Monday, May 11, 2009

May 11: Spider-Man 2 movie in Crystal City

Crystal Screen - Superheroes

Join the Crystal City BID for 21 weeks of Superheros! On Monday nights from May 4, 2009-September 21, 2009, Crystal City will be protected by Batman, Spiderman, Superman, and many others. Each night will also have special giveaways, sponsors, and other activities.

Date(s):
May 4, 2009 - September 21, 2009

Location:
18th and Bell Street - Courtyard Across from Crystal City Metro Station & Marriott Hotel

Event Fee:
Free

Hours:
Movies begin at sundown

Description:
Join the Crystal City BID for 21 weeks of Superheros! On Monday nights from May 4, 2009-September 21, 2009, Crystal City will be protected by Batman, Spiderman, Superman, and many others. Each night will also have special giveaways, sponsors, and other activities. Check back here for more information.

CRYSTAL KID BONUS: Since it gets dark later in the summer and movies often start past bedtime, the BID has partnered with Crystal City Sports Pub to rebroadcast each movie at 3:30 PM on the 3rd Floor of CCSP on the Wednesday following the outdoor showing, starting May 6. Bring your kids and a blanket and enjoy the fabulous surround network of TVs.

Festival Rules: Patrons can bring their own picnics as long as they abide by city and festival rules. Low-backed chairs and blankets are allowed, but grills, umbrellas, and pets are prohibited.


Schedule

May 11, 2009 - Spider-Man 2
May 13, 2009 - Spider-Man 2 - at CCSP
May 18, 2009 - Spider-Man 3
May 20, 2009 - Spider-Man 3 - at CCSP
May 25, 2009 - The Hulk
May 27, 2009 - The Hulk - at CCSP
June 1, 2009 - Hulk 2: The Incredible Hulk
June 3, 2009 - Hulk 2: The Incredible Hulk - at CCSP
June 8, 2009 - Superman: The Superman Movie
June 10, 2009 - Superman: The Superman Movie - at CCSP
June 15, 2009 - Superman 2
June 17, 2009 - Superman 2 - at CCSP
June 22, 2009 - Superman 3: Superman vs. Superman
June 24, 2009 - Superman 3: Superman vs. Superman - at CCSP
June 29, 2009 - Superman 4: The Quest for Peace
June 31, 2009 - Superman 4: The Quest for Peace - at CCSP
July 6, 2009 - Superman 5: Superman Returns
July 8, 2009 - Superman 5: Superman Returns - at CCSP
July 13, 2009 - X-Men
July 15, 2009 - X-Men - at CCSP
July 20, 2009 - X2
July 22, 2009 - X2 - at CCSP
July 27, 2009 - X-Men: The Last Stand
July 29, 2009 - X-Men: The Last Stand - at CCSP
August 3, 2009 - Fantastic Four
August 5, 2009 - Fantastic Four - at CCSP
August 10, 2009 - Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
August 12, 2009 - Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - at CCSP
August 17, 2009 - Batman
August 19, 2009 - Batman - at CCSP
August 24, 2009 - Batman Returns
August 26, 2009 - Batman Returns - at CCSP
August 31, 2009 - Batman Forever
September 2, 2009 - Batman Forever - at CCSP
September 7, 2009 - Batman & Robin
September 9, 2009 - Batman & Robin - at CCSP
September 14, 2009 - Batman Begins
September 16, 2009 - Batman Begins - at CCSP
September 21, 2009 - Batman: The Dark Knight
September 23, 2009 - Batman: The Dark Knight - at CCSP

Sunday, May 10, 2009

That Darn Toles and Doonesbury

A couple of comments referred to cartoons in "Free For All," Washington Post Saturday, May 9, 2009. Anybody need Fubar explained for them?

An Offensive 'F'

I think the word "fubar" should have been deleted from the May 3 Doonesbury comic.

The word that the "f" stands for in this acronym is considered by many to be extremely offensive.

-- Nathan Clemons
Etchison, Md.

What's With Obama's Hue?

I wonder why cartoonist Tom Toles continues to depict President Obama's skin color as white. Other cartoonists, such as Sheneman, one of whose cartoons for the Star-Ledger appeared in The Post's April 18 "Drawing Board," seem to have no trouble giving his face a somewhat darker hue.

Is Toles sending the message that Obama isn't black enough to be drawn as a black man? Toles is definitely treading "lightly."

-- Susanne Humphrey
Wheaton

Mark Wheatley interviewed

See "TINNELL & WHEATLEY'S PULP FUN W/LONE JUSTICE CRASH," Jennifer M. Contino, Comicon's The Pulse May 8 2009.

Brian Truitt returns to pop culture writing

Brian Truitt, who used to write on comics for the Washington Examiner, is writing for Northern Virginia Magazine and has a blog on upcoming events some of which relates to comics.

