Features

Go, Look (This Week’s Links)

| November 15, 2019

As readers of this site are most likely aware, the writer, editor, interviewer, historian and festival director Tom Spurgeon died on Wednesday, November 13th. Tom has been an unparalleled figure of influence for me in comics; his website The Comics Reporter frequently introduced me to books I've loved as a reader and cartoonists I've hired as an art director. Tom's passion for the artform and its practitioners was infectious, affirming and comforting — reading his work, I wanted to love comics as much as he did.

I only had one real conversation with Tom, a few years back at Small Press Expo. However, in writing TCJ's links feature, my approach has inevitably been informed by years of consuming his thoughts. While catching up on Comics Reporter posts earlier this year, I was shocked to see my very own name, as Tom noted my new role on this site. You could have knocked me over with a mylar bag.

I read the news of Tom's passing around 10:30 Wednesday night on Twitter. I immediately clicked through to his profile, as if there would be some denial waiting there. Instead, I watched as his pinned tweet (posted below) racked up retweets and likes in real time. It was bittersweet to see.

 

Tucker Stone, editor of TCJ, is updating a list of memories of Tom as they appear.

There will be a memorial for Tom at The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum on Saturday, December 14th.

 

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Links:

• Sequential magazine has opened a call for nominations for its annual awards recognizing indie Canadian comics creators.

• The New York Times explores how digital innovations have affected the act of comic book creation.

• The A.V. Club lists its 25 favorite comics of the past decade.

• There is a Cowboy Henk exhibit happening in Rotterdam.

• Danny Fingeroth discusses his new Stan Lee biography.

• The A.V. Club talks to Chris Onstad about his Achewood strip getting the "complete volume" treatment.

• Broken Frontier recaps the Thought Bubble festival.

• Watchmen (the book) is being taught in higher academia.

• Felix the Cat is 100 human years old.

• The Guardian profiles cartoonist Simone Lia.

• Frank Quitely helped design the new, gigantic, four-floor, 9500-square foot Forbidden Planet store in Glasgow.

• Publishers Weekly lists its top five graphic novels of 2019.

• Somehow, this is an official Wonder Woman comic being published in 2019.

 

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Reviews:

• Los Angeles Review of Books: Paul Morton on The Erotic Art of Wallace Wood

• WWAC: Emma Snape on Jeff Lemire and Phil Hester's Family Tree #1

• Multiversity: Christopher Egan on Matt Kindt and Matt Smith's Folklords #1

• Broken Frontier: Lindsey Pereira on Lynda Barry's Making Comics

• TCJ: Brian Nicholson on Drew Lerman's Snake Creek  /  Heather Leighton on Keiler Roberts' Rat Time  /  Greg Hunter on Emil Friss Ernst's Dr. Murder and the Island of Death  /  J. Caleb Mozzocco on Margaret Atwood and Ken Steacy's War Bears

• The Beat: John Seven on Koren Shadmi's The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television and Gabby River and Royal Dunlap's B.B. Free #1

 

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Interviews:

• The Beat: Eleanor Davis by Chloe Maveal  /  Molly Knox Ostertag by Avery Kaplan  /  Karen Green by Samantha Puc

• TCJ: Marcelo D’Salete by Heitor Pitombo  /  Ken Landgraf by Josh Bayer

• Maddie Dai at A Case for Pencils

• Sammy Harkham by Brian Heater on RiYL

• Peter Bagge by Gil Roth on Virtual Memories

• Michael Jantze by Geoff Grogan on Blockhead! (Part 1 and Part 2)

 

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For the love of comics and comics art:

• The legendary Gerald Scarfe on Good Morning Britain (with thanks to Mike Lynch):

 

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• World War I Flying Ace by Skottie Young:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4xURckHLtn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

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• A peek at the upcoming Daniel Clowes Original Art book (not an ad):

https://www.instagram.com/p/B40k9IYF3aN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

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And, for good measure, an all time classic by Bernard Kliban:

 

See you next week.