Comic Books

The best new graphic novels

Slide show: On subjects ranging from war and love to physics and prostitution, 10 dazzling new illustrated books SLIDE SHOW

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The best new graphic novels

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For every savvy comics fan there’s a reader who loved “Persepolis” or “Fun Home” but feels lost in the comics section of his or her local bookstore. This selection of 10 great “graphic novels” (an unfortunate term, since so many of the best works in the genre are nonfiction) published since the beginning of the year is for the occasional comics reader, a tip sheet on some of the best new work in the field.

With that in mind, these are books with reasonably complete narratives and a minimum of the following:

1. Superheroes: True, some die-hard fans will never tire of this motif, but for the rest of us the Burden of Specialness is like gum with all the flavor chewed out.

2. Scene after scene of characters in their mid-20s sitting around in cafes kvetching about their love lives.

3. Three dozen identical panels in which the schlubby protagonist stares off into the middle distance, followed by one nearly identical one in which he sighs.

4. Darkness, oh such very dark darkness. This quality is probably a lot more appealing if you live with one of those chirpy moms who’s always urging you to think positive.

Some of these books are sheer eye candy. Others are simply drawn yet emotionally and intellectually complex. (Nevertheless, it’s astonishing how much a gifted artist can convey with what at first may seem like a childish scrawl.) It’s an intriguingly international bunch, too, by artists hailing from Japan, Brazil, France and Canada, as well as the U.S., who have chosen subjects that are even wider-ranging. Physics, prostitution, arctic exploration, war, slavery, fate and the unfathomable mystery of ordinary city streets are only a few of the themes they tackle. Prepare to be dazzled.

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Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a senior writer for Salon. She is the author of "The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia" and has a Web site, magiciansbook.com.

How to make history, Jane Eyre and superheroes funny

Kate Beaton, creator of the comic "Hark! A Vagrant," on the art of telling jokes about things people take seriously

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How to make history, Jane Eyre and superheroes funnyKate Beaton

The characters in Kate Beaton’s hit webcomic, “Hark! A Vagrant,” are familiar, and also not. There are the three Brontë sisters, checking out surly guys: “So passionate!” “So mysterious!” “So brooding!” swoon Charlotte and Emily, while Anne Brontë (author of “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,” in case you didn’t know she existed), retorts, “If you like alcoholic dickbags!” “No wonder nobody buys your books,” hisses Charlotte. Inspector Javert from “Les Misérables” is detailed to the Bread Crimes Division. Raskolnikov tips off his own police nemesis by penning an Op-Ed titled “Murdering Old Ladies: Not Even a Big Deal.”

Beaton, a native of Nova Scotia who recently relocated to Brooklyn, N.Y., began writing comics about historical figures and characters from literature for her college newspaper; her first strip offered tips for surviving a Viking invasion of campus. “The response was way bigger than I ever imagined,” she said recently over lunch. “I knew that I had something.”

That something became a popular website and now a book, also titled “Hark! A Vagrant” (a line from an old comic), just published by Drawn and Quarterly. I sat down with Beaton to ask her about the art of being funny about history and books.

You were a history and anthropology major in college. Do you have a favorite historical period?

I gravitated toward the 18th and 19th centuries. It was a time of real change, especially for the lower classes and for women. The seeds of all of these movements were happening: workers revolting, unions starting, people breaking off from monarchies. It was action-packed, the birth of our modern society. Before that, it was, “If you’re poor, you’re poor. If you’re a woman — Sorry!”

What about favorite authors?

I love Shakespeare, and I love Dickens. He is one of my favorites.

I don’t recall you doing many comics about Dickens, though.

It’s hard because his novels are funny anyway. How do you take a character like Mr. Micawber [from "David Copperfield"] and stretch him out into a joke? He’s already a joke. Even the evil guys are so evil, how do you exaggerate that? You can see his influence in my work, if you look for it. There’s that wish for a charming presentation.

What do you mean by that?

