Chris Mautner | The Smart Set

The Man with Talent

Chris Mautner — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 14:30:13 +0000

If you were to ask an expert (and that would most decidedly be not me) who were the true greats in the world of manga — your Charles Schulzes or your Jack Kirbys, for example — those whose influence spread far and wide across the medium — two names that would likely roll off the […]

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Getting Rusty

Chris Mautner — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 12:30:06 +0000

There are few cartoonists in North America at the moment that have garnered as much esteem in the literary realm as Chris Ware. The back cover to his latest book, Rusty Brown Vol. 1 contains plaudits from such folk as David Eggers, David Sedaris, and J.J. Abrams. His art frequently adorns the cover of The […]

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A Collection of Shorts

Chris Mautner — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 11:30:22 +0000

It seems as though every decade or era in alt-comics’ brief history can be marked by a flagship anthology. The underground comics movement of the late 1960s and ’70s was largely shaped by titles like Zap Comix and Arcade. In the 1980s, it was Raw and Weirdo that marked comics’ growing avant-garde. In the ‘90s, […]

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Making MAD

Chris Mautner — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 13:16:24 +0000

The news last month that MAD Magazine was drawing to a close (reprints will continue to be shuffled out over time, but in terms of new material the publication is kaput) was not, to be honest, that surprising. While it has had an impressive six-decade run, it, like all print publications, has had to deal […]

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Making Change

Chris Mautner — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 11:36:53 +0000

Hey. Remember that stationary store in your hometown? The one located at the top of the hill on the main drag? It had been around for three generations. You used to go there with your dad on Sunday mornings to pick up the newspapers. If he was in a generous mood he’d get you some […]

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Bagge and Lane

Chris Mautner — Thu, 23 May 2019 13:07:51 +0000

Few cartoonists have had as varied a career as Peter Bagge, at least when it comes to his range in subject matter. He started out in the 1980s as part of the then post-underground scene, doing goofball, slapstick comics where exaggerated, cartoonish characters with rubbery limbs and mouths that seem to open at a 180-degree […]

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Bots that Go Boom

Chris Mautner — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 13:39:03 +0000

There’s nothing the comics industry likes so much as licensed material. Why go to the trouble of coming up with your own ideas when there are so many established ones just begging to be displayed in some sort of visual sequence? The very first comic books, after all, were just a collection of repackaged newspaper […]

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Line of Sight

Chris Mautner — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 12:30:11 +0000

It begins and ends with the line. You start at one point and follow it along to whatever path it takes you, assuming you can find a way out at all. Sometimes the line is precise, authoritative and angular. Other times it is playful, chaotic and ornate. On one page, it is tightly wound and throbs […]

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Comic Countdown 2018

Chris Mautner — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 12:30:35 +0000

Once again it’s time to look at all the “funnybooks” I read over the past 365 days and try to determine which are my most favorite of favorites. Many of the comics I wrote about for this column over the past year – Prism Stalker, Yellow Negroes, Why Art? – would easily make that short […]

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The Problem with Stan Lee

Chris Mautner — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 14:27:57 +0000

“I have had many talented people ask me how to get into the comic book business. If they were talented enough the first answer I would give them is,‘Why would you want to get into the comic book business?’ Because even if you succeed, even if you reach what might be considered the pinnacle of […]

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