Culture

MK Reed (Americus) writes to alert us to her new webcomic About A Bull which adapts the Tain Bo Cuailnge -- a colorful section of Irish legend revolving around Queen Maeve and her jealousy over the majesty of someone else's bull. Hijinks, battles and feats of amazing derring-do ensue.

We'll start out our mini-seasonal tribute with, of courseEclectic Micks, the sketch blog by a bunch of Irish artists. Above, Banshee by (this time for real) Declan Shalvey.

2003 wasn't so very long ago but in many ways it was a completely different age for comics. Nü Marvel was all the rage as comics were climbing out of the sales tailspin of the late '90s, and Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada reigned supreme at Marvel. Jemas in particular went off on some strange tangents. The Ultimate line may have been his signature achievement, but there were lots that aren't remembered so fondly, or at all, like Marvell -- a sort of satire of superheroes written by Jemas himself -- and Trouble -- a photo-covered "Gossip Girl" wanna-be that featured teenaged, randy versions of Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Hardly typical Marvel fare.

It seems there is a new sheriff in DC's digital town, and she goes by the name Molly Merrell. This new member of DC Online has just delivered a smackdown on rowdy posters at DC's Source blog:

With the continuing tradition of the band poster convention, FLATSTOCK, in Austin and the gaggles* of cartoonists, designers and journalists, there is no surprise that one of the Interactive panels focused on How Print Design is the Future of Interaction. One full room of print people eagerly waiting to hear what only one man, Mike Kruzeniski, had in mind. Kruzeniski works for Microsoft and is key in the development of the Windows Phone 7.

As the PR points out, Chester Brown isn't a recluse but he doesn't leave his home city of Toronto too much, so catching him on the road this year in support of PAYING FOR IT is a must. More dates to be announced, but the current schedule calls for Toronto, Chicago, NYC, Montreal, Vancouver and Seattle.

Sequart Research & Literacy Organization is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting comic books as a legitimate artform that has published studies on various topics including Batman, the X-Men, and Grant Morrison. Now they are promoting "A Year of Ellis" including several books -Shot in the Face:  A Savage Journey to the Heart of Transmetropolitan and Voyage in Noise:  Warren Ellis and the Demise of Western Civilization -- as well as the movie Warren Ellis:  Captured Ghosts. However. first up is a study of PLANETARY -- the multi-dimensional pastiche on genre fiction by Ellis and artist John Cassaday -- called strong>Keeping the World Strange: A Planetary Guide. Details on the contents have just been released:

After several years and three printed collections, cartoonist Julia Wertz has announced that she's finally retiring the Fart Party name for her comic strip. The name had been a constant source of bemusement for Wertz over the years -- although it didn't seem all that appropriate as the name of a comic strip about a 20-something young woman, it had the advantage of name recognition. BUt eventually it was time to move on, she explains. Wertz has moved her comics over to juliawertz.com, where her strip will continue under the moniker Museum of Mistakes.

Before she was a much admired editor at DC and Vertigo, Joan Hilty was a talented cartoonist, and somehow she managed to keep both running for nearly a decade. She's just launched JoanHilty.net to showcase all her skills. The site includes new episodes of her strip Bitter Girl, excerpt above.

Tonight at the Barrientos Mexican-American Cultural Center there is a SXSW Interactive evening event called Plutopia: The Future of Play that anyone can attend. Many speakers will focus on the converging technologies of the science field with arts and entertainment via film, demonstrations, performance art.

Dawn broke over the town and I slept the hell right through it. The panels of SXSW Interactive did not start until the afternoon and like a true ol' fogey, I spent the morning walk to the Austin Convention Center complaining about the businesses that had closed and what had been thrown up its place. Kerbey Lane with local art on the walls and pancakes of the day made the list of places to eat because the queso is an optional side like ketchup or chipotle mayo (I guess that one is rather new too).

Austin's South By South West has long been hailed THE place to play your new Renaissance-powered noise band or screen your documentary on the failings of mankind. As a former Austinite myself, I know the activity of the town pulses as if the city itself is running a marathon. The University of Texas students are off on Spring Break allowing for a different sort of tourist to take their spaces at the taco carts, oddly-named bars (hello, Mooseknuckle) and marvel at the bats of Congress Bridge.