by Sam Costello

Consumed – David Cronenberg

by

Consumed’s treatment of exotic and unusual STDs, the line between mental illness and unpleasant insight, uneasy sex, and gore is assured and well executed.

Wolf in White Van – John Darnielle

by

It is about life being hard, getting much worse, and then living with the practically unthinkable. Wolf in White Van is a tragedy.

Ti West’s The Sacrament and the Dangers of Fictionalized Horror

by

If the movie that employs that real-life horror hews so closely to the facts that it’s practically a dramatization, tension is bled out and the scares telegraphed by history.

Can Kickstarter and Patreon Help Comics Makers Make a Living?

by

The time for bemoaning the vanished roles once served by publishers is clearly past. Business has changed; It’s not changing back. Would we even want it to?

The Fragile Business of Indie Comics

by

Upon how many people does the entire indie comics publishing business truly depend? A dozen? Two dozen? Imagine if the entire literary fiction industry turned on the fortunes of such a small number of people. It’s almost inconceivable.

Nate Powell

w/

Making intimate, heartfelt comics that convey one’s concerns and reveal different ways of viewing the world are part of the fabric woven by art, by literature.

Arguing for the Primacy of the Author in Comics

by

From a trip to a comics shop, it would be easy to conclude that comic book characters are more important than the people crafting their adventures. Except they aren’t.

The Strange Tale of Panorama Island – Suehiro Maruo

by

Maruo, known for his transgressive, disturbing comics, passes on the opportunity to match Rampo’s baroque flourishes with modern outrages and plays things surprisingly safe.

Ben H. Winters

w/

All our lives will end one day, maybe sooner than we’d like, and yet we abide by laws, written and unwritten.

10 Most Anticipated Comics of 2013

by

With comics from Suchiro Maruo, Grant Morrison, Emily Carroll, and many more.