LAMBIEK TO SHUT DOORS
Dutch comic shop Lambiek will soon close its doors, according to the store's latest online newsletter. "Comic store Lambiek, the most prominent comic store in The Netherlands and beyond since 1968, is about to disappear. An inevitable renovation forces owner Kees Kousemaker to leave the building on Kerkstraat 78, which means the end for Lambiek as comic fans have known it for 35 years... The store will continue for a while on a much smaller scale on number 119, on the other side of the street. This space is so small, however, that it is impossible to maintain the usual stock, let alone to put up any exhibitions." Lambiek's website hosts several images of the shop's interior, showcasing some of the original art and other unique items which have come to characterize the shop. Lambiek is currently running a "Grand Sale:" "Many unique comics will be for sale for reduced prices." The store's website, an invaluable resource "containing the Dutch History of Comics and the English Comiclopedia... will stay online for at least a few more years."
INFO: Lambiek
posted by Egon on Thursday, October 09, 2003

PERSEPOLIS: IN CONCLUSION
BDNews.net reports Marjane Satrapi's planned October 10 appearance at the Opéra B.D. bookshop to sign the newly-published fourth volume of "Persepolis," which completes the artist's graphic memoir. The first two volumes of "Persepolis" were collected by American publisher Pantheon as "Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood."
INFO: BDNews.net
INFO: Opéra B.D.
posted by Egon on Thursday, October 09, 2003

SACCO IN THE POST
Canada's National Post provides an overview of Joe Sacco's career in anticipation of the cartoonist's appearance at the Royal Ontario Museum tonight to read from his new book, "The Fixer." "One of the advantages of what I do is that I'm not filing a daily story or a weekly story," Sacco tells writer Jeet Heer. "I'm not going into a village and interviewing a bunch of people to get a picture of an event. I'm sinking into people's lives a little more."
INFO: The National Post
posted by Egon on Thursday, October 09, 2003

CRUMBS COVER FRESH LAUNDRY
The current, October 10-dated issue of the New Yorker includes a three-page comic strip by Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb called "Fashion Week in New York," covering the annual fashion industry event held in Manhattan's Bryant Park. The Washington Post describes the piece in its "Magazine Reader" column: "'It was like witnessing some strange tribal ritual!' the Crumbs write, and they capture the surreal ritual in appropriately daffy drawings."
INFO: The New Yorker
INFO: Washington Post
posted by Egon on Thursday, October 09, 2003

TIME GETS SMALL
Time Magazine's online comics columnist Andrew Arnold looks at the latest installments in the "Little Lit" and "Little Vampire" children's comics series, speaking briefly with "Little Lit" co-editor Art Spiegelman. " [Reading is] not just some stuffy notion like, 'Ah yes my kid will get into Harvard,' but what it really has to with is this: without a generation of verbally literate people I believe the gang in power can stay in power. You've got to read to be able to sort through all the stuff that's flying at you."
INFO: Time Magazine
posted by Egon on Thursday, October 09, 2003

HERBLOCK AWARD ANNOUNCED
The Herbert Block Foundation has announced a $10,000 annual prize for editorial cartooning, Editor and Publisher magazine reports. "Eligible for the annual competition will be editorial cartoonists published in U.S. newspapers and magazines and the U.S. editions of foreign magazines. The initial prize will be awarded for cartoons published in 2003, with the ceremony taking place next March at the Library of Congress -- repository of more than 14,000 Herblock cartoons." The foundation is financed by $50 million from the late cartoonist's estate and will also organize an annual lecture series to coincide with the Herblock Prize award ceremony.
INFO: Editor and Publisher
INFO: Herbert Block Foundation
posted by Egon on Thursday, October 09, 2003

STARRING SACCO, AS HIMSELF
The Toronto Star speaks with Joe Sacco about "The Fixer," his upcoming work of comics journalism, due in mid-November from Drawn & Quarterly. In the book, Sacco describes his relationship with the Sarajevan who served as his guide to the conflict in Bosnia. "There's so much mythology behind that period," Sacco told the Star. "Through this whole thing, it was hard to say what was true. But I wanted to show that experience. I don't think journalists often show they might have questions about their sources, but that's a typical situation for a journalist to be in: How much do I trust this person or not?"
INFO: Toronto Star
posted by Egon on Tuesday, October 07, 2003

PORCELLINO PROFILED
Denver's "Westword" profiles John Porcellino in the alternative newspaper's current issue. Porcellino has most recently published "King-Cat" #62, available through his website or through the USS Catastrophe Shop.
INFO: Westword
INFO: John Porcellino
INFO: USS Catastrophe Shop
posted by Egon on Tuesday, October 07, 2003

