The Iconographies

Masters of Horror Manga: Kazuo Umezu and Hideshi Hino

[20.Nov.09] :. Perhaps more so than any other artists, Kazuo Umezu and Hideshi Hino defined the genre of horror comics in Japan, an influence that extends to the West, and also to the world of J-horror films.

We Few, We Happy Few, We Bandaged Brothers: Jeff Lemire’s The Nobody and the Quest for Self

[13.Nov.09] :. A touching, heartfelt meditation on identity and isolation in a small town, Jeff Lemire is able to redress an H.G. Wells classic and make it as timely and disturbing as ever.

Celebrating the Death of the Dark Knight – and His Rebirth

[3.Nov.09] :. With the recent passing of Bruce Wayne, can the Batman character escape the tragedy of Bruce Wayne's life that originally birthed it?

Beautiful and Unique Snowflakes: Warren Ellis’ ‘Planetary’

[13.Oct.09] :. Warren Ellis, once thought of by many as comics’ resident Orson Welles, an angry, embittered artist, is actually the industry’s Kurt Vonnegut, sent here to make us feel as if "everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt".

Hollow “Victory”: J Michael Straczynski ‘Reboots’ the Mighty Thor

[6.Oct.09] :. J Michael Straczynski's storytelling stands out as one of the most inventive in recent mainstream superhero comics.

The Devil’s Due: What Ed Brubaker Did to Reinvent Daredevil

[29.Sep.09] :. Could Ed Brubaker have written the definitive version of a character renowned for its production of 'definitive' visions?

Maximum Carnage: A Look Back

[22.Sep.09] :. I was a kid when I first read Maximum Carnage and it became my favorite comic book series. How well does the story hold up over time? Is it still as good as I remember or was my innocent childhood love misplaced?

Abstract Comics

[16.Sep.09] :. If nothing else, it seems that Abstract Comics makes explicit that the line between comics and high art is beginning to disappear.

Fear of a Mouse Planet: What Disney’s Acquisition of Marvel Means for the House of Ideas

[8.Sep.09] :. The fears of a Disney planet are fears that these characters we cherish will be tinkered with or even taken away from us.

Explainers: Back to the ‘50’s and Up to the Present

[1.Sep.09] :. Jules Feiffer's groundbreaking Village Voice comics delivered a satirical take on current events and paved the way for many contemporary strips.

The Devil You Know: Mignola’s Hellboy in the Chapel of Moloch and the Old Debate

[28.Aug.09] :. Modernist drama around the popularizing of the cultural archive, or postmodernist deliberation on the redemptive value of art in world awash in mass consumerism, the story of Mignola's Hellboy is also the story of comics' struggle for legitimation both as art-form and industry.

The Boy Who Would Be The Beast of the Apocalpyse: Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, Mythology, and the Human

[24.Aug.09] :. Hellboy essentially argues that biology indeed need not be destiny, and that to exist as a human means something more than possessing a certain normative appearance.

Red Menace in the Mirror: Identity, Politics and Identity Politics in Superman Red Son

[18.Aug.09] :. In writer Mark Millar's visionary recasting of Superman as a Soviet dictator, questions of personal and social identity become the staging point for a central drama around global justice.

The Legacy of Mike Wieringo: The Flash Years

[11.Aug.09] :. The true legacy of Mike Wieringo is his radical redefining of the comics industry's obsession with navel-gazing.

Manga and Minimalism: The Shared Visions of Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Raymond Carver

[4.Aug.09] :. One is an acknowledged master of the modern short story, and the other is an influential figure in the world of alternative Japanese comics.

Jack Knight’s First Team Up

[28.Jul.09] :. The Starman is a generational tale of a young hero assuming his father’s mantle, which takes the reader on an educational journey through DC Comics’ past.

I Saw You: Comics, the Internet, and Everyday Life

[21.Jul.09] :. In this Iconographies feature, I Saw You will be used as a spring-board to understanding how the internet might be examined and made sense of through comics.

Collapse: 1989’s Legion of Super-Heroes

[7.Jul.09] :. This comic offers a profound meditation on the far-reaching effects the confluence of a literary revolution, engineering miracle and scientific doctrine would have on popular culture.

The History of Comic Conventions

[17.Jun.09] :. This edition of "Iconographies" looks at the rise in popularity of the comics convention, and the pop-cultural changes conventions have brought to comics.

The Death of Captain America

[9.Jun.09] :. "The Iconographies" is a series of weekly features focusing on iconic moments, creators, characters or publications in the ongoing 'biography' of graphic literature. This edition looks at the 2007 death of Marvel superhero, Captain America.