Nicholas Gurewitch's The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories is a collection of the best of his weekly strips, which appear in a handful of alt-weeklies across the country. The hardcover collection will be released later this month by Dark Horse Comics. To celebrate the occasion, Gurewitch talks to New York about, among other things, his comic vision, Gary Larson, and the one strip he regrets publishing. "It's the beginning of a race. And the second frame shows the racers just standing there after the gun had gone off. And the third frame reveals that the runners are not running at all but are, uh, defecating, and on the banner it says 'Poo,'" he says. "I thought that was very, very funny at the time, but now I'm undecided whether it has widespread appeal."

Continue Reading‘Perry Bible Fellowship’ Cartoonist Releases His First Book

Novoselic, best known for being Nirvana's bassist, began what will be a weekly blog column yesterday with a post on the origins of the title "Smells Like Teen Spirit," anarchy, and the WTO riots of 1999. Weekly web editor Chris Kornelis tells AAN News that he approached Novoselic with the idea, and it developed from there. "Expect his columns to focus heavily on politics, culture, and music -- but really, he's going to be writing about whatever is on his mind," Kornelis says in an email. "We feel very fortunate to have his perspective on our daily website."

Continue ReadingKrist Novoselic Starts Blogging for Seattle Weekly

AAN is now accepting applications for the 2007-08 membership year. Alternative newspapers that are interested in applying for membership in the association can download an application here (PDF file). Applications must be received in the AAN office in Washington, D.C. by Dec. 31 to be eligible. As papers that have run the gauntlet know, the AAN membership process is rigorous. To learn more about how the association determines whether a paper qualifies for membership, we encourage potential applicants to read our membership guidelines -- there is a short version and a long version (Word doc). For questions about the process, papers should contact Debra Silvestrin at 202-289-8484 or debra (at) aan.org.

Continue ReadingAAN Membership Application Process Begins

New York agreed yesterday to stop accepting adult ads after the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) threatened protests outside the magazine's offices, the Associated Press reports. "It's just the right the thing to do," New York spokeswoman Serena Torrey says. "The magazine is really prospering now and it's finally time to get out of a business that we were never comfortable being in." The pressure is part of an orchestrated campaign by NOW, which has been asking other local media to stop taking adult ads. It has won agreements to do so from 14 other publications including Time Out New York and the New York Press, but the Village Voice has resisted the group's efforts, the AP reports.

Continue ReadingNew York Magazine Drops Adult Ads Under Pressure from NOW

Fred W. McDarrah died in his sleep at home in New York City early Tuesday morning. He was 81. "Over a 50-year span, McDarrah documented the rise of the Beat Generation, the city’s postmodern art movement, its off-off-Broadway actors, troubadours, politicians, agitators and social protests," the Voice reports. "He was really what I would call a reporter photographer," Voice writer Nat Hentoff tells the New York Sun. "Nobody could intimidate him." McDarrah was an enduring presence at the paper, remaining on the Voice masthead as a consulting editor to this day. "He was constantly sending suggestions," editor Tony Ortega tells the Associated Press.

Continue ReadingVeteran Village Voice Photographer Dies

As the Audit Bureau of Circulations released figures of continued circulation declines at American newspapers, numbers released by Scarborough Reports show that the overall number of people reading newspapers is not declining, but just shifting online. Scarborough's analysis of 88 major papers showed that in the last two years, about half had seen no significant change in combined print and online readership, or showed an increase, the New York Times reports.

Continue ReadingAs Newspaper Circulation Declines, Online Readership Holds Steady