Fat People Unite!

Hear me, my brethren! In ye above title is yon post to a tale most befitting our stupendous waistlines and how the evil sky dragons treat us!

Teaser: Middle-Aged Anthropomorphic Mechanically-Inclined Tourtoise (and Son)?

Review: _Prime Baby_

Gene Yang's Prime Baby, recently collected into graphic novel form after being serialized in The New York Times, is a cute, clever, and endearing story about young Thaddeus' childhood megalomania and how it connects him to his family, especially his new baby sister, who just happens to be an interdimensional portal for peacenik aliens intent on bringing smiles and happiness to the Earth.

In Thaddueas one can see a deep-rooted sense of sibling rivalry dueling with the desire to be loved. He's at once a disturbing little boy with an alarming adolescence-level egocentricism and someone with whom anyone with brothers and sisters -- anyone who has ever wanted to be the center of the universe, really -- can relate easily.

This undercurrent of allegorical depth (in Prime Baby, wrapped in the tension of Thaddeus as exceptional while also archetypal "everychild") in otherwise seemingly mundane stories is beginning to be part of Yang's signature. It's certainly apparent in The Eternal Smile. Yang is adept at taking the ordinary and giving it a little symbolic "umph!" While no other work he's produced has been as multifaceted or as meaningful as American Born Chinese, which is beginning to stand as the exception rather than the rule in his repertoire as Yang publishes more work to a wide audience, it is comforting to know that Yang is established enough now that we can see braided threads in his storytelling. I'd rather see more of the complexity inherent in ABC than the essentially playful, "oh, isn't that interesting to note" levels of relevance in the rest of his opus (that I've read to date), but it is important to point out that Prime Baby represents earlier work from the artist rather than an evolution of his craft.

Fun, relatable, worth reading, but not life-changing or particularly exceptional, Prime Baby offers hints of complexity in a storyline otherwise relatively innocuous.

University of Houston Course on Graphic Novels

Making me all the more sad that I hardly ever get to teach a 100% comics-centric course anymore...... (sniff, sniff)

Though with the ignorance being displayed in the response to the article, maybe I'm better off not to teach those once amazingly popular, one student even called them "legendary" comics classes I used to teach at my previous employer (That's a lie and I know it. I'd teach a comics course at the drop if a hat, resistance be damned. Hell, I've done it before... ).

Psy-Op Comics!

You mean the U.S. uses comics as propoganda during war efforts? Get outta here!! All those red, white, and blue- colored heroes and heroines just so happened to gain traction at the start of WWII, right? And even if the gubmit did use comics to build patriotism, advertise rationing techniques, etc., they stopped after WWII, yes? NO???

Thanks to University of Nebraska librarian Richard Graham for drawing my attention to the link embedded in this post's title. The site's a great one to reference.

Thor Meets Little Girl from New York

2010 Eisner Award Nominees List Announced

NPR Blogger Talks Comics and Vocabulary

Glen Weldon has a fun little piece about what comics taught him when he was a 6-year-old in 1974, three years before my existence on the planet earth. Weldon talks about learning words like enigma, heist, nemesis, rogues, mountebanks, yeggs, invulnerable, exoskeleton, cowl, tunic, and a host of other neat-o words from reading super-hero comics.

The comments section is just as intriguing to read as the article. Check it out.

And why might the article have me happy? Well, who is to say I'm not working on a comics-and-vocabulary project as we speak??? ;)

Hugo Award Nominations Posted

May 2010 Booklist focuses on GN's

More Golden Age/Victorian Era Comics Online

http://www.goldenagecomics.co.uk/

http://konkykru.com/earlycomics.html

Digital Comics Museum Launches

Looking for scans of Golden Age comics? The Digital Comics Museum is for you! You'll need a program that will let you read .cbz files. Mac users can use the SimpleComic app. Others may need to look for StuffIt online.

