Fantastic Ideas For A Fantastic World – This Week’s Links
My god, the madmen did it… they’ve closed TCJ! For this year, that is…
Year: 2021
Islands In The Stream: 20 Years With Michel Rabagliati’s Paul
Cartoonist Mardou reflects on what decades of Michel Rabagliati’s Paul comics have given readers, and provides a guided path through reading them…or at least, reading as much of them as current English language translation allows!
“We’re Not Doing Books To Make Our Living.”: A Dungeon Interview With Lewis Trondheim
With all new English language editions of Lewis Trondheim & Joann Sfar’s Dungeon series making its way to the United States, it was about time to check in and find out how things are going with all those fantasy mammals, and the murderer’s row of talent that has been drawing them!
Tuono Pettinato: Super Cartoonist, Super Friend
Remembering the cartoonist Tuono Pettinato, a beloved figure on the Italian comics scene who died this past June.
Benefits Of A Classical Education – This Week’s Links
Wow, there really is only one more week ‘till Christmas. I ought to buy edible gifts tomorrow; there’s probably still food left… you know what’s REALLY nourishing, though?
Mister Oswald and His Hardware Store: Russ Johnson’s Long-running Comic Strip
Bob takes us back to the hardware store (which is near the woodshed) to uncover the story behind one of the longest running comic strips in the history books, and the only comic strip that can claim consistent Hardware Retailer serialization on its resume
Comix Experience Talks Enigma with Peter Milligan & Duncan Fegredo
Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience sits down with Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo, creators of seminal Vertigo era “anti-superhero” comic Enigma, newly reprinted by Dark Horse and Berger Books.
“A Book That Contains Years of My Life”: An Interview with Andrew White
As cartoonist Andrew White prepares to release we are breathing, a collection of his earlier comics, he catches up with Alec Berry on what has changed about his approach to the work, the art, and the intersection of the two.
Sharon Smith Kane, February 18, 1932 – November 3, 2021
Remembering the creator of the early teen humor comic Buttons an’ Beaux – begun when the artist was a teenager herself, with many years of creative work ahead.
Very Big In Sheboygan – This Week’s Links
Leaving, moving, selling, getting bought – that’s right, another week in comics.
18+ Jamboree
Damn, put the kids to bed – Mr. Sensuality himself has graced the site with capsule reviews of passionate new zines from Valis Ortiz and Bhanu Pratap.
Forever an Enigma: The History and Meaning(s) of Peter Milligan’s and Duncan Fegredo’s Postmodern Classic
Exactly 4,000 words on the sweep and meaning of the quintessential Vertigo era superhero comic, newly reissued in a deluxe collected edition.
Catching Up with Tom Kaczynski
Publisher, cartoonist and thinker, Tom Kaczynski has his hand in as many art forms and intellectual pursuits as one can. Craig Fischer caught up with him about all of them not once, but twice.
Me I Want A Hula Hoop – This Week’s Links
What a spread of links! I bet you thought the feasting was over; you fool… you fool!
Remembering Two Titans of Manga: Shirato Sanpei and Saitō Takao
Artist and scholar Natsume Fusanosuke remembers two authors of landmark manga in this compendium of recent newspaper writing, presented in English for the first time.
Going to Pieces – Peacemaker Lost and Found
They say nobody prays harder for peace than the soldier… but for what does the Peacemaker pray? Tom Shapira sifts through the rubble of another Charlton concept blown to bits in the blood & thunder of the 1980s.
“These are Modern American Family Comics”: The Derek M. Ballard Interview
We speak with Derek M. Ballard about growing up in the South, learning comics from catalogs, creating cartoons with Pendleton Ward, all in an attempt to figure out how he got this good, and how it is that he keeps getting better.
A Portrait of a Manga Scholar Offering His Arm to Shirato Sanpei
Ryan Holmberg remembers Shirato Sanpei, one of the masters of politically-informed action comics, who died this past October.
The Art of Graphic Narrative: An Apology for the “Lascaux Hypothesis”
Sometimes you’ve got to take a step back, look at the whole picture of comics, and figure out: what kind of language are we using here? What is this art form we’re talking about, and are we doing an accurate enough job talking about it? Also: CAVES.
True and Recognizably Human: A Conversation with R. Kikuo Johnson
R. Kikuo Johnson and James Romberger discuss Johnson’s new graphic novel No One Else, his illustrations for The New Yorker, what he redrew for the new edition of his book The Night Fisher, and why he’s sticking with comics.
A Wrenched Virile Lore – This Week’s Links
Did you know Clark’s birthday is coming up? Happy birthday! There will be no column next week because the Americans are doing something with food.
Funny Book Round Up
Congratulations, you’re in for a lucky-number-seven capsule reviews of all sorts of comics. Recent, good superhero comics! Small-press erotic comics! Decades-old alternative comics! Extremely unhappy commercial Japanese comics! Austin English brings you everything under the sun, and you should thank him.
Another Look At Bill Mauldin
There’s never a bad time to talk about Bill Mauldin, but it’s especially a good time when you’ve got a whole bushel of Maulidin trivia, history and gossip to share thanks to Bob tracking down a copy of 2020’s Drawing Fire: The Editorial Cartoons of Bill Mauldin.
“I Wanted to Create a World”: An Interview with Lane Milburn
Lane Milburn’s newest graphic novel Lure sees the cartoonist making a departure from his previous work. In this conversation, he goes into how those changes came to be, the different kinds of non-comics work he takes on to support himself, and the dark business of “graphic recording”.
