Comic Documentaries.

Wanted to squeeze this into the X-Mas hero-thon, but...there literally weren't enough days...

Anyhoo...


Comic Book Confidential

The film-

An excellent snapshot of the industry in the early 90's.

Y'know, before it went to shit.

Bill Gaines was still alive, which is just awesome, because not a lot of people know, his dad invented the comic book, so, he was literally there for the beginning.
He also took part in the ridiculous senate subcommittee hearings on comics, so he's got war stories and footage of that bullshit too.

It takes you on a tour of virtually every facet of the business via the people they have in there, why...just look at that lineup.

Crumb and Pekar are in there, and that crosses it over to the ones coming up next...

The DVD has interactive comics from every artist featured, and that's fun.

A must have for fans...well, shit, all of these are.

The history-

Cinemax, or Showtime, or one of those played this...way back in the 90's. Been drooling for a DVD of this forever, finally got it.


Crumb

The film/history-

From here....

My favorite documentary of all time.
Another one I could watch every day.
About the underground cartoonist, Robert Crumb, who created "Fritz The Cat", and "Mr. Natural".
I keep reading stuff like "disturbing", and "unsettling", in the reviews, and...I must be really fucked up, cuz I get warm uplifting feelings off this thing.
I see a misanthropic misfit leading a pretty okay life, on his own terms, with a family that understands and loves him.
Okay, those brothers of his are a fucking mess, but...I was fascinated.
I found a lot to relate to with his artistic struggles; and like the Stern book, it was encouraging.
I keep waiting for a sequel/update of this.
I better not hold my breath though.
Shit, I feel like watching it right now.

Shit, I could watch it again.....


American Splendor

The film/history-

See here.


Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked

The film/history-

From here...

A very well assembled documentary that gives even the completely uninitiated to comics a fairly comprehensive history of the medium.
Both the characters, and the industry.
It still holds up, I still love it.
History Channel still plays it every now and then when a new hero movie comes out.
Has Stan Lee, Neil Gaiman, Denny O'Neil, Kevin Smith, and a few others.
Really well done.
I recommend it highly.

My only beef, every documentary like this goes up to what's the newest trendy thing, no matter if it's good or not, and this one goes up to "The Authority", which despite its deliberate dancing with controvery with gay characters, was a piece of crap.
And that's a really minor nitpick, everything else is great.

Look, up in the sky!
The Amazing Story of Superman

The film-

Put out to plug the release of Superman Returns, this...is pretty damned well done.

It's got the serials, the George Reeves show, the Supes musical, the Chris Reeve films, Superboy, Smallville, everything.

....except mention of Gladiator...

But, yeah, great little documentary.

"Comic Book Confidential", covers a bit of everything, but doesn't dwell so much on the superheroes, slanted more towards the underground guys/gals.

So, then, "Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked", fleshes out the superheroes, with a lot of the same folks.

But...doesn't dwell so much on Superman.

So, this fleshes out Superman.

Moosh all of those together, you get the whole picture.

Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters, & Marvels

The film-

A neat little series of interviews.

Good stuff to have for posterity.

Like the Gaines interview in "Comic Book Confidential".

Stan and Kevin run through all 4 of these hero related ones, Kevin Smith only showing up for the special DVD introduction of "...Confidential", but..yeah, they're the connecting thread.

I recommend every single one of these babies.

Not a one disappoints.

Again, if you're a fan.

The history-

Came with my uber-edition Spider-Man, but, it can be got separately.

There, it really was driving me a bit batty not to have that tacked on for the last hero-thon one, so, now that's all done.