Category Archives: Narrative
Building Stories – A Close Reading
This past week my co-host, Andy Kunka, and I discussed Chris Ware’s Building Stories on The Comics Alternative podcast, and it was a very productive conversation. We covered a lot of ground, but given the voluminous and complex nature of this project … Continue reading
Comic Projections
Stanford University Press has a new series, Post•45. This is line of books (according to their website) that is devoted to popular and avant-garde U.S. culture after the Second World War, and I’ve recent finished one of the inaugural volumes in … Continue reading
Morning Glories Revisited
Recently I’ve been catching up on Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma’s Morning Glories series, as well as rereading the first couple of narrative arcs for purposes of recall and setup. What prompted this revisitation — especially in light of my previous … Continue reading
Comics Cornucopia, Part 3: Disappointments
Of the comics I’ve been catching up on lately, there are two titles that, unfortunately, stand out as disappointments. I had expected a lot more from these, but for various reasons, I found them falling short of my expectations. The … Continue reading
Comics Cornucopia, Part 2: Charles Burns
When I read Charles Burns’s X’ed Out back early last year, I applauded the return of this great, warped, and surreal creator. It had been several years since Black Hole, and I was glad that Burns was back in form and producing the … Continue reading
Of Fanboys and Ruskies
I am a history buff, and I enjoy reading about American political and cultural history, including pop cultural history. More specifically, I enjoy reading about comics history and its political resonances. Lately I’ve read, or have been in the process … Continue reading
Optic Nerve
Last fall, issue #12 of Optic Nerve came out. I’m a big Adrian Tomine fan, and I’m a little ashamed to say that I waited until yesterday to read the latest issue. I had just put it to the side, next … Continue reading
Swarte Stories
Back in February Fantagraphics finally published the much-anticipated collection of comics from Joost Swarte, Is That All There Is? Swarte, a Dutch comics artist and graphic designer, and known for his ligne claire or clear line style of drawing (he even coined the term), has … Continue reading
Goodbye, Philip Roth
It’s been awhile since I last blogged, and this is primarily due to laziness. But in the interim, I have been reading quite a bit, and over the next several days I hope to catch up a bit with things. … Continue reading