News for
American Splendor (2003) More at IMDb Pro »

4 articles from 2008

21 September 2008 4:46 AM, PDT | From Comicmix.com | See recent Comicmix news

“Spain” Rodriquez and “Che” Guevara. Manuel and Ernesto. Two legends, one living, the other, well, not so much.

Spain has been a cartoonist for more than 40 years, one of the first and most visible and influential storytellers of the underground comix movement. While others were preoccupied (often brilliantly) with their X-rated tributes to Harvey Kurtzman, Max Fleischer and other visionaries of their childhood, Spain was telling adventure stories of urban America, often featuring his character Trashman. His works have a strong left-wing tilt. He continues to be active, contributing to American Splendor, Blab! and Tikkun, and he produced the highly acclaimed graphic novel Nightmare Alley for Fantagraphics. He’s been fairly active in recent years on the comics convention circuit, often appearing with S. Clay Wilson.

Che was a handsome medical doctor (specializing in leprosy) and revolutionary, part of the insurgency force that overthrew the Cuban puppet dictator Fulgencio Batista and his American mobster masters,

Mike Gold

14 September 2008 10:45 AM, PDT | From Comicmix.com | See recent Comicmix news

Help me Wikipedia, you’re my only hope! What are webcomics?

Oh, okay. They’re comics published on the web. That was easy. What else have we got? Over 18,000 exist, few are self-sustaining, blah blah blah, some are like newspaper comics and some are like graphic novels, yadda yadda yadda, sometimes use sprites, pixels, photos or 3D Poser art. Some are funny, some are not; and they cover a wide variety of genres.

But really, what are webcomics? “Webcomics” is the collective name we’ve given to sequential art that appears online. Scott Kurtz’s PvP is a webcomic, as is Scott McCloud’s Zot!, but so are the reprints available from Marvel Digital Comics and the online For Better or for Worse strips. Same name, wildly different products: Kinda like comparing a 1940s Superman story with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman or Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor. They’re all

Chuck Rozakis

9 September 2008 4:04 PM, PDT | From Comicmix.com | See recent Comicmix news

Harvey Pekar: Conversations is a new collection of interviews with the celebrated graphic novelist.  Now available from the University Press of Mississippi, the book spans 25 years of interviews that have been drawn from a wide variety of places, from fanzines and radio to The Washington Post. The book was assembled by Mike Rhode who is editor International Journal of Comic Art and blogs about comics.

The creator American Splendor and subject of a biopic, Pekar has a lot of conversations about life in this country that make for fascinating reading.  The 240-page book comes with 20 illustrations and is available in a $50 hardcover or $22 paperback.

Robert Greenberger

29 August 2008 3:04 AM, PDT | From MovieBlog.Ugo.com | See recent Ugo MovieBlog news

The new indie production company Werc Werk Works has stepped in to fully finance and produce writer-director Todd Solondz’s next film, an untitled part-sequel, part-companion piece to his controversial dark comedy “Happiness," says Variety.  Founded by Elizabeth Redleaf and producer Christine Kunewa Walker ("American Splendor,” “Factotum"), the company will initially produce three to four films a year. Solondz wrote the screenplay, which revolves around a group of struggling individuals. struggling to find a place for themselves in an unpredictable and volatile world. The narrative is told through a series of intersecting love stories.; the past haunts the present and imperils the future: ghosts circle and loom, trouble and console. The project has been incubating for years, with Emma Thompson, Demi Moore and Paul Reubens rumored to be attached. “Happiness," which featured themes of child molestation and rape, initially received an Nc-17 from the MPAA board but was eventually released unrated.

4 articles from 2008