Another one of those annual local small press comics fests approacheth, this time Athens, GA’s FLUKE! Details below.

This year’s FLUKE Mini-Comics Festival , sponsored by Bizarro Wuxtry, Flagpole Magazine, Inch-High Button Guy, Top Shelf Productions and Wide Awake Press, will take place on Saturday, April 12 at Tasty World on 312 E. Broad Street, Athens GA from 11:00 AM until 6 PM. Admission is $5.00 for all attendees.

EVENT SPECS
Tables and spaces will be provided for mini comic artists and distributors on a first-come, first-serve basis. All attendees are welcome to bring enough work to fill a small (4′ x 5′) table space. In the interest of providing display space for as many artists as possible, attendees may not use more than one table. Large displays and booths are not permitted at FLUKE, so please do not bring them. You will be asked to keep them in your vehicle.

FLUKE’s STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/ MISSION
FLUKE is a mini-comic festival that has been organized by Athens-area comic artists, underground publishers and their enthusiasts since 2002. Conceived as a venue for the discussion and exchange of timely ideas related to mini-comics, zines, and other independent publications, FLUKE is not a large comic convention or merchandising-saturated extravaganza. This isn’t to say we don’t like our share of stuff–’cause we do. However, we have kept the organization of the event as simple as possible to ensure that it remains focused on work and ideas rather than merchandising.

What have things come to, when even the precocious and eternally cute Hello Kitty is willing to settle a grudge by stepping into the squared circle?

The presser:

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, in conjunction with Gente California and SANRIO Co., LTD., will present the first ever professional wrestling match for the Kitty World Order (KWO). On April 5, 2008, the cheerful Hello Kitty® and mischievous Kuromi® will meet inside the wrestling ring in a classic battle of The Good vs. The Bad. This match between these two beloved characters has been sanctioned by SANRIO Co., LTD. and PWG, and will be part of a live event that will feature PWG World Championship and PWG World Tag Team Championship title matches. The event takes place on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 8:00PM at American Legion Post #308, located at 7338 Canby Ave., Reseda, CA 91335. General Admission tickets for the event are $20. Please visit http://www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com or http://www. gentecal. com for more information.

Posted by Mark Coale

The Baltimore City Paper reviews Scrooged a show of Carl Barks art at the Geppi Entertainment museum. And you will cry:

And “Yukon” is not an example of Barks’ best work, coming as it does from very late in his career, when his art had atrophied into generic Disneyness, unlike his more idiosyncratic, Hal Foster-influenced art from the 1940s and early ’50s. Nor does it contain the satire or hard knocks of his Donald Duck stories from the ’40s-’50s, which were more stories done with kids in mind rather than kids’ stories.

Not that Scrooged’s curators, Arnold T. Blumberg and Andrew Hershberger, had any choice. Nearly all of Barks’ original artwork is gone, tossed in the trash by his publishers–in fact, “Yukon” is the only full story known to exist, the curators say.

The rest of the exhibit is filled out by a number of the oil paintings Barks made in his later years and some other miscellanea: statues, toys, and the like. Unfortunately, those paintings are mostly awful. While they feature good compositions, and some of the later ones do some nice things with lighting and backgrounds, it’s clear that Barks was a cartoonist, not a painter. He could effortlessly express movement and emotion with a few lines, but those same ducks become lifeless dolls–kitsch, and bad kitsch at that–when delineated in another medium.

We’re working on a longer write-up of SPLAT, this past weekend’s Graphic Novel Symposium, for PW Comics Week, but just a quick note to say that it was a fun day for all involved. The atmosphere at The New York Center for Independent Publishing–soaring skylights, ancients banners, hardwood card catalogs — definitely contributed to the atmosphere of serious inquiry, but the high level line-up of speakers and generally well-informed but always engaged audience made it a rewarding experience for everyone who attended.

