Michael Jantze's 'Knocked Out Loaded' graphic novel coming soon

A new chapter in Michael Jantze's 'The Norm' will be available soon as a graphic novel. 'Knocked Out Loaded' was originally published in 2007 to Jantze.com five days a week as a color daily strip. Written as a long-form story using short-form techniques, the story is 80% complete and will be fully completed soon thanks to a successful (and ongoing) Indegogo campaign set to end on August 1, 2013. Michael is a vocal and passionate advocate of storytelling and cartooning - please spread the word about this exciting endeavor to help the project reach its exciting stretch-goals. Cheers!

Meeting Location in Lincoln Set!

Chapter treasurer Paul Fell and chapter black sheep Mike Edholm have secured our venue for our chapter meeting in Lincoln on Sat, Feb. 21st.

The meeting will be held at the "Dish" restaurant in downtown Lincoln, in the "Dish Downstairs" private event room starting at noon until whenever. Members will be able to order off the sandwich menu for lunch and, more importantly, there is a bar. Our judging and all our speakers will take place at this location.

"Dish" is a short 5 minute walk from the Holiday Inn, where we have an NCC discount rate on rooms booked before Feb. 9th. For the convenience of those driving in for the day, there is a city parking garage right across O Street from Dish.

We now have well over 30 submissions, so it will be quite the task reviewing all the work. Lots of great cartooning, great speakers and great company. Best of all no fee for attending. I hope to see a great turnout. If you haven't been to a meeting in some time please try and make the effort to come.

NCC To Judge Editorial Cartoon category

The official National Cartoonist Society Reuben awards packets have been sent out to all members, and the North Central Chapter has been selected to judge the "Editorial Cartoons" division. Cartoonists interested in submitting work for this division can submit 12 to 20 samples of work published between December 1st, 2007 and Dec 31st, 2008. Cartoonists are not required to be members of the NCS to be eligible. We are also free to assemble eligible work from any cartoonists we want to consider for the award but who have not submitted the work themselves. Sumbissions must be recieved by January 30th.

Plans are in the works for a chapter meeting to vote on the submissions sometime in february or March in Lincoln, NE.

NCS- Landstuhl Germany USO Trip

I just got back a few days ago from a trip with 7 other NCS members to visit wounded soldiers and military hospital staff in Washington D.C. and in Landstuhl, Germany. It was a very inspirational trip. You can read about our time with the troops on my blog.... links above via the location names.

Fall Meeting Schedule

Thanks to our Treasurer Paul Fell for putting this schedule together:

NCC Fall Chapter Meeting:
Saturday, September 20

10am-5pm Toonfest Cartoon exhibit open- Masonic Hall

10-11am Toonfest Parade on Main St.

11-12:30 N. Central chapter members meeting and lunch.

12:30-5pm Guest Cartoonists do their presentations at the Uptown Theatre on Main St.
This event is free and open to the public.

Following the Uptown Theatre program, NCS N. Central members are invited to a special tree planting ceremony featuring past and present guest cartoonists at the arboretum at the former Disney family farm. Following the tree planting, guests are invited to sign their names inside the recreated Disney barn. These activities will be followed by a post-Toonfest party and entertainment with plenty of food and drink at the former Disney home.

For N. Central members who might be arriving on Friday, Sept. 19, you are invited to attend a pre-Toonfest party at the river cabin of Wally and Kaye Malins, Toonfest organizers. This private party includes Toonfest volunteers and this year's cartoonist Headliners. Plan to meet between 4:30 and 5 pm at the Toonfest office, 207 N. Main St. so we can carpool out to the cabin.

We will need a head count ASAP of chapter members who plan to be at the Friday event and those who plan to attend on Saturday. Please contact Tom or Paul directly.

NCC Fall Meeting at Toonfest in Marceline

After plans for a fall meeting later in the fall in Des Moines were scuttled, your North Central Chapter board has elected to plan our annual fall meeting to coincide with the Walt Disney Hometown Toonfest on Saturday, September 20th in Marceline, MO. Several NCC members are helping to organize the Toonfest events and art show, and many members are already planning on attending Toonfest with it's great lineup of guest speakers and other activities. This year's speakers include "Speedbump" creator Dave Coverly, "Stone Soup" cartoonist Jan Eliot, "Luanne" writer/artist Greg Evans and "The Norm" creator Michael Jantze. NCC members will be welcomed with open arms by the Toonfest organizers.

An exact schedule of events will be forthcoming, but the actual meeting will likely take place over a chapter lunch on Saturday the 2oth, possibly catered at some nearby location. Costs to attend will be low, probably in the $10.00 range which includes the lunch. Other activities will be incorporated within the events of Toonfest. Details will be posted here as soon as they are set.

