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‘LitGraphic’ and the Comic Arts Festival at Norman Rockwell Museum

Okay, I’ll admit that I have yet to check out The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. While this might not seem like such an egregious sin at first, consider the fact that I lived less than an hour away from the museum for nearly five years and, well… there’s really no excuse.

That’s why I was happy to see some PR cross my desk for a Comic Arts Festival happening this weekend at the museum in celebration of their ongoing "LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel" exhibit.

Here’s all of the relevant info:

Comic Arts Festival at the Norman Rockwell Museum

Saturday, May 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Join us for an exciting day of workshops, lectures, book signings, and conversation with noted comic artists and historians in celebration of LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel. 

Artists Howard Cruse, Marc Hempel, Jack Purcell, R. Sikoryak, Lauren Weinstein, and Mark Wheatley will be with us to discuss their work, lead drawing demonstrations, and inspire the creation of comics of your own. Comic art collector Scott Eder, graphic novel historian Robin Brenner, and author/art critic David A. Berona will offer insights into the evolution of the field and the current comics marketplace. Be a part of our wet ink sessions and mini comic exchange! Refreshments will be served, and lunches will be available for purchase.

As the press release mentioned, our own ComicMix comic artist Mark Wheatley (EZ Street) will be among the noted guests in attendance at the show. While that should be more than enough reason to check it out, I also hear that the museum is actually quite a nice place… but I’m hoping to confirm that for myself this weekend.

You can find out more information about the festival, including a full schedule of events and contact information, on the schedule of current exhibits at the Norman Rockwell Museum website.

ROFLCon Reports Around the InterWebs

After the brain drain of New York Comic Con, I couldn’t bring myself to pack up and head to Boston for ROFLCon — and now I’m kicking myself for not making the trip.

Apparently, gathering together "a bunch of super famous internet memes, some brainy academics and a big audience" in Cambridge, MA, makes for a pretty good time.

On the comics side of things, the Dumbrella crew, Randall Munroe of XKCD, Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics and other assorted webcomics creators made an appearance at the show, and were joined by the likes of "Tron Guy" and the "Chuck Norris Facts" creators. It was pretty much a Who’s Who of Internet celebrities, and there was a good chance that if you’ve ever sent a link to a funny video or website, someone in attendance at ROFLCon had a hand in creating it. From what I’ve gleaned from various reports and Twitterings, it was beautifully unpredictable.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, neither Chuck Norris nor Rick Astley were sighted anywhere near the event.

If you want to find out what you missed, here are a few sites to check out:

Whitney Matheson of Pop Candy has a nice "Reflections on ROFLCon" write-up of the event, and the requisite picture of herself with Tron Guy.

Tron Guy makes a cameo in a ROFLCon-inspired edition of Overcompensating as Jeffrey Rowland explains why punching Drew Curtis of Fark in the groin whenever possible is absolutely justified.

Oh, and some radio thing called NPR had a few reports, too. Actually, they had one of my favorite descriptions of the event thus far:

If ROFL Con were real life, this would be Elvis sitting next to Double Elvis sitting next to the wheel.

Heck, even BBC was there. sigh

Next year, screw New York Comic Con — it’s ROFLCon or bust.

It’s Obama… Hilary… no, it’s Superdelegate! by John Ostrander

We’ve now had the Pennsylvania Primary and I guess one of the candidates saw their shadow because it looks like we’re going to have six more weeks of Primaries. It’s like the end of the first Rocky film – we’re getting to the end of eighteen rounds and neither fighter can score the knockout blow. And both fighters are looking beat to hell.

I’ll make my preferences known upfront. Between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, I prefer Barack Obama. There’s a variety of reasons but let’s just say that, while I prefer Obama, I could support Clinton if she won the nomination. I can’t reward the Republican Party for eight years of screwing the country by voting to put another Republican in the White House. I admire John McCain as a person but he’s for continuing some policies that I think are ruinous.

That said, there’s one scenario I can conceive that I think would keep me from voting Democratic. It involves the super-delegates and it’s more likely to involve a Clinton candidacy than an Obama one.

