*GLORY BE!! A FULL-BLOWN KEITH KNIGHT CARTOON CONTROVERSY!!
Whoa!! Turn out the strip I did a week ago ("Stories from the Campaign Trail") has sparked protests and calls for an editor's head on a platter at a college in New Jersey. You can read the news story here.

Fun Fact: The strip is based on a real incident.

I just got an email from said editor, asking me if I want to respond. I will be sending back a statement over the next coupla daze.

Interesting. Cuz I haven't heard from anywhere else.

But it's nice to know I'm in New Jersey. I keep asking the college syndication service where my strip's running, and I never get an answer. I now know of one place where it runs.

They should bring me out there for a slideshow!!

*APE IN SAN FRANCISCO THIS WEEKEND...
I hope you'll join me, Stephen Notley and a whole bunch more of the most exciting indie comic creators in the U.S. of A., for the West Coast's biggest event of its kind: the Alternative Press Expo.

I'll be right up front as usual in my Halloween costume, cooking up fresh comics for you. Along with books, original cartoon art, bags and oh-so-much more.

Go here for the pertinent details.

*LETTERS OF THE WEEK....

Hi Keith, I'm not a spammer. To make a long story short- you might have a little $$ coming from the state of CAlif. (google "UCP CA" & follow the links). Or, first check list below..

Name Address City ID Number Type
KNIGHT KEITH 25366 DAPHNE WY #A WILLITS CA 95490- 005599229
KNIGHT KEITH 459 GATEWAY DR PACIFICA CA 94044-1675 003319126
KNIGHT KEITH 185 RIVO ALTO CANAL LONG BEACH CA 90803- 002057524
KNIGHT KEITH 185 RIVO ALTO CANAL LONG BEACH CA 90803- 002057523
KNIGHT KEITH 1536 W 25TH ST APT 134 SAN PEDRO CA 90732-4402 015231520
KNIGHT KEITH A PO BOX 191549 LOS ANGELES CA 90019-8549 Details
KNIGHT KEITH A 500 WHITE LANE #29 004403120

My 4th graders are inventing a sort of "pay it forward" semi-altruistic, (inspired by Obama) community activist type project..whereby we try to connect languishing state-stored bucks with rightful owners in nearby low-income neighborhoods. To make it more fun we're also data base searching cartoonists by name & see if they might have $$ coming to them too. Which is why I'm writing you. You're one of our first test cases. Please let us know if it helps you out. We're big fans of your cartoons.

Take care.

R.

(Unfortunately, none of these Keith's are me (or my Dad!). But mebbe these another Keef out there who happens upon this post and makes some $$$!!-kk)
---

My Life's Little Victory:

You page through a recent edition of Funny Times with increasing despondence because it looks like this month they've left out The K Chronicles....

...only to find it on the very last page twice normal size AND in color!

It's always the very first thing I look for when my Funny Times arrives. You should be in every paper in the country. Keep up the good work!

-- J.
----

Keef,

I've been reading your work on Salon.com for years now and have to say your
recent string of new parent/LA life comics are top notch. This weeks
especially. Keep it up, man. You're on a roll. The look on your face while
you take pennies had me laughing out loud.

A.
Athens, Greece
-----
Any plans to start selling stuff with your strip The Knight Life on
comics.com? I would kill for the Obama/Phelps silhouette comic from Tuesday
on a mug.

G.
---------
Hey,
Just a quick note... finally got caught up on the strip. Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed the last week or so, especially the alphabet "k" ones and the Phelps/obama one. To me, your best Knight Life yet. Kudos!

- B. from Boston


*(th)ink cartoon by Keith Knight

Labels: (th)ink strip, APE, controversy, Emails of the week, letters of the week, the kchronicles commentary

 
*A BIT MORE INFO ABOUT NEXT SATURDAY'S APE PARTY AT THE CARTOON ART MUSEUM..

--------------------
Cartoon Art Museum - Alternative Press Expo Party
Saturday, November 1, 2008, 8:00-11:00 pm
Sliding Scale: $2 - $20
655 Mission Street / San Francisco, CA 94105
415-CAR-TOON / www.cartoonart.org

Comics readings by Keith Knight, Jesse Reklaw, Trevor Alixopolous,
Julia Wertz, Hellen Jo, Olga Volozova, and David King. Book signing,
limited edition prints and posters, plus a raffle!

Food and beverages sponsored by Dark Horse Comics and
Sparkplug Comic Books.
--------------------
Here's a nice image of the poster:
http://www.slowwave.com/random/ape_cam_poster.jpg)

Labels: APE, cartoon art museum

 
*SPX WRAP-UP..
I like SPX because it's in a town that doesn't have a whole lot going on (unlike MoCCA and APE), so it always has good attendance, and I find myself hanging out with fellow cartoonists a lot more at this show. There aren't 37 parties, events, art openings and keg parties like there are in San Francisco and New York City.

I drove down with fellow CWAer Ted Rall. Ted is not only dangerous with a pen and piece of paper, he is dangerous behind the wheel. I went through three diapers.

This was my first time at the Expo in it's current location: The Marriott in North Bethesda. I like it. It's bigger. Fancier. And easily accessible by subway. I didn't make as much $$$ as in the past, but I forgot my freakin' canvas bags and didn't have a new book to sell. Oh well. Me and many of my fellow Cartoonist With Attitude members crashed at comics historian and collector Warren Bernard's house, much like we did this past summer for the AAEC's 50th anniversary convention in D.C. Good fun.

