Navigate Poopsheet

 
• This week's LA Weekly is a comics issue. Check out the goodness.
• Wanna see a video of Nick Bertozzi working on Rubber Necker? Dig it.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Young Gods & Friends by Barry Windsor-Smith
Collecting the acclaimed BWS: Storyteller serial with tons of added material! Available in hardcover and signed hardcover formats.
$29.95/$49.95

Zippy Annual 2003 by Bill Griffith
Another year of the pinhead in one classy softcover volume, fully annotated by Griffy himself!
$19.95

A.B. Frost's Stuff & Nonsense
Collecting three albums of sequential graphic stories (comics) originally published during the celebrated 19th Century American illustrator’s lifetime! Hardcover.
$24.95

Will Elder: The Mad Playboy of Art
The legendary MAD and Playboy cartoonist (in collaboration with Harvey Kurtzman) finally gets the coffee-table book he deserves! Intro by Daniel Clowes, available in soft, hard, and signed hardcover formats.
$49.95/$69.95/$79.95

Prince Valiant Vol. 49 by Hal Foster & John Cullen Murphy
The penultimate volume in the softcover series.
$18.95

Maniac Killer Strikes Again by Richard Sala
Ten previously out-of-print Sala classics, re-worked exclusively for this new softcover collection!
$16.95

Blab! Vol. 14 by various artists
Featuring: Camille Rose Garcia (who did the covers), Sue Coe, David Sandlin, Jonathon Rosen, Marc Rosenthal, Gary Baseman, Peter Kuper, Blanquet, the Clayton Brothers and many more! Softcover.
$19.95

Bellybutton #1 by Sophie Crumb
Forget the pedigree, this is the real deal: a funny and engaging, stand-alone debut from a powerful new voice in comics, told in a lovely two-color format.
$4.95

Ape by Ted Jouflas
If you hate George W. as much as we do, then Ted Jouflas is about to become your new favorite cartoonist thanks to this brutal and imaginative satire of the current administration.
$4.95

Mabel Normand & Friends by various artists
Kim Deitch delivered the cover for this one-shot collection of vintage comic strips devoted to silent film comedy stars like Normand and Fatty Arbuckle.
$4.95

Hate Annual #4 by Peter Bagge
Buddy Bradley is back and he’s brown! Hell, he’s even brought Bugles and Jimmy Foley with him! Plus: Lovey! Al Gore! The A-Teens! Ross Perot!
$4.95

Evil Eye #11 by Richard Sala
It’s the penultimate chapter of “Reflections In a Glass Scorpion,” which has anchored the series since issue 1! The mystery is almost revealed!
$3.95

Black Hole #11 by Charles Burns
Not only the penultimate chapter, but the penultimate issue! Buy it now (and bear in mind that any collection is still at least three years away).
$4.95

The Comics Journal #256 featuring Fort Thunder
An appreciation of the Fort, by Tom Spurgeon, plus interviews with Mat Brinkman, Brian Chippendale, and Brian Ralph. Plus: Barefoot Gen’s Keiji Nakazawa!
$6.95

The Comics Journal #257 featuring Rick Griffin
Featuring three – count ‘em, three never-before-published interviews with the late Zap and psychedelic poster artist, Rick Griffin. Plus: Spurgeon takes on Joe Casey.
$6.95

Angry Youth Comix #6 by Johnny Ryan
In this ish: Martians make culinary demands on Loady and Sinus! Boobs Pooter humps dinner! Sherlock McRape asks, "Who Hit Nellie In the Belly With Jelly?" The President's urine is kidnapped! Two nancy-boys duke it out for the title of "World's #1 Undisputed OId-Timey Egomaniac"! Plus much more!
$3.50

Love & Rockets #9 by Gilbert, Jaime & Mario Hernandez
The final chapter of ‘Beto’s “High Soft Lisp”! Maggie goes to Izzy’s for Halloween! Plus “Me For the Unknown” and “Julio’s Day!”
$3.95

Pogostick #2 by Ethan Persoff & Al Columbia
Things get real horrorshow in the second chapter of this black comedy, The Pogostick. Unless, that is, you were expecting Haitian zombies, voodoo warlords, a cancer patient, a butcher knife, sudden unemployment, the disadvantages of caller I.D., a horrible death, a cuckoo's nest revisited, cops with guns and flashlights, an ambulance, fat garbage bags, a clean apartment, and the gentle flow of blood on a carpet...
$4.95

more info: fantagraphics.com

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
• Read Jessica Abel's Perdida online
• Want a new Peter Bagge interview? Here you go. Daniel Clowes? You're welcome.


------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Congratulations are due to Gene Deitch for receiving ASIFA-Hollywood's prestigious Winsor McCay Award. Deitch is of course the renowned animator and author of Fantagraphics Cat on a Hot Thin Groove.

Each year a Winsor McCay Award is awarded to a maximum of three individuals in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation in producing, directing, animating, designing, writing, voice acting, sound and sound effects, technical work, music, professional teaching, or for other endeavors which exhibit outstanding contributions to excellence in animation.

The presentation of the award will be made on Saturday, Feb. 7th at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA. For you Los Angeleans, there will also be a special tribute screening devoted to Deitch at the historic, restored Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. (home of the L.A.-based American Cinematheque) on Tuesday, Feb. 10th. The theatre features state of the art projection – 35mm, 16mm, and all forms of video and digital projection.

Full details of the film program still being decided, but the plan is to include one of Deitch’s earliest cartoons, "Building Friends for Business", as well as 35mm prints of Scope Terrytoons, Tom Terrific, Munro and other Rembrandt and Weston Woods productions. Plans are also underway for a Q & A/book signing with Deitch at the screening.

[ thanks to Eric Reynolds and Fantagraphics ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
• Smell of Steve's new website, Ziggy-With-A-Hat
• Marc Bell at the Adam Baumgold Gallery - check it out (exhibit 2/5-3/13) [ thanks to Souther ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
CALL FOR PAPERS

3RD SEQUENTIAL ART STUDIES CONFERENCE, SYDNEY, 2004

The Interdisciplinary Studies Unit of the Department of Design, UTS (University of Technology, Sydney) announces a Visual Culture event – a mini-conference on mini-comics, and other themes, at UTS on Saturday 22 May, 2004. The unit is again hosting this scholarly conference that will be held during the same week as the 2004 Sydney Writers' Festival. The inaugural event in 2002 attracted a small but stimulating range of papers from local academics and postgraduate students. In 2003, as a new development, selected local artists participated in the conference along with academics. This approach will be continued in 2004.

Scholars are invited to submit 200 word proposals which address any of the following panels to the appropriate Panel Chair. The conference will adopt an interdisciplinary approach and so welcomes papers from a wide range of disciplines and also from cross-disciplinary approaches to the study of comics.

