July 27, 2010
[comics] Lady Gaga Kidnaps Commissioner Gordon … ‘While the kidnapping occurred at stately Wayne Manor, home of playboy jet-setter Bruce Wayne, the eccentric billionaire was not available for comment.’
July 21, 2010
[comics] Jonathan Ross Meets Jim Steranko, His Comic-Book Hero … ‘Spend an hour with Jim Steranko and, if he’s in the mood, he’ll regale you with the most extraordinary tales. Are they true, I have asked myself more than once, or is he a fantasist? Has his love of storytelling and the creation of modern myths bled into his own life story until he can no longer tell the two apart? Well, now that I’ve met him, I believe them all to be true, just as I believe it when he tells me he still runs miles every day, pumps iron, and fornicates blissfully like a man a third his age. He is unique. He is Steranko. He is the greatest.’
[comics] The Unwanted … a new comic from Joe Sacco on African migrants in Malta.
July 20, 2010
[comics] The Moon Hoax … a great comic strip from Darryl Cunningham debunking some of the moon landing conspiracy theories …
[comics] When It Comes To Comics, You Just Can’t Beat A Drunken, Violent Aardvark … Sam Leith on comics … ‘The genre end of comics has actually diversified a lot: from hardboiled noir in Sin City or 100 Bullets, to punk psychedelia in The Invisibles, to jaunty post-apocalyptic soap opera in Preacher. It’s at the literary end of comics you sense a narrowing of the range, the main strand being a sort of studied Pekarian drabness. You could call it mundane realism. Direct or oblique autobiography is the mode, neurosis and alienation the dominant tone. Their archetypal hero is a morose and ill-socialised writer or collector of comics, often subject to sexual humiliation, sometimes sharing a name with the author. These are frequently comics, in one way or another, about comics.’
July 18, 2010
[comics] An interview with Harvey Pekar from 1984 conducted by Gary Groth [Part One | Part Two] … ‘Some comic book fans don’t know what to make of American Splendor. They think a normal comic book should be about superbeings who can fly, that a comic dealing with everyday people doing everyday things is weird. Ordinary is weird to them. Wow, that’s really ironic.’
July 14, 2010
[comics] Bob Wachsman – Tummler … Alan Moore draws a one-page story for a Harvey Pekar comic.
[comics] Gary Groth interviews Harvey Pekar in 1993 … ‘It’s a real uphill struggle, and it may go on for a really long time. I don’t know. I’ve been at this for 20 years now, and it’s certainly enriched my life, from a personal standpoint. It’s made it far more interesting and enjoyable, so I have no regrets. But I certainly would like to see comics in general be taken more seriously, because it would benefit me, you know?’
[comics] Harvey Pekar’s testament to life — with no apologies … Dean Haspiel on Harvey Pekar … ‘Yes, Harvey Pekar was a certified curmudgeon who became a cultural icon, but he was a true-blue mensch, too.’
July 13, 2010
[comics] The Determination to Be an Artist … R. Fiore Sums Up Harvey Pekar … ‘He struggled with indifference until indifference began to give way, as if to say, okay, I’ll pay attention to you if you’ll just leave me alone. By the end they were making movies about him. In the end his integrity became so manifest that his comic became a badge of prestige to publishers seeking credibility.’
[moore] Hipster Priest … yet another great interview with Alan Moore …
In the past I’ve tried to say, ‘Look, we are all crappy superheroes,’ because personal computers and mobile phone devices are things that only Bat Man and Mr Fantastic would have owned back in the sixties. We’ve all got this immense power and we’re still sat at home watching pornography and buying scratch cards. We’re rubbish, even though we are as gods.
July 12, 2010
[comics] Go Look: Chester Brown’s Movie Poster For Year Of The Canivore … also: here’s the movie trailer on YouTube to provide some background on the movie … (more…)
[comics] J. Jonah Jameson is on Twitter …
THE ONLY POSSIBLE “UP SIDE” TO THIS MISERABLE HEAT AND HUMIDITY IS THAT SOMEWHERE IN THIS TOWN, SPIDER-MAN IS DRENCHED IN HIS PERVERT SUIT.
J Jonah Jameson
JJONAHJAMESON
July 11, 2010
[comics] Vinnie Colletta’s Exit ‘Conversation’ … a fascinating (and raw) interview with Vinnie Colletta apparently days after Jim Shooter was fired from Marvel in 1987. ‘…and I read the beeper and it said, “I’ve been fired”. Jesus Christ! He usually calls me on the beeper because he gets me anywhere I am. He calls me on the beeper and says, “I’ve been fired,” I nearly had a heart attack and I called him straight back. The only thing I can do to stand by him is give him sound advice because sometimes when you’re in the middle you don’t see the truth, you know?’
