HeroesCon proves thirty is fabulous
Whoosh! HeroesCon just raced on by! We arrived late on Thursday, hit BarCon and the rest was just WHOOSH! So much fun, we barely had time to type about it at all. That isn't to say there weren't some snafus—all on our own part—but they came and went so quickly.
The Big Two: Not the biggest opportunities in town any more as creators move...
I'll make it short and sweet: creators have to create. Marvel and DC no longer allow them to do that, except within rigidly proscribed guidelines. And the Paolo Riveras of the world are going to have to move on. It might not be too long before the Big Two are just steppingstones to get your name out there for even bigger things.
When Matt Groening Started Talking About Quitting
Yes, the world is a little stunned by the announcement of Matt Groening quitting Life In Hell. It isn't like this hasn't been threatened though. Back in November of 2009, roughly two and a half years ago, the Chicago Humanities Festival had a panel on the declining market for Alt Weekly comics. Groening was there. Lynda Barry was there. Chris Ware was there. Jules Feiffer was even there. And back then, Groening was already talking about quitting.
Nice art: Eldon Dedini doodles
Meanwhile, what is going on over at the Billy Ireland collection of comics and cartoon art? Oh just some doodles by Playboy/New Yorker cartoonistEldon Dedini like this one of painter Diego Rivera. Dedini donated his art archives to the collection before his death.
Non-Shock: Jeffrey Brown's Star Wars cartoon books is a Father's Day best seller
As we previously noted, and as this sales chart shows, and The B&N chart from last night confirmed, Jeffrey Brown's DARTH VADER AND SON is doing very well, especially in advance of Father's Day this Sunday. The Tribune interviews Brown with a classic cartoonist profile description:
The Greatest Cartoonists Doing Things Ever
Note to Europeans: I am available to go to your comics festivals. Cry cry cry....
Renae De Liz hospitalized
The seemingly tireless WOMANTHOLOGY organizer and artist Renae De Liz is in the hospital with a serious infection, her husband Ray Dillon reports:
Breaking news: Cartoonist finds way to make money!
Ruben Bolling, aka Ken Fisher, is much loved in most quarters for Tom the Dancing Bug, his long running, surgical strike weekly political comic. Of course, the field for weekly political comics is not exactly busting at the seams with dough. So recently Bolling came up with a new idea, called The Inner Hive which would offer a subscription model for goodies to readers:
How helping the Jack Kirby Museum could be the best response
Creator/publisher Zak Sally weighs in on the Kirby Matter, and the actions he suggests are more proactive:
actually, over the course of writing this, i think i DO have an answer– not THE answer, but an idea anyway: it’s somewhat presumptive on my part, and it is NOT what “should” happen, but it falls under the category of “the least you could do”.
New book by webcartoonists tells you how to live well on less money
Sign o' the times? Of COURSE a webcomicker wrote a book on living well frugally. Spike "Templar, AZ" Trotman wrote and Diana Nock illustrated POORCRAFT, which was funded on Kickstarter (in 2009!) of course.
You can never go wrong with Jack Kirby
I usually don't comment on my activity or lack of it any more, but I have pressing matters which preclude commenting on some of the big stuff going on—I'm still working on that damn TCAF report—including the ongoing Jack Kirby/Avengers/creators rights matter. Or the matter of the day as I like to call it. I've been saving up my links and girding my loins. I guess I feel a bit defensive about it because not commenting on something is often attacked as condoning this or supporting that. My thoughts are complex and I don't want to dash something off; it's too important for that.
Meet the cartoonists behind Cartoon Network's hottest shows (Part One)
There's so many cartoonists working at Cartoon Network we couldn't fit 'em all in one post! This first post features interviews with cartoonists/animators Martin Cendreda, Hellen Jo, Michael DeForge and many more.
