Article Archive
All Those Oh-So-Nears – This Week’s Links
There’s only one way to resolve the ongoing issues at Warner Bros. I am going to buy Superman and rename him Mr. Toilet.
Half Note Art
What can Picasso tell us about cartooning? How can we define ‘drawing’ in the greater tradition of visual art? Andrew Field has a few suggestions.
Memories of Supaidāman
In the wide world of international cultural exchange, few comics are more curious than the brooding, violent version of Spider-Man drawn by Ikegami Ryōichi in the early 1970s. Now, for the first time in English, Ono Kōsei, one of the facilitators of that project, reveals the secret origin of Supaidāman.
“You Have To Swallow Your Fear And Do The Thing Anyway”: An Interview with Maria Llovet
The novelist Jean Marc Ah-Sen discusses fear, desire, and artistic practice with Spanish artist Maria Llovet, known for her extended collaboration with the writer Brian Azzarello on Faithless, and a suite of stylish solo work.
Halcyonity Is Relative – This Week’s Links
Whew, it’s too sunny out for news! (A cartoon news imp appears.) “Oh-ho, well then, I will erase all news from the world forever.” Nooo, Mr. News, I didn’t mean it!! “Well, okay…”
The John Wagner and Alan Grant Interview
In this 1988 discussion from The Comics Journal #122, writers John Wagner and Alan Grant define their politics (and those of Judge Dredd), compare Dredd artists, and talk about coping with the seemingly random taboos of British comics censorship.
Alan Grant, 1949-2022
Tom Shapira remembers the hugely prolific writer of British and American comics, capable of gruesome violence and tender introspection. Grant died earlier this month.
Doucetian Claremontism
Austin English is back, bouncing around comics history and investigating the personal and metaphysical qualities of drawing.
“I Feel More Free And Brave Now As An Artist”: An Interview with Tyrell Cannon
Ian Thomas chats with prolific Chicago artist Tyrell Cannon, whose practice encompasses numerous self-published works, as well as popular collaborations such as the brand-new Beef Bros Behind Bars.
Time for Jumpin’ Overboard – This Week’s Links
I don’t know about you, but I am keeping cool today! It turns out you can access the internet from inside an enormous block of ice. They told me I was being sealed in here for my crimes… well who’s laughing now?
Summer Interview Extravaganza 2022
“You Sell Your Soul To The Devil, That’s A Done Deal. No Backsies”: An Interview with Mike Reger
Artist and publisher Floyd Tangeman takes a walk around San Francisco with Mike Reger, veteran minicomics artist and muralist, who offers passionate testimony on the contemporary underground scene in one of the great historical comic book cities.
Summer Interview Extravaganza 2022
Lost in Space-Time: Keith Tilford on Chronosis
Tom Kaczynski sits down with Keith Tilford, the artist behind Chronosis – a heady work of theoretical physics in the form of a SF graphic novel, written by philosopher Reza Negarestani.
Summer Interview Extravaganza 2022
“They Are Not Monsters. Just Murderers”: Oleksandr Grekhov on Cartoonism in the Time of War, Limitations as Style, and Having His Works Destroyed by Conservatives
As the war with Russia continues, what is the state of political cartooning in Ukraine? Evheny Osievsky sits down with one of the most popular young practitioners in the expanded landscape of social media.
Summer Interview Extravaganza 2022
Tune out the Industry, Align with Your Weirdness: Paolo Javier and Sommer Browning in Conversation
Two poets sit down to discuss their work in comics, as Paolo Javier & Sommer Browning talk kids, collaboration, drawing and supes.
Summer Interview Extravaganza 2022
“I Don’t Like To Repeat Myself”: A Conversation with Jeff Smith
Jason Bergman catches up with one of the most influential cartoonists of the 21st century. Jeff Smith: his dreams; his disappointments; his ongoing dawn-of-man serial Tuki, and his return to the era-defining Bone.
No Stopping What Can’t Be Stopped – This Week’s Links
If I gave you a gift called news… would you take it?
Robert C. Harvey, Comics Chronicler, Critic, Cartoonist and Raconteur Dies at 85
Remembering R.C. Harvey, a constant, inquisitive presence in the history and study of American cartooning.
“My Dream is to Die”: Taiyō Matsumoto’s No. 5
A sweeping discussion of a standout contemporary manga: Taiyō Matsumoto’s costumed action epic, which imploded from the weight of warfare in the early ’00s.
“No Matter What I Was Working On, I Could Always Come Back”: Jordan Crane on Keeping Two
Katie Skelly sits down with the cartoonist, editor and screen printer Jordan Crane, whose decades-in-the-making graphic novel Keeping Two is finally set for release this summer.
The Demon That You’re Stuck With – This Week’s Links
Sipping hard from a beer garden whisky sour as news approaches from across the parish.
Sex and Violence Epics from Classic Mythology: Conan Meets the Queen of the Amazons
Our classically-named correspondent Matt Seneca examines two 1970s comics depicting combat in ancient times: one ‘mainstream’, full of blood and thunder; and one ‘underground’, satirical. But maybe they are more alike that it seems…
