Ashcroft's assault on the headshops
(Comics Retailing) Last week the Department of Justice began a concerted effort to destroy what was left of America's network of headshops, where drug paraphenalia was sold along with music-themed clothing, posters and other pop culture miscellania -- including comic books. As any comic-book connoisseur will tell you, an extensive network of such shops served as the breeding ground for the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and '70s. As Last Gasp's Kristine Anstine pointed out on our message board last Wednesday, this network continues to serve as an outlet for comic books. Writing in Rick Veitch's The Splash, guest blogger Charles Brownstein puts it all in perspective:

"On Wednesday evening the SPLASH spoke to Anstine who explained that the shops canceling their orders represents $10,000 - $12,000 per year in lost sales of publications by authors including Peter Bagge, R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Robert Williams, Charles Bukowski, Henry Rollins, and others.

"Though head shops have been a small niche for comics sales since the head shop crackdowns that decimated the 70s underground comics economy, 'Operation Pipe Dreams' is already affecting what’s left of that market."

I'm a latecomer to this story; in addition to Brownstein, NeilAlien and Bill Sherman have already offered commentary on the subject. To tell the truth, growing up in hardcore stoner Arizona has inured me somewhat to the possibility of such efforts having any real and lasting effect. I've seen any number of these campaigns crash and burn against the bedrocks of human nature and sensualist obstinacy -- when I left the state there were probably as many headshops in existance as there ever were, despite the best efforts of all levels of law enforcement. It may have some effect on such shops in the short term, but long-term? We shall see. I'm not betting on a victory for John Ashcroft just yet.
Posted @ 3:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Short Takes
(Potpourri) I don't have a lot to add to these items, but here's the rest of the day's major comics news

• Rodrigo Baeza has an exhaustive set of links and analysis on recent employee troubles at Future comics, which have resulted in vandalism, computer sabotage and a campaign to smear the company's reputation on the internet.

• Months after the fact, the U.K.'s Cartoon Art Trust have finally gotten around to publicly announcing the winners of their annual CAT Awards.

I take it back, there's one last little item that cries out for commentary. With thirteen -- count 'em, thirteen -- movies based on their company-owned characters in development in one form or another, Marvel Comics continues its well-known penchant for blindly using gluts of product to turn boomtimes into busts. The current tally: Hulk, X-Men II, Spider-Man II, Iron Man, Namor, The Fantastic Four, The Punisher, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Deathlok and three announced this week, Werewolf by Night, a Daredevil sequel and an Elektra spinoff film. Presumably there are more on the way. The sound you hear is a dull knife sawing diligently on the throat of Marvel's golden-egg-laying goose.
Posted @ 3:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Greek authorities confiscate "Surfin' Jesus" comics
(Censorship) This story's already made the rounds, but I've finally gotten around to digging up some information on the subject. Greek police have raided several downtown Athens bookstores, seizing copies of a comic book which had recently been translated into the local language. The Life of Jesus, by Austrian cartoonist Gerhard Haderer, is a satirical reworking of the New Testament, and while it's stirred up controversy before, this is the first time its publication has resulted in legal action -- The book's publisher, Nikos Hadzopoulos of the Oxy publishing group, has been charged with "insulting a religious faith". You can read about it in the local papers, but the best report I've found is in The Daily Times of Pakistan:

"Jesus is portrayed in the work as an amiably aimless incense-addict whose head glows when he gets high on incense and whose miracles are merely lucky accidents on which his money-grabbing disciples cash in.

"Austria's highest-ranking Roman Catholic bishop dubbed the comic, which has been published in several European countries, a threat to democracy when it came out there last year."

The Orthodox church, which holds great sway in Greek society, has of course applauded the official acts of censorship:

" 'It is not permissible to mock holy and sacred things,' said church spokesman Monsignor Epiphanios. 'Humour is out of place when it comes to such subjects.' "

Jumpin' syphilitic Christ in a whorehouse, Monsignor, tell me all about it. I haven't been able to locate any published reaction from Haderer, yet, but you can read an interview (Google translation) with the man, in which he discusses the book on more general terms. You can also visit his website, which includes more about the book -- including this picture of Jesus surfing on the water, rather than walking. Maybe the Monsignor's right after all. Heaven forbid Jesus actually be portrayed as someone you might want to hang out with...
Posted @ 3:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Campus cartoon outrage round-up
(Editorial Cartoons) Of course in America the principal taboo subject is race rather than religion, as can be seen in these three examples of that old favorite, the college newspaper cartoon controversy. Awaaay we go:

• California's Riverside Press Enterprise reports that complaints have been filed against an editorial cartoon in the University of California Riverside's student paper, The Highlander:

  "The cartoon by an anonymous artist named Mizzery featured an Asian teaching assistant standing in front of a classroom speaking broken English. The caption read, 'Where have all the English-speaking grad students gone?"

