Most of us working here on ULYSSES “SEEN” are based in Philadelphia, just a short ride into the Super-City. Wish I could be on-hand for this presentation there tonight though, and I encourage any friends and fellow cartoonists in the city to check it out;

The New York Center for Independent Publishing is hosting a roundtable discussion tonight “on how comics culture has promoted potent and memorable images of New York to readers worldwide.” The talk will be moderated by Peter Gutiérrez and includes Danny Fingeroth, Gene Kannenberg Jr. (who’s reviews will now be a regular feature on our ULYSSES “SEEN”  blog), Frank Tieri and Billy Tucci. Here’s a longer description of the event from Gene’s own blog with the “where, when and how much.” Stop by and remind the guys that NYC isn’t the only exciting spot in America for making comix. I would myself, but I’m stuck here in Philadelphia drawing Mr. Bloom!

-Rob

The Art of Ditko, by Craig Yoe. Introduction by Stan Lee. Yoe Books – IDW, 2009. ISBN 978-1600105425 (hc). 208pp.

Review by Gene Kannenberg, Jr.

Steve Ditko is best-known as the artist and co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange for Marvel Comics in the 1960s, his lithe, angular figures (with their expressive hands) defining those characters to this day. Comics cognoscenti also know him for various other superhero work at Marvel, DC Comics and Charlton Comics; his supernatural tales for various publishers, including Warren Publishing; and, most notoriously, his creator-owned work like Mr. A., based on the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand.

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I was beginning to despair that no one quite understood or wanted to understand my last post on the myriad problems with comics (web or otherwise) – that is until one commentator (and collaborator on this site) put his finger on the problem in regard a review of Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. Well not just a finger – to my mind he hammered home another nail in the coffin of the comicbook medium. The comment by Chad Rutkowski is here. Although it doesn’t say everything that needs to be said it does give a great big clue as to what the outside world thinks of comix. That outside view is almost certainly more trustworthy than any view held by long-time fans of the medium like myself.
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Last time in “Seen” in Context I pondered the love and the money behind what we currently think of as webcomics. I’ve argued before and elsewhere the merits or lack thereof of even calling them webcomics because of the negative associations that word has, so I won’t go into that too much here. Though you might have noticed we occasionally use an alternative spelling (webcomix) to imply I suppose a more independently minded and mature audience. I accept that, even if it still draws more associations with The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers than it might with Asterios Polyp.

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If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, what is writing about a comic about an architect? A damned difficult business, if that book is David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp. A bravura piece of formalist comics storytelling, Asterios Polyp is nevertheless a story rich in heart. Its eponymous “hero” is buffeted about by fate, taken for a turn on Fortune’s wheel, tested like Job, and ultimately found – ah, but that would be telling. Suffice it to say that Mazzucchelli takes a character who is, at first glance, a smug, self-absorbed ass, and slowly reveals depths to his character which make you at least pause to reconsider your initial impressions.

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