Sunday, August 18, 2019

Cul de Sac comic strips and books auctioned to save bookstore


Several thousand dollars were raised today through auctions of Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac original art, books, and other works,to assist One More Page Bookstore in paying an unexpected large tax bill.

As the bookstore faced a Draconian tax increase, books Richard had signed before his death, along with 2 strips newly donated by Amy Thompson, sold to fans of the cartoonist, including one strip to local cartoonist Daniel Boris. A quick calculation is that Richard provided about $2600 in sales or 12.5% of the auction proceeds (but check the math before quoting me).

One More Page was dear to Richard, hosting him for their first booksigning (before the store had even opened), for his first Cul de Sac collection. After he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, the store held fundraisers for Team Cul de Sac to raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Richard passed away just barely over three years ago.

The store's auction site described the original art as such:

American illustrator and cartoonist Richard Thompson was best known for his syndicated comic strip Cul de Sac. Richard received the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 2010. We are huge fans of Richard's work and were thrilled when he agreed to do an event at OMP when we first opened. Over the years, he was a invaluable supporter, promoting OMP and signing countless books to be shipped to fans worldwide.
Richard's wife, Amy, generously donated this original artwork of a panel of Cul de Sac ("Trick or Treat" panel #111031), his strip which focused on a four-year-old girl, Alice Otterloop, and her daily life at preschool and at home. Cul de Sac was published in more than 70 newspapers by the fall of 2007 and was distributed nationally as both a daily and Sunday strip by Universal Press Syndicate.
Bill Watterson, created of Calvin and Hobbes, praised Thompson's work: 
"I thought the best newspaper comic strips were long gone, and I've never been happier to be wrong. Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac has it all—intelligence, gentle humor, a delightful way with words, and, most surprising of all, wonderful, wonderful drawings."
"Cul de Sac's whimsical take on the world and playful sense of language somehow gets funnier the more times you read it. Four-year-old Alice and her Blisshaven Preschool classmates will ring true to any parent. Doing projects in a cloud of glue and glitter, the little kids manage to reinterpret an otherwise incomprehensible world via their meandering, nonstop chatter. But I think my favorite character is Alice's older brother, Petey. A haunted, controlling milquetoast, he's surely one of the most neurotic kids to appear in comics. These children and their struggles are presented affectionately, and one of the things I like best about Cul de Sac is its natural warmth. Cul de Sac avoids both mawkishness and cynicism and instead finds genuine charm in its loopy appreciation of small events. Very few strips can hit this subtle note."

Friday, August 16, 2019

NPR's Weldon on Legion's end

'Legion' Ends Its Three-Season-Long Strange Trip

Did you buy your Return of Superman watch at Hecht's in 1993?

Ad from the Washington Post September 13, 1993. I wonder what there was in the series besides the 'death' and the 'return?'

The Post reviews The Angry Birds Movie 2

'The Angry Birds Movie 2' is better than you think. Wait, we're serious [in print as A sequel that flies above what most expect from video-game films].

RVA's latest comics column

More on Otakon from Scoop

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Steve Artley

"A Wretched Refuse Welcome" (click on Image for larger view)


Pokemon in DC this weekend

The planet's best Pokémon players will face off at the 2019 World Championships in D.C. [in print as Ready for battle: The planet's best Pokémon players will face off this weekend at the 2019 World Championships]

Local artists Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson profiled

They've been SPX attendees for years.

They left their corporate jobs to write kids' books in a barn. But a fairy-tale life is hard work. [in print as Balancing act: Making kids' books is a dream. It's also hard work.]

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Steve Artley

"BOOM Economy(click on Image for larger view)


LoC blogs on samurai animals in comics

I can't believe they have Samurai Penguin.

Let's Talk Comics: Samurai Animals

Aug 17: Art Lab: Creating Comics with Julian Lytle


Art Lab: Creating Comics with Julian Lytle


Aug 17 1-2 pm
Apple Carnegie Library

801 K Street NW

Washington, DC 20001

Create a comic that tells your story with cartoonist and podcast creator Julian Lytle. He'll share his belief that comics are a contemporary way to share stories regardless of technical experience and take you through the steps to creating a comic in the Procreate app. Using creative prompts from Lytle, you'll sketch characters and scenes on iPad with Apple Pencil.


J. Michael Straczynski photos by Bruce Guthrie

From the event at Politics and Prose -

J. Michael Straczynski - Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood
Straczynski is best known as the creator of the Babylon 5 and Sense8 TV shows, but his amazing four-decade career also encompasses screenwriting—Changeling, Thor, and World War Z—writing for several D.C. and Marvel Comics' series, and creating his own award-winning graphic works. Now in this stunning memoir he tells his own story—perhaps his most fantastic feat yet. Straczynski grew up in the care of adults variously damaged by addiction, mental illness, and poverty. His only refuge from the misery was comic books, and he gradually realized that he, too, could invent alternate worlds. But even as he managed to take power over his future, a terrible secret in his family's past continued to haunt him. 


Mo Willems at the Kennedy Center

Mo Willems brings a little silliness into the Kennedy Center's storied halls

The 'Pigeon' author and illustrator is the center's first education artist-in-residence.