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| Thursday, May 17th, 2012 | | 4:51 pm |
Another month, another award...
It's been a pretty whirlwind month for me, but I guess that's a good thing. Since April 16, I've been installing one exhibition after another exhibition after another at The Cartoon Art Museum, including an Avengers movie tie-in and a MAD 60th anniversary exhibition, which is one of the best I've ever done. It's one of those shows that I couldn't have done half as well five years ago, and one that makes me feel I've really gotten the hang of all this. In the middle of all that, I went to the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, and, as usual, had a great time. It's always fun to catch up with old friends there, and we allowed ourselves a couple of extra days this time around to kick around the city and the surrounding areas. On the upcoming convention circuit, I'll be at the Big Wow! ComicFest this weekend, selling copies of The Looney Tunes Treasury and various other books along with my friends from The Couscous Collective. Catch me there or moderating as many panels as the Big Wow! team can have me moderate. The big news for the day, though, is that I was named "Best Professional Fanboy of San Francisco" by The SF Weekly. This was a complete surprise, and I'd probably have missed out on it entirely if one of our regular volunteers hadn't tipped me off. I'm not sure how to parlay this into anything beyond an extra page in my scrapbook, but I'm sure I'll think of something. If it drives more people to the Cartoon Art Museum, I'm happy. And since I haven't updated in a while, I'll mention that I've got two book proposals in the works right now, one with a contract to be signed sometime in the next week (fingers crossed), the other to be pitched soon. Wish me luck. | | Friday, April 20th, 2012 | | 11:49 am |
What, Me Worry?
Here's one of the projects that's been keeping me busy for the past month. Hope everyone gets to visit San Francisco soon to check it out:
What, Me Worry? 60 Years of MAD
April 21 – September 16, 2012Programming to be announced San Francisco, CA: In 1952, editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines launched MAD, one of the most influential and imitated humor publications in the world. Originally created to parody popular TV shows, movies and, inevitably, comic books, MAD soon expanded into a wide-ranging satire of modern American culture. Features like the MAD Fold-In, “Spy vs. Spy,” the wacky sound effects of “MAD’s Maddest Artist” Don Martin, the “marginal” cartoons of Sergio Aragones, and the motto “What, me worry?” have become indelible parts of popular culture, and the magazine’s mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, is one of the world’s most recognizable faces. The Cartoon Art Museum’s latest exhibition, What, Me Worry? 60 Years of MAD celebrates the rich history of MAD from the original comic book through the black-and-white magazine to its latest incarnation as a full-color bi-monthly publication supplemented by online content. This is the museum’s first exhibition to include both the MAD comic book and magazine. The MAD creators, known affectionately as “The Usual Gang of Idiots,” are among the most highly regarded in the cartooning world, and works from nearly every major MAD contributor will be featured in this gallery. Exhibition highlights include cover artwork by MAD creator Harvey Kurtzman; pages from the MAD comic book by Will Elder and John Severin; early magazine-era artwork by famed artists Mort Drucker, Don Martin, Wally Wood and George Woodbridge; MAD Fold-ins by Al Jaffee; painted covers by Sergio Aragonés, Jack Davis, Kelly Freas, Norman Mingo. Jack Rickard and Richard Williams; The Lighter Side of… by Dave Berg; Spy vs. Spy by Antonio Prohias; a look at Tom Richmond’s creative process; the dazzling caricatures of Sam Viviano; comics from contemporary contributors Chris Baldwin, Evan Dorkin, Peter Kuper, Ted Rall, Keith Knight and Joey Alison Sayers; a look at MAD Magazine around the world; and much, much more! Programming featuring MAD creators will be held through the duration of the exhibition. Please stay tuned for announcements as special guests are confirmed.
http://cartoonart.org/2012/03/what-me-wo rry-60-years-of-mad/ | | Wednesday, March 14th, 2012 | | 3:59 pm |
Shaenon for President!
Vote for Shaenon K. Garrity's and Jeffrey C. Wells's webcomic Skin Horse in this thing: Skin Horse is matchup #19, and it takes about two seconds to vote. And if they win, they get...it looks like the chance to go up against some other comic in the next round of voting. If there's a massive cash prize, we promise to use it responsibly. | | Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 | | 12:56 pm |
RIP John Severin
Just found out that John Severin passed away on Sunday. He was a longtime favorite of mine, dating back to my discovery of his work in Cracked Magazine. I'm sure that I read Cracked for at least a year beyond when I stopped really enjoying it because I knew there'd be new material from Severin. I read Marvel's US Marine Corps counterpart to their war comic The 'Nam, Semper Fi', based on seeing house ads with Severin's cover art from the first issue: 
I don't remember being especially impressed with the writing, but I read the book up until cancellation (or when the local pharmacy stopped carrying it, which amounted to the same thing). There aren't a lot of artists whose work I'd buy regardless of the quality of the writing, but I've picked up a lot of beautifully drawn, not so beautifully written Severin comics over the past 20 years. It was a real treat when some of his peak material started appearing in collected editions, like Marvel's Essential reprint line, with Severin's inking over Herb Trimpe's pencils and the just-released-although-I'm-not-sure-if-he's-in-the-first-collection Sgt. Fury collection. And it was great to get my hands on some early Mad collections, so that I could see what Severin could do with a top-notch writer like Harvey Kurtzman. Even better is his work on EC's war titles, and I'm hoping that Fantagraphics puts out a single-artist collection of his work in the near future.
