The above dynamic drawing of Iron Man is courtesy of Canadian artist Michael Cho, who sometimes works for the big comics companies; Cho did the covers for several Marvel comic books in February 2016, and he’s doing it again for this month’s Marvels. Cho is also an in-demand illustrator, and he’s written and drawn one graphic novel, 2014’s Shoplifter. Check out his Instagram here. And below is Cho’s recent print celebrating the Fantastic Four, done for Mondo Gallery (where you can find all kinds of posters, prints, and custom-made memorabilia).

 

According to Scholastic Books, March 22nd through 26th is Dav Pilkey’s “Reading Gives You Superpowers Week”: “five days to emphasize why reading is not only critical but just as importantly—reading is fun!” Superpowers Week includes a special “Create Comics with Dav Pilkey” event (register here) and a free activity planner full of projects, drawing prompts, and cameos from such Pilkey characters as Cat Kid, Dog Man, and Captain Underpants. Also available are the Dav Pilkey at Home webpage, with a link to a “Doodle for Google” contest judged by Dav, and the Planet Pilkey site, featuring tools to help kids create their own comics!

 

At the long-running blog A Case for Pencils, artist and writer Jane Mattimoe conducts interviews with cartoonists published in The New Yorker magazine, one of the last venues for the accomplished—and often very funny—single-panel cartoon. Mattimoe focuses on process: she asks about favorite tools (which run from ink nibs to illustration apps like Procreate), about tricks of the cartooning trade, and more. Here is a long list of all the artists and topics Mattimoe has covered so far at Pencils: browse to find old and new favorites. The crab cartoon is by Hartley Lin, who is a The New Yorker contributor who also writes and draws his own alternative comic book, Pope Hats, published by AdHouse Books. Here’s links to Lin’s website and Instagram account!

 

WOUB, the National Public Radio station of The Ohio State University, recently posted an article and audio news story about Chuck Stewart (1927-2017), OU alumnus and legendary post-WWII photographer. Although Stewart captured important news events—as an Army combat photographer, he documented atom bomb tests in Nevada—he was particularly well-known for his portraits of jazz performers like Art Blakey, Dinah Washington, and Thelonious Monk. Stewart’s pictures adorn over 2000 album covers. For more about Stewart, visit this career survey on the OU College of Fine Arts website. Here’s also a link to 25 photos Stewart took during John Coltrane’s December 1964 recording session of “A Love Supreme,” and here’s a short Newsweek interview with Stewart about his career, filmed in 2015.

 

Check out My Modern Met for a photo-filled article featuring the giant woven displays of Australian textile artist Tammy Kanat, who “creates large-scale textile projects that are housed within circular forms. Her massive pieces incorporate fuzzy textures and rings of bright colors.” (There’s another piece about Kanat on the Colossal site.) Her fiber sculptures are beautiful and strikingly organic. Kanat also has a personal website featuring more of her pieces, and an Instagram account with yet more pictures and short videos illustrating her process.

Agnes Boisvert, an ICU nurse at St. Luke's hospital in downtown Boise, Idaho, spends every day trying to navigate between two worlds. One is a swirl of beeping monitors, masked emotion and death; the other, she says, seems oblivious to the horrors occurring every hour of every day. Illustrated by Isabel Seliger.Here’s an update on COVID-related comics and culture. On the National Public Radio site, correspondents Ryan Kellman and Nathan Rott and illustrator Isabel Seliger present a documentary comic, “How One COVID-19 Nurse Navigates Anti-Mask Sentiment,” about Boise, Idaho nurse Agnes Boisvert and her frustrations with Americans who refuse to wear masks. (Don’t miss the other COVID comics available at NPR.) Also: on March 25 at 4pm EST, Canada’s Modern Literature and Culture Research Center is hosting an online discussion about “the importance of comics and visual media in our understanding of and response to COVID-19.” Comics scholars Barbara Postema, Emmy Waldman, and Daniel Worden will speak and answer questions. This event is free, but please register here for the Zoom link.

Let’s end this issue of the Comics Club with arresting images by Seliger, from her website.

This weekly blog post is written and compiled by Craig Fischer. To send along recommendations, ideas, and comments, contact Craig at craig_fschr@yahoo.com [.]

Playhouse Comics Club, Issue #45 (March 5, 2021)Playhouse Comics Club, Issue #47 (March 19, 2021)
PHP Code Snippets Powered By : XYZScripts.com