Lifelong comic book man Carmine Infantino died yesterday at the age of 87. If you are even a casual nerd, you know Infantino as that guy that got to draw The Flash off and on for thirty years. And his pencils were immediately identifiable: square-jawed and kinetic, with characters constantly tilting into a run or skidding to a halt. But that’s not all Infantino did.
Born in Brooklyn in 1924, Infantino got into the business while still in school (at what is now the High School of Art and Design), freelancing for "packagers." (At the time, the early 40s, some comic books were sub-contracted to studios—"packagers"—who would write and draw [...]
Lulu Eightball and New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake is keeping a (cartoon) diary of her workweek over at The Comics Journal. Cartooning seems about as glamorous as blogging, to wit, "my underwear situation has become untenable."
Dear Paige, I'm thinking of expanding my horizons by going to teach English in Japan. But first, I want to know if it's true. Can an average-looking American white guy clean up over there? With the Japanese ladies, I mean.
Dear Reader, I'm glad I made up this question, because I've been wanting to talk about the demise of a cultural icon: the inexplicably popular white dude in Japan, a.k.a. the "Charisma Man."
"The Archie & Friends cover shows a bronzed and buff Reggie (rechristened The Complication) channeling The Situation with a serious six-pack, while Archie's red hair is gelled up into a Pauly D do, and newcomer Cheryl Blossom (now known as Snookums) sports an impressive pouf that would make Snooki proud." [Via]
Seems like a lot of people are up in arms / delighted / annoyed / enraged by this week's Top Chef finale, in which hateable [WINNER'S NAME REDACTED, DVR WHINERS*] defeated two dudes to win whatever it is you win when you win Top Chef. (Whoa! $125,000?) If you're looking for some more cheftastic action, here are a couple of cooking comics that will detonate in your mouth. One's stately and respectful, like a perfectly-cooked sea bream; the other is ridiculous and over-the-top, like a vegetable-stuffed iootle antler from planet Doofu Prime.
If you saw any of the X-Men movies, was there any doubt that Erik Lensherr—the young man who goes all Uri Geller when the Nazis put his parents in Auschwitz—is a Jew? Followers of the 50-year-old X-Men comic books have different opinions. Some say "Magneto" (or Magnus or Erik, whatever you like to call him) is actually of Romany blood. (Nazis, you may recall, also massacred Gypsies, homosexuals, Communists, Poles, Czechs, Russians, Ukrainians and Freemasons.) But in the form of actors Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender, Magneto has a concentration-camp tattoo identifying him as Jewish. Does this matter? Aren't most comic-book heroes also of the Chosen People? Of [...]
Phonogram is a comic about how music is magic. Literally. There are two volumes now: the first, Rue Britannia, about the death of and nostalgia for Britpop, and, more recently, The Singles Club.
Set in a British nightclub, each single issue of The Singles Club focuses on one person, one experience of the same night, which is both an ordinary night in a club and somehow extraordinary for each of them. Each single issue here is a complete story, based loosely around a song-the "Singles" of the title-and what that song means. Each one is a slightly different capital-M Metaphor for what pop music really does to us. Music affects [...]
It's April 7, National Pluto Day! All over America, schoolchildren are fleeing the classroom, workers are ditching the office early, hobos are tossing aside their bottles of grain alcohol, and housewives are ignoring the laundry. Instead, they're all lining up at their local comics store, B&N, or otaku emporium to buy the finale, Volume 8, of Naoki Urasawa's unbelievably enjoyable manga series Pluto. Soon the gorgeous spring weather will help pack our parks and playgrounds with happy readers feverishly turning the pages of Volume 8. Happy Pluto Day!
How do I convince you, most likely a non-reader of comics, to read not only this post about comics, but the actual comics themselves? Or any comics? How do I convince you to stop right now with the noogieing and start reading some comics? A certain editor of this site-this very site!-agreed to let me write about comics, but characterized his own reaction to the idea as "Ew, nerds." How do I convince him, much less you? An appeal to your shrinking free time? Maybe! HEY YOU THERE, once-avid reader! Remember how you used to read books all the time and then talk about them in person with people or [...]
Q. Let’s talk about the personnel change that many say redefined the X-men. The entire team left, except for you! A. Yes. I wanted them to stay, but they ignored me. Q. You had to rebuild the team from scratch. A. It was the hardest time for me as a leader. There was no one to lead. Q. What was your role in the recruitment of the new cast of international heroes? A. I mostly had to be patient while the Professor recruited them. It was very difficult.
DC Comics has given Wonder Woman a makeover just in time for her 69th birthday, and a storyline in which Wonder Woman is out to avenge the destruction of Paradise Island. So the overall vibe given off by her is darker, more serious, "designed to be taken seriously as a warrior" — not to mention, more ready to be franchised into a tie-in clothing line for similarly disaffected female fans. (Think American Apparel, not Underoos.) After the jump, a side-by-side comparison of the old Wonder Woman costume and the new one.
Are you looking for an authentically grim Russian culture experience, but don't have 12 hours and ferry fare to Governors Island to spare? A new graphic novel by Kevin Baker — the historical novelist behind such Brooklyney favorites as Dreamland – brings an ex-Russian soldier to Coney Island and gets him wrapped up with the local mob. It also calls to mind a recent, similar, much better comic, which was mostly ignored when it first came out but is finally available in collected form.
