Author Archives: Karen Green

EVENT: “Spanish Fever”–Spanish cartoonists in conversation

by Karen Green on

imageThe Hispanic Institute and Comics@Columbia are delighted to work with the Spanish consulate to present five noted Spanish cartoonists in conversation.  Come meet these five cartoonists, whose work on the cutting edge of comics has brought about a new wave of cartoon art in Spain.

The panel will feature Santiago García, Javier Olivares, David Rubín, Ana Galvañ, and José Domingo, some of the many gifted artists featured in “Spanish Fever: Stories by the New Spanish Cartoonists” (Fantagraphics, 2016).

The discussion will be followed by a live drawing, as well as light refreshments.

Come join us in Butler Library, room 523.

Admission is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, but REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED!
Click this link to register: http://bit.ly/2caDJNN

Butler Library
Room 523
535 W 114th Street

 

EVENTS: Two Pieces of Comics History: March 7, April 18

by Karen Green on

In addition to the Bill Griffith event on March 16,  Comics@Columbia brings you two book talks that explore important people in the history of comics and cartoons.

On Monday, March 7, in celebration of Will Eisner Week, Paul Levitz joins Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber for a discussion focusing on Levitz’s recent book, Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel.  Levitz and Dauber are known on campus for the course they co-teach in the American Studies program, “The American Graphic Novel,” which will be offered again in Spring 2017.  Eisner, of course, was a groundbreaking cartoonist, businessman, educator, graphic novelist, and ultimately, evangelist and champion of the comics form as art and literature.  Join us for a spirited and scholarly discussion of Eisner’s significance, and how his influence has spread even to this university.

Monday, March 7, 6 PM

Butler Library, room 523

Book sales and signing will follow the talk.

 

On Monday, April 18, cartoonist and comics historian Michael Maslin joins renowned New Yorker cartoonist  and illustrator Edward Sorel for a lively discussion of one of the legends of cartooning, Peter Arno.  For over forty years, Arno contributed cartoons and covers to The New Yorker,  helping establish the magazine as the ne plus ultra of Manhattan style and sophistication.  Maslin’s new book, Peter Arno: the Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker’s Greatest Cartoonist, examines this bon vivant, one of the New Yorker‘s first geniuses, an artist whose powers of observation brought to life every social stratum, from the 400 to Café Society and from debutantes to flappers.

Monday, April 18, 6 PM

Butler Library, room 523

Book sales and signing will follow.

 

EVENT: “Bill Griffith: A to Z” Wednesday, March 16, 6 PM, 523 Butler

by Karen Green on

Bill Griffith 2The cartoonist Bill Griffith has had a storied career, from his early underground comics featuring Mr. the Toad, to his long-running character Zippy the Pinhead, to his involvement in the influential comics anthology, Arcade, to his recent foray into long-form comics with his revelatory family history Invisible ink: my mother’s secret love affair with a famous cartoonist.

Griffith, a native Brooklynite, published some of his earliest comics in the East Village Other, then moved to San Francisco to join the burgeoning underground comix scene.  There he introduced Zippy and co-founded Arcade with Art Spiegelman.

Now back on the east coast, Griffith has decided to bequeath a substantial portion of his archives to Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library.  While the Zippy dailies will find a home in Columbus OH, at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, the archives of the early underground comic books, of Arcade, and of his graphic novels will be available for researchers here in New York City.

In celebration of this future–we hope, far in the future!–gift, Comics@Columbia and the Rare Book & Manuscript Library present a conversation with Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman, moderated by Karen Green.

Please join us for this event, and for the reception to follow.

Wednesday, March 16

6:00 PM

Butler Library, room 523

EVENT: “An Evening with Jules Feiffer,” Monday, December 7, 6:00 PM

by Karen Green on

Feiffer & Fingeroth The Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, in partnership with Comics@Columbia, is delighted to present a conversation with the legendary Jules Feiffer.

Feiffer is perhaps best known for his long-running strip in The Village Voice (1956-1997), but he is also a distinguished playwright and screenwriter, evinced by his Academy Award (for the short film “Munro”), his Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, his Obie Award, his lifetime achievement award from the Writers Guild of America, and his induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Most recently, Feiffer has produced the first volume of a graphic novel trilogy, Kill My Mother, and his career has been celebrated in this year’s retrospective volume, Out of Line: the Art of Jules Feiffer.

Join us on Monday evening, December 7th, as Jules Feiffer chats with comics writer, editor, and historian Danny Fingeroth.

Book sales and a signing will follow the talk.

