events
Comics A.M. | Michael George loses appeal for new trial
Michael George
Legal | Former comics retailer Michael George has lost his appeal for a new trial. He was convicted twice for the 1990 murder of his wife, first in 2008 and then in a 2011 retrial. George is serving life in prison without parole. [The Macomb Daily]
Creators | John Sutter profiles Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat, whose hands were broken by government troops in an (unsuccessful) attempt to keep him from ever drawing again. [CNN]
Creators | Michael Diana, the first artist in the United States to be convicted of obscenity (for his comic Boiled Angel), returns to Miami after more than 20 years for a show of his work at the Miami Art Museum — which paid his remaining fines so he could enter the state without risk of arrest. [Miami New Times]
Comics A.M. | This weekend, it’s … a bunch of conventions
Maine Comic Arts Festival
Conventions | Jeff Smith, Rick Parker and Raina Telgemeier are the featured guests at this weekend’s Maine Comic Arts Festival in Portland. [Portland Press Herald]
Conventions | Britton Peele takes a look at this weekend’s Dallas Comic Con, which will include an array of media guests and comics creators. [Pegasus News]
Conventions | Meanwhile, Stan Lee will be at Detroit’s Motor City Comic Con, along with Ramon Bachs, Katie Cook and a host of other creators. And some media guests. [The Detroit News]
Comic shops host creators after Boston Comic Con postponed
With the Boston Comic Con being postponed due to the lockdown that was in place until last night as police searched for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, several area comic shops are holding impromptu events this weekend with various creators. Here’s a rundown if you’re looking for something to do in Boston today, and if we missed any, please let us know in the comments section:
• As noted in CBR yesterday, Larry’s Comics in Lowell, Mass. is hosting a mini-con — Slum-Con? — featuring Mike Choi, Sean Gordon Murphy, Cesar Feliciano and many more. Check out the shop’s Twitter feed for a live stream of the event.
• Comicazi in Davis Square, Somerville, has announced that it will host a “Not-The-Boston-Comic-Con Get-Together,” with guests Tim Seeley, Tim Sale, Don Rosa, Agnes Garbowska, David Mack, Ming Doyle, Erica Henderson, and possibly some others on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Friendly Neighborhood Comics in Bellingham will have a meet-the-artists event featuring Carlos Pacheco, Craig Rousseau, Kelly Yates, and others from 12-4 p.m. on Saturday.
• Studios at Porter Mills, in Beverly, will host a Beverly Comic Con from 4-9 p.m. on Saturday. “Tons of artists on hand (including many that would have been at Comic con) and a few special guests!”
• Comicopia will host Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb, the artists for the Adventure Time comic, from 1-3 Sunday.
(Hat tip: Brigid Alverson)
Celebrate a comics legend during Will Eisner Week 2013
This March marks the 35th anniversary of the publication of Will Eisner’s influential graphic novel A Contract with God, and to celebrate, the Will and Ann Eisner Family Foundation is hosting a 10-day series of events in more than a dozen cities. The theme is one that’s worth getting behind — “Read a Graphic Novel.”
“This year, we will be having Will Eisner Week celebrations in more places than ever before,” said Will Eisner Week Organizing Committee Chair Danny Fingeroth in a press release. “The people doing the events are planning some amazing happenings that will spread the word about how cool graphic novels are, and that celebrate Will Eisner’s astonishing body of work done over a career that spanned seven decades.”
Events will take place across America, from Oregon to Arkansas to New York, and will include panels at cons, guest lectures and readings, and screenings of Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist. Check out the event poster and schedule below.
Bryan Lee O’Malley vs. Battle Royale
Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley and artist Kevin Tong have created a movie poster for the cult film Battle Royale in conjunction with Mondo and Tugg Inc.
