Rokuro Taniushi is a Japanese illustrator of the ’50s on who has been called “the kawaii Norman Rockwell of Japan” for painting some 1300 covers for the influential weekly magazine Shukan Shincho. Kawaii is the “cute” style of Japanese art, seen and deconstructed in everything from Hello Kitty to Murakami.

For more art, go to 50 Watts.

[Via Tim Hodler]

BLACKSAD by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido is a famous comic in Europe, but the recent Dark Horse collection has created an American audience, as well: there are more than 20,000 copies of the book in print and a fourth printing is planned. Blacksad’s success isn’t horribly puzzling: a stylish noir storyline by Canales, and some of the most gorgeous anthropomorphic art ever by Guarnido make the tale universal. And the US setting doesn’t hurt.

Blacksad is back with a new adventure from Dark Horse: BLACKSAD: A SILENT HELL, due in July. The story takes panther-headed detective John Blacksad to New Orleans in the ’50s to discover the fate of a celebrated pianist. Drugs, voodoo, the rollicking atmosphere of Mardi Gras, and danger await him. The book includes two never before reprinted Blacksad short stories, and an extensive making-of section, with preliminary sketches and watercolor studies, written by Eisner Award-winner Guarnido.

The recently concluded Angoulême comics festival is the most respected comics event in the world, but also one a bit remote from the daily comics grind of the average American reader. Two con reports will bring you up to speed in a hurry. Before we link, one note: I wrote earlier that crowds were reported as smaller this year, but the overwhelming evidence is that the festival was packed, as usual, with official attendance given as 215,000.

Okay, links! D&Q’s associate publisher Peggy Burns has posted a delightful travelogue, emblematic of both the heritage of delightful travelogues published at the D&Q blog and also the kind of happy miasma—respectful signings, tents running riot with the flower of world cartooning, afternoon wanderings through a medieval village and late nights of drinking and talking with the greatest living minds of comics—that those of us who have never been will always imagine the festival to be. There was also some business:

I am invited to Angoulême on a program that brings North American publishers to the festival to promote the rights sales of french comics. And it works. Last year, we bought several titles and became enamoured with Anouk Ricard. The program strives to invite a variety of publishers and this year I was joined by Image Comics‘ Todd Martinez, Lerner Publishing Carol Burrell, our incredible host Ivanka Hahnenberger of VIP Brands and Abrams Comic Art (and former coworker of mine from DC Comics) Charlie Kochman (and the aforementioned Mark Smylie and the not pictured Alex Bowler of Random House). All of us spend Thursday and Friday in back to back meetings from 9 am-7 pm with french publishers looking for the next Persepolis books to buy.

Is there no program to invite bloggers? Looking at Peggy’s photos, I can only be wracked by the sobs of abject jealousy.

For a different view, Matthias Wivel wraps up his TCJ coverage with the kind of informed and frank analysis we need more of. Well, it seems informed from where we sit, anyway—Wivel is far mroe knowledgeable about the state of Eurocomix than we. Wivel suggests that, although still an idyll of comics artistry, the festival is driven by its own focus on a certain period of cartooning and cartoonists that would be updated and expanded—this year’s festival president Art Spiegelman being an example of a broader vision that enriched the experience:

This year’s festival at Angoulême was a success, both in terms of popular interest and artistic quality. There are no two ways about it. Its director Franck Bondoux reported more than 215,000 guests over the weekend, up somewhat from previous years, and Saturday especially was close to overcrowded, with the main tents temporarily having to close their doors to manage the influx. At the same time, festival president Art Spiegelman not only (co-)curated two extraordinary shows, but also brought a lot of international interest, tempering the francophone myopia that has long plagued the festival (and which I addressed in last year’s report). On the balance, I would call him the best president of the last decade, presiding over one of the best festivals in that same period.

