Tag Archives: bill griffith

Small Press Expo 2023: Spotlight on Bill Griffith and Three Rocks: The Story Of Ernie Bushmiller

The Small Press Expo has posted all of the programming panels from SPX 2023 on YouTube to watch!

Bill Griffith is a legend of the underground comics era, co-editing Arcade and syndicated his surreal Zippy The Pinhead strip for nearly fifty years. His new book, Three Rocks: The Story Of Ernie Bushmiller, is his latest graphic novel, detailing the creator of Nancy’s life and the influence that strip had on him. He’ll be joined in conversation by writer, historian, and critic Paul Gravett, made immortal as “The Man At The Crossroads” by Eddie Campbell.

The Harvey Awards Hall of Fame Inductees for 2023 revealed

The Harvey Awards

The Harvey Awards have revealed this year’s inductees into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame in advance of the ceremony taking place at New York Comic Con. The 2023 Harvey Awards include six renowned creators being honored: Chris ClaremontWalt SimonsonLouise SimonsonMarv Wolfman, the late George Pérez, and Bill Griffith.

The Harvey Awards Hall of Fame inductees will be recognized at the 35th annual awards ceremony on Friday, October 13, 2023, during New York Comic Con.

The Harvey Awards Committee is co-chaired by Nellie Kurtzman, John Lind, and Chip Mosher. Chris D’Lando and Camilla Di Persia of ReedPop and Eden Miller coordinate the awards.

Around the Tubes

Hunt for the Skinwalker #1

It’s a new week! We’ve got a lot coming at you after a busy weekend at Baltimore Comic Con and SPX! We’ll kick it off with some comic news and reviews you might have missed!

CBR – Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav Vows To Fight To End the Hollywood Strikes – When it looks like you’re about to lose a lot of money, of course you are.

How to Love Comics – What Are Marvel Epic Collections And Are They Good For New Readers? – If you’ve ever wondered.

ICv2 – ‘March’ Artist Nate Powell to Adapt ‘Lies My Teacher Told Me’ – Nice!

Smash Pages – ‘Zippy the Pinhead’ creator Bill Griffith wins the Reuben Award – Congrats!

The Beat – A Year of Free Comics: STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED CELEBRATION PRESENTS THE SCHEIMER BARRIER goes beyond the farthest star – Free comics!

Reviews

Collected Editions – Gotham Academy: Maps of Mystery #1
CBR – Hunt for the Skinwalker #1
The Beat – Xogenasys Vol. 1

More Small Press Expo 2023 Special Guests Announced!

Small Press Expo has announced the second list of Special Guests for SPX 2023. The show takes place on Saturday September 9 and Sunday September 10 with programming and workshops about the amazing world of independent comics and an exhibitor floor with over 500 creators.

MariNaomi, Bill Griffith, Nicole Goux, Hannah Templer, Eddie Campbell, Rob Kirby, Joel Priddy, and Raeghan Buchanan have been revealed as Special Guests for SPX 2023.

Additional Special Guests will be announced over the next few days.

MariNaomi

MariNaomi is an award-winning illustrator and banned-book author who must dig into their past in order to come to terms with the death of a close friendship in their latest book I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME from Fieldmouse Press. Using a gorgeous mix of collage and drawing, Mari excavates their own journals, ephemera, and mind to piece together their relationship with Jodie, and why it tumultuously ended.

Bill Griffith

Join Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy the Pinhead and Nobody’s Fool, to celebrate Three Rocks, a biography of cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the iconic comic strip Nancy.

Nicole Goux

Nicole Goux is an Eisner Award nominated illustrator and cartoonist from Los Angeles. Her latest book that she’ll be signing at SPX is the fantastic Pet Peeves, released in May 2023 by Avery Hill Publishing. Pet Peeves is a magical realist urban horror story that touches on the nature of modern work-lives, creative enterprise and self-destructiveness.

Hannah Templer

Hannah Templer is best known as the writer and artist of the Ignatz-nominated graphic novel series COSMOKNIGHTS (published by Top Shelf, readable online at www.cosmoknights.space), in which a ragtag band of queer gladiators, princesses, and rebels battle the galactic patriarchy through a series of neo-medieval jousting tournaments.

