By Sean Bieri
Published: 2/10/2010
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
From chicks in chainmail bikinis to musclemen in tights, from the Tijuana bibles of old to the latest in panty-flashing fan service from Japan, sex and comics go together like a complete lack of social skills and comics. So here's a brief roundup of some notable comic book hotties — according ...[MORE]
Published: 4/16/2008
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Don't ask! Just read Jeffrey Morgan's Media Blackout #167! Jack Kirby — Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus: Volume Three (DC Comics) :: I've said it before and I'll say it again: The greatest comic book creator in history was, and forever will be, Jack "King" Kirby. The first two vol...[MORE]
Published: 8/22/2007
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
This is Joe Jitsu calling Jeffrey Morgan's Media Blackout #133! SIZZLING REPRINT OF THE WEEK: Chester Gould — The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, Volumes I & 2, 1931-1935 (IDW Publishing) :: There's no denying that the world's greatest detective comic strip ever created was Chest...[MORE]
Published: 12/9/1998
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Hicksville by Dylan Horrocks Black Eye Books 1030 St-Alexandre, Suite 203, Montreal, QC H2Z 1P3 e-mail at www.blackeye.com/books $20, 300 pp. The comics avantgarde has tried for years to convince the r...[MORE]
By Sean Bieri
Published: 6/6/2007
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
A quick browse through the regular roundups of political cartoons on Slate.com shows why America needs Mikhaela Reid. Let's be generous and blame format restrictions, deadline pressures and ossified traditions for the general lack of substance and originality, never mind humor, on the daily ed...[MORE]
By Sean Bieri
Published: 12/13/2006
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Lost Girls Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie Top Shelf; $75 On the surface, this three-volume, hardcover, slipcased graphic novel is an elaborate Tijuana bible that casts grown-up versions of Wonderland's Alice, Dorothy of Oz and Wendy from Peter Pan as fuck buddies. Of course, Moore (Watchmen,...[MORE]
By Corey Hall
Published: 10/25/2006
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
One true great American art form is comic books. The genre burst from the darkness of the Great Depression with unbridled enthusiasm and creativity. It imagined wild universes of action and adventure, good and evil, far beyond on the ordinary domain of everyday life. Not surprisingly, the arriv...[MORE]
Published: 6/14/2006
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Mark Siegel says he wants to do the impossible: publish attention-grabbing graphic novels that are literate and entertaining, as good for the soul as they are for reading at the beach. "We intend to raise the bar on what people think comics are," says Siegel, the editorial director for F...[MORE]
By Sean Bieri
Published: 6/14/2006
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
It ain’t easy being a comics snob these days. Ten years ago, simply pointing out the existential angst underlying Charles Schulz’ Peanuts or knowing that Krazy Kat creator George Herriman was half African-American was enough to set you apart from the unwashed, Garfield-hugging masses...[MORE]
By Sean Bieri
Published: 4/27/2005
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
...[MORE]
By Sean Bieri
Published: 9/24/2003
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
...[MORE]
By George Tysh
Published: 6/25/2003
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Anybody paying attention to the current bumper crop of comic book-to-movie adaptations must have noticed that it keeps bringing in lemons (from Spider-Man to Daredevil to last weekend’s Hulk), with an occasional peach (X2) in the bunch. So we thought it time to take a long look at the trend that S...[MORE]
By Mike DaRonco
Published: 5/14/2003
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
From an outsider’s perspective, the monthly gathering of cartoonists at a Hamtramck coffeehouse could be seen as a very small-press convention. The words “Hamtramck Expo” have been used to describe this assembly of Detroit-area creators, except that there isn’t a display of books for sale or a lin...[MORE]
Published: 4/30/2003
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
“The word’s getting out,” says Dan Merritt, speaking of his favorite subject, comics. “There’s graphic novel reviews on time.com and comic reviews in Entertainment Weekly. There’s still some barriers to break down. I want the awareness. I want the acceptance. That’s what I hope to be brought about...[MORE]
By Sarah Klein
Published: 4/17/2002
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
A tall, imposing figure cuts a path through the darkened hallway of a desolate public bathroom in Haiti. With his sharply cut suit and cornrowed hair, he exudes a smooth sex appeal that whispers of R&B crooner D’Angelo. However, the ominous stare beneath his horn-rimmed glasses speaks of a hau...[MORE]
Published: 2/20/2002
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Alan Oldham (aka DJ T-1000) is a man trapped between two parallel worlds. As a techno DJ-producer, Oldham has traveled the globe, building a solid reputation for his skills behind the decks. As a comic illustrator, his work has adorned countless record sleeves for Dutch imprint Djax and CD covers su...[MORE]
