Meet Local Artist Eric Olcsvary at Free Comic Book Day
L.A. Mood is excited to announce local artist Eric Olcsvary will be doing a meet and greet on May 3th from 10 am to 3 at this year's Free Comic Book Day at L. A. Mood. Eric is a comic book creator working under his own label "Alls Cherry Comics". He is currently working on two series, "Wendy and the Sprite", and "Overflow", each with their own unique story about otherworldly characters on an adventure to uncover the secrets of an ancient land. “My stories and comic book label were created to bring a sense of wonder, and a crave for adventure to the reader, and to spread the love for comics/stories as an art form!”Don’t miss out! Save the date and celebrate with us.We will be open May 3rd from 10 am to 6 pm.There will be sales, prizes, and more!Come early as we will have limited comics available (while supplies last) For more details please check out www.freecomicbookday.com L.A. Mood Comics and Games100 Kellogg LaneSuite 5London ON N5W0B4Canada
This Tintin Adventure is Required Eclipse Reading
By Dan BrownOne more thing before we all move on from last week’s solar eclipse.Folks here in Southwestern Ontario can keep this in mind for the next time, decades hence, the sun is blotted out from the sky.I don’t know how you prepared for the momentous event, but yes, my wife and I got some ISO-approved shaded glasses to observe the afternoon show in the heavens. Maybe you did the same.But I also re-read a graphic novel from my youth a couple days prior to the celestial coincidence.It was the Tintin adventure Prisoners of the Sun.What does a European cartoon story that was originally published in serial form in the 1940s, then translated into English in 1962, have to tell us about eclipses now and in the future? I’ll explain.You no doubt noticed the media frenzy in the days leading up to the eclipse. (I especially appreciated those media outlets, like CBS News, who dubbed it a “total eclipse of the heartland,” in tribute to the Bonnie Tyler song.)A strange thought nagged at me as the day approached: Haven’t I seen this all before?It’s true I was alive during the eclipse visible from our region in 1979, but all I recall of that day was the collective freakout by grownups, which meant the heavy curtains in our classroom at Valleyview School were drawn to block the view. You could only watch it with some kind of gizmo fashioned out of a shoebox. I opted out.Then it clicked: Tintin, the boy reporter, he caused an eclipse!So I got the relevant collection off my shelf and checked to make sure my memories were accurate. In his time, Tintin has tracked the abominable snowman, plumbed shipwrecks in a mini-submarine, ventured to the moon, and been rescued by a flying saucer – as a fellow journalist, I am definitely jealous of his exploits!If you haven’t read it, Prisoners of the Sun is the second part of a story that begins in The Seven Crystal Balls. I would have read it in the late 1970s, early 1980s.The intrepid reporter, accompanied by his dog Snowy and the alcoholic sea dog Captain Haddock, travels to South America to rescue Professor Calculus, who has been kidnapped by unknown bad guys.Tintin is captured by a secret community of Incas who live in a hidden valley. For trespassing, he and his friends are sentenced to be burned to death but, in a display of mercy, the Inca prince allows Tintin to choose the timing of his bonfire execution in the coming days.Reading an old scrap of newspaper in his cell, Tintin has a brainwave. Although his companions are unaware of its implications, Tintin has an oddly specific time in mind.The day and hour he has specified comes around. Tintin, Haddock and Calculus are tied to three posts on top of a wooden platform. Using a magnifying glass to catch the sun’s rays, his captors set out to light up the logs beneath them.That’s when Tintin implores the heavens, “O magnificent Sun, if it is thy will that we should live, show us now a sign.” On cue, a blackness starts to slowly creep across the face of the sun: Tintin has tricked the Incas into believing he controls the sun itself, and he and his companions are spared!Now, I realize Tintin books have been criticized in recent years for their colonial mentality, and I get where those concerns come from.But going over Prisoners of the Sun to prep for the eclipse last week reminded me of all the reasons I fell in love with those books in the first place: They are imaginative adventure stories that offer lots of action and laughs, starring compelling characters.And here’s the really odd part: Even though the message of that particular graphic novel is that science beats primitive superstitions, in the closing pages of Prisoners of the Sun we discover magic – in the form of voodoo – is real. It actually works in Tintin’s world.So the message isn’t as simple as, the Incas are uncivilized because they don’t understand how the world works according to scientific principles. It’s more complex than that. Despite what you might think from the eclipse passage, Tintin author Herge affirms rationalism only to a point.Having just lived through another eclipse, I get it: Science may be the best method we have for understanding the universe around us, but there are some mysteries it has yet to unlock. I’m confident we’ll get there one day.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Return of Tingfest is a Sure Sign of Spring
