The Family Circus, A Defense of R. Crumb, a New Distributor, and More-- The Comic Bookmarks June 8th, 2025
It's the beginning of summer and, honestly, not too much is happening. Not much news but go down to the reviews/criticism portion and there's some really good stuff there, including a good video about the zombification of the Family Circus comic strip.
Previously on FC2C
Scott Cederlund
Headlines
Stuart MacDonald
Hey, Mark Millar. Remember him? I guess he still works for Netflix. And here he is claiming "the world is more relaxed again." In case you need a translator, that means it's more relaxed for his personal style of white man writing so now it's time roll out something called... checks notes... "Psychic Sam."
This seems to reporting mostly from a Comicsgate or at least Comicsgate-adjacent podcast that he was on so it really doesn't get into a lot of details, just claims that people were scared to write what they really wanted to for the last couple of year
Is it me or is it weird that he declares that cancel culture is over and calls it just a "youth trend" like he's the final arbiter of such things?
Business
Graphic Policy Team
A new comic distributor emerges and it sounds like they're trying to pick up some of the mid–small publishers that the old Diamond catered to but the new Diamond probably doesn't want to touch.
Interviews
Chris Arrant
An update from Popverse on Donny Cates, who seemed to be everywhere until he was in a series car accident a couple of years ago. It's good to hear about his recovery but sounds like he still has a way to go.
But about this article... if I'm reading it right, it's basically a summary of an interview they had with him that's behind their paywall?
Reviews & Features
Sean Kleefeld
Sean Kleefield mines his rich archives and uncovers his "manifesto" or "how to read & appreciate comics that same way [Sean does.]" It's pretty good for both readers and critics/reviewers/commentators.
R. Fiore
R. Fiore digs into Robert Crumb's use of racial caricatures. I'll admit that I've only dipped my toe into the Crumb pool, and fairly recently at that. To start engaging him in the 21st century is a challenging prospect.
And how does Fiore come to terms with engaging with Crumb now?
All I would like is the right to read it myself. It’s not that the morality of a work is irrelevant but that morality and aesthetics are separate categories, and good aesthetics will get you through times of dubious morals better than admirable morals will get you through times of aesthetic poverty.
It's interesting to compare what Fiore is saying here with that Mark Millar piece above, where we have both Fiore and Millar essentially trying to convince the world to let them enjoy they things that they enjoy.
Logan Dalton
I somehow missed this book last week. I'll need to try to pick it up next time I'm in a shop.
Stergios Botzakis
Keezy Young's Sunflowers is a stunning comic.
Graeme McMillan
Graeme McMillan finds that Batman: Dark Patterns feels like it's forging some kind of new path by embracing an approach to Batman that's rooted in the 1970s and 1980s.
Skip to content
I remember this comic but have no memories of the comic itself. It's this huge blank spot in my memory.
I had no idea how the Family Circus has been in this state of updated reruns for years now.
Rob Clough
Keiler Roberts is a favorite around here and her new book is sitting on my desk right now.
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