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This weekend: "Framing Tintin" film series

Publicity

Are you like me — excited and a bit trepidatious about Steven Spielberg’s upcoming silver screen adaptation of Tintin? The Adventures of Tintin is set to open in the U.S. on December 21 — it’s already opened to huge numbers in Europe — and just in time to prepare, Cinebeasts and the Spectacle Theater are putting together a Tintin film festival in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, this weekend. And I’m (peripherally) involved.

The “Framing Tintin” series is an attempt to reconcile “the world-renowned boy reporter with his murky cinematic past, and [get] at the truth of why Hergé’s beloved hero has never made a perfect journey from page to screen.” The series features five French films made over a 25-year period (most of which have never before been screened in the US), as well as the 2003 documentary Tintin et Moi, “as close a psychiatric evaluation of Hergé as has ever been made public.” As the series notes, the films include “two dazzling live-action comedy adaptations, two earnest attempts at reproducing Hergé’s signature style in an animation studio, and an early stop-motion rarity.”

Guest speakers/presenters include the very brilliant Bill Kartalopolous and the very talented Jason Little; I’ll be doing a short humorous presentation on how I’ve been ripping off Tintin in one way or another my whole career.

I’m really excited to see these films — some, like The Lake of Sharks and The Blue Oranges, I have comic book adaptations of but have never seen, and many of the others I didn’t even know existed. Hard to beat the price, too: $5 admission for each movie; 2-for-1 admission for the Saturday and Sunday matinees! Here are the details, times, and dates:

FRAMING TINTIN Film Series at the Spectacle Theatre: 124 S. 3rd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Friday 12/16
(with guest presenters Bill Kartalopolous and Josh Neufeld)
7PM: Tintin et Moi (2003)
9PM: The Crab with the Golden Claws (1947)

Saturday 12/17
3PM: Tintin and the Temple of the Sun (1969)
5PM: Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece (1961)

Sunday 12/18
(with guest presenter Jason Little)
3PM: Tintin and the Lake of Sharks (1972)
5PM: Tintin and the Blue Oranges (1964)

 

Seth Kushner's HARVEY PEKAR Tribute

Comics, Publicity, Tribute

Today is the one-year anniversary of Harvey Pekar‘s death. One of the more extraordinary homages appearing today is Seth Kushner’s photo comic, "Harvey Pekar: Tribute to ‘Our Man.’" (It’s #25 of Seth’s CulturePop series on ACT-I-VATE.) Weaving wonderful photos of Harvey with Pekar’s own words, it takes the reader through his remarkable life and career. People like Harvey’s wife Joyce Brabner, the filmmakers behind the American Splendor movie, and collaborators like Dean ( ) Haspiel, Jeff () Newelt, and Joseph Remnant make appearances as well. (Oh, and I’m in there too.) It’s memoir, it’s photography, it’s comics — it’s Seth’s unique form of creative expression. Please check it out: http://act-i-vate.com/104-25-1.comic.

P.S. Another nice tribute is KCRW’s re-broadcast of a 2003 conversation between Harvey and Elvis Mitchell: http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tt/tt030813harvey_pekar

Brooke Gladstone's THE INFLUENCING MACHINE Book Tour

Influencing Machine, Publicity

I’m a bit tardy in posting this, but better late than never. My Influencing Machine co-author Brooke Gladstone is out on tour right now, presenting the book to eager bookstore and convention audiences everywhere. She’s already hit Book Soup in L.A., and and been on Seattle’s The Conversation (KUOW FM), but here’s her upcoming schedule (plus a few events we’ll be doing together). Hopefully you can make it to an event near you…

As more events get added, I’ll be sure to add them.

The AP on THE INFLUENCING MACHINE

Influencing Machine, Publicity

Dinesh Ramde of the Associated Press has reviewed The Influencing Machine, which means his review is wending its way through the nation’s newspapers and media venues. (It’s already appeared in the Washington Examiner, Newsday, and on ABC News’ website.) It’s a nice review, though he actually faulted my drawings for possibly being "so good they distract from the content of the book"! He goes on later to write, "While animation in comic books might provide context that adds to the action, these drawings sometimes provide humor or eye candy that draws enough attention that the reader has to reread the previous dialogue bubble to return to Gladstone’s train of thought." Still, Ramde writes, "Distractions aside, Gladstone still tells a compelling story. It’s easy to imagine The Influencing Machine becoming mandatory reading in journalism classes around the country." That would be nice!

