"blog_stwallskull" via sstwalley in Google Reader

WFMU's Antique Phonograph Music Program from Nov 3, 2009

2009-11-04T02:39:56Z

Antique Phonograph Music Program episode from 11/3/2009 |
Full playlist at http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33518
The Virginians - "Blue"
Esther Walker - "Blues"
Leona Williams - "The Meanest Man in the World (Milady's Blues)"
Sara Martin - "Achin' Hearted Blues"
Chain Gang Blues - "George Williams"
James Lent - "The Ragtime Drummer"
Valentine Abt - "Angel's Serenade"
Sam Moore & Horace Davis - "Laughing Rag"
Vess Osman - "Down South"
Shannon Quartet - "The Sidewalks Of New York"
Premier Quartet - "My Little Lovin' Sugar Babe"
Allen Cross - "Sheba"
George O'Connor - "These Feet of Mine"
Dolly Connolly - "Sweet Cider Time When You Were Mine"
Sam Ash and Mixed Quintette - "My Lady of The Telephone"
The Southern Negro Quartette - "I'll Be Good But I'll Be Lonesome"
The Cotton Pickers - "Snakes' Hips"

Nov. 3, 2009: The death of an innocent child

2009-11-03T16:40:26Z

“I am taking your suggestion regarding Charlotte Braun and will eventually discard her. If she appears anymore it will be in strips that were already completed before I got your letter or because someone writes in saying that they like her. Remember, however, that you and your friends will have the death of an innocent child on your conscience. Are you prepared to accept such responsibility?”

- Charles M. Schulz
(link trail: Caleb Goellner ← Evan Dorkin)

Above the Fold

[Top Story] Life in interesting times

A recent public appearance and gallery exhibition by Robert Crumb has stirred up controversy at ~~Virginia Commonwealth University~~ the University of Richmond:

Timothy Patterson, a Richmond College senior, cited a quote from Crumb’s speech in his response to The Collegian: “Every woman has a rape fantasy. Every man deep down… hates women.”

[...]

Crumb, the founder of Underground Comix, has a reputation for producing controversial material. Crumb’s 1989 graphic novel, My Troubles with Women, depicts autobiographical sexual encounters, sexual fantasies and family life.

“[The] book features a number of appalling depictions, such as the raping of a little girl, forced oral sex with a woman chained to a desk, and a picture of Crumb sitting on top of a pile of drugged, raped women dressed as a king,” Patterson said.

Ben Towle and Ed Sizemore have further coverage of the underground-comix legend’s recent appearance on-stage with Françoise Mouly.

Cut off a limb and two shall take its place: According to Stewart Mitchell, the closure of the Pirate Bay torrent-tracking site has led to a 300% increase in in sites providing access to copyrighted material.

(Link via Slashdot.)

Marvel executive Ira Rubenstein discusses the company’s recent decision to begin selling digital comics on iTunes — an unsurprising move, given the surging book sales on that platform. From the sound of things, downloads of new comic books are still off-limits, at least for the moment.

(Links via J.K. Parkin.)

Michael Buntag connects a few dots related to the decline of manga in Japan.

More about us, us, us: Noah Berlatsky responds to Jeet Heer’s analysis of The Comics Journal.

[Consumer news] New this week
Link: Joe McCulloch, Matthew Brady

A look at the best-sounding books scheduled to hit the comics shops tomorrow.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Literary Comics

[Profile] Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman
Link: Chris Mautner

The lit-comics power couple discuss their latest collaboration, The Toon Treasury of Chidren’s Comics.

[Profile] Matt Kindt
Link: Tim O’Shea

An interview with the Super Spy/3 Story author.

[Review] The Best American Comics 2009
Link: Tom Spurgeon

“The thing I like most about The Best American Comics series is the massive migraine they inflict upon anyone who tries to figure out exactly what it is they’re doing and how well they’re doing it.”

[Review] Pim & Francie: The Golden Bear Days
Link: Sean T. Collins

“The genius of Pim & Francie is harnessing the power of that demon — whatever it is or was that led [Al] Columbia to abandon his impossibly immaculate conceptions of monstrousness and murder half-drawn on the page time and time again — and deploying it as a conscious aesthetic decision.”

[Comics] Bob Dylan Revisited
Link: Bhob Stewart

An advance look at the English language edition of Bob Dylan Revisited “featuring visual interpretations of Dylan’s lyrics by more than a dozen top international illustrators.”

(Above: sequence from Lorenzo Mattotti’s contribution to the book, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” copyright information unknown.)

[Comics] “Vampire Cowboys”
Link: John Glenn Taylor

In which J.R. Williams does what he does best.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Pop Comics

[Review] Batwoman in Detective Comics
Link: Joe McCulloch

An illustration-centric view of the Greg Rucka/J.H. Williams superhero series.

[Review] Blackest Night
Link: Curt Purcell

Halfway through the Green Lantern zombie crossover event, we “have everything in hand that was on the original checklist, which only covered the event to this midpoint (is there a new official checklist for the next half? — I’d sure like to see one). Looking back over that list, and at the stack of comics corresponding to it, what’s most astounding to me is how little ground it’s actually covered, story-wise.”

[Review] The Troublemakers
Link: Don MacPherson

“Not surprisingly, [Gilbert] Hernandez populates his story with some thoroughly grounded and intriguing figures, but what’s fascinating about the plot is how it criss-crossed over on itself so that not only do the characters remain unaware of who’s conning who but so does the reader. The plot is an intricately woven web of lies and truths, and it’s peppered, of course, with Hernandez’s trademark touch of raw sexuality.”

[Review] Gotham Sirens #5
Link: Nina Stone

“Basically — get ready for this, please — Poison Ivy ‘encourages’ a cactus cock to grow and cum. Seriously. It’s ridiculous. And the following page has all three girls covered in a white milky substance. What the fuck?”

[Commentary] Black and white and startlingly offensive all over
Link: Noah Berlatsky

Kicking off the Hooded Utilitarians‘ roundtable on race in comics, Berlatsky examines the less-than-progressive racial attitudes on display in Marston and Peters’ Wonder Woman #19.

[Comics] Gerald McBoing Boing
Link: Big Blog of Kids’ Comics!

A great kids’ humor strip, written by Theodore Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) and drawn by P.D. Eastman.

[Comics] “Hop-Frog!”
Link: Brian Hughes

Archie Goodwin and Reed Crandall present a case of rough justice skillfully applied.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Comic Strips

[Commentary] The brushwork of Leonard Starr
Link: David Apatoff

An appreciation of the cartoonist behind Mary Perkins On Stage.

Digital Comics

[Comics] Ray and Roast Beef meet Drinky Crow and Uncle Gabby
Link: Achewood

Yes, it’s Tony Millionaire playing in Chris Onstad’s sandbox. No, I’m not going to spoil it with an excerpted image — go see it for yourself!

Cartooning

[Profile] Kurt Westergaard
Link: Jan Olsen

A visit with perhaps the most notorious of the artists behind the Killer Danish Muhammed Cartoons.

[Profile] Charles Addams
Link: Anne Semmes

A look back at the life and art of the macabre cartoonist.

[Art] Alex Dukal
Link: Online portfolio, illustration blog

This stuff is just plain fun to look at.

[Art] Fernando Vicente
Link: Online portfolio, illustration blog

Joyously sexy pin-up work from an artist who clearly likes women and doesn’t draw his visual cues from Hustler.

Comics Culture

[Scene] YALSA “Great Graphic Novels for Teens” nominations announced
Link: Young Adult Library Services Association

Aside from the inexplicable inclusion of that Secret Invasion thing, not a bad list at all.

[Scene] Observer/Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize winner announced
Link: Rachel Cooke

“In 2008, we received 240 entries yet as this year’s deadline approached, we’d taken delivery of only a handful. Were local postal strikes behind this strange lack of enthusiasm? We certainly hoped so, and duly decided to extend the deadline. This turned out to be a good call. By the closing date, we had more than 300 entries.”

