CHRISTOPHER
L. IRVING
Popular
culture historian and journalist
Curriculum
Vitae
christopherlirving@gmail.com
EDUCATION
MA
(Comparative Literature)
Brooklyn
College
2010-2012
Thesis:
A Succession of Masks: Batman’s Evolving
Sexuality
BA
(Art Education)
Virginia
Commonwealth University
1995-1999
AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
Degree
focus on the American comic book (Thesis subject: Reestablishing Batman’s
sexuality in the 1960s via the camp genre), and its effect on both pop culture
and society. Other interests include film history, trans-media of the 1980s,
detective fiction of the Great Depression and WWII eras, The Blue Beetle comic book, the American comic strip, film noir,
old time radio, and post-modernism in film and comic books.
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
2003, 2005 Comic
Book Art Teacher, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Summer Program (High School
Age)
2001-2003 Elementary
Art Teacher, Cumberland Elementary School, Cumberland, VA
2000-2001 English
10 Teacher, Cumberland High School, Cumberland, VA
1999- Consultant,
Virginia Commonwealth University Special Collections
COMIC BOOK INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
2012- Producer/Host,
The Drawn Word TV
This four-episode video talk show takes a
classic approach to interviewing comic book luminaries.
2012- Editor-in-Chief,
The Drawn Word
This digital comics magazine features a
combination of essaying about comics, creator profiles, classic comic reprints,
and original comics.
2008-2012 Editor/Writer,
Graphic NYC
(www.nycgraphicnovelists.com)
This website project features interview-based
profiles with dozens of comic book creators and reviews, and is coming out in
book form in April 2012.
2000-2006 Associate
Editor, Comic Book Artist
Wrote regularly and developed
historically-themed issues for this comics journalism magazine. CBA received five consecutive Eisner
Awards for “Best Comics Related Periodical” during my tenure.
2000-2004 Editor/writer/inker/letterer,
Hot Lead Studios
Packaged original comic book stories with
different artists for a variety of publications, from independent superhero to
educational comics.
1997- Comic book journalist and historian, freelance.
Have written for a variety of trade publications,
from print to web, on different aspects of comic book history.
REFERENCES
Available
upon request
PUBLISHED WORKS
GRAPHIC NYC (www.nycgraphicnovelists.com)
Interview-based journalistic
essays with cartoonists and graphic novelists
“Chris
Ware on Building a Better Comic Book”, 3/6/12
“Getting
Scary, Cheery and Chatty with Jill Thompson”, 1/30/12
“Paul
Levitz: The History of the Past and Future”, 1/4/12
“Alex
Ross: Making the Old Guard New”, 11/21/11
“Brian
Azzarello on Crime and Superheroes”, 10/26/11
“Dan
Didio: Comics and Controversy”, 10/10/11
“Grant
Morrison: Of SuperGods and Supermen”,
9/8/11
“Chris
Claremont on Evolving the X-Men”, Part One and Part Two, 6/13/11 and 6/22/11
“Jeffrey
Brown, the Incredible Changing Artist!”, 5/10/11
“Stan
‘The Man’ Lee: ‘Nuff Said!”, 4/5/11
“Dwayne
McDuffie: A Career of Diversity”, 3/3/11
“Kyle
Baker: From Bullpens to Self-Publishing”, 1/31/11
“Frank
Miller, Part 2: On Pastiche, Directing and the Future”, 12/7/2010
“Frank
Miller, Part 1: Dames, Dark Knights, Devils, and Heroes”, 12/1/10
“Art
Spiegelman: Still Movin’ with Comix”, 11/17/10
“Micheal
Kupperman and Tales Designed to Thrizzle”,
10/29/10
“James
Sturm: Modern Storytelling in a Period Setting”, 9/21/10