By Sean Bieri
Published: 5/17/2000
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Comix 2000 L'Association, $65, 2048 pp. One good way to introduce a friend to the anthology Comix 2000 is to drop it on their desk. Since the titular two grand refers to the page count as well as the date, C2K lands not with the pathetic "plap" of a pamphlet, but the satisfying "whump" of a di...[MORE]
Published: 12/8/1999
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Batman: The Complete History By Les Daniels $29.95, 210 pp. Chronicle Books I’m not sure if this is the best litmus test for whether or not you’ll dig this book, but it seems appropriate to the discussion: There are only seven pages dedicated to Batman as envisioned by director Joel Schumache...[MORE]
Published: 9/29/1999
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
In 1994, Mike Diana, creator of the all-but-unknown illustrated ’zine Boiled Angel, sat in a Florida courtroom and listened as a judge destroyed his life and career. Diana had become the first American artist to be convicted of obscenity for his or her artwork. A Florida undercover detective, ...[MORE]
Published: 5/12/1999
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
With the year 2000 looming ahead, the temptation to compile "best of the century" lists is hard to resist, and Comics Journal (Issue No. 210) succumbs, offering its list of the "Top 100 Comics of the Century." The Journal is the only magazine in stores willing to consider comics as a serious ar...[MORE]
Published: 7/25/2001
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Some themes are timeless: rebellion, power, corruption, the rigors of disenfranchised youth — well, at least to Katsuhiro Otomo. In 1988 he was throttled into Japan’s spotlight as the crowned king of animation (referred to as anime overseas), eventually proving to audiences worldwide what was once...[MORE]
By Sean Bieri
Published: 7/11/2001
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Even within that rarefied subset of comics called the “alternatives,” the work of Donna Barr and Roberta Gregory stands out as unique. Gregory’s work first appeared in feminist underground anthologies, and in 1976 she drew “Dynamite Damsels,” the first solo comic book published by a woman. In 1991...[MORE]
By Tom A'Hearn
Published: 7/4/2001
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
In my last column, I mentioned Joe Wenderoth’s amazing book, Letters to Wendy’s, a compilation of various observations about life addressed to the burger folks. I’ve just been made aware of a songwriting contest sponsored by Wendy’s called “Wendy’s Sizzlin’ Sounds of Late Night.” All the rules and...[MORE]
Published: 4/11/2001
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
You don’t always have to pay a price for pleasure. Sam Brown created www.explodingdog.com, and visual amusement is free on this Web site. Brown showcases his comic strip of word-picture associations. He features stick-figure cartoon drawings shaped as sweetly as all-day suckers, and creates narrativ...[MORE]
By Karen Fisher
Published: 12/27/2000
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Looking for a mint-condition Bionic Woman lunchbox or a killer red cruiser that would make Pee-wee Herman weep? Dave’s Comics & Collectibles was the place. It was also the ultimate local source for literary and alternative comics such as those penned by Jason Lutes, Adrian Tomine and Jessica Abe...[MORE]
By Sean Bieri
Published: 10/25/2000
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Attendees of Small Press Expo vote to decide the best of the year’s alternative comics. The list of this year’s Ignatz award winners makes a fine recommended reading list: Outstanding Series, Outstanding Artist: "Weasel," Dave Cooper Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection: "From He...[MORE]
By Sean Bieri
Published: 10/25/2000
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
The annual Small Press Expo, which took place last month in Bethesda, Md., is a gathering of the most innovative talent and all that’s truly exciting in the field of graphic narrative. From that cross section of the teeming universe of comics art, here are some of the standouts: “Cuckoo” For a...[MORE]
Published: 10/18/2000
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
McFarlane toys has been a leader in freezing pop culture icons and characters in its detailed plastic molds. Now the same company that brought us action figures of Alice Cooper, the Beatles, the “South Park” gang, Janis Joplin, Edward Scissorhands and Rob Zombie, among others, is coming up with some...[MORE]
Published: 10/4/2000
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Who would have guessed that little weird-looking, buggy-eyed cartoon characters could be tutoring the feminists of our future? Warner Brothers would and did. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup — AKA the Powerpuff Girls — are a trio of tiny heroines who spend much of their time painting a fresh pink coat...[MORE]
By Tom A'Hearn
Published: 8/30/2000
Types: Arts, Literature, Comics
Getting kids to care about history is hard as hell. How can you blame them, when history is usually delivered in the form of dusty textbooks, boring documentaries and trumped-up tales of the glory days from wise old granddaddy? Realistically, kids probably won’t read it, but The Big Book of the ’70s...[MORE]
Enter your email address to get our weekly emails.
Full Feed