Saturday Morning Cartoonists

Liz Montague, Henry Barajas, Robb Armstrong, Lawton Wood, Fleischer Studios

Liz Montague‘s “graphic memoir” Maybe An Artist gets reviewed by Brandeis University’s the Justice:

In her brilliant, hilarious graphic memoir, Montague validates every experience I have had, from being a young Black girl to growing into a young Black woman, and particularly one who is passionate about art.

[Liz] is working on her second book about Jackie Ormes [link added] — a pioneering Black woman cartoonist — which will be released on May 16, 2023.

This week on More to Come, Calvin interviews Latinx comics writer Henry Barajas about working as a comics publishing professional, as a writer for Marvel, DC, Image, and as the latest writer of the venerable syndicated sports comic strip ‘Gil Thorp’ with artist Rod Whigham. Barajas is also the author of ‘La Voz De M.A.Y.O. Tata Rambo’ (with artist by J. Gonzo), a graphic bio of his great-grandfather; and the latinx fantasy adventure graphic novel ‘Helm Greycastle’ with artist Bryan Valenza.

Henry Barajas is interviewed at Publishers Weekly Comics World.

In the Gil Thorp portion Henry reveals that his current contract with Tribune Content Agency runs from July ’22 to July ’23, “so I’m writing a year long story.”

Cartoonist Robb Armstrong ’85 is hosting a workshop on March 9 in collaboration with the Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center.

All University students who are interested in the creative process of cartooning, or want to learn more about taking characters from conception to reality are invited to register for this hands-on workshop, which occurs on the sixth floor of Bird Library.

Details for Cartooning with Robb Armstrong Workshop here. JumpStart here.

“Everything he did was built around the fact he could express himself with a pencil and a piece of paper,” said Paul Wood, Lawton Wood’s son.

Lawton was a self-taught artist who trained through a correspondence course. He went on to decorate store windows in downtown Spartanburg and some of his work was featured in the Herald-Journal. Wood became a freelance cartoonist for the Herald-Journal and created a column, which featured the history of the state.

Joanna Johnson, for The Spartanburg Herald Journal, interviews Paul Wood about cartoonist Lawton Wood.

In this Tested video, Norm Chan visits Blackhawk Films, a scanning facility in Southern California, to watch the restoration process as a 100-year-old Max Fleischer classic, Koko the Clown, is brought back to life.

This restoration is part of Fabulous Fleischer Cartoons Restored, an effort to restore all of the films of Fleischer using original prints and negatives.

Fabulous Fleischer Cartoons Restored with Blackhawk Films are restoring classic Fleischer.

You can watch all of the films restored so far here.