By the way, thanks to all who came to the SPX panel a couple of weekends ago. The panel was fun and interesting (my conclusion: Obama is not funny), but the real highlight for me was seeing all the "alternative" weekly cartoonists who came for the "Outside Looking In" alternative-political theme of the event — I’m probably forgetting some, but it was great to hang with Ted Rall, Mikhaela Reid, Masheka Wood, August Pollack, Keith Knight, Stephanie McMillan, Jen Sorenesen, Tom Tomorrow, Lloyd Dangle, and Derf.
Speaking of Derf, he’s got an excellent new graphic novel out, Punk Rock and Trailer Parks. I knew him as a friend and as a funny three-panel weekly cartoonist long before I saw any of his longer narrative pieces, and I was shocked at how good he is at them. Anyway, this new book centers around a great comic character, Otto "the Baron" Pizcok, the coolest giant nerd in all of 1979 Akron:
I also got a new book by Derf’s buddy Michael San Giacomo, which I haven’t had a chance to read yet, but looks cool. It’s Tales of the Starlight Drive-In: 31 stories, illustrated by 23 artists (including Derf), all centered around the 50 year history of the Starlight Drive-In theater.
