Afghani publisher detained by authorities over cartoon
(Censorship) Abdul Ghafur Aiteqad, who publishes the Afghan newsweekly Farda, was taken into custody by judicial officials over an editorial cartoon that ran in his paper on December 15th. South African website iAfrica.com describes the panel that landed Aiteqad in hot water:

"The offending cartoon showed Karzai playing an organ and singing, 'Reconstruction, reconstruction, reconstruction,' as his finance minister accompanied him on drums.

"The cartoon showed foreigners dancing around the Afghan duo waving dollars, as the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, announced on the microphone: 'Soon we'll have another ceremony at the World Bank to borrow some money -- but with interest.' "

No judicial official was available for comment, due to a public holiday.
Posted @ 12:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

A very Beano Christmas
(Comic Books) The British Isles have long had a tradition of "Christmas comic books" -- hardbound volumes full of comics and games which are given to children for the holidays. Sales were good last year, and The Guardian reports they'll probably do better this Christmas:

"This year's figures look as though they'll be even more impressive. Several high-profile television and movie spin-offs, including bright and shiny hardcover editions of Tweenies, Scooby Doo and Spider-Man, are currently on display alongside the famous old hardy annuals, and they are all flying out of the shops faster than Billy Whizz on nandrolone. More than one high street chain has already claimed to have sold more comic books in the past month than they managed during the whole of 2001.

"George Grey, children's buyer for Waterstone's, suggests that besides young readers' craving for an extra large helping of their favourite weekly brand, there is also the hope held by some parents that the humble comic book will lead their children on to a far richer literary world. Grey also believes that there is a fashion among certain young metropolitan adults for appropriating icons of 'ironic anti-cool'. 'Suddenly,' he says, 'what might once have been seen as a bit naff has become post-modern coffee table reading.' "

Young adults, cynical about comics? I've never heard the like. The article goes on to survey several of this year's offerings; the one that sounds the most intriguing is this year's Rupert Annual which sounds both suitable for young children and bizarre enough to entertain parents reading to their children.
Posted @ 12:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Al Feldstein holds court
(Comic Books) Classic comics fans take note -- Al Feldstein, the now-retired editor for both E.C. Comics and the post-Kurtzman Mad Magazine, has joined in the discussions over at Yahoo.com's EC Comics group. Here's Feldstein responding to one of several comments about his working methods during the company's heyday:

"I wrote the stories directly onto the E.C. illustration boards... laying them out as I went along to accommodate the action. My choice of panel sizes and layout were arbitrary, dictated by the progress of the story itself and the spaces necessary to illustrate it.

"I don't think this was a common practice in those years. Most publishers used script writers who delivered typed scripts... which were then given to the artists to lay out and illustrate. More often than not, the script writer specifically designated the amount of panels to each page, and it was up to the artist to decide the sizes of the panels and their layout."

Link courtesy of Egon, of course.
Posted @ 12:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Hey, student cartoonists: want some free money?
(Cartooning) Are you a student cartoonist at a college newspaper or college magazine? Each year the Scripps-Howard Foundation sponsors a series of journalism awards, including the Charles M. Schulz Award for college cartoonists. The prize includes $5000 and a trophy; deadline for entries is January 6th, 2003. Contest rules, eligability requirements and an entry form can be downloaded in webpage or PDF formats.
Posted @ 12:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Corporate executive responsible for Ziggy gone at last
(Comic Strips) Andrews McMeel Publishing's chief executive officer, Kathleen Whalen Andrews, will be stepping down from her post at the end of the year. Andrews McMeel, as you may be aware, serves as the syndicate for a host of newspaper comic strips, perhaps the most notable being Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury, as well as the Dear Abby advice column. The company was founded by Jim Andrews and John McMeel; Kathleen stepped in when husband Jim died in 1982. The Kansas City Star notes what may be her biggest claim to comic-strip fame:

"Ziggy came to her attention when her husband was in the hospital for minor surgery. Andrews looked for a 'miss you' card for her husband and found one with a short, funny-looking, round-headed guy. Her husband was taken by the character, tracked down Wilson in Cleveland, and Ziggy became the first panel cartoon offered by the syndicator."

