Stan Goldberg, RIP


word came from here
 
posted 8:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Festival Extra: Portland, Oregon’s Projects 3 Makes Official 2014 Announcement For September 27



Appropriate tumblr post here. Facebook page here. Past shows were distinguished by their attempt to do a show without a flea market/commerce aspect; this edition looks like it will combine elements of past shows with elements of a more traditional model in a one day final festival. Looks like. I could be wrong.

The initial round of guests includes Leif Goldberg and Connor Willumsen, two comics-makers I enjoy very much.

 
posted 7:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: A Gallery Of Art Young Work From The Masses


a labor day tradition
 
posted 7:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: The Summer Of No-Fun At The CBLDF

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has assembled a bunch of different cases in which they're involved and/or (it might just be and) closely watching in terms of ramifications for free speech and comics. You can read about them here. I'll hope you consider joining at one of the busy slate of Fall conventions that will fire up beginning next weekend.
 
posted 5:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Fears Of A Go-Go Girl Can Come True


 
posted 5:50 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Assembled Extra: Gabrielle Bell Finishes Her July Diary



Here. Not that selling her original art on eBay was a success in that eight pages went for a maximum $1000, but brought with it the hitch of a $1000 ceiling. It looks like she still has some changes available. I thought that was a good run, and I look forward to that set of strips every year.
 
posted 5:45 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: A Happy Death/Boys Better Cry


via/via
 
posted 5:40 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Maybe Check In With Your Favorite Shop, Publisher, Cartoonist In Terms Of Holiday Weekend Sales

A number of retailers, publishers and individual cartoonists are having some sort of sale or discount tied into the holiday weekend ending at midnight tonight. You might want to check around if your favorites/locals are doing something along those lines. Here's a nice sale from Fantagraphics on certain titles. They and comiXology are also offering Joe Daly's comics at a discount; I think those are a lot of fun, particularly Dungeon Quest. I'm sure there are other sales that don't involve former employers of mine. Like here's one from Austin Books & Comics.

I would not complain in the slightest if Labor Day became known in comics as a weekend driven by holiday sales, particularly in comics stores. That seems like a good place in the calendar to do that kind of thing.
 
posted 5:35 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Light In The Distance


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding

By Tom Spurgeon

* here's a thank you from Jillian Kirby on behalf of the Kirby Family to those that gave money and time/effort that could be converted to money to/for the Hero Initiative on the occasion of what would have been Jack Kirby's 97th birthday. Speaking of which, I barely mentioned this on here and should have provided more coverage, but I thought it was admirable of Nix Comix to divert any money received during August to the Kirby-related charities.

* Seth Kushner's campaign is at about the halfway point in terms of the money they've been shooting for. Kushner is a photographer and comics-maker well-liked in the NYC comics community. Please consider giving.

* a film about Chris Knox is in the midst of raising the same $50K figure.

* some already-successful crowd-funders still live that we've covered in past columns: Nate McDonough, Joe Sinnott.

* this crowd-funder for two books in the AJALA series looks like it could use some help going into its final hours.

* as far as I know, you can still give to Dan Vado and SLG.

* finally, remember that Gabrielle Bell is selling her July Diary comics through eBay this year. Her originals are really nice-looking, and in many cases are self-contained in terms of the narrative.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Atlanta, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: John Romita Jr. Penciled Images


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Robert Ito profiles TOON.

* Justin Colussy-Estes on Troop 142.

* Abhay Khosla adds a couple of thoughts about Multiversity #1 in the course of linking to Joe McCulloch's recent piece on same.

* Kelly L. Mills talks to Anelle Miller. Steve Morris talks to Becky Tinker and Joie Brown. Team Comics Alternative talks to Anya Ulinich.

* not comics: here's a nice article explaining the difference in revenue to movie studios by market. In other words, you should distrust a bit the idea that non-US revenue makes up for domestic losses.

* never seen a scan of this particular piece of original Jack Kirby art before; that's a fun piece in terms of the scene set. I'm also thinking this particular Dave Steven commission is new to my eyes. I've never seen this much Hi & Lois in one place, either. Like most strips through the 1960s, there was a baseline handsome quality to this work that you didn't see later on.

* I am not sure why this Lynda Barry program showed up in my bookmarks, but I'm not going to pretend I'm unhappy about getting to listen to it.

* it's hard not to be charmed by older photos like this one of studiomates posing for a panel of comic book art. One thing that's remarkable about the arts in general is how much an artist or a group of artists will put themselves out there on behalf of something seen for a few seconds. That doesn't mean there aren't a ton of people cheating the process, but certainly not everyone does.

* what is it? what is this mystery art?

* I keep forgetting to drive attention to this very image-heavy article about Comic-Con International 2014, and comic-cons in general, over at Print. I make a tiny cartoon-image appearance.

* finally, some of the words you can look forward to seeing in Fantagraphics' forthcoming Massive.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 43rd Birthday, Landry Walker!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Please Help Me Update The Events Calendar



Momentous things happen when comics people get together. I did some work today on the CR forthcoming events post for December 2014 through September 2016. If you could check that out and tell me about anything you know that's scheduled, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

I'm not sure there's too much that jumps out at me about 2015. WC Anaheim and CCI are a couple of weeks earlier than they were this year. I'm not even sure I knew that Anaheim had announced. For those that travel to shows, the Emerald City/Anaheim cluster might make a good trip. Linework NW will happen but has yet to announce; they're usually right around there, too. Autoptic is back. Anyway, please check it out. I forgot SPACE on my first try at this, so I'm sure there are others out there that haven't crossed my face.

 
posted 3:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Read: Paul Karasik Interviews Jules Feiffer


 
posted 8:15 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Atlanta, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Decatur, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 68th Birthday, Rick Parker!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 59th Birthday, Shizue Takanashi!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
FFF Results Post #392—Summer Reads

On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Five Comics That You Think Of As A Summer Read." This is how they responded.



Tom Spurgeon

1. The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics: the comics work of summer when I was a kid.
2. Petty Theft: one of several books perfect for summer afternoon reading released by Drawn and Quarterly this year.
3. Avengers Annual #7.
4. Thompson Is In Trouble, Charlie Brown.
5. Love And Rockets: New Stories #4.

*****



Michael Buntag

1. The Shadow Hero.
2. You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack.
3. Hark! A Vagrant.
4. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.
5. RASL Hardcover.

*****



Michael Dooley

1. EC Picto Fiction Library Complete Box Set
2. The Complete Cul-de-Sac
3. The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker
4. Genius Collected: Alex Toth Slipcase Set
5. The Complete Zap Comix Boxed Set

*****



Michael Grabowski

1. Cerebus (first volume)
2. Doing The Islands With Bacchus
3. July Diary, 2014
4. Fun With Milk and Cheese
5. Mickey Outwits The Phantom Blot

*****



Tom Bondurant

1. Seconds, by Bryan Lee O'Malley
2. DC: The New Frontier, by Darwyn Cooke
3. JLA: Earth 2, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
4. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1, by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
5. Marvels, by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross

*****



Sean T. Collins

* This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki
* Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez
* July Diary by Gabrielle Bell
* Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man by John Porcellino
* The Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner

*****



Chris Arrant

1. Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley
2. Garfield: His 9 Lives by Jim Davis, et al.
3. The Planetary Omnibus by Warren Ellis, John Cassaday
4. Tekkonkinkreet by Taiyo Matsumoto
5. Wonton Soup by James Stokoe

*****



James Moore

1. Teenagers from Mars
2. The Authority vol1 #1-12
3. Carnet de Voyage
4. Maison Ikkoku
5. Seconds

*****



Patrick Dean

1. Any Batman comic from the summer of 1989. The Tim Burton movie was out in theaters, my mom had cancer, and reading Batman comics from any era kept me distracted. I still think about sickly summers in Rome, Georgia anytime I see an old Batman comic.
2. Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma
3. The Cowboy Wally Show by Kyle Baker
4. A dogeared stack of Epic era Groo The Wanderer, by Aragones, Evanier, Sakai, & Luth
5. (book from 2014) "How to be Happy" by Eleanor Davis. I live in the same sweltering humid Georgia college town in as Eleanor, so I figure some of it was drawn during sweltering humid summer days. I bought this book on a warm August day in Athens and walked seven blocks to a small bookstore to watch her give a slideshow and talk about her book. The bookstore was packed and its air conditioner and ceiling fans were on high, battling out the heat. The book is wonderful and crushing like summers in Georgia.

*****



Andrew Mansell

1. Batman #223 80 Page Giant....Batman&Robin face danger around the world
2. Justice League of America #100. JSA/Seven Soldiers of Victory....yes!!
3. Dennis the Menace goes to Camp....those poor teenage counselors....
4. Tales of Asgard #1, I read it 20 times as our family of six(!) drove from Chicago to Orlando for vacation
5. Watchmen #10.......Defcon 2

*****



Oliver Ristau

1. Heat from hell in this year's "Hotel Hades" by Katharina Greve (link)
2. The big summer fun that is "The Toon Treasury Of Classic Children’s Comics" by Art Spiegelman & Francoise Mouly (link)
3. The refreshing trauma at the beach in Superboy #194: "The Super-Merman of the Sea" by Leo Dorfman, Bob Brown & Murphy Anderson (link)
4. The Spirit Archives #23, especially because of the Spirit's dry knock-out in "Heat" by Jules Feiffer, Will Eisner & Jim Dixon (link)
5. Deep sea diving into s! #10 "Sea Stories" by various contributors (link)

*****



Buzz Dixon

#1 -- T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1-6 (discovered at summer camp)
#2 -- Fantastic Four #48-50 (discovered at summer camp)
#3 -- Superboy #98 (remember reading this in a pile of comics a friend had)
#4 -- Help! #24 (found this one while visiting our cousins; warped me for life and for that I am eternally grateful)
#5 -- Archie 1000 Page Comics Explosion (July 2014)

*****
*****
 
posted 4:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Comics Reporter Video Parade


The Confessions Of Robert Crumb
explained and via


Jules Feiffer Reflects
via


Guy Showing Off His Deathblow Collection


Trailer For Prometheus: Fire And Stone Comic Book
via


Where Knockabout Comics Got Their Name
 
posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
CR Week In Review

The top comics-related news stories from August 23 to August 29, 2014:

1. Mimi Pond wins this year's PEN Center USA graphic literature category award, with a special emphasis on her 2014 book, Over Easy.

2. August 28 would have been Jack Kirby's 97th birthday, and a series of small celebrations including donations on his behalf are making that become more of an established thing.

3. The high-end collectibles market continues to surge, with a ludicrous amount being pledged for purchase of a copy of Action Comics #1. That's interesting for the perceived changes in collectibles culture, and the fact that this was done on eBay rather than through one of the auction houses.

Winner Of The Week
I'm very fond of Mimi, but that guy made $3 million selling a comic book.

Losers Of The Week
Gamers. That's a cousin culture to comics, and thus its week of ugly, openly-communicated misogyny was a frightening reminder of what that element of comics would look like given slightly freer rein.

Quote Of The Week
"The cinema did not awaken to the glory of superheroes as an Idea, it realized that superhero comics were adaptable to preexisting action/fantasy formulas while allowing for easier franchising returns -- and where that money goes, so will those comics owned by Warner Bros. and Disney." -- Joe McCulloch, in a review of Multiversity #1.
 
posted 2:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Look: Eleanor Davis’ TCJ Diary


one of the best ones they've done, and that's been one of their five best features in the hodler/nadel era
 
posted 9:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Atlanta, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Toronto, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In DC, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In London, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Decatur, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In London, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chicago, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 40th Birthday, Jordan Raphael!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 62nd Birthday, Ken Bruzenak!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 71st Birthday, Robert Crumb!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 68th Birthday, Jacques Tardi!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Joe Grillo At Loyal


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Don Heck’s Covers For Horrific


it's an older article, but I was just remind of Heck's covers for this publication and this has a bunch of them
 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Our New Age


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Tove Jansson Illustrations


via
 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Look: Audrey Helen Weber


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Bundled Extra: Uncivilized Books Cements Three-Book Fall 2014



Uncivilized Books has set in stone its Fall 2014 line-up according to a release sent out by the publishing company's owner, Tom Kaczynski, on Thursday morning.

The books are in order of release:

* Dragon's Breath: And Other True Stories, MariNaomi, softcover, 384 pages, 9781941250013, September 2014, $24.95. (With 2D Cloud)
* Incidents in the Night Book Two, David B., hardcover, 140 pages, 9780988901483, November 2014, $19.95.
* Eel Mansions, Derek Van Gieson, softcover, 240 pages, 9781941250006, December 2014, $19.95.

You can read full descriptions of each work and about the cartoonist involved through the individual links, or through the announcement post.

I'm not sure how much of this was a secret -- I knew about MariNaomi's book, and had expected to see the second David B. volume soon, but it does reflect the publisher's intentions moving forward and puts a date of release on three anticipated works.

Uncivilized is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company is distributed to stores by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, LLC, also in Minneapolis. Press request of any kind need to go to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) We wish them luck with the rest of their 2014.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Atlanta, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Gainesville, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Decatur, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Lorna The Jungle Girl’s Last Appearance


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* there's a very nice report here from Hannah Means-Shannon about the Seth Kushner benefit from a couple of nights ago. I hope you'll consider giving after reading it.

* Todd Klein on Vertigo Quarterly: Magenta. Henry Chamberlain on Multiversity #1, On The Odd Hours and Glacial Period. Rob Clough on a bunch of mini-comics. Richard Bruton on Zombies Can't Swim, The Ripper Legacy and Scorpion Vol. 8. Joe Gordon on Anderson: Psy Division #1.

* that's a nice Farel Dalrymple print for sale at Floating World.

* William Nericcio profiles Ernie Bushmiller.

* Darryl Cunningham draws Iron Man.

* Karen Attiah looks at Marvel's Storm comic and what that might mean for African immigrant women. I'm not sure anyone's ever nailed that character down, which makes her a really exciting creative opportunity.

* finally, Bob Temuka hangs out with some end-of-summer reading.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 54th Birthday, Mark Heath!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 37th Birthday, Jason Latour!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Please Consider A Small Donation To The Hero Initiative On Behalf Of Jack Kirby And The Kirby Family



The donation page is here, and they ask you write in Kirby4Heroes in the "special instructions" slot. The Hero Initiative is the comics industry's charitable organization that is devoted to the care of creators in need, and it is the choice of Jack Kirby's family in that they hope that any impulse to celebrate that great comics-maker's birthday might include a donation to the organziation.
 
posted 5:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Jack Kirby, The King Of Comics, Would Have Been 97 Today

Jack Kirby, the mighty heart of the American comic book industry, would have been 97 years old today. Below, for your ruminative and reflective pleasure, is a tiny, even insignificant sample of his awesome image-making power. Long live the King.

*****












































































































*****

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

*****
*****
 
posted 7:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Please Consider Making A Donation To The Hero Initiative And Other Kirby Day Notes



It would have been the pioneering, powerful and prolific comic book creator Jack Kirby's 97th birthday today. There are several things going on in his honor.

* the Kirby Family has put their emphasis on this day serving as a vehicle for remembering their family patriarch but also honoring him through donations to the Hero Initiative, a charity that focuses on support for older comics creators in need.

* the Kirby4Heroes Campaign was organized by Kirby's granddaughter Jillian in 2012 and she's been able to expand things a bit every year. The Facebook page is a great place to read about the various goings-on. There have also been some fine summary articles as to everything planned.

* several artists are drawing something today in Kirby's honor. Many of them will be found through the twitter hashtag #WakeUpAndDraw.

* Phil Hester is attempting to draw 97 pieces of Kirby-related art today.

* there was a story on NPR this morning.

* I've noticed these Kamandi books are still on $.99 sale over at comiXology. That's a fun series Kirby did in the 1970s, where an ecological catastrophe changes the world into a planet dominated by sentient animals and explored by a shirtless teenager. The issue #10 in particular has all the wild, powerful art that anyone could hope for. In terms of physical collecting, I've noticed over the last few years that issues in the issue number 70s, 80s and 90s of the original Fantastic Four run are findable at less than $5 a pop. That comic had lost some steam by then in terms of narrative build, but the art is wonderful. It's fun to collect Kirby in any format, and he did so much that there are entry points no matter your taste.

* finally, there is a birthday party with special beer.


 
posted 6:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Some Very Attractive Sports Cartoons


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events



By Tom Spurgeon

* the Fall convention season kicks off this weekend with Dragon Con, which no longer has a star in the middle of its name. That is a broadly-conceived con, still old-school a bit, with an "adult playground" reputation -- deserved or not, I couldn't tell you. It is a very successful regional show, although from the comics perspective it's no longer in the top five perception-wise, I don't think. Still, some people are I'm sure in for the weekend of their lives. I hope everyone stays safe.

* for the mainstream-comics oriented part of the community, it's Baltimore right now, with a hint of New York on the horizon. For the indy crowd, it's two weeks until early arrivals at the Marriott in Bethesda for SPX weekend. I will hopefully be among the crew in the DC area for show #3; I've yet to do Baltimore (though hope to) and haven't done New York for a few years.

* I bet we see more and more events framed as mini-cons, and not just with people being funny.

* here's a lovely set of photos from this month's DCAF -- the Dartmouth Comic Arts Festival.

* you can tell SPX is in a comfortable place right now because of how much time they focus on driving attention to and facilitating various refinements, like map aids to find food in the general vicinity of the show.

* here's a new, planned-on festival still in the rough stages of development.

* one of the favorite European shows for North American cartoonists, Lucca Comics & Games, continues to add guests. I'm always happy when some of the underground comix generation take those opportunities.

* the twitter feed belonging to an at-a-convention Jon Rosenberg was the funniest thing on-line last weekend, but only if you're into dark humor. This is typical. August 21-24 should about do it, if you want to spend some time there.

* here's a convention with a novel twist for comics shows, anyway: they want to hold it in different states as they get going. ICAF moves, and the AAEC annual meeting moves, but that's about it right now.

* finally, a young fan reviews RIPExpo.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Another Tom Raney Images Mini-Gallery


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* I keep on forgetting to say so, but it looks like the writer Zainab Akhtar is settling in at ComicsAlliance. That's a good hire for them and they've been admirably proactive recently in terms of gender and hiring. I don't know if Akhtar's first piece is this Dustin Harbin interview, but I look forward to more of the same.

* Tim O'Shea talks to Jesse Jacobs. Two people named Luke and Sean talk to Megan Kelso. Patrick Hess profiles Benjamin Marra. Joe Berkowtiz profiles Lisa Hanawalt. That photo may be the best publicity photo for a cartoonist I've ever seen.

* not comics: I like this poster; I don't think I saw it when it was first put out there. I'm not one of the obsessive fans of that movie, but I remember I laughed when someone described it as Blade Runner for little kids in terms of the long-term effect it might have.

* Todd Klein on Detective Comics Annual #3. Henry Chamberlain on The Fade-Out #1. Johanna Draper Carlson on Buffy The Vampire Season 10 #6. Bob Temuka on the Kick-Ass series. Joe Gordon on The Boxer. Richard Bruton on Alone Vol. 2 and Red Baron Vol. 1.

* finally, that's some shirt.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 58th Birthday, Benoît Peeters!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 39th Birthday, Elijah Brubaker!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 43rd Birthday, Joann Sfar!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Katie Wheeler


 
posted 4:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Dean Haspiel On Helping Seth Kushner Without Using GoFundMe

I had a few cartoonists ask if there was a way they could help the photographer and comics-maker Seth Kushner without contributing through his GoFundMe campaign, as some people have developed objection to their role in facilitating money raised for Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson. I asked Dean Haspiel, a close friend of Kushner's at the heart of fundraising effort on his behalf, and he sent the following response:

With all due respect: are the people who wish to support Seth Kushner going to pay with American currency? Because I'll bet the same people who are supporting that abhorrent Ferguson cop are also using American currency. If they have a problem using a system that supports people they don't support (lord knows I'm not excited about the fact that a lot of people I can't stand get paid with the same currency I get paid in), then they need to not worry about Seth Kushner. He and his family will survive without their qualified support.

I'll bet there is a direct pay pal or something like that and if "they" want to find out what that is, "they" can email Seth and his wife directly.

This was followed by a second response, which indicated that Seth Kushner was offended by the nature of that request.

For those still interested in pursuing a non-GoFundMe option: as per Haspiel's response, Seth Kushner is at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Most paypal payments can be made directly to a person's e-mail.

The GoFundMe page for Kushner is here. I encourage people to consider giving.
 
posted 12:35 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Mat Brinkman At Loyal


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Cartoonist And Author Mimi Pond Wins 2014 Literary Award From PEN Center USA In Graphic Literature



The author, artist and cartoonist Mimi Pond took home the 2014 Literary Award in the Graphic Literature category from PEN Center USA, according to this announcement. Special attention was given to Pond's recent memoir Over Easy, according to the citation. That book has just gone back to a second printing, says a post at publisher Drawn And Quarterly.

The winners are honored at a banquet in November. Pond will receive a $1000 cash prize.

This is the second year in a row that an author won during a year where a special citation went to their recent work with D+Q, with 2013 being Gilbert Hernandez's year for Marble Season.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
OTBP: Treasure Island 2


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Festivals Extra: SPX Posts Its Ambitious 2014 Programming Slate

Here. Bill Kartalopoulos does the programming for the Small Press Expo, and I think his work over the years has exceeded anyone's expectations for solid, rewarding, challenging programming show to show, year to year. So I always look forward to see what he has planned. He's a great moderator, too, so it's nice to see him doing so many of the heavyweight spotlights and the Fremok panel.

It's also worth walking through that list just to see what's out there. I mean, you get the heavyweights and their spotlight panels, sure, but one of the first panels is Katie Skelly moderating Meghan Turbitt, Eleanor Davis and Julia Gfrörer, all of whom are funny and articulate and intelligent. That's just not a panel you would have seen five years ago because of the relative progression of each panelist's career (also because Davis tends to avoid doing shows). Like comics in general, well-run comics panel programming can offer a massive return on your time investment.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Daniel Schaffer


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Festivals Extra: Short Run Announces Its 2014 Exhibitors List

Short Run, the popular Seattle-based one-day arts comics show, has posted its exhibitor line-up for the 2014 iteration, coming mid-November.

It's one that's worth looking at if you're going, sure, but also if you're not just for the snapshot aspect of what a show like that can bring to bear in terms of a mix of local talent, regional arts-comics stars and a few arriving from far away. Also, you have to be pretty hardcore attentive to either that scene or comics more broadly or both to recognize everyone on that list. I think the one-day shows like that represent a model that's really sustainable for the major cities with significant cartooning communities. Also, that Denny Eichhorn isn't even on-line, at least not in an official capacity, made me laugh.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Some Fun Superhero Work From Steve Ditko, Gil Kane


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


I Had To Re-Read The Release Three Times To Make Sure They Weren’t Talking About The IDW Web Site

Here. I like the International Monetary Fund -- or really any agency, really -- explaining policy and news events through comics. It is one of the best ways to teach. I am sure there are many objections that can be made to the points of view presented in the comic; as always, I trust on all of you being smart enough to process any ideas presented with your own tools for doing so.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
OTBP: A Set Of 1990s JR Williams Collector Cards


 
posted 11:50 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Andrew Todd On Gaming Culture Misogyny

I know almost nothing about gaming culture and care about games basically not at all, but I found this survey-the-recent-landscape article by Andrew Todd an interesting one for its ruthless focus on misogyny, abuse and acting out within that larger community. It might help some folks that have a hard time processing the awful behavior that takes place in comics culture to see the same kinds of things taking place to another group of people coalesced around an entertainment medium. There's a lot about it that's familiar, and nearly all of it is distressing.
 
posted 11:45 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: My Metal Pizza


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
This Isn’t A Library: New And Notable Releases Into Comics’ Direct Market



*****

Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.

I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.

*****

JUN141357 ARIOL SC VOL 05 BIZZBILLA HITS BULLSEYE $12.99
It's a strange week at the comics shop for my very specific taste -- by which I mean I think it will be a very good week for a lot of comics fans, I'm just not included in their number this time around. That's fun, though, because you get to poke around and see some things you might not otherwise have the time to check out. I don't care what week it was, I would buy the new Ariol book; I very much like the rhythm and pacing of these stories, how ephemeral their stakes are except if you're a tiny kid negotiating these things. It's one of my favorite series, period.

APR140085 BURROUGHS TARZAN SUNDAY COMICS 1934-1936 HC VOL 02 $125.00
APR140084 ARCHIE ARCHIVES HC VOL 10 $59.99
MAR141213 JOHNNY HAZARD DAILIES HC VOL 03 1947-1949 $49.99
Three bigger collections caught my eye. The Hal Foster Tarzan work isn't as well known as his later, epic run on his own Prince Valiant, but those are some lovely-looking adventure comics in a way that comes through even now that we're removed as a culture from an automatic fascination with that character. I've seen two originals of that work, and they were pretty flawless. You can tell looking at old strip work when changes are made because a lot of times it's just a matter of the cartoonist rubbing out inkwork and drawing over a mistake. Didn't see any of that on those Tarzan's. The Archie stuff I always look out, although I'm totally lost as to what's out there and what I might want to buy. The Johnny Hazard stuff I'd look at just for the Frank Robbins art -- I couldn't tell you a single thing about that strip's basic storyline or its characters. That strip ran more than 30 years, I think.

JUN140640 ALL NEW ULTIMATES #7 $3.99
JUN140019 GOON OCCASION OF REVENGE #2 $3.50
JUN140043 GROO VS CONAN #2 $3.50
JUN140035 MIND MGMT #25 $3.99
JUN140567 REVIVAL #23 (MR) $2.99
JUN140570 SAGA #22 (MR) $2.99
JUN140497 SEX #15 (MR) $2.99
MAY141592 ALIEN LEGION UNCIVIL WAR #3 $3.99
JUN140980 REGULAR SHOW #14 $3.99
I'd take a lot of different thing this week. The All New Ultimates is Michel Fiffe writing, so I'm interested in that. Giannis Milonogiannis drawing, too, so ditto there. I haven't caught up on the Goon and Groo/Conan books, so I'd definitely take a peek there. Mind Mgmt and Revival are two longer-running works that are always sold when I read them in single-issues form; I'm not the natural audience there, but on a week like this one I'd check them both out. Saga is the Image heavy-hitter this time out. I'm actually more interested in what they do for the storyline after this storyline, and if you've been reading you might know what I mean. Sex I've been enjoying for its take on 1980s-style building of setting and milieu. Speaking of the 1980s, I had no idea someone was doing an Alien Legion book. Fourteen-year-old me was a big fan of Jugger Grimod and gang -- 14-year-old me being in charge until I was about 23. And, as always, there are animated tie-in for me to check out. That's a whole worl of comics I haven't accessed yet.