Last month, John's wife called me at work. My immediate reaction, especially with all the elder statesmen of the comics industry who've passed away in recent months, was that she was going to be the bearer of bad news. I was relieved to find out that she was calling to make an art donation to the Cartoon Art Museum. "Do you know my husband's work? He drew a Rawhide Kid comic book about ten years ago, and there was a lot of press about it at the time." We chatted about it, talked about the weather in Colorado (where the Severins live, and where I attended college), and a week later, she sent us every single page of John's recent Rawhide Kid mini-series. Every. Single. Page.
In hindsight, I realize that his health must have been in decline by that point, and that his wife wanted to get his artwork somewhere that could benefit the artistic community, and where it would be preserved for future generations. But really, John Severin's legacy is secure. His EC work, his humor comics, his westerns, his war comics... I worry that it's damning with faint praise to say that he was the best artist in Cracked Magazine, but several generations worth of kids who couldn't wait another couple of weeks to buy MAD loved his stuff.
Rest in peace, John.
 | | Friday, February 10th, 2012 | | 1:03 pm |
Image Comics 20th Anniversary exhibition and reception
Image Comics: A 20th Anniversary CelebrationFebruary 4 – April 29, 2012
Opening reception Thursday, February 23, 2012
In 1992, seven of the most popular comic book artists in the world joined forces to create Image Comics, a company specializing in the publication of creator-owned comics and graphic novels. The first wave of Image Comics were an immediate hit with fans, and the company has grown over the past two decades to become one of the largest comics publishers in North America. In addition to publishing work by the Image partners, they give a voice to work by numerous independent creators. Its best known series include The Walking Dead, Chew, Morning Glories, Spawn, Savage Dragon, Witchblade, The Darkness, and Invincible.
The Cartoon Art Museum’s exhibition Image Comics: A 20th Anniversary Celebration features over 40 pieces of original artwork spanning 20 years, including works from all seven Image founders, Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Jim Lee (WildC.A.T.s), Rob Liefeld (Youngblood), Todd McFarlane (Spawn), Whilce Portacio (Wetworks), Marc Silvestri (Cyberforce), and Jim Valentino (Shadowhawk). Works from Image partner Robert Kirkman (Invincible, The Walking Dead) will also be included in this historic exhibition. The opening reception for Image Comics: A 20th Anniversary Celebration will be held on Thursday, February 23, 2012 from 7:00-9:00pm. Special guests include Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead, Invincible), Fiona Staples (Saga), Ryan Ottley (Invincible) and many more to be announced, as well as a few last-minute surprises. Please visit the Cartoon Art Museum’s website for updates. Admission to this party will be $5-$50, with tickets sold on a sliding scale. Pre-sale tickets for the party can be purchased here: http://guestlistapp.com/events/88905
This party kicks off the three-day Image Expo which will be held at the Oakland Convention Center from Friday, February 24 through Sunday, February 26. Please visit http://www.imagecomicexpo.com/for details. ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit http://www.imagecomics.com/ ABOUT IMAGE EXPO
Image Expo is the premier Northern California comics convention in 2012. The three-day event takes place at the Oakland Convention Center February 24, 25 and 26. Celebrating the creative spirit of independence, Image Expo commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the formation of Image Comics. But more than just looking to the past, the event showcases the evolving the comic market by spotlighting the future of independent publishing.
Headline guests include Image Comics Founders & Partners Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Special guests for Image Comic Expo include Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples, Blair Butler, Ed Brubaker, Joe Casey, John Layman, Jonathan Hickman, and many more! | | Monday, February 6th, 2012 | | 12:01 am |
Testing, testing...
