Maternal wha?

Ah, kids. Oh aren’t they cute? Oh aren’t they adorable with their grubby little hands and feet and their persistant questions? Oh isn’t it just DARLING how they dribble and drool on every given surface at any given time??

Meh.

The funny pages aren’t lacking in the tots, in fact, there were a bunch of little trouble-makers for me to choose from for today’s child-themed post, where we take a look at these greasy, sticky and oftentimes seemingly devil-spawned little bundles

Book Review: American Widow

American Widow, penned by Alissa Torres and illustrated by Sung Yoon Choi, is a personal reflection on the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the aftereffects of that horrific event. Torres talks about her sudden transformation from pregnant wife to young widow following the death of her husband Eddie, who had been working at the Trade Center when it collapsed. In portraying her own experiences of that trying time, Torres is able to paint a general, sweeping picture of what it was like for the hundreds of families

Purple Tights and Engagement Rings

I’ll be honest, I don’t much like soap-opera comic strips, not like some people who are obsessed with the stuff. I don’t like being given my stories in measly instalments of two or three panels at a time and I find the pace of these comics – of the kind that would make snails look like the Duracell bunny in comparison – to be extremely tedious. The plots take ages to develop and you’re given such an inadequate glimpse into an already vague storyline at a time that it feels like a constant waiting game. That much patience is beyond me.

Book Review: Fart Party vol.1 & Fart Party vol.2

When my two volumes of Fart Party arrived in the post (they’re not available in stores in Sydney, but you can put in an order at the Atomic Books website) , I was ecstatic. I’ve been something of a fan of Julia Wertz’s work for years now and the Fart Party home page is one of the few sites I make sure to click onto every single time I’m online to check for updates (which, alas, are few and far between of late). I’ve looked all over for copies of the books – hoping I could procure them

Book Review: Persepolis

There’s very little I can say about Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return without gushing like an idiot. Drawn from Satrapi’s memories of growing up in her native Tehran, the graphic novel describes – from the intimate perspective of an insider – what it was like to live through the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the horrifying war with Iraq that followed. Satrapi, whose parents were both liberal Marxists, details the trials of an Iranian existence, where religion and politics are inescapable aspects of daily life. “Deep down I was very religious but as a family we were very modern and avant-garde.” (Satrapi p.6)

One of the most poignant features about Satrapi’s work is her ability to frame the contradictions that form part of Iranian society –

Another day, another dollar

And so, after that brief interlude where we mulled over the vast world of webcomics and other net-related paraphernalia, we return to what this blog was originally intended for – picking on syndicated funnies. Today’s post will center on comics that depict the working man in his various forms – whether white-collar or blue-collar or any other collar for that matter – and analyse the near-hits and the misses when it comes to office-humour.

Working It Out, 23/09/09

This Working It Out strip sees Mr Jamison in top form as he proceeds to negotiate a no-salary offer with a potential employee. While this is the least of the heinousness  that we’ve known 

New Frontiers: The Luxury of Profanity

One of the reasons why webcomics command such a large demographic today – besides the fact that they are generally more accessible – lies in the unrestricted nature of their content. While traditional funny-page fodder like Hagar and Blondie tended to be more “family-oriented”, often tiptoeing around certain subjects like sex, drugs, homosexuality and death, webcomics – not being under the same constraints of censorship – have the luxury of addressing these sensitive topics. Writer Steven Lacy says in an article: “What makes the webcomic idea so much more appealing is that, unlike the sanitized and watered-down stuff that you’ll find in the daily paper, comics online are much closer to what you would find in the alternative press – they’re not afraid to swear, be violent, weird, or frankly, make no sense whatsoever.”

Webcomics are usually based on a variety of specialized themes, designed to appeal to a particular group of people. In limiting their focus

New Frontiers: The Infinite Canvas

In hailing the changes that the evolution of the Internet would bring to comics, author and artist Scott McCloud, in 2000, introduced the idea of the “infinite canvas” in his book Reinventing Comics. This concept represented a breaking away from the traditional, constricting mould of printed comics towards what Scott believed to be the endless possibilities and flexibility that were inherent in a digital presence. He explains in a New York Times article: “No art form has lived in a smaller box than comics for the last hundred years. It’s time for comics to finally grow up and find the art beneath the craft….It’s time for comics to balance the scales, see the world and broaden its horizons.“

While he isn’t without his dissidents, many of Scott’s predictions have been realized in recent years. Webcomics, which started as an attempt to simulate printed comics in an online space,

Book Review: Fun Home

Fun Home – A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel is an evocative graphic memoir based on the author’s life and family. The novel consists of a charming blend of images and text, where the narrative serves as a running commentary on the illustrations. The style is compelling in its balance of mediums – by allowing the words to introduce and punctuate the images, the author has enabled the book to become an illustrated diary of sorts, documenting events and emotions. The artwork in itself is stunning – Bechdel’s choice of a limited color palette gives the images a  somber appearance which is in keeping with the story’s somewhat melancholy

Wedding Bells and Burning Questions

Archie comics made the news recently with the announcement that Archie would be proposing to Veronica in an upcoming issue. While the news might have mattered little to those unfamiliar with the series, to others it meant the end of the classic love triangle between all-American redhead Archie Andrews, girl-next-door Betty Cooper and catty rich-girl Veronica Lodge – that had lasted more than sixty years. Archie’s nuptial decision incited most long-time readers into a whirlwind – everyone had an opinion, and predictably, teams backing the Cooper and Lodge camp soon propped up on the Internet.