Not to miss: Dave interviews Todd Depastino

April 20, 2008 on 1:02 pm | In Graphic Novelties, Interviews

With all the New York Con news hitting the Big WU, I’m awful afraid some of you might miss Dave’s very in depth interview with Todd Depastino, editor of Willie & Joe: The World War Two Years a collection of Bill Mauldin’s WWII strips and biographer of Mauldin himself.

So, please go look at that before you read about the new Secret Invasion tie-ins or whatever.

The cartoons are really quite good, and they make you think:

RASL Release Party: My one good photo

April 20, 2008 on 12:58 pm | In Cartoonists, Events, Graphic Novelties

As I was saying earlier, I had the opportunity to hang out at the CBLDF sponsored RASL release party in Manhattan on Wednesday night, and although the supremely awesome Jeff Smith isn’t actually a guest at NYCC, the whole event felt like the calm before the storm/the nights before Christmas/the last chance to drink moderately all weekend long.

It also provided the first opportunity for my to try out Wizard Staff Photographer Dylan Brucie’s giant, super-powered Camera Monster 5000 which I was barely able to function with except to snap this shot of Smith, his wife and Cartoon Books publisher Vijaya and Toon Books Publisher Francoise Mouly. See?

Frank Miller was there too, but by the time I figured out how to properly try and take his picture, he mysteriously disappeared into the night, hat in hand. The Beat has some photos of such things however, even though she wasn’t even there.

HOW DOES SHE DO IT?

P.S. - Yeah, I know it’s kinda a huge photo right now. I haven’t been able to post images in two days for some reason, and when this came through, I figured I’d go with it while I could. I’ll fix later. Promise.

Eisner Noms Are Out

April 14, 2008 on 3:14 pm | In Events, Graphic Novelties

In news that no one on earth will read here first, The Beat posts the nominees for the 2008 Will Eisner Awards.

In a shocker, Indie Jones was nominated in zero categories.

At first glance, it seems like a big year for some of Dave and I’s favorite books including Fred Chao’s Johnny Hiro, James Stokoe’s Wonton Soup and the Bá/Cloonan/Moon/Lolos/Grampa cabal’s super bitchin’ 5.

Also, props to Tim and Laura at Comic Foundry for crashing the list of established folks in the Journalism category.

Also, I still think that “Special Recognition” is a way stupider and less classy name for the category that used to be called “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition.”

Also, I was joking about us getting nominated. Calm down.

- KP

It would be crazy…

April 1, 2008 on 11:47 pm | In Graphic Novelties

…if this were real.

But it’s probably, sadly, just a gag.

But Pancake Lover is not, so scroll down and read it, suckas.

Berberian & Dupuy Rock My World

March 7, 2008 on 7:45 pm | In Events, Graphic Novelties, Interviews

Wednesday night, I had the distinct pleasure of heading downtown in NYC to see Charles Berberian and Philippe Dupuy speak about their work and then wrote about it for the Big WU. “Who are Charles Berberian and Philippe Dupuy?” you may be asking. Well, theoretical reader, let me enlighten you.

Berberian and Dupuy are a pair of highly acclaimed French cartoonists best known for their character Monsieur Jean and for their singular working practice of entirely writing and drawing all of their comics together. I have to admit, I wasn’t super familiar with their work before going to the event (which was moderated by the always cool Matt Madden), but after hearing the pair speak, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if their comics are half as engaging and entertaining as the artists are (and from what I’ve read they are) I’m going to be buying everything they’ve had translated to English.

Aside from learning plenty about Berberian and Dupuy’s work and Euro comics in general (I finally know how to pronounce “Angouleme” correctly), I think the best part of the whole event was finding out how funny both artists were. Dupuy (above on the left) was not quite as fluent in English as his partner, but he continually made jokes at his own expense in regards to the language barrier, particularly when performing a silly female voice while reading from their comics. And Berberian had more than a few good zingers about everything from drawing with a giant pencil to endangering babies in film shoots. My favorite bit that didn’t quite fit into my write up was this segment when the partners explained the story behind their Monsieur Jean short Love And The Concierge:

PD: This is a true story. My own concierge, she came with my mail, and she asked me ‘What kind of job are you doing, Mr Dupuy? I don’t understand because you are always at home.’ And you had the same problem at the same time.

CB: I was living with my girlfriend at the time, and she used to have a steady job. She would leave home at 9:00 in the morning. At five past 9:00 or ten past 9:00 Philippe would arrive…

PD: At work! [Laughter]

CB: I could feel that the concierge, she was trying to ask what the hell we were doing upstairs all day long. We never answered. I think she died not knowing.

For anyone wanting to get another take on the event, check out the Satisfactory Comics blog write up, and to purchase some of Berberian and Dupuy’s translated work, visit the home page of their English publisher Drawn & Quareterly. Like now!

- KP

Observed at the Borders on 59th Street in Manhattan

March 5, 2008 on 3:27 pm | In Graphic Novelties

The above is the cleanest camera phone shot I was able to get of where Borders is racking Blue Pills: A Positive Love Story, European cartoonist Frederik Peeters’ memoir about being in a relationship with someone who is HIV positive. Now, I’m not saying I know everything or anything about how to sell books across the nation, but is “Diseases and Conditions” really the section of the store where this comic is going to have the most impact?

I mean, I know that I’m already predisposed to looking for comics everywhere I go, but if graphic novels are the “growing category” we keep hearing they are, I’m going to bet there are more casual readers walking into Borders going “Gee, maybe I’ll see what this graphic novel thing is all about” than there are folks saying “Gee, I wonder if there’s a section with books of various genres that are all about AIDS.” And that’s not even counting folks who may have read a review of Blue Pills and then came looking for it.

I just thought it was odd is all.