Industry news for the professional cartoonist
Petersburg Times had made substantial pages to their comics page adding “Lio”, “Watch Your Head”, “Dog Eat Doug”, “F Minus” and “Peach Fuzz” among others…. What perhaps wasn’t clear to me was this site was a new online comics site that would also feature “Pickles,” “Snapshots,” “Opus,” “Watch Your Head.”
The title will be “The War Within: One More Step at a Time” and will focus on his B.D. character that lost his leg in Iraq. Proceeds of the book will benefit Fisher House which provides temporary homes for families of injured soldiers being treated at military and veteran medical centers.
From Jim Borgman’s blog comes this pointer to an art exhibit in Virginia that is showcasing Jeff MacNelly’s sculptures that runs May 6th through the 28th in Washington VA. Visit Jim’s blog for more details.You can see some of the artwork online.
Before Walt Kelly created the famous and influential “Pogo” he worked for Dell publishing which created comic books based on licensed properties. Fanatagraphic books has released a collection of “Our Gang” – a 59 issue run comic book in which Walt wrote nearly 100 story-lines.
In summation, he accuses most cartoonists as failures and the reason why cartooning will never be considered a legitimate art form.The basic nobility of that cause innoculates (for the most part) cartooning against the accusations that it is a vocation filled with practitioners (98% male and white) who couldn’t draw their way out of a paper bag if their life (or their profession) counted on it.Imagine turning on the Olympics and seeing 78% of the figure skaters fall on their asses…. Individual cartoonists deserve respect, but just because they earn it doesn’t mean a positive residue should trickle down upon anyone who puts nib to paper, had a cartoon published in the Anchorage Antler and manages to squeeze into a tux for the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards.For cartoonists to believe that respect would be a given when the vast majority of them would fail to push any aesthetic envelope or embrace even a modicum of visual experimentation is as audacious as it is self-delusional.
AOL News has an article regarding the current decline in newspaper circulations across the country. In the last six months (ending in March) the industry has seen a 2.6% drop in subscribers as more and more people turn to the internet for news and information.
Lalo Alcaraz, creator of “La Cucaracha” also has a radio show in California which is getting national attention when Lalo advocated a contest for illegal immigrants called “Name Your Baby Lou Dobbs Challenge.”According to the Universal Press Syndicate press release, the challenge is:The challenge is simple enough?the first undocumented immigrant to name their U.S. born child “Lou Dobbs,” before Sept. 16, 2006, will win $500 worth of baby nursery items from participating East Los Angeles merchants supporting the Name Your Baby Lou Dobbs Challenge.
With the launch of “Garfield 2” later this summer, The Game Factory will be releasing the video game, based on the movie, for the PS2, Nintendo DC and the PC.
This blog is certainly growing at a fast clip and in an effort to provide you with the features you requested back in early April, I’ve rethought the layout and content of this blog.� I haven’t got rid of any thing (except some advertising) but starting this week, I’ll roll out an events calendar and next Monday will debut the first “In Focus” article – where we take a look at something big happening in the cartooning community.
The Detroit Free Press ran a blurp about some changes to their Sunday comics. They’ve picked up Cory Thomas’ “Watch Your Head” they debuted in April to take advantage of the Boondocks hiatus.
will feature men and women competing for the title of “Superhero” and to be the star of a new comic book according to the San Jose Mercury News. The show will premiere on the Sci-fi channel on July 26.Those that don’t make it will be ordered to “Turn in your spandex!”
CNW Telbec:Editorial Cartooning – The gold award winner was Bruce MacKinnon, The Chronicle Herald, Halifax, NS, for his Show Of Work. – The other finalists in this category were Michael de Adder, The Daily News, Halifax, NS, for his Show Of Work and Greg Perry, Telegraph- Journal, Saint John, NB, for his Show Of Work.
According to his web site, he is giving away an original framed painting of his characters to one lucky individual who either emails the editor of their newspaper asking them to subscribe to Dog Eat Doug (if the paper doesn’t carry it) or thank the editor for running the feature (if the paper already susbscribes)…. The winner will be randomly selected at the end of this month and announced on his web site.You can see the artwork that will be given away on his web site.
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists has posted the schedule and agenda of their annual conference that will be held this June 7-10 in Denver. The Danish cartoon will dominate two sessions and will also include two national figures: U.S. Sen. Gary Hart (D-Col., 1974-86) and National Public Radio’s Scott Simon.Visit the AAEC for more details.Hat tip to E&P for pointing out the schedule.
With less than 2 weeks before the public release of Michael Fry and T…. From the New York Times, comes an article that will step you though the history of how RJ made it to the Silver Screen and the challenges that had to be overcome to get the movie to the public.