  Highlander editor Kahlil Ford has apologized, but as always, the debate goes on.

• Staying in California, The Sacramento Bee is covering an outcry over an illustrative cartoon published in a state financial-aid newsletter, which depicted a flustered sombrero-wearing student in a fast-food joint labeled "Taco Town":

  "Educators and members of the California Student Aid Commission at a recent meeting questioned the process and oversight of the newsletter's publisher, EdFund, which is an arm of the commission. They also questioned EdFund's sensitivity to the large percentage of Latino students it serves.

  " 'It's apparent to me that EdFund is culturally unaware of who our students are,' said Commissioner Dolores Jaquez at a recent meeting. 'It's also apparent to me that there is a void of social responsibility at EdFund.' "

  The resulting controversy arose not only over the perceived stereotyping, but also over the implication that students are "kind of dumb" and can't cope with the realities of a fast-food job.

• Finally it's off to Indiana, where an editorial cartoon published two weeks ago in Indiana University student newspaper The Daily Student, which criticized affirmative action, led to town-hall meetings and diversity workshops for everyone. As The Bloomington Herald-Times stated:

  "The cartoon appeared on the IDS editorial page Feb. 5. Drawn by Dan Cariño of the San Diego State University Daily Aztec, it was distributed by a campus news and opinion wire service.

  "It suggested a black student would get more points for college admission than a white student with a perfect SAT score and included the line: 'Feeling entitled to special benefits: pointless.' "

  It occurs to me that eventually, all student cartoon controversies will be discovered to have originated in California in one fashion or another.

Marvel, Sony and Schroedinger's Cat
(The Comics Press) The lawsuit Marvel filed late Tuesday has gotten some limited press, but nothing comparable to the PR disaster they faced when Stan Lee sued them. The usual wire services picked it up (AP, Reuters), which got a couple of nibbles from newspapers and the odd local news station. Among the online comics press, The Pulse covered it as well as could be expected, while Newsarama treated it as a press release, not even bothering to spotlight it as major news. The only weblog to even mention it (aside from this one) was NeilAlien.

This is probably as it should be, given the lack of details. There's been limited speculation over the suit on a few of the comics-related message boards, but it's been anemic. So near as I can tell, the only people that news of the lawsuit sent into a tizzy were the investors on the Yahoo message board. There, you can find all manner of bullshit theories about the suit floating around.

Among the news items in the press, there was but one bullshit theory to be heard, but it was in the headlines: "Marvel sues Sony". If you read the actual press release from Marvel, there isn't even enough information to support that one. Here's the closest the release comes to identifying the defendent:

"Earlier today Marvel Characters, Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marvel Enterprises, filed a suit in Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles concerning a licensing agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and SPE Spider-Man GP Inc."

It's easy to see why everyone was so quick to connect Tab A to Slot B, but all the above sentence really says is that a lawsuit was filed that had something to do with a licensing agreement; it leads you up to the idea that Marvel's suing Sony, but never quite gets around to stating so out loud.

I puzzled briefly over this last night -- Why the vague wording? Who else would Marvel sue over an agreement with Sony, anyway? As it turns out, there is someone else with his hand reaching for the cookie jar: Stan Lee.

The notion struck me as vaguely ludicrous, but then I realized that there was nothing in Marvel's press release that actually contradicted it. A suit against Lee wouldn't halt the production of the Spider-Man sequel, nor would it alter any licensing arrangements. The suit itself doesn't impact any financial statements, but a resolution in Marvel's favor would in fact improve Marvel's financial outlook -- by exactly 10% of the film revenues. Moreover, consider the fact that Stan's initial suit created headlines that flew to Pakistan and back. If you were a Marvel executive about to file a nasty countersuit against your company's equivalent of Col. Sanders, wouldn't you want to be vague about what was going on?

