SNAP! festival makes big deal over mini-comics

Hi, Dans blog!

I thought you might find this Detroit News feature interesting. Check it out.

URL: http://www.detnews.com/2005/events/0510/24/E01-358490.htm

Regards,
Dan Merritt

(Brought to you by The staff at Detroit News Online)

Post SNAP! Bloodbath

As if SNAP! The Comic Arts Festival won't be a big enough strain on my old man heart, join me and my pals on our (almost) annual trek to see GWAR perform at Harpos in Detroit.

GWAR came to Earth millions of years ago, killed all of the dinosaurs, invented music and then were imprisoned in a glacier. Join GWAR on their 20th anniversary of being defrosted and unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.

This is not an official SNAP! event, but it is a must for anyone interested in giant rubber monsters and having a good time while being sprayed by various GWAR fluids.

Join award-winning cartoonist Keith Knight and Author/Activist Mat Schwarzman as they invade Green Brain Comics (13210 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn) on Thurs. Oct. 20, at 6:30pm, to celebrate the release of two new books; the Beginner’s Guide to Community-Based Arts (New Village Press) and The Passion of the Keef: the Fourth K Chronicles Compendium (Manic D Press).

The Beginner’s Guide to Community Based Arts (co-authored by Knight and Schwarzman) is a comics-illustrated travelogue that documents real artists at work revitalizing communities across the United States. Artists include Ricardo Levins Morales, an illustrator with the Northland Poster Collective in Minneapolis.

The Passion of the Keef is Knight’s fourth collection of his autobiographical strip, the K Chronicles. His work can be seen in publications across the United States, including Salon.com, Mad Magazine, the Funny Times, Buzz, ESPN the Magazine, and Boston’s Weekly Dig.

Knight ‘s slideshow spins strange and humorous tales of censorship, race, politics, the importance of community-based art, and being mistaken for Boondocks creator Aaron MacGruder (who wrote the foreward to “Passion..”). The tour will hit nine cities in ten days, including Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, the Twin Cites, Madison and Milwaukee from Oct. 18-Oct. 28.

To learn more about the book, go to www.xroadsproject.org

Knight’s other books include; Dances with Sheep, Fear of a Black Marker, Red, White, Black & Blue (Manic D Press) and What a Long Strange Strip It’s Been (Top Shelf).

For more on Keith Knight, see www.kchronicles.com

Bone wars, Comic books & scientific adventure

Our pal Jim Ottaviani had a big write-up in the Ann Arbor Times on Tuesday.

It seems his new graphic novel Bonesharps, Cowboys and Thunderlizards is getting some much deserved attention.

Sneak peak of SNAP! poster art

Art provided by Karl Kressbach

Pre-SNAP! Reception

If you are going to be in town the night before SNAP! The Comic Arts Festival, be sure to visit Green Brain Comics for some good old-fashion hanging out. We will be open until 12 midnight Friday October 28th, so stop in and rub elbows with the local and visiting creators. Refreshments will be provided coutesy of Peecher's Catering (15264 Michigan Ave, DBN) and your friends at Green Brain Comics.

Comics Jam War

Thinking about being a host site for this here little ditty.
Comics Jam War scheduled for April, 2006

Comics creation turns competitive with Comics Jam War, a new event taking place at comic book stores across the U.S. and Canada on April Fool’s Day. Teams of creative individuals will gather in comic shops. At the start of the event, all teams will simultaneously be given certain parameters for a story, and will then have twelve hours to create the best eight-page comic book story that they can. A group of comics industry professionals will judge the results, with the best receiving cash prizes and publication.

“We’ve had a lot of success with 24 Hour Comics Day,” explains Nat Gertler, publisher of About Comics and organize of Comics Jam War, “but all along there were stores that could not host a twenty-four hour event. Plus, when we moved 24 Hour Comics Day to the fall for next year, a lot of retailers told us they could use another creative event in April.”

Retailers who participate in Comics Jam War should see a lot of benefits. Hosting an event not only binds the creative community to the store. The opportunity to see comics creators in action gives customers a reason to come in on a Saturday. Events like these make a good base for generating local press attention. Plus, the stores that host winning teams will have great bragging rights.

The website www.ComicsJamWar.com has more information, including details on hosting an event.

2005 Ignatz Award Winners

From Heidi MacDonald's blog

2005 Ignatz Award Winners

The Ignatz Awards were presented Saturday night at the SPX in Bethesda. Keith Knight MC'd the proceedings and livened things up by offering a shot of tequila to all the winners.

OUTSTANDING ARTIST -- David B., Epileptic (Pantheon), Babel (Drawn & Quarterly)

OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY OR COLLECTION--Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man, John Porcellino (La Mano)

OUTSTANDING GRAPHIC NOVEL-- Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon)

OUTSTANDING STORY -- Dogs and Water, Anders Nilsen (Drawn and Quarterly)

PROMISING NEW TALENT--Andy Runton, Owly (Top Shelf Productions)

OUTSTANDING SERIES--Finder, Carla Speed McNeil (Lightspeed Press)

OUTSTANDING COMIC -- Or Else #1, Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)

OUTSTANDING MINICOMIC--Phase 7 Alec Longstreth (Self-published)

OUTSTANDING ONLINE COMIC--The Perry Bible Fellowship, Nicholas Gurewitch (http://www.thepbf.com)

OUTSTANDING DEBUT NOMINEES -- Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed?, Liz Prince, Top Shelf Productions