MINICOMICS
This panel aims to investigate the realm of D.I.Y. and low cost yet highly creative examples of hand-made comics featuring innovative use of graphic art and design, personal expression, experimental approaches to storytelling and alternative distribution methods. Papers that deal with aspects such as self-publishing, the production of limited edition minicomics by individuals, rather than teams, with hand-painted and silk-screened covers, the use of recycled papers and boards, shonky staples and hand-sewn binding techniques, manual typography and grass roots production values as well as the notion of mini-comics as vehicles of creative expression and visual communication on any subject or theme, will be welcome.
(Panel Chair, Michael Hill)


SHAPE SHIFTING MANGA
This manga panel will investigate the importance of shape-shifting bodies such as the machine/human forms in mecha (manga featuring mechanical objects such as giant robots and cyborgs) or androgynous male characters of yaoi (manga that depict bishounen [beautiful boy] characters). We will explore how these bodies offer spaces within which to contemplate issues including gender, identity, and cultural difference.
(Panel Chair, Craig Norris)

COMICS INTO FILM
Following the recent spate of film adaptions of comics this panel will consider the challenges and problems of designing transitions of graphic material from print to screen including the re-design of characters, and the restructuring of narratives, page layouts, scenarios and settings for the cinema.
(Panel Chair, Michael Hill)

OPEN PANEL
This panel will accommodate papers about comics on themes other than those covered in the above panels.
(Panel Chair, Spiros Xenos)

Send proposals (by email only) to the relevant Panel Chair by Sunday 29 February 2004. Conference enquiries may be directed to either of the conference covenors (also by email only):
Michael Hill email
Craig Norris email

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
FRED THE CLOWN #5
US Comic format, 32 pages, black and white, colour covers, $2.95 US

Stop the presses, hold the back page... Eisner and Ignatz Award-nominated comic book Fred the Clown returns in March 2004. Fred the Clown #5 is in the latest issue of Previews, the one arriving in stores on December 24th, so you can pre-order it once you recover from your Christmas hangover. In this issue there's the usual combination of short, snappy, self-contained pieces, some of which have appeared on the internet, some of which are appearing here for the very first time, but all of which have never previously been stamped onto a dead tree with staples rammed through it. Here are a few of them:

* Nowhere Special - in which Fred and his hirsute banana-loving companion find an oasis of calm in a sea of troubles, only to ruin it almost immediately

* Calendar Boy - in which our hero doggedly pursues the object of his affections over twelve lavishly illustrated months, in flagrant violation of that silly old restraining order

* Where The Smart Things Ain't - Maurice Sendak would do somersaults in his grave, particularly as he isn't dead

Plus a bunch of other stuff!

The Hotel Fred website will be taking preorders for the convenience of those of you without easy access to a comical book store – visit www.hotelfred.com for details.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
• Ninth Art's picks for the best of 2003
• Mike Whybark's interviewed Craig Thompson. It's in eight parts and here's where it starts. [ thanks to ¡Journalista! ]
• Lots of comix-related stuff in the LA Weekly's December 26th issue: a Gary Panter cover and comics by Michael Dougan and Phoebe Gloeckner that I can't view for some reason.
• And, hey, here's a Rick Altergott comic in The Stranger.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
From Franco Ortega:

Planning for the second annual New Jersey Zinefest is underway. Help us make it an even bigger & better success than last year by spreading the word, lending a hand, or attending with all of your friends. A tentative date is set for Sunday, April 18, 2004. For more info, check the website or write to:

N.Z.
Rutgers University
25301 DPO Way
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

e-mail

www.njzinefest.com

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
The UK independent comic scene has seen an explosion in quality and quantity over the last few years, and its presence is being increasingly felt in comic shops, on websites and in magazines, like Comics International's very own Panel Beaters.

Now the Engine Comics editor of The Rough Guide to Self Publishing and Redeye Magazine, Barry Renshaw, is taking another ambitious step further to bring together and promote the best of UK self publishing talent in Anthology 05.

"It is essentially a project to show a snapshot of what is happening in small press and self publishing today," says Barry. "The concept grew out of a discussion online, where we realised how simple it should be for creators to all contribute work to one source, chip in a tenner or two to cover costs while the editor and moderators do all the leg work with printers and distribution. But I know the mailing lists and websites represent only a fraction of the SP community in the UK and Ireland, so I wanted to be sure that everyone who might be interested in contributing would be aware of it."

One of the anthology's moderators, Jay (The Girly Comic) Eales adds: "We also want to strengthen ties between self-publishers. There's a lot of experience out there, but a lot of it is in little pockets, with each creator or group beavering away in isolation, learning the same lessons and making the same mistakes, without the benefit that sharing their experience
can bring.

Although there are no restrictions on genre, themes or style, there are basic guidelines available from the editor, and creators should be aware that the collected US format, square-bound book could be the first time someone sees their work. Interested creators should contact the editor direct before submitting. With a 1st March deadline for submissions, Anthology is aiming to launch at Bristol 2004, where the sp presence has doubled each and every year and panels on self publishing have proven a big hit with attendees.

"I'm aiming for Anthology to be an annual event with rotating editorship; to be a cross-section of what's out there today, to get it seen beyond the usual comic and indie channels, and even into places that 'mainstream' comics may not get to," Barry adds. "But it all comes down to the creators themselves. They have the collective power for it to work, they just need to talk to each other and take the opportunity to do something about it."

Contributors should contact this address.

Anthology 05 will be released May 2004. Page count and price to be confirmed.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
When the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was established in 1986, it was to support the defense of retailers who found themselves in trouble for daring to sell a handful of comics aimed at older readers. Over the years the idea that comics can speak to adults on their terms has become less radical to the general public, but too often in the eyes of the law, they're still just for kids. In each of the last three national election years, the Fund has defended a case that tries to press that point. As we approach the 2004 election, we need your support so that when the next cases arrive, as unfortunately we can be certain they will, we can afford to defend them, to ensure that you can keep reading, or creating, or publishing, or selling, comics and graphic novels.

There are many signs that the next legal battle is imminent. This year both Arkansas and Michigan passed new laws attempting to ban the display and dissemination of "harmful-to-minors" materials. On the surface these laws are supposed to shield minors from explicit materials, but they are so ambiguously phrased that they actually threaten a great deal of the constitutionally protected materials that support the individuals who earn their living from comics.

This year, the federal government passed PROTECT, a dangerous law that broadens the definition of child pornography in a fashion that threatens any work addressing the idea of minors engaged in sexual conduct, whether an actual minor is involved or not. Even co-sponsor Patrick Leahy condemned this provision of the law, saying it "goes too far." This law and the PATRIOT Act include provisions allowing for increased surveillance of individuals and businesses that can be carried out under a cloak of secrecy, so who can say what's happening that we aren't seeing?

