Culture

Somehow we missed this piece by Bobby Timony when it went up but here at the beat we never miss a chance to big up The Rescue Rangers. Seriously how great would this team be?

If there's one trend we've noticed growing over the years its the use of graphic novels as teaching tools—on the must basic level, comics are now recognized as a way to get reluctant readers to get started reading. On a larger level, comics are being used as a general teaching tool. Josh Elder's Reading with Pictures organization has been promoting this idea and cataloging the use of comics in the classroom. It's not just the visceral appeal of colorful pictures that puts comics over—some think that the verbal-visual blend is the future of literacy, and comics could potentially be on the forefront of that.

In 2008, the Siegel family won a historic courtroom victory. So why did they risk it all on an appeal? An encounter between Jerry Siegel's widow, Joanne,  and Super Boys author Brad Ricca provides a telling clue.

In the past cosmetics giant M.A.C. has had great success with a DC-inspired line, and last summer a collaboration with Archie Comics was announced. Well, the product shots are in, and girls, you will look as stunning as Veronica and radiant as Betty in these shades. Put us down for Daddy's Little Girl lipstick and Double Trouble nail polish! And that tote! Totes to die for!

Art comix publisher PictureBox has announced a new line: Ten Cent Manga, which will be curated by manga exert Ryan Holmberg (you can read some of his insightful manga writing at The Comics Journal.) We're told the line will include "famous titles by superstars, as well as single-artist volumes and anthologies of comics by forgotten geniuses."

Okay, it’s not a comic. But it is a lavishly illustrated and pleasingly offbeat childrens’ book by the great comics and prose writer Neil...

Research for Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story has dug up a lot of long-forgotten dirt, but here's a particularly sad one:Marvel selling art by Romita, Sinott, Kane, Sal Buscema and more to a Winnipeg art gallery for $1000:

The first ever Black Comic Book Festival was held on Saturday January 12, 2013 at The Schomburg Center For Research in Black Culture, located in the heart of Harlem in New York City. The festival, which was presented by The Schomburg Junior Scholars and Dr. Jonathan Gayles, celebrates artists, writers, and fictional characters of African descent. Although I have passed by before, this event was my first introduction to the Schomburg Center which is a part of the New York Library. The show was free and open to anyone.

For those who don't herd sacred cows, Tucker Stone's weekly comcis reviews at TCJ are always worth a read, but especially because you might miss things like him highlighting a panel of a happy space toilet from a recent issue of THE HIGH WAYS by John Byrne.

Before "meta" was physical, before Modernism became Posted, before Art Popped, cartoonists drew stories about cartoonists and cartooning! Some of it was autobiographical (or possibly...

Among the many thoughtful questions raised in my discussion with the Superman Homepage earlier this week was whether the Siegel lawsuit prompted changes to Superman's uniform....

The 2013 GLAAD Award nominees recognizing media for outstanding images of the LGBT community have been unveiled and they are: OUTSTANDING COMIC BOOK Astonishing X-Men by...