Monday, December 7

6:00 PM

Butler Library, room 523

535 W 114th Street

New York NY 10027

 

EVENT: “Mirror Me, Mirror You: the Color of Comics” Thursday, 10/8, 6 PM

by Karen Green on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comics@Columbia is excited to present a panel to coincide with New York Comic Con.

Together with Alex Simmons, Columbia University Libraries presents a conversation with comics writer Amy Chu, comics writer and artist Larry Hama, artist and scholar John Jennings, comics artist and writer Alitha E Martinez, and comics artist and teacher Shawn Martinbrough.  This exceptionally talented group will address the question of what obligation, if any, creators from marginalized communities have to represent their culture in their comics.  Major comics publishers are focusing on diversity–in creators, characters, and readers; are their efforts meeting with success?  Should creators shape the way their culture is depicted?

Join us on Thursday, October 8, at 6 PM, in Butler Library, room 203.  (Directions to Butler Library may be found here.)

This event is free and open to the public.

RSVPs are NOT required, but feel free to indicate you’re coming via the Facebook event page.

A reception will follow, with book sales and signings.

EXHIBITION: “Comics at Columbia: Past, Present, Future”

by Karen Green on
exhibition poster

exhibition poster

“Comics at Columbia: Past, Present, Future” presents art, manuscripts, and ephemera from Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library, including items associated with the university’s history, as well as art from Mad artist Al Jaffee, Elfquest artist Wendy Pini, and New Yorker cartoonist Charles Saxon; drafts and notes from X-Men writer Chris Claremont and Legion of Super Heroes writer Paul Levitz, and correspondence from mainstream and indie comics luminaries Stan Lee, Harvey Kurtzman, and Howard Cruse–and much more.  The exhibition demonstrates how long comics have been part of special collections at Columbia.

An irreverent comic strip confiscated from undergraduates in 1766 joins political cartoons from Thomas Nast and Rube Goldberg, Jerry Robinson’s early sketches of Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne, Milt Gross’s contracts with The New York World, and a Joe Shuster Superman sketch, along with work from up-and-coming cartoonists.  The exhibition also features works “on the fringes” of comics, such as Rodolphe Töpffer’s The adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck and Lynd Ward’s wordless woodcut novels.

Comics at Columbia is curated by Karen Green, Librarian for Ancient & Medieval History and Graphic Novels Librarian at Columbia University.

Come to the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Butler Library, 6th floor east, Monday through Friday, from October 6 through January 23.

EVENT: “Politics and Comics,” November 3, 6 PM

by Karen Green on
Politics and Comics

Politics and Comics

From Honore Daumier to Thomas Nast, George Cruikshank to Garry Trudeau, political ideology and political commentary have been expressed through the medium of comics.

Please join Peter Kuper (cartoonist and co-founder of the political comics journal World War 3 Illustrated), Jeff Danziger (editorial cartoonist), and Liza Donnelly (New Yorker cartoonist and member of “Cartooning for Peace“) as they discuss the role of politics in their own work.

What better way to spend Election Day eve?

Monday, November 3, 6 PM

Butler Library, room 523

There will be books available for purchase and signing.

Comics@Columbia events: “Celebrating Al Jaffee,” on Tuesday March 4, 7 PM.

by Karen Green on

With the new semester comes new events, and our first of the year is a corker: in honor of Al Jaffee's donation of his papers to our Rare Book and Manuscript Library, we're going to celebrate his life and career with a panel discussion.  Former DC Comics president (and sometime Columbia lecturer) Paul Levitz will moderate, and joining him will be cartoonist Peter Kuper, Mad magazine art director Sam Viviano, and–of course!–Al himself.

So mark your calendars for Tuesday March 4 at 7:00 PM, in room 523, Butler Library. 

A reception will follow the event.  As always, Comics@Columbia events are free and open to the public.

Comics@Columbia: “Brooklyn Comes to Morningside Heights” Weds. 11/13 6pm

by Karen Green on
 In the final comics event of the Fall semester, Butler Library welcomes three of Brooklyn's most talented cartoonists for a discussion of their work, their process, their origins, and their future. Please join Dash Shaw (The Mother's Mouth, Bottomless Belly Button, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D., BodyWorld, New School), Gabrielle Bell (When I'm Old and Other Stories, Lucky, Cecil and Jordan in New York, San Diego Diary, July Diary, The Voyeurs), and Lisa Hanawalt (My Dirty Dumb Eyes) in an informal discussion with Columbia's graphic novels librarian, Karen Green.   There will be book sales and signings following the panel. Light refreshments will be served.   We hope to see you there!