OT: Schweizer's Crogan's Vengeance

One of the people I really enjoyed meeting at Heroes Con last year was Chris Schweizer and seeing some drawings for his Crogan's Vengeance. Schweizer and I have similar tastes in enjoying historical heroic fiction. I bought the book when it came out and enjoyed it a lot. Here's an interview with him - "Avast, Me Hearties! Chris Schweizer," By Rebecca Buchanan, Sequential Tart May 4, 2009. He'll be at Heroes Con and SPX this year.

May 12: Yuko Ota,, A Japanese comic illustrator at Library of Congress

Asian Pacific American History Month at the Library of Congress has a cartoonist appearing -

PROGRAM II: Japanese Illustrators Then and Now

Date/Time: Tuesday, May 12, 12:00 noon
Location: Dining Room C
"Then" Speaker - James Miho, A Bauhaus Illustrator (a "lost art" of Japanese illustration)
"Now" Speaker - Yuko Ota,, A Japanese comic illustrator

2009 Webportal Link: http://www.asianpacificheritage.gov/index.html

- thanks to Sara Duke for the tip.

Zadzooks on Wolverine and Bennett's best

Little Lulu and League of Extraordinary Gentleman are "Bennett's Best for the week of May 3," Zadzooks blog May 7, 2009. No argument there.

There's a video "Zadzooks: Wolverine evolution from comic to movie," By JOE SZADKOWSKI on Zadzook's blog May 9, 2009 and an uncritical enjoyment of comic book movies at "Rube’s Reaction to X-Men Origins: Wolverine," By Heidi Haynes, May 6, 2009 also at Zadzooks blog.

Weingarten tips his hat to old comic strip


The Katzenjammer Kids are called out in "Out With the Old: Gene becomes cool hip rad awesome sick," By Gene Weingarten, Washington Post Magazine Sunday, May 10, 2009.

Washington Times reviews Pearls Before Swine collection

You don't see this type of review very often, but check it out at "BOOKS: 'The Saturday Evening Pearls: A Pearls Before Swine Collection': Scandals and mayhem collected, By Jeremy Lott, Washington Times Sunday, May 10, 2009.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

OT: Roger Langridge interview

Friend of ComicsDC Roger Langridge is interviewed at "Panel Borders: Muppets, giant cuboid roosters and other weird creatures!" by Alex Fitch, May 7, 2009. Roger's a great cartoonist who's latest Marvel Fing Fang Foom comic came out this week. He'll be at Heroes Con this year with ridiculously underpriced original art - I've got mine!

Reason reviews Little Orphan Annie

See "Yesterday Is Tomorrow: Revisiting Annie as a new New Deal dawns," by Brian Doherty, Reason May 2009. IDW is doing an excellent job reprinting the strips. Gray's strip was one of the great adventure strips, but appeals particularly to Reason because, "The comic’s early days hold a winningly libertarian disdain for the uplifters and professional licensing and child labor laws that stymie Annie’s attempts to support herself and others who fall under her care."

As far as I know, the Reason guys are still hanging out on Dupont Circle.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

May 8, 9: Animated shorts in Baltimore

See "2009 Maryland Film Festival - Animated Shorts," Brett D. Rogers, May 7, 2009 for Rogers' picks. There's 3 films by Bill Plympton whom I always enjoy.

The official website is a bit confusing, but here's the relevant data and you can click through to buy tickets:

SHORTS: Animated Shorts
Running Time: 79 mins.

Screenings:
May 8, 11:30 AM Charles Theater 3
May 9, 10:00 PM Charles Theater 4

Animated American - James Baker, USA, 15 minutes
The future is about to collide with the past in this live-action/animation hybrid short. While shopping for a new mansion, Eric, a digital-loving studio executive, finds himself crossing swords with his realtor, Max, an out of work toon rabbit. Like it or not, Max will make Eric see things through the eyes of an “Animated American.”

The Cave: An adaptation of Plato's Allegory in Clay - Michael Ramsey, USA, 4 minutes
An excerpt from Plato's Republic, the 'Allegory of the Cave' is a classic commentary on the human condition – here adapted and brought to life using over 4,000 still photographs of John Grigsby's clay animation, lit by candlelight.

Dandelion Will Make You Wise - Jack Ofield, USA, 5 minutes
Life never truly ends, though only creatures and plants experience that unknowing wholeness of perpetual rebirth from season to season. To think holistically presumes the continuity of existence, presumes an appreciation of the 'la grace des grandes choses,' and presumes a child-like faith that the omega will presage a new alpha. This is the great mystery of the natural world. This is why the dandelion can make us wise.

Forestry – Woodpecker, Japan, 4 minutes
A tale of a man and woman who get in trouble with the mischief of smoke blown out of a tree’s hole in the woods.