I say all of this fully realizing that it's just as much of a bullshit theory as the obvious, but then that's my point: given the lack of information at the moment, any speculation about the specifics of the case is like guessing whether Schroedinger's Cat is alive or not. Until the box is opened, how would you possibly know? The consensus story we've been seeing in the press doesn't quite stick to what is at the moment the only source of news, but maintains its legitimacy because there doesn't seem to be anybody else the suit could be about. As I've noted, this isn't exactly true; there are three current players in this game, not two. I'm probably wrong about all of this, but until we know for sure, "Marvel sues Sony" remains just as much of a bullshit theory as "Marvel countersues Stan Lee". Update, 12:45 PM: Over at The Pulse's section of the Comicon message board, someone named "Cliffy" Alex Pascover points out that if Marvel were countersuing Stan Lee, it'd likely take place in Manhattan (where Lee's original suit was filed) rather than in California. Another bullshit theory bites the dust...

Final Update: On the same thread, The Pulse's Heidi MacDonald puts paid to the notion once and for all. "I hate to end a really good conspiracy theory, but according to a Marvel spokeman, 'Marvel is suing Sony.' "
Posted @ 3:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Reuben Award nominees announced
(Comic Strips) The National Cartoonists Society has announced the final nominees for Cartoonist of the Year, the top prize in their annual Reuben Awards ceremony, which this year will be held May 24th in San Francisco. It's an decent crop of cartoonists, but the one who stands out is Matt Groening, whose Life in Hell strip is long overdue for recognition from his peers. Editor and Publisher has the details:

"Nominees include Rose is Rose creator Pat Brady of United Feature Syndicate, Luann creator Greg Evans of United, and Bizarro creator Dan Piraro of King Features Syndicate. Groening also has newspaper ties -- his long-running TV show spawned a weekly comic currently distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, and he still does the Life in Hell comic for Acme Features Syndicate."

(Link courtesy of Egon.)
Posted @ 1:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Marvel sues over Sony deal
(Comics and the Movies) Attention Steve Ditko -- you are now officially the only person directly affiliated with Spider-Man who hasn't sued anybody over the film version of the character you co-created. Yesterday Marvel Enterprises Inc. filed a lawsuit against someone or something related to its Spider-Man licensing deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment in a California Superior Court, alleging a need to "protect its intellectual property rights". Who exactly got sued? Nobody's sure. Why the lawsuit? Marvel ain't telling -- the suit was sealed, and details aren't exactly forthcoming. The folks at Reuters picked through the official press release:

"Marvel said the lawsuit is 'not an attempt to stop production of the Spider-Man sequel slated for May 2004' or a move to affect any merchandising deals related to the movie.

"It said its operations could be positively impacted if the lawsuit is successfully resolved, but provided no more detail."

Given the sensitive timing of the lawsuit, which comes less than a week before the company releases its financial results for 2002's fourth quarter, one can't help but wonder what the company's trying to hide by asking the court to seal the details from the public. Add the persistent rumors of a possible Sony buyout of the company and the potential for mayhem seems to increase. Or perhaps Marvel's reticence has more to do with a possible public relations nightmare? Is it a countersuit, perhaps?
Posted @ 1:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

The numbers game
(Comics Retailing) Over at Steven Grant's Permanent Damage message board forum, they spent much of the last few weeks digging up comparative sales figures for Marvel and DC's comic books, and the results make for fascinating reading. Here's Paul O'Brien's comparative figures for Marvel Comics' various titles for the past year, while Johanna Draper Carlson has done the same thing for DC titles. Lots of figures spiraling downward, with only a few going the other direction.

