http://www.garenewing.co.uk/rainboworchid/blog/blog.php?request=permalink&entryid=254

It's a very very nice tome, in the 'coffee-table book' style: hardback, chunky, slick. The range of art on show is quite stunning and I feel quite humbled to be included among them. Congratulations to Dez on getting an excellent and worthwhile project together.

If you're interested in purchasing a copy, you can click here, or the picture below.

http://drawn.ca/2008/05/13/oppose-the-orphan-works-act-of-2008/

http://drawn.ca/?p=4985

By now many of you are already informed about the proposed Orphan Works Act being introduced to the U.S. house and senate. For those unaware, this legistlation, if enacted, can effectively undermine and dismantle your existing copyright protection.

Currently, copyright is granted the moment a work is created. This new Orphan Works legislation proposes a change in U.S. copyright that would require artists, illustrators, photographers, and any creative individual to actively maintain and defend their copyright by registering each and every work with privatized registrars. Failure to do so would leave everything you’ve ever created as an artist up for grabs by anyone who wanted to copy, reproduce, create derivative works of, or flat out steal your work since the act defines an “orphan work” as any work where the author is unidentifiable or unlocatable, and applies to both published and unpublished works, U.S. and foreign, regardless of age.

This is completely contradictory with international copyright standards and is ethically, logistically, and financially bonkers.

The two bills are S.2913, the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 and H.R.5889, theOrphan Works Act of 2008. Markup of the Bentley bill is this Thursday, May 15, and it’s not too late to voice your concerns.

Taking action to prevent this from happening is not only vital, but incredibly easy. U.S. citizens, simply fill out one of these templates provided by the Illustrators Partnership and your opposition will automatically be e-mailed to your members of Congress.

Non-U.S. citizens can simply FAX these letters to the various U.S. agencies’ numbers provided.

This affects all of us, so I encourage you to educate yourself with the facts. For more information, I’d recommend listening to this eye-opening interview (MP3) with Illustrator Brad Holland, who describes in detail the effect this legislation will have on artists.

The Illustrators’ Partnership of America has plenty more information on the Oprhan Works Act, how it affects you, and what you can do to fight it.

http://www.garenewing.co.uk/rainboworchid/blog/blog.php?request=permalink&entryid=253

Part one dealt with Hergé and the development of his style - fascinating stuff - but it's part two that provides rare information for English-language readers on the development of that style and the artists that continued to fly the banner for what became an important and enriching force in comics, especially within Franco-Belgian bande dessinée.

I've since come across these articles a couple more times - Paul used them as the basis for a talk on Tintin he gave at the Greenwich Maritime Museum in 2004, and now he's generously put them online for everyone to read. You can see part one here and part two here. Make yourself a cup of tea and go and read them!

When I was selling The Rainbow Orchid at comic festivals, I of course got many comments about the obvious Tintin influence - but these were all from British readers. The handful of European comic readers that I spoke to (French and German mostly) didn't actually mention Tintin at all, and seemed to be more accepting of my story on its own merits, due to the fact, I'm sure, that mainland Europe has a strong tradition of that school of comic art.

Yves Chaland's Freddy Lombard in 'The Elephant Graveyard' (1982)

While I'm perfectly happy with the Tintin comparisons (in fact I love 'em... Hergé is a major influence), I do light up when someone looks at my work and mentions Chaland, or Floch, or Jacobs. If manga was not so ubiquitous, and Astroboy was its prime example in the UK, as Tintin currently is for the ligne claire, then any artist working in the manga style today would be compared to Tezuka, I've no doubt. Things may be changing a little for the Franco-Belgian tradition - Cinebook were at the Bristol Expo this weekend and Oliver is having a huge success with his newly translated albums - he's got a terrific selection and I'm a regular customer.

For some related posts on this subject you can read my manga and style piece and on a more personal level, my entry on two long-time favourite books.

hereville

Kleefeld on Comics has published a very flattering review of Hereville. Here’s a sample:

The story is very well crafted. The seeds of Mirka’s final victory are planted in the first few pages of the tale, but not in a manner that’s immediately obvious. Indeed, even after Mirka’s competition with the troll begins, her foregone victory (it’s in the title, after all) comes about in a surprising manner. […]

The storytelling itself is very solid. In fact, there are a couple of particularly nice page and panel layouts. I especially liked Mirka’s leaving the town on page 26, and the start of her victory over the troll on page 51 which nicely echoes/bookends an early page in the story. Interestingly, Deutsch’s linework improves markedly over the course of the yarn.

There’s more, so please head over there to read the whole thing. (There aren’t any spoilers there, but there are a couple of very, very vague hints.)

Originally published at hereville.com. You can comment here or there.

http://drawn.ca/2008/05/12/mutobyblu/

http://drawn.ca/?p=4984

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Blu is a graffiti/street artist from Buenos Aires Bologna, Italy. His stuff is amazing. He recently finished a film combining two of my favorite things: graffiti and animation, titled “MUTO.” I’m blown away by it. Unbelievable.

On his Youtube, he’s posted some other animated experiments, if you’re curious. He has a blog, too.

UPDATE: Thanks to several readers, I’ve now updated where Blu’s from. (Sorry about that — there wasn’t much info the guy when I hastily typed up this post earlier.) Also, Lorenzo Fonda wrote to tell me this:

“…I’m currently finishing a documentary film about a trip i took with [Blu] in Latin America. For details you can go here: www.megunica.org. We will also print a book of the sketchbook he and me kept during the trip.

ciao!

lorenzo”

Thanks, Lorenzo, for the update!

(Thanks, Trevor!)