The prevailing wisdom, at least when I was coming of age, was that EC was the high-water mark for most genre comics during the early 1950s, especially horror, and that all the numerous copycats from publishers like Harvey and Atlas were filled with little more than dreck. But over the last decade or so that… Read more »
I have heard multiple times that a review in Bubbles does more to raise sales of a comic than coverage at this website, and so it pains me to admit that this third book published by the zine captures what its author is up to in a back-of-the-book bio with greater efficiency than I ever… Read more »
A titanic tête-à-tête transcribed! Jake Zawlacki chats with Chris Wisnia, writer/artist of the recent Doris Danger: Giant Monsters Amok, about the delicate balance of parody and tribute (and the behemothic labor involved) in evoking the world of Silver Age monster comics.
Cynthia Rose reports on an upcoming exhibition of UK great Posy Simmonds’ work in Paris, with plenty of comments from the artist herself.
It’s almost Thanksgiving, so here’s a big scoop of yams (capsule reviews of recent self-published and small press comics) from your rakish uncle RJ.
Josh Pettinger, whose Goiter Comics series has been churning around in the self-publishing underground for a while now, has been catching some sparks lately, particularly due to his collaboration with Simon Hanselmann on the Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual. Ahead of a just-announced Fantagraphics anthology, he’s just released Warm Television, a brief,… Read more »
John Kelly reports from the October 13, 2023 book launch event, hosted by Mark Newgarden & Owen Klein, for Poor Helpless Comics! The Cartoons (and More) of Ed Subitzky, a first-ever collection of work by the National Lampoon cartoonist and comedy writer for David Letterman and others.
The news post is taking Black Friday off… it’s ok, nothing’s gonna happen but DEALS.
To begin, a weird observation about life in the 21st century: suddenly people really like Moon Knight. Now, I like that dude just fine – actually, scratch that. In forensic frankness, Moon Knight has long been a “fave” of mine. Kind of hard to dislike the character once you’ve read that first volume of his… Read more »
A brief report from the Short Run Comix & Arts Festival 2023, a free one-day minicomic and zine show held in Seattle.
From 1968-72, the comics of Yoshiharu Tsuge were awash in surreal, dreamlike texture – and filled with images of sexual violence. Helen Chazan reads deeply to reconcile these elements of Tsuge’s work into a new statement of his oeuvre-spanning theme: the desire to vanish.
Back in 2015, over a year before the Brexit referendum took place, the right wing UK Independence Party called for “an Australian-style points-based visa system to reduce immigration.” In August 2017, the Trump White House said more or less the same thing. This obsession over Australia’s points has spread beyond the anglophone world, and various… Read more »
Are you ready for photos? That’d better be a yes, because Chris Anthony Diaz has a comprehensive document of the first-ever Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival: Small + Indie Press show, held on Saturday, October 7, 2023.
Jake Zawlacki talks science fiction, story construction, personal faith and what’s cool with Daniel Warren Johnson, a standout writer/artist of contemporary American action comics.
I’m feeling better, thanks for asking! It’s great to see the world rumbling along regardless of my participation.
A preview of the forthcoming English translation of a period seinen manga by cult artist Shin’ichi Sakamoto.
What’s this – Peter Milligan, you say? Always something new on the grill from Mr. Milligan! Why, just in the last little while I’ve brought home new chapters of his periodic mutant saga The X-Cellent, with Mike Allred – two recent miniseries of five issues each, one in 2022 and the next in 2023. Who… Read more »
In light of the news that two California comics retail institutions will be closing at the end of the year, Zach sits down with Geoffrey Patterson II of Geoffrey’s Comics and Hi De Ho Comics.
Matt Petras reports from a visit the cartoonist M.S. Harkness paid to The Copacetic Comics Company in Pittsburgh, upon the release of her new book, Time Under Tension.
This is a beautiful book, though let the use of the “Surreal” in the subtitle be a warning – it is not always easy to understand. Its opening page is a full portrait of Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) surrounded by mystical figures, an intensity in her eyes, hands cupping an egg, while she claims that she’s… Read more »
Cartoonists in conversation today, as Whit Taylor interviews Lawrence Lindell, artist and publisher of minicomics and zines, whose debut graphic novel Blackward was recently published by Drawn & Quarterly.
Got the bug at a Halloween party last weekend, and honestly it’s what I deserve for socializing.
Ah, the human body, site of trauma both primal and picayune. Is there anything more annoying in all the world than having to take care of this sagging, steaming bag of meat? Just between you and me and the lamppost, I’m sure they could have done better with this thing. Knees alone – what the… Read more »
A reader of comics since the days of EC and MAD in the 1950s, Bob Levin now grapples with the idea of AI comics, through a book that purports to critique AI by using it.