Posting here to blow the cobwebs off the ol' Livejournal. Nothing to see here... | | Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 | | 3:46 pm |
APE 2011
Another convention season has come and gone. I'm planning a bigger writeup about APE 2011, with some reflections on my first con as an exhibitor, APE 2001, and I'll announce that here when it's ready to go. Lots of discussion about the convention is going on around the web, but The Beat's a nice place to weigh in: http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/10/03/deb-a oki-on-updating-ape/ On the positive side, the Couscous Collective's table looked more professional than it ever has, and we've locked up a really nice floor space after several years of exhibiting as a group (and ten-plus when you count me, Shaenon and Jason Thompson). I had a lot of great conversations with old friends, talked about new and upcoming projects and exhibitions with people, and had a good time hanging out with the rest of my tablemates. Once again, I noticed that people stopping by the table would barely even look at the mini-comics/zines and cheaper items that we had for sale, which is kind of a sad trend. One thing I loved in the old days was that $20 would get me a big stack of comics at APE. Now that's going to get me an eight-page comic with a silkscreened cover and a paperback collection containing several mini-comics' worth of content. That trend has cut down pretty severely on the amount of new content I buy at conventions, since I'm not seeing that $2-3 entry point for an artist's work anymore. On the negative side? If you weren't Drawn & Quarterly (Kate Beaton was the 500-pound gorilla of the show, selling $20 hardcovers as fast as D&Q could collect money; Adrian Tomine and Dan Clowes generated big sales; and they've always got a lot of great books for sale at every convention already) or someone hosting a Craig Thompson signing, sales were pretty flat. I heard that from big publishers, small press, veteran exhibitors, and pretty much everyone I spoke to. Rather than being glad I'm not the only one who didn't clean up this weekend, I'm bummed that so few of us did much more than break even and maybe make enough extra for a couple of meals. What was working against APE this weekend? For one thing, Saturday and Sunday had some of the best weather we've seen in San Francisco all year. If you're on the fence about going to a comic show, that's going to factor into your decision. The other big sales killer? Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a giant FREE outdoor music festival in San Francisco took place this weekend, far enough away that people were really unlikely to do both events. Add in the Castro Street Fair on Sunday, and that's two big events during perfect outdoor festival weather, plus both crowds being the type of people who'd be into an alternative comics show, and that had to have an impact on the number of attendees. The warm weather made the Concourse warmer and muggier than expected, and most of my crew seemed to be operating at half-power throughout the weekend. Probably not so bad for attendees, who were moving around constantly, but that's the sort of thing that really hits an exhibitor. This was the first year that it really struck me just how big the convention has gotten. The Concourse was reconfigured last year, which allowed for a big increase in exhibitors, although supply didn't meet demand for table space this year (which I think has been par for the course for a while now. APE and WonderCon always have waiting lists, too). Walking around the convention floor, I was struck by just how many booths were staffed by complete strangers. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, since it means that there are new people getting into this, but it's strange for someone like me to walk past 20 tables in a row and not recognize any of the exhibitors. And if my group, with whatever name recognition we've racked up over the years and our primo floor space, wasn't breaking any sales records, I'm really curious about the people in the distant corners of the convention floor at their very first show selling hand-stapled zines and trying to make up table costs, printing costs, airfare and hotel expenses. (That's with the assumption that at least one of the new exhibitors was traveling from out of state and didn't have a friend to stay with in the city.) One last gripe (honest!) about small press shows, and I realize as I'm typing it that it's not completely reasonable, is the number of attendees who come to these shows and tell me some variation of "I like your work, but I didn't bring any money." (Popular variations include "I already spent my money at .......'s table," or "I'm saving my money to buy ................ later," or "can I get this on Amazon?") At shows like WonderCon and Comic-Con, people plan to buy. They'll take $100-200 out of the bank, then have a checkbook and a credit card ready to go in case they burn through that. At APE and Stumptown, people plan to pay admission, then maybe set aside $20 for the entire show. After your must-get book from one of the special invited guests (Beaton, Thompson, Tomine, Clowes, Shannon Wheeler, Matthew Thurber) or that Dr. Who-zombie-Star Wars-mustaches mash-up print, there's not much left to spread out among the nearly 400 other exhibitors. Yes, APE attracts a different crowd than the shows that spotlight Marvel and DC and Hollywood movies, but it's still frustrating. Yes, it's great that people are supporting the convention by attending it. No attendees means no reason for organizers to put a show together. Yes, it's great that so many people are attending, and that they're going to panels and workshops and looking at our wares. But it would be nice if more of these people came to the show with the intention of buying comics. Sure, attendees