Comic Book Confidential

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.

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...

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.

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.

When this film came out, it was a refreshing and enjoyable movie. It treats comics with some real respect and takes the time to explore the medium in some detail.

However, there are some flaws. Some of the talents interviewed do not work in comic books per se, but in comic STRIPS, a variant of the medium that has gotten much more respect over the years than comic books. However, that variant has it's own history and dicipline that is distinct from comic books and should not have been included. This is meaning no disrespect talents like Bill Griffith, but it's like having a film discussing the art and history of movies and having TV series producers interviewed. They are part of a related medium, but are really not relevant to the main subject of the film.

Otherwise, it does cover a fairly complete view of the form with giants like Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Robert Crumb, although I would have liked to have seen talents like Alan Moore (Swamp Thing, Watchmen) or the Pini's (Elfquest) being interviewed. The animated sequences were a neat way to get the atmosphere of the comics in their different eras as well as the major characters. The footage of the pages from "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" was particularly effective.

In short, if you need a quick overview of the comic book as a form of art, then this film is well worth your time.