Eewwww. The article reports that Andrews will be devoting more time to charitable endeavors, but honestly -- how much benefit work is required pay back that much bad karma?
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

A Charlie Burns Christmas
(Comics Events) Afer a nine-year absence, The Hard Nut -- Mark Morris' bizarre take on Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker -- returned to New York City on Tuesday night. Of course, if you're going to take a classic ballet and give it a good, surreal twist, it helps to draw upon the appropriate inspiration. The New York Times explains Morris' secret weapon:

"Mr. Morris has based his Nutcracker on the work of Charles Burns, the comic-book artist, whose drawings appear in the production. The ballet is set in the 1970's in an American suburban home. Mr. Morris introduces an extra plotline from E. T. A. Hoffman's Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker is based. His first act is gloriously tacky, with sleazy Christmas party guests knocking back what look like Jell-O shots and coming on to one another at every opportunity."

The Hard Nut will run through Sunday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place. Call 718-636-4182 for more information.
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Rhode Island Supreme Court swats exterminator, spares cartoonist
(Gag Cartoons) Cartoonist Don Bousquet was exonerated yesterday in a libel suit that went all the way to Rhode Island's highest court. Bousquet was sued by exterminator George Cardoza, owner of Budget Termite & Pest Control, over one of a series of cartoons for The Providence Journal which parodied inept businessmen with a string of gags concerning "Budget" outfits -- Budget Funeral, Budget Cat Scan, and yes, Budget Pest Control. Superior Court Judge Nettie Vogel summarily dismissed the lawsuit, but Cardoza wouldn't take no for an answer. The Providence Journal picks up the tale from there:

"Cardoza appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which upheld Vogel. In a decision written by the full court, the justices said, 'The exaggerated comic tone of the cartoon and its published location on the Sunday comics page suggested that the author designed the cartoon to be humorous rather than as... a factual statement" about Cardoza's firm.

"The generic word Budget 'furthered the humor of the cartoon by implying that this budget outfit was so cut-rate and shoddy that it burned down the house of a customer to rid the premises of stubborn carpenter ants -- a proposition so absurd and outlandish that no reasonable reader could construe it as a truthful factual assertion.' "

Bousquet claims to have been unaware of Cardoza or his company when the cartoon was drawn.
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Danish cartoonist wins some prize or other
(Editorial Cartoons) I'm not sure if this is news or not -- The Copenhagen Post is reporting that cartoonist Fanney Erla Antonsdottir has won an award from the Hvass Foundation that includes a cash payout of DKK 10,000. The problem is, I can't put this in any kind of context. No other paper is reporting on this, a website for the Hvess Foundation cannot be found, and while the Post calls Antonsdottir's weekly cartoon "popular," I can find no examples of her work online. Indeed, after some considerable searching, I was only able to find one other mention of the artist, on the weblog of a friend of hers, American expatriate Dennis Kim:

"The Copenhagen Post -- a paper written by and for English-speakers -- is, in my not-so-humble opinion, something of a rag, but I am grateful that the publishers of TCP give Fanney a chance to make a little freelance pocket money by drawing cartoons for them. We were hanging out at a cafe on Gothersgade when she did this week's offering (which I can't seem to find online, unfortunately), so perhaps I can flatter myself by claiming to be her muse for this one. Although, come to think of it, if I inspire artists as they draw topical comics of bald, hairy, tatooed, naked low-lifes sitting on bidets, well, let's just say that's not something I'll be padding my resumé with any time soon."

Anyway, congratulations to Ms. Antonsdottir.
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Payback's a breeze
(Cartooning) So I was trawling through the internet this evening, looking for links, and I stumbled across this note from Noel Ford on the U.K. Cartoonists Discussion Forum:

"I've just received a VERY nice Christmas prezzie from DACS (Design & Artists' Copyright Society) - and to think, I almost didn't bother to fill the form in because I didn't realise, at first, just how much I could claim AND that I could claim retrospectively for unclaimed years.

"If any of you didn't bother to fill your form in this year, I strongly recommend you do so next time around!"

I'll be damned if it isn't true -- acting as a sort of a RIAA for the British visual arts, DACS apparently collects royalties from everyone who could conceivably reproduce an image, up to and including owners of photocopiers. From their website:

"Payback is an opportunity for visual artists to claim a share of copyright revenue. This money is generated through various licensing schemes where copyright is collectively licensed.