Eddie Campbell

Eddie Campbell started calling his hand-stapled comics “small press” in 1981 when everybody else was saying “alternative” “underground” and “zines.” He takes some pleasure in seeing that the term has stuck. He self-published his comic book BACCHUS for 60 issues as well as the collected FROM HELL (with Alan Moore). His autobiographical concoctions form his favorite strain of his own work. This strain was collected in ALEC: THE YEARS HAVE PANTS and emerges again in his new back-to-back reversible book, THE SECOND FAKE DEATH OF EDDIE CAMPBELL / THE FATE OF THE ARTIST.

Rob Kirby

Rob Kirby will be signing his new book, the graphic memoir Marry Me a Little at the Graphic Mundi table (periodically during the weekend)… Appearing in a spotlight panel… Moderating a panel… Possibly another panel, not sure.

Joel Priddy

Greek myth has inspired stories and art for millennia. And yet some stories and characters remain unfamiliar. First There Was Chaos, by Joel Priddy, explores the formless, primordial, and extraordinary forces that preceded the Olympian gods. These tales of Creation illustrate the creative process, giving cosmic form to the universal struggles of all creators.

Raeghan Buchanan

Raeghan Buchanan will be at SPX this year as part of panels and book signings for “The Secret History of Black Punk: Record Zero” which is published by Silver Sprocket. The Secret History of Black Punk delvse into the largely overlooked footprint that Black punks have on the underground music scene in a new archival publication. It is an illustrated roll-call for punk, post-punk, hardcore, no-wave, and experimental bands from ground zero ‘til now. A starting point for anyone curious, another reference for those who devour all genre-related things, or a cool artifact for anyone in the know.

See what’s coming in July from Fantagraphics

Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual

by Simon Hanselmann and Josh Pettinger

In the tradition of the once ubiquitous British hardback annuals comes the Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual! One hundred fun-filled seasonal pages of spoofs and goofs for the whole family to enjoy (no minors allowed)! Featuring fun appearances by beloved friends of the family such as Megg, Mogg, and Owl, not to mention Dracula Jr. and Tim the drug dealing spider. The “WWJ&Sons DSFA” will surely leave you confused, angry, upset, heavily triggered and wishing you could call Child Protective Services on a fictional werewolf!

Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual

Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir, Book One

by Natalie Norris

A vivid debut graphic memoir of adolescent resiliency—Norris’s spirited and free-flowing page designs and full color cartooning bring her frank voice and personality to life, making Dear Mini one of the most compelling graphic novel debuts of 2023.

Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir, Book One

The Comics Journal #309

From the trenches of independent/small press comics publishing, two art comics publishers talk — Gary Groth (Fantagraphics) interviews Annie Koyama (Koyama Press). This issue of the award-winning magazine focuses on international small press comics publishing and distribution.

The Comics Journal #309

Alison

by Lizzy Stewart

Alison tells the story of a young British woman who, in her twenties, seizes upon the opportunity to escape from her quiet life in Dorset to the thrumming art scene of late-1970s London. But the vehicle for her escape is a charismatic older man whose reputation as an artist and philanderer casts a shadow which will follow Alison for years as she pursues her painting career. Told through quietly powerful interpersonal moments rich with meaning and mood, this graphic novel will appeal to fans of Sally Rooney and Leanne Shapton, as well as the great empathic writers Alice Munro, Hilary Mantel, and Tessa Hadley.

Alison

Scrooge McDuck: The Dragon of Glasgow

by Joris Chamblain and Fabrizio Petrossi

Return to Uncle Scrooge’s epic past in this standalone Disney graphic novel… full of thrills and chills in the long-ago coal mines of Scotland! An all-new saga set in the world of Don Rosa’s Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck series, The Dragon of Glasgow forges a new trail with adventures rendered in a modern, animation-inspired style.