MoCCA Offers More Spring Classes on Comics Making

Press Release:


Press Contact: Ellen Abramowitz eabramowitz@moccany.org

MoCCA ADULT EDUCATION'S SPRING CONTINUES IN APRIL WITH SIKORYAK, WILLBERG, AND FINGEROTH ART AND WRITING CLASSES

New York (April 5, 2010) - The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art - MoCCA is proud to announce two new offerings from its Education Department. Organized by Senior Vice-President of Education, DANNY FINGEROTH, the department's next amazing classes will be:

(1) ANATOMY FOR CARTOONISTS WORKSHOPwith R. SIKORYAK and KRIOTA WILLBERG and (2) HOW TO WRITE COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELSwith DANNY FINGEROTH

Course details:

(1) ANATOMY FOR CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP

Instructors: R. SIKORYAK and KRIOTA WILLBERG
4 sessions, MONDAYS April 19 & 26, May 3 & 106:30-9:00 pm
$275 tuition $250 for MoCCA members

Understanding the way the body looks and works helps illustrators and cartoonists draw their characters so that the artwork conveys personality. This course will teach students how to create real or imaginary characters-in any style-that are consistent and believable.Through PowerPoint presentations, in-class exercises, and at-home assignments, students will learn to see and draw the structures and tissues that give the body shape and character. Willberg will-literally!-draw on live models to trace muscle groups and bony landmarks. Sikoryak will demonstrate the application of anatomical understanding to any cartooning style. Students will practice drawing from live models in class and learn to apply the lessons to their own characters.

Note: Students will need to bring drawing materials-see MoCCA website for details. This is a life-drawing class; nude models will be employed.

R. SIKORYAK is the author of Masterpiece Comics (D&Q). He's drawn for RAW, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Nickelodeon Mag, The New Yorker, The Onion, MAD, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, among other media giants. Sikoryak teaches in the illustration department at Parsons School of Design. He has presented his cartoon slide show series, Carousel, around the United States and Canada.

KRIOTA WILLBERG teaches anatomy for cartoonists and illustrators at The Center For Cartoon Studies, pathology and massage therapy at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences, and anatomy in the dance department of Marymount Manhattan College. Willberg is an interdisciplinary artist, a filmmaker, and a lecturer and blogger about film and medicine.


(2) HOW TO WRITE COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

Instructor: DANNY FINGEROTH
4 sessions, TUESDAYS April 20 & 27, May 4 & 116:30-9:00 pm
$245 tuition $225 for MoCCA members

DANNY FINGEROTH will lead a hands-on workshop in writing comics and graphic novels. This is a four-week class whose aim is to teach students, in a supportive atmosphere, how to structure and write comics and graphic novel stories of professional caliber. Combining lectures, assignments in class and at home, and roundtable critiquing, the class will cover writing for all kinds of comics, including autobiographical, historical, “indy” and superheroes.

DANNY FINGEROTH was the longtime group editor of Marvel's Spider-Man line and the writer of comics including Darkhawk and Deadly Foes of Spider-Man. He has taught comics writing at NYU, The New School, and Media Bistro. Danny created and edited Write Now magazine, the only how-to publication dedicated to comics writing and writers. He is the author of The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels and co-author (with artist Mike Manley) of How to Create Comics from Script to Print. He's also written the books Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent. Danny serves on MoCCA's board of advisors and on the board of directors of the Institute for Comics Studies.

And there are still a few spaces available in the third and final session of:

MASTER CLASS SERIES IN COMICS WRITING:
Tuesday, April 13, 6:30-8:30 pm: DENNIS O'NEIL
$40 $35 for MoCCA members

All classes held at MoCCA594 Broadway, Suite 401New York, NY 10012

For more information on all these courses, and to register, call 212-254-3511 or go to http://www.moccany.org/.


And don't forget:

April 10 and 11, 2010
The MoCCA Festival 2010!
69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue (between 25th & 26th streets)
New York, NY

Tables are still available!

