MASEREEL IN PORTLAND
A copy of Frans Masereel's 1927 woodcut graphic novel "Die Idee" is part of "Bibliocosmos," a current exhibition of material from Reed College's book arts collection, the Oregonian reports. The graphic narrative "is made more accessible to viewers with a video of the book's pages turning. The original, like most of the books on display, is behind glass." Bibliocosmos runs at the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery through October 5.
INFO: The Oregonian
INFO: Coolley Gallery
posted by Egon on Friday, September 05, 2003

SUPERMARKET'S GRAND OPENING
The UCLA Campus Events Commission, in association with Meltdown Comics, announces super*MARKET, a comic arts festival running November 7 through 9 at the UCLA campus. Participants confirmed so far include Jordan Crane, Sammy Harkham, John Pham and Souther Salazar.
INFO: super*MARKET
posted by Egon on Friday, September 05, 2003

MOCCA: TWO DAYS FOR 2004
MoCCA announces that next year's comic arts festival has been scheduled for two full days — Saturday, June 26th and Sunday, June 27th — and that the festival will once again be held in Manhattan's Puck Building. Applications are being accepted for exhibition space; application materials are available online.
INFO: MoCCA
posted by Egon on Friday, September 05, 2003

ART'S FINAL SHADOW
The September 5-dated issue of the Forward includes the final installment of Art Spiegelman's series of full-page, full-color comic strips, "In the Shadow of No Towers."
LINK: The Forward
posted by Egon on Friday, September 05, 2003

D&Q: THE HOUSE TOUR
Maisonneuve magazine profiles Chris Oliveros and Drawn & Quarterly in its latest issue, as spotted by the Comics Journal's "iJournalista!" website. The magazine reports that James Sturm's three historical graphic novellas will be published in a collected volume called "James Sturm's America."
INFO: Maisonneuve
posted by Egon on Friday, September 05, 2003

IMAGINARY NUMBERS
LinkMachineGo links to a series of pages offering further insight into the prospected development of Alan Moore's abortive "Big Numbers" series. The website of film professional Michael J. Bassett includes two lengthy transcripts from a pitch meeting between Moore and producers, with Bassett, discussing the overall story arc of the series. Meanwhile, a Brazilian Alan Moore fan site reproduces in black and white ten pages and the cover from the series' never-published third issue.
INFO: LinkMachineGo
INFO: Michael J. Bassett: transcript one
INFO: Michael J. Bassett: transcript two
INFO: Alan Moore: Senhor do Caos
posted by Egon on Friday, September 05, 2003

LAXMAN: STABLE, ABLE TO DRAW
The Mid-Day of Mumbai, India is among news sources reporting that R. K. Laxman's condition is stable in the wake of a stroke the cartoonist suffered on Monday, September 1. "Laxman suffered an ischemic stroke on the left side of his body and therefore it would not interfere with his drawing. An ischemic stroke is characterized by the sudden loss of blood circulation to an area of the brain, resulting in a corresponding loss of neurological function," reports the Mid-Day. Laxman's doctors say that he is "eating and talking normally;" they speculate that he could be home by the end of the week.
INFO: Mid-Day
posted by Egon on Wednesday, September 03, 2003

LAXMAN SUFFERS STROKE
Indian cartoonist R. K. Laxman has suffered from a paralytic stroke, according to a report from the Press Trust of India. The Indian cartoonist "is cheerful and responding to treatment. Laxman suffered a fall in the bathroom and was rushed to Poona Hospital on Saturday last. His condition is stated to be good, doctors attending on him said." Laxman is India's premier political cartoonist and is widely regarded as having maintained a pointed skepticism over his fifty year career. He is best known for his "Common Man" character, described as a "check-coated man, blinking at the Indian political scene from his front-page corner in The Times of India" in a Times of Oman profile published last February.
INFO: Press Trust of India
INFO: The Times of Oman
posted by Egon on Monday, September 01, 2003

MARTIN, OTOMO, STASSEN, VERLANT
French-language BD website labd.com runs interviews with Jacques Martin, Katsuhiro Otomo and the first part of a conversation with Jean-Philippe Stassen. The site also reports that Serge Gainsbourg biographer Gilles Verlant is working on a biography of humor cartoonist and Fluide Glacial founder Marcel Gotlib.
INFO: labd.com
INFO: Lambike.net: Gotlib
posted by Egon on Monday, September 01, 2003

SPX: PROGRAMMED FOR ACTION
Organizers of the Expo: SPX 2003 have published a programming schedule for the comic arts festival. Planned events include an installment of R. Sikoryak's "Carousel" series of slide-projector readings, this time featuring Jason Little and Lauren Weinstein. SPX runs September 5 -7 in Bethesda, MD.
INFO: SPX: The Expo
posted by Egon on Monday, September 01, 2003

BRIT CARTOONISTS CATALOGED
Andy Konky Kru has begun an online "Bugpowder Encyclopedia of British Comics Creators" as part of the larger Bugpowder system of websites. The germinal encyclopedia focuses on "modern British Cartoonists" and reproduces at least one piece of artwork for each entry, in the style of Lambiek's online Comiclopedia.
INFO: Encyclopedia of British Comics Creators
posted by Egon on Monday, September 01, 2003

