An epic catch up, yo.
§ J. Caleb Mozzocco looks at Marjane Satrapi’s Monsters Are Afraid of the Moon, a children’s picture book, above.
§ The Hawthorne High School Comic Convention is this weekend, on Saturday May 9.
New Jersey’s greatest comic book convention is back this May 9th. Hawthorne High School is proud to announce it’s 2009 comic convention. Featuring New Jersey’s greatest gathering of comic book creators the Hawthorne High School Cartooning Club will hold it’s 5th great convention. With great events like comic creating lessons by comic pros, an auction of original comic art, comic books and comic collectables and one of the best line ups of comic creators at any convention in the country the Hawthorne High Comic Convention is one of the great events in the world of comic fandom.
Click link for guest list, etc etc.
• A smattering of Free Comics Book Day reports. (It seems to have been a strong day all over.)
§ FCBD daddy Joe Field reports from Flying Colors with a video interview with Glen Brunswick, Eric Jones and Landry Walker. Over 1000 people attended.
§ Piccies from Bergen Street Comics
• Interviews, profiles:
§ Yikes how did we miss this interview with our hero, Rick Geary, and a preview of XXth CENTURY MURDER: FAMOUS PLAYERS (above)?
“I’ve been a student of true crime stories and famous murder cases for more than thirty years, and during that time I’ve become familiar with those that make the best stories, have the most colorful characters or contain the elements of a good mystery,” Geary said. “So finding the subject is never a problem. I always have a long list of cases I’d like to tackle next, and the decision is the result of a consultation with my publisher, Terry Nantier at NBM.”
In preparation for his true crime books, Rick Geary researches several accounts of an historical event to get the most accurate, comprehensive picture available. “My goal is first of all to be as clear and accurate as possible in laying out what might be a very complex and convoluted story. If several sources are in conflict over a particular detail, and I try to give space to all of them and air the different arguments for and against,” Geary explained. “I like to use maps and overhead views to make the action understandable, and I try for a sense of historical verisimilitude in details such as clothing, interiors, hairstyles, etc.”
§ Political alt-cartoonist Jen Sorenson talks about the erosion of the weekly comic strip
I’ve lost several newspaper clients, including my largest, the Village Voice. Village Voice Media has suspended publication of syndicated comics until their financial situation improves.
Like bamboo-eating pandas, we alternative political cartoonists thrive in a very particular habitat — the free weekly newspaper — and we’re rapidly becoming an endangered species. That’s why it’s important to let editors know you enjoy our work.
It’s not all bad news, though — I still have a number of clients, and I’ve been picking up a fair amount of illustration work lately. It’s almost as though editors and art directors felt a disturbance in the force. I’ll have a full-page 3-D comic in the June issue of Nickelodeon, and right now I’m working on a piece for the Wellesley Women’s Review of Books.
§ Tucker Stone interviews Frank Santoro about COLD HEAT.
§ Graphic New York profiles Kat Roberts.
§ James Owen looks back at a long ago Piranha Press submission, with some ideas on how to keep taking chances.
• Linkage
§ The Forbidden Planet International Blog gets love.
§ The Manga Critic, a new review site with news and much more by Katherine Dacey, debuts.
§ NPR reviews Ariel Schrag’s LiIKEWISE.
§ Marvel editor Tom Brevoort on The Big Idea:
You hear about it all the time as you speak to people at conventions, or on message boards, or web-sites devoted to breaking into the business: the Big Idea. The concept that a young, unknown creator has that’s so perfect, so revolutionary, so magnificent that when he eventually gets it published will change the industry forever and rocket him to super-stardom.
And to be fair, it’s not impossible that such a thing could be true. Look at Siegel & Shuster and Superman for a concrete example. But it’s also not incredibly likely either–especially when it’s coming from somebody who’s still on the outside trying to break in, and who doesn’t seem to have made much headway in that regard.
• Wolverine roundup:
§ Jog reviews WOLVERINE and DEATH NOTE.
§ Is ‘Wolverine’ the most homoerotic superhero movie ever?
OR
Is it just not Canadian enough?
§ PLUS: Tucker Stone (again) has one report on a MoCCA event focusing on Wolverine and Chris Claremont; and this nice fellow at Graphic Novel Reporter has a somewhat different view.
§ AND Daniel Dean at the Last Gaffe has Wolverine’s Report Card that kind of covers it all and then some.
§ But what you really want to know is What X-Men Will Be Hitting Theaters Next?
• Life & Style
§ Oh shit, there’s going to be a lot of this, isn’t there?
Modelo Especial plans an integrated approach in order to create sampling opportunities and introduce the beer at targeted events through media partnerships. The brand will be the exclusive import beer at the WIRED Cafe held during Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego this July, an invitation-only, VIP lounge hosted by WIRED magazine, where entertainment insiders and film fans will gather to experience VIP hospitality, new product demos, and a celebration of pop culture.
Observation: pop culture always goes better with Modelo.
§ Even The Onion is killing some of its print editions.
§ This isn’t comics, but it does nicely sum up the latest media obsessions: 100 days of Barack Obama’s Facebook news feed
The release of LIKEWISE is good news, but the fact that I bought the three issues that were published and now must buy the trade to get the complete story, overrides the argument that I must buy single issues to save the industry.