This week's bone-crunchingly, lip-smackingly tasty platter of Online Commentaries and Diversions:
Review: Heroes of the Comics: Portraits of the Legends of Comic Books by Drew Friedman
"Shirt-sleeves rolled up, bent over drawing boards, puffing on cigarettes, the heroes of the remarkable artist Drew Friedman’s new book aren’t super ones, they’re the (mostly) guys who created Batman, Spider-Man, Plastic Man, and many others." – Ken Tucker, Playboy
Interview: Gil Roth interviews Drew Friedman and Sara Lippmann in his podcast.
Review: Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 2: 1981-1983 by Ed Piskor
"Every name comes with a face attached, and Piskor’s nimble, deceptively goofy artwork imbues those faces with emotional life — hope, enthusiasm, fuming rage, determination." – Alex Pappademas, Grantland
"Using his compelling artistry — which builds on Mr. Piskor’s love of superhero comic artists as well as famed independent artists like Robert Crumb — he shows us how characters like Fab Five Freddy, a graffiti artist who early on sees the links between hip-hop, break-dancing and graffiti, and helps foster hip-hop’s growth." – Sean D. Hamill, Pittsburgh News
"Combining two decidedly-American art forms: the comic book and hip-hop into one cohesive work seems like a no-brainer. Maybe it just took a cartoonist as passionate and talented as Piskor to pull it off." – Louie Pearlman, REBEAT
Interview: Hillary Brown over at Paste Magazine chats with Ed Piskor.
Interview: Comics Alternative's 100th podcast episode features Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 2.
Interview: On their podcast, "Tell Me Something I Don't Know," BoingBoing sits down with Ed Piskor and Tom Scioli to talk about being professional comic book artists.
Interview: Megahex by Simon Hanselmann
"Simon Hanselmann is the prolific artist behind the sensational Megg and Mogg. The series has taken off, with much of his work now translated into French and Spanish, and more languages under way." – Sophie Yanow, The Comics Journal
Review: Wandering Son Vol. 7 by Shimura Takako
"The realism and authenticity of the characterization in Wandering Son is one of the manga’s greatest strengths." – Ash Brown, Experiments in Manga
Review: Film Noir 101: The 101 Best Film Noir Posters from the 1940s-1950s by Mark Fertig
"Fertig pays appropriate and articulate tribute to these films in his introduction and summarizes the appeal of each one in tightly-written tributes at the back of the book. This would make a great gift for any movie lover." – Leonard Maltin, IndieWire
Interview: How To Be Happy by Eleanor Davis
"In this [podcast] episode, Thien and Rina talk to amazing cartoonist and illustrator, Eleanor Davis about her new book How to Be Happy." – Rina Ayuyang and Thien Pham, Comix Claptrap