Brian Fies (Mom’s Cancer and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow) is helping organize the third international conference on Comics & Medicine that will be held July 22-24 Toronto, Canada. Keynote presentations this year will be by comics creators Joyce Brabner (Our Cancer Year) and Joyce Farmer (Special Exits), as well as a talk by comics scholar and friend-of-the-conference Paul Gravett.

From Brian:

This event builds on two very successful conferences held in London in 2010 and Chicago in 2011, all organized by the same group. The idea of “graphic medicine” is that cartooning and healthcare have some interesting intersections and overlap that can benefit both: patients, caregivers and medical professionals telling their stories and using comics to communicate experiences and information in ways no other medium can. Think of work like Stitches, Epileptic, Psychiatric Tales, Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person, my book Mom’s Cancer, and many more.

Organizers have put out a Call for Papers and are looking for presenters on any of the following topics.

• Graphic pathographies of illness and disability
• The use of comics in medical education
• The use of comics in patient care
• Depictions of the illness experience from the perspective of loved ones and family caregivers
• The interface of graphic medicine and other visual arts in popular culture
• Ethical implications of using comics to educate the public
• Ethical implications of patient representation in comics by healthcare providers
• Trends in international use of comics in healthcare settings
• The role of comics in provider/patient communication
• Comics as virtual support groups for patients and caregivers
• The use of comics in bioethics discussions and education

If you feel you have something to contribute, please it their blog for more information.

http://dailycartoonist.com/?p=11651 Cartoonist and illustrator John Lara has passed away at an early age of 57. His cartoons appeared in many Southern California papers and nationally.

Away from the drawing board, he served as master of ceremonies for the Brooks Street Surfing Classic and was a guest speaker for “Let’s Hook Up,” which referred to fishing in those days. Fishing was another of John’s preferred activities, and he taught fishing classes as a volunteer.

He was the leader of the famed “Walk-Around,” the bar-to-bar perambulation that celebrated the end of the tourist season in Laguna until it became too popular with out-of-towners and the tradition withered.

As part of her residency, Barry will offer four free public lectures about cartooning and writing featuring renowned guests Ivan Brunetti, Ryan Knighton, and Dan Chaon, with special guest Chris Ware. A full schedule is included below.

Watch for public lectures starting on February 15.

Mark has one of the best comic commerce sites on the web. If I were to open a storefront for my cartoons, I’d be looking at his site as a good example of what to do right.

Monkey Cartoon by Andertoons

Gallery Nucleus is honored to present the world-renowned cartoonist and illustrator, Ronald Searle, for a special solo exhibition. Searle has been an influential figure in the cartooning world since the beginning of the post-war era, his drawings identifiable by their scratchy textures, controlled gestural line quality, and often exaggerated human forms. This exhibit features a collection of Searle’s published and preliminary works including caricatures, illustrated typography, completed cartoons, and signed lithographs.

Exhibit runs through January 29.

The presenters this year come with a reservoir of industry knowledge so come with lots of questions. Here are the presenters:

• Chad Carpenter, creator of Tundra and Bill Kellogg, founder of Ink Bottle Syndicate and marketing genius behind Tundra
• Tom Gammill, The Doozies and Mell Lazarus Miss Peach and Momma
• Jack Newcombe, President and COO of Creators Syndicate
• Adrian Raeside, The Other Coast
• Mark Parisi and Lynn Reznick, off the mark
• John Read, Publisher of “Stay Tooned!”
• Mason Mastroianni, BC
• Danielle Corsetto, Girls With Slingshots
• Debbra Abeyta, previously with Western Color and now with Vertis – to talk about pagination
• Rob Tornoe, sports & editorial cartoonist and publisher of Punchline magazine

Disclosure: I’m listed as a special guest (but not the speaking kind – whew!).