Also sat on a panel with Zippy the Pinhead creator Bill Griffith, Perry Bible Fellowship and fellow Harvey winner Nicholas Gurewitch, and stunt driver Ted Rall. Nicholas had the book of the show, but the way. His new Dark Horse collection is the cat's bottom. Also pick up Julia Wertz's first collection of the Fart Party. You will not be disappointed. Good stuff.

I'm looking forward to going back next year with my--

*TWO NEW BOOKS FOR 2008!!
What?!! Two new books for 2008? Ya damn right. Things ain't totally figured out yet, but there will be a new K Chronicles collection (#5) out for the 2008 convention season. And coming in June 2008 is the book many have been waiting for: A 500 PAGE K CHRONICLES OMNIBUS COLLECTION!! Featuring every strip contained in the four (mostly out-of-print) K Chronicles collections in a much larger format. With commentary, sketches, foolishness and more!!

*THE NEW KCHRONICLES.COM...
..will be coming very soon. I want to hear your feedback about it . Keep an eye out. It's going to kick bottom.

*ANOTHER INTERVIEW..DONE THIS PAST SUMMER..
http://freynosowrites.blogspot.com/

*OH, BY THE WAY..
THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO HAS BEEN MOVED TO NOVEMBER 1ST AND 2ND OF 2008!! I kinda like the idea of a move to the fall, but NOT the day after Halloween. People are gonna be hungover and not wanting to go to something during the day. I say it should be the second week in November. The closer to the Holidays, the better. People will be wanting to shop for presents.

*AND YEAH..THE K CHRONICLES ABOUT THROWING TOMATOES AT CARS..
..is a repeat. I threw tomatoes in San Francisco. Wouldn't dare throw 'em in L.A. Everybody's packin' heat down here.

Labels: APE, Cartoonists with Attitude, interview, new books, spx 2007

 
*EXTRA!! EXTRA!!
I'll be sharing a sliver of a table at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival at UCLA THIS WEEKEND. Look for me at the Mc Sweeney's table and pick up my new (th)ink collection, "Are We Feeling Safer Yet?"

*APE 2007 WRAP-UP..

Another fine APE has come and gone. This one was special because it was the first one since moving down to Los Angeles...

*THURSDAY: The first night up, Kerstin and I stayed at the City Center Hostel on Ellis and Larkin Streets, courtesy of my olde co-worker, Greg. It's a great hostel, although not the greatest part of town. But if you've lived in any sort of big city situation, you'd be used to it.

We heard that Aaron McGruder was being interviewed by my man Jeff Chang at the Jewish Community Center in town. We whizzed on over there after meeting up with New York cartoonists Mikhaela Reid and Masheka Wood at Mark Fiore's Third Thursdays gathering at Dave's, a dive bar downtown.

The interview was cool. And the great Morrie Turner, the first black nationally syndicated cartoonist ("Wee Pals"), was in the audience. It was the first time I'd seen him since he had a bit of a medical scare a coupla months ago. We took some nice pix and went out to dinner after.

*FRIDAY: The annual Last Gasp/APE Pre-Reg party was fine and dandy with many of the usual suspects. Plus plenty of good food. It was here where we hooked up with Steve Notley, who was down from Seattle, and Shannon Wheeler, down from Portland. We split the party and joined the rest of our Cartoonists With Attitude colleagues at Daves.

*SATURDAY: The Alternative Press Expo officially begins! I did a panel on socially relevant comics with folks like Paige Braddock and Abby Denson. It was jolly good and well received. A lotta folks came by the table after. Good stuff.

*That evening, Kerstin and I had a great dinner with Rod Gilchrist, director of the Cartoon Art Museum, and his lovely wife. We were prepared for a night of revelry, with an infinite amount of parties and openings to attend..

..but we just decided to go back to where we were staying and get a good night's sleep.

*SUNDAY: The second day was actually busier than the first day. I was quite surprised and damned pleased. After we wrapped it up, Kerstin, Notley and I went to Tommy's Joynt for our annual Hofbrau type meal.

*I didn't pick up much at the event (i gots ta make $$$!!), but I did see this really incredible prototype of a book from Chris Lanier. Chris is a great cartoonist/animator /journalist who served on the board of the Cartoon Art Museum with me. And he did this great interview with me.

*Also, my man Paul Madonna has the first collection of his All Over Coffee. I saw a prototype of the book and it looks beautiful.

*EMAIL OF THE WEEK..

Dear Keith:
I really liked your comic on Jackie Robinson today. I
thought it was the best commentary I've heard in all the hubbub about
the landmark. It's funny that there was so much commotion about him on
his 60th anniversary of breaking the "color barrier" in baseball. You'd
think it would have been a bigger deal on the 50th. Anyway, he was
really before my time (I was born in 1950). I was a Pirates fan because
my father was from Pittsburgh, and so my guy was always Roberto Clemente
(still is). The best highlight from his career, for me, was when he was
named MVP of the 1971 World Series, and the reporter interviewed him.
Even though he could speak English well, he chose to respond in Spanish,
and he gave a little speech about how proud he was to be from the
Caribbean and representing Hispanic ballplayers. A very cool moment
from a real saint of a guy. Hope all is well.

A. (in Gainesville, Fl.)

Labels: APE, cartoonists, email of the week, San Francisco