WOOD'S GIFT
The Library of Congress announces the acquisition of the Arthur J. Wood Collection, comprising "more than 30,000 original political cartoons, comic strips, animation cels and illustrator's drawings from the collection of award-winning political cartoonist J. Arthur Wood Jr." Titled "Cartoon Cornucopia," the collection consists of pieces Wood acquired from his contemporaries as well as historical material by artists including William Hogarth, Honoré Daumier and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. Wood founded Washington DC's National Gallery of Caricature and Cartoon Art in 1995, which remained open for two years. The addition of Wood's collection to the Library of Congress' holdings "nearly doubles our holdings of original cartoon and caricature drawings," according to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Comic strip material in the collection includes "rare drawings by Richard Outcault of 'The Yellow Kid...' an extremely rare 1921 drawing of 'Olive Oyl' by Popeye creator Elzie Segar (who didn't create Popeye until 1931)" and collections of comic strips including "Little Nemo," "Bringing Up Father," "Krazy Kat," "Terry and the Pirates" and "Peanuts."

A website dedicated to the Wood Collection has been established by the Library's Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, reproducing a selection of pieces from the collection. These include a hand-drawn "Gertie the Dinosaur" cell by Winsor McCay and artwork by Nell Brinkley, Miguel Covarrubias, George Cruikshank, Rube Goldberg, George Herriman, Thomas Nast, Outcault, and Charles Schulz, among others. "I feel we are adding something important to America's memory and in a way that will be accessible to all kinds of people because it represents the kind of thing that people immediately can react to...[and] at the same time reflect on and use for study," Billington told the Washington Times. "Because the collection is 'unprocessed,' scholars need to apply for 'Access to Unprocessed Collections,'" says Assistant Curator Sara Duke in a message to the Platinum Age Comics mailing list. "This is not meant to keep researchers away from collections, but an aide to track collection use to better priortize processing for full public access." Application procedures are detailed online. A major exhibition of work from the collection with an accompanying illustrated catalog is planned for spring 2005.
INFO: Library of Congress
INFO: The Arthur J. Wood Collection
INFO: The Washington Times
INFO: LOC: Access to Unprocessed Materials
LINK: Platinum Age Comics
posted by Egon on Sunday, August 31, 2003

NEW KING CAT
John Porcellino posts the following announcement to the "Lost For Life" message board:
"To those of you who may be interested in such things, the new issue of King-Cat is out. It's 32 digest pages about stars, clouds, cats, dogs and catalpa trees... $2 ppd to:

Spit and a Half
P.O. Box 300367
Denver, CO 80203"

According to Porcellinio, both Highwater Books and USS Catastrophe "should have them at their tables" at the upcoming SPX in Bethesda, MD. Dan Zwettwoch further confirms on the Comics Journal's message board that the issue will soon be available for purchase online as part of an upcoming update to the USS Catastrophe Shop's website.
INFO: Lost For Life
INFO: The Comics Journal
LINK: King Cat
LINK: USS Catastrophe Shop
posted by Egon on Sunday, August 31, 2003

MALIBU ENID COLESLAW
The Necessaries Toy Foundation website shows several images of the new Enid Coleslaw "Hi-Fashion Glamour Doll" at various stages of production, as well as toy and package designs by Dan Clowes. Clowes' artwork includes a new six-panel comic strip.
INFO: Necessaries Toy Foundation
posted by Egon on Sunday, August 31, 2003

TIMES ON PEANUTS
The New York Times reviews "Lucy Must Be Traded Charlie Brown," the fourth Peanuts animated program created since Charles Schulz's death. "A big part of the strip's appeal is its acceptance of continual disappointment and constant failure. But the specials often come equipped with moral lessons: about the potential beauty of a tiny, scraggly Christmas tree when it's loved or the true meaning of Thanksgiving. If 'Lucy Must Be Traded' has a moral, it's 'Better the devil you know,' which isn't exactly uplifting but, come to think of it, does match the 'Peanuts' gestalt nicely."
INFO: The New York Times
posted by Egon on Sunday, August 31, 2003

PARTLY PANTER PAINTING
The "Split" group show running through September 6 at Manhattan's Sandra Gering Gallery includes "Temperature is Important," a large collaborative gouache painting by Gary Panter and Christian Schumann. A picture of the painting is available at the Gallery's website. The New York Times' art pages describe the piece as "a dense mix of cartoon characters and abstract patterning."
INFO: Sandra Gering Gallery
INFO: The New York Times
posted by Egon on Sunday, August 31, 2003

HARV TALKS
The Comics Journal's online Audio Archive now features an hour of excerpts from Gary Groth's 1985 interview with Harvey Pekar. The files will remain online through the October 3. Among the many feature articles written about Harvey Pekar in recent weeks is a lengthy piece in Silicon Valley's Metro Weekly. Writer Richard von Busack offers an appreciation of Pekar's life and work, talks with the writer and recommends specific stories from the pages of American Splendor.
INFO: The Comics Journal
INFO: Metro Weekly
posted by Egon on Sunday, August 31, 2003