Politics at SPX
Small Press Expo will hold a special program at this years show, “Outside Looking In: Alternative Political Cartooning in 2008.” The program will include a series of panels. Presentations, interviews, and book signings which will tie in with the upcoming Presidential elections, and examine changes in political cartoons due new technology. Political Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, creator of the strip This Modern World, will be participating in the series along with promoting his new book The Future is So Bright I Can’t Bare to Look. Also taking part in “Outside Looking In” is Lloyd Dangle, author of the political series Troubletown. SPX will be held October 4and 5at the North Bethesda Marriot Convention Center.
PW The Beat: Google Comic; Otaku Politician
Over at the The Beat, Heidi MacDonald’s up-to-the-minute comics industry blog, she gathers links and offers commentary on Google’s new Chrome web browser and a 38-page online comic by Scott McCloud that explains all of its features and which was apparently leaked to media over the weekend. She also links to a New York Times story about the legal fight between Warner Bros. and Fox over the rights to the forthcoming Watchmen film and offers links to a story about the Japanese politician and admitted manga-lover, Taro Aso, now in line to become the next prime minister of Japan. Looks like Japan, the home of otaku culture, may end up ruled by an actual otaku.
Kids’ Comic-Con 2009
The Kids’ Comics Convention will be held again next year on April 25, 2009 at the Bronx Community College. KCC features workshops for kids on making comics, panels and demonstrations for educators, exhibits, and portfolio reviews. All the materials at the show are suitable for all audiences. Admission is free to children under 17, and costs $5 for everyone else.
South East Asian Comics
Image Comics is releasing a new anthology of comics from South East Asia, Liquid City. The book will be released in November of 2008. Preview pages of the book can be seen at the Liquid City website.
Comics on the iPhone
Wired has an article on their website about the problems of reading comics on the iPhone. The article looks at a couple applications for reading comics on the iPhone and examines the problems with them.
Final Chapter of A.D.
The final chapter of A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, a comic by Josh Neufeld which follows the true stories of survivors of Hurricane Katrina, is up on the Smith Magazine website. The comic has been running for a year and a half and is fifteen chapters long. An expanded book version of A.D. will be released by Pantheon next summer, on Katrina’s fourth anniversary.
Big PictureBox Sale
New school experimentalist comics publisher PictureBox is offering a back-to-the-OLD-new-school sale. Everything on the PictureBox website is discounted 30% to 70% off the retail price for the rest of the week! Don’t mess around; this offer won’t last forever. Get bargain prices on works by Gary Panter, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Lauren Weinstein, Paper Rad and other acclaimed PictureBox artists.