[Scene] Women in Comics conference in Cambridge
Link: Matthias Wivel

“This past Sunday saw a conference on Women in Comics at Murray Edwards College here in Cambridge. Organised jointly by the college and the particularly strong contingent of comics scholars at the University of Glasgow, it presented a full day’s programming of papers and artists’ talks to go along with an already planned exhibition by organiser and artist Sarah Lightman.”

[Your not-comics link of the day]
Buena Vista Social Club, Wim Wenders’ documentary of the Cuban musicians featured in the album of the same name, is now available for free viewing on Hulu.

(Above: That’s Compay Segundo in this screenshot from the film.)

[Your Scans_Daily link of the day]
“Sitting at home with H1N1 (no, really), I thought I’d provide some more French bande-dessinée for your enjoyment. Today you’re getting a taste of one of my favourite webcomics, Maliki.”

Events Calendar

Today:

November 2-7 (Sandusky, OH): If you haven’t already registered for the International Society of Caricature Artists 2009 Annual Caricature Convention and Competition, then you probably aren’t attending anyway. Still, there are details here.

November 3 (New York City, NY): Eric Drooker, Tom Hart, Tim Kreider and Peter Kuper will discuss political cartooning at the New York Center for Independent Publishing on 44th Street, beginning at 6:30PM. Admission is $15. Details here.

November 3 (Montreal, Quebec): Seth will offer a slideshow presentation at the Librairie Drawn & Quarterly on Bernard, beginning at 7PM. Details here.

November 3 (Columbus, OH): Filmmaker and animation historian John Canemaker will give a presentation on cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay at Ohio State University’s Wexler Center for the Arts on Neil Avenue Mall, beginning at 7PM. Details here.

November 3 (Hertfordshire, England): Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons will discuss his most famous book at the Stevenage Library, beginning at 8PM. Details here.

This week:

November 4 (Los Angeles, CA): R. Crumb — maybe? Anyway, someone will give an informal, fifteen-minute talk on Crumb’s new book, The Book of Genesis Illustrated, at the Hammer Museum on Wilshire Boulevard, beginning at 12:30PM. Details here. (Thanks to Kelly Kilmer for throwing a question mark on the possible Crumb appearance.)

November 5 (Evanston, IL): Cartoonist and editor Paul Karasik will present a multimedia discussion of the life and art of Fletcher Hanks at Comix Revolution on Davis Street, beginning at 6PM. Details here.

November 5 (Chicago, IL): Matt Groening and Lynda Barry will talk shop onstage at the UIC Forum on Roosevelt Road, from 7-8PM. Tickets are $15. Details here.

November 6-26 (London, England): The Comica London International Comics Festival eats the month of November, with a wide variety of events taking place in a number of locations. Details here.

November 7-8 (New York City, NY): King Con Brooklyn! takes place at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Fourth Avenue, from 11AM-7PM each day. Guests include Al Jaffee, Harvey Pekar, Denny O’Neil and more. Details here.

November 7 (London, England): Mouse Guard author David Petersen makes an appearance at the Forbidden Planet Megastore on Shaftesbury Avenue, from 1-2PM. Details here.

November 7 (London, England): Eddie Campbell will be signing books and meeting readers at Gosh! Comics on Great Russell Street, from 2-4PM. Details here.

November 7 (Chicago, IL): Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, Jules Feiffer and Chris Ware will discuss the state of alt-comics onstage at the Francis W Parker School on Clark Street, from 4:30-6PM. Admission is $5. Details here.

November 7 (Seattle, WA): Join Al Columbia for the opening reception of an exhibit of his work at the Fantagraphics Bookstore on Vale Street, from 6-8PM. Details here.

November 7 (London, England): Comedian Arnold Brown will talk comics with Eddie Campbell at the Institute Of Contemporary Arts’ Nash Room, from 7-9PM. A book signing takes place afterward. Details here.

November 8 (Los Angeles, CA): The Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention will take place at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center on 32nd Street, from 10AM-5PM. There are a couple of guests, but it sound like a back-issue bin-stravaganza from over here. Admission is $8. Details here.

Want to see your comics-related event listed here? Email a link to dirk@tcj.com and let me know. Please include an online link to which I can send people for more information. No sales-only events, please — it’s nice that you’ve marked things down at your store or website, but I won’t be listing it here.

Nov. 2, 2009: Even the indie guys need some spending money

2009-11-02T18:31:46Z

“There will never be a website that has a comics writer like Peel. Like movie reviews and music criticism, the Internet has destroyed all of the potential jobs available for future John Peels.”

- Tucker Stone

“For all we know, Newsarama could have been acquired for a dozen copies of Superman #75. With the bags opened.”

- Glenn Hauman

Mike Baehr presents subscription information for the new TCJ publishing plan. Those with questions are encouraged to contact Fantagraphics Books. One note: If you have a currently active online subscription, please be advised that while we are no longer offering online subscriptions, your account will work with the soon-to-be-archived present version of the website, if not forever, then at least for the forseeable future — so far as I’m concerned, your TCJ.com account no longer has an expiration date.

Elsewhere: Kiel Phegley and Tom Spurgeon recently spoke to various TCJ staffers about last week’s announcement. Noah Berlatsky notes that the new Journal site will play host to the blog he edits, the Hooded Utilitarian. Finally, Steven Grant and Jeet Heer offer commentary on the Journal.

Sorry for the late posting. Playing catch-up takes time, but better late than never…?

Above the Fold

[Top Story] Life in interesting times

Two Chicago men have been arrested over an alleged plot to attack employees of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten for the 2005 publication of the infamous Killer Danish Muhammed Cartoons. Natasha Korecki offers further details, including word that the would-be terrorists also planned to target Kurt Westergaard, one of the twelve cartoonists.

Quebecois cartoonist Bruno Laporte, creator of the Franch-language Rupert K series of comics albums, died on October 25 (Google translation) in Montreal, at the age of 45.

(Above: detail from the cover of the first Rupert K volume.)

Also passed on: comics podcaster Mike Nebeker.

(Link via Kevin Melrose.)

Former Baltimore Sun editorial cartoonist Mike lane has announced his retirement.

Lori Matsukawa reports that a thief has stolen several computers containing the life’s work of freelance cartoonist Stu Heinecke.

Civic leaders in Angoulême, France are backpedalling furiously (Google translation) after word spread that budget difficulties might complicate their sponsorship (Google translation) of the city’s annual comics festival.

A decision by the British Home Office not to renew any Artists’ Visas has stranded cartoonist Nikhil Singh in South Africa for five months, preventing him even from attending the launch of his latest book.

R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated makes its debut at #80 on the latest USA Today top-150 bestselling books chart. Holding tight at #1 is last week’s #1 debut, Jay Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.

Incidentally: Last week the three bestselling books in France were all comics.

In Italy, 140,000 people attended the recent Lucca Comics and Games 2009 (Google translation).

Sean T. Collins charts the latest developments in the ongoing devolution of Wizard Magazine: one, two. There will now be a brief pause while I whistle my way past the graveyard…

The haphazard re-release of Ghost in the Shell has Simon Jones wondering if the folks at Kodansha’s new North American division have any idea what they’re doing.

[Consumer News] The end of civilization
Link: Mike Sterling

Sterling finds the most dubious items from the latest Diamond catalog, so you don’t have to.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Literary Comics

[Profile] R. Crumb
Link: Kenneth Baker

A short Q&A with the The Book of Genesis Illustrated creator. Wait: Sophie’s expecting a baby? I did not know that.

Also: Chris Pitzer and Ben Towle report from the cartoonist’s public appearance last week in Richmond, Virginia; W.W. Norton executive editor Robert Weil discusses editing Crumb with Calvin Reid; and Ed Sizemore reviews the book.

[Profile] Janek Koza
Link: Paul Gravett

The Polish indy cartoonist is profiled.

[Profile] Ken Dahl
Link: Brian Heater

The conclusion of a three-part conversation with the author of Monsters.

Related: Greg McElhatton reviews Dahl’s new book.