This year, over £half a million is available for visual artists and photographers to claim via Payback 2002. This includes unclaimed monies from our previous distribution which will be available in a rollover fund."

One wonders how they deal with computer scanners. Is this fair to people who own photocopiers but don't copy the works of others? In any event, it's too late for British artists to make claims for 2002, but if you've got work in a book, magazine or journal in any year up to December 31st, 2001 (the payments are apparently staggered by a year), you might want to consider filing a claim next year -- the details will presumably be available here.
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

D'Angelo receives Silver T-Square
(Comic Strips) It's not too often that the National Cartoonists Society honors people who don't themselves draw for a living, but a rare exception occured this month when the organization's "Silver T-Square" award was presented to former King Features Syndicate president Joe D'Angelo. Editor and Publisher introduces us to the honoree:

"Though he's not an artist, D'Angelo has had a career intricately connected to the cartoon world. He was president of the Newspaper Features Council in the 1980s and still serves as president of the International Museum of Cartoon Art. He worked in several other King executive posts before and after his presidency of that syndicate, and continues to spend much of his time focused on syndication as a consultant to the Hearst Corp. -- King' s parent company.

"D' Angelo, in an E&P Online interview this week, said his strongest memories of his King years include the mid-1980s acquisitions of Cowles Syndicate and News America Syndicate -- which greatly increased King's stable of cartoonists and other creators. He also recalled negotiating hundreds of contracts with cartoonists, working with Hearst to give ownership rights back to several high-profile King comic creators, losing almost no cartoonists to other syndicates, being at King as advances in technology made the syndication process increasingly digital, and more."

Among the event's speakers were current King president Rick Newcombe and cartoonist Mort Walker, who helped organize the evening's festivities.
Posted @ 3:30 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Why The Rawhide Kid doesn't matter
(Comic Books) Given the vacuous press frenzy surrounding Marvel's latest publicity stunt, an announcement that they were going to retrieve a third-rate gunfighter character from the mothballs and give him the Big Gay Al treatment, it's a genuine relief to stumble across the occasional reporter who actually understands what he's talking about. Case in point: Aaron Schatz, a writer for The Boston Phoenix, who took a look at the Rawhide Kontroversy and found less there than meets the eye. After noting that Marvel wasn't exactly gambling with its most popular character (and taking a well-placed swipe at Tucker Carlson), Schatz zeroed in on, err, the meat of the matter:

"Despite a string of big-budget comic-based movies, the comic-book industry itself is really hurting. Kids love comics associated with their favorite Japanese cartoons, such as Dragon Ball, but a decade of price increases and writing for the older 'fanboys' has almost eliminated the pre-teen audience for standard superhero comics. Prices have more than doubled in the last decade -- the cheapest comic today is $2.25 -— while allowances haven't kept up. Comic books have disappeared from the places where kids once found them, such as drugstores and bookstores. Venturing into a comic-book specialty shop often leads to a run-in with a real-life version of The Simpsons' obnoxious 'Comic Book Guy.'

"Complicated continuities have made it nearly impossible for new readers to jump into the middle of a long-running series. Any kids who fell in love with Spider-Man after the summer blockbuster would find a different hero in the comics -— 30 years old, moody, and separated from his now-wife, Mary Jane. A new Spider-Man series, developed to restart Spidey’s history for new readers, is expensive and quickly snapped up by collectors instead of teenagers."

Nice to see someone in the media who actually gets it, don't you think?
Posted @ 3:30 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Ut! Carrot meets Milkman
(Comic Books) I generally try not to directly hype comic books in this column, but I'll make a rare exception for this next item -- things like this just don't happen too often. Bob Burden and Dave Boswell have gotten together to produce a crossover between their two creator-owned titles, Flaming Carrot and Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman. Yes, you heard right. The Pulse's Heidi MacDonald had a quick chat with Burden about the collaboration:

"THE PULSE: Flaming Carrot and Reid Fleming are both masters of their own surreal domains... how hard -- or easy -- was it to get them to mesh?

