October Offerings at the Center for Cartoon Studies:

Dead Man's Hand & Doonesbury Delights

As noted in the last two posts, I wrapped up my own six-page contribution to the upcoming CCS-spawned anthology Dead Man's Hand, brainchild of CCS seniors and the portmanteau's editorial team of Christopher Warren, Denis St. John, Matthew Young, Morgan Pielli and alumni Jon-Mikel Gates.

Chris (who did the production on my son Daniel's and my own "An Alphabet of Zombies" for the Accent UK Zombies anthology) scanned, cleaned up and prepped my story for publication last night, so I'll be posting a page or two of the story here starting tomorrow.

In the meantime,

here's the link to the Dead Man's Hand site -- updates and much, much more art to follow, as the team gets the book together for its SPX debut!

Here's the SPX link for more info on the convention itself --

-- and note that CCS once again has a table at SPX. SPX will be held in Bethesda, MD on October 12th and 13th; CCS will be at table W22, near the door and registration table. I won't be there (my convention days are over), but that's where you'll find Dead Man's Hand and many, many other great CCS student/artist/faculty creations!

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Garry Trudeau Visits CCS in October...

Garry Trudeau is coming to CCS later this month -- and here's the promised link with the particulars!

"Garry Trudeau, creator of the Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoon Doonesbury, is making a rare public appearance on behalf of The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction Vermont on October 22, 2007..." Seating is limited, so if you're in the area and you're a Trudeau/Doonesbury fan, don't wait to snag your ticket ASAP!

Furthermore, Garry has generously donated a Doonesbury original (pictured above, from his recent spring 2007 'Vermont Town Meeting' sequence) to the CCS fundraising effort; CCS will be actively promoting this online auction beginning October 17th, but here's the current announcement:

EBAY AUCTION
ORIGINAL COMIC BY GARRY TRUDEAU

Original comic art donated by Mr. Trudeau to be auctioned online. The piece comes professionally framed in a black metal casing and white and black matting, compliments of Junction Frame Shop.

Size of original framed:
12 1/2" x 22 1/4"

DATE AUCTION BEGINS: Wednesday, October 17
DATE AUCTION CLOSES: Tuesday, October 23

A direct link will be posted here on October 17.
You will be able to click here to place your bid!

Ditto from here. More info as we get closer to Garry's visit...
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The leaves are changing color here in Vermont, and it's fall, folks. As an email from Jamaica (VT) amigo HomeyM notes this AM, "All leaves have embedded in them three pigments: chlorophyll (green colors), carotenoid (the yellow, orange and brown colors), and anthocyanins (red, blue and purple colors). During the long days of summer, chlorophyll is continuously being produced, resulting in green leaves. As the days get shorter and cooler, chlorophyll production slows and eventually ceases. When this occurs, the carotenoids and anthocyanins present in the leaves are unmasked and show their colors. The timing of these colors varies by elevation and by tree species." It all adds up to the trippy Vermont autumns I love, just by opening my eyes every single morning!

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That's all for today, have a terrific Tuesday... "Tenderfoot" peek tomorrow, and more!

Congrats to Mike Bleier!

First off, it's a special day in our household, as my stepson Mike, Marge's younger son (of two), is graduating from his electrician apprenticeship program today. It's technically The Vermont Registered Apprenticeship Program, under the Vermont Department of Labor's umbrella; Mike put his four years in with the Hartford Career & Technology Center (Hartford Electrical 4). He still has his exam in June ahead (to get his journeyman's license), but this is a great day.

We're off to Randolph, VT (coincidentally, not far from where Mike and his wife Mary were wed last summer) for the graduation later this morning, so, well, congrats to Michael Bleier!

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But it's the CCS student sites I have to share with you this morning -- this is the last of 'em I've got links to. I'll post a roundup and permanent link from this blog tomorrow!

First up,

Morgan Pielli dances paper clips and dinosaurs on his site, which you know rings the chambers of my heart and chimes in my brain.

Morgan's character and concept Dinosaur Jones is still in its formative stages, though there's this -- and more -- awaiting you at Morgan's online outpost!

Bryan Stone's comics, sketchbook images and much more malingers here, including his Frogherder strips

(of which the sample shown here is strip #364!) -- much to see, read, and enjoy on Bryan's site. It's about to undergo some revisions, so don't be surprised if you catch it mid face-change soon.

Christopher Warren -- aka Radical Warren -- has staked out this virtual turf as his own, with attitude!

Here's one of my current faves from Chris's site; he's an aggressive online comics creator, and there's also numerous links to other online comics sites from Chris's digs, which also offer some lively diversions.


(Chris did me a good turn by handling all the scanning and digital cleanup tasks on my contributions to the Accent UK Zombies anthology, so I owe him big time, despite the meager miserly paycheck he earned from yours truly on that gig -- hence his site being our CCS sendoff for Saturday. Enjoy!)

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Since my intro to Criswell yesterday only managed to provoke my compadres (nyuk, nyuk), I'll present today's unadorned, save to say -- uh, maybe Criswell got his year wrong on this one. We can only hope!:

Criswell Predicts!

American Tragedy 1980

I regret to predict an American tragedy on November 11, 1980! An instant newsflash from the White House will tell of the first suicide of an American president! This President will be popularly elected with much promise, but the Public will turn against him, and he will be the most hated official in all history. I predict that the suicide will take place in the lonely small hours of the morning. A shot will be heard, and upon investigating, his wife will find the sprawled body of her husband in his private office. A gentle rain will be falling, as will the tears of all Americans! The dead man did not fail us, we failed him!

Have a great Saturday AM, one and all!

Another Sunday Morning...

... and another quartet of CCS students and their abundant weirdness & wonders:

(Part the Second of a Series)

BEWARE!

That which looks like it must be touched,
but should never ever be touched,
unless you want your finger
(nay, your entire arm! Your shoulder!
Your head!)
to sink deeper than expected
into the sticky
tar-baby-like

Insidious Interior Chambers of Chuck Forsman!

HOWL!

...at the Technicolor Yawn
spraying like a
ravaging geyser
from uncanny
& unknowable cavities,
spilling like a phlegm flume
of spendiforous colors
spiced with
giggly girl-sounds
awash with
vast vomitoriums
of glee and glamor,
splashing
every
orifice
of your being
with God-Awful gorgasms
of horrific hash-flashing
dry heaves
and gag-flexing
gorgeousities
of gooberous glowworms,
steaming-hot
and ready to serve as
fresh-spewn magma
flows from

The Ralphadelic Realms of Radical Chris Warren!

SCREAM!

...as your nerve endings feel the probing talons of,
your vertebrae crack and splinter
as your spinal fluid is displaced by,
your optic nerves are entangled with,
your marrow is supplanted
and your gums are unexpectedly massaged by
(even as your remaining tooth enamel is dissolved away by)

The Stupefying Subepidermal-Invasive Tentacled Extremities of Ross Wood Studlar (He Who Is Pictured But Unjustly Unnamed In Vermont Life This Month!)

SHRIEK!

...at that fruit of two loins,
that spill of paired cranial rubbings,
the abundance which only
collaborative coupling of brain cells can yield,

The Cerebal Spawn of David Giarratana (and James D'Amato, who is not of the CCS persuasion)!

Updated "Ebery Satuhdei, waka waka," so Dave sez.
Sorry, couldn't excerpt a panel, you get the whole digdanged page:

Have a great Sunday --
more posts later today,
as & if time permits.




Note: No rabbits.