Friday, December 28, 2007

Comics in the Clasroom

I recently began volunteering at The Short Stop Youth Center's after-school art program; helping the students there create their own comic strips and single-panel cartoons. Interestingly enough, I just came across this article in the December 26th edition of the New York Times:

At Public School 59 in the Bronx one recent afternoon, students clustered around tables, plotting out their own comic strips at one of the Comic Book Project’s after-school programs.

At one table, Jamie Collazo’s and his friends’ faces lit up when asked about their favorite activity: video games like Ultimate Spider-Man, Super Smash Bros. and Wolverine’s Revenge.

“I’m a game freak,” exclaimed Jamie, 11, saying that this was “when you collect a lot of games and you can’t stop playing them.” Reading, he said, “is kind of boring to me.”

But there he was, brainstorming a tale of three powerful gods who land on Nerainis, a planet between Neptune and Uranus.

Gabriel Cid, 10, agreed that “reading is kind of boring,” but said comics were different.

“Superheroes, comics, that’s when it gets interesting because you get to see all the cool stuff,” he said. “We get to do our own design, and we get to color whatever we want — create our own characters and stuff.”

Serendipity rocks.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

What do Cincinnati Schools, Mainstream Press & Cartooning Have in Common?

There's an AP article about an art class at the University of Cincinnati making the rounds in newspapers & TV outlets. I always find it interesting to read how various outlets of the mainstream press present their reports on various aspects of the comics/cartooning community. They tend to believe their readers/viewers do not accept the art form a "legitimate" one.

For instance, up in Toledo (at the local CBS affiliate, WTOL), they present the report in this way: "CINCINNATI (AP) - For a long time, comic books and comic strips weren't considered college material. But now, things are changing. " And it goes on from there. Whereas in Friday's USA Today and Sunday's Canton (Ohio) Rep, Associate Press writer Lisa Cornwell gives that same conceit a more personal, softer approach, "As a fine arts graduate student in the early 1980s, Carol Tyler felt she had to hide her interest in cartoon drawing from teachers. An art form associated with comic books and comic strips wasn't considered college material."

Ms. Cornwell continues with a broader scope of comics in the classroom:

Now a professional cartoonist and graphic novelist, Tyler began teaching the University of Cincinnati's first comics art class last year.

Other colleges also have started such classes as critical and academic respect for comics has grown. Courses that began in 2005 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are starting to draw professional artists and public schoolteachers. Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y., will start its first course this spring.

Applications have increased by at least 50% at The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vt., which was founded two years ago and won state approval this year for a master in fine arts degree.
It's nice that the article quickly details all the various opportunities students now have to learn the specifics of this wonderful art form.

The "Once upon a time, comics were only for outcasts... but now, things are different" shtick used to irritate me but I've grown so accustomed to most mainstream reporters hiding behind that conceit, it's kind of blended into the background. I imagine (or, at least hope) that the media will let go of that security blanket in a decade or so.

Anyway, it's nice that I'm provided with another opportunity to give the thumbs up to Carol Tyler. In doing a little background web surfing search for this post, I found that she's the faculty advisor to an interesting student organization down there at UC.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Sunday Comix Joins The Conspiracy

What is this? Why would Sunday Comix (and by default, all its members) want to join The International Cartoonist Conspiracy?

The most fundamental goal of The Conspiracy coincides with that of Sunday Comix: to meet, interact and collaborate with fellow amateur and professional cartoonists on whatever comic related projects the members choose to pursue.

The Conspiracy has a wide and diverse membership of cartoonists from around the world, with active cells in Minneapolis, San Francisco,
Philadelphia and Montreal. Most (if not all) the groups follow the same basic structure as our group-- share our work, get feedback and pump out Comix Jams. Speaking of Jams, there's a great, informative site (The Monthly Montreal Comix Jam) with a boatload of info on Comix Jams:

Now that Sunday Comix is an official member of the Conspiracy
, the reach of our Mighty Mid West Comix community continues to grow...

Friday, December 7, 2007

The World Is Thinking... Comix!


Speaking of forums, I received the following email yesterday:
Hello!