"(BURDEN): David and I have a similar readership base and the art styles seemed to work together. Reid is a great character but most people wouldn't see him crossing over with say, Sandman or Swamp Thing. Same for Flaming Carrot. Although years ago I did work on a crossover between Flaming Carrot and the Superman-Batman team of WORLD'S FINEST for Piranha Press. I had to set it in the early sixties though, because Flaming Carrot's setting and style wouldn't work well in the modern DC universe. On the other hand, the 1950's and 60's DC comics like WORLD'S FINEST and JIMMY OLSEN had a surreal, childlike quality that could have meshed with the Carrot."

Having seen an advance copy, I can tell those familiar with the two characters with some authority: it's exactly what it sounds like, and you're going to want to read this.
Posted @ 3:30 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Nerd fight tonight!
(Commentary) Despite what I implied yesterday, I'm not actually interested in carrying on an extended flame war over something as quinessentially pathetic as the argument in which I've found myself embroiled, but I do have a couple of remarks to make. Don't worry, Laura, this is my last word on the subject.

So we're all on the same page, a recap: Peter David's webmaster, one Glenn Hauman, took the reins of David's weblog to post an old eulogy of former Marvel marketing flack Carol Kalish, and take a quick swipe at Journal founder (that is, my employer) Gary Groth in the process; the stated reason being an essay Groth wrote which commented negatively on the many badly-written, over-the-top hosannahs published after Ms. Kalish's death, which is apparently the first thing that pops up on Google when you run a search for "Carol Kalish." As I remembered the mass beatifications, Groth's essay, and the initial outraged responses to same from when they first occured, I posted a rebuttal to Hauman's comments. Of course, given that the page containing his comments wasn't labeled for author, I first assumed that David had written them (it's theoretically his weblog, after all) -- when informed otherwise, I posted a correction and an apology to David for the misattribution. Still with me so far?

Both David and Hauman have now responded to my post, and the results are sadly predictable. Hauman posted a link to his reply on David's weblog. David chimed in too -- see the first comment below it:

"...In this instance my antipathy for Groth in general, and his using a tragic death of woman whose house he'd been a guest in as simply another pretext to slam Marvel, is well documented. So I'm four square behind him on this one. Consider what he said as going double for me."

Guess that last paragraph wasn't as invalidated by my initial error as I'd thought. A quick fact-check: as those who've read Groth's article know, Kalish and her boyfriend stayed at his house, not the other way around. A minor, even petty correction, but no more so than what Hauman dredged up.

Speaking of Hauman's rebuttal... well, there's not really much here that requires a response, is there? Gary never said anything untoward about Kalish personally, but rather spent the first third of the essay deploring the function she served in a greedy and immoral company, and the remaining bulk of it lambasting those whose writings in the Comics Buyers Guide he saw as "sensationalizing her death, exploiting the crude sentimentality of its readership, and, sad to say, distorting and falsifying Kalish's contribution to the profession."

To the extent David and Hauman have a complaint at all, it's that Gary Groth shouldn't have pointed out that Kalish performed morally dubious work for an intrinsically rotten corporation -- a complaint that would apply just as easily to Hunter S. Thompson's eulogy of Richard Nixon as it would to anything else. That's not a perfect analogy, of course -- the most Kalish was ever guilty of was selling sublimated sex and consequence-free violence to impressionable children for a company that routinely screwed its creators out of the fruits of their labors -- but the ethical principle in question is the same. The statute of limitations on the consequences of one's actions doesn't end when you die, and when one sees others denying those consequences in public, calling them on it is the responsible thing to do.

Hauman takes a couple of inept shots along the way, but they fall too far from the mark to matter -- his attempt to compare Groth to conservatives outraged over the way Paul Wellstone's memorial service was cynically used as a campaign rally by mock-liberals who shared virtually none of the Senator's beliefs is amusing, and might have been mildly closer to the mark had Hauman turned the analogy around and compared Gary to the Democrats, but ideology prevented him from noticing the possibility. It wouldn't have worked then either, but at least Hauman would have seemed wittier. Then there's this little gem:

"If Mr. Deppey believes that it's inappropriate to hope that an article like Gary's is not the first thing people find when looking for information on a person, then I can only hope it doesn't happen to him."

Heaven forfend that someone should run a word search for me and discover to their horror that I work for meanies! How could I ever survive the blow to my thin, thin skin? Curiously, Gary by his own account used to say the same things to Ms. Kalish's face without provoking anything resembling the self-righteous bullshit David and Hauman display... but then, by all accounts she had a fully functioning spine, a sense of proportion, and enjoyed a good argument when she could get one. Get a life, kids. I couldn't care less about the Google thing -- you want links to Peter's essay? Here you go. Your Google-bombing games are beside the point.

