In addition to the hilarious Jibjab.com This Land Is Your Land webtoon making the rounds, is this clever 7 minute 30s-style black & white cartoon, “Brother Can You Spare a Job?” by Tom Neely and Greg Saunders. The short version (30 seconds) of this film was a “Best Animation” finalist in MoveOn.org’s “Bush in 30 Seconds” contest. This new full-length version is packed with the same Max Fleisher, Chuck Jones and Charlie Chaplin inspiration and style.Neely and Saunders will be at the comic con this week, selling the cartoon on dvd ($6 to cover the production costs) and giving away posters at booth #1620.

One booth where I’ll be plunking down some cold, hard cash is that which belongs to Ronnie del Carmen and Enrico Casarosa (booth #1422). Their boundless energy for pursuing their own projects while holding down full-time gigs at Pixar is inspiring, not to mention that the personal work they publish is consistently top notch. Among their new offerings at the San Diego Comic con, Ronnie will debut PAPER BISCUIT #2, a 40-page comic featuring his charming character Nina, while Enrico will bring his new art book FRAGMENTS: INTERMEZZO and the second issue of THE ADVENTURES OF MIA. Enrico was kind enough to send over a copy of the new MIA and dare I say it’s even more impressive than the first issue. The elements that remain from the earlier MIA are his beautiful panel composition and cinematic sensibility, as well as his sensitive ink-and-wash style, but this second issue also adds to the mix an exciting WWII-era story with a cliffhanger ending that left me eager to find out what happens next. And while there is plenty of action in the issue, Enrico never misses an opportunity for character development. A superb example is in the middle of a chase sequence where as the spy is being pursued by the military, he stops to discard a cigarette that he’s smoking. This thoughtful attention to detail and character is a big reason why MIA #2 is such an enjoyable read and why I can’t wait for future issues.

This blog is turing into a giant plug for various events and booths at the San Diego Comic Con. Someday we are going to have to start accepting paid advertising (hint, hint).Here’s one more: Stephen Silver will be selling his book The Art of Silver at his booth #2202 – and will be doing a slideshow lecture THE ART OF SILVER: ANIMATION CHARACTER DESIGN on Thursday, July 22 from 1-2:30pm in Room 7B. He’s one of the best, so this should be a great lecture.

I had a wonderful time on Friday at the grand opening party of Toby Bluth and Dave Kuhn’s new character animation studio, CAAT Studios in North Hollywood. I wish them a lot of luck – they have incredible talent, fantastic ideas, an amazing studio and a great team of people on board.While there I ran into another cool “cat”, Cynthia Petrovic, the creator of RED TANGO, a product line based on her designs, and the webmaster of Tangoland.com. I’ve written about Petrovic before, she’s an ex-Disney, ex-Klasky (and ex-other studios) animator, artist & hyphenate who decided to create her own business, based on her own ideas and art. And she’s succeeding at it. Her website is a lot of fun and her products are neat. In an era when character animators are scrambling to find a position, Petrovic has used her head and found a nice niche for her ample talents.

BREW Co-editor Jerry Beck has two more comic con highlights to plug:#1 Wonderful World of Animation Art gallery (booth #215) along with Clampett Studio Collections will welcome the top voice talents from the popular Batman, Justice League of America, and Teen Titan cartoon series on Saturday July 24th, from 1:30-3:30pm for an exclusive two-hour authorized signing event. Scheduled to attend are ADRIENNE BARBEAU (Catwoman), KEVIN CONROY (Batman), SUSAN EISENBERG, (Wonder Woman), PHIL LAMARR (Green Lantern), SCOTT MENVILLE (Robin), GEORGE NEWBERN (Superman), TARA STRONG (Batgirl) and NICHOLLE TOM (Supergirl).#2 SpongeBob SquarePants writer and voice of Plankton and Larry Lobster, Mr. Lawrence, will sign cels on Sun. July 25th from 11:00 -12:30 PM at a special Nickelodeon booth (check with booth #215 for details).Needless to say, there are literally too many things of interest for fans of animation, comic books and motion pictures at this mega-event. My head is already spinning…

The producers sent some images from their new Comedy Central series, DRAWN TOGETHER, which will be previewing at the San Diego Comic Con on Thursday. Go here for an exclusive first look at some images of the series and the main characters.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.Back in the 1970s, animation fans waited impatiently, for many long tortuous months, for a new edition of Mike Barriers FUNNYWORLD. Today with the internet, we have the advantage of being able to read Barrier’s articles and opinions online at anytime. But now we have to wait several months for Mike to update his website.Well Mike updated it today. He’s just back from a trip to Europe with observations on Disneyland Paris, additional corrections to his Carl Barks research, and a nice letter from Steve Worth about Art Babbit.Good to have you back Mike!

Here’s a link to the SHARK TALE trailer where Jeffrey Katzenberg enthralls audiences with a fish who does an impression of MC Hammer and a story that parodies THE GODFATHER. Will Smith replaces Eddie Murphy as the obligatory fast-talking street smart black character. Katzenberg is slipping though. Where’s the slo-mo MATRIX fight scene parody? That, and any semblance of entertainment, are the only two thing lacking from the trailer.