Yet problems persist and one is tempted to see them exemplified by this year’s Grand Prix winner, Jean-Claude Denis, who will preside over next year’s fortieth anniversary. It is not that the Angoulême academy of past Grand Prix winners, which selected Denis, has all that much say in the planning and execution of festival, but their selection of what is arguably the highest honor formally bestowed on comics makers worldwide is still strongly symbolic, and the president each year has a unique chance to shape its artistic direction and eventually to point the way forward as part of the academy that chooses his or her successors.

Last week’s Angoulême festival extravaganza wrapped up with the presentation of the Grand Prix to Jean-Claude Denis, whose career goes back to the ’70s but is perhaps best known in France for Luc Leroi. The Grand Prix is presented for a lifetime body of work—Denis is perhaps less well-known than some other winners, at least in the US. He was presented with the award by last year’s winner, Art Spiegelman, as shown in the above video.

In other Angoulême news, although there doesn’t seem to have been any drama like last year’s L’Association strike, several commenters have reported fewer people. Matthias Wivel has been covering it for TCJ, and reports that the Art Spiegelman-curated art show was a once-in-a-lifetime experience of excellence.

Other winners are as follows, with translations where possible:

FAUVE D’OR PRIX DU MEILLEUR ALBUM 2012 (Best Album) : «Chroniques de Jérusalem» de Guy Delisle (éditions Delcourt)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX SPECIAL DU JURY (Special Jury Prize) : Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring (L’Association)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX DE LA SÉRIE (Best Series): «Cité 14» de Pierre Gabus et Romuald Reutimann (Humanoïdes associés)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX INTERGENERATIONS (Intergenerational Award. This award is a nod to the family spirit of classic comics, and rewards a cross-generational work that could appeal to readers of all ages.): «Bride Stories» by Kaoru Mori (éditions Ki-OOn)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX REGARDS SUR LE MONDE (Views on the World Award. This prize rewards a book dealing with current world issues.): «Une vie dans les marges» A Drifting Life de Yoshihiro Tatsumi (éditions Cornelius)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX DE L’AUDACE (Audacity Award. This prize rewards an artwork that takes an innovative approach, whether formal or narrative, to comics.): «Teddy Beat» de Morgan Navarro (éditions Requins marteaux)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX REVELATION (Best Newcomer): «TMLB, ta mère la pute» de Gilles Rochier (éditions 6 Pieds sous terre)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX DU PATRIMOINE (Legacy Award): «Donald Duck» de Carl Banks (éditions Glénat)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX POLAR (Awarded to the best book in the detective genre): «L’intrus à l’étrange» de Simon Hureau (la Boite à Bulles)


FAUVE D’ANGOULÊME – PRIX JEUNESSE (Best book for younger readers) : «Zombillénium, 2. Ressources humaines» d’Arthus de Pins


FAUVE PRIX DE LA BD FNAC : «Portugal» de Cyril Pedrosa (éditions Dupuis)

Here’s a list of Denis’s complete works, from Google Translation, so it’s probably embarrassing, but as you can see, quite a body of work:

