Comic Riffs

‘COMING HOME’: Wisconsin teenager wins ‘Doodle 4 Google’ contest with poignant military reunion

Michael Cavna — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:00:50 GMT

GOOGLE spotlights a new artist today, and it’s worth noting a few things:

She renders from real life to depict a poignant moment.

She deftly blends human images and iconic letters.

She gains an audience of millions Thursday.

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‘MAN OF STEEL,’ ‘WOLVERINE’ TRAILERS: Of Zod and man, we glimpse superheroic fates

David Betancourt — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:36:01 GMT

TWO QUESTIONS face many fanboy filmgoers this summer:

1. “How many times am I going to see ‘Man of Steel’ “?

2. “Do I really want to see another Wolverine movie?”

As the new trailers arrive this week for “Man of Steel” and “The Wolverine,” we break down these sneak peeks:

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HERBLOCK AT HALF-CENTURY: Library of Congress show illuminates cartoonist’s brilliance in 1963

Michael Cavna — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:29:44 GMT

THE IMAGE strikes you, as racially diverse crowd-members stand shoulder to shoulder, holding the signs of a historic rally.

The caption hits you, as the words ring out from above: “…conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal… .”

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‘STAR TREK’ BOX OFFICE: ‘Into Darkness’ debut tops billion-dollar ‘Iron Man 3’

Michael Cavna — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:20:00 GMT

CAPTAIN’S LOG, Stardate 19.05.2013: J.J. Abrams’s second tour on the Holodeck did not go as boldly as the studio hoped.

In the search for shekels, “Star Trek: Into Darkness” grossed $70.6-million in its domestic debut this weekend, according to studio estimates — short of the $75.2-million that Abrams’s first “Trek” outing opened with in 2009. Final numbers are expected Monday.

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NO MERIDA MAKEOVER? ‘Brave’ director Brenda Chapman on Disney princess and ‘sexing her up’

Michael Cavna — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:36:51 GMT

WILL THEY or won’t they?

Disney announced this month that Merida, the strong and spirited archer from Pixar’s “Brave,” was entering its “princess collection.” But the Merida Makeover swiftly made Disney the target of criticism.

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‘CANDORVILLE’: Darrin Bell poignantly memorializes his 94-year-old grandfather, who embodied the Greatest Generation

Michael Cavna — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:22:27 GMT

WHEN DARRIN BELL pays tribute to recently deceased people, depicting each honored figure on a train to the afterlife, the arc can be sharp and moving.

But when Darrin Bell pays tribute to a family member, depicting the dear relative who once worked on trains, the story is especially transporting.

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‘COMICS ABOUT CARTOONISTS’: Editor Craig Yoe delves into the tales and trials of the ‘world’s oddest profession’

Michael Cavna — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:00:27 GMT

THE BEST ART often is what transports you.

But what if the best art about creating comics transports you to places you don’t necessarily want to go — reminding you with vivid clarity of some of the pain and strain and mental struggle that can go into creating comics?

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‘SUPERWOMAN’: ‘Cancer Vixen’ author praises Angelina Jolie’s ‘fearlessness’ in double mastectomy decision

Michael Cavna — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:19:32 GMT

WHEN ANGELINA JOLIE made public her preventative double mastectomy this week, it was only natural to listen to Marisa Acocella Marchetto’s thoughts on the matter.

Marchetto is a breast-cancer survivor who turned her experience into the excellent 2006 memoir of a graphic novel, “Cancer Vixen: A True Story.”

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‘IRON MAN 3’: Tony Stark holds off ‘The Great Gatsby’s’ great opening, nears $1B worldwide

Michael Cavna — Sun, 12 May 2013 18:26:00 GMT

IN A SHOWDOWN of stinking-rich playboys who have invented their identities, who would emerge with more swag, if not swagger?

The winner: Tony Stark held off the strong debut of Jay Gatsby, as the rich got richer at the weekend box office.