Despite the high entrance fee, there were good crowds for all the panels we heard about — 50 for Brian Wood’s seminar, as mentioned in another link, perhaps 70-80 for the main room discussions–and they asked great questions throughout.

Gary Tyrell has a very nice write-up and there will doubtless be more over the next few days and hours.

As I told several people on the day, it didn’t feel like the first iteration of a conference; things went smoothly, the panels were informative and had a heady mix of guests and topics, and the library of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen (“By Hammer & Hand All Arts Do Stand”) was a beautiful venue. In fact, the most serious complaint I can come up with is, that in a building that in part houses a plumbing trades school, I’d have expected the hot-water faucet in the loo to work.

The symposium itself was divided into three tracks — one on the what & why of graphic novels; a second on making them; and a third on graphic novels in schools and libraries. I spent most of my time on track one, but crossed over to three — having no pretensions of artistic ability, I left the “how to make ‘em” sessions to those that would benefit.

We’ll have more when we’re off deadline and cranes, investment firms, stock markets and the world economy have stopped falling.

(Above illo from Karen at Pen in Hand’s great illustrated wrap-up.)

The rescheduled HOTWIRE release party–felled by a blizzard on the original date– takes place tonight at Rocketship.

DRINKS! COMICS!! BEEF PATTIES!!(?)

and…….CARTOONISTS!! ZANGO!!!!

Mark Dean Veca
Sam Henderson
R. Sikoryak
Jonathon Rosen
Mark Newgarden
Chadwick Whitehead
Danny Hellman
Craig Yoe
Glenn Head

For ANOTHER take on making graphic mnovels, go to Jim Hanley’s Universe this afternoon for an event with Paul Karasik and the Center for Cartoon Studies:

Friday March 14th, 2008
5 - 7PM

Learn more about
The Center for Cartoon Studies
Certificate & MFA Program
From CCS Students & Paul Karasik

A group of Center for Cartoon Studies will be selling and signing their mini-comics. Cartoonist Paul Karasik will be on hand to answer questions about CCS, review portfolios and sign copies of his latest book, I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets: The Comics of Fletcher Hanks.

The New York Center for Independent Publishing is presenting one of the biggest graphic novel events ever: SPLAT: The First Ever NYCIP Graphic Novel Symposium. With three tracks of programming and a speaker line-up from Brian Wood to Scott McCloud to Alex Cox to Richard Stevens, SPLAT is also one of the most ambitious. Registration is a steep $125, but the workshops and symposiums should be worth it. Details:

9am to 7.30pm including the reception with Scott McCloud
Place: The New York Center for Independent Publishing
The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036
Tel 212 764 7021

You can read the whole panel/workshop line-up here:

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This Tuesday, 3/11 we’ll once again be guests on The Comic Book Club, the weekly talk show about comics. This time we’ll be part of a “State of the Industry Summit” along with Kiel Phegley, John DiBello and Brian Heater. Brian’s announcement of the gig is actually way funnier than anything we could write, but it is always good fun to gchat with Alex, Justin and Pete, and you should some down if you’re in the nabe, or even if you’re somewhat nearby, say on the Eastern Seaboard.

The show starts at 8 and takes place at The Peoples Improv Theater, 154 West 29th Street. Admission is only $5. Cheep!

We’re a little bit recovered from the week’s dizzying array of New York-cenetered events. Wednesday was Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian at Housing Works, moderated by Matt Madden. You can read Madden’s report here. Also recap by Kiel Phegley. We arrived a little latish (but still well before 7:00) and the place was already PACKED. The woman from Worlds Without Borders said it was the biggest crowd they had had for ANY of their events and a producer from NPR was there talking to people–graphic novels are hot!

We already linked to Isaac Cates excellent write up. It was a charming and discursive evening — the focus was not on craft question but more Dupuy and Berberian’s feelings about their work and their working process. We snapped a few photos but weren’t very close to the action. Above you can see (l-r) Madden, Dupuy and Berberian, with the NPR guy in the foreground. Here’s one more.