You have a great site and wonderful blog and it is refreshing to know that you are very passionate about the topics you discuss.

Here at FORA.tv we are passionate about bringing the best political, social and cultural content from the world's leading forums.

Today's feature video is titled "Cartoons You’ll Never See in The New Yorker Video" in which Cartoonist Matthew Diffee and New Yorker Cartoon Editor Robert Mankoff discuss the unique sensibility of the New Yorker cartoon and how the magazine's selection process works.

We would love for you to join in on this discussion over at FORA.tv and we can't wait for you to come look at our new site, if you enjoy this type of content.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks,
William Phung
I have embedded the video below (Chapter 4 features some unused cartoons deemed "unworthy" for the New Yorker).




So, What is ‘FORA.tv’? According to the site's FAQ,
The word fora is simply the plural of "forum." The dictionary definition of forum is: the public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for public business.

There's a lot of cool content (archived video & audio podcasts) and features to be found on their site so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go do some forum hopping.

Sunday Comix Forums: Open and Available

The fine folks (Okay, it's not so much "folks" as it is "fella;" as in Chuck Moore is a fine fella.) over at Comics Related have (has) been kind enough to host the official Sunday Comix Forums. Just as this blogspot site allows members of the group to announce and post Sunday Comix (and other related) goings on to the public-at-large, the forum pages enable anyone to join in the conversation (Sequentially Speaking, so to speak).

The Comics Related forums have a wide array of easy-to-use features (email notifications, friends lists, virtual directories, even a notepad) and they're personally monitored to keep `em spam-free. To be able to use all the features, registration is required-- it's free and only takes a moment to complete.

So register today and let's get the conversation going!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

One of our very own gets imortalized


What is Sunday Comix's Andrea McEnaney doing being quoted in the pages of this week's New York Observer? She's talking about Bill Hemmer (of course!) and her comic strip, The Adventures of Chad Cleanly, whose main character is based on FOX's Mr. Hemmer.


More Mid-Ohio-Con Coverage...

The fine people over at ComicMix were pounding the pavement this past weekend at Columbus' largest annual convention and they have an interview with a con neighbor of mine (and local Columbus web comic creator), Dave Willis!

Say, did you know Ricardo Montalban is 87? He'll always be Mr. Roarke to me.

Monday, November 26, 2007

High Praise for Columbus Comix Culture

Chuck Moore wrapped up his Comic Related coverage on the Mid-Ohio-Con with this to say:

"It was a great show! The relaxed pace and positive attitude of the show staff really contributed to making it a success. Organizer Roger Price and everyone who worked so hard to put on the show should be proud.

"We will return for next year's Mid-Ohio-Con and we'll be back to Columbus for S.P.A.C.E. (www.backporchcomics.com) March 1-2, 2008.

Not to be ignored and in the area is the Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond gallery show. Put on by Ohio State University's Wexner Center for the Arts (www.wexarts.org) and the Cartoon Research Library (www.cartoons.osu.edu), the show will run May 10th - August 17th, 2008.

When it comes to comics, Columbus is at the top of their game and that's proving to be a very good thing."

And, of course Sunday Comix will be doing it's thing every month at the Upper Arlington Library as well as putting on a gallery show or two over the next few months... Yep., without a doubt, 2008 is going to be a banner year for comics in Columbus.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Total Mid-Ohio-Con Coverage

I recently discovered the fantastic Comics Related news & reviews website and they have a phenomenal amount of coverage already of this year's Mid-Ohio-Con. Chuck Moore will be posting updates with a steady flow of photos and commentary all throughout the weekend up until Monday morning.

I know of a few Sunday Comixers
who are going to be at the show: Sean Forney will have a table, Molly Durst and Kel Crumb will be attending the show, Michael Neno, Ray Tomczak and Mike Lucas might be there... oh-- and me, Max Ink. I'll be set up with a table selling copies of my comic, Blink.

So if you're going to be there at the show, have a good time and say hello. If you're not there, then read Mr. Moore's coverage and see what you're missing (and make plans to show up next year!)


Friday, November 23, 2007

Groo Celebrate 25 Years!