are fans and supporters of the arts, and they don't necessarily have a lot of discretionary income, but for a show like this, they're pretty likely to be Bay Area residents. That means minimal travel costs and no hotel costs. Exhibitors may be local enough to avoid those travel costs, but a full table at APE is $250 with an early-bird discount, $300 if you miss that deadline, and I'm guessing that puts half-tables at $150 for the early-birds and $175 for people who register later. Printing costs for a mini-comic (not counting an artist's time investment) will probably be $60 on the very low end for a 100-copy print run of a zine, a nice banner will run $30-150 depending on whether it's loose or you invest in a display system, add in another $50 for miscellaneous costs along the way and it's pretty easy for an exhibiting artist to be $200 in the whole first thing Saturday morning. When attendees don't spend money, artists don't, either. If I have a busy morning at a convention, I can take some time away from my table in the afternoon to visit friends and drop some money on their books. When sales tank, it's harder to justify buying anything, and it's also harder to justify time away from your table, since that's time you won't be working toward making back your table costs. However broke an attendee claims to be at a show like this, the artist on the other side is broker. I think I had the same complaint the last time I wrote about APE, so that's just something that we've got to deal with until the economy improves, but I wish more of the attendees would squirrel away a few bucks here and there leading up to APE. All in all, I still have a great time at the convention, and I'll be back for more next year. No more complaints from me until Stumptown 2012. | | Thursday, April 28th, 2011 | | 1:55 pm |
Looney Tunes Treasury news
Two posts in one day, after a several month absence from LiveJournal. Go figure. Now that I've successfully distributed my author copies of The Looney Tunes Treasury to most of my friends and family (and those I've forgotten will probably remind me soon enough), I'm going to start selling off copies through The Couscous Collective Store. Loads of other fun stuff, including The Comics Guide to the Mission, SPACE, FOREST and other odds and ends are available there, too. Anyway, $55 plus shipping will get you a personalized copy of The Looney Tunes Treasury featuring a character sketch of your choosing (I assume you'll want a Looney Tunes character, but if you'd rather have Fred Flintstone or Daredevil telling you to enjoy your book, I'm sure we can work something out). Proceeds from sales of the book will help me buy a new laptop, which I'll use to write my next book, which I'll hopefully announce here once the contracts have been worked out (featuring a character who's been one of my favorites for almost as long as the Looney Tunes).
And th-th-th-that's all, folks! | | 1:45 pm |
RIP Bill Blackbeard
One of the great unsung heroes of the entire comics industry, Bill Blackbeard, passed away last month. Today would have been his 85th birthday. Bill is best known for his work on the absolutely indispensable The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, which was the culmination of more than a decade's worth of research and salvage in his attempt to assemble a complete archive of every major (and almost every minor) comic strip published in American newspapers. Do a google search for him and you'll find a number of glowing tributes detailing his efforts, or, if you want a quick illustrated version, read through my four-page comics tribute that I drew back in 2003. I never met Bill in person, and only had a few brief periods of correspondence with him, mostly while preparing that comic, and I'm still kicking myself for not taking the time to rent a car, dust off my tape recorder and spend an afternoon shooting the breeze with him about comics, about the changing face of comics scholarship, and just to shake his hand and thank him for everything he's done. Someone summed up his legacy really succinctly by saying "Bill Blackbeard gave comics its memory," and that pretty much says it. RIP, Bill. | | Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 | | 5:57 pm |
| | Friday, November 26th, 2010 | | 5:55 pm |
| | Monday, November 22nd, 2010 | | 10:50 pm |
News from the ol' hometown
And now, a note from my hometown library, about The Looney Tunes Treasury: Many many thanks again for your generous donation of The Looney Tunes Treasury. We've been holding on to it and looking for a record to copy, but although several large public libraries show it on order, none has yet cataloged it. So our intrepid cataloger Helen went ahead and cataloged it - here's a screenshot (you can resize to read it, or just go to our website www.wellington.lib.oh.us, click on Search the Catalog, and put in either the title or your name).
There's also a bookplate inside with your name and that of Running Press. And it's already proven popular, as you can see by the holds before it's on the shelf!
Gratefully,
Lynne Welch
Herrick Memorial Library | | Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 | | 5:56 pm |
| | Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 | | 12:08 pm |
Animation Meme
I got this from dragonluk.livejournal.com
It's a really incomplete list of animated features, with too many direct-to-video films included, and I could spend the rest of the day writing up a more complete list, but I'll just follow the instructions and leave it at that. Based on this list, it looks like I've got a few gaps in my Disney viewing (but nothing that anyone would consider "gems"), I haven't seen much anime at all, and I haven't bothered with some pretty wide swaths of non-Disney features. On the whole, though, I think I've seen a lot more animation than the average non-parent.
