Monday, January 5 2009
Will Eisner’s Dual Identity: The Spirit of an Artist
A biography of Will Eisner, perhaps the greatest cartoonist in the history of American comics. Eisner used The Spirit as his vessel for unexplored creativity with story elements not commonly found in comics.
Tuesday, September 23 2008
Let Us Now Praise Ordinary Men: Normalcy, Comics, and The Dark Knight
Without a couple of recognizably fallible and ordinary men like Harvey Dent and Commissioner Gordon at its center, The Dark Knight would ultimately be nothing more than an exceptionally well-tooled and smartly-acted thriller.
Friday, September 5 2008
What the World Needs Now: Society’s Desperate Need for Superheroes
Hollywood has finally discovered what comic book fans have known all along: superheroes serve as brightly-colored, two-dimensional extensions of ourselves.
Wednesday, September 3 2008
Stark Reality: A Different Hero for Different Times
Bucking the trend of an outsider given an opportunity to overcome ordinariness, millionaire Tony Stark (Iron Man) seems like the least sympathetic of heroes. But his all-too-familiar flaws reveal a more than heroic depth of character, and he offers readers an entirely different form of escapism.
Wednesday, August 27 2008
Who Can Save Us Now?
Sherlock Holmes, pudgy heroes, and Superman’s sexual prowess: an interview with Owen King.
Thursday, August 7 2008
Comic-Con 2008: Bigger Than Ever, But Does That Mean Better?
Comic-Con 2008 was a long weekend of geeked-out bliss and a chance to rub elbows with everyone from tiny independent comic artists trying to sell their books to big Hollywood stars. But it also meant gigantic crowds and impossibly long lines.
Tuesday, April 8 2008
Spidey Turns Slacker?!: Great Power, Not So Much Responsibility
As Marvel Comics turns back the clock on Spider-Man, returning him to the struggling single life, questions erupt about the relationship of hero to audience.
Friday, February 22 2008
A New Era: Infinite Crisis, Civil War, and the End of the Modern Age of Comics
The changes in the superhero mythos resulting mainly from Infinite Crisis, Civil War show the Modern Age has ended and the Postmodern Age is here. A new era in superhero comics has begun.
Friday, April 20 2007
The Subversive Adorability of Lulu Eightball
Unlike many mainstream comic strips that depict childhood as pure and full of happiness – such as the nauseatingly idyllic Family Circus or the benignly mischievous Dennis the Menace – Lulu Eightball is unafraid to acknowledge the dark side of growing up.
Wednesday, January 24 2007
No Girls Allowed!: Crumb and the Comix Counterculture
As the standard-bearer of the underground comix movement, Robert Crumb poisoned a blossoming genre with vehement misogyny.
Friday, August 18 2006
An Overview of Infinite Proportions: An Examination of the Infinite Crisis Series
, by William Gatevackes - PopMatters Writer William Gatevackes tackles the massive DC crossover so you don't have to.
An Overview of Infinite Proportions: An Examination of the Infinite Crisis Series
PopMatters Writer William Gatevackes tackles the massive DC crossover so you don't have to.
Tuesday, August 8 2006
Monday, June 26 2006
A Flowering of Genres: An Interview with Scott McCloud
, by Glenn McDonald - Upon the debut of PopMatters' new PopComix section, one of the medium's most articulate thinkers talks about the creative potential at the nexus of comics and the Web.
Tuesday, June 6 2006
A Flowering of Genres: An Interview with Scott McCloud
Upon the debut of PopMatters' new PopComix section, one of the medium's most articulate thinkers talks about the creative potential at the nexus of comics and the Web.
Thursday, April 6 2006
Too Big for the Room: The First Annual New York Comic Con
, by William Gatevackes - Comic book conventions aren't, as some people in the mainstream media would have you believe, a 'nerd prom' or a 'gathering of the geeks'.
Too Big for the Room: The First Annual New York Comic Con
Comic book conventions aren't, as some people in the mainstream media would have you believe, a 'nerd prom' or a 'gathering of the geeks'.
Thursday, March 2 2006
The Comic Book as Object
Once you are willing to consider the look of an individual page, it's a trivial step to consider the look of the whole book, including the cover, binding, ink, page-quality, and so on. This means that, besides being an artist and a storyteller, the comics creator must also be a graphic designer, type-setter, book-binder, and printer.
The Comic Book as Object
Once you are willing to consider the look of an individual page, it's a trivial step to consider the look of the whole book, including the cover, binding, ink, page-quality, and so on. This means that, besides being an artist and a storyteller, the comics creator must also be a graphic designer, type-setter, book-binder, and printer.