The CBLDF is actively following and fighting these laws. As full members of Media Coalition, a national association of free speech advocacy groups, we have participated in nearly a dozen amicus briefs challenging laws like Arkansas Act 858, the Child Online Protection Act, South Carolina's Harmful to Minors Internet Law, even provisions of the PATRIOT Act. We've also lent our name to cases whose precedents would affect the freedom of creators to take advantage of their First Amendment right to free expression, such as Winters v. DC Comics, New Times v. Isaacks, and Tyne v. Time Warner. We're keeping you informed about these fights and the new laws on the horizon in Busted!, which has become one of the country's leading magazines covering the national First Amendment climate.

This is necessary work and we need your support so we can continue to do it. By making a tax-deductible donation to the CBLDF you will allow us to build up our war chest so we can wage a first-class legal defense the next time a member of the comics community is caught in a legal crossfire. You will help us to take action to stop bad laws before they start and prevent bad precedents from infecting the law.

Please contribute to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today. If you haven't yet renewed your membership, now is the time to do so. If you're not a member but earn a living from comics, then you have no excuse for not joining now. If you have already paid this year's dues, we thank you and we ask you to please use this opportunity to increase your support.

Please visit www.cbldf.org and make your tax-deductible contribution today.

Sincerely,

Denis Kitchen,
President

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Comics Fans Worldwide,

Lot's of exciting things have happened since the last time we emailed everyone. So, we'll keep each announcement brief, and link you to the website in case you want more information on any particular item.

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

**********************

Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire Is In Print!
It just arrived from the printer yesterday, and should hit stores next week.
Check Out The Regular Hardcover Edition:
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?type=12&title=198
Check Out The Signed & Numbered Hardcover Edition (limited to 500):
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?type=12&title=199

**********************

Time Magazine's Website Has Just Named Craig Thompson's Blankets
The "BEST COMIC BOOK/GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR"!
See our article that links to the Time.com Top Picks:
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/news.php?article=38

**********************

Wizard Magazine Names Craig Thompson's Blankets
The "BEST INDY BOOK OF THE YEAR"!
See page 150 of Issue #147 for a two-page article on Blankets.

**********************

Blankets 3rd Printing Coming In January!
Check Out The Softcover Edition:
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=194
Check Out The Special Hardcover Edition:
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=195

**********************

In The January Diamond Previews Catalog This Month
(for books shipping to stores in March 2004):

Comic Book Artist (Vol 2) #3 Edited by Jon B. Cooke
This Issue Features Darwyn Cooke & Much Much More!
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=202
NOTE: The original solicitation for CBA issue #3 had to be cancelled, so this is a brand new offering for issue #3. If you ordered issue #3 before, you'll have to order it again this month to receive a copy. Sorry for the confusion here.

Van Helsing's Night Off by Nicolas Mahler
Featuring The Mummy, Dracula, The Wolfman, Frankenstein & Van Helsing.
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=207

Warburger Edited by Stripburger
War Comics From The Elite Of Eastern Europe And Beyond.
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=391

5th printing of Good-bye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson
Craig Thompson's Classic Turns Five Years Old In 2004!
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=1

**********************

Books That Will Hit Stores In January:

The Octopi & the Ocean by Dan James
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=379

Happy: Female by Josh Simmons
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=378

**********************

Books That Will Hit Stores In February:

The Mirror of Love by Alan Moore & José Villarubia
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=206
Check Out The Signed & Numbered Edition (limited to 500):
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=293

Be a Man by Jeffrey Brown
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=384

The Sketchbook Diaries Vol. 4 by James Kochalka
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=385

Jennifer Daydreamer: Anna and Eva by Jennifer Daydreamer
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=383

Upside Down by Tobias Tak
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?title=377

**********************

Check Out What We Have Planned For 2004 (So Far):

The 2004 Publishing Schedule (Subject To Change):
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/news.php?type=5

Covers & Descriptions For Some Of Our 2004 Line:
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?type=12

************************************
************************************

Your friend thru comics,

Chris Staros
Top Shelf Productions

chris@topshelfcomix.com
http://www.topshelfcomix.com

Top Shelf Productions® and the top shelf logo are registered trademarks of Top Shelf Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. Top Shelf publications are available (or can be ordered from) wherever graphic novels and books are sold, and are distributed to the book trade by Diamond Book Distributors, and to the direct market by Diamond Comic Distributors, Last Gasp, FM International, Cold Cut, Red Route, and Top Shelf Productions.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
• David Chelsea Q&A at Silver Bullet'
• New comics up at Dash Shaw's site

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
• Time.comix announces picks for Best and Worst Comics of 2003
• My Uncle Jeff's Damon Hurd interviewed at Pulse

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Meet Elliot and Grist's Absent Friends in February

No stranger to comic books whose themes include sex, love and personal trauma, SLG Publishing is proud to reintroduce the world to the long-lost collaborations between Phil Elliott and Paul Grist, Absent Friends. Early in their comic book careers, Elliott (Tupelo, Illegal Alien) and Grist (Kane, Jack Staff) collaborated on a series of comic-book-format short stories about sex, young love and struggling artists.

The stories were published in a variety of magazines and then collected into a mini-comic, which was sold mainly through the Gosh! comic shop in London. The distribution was small, however – only 200 copies – and both Elliott and Grist wanted to find a wider audience for Absent Friends, so Elliott approached SLG Publishing, which is currently publishing Tupelo, a mini-series written by Matt DeGennaro and drawn by Elliott, with the project. The 40-page digest-sized comic will be released in February to coincide with the 2004 Alternative Press Expo.

While not strictly autobiographical, the stories in Absent Friends are, according to writer Elliott, inspired by "personal experiences, thoughts and traumas." Elliott, known primarily as a comics artist, intended to draw the stories himself, but he wasn't satisfied with his attempts. Meanwhile, Paul Grist had self-published his comic, Short Stories, and Elliott felt that Grist was a match for his own stories.

"It was the first time that I actually drew anything that somebody else had written," said Grist. "It got me doing things that I'd have never really tried on my own. I tried to approach each story in a different way, which certainly helps flex the artistic muscle."

Elliott agrees. "These stories show a different side of Paul's drawing that maybe he can't express in other comics," he said. "There's still the same excellent graphic eye and superior composition, but there's a finer, almost hesitant line that hangs in the air and... well, that's why I gave these stories to Paul in the first place."

The stories that Elliott weaves focus on quiet, poignant human emotions and the relationships that inspire them. In Absent Friends, a man recalls a dangerous friendship, a boy tries to understand his teenaged sister, a young man learns about sex and love, and a street musician finds her own path to success. "The stories aren't always the most straightforward of tales," said Grist of his collaborator's work, "but they tend to rattle around in your head for a while afterwards."

Absent Friends is a 40-page graphic novella in 5.5 x 8.5 inch digest format. It will be published in February and will retail for $3.50. A preview is available at SLG Publishing's website, www.slavelabor.com.