I want to make something that will make people feel good. If you write a comic about somebody that makes fun of them, you can’t just tear them to pieces. You have to celebrate the things that make them memorable. I do a fair service to the people I’m making fun of, even if I’m making fun of them. If I choose a historical figure or a book, it’s going to be somebody’s favorite. And they’ll be the ones who like it the most. If you make in-jokes about Chopin, then people who love Chopin will think it’s just the best thing.

Are certain types of books or historical figures better candidates for the kind of satire you do than others?

Definitely the ones that more people have read. When I do historical figures, I feel better going to obscure territory. You can Wikipedia a historical figure and get the gist of things. But you don’t want to ruin a book for somebody. So I tend more toward books people read in high school, which a lot of 16-year-olds are forced to read to begin with.

Then, stuff that takes itself very seriously. That’s the easiest to lampoon, for sure. People have been doing this for ages. After [Samuel Richardson's novel] “Pamela” came out [in 1740], Henry Fielding wrote a book called “Shamela.” Pamela was so virtuous, so perfect, that she made this lecherous, awful man who was chasing her turn into a virtuous person. That was totally unrealistic, and everyone said, “What?!” It’s fun to take down things that are not that self-aware. When you make a joke about Jane Eyre, it might be about how Mr. Rochester comes across as a weird, sketchy dude. If someone just gave you the facts about Rochester, you’d think, “This guy is not on the level.”

Is there anything in particular that you do to prepare when you want to write a comic about a book?

I’ll read essays on it, and people’s opinions. That gives you an overview of the world around the book, beyond just the book itself. That’s where you really want to draw the jokes from: people’s relationship with the book. What they think of when they read it. What was popular to think about it. If the comic was just me making jokes about the book, it would be kind of bland.

The comic you wrote about the three Brontë sisters seems to have really struck a nerve.

That comic got a huge response. It’s in the window of a bookstore now.

Finally Anne gets a little credit for commonsense!

Anne’s books are totally different from Emily’s and Charlotte’s. Anne’s characters are horrified by what they see, while Jane Eyre is more like, “Well, I’ll get used to this guy with his weird, wife-in-the-attic shenanigans. I love him!” People say that “Wuthering Heights” is a romance. It’s not. It’s a book about horrible people. It’s more of a horror story than anything else.

It seems like messing around with historical characters might be trickier, and with your background in history I would imagine it might make you nervous.

You do sacrifice some facts for the sake of a joke. I find myself trying to circumvent any objections. One comic I did recently was about Danton and Robespierre. I drew Robespierre at Danton’s trial — which he was not. He was sick, so he wasn’t there. But the comic was about their relationship, and he was responsible, so I drew him in there. I had to put at the top, “He wasn’t there, I know, but anyway …” Otherwise, inevitably, an email titled “Actually” will appear in my inbox.

You also did a series of comics based on cover illustrations that Edward Gorey did for several novels, imagining what the stories might be solely on the basis of these strange images. But I think I like your Nancy Drew series even more, possibly because the cover art for those books was so terrible and you can really go to town on it.

The progression of Nancy Drew cover art is really fascinating. In the 1930s, when they first came out, the covers showed her getting in there, into the middle of the action. She was a really strong character. Then, when they redid the covers in the ’60s, Nancy becomes scared-looking, peeking around the corner with her hands on her face. She becomes much more demure and much less adventurous. It’s really interesting. And then it becomes abstract, with a big Nancy head and some objects around it, fading in and out, maybe a skull.

Nancy is not a real solid character. She has a boyfriend; she likes to solve mysteries. Nancy, you can take her, stretch her and squish her, and she’s still kind of the same thing. She’s just a big psychopath in my comics.

Depictions of women does seem to be a theme that attracts you.

I became more aware of that because I’m a lady in the comics industry, and whether you like it or not, your name will pop-up in a lot of articles about women in comics. You kind of get this education constantly anyway, about depictions of women and women writers. You become more aware of characters who suffered badly.