Mondo is the T-shirt/limited edition print arm of the Alamo Drafthouse, which creates really awesome but also really hard-to-get prints for various films. (check some of their past ones out right here). Tugg Inc., meanwhile, is “a web-platform that enables individuals to choose the films that play in their local theaters and create their own events.” Which sounds pretty cool, if you’ve got the time and energy to pursue it. They’ve recently added Battle Royale to their library, meaning you can create an event in your town and get your hands on some of these posters to give away at it. Or if you’re in Houston, there’s one scheduled for Feb. 16.
Check out the poster and the variant edition below, along with the complete press release.
Portland’s Floating World Comics to host art tribute to The Incal
Although not as well-known in the United States as Jack Kirby or Stan Lee, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius are vaunted names for knowledgeable comics fans, no matter which side of the Atlantic you live on. And now Portland, Oregon’s Floating World Comics is hosting an exhibit in February paying homage to the duo’s groundbreaking sci-fi graphic novel The Incal.
Titled “As Above So Below,” this gallery-style exhibition will feature homages to The Incal by more than 20 illustrators and fine artists as collected by blogger Ian MacEwan. Participating artists include Killian Eng (who did the poster at right), Ari Bach, A.T. Pratt, Brett Cook, Chase Van Weerdhuizen, Dave Taylor, Duncan Gist, Gil Agudin, John Thomason, Kara Frame, Luis Bañuelos, Orion, Matt Horak, Nic Williams, Nickolej Villiger, Nicolas Delort, Ricardo García Hernanz, Ruth Knight, Sloane Leong, Spencer Hawkes and Wren McDonald.
This exhibit began its life when MacEwan put out a call on his tumblr Quenched Consciousness for artists to redraw a single panel from The Incal.
James Jean publishes catalog for new exhibition, sells out quick
Just as an addendum to Wednesday’s news when we ran a link to the modern art blog Arrested Motion’s preview coverage of the new James Jean exhibition at New York’s Tilton Gallery: they have now posted a couple of pages of images from the show’s catalog, published by Pressure Printing in a signed-and-numbered limited edition of 1000 that sold out in less than two days — well, it was an extremely handsome edition, packed full of beautiful new work, priced at only $38! Presumably when these start showing up soon on Ebay, they’ll be going for considerably more than that. Join me in consoling yourself for missing out on this bargain by checking out the gallery of beautiful artwork below. Continue Reading »
New James Jean exhibit opens at New York’s Tilton Gallery
James Jean‘s new solo exhibition “Parallel Lives” opens today at the Tilton Gallery in New York City. It’s great to see the former Vertigo staple continue to make a splash in the fine art world with his amazing work. The art blog Arrested Motion has a three-page preview of the spectacular show, with many shots of Jean and his team installing giant multi-canvas/multi-media pieces. See some examples below.
Seattle’s Ltd. gallery hosts comics-heavy ‘Pop! 2′ exhibit
Bruce Yan's "I Heart Gotham"
The Seattle art gallery Ltd. celebrated its first anniversary Thursday with the opening of “Pop! 2,” an exhibit in which assorted artists tackle characters from movies, games, television, music and comics.
The exhibition features the work of many illustrators paying tribute to classic comics icons, and work available there also includes a couple of comics artists drawing characters from the realm of computer games from the previous show “Press Start” and more comics-related work from March’s “Mint Condition.” Some striking stuff, and most pieces are available as prints from the gallery. More work below.
This weekend, it’s Women of Wonder Day in Portland and San Antonio (and on eBay)
Wonder Girl by Ryan Kelly
For seven years Andy Mangels and a host of supporters have put on Women of Wonder Day to benefit domestic violence prevention and intervention charity programs. This year’s events take place tomorrow in Portland, Ore. and San Antonio, Texas, but even if you aren’t close enough to attend one of them, you can still get in on the fun and help out via a series of eBay auctions.
First off, on eBay, you’ll find artwork by Ryan Kelly (above), George Perez, Tom Yeates, Pete Woods and many more, along with autographed scripts by Brian Michael Bendis and several DVD collections. The two stores hosting events–Excalibur Comics in Portland and Heroes and Fantasies in San Antonio–have their own auctions going on, as well as in-store signings, giveaways and costumed visitors.