JUN141418 CHARLEYS WAR OMNIBUS TP VOL 01 $24.99
I suspect we owe the 100th anniversary of World War I this new iteration of the long-running 1970s/1980s Pat Mills/Joe Colquhoun serial. This makes the war totally worth it. Oh, of course it doesn't, but I'm thinking about acquiring this work in this specific form after taking a pass before now, so it looks like the timing works for a new collection.

JUN141626 HERGE & TREASURES OF TINTIN HC $49.95
I had to go looking for this one, and I'm glad I did -- this looks like an archives-informed process book, with supporting materials and facsimile documents standing side by side, all to tell the history of this great comics series' creation. I'm dying to see it.

JUN141322 INVINCIBLE DAYS HC $19.99
This is previewed here. This isn't the style I remember for Patrick Atangan, best known to me for The Yellow Jar, which has to be a decade in the rearview mirror at this point. I'd take a look at it for the visual style employed in the preview all by itself.

JUN141169 EVEN MORE BAD PARENTING ADVICE GN $12.95
Finally, if you have a little bit of summer left or, lacking the role as a primary caretaker for school-attending children, it's a season that extends into September when the lakehouse rentals are cheaper, maybe try out this one from Guy Delisle and Drawn and Quarterly. The first one made me laugh quite a bit, but felt like it needed a companion volume -- not for value, but it's just not a type of humor I wanted out of as soon as that first one took me there. Two books should be just about perfect. This might pair well for an afternoon's worth of reading with the Anouk Ricard and Pascal Girard books from earlier in the year.

*****

The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.

The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.

If I failed to list your comic, that's because I hate you.

*****



*****
*****
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chicago, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Imagery From Top Ten: The Forty-Niners


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Michael Cavna digs deeper into that issue of Action Comics #1 that sold on eBay. His specific focus is on the decision to use eBay rather than one of the established auction houses. The seller's hunch that eBay would be competitive on a book with that kind of pedigree seems sound to me.

* Etelka Lehoczky on How To Be Happy. James Kaplan on The Dream Merchant. Todd Klein on Aquaman Annual #2. Rob Clough on a pair of books from Conundrum Press. Jordan Dinwiddie on Seconds. Paul O'Brien on an unassuming Marvel crossover. Henry Chamberlain on Phantoms Of The Louvre. Johanna Draper Carlson on Now Matter How I Look At It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular Vol. 4.

* I love that Evan Dorkin is just randomly posting color work on his blog now. That's a treat.

* don't know that I've ever seen this Frank Quitely drawing of Daredevil. Kate Beaton draws Red Sonja.

* Ash Brown discusses Masaichi Makaide, whose work when translated into Star*Reach was the first of its kind, and of course is now a sizable part of the North American comics market. Brown notes that it's not the first manga translated for any American audience, just for the average comics reader, which is crucial all by itself.

* Qiana Whitted takes on issues posed by the comics grid.

* Sean Gaffney takes us for a walk through Crunchroll Manga. That is the manga-oriented digital comics service still in its relative infancy.

* finally, I'm not sure exactly what this is, but I'm fond of the Jiro Kuwata Batman comics and anything that works that same general visual territory.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 36th Birthday, Matt Wiegle!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 68th Birthday, Denis Kitchen!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 30th Birthday, Melissa Mendes!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 48th Birthday, Phil Hester!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Bookmark And Follow: Nod Away


 
posted 12:40 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Reminder: Seth Kushner Event Tonight

As has been discussed on a dozen or more comics news sites, the photographer and comics-maker Seth Kushner has Acute Myeloid Leukemia and has been hospitalized for a lengthy time while his healthcare professionals pursue treatment options. Several of Kushner's friends and peers in the comics community have put together a benefit evening for tonight. It's hoped that if you aren't able to attend that you might consider making a direct donation to Kushner's GoFundMe campaign. All of these activities are designed to alleviate some of the burden that leukemia can have on an entire family. This site wishes Kushner and his friends the best luck in raising as much money as possible.
 
posted 12:35 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Superheroes X Alcatena


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Joe McCulloch On Multiversity #1



Joe McCulloch is a superior critic/reviewer of comics, likely the best ever in terms of consistently writing well on a quick turnaround. This review of Multiversity #1 is very entertaining and makes a bunch of solid, interesting points about that work and its context. One thing I like about McCulloch's writing is that he manages to make strong statements without closing the door to more conversation, which is a rare, rare skill.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Maurice Sendak Illustrates Pierre


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Someone Bought A Super-Nice Copy Of Action Comics #1 For $3.2 Million Dollars On eBay

As might be expected, Kevin Melrose at Robot 6 has the best, most link-laden, most concise report on the sale of a copy of Action Comics #1 on eBay by Darren Adams, owner of a Federal Way comics shop that seems to specialize in graded merchandise of this sort. I don't understand the numbers used in grading and so I don't want to perpetuate their legitimacy in such specific terms until I'm convinced it's a real thing, but this was reportedly a slightly better copy than the copy of Superman's first appearance owned by the actor Nicolas Cage, a comic that went for slightly over $2 Million in 2011.

The recent resurgence in high-end collectible comics has been sort of fascinating to watch. There's obviously still interest in that market, at least enough to drive feature articles and some staggering sales moments. It seems like that the idea that all comics go up in value has taken a beating as so many comics from the 1990s and 2000s have found their way into that world of comics sales. I know that I used to count on having to spend $8, $10, $20 to fill in holes with just about any series I wanted to own; now there's a bunch of titles where I can patiently wait out picking up individual issues until I find them for a dollar or less. I was once told that with a very-focused-on-particulars generation getting older and dying, what is likely to endure and even thrive price-wise are significant milestones, actual rarities within that umbrella and character moments over creator contributions. I also have to imagine that a more significant and elaborate market for original comics art plays into this somehow, if only because an original art page should be more valuable than a mass-produced comic book because of its singular nature. I talked to two different creators and one collector that reported a life-changing windfall this year because of the development of the art market.

One thing that's different now is I'm guessing fewer comics readers choose to justify their interest in comics in terms of bottom-line dollars and cents, the way a lot of my generation of readers felt they had to growing up.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
OTBP: Inkbrick Vol. 1


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Collective Memory: Chicago Comic Con/WizardWorld Chicago


this post has been archived
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Black In America


via
 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Not Comics: The Amazon.com Vs. Hachette Battle, International And Wider-Contextualization Edition

This article looks at some of the wider issues the bookseller Amazon.com faces trying to find a foothold in various European markets. It's more summary than descriptive, but it's good to be reminded of some of the broad strokes. One thing that popped for me was an executive expressing certainty that no one would stop shopping at Amazon.com because they don't like them anymore. I actually think there's always a chance of that happening. In fact, most of the people I know make a concerted effort to shop anywhere else if they can, solely because thye don't like Amazon as much as they used to.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Russ Heath, Matt Fox And Bill Everett


 
posted 11:50 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Matt Bors Is Hiring An Editorial Assistant At The Nib

Here. That sounds like an awesome gig, and you don't have to move for it.
 
posted 11:45 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Henchgirl


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Bundled, Tossed, Untied And Stacked: Publishing News



By Tom Spurgeon

* Zack Soto is trying to get Secret Voice #2 out in paper form for SPX. If he can't make that deadline, it'll be out for CAB. He's hoping for SPX because he'll be at the show, but feel it's a stretch.

* one that will definitely be at that show is Frontier #5, the Sam Alden issue. Youth In Decline has had the cover up at their site for several days now. Frontier is their one-cartoonist-per-issue revolving spotlight title.

* Brigid Alverson has a lengthy write-up here on Magnetic Press' publication of a Matteo De Longis art book.

* from a first look, this list of 100 comics coming out this Fall that you need to check out has very little crossover with the kind of comics that tend to be covered here. That sounds mean, but I think it's true and I have no problem admitting there's a bunch of different ways of looking at comics.

* another forthcoming SPX debut: Cathy G. Johnson's Dear Amanda.

* Joe Gordon previewed the IDP: 2043 collaborative comic in advance of it receiving attention over last weekend at the Edinburgh Book Festival, one of the more comics-active book festivals out there.

* they've sent out a press release at this point, but someone told me that the Bleeding Cool site was the first one to post a breakdown of who is in the Scott McCloud edition of the series, due this Fall. I'm guessing it's this post. That sounds like a pretty strong line-up. Nice Jaime cover. Those are interesting books to parse critically. The comics are selected and usually pretty good and thus satisfying in that way; they seem like they would be fine books for students and potential comics readers to discover. At the same time, the critical conversation we're not having is distinguishing between all of these pretty good comics and the few truly great ones, so books like these are frustrating a bit, too.

* the fun Marvel comic book series Superior Foes Of Spider-Man is coming to an end, maybe a dozen issues after the Vegas over-under for how long it would last. This means that artist Steve Lieber will spend the next six weeks walking around Periscope Studios in a bathrobe, muttering. Actually, it just means the veteran artist moves on to the next project. It's funny, but these not-quite-hit superhero series that end early on are great to buy if you're a dollar-bin diver, which can't be a good model for Marvel.

* love Jason's progress reports.

* looks like Columbus is going to get a comics tabloid. As that city is The Best Place For Comics, this makes some sense.

* the writer Matt Fraction talks about ODY-C, his gender-switched take on Homer with the artist Christian Ward. That one debuts in late November. I love that he's writing it in "six-syllable dactylic hexameter."

* Andi Watson's book with First Second is in the production stages, which is good news.

* the Tardi World War I-oriented slipcase looks lovely, and I'm glad that Fantagraphics will have that out considering how good those comics are and the intense interest on that war to end all wars given its 100th anniversary. For whatever reason, it's the Tardi stuff that always makes me think of the late Kim Thompson, more than any of the legion of other projects he worked on.

* the visuals on this Gotham Academy comic look really nice. I'm not sure what DC can sell into the market with a comic like this, but I'm glad they're breaking out of this thing where all their comics look the same and are of a kind of general, franchised quality book to book.

* finally, Ron Rege promises a return to self-publishing, with a first run of Cosmogenesis and an additional run of Diana. More of his work is always great news. You can pre-order the latter work here.


 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chicago, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In New York, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Bill Sienkiewicz Draws Moon Knight


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* this Jack Kirby page making the rounds is affecting and melancholy. It's from The Sandman #1.

* Scott Cederlund on The Wrenchies. Guy Thomas on The Ten-Cent Plague. James Kaplan on Meteor Men. Carla Hoffman on New Avengers. Rob Clough on a bunch of different mini-comics. Sean Gaffney on Dorohedoro Vol. 13.

* this Spider-Man comic looks really cute. Part of me think that these kinds of comics might be harder for a company like Marvel to do because they're always doing variations and restarts in their regular line. That's probably nonsense, though.

* here's a total treat: Fantagraphics is allowing The Comics Journal to republish the Jules Feiffer introduction from their edition of The Great Comic Book Heroes. Feiffer has a graphic novel coming out, so it works as PR, and that whole book and particularly Feiffer's writing -- it was originally a Playboy article -- is one of the seminal events in talking about comics as we understand that to be done now. Anyway, it's a fun read, the way that it's fun to read people grappling with ideas for basically the first time.

* Sean Kleefled compares and contrasts early strip pioneers RF Outcault and Winsor McCay.

* Chris Arrant talks to Jason Aaron. Chris Sims talks to Scott Snyder. Karen O'Brien talks to Tim Seeley.

* finally, what Meghan Turbitt draws on the subway.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 35th Birthday, Francis Manapul!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Phantom


 
posted 12:40 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Horrors Of Real World 1, Matt Bors’ Imagination 0

This is startling and depressing: Matt Bors' August 18 cartoon eerily predicted an extremely unpopular New York Times editorial regarding Michael Brown and Ferguson, showing that the real world is able to easily keep pace with even broad satire.
 
posted 12:35 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Band For Life


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Donate To The IPRC In Dylan Williams’ Name

Here's the donation page for Portland's Independent Publishing Resource Center. Friends of the late cartoonist and publisher Dylan Williams are being challenged to raise $2250 for a scholarship at the Center, which will go to a cartoonist and help facilitate their work in a way that's not dissimilar from the kind of support that Williams, a teacher at the Center, made a big part of his life. While there's no specific donation mechanism, I'm certain it's possible to direct your money that way. Williams' widow Emily Nilsson wrote in a protected post on Facebook, "Send donations to http://www.iprc.org/donate with a note that says it's care of A.M. O'Malley specifically for the scholarship. Or you can send them a check with a similar memo."

I hope that you'll consider it. Williams would have turned 44 this month.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Casual Fridays


no idea where I got this; my apologies to the person that had it first and/or for any key contextual information left out of my presentation of it
 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: A Bunch Of Freddie deBoer Posts At The Dish On On-Line Writing As A Vocation

There's a bunch of stuff over at Andrew Sullivan's The Dish from a vacation stand-in writer named Freddie deBoer on the state of on-line media from a vocational standpoint -- how a writer makes their way in that world. The big article is here. You can access all of his articles here or by scrolling down starting here. Sullivan's site is a subscription-based one and I'm not sure how it works in terms of blocking people, but hopefully you can get to some of it.

I'm also not sure how applicable the bulk of this is to comics. I know that developing a workable structure for professional writers interested in industry coverage is an ongoing issue, one I'm much less positive about than I was even two years ago. I would imagine there will be some moments of overlap comparing the plight of working writers and those of cartoonists wanting to use the Internet that way. I know that, for instance, deBoer's insistence that timing has a lot to do with who has been successful in that field is a notion that also has some significance to comics and cartooning. I would also imagine that comics is maybe a bit more hopeful overall, in part because of scale and scope. The site on which deBoer is posting has a reader-generated budget one-tenth of which one time would likely change any comics blogger's life forever. I do like the insistence that we take the Internet as it is and not as what we hoped it to be.

A big issue for comics overall in the next three years will be the first stab at an new and honest dialogue -- or overlapping series of same -- about the financial return involved. I look forward to it.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Noah Van Sciver On Superheroes


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Colleen Doran On Being A Weirdo Magnet

Cartoonist and illustrator Colleen Doran's short piece on attracting poisonous personalities has a lot to inform several issues that comics has processed in the last year. Doran's essay suggests how difficult it is to screen people and to control how available you are to them, with predictable results. A lot of comics industry difficulties are interpersonal at heart, and I think that's an important thing to keep in mind as we try to figure out how we're engaging with the people we meet through comics.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Comics Robert Boyd Has Edited


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


One Last Thing Or Two About Manara’s Spider-Woman Cover

There's a translation into English of an interview the artist did in response here. I don't agree with a bunch of it, but I'm trying to find a different way to conduct myself on-line than trying to win arguments just because they're presented to me. You will likely disagree with several points, too, but they are Manara's own words, and in understanding this story they are important.

As a statement of my own I think I'm happy with this. If anything interesting and new comes up, I'll try to add it to this post rather than make a third.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Ken Avidor’s Train Travel Sketchbook


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding

By Tom Spurgeon

* this week is the fundraiser for Seth Kushner. I hope as many of you as possible can attend, donate, tell people about it.

* here's a fairly significant crowd-funder going to raise money for a collection of the works of Chris Knox. I enjoyed reading that one, actually.

* Gary Tyrrell makes a lovely case for helping out Philip Hofer, someone who has worked hard on various infrastructure tools that have helped make webcomics possible. I hope you'll consider contributing, or at least reading the case that Tyrrell makes.

* Gabrielle Bell has changed slightly how she's going to be selling originals from her summer diary comic. Those originals are really great looking. I'm fond of those comics and would like to see them continue.

* count Red Stylo Media among the many small presses and self-publishers that have a Patreon going now. Al Davison is another. Erica Friedman is one of my peers who has decided to pursue this option.

* the Nate McDonough crowd-funder chugs along, having reached its initial goal with weeks to spare. I was glad to see the Watson And Holmes one rally and surge past its initial goal. In fact, everything we've profiled recently has surged past its goal. I wonder if that's August; we certainly wouldn't be the cause. This one certainly struck a chord with donors. This second Rachel Richey project has gone over the top, too.

* here's a new one that was sent my way, familiar to those who read the Glyph Awards winners post: Ajala: A Series of Adventures #3-4.

* Dan Vado's gofundme on behalf of his publishing house SLG is a universe more admirable than some of the other stuff that site has been facilitating lately.

* finally, here's one with a high curiosity factor that's just met its goal, featuring the work of artist and inker Joe Sinnott.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In East Lansing, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: NC Wyeth Illustration Bonanza


1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Michael Cavna profiles Darrin Bell's tribute to Robin Williams in Candorville.

* Jason T. Miles profiles Eroyn Franklin. Chris Schweizer talks to Lucy Bellwood. Rob McMonigal profiles Matt Dembicki, Katie Sekelsky and Renee French.

* not comics: I've seen weirder, but not much weirder.

* this is an effective little moving-element advertisement for the forthcoming, Internet-darling Batgirl rework. It reminds me of the first time they started using moving head shots on football line-up inserts into televised games. I have to imagine this will be a normal thing from now on, or at least has that potential.

* not comics: I don't pay a ton of attention to the Marvel movies, but I sort of liked this article about a day in location shooting for the Ant-Man movie. I didn't even know it was going to be a period piece; at least I assume from those photos that it's a period piece.

* this article about strange DCU "universes" strikes me as an appropriate response to what the writer Grant Morrison and his various co-creators are doing with that Multiversity series that's coming out right now. I was kind of bored by the first issue -- it didn't have that extra, on-edge element that Morrison's best projects seem to exude in spades -- but Morrison is always worth paying attention to and I'm sure there will be a lot of fun moments in that series as it works its way across various permutations of that company's characters.

* no one loves the Monarch of Menace.

* finally, what a fun scene in a comic full of equally entertaining scenes, the Yotsuba&! series by Kiyohiko Azuma.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 44th Birthday, Chris Roberson!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 42nd Birthday, Antony Johnston!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 45th Birthday, Steve Conley!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 67th Birthday, MW Kaluta!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 31st Birthday, Andrew Aydin!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Look: Mike Dawson Comic On Kajieme Powell Shooting


 
posted 9:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Funniest Comics-Related Tweet I Read This Weekend

It's darkly funny, mind you.
 
posted 8:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chicago, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 73rd Birthday, Jim Scancarelli!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 54th Birthday, Scott Lobdell!


I've run Mr. Lobdell's birthday on this date and at this age for five years now, although wikipedia suggests I'm off a few years; I'm working from an old CBR list, if anyone can correct with certainty please let me know!
 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 48th Birthday, Keith Knight!


he probably gets sick of me posting this one, but it always makes me laugh; happy birthday, keith
 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
FFF Results Post #391—Twitter Nation

On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Five Events From Comics Industry History For Which You Wish You Could Have Read A Day-After Twitter Feed." This is how they responded.



Tom Spurgeon

1. Kirby quits Marvel.
2. Ditko quits Marvel.
3. The publication of Cerebus #186.
4. Mike Diana convicted.
5. William Gaines testifies.

*****



Sean T. Collins

* Young Phoebe Gloeckner meets Aline Kominsky and Robert Crumb, 1976
* Blankets and Kramers Ergot 4 debut at MoCCA 2003
* Frank Miller rips up a copy of Wizard at the 2001 Harvey Awards
* Jenette Kahn named Publisher of DC Comics, 1976
* Joe Quesada confronts Grant Morrison about leaving Marvel for DC on the floor at the San Diego Comic-Con 2003

*****



Matt Emery

1. The launch of Eagle (1950's)
2. The launch of Eagle (1980's)
3. Frank Hampson quits/replaced on Dan Dare
4. Neville Colvin assumes art duties on Modesty Blaise
5. Charlton Comics ceases publishing

*****



Michael Buntag

1. "The Death of Superman" (Superman #75).
2. Publication of Captain America Comics #1.
3. Frank Miller's Diamond keynote.
4. Pogo introduces the character "Simple J. Malarkey."
5. Rob Liefeld et al. leave Marvel to launch Image.

*****



Sean Kleefeld

1. Green Lantern #76 (with the blue skins/orange skins/purple skins/black skins speech) hits the stands
2. Julie Schwartz introduces the "New Look" Batman
3. George Reeves is cast as Superman one year after Kirk Alyn leaves the role
4. National sues Fawcett over Captain Marvel
5. DC introduces go-go checks!

*****



Andrew Mansell

1. Alex Raymond killed in car crash
2. Bill Watterson announces his retirement
3. Peanuts introduces Franklin
4. Zap Comics #4 published
5. Jim Shooter fired

*****



Brendan Colgan

1. Charles Schulz retires
2. Bill Watterson retires
3. Abner Yokum marries Daisy Mae
4. Raw #1 published
5. Art Spiegelman wins a Pulitzer for Maus

*****



Randy Clark

1. The Batman television series premieres
2. Mad becomes a magazine instead of a comic book
3. Justice League #1 is published
4. The Avengers #4 is published
5. Gold Key ceases publishing comic books

*****



Michael Dooley

1. "Compromise with the South" spread in @HarpersWeekly defends of Lincoln's war efforts
2. #Newspaper #publishers experiment with yellow ink printing processes on comics pages
3. Hallucinatory strip depicting cheese-induced nightmares debuts in the @EveningTelegram
4. @SocietyOfIndependentArtists unfairly rejects R. Mutt's porcelain sculpture
5. Left-wing publication begins "How to Look" cartoon series by former #WPA artist

*****



Oliver Ristau

1. The Kefauver Hearings (Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency), 1954
2. Censorship of Barbarella in France, 1964
3. Al Capp's sex scandals, 1971
4. Pregnancy of Ms. Marvel in Avengers #200, 1980
5. Publishing of A Taste of Cherry in Verotika #4, 1995

*****



Michael Grabowski

1. National sues Fawcett over Captain Marvel
2. The Comics Code is established--preferably day-by-day as it was being written
3. Kurtzman quits editing MAD and leaves EC Comics
4. The Captain America fake-out return in Strange Tales #114 is published
5. Michael Fleisher sues The Comics Journal

*****



Alan Doane

1. Publication of "Master Race."
2. Shooter "Little Fucks" Memo Leaked
3. Windsor-Smith Leaves Conan
4. CrossGen Implodes
5. Publication of "Ice Haven."

*****



Jamie Coville

1. Jim Shooter leaves Marvel
2. Mort Weisinger leaves DC
3. Bugfuck Lawsuit against TCJ and Harlan Ellison
4. Bob Wood's arrest for the murder of his girlfriend
5. Jack Cole's Suicide

*****



Chris Arrant

1. The Beginning of the Silver Age with DC revamping characters
2. Down & Out Company jumps on the superhero bandwagon -- Fantastic Four #1
3. The Wertham trails
4. The early success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
5. The foundation of Image Comics

*****



James Moore

1. Jim Shooter fired as Marvel EIC
2. Image comics founded.
3. Watchmen #12 released
4. Jack Kirby leaves Marvel
5. After the Creator's Bill of Rights was signed

*****
*****
 
posted 4:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Comics Reporter Video Parade


Ah Pook Is Here And The Control Of Time


Video In Support Of To End All Wars


Video Of Charles Schulz Drawing


Advertisement For Ditko's Shorts


John Romita And Joe Kubert Draw


Interview With Team Lumberjanes


Who Is Ben Templesmith?
 
posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
CR Week In Review

The top comics-related news stories from August 16 to August 22, 2014:

1. Kanika Mishra and Majida Shaheen win the CNRI Award For Courage In Editorial Cartooning.

2. Rebel Pepper aka Wang Liming fears a return to China after learning governmental authorities are stirring up resentment against him and his cartooning while he's out of the country.

3. Ignatz Awards nominees go live.

Winners Of The Week
Mishra and Shaheen

Losers Of The Week
Dicks and Butts (tie)

Quote Of The Week
"I don't sleep a lot. So late at night is when I'm looking up Tumblrs. I just got insomnia a few years ago, so I'd rather be working if I can't be sleeping." -- Annie Koyama

*****

image from a Marvel comic book from 50 years ago, a year they were killing it

*****
 
posted 2:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Read: DON’T Do What You Love


 
posted 9:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In New Jersey, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chicago, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Mt Prospect, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chimacum, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 44th Birthday, Tara Madison Avery!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 62nd Birthday, Terry Austin!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 49th Birthday, Chris Bachalo!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Liz Wong


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Bill Kartalopoulos Puts Out Word That They’re Accepting Submissions For Best American Comics 2015



The Best American Comics series editor Bill Kartalopoulos put out word via at least Facebook -- there might be other places -- that they're accepting submissions for the next Best American Comics. He put it thusly:

We are currently accepting submissions for The Best American Comics 2015, which covers new, North American comics (including Canada and Mexico) published between September 1, 2013 and August 31, 2014. We accept eligible submissions in any format and of any origin, including self-published and online work. Work can be submitted for consideration to the following address:

Bill Kartalopoulos
Series Editor
The Best American Comics
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
215 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10003

All work that is submitted will be considered seriously. Don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.

I hope as many of you that qualify will take advantage of this. I think it's a good habit to form to put in for the things for which you qualify, no matter if you feel you're in line to receive them or not.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: In Defense Of Howard The Duck


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Wang “Rebel Pepper” Liming Fears Return To China

The Chinese cartoonist Wang Liming, known as "Rebel Pepper" when he grew to prominence via social media networks a few years back, has told a news service he fears a return to China due to a state-facilitated campaign against his satirical and sometimes critical work. He was in Japan at the time of the story; I'm not sure if the Thursday flight back refers to yesterday or six days from now.

Liming is often cited as a critical voice in modern China, and features on him have focused on both the backlash he's received and the fact that he's dependent on popular social media tools to get the word out, with it looks like about 850,000 followers split across two services. I'm not sure I'm reading him correctly, but the worry seems to be that reaction on state-run Internet sites was more thorough and pointed than usual, accusing him of being a traitor for holding the criticial views in question. It's worth following; I know that the cartoonist has had problems having access to the Internet and similar obstruction issues. It would be an egregious action for there to be formal censure or, god forbid, something even more extreme than that.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Listen: Dan Berry Talks To John Porcellino


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Town Of 4500 Welcomes Comic Book Shop

Baldwin City, Kansas has a new comic book shop: Bulldog Games And Comics, opened by proprietor Gabriel Dorsey. It's been open about three weeks. A couple of things interest me here. The fact that it's a small town is mitigated in part by a business plan that hopes to hook in a regional customer bases that's traveling further away to a bigger city in order to buy their comics and related genre material. The other is that this is going to be a kind of geek-interest store. This of course is a classic store strategy to the extent that we hardly think about it anymore but I always thought it was a pretty good one for a small town. There are overlapping customers, of course, but more to the point these other hobbies also encourage destination-shopping customers. I wish them luck. Their ribbon cutting is August 28.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Sophie Goldstein


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Assembled Extra: Everyone Ask Matt Bors To Make A Regular Feature Of This Sketchbook Thing


I would like to see them and I would like Joseph Lambert and anyone else he's thinking of have an ongoing opportunity to let this part of their work be seen. Here's a stand-alone posting. Here's Bors thinking out loud.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Josep Baqué


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Assembled, Zipped, Transferred And Downloaded: News From Digital

By Tom Spurgeon

* Pikitia Press has a brand new web presence. That's always nice to see.

