2009 comics criticism list
by Frank Santoro
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Hey everyone, Frank Santoro here. I was asked by Ng Suat Tong to participate in a survey of comics criticism from the 2009 calendar year. I agreed as long as I didn’t have to nominate any of the pieces to be voted on. I just wanted to vote on the list that Suat provided me. Check this out for details.
So here’s the outcome. And below that are the pieces I voted for. This was fun. Thanks. I’m gonna refrain from writing about any of the pieces here. I think they are all pretty awesome. Comics criticism is a buffet these days. There is something for everyone.
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THE OUTCOME:
Top three, all with four votes each:
Robert Alter: “Scripture Picture” (The New Republic)
Joe McCulloch, “A Review of Batwoman in Detective Comics Focusing
Mostly on the Art
Remaining four, all with three votes each:
Eddie Campbell on Will Eisner and PS Magazine (30th August 2009)
Tom Crippen “Age of Geeks” TCJ 300
Dirk Deppey, “The Man Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight”
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WHAT I VOTED FOR:
Seth, “The Quiet Art of Cartooning” (Walrus Magazine)
Joe McCulloch, “A Review of Batwoman in Detective Comics Focusing Mostly on the Art
Tom Spurgeon on Rereading
Derik Badman: Rubber Blanket
Ken Parille on Tim Hensley and Gropius
Douglas Wolk “Shades of Meaning” (New York Times)
Eddie Campbell on Will Eisner and PS Magazine (30th August 2009)
Nina Stone: “The Virgin Read: You Need More Janet Jackson In Your Life, Power Girl”
Bill Randall: “Lost in Translation” TCJ 300
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BONUS: FRANK’s 2009 RAP-UP
Steelers win Super Bowl…Gary Panter paints a mural in a fancy museum…Watchmen is fine by me—just think if they would have made it in 1992…Fumetto Festival in Switzerland rules…TCAF is awesome even in new location…Canadians have their shit together…Kids still don’t know their comics history…Diamond raises minimums—and all but last indy pamphlets that haven’t already jumped ship finally do…
But indy folks still keep releasing pamphlets anyways. Why? I like to think it’s cuz they are easier to store than mini-comics. I have boxes of mini-comics that I can never look through like I look through my LP records or graphic novels that sit on a shelf. I used to love this about mini-comics, now it drives me crazy. My Cometbuses, King Cats and Battlestack Galacticraps all fit together. And my Low Tides and my Slime Freaks fit together. But then are way too many zines tied with string and dumb bindings that just make them impossible to store. I’ve been throwing those ones out. They’re usually pretty bad anyways. Except the new Coppertone zine…
Mazzucchelli show at MoCCA is awesome. And so is new book…MoCCA the con is an oven. Good crowd tho…Multiforce published…Nexus tanks. The Dude quits comics…Comic Con no longer viable for Indy creators, still viable for some Indy publishers. Con promoters duke it out over who gets to host Daisy Dukes when and where…Disney buys Marvel. DC stumbles. War declared. Goofy/Wolverine crossover jokes begin…
Penguins win Stanley Cup…
SPX was fun as usual. The rise of Ben Marra continues. Critics crowd roundtable and argue among selves…Kramers klan kills it with Simpsons comic…Prison Pit mania begins…
APE was weird, as always. The kids in the Bay Area don’t buy anything. Except Bone … The kids love to fight about C.F. … Kick Ass movie trailer looks cool … Crumb’s Genesis published … Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival was a hit.
New Comics Journal site launches, sputters, re-launches.
Final Crisis on Infinite Blogs Crossover begins, etc. (stay tuned).
Labels: "comics elitists"
Frank, this comics elitist thanks you for your consideration.
And reminds you not to forget that Pitt missed the Final Four on a buzzer beater! You had a great sports year up there. I saw Mike Tomlin from the nosebleeds at the UK game last weekend. Calipari's a Pittsburgh guy, I'm hoping it rubs off.
Frank — thanks for the vote.
Man, my favorite thing I read was that, I think, two-part piece Jog did on that manga anthology. That JH3 piece was cool, i was real excited to read it and stuff, but that manga piece was out of sight. The JH3 was a nice retrospective of style and a totally thorough examination of technique, but the manga piece was chock full of IDEAS. I read that bitch twice.