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Friday is Brought to You by Battlin’ Twin Kittehs

Mimi Pond helps keep comics alive in LA Times

Hollywood Forever by Mimi Pond (click to read)

With newspapers continuing to make cuts to their comics pages, we’re really fortunate to see the Los Angeles Times continue to feature Mimi Pond by publishing her ongoing series of op-ed comics about life in LA. For Halloween, the LA Times’ Opinion L.A. blog ran “Hollywood Forever,” a comic about the odd cemetery of the same name in east LA.

Mimi Pond is a local (since 1990 – basically a native!) cartoonist who has had her work published in National Lampoon, The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Boston Globe and others. In 1989, her comics friend Matt Groening asked her to write an episode of his new TV series The Simpsons. That episode, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” ended up being the first episode aired and was later nominated for two Emmy Awards. She also wrote an episode for the fourth season of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and the final season of the sitcom Designing Women. But her heart has remained with comics, contributing to Seventeen Magazine, Adweek, among other publications. She’s also had several collections of her work released with a new original graphic novel currently in the works.

The LA Times has been lucky to have her. Unfortunately it’s tough to find a complete directory of all of her comics on LATimes.com (their search engine is awful). So, here’s my swing at it. Please email with any info on ones I’ve missed or corrections. Most recent is at the top. I’ll try to add to the list as new ones are published and/or posted by The Times.

Cartoonist Ali Ferzat wins Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought

Ali Ferzat at the drawing board (Associated Press)

Still recovering from violent intimidation in August by men either employed by or at least supportive of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, political cartoonist Ali Ferzat was informed last week he would be awarded the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, along with four other members of Arab Spring, a revolutionary movement spreading through multiple countries of the Middle East and the Arab world. It is the first time someone from the world of comics* has won this award, which was started in 1988 by the European Parliament to honor those who have dedicated their lives to the defense of human rights and freedom of thought. The first recipient was the legendary activist Nelson Mandela. The award, which includes 50,000 Euros, will be given on Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011. The organization released the following statement about their selection of Ferzat:

Mr Farzat, a political satirist, is a well-known critic of the Syrian regime and its leader President Bashar al-Assad. Mr Farzat became more straightforward in his cartoons when the March 2011 uprisings began. His caricatures ridiculing Bashar al-Assad’s rule helped to inspire revolt in Syria. In August 2011, the Syrian security forces beat him badly, breaking both his hands as “a warning”, and confiscated his drawings.

The Agence France-Presse spoke with Ferzat about receiving the award. His statement was published in The Daily Star of Lebanon:

“I share this award with all who are deprived of freedom and democracy,” said Farzat, who spoke with AFP by telephone from Kuwait, adding that the prize “spreads hope for the future.”

“Freedom is a message that crosses generations. I dedicate this award to all the martyrs who gave their life for freedom and who have learned the culture of liberty,” he added.

“I salute them, as well as those who take to the streets, everywhere in the world, searching for freedom, democracy and dignity,” the cartoonist continued.

(Ali Ferzat)

Syria has been in the midst of an uprising since March, with protesters demanding the resignation of President al-Assad and the adoption of more political and personal freedoms. It is estimated over 3,000 civilians have been killed with over 30,000 arrested by al-Assad’s forces so far.

(via The Comics Reporter, who relentlessly covers this and other international political cartoons issues)

(*Since most political cartoons are single-panel, and thus sequential-less, some don’t consider them true comics. I’m kind of torn on the matter, but Ferzat’s story and efforts are too significant to get hung up on semantics.)

Improv Comedy this Friday in Santa Monica

Up for a giggle? How about a guffaw? You’ll get both and more at this Friday’s show.

I’m performing with the Magic Meathands at M.i.’s Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica at 8 PM. Tickets are $10 and are good for the two shows immediately after us, The Waterbrains and Mission: Improvable.

We’ll be doing a fully improvised show with a mixture of short-form games and long-form scenarios based on your suggestions. You might even be able to join us on stage, if you’re so inclined. For more info, check out the new Magic Meathands blog and/or our Facebook event listing.

Tag Team Art Battle: Axel Gimenez vs. Chris Faccone / Hordak vs. Skeletor

Here’s a fun collaboration idea with some ’80s nostalgia to give it that extra oomph. Two artists jam on a piece of two characters battling it out.

Axel Giménez (Action Comics) started out drawing the below pencil drawing of Hordak, a villain from the Masters of the Universe franchise (he was the main villain in the spin-off She-Ra: Princess of Power cartoon). Click on the images for larger versions at Axel’s DeviantArt page.

Hordak by Axel Gimenez

He sent that off to Chris Faccone, who added in his half: Skeletor (the main villain of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon), and then went ahead and inked the whole thing.

Hordak vs. Skeletor by Axel Gimenez vs. Chris Faccone

And then Chris colored the whole thing:

Hordak vs. Skeletor: Axel Gimenez vs. Chris Faccone (finished)

Who won?

Friday is Brought to You by Wall-Crawling Kitteh

Comics Speak Up for Darfur at United Nations

Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole, Any Empire)

Award-winning graphic novelist Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole, Any Empire) was among a panel of 9 Young Adult authors that appeared before the United Nations to raise funds and awareness for young refugees of Darfur last week. They spoke about their contributions to a new book called What You Wish For, aimed at bringing hope to a troubled region. Following their UN presentation, they appeared at a book signing at the New York City book store Books of Wonder.

