On Saturday, July 28, 2012, JJ Villard introduced me to comic creator Lawrence Hubbard (aka Rawdog), best known for the gritty, violent and streetwise mayhem of Real Deal Comix that revels in explosive depictions LA’s seamy underworld. JJ and Lawrence are collaborating on an animated piece based on the edgy and irreverent spirit of this indie comic   Read More …

The terrible mass-murder at the midnight premiere of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, in Aurora, Colorado will forever be linked in the minds and hearts of the public to the brilliant final installment of the filmmaker’s epic Batman trilogy. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan’s thought-provoking essay probes the question of blame and   Read More …

The filmmakers of Comics Are Everywhere “are at Comic-Con 2011, exploring a theme that dwarfs the concerns of most blockbusters: Why do artists create?…” Click to View Front Page of Cover Story in The San Diego Union-Tribune’s July 24, 2011 Edition Click Here to View the Second Page of Cover Story in The San Diego Union-Tribune’s   Read More …

Salon.com looks at the new books on Daniel Clowes (“Ghost World”), African-American cartoonist George Herriman (“Krazy Kat”), and underground comix artist Rory Hayes on bookshelves at a bookstore near you! Not very long ago, a dedicated comics library might have looked less like a rare books room and more like a semi-coherent junk store, containing   Read More …

Wired magazine offers a short, behind-the-scenes look at Occupy Comics and the ongoing fight for creators’ rights in today’s marketplace. The mainstream comics industry has spawned another alternative supergroup. 30 Days of Night creator Steve Niles and Epitaph Records owner and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz have banded together with Halo-8′s Matt Pizzolo to form Black Mask   Read More …

The LA times looks at comic creator and journalist Joe Sacco’s new book “Journalism.” Read the full article here. By David Ulin, Los Angeles Times Book Critic June 17, 2012  In the preface to his new book “Journalism,” Joe Sacco pinpoints the challenges of the comics artist who seeks to be a reporter: “Aren’t drawings by their very   Read More …

Conan the Barbarian gets an unlikely makeover courtesy of JJ Villard. F**k the power of steel. Pens and paper in the hands of a skilled artist can shape hearts and minds, and sometimes warp them forever. Exhibit “A” in the rogue’s gallery of crazed, comic-inspired imagery straight from Planet Villard! Check out the larger image here.