Instructions:
- X what you saw
- O what you haven't finished/seen or saw sizable portions
- Bold what you loved
- Italicize what you disliked/hated
- Leave unchanged if neutral
CLASSIC DISNEY
-------------------------------
[X] 101 Dalmatians (1961)
[X] Alice in Wonderland (1951)
[X] Bambi (1942)
[X] Cinderella (1950)
[X] Dumbo (1941)
[X] Fantasia (1940)
[X] Lady and the Tramp (1955)
[X] Mary Poppins (1964)
[X] Peter Pan (1953)
[X] Pinocchio (1940)
[X] Sleeping Beauty (1959)
[X] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
[X] Song of the South (1946)
DISNEY'S DARK AGE
-------------------------------
[ ] The Aristocats (1970)
[ ] The Black Cauldron (1985)
[X] The Fox and the Hound (1981)
[X] The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
[X] The Jungle Book (1967)
[X] The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
[X] Oliver and Company (1986)
[X] Pete's Dragon (1977)
[ ] The Rescuers (1977)
[X] Robin Hood (1973)
[X] The Sword In The Stone (1963)
THE DISNEY RENAISSANCE
-------------------------------
[X] Aladdin (1992)
[X] Beauty and the Beast (1991)
[ ] A Goofy Movie (1995)
[X] Hercules (1997)
[X] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
[X] The Lion King (1994)
[X] The Little Mermaid (1989)
[X] Mulan (1998)
[X] Pocahontas (1995)
[X] The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
[X] Tarzan (1999)
DISNEY'S MODERN AGE
-------------------------------
[X] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
[X] Bolt (2008)
[ ] Brother Bear (2003)
[ ] Chicken Little (2005)
[ ] Dinosaur (2000)
[X] The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
[X] Fantasia 2000 (2000)
[ ] Home on the Range (2004)
[X] Lilo & Stitch (2002)
[ ] Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[X] Treasure Planet (2002)
PIXAR
-------------------------------
[X] A Bug's Life (1998)
[X] Cars (2006)
[X] Finding Nemo (2003)
[X] The Incredibles (2004)
[X] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[X] Ratatouille (2007)
[X] Toy Story (1995)
[X] Toy Story 2 (1999)
[X] Toy Story 3 (2010)
[X] Wall-E (2008)
[X] Up (2009)
DON BLUTH
-------------------------------
[ ] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
[X] An American Tail (1986)
[ ] An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
[ ] Anastasia (1997)
[ ] The Land Before Time (1988)
[ ] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[ ] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
[X] The Secret of NIMH (1982)
[ ] Thumbelina (1994)
[X] Titan AE (2000)
[ ] A Troll in Central Park (1994)
CLAYMATION (STOP MOTION, to be more accurate)
-------------------------------
[ ] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986)
[X] Chicken Run (2000)
[X] Corpse Bride (2005)
[O] James and the Giant Peach (1996)
[X] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
[X] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
[X] Coraline (2009)
CGI GLUT
-------------------------------
[ ] Antz (1998)
[ ] Happy Feet (2006)
[ ] Kung Fu Panda (2008)
[ ] Madagascar (2005)
[X] Monster House (2006)
[ ] Over the Hedge (2006)
[ ] The Polar Express (2004) [X] Shrek (2001)
[X] Shrek 2 (2004)
[X] Shrek The Third (2007)
[X] Monsters vs. Aliens
IMPORTS
-------------------------------
[X] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) (1995)
[X] The Last Unicorn (1982)
[ ] Light Years (1988)
[X] The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
[X] Persepolis (2007)
[ ] Waltz With Bashir (2008)
[X] Watership Down (1978)
[ ] When the Wind Blows (1988)
[X] Yellow Submarine (1968)
STUDIO GHIBLI/MIYAZAKI
-------------------------------
[X] Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
[X] Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
[X] Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
[X] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
[ ] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
[X] My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999)
[X] My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
[X] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
[ ] Only Yesterday (1991)
[X] Pom Poko (Tanuki War) (1994)
[X] Porco Rosso (1992)
[X] Princess Mononoke (1999)
[X] Spirited Away (2002)
[O] Whisper of the Heart (1995)
[X] Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (2009)
SATOSHI KON
-------------------------------
[O] Millennium Actress (2001)
[X] Paprika (2006)
[X] Perfect Blue (1999)
[X] Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
[ ] Memories - "Magnetic Rose" part (1995)
SHINKAI MAKOTO
-------------------------------
[ ] She and Her Cat (1999)
[ ] Voices of a Distant Star (2001)
[ ] The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
[ ] 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)
OTHER ANIME FILMS
-------------------------------
[X] Akira (1989)
[ ] Appleseed (2004)
[ ] Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
[ ] Arcadia of My Youth (U.S. Title - Vengeance of the Space Pirate) (1982)
[ ] Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2003)
[ ] The Dagger of Kamui (U.S. Title - Revenge of the Ninja Warrior) (1985)
[ ] Dirty Pair: Project Eden (1987)
[ ] End of Evangelion (1997)
[ ] Fist of the North Star (1986)
[X] Galaxy Express 999 (1979)
[X] Ghost in the Shell (1996)
[ ] The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
[ ] Lensman (1984)
[ ] Macross: Do You Remember Love (U.S. Title - Clash of the Bionoids) (1984)
[X] Metropolis (2001)
[ ] Neo-Tokyo (1986)
[X] Ninja Scroll (1993)
[ ] Patlabor the Movie (1989)
[ ] The Professional: Golgo 13 (1983)
[ ] Project A-ko (1986)
[ ] Robot Carnival (1987)
[ ] Robotech: The Shadow Chronicle (2006)
[ ] Silent Möbius (1991)
[ ] Space Adventure Cobra (1982)
[ ] Steamboy (2004)
[ ] Sword of the Stranger (2007)
[ ] Unico and the Island of Magic (1983)
[ ] Urotsukidoji: The Movie (1987)
[X] Vampire Hunter D (1985)
[ ] Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust (2000)
[ ] Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force (1987)
CARTOONS FOR GROWN-UPS
-------------------------------
[ ] American Pop (1981)
[X] The Animatrix (2003)
[X] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996).