Lois Lane is one of them. She’s a lot like Nancy in a way. The early Lois was very elbows-out, knocking people out of the way to get the story. Then editors came in, and said, “Make Lois prettier. Lois isn’t hot enough. Make sure she’s the type of lady that Superman would really want to save, you know what I mean?” So, after that Lois starts to suck. She starts to be boring and whiny, saying, “Superman, why don’t you marry me?” And he says [deep, exasperated voice], “I’m busy, Lois!”

But I don’t have an agenda with any of the comics I do, really. I just go for being funny. When I did one about strong female characters, it was because we’re all so used to these tropes of women: “She’s so tough!” But she’s in her underwear while shooting guns. And people say [huffily], “Well, what’s wrong with being sexy?” Well, what’s wrong with wearing clothes? Or proper protective gear? All these attitudes are fun to make fun of because everybody really knows better. Even the people who are defending it are secretly saying “… yeah.”

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Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a senior writer for Salon. She is the author of "The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia" and has a Web site, magiciansbook.com.

Pow! Boom! Why DC relaunched iconic comic books

Even Superman can't escape tough times. Publisher Jim Lee explains why DC relaunched all 52 comic books this week

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Pow! Boom! Why DC relaunched iconic comic books

Superheroes tried to battle a world of bookstores closures, digital piracy and iPads this week with a bold publishing initiative from DC Entertainment. Facing eroding sales, the publisher of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, among other icons, decided to relaunch the entire line with 52 new No. 1 issues and reader-friendly back stories. In addition, the entire line will now be on sale digitally on the same day it goes on sale in print.

At the center of the storm is Jim Lee, DC’s co-publisher, who has the job of expanding readership without losing longtime fans. He also happens to be the artist on DC’s Justice League, one of the books that debuted this week. While juggling his drawing, signing and publishing duties, Lee took some time to discuss how the relaunch went and the future of comic books in a digital world.

You had a huge midnight signing at Midtown Comics in New York with writer [and DC's chief creative officer] Geoff Johns on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. What was the highlight?

I’ve seen midnight openings for video games and movies, but I’ve not seen a store signing at midnight with creators before — certainly not at DC. Geoff and I wanted to go the extra step and be there in person for people who are so into a comic that they were willing to forgo sleep. People were lined up at 10 or 11 in the morning and they had lawn chairs! It wasn’t just Midtown Comics, stores within blocks of Midtown had midnight events with hundreds of people. It’s exciting to see, because it shows people really do love comic books.

In the new Justice League No. 1, we meet the team in a world that doesn’t know they are good guys. How did you decide to go that route?

When we hatched the idea of this relaunch, Geoff and I started on a very different first issue. I drew about 14 pages of it, and it was much more of a “traditional” Justice League story. But when we started talking about what this relaunch could do, Geoff and I had this realization that we could do something content-wise that matched our publishing strategy. We went back and retooled the entire first issue and made it more accessible.

It gives us an opportunity to tell the origin of the DC Universe (DCU). When you first see these heroes, because of their powers and wearing masks, and not using their real names, the public is anxious and fearful about them. We wanted to show how this brave new world evolves into the DCU we all know and love. By seeing them band together as the champions of the world, you’ll see the world embrace them, and the coining of the word “superhero” and establishment of these as iconic and inspirational characters.

The first issue spotlights only Batman and Green Lantern. Some people have asked, “Where’s the rest of the Justice League?”

I guarantee you if we did a story that had every single member in it, people would say, “This is not for new readers! It’s too complicated!” [laughs] People have said also, because of your track record, it’s a no-brainer to succeed. Yes and no — this book is getting a lot more scrutiny because of that. You have a very different hurdle to jump to achieve success. Batman and Green Lantern are two of the best-known characters and gateway characters. And honestly, Geoff writes such character-driven story lines. There’s a lot of humanity in the book, a lot of humor. You see the characters behind the masks.

