NPR - Why Some Comics Work... and Some Don't

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Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earthis an example of a comic where the art is doing its job.(Random House)

Glen Weldon posts on NPR Arts correspondent Lynn Neary's piece on All Things Considered about the new graphic novel adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic Fahrenheit 451. He breaks down what's right and what stinks about the last generation of graphic novels, and how the masters of the form make it work.

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The Cartoon Lounge

Graphic facilitator and intermittent cartoonist for The New Yorker Magazine, Drew Dernavich, announces the launch of The Cartoon Lounge, a blog--or "blorg" according to contributor Zach Kanin--for non-New Yorker content.

clipped from www.newyorker.com Let’s make this clear. This is not The New Yorker magazine. To get a cartoon published in the magazine, we must submit dozens of original ideas every week. The cartoon editor rejects the overwhelming majority of them, and the ones that survive must still make it past the editor and the publisher, and are subject to further fact checking, copy editing, and layout considerations. Getting something uploaded on this blog will be different. For instance, one of us will be eating lunch on top of our computer keyboard, and we’ll set down that half-eaten chicken quesadilla a little too hard, and—BAM!—instant blog post. It will work something like that. And not just weekly, but daily. So, it’s the same cartoonists, but a different process.

Manic Comic Preachers

This group of international comic artists and illustrators picks a theme (kittens, hobos, moustaches) and dips their quills into the surreal every Thursday night. The results are posted on their blog.

clipped from stldrawingclub.blogspot.com STL Drawing Club OUR SKETCHBOOKS WEIGH A TON WE DRAW EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT clipped from stldrawingclub.blogspot.com STL Drawing Club has gone global with the addition of Maximo "Max" Vento. Max is an up and coming graphic novelist who hails from Spain. His first book is due out in his homeland by the end of the year. Clean shaven, baby-faced Max gives us his take on our mustache theme. clipped from stldrawingclub.blogspot.com In honor of the upcoming FBC mustache ride we all drew mustache themed drawings last night. You know what that means!!! NOTE: I'm not crying in that self-portrait, those are eye boogers. Although YOU'D probably cry if you were driving a hot-rod made entirely out of your own mustache.

They Sure Don't Make Comic Books Like They Used To : Virgin Comics

From Fast Company :

"'If you told parents ten years ago in America that their children would know characters named Yu Gi Oh! and Pokemon as well as they would Spider-Man, those parents would have thought you were crazy -- yet in America today an estimated 30% of major children's animated programming is now Japanese animation,' states Sharad Devarajan, CEO of the New York headquartered Virgin Comics and Animation.

It is the recognition of this ease with which anime transcended its initial status as merely a cult phenomenon outside Japan that formed a fundamental impetus behind the founding of Devarajan's company about two years ago.

Positioning itself to redefine the comic book industry, Virgin Comics touts its mission as the creation of global comic properties that take their basis and inspiration from the east, particularly India, in a manner that resonates with both western and larger eastern audiences alike. It is the progeny of Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman -- co-founders of another comic book company, Gotham Entertainment Group in 1997-- along with writer Deepak Chopra and acclaimed director Shekhar Kapur."

Underground Comix Come of Age: An Interview with Kim Deitch

From AIGA by Steven Heller:

Miraculously, most of the great underground comix artists of the late ’60s are still alive and kicking. Compared to the burnt-out, drug-slain rock stars of the same era, their unscathed record is rather amazing. Now in their late 50s and early 60s, many are also doing their best work. Along with R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman and Bill Griffith, Kim Deitch is one such exemplar of the art of underground “funnies,” an author and illustrator who transcended his beginnings in the age of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll to become a mature comics storyteller.

Currently, his collection Shadowland (Fantagraphics) is earning critical acclaim, and anticipation is high for Alias the Cat (Pantheon Books), due out in April. We caught up with Deitch to discuss the longevity of comics, the dubious term “graphic novel” and his constant growth as an artist.