Robb Armstrong Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/19/2006 | For these comics creators, not just funny business:East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention reception dinner at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.Armstrong will be honored with an outstanding-achievement award tonight, and he will join the panel discussion on African American images in the cartoon and comic industries tomorrow.
According to E&P, Doonesbury.com has totaled more than 152,000 votes in a poll asking readers where “Doonesbury character” Alex should go to college…. The options are .Rensselaer, Cornell or MIT.As posted earlier here, some of the Universities in question are taking this fictional character quite seriously.
According to Universal Press, “Baldo” creators Hector Cantu and Carlos Castellanos have invited Lela Lee who does a weekly feature called “Angry Little Girls” to do three of six Baldo daily strips beginning May 22…. “Angry Little Girls” features an asian character, Kim.From the news release: During the six-day series, Baldo character Gracie Bermudez (who Cantu and Castellanos describe as a ?little sister with a cause?) and Lee?s cast of Angry Little Girls will join forces to show Baldo readers what real girls are all about.
Subjects include the obligatory questions about how Mark got into cartooning; what Mark did for a living before cartooning became successful enough to support him financially; what make’s Lio different from other strips. When he decided he wanted to try his hand at a second strip, he wanted something significantly different from Heart of the City.”The thing I really wanted to do was something that is new,” he said.
Chris Browne, cartoonist for “Hagar the Horrible” and creator of “Raising Duncan”, has called Sarasota Florida his home for the last 25 years but is moving because of the over development in the city.Sarasota used to be quaint, Browne said…. He could cruise over the bridge to Longboat Key, and the only thing he’d see was “The Purple Cow” — otherwise known as the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.”Now,” he said, “it’s dwarfed by this skyline that looks like Atlanta or Tampa.”It breaks his heart.Chris and his wife will be moving to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Another notable change in the comics page line up this week – this time in the Houston Chronicle…. Mark Tatulli’s feature was officially launched yesterday to over 100 newspapers – the Chronicles now being one of them.
The Winston-Salem Journal has dropped three features: Mark Anderson’s “Spot the Frog,” “Peanuts,” and “Beakman & Jax” – a Sunday only educational strip.On the plus side: Michael Fry and T. Lewis’ “Over the Hedge” and Mark Tatulli’s “Lio” have taken up home on their comic page.
Michael Fry, “Over the Hedge” co-creator, along with film writer and producer Jim Cox have created an internet start-up called RingTales which focus on making animation shorts for mobile devises. The animations will be based on current comic strips.
A while back I mentioned that Doonesbury character Alex Doonesbury was selecting a college and that Rochester Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute were colleges that were being considered. Cornell was also considered and the university actually courted Garry Trudeau in efforts to sway the decision – going as far as mailing admissions material and brochures about the dining halls.
Last week, I told you that Dean Young was opening a sandwich shop franchise…. Interestingly, did you notice Saturday’s strip talked about Dagwood opening up such a store?The sandwich shop now has a web site too.
T. Lewis and Michael Fry with the cast of “Over the Hedge.” ‘ DreamWork SKG Animation. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.Regardless of how well the “Over the Hedge” movie does this upcoming weekend, Michael Fry and co-creator T. Lewis will claim one honor that no other comic strip can boast: “Over the Hedge” will […]
According to a press release by Universal Press, LIO’s client list will include Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times, Denver?s Rocky Mountain News, The St…. Because it is a wordless strip, he also is debuting in Bel De Morgen, a Brussel’s paper.”Mark Tatulli knows how to deliver a punch line as well as anyone in this business, and in this strip he even delivers without words,” adds John Vivona, vice president of sales for Universal Press Syndicate.
Petersburg Times had made substantial pages to their comics page adding “Lio”, “Watch Your Head”, “Dog Eat Doug”, “F Minus” and “Peach Fuzz” among others…. What perhaps wasn’t clear to me was this site was a new online comics site that would also feature “Pickles,” “Snapshots,” “Opus,” “Watch Your Head.”
The title will be “The War Within: One More Step at a Time” and will focus on his B.D. character that lost his leg in Iraq. Proceeds of the book will benefit Fisher House which provides temporary homes for families of injured soldiers being treated at military and veteran medical centers.
From Jim Borgman’s blog comes this pointer to an art exhibit in Virginia that is showcasing Jeff MacNelly’s sculptures that runs May 6th through the 28th in Washington VA. Visit Jim’s blog for more details.You can see some of the artwork online.