* new column at TCJ.com, a focused review series from the cartoonist Julia Gfrörer called "Symbol Reader." Tim Hodler introduces it here.

* if you're friends with the illustrator and comics-maker Laura Park on Facebook, you should go look at her latest -- it's really good. If you're not, sorry.

* finally, I think I totally whiffed a providing a link to this survey-style article on the state of digital comics after the Amazon-comiXology deal.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Athens, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Brooklyn, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Little Lulu #27


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* what a great find by Brian Biggs. I hope all cartoonists are thinking about where things like this will end up one day.

* Patrick Lohier profiles Charles Burns. Jason Sacks talks to Caleb Monroe. Clint Nowicke talks to David Aja. Mike Dawson talks to Brian Evenson. Susanna Lam talks to Haukur S. Magnusson.

* here's a nice interview C. Spike Trotman, an important figure in comics. If you're not familiar with her, you can start to catch up there. The interviewer is Juliet Kahn.

* not comics: here's a new Adrian Tomine print.

* Sonia Harris writes about the path that led her to the design work she does for various comics.

* David Mazzucchelli draws Batman.

* not comics: Boom! seems to have done pretty well in the corporate partnerships arena thus far. If there's one takeaway from the Marvel comeback of the last 15 years, it's that high-end corporate partnerships can make a difference.

* finally, Valerie D'Orazio draws a line in the sand.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 39th Birthday, Matt Emery!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 59th Birthday, Will Shetterly!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: “So What He Stole A Box Of Cigars?”


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Sean Howe On Frank Miller At Wired

The third time's the charm as far as big-publication profiles of the cartoonist and filmmaker Frank Miller go, with this Sean Howe piece at Wired outdoing similarly-focused treatments at the New York Times and Playboy in terms of insight and perspective. It also offers the best photos. It even suggests a continuity of vulnerability that informs Miller's work, a way of connecting the rage and drive of his superhero narratives to real moments of perceived physical danger.

I might haggle a bit with some of the details as presented: certainly Kim Thompson's review of Ronin kept that from being an across-the-board critical success, and I'd say even introduced a counter-narrative about Miller that came to drive much of the thinking about the cartoonist that surfaces in other parts of Howe's career survey. I might also describe DK2 as more of a popular disappointment than a critical one. Still, it's a strong piece across the board about an interesting and influential cartoonist. I hope Howe does more of this kind of thing moving forward.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: La Lecture Des Ruines


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Even The Headline Could Get Me In Trouble

That's art for a variant cover by the European comics-maker Milo Manara that Marvel is using for a Spider-Woman book. I don't have much to say about it, although maybe I should: we're in a cultural moment where this kind of thing drives feature stories of reasonable length at The Guardian.

Here's a thought. I sort of like it as art, primarily because of its grotesque sexuality in a commercial context, like Jonny Negron doing the packaging for a line of Barbies. Here's another thought. It's a curious, tone-deaf choice for the publisher, unless the idea is to jumpstart interest by getting this image out there and talked-about. I certainly didn't know there was a Spider-Woman comic out any time soon. It's two different issues, clearly, the art itself and the decision to use that art. They will be conflated because that's what comics people do.

There are some interesting pop-culture flourishes for which one might look. I'm sure Manara will be described by detractors of this drawing not just as a maker of dubious choices but as an outright untalented artist, maybe even a supremely bad one. The Internet rewards scorched-earth arguments. Marvel's use of this cover also serves as a basic reminder there is definitely still an undercurrent of cliched, sweaty-boy sexuality in a lot of comics work, something about which we don't like to think but is definitely there. It's also a good place to see that curious mix of fan ownership and commercial standards. Mainstream superhero fans are at times flattered into thinking they're a creative contributor in addition to being an audience member, but the overriding standard they have to apply when making their voices heard is a commercial one. That's what they know; that's what counts. So you see a lot of arguments about art, but these arguments depend on maximizing profit (or "broadening the audience") as the ultimate aesthetic arbiter. It's always fascinating to see that on its feet. I can't figure out if there's an angle that this is a variant cover, which I think is a goofy practice always and a damaging one a significant percentage of the time.

If only there was as much going on with the covers that exhibit standard good taste.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Esad Ribic Superhero Paintings


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Three Profiles Of Three Very Different Cartoonists In Three Very Different Formats



* long-ago TCJ contributor and still-active academic with an interest in comics Kenton Worcester has penned a brief and affectionate obituary for the late Phil Evans at New Politics. Evans is a cartoonist with whom I have only the most minimal familiarity, and I am as grateful to learn more about him in this way as I am regretful this understanding comes after he has gone.

* I don't read the Chicago Tribune any longer, although it was once an everyday habit extending out on both sides of my living in the city for just over two years. That the Chicago Tribune was supplementing their employment of Scott Stantis with Joe Fournier was something that had escaped me. So to read an old-fashioned enthusiastic endorsement of his work by Michael Miner in the Chicago Reader was a pleasant surprise and I look forward to tracking down the comics themselves. I love non-traditional uses of the form, even if it's just breaking from bare-bones expectations as to what a cartoon should do.

* Sean T. Collins interviewed Meghan Turbitt at TCJ.com today, and it's a fun interview. Talking to younger cartoonists -- and Turbitt applies in terms of age and in terms of the amount of work she's done -- can be difficult, but they have a nice conversation about the big themes to emerge thus far in her work.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Tip Top Comics #197


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


By Request Extra: Austin English Holding Original Art Sale To Raise Money For Domino Books Projects

The cartoonist and publisher Austin English has a sale going here on his original art. The idea is to raise money for future Domino Books projects. If nothing else, it's fun to look at that art.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Ben Towle’s AlphaBands Gallery


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events



By Tom Spurgeon

* Autoptic roars to life.

* the blog Chicagoist reminds us that Chicago's Wizard World show is this weekend. That was once the #2 show and for one year they had everyone thinking they were closing fast on San Diego and that Wizard could use the momentum to enter the Chicago market. That didn't happen, although Wizard is putting out PR that their convention slate is profitable now. At any rate, that's a great region of the country for comics, and I still feel its nostalgic pull.

* speaking of Chicago, CAKE is looking for two core members of their administration team. That's a great chance to be involved with a growing show, and to be involved with comics more generally if that's a goal of yours.

* not sure I knew about this New Orleans show that runs in mid-November; at least I don't remember hearing about it until a couple of days ago.

* here's a report on the recent Bryan Lee O'Malley signing at the FPI in Edinburgh.

* the second iteration of Paper Jam Small Press Festival -- to be held in early September -- has its own tumblr.

* this article from an exhibitor about what they most want out of a show is a must-read for those fascinated by conventions and convention culture.

* in early October, the Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival will celebrate 75 years of Marvel Comics with special programming.

* not comics: the writer Brian Doherty got the rights back to his Burning Man book from 10 years ago and has released a self-published Kindle edition. There's a lot there that might inform your view of the comics community and the role of festivals, particularly those shows that are huge, fundamental shows like CCI and SPX.

* finally, I mentioned this the other day, but I've talked to a handful of people unable to get rooms at the Marriott because of a sell-out: they've all ended up here, at the Hilton up the road. The price is comfortable, it's walkable if you have to, and it's one transit stop away so the walking isn't likely.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Man Who Couldn’t Be Reached


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Crime Does Not Pay #51


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Hervé St. Louis takes a brief look at Medium as a potential webomics platform.

* Team Comics Alternative talks to Alec Longstreth. Carol Hills profiles Arnon Avni. Anshuman Iddamsetty talks to Emily Carroll. Mike Romeon profiles Meredith Gran.

* not comics: I am still completely baffled that the idea of spoilers has infiltrated into the act of writing about art. I've never run one, and never will. When I was ten years old, I knew that when I read a review in the New Yorker (the only place I knew where people wrote about a movie for that many words), that I'd be reading about the movie. I don't understand why that doesn't apply now. That doesn't mean I think you should run around being a jerk about art you've seen and someone else hasn't -- at that same age we used to hold our breath so as not to talk about a movie when we walked past the line to get into the next showing. Why is this hard?

* Sean Gaffney on Black Rose Alice Vol. 1 and Kokoro Connect Vol. 1. Brian Nicholson on The Wrenchies. Kate Polak on Deogratias. Johanna Draper Carlson on In Clothes Called Fat. Kelly Thompson on Hexed #1. J. Caleb Mozzocco on a bunch of different comics. Jerry Smith on The Trial Of The Flash. Robert Boyd on a bunch of different comics.

* finally, for some reason I had this five-years-ago post about Tintin originals in my bookmarks folder. Fun post, though.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 85th Birthday, Marie Severin!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Mikko Lustarinen


 
posted 4:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
A Few Quick Notes On Yale Stewart, Dick Pics And Various Comics-Culture Permutations Perhaps In Play

So there's a cartoonist named Yale Stewart. A SCAD graduate, Stewart started out post-graduation doing an autobio comic called Gifted. He then shifted over into unlicensed kiddie versions of DC superheroes that he ran as JL8. These were popular. They were nominated for awards and well-reviewed. I'm pretty sure I linked to them. These led to official licensing work and work at Image. One of the permutations of the JL8 stuff was a series of images that Stewart has done as commentary on various national news stories and, at least in one case, solicited money for on behalf of an involved charity. The cartoonist Ulises Farinas objected to the latest of these images -- a Ferguson, Missouri related Green Lantern image -- and spoke out last week, setting off a mini-firestorm of criticism and Internet argumentation, much of it nasty and a lot of it aimed right back at Farinas.

In the course of that argumentation, accusations sifted to the surface that Stewart had sent women in the comics industry dick pics. I'll define dick pics here -- for my Mom, mostly, so she doesn't ask me at lunch in a restaurant -- as photos taken, sometimes with a mirror but mostly without, showing one's penis that are sent to someone, frequently as part of flirtatious dialogue in a sexual or hopefully sexual relationship. Stewart's proclivities re: camera and cock were apparently something in the rumor mills earlier this summer; Stewart addressed the rumors on Twitter in early July, and made a comment about the general practice in May. As far as I can tell, no one directly came forward to say this was done to me, not in public, but others have publicly testified that they were told by recipients that this had happened and stood firmly by these claims. Just about everyone who has sought to find out with any sort of connections in the comics world probably has at least one name. Further, it was claimed during this rolling, virtual reveal that these were unsolicited photos and that they went out to more than one person. You can see one on-line community forum where a photo said to be Stewart was posted to a thread here.

Other items of interest include a piece at Bleeding Cool about the Farinas/Stewart disagreement over the covers and an article at something called Unleash The Fanboy conflating the harassment claims with the criticism of the charity work into one super-issue and going after Farinas like he stole someone's pet. I disagree with the first piece in that I think these are fairly important issues, including and maybe especially the idea of profiting from grief -- and I disagree with the second on just about every substantive point.

Mostly, though, it looked like this had settled into the make jokes about it on Twitter + wondering out loud as to when Rich Johnston will put out another story on it at this now very different stage of things period.

Earlier today, Stewart posted a lengthy response on Facebook and via his Tumblr, saying the photos were his, they were sent to two women with whom he was having separate sexual relationships in 2012, they were still apparently unwanted, he has reached out and apologized to these women, he is apologizing to the public and he is making a $1000 charity donation. The next step, one supposes, would be a public vetting of that information, whether all of these things are true and whether that depiction encompasses everything involved. We'll see. If he's not being truthful here, he deserves everything that will come to him. My guess is that the first target of this attention will be the number of women that have received dick pics from this guy; he just sounds like he could be fudging there. It should also be pretty easy to ascertain if he was in a relationship with the women who got these pictures.

So a few things pop to mind, and they're not all "I need a new job." One is that the sentiment floated that it is ever okay to send people unsolicited naked pictures of yourself (or others) is deeply, horribly wrong. It's embarrassing to even have to type that. That's a big deal. That is not interpretive. That is not generational. That is not a whoopsie moment. That is a deliberative, potentially assaultive action. That is also something that someone else gets to decide for you, the hell with your intentions. Another is that I hope that anyone who experiences something shitty like this will reach out directly to any appropriate institution involved and give them a chance to do the right thing. This includes the institutions involved when/where an incident takes place and any/all institutions continuing to support said person once these things are reported and become part of the public record. Barring that -- and it's perfectly understandable why that last suggestion might be a total non-starter with a lot of folks -- a third thing is that I'm hopeful that someone might work with this site, or Heidi's, or ComicsAlliance, or CBR or any place you think makes sense to let those entities advocate on your behalf and hold institutions responsible. This can be done just as anonymously as it is to tell a few friends and swearing them to secrecy except when they're being mean about it on Twitter. A fourth realization is that Ulises Farinas was treated poorly by people that have a fannish interest in the art that Yale Stewart makes, and that this is another reminder of a deeply dysfuctional aspect of fan culture that ascribes virtue to certain fan interests and I think one against which we must always remain on guard.

One of the reasons that I support specific action should go hand in hand with broader change is because of stories like this one. While there's a possibility you can sort of carve out and wiggle your way to a point where sending one or two people pictures of your dick seems in a specific context an arguable thing to do, or at least one for which you can apologize down the road, maybe we're in an historical moment where we'd all be better off moving in the other freaking direction as far as we can go as opposed to remaining in those places where we have to contextualize and argue and apologize. Someone do an inspirational poster about that.

Mr. Stewart did not respond to an e-mail.
 
posted 2:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Jen Corace


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Kanika Mishra, Majida Shaheen Named 2014 Winners Of CRNI Award For Courage In Editorial Cartooning

Michael Cavna has a fine write-up here on the Cartoonists Rights Network International naming the Indian cartoonist Kanika Mishra and the Palestinian cartoonist Majida Shaheen this year's winners of the Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning. As might be guessed, that's an award the group gives out to a cartoonist that exercises their "free-speech rights under extraordinary circumstances."

Mishra and Shaheen are the first female recipients.

Mishra was cited for her cartoons about rape charges facing religious leader Asaram Bapu, charges that eventually landed him in jail. The victim was 16 years old. Cavna's piece notes that the cartoonist received death threats against her and family members for her work on that story. Shaheen was cited for her cartoon about Hamas political figure Ismail Haniyeh and the Al-Quds Brigades. These cartoons led to threats of violence from the artist's community.

The awards will be presented October 11 during the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention in San Francisco. I hope one or both of the cartoonists will be able to attend; that's always difficult with that specific award.

You can watch a video interview conducted by CRNI's Robert Russell with Kanika Mishra here; you can see a pertinent example of Shaheen's cartooning here.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Missed It/OTBP: The Second In Line


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Seth Kushner GoFundMe Account

The photographer and comics-maker Seth Kushner has a GoFundMe account in his name. It was started by his wife. Any money raised will go to support the family and pay extra bills while Kushner continues to undergo treatment for leukemia. I hope you'll consider helping.

There will be a lengthy benefit across two days a week from now.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Love For Dave Cockrum


everybody scream
 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Marvel Family #5


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


By Request Extra: An Impromptu Conversation About The Fulfillment Rate/Timeliness Of Crowd-Funders

Here. I thought that was a good conversation for the range of experiences on display despite its relative brevity.

As much as anyone cares about what I say about anything enough to pay attention, I think I may have a minor reputation for hating on crowd-funding. The thing is, crowd-funding is such a tremendous opportunity both in terms of what is provided and the diverse array of people that can participate in that option that its abuses have become of significant interest to me. I'm fascinated by the occasional nonchalance of it, too. One reason I try not to ask for anything when I support people is that I can't stand waiting for stuff, this kind of unfinished business that needs someone else in order for me to find closure. At any rate, I hope these kinds of things don't over time diminish the upside of that kind of mechanism.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Adventure Comics #291


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
This Isn’t A Library: New And Notable Releases Into Comics’ Direct Market



*****

Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.

I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.

*****

JUN141280 SISTERS GN $10.99
JUN141281 SISTERS HC GN $24.99
Behold the summer juggernaut we've all ben waiting for, although my guess is that this is really an early Fall release, as momentum should take Raina Telgemeier's work -- this time more closely affiliated with her breakout hit Smile than follow-up Drama could be -- all the the way through Christmas with sales punch. The first printing on this was bigger than all but a handful of North American superhero comic books since 2000. Telgemeier is a big star with her readers, and one thing she does as well as any cartoonist working is track the emotional state of her characters as they move through the narrative. I would assume a box set with Smile is coming soon, if not immediately, and she has a book tour planned.

JUN140463 FADE OUT #1 (MR) $3.50
JUN140145 MULTIVERSITY #1 $4.99
JUN140015 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #122 $3.50
JUN140010 DARK HORSE PRESENTS 2014 #1 $4.99
JUN140339 LITTLE NEMO RETURN TO SLUMBERLAND #1 $3.99
JUN140581 SUPREME BLUE ROSE #2 (MR) $2.99
JUN140584 TREES #4 (MR) $2.99
JUN140619 DAREDEVIL #7 SIN $3.99
JUN140698 MAGNETO #8 $3.99
JUN140614 ORIGINAL SINS #5 $3.99
JUN148174 SOUTHERN BASTARDS #1 3RD PTG (MR) $3.50
The juggernaut here is the first issue of the Grant Morrison written and coordinated multiple-universe series Multiversity for DC Comics, a company that can always use the energy and conviction that Morrison brings to such project. I'm choosing to spotlight the cover to the latest Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips comic book The Fade Out, because that team may be the only creative force in the big-company end of comics more reliable than Morrison. This is post-war Hollywood noir, and comes right on the heels of their final issue of Fatale. A Mignola-verse book comes out this week -- they come out almost every week -- while Dark Horse is also presenting the latest iteration of its anthology title, Dark Horse Presents. That's a smaller book and a smaller price point than the last volume. The Little Nemo is Eric Shanower so I'll definitely look at that. That's two comic books from Warren Ellis next; I'd love to know the last time that happened. Daredevil and Magneto are solid mid-list performers for the House Of Ideas, while Original Sins is the latest "event" series, this time focused on messing with character origins a bit. Or at least that's my impression; I've only seen the advertisements. You know it's sort of fun to read those event series if you're not reading a bunch of mainstream comics just to sort of catch up with the general way they're being done. Southern Bastards looks like a legitimate hit with a third printing arriving this quickly.

JUN141526 CHI SWEET HOME GN VOL 11 $13.95
JUN141562 DOROHEDORO GN VOL 13 (MR) $12.99
MAY141474 VINLAND SAGA GN VOL 04 $19.99
Three solid series of mainstream-oriented manga of different types. I'm only following these in chunks and gups according to when they become available, but the price point is always pretty reasonable on these things right off of the rack first day.

MAY141606 FIRST KINGDOM HC VOL 05 (MR) $19.99
I'm happy to see this Jack Katz work slip back into print and I think there's an audience of sci-fi readers for this material, if only a modest one. I love the magazine, but I'd certainly take a look at this presentation.

MAR140977 KILLER OMNIBUS TP VOL 02 (MR) $24.99
This is a high-end spy/mercenary adventure serial I've enjoyed when it's cross my desk. Very stylish-looking.

JUL141214 PEANUTS WAITING FOR GREAT PUMPKIN HC $9.99
This is another Peanuts gift book, which may or may not appeal in DM shops for a crowd that might be more oriented towards the complete collection. Still, it's hard to go wrong with Schulz.

JUN141261 ALANS WAR GN $24.00
JUN141448 SHARK KING TP $4.99
JUN141265 ODD DUCK GN $15.99
JUN141212 TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE TP VOL 01 $22.99
There are a number of pretty good books coming back to market; this is a group of four, completely unaffiliated with each other, that jumped out at me. My favorites were the second and the fourth. You won't find a prettier comic than that Shark King book, while the Kupperman I thought was really strong across the board.

MAY141480 ZAYA HC (MR) $29.99
This is a pairing of JD Morvan and the illustrator Huang-Jei Wei, continuing a run of Morvan's collaborative works to the market. It's a mostly spy-oriented science fiction work and it looks very, very pretty.

MAY141408 HIP HOP FAMILY TREE GN VOL 01 (NEW PTG) $27.99
MAY141401 HIP HOP FAMILY TREE GN VOL 02 $27.99
This is Ed Piskor's new work and a new printing of the previous volume. I think it's safe to call this book a legitimate alt-comics hit, and while it's not operating in the same sales stratosphere as the book at the top of this post, I hear it's doing very well. This is also a book likely to be paired together for gift-giving. I like cultural history, the more idiosyncratic the better -- it doesn't any more personalized than Piskor's mix of documentation and junky comic art flourishes. The great thing if you lived through this time period is to test your memory in a timeline fashion; I remember some of these things, but never close to the right order.

*****

The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.

The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.

If I failed to list your comic, that's because I hate you.

*****



*****
*****
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Furniture Porn


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Wyoming Kid


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* you don't see too many people going after Tom Toles, but Tim Cavanaugh engages the Washington Post cartoonist with serious intent. I think Toles is consistently very good, but that's not a strong cartoon from him.

* Kiel Phegley talks to Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. Nathan Reese talks to Ed Brubaker. Rob Clough profiles Aaron Lange.

* not comics: I sort of enjoyed the violence in this fan video, but I saw it a week ago before violence took over the whole world, so be careful.

* late 1970s Gary Panter.

* John Kane on a bunch of different comics. Paul O'Brien on Moon Knight Vol. 1. Todd Klein on GI Zombie #1. Andy Oliver on Graveyard Orbit #1. Robert Kirby on Unlovable Vol. 3. Rob Clough on The Hic & Hoc Illustrated Journal Of Humour Vol. 2, Crime World and some comics by Rob Jackson. Sean Gaffney on Oh My Goddess! Vol. 46.

* finally, this Joe McCulloch forthcoming comics article from last week featured a fun mini-essay on the comics of Ryoichi Ikegami.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 38th Birthday, Rina Ayuyang!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 56th Birthday, Daniel Torres!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 42nd Birthday, Sean Kleefeld!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Several Pages Of Derek Ballard Comics


Part 1; Part 2
 
posted 12:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Best American Comics Selection Canadian Royalty


it's by Michael DeForge
 
posted 2:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Frank Miller 20 Questions At Playboy

Here. It's his answer to #19 that will likely set off article and social media kvetching interest, mostly because that's the only reaction anyone has to anything anymore but partly because his answer there is... well... let's say colorful.

Miller was not the humongous figure for me in the 1980s that he was for most of my same-age peers that read comics, although I enjoy pretty much all of his major runs within the corporate superhero companies and there sure were a lot of them.
 
posted 12:35 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: You Might As Well Live


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Anne Ishii Interviews Annie Koyama

Here. I'm happier just knowing these two people got to talk to one another. Bonus: the interview is funny and encouraging.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: How I Got My Medical Marijuana License


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Paper Rocket Launches Fall Campaign; Inaugurates A New “Split The Tip” Policy

Robyn Chapman wrote in yesterday afternoon with news of this crowd-funding campaign, for the Fall comics from her Paper Rocket Minicomics.

She mentioned in the note something that's in the campaign presentation, that she would splitting any extra money over the pre-order cost with the artists involved, which seems to me an interesting way to approach what she forthrightly calls a pre-order effort. She also puts paying the artists as first priority with the fundraiser.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Fantasy Management


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Read: Profile Of Frank Miller In New York Times; Sunday Book Review On Jules Feiffer’s Latest

The Miller is here. The Feiffer is here. Neither one is particularly insightful, although together they provide one of those step-back moment were you think, with amazement, "These kinds of profiles and review are routine now." The Feiffer one might surprise for the certainty of its praise, as advance word on Kill My Mother has been all over the place. It's hard for me to imagine the new Sin City movie doing well, but the Turtles surprised on their first weekend so who knows? I think there's a significant reservoir of goodwill waiting for Miller within comics, but it may be a while yet before the dam is removed.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Missy Kulik


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Bundled Extra: Conundrum Press Announces Katherine Verhoeven’s Towerkind For A TCAF 2015 Debut



Making yet another late-summer publishing announcement, Conundrum Press yesterday announced via social media and a press release that they had acquired world rights to Towerkind, by Katherine Verhoeven. They describe the work, a newly-named Ignatz nominee in its mini-comic iteration as follows:

"Conundrum Press is delighted to announce the signing of world rights to Towerkind by Katherine Verhoeven. Towerkind is an oblique end-of-the-world story seen through the eyes of a diverse group of children in Toronto’s St James Town, a neighbourhood of densely populated high rise apartments. The kids in this “towerhood” become aware of an impending catastrophe through a number of supernatural abilities. Super strong Ty is a self-proclaimed monarch, and in his frustrated rage bullies the other kids into building a castle for him out of scrap wood and boxes. Among others, Mackenzie uses her death magic to meddle, and language savant Mose would prefer to be left alone. Something is revealing itself through cracks and crevices, and through the children in the neighbourhood."

Conundrum promises at TCAF 2015 debut.

The book should be around 160 pages -- I believe that's the length of the story so you'd have that plus some extras -- and you can buy individual issues in the earlier iteration here. The cartoonist commented on the news here.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In NYC, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Brooklyn, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: More Herb Trimpe Hulk Splash Pages


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* you can submit to the Cartoonists Of Color database here.

* Gabriel Winslow-Yost on a pair of translated war comics by Jacques Tardi. (thanks, Greg Kelly) Andrew Weiss on Radio Boy. Todd Klein on Detective Comics Annual #3 and Superman #33.

* Chris Sims writes about the Legion Of Super-Heroes property. It's kind of baffling that that one can't be made to work somehow. I wonder if it hasn't been overthought a bit. I imagine it also suffers from a very popular late 1970s run casting a shadow going forward for the next 35 years. With several thousand readers making the difference between a hit and a canceled book, it has to be tempting to return to that strongest iteration.

* did Phoebe come back?

* Alan Gardner reminds that Hilary Price recently visited the current dean of American newspaper cartooning, Mort Walker.

* Hannah Means-Shannon talks to David Mack and Bill Sienkiewicz. Dan Greenfield talks to Ed Piskor. Some nice person at the Yorkshire Evening Post profiles Lisa Wood. Jonathan Bell talks to KAL. Julie Kahn talks to Ed Chavez. Jason Wilkins talks to Ryan Burton.

* I liked this strip by Evan Dorkin.

