Tonight at One More Page

Sunday, June 10, from 5 - 7 pm:  Fundraiser celebration to launch the Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's. Several of the contributors live here in the DC area and will be on hand to sign copies. Join us for wine and light snacks to celebrate the launch of the book!  A portion of the day's sales will go to Team Cul de Sac. Click here to see which cartoonists you might run into.  Whew!!!  Don't miss this great event! One More Page is located at 2200 N. Westmoreland Street, #101, in Arlington VA, phone 703-300-9746, just a few blocks west of the Lee Highway exit off Route 66.

(Swiped from One More Page's website)

tick tick tick

And this was 5 minutes ago! Go bid.

Team Cul de Sac Auction - The Last Two Days

Here we have a two-fer: brilliant cartoonist, cartoonist, cartoonist, critic and writer Shaenon K. Garrity and her husband the accomplished curator, cartoonist  and author Andrew Farago offer insights into Ernesto Lacuna. Look at the detailing and insight on this baby! It can be yours for a little more than $55! See here.

Team Cul de Sac Auction - The Last Two Days

Over the next two days I'm going to post some random selections from the auction just to gin up sales.

First up: the unique and ingenious R. SIKORYAK paints an Otterloopian parody of Picasso's the Three Musicians. Currently a mere $90! Chicken feed  to a person such as yourself! Go here.

Publisher's Weekly Says

And what Publisher's Weekly says, goes.

A Not-So-Gentle Reminder

Tomorrow, June 5, marks the launch of Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's, Chris Sparks' magnum opus and labor of love, and if I didn't know Chris I would imagine he's exhausted. Actually he may be but who can tell? Being exhausted just seems to fire him up.

Today Chris passed along Michael J Fox's reaction to the book:

“Richard Thompson is lucky to have a friend like Chris Sparks. With this amazing collection, Chris is raising significant dollars and awareness for Parkinson’s — while proving comedy can help speed a cure. We’re grateful to have both Chris and Richard on our team.” – Michael J. Fox.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

And Hey! There's an auction going on!
 

A Gentle Reminder

Book Event | 6/10

Team Cul de Sac

Contributors to the new cartoon collection, "Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's," a tribute to local cartoonist Richard Thompson, creator of the Cul de Sac strip, discuss their work and sign copies of the book as part of a wine and light fare reception. A portion of the book's sales will be donated to Team Cul de Sac, a division of Team Fox & the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Also, the Small Press Expo, a co-sponsor of the evening, will distribute passes to the SPX2012 with each book purchase. Call 703-300-9746 for details. One More Page Books 2200 N. Westmoreland St., #101, Arlington, VA | 703-300-9746

Today's Cul de Sac June 3, 2012

The banana smell must come from isoamyl-acetate, which I don't know much about it except it's nasty and it's in the spray fixative I used for years (Krylon). And it's also called banana oil, which I always thought was a Milt Gross joke.

Yet More Restaurant Closings

The theme here is: buildings are fun to draw. That's also the theme for Sunday's strip. And by "theme" I mean "excuse".

Exclusive Preview!

This is from Sunday's strip (I think it is, I get sloppy with dating things) and you get to see it first! What can it mean? Who can tell? It better be funny, that's all I'm sayin'.

MJFox Signed Book!

The star of Back to the Future and The Frighteners demonstrates superior penmanship in this signed copy of Team Cul de Sac and it can be yours!

Go Bid!

The Heritage Auctions Cul de Sac Auction is open for business!

Today's Cul de Sac, May 26, 2012

I've wanted to use this gag for a while and couldn't figure out how to present it. I'd planned it to be a Sunday strip and that's why I was having trouble. A Sunday page provides a bit more room to play with the layout and sometimes that's more of a distraction than an opportunity. In other words, I monkeyed around with the format so much the gag got lost, and it's a weird little gag. So it got moved to a daily which simplified it into coherency. The lesson we all learn from this is: Stop monkeying around when you don't have to. Life's hard enough as it is.

More Restaurant Closings

Jut when you thought it was safe to grab a bite. This one was probably the first one I did despite what I said before. I gotta start dating things.

Two Days!

In two days The Team Cul de Sac auction of original art begins! That's on Sunday, My 27th at Heritage Auctions. That's in two days!

