Sam Zabel and the magic pen

by

221 pages

English language

Published 2014 by Fantagraphics Books, Fantagraphics.

ISBN:
978-1-60699-790-1
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
870098585

View on OpenLibrary

3 stars (1 review)

"Cartoonist Sam Zabel hasn't drawn a comic in years. Stuck in a nightmare of creative block and despair, Sam spends his days writing superhero stories for a large American comics publisher and staring at a blank piece of paper, unable to draw a single line. Then one day he finds a mysterious old comic book set on Mars and is suddenly thrown headlong into a wild, fantastic journey through centuries of comics, stories, and imaginary worlds. Accompanied by a young webcomic creator named Alice and an enigmatic schoolgirl with rocket boots and a bag full of comics, Sam goes in search of the Magic Pen, encountering sex-crazed aliens, medieval monks, pirates, pixies and - of course - cartoonists. Funny, erotic, and thoughtful, Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen explores the pleasures, dangers, and moral consequences of fantasy"--Cover page [4].

2 editions

reviewed Sam Zabel and the magic pen by Dylan Horrocks

Review of 'Sam Zabel and the magic pen' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

I thought this would be something a little darker and x rated than it turned out to be. It’s very clearly a way to draw fantasy and talk about imagination, but frankly this was done in promethea and in Scott McLeod’s stuff. I wanted to see what cartoonists don’t talk about: the power and idealization of comics and how much makes it in there that they don’t admit, and the different viewpoints there. I feel like simply pointing to a harem or hentai and saying “oh noes” isn’t even scratching the surface.


I felt like Alice and Miki were far more interesting than Sam here, because they are literally living in male fantasy and have to subvert or reject their assigned roles and we never really see a from scratch point of view of what they want.

Subjects

  • Cartoonists
  • Imaginary societies
  • Comic books, strips