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Construction ahead

Posted by admin on June 18th, 2010 at 1:33 PM

Were going to be working on the site for the next day or two, and there will be periods of downtime for one or more portions of TCJ.com along the way. Don’t panic! We’ll be back online at full strength shortly (including the full restoration of comments to the Hooded Utilitarian and GutterGeek websites).

Al Williamson Interview conducted by Steve Ringgenberg (Part One of Two)

Posted by admin on June 18th, 2010 at 12:01 AM

In the first of two parts (with Part Two slated to run Monday), reprinted from TCJ, #90 (May 1984), Al Williamson and Steve Ringgenberg talk about the former’s EC days, Harvey Kurtzman, working on the newspaper strips Secret Agent X-9, collaboration, the Flash Gordon comic and movie, Archie Goodwin and much more.

BL Roundtable: Conclusions: Ceci n’est pas une tautology by “Kinukitty”

Posted by admin on June 11th, 2010 at 12:02 AM

The following is neither a joke nor as blindingly obvious as one might initially think: Yaoi fans love gay men. For what it’s worth. And what is it worth? I have wondered. On the one hand – love. Good! On the other hand, love because of sexual preference. Creepy. It isn’t possible to objectify someone respectfully.

We try, though.

Opening shots by Shaenon Garrity, Noah Berlatsky and Kinukitty; Sidebar by Dirk Deppey; and conclusions by Berlatsky, Garrity and Deppey.

Administrator’s note

Posted by admin on June 10th, 2010 at 12:30 AM

Technical difficulties have temporarily waylaid posting on GutterGeeks and The Hooded Utilitarian. Our crack team of technicians are currently hard at work setting things to right, and we hope to have everything again running smoothly in the not-too-distant future. All apologies to you (and to the good folks behind our sister sites) for the delay.

BL Roundtable: Anthropologize Me One More Time, Baby by “Kinukitty”

Posted by admin on June 9th, 2010 at 12:05 AM

In the first part of a three-part roundtable (with opening shots on Wednesday, a sidebar on Thursday, and conclusions on Friday), “Kinukitty” offers a yaoi fanfic writer’s perspective on Boys’ Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre, Antonia Levi, Mark McHarry, and Dru Pagliassotti, editors (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. Inc., 2010)

The Best American Comics Criticism Discussion

Posted by admin on June 6th, 2010 at 12:01 AM

For Sunday-morning listening: On May 27, 2010, editor Ben Schwartz and contributors R. Fiore (The Comics Journal, tcj.com), Brian Doherty (Reason), Sammy Harkham (Kramers Ergot) and Joe Matt (Spent) discussed the book The Best American Comics Criticism. This recording is courtesy of Skylight Books.

Frazetta in Retrospect by Greg Cwiklik

Posted by admin on May 28th, 2010 at 12:01 AM

Frank Frazetta was one of those lucky individuals born with such a surfeit of natural talent, as to make those less gifted gnash their teeth at the cosmic unfairness of it all. Nor was he overly modest regarding his abilities. Frazetta was possessed of a virtuosic style of rendering: Be it with pen and ink or oil paint or watercolor, it was quite unlike anyone else’s.

Manga 2.0: Yoshitoshi ABe’s Digital Dojinshi by Jason Thompson

Posted by admin on May 18th, 2010 at 9:00 AM

Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide, reviews both Yoshitoshi ABe’s I am an Alien. I have a Question., and the mode of delivery, as it’s only available in the U.S. via the iPhone and the Kindle; “As the traditional publisher-centric, print-oriented model of manga dries up, artists like ABe may be the ones best positioned to stay on their feet.”

Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF) Preview

Posted by admin on April 30th, 2010 at 12:05 AM

The 7th annual Toronto Comic Arts Festival will be held May 8th and 9th 2010 at the Toronto Reference Library in Toronto, Canada. Sponsored in part by the Toronto Public Libraries and comic retail giant The Beguiling, the free festival focuses particularly on the art form of comics as well as the creators, aiming to open and encourage dialogues between the creator and the community. Last year, the festival drew 10,500 attendees and 300 exhibitors from several countries and this year will likely see more. Featured guests include Jeff Lemire, James Sturm, Dash Shaw, Jim Woodring, Paul Pope, Daniel Clowes and Charles Vess.

RASL #1-7 review by Ian Burns

Posted by admin on April 29th, 2010 at 12:01 AM

An art thief named RASL hops through dimensional barriers, hiding out on various parallel worlds. Because he only “drifts” laterally, or without being displaced in space and time, RASL operates in the same geographical and temporal setting in each dimension. The worlds are almost identical to our own (let’s call it “A”), and any inconsistencies lie hidden in pop-cultural minutiae: perhaps McDonald’s of Earth A is McDaniel’s on Earth B, on Earth C Apple Inc. just released their new iTab or, as in RASL #1, the Bob Dylan of Earth A isn’t Bob Dylan on another. Therefore, because of these trivial differences, RASL can easily acclimate to each parallel world. If trans-dimensional travel provides RASL with a hideout only, is it really necessary? If RASL operated in the same town on the same world would the story lose anything?