EC
It was, more than anything else, EC’s powerful horror comics that led to uproar and US Senate hearings in the ’50s – and for years afterwards, comics were aimed more squarely at children than any time before or since.
They don&#8[…]

The problem with any film of this second Narnian book is that — while it has strong scenes and beasts galore — the logic behind its structure is, more than anything else, Aslan Arses About (for c.1300 years). He’s not a tame lion, y[…]

The last item (bar a bonus insert) in this series was on European comics. Two of the all-time great children’s creators could have been covered there. It’s worth noting that comics have been a medium aimed overwhelmingly at children, espe[…]

i: i am rereadin THE SANTAROGA BARRIER by frank herbert ftb i am co-host of A BITE OF STARS A SLUG OF TIME AND THOU, and we need to start our homework for SERIES TWO
ii: i have probbly not reread it since i was in my teens (= the 70s what were we thi[…]

(I thought it was worth adding this review of a recent release as a supplement to the recent piece on old DC superhero comics).
The second Flash volume is, for me, the best Showcase* collection yet. I love Carmine Infantino’s art on these old c[…]

I remember long ago constantly being told that European comics was a mature artform for adults, to be envied. There is material like that, and material of the very highest quality – but my god there’s a gigantic amount of beautifully draw[…]

Another person who deserves his own entry in this series is Alan Moore, surely the most award-laden writer in the history of comics, and one of the most influential.
He first came to prominence in the early ’80s in Britain, with two great stori[…]

Well, the old avant-garde anyway – I’m out of touch these days, so apologies for talking about yesterday’s pioneers. Raw was a comic magazine, published in a variety of formats, which specialised in the strange and experimental, str[…]

War is not among my favourite genres, but it has been the subject matter for some great comics over the years. It’s also been the genre for probably the most successful British comics over the years, the apparently endless Commando series, whic[…]

Not exactly a style or genre, but this is one guy who is huge enough to need his own entry. In Japan he was called “the god of comics”, and his output and impact is unrivalled anywhere in the world. He produced over 150,000 pages in his l[…]