WILLIAM STEIG DEAD AT 95
William Steig died Friday, October 3 at the age of 95, the New York Times reports. The New Yorker first published Steig's cartoons in 1930. "He followed up with more than 1,600 drawings for the magazine and 117 covers, many of which were later published in books of collected drawings." In 1936, his work evolved away from the conventional New Yorker style of captioned cartoon and into "symbolic drawings," suggesting distinctive characteristics and emotional states in loosely drawn figures. Steig authored more than 25 children's books. "Despite his success as an author, Mr. Steig often complained that he didn't like illustrating because he didn't like drawing the same characters more than once. He said he always drew from memory and worked best when he didn't know what he was going to do." The Times' website runs a short slideshow of Steig's work.
INFO: The New York Times
INFO: The New York Times: Slideshow
LINK: William Steig
posted by Egon on Sunday, October 05, 2003

TCJ: SIKORYAK, FOSTER
The Comics Journal's website has been updated to preview the magazine's 255th issue, including excerpts from the cover-featured interview with R. Sikoryak. The site's online audio archive has also been updated with over an hour of excerpted material from Arn Saba's 1979 interview with Hal Foster, which the Journal suggests is, "so far as we know, Foster's last interview."
INFO: The Comics Journal
posted by Egon on Sunday, October 05, 2003

PANTER IN A STRANGE LAND
Gary Panter provides cover art for the October 2 - 8 issue of Seattle's "The Stranger". The weekly also features four full-color installments of Panter's "Smokewagon" strip as a "special comics page." Both pages of Panter's art are reproduced on the Stranger's website. A full page strip by Panter called "Parallel Universe" appears in the first issue of Canada's "The Walrus."
INFO: The Stranger Cover Page
INFO: The Stranger Comic Page
INFO: The Walrus
posted by Egon on Sunday, October 05, 2003

TAKING ON CARGO
The USS Catastrophe Shop has restocked with several new mini-comics, announced Dan Zettwoch to the Comics Journal's message board. New additions include material "by Zak Sally, Warren Craghead, Souther Salazar, Martin Cendreda, Jamie Tanner, Jeffrey Brown, Jason Shiga, and lots more... There's also a new half-issue of my 'Redbird' comic out (it's called 'VS.') and a preview of the new IT LIVES by Ted May. Oh, and the new King-Cat."
INFO: The Comics Journal
INFO: USS Catastrophe Shop
posted by Egon on Sunday, October 05, 2003

AIR PIRATES DON'T DIE
Jeet Heer chronicles the Disney corporation's lawsuit against Dan O'Neil and the Air Pirates, discussing fallout and ramifications, in the Boston Globe. Heer closes the piece by catching up with members of the one-time comix collective: "As for Dan O'Neill, a few years ago he resumed drawing 'Odd Bodkins,' which runs in alternative city weeklies along the West Coast."
INFO: Boston Globe
posted by Egon on Sunday, October 05, 2003

SCOOP ON COX, CASTOR, TEXAS
Gemstone Publishing's Scoop website concludes its profile of Brownies creator Palmer Cox, detailing the artist's response to widespread fame and his prolific output, extending nearly until the artist's 1924 death at 84. The Scoop also runs a short piece on "Castor Oyl," from E. C. Segar's "Thimble Theater." The article includes a photograph of Segar at the drawing board and two strips featuring the character. Finally, the website spotlights "Texas History Movies," an historical comic strip dating to 1926, and appearing in collected volumes shortly thereafter for classroom use.
INFO: Scoop: Palmer Cox, part two
INFO: Scoop: Castor Oyl
INFO: Scoop: Texas History Movies
posted by Egon on Sunday, October 05, 2003

CHESTER BROWN LOWDOWN
Canada's National Post briefly interviews Chester Brown, whose "Louis Riel" is due in a collected edition later this month. Brown notes the initial motivation behind the series and acknowledges his artistic influences. Looking ahead, Brown reveals that his next project will be "an autobiographical graphic novel about my sex life. It won't be very sexy. It's probably going to be kind of disgusting."
INFO: The National Post
posted by Egon on Sunday, October 05, 2003

KATCHOR & WARE, PERIODICALLY
The October 2003 issue of Metropolis Magazine runs a new strip by Ben Katchor; "Rules and Regulations of The Necropolis" is available on the magazine's website. Meanwhile, the latest issue of Nest Magazine continues Chris Ware's "The Building."
INFO: Metropolis Magazine
INFO: Nest Magazine
posted by Egon on Sunday, October 05, 2003