COMICS ON THE VERGE
The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) will host "Comics on the Verge," an exhibit of comics art beginning in January and planned alongside a related symposium taking place in early February. The exhibit, running January 30 through March 14, 2004, will include work by Lynda Barry, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, Julie Doucet, Los Bros Hernandez, Kaz, Tony Millionaire, Archer Prewitt, Ron Rege, Jr., Spain Rodriguez, Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware and Jim Woodring among many others. "Curated by comics enthusiast Paul Candler, the exhibition features animations, computer-generated graphics, toys, paintings, prints, and pages from comic books by more than 35 artists," according to MICA's website. "A catalogue of the exhibition titled Raw, Boiled, and Cooked: Comics on the Verge is being co-published by Last Gasp of San Francisco and Maryland Institute College of Art, and will be available in February 2004." A co-ordinated symposium billed as "Comics on the Verge Weekend" will be held February 6 - 8, featuring talks and panels with exhibiting artists including Ho Che Anderson, Renée French, Peter Kuper, Carol Lay, David Mazzuchelli, Mark Newgarden, Ted Stearn and others. Two satellite exhibits will take place at roughly the same time in the Baltimore area. "Reading Pictures, Looking at Words: The Art of Comics" is currently running through February 8 at the Wyman Arts Center Gallery in Brooklandville, MD; "SHAZAM! Contemporary Artists and the Influence of Comics" will run February 5 through March 27 at the Patterson in Baltimore, MD.
INFO: Maryland Institute College of Art
posted by Egon on Monday, December 15, 2003

EISNER: SPANNING HIS CAREER
Ken Quatro has written an exhaustive article on Will Eisner's early career, copiously illustrated and available via his "Comicartville" website. The piece, titled "Rare Eisner/Making of a Genius," is "the culmination of many months of research and writing and literally years of collecting," writes Quatro to the Yahoo Groups Will Eisner mailing list. "The article deals with particular aspects of Mr. Eisner's career and it contains many images of art and other rare pieces of Eisnerana that may be new to you. This is a living text and as such I can and will make updates and changes to it if you have any information you wish to share." In addition to images by Eisner's acknolwedged influences, including Lynd Ward and Man Ray, the site features numerous obscure pieces of early artwork and complete comics stories by Eisner. Quatro's article details Eisner's career through the origin of the "Spirit" section and shows examples of Eisner's early army work. Elsewhere, Eisner and his latest book, "Fagin the Jew," are the subject of a short article on the "Jewsweek" website.
INFO: Comicartville
INFO: Yahoo Groups: Will Eisner List
INFO: Jewsweek
posted by Egon on Monday, December 15, 2003

BLACK CELEBRATION
Vertige Graphics and Coconino Press announce the upcoming release of "Black," a new, biannual French-language comics magazine debuting in January, Univers BD reports. The publication will feature work by an international selection of cartoonists, including David B., Baru, Seth, David Mazzuchelli, Igort and others. The two companies will also collaboratively publish books under the "Ignatz" label; the first two planned publications are Igort's "Baobab" and David B.'s "Babel."
INFO: Univers BD
posted by Egon on Monday, December 15, 2003

CANAL BD PRIZE NOMINEES
BDNews lists nominees for Canal BD Magazine's annual "Prix Canal BD." The winner will be determined by a group of booksellers. Nominated books are as follows:
- "Blacksad Vol. 2" by Canales and Guarnido
- "Le Combat Ordinaire" by Larcenet
- "West Vol. 1" by Dorison, Nury and Rossi
- "Vincent et Van Gogh" by Smuja
- "Le Maître" de Peinture Vol. 1" by Richaud, Makyo and Faure
- "Le Photographe Vol. 1"
- "Là-bas" by Sibran and Tronchet
- "L'oeil de la Forêt" by Tirabosco
- "Mister George Vol. 1" by Le Tendre, Rodolphe and Labiano
- "Un pas vers les Étoiles" by Félix and Parnotte
- "La Grippe Coloniale Vol. 1" by Appollo and Huo-Chao-Si
- "PyongYang" by Delisle
INFO: BD News
posted by Egon on Monday, December 15, 2003

EDDIE CAMPBELL'S BATMANIA
Newsarama checks in with Eddie Campbell, who discusses the project that's consumed his time since the demise of both Egomania Magazine and Eddie Campbell Comics: "Batman: The Order of the Beasts," a 48-page fully painted Batman story for DC Comics. "Iit was good to just work on this and not have to deal with the practical nonsense that publishing involves, like having to get on the phone every other day to sort out some problem like a box missing from a shipment, or faulty lamination on a cover or whatever," remarks Campbell.
INFO: Newsarama
posted by Egon on Monday, December 15, 2003

ON McCAY'S EARLY WORKS
In a statement carried by the Silver Bullet Comic Books website, the Checker Book Publishing Group responds to possible concerns over the cover image selected for the recently-published "Winsor McCay: Early Works." Says Checker publisher Mark Thompson: "In short, The Tales of The Jungle Imp strips (from which the cover image was culled) are the main sales handle for the book, never before having been reproduced in their entirety.... Subsequent volumes of Winsor McCay: Early Works, of which twelve volumes are planned, will not contain such images on their covers, nor will a second printing of this volume in the event that one should become necessary. That said, we never considered leaving the Jungle Imps material out of the book, nor will we hesitate to publish other McCay work containing stereotypical imagery (which it often does) in future volumes... Future volumes will pay special attention to avoid being racially insensitive while maintaining the artistic integrity of the original work."
INFO: Silver Bullet Comic Books
posted by Egon on Monday, December 15, 2003

GLASSWARE
On Saturday, April 10 UCLA will host "An Evening with Chris Ware and Ira Glass: Visible and Invisible Drawings" at Royce Hall. "In a one-time-only UCLA Live-commissioned event, Ware and Glass tackle a mutually agreed-upon story, each in his own medium, and will present the work together live onstage. The two will discuss the making of the work and the similarities between their two very different media." Tickets for the event range from $17 to $40.
INFO: UCLA
posted by Egon on Monday, December 15, 2003