* finally, I'm putting word of this Wonder Woman podcast here so I will remember to go back and listen to it when I have the time.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 39th Birthday, Adam P. Knave!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 37th Birthday, Josh Cotter!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 45th Birthday, Gene Ha!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 70th Birthday, Skip Williamson!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 35th Birthday, Josh Fialkov!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 48th Birthday, Stefano Gaudiano!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Caitlin Major


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Festivals Extra: The Hotel Where Folks Are Booking For SPX When They Can’t Get Into The Marriott…

... is the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville Hotel & Executive Meeting Center. I've now e-mailed with multiple people who bounced down there after the Marriott sold out of rooms for SPX weekend about five days ago.

It's a full-service hotel like the Marriott, is about 3/4 of a mile away and is one transit stop up the system for easy access. There are a lot of Hiltons in the area so you want to check the address to make double-certain which one you're booking yourself into. I love a good hotel a short distance away, even for a party festival like SPX, because it makes the mornings your own. And this place is appropriately comfy-looking. It's running a bit cheaper than the Marriott through the basic booking services.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Look: Batman Great Escapes Month


 
posted 6:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Your 2014 Ignatz Award Nominees



They were named this morning. Congratulations to all the newly minted nominees. The Ignatz ceremony will be held on the Saturday of SPX -- September 13. Good luck to all participating.

It's an interesting group of nominees. It strikes me as a list where there's not a whole lot here that's daring or out of left field -- this is the first year in a while I've heard of all the nominees, and am familiar with all of the work, and I've had a terribly inattentive work year. I've received e-mail of a questioning nature already in terms of a couple of nominees, which is typical, but nothing "Oh My God" yet, which is not. My love for Kim Deitch is second to no one's, and I adore that Whaley book, but I didn't put it on my own year-end list because that seemed to me an illustrated prose story. That doesn't matter in the wider scheme of things, but it's an intriguing choice for a crowded field and opens up future awards slates. I also love The End, but that's essentially a reprint with an added signature. I'm always confused by "Promising Newcomer" categories. My hunch is that at least one of those cartoonists has been at it as long as Michael DeForge has been, although I could be wrong.

On a personal note, I think this means my choice for book of the year in 2013, Jim Woodring's Fran, received no North American awards nominations. I could be wrong about that.

I think this will be a well-received slate, though, perhaps strongly so. A couple that strike me as particularly welcome on a first glance is the Jesse Reklaw artist nod for that Couch Tag book so few people read, and the Sam Sharpe nomination for that ruthless "Mom" story. I'm also happy on first plunge-through for the Powdered Milk series nod.

Outstanding Artist
* Sam Bosma, Fantasy Basketball
* Kim Deitch, The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley
* Sophie Goldstein, Darwin Carmichael is Going To Hell; Edna II; House of Women
* Ed Piskor, Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 1
* Jesse Reklaw, Couch Tag

Outstanding Anthology or Collection
* Amazing Facts and Beyond, Kevin Huizenga and Dan Zettwoch
* The End, Anders Nilsen
* Eye of the Majestic Creature Vol. 2, Leslie Stein
* Sock Monkey Treasury, Tony Millionaire
* QU33R, Various (Edited By Robert Kirby)

Outstanding Graphic Novel
* The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley, Kim Deitch
* The Boxer, Reinhard Kleist
* Boxers and Saints, Gene Luen Yang
* This One Summer, Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki
* War of Streets and Houses, Sophie Yanow

Outstanding
* Brownout Biscuit from Octoups Pie: Dead Forever, Meredith Gran
* Destination X, John Martz
* The Grassy Knoll, Nick Drnaso
* Jobs from Life Zone, Simon Hanselmann
* Mom from Viewotron #2, Sam Sharpe

Promising New Talent
* Luke Howard, Trevor
* Cathy G. Johnson, Jeremiah; Boy Genius; Until It Runs Clear
* Nick Offerman, Orange; Onions
* Keiler Roberts, Powdered Milk
* Daryl Seitchik, Missy

Outstanding Series
* The Black Feather Falls, Ellen Lindner
* Demon, Jason Shiga
* Powdered Milk, Keiler Roberts
* Sky in Stereo, Sacha Mardou
* Towerkind, Kat Verhoeven

Outstanding Comic
* Blammo #8, Noah Van Sciver
* Cosplayers, Dash Shaw
* It Will All Hurt #2, Farel Dalrymple
* Misliving Amended, Adam Buttrick
* Wicked Chicken Queen, Sam Alden

Outstanding Minicomic
* The Grassy Knoll, Nick Drnaso
* House of Women, Sophie Goldstein
* Never Forgets, Yumi Sakugawa
* Test Tube #1, Carlos Gonzalez
* Up to the Top, Ian Sampson

Outstanding Online Comic
* Band for Life, Anya Davidson
* Big Dogs at Nite, Dane Martin
* Demon, Jason Shiga
* On Hiatus, Pete Toms
* Vattu, Evan Dahm

This year's jury was Darryl Ayo, Austin English, Melissa Mendes, Thien Pham and Whit Taylor.

Update: I've heard back from several people now and taken a second look myself. The gender breakdown is at 2-1 in favor of male cartoonists (I get 30-14 leaving out the group anthology, but I'm super-shitty at math). The previous year it was just about 50/50 -- I want to say 23/22, but that's from memory. That was astonishing to a couple of people that e-mailed in just for the reputation that the end of last year through the first half of this year enjoyed in terms of there being a number of strong works out from female cartoonists. I think if you have a juried award system you can't really predict where the votes will break down, it's just too small a sample for prediction. I do think it's worth noting.

Also, in terms of what I perceive of as Ignatz favorites over the last few years: no Michael DeForge, but yes on Sam Alden, Noah Van Sciver, Dash Shaw and Jillian Tamaki. I'm not sure I see a D+Q book on there, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
posted 5:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Dance Of Death


via
 
posted 5:50 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding



By Tom Spurgeon

* there will be a benefit for Seth Kushner in New York over August 26-27. I hope you'll consider attending or if you have a line on how to do so and it's needed, contributing.

* this Nate McDonough crowd-funder was $32 away last night and may be over its initial goal by now. I'm always a fan of the little ones. This Jeremy Whitley/Heather Nunnelly crowd-funder has just met its initial goal with several days left. Jess Smart Smiley has a way to go yet. Looks like it will be close on this Watson And Holmes crowd-funder, but there's more than enough time for a last push.

* whoa. I first heard about that one because the person organizing it, Megan Lavey-Heaton, was a friend of the writer Chris Mautner. At this point, Chris Mautner is a friend of Megan Lavey-Heaton.

* last couple of days for the latest Ditko/Snyder project.

* the Dan Vado gofundme on behalf of his longtime alt-/art- publishing house SLG has passed the $12k mark.

* finally, this second major Rachel Richey project was really close last night and I'd be surprised if it wasn't over the line as you're reading this.
 
posted 5:45 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
OTBP: Kroger Kromix #2


 
posted 5:40 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Contribute: MariNaomi’s Cartoonists Of Color Database

Information here. I'm all for as many independent resources as have a chance of being good and as the Internet can hold.
 
posted 5:35 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Buddy Baker, Crooner For Hire


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Randall Munroe’s “Time” Wins Hugo For Best Graphic Story

Randall Munroe's "Time" won the Hugo Award for "Best Graphic Story" in the awards presented over the weekend. Cory Doctorow accepted on the winner's behalf.

The winning story can be found here.

The nominee slate for that category was:

* Girl Genius, Volume Thirteen: Agatha Heterodyne & The Sleeping City, Phil Foglio And Kaja Foglio And Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
* "The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who" in Doctor Who Special 2013, Paul Cornell And Jimmy Broxton (IDW)
* The Meathouse Man, Raya Golden, Adapted From The Story By George R.R. Martin (Jet City Comics)
* Saga Vol. 2, Brian K. Vaughan And Fiona Staples (Image Comics )
* "Time" in XKCD, Randall Munroe (Self-Published)

Congratulation to winner Munroe and all the other nominees.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chattanooga, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Seattle, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Barry Smith Inking Jack Kirby On Captain America


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* we'll be running the 2012 "Comics By Local Scene" list and instructions on how to help me update it for Labor Day re-release every day this week first thing. Sorry if it makes scrolling down a bit of a hassle and I hope you can contribute to that resource.

* missed this fun Chris Schweizer post about the beginning of World War I.

* Leigh Alexander talks to Bryan Lee O'Malley. Heather Seggel talks to Ariel Schrag. Greg Hunter talks to Brian Evenson. Patrick A. Reed talks to Paul Pope. Kiel Phegley talks to Ed Brubaker. Some nice person at Politics & Prose talks to Gene Luen Yang. Nathan Reese talks to Ed Brubaker. Tyler Chin-Tanner talks to Farel Dalrymple. Michael Cavna talks to Teresa Roberts Logan.

* not comics: Jack Kirby beer. August 2017 is going to be fascinating.

* Kerry Winfrey on This One Summer. Tom Murphy on The Wrenchies. Rob McMonigal on Faction 1. Matt Derman on Fallen Angels #1-8. Colm Creamer on Seconds. Andy Oliver on Graveyard Orbit #1 and On The Trail Of Sandalwood Smugglers. Sean T. Collins on Alien Invasion III.

* look at these Capital City buttons. Those of you younger than 40 may not remember the major distributor they were for years and years. My hunch is that any element of comics history that invovles the 1980s can have that history told in button form.

* finally, I would have loved to have entered into the world of Usagi Yojimbo as a little-kid reader.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 45th Birthday, Chris Allen!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 47th Birthday, Brian Bendis!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 31st Birthday, Lilli Carré!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 40th Birthday, Kevin Church!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 37th Birthday, Jenni Rope!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Voting For The 2014 Harvey Awards Ends Today


 
posted 4:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Voting For The 2014 Harvey Awards Ends Tomorrow


 
posted 9:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Superman Is A Jerk


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
OTBP: Edward Hopper On Food Stamps


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: A Bunch Of Guy Colwell Illustrations


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chicago, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Brooklyn, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In London, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Japan, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were Near Bridgeport, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were Near Virginia Beach, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 58th Birthday, John Romita Jr.!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 45th Birthday, Tom McLean!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 56th Birthday, Andrew Helfer!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
FFF Results Post #390—Inks Over Pencils

On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Five Inkers Whose Work You Enjoy Over Five Specific Pencil Artists That Are Different People." This is how they responded.



Tom Spurgeon

1. Tom Palmer Over John Buscema
2. Joe Sinnott Over Jack Kirby
3. Will Elder Over John Severin
4. Jim Blanchard Over Peter Bagge
5. Terry Austin Over John Byrne

*****



Johnny Bacardi

* Craig Russell over Mike Mignola
* Chic Stone over Kirby
* Tom Palmer over Gene Colan
* John Severin over Herb Trimpe
* Tom Nguyen over Doug Mahnke

*****



Evan Dorkin

1. Tom Palmer over Gene Colan
2. Mike Esposito over Ross Andru
3. Mike Royer over Jack Kirby
4. Kevin Nowlan over Jose Garcia-Lopez
5. Will Elder over John Severin

*****



Douglas Wolk

1. Don Carlton Over Garry Trudeau
2. Alfredo Alcala Over Gene Colan
3. Dan Adkins Over Don Newton
4. Murphy Anderson Over Curt Swan
5. Wade Von Grawbadger Over Stuart Immonen

*****



Dave Knott

* Murphy Anderson over Curt Swan
* Edgar P. Jacobs over Hergé
* John Totleben over Steve Bissette
* Don Carlton over Garry Trudeau
* Rick Burchett over Mike Parobeck

*****



Christopher Keels

* Johnny Craig over George Tuska
* John Severin over Herb Trimpe
* Al Williamson over Curt Swan
* Klaus Janson over Gil Kane
* Kevin Nowlan over Jose Luis Garcia Lopez

*****



Lou Copeland

1. John Totleben over Stephen Bissette
2. Chic Stone over Jack Kirby
3. Tom Palmer over Gene Colan
4. Chester Brown over Stephen Bissette
5. Bill Everett over Mike Sekowsky

*****



Eric Yockey

1. Tom Palmer Over Neal Adams
2. Murphy Anderson Over Curt Swan
3. Mike Royer Over Jack Kirby
4. Alfredo Alcala Over John Buscema
5. Terry Austin Over Marshall Rogers

Actually, I'd take Austin's inks over just about anyone's pencils.

*****



Fred Hembeck

1. Chic Stone over Jack Kirby
2. Tom Palmer over Gene Colan
3. Al Williamson over Curt Swan
4. Wally Wood over Steve Ditko
5. Murphy Anderson over Carmine Infantino

*****



Mark Waid

1. Murphy Anderson over Carmine Infantino
2. Eric Shanower over Curt Swan
3. John Romita, Sr. over Gil Kane
4. Terry Austin over Marshall Rogers
5. Wally Wood over Bob Brown

*****



Jeff Harris

* Joe Sinnott over Gene Colan
* Tom Palmer over Neal Adams
* John Romita Sr. over Gil Kane
* Wally Wood over Jack Kirby
* Murphy Anderson over Curt Swan

*****



Chad Hanna

1. Dennis Janke over Jon Bogdanove
2. Wallace Wood over Jack Kirby
3. Bob Mcleod over Mike Zeck
4. Dick Giordano over Neal Adams
5. Klaus Janson over John Romita Jr.

*****



Art Baxter

1. John Romita Over Gil Kane -- Amazing Spider-Man #90-124 -- A handful of issues spread out in there
2. Russ Heath Over Mike Golden -- Mister Miracle (Steve Gerber issues) #24 & 25
3. Harvey Kurtzman Over Alex Toth -- Dying City -- Two Fisted Tales #22
4. Bernie Wrightson Over Steve Ditko -- Morlock 2001 and the Midnight Men, July 1975 #3
5. Bill Everett over Ross Andru -- Marvel Feature #1-3 1971 (First few Defenders stories)

*****



Chris Arrant

1. Wally Wood over Gil Kane
2. Terry Austin over John Byrne
3. Tim Townsend over Chris Bachalo
4. Klaus Janson over Frank Miller
5. Tom Palmer over John Buscema

*****



Matthew Allison

1. Al Williamson over John Romita Jr.
2. Charles Burns over John Romita Jr. (Naked Snack)
3. Tom Palmer over Gene Colan
4. John Totleben over Steve Bissette
5. Kevin Nowlan over anybody

*****



Marc Arsenault

1. Klaus Janson over Keith Giffen
2. Gene Day over Mike Zeck
3. Steve Leialoha over Carmine Infantino
4. Terry Austin over Marshall Rogers
5. Tom Palmer over Gene Colan

*****



Steve Replogle

1. Bill Everett over Jack Kirby
2. John Severin over Marie Severin
3. John Byrne over Steve Ditko
4. Ralph Reese over Gil Kane
5. Berni Wrightson over Carmine Infantino

*****



Rob Salkowitz

* Tom Palmer over Gene Colan
* Alfredo Alcala over John Buscema
* Al Williamson over Thomas Yeates
* John Tottleben over Steve Bissette
* Klaus Jansen over Frank Miller

*****



Sean Kleefeld

1. Wally Wood over Jack Kirby
2. Dan Bulanadi over Paul Ryan
3. Murphy Anderson over Curt Swan
4. Joe Sinnott over John Romita Sr.
5. Dick Giordano over Neal Adams


*****



Michael Draine

1. Bernie Wrightson over Michael Kaluta (The Shadow #3)
2. John Totleben over Steve Bissette (Swamp Thing)
3. Frank Frazetta over Al Williamson ("50 Girls 50," Weird Science #20)
4. Steve Ditko over Jack Kirby (The Incredible Hulk #2, Fantastic Four #13)
5. Mick Gray over JH Williams III (Promethea)

*****



Mark Mayerson

* Mike Royer over Jack Kirby
* J. Bone over Darwyn Cooke
* John Severin over Dick Ayers
* Dan Adkins over Jim Steranko
* Wally Wood over Gil Kane

*****



Matt Emery

1. Tom Palmer over John Buscema
2. Bob Layton over John Romita Jr
3. Terry Austin over Carmine Infantino
4. Dan Green over John Romita Jr
5. Bob McCleod over Mike Zeck

I usually try to think of different answers but Buscema/Palmer was my immediate thought from a fondly remembered run of comics.

*****



Oliver Ristau

1. Al Gordon over Keith Giffen
2. Terry Austin over Marshall Rogers
3. Tom Palmer over Gene Colan
4. Al Williamson over John Romita
5. Murphy Anderson over Curt Swan

*****



Scott Dunbier

* P. Craig Russell over Steve Ditko (on Rom)
* Bill Everett over Jack Kirby (on Thor)
* Al Williamson over Curt Swan (on Superman)
* Russ Heath over Michael Golden (on Mister Miracle)
* Bernie Wrightson over Michael Kaluta (on Shadow #4)

*****



James Langdell

1. Karl Kesel Over Stephen DeStefano
2. P. Craig Russell Over Steve Ditko
3. Tom Palmer Over Gene Colan
4. Gary Martin Over Steve Rude
5. Alfredo Alcala Over Rick Veitch

*****



Andrew Mansell

1. Joe Sinnott over Jack Kirby
2. Alfredo Alcala over John Buscema
3. Tom Palmer over Gene Colan
4. Gene Day over Mike Zeck
5. Bob Layton over John Romita Jr.

*****



Marc-Oliver Frisch

1. Tom Palmer over John Buscema
2. Tim Townsend over Chris Bachalo
3. Jesús Merino over Carlos Pacheco
4. Dan Green over John Romita, Jr.
5. Bob Almond over Sal Velluto

*****



Jim Bricker

1. Tom Palmer Over Gene Colan
2. Steve Leialoha Over Frank Brunner
3. Dick Giordano Over Neal Adams
4. Joe Sinnott Over Jim Steranko
5. Klaus Janson Over Frank Miller

*****



Scott VanderPloeg

* Jesus Merino over Carlos Pacheco
* Mike Royer over Jack Kirby
* J Bone over Darwyn Cooke
* Murphy Anderson over Gil Kane
* Syd Shores over Gene Colan

*****



Kiel Phegley

1. Stephen Baskerville Over Andrew Wildman
2. Al Williamson Over Rick Leonardi
3. Wade Von Grawbadger Over Tony Harris
4. Tom Palmer Over John Romita, Jr.
5. Wayne Faucher Over Humberto Ramos

*****



Alan Doane

1. Joe Rubinstein over John Byrne
2. Klaus Janson over Gil Kane
3. Wallace Wood over Steve Ditko
4. John Totleben over Steve Bissette
5. Terry Austin over Frank Miller

*****

modified from a suggestion by Chris Arrant; thanks, Chris

*****
*****
 
posted 4:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Comics Reporter Video Parade


The Wolverine (Via Chip Zdarsky)


Credit Sequence For Non-Existent Filmed Version Of League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen


Ernest Kavanagh Profiled


Guy Gilchrist On The Christian Broadcasting Network


Louis Vuitton Venice Travel Book Featuring Jiro Taniguchi


People Goofing Around The Marvel Offices, 1984


Music Video From Sleepy Kitty Featuring Lots Of Screenprinting (Not Comics, Although Evan Sult Is A Former Art Director For Fantagraphics And Devil's Due)
 
posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
This Is The Funniest Thing I Saw On The Internet During My Brief Weekend Visit; See You Monday


you need the context available by clicking through; god bless lisa hanawalt
 
posted 4:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
CR Week In Review

The top comics-related news stories from August 9 to August 15, 2014:

1. Team Cul De Sac reports that the Watterson/Pastis Pearls Before Swine collaboration strip originals brought in the neighborhood of $70K at auction, bringing the total raised by the anti-Parkinson's Disease charitable effort to around $200K.

2. A brief professional registration snafu at NYCC that surfaced last week gets taken care of with passes restored, throwing the spotlight on how shows have begun to handle the massive influx of interest in shows from a variety of communities. Okay, let's be honest, we mostly paid attention to Robin Williams and Ferguson all week, not even in that order.

3. Nobrow has begun announcing specific North American releases for the their books.

Winners Of The Week
Team Cul De Sac

Loser Of The Week
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Quote Of The Week
"Does Forrest Whitaker look like a Roz Chast drawing or what?" -- Anne Ishii (probably not even this week, but I laughed)

*****

image from a Marvel comic book from 50 years ago, a year they were killing it

*****
 
posted 2:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Voting For The 2014 Harvey Awards Ends Monday


 
posted 9:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Buy: Dustin Harbin Launches Persons Of Interest


this is a clever stunt, and should yield a bunch of art
 
posted 9:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In London, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Los Angeles, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Japan, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were Near Bridgeport, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were Near Virginia Beach, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 49th Birthday, Jason!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Sub


via
 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Bookmark: Kevin Huizenga Writing On Saul Steinberg

Here's the Saul Steinberg label at Kevin Huizenga's blog. The cartoonist and occasional very intriguing writer is going to be working through -- in informal fashion, it seems -- a bunch of thoughts about the titan of graphic art Saul Steinberg in various posts and using a number of approaches. This is like the Internet asking me what I'd like to see and then delivering on my unexpressed wish rather than what I said out loud.

The inquiry is driven by this video, which I don't think I've seen before because I was startled by watching Steinberg draw and had no mental image of what he looked like.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: What’s My Shine?


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Festivals Extra: John Porcellino Documentary Crowd-Funder Won’t Make It To Monday’s Request Column

It has made its goal, though. I wanted to mention it one more time because the film will serve as the backbone of a fall 2014 tour by the cartoonist in support of it and his forthcoming Hospital Suite. That's quite the book, and I hope the film and the new work will drive people to Porcellino's admirable artistic output more generally. Also I figured some of you might want to get in on the incentives, or secure via advance ordering a copy of the movie.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Missed It: Boulet’s Tribute To Dragon Ball


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Does The Genre To Literary Progression Exist?

A pair of people sent along a link to this essay by Tim Parks that declines to believe that old expression about there being value in a person reading anything. It's a super-bizarre article, though.

First, Parks assumes that the value of people reading anything is that they'll progress from a certain kind of material to a different kind of material, and I'm not sure everyone would agree with him that's the only value of reading. I know plenty of people that think reading itself has a value no matter what's read, and never care if there's a difference in reading material over time. I don't agree with them, but I'm certain they exist.

Second, Parks claims that he's never known anyone to move from reading genre material to reading literary material. I know about two dozen people that made this progression, and suspect I'm in contact with hundreds. I may know even more people for whom this is true in comics. While it's not a path that describes everybody that reads comics of a certain type, I'm not sure that alt-comics would exist without some folks developing a taste for material other than genre work and being able to act on it because of their experience within the medium. He also seems to think that the existence of a variety of models means the proposed model doesn't exist and that if you still like genre fiction you didn't make that progression, neither of which seems like a halfway reasonable argument. Has anyone ever argued that that particular progression was paramount or defined by rigid adherence? I do agree with Parks that people are more likely these days to reject the value of literary work as being distinct from that of genre work.

So what to make of this? I imagine in terms of comics the piece can serve as a reminder for those of us that once preferred Thor and now find Edmond Baudoin more interesting that not everyone followed that same path or joins us in either admiration. I think there's a slight schism between older and younger alt-comics readers along these broad lines. Still, what an oddball article.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Joe Kubert Image Mini-Gallery


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Not Comics: Seattle’s Scarecrow Video Using Crowd-Funding To Transition Into Non-Profit Status

There's an article here about Seattle's legendary Scarecrow Video making a move into non-profit status in part by using a crowd-funding mechanism to help facilitate that transition. That's like five articles in one, all of them interesting. Where I think it might be instructive for comics is the idea that there may be a way to refashion the mission of some comics entities so that a non-profit iteration could take hold. It's just not a way of thinking that was popular in the '80s and '90s, due in part I think to the hyper-commercial outlook of comics people when it comes to negotiating the art form as the source material for consumable objects. There are other ways of looking at comics, and I'm confident we'll see some new models tried in the next decade.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Simone Gane And Rob Williams At Think Of A City


 
posted 11:50 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Laura Hudson’s Profile Of Grant Morrison At Wired

Laura Hudson at Wired profiles the writer Grant Morrison the week before his much-anticipated Multiversity comic book drops. That's a series set in various parts of DC's overlapping "universes" that is both facilitated by and I'm guessing will unpack a bit Morrison's theories on the value and nature of superhero comics.

It's a nice piece, primarily in that Morrison's usual talk about the reality of these characters seems less affected and more engaged with the value of art in a matter-of-fact way. If nothing else, it's the first time I felt I understood everything Morrison was talking about on this particular set of ideas and issues.
 
posted 11:45 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: JR JR Rolled Shoulder Image Gallery


 
posted 11:40 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Noah Van Sciver’s Emergency Sale



Heartbreak is involved, and a potential stay at the YMCA is invoked.

My memory from earlier this summer is that Noah Van Sciver's originals are very attractive. He labors over a lot of his pages and panels in a way that frequently makes for compelling art when put up on a wall. I wish him the best in the days ahead and will continue to look in. I was hoping to commission something from him this Fall and will see if I can make that money available sooner.
 
posted 11:35 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Luke Humphris


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Assembled, Zipped, Transferred And Downloaded: News From Digital

By Tom Spurgeon

* I hope as many of you that might potentially be interested are checking out Gabrielle Bell's July diary, as it rolls out on her site. That's one of the great comics things of summer, for sure, and I look forward to it the way I used to look forward to Marvel's annuals. If there's any better take on exhausting social anxiety than comparing it to holding a bicycle over your head, I've yet to hear it.

* Brigid Alverson helps you find the free Archie stuff.

* I get a lot of letters from creators that want me to just drive attention to their sites or comics, and I never know what to say to them. I'm appreciative that they think of this site, though, and understand their desire to see their work get out in front of as many people as possible. This is one site that was recently sent to me, and it occurs to me that it does seem like a pretty standard old-school web site set-up, complete with a free issue download.

* this is a nice story concerning Mark Waid accepting a San Diego pitch that his Thrillbent would then facilitate. That's a great idea PR-wise, too. Speaking of Thrillbent, here's Christina Blanch talking about The Damnation Of Charlie Wormwood, which is doing that web to print transitional thing.

* finally, Pikitia Press has a new web site.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Athens, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chicago, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In London, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Japan, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were Near Bridgeport, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Hannes Bok Covers For Imagination


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Team Cul De Sac is offering to take any original drawings made of Robin Williams and auction them to benefit Parkinson's.

* Sean Gaffney on D-Frag! Vol. 1. Sean T. Collins on Danny Boy. John Kane on a bunch of different comics. Kelly Thompson on She-Hulk #7 and Fatale #24. Those nice Page 45 people on various new releases. Someone at Locust Moon on Mother's Mouth.

* Robin McConnell and Brandon Graham talk to Rob Liefeld. I can't quite tell the name vs. the show that is doing/hosting this Peter Bagge interview. Chris Mautner talks to Ryan Sands. Steve Morris talks to Kate Ashwin. Martin Dupuis talks to Sammy Harkham.

