With my home state of Vermont announcing that they've chosen a Cartoonist Laureate, The Stranger's Paul Constant polls Stranger blog readers for a hypothetical Washington State Cartoonist Laureate, offering a near-impossible choice of candidates: Ellen Forney, David Lasky and Jim Woodring. (Or "other." I'd decry the obvious omission of Peter Bagge, but maybe the political nature of much of his recent work would make him too divisive a candidate.)

Ellen Forney returns to her old hometown of Philadelphia next month at the invitation of the Philadelphia Public Library as part of their featuring the Forney-illustrated book by Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, as part of their citywide reading program. She'll be giving a talk and workshops at a few locations — see her blog for the schedule and details.

 

Here's a few photos from Carol Tyler's exhibit opening and book signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery last weekend. (See many more in our Flickr set.) Unfortunately your photographer was not able to capture moments like Carol boogie-ing to surf rock and Carol and Peter Bagge exchanging gang signs during a discussion about lettering. Just goes to show you: you have to be there!

A lively crowd, with Carol tucked away at far right.

Ellen Forney & friend, left, with Jim Woodring, right.

Detail of Carol's amazing original art — see the photo set for views of the entire exhibit.

Carol shows off her hand-appliquéd Army jacket liner as depicted in You'll Never Know, Book 2: Collateral Damage.

Carol, left, with Peter Bagge, right, and smilin' John Ohannesian of Georgetown Records, center. (This wasn't the gang-sign conversation.)

This sounds awesome. At her blog, Ellen Forney says:

I have several posters, some original ink drawings, and a 6′ hand-painted black light banner in this show.

Thunderbitch: Women Designers in Northwest Rock 1966-2010
Opening party August 5, 5-8pm
Exhibit runs August 5 – 27
Tether Design Gallery , 323 Occidental Ave S

From DIY Xerox flyers to album covers to silkscreened posters, women designers have shaped the visual identity of music in the Northwest for decades. Artists include: Lynda Barry, Ellen Forney, Lisa Orth, Alice Wheeler, and dozens more!

With live music by Barbara Ireland + Stone Gossard and Visqueen, plus an appearance by The Piston Packin’ Mamas, Seattle’s all-girl car and motorcycle club. Immediately following the opening party, Damien Jurado will perform a free, all ages show in the gallery.

Check out a video preview of the art here.

Ellen Forney was featured on KING-5's Evening Magazine tonight, as they paid a visit to her comic art class. See above or the link for embedded video.

Make plans for Labor Day weekend in Seattle now! The Bumbershoot art and music festival promises to be the best in recent memory. In addition to performances by the likes of Bob Dylan, Neko Case, Hole, the Decemberists, Weezer and countless other bands, the festival includes a large exhibition of contemporary Seattle cartoonists.

Organized by Fantagraphics resident curator Larry Reid, "Counterculture Comix: A 30-Year Survey of Seattle Alternative Cartoonists" begins with Lynda Barry's work circa 1980 and continues through the present. The show reveals Seattle as the ancestral home of the alternative comix genre and examines the role comix played in Seattle's youth movement of the 90s, which penetrated popular culture globally.

Hundreds of original artworks, comix and related ephemera by an impressive roster of influential Seattle artists will be displayed including Lynda Barry, Charles Burns, Peter Bagge, Ellen Forney, Jim Woodring, Megan Kelso, Jim Blanchard, Roberta Gregory, David Lasky, Ted Jouflas, Justin Hampton, J. R. Williams, Pat Moriarity, Donna Barr, Mark Zingarelli, Michael Dougan, Jeremy Eaton, Jason T. Miles, and more.

See you in September.

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Saving the best for last, there’s Blazing Combat, an amazing collection of the stories from the short-lived cutting-edge mid-1960s Warren Publications series. ... They’re all written by the outstanding Archie Goodwin, with a few assists, which for most fans would be reason enough to buy this comic all by itself. But then you throw in some of the most amazing art, all of it sharply and expertly reproduced, and you’ve got some real dynamite here. ... And there’s fantastic bonus features... If all that doesn’t sell you on this as a must-buy, then you may need professional help." – Tom McLean, Bags and Boards

• Plug: Suvudu spotlights the 2010 Eisner Award nominees for Best Anthology, including Abstract Comics

• Interview: Andrea Queirolo of Conversazioni sul Fumetto has a two part Q&A with Paul Hornschemeier: "Both of my parents have degrees in Philosophy, and I’ve always been sort of a lonely kid, so I think spending lots of time thinking about things just came naturally to me as a child, for better or worse (probably for worse). Over-thinking things was something I could never get rid of, so I decided to go ahead and get a Bachelor’s Degree in it."

• Education: Ellen Forney will be teaching summer comics courses for teens and adults at Cornish College in Seattle — see her blog for more info and enrollment links

Daily clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Ellen Forney's on the cover (as both artist and subject, with her BF) of this week's issue of The Stranger

• On Facebook, Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable Fan Page posts the most recent Unlovable strip from Bust

• Johnny Ryan says on his LJ "One of my comics will be in a group print show this weekend in France."

• Another really nice bird sketch (this time a Cooper's hawk) by Debbie Drechsler

• Meathaus posts scans of the latest issue of Charles Burns's Free Shit minicomic

• Josh Simmons & Wendy Chin drop themselves into their Quackers universe

• Kevin Huizenga illustrates a link to an article of interest

• Things in Derek Van Gieson's Abstraction House are really getting weird

• Here's this week's Truth Serum from Jon Adams

Daily clips & strips, catching up from MoCCA weekend (again, more catch-up tomorrow) — click through for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Unless there's some kind of Glenn Ganges/Leon Beyond crossover in the works I kind of think Kevin Huizenga might have posted this drawing on the wrong blog by mistake

• Steven Weissman 's working on some more Stincker ideas

• See Ellen Forney's latest artwork, a collaborative installation with Jake Fennell titled Love Note, at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival opening April 30; Ellen has more info and an interview at her blog

• Prison Pit fan art seems to be becoming a thing. Johnny Ryan posted another piece, this time by Cliff Chiang — it's a cross-company crossover!

• In a similar-ish vein, Paul Hornschemeier uses the announcement of Strange Tales 2 from Marvel as an excuse to post these glum-looking hero-types

• Also from Paul, this Tina Fey/Liz Lemon illustration for the WSJ (plus the original blue-line/inks)

• Debbie Drechsler has been sketching all kinds of local fauna, including grebes, a turtle, a hummingbird, a woodpecker and an angry squirrel

• The conclusion of Gabrielle Bell's "Manifestation" and, as a bonus, the cover of her fictional adaptation of The S.C.U.M. Manifesto from the story at The Hypothetical Library

• "Blond Girl in a Black Dress" by Mark Kalesniko

• This is a highlight of the last few days' artblogging from Renee French; the Lego alleyway is another

Not many Online Commentary & Diversions links today but they're high-powered:

• List: Matthew J. Brady posts his top-20 Best Comics of 2009, with You'll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler at #10 ("It's an artful mix, matching a biographer's insight for detail with beautifully-flowing art and real emotions.  If the next two volumes are this good, Tyler's work will be a modern classic, one for others to study for years.") and Low Moon by Jason at #8 ("It's funny, poignant, and, as always, full of insight about humanity, even though everyone is a strange animal creature. There can never be enough Jason.")

• Interview: Newsarama's Michael C. Lorah chats with Jason about his upcoming collection Almost Silent: "I'm grateful the books seem to have found an audience and are selling. It's not something I take for granted. There are better European cartoonits than me who have had problems finding an audience in America. I don't have a website or a blog so I don't have that much contact with readers except at signings and conventions. It's always good for the ego when some pretty girl says she's a fan."

• Tribute: In the Sun-Journal, Andy Rooney remembers his friend Bill Mauldin: "He was one of the great cartoonists who has ever been — in and out of the Army. I’ve looked at hundreds of cartoons he drew in my Stars and Stripes files, and he was a genius. His cartoons are still funny and perceptive." (via Journalista)

• Things to see: An Ellen Forney strip translated into Czech