[Scene] 2007 Rand Holmes exhibit in Canada
Link: YouTube

Underground-comix historian Patrick Rosenkranz presents this video record of a retrospective of the cartoonist’s work, held on British Columbia’s Lasqueti Island.

(Above: screenshot from the video. Link via Mike Lynch.)

[Review] The Complete Jack Survives
Link: Derik Badman

Jerry Moriarty’s series of stories from Raw Magazine “is like a hybrid of comics strips that preceded it and the autobiographical comics that followed.”

[Review] Fair Weather
Link: Bob Temuka

“While it ends on an upbeat (and slightly confusing) note, Joe [Matt] displays an irritating smugness throughout the book, unwilling to help unless there is something in it for him, proud of the fact he has ripped off former friends and unable to see why it’s wrong if they don’t know about it.”

[Comics] “Unmasked”
Link: Chris Ware

A Halloween strip for the latest New Yorker cartoon issue.

[Comics] “E Pluribus Unum”
Link: Maira Kalman

A visit to the nation’s capital.

[Comics] Mickey Mouse in Gurs
Link: Horst Rosenthal

A satirical 1942 tour of a Nazi internment camp in France, drawn before Rosenthal was killed in Auschwitz later that year.

(Above: excerpt from the comic. Link via Cory Doctorow.)

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Pop Comics

[Profile] Richard Corben
Link: Bill Baker

The underground legend discusses his recent projects.

[Profile] Jim Rugg
Link: Shaun Manning

The Street Angel artist discusses his latest collaboration with co-writer Brian Maruca, Afrodesiac.

[Review] Far Arden
Link: Greg McElhatton

“Do you ever feel like you’ve been faked out by a book’s presentation? I certainly did with Kevin Cannon’s Far Arden. Somehow along the way I’d mistakenly got the impression that Far Arden was a light-hearted, full-of-fun, slightly-silly adventure story.”

[Review] Strange Tales
Link: Richard Cook

“But, hell, even the indie guys need some spending money every now and then, which is how Strange Tales came into being.”

[Review] Anita Blake: The Laughing Corpse: Executioner #1
Link: Chris Sims

“To be honest, your humble annotator has been dreading this one, but it turns out that this is actually the most exciting issue of Anita Blake ever. Of course, that’s sort of like saying that it’s the most exciting pudding cup or Bob Ross’s most action-packed painting, but still, it’s an improvement.”

[Review] Various titles
Link: Tucker Stone, Matthew Brady, Alex Carr, Paul O’Brien, J. Caleb Mozzocco, Chris Sims, Brian Hibbs and Don MacPherson

“I am the world’s forgotten boy, the one who searches and… finds funnybooks in back-issue bins!”

[Commentary] Six deeply creepy alt-horror cartoonists
Link: Sean T. Collins

“These alt-horror cartoonists may not even think of themselves as horror-comics creators at all, eschewing as most of them do the rhythms and staples of conventional horror fiction. But by deploying altcomix’ usual emphasis on tone and emotional effect in service of dark and macabre imagery, their comics haunt me all the more.”

[Comics] “Babe and the Magic Lamp!”
Link: Pappy

Boody Rogers! Boody Rogers!

[Comics] Bob Powell horror comics
Link: Harry Lee Green

Four classic chillers drawn by one of the golden-age greats.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Manga

[Profile] Frederik Schodt
Link: Evan Miller

A conversation with the author of the seminal English-language book on Japanese comics, Manga! Manga!

[Review] Red Snow
Link: Andrew Wheeler

“[Susumu] Katsumata’s stories are earthy, encompassing the sound of a monk killing his fleas and the violent battles of young kids over minor, pointless thing. They’re similarly clear-eyed about sex, which rarely works out well for the women in these villages, with their extremely limited choices.”

[Review] Yotsuba&! Vol. 6
Link: Joy Kim

“Few manga series have given me so much joy, and I am happy to report that volume 6 is no exception. It made me laugh and laugh.”

(Link via Brigid Alverson.)

[Review] Manga Shakespeare: Twelfth Night
Link: Richard Bruton

“It’s yet another very classy adaptation that stays very true to the original whilst updating the styling and storytelling for a modern audience.”

[Review] Aria Vol. 5
Link: Johanna Draper Carlson

“It’s the manga equivalent of a hot cup of tea and a sit-down, a lovely mediation on appreciating the quieter aspects of life.”

[Commentary] The manga cargo cult
Link: Jason Thompson

How manga stories got really, really long — and then short again.

[Commentary] Top five untranslated manga
Link: Shaenon Garrity

Five titles that should be in English-language print but aren’t.

Comic Strips

[Profile] Tom Tomorrow
Link: Jen Sorensen

The alt-weekly cartoonist talks shop.

[Profile] Neil Swaab
Link: Brian Heater (one, two)

The first two-thirds of a three-part conversation with the Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles creator.

Editorial Cartoons

[Profile] Hana Hajjar
Link: Olivia Sterns

“For Saudi Arabia’s lone female cartoonist, drawing is more than just satire, it’s ‘a duty.’”

[Scene] Alan Kawahara, Aries Barry win Herblock Award
Link: Sharon Gleason

Two students from Buffalo, New York take the prize.

Digital Comics

[Profile] Robert Berry
Link: Steve Ekstrom

The Ulysses Seen creator discusses his attempt to adapt James Joyce to comics.

[Profile] Mike Bannon
Link: Tom Mason

A Q&A with the cartoonist behind the online gag panel Mordant Orange.

[Multimedia] Erika Moen
Link: YouTube (one, two)

A conversation with the artist responsible for DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary.

(Above: screenshot from the first video — that’s Moen on the right, by the way.)

Small Press/Minicomics

[Review] Various titles
Link: Rob Clough

Quick takes on work by Matt Runkle, Jason Viola, Ibrahim Ineke, Hawk Krall, Jack Turnbull, Rusty Jordan and Brent Harada.

Cartooning

[Profile] R.O. Blechman
Link: Mark Medley

A visit with “one of the most innovative and influential cartoonists and animators of the 20th century.”

[Profile] Todd Klein
Link: Sardinian Connection

A chat with the famous comic-book letterer and typographer.

[Craft] Famous Artists Cartoon Course: Kids
Link: Comicrazys

The latest chapter from the renowned mail-order instruction course.

[Craft] Inking with Doug Tennapel
Link: YouTube

A practical demonstration.

(Above: screenshot from the video. Link via Scott McCloud.)

[Comics] Still more Charles Addams
Link: Harry Lee Green

Yeah, like anyone needs an excuse to post more Addams.

[Art] Walter Wyles
Link: Leif Peng (one, two, three, four and five)

All last week, Peng introduced us to yet another fantastic commercial artist from the 20th century.

(Above: a typically lush Wyles image, source unknown.)

[Art] Weimar book covers
Link: A Journey Round My Skull

A look back at one aspect of the doomed German culture that flowered between two wars.

(Above: a 1927 photomontage cover by John Heartfield. Link via John Martz.)

Comics Culture

The “Comics Culture” and “Events Calendar” sections return tomorrow.

