PEKAR POSTS
Harvey Pekar's recently launched website includes an online journal which Pekar posts to along with his wife, Joyce Brabner, and their foster daughter Danielle.
INFO: harveypekar.com
posted by Egon on Saturday, June 28, 2003

COVERAGE CAPS MOCCA
Publisher's Weekly covers the recent MoCCA Comic Arts Festival with a rundown of some of the major publishers and releases on hand at the event. Time magazine's online comics columnist Andrew Arnold also made the scene, picking standout books and contemplating the show's future. Arnold spoke with MoCCA chairman Lawrence Klein, who commented, "The festival is not going to stay the same." Arnold reports, "the show may move to another venue and they may make it into two full days Klein says... But the most controversial change would be the inclusion of mainstream publishers... Lawrence Klein seemed ambivalent about this. He clearly has an interest in preserving the small-press nature of the festival but won't rule out the inclusion of bigger publishers (and their larger budgets.)"
INFO: Publisher's Weekly
INFO: Time.com
posted by Egon on Saturday, June 28, 2003

PAPERBACK PEANUTS
Pantheon Books' Fall 2003 catalog includes an upcoming paperback edition of "Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz." The softcover will include "thirty-two pages of additional material from the newly formed archives of the Charles M. Schulz Museum," according to solicitation copy. "The material new to this paperback edition includes: a vintage newspaper advertisement for Schulz's father's barbershop, the first brochure from United Features for Peanuts, unpublished sketchbooks and original art, and a mural painted by Schulz in 1951 for his daughter's bedroom, which features early versions of Charlie Brown and Snoopy." The softcover edition is due in October and will cost $16.95.
INFO: Pantheon Books
posted by Egon on Thursday, June 26, 2003

GILLRAY'S SAVAGE PEN
Canadian arts magazine Tandem surveys James Gillray's career and reviews "James Gillray's The Last Laugh," on show through October 12 at the Art Gallery of Ontario. "The exhibition includes approximately 30 etchings which ridicule the antics of the royal family and famous political personalities, and lampoon the foibles of Georgian society," including examples of Gillray's hand-colored pieces, according to the Gallery's website.
INFO: Tandem
INFO: Art Gallery of Ontario
posted by Egon on Thursday, June 26, 2003

GERTIE IN OAKLAND
Oakland, California's Grand Lake Theater will screen Winsor McCay's "Gertie the Dinosaur" on July 4, reports Miron Murcury to the Platinum Age Comics mailing list. "Internationally renown Organist Warren Lubbock provides accompaniment to Winsor McCoys historic 1914 animation. Gertie will screen during the twenty minute organ concert before the main feature."
INFO: Platinum Age Comics
posted by Egon on Wednesday, June 25, 2003

MCCAY BEFORE NEMO
The current issue of Previews includes a solicitation for "Winsor McCay: Collected Early Works" from the Checker Book Publishing Group, reports Rodrigo Baeza to the Comics Journal message board. The book collects "'Tales of the Rarebit Fiend,' 'Tales of the Jungle Imp,' 'Little Sammy Sneeze,' 'A Pilgrim's Progress,' and much more," according to solicitation copy. The publisher's website displays several sample pages from the book. The 222-page black and white softcover volume is due in July.
INFO: Checker Publishing
posted by Egon on Wednesday, June 25, 2003

REASON: BAGGE ON REASONS
Reason Magazine's website runs a new comic strip by Peter Bagge. In "What We Believe (This Month, Anyway)" Bagge takes on pro-war rationales.
INFO: Reason
posted by Egon on Tuesday, June 24, 2003

BAGNALL'S BACK
John Bagnall's comics return to print this summer with a new collection titled "Don't Tread on My Rosaries," Bugpowder reports. The book is "an eighty page collection of comic strips by John Bagnall, over two-thirds of them previously unpublished," according to publisher Kingly Books' website. The book debuts at the upcoming Comica comics festival at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. The Kingly Books website features several pages of excerpts from the book.
INFO: Kingly Books
posted by Egon on Tuesday, June 24, 2003

FAME, FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE
Lynn Johnston is among a group of eleven Canadian celebrities being inducted into that country's Walk of Fame tomorrow night, according to an article in the London Free Press. "The Walk of Fame was begun in 1998 and now boasts the names of 75 Canadians who have made it in show business, the arts or sports;" the strip of plaques is located in Toronto's theater district.
INFO: London Free Press
posted by Egon on Tuesday, June 24, 2003

COMICS OBSERVED
The Observer surveys several graphic novels on the occasion of the upcoming Comica Comics Festival at London's Institue of Contemporary Arts. The piece reviews work by Comica guests Charles Burns and Chris Ware as well as books by David Greenberger and Marjane Satrapi.
INFO: The Observer
posted by Egon on Monday, June 23, 2003