» TheDartmouth.com has a write up of Jules Feiffer’s presentation that he did about his cartooning career. This summer, Jules is doing a Summer term Montgomery Fellow where he is teaching a comparative literature course titled “Graphic Humor and 20th Century America.” He will also participate in a panel discussion with fellow cartoonists Edward Koren, Edward Sorel and Jeff Danziger on politics in cartooning on August 12.

Interviews

» Tom Racine interviews Jef Mallett over at Tall Tale Radio where they talk Frazz, but also his triathlon and biking experience for the second half the show

Obituaries

» The author Robert L. Short, who wrote The Gospel According to Peanuts, died on July 6 due to cancer. The Gospel According to Peanuts was a book that took theological and Christian insights from Charles Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts. It was published in 1965. According to the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Short also tried to publish a similar tome using Calvin and Hobbes, but never got clearance from Bill Watterson.

Renowned comic book innovator Stan Lee’s newest creation will be the featured product at the Uclick booth. An announcement regarding this new creation will be posted here on The Daily Cartoonist on Tuesday.

Several Universal artists will be at the booth and others are scheduled to participate in panels.
Brooke McEldowney, creator of the fairy-themed GoComics hit Pibgorn - Thursday, 4pm and Saturday, 10:30am
Lucas Turnbloom, creator of the most recent GoComics addition, Imagine This - Thursday, 2pm and Friday, 2pm
Bill Amend, creator of the smash syndication hit FoxTrot - Saturday, 1pm
Also participating in this year’s event include Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Pat Oliphant, Richard Thompson (Cul de Sac), and Ruben Bolling (Tom the Dancing Bug).

Uclick GoComics will also offer random drawings for free iPhone comic book apps throughout each day of the Con. Uclick GoComics will also give away an iPod Touch on Saturday, loaded with all 130+ Uclick-produced comic book apps, including 11 issues of Jeff Smith’s epic Bone, 12 issues of Tales of the TMNT, plus several limited series, graphic novels, manga, web comics and more.

Saturday’s events will be capped off by the Uclick GoComics-hosted “Made for Mobile” panel at 5:30pm, in which comic industry pros Shannon Wheeler, creator of the hit indie comic strip Too Much Coffee Man, and Rantze Hoseley, founder of the new digital comic book service Longbox, will discuss the trend toward digital comic books with Sunday Press Books founder Pete Maresca and Uclick editor/comics producer Shena Wolf.

On his blog he writes:

For the last year or so I’ve noticed a few odd symptoms; shakiness, hoarseness, silly walks, random clumsiness and the like. So the other day I went to see a neurologist and, after having me me jump through hoops, stand on my head and juggle chain saws, he said I’ve got Parkinson’s. It’s a pain in the fundament and it slows me down, but it hasn’t really affected my drawing hand at all and it’s treatable . And it could be a useful ploy in my ever-losing battle against deadlines.

Best of luck to you, Richard. I’m looking forward to many more decades of Cul de Sac.

Incidentally, my family and I are riding in a Pedal for Parkinson’s bike fund raiser later this month. What was a “for fun” event now takes on a more personal reason for participating.

» Scott Nickel interviews Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis.

» Bob Andelman, (AKA Mr. Media) interviews Pajama Diaries creator Terri Libenson. He also talks with Tim Pilcher of Erotic Comics: A Graphic History, Vols. 1 & 2.

Below is the newly released trailer.

The New York State chapter of the National Organization for Women has released a statement denouncing New York Daily News Cartoonist Bill Bramhall for a recently published editorial cartoon depicting Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as a “loud mouth need of gagging.”

In their statement they write,

And exactly what is Bill Bramhall’s gripe? Could it be that the Senator speaks her mind, is a strong advocate for the people of New York, and has aspirations for her career? Possibly it’s all of the above.

But the cruel reality is that strong women have an uphill battle, simply because many cartoonists, comedians, and average guys just can’t handle women who reach for what is rightfully theirs - equality! Some men look at women like Senator Gillibrand as a threat to their masculinity, their careers, and their power bases. But our Senator is in good company, what with her predecessor Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and a host of other women politicians having endured similar treatment.

Bramhall’s phallic symbols send a clear message that women are good for only one thing. And the disrespectful cartoon certainly touches on concerns feminists have had for centuries. What contributes to violence against women is the general attitude about women in general.

NOW-NY has demanded that the Daily News show more respect toward the senator and all women.

On his blog he writes:

Your product will be featured not in an ad, to which these groups are notoriously resistant, but within the artistic framework of the comic strip itself!

The fantastically popular “Tom the Dancing Bug” comic strip is auctioning off a product placement. The highest bidder will have the product of its choice unobtrusively yet noticeably placed in an upcoming “Super-Fun-Pak Comix” installment of the comic strip.

Michael Cavna’s Comic Riffs hits 1 years old today. Congrats!

Books

» Lindsay Perna writing for the Religion News Service reviews Johnny Hart’s “I Did It His Way” - a collection of Johnny’s religiously themed B.C. strips.

Comic Books

» Daniel Ford of the Wilmington Comic Books Examiner writes his review of DC Comics’ new Wednesday Comics.

» The childhood home of Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman, has been renovated by fans as a memorial to the man who helped bring The Man of Steel to life.

Comic Strips

Vanessa Gates of JAM! Books interviews For Better or For Worse creator Lynn Johnston about her newly released children’s book based on her Farley character. “Farley Follows His Nose” was released in April.

» Darrin Bell posts his Michael Jackson comic strip that had to be rewritten before it could go out to papers. Darrin calls it “censorsed” on his blog. The topic is discussed over at the Comic Riffs including quotes fromCandorville editor Amy Lago. I would use the word “edited” in this context.

Editorial Cartooning

» Jonathan Shapiro (aka “Zapiro”), Brandan Reynolds, Jeremy Nell and Stacey Stent will be paneling a discussion on the limits of political cartooning in Africa. The discussion happens July 23rd at the University of Stellenbosch.

» Mario Robles has been awarded this year’s Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning from Cartoonists by the Rights Network International for his work in Noticias Voz e Imagen a newspaper in Oaxaca, Mexico. The award was announced at last week’s Association of American Editorial Cartooning convention.

Museums

» A new Peanuts exhibit opens in Ontario. The free exhibit entitled “Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace” a title that pretty much sums up the exhibit. It runs through Aug. 16 and is free to the public. After Ontario, it moves to Kansas City, Mo.

Everything was fine until the city started running out of money in 2007. Suddenly, the city announced that it was going to ignore its own ruling and reclassify us in the higher tax category. Even more incredible is the fact that the new classification was to be imposed retroactively to 2004 with interest and penalties. No explanation was given for the new classification, or for the city’s decision to ignore its 1994 ruling.

Their official position is that the city is not bound by past rulings — only taxpayers are. This is why we have been forced to file a lawsuit. We will let the courts decide whether it is legal for adverse rulings to apply only to taxpayers and not to the city.

Newcombe also mentions that the company is preparing to move out of Los Angeles should court ruling be unfavorable to their business.

Here’s what he told the Times-Union in an e-mail:

Maintaining is my comic strip and my intention was to make it as honest and genuine as possible. I’m proud of the work I’ve done with the strip and I’m tremendously grateful to you and your newspaper. You allowed me to share my work with your readers.

Unfortunately, Maintaining was never much of a financial success and recent market conditions have only exacerbated the situation. Universal Press Syndicate has chosen to opt out of its contract with my strip and I’ve decided to discontinue the production of the strip in order to concentrate on other projects.

The final daily strip is set to run on August 1st and the final Sunday is set to run on August 30th.

Maintaining launched in May of 2007.