JAWS - The Manga! part 1 - part 2
posted by Artw on Dec 1, 2009 - 19 comments

Starting her comics career as a colorist, Marie Severin was largely responsible for the distinctive color palette of EC Comics, where her brother Johnny Severin also worked. She later worked in the Marvel Bullpen, drawing just about everything, including many well loved staff caricatures. She turned 80 this year; here are a few of her Marvel covers from the 60s and 70s.
posted by interrobang on Nov 30, 2009 - 18 comments

Just in time for your Black Friday wish list needs, MeFi's own mightygodking has written a guide on how to start reading comics. Perfect for total comics newbies or people* who have really only ever read webcomics and seen superhero movies, the guide is a list of twenty volumes of comics that would be good for introducing people to the medium, and why they are his choices. [more inside]
posted by Caduceus on Nov 23, 2009 - 120 comments

Joe Sacco is a political journalist. His medium is the comic. He gave a talk last march at the Walker Art Centre where he also answers questions. Talk starts 07.50 after introductions. (wiki previous 1, II ) [more inside]
posted by adamvasco on Nov 23, 2009 - 13 comments

Chris Foss concept art for Dune, with bonus Nostromo. The images were produced for Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1974 attempt at filming the story, with other artists involved including Moebius and HR Giger. Though the project failed Jodorowsky collaborated further with Moebius to lay the groundwork for his own Dune-like comicbook universe (and a trailer for an animated version of it was even created). More visions of Arrakis can be seen on this page of Dune cover artwork through the ages, with bonus midi Toto.
posted by Artw on Nov 20, 2009 - 97 comments

When the Jessamine* County Public Library acquired a copy of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, two library workers conspired to keep it out of the patrons' hands, checking it out for an entire year. After an eleven-year-old girl put a hold on the book, they removed the hold; upon discovering this, the library director fired them. [more inside]
posted by Halloween Jack on Nov 19, 2009 - 150 comments

Jack Kirby's Inglorious Basterds
posted by Artw on Nov 18, 2009 - 33 comments

15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee. 17 Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat. The MotherF**king Pterodactyl. These and various other amusements courtesy of The Oatmeal.
posted by brain_drain on Nov 18, 2009 - 30 comments

The first four issues of Stray Bullets set the world on fire when they came out. Paper burns, you see, and a comic book as inflammatory as Stray Bullets just had to be burned. The religious right burned them. The Godless left burned them. The people in the middle felt left out and burned them too. Only a few copies survived and are probably worth millions by now. Inaccessible to the common man, the wonders of the digital universe have finally arrived to allow you—the average Joe—to see what the fuss was all about.
posted by Artw on Nov 16, 2009 - 37 comments

Hey Oscar Wilde! It's Clobberin' Time!!! is a blog featuring gobs of drawings by comic book artists of their favorite literary authors or characters. [via] [more inside]
posted by marxchivist on Nov 6, 2009 - 26 comments

"Some People" is a comic about perspective, misunderstanding, and people. The artist writes a lot of interesting comics.
posted by Taft on Oct 31, 2009 - 22 comments

In 1948, in the aftermath of the Second World War, with Europe still in ruins, three young Belgian comic strip artists, Joseph Gillain (aka Jijé), Maurice de Bevere (aka Morris) and André Franquin, crossed the Atlantic with the intention of settling in the US. All three would eventually return to Belgium, their hopes of working for Disney ultimately dashed by the turmoil of the McCarthy years. However, in the meantime they made the acquaintance of their colleagues of the Charles William Harvey Studio in New York, including a cosmopolitan young wit named René Goscinny. [more inside]
posted by Skeptic on Oct 29, 2009 - 37 comments

Comic Strip Mashups
posted by backseatpilot on Oct 29, 2009 - 22 comments

I Love Comix. Tons o' galleries of classic and not-so-classic newspaper comics. Essentials such as Little Nemo in Slumberland and Flash Gordon. Also Batman, Conan, Dark Shadows, and Pogo. Also lots of oddball stuff like Myra North: Special Nurse and Chris Welkin, Planeteer. [via] [more inside]
posted by marxchivist on Oct 22, 2009 - 18 comments

Chris Sims of the Invincible Super-Blog has tangled with the undead before, most notably with The Annotated Anita Blake, but now he's taking on the big daddy with the cape and the fangs: It's Dracula Week! Over on Comics Alliance Chris lists Dracula's Greatest Comics Appearances, then back on ISB he's followed up with Batman versus Dracula and Dracula versus Superman. Now he's taking on Dracula in his ultimate, most 70s form. Behold... BLACULA!
posted by Artw on Oct 15, 2009 - 11 comments

