Seems like there are more soup-breathed, slackjawed nothing-to-says popping up every second. You can miss me with any more "this for that" memes and superhero movie blathering — and I hope that green baby Jedi is a SHE, you patriarchal pieces of pocket lint. Team Yell forever.
Here's me, then, The Flandalorian, bursting with dark side, fried squash rings, and links:
• The comics industry is coming to terms with the death of one of its most ardent champions, Tom Spurgeon. A former editor of the print edition of The Comics Journal, Tom was honored on this site with a remembrance by his longtime friend, Fantagraphics Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds; in a formal obituary by Michael Dean; and in individual pieces by a large group of friends and colleagues from across the comics world. Yesterday, Tom's obituary was published in The New York Times.
• Comic book artist Tom Lyle died this past Tuesday. There is a GoFundMe to help his family pay his medical bills.
• Lynda Barry proudly defends The Family Circus on PRI's Studio 360. They even include the audio of Timothy Olyphant hating on TFC from the Doug Liman-helmed Sarah Polley-vehicle Go.
• Be sure to check out the winner and runners-up of The Guardian/Observer's annual graphic short story prize. Some really nice work.
• Entertainment Month — er, Weekly — presents its choices for the best comic books of the decade.
• The Washington Post has its list of "the best graphic novels, memoirs and story collections of 2019" ready to go. I can't read them because apparently I don't care how democracy dies (and I already shell out beans to a competitor), but BTTM FDRS is the thumbnail so that's promising!
• School Library Journal is right there too, with its countdown of the 2019 books that most deserve teenagers' late fee coins. (I'm talking about books FROM THE YEAR 2019, not a listing of two thousand and nineteen books!) (I probably could have just rephrased sentence one instead of going with the parenthetical nonsense but I just can't wait to see the look on your face when you realize how pointless it is you're reading this.) (Go on to the next item! Go like you're William Fichtner in Go!)
• Drawn & Quarterly is hiring a Marketing Assistant! Deadline is today! Perks probably include poutine fountain in the kitchen! (Highly unconfirmed perk!)
• If the corners of your mouth don't inch upward at the sight of Kickass Annie as rendered by Olivia Jaimes...
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5F81jhDjl0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
•••••
Winterviews
• Cartoonist Derf Backderf, on his upcoming book Kent State, at KentWired.com, a news outlet run by Kent State students
• TCJ: Legendary cartoonist Kim Deitch by Bill Kartalopoulos
• Writer John Ridley at Milwaukee Independent (I don't know if I've ever typed the work "Milwaukee" before; I could have sworn it had a silent "L")
• The Beat: Writer/creator-of-things Patrick McHale by Samantha Puc / The Pander Brothers by Nancy Powell / Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz by Edward Douglas / Chuck Rozanski/Bettie Pages, owner of Mile High Comics, by Avery Kaplan
• Writer Joe Hill, the curator of DC's Hill House horror imprint, on the Behind the Panel podcast
• Writer-artist Daniel Warren Johnson on the Off-Panel podcast
• Cartoonist Jim Mahfood on The Drawl
• Writer Gerry Duggan by Dana Forsythe at SyFy Wire
•••••
• At this point, it's kinda Watchmen, smotchmen AMIRITE? But, well, here: Hyperallergic wrote more thoughts about the comic series' legacy, so who am I to not link to anything about that.
• But this I like: Alan Moore is making news because he's voting in an election for only the second time in his life! There are people who get married more frequently. Via his daughter, who I of course follow on Twitter:
Alan Moore has something important to ask of you, in the runup to #GeneralElection19 pic.twitter.com/8snC5Wf0YB
— Leah Moore BLACK LIVES MATTER. (@leahmoore) November 20, 2019
• The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum's “Ladies First: A Century of Women’s Innovations in Comics and Cartoon Art” exhibit caught the attention of Smithsonian Magazine.
• Mike Avila of SyFy Wire/Behind the Panel has a lot to say about why he really, really, really hates variant covers.
• A copy of Marvel Comics #1 sold for $1.26 million. Bill Gates, who was recently revealed to be worth $110 billion, could have bought approximately 87,000 of them. You look at those numbers, and you realize Gates alone could save the comic book industry. (Please do not check or comment on my logic.)
• Meanwhile, a page of original art from Tintin sold for a mere 3,94,000 euros. The buyer couldn't even afford to use American dollars! Tragic.
• The Cartoon Art Museum is holding a benefit auction of original art (by big time cartoonists!) paying homage to Bill Watterson.
• Karen Green announced that Columbia U. now has the archives of Israeli cartoonist Nurit Karlin:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5BdeRdhdZz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
•••••
Au Reviews Simone
• NPR (oooh, the falutin' is high!): Etelka Lehoczky on Connor Willumsen's Bradley of Him
• Abhay Kosla on Scott Snyder, Charle Soule and Guiseppe Camuncoli's Undiscovered Country
• Boing Boing: Cory Doctorow on Cecil Castellucci's Girl on Film / Thom Dunn on Gregory Lockard and Tim Fish's Liebestrasse
• Publishers Weekly on Gabrielle Bell's Inappropriate (I love that cover)
• Broken Frontier: Andy Oliver on James Romberger’s ode to Jack Kirby, For Real #1
• TCJ: Edwin Turner on Chris Ware's Rusty Brown / Frank M. Young on William Gropper's Alay-Oop
• Panel Patter: Scott Cederlund on Elsa Charretier and Matt Fraction’s November Volume 1: The Girl on the Roof
• Ryan C.'s Four Color Apocalypse on Grace Kroll’s Tulpa
• The Beat: Morgana Santilli on Asaya Miyanaga's Nicola Traveling Around the Demons’ World / Philippe Leblanc on Mathilde Van Gheluwe’s Funky Town / Nick Kazden on The Pander Brothers' Dissident X
•••••
• I don't usually link to Kickstarters, but The Nib is going to fund its collection of queer comics, Be Gay, Do Comics, regardless — and it's my duty to let you know it's happening. You'll be sore at me if I don't. I mean, Mady G. drew the cover! We love Mady G.!
• South African cartoonist Zapiro has been honored with France's prestigious Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres award. I highly recommend both this recap of the ceremony and this video profile of the influential, audacious cartoonist.
• The Baltimore Sun remembers its longtime editorial and sports cartoonist Mike Lane, who died last weekend.
• The Parrish Art Museum in Long Island got its mitts on a whole bunch of Saul Steinberg originals.
• Bill Morrison ain't happy that a painting made by graffiti-artist-turned-art-museum-darling KAWS, based very much on a Morrison drawing of The Simpsons, sold for 14 million smackaroos.
• Jordan Crane is working on Keeping Two part seven and I. Am. Stoked. That might not be the right sentiment for this series but still.
• Forbes talked to Mark Siegel at First Second about the imprint's upcoming line of "governance" and "civil society"-focused books, called World Citizen Comics.
• Egyptian cartoonist Walid Taher is profiled at Ahram Online. I like how this guy draws.
• IDW will be publishing portions of its catalog in Spanish, including Sonic the Hedgehog: ¡Consecuencias! [Ummm, why is not titled "Sonic el Erizo"? (Gracias, Google Translate.)]
• Not the first, and hopefully not the last, time I show some Joe Quinones art from Dial H for Hero. He's just SO GOOD, and for extra kicks he's riffing on the guy who did Rusty Brown this issue (scroll through a couple few):
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5HH_XglXXs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
That'z all I can standz, I can't standz no more. See you in 168.
