Comics, the Ninth Art

Telling stories and making up exciting tales is probably an activity as old as humankind, and representing them pictorially certainly pre-dates civilization (and may even be one of its causes). Inventing characters and giving them form; causing them to experience incredible adventures in fantastic worlds; creating entire universes in careful detail; mixing painting with writing, the past with the present and future; combining reality with fiction and dreams with desires - and capturing it all on a square of paper - is the world of the comic artist. This film explores the relatively short history of the form, which, despite the criticism routinely leveled against it, has become one of the pillars of twentieth-century mass culture. Famous comic-strip creators discuss their even more illustrious progeny. And even those who think they know all about the vignette may be surprised to discover extraordinary originality from unlikely sources.

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.