Comic Book Confidential

I think since Comic Book Confidential was made, there have been a lot of other documentaries and chronicles about the comic book industry, so a lot of the information for me at least was repeat, but still offered quite a lot of new insights particularily into the world of underground comics, which hasn't been as touched on as mainstream superhero comics.

I was impressed with the huge array of creators Ron Mann was able to get to appear in the film, especially the underground creators, and the techniques he utilized that made it livelier and not just another boring narrative educational film. I quite enjoyed how he took some comic stories and shot the panels like storyboards and got the creators to say the lines and essentially adapt the comics for film. I think the best of all was the one Will Eisner did, because Mann got really creative with the camera such as panning, closing into the characters' faces, and transitioning from scenes using dissolves.

It was also a bit strange to see some creators who still work today younger since this was made in the late 80's. Especially Frank Miller, who's now a bit of an old guy himself, with long hair and having less of a gut than he has now.

I think it's also important to remember the context of the time when CBC was made, since the comics industry has changed quite dramatically since then. This was before the comics crash of the 90's, considered one of the worst time for the industry since the Wertham hearings of the 50's, and the current resurgence of comics as art and entertainment and moving successfully into other media such as current comic book films.

Overall, I think it was a highly entertaining and enlightening film on the comics medium, and would love to see Ron Mann do a follow up someday.