BROWNIE POINTS
Noted comics scholar Thierry Smolderen has recently updated his massive and lush "Coconino Classics" website with the usual classic comic strips and, notably, English and French language versions of his essay, "Why the Brownies are Important." The essay deftly argues the importance of Palmer Cox's predominantly non-sequential "Brownies" stories, discussing phisognomical, compositional and other techniques exemplified by the Brownies and emphasizing the link between the Brownies and Outcault's development as a cartoonist. Smolderen's nicely illustrated, 14-page article is a rare and essential consideration, addressing as it does comics' non-sequential elements.
INFO: Coconino Classics
posted by Egon on Saturday, October 05, 2002

ROARIN' BACK TO LIFE
In an interview with Comicon.com's "Pulse," Rick Veitch reveals the revitalization of "King Hell Press," his dormant self-publishing imprint. The coming months will see the rerelease of Maximortal, Rabid Eye and Pocket Universe along with a softcover edition of Bratpack. The dream cartoonist, Comicon.com administrator and Aquaman writer also mentions in passing that he is 40 pages into a new graphic novel for an unnamed publisher.
INFO: Comicon.com
posted by Egon on Friday, October 04, 2002

TWO STEPS FORWARD
The second installment of Art Spiegelman's 8-part monthly strip, "In the Shadow of No Towers," is running in the current, October 4-dated issue of the Forward. As always, an excerpt is available on the Forward's website.
INFO: The Forward
posted by Egon on Friday, October 04, 2002

V IS FOR VACATION
WizardWorld reports that Alan Moore will let go the reigns of his "America's Best Comics" titles at an unspecified point in the coming 15 months to two years. The series, Moore's re-imagination of classic pulp hero archetypes in a mainstream comics idiom, have represented his primary new comics output for the past several years. After taking a proper vacation, Moore will return to his creative projects, but not, Wizard reports, "the more commercial work he's been doing since entering the field... Rather, he will concentrate on producing more mature-minded and complex work" in comics, prose, music and performance. Wizard further reports: "And all of Moore's future work will be readily available to the comic buying public since they will be published by the likes of Top Shelf, a company Moore heaps praise upon, and other indy publishers." Top Shelf is the American distributor for Eddie Campbell Comics, which publishes "From Hell," and will also be publishing "Voice of the Fire," "Lost Girls," and other Moore projects in the coming year.
INFO: Wizard World
posted by Egon on Tuesday, October 01, 2002