The short story anthology What You Wish For includes a comics contribution by Powell, as well as stories by YA authors such as R.L. Stine (Goosebumps), Ann M. Martin (The Baby-Sitters Club), Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries), poets like Nikki Giovanni, Gary Soto, Naomi Shihab Nye, and others, totaling 18 contributors. The book also includes a foreword by actress Mia Farrow, who serves as a Darfur advocate and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. The book was published by the all-volunteer non-profit organization Book Wish Foundation, with 100% of proceeds from the book’s sales going to UN Refugee Agency UNHCR. The agency will use those funds to build libraries for refugee camps in Chad, which is populated by hundreds of thousands fleeing from horrific violence in neighboring Darfur.

Nate Powell is the only person from the world of comics involved in the book. His story is called “Conjurers”. Powell’s graphic novels have been highly praised for good reason. Swallow Me Whole is a haunting exploration of teenage turmoil amid mental illness. It was selected as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist in the Young Adult category (before there was a graphic novel category), and was named on YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens list by the American Library Association. It also won Ignatz Awards for Outstanding Debut and Outstanding Artist, and the Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel.

You can watch the entire 2-hour UN panel presentation.

How Much Would You Pay for Superman?

Check to buy Superman (March 1, 1938)

How does $130 sound?

That’s what publisher Jack Liebowitz paid to own all of the rights to the character in 1938. Pretty good deal.

Above is the actual check received by Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to buy their new Superman character outright. The check is dated March 1, 1938, and also includes payment for work by the creative partners appearing in comics cover-dated June 1938: $210 for stories appearing in Detective Comics #16 (21 pages in the publisher’s flagship book at the time), and $36 each for work in More Fun Comics and New Adventure Comics (probably issues #32 and #27, respectively). The total comes to $412. Noticeably absent is payment for their work in Action Comics #1, also cover-dated June 1938, although it’s possible that the $130 payment includes both the rights to Superman and compensation for their writing and illustrating the story.

The check is going to auction next year at ComicConnect. On Monday, it was posted to Twitter by Gerry Duggan (writer of The Infinite Horizon and fellow Emerson grad), where it immediately spread like wildfire among the comics community.

Andy Khouri of Comics Alliance has a great write-up that covers the historical significance of this check resurfacing after being assumed lost for decades. It is the beginning of a long and depressing narrative of the fight for creator rights and fair compensation in comics, and the complex series of ugly legal battles between DC Comics and the families of Siegel and Shuster that continues to this day. In 2008, the Siegel Estate was awarded half of the copyright to Superman as he appeared in his earliest comics and newspaper strips, but that ruling is currently being appealed. The Shuster Estate may be able regain its portion of the copyright in 2013. (In what maybe should have been a red flag of the troubles ahead, both Siegel and Shuster’s names on the check were misspelled by Liebowitz.)

The check was also used as evidence in the first comic book copyright lawsuit, Detective Comics, Inc. v. Bruns Publications, Inc. In 1939, Detective Comics sued Bruns regarding the latter’s Wonder Man character, which DC claimed infringed on Superman due to the likeness of their powers. That case was found in DC’s favor, establishing a precedent that led to the more popular Captain Marvel getting similarly squashed 11 years later. These cases allowed Marvel Comics to use both of these names in the 1960s and ’70s without any opposition. It also resulted in the British license of the original Captain Marvel to be reinvented as Marvelman by Mick Anglo in 1952, which is the beginning of a whole other epic battle of legal entanglements that only recently got cleared up (allegedly).

(Hat tip to Scott Shaw!)

7 Billion People in 6 Pages of Comics

7 Billion, Unpacked by Lisa Hymas, Thomas Pitilli & Warp Graphics (Grist)

Even environmental news and commentary site Grist understands the power of comics.

Grist co-founder Lisa Hymas teamed up with illustrator Thomas Pitilli and design studio Warp Graphics to tackle the issue of over-population in a 6-page web-comic titled 7 Billion, Unpacked, which was posted yesterday to the non-profit organization’s website.

As Lisa explains in the intro, the world’s population is estimated to reach 7 billion people at the end of this month, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The comic is part 1 of Grist’s series of articles on the topic. It presents the impact and issues surrounding this milestone with clarity and accessibility in a digestible package. There’s even an extensive footnotes section for all you fact-checkers.

Grist has featured comics before (such as this excellent 8-page comic by Stuart McMillen about the ill-fated reindeer of St. Matthew Island) but to my knowledge this is the first time they’ve commissioned an original comic of their own.

(Hat tip to Dirk Van Fleet)

Magic Meathands auditions this Wednesday

And we’re back!

Thanks for reading my Read It! series over the last week and a half. I might do more of those from time to time, especially since I just read a bunch of great stuff (like Anya’s Ghost!) while on our flights.

Of course, all this big stuff happened in comics while I was back east, and I’ll be commenting on them soon, once I collect my thoughts and get over some jet lag.

For you LA-based actors out there, the improv comedy group I’m in, the Magic Meathands, are holding auditions this Wednesday night. This group is one of my all-time joys. It’s a great group of people with lots of creative encouragement and freedom. We usually perform once a week either at the Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica or the Mary Pickford Studio in West LA, as well as more non-traditional venues, such as homeless shelters, transitional housing and recovery homes. So yes, community outreach is a big part of being a Magic Meathand. We also do sketch comedy on YouTube from time to time, and have workshops and team up with other improv groups and comedy acts. It’s tons of fun! If you’re in the area and interested, email our director Bill Johnson.