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Dash Shaw

Comics

Leaping Tall Buildings: Portraits of Masters of American Comics

By Emily Temple on

You may think you know the men and women behind your favorite superheroes, but of course, there’s yet another man behind Clark Kent — his creator. PowerHouse Books’s beautiful new book Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics celebrates one of the essential American art forms with interviews with and portraits of some of the all-time greats of American comics, from Stan Lee to Art Spiegelman, mixing in some newer — but no less phenomenal — faces as well. Click through to see a few elegant, revealing, and whimsical portraits of some of the true giants of American comics that we excerpted from the book, as well as a few choice quotes from their interviews, and if you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to check out the book’s launch event on April 14 at The powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn. … Read More

Books

10 Disturbingly Brilliant Graphic Novels

By Emily Temple on

Art Spiegelman’s MetaMaus: A Look Inside a Modern Classic hits shelves this week, and being huge fans of Spiegelman (and particularly Maus) we couldn’t be more excited. First published twenty-five years ago, Maus has become a modern classic, though it is at times a difficult and disturbing novel. MetaMaus delves into the history of the book with hundreds of pages of answered questions and supporting information and is sure to satiate any fan — at least for a while. If you’re anything like us, you’ll need something to keep your graphic novel kick going when you come up for air, so we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite disturbingly brilliant graphic novels, including the famous Maus. Click through to see our picks, and let us know if we’ve missed any of your favorites in the comments. … Read More

Art

Dash Shaw Adapts Blind Date Into a Comic

By Sam Schlinkert on

Cartoonist Dash Shaw has a thing for the reality TV show Blind Date — and now he has adapted two episodes into comics. As Shaw explains in a blog post on his website, he’s fascinated with the simple story structure of the show, featuring people who obviously know they’re on TV, but don’t have a script to go from.

As an example, he points to a scene in the first episode where a man suggests that he and his date should venture into the hot tub because “it’s the best thing for the lower back.” Shaw explains, “Obviously, he knows that he’s on Blind Date and people on Blind Date go into hot tubs. She knows this too. But, he has, himself, improvised his reason for going to the hot tub in the date that he’s performing for us. Of course, she agrees.”

Shaw also cites the improvised camera angle as an inspiration for his drawings. Click through to check out panels from Blind Date 1, which appeared in Mome, a comic anthology. … Read More