COCONINO: GUSTAVE & SULLIVANT
The latest edition of Thierry Smolderen's Coconino Classics website features the remainder of Gustave Dore's 1847 sequential story, "The Adventures of Hercules" and "the complete volume of T.S. Sullivant's 'Fables for the Times' (1896) - a mythical album," as Smolderen calls it. "Polly and Her Pals" and "Krazy Kat" strips have also been added to the site, which begins a once-monthly update schedule, promising new material on the last Thursday of every month.
INFO: Coconino Classics
posted by Egon on Friday, February 28, 2003

PENCIL FIGHT BREAKS OUT
Artist and DIY publishing veteran Bwana Spoons announces the impending debut of Pencil Fight, "the artmag that cares," in a press release carried by Poopsheet News. The first thrice-yearly issue will include a five page strip by Craig Thompson, among other comics content.
INFO: Poopsheet News
posted by Egon on Friday, February 28, 2003

BRISTOL IN BRISTOL
Bristol's upcoming incarnation of Ladyfest solicits "comics made by ladies" for display at the festival. Says organizer Lady Lucy, "There will... be a comic art exhibition at the festival itself, featuring comic book art by female artists such as Jennifer Daydreamer. There will be an auction of some of the works at the end of the festival." Ladyfest Bristol is planned for August 11 - 17, 2003.
INFO: Ladyfest Bristol
posted by Egon on Friday, February 28, 2003

CORRUPTING THE YOUTH OF ATHENS
The regional Attican government seized copies of Gerhard Haderer's "The Life of Jesus" from Athenian bookstores yesterday, reports the Macedonian Press Agency in a piece spotted by Newsarama. The satirical Austrian comic's Greek-language edition was confiscated under a January 30 decision citing the illegality of "insulting religion in the press." The 40-page album is published in Greece by Oxy publications, who note in a defiant statement that "the last time this happened was more than 20 years ago, in 1981, with the publication of a book by the Marquis de Sade."
INFO: Macedonian Press Agency
LINK: Oxy: The Life of Jesus
posted by Egon on Wednesday, February 26, 2003

WOMEN OF KOREAN COMICS
The Korea Herald reports a month-long exhibit at the Seoul Animation Center spotlighting the work of contemporary Korean female cartoonists. "Women cartoonists account for half the total manpower pool of cartoonists" in Korea, according to Korea Women Cartoonists Association president Shin Il-sook. The exhibit, running March 7 through April 6, will include work by new and established cartoonists.
INFO: Korea Herald
posted by Egon on Wednesday, February 26, 2003

REUBEN FINALISTS NAMED
The National Cartoonists Society has named four finalists for this year's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, Editor & Publisher reports. Pat Brady, Greg Evans, Matt Groening and Dan Piraro have been nominated for the award, which will be given May 24 at the organization's annual Reuben weekend in San Francisco.
INFO: Editor & Publisher
posted by Egon on Tuesday, February 25, 2003

SINO-AMERICAN CARTOON EXCHANGE
The China Daily covers a conference organized by the paper to facilitate interaction between Chinese and international cartoonists. The piece describes the state of Chinese newspaper cartooning in the process: "According to [Chinese cartoonist Wang Fuyang], the lives of most Chinese cartoonists are quite stable... largely because most of the 2,000 cartoonists in China have full-time jobs. Some of the cartoonists work as editors or art directors for newspapers and magazines... Only a few Chinese cartoonists are full-time freelancers, but they are usually better paid because their work is of a more commercial nature."
INFO: China Daily
posted by Egon on Tuesday, February 25, 2003

FRANCO-BRITON AUTOBIO EXCHANGE
Paul Gravett announces "Autobio Comix," a roundtable discussion at London's Institut Français on Saturday, April 12. Participants will include Jean-Christophe Menu, Fabrice Neaud and Glenn Dakin. The free event will be "in English or translated."
LINK: Institut Français
posted by Egon on Tuesday, February 25, 2003

AAN ANNOUNCES CARTOON CONTEST
The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies announces its third annual cartoon contest. Cartoons published in AAN member papers during the 2002 calendar year are eligible in two categories: "one for cartoons that were published in fewer than five AAN papers, and another for cartoons that were published in five or more papers." Cartoonists and editors must submit strips for consideration by March 14. Detailed contest rules and an entry form are available from the AAN website.
INFO: Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
posted by Egon on Monday, February 24, 2003

LAXMAN'S COMMON MAN
The Times of Oman profiles venerable Indian cartoonist R. K. Laxman in anticipation of local speaking engagements. Laxman has drawn political cartoons for the Times of India for fifty years, and is most widely known for his politically skeptical "Common Man" character. "Despite being a severe critic of the establishment, he was still conferred with the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government." Laxman's work has been collected in several volumes; he has also written novels, short stories and a memoir and directed a film about his Common Man character.
INFO: The Times of Oman
posted by Egon on Monday, February 24, 2003

MORE INK FROM THE FOURTH ESTATE
The Comics Journal's "iJournalista!" website points out a lengthy, well-considered review of Larry Gonick's "Cartoon History of the Universe III" in the Guardian. Reviewer Nicholas Lezard admires the historical scope and accuracy of Gonick's work as well as the cartoonist's apt stylistic choices: "It is, as Gibbon described history, very much a register of the crimes, follies and misdemeanours of mankind. This is why the cartoon medium is so strangely appropriate... It is all a kind of style, as valid as a prose-writer's, and as flawlessly accomplished as the medium can get." Meanwhile, North Carolina's Asheville Citizen-Times articulates the merits of "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "One! Hundred! Demons!" and "Berlin: City of Stones" by new Asheville resident Jason Lutes. "Lutes is now working on the second chapter of Book Two of 'Berlin,' which he had brought to Asheville from Seattle four months ago," according to the piece.
INFO: The Guardian
INFO: Asheville Citizen-Times
posted by Egon on Monday, February 24, 2003