The crowd was a who’s who of the comics scene. Nick Bertozzi had brought his class from SVA. We ran into our former intern, Cindy Arias, who is much missed, as the ongoing lack of an events calendar here proves. Baby Aldara Madden was on hand. We also saw David Mazzucchelli whose Asterios Polyp will surely be one of the most talked-about graphic novels of 2008. However, Mazzucchelli will not be the one doing the talking, as its been announced that he will be doing no press for the book. Other luminaries spotted: Bob Sikoryak, a bunch of folks from Act-i-vate and Studio Deep Six, PWCW’s Ada Price, Jessica Abel and lots lots lots more. There were even people we didn’t know, new or returning recruits to the Dupuy/Berberian army, hopefully.

THURSDAY, we were off to the Friar’s Club for a “bookwarming” for Drew Friedman’s More Old Jewish Comedians. . Brian Heater already has a fabulous write-up with great photos from the event.

The Friar’s Club, in case you don’t know, is a private club for comedians and old timey Catskill schtickmeisters. The Friars Club Roasts are show business legends, with everyone from Sammy Davis Jr. to Milton Berle to Roger Grimsby having been the targets over the years. Okay Roger Grimsby was a local New York newscaster not a comedian, but the Friars Club is as old New York as you can get, a monument to the days when business was conducted over a cigar and whiskey and not Facebook and Twitter.

Given our love of timeless comedy and Rat Pack-era glamour, we were thrilled to be invited to this shindig. As is our wont, we arrived a bit late, and festivities were already under way, just in time to hear Mickey Freeman finishing up the joke with the punchline “Just enough to win!” This was followed by the joke with the punchline “Doctor, am I getting stronger?” Freeman also mentioned someone who was “so eager to join the Friar’s Club that he had prostrate surgery.”

The Beat was majorly overcome to be in the same room with Jerry Stiller, Larry Storch and…JOE FRANKLIN. “JF!” as fans of the Uncle Floyd Show will recall. Others in attendance, ubiquitous Bob Sikoryak and wife choreographer Kriota Wilberg, Gilbert Gottfried, Len Cariou (The original Sweeney Todd), Kaz, the Royal Flush magazine crew, and Michael Kupperman. We chided Kupperman on the non-appearance of a new issue of Tales Designed to Thrizzle, but he explained he has been busy finishing up an animation project which we aren’t allowed to talk about but it sounds great. We also heard that the next issue of MAD magazine is going to be an ALL-MONKEY issue, so that will be of some interest to our regular readers.

Our camera was kiboshed for the night by low batteries, but we snapped one or two. We can also add that the pigs in blankets at the Friars Club were, for some reason, the best we ever tasted.

Stiller and Friedman

Charles Brownstein, Brian Heater and Nikki Cook converse beneath the Friar logo. Mark Newgarden in the BG.

Note: Friedman and Larry Gelbart will be appearing at Skylight Books in LA on March 29th.

FRIDAY NIGHT it was pouring rain, but we still managed to make it out to Brooklyn to Rocketship for the Leah Hayes party. We hadn’t been there since the still-ongoing remodeling; although the store is a bit narrower it has been redone in a very pleasing way, and the left over show-store slat walls are mostly gone, too. On hand, the usual gang including Brian Heater, Jah Furry, Dash Shaw, who is newly relocated back in New York and Julia Wertz, Above, Hayes poses in the well-stocked store. Our camera still not working, so no more pictures.

As a reminder, we’re always looking for pictures of comics related events. SEND US YOUR LINKS!

Could there BE a cooler comics event?:

You’re all invited to join a stellar group of accomplished cartoonists in the “Friends of the Nib Comics Jam” at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday, March 8 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Celebrated cartoonist and visual artist Jim Woodring will preside over the activities, which will include a guest appearance by New York underground comix legend Kim Deitch. Aspiring cartoonists of all ages are encouraged to participate in this lively session, which will include a rare screening of Deitch’s 1960 short film “Dial M for Monster.”

