2010 April
Kickstart my art | Patric Lewandowski’s Terminal Life
Cartoonist Patric Lewandowski has a project up on Kickstarter right now for a graphic novel memoir he wants to do called Terminal Life. Lewandowski’s father was diagnosed with lung cancer when he was nine, and he plans to create a graphic novel about what it’s like to grow up with a terminally ill parent.
This graphic novel, tentatively titled “Terminal Life” is about that first year when my father was diagnosed, had surgery, and it became apparent that my life had changed forever. This is the story of how, as a child, I came to the realization that my father could die at any moment and how I tried to live with that.
With your funding, I will create this black and white graphic novel. Your contribution to our goal of $6,000 helps me not only print the book, but also provides income for me to take time to draw the book. “Terminal Life” is a project that is deeply personal. I have been making comics for a long time, perhaps you know me from the daily strip “Freaks N Squeeks,” but I feel that I’ve never made a comic as good as I am. This project promises to be the best work I have ever done and the most meaningful.
And of course he has several incentives set up for donations as little as $5. Go check it out.
- April 22, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Comics Cavalcade | Turtles, pandas and Peter Bagge
Every day people post comics on the Internet. Here are a few that caught our eyes.
Nevermind The Bollocks, Here’s a Comic! by Nomi Kane
- April 22, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Slash Print | Following the digital evolution
Yen Plus
Manga | Following up on Wednesday’s announcement that Yen Press will move its Yen Plus manga magazine online after the July issue, Gia Manry gets a few more details from Publishing Director Kurt Hassler — among them, that the web version will utilize a dedicated browser designed to emulate the print edition.
Digital publishing | In its White Paper presented last week at C2E2, ICv2 estimates that digital comics sales in North America last year totaled between $500,000 and $1 million. Naturally, it’s expected that sales in 2010 will “expand dramatically.”
iTunes | After Apple CEO Steve Jobs weighed in on the issue, the company has approved for its App store the NewsToon app from Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore. Apple had rejected the app in December, stating that Fiore’s Flash-animated political satire, “contains content that ridicules public figures,” a violation of its iPhone Developer Program License Agreement.
Digital comics | At Extreme Tech, Jim Lynch provides a lengthy overview of comics on Apple’s iPad: “Marvel and the other publishers have taken some important first steps, but they still have a way to go. The iPad has solved the problem of storage and readability, but now publishers must provide the app features, subscriptions, and digital delivery that will fully take advantage of the iPad and make reading comics on it as easy and as much fun as reading them in traditional book form.”
Copyright | A response to a brief post about the Manga Rock 1.0 app is a contender for quote of the day: “This is awful. You’re PAYING to use OneManga, which illegally hosts copyrighted materials! This is such crap.”
- April 22, 2010 @ 11:32 AM by Kevin Melrose
Jaime Hernandez: ‘I’m gonna do it as long as I think it’s worth doing’
The Village Voice
In this week’s Village Voice, R.C. Baker takes cartoonist Jaime Hernandez and art historian Todd Hignite to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, where they chat about Hernandez’s work as well as that of Andy Warhol, Jacob Lawrence and Jackson Pollock.
- April 22, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | The Page 100 Project
Jason Turner has kicked off a fun art project on his LiveJournal:
So ages ago, Dave Howard suggested to me that it might be an interesting idea for cartoonists to try adapting a part of a novel they liked. And then recently when JD Sallinger died, that notion came back to me, and then I thought oh it might be interesting to attempt to do a comic of some portion of one of his books. And as I sat on the couch staring at the shelves of books, I thought it might be fun to try it with different books. Maybe just a page. Maybe the SAME PAGE from each book. Say, page 100. And thus…
Above is Turner’s first “Page 100″ comic, from Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policemen’s Union.
- April 22, 2010 @ 10:15 AM by JK Parkin
A literary moment: Words Without Borders
King-Ma Has Come
Words Without Borders is an online and print journal that focuses on translations of literary works, including graphic novels. The Australian radio show The Book Show just featured Words Without Borders editor Sarah Harris talking about the challenges of translating graphic novels (you can listen to the show at the link), which reminded me to click over and see what they are up to.
It’s a mix. Baudelaire, the Metaphysical Ostrich is, as you might expect, a gag strip about philosophy, translated from the Italian. Proud Beggars is a Tintin-esque story set in the slums of Cairo. And King-Ma Has Come is an over-the-top satire on Chinese history. They only post a chapter or so of most comics, but they seem to be translating the North Korean comic Blizzard in the Jungle at length.
- April 22, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
Meet Kevin Keller, Riverdale’s first openly gay resident
Kevin Keller
As we noted yesterday, Archie Comics is introducing its first gay character later this year. Courtesy of Archie Comics, we have exclusive artwork of the character design for Kevin Keller. You can find more of it here.
“The introduction of Kevin is just about keeping the world of Archie Comics current and inclusive. Archie’s hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone. It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books,” said Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater.
Check out the complete press release after the jump …
- April 22, 2010 @ 08:53 AM by JK Parkin
This weekend, it’s the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo
Fast Forward Weekly
The Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo gets the red-carpet treatment from the city’s alternative newspaper Fast Forward Weekly, which devotes its cover and a handful of articles — all illustrated by Travis Sengaus — to this weekend’s event.
