Category: Comic books

by M. Bijman March 21, 2018 1

The perks and perils of reanimating oldies but goodies – Bloom County, by Berke Breathed

After a 25-year absence, comic book artist Berkeley (“Berke”) Breathed restarted his famous and much-loved comic strip, Bloom County on Facebook,Continue Reading

The header for this and other posts contain images from both original and fan fiction/sequels by other authors. In this case, Tintin and Snowy (left) come from Rodier’s version, the Little Prince (adapted, centre) comes from the original by De Saint-Exupéry, and the Young Prince (right) comes from A.G. Roemmers’ version. All three images have been used under the terms of “fair use”: “In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and ‘transformative’ purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work.” (Rich Stim, Stanford University Libraries). The main image, of Paris, France, is by M.F. O’Brien, used with permission.

by M. Bijman January 30, 2017 0

Backstories Comic books Current events Discussion of author’s portfolio Discussion of current events Published books

The Unfinished “Tintin” – The tricky business of fan fiction versus copyright, Part 3 of 4

On the subject of fan fiction versus copyright rules, I am discussing examples of three cases of what seems toContinue Reading

by M. Bijman January 13, 2017 0

Comic books Video

Printed books are not only for old fogeys like me

Comic artist and illustrator Lucas Levitan’s particular talent is to superimpose his bulbous-nosed cartoon figures onto actual photos he has found, mostlyContinue Reading

by M. Bijman April 23, 2014 0

Comic books Current events Discussion of author’s portfolio Discussion of lyrics Review of classical fiction

Happy birthday William Shakespeare – 450 years on

It’s the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, who is traditionally believed to have been born today, 23Continue Reading

What is the song ‘Rings of Saturn’ about? I find myself in these lyrics. In Berlin I couldn’t stop crying when you performed it live. “Up and further up, up, up, up.” Is this song about evolving? I would love to know what you had in mind. August 20, 2019
View ArticleDear Lisa, There is great danger in asking a songwriter to explain their songs – or at least to make the assumption that their interpretation is in some way more valid or true than your own. This is simply not the case. I believe the fan often has a deeper understanding of a given song... The post What is the song ‘Rings of Saturn’ about? I find […]
molly

Good Omens (2019) August 9, 2019
“I didn't mean to fall. I just hung out with the wrong people.” — Crowley In the beginning was the word. But Aziraphale and Crowley were there, too. Soon there were also fruit-bearing trees and enormous stone cherubs, phone booths and spaceships, and people – so many people – all marching together on a bizarro pilgrimage toward their doom. This is the p […]
Nina Saxon: A Career Retrospective, Part 1 June 18, 2019
In 1996, critic Laurie Halpern Benenson, writing for the New York Times, called Nina Saxon “one of the most sought-after designers in the business” and it was true: some years, she could barely keep up with demand. Beginning in 1980 and working well into the 2010s, Saxon lent her titling talent to more than 200 films and TV series, working with directors inc […]