This isn’t exactly breaking news, but since I’ve been away and all, I haven’t had the time to process this. It’s a rather major development in the British Museum world that could end up either to the great benefit or even greater detriment to the museum-going public. Basically, the Duke of Sutherland, who owns what…
Published last week, the cartoon by Zapiro reproduced above has caused strong controversy in South Africa, indicting as it does not only ANC president Jacob Zuma and his allies, but implicitly the country’s justice system, which in a chillingly poignant twist of events has just thrown out of court on procedural grounds the charges of…
I’ve just returned from a short visit to Berlin where I had the opportunity to visit the German iteration of the large Sebastiano del Piombo retrospective that showed in Rome earlier this summer. Since the article I wrote after having seen it there was a more general assessment of Sebastiano’s art and career, I figured…
Over at the Comics Journal message board, an interesting discussion of the term ‘graphic novel’ and what it may be used to designate is currently buzzing. Amongst the participants is Eddie Campbell, the first cartoonist to take the term seriously since its ascendancy as a marketing gimmick. Expounding persuasively on its usefulness to describe a…
The highly esteemed Lynda Barry recently released What It Is, a combination of coming of age artistic autobiography, ruminations on art and creativity, and imaginary instruction manual for novice storytellers and artists. It’s a lovely looking book, as always impeccably produced by Drawn & Quaterly. Barry has a highly developed aesthetic sense; the lavish collage…
Just finished Dash Shaw’s Bottomless Belly Button, which I picked up after having been following the online serialisation of the still-in-progress “Bodyworld” for a while. Shaw is good, and he seems to really be hitting his stride. One thing is dropping a 700-odd page comic seemingly out of the blue, another is for it to…
Den danske tegner Rikke Lindskov Loft, alias ‘Gwennafran’, har netop postet et indlæg ovre på Seriejournalens board, hvor hun kommenterer dele af den etablerede danske tegneseriekulturs forsømmelse af den nye mainstream: mangaen. Ansporet af Simon Petersens kommentar i sin seneste klumme om, at de unge manga-inspirerede tegnere glimrede ved deres fravær på forsommerens tegneseriefestival Komiks.dk,…
A good deal is being written about the entertaining but rather haphazardly structured and at times unintentionally puzzling summer event from Marvel, Secret Invasion, but I haven’t seen anyone mention the one thing that immediately bothered me about the series: the completely unassuming and natural way in which the superheroes kill the Skrull enemies en…
Classic EC Comics artist Jack Kamen has just passed away at the age of 88. Although always understandably regarded as the weakest of the EC Artists, he was the most subversive in some ways. His wholesome illustrative style, and perennially healthy looking, mannequin-like characters doing nasty things to each other, in themselves act out a…
Andy Konky Kru has posted the entirety of Joseph Franz von Goez’ 1783 comic Leonardo und Blandine over on his indispensible site for pre-modern and early modern comics, Bugpowder. And It’s a treat: while by no means great art, its tight sequencing, relying on histrionic moment-to-moment renderings of the characters’ love and grief, is fascinatingly…
Det er ikke kun i USA at anden om R. F. Outcaults stribe om Den gule dreng, fonografen og papegøjen (25. oktober, 1896) som Den Første Tegneserie lever i bedste velgående. Også her i Dammen viser det gule mærke sig at være svært at ryste af sig. Senest har møgungen fra Hogan’s Alley stukket kæften…
Been away from the screen for a couple of days, so no Picks this week. There’s stuff coming soon, but in the meantime, I thought I’d just take the opportunity to recommend the major retrospective of Danish painter Wilhelm (Hammershøi’s 1864-1916) work at the Royal Academy in London (till September 7, after that Tokyo), the…
Time for another of these snarky posts on the exasperating shortcomings of our fellow man (see previous installments). The trend for tracing photographs has never been more widespread in American comics, and while I don’t agree with Frank Santoro’s recent, refreshing but rather hardline dismissal of the technique, it has been responsible for some pretty…
Today’s stage sure delivered, even though one had to wait patiently for the action: “Too much sense, and too little madness“, as Jørgen Leth remarked when the peloton reached the top of Col de Galibier. But when the leading pack reached the foot of Alpe d’Huez, Carlos Sastre attacked — Denis Menchov reacted quickly, but…
Everyone’s got major expectations for today’s stage in the majestic Tour de France. So far the race has been pretty darn good, but at this very moment, the riders are on their way over three (yes three!) mountain tops — Col du Galibier (2645m), Col de la Croix de Fer (2067m) and finally the legendary…