SLG Publishing

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
SCOTT MORSE "MR.CLOUD" GALLERY SHOW AT MELTDOWN
January 9th- Feb. 7th, 2004

"MR.CLOUD: paintings and drawings" marks the debut solo gallery show for animation and comic book storyteller Scott Morse. Featuring new works in a variety of media, Morse toys with ghosts, boxers, monkeys, and more, drawing influences from classic children's books to the graf scene.

2003 saw the release of two new graphic novels by Morse, The Barefoot Serpent from Top Shelf Productions, and Southpaw from AdHouse Books. The former revolves around the life and films of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, while the latter features the struggles of a prize-fighting tiger on the lam. 2003 also saw the rerelease of Morse's critically acclaimed Visitations and the complete Soulwind, both from Oni Press. Soulwind garnered three Eisner and two Ignatz Award nominations in its initial release, and Morse was recently presented with the Attilio Micheluzzi Gran Premio in Naples, Italy.

In animation, Morse has worked as a producer, art director, writer, storyboard artist, and designer for studios including Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Universal, Disney, Turner, and Chuck Jones, where he trained under master designer Maurice Noble.

Scott Morse's "MR. CLOUD: paintings and drawings" will debut on Friday, January 9th, at Meltdown Gallery, with an opening reception from 7:00PM to 9:00PM. Come join Morse in celebrating his first solo exhibition of new work. Refreshments and appetizers will be on hand.

MELTDOWN COMICS & COLLECTIBLES
7522 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90046
http://meltcomics.com/

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
New York Cartoonist Neil Kleid interview. Live on-line!

Sunday, December 21st at 6pm (EST).

Neil Kleid, Xeric award winning writer/cartoonist of of the upcoming Ninety Candles, creator of mini-comics such as Rant Comics and Late Night Block and contributor to 9-11: Emergency Relief (Alternative Comics) and House of Twelve, will be interviewed live on "Graphic Music" at 6pm (est).

"Graphic Music" is a 3 hour program focusing on music from movies, TV, cartoons, comics, video games, and whatever multimedia source that uses sound to compliment vision.

Airing live, every Sunday at 5pm. Broadcast from the WHFR studios, located on the grounds of Henry Ford Community College, in the real motor city, Dearborn, Michigan.

Listen at 6pm for occasional interviews with creators behind some of today's most innovative comic books.

Every Sunday at 6:30pm, Dan Merritt presents a news segment focusing on events in the world of Sequential Storytelling (aka comic books). Listen in to find out more about an original American art form.

Listen live: http://whfr.hfcc.net:8000 or http://whfr.hfcc.net/whfr.m3u

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
SLG to Release Painter Crab Scrambly's First Solo Storybook in February

Zazil is an orphan who is cursed with bad luck and trapped in a monotonous life. He longs to escape from the drudgery of his waking life and the troubled thoughts that haunt him....

Crab Scrambly, the artist known to Slave Labor Graphics readers from his paintings in the storybook Everything Can Be Beaten, written by Chancre Scolex (sometimes known as Jhonen Vasquez), now has penned and illustrated a storybook of his own, The 13th of Never. The 72-page novella features more than 30 full-page black-and-white drawings by Scrambly, and is scheduled to be released in February 2004.

In The 13th of Never, Zazil discovers a good luck charm in a dusty curio shop. It proves to be his ticket away from the mundane, but it brings him everything but good luck. When soul-stealing creatures called Charnocks pursue Zazil through strange lands and ghost trains, he must use his wits and courage to escape them – and to finally face his past.

"The ideas and images for The 13th of Never have been floating around in my head for the last ten or so years," said Scrambly of the book's conception, "but it all became clearer a few years back when I took a train ride through badlands of eastern Europe, where big, creepy castles and monsters still exist. I knew then that I wanted to create a dark fairy tale influenced by the films of Terry Gilliam, Jim Henson and the Brothers Quay with a dash of Edward Gorey thrown in."

The 13th of Never is a 72-page illustrated novella in 5.5 x 7-inch digest format. It will retail for $7.95. A preview is available at SLG Publishing's website, www.slavelabor.com.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
The Exhibition of Drawn Books by Women will be held on July 21, 2004, from 10 am to 7 pm in the Aztec Center at San Diego State University, in conjunction with the Comicon International: San Diego.

This exhibit will focus on female artists and writers, showing their work and reserving leadership positions on exhibit panels. But this promises to be the first of many shows – and suggestions for themes of future shows are very welcome.

More details of programming will be published as they become available.

Contact: Daniel Hager 619-261-9357

[ thanks to Donna Barr ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Over the last few years, the UK indie comic scene has seen an explosion in quality and quantity. Perhaps compensating for the relatively small numbers of outlets for creators in Britain today, artists and writers have been turning more and more to self-publishing with many astounding results, whether through traditional print media or the internet.

Capturing this expression is Accent UK's new quarterly magazine Redeye. The magazine features all the news, previews and reviews from the rapidly expanding UK scene and beyond. Issue one was a massive hit at the London Comics Festival, and includes interviews with Martin (The O-Men) Eden, Ian (Halo Jones) Gibson and Terry (Strangers in Paradise) Moore, among others; convention reports, extensive reviews, eye candy of upcoming projects and a discussion on today's comic shops.

However the May shipping issue two aims to be even bigger, as it will be submitted for the March edition of Previews catalogue. Under a new BAM! cover, RE2 will feature more interviews; articles on the comic classics of yesteryear; exclusive eye candy from tomorrow's top creators, as well as news and reviews from the frontlines of the British and Irish comics industry.

So if you're a reader and want to find out who will be the Alan Moores, Grant Morrisons and Frank Quitelys of the very near future, if you want to reminisce on the greats of your youth or you want a taste of something new and different to your normal comic shop fare...

Or if you're a sp/indie creator looking for a voice and a place to be seen, an opportunity to get your work out to the masses and would like to submit
your news and previews...

Redeye is not to be missed.
_____________

REDEYE MAGAZINE ISSUE 2: Shipping MAY 2004, 60 PAGES, £3.00/$5.00/E5.00, QUARTERLY. Colour cover, b/w interiors. Contact the Editor Barry Renshaw, editor@enginecomics.co.uk, for more information.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
From Joe Biel:

We are working on a documentary video focusing on Pacific Northwest zines and zine culture. Interested (and able) parties should come to our next meeting (and video shooting workshop) at 5307 N Minnesota Ave. (in Portland, OR) on January 31st at 4 PM.

We are almost finished with pre-production and will start shooting in the next few weeks (until about July).

The project will be edited and wrapping up around September 2004. The focuses are "What is a zine?", "Where did they come from?", "Why make a zine?", "Making a zine & being part of a community", and "Where have zines taken us and what's next?". If you want to be involved in the project you can discuss it on our forum, http://www.pscap.org/zinedocumentary.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
From TwoMorrows:

In Jack Kirby Collector #40 we revisit Jack’s "World That's Coming"! Behind two new Kirby covers (inked by Erik Larsen and European sensation Reedman), we rocket into the future – Kirby’s version, that is! Due to overwhelming reader demand, Kamandi and Omac finally get their due in TJKC, plus we’ll spotlight his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Black Hole, Thundarr, Captain Victory, and others! We’ll also present: The 2003 Kirby Tribute Panel, featuring Wendy Pini, Michael Chabon, Stan Goldberg, Sal Buscema, Larry Lieber, and some guy named Stan Lee! An interview with P. Craig Russell on his Kirby influences! Regular columnists Mark Evanier, Adam McGovern and Barry Forshaw! Plus a new column analyzing Jack’s visual shorthand! All this, and a giant Kirby Art Gallery, showing his uninked pencil art at tabloid size!

The 80 page, saddle-stitched 10" x 14" magazine with a full color cover and black-and-white interiors retails for $9.95 in the U.S. and ships 28 April 2004.

TwoMorrows Publishing

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
X-mas in the Badlands!
Friday, December 12, 2003
Mission Badlands
Doors open 8:00
$3-5 suggested donation

Performers: Marginal Prophets, funky ass San Francisco hip-hop, Duckmandu playing all your klezmer, punk rock, and Christmas favorites.

Featuring genuine handmade ART (tm) by 25+ Local Artists indluding Winston Smith, Anonymous Bosch, Mats!?, Scott Williams, Jeff Roysdon, Rigo '03, Andrice Arp, Chuck Sperry and many many more! Silent auction (ssshhhhh!) and raffle tickets for ART only $5.00, over 20 prizes.

Also, X-mas in the Badlands continues on Saturday, Dec 13 with Esmerelda Strange, Ravana, La Pleve!

Mission Badlands
2811 Mission Street at 24th in San Francisco

[ thanks to Matt Holdaway ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
• Here's a series of interviews with Indonesian cartoonists at Silver Bullet by John Weeks, plus lots more info about the work coming out of there.
• SF Weekly article about Jeff Hoke and the Museum of Lost Wonder
• Ariel Bordeaux explains the origins of the ukelele in this week's Stranger.
• The fake turkey was held by a real turkey. Ward Sutton suggests more phony photo-ops in The Village Voice.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
After publishing Warburger, the biggest comic book ever to be published by Stripburger, the next regular issue of Stripburger is out. Besides the regular assembly of comics from all over the world, the 36th issue includes a special feature on Swiss comics: comics by Frederick Peeters, Nicolas and Xavier Robel, Thomas Ott, Helge Reuman and Ben plus a cover by Nadia Raviscioni and a profile of M.S. Bastiana. Enough to satisfy even the most enthusiastic comic lovers! Also, comics by Max Andersson and Lars Sjunnesson, Malin Biller, Koco, Mateusz Skutnik, Rajnith Perera, Jyrki Heikkinen, columns on comics, reviews and more.

Available worldwide through: www.ljudmila.org/stripcore/distro.htm

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
[ A bit in advance, but what the heck. Mark your calendars! ]

An Evening with Chris Ware and Ira Glass
Visible and Invisible Drawings
UCLA Live Exclusive Presentation!

“Ware’s work could be as important and influential to the storytelling of this century as James Joyce’s and Orson Welles’ were to that of the last.” -Chicago Tribune

“Glass is a journalist but also a storyteller who filters his interviews and impressions through a distinctive literary imagination, an eccentric intelligence and a sympathetic heart.” -The New York Times

Sat, Apr 10 at 8pm
Royce Hall, UCLA
Tickets: $40, 35, 28
($17 students)

Event Info

[ thanks to Jeff Mason ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Three-day event set for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Oct 1-3

SPX, North America's premier alternative comic-book festival returns to Bethesda, MD on October 1-3, 2004. SPX 2004 will bring together more than 200 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers, distributors, and each other. Fan attendance is expected to surpass 2,000. SPX 2004 will be open to the public from 3pm until 8pm on Friday, 10/1; from 10am until 7pm on Saturday, 10/2 and from 11am until 5pm on Sunday, 10/3.

Anyone seeking information about attending or exhibiting at SPX 2004 can visit the SPX web site at http://www.spxpo.com or contact the Expo director at:

Steve Conley
202-413-2595

The official SPX Web site is: http://www.spxpo.com

For registration information: http://www.spxpo.com/registration.htm

(For those wanting to promote the SPX on their Web site, feel free to copy the banner located at: http://www.spxpo.com/banners/spx2004_banner.gif and make a link from it on your page to: http://www.spxpo.com)



------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
KYLE BAKER LAUNCHES THE NEW SELF-PUBLISHED CARTOONIST PAPERBACK AND PLASTIC MAN (DC COMICS) MONTHLY SERIES AT:

• Jim Hanley's Universe in New York City on Wednesday, December 10 from 5 to 8 pm
• That's Entertainment in Worcester, MA on Saturday, December 13 from 12 to 3 pm
• Million Year Picnic in Cambridge, MA on Saturday, December 13 from 6 to 8 pm

Cartoonist is 128 pages of original New Yorker-style gag cartoons. It also includes "The Bakers", a 50-page rumination on fatherhood and marriage. Cartoonist is available for sale at www.kylebaker.com or at your local comic book store. Give the joy of laughter this holiday season...Cartoonist...only $14.95!

• Jim Hanley's Universe is at 4 West 33rd Street (off 5th Avenue, across from the Empire State Building) 212-268-7088.
• That's Entertainment is at 244 Park Avenue (Route 9) in Worcester 508-755-4207.
• Million Year Picnic is at 99 Mount Auburn Street in Harvard Square in Cambridge (next to Tower Records) 617-492-6763.

The award-winning Kyle Baker is the artist of the best-selling comic book Truth: Red, White and Black (Marvel), featured on "The Howard Stern Show", NPR, CNN, in the New York Times and newspapers across the country. His illustrations have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine and Esquire and he is currently working on graphic novels with the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon and Aaron McGruder of "Boondocks".

Kyle will be available to sign autographs, discuss future projects and answer questions about his career.

For more information on Cartoonist and to view Kyle's portfolio, please visit www.kylebaker.com.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
From Drawn & Quarterly:

The San Francisco bookstore MODERN TIMES will be having an "indy press party" for D+Q as the Montreal-based publisher is the store's indy press of the month.

JOE MATT, who will be making his first Bay-Area appearance in sometime, and ADRIAN TOMINE will be at the party to answer questions and sign books.

Be there this Saturday, December 13th at 7:30 PM at 888 Valencia St.