Meanwhile, the majors continued looking for ways to give sales a shot in the arm. Most notably, DC Comics has announced the next batch of comic-book titles slated to be featured in its "Share the Risk" program, which offers comics shop retailers the opportunity to return up to 20% of their initial orders on five titles, including the second issue of Bagge/DeStefano/Wray's Sweatshop, the first issue of Wildstorm's new relaunch of The Authority, and the eleventh issue of Vertigo's new cult favorite Y: The Last Man. No titles for kids, this time out.
Posted @ 1:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Happy Blogiversary
(The Comics Press) Finally, happy anniversary to NeilAlien, who's been blogging for three years now. His website is probably the most complete superhero comics on the internet, and is well worth checking out if you're into that sort of thing.
Posted @ 1:50 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

March orders: second verse, same as the first
(Comics Retailing) Diamond's initial orders are out for March; insert the usual caveats here (no re-orders, no foreign sales, et cetera). As with last month the only way to find any optimism is to squint your eyes, wish real hard, and be thankful that the undertaker hasn't run up to you with a tape-measure, getting the specifications ready for your coffin.

There's nothing dramatic here, but that's as close to optimism as you can get. In February, four titles managed to crack the 100,000 mark; in March that number dropped to three. DC's Jim Lee-drawn Batman managed to hold onto the top spot, while the Marvel titles underneath it shuffled a tad but otherwise just sort of sat there, dropping a bit in terms of over all numbers but not in such a way as to look like an obvious disaster. Given the above, I hope I can be forgiven for thinking that the word "domination" looks a tad out of place in the following quote:

"Marvel's domination of the best-selling comic periodicals continued, with eight of the top 10 titles and 20 of the top 25. DC and Dreamwave took the other five of the top 25. Graphic novels were a different story; Marvel didn't have a single title in the top ten graphic novels, a weak field. Four of the top ten graphic novels were manga titles and four were DCs."

All hail the Kings of the Very Small Hill. As always, most of these numbers are inaccurate insofar as re-orders from shops have yet to be factored in, though I should also point out that since Marvel no longer accepts re-orders, the numbers for their titles are considerably closer to the truth -- fate's little joke on Bill and Joe, as it turns out.

Scrolling down the top 300 comics for March, the usual markers of industry malaise continue to stand out, as every comics title that doesn't directly cater to the hardcore superhero obsessive continues to cluster at the bottom of the list. Sing along with me, kids: Powerpuff Girls #36 (7,923 copies), Usagi Yojimbo #65 (7,456 copies), Acme Novelty Library #16 (6,068 copies), Cerebus #288 (6,043 copies), Looney Tunes #100 (5,454 copies), Love and Rockets Vol. 2 #7 (5,356 copies), Metal Hurlant #5 (4,754 copies), Warren Ellis' Scars #5 (3,550 copies), Betty and Veronica #186 (2,801 copies), Raijin Comics #16 (2,223), James Kochalka's Sketchbook Diaries Vol. 3 (1,081 copies). And so on.

Let's take a brief pause to let the fanboys chirp something about "sour grapes" before noting that initial orders for the fifth issue of the #1 selling comic book in America -- Shonen Jump -- clocked in at #179 on the list, with just 8,672 copies sold. Retailers whine in ICv2's Talkback section about the lack of kids' comics, while the ones that do get published never seem to get ordered. Retailers whine about the lack of good girl-centric comics, while the ones that do get published never seem to get ordered. Retailers whine about the lack of good alternative comi -- okay, that's going too far, I'll acknowledge. Not that you'd know it if they were there anyway, from looking at the outside of most comics shops. "Comics equals superheros," sayeth the retailer, voting with his pocketbook, his advertising dollars, his store's layout. And yet, for some reason, the Direct Market continues to stagnate, in a slow but perceptable decline. Funny, that...
Posted @ 3:20 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Missing the bullseye
(Comics and the Movies) Last Monday I reiterated my prediction that theatergoers attending the movie Daredevil would drop off after a week, based on my reading of the film's quality and how it would affect word-of-mouth. Well here it is a week later, and sure enough, the crowds have thinned considerably. Entertainment Weekly assesses the film's performance:

"Daredevil grossed another $18.9 million, down a discouraging 53 percent from the three-day portion of last week's holiday weekend. Though the film, which also stars Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Colin Farrell, has earned over $70 million after 10 days, a drop that large doesn't bode well for its future.

"Daredevil's decline meant that Old School came quite close to becoming the No. 1 film in the country. Instead, the comedy starring Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Luke Wilson placed second with a strong $17.5 million. In fact, Old School did top Daredevil on Friday by a margin of $800,000."