Fruitless Efforts - Fruit of the Womb - Andrew Chesworth & Aaron Quist, USA, 5 minutes
Apple is trying to lead a normal life, but is being held back by his friends.

Horn Dog – Bill Plympton, USA, 6 minutes
This latest adventure of Plympton's plucky canine hero from Guard Dog, Guide Dog, and Hot Dog finds the beast putting the moves on an Afghan in the park.

I Am So Proud Of You – Don Hertzfeldt, USA, 22 minutes
Dark family secrets cast a shadow over Bill’s recovery in this, the second chapter to the prize-winning short Everything Will Be OK (MFF 2007).

Mexican Standoff – Bill Plympton, USA, 4 minutes
This music video for the Dutch band Parson Brown follows a three-sided love affair that goes absolutely wrong and the hearts that break along the way. Made using pencil on paper, scanned and digitally composited.

The Realm of Possibility - Gerald Guthrie, USA, 7 minutes
A digital animation based at the intersection of absurdity and logic. Deductive reasoning, as found in the syllogistic form (A is B, B is C, therefore A is C), becomes a vehicle to validate concepts that might not necessarily be true. The structure of the narrative is meant to parallel the premise of a syllogism. Many men use libraries; many libraries reference aviation; therefore, many men are pilots. In the end, navigation to another planet becomes a curious byproduct of flawed logic.

Santa: The Fascist Years – Bill Plympton, USA, 3.5 minutes
In this animated newsreel, we learn that jolly ol’ St. Nick has a dark, hidden past rooted in greed and politics. One of three new shorts from Academy Award© nominee Bill Plympton, this one featuring narration by Matthew Modine.

The View from Cleopatra's Knee - Jack Ofield, USA, 4 minutes
Across millennia, the genius of human creativity and freedom is chronically threatened by the ultimate solution to all problems: a standing army.

My David Hagen painting

Earlier this week, I picked up my painting from David Hagen's successful show, where he sold 3/4 of the art he had up. David will be selling more of his art at Art-O-Matic later this month.


Supes, David Hagen, 2009

Of which, he explained, "I used acrylic paint. Black outlines are painted with acrylic paint pens or with brushes. About three coats of paint to get the even solid color look. Then a gloss spray varnish to protect the painting."

This was the only one he did of this type of subject, but you can see more of his work on his blog and Zazzle site. He's painting a lot of baseball players lately.

The wife and I are in negotiations over where to hang it.

AcaciaO reports on Spiegelman at Corcoran

See "Art Spiegelman: Comics From Mickey Mouse to Manga," By AcaciaO, We Love DC blog May 6th, 2009 for her report on his Corcoran lecture.

The unanswered question - did he smoke?

Maryland cartoonist Carla Speed McNeil lost in Canada

Fortunately, she's retained her wit for this interview - "Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2009: Q&A with Carla Speed McNeil," Posted: May 06, 2009, 9:15 PM by Mark Medley.

At the end, Carla's pick for a cartoonist she'd like to draw like was a real surprise to me. I didn't see that one coming.

And for the real cartooning geeks, she actually answers this question:

What do you draw with?

Pentel mechanical pencil stocked with 2B lead, Zebra 303 brush pens, Pigma Microns for lettering and crosshatching. I do all my pencilling on sheets of legal-size typing paper. My image size is a good bit smaller than the standard 10" X 15" to fit into that size paper. I arrived at this size over years of experimentation, and found that it really clicked-- my line weight and my lettering just looked the right proportions at that size. So I do all my drawing on the cheap stuff, then use the lightbox to ink directly onto thin Bristol.

Dustin Harbin, friend of ComicsDC, interviewed

See "Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2009: Q&A with Dustin Harbin," Posted: May 07, 2009, 8:10 PM by Mark Medley as Medley continues his astonishing interview series.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Jim Ottaviani, friend of ComicsDC, interviewed

See "Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2009: Q&A with Jim Ottaviani," Posted: May 06, 2009, 5:55 PM by Mark Medley. Medley's put a fantastic amount of interviews up on the National Post's Afterwords blog this week.

John Dimes gets animated


You can see The Rites of Pretending Tribes online now.

Featuring the Illustrations of: Erin Wells, Rick Hnat
& JOHN DIMES!!!!
(he tells me).

He's also on paper, but I've been carrying those around for weeks and still owe him a review of the two minis he's sent me. Mea culpa.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Michigan State U's Comic Art Collection's April 2009 additions

We're in the home stretch and April started with Zapiro and Gorey - poles apart on the comics spectrum.

