Seven Days prides itself on being a writers’ newspaper. That is, a publication that devotes as much energy and resources into the craft of writing as it does into sourcing, reporting and all other aspects of news gathering. How we tell stories is of critical importance. This makes the Cartoon Issue — our 11th annual —something of an oddity, because we ask our writers to do a curious thing: Get out of the way.
Bolles continues with a brief preview of the multi-page comics by the featured writers and artists:
… we can show you, as Jennifer Sutton and artist Ezra Veitch do in a cartoon about the “Glasstastic” exhibit in Brattleboro.
… with science and sight gags, we can unfurl the real-life mystery of how a rare Bahamian rodent ended up in a taxidermy exhibit … as artist Kristen Shull does in her illustration of Carolyn Shapiro‘s story.
Steve Goldstein‘s comic about cyclist-inventor Steve Norman and his latest biking innovation benefits from the technical visual style of neuroscience illustrator Annabel Driussi.
Meanwhile, the lawn-mowing sheep that Ken Picard visited at Bridport’s Long Cloud Farm are rendered in exquisitely cute detail by animal lover Julianna Brazill.
Music editor Chris Farnsworth and artist Ellie Liota are both fans of the mystical American composer Moondog.
Artist and writer Frances Cannon collaborated with, well, herself on a visual book review of I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai.
… on the cover, Violet Kitchen previews all the cartoon stories appearing in this issue, proving once and for all that a picture really is worth (at least) a thousand words.
Not to be forgotten is Seven Days Fun Stuff pages featuring Tom Tomorrow, Harry Bliss (with Steve Martin), Keith Knight, Jen Sorensen, Kristin Shull (again), Fran Krause, and Julianna Brazill (again).
Sometimes we ask writers and cartoonists to work together on a piece. These comics-journalism collaborations take top billing in this week’s Cartoon Issue, an annual tradition that also dates back to 2013. Then-coeditor Pamela Polston wrangled that first, ambitious issue, in which nearly every story, including hard news, was told in cartoon form.
We’ve scaled back the scope since then and given more space to the features that work best in this powerful medium.
and asks readers to take a survey about their comics pages:
It used to be that cartoonists had to syndicate their work in newspapers to develop an audience — think “Garfield,” “Doonesbury” and “Dykes to Watch Out For.” That’s not the case anymore. The art form is evolving; so are comics fans’ expectations and habits.
Seven Days wants to keep evolving with them. That’s where you come in. We’ve put together a 10-question survey about the comics we feature in the main body of the paper and in the Fun Stuff section.
If you haven’t looked at the Fun Stuff lineup lately, check it out. We’ve recently made some changes. Ryan Riddle’s “Futon Life” ended in June, and Rachel Lindsay’s strip has returned every other week, alternating with cartoons by Schull and Julianna Brazill.
Do you appreciate our efforts to showcase these local artists? Or do you grab the paper every week to read nationally syndicated strips “This Modern World,” “Jen Sorensen” and “The K Chronicles”? We want to know!
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