OFFSET2010 is giving a little help to Comica in making this extraordinary event happen…very exciting!

From Paul Gravett:
“Heads up! Hope you can make it one or both of these exceptional Comica events featuring Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware.

First up they’re in conversation with Audrey Niffenegger, a graphic novelist as well as author of The Time-Traveller’s Wife, at the Cochrane Theatre, London on Monday May 24th, in association with Foyles. More details…

Then they are chatting with me in Brighton at the Corn Exchange on Tuesday May 25th, in association with The Brighton Festival & Dome. More details…

Clowes was one of the most requested Comica guests and finally we’ve got him over to launch his first all-original graphic novel Wilson, with Ware as the icing and Niffenegger as the cherries on the cake! Be sure to book your tickets soon.

Both these Comica Events have been made possible by the kind co-operation, first and foremost, of the Copenhagen Comics Festival, and with the generous support of Foyles Bookshop, The Brighton Festival & Dome, Jonathan Cape, Gosh! Comics and Offset 2010.”

The always amazing BLAB! celebrates its 24th anniversary with a retrospective exhibition at the Society of Illustrators gallery in New York. It opened yesterday and runs until May 1st 2010 and has featured work by Chris Ware, Gary Baseman, Sue Coe, Camille Rose Garcia, The Clayton Brothers, Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey, Geoffrey Grahn, Steven Guarnaccia, Jonathon Rosen, Owen Smith, SHAG!, Joe Sorren, Ron English, and Mark Ryden, among others.

Happy Birthday and congrats to editor Monte Beauchamp and sustaining such a high level of content over the years.

Adam Baumgold Gallery presents an exhibition of drawings, paintings on paper and sculpture by Seth from February 5 through March 13, 2010. This will be Seth’s first U.S. solo exhibition and will include 50 artworks, the majority of which comprise the bulk of his celebrated Graphic Novel GEORGE SPROTT 1894-1975 (originally serialized in The New York Times Sunday Magazine from 2006 to 2007). In addition, the exhibition will feature 6 of Seth’s Dominion city cardboard architectural models, each of which has been specifically constructed for this event. Each of these buildings represents a specific location associated with the character of George Sprott himself.

Last week in San Francisco McSweeney’s launched Panorama, a ’21st century newspaper prototype, complete with investigative reporting, comics and sports coverage’. An interesting experiment given the alleged decline of newspapers. And choc full of illustration talent. Here’s an interesting radio interview with the Publisher Oscar Villalon and Dave Eggers on the project. Here’s a Flickr set of pics by Steve Rhodes. The Newspaper itself can be ordered here. Photo: Steve Rhodes.

Miracles, Machines or Magic is a collective anthology of short stories and comics, with contributions from Illustrators based in Ireland. The overall aim is to get an illustrated take on spirituality, religion, science and everything in between. Participants were asked to contribute a story / comic strip about their opinions, beliefs, non beliefs, paranormal or scientific. What resulted was a collection of exciting and eclectic works from 13 fantastic Illustrative talents, including award winning Illustrators Alé Mercado, Chris Judge, Joven Kerekes, Nerosunero and Fintan Taite to name a few. The launch kicks off Friday 6th November at 6pm in Waterford City Library.

Over on Fecal Face you can check out an interview with great canadian comic artist Marc Bell. His new book Hot Potatoe is available to order on amazon.

Gerry Hunt’s Graphic Novel EASTER 1916: Blood upon The Rose has just been published by O’Brien Press. This 48page full colour album tells the story of the most significant rebellion in Irish history. The Irish Times covered the book in an article which can be read here.

Eoin Coveney recently illustrated a six episode animated comic for a Luzozade campaign called’ Energy Guy’. Check it out here.

A rather interesting article from Irish Comics Wiki main contributor and cartoonist Patrick Brown on the history of Irish Comics. It’s only part 1 and charts its beginnings in mid 19th Century up to 1917.

“No doubt some would claim the carvings on some of the early Irish high crosses as comic strips, and some of the illuminations in medieval manuscripts (left) as cartooning, but that would probably be a little excessive. Let’s start with printed material. If we define “comics” in the McCloudian sense of images in sequence, excluding single-panel cartoons, we’d probably have to conclude that there are no true Irish comics or comics artists until the end of the 19th century.”

Looking forward to part 2!

David Mazzucchelli’s new book Asterios Polyp is gathering a lot of good press lately. Here’s a recent NYTimes review and an interview with Chip Kidd.