I was taking stock recently, reviewing the silver past and anticipating a golden future when I was struck by the fact that for the past six months I’ve given books by Kyle Baker to friends and relatives on every possible gift giving occasion and then some. This speaks well of Mr. Baker, whose line of…
Who got special treatment at the San Diego? These reserved seats went unused at an otherwise packed panel where last arrivals uncomplainingly sat on the floor. (Photographed after the panel broke up.)
Warning: Not necessarily office-friendly words abound. Unless you go to an animation festival, and you should go to an animation festival, the only way to see independent animation is to look out for the traveling cartoon programs. For a while it was Fans Only. We clustered in this or that museum auditorium for the International…
“…To anyone dismayed by the artlessness of television’s ‘limited animation,’ it is difficult to realize that the trend began on the highest note of artistic endeavor.” Leonard Maltin, in Of Mice and Magic Nothing pleases writers and readers trying to understand the arts like a clean break. Styles and periods have a messy way…
Sometimes you write the article, sometimes the article writes you. You’ve seen it a million times. The head table, on a dais, faces the audience. The honored guests take the stage to applause. The microphones are adjusted, name cards arranged, the host begins the program. But when the greatest living science fiction writer…
Now, more than ever, do we need Scott Shaw!’s Oddball Comics. He has followed his bliss and ours to the last swap meet, the dustiest quarter box of mixed comics to save the comics that no one else would save. We all know about the great comics that everyone’s mom threw out. These are…
Syd Mead (Tron, Alien, Blade Runner) is a professional artist. This explains why he doesn’t work more in the movies. That’s professional artist. He does a lot of work for major corporations who are happy to meet his fee for his services without any phony penny pinching. When it’s the movies calling, he says,…
So, this drunk walks into a San Diego Pizza Parlor…
Note: All you need to know is that Popeye is back, on DVD, this Tuesday, July 31. If you’re not getting up to go place your order I guess you can continue reading if you want, but that’s all you really need to know. Otherwise, know that — The modest and self-effacing Jerry Beck…
I’ve seen the Spirit of San Diego, and it’s wearing a costume. Saturday sold out first at the San Diego Comic-Con and many dealers were wondering why the floor was more crowded on Friday. Well, that’s because Saturday night is the Masquerade. And if you’re wearing a nice costume you don’t want to, and…
The good news is that a big name, first tier, grown-up institution, the Museum of Modern Art, is doing a show on comic art. The bad news is that we’re still being nibbled to death by ducks; the show is a rather narrow view of the medium, a look at how 13 artists are…