Right now, the math doesn’t favor the Senator from New York. Obama’s lead is sufficient that, given the way the Dems award delegates proportionally in primary votes as opposed to the “winner take all” method that the Republicans use, Clinton won’t win the nomination based on either delegate count or popular vote. She’s makes claims to having “won” the Michigan and Florida primaries and argues that she should get those delegates. That would certainly help her but those primaries were already disallowed by the DNC; no one campaigned in Florida and Obama’s name wasn’t even on the ballot in Michigan. Yeah, it’s messy and it cheats the voters in those two states and the DNC pulled a boner in handling the situation but you don’t hand the votes to Senator Clinton. She didn’t really earn them; the results aren’t valid. (more…)

Review: ‘Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front’

a-life-up-frontarticle-3552379In many ways, Bill Mauldin lived out the American Dream, starting out as a physically unimposing ‘desert rat’ in the southwest, then joining the army and becoming a star soldier-cartoonist, and retiring as one of the best known editorial cartoonists in the country. He died in 2003.

In his new biography, Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front, author Todd DePastino takes that famous life and digs out all the strange truths, the contradictions, the unknown motivations. Mauldin was a deeply conflicted man, DePastino finds, alternatively successful and unhappy because of his deep drive for acceptance.

Born in 1921 to a rough and tumble family, Mauldin had little going for him as a child besides an aptitude for art. In his teens, he went to Chicago to study, but despite a prodigious output he had little success landing his cartoons.

With no other options (like many other enlistees), Mauldin signed up for the army and started cartooning for a service newsletter. From the start, his work focused on the lives of the grunts, who trudged through mud and faced the disrespect of superiors.

Using Mauldin’s writings, interviews and those cartoons, DePastino follows the young, driven man as he developed as a person and illustrator. And, soon enough, followed him over the Atlantic into the hell of World War II.

(more…)

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Simon Bisley and the Business of ‘Splatterhouse’

  • Uncategorized
  • April 30, 2008

egm-2685167 In the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, there was an interesting bit of information in a sidebar for their feature about the revived Splatterhouse videogame. According to EGM, Publisher Namco Bandai has brought comic book artist Simon Bisley on board to do artwork for the game. His art will possibly be used for covers and marketing, but they’ve also teamed him up with his former 2000 A.D. writer Gordon Rennie to "flesh out Splatterhouse‘s basic plot, breathe life into the characters, and add his own understanding of the supernatural to the script."

For those unfamiliar with the game, Splatterhouse was a classic arcade game where regular guy Rick Taylor’s girlfriend was abducted by monsters. Making a deal with a demonic hockey mask, Rick transformed into an unstoppable Jason Voorhees lookalike. For kids thrilled with the Friday the 13th movies, it was a chance to be the psycho and the hero at the same time. The game was regarded at the time as highly controversial, due to its graphic (by 1980s standards, at least) violence. It was the first game to ever receive a parental advisory disclaimer, even beating out Mortal Kombat for that honor. 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of the game’s release, hence the revival for today’s PlayStation and Xbox 360 systems.

This is the second big videogame effort for Bisley after his contribution to the Halo graphic novel. Let’s hope, for the sake of the ratings board, he doesn’t hide any naughty bits in the game.

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EZ Street: The Big Fight

  • News
  • April 30, 2008

08-9250480In today’s brand-new episode of EZ Street, by Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley, Scott and Danny have “creative differences” about how their comic should be drawn and what their comic should be.

Can you divorce your own brother?

Credits: Mark Wheatley (Artist), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Robert Tinnell (Writer)

More: EZ Street

 

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The Flash Returns… in the Pages of NY Daily News?

  • News
  • April 30, 2008

New York City’s Daily News played spoiler to comics fans today, announcing the return of a familiar face behind a red-and-gold mask in this week’s DC Universe #0. Which of the scarlet speedsters is returning, you ask? Well, we’re posting that bit of info after the jump, lest we find ourselves forcibly evicted from ComicMix HQ by torch-wielding, spoiler-phobic crowds of angry fanboys and fangirls.

