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Katharina Swoboda’s framed animals – in comics?
In 2020, the same year when my article, “Formal Characteristics of Animal Liberation in Comics”, appeared in Closure, Katharina Swoboda completed her PhD thesis at HFBK Hamburg; it…
Review, Jirō Taniguchi memorial edition: The Summit of the Gods
When Jirō Taniguchi passed away seven years ago this month, he left behind two major mountain climbing manga (in addition to several others in which this topic plays…
Akira football stickers
On the streets of Göttingen, Germany, supporters of the local football (soccer) club have pasted stickers with characters from Ōtomo’s manga. This first one with Kaneda’s face I…
The best comics of 2023: a meta list
If the Internet is to be believed, comics are getting better and better every year. At the same time, I get the impression that comics are getting less…
Manga review, Halloween 2023 edition: Soul Eater
Not a horror manga by any means, but it oozes the spirit of Halloween like no other. Soul Eater (ソウルイーター Sōru ītā) “Massiv” vol. 1 (collects prologues 1-3…
2022 exhibitions wrap-up: Akira in Berlin, documenta fifteen, Venice Biennale
While I did see some exhibitions in the second half of 2022, I was busy with other things (teaching, preparing my book for publication) and didn’t get round…
Vertical Akira
Lately it seems like every day people come up with ingenious new ways to use the latest generation of AI algorithms. A few weeks ago, this video by…
Book ‘The Early Reception of Manga in the West’ published
I’m thrilled and excited that my PhD thesis has now been published in print: The Early Reception of Manga in the WestCh. A. Bachmann Verlag 2023ISBN 978-3-96234-077-3 It…
Exhibition review: Will Eisner, Basel, 11.3.–18.6.2023
Curated by Alexander Braun (who already brought us exhibitions such as Going West in 2014–2016, Pioneers of the Comic Strip in 2016, and many others), Will Eisner –…
Exhibition review: Comics from China, Heidelberg, 27.3.–7.5.2023
This exhibition actually consisted of two parts: one at the CATS (Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies) library of Heidelberg University, which still runs until September 23, and…
Conference paper “Making Use of Pre-existing Street Art Object Metadata” published
Last year I presented a paper at the goINDIGO symposium in Vienna, and the proceedings of that conference have now been published as an Open Access volume titled…
Politics in Warren Ellis’s Iron Man: Extremis
Although Warren Ellis has actually written quite a few mainstream superhero comics for Marvel and DC, they are not the kind of comics that he is usually associated…
Antonia Levi’s sadness, environmentalism, and technoterror – in manga
When I selected Antonia Levi’s 2013 article “The Sweet Smell of Japan. Anime, Manga, and Japan in North America” (Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 23.1, 3–18) as one…
Manga Intro Syllabus
[This course was taught in German, and the following course details are translated from German.] Course title: Manga – Introduction to History and Theory Instructor: Martin de la…
Review, Jirō Taniguchi memorial edition: K
Attempts at dividing Jirō Taniguchi’s († February 11, 2017) oeuvre into earlier ‘genre’ manga and later ‘mature’ manga are perhaps futile, as his two works in the moun…
Exhibition review: Cosey, Basel, 12.11.2022–26.2.2023
After Tardi and Joann Sfar, Cartoonmuseum Basel celebrates another Franco-Belgian master, albeit from Switzerland this time: Cosey (Bernard Cosendai), born in Lausanne in 1950 and above all famous…
The best comics of 2022: a meta list
It’s that time of the year again: the Internet has picked the best comics of the year. More precisely, I have compiled several year-end best-of-2022 lists into one,…
Manga review, Halloween 2022 edition: Chainsaw Man
Winner of Shōgakukan and Harvey awards, highest-ranking manga in our 2020 and 2021 best-comics-of-the-year lists… But does it live up to the hype? Chainsaw Man (チェンソーマン Chensō man)…
German postal service issues Spider-Man stamp
It’s rare for Deutsche Post to dedicate a stamp to a trademarked character, owned by a foreign company at that, with that company’s name prominently placed. But on…
Essential Reading for Moon Knight fans? Review of Age of Khonshu
In my last Moon Knight review I said I couldn’t be bothered to read “The Age of Khonshu”, a story arc involving Moon Knight that ran in Avengers…
Politics in Warren Ellis’s Transmetropolitan
In this year’s Labour Day / Warren Ellis blogpost, we’re going to examine what might be considered his chef d’oeuvre, Transmetropolitan (penciled by Darick Robertson and published…
Griselda Pollock’s feminism – in comics?
Between her two major books on feminist art history, Old Mistresses (1981, co-authored by Rozsika Parker) and Vision and Difference (1987), Griselda Pollock published an article titled “Women…