Publisher ‘profoundly sorry’ for hurt caused by Spirou and the Blue Gorgon as it recalls 30,000 copies from shops
A comic book has been withdrawn from sale by its Belgian publisher after an outcry over racist depictions of black people and “hyper-sexualised” images of women.
The publisher Dupuis announced that its graphic novel, Spirou and the Blue Gorgon, would be removed from shops after the book caused a storm on social media.
Continue reading...World Without End topped bestseller lists but was criticised for embracing nuclear power
In 2019, France’s best known climate expert sat down to work with its most feted graphic novelist. The result? Perhaps the most terrifying comic ever drawn.
Part history, part analysis, part vision for the future, World Without End weaves the story of humanity’s rapacious appetite for fossil fuel energy, how it has made possible the society people take for granted, and its disastrous effects on the climate.
Continue reading...Japanese artist remembered for his ‘unique world of creation’ including comic series that spawned films, video games and TV series
Akira Toriyama, the influential Japanese manga artist who created the Dragon Ball series, has died at the age of 68.
He died on 1 March from an acute subdural haematoma. The news was confirmed by Bird Studio, the manga company that Toriyama founded in 1983.
Continue reading...The two actors will be joined by The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Stranger Things breakout Joseph Quinn
Marvel has announced the cast for its much-anticipated reboot of Fantastic Four: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn.
The film, about a quartet of superheroes with different powers, has been dated for 25 July 2025.
Continue reading...The Abyss of Forgetting chronicles a woman’s struggle to find remains of her father who was murdered after civil war
At the beginning of the new Spanish graphic novel El abismo del olvido (The Abyss of Forgetting), a murdered man climbs out of his grave, lights a cigarette and takes stock of the past eight decades. “When western archaeologists opened the tombs of ancient Egypt, it was said that the souls of their occupants had been freed after millennia of silence,” he says. “In a way, the same thing is happening to us. All we did was wait in silence for more than 70 years.”
José Celda – Pepe to his friends – was shot dead against a wall in the small Valencian town of Paterna at five in the afternoon on 14 September 1940. The 45-year-old farmer, whose body was buried in a mass grave, was one of the thousands of represaliados, or victims of reprisals, who were murdered by the Franco regime well after the end of the civil war in April 1939.
Continue reading...When Joe Sacco created Palestine no one knew what ‘comics journalism’ was. Now his pioneering book has eager new readers
An acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel about Gaza, which pioneered the medium of “comics journalism”, has been rushed back into print after surging demand since the fresh outbreak of the conflict two months ago.
Palestine, by Joe Sacco, was originally released in comic book form by the American publisher Fantagraphics 30 years ago, then published as a single volume by the company, and by Jonathan Cape in the UK in 2003.
Continue reading...The disappearance of a statue of the comic book artist in his Belgian birthplace was thought to be an act of decolonisation
It would have been a suitable assignment for Tintin, the intrepid Belgian boy reporter and his multi-talented, intuitive dog, Snowy.
Across Brussels, where Hergé, the creator of the eponymous comic books, was born, there are constant reminders of one of its most famous exports. A giant image of the character clinging to the back of a steam train from the book Tintin in America adorns one of the exits from the city’s Eurostar station, while a mural of Tintin, his seafaring friend Captain Haddock and Snowy covers the gable end of a house just over a mile away, surviving graffiti and vandalism.
Continue reading...Once-popular cartoon scrapped from hundreds of papers after Scott Adams calls Black people a ‘hate group’ on his YouTube show
The comic strip Dilbert has been dropped from multiple US newspapers in response to racist comments by its creator, Scott Adams, who called Black Americans a “hate group” and urged white people to “get the hell away” from Black people in a YouTube video.
Adams’s comments on 22 February came in response to a conservative organization’s poll which appeared to show that 26% of Black respondents said they disagreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white”. Another 21% said they were not sure.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting
Continue reading...Belgian cartoonist’s black and white artwork from 1942 was used for the cover of Tintin in America
An artwork by Tintin creator Hergé has set the world record for the most valuable original black and white drawing by the artist after selling at auction for more than €2m.
The drawing, Tintin in America – created in 1942 – was used for the colour edition of the Belgian cartoonist’s 1946 book of the same name.