By Dan BrownThe birds are chirping. The snow is gone. The grass is growing. And Tingfest is back.The festival, which celebrates work from Southwestern Ontario graphic artists, kicks off April 16 and runs to May 18. This spring marks the eighth time it has been staged. “I lost some years over the pandemic so it’s hard to keep track,” said Diana Tamblyn, the London graphic novelist who is the driving force behind Tingfest, which launched in 2014. Last spring marked the annual fixture’s return after COVID.Named after legendary London Free Press editorial cartoonist Merle Tingley, it brings together those who have followed in his footsteps and takes place at the Tap Centre for Creativity on Dundas Street.“I think Ting brings up real joy, warmth and goodwill in people,” Tamblyn said. “He grounds the festival and (that) is why we feature his work every year and a huge photo of him greets people as you walk through the door at TAP.”As always, pieces by the featured artists will line the space’s walls for public viewing. There will also be plenty of free programming for the whole family.“This year a theme seems to have emerged of art and music,” Tamblyn said. “In fact, this year features award-winning musicians Kevin Hearn (of Barenaked Ladies), Lido Pimienta (a Polaris Prize winner) and Owen MacKinder (of the Birthday Massacre band, who have charted four songs on the Billboard 200) – all of whom people might not know are talented artists, as well as musicians. On top of this list, Matt James – a Governor General’s Award-winning illustrator – is also a musician and plays regularly in a band.”“This is not to take away from the rest of our featured artists who themselves have diverse talents on top of their visual-artist skills,” she added. “Such as editorial cartooning (Frantisek Bidlo), video-game design (Chris Elliott), silk-screening and murals (soft flirt), educator, comics collector, and academic (Ivan Kocmarek), ceramicist (Julian Miholics), animation (Dax Gordine), and illustrator and graphic novelist (Alyssa Waterbury, who also designed this year’s festival poster).”I don’t know about you, but if I get the chance, I’ll be quizzing Hearn about his time as musical director for the late Lou Reed’s band. I am also especially excited about seeing Kocmarek, who is an expert on Second World War-era Canadian comic books.Among the many offerings Londoners will be able to check out during the festival’s run are the Ting zine expo, the small-press spotlight, and a maker station for kids. Tamblyn tells me the featured publishing house this time around will be RAID Press. “Because we have RAID, Ramon Perez will be making an appearance since it’s his imprint AND he is just starting a run on (DC’s) The Flash as the artist!,” she said.Yes, it’s that Ramon Perez – the one who illustrated the Jim Henson-inspired Tale of Sand! I hope I get the chance to meet him!Tamblyn reports it feels “a bit surreal” the festival has lasted this long: “The first year (in 2014), the festival seemed like a bold experiment that we weren’t sure would fly. We didn’t know if anyone would respond or show up. It was nerve-wracking! And then on opening night we had Merle Tingley himself appear . . . . So many people showed up for Ting – friends, colleagues, neighbours.”Tamblyn says Tingley’s visit “was like a rock star arrived” (the cartoonist passed in 2017 at the age of 95).“(After the first year) we weren’t sure if we could do it again! And we did. I have to say I was never worried that London and Southwestern Ontario had the talent to fill 10 featured artists spots at a festival year after year, but would people still come without Ting himself present? They have, and every year I’m grateful and overwhelmed all over again,” she said.Tambyn is aided every spring by TAP Centre executive director Sandra De Salvo and her team.With any luck, this will be the Tingfest that finally puts all those COVID memories to bed. “All I really know is I started the pandemic with black hair and came out of it with mostly grey hair!” Tamblyn said.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Jade Armstrong’s Food School is the Epitome of Panel Play
