Today on the site:
Rob Clough on Matthew Thurber's INFOMANIACS, which was my very last book via PictureBox.
Matthew Thurber's INFOMANIACS is my choice for best comic of 2013. Thurber is perhaps the funniest cartoonist working today, though in more of a narrative sense rather than the gag-built work of cartoonists like Michael Kupperman, Lisa Hanawalt and Sam Henderson. That said, INFOMANIACS has a looser and sillier structure than his previous book, 1-800-MICE. The latter book, originally published in comics form, had the narrative structure of a serial, with multiple and intersecting plots that were pulled together ever tighter as the story went along. INFOMANIACS begins as a mostly improvised web comic, and its page-to-page structure reveals how Thurber tries to end each page or every couple of pages with a definitive gag and punchline. Thurber uses visual gags to some degree (simply the way he draws his characters is amusing), but he loves diving into puns, bon mots, and clever references that still manage to resonate with the story's themes. Both books use deadpan descriptions of absurd ideas rooted in science and medicine. And while INFOMANIACS has the feel of a shaggy dog story (it doesn't so much end as it just stops), it nevertheless gives a thorough airing of all the various aesthetic, cultural and political critiques that resonate throughout Thurber's work.
Elsewhere:
Ng Suat Tong brings us the best online comics criticism of 2013.
Henriette Valium comics in Macedonian via Last Gasp.
Classic Mad covers by Norman Mingo.
Preacher is coming to television with a good team behind it.
Finally, Matt Madden and Jessica Abel's photos from Angouleme.
