Posted in: Comics | Tagged: bill watterson, Comics, entertainment, richard thompson

Tuesday Runaround – High School Comic Con

THE TEARS OF A CROWD

The Bill Watterson/Richard Thompson exhibition in Ohio has opened.

"However, there was nothing more rewarding and simply beautiful than watching Richard show up that night, to see over 400 people in the galleries — who stood there enthralled with his work, letting out both laughter and tears," McGurk continued. "For some longtime fans who came out that night, revisiting 'Cul de Sac' and 'Richard's Poor Almanac' was like reminiscing with an old friend. For others who were unfamiliar with his work, it was like discovering America — this rich, diverse, and incredible thing that had been there all along but that they never knew about, and now had the chance to explore."

TRIPPING IN LANGUAGE.

Remember "comic book imagery" as a derogatory phrase when describing, say, the images placed on tabs of LSD? We've had a change and it's all thanks to Will Eisner.

The drug is often represented as legal marijuana, and packaging typically features graphic-novel type imagery and names such as Bliss and Spice marketing the drug to teenagers with whom the drug is most popular.

GOING BACK TO HIGH SCHOOL

The Hawthorne High School Comic Con, on Saturday May 10th in New Jersey, has bigger names than comic cons twenty times its size… which is what heppens when it's organised by the guy who used to run the Big Apple Comic Cons, Allan Rosenberg, who teaches there. The guest list includes Walt Simonson, Joe Staton, Herb Trimpe, Tom Palmer, Jack C. Harris, Bob Wiacek, Trevor Von Eeden, Steve Mannion, John Workman, Doug Baron, Mike Lilly, Guy Dorian, Ian Dorian, Ken Gale, Mercy Van Vlack, Bob Pinaha, Paul Bonono, Rick Man, Glen Whitmore, Janet Hamlin, Rudy Nebres, James Sherman and more, with a visit from the Joe Kubert School. $5 admission.

THE ZOMBIE INVASION BALL

The zombie invasion begins at 5pm in Utah's state capital. Zombie and survivor alike have been invited to the festivities. The Zombie invasion is a Pre-Salt Lake comic-con event to get people pumped for the event and is hosted by comic-con and Al Zombie Walk alike.

Last year's inaugural Comic Con blew far past initial attendance expectations, eventually requiring a change in venue to a larger location. The event brought thousands of people flocking to the Salt Lake Valley, and clinched the title of largest first-year Comic Con in the United States. That blow-out trend is expected to continue with next month's FanX event, which is anticipated to reach capacity at over 100,000 people.

A REDDER SUN

Pop Matters looks at a history of Japan… at least, part of it.

Much of Shigeru's historical sequences are taken from black and white photos of the war, likely driven by his hobby of collecting newspapers as a child. And his childhood plays predominantly into the storyline, as does his capricious narrator, Rat Man, who appears seemingly from behind the frames to guide you through the murky dates and military battles. Rat Man (the Japanese equivalent to Mickey Mouse) is the Virgil to our Dante, the stoic guide who has seen ahead and holds a cool, Zen personality. For Rat Man—and maybe for Shigeru, a soldier himself who last an arm in the war—the events of history are tragic, but unavoidable. The path has been laid before us, the past is set in stone.

BELIZE IN YOURSELF

Valley Life sees how one writer transforms trauma into comics…

MW: How does the experience you felt in Belize fit into what you write?

AG: It's definitely worked its way into some of my stories. From time to time, I mention a presence that some of the characters feel. …It's something that you can't see, but you're aware of, and it's aware of you. I'm sure that it's an influence from what I felt when I was at the Mayan ruins.

MW: Why did you choose horror?

AG: I think that it's because you live in the real world, and when you're faced with something horrific, you can take a step out of it, take a step back. When I read a horror story, it's not about the horror. It's about sympathy and feeling sympathetic towards the characters – and being glad that it's not you. A lot of people ask why I write horror. I write it because I like to try to take a step back from the real world and present that world with something horrific that's not always a straight monster, whoever the antagonist is. It's usually a symbol for something bigger. …One of my stories, "Sneakers," is about a homeless man. It's not scary in a supernatural way, but in the fact that it happens in real life and that people are trying to survive every day.

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