Also, people also said, “It’s too slowly paced! You guys have said you aren’t writing for the trade!” What [we are doing] is letting writers write the length of stories they want. Geoff wanted to have a slow build, with a lot of action and suspense. We’re very happy. The second is better than the first, and the third is better than the second.

There has been an incredible outcry about the number of women in the DCU and their handling. People have complained there is only one female character in issue No. 1. When Wonder Woman does make the scene, is there any way to win these people over?

There were no Korean characters in the first issue either, or gay and lesbian characters! It’s a tough line. You’re trying to entertain the audience and it’s not about creating didactic stories. When Wonder Woman shows up it will be very momentous and each character will get their place in the sun and you’ll see the value of their contribution to the team. It’s a story. You’ve got to let it breathe and open up.

What about this mysterious pink-hooded woman who has been seen in the background of many of the No. 1 issues?

No comment! But we really designed this launch as 52 books and they will all be accessible but to different degrees. You don’t have to read all these books to see what’s going on. But at the same time we’re not precluding the idea of planning and planting some seeds.

The reason for the relaunch has been stated as keeping current readers and getting back lapsed readers. I know it’s only been two days, but how’s it going?

Someone commented, “Where are the reviews by the new readers?” And my counter is, well, [laughs] I think a new reader isn’t going to read it and then run to the computer and write an online review! They are reading it for entertainment and they don’t know you’re supposed to put them in bags and boards.

To me, there’s a definite silent majority that doesn’t check out websites or tweet about it. It’s a tough group to measure. That said, based on recent numbers, certainly Justice League No. 1 has surpassed the recent highs in comics sales. The second printing is already sold out, we’re doing a third. And Action No. 1 and Batgirl No. 1 have also sold out [from the distributor]. I’ve heard anecdotally from retailers, from texts and tweets, about first-time comics readers. It looks very positive.

It’s also setting records digitally. I can’t give numbers, but on the first day it set a record for us.

Once you compared the volume of DC’s digital comics sales to dental floss. Is it up to dental tape now?

It’s too early to say. The goal isn’t to increase one pipeline vs. the other. Everything is designed to increase the overall size of the pie.

How do you see print and digital evolving together either in the short term or long term?

Obviously there are going to be some people who convert from print to digital. They may already have done that or are doing that. When Justice League came out [in digital form], there was already a pirated digital version that had been out for six hours. For me it’s all about giving people who want digital comics a legal alternative. And I think that’s an important decision for the health of our business. At the same time I don’t think you can go digital and say you’re trying to reach new readers without going out to promote this as we have. The TV commercials we’re doing have a pretty extensive buy list of mainstream cable shows. There are a lot of good things happening. We’ve brought a lot of good creators to the books, we’ve promoted the hell out of it and made it as easy to buy the comics as possible, and I think that strategy is paying off.

In a year’s time, best-case scenario, what do you want to see?

Well, Justice League 12 will be out and it will be awesome! And Justice League 13 will be coming, and Geoff and I will be going strong on it. Personally it’s tremendously exciting to be drawing a monthly team book again, seeing these characters interact with one another. I literally laugh out loud reading the scripts. You need that when you are running a marathon — you need that constant daily burst of inspiration to sit and draw 22 pages a month.

On a more global level, we hope we can continue building off this excitement and the relationships we’ve made publicizing this event. I think once you establish that this is the kind of noise you can generate you can go to the next level and say, Work with us to do something bigger and better. We have some plans.

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The fascinating contradictions of Bill Plympton

In an interview, the Oscar-nominated animator encourages artists to work the fringes and stay true to themselves

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The fascinating contradictions of Bill PlymptonBill Plympton.(Credit: Léonard Bourgois-beaulieu)

Bill Plympton may very well be the godfather of adult cartoons and comics. He’s that rare artist who has spent decades on the fringes, yet also seen his drawings in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Vogue, Rolling Stone and the Village Voice. He’s a cult filmmaker who has also been nominated for Academy Awards for his shorts, both the “Your Face” and the “Dog” series.

