Nov 8: Brad Meltzer & Chris Eliopoulos | Xavier Riddle

NBF Presents: Brad Meltzer & Chris Eliopoulos | Xavier Riddle

Please join us for a special evening with Brad Meltzer & Chris Eliopoulos, a Library of Congress National Book Festival Presents event.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nbf-presents-brad-meltzer-chris-eliopoulos-xavier-riddle-tickets-78674907767

Date and Time

Fri, November 8, 2019

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST

Add to Calendar

Location

Library of Congress

Thomas Jefferson Building

10 First Street, SE

Washington, DC 20540

About this Event

Author Brad Meltzer and illustrator Chris Eliopoulos present the new PBS KIDS series, Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, based on their bestselling children's book series, Ordinary People Change the World.

In the new PBS KIDS series premiering Monday, November 11, young adventurers will get to go back in time to meet some of the world's most inspiring historical figures — when they were kids — and learn about the character skills that helped shape their vision and lead to their success.

"I started the Ordinary People Change the World series so I could give my kids better heroes to look up to," says New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer. "I Am Marie Curie shows readers the power of discovery – and that you should never stop doing what you love. In I Am Walt Disney, readers will see that Disney used his ingenuity and creativity to make real magic. Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum's goal is the same as the books: to have kids realize that there is extraordinary within the ordinary and they are capable of finding their own heroic abilities to change the world."

We invite all PBS KIDS to catch a sneak peek, learn about the newest Ordinary People Change the World titles — I Am Walt Disney and I Am Marie Curie — and meet some of their favorite PBS KIDS characters, like Daniel Tiger and Clifford the Big Red Dog. There will be a reception to follow the on-stage presentation and screening, with complimentary refreshments and a book signing.

To join the signing line for this event and to meet Brad Meltzer, attendees must purchase a copy of one of his latest books I Am Walt Disney and I Am Marie Curie when registering for a ticket or onsite at the event. Other Brad Meltzer and Chris Eliopoulos books will be available for purchase at the event. No memorabilia or books from home will be signed.

The event is free and open to the public; however, tickets are required for entry. Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis. A ticket does not guarantee entry into the event.

When the auditorium reaches capacity, some ticketed guests may be seated in an overflow location and view the program on screens.

Doors open at 5:00 p.m. Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of house management. We recommend arriving when doors open.

Arrive early! Ticket holders will be invited to view a display of items related to the historical figures profiled in Meltzer's Ordinary People Change the World series prior to the start of the event. The display will be available for viewing from 5:00pm – 6:00pm on the night of the program.

Please request ADA accommodations at least 5 days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.

Make your gift to support the Library's free literary programs: DONATE.

East City Bookshop is proud to be the official bookseller for this event.

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Comics lawyer Mitch Berger in hospice (UPDATED)

Mitch at Awesome Con 2014. Photo by Bruce Guthrie

by Mike Rhode

Local comics and cartoon lawyer, editor and collector Mitchell Berger posted on Facebook last night that he's in the final stages of hospice care, after suffering from "a rare cancer called neuroendocrine tumor, or NET" for years. Mitch was a lawyer who graduated from Antioch School of Law in the District, but he has also attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He merged his career and his hobby for decades.

From October 2010 - April 2014, Mitch edited NPR's Double Take feature showing 2 political cartoons. As far as I can tell, he did it anonymously (to the public at least. I'm sure the cartoonists knew). Mitch would frequently weigh in on legal issues in comics, including this comment from 1995 about fair use of political cartoons: "As a lawyer and as the consulting editor on NPR's Double Take Toons, while I disagree with Chip Bok's view of Net Neutrality, but I do support him on his understanding of fair use. His statement "come up with something on your own," is what resonates with me the most. Chip has the right to have the words he speaks and the images he draws to be presented as he intended them. In fact, he has an internationally recognized legal and moral right to protect the integrity of his work. Replacing his words with someone else's isn't just criticism, it supplants and therefore silences his speech. And because of the way the internet works, it is quite possible that some might mistake the parody of his work, as his work." Another of his legal comments can be seen here.

He was also cited by Tom Spurgeon as an editor of cartoons on Kaiser Health News website.

One of Mitch's long-time roles was as "Supernatural Law’s legal consultant Mitch Berger" for Batton Lash's comic book about lawyers with monsters for clients. Lash, who also had attended SVA, passed away earlier this year.

