Comics links

A semi-structured overview of my comics experience... discoveries

Comics as Fine Art (yahoo club) and Jeff Levine's comics chat (UBB)

Sarah Dyer's web page. The creator of Action Girl reviews female action figures.

Lewis Trondheim. Trondheim is French, { therefore, but still } stylish, unpretentious, hilarious-- my recommendation is that you buy everything of his you can get out here.

Interview of Jerome Charyn (who might as well be French; author of the Magician's Wife which got the grand prize at Angouleme) focusing on his transition from writing novels to writing for comics.

Meltdown Comics (7529 Sunset Blvd, LA)-- IMHO the best comics store on both coasts.

Chris Propost's pleasantly rambling overview of underground comics.

---

recently read
Rating system: highest score is 8, median score across the genre is 2

Stan Sakai: Space Usagi (5/10)

David Lasky: Boom Boom (the one about Nora Joyce) (7/10)

Chris Ware: Acme Novelty Library #14 (7/10)

Lewis Trondheim: Amour et intérim (9/10) (Note: I'm biased in my evaluations of Trondheim's work because I speak absolutely zero French)

Lewis Trondheim: Ordinateur mon ami (7/10)

Lewis Trondheim: Lapinot T.0: Slaloms (8/10)

Lewis Trondheim: Non, non, non (5/10)

Lewis Trondheim: Les Aventures de l'univers (6/10)

Brian Biggs: Frederick and Eloise (6/10)

Stan Sakai: Usagi Yojimbo (books 4, 6) (6/10)

Grant Morrison: Invisibles (vol. 2) (5/10)

Scott McCloud: Zot (vol. 1) (3/10)

Peter Bagge: Studs Kirby: Voice of America (6/10)

David Choe: Slow Jams (8.1/10)

Chris Oliveros: The Envelope Manufacturer (4/10)

Chester Brown: The Little Man (6/10)

Pete Sickman-Garner: Hey Mister Celebrity Roast (6/10)

Chris Ware: Acme Novelty #13 (8/10)

Evan Dorkin: Hectic Planet (7/10)

Donna Barr's Stinz (7/10)

Ariel Schrag: Definition (6/10)

Shane Simmons: The Long and Unlearned Life of Roland Gethers (5/10)

Peter Hoey as seen in Blab #9

---

talent

ACME Novelty Library (Chris Ware)

Krazy Kat (George Herriman)

Little Nemo in Slumberland (Winsor McKay)

---

resources

The Comics Journal, a snotty, self-described "arts-first" magazine on comics published by...

Fantagraphic Books, "Publishers of the world's greatest cartoonists."

Drawn and Quarterly, Canadian publisher specializing in autobiography/confessional

The Words and Pictures Museum, which closed before I could go to it, but is opening Jan 1, 2000 as an "all-virtual" exclusively online presence.

When it comes to the roots of formal comics theory, Scott McCloud literally wrote the book. The only book, that is.

Nextplanetover.com, online comics retailer with an unpredictable selection.

---

things to consider in looking at a comic
(possibly condescending, but a helpful initial aid)

What kind of media is the artist using? How does that answer change as the artist tries to portray different situations or moods?

How does the author choose to draw? What's the interaction between lights and shadows?

How is detail expressed? Are characters' faces more detailed? Are landscapes?

Does the artist intend to be more realistic (like a photograph) or symbolic (like a cartoon)?

Get a sense of how the panels fit together on the page

January 1, 1999 in Site features | Permalink