Uncle Ernest and delighted (with Martin Veyron) (1978, Casterman)
During naked (1979, Futuropolis)
André Raven 
Annie Evil (1980, Dargaud) 
The hot season (1981, Dargaud) 
The Flight into before (1984, Dargaud)
Rup Bonchemin 
Volume 1 – The Chalet Lost (1981, Casterman) 
Volume 2 – Between two fires (1981, Casterman) 
Volume 3 – Gustave Guadeloupe (1983, Casterman)
Luc Leroi 
Luc Leroi moved slightly (1981, Futuropolis) 
Luc Leroi against the forces of evil (1982, Futuropolis) 
Luc Leroi up the slope (1985, Casterman) 
The Yellow Dwarf, (1986, Casterman) 
Squirrels and girls (1990, Casterman) 
Individual bands (1998, Casterman) 
All flowers are called Tiare (2000, Casterman)
The 7 Deadly Sins, (1983, The Humanoids)
Shadow Tables (1991, Albin Michel)
Sweet peppers (1991, Albin Michel)
The Pelican (1994, Albin Michel)
Funny idle or The Last of Houpe (1995, Albin Michel)
A few months in Amélie (2002, Dupuis)
Beauty at home (2004, Dupuis)
The Sleep of Leo (2007, Futuropolis)
Shortly before the capital (with Dupuy and Berberian), (2008, Dupuis)
News of the invisible world (2008, Futuropolis)
All in Matha! 
Part One (2010, Futuropolis) 
Part Two (2011, Futuropolis)
Book:
A few months in Amelia (novel) – The Manuscript of Aloys Clark (2002, PLG)
Picture books:
The Matches Pierre Christin – Volume 3 – Train of fun 
texts by Pierre Christin (1998, Dargaud) 
Belem, a mirage in reverse (2005, Futuropolis) 
The Cry of the Sirens, CD and illustrations (1991, Threshold) 
NightBuzz, The Spell (with Charles Berberian), CD and illustrations (2005, Nocturne) 
Harry Belafonte (Calypso), CD and illustrations (2008, Nocturne)
Youth Books:
The fairy tales of pirate Pitou: Island to mynas (1993, Albin Michel Jeunesse) 
An artist Cat (1998, Seuil) 
Stubborn (2000, Seuil)

The 2012 Toronto Comic Arts Festival has just unveiled it’s first guests and it’s as eclectic lineup of stellar creators from around the world, including Alison Bechdel, Jeff Smith Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon, Guy Delisle, Kate Beaton, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Jason, and others from around the world.

The festival also unveiled its to die for poster, by Bá and Moon.

Held May 5-6 in Toronto, this free comics festival is shaping up to be one of the shows of the year.

Although considered part of the”indie” circuit, TCAF’s guest line-up, as in past years, spotlights creators from all levels of the medium. Webcomics, kids comics and cartoonists from 15 nations will be mingling in what many creators consider the best show of the year.

UPDATE: we’ve been informed that Guy Delisle is actually a guest at the Barcelona Comics Festival that weekend. UPDATE UPDATE: Okay, we’ll just go with the PR. Woot — Jerusalem is Delisle’s best book yet! See him around the world!

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is back for another triumphant year on the first weekend in May, returning to the Toronto Reference Library & The Appel Salon for its fourth consecutive year. Last year TCAF (as it is affectionately known) welcomed more than 15,000 patrons at its various venues and events around Toronto during the festival weekend, and 2012 is expected to be TCAF’s biggest and best edition yet. Over 300 international cartoonists are on the schedule, representing more than a dozen countries, confirming TCAF as the preeminent celebration of comics and graphic novels in Canada, and one of the most celebrated literary comics events in the world.

TCAF 2012 will include a who’s-who of comics and graphic novels, including headline guests Jeff Smith (Bone), Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), Guy Delisle (Pyongyang), and Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon (Daytripper). In addition TCAF 2012 will see the debut of many new milestone graphic novels from our guests, including Bechdel’s Are You My Mother?, Delisle’sJerusalem, and Derf’s My Friend Dahmer amongst countless others!

Jeff Smith returns to TCAF to celebrate a major milestone: the 20th Anniversary of his landmark creation Bone, the beloved Young Adult fantasy epic with more than 1 million copies in print. Smith is also near the conclusion of his newest work, RASL, a sci-fi noir series currently in development as a feature film by “Sherlock Holmes” producer Lionel Wigram.

Alison Bechdel brings her eagerly-anticipated new Are You My Mother? to her TCAF debut; the new graphic novel is the follow-up to her 2006 New York Times bestseller Fun Home. Bechdel is one of the premiere graphic memoirists of our time, with Fun Home named the Best Book of 2006 by Time Magazine—a first for a graphic novel. Bechdel’s follow-up will debut the week of TCAF, and her Toronto appearance will be one of her first book tour stops in support of the new work.

