You've probably already read about it on Twitter and Tumblr and the other comics sites out there, or maybe right on this page a few moments ago, but nevertheless, we are proud to announce that the title to this blog post will be Movies V Television: Dawn of Comics. I don't want to reveal too many plot details (hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake!) but the basic premise is that those two great audience favorites, Movies and Television, are inherently superior to comics. Here's the twist: now that they are featuring characters and situations associated with comics, they simultaneously herald the triumph of the comics form! The more movies and television borrow ideas from comics, and the more we divert our coverage of comics proper to movies and television featuring comics-associated properties, the more comics wins! And then, and again, I don't want to get into details, but down the line, Movies and Television come into conflict and have a fight. This is a great comics tradition, and shows how the very best elements of comics can easily be transferred into other media.
There are rumors afloat that Video Games may appear in this blog post at some point, too. We may have some speculation regarding its possible box art costuming for you later on...
But first:
Frank Santoro is here today his latest Riff Raff column, which goes heavy on the grid.
A Japanese artist friend once looked at one of my "wordless" comics in a grid. He asked, "Which way do I read it?" because there was no clear motion sequenced out across the page. It was more of a collection of still landscapes. I said "any order" and he smiled.
And then Paul Buhle reviews a new book by Kevin Pyle and Scott Cunningham, Bad for You: Exposing the War on Fun!
For a book aimed at kids, this one is chock-full of information, but presented so well in comics (and also charts and info-graphics) that the details are destined to move easily, and usefully, into young minds. At least this (old) reviewer’s mind thinks so.
Elsewhere:
—Movies. I don't see the new direction of this site so much as a reboot as a reimagining, and so let's reimagine that the most important thing for a comics site to spend a lot of time discussing today is that a somewhat transparently cynical movie producer made "controversial" [i.e., "baiting in an entirely transparently way"] comments regarding a not-very-popular female superhero character, and then went on to associate comic-book fans with wholesome chastity, and that this performance achieved its goal and got a group of beleaguered and very righteous comics fans on the internet talking about his movies. (No links.) [ADDED FOR CLARITY: Obviously the sexist aspects of the comments are worthy of condemnation. On the other hand, getting bent out of shape over things like whether or not the Hulk and She-Hulk are cousins is playing right into his hand.]
—Misc. A New York Times report on the Tom Wolfe archives resurrects the time Wolfe appeared in a cameo with the Hulk. (More here.) Joe Alterio on Kim Deitch. Michael Dooley talks to the cartoonists (and more importantly for our purposes, storyboard artists) Aaron Sowd and Trevor Goring.
—News. This roundup on the South Carolina/Fun Home legislative battle includes a lot of links to hilarious/disturbing video of posturing politicians.
—Video. Okay, enough reading already! Roz Chast speaks at Politics & Prose:
Herblock appears on Book TV in 1993:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFg8N4HvEus
And finally, Hillary Chute interviews Dan Clowes:
