The Cross Hatch Dispatch 7.13.09

[Above, Marjane Satrapi gets an election update. Below, same old Dispatch.]

• Kazu Kibuishi has posted a beautiful step-by-step tutorial of how he creates a page for his acclaimed Copper series.
• One more thing to look forward to at Comic Con: Owly, the star of Andy Runton’s ongoing series, will spring to life in an animated short to be premiered at the convention.  The trailer premieres online on July 23rd.
• MoCCA the Festival may be over, but MoCCA the museum is still going strong.  This Thursday at 7:00 PM, David Mazuchelli Dan Nadel will discuss Mazuchelli’s diverse body of work, which ranges from collaborations with Frank Miller to work on the comic book adaptation of Paul Auster’s City of Glass.
• Joe Decie, of the mellow and elegant Webcomic What I Drew has recently produced three pages of comics deemed worthy of being featured on Top Shelf’s Website.  His black and white ink washes are as beautiful as ever.
• If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery, than perhaps Marjane Satrapi should be flattered that some Iranian fans of her book have rewritten the entire thing (keeping her art), in order that it might serve as a more to-the-point political pamphlet (none of that “story” nonsense).  They’ve christened it Persepolis 2.0.
• Dave McKean is on American soil!  Chicago, specifically, for an exclusive two-day event.  This Friday and Saturday, he’ll be at the Portage Theater.  There will be film screenings, live performers, an artist’s reception, and “other special prizes to be revealed.”  Admission is $18 a day/$30 for the weekend.  If you miss that, you can also catch him at Chicago Comics from 2:00-4:00 on Saturday.
• Meanwhile, Mckean’s buddy Neil Gaiman will be far from the Midwest, giving a reading at San Francisco’s Comix Experience.  Tickets go to the first 100 to purchase Gaiman’s “Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader” from Comix Experience.
• A far less exclusive but equally exciting engagement is the London Film & Comic Con, happening this Friday and Saturday.  A plethora of actors, artists, and animators will be giving autographs.

–Athena Currier