Dave Kellett
Second Kickstarter launches for ‘Stripped’ documentary
There are two remarkable things about Dave Kellett’s Kickstarter for his documentary Stripped. The first is that the pitch video includes a snippet of what Kellett claims is the first-ever audio interview with reclusive Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson. That alone is going to make this film a must-see for a lot of people.
The second is that this is a Kickstarter for a project that’s already fully funded. What Kellett is looking for with this second campaign is access to more licensed footage:
Dave Kellett’s Sheldon goes meta
Thursday’s installment of the webcomic Sheldon is a neat little behind-the-scenes sequence in which we get to see the characters backstage, before they go on. If you’re a regular reader of the strip (as I am), the biggest shock may be seeing the main character, Sheldon, without his glasses. It’s also cool that when they step into the strip, the characters change from color to black and white, although they don’t slip into character right away. Plus they get in a few digs about the comics life. It’s well worth the click.
In the blog, creator Dave Kellett notes that this is the end of Season 13 for Sheldon, but there is a bit of uncertainty as to how old the comic actually is. Apparently Kellett didn’t date the early strips, so he’s not entirely sure when they went online for the first time. That’s an interesting problem; you’d think everything would be date-stamped automatically, but I guess back then that wasn’t always the case. It does make one wonder how many other webcomics are of an uncertain age.
Kellett also reassures readers that the strip will continue (whew!) but adds that his priorities will be changing in the next year when his documentary Stripped: The End of the Funny Pages will be released.
Read Dave Kellet’s Eisner-nominated book for free
As many of you know, I was an Eisner judge this year, and I can tell you that anytime someone was reading Dave Kellet’s Coffee: It’s What’s for Dinner, I heard giggling–even from the non-coffee drinkers. It’s a compilation of coffee-related strips from his daily webcomic Sheldon in which he affectionately mocks the extremes to which the caffeine habit drives people, and it’s full of his trademark deadpan humor.
Kellet is celebrating his second nomination in two years by making the book available for free download. It’s DRM-free, so you can read it anywhere, but I suggest you keep it to areas where you can laugh out loud without causing a disruption.
Comics A.M. | Man charged with insider trading in Disney-Marvel deal
Disney & Marvel
Legal | The Los Angeles Times reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Toby G. Scammell with insider trading. Scammell has been accused of using confidential information “surreptitiously gleaned” from his girlfriend to make $192,000 off of Disney’s 2009 acquisition of Marvel Entertainment. Scammell’s girlfriend was an intern working in the corporate strategy department at Disney. [Los Angeles Times]
Comics | Heidi MacDonald rounds up questions creators have raised about the Womanthology project, which raised $109,000 on Kickstarter, specifically about how the extra money will be used and whether the creators who are involved will be paid. Organizer Renae De Liz has posted additional details on the Womanthology site. [The Beat]
Conventions | Wizard World Chicago Comic Con gets into full swing today in Rosemont, Illinois. Comics guests include Brian Azzarello, Jim Cheung, Mike Deodato Jr., Gary Friedrich, Patrick Gleason, Mike Grell, Dave Johnson, Ariel Olivetti, Eduardo Risso, Bill Sienkiewicz and Ethan Van Sciver. The Chicago Sun-Times briefly spotlights attending artists Ivan Brunetti and Don Kramer, while the Daily Herald interviews Brunetti and Nate Powell. [Wizard World]
NCS invites webcomics creators to the party
It’s not exactly pirates vs. ninjas, but there has been, shall we say, some ill feeling between webcomics creators and the National Cartoonists Society over the years. But there comes a time to put away childish things, including feuds, and this year the NCS actually invited three webcomics creators—Kate Beaton, Randall Munroe, and Dave Kellett—to present a panel at their annual meeting, which was held this past weekend in Boston. Naturally, Kellett worked this event, along with some of the high points of the evening, into his daily webcomic, Sheldon.
The big news of the evening was that Richard Thompson won the award for outstanding cartoonist of the year, an honor that anyone who reads Cul de Sac can tell you was well deserved. The award for best newspaper strip went to Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley’s Dustin, Jill Thompson won the Best Comic Book Award for Beast of Burden, and Joyce Farmer took Best Graphic Novel honors for Special Exits.
Comics A.M. | Minnesota GOP leader apologizes to Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Politics | Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean has apologized for calling Neil Gaiman a “pencil-necked little weasel,” but contends the author and comics writer should return the $45,000 fee he received in May 2010 for speaking at the Stillwater, Minn., library (Gaiman donated the money, minus agents fees, to charity). Dean’s original remarks were made during a discussion of how the state’s tax-generated Legacy funds for the arts are spent. He was quoted as saying that Gaiman, “who I hate,” is a “pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota.”
Now, however, the Republican lawmaker has dialed back the rhetoric while standing by his underlying criticism. “My mom is staying with us right now,” he tells Minnesota Public Radio. My wife’s out of town, and she was very angry this morning and always taught me to not be a name caller. And I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologize.”
Gaiman, who responded to Dean’s initial comments early Wednesday on Twitter, has since expanded on his remarks on his website, writing in part, “I don’t like the idea that a politician is telling people that charging a market wage for their services is stealing.” [Minnesota Public Radio, Underwire]
Comics | A psychologist has been brought in to a Houston elementary school after a group of fourth-graders created a comic book allegedly depicting them holding a gun to the head of one of their classmates. [My Fox Houston]
What Are You Reading?
Gingerbread Girl
Hello and welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading? Our special guest today is Emily Stackhouse, creator of the award-winning minicomic Brazilianoir and her latest, Miner’s Mutiny.
To see what Emily and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.
Dave Kellett shows off his original art
A George McManus Bringing up Father strip from Dave Kellett's studio
Dave Kellett has posted a set of photos of original art he has hanging in Small Fish Studios, including a few fan-made objects and original comic art by everyone from Mort Walker to Dylan Meconis. Dave is the creator of the long-running webcomic Sheldon, and the newer sci-fi comic Drive. The interesting thing about these photos is they are showing the strips as objects, but I really wanted to read them. Alas, the tinted glass and occasional awkward angle make that hard to do. (Alas, Kellett has hung his artwork up high.) Still, it’s worth clicking over to see an original Richard Thompson piece, David Malki’s Wondermark-esque take on Sheldon, and even an 18th-century print by the godfather of sequential art, William Hogarth.
(Via The Daily Cartoonist. Photo (c) All rights reserved by smallfishstudios)