Plympton’s work on Fox’s “The Edge” and MTV’s “Liquid Television” in the 1980s and ’90s were so ahead of their time it’s amazing the networks allowed it — but he now bemoans the lack of American distribution for adult cartoons. (My personal favorite of his is “25 Ways to Quit Smoking.”) He hates Internet piracy, but loves the international audience it has provided him. He’s collaborated on videos with both Kanye West (“Heard ‘Em Say”) and Weird Al Yankovic.

You don’t need to talk to Bill Plympton to know he’s a man full of weird, conflicting ideas. All you need to do is take a look at some of his artwork, which is now handily available in a new compilation called “Independently Animated.” His latest film, “Idiots & Angels,” arrived on DVD this week. But what you won’t find in his work are his musings on cool culture, Pixar and “Portlandia.” For that, we had to get the artist himself on the phone.

I know that you are from Portland. Have you seen the IFC comedy show “Portlandia”? Do you think that you might have had a hand in contributing to the DIY hipster culture that the city has become known for?

Bill Plympton: I’ve never actually thought about it that way, but I guess I did. I would go out there every summer and hung out with a lot of the art crowd, the creative crowd. A lot of filmmakers and animators come from there. So I was definitely part of that culture. And I can definitely relate to the culture. In fact, I noticed (in “Portlandia”) that they had a sequence where they went to Wieden + Kennedy advertising agency, and I used to hang out there a lot.

That’s a real place? Do they actually have bouncy balls and parties everywhere?

They do. They are very successful, they do all the Nike ads. It’s one of the coolest agencies in the world.

I don’t see a lot of that hippie, free-range chicken vibe in your work though, which tends to be a lot darker, a lot more adult. You did stuff with MTV back in the ’90s with your show “The Edge,” but do you identify with today’s hipster counter-culture?

Well, I’ll tell you: I went to this year’s South by Southwest film festival, and I’ve never seen so many hipsters in my life. I was quite saddened, as I love the festival but it’s been taken over by all these hipster wannabes. They all want to be Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerman… whatever his name is. They’re all social media. It wasn’t about the films anymore; it wasn’t about great art. It was about cashing in on the new app.

I think that’s what’s going on in our culture today. People used to want to be filmmakers and animators, now they want to make apps.

You’ve said that you put together this new compilation book to help emerging artists — to show them how they can work outside big tech corporations, because as you say, it’s very cold, very technical. And you yourself have turned down jobs at Disney. So I have to ask… how can you possibly not like Pixar?

I love Pixar films, I think they’re the greatest filmmakers in the world. I love Disney films. “Tangled,” was great. I loved “How to Train Your Dragon,” the Dreamworks film. But it’s not for me. I don’t want to make a film for families, I want to make adult films. I don’t think about playing with dolls all day. I think about adult topics: sex, love, passion, jealousy… the seven deadly sins. So why should I make films about children playing with toys?

And I can’t compete with them anyway. They’re huge, they have huge marketing campaigns. So I’m happy doing my own little niche cartoons that deal with adult topics. I’ll be honest with you, I’m not as successful as Pixar or Dreamworks, and that is disappointing to me, because I think my films are as valid as a Pixar film. I think there’s an audience for my films. I know there’s a market for someone like Quentin Tarantino, who basically does adult cartoons in live action.

My fear is that distributors are afraid of animation for adults. Distributors don’t think there’s a market for that, and I disagree with them. People like you and me, we’d love to see a cartoon dealing with adult topics.

You have more success abroad?

I’m much better known in France and Germany and Spain than I am in the U.S. When I go to Russia, I get mobbed; I have groups of fans waiting for me out in the hotel lobby, waiting for me to come down off the elevator. In China, I almost got beat up because people were trying to get me to do a drawing for them.

You are like the Justin Bieber of Russia.

Ha! Yes. I mean, in America, people only know who I am from what they saw on MTV a long time ago. I have a hard time getting distribution here. I think the reason I’m so popular in China and Europe is piracy… all my films are available everywhere there because of piracy.

