World Comics

By Finnish artist Janne Tervamäki. Via Boing Being.

Everyone is linking to Lithuanian artist Akvilė Misevičiūtė because she's awesome, and we're jumping on the bandwagon with her "Potato Story" from Ink+ Paper Magazine.

“How does it feel to be here, surrounded by cats?” The moderator’s already off to an auspicious start, given his (what I believe to have been, given my complete lack of German comprehension) promise not to discuss “why mice, why the holocaust.” It’s the proverbial gorilla in a room full of cats, of course, and while Spiegelman has visited the country a number of times in the past 25 years or so, it seems an odd choice not to discuss it the day before the opening of a retrospective on the cartoonist’s work. And here we are, like clockwork, dipping our toes in the water, the moderator asking how it feels sitting in this room, being, you know, the guy who got famous by writing a comic book about the Holocaust.

France and its overseas postings remain on watch after the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons about the prophet Mohammed yesterday. With the Islamic world already on edge over a mysterious US-made YouTube video, the cartoons were expected to perhaps ignite more violence:

The 2012 Joe Shuster Awards, honoring the best in Canadian comics, were handed out on Saturday, September 15th at the Montreal Comic-Con. Jason Rockman and Catherine Smith-Desbiens handed out the awards--check the link for jury comments on the winners.

Currently at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Unlikely but true. For example. Dredd 3D constantly impresses on a visual level, with a gritty style more akin to...

Up at the official blog, the poster for the 2012 Joe Shuster Awards has been unveiled, a design by Tyrone Biljan as an homage to Expo '67 posters. The awards, presented to the best in Canadian comics, will be given out during the Montreal Comic-Con:

What's this -- a new book in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-verse? yes, in a new book by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill called NEMO: HEART OF ICE. the website for the store Gosh! has details of the 48-page hardcover, which is due in February:

Some hours ago I found out Sergio Toppi has passed away. Art as a whole, and not only comics or illustration, has lost one of its biggest masters and even more important, a kind, humble, and amazing human being with a heart of gold. Also this year, we’ve lost Jean Giraud (Moebius) and, very recently, Joe Kubert. Three giants I had the immense honor to meet, and that leave a hole that will be so, so difficult to fill.

Meanwhile, digital manga is coming on a more timely basis, as Japanese publishers wise up to the fact that piracy thrives on the immediacy and availability. Brigid Alverson rounds up the news on JManga, a daily spin-off of the still-getting-up-to-speed JManga site.

We've lost another great one: news spread today that Italian art master Sergio Toppi had passed away at age 80. Toppi got his start in advertising (and his sketchy, geometric styleed the way for the familiar the mid-century advertising look) but contributed comics to such magazines as Linus, Corto Maltese, Un uomo un’avventura, and Il Giornalino in Italy and l’Histoire de France en bandes dessinées and La Découverte du Monde in France. Best known for single stories rather than series characters, in recent years he worked exclusively with the French publisher Editions Mosquito. Archaia is bringing out a US edition of his retelling of the Arabian Knights, Sharaz-De later this year. A selection is below.

As you may know, the metro Manila area has been hit by severe flooding of late, due to monsoon season, and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced as a result. Local bookstore Fullybooked is organizing a fundraiser for the flood victims.