The Keith Giffen Tribute
Critics, cartoonists and colleagues pay tribute to the late Keith Giffen, as assembled by Austin English.
Article Archive
Martine Moon #1
When they’d just started, Panel Syndicate was touted by some as the future of comics. This was in 2013, so I guess that now makes them the present of comics? People do read more and more comics on the web, but they seem to prefer to do it on webtoon platforms, where the successful material… Read more »
Keith Giffen, November 30, 1952 – October 9, 2023
Noted and notorious, a superstar behind the scenes – Keith Giffen was one of the major players of superhero comics in the American direct market for nearly half a century. Andrew Farago unpacks the work and the influence of Giffen, who died earlier this month.
“This Book Is About My Hatred Of Chaos”: Daniel Clowes on Monica
There’s been a few Daniel Clowes interviews in the last few weeks, but none go as deep as John Kelly does today. Learn the secrets of Monica – or at least as many as the author is willing to tell.
Lost in the Shadows – This Week’s Links
“I’m here to deliver smiles.” I perform my katana routine to volcanic applause.
The Naked Tree
As in her previous release with Drawn & Quarterly, The Waiting (2021), Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s The Naked Tree continues her exploration of the immediate and long-term effects of the Korean War. Unlike that book, though, Gendry-Kim’s newest is an adaptation of another author’s fictional work. The Naked Tree was originally a 1970 novel by Park… Read more »
Weird Work #1-4
Time again it is to check on the progress of one Mr. Shaky Kane, artist of the strange. He’s back with a new project: it’s called Weird Work. I’d like to spend a few moments talking about it, if you’re of a mind to hear. I was late to the table with Kane, only catching… Read more »
Do a Powerbomb!
I’m not really a wrestling guy. I’m not mad at it, I don’t look down on the sport or its fans, I’m not into nerd-on-nerd hate. I’m just not a wrestling guy. The fact is, the more I learn about it, the more I’m impressed by what this rare breed of athlete-performers can do. Recently,… Read more »
Reports from the ShortBox Comics Fair
Hagai Palevsky visited the ShortBox Comics Fair, that annual month-long market of new digital comics, and came away with five reviews of experimental and satirical works.
Inside the Canada Comics Open Library with Rotem Anna Diamant & Jordan Reg. Aelick
Continuing her journey through the Toronto comics scene, Kim Jooha interviews Rotem Anna Diamant & Jordan Reg. Aelick of the Canada Comics Open Library, which is dedicated to community access and artist involvement.
These Are The Damned – This Week’s Links
“Even though the ideal is high, I never give in,” I whisper, switching to Bluesky Social.
Jack Kirby’s Starr Warriors: The Adventures of Adam Starr and the Solar Legion
Everyone has to start somewhere, so they say. Not me, of course, I sprang fully formed from the head of Zeus. But yes, even Jack Kirby was just a punk kid fresh off the street, once upon a time. When “the King” was just 22 years old he created a strip called “Solar Legion,” which… Read more »
The Cartoonist and the Paint Lady
Combing through library archives, newspaper files and his personal collection, Michael O’Connell assembles a beguiling portrait of Milton Caniff, young and hungry, drawing industrial cartoons for a charismatic young editor.
I Am Stan: A Graphic Biography of the Legendary Stan Lee
By the lights of industry myth-making, it is Tom Scioli’s deep affinity for the work of Jack Kirby that makes him a fit to produce I Am Stan: A Graphic Biography of the Legendary Stan Lee. After all, who better than Scioli—an artist who has spent his career in vocal emulation of Kirby—to expound on… Read more »
Cheat Sheets
Despite the dominance of Japanese manga on comics worldwide, Americans can still take pride in having planted the initial seeds. Osamu Tezuka was inspired by early readings of Carl Barks, and issues of MAD left behind by U.S. servicemen fell into the hands of Tiger Tateishi. Whatever satire of American life registered I could not… Read more »
“Boy Am I Glad I’m Not In This Business”: Catching up with Larry Marder
Catching up with the creator of Tales of the Beanworld, extensively travelled through the art and business of comics and several bordering terrains.
DJ Please, Pick Up Your Phone – This Week’s Links
What, I’m at a funeral… no, NOT for my career in writing excerpt text…
The Structure of Expressions in Manga
Natsume tackles the fundamentals of manga composition: the particular qualities of pictures, words and panels that deliver meaning to the reader. With examples from the work of Tiger Tateishi, Tori Miki and Natsume himself!
A Trial Death and Other Stories
One fine day an email appeared from my editor, asking if I remembered Glenn Dakin. “Why, that old salt?” I roared into an empty room. Of course I remember Glenn Dakin! How could I ever forget the co-creator of Die-Cut? Why, I remember as if it were yesterday: Czorn Yson was a mutant from the… Read more »
Monica
*SPOILERS THROUGHOUT* I will begin by discussing a golden classic from the good old days: “MCMLXVI” (or “1966”), from Eightball #16 (Nov. 1995). A six-page color short, its story concerns the preferences of an unnamed narrator who places “the peak of American culture” at 1966, the year of his birth. He gripes at some length… Read more »
Arrivals and Departures – October 2023
October brings another batch of tricks and treats (small press and self-published comic books) for RJ Casey to read, and for you to read about.
Poor Helpless Comics! The Cartoons (and More) of Ed Subitzky
Time teaches us patience, if we’re so fortunate, and encourages a longer, more intentional look at things we might have skimmed or scorned in our youth. As a teen reading National Lampoon in its 1970s heyday, I may have laid eyes on Ed Subitzky’s work, but it didn’t register with me. Present me wants to… Read more »
“Something As Bland As Possible”: The Making of Sunday, with Olivier Schrauwen
One of the standout comics of 2023 is the fourth and final installment of Olivier Schrauwen’s Sunday, a 468-page depiction of one day in the life and mind of a self-centered man. Matt Seneca questions the artist on the making of this proudly unextraordinary epic.
Walk Without Rhythm – This Week’s Links
MMMM, NEWS! I dive in like it’s a money bin of sparkling candy.