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SAUL BASS: From Hitchcock to Kubrick, Hollywood title-sequence pioneer celebrated with stylish video Google Doodle

Michael Cavna — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:42:00 GMT

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Dear Boss,

Please forgive in advance my work lapses and decreased productivity today. Google has just posted on its home page its classiest Doodle yet — a stylish little video that is as addictive as it is inspired.

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RIP, RAY HARRYHAUSEN: Inspired as a child, the special-effects titan transformed fantasy on film

Michael Cavna — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:10:58 GMT

AT JUST 13, RAY HARRYHAUSEN stumbled upon an illusion that changed his life. His parents liked to take him to the picture show — “Metropolis,” perhaps, or “The Lost World” — but on this particular day in 1933, he went to see “King Kong.” And there, sitting in the dark, young Raymond Harryhausen saw the light.

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RIP: Matt Groening’s mother — for whom Marge Simpson is named — dies at 94

Michael Cavna — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:04:22 GMT

SHE DIDN’T go by “Marge.” But her first name — Margaret — did inspire the naming of one of TV history’s most famous mothers. And her maiden name — Wiggum — also turned up all over her son’s landmark show.

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‘IRON MAN 3’ rockets to second-biggest debut ever with $175.3M; Tony Stark holds top-2 spots

Michael Cavna — Sun, 05 May 2013 16:39:00 GMT

IRON MAN is now an iron giant.

One summer after Robert Downey Jr.’s quick-witted Iron Man help lead Marvel’s ”The Avengers” to the biggest domestic debut ever ($207.4-million), the third film in the “Iron Man” franchise proper bowed in with the second-biggest homeland opening ever.

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‘BIG NATE’ MUSICAL DEBUTS: Encouraged by ‘Peanuts,’ Lincoln Peirce’s comic-strip hit comes to the Maryland stage

Michael Cavna — Sat, 04 May 2013 14:35:43 GMT

LINCOLN PEIRCE won’t lie. He had his momentary doubts. They were the quiet concerns of a parent letting someone else take his child out for a stroll.

In this case, the offspring is “Big Nate,” the titular character and syndicated comic strip turned digital and publishing hit. Like an agent telling you your tween has star potential on the stage, a theater company came calling, convincing the cartoonist that his boy could make it in musicals.

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FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013: From Annapolis to Australia, Saturday’s big event invites discovery — from comics page to your neighborhood comics shop

Michael Cavna — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:34:26 GMT

THERE IS, perhaps, no more inviting and seductive pitch to a prospective consumer than three simple words:

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‘IRON MAN 3’: One Fanboy’s Six Quick Questions & Answers (*Mostly Spoiler-Free)

David Betancourt — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:56:36 GMT

IT’S ‘DEJA-VIEW’ all over again. Just like last May, it’s Marvel that kicks off the popcorn movie season with a superhero franchise. And if the global box office is any indicator, the new “Iron Man 3” (already nearing a quarter-bill gross worldwide) might just topple some of the billion-dollar box-office marks set by last summer’s “The Avengers.”

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RICK PERRY CONTROVERSY: Houston cartoonist Nick Anderson responds to dust-up over fertilizer-plant cartoon

Michael Cavna — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:35:30 GMT

NOW A TEXAS CARTOONIST has weighed in on the Ohman/Perry controversy.

Nick Anderson, the Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist for the Houston Chronicle, rendered his commentary Tuesday, in which Texas Gov. Rick Perry is depicted as getting more outraged over a cartoon — by Sacramento Bee cartoonist Jack Ohman — than the actual oversight and regulation issues involving the West, Tex., fertilizer plant that exploded last month, killing at least 15 and injuring scores more.

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DOODLE 4 GOOGLE: Maryland, Virginia winners announced among 50 student finalists

Michael Cavna — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:24:30 GMT

.AFTER RECEIVING more than 130,000 entries, Google today announced the 50 state-by-state finalists in its annual Doodle 4 Google contest for young students.