Continue reading...City authorities hope to soothe those who are ‘deeply shocked’ by the comic-strip trail of Belgium’s rich history
In the centre of Brussels, close to the monumental Palais de Justice, is a brightly coloured cartoon painted down a strip of a scruffy four-storey building. Playing on the stories of crime and judgment unfolding in the nearby courtrooms, the mural shows heaven and hell. In the blue skies, a caricatured police officer flies over a topless woman sunbathing, while a white officer eyes a black man; down below, the red-tailed devil looks grumpy.
The work, from a popular cartoon that first appeared in the 1980s, is just one of 68 murals celebrating Belgium’s rich history of comic strips, or bandes dessinées, including figures such as Tintin, Lucky Luke and the Smurfs.
Continue reading...‘What I have lived, the youth is living now,’ says Marjane Satrapi, whose graphic novel depicted girl’s life in 1979 Islamic revolution
The creator of Persepolis, the acclaimed graphic novel depicting the childhood of an Iranian girl during and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that was made into an Oscar-nominated movie, has said today’s protesters are “beautiful and inspiring”.
History was repeating itself in the protests sweeping across the country, Marjane Satrapi told the Guardian. “What I have lived, the youth is living now. My hope is that the situation will go towards something beautiful that is called freedom and democracy.
Persepolis book art will be auctioned on 19-25 October as part of Sotheby’s online 20th century art/Middle East sale. The works will be exhibited in Sotheby’s London galleries from 21 October
Continue reading...Altopía imagines the bustling working-class city that overlooks neighbouring La Paz in 2053 – with coca-chewing cyborgs and minibuses with legs
Travellers flying into the Bolivian capital of La Paz land in El Alto: a working-class, Indigenous city of countless terracotta houses. Most visitors pay it little attention as the taxi whisks them down to La Paz.
But this one-time satellite city has now outgrown the political capital – and many see it as a symbol of the country’s future.
Continue reading...Kazuki Takahashi found in snorkelling gear floating in the sea off coast of Okinawa, reports say
A Japanese artist who created the hit manga comic series Yu-Gi-Oh!, which spawned a worldwide media franchise including a trading card game, has been found dead in the sea, according to media reports.
Kazuki Takahashi, 60, whose real first name was Kazuo, was discovered wearing snorkelling gear and floating in the sea near Nago, in the southern island prefecture of Okinawa, early on Wednesday and identified a day later, the NHK public broadcaster reported.
Continue reading...A funeral in Germany provides the setting for our winning story in this year’s Cape/Observer/Comica award for emerging cartoonists. It was a year of fierce competition – and much pandemic-fuelled anxiety
There can’t be many things more cheering on a dark January night than having to tell someone they’ve won a prize, and when I telephone Astrid Goldsmith to give her just such a bit of good news, her reaction is everything I hoped it would be. For a while, Goldsmith, an animator who lives in Folkestone where she makes stop-motion films in her garage, struggles to speak in full sentences. She is just so thrilled. “That is the greatest compliment,” she says, when I tell her that her story, A Funeral in Freiburg, the winner of this year’s Observer/Jonathan Cape graphic short story prize, brings to mind the work of that genius Posy Simmonds. “I love her tone. I always have.”
Goldsmith’s entry is based on a real event: the funeral of her paternal grandmother in Germany in 2015. “The outrage had been percolating for a while,” she says, with a laugh. “But I only came to write it after my first baby was born, while I was breastfeeding: I drew it all on one of those trays with arms that invalids use in bed.” Her story revolves around the difficulties involved in organising a Jewish funeral service in a place – Freiburg, in the Black Forest – where the rabbi has been imprisoned for embezzlement, and the Jewish cemetery is full. The woman in charge is, very difficult, refusing even to believe that Gisela Goldschmidt was really Jewish (at the age of 18, Astrid’s grandmother fled Germany for Zimbabwe, only returning after the war was over). Her rules and regulations, not to mention her insistence on the performance of certain rituals, infuriate the Goldsmith family. But what choice do they have? It is a case of her way, or no proper funeral at all.