Mitch, Jackie Estrada and Batton Lash at Awesome Con 2014. Photo by Bruce Guthrie

An interview with Will Eisner that Mitch co-conducted with Mike Barson and Falls Church's Ted White, was published in Heavy Metal's November 1983 issue, of all places. He was a founding board member (1991) and vice president for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Eric Reynolds of the Comics Journal recalled that he resigned under pressure in 1994 after the failure in defending Mike Diana. He also provided other cartoonists with legal services. At some point, according to Mary Fleener, he worked for DC Comics and helped her get rights to a story back. He also posthumously assisted Dori Seda to ensure her literary rights went to the person she had wanted them to go to.

Crumb drawing donated to Columbia's library

In 2015, Mitch donated his sketchbook to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum and allowed us to reproduce his Facebook post about it. In 2017, Mitch contributed money in the name of his first wife, Peggy Girsham*, to increase the print run of Resist! #2. His most recent donation was a drawing by Robert Crumb to Columbia University's Library this year. Librarian Karen Green confirmed this for me, noting it was "A very, very kind and generous donation."

I never got to know Mitch particularly well. We would run into each other infrequently at political cartoon events such as the RFK Awards, but by the time I met him he'd already been a long-time part of the comics scene and certainly didn't need me to introduce him to anyone in the field. As seen here, Bruce Guthrie has pictures of him locally at Awesome Con and the Herblock Awards.


On his Facebook post, Mitch writes,dictated to his brother, "I am not at the end yet, but I am getting weaker and losing strength. I can't say enough about how supportive hospice care has been. A hospice nurse makes sure that I have no pain or suffering. A very professional and caring hospice worker comes three times a week to give me a bed bath and change the bedsheets, so I am always clean, pain-free, and comfortable."

Mitch and Mark Fiore at Fiore's Herblock Award, 2016. Photo by Bruce Guthrie

A cross-section of the comics world have responded to his post including Rick Veitch, Mary Fleener, Keith Knight, Jim Wheelock, Shannon Wheeler, Mark Fleck, Jackie Estrada, Wayno, Rick McKee, Ted Rall, Robert Greenberger, Sean Howe, Keith Brown, Clay Jones, Karen Green, Michael Cavna, Paul Levitz, Bob Staake, Barbara Dale, Paul Mavrides, Brian Bassett, Michael T. Gilbert, Stephen Bissette, Nina Paley along with simple 'likes' from Bob Smith, Mark Wheatley, Teresa Roberts Logan, Caitlin McGurk, Carol Tilley, Jimmy Margulies, Ron Evry, Tom Heintjes, Mark Newgarden, Heidi MacDonald, Noah Van Sciver, RL Crabb, Mark Stokes, Tom Orzechowski,  Greg Wallace, John Branch, Doug Ready, Barbara Randall Kesel, Randy Bish, Jim Valentino, Ray Alma, James Owen, Matthew Hansel, Denys Cowan, Maggie Thompson, Michael Fry, Darrin Bell, Diana Schutz, Robert Gregory, Mark Zingarelli, Pete Maresca, Greg Koudoulian, Christine Tripp, and probably others. Additonal comments have been made by Glenn McCoy and Jen Sorenson, with likes from Frank Cammuso, Jeff Trexler and Mike Lester.

This post will be updated as new information or comments come in, with new pieces in italics. 

*Oct 30: Ms. Girsham's name was previously misspelled as Grisham. Thank you to Eva Zelig for the correction.

Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "The Democrats Have Evolved"

From DC's anarchist cartoonist, Mike Flugennock...

"The Democrats Have Evolved..."
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=2820

So, just to recap all the pants-crapping over Hillary Clinton's smears of Democratic White House Wannabe Tulsi Gabbard:

- Hilldawg crawls out of woods to fling smears alleging sinister Russian influence over Tulsi Gabbard candidacy.
- Defenders rightly speak out against fresh round of baseless McCarthyist smears, citing Rep. Gabbard's service in Iraq: "How dare you smear this glorious hero who defended our nation?"

Got it? Good, then.

This whole mass aneurysm illustrates the extent that the Democratic Party has shifted in the past ten, fifteen years — from howling about US involvement in Iraq and "endless war" to stanning a politician who brags about her "service" in a war based on lies which killed nearly a 
million people. Their whole response centers around smarmy "thank you for your service" babbling, dispensing with any discussion of the ethics of the Iraq war and rehabbing George W. Bush on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

As one wag on Twitter put it, the US antiwar movement has shrunk to "atomic size".