In the Washington region, the Maryland winner is seventh-grader Lauren Schen of Ellicott City, a Burleigh Manor Middle School seventh-grader whose entry is titled “Travel to Taiwan”; and the Virginia winner is Kellie Nicely of Lexington, a Rockbridge County High School junior whose work is titled “The Magic of Reading.”

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STUMPTOWN: Maryland’s Carla Speed McNeil (‘Finder’) among big winners with ‘Best Cartoonist’ honors

Michael Cavna — Wed, 01 May 2013 03:50:26 GMT

SOME FIFTEEN YEARS after Carla Speed McNeil announced her presence with top “new talent” awards, she and her sci-fi series Finder continue to impress the judges.

Over the weekend, McNeil won two awards — including Best Cartoonist — at the Stumptown Comic Arts Awards in Portland. The author and webcomic creator also won for Best Letterer, for ”Finder: Talisman.”

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RICK PERRY CONTROVERSY: Sacramento Bee’s JACK OHMAN ‘stunned’ by governor’s response to his hot-button cartoon

Michael Cavna — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:25:32 GMT

JACK OHMAN wasn’t just surprised by his satirical target’s response. He was stunned.

“Not just by the massive response,” Ohman tells Comic Riffs, “but to the willful misinterpretation of the cartoon.”

That willful misinterpretation, the Sacramento Bee journalist says, was by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who in the cartoon (published last Thursday) is depicted as saying ”...Business is booming in Texas!” before a banner that reads: “Low Tax! Low Regs!” In the cartoon’s second “payoff” panel, Ohman renders the recent explosion at the fertilizer plant in West, Tex., that killed at least 15 people.

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EDITOR’S BRAIN vs. CARTOONIST’S BRAIN: Pittsburgh’s Rob Rogers on his inspired acceptance of the OPC’s Thomas Nast Award

Michael Cavna — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 20:01:44 GMT

ROB ROGERS knew he would be on the clock, and he wanted to use his time wisely. But how to deliver in mere minutes?

The solution: He tapped his “cartoonist’s brain.”

Rogers was accepting the Overseas Press Club’s Thomas Nast Award for editorial cartooning Thursday night in New York — the second time he’d received the honor. So to help illustrate his short speech, he compared the cartoonist’s brain with the editor’s brain.

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‘GUN VIOLENCE’ Q&A: Ruben Bolling ‘moved by the images’ of cartoonists’ new gun-control video

Michael Cavna — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:25:50 GMT

BIG NATE alone, set against a stark classroom. “Zits” characters looking almost haunted. And Elephant and Piggie clutching each other for solace and comfort.

This week, after months of work, a diverse array of almost two-dozen cartoonists released a Demand Action video supporting gun control.

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ELLA FITZGERALD: Google jazzes up its Doodle to celebrate the beloved ‘First Lady of Song’

Michael Cavna — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:52:10 GMT

SHE HAD MANY names but was recognizable by just one. Because she sang it all, her first name said it all. She was, above all, for so long and so well, embodied and embraced by one word:

Entirely “Ella.”

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TONIGHT’S HERBLOCK PRIZE CEREMONY: Winner Dan Perkins (aka Tom Tomorrow) on the need to support your friendly alt-cartoonist

Michael Cavna — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:10:15 GMT

DAN PERKINS, like his friend Eddie Vedder, has been practicing his brand of “alternative” craft in a certain spotlight since the early ‘90s. Which means that when the awards come around now at midcareer — be they a Herblock Prize or a Grammy — the acknowledgement is especially sweet.

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GREEN ARROW: From TV’s ‘Arrow’ to New 52 comic, DC’s superhero has hit a bull’s-eye with growing fan base

David Betancourt — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:05:42 GMT

IF THERE’S ONE thing DC Comics has become good at, it’s recycling green.

While the Green Lantern has seen a rise in his rank, DC has seen a rise in the popularity of another of its color-themed heroes: Green Arrow — thanks to the success of the TV show “Arrow,” which airs Wednesday nights (8 pm ET) on the CW.

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