The Big (Blighted) Orange
Bob casts a critical eye on one of the most lauded comics of the decade: Sammy Harkham’s Blood of the Virgin, newly collected by Pantheon this month.
Article Archive
Remembering Ted Richards… And A Look Back at the Air Pirates
Ted Richards, one of the notorious “Air Pirates” that parodied Walt Disney’s characters and fought the company in court, died on April 21, 2023. John Kelly tells his story, as a host of friends and colleagues pay tribute.
“That’s A Lot Of Me. I’m Sorry.”: Talking with Julia Wertz About Ambition, Self-deprecation, and Learning How to Be Earnest
Paul Constant sits down with 20-year cartooning veteran Julia Wertz, who’s done everything from webcomics to glossy magazines to major label books. This week sees the release of Impossible People, her new memoir of alcoholism and sobriety – and she’s got decades of comics still to come.
Me And You Versus The World – This Week’s Links
I threatened to turn the royal coronation into “a rock ‘n roll circus” and was placed on the No Fly List.
All My Friends in L.A. Love Me More Than You: Sammy Harkham’s Blood of the Virgin
This week marks the release of Sammy Harkham’s collected Blood of the Virgin. Brian Nicholson followed the work throughout its 12 years of serialization, and considers the artist’s handling of sex, violence, and narrative focus.
Golden Apple Comics
Zach checks in on the Los Angeles celebrity comics mecca that started his own personal journey, Golden Apple Comics. Ryan Liebowitz is on hand. Websites, distribution woes, publishing endeavors, start-up production companies, and decades of comics history are all up for discussion.
Dialogue Balloons: Biking and Philosophy
Jason Novak speaks with Gary Sullivan about making comics with an eye towards collage and memories of defunct message boards, and then Eleanor Davis reveals some of the work method behind her excellent memoir, You & a Bike & a Road.
“That’s The Way I See The World”: Shooting the Breeze with Geof Darrow
Matt Seneca holds on tight for a freewheeling talk with Geof Darrow, creator of The Shaolin Cowboy and longtime specialist in heavy, bloody detail.
Say Goodbye to Classical Reality – This Week’s Links
A pregnant pause, staring through the other side of the mirror.
Sergio
Tegan pays tribute to a living legend of cartooning, the indefatigable Sergio Aragonés.
Maurice Horn, June 28, 1931 – December 30, 2022
Ambitious, pugnacious, opinionated – Maurice Horn was a massive personality in early American comics studies, an editor of behemoth tomes filled with arcana and dotted with errata. Andrew Farago memorializes this complicated talent, who died last December.
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
Matt Seneca read so many comics that a capsule column was demanded. After all, if you can’t put wordless NYRC books next to Ben Grimm, where will your Yokoyama references find a home?
Joe Kessler and The Gull Yettin
Cartoonist and film director Dash Shaw catches up with cartoonist, art director and designer Joe Kessler in a sprawling conversation about the intersections of fine art and comics, the challenges and restrictions of the medium, and what their ideal reader might think of Kessler’s upcoming The Gull Yettin.
Premium Rush – This Week’s Links
My sister sent me a Snapchat reading BEST POST-IT NOTE EVER. It was a sheet of paper reading “This is my life now.”
Rachel Pollack, 1945-2023
Remembering Rachel Pollack: a lifelong traveler in the arcane, the esoteric, and the revelatory.
Black Cat Comics
It’s off to Salt Lake City to speak with Greg Gage about back issues, what it’s really like to deal with all those new distributors, and how companies like Marvel & DC might get things back on track: the answer probably isn’t in a movie theater!
Ed Koren: An Appreciation
Paul Karasik pays tribute to Ed Koren, the beloved New Yorker cartoonist who died last week at the age of 87.
“My Imperative Was To Get My Family Through This”: Catching up with Stephen R. Bissette
Jason Bergman catches up with Stephen R. Bissette – writer, artist, critic, editor, publisher and educator, feeling a sense of vigor about the future.
Three Comix and Reflections Thereon
Bob grapples with three comics—all with varying degrees of venom within—and questions whether or not having a point is required, or if a point of view is enough.
Al Jaffee, 1921-2023
An obituary for Al Jaffee, one of the last of the legends, and a truly beloved American cartoonist.
“It’s Like Putting Together A Puzzle”: An Interview With Daria Tessler
Risograph and scratchboard, handmade and silk-screened – Daria Tessler’s direct approach to comics making has seen her release all sorts of work over the last few years, and it looks like publishers are starting to catch on. She and Jake Grubman sit down to discuss comics – how to read them, how to make them, and how to navigate surviving them.
And Now I’m Fourteen Stories High – This Week’s Links
This post is your internet Easter bonnet. Put it on your head.
The Ruins of Space Battleship Yamato: An Essay on Matsumoto Leiji and War
The manga artist Matsumoto Leiji died this past February, leaving a wide and varied body of work behind him – though he is perhaps best remembered for his lyrical SF comics. In this excerpt from a 1997 book, Natsume Fusanosuke considers how the famous Space Battleship Yamato represented the idea of war for a generation too young to have seen it for themselves.