If you don't know Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier's Groo, than you don't know cheese dip! As noted in Comics Related, this year's Mid-Ohio-Con celebrates 25 years of Groo with a special program book with art by Sergio Aragones and colors by Thom Zahler.

The limited edition program book is provided free of charge to all show attendees, while supplies last, courtesy of Maerkle Press. The Groo celebration will continue as both Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier will be on hand all weekend long, November 24 & 25.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Eat Up "OH, COMICS!" at Mid-Ohio-Con

Oh,Comics! #16 the "Food" issue will makes its debut at Mid-Ohio-Con on November 24 and 25. Oh,Comics! started at Mid-Ohio-Con back in 1988 and was present with an new issue each year until 2003. Now it's back again with 98 delicious pages featuring the work of Matt Dembicki, Craig Bogart, Max Ink, Mike Carroll, Pam Bliss, Larry Blake, Larned Justin, Chad Lambert, James V. West, Megan Corby, Kel Crum, Brian Canini, David Grant, Ben Small, Steven Myers and Bob Corby.

This delectable anthology will also be available at www.backporchcomics.com
after November 26.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Rejects Rejoice!

Gag cartoonists... have you ever felt down after getting the short end (or sharp point) of the editorial stick?

Cartoonist Matthew Diffee feels your pain (or perhaps your indigestion... if you're an elephant). Over the course of eight years, Matthew Diffee has had more than 100 of his illustrations published in the cartoonists' bible, The New Yorker. But that magazine gets more than 500 submissions a week — and for each issue, the editors select only 20 cartoons, in a process that Diffee says may or may not involve the use of darts.

So even Diffee has had to deal with rejection. Happily, he's found a channel: His new book, featuring his own work and that of 37 other New Yorker regulars, is The Rejection Collection, Vol. 2: The Cream of the Crap.

Listen to Mr. Diffee's interview on NPR's Fresh Air and feel the cartoon love (and rejection).

Saturday, November 3, 2007

The Politics of Slugfests


I am quite often surprised by the venues in which I will encounter stories on comics and graphic novels. I certainly never would have expected the self-styled journal of "liberal intelligence," The American Prospect to feature as its cover story a report on current trends in super-hero comics, complete with a blow up of a panel from Warren Ellis' Black Summer.

The article by Julian Sanchez examines recent attempts, in stories that directly or indirectly criticize the Bush administration, from Black Summer to Marvel's Civil War, to mix progressive politics and super-heroes. It is Sanchez's conclusion that, while well intended, these super powered political allegories ultimately fail because of what he sees as the conservative--he goes so far at one point as to use the word "fascist"-tendencies inherent in the nature of the super-hero genre itself.

Sanchez cites Civil War as "...the clearest example..." of his thesis: "The Superhero Registration Act," he writes,"is a straightforward analogue of the USA PATRIOT Act; the rhetoric of its opponents could have been cribbed from an ACLU brief. But under scrutiny, their civil libertarian arguments turn out to hold very little water in the fictional context. The 'liberty' the act infringes is the right of well-meaning masked vigilantes...to operate unaccountably, outside the law--a right no sane society recognizes."

Sanchez, in my view, has a valid point. Super-heroes have always been defenders of the establishment and the status quo, and political allegories in the genre have always worked better when the so-called heroes become the oppressors rather than the freedom fighters.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Festival of Photos

Thanks to Craig Boldman over in the NCS Great Lakes Chapter for taking these great photos of the "Plot Threads" event at the Thurber House as well as a few shots from the OSU Festival of Cartoon Art.

The Daily Cartoonist has a good list of links to other photos & write-ups on the Festival. Hard to believe we'll have to wait another three years until the next one! Be sure to keep calendar clear for October 2010!


Can you name all the artists who contributed to this jam?