Alan Gardner, Man of Taste

The first review is in, and it's by Alan Gardner, the hardest-working underpaid blogger in daily cartoonland. Go to the Daily Cartoonist for his thoughts on the book. And leave a nice comment, and/or some blog-support money.

Caricature by Mark Pett, who's up for a Reuben divisional award for illustrating The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes, and a swell guy. 

The Observer-Reporter Comes Through

Yesterday the Observer-Reporter, newspaper of record for Washington and Greene Counties in Pennsylvania, ran an editorial headlined Drawing on Humor to Combat Disease. The O-R carries Cul de Sac and came out four-square behind Team Cul de Sac, for which I'm hugely grateful (they should've mentioned Chris Sparks, who's out in Vegas representing the Team at the Reubens). And, hey, wouldn't now be a great time for some other newspapers of record to do likewise?

Report from Chris Sparks

Human fireball and Sparking Design co-CEO Chris Sparks reports-

Team Cul de Sac books have been ordered to fill our online orders and all the prepaid shipping envelopes have been ordered. I just need to the books and time. Remember, you can still order your signed copy at http://sparkingdesign.com/order-team-cul-de-sac-book/

Shipping should start around the beginning of June!  

That's practically tomorrow! So hurry!

CSOTD

I'm always glad when Cul de Sac makes Mike Peterson's Comic Strip of the Day. Mike is not only a newspaper man and comics lover of many years, he's also a former member of an Irish band. And he's a wise man (I don't think anyone else has name-checked Alice Roosevelt in reference to Alice Otterloop: Alice R gave me one more reason to choose the name for the O version- she was from DC and she was a hellion. Though you wouldn't know it from the above photo.)

Team Cul de Sac Book Iaunch

This is lifted from the Team Cul de Sac blog.

One More Page Books is close to my house and I hope to make it.  Other local cartoonists in the book will certainly be there. My deepest thanks to Terry Nebecker and Eileen McGervey.

