KUPER, KAFKA AND CANADA
The Edmonton Journal profiles Peter Kuper, whose work is part of the travelling "Drawing Resistance" political art exhibit showing at Edmonton's Latitude 53 Gallery through May 17. Kuper comments briefly on his own political engagements and discusses his regular job drawing Mad Magazine's "Spy vs. Spy." In addition to illustration work, Kuper tells the Journal that he is working on "two graphic novels for Crown Books. One is a soon-to-be-released adaptation of Kafka's Metamorphosis. The other is Sticks and Stones, a hyper-topical political satire about the rise and fall of empires."
INFO: Edmonton Journal
LINK: Drawing Resistance
posted by Egon on Thursday, May 08, 2003

THE CAT COMES BACK
Fantagraphics' Eric Reynolds announces Gene Deitch's only foreseeable American appearance to the Comics Journal's message board. "An Evening with Gene Deitch" will take place May 19 at Comic Relief in association with the upcoming release of "The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove," a complete collection of Deitch's covers and cartoons for The Record Changer magazine. "The cartoonist, who has lived in Prague for over 30 years, will be returning home that weekend, making this an extremely rare opportunity to meet a living legend," says Reynolds.
INFO: The Comics Journal
LINK: Comic Relief
LINK: The Occasional Deitch
posted by Egon on Thursday, May 08, 2003

BD FOR BRITONS
London's Institut Français presents "Bande Desinée 2003: A Festival of European Comic Strips" May 16 - 18. Scheduled guests include Boucq, Hermann and Posy Simmonds for a three day program including panel discussions and film screenings. In association with the Festival, the Institut hosts "Comic Strip Passion Trip: An Exhibition on Belgian Comics," on show May 8 - 27.
INFO: Institut Français
posted by Egon on Wednesday, May 07, 2003

FEIFFER IN HARVEY'S HINDSIGHT
R. C. Harvey writes a lengthy appreciation of Jules Feiffer in the latest, May 4-dated installment of his online "Hindsight" column. Harvey traces Feiffer's artistic development as he delineates the cartoonist's long and multifarious career.
INFO: R. C. Harvey
posted by Egon on Wednesday, May 07, 2003

GRANDE DAME
Dame Darcy's Greatest Hits is now available as a collaborative release from record labels Action Driver and Bop Tart. Twenty-eight tracks handpicked by the artist span her career to date; the record will be in stores May 20.
INFO: Action Driver
posted by Egon on Wednesday, May 07, 2003

PILOTE ALIGHTS AGAIN
Absent since 1989, France's Pilote magazine returns for a special edition this June, reports Yahoo! Actualités. Beginning in 1959 Pilote ran such comics as Asterix, Blueberry and Lucky Luke along with editorial content, publishing weekly until 1974 and then monthly until the magazine's demise in 1989. The upcoming special cleaves to Pilote's traditional format and will include work from long-standing contributors alongside work by younger cartoonists including Joann Sfar. The 128-page magazine will cost seven Euros and will be available June 19.
INFO: Yahoo! Actualités
LINK: Lambiek: Pilote
posted by Egon on Tuesday, May 06, 2003

SALON ON IRAN
Like the Village Voice's book reviewer, Salon's Michelle Goldberg reviews Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis" in tandem with Azar Nafisi's recently published "Reading Lolita in Tehran." Goldberg reads both books as timely revelations of private resistance against ascendant Islamic rule.
INFO: Salon
posted by Egon on Tuesday, May 06, 2003

ICAF INVITEES
Organizers of the International Comic Arts Festival have named guest artists for the annual conference's upcoming session. American cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz and Italian cartoonists Francesca Ghermandi and Stefano Ricci will join scholars and attendees at Georgetown University's campus September 4 - 6, 2003.
INFO: ICAF
posted by Egon on Sunday, May 04, 2003

THE POLIS AND THE VILLAGE
Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood" is reviewed in the current, May 2-dated issue of the Village Voice. Reviewer Joy Press calls Persepolis "childlike yet stark," praising the book's depiction of adolescent confusion amidst ideological volatility while lamenting Satrapi's perceived "arm's length" emotional distance.
INFO: The Village Voice
posted by Egon on Sunday, May 04, 2003

HEY KIDS, KATZENJAMMERS!
The New Orleans Times-Picayune outlines the history of Rudolph Dirks' "Katzenjammer Kids" on the ocassion of a currently running exhibit at Gretna, Louisiana's German-American Cultural Center. Kids afficionado Lester Hopper discusses the series' basis in Wilhelm Busch's "Max und Moritz" strips and explains Dirks' eventual split with publisher William Randolph Hearst. Hopper will speak on the subject at the GACC on May 17.
INFO: New Orleans Times-Picayune
posted by Egon on Sunday, May 04, 2003

BLEGVAD LOOKS BACK
The website for Andy Partridge's Ape House record label runs an interview with Peter Blegvad on the artist/musician's soon-to-be-released collaboration with Partridge, "Orpheus, the Lowdown." The project, originally begun eleven years ago, is due in June 2003.
INFO: Ape Records
posted by Egon on Sunday, May 04, 2003

TO HAG AND HEIST IN L.A.
The Los Angeles press currently hosts two pieces of cultural reportage in the form of comics. The L.A. Weekly runs a strip by Ellen Forney, in collaboration with comedienne Margaret Cho, on the subject of "fag-hagging," as reported by the Comics Journal's "iJournalista!" website. The Los Angeles Times runs a strip by Rick Altergott on the cliches and tropes of the "heist" film. Both full-color strips are available online, the latter as a Flash-animated slideshow.
INFO: L.A. Weekly
INFO: Los Angeles Times
posted by Egon on Sunday, May 04, 2003

COMICS CONSUME COLUMN INCHES
Comics and writing about comics appear in several recently announced and profiled alternative press venues. The fourth issue of Arthur Magazine appears this month, cover-featuring a lengthy conversation with Alan Moore on the relationship between magic and art. The magazine also includes comics by Jordan Crane, Renee French, Johnny Ryan, Steven Weissman and others. Big News, a New York newspaper distributed by and sold to benefit the city's homeless population, features a number of comic strips solicited on the latest issue's theme of "lying." The Day of North London, Connecticut profiles Dylan Wardwell's Random Magazine, a new alternative culture magazine numbering comics among its foci. Finally, the latest issue of Punk Planet covers "The Revenge of Print," interviewing Kaz and discussing Top Shelf Productions' bankruptcy scare.
INFO: Arthur Magazine
INFO: Big News
INFO: The Day
INFO: Punk Planet
posted by Egon on Sunday, May 04, 2003