Guy Delisle is the noted French-Canadian graphic novelist whose political work has been praised by NPR, The Guardian, and The Chicago Sun Times for his insightful reportage and travel writing. His graphic novels Shen Zhen, Pyong Yang, and The Burma Chronicles have seen the cartoonist travel to international hotspots, places rarely glimpsed by the Western world, to explore life and politics there. Delisle will make his first appearance at TCAF in support of his new book Jerusalem: Chronicles From The Holy City.

Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon are twin brothers who hail from Brazil, and whose writing and illustration talents have graced countless major comics properties as Hellboy/BPRD, The Umbrella Academy (with Gerard Way of ‘My Chemical Romance’), and Sugar Shock (with Buffy‘s Joss Whedon). Their most recent collaborative work is the Eisner-award winning original graphic novel, Daytripper. TCAF marks their first Canadian public appearance (the duo also illustrated TCAF’s striking new 2012 poster).

These five cartoonists join a strong and diverse array of national and international cartoonists who make up the 2012 Festival, across a number of spotlights, including the following highlights:

- Oh Canada!: Canada makes a strong representation at TCAF 2012 with over 100 Canadian comics creators, including the much-celebrated Kate Beaton (Hark A Vagrant), the return of Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, and acclaimed Quebecois cartoonist Michel Rabagliati, who will debut his new English-language graphic novel The Song of Roland.

- Comics For Kids: TCAF 2012 will focus more strongly on comics for children than ever before, thanks to partnerships with venerable Canadian magazine publisher Owlkids, Toronto’s new children’s comic book store Little Island Comics as well as support from several publishers. Headlining the children’s programming will be the aforementioned Jeff Smith (Bone), alongside NYT Bestselling children’s comic authors Jennifer Holm and Matt Holm (Babymouse, Squish), Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet) and Andy Runton (Owly). In fact, TCAF 2012 will feature almost 50 creators who work specifically on comics for children and young adults.

- Cartoonists from 15 Countries: TCAF 2012 will see a stunning array of international cartoonists, including Arne Bellstorf (Germany, Baby’s In Black), Tom Gauld (U.K., Goliath), Gabriella Giandelli (Italy, Interiorae), Jason (Norway, Hey, Wait), Gary Panter(USA, JIMBO), Olivier Schrauwen (Belgium, The Man Who Grew His Beard), and Adam Warren (USA, Empowered). They will be joined by special envoys of cartoonists from Australia and England, as well as representative cartoonists from China, France, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, New Zealand, and Spain! For Toronto’s literary community, TCAF 2012 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet many of these creators!

And everything you love – and more! TCAF 2012 will reprise the most popular programming since its 2003 launch, including the popular “Webcomics Pavilion,” Dedicated OWLkids Kids Area, Wowee Zonk Small-Press Area, panel discussions and interviews, workshops, readings and art installations. Not only that, but all of these components will be expanded and increased, occupying four additional physical locations in the Yonge & Bloor neighbourhood around the Toronto Reference Library TCAF hub. We’re taking comics to the streets in 2012!

Over the next several months TCAF will announce additional featured guests from around the world, related events including film screenings, art installations, gallery showing and a full detailed schedule of the programming around our most popular guests. While we will be sending press updates for all key guest and event additions, be sure to visit the TCAF website regularly for up-to-the-moment updates: http://torontocomics.com.

SPONSORS

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival would not be possible without the assistance of our sponsors and partners, including presenting sponsor Toronto Public Library and retail sponsor The Beguiling Books & Art.

TCAF would like to recognize the efforts of the following organization in planning TCAF 2012: OWLkids, NOW Magazine, The Italian Cultural Institute, NORLA (Norwegian Literature Abroad), The Flemish Literature Fund, The Japan Foundation and The French Consulate in Toronto.

