GENE DEITCH ANIMATES FEIFFER AGAIN
Gene Deitch and Jules Feiffer have completed the first of two animated projects based upon Feiffer's children's books, Deitch confirms via e-mail. Deitch and Feiffer previously collaborated in 1960 on the Oscar-winning animated short "Munro," and have reunited "at the request of my long-time client, Weston Woods Studios," says Deitch. "Their producer, Paul Gagne, asked me if I could induce Jules to let them adapt two of his books into animated films for them, for American and worldwide school, library, and home video markets... we joyfully agreed to adapt two of his great children's books, BARK, GEORGE and I LOST MY BEAR."

"Bark, George," described by Deitch as a "shaggy dog story," has already been completed and is listed on Scholastic's website as a seven-minute short with narration by John Lithgow. "We are now about half-way through the animation of I LOST MY BEAR, also 2D full animation, and it looks very promising!" says Deitch. "BEAR is much more of a story, with real insight into child/parent/sibling relationships, and we have great hopes for it. The story is about a 7-year-old girl, voiced by Jules' teen-aged daughter."

Deitch described as well the origin of his long-standing relationship with Feiffer: "In 1954 Jules showed up at our UPA/New York studio. I wasn't able to give him a steady job there, but he tried out as my assistant on the comic strip, 'Terr'ble Thompson,' I was then developing at the time. However, when I was named creative director of CBS Terrytoons in 1956, I was able to give him his first full time employment, and he worked on many of our stories, including some Tom Terrific episodes. All of this climaxed when I left Terrytoons and set up Gene Deitch Associates, inc. my own studio in New York. Jules made a series of 12 hilarious promotional drawings for me, and of course submitted his storyboard for MUNRO, which I ultimately directed in Prague, and which won us our Oscar."
INFO: Scholastic
LINK: Gene Deitch
posted by Egon on Thursday, November 27, 2003

IMP LAID TO REST
"Imp" publisher Dan Raeburn announces the demise of that publication in a November 14 Chicago Reader article spotted by the Comics Journal's "iJournalista!" website. "Historietas Perversas," the fourth issue in Raeburn's self-published series of dedicated comics exegeses, only sold 500 of its 6,500-copy print run. "I'm not burned-out, I'm cashed out," says Raeburn. Raeburn is currently working on a volume about Chris Ware for the "Monographics" series, published by Laurence King Publishing in the UK and by Yale University Press in the U.S. The Ware book is due in fall, 2004.
INFO: The Chicago Reader
posted by Egon on Thursday, November 27, 2003

UF FOUNDS IMAGETEXT
The University of Florida has founded ImageText, an online academic journal established to "advance the academic study of comic books, comic strips, and animated cartoons." The journal, under the direction of General Editor Donald Ault, will run peer-reviewed papers "that investigate the material, historical, theoretical, and cultural implications of visual textuality... ImageTexT will include reviews of current scholarship in the field, announcements regarding relevant conferences and upcoming publications, and links to other theoretical projects of interest to readers. ImageTexT will also provide currently unavailable English-language translations of seminal essays of comics theory." The journal's edtorial board includes Will Eisner, M. Thomas Inge, David Kunzle, Roger Sabin and Joseph Witek, among others.
INFO: ImageTexT
posted by Egon on Thursday, November 27, 2003

INTRODUCING ALBERT CHARTIER
Jeet Heer surveys the career of 91-year old Quebecois cartoonist Albert Chartier for Canada's National Post. "For almost 60 years, from 1943 until 2002, Chartier drew the monthly comic strip Onésime for Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs, a magazine that, like The Old Farmer's Almanac, remains a fixture of rural Québécois life." The forthcoming fifth volume of the Drawn & Quarterly anthology will run "70-plus pages of Chartier's art, including a healthy sampling of Onésime and many lively magazine illustrations."
INFO: The National Post
posted by Egon on Thursday, November 27, 2003

THE FIGURATIVE FEININGER
The Hamburger Kunsthalle currently exhibits "Lyonel Feininger: Pictures of People: An unknown world," a show dedicated to Feininger's figurative artwork. "Although the artist’s figurative output has been included in the major survey exhibitions of Feininger's work to demonstrate an early phase of his career, this specific and important element of his oeuvre as a whole has never before been the subject of a large-scale exhibition. For the first time, therefore, this presentation of around 30 paintings, one sculptural piece and a considerable number of works on paper sets out to explore in detail Feininger’s figural compositions dating from 1907 onwards, initially based on his cartoon drawings but quickly developing into an entirely autonomous pictorial world." The exhibit runs through February 1, 2004.
INFO: Hamburger Kunsthalle
posted by Egon on Thursday, November 27, 2003

SACCO SPEAKS TO PW
Drawn and Quarterly's website reprints an interview with Joe Sacco that ran in the November 24 issue of Publisher's Weekly. Sacco talks particularly about his latest book, "The Fixer," and more generally about his methodology: " People and other journalists take me seriously. No one's bothered that I do comics. In fact, it helps me. When I travel and show people my books, there is no language barrier." Sacco also reveals that his next book, "about Rafah, a refugee camp in Gaza...will be published by Metropolitan Books," a division of Henry Holt.
INFO: Drawn and Quarterly
posted by Egon on Thursday, November 27, 2003

