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IMDbPro

Comic Book Confidential

  • 1988
  • Unrated
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
Comic Book Confidential (1988)
Trailer for Comic Book Confidential
Play trailer1:07
1 Video
7 Photos
DocumentaryHistory

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

  • Director
    • Ron Mann
  • Writers
    • Charles Lippincott
    • Ron Mann
  • Stars
    • Lynda Barry
    • Charles Burns
    • Sue Coe
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    1.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Ron Mann
    • Writers
      • Charles Lippincott
      • Ron Mann
    • Stars
      • Lynda Barry
      • Charles Burns
      • Sue Coe
    • 20User reviews
    • 19Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 1 nomination

    Videos1

    Comic Book Confidential
    Trailer 1:07
    Watch Comic Book Confidential

    Photos7

    Comic Book Confidential (1988)
    Comic Book Confidential (1988)
    Comic Book Confidential (1988)
    Comic Book Confidential (1988)
    Comic Book Confidential (1988)
    Comic Book Confidential (1988)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Lynda Barry
    • Self
    Charles Burns
    • Self
    Sue Coe
    • Self
    Robert Crumb
    Robert Crumb
    • Self
    Will Eisner
    • Self
    Al Feldstein
    Al Feldstein
    • Self
    Shary Flenniken
    • Self
    William M. Gaines
    William M. Gaines
    • Self
    Bill Griffith
    Bill Griffith
    • Self…
    Jaime Hernández
    • Self
    Jack Kirby
    Jack Kirby
    • Self
    Harvey Kurtzman
    • Self
    Stan Lee
    Stan Lee
    • Self
    Paul Mavrides
    • Self
    Frank Miller
    Frank Miller
    • Self
    Victor Moscoso
    • Self
    Françoise Mouly
    • Self
    Dan O'Neill
    • Self
    • Director
      • Ron Mann
    • Writers
      • Charles Lippincott
      • Ron Mann
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Crazy credits
      At the end of the credits the following paragraph can be found: There are over 6000 comic book stores across North America. Check one in your neighbourhood.
    • Alternate versions
      Available on CD-ROM with additional footage. Comic Book Confidential was re-released on CD-ROM in 1994. The video quality of the film is significantly degraded since the CD's storage capacity is very limited. The film's video resolution is 224x168. The CD also contains short FMV interviews with the film's director Ron Mann, sample pages from the comics mentioned in the film, artists index as well as further reading materials such as the biographies and publishing histories of the artists involved and the actual Comics Code in its entirety.
    • Connections
      Featured in Fear in the Dark (1991)
    • Soundtracks
      Diggin' On Comix
      Written by Dr. John

      Performed by Dr. John (as Mac Rebenault), Richard Crooks, Wilbur Bascomb and Steve Burgin

    User reviews20

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    for die-hards it will be an incomplete but essential treat, and for newcomers it's... eye-opening, to say the least
    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!)
    helpful•7
    0
    • Quinoa1984
    • Oct 26, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 27, 1989 (West Germany)
    • Countries of origin
      • Canada
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Comic Book Confidential CD-ROM
    • Production company
      • Sphinx Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 30 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby

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