In addition, TCAF would like to thank publishers Drawn & Quarterly, VIZ Media LLC., Fantagraphics, Houghton Mifflin, Thomas Allen, Scholastic Canada, and First Second for their assistance.

Sponsorship opportunities for TCAF 2011 are still available, please contact us at: contact@torontocomics.com for more info.

Although you’d think he was busy enough drawing THE WALKING DEAD every month, artist Charlie Adlard occasionally has time to toss off something like CURSE OF THE WENDIGO (reviewed here) a horror comic written by French screenwriter Mathieu Missoffe and released in France in 2009. The story is set in World War I and finds French and German soldiers teaming up to fight a greater horror.

An American edition is out today from Dynamite, and here’s a preview:

The Romanian webcomic Fredo and Pid’jin, has been a big success for its creators Eugen Erhan and Tudor Muscalu, this piece at Next Web tells us, if by success you mean lots of links on Reddit and Digg. But:

Despite its popularity, the pair have struggled to make money from Fredo and Pid’jin. Now Erhan has quit his dayjob to make a go of running the comic full time.

What emerges is the story of two guy with a dream and a webcomic about two evil pigeons out to conquer the world. Things looked low, but then a guy who works on the Simpsons came and told them they were on the right track, energizing them to carry on. But…questions remain:

TNW: How is the comic monetized at the moment?

TM: For the first years we believed we should concentrate on growing, and didn’t really try to make any money. We recently started selling merchandise through Neatorama and local Romanian sites. And it took us 6 years, but now we have banner ads on our site.

Although this sounds like slow going, the Romanian comics industry is in its formative stages, although the Cultural Embassy is behind it, and Romanian cartoonists have made a few appearances here at MoCCA and NYCC. Asked for advice in the interview, Muscalu suggests, “Don’t delay the monetization stage too much. One day opportunity will knock at your door faster than you can design ad banners.”

Evidently taking their own advice, Erhan and Muscalu have created a trailer for the strip, below. We wish them luck on that crucial “quitting your day job” moment.

South African cartoonist Zapiro is famous for his sharply observant cartooning and also for standing up to constant and onerous political pressures because of his observations. Most famously he was sued by the Prime Minister of South Africa for defamation—but as this profile at PEN.org shows, he’s always been at the center of controversy reserved for those who tell the truth.

Freedom of expression in South Africa is currently under attack on multiple fronts. This cartoon refers to an earlier piece in which President Jacob Zuma and his allies prepare to rape Lady Justice. (In 2006, Zuma was charged and acquitted for rape.) He would later sue Zapiro for R7 million for the Lady Justice cartoon.

It’s an important reminder of the cartoonists on the political frontlines around the world who have a lot more at stake than just drawing fictional heroes — some of them are real heroes.

New at Cartoon Movement today, Josh Neufeld’s Bahrain: Lines in Ink, Lines in the Sand, a true story set during Bahrain’s short lived Pearl Revolution about two two young Bahraini editorial cartoonists named Mohammed and Sara who see the events from opposite sides. This is an excellent, accessible piece that really helps make clear a smaller eddy of the complex, swirling events of the Arab Spring.

Neufeld met Mohammed and Sara at workshops he led while visiting the tiny Persian Gulf country on a U.S. State Department trip. Shortly after Josh became friends with both of them on Facebook, Bahrain underwent much turmoil in protests inspired by the Arab Spring.

Neufeld documents Mohammed and Sara’s impressions of the events, through their words, experiences, and their own cartoons, which were published as events unfolded. What emerges is a portrait of a complex society burdened by a history of religious sectarianism. ”Bahrain: Lines in Ink, Lines in the Sand” is an unusual story of multiple, often conflicting narratives, much of it enabled by a rapidly changing online environment.