Zappa. Kirby. Pals! (via)
posted by COBRA! on Oct 15, 2009 - 16 comments

The Pekar Project started a couple of months ago from Smith Magazine; it posts new webcomics every other week by Harvey Pekar and one of four artists, like "Pekar and Crumb: Talkin' 'bout Art, plus occasional extras. They just posted a tribute to Harvey's 70th birthday. [Smith Mag's webcomics previously, including Pekar's The Next-Door Neighbor I Don't Know] [via] [more inside]
posted by mediareport on Oct 12, 2009 - 9 comments

"Magellan" by Stephen Crowley may be my favorite superhero comic on the web. The art seems to owe more to Tintin than Marvel or DC. The dialogue and plots are fun. The cast is huge, but the characters are distinctive, and generally charming. If you like Paul Grist's Jack Staff, give this a try. To start at the beginning: here.
posted by shetterly on Oct 8, 2009 - 11 comments

Floyd Farland: Citizen of the future - the comic Chris Ware doesn't want you to read.
posted by Artw on Sep 26, 2009 - 16 comments

Schizophrenia, a story from Darryl Cunningham's forthcoming Psychiatric Tales.
posted by Artw on Sep 24, 2009 - 30 comments

Rom: Spaceknight was an improbable comics success: Based on a toy series that consisted of one figure (Rom), the comics series debuted in 1979 and lasted an unlikely 75 issues, featuring art from such luminaries as P. Craig Russell and Steve Ditko (previously, previously and previously). The series was written by Marvel Comics mainstay Bill Mantlo, who retired from comics and became a public defender (the legal kind), only to suffer a tragic accident in the mid-1990s that left him in need of constant medical attention. A 2007 benefit for the writer -- Spacenight: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo -- will be followed by Spacenight 2, an auction of original Rom-related artwork that can be viewed here.
posted by kittens for breakfast on Sep 19, 2009 - 32 comments

Dr. Victor von Doom, ruler of Latveria, master of magic and science, demonstrates his new Doom-O-Matic (SLYT)
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Sep 18, 2009 - 21 comments

Stray, The Unfamiliar, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie - Three stories of a group of dogs, and a cat, battling the supernatural courtesy of Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson and Dark Horse Comics, released for free as a teaser for the forthcoming Beasts of Burden. (via)
posted by Artw on Sep 13, 2009 - 12 comments

Published in 1989, Richard McGuire's Here is a 6 page comic that spans billions of years and about 25 square feet: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Special Bonus Student Film Adaptation For The Comic-Phobic [more inside]
posted by Alvy Ampersand on Sep 10, 2009 - 25 comments

"[One] day around 1983, I saw an oversize magazine sticking out of the back of the bin with the word 'RAW' barely visible at the top. Hoping it was pornography, I pulled it out. Much to my disappointment, it wasn't, but I'd also never seen anything like it." - Chris Ware

"Have you ever found an interesting looking webcomic, looked at the archive, and thought: I can't start reading this! There are hundreds of strips to catch up on! Rather than spend a whole day or more bingeing on a comic archive, set up an Archive Binge feed. You can start from the beginning, or wherever you're up to. You can set your custom feed to deliver a strip every day, 4 strips every weekday, or whatever you want, up to 10 strips a day."
posted by jbickers on Sep 7, 2009 - 24 comments

Zap! Pow! Comicbook artist Chris Weston fights crime!
posted by Artw on Sep 2, 2009 - 20 comments

"Why so serious?" Synthesizing Mark Hamill's menacing hilarity and Heath Ledger's intelligent and dangerously unhinged aspects in their portrayals of DC Comic's "The Joker," aspiring voice actor "pgirts" recreates the famous scene from the recent Batman film in a chilling mashup of acting styles, and similarly brings the Joker's monolog from "The Killing Joke" to life. (MLYT)
posted by Slap*Happy on Sep 2, 2009 - 38 comments

The usual summary of comic book artist Will Eisner’s career follows the formula that he drew the Spirit all through the 1940s except for the war years and a bunch of ‘graphic novels’ from 1978 till the end of his life in 2005. There’s a long missing period between 1951 and 1978 during which he packaged and adapted cartoon art to commercial purposes, which has not been readily available for our scrutiny or pleasure. It is sometimes summarily dismissed as being of little interest. - Artist Eddie Campbell reappraises Will Eisner's missing years.
posted by Artw on Aug 31, 2009 - 13 comments

Youtube user Omahdon takes regular old comics and adds voices, sound effects, and incidental music, bringing them to life in a way that sometimes surpasses the mute originals. [more inside]
posted by Askiba on Aug 29, 2009 - 11 comments

Steve Ditko is, of course, best known for being the co-creator and original artist of Spider-Man. What most people don’t know... is that in the early 1970s he went on a tear and produced a series of insane Objectivist independent comics/rants (13MB PDF) that are unlike any comics produced then or now. - Dinosaur Gardens [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Aug 28, 2009 - 60 comments

