Jim Davis
Comics A.M. | Steve Rude’s home, Jim Davis’ apology, Stan Lee’s star
From Steve Rude's 2011 calendar
Creators | Renowned artist Steve Rude has announced that money raised from an online art and comics auction has enabled he and his family to keep their home: “When I saw the bread coming in after Gino made her announcement (this was unbeknownst to the oblivious Dude), I was, and still am, in a mild state of stupefication. The outpouring of generosity was clearly far beyond what Gino and I could’ve asked for. Your contributions poured in from all corners of our planet; the sizeable backstock of comics and Dude related ‘higher reading paraphernalia’ were ordered by the spit-load; and Erik Larson bought his complete Next Nexus 3 issue! All said, we saved the house.” The Nexus creator is still working to regain his financial footing, so he’s selling 2011 calendars and, soon, a new sketchbook. [DudeNews]
Creators | Stan Lee will receive his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Jan. 4. [Mark Evanier]
Jim Davis
Comic strips | Cartoonist Jim Davis has issued an apology for an ill-timed Garfield strip that appeared on Veterans Day. The strip, which appeared in newspapers on Thursday, featured a standoff between Garfield and a spider, and referred to “an annual day of remembrance” called “National Stupid Day.” In a statement, Davis explained that the strip was written almost a year ago, “and I had no idea when writing it that it would appear today — of all days.” [CNN, The Daily Cartoonist]
Conventions | Wizard World Austin Comic Con kicks off today at the Austin Convention Center. [The A.V. Club Austin, KXAN]
Garfield creator Jim Davis resurrects U.S. Acres as a webcomic
U.S. Acres 2nd Volume (out of print)
Famed cartoonist Jim Davis, creator Garfield, announced Thursday in an interview with USA Today’s Whitney Matheson that he is bringing back his late-’80s comic strip U.S. Acres as a webcomic. Davis, who launched Garfield in 1978, debuted U.S. Acres in 1986 to a then-unprecedented 505 newspapers nationwide. The series, which ran for three years, was a barnyard slapstick comic strip that drew inspiration from Garfield’s own visits to the farm with John’s relatives, and started Orson the Pig. The strip also was adapted for television, appearing as a regular segment of the Saturday-morning cartoon Garfield and Friends.
According to Davis, U.S. Acres will relaunch today as a webcomic on the Garfield website. No word on a new print collection, but one seems mighty likely.