Comic Book Confidential

I felt the movie "Comic Book Confidential," directed by Ron Mann illustrated the history of comics, and comic book making very well. Approaching each, and every artist, creator, or well known figure related to comics. The very first comics began in 1934, sticking strong till 2011. However the only flaw I seemed to notice throughout the film, is Ron Mann never approached the topic of comics relating to well known novels. There were huge comics relating to Huckleberry Fin, The Odyssey, and Tom Sawyer throughout the later 1930's-1950's. Some comics were even combined stories, such as Huckleberry Fin, and Tom Sawyer. I would've appreciated this film much more if they had gone more into detail about the comics, and less about the creators. The only comics they approached were the well known Superman, and Batman comics (yes very major comics) however hearing more of the unknown comics would have been a little more appealing to me.

In a short amount of time, this movie executed its information in a quirky witty way. It was great to get the basic information about how the comic book started, how it affected society, and all the different transitions it went through in different time periods. It didn't go terribly in depth with its information, but it was a good starting point. What made the movie even better to me, was their use of animation and graphics. This took the movie to a very contemporary atmosphere, where parts of the movie became a comic book, while visually explaining the artist intentions of their comic, and showing the different styles each era had. This movie was visually cleaver, artistic, and very informative.

A well made look at the history of comics, it really ignores superhero stuff and focuses on underground and indie comics for the last half. It's clear they look at superhero stuff as artistically vapid (until the end with Frank Miller and DKR) which is a view I get, but there's still lots to find if you dig. Could have looked more at Jack Kirby's stuff, Gerber, Moore, etc. A nice primer, but overall a tad limited unless you really want to see semi obscure creators reading their stuff.

Fantastic documentary. It shows portions of the comic book world, behind the scenes that you may or may not have known about until this movie hit the streets. It's a bit like a primer to the less known, forward thinking creator producers that are/were shaping the face of comics.

The chronological/sequential time-line of the show gives you an interesting perspective on the state of comics in all their forms, focusing on the most important aspects of the industry at the time. I also like the way the big 2 are almost a side bar, with comments made about changes and relevant timely issues (Frank Miller talks Batman about the pivotal "Dark Knight Returns")

I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in sequential art or documentaries for that matter...

This is a documentary about comic books starting with the funnies from the early 1930's. The breakout star is 1938's Superman and we're off with a galaxy of characters. It has small interview clips with legends such as Jack Kirby, Will Eisner with his Spirit, William B. Gaines with EC Comics, Harvey Kurtzman with Mad Magazine, Stan Lee with Marvel, Robert Crumb, and many others. It covers various evolutionary periods, the changing tastes, and the ever-present threat of censorship such as the Comics Code. This is by no means exhaustive but it touches most of the areas. It spends the second half on the newer comics of the 80's which is probably too much. That part doesn't quite stand up. It's hard to know what's important when one is in the middle of it. Although, it does get to the most important Frank Miller's Batman. Of course, there is more to come in the future such as the collapse of Marvel and the explosion of the cinematic superhero genre. That needs to be covered in future docs.