At the party, we will also hand out Spring 2004 catalogue/sampler. The D+Q site will be updated soon to reflect the new releases.

Drawn & Quarterly
Modern Times Bookstore

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
December 18 to January 31 - Lyon Librairie Galerie bal des Ardents
LE BAL DES
ARDENTS
Librairie/Galerie
du Mardi au samedi : vernissage le 18 à 18 heures
11h-13h/14h-19h
17, Rue Neuve
69001-Lyon, France
tel : 04.72.98.83.36
bal-des-ardents@wanadoo.fr

December 20 to January 17 - Galerie Isenard a Salon de Provence
GALERIE ISENARD VERNISSAGE LE 20 À 17 H
Rue du Moulin d’Isenard - 13300 Salon de Provence 06 80 66 73 47
DU MARDI/SAMEDI : 10H30/12H30 + 14H/19H

December 27 to January 4 - Chez Extrapool (Holland)
Extrapool
Tweede walstraat 5 (office nr.21)
6511 LN Nijmegen
The Netherlands
t. 0031-(0)24-3888234
f. 0031-(0)24-3601811
www.extrapool.nl

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
SLG Publishing's Pirate Club Sets Sail in February!


What do you get when you take a kid single-mindedly obsessed with being a pirate in the modern world, a kid who is convinced that he's a bear and a crabby, one-handed garbage man? Only the most motley crew of crazy land-lubbers who ever sailed the high seas! In Pirate Club by Derek Hunter, SLG Publishing's first new ongoing series of 2004, the boys of the Pirate Club loot, pillage and generally cause mayhem, with their eyes on adventure and nary a moral quandary to trouble their sea-faring dreams.

Pirate Club comes straight from series creator Hunter's childhood. The real-life Pirate Club was a joke that Hunter and his friends cooked up to keep them entertained over the summer. Years later, Hunter and his friends, grown up and spending more time in front of the computer than in the great outdoors, decided to try to recapture what they had already started thinking of as "the good old days."

Designing Pirate Club t-shirts soon progressed to designing characters and developing a story. The resulting comic, Pirate Club, tells the story of John, a wannabe privateer trapped in circumstances of a decidedly un-piratey nature; Bearclaw, his first mate, who is convinced he is a bear; and Phil, a the garbage man who regales them with tall tales of the sea. When Phil gives the boys his old sailboat, the Pirate Club is on its way to becoming a full-fledged scourge of the high seas.

Hunter describes Pirate Club as "everything I ever wanted to have in a comic series: Kids going on adventures, having them get away with all the things I never knew you could get away with until I was too old, fantasy, action, and a little dark humor."

Hunter sent off a few copies of his self-published Pirate Club comic to comic book creators whose work he admired. Among them was Dan Vado, president and publisher of SLG. Vado contacted Hunter with advice on how the comic's production might be improved, and eventually offered Hunter a spot on SLG's roster. "It was a really weird experience for me," said Hunter. "I never really thought being published was a possibility, but I'm glad I sent my stuff out there, and I am especially glad that Dan took a chance with a country bumpkin like me."

Pirate Club is a 24-page black-and-white series scheduled to be released quarterly starting in February 2004. It will retail for $2.95 an issue. A preview of the first issue is available at SLG Publishing's website, www.slavelabor.com.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Due to an unforeseen shipping delay, the Cartoon Art Museum will not receive Spark Generators II until Thursday, December 11. As a result, the book signing that was to take place on Saturday, December 6 has been postponed until early 2004.

The book signing scheduled for December 13 at Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz, California, will go on as scheduled. Please visit www.cartoonart.org for details on this signing and updated information on the Cartoon Art Museum book signing.

Comic book stores throughout the country have already received copies of Spark Generators II for those of you who would like to purchase a copy before the book is made available at the Cartoon Art Museum. Call 1-800-COMIC-BOOK to find a list of comic book retailers in your area.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
A tip from Eli Bishop:

Those who have an interest in illustration, printmaking, and extravagant displays of possessiveness may want to check out the exhibit "World Ex Libris: Contemporary Bookplates" which I just saw at the San Francisco Public Library. There's a related lecture on Dec. 11.

It's a huge collection of "ex libris" bookplates – i.e. the personalized things you stick in the front of your books to make your friends ashamed of stealing them. In this case though, they would make the books much more likely to be swiped due to their amazing beauty and craft – etchings, block prints, etc. in many genres, some representational & some not, often reflecting the book collector's interests (e.g. several artists were apparently commissioned by the same guy to label his porn collection) – by 357 artists from 37 countries, mostly in Europe and Asia. Some of the illustration & design is so good it makes me sick and the small scale just somehow makes it much cooler.

This is on the lower level of the main library building (at Civic Center train station). It's running through Jan. 18. The lecture, "A Not Quite Lost Graphic Art," is in the downstairs auditorium on Thursday Dec. 11 at 6:30.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
The Brian MacKenzie Infoshop Presents:

UNDERGROUND CURRENTS
-A Celebration of Do-It-Yourself Culture, Media, Art and Zines-
December 12 and 13 - Washington DC
Art*Performances*Workshops*Tables*and More!

Friday, December 12 - $5 - 7pm at The Arthur Fleming Center
1426 9th Street NW, Washington DC 20001
Graphic Art Slide show with Political Artist:
**Seth Tobocman**
(author of War in the Neighborhood and You Don't have to Fuck People Over to Survive)
and
**Mikey Zine Movies with local artist Mikey Flugenock**
Mikey will premier his short movie on the Direct Actions that shut down the Key Bridge the day after Gulf War 2 began.

Saturday, December 13 - FREE - 12 Noon
In the Gymnasium at Shiloh Baptist Church on 9th at the corner of P Street, NW
**The 3rd annual Washington DC Zine Fair**
Dozens of Tables from Infoshops, Activist Groups, Radical Publishers, Artists and Zines from DC, all the east coast and beyond.

...and Next Door from 12:30pm - 6pm
At Arthur Flemming Center - 1426 9th Street NW Washington DC
Workshops on DIY Publishing, Underground Media, Layout and Design, Making Zines, and more. As well as performances from DC Poets Against the War and area folk musicians.

And top it all off with Dinner and Movie:
6:30pm at the Arthur Fleming Center
1426 9th Street NW Washington DC
$5 for the films, $5 for dinner

3 hours of underground and independent films from
THE LOST FILM FEST
and a vegan dinner provided by the Gourmet Cooking Cell of the Brian MacKenzie Infoshop.

Underground Currents will benefit The Brian MacKenzie Infoshop and Prevention Works!, a local Needle Exchange program working to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

For More Information or to reserve a table:
www.dcinfoshop.org
703-276-9768 ext. 7
events@dcinfoshop.org

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
• Here's a Smell of Steve comic in this week's Seattle Stranger. And while you're there, take a look at the cover by Shag.
• Ward Sutton makes election predictions in the Village Voice.
• Here's some art by Michael Cherkas from Minneapolis' City Pages.

