§ Many people in comics have a a deep abiding hatred of Roy Lichtenstein, who appropriated comics panels for paintings that are now worth millions of dollars. That antipathy will grow more as the above painting, taken from a panel by Ted Galindo, is being auctioned off with a value of $50 million. Scott Edelman has more, and the above image, which was created by David Barsalou, who has long been cataloging the Lichtenstein/comics connection. According to Sotheby’s
In its 53-year history, the painting has only ever had two owners. It was consigned from the collection of Chicago businessman and philanthropist Stefan Edlis. The Ring “encapsulates all of the major themes of the artist’s most acclaimed and sustained body of work,” according to a statement from Sotheby’s.
“Major themes.” Okay.
§ Chris Sims is taking a voluntary hiatus from Comics Alliance, as revealed in his War Rocket Ajex podcast.
Like I said, it’s not something that I went back and tried to hide, but it is something that I’ve tried to move away from as a writer and as a person. I got called out on it. I did it – that is not in question – and it was not OK. It was not OK then, it is not OK now. I never apologized for it then, because at the time, I felt like it was better to just let someone who was trying to disengage disengage. I have apologized now. I regret every part of it, and it was all me. There was a part of me that enjoys being a jerk. And a lot of the mistakes I’ve made in my life come from that. They come from a refusal to acknowledge that other people have feelings – in my personal life, and my professional life.
§ The CBLDF continues it look back at women in comics with a profile of Lee Marrs:
Lee Marrs, who would become one of the first and most outspoken women creators of the underground comix movement, got her start working in the comics industry as a part-time assistant on the strips Little Orphan Annie and Hi & Lois. Although this was her beginning in the industry, her entrepreneurial drive ultimately led her to San Francisco in 1971 where she worked alongside other underground legends like Trina Robbins. Her passionate approach to comics and desire to create works that spoke to all kinds of women became a major inspiration for other women creators to get involved in the comics scene. In a time when mainstream comics were still being heavily regulated and censored by the Code, the fledgling underground scene was really the only place where creators could express themselves freely and produce the books that they wanted. Although it was still heavily perceived as the proverbial “boy-club,” this didn’t stop Marrs. Instead of trying to be exclusively included in their comix, Marrs made her own. The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp was born and would run from 1973 to 1978—an incredible run for an independently created work.
Marrs has such a long and important career in comics and later animation. It’s a shame her work is so little known now.
§ Blossom did not like Frozen.
§ Wonderful comics! Remember that stuff! Comics Alliance profiles Aatmaja Pandya, whose name I have been hearing for a long time as one of the most talented recent SVA grads. She had a new comic coming out for MoCCA. Check it out.
CA: What are some comics that have inspired you either growing up or as an adult?
AP: Growing up, it was manga and video games and cartoons that made me want to draw/tell stories. Stuff like Fullmetal Alchemist, The Legend of Zelda series, lots of anime. I feel like this is the case with a lot of younger people in the industry? I read Calvin & Hobbes and Tintin when I was a really little kid. Then I got really into webcomics as I got older – Bobwhite by Magnolia Porter, especially, was the comic that made me want to start making my own comics. Then in my late teens I started reading some of the graphic novel classics, like Maus and Persepolis and Blankets and Asterios Polyp, and finally had the realization that the “mainstream” comics world existed beyond superheroes. Recently, I’ve been looking at Ranma 1/2, Kuragehime, Studio Ghibli movies, and slowly re-reading the Earthsea books, which aren’t comics but are super inspiring.
§ Speaking of comics influences, Boom! Editor Shannon Watters, one of the driving forces behind the introduction pf the “Adventure Time/tumblr” style to “mainstream” comics publishing, talks about the #ComicsForward thing and touches on a lot of the new culture clash of comics buyers:
It’s kind of why I put it as Wednesday comics buyers. It really is a cultural thing. It’s less of a group of people; you can’t really say that everyWednesday comics buyer is a white male between the ages of 30 and whatever, you know? You can’t pigeonhole that, but what does set those people apart is they’ve learned the status quo of the direct market system. They are used to the ritual of going to a comics shop every week on Wednesdays and picking up books. Or going once a month and picking up their stack. I think that has been the most interesting thing, and Kelly Sue [DeConnick] has really done an incredible job with this, educating people who are not Wednesday comics buyers on the importance of preordering within the direct market system to support a book. I think that’s really where the education and honestly the separation is coming from. Not everybody knows how the direct market works and how publishing within the direct market works.
§ CBR is hiring an entry levelLos Angeles-Based Editorial Assistant
JOB DESCRIPTION: CBR is looking for a part-time Editorial Assistant. Duties will include: Data entry General office work, filing, organizing, trash take out General errands including shopping for supplies and more Familiarity with content management systems a plus. Basic knowledge of Photoshop also a plus. Previous journalism experience preferred Knowledge of comic book storylines, creators and culture a plus
§ There is a controversy going on over all the money that was donated to Charlie Hebdo after the January attack. The magazine is owned by several different entities, but the surviving cartoonists want to share in the revenue because it’s quite a bit of money: 30 million euros. Oh boy.
§ Remember Lost? Remember Mark Coale’s weekly recaps? And polar bears and smoke monsters? And endless theorizing? So long ago. Staff writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach has a long remembrance of the first few years. This one is hot beverage worthy.
If you are reading this, it might be because you asked me how it all began and I sent you here. Or it might be because — as still happens with depressing regularity — one of the show’s detractors, be that a critic, or, more vexingly, someone who has just created a show and wants to make sure the media realizes that they are above making the mistakes we made (all the while cribbing our best moves) has come out purporting yet again to have some sort “proof” that “the writers of Lost did not know what they were doing.”
BAM.
