NEWSARAMA CHATS WITH SATRAPI
Newsarma interviews Marjane Satrapi, who holds forth on "Persepolis," comics, translations, and international politics. "'The Axis of Evil' is such nonsense," Satrapi tells Daniel Robert Epstein. "The funniest thing in this whole thing is that the countries that are called that, Iran and Iraq, none of the well-known terrorists come from those countries. It is quite funny." The English-language translation of "Persepolis" will conclude in an upcoming second volume from Pantheon Books.
INFO: Newsarama
posted by Egon on Friday, April 30, 2004

BY GEORGE DEBUTS
The first volume of "By George, the Komplete Daily Komic Strips of George Herriman," previously announced by SpecProductions, is now available for order, Bill Blackbeard announces to the Platinum Age Comics mailing list. "It's a whopper of a book, the extreme outsize dictated by the need to properly showcase the original daily strip episodes so that all of Herriman's often miniscule (and very funny) detail can be seen clearly," Blackbeard writes. "The three complete strips included are Herriman's first newspaper dailies: Mr Proones, Baron Mooch, and Gooseberry Sprigg, the Duck Duke (where we get our first look at Coconino County). 54 gigantic pages on antique cream stock to catch the cachet of old newsprint, opening from the top to facilitate reading ease. The next volume, due in three months, will carry a large swatch of The Dingbat Family/The FamilyUpstairs daily... More volumes will cover the rest of the Dingbat epic and -- of course -- all of the initial years of the Krazy and Ignatz opus underfoot, then include all of Stumble Inn and Baron Bean, to turn to the last great daily, Krazy Kat itself... The KK dailies now being published in odd volumes and magazines roundabout will all be eventually included in the By George series, needless to say." The book costs $24.95 and can be ordered via e-mail: SpecProductions@msn.com.
INFO: Platinum Age Comics
LINK: Spec Productions
posted by Egon on Friday, April 30, 2004

THOMAS ROWLANDSON WEBSITE
Coconino World launches a dedicated Thomas Rowlandson website. Contents posted thus far include a biography of the artist, an account of his collaboration with William Combe on "Doctor Syntax" stories, the full first "Doctor Syntax" volume, the artist's "English Dance of Death" and related preparatory drawings, and Rowlandson's collaboration with Augustus Pugin, "The Microcosm of London."
INFO: Thomas Rowlandson
posted by Egon on Friday, April 30, 2004

SCOTT McCLOUD TEACHES
Scott McCloud will teach "Comics: Theory and Practice" from August 2 - 6 at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design as part of the school's continuing education program. The course costs $550 for college credit, and $318 for non-credit. McCloud will also give a free public lecutre at the College on Thursday, August 5.
INFO: Minneapolis College of Art and Design
posted by Egon on Friday, April 30, 2004

TIME ON EC
Time Magazine runs a lengthy history and appreciation of EC Comics by Richard Corliss, emphasizing the company's horror titles and marking the fiftieth anniversary of William M. Gaines' testimony before the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency.
INFO: Time Magazine
posted by Egon on Friday, April 30, 2004

TOM HART TEACHES
Tom Hart will teach "Cartoon & Comic Book Art," a course for youth running July 11 - 17, as part of the "Workshops" series of educational programs in Rockport, Maine. According to an online course description, "This workshop is for teens who want to learn the language of comics and sequential storytelling, while creating characters and telling stories through pictures and combinations of pictures and words... Students work alone and in collaboration on projects as well as work with the instructor to render ideas and tell stories in the cartoon or comic book traditions... By the end of the week, each student will have finish a short 2-4 page comic book story, complete with art work, dialogue, color, characters and plot." Hart's own website carries a day-by-day syllabus. Enrollment is limited to fourteen students; course tuition costs $1195.
INFO: New Hat Stories
INFO: The Workshops
posted by Egon on Thursday, April 29, 2004

COCONINO'S SWINNERTON SITE
Coconino World has launched a website dedicated to the work of cartoonist James Swinnerton. Features on the website currently include an English-language biography, "Little Jimmy" sunday strips, several "Mr. Jack" dailies, two sets of "Canyon Kiddies" panels, and a portfolio of Swinnerton's Arizona landscapes.
INFO: James Swinnerton
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

KONKY KRU UPDATES ARCHIVE
Andy Konky Kru has added several pages of new material to his online "Early Comics Archive," including work by Wilhelm Busch, Heinrich Hoffmann, Gluyas Williams, and others. Konky Kru has also established a page featuring greatly enlarged versions of several strips archived on his website.
INFO: Andy's Early Comics Archive
INFO: Early Comics: Enlargements
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