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art
594 Broadway, Suite 401,
New York, NY 10012
http://www.moccany.org/
212-254-3511

The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art - MoCCA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts education organization dedicated to the preservation, study and display of all forms of comic and cartoon art. The museum promotes greater understanding and appreciation of the artistic, cultural and historical significance of comic and cartoon art through a variety of events, exhibitions, and educational programs. The museum is located at 594 Broadway (between Houston and Prince Streets) in New York City. MoCCA is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays from 12:00-5:00 pm. Suggested donation to the museum is $5 but free for MoCCA Members as well as for children 12 and under (when accompanied by a paying adult). For more information about the museum and MoCCA events, exhibitions and programs, visit the museum's Website (www.moccany.org).

Michael Bitz's _When Commas Meet Kryptonite_ Available Soon!

While ELA teachers might have found some excuse not ot read Bitz's Manga High: Literacy, Identity and Comic of Age in an Urban High School, his second effort to spin out of the Comic Book Project deals more specifically with notions of composition, mechanics, linguistic exploration and awareness, and all sorts of Englishy goodness.

A Must-Read, this book is set for an April 2010 release date, which means you can get When Commas Meet Kryptonite from publisher Teachers College Press any day now!

GNR Interviews TOON BOOKS' Francoise Mouly

Daggnabbit! A day after sending off an academic article in which I mention how TOON BOOKS could do a better job explaining how it determines ratings for its books, Graphic Novel Reporter posts an interview where the amazing Francoise Mouly delivers at least a bit of the answer. Ah well, it's an easy edit/footnote if the article gets accepted.

The interview is a good one. Worth the read. My favorite line is "Art and I used to say comics aren’t just for kids, we now have to say comics are not just for adults." Take that, ye who say we need to be careful of appropriating "youth culture" for our own purposes when it comes to sequential art!

TOON BOOK is a great line, and FM is certainly a major reason why. If you're not familiar with her place in the comics world, this interview is as good a starting point for you as any. Then head over to http://www.toonbooks.com/ and check that out.

Also in this GNR update: A story on the Texas Library Association's efforts to promote graphic novels via their Mavericks list.

Sebastian Stan to Play Bucky in Upcoming Movie

Plot: After a hard childhood, a wayward North Carolina boy with a steely determination and an iron-clad resiliency becomes the first member of his family to go to college. Ultimately, after shitty jobs and eye-opening life experiences, he gets married, gets fat, gets nut cancer, earns a Ph.D., and becomes a university professor. Then, eventually, he dies from the accumulated weight of his life's experiences, tempered by his blatant, almost autistic honesty and sincerity, which makes him the bane of all who know him (the perfect blend of Linus from Charlie Brown and Linus from Lost, ) or by a heart attack since he just can't put down the burgers. Yeah, probably by heart attack, or stroke. That's a possibility too. Or the cancer. We can't forget the cancer. That gets everybody at least once or twice, right?

Where was I? The link embedded in this post's title is actually about James "Bucky" Barnes, Captain America's sidekick, and the actor who will play him in the upcoming Cap movie. Still, throw in a guest appearance by Steve Rogers in that first description, and, well, you've got a scene about the main character reading comic books...... ;)

IRA Pre-Conference Institute, We Hardly Knew Ye

This April 25, there was supposed to be an all-day preconference institute on the graphic novel at the International Reading Association's conference in Chicago, IL. Katie Monnin organized the event, which featured many leading figures in comics-and-literacy scholarship, such as Michael Bitz, Katie, yours truly, and others, as well as actual comics creators/graphic novelists and leaders from the publishing field.

Alas, after almost all arrangements were made, including flights and hotel room bookings, we received word that the event was cancelled. (Thank goodness I was able to cancel my room reservations without penalty and my university was able to eat the cost of the plane ticket. Others might not have been so lucky).The reason given was low numbers of folks registering.

Only a sign of the economy, something more, or a combination of factors? Who is to say?

I'm sure there will be folks at IRA talking about graphic novels. I hope they enjoy being the representative experts, as I'm sure they will have great things to say and will give wonderful presentations, but nothing on the program regarding the topic could have equalled the combined knowledge and interests of the group Katie assembled. It's a missed opportunity not just for the presenters, but for IRA and its audience at the conference.

Of course, IRA is a selective group (I say everything herein as a current member) , and there seem to be channels to make sure things happen within its influence (this selectivity as it pertains to comics and literacy, might be observed by looking at the works cited lists of the articles on graphic novels that have appeared in JAAL over the last eight months or so. Got some time? Look at the names that are cited over and over, and also apply your knowledge of the arguments being made regarding comics and literacy and who all are making them, and compare who is being noted and who isn't). Perhaps those of us involved just didn't know how to best utilize those channels.


BUT, I can tell you the institute is not dead yet. Not its mission , members, and desires, anyway. Simply reformed. Some members will be at the convention in other capacities. And other plans to keep the collection of talent together to make their points and share their expertise are afoot. More as more develops!



(Picture: According to this paperwork from IRA, which arrived in my mailbox the day after I received the news that the pre-conference session was cancelled, I'm all good to go for my trip to Chicago, where I would have joined perhaps the best single group of comics and literacy scholars ever assembled in one place)

Teaser: How My Girlfriend Became My Wife

TOON Books Launches Revolutionary iPhone Application!

Press Release:

NEW YORK, March 29, 2010 – TOON Books is pleased to announce the release of the second of its comics for beginning readers iPhone application. Parents and children can enjoy award-winning books anywhere with the convenience of an iPhone or iPod touch.

Available for $2.99 at the iPhone App Store, the first iphone TOON Book immediately broke into the top 100. Parents can entertain and educate children with easy-to-read comics. Kids can immerse themselves with words and images while waiting at the grocery store, restaurant or airport.

(image created using Photoshop)

Titles currently available are Jack and the Box by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman and Little Mouse Gets Ready, a Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Honor book, by Jeff Smith, author of Bone. “Comics for the Jet Age! It’s exciting to see little mouse available on a new digital platform,” said Smith. Other TOON books will be offered soon.

Unique features of the TOON Books iPhone app include:
• Authors read their work. Children can hear the authors’ voices and see their drawings.
• Designed specifically for young readers to easily use, the pages can be turned automatically or manually.
• Onscreen text and highlighted speech balloons help readers make associations between the words they hear and see. It is the closest experience to being read a book that any app can deliver. As with all TOON Books, repeated use builds reading fluency.
• Narration is available in five languages - English, Spanish, French, Russian and Mandarin Chinese.

“The app takes full advantage of its electronic medium by introducing young readers to other languages,” says Art Spiegelman.

www.toon-books.com/special.php

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jack-and-the-box-kids-book/id361738578?

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/little-mouse-gets-ready-kids/id364080905?mt=8

This is a collaboration between TOON Books and iStoryTime, a publisher of children’s storybooks for the iPhone. iStoryTime has the largest library of illustrated and narrated children’s books for the phone. iStoryTime books are available in the iPhone App Store in 80 countries.

Editorial Director Francoise Mouly (also Art Editor of The New Yorker) received overwhelming praise for the TOON Books collection, launched in Spring 2008. Vetted by educators and librarians, the books are now used in many K-4 classrooms and are the cornerstone of TOON in… A Comics in the Schools Initiative presented in partnership with the NYC School Library System.

For more information and to see our FREE, LITERARY, ONLINE TOOLS FOR KIDS, please visit: http://www.toon-books.com

The Beat Posts on Boys and Literacy

Got quotes and everything. Neat article exploring gender, gendered readings, boys, literacy, and how comics should/shouldn't fit in with those constructd.