The image above, from Eleanor Davis‘ “Hugs to Look Forward to After the Pandemic is Over,” is a perfect way to start this week’s Comics Club. Good wishes and love to everyone! [A shout-out to Mike Rhode for the link.]

 

Happy birthday, Jack Kirby! The “King of Comics” was born 103 years ago (8/28, 1917) in New York City, and as an adult became the premiere creator, writer, and artist of American comics. Google Kirby’s name, read about his life and career, and dive into the churning energy of his art: fun places to visit include the Wikipedia page about Kirby, Jeet Heer’s article celebrating the King’s centenary birthday in 1917, the Instagram account Jack Kirby Art, and the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center webpage. And please note that the Museum has a “103 Virtual Pop-Up” event planned for this weekend, a party in Kirby’s honor featuring online programming, guest speakers, and more!

Veteran creator Melanie Gillman (who works on both original graphic novels like Stage Dreams [2019] and franchise characters like Steven Universe) gives us a poignant short story, “Pockets,” about economic hardship, the love between a mother and daughter, and the desperate need our world has for “loud girls.” Gillman’s website includes a page of their beautiful illustrations and hundreds of pages of Gillman’s long-running webcomic As the Crow Flies, the beginning of which has been published as a book. “Pockets” is appropriate for all ages, but As the Crow Flies is best for teenagers and older readers. (Special thanks to Barbara Postema and Wim Lockefeer for a heads-up about Gillman’s art and the link to “Pockets.”)

 

We’ve linked before to First Second’s Sketch School, and now there are two new videos in the series! Alex Graudins, the illustrator for Science Comics: The Brain, debuts a new series, History Comics, with a book about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In her video, Graudins digitally draws (with a Wacom Cintiq) her main characters, two siblings trying to survive the flames and a young puppy they adopt. Jo Rioux’s Sketch School focuses on the leads from The Daughters of Ys, a beautiful graphic novel written by M.T. Anderson and based on Celtic legend. Rioux’s Instagram account is also fun to browse—she sponsors contests and takes requests on who and what to draw, such as “the night sky.”

 

 

Take a little time to explore Todd Klein’s website. Klein has been a professional letterer (he puts the words on comic book pages) and logo designer for decades now, and writes with passion about both earlier artisans of the lettering craft and his own career. Check out Klein’s blog posts on “Lettering/Fonts” and “Logo Studies” to read his erudite commentary on comic book design, and check out his favorites of the hand-lettered and computer logos he’s created.

 

Last month, U.S. Representative and legendary activist John Lewis (1940-2020) passed away, but not before collaborating with writer (and Lewis aide) Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell to translate his life into comics: March (2013-2016) is a three-volume, words-and-pictures chronicle of Lewis’ early life, from his rural roots to his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement. (It’s the first comic to win the National Book Award.) Aydin spoke to NPR Radio in July about Representative Lewis, while Nate Powell’s website features several pages from March (and illustrations from his other graphic novels too). The New York Times also reminds us that for three years (2015-17), Lewis attended the San Diego Comic Con and cosplayed as his younger self (!) crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965: for three years, Lewis led Comic Con attendees in a re-enactment of the famous Selma march. Below is a photo from the 2016 San Diego Comic Con, where Lewis—accompanied by Powell, Aydin, children and families—marched again.

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 #17 (August 21, 2020)Playhouse Comics Club, Issue #19 (September 4, 2020)
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