Recommendations?

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
THE CLOUDS OPENED UP...........

"Rainbow Powers Cubed"

selected works:
Bwana Spoons
Shawn Wolfe
Arbito
Dave The Chimp

@The Compound * Portland * 107 NW 5th Avenue

Thursday, December 4th
7pm-11pm

[show runs from 12/4 till the end of the month]

www.grasshutcorp.com

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
• Read Jason Shiga's Fleep here.
• Take a look at the CD cover that just won Tomer Hanuka a Society of Illustrators Gold Medal.
• Mack White's remodeled his website.

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Spark Generators II
Book Release & Book Signings

Saturday, December 6, 2003, 2:00-5:00pm at the Cartoon Art Museum
and
Saturday, December 13, 2003, 3:00-6:00pm at Atlantis Fantasy World,
Santa Cruz

Join the Cartoon Art Museum as we celebrate the release of Spark Generators II, a comic anthology that features over two dozen cartoonists paying tribute to the creators whose works inspired them. All of the artists contributing to Spark Generators I and II have generously donated their time and talents to this project to help the Museum in its fundraising efforts.

On Saturday, December 6, the Cartoon Art Museum will host a book signing to promote the release of Spark Generators II and the re-release of the first Spark Generators collection. Spark Generators editor Jon Bean Hastings will be on hand to discuss the book and sign copies. Joining Hastings will be special guests Paige Braddock, creator of the comic "Jane's World"; Michael Jantze, creator of nationally-syndicated comic strip "The Norm"; and Keith Knight, creator of "The K Chronicles" and "th(ink)". Other artists appearing include Lee Binswanger, Jamaica Dyer, Andrew Farago, Chris Lanier, Larry Luna, Paul Madonna, Lark Pien, Jesse Reklaw and Andy Ristaino.

On December 13, Atlantis Fantasy World (1020 Cedar Street in Santa Cruz, California) will host a Spark Generators II book signing featuring Hastings, Jamaica Dyer, Larry Luna and Paul Madonna. The event will last from 3 to 6 p.m., and proceeds from sales of Spark Generators will benefit the Cartoon Art Museum.

Both signings are free and open to the public.

Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
At the Escapist Bookstore this week:

December 5-7, South First St. is throwing down with the first annual holiday bazaar! Cheap art, artisans, imports, local crafts, music, refreshments, etc etc etc! Every shop on the street is participating and, of course, we've got something special going on at the Escapist.

On Friday Dec. 5, 6:30 pm: Andrew Goldfarb, will perform with his straitjacket, as well as with his band, The Slow Poisoners. He will come in tow with his beloved comic book, Ogner Stump's One Thousand Sorrows, and other independently printed compilations. $3 donation.

and...
ALL DAY, Fri, Sat and Sun
* Handmade crafts from local artisans!
* Homemade Texas Chocolates!
* Imports from around the world; rugs, masks, jewelry!
* City Wide Cheap Art Show inside!
* gifts and books and fabric and clothes and art!

Escapist Bookstore
2209 South First St. #D
Austin, TX 78704

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Small Press Spotlight
featuring Derek Kirk Kim

San Francisco exhibit opens December 20, 2003

Beginning on December 20, 2003, the Cartoon Art Museum’s ongoing Small Press Spotlight will feature the work of Derek Kirk Kim. Educated at the Academy of Art, San Francisco, Kim wrote and illustrated small-press and self-published comics throughout the 1990s, and also handled the artistic duties on Duncan’s Kingdom, written by Gene Yang.

Kim found a massive audience when he began serializing his comics on his website, www.smallstoriesonline.com. Through sensitive – and often hilarious – slice-of-life short stories, including the graphic novella Same Difference, Kim rapidly gained a reputation as one of the most gifted cartoonists online. Comics theorist Scott McCloud lists Kim among his “Personal Top Ten” cartoonists on the internet, commenting that his “clean line and wicked sense of humor make him one of the web's most accessible cartoonists and a writer/artist to watch for the future.”

In 2003, Kim received the prestigious Xeric Grant, which allowed him to self-publish Same Difference and Other Stories, a collection of short stories previously serialized in mini-comics and online. Publishers Weekly cited Same Difference as one of the ten best graphic novels of 2003. At this year’s Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, Kim won the Ignatz Award, one of the comics industry's highest honors, for Promising New Talent of 2003. He writes and draws a comic entitled "Half Empty" for the anthology site www.serializer.net, and continues to serialize his other comics on www.smallstoriesonline.com before committing them to print.

In this exhibition, Kim demonstrates the creative process that takes his work from the sketchbook to the hand-drawn page to the final product as it appears in print. Kim answers the age-old question “How do you get your ideas down on paper?” as he leads visitors through the development of a typical Small Stories comic.


About the Small Press Spotlight:
San Francisco has been a hotbed of innovative, groundbreaking comic art since the late 1800s with the advent of the modern comic strip. In the 1960s, the Bay Area gained further notoriety when cartoonists like Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, Victor Moscoso and Trina Robbins launched the underground comix movement from San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. Today, some of the biggest names in alternative and small-press comics hail from the Bay Area, and The Cartoon Art Museum’s Small Press Spotlight will focus on these talented individuals.

A new artist's work will be on display at the Cartoon Art Museum every 12-15 weeks. Several examples of each cartoonist's work will be showcased in each installment.

Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-CAR-TOON

[ thanks to Jeff Mason ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 


------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 


A “Stitch” in Time for Li’l Red Stitch Fans
Issue 1 Offered Again in Time for Issue 2 Release

Houston, TX, December 2, 2003–Creator Courtney Huddleston and Summertime Comicbooks announced recently that Li’l Red Stitch, Issue 2 will be available to the public in February 2004. Also available as an “offered again” item through Diamond Previews will be the first issue of Huddleston’s five-issue Li’l Red Stitch mini-series.

“I just want to make this series as accessible to readers as possible,” Huddleston explained. “With the gap between issues 1 and 2, I wanted for new readers to not feel alienated from the story arc.”

Issue 1 made its debut to positive reviews and sales in July, 2003 and introduced the adventures of Hope and a very special “gift” inherited from her grandmother, the once infamous Texas outlaw Red Feather. Filled with Texas folklore, Native American myth, and the importance of family legacy, Li’l Red Stitch made a mark for itself as an all-ages title.

“We were really excited with the attention that Li’l Red Stitch, Issue 1 received and we want to make this series a great experience for all readers to come,” Huddleston said. We’ve got a lot of really neat ideas planned for Issue 2 that’ll make it very different from other titles out there. We can’t wait for fans to get a hold of it.”

