Sporadic Sequential
Monday, May 05, 2008
Tomine & Terror: Comics in The New Yorker

In addition to their glowing glowering review of Iron Man, the May 5th issue of The New Yorker had some other comic-related content as well.

First was this illustration by Adrian Tomine for an article on how actual residents of L.A.'s Skid Row are being cast as extras in an upcoming film about a musically gifted homeless man from that area.



Next was a piece profiling Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón, creators of The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. They were interviewed at NYCC, where they were attending a panel titled "AMERICA: Through the Eyes of the Graphic Novel," something I don't recall seeing anyone mention in their coverage of NYCC. (Then again, I didn't really read the NYCC reports that carefully, so it's possible someone did write about this and I simply missed it. After all, I missed Tom Spurgeon mentioning this same New Yorker piece a couple days ago.) I learned two interesting things from this article: (1) Jacobson and Colón have a follow-up book coming out in August, After 9/11: America's War on Terror (2001- ), which Jacobson says he hopes will remind readers "how much of what’s happened over the past six and a half years hasn’t really stayed with us." (2) Prior to the success of The 9/11 Report, Colón was working as "security guard on Long Island" at the age of seventy-two, which I found a bit depressing. Another reminder that a long and distinguished career in comics is no easy road to retirement. At least this case has a happier ending than most, with Jacobson and Colón finding fulfilling work in their field, even if it happened long after the comics "mainstream" had forgotten about them.

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