The now-defunct Bang Barstal tells the story of a man and his baseball bat after everything went wrong at once.
posted by Pope Guilty on Aug 28, 2009 - 7 comments

A new BBC version of Dennis the Menace tones down the iconic British comics character. Or does it? It's another "political correctness gone mad" myth embellished by the media says cartoonist Lew Stringer.
posted by Artw on Aug 25, 2009 - 29 comments

When the future was 2000AD by Garth Ennis. Thrill-power invested illustrative examples courtesy of Simon Gurr.
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Aug 25, 2009 - 37 comments

Previously, we saw Darkseid rant to the empty air. Now the nightmarish lord of evil -- reduced to selling old Kiss cassette tapes to support his drinking habit, and living in a dumpster behind the Baby Gap -- rants to Twitter as HOBODARKSEID. Along the way, he shares his views on the ending of "Moonlighting," sings Dio's "Holy Diver," and confesses a love for "Mad Men." He also intends to destroy us all. Shudder/enjoy.
posted by kittens for breakfast on Aug 24, 2009 - 14 comments

The Woodstock Festival ended forty years ago today, on August 18, 1969* -- and roughly, um, two years later, Marvel Comics was there! Writer Gary Friedrich and (wildly overqualified) artist Gray Morrow bring you an improbably cleanly tale of romance that first appeared in issue #14 of Marvel's My Love (November 1971): "It Happened at Woodstock!" (Guest-starring Janis Joplin, among others.) [more inside]
posted by kittens for breakfast on Aug 18, 2009 - 17 comments

Tales of Mere Existence (previously 1 & 2) is "stuff you think but don't talk about": I Can't Sleep :: A Typical Conversation With My Mom :: My Darling? :: Subtext :: Conversation :: I Have To Get Ready :: Procrastination :: How To Cope With Depression :: ...Take Shoes Off? :: Boyfriends I Have Been (MLYT) [more inside]
posted by tybeet on Aug 14, 2009 - 5 comments

Comic Confrontations: Judge Judy vs. Glenn Beck. Tracie at Jezebel imagines Judge Judy Sheindlin delivering smackdowns to various deserving recipients. [more inside]
posted by peep on Aug 14, 2009 - 17 comments

Singles, a wonderful animation by young artist Rebecca Sugar.
posted by archagon on Aug 13, 2009 - 31 comments

Cleveland, Ohio, c.1932: A young American writer named Jerry Siegel teamed up with a young Canadian artist named Joe Shuster to create science fiction comic books. Out of this collaboration, a superhero was born. In 1938, the duo sold their creation to Detective Comics, and the rest, as they say, is history. Ten years and several lawsuits later, Siegel and Shuster, after being fired from the company they had helped to build, signed on with a fledgling comics publisher called Magazine Enterprises. Once again, their collaboration yielded fruit. But... would lightning strike twice? Sadly, it would not.
posted by Atom Eyes on Aug 13, 2009 - 62 comments

The Adam Hughes Corollary to the Gene Siskel Movie Test - “Before making a movie based on a licensed property, ask yourself: is this movie going to be less entertaining than just Googling for Adam Hughes drawings of these same characters?” [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Aug 10, 2009 - 113 comments

Just Another Post-Apocalypse Story is a short, sweet, profound webcomic by Edward Grug III, of "Love Puppets" fame, from the always-excellent Top Shelf 2.0 repository.
posted by jbickers on Aug 7, 2009 - 38 comments

Dracula's drycleaner must die!
posted by Artw on Jul 31, 2009 - 34 comments

The Adventures Of A Would Be Arms Dealer (PDF) is an eight-page comic illustrating how an illegal arms deal works in practice. Via.
posted by Fiasco da Gama on Jul 28, 2009 - 16 comments

600 Costumes from the 2009 Comic-Con
posted by ColdChef on Jul 28, 2009 - 150 comments

Man Not Superman based on a story by Jonathan Goldstein about a mortal man dealing with the pressures of dating Lois Lane. Found on Post-it Note Stories: Stories illustrated on little yellow Post-It Notes in beautiful black Sharpie. (via).
posted by ND¢ on Jul 22, 2009 - 61 comments

21 artists who changed mainstream comics (for better or worse)
posted by Artw on Jul 20, 2009 - 53 comments

"Family Circus" strikes back (sorta) against "Pearls Before Swine"
posted by wendell on Jul 20, 2009 - 131 comments

Top 10 comic book cities
posted by Artw on Jul 13, 2009 - 45 comments

Comics. Often dirty. [nsfw]
posted by MetaMonkey on Jul 12, 2009 - 42 comments