8/30/09 - GLC NCS Meeting News - Superman and Comic Strip Superstar

Last weekend the Great Lakes Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society or GLC NCS had their annual summer get-together in Cincinnati and invited some guests to attend - among whom I was lucky enough to be included. Many thanks to Craig Boldman for the invite! This meeting was fun and informative. Last year, myself and few other CCG members attended a similar event and info gained from then and there led to my being able to attend the NCS Tribute luncheon and presentation of the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award to Frank Frazetta at his museum in Pennsylvania in September 2008.

Well this year had some interesting news items as well. Ed Black, the GLC's secretary told of a project to preserve the homes in Cleveland Ohio of the two creators of Superman. The Siegal and Shuster Society is a registered charity and was founded last year by writer Brad Meltzer. With the generous help of many current comic artists it has raised over $100,000 in the last year to preserve the home of Jerry Siegel. This past July there was celebration of this achievement - see this link to CBR story for more details: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21998

Another brief Ed shared was about Comic Strip Superstar. This event is a contest (entries must be in by September 12th 2009 to be eligible.

The winner will receive a publishing contract from Andrews McMeel Publishing, a $5,000 advance from Universal Uclick, and a monthly stipend for the development of 20 comic strips that will be considered for syndication.

Two well known cartoonist judges for the event include Gray Trudeau (Doonesbury) and Lynn Johnston (For Better or Worse) Also judging will be two veteran Universal Press Syndicate editors. The contest is sponsored by Andrews McMeel Publishing and hosted by Amazon.com. You need to have two weeks of daily cartoons and two Sunday strips in order to enter.

I did some further web searches upon hearing of this contest and have cooled somewhat in my initial enthusiasm for this project. There seems to be some concern that the contracts are somewhat one sided in the interest of the sponsor and not a good deal for the lucky winner. See these links for some of these commentaries:

• http://forums.leasticoulddo.com/index.php?showtopic=30264
• http://blog.comicspace.com/?p=1686
• http://www.webcomics.com/home/2009/8/19/comic-strip-superstar-contest-announced.html

Revised 09/08/09:
Oops! I forgot to mention previously the National Caricaturists Network (NCN) 2009 National Convention:

http://www.caricature.org/index.php?page=convention-upcoming

The event will be in Sandusky, OH over November 2-7, 2009. Big discounts for signing up before 9/15/09 - see site and below (copy and pasted from Tom Richmond's excellent blog):

On or Before September 15th:

• Members- $165
• Member guests- $100 each
• Non- Member “Seminar Only”- $99

After September 15th:

• Members- $250
• Member guests- $100 each
• Non- Member “Seminar Only”- $125

08/02/09 - Lousiville Cartoonist Society

There's a new comic creator group in Kentucky!

The Louisville Cartoonists Society!

I had heard about this group when I was in Louisville last May for the excellent WonderFest convention. There, by chance I bumped into Jason Guest who was also visiting the artists alley. After I introduced myself and gave him a CCG card he told me about the newly formed Louisville group. Fellow Louisville artist, Joe Welsh, whom I already knew from his participation in our 2008 CCG/LexArts Comic Art Show, confirmed this in an email conversation.

I later managed to track down Ted Lee Nathanson (the organizer - and artist for the cool zombie pic gracing this post) on Facebook and we have since continued a friendly email exchange. Below is a quote from one of those emails that briefly explains the group's purpose:

Our (the Louisville Cartoonist Society) goals are:
1) to encourage and critique each other's work- and create the kind of conditions that help creators finish projects.
2) to promote and show work together as a group- create an outlet for people's work

Ted started this group earlier this summer (in May) and their fourth meeting is coming up this Monday, August 3rd in (of all places) Louisville! Here's the info cut and pasted from their site:

Next Meeting: 7:00PM MONDAY AUGUST 3RD @ RAY’S MONKEY HOUSE on Bardstown Road- so decided because they serve both coffee and beer. Pick your Poison and Bring your Sketchbook, we’re doing a drawing Jam! No theme, but it’s been suggested that you should bring an image or phrase to throw in an idea pile. I like this a lot, and instead of explaining what I think an idea pile should be, I’m gonna leave it up for interpretation.

Looks like they are off to a great start! I wish Ted, Jeremy, Jason, Joe and all the other LCS members (whom I hope to meet soon!) all the best and look forward to some exciting collaborations between the two groups and even more great comics coming from the bluegrass state!