Monday, July 2, 2007

Coming Soon to Pittsburgh: Me

My friend Carolyn Kelly and I will be two of three Guests of Honor at the Anthrocon in Pittsburgh this weekend. Carolyn will be discussing her cartooning and the work of her father, Walt Kelly, creator of the great comic strip, Pogo. The third Guest of Honor, Rob Paulsen, will be talking about his career as one of the top voiceover artists in the business. And I'll be talking about...

Hmm. I'm not sure what I'll be talking about, not that I ever am. Maybe about writing comic books about Bugs Bunny and other cartoon superstars, maybe about writing the Garfield animated show. I don't know. Anthrocon is — I cribbed this from their website — the world's largest convention for those fascinated with anthropomorphics, which are humanlike animal characters. It's a gathering of folks who draw, write about, dress up as or just enjoy cartoon animals. I'll tell you more about it from there.

There will be panels. On Friday afternoon at 1:30, Carolyn and I will be doing a panel about writing and drawing comic books and cartoons. On Sunday at 10 AM, Rob and I will be discussing the cartoon voice field and then at 2 PM, Carolyn and I will be talking about Pogo. There are other panels and games and presentations and exhibitors and an art show and if you're there, please say howdy. If you're not there, watch this spot for reports on what you missed.

• Posted at 10:22 PM · LINK

Todays' Comic Book Book Recommendation

I've been derelict in my duty. I get a lot of fine books that are about comic book history or which feature reprints of classic comic books or strips...and I keep meaning to recommend them to you. Somehow, I keep not getting around to it...but since I have my own comic book book coming out before the end of the year, the least I can do is make the effort. So for the next few days/weeks/months — however long it takes before I get too busy or I start forgetting — I'm going to suggest one each day to you.

These are not reviews so much as recommendations so I should declare here that I'm not fond of everything I've seen in this area lately. Some of the reprint books have had very weak reproduction...or in a few cases, have been "restored" to death by some guy who has Photoshop but no idea of how conspicuous his presence is on pages that should represent the work of someone else. Some of the history books have been born of good intention...but done by someone who didn't have access to the proper sources. That's assuming those sources are still available, which is not always the case. I'm going to move those books to the bottom of the pile and deal from the top.

Today, I'd like to point you towards Wally's World: The Brilliant Life and Tragic Death of Wally Wood, the World's Second Best Comic Book Artist — and yes, that's an Amazon buying link — by Steve Starger and J. David Spurlock. I'm not sure I'd say Mr. Wood was the second best comic book artist, nor am I sure who they think is/was Numero Uno. Then again, I wouldn't waste time arguing the point, either. He was a tremendous talent whose life and career (though rarely his art) were tinged with stress, pain and despair. This biography starts with his 1981 suicide, then flashes back through his life to see him struggle, producing wonderful work for employers who often were not grateful or generous.

I didn't know Wood that well...met him three or four times, spoke with him for maybe two hours total over ten years. He was an angry man but with a veneer of despair that made you wonder how life and the industry could be so harsh to someone who drew so well. But of course, he did a lot of it to himself. Other fine artists lived in the same system and usually made it work for them. The book by Starger and Spurlock tracks Wood's life at the drawing table and away from it, giving us some insight into why his life went the way it did. Not that it's completely understandable but I felt I learned something about the guy...plus there are a lot of nice pictures to look at. Get yourself a copy.

• Posted at 8:51 PM · LINK

The Worst Thing About The Libby Commutation

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are both on vacation for two weeks.

• Posted at 7:20 PM · LINK

Win/Win

I just heard that George W. Bush has commuted the sentence (but not the fine or probation) of Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Seems to me this is a decision that will make everyone happy. The pro-Bush crowd gets the thrill of seeing Bush acting decisive and knowing that he'll protect his own. The anti-Bush crowd gets to see him drop another point or two in the polls among Independents.

• Posted at 3:06 PM · LINK

Monday Morning

I haven't seen Michael Moore's Sicko...but then I haven't been to any movie for quite some time. I doubt I'll catch up with that one before it catches up with me on HBO, but I am intrigued by the reaction to it among reviewers and bloggers. Some, who are predisposed to wish Moore would die a painful death, are having an awfully hard time faulting him for this one. It usually comes down to a slam on his "methods" with a few gratuitous jabs at his weight and wardrobe. I suspect they're overlooking that one of Moore's methods is to deliberately piss off people like them to generate controversy and, therefore, notoriety. Moore got a rave review from someone on Fox News and there's probably an element of truth in his jests about, "What are they trying to do? Ruin me?"

As longtime readers of this here blog are aware, I think health care is a disaster in this country. If a terrorist did that much damage to human life, we'd be on quadruple-red alert and never pass through any doorway without a metal detector and having our shoes x-rayed. As I understand it, the film speaks only briefly of people who have no health insurance at all and spends most of its time detailing how you can have health insurance and still not have your needs covered. A catastrophic illness or accident can still wipe out your savings, your home and your body. If that's his premise, great. Because that's my premise...and I haven't even seen his most outraged detractors do much to argue that point. Whether his solutions are the right ones, I don't know — but he's got people talking about an important problem, and that's about all you can expect a muckraking documentary to do. It's certainly more than most do.

• Posted at 11:38 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

And now, Bullwinkle is selling Cocoa Puffs. That moose will sell anything...

• Posted at 1:16 AM · LINK

July 3, 2007 • Current • July 1, 2007