When you think of Scandinavia you think of cliches like austere and laconic and fatalism — all words which apply to the work of Norwegian cartoonist Jason. The cliches happen to be true but in the happiest, freshest way. As you can tell by reading his blog, Jason is a big fan of classic films and their pacing, and his work mashes up funny animals, ligne claire, noir thrillers, introspective indie movies where people talk in diners for hours and horror icons into his own marvelous style — tightly plotted stories where tall rangy birds and dogs talk without smiling of life, love and death, the very essentials of human existence. Jason characters are unsmiling because they know how deadly serious are the machinations of the human heart; love is a matter of life and death (sometimes undeath) in every Jason story.

In I KILLED ADOLF HITLER, a hitman goes back in time to kill Adolf Hitler…but he messes up and Hitler comes forward in time, a mistake the hitman must rectify. Complicating factor: the time machine needs 50 years to charge up. There’s no need to say any more — at 50 pages the tale is short yet packs several lifetimes of story. The story unfolds both as you expect and then as you never would with a last page that either will break your heart or leave you sitting on a park bench staring into the sky wishing you could go back in time and fix that one thing.

The books I’m giving away in this series are all among my all-time favorite graphic novels — because they are among my favorites, it turned out I had multiple copies. I keep buying or saving the same thing because it’s so close to me. If you’ve never experienced Jason, this is the perfect place to jump on.

DA RULEZ: email your name and address to beatgiveaway at gmail dot com with JASON HITLER in the subject line. Winners will be selected at random. NO ADDRESS, NO WIN. The contest closes tomorrow at 5 pm EST when the next giveaway begins. Books will be mailed next week.

Giveaway open to US and CANADA residents ONLY. Sorry about that! I looked into international shipping but it is just too complicated and expensive. Maybe when I get a sponsor!

An article in The Gauntlet, the University of Calgary’s student magazine, boldly proclaimsThe beginning of a new comic era — and Calgary’s Maad Sheep Productions are just the guys to do it.

The most exciting potential lies in the many independent publishers that are swiftly gaining popularity in this changing market. With the comic-buying public gravitating away from larger companies, independent creators finally have their chance to truly flourish.

What the article does not mention is that in order to flourish, comics creators must dress like a NASCAR pit crew.

It’s the only way to be sure.

Will everyone be able to make this sacrifice?

The long on-again, off-again life action Akira movie is decidedly on again at Warners, with Jaume Collet-Serra to direct the Steve Kloves script. Given that AKIRA is a worldwide classic of anime and Japanese film in general that hugely influenced both animation and the cyberpunk movement, it seems ripe for reinvention in that Hollywood way.

And of course, also in that Hollywood way, despite the story being set in and infused with Japanese culture, because American moviegoers are all white and cannot be persuaded to pay money to watch Asian people on the screen, the film is being moved from New Tokyo to “New Manhattan ” (essentially New New York) and replacing all the Asian characters with white people if casting rumors are true.

Like

Kristen Stewart

Paul Dano

Garrett Hedlund

Helena Bonham Carter

Gary Oldman

Now, we loves us some Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter as much as any other member of the Brit Acting Mafia…and Kristen Stewart is a very talented and engaging young actress. Dano is faboo. Hedlund…eh. Bleh. Whatevs. But the consistent whitewashing of the film is alarming or disgusting depending on your point of view. It’s not just that the movie has to have white stars; it’s that EVERYONE has to be white.

Now, however it seems that Gary Oldman has turned down the part, and in desperation the producers have offered the role to an actual man of Japanese descent, Ken Watanabe.

Watanabe is of course a handsome, brooding movie star, as WELL as a proven favorite in the Christopher Nolan-verse with prominent roles in BATMAN BEGINS and INCEPTION. So maybe having a real Japanese person in the movie won’t destroy it? Except that the role was also offered to Morgan Freeman, so it’s clearly the “Non white person role.” Every movie has to have one. Because this is the land of the free and the home of the brave.

