Mike Dawson Comics

To be continued…

Related comics:1/28/2002 – Global Learning Systems – Arthur Koestler Part 1

This was an ambitious episode! The Panthers received a listener email, asking what kinds of comics would be good for a Dad to recommend to his teenage daughter. So we thought, why not ask the artists of Pizza Island to weigh in, as they were all teenage girls once too. Lest that sound too nice and heartwarming, fear not, Mike and Alex totally destroyed any good vibes by also forcing the Pizza Island cartoonists to gossip about one another, and give us all the inside dirt on the social hierarchy at their famous studio. Listen in, as we speak with Kate Beaton, Lisa Hanawalt, Julia Wertz, and Domitille Collardey.

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I had a great conversation with Jessica Abel about writing, storytelling, and teaching comics, posted over at The Comics Journal.

We talked about a lot of interesting things, but one topic that stood out for me was the concept of “teaching” writing, and the prejudice out there against the idea. It seems like it’s more acceptable that the craft of drawing can be taught, but the craft of storytelling cannot. I get the sense, and can be guilty of this myself, that people think writing is more some “magical” thing that either someone can either do naturally or not at all.

I understand intellectually that there’s a difference between learning tools to write and having a “voice”. Presumably the voice is the part you can’t teach. Or, if you can, you can only help someone “find their voice”. I don’t know… obviously I don’t teach, so I don’t really have much first-hand experience. Either way, I was glad to get into this with Jessica and hear her ideas about this topic.

This is awesome. My book Ace-Face: The Mod With the Metal Arms has been published in France through Editions çà et là.

What’s really great about this, though, is that it’s not just a translated version of the American version; it includes a lot of new Jack & Max pages, and other extras. Even cooler, is that the book is a flip book – so one side is all the Ace-Face comics, and on the other is all the Jack & Max. I really love this!

This is what the front of Troop 142 looks like. The image actually wraps partially around to the other side, and there are some more illustrations on the back cover, as well as an amazing quote from one of my favorite cartoonists, Dylan Horrocks. I will post that stuff soon.

Click to make bigger.

The book went out to the printers last week, and I’m hoping to be clutching an actual copy in my grubby little hands sometime in the next couple of months. I can’t wait!

Progress on the drawing of a street scene I was working on the other day.

It’s Slush Pile time! One of those special episodes where Mike & Alex cover a potpourri of different items, such as: Mike is witness to a mugging; Alex makes a bold stand against Survivor; Shouldn’t Paul McCartney call it a day already?; Why do guys ball-bust each other, and do women do the same thing; how should you remove a kayak from a river after you’ve capsized; and more!!

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Proof I am still drawing some comics from time to time.

My second TCJ Talkies, with guest Josh Cotter, is now up at The Comics Journal.

Aviary creator and inventor of Kickstarter, Jamie Tanner, creeps into the Lair this week for a sitdown discussion about many important topics: Why be a cartoonist when you can be in a band? What is the right amount of time to pass before you can start getting mad at a Kickstarter project where you haven’t received your rewards yet? Shouldn’t Jamie call his art studio The Draweriary? And More!!

Comments welcome!

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