24 Hour Comic Day begins October 18

Columbus' Laughing Ogre comics shop (located at 4258 North High Street) is the official Central Ohio host site for this year's 24 Hour Comic Day (24HCD). (There are dozens of host sites around the world!) The event will kick off at 12 noon on Saturday, October 18 and go until 12 noon on Sunday, October 19. The store will be open for the entire 24 Hour period.

Anyone who wants to come and participate may do so. (And if you're just curious about what goes into making a comic book, here's a prime opportunity to see artists in action!) If you're interested in spending 24 hours writing and drawing a 24 page comic book, email Norah Curry (norah@laughingogrecomics.com) ahead of time so that she can make sure the store has enough of everything. The Ogre will be providing some art supplies (thought not enough for everyone to do an entire 24 page comic), a place to work, refreshments, a place to rest and the glorious entertainment provided by their dedicated staff.

(While the Ogre is not one to stifle anyone's creativity or freedom of expression, they'd like to remind everyone that they're a family friendly store. So, if you think your mom would freak out about what you are producing you might want to rethink it.)

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, ideas, please feel free to send Norah an email. Let her know you're in Columbus (since they also have another participating Laughing Ogre shop in Fairfax, VA).

*If this is your first time participating (or if you just want to get to know more about 24HCD), check out Scott McCloud's wonderful (and in-depth) "24-Hour Clock." There, you can read the official Dare, see Scott's first 24 Hour comic, "A Day's Work," which he wrote and drew on August 31, 1990, and see a huge list of 24 Hour Comics.

What A Month It's Been...

Can you believe it's been a month since this blog has been last updated? Cripes.

The last item posted was in regards to the upcoming workshop, Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, facilitated by Matt Madden being held at the Wexner Center (in association with the Bone & Beyond exhibit). Well, I just listened to a nice little story on NPR's All Things Considered about the text book (with lots of pictures) Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: A Definitive Course from Concept to Comic in 15 Lessons written & illustrated by Matt and his wife, Jessica Abel. Go check it out the story, buy the book, and then sign up for the workshop.

Last week, the Mid-Ohio-Con launched The Mighty Mighty MOC-Blog. This is a great resource to stay up-to-date on what's going down on the upcoming premiere Ohio Comic Book Convention (now in its 27th year!) and it's also a opportunity to get involved! They are currently

seeking writers and guest bloggers to contribute original content such as articles, features, reviews, interviews, and even regular columns. (They) are also looking for illustrators and cartoonists to contribute one-off or serialized cartoons for a weekend comics feature.

Recent posts include Joe Kubert being the guest of Honor this year and Ohio's own P. Craig Russel making his only convention appearance this year.

I promise to be more diligent on posting on this blog in the future.

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: A Graphic Novel Workshop

Sat, Jul 26, 2008 | 1:00 - 5:00PM
Wexner Center
Advance registration is required

Matt Madden, illustrator and author of 99 Ways to Tell a Story and Drawing Words & Writing Pictures (with his wife, Jessica Abel), is going to offer a crash course in creating your own graphic novel in this hands-on workshop for adults. In introduction to an interview conducted for the Comics Journal, Gary Sullivant wrote:

What has impressed me most about Madden, beyond his considerable skills as a visual artist and storyteller, is his constant experimentation. His approach to comics differs from that of most practitioners, which is to find a particular style that works well and refine it, often revisiting the same subject matter from book to book. I pretty much know what I'm going to get in the next comic by Adrian Tomine, the Hernandez brothers, or even Chris Ware — though I love what each of them does. But Madden, even before 99 Ways to Tell a Story, has approached each project as an opportunity to explore different styles, methods and even subjects. In this, he embodies the great New York poet Frank O'Hara's most famous line: "Grace to be born and live as variously as possible."

So, this is definitely not going to be a "how to draw superheroes" sort of workshop! No prior experience is necessary, and materials will be provided. There is a fee of $12 for members of the Wexner Center or $15 for the general public. To register, call the education department at (614) 292-6493, or e-mail edweb@wexarts.org.

Another Ohio Comics Creator's Group is Born

I received this letter from Thacher Cleveland (who lives in Yellow Springs, which is near Dayton...);

Here are pictures from our second meeting of the Dayton Area Comic Creators Group (we're thinking of getting a snappier name at some point). We had a better turnout this time around, although all who were at first meeting were either sick, lost in Columbus or plumb forgot. They did email us after the fact regretting their absences, so they haven't just written us off. We had eight people, one of whom was Wakka Ciccone, who has self-published three issues of her comic Sihm and attended SPACE a couple of times. It was a fun meeting, and we're looking to get more of a web presence established so we can all keep in touch with each other better.

Thanks,
Thacher E Cleveland
Super-Fly Comics & Games

Bravo to you and everyone! Looking forward to seeing some of those pictured above at SPACE
in just two days!

Making of Glamourpuss Video

Only 5 Days until you can see Dave Sim at SPACE...

...but you can see him in action NOW, tracing, drawing, inking and talking about Al Williamson at www.glamourpusscomic.com! (Link courtesy of the Cerebus Yahoo Group.)

...or just check it out below.