PS: Here’s a great quote by sensei George Takei on the whitewashing of AKIRA;

“I’m surprised Warner Bros. is not keeping up with the audience. The manga and anime phenomenon is mostly white in this country. It originated in Japan, and, of course, it has a huge Asian fan following. But it’s the multi-ethnic Americans who are fans of ‘Akira’ and manga. The idea of buying the rights to do that and in fact change it seems rather pointless,” he told The Advocate. “If they’re going to do that, why don’t they do something original, because what they do is offend Asians.”

Comics and related cartoons continue to cause problems in the Middle East. Tunisia, the country widely credited with setting off the “Arab Spring” in a relatively peaceful fashion earlier this year, is in an uproar after Marjane Satrapi’s animated film was shown last month and immediately set off a huge controversy for a scene which shows God — which, as you may have realized by now, is forbidden by some branches of Islam.

Nessma, the station which ran the film, is being sued for showing it — and the trial erupted in angry confrontations yesterday:

Critics accused station owner of Nabil Karoui of trying to inflame a tense pre-election environment in Tunisia and several suits were filed against him.

Karoui is accused of “attacks against sacred values and morals and disturbing the public order.”

In addition to the demonstrations, many of which had to be confronted by tear gas, Karoui’s home was attacked by a mob wielding petrol bombs.

“I am very sad when I see that the people that burned my house are free while I am here because I broadcast a film which was authorized,” he told journalists outside the courtroom.

BY JEN VAUGHN – This weekend is Portfolio Day at The Center for Cartoon Studies. Prospective students cram into the Colodny for a day of tours, faculty talks and portfolio reviews. Their age range is all over the place, fourteen years of age to fifty. Some don’t want to come to the school but know that they are on the right track with comics.

Burning to tell a story? This is the place to be. Want to learn how to take a sketch from your notebook to a full-developed story bound as a book? This is the place to be.

The place where I am currently is Arizona. Nice, hot and dry. A weekend with the family explaining what the hell it is that a cartoonist does, I came prepared with copies of my own comics, anthologies and books I’ve illustrated from other companies. What I did not expect was a rather shared knowledge of Tintin. We’re from Tornado Alley. The Schmeckpeper family likes all things theatrical but I was one of the few to follow it to comics and cartooning. Everyone knew about Tintin, some of the books and the movie.

TinTynergy

As I checked into my hotel, I found this business card insert with my key and a *special* do-not-disturb sign featuring Tintin, Snowy and our favorite drunk captain. MYSTERY SOLVED.

If only I could leave some of these delicious parodies i09 collected out for them (especially the 2001 R. Sikoryak’s “Prisoners of the Red Planet” that ran in Wired). While many are skeptical about the upcoming Tin Tin movie, I cannot recommend Tintin and the Golden Fleece enough! This 1961 release (filmed in the late 50’s) featured Jean-Pierre Talbot as the boy reporter (you know, you can’t tell if he is 18 or 30). With Captain Haddock and trusty dog, Snowy, they easily slide from country to country to country in a fantastic mystery that was not actually adapted from an Herge comic but written specifically for the silver screen. Child-proofing may make a nice family film for the December release of The Adventures of Tin Tin but don’t be afraid to rent an old-school badass of a film.

–

Jen Vaughn is a freelance writer, cartoonist and skeptic. Email her for a good drawing time.

Isabel Greenberg’s “Love in a Very Cold Climate” — the story of lovers repelled by polar magnetism — has won the 2011 Graphic Short Story prize given out by the Observer/Comica/Vintage Books.

London-based Greenberg has contributed previously to Nobrow and Solipsistic Pop. The story is part of a larger work called The Encyclopaedia of Early Earth.

Judges David Nicholls, Bryan Talbot, Rachel Cooke, Dan Franklin, Paul Gravett, and Suzanne Dean chose Greenberg’s story from hundreds of submissions. The runners up and the winner can be read at the Prize website — a profitable afternoon for graphic story enthusiasts.

Via Ladies Making Comics