Laughter, Doing Good and Then a Weekend of Murder Come out with your friends to any/all events!                May 16, 2012 TONIGHT Wed, May 16, 7 pm Meredith Goldstein - The Singles     Get ready to laugh with your friends when advice columnist and entertainment reporter for The Boston Globe Meredith Goldstein discusses her new book, The Singles.    "Back in her single days - before she met the man of her dreams - Beth "Bee" Evans hated being forced to attend weddings solo. Determined to spare her friends the same humiliation, she invites everyone on her list with a guest. Much to her chagrin, however, Hannah, Vicki, Rob, Joe, and Nancy insist upon attending Bee's lavish Chesapeake Bay nuptials alone. The frustrated bride dubs them the "The Singles" and their collective decision wreaks unintended havoc on her otherwise perfectly planned wedding weekend." JUST ADDED!!   (and we're so excited) TEAM CUL DE SAC BOOK LAUNCH!!  On Sunday, June 10, from 5 - 7 pm, Terry is taking over the store for a fundraiser celebration to launch the Team Cul de Sac Collection. Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's contains original artwork from cartoonists and illustrators inspired by the comic strip Cul de Sac, including Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) and Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury). The originals will be sold at an online auction to raise money for Team Cul de Sac, which is part of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.    The Tribute Collection comes out June 5 and we'll have them available at the launch event.  Several of the contributors live here in the DC area and will be on hand to sign copies.    Join us for wine and light snacks to celebrate the launch of the book!  A portion of the day's sales will go to Team Cul de Sac.  We love Richard Thompson and Cul de Sac - he was one of the first authors to visit our store - he's amazing!  More details to follow.  Plan to be here - we all will be!      Thurs, May 17, 6:30 pm St. Charles Haiti Committee Fundraiser   Join us for the St. Charles Haiti Committee Fundraiser, featuring a wine and chocolate tasting followed by a discussion of activities supporting the community of Cavaillon in southern Haiti.   Sample wine and fair trade chocolate while learning about Haiti and the work being done in Cavaillon.  A portion of the evening's proceeds will be donated to the St. Charles Haiti Committee to aid development in Cavaillon and surrounding communities. Click here for details. Sun, May 20, noon - 2 pm Calling All Mystery Lovers! Join us for a party to celebrate the release of This Job is Murder, the 5th installment of the award-winning Chesapeake Crimes anthologies. This anthology features short stories by a number of our favorite Sisters in Crime mystery writers.      Twelve of the 14 authors whose works appear in the anthology are expected to attend: Donna Andrews, David Autry, Jill Breslau, Karen Cantwell, Leone Ciporin, E.B. Davis, Barb Goffman, Smita Harish Jain, C. Ellett Logan, Shari Randall, Harriette Sackler, and Cathy Wiley. This event will take place in the WestLee Party room.  Are you interested... in a book group for 7-9 year olds?  If so, email us.  Also, let us know what time would be good time to meet. Upcoming Events and Author Visits May Tues, May 22, 7 pm: Spiritual/Philosphy Book Club discusses Just One Thing: Developing A Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time Wed, May 23, 7 pm: Garrett Peck discusses books, The Potomac River: A History and Guide and Prohibition in Washington, DC: How Dry We Weren't Thurs, May 24, 7 pm: Just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, Max Holland shares from Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat.   Mon, May 28, 4:30:  No Kids Book Group due to Memorial Day holiday Wed, May 30, 6:30: Join us for our Educator Appreciation Evening - Click here for details! Thurs, May 31, 7 pm: Ken Budd discusses The Voluntourist: A Six-Country Tale of Love, Loss, Fatherhood, Fate, and Singing Bon Jovi in Bethlehem. See the side bar for more info about Ken's book. June Sun, June 3 at 3 pm: Amanda Hodgkinson discusses her novel, 22 Britannia Road, a heartbreaking novel about wartime secrets   Thurs, June 7 at 7 pm: Join us for a unique event, The Book as Art, with an artist, Alla Proskuryakova, and author/illustrator and artist, Sallie Lowenstein who have created books that are truly works of art - stay tuned for details!  Fri, June 8 at 11 am:  Author Siobhan Fallon joins our Daytime Book Group to discuss her book, You Know when the Men are Gone   Fri, June 8 at noon: Mysterious Women Who Know their Place -    Former White House staffer, author Karna Bodman; Agatha Award winner Marcia Talley, journalist Ellen Crosby, and award-winner Donna Andrews deconstruct their mystery-thriller books which all feature D.C., VA and MD locales. Mystery fiction scholar/editor Elizabeth Foxwell moderates. PLEASE NOTE: This event is off-site at the American Women Writers National Museum, 1275 K St NW, Suite 102  Fri, June 8 at 7 pm: Patti Dobrowolski joins us to discuss Drawing Solutions: How Visual Goal Setting Will Change Your Life. See side panel for a link to Patti's TEDx talk.  Sat, June 9 at 6 pm:  New York Times Bestselling Author and Screenwriter John Gilstrap invites you to celebrate the publication of his latest thriller, Damage Control at a launch party at One More Page     NEW!!  Sun, June 10 from 5-7 pm: Join us for a special event to celebrate the launch of "Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's" to honor award-winning cartoonist Richard Thompson.  See side panel for details of this event we're so fortunate to host. Wed, June 13, 7 pm:  Daniel Kalla discusses his new book, The Far Side of the Sky     Remember, in addition to street parking, there is limited retail parking available in the WestLee garage while you are shopping at One More Page.  Follow the store signs to our back door, ring the buzzer and we'll welcome you in. We are 6 blocks from the East Falls Church Metro!  Go to the right as you exit the Metro station and then go right on 19th Street.  As the road curves, the name changes from 19th street to N. Westmoreland Street. Our store is on the left hand side of the street.  Click here for directions from the Metro or if you are coming by car.  Please call (703)-300-9746 or Email if you have any questions.   In This Issue This Week New Book Group for Kids? Upcoming Events Team Cul de Sac Authors in the Media Our Book Groups Upcoming Authors in the Media  Meredith Goldstein (The Singles) in NY Times At OMP- Wed, May 16, 7 pmKen Budd (The Voluntourist) in the NY Times Travel Section and  his interview on Fox 5. At OMP- Thurs, May 31, 7 pmSee Patti Dobrowolski's (Drawing Solutions: How Visual Goal Setting Will Change Your Life) TEDx talk At OMP-Fri, June 8, 7 pm Our Book Discussion Groups        Our next Book Club with Jenn is Mon, June 18 at 7 pm when we discuss The Language of Flowers: A Novel by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Please note date change!    Our next Non-Fiction Book Group is Tues, June 12 at 7 pm to discuss Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams. Don't miss our next Daytime Book Group meeting at 11 am on Friday, June 8.  Author Siobhan Fallon joins us to discuss her book, You Know when the Men are Gone.    The next meeting for our Mystery/Suspense Book Group is Tues, June 19, when we discuss Ratking (An Aurelio Zen Mystery) by Michael Dibdin.   The next meeting for our Philosophy/Spiritual Book Group is Tues, May 22 when we discuss Just One Thing: Developing A Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time by Rick Hanson. Quick Links Our Website  Our Blog   On Tumblr Follow us on Twitter at justonemorepage Join us on Facebook: One More Page Books & More