There’s a convention overview, plus profiles of guests Chris Claremont, Bruce Timm and Sid Haig.
Held Saturday and Sunday at the BMO Round Up Centre in Calgary, the expo features a solid lineup of comics guests, including Kalman Andrasofszky, Art Baltazar, Jeffrey Brown, Rich Buckler, Stefano Caselli, Clayton Crain, Camilla d’Errico, Lar DeSouza, Ray Fawkes, Chris Giarrusso, Pia Guerra, Tony Harris, Greg Horn, Dale Keown, Leonard Kirk, Scott Morse, Steve Niles, Cary Nord, Ryan North, Brandon Peterson, Eric Powell, Andy Runton, Filip Sablik, Stan Sakai, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ryan Sohmer, Fiona Staples, Christina Strain, Jill Thompson, Matt Wagner and Len Wein.
- April 22, 2010 @ 08:15 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Superman and Spider-Man sell windows
Superman ad for Stroy Master windows, from BBDO Moscow
Advertising-archive website Coloribus showcases two adorable, and undoubtedly trademark-infringing, Russian print ads that show Spider-Man and Superman enjoying the benefits of Stroy Master soundproof windows. Weep for the residents of New York City and Metropolis.
- April 22, 2010 @ 07:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
It’s a Garo world
Dirk Deppey's find: A 1992 issue of Garo
There’s an exhibit up at the Center for Book Arts in New York right now about the early years of pioneering Japanese comics magazine Garo. The other day I linked to an interesting essay by the curator of the show, Ryan Holmberg, that was rather surprising — I don’t think most people think of it as antiwar propaganda for children, but that was the original intent.
Anyway, the exhibit seems to be getting people’s attention, and for the curious who would like to see more, Dirk Deppey has put up a monster post with many, many scans of a single issue, which he picked up in 1992 (long after the scope of the NYC exhibit). It’s all in Japanese, but Dirk has some explanations (garnered in part from comments to the original blog posts). Set aside some time for this one.
Still curious? Julia Rothman went to the exhibit and took some pictures for her site, Book By Its Cover. And here’s an interview with a Garo editor.
- April 22, 2010 @ 07:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Archie Comics to introduce gay character, cartoonist says [Updated]
Veronica #202
Archie’s relationship with Valerie was only the beginning of the changes coming to Riverdale, apparently.
In an interview at C2E2 with gay podcast Feast of Fun, longtime Archie Comics cartoonist Dan Parent casually revealed that September’s Veronica #202 will feature the introduction of a gay character named Kevin Keller.
“The plotline is that Veronica’s got the hots for this guy and can’t understand why he’s not interested in her,” Parent said, “and … he’s gay.”
The cartoonist said that while readers shouldn’t expect any of the regular characters to come out of the closet, we shouldn’t look for residents of Riverdale to make a big deal about Kevin’s sexuality, either. “The reaction is going to be, there isn’t going to be a reaction — it’s just going to be acceptance,” he said.
In the interview, Parent also discussed Archie’s new relationship with Valerie, which he said will continue.
“They’re a great couple, which is why we’re going to be continuing the stories with them because, y’know, they just make a great couple,” he said. “I mean, the interracial aspect is there, of course, but the main thing is to do a good story with good characters.”
Update (Thursday, April 22): This morning Archie Comics officially announced the introduction of Kevin Keller and provided details of the story, titled “Isn’t it Bromantic?”
Watch the full interview after the break.
- April 21, 2010 @ 06:09 PM by Kevin Melrose
Send us your Shelf Porn!
Welcome once again to Shelf Porn, our weekly look at one fan’s shelves. Would you like to show off your shelves? Drop me an email and let’s see what we can do.
Today’s edition of Shelf Porn comes from book reviewer Joshua Hill. While he has a small-but-growing comic shelf, he more than makes up for it with his collection of science fiction books. So let’s turn it over to Josh …
- April 21, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by JK Parkin
This weekend, it’s the Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo
Poster for the 11th annual SPACE, by Tom Williams
The 11th annual Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo (SPACE) will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Ramada Plaza Hotel & Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio. Exhibitors include Guy Davis, Paul Hornschemeier, Lora Innes, Sean McKeever, William Messner-Loebs, Dara Naraghi, Nate Powell, Jim Rugg, Tom Scioli, Carol Tyler and Tom Williams.
The convention will feature the presentation of the 2009 SPACE Prize.
- April 21, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
This weekend, it’s NOLA Comic-Con
NOLA Comic-Con
NOLA Comic-Con will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Portchartrain Center in Kenner, Louisiana. Guests include Kody Chamberlain, John Dell, Derec Donovan, Victor Gischler, Rob Guillory, Dave Johnson, Robby Musso and Darick Robertson.
- April 21, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by Kevin Melrose
Is this the first look at the Superman: Earth One cover?
Superman: Earth One
I don’t remember seeing this anywhere else, but maybe I just missed it … Amazon has listed the upcoming Superman: Earth One graphic novel by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis, giving us (I think) the first look at the cover. They have it listed as coming out on Nov. 2, which is a Tuesday.
- April 21, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin