Comic Book Confidential
Synopsis
In the 20th century, no artistic medium in North America with so much potential for creative expression has had a more turbulent history plagued with less respect than comic books. Through animated montages, readings and interviews, this film guides us through the history of the medium from the late 1930s and 1940s with the first explosion of popularity with the superheroes created by great talents like Jack Kirby and hitting its first artistic zenith with Will Eisner's "Spirit". It then shifts to the post war comics world with the rising popularity of crime and horror comics, especially those published by EC Comics under the editorshiop of William B. Gaines until it came crashing down the rise of censorship with the imposition of the Comics Code. In its wake of the devastation of the medium's creative freedom, we also explore EC's defiant survival with the creation of the singular "Mad Magazine" by Harvey Kurtzman.
Recent reviews
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Interesting interviews with creators before their comics went mainstream.
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A gritty, colourful and fun documentary that pays respect to the history of one of the most adventurous storytelling mediums.
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Nice to see some creators that are no longer with us, such as Jack Kirby and Will Eisner. I might have preferred a little more talk about the comics, rather than the animated excerpts. I also wouldn't mind seeing a followup now, 25 years later.
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My review of the Blu-Ray: www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/58523/comic-book-confidential-20th-anniversary-edition/
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For a film with such a low running time this did drag quite a bit. That was mainly due to the repetitive style it had and the inability to focus this into a complete narrative. I appreciated the look into the independent scene , but those segments felt like the adult comic book version of Reading Rainbow. Except that Reading Rainbow is better edited.
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I saw a comic book documentary a few years ago that basically encompassed the whole history of comic books, from superheroes, horror, indies, underground, ect... and I always thought this was it. Turns out I was wrong. After doing a little research I think I might have watched Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked, but I can't be sure. The title seems to suggest it would only be about superhero comic books though... Anyways...
This documentary mostly concentrates on indie and underground comics. It gives a great history of how they started and why they existed. The second half of the documentary though ends up being an introduction to different artists in the field with an example of one of their stories.…
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straightforward documentary. told the story of comics and graphic novels through the artist's perspective and historical commentary. very informative. makes do a retrospective on comics and graphic novels.
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With next to no consideration of comic/graphic novels outside the USA, this dated documentary is somewhat enjoyable for the first half, dealing with the rise and fall of the medium pre- and post- "Seduction of the Innocent" but then spends far too long wanking about with indie comics and creators of the time in the back half.
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A classic doc exploring a classic era.