WFMU's Antique Phonograph Music Program from Oct 27, 2009

2009-10-28T13:51:42Z

Mr Ken Boyd Klemens Pt1 from 1998 - English Music Hall artists |
Full playlist at http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33436
G H Elliot - "Hello Susie Green"
Frank Curtis - "The Ragtime Curate"
Florrie Ford - "Cabagges, Carrots, Ca Beans"
Frank Curtis - "If They Bury Alexander's Band"
Robert Nash - "Take Me Up With You Dearie"
Florrie Ford - "How'd You Like to Spoon With Me?"
Vesta Temple - "Poor Adam Was My Father"
Sam Stern - "You Take The Steamboat, I Take The Train"
Alice Lloyd - "Young Men Lodgers"
Sam Stern - "Nobody"
Rose Hayes - "Mary Used To Love A Sailor"
Jay Laureat - "Don't Let 'em Scrap The English Navy"
Florrie Ford - "We Got a Jazz Band Here"
Billy Meerson - "They Can't Find Kelly"
Billy Meerson - "The Spaniard That Blighted My Life"
G H Elliot - "I'm Certainly Living A Ragtime Life"

WFMU's Antique Phonograph Music Program from Oct 13, 2009

2009-10-14T01:39:50Z

virtual guest Ed Ferraro |
Full playlist at http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33275
Peerless Quartet - "Arizona Mona"
Billy Williams - "Save a Little One For Me"
D Viniot - "Morte de Valentin - The Death Of Valentine" [from Faust]
Giacomo Ramini - "Invocation" [from Faust]
Laura Hoffman - "My Hero"
American Republic Band - "Feist Hit Medley #2"
American Republic Band - "The Tune That You Can't Forget Medley"
The Pathe Military Band - "The Marriage Market - A Two Step"
Orpheus Trio - "Somebody's Mother"
American Republic Band - "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows"
Rudolph Gans
Rudolph Gans - "Polinaise Militaire in A Major"
The Pathephone Orchestra - "Midsummer Intermezzo"
The Pathephone Orchestra - "Kukocamo Estoppa" [an African Intermezzo]
Joseph Samuels Orchestra - "Peggt"
Joseph Samuels Orchestra - "Tensive Arabs"
D Vignon
Ernest Hare & Steve Porter - "The Arkansas Traveler"
The County Harmonizers - "Casey Jones"
American Republic Band - "Arabian Nights"

Oct. 28, 2009: We’re turning again

2009-10-28T12:27:14Z

First things first: The Comics Journal #300, due out in late November (and cover pictured at right), will be the last issue to be published on a magazine schedule. Thereafter, the Journal will publish twice a year, in bigger and more elaborate editions, while the TCJ.com website will be redesigned, expanded and relaunched in a few weeks to pick up the slack.

Here’s what the official press release looked like as of late last night:

The Comics Journal’s Cup Runneth Over

OCTOBER 28, SEATTLE, WA — The Comics Journal is about to take two major steps forward in its evolution. 1) After 33 years and several incarnations, TCJ is answering everybody’s prayers and upping the Web content on TCJ.com. 2) The print publication will be consolidated around expanded semi-annual editions, each customized to fit its content.

The expanded, full-service TCJ.com will deliver everything readers love — in-depth interviews, smart columns, sharp criticism, real journalism — on a daily basis. And not only will readers get the traditional Comics Journal content faster, but they will also be able to access features beyond the reach of print magazines: videos, slide shows, audio files, original-art galleries and an army of both new and established Journal-caliber bloggers filtering the comics world through their unique perspectives. In short, it is the dawning of a Comics Journal that knows no bounds.

Focusing on what print does best, The Comics Journal magazine will be more beautiful than ever, an elegant combination of criticism, journalism and objet d’art. Uniquely sized and formatted, evocatively visual and tactile, each issue will be an event. Readers will get their first look at the direction The Comics Journal will be moving in with issue #300.

Coming in November 2009: issue #300 of The Comics Journal and a wondrous new website!

Asked about the rationale behind the moves, executive editor Gary Groth said the following:

At one time, The Comics Journal was able to cover everything of significance — and much of insignificance — in the comics profession, but over the last dozen or so years the creative activity has expanded so vastly that it’s impossible for any magazine to keep up with it, much less scrutinize it as closely as we used to. I don’t want the magazine to necessarily be all things to all people, but in trying to cover as wide a gamut of comics as we can, the editorial focus has become more diffuse and less idiosyncratic than I’d like. A website with many autonomous voices and a more or less unlimited bandwidth is better able to cover the range of comics on a day-to-day basis, whereas we can devote more resources to refining fewer issues of the print edition of the Journal so that each issue represents a more unified whole, both editorially and in terms of packaging and design. We intend to customize each issue to accommodate the specific content of that issue.

As for the website, we’re still nailing down contributors and solidifying our initial plans, but I can say a few things about it now:

Everything will be free. We’ll maintain an archival copy of the current website for our online subscribers — more on that soon, I promise — but the new site will have no “subscriber area” or special features that need a password to access (with the obvious exception of the message board).

We’re going to roll the new features out slowly. Oh, we have all kinds of ideas about what to do with the new site, but I refuse to throw too many moving parts in at once, at least until I’ve had a chance to watch the basic website in action and determine how much time and blood are needed to maintain it. The big challenge at the outset will be the new bloggers and essayists, so that’s where I’m going to apply my concentration — as that gets absorbed into the routine, we’ll set to work on adding to TCJ.com’s set of features.

There is one thing that I can definitely plug in without too much effort: a relaunched audio archive. Most of the initial work has already been done, so it’s just a matter of selecting files. Expect to see the beginnings of this feature up and running at the relaunch, with more to come in the following weeks.

Boy howdy, am I ever glad not to be the guy doing the redesign this time.

Setting aside the website for a moment, I have to say: If you had to publish a final issue of The Comics Journal as a regular magazine, TCJ #300 really is the one you’d want to publish. Mike, Kristy and Gary have outdone themselves.

In any event: There’s still The Comics Journal #300 to get online, and I need to work my way through the rest of the file preparations so that I’ll have time to deal with the relaunch. With that in mind, this blog is hereby placed on hiatus for the rest of the week. ¡Journalista returns on Monday, November 2.

Events Calendar

Today:

October 28 (Ashland, VA): Noah Berlatsky will lecture on Wonder Woman in the Old Chapel’s Topping Room at Randolph-Macon College, from 7:30-9PM. Admission is free and open to the public. Details here.

This week:

October 29 (Ann Arbor, MI): Peter Kuper will deliver a visual presentation and lecture in the University of Michigan’s Hatcher Graduate Library on University Avenue, from 7-8:30PM. Details here.

October 29 (Los Angeles, CA): R. Crumb will discuss his work, including his new adaptation of Genesis, onstage with Françoise Mouly at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Royce Drive, beginning at 8PM. Admission begins at $36 for the cheap seats. Details here.

October 31 (Toronto, Ontario): R.O. Blechman and Seth talk comics in the Brigantine Room of the Harbourfront Centre on Queens Quay West, beginning at noon. Admission is $15. Details here.

October 31 (San Francisco, CA): R. Crumb will discuss his work, including his new adaptation of Genesis, onstage with Françoise Mouly at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on California Street, beginning at 8PM. Admission is $35 for the general public. Details here.

November 1 (Albany, NY): The Albany Comic Con takes place at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road, from 10AM-4PM. Admission is $3. Guests onclude Joe Sinnott, Joe Staton and Herb Trimpe. Details here.

WFMU's Antique Phonograph Music Program from Oct 27, 2009

2009-10-28T00:31:46Z

Previously unarchived show: Mr Ken Clemmons (Pt1 from 1998)

Oct. 27, 2009: Raw materials

2009-10-27T15:40:10Z

“Your raw materials cost is going to be half of your cover price? Really?”

- Christopher Butcher

Above the Fold

[Top Story] Life in interesting times

Reporters Without Borders brings word that Iranian cartoonist Hadi Heidari was arrested in Tehran on October 22:

He was among several people arrested while taking part in a religious ceremony in honour of political prisoners, held at the home of Shehaboldin Tabatabai, one of the prisoners close to the reformist party, Participation. Some of them were released the following day but around a dozen others, including Heidari, were moved to Evin prison.

(Link via Alan Gardner.)

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, newspaper circulations “shrank at an accelerated pace in the past six months, driven in part by stiff price increases imposed by publishers scrambling to offset rapidly eroding advertising sales.” Editor & Publisher has figures for the top-25 papers, while economic pundit Megan McArdle has commentary.

“The New Jersey State Library has announced the award of $3,000 grants to 14 libraries, including the Salem Free Public Library, to assist them with establishing and growing graphic novel collections.”

(Link via Kevin Melrose.)

Utah online-content company TopTenReviews “has purchased the consumer media division of Imaginova Inc., parent company of Newsarama.”

Tom Spurgeon offers a few thoughts on the current convention war between Wizard and Reed Exhibitions, while Sean T collins offers a reminder that comics-convention organizers don’t have to fight.