Booklist reviews INFLUENCING MACHINE!

Influencing Machine, Publicity

Booklist has just reviewed The Influencing Machine, and since there’s no link yet, I’m attaching the text here:

The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media. Illustrated by Josh Neufeld
The cohost of NPR’s On the Media says she has always wanted to write a comic book, and here, with the indispensable aid of nonfiction alt-cartoonist Neufeld (A Few Perfect Hours, 2004; A.D.: New Orleans after the Deluge, 2009), she merges that dream with her vocation to tell the story of news media and dissect the practice of reporting. First, however, she explains her chosen title by sketching the sad, historic cases of James Tilly Matthews and Natalija A., who believed machines were controlling their minds—which makes one wonder if the topic at hand might be, say, conspiracy theories, or Fox News. But no, it’s the real media, beginning with the Incas, Herodotus, and the Acta Diurna of the Roman Senate. The history’s always interesting, though, of course, a matter of tidbits, but the discussion of reportorial ideas, especially objectivity, and what psychological research has revealed about how people receive news and opinion is enthralling. Placing a simply caricatured Gladstone on every illustrated page (occasionally, what she writes defies pictorialization), Neufeld assures a bright aura throughout. — Ray Olson

The Dragon A.D. podcast

A.D., Publicity

The Dragon, a retailer based in the Kitchener/Guelph region of Ontario, just posted a podcast about A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge — and much more. Store owner Jenn, who was recently in New Orleans on a Habitat for Humanity excursion, discusses the book and present-day NOLA with store manager Amy. The conversation then segues into a discussion of the recent Sendai earthquake and tsunami. It’s a wide-ranging and serious discussion of the topics — just the sort of thing I hoped A.D. would spark. Check it out; well worth it.

INFLUENCING MACHINE Starred Review at Kirkus

Influencing Machine, Publicity

The first review has come in for The Influencing Machine, my forthcoming collaboration with Brooke Gladstone, and it’s a Starred Review from Kirkus!

Though the graphic format employed here is often playful and always reader friendly, this analysis of contemporary journalism is as incisive as it is entertaining, while offering a lesson on good citizenship through savvy media consumption.

As co-host of NPR’s "On the Media," radio veteran Gladstone must have gotten a change-of-pace kick out of a project so dependent on visuals in general and her own caricature in particular. She finds an ideal collaborator in artist Neufeld, whose A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge (2009) could be categorized as graphic journalism. While the current technological revolution has many claiming that journalism has reached a state of crisis, if not obsolescence, the author takes a longer view, emphasizing not only that “we’ve been here before,” but that “Everything we hate about media today was present at its creation.” Instead of wringing her hands over manipulation and distortion, as well as the pesky impossibility of objectivity, Gladstone focuses more of her attention on biases that are institutional rather than ideological. Among them: commercial bias toward “conflict and momentum” (the narrative momentum that attracts readership), the access bias that results in self-censorship, the fairness bias that makes it seem like two sides have equal weight (when there could be many sides). The author also shows how every president eventually considers the press an adversary, and why war reporting tends to be particularly problematic (“Every media bias shows up in war reporting, in spades.”) Ultimately, she urges a democracy that relies on media to share responsibility “by playing an active role in our media consumption.”

While some may see a sign of bias in the author’s own media affiliation, this historical analysis of how and why media and society shape each other should prove illuminating for general readers and media practitioners alike.

Tomorrow: New Haven Summer Comics Fest!!!

Publicity

Yo yo yo, I’ll be at the New Haven Summer Comics Fest tomorrow, and you should come too. It’s all part of New Haven’s 2010 Street Fest, which will includes two stages of live bands (all day and into the night), a rockabilly car show, skateboard demo, booze, food, arts and crafts, and representatives from all your favorite underground subcultures! The Comics Fest will feature a busy sales floor of cartoonists and mini-comics creators, and a full slate of panels and presentations. And it’s all free (donation requested)! Check it out:

  • Sam Henderson and Danny Hellman will join Andrew Bonia and Peter Cunningham
  • Cheese Hasselberger, Lauren Barnett, and Prof. William Foster III discuss the role of comics in changing global media
  • R. Sikoryak will do an adaptation presentation [not to be missed!]
  • And I will be the NHSCF “keynote” speaker, doing my patented A.D. presentation

Other day-time entertainments include a twenty-minute film fest! The evening festivities will be:

  • Craig Yoe‘s “Secret Identity” Presentation/Live Action Recreation
  • “on the couch” interviews
  • a comix dating game
  • burlesque performances set to the recorded music of R. Crumb!