I have no doubt that nothing I say will change the minds of Messrs David and Hauman, so further elaborations of the same points are by definition useless. Having said my piece, I'll end it here. Enjoy the last word, gentlemen.

Update, 5:10 PM - The link to Hauman's weblog, which mistakenly pointed to David's, has been fixed.
Posted @ 3:30 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Oligarchy in the Ukraine
(Censorship) While editorial cartoonists in the United States are treated with a political immunity almost on par with journalists, it isn't always the same in other parts of the world. In Cameroon, police recently assaulted cartoonist Paul Nyemb Ntoogue at a roadside checkpoint for his work, which was critical of President Paul Biya. In the former Communist nation of Ukraine, by contrast, things aren't quite so bad -- but that's not to say they're good. Cartoonists' website Wittyworld is reporting that official censorship is making it difficult for hard-hitting cartoonists to get their work seen. Cartoonist Vladimir Kazanevsky, who also serves as the director of the organization Mytets, is reportedly alleging that the publication of a cartoon in the national Ukrainian media about the President of that country is effectively impossible:

"So far, unlike in third world countries, no Ukrainian cartoonists have been put behind bars by the ruling regime. However, several attempts have been made by officials to take them to court. With many international awards and prizes to their credit, the track record of Ukrainian cartoonists is very impressive. In the last ten years alone they have netted approximately five hundred international awards. Sadly, according to Kazanevsky, the Ukrainian public knows perhaps the least about them."

Note that the above link isn't permanent. It's likely that the story will eventually be archived on this page, but it isn't there at the moment.
Posted @ 2:30 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Jesus speaks
(Censorship) We have two follow-ups today to earlier stories. First: the latest issue of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's newsletter, Busted!, contains an interview with Dallas retailer Jesus Castillo, an employee at Keith's Comics, whose unjust conviction on obscenity charges is currently being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Comics website Newsarama has posted the interview online:

"BUSTED: Could you explain the transaction to me, how it occurred?

"CASTILLO: As I remember it, the customer went straight to the back area of the store. I greeted him and he said hi and not much of anything else. I said, if I can help, let me know. He went to the back of the store and minutes later he produced a book and I sold it to him. I told him the charge, he gave me the money, and that was it.

"BUSTED: Tell me what happened when you were arrested for the first charge.

"CASTILLO: It was a Wednesday around 2 in the afternoon. The first officer said that he wanted to see my ID. I gave him my ID and spelled my name and then he went back out with my ID and a few minutes later he came back in and said I was that gonna get arrested. I asked "Why?" because at the time I didn't know what to think. I thought it was a mistake. At the time Keith had called the other person that was working and told him the situation that was happening. He talked to the officer and the officer told him I was gonna be arrested and wouldn't answer anymore questions. He said, "when you’re down there, you’ll find out." I got arrested in the back of the store, Keith made an arrangement that I wouldn't get arrested in the front of the store and the office complied. So I was arrested in the back of the store."

A bit of context: the arrest occured several months after the undercover cop, an adult, first purchased the offending book. To keep abreast of censorship issues that affect the American comic book industry, the best way to get the Busted! newsletter is of course to join the CBLDF. Yes, I sound more like a broken record every time I say that, I know. So why haven't you joined yet?

(Link courtesy of Laura Gjovaag.)
Posted @ 2:30 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

WWII vets do right by Bill Mauldin
(Editorial Cartoons) Our second update concerns one of cartooning's elder statesmen, Bill Mauldin. As I noted two days ago, Mauldin is in poor health and living in a nursing home in California, his mood brightened only by letters and visits by the World War II vets who once eagerly devoured his Willie and Joe cartoons for the U.S. Army newspaper Stars and Stripes. Naturally, it was only after I ran that first report that I found a good article about the vets who were passing all that karma back to Mauldin. It all started when Jay Gruenfeld, now 77 years old, published his memoirs of the war, in which he praised Mauldin's work for keeping his spirits up, and wanted to present the cartoonist with a copy. The Farmington Daily Times of New Mexico carries the Associated Press story:

"He found the cartoonist's son, Dave Mauldin. 'When he called,' the younger Mauldin said, 'I had to tell him Dad was not doing well.'

