Comics

The MoCCA Festival at the Lexington Armory a few days ago was a fun weekend -- the numerous photo shows filled with smiling faces of dedicated artists and publishers show that. Look at Peggy Burns' engaging set or Dan Nadel's. Fun is fine, of course, but that's not entirely why people go to indie shows like MoCCA, SPX, and TCAF. I'd argue that the social aspect of hanging out with fellow cartoonists is a major motivation for attending, but that's not why D&Q or PictureBox or Fantagraphics attends. These are important shows for promoting authors and selling books.

Has a 1000-page omnibus become the tie-in book for the Thor movie?

Webcomics are moving forward with more experimentation on the infinite canvas of the browser, and taking new and unforeseen shapes. Here's one by Stevan Živadinović called "Hobo Lobo" that's a sidescroller/multi-plane retelling of the Pied Piper tale. Apparently this doesn't work on Explorer (what does?) but it worked on my decrepit and senile computer, so...happy scrolling!

This week's National Review has a cover of Obama as Captain America by Roman Genn. Sadly a larger image isn't available to us non-subscribers. It isn't as funny as the KICK-ASS cover from last year, but it is funny.

The Comics Journal's new cartoonist diary features Pascal Girard's MoCCA journal and we're already severely flattered. In case anyone is wondering, Pascal, you're #1!

Editorial cartoonist Mike Keefe of the Denver Post has won this year's Pulizter Prize for cartooning. He won the 2011 John Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition earlier this year so he is on a roll. His home paper reacts here. A complete list of winners can be found here.

For a while now Marvel has been hyping a storyline called "The Death of Spider-Man" in Ultimate Spider-Man, with a denoument due in June. Well, this morning the NY Post broke the story and told everyone what was going to happen:

Tokyopop is closing down its manga line. Not long ago, this company and others like it were sometimes pointed to as the future of comics publishing. I suppose they still might be.

Via The Comics Journal

The Stumptown Awards were given out at the like-named festival on Saturday night, and we haven't checked twitter or Facebook for the evidence of hijinks but hopefully Beat reporter Jen Vaughn, who was on the scene, will have all the dish in her report. We do know the eremont was hosted by Bobby "Fatboy" Roberts and winner were chosen on a public ballot. Here is the very fine bunch of winners:

The Maisie Kukoc Award, presented to a mini-comic of merit as part of the Stumptown Festival, was given to Damian Jay for The Natural World #3-4

THOR, Marvel's first movie of this busy summer, had its world premiere in Australia this weekend (it opens in the us on May 6) and so far, critics are hitting the like button. THR has a reaction roundup:

20 Amazingly Integrated Comic Book Logo Illustrations via Comics Alliance