Drew Friedman, Gary Varvel, KC Green, Karl Christian Krumpholz, Harvey J. Kaye and Matt Strackbein
The Faces of Caricature
Humans love to “make faces.” As children we learn that sad faces produce sympathy, angry faces produce fear, kind faces produce trust, and funny faces produce laughs.
This quality is central to Friedman’s brand of representation, and most of his portrait-caricatures are exacting recreations of fascinating faces. His new volume is a who’s who (and who’s that) of all kinds of punims that comprise his comedie humaine.
I know it’s a dumb question, but who are your five faves in this book … as images? Not dumb, but my answer today might be entirely different by next week. But right now … Lenny Bruce, R. Crumb at the drawing board, Curly Joe DeRita, Terry Zwigoff, and I’m very pleased with the front cover border. Those border faces were mostly drawn at random.
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Gary Varvel at the Hancock County Republican Party’s Prayer Breakfast
Varvel spoke to about 90 people in attendance at the lodge, 1028 W. Main Cross St. A release from the county party describes him as a “Christian, conservative, cartoonist and speaker in that order.” Varvel was cartoonist for The Indianapolis Star cartoonist for 24 years, and his work is now syndicated in more than 125 newspapers via the Creators Syndicate platform.
According to NPR, the canine character’s name is Question Hound, and KC created it as the state of his own mind quite often. Oh KC, thank you for personifying it, because we’ve all been there. It’s actually a nod to mental health, according to NPR, since KC was focusing on his own when he created this ‘On Fire’ strip at age 25.
Hey, it all turned out nice for KC, who has made enough money from website merchandise sales as well as licensing deals, according to NPR. Both Adult Swim and Funko Pop have used his cartoons.
NPR says KC is most likely going to retire Question Hound, although the merch will live on.
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An Illustrated Guided Tour of Colorado’s Colfax Avenue
Cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz has been exploring Denver for years, diving into history and then sharing discoveries that cover everything from the 16th Street Mall to Union Station. This time, he’s taking us on a walk along West Colfax Avenue, finishing off the trek that started with East Colfax.
From Davies’ Chuck Wagon Diner to Meow Wolf…with a stop by the pink palace that shall not be named.
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A 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights
You wouldn’t know it from listening to the corporate media or, for that matter, to Democratic politicians’ campaign speeches and ads, but this year marks the 80th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1944 State of the Union message calling for an Economic Bill of Rights for All Americans. This was a speech that inspired the labor movement and progressive organizations to launch major campaigns to try to secure it.
True, they did not realize that vision. The opposition of the corporations, the wealthy, and the right was too strong. But the vision and aspirations did not die.
To enhance the developing campaign—and give the story even greater color—comic-book creator Matt Strackbein (aka The Letterhack) suggested to me that we produce a comic not only to recount the 80-year struggle for an Economic Bill of Rights, but also to project how we today might actually realize it.
So here it is. We hope you find these words and images compelling.
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