HERRIMAN'S PROUD MARY
In addition to twenty newly-added Krazy Kat daily strips, the latest edition of Coconino World features twelve episodes of a lesser-known George Herriman strip called "Mary's Home From College." According to the website's e-mail newsletter, "Mary's Home From College" was drawn by Herriman at intervals between 1900 and 1920, appearing around 1909 and again between 1919 and 1920. The strips currently running online are from the later period. Coconino World also runs new material by Juliette Boulard.
INFO: Coconino World
posted by Egon on Friday, April 02, 2004

MSU COLLECTION PROFILED
The Lansing State Journal profiles the Michigan State University Comic Art Collection, speaking with librarian Randy Scott. "The library, part of the Special Collections Division, houses works from more than 30 countries, including Japan, France and Mexico. Even an 1839 work from Swiss cartoonist Rodolphe Töpffer, considered by many to be the father of comic books, resides in the collection." Most of the material in the collection is donated, the Journal reports. "Scott gets only a $10,000 annual budget from the university."
INFO: Lansing State Journal
posted by Egon on Friday, April 02, 2004

COMICK ALMANAC FEATURES McCAY
A member of the Platinum Age Comics mailing list signing his name only as "John" has set up "Comick Almanac," a website featuring an assortment of historical comics and comics-related material drawn from Canadian newspapers. Recently announced additions include four 1904 examples of an "illustrative collaboration" between Winsor McCay and humorist John Kendrick Bangs. Further McCay material on the website includes a 1906 strip called "Little Nemo - The Magician's Daughter" and two 1912 comic strips filed under the heading "Let Jake Do It!"
INFO: Comick Almanac
posted by Egon on Wednesday, March 31, 2004

SARTRE MEETS SCHULZ
Nathan Radke offers an existential interpretation of Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" for "Philosophy Now," using Jean-Paul Sartre's concept of theological abandonment as a starting point. "How does this apply to Peanuts? Like the existential human in a world of silent or absent deities, Schulz’s characters exist in a world of silent or absent adult authority. In fact, the way the strip is drawn (with the child characters taking up most of each frame) actually prevents the presence of any adults. Schulz argued that, were adults added to the strip, the narratives would become untenable. While references are sometimes made to full-grown humans (normally school teachers) these characters are always out of frame, and silent. The children of Peanuts are left to their own devices, to try and understand the world they have found themselves thrust into. They have to turn to each other for support – hence, Lucy’s blossoming psychiatric booth (at five cents a session, a very good deal)."
INFO: Philosophy Now
posted by Egon on Wednesday, March 31, 2004

MAUS IN THE ANTIPODES
The Age catches up with Art Spiegelman, whose "Maus" artwork is currently on view at the Jewish Museum of Australia in Melbourne. Spiegelman briefly discusses his work since "Maus," and notes that his "In the Shadow of No Towers" series was only recently featured in the New York Times. "We're in a time of an election and to prove that we have a vigorous democracy we have to be seen to have vigorous debate, so perhaps it didn't look so dangerous." The Cleveland Jewish News reports that the Sydney Jewish Museum "declined an offer to house an exhibition focusing on Art Spiegelman's 'Maus.' The Australian Association of Holocaust Survivors and Descendants advised the museum that the exhibition on the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning work would be too distressing for its members. The museum also is home to a Holocaust museum."
INFO: The Age
INFO: Cleveland Jewish News
posted by Egon on Wednesday, March 31, 2004

MOORE: LES DESSINS DU MAGICIEN
The Independent profiles Alan Moore in light of "Alan Moore: Les Dessins du Magicien," an exhibit currently running at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Charleroi, Belgium. "Put together by Paul Gravett..., the exhibition features a mass of original, rare or never-seen-before art created for Alan Moore works over the last 25 years, as well as previewing The Mindscape of Alan Moore, an 80-minute documentary on the writer," the piece describes. "The Charleroi retrospective has fun with Moore's image, presenting the stands in a cabbalistic pattern, and placing a single lit candle on one of his old computer keyboards (which he accurately remembers as being filled with 'hair, dust, hashish and ash'). He's delighted that the Charleroi show takes on a cabbalistic pattern. 'That shows real care,' he says, admiringly." The Moore exhibit runs at the Palais des Beaux-Arts through April 4; Gravett hopes to bring the show to London at some later date.
INFO: The Independent
posted by Egon on Wednesday, March 31, 2004

NADEL ON NOZONE
Dan Nadel covers the ninth edition of Nicholas Blechman's "Nozone" for Eye Magazine. The latest issue of Blechman's one-time 'zine is a 168-page perfect-bound anthology of writing and graphics on the theme of "Empire." After previously publishing seven issues of "Nozone," Blechman became the art director for the New York Times Op-Ed page, instituting the "Op-Art" graphics feature. "Designers are in the business of communication," Blechman tells Nadel. "They have a responsibility to content, and to think about what they are saying and if it is enriching our lives. I don't judge others. It's a personal prerogative of mine, and I think it would be a wasted opportunity if I didn't use my skills to do something that explains the world in which we live, or make something that at least plants a seed of questioning in people's minds."
INFO: Eye Magazine
posted by Egon on Wednesday, March 31, 2004

ARNOLD REVIEWS FOODBOY
Time magazine's online comics columnist Andrew Arnold reviews Carol Swain's "Foodboy." Arnold calls the graphic novella "a muted pastoral that holds within it an unquiet human heart. "
INFO: Time.com
posted by Egon on Wednesday, March 31, 2004

COVERING CEREBUS' CLOSE
The Onion's "A.V. Club" interviews Dave Sim about the completion of "Cerebus." Among other topics, Sim discusses the logisitics of planning long-form story arcs: "No, that was part of the steep learning curve through High Society and Church & State, finding out how much story fits in 500 pages, how much information you can get in there, how long the arcs can be, how long it takes to close something off or how much you can overlap two sequences, how many silent sequences you can have in a given story before it starts to intrude on the content. How to alternate mood and content without swerving too far over into pretentiousness, how to stream pretentiousness back into mood back into content." The Village Voice also covers the series' end: "Sim found his religion while writing Cerebus, and his uncompromising beliefs have become a whip driving his readers away and his fictional creations through increasingly convoluted antics intended to make theological points. Vexingly, the last 100 issues have also seen Sim and his collaborator (the mysterious Gerhard, who does the backgrounds) hone their visual technique to unparalleled expressive heights."
INFO: The Onion
INFO: The Village Voice
posted by Egon on Wednesday, March 31, 2004

GALLANT & SON
Ho Che Anderson talks with Seth for the Toronto Star, covering the upcoming compilation of Seth's continuing "Clyde Fans" serial and "Bannock, Beans And Black Tea," a memoir written by Seth's father, John Gallant, and illustrated by the cartoonist. Charles Mandel speaks with both Gallant and Seth for a piece in the Globe and Mail. "My work is very light, as in the drawing style," says Seth. "There's a certain light-hearted quality to how I draw figures that might be too light for it. I have to leave that for the reader to decide."
INFO: Toronto Star
INFO: The Globe and Mail
posted by Egon on Wednesday, March 31, 2004