July 8, 2010
[comics] 10 Things You Need To Know Before You Read ‘Shadowland’ … Chris Sims tells you everything you need to know about Marvel’s newest cross-over … ‘Daredevil’s been having a pretty rough time since about 1981.’
July 6, 2010
[comics] Marvel Editors…you are the droppings of the creative world … the text of a letter that Vinnie Colletta wrote to Marvel’s editorial staff after editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter was fired in 1987 … ‘Displaying more class and poise in defeat than all of you did in victory… Jesus had one Judas… Jim had many, those that speared him and worse, those that watched…’
June 30, 2010
[moore] The Infinite Monkey Cage Podcast … a BBC science podcast with Alan Moore, Jonathan Ross, Brian Cox, Robin Ince and Brian Greene discussing science fiction (available till next Monday).
June 28, 2010
[comics] Metafilter Discuss The Best Batman Comics … a mixed bag of fun links to various Batman panels and comics … ‘PLEASE! Can anyone find for me the Superfriends clip where Batman is guarding Fort Knox and he gets tricked into drinking drugged chicken soup by a mad scientist posing as a street vendor and Batman actually asks if the soup is fresh before buying it? Please? Anyone? I SWEAR I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!’ [link]
[comics] Dan Clowes new comic Wilson reviewed … ‘Bereaved and bereft, a middle-aged divorcee sits at the edge of a children’s playpark and indulges in regrets over the family he might have had. But within moments he interrupts his reverie to call out: “Hey! Can you get that brat to shut up for two fucking seconds!?” Welcome to the world of Wilson, self-declared “people person”, misanthrope, gasbag, egomaniac and dog lover. Daniel Clowes has created a monster, but a monster who refreshes our empathy for humans in all their unloveliness.’
June 23, 2010
[moore] Not the World Cup Special 1982 … A rare Alan Moore comic on football from 1982.
June 22, 2010
[comics] The 18 Best Batman Panels Ever … a list of some great Batman moments from Chris Sims …‘If there’s one thing I’ve learned from two and a half decades reading Batman comics, it’s that that dude straight up loves to punch people.’
[twitter] FEMINIST HULK (is on twitter) …
DEEPLY ENTRENCHED PATRIARCHAL IDEOLOGIES HARD TO SMASH. THAT WHY HULK ALWAYS STRETCH FIRST.
FEMINIST HULK
feministhulk
June 18, 2010
[comics] Variations of R. Crumb … a collection of self-portraits from R. Crumb … ‘Nobody understands… and of course… how could they??’
June 15, 2010
[comics] Evan Dorkin Interview … funny video interview with the creator of Milk and Cheese … ‘It sold like a hot box of cancer…’
[comics] Steve Ditko’s Superman … facinating pin-up of Superman done by Spider-man’s co-creator with hints towards his Objectivist comics.
June 10, 2010
[comics] Four Color Process … lovely on-going collection of abstract(ish) images from comics books …
June 9, 2010
[comics] “Because These Are The Things That Will Save You” – Psychiatric Tales … Richard Bruton reviews Darryl Cunningham’s Psychiatric Tales:
‘…where Psychiatric Tales excels, where it becomes so much more engaging and emotive is when Cunningham breaks away from his documentary style and uses his experiences to bring us closer to the people behind his tales. Then the tone changes and the dispassionate observer/reporter becomes a caring, emotional fellow sufferer. It’s this humanising of the subject – transforming these patients into real people that elevate the book into something truly special.’ [Elsewhere: Darryl Cunningham Investigates]
‘…where Psychiatric Tales excels, where it becomes so much more engaging and emotive is when Cunningham breaks away from his documentary style and uses his experiences to bring us closer to the people behind his tales. Then the tone changes and the dispassionate observer/reporter becomes a caring, emotional fellow sufferer. It’s this humanising of the subject – transforming these patients into real people that elevate the book into something truly special.’ [Elsewhere: Darryl Cunningham Investigates] June 5, 2010
[comics] The Periodic Table Of Super-Powers … a powerful new way of listing super-hero powers, abilities and origins … ‘With this table, you can easily represent your favorite super-heroes’ power-sets in simple, not-at-all-far-too-complex-to-be-useful formulas! For instance: Superman comes out as: OAFSISpVxVhSn.’
June 3, 2010
[comics] Favourite Tweets #2: TimeLostBatman … I’M VERY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE FACT THAT YOU PUT PICTURES OF ME ON YOUR CHILDREN’S UNDERWEAR.’ (more…)
[comics] Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Marvel Universe* (*But Were Afraid to Ask Stan Lee) … funny beginners guide to the world of Marvel comics … ‘Facts on Kingpin: Kingpin is a crook.’
