Blood of the virgin

Pathetic and shitty people live out their pathetic and shitty lives working for a B movie studio in the 1970s making a slapdash horror film. The most pathetic is a film editor named Seymour who has aspirations of writing and directing his own film but will compromise to get ahead at almost every opp Leggi tutto

Obra maestra.

The kind of book that makes you want to say shit like “an accomplishment” and “magnum opus” and “triumph of the medium,” even as one of its central tasks is to deromanticize artmaking. Art about art tends to get a little navelgazey for my tastes, but Sammy Harkam’s humbling story of a 1970s b-movie Leggi tutto

Thank you to Pantheon for providing me with a copy of this book. I was honestly surprised I didn't like this. I'm a big fan of horror, and this book was rife with references to pre-70's horror, from Universal monsters to wacky grindhouse studio schedules. I think my main issue was my dislike of all t Leggi tutto

A masterpiece of the comic medium right up there with Maus, From Hell, Love and Rockets, Persepolis, Blackhole, etc. Definitely my favorite read of the year so far. This is sort of the equivalent of Boogie Nights but for the grind house film industry in the early 70's. Harkham is a master of storyte Leggi tutto

A look at the 1970s exploitation film industry in Los Angeles, seen through the eyes of a man named Seymour. Seymour is a film editor and script writer, 27 years old, and an Iraqi Jew who immigrated to the US. His dream is to direct his own film and he gets that chance when one of his scripts, "Bloo Leggi tutto

Blood of the Virgin has all the hallmarks of an "indie comic." It's a big, dense read filled with weird characters and a loose, sad plot. There are several lengthy excursions into another story entirely. The driving force of the primary story is barely defined: family, ambition, anxiety, ownership.

Al estilo de la película Babylon pero de películas de terror de serie B. Un retrato de una época y una ciudad (Los Ángeles) que desde sus inicios ya estaba maldita y corrompida.

I think this might be case of just “this wasn’t for me” which sucks cuz I was really excited for it and felt the premise was right up my alley. But idk this just felt disjointed to me. There were definitely moments where I was really pulled in. One character monologue in particular stands out. I also Leggi tutto

Sammy Harkham's comix messterpiece Blood of the Virgin is a kaleidoscope of hi-jinks, heartbreak, and broken dreams in the 1970s b-movie biz. Fans of Charlie Kaufman movies, Art Spiegelman (Maus), and Dan Clowes (Ghost World) will wanna check this out.