Rounding up and settling down for a Friday free-for-all.
Nick Anderson has a Gotham Gig; Andy Capp Reconsidered; Sergio Aragonés’ 2024 Award for Excellence; Bolling at Boing Boing; Bill Friday Memorial Service; BC Gets Fit; 10 With Tom Falco; and Lee Enterprises papers gets letters about their comics page change.
Nick Anderson has a Gotham Gig
Editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson has a new outlet!
New career milestone: I have a cartoon in today’s Gotham Gazette!
Unsure if this is remains a freelance assignment or will result in a staff position.
The Redemption of Andy Capp
The Redemption of Andy Capp tells the story of creator Reg Smythe, who was from the town and who drew the universally popular cartoon figure Andy Capp for the Daily Mirror from 1957 until 1998,
Andy Capp was a well-known fictional working-class figure from Hartlepool who never actually worked.
Paul Slade, author of The Redemption of Andy Capp said: “Smythe was a world-class cartoonist who poured a lot of his own troubled childhood into this work.
The Redemption of Andy Capp is a new book by Reg Smythe and Andy Capp expert Paul Slade. Recently Hartlepool Mail reporter Madeleine Raine talked to Slade about the Andy Capp character and its creator Reg Smythe.
“He based Andy on his own wastrel father, Andy’s wife Flo on his formidable mum and drew their surroundings as a faithful depiction of the working class Hartlepool neighbourhood where he himself had grown up.”
The Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival has announced that the winner of the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art will be announced during the Opening Night event of its weekend-long Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere, on Friday 27th September 2024.
The Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art, named after the world-famous cartoonist, best known for his work on MAD and as co-creator of Groo, was established in 2017 by The National Cartoonists Society, the world’s largest and most prestigious organisation of professional cartoonists, in partnership with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, and is presented annually to an exceptional comic artist, animator, or cartoonist.
Previous winners are Dave McKean (2017), Hunt Emerson (2018), Charlie Adlard(2019), Boulet (2021), Posy Simmonds (2022) and VIZ comic, edited by Graham Drury and Simon Thorp, in 2023.
John Freeman at downthetubes reports on the partnership of The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, The Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art, and The National Cartoonists Society Foundation with NCSF president Tom Richmond. (Note: when the article states that Tom, who at one time 2011-15 was NCS president, is now NCS president read that to be NCSF president.)
Ruben Bolling Reviews Funny Books
Ruben Bolling has a regular spot at Boing Boing which allows him to go after things other than his Tom the Dancing Bug weekly comic strip. It was there, before and after his recent visit to Springfield USA, Ruben reviewed Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson’s new edition of “Justice Warriors” – Justice Warriors: Vote Harder and Patrick McDonnell’s brand new book, Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story.
… the elite leaders of Bubble City hold an election, but will the voices of the downtrodden mutants who inhabit the Uninhabited Zone even be heard? Even if they are, can it possibly even matter? …
… And of course, one of the purposes of the character, storyline, and book is to draw attention to the plight of dogs who are tethered in yards…
I’ll let you decide which quote goes with which book review.
Bill Friday Memorial Service
We have been requested to let the public know that a service for Bill Friday has been set.
Please let my Uncle Bill’s fellow cartoonists know we are holding a Celebration of Life service on Saturday November 9, at 2 pm. Location is the Hilyard Community Center, Eugene, Oregon. We hope some of his colleagues can make it.
BC Fit
A Broome County cartoonist is one of the new owners of a fitness center just north of Binghamton.
Mason Mastroianni and Tom Testa decided to team up when they learned the gym where they were members was preparing to close. They acquired the assets to clear the way for the launch of BC Fit.
News radio WNBF (Binghamton, NY) report on the new gym owners. (Paleo diet recommended?)
Mastroianni is the current B.C. and Wizard of Id [link added] cartoonist. Mick Mastroianni, the Wizard of Id writer is part of the BC Fit team.
’10 With Tom’ is on Substack
From cartoonist Tom Falco:
I’ve been publishing my work on Substack, since it seems like it’s the thing to do. I publish cartoons and my blog posts there and I also started publishing my 10 With Tom column there.
My 10 With Tom is now at Substack at substack.com/@10withtom . It started out at the Huffington Post some years back. I interviewed celebs and news people, athletes, all sorts of people you may know. I moved it to my own url at 10WithTom.com and now at Substack.
I interview people in 10 random questions. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and yes, a slew of folks you probably know.
Tom’s substack can be reached by the links in the above quote (or in our Support Your Local Cartoonist list).
His latest 10 With Tom interview is with War and Peas creators Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz.
Stripping the Comics Pages
Lee Enterprises newspapers are getting letters about the wholesale change to their comics pages. Most of the letters are behind paywalls, but here’s a letter to The Greensboro News & Record (scroll down to the 4th letter “Stripped”):
… I don’t understand how bringing back a number of comics dating from before I was a child (I am now age 72), plus a few new ones, most of which are unknown to me, is “freshening” the selection. It is especially disappointing to us that “Baby Blues,” “Argyle Sweater,” “Pickles” and “Luanne” have been eliminated.
I have seen comic strips turn over in papers throughout my reading years, but I have never experienced a complete removal of all the former comics.