Carol Fitzgerald discusses a Teenreads.com survey on the reading habits of young people, which discovered that 20% of the participants read comics:

For those who read graphic novels or manga, the top five genres they enjoy in this format are romance (51%), humor (45%), mystery (33%), sci-fi/fantasy (31%) and action/superhero (26%).

[Consumer news] New this week
Link: Joe McCulloch, Matthew Brady

A look at the best-sounding books scheduled to hit the comics shops tomorrow.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Literary Comics

[Profile] Brian Fies
Link: M.K. Czerwiec

A chat with the author of Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?

[Scene] Seattle Bookfest graphic-novel panel
Link: Kristy Valenti

Megan Kelso, Ellen Forney and Gary Groth sit down to talk comics.

[Review] Mome #16
Link: Rob Clough

“One of the best things about Mome is that, as a reader, I feel like I’m getting work from each artist that’s their ‘A’ material.”

[Commentary] The short stories of Al Columbia
Link: Chris Mautner

An appreciation of the cult-favorite cartoonist’s uncollected works.

[Multimedia] R. Crumb on the BBC
Link: The Strand

Historian Paul Gravett appears as well, in the first eight minutes or so in the streaming audio for this U.K. arts program.

(Above: piece from an online gallery of Crumb’s work. Thanks to Robert Whitaker for e-mailing me the first link.)

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Pop Comics

[Profile] Charlie Adlard
Link: Bart Croonenborghs

A short Q&A with the Walking Dead artist.

[Review] Noir
Link: Glen Weldon

“As you might expect, the thrills tend toward the cheap, the femmes tend toward the fatale, and Things Are Seldom What They Seem. Within these genre constraints, most of the collection’s authors manage to uncover something new.”

[Review] Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man #55
Link: Vom Marlowe

“I hauled it home and read it on the porch, with the dog at my feet, and laughed and laughed.”

[Review] Blue Beetle: Shellshocked
Link: Noah Berlatsky

“Overall, the visuals have to be endured rather than enjoyed, which makes this a hard comic to recommend, despite the writing’s pleasures.”

[Comics] Steve Ditko’s Ghost Manor
Link: Diversions of the Groovy Kind

Two wild horror tales from the Spider-Man co-creator.

[Comics] “Cannibal’s Revenge”
Link: Karswell

There’s something a bit off about these drawings that makes them perversely fun to look at.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Manga

[Review] Red Snow
Link: Michael Lorah

“Setting all his stories in the pre-industrial Japanese countryside of his own youth, [Susumu] Katsumata’s comics are securely anchored in the details of rural life. Permeated with a sense of melancholy and small-town corruption, each tale beckons readers to explore the darker side of small town life.”

[Review] What a Wonderful World Vol. 1-2
Link: Danielle Leigh

“These stories feature entirely too young drunks, orphaned teenagers, purposeless young adults, lonely sell outs, and those who even lack the wherewithal to sell out. No one seems understands what it means to be happy or even how to wish for happiness.”

[Commentary] Recommended horror manga
Link: David Welsh

“Will walking fish be the new zombies?”

Small Press/Minicomics

[Profile] Denis St. John
Link: Curt Purcell

A chat with the cartoonist behind Monsters & Girls: Amelia.

[Review] Blood Orange
Link: Don MacPherson

“This one (out of California, I think) is a slice-of-life story based on a poignant premise. That being said, writer Justin Giampaoli and artist Grant Lee offer up some awkward storytelling.”

Cartooning

[Profile] Andrei Molotiu
Link: Catherine Spaeth

In which the rules of the abstract comics “game” are discussed.

[Craft] Formatting digital comics
Link: Alex De Campi

“The first is for iPhone/Android, etc, and is colour at 480×320. This is the acid test — your comic, or the panel you are intending to display, should be legible at about 10-15% smaller than 480×320.”

[Comics] Ballyhoo 1937
Link: Harry Lee Green

“Humor from seven decades past. Ballyhoo was a humor magazine founded by George Delacorte (Dell). It was a Depression-era sensation, ending in 1939.”

[Art] Tuomas Ikonen
Link: Online portfolio

Communicative and cute as a button, this is the sort of work that art directors love.

[Art] Dugald Walker’s Rainbow Gold
Link: Thom Buchanan (one, two, three and four)

Illustrations for a 1926 edition of “poems old and new, selected for boys and girls by Sara Teasdale.”

Comics Culture

[Your not-comics link of the day]
The cast of Star Trek records an anti-drug PSA.

(Link via Kliph Nesteroff.)

[Your Scans_Daily link of the day]
Sequences from the first issue of the weekly comics anthology for U.K. girls, Tammy:

Tammy is a typical product of its period, a combination of “Plucky adventurous girl” stories and “Kitchen sink drama”. The stories are all continuing (so you’d be tempted to [buy] #2 I suppose…) and 3 pages each, so in the spirit of SD, I won’t post all of any story, but a sample from a few.

Events Calendar

Today:

October 27 (New York City, NY): Logicomix co-creator Christos Papadimitriou will discuss the book at Idlewild Books on Nineteenth Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.

October 27 (Richmond, VA): R. Crumb will discuss his work, including his new adaptation of Genesis, onstage with Françoise Mouly at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Center for the Arts, beginning at 7:30PM. Admission begins at $19 for the cheap seats. Details here.

This week:

October 28 (Ashland, VA): Noah Berlatsky will lecture on Wonder Woman in the Old Chapel’s Topping Room at Randolph-Macon College, from 7:30-9PM. Admission is free and open to the public. Details here.

October 29 (Ann Arbor, MI): Peter Kuper will deliver a visual presentation and lecture in the University of Michigan’s Hatcher Graduate Library on University Avenue, from 7-8:30PM. Details here.

October 31 (Toronto, Ontario): R.O. Blechman and Seth talk comics in the Brigantine Room of the Harbourfront Centre on Queens Quay West, beginning at noon. Admission is $15. Details here.

November 1 (Albany, NY): The Albany Comic Con takes place at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road, from 10AM-4PM. Admission is $3. Guests onclude Joe Sinnott, Joe Staton and Herb Trimpe. Details here.

Oct. 26, 2009: Interesting model

2009-10-26T17:01:01Z

“Interesting model, treating the online much like the phonebook-sized manga anthologies that release weekly in Japan, but are seen as a disposable means of driving readers to the collections.”

- Gary Tyrrell

Above the Fold

[Top Story] Life in interesting times

WTVQ News reports that in Nicholasville, Kentucky, two librarians have been fired after refusing to allow an eleven-year-old girl to check out a volume of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s League of Extraordinary Gentleman. As Sean T. Collins notes, “Regardless of the wisdom of letting your 11-year-old read Alan Moore’s Mina Murray/Allan Quartermain May-December fanfic, you have to admit it’s delightful to see the kinds of nitwits who’d label this book ‘pornographic’ get shitcanned for it.”

In South Korea, “a cartoonist who drew a cartoon bearing an abusive word directed toward President Lee Myung-bak in a local public relations paper was asked to pay indemnities of 20 million won ($17,000) by a court.”

Jim Milliot notes that Amazon.com announced upbeat Q3 results:

The results appear to have been driven by the Kindle. Although no sales figures were released, Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos said in a statement that the e-reader “has become the #1 bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars — not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.com. It’s also the most wished for and the most gifted.”

John Hogan speaks with W.W. Norton executive editor Robert Weil about the publisher’s graphic-novel line.

(Link via Kevin Melrose.)

Rich Johnston attempts to map the origins of Wizard’s War with Reed Exhibitions.

Jim Hanley eulogizes Rich Hafstead, his recently deceased partner in the Jim Hanley’s Universe comics-shop chain in New York City.

Simon Jones notes that the new Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader isn’t even remotely configured for comics:

Some disappointments… zoom function is not available for viewing PDF documents (and perhaps, images), and there is no folder architecture, a very surprising oversight. If these are still true when nook launches on November 30th, that means a few things… comics that are unreadable at the nook’s native resolution of 600×800 must either be broken down (i.e. reflowed) into individual panels, which is already commonly done for manga on cellphones, or the size of the lettering must be tweaked. Also, users who wish to port their CBR or CBZ files to the nook cannot simply unpack those files into a folder, they will need to be converted to a single PDF or other supported eBook format. Converting a set of images to PDF is actually rather easy (and only slightly less so for ePub), with no degradation in visual quality (images in most PDFs are basically JPEGs to begin with, while ePub is a zip file with support for JPEG, PNG, and GIF), but some may still see this as an unnecessary and indefensible nuisance.

Also via Jones: Drawing porn is harder than it looks. Sorry, had to get that one in.

Oh, hey: Simon Jones also catches the news that Japanese manga-publishing titan Shogakukan will be closing down three comics magazines.

Gaurav Jain examines India’s comic-book industry, and finds it wanting:

India, too, has a long history of comics, going as far back as the 1940’s. Yet Indian comics have unfortunately had no such zenith accorded to them. The industry has continued to move sideways rather than forward with its low production values and ham-fisted content, often just ripped off from the west to suit a local reader.

Is this the future of the Direct Market?

(Link via Slashdot.)

Brian Hibbs offers a defense of Diamond Comics Distributors.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Literary Comics

[Profile] Eddie Campbell
Link: Leonard Pierce

The author of The Years Have Pants discusses his work.

[Profile] Guy Delisle
Link: Brian Heater

Third installment of a four-part conversation with the cartoonist behind Burma Chronicles.

[Review] Years of the Elephant
Link: Paul Gravett

A look at Flemish cartoonist Willy Linthout’s forthcoming English-language debut, a book about the sucide of his son.

[Review] The Book of Genesis Illustrated
Link: David Hajdu

“Crumb’s book is serious and, for Crumb, restrained. He resists the temptation to go all-out Crumb on us and exaggerate the sordidness, the primitivism and the outright strangeness (by contemporary standards) of parts of the text. What is Genesis about, after all, but resisting temptation?”

Dan Nadel offers a rebuttal.

[Review] Various titles
Link: Chris Mautner

Under examination: David Small’s Stitches and Ken Dahl’s Monsters.

[Oddity] The winding road to Diddie-Wa-Diddie
Link: Joe McCulloch

A porn film featuring Mr. Natural and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers? According to McCulloch, it exists.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Pop Comics

[Review] Cat Burglar Black
Link: Jeff VanderMeer

Richard Sala’s latest book is “a charming and stylish escapade.”

[Review] Invincible Iron Man #19
Link: Sean T. Collins

“It’s been a long time since I read superhero comic that wasn’t by Grant Morrison more than once out of enthusiasm rather than confusion. But golly, I enjoyed this one, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around.”

[Review] Dungeon: The Early Years Vol. 2: Innocence Lost
Link: Rob Clough

“This volume marked the first time I wished that NBM could have kept the larger page format. There are some spectacular action scenes that felt cramped shrunk down to a smaller size, and other pages crammed with panels that felt similarly claustrophobic.”

[Review] Various titles
Link: Tucker Stone, Paul O’Brien, Don MacPherson and the A.V. Club’s circle of critics

“Not necessarily beautiful, but mutated…”

[Comics] John Buscema’s Adventures Into the Unknown
Link: Pappy

Two stories from the prolific comic-book artist’s early career.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Manga

[Profile] Akiko Morishima
Link: Erica Friedman

A Q&A with “one of the most prolific and popular Yuri manga artists.”

[Review] Pluto Vol. 5
Link: Matthew Brady

“The great thing about science fiction is that while it can ostensibly be about fantastical concepts and futuristic technology, it’s often at its best when examining the nature of humanity itself, whether through symbols or by placing people in an unfamiliar situation that can provoke thought about how they would react. That’s exactly what Naoki Urasawa does in this series, following in Osamu Tezuka’s lead after he spent a career doing much the same thing.”

[Review] 20th Century Boys Vol. 3
Link: Michael Buntag

Speaking of Naoki Urasawa…

[Review] Japan as Viewed By 17 Creators
Link: Greg McElhatton

“It’s an ambitious, far-reaching project, with half of the creators flying over to Japan in order to learn about their assigned spot and then trying to convey its charms to the reader. What I found, though, was that some creators who I’d expected great things from didn’t quite hit the mark, while others surprised me with their strong contributions.”

[Review] Domu: A Child’s Dream
Link: Katherine Dacey

“Though both manga include elements of horror and science fiction, the two are utterly different in approach: Akira is sweeping, grand, and allegorical, whereas Domu is compact, a taut psychological thriller that unfolds in a mere 230 pages.”

Comic Strips

[Review] The Misadventures of Jane
Link: John Freeman

“Charts some of the cartoon (mis)adventures of Britain’s first and best-loved World War 2 pin-up — the scintillating, blue eyed, blonde-haired, clothes-phobic cartoon legend that is Lady Jane Gay.”

[Multimedia] Jackie Ormes on film
Link: YouTube

Footage from the 1953 documentary One Tenth of a Nation, by the African-American film company American Newsreel.

(Above: screenshot from the video. Link via Mike Lynch.)

Digital Comics

[Comics] “The Harappa Files”
Link: Sarnath Banerjee

The author of Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers illustrates how a porn-comics website “got the censors hot under the collar.”

Small Press/Minicomics

[Review] Nine Gallons
Link: Henry Chamberlain

“You can’t make these people up. Well, you can, but it’s so true that truth is stranger than fiction. Raj is the first and most important member of the group that Susie meets as a volunteer for Food Not Bombs. Raj speaks very abruptly and, although quite humorless, steals each panel he’s a part of in Susie Cagle’s wonderful mini comic, Nine Gallons.”

Cartooning

[Profile] Al Williamson
Link: Charley Parker

A look back at the art and career of the master adventure cartoonist.

[Comics] Gahan Wilson’s Playboy cartoons
Link: Golden Age Comic Book Stories

Need I say more?

Comics Culture

[Commentary] Comics in the closet
Link: Noah Berlatsky

“So, for example, Clark Kent’s relationship with Superman can be seen as erotic, in that Superman can be seen fairly easily as a power fantasy; Clark desires to be Superman. That’s erotic — and since they’re both men, it can be read as homoerotic (and when I say ‘can be read’ I mean it can be read that way not just by me but by Clark and to some extent by his creators.) Similarly, Lois desires to humiliate Clark — that’s erotic. Superman desires to humiliate Lois — again, that’s erotic — and, obviously, sado-masochistic.”

[Your not-comics link of the day]
Jeff Jarvis on radio personality Howard Stern’s future with the Internet. No, seriously, it’s an interesting, practical example of how people with a bit of branding to their names can cut out the middleman in the digital world.

[Your Scans_Daily link of the day]
Three pages from Junji Ito’s Gyo.

Events Calendar

This week:

October 27 (New York City, NY): Logicomix co-creator Christos Papadimitriou will discuss the book at Idlewild Books on Nineteenth Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.

October 28 (Ashland, VA): Noah Berlatsky will lecture on Wonder Woman in the Old Chapel’s Topping Room at Randolph-Macon College, from 7:30-9PM. Admission is free and open to the public. Details here.

October 31 (Toronto, Ontario): R.O. Blechman and Seth talk comics in the Brigantine Room of the Harbourfront Centre on Queens Quay West, beginning at noon. Admission is $15. Details here.

November 1 (Albany, NY): The Albany Comic Con takes place at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road, from 10AM-4PM. Admission is $3. Guests onclude Joe Sinnott, Joe Staton and Herb Trimpe. Details here.

Oct. 23, 2009: A stamp-sized comic

2009-10-23T14:59:00Z

“Henry Allen’s patience is shrinking like a stamp-sized comic. Pica by evaporating pica, the funnypages are testing his will to read.”

- Michael Cavna

Above the Fold

[Top Story] Life in interesting times

Tom Spurgeon reports the death of Belgian cartoonist Jef Nys, at the age of 82.

(Right: Nys’ most popular creation, Jommeke.)

In New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, a pair of twin brothers has been sentenced to three months in jail over “possession of child pornography”:

Most of the images downloaded onto home computers by David Scott Hammond and James Cory Hammond, 20, of New Glasgow were drawn in the Japanese style known as anime or manga.

This popular style of drawing is featured in a number of cartoons and comic books, but the kind the brothers downloaded onto their home computers was pornographic because it depicted drawings of children in sexual situations.

Gia Manry has further commentary.

(Both links via Simon Jones.)

“Morocco on Thursday blocked distribution of the Thursday and Friday editions of the French newspaper Le Monde over cartoons deemed unrespectful to the royal family, a senior Moroccan official said.”

“The American Booksellers Association [...] has asked the department of justice to investigate Amazon, Walmart, and Target” over allegations of “illegal predatory pricing,” according to ICv2.

Nickelodeon has acquired the global rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in their entirety from The Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment, Inc.

(Link via Jerry Beck.)

Sean T. Collins has the latest developments in Wizard’s convention grudge war against Reed Exhibitions’ pop-culture events.

Rich Johnston is less than impressed with the Vertigo Crime television ad.

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Literary Comics

[Review] The Imposter’s Daughter
Link: Ng Suat Tong

“There are certain standards which can be applied across all playing fields and [Laurie] Sandell’s comic clearly comes up short when these are applied.”

[Review] Giraffes in My Hair: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Life
Link: Jared Gniewek

“It is a trough of information… of impressions of a world we who grew up in the counterculture of the nineties can barely understand. Every generation must struggle to create that which is taken for granted by the following one. Being a hippie or a punk nowadays, for example, is as easy as a self proclamation and a trip to a shopping mall. Being a hippie or a punk got guys my age beaten up in high school, it got guys Bruce’s age dead.”

[Review] The Book of Genesis Illustrated
Link: Malcolm Jones

“Without a trace of irony, and certainly no mockery, Crumb delivers a literal — one might even say traditional — rendition of the events in the Judeo-Christian account of Creation and its aftermath.”

[Review] Stitches
Link: Andrew Wheeler

David Small’s novel “feels like a book of short stories at times, as threads are picked up, important for a dozen or two pages, and then drop away again.”

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Pop Comics

[Profile] Chris Wisnia
Link: Jennifer Contino

An interview with the Doris Danger cartoonist.

[Scene] Jeff Smith in San Francisco
Link: J.K. Parkin

A report from the Bone creator’s panel at last weekend’s Alternative Press Expo in California.

[Review] The Best of Battle
Link: John Freeman

“For the casual reader who may remember the comic this is a good purchase with its wide range of stories and its cheap price.”

[Review] West Coast Blues
Link: Greg McElhatton

“I feel a little guilty for having not pursued Tardi’s works more in the past fifteen years, but on the plus side it was well worth the wait.”

[Review] Various titles
Link: Chris Sims

Criticism: How to avoid thinking about comics for yourself.

[Comics] Tales of Voodoo
Link: Prof. Grewbeard

“Not the first Eerie Publications mag I ever saw or read but the first one I ever bought and brought home with me, it freaked me out good ‘n’ proper, especially these two tales of tacky terror…”

——— ¡Journalista! continues after this commercial message. ———

Manga

[Profile] Rumiko Takahashi
Link: Shonen Sunday

A Q&A with one of the world’s most popular cartoonists.

[Review] Akira Vol. 1
Link: Katherine Dacey

“I was pleasantly surprised to discover that [Katsuhiro] Otomo’s epic tale works better on the page than it does on the screen, though it’s easy to see why Otomo felt the lengthy motorcycle chases and fight scenes were swell fodder for a movie.”

Comic Strips

[Comics] The Triplet Boys
Link: Barnacle Press

Hy Leonard’s 1905 strip “definitely has a look of its own.”

Digital Comics

[Review] The Fart Party Vol. 2
Link: Jillian Steinhauer

Julia Wertz’ second collection “is still incredibly amusing and a lot of fun, but sometimes it just feels like more of the same.”

Cartooning

[Scene] Leigh Rubin in Oregon
Link: Heather Morse

The creator of the newspaper gag panel Rubes makes an appearance in Roseburg, and Morse was there.

[Art] Rodolfo Damaggio
Link: Online portfolio

Described by Leif Peng as “one of the most impressive illustrators working in film production today.”

[Art] Praise for the little things
Link: Leif Peng (one, two, three and counting)

Speaking of whom: This week, Peng spotlights seemingly generic bits of commercial illustration that nonetheless display great creativity and craftsmanship.

(Above: spot illo from an early-1950s issue of Collier’s.)

Comics Culture

[Multimedioa] Comics-related podcasts

This week on Inkstuds: conversations with Masterpiece Comics cartoonist R. Sikoryak (58.3MB), Beasts of Burden creators Jill Thompson and Evan Dorkin (55.2MB) and Manga Kamishibai author Eric Nash (35.4MB).

The Comix Claptrap returns for a second season in grand style, with Love and Rockets co-creator Jaime Hernandez serving as special guest (47.5MB).

Panel Borders‘ Alex Fitch speaks with the Electric Micks cartooning collective, as well as with some of the folks behind the Solipsistic Pop anthology (51.4MB).

Writer Tom Peyer is the guest on the latest War Rocket Ajax (78.8MB).

The Comic Cast presents a panel discussion on starting out in small-press comics, featuring Philip Barrett, Hilary Lawlor and Paddy Brown (24.8MB).

Dale Lazarov talks about the challenges of writing erotic comics in the Deconstructing Comics (47.4MB).

Alex Robinson and Mike Dawson present another episode of the Ink Panthers Show (35.8MB).

All podcasts are available in downloadable MP3 audiofile format.

[Your not-comics link of the day]
“Perhaps in an effort to rehabilitate the United States’ image in the Muslim world, the Obama administration has joined a U.N. effort to restrict religious speech.”

[Your Scans_Daily link of the day]
You know who’s awesome? Dr. Robot!

Incidentally: It looks like Scans_Daily will be moving again, sometime soon.

Events Calendar

Today:

October 23 (Boston, MA): Tim Fish and Abby Denson will appear at Comicopia on Commonwealth Avenue, from 1-4PM. Details here.

October 23 (Portland, ME): Tim Fish, Abby Denson and Hugh Tims will appear at Casablanca Comics on Middle Street, from 6-8PM. Details here.

October 23 (New York City, NY): R. Crumb discusses his work with New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly at Barnes & Noble on Seventeenth Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.

This weekend:

October 24-25 (London, England): The London MCM Expo happens at Excel London. Guests include Gary Millidge, Al Davison, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Emma Vieceli, Marc Ellerby and many others. Details here.

October 24 (Poughkeepsie, NY): Cartoonist R.O. Blechman will discuss his work at Oblong Books & Music on Montgomery Street, beginning at 7:30PM. Details here.

October 25 (Portland, OR/Flemington, NJ): Iiiiiiiiit’s Wonder Woman Day! All kinds of things are happening. Details here.

October 25 (Teaneck, NJ): The Big Khan writer Neil Kleid will be signing books and meeting readers at A&S Comics & Cards on Cedar Lane, beginning at noon. Details here.

October 25 (Carrboro, NC): The October meeting of the North Carolina WebComic Coffee Clatch takes place at Jesse’s Coffee & Bar on Main Street, from 2-4PM. Details here.

October 25 (New York City, NY): An Irish wake will be held for retailer Rich Hafstead at Jim Hanley’s Universe on 33rd Street, beginning at 3PM. Details here.

October 25 (Washington DC): Fun Home author Alison Bechdel will lecture at the Katzen Arts Center’s Abramson Family Recital Hall on Massachusetts Avenue, from 3-4:30PM. Details here.

October 25 (New York City, NY): Marc Bell makes an appearance at Brooklyn’s own Desert Island on Metropolitan Avenue, from 5-7PM. Details here.

October 25 (Minneapolis, MN): John Porcellino and Zak Sally will hold a book-release party at Big Brain Comics on Washington Avenue, from 5-7:30PM. Details here.