June 1, 2010
[comics] I have read the worst comic I have ever read … Brian Hibbs On Justice League: The Rise Of Arsenal #3 … ‘Page 9: Since he can’t fuck, he decides to go beat up guys. “I need a release.” and “For me, they serve their purpose” he thinks, as he sticks knives in faceless people’s arms. Page 10: full-page splash of Roy standing over a bunch of unconscious guys. “Much better” says the caption as Roy makes an O-face.
May 28, 2010
[comics] Cartoonist Daniel Clowes celebrates Oakland with “Wilson” … an interview promoting his latest comic book … ‘Clowes, an illustrator for the “New Yorker,” is traditional in other ways, too. At a time when print is down and young cartoonists are turning to the Web, Clowes still draws everything by hand — “I’ll never type in a url to look at comics,” he says…’
May 20, 2010
[comics] The Facts In The Case Of Dr. Andrew Wakefield … a powerful and concise comic on the MMR Vaccine Controversy from Daryl Cunningham.
May 13, 2010
[comics] Christ, It Works for Everything … ‘It was recently theorized that all New Yorker cartoons could be captioned
with “Christ, what an asshole” without compromising their comedic value. I discovered this is true of virtually all comics, old and new…’
April 30, 2010
[comics] Dick Sprang’s ‘Secrets of the Batcave’ Art Is An Encyclopedia of Bat-History … an analysis of a wonderful Dick Sprang drawing of the Batcave.
April 26, 2010
[comics] Top Trending Twitter Topics of the Marvel Universe … #itsclobberintime #youwouldntlikemewhenimangry #accursedrichards
April 24, 2010
[comics] Chris Ware’s Rejected Fortune Cover … ‘He accepted the job because it would be like doing the 1929 issue of the magazine, and he filled the image with tons of satirical imagery, like the U.S. Treasuring being raided by Wall Street, China dumping money into the ocean, homes being flooded, homes being foreclosed, and CEOs dancing a jig while society devolves into chaos.’
April 22, 2010
[comics] The Unpublished Moore … a comprehensive list of the the Alan Moore’s whims, unfinished scripts and lost work … ‘Cerebus #301 Status: Unpublished. I believe a full script exists for this one (which involved Cerebus being summoned during a seance in the modern day), but it was intended to be a Moore/Bisette/Veitch project, and is unlikely to appear now due to ill-will among the creators.’
April 21, 2010
[comics] Watching the Watchman – St Albans comics legend Dave Gibbons interviewed … ‘I bumped into a friend of mine called Mick McMahon, who lived in Colney Heath, at the station at St Albans and he had this artwork under his arm. It turned out to be the first Judge Dredd job, and he said it was this new comic being done at IPC called 2000AD…’
April 18, 2010
[comics] How The Flash looks on Android and iPhone … is this why DC Comics doesn’t have an iPhone/iPad app yet? 
April 16, 2010
[comics] Cartooning Advice: Zippy’s Bill Griffith gives his Top 40 List on Creating Comics … ‘Sitting at a drawing table for 37 years can be hard on the neck and the upper back. Get up every half hour or so and stretch. Do neck and upper back stretching exercises every day as you get older.’
April 13, 2010
[comics] Alan Moore – The Spanish Impersonation … ‘When I was young I travelled to Andorra and bought a radio cassette player. However, I usually travel to fourth dimension.’
April 11, 2010
[comics] Comic Book Cartography … a collection of maps and cutaways from comic books.
April 8, 2010
[comics] Brendan McCarthy discusses Spiderman: Fever … ‘When you write and draw it yourself, you can keep changing or finessing right up to the last moment. You can radically alter what you’ve written or drawn. You can spontaneously do what the moment dictates. It’s exciting and I really like it, but it’s a very intense way of working. Finding the story and making sure it doesn’t follow obvious routes was the challenge. All writers know about that glorious moment when the characters start to ‘talk back’ to you. That’s the point when you absolutely know what they would or wouldn’t say or do.’
March 29, 2010
[comics] Comic book artist ends life at suicide clinic after battle with MS … The Telegraph on the death of John Hicklenton … Before he went to Dignitas, he told Pat Mills, the founder of 2000 AD: “MS, you have a week to live. You’ve met someone you shouldn’t have fucked with.”
March 14, 2010
[comics] Wally Wood Should Have Beaten Them All … overview of the comics career of artist Wally Wood … ‘Wood was a tremendously ambitious journeyman. He had a genius and a love for a medium that, until recently, ground down its abundant geniuses, celebrating creation while pointedly not rewarding the creator.’
March 12, 2010
[comics] Belltoons – The Steve Bell Cartoons Website … The Guardian’s main editorial cartoonist has a (new?) website.