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Cartoon museum to feature ‘Monsters of Webcomics’

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The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco is opening a new exhibit showcasing “some of the best and boldest work published on the World Wide Web.” The exhibit is entitled Monsters of Webcomics and features cartoons from Jesse Reklaw (“Slow Wave), Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant!), Phil and Kaja Foglio (Girl Genius), Dorothy Gambrell (Cat and Girl), Nicholas Gurewitch (Perry Bible Fellowship), Jenn Manley Lee (Dicebox), Dylan Meconis (Family Man), Chris Onstad (Achewood) and Spike (Templar, AZ).

The comics by the ten artists featured in this exhibition run the gamut from four-panel comic strips to full-length graphic novels and include comedy, drama, history, science fiction, and sociopolitical commentary. As varied as this work is, however, it represents only a very small sample of the comics available on the Web. The Monsters of Webcomics exhibition also includes a virtual gallery that will highlight dozens of additional online comics.

Exhibit runs August 8 through December 5.

H/T Tony Piro

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Comments 9

  1. I recently chatted with Andrew Farago, curator of the Cartoon Art Museum about this, and it was really interesting to hear his take on the webcomic world, and the importance of this event. (Shameless self-promotion alert…but relevant, I promise.)

    http://talltalefeatures.com/ttfradio/?p=212

  2. It’s nice to see this. But it’s kind of weird to see the Cartoon Art Museum acknowledging webcomics while continuing to ignore alternative editorial cartooning, which has been around for decades.

  3. Andrew talked about how he gets a lot of ideas from outside sources and emails…have you written him, Ted? That sounds like it’d be a great installation…I’m sure they have a limited budget and time, but seem to be dedicated to covering all aspects of cartooning…

  4. Ted, you should contact the Cartoon Museum, because I’m sure they take suggestions like this. Also, I believe most of their artwork collection is from donations, so maybe you can arrange something.

  5. Tom and Tony,

    Good suggestions; however, it’s really the museum’s job to reach out to cartoonists, not the other way around.

  6. Another event that helps move web comics toward “normalization” as legitimate cartoon/comic industry works, and possibly acceptance (at least in the eyes of existing professional cartoonists, because we know the reading public could care less if they are “as professional” as other forms of comic/cartoon art — they like something when they like something) is great.

    Though, as Alan implied in the write up, there need to be such events/activities with a bit grander aspiration and vision to better capture the variety that exists, including alt editorial work.

    Hopefully we’ll see more folk like Mr. Farago developing such programs.

  7. Ted…well, yeah…ideally the museum would be doing that, but seems to me they’re a very small organization with people wearing hats ranging from curator to box-lifter. Andrew talked on the show about how several of the installations came to them from outside suggestions. No doubt your experience in the field would be a great resource to them…

  8. Thanks, Tom, for your kind words! If the Cartoon Art Museum ever needs me for anything, I’ll be happy to help. I’m easy to find.

  9. That’s great. I’ve talked with those folks a few times at Comic-Con I’m glad they’re highlighting Web Cartoonists. If only they hadn’t left out my favorite web cartoonist… me! 🙂

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