OGUZ ARAL DEAD AT 68
The Guardian is among news sources reporting that Turkish cartoonist Oguz Aral died on Monday, July 26 at the age of 68. "Aral started his career as a cartoonist in 1950 and founded the weekly magazine Girgir (Fun) with his brother and fellow cartoonist Tekin Aral in 1972. Aral was sharply critical of many politicians and opposed the military coup. His magazine was one of Turkey's first publications to be closed after the military takeover." Sample images are available on Lambiek's website.
INFO: The Guardian
INFO: Lambiek: Oguz Aral
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

THE DOCTOR IS IN
Professor James Reibman of Lafayette College announced to the Comics Scholars' Discussion List that his previously announced new edition of Frederic Wertham's "Seduction of the Innocent" is now available from Main Roads Books/Ameron Press. "It is available from Main Roads Books, Inc. PO Box 632, Laurel, New York," Reibman writes. "I understand the price is 37.95 plus shipping. The email is Amereon@aol.com. FAX 631-298-5631; phone 631-298-4247. I am told it is on now being put on the web." The book's ISBN number is 0-8488-1657-9. The book includes a new introduction by Reibman, who is also editing "A Fredric Wertham Reader, which will include several of Wertham's articles, papers, and lectures on comics as well as a revised preface to SOTI, that Wertham never published. This will be in press in the fall."
INFO: Comics Scholars' Discussion List
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

OSU FESTIVAL OF CARTOON ART
The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library has posted program information and a list of invited speakers for the 2004 Festival of Cartoon Art, to be held in Columbus, OH October 15 - 16, 2004. The festival is themed "Deletions, Omissions and Erasures," and presentations will address "questions related to censorship, self-censorship, and editorial control." Guests will include Charles Brownstein, Al Feldstein, Nicole Hollander, Bob Levin, Jay Lynch, Art Spiegelman, Ann Telnaes, and Tom Tomorrow, among others. Running concurrently with the festival will be two exhibits: "Gillray's Legacy" and "Drawing Fire: Controversial Comics by Milton Caniff." The University has published a catalog to accompany the James Gillray exhibit. "Registration fees are $110 for general admission or $20 for students and senior citizens."
INFO: Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

ONION, VOICE ON CLOWES, KOCHALKA
The Onion's AV Club cover-features James Kochalka in its July 28 issue. That same issue's book review section includes a short review of "Eightball" #23 by Dan Clowes. Clowes' latest comic book is also reviewed in the July 27 Village Voice.
INFO: The Onion
INFO: The Village Voice
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

KUPER'S STICKS AND STONES
The Crown Publishing Group's website offers preliminary information for Peter Kuper's "Sticks and Stones," a graphic novel due in September from the Three Rivers Press imprint. Kuper called the book a metaphor about the rise and fall of empires in an August 25 interview with "The Speakeasy" on WFMU.
INFO: Crown Publishing Group
INFO: WFMU: The Speakeasy
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

WORLD COMICS INDIA
The Chandigargh Newsline reports on a recent three-day comics workshop held in in Chandigargh, India by the World Comics India organization. "Identifying comics as a potent tool to mould the society to grow, and to bring forth its rues and grievances, World Comics India has organised a three day theme workshop at Gandhi Smarak Bhawan, Sector 16. People from all walks of life were welcome here to learn the art of comic making, but students from schools as well as slums formed the majority." According to the group's website, "World Comics India (WCI) is a conglomeration of artists, media persons, social activists and grassroots people was formed in June 2002... to formulate a social movement that identifies comics as a powerful tool to perpetuate social change."
INFO: Chandigargh Newsline
INFO: World Comics India
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

FAR COUNTRIES AND CLOSE COUNTRIES
The Chosun Ilbo reports that cartoonist and university professor Lee Won-bok nears the completion of a three volume series of comics about the United States, part of his "Far Countries and Close Countries" book series. His observations are partly based on a one-and-a-half year stay in the U.S. Says Lee, "There are many things in the United States that we Koreans, as a single race, cannot understand... However, they have many problems as well. They are two-faced by expressing unilateralism to the outside world, and competition for survival is enormously fierce because the law of the jungle dominates society. Also, compared to its national wealth, they have a very poor social welfare system... I tried to exclude my personal views of the United States as much as I could. In the case of the Iraq War, rather than focusing on the war itself, I tried to provide a big framework for American foreign policy through such things as analyzing U.S. strategy in the Middle East and the influence of Jews behind those policies."
INFO: The Chosun Ilbo
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

BETO'S NEW BOOK
Comicon.com speaks briefly with Gilbert Hernandez about "Sloth," his upcoming graphic novel to be published by DC/Vertigo. "Edited by Shelly Bond, the story deals with a teenager coming from a broken home, living a less than ideal life, who wills himself into a coma, and awakens more than a little diminished," Jennifer Contino writes. "At this point in time a release date isn't known yet. [Hernandez] told us it will take him a couple of weeks to write, 'but a year to finish drawing.'"
INFO: Comicon.com: The Pulse
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

McCLOUD MAKES COMICS
Heidi MacDonald's "The Beat" online column reports from the Comic-Con International that Scott McCloud's next book, "Making Comics," will be published by Harper Collins. "The tome will cover storytelling from an in-depth perspective," MacDonald writes.
INFO: The Beat
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

EISNER WINNERS NAMED
Comicon.com's "The Pulse" website is among news sources naming winners of the 2004 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, given Friday July 23 at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA. Nominees are selected by a panel of judges and then voted upon by comics industry professionals. A full list of nominees is available at the convention's website.
INFO: Comicon.com: The Pulse
INFO: Comic-Con International: Eisner Awards
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

ANN TELNAES ON NPR
The July 18 episode of NPR's "All Things Considered" included an interview with editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes. "In 2001, Ann Telnaes became only the second woman in history to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning... Although she didn't begin cartooning until the age of 30, Telnaes' fine arts background contributed to her distinct style, which is sleek and calligraphic, often with a feminist bite." The episode is archived online as a streaming audio file.
INFO: NPR
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

ALAN MOORE: IN THE SALON
Salon runs a lengthy interview with Alan Moore, given over primarily to a discussion of political topics. "At the start of this current conflict back in 2001 and 2002 when we were starting into Afghanistan, I said to my girlfriend -- Melinda Gebbie, who's Californian -- that I believed there was a possibility George Bush could walk away from this with his political career intact," says Moore. "Because, and this may be a sweeping generalization, the American electorate has a somewhat shorter attention span than the English electorate. There's a good chance that many people in the American electorate have already forgotten that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, that he was supposed to have weapons of mass destruction ready to deploy in 45 minutes. I think they're going to forget that they were lied to; there's a good chance that many of them will forget entirely who they were at war with. That may be doing a terrible injustice to the American electorate, and I hope that I am."
INFO: Salon
posted by Egon on Tuesday, July 27, 2004