While many of us are finding new ways to entertain ourselves during the pandemic, content creators are wrestling with how to make our shows, comics, games and books safely. The challenges for each industry are unique, as are the challenges faced by individual creators. Sean Chiplock has been a professional voice actor since 2012, and…
Anatomy of a Panel: Rina Ayuyang BLAME(s) IT ON THE BOOGIE
Right out of the gate, let me say that Ignatz and Eisner Award-nominated Rina Ayuyang’s comics have me thinking a lot about movement and comics. Comics as movement: within the panel and between panels and page flips. Movement in content: all those physical and psychological emplotments. Movement within and across identities exquisitely shaped by creators…
Learning to Love the Legion: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #8
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! This issue features art by Evan “Doc” Shaner, Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen, Joëlle Jones, Michael Avon Oeming, Liam Sharp, André Lima Araújo, Sanford Greene, Cully Hamner, Yanick Paquette, Dan Hipp, David Mack, Darick Robertson, Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund, Bilquis Evely, Fabio Moon, Michael Allred, Ryan Sook, Wade Von Grawbadger, Alex Maleev, John…
Anatomy of a Panel: Søren Mosdal Paints a Picture of BASQUIAT
Comics artist, graphic novelist, and illustrator Søren Mosdal has been innovating at the heart of Danish comics since the turn of the 21st century. With Denmark’s comics scene historically gravitating toward comics for kids or satirical editorials, Søren’s work in Danish newspapers and magazines like Zoe, Euroman, and KBH in the late 1990s and early…
Doom and Bloom: Rachel Pollack and the Evolution of the DOOM PATROL
If you’ve been paying attention to the Doom Patrol in the past two decades, you might notice a key oversight. That is, how transgender author Rachel Pollack’s time as their writer has been largely ignored by DC’s marketing and editorial teams. Even John Arcudi’s run and John Byrne’s critically lambasted run (which even received its…
KIRBYOLOGY!: Tom Scioli Tells the Greatest Jack Kirby Story Possible (His Own)
From the 1930s to 1990s, Jack Kirby created gob-smacking art and unforgettable characters, but he was mainly a storyteller. “The Pact,” “Madbomb,” the Galactus trilogy, Captain America’s origin, Silver Star, OMAC, and even Thundarr the Barbarian are among the thousands of tales he spun solo or with collaborators. But the greatest Kirby story is the…
Health and Inclusivity: Embracing the New in SCHOOL FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL GIRLS
Adjustment is basically a synonym for adolescence. In Jeremy Whitley, Jamie Noguchi, Shannon Lilly, and Wilson Ramos Jr.’s School for Extraterrestrial Girls, Tara has to make some adjustments that neither she nor we would ever expect. In a matter of moments, Tara finds out she isn’t human, like at all, the people who raised her…
#MakeComics: Writer and Artist Andi Watson
Comicosity is picking the brains of a pro who is killing it in the comics industry, and for this round I was lucky enough to talk to Andi Watson! Andi is the creator of the upcoming Kerry and the Knight of the Forest (July 2020), The Book Tour (November 2020), Glister, Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula,…
Anatomy of a Panel: Alex Sanchez Brings YOU BROUGHT ME THE OCEAN
Comics history is intermedial, seeing its evolution as a journey of creative cross-pollinations with stage, photographic, musical, film, animation, radio, and long and short form prose narrative arts. Along with this history, there have been notable creator cross-overs and bi-directional cross-flows. From comics to long form narrative fiction we have notables like Stan Lee, Alan…
Preserved in Art: THE MASSACRE OF BLACK WALL STREET and Historic Responsibility
I have vacillated on how to handle my inner desire to comment on the death of George Floyd. In many ways, I acknowledge this is a kind of privilege because my voice, in relation to the pain running through Black America, is not one I feel needs to be heard. What people need, and even…