Check out the press release below, or visit the event’s website for more information.
Noto, Wood and Geddes launch NYC gallery shows this weekend
Comic artists continue their takeover of the fine-art world with three gallery exhibitions starting over the next few days: Phil Noto has just launched his movie-themed solo show 35mm at the Bold Hype gallery in New York City, while Ashley Wood and Jeremy Geddes are debuting new work at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, also in New York, over the weekend. Examples from all three artists below.
NYCC | Oni Press, Bergen Street Comics team for signing party
If you find yourself in New York City next week the day before New York Comic Con, you might consider swinging through Brooklyn for the Oni Press event at Bergen Street Comics described as “the most radical of all signings known to man” — and perhaps chimpanzee.
Radical or not, the Wednesday event will feature Petrograd collaborators Phillip Gelatt and Tyler Crook and Guerillas creator Brahm Revel.
Published last year by Oni, Petrograd follows a reluctant British spy who during World War I was assigned to orchestrate the death of Grigori Rasputin, the most trusted desire to Russia’s tsarina and the country surrogate ruler. Set during the Vietnam War, Guerillas features a platoon of chain-smoking chimpanzees that’s been transformed into the most dangerous fighting force in the jungles.
The signing party begins Oct. 10 at 5 p.m. at Bergen Street Comics, 470 Bergen St, Brooklyn. New York Comic Con kicks off Thursday at the Jacob Javits Center. Read the full announcement below:
Are you ready for the fourth annual 30 Characters Challenge?
Rich the music warrior, by Daisy Chan, from 2011's 30 Character's Challenge
Registration has opened for the fourth annual 30 Characters Challenge, the month-long event that encourages writers and artists to create 30 characters in 30 days. That’s one new character for every day of November.
Why? As the event’s website states, “Because the world needs new characters. And more importantly, it needs YOUR new characters. Sometimes all it takes is a little challenge to get those creative juices flowing.” According to organizers, more than 1,000 have participated in the challenge since 2009; of those, about 100 were able to complete it.
You can learn all the details, including how to register and where to upload characters, on the challenge’s website. You can also browse the gallery of last year’s character contributions. Registration ends Oct. 31; the 30 Characters Challenge begins Nov. 1.
First look: Alex Ross’ poster for his Norman Rockwell Museum exhibit
Sal Abbinanti has provided Robot 6 with the first look at Alex Ross’ new poster image for “Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross,” the upcoming exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. See the full painting below.
Opening Nov. 10, the exhibit features more than 130 paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures from the personal collection of Ross, who’s often characterized as “the Norman Rockwell of the comics world.” According to the museum, the pieces range from a crayon drawing of Spider-Man that the artist drew at age 4 to paintings for Marvels, Kingdom Come, Green Hornet and Flash Gordon (you can view some of the pieces on the exhibition’s website). Ross himself will appear at the opening celebration for the first museum exhibition of his work.
Comics A.M. | Sergio Toppi dies; what makes Spider-Man special
Sergio Toppi self-portrait
Passings | Italian comics artist Sergio Toppi has died at the age of 79. Most of his work seems to have been in Italian and French, but Archaia has plans to publish an English-language edition of his version of the Arabian Nights, Sharaz-De. [The Beat, Archaia]
Comics | Brian Truitt marks Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary by talking to creators from Stan Lee to Brian Michael Bendis about the 10 traits that make the web-slinger special. On a related note, Complex runs down the 50 most iconic Spider-Man images. [USA Today]
Publishing | If you’re interested in self-publishing, Todd Allen’s latest article about Ingram’s new, lower-cost color print-on-demand service is a must-read. Allen does the math for several different scenarios, in terms of format and distribution method, and boils it down into several handy charts. [Publishers Weekly]