October 25 (New York City, NY): Dolltopia author Abby Denson will give a multimedia presentation at the Wonderland Beauty Parlor on Thirteenth Street, from 6-8PM. Details here.

October 25 (Richmond, VA): Chris Pitzer moderates a panel discussion on comics featurting Gabrielle Bell, Kim Deitch, Hope Larson and Anders Nilsen at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Center for the Arts on Three Chopt Road, beginning at 7PM. Admission is free. Details here.

Oct. 22, 2009: Shared memories

2009-10-22T15:16:59Z

“People are always coming and going in comics. Communities are accidents that happen once in a while when a critical mass of like-minded artists stay in one physical or virtual place long enough to fall into each others’ orbits. They’re never permanent, but you can tell when they start generating the kinds of shared memories that will eventually earn that time and place a name — at least for those who were part of it.”

- Scott McCloud

“Top Cow does intentionally place sexy artwork on our convention variant covers. We recognize there’s a part of our audience that digs them and we’d be bad business people for not giving our fanbase what they want.”

- Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik

Above the Fold

[Top Story] Life in interesting times

An unknown Uncle Scrooge script by Carl Barks has been found, entitled “Happi Happi Island.”

“Meiji University has officially announced on Thursday that it aims to establish the tentatively titled Tokyo International Manga Library in 2014.”

In Danville, Illinois, “Dragon’s Horde, the only store in the city specializing in used paperback books, new and used comic books and gaming supplies, plans to close Nov. 20.”

Calvin Reid attends the unveiling of the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader device.

John Hogan discusses digital piracy with Dark Horse Books’ Aaron Colter, Top Shelf’s Brett Warnock and Fantagraphics’ Eric Reynolds.

A visit to the recent Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco gave Steven Grant the opportunity to take the pulse of the “not one of the Diamond axis powers” comics market.

Ernie Colón remembers George Tuska.

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Literary Comics

[Profile] Abby Denson
Link: Daniel Barlow

The Dolltopia author discusses her new book.

[Review] The Book of Genesis Illustrated
Link: Ken Tucker

“If the surprise here is how faithful, so to speak, the great satirical cartoonist has been in drawing and transcribing the first book of the Old Testament (he spent years studying various translations and biblical commentaries), the beauty and seriousness of Robert Crumb’s art are no surprise at all.”

[Review] Joe and Azat
Link: Rob Clough

“Jesse Lonergan’s Joe and Azat occupies some unusual territory. Part of it is a slightly distanced account of a country under totalitarian rule like Guy Delisle’s trio of Asian travelogues. Part of it features the sort of first-person reportage of someone who sought to become part of a community before telling its story, like Joe Sacco’s work. There’s certainly a sense of the sort of chaos and corruption that Ted Rall brings to the table in his comics. These are all important features of this story, but the real focus of the book is on a single relationship: the friendship between the narrator Joe and his Turkmen friend Azat.”

[Review] Stitches
Link: Matthew Brady

“[David] Small certainly had a difficult childhood, and he attempts to chronicle that difficulty through showing his parents’ strained relationship, his mother’s description of her parents’ shotgun marriage, his grandmother’s poor treatment of him and his mother, and worst of all, the indifference they seemed to show toward him when he had medical problems.”

[Review] Cross Country
Link: Brian Heater

“The book plays out like a sociological experiment conducted in a rolling laboratory — two people interacting as a blurry country whizzes by.”

[Review] Slow Storm
Link: Sean T. Collins

“This is like half of a good book. The visual half, for the most part.”

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Pop Comics

[Review] The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics
Link: Milo Miles

“Heartfelt thanks to Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly for bringing back a nearly forgotten popular art form with their groundbreaking new collection [...]“

[Review] Various titles
Link: J. Caleb Mozzocco, Brian Hibbs

Go, Nerd Racer, go!

[Commentary] Stop buying Greg Land comics
Link: David Brothers

“No equivocation, no wishy-washiness: he’s terrible and supporting him is even worse.”

[Comics] Nancy tsunami
Link: Sam Henderson (one, two, three, four and five)

Ernie Bushmiller’s classic strip, rejiggered for the funnybooks.

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Manga

[Review] A Foreign Love Affair
Link: Hooded Utilitarian

“I read huge amounts of yaoi, and most of it makes me smile a little bit, or makes me kind of wish I hadn’t shelled out $10-$15 for that. Or really wish I hadn’t. But A Foreign Love Affair delivers on the promise of yaoi — it’s crazy and sweet and romantic and pretty, pretty, pretty (albeit heavy and pointy and small of type). Embrace the fundoshi!”

Comic Strips

[Review] The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For
Link: Michael Lorah

“As the strip grew more assuredly artistically, the depth of the characters grew exponentially. Perhaps the quality of the line work allowed Bechdel to show ideas that had always been brewing in the strip but never communicated clearly. Her ability to depict characters across the entire spectrum of experience added humanity to their storylines.”

[Commentary] Buz Sawyer and the death of newspapers
Link: Bhob Stewart

Rant enhanced with the first five Sundays in Roy Crane’s classic strip. What’s not to love?

Cartooning

[Craft] Rules for writing long-form stories
Link: Dennis O’Neil

“As I mentioned last time, single-issue stories are relatively uncommon in mainstream comics these days, a situation that may or may not persist. But some of what applies to a self-contained story applies equally to one that stretches from here to yonder.”

[Craft] Naoki Urasawa on making comics
Link: Eastern Edge

“Back at the studio I start by doing things like tiding up the bookshelves and cleaning the windows (laughs). While everyone around me is wondering what in the world I’m doing, I’m getting into my groove. Well, I guess you could say I’m wasting time, too (laughs). I’m going through the story as discussed in the meeting in my head thinking, ‘This panel should be like this, then this, then that, this, this, this…. That’s it!’”

[Art] Alexander Alexeieff’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”
Link: A Journey Round My Skull

Art for a 1930 edition of the Edgar Allan Poe story.

[Art] Mathieu Réynès
Link: Illustration blog

More of that “cartoon cheesecake” that everybody loves so much.

[Commentary] Peter Paul Rubens: Graphic Designer
Link: Mark Lamster

Not remotely comics, but what the hell.

(Above: “The title page Rubens designed for Legatus, a primer on diplomatic conduct by Frederik de Marselaer.”)

[Commentary] Ink and commitment
Link: David Apatoff

“Ink is the medium for artists who are prepared to stand by their actions.”

Comics Culture

[Scene] Pierre Feuille Ciseaux
Link: Sarah Glidden

Photos from the recent event, described as “an opportunity to bring together 25 cartoonists for a collective weeklong residence at the Saline Royale of Arc-et-Senans.”

[Your not-comics link of the day]
Take a weird break.

(Link via LinkMachineGo.)

[Your Scans_Daily link of the day]
Excerpts from Yoshiaki Sukeno’s Binbougami-ga!

Events Calendar

Today:

October 22 (White River Junction, VT): Dolltopia author Abby Denson will give a multimedia presentation at Revolution on Main Street, beginning at 6PM. Details here.

October 22 (New York City, NY): Author Nevin Martell and cartoonist Ruben Bolling discuss the life and art of Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Waterson at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art on Broadway, beginning at 7PM. Details here.

October 22 (New York City, NY): Join Gary Panter, Michael Kupperman, Gabrielle Bell, Jillian Tamaki, David Sandlin, Ben Katchor, Jessica Abel and Matt Madden for a launch party celebrating The Best American Comics 2009 at Brooklyn’s own Powerhouse Arena on Main Street, from 7-9PM. Details here.

This week:

October 23 (Portland, ME): Tim Fish, Abby Denson and Hugh Tims will appear at Casablanca Comics on Middle Street, from 6-8PM. Details here.

October 23 (Boston, MA): Tim Fish and Abby Denson will appear at Comicopia on Commonwealth Avenue, from 1-4PM. Details here.

October 24-25 (London, England): The London MCM Expo happens at Excel London. Guests include Gary Millidge, Al Davison, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Emma Vieceli, Marc Ellerby and many others. Details here.