By Dan BrownIf you’re looking for panel play, you’ll find no better example than Food School by Montreal creator Jade Armstrong. The book is one of this month’s releases from East Coast publishing house Conundrum Press.If you’re wondering what panel play is, it’s something I’ve been thinking about as a comic fan for decades, even though it often escapes notice. I define it as the joy a creator takes in blowing up the comic page and the degree to which they resist static placement, imbuing the sequential art with a rhythm and logic all its own.I was only four or five pages into Food School before I realized: There’s something special going on here.Montreal’s Armstrong, like the book’s protagonist, is non-binary. One of their influences is manga, and the pages shimmer with that same kind of dynamic energy.There are double-page panels, single-page panels, circular panels, panels that look like the silhouette of a loonie. There are also wordless, 10-panel two-page spreads. There are pages with no discernible borders, as well as slanted panels of varying sizes, rectangles, you name it.Armstrong obviously put a lot of thought into designing each of this comic’s 79 pages. No two of them are the same. What I do when I come across superlative panel work is read the graphic novel once, then go through it again a second time – this time, with an eye on each panel. Food School rewards this kind of reading.Probably the master of panel play during my time as a comic lover is George Perez, whose work for DC in the 1980s on New Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, and Crisis on Infinite Earths still blows my mind.Paul Chadwick of Concrete fame took the same delight in defying comic conventions. And you can even trace panel play back to a foundational figure like Jack Kirby.Yes, Kirby did his share of pages with six square panels. He was also the creator who fashioned images that were so dynamic, so bold, so BIG, it took two whole pages to contain them. Armstrong, also known for YA work, says Food School was drawn in the style of a Josei, which are manga aimed at adult women. The book was originally done as a digital PDF.The tale follows 20something college dropout Olive as they enter a full-time program to treat their eating disorder.It’s a highly regimented existence. Olive must log their weight and each meal and snack consumed, as well as rate their thoughts and feelings every day. At one point in the narrative, Olive ranks their suicide drive as a five out of five.What creates a contrast with this lack of freedom is Armstrong’s panel play. Olive wants to quit the treatment every day they are in the program. When they inevitably fall off the wagon, bingeing handfuls of candy, then exercising (which is likewise verboten), the pages become a flurry of dark-tinged frames, reflecting this chaotic moment in their life.I could feel the story was moving toward an intentional conclusion as Olive stays in the program. I’m happy to report I thought I had guessed how things would change for the character at the end of the story, but I was wrong. Armstrong cheated my expectations in the best way, That’s masterful storytelling.This is the first thing I’ve read by Jade Armstrong, but you can rest assured I’m looking forward to following their career from now on. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Road Runner Cartoons Make My Stomach Churn
The issue of “cartoon violence” was a big one in the 1970s, which is probably why it worried my mother when I watched Road Runner cartoons on TV.You know the ones.They feature a rail-thin Wile E. Coyote chasing after the peppy Road Runner in an endless quest to make a meal of the speedy bird. They end with the predator falling off a cliff, running into a mesa, being crushed under a boulder, or exploding when the Acme brand gadget he has mail-ordered (such as explosive tennis balls) backfires on him.Those cartoons were extremely violent, no question. But Mom needn’t have fretted. I didn’t grow up to be a violent adult. Decades later, I understand the difference between make-believe mayhem and the real deal. In fact, those cartoons had the opposite effect: They increased, rather than impaired, my empathy.I watched those Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies animated shorts so often that at some point the constant unhappy endings began to wear on me. I started to grow uncomfortable. Contrary to what the creators intended, I began to feel for the hapless Coyote.Pretty soon, every time one of the cartoons came on, I would feel nauseous seeing the poor Coyote blown up, run over, or plunging to the canyon floor. It didn’t matter to me that he wasn’t real, and he always came back in the next episode unscathed. Perhaps I kept watching hoping against hope the Coyote would finally triumph. As a kid I didn’t have the vocabulary to express my feelings, but it struck me that something terribly unjust was happening on The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. You mean to tell me, he’s doomed to always get mangled and burned, and he never once gets the Road Runner? Young boy though I was, that message didn’t strike me as a positive one.So it won’t surprise you when I say I don’t think I ever read a single issue of the Gold Key Comic Beep Beep The Road Runner, which had a sizable enough readership that it lasted from 1966 to 1984. I did, however, have high hopes for the movie Coyote vs. Acme.Based on a 1990 New Yorker humour piece of the same name, it promised to bring a measure of justice to the Road Runnerverse.The movie follows in the footsteps of 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit by using a combination of animated and live-action elements. Will Forte plays a down-on-his-luck attorney who takes the Wile E. Coyote’s case against Acme Corporation, which