newspaper collection is available

The newspapers are a nationwide selection and include comics. A story in the Washington Post is here and details are here.

Catching up - Marc Singer blogs at The Fifth World

Marc Singer blogs at The Fifth World and apparently has been doing so for some time - like a year and a half - http://www.thefifth.world/2017/10/meet-marc-singer-but-not-that-one.html

His latest post is on Avengers: Endame with spoilers so we'll link to one earlier this year about the failures of The Man of Steel movie - http://www.thefifth.world/2019/01/fixing-man-of-steel.html

Monday, May 06, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Steve Artley

My cartoon, "Scars and Stripes."
    —Steven G. Artley, artleytoons

click on image for larger view

@2019 Steven G Artley • artleytoons ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Those Were The Happy Days! sample from the Washington Star in 1940

Pete Mullaney has been looking through scans of the Washington Star for old comic strips and passed this one along.

Those Were The Happy Days! by Dick Mansfield is from the Washington Star January 7, 1940. Note the mentions of Washington Market, Hagerstown, and Alexandria, although most of the cartoon is generic reminiscences of the past. Today, the Post runs the similar Flashbacks strip by Patrick Reynolds, but that's produced in Pennsylvania.

Dick Mansfield was a DC police inspector though, and actually made it up to Hagerstown on occasion. Markus Ring (whom I knew, in the small world department) recalled the strip in 1997 although his memory placed it in the 1920s.

That darn Zits and Pearls Before Swine

Local collectors Apatoff and Minow featured in alumni mag

In This Marriage, Everyone's a Critic

Nell Minow '74 and David Apatoff '74 have fashioned careers mixing the corporate with the artistic.

Written by John T. Ward

Photos by Mike Morgan

Sarah Lawrence Magazine—Spring 2019

Local cartoonists Telnaes and Wuerker in art auction

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is having an auction of editorial cartoons at https://one.bidpal.net/rcfpawards19/browse/all
Local cartoonists Matt Wuerker and Ann Telnaes both donated an original watercolor. Additionally, there's a cartoon by Herblock award winner Matt Davies.

The auction ends on May 8th apparently.


May Events at Fantom Comics

Fantom is celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with the following events. Link to our Facebook event page for the full details on each event.


May 12th - D&D Night



May 19th - LGBTQ+ Book Club - Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (part of the APAHM series)

May 25th - Comics Workshop

May 25th - Latin Dancing for Nerds

May 26th - Newsprint & Endgames Book Club (part of APAHM series)

Every Monday - Comics & Cocktails at The Big Hunt starting at 6:30 pm

Sunday, May 05, 2019

Herblock prize ceremony online, Clay Jones comments, and more

Matt Davies, 2019 Herblock Prize Winner

Matt Davies is the editorial cartoonist for Newsday in NY and has won both the 2004 Pulitzer Prize and the 2001 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism prize. In 2004, he was awarded the first ever Herblock Prize. In 2017, he received the National Headliner Award and was also a runner up/finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 and 2016.

Herblock Summary

Clay Jones