One More Page | 2200 N. Westmoreland Street | #101 | Arlington | VA | 22213

Visit to Tai Shan

This ran in the Post Magazine in January 2006 when Tai Shan mania gripped DC in a relentless hug. I'd developed an antipathy to pandas for no good reason and about the time the National Zoo was paying the Chinese through the nose to rent a coupla pandas I did a poem in the Almanac trash talking the lumbering brutes. I can't find that drawing, but part of it went "Pandas are boring, tedious and blah, Great big two-tone fuzzy cures for insomnia." It didn't do any good: the Zoo is at it again.

Farewell to Maurice Sendak

 

Peter Dunlap-Shohl drew this wonderful piece on the death of Maurice Sendak last week, ingeniously mashing up the Seventh Seal and the Wild Things. I especially like the casually tossed-away cane at far left. I was going to link to a documentary by director Spike Jonez where he visits Sendak at his home but it's been taken off the web. I will link to a great tribute by Philip Nel at the Comics Journal. Phil's been working on a massive biography of Ruth Kraus and Crockett Johnson and he knows his children's literature.

Two Brand New Old Cul de Sacs

Both of which have something to do with motherhood.

The above is from May 16, 2004. I didn't like Madeline's job that much. It seemed too sitcommy.

Marcus has always had a difficult relationship with his mom. This appeared August 19, 2005.

The Complete Collection of Mother's Day Poor Almanacs

Assembled by looking up old posts and copying & pasting.

 

Savings Galore

If you're buying the Mighty Alice on Amazon, why not save all kinds of money and get Children at Play for the low low price of only $5.20! Quick, while supplies last!

More Restaurant Closings

And more reasons to enjoy a home cooked meal.

Reminder

Hey! It's almost May 8th, the official release date of The Mighty Alice!

This Week's Cul de Sacs, April 30 to May 6, 2012

Here are the roughs I sent to Stacy Curtis for this week of strips. Besides inking Cul de Sac, Stacy's got a full plate of children's book work, some of which involves traveling for school visits. This means he has to do the inking in a hotel room, not the most ideal situation for us sensitive art types whose psyches demand a familiar work environment to maintain creative flow.

So I thought a repeating Petey might make things easier all around. And as Petey tends to freeze up under mild duress all it needed was a stinkbug to provide just that.

 

Having decided on repeating Peteys-

 

it was an easy jump to overdoing it-

 

and piling the Peteys on.

 

If one flustered Petey is funny then an infinite number of them'd be a riot-

I hope. These are representative of the batch of roughs I foist on Stacy every week. Note how they get gradually sloppier as I lose track of the progress of the meager story arc. In fact I had no idea how to end it, so I told Stacy I would do the climactic Saturday strip, which features enough second panel exposition by Alice to frighten off anyone who dislikes text-heavy balloons.

So it all worked out well enough.

I did the Sunday about a month ago. It's photoshopped out of a dozen bits and pieces but, ssshh, don't tell anybody. Alice and Dill have had several Drawing Fights; victory has been disputed in all of them.