"His father was suffering from Alzheimer's, he said. The family does not want to disclose Mauldin's specific location, but says he is living in a care home in Orange County, Calif.

" 'I heard that and said, Well, I have to go see him,' said Gruenfeld, who days later made the four-hour drive from his home in Lompoc, along California's Central Coast."

After visiting Mauldin for several hours, Gruenfeld returned home and embarked upon his campaign to fill the artist's remaining time with the thanks of his fellow former soldiers, of which the above-linked story contains several wonderful examples.
Posted @ 2:30 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Yomiuri cartoon contest winners announced
(Cartooning) Finally, Japan's Daily Yomiuri has announced the winners of its 24th Yomiuri International Cartoon Contest, an event which this year attracted 7,469 entrants from 72 nations and territories, each submitting a single-panel cartoon concerned with this year's "health" theme. Winner of the 2 million yen Grand Prize was Takeo Kaido, a 62-year-old designer from the Japanese town of Ageo, in the Saitama Prefecture. The other big winners:

• Hidezo Kondo Prize: Hide Ishimaru (Japan)
• Gold Prize: Sergey Sichenko (Israel), Joji Bigo (Japan)

The newspaper will print a two-page spread containing a selection of the winning entries on January 3rd. A listing of last year's winners, with links to their winning cartoons, can be found here.

Speaking of contests: join us tomorrow for Round Two of the Carol Kalish Memorial Weblog Flame War, when we'll hear Mr. Hauman say, "While rereading it, I get the same feeling I got when right wing commentators who disliked Paul Wellstone made disparaging remarks about his funeral, coldly calculated to bestow some political advantage and personal glory to their own positions." See you then!
Posted @ 2:30 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Singapore's cartoon peace initiative
(Comic Books) I've been sitting on this story for a day or so, waiting for a little more context. With the increased activities of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group bringing strife to the islands of the Asian Pacific Rim, the region's ethnic Malay Muslims have found themselves the targets of increasing distrust and hostility. Now the Singapore government has decided to fund a program meant to calm the increased racial tensions with the creation and distribution of, among other things, comic books. The Borneo Bulletin has the details:

"Singapore will pay up to 50,000 Singapore dollars (US$28,409) for 'interesting games or comics' that help Singapore's youth learn about 'shared values, commonalities and diversity in an enjoyable way,' Yaacob Ibrahim, the Minister in-charge of Muslim Affairs, was quoted as saying.

"But critics charge that the Muslim Malay community here is already marginalised because of the arrests, and the government must do more than come up with comic books and games.

" 'What they should be doing is going to the Malay community and finding out how exactly they feel too instead of playing these games,' said Mansor Rahman, chairman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party."

The Community Harmony Grants Scheme, as the program is called, will has been given an initial budget of $500,000 Singapore dollars (about $284,000 by U.S. standards) to get the program off the ground.
Posted @ 1:35 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

DJ vs. robot
(Graphic Novels) When we last left our hero, hip hop turntablist Kid Koala, he was talking about creating a follow-up to the comic-book insert packaged along with his first album, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Well, it hits the stands in March, and it's a full-fledged graphic novel to boot. Overheard in The Village Voice:

"...The DJ thing is still working out for Canuck Kid Koala, but he's also talented enough to get a novel called Nufonia Must Fall (ECW Press) published in February 2003. Says the Kid, 'It's about this robot who's trying to write love songs to get the attention of this girl. But he's a robot, so he can't sing, and so it's kinda hard to write love songs.' Aw...."

A Flash-animation "trailer" for the book, which gives off a distinctly James Kochalka-ish vibe, can be found on the artist's website.
Posted @ 1:35 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Roll your own picture-Bible
(Comics and the Internet) A group of Brooklynites have set forth on an ambitious illustrated text project -- The Flaming Fire Illustrated Bible, a complete graphic adaptation of the Hebrew and Christian holy books. The project has already attracted a diverse group of volunteer artists, including R. Sikoryak, Dame Darcy, Tom Hart, Danny Hellman, Lauren Weinstein, James Robinson, Eric Reynolds, and a smorgasbord of fresh faces. From their FAQ:

"Our goal is to illustrate the entire bible verse–by–verse -- one illustration per verse. We plan to enlist artists and illustrators from all over the world -- including you! -- to help us bring each of the 36,665 verses in our database to life."