[ ] Cool World (1992)
[ ] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
[ ] Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2005)
[ ] Fire & Ice (1983)
[ ] Fritz the Cat (1972)
[X] Heavy Metal (1981)
[ ] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)
[ ] Hey Good Lookin' (1982)
[ ] Lady Death (2004)
[ ] A Scanner Darkly (2006)
[X] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[ ] Street Fight (Coonskin) (1975)
[X] Waking Life (2001)
OTHER ANIMATED MOVIES
-------------------------------
[ ] Animal Farm (1954)
[ ] Animalympics (1980)
[ ] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie (2007): dislike Aqua Teen in general
[ ] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
[X] The Brave Little Toaster (1988)
[ ] Bravestarr: The Movie (1988)
[ ] Cats Don't Dance (1997)
[ ] Care Bears: The Movie (1985)
[ ] Fern Gully (1992)
[X] G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
[ ] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986)
[X] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985)
[X] The Hobbit (1977)
[X] The Iron Giant (1999)
[X] Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
[ ] Lord of the Rings (1978)
[ ] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992)
[ ] My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982)
[ ] The Prince of Egypt (1998)
[ ] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie (2002)
[ ] Quest For Camelot (1999)
[ ] Ringing Bell (1978)
[ ] The Road to El Dorado (2000)
[ ] Space Jam (1996)
[ ] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
[X] Superman: Doomsday (2007)
[ ] The Swan Princess (1994)
[X] Transformers: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Wizards (1977)
[X] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
[ ] Wonder Woman (2009)
[ ] Balto (1995)
[ ] Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) | | Thursday, September 30th, 2010 | | 1:05 am |
Where to find me in October 2010
October is shaping up to be the busiest month I've had in quite a while. Here's what I'm up to: October 1 marks the opening of the Cartoon Art Museum's newest exhibition, Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women. Feels like the most labor-intensive exhibition I've done since...well, probably the last time that I worked with guest curators. There's always a steep learning curve with people who haven't done this before. October 3 is the first of six (!) presentations I'm giving at local libraries and universities on Michael Chabon's novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. I gave this presentation at several libraries in Marin County earlier in the year, and I guess word got out that I was available. On Tuesday, October 5, I'll be conducting a brief interview with Dave Cooper at the Cartoon Art Museum as he promotes his new book, Bent! On Saturday, October 9, I'll be at the New York Comic-Con conducting some Cartoon Art Museum business. I've got another Kavalier & Clay presentation on Monday, October 11, which means I'm flying to New York on Friday and heading back home on Sunday, with a full day at a comic book convention in between. Ah, life in the fast lane... I think I've got another Kavalier & Clay thing on October 12. The Alternative Press Expo hits San Francisco on October 16 & 17, and I'll be exhibiting with my pals from the Couscous Collective at tables #237-238 (conveniently situated next to the Cartoon Art Museum's table, #239). For the first time in a few years, I'm not conducting any panel discussions, *but* Shaenon and I will be running a workshop on Saturday on humor writing, so please clear your schedules for that. The Couscous Collective is premiering our first anthology, FOREST, at the con, so please check that out. We're hoping to put out at least two of these every year, with launches at APE and Portland's Stumptown, respectively. I've got another Kavalier & Clay presentation on October 18, which is the only other one that I remember off the top of my head. On October 19, Ted Rall visits the Cartoon Art Museum to promote his new book, The Anti-American Manifesto. Love him or hate him, he's always pretty interesting, and this should be a fun event. Also on October 19 is my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, Mom! And also on October 19, my book, The Looney Tunes Treasury, hits stores and starts shipping from Amazon.com. There's a Facebook page for the book, too, if you're into that sort of thing. The Cartoon Art Museum will host an opening reception for Graphic Details on October 21, but I won't be there, because I'm heading to Ottawa for the Ottawa International Animation Festival for an animation show that I curated, entitled "Californimation." (I didn't come up with the title, but it's pretty good for a show focusing on Bay Area animators.) I'm signing copies of the Looney Tunes Treasury on October 21, attending a Californimation reception on October 22, and just enjoying the festival the rest of the time I'm in the city. Unfortunately, this means that I'll miss out on a fun Kids' Day event at the Cartoon Art Museum on Saturday, October 23, as Dave Roman, Raina Telgemeier, Brian Kolm, (possibly) Lark Pien and a few other guests hang out at CAM drawing with visitors. I'm also missing out on THE BOOK RELEASE PARTY OF THE YEAR, with Shaenon Garrity and Jeffrey Wells signing copies of Skin Horse Volume 2 at Borderlands in San