M: Do you ever miss making comics?

JD: Well... no, not really (laughs).

M: You sound happy about your decision to move on.

JD: Oh my god, yes. I'm very happy about it. It took me quite a long time to figure out why and I'm not sure I even have because I feel my reaction is out of proportion. I really don't want to hear about comics anymore, I don't want to read them. And it's not really about the medium anymore, but the crowd.

M: What do you mean by that?

JD: It's really a guy's world, and with comic nerds -- in general anyway--all they talk about is comics. They're not really interested in anything else and just not that open to things. Also I think it had a lot to do with relationships I had --romantic ones-- that were very difficult for me. My only friends at the time were men and a lot of the men had a problem with me being more successful than they were.

M: Have you made any female friends over the years?

JD: (laughs) All my friends now are women. All of them.

In the 1970s, The Winnipeg Art Gallery began an initiative to push the boundaries by asking the question “is this Art?” in relation to objects such as comic books, quilts, pinball machines(!), editorial cartoons, craft, and even photography. One of the first groundbreaking exhibitions of this period was The Structure of the Comic Book (1973) which sought to investigate the techniques of storytelling used by comic book artists with a secondary motive to address the debate between notions of high and low forms of art. An impressive and exhaustive exhibition, approximately 50 works were borrowed directly from Marvel Comics in New York City.
[...]
Another exhibition that explored the illustration versus art debate was Canadian Political Cartoons in 1977. A particular focus of the exhibition dealt with the issue of Separatism supported by drawings from cartoonists across Canada. It was from this area that an important body of work by two significant editorial cartoonists was collected. Ranging in date from 1963 to 1977, the Gallery holds ten works by Peter Kuch (1917–1980), who worked for the Winnipeg Free Press, and eleven works by Duncan Macpherson (1924–1993), who worked for the Toronto Star.

(CRNC/ISNA)-The Prosecutor's Office in Charge of Investigating Government Employees' Offenses on June 13th, referred Tehran daily "Iran's" cartoonist and its editor-in-chief to the Islamic Revolutionary Court.

Cartoonist Mana Neyestani and his editor-in-chief Mehrdad Qassemfar will be tried in the Islamic Revolutionary Court for inciting ethnic unrest. A Neyestani cartoon triggered protests and violence among the Turkish-speaking population in northwestern parts of Iran after appearing in a weekly supplement "Iran Jomeh."

The Islamic Revolutionary Court usually doesn't deal with cases of this nature, and normally deals with major crimes such as disrupting the national economy, jeopardizing national security and large-scale drug and human trafficking.

On June 12th, 2006, the Iranian minister of Justice announced that the judiciary had asked the court to punish the accused with "highest penalty" available. He said that the criminal action taken by Neyetsani is not related to the press laws and only the Revolutionary Court is authorized to try the case.

The hearings are usually not open to the public and are held behind closed doors. There will not be a jury. A single judge alone will rule in the case .

Mana Neyastani has been held in custody from May 23rd in the Evin prison and has been interrogated several times. The Neystani family has also faced death threats from the Azeri Minority.

For more information, please contact (416) 838-4433, visit www.deadder.net/CRNC/index.html or email:crncanada@cartoonistrights.com.

Chester Brown Reimagines Wonder Woman
Local comic hero Chester Brown reimagines Wonder Woman, one of the most iconic characters in comic books. The one-of-a kind original pieces (not prints) will be going up for auction with all proceeds going to the Douglas Wright Awards...

"The main thing confessed in an obsession: the Holocaust. The little girl on the page grew up with a black cloud over her head, which germinated like a vine to intertwine with her developing ego. Both her parents were prisoners of Auschwitz; in fact, that's where they met, that's where her father proposed to her mother with a ring she had found in the pocket of a coat and managed to save for months in her shoe. It's a heavy load to bear, for them of course, but also for their daughter. The child is awed by the unspeakable darkness in their past, by the nightmares that haunt her father and the victimization they have suffered. As a Canadian Jew, growing up in a sheltered community in Toronto, no less, she knows none of the hate they have experienced. She struggles daily to somehow attain her own cultural self-justification."

"created by Kids in the Know, a division of Child Find Manitoba and brought to Alberta by Children's Services. Kids in the Know is a safety program designed to empower children and reduce their risk of victimization."

Hi,

My name is Jonny Kearns.
I am developing a magazine is to be a collaboration between Canada / New Zealand and perhaps in the future, it having full distribution in both countries.
My wife is from Canada so it's like a second home to me.
I would love it if you would supply some work that you would think would be suitable. As well as being a comic we are also interested in all art and talented artists, stand up comedy (written of course). Anything that gets a laugh.
Other works in the publication will range from humorous articles, interviews to things based on popular culture (piss takes of block buster movies etc) and even street art. Also bogus (humourous) ads & humours bogus newspaper articles.
Something I am very interested in is international politics, so political cartoons (domestic and international) also are great as well. We are looking at a publication that ranges from Mad magazine to Viz (english comic - you'll know it) to 2000AD (Judge Dredd etc) to Time magazine.
Basically anything you can send would be fantastic.
Unfortuately at this stage (this will be the first issue) I will be unable to pay you but I will send you a copy and list your website / contact details etc in the publication.

I am endeavouring to have artwork / strips confirmed asap and finished artwork / articles supplied to me by the 15th June so hopefully I can go to print at the end of June.

Artwork & articles
186mm x 246mm (full page - no bleed) (portrait)
215mm x 279mm (full page - image bleeding off page) (portrait)

Ads
90mm x 120mm (quarter page) (portrait)
186mm x 120mm (half page) (landscape)
60mm x 60mm (directory)

This first issue will be black n white throughout.

Files need to be supplied in high resolution (300dpi): pdf, jpeg, tif, eps format.

Artists retain ownership of material supplied.

You can email me artwork at artroom@mainroad.co.nz or post to the address below. Whatever suits you.

My postal address is:
Jonny Kearns
1/162 Main Road,
Redcliffs,
Christchurch
New Zealand.

Phone: 03-377 4885