Thanks for parting the comics waters! I’m going to post some analyses of “The Dark Knight Returns,” and I’ll be curious to hear your opinion. Let’s turn Big Other into a comics blog!

The term “graphic novel” always left me feeling funny (and why do comics need to be “novels” to be taken seriously? why not graphic poems?). I understand why Eisner and Miller wanted to take comics (and their work) in that direction, but I prefer the term “comics” myself (a la Scott McCloud). There’s nothing to be ashamed of! Comics are awesome! (Well, except that most are garbage. But the form is awesome!)

Hopefully more soon. Cheers,
Adam

I will try others though. We just had Pekar here and I like some of his material.

Don’t know much about Miller or Sienkiewicz or genre comics in general (not nearly as much as I should).

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way is a surprisingly useful resource. It’s one of the few books that always sits beside my drawing table – and I never draw guys in spandex bodysuits. McCloud’s books are great references to – they have their limits theoretically (they insist of over-defined ‘systems’ and Aristotelian hierarchies), but they’ve done a lot to blow open the way we approach comics both as creators and readers, and more than any other books in recent history they’ve got people talking – lots of people, not just some small inner circle of otaku – about graphic storytelling.

You know, I’ve got I think close to a thousand comics from when I was a teenager. Back when Bill Sienkiewicz and Frank Miller tearing it up. What are they up to these days?

I’ve got McCloud’s book somewhere on my shelves. I used to have How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. I don’t know what happened to it though. Probably lent it to someone.

I hope you’ll do some more posts on comics.

By the way, some of the links aren’t working.