Francisco. If you're not in Canada that weekend, make sure to check that out. I've got two more Kavalier & Clay presentations after I get back (October 26 & 27 sound like probable dates to me...), and I'll wrap up the month by installing one more Cartoon Art Museum exhibition, featuring the art of Kevin "Kal" Kallagher from The Economist. We'll wrap up the month by giving out candy and comics to trick-or-treaters at our house in Berkeley. We were on the third floor of an apartment on a side-street that could only be accessed by a rickety call box in San Francisco, so we never had the opportunity to dole out candy on Halloween before, so we're pretty excited about that. November's actually pretty sedate in comparison to this. The other nine months of 2010 are actually pretty sedate compared to this, come to think of it. If you want to keep up on any of this as these events work me over with a pillowcase full of doorknobs, please track me down on Facebook or Twitter, or my occasional ramblings here. And if you see me at all during October, please don't take it personally if I'm sobbing, screaming, napping or hopped up on caffeine. Excelsior! | | Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 | | 6:21 pm |
Hulk smash!
I'm making my way through The Essential Hulk #6 right now. These are black-and-white collections from Marvel that reprint 20-30 comics on paper stock that's just above newsprint quality, and the price point is pretty low compared to just about anything else in American comic shops, with 500+ pages setting you back $20 (as opposed to the increasingly typical $4 for 22 pages if you're buying monthly comic books). Anyway, I was reading a 1977-or-so issue of Hulk, and once again, someone managed to knock the Hulk out (I think they gassed him), then the bad guys locked him up in a dungeon. The Hulk is taken captive surprisingly often, given that he's a nuclear-powered monster who once literally picked up an entire mountain. Now, here's what troubled me about this comic. Bruce Banner turns into the Hulk when he's enraged (or gets his adrenaline going in some other way), and the Hulk turns back into Banner when he relaxes. But almost every time the Hulk gets knocked out, he remains the Hulk. How can this be? I'm not saying that kayoing ol' Jade Jaws should cause him to instantaneously revert back to Bruce Banner, but if he loses consciousness for several hours, it seems like that would cause him to change back, wouldn't it? This is really troubling me. My best guess for this is that the Hulk has to expend at least a certain minimum amount of energy every time he changes (and has to recharge for a certain period of time afterward), and that he's not going to revert back to Banner unless he's really gotten that initial adrenaline rush out of his system. Yeah, that sounds pretty plausible. I think I can live with that explanation. Any other thoughts on this, beyond "That guy is really overthinking a 30-year-old comic book that's intended to be read by nine-year-olds"?  | | Saturday, September 4th, 2010 | | 11:54 pm |
On with the show, this is it!
In case I haven't mentioned it recently, I've got a book coming out next month. It's my first, not counting mini-comics, comic books, magazine articles, etc., and there's something extra-exciting about having my name on the front cover of a real hardcover from a real publisher. The book is The Looney Tunes Treasury, and you can pre-order it from Amazon.com here. And if you want to see what it looks like, I got a copy hand-delivered to me by my editor this morning: Me reading through the book:  The front cover:  The start of my intro:  Art sample:  Title page (probably where I'll be SIGNING these. Wow!):  Here's Bugs!  Bound-in Porky Pig comic reproduction:  Bound-in folder containing replica "Rabbit Hood" script pages:  Nice double-page "What's Opera, Doc?" spread:  My editor's great, and it was really easy working with the publisher, who went along with a lot more of my suggestions than I'd have predicted as a first-time author. Please check it out when it hits bookstores next month, and please spread the word to any friends and colleagues who enjoy Looney Tunes. This will be a great holiday gift, and the more copies you buy, the more likely I'll get to do additional projects with these guys in the future. We're already talking about a few possibilities, any one of which will be really cool. Th-th-that's all...for now, folks! | | Sunday, August 8th, 2010 | | 11:21 pm |
Cats & Dogs
 We're inching toward our two-month anniversary of having our cat, Tesla, and fast approaching the six-month mark of living in our house. Man, this year's flying by. I'm expecting to come into some money from a few side projects soon, which means planning new repairs and such for the house. Window replacement is at the top of the short list there, since we've got some slotted windows that exist for the sole purpose of leaking cold air into the house. The sidewalk and front porch can use some red paint, as can the paved areas in the backyard and basement. I'm hoping to fix up the basement to the point that I can use it as a comic-reading/storage room, which will free up some floor space in Shaenon's office, until we can completely renovate the garage so that Shaenon can use it as a backyard office/studio, and... Yeah, I think we'll have to space this stuff out a little bit. Looking