Read Comments (9)

The Comics Journal has posted the audio from the “Comics Are Not Literature” panel at San Diego’s Comic-Con, which features Dan in discussion with Douglas Wolk, Sara Ryan, Cecil Castellucci, Paul Tobin and Austin Grossman.

There’s a lot of misunderstanding and talking at cross purposes, and large chunks of the panel are excruciatingly dull, but I always find it amusing how consternated people get when Dan says even the simplest, most self-evident things about comics. It gets more productive (if that’s the word) as it goes along.

Apparently, this will be up until October.

Post Comment

I can not wait to see what Dada poet/standup comic/Internet legend/funny-book reviewer Abhay Khosla is going to say about Cold Heat. Even if he hates it, this will be awesome.

Read Comment (1)

The ultimate mark of COMICS COMICS is that I can hand it to any comics fan, and no matter their interests or depth of knowledge, they will both learn something new and have an established belief challenged.

Post Comment

Check out the new short video thing at the Cold Heat site.

Color separations!

Read Comment (1)

Henry Darger isn’t really a comics artist, I suppose, but his work is at least somewhat related. Close enough, anyway, to justify showing this creepy (and inappropriate?) dessert version of one of his hermaphroditic Vivian Girls.

These cakes are currently being sold at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, to commemorate a Darger exhibit there.

I’d like to see more cakes like this—Jim Woodring would work well, I think. Even better: Rory Hayes.

(Via Serious Eats.)

Post Comment

Via Alvin Buenaventura, Brian Chippendale is pictured on the cover of the new June/July issue of the Believer.

After Lauren last month, that makes two PictureBox artists immortalized by Charles Burns in a row.

And if Eric Reynolds is right about Fletcher Hanks in August (who you may remember was included in Art Out of Time), we may be looking at something like a hat trick!

Read Comment (1)

I like Matt Fox‘s drawings in this old comic from Mystery Tales (how can you not appreciate a story with an old woman digging a tiny grave with a teaspoon?), though the plot’s not exactly strong on logic.

(Via Golden Age Comic Book Stories.)

Read Comments (3)

Well, I’m a lucky fan boy today. In my inbox this morning was a lengthy email about a massive, 464 page reprint of Winsor McCay’s Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. I’m quite excited about this, and hopefully the print quality will be as good as Pete Maresca’s groundbreaking McCay volume.

So, that’s cool. Plus, the mailman brought my review copies of Paul Karasik’s indispensable I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets. Ol’ man Karasik really did it this time, bringing all his obsessive zeal to bear on Fletcher Hanks, who I hope will soon be recognized (along with demented brethren Milt Gross, Ogden Whitney and Ernie Bushmiller) as one of the great cartoonists of the 20th century. His ability to make indelible images in comic book panels is nearly unparalleled. What can I say? It’s a brilliant book. Paul was my very first serious interview back in 1999, and his section of the Ganzfeld 1 helped make that book, my maiden voyage in publishing, really special.

Annnyyyyhoooowwww, I also received Drew Friedman’s The Fun Never Stops, an excellent overview of the last 15 years of his comics and illustrations. A perfect book for toilet reading! He remains hilarious and just awesome to hang out with (in book form).

Comics. It’s fun.

Read Comments (8)

Is the man on the left the notoriously reclusive and camera-shy Jack Chick, captured on film for the first time in decades? I do not know. Context (and major credit for finding this) here.

(Via Maud Newton.)

UPDATE: Eric Reynolds in the comments inspired me to search out Chick’s high-school yearbook photo for comparison’s sake. Here it is, courtesy of the Jack T. Chick Museum of Fine Art. Eric’s right: it’s definitely possible.

UPDATE II: Don’t forget to check out Eric’s further researches in the comments. We have confirmation on the wood paneling!

Read Comment (1)

This has probably been going around the internet for a while now, but for some reason, it didn’t really sink in for me until today.

About a year ago on this blog, Dan recommended a book by Gene Byrnes, The Complete Guide to Cartooning. The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive started posting excerpts of it this March. Whenever you have some spare time, you should definitely check it out. Lots of great stuff. Part one alone includes Byrnes, Alex Raymond, Jeff Machamer, Al Capp, and Milton Caniff, among others. (And here’s part two. Follow the links for more.)