Interesting, so this is a pro-piracy stance from Bill Plympton?

Not at all, I don’t make any money when the films are on the Internet. I try to keep my stuff offline as much as possible, because we do sell films to different markets on the Internet. If it’s everywhere for free, I can’t sell my work.

I think outsider art is getting picked up in the United States and making money, but it’s happening very slowly. I think in a couple years, it will be very different. Everyone is very unsure: a lot of small film theaters are collapsing for lack of audience, and DVDs are being hurt. They say the paradigm is changing, so I think the potential for outsider art to make money is there, in Internet distribution. That’s what I’m betting on.

Are there any artists whose work you currently see as the successful model of what you want to do?

Definitely. Don Hertzfeldt is a giant on the Internet, and he’s selling an amazing number of DVDs on the web. So he’s bypassing the traditional distribution apparatus, and I think it’s very cool. He’s someone I look up to for guidance in order to make films as a true independent.

You’ve made videos recently for both Kanye West and Weird Al. So: who is easier to work with?

You know Kanye does hip-hop and rap, and I’m not a big hip-hop or rap guy. But I love working with him: he’s a genius, and certainly his music is brilliant. His last album, the one before the Jay-Z album I thought was really wonderful.

But Weird Al is much more down to earth, has a great sense of humor, and gives me a lot more freedom than Kanye does. He just gives me the song and lets me do what I want. And I love his music too, of course.

Follow Bill Plympton on Twitter, and his site Plymptoons.com.

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Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew.

“Misfits:” British superheroes just want to be teens

An interview with "Misfits" creator Howard Overman on having superpowers without being at all heroic

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They're not out to save the world... just themselves.(Credit: Contract Number (programme))

Who among us has never wished for superpowers: the ability to read minds, turn invisible, make yourself irresistible to the opposite sex, or fly? That fantasy plays into a very human desire to stand out and be better than the common man. It’s not exactly a new concept, either; one only needs to look at America’s history of comic books (or, more recently, comic book movies) to see that given the choice, most of us would take great powers and deal with the great responsibility later.

Not so for “Misfits,” a British comedy-drama about to begin its 3rd season on the E4 network. The five teen protagonists are neither heroes nor antiheroes: They are “troubled youths” hit by lightning while performing community service. And they spend most of their time hiding their newfound abilities, wishing they’d just go away. They’re mistrusted by the authorities and have less desire to save the world than to save their own crumbling relationships. “Misfits” feels less like a superhero show than an episode of the original “Skins” — if Tony were immortal and talked to the dead and Sid could turn back time whenever he screwed up.

With both seasons of “Misfits” now available on Hulu, there’s never been a better time to catch up on these anti-”Heroes” as they stumble through life and love, burdened by powers they never asked for and would do almost anything to rid themselves of.

I spoke to series creator Howard Overman about British teenagers, emotional alienation and the country’s inferiority complex about American superheroes.

“Misfits” has really gotten some viral attention over in the States. I heard about it from a post on Videogum, and now it’s all over Hulu. But the idea of “Kids find superpowers, don’t really want them,” is as old as Peter Parker. At first, I thought the show was going to be like a British version of “Heroes.” So what makes “Misfits” different?

I wanted to do a British take on the superhero genre. You remember that film “Shaun of the Dead”?

Yes, Simon Pegg, zombies, all that.

Well, you know how that’s the British take on the zombie genre? I saw that there was room for that kind of perspective on superheroes. Of how a bunch of British teenagers would react if they got powers. In America, when a person gets special powers they go off and save the world. I wanted to do it on a smaller scale: These teens became powerful, but then they just carried on trying to be normal, hanging out with their mates and such. It was just a massive inconvenience for them to have these gifts. All they want to do is keep it secret, and live day to day.

People really took to the idea of it being this much more personal, emotional story vis-à-vis to what generally happens in these narratives, which is that some threat comes along and these people have to save the world. I had this idea that our story should be able to work even without the powers. The powers were extra; the story of what it’s like to be a teenager in Britain was fundamental. This isn’t a show about superheroes.