back on it, though, we've gotten a lot done since taking ownership of the house back in late December. We've got a lot of backyard work we want to do, too. Shaenon's got a nice-sized garden behind our garage, and she wants to expand it considerably. I'd like to get rid of the crabgrass that makes up...well, pretty much 100% of our lawn. The weeds are gone, so I'll shift my focus to ripping out all of that crabgrass and eventually planting real grass there. The neighbor's dogs are still barking, but we've got more and more neighbors on board for filing complaints against him, so we're hoping that he'll reach a breaking point soon. Apparently he's intending to start a dog-breeding business on his property, and since I'm sure he doesn't have a license for that sort of thing, I'm hoping we can take him down that way if Animal Control doesn't. Our cat's settling in pretty well, although she is prone to barfing on things if she gets upset or overeats or...aw, who can tell? We can't figure out what sets her off, but we're hoping that she'll continue to feel more at ease as time passes. And that's what we're up to right now. Any questions? | | Friday, July 2nd, 2010 | | 1:21 am |
Kitty update
**Warning: Stories about cat's digestive habits ahead: Tesla had a really good day today, and seems to be back to normal. Well, as "normal" as it gets when you've only been living someplace for about ten days. She didn't throw up today, seemed a lot more playful and less irritable, and we're happy to see droppings in her litter box, which indicate that she's been keeping food in her system. (Those are all signs that I'm doing well, too, come to think of it.) We bought some stomach-settling food supplements at the pet store after work today, and with Shaenon home from work all day tomorrow, both of us having time to spend at home this weekend, and me having the day off on Monday, we think it will be a nice, relaxing four days for the cat. And as a special bonus for those of you who aren't following me on Facebook, here's a picture of the cat:  | | Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 | | 12:39 pm |
Kitty-cornered
Shaenon and I got a cat last weekend, and for the most part, she's adjusting really well to her new home. Her name at the SPCA was "Boa," but Shaenon decided that wouldn't do, and has renamed her "Tesla." Tesla's playful, she's friendly, and she's settling in enough that she'll even sit with us on the couch for more than three minutes at a time now before bolting and exploring some other area of the house. Unfortunately, we've hit a couple of snags in the settling process, but we're hoping we can get them resolved soon. If you've been through any of this with cats before and can weigh in, I'll really appreciate it. I haven't had a new cat in over 25 years, and he was an indoor/outdoor cat, so he was very autonomous very early on, so we didn't have to do much housebreaking with him. Tesla is most likely going to be strictly an indoor cat, so the learning curve is a lot different. Anyway, here are the problems so far: In an effort to keep our kitchen a little less stinky, we bought a litter box with a covered top and a pet door for easy in-and-out access to replace the flat litter box that we'd been using. Tesla hasn't warmed to the idea, and has opted (twice so far) to use the bean-bag chair in the living room, since it's full of something that feels like sand. Our solution for now is to remove the bean-bag chair from the areas of the house where the cat lives (maybe throwing it away altogether) and to leave the litter box open and uncovered again. Does anyone have advice for transitioning a cat into using the covered litter box? I worry that without the bean-bag chair as an option, Tesla will just find some out-of-the-way spot that we won't discover right away, which is even worse than having a corner of the kitchen smell like kitty litter. ** The other problem is that Tesla keeps different hours than us, and starts meowing outside of our bedroom door at some point between 5am and 6am, and keeps it up intermittently until we exit at some point between 8am and 9am. We made allowances for this at first, but since we want to break her of this habit, when Tesla wakes Shaenon, Shaenon opens the door, tells the cat "NO!" in a firm voice, and Tesla gets the hint and wanders off. Shaenon started doing this a few days ago. Shaenon chastised Tesla about five times yesterday morning, and only about twice today, but the past two mornings, Tesla has "revenge-barfed" at some point after getting an earful from Shaenon. Yesterday it was on the kitchen floor, and today it was on the couch. Should we assume that she's still settling in, and will get the hang of our sleep schedule soon enough, or are there other training methods we should use? We're not going to catch her in the act of doing this, since Tesla's doing it specifically because we aren't around to pay attention to her, but we obviously don't want to wake up to a new mess every single morning while she's settling in. ** Thanks for any advice you can give on this! I'm pretty sure we'll have Tesla trained pretty well within a couple of weeks, but we're heading off to Comic-Con for about a week at the end of July and don't want to leave a vengeful cat at home with whomever we get to house/cat-sit for us. |
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