Issue 2 picks up after the death of Red Feather, and follows Hope as she leaves her home on the Texas Plains for Houston and the home distant relatives. The circumstances of Mamaw's death, however, haunt the young girl, as she remembers the fateful day a herd of horses stampeded through Palo Duro Canyon to claim Mamaw as one of their own.

Lee Achison of Sequential Tart calls Li'l Red Stitch “…one of those wonderful all-ages comics that seem to come only out of the small presses and independent publishers.”

In addition, other reviewers have recognized the excitement of the storytelling and the all-age appropriateness. Michael Vance of "Suspended Animation" writes that “the exotic, near-desert setting, and concise and clear story can do nothing but captivate its intended bubble-gum chewing audience. Add to this a wonderful, minimal-istic art greatly enhanced by color, and Li’l Red Stitch becomes a sure winner for kiddos.”

Li’l Red Stitch, Issue 2 will also feature special bonus material and will travel from color into a black and white format as stated in the issue’s narration.

“But fans shouldn’t think that this is some sort of cop-out,” Huddleston said of the black and white treatment. “The change in color plays an important part of the story. You’ll see.”

Li’l Red Stitch, Issues 1 and 2 are currently solicited in the December Previews on pages 322 and 323. Issue 1 (DEC032650) features 48 pages with full-color covers and interior pages and is offered for $3.50 US. Issue 2 (DEC03261) has full-color covers with black and white interior pages and retails at $5.95 US. Both issues will also be available at www.summertimebooks.com.


------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Tampa Bay Zine Fest

Dec. 10th 2003, 7PM-11PM

The Globe Coffee Lounge
532 1st Ave. North, St. Petersburg, FL

Josh Sullivan and local St. Petersburg, FL zinesters are organizing a massive self-published book called Stand Together featuring one page each by many of the area's most creative people as well as a bunch from across the country. For the release of the book, we will be having a zine fest where everyone can come out and meet those that submitted pages and get more info about them. Also, this will be a chance to purchase other books done by the creators, if they have them available. More specific information on who will be present will be made closer to Dec. 10th.

http://www.joshcomics.com

[ thanks to Jeff Mason ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Roll Out the Barrel: Small Press Fest

Friday December 5th

7:00pm-9:30pm

$3-5 sliding scale

Readings, music, book raffle, art, author signings, mingling, editor shenanigans and more!

Featuring monkeyshines from:
* Blue Barnhouse with Sean McClain Brown
* Tougher Disguises Press with Cynthia Sailers
* Contributors to Five Fingers Review
* Watchword Press with Calla Devlin, whose story in Watchword 5 received honorable mention in Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003
* Kitchen Sink Magazine with Pushcard Nominee Michael Larkin reading from his essay in the upcoming issue
* Manic D Press author Jon Longhi reading from his forthcoming novel, Wake Up and Smell the Beer

$2 beer and wine, program will start at 7:30pm

Swedish American Hall
2174 Market Street
San Francisco

Upstairs from Cafe Du Nord.

[ thanks to Matt Holdaway ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
2004 Submission Deadline: Feb. 1st, 2004

Application forms are available on our website.

Call for Submissions

You are invited to submit your bookworks, zines, and independent publications to be juried for the 2004 North American tour of projet MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE project. The collection will be selected based on inventive explorations of the book as a system and creative manipulations of its form. Works that are politically engaging, collaboratively produced and works that challenge conventional conceptions of "the book" are encouraged. A jury will be held in March to determine the 2003 selection. Good luck!

_Warning:
As the collection will be traveling on bumpy roads and handled by many readers, your bookwork may suffer a little wear and tear during the tour. Please keep this in mind when you submit a one of a kind bookwork.

_Limitations:
Space in the Airstream is limited so extremely large submissions may not be appropriate. There is no limit to the number of submissions per person.

_Send it:
To submit, please complete the APPLICATION FORM. Print a copy for each additional submission. SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT APPLICATION FORMS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Send the book work with an APPLICATION FORM, and a self addressed
envelope to:

CANADA
project MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE project
PO Box 42062
Montreal, Que, H2W 2T3
U.S.
project MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE project
c/o Space 1026
1026 Arch Street
Philadelphia PA 19107

_Reply:
If your work is selected we will contact you by e-mail or mail. If your work is not selected we will return it to you safely in the self-addressed envelope that you totally sent us. Thanks for your participation!

http://www.mobilivre.org/

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Cartoonist Matt Feazell will be signing his new collection of The Amazing Cynicalman at Green Brain Comics this Wednesday from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.

Green Brain Comics
13210 Michigan Ave.
(3 blocks east of Schaefer, 1/2 mile west of I-94)
Dearborn, MI
313-582-9444

[ thanks to Jim Mackey ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
It was a downhill alley race, feet up, pedals spinning (neatly dodging garbage cans). Younger siblings peeking through knot holes and on tiptoes over the fence with cereal box periscopes. A hush over all, awaiting the inevitable crash kaboom explosion into big piles of leaves...

GLIDE SKID COLLIDE
new paintings, drawings, prints and other stuff by Souther Salazar

Dec 6th-Jan 20th
Opening Reception: Saturday, Dec. 6th, 6:30 - 10:00pm

at:

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
West Los Angeles 90025
310.445.9275
www.gr2.net

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
Where have all the comix gone?
2:30PM - 4:00PM :: Visible Ink, Upstairs

Is Brisbane's ever growing community of zinerz leaving their comix counterparts behind? Or are comix creators actually just livin' it up on their turf around Briz-Vegas? And just what is happening on their side of the world full stop? Come meet some of Brisbane's finest comix writers talk about their creations, their community, Brisbane's comics publishing history, and possible futures for comix within the Brisbane independent publishing scene as a whole. This will be a flow-on discussion panel from the 'Bedroom Hermits Unite' roundtable.

With: Phatsville Comix, Luke Webber, Jules Faber of Sporadic Comix, Brad Daniels of Groovy Gravy and Glen Manders of Stripsearch Press and Comix etc.
Facilitated by Sean Taylor

The festival runs December 3-7.

More information: http://www.straightoutofbrisbane.com

[ thanks to Quickdraw ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------

 
The University of Florida has founded ImageText, an online academic journal established to "advance the academic study of comic books, comic strips, and animated cartoons." The journal, under the direction of General Editor Donald Ault, will run peer-reviewed papers "that investigate the material, historical, theoretical, and cultural implications of visual textuality... ImageTexT will include reviews of current scholarship in the field, announcements regarding relevant conferences and upcoming publications, and links to other theoretical projects of interest to readers. ImageTexT will also provide currently unavailable English-language translations of seminal essays of comics theory." The journal's edtorial board includes Will Eisner, M. Thomas Inge, David Kunzle, Roger Sabin and Joseph Witek, among others.

For more information: http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/

[ thanks to Jeff Mason and Egon ]

------------------------------------------- [ Link to this item ] (0) comments
-------------------------------------------