Behind the Blue: The Story of Peyo
It took a village to raise the Smurfs.
Features
Karl Stevens: Day Two
In today’s installment of A Cartoonist’s Diary, a cornball gets cut down to size.
An Unpublished Conversation with Russ Heath
A never-before-published 2008 interview with the legendary late artist.
Karl Stevens: Day One
A week of Karl Stevens diaries begins, and it begins with a conversation with a friend about the difficulties of work. And knives! What about the knives???
Russ Heath: 1926-2018
Heath, best known for the realistic clarity and human drama he brought to the war comics he drew for DC, Marvel, Warren, and EC during a 70-year career, died Thursday night at the age of 91.
“Change Is the Only Thing I Do Like”: An Interview with L. Nichols
Nichols says he’s always drawn – horses and maps were his favorites – but he was introduced to comics while studying mechanical engineering at MIT. Flocks is his autobiographical book about growing up in the South, keeping secrets from his family and church, and coming to terms with his identity first as queer and then… Read more »
Sense of Humor at the National Gallery: An Interview with Judith Brodie
George Herriman, Winsor McCay, Saul Steinberg, Francisco de Goya, Leonardo da Vinci and William Hogarth walked into the National Gallery all at once, and it turns out there might be room enough for everyone: Austin English has the scoop.
Rape, Sexual Harassment Allegations Prompt Defamation Suit from Small-Press Comics Publisher Cody Pickrodt
After facing accusations of rape and sexual harassment, Cody Pickrodt of Ray Ray Books has filed suit against comics community figures including Whit Taylor, Laura Knetzger, Tom Kaczynski, and Ben Passmore.
Who Invented Milton Caniff’s Most Famous Character?
Milton Caniff always took sole credit, but who really inspired her?
“Amazon Is the Global Warming of the American Economy”: A Conversation with Eric Reynolds on the ComiXology Originals Announcement
The Fantagraphics associate publisher explains how he thinks comiXology fits into Amazon’s plans to monopolize not just comics publishing, but retail as a whole.
Dean Miller: In (and Out) Like Flint
There are hundreds of unknown sob stories in comics. Creators routinely signed away the rights to their original concepts, had their work butchered by heavy-handed editors, and suffered as the comics industry weathered financial upheavals. And that’s just comic books. Newspaper strips are another thing.
Revisiting Dakota North
According to Keith Silva, we don’t talk enough about Dakota North–and he’s here to remedy that situation, with a look at the under-discussed ’80s miniseries by Martha Thomases and Tony Salmons that introduced the character.
Dermal Lift: Barry Windsor-Smith’s Weapon X
Weapon X isn’t the only superhero comic to tear down its protagonist’s heroic facade or even to indict its readers for believing in that image – though it is one whose force and quality surpasses all but the top rank of stories to do so.
Ian Densford: Day Five
Ian goes into the woods, pal in tow, danger afoot: will our cartoonist make it safely to his destination?
Ian Densford: Day Four
The cartoonist’s diary continues with a break-time daydream.
Episode 31: Lauren Weinstein
The Normel Person and Goddess of Warcreator talks Aisha Franz, Gary Panter, Carol Tyler, and more.
Ian Densford: Day Three
We all get lost in your work, but sometimes your work is drawing a whole lot of dead bodies: it takes a toll!
“I Look at Every Story I Draw in a Different Way”: An Interview with Rubén Pellejero
Pellejero is one of Spain’s great comics artists (Historias de Barcelona, The Summer of Irreverence, Rain Wolf). Today he, along with writer Juan Díaz Canales, is making the new adventures of one of comics’ greatest characters, Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese.
Ian Densford: Day Two
This day in history.
Fall into Degradation
In this week’s column, an Arcades Project-style history of cartoonists and their relationships with editors, publishers, and so-called fans.
Ian Densford: Day One
Ian Densford is here, and he’s brought his love of Robert Stack with him, in the form of drawings of Robert Stack.
I’ll Assign This Treason Case to You
Tegan turns her eye to Steve Ditko, and his Shade the Changing Man series. Gather round: there’s learning to be had.
Fuck You, Death: Thoughts on Finishing My Friend’s Last Book
The cartoonist Anders Nilsen describes the experience and labor of helping to bring Geneviève Castrée’s final book, A Bubble, to publication.
Switching Gears: Annie Koyama Will Shutter Press in 2021 to Focus on Patronage
“There are no strings attached. Once I decide to work with an artist, as I have always done with the press, I put enough trust in them and their project not to interfere. They don’t need my creative help, they need money.”