Link courtesy of Egon.
Posted @ 1:35 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Proving Wertham right, one day at a time...
(Comic Books) Finally, the weblog No Sense of Place took the time recently to remind us all that domination and submission were comic book tropes long before Bondage Fairies. An unnamed website operator has taken it upon himself to compile what is quite possibly the single largest archive of perversity in children's comics I've yet seen: it's the Comic Book Bondage Cover of the Day! From old Wonder Woman exercises in Freudianism to today's finest examples of teenage S&M fantasies, this endlessly-growing argument for the Comics Code Authority would do Eric Stanton proud. Let's listen as the webmaster explains himself -- err, we'll just assume it's a "him":

"I've been interested in 'damsels in distress' themed Comic Book, Detective Magazine, Paperback Book, and Men's Adventure Magazine covers for most of my life. The Internet has opened up new opportunities for collecting, and I've decided to share some of the best of what I've found here. I hope that this web site serves as a useful reference for other collectors, as well as a source of entertainment."

The archive should keep you -- get ready for it -- tied up for hours! Haw haw haw!

Yeah, yeah, I know. Like I wasn't already going to Hell for following an entry about Bible comics with this...
Posted @ 1:35 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

GLAAD nominees announced
(Comic Books) The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has announced its nominees for its fourteenth annual GLAAD Media Awards, meant to recognize people in the media for inclusive and accurate depictions of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. This year's nominees for Outstanding Comic Book are:

• The Authority (Wildstorm/DC Comics)
• Green Lantern (DC Comics)
• Murder Mysteries (Dark Horse Comics)
• Strangers in Paradise (Abstract Studio)
• X-Statix (Marvel Comics)

What, no Charm School? I've never been GLAAD's biggest fan, myself. As a gay man who grew up in a town where the local police videotaped people going in and out of gay bars and kept lists of known homosexuals on their cars' dashboard computers, I think I know anti-gay bias when I see it -- and some of GLAAD's "alerts" over the years have been way too touchy and reactionary for my taste. Recently the organization issued its patented shrieks of bigotry over Kevin Smith's film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, only to find its own motives questioned after Smith, in his response to the charges, revealed that the organization had hit him up for a donation to the Matthew Shepherd Foundation after a screening of the film; a move that to many looked almost like extortion. (the organization's response to the controversy has disappeared from its website, but a copy can be found in the Google cache).

Given its history, perhaps emphasizing the positive through awards like this is a more productive use of their resources.
Posted @ 2:35 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Comics as concept farm
(Comics and Hollywood) Comics have increasingly found themselves in the position of fodder for movie and television companies in recent years, and the trend doesn't appear to be going away any time soon. Indeed, The Hollywood Reporter today announced the formation of an agency devoted exclusively to the representation of cartoonists and videogame designers, Illuminati Entertainment:

"The new company represents about 20 clients, including designers, writers and artists from the world of comics, such as Dave Johnson, Phil Noto, Tomm Coker, Howard Chaykin, J.G. Jones and Steve Lieber, as well as game creators like Jeff Parker, Dan Norton and C.P. Smith."

I'd say something grouchy about "the integrity of comics as comics" here, but I'm afraid Dan Clowes' agent might beat me up...
Posted @ 2:35 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Snoid Rockin' Beats
(Cartoonists) Continuing my "Comics and the Media" theme for today, Bugpowder's Pete Ashton heps us to an unusual DJ currently spinning the wheels of steel over at England's BBC Radio 3: Robert Crumb. The legendary cartoonist's first of three four planned appearances took place last Saturday on the station's documentary program Jazz File, where he provided listeners with samplings from his storied collection of old 78 RPM records. Ashton informs us that you should be able to hear this first episode for the next few days by clicking here. (Thanks to Egon for catching the number of appearances.)

Meanwhile, UK listeners might want to check out a short, fifteen-minute program entitled Cartoon Clichés today on Radio 4 at 15:45 GMT, when host Martin Plimmer "attempts to understand the origins and power of some of the great cartoon icons" by rooting through its most obvious and timeworn tropes for clues.
Posted @ 2:35 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Bill Mauldin needs support
(Editorial Cartoons) Finally, while surfing my way through the internet, I stumbled across this letter to Florida's Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

"Stars and Stripes artist Bill Mauldin is an old friend of all World War II veterans. His cartoons of Willie and Joe made the road a little easier.

