CRUMBS ON THE GLOBAL VILLAGE
The current, March 22-dated issue of the New Yorker runs "Creeping Global Villagism," a three-page, full-color collaborative comic strip by Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb. In the piece, the Crumbs note increasing cultural Americanization and economic gentrification in their southern French village of residence.
INFO: The New Yorker
posted by Egon on Tuesday, March 16, 2004

WILL EISNER: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY
Dark Horse will publish Bob Andelman's authorized biography of Will Eisner, the writer announces via his website. "Will Eisner: A Spirited Life" is due in December 2004.
INFO: Bob Andelman
posted by Egon on Tuesday, March 16, 2004

SLUG BEARERS TAKE NEW YORK STAGE
The New York Times covers Ben Katchor's upcoming stage production "The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, or the Friends of Dr. Rushower," which opens on March 19 at the Kitchen in lower Manhattan. The show, with music composed by Mark Mulcahy, "features a four-piece rock band, six singers and three G4 laptop computers, which project Mr. Katchor's art and animations on three movie-screen-size scrims." Katchor cites the tradition of the "picture reciter" as a precedent for his theatrical work, "a worldwide tradition that started in India in the 16th or 17th century. He would set up in the street, and hang a painted, multi-imaged banner behind him. A crowd would gather, and he would lead them with a pointer, sing, and sell prints from the story. And, of course, the other place where pictures and words were first put together was in the theater. They're very interconnected, comics and theater." "The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island" runs through March 27.
INFO: The New York Times
posted by Egon on Monday, March 15, 2004

BAGGE DRAWS ON REASON
Peter Bagge's latest comics reportage for Reason Magazine appears in the March 2004 issue and on the libertarian publication's website. "Swingers of the World, Unite!" is a four-page, full-color strip recounting Bagge's trip to the recent "Building Bridges" alternative lifestyles conference in Seattle, Washington.
INFO: Reason Magazine
posted by Egon on Monday, March 15, 2004

ARTHURIAN COMICS
Editor Jay Babcock announces Arthur #9 on the Comics Journal's message board, noting that the issue marks Tom Devlin's debut as the publication's Comics Editor. "This issue also features the Arthur debut of Ben Katchor's 'Hotel & Farm' strip, which will run in every issue of Arthur starting now," writes Babcock. "For Arthur No. 9, we've also got a new full-pager from Leif Goldberg, a half-pager from Ivan Brunetti ('32 Drunks'), a third-pager from John Hankiewicz ('The Sick Man') and a full-pager from Tom Hart ('Moving In')." Arthur is available for free at locations nationwide; distribution points are listed on the magazine's website.
INFO: The Comics Journal
LINK: Arthur Magazine
posted by Egon on Monday, March 15, 2004

BARRY AND GROENING IN COUNTERPOINT
The Oregonian speaks with Matt Groening in anticipation of a joint lecture with Lynda Barry at Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Thursday, March 18. Barry and Groening met as students at Evergreen College. "We pace each other in our cartooning," says Groening. "I know she's appalled at some of the decisions I made. She thinks I sold my soul to Hollywood, but that's OK." Groening notes his reasons for continuing his weekly "Life in Hell" strip: "The reason is it's self-help for me. When I was struggling to find out what I wanted to do as a grown-up, it's what I did, and I'm still doing it. 'The Simpsons' is this huge collaborative effort, and this is something that I do once a week that's just me, that nobody else sees until it's published."
INFO: The Oregonian
posted by Egon on Monday, March 15, 2004

STRIPDAGEN HAARLEM: PRIZES 2004
Organizers of the Netherlands' biennial Stripdagen Haarlem comics festival announce nominees for this year's VPRO Grand Prix 2004 and name Gerolf van de Perre as the winner of the VPRO Debut Prize 2004. A jury of four editors and journalists has nominated Juanjo Guarnido, Joann Sfar, and Lewis Trondheim for the Grand Prix. The prize, to be voted upon by "some 50 independent comics experts in the Netherlands and Flanders," is given to an "international comics artist currently working at the top of his or hers abilities, [who] delivered a comics masterpiece during the past two years, while even better work may be yet to come." Each festival's Grand Prix winner curates a special exhibit at the subsequent festival; Joe Sacco took the prize in 2002. The debut prize, given for the "best Dutch language comics debut of the past two years," went to Flemish painter van de Perre. After moving to Beijing in 1999, van de Peere produced the Chinese travelogue "Steensoft," described as "a convincing, unpolished portrait of the post-communist Chinese capital - a portrait painted in Western linear perspective on Oriental rice paper," as well as a follow-up work, "Domweg Dapper," collaboratively produced with a Chinese poet. The prizes are sponsored by VPRO broadcasting, with €2500 going to the Grand Prix winner and €1000 given along with the debut prize. The lengthy guest list for this year's Stripdagen Haarlem includes Edmond Baudoin, Charles Burns, Aline Crumb-Kominsky, Robert Crumb, Dupuy & Berberian, Jacques de Loustal, Ever Meulen, Sacco, Marjane Satrapi, Seth, Sfar, Gilbert Shelton, Art Spiegelman, Joost Swarte, Trondheim, Chris Ware, and Willem, among others. Stripdagen Haarlem takes place June 5 and 6, 2004.
INFO: Stripdagen Haarlem: Grand Prix
INFO: Stripdagen Haarlem: Debut Prize
posted by Egon on Sunday, March 14, 2004

CONSIDERING MAUS
The University of Alabama Press has recently published "Considering Maus: Approaches to Art Spiegelman's 'Survivor's Tale' of the Holocaust," an anthology of criticism edited by Deborah R. Geis. The essays in the book "explore many aspects of the work, including Spiegelman’s use of animal characters, the influence of other 'comix' artists, the role of the mother and its relation to gender issues, the use of repeating images such as smoke and blood, Maus's position among Holocaust testimonials, its appropriation of cinematic technique, its use of language and styles of dialect, and the implications of the work's critical and commercial success."
INFO: University of Alabama Press
posted by Egon on Sunday, March 14, 2004