People tend to reminisce about long gone eras, arguing that things were always better way back when. But when it comes to comics, there’s no denying that the 21st century has seen the medium explode in unprecedented and unpredictable ways. For many people, that has come primarily in the form of the advent of the […]
Down and Out in Terminal City: Catching Up with Ed Brisson
As one of the hardest working men in comics, Ed Brisson seems to always be juggling a number of promising projects. We chatted with the gritty Vancouverite earlier this year about his trippy super hero epic The Mantle so we were happy to talk to him again about his new urban noir work The Violent. Where The Mantle was a […]
ymmv: Write Something That Goddamn Matters
Before I go, I want to write something that matters. The real lasting works of this world tell a story that’s about something and that can change people. And the very best of them do it when sometimes you don’t even realize it. If I want a didactic text to tell me what to do, […]
To Hell with Good Intentions: Mark Millar, Huck and Condescension with Purpose
This isn’t a revolutionary thought, but at this point in his career, it’s safe to say Mark Millar thinks exclusively in elevator pitches. “What if James Bond was the product of an elite boarding school?” “What if the Avengers were dicks?” “What if Mad Men was superheroes?” Millar’s comics exist as skeletal frameworks for inevitable […]
Anatomy of a Page: Sloane Leong, Claire Gibson and Marian Churchland’s From Under Mountains #1
Comics are a visual medium, but so often criticism of the medium hinges on narrative, ignoring or minimizing the visual storytelling and unique structures that make comics so different from cinema and photography. We’ve decided to change that up with a feature that we’re calling Anatomy of a Page, in which we explore pages and […]
Anatomy of a Page: Rich Tommaso’ Dark Corridor #2 Page 5
Comics are a visual medium, but so often criticism of the medium hinges on narrative, ignoring or minimizing the visual storytelling and unique structures that make comics so different from cinema and photography. We’ve decided to change that up with a feature that we’re calling Anatomy of a Page, in which we explore pages and […]
Sacrifices at the Altar of Detail: A Conversation with Nate Simpson
Normally I think vanity searching is a bad idea. Comic pros have a horrible habit of relentlessly searching their names and then coming after any comics critic who gives them a less than stellar review. Nate Simpson is the chief exception to the rule, in my experience. Though he has worked for years as a […]
Anatomy of a Page: Wolf #1 Page 26 by Matt Taylor, Ales Kot and Lee Loughridge
Comics are a visual medium, but so often criticism of the medium hinges on narrative, ignoring or minimizing the visual storytelling and unique structures that make comics so different from cinema and photography. We’ve decided to change that up with a feature that we’re calling Anatomy of a Page, in which we explore pages and […]
Putting Out Fire with Gasoline: Wolf #1 is LA Noir with a Bite
Do you think fire stands out to humanity as an immortal symbol because of its danger? Or is it because of its utilitarian purpose? We fear fire but it also guides us, warms us, destroys forever anything we feed to it. Fire is fleeting but its destruction is permanent, a sure way to erase an object […]
Boom and Image Hypocrisy Pushes Comics Backward
It’s been an incredible few years for Boom and Image. Titles like Lumberjanes, Sex Criminals, Teen Dog, Wicked + Divine, Bee and Puppycat, Saga, the Boom Box 2014 Mix Tape, Zero… I think you get the point. Many of the best monthly titles are being produced by these two companies, and I would argue that […]