In other words, Daredevil's fixing up to be another Blade, yet another mid-level comic-book film you'll be seeing on the Starz Channel in two years, and the USA Network in three. Not that you'll catch Marvel admitting this, of course -- did you know that this is "The Year of Marvel"?

" Last year, with the pop culture phenomenon Spider-Man serving as catalyst, Marvel Comics shattered the myth that successful comic book movies don't translate to higher comic book sales.

"In 2003, The House of Ideas is going to take the remaining pieces of that myth and grind them into a fine powder. This past week, with Friday's release of the DAREDEVIL film, a new wave of mainstream and industry media started in full-force that promises to grow build like a snowball rolling downhill!"

"Higher comic book sales"? It still looks like a bum market from over here. What sales growth the direct market has seen has come from other publishers; it certainly hasn't come from the X-titles. The release goes on to list a number of chest-thumping accomplishments guaranteed to induce yawns among anyone who knows better. Let's see: Marvel execs ran the bell at the New York Stock Exchange -- is that before or after Marvel stock took a dive? There's the Daredevil movie... umm, what else? Oh yes, Marvel got some good press for a change. I realize that there's a novelty factor in such things for Jemas and company, but trust me: a few newspaper articles don't necessarily translate into sunnier economic fortunes, let alone "The Year of Marvel". Grow build this.
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Phoebe gets her Sex TV
(Cartooning) Over at the Sequential Tart message board, Blake Bell popped in to note that cartoonist Phoebe Gloeckner recently got a feature on Canadian television program Sex TV -- and if you've got a RealPlayer installed, you can watch it yourself. Thanks, Blake!
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Monday Mailbag
(Commentary) The mail continued to pour in last week concerning Marvel's revived Epic imprint, and no, there's still nothing I can quote on the record. Most of what I was told also found its way to Rich Johnston -- here's the relavent bits from his column:

"Mark Millar is believed to be writing the very first, the launch book, but expect to see a lot of very different books from some very different people, creator-owned, creator-participant and work-for-hire.

"Also look for work coming from the individuals he chose as 'stars of the future', people he promised to help give a leg up. Namely Mark Peyton, Brandon Thomas and Barb Lien."

The versions I got were less charitable in their descriptions of the deals Marvel was offering. The creator-owned titles are being reserved for big-name creators who've been kicking in with the work-for-hire, as a reward for services rendered; that means Millar, Bendis and maybe Grant Morrison if he wants it. No others need apply, unless they've got "adult" superhero titles that they want to sell to Marvel lock, stock and barrel. Yes, you heard me right -- more pervert suits, and Marvel keeps everything. The new Epic will bear little resemblence to the one that came before.

"Creator-participant"? I've heard nothing about that, but this little euphemism reeks so badly I can smell it on the other side of the continent. Folks, Marvel isn't even honoring its contractual obligations to Stan Lee, for crying out loud. My sources are telling me that the non-Millar deals will be work-for-hire or something so close that it won't make any difference. I smell sucker-bait. If you're a cartoonist being fed this particular line, do yourself a favor and hire a lawyer to look at the contract before you sign that dotted line -- it may not save you a screwing, but at least you'll know a little more about what you're getting into.

Speaking of lawyers, this correspondent wrote in to correct me on my interpretation of the Miracleman fiasco, as seen in yesterday's Sunday Scraps:

"The rights to Miracleman were split evenly between Dez Skinn, Alan Moore and Gary Leach. When Gary Leach left the book, Alan Davis took over the art duties and his share of the rights. When Eclipse started publishing Miracleman, they bought out Skinn's share. Davis and Moore had a disagreement over Captain Britain, and Davis backed out of Miracleman and also sold his share to Eclipse. Neil Gaiman was granted Moore's share when Moore left the building, and, nice guy that he is, gave 1/2 of his 1/3 to Buckingham, so the artist could have a stake. Buckingham's share is controlled by Gaiman for simplicities sake.

"When Eclipse closed shop, McFarlane bought all their intellectual property at auction for $25,000 - $40,000, cheap. At the time, Eclipse held 2/3 of Miracleman, and this is what McFarlane purchased, though he believed he had the full rights at the time.

"To complicate matters, Mick Anglo, the original artist on Marvelman (before the name change to Miracleman) has come forward to claim the property as his. Also, Dez Skinn has said that the 1/3 he sold to Eclipse has reverted back to him after Eclipse's bankruptcy.

