The Cross Hatch Dispatch 4/15/09

[Above, Abby Denson's lost doll. Below, the Dispatch conveyor belt.]

• This Friday, April 17 at Rocketship in Brooklyn, Miss Lasko-Gross will be signing her brand-new graphic novel A Mess of Everything, along with a special appearance by Fishtown’s Kevin Colden.
• PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature presents “An Afternoon with International Graphic Novelists” on May 2 in NYC, hosting conversations and panels with the likes of Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Ames, Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Adrian Tomine.
• Arthur Magazine presents an  interview with psychedelic comics king, Rick Veitch, with a fresh, glowing introduction from Alan Moore.
• Bryan Talbot is truly the comic world’s 007–not just because of the suave British accent–he’s whipped up the ultimate fake-out. Talbot created the completely non-existent “French-Japanese artist,” Veronique Tanaka–and got “her” book, Metronome, published.
• New Yorker cartoonist Gahan Wilson has animated Neil Gaiman’s short, signature macabre-lite story, It Was a Dark and Silly Night.
• The Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo (SPACE) blasts off this weekend (Saturday, April 18) at the Aladdin Shrine Complex in Columbus, Ohio, featuring over 150 indie creators.
• Richard Vasseur profiles Tales of the Beanworld creator/genius, Larry Marder, on Jazma Online. Wahoolazuma!
• Octopus Pie cartoonist Meredith Gran will be signing and book-releasing at Floating World Comics in Portland, OR, on Thursday, April 16.
• ComicFest 2009 is happening this weekend, April 17-19, at the Denver Tech Center in Denver, CO, with guests like Amy Reeder Hadley, Brian Wood, Mike Baron, and Stan Yan and more.
• On April 18, Howard Cruse, Tim Fish, Shannon Wheeler, Gabrielle Bell, and Abby Denson will be panelists at a series of Graphic Narrative Panels at the 10th Annual Southern Connecticut State University Graduate English Conference in New Haven, CT.
• CBLDF and Stumptown Comics host the Foundation Benefit Dinner in Portland, OR of Aprils 17, with noshing, cocktailing and comics luminaries galore: Jeff Smith, Craig Thompson, Matt Wagner, Gail Simone, Farel Dalrymple, Derek Kirk Kim, Pollyanne Birge are among the sparkling guest list.
• Alex Tse has been deemed sole scribe of Paul Pope’s Battling Boy screen adaptation. Another Watchmen on our hands?
• This Friday, April 17, the Morgan Library & Museum will hold a special screening of Steven-Charles Jaffe-directed doc “Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird,” about the life and work of the New Yorker cartoonist, complete with post-viewing Q&A.

–Adri Cowan