Animated Editorial Cartoon: How to Save Newspapers!

The average age of a newspaper reader is 55. Editorial cartoonist Ted Rall and animator David Essman come to the rescue of dying print media with their new animated editorial cartoon “How to Save Newspapers!” Among the highlights: reach out to appeal to the older readers who are keeping newspapers hip, smart and relevant!

“Graylight is an excellent example of how flamboyance can enhance, rather than impair, a convoluted, magical story. Nowak may not explain everything in the story, but her generous visuals invite the reader to suppose what Graylight is in their own fashion, whether it be a romantic phantasmagoria or a subtle, spell-ridden myth.”

And Ian Burns on the Comics Journal site provides probably the best explanation of Nowak’s complex graphic novel which beckons you to decipher its many angles…

“While Trondheim’s own nonchalance is likely as deceptive as his seemingly simplistic artwork, there’s something to be gained in even the most cursory reading of the worked contained herein. It’s funny, it’s charming as hell, and it’s almost painfully relatable. And best of all, it’s not work.”

Brian Heater, The Daily Crosshatch

But then you get:

“Little Nothings is about a unnamed character, an adult male anthromorphic bird who appears to be a husband, father and comic writer, although it is never really spelled out in the graphic novel itself.
This felt like there should be more punch to this to make it a bit more interesting or compelling to read. As it is, it was nice to read, but there isn’t much of a “hook” to get me to read beyond this particular volume. The blurb on the back of the book is true: “A Book with a Whole Lotta Not Much.”

Still, the not much is sorta okay.”

Sequential Tart

Guess she needed a back cover blurb…

Andrew Wheeler on Little Nothings 3

“It’s White’s line that makes the story work.  His figures look like a cross between Bob Fingerman and Bryan Lee O’Malley, with oversized heads and big eyes on the men, and sexier features on the women.  There’s even a touch of Dan DeCarlo at work here in features like Rick’s nose.  The pale orange wash adds to the sickly quality of the story’s visuals, reinforcing that sense of deterioration. Cleverly-designed and executed work.  It doesn’t overstay its welcome in terms of length, it’s clearly told and darkly humorous. ”

Rob Clough, The Comics Journal on Things Undone.

Trondheim’s Little Nothings keeps rolling on on the web:

Rob Clough at The Comics Journal:

“I always found myself drawn to his autobiographical material the most.  He’s self-deprecating without being mawkish, introspective without navel-gazing and consistently funny. At this point, I hope Little Nothings runs forever.  It’s already my favorite diary comic of all time and certainly in the top 10-20 of all-time comics autobio.”

Michael Lorah at Newsarama:

“It’s just great art, perfectly suited for his deadpan delivery, yet sufficiently emotive to carry the most subtle emotion. 
Lewis Trondheim is one of the world’s most respected and acclaimed cartoonists.  Little Nothings remains his most personal work, a collection of observations and personal outlooks, self-effacingly and ironically  hilarious. So long as Trondheim continues creating work as strong as Uneasy Happiness, the comics world will be a bright place.”

Sasha Watson strikes again this time on the Slate site with a great piece on our Story of O and its background . The anonymous author’s ‘coming out’ in the New Yorker in 1994 brought forth some juicy details…

“What’s shocking about Story of O is just how shocking it really is. You’d think, in our pornified culture, that a novel scandalous in 1954 might appear quaint today. But no. Aury delivers the hard stuff straight on, and it’s just as potent now as it was back then.”