This ‘n’ That, These ‘n’ Those
Skip to comments
A roundup of various comics related news items featuring Mafalda, Hunt Emerson, Hoo-Hah (with J. R. Williams), Tony Millionaire, and Cheeky Pandas.
‘Mafalda’ original publisher Ediciones de la Flor shuts down
As the Mafalda comic strip gets a boost with an American series of translated books in English the publisher that first published Mafalda books is closing, in part because it lost the Mafalda license.
The Buenos Aires Herald reports:
Long-established company Ediciones de la Flor, the original publishers of Argentine authors like Mafalda’s Quino, Roberto Fontanarrosa, and Rodolfo Walsh, announced it will cease operations this year.
The 60-year old company informed the decision through a sign on its stand at the ongoing 50h Buenos Aires Book Fair, which runs April 23 to May 11. De la Flor had a stand in the Fair ever since its creation.
“This is our last fair, and our last year operating,” the sign read. “Publishing books in Argentina was always a hurdling race, and this is as far as we can keep on jumping.”
The article noted that
Last year, the heirs of the Mafalda author Quino decided to sell the rights of his work to Penguin Random House, which meant a significant blow to the independent publisher’s business, which had released Quino’s work since 1970.
Hunt Emerson‘s 50-Odd Years of Big Noses
Remaining overseas, but in a different direction, John Freeman brings news of an effort to bring cartoonist Hunt Emerson to the masses, or at least fans of comical cartooning legends.
Britain’s greatest underground cartoonist Hunt Emerson has been creating wild and wonderful comics for more than 50 frantic years, and now you can support the crowdfunding campaign to bring us a stonking 220-page celebration of his amazing career.
Very definitely one for “Mature Audiences”, Hunt Emerson‘s 50-Odd Years of Big Noses, seeking support over on Zoop, contains the untold and often hilarious stories behind those five decades of surreal strips, as told by Hunt himself.
Illustrated throughout with cartoons and pages from obscure corners of Hunt’s archive…
Closer to Home…
Hoo-Hah Not For Small Press Expo
It seems the Small Press Expo is not open to all small press comics. One such disallowed publisher is Ron Evry whose main comic is Hoo-Hah, it specializes in running old comics especially those of J. R. Williams.
Ron says he has been banned from the sellers tables:
This was what I originally wrote when it was taken away.:
For those who’ve read any of my “Hoo-Hah!” books, you may be surprised that after three years of attempting to get a half-table at SPX, I finally won the lottery. sadly, someone there thinks that my work is not considered “creative artwork.” Anyone who has seen the restoration pages and cover and layout work, knows that it is an appropriate venue. Frankly, I have had it with SPX. Here’s the letter they sent:
>>>Thanks for reaching out, as I did not realize you received a lottery invite. There’s some confusion about your inclusion in the show; it appears that whoever vetted your submission did not realize you seem to only publish retrospectives. I think they assumed Hoo-Hah was drawn by you. The show centers indie comics creators and publishers of largely contemporary material. I’m sorry to say that we’re revoking your invite in favor of an individual creator who…well, creates comics. I understand this will come as a disappointment. We appreciate your work as a comics journalist and revivalist and hope to still see you in attendance.
Tony Millionaire’s The Oddball’s Odyssey
Someone I’m sure would be welcomed at the SPX gathering would be Tony Millionaire of MAAKIES and Drinky Crow fame and his new release The Oddball’s Odyssey (in the “missed it” category of our Hey Kids! Comics! list).
Henry Davis at Comic Watch reviewed the one-shot:
Alcoholism can be a black hole of self-destruction, a false cure to the darkness that is inherent to the human condition. It is a blunt force object that smashes away one’s self-identity, stripping an individual of their soul by numbing them to the reality of their character. This is what the main characters of The Oddball’s Odyssey are struggling to rectify as they journey across a surreal landscape of talking animals, labyrinthine nightmares, and boats crafted out of bathtubs.
This is an absolute joy of a comic, which might be shocking given how dark its core theme is.
A review with an altogether different reaction…
“The Church’s cartoons for children are rubbish!”
Cheeky Pandas, according to their website is “a British-made Christian TV series for kids on YouTube. It is Bible-based, fun, free, friendly and full of music, for children and parents looking for faith-based content.”
Unsigned review in Prospect magazine, “UK’s outstanding monthly current affairs title,” begs to differ:
This year’s [Pentecost] theme is “God with us,” and we are asked to pray for more people to come to know Jesus, focusing our prayers on five people of our acquaintance who we think don’t know Jesus already. That, at any rate, is what Christians of riper years are invited to do. For the children there’s something called “Cheeky Pandas”.
What is the matter with Cheeky Pandas? Why are its primitive cartoons and cheesy pop music so much worse than the cartoons and music in South Park?
Yes the writer of the “Clerical Life” column prefers South Park to Cheeky Pandas!
There’s no real passion or intellectual effort involved in whatever labour went into the creation of the Cheeky Pandas. The biggest difference between South Park and Cheeky Pandas is that the Cheeky Pandas are soulless. Those who make them, as the Psalmist says, become like them; so do all who trust in them.
Comments 5