* J. Caleb Mozzocco introduces us to New 52 Calendar Man.

* not comics: Noelle Stevenson draws the Scooby Gang.

* finally, David Brothers suggests that one way to emphasize greater chances for non-whites to participate in the creation of comics is to step away from a dialogue where Marvel and DC are the dominant players.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 61st Birthday, Paul Gulacy!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Wiggle Much


thanks, David Aja
 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Festivals Extra: SPX Announces International Guests; Host Hotel Now Apparently Sold Out Of Rooms

I totally missed this, but last night SPX announced via their tumblr their line-up of international guests. It's extremely solid. The guests are:

* Simon Hanselmann (Australia)
* Aisha Franz (Germany)
* Yvan Alagbé (France)
* Dominique Goblet (Belgium)
* Mana Neyestani (Iran, although currently resides in France)
* Daniel Jiménez Quiroz (Colombia)

They also mention New Zealand native, London-living Roger Langridge and a bunch of folks they describe as Australian: Frank Candiloro, Matt Emery, Luke Humphris, Matthew Hoddy, Caitlin Major, Nicholas McIvor (guessing on that link) and Lex Sugden.

That is a very impressive group. You can read their descriptions and and their PR in full through that first link.

Of more interest to some of the exhibitors may be word I'm hearing that the host hotel, the legendary Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, has sold out of rooms for the weekend. I'm not sure what I'd do if I were looking at a room. There's a nice Hilton (the equally mouthful-named Hilton Washington DC/Rockville Hotel & Executive Meeting Center) a bit more than a mile up the road with rooms in the same price range ($115 or so). You could also stay just about anywhere a short train ride away given the proximity to local transit.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Paul Gravett’s 1987 Profile Of Jacques Tardi


 
posted 12:22 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Comics Industry Folk Engage With Unfolding News From Missouri

The Graphic Policy site has a post up collecting tweets from comics industry folks concerning the ongoing travesty unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri. I've never been one to look to comics industry people when there's a big news story outside of comics, but there's a tradition of this going all the way back to the message board and hosted forum days.

This widely linked-to cartoon by Jon Kudelka strikes me as the best editorial cartoon on the subject we've seen thus far.
 
posted 12:21 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Audience Interpretation


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Team Cul De Sac’s Chris Sparks Responds To News Of Robin Williams Having Parkinson’s



Chris Sparks of Team Cul De Sac, the charitable effort to raise money for a cure for Parkinson's Disease based on the ongoing life and works of the illustrator/cartoonist Richard Thompson, has written a short post here about news that came out today that the late comedian Robin Williams was in the early stages of Parkinson's. He mentions that the organization has raised over $200K at this point, which is so very admirable.

While it's not tied into a charity and touches the ongoing discussion of mental health issues caused by Williams' suicide only in an oblique sense, this gallery of illustrators and cartoonists drawing Williams might be worth a peek if you're interested. That's Zack Soto's contribution above.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Holidays


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Missed It: Follow-Up On That Randy Queen Story

I totally missed this, and that's not fair to the subject of this piece. According to that superior link-blogger Keven Melrose, the '90s mainstream-style comics artist Randy Queen has apologized for his aggressive pursuit of use of his art that included a significant number of pieces where his work was reviewed negatively. One of the classic fair-use employments of copyrighted art is in criticism. Queen was criticized widely and soundly for his pursuit of take-down notices and similar actions against sites.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Hard To Say Goodbye


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Not Comics: Seth Expresses Love For His Refrigerator

Here. Granted, those are astounding-looking refrigerators.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Secret Moonshiners Of Saudi Arabia


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events



By Tom Spurgeon

* Tony Millionaire and Caitlin McGurk will be reprising their interviewee/interviewer shtick from this year's CAKE at an event at Billy Ireland in Columbus Labor Day week.

* I can't figure out a direct link, but in the brief marked 08.07.2014 Emerald City Comic-Con announced its first special guests for 2015: Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen.

* Genghis Con has announced a date for 2014 and various news developments related to that show, in Cleveland late Fall. That one only has exhibitor registration for a limited time, so if you're interested, you might get on that right away.

* Brian Gardes suggests more people at conventions selling convention-only items issue tickets as Todd McFarlane used to for his signing lines.

* here's a more complete blog post at Robot 6 on something we mentioned in cursory form last week: the NYCC sold tickets to its forthcoming show through some retailing partners and that sale was enthusiastically engaged by fans, some of whome waited in line for more than 24 hours.

* here are the organizations that exist under the SPX umbrella.

* congratulations to Short Run for winning the Seattle Weekly's best comics convention designation. That's quite an achievement in a town with a really well-run, large convention like Emerald City. Short Run is in mid-November this year; Emerald City is in late March, and tickets go on sale September 1.

* Eleanor Davis is signing in Athens in support of her book. It would be super-cool if we could make August this really intensive signing and touring month. Here's the poster.


 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Matilda Tristram Interview


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Smokey The Bear Comics


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Todd Klein on Aquaman #33. Carla Hoffman on Thanos: The Infinity Revelation. J. Caleb Mozzocco on The Fox: Freak Magnet.

* ... and a near-endless supply of chicken companions.

* this Gerry Alanguilan essay about the passing of his mother is very touching, and starts off with a wonderful detail that I think will resonate with a lot of my writer and artists friends, the way he initially notes hearing the news.

* not comics: they're really just a PR organization there to boost the side other than the one they're taking; they have to be.

* I enjoyed how unsparing this profile of Epic Comics was in terms of its appraisal of what got published, although I wish they had qualfied its contribution to the reality of creator-owned comics to designate this a creator-owned imprint owned by a mainstream company, because certainly there had been creator-owned books for twenty years at that point, exactly as we now understand them. Marvel even did some.

* Kristi Turnquist talks to Brian Michael Bendis. Charlie Chang talks to Van Jensen and Rob Venditti. Patrick A. Reed talks to Chip Kidd and Wendy and Richard Pini.

* finally, that is the best name for someone convicted of crimes related to insider trading, although that probably doesn't make the lives of his friends and family any brighter right now, or excuse the crime.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 71st Birthday, John Costanza!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 53rd Birthday, Jimmy Palmiotti!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 64th Birthday, Gary Larson!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Clop Clop Clop


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Dan Lynch, 1946-2014



The longtime Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette cartoonist Dan Lynch passed away on Sunday at the age of 67. Lynch passed while under the care of a local hospital. A memorial service is scheduled for Friday. Although no cause of death was given, Lynch had suffered from various afflictions due to a 2001 stroke.

Lynch was born in Munster, Indiana. He studied at Western Kentucky University and Indiana University. He was working for the Journal-Gazette -- having joined in 1975 -- when he was hired to replace Bill Schorr at the Kansas City Times/Kansas City Star (at the time a morning/afternoon set-up with the Star as owners). Lynch would stay for approximately three years. He was replaced in Fort Wayne by Steve Sack. When Sack moved to Minneapolis in the early 1980s, Lynch returned to his home region, building a career based as much on local and regional commentary as national. A versatile illustrator who worked in a style familiar to editorial cartoon aficionados, Lynch was considered a significant asset by his hometown publication. Like many cartoonists of his generation, Lynch cited Jeff MacNelly as a primary influence.

Lynch would syndicate nationally through NEA from 1986 to 1997. Publications using his material included Time and Newsweek. A desire to do more regional-issue cartoons brought that relationship to a close.

The cartoonist suffered his stroke two weeks after 9/11, an event with which the cartoonist was reportedly deeply concerned. Lynch suffered communicative and other health issues as a result, truncating his career while still in its extended prime. He officially retired that same year.

There were two books of Lynch's cartoons: There's Gold In Them Thar Ills... (1985) and Dirty Little Secrets (2003).

Lynch is survived by an ex-wife and two children. They ask that any memorials be sent to the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. Lynch was a co-founder.

A selection of his cartoons were published by the newspaper through their Facebook presence.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Chris King


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
NYCC Restores Professional Passes For Ruben Bolling And Adam Koford After Initially Declining Them

This one was pretty straight-forward. Last week the cartoonists Ruben Bolling and Adam Koford noted through their active social media presences they were denied professional registration accreditation to this year's big show in New York. This set off a flurry of "they're not about comics" conversations concering NYCC, and more importantly sent friends of both men to complain to NYCC directly and see if the oversight could be resolved. Earlier today, NYCC's Lance Fensterman confirms they both have been. I'm going to assume word may have gone out earlier on-line via both individuals that this worked itself out.

"The longer answer is that the process is human (on both sides) so at times, we make oversights or errors and at times the applicant does (by not filling out the form completely for example)," Fensterman told CR. "It's not automated, nor do we want it to be, but that means at moments we miss something..."

I'm happy those fine pros will get the badges they deserve and understand that executing these things with 100 percent accuracy can be a daunting task. I hope all such denials that are justifiably reversible receive the same attention.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Loulou


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Robert Boyd Measures The Usage Of Comics Terms

Longtime alt-industry veteran an now all-too-occasional writer about the arts Robert Boyd has a post up here about the phrases "comic strip," "comic book" and "graphic novel" and the frequency of their use in both the New York Times and more widely on the Internet. Boyd smartly qualifies his inquiries, and there's here that surprises, but it's still a nice, little read.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Girl Who Saved The World


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Read: Cartoonists Melissa Mendes And Erika Moen On Robin Williams’ Passing And Depression

Here is a short essay by Melissa Mendes. She mostly talks about her own experiences, in articulate and straight-forward fashion. I'm surprised by the certainty expressed on all sides as to underlying cause of the decesased actor and comedian taking the actions he did. I don't think we'll ever fully know. Mendes' advice seems sound and is certainly hard-won.

Erika Moen's response is in comics form here, and is similarly engaged with the author's own experiences.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Mia Schwartz


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
This Isn’t A Library: New And Notable Releases Into Comics’ Direct Market



*****

Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.

I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.

*****

MAY141404 JIM HC $29.99
Jim Woodring is one of our greatest cartoonists, and these are some of his greatest comics. There are two or three potential top 25 all-time comics shorts in here.

APR140017 GUNS OF SHADOW VALLEY HC $24.99
An oversized hardcover of the group-funded western. We need more westerns. Well, I do, anyway.

MAY141580 JASON SHIGA DEMON #1 $4.95
Jason Shiga is one of those cartoonists where you worry after the entire ocean liner for the fact that he isn't a bigger star. He's a consistently interesting and amusing cartoonist with what one would guess is a lot of potential widespread appeal -- by which I mean is that I can't really track his fans, they come from all over the place. He certainly has moved smoothly from gig to gig, though; he's always working on something. This is the first of 21 planned issues.

APR140347 DAVE GIBBONS WATCHMEN ARTIFACT ED HC PI
I'm not sure what the deal is here with 144 pages -- meaning I'm not sure what's here -- but I love looking at this color-Xeroxed original art pages stuff, and Gibbons is one I want to see badly.

JUN140392 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #22 $3.99
MAY140489 MY LITTLE PONY TP VOL 03 RETURN OF HARMONY $7.99
I'm keeping my eye on you ponies, and your massive six-figure print runs.

MAY140728 SEX CRIMINALS #7 (MR) $3.50
MAY140738 THIEF OF THIEVES #23 (MR) $2.99
JUN140586 WALKING DEAD #130 (MR) $2.99
JUN140298 ASTRO CITY #14 $3.99
JUN148090 GRAYSON #1 2ND PTG $2.99
APR140015 LOBSTER JOHNSON GET LOBSTER #5 $3.99
JUN140013 ABE SAPIEN #15 $3.50
MAY140956 RACHEL RISING #27 $3.99
APR148208 STARLIGHT #5 CVR A EDWARDS (MR) $2.99
APR148209 STARLIGHT #5 CVR B LIEFELD (MR) $2.99
JUN140930 SPONGEBOB COMICS #35 $2.99
Hey, it's the serial comics. A new Sex Criminals should make a lot of retailers happy; that one has done extremely well in the shops, and I'm enjoying this second story so far. That the Robert Kirkman instigated caper series second; there's a confident pacing with that one, by which I mean it's not in a hurry. The Walking Dead is right at that moment in a new story arc where Kirkman -- fully in charge of this one writing-wise -- tends to accelerate the plot, so it wouldn't be a surprise to me to see a few holy shit tweets out there this time tomorrow. I am behind on my Astro City. The Grayson has done well; I thought the second issue was much better than this first one. Not one but two offerings make themselves known in the overlapping Mignola-verse series. I would not have guessed that Terry Moore is that far along with Rachel Rising; I would have that stack of comics at about ten issues lighter. Speaking of lighter than one would think, I guess Starlight concludes with next issue? That comic was prettily drawn, but felt really tossed together narrative-wise, with the only saving grace that it might develop into something more substantive. Finally, it seems as if Spongebob might become a perennial in comics completely divorced from the ubiquity of the show; as soon as I write something like that, books tend to get canceled.

APR141286 THE PEOPLE INSIDE HC $24.99
This is a stand-alone, original graphic novel from Oni by Ray Fawkes. I'm not familiar with the work, but I remember his One Soul was Eisner-nominated and I'd definitely spend some time with it in the store.

JUN141297 MEGALEX HC $29.95
This is one of the Alejandro Jodorowsky projects about which even fans of that kind of material are only minorly enthused. He's working with Fred Beltran here. I swear this has been out before now, in some form or another.

FEB141355 SCOTT PILGRIM COLOR HC VOL 05 $24.99
These are attractive volumes, and an interesting choices in terms of getting this material back out there in front of fans. It's weird, it's the kind of work that's so broadly appealing that I actually know people that would like it but are only interested in reading it in color. So there you go. I think it's very effective this way, though.

JAN141243 SNAKEPIT 10 YEAR ANNVERSARY ED GN (MR) $14.95
I'm not exactly sure if this is older work or a bunch of work across a range of years; I think it's the stuff from early last decade. I find these comics tough to read at times, I think because of an assumed interest in some of the details that I don't share. It's a fascinating thing to do this kind of work for a really long time, like with this work and with even grander attempts like James Kochalka's. Unlike Richard Linklater and Boyhood, this kind of comic calls on almost constant focus. It's not a few weeks a year.

JUN141474 DON HECK A WORK OF ART HC $39.95
MAY141796 MARVEL COMICS COVER ART HC $50.00
I'm way behind on reading art books, and I can only dream of a world where I could routinely afford them, but these two Marvel-related one popped to me. The second might be interesting for the old-new push and pull. They had really good cover artists at several points in their long run. The first likely has a bunch of Marvel in it -- it's the company with which he was most closely aligned -- and is almost certainly more attractive than the artist's 1970s/1980s reputation.

MAY141545 LENA FINKLES MAGIC BARREL GN $17.00
I haven't seen this one yet, but I've had my eye out since encountering a few reviews, like this one by David Ulin. It seems like there are always one or two lengthy comics works per year anymore that slip out into the market without making an impression in the traditional comics world. The author is a novelist with a background in painting, so seeing the resulting work fascinates on that level no matter the quality of the work. I look forward to reading it.

*****

The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.

The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.

If I failed to list your comic, that's because I hate you.

*****



*****
*****
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Evanston, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Neal Adams Spectre Splash Pages


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Frank Santoro is gearing up for another round of his correspondence course, to start in mid-September. If you were looking for a way to extend your SPX-related enthusiasm for the next several weeks, I imagine that would do it.

* Rob Clough on some comics by Rob Jackson. Michael Cavna on The Property. Todd Klein on BPRD: Lake Of Fire and Drawn At A Venture. Andy Yates on Blood Root #1. Marykate Jasper on the first issue of Vertigo Quarterly: Magenta.

* a nice-seeming person named Ash H.G. sent along a link to their comic Juice at Matthew Southworth's request.

* not comics: I enjoyed reading this Sarah McIntyre defense of that Roald Dahl cover design a bunch of people seem to hate.

* Jeet Heer profiles Jack Kirby. Dan Berry talks to Jesse Jacobs. Claire Healy talks to Chris Ware. Robin McConnell talks to Brandon Graham, Frank Santoro and Michael DeForge.

* Jamie McKelvie on process.

* Little Orphan Annie was 90 years old last week, meaning the young lady at its center is likely 100 or so. That is one of the great popular achievements in comics from the 20th Century, and I think it's still criminally under-read and under-appreciated.

* finally, Ralph Steadman writing with ink like Ralph Steadman.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 48th Birthday, Shannon Wheeler!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 62nd Birthday, Donna Barr!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 54th Birthday, Bret Blevins!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Yurex Omazkin


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Remainder


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
OTBP: Death In Oaxaca #1


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Quantum & Pixel


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Assembled Extra/Missed It: Comics Survival Kit

This is Gail Simone's doing. I wholeheartedly approve of the current generation of comics pros doing what they can to provide guidance, advice and a sense of the field to up and coming comics makers. The comics industry is less structured than ever before despite a weekly release mechanism for much of the material. Therefore the people that make comics have to rely on their choices and what they see around them the way other artists might rely on traditions and institutions. This works against that.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Original Jack Kirby Art Scan From Fantastic Four #95


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Art For Stephan Pastis/Bill Watterson Collaboration Strips Raise Near $70K For Parkinson’s Research

It was widely reported the last few days in a variety of places that the Heritage Auctions-run auctions for the collaborative strips by Bill Watterson and Stephan Pastis raised several thousand dollars for Parkinson's Research. There's a nice write-up here at Comic Riffs. I'm not sure exactly how the math works, but Heritage was donating half of their services-releated take to the chosen charity -- Team Cul De Sac -- as well. I believe that everything Team Cul De Sac raises goes to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

The three strips went to three different buyers, all of whom stayed anonymous. The top bid for the most lucrative auction was in the $30K neighborhood.

Watterson's return to providing art to a daily strip was one of the more fun stories of the year, and it's hard to imagine a finer outcome than this one.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Wally Wood In Galaxy



 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Bundled, Tossed, Untied And Stacked: Publishing News


By Tom Spurgeon

* One Percent Press has announced they'll be translating L'Age Dur by Max De Radigues as Rough Age, for a debut at the Small Press Expo and availability through normal channels a bit after that.

* it's August, which means people are furiously working on material to handsell at SPX. Noah Van Sciver is no exception.

* the next Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips/Bettie Breitweiser project, Fade-Out, is previewed at AV Club.

* Ryan Sands talks about Youth In Decline-related SPX debuts in this conversation with Chris Mautner.

* James Vance pens some praise for a French-language edition of his collaboration with Dan Burr, On The Ropes.

* one announcement that I flat-out missed during Comic-Con International -- I guess it was exclusive to PW, maybe? -- is that Fantagraphics is going to publish The Late Child And Other Animals by Marguerite Van Cook and James Romberger. That comes out in November of this year, so I guess an announcement this close to that date means it wasn't in the catalogs, which is kind of interesting. I look forward to seeing that one.

* Fantagraphics has a first look at its Complete Zap design up at a devoted page.

* speaking of big books I want: Giant Moomin.

* Simon Hanselmann promotes the imminent Megahex with some panels, which is appropriate because the formal structure of those comics places a great deal of emphasis on the panel work.

* the Howard The Duck omnibus will apparently be reprinted. I like a lot of those comics quite a bit.

* I haven't tried it out myself, but this Kevin Melrose blog post from a few days back promised to take you to a free first issue of The Bunker.

* I've been horrible about my own summary pieces, but this PW article on comics-related news at July's Comic-Con International might be useful to some of you that want a bunch of one-line items about comics news announced there. I wish they had shortened the introduction some to get in the rest of the Fantagraphics announcements they didn't have room for, but it's not my article.

* the Dharma Punks collection has a publication date at long last: late October.

* Jeff Zwirek is touring behind a second printing of his Burning Building Comix. It's the second printing more than the tour that puts that into this column.

* finally, I wasn't aware that Darryl Cunningham's Supercrash was going to have a new title. That's the cover image below.


 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Columbus, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Frankenstein #19


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* I miss a lot of cute comics due to my old person's orientation towards Tumblr.

* RC Harvey profiles Etta Hulme. Matt D. Wilson talks to Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell. Steve Morris talks to Raina Telgemeier, Faith Erin Hicks and Calista Brill.

* someone at Fine Fine Books on Swimming Pool. Alex Hoffman on QCHQ and Troop 142.

* not comics: Amazon kills capitalism.

* finally, this is a heck of a nice-looking presentation for that Sandman work. I'm all for people getting the best possible edition of their favorite comics, and Sandman is a lot of folks' favorite comic.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 32nd Birthday, Chris Sims!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 58th Birthday, Akimi Yoshida!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Nobrow Formally Announces Near-Immediate US Release For Roman Muradov’s (In A Sense) Lost And Found



Nobrow announced earlier today through US representative Tucker Stone the imminent release of the debut graphic novel from illustrator and cartoonist Roman Muradov: (In A Sense) Lost And Found. While it has been discussed as a future release on this site and by Muradov through his own social media presence, Stone tells CR they had yet to make it official.

The book will arrive in stores September 9, with a release part on September 6 at Mission Comics & Art in Muradov's home base of San Francisco. The publisher describes the book as follows:

The world of (In a Sense) Lost and Found is one that is immersed in surrealistic wordplay and fantastic places beyond what we've trained ourselves to see. It's an atmospheric fable about what it means to grow up in a world where innocence is a tangible object, and how that innocence can be lost, found, mistreated, and commodified. Muradov's crisp compositions and delicate art style are equal parts playful and haunting, creating an enchanting world of shadowy places in between the known, while illuminating the lives of the people who live there.

Muradov is also a guest of this year's Small Press Expo.

The full-color hardcover will cost $19.95 for I think approximately 80 pages -- the publisher supplied no formal information. Update: The artist says it's closer to 50, and thus ends my career counting book pages. He also notes that it's not particularly an all-ages book, although he understands it may be sold that way by some. Update 2: Publisher says it's 56 pages, 6.75 X 9.5 inches, and confirms the price. Diamond code is STK648125.

Muradov is an illustrator whose clients have included The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Time and the Washington Post. He can be found on-line here.


 
posted 12:35 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Simon Gane’s Sketches Of Greece


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Don’t Forget The Dylan Williams Scholarship



I mentioned the IPRC in Portland down the page a bit, just for their general support of artists in that great city, including cartoonists.

Cartoonist and distributor Jason T. Miles wrote in a bit later in the morning with a link to this post that reminds us that one can donate specifically to a Dylan Williams scholarship hosted by that organization -- one the late publisher and comics-maker cared about a great deal. I hope you'll consider it.

They're looking for $2250, and every little bit helps.

Miles adorned his post with a piece of art by Williams favorite Mort Meskin, so I have, too
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
OTBP: Sexcastle


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Festivals Extra: One Week Away On Harvey Awards Ballots

Here. I hope you'll give it some consideration. I'm not sure what's up this year except for like 18 billion books from BOOM! As I recall, it was also an interesting year for now traditional industry news organization in the journalism category, which I can't recall seeing before even though that category has always included more than those sites and magazines.

I think it's good to participate in these things as a matter of course, partly because there is not a lot of common activity in comics. I think we could use some.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Cartoons


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Evan Dorkin On New Art Auctions

There's a lengthy post here by Evan Dorkin about the work-related woes that has him putting more art for sale on-line. I hope you'll check it out; Dorkin's original art is super-attractive, and I'm a greedy fan that wants as much new work from the cartoonist as is possible to get. It may also serve as a commentary post building on last week's frank talk about the expectations and realities of devoting work time to making comics.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Various Avon Fantasy Reader Covers


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Festivals Extra: Stumptown Awards Deadline Extended

Rob McMonigal caught that convention formerly known as Stumptown will still be doing its awards thorugh its association with Rose City Comic-Con, and that to facilitate this they've extended the deadline until tomorrow. So if that's something that interests you, get on board. I had a a fun time at the awards ceremony in 2014.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: A Stray In The Woods


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding

By Tom Spurgeon

* here's a modestly aspirational crowd-funder from Nate McDonough.

* two crowd-funders I haven't featured here yet that were passed along to me this week were Illegal by Jeremy Whitley and Heather Nunnelly, and Jess Smart Smiley's Spooky-Silly Comics.

* Rachel Richey's Johnny Canuck crowd-funder seems to be moving along at a decent clip.

* still some time left on the successful crowd-funder related to the John Porcellino documentary.

* this crowd-funder from a co-worker of Chris Mautner's is doing extremely well, doubling up with way more than two weeks left.

* this Rick Geary fundraiser has met its initial goal and should end very, very soon upon this post rolling out, if it hasn't already (I'm bad at math).

* ten days to go on this Steve Ditko-related campaign, already successful, while this Valerie D'Orazio and Bobby Timony crowd-funder has also made its initial goal with some tinme left. This Watson and Holmes Vol. 2 crowd-funder could use some attention.

* doing something else, I ran across the IPRC donate page. They don't do only comics, but they are comics-involved in that great city of Portland.

* finally, as has been the case for over a month now, Dan Vado's gofundme campaging on behalf of his indy comics company SLG is ongoing.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Seattle, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: John Paul Leon Mini-Gallery


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* a new location for Roger's Time Machine/Mysterious Island, now Mysterious Time Machine.

* the great Bob Levin on Despair Vol. 2. Abhay Khosla on Weapons Of Mass Diplomacy and Beautiful Darkness. Kelly Thompson on She-Hulk #7. KC Carlson on Marvel Comics: 75 Years Of Cover Art. Patrick Hess on Prophet.

* not comics: a couple of you recommended this article about Amazon from a small-press mostly prose publisher. The basic take is that discounting kills the small press first, all books eventually, by taking the amount of money people are willing to spend on book purchases below the point of survivability.

* this older post about binding comics and design covers for those hardcover editions suddenly flashed into my twitter feed. It's a lot of fun -- I'd like to try something like this.

* not comics: J. Caleb Mozzocco muses on the Guardians Of The Galaxy movie.

* Ben Rosen profiles Pat Loika back in March.

* finally, Sean Kleefeld wonders after the first comic that was based on a videogame.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 50th Birthday, Jim Lee!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Look: The Amazing Jerry Moriarty Is On Tumblr Now


thx, robin mcconnell
 
posted 9:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Blue Hair


 
posted 8:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: What I Learned In Professional School


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were Near Sunderland, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Boston, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 59th Birthday, Eddie Campbell!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 57th Birthday, Scott Bukatman!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
FFF Results Post #389—Birth Year

On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Five Comics You Enjoy That Came Out The Year You Were Born." This is how they responded.



Tom Spurgeon

1. "Bull Tales," Garry Trudeau
2. Fantastic Four #72, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee
3. Feds 'N' Heads #1, Gilbert Shelton
4. Flight 714, Hergé
5. His Name Is... Savage, Gil Kane

*****



Philippe Leblanc

Thinking back on books published on my birth year, I was drawn not only to the books published then, but also books in my first language. I am from Quebec and French is my first language. I learned English as a second language because of comics, but when I first dicsovered sequential art, it was through French comics. I didn't read those as a kid except #5, but those are still to this day classics.

