The Comic Book Alliance, a fledgling non-for profit organisation was founded in 2009 and is ‘‘dedicated to the promotion of British comic books, graphic novels, webcomics and sequential art in its many forms.’’ It duly joins our list of cartoon and comic art organisations. The organisation has just announced the winner of its recent competition to search for a new logo. The design (see above), features three interlocking speech balloons to represent the ‘‘cross-industry cohesiveness’’ the Alliance are looking to foster, according to chairman Tim Pilcher.

Thanks to the Birmingham Mail‘s Speech Balloons blog for alerting us to this news.

The US Postal Service is to honour cartoonist Bill Mauldin with a postage stamp, due to be released in March 2010. Mauldin, who served with the 44th Infantry Division during World War II drew cartoons about ordinary soldiers for Stars and Stripes, the US Army’s newspaper. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 and died in 2003 aged 81.

Also released this year is a series of stamps featuring characters from US comic strips, including Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield and Beetle Bailey. The set, titled Sunday Funnies is due to go on sale in July.

Bloghorn asks: What cartoonists or comic characters would you like to see on British postage stamps?

The British Museum is currently exhibiting original artwork from acclaimed Japanese manga artist Hoshino Yukinobu‘s newest comic. The exhibition follows the adventures of Yukinobu’s character Professor Munakata and is set in the Museum itself. The work uses icons including the Sutton Hoo mask and the Lewis chessmen. Artwork from more of Yukinobu’s manga also features at the museum, alongside talks and family events.

British film director Ken Russell has written a review of the exhibition for The Times.

The three-week London-centred comic festival Comica opens today, featuring the usual mix of talks, workshops and exhibitions including the Cartoon Museum‘s 30 Years of Viz celebration (previously on Bloghorn) and a collection of original artwork from American underground comic legend Robert Crumb (previously). Also happening is the small press and self-publisher’s fair, Comiket, this coming Sunday at the ICA. There’s a full program of everything that’s going on here (or in PDF form here). Comica continues until the 26 November at various locations across the city.

Coming later in the month is the Thought Bubble festival in Leeds, happening between Thursday 19 and Sunday 22 November, and features more workshops, talks and exhibitions and incorporates the Thought Bubble one-day comic convention on the Saturday at Saviles Hall, opposite the Royal Armories.

Internet book retailer amazon.com and US comic publisher Andrews McMeel Publishing have launched a new contest to search for a new Comic Strip Superstar. Following two elimination rounds a panel of comic strip luminaries including Doonesbury‘s Gary Trudeau will select 10 finalists, and the winner will be picked by a vote by amazon.com customers. The winner will receive a publishing contract, a $5000 (approx £3000) advance and a monthly stipend to develop 20 further strips.

For more details see here and you can read the official rules here. The deadline for all submissions is Saturday 12th September. Although the contest is being hosted by the US version of amazon.com, it is open to customers from a further 23 countries, including the UK.

The world’s largest comic page was unveiled earlier this month as part of the Brussels 2009 BD Comic Strip Festival (BD being short for bande dessinée). The 672 m² image was a page from Hergé‘s Tintin (specifically, page 42 from Destination Moon) and was also chosen to tie in with the forthcoming release of the big screen adaptation of Belgium’s most famous comic export, directed by Stephen Spielberg.

Sadly, the page was only there between 7-10th May, but the comic festival continues all year, and includes this comic strip tour (map) around Brussels featuring 31 comic-based murals – of which there are many pictures on the Birmingham Mail Speech Balloons blog.

The Bristol International Comic Expo takes place this weekend (May 9 and 10) at the city’s Ramada Plaza Hotel.

The event features talks, panels and interviews with many top creators in the world of comics, and lots of opportunities to forget the recession and spend big on comics, merchandise and artwork. For more information, visit the website. There is also a sister event, the Small Press Expo, where the focus is on independent comics creators, on the Saturday only at Bristol’s Mercure Holland House Hotel.

PCOer Martin Honeysett responds to an article in The Guardian which reported Japanese plans to boost their national economic prospects with drawing. Martin recently spent two years in Japan as a visiting professor of visual communication.

It comes as no surprise to read that the Japanese Prime minister keeps manga comics in his official limo. Manga is huge in Japan. Not just the comics but the whole pop culture that feeds off it.

That 90% of it is, in my opinion complete pap, seems to encourage rather than hinder its popularity.

Originally the word manga encompassed all cartoon drawing including political, strip and single panel cartoons. These are now overshadowed and squeezed out by the popular comic genre.

So while the idea that a Prime Minister keeping comics in his car might seem appealing, remember that our politicians already keep them in their toilets. Sharp, satirical, funny, well drawn cartoons and caricatures.

Not that we can ignore manga and the power or popular culture. It’s interesting to note that even in Japan the volume of printed manga is decreasing while online and e-manga is rapidly increasing. Way to go?

New Cartoon Museum set to open. Angoulême, in the Poitou-Charentes region of western France and home to the recent International Comics Festival (as reported here) is to get a 1,300 sq m museum dedicated to the history and practice of creating cartoons and comics. The museum is planned to open in June, when entrance fees will be €4 (£3.50) for adults to the main museum and €3 (£2.60) for the additional temporary exhibitions. Combined entrance will be €6 (£5.30) per adult.

South Korea to celebrate 100 years of cartoons. Since the publication of the first Korean cartoon (a political cartoon on Japanese efforts to annexe the peninsula) on 2 June 1909 cartoons and comics have blossomed into a industry thought to be worth around US$600 million (over £400 million). The Korean government is also setting aside $96 million (over £60 million) over the next five years to support the industry.

Cartoons used as a ‘medium of social crusade’ in Nigeria. The Spanish Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria is hosting a programme to reinforce and promote the culture of cartooning through a series of workshops, exhibitions and awards, with the aim of encouraging sharing and co-operation between their two cultures.

If you thought comic-book lettering was simply a case of putting words in a balloon, and maybe adding a BIFF! here and a POW! there, then think again. An article by Nate Piekos, entitled Comics grammar and tradition explains all.