Scrooge McDuck: The Dragon of Glasgow

Ernie in Kovacsland: Writings, Drawings, and Photographs from Television’s Original Genius

by Josh Mills, Ben Model, and Pat Thomas

Ernie Kovacs inspired countless comedians, musicians, humorists, and writers in the latter half of the 20th century and beyond. He is cited as a direct influence by the creators and stars of such innovative comedy series as Saturday Night Live, Monty Python, and Mystery Science Theater 3000. An award in his name has been granted to uproarious humorists like Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy) and Harry Shearer (This is Spinal Tap). A true visionary, Kovacs’s iconoclastic approach has forever made its mark on the world of comedy. In celebration of this cockeyed genius and his prolific creative output, Fantagraphics presents a career retrospective of Ernie Kovacs featuring never-before-seen material from Kovacs’s archive.

Ernie in Kovacsland: Writings, Drawings, and Photographs from Television's Original Genius

The Buildings Are Barking

by Bill Griffith

The Buildings Are Barking is Bill Griffith’s tender, poetic, deeply felt comics tribute to his wife, life-long partner, muse, copy editor, and fellow cartoonist Diane Noomin. “I’m still unable to accept her death. I relive all 49 of our years together every day. How could anyone so alive, so funny, so lovely, be gone? Who am I without her?” Griffith summons all of his comics-making expertise in order to bring his beloved Diane back to life in a remarkable act of mourning and memory.

The Buildings Are Barking

Small Press Expo Announces Guests Scott McCloud, Raina Telgemeier, Bill Griffith and Kathryn Immonen

spx-logo-240SPX has announced Scott McCloud, Bill Griffith and Kathryn Immonen as guests at SPX 2016. This is in addition to the previously announced guests Kate Beaton, Luke Pearson, Noelle Stevenson, Michael DeForge, Gemma Correll, Noah Van Sciver, Matt Bors, Lilli Carré, Theo Ellsworth, C. Spike Trotman, Jennifer Hayden and Stuart Immonen.

SPX 2016 takes place on Saturday and Sunday, September 19-20, and will have over 650 creators, 280 exhibitor tables and 22 programming slots to entertain, enlighten and introduce attendees to the amazing world of independent and small press comics.

The indefatigable Scott McCloud joyously joins the ranks of special guests on the heels of his tour for The Sculptor from First Second, a graphic novel following the harrowed life of a cursed (or blessed) sculptor given extreme creative powers that come with the ultimate price tag. McCloud’s resume recently included a guest editorship on The Best American Comics (2014), and is the reigning American king of comics scholarship in comics form with his series, How to Understand Comics, Making Comics and Reinventing Comics. If you have ever labored long into the night on a 24 hour comic, you can thank the multiple award-winning (Eisner, Harvey, Kirby and Manning) McCloud for that challenge in person.

SPX 2016 will see the debut of the very first graphic novel by Bill Griffith. Titled Invisible Ink and published by Fantagraphics, it is the story of his mother’s extramarital affairs with a cartoonist that took place in suburban Levittown and the culture center of Manhattan in the 50’s and 60’s. Griffith’s continues his pithy, pointed and surreal social commentary through his long running strip Zippy the Pinhead.  Zippy is available online and is syndicated to newspapers around the United States such as the Washington Post and Houston Chronicle.

Kathryn Immonen is a Canadian comics writer who has written for both DC and Marvel Comics, notably on such titles as Patsy Walker: Hellcat, Runaways, Heralds, and Journey Into Mystery. Earlier this year she and her husband/collaborator Stuart released the critically well-received Russian Olive to Red King from Adhouse Books. Russian Olive to Red King is the newest graphic novel collaboration between Kathryn and Stuart, their previous efforts being Never As Bad As You Think from Boom! Entertainment and Moving Pictures from Top Shelf, which was nominated for both Stumptown and Doug Wright Awards.

Small Press Expo (SPX) is the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels, and alternative political cartoons. SPX is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings together more than 650 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers, and distributors each year. Graphic novels, mini comics, and alternative comics will all be on display and for sale by their authors and illustrators. The expo includes a series of panel discussions and interviews with this year’s guests.

The Ignatz Award is a festival prize held every year at SPX recognizing outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning, with the winners chosen by attendees at the show.

As in previous years, profits from the SPX will go to support the SPX Graphic Novel Gift Program, which funds graphic novel purchases for public and academic libraries, as well as the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), which protects the First Amendment rights of comic book readers and professionals.