It's National Cartoonists Day Again Again, Again

You may be wondering, "How can I best celebrate this festive day?" You might consider:

• Finding a cartoonist near you and mowing his (or her) lawn, at least the front lawn (especially the hard part with the hill).
•  While you're at it trim his shrubs, so the mailman can find his front door again.
• I'll bet he needs a haircut pretty bad.
• Does his house need vacuuming? Well, what are you waiting for?
• Who left all these dishes in the sink?
• The cats; somebody feed the cats.
• Are you handy with a pen? Ink some cartoons for him!
• You could take him to lunch at the Mexican place down the street, where they're having some no doubt cartoonist-related celebration.
• For God's sake laugh at his cartoons. If they appear in a newspaper, buy extra copies (or multiple subscriptions, even) and laugh at them too.
• Is he not posting anything new on his stupid blog and it's driving you crazy? You should send him a cheerful card stuffed with cash to inspire him.

Note: if the cartoonist near you is a lady, please substitute "her" for "his". The original of the cartoon reproduced above is in the collection of the fabulous Mr. Jef Mallett, so this is a scan of the Almanac book page. And it's the same one I ran last year, and the year before, if it looks familiar.

More Restaurant Closings

This might be the first one I did, c.1999.

Restaurant Closings

Like many newspapers, the Washington Post runs a column listing various health code violations for the week. Each entry describes the circumstances leading to a closure of a food establishment by the investigating health department. Here's a sample of a recent column:

Hollywood Bistro
1800 G St. NW
Closed Friday for operating without a certified food manager.
Lucky Corner Market
5433 Georgia Ave. NW
Closed April 19 for operating without a license, gross unsanitary conditions and operating without a certified food manager. Reopened April 23.
Mid-City Deli
1418 14th St. NW
Closed Friday for failure to minimize vermin, circumstances that might endanger public health and improper food holding temperatures.

It's buried in the Local Living type section along with another column equally enjoyable, the Animal Watch, listing those run ins with animals, wild and domesticated, that've required the intervention of a vested authority. (Its probably-untoppable apex was reached years ago with a report about a squirrel found racing around inside a single-family residence. Two policemen showed up after the homeowner called 911 and quickly isolated the rodent in the living room curtains, but the squirrel broke free and dove into a grand piano. One officer, thinking quickly, played a few bars of something by Toad the Wet Sprocket and the squirrel shot out of the piano and disappeared out the front door.)

These columns appeal to me for all kinds of reasons: the poker faced style, the easily graspable nature of the incidents and, in the case of the health code violations, the fact that restaurants are  fun to draw. When I was doing the Poor Almanac (1997-2009) and was looking for an idea (always) I could usually scare up enough jokes to fill out the cartoon without the desperation being too apparent. Because restaurants are not only fun to draw; they're inherently funny.

Here's one of only 4 or 5 in color, from c. 2000. Lugubrio's is based on a place near Dupont Circle where the lights were so low the waiters were disembodied voices and you ate by feel, often off another's plate.

Note the local cuisine reference, another sore point in DC as it has so few recognizable traits to call its own.

Today's Cul de Sac in Rough Form, April 30 2012

A word of warning: Petey doesn't move a muscle all week. I find it makes things easier to draw if they're static and repetitive (and I hope Stacy agrees). I'm telling you this up front in case you're hoping for big action sequences or derring-do so you're not disappointed.

Today's Cul de Sac, April 29 2012

Alice communes with Nature, in condensed, easily accessible form. Every kid needs a shrub to hide in. I've had several and I was intimately familiar with every inch of dirt it covered (though not familiar enough that I avoided sitting on a slug during a night game of hide and seek).

Here's Alice's first venture into Nature. As always, I thought today's would be easy to draw, but no. Scribbly masses of leaves keep not looking like leaves but only like scribbles unless I fuss with them, and then they look too fussy.

Today's Cul de Sac in Rough Form, April 28 2012

This is the rough of today's strip I sent to Stacy Curtis for inking. I draw the roughs on Canson Marker Layout, a semi-translucent paper, using various sizes of Micron pens. Then I email it to Stacy, who prints it out to his preferred size and slaps it on a lightbox, then inks it on bristol with one of his grungiest, unwashed and most-favorite pens while I take a nap. I did a little photoshop fussing around with the middle panel. It originally had hundreds of tiny zombie toads, and I realized it's an unnecessary cruelty to inflict crowds on my inker, so I simplified it. Some.

And that's how a comic strip collaboration is run these days.