1- In search of Shirley, by Cosey (Originally published as :Le voyage en Italie, Tome 1)
2- La route d'armillia, by Benoit Peeters & Francois Schuiten
3- Batman: The Killing Joke, By the Original Writer & Brian Bolland
4- Jimbo in Paradise, by Gary Panter
5- Yakari: Le vol des Corbeaux, by Job & Derib (Not yet released in English, Yakari's title are coming at a snail's pace to the english market

*****



Bob Temuka

1. Uncanny X-Men #94
2. Battle Picture Weekly #1
3. The first Footrot Flats comic strips
4. The Joker #2
5. Strange Tales #181

*****



Don MacPherson

1. Batman #232
2. Amazing Spider-Man #100
3. Green Lantern #85
4. World's Finest Comics #208
5. Flash #205

*****



Andrew Mansell

1. The Flash of Both Worlds
2. Fantastic Four # 1
3. Walt Disney Comics and Stories #252
4. Dennis the Menace Giant #9 Dennis Goes to Camp
5. Peanuts June 4th... a gem that became an indispensable bit in CB X-mas

*****



Mark Mayerson

* The Pogo Stepmother Goose, Walt Kelly
* More Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz
* Mad #12, Harvey Kurtzman
* Uncle Scrooge #6, Carl Barks
* Fighting American #2, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby

*****



Randy Clark

* Showcase #8
* Brave and Bold #10
* Detective Comics #241
* Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #26
* House of Mystery #60

*****



Jamie Coville

1. Amazing Spider-Man #150
2. Giant-Size X-Men #1
3. Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #61
4. Son of Satan #1
5. Famous First Edition F-7

*****



Sean Kleefeld

1. Avengers #97, Roy Thomas & John Buscema
2. Batman #244, Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams
3. Detective Comics #428, Frank Robbins & Bob Brown
4. Fantastic Four #119, Roy Thomas & John Buscema
5. Justice League of America #102, Len Wein & Dick Dillin

*****



Dave Knott

* Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133 - Jack Kirby
* Doonesbury - Garry Trudeau
* Green Lantern / Green Arrow #76 - Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams
* Western Circus - Morris & Goscinny
* Slow Death Funnies #1 - R. Crumb, Greg Irons, Rory Hayes, Gilbert Shelton, Jaxon, Kim Deitch, & a crapload of other underground greats

plus... strictly speaking, it is not comics, but Steranko published the first volume of his History Of Comics in that year, a book that later fascinated me with its stories of the early years of the American comics business

*****



Mike Baehr

1. The Forever People #1, Jack Kirby
2. Mister Miracle #6, Jack Kirby
3. Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #141, Jack Kirby
4. The New Gods #1, Jack Kirby
5. Fantagor #1, Richard Corben

*****



Tom Bondurant

1. Fantastic Four #89
2. Captain America #117
3. Teen Titans #24
4. Batman #217
5. Detective Comics #395

*****



Buzz Dixon

1. Weird Fantasy #21 (Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, Joe Orlando, Jack Kamen, Bill Elder, John Severin)
2. Weird Science #20, (Wally Wood, Jack Kamen, Joe Orlando, Al Williamson)
3. Mad #3, (Harvey Kurtzman and the usual gang of idiots)
4. Four Color Comics #456 a.k.a.Scrooge McDuck, (Carl Barks)
5. Li'l Abner, (Al Capp)

*****



Chris Duffy

1. Fatman the Human Flying Saucer #1 by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck
2. Fantastic Four #68 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
3. Zap Comics #0 by Robert Crumb
4. Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 AD #17 by Herb Kastle and Russ Manning.
5. Strange Tales #157 by Jim Steranko, Marie Severin, and Stan Lee.

*****



Will Pfeifer

1. Mad Magazine 115 (Star Blecch!)
2. Not Brand Echh #1
3. Teen Titans #13 (The Swingin’ Christmas Carol!)
4. Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #105 (World of 1,000 Olsens!)
5. Doom Patrol #115

*****



Joe Schwind

* Four Color 265: King of the Royal Mounted, Gary
* Four Color 268: Mickey Mouse, Gottfredson
* Four Color 275: Donald Duck, Barks
* Gabby Hayes Western 16
* Weird Fantasy 14, Feldstein, Wood, Kamen, Kurtzman

*****



Marc Sobel

1. Amazing Spider-Man #121 (Death of Gwen Stacy)
2. Swamp Thing #7
3. Zap Comix #6
4. The Shadow #1
5. Plop! #1

*****



Matt Emery

1. Giant Size X-Men #1
2. Battle (IPC Weekly)
3. Tor
4. The Invaders
5. Arcade

*****



Marc-Oliver Frisch

1. Lucky Luke Nr. 21: Vetternwirtschaft
2. Asterix bei den Belgiern
3. Die Spinne Nr. 127
4. Die Spinne Comic-Taschenbuch Nr. 3
5. Die Fantastischen Vier Comic-Taschenbuch Nr. 1

*****



John Platt

1. Adventure Comics #379, Jim Shooter and Jack Abel
2. Anthro #5 by Howie Post
3. House of Mystery #179 by lots of people
4. Mad Magazine #126 by the Usual Gang of Idiots
5. The Phantom #31 by Dick Wood and Jim Aparo

(I actually narrowed these down to the month I was born.)

*****



John Vest

1. Fantastic Four #1, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
2. Konga #4, Steve Ditko
3. Gorgo #3, Steve Ditko and Joe Gill
4. Sea Devils #1, Bob Haney, Robert Kanigher, and Russ Heath
5. Superman #149, Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan

*****



Chad Nevett

1. Dreadstar #2, Jim Starlin
2. Cerebus #50, Dave Sim
3. Nexus #1, Mike Baron and Steve Rude
4. What If...? #40, Peter B. Gillis and Jackson Guice
5. Ronin #1, Frank Miller and Lynn Varley

*****



Michael Dooley

1. Crimefighters
2. Funnyman
3. Lana
4. Lawbreakers Always Lose!
5. Pogo (newspaper strip)

*****



James Langdell

1. Uncle Pogo's So-So Stories - Walt Kelly
2. Mad #4 (Superduperman! and Robin Hood)
3. Uncle Scrooge #2 (Back to the Klondike) - Carl Barks
4. Weird Science #17 (There Will Come Soft Rains) - Bradbury, Feldstein, Wood
5. The Maestro - Gerard Hoffnung

*****

I deleted two that I received because there was no name on them, only an e-mail address; I deleted one because I couldn't tell the year -- they picked series rather than individual issues -- so I couldn't figure out the appropriate art

if you want to send again with a name or a year, I'll add; sorry about that

*****

modified from a suggestion by Sean Kleefeld; thanks, Sean

*****
*****
 
posted 4:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Does Anyone Recognize This Artist’s Work?


.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
 
posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Comics Reporter Video Parade


Manly
via






Henry Chamberlain Interviews From Comic-Con 2014: Gene Luen Yang, Charles Yu, Michael Cho, Paul Tobin, Lucy Knisley


Television News Story On Passing Of Pran


A Bob Andelman Interview With Shannon Wheeler
 
posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
CR Week In Review

The top comics-related news stories from August 2 to August 8, 2014:

1. Pran, RIP.

2. Mike Dawson wonders out loud after his apparent failure to build an audience, leading to an avalanche of thinkpieces and informal conversations about the expectations cartooniss might have about forging a career.

3. A week after an Australian newspaper apologized for running a cartoon that contained caricature elements and was critical of Israel policy in Gaza, some opinion writers wondered why there was no objection to strident pro-Israel cartoons.

Winners Of The Week
The Kirby Family. That's a good thing they do. I think people are coming around on noting the day of Jack Kirby's birth, and the family's imprimatur gives that recognition a direction that will be important in cementing that day as a mini-cultural event going forward.

Loser Of The Week
Anyone who was waiting to pull the trigger on a Los Angeles comics festival-type show.

Quote Of The Week
"I was stopped for mildly adjusting a traffic law to suit my specific motor vehicular circumstance, and the police officer recognized me as 'that alternative cartoonist,' letting me go with a warning. I tried not to wonder at nor question the incredible, unimaginable unlikelihood of any law enforcement officer being acquainted with the obscure subculture of alternative cartooning as I slowly drove away." -- Chris Ware

*****

image from a Marvel comic book from 50 years ago, a year they were killing it

*****
 
posted 2:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Tove Jansson Was Born 100 Years Ago Today


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Look: Edd Cartier Illustrating The Hand Of Zei


 
posted 8:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Boston, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Pittsburgh, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Seattle, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Chicago, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Seattle, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were Near Sunderland, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 63rd Birthday, Bob McLeod!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 69th Birthday, Posy Simmonds!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 47th Birthday, Josh Neufeld!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 53rd Birthday, Ted Stearn!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 57th Birthday, Rick Leonardi!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Dominic Postiglione, RIP


 
posted 9:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Dana Crumb, RIP


 
posted 4:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Bottomless Pit


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Twisted Tales Cover Gallery


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Assembled, Zipped, Transferred And Downloaded: News From Digital

By Tom Spurgeon

* the cartoonist Lilli Loge is promoting her forthcoming Rohdiamant by publishing outtakes and unused panels through her Tumblr account; I don't see that kind of thing as much as I used to. There was a time when I thought that would be basically the standard use for sites like that.

* Gary Tyrrell tracks down the final chapter of the Randy Queen/Escher Girls story.

* finally, Johanna Draper Carlson profiles an on-line comic Warren Ellis and Mike Allred have created for Bacardi.


 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Moebius Gallery


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Creator Pushback Against Amazon

The New York Times profiles the author Douglas Preston in the context of his protest letter against on-line retailing giant Amazon and their aggressive moves in trying to score a better deal for e-book publication. Their use of delisting and frustrating sort-of listings in negotiations with Hachette have had an impact on the immediate bottom-line living made by some writers, including Preston.

It's also a pretty good catch-up on where things stand in a rolling battle that has obvious implications for comics creators just for the gigantic role Amazon plays in that market as well. As a bonus, this is one of those wonderful articles where the Times' fundamental cluelessness as to how they sometimes come across, even when they engage that issue directly, adds a layer of fun. Preston's writing shack and that hands-in-pockets pose made me laugh, honestly, and I'm not sure what a petition does other than drive feature articles. There's a rich-off at the end! Potentially more interesting is recapped news that Amazon is struggling to become profitable quarter to quarter, which most people I've read think is a huge factor in this move and how it's been fought.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Random Steranko Marvel Comics Covers


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Look: Edd Cartier Illustrations


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Other Responses To The Mike Dawson Essay

While the primary response to Mike Dawson's pair of middle-aged cartoonist essays (1, 2) in terms of attention were Abhay Khosla's pair of posts (1, 2), there have been a bunch of other responses -- I could probably do a short book out of my e-mails. Two that are in public that I read just now were substantive replies from Nick Mullins and Sam Henderson, two cartoonists with a profile similar to Dawson's. I'd say Mullins has a smaller profile; Henderson a slightly larger one, so it works out pretty well that way. They also mirror Dawson in that they talk about their own low sales numbers.

Here's one by Aaron King that came between the Khoslas. Here's The Beat and various commenters. Here's Darryl Ayo after the first Abhay Khosla piece. I blabbed as only a man avoiding work can blab here. Here's another piece from The Beat that I originally encountered on one of those sites that just lifts content whole hog.

There's likely some others out there, which I'll add here as I discover them. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) I think the conversation is important not for who wins the argument but for the information and practical advice that may result, and the attention to the meager rewards sometimes waiting for someone that's doing art.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Boston, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Martan The Marvel Man


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Jerry Smith on On The Ropes. Cynthia Rose on PABLO.

* I don't see a lot of conservative cultural criticism, but here's a Jim Treacher-driven piece at Daily Caller.

* here's a crankier than usual Dan Nadel link round-up. I encourage Dan to hire someone to write about comics entities that owe people money, because you can do that when you're the TCJ editor. I'm not trying to win an argument on the Internet by pointing that out, I'd just like to see that article and I don't have the resources to do one right now.

* Nadel criticized this promotional essay by the writer Marc Bernardin for its use of the outdated and inaccurate description of Image as some sort of rare beast for offering creator-owned publishing when that's been a standard, widespread option since the undergrounds. Others might find that one worth the read for the implication that in the comic being discussed the lead character's race and gender were significant factors in a difficult road to publication, a notion Nadel also criticizes via a throwaway line in terms of potential historical weight.

* not comics: Fun Home will be Tonys-eligible.

* finally, it's not a high-priority show for this site there's no denying that New York Comic-Con is a big deal for a lot of that area's comics and pop-culture fans. It's amazing that we once wondered if a convention could work there at all.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 90th Birthday, Gene Deitch!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Evangelos Androutsopoulos


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Kirby Family Launchs Kirby4Heroes 2014



The Hero Complex blog at the LA Times features word from the family of the late Jack Kirby on this year's Kirby4Heroes campaign. That's a fundraiser they do with young Jillian Kirby as point-person to raise money for older creators in need; it's tied into the iconic cartoonist's birthday, August 28. There is mention of other celebrations happening that day, and a goal set of $15,000 raised.

I couldn't be happier that there seems to be a slowly developing movement to honor Kirby on his birthday, and to make that honor something that benefits older creators is a great thing for the family to be doing.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Alien Worlds Cover Gallery


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Jesse Reklaw Kickstarting LOVF



The artist and cartoonist Jesse Reklaw is running a crowd-funder to help with the final stages of publication of his next book with Fantagraphics, LOVF. That's a book done in this ultra-colorful style he's been publicly presenting for a few years now, and is a work I'd really like to see make it to completion. I thought Couch Tag was strong. A bunch of pages from the new work are up and can be seen through the above link.

I was a little confused initially because that's definitely still a Fantagraphics book -- I checked -- so I believe this is a see-it-to-its-completion fundraiser, like the Lasky/Young campaign run to help finish Carter Family. The first day got Reklaw most of the way there, but still has a few dollars to raise. It's a modest initial goal.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Shadow Of The Axe


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Abhay Khosla’s Mike Dawson Follow-Up

Here. I'm coming late to this in Internet time. The writer, critic and comics-maker was responding to this response to his original critique, which was a response to a Mike Dawson post about his frustrations with how to put together his comic.

I think there's some compelling material in there, and I urge people to engage the ideas rather than impressions of tone or making theses issues bandied about an opportunity to compare and contrast the two personalities involved. There are important issues involved here, maybe none more important to an arts industry. I am once again grateful that Khosla doesn't feel it's necessary to affirm Dawson, as a lot of our comics arguments seem to make that a priority to their detriment.

I'm also not 100 percent convinced that this can be reduced to Dawson having to be a better businessman on his behalf. That may be the case here, that may not always be the case with everyone. It's really easy to say "do business better" to solve a perceived business shortcoming, the same way we sometimes assume every comic that does well has great PR, so every book that doesn't needs some of that great PR. Additionally, it's worth remembering that Dawson wasn't talking about become a thundering success, his standard is to sell a couple thousand works, not 50,000. I think that has an effect on the we should process what he's saying. It could be that this is a failure of art, rather than commerce -- it possible this may not be a good enough book, as the general audience judges books, to have more than the sales it does.

What I hope is that 1) aspiring cartoonists or struggling, working ones will look at the numbers provided by Dawson and realize that that has been the result for him, 2) that we do begin to question whether or not cartoonists advocate for or approach their business models in a reasonable way, 3) that we also question whether or not those entities that work on a cartoonist's behalf are holding up their end, both individually and collectively, 4) that we engage with the issue over whether or not asking every artist to be a skilled business operator in a barren junkyard is best for the art form, and if not, begin to work on other models. We do a very bad job at these things in part because we don't ask these questions until five, ten, twenty years into a supposed career, with all the commitment that's involved. You can't throw people at a wall to see what sticks without breaking a lot of people. Professional development and industry development need to become greater priorities.

Update: Mike Dawson has written a second essay as well, many of you wrote in to say. I think it's good at clarifying his initial position.

I'm a bit confused by his comments that indicates he's not reading Khosla's second post and that others are welcome to and "I look forward to reading all of the bestselling books that you'll be writing now." There's no magic formula for this kind of thing, and I can't imagine that even if there was Abhay Khosla would have that formula. I doubt anyone believes that riches are on the way just for reading what Khosla has to say. My direct reaction was even that some of them as applied to Dawson are flat-out wrongheaded. I still appreciated reading them. For example, even if you disagree that $20 is -- or ever should be -- a barrier for people to buy unknown comics work, it's worth finding out someone else thinks this, and it's likely that person isn't alone. One of the reasons I get so dismayed that comics arguments get so personal and so about winning the argument of something rather than solving the problem of something that we tend to shut down and stop listening as soon as we find our side.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
I Will Always Post Links To Sea Devils Cover Image Galleries


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Collective Memory: Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo 2014


this article has now been archived
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Ronald Searle Illustrating Menus


 
posted 11:50 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
BOOM! Joins Wave Of Humble Bundle Participants

Robot 6 has a write-up as to what they're doing and what's available. This is a digital sales mechanism that uses name-your-price and incentivized elements in a winning formula that has in recent weeks generated a lot of cash and disseminated a lot of material for publishers taking part. Some of that cash has been going to appropriate charities, like the CBLDF (also BOOM!'s choice).

I think the thing to take note of here is that this may be less important as a stand-alone good thing than as a kind of unofficial start for publishers employing their massive back catalogs as unique digital inducements. That's a major potential factor on how this business will be shaped that really hasn't had an effect on that market in the way you think it might have already. I do worry a bit that we might end up in a situation where we only have back catalog sales this way, which over time might not be ideal.
 
posted 11:45 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Wally Wood With Dan Adkins


 
posted 11:40 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Festival Extra: Los Angeles Gets A Comics Festival

One of the great opportunities to enter into the wider public consciousness looks like it might be off the table, as a handful of readers are directing me to a site for something called Comic Arts Los Angeles. That looks a Short Run/Linework NW/Comic Arts Brooklyn one-day type show, but this time in the one city that had thwarted earlier efforts at a larger but still-indy type show. With the popularity of such shows, their achievable cost-model, the wealth of talent in the area and the attractiveness of the area for visitors, it's seemed for a while like a one-day show of this newest kind would potentially kill there. I know that for the last three years someone in LA doing this kind of show seemed to be a topic of conversation every time I visited; maybe this can be it. They certainly have the appropriately cool-looking space, which is a big part of it. I hope to go. It's December 6.
 
posted 11:35 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Jeffrey Jones Art


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events



By Tom Spurgeon

* I don't do a lot of store events in this column even though I should. I did note that a shop I used to use a lot when I lived in Seattle, Comics Dungeon, is having an anniversary event with a bunch of different things going on. Support your local and not-exactly-local comics shop. It's an amazing thing that we have them.

* RM Rhodes has an interesting post up here about the development of the area surrounding SPX. The goal is to make it more pedestrian friendly. That area isn't pedestrian-unfriendly. It's just sort of intimidating and weird in terms of pedestrian options.

* Tony Isabella sent in a report from his "driveway con" -- basically the yard sale I dreamed of finding as a comics-obsessed kid.

* Locus Moon is still accepting applications for its 2014 show, in late October.

* finally, the released an Emily Carroll SPX poster several days ago now -- I think I noticed it about an hour after last week's column went up and it had been out for a little while by then, even. It's very attractive.


 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Portland, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Ken Kelly Covers For Creepy


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Sean Gaffney on Missions Of Love Vol. 8. J. Caleb Mozzocco on a bunch of different comic books. Rob Clough on Jam In The Band Vol. 3, #4. Todd Klein on Dark Horse Presents #32. Don MacPherson on Bodies #1. Grant Goggans on Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

* I'm not sure I knew there was a Roz Chast exhibit up in Greenwich. I'm excited about her forthcoming appearing on the Virtual Memories podcast.

* it always comes back to Oishinbo.

* Patrick A. Reed talks to Lucy Knisley. Michael Cavna profiles Paul Pope. Jamilah King profiles Gene Luen Yang.

* there is nothing funnier to me than J. Caleb Mozzocco's monthly check-in on dismemberment in the DC superhero universe.

* finally, the best part about this article on Scott Dilbert slamming financial planners is that the criticism is seen as a potential sign of a change in the markets.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 57th Birthday, Paul Dini!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 39th Birthday, Tommi Musturi!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 51st Birthday, Sasa Rakezic!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Emily Churco


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Cartoonist Rayma Suprani Censored At Venezuela’s El Universal; Textbook Case Of Modern Media Control

This New York Times editorial from Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez should drive attention to one of the least-discussed yet boldest ways of modern media control. In Venezuela the newspaper El Universal was purchased by a private concern painted by critics as having overt political motivations. It's hard to argue against this when the result of the pursuit of "balance" is the quiet firing of edgy columnists and an on-the-ground manipulation of content.

An article a few days back at Pan Am Post accuses the paper of skipping altogether a politically charged offering by cartoonist Rayma Suprani in favor of an earlier, much less to-the-point piece.

I thought the Times did a nice job of stating without reservation the value of a wholly independent press, something North American have a hard time negotiating because of the less aggressive strategies of appeasement and manipulation that might happen here.
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Random Dave Stevens Imagery


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Pran Kumar Sharma, 1938-2014

Pran Kumar Sharma, who as Pran created a variety of characters including Chacha Chaudhary on his way to becoming one of India's most popular cartoonists, died yesterday morning in a hospital in Gurgaon. He was 75 years old.

Sharma was born in Kasur near the Pakistani border and was educated in political studies at schools in Gwalior and Delhi. He then diverted to arts training, picking up an extensive education int he fire arts at a school in Mumbai -- a course of study done by correspondence while the future cartoonist lived elsewhere.

Pran's first cartoon work came in comic strip form when he contributed Daabu to the newspaper Milap starting in 1960. The newspaper market at the time was heavily dependent on reprints of western material.

Chacha Chaudhary first appeared in sketch form in the magazine Lotpot in the late 1960s. He was popular but I believe the greatest publishing success the character and his creator received began in the 1980s when comics starring that character and other started appearing in Diamond Comics and were published in magazines rather than newspapers.

Other Pran creations included Pinki, Billoo and Channie Chachi. The cartoonist received the Indian Institute Of Cartoonists' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and is generally credited as one of the talents responsible for popularizing cartoon expression in India.

Pran also briefly taught in the Media Institute established by his son. The cartoonist is survived by that son and a daughter.

The cause of death was cancer. The cartoonist was diagnosed eight months ago but was only admitted to the hospital days before his passing. The prime minister noted his passing on Twitter.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Godfather Death


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Mat LeMay At Medium On Men Growing Up

A half-dozen CR readers passed along this article from Matt LeMay at Medium on the pernicious cultural baggage he's carrying in terms of expectations and ideas that lead to harassment and abuse towards others in his professional life. It's a widely linked-to post. I think it's worth reading from a comics perspective to get an idea on how multiple geek communities are processing some of the same issues comics is going through, and for the prescriptions involved.

I am all for specific solutions to some of the specific, worst problems, but I'm also for moving the needle as far as we can in the direction away from a general cultural sickness that not only provides a breeding ground for the worst stories but generates a constant stream of hassle, humiliation and harassment that no one should have to endure. LeMay suggests a fine place to start this potentially impossible task: ourselves.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Dan Adkins Sci Fi Art


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Look: Vaughn Bodé Art


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
This Isn’t A Library: New And Notable Releases Into Comics’ Direct Market




*****

Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.

I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.

*****

JUN141260 HOW THE WORLD WAS CALIFORNIA CHILDHOOD GN $19.99
APR141209 HEROES O/T COMICS HC PORTRAITS PIONEERING LEGENDS $34.99
Two big candidate for book of the week. I have not always enjoyed the translated Emmanuel Guibert works I've read, but I liked this reminiscence of childhood quite a bit -- and I'm not sure why I found it affecting in a way I didn't with the World War 2-focused material from Alan Cope published as Alan's War here, I think. Something about this one just worked for me, though. The Drew Friedman I'm looking forward to seeing again; I greatly enjoy the affection that comes through those portraits, and Friedman what seems like a highly-refined sense of comics history. He knows this material.

JUN140045 USAGI YOJIMBO SENSO #1 $3.99
JUN140292 TINY TITANS RETURN TO THE TREEHOUSE #3 $2.99
MAY148196 WINTERWORLD #1 2ND PTG $3.99
APR140572 INVINCIBLE #113 $2.99
MAY140709 LAZARUS #10 (MR) $3.50
JUN140485 NIGHTWORLD #1 $3.99
FEB140822 KICK-ASS 3 #8 (MR) $5.99
JUN140654 SHE-HULK #7 $2.99
It's an interesting week for serial comic books working squarely within various established genres. The Stan Saki book -- a flash-forward ending for his characters involving a guest appearance from a potent public domain villain. I'm on board. I'm glad to see the Tiny Titans material and so are two of three kids I know well that are under the age of nine. The Winterworld I'd check out after seeing it when Ted Adams placed it into my heads Comic-Con weekend. I like how dense the narratives have been in Invincible, although the world-ending stakes are starting to tire me. I've enjoyed the Rucka/Lark Lazarus comic book far more than I thought I would just based on the kinds of books I usually read. That strikes me as the epitome of a solid, entertaining and idiosyncratically told adventure comic. Finally, the Nightworld is that handsome looking book that people noticed during the solicitation period a couple of months ago. I'd take a chance on the final product, for sure. I'm just surprised Kick-Ass isn't over yet; I would have lost that bet, and my job is paying attention to comics. That's not a shot on anything other than staggering breadth of work that's coming out, I swear. Finally, if that She-Hulk is one of the issues with Javier Pulido art, I'd consider it. I know three people for whom this is the only Marvel comic they buy.

MAY140407 TRILLIUM TP (MR) $16.99
I lost track of this after the first issue, but this is Jeff Lemire's most recent work for Vertigo, and I try to keep an eye on everything he does.

APR140073 COMPLETE ELFQUEST TP VOL 01 ORIGINAL QUEST $24.99
I need a good copy of this. I prefer the original comics, but I'd check out this latest packaging of one of the humongous indy comics of my indy-minded youth.

JUN140506 INVINCIBLE HC VOL 09 ULTIMATE COLL $39.99
I also prefer to own these in original comic book form. It's not the first comic book I read it, but it may be the strangest accomplishment on the stands given how many titles have tried and failed to work similar territory.

MAR140756 FURY MAX HC MY WAR GONE BY $34.99
This I know very little about, other than that it's Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov, who can be superior creators of genre material, and that a lot of critics this was a go-to book in terms of big-company material. Also, since it's a Marvel book, you need to buy it first day in the shops because god only knows if it will stay in print.

