Ask A Cartoonist: Where Do You Find Inspiration?
James Allen: “Mark Trail stories are inspired, initially, from actual news stories.”
Bill Holbrook: “…the process is a mystery to me even after all these years.”
Alex Hallatt: “I always gain inspiration from walking, especially uphill…” (??!!)
For the full responses from the above, and more, go to the Comics Kingdom blog.
Turning Comics Into a Career
Cartoonist Mark Parisi never exactly found himself inspired to write a normal chapter book, instead used his drawing abilities to create a unique children’s series called Marty Pants.
He was in a bookstore one day when he found a “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book on one of the shelves and began flipping through it.
“I thought to myself, if I’m going to write a book, it would be that type of book,” Parisi said.
Mark Parisi discusses his Marty Pants series of books targeted to the middle school crowd and his Off The Mark syndicated panel with The Nashua Telegraph.
2018 Eisner Awards
The 2018 San Diego Comic-Con will be held on the fourth weekend in July. During that gala The Eisner Awards will be presented. Nominees for the Best Archival Collection/Project – Strips category are
- Celebrating Snoopy, by Charles M. Schulz, edited by Alexis E. Fajardo and Dorothy O’Brien (Andrews McMeel)
- Crazy Quilt: Scraps and Panels on the Way to Gasoline Alley, by Frank King, edited by Peter Maresca (Sunday Press)
- Foolish Questions and Other Odd Observations, by Rube Goldberg, edited by Peter Maresca and Paul C. Tumey (Sunday Press Books)
- Sky Masters of the Space Force: The Complete Dailies, by Jack Kirby, Wally Wood et al., edited by Daniel Herman (Hermes Press)
- Star Wars: The Classic Newspaper Strips, vol. 1, by Russ Manning et al., edited by Dean Mullaney (LOAC/IDW)
Fanbase Press takes a look at the above nominees.
A list of all Eisner Award categories and 2018 nominees.
Funny Ladies at The New Yorker: Cartoonists Then and Now
Ethel Plummer was the New Yorker’s first woman cartoonist- her work appeared in The New Yorker’s inaugural issue. More women soon followed her: Helen Hokinson, Alice Harvey, Barbara Shermund, Mary Petty, Roberta MacDonald, Doris Matthews, to name a few. Nevertheless, the number of women was always much lower than men.
The Society of Illustrators presents an exhibit from July to October 2018 highlighting the drawing of the New Yorker’s women cartoonists. On July 26, 2018 there will be a panel discussion hosted by Liza Donnelly, who happens to be both a woman and a New Yorker cartoonist.
Question That Has Stumped Mankind Since Time Immemorial Finally Answered
DC Comics has finally settled the question once and for all, and the answer can be found in the pages of The Flash #49 (on sale now).
Nick Steinberg at Gotham shows (spoiler alert!) highlights from Flash #49 including the answer.
A history of the Superman vs. Flash races at Cavalcade of Awesome.
The Gremlins in Copyright Protection of The Gremlins
Animation and comics historian Jim Korkis dives into the history of The Walt Disney Company‘s actions regarding copyright protection in general, and the efforts to protect its copyright of the WWII-era Gremlins in particular, for this article at Mouseplanet.