Fresh off their Gran Prix win at Angouleme, the legendary duo of Dupuy and Berberian come to America. Related: a preview of Dupuy’s Haunted at Vulture. Also, Matt Madden previews tonight’s event.
Words Without Borders and Housing Works Presents
Tales from the Global Village, Part 3:
Straight out of Angoulême
Dupuy & Berberian

Wednesday, March 5th
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
126 Crosby Street, Soho
7:00PM

Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian have been collaborating for twenty-five years, with their most successful comic series, “Monsieur Jean,” selling over 120,000 copies in France. The anthology of their work, Get a Life, won an Angoulême Alph-Art Award, one of the most coveted awards in the comic genre. Their work has appeared in The New Yorker and in drawn & quarterly and Dark Horse Presents. Phillipe Dupuy was born in Paris and Charles Berberian was born in Iraq. After having spent his childhood in Baghdad and later Beirut, Lebanon, Berberian settled as a teenager in Paris where both he and Dupuy continue to live and work. Drawn and Quarterly has translated and published much of their work, including most recently Philippe Dupuy’s Haunted.

Matt Madden, moderator (NYC, 1968) has been doing comics for over 10 years now. He is the author of Black Candy and Odds Off (Highwater Books.) In 1996 Madden began writing reviews for The Comics Journal and other publications, which he continues to do, if infrequently. He is a founding member of the American chapter of the formalist comics group, Oubapo. Madden lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife, Jessica Abel. He works in illustration and comics coloring and also teaches comics at the School of Visual Arts. He is currently working on several new projects, including a comics adaptation of Raymond Queneau’s Exercises in Style; and the new periodical series collecting new work, A Fine Mess, published by Alternative Comics

March 5, 7:30 pm
Parkside Lounge, 317 E. Houston Street, NYC

21+ please, 2 drink minimum
$10 suggested donation to CBLDF (http://www.cbldf.org)

Best Erotic Comics 2008 (Last Gasp), edited by Greta Christina, is a groundbreaking collection featuring today’s top names in the world of comics. At this event, a fundraiser for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, New York’s funniest comedians will “act out” work by Colleen Coover, Jessica Fink, Ellen Forney, Justin Hall, Rolf Konig, Erica Moen, and Dori Seda. Listen, laugh, squirm, and get turned on as they treat you to a night of sex and comedy you won’t soon forget. Hosted by Rachael Parenta and featuring comedians Dan Allen, Sara Benincasa, Jon Friedman, Margot Leitman, Matt McCarthy, Giulia Rozzi and Bex Schwartz.

ComicsPRO the comics retailer advocacy group, is taking over running 24 Hour Comics Day, which was previously administered by About Comics’ Nat Gertler. The org called it a move that “furthers its mission to expand the comics’ market.” Dates for 2008 will be announced soon.

24HCD is a scheduled challenge during which single artists attempt to create a full 24 page comic story in 24 consecutive hours. Past 24HCD events have seen comic pros and aspiring cartoonists participate at special events in comic book stores and other venues around the world. ComicsPRO is taking over the administration of 24HCD as a way to support the creation of new comics’ material and also to promote and support comics’ retailers. Past 24HCD events have generated substantial press coverage for participating cartoonists and retailers. The event also gives retailers a creative way to get involved with public schools, libraries, universities, and local art communities.

Additionally, Ohio State University will house all of the submitted 24 Hour comics’ entries, providing a permanent home to 24HCD archives within its Cartoon Research Library, which already boasts a large collection of original art and regular comic art exhibits.