Heidi of the Beat on Baltimore Comic-Con

Baltimore Comic Con: Just the Right Amount of Con

After the hurly burly of con season, this was a welcome return to an old fashioned comic con.

Heidi MacDonald

10/24/2019

https://www.comicsbeat.com/baltimore-comic-con-just-the-right-amount-of-con/

Scoop on Baltimore Comic Con

Convention Recap: Baltimore Comic-Con 2019

Carrie Wood

Scoop October 25 2019

http://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1017?ArticleID=236305

Baltimore Comic-Con in Photos Part I 

Carrie Wood

Scoop October 25 2019

http://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1018?ArticleID=236295

I'll try to get my photos posted soon.

RVA Magazine's latest comics column

RVA Comics X-Change: Issue 29

Ash Griffith | October 23, 2019

https://rvamag.com/art/zines-books/rva-comics-x-change-issue-29.html

October 26: Halloween comics day

FEATURED ARTICLE   Celebrate Halloween ComicFest This Saturday!   Halloween ComicFest 2019 happens on October 26th at your local comic shop! Do you know where you'll be celebrating the FREE Comics and Halloween fun? Use our official store locator to find a participating comic shop and see what's happening at their store!   FIND A SHOP

Comic Shopping in Rome

By RM Rhodes

I was recently in Rome on vacation. As I usually do when I'm in a foreign country, I sought out local comic book shops, just because I find it interesting to see how other people sell my favorite medium. This time around, I went to two shops. 

Originally, I was looking for a comic book shop in the neighborhood behind the Vatican. I wasn't able to find it, though. In the course of my quest, I went into a GameStop and asked for a recommendation. The neckbeard customer in the store pointed out that his local comic shop was right around the corner. This led me to StarShopRoma. This was the Scipioni branch of the shop, which makes sense. It absolutely felt like a outpost shop that exists to serve the people in the neighborhood. 

The neighborhood is right next to the Vatican and is full of massive, block-length buildings. Small retail establishments like this are scattered all over the street level of the neighborhood, seemingly at random. In my experience, one of the things that mainstream nerd culture shops like to do is customize their exterior displays. The way that the building was constructed gave them very little room, but they made the most of what they had. Europeans are used to working with limited space.

There was a fantastic assortment of original art in the entryway.

The interior of the space was tightly packed with very little room unused. Every shelf was stacked to the extra-high ceiling with boxes of statues and figures. Manga was, by far, the dominant comics format for sale. 

There was a wall of American superhero comics and a rather limited shelf of translations of American alt-comics alongside BD from French publishers, but even that was sparse. There was a set of deluxe Corto Maltese volumes, but that was the extent of historical Italian comics creators that I am aware of - no Manara, for example. I did find a copy of Box Brown's new book when I did some digging.

It's right next to a major tourist attraction, and the cafes in the area are poised to handle the overflow from people looking for a place to sit down. This shop doesn't care about any of that. It sells what it knows to a dedicated audience. By and large, that audience is men with a certain taste in pop culture. It's exactly the kind of comic store that would be frequented by a guy hanging out in a GameStop in the middle of the day on a Friday. It's a local, male, otaku shop.

I ran into the other shop almost by accident. I was retracing my steps along the Tiber and past the Pantheon when I found myself on a major road bordering a neighborhood with a number of tourist friendly boutiques. I walked by the Fox Gallery and spotted the comics-related material in the windows. Intrigued, I went in and was very surprised by what I found.

The store is laid out like the kind of mainstream boutique that sells blank notebooks and coffee table books full of maps or artist retrospectives. It just so happens that the material on offer what almost all comics-related. There was a very well-curated selection of comics prominently displayed on a table as I walked in, and a much larger library in the adjoining room. Some of them were even in English, which indicated that the target audience might just as well include tourist women who wanted an offbeat souvenir from their trip to Rome.

This store looks like every mainstream boutique aimed at the profitable female tourist demographic I've ever been in, anywhere in Europe or the United States. Bright, airy, well-organized, calm, casually attractive. It's deep in the heart of tourist territory - on the walking path between the Pantheon and the cluster of Roman ruins around the various forums. And there are a ton of people walking along the street that it sits on, many of whom would need very little reason to duck in and see what's for sale. And the subject matter makes it more likely that a tourist husband might be talked into going inside.

The selection of comics is pretty basic. But at the same time, the presentation isn't cluttered or packed or frenetic. There's a lot of room for the titles to breathe and appeal to the casual browser. There was even a place for the little ones to relax while the family browsed. The actual material was all over the place - much more European material, almost no Manga, and some mid-tier American comics. By and large, the choices seemed oriented around whether the books were attractive as art objects.

The compare and contrast between the two stores and their respective target audiences, approach to presentation, and material on offer started almost immediately. One was a cramped little garret designed to meet the specific needs of regular customers. The other was designed to appeal to tourists, treating international comics as coffee table books. To be fair - the Andy Warhol book by Typex feels like it could very easily be a coffee table book.

Before I left for Rome, I did a quick search for local comic book shops and there were no results in the parts of the city that I ended up walking through. Neither of these shops showed up, for example. Mind you, it was a rough search and I did not really put a lot of effort into deep research because I only had two days on the ground and I really wanted to see Trajan's Column.

Of the two, I was almost completely unsurprised by StarShop. It felt like every nerd outpost I've ever wandered into, pretty much everywhere I've been in over half-a-dozen countries. The only real shock was how much manga there was and how few translations of French BD there were. I chalk that up to this being an outpost, but it is a pretty good barometer as to what's selling to this audience. Basically, this is not where you come to buy European comics. The fact that there was such a stark divide in audiences is notable.

Fox Gallery, on the other hand, took me completely by surprise - literally. I just stumbled on it as I was walking down the street. I immediately recognized the boutique commercial format - I've been in a ton of these over the course of the past two decades. However, I have never been in one that leaned so heavily on comic books as the primary thematic merchandise - especially targeted at tourists. That felt revolutionary. 

I can honestly say that I've never been in a comic book store that felt like this - to the point where it was not entirely clear that one could call this a comic book store in the traditional sense. Honestly, it felt more like a store that had been set up along contemporary retail presentation guidelines and it just happens to sell comic books. There's probably something to be said about the fact that the phrase "store that sells comic books" means something completely different from the phrase "comic book store."

__________________________________________________________

Why is this here? It's a long story. Mike Rhode first introduced himself to me when I first started vending at SPX. Over the years, we've talk to each other at Comic conventions around the DC area and never quite get around to sitting down for lunch. 

When I moved to Arlington two years ago, I didn't realize that Mike lived within a mile of my building. Nor did I realize that he lived next door to my ex-girlfriend's friend from college. We also discovered, by accident that we work two buildings away from each other, because we work in adjacent organizations. The world is a very small place, sometimes. 

It really feels that way when I run into Mike at the local farmer's market. Naturally, that's when I pitch him article ideas. I'm reading the entire run of Heavy Metal in public (in blog format) because I happen to own the entire run of Heavy Metal. This means that I'm engaged in an ongoing study of the magazine. In addition, I have a diverse and idiosyncratic reading list that tends towards the weird corners of comics history. Sometimes one circumstance or another results in long articles that I don't really have anyplace to put. Mike has been gracious enough to let me publish them here.

In summary: this is an article about comics from someone in the DC area. 

Tom King Reveals What his BATMAN Run is All About

Comics Beat

Oct 17, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqPYAyhjgbY

For the last several years, writer Tom King and a cadre of artists including John Romita Jr., David Finch, Mikel Janin, and Clay Mann, among others, have crafted a BATMAN run for the ages. With a focus on interrogating Bruce Wayne's intimate romantic life and familial ties, and with a renewed focus on Bane, this DC Comics series has been filled with some fantastic action and character work. However, the City of Bane arc and this run of BATMAN have entered their final chapter. As King prepares to say goodbye to the flagship BATMAN title, join him for a look back at what this series has meant to him.

Annapolis' Dead Reckoning to reprint Marvel's 1950's war comics

Here's the press release, followed by Publishers Weekly's story -

 

 

FOR RELEASE OCTOBER 23

 

Atlas at War!