"Seeing his address in the Herald-Tribune will please many veterans and the Get Well cards will get to him.

"Fans may send cards to: Bill Mauldin C/O Gordon Dillow, Orange County Register, 625 N. Grand Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92701.

"Gordon Dillow's e-mail address is gldillow@aol.com."

As you may recall, the revered Pulitzer-winning cartoonist, now 80 years of age, was burned in a household accident earlier this year, and currently resides in poor health at an Orange County, California nursing home. The only things that reportedly cheer him up these days are cards, letters and visits from WWII-era servicepersons. If you have a friend or relative who fits the bill, please consider passing along the above address and asking them to write. If said person lives in or near the Orange County area, they can email Mr. Dillow at the above address to make arrangements for a visit.

A brief history of Mauldin's career can be found here; examples of his work are available here and here.
Posted @ 2:35 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Sunday Scraps
(Potpourri) Another Sunday, another slow news day on the internet. What follows are interesting stories and interviews that collected in my notes throughout the week that, for whatever reason, never made it onto this page until now:

• This isn't comics-specific, but it's important nonetheless: Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig, one of the people who recently argued the Eldred vs. Ashcroft lawsuit before the Supreme Court, has written an insightful essay on why legal issues surrounding copyright and the internet matter to the producers of creative works. If you aren't clear about the ramifications of some of this stuff, this informative essay will get you up to speed. (Link courtesy of Slashdot.)

• Last week I linked to something of a cheap shot at one Murray Bishoff, who was once an assistant to the first target this magazine ever railed against way back in the day. In all fairness, I should note that Bishoff responded quite graciously to the Washington Post article to which I had linked. Furthermore, Fantagraphics co-founder Mike Catron emailed me this link to an article in The Joplin Globe, which provides an update on Mr. Bishoff. He's managing editor for The Monett Times newspaper, and has spent the past decade researching and documenting a horrific lynching that took place a hundred years ago in the town where he lives, Pierce City, Missouri. This evening he'll be at the town's old Congregational Church, reading from his forthcoming book on the subject.

• Courtesy of Reason magazine, here is your Peter Bagge cartoon for December.

• Warren Ellis interviews Justine Shaw, a cartoonist whose web comic, Nowhere Girl, has found itself the subject of increasing critical acclaim lately.

• Time Magazine's Andrew Arnold reviews the latest issue of Dan Raeburn's phenomenal comics-criticism magazine The Imp, which covers Mexico's historietas.

• Santa Fe, New Mexico's oldest comic book store, Good Times Toons and Tunes, is set to close soon. The Santa Fe New Mexican investigates.

• Ninth Art's Andrew Wheeler interviews Larry Young, the man behind the AiT/PlanetLar publishing house, on how to promote independent comics.

• Over at PopImage, Michael Patrick Sullivan shares his vision for the future of the comic-book industry. More accurately, he prays for its quick death...

• Everything about the current issue of online webzine Savant is worth at least a look. I'd link to the specific issue in question, but the permalinks don't seem to go up until after the current issue's shelf-life. It's issue #94, for what it's worth.

• Congratulations to cartoonist Gerry Alanguilan, who ties the knot at the end of the month.

• Boing Boing's Mark Frauenfelder reviews the new underground comix history, Rebel Visions, for The L.A. Weekly. (Full disclosure: my employer is publishing this book.)

• Finally, please welcome NeilAlien to our weblog listings. I must confess that I held off on adding it to our blogrolls for the longest time due to its seemingly unrepentent Eltingvillishness -- it advertises itself at "The Doctor Strange Orb of Agamotto Comic Book Weblog," after all -- but the fact remains that (A) it's regularly updated and covers a wide variety of subjects, and (B) I'm hardly one to talk. I did just use the neo-word "Eltingvillishness" a moment ago, now didn't I? NeilAlien can be best described as the Egon of the superhero set, and setting aside the Doctor Strange fetish, I don't think I'm insulting either party with the comparison. Besides, any friend of Steve Ditko is a friend of mine.

See you Monday.
Posted @ 12:25 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

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