CRUIKSHANK'S LINES AND DOTS
The latest installment of Coconino World's periodical "Coconino Webdo" includes a number of 19th century picture stories in addition to art and comics by contemporary artists. Much of the 19th century material is from "The Picture Magazine," including an eleven-panel 1858 story by Thomas Onwhyn called "Nothing to Wear," and George Cruikshank's "Striking Effects Produced by Lines and Dots - For the Assistance of Young Draftsmen." "Lines and Dots" is an 1817 print by Cruikshank that was reprinted in "The Picture Magazine," according to Thierry Smolderen's announcement to the Platinum Age Comics mailing list. The image is a series of four minimialistically drawn strips depicting stick-like characters engaging in various activities and speaking via speech balloons. The website also runs a drawing by Gustave Doré and a short color strip by Cliff Sterrett.
INFO: Coconino World
INFO: Yahoo Groups: Platinum Age Comics
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

ICAF 2004 CFP
The International Comic Arts Festival (ICAF) Executive Committee invites proposals for the academic conference's ninth annual meeting, scheduled for September 30 – October 2, 2004 in Washington, D.C. "For its scholarly presentations, ICAF prefers argumentative, thesis-driven papers, clearly linked to larger critical, artistic or cultural issues. We strive to avoid presentations that are merely summative or survey-like in character. Where possible, papers should be illustrated by relevant images (e.g., slides, transparencies). In all cases, presentations should be timed to finish within the strict limit of TWENTY (20) MINUTES. " Proposals no longer than 300 words should be submitted to Charles Hatfield by February 27, 2004, and can be sent via e-mail to: charles.hatfield@csun.edu. "All proposals will be subject to blind review by the ICAF Executive Committee... Submitters should expect to receive confirmation of acceptance or rejection by 30 April 2004." A venue for the upcoming event has yet to be determined.
INFO: ICAF
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

JOE SACCO RADIO
Joe Sacco appeared on the November 14 edition of "On the Media" on WNYC radio. Sacco spoke about his work in general and commented particularly on "Meanwhile in America," a campaign diary he is currently drawing for Washington Monthly. "The idea is not to follow the campaign around or even pay particular attention to the details of what a candidate is saying," says Sacco. "I don't want to just have sort of a diatribe about politics, but I want to show it in the context of real life, in real life you sit on the toilet, in real life you're having an argument over a meal, in real life you're wash--washing the dishes." Sacco's interview is available online in transcript form and as a streaming audio file.
INFO: WNYC
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

HOT DOG
Andy Konky Kru's "Dachshund" early comics website features a number of new additions, including early work by Rudolf Dirks, George Herriman and Fred Opper.
INFO: Dachshund
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

COMICS IN THE TIMES
The Poynter Online website details the development of a comic strip on that ran in the November 18 New York Times "Metro" section. The comic strip, by Campbell Robertson, "a clerk on the Metro desk at the Times," relates an evening spent on the job with a celebrity photographer in New York. "In the finished piece, word balloons represent live, on-the-scene quotes -- words Robertson actually heard while out with the paparazzi," writes Robin Sloan. "The caption boxes are narration and quotes that Robertson got later, over the phone... That distinction is interesting. What are the rules of comics journalism, anyway? What are the conventions?" The comic strip is reproduced on the Poynter website.
INFO: Poynter.org
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

NEW FERRAILLE
BD News announces a new issue of Ferraille Illustré and reprints a full table of contents for the Albigensian comics anthology magazine.
INFO: BDNews
LINK: Supermarche Ferraille
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

THE SHADOW OF NO TOWERS
Art Spiegelman is among New Yorkers surveyed in a November 21 New York Times piece on plans being discussed to build a memorial at the World Trade Center site. "I think this is the worst time in our history to have to come up with a memorial," said Spiegelman. "Because the meanings of the tragic events of Sept. 11 have been so hijacked themselves. Whatever we try to make of this event right now will be distorted by the deep fissure in our political life in America."
INFO: The New York Times
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

RIGHT SEUSS, LEFT SEUSS
Two separate columns in the National Review and the Globe and Mail offer political interpretations of Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Giesel's children's books. Both pieces refer to a quotation by Giesel: "I'm subversive as hell... The Cat in the Hat is a revolt against authority, but it's ameliorated by the fact that the cat cleans up everything in the end. It's revolutionary in that it goes as far as Kerensky and then stops. It doesn't quite go as far as Lenin."
INFO: The National Review
INFO: The Globe and Mail
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

BABOSAS AND ONIONS
The current Onion A. V. Club's book review section includes a review of Gilbert Hernandez's "Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories." The book, Noel Murray writes, is "filled with some of the most vital comic art ever produced, where even the mistakes are thick with emotional intensity."
INFO: The Onion A. V. Club
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

TIME FOR COMICS
Time magazine's online comics columnist Andrew Arnold concludes his two-part celebration of the graphic novel with a suggested list of twenty-five books currently in-print that might serve "as a guide for creating a well-rounded library of adult-level material that reflects the history, diversity and current trends of graphic literature."
INFO: Time Magazine
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003

RED ARMY'S RANKS SWELL
In separate posts to the Comics Journal's message board, Jordane Crane announces new weekly strips exclusive to his "Reddingk" website in addition to those previously reported. Tom Devlin's comics will run on the site every Friday, with strips by Jane d'Rancor running Thursdays.
INFO: Reddingk
INFO: The Comics Journal
posted by Egon on Sunday, November 23, 2003