D23, the new Disney fan community, are putting up classic newspaper comic strips every day. Right now they’re showing vintage Mickey Mouse strips from 1930, Donald Duck dailies from 1938 and Scamp (the son of Lady and the Tramp) from 1955.
There doesn’t seem to be any sort of archive, unfortunately, but hopefully they’ll add one in the future. And an RSS feed, please!
Inspired by comic artist and theorist Scott McCloud, French artist Yves Bigerel visually demonstrates how he believes online comics have the scope to be something much more than just reproductions of their paper-based counterparts. Freed from the limitations of print digital comics offer a greater control over the pacing of sequential storytelling; control Yves believes hasn’t yet been fully explored.
He follows this up with a second exploration, imaginatively entitled “About About Digital Comics“. (via Steve)
I was, apparently, born in the same town and went to the same school as Illustrator Quentin Blake, most famous for his wonderfully apparently effortless illustrations for the books of Roald Dahl; although obviously not at the same time… what with him being 43 years my senior. Anyway, I managed to spot an interview him on BBC Breakfast News before I left for work this morning where he was talking about a proposed museum for illustration in London.
They’re currently trying to raise the £6 million required to build a “House of Illustration” in Kings Cross, London by 2011 — the world’s first museum dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms.
The House of Illustration is a registered charity that was established in 2002. It is the brainchild of Quentin Blake. As an experienced illustrator and teacher, he saw a gap in the UK’s museum sector. At the moment, illustration is only seen in occasional temporary exhibitions in other museums and galleries. The House of Illustration will change that.
The House of Illustration will be the place to see past and present illustration, both British and international. It will be the world’s first centre dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms.
They are a registered charity and currently accepting donations via their website.
Ok, yeah, this kind of happened a few months ago now (brace yourselves, you’re going to hear that a lot over the next few weeks!) but it’s still worth mentioning. Previously only available to paying subscribers, comic artist James Kochalka has made the archives of his wonderful daily comic journal, American Elf, free to access. That’s nine and a half years worth of sketchbook life!
They’re also available as a series of books, I have a copy of the first one which compiles the first five years and it’s a lovely big tome. The second volume, which collects 2004 and 2005, is also available and volume three will be available in November.
Tank Girl: The Gifting is a new four-part comic book series — Ms Girl’s first outing in over ten years. While original writer and co-creator Alan Martin continues to write, Jamie Hewlett is out of the picture (rolling around in Gorillaz cash, no doubt) and artist Ashley Wood (Zombies vs Robots) takes the visual reigns. While stylistically totally different it looks stunning and I’m told that it features the same poop, violence and kangaroo sex gags that we’re all used to. (via Boing Boing)
Newsarama has a preview of what’s inside Kazu Kibuishi and friends’ forthcoming volume of the Flight comic series — 57 pages of them! It really is fantastic to watch the book’s success over the years.
New Zip for the Old Strip: “If Schulz started out today he wouldn’t have bothered with a [newspaper] syndicate. He would have taken his strip straight to the Web, and we would be watching Li’l Folks specials every year at Christmas.”
How did this slip past the radar? Marvel superhero Captain America died last week. The first I’d head of it was when Kotaku mentioned it in reference to an article at Marvel.com on Captain America in video games.
Will Eisner: The Spirit of an Artistic Pioneer: New trailer for the “documentary on the life and career of the sequential art genius.” (via Drawn!)