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Mike Peters at OSU Festival of Cartoon Art

Mark Anderson, posted this video of the last 7 minutes of Mike Peters' presentation at the OSU Festival of Cartoon Art last weekend. I was fortunate to see the whole thing live.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Carol Tyler at the Wex - Nov. 8


Just received this press release from Jenny Robb of the OSU Cartoon Research Library:

Carol Tyler
Sepia Tome: Telling Dad's World War II Story

Thursday, November 8, 2007
4:00 pm

Free and open to the public
021L Wexner Center, 27 West 17th Avenue Mall

Adjacent to the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library

Comic artist Carol Tyler will discuss her upcoming book Sepia Tome: Telling Dad's World War II Story. Tyler's comics first appeared in Weirdo and Wimmen's Comix twenty years ago. Since then she has contributed to numerous comics anthologies and published two solo works, The Job Thing in 1993 and Late Bloomer in 2005. Late Bloomer presents a rich and powerful collection of Tyler's autobiographical comic stories beautifully published in color by Fantagraphics.

In the introduction to Late Bloomer, Robert Crumb writes, “She is tops, in my book, one of the best artists alive and working in the comics medium. She has fine aesthetic instincts... Her drawings are always pleasing to look at, warm, delicate, inviting. Yet the content, the stories, are all about gritty reality, the hard struggles of common, everyday life.” For more information about Carol Tyler, see her website: www.bloomerland.com.

Tyler’s presentation is co-sponsored by the Cartoon Research Library, Project Narrative, Department of Women's Studies and the Department of History's Harvey Goldberg Program for Excellence in Teaching.

This event is part of Storytelling 2007: A Celebration of Graphic Narrative, a special year of events and exhibitions celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of master-storyteller Milton Caniff, the founding donor of the Cartoon Research Library. Caniff was the creator of the comic strips Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon.

For more information, see http://cartoons.osu.edu.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Tonight on PBS

Tonight's installment of the PBS series American Masters is devoted to "Good Ol' Charles Schulz", a portrait of the Peanuts creator, coming on the heels of David Michaelis' book, Schulz and Peanuts, an excerpt from which you'll find if you follow the link I've provided near the beginning of this run-on sentence. It's nice to see Schulz finally getting some attention. I'm not being sarcastic--a lot has been written about the strip, but its creator remains somewhat of an enigma to most people.
Anyway, American Masters airs tonight here in Columbus, Oh at 9 pm on WOSU (broadcast channel 34). For those of you reading this who live outside of our fair metropolis, check, as the old saying goes, thy local listings.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Rare Watterson

Who isn't a fan of Bill Watterson's work? This site is regularly updated and chock full of Watterson goodness: interviews, cartoons he did while attending Kenyon College, Calvin & Hobbes "bootlegs," a few political cartoons (circa 1981), Calvin & Hobbes sketches (some are (obvious) fakes), fan art and so much more! Thanks to the Daily Cartoonist blog for the link!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Stuff Ray Is Reading


I have just begun to read "Schulz and Peanuts", David Michaelis' new biography of Charles Monroe Schulz. I'll have a full review once I've finished. In the meantime, if you'd like to read more about the book, check out the following articles and reviews:


-John Updike reviews the book in The New Yorker

-and then there's this item from Yahoo! News.

I've also been reading Cerebus...unfortunately I've stalled while waiting for the one copy of Minds that the Columbus library owns to be returned and delivered to the Whetstone branch for me to check out. It's probably a good thing, though, as I could use a break after slogging through the purple prose and bitter ranting that make up the text portions of Reads.

I've also just read the first three trade collections of DC's year long weekly series 52. Even as someone who has read superhero comics all his life, I am stunned by the level of violence and gore in this series, especially in the scenes involving Shazam! villain Black Adam. (He literally rips a man in half--and not off-panel-- in the third issue.)

On the positive side, I'm intrigued by the return, in Vol 3, of the "Yellow Aliens" who created Animal Man and eager to see where that plotline, obviously the brainchild of co-writer (one of four) Grant Morrison, will go.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Preparations for Christmas comes so early these days...

Ho-Ho-Ho and Hip-hip Hooray for Movies & Comics!

The 2007 holiday movie season will wrap up with two very different comic book-based projects that are scheduled to debut on Christmas: the prize-winning animated feature based on Marjane Satrapi's
Persepolis, and the action-packed Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, which is the second big screen team-up of two movie monsters that first faced off in the pages of Dark Horse comics.


Ms. Satrapi's autobiographical Persepolis graphic novels were surprisingly strong sellers in the North American bookstore market (see "Persepolis the Stealth Hit"), and the animated Persepolis film, which won the Jury Prize (shared) at the Cannes Film Festival (see "Persepolis Wins Cannes Jury Prize"), could introduce the Persepolis graphic novels to a much wider audience.


The other comic-based Christmas Day feature film debut, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, should also increase traffic in comic shops because Dark Horse will have published two Alien vs. Predator Omnibus Editions by then, which contain over 400 pages of full color comics (for just $24.95!).


So stock up on these graphic novels gifts for your loved ones!


Original post found at ICV2.com

Monday, October 8, 2007

October is the Month of Caniff in Columbus!



In honor of the centennial of Milton Caniff's birth...


Read!


this article in the Columbus Dispatch.

Visit!

Milton Caniff: American Master and School of Caniff
Mon Oct 8 – Sun Oct 28
Hopkins Hall Gallery + Corridor

Rarities: Unusual Works from the Caniff Collection
September 4th, 2007 - January 19th, 2008
OSU Cartoon Research Library

Celebrate!

“The Hopkins Hall galleries are a wonderful place to celebrate the Caniff centennial,” says (Lucy) Caswell. “Caniff studied painting with Professor James Hopkins—the building’s namesake—when he was an Ohio State student.”

An exhibitions reception is scheduled 4–7 pm Friday, Oct 26 in Hopkins Hall.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Cartoon Art in a Cafe?


Jeez.

Who in their right mind would want to show (or see) comics/cartoon art in a cafe? I guess Sandy Plunkett is willing to display his work on the walls of Donkey Coffee in Athens, Ohio. Read this article to find out more.

~Max


Collins' Alley Oop Doc


Caveman: V. T. Hamlin & Alley Oop
(Max Allan Collins, 2005)

Wed, Oct 10, 2007 | 7:00PM
Wexner Center for the Arts: Film/Video Theater

Directed by Road to Perdition writer Max Allan Collins, Caveman examines the career of V. T. Hamlin and the creation of his long-running comic strip Alley Oop.

First appearing in 1932, the strip follows the prehistoric character Alley Oop, his pet dinosaur Dinny, and the citizens of the kingdom of Moo. Featuring interviews with Will Eisner and longtime Hamlin assistant Dave Graue, the film provides a wonderful depiction of the process of producing comic strips in the 20th century. Along with the graphic novel Road to Perdition, Collins has written numerous novels and comic strips, including a 15-year run on Dick Tracy. (53 mins., video)

Cosponsored by Ohio State’s Cartoon Research Library in conjunction with Storytelling 2007 and the 2007 Festival of Cartoon Art being held October 26–27 in Columbus. Please visit http://cartoons.osu.edu for more information.

$5 members
$7 general public
$5 students
$5 senior citizens

- Buy tickets online

Thursday, October 4, 2007

OSU Festival Speaker Update

Oh, for the love of links...

I read on the Daily Cartoonist that Mike Rhode's ComicsDC Blog posted new info on OSU's upcoming Festival of Cartoon Art. The update is that Paul Pope, Arnold Roth and David Saylor will be added to the line-up of speakers, replacing Jules Feiffer, Guy Delisle and Mark Siegel, who have canceled their appearance.


Monday, October 1, 2007

Festival of Cartoon Art

According to the OSU Cartoon Research Library site, the ninth triennial Festival of Cartoon Art, October 26-27, 2007, will focus on the art of graphic storytelling. The year 2007 marks the centennial of the birth of master storyteller Milton Caniff, whose papers and art formed the founding collection of the Cartoon Research Library. The conference will begin with a celebration of Caniff's life and legacy. Leading contemporary cartoonists will then explore the craft of storytelling in newspapers, comic books, and graphic novels throughout the two-day festival.

The Festival of Cartoon Art, held triennially since 1983, features two days of lectures, panel discussions, exhibitions, receptions and other special events. Some of the nations leading cartoonists have spoken at the festival, including Lynda Barry, Milton Caniff, Will Eisner, Jules Feiffer, Ben Katchor, Patrick Oliphant, Arnold Roth, Jeff Smith, Art Spiegelman, Garry Trudeau and Bill Watterson, just to name a few. This year's featured speakers are:
  • Jessica Abel creator of Artbabe and La Perdida
  • Nick Anderson editorial cartoonist for the Houston Chronicle
  • Alison Bechdel cartoonist of Dykes to Watch Out For and Fun Home
  • Ray Billingsley creator of the comic strip Curtis
  • Guy Delisle is the author of Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea and Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China
  • Jules Feiffer won the Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning in 1986
  • Gary Groth co-founder of Fantagraphics Books
  • R.C. Harvey Cartoonist and author of Meanwhile: A Biography of Milton Caniff
  • Mike Peters creator of Mother Goose and Grimm and editorial cartoonist for the Dayton Daily News
  • Peter Poplaski authored The Sketchbook Adventures of Peter Poplaski and edited Steve Canyon Magazine
  • Ted Rall columnist and syndicated editorial cartoonist
  • Arnold Roth award-winning cartoonist
  • P. Craig Russell author of more than eighty titles including Conan and the Jewels of Gwahlur
  • Diana Schutz Senior Editor at Dark Horse Comics
  • Mark Siegel Editorial Director of First Second Books
  • Frank Stack creator of what many consider to be the first underground comic book, The Adventures of Jesus
  • Brian Walker author of several books on comics history including Masters of American Comics
  • Mort Walker creator of Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois and six other comic strips
The 2007 Festival of Cartoon Art will be held at The Columbus Renaissance Hotel located in downtown Columbus. Space is still available, but you'll need to register soon!



Sunday, September 30, 2007

Hyping Myself

And now to hype myself! I just got my Cafe Press store back up. Here's the link if anyone wants to check it out.

The Fourth Estate

Wasted Video

Greetings! Ray Tomczak here.
As you may know, I do a weekly comic called Wasted Potential that appears every Sunday on the web-sites ComicSpace, Drunk Duck, Webcomics Nation, Smackjeeves, and at my Wasted Potential blog.
If you didn't know that, pay close attention to the video below. It's a brief introduction to my strip, giving an overview of the basic concepts and main characters and the web-sites where you can see it, all set to music by Talking Heads.

Friday, September 28, 2007

A Wonderful Wordless Work of Art

As if the quotes in the above ad aren't enough, Sunday Comix's very own resident librarian, Rebecca O'Neil, says, "If you haven't read The Arrival by Shaun Tan yet, I can't recommend it highly enough. It is a wordless story done in sepia-tone pencil drawings; one of the most gorgeous and affecting books I've ever read."


Monday, September 17, 2007

September Meeting Photos



Here's some photos from yesterday's meeting.

~Max

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Mini Distribution

Okay... so I was reading over on Heidi MacDonald's “The Beat” about how this fella Dick Hyacinth is asking about how to buy small press comics on his blog :

I was looking over the Ignatz nominees, and was struck by how many were books which I’d wanted to read but haven’t been able to find. Does anyone know of a good site for ordering stuff from a bunch of different small press publishers (by which I mean non-Fantagraphics, D&Q, or NBM–I can get that stuff at my LCS), or am I just going to have to break down and order direct? I’m looking for stuff by the smaller publishers listed–I checked out khepri.com, but that seems to be mostly on the Brian Wood-Warren Ellis axis, which is really not what I’m looking for (that stuff is also available at my LCS).

Heidi suggested Global Hobo, Bodega Distribution & USS Catastrophe and a commenter mentioned Optical Sloth (.which is where my book can be purchased online). Anyone know of any other outlets for small press comics?

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Suggested Reading



The Best American Comics 2007
edited by Anne Elizabeth Moore & Chris Ware
Houghton Mifflin Company
$22.00

Guest editor Chris Ware and series editor Anne Elizabeth Moore have sought out the best stories to create this cutting-edge collection. Contributors include Lynda Barry, Robert Crumb, Aline Crumb, Kim Deitch, Gilbert Hernandez, Seth, and Art Spiegelman.

"The idea of Houghton Mifflin's distinguished Best American series turning to the comics would once have seemed unlikely, but the powerful narratives in this collection prove why it's a good idea... this volume shows the Best American Comics concept to be a showcase for thought-provoking and evocative work."
Publishers Weekly review of Best American Comics Vol 1

"...the high standard this edition sets heightens expectations for future series installments and the talent they may introduce."
Booklist review of Best American Comics Vol 1

Provided by Read Yourself Raw

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Ignatz, Kukoc & Day

The professionals might have their Eisners and their Harveys but those of us who skirt on the fringes of comics publishing now have three prizes to call our own:

Thanks to Tom Spurgeon's The Comics Reporter for his post about the Kukoc. I adore John Porcellino's work. (The prize is named after John's late cat, a prominent character in his groundbreaking King-Cat mini-comics.)

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

With all due respect

Here’s a nice little write-up over at the Panel Blog from Tony Goins regarding his trip to our recent gallery show and what he found there. Regarding the “Sunday Comix Jam Book, he had this to say

They collected a bunch of jam pages into a minicomic, which they were thoughtfully giving away for free. Good stuff (although there were a surprising number of jokes about Max, suicide, or some combination.)

Nice guy, that Tony. Very respectful.

Plot Threads at the Thurber House



According to the OSU Festival of Cartoon Art schedule info page, there will be an opening reception for Plot Threads at Thurber Center Gallery. I have no idea what the details are about this, but chances are it's going to be interesting. More details to be found in our cool calendar.


~Max

Site Enhancements

It took some detective work but I figured out how to insert a Sunday Comix Google calendar for all to see what it is we in the group are up to as well as what is going in the Columbus comics community (and beyond). I placed it waaaaaaay down at the bottom of the page, just below the “Just a little everyday COMIX news” Google newsfeed (just for kicks). If you have an event that you want to add, please email me.

I’ve also added a “What this is” along with a few other links on the sidebar. If you have any suggestions on how to improve this site, let me know.

~Max

Sunday Comix' Gallery Debut

Recently, as you might know, we of the Sunday Comix group made our first halting foray into the world of "fine arts" by putting on a gallery show at the Gallery Upstairs above the Surly Girl Saloon the night of the Short North September Gallery Hop (September 1). Even though it wasn't something I ever would have sought out for myself, as I don't really think of myself as an "artist" (there's probably a whole post in that alone), I participated at great personal sacrifice (meaning that I had to put off my monthly poker game for a week) and I'm glad I did, and not just because I somehow managed to con two naive fools into purchasing one of my pieces.

Anyway, I was packing a miniature camera that night and took a few pics which I turnend into the video that follows. I have to apologize to Jennifer for the quality of the pic of her. I assure you that she is not that blurry in real life (whatever that is). I actually think that the weird negative effect caused by the bad lighting kind of works for the shot of John Miller, however.

Our next show will be in December. I'm sure details will be posted here and/or elsewhere as the thing gets nearer.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Begging Your Pardon, But...

Hello,

Welcome to the Sunday Comix Blog. This is a companion site to the Sunday Comix ComicSpace and the Sunday Comix Yahoo Group sites.

This is a team blog, where you can read about local creator news, find helpful how-to articles, see work created by the group, find links to individual members sites and personal blogs and soon we hope to add a Sunday Comix Calendar page where you can find
listings of local group and general comic-related events.

The Sunday Comix Group provides a forum for artists and writers of all formats and genres of sequential art (comic books, strips, graphic novels, manga, cartoons, etc.) to share their work-in-progress and receive constructive critiques from other creators. The group is open to all and meets one Sunday afternoon a month at the Upper Arlington Library in Columbus, Ohio.

Sunday Comix is hosted by Sequentially Speaking, which is an ongoing and evolving not-for-profit organization that seeks to encourage dialog about sequential art in the community through hosting gallery shows, symposiums and workshops for the artists and writers of this unique literary medium.

This site would not exist if it weren't for:
ONWARDS,
~Max Ink Executive Director