Larry Gonick is a veteran American cartoonist best known for his delightful comic-book guides to science and history, many of which have previews online. Chief among them is his long-running
Cartoon History of the Universe (later
The Cartoon History of the Modern World), a sprawling multi-volume opus documenting everything from the Big Bang to the Bush administration. Published over the course of three decades, it takes a truly global view -- its time-traveling Professor thoroughly explores not only familiar topics like Rome and World War II but the oft-neglected stories of Asia and Africa, blending caricature and myth with careful scholarship (cited by
fun illustrated bibliographies) and tackling even the most obscure events
with intelligence and wit. This savvy satire carried over to Gonick's
Zinn-by-way-of-
Pogo chronicle
The Cartoon History of the United States, along with a bevy of
Cartoon Guides to other topics, including
Genetics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, The Environment, and (yes!)
Sex. Gonick has also maintained a few sideprojects, such as
a webcomic look at Chinese invention,
assorted math comics (
previously), the
Muse magazine mainstay
Kokopelli & Co. (featuring the shenanigans of his
"New Muses"), and
more. See also
these lengthy interview snippets, linked
previously. Want more? Amazon links to the complete oeuvre inside!
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jun 6, 2011 -
29 comments
Tales of the Beanworld ("A most peculiar comic book experience") recently resumed publication after a long hiatus. It's a strange and abstract mix of Native American mythology and culture, with a strong ecological focus, into an wonderfully charming cosmology. While it certainly invites, uh,
overthinking, it's also entertaining on a purely casual level.
A sample
short Beanworld story is on the Dark Horse Comics Myspace page.
If you have questions about it, the
BeanWeb just may have answers, along with illustrations from the comics. There is now a
Beanworld Wiki to supplement it, and creator Larry Marder keeps a
blog where he talks about things bean.
Okay, now that it's properly introduced... the
real point of this post is to link to
this awesome Beanworld Flash cartoon, animated by Fashionbuddha and with music by They Might Be Giants!
posted by JHarris
on Dec 20, 2008 -
17 comments
It's 1968. Hippies are everywhere, and they're reading underground comics. Your name is
Joe Simon. You want to create a mainstream comic book with a hippie as a hero. What do you come up with?
Brother Power the
Geek.
It only lasted two issues. Of course, it did a little better than the
Black Bomber, a white bigot who sometimes turned into an African-American superhero. That comic was
never printed.
posted by Astro Zombie
on Mar 15, 2006 -
12 comments