Edited by Michael J. Vassallo; Art Restoration by Allan Harvey

 

 

Atlas at War! collects fifty hard-hitting stories from Atlas Comics, the company that became Marvel Comics and published more war titles than anyone in the industry between 1951 and 1960. Comics historian Dr. Michael J. Vassallo has chosen the best of the best, many of which are coming back into print for the first time, from sixteen different Atlas war titles and featuring the artwork of twenty different artists—giants of the genre, including Russ Heath, John Severin, Bernie Krigstein, Joe Maneely, Jerry Robinson, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby. Each page has been meticulously restored from its first printing by comic art restorer Allan Harvey.

 

Atlas at War! covers the brutal pre-code period where graphic depictions of war action were rendered by artists who were World War II veterans themselves, as well as the post-code period, where code restrictions forced creators to tell stories without graphic violence but produced some of the most beautiful comic art of the genre. In addition to the artists, stories cover all aspects of war—from famous campaigns, weaponry, and personal soldier stories to political topics, Nazi atrocities, and even one story tinged with pre-code horror! Often overlooked in favor of its competitors, Atlas at War! will finally show that Atlas' war titles were second to no one.

 

Dr. Michael J. Vassallo is a noted comics historian and a world-renowned authority on the Timely/Atlas period of Marvel's history. He is the co-author of The Secret History of Marvel Comics and has written twenty introductions to Marvel's Timely and Atlas Age Masterworks volumes. A frequent contributor to comic history publications, Dr. Vassallo has provided writing and editorial support to Taschen Publishing (75 Years of Marvel, The Stan Lee Story) and maintains his own Timely-Atlas-Comics blog. A Manhattan dentist, he resides in Westchester County, New York. He is currently researching and writing an art biography of Atlas giant, Joe Maneely. 

Welsh graphic artist Allan Harvey specializes in digital restoration, breathing new life into vintage comic artwork. Previous restoration projects include Colleen Doran's A Distant Soil, Stan Lee's Amazing Fantastic Incredible, and a host of Sam Glanzman war comic reprints for It's Alive Press.

 

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media. For more information visit marvel.com. © 2019 MARVEL

 

About Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning is a publisher of graphic novels and an imprint of the Naval Institute Press, located in Annapolis, Maryland. It publishes nonfiction and fiction with a special focus on military and naval history, military and naval biography, general history, and stories of the high seas. It is committed to publishing new and established talents from the worlds of both independent and traditional comics while bringing the rich complexities of history and military service to an enthusiastic, sophisticated readership. https://www.deadreckoning.org/

Dead Reckoning, Marvel Team to Publish 'Atlas at War' Combat Comics

By Calvin Reid

Oct 23, 2019

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/81546-dead-reckoning-marvel-team-to-publish-atlas-at-war-combat-comics.html

Kagan McCleod illo for Washington Post's World Series section

From the Oct 22 2019 special section

Nov 1-3: Anime USA in DC

Join us in 2019! November 1 - 3, 2019 Marriott Wardman Park 2660 Woodley Park Rd, NW, Washington, DC 20008 Our Guidebook schedule has finally launched! Download the app to check out the full schedule, list of guests, special events, and more! You can also access the web version HERE Prefer the classic schedule matrix? Our schedule is also available in the handy pocket guide style! Click Here to check it out! Website Facebook Twitter Instagram Email

Memberships Regular: $70 Silver: $90 Sponsor: $150 Child: $35

Join Anime USA

SPX 2019 Panel - Jaime Hernandez and Katie Skelly in Conversation

Rachel R. Miller

SmallPressExpo

  Oct 17, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoKcAaw3F_c

Jaime Hernandez (Love And Rockets) and Katie Skelly (My Pretty Vampire, Maids) and are known for their pulp roots, drawing beautiful & fashionable women, and creating memorable characters that have a profound impact on their readers. Scholar Rachel R. Miller (Ohio State University) joins them in a discussion delving into their unique drawing styles, inspirations, and shared cultural fascinations.

Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "A Stinkin' Rebellion"

From DC's anarchist cartoonist Mike Flugennock

"A Stinkin' Rebellion"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=2817

So, aaaaanyway... the resolute doorknobs at Extinction Rebellion have staged a protest involving spray-painting your hand red, leaving a "bloody" handprint on a government building or corporate HQ, then looking for a cop to turn yourself in. Yeah, that's right.

This empty dipshittery follows an earlier debacle on the London Tube in which XR tried to shut down the subways, resulting in protesters being roughed up, beaten and thrown off the trains by irate commuters.