If you’re in New England you can’t miss this! Details:

New Haven Summer Comics Fest
ORBIT Art Gallery
Sat., June 26
118 Court St.
New Haven, CT
12 noon – 2 a.m.

Sketching, Speaking, and Signing at MoCCA

A.D., Publicity

This Sunday, April 11, at the annual Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) Art Fest, I’ll be a “special guest,” sketching, speaking, and signing…

From 1-1:30, I’ll be at the MoCCA Sketch Table, donating my time to create original sketches for festival attendees. The primary purpose of the sketch table is to create a fun way to fund-raise for the museum. Festival-goers pay either $25 dollars for a “headshot” or $35 for a “full body” sketch.

From 2-3, I’ll be taking part in the panel discussion Sequential Activism: Saving the World, One Panel at a Time. Moderator Brian Heater (Daily Crosshatch) will lead us to explore the history of subversive political comics, from political cartoons to World War III Illustrated. Along with Bill Ayers (To Teach: The Journey in Comics), Peter Kuper (WWIII Illustrated, Oaxaca), Tom Hart (Hutch Owen), and Ward Sutton (Sutton Impact). Should be fascinating.

From 3:30-4:30, I’ll be at the Pantheon table, signing copies of the Eisner Award-nominated A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge. Come on by and say hi.

See ya Sunday!

MoCCA Fest 2010
April 10–11
69th Regiment Armory at 68 Lexington Avenue (25th Street), New York City
$12 at the door ($20 for both days)

NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition @ MoCCA

Plug, Publicity

What would you say if I told you that you had the chance to see original artwork by the likes of Peter Arno, Robert Crumb, Jack Kirby, Moebius, Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, Lauren Weinstein, Gahan Wilson, and Basil Wolverton — all in one place, at one time? And what if I mentioned that the same show featured artwork by Alex Ross, Alison Bechdel, Ben Katchor, Carol Tyler, Charles Burns, Charles Addams, Charles M. Schulz, Craig Thompson, Daniel Clowes, Dave Cooper, Geof Darrow, Gilbert Hernandez, Harvey Kurtzman, Henry Darger, Howard Cruse, Hugo Pratt, Ivan Brunetti, Jaime Hernandez, James Sturm, Jason Little, Jeff Smith, Jim Woodring, Joe Matt, Jules Feiffer, Julie Doucet, KAZ, Keith Knight, Leela Corman, Maurice Sendak, Nick Bertozzi, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), Tim Burton, Tom Hart, Tomer + Asaf Hanuka, Tony Millionaire, Peter Bagge, Peter Kuper, R. Sikoryak, Ralph Bakshi, Raymond Pettibone, Rick Parker, Seth, Shel Silverstein, Walt Kelly, Will Eisner, and Winsor McCay? You’d be like, “Get out of town! Nobody could mount such an incredible show!” Well, you’ll be shocked to learn that the show exists! And it’s on exhibit right now! So get down to the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) right now, until May 30, to check it out. (And I hope you won’t be deterred by the fact that the show also features some pieces by some hack named Josh Neufeld…)

By the way, that’s just a small sampling of the more than 200 artists taking part in Neointegrity: Comics Edition, curated by artist Keith Mayerson. Produced like a 19th Century salon, the show stuffs more than 500 framed pieces of art into MoCCA’s intimate gallery space. Here’s some material from the press release: “Originally conceived as a utopic attempt to begin an art movement, the first installment of the NeoIntegrity show was held in the summer of 2007 at Derek Eller Gallery in New York City. That show incorporated over 180 fine artists, with some cartoonists and illustrators mixed in to breach questions of high and low, rarified and pluralistic. NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition takes the proposal a step further, showing the relatability of creators harnessing the iconographic vehicle to express themselves and to tell stories for a culture to understand itself in order for it to become a better place.”

Sadly, having just returned from overseas, I missed the opening last Friday, but here are a couple of shots stolen from the SVA Continuing Education blog, which gives a sense of the show. I can’t wait to visit the space in person and soak in all that incredible graphic expression.

NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition
NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition