Petition to make Superman the Official Superhero of Ohio

America's 50 states have all sorts of State symbols that represent our cultural heritage and natural treasures. The official State Tree of Ohio is the Aesculus Glabra (or, as it's more commonly known, the Ohio Buckeye). Our official state bird is the Cardinal and our official flower is the Scarlet Carnation. We also have an official animal (White-Tailed Deer), Insect (Ladybug), Gemstone (Ohio Flint) and reptile (Black Racer). Last week, Mark Butler of the Ohio Historical Society created a petition to get an official State Superhero  on that list of Official State symbols. For any comic book lover, there should be no surprise which one it is-- Cleveland's most famous (adopted) son, Superman.

"Superman was created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio," states Butler in the petition. "Superman is a cultural icon that transcends comic books. We want the State of Ohio to recognize Superman and his creators and celebrate Superman's roots in the Buckeye state."

Mr. Butler is a Project Coordinator in the Educational Partnerships and Outreach Department of the Ohio Historical Society. According to his personal website, Mark "provides fun and engaging teacher training to demonstrate how primary resources can make history come alive. He fell in love with history while visiting the Ohio History Center as a youth. He is happy to share this enthusiasm with educators and students. He also is passionate about comic books, which he, much to the chagrin of his colleagues, also enjoys sharing."

Superman is heralded as the first superhero. Hopefully, with enough signatures, the "Man of Tomorrow" will become the first official state superhero. Those interested in signing the petition can do so at http://www.change.org.

Music in the Park ...NOW WITH COMICS!

Since its founding in 2009, the Goodale Park Music Series has been a showcase for local musicians to share their talents with hundreds of people over the course of six Sunday afternoons in July and August along with local artists, kids activities, and food carts. After attending the Indie Comix Fair in March and the SPACExpo in April, Alexandra Kelley Fox - event organizer and Columbus blogger/PR extraordinaire, was made aware of the vibrant comics creating community in Columbus. 


As a result, she decided it was time for Columbus become more aware, too, and invited a few local comics creators to set up alongside all the many other creative types. Kids art activities will be provided by a variety of local artists & organizations over the course of the series, including Hayley Meyers with Terra Gallery, Short North artist Josey Joseph and youth artists from TRANSIT Arts and Columbus Artmobile. A number of local food carts will sell refreshments, as organized by Food Fort Columbus. 


Below is a handy list of which comics/creators will be attending and when, along with the bands that will be performing. You can RSVP to each of the events on the GPMS' Facebook Event page. All concerts begin at 12:30p and last until 2p.

July 8-  Music: Tony Monaco | Comics: Ken Eppstein, Nix Comics and Victor Dandrige, Vantage:Inhouse Productions
July 15-  Music: The Fabulous Johnson Brothers | Comics: Canada Keck, Sunday Comix and Todd Beistel, Yuri: Gypsy Hunter
July 29- Music: Maza Blaska | Comics: James Moore, 2 Headed Monster Comics and Canada Keck, Sunday Comix
August 5- Music: The Spikedrivers | Comics: Todd Beistel, Yuri: Gypsy Hunter and Ken Eppstein, Nix Comics
August 12- Music: Mary Adam 12 | Comics:  Victor Dandrige, Vantage:Inhouse Productions and Max Ink, Blink
August 19- Music: Nick Tolford & Company | Comics: Max Ink, Blink and James Moore, 2 Headed Monster Comics

Hope you can make it out to the park this summer to enjoy some art, food, music and, of course, comics!



The Goodale Park Music Series is funded by the Short North Foundation, Short North Civic Association, Friends of Goodale Park, Harrison West Society, and ComFest. It was founded in 2009 by Alexandra Kelley Fox.

Matt Madden at the WEX

Matt Madden will be at the Wexner Center on Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12.

The event on Friday, May 11, is ominously titled Obstacle Course: Oulipo and the Creative Potential of Constraints, but don't let that scare you away!  Similar to our jam comics, which originate from a French literary exercise called cadavre exquis, oulipo is a type of literary exercise originating in France where, theoretically at least, a series of constraints imposed in an exercise allows the writer to be freer and more creative.  It's also a sort of acronym, standing for ouvroir de littérature potentielle. 

Matt's talk on Friday starts at 4:30 pm in the Film/Video Theater and is FREE.  Matt will be talk about his work as well as about how oulipo has been used to create art in a variety of media. 

For those of you who'd like a little more instruction in oulipo and don't mind shelling out money, Matt will also be conducting an Oulipo Workshop on Saturday, May 12 from 1 to 4 pm.  The workshop costs $12 for members or students or $15 for the rest of us.