7/26/11 - LEXICON: Creative Arts and Cancer Awareness

There's a special event happening this Saturday! A first time effort and it all benefits a worthy cause! I have cut and pasted this info this from the Facebook event that local comic shop owner Sara Arnett set up. Artists please consider donating some work for the raffle and silent auction.

LEXICON: Creative Arts and Cancer Awareness

Saturday, July 30 · 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Al's Bar of Lexington

601 North Limestone St.

Lexington, KY  40508

Our goal with this event is to promote the wonderfully talented locals and their creative endeavors. Providing a chance for local film companies, actors, writers, and professional and amateur artists to set up side by side to promote their art and make a little money for themselves. Some tables are still available! To reserve table space please Contact Sara Arnett (see Admins) ASAP. There will be a silent art auction and raffle,... (we are asking our guests to donate items or donate a portion of their earnings for the evening). We will be donating the entirety of the earnings of the raffle and the auction to The American Cancer Society. If you would like to donate, please let us know! Feel free to send items for the auction or raffle even if you cannot be there in person.

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

09/03/07 - Labor Day, What's It Really About?

Well Happy Labor Day! Don't get sunburnt or eat too much at the picnic. But is that why we celebrate this holiday? Who is this celebration for? Why is it important to celebrate the working man and woman? The modern labor movement is responsible for the minimum wage rate, the eight-hour work day, the forty-hour work week, overtime, child labor laws and lot's more we take for granted.

Comic creators and cartoonists are most often freelance artists and writers. Without the confines of the 9 to 5 grind they work their magic in basement or attic studios far from the hum of neon track lighting and carpet covered cubicles. Until sometime in the 1980's many artists were considered "work for hire" and did not get their original art back - even more disturbing is the fact that many pages of original art were shredded or cut up into pieces just so no one could try to republish the work.

Many of the folks who inspired us as readers (if you were born in the sixties as I was) are now approaching retirement age. Most of them have worked for years without benefits (life insurance, health insurance, sick time or vacation days) and now have nothing but the dubious comfort of Social Security. Mark Alessi, the controversial and abrasive former owner of CrossGen Comics did a lot of classy things (in my opinion) while at the wheel of that company. He tried to be on time with his books, he started the Bridges Educational Outreach Program for bringing comics into the classroom and he brought back the studio concept. But one of his most significant actions was to help start an organization now called The HERO Initiative. That organization originally called ACTOR (A Commitment To Our Roots) started around 2000.

Here's the HERO website if you would like to learn more about this charitable organization that offers confidential "monetary assistance to former comic book creators requiring supplemental health, medical, and quality-of-life assistance.."

How To Help: You can help with money, material, and time, or something special.