CAMPBELL CLOSES SHOP
In a statement posted to his website and widely propagated via e-mail, Eddie Campbell announces the end of his self-publishing concern, Eddie Campbell Comics, and the cancellation of Egomania Magazine, citing an unsupportive market and the collapse of the LPC distribution company as factors. "I expect my new serial The History of Humour will resurface in some way or other," reassures Campbell. "There's a new Playwright story by Daren White and myself in the current Dee Vee special... For the rest of the year I'll be working on a one-off Batman book, writing and painting."
INFO: Eddie Campbell Comics
posted by Egon on Saturday, February 01, 2003

POPOLI PROTEST FILED
The American embassy in Cameroon has filed an official protest against the police beating of cartoonist Paul Nyemb "Popoli" and has requested a full investigation, reports Joe Spann to the Comics Journal's message board on behalf of the Cartoonists Rights Network. The embassy's move comes as a result of a letter-writing campaign begun in December. Charges have been filed against officers who attacked the cartoonist at a police check point last November, reports CRN Director Robert Russel, but the case threatens to languish: "This is one way the government reduces criticism of itself: court cases just disappear."
INFO: The Comics Journal
INFO: Cartoonists Rights Network
INFO: Cartoonists Relief Network: Popoli
posted by Egon on Saturday, February 01, 2003

LATE NIGHT, MAULDIN STREET
A full page New York Times advertisement purchased by Jeep manufacturer DaimlerChrysler in honor of Bill Mauldin contained edited artwork, reports TheStreet.com in a piece spotted by the Comics Journals "iJournalista!" website. The ad, which ran in January 27's Times, showed one of Mauldin's dogfaces leaning against a Jeep, reaching for a tissue. "In the original version, you see, the soldier isn't reaching for a box of tissues. There's no box on the hood. Instead, the soldier's outstretched hand holds a pistol pointed at the hood of the Jeep. Reluctantly, the soldier is about to shoot his vehicle in the hood."
INFO: TheStreet.com
posted by Egon on Saturday, February 01, 2003

CARTOONISTS FOR CONSCIENCE
Megan Kelso and Timothy Kreider urge sympathetic cartoonists to sign a "Statement of Conscience" against the Bush administration's drive towards war with Iraq, planned to run as a full page advertisement in an upcoming issue of the Comics Journal. Interested cartoonists can contact Kelso directly via email at megan@girlhero.com. "We have about three weeks to put the ad together," say Kelso and Kreider. The full text of the statement follows:

A Statement of Conscience
The undersigned cartoonists oppose the Bush administration's policies both abroad and at home in its response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The "War on Terror" is being used as an excuse to launch a unilateral and unprovoked invasion of Iraq for political motives, and to repeal the rights and freedoms for which this country first fought. The America we believe in doesn't attack first, or arrest its citizens without charges. If comic books have taught us anything, it is that Superpowers should only be used for good.
posted by Egon on Friday, January 31, 2003

GOOD DUCKS GRATIS
Steve Geppi's Gemstone Publishing will participate in the second annual "Free Comic Book Day" promotional event with "Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures," reprinting a Carl Barks duck comic for free distribution in participating comic book shops. The comic, originally published as "Boys and Girls' March of Comics" and given away in shoe stores, features "Maharajah Donald" and includes a two-page back-up strip. The "Free Comic Book Day" promotion is scheduled for May 3, 2003.
INFO: Free Comic Book Day
posted by Egon on Thursday, January 30, 2003

AILLAGON: MINISTER OF COMICS
In a statement released Friday, French minister of culture and communication Jean-Jacques Aillagon announced a trebling of the state's financial committment to the annual Festival BD d'Angoulême from 65,000 euros to 195,000 and expressed a desire for closer cooperation between the Centre National de le Bande Desinée et l'Image and the Festival. Stating the government's renewed dedication to comics, Aillagon announced that comics would now be treated as a branch of all French publishing rather than a category of visual arts, committing the resources of the National Center for Books and Reading to the support of French publishers and artists.
INFO: Yahoo! Actualités
INFO: francetélévisions
posted by Egon on Wednesday, January 29, 2003

MONTREAL MANOEUVRES
Montrèalers accustomed to attending the Monthly Montrèal Comix Jam at Casa del Popolo should be reminded that the event is being held at a new location. Tonight's jam will be hosted at Suite 802 on 10 Ontario St. "Call 514 288 9866 the night of the jam for the building entry code, there is a phone just off the lobby in the restaurant," advises organizer Max Douglas. The Monthly Montrèal Comix Jam website includes a map to the location. Future events will be held at venues yet to be determined.
INFO: The Monthly Montrèal Comix Jam
posted by Egon on Wednesday, January 29, 2003