Because they aren’t heroes? I think that’s interesting in regard to British culture, especially comic book culture. Grant Morrison, who is doing the new “Superman” series, talks a lot about how growing up there were never any cool British superheroes. They were mostly knockoffs of DC Comics characters, and were kind of lame. They were pale imitations of what he saw as the American Superman; these flashy über-menschs. There was almost like an Anglo-anxiety over not having these great saviors.

I think that’s definitely true. In the very first episode, after the kids get their powers, they are standing on the roof and one of the characters says, “This kind of thing only happens in America.” It almost doesn’t feel right to have superheroes in Britain. Just like you can’t do a car chase movie in Britain, because the traffic is too bad … you could only go 30 miles per hour. So “Misfits” plays off the idea of relocating a superhero to somewhere we haven’t seen them before.

What really drew me in when I was reading about it was that nobody would say what Nathan’s power was. And he starts out as our protagonist; he’s our entrance into this world, and yet all he wants is to be left alone. He’s hyper-cynical about life in general. And without giving too much away, when we find out what his powers are, you realize that these gifts are really tied into the phobias or feelings of each of the teens.

It always seemed like superheroes were given very arbitrary powers. One could fly, one could shoot electric bolts; it had nothing to do with who they were as people. We wanted to do something where the powers are very much tied to the characters, to their history and their feelings. So whatever was the prevailing emotion when they gained their abilities, that was reflected in the powers. I think that gave a depth to the characters. And we’re always trying to play with the idea that the powers were just as much a curse as a blessing. It wasn’t a simple question: Is this a good thing that Simon can now literally do what he’s felt all his life? So these are powers that are based on each person’s experiences; they weren’t arbitrarily given.

Do you get a lot of comparisons to the other British crossover hit about teens, “Skins”? They are very different, obviously, but they both deal with what it’s like to be young and screwed-up in Britain.

I think both shows are heightened, more dramatic versions of what is going on with modern British teens. My idea was: If it feels real emotionally, the fact that there are these crazy, otherworldly happenings would resonate with audiences. I never sat down to make some social commentary about teenagers in Britain today, though a lot of people seem to think that’s what I’m doing. Which is often the case with good dramas … people can read into them and find meaning that relates to what they see happening around them, or in their heads.

The idea was to take a bunch of kids who were already mistrusted — they were already convicted of a crime, and so people were automatically suspicious of them — and kind of leave it ambiguous to what side of the law they were on. They really can’t shove their powers down people’s throats, because the police would lock them up. So it speaks to that natural teenage experience of being alienated, which makes them perfect British superheroes.

Interesting. So if we were watching this show from the point of view of the police, or maybe just a guy on the street, “Misfits” could just as easily be supervillains?

There have been criticisms in the papers about how often the characters kill information workers. But they aren’t malicious, and they haven’t hurt anyone that didn’t pose a threat. They aren’t evil. The idea being that these kids started out as caught by the law, they were already seen as “bad” by authority figures. But their crimes are petty stuff, they were just unlucky, and out of the millions of kids who do drugs or steal, these characters just happen to start out with criminal records. They needed to be sympathetic characters, though, for people to want to root for them.

A lot of superheroes are misunderstood, even in American legends, but they’re always trying to — like you said — save the world. And here you have kids that aren’t trusting, or necessarily trustworthy. I’m just wondering, if this show were American, would these kids automatically be seen as the bad guys? There are a lot of sympathetic bad guys in superhero stories, right? But these are characters that don’t even want to play the good guy/bad guy game.There is no personal gain for them, nor a strong desire to help anyone.

Yes, it was always supposed to be a sort of gray area, what they were choosing to use their powers for. They aren’t good guys or bad guys. They are teenagers.

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Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew.

How comics influence graphic designers

Five celebrated designers talk about how their work has been shaped by Batman, Captain America and others

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How comics influence graphic designers

Fine artists look down on graphic designers. And graphic designers look down on comics artists.

