Comic Book Confidential

1989
7| 1h30m| PG| en
Details

A survey of the artistic history of the comic book medium and some of the major talents associated with it.

Director

Producted By

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

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Reviews

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Megan This documentary illustrates the relationship between the imagery of an artwork, and the written word. Literally. Through the use of a comic the artist can clearly identify the depiction and create an interesting story. Comic strips have come a long way since their introduction in the Sunday paper. Their variety in contemporary topics range from political, to humorous, to entertainment, making the comic a universal medium catering to all types of interests. Comic book confidential starts to unfold the history behind its popularity and explains what the comic attempts to achieve. The comic strip is the product of imagery, literary analysis and development, and modern culture. This documentary further explains these connections and thus the success and historical background of the comic book era.
MisterWhiplash Comic Book Confidential, which is a (now) relatively obscure documentary on the history of 20th century comics up until its finished filming date (about 50+ years between the start of the 'Funnies' to the publication of The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller), is a film I look at on two levels: one is as a growing fan of comic books and graphic novels, who has known names like Stan Lee and Robert Crumb for years and is now knowing well names and works by the likes of Will Eisner, Harvey Pekar, Charles Burns and Jack Kirby better than ever, and wants to soak up as much knowledge as possible. The other is as a documentary informing on the varied and eclectic history of a very modern medium that can only grow. On both fronts the film reaches far from greatness, and in all actuality is incomplete. But I admired its ambition for a different approach with its transitions and showing what the comics were an evolving but "primitive art form", as Eisner says.Ron Mann and his team basically gathered a rogue gallery of 'who's-who' of comic book writing legends (with the sad exception of a few, Bob Kane and especially Alan Moore, that add to it feeling short and incomplete though not just because of that), and covers how comics started in papers, spread to Superman and Batman, then the war, horror comics, the wretched "Comics Code", and the slow but eventual erosion through the start of Marvel comics and, more-so, the underground comic boom started by Robert Crumb and going on to more radical and crazy dimensions. While Mann may spend a little too much time with the underground folk (may being the big word, I dug it visually mostly), he gathers up a lot of useful and funny anecdotes- from Pekar about his embarrassing jazz radio station fiasco to one writer's troubles with doing an outrageous rip on Mickey Mouse.The film tries, and usually succeeds, at engaging on its own serio-comic approach, with the panels of comics flashing by at a cool and concentrated pace, and some groovy tunes from Doo-Wop onto 80s New-Wave. It's biggest problem though, aside from a few notables not being included that, if only as a minor fan-boy, feels irksome, is that it's actually too short to fully dig into its well of possibilities. What's scratched here can suffice for die-hards and newcomers, the latter probably just bedazzled by the amount of underground product they've never heard of (some of it news to me and some, like Maus, that one means to check out but haven't yet for a reason or another). But there's probably a more ambitious documentary waiting to be made, one with more access or more money, maybe even on the level of a Ken Burns probe, that could be made on the subject either as a companion or update (bring in Warren Ellis!)
mistah_remeat 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...
Ken-120 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.