Anthology Books of 2012

Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's and District Comics: An Unconventional History of Washington, DC were two anthologies I was glad to be a part of this year. I've already started to reminisce about 2012, even though we still have a little over one month left. The great thing about both of these projects is that they are a team effort.

Team Cul de Sac, lead by Chris Sparks, is a cartoon community dedicated to honoring Richard Thompson's comic strip, Cul de Sac. Richard was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease which led to him retire the strip this year. You can follow his blog with current updates on his brain stimulation surgery here. Being a part of this project, I was able to attend two book signing events, one of which was at One More Page in Arlington, VA and the other at Politics and Prose in DC. I was also able to take part in the panel at Baltimore Comic-Con. All the original art was auctioned off and so far the project has raised $100,951.42 for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Here is a photo of the Obama family visiting the site of the first Team Cul de Sac book signing, One More Page. The Team Cul de Sac book is on the counter display. The Team Cul de Sac book was also recently included in Tom Spurgeon's The Comics Reporter 2012 Holiday Shopping Guide.

Here are some of my event recaps and other links related to Team Cul de Sac: http://curls-studio.blogspot.com/search/label/Team%20Cul%20de%20Sac

If you are interested in purchasing Team Cul de Sac you can order directly from this link. We all wish Richard luck and look forward to any future creative projects he'll be a part of.


District Comics is another project I was able to contribute to this year. District Comics contains many stories about Washington, DC that you would not normally read about in a traditional history book. Matt Dembicki is the editor and he really got a great group of mostly local creators to structure something that had never been done before. We were able to attend book signings at One More Page in Arlington, VA and Locust Moon Comics and Movies in Philadelphia, PA.

I worked with Joe Carabeo on the 11-page "Spytini" story about Elizabeth Bentley "The Red Spy Queen" and her activities in Georgetown, primarily at the restaurant Martin's Tavern. To prepare for the book, Joe and I ate at the restaurant and did research on the visuals there and I took reference photos. I used a different art approach and a lot of people have remarked that it is a more mature style.

The Washington Post recently ranked District Comics as a Top 10 Graphic/Comics Reads of 2012. It makes for a great gift this holiday season and an honor to be recognized alongside with books like Drama by Raina Telegemeier, Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis, and Drawn Together by Aline and R. Crumb. District Comics was also recognized by winning a 2012 American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA.

Here is a whole rundown of the press District Comics has stirred up this year:
Washington City Paper (cover story during the week of SPX)
Huffington Post
Comic Book Resources
Kirkus Book Reviews
Scripps Howards Foundation Wire
DCist
Panel Patter
Comic Related

Here are some previous blogs I wrote about District Comics: http://curls-studio.blogspot.com/search/label/District%20Comics