has been supplying him with defective products for years, foiling his repeated attempts to get an honest dinner.As smarter people than me have pointed out, it’s a classic David-against-Goliath story. John Cena, no stranger to big-screen comic adaptations, stars as Forte's opponent in the courtroom.If you haven’t heard of this motion picture, that’s because it was suppressed before it even got released – Warner Bros. shelved the film last year in order to claim a tax writeoff, according to multiple media reports. (It got replaced in last summer’s release schedule by a little picture called Barbie.)Coyote vs. Acme was in the news this month because Forte finally got to see the finished product, which he said is “incredible.” (I’m assuming he got a private screening.)“Super-funny throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere and emotionally resonant in a very earned way,” he posted on social media. “As the credits rolled, I just sat there thinking how lucky I was to be part of something so special. That quickly turned to confusion and frustration. This was the movie they’re not going to release?”Yes, it’s too bad Coyote vs. Acme will never see the light of day. I would have loved it. I bet it would even have calmed my gut.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Why Ban TikTok? It’s Comics That Are Turning Our Children Into Delinquents!
By Dan BrownWhat do TikTok and comic books have in common?They are both part of a long list of evils the U.S. government has considered banning.TikTok, as you may have heard, is the subject of legislation that cleared the U,S, House of Representatives last week. It’s not clear when the Senate will take up the bill, but President Joe Biden has already said he will sign it into law.From the coverage I’ve read and seen, the legislation would outlaw TikTok in the U.S.A. unless its Chinese parent company divests itself of the video-sharing utility.American lawmakers have cited security concerns as their justification for outlawing TikTok, which is used south of the border by 170 million people.If the panic over TikTok seems familiar, that’s because it’s not the first time the feds have considered taking action to crush a perceived threat to the nation. Not so long ago, in the 1990s, it was video games that were fingered as the threat to the nation’s innocent young people..The decade before, it was heavy-metal music that was corrupting young fans as it made eardrums bleed.Before that, Dungeons & Dragons was turning children into Satan worshippers.Before the days of role-playing games, it was rock ‘n’ rollers like Elvis Presley, with his gyrating hips, who were leading teens astray.Before that . . . comic books were the scourge of the nation.Yep. Comics. You read that correctly.Silly, right?Yet as hard as it may be hard to believe today, in 1954 there were actual Congressional hearings by the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency on how comic books were polluting young minds. Actual witnesses testified, and the accompanying moral panic turned the comic industry on its ear.If you want an informative and compelling account of how it all went down, it’s worth hunting down a copy of David Hajdu’s 2008 book The 10-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America. Those who opposed comics – which were a mass medium read by millions back then – argued the monthly publications sensationalized crime, luring otherwise decent children into conflict with the law. Among the detractors was Fredric Wertham, a psychiatrist whose book Seduction of the Innocent gave the anti-comics crowd the pseudo-scientific cover it needed (I’ve not read it, but I do know his claims have been debunked in the intervening decades, like how Batman and Robin were turning boys gay).Hajdu, as part of documenting the scare, tracked down people who were involved in comic burnings as kids. That’s right, there were actual comic burnings in America. The people he interviewed spoke about how they were pressured into taking part by their parents or other adults.The squeeze put on the comics industry led to the demise of several popular titles. In the face of threats from the feds, comics publishers opted for self-censorship, the result being the creation of the Comics Code Authority, the seal of which appeared on approved comics from 1954 to 2010. Publishers like Marvel and DC eventually withdrew from the industry monitor, setting up their own ratings systems for comic content.What does all of this augur for TikTok? The lesson is that even if the folks in Washington don’t pass anything, threats by legislators can crater an industry that’s been targeted.Canadian authorities have said they are monitoring what the U.S. does with TikTok. As far as I know, it’s still illegal here in Canada to publish comics that depict crime, although I stand to be corrected. That’s right – back in the day, Canadian parliamentarians went even further than their American counterparts in the case of comic books. So TikTok’s future in this country might not be looking so bright right now.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