Now, I'm no tactical expert, but it seems that a subway-blocking action would go down best when you've reached the point where things are so bad that the streets are already full of fed-up, pissed-off people, and the general strike is already underway. Otherwise, you're just pissing off the working class.

---------

"Extinction Rebellion express 'regret' after commuters drag prostester 
from Tube train and kick him", The London Independent 10.18.19 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/extinction-rebellion-protests-london-today-tube-train-canning-town-station-underground-a9159631.html

"Extinction Rebellion protesters to spray paint Westminster during 
'red-handed' march", The London Independent 10.18.19 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/extinction-rebellion-protests-london-today-spray-paint-red-handed-march-a9160876.html

"Extinction Rebellion Training, or How to Control Radical Resistance 
from the 'Obstructive Left'" Wrong Kind Of Green 05.06.19 
http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2019/05/06/extinction-rebellion-training-or-how-to-control-radical-resistance-from-the-obstructive-left/

Randall Munroe, "How To", video from Politics and Prose bookstore

Randall Munroe, "How To".

Alexandra Petri

Politics and Prose

Published on Oct 19, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwmt2M4-C9Y

Randall Munroe discusses his book, "How To". Randall Munroe, the brilliant mind behind the wildly popular webcomic xkcd and the #1 New York Times bestsellers What If? and Thing Explainer, brings readers a way to better understand the science and technology behind the things we do every day with How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems. For any task you might want to do, there's a right way, a wrong way, and a way so monumentally complex, excessive, and inadvisable that no one would ever try it. How To is a guide to the third kind of approach. It's full of highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole. Munroe teaches you how to tell if you're a baby boomer or a 90's kid by measuring the radioactivity of your teeth, gives instructions on powering your house by destroying the fabric of space-time, and even offers tips for taking a selfie with a telescope. By exploring the most complicated ways to do simple tasks, Munroe doesn't just make things difficult for himself and his readers, he invites us to explore the most absurd reaches of the possible. Munroe is in conversation with American humorist and Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri.

Contest for advance copy of Robin Ha's new book ALMOST AMERICAN GIRL

Enter to win an advance copy of ALMOST AMERICAN GIRL

https://go.epicreads.com/almost-american-girl-arc/?RN=11404

A powerful and timely teen graphic novel memoir—perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and Hey, Kiddo—about a Korean-born, non-English-speaking girl who is abruptly transplanted from Seoul to Huntsville, Alabama, and struggles with extreme culture shock and isolation, until she discovers her passion for comic arts.

For as long as she can remember, it's been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up in the 1990s as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn't always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together.

So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation—following her mother's announcement that she's getting married—Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn't understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends at home and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn't fit in with her new stepfamily. And worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to—her mother.

Then one day Robin's mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined.

It's All Journalism podcast - 2 that I missed

#246 – Journey down the underground press rabbit hole [with Ethan Persoff]

Michael O'Connell

March 30, 2017 by Its All Journalism

 http://itsalljournalism.com/246-journey-underground-press-rabbit-hole/

#254 – Cartoonist Adam Zyglis and the all-consuming news cycle

Michael O'Connell and Amber Healy 

May 25, 2017

https://itsalljournalism.com/254-adam-zyglis-all-consuming-news-cycle/

Washington Examiner worries about nearly-year-old Marlette cartoon

Barbra Streisand shares cartoon of Pelosi killing Trump with her stiletto heel

by Zachary Halaschak

Washington Examiner October 19, 2019

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/barbra-streisand-shares-cartoon-of-pelosi-killing-trump-with-her-stiletto-heel

T-J Allen continues talking to John Romita, Jr.

John Romita, Jr. Interview Part 2: X-Men, Daredevil, And More

by Troy-Jeffrey Allen

Oct 20, 2019

https://previewsworld.com/Article/236233

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKAu2ZJZQ9A

 

Since the late 1970s, John Romita, Jr. has been a constant in the comic book industry. His four-decade run at Marvel bridged generations, his co-creations Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl infiltrated the larger pop culture landscape, and his current run at DC Comics is destined to extend his career in comics well into the future. 

In Part 2 of our interview series (above), Romita, Jr. takes us through his run on X-Men in the 1980s and 1990s, his work on Daredevil, Kick-Ass, and talks about his dynamic with writer Ann Nocenti, Frank Miller, and Mark Millar.

Stay tuned for Part 3, in which Romita talks about leaving Marvel for DC Comics and much more!