Like all generalizations, this one isn’t entirely true. For one thing, a great number of successful designers look into the work of comics artists, very often and very closely.

Chip Kidd is, of course, the prime example. He was also the obvious choice to moderate a discussion about the art of design, and how it relates to comics, at the recent San Diego Comic-Con. Panelists included Seymour Chwast, Craig Yoe, Michael Gross, and Mark Chiarello. You can find a thorough report on the session at Comic Book Resources.

Afterward, I asked these super-pros about design projects that were directly inspired by the comics medium. And here are their answers.

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Frank Miller: The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again x 2, Sin City.


Chip Kidd

Several years ago, it was my daunting privilege to redesign one of the most iconic comic book covers of all time, for a new reissue of “The Dark Knight Returns,” and then its sequel “The Dark Knight Strikes Again.” Sometimes as a designer, being a huge fan of what you’re working on can actually be a disadvantage because you feel anything you do will be unworthy. But Frank Miller was totally supportive on both of these, especially the sequel cover, which was literally over the top.

Definitely one of my proudest moments as a comics designer and fan.

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Captain America x 4: 1941 – 1944


Seymour Chwast

This spread is from the “Tricks” issue of my publication, the Nose. It illustrates the war-mongering news story about the sinking of the USS Maine in Spanish Cuba.

I was inspired by some of the same explosive lettering that Roy Lichtenstein used. Except mine came from the “Captain America” comics of the 1940s.

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Wally Wood, Joe Kubert, Walter Lantz Studio, Simon/Kirby Studio.


Craig Yoe

One of my new books, “Amazing 3-D Comics,” has its cover inspired by an old comic book convention. Comic books at one time were wonderfully thick 52-page anthologies featuring a zoo full of ‘toons. So a title like “New Funnies” might have Woody Woodpecker large as the main feature but Andy Panda, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Charlie Chicken and Homer Penguin running up the side, to give you a taste of all the features inside.

There was a practical design aspect to this approach. There were hundreds of comic books on the racks in candy stores and newsstands. Retailers would cram the cornucopia of books together, overlapping the covers. Only the left hand side would show. That’s also why the publishers’ logos were always on the left.

So “Amazing 3-D” sports a 12-layer lenticular drawing by the inventor of 3-D comics, Joe Kubert. Joe created this especially for our six-color — plus spot varnish — cover. On the left band is a jungle girl, Felix, and a brand-new superhero, Yoe-man. These figures represent the sort of genres you can find inside the book.

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Wally Wood, Frank Frazetta x 3.


Michael Gross

I was first introduced to comic art through Mad magazine in the comics years. Wally Wood “did it” for me! I explored further in my teens and discovered Frank Frazetta. This led to my very real interest in great comic art.

When I became art director of National Lampoon one of my first assignments was to hire Frank for the “Adventure” issue. It was the first of three covers he did. I like to think I also exposed his work to a new audience.

An exchange of talents — and a great friendship — continued between us for years.

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Ludwig Hohlwein, Daniel Torres, Alex Toth, Darwyn Cooke.


Mark Chiarello

I’m never quite sure if I’m a graphic designer who illustrates or an illustrator who does graphic design. I guess that’s not for me to say.

My cover art to the 2011 Comic Book Price Guide clearly shows my leanings toward the “design-y” and away from the illustrative. My influences are also pretty clear: Alex Toth, Daniel Torres, Ludwig Hohlwein, and Stan Galli. All heroes of mine.

I try to keep my colors immediate, powerful and poster-like. The most fun part is losing edges, a practice referred to as “implied line,” and one done with great sophistication and success by comics artists Michael Cho, Darwyn Cooke and the master of us all, the aforementioned Alex Toth.

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Chip Kidd, Mark Chiarello, Seymour Chwast, Craig Yoe, Michael Gross. Photo by M. Dooley

Copyright F+W Media Inc. 2011.

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