"Short version - Todd owns 2/3 of Miracleman. Gaiman and Buckingham each own 1/6."

I'd completely forgotten about the whole Alan Davis thing, of course. Consider me corrected. But we're not done with the corrections yet! Commenting on this entry on Cold Cut Comics Distribution's new, indy-oriented Channel X Catalog, Cold Cut President Tim Stroup writes:

"I just have a couple of clarification's. We still offer Viz TPBs. We are just cut off from their issues, on which reorders were drying up anyway. Crossgen has not yet gone exclusive, so we still have their books too."

So noted. Like the sidebar says, send email to weblog@tcj.com -- all email is considered anonymous unless you volunteer otherwise, and assumed printable unless you say otherwise.
Posted @ 4:00 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Erich Sokol dies
(Gag Cartooning) I'd have missed this completely were it not for the sharp eye of Flat Earth weblogger "S." Steven Moriarty Steven Wintle: illustrator Erich Sokol, whose cartoons graced the pages of many magazines and newspapers worldwide, died last Thursday at the age of 69. From the Google Translation of Austria's Vienna Online:

"Sokol worked among other things for the "worker newspaper" and Playboy, published in Harper's magazine and The Sunday Telegraph and arranged title pages for The Stage and The New Crowns newspaper. In addition it sketched the Cover for the schallplattenaufnahme of Qualtingers 'the Mr. Karl'."

Umm, you get the gist of it, anyway. A collection of Sokol's cartoons and illustrations can be found on Shane Glines' website.
Posted @ 2:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

André François update
(Cartooning) Last Tuesday I asked for further information on the fire that consumed the studio (and most of the life's work) of cartoonist and illustrator André François. The aforementioned Steven Wintle very kindly sent me a link to the Illustrators' Partnership of America website, which has posted a tribute to François that fills in the story a bit:

"In December there was a fire in the studio of André François. This email comes from a mutual friend in Brussels, a heart specialist and art collector:

" 'I phoned André on Saturday and his wife told me that his atelier, a big separated room in his garden, has burned ten days ago, and that everything there (nearly all his life's works: drawings, paintings, sculptures) turned into ashes now. He was not burned but was choked (he is more than 80 years old) and had to stay one week in the hospital. He is home now but very tired, and all future exhibitions are cancelled, because he has not enough paintings or drawings left!'

"Needless to say, this is heartbreaking news and high on any artist's list of Worst Nightmares."

The IPA's tribute section also contains letters of condolence and admiration from such esteemed artists as Ralph Steadman and Brad Holland.
Posted @ 2:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

Sunday Scraps
(Potpourri) The following are a series of links that have collected in my notes but for a variety of reasons never made it to this weblog before now:

• You know, I neglected a little wrinkle on the story of Todd McFarlane's planned Miracleman statue when I mentioned it last January. As those reading the trial transcripts in the forthcoming TCJ #250 will be aware, McFarlane reneged on an agreement over ownership of various characters that he'd previously made with Neil Gaiman, something Gaiman only discovered when he found out that McFarlane was attempting to register a trademark on the Miracleman character. Apparently the rat-bastard is still at it. From the bottom of the forthcoming statue's display page:

  "Miracleman is a trademark of Todd McFarlane Productions, Inc."

  As the story has gone since Alan Moore and Alan Davis first signed the deal with the now-defunct Eclipse Comics that began this tale of woe, the copyright and trademark on Miracleman was alleged to have been split three ways, between Eclipse, Moore and Davis. McFarlane has apparently bought the third that Eclipse owned, but the other two-thirds have allegedly been transferred down the line to Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham, the creators working the title at the time Eclipse folded. (All of this assumes that the three-way partnership actually had legal ownership of the material at the time, something that some have suggested is in doubt.) Okay, so McFarlane's pissed off at Gaiman for taking him to court over Spawn. Is that any excuse to attempt to screw Buckingham as well? Does the opportunistic rhymes-with-bunt have a shred of ethical integrity to his name? It's a rhetorical question, of course -- this is Todd McFarlane we're talking about, after all. Still, you can just smell the coming lawsuit, can't you? (A tip of the hat to a monkey on the Comicon message boards for reminding me of all this.)

