Here’s the first animated version of a Tintin story from 1947. It was directed by Claude Misonne. I am very worried by the billboards around Los Angeles for the new Spielberg film. They are just horrifically ugly. That cannot be a good sign for the movie.

The Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex blog has a post about Winsor McCay’s early animation efforts from 100 years ago. This is a film that features the cartoonist impressing his skeptical artist friends with moving characters from his great comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland. The actual Nemo animation starts at the 8:15 mark.  Enjoy! [...]

American comics genius Harvey Pekar has passed away at the age of 70.  I think Pekar was the greatest writer of comics because he treated the form as literature – for real – not like most of the dimwits writing ‘graphic novels.’ Pekar was serious and nervous and funny and angry, with very little separation [...]

Smith Magazine has a new Harvey Pekar comic strip about how corporatism influences everything people do and think. Can one work honestly inside a corporate system?  Can you write a book criticizing corporations and have it published by a corporation? Are comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert completely owned by corporations?  My own answer is [...]

It Was the War of the Trenches, by Jacques Tardi, is available in English for the first time. The graphic novel depicts the life of the average soldier in the trenches of World War I. The artwork looks gorgeous and the story is apparently quite harrowing. A nice big hardcover version seems the perfect presentation. [...]

Marvel Comics has a Create Your Own Comic tool that lets you put together either a simple 3-panel strip or an entire 22-page comic book.  You don’t actually draw anything, but you choose layouts, backgrounds, characters and objects.  You can re-size everything and layer objects on top of each other.  It’s great for trying one’s [...]

Smith Magazine has another Harvey Pekar comic with drawings by Sean Pryor.  It’s called Searchin’.  I buy every book Pekar publishes.  His collected editions keep me fascinated for weeks because I try to read them slowly to make them last. Pekar makes comic books out of the ordinary.  Of course they are much more interesting [...]

I don’t think there is a more significant American comic book writer than Harvey Pekar.  Now he is making comics on the web.  Smith Magazine offers the first installment of what promises to be a series.  It’s called The Pekar Project. The first story is Pekar & Crumb: Talkin’ ’bout Art.  It’s drawn by Tara [...]

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo. Here’s a brilliant animation designed by comic artist Chris Ware. The music is by Andrew Bird and the animation is by John Kuramoto. The little tale of a terribly abusive relationship between a mouse and a head is disturbingly hilarious. I love the way everything moves [...]

Look at the image to the left.  If that image disturbs you to the point of banning the comic book, you are unintelligent.  No doubt about it.  It disturbs Apple so much that they’ve removed the comic book from their App Store.  Clear censorship.  The comic book is by author Cory Doctorow who has written [...]