However, there’s something else about the Daily News article that has us smiling. In addition to seeking comment about the latest superhero resurrection from noted writers Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns, noted comics historian and regular ComicMix contributor Alan Kistler was also tapped for some perspective on the character’s grand return to the DCU.

Now, for the big reveal… and some big questions: (more…)

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Happy Birthday: Nat Gertler

  • Uncategorized
  • April 30, 2008

factor-6110232Born in 1965, Nat Gertler started in comics as a translation writer, working on the English language adaptation of Speed Racer for Now Comics back in 1988.

He wrote contributions to Warp Graphics’ ElfQuest and to Calibur Comics’ Negative Burn in the 1990s, and then founded About Comics, a small comic book publishing company whose focus has been on quality rather than quantity.

Gertler published his own miniseries, The Factor, through About, and garnered an Eisner Award nomination for it in 1999.

He also created the 24 Hour Comics Day event, edited a variety of comic books and nonfiction books, and has written not only comic books but fiction, nonfiction, television scripts, and video games.

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10 Must-Read Stories Before You Watch ‘Iron Man’ in Theaters

  • News
  • April 30, 2008

iron-man-movie-poster-1294169Even people who’ve never picked up a comic book are looking forward to seeing the new Iron Man movie debuting tomorrow, starring Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, "the cool exec with a heart of steel!"

When Stan Lee and Don Heck introduced Anthony Stark, he was a modern-day Howard Hughes, a weaponsmaker who was investigating his interests in a war zone when he was injured by shrapnel and captured by guerilla soldiers. Desperately needing a life-support system to keep his heart beating, as well as a weapon to fight off his captors, he used materials around him created a make-shift suit of high-tech armor that  earned him the name "Iron Man."

Returning to the states, the world welcomed its new superhero, believing him to be the rich playboy’s bodyguard, and he soon became a founding member of the famous Avengers. Over the years that followed, "Ol’ Shellhead" has been through many armors, as well as many personal changes. He had his heart repaired and battled alcoholism. He had his heart injured again and replaced it with a mechanical one that needed  constant recharging. Recently, his body was finally healed and  his resources greatly enhanced after merging with an experimental form of nano-technology.

Much like The Dark Knight reading list we provided you as prep for Batman’s upcoming return to the big screen, ComicMix has assembled ten recommended reads that showcase how clever and resourceful our hero is while also displaying the forces and passions that drive him in his double-life. They have been assembled in chronological order, so you can follow Iron Man’s evolution.

Enjoy!

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Interview: Paul Azaceta on Daredevil, Monkey Art and ‘B.P.R.D: 1946’

  • News
  • April 30, 2008

bprd19464fcfnl-2651836One of this year’s big additions to the Hellboy universe has been the series BPRD: 1946, which features Hellboy’s father-figure, Trevor Bruttenholm, as he investigates the occult legacy of the Third Reich.

I recently spoke with series artist Paul Azaceta, who discussed the ins and outs of playing in Mike Mignola’s sandbox. Azaceta also provided insight on his many other projects for Marvel and BOOM! Studios, and on the joys of drawing monkeys.

Though still a relative newcomer to the comics scene, Azaceta has churned out an impressive amount of books in the past few years. His future looks to remain busy, with the possibility of more B.P.R.D. and a mystery project for Marvel. 

COMICMIX: How did you get your start in comics? I noticed that you worked on manga books a few years back.

PAUL AZACETA: Oh CPM, how I miss you. Those old manga books are when I first got into the business but not as an artist. Those were the good old days when C.B. Cebulski was the editor of a manga line and I was his assistant. I used to make copies for him and scan in manga art and other things I’m not too proud of. C.B. was a very loving boss.

CMix: How did you end up making the connection with BOOM! Studios?

PA: After doing a couple of small books here and there, I met [BOOM! Publisher] Ross Richie through a friend and it just so happened he was looking for someone to draw these two gritty-type books. When I heard that Mr. Mark Waid was behind one of those books, I jumped at the chance.

(more…)

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