JUN141446 BENNY AND PENNY IN LOST & FOUND GN $12.95
I'm a fan of this series and feel that Geoffrey Hayes is the MVP of that publisher. I think this is a reprint of an earlier book, but I would look it over on the stands just to be sure.

MAY141443 NEIL GAIMAN GRAVEYARD BOOK HC GN VOL 01 $19.99
APR140076 RING OF NIBELUNG HC $29.99
I'd say "that's a lot of P. Craig Russell," because in particular the Nibelung book is huge, but that makes it sound like I'm not happy to see as much P. Craig Russell work as he'd care to make. The Graveyard work, with its team of artists, should stay on the market through the Christmas season as a brisk, stand-alone seller.

JUN140785 READING WITH PICTURES HC $19.99
I like several of the cartoonists involved, plus this is the only comic-shop offering this week likely to reference Howard Gardner.

MAY141788 SKETCHBOOK GUARNIDO (MR) $30.00
MAY140446 WALTER SIMONSONS LAWNMOWER MAN ARTIST ED PORTFOLIO HC PI
I would have to think that both of these are very attractive. The Guarnido in particular I might prefer over reading the comics to which he's contributed.

MAR141429 ENDLESS SKY GN $24.95
I remember this being serialized on-line, an autobiographical -- or at least autobiographically informed -- story of a Swiss artist in New York City, complete with trying circumstances of the kind that makes reflective work more fun.

MAY141632 IT NEVER HAPPENED AGAIN 2 STORIES GN $11.99
JUN141321 HENRY AND GLENN FOREVER AND EVER TP (MR) $17.95
Finally, two that you may have seen in another format but will probably want in this new one. The smaller of the two books features a pair of Sam Alden works presented to bookstore and trade-friendly audience by that most intriguing boutique publisher Uncivilized Books. The second is a final gathering of material in the Tom Neely instigated satirical series. That's the kind of comic that people will refer to as a career-instigator 10-15 years now.

*****

The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.

The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.

If I failed to list your comic, that's because I hate you.

*****




*****
*****
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In NYC, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Seattle, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Strange Adventures #125


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Todd Klein on Aquaman And The Others #4. Don MacPherson on a bunch of different comics.

* Steve Morris talks to Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare, Danny Djeljosevic and Team Dungeon Fun.

* Johanna Draper Carlson reminds us that social dysfunction is more charming on TV or in a movie than in your face at a convention. Actually, it's not that great onscreen, either. Be nice, be professional.

* some of the cruder covers presented here by J. Caleb Mozzocco are amazing-looking, including and maybe especially the one he calls one of his favorites of all time.

* finally, speaking of Mozzocco, he does one of the posts here where he walks through the various Guardians Of The Galaxy characters and notes their creators. I might do a post like that next Monday. I saw the movie -- it's harder than you think without paying but not stealing -- and it's a charming, 1980s reminiscent big-audience entertainment. I liked best how attractively dismissive it was of spoon-feeding the audience as to the significance and import of various details, which is a quality that will allow it to play well on TV replays for years to come and should boost its return business this summer. I wish the characters had more agency, and I think it could have been tighter in a way that didn't require some of the gassy exposition. I get why people like it, though. Those Marvel films are making an explicit value of both teamwork and the underlying friendships that facilitate teamwork, which is super-savvy culturally.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 63rd Birthday, Ed Hannigan!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 32nd Birthday, Sarah Horrocks!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Bundled Extra: Nobrow Announces US Release For Moonhead



Tucker Stone wrote CR this morning to announced the widespread US availability of Moonhead And The Music Machine, by illustrator and animator Andrew Rae, from publisher Nobrow Press. The work had previously been out for UK audiences, but is on a different schedule for the US -- it ships today to American retailers, and is also available via order.

Stone describes the work in his PR as follows:

Moonhead And The Music Machine, the latest release from Nobrow, introduces us to Joey Moonhead, a normal kid with a moon for a head. He’s got problems just like any other high school kid: bullies, crushes, class, and he wants to win the school talent show so that he can prove to everybody that he’s more than just the kid with a moon for a head – he’s a star.

Joey Moonhead is a loveable teenage outcast, and Andrew Rae brings his poignant underdog story to life with beautiful, loud colors and a vibrant mixture of gawky teenage drama and psychedelic daydreams. Rae populates the world of Moonhead And The Music Machine with a wealth of delightfully offbeat characters and a heartwarming understanding of music’s innate ability to transform us.

Rae is a member of the Peepshow Collective whose clients include Wired and the New York Times.

The book is 176 pages in hardcover, full-color. It retails for $24.95.
 
posted 1:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Pieter De Poortere


 
posted 12:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: The Other Recent Objected-To Australian Newspaper Cartoon About Gaza

A few CR readers noted my post yesterday on the Sydney Morning Herald apologizing for a cartoon that critics believed used racist imagery to draw attention to this story, about a Bill Leak cartoon objected to for its nasty, strident and hard-to-support political point.

I actually think there's a still-vital difference in the kinds of objections made in these cases, even if you don't buy it. I find the Leak much more objectionable for the point being made, and suspect that some of the energy behind the objection to the Herald cartoon comes from resistance to the political criticism involved. Still, it seems to me a pretty open and shut case that you don't employ certain elements of racial caricature without getting -- I'd say deservingly -- hammered and I'm not sure we're at the point where we censure artists in that same way for the content of their arguments, even if they're sickeningly dumbassed. Maybe a first step would be to employ the Herald criticism across the board, as Jeff Sparrow notes we don't.

To be clear: I do think that both cartoonists should be held responsible for their ideas in the way that every editorialist is; I wouldn't blame anyone for canceling their subscription if they objected to Leak's point of view, or otherwise objected via a methodical rebuttal letter, or just made it loud and clear they didn't agree or thought the piece was horrid. I'm just not all the way sure that he's being engaged on that level. It's different with cartoons

I couldn't find the whole Leak cartoon, so I'm excerpting a bit from the linked-to article's appropriation
 
posted 12:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Mark Schultz Cover Image Gallery


 
posted 12:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
You Should Catch Up With That Mike Dawson Piece If You Haven’t Yet

The cartoonist Mike Dawson wrote a short essay yesterday about his frustrations as a mid-career, mid-list cartoonist. It drove a bunch of reaction in e-mail inboxes and occasionally out in the open, such as this post from writer and critic Abhay Khosla. If you're interested in the business of comics as it relates to the art- or alt-comics world, I hope you'll read both.

I was on the industry journalism panel at San Diego this year and one of the questions we were asked was about an under-reported story. I didn't get to answer, but I was hoping to say that there are signs we may be ready for a more serious dialogue on the actual financial rewards and lack of same available to the bulk of people making comics. I still hope that's true. Dawson's post is a good sign because he actually talks about his numbers, figures that might be astonishing to people that look at Dawson wining awards and being interviewed and assume he has a functional career that includes healthy returns on his investment of time and skill. I think Khosla's post is also a good sign because it's not worried about affirming Dawson. I do agree with some of those that found some of Khosla's argumentation slightly off-kilter -- for instance, he seems to be indicting Dawson for some things that are likely out of his control -- but the important thing is that he engaged.

I think the art of comics is in a fine state right now: there's a significant amount of good to very good work, and more than a few works better than that. I'm not sure that we're matching this on the business side of things, and being honest about the frustrations of this might start us down a road to providing greater, more significant opportunities. Comics is such an unlikely story, period, that shrugging one's shoulder over the state of the audience seems to me a bit of a rush to a conclusion that may or may not be etched in stone.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: French Humor


 
posted 12:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Scorn Heaped On Artist Randy Queen For Use Of DMCA Challenges Against Posting Of Art

There's a summary write-up at The Outhouse here about old-school Image style artist Randy Queen using Digital Millennium Copyright Act challenges to go after sites that post examples of his work while criticizing that work. Here's a Beat article; here's one of what one assumes is a run of similarly-aimed articles from Techdirt. There was subsequent complaining about the way this action was ridiculed from multiple corners of the Internet, including talk of defamation.

Queen's actions are so clearly, goofily wrongheaded I can't even begin to formulate a counter-argument for the artist. I do recognize the impulse, though, and it's not one unfamiliar to anyone that's posted artwork in a way that artists or artist representatives don't approve of, particularly a review or an article about a creative work that's not on message. Anyone that's ever received an e-mail from a big-publishing publicist complaining about too much art being used in a review where everything is clearly contextual, faintly hinting at getting "legal" involved, has encountered a less aggressive version of this same thing.

Never, never, never be afraid of asserting your rights in this area.

I'm not familiar with the sites in question, but I think it's important to bend over backwards in the direction of fair use even if we don't like or approve of the way in which folks make use of art. There are so many outright assumptions of copyright the way we're set up now that it seems to me there's a clear distinction between use of work in a way that's subordinate to another work (an act of criticism) and outright content appropriation. In fact, it's even more important we bend over backwards when our own work is involved. I certainly don't think that as asserted by Queen there's a right to control how your work is perceived, no matter how many people think would love for that to be the case. How we got to a place where anyone might think this, that will always fascinate me.
 
posted 12:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Wally Wood Sci Fi Art


 
posted 12:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Go, Look: Michael W. Kaluta Art


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Documentary About Seminal Art-/Alt-Comics Leaning Retailer Million Year Picnic

Received a pair of notes today about a documentary project featuring the store The Million Year Picnic, one of the great North American comic book shops. I thought it might be something some of you would have an interest in seeing funded.

There's a video there -- I couldn't figure out the embed code or I would have put it here. I hope for there to be as much documentary work as possible about superhero comics, comic book retailers, underground comix and multiple generations of alternative comics folks as these creators and the related industry people start to settle into the fifties and sixties if they weren't there years ago.
 
posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: The Moon Knight Portfolio


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Sluggo In Peanuts


 
posted 5:10 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Rob Clough on A Chinese Life. The person at Sequential State whose name I should probably remember by now on Seconds. Greg Hunter on Detrimental Information. Steven Heller on Heroes Of The Comics. Tim O'Neil on Warlock. Andrew Shuping on Heck. David Pepose on various comics.

* Patrick A. Reed talks to Faith Erin Hicks. Forrest Helvie talks to Nathan Edmondson. Mike Donachie profiles Diana Tamblyn. Rina Ayuyang and Thien Pham talk to Aron Nels Steinke.

* here's Whit Taylor's report from the Comics & Medicine conference.

* this is a much sent-to-me article on basic mistakes when launching a webcomic. I would imagine that that particular endeavor has been around for long enough that not only are the mistakes pretty common across a bunch of experience, there is probably less patience for people making mistakes.

* finally, Bob Temuka writes about Jack Kirby.
 
posted 5:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 61st Birthday, Steve Mitchell!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Mike Dawson’s Advice To The Mid-Career Cartoonist Who Has Failed To Build An Audience


 
posted 2:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Stonebreaker


 
posted 1:40 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Sydney Morning-Herald Apologized For Glen Le Lievre Cartoon About Gaza That Was Accused Of Racism



I'm having a hard time finding a unique angle to the story of the Sydney Morning-Herald apologizing earlier today for a July 26 cartoon by Glen Le Lievre depicting an old man watching destruction in Gaza with a remote control. It seems a pretty straight-forward publication-complaint-consideration-apology story. What tends to happen in these cases is that there's an argument made that what's being censured is the political thought, not any depiction; that's also happened here, as some have noted the cartoon was placed next to an article critical of Israel, while some of the complaints appeared in more general media critiques of coverage.

The central complaint specifically aimed at the cartoon focused on the physical depiction of the old man. A group called the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies accused the newspaper of "racial vilification" and threatened legal action; the anti-defamation wing of B'nai B'rith also expressed interest in pursuing legal redress. Jewish community leaders and opinion makers more generally had disparaged the cartoon and suggested a boycott of the paper. The initial defense of the piece stressed that Le Lievre draws old men generally using some of the elements of caricature that were criticized in this cartoon; the newspaper repeated this argument in defending the cartoon from the worst accusations even while apologizing for the decision to publish. The cartoonist counts MAD and The New Yorker as freelance clients, but I believe is most strongly affiliated with the SMH publications.
 
posted 1:35 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: William Stout Coven 13 Art


 
posted 1:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Michael DeForge And Ryan Sands On A Cartoon Network Project No Longer In Development



Exactly what it sounds like: DeForge here; Sands here. Lots of art.
 
posted 1:25 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Truth Zone 90


 
posted 1:20 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
By Request Extra: Please Consider A Matching Donation For Your GOTG Ticket To The Writer Bill Mantlo

Bill Mantlo, the co-creator of Rocket Raccoon and writer of a bunch of fun comic books in the 1970s into the 1980s is in need of constant care. If you enjoyed the Guardians Of The Galaxy movie featuring that character, I hope you'll consider a quick donation to Mantlo as described here or a donation to the Hero Initiative, a group that takes care of creators in need more generally almost certainly including at one point in the past or one point in the future a creator that worked on some of the material or characters that were a part of that movie. It's a nice thing to do.

Mantlo saw and enjoyed the movie, too. Kudos to Marvel for making that happen, and for their support of the Mantlo family.
 
posted 1:15 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Gray Morrow Art


 
posted 1:10 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Comics Exhibit Big Three Ends In Columbus

Several hundred people turned up over two days this weekend to sneak in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum's Bill Watterson and Richard Thompson exhibits before they close; I imagine a few made the 100-yard across the campus to see the Dan Clowes exhibit at the Wexner Center. I'm glad; those were great shows.

We don't pay attention to the major shows when they're going on the way we should, not really. I think it may have something to do with how we interact with comics, how close they are to us and how accessible we make them. But people still talk about Misfit Lit, for example, and that show is 23 freaking years in the rear view window. I imagine there will be mentions of the Spiegelman exhibit in the years ahead, and I've seen a few people reference the Masters Of American Comics. I don't know. It was pretty swell to see all that art, that's for sure.
 
posted 1:09 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Russ Heath Draws The Executioner


 
posted 1:05 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding



By Tom Spurgeon

* Rachel Richey has launched the second kickstarter designed to bring back to print a Canadian character of some historical import: this time it's Johnny Canuck.

* Dan Vado's gofundme campaging on behalf of his indy comics company SLG is ongoing.

* still a bunch of days left on the successful crowd-funder related to the John Porcellino documentary. I imagine every last dime will be well spent, and it's hard for me to imagine a better cause in general within comics than whatever the hell John Porcellino wants to get involved doing.

* I believe the top offering at this Inprnt page for Lisa Hanawalt is new. This isn't tied into any specific need, but she did let people know about this one via Facebook.

* that fine writer about comics Chris Mautner passed along this crowd-funder from a co-worker. That one is doing just fine without any help from any of us over her at CR, but I certainly wanted to mention it.

* this Rick Geary fundraiser has met its initial goal; ditto this Steve Ditko-related campaign. Valerie D'Orazio and Bobby Timony have one going that should make its initial goal but hasn't yet. There's much more work to be done on Watson and Holmes Vol. 2.

* finally, it looks like we may be in the last stages of the art auctions on behalf of the cartoonist Stan Sakai and his wife Sharon. That's a wonderful thing that organization and its participating artists have done. We wish the Sakais every good thing.
 
posted 1:04 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Bruce Gentry


 
posted 1:03 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Michael Cavna Profiles Richard Linklater And Boyhood


 
posted 1:02 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* here's the first lengthy take I've seen of what I'm sure is going to be an overlapping reality of lengthy takes on the Grant Morrison written, many artists drawn Multiversity project.

* Francois Vigneault talks to Eleanor Davis. Sean Collins profiles Rocket Raccoon.

* kudos to ICv2.com on catching a news story that I sure as hell as didn't: that Nancy Silberkleit showed up at and then was led away from the Archie San Diego booth, no doubt because of the ongoing legal back and forth between Silberkleit, the company, and, as I recall, some of the people working there distinct from the company itself. I hope that situation resolves itself as fairly as possible; no one looks happy here.

* Dana Jennings on a bunch of different comics.

* not comics: the Portland Mercury is looking for an arts editor. I would imagine that with its cartooning talent that some knowledge of comics and cartooning would be helpful although I imagine you have to be able to engage with all of the arts. I think I'm more interested in the fact that a primetime editing and writing job has opened up in a city where no jobs of any kind ever open up ever ever ever.

* Ted Naifeh draws Namor the Sub-Mariner.

* finally, one thing this particular site design is ill-suited to do is to run notices of forthcoming classes -- something that happens on a day other than the day you should sign up for that thing. I noticed that Tom Devlin is teaching a comic course this August. I imagine it's very good. I also imagine that if I put it up on those dates and someone goes and finds out that it's full or the sessions started weeks ago someone will flay me. Something to consider, though. I'd love to take a class like that. I'm going to be one of those super-old people that takes classes, if I'm lucky enough to make it that far.
 
posted 1:01 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 47th Birthday, Robert Pope!


 
posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 64th Birthday, Mike Gold!


 
posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 72nd Birthday, Rick Norwood!


 
posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 38th Birthday, K. Thor Jensen!


 
posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 48th Birthday, Charlie Adlard!


 
posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 62nd Birthday, Franco Saudelli!


 
posted 1:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


CR Newsmaker Interview: Tracy Hurren



*****

Drawn and Quarterly relaunched their web site last Friday, after announcing they'd be doing so at Comic-Con International. It's a slow roll-out, with some technical difficulties. If you don't see it through the banner above or the text links provided, know that it's being worked on and plan a re-visit soon. I'll post some reminders over the next couple of days.

Perfect time to do an interview!

I don't usually get to talk to people about specific tasks like this, so I was happy that Tracy Hurren was available to talk about her role at D+Q, marshaling the massive web site redesign through completion and her life in comics more generally. I've known Hurren for a couple of years now via conventions. She is unfailingly polite, helpful and sharp. I feel the same way after having the following discussion, only more so. I am greatly appreciative of her grace in this interview's strange little journey to publication.

Now please go crash her site. Or if you have already, go back and visit when it's better. -- Tom Spurgeon

*****

TOM SPURGEON: Tracy, I know next to nothing about you. I hope you'll indulge me in a few questions about yourself. First, can you talk about your childhood/teen years in terms of your interaction with art and with comics directly? Would people that knew you growing up think what you're doing right now makes sense according to what they know about you?

TRACY HURREN: Oh god no. Well yes and no. I absolutely hated reading as a kid. It didn't come naturally and I hated practicing. But I spent much of my time drawing. Stories or reports I'd have to write for school would turn into illustrated books. My illustrated Pecos Bill fanfic got pretty out of hand when I was in grades five and six. So, you know, I guess I've been practicing for a while now in many ways, but I don't think it's the path people would have expected me to take. I didn't really get into comics until I was 20 (except for Ren & Stimpy comics when I was a kid, which I would read and then turn into homemade pogs). My boyfriend at the time was reading The Invisibles. I ploughed through those but quickly realized there were comics out there better suited for me.

SPURGEON: What was the process of you going to work there? What was the process by which you thought that this was something you wanted to do for a while?

HURREN: When I was doing my undergrad in writing, I hated spending all that time writing papers or short stories and then just handing in a boring word doc. So I'd usually make them way too fancy: spend forever typesetting and then add some illustrations. My professors never got it. So I started seeking out classes that encouraged me to play more with image and text. All this lead me to do my master's in publishing in Vancouver. Part of the program was an internship. I was pretty set on comics by that point -- the medium seemed perfect to me, as a way to tell stories and as object -- but also I never really expected it would work out. It didn't know much about the industry, or about how one went about finding a job in it. Anyway, Drawn & Quarterly was my first choice of places to intern. My professor sent way too many emails to Peggy [Burns] begging her to take me on. They all still bug me about that around the office. Tom [Devlin] forwards me my old resume and cover letter from time to time. It's all very embarrassing.

SPURGEON: [laughs] Can you talk about the responsibilities you've added since you started the job? How are your responsibilities different now than when you first started working in the office?

HURREN: Well, I really didn't know much when I started, so they've changed a lot as I became more capable. Tom, Chris [Oliveros], and Peg taught me most of what I know, and I figured out the rest as I went along. Tom trusted me with a lot, probably too much, and that made the learning process go pretty fast. Though I still learn things everyday, so that's nice. Anyway, basically when I started Tom would make me design small things -- ads (my first design assignment was an ad for The Comics Reporter!), book spines, then back covers -- dish work out to me one task at a time, all with a lot of art direction. Tom still very much so art directs my designs, but his direction now is usually just a doodle thrown on my desk, or a comforting "I trust you" when he doesn't think I need his help. We get each other so it works. It's efficient.

The main change in my job now from when I started is instead of helping Tom and Chris with particular tasks along the way, I'm now involved in the overall process of making our books -- I do forecasting for our titles, work with the printers, work with the cartoonists, and set schedules to make sure books are back from press in time for key sales periods, to debut at shows -- while still doing the production tasks, copy editing, and design stuff that I started out doing. Tom and Chris do very little production work now, which makes sense. They have time now to focus more on actually being publishers and editors instead of fussing over these small things. It also clears up time for them to work on big picture things, on special projects, while Jade [Menni], our production assistant, and I take care of the day-to-day, getting the commas and DPIs right, aligning spines.

I also manage the interns, which is a pretty big job, but always very worth my time. They do great work. I manage production of our ebooks, too, though Jade and Alex [Auger] do all the real work there. If you take a look at our new website, we have a fancy new ebook tab in the shop. We're just getting started with those, but it's exciting, and we'll be taking on a lot more there in the next year or so. And lastly, having a bookstore is a big job: everyone in the company helps out with hosting events, hosting book clubs, attending events, attending shows, and helping with stock. Jade and I also do their design stuff.

SPURGEON: How is what you do decided? I know that small publishing houses, having worked for one and having worked with a couple of others, can sometimes give their employees as much as they can do as they express a desire to do it? Do you have firm parameters in terms of what you do there? Are you allowed to explore new responsibilities if you want?

HURREN: The parameters are pretty well-drawn, though with any small publishing house, sometimes something just has to get done right now and you've got to do it, so lines do occasionally get blurred. And there's room to explore things, but mostly it's always pretty clear what I'm responsible for, without having to make a decision or talk about it. It's a great feeling, as a youngish person, to have that autonomy, to not be told what to do.

SPURGEON: How do you view the office culture there at D+Q? Since I asked Jessica Campbell much the same question, maybe you can talk about how it's changed in the last couple of years. I'm fascinated by small offices because it seems to me adding one person can change the entire office culture. Are you a tight-knit bunch? Is there a division between the older folks and the younger?

HURREN: Well for starters, there's no more topless Fridays. Ha. Kidding! I swear. But things aren't dramatically different. Chris works silently from precisely 9:30-5:30 without breaking for lunch and then goes home to his wonderful family. Tom, AKA Old Man Devlin, djs and says sarcastic things and hoards dried fish and old peanut shells at his desk. Peggy taps around in her clogs, keeps the plants alive over in Peggy's Cove. Alex, our new-ish publicity assistant, makes wacky jokes and dresses really hip and reminds us all that we're not 22 anymore. Ann [Cunningham] (our business manager) does her best to ignore us all and as a result gets a lot of work done. Jade sits at her desk chain smoking Popeye candy cigarettes and taking care of everything for me. Julia hovers around the office like the beautiful angel she is, delivering us tasty homemade squares and cakes cut into wisely proportioned servings and it drives us all bonkers. Just cut them bigger, Julia!

We have company lunches: we order vegetarian pulled pork sandwiches from the local dep and gossip and the interns walk away knowing too much. We've got a super strange cast of background characters that are constantly popping in -- our super insists on naming his tools inappropriate things like "Mr. Nasty"; our DHL guy will only let Julia sign for packages because she's so beautiful; we got too close with a mailman once and I think the last time we saw him he was lying on his back on the office floor; our tech guy Rick is too hard to explain, but he's sarcastic and conservative and a real handful/hero and he seems to really like us all but I'm not sure why.

Jade and Julia and I usually close up shop. Sometimes Julia and I grab a beer after. It's nice. Woody, Tom and Peg's son, broke my favourite dinosaur toy last fall when they came over for a jam swap my roommate Kathleen -- who is also our freelance copy editor -- and I hosted and then he hid it so I wouldn't notice but I just found it recently SO NOW I KNOW. Tom and I took French classes together last winter. We'd go for beers after. We both ended up dropping out but I dropped out first.

In other words, we all get along pretty well.



SPURGEON: At what point had you been working there before you did a show or two? I don't think of you doing a whole lot of them, even now... is that something you like doing? Is there a specific memory that comes to mind about doing shows -- that's something we all take for granted, but I don't think any other industry routinely puts its people out in front of their material in that way.

HURREN: I had been with D+Q for about a year when I went to my first Comic-Con. I just worked my third -- one was skipped along the way. I think I've been at SPX every year since I started, so four times. I've been to most shows at least once though, including Angouleme, which was incredible. Julia and I stayed in a castle and felt like queens. I feel like I do my share of shows. Peg is pretty fair about that -- sharing the shows between us all. I don't know how Jacq and Jen at Fanta do it, do all the shows.

I love working them, but if I had to work every show I think it would suck the life out of me. It's hard work. But of course it's a lot of fun. Especially now that I've worked more of them. I've got friends there now. It's nice to hang. And I'm proud of my work, proud of the books I help make, and endlessly proud of our artists, so it's nice to see people's reactions, talk to people about the books, and to get that QT with our artists, who are always very fun to hang with. It's a special part of our industry, and you're right: my friends working in normal book publishing rarely get that face time to interact with their authors or the people who read their books. It's rewarding and I'm grateful for it.

SPURGEON: Now that we have this like wall of shows, every freaking weekend, is there something that part of the industry can do to better serve people like you and the company you work for? Peggy Burns, for example, once told me that you guys really appreciate having some downtime on the calendar so that a sustained amount of work can be done. Is there something you'd have changed about any or all of the shows you attend?

HURREN: Oh, I don't know that I have a great answer for this. We really appreciate all the hard work the people organizing the shows put in. Shows are important to us, to the success of our business. But some shows just have more life than others, are funner to attend, and more profitable. But I don't know that I can say much more without digging myself into a hole that I don't really want to be in. It's a hard thing to do, organize a successful show.

SPURGEON: Do you have procurement responsibilties as a managing editor? How does that get done at a house like D+Q? It's hard for me to think of you guys pulling stuff off of the slush pile. Do you feel like you have editorial input at the company that way? How might we have seen it? Is there a specific Tracy Hurren project?

HURREN: No, I don't have procurement responsibilities, which I'm content with. I don't want to have to take the heat for a lemon! But my opinion is respected. If there's an artist that I'm really into that's not on Chris's or Tom's radar, I like to think they'll take my recommendation to heart, but in the end it's all up to them and Peggy. Julia and I went to Angouleme two years ago, to look at books, bring books back to the bosses that we thought might be interesting to publish. That trip resulted in us publishing Brecht Vandenbroucke's White Cube last winter, and the acquisition of Bendik Kaltenborn's Adult Contemporary, which we'll be putting out this winter.

