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Bill Mantlo

If you read comics back in the late 70’s and through the 80’s, then you might very well have read a comic or two by Bill Mantlo. For me, the standout is his work on the Micronauts title. In lesser hands, that book would have never been much more than […]

“Where is everybody..?”

Words fail me when I try to express what the book means to me, personally and creatively. It’s in my DNA. It taught me so much (possibly everything) about story, pacing, and character. The A MOMENT OF CEREBUS website has posted a little something I wrote last week. This makes […]

Lunchtime Reading: Geek Masculinity and the Myth of the Fake Geek Girl

“Geek” is a gendered noun. There’s a GeekGirlCon, but no GeekGuyCon: every con is GeekGuyCon, unless it specifies otherwise. You don’t say “geek guys” the way you say “geek girls”: once you’ve said “geek,” the “guy” is pretty much taken as read. When a label is gendered, it carries all […]

Pure Joy

Google has a special doodle today, commemorating the 107th anniversary of Winsor McKay’s Little Nemo comic strip. There are few things that make me as happy as Little Nemo. A few years back I missed out on an eBay auction of an original tearsheet of his adventure with Mercury. Alas.

Mo(o)re Lovecraft in 2013

Howard Phillips LovecraftAfter the overall fizzle of DC’s so-called “New 52”, the remarkably ill-conceived and even more poorly executed Before Watchmen, my ongoing disinterest in anything that Marvel’s “House of Ideas” — or should that be “House of ‘Ideas'”? — has to offer, to say nothing of the genuinely heartbreaking news that Dave Sim is likely turning his back on comics altogether… well, the news that Alan Moore is working on a new miniseries about the life of H.P. Lovecraft has gotten me excited about comics again.

I’m not the first person to say this, but…

…the news that Superman and Wonder Woman are now officially to be an “item” is just a predictably short-sided editorial move to drum up sales. No kidding, right? What else is new. I’m feeling more and more cynical about comics these days — at least, cynical about the mainstream ones. […]

A Moment of Geek: Argo, Kirby, Parks

I’ve long been fascinated by the so-called Canadian Caper — particularly by the role that comics legend Jack Kirby played. The idea that the Canadian Government and CIA concocted such a daring and imaginative plan to rescue six diplomats during the Iran Hostage Crisis is pre-made for Hollywood. I think […]