Cartoonists Northwest met on December 17 at Tutta Bella Neopolitan Pizzeria in Wallingford, a Seattle neighborhood just north of downtown. Members enjoyed crisp salads, gourmet pizzas, wine and brews while celebrating the end of another year with their favorite cartooning individuals.

Guests got busy gluing googly eyes and pipe cleaners onto candy canes to compete in the Candy Cane Reindeer Contest. The winner was Maureen VanderPas, whose reindeer was voted “Most Creative” by a team of judges. The prize was a copy of Shannon Wheeler’s new book, Grandpa Won’t Wake Up.

Meanwhile, members exchanged gifts as part of the annual Cartoonists Northwest White Elephant Gift Exchange, where new and old oddities are wrapped and traded in the midst of a good laugh. Highlights included a chipmunk hat, decorative soap, and everyone’s favorite, Pankey jam. (more…)

We’re planning an extra CNW event in early January: a presentation by visiting comic writer, editor, teacher and author Danny Fingeroth.

A former Marvel writer and editor, Fingeroth has also done creative development for TV; taught numerous comics writing classes; edited Write Now! (a magazine about the craft of comics writing); and written pop culture books such as Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society. He’s currently Sr VP of Education at New York’s Musuum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA), where he co-curated recent exhibits on the work of Al Jaffee and Will Eisner. Danny’s latest book, co-edited with Roy Thomas, is The Stan Lee Universe (from TwoMorrows Publishing), a compendium of Lee-rarities, including many unseen items from Stan’s archives housed at the university of Wyoming.

The final date and details are still being arranged but we’re tentatively planning a get-together Jan. 7.