As for specific Tracy projects, the Rookie Yearbooks are the most obvious examples, because, with a lot of help, I built those from the ground up, collaged them, designed them, everything. There's a lot of me in those books, more than will likely ever be in another D+Q title, because that's not normally how we publish things. The colour Moomins are my project, though. As is Showa. Those are both series that I designed front to back, and in the case of the Moomin books, got to colour (with the help of many interns). Both these series are really fun to work on, things I'm proud of. There's more room for me in books like these, translations or older work where the artist is no longer with us.

SPURGEON: You mention design responsibilities... that's not in your job title.

HURREN: Job titles in comics, on the editorial/production side anyway, are always a little weird, compared to traditional book publishing. It's just so much more organic. Having strict editor, designer, production roles, at least in a small company like D+Q, is just not an efficient way to make a comic book. It seems natural to me that the editor would also do the design, since the medium is visual. Those extra design elements are part of the narrative, in some ways anyway. So yes, I do a lot of the design on our books. Some authors hand in a completely finished product, others are just less interested in design, in the non-comics part of the book -- what the front matter looks like, or the back cover design, or the title treatment -- so then I help out. Both Miriam Katin and Rutu Modan's latest books, Letting It Go and The Property, are good examples of that, books where I feel more ownership over the design.

SPURGEON: Do you have an opinion on the very strong house series designs that D+Q provides many of its books? I know that some readers have suggested to me that D+Q and other houses might work with outside designers more than they do.

HURREN: I guess I'm not really sure what you're asking. Our only house design is good design. If our books have a look, it has more to do with the artists we acquire and our production values than anything else. Our mission is pretty simply to give our cartoonists complete artistic control over their books; implementing a house style or bringing in an outside designer would undermine that. Unless of course it's a designer they've chosen to work with, which we have done over the years.

For the most part, being a designer at D+Q really just means typesetting the indicia, or telling [Michael] DeForge that no, his endpapers are not too manic and he'd be foolish to make something new. Or whatever other small advice it was that I gave to Michael that has resulted in him tooting my horn to the whole industry. I certainly appreciate it -- it's what keeps me skipping to work everyday -- but it really has so little to do with me. Why are you interviewing me again?

SPURGEON: The web site! The web site project... do you have a background in this kind of thing? Back when I worked in an office a project like this might fall to someone who simply showed any interest, but I imagine that might not be the case anymore. Why you?

HURREN: I don't have a ton of experience designing websites, but a large portion of my graduate work focussed on publishing websites -- studying them, figuring out what worked and what didn't, and then actually building a new website for the program from the ground up. I learned a lot about user experience doing this -- how to make a website that's easy to navigate -- and also just some valuable project management skills. After that experience I designed and programmed a couple basic sites for friends, but certainly nothing this complex.

That being said, the main reason I was assigned this job was because I'm good at managing large projects, keeping them on track. I don't burn out easy. That's a key part of my role at D+Q.

SPURGEON: What kind of technical support did you have? Who did the grunt work?

HURREN: Our programmer is local, Adam Harvie. I'd love to plug his website here but he doesn't seem to have one! Programmers, amirite? He was great to work with though. I asked him to do a million crazy things and he rarely said no. And the couple times he did, I made him do it anyway, and he always found a way to make it work. My programming skills are very rudimentary, but I think having a bit of a background there made the process smoother. And as for grunt work, everyone in the office helped to transfer data over and make sure everything was properly in place. This was a big job and required us all to chip in.

SPURGEON: What was the overall hours spent on the project?

HURREN: Ooof, this is probably too embarrassing to answer. In the end, the project took about 18 months.

SPURGEON: Yow. Okay.

HURREN: The first half of that was spent on implementing the database and a couple previous iterations of the site that ended up getting scrapped. This version that you see now is about nine months in the making. Some of that time was full-time work, other weeks I'd just be checking up on things, answering questions the programmer had, or delegating tasks around the office.

SPURGEON: Was that more or less than you figured?

HURREN: Ha, it took a lot longer than we expected. But we'd never taken on a project like this, so there was a lot of learning that had to happen before we gained some efficiency. Also, because the project dragged on for so long, it gave us a lot of time to change our minds about decisions we had made months ago, which turned into a lot of scrapping of under-considered ideas, and having to re-build stuff. In the end, the site is better for it, but it certainly wasn't an expedient process. We have a phase two for the site planned, and plan to redo our Montreal store's site in the next year or so; we expect those projects to go much more smoothly.

SPURGEON: The web site. What was wrong with the old one that a new one was necessary. Did that kind of critique even drive any of the redesign?

HURREN: The old website really only had one flaw -- it was 15 years old. Fifteen years ago, it was cutting edge. But the internet changes fast. And we waited 15 years. Basically everything needed to be reconsidered, so though we've received pleeeeenty of critique over the years, I wouldn't say any of that necessarily drove the design. There were definitely whispers from very smart cartoonists that we'd be foolish not to listen to, but mostly what we needed from our website as a marketing tool informed the design -- we didn't want anything getting in the way of users reading about our authors and buying their books. The challenge was finding a subtle design that could promote an array of styles and authors while still selling the books, promoting events, having information easily available and well organized.

SPURGEON: How much pressure is on a small publisher like you to captialize on on-line and social media opportunities? How is re-launching the web site, for example, a big deal for D+Q?

HURREN: I mean, it doesn't really feel like an option not to focus on these things. Our online presence is pretty strong. We get a lot of compliments about how funny our twitter account is, and likewise people seem to love our blog, but when it came to the overall website experience, we knew there was a problem. It wasn't effective as a communication tool anymore, as a platform for us to showcase our cartoonists and their work. What's the point in a publishing website if you can't showcase your authors effectively? I think we've solved that problem. Peggy and I put endless hours into thinking through all these problems and how to best solve them. And Tom and I put a lot of time into establishing an aesthetic for the site that wouldn't overpower our artists' work. Our website is an asset now. It will help us all to do our jobs better. It's also just a super solid database. That's obviously a crucial thing for a company of our size to have. We didn't have that before. Everything was just recorded on scraps of paper and then lit on fire.

SPURGEON: Are there publishing web sites you admire? How much of a redesign like that is kind of solving things right on the ground as they're presented to you and how many are a kind of general upgrading of functionality and seeing what's out there?

HURREN: To be honest, publishing websites are notoriously terrible. Everyone is overworked and the website has only recently become a priority to us digitally shy print lovers, but even so, time and resources are scarce. To make things worse, publishing websites are just really really hard to organize. There's a lot going on. Just organizing the shop alone in a way that 250 differently shaped books are easy to find without scrolling forever through a plain-text list while front list and perennials are promoted without burying your backlist is a feat. And that's just the shop! And we're a relatively small company. Imagine if you had 1000+ books! It's a hard map not to muddle. I don't think a perfect publishing website exists.

As for designing our site, we did look to other sites -- design sites, publishing sites, museum sites, cultural news sites -- but much of what we built is pretty new. We solved some problems that I don't think have really been solved yet on many other publishing sites. Or I think so anyway. It's certainly not without flaws. We'll clean those up as we go. I'm looking forward to and dreading feedback from our readers.

SPURGEON: Is there any added pressure in that you're a company known for its design and its relationships with cartoonists? Does your site need to look nice in a way that a prose publisher's doesn't? Or is that even a concern?

HURREN: It was important to us that the site be visually appealing. People expect that from us. But our primary concern was always to create a space that was easy to navigate and showcased our authors and their work effectively and fairly. We wanted our authors and their work to be the feature of the site, not our design.

SPURGEON: How much of a say do your authors have in how they're represented on the site?

HURREN: For the most part, our authors trust us. It would not have been feasible to create a specific author page for each artist that represented them in a unique way. We had to settle on a template that worked across the board. We couldn't run the template past all our author's for feedback, but the few we did were very happy with how the author pages work. And when we found a title that didn't work as well within the template, we discussed best solutions with the cartoonist and came to an agreement on how to proceed. We tried to make the author pages as comprehensive as possible. Since many of our authors don't have much of a web presence, it was important for us to create a space for them that fully showcases their work and all of their achievements.

SPURGEON: Is there anything old-fashioned about working on a site? For instance, I know that some comics creators have either explicitly or by virtue of abandonment moved their primary web presence to their twitter account. Where does having a site that works fit into a wider plan for publicity and having a presence on-line?

HURREN: Ditching a website might be an option for an artist (though I wouldn't recommend it!), but it just isn't for a publisher, for all the reasons mentioned above. 140 characters is not long enough for a press release! Nor is it enough space to brag about all an author's achievements. We also need a place to list our author tours. Facebook events on their own are not enough. But also we rely on our website to generate income, especially if we're in a cash crunch -- we can have a sale on the site and it really saves our butts. And in this case, ease of use is so important. We're curious to see how our sales go moving forward, now that the site is easier to navigate.

SPURGEON: For that matter, I'd be interested to know. What is the D+Q approach to social media? What are the nuts and bolts of how that is done at the company?

HURREN: If you're asking who writes our tweets, we'll never tell! We all have a hand in our social media. It's no one person tweeting, no one person blogging. Tom and Peg tend to write most of the twitter jokes, Alex does most of the Instagram, but the other stuff is pretty well distributed. Social media is more fun if there's some heart behind it -- if it were one person's sole responsibility, I can't imagine how that wouldn't start to sound a little tired. Plus we all like doing it.

SPURGEON: How do things like Facebook, instagram, twitter and particularly tumblr work in conjunction with the site?

HURREN: We try to have different voices for each platform. Our blog is where we're very long winded. We can pour our hearts out and out and out there. Twitter is pretty jokey and casual -- the voice is similar to the blog but even less serious. Facebook is more informational, we post about our blog posts and publicize press hits, or other links that we are excited about. For our tumblr, we try to make it less promotional, more of a lookit this cool thing. Tumblr really only works if you get reblogged, and people are not really interested in reblogging super promotional things. They want something nice to look at, or something funny. Though we're not really tumblr pros. We're new there. And Instagram highlights cool things we have around the office, closeups of our favourite panels from new books. But again, any promotional tone or commentary is kinda stripped away so the images can speak for themselves. To be honest I can't really wrap my head around it all. I had to consult with hip/savvy Alex to get you this jumbled answer.

SPURGEON: So exactly how tech-savvy is Chris Oliveros?

HURREN: Far more tech-savvy than we'd like to think! A while back we realized he's been following our twitter account and I think we were all a little embarrassed. But mostly, he's too busy to be bothered with internet jokes (and too smart). When he does blog, though, his posts are hands down the best content on the blog. He's one of the kindest men I know, and this, along with his true passion for the medium, really comes out in his writing. It's always very sincere and endearing and makes us all look like hacks.

SPURGEON: [laughs] Are there any good jokes in the office about Seth and the Internet? Because I think outside the office we've worked through about 100.

HURREN: Ha! I'd like to hear those jokes! For a man who's stuck in the 40s, he does remarkably well on a computer. He used to send us production notes for his books typed out on a typewriter, with white-out blotches and hand-written corrections. We always saved those documents. They're treasures. For his last book, the instructions were typed on a computer and printed out. Clean and easy to read. I'm sure he thought nothing of this change, but I read a lot into it. It made me sad.

SPURGEON: You guys have worked with a number of first-time or early comics authors in addition to your old guard. Is there something specific that younger cartoonists look to their publisher to provide, do you think? Are they different than the cartoonists in their 50s that you publish?

HURREN: I think the biggest thing is that more experienced cartoonists are more relaxed. For a first-time author, the stakes are so high. For someone like Lynda Barry, they've done this so many times, nothing's a surprise. There's an ease there. With Seth, or Anders [Nilsen], or Chester [Brown] -- I've been with D+Q long enough now that I've worked on several books with each of these cartoonists so the whole relationship and workflow is very smooth. Fresh cartoonists are fun, though. They are often less decided in how things should be, so they're often more eager to get my opinion on things, to ask for help. Which makes me feel smart. But it's a much more intense experience for them, which I totally get, and I really try to consider that when navigating through the process with them.

SPURGEON: What's a favorite in the back catalog? Is there one you'd tell someone to go grab, to reconsider, from before this year?

HURREN: Ron Regé's The Awake Fieldis a book I reread often. It just makes me happy. I often go back to Rutu's short story collection, Jamilti. Seiichi Hayashi's Red Coloured Elegy is another favourite. And I can't think of a better way to turn a bad day around than staring at some dicks in Lisa Hanawalt's My Dirty, Dumb Eyes.

*****

* Drawn And Quarterly Site
* Drawn And Quarterly On Facebook
* Drawn And Quarterly On Twitter
* Drawn And Quarterly On Tumblr
* Drawn And Quarterly On Instagram

*****

* Drawn And Quarterly logo as it appears on the new site
* photo supplied by Hurren
* classic D+Q logo
* convention set-up from 2012
* The Property, by Rutu Modan
* icon used by the publisher on its Facebook page
* from The Awake Field (below)

*****



*****
*****
 
posted 10:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Seattle 2100: Apocalypse Or Utopia?


 
posted 7:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Read: Captain Marvel Jr. #84


 
posted 5:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Rhode Island, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Tampa Bay, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 48th Birthday, Marc Weidenbaum!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 65th Birthday, Reed Waller!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 60th Birthday, Gianfranco Goria!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
FFF Results Post #388—Up To No Good

On Friday, CR asked readers to "Name Five Comics Villains Or Antagonists That Are From The Comics, Just Not From Superhero Comics." This is how they responded.



Tom Spurgeon

1. Reggie Mantle
2. Reginald Van Dough, Jr.
3. World War II (The Cat Next Door)
4. Julie Wree
5. Bull Dawson

*****



Evan Dorkin

1. Manhog
2. Magica De Spell
3. Yagyu Retsudo
4. Judy Junior
5. Mr. Crabbe

*****



Matt Emery

1. Ivor Lott (Ivor Lott and Tony Broke)
2. The Mekon (Dan Dare)
3. Irish Murphy (Footrot Flats)
4. Nelson Kreelman (Strontium Dog)
5. Mr Snipe (Faceache)

*****



Randy Clark

1. The Phantom Blot
2. The Beagle Boys
3. Bluto
4. Evilheart
5. The Ghostly Trio

*****



Mark Mayerson

1. Magica de Spell
2. Simple J. Malarkey
3. The Phantom Blot
4. Mr. Dithers
5. The Sea Hag

*****



Danny Ceballos

1. Lucy Van Pelt
2. Judy Jr. (13 Going On 18)
3. Pruneface
4. Manhog
5. Helder

*****



Buzz Dixon

1. Adam Weisshaupt
2. Evil Eye Fleegle
3. Beagle Boy 176-671
4. The Mole
5. Tiffany Farrell

*****



Chris Arrant

1. Friend (from 20th Century Boys)
2. Angel Face (from Blueberry)
3. The Zombies (from The Walking Dead)
4. The Smiler (from Transmetropolitan)
5. The Adversary (from Fables)

*****



Des Devlin

1. Mr. Atom (Herblock)
2. Moe (Calvin & Hobbes)
3. The Sea Hag (Thimble Theater)
4. insomnia (Ganges)
5. King Harold II (The Bayeux Tapestry)

*****



Steven Stwalley

1. Sea Hag (Popeye)
2. Ignatz (Krazy Kat)
3. Fifi Doodle (Steven)
4. Mr. Crabbe (Reid Fleming)
5. Norbert the Narc (Freak Brothers)

*****



John Platt

1. Dr. Cesspool (Stumbo the Giant)
2. Vroom Socko (Pirate Corp$/Hectic Planet)
3. Judge Duvic (Baltimore)
4. Jei (Usagi Yojimbo)
5. Dominique Muerta (Ms. Tree)

*****



Bill Matheny

1) Milk and Cheese
2) Little Arthur - Sugar and Spike
3) Kite Eating Tree
4) Pruneface
5) The Ghostly Trio

*****



James Langdell

1. Simple J. Malarkey
2. Crockydiles
3. Kite-Eating Tree
4. Velma Melmac
5. Green Ship captain

*****



Andrew Mansell

1. Random Wilder
2. Vivian Frog Mouth Solis
3. Simple J. Malarkey
4. Greater Berzerkistan's president-for-life Trff Bmzklfrpz (pronounced "Ptklm")
5. Julius C Dithers what an asshole

*****



Philippe Leblanc

Everytime I think of antagonists in comics, I'm mostly drawn to the general themes that bring about the downfall of the protagonists. sometimes they are societal, sometimes family related.

1- Gender and Ethnicity -- Adrian Tomine's Shortcominga
2- Waves -- Julie Delporte, Everywhere Antennas
3- Time Travel -- Jason, I Killed Adolf Hitler
4- Ambition and disappointment -- Seiichi Hayachi, Red Colored Elegy
5- Father figures -- Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan

*****



Chris Duffy

1. Wilbur Van Snobbe
2. The Sea Hag
3. Scorpio (from Dagar)
4. Slugg
5. Ming

*****



Oliver Ristau

1. Gauna
2. Roger Ditchley
3. The Phantom Blot
4. Von Krantz
5. Zelie

*****



Jason Michelitch

1. Light (Death Note)
2. Judy Jr.
3. The Snooter
4. Gargamel
5. Rosalyn the Baby-Sitter

*****



Don MacPherson

1. Prince Robot IV
2. Desire
3. Lucy Van Pelt
4. Emperor Geppetto
5. Mister Lodge

*****



Sean Kleefeld

1. Gary "Smiler" Callahan (Transmetropolitan)
2. Julius Caesar (Asterix)
3. The Traitor General (Rogue Trooper)
4. Dr. Tatsugaura (Ode to Kirihito)
5. Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (Girl Genius)

*****



Michael Grabowski

1. the serial killer from Human Diastrophism
2. Lord Julius
3. Lucy Van Pelt
4. Gladstone Gander
5. Mr. Wilson

*****



Tom Bondurant

1. Therese, obstacle to Liz and Anthony's happiness (For Better Or For Worse)
2. Moe the bully (Calvin and Hobbes)
3. The kite-eating tree (Peanuts)
4. President Richard Nixon (Doonesbury)
5. Aldo Kelrast (Mary Worth)

*****



Nora Colussy-Estes

1. Reggie Mantle (Archie)
2. Vosblanc (Sabrina, from Tania del Rio's run)
3. Beagle Boys (Uncle Scrooge)
4. Akane (at first, kind of) then Mr. Kitazawa (from Kitchen Princess)
5. Dark Kingdom: Queen Beryl, Queen Metaria, et al. (Sailor Moon)

*****



Justin Colussy-Estes

1. Phantom Blot (Mickey Mouse)
2. Garfield (this was actually Nora's idea, but I thought it was too good to let go)
3. Spirals (Uzumaki)
4. Baba Yaga (Hellboy)
5. Newman Xeno (Casanova)

*****



Michael Peterson

1. Cirin (Cerebus)
2. "Johan" (Monster)
3. Moe the bully (Calvin & Hobbes)
4. Lord English (Homestuck)
5. Michael (Dungeon / Donjon)

*****



Art Baxter

1. Sea Hag
2. Thibault
3. Devil Girl
4. Man Hog
5. Dragon Lady

*****



Dave Knott

* Manhog
* Roberto Rastapopoulos
* Yagyu Retsudo
* The Dragon Lady
* Johan Liebert

*****
*****
 
posted 4:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
The Comics Reporter Video Parade


Carol Tilley, Comic Book Crusader


BoJack Horseman Trailer


NBC TV Preview Show Excerpt Featuring My World And Welcome To It


Chester Gould On To Tell The Truth


Liam Walsh Explains One Of His Cartoons


Profile Of Feminist Cartoonists In Turkey


The Inside Shit On Prison Pit
 
posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
CR Week(s) In Review

The top comics-related news stories from July 19 to August 1, 2014:

1. The 2014 iteration of Comic-Con International comes and goes, with all the attendant comics publishing news stories surrounded by similar announcements from other media served by that show.

2. At leat two incidents at Comic-Con lead to significant, apparently non-life threatening, injury: A 17-year-old female cosplayer was found injured near the show on Sunday morning; after investigating a potential assault, police currently believe she fell, hurting herself. A woman was injured by a driver trying to get himself and his children out of pedestrian-heavy street traffic near a non-official event happening in proximity to the show.

3. The comiXology service announces it will offer DRM-free backups from several participating publishers, with more to come; move characterized in a variety of ways ranging from a PR ploy to a major move that sees the company better conform to how a significant subset of comics readers would like to receive material.

Winners Of The Week
Your 2014 Eisner Award winners.

Losers Of The Week
Those fans that had come to count on their Comic-Con International experience including gigantic genre film announcements of the kind that made fans not there jealous of those who are. I literally did not hear of a single film/tv "moment" while at the show -- a first in a decade -- and had a hard time parsing out that kind of thing when I came home. Mind you, I'm sort of baffled by the value of that kind of experience even if they had cast Dr. Strange right on the floor and debuted 15 minutes of Star Wars Episode 7 footage, but I encountered a lot of sad nerds last week.

Quote Of The Week
"It took me 45 minutes to get to my room after my panel... and I'm at the Omni." -- an A-list comics pro, musing on the significant crowds at the bottleneck points for this year's Comic-Con. The Omni is right across the street from the convention center.

*****

image from a Marvel comic book from 50 years ago, a year they were killing it

*****
 
posted 2:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 


Last Weekend For Bill Watterson, Richard Thompson And Daniel Clowes Exhibits In Columbus, Ohio



* Exploring Calvin And Hobbes, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (Through August 3)
* Eye of the Cartoonist: Daniel Clowes's Selections from Comics History, Wexner Center (through August 3)
* Modern Cartoonist: The Art Of Daniel Clowes, Wexner Center (Through August 3)
* The Irresistible Force Meets The Immovable Object: A Richard Thompson Retrospective, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library And Museum (Through August 3)

They were all pretty great, and I'm glad I got to see them -- the Watterson and the Thompson twice!
 
posted 9:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Video Parade Extra: Ryan Sands Talks To Bryan Lee O’Malley


 
posted 7:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Tampa Bay, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
If I Were In Rhode Island, I’d Go To This


 
posted 5:20 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 41st Birthday, MariNaomi!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 78th Birthday, Victor Moscoso!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Happy 50th Birthday, Danny Hellman!


 
posted 5:00 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Bookmark: Gabrielle Bell’s Summer Diary Returns


 
posted 8:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Conundrum Press Announces Acquisition Of Zach Worton’s The Disappearance Of Charlie Butters



Over at their web site earlier today, Conundrum Press announced it acquired world rights to the new graphic novel by Zach Worton, The Disappearance Of Charlies Butters. They describe the work as "a new graphic novel about the final throes of a death metal band. While filming a music video they stumble upon an old cabin in the woods containing the archives of a disappeared artist. The discovery sets in motion a chain of events which eventually leads to one character's redemption."

That book will run 120 pages, be published in softcover and retail for $17. The work's progress has been marked at times through Worton's personal on-line avenues for expression.

Worton's previous significant effort was The Klondike.
 
posted 7:50 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: Andrew Rae


 
posted 6:45 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Festivals Extra: TCAF Exhibitor Applications Open For 2015; Festival Refines Selection Process

The very excellent comics festival TCAF has opened its exhibitor applications for 2015. That's news in and of itself -- that's a very good show, one of three musts on my convention calendar and probably the closest to running an optimal version of itself of all the shows out there.

What's fascinating, though, is that they're basically suggesting they won't be taking exhibitors every year without a justification for doing so along the lines of a major new work or an absence from the show. They're also emphasizing comics over other, related art forms and suggesting that publishers will be exempt (even though it's hard to imagine a comics publisher going a full year between qualifying releases).

Just off the top of my head, two prominent creators in that world that I remember exhibiting without having significant new comics material for sale -- it was a subject of conversation between me and both folks -- were Kevin Huizenga and Dustin Harbin.

How a show might deal with a set space and an aggressive desire for people to exhibit is one of the two great unexplored issues facing the surge in comics shows. The other is paid appearances, and how that will work and have an effect on things regarding the top-of-the-line guests, and we're close on that, too. As for this, it's kind of a "whoa" moment but when you step back you realize that this kind of thing is one way of dealing with an overabundance of applicants. It might go down poorly with some comics people because of the culture's touchiness about everyone being treated fairly and because a few shows seem to actually prefer to build core expectations in the form of recurring guests year after year, which is a strategy with another set of positives and negatives.

I think TCAF is in the driver's seat here, even though it will be interesting to see how people react. The much more interesting thing will be to revisit the policy four to five years from now and see if it's had an effect on the show's development and what that effect has been. (If you just conceived of the word "effect" there positively or negatively, that may be due to your own initial reaction to the policy.) I'm also kind of interested in the notion that creators will participate in a show without exhibiting, which is a holy grail for a lot of shows. My hunch is that TCAF is further along this path than anyone not Comic-Con and SPX and Angouleme, and if they can achieve that in a significant way, look out.
 
posted 6:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: 1970s Guardians Of The Galaxy-Related Covers


 
posted 4:45 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Not Comics: Rebecca Mead On Relatability

There's an interesting post/article over at the New Yorker about the idea of "relatability" as a value in and of itself. I don't have any problem with any criteria anyone wants to bring to the art they consume, but I do bristle a bit when consumption preferences act as unchallenged stand-ins for how we decide what art has worth and what that worth might be. While it's fun for me to see my own problems through a fun-house mirror or simply made grand and compelling on a screen, on a stage, in the pages of a novel, I also value equally learning about the rest of human experience not directly my own. In that way, I'm convinced art has helped me become a better person and helped more of the world become less consumed by conflict and subsistence than it otherwise might be.

It's also baffling to me that someone that exists as a person in western culture couldn't find at least one thing in every Shakespeare play to which to directly relate, but that's one of the problems I have with relatability as a standard of worth: it tips things in favor of blunt, direct engagement and most of the valuable art I've experienced in my life is not that. Anyway, as it's still summer, I urge you to see Shakespeare up on its feet, including the two works in question. I also urge you before Labor Day to pick up a comic that features someone that doesn't look or think like you, particularly if like me most art leans your direction by default.
 
posted 4:40 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Go, Look: This Week’s BWS Image Gallery At Ungoliantschilde


 
posted 4:35 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Please Consider Matching Your Guardians Of The Galaxy Ticket With A Donation To Bill Mantlo



Bill Mantlo, the co-creator of the Rocket Raccoon character, featured prominently in this weekend's Marvel opener, is in need of ongoing medical care. That can be expensive. Please consider a matching donation the size of your ticket, if you're able and willing. Link through the image or right here.
 
posted 4:30 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives