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.

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.

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!

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:

-from Publisher's Weekly

-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.

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

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.

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

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.

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!