INDY MAGAZINE'S SPRING ISSUE
Indy Magazine, edited by "Egon" proprietor Bill Kartalopoulos, has posted a new issue featuring Paul Karasik and David Mazzhucchelli's "City of Glass," due this summer in a new edition from Picador USA. Features about the comics adaptations of Paul Auster's novella include separate interviews with both co-adapters, art spiegelman's new introduction to the book, and a lengthy essay by Martha Kuhlman. Other features include an interview with Françoise Mouly, a "Kramers Ergot" 5 preview, and a slideshow of photographs and artwork from Ben Katchor's recent musical, "The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, or the Friends of Dr. Rushower." Indy Magazine is an online quarterly published by Jeff Mason.
INFO: Indy Magazine
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

IN COMMISSION
The Moscow Times covers the ComMission comics festival, now in its third year and running April 23 through May 9. The event includes an exhibit at Moscow's M'ARS Gallery and a series of master classes with visiting cartoonists. "While our artists are very good, recently it's become clear that we prefer to focus on the dialogue and the message more than simply on the visuals," cartoonist and event organizer Pavel Khikhus told the paper.
INFO: Moscow Times
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

FEIFFER'S NEW KIDS' BOOK
Jules Feiffer's website announces "The Daddy Mountain," Feiffer's latest children's book. According to the "Amazon" retail website, the book is due in June 2004 from Hyperion Press.
INFO: Jules Feiffer
INFO: Amazon
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

MORE ON PEANUTS
The Toronto Star covers the forthcoming debut of "The Complete Peanuts," speaking with Gary Groth and Lynn Johnston, among others. "Usually, gigantic merchandising phenomena and art-house concerns never collide, but I would argue that, in this instance, they do," Groth tells the paper. "When Peanuts appeared in 1950, it really was something of the avant-garde. It dealt with all kinds of existential issues that comic strips did not deal with. So really, Peanuts is an art-house comic strip. It just so happened to appeal to the general public."
INFO: The Toronto Star
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

ANIMATING KRAZY AND POPEYE
Animator and cartoonist Gene Deitch details his efforts to produce animated versions of George Herriman's "Krazy Kat" and E. C Segar's "Popeye" in an article for Animation World Magazine. "I made the biggest pitch I could to [Producer Al Brodax] to let me take Popeye and Krazy Kat back to their Segar and Herriman roots. But I had only superficial success... The stories were all organized by Brodax in New York. I could control only the layouts and the soundtracks, for all of the films. I had to ricochet from city to city in the effort to control visual unity."
INFO: Animation World Magazine
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

EARLY QUEBECOIS COMIC STRIPS
The CBC reports on a current exhibit at the National Library of Quebec featuring early Quebecois comic strips recently re-discovered by historian Mira Falardeau. "What she discovered was a comic called Les Aventures de Thimothée, which told the story of a dandy named Thimothée and his attempt to court a woman under the disapproving eyes of her mother. Further research revealed that La Patrie and La Presse began publishing several different comic strips in 1904 — just a few years after American newspapers first started running English-language strips." According to the CBC, Falardeau had previously asserted that French-language comic strips dated to 1920's France in her book, "La Bande Dessinée au Québec."
INFO: CBC Montreal
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

XERIC GRANTS GIVEN
The Xeric Foundation has announced the latest recipients of the biannually-given Xeric self-publishing grants, according to a press release carried by Comicon.com's "Pulse" website. The grant recipients are:

Mark Britt, "Full Color"

James Campbell, "Krachmacher"

Leland Myrick, "Bright Elegy"

Josh Neufeld, "A Few Perfect Hours"

Karl Stevens, "Guilty"

Ivan Velez, "The Collected Tales of the Closet, Vol. 1"
"A total of $27,765 was awarded to seven comic book creators... The next deadline and review dates are July 31, 2004 and September 1, 2004, respectively."
INFO: Comicon.com: Pulse
LINK: Xeric Foundation
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

HARVEY NOMINEES NAMED
MoCCA has announced nominees for the 2004 Harvey Awards. The winners will be voted upon by comics industry professionals, and the awards given on June 26 as part of the MoCCA Art Festival in New York. A complete list of nominees is available on the Harvey Awards website.
INFO: Harvey Awards
posted by Egon on Wednesday, April 28, 2004