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Speaking of Indie comics show, CAPE!, the Dallas, TX version, will be held May 3 at a new location:

The WORLD’S BIGGEST Free Comic Book Day Event has gotten so big, we had to move to a new location. CAPE! 4, Comic and Pop-Culture Expo, is back. On Saturday May 3, CAPE! 4 is hosted by Zeus Comics and Toys, PvPOnline.com, and Popsyndicate.com. This elite team of comic experts joins forces once again to bring North Texas a bigger and better Comic and Pop-Culture Expo (CAPE!), than last year – it’s the biggest Free Comic Book Day event in the world.

This year’s list of NEW guest comic book artists and writers includes industry giants Mark Waid, Chynna Clugston, Robert Kirkman, Greg Pak, Jason Pearson, Greg Pak, Matt Sturges and Paul Benjamin. They are joined by returning headliners Gail Simone, David Mack, Mike Huddleston, Tony Bedard, Jim Mahfood, Scott Kurtz, Jamie S. Rich, James O’Barr, Marc Andreyko, Kody Chamberlain, Dave Crosland, Lea Hernandez, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Mercedes Lackey, Ben Dunn, Kristian Donaldson, Kris Straub, Larry Dixon and many more, CAPE! just keeps getting bigger and bigger! For a complete list of guests go to www.capeday.com.

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A smattering of pictures and reports from this weekend’s duo of indie comics shows, SPACE in Columbus, OH and STAPLE in Austin, TX.

David Hopkins has a Flickr set of STAPLE, of which one is at left. Wayne Cheong also went to Staple, and began a collection of artist self portraits called How Do You See Yourself? ADDED: Scott Kurtz on Staple. [HT: Blog@]

Frank Santoro at Comics Comics has a SPACE report:

Went to SPACE in Columbus, Ohio. It was okay. Just no traffic really. The only people walking around checking things out were exhibitors. It felt like that until about 2 or 3 o’clock. I passed out some Cold Heat zines while Jim Rugg signed comics for his legions of fans (3 different people brought all their Street Angel comics, from home, to be signed. I’m not kidding! That shit never happens to me!) A little frustrated early on, I looked up to the end of my aisle — and there was Dave Sim. It’s not 1987 or 1995, it’s 2008, and there’s one of the most recognized figures in comics, still on tour, still hawking his vision.

Max Ink also has a brief SPACE report and mentions that traffic seemed to be down from last year.

:

Multimedia reading and performance
Plus! Dazzling dancer Fuschia FoXXX! (Voted one of the Stranger’s “Sexiest Citizens”!) Scantily-clad boy AND girl sirens, including Holly Chernobyl! (Also voted one of the Stranger’s “Sexiest Citizens”!) Chocolate kisses! More!!

Thursday, February 28, 7pm
Bailey/Coy Books
414 Broadway Ave. E. (across from QFC)

Thursday night, Adrian’s at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, sponsored by the Harvard Bookstore.

Last night, he addressed a SRO crowd at the Librairie Drawn and Quarterly. It was the first time I had seen Adrian’s slide show for Shortcomings. All I can say is, do not miss this slide show. I know, I know, I’m his publicist, but the slide show is charming, funny, reflective, and self-critical. It provides a stripped-down view into his process as an artist–from the way he constructs a page to how he tries to learn from his critics, peers, heroes and himself.

At The D&Q Librarie.

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It’s snowing a gale here in NYC (NB; this weekend last year was New York Comic-Con! Woe betide the return to February in ‘09.)

However, if you are ANYWHERE NEAR ROCKETSHIP you must go to this because HOTWIRE #@ will melt icicles and blast through drifts.

Rocketship proprietor Alex Cox informs us in the comments that this has been CANCELLED for tonight and postponed until March. Smart move!

UPDATE: The new date is March 14th, per head Hotwire Glenn Head.

Stay home and watch CELEBRITY REHAB reruns!

