Vibrant

Tom Spurgeon has the best web/blog/review site devoted to the art of the comic book, The Comics Reporter. The range of what he covers does the industry a rare justice. I wouldn't be surprised if its audience, already large, doubled in size over the next year or two.

I'm thinking I might get around to posting a 10 Fave Movies list for 2005, since Tom has only just posted his Top 50 Comics for 2005.

If you have even a remote interest in the form, I strongly recommend checking out his list, which has a cover shot or illustration for every title. Not only is Tom's taste impeccable, but you'll get the best overview available in any one place of the most vibrant art form currently being practiced worldwide.

I know that seems like a big claim, but just paging down through the representative images is blowaway impressive. So many different art styles, the recognizable and the totally fresh, all so masterful, elite levels of artistic and storytelling skill.

I'd say there's no more alive medium at the moment than comics, and with shows like the recent Los Angeles Hammer Museum and MOCA Masters of American Comics, it's finally being recognized by Culture.

It's where fine art and graphic art collide like 1950's Pontiacs smashing together in the desert, littering the dusty landscape with enameled steel shrapnel of cherry red and cobalt blue.