Chris Ware's Building Stories
Chris Ware talks about Building Stories, a box set of a decade’s worth of work. As seen in the pages of The New Yorker, The New York Times and McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Building Stories is a set...
View ArticleNow Playing
Ben Katchor is best known for his comic strips about eccentric characters, like Julius Knipel, Real Estate Photographer. Katchor has now transformed one of his strips into a stage musical. It's called...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brooklyn Cartoonists Make A Scene
This weekend, cartoonists will get to escape their drawing boards for a day of artist signings, discussions and live music.Over 50 vendors will sell their 'zines, comics, books, prints and posters as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bloomsday Seen and Heard
James Joyces' Ulysses chronicles the wanderings of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day: Thursday, June 16, 1904. The 16th has become known as Bloomsday, and literary types and fans of...
View ArticleGoodbye, Cathy, and Good Riddance (for Some)
Cathy Guisewite announced on Wednesday that she’ll be ending her “Cathy” comic strip on October 3. The creator described her decision to kill off Cathy (the character), who is often pictured pulling...
View ArticleThis Week: Must See Arts in the City
The graphic paintings of a punk artist, pulp-fiction inspired collage, geometric street art, Nigerian popular videos and a very dirty rendering of Plato at an art book fair in Queens. Here's your guide...
View ArticleNew York's Comic Con Kicks Off in Manhattan, Superheroes and All
New York Comic Con kicked off at the Javits Center on Thursday, and fans were out in full force.Only those with four-day VIP passes and industry professionals, including writers and artists, had access...
View ArticleThis Week: Must-See Arts in the City
The intersection of Tibet and comic books at the Rubin, a Brazilian street artist at Jonathan LeVine, a (sort of) final showing at a Bushwick space and optical illusions in an empty West Village...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tibet, Through the Lens of Comics
Conceptions of Tibet are the subject of a new exhibit at the Rubin Museum of Art that aims to examine the region through the lens of comics.The exhibit, "Hero, Villain, Yeti," includes more than 50...
View ArticleDebunking the Corrupting Effects of Comic Books
It was 1954 and Dr. Fredric Wertham was testifying before Congress. "Are there any bad effects of comic books? I may say here on this subject there is practically no controversy," he said. "Anybody...
View ArticleThe Escapist
Michael Chabon, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, tells us how comics reveal unintended things about their creators.
View ArticleArt Spiegelman on Comics
Kurt Andersen and writer and cartoonist Art Spiegelman talk about the narrative and artistic spell of comics. Spiegelman is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Maus and Maus II. Since 1992 he has been...
View ArticleSilver Surfer
The smooth lines and defined muscles of a comic book character often make the pictures more interesting than the story they tell…
View ArticleGrrl Comix
In the old days, comic books written for female readers tended to be soap operas and adolescent fantasies drawn by men. We talk to two female comic artists of different generations, Jessica Abel and...
View ArticleComic Book Artist Gary Panter on Toys
Kurt Andersen and Gary Panter talk about the inspired and sneaky ways artists use toys to create. Panter is a comic book artist and toy devotee. Best known for his witty set design for television's...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don't Go Near The World's Champion Rainbow Watcher. It's Mean. Very Mean.
The OatmealA few months ago on Radiolab, we did an hour on color, which included a segment on rainbow watching. We imagined a man, a dog, a sparrow and a butterfly all gazing at the same rainbow and we...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Foolish Inconsistency: The Saga of 'Saga'
"Comics," a wise newspaper features editor once opined, back when the Earth had not yet cooled and icthyosaurs swam the turbid seas, "Aren't Just For Kids Anymore."Her fellow editors, incredulous,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cook, Illustrated: A New Graphic Novel That Live-to-Eat Types Will Savor
Lucy Knisley eats better than you do.Face it: she knows more than you about what makes food delicious and satisfying. She's a former cheesemonger who monged her odoriferous wares with verve and aplomb....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Superheroines, Fighters, And Why Isn't There A Wonder Woman Movie?
Any comics fan of any seriousness can rattle off female superheroes who have either had their own books or appeared in other or ensemble books.But what about ordinary absorbers of culture?The same...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Which Comics Should I Get? Your Free Comic Book Day Cheat Sheet
This Saturday, May 4th, is Free Comic Book Day, the comics industry's annual attempt to sail out past the shallow, overfished shoals where Nerds Like Me lazily and inexpertly spawn, to instead cast...
View Article