CALLING ALL MIDWESTERNERS
In a post to the Comics Journal message board, Jason Pitzl-Waters solicits entries for an exhibit of midwestern comics and sequential art at the Middle Room Gallery of the The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. The show is set to run in October 2003; submissions are due by June. "Along with the art on the walls we are also looking for comic/sequential artists who would like to sell their wares at the gallery during the run of the show." The Gallery currently hosts "Drawing Resistance," a travelling exhibit of political art including work by Peter Kuper and Seth Tobocman, among others. Pitzl-Waters can be reached for further information via e-mail at jason@ucimc.org.
INFO: The Comics Journal
INFO: The Middle Room Gallery
INFO: Drawing Resistance
posted by Egon on Tuesday, January 28, 2003

ANGOULÊME IN THE MORNING
NPR's "Morning Edition" covered the Festival BD d'Angoulême in today's program. Frank Browning, reporting from Angoulême, spoke with Gilbert Shelton, Paul Gravett and others about this year's festival, comics' larger place in Francophone culture, comics' historical roots and related topics. The six minute segment is available online as a streaming audio file.
INFO: NPR
posted by Egon on Monday, January 27, 2003

BD VERTES
An international roster of cartoonists has contributed original artwork for the benefit of Greenpeace France's fight against global warming. "Dessins pour le climat" showed at Angoulême this past weekend and displays at Paris' Space Médiavillage until the art goes up for auction on February 1. Several of the donated pieces can be seen at Greenpeace France's website. The auction finds precedent in "A ma Mer," a 1983 Greenpeace benefit anthology in which some of the pieces originally appeared.
INFO: Greenpeace France
INFO: BDSélection
posted by Egon on Monday, January 27, 2003

ALOHA KOCHALKA
The January 26 Honolulu Star-Bulletin runs an appreciation of James Kochalka's body of work. Star-Bulletin writer Gary C.W. Chun speaks with Kochalka about impending parenthood and favorably reviews Kochalka's latest graphic novel, "Fantastic Butterflies."
INFO: Honolulu Star-Bulletin
posted by Egon on Monday, January 27, 2003

THE THIRTY LABORS OF JOE SACCO
Amazon.com lists a new book copiously illustrated by Joe Sacco. "From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: A Short, Illustrated History of Labor in the United States" by Priscilla Murolo and A. B. Chitty examines the role of labor in America since 1492, covering slavery, immigrant labor, unionization and globalization. The book includes "thirty pages of stirring drawings" by Sacco, according to a "Booklist" review on the bookseller's website.
INFO: Amazon
posted by Egon on Sunday, January 26, 2003

CITIZEN MAULDIN
The January 25 New York Post reprinted a 1945 appreciation of Bill Mauldin by Orson Welles. Welles, a Post columnist at the time, contemplated Mauldin's place in a post-war world in the weeks following Japan's surrender. "He had a gripe, a good gripe," wrote Welles. "He was afraid that by the time the men who really won the war got back from the unpleasant places where they won it, the kisses wouldn't come so cheap."
INFO: New York Post
posted by Egon on Sunday, January 26, 2003

AMERICAN SUNDANCE
"American Splendor," the film based on Harvey Pekar's comic book series, won the Grand Jury Prize for a dramatic feature at the Sundance Film Festival, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. The film, directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, intersperses footage of Pekar and Joyce Brabner with fictionalized portrayals by actors. "It makes people feel good to win the prize, but what everybody's looking for is that it gets in theaters," Pekar told the Dealer.
INFO: Cleveland Plain Dealer
posted by Egon on Sunday, January 26, 2003

LOISEL TAKES GRAND PRIX
Régis Loisel was awarded the "Grand Prix" at the 30th annual Festival BD d'Angoulême, the French Associated Press reports. Loise is best known for illustrating "La Quête de l'Oiseau du Temps," a fantasy written by Serge le Tendre, and for his current "Peter Pan" serial based upon the popular children's book. The Grand Prix was announced Saturday evening from the balcony of the HÔtel de Ville in Angoulême. Loisel, who currently lives in Montreal, Canada, will serve as president of next year's festival.
INFO: Yahoo! Actualités
INFO: Lambiek: Régis Loisel
posted by Egon on Sunday, January 26, 2003