Bushwhacked : Cartoons from Sowetan, Mail & Guardian, and
Sunday Times / Zapiro. -- Cape Town, South Africa : Double
Storey, 2002. -- 160 p. : ill. ; 20 x 24 cm. -- Editorial
cartoons about South African politics and George W. Bush.
-- Call no.: DT1975.Z365 2002
-----------------------------------------------------
Ettie Lou Stooper Does a Tinsel Dance at a Tree-Trimming Party
in Gumsville, Nebraska, Christmas Eve, 1923. -- Printed by
William Ferguson for Albondocani Press, 1981. -- 1 folded
sheet (4 p.) : ill. ; 18 cm. -- "Copyright 1981 by Edward
Gorey." -- " Published in December 1981, this card is
limited to four hundred and fifty copies to be used as a
holiday greeting by the artist publisher. None are for
sale." -- Call no.: PS3513 .O614E8 1981
-----------------------------------------------------
Pirates of Polokwane : Cartoons from Mail & Guardian, Sunday
Times and Independent Newspapers / Zapiro. -- Auckland
Park, South Africa : Jacana Media, 2008. -- 134 p. : ill. ;
20 x 25 cm. -- Editorial cartoons. -- Call no.:
DT1975.Z37P5 2008
-----------------------------------------------------
The Eleventh Episode / by Raddory Gewe, drawings by Om. -- New
York Fantod Press, 1971. -- By Edward Gorey. -- 32 p. :
ill. ; 13 x 16 cm. -- Call no.: PS3513 .O614E4 1971
-----------------------------------------------------
The Eclectic Abecedarium / by Edward Gorey. -- Boston : Anne &
David Bromer, 1983. -- 61 p. : ill. ; 28 x 33 mm. -- Call
no.: PS3513 .O614E2 1983
-----------------------------------------------------
The Chinese Obelisks : Fourth Alphabet / Edward Gorey. -- New
York : Fantod Press, 1970. -- 56 p. : ill. ; 13 x 16 cm. --
(Fantod ; 2) -- Call no.: PS3513 .O614C4 1970
-----------------------------------------------------
Categor y : Fifty Drawings / by Edward Gorey. -- New York :
Gotham Book Mart, 1973. -- Title might also be: Category or
Categorey or Cat Gorey (a cat may be moving the letter 'E'
from early in the word, to the blank space before the 'Y').
-- 54 leaves : ill. ; 14 cm. -- Call no.: PS3513 .O614C3
-----------------------------------------------------
The Fatal Lozenge : an Alphabet / by Edward Gorey. -- New York
: Astor-Honor, 1960. -- 30 leaves : ill. ; 15 cm. -- Verse.
-- Call no.: PS3513 .O614F3 1960


Here's something I sent in - France's Lucky Luke in Vietnamese...

Ngoai Vong Phap Luat / kich ban & ve tranh, Morris ; dich loi,
Tu Hoa ; viet chu, Phan Le. -- Ho Chi Minh City : Nha Xuat
Ban Tre, 1999? -- 46 p. : col. ill. ; 29 cm. -- (Lucky Luke
; 33) -- Translation of: Hors la Loi. -- Western genre. --
Call no.: PN6747.M64 L80619 1999


I missed this next one completely. Is this a series? Are these really erotic comics artists (except for Gilbert, that is)?

Best Erotic Comics 2008 / edited by Greta Christina; with work
by Daniel Clowes, Phoebe Gloeckner, Gilbert Hernandez, &
more. -- San Francisco, Calif. : Last Gasp, 2007. -- 203 p.
: ill. ; 28 cm. -- Call no.: PN6726.B343 2007


The collection of syndicate proofs is being catalogued - here's one example of a strip by Blondie's Young...

"Extreme Table Tennis"* (Colonel Potterby and the Duchess,
Jan. 17, 1937) / by Chic Young. -- Silent strip. -- Call
no.: oversize PN6726.K52A22 1972


...actually it looks like April is mostly syndicate proofs and Treasure Chest. Oh well...

"The Largest Flock of Wild Flamingos in the Bahamas"* (Chuck
White and His Friends) / by Max Pine and Fran Matera. p.
18-23 in Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact, v. 20, no. 13
(Feb. 25, 1965). -- "To be continued." -- Call no.:
PN6728.1.P43T7v.20no.13

...if you need stories like that, now you can find them. Let's see if May, not even half over yet, brings any surprises tomorrow.

Comic Riffs talks to Spiegelman too, and he too likes Cul de Sac

Completing the Trifecta, Comic Riffs has "Mr. Spiegelman Goes to Washington," Michael Cavna, May 4, 2009 and "The Interview: "Maus's" Art Spiegelman" By Michael Cavna, May 5, 2009 in which he says, I like Richard Thompson's work ["Cul de Sac"]. They're good gags, and graphically it's on a very high level. ... It really seems like the inheritor to the "Calvin and Hobbes" [mantle]. It's amazing when any strip can electrify and bring life to a form [the comic strip] that is on life support.