Post Thanks
Oh my, but things happened during the extended break time for the blog; the American version of Thanksgiving, of course, but also the travel associated with same (ugh), a birthday of note (that of Jon Rosenberg¹, who is killing it with the Trump comics these days because you have to laugh), some weekend EMT duty, pie, and the gift of a really excellent book that I am enjoying the hell out of.
Oh, yeah, and some webcomics things happened since we last saw each other. Let’s do it.
- Honestly, I expected to see a lot more of this in the cultural media, or even more in the comics media: Alison Bechdel updated Dykes To Watch Out For for the first time in forever. Cultural touchstone, Eisner laureate, National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, creator of the source material for a musical that’s garnered literally dozens of awards, and — oh, yeah — MacArthur Fellow, Bechdel was a self-syndicated cartoonist for two and a half decades with DTWOF, which for at least a third of that time meant puttin’ ’em up on the web, which means webcomics. It’s a shame that the prompt for the strip was an act of collective national insanity.
- We mentioned Evan Dahm’s Kickstarter for an illustrated edition of Moby-Dick ’bout two weeks back, and we’re happy to report that he’s about 65% of the way to goal with 15 days to go. We’re even happier to note that he spent some time to share with us his process of typesetting the text, to honor the original material while matching with the illustrations. If you’re a type geek, this is the sort of stuff that makes your heart sing.
- For those of you looking to get books for the younger readers in your life in the upcoming gifting season, Gene Luen Yang (best selling author, MacArthur Fellow, Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature) has you covered, bucko. Thanks to the twitterfeed of Yang’s publisher (and all-around wonderful people) :01 Books, we can all check out a list of five recommendations that Yang made adjacent to an interview in the Washington Post (Post staffers add another dozen-plus, both illustrated and not).
- From over the long weekend, there’s a damn good interview with Sophie Goldstein at Paperdroids. It’s deep on process and light on fluff, so dig in.
Updating the charity contributions matching drive²: as of today, you have donated more than US$1200 towards a US$10K goal. Donations will be matched through 20 January.
Spam of the day:
G?t an SUV with the latest cold weather features
I will never own an SUV, and I already have a small station wagon with all wheel drive, wiper-defrosters, and butt-warmers. What more could I need?
______________
¹ Okay, and me, since Jon and I share a birthday. I may have been born six years earlier, but somehow he’s the grumpy old guy and I’m the grumpy moderately younger guy. Proof of my theory that kids age the crap out of you.
² It needs a catchier name. Suggestions welcomed.
In response to the second footnote, may I suggest the Fleen Future Fighters Fund?
By Roo on 11.29.16 2:04 pm
Has it occurred to you that a substantial number of your readers are glad that someone who is arguably one of the most corrupt people to run for President didn’t get elected?
By RonF on 11.30.16 12:07 pm
Has it occurred to you that your assertion, whether true or not — and given that Ms Clinton has never been charged nor convicted of anything resembling corruption, whereas the winner of the election has settled fraud suits, housing discrimination suits, admitted under oath to serial fabulation, and has spent a career cheating tradesmen and vendors of their contractual due, that “arguably” claim is weak tea — is meaningless?
This is my page; it serves my point of view. Last I checked, it’s not mandatory for anybody to read it.
If the expression of my opinions and my calls to action — whether it’s promoting creators I find to be interesting, or promoting political action that I believe will protect them so that they may continue their work — are that troublesome to you, then I suspect neither of us will cry overmuch if you discontinue reading my page.
By Gary Tyrrell on 11.30.16 3:56 pm
And if I might add to what my editor wrote, you’re free to disagree with his opinion but I’ll remark that, since comics is a uniquely personal (especially on the web, no need for a team to make one, contrary to say movies) and accessible medium, it can and has been used by trailblazers, indies, experimenters, etc. of all kinds to publish messages, including political ones, in more or less explicit ways. Maus, Persepolis, Dykes to Watch Out For, of course, but also many more, and it doesn’t make sense to covers comics, particularly indie comics as we do here, without covering their political aspects.
By Pierre Lebeaupin on 12.02.16 1:49 pm
Oh, I’ll quickly agree with you that Trump is by no means suited for the Presidency. I didn’t vote for him. But I also know that “Never charged or convicted of corruption” != “not corrupt”. It can also mean “lots of friends in high places” and “very careful”.
By RonF on 12.03.16 2:20 pm
The above comments are owned by whoever posted them. The staff of Fleen are not responsible for them in any way.