The Comics Journal: Moebius at the Fondation Cartier
The week before last, I went to the grand Moebius retrospective at the Fondation Cartier in Paris. I’ve written a review of the exhibition for The Comics Journal. Check it out.
Hip Hop is Sick
Sadly, this is a familiar story. Another American cultural legend finds himself in ill health with no health coverage. Kool DJ Herc, the creator of the breakbeat and one of the godfathers of hip hop culture has come down with a bad case of gallstone and urgently needs help paying for treatment. His sister Cindy…
Comics of the Decade: Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan – The Smartest Kid on Earth
This is part of a Metabunker series celebrating a great decade in comics with Rackham by reprinting select reviews of the decades’ best comics from the Rackham archive, along with a number of new pieces. It has now been over a decade since Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan : The Smartest Kid on Earth was published…
Danish Comics of the Year 2010
Once again, international gentleman Paul Gravett has asked a bunch of international critics and writers about comics to talk a little about the comics of the year from their respective countries. I participated along with representatives from Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and Sweden, offering a selection of what I think are the best Danish…
More on the Association Strike
While my attempts to reach the involved parties hasn’t met with much success, a little more information on the Association strike has trickled onto the web, including a press release by the staff, stating in a little more detail their motivations and grievances. It was sent out on 14 January week ago and runs like…
Comics of the Decade: Daniel Clowes’ Ice Haven and The Death Ray
This is part of a Metabunker series celebrating a great decade in comics with Rackham by reprinting select reviews of the decades’ best comics from the Rackham archive, along with a number of new pieces. By Andreas Gregersen Daniel Clowes hardly needs introduction. Best known for the comic and film Ghost World (1997 and 2000)…
Carl Barks Finally Done Right?
Since I’ve been fairly engaged in the sad fortune of the Disney comics of Carl Barks (1901-2000) in reprint, I figured I would comment briefly on the recent announcement by Fantagraphics that they will be helming a complete edition, starting this fall. Already publishing the reprint editions of The Complete Peanuts, Krazy & Ignatz, Popeye,…
On the plot to attack Jyllands-Posten
It seems sadly serendipitous, if not actually ominous, that a year that started with a depressing but thankfully failed cartoon-related terrorist attack here in Denmark, ends with another one. Five people, one Iraqi asylum seeker and four Swedes/Swedish residents, were arrested yesterday on charges of planning a terrorist attack on the headquarters of Jyllands-Posten, the…
Titian at the Winter Sales
Went down to London to check out the sales today. Lots of good stuff at Christie’s — kind of sad to see the Rutland Poussin Ordination up for sale (I hope an accessible collection secures it for the public), but it was in fine company: a terrific El Greco St. Francis estimated at what seemed…
Doonesbury at 40
I just wanted to take the time slight belatedly to acknowledge the 40th anniversary of Garry Trudeau’s now classic newspaper strip. I don’t see any need to list Trudeau’s accomplishments (Gary Willis provides a fine overview at the NYRB), nor to add much to the accolades that it has received, but merely wanted to emphasise…
Comics of the Decade: Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis
This is part of a Metabunker series celebrating a great decade in comics with Rackham by reprinting select reviews of the decades’ best comics from the Rackham archive, along with a number of new pieces. By Julie Paludan-Müller Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis is one of the most touching pieces of exile literature in recent memory, and…
Comics of the Decade: Sammy Harkham et. al., Kramers Ergot 4
This is part of a Metabunker series celebrating a great decade in comics with Rackham by reprinting select reviews of the decades’ best comics from the Rackham archive, along with a number of new pieces. Kramers Ergot #4, edited by the cartoonist Sammy Harkham, is an artistic and stylistic statement of a kind rarely seen…
Comics of the Decade: Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Strikes Again
This is part of a Metabunker series celebrating a great decade in comics with Rackham by reprinting select reviews of the decades’ best comics from the Rackham archive, along with a number of new pieces. By Thomas Thorhauge “Striking terror. Best part of the job”, says Batman somewhere in the first chapter of Frank Miller’s…
At TCJ: What Is Finland Doing Right?
Over at The Comics Journal, I now have a report from last weekend’s Helsinki Book Fair online, in which I do some half-baked theorising about the artistic successes of Finland’s comics scene. Hop to it! More photos from the fair and around Helsinki, including the show of contemporary Sotuh African art (featuring Bitterkomix) currently running…
On Charles Hatfield’s Alternative Comics
This week and next, we have a roundtable discussion on Charles Hatfield’s 2005 book Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature going over at Hooded Utilitarian. My post just went up and is the fifth in the series, following Noah Berlatsky, Robert Stanley Martin, Caroline Small, and Derik Badman (plus an interlude by Ng Suat Tong). Charles…