Ben Towle alerts us to a new local comics fest:

Coming up next week, I’ll be appearing at Ma-Con, a one-day comics event held at Macon, Georgia’s Museum of Arts and Sciences in conjunction with their running exhibit, “The Art of Macon Comics.” That exhibit showcases the art of Macon comics artists Craig Hamilton, Ray Snyder and Tony Harris, some of whom local N.C. folks may have seen over the years at Heroes Con. In addition to those three, the event on Saturday the 23rd will also include a ton of other folk listed on the banner below, as well as pals Josh Latta and Brad McGinty, both of whose work you can check out at www.cutegirldemographics.com.

Via the Top Shelf blog.

Over the weekend Frank Miller had a star studded 51st birthday party in Vegas with all the trimmings:

300 and Sin City creator Frank Miller celebrated his 51st birthday Saturday night at CatHouse inside the Luxor after being lured there under the guise of simply dinner with Sin City star Jamie King.

After dinner, Miller was surprised by a number of his Hollywood friends, including Sin City director Robert Rodriguez, actress Rose McGowan (currently engaged to Rodriguez, who directed her in Grindhouse), Sin City star Rosario Dawson, 300’s Gerard Butler, 24 actor Louis Lombardi, Spanglish knockout Paz Vega and CatHouse partner and chef Kerry Simon.

While Frank seems to be quite cmfy in the celebrity world, we did spot a familiar face on the photo page.

The i09 blog’s Kevin Kelly wraps up the Y: The Last Man Party, which featured both Grant Morrison and a monkey.

The event was strictly limited to 140 people, and hopeful attendees were camping out overnight to get some of the “standing room only” tickets that went on sale just before it started. The VIP ticket packages sold out on the web in 6 minutes, which is great since all proceeds were going to the CBLDF. However, we’re sure the creative types in the room didn’t mind avoiding fannish questions like “Um, in episode 7 of Firefly, Jayne wears a green shirt. Does that mean he’s a spy for the Alliance?” Folks were very respectful, and the monkey got most of the attention in the room. It didn’t even fling any poo at all, as far as we noticed.

There’s a nice but impossible to link to photo gallery at the link.

At the party, artist Pia Guerra used the occasion to announce her next project, a six-issue DOCTOR WHO mini for IDW, written by Tony Lee.

Fans of CBR’s STUDIO TOURS already know that Guerra is an “insane” fan of the British series. “I used to watch the old Tom Baker episodes with my aunt in Toronto, they played them on TV Ontario,” Guerra said. “And then when the new series came out, I started watching those and fell in love with them. It brought back a lot of cool memories from childhood. And I feel totally blessed to be able to work on this new series, which captures a lot of people’s imaginations.”

Isotope - the comic book lounge:

February 15th begins what I can only promise is jaw-dropping 2008 in-store event schedule. Come join us as we team up with the fine folks at Notemine to kick off San Francisco’s famed Animation On Display convention with a bang of atom-splicing proportions!

Animania-A-Go-Go features DJ MacMini spinning a selection of the sexiest nerdiest tracks to get your backsides in gear! Superstar Tommy Yune who you know from his work on Robotech and Speed Racer! The writer of Happy Tree Friends, LazyTown and classic CG cartoon ReBoot , madman Ken Pontac! And the beyond-legendary comics authoring architect of Teen Titans, Tomb of Dracula and Crisis on Infinite Earths… the one, the only… Marv Wolfman!

Normally The Beat doesn’t promote a lot of store signings, but we have to make an exception for next weekend’s Jim Lee mega-signing at Sci-Fi City in Orlando. JIm will be signing Saturday Feb 16th from 1PM-6PM at Sci-Fi City , 6006 E.Colonial Drive. Owner Steve Henderlong assures us this is going to be a fantastic event, and the store even has a COUNTDOWN CLOCK to the signing on its site!

Now, why are we making an exception for this signing? Basically we’re going along to cover this signing, and it’s going to be the Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights of signings. Or if it isn’t, we’ll make stuff up. And that’s our promise to YOU, the faithful Beat reader.