Benjamin Fraser. Ben Katchor. University Press of Mississippi, 2023. https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/B/Ben-Katchor3 reviewed by Matt Reingold             Benjamin Fraser’s recent biography of American cartoonist Ben Katchor is the first book to explore Katchor’s lengthy career and vast catalogue. Much like his previously published monograph Visible Cities, Global Comics (University Press of Mississippi, 2019), Fraser draws upon his own training as an urban geographer to consider the ways that cities take on a life of their own.   ..read more

"How I Became a Herstorian," IJOCA 4:1, pp. 78-83, Spring 2002.   ..read more

Bob Beerbohm:  1952-2024 John A. Lent   On March 14, I was pondering who should be invited to write about their experiences as a pioneer in comics scholarship for the ongoing series in the International Journal of Comic Art. Paul Gravett and Craig Yoe were thought of again; they had been asked previously but never got around to putting their remembrances on paper. And, then, Bob Beerbohm came to mind, probably prompted by my just having read and reviewed Alex Beringer’s Lost Literacies, for CHOICE. Beringer talked a bit about Bob and his revelations about 19th Century comics that exi ..read more

Punisher: Intellect Year: 2023  It is almost a cliche to talk about how comics studies as a field has grown. There are numerous books being released almost every month, more than one can read to be updated about the latest research - a very different scenario from 20 years ago when one could possibly read every new book to keep up with the extent literature. But the more the merrier. The diversity of the field can only be a good thing. Other than specific author studies (Brannon Costello on Howard Chaykin; Charles Hatfield on Jack Kirby), gendered readings (Ramzi Fawaz on The New Mutan ..read more

by CT Lim I first encountered the cartoons of Shamsuddin H. Akib (1933 - 2024) in 1995 when I was researching on the history of political cartoons in The Straits Times. Better known as Sham, he contributed cartoons to The Straits Times in the late 1970s. By that time, political cartooning had more or less come to standstill in the newspapers. While political cartooning was vibrant in the postwar years during the twilight years of British colonial rule, once Singapore became independent in 1965, political cartoons would appear less and less in the newspapers as the mass media was conscripted ..read more

CT Lim is reporting on Facebook that Singaporean cartoonist Shamsuddin H. Akib AKA Sham (1933-2024) has passed away. We've reached out to him asking for more details to update this blog post. This article provides information on Sham's cartooning career. Spectator Sport: The Cartoons of Sham's Saturday Smile [Shamsuddin H Akib, Singapore] Justin Zhuang January 2, 2018 http://justinzhuang.com/posts/shams-saturday-smile-one-illustrators-spectator-sport ..read more

Now that the book is out, we'd like to remind you that Hélène Tison did a couple of pieces for us earlier this year, which will also appear in print in a month or so. "The Story of the Holocaust Is Not Pretty, And It's Not Redemptive": An Interview with Leela Corman https://ijoca.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-story-of-holocaust-is-not-pretty.html "The look of a ghost with ashes in her shoes." Review of Leela Corman's Victory Parade by Hélène Tison https://ijoca.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-look-of-ghost-with-ashes-in-her.html ..read more

  reviewed by Charles W. Henebry, Boston University Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration by Ytasha L. Womack. New York: Epic Ink, 2023. 176pp. https://www.quarto.com/books/9780760375617/black-panther Judging by its cover, lavish illustrations, and meager page count, you wouldn’t think Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration lived up to the scholarly ambitions of its title. Yet Womack manages to pack a surprising wealth of cultural references and oral history into this slender volume. Having myself analyzed the Panther by reference to the aims of his creators, I was fascinated by Woma ..read more

Two volumes, 1200 pages in total, are available at the following links: https://www.lulu.com/shop/tony-r-rose-and-john-a-lent-and-michael-rhode/comics-research-bibliography-2023-print-edition-vol-1/paperback/product-dynrrj4.html?page=1&pageSize=4 https://www.lulu.com/shop/tony-r-rose-and-john-a-lent-and-michael-rhode/comics-research-bibliography-2023-print-edition-vol-2/paperback/product-p6kddq2.html?page=1&pageSize=4 ..read more

So Angouleme Comics Festival / France / possibly most of Europe continues to focus on manga. It did not happen overnight and there was backlash. The same backlash happened in the Philippines in the 1990s but over time, manga style was accepted in most countries like in the case of Malaysia.  I wrote about the Philippines' response to manga here. https://singaporecomix.blogspot.com/2013/02/manga-and-philippines.html https://singaporecomix.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-complex-relationship.html And how Malaysian comic artists have also embraced manga style back in the 2000s.  https ..read more