• Moco Yardley was an editorial cartoonist for The Baltimore Sun for over fifty years, and by all accounts a beloved figure on the city's political scene. He died in 1979, and his North Baltimore home was since bought by another couple. Now, that couple is giving away Yardley's treasured, custom-made bar to the Baltimore-area person who writes the most convincing essay, in 250 words or less, on the subject of why he or she deserves to be the one to haul it away. Details can be found here.

• I was unsure whether this merited a feature entry or not: artist George Solonevich died last Friday night at the age of 87. According to The Roanoke Times, the painter led a storied life, first fleeing Stalin's Soviet Union after being jailed several times -- the first occured when he was but five years old -- only to land in Germany, where he lived through the Nazi regime. He eventually settled in Virginia, but only after a great deal of travel... including a stint in Argentina, where he was for a brief time editorial cartoonist for a newspaper owned by Evita Peron.

• Courtesy of the always-essential Egon weblog: the online journal Image [&] Narrative presents an essay by Lisa Coppin on the use of visual representation and narrative in Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's graphic novel, From Hell.

• Via email from Egon: Minnesota television station KSTP describes the work of Duane and Angie Barnhart, two cartoonists who've spent the past week serving as cartoonists-in-residence for Barnum Elementary School, teaching the cartoon arts.

• Also from Egon's outbox: Minneapolis' Skyway News profiles the folks behind downtown store Big Brain Comics, who are doing their part to expand the vision of what a comics shop can be.

• Here's a subject that should be near and dear to publishers and cartoonists, as seen from the other side: Library Journal offers advice for librarians in booking authors on speaking tours. Graphic novels have become increasingly popular in libraries, hint hint...

• Bugpowder offers advice to British cartoonists on how to milk that all-important government teat for grant money. Make Socialism work for you!

• The Vancouver Sun reports on the exploits of "Slash Gordon", a mock-superhero and star of agit-prop comic books used by the British Columbian Nurses Union to protest budget cuts by the Canadian province's Premier, Gordon Campbell.

• Time Asia Magazine takes a look at what is in all likelihood the #1 comic book in America, Shonen Jump.

• Newsarama's "reporter in charge of giving a shit about non-genre comics", Daniel Robert Epstein, strikes again -- this time it's an in-depth interview with underground comix legend Spain Rodriguez on the subject of his newly-released comics adaptation of the noir classic Nightmare Alley.

• Over at The Pulse, Jennifer Contino talks to hot young turk Graham Annable about cartooning, Grickle and his day-job at LucasArts.

• The Detroit Jewish News shines a spotlight on a new comic book aimed at the Orthodox children's market: Mendy and the Golem.

• The Guardian reviews the third volume in Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe series.

• Meet sports cartoonist Mark O’Brien, whose beat for over ten years has been the America's Cup yacht race.

• Brian Basset, creator of the comic strip Red and Rover, has lent his talents to a new planetarium exhibit at the South Florida Science Museum, which takes his characters to Mars. The Palm Beach Post has the story.

• It's off to Malaysia, where The New Straits Times shines a spotlight on its very own comic-strip superhero, Super Arang Man -- learn more about this little-seen strip in its Yahoo discussion group.

• Heidi MacDonald represents indy comics to the masses in this review of the recent Alternative Press Expo for the readers of Publishers Weekly. Go Heidi!

• It's not comics-related until you think about it for a moment: via Metafilter comes this Atlantic article on the care and feeding of introverts. Don't talk to me. Go away.

• Hulk no need puny Banner -- Hulk have weblog! (Link via Kottke.)

• Finally, The Indianapolis Star reports that the spirit of a legendary cartoonist was alive and well at Purdue University last week, when a team of students won the school's Rube Goldberg machine contest with a device that crushed a tin can and threw it into a recycling bin... in just a little over twenty steps! The team will take their contraption to the national competition on April 12th.

With that, I've officially wrestled this weblog to the ground for another day. Once again I should apologize: I've managed to ignore most of my email for several days now, despite assurances that I would try to answer such messages in a prompt and timely fashion. I will try to do better in the days ahead, but at this point I'm making no guarantees. Well okay, one guarantee -- see you Monday!
Posted @ 2:45 AM by Dirk Deppey | permalink

All site contents are © 2002