Make your plans to attend ASAP, as the event is only a little over a month away. The preference is to book a room at the following hotel in nearby Chillicothe:

The Grand River Inn
Highway 36 & 65
Chillicothe, Missouri 64601
660-646-6590

Room rates for double occupancy are about $70 per night base. The hotel is 37 miles from Marceline. You can get more info about the hotel online but you must call the hotel directly for reservations. A Friday arrival and Sunday departure is recommended.

Look for more details here as they become available.

NCS - Frank Frazetta tribute

In late August members of the NCS will be sponsoring a tribute to comic book and illustration legend Frank Frazetta, which will include a visit to see Frank at his private museum. The following was forwarded to all chapter chairpersons in regards to the event by Jack Pittman:

Hope your summer is going well.

In preparing for our NCS tribute to Frank Frazetta in late August, we will be presenting him with a scrapbook of original art and well wishes. If you would like to contribute to this endeavor, whether or not you are able to attend, please send your drawing/note to Jack Pittman at (email Tom privately for the address). Art should fit on an 8.5 by 11 sheet. It would be helpful to receive these no later than August 1 to allow for assembling the book.

This will be a memoir the whole Frazetta family will cherish and a wonderful addition from the National Cartoonists Society to the Frazetta Museum.

And, as a reminder, if you do plan to join us for this event, please email me with the total number of people attending, including yourself as soon as possible to help expedite the preparations. The celebration is tentatively planned for a Saturday, most likely August 23 or 30, from 12 to 5 at the Frazetta Museum in East Stroudsburg, PA. Costs per person are not finalized as of this writing, but will be somewhere in the neighborhood of a modest $40-50 per person, which will include a light lunch and admission to the museum. If you plan to spend the weekend in New York City, the drive to East Stroudsburg, PA is about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. There are also accommodations in or near East Stroudsburg--Quality Inn, Hampton Inn, Shannon Inn, Budget Inn & Suites, and Best Western Pocono, to name a few. Further details are coming soon.

Thank you for your generous assistance with this tribute to one of our most esteemed colleagues.

Fraternally,

Jack Pittman

I hope some of our esteemed chapter members will be able to send in some art for the album. I know I will. Please e-mail me privately for the address to send your contribution.

Fall or Winter Meeting?

For a number of years now the North Central Chapter has been meeting in the fall for our annual chapter get together. I am not sure why this time of year was chosen, but suspect it was because winter is a precarious and ugly travel time for us tundra dwellers.

The odd thing is that March is the only time of year we have any official duty to perform for the NCS... our Reuben divisional voting. Doesn't it make sense to plan a late March meeting to do our divisional jury and also have our annual meeting? Does beer taste better in September or October than it does in March? Do we plan on camping outdoors?

What do you as members think about this? Should we switch to late March for our meeting time?

2008 Reuben Nominees Announced

The nominees for this year's divisional Reuben awards have been announced:

Book Illustration
Nancy Beiman - “Prepare to Board”
Sandra Boynton - “Blue Moo”
Jay Stephens - “Robots!”

TV Animation
Sandra Equihua and Jorge Gutierrez - Creators - “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera” Stephen Silver - Character Design - “Kim Possible”
Richard Webber - Creator - “Purple and Brown”

Greeting Card
Gary McCoy
Glenn McCoy
Dave Mowder

Newspaper Comic Strip
Paul Gilligan – “Pooch Café”
Jim Meddick – “Monty”
Richard Thompson – “Cul De Sac”

Editorial Cartoon
Gary Brookins
Michael Ramirez
Bill Schorr

Magazine Illustration
Daryll Collins
John Klossner
Tom Richmond

Newspaper Illustration
Drew Friedman
Sean Kelly
Ed Murawinski

Feature Animation
Brad Bird – Director – “Ratatouille”
Sylvan De Boissy – Character Design – “Surf’s Up”
David Silverman – Director – “The Simpson’s Movie”

Gag Cartoon
Benita Epstein
Mort Gerberg
Glenn McCoy

Comic Book
Nick Abadzis – “Laika”
Bryan Lee O’Malley – “Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together”
Shaun Tan – “The Arrival”

Advertising Illustration
Jack Pittman
Tom Richmond
Tom Stiglich

Newspaper Panel
Chad Carpenter – “Tundra”
Glenn & Gary McCoy – “The Flying McCoys”
Kieran Meehan – “Meehan”

Congratulations to all of the nominees. The winner will be announced at the 62nd Annual NCS Reuben Awards banquet on May 24, 2008.

MN Judging Meeting Date Change

Due to scheduling conflicts, the date for the MN meeting to judge our Reuben divisional awards is changing from Saturday, March 3rd to Saturday, March 8th at 4:00 pm. I hope this will allo a few more area members to make it to the judging.

The Kansas City meeting may take place first as a result. Please check back here or look for an announcement via e-mail soon.