Animation
» Pixar’s Pete Docter was on NPR’s “Wait, Wait… Donâ??t Tell Me!”
» Variety magazine reports that Jack Black has successfully pitched an untitled animation project “centered in the world of cryptozoology.”
Books
» Chicago Now talks to Ted Rall about the relevance of his 2002 book “To Afghanistan and Back” in today’s U.S. relationship with Afghanistan.
Comic strips
» Michael Cavna asks, “what is your favorite comic strip over the past decade?”
Editorial Cartoonists
» Former Edmonton Journal cartoonist John Yardley-Jones will have a gallery exhibit entitled “Another Brush with Yardley Jones.”
Webcomics
» Howard Tayler’s The Schlock Mercenary iPhone app is now available through the iTunes store.
I went to school with Pete a couple of lifetimes ago and would give him the clipped out Calvin and Hobbes strips my mother mailed me. He papered the wall by his desk with Calvin strips.
Eventually Pete made a T-Shirt of Calvin that he sent to Universal with the polite suggestion that Calvin T-Shirts would be great (this was long before we knew of Watterson’s desire not to commercialize).
Needless to say, he received a cease and desist letter from Universal’s lawyers. So he hung the letter on his wall.
I love that story.
Great guy. Fantantastic artist. Made me look like a talentless hack back then, too.
I had the pleasure of meeting Pete (for the first time) a few weekends ago at the Schulz Museum, and got to talk to him for several minutes because I was the last person in a very long line of fans there to see him. As we chatted (he agreed to an interview in “Stay Tooned!” sometime!) he drew me an unsolicited sketch of Woody from “Toy Story.” I like Pete Docter. :0)
This has nothing to do with the News Briefs, but I wanted to say (okay, brag) that I also enjoyed spending time during that same weekend in San Francisco with Patrick “Mutts” McDonnell, Stephan “Pearls Before Swine” Pastis, Darren “Candorville” Bell, Justin “MythTickle” Thompson, Jeannie “Peanuts” Schulz and Alex “Kid Beowulf” Fajardo! Plus, I got to tour Pixar’s studios! Timing is everything, folks! One of my better weekends.