Continue reading...Thirty years after his death, the rich life of the Spanish Gypsy singer is depicted through 10 illustrated episodes
In death, as in life, the legendary flamenco singer Camarón de la Isla continues to confound expectations, cross borders and demand that his blistered and blistering voice be heard.
The revered, beloved and sometimes controversial cantaor died of lung cancer in July 1992, aged just 41. But as the 30th anniversary of his death looms, the singer born José Monge Cruz is being reincarnated in the black-and-white pages of a new graphic novel intended as a homage to Camarón, the music he created and the comic book itself.
Continue reading...Did Dark Reign foresee Trump? Was Iron Man about US military might? Who was Unbeatable Squirrel Girl – and was her superpower really non-violent conflict resolution? Only one man knows …
This should not be too hard, I thought, as long as I stay disciplined. All I have to do is read 27,000 comic books, then write about them. I had just signed a contract to write All of the Marvels, a book about reading every superhero story Marvel has published since 1961 as one single gigantic narrative. The Marvel story is omnipresent – its characters are everywhere, in movies, on television, even gracing shampoo bottles and bags of salad – yet also unknowable. It purports to be one big story: any episode can refer to, and be compatible with, any earlier one. But not even the people telling the story have read the whole thing. That’s not how it was meant to be experienced.
I did not, however, read six decades of stories in order. That would have been unbearable – and it is one of the two mistakes Marvel-curious readers often make. It is a surefire route to boredom and frustration as the fun lies in following your whims. The other error is trying to cherrypick the greatest hits, the pivotal single issues. Taken in isolation, these are peaks without mountain ranges. Their dramatic power comes from their context.
Continue reading...The comics giant has issued lawsuits in a bid to hold on to the copyright of heroes including Spider-Man and Iron Man
Marvel has filed a series of lawsuits in a bid to retain full control of characters including Spider-Man and Iron Man.
The complaints, which were obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, came after the estate of the late comic book artist Steve Ditko filed a notice of termination with the US Copyright Office for the copyright of Spider-Man and Dr Strange. Both are currently held by Marvel Entertainment, but the estate of Ditko, who co-created both characters with the late Stan Lee, is looking to terminate the grant of copyright to Marvel by June 2023 through a clause in US copyright law.
Continue reading...As the comics giants make billions from their storylines and characters, writers and artists are speaking out about their struggles for fair payment
Watch any superhero movie and you will see a credit along the lines of “based on the comic book created by”, usually with the name of a beloved and/or long-dead writer or artist. But deep, deep in the credits scroll, you will also see “special thanks” to a long roster of comic book talent, most of them still alive, whose work forms the skeleton and musculature of the movie you just watched. Scenes storyboarded directly from Batman comics by Frank Miller; character arcs out of Thor comics by Walt Simonson; entire franchises, such as the Avengers films or Disney+ spinoff The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, that couldn’t exist without the likes of Kurt Busiek or Ed Brubaker.
The “big two” comic companies – Marvel and DC - may pretend they’ve tapped into some timeless part of the human psyche with characters such as Superman and the Incredible Hulk, but the truth is that their most popular stories have been carefully stewarded through the decades by individual artists and writers. But how much of, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) $20bn-plus box office gross went to those who created the stories and characters in it? How are the unknown faces behind their biggest successes being treated?
Continue reading...The New Yorker cartoonist’s debut graphic novel In follows an aimless artist who struggles to connect with others. He talks about his own experiences, and his love for drawing ‘characterful’ pigeons
One morning this week, Will McPhail went out to buy a coffee. While fishing for his keys, he rested the takeaway cup on the roof of his car. A passerby spotted him.
“Oof,” the man said, with a convivial, wotcha-cobber gesture at the coffee. “Don’t drive off!”
Continue reading...Caped Crusader battles villains across the globe in Batman: the World – but he’s in Spain to relax
Given his 82 long years of rooftop vigilantism, the dank, lonely surroundings of his home office – not to mention the tickly throat irritation caused by all those growled threats – few would begrudge Batman some sun, a nice paella and a cheeky mid-morning pint. Or five.
Benidorm, fortunately, is only too happy to oblige. The eastern Spanish resort is among the exotic locations that feature in Batman: the World, a new global anthology to be published by DC Comics in September.
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