Eric Shanower's Blog, page 8

Everyody Rise

Dina Schiff Massachi recently interviewed me about comics and graphic novels for Rise: A Children's Literacy Journal. Much of the interview is about my Oz projects, but we also discuss Age of Bronze and touch on Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Click here on the link to read the interview. You'll need to page through the magazine to page 26 where the interview begins.

Copyright © 2019 Eric Shanower. All right reserved.

Get a Job!

Careers in Animation and Comics is a new book by W. L. Kitts from ReferencePoint Press. It's packed with practical information for anyone interested in working in video animation, web animation, video game animation, storyboards, comic books, and graphic novels. That's a pretty wide range of careers for and 80-page book, but author Kitts packs in plenty of no-nonsense information, including a three-page interview with a professional cartoonist: me. That's why I'm bringing the volume to your attention. I answer such questions as "How did you break into the comic book business?" and "What do you like least about your job?"

If you're interested in owning a copy, the publisher's selling copies on its website here.

Copyright © 2019 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.

Sacrifice in Color

So where's the new full-color edition of Age of Bronze: Sacrifice, you ask?

It was supposed to be out in September. Now it's December.

When John Dallaire colored A Thousand Ships, he spent about seven years on it. He was scheduled to complete the coloring of Sacrifice in one year. One year wasn't long enough, so publication was postponed.

The good news is that Sacrifice in full color will be out in February 2020 from Image Comics.

In the next couple weeks, John will be finishing the final touches to the coloring and I'll be finishing the layout to send to the publisher. Here's a preview to tide you over until Age of Bronze: Sacrifice is released for the first time in full color in February 2020:

Click on any image to see it larger.






Copyright © 2019 Eric Shanower.Color copyright © 2019 John Dallaire.All rights reserved.

Votes for Women

Syracuse Cultural Workers has issued a new illustrated 2020 wall calendar, Hear Us Roar. This new calendar celebrates the 100th anniversary of the federal acknowledgement of US women's right to vote. Each month features a different image connected with women's suffrage. I drew the image for the month of June, an illustration of Matilda Joslyn Gage and Susan B. Anthony storming the stage of the US Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia.

Today—for Cyber Monday—the 2020 Calendar is on sale at the Syracuse Cultural Workers website. Click here for details.

Fun Ideas

Mark Arnold did a podcast interview with me, digging into my early career, talking about Age of Bronze, Oz, and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Listen to Fun Ideas podcast #49 by clicking here.

Be an Expert!

Hey, Amateur! will feature single page comics stories by a wide variety of cartoonists in a hardcover book. Each story gives instructions in nine panels on how to do something. Those "somethings" range widely, from "how to survive a bear attack" to "spot a galaxy." Mine will explain how to "do an en dehors pirouette."

The Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund Hey, Amateur! is running now, with only a few days left to go. Check out the campaign here, and if this quirky and fascinating project grabs your interest, please become a backer. Hey, Amateur! can't happen without you.

Copyright © 2019 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.

Revisiting Royal Book

Clover Press will publish a new edition of The Royal Book of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson, the first book in the Oz series to be written after the death of series creator L. Frank Baum. This brand new edition will feature brand new illustrations by Sara Richard. It will also contain an afterword by me.

My afterword discusses how Thompson got the job as successor to L. Frank Baum and the publisher's ruse to ease the transition to the new "Royal Historian of Oz."

A Kickstarter Campaign is currently running to crowdfund Clover Press's publication of The Royal Book of Oz. Click here to access it and contribute. A lot of extras are available, depending on your contribution level.

Copyright © 2019 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.

Come Draw with Me

I'm off to Missouri for a few days!

On Friday, August 16, I'll present the program Comics & Drawing Tips with Eric Shanower at the Nixa Branch of the Christian County Library from 4:30 PM to 6 PM. The address is 208 N. McCroskey, Nixa, Missouri 65714. All ages are welcome.

For details click here.

Copyright © 2019 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.

Moseying on to Missouri

LibraryCon at the Library Center of the Springfield-Greene County Public Library at 4653 S. Campbell Ave., Springfield, Missouri, happens on Saturday, August 17. The event runs 10 AM to 5 PM.

This is the fifth annual LibraryCon. Thousands of people attend to find new comics, hear guests speak, and generally have fun.

I'll be there to give a presentation on Age of Bronze, to participate in the Draw-Off, and  to sell my Age of Bronze graphic novels and comics.

Click here for details and the complete schedule.

Copyright © 2019 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.

The Magic of OzCon

The 55th annual OzCon International will run July 26-28 at Kellogg West Conference Center on the campus of Cal Poly in Pomona, California. I'll be there. Will you?

I'm looking forward to OzCon a lot this year because of two things--an article I wrote for the OzCon 2019 Program Book and a presentation I'll be making on Friday evening at the convention. Themes of this year's OzCon include: the 13th Oz book by L. Frank Baum, The Magic of Oz, which was published 100 years ago; the life and legacy of L. Frank Baum, who died 100 years ago; and the 80th anniversary of the MGM motion picture version of The Wizard of Oz.

I've always been more of an Oz book enthusiast than an Oz movie enthusiast. So I'm amused that both my contributions to OzCon this year are tied to OzCon's celebration of the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland.

Hank the Mule, drawing by John R. NeillFor the OzCon 2019 Program Book I wrote "A Musical Bubble in Two Bottles: The History of Mamzelle Champagne." This stage musical of 1906 featured the first professional script by Edgar Allan Woolf, who went on to become one of the screenwriters of the 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz. Mamzelle Champagne is notorious as the show where Harry K. Thaw committed the "crime of the century" by killing Stanford White during opening night in full view of the audience. Every history of that murder I've seen includes a reference to Mamzelle Champagne. But I'm not aware of any detailed history written about the show itself--not before I wrote that history for the program book, I mean. It turns out that Edgar Allan Woolf isn't the only Oz connection to Mamzelle Champagne. Of course I'm not going to reveal the other connections here. Read the article.

My presentation for OzCon 2019 will be "Hank's Hidden History: The Life and Legacy of Fred Woodward." The name Fred Woodward should at least ring a bell for anyone familiar with stage and screen Oz history. Most famously in Oz circles Fred played Hank the Mule in The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, L. Frank Baum's 1913-14 stage musical. But he did so much more--more, I think, than anyone else now alive but me is aware of--including having a role in Mamzelle Champagne. (There I go, revealing another of Mamzelle Champagne's Oz connections after I said I wouldn't.) How is Hank the Mule tied to the 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz? In two ways. But I'm not going to tell those here. Really. You'll have to wait till Friday evening of OzCon 2019 to find out.

Copyright © 2019 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.