Comic Book Confidential (1988)

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

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lynda Barry	...	Herself
Charles Burns	...	Himself
Sue Coe	...	Herself
Robert Crumb	...	Himself
Will Eisner	...	Himself
Al Feldstein	...	Himself
Shary Flenniken	...	Herself
William M. Gaines	...	Himself
Bill Griffith	...	Himself / Zippy the Pinhead
Jaime Hernández	...	Himself
Jack Kirby	...	Himself
Harvey Kurtzman	...	Himself
Stan Lee	...	Himself
Paul Mavrides	...	Himself
Frank Miller	...	Himself

Storyline

In the 20th century, no artistic medium in North America with so much potential for creative expression has had a more turbulent history plagued with less respect than comic books. Through animated montages, readings and interviews, this film guides us through the history of the medium from the late 1930s and 1940s with the first explosion of popularity with the superheroes created by great talents like Jack Kirby and hitting its first artistic zenith with Will Eisner's "Spirit". It then shifts to the post war comics world with the rising popularity of crime and horror comics, especially those published by EC Comics under the editorship of William B. Gaines until it came crashing down the rise of censorship with the imposition of the Comics Code. In its wake of the devastation of the medium's creative freedom, we also explore EC's defiant survival with the creation of the singular "Mad Magazine" by Harvey Kurtzman. We then move to the resurgence of the superheroes in the late 1950's ...

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Plot Keywords:

comic book | art history | reference to wonder woman | comic book history | comic book writer | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 1989 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Comic Book Confidential CD-ROM

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sphinx Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits

In the introductory credits the artists portrayed in the film are presented by a comic artist who is working on a comic page, filling the frames with the name and a typical comic character of each artist. When introductory credits are over and the page has just been finished, the comic artist makes such a clumsy move that his ink pot overturns loosing all its ink over the page.

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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.

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Connections

References The Flintstones (1960)

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Soundtracks

MARVEL SUPERHEROES (HAVE ARRIVED)
Courtesy of THE MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP INC.
Original Music: Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, KEITH ELLIOTT and GERARD LECKEY, NICHOLAS STIRLING of STRANGE NURSERY,
Dr. John (Mac Rebennack)

User Reviews

Not quite there yet...

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.