“Jim
Shooter’s Secret Origin, In His Own Words”, Parts 1 and 2, 7/20/10 and 7/26/10
“Jaime
Hernandez: Love, Rockets, Punk Rock, and Comix”, 5/11/10
“Gene
Colan: On Vampires, Shadows, and the Industry”, 5/3/10
“Dick
Giordano: It Had to Be For Love”, 4/6/10
“Jason
Little: Improving Comic Art”, 3/30/10
“Knockin’
One Back with Ben Templesmith”, 3/23/10
“Will
Eisner: The Spirit of Comic”, 3/9/10
“Talking
Comics with Scott McCloud”, 3/1/10
“Jack
Kirby: The King of Comics”, 2/8/10
“Brian
Michael Bendis Takes Siege of New York”, 2/2/10
“Larry
Hama: All About Character”, 1/19/10
“Kabuki and Daredevil’s David Mack: Breaking Panel Borders”, 12/8/09
“American Splendor’s Inimitable Harvey
Pekar”, 11/30/09
“Madman’s
Mike Allred: Rock Out Flying an Atomic Red Rocket 7”, 11/23/09
“Diario
de Peter Kuper: From World War 3 to Spy vs. Spy”, 11/13/09
“Joe
Quesada: Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Without Fear”, 11/2/09
“Neal
Adams: Evolving Comics from Print to Motion”, 10/19/09
“Tom
Hart: From Hutch Owen to Saying Everything”, 10/13/09
“Matt
Madden on the Intuition and Experimentation of Comics”, 10/5/09
“The
Creepy, Funny, Absurdist World of Playboy’s Gahan Wilson”, 9/22/09
“Nick
Bertozzi: The Perpetual Student of Comics”, 9/14/09
“Fighting
Northlanders in the DMZ…or the Incredibly Talented Mr. Brian Wood”, 9/9/09
“Ruling the Night with Kevin Colden”,
8/15/2009
“Comics
and Philosophy with Michel Fiffe”, 8/10/09
“The
Pen is Mightier than the Revolver: Chatting with Jimmy Palmiotti”, 8/3/09
“A.D.'s Josh Neufeld on Comics and
Collaborations”, 7/28/09
“Jules
Feiffer: The Great Comic Hero”, 7/14/09
“Carmine
Infantino's Final Interview? No way.”, 7/2/09
“Casting
Gotham's Shadow: A Visit with Jerry Robinson”, 6/17/09
“Mike
Dawson and Me: The Artist on Being More Than Just ‘The Queen Guy’”, 6/9/09
“‘If
you're lucky’: Joe Simon on Life and Comic Books”, 5/30/09
“Becky
Cloonan and Her Arsenal of Styles”, 5/26/09
“Firing
Off with Tim Hamilton”, 5/18/09
“Daring
to be Different with Joe Infurnari”, 5/11/09
“Kat
Roberts and the Online World”, 5/5/09
“The
Political Evolution of Denny O'Neil”, 4/27/09
“Around
the World with Simon Fraser”, 4/20/09
“Walter
Simonson and How He Became the Man Who Fell Into Comics”, 4/13/09
“Keeping
current with Joe Kubert”, 3/22/09
“Love,
Death, and Rock 'n' Roll with Mike Cavallaro”, 3/16/09
“Getting
Mythological with George O'Connor”, 3/9/09
“Love
and Style: Christine Norrie on Romance and NYC”, 3/2/09
“The New York Life with Bob Fingerman”,
2/16/09
“Bleeding
Hipster Ink: A Chat with Dean Haspiel”, 2/2/09
“Evolving
Comics: Dan Goldman on 08”, 1/26/09
“Irwin
Hasen on New York Dreams”, 1/19/09
“On
the Fringe with Paul Pope”, 1/13/09
“Al
Jaffee's Amazing Fold-In Life”, 1/9/09
“Howard
Chaykin: The Reinvented Man”, 12/31/08
“The
Bottomless Depths of Dash Shaw”, 12/27/08
Leaping
Tall Buildings: The Origin of the American Comic Book, comics journalism/art book, 2012—powerHouse Publishing
Graphic
NYC Presents: Dean Haspiel The Early Years, comics journalism/art book, 2010—IDW Publishing
Comics
Introspective, Volume I: Peter Bagge,
comics journalism/art book, 2007—TwoMorrows Publishing
The
Blue Beetle Companion: His Many Lives from 1939 to Today, comics history research book, 2007—TwoMorrows Publishing
Modern
Masters, Volume 11: Charles Vess,
Interview/art book, 2007—TwoMorrows Publishing
The
First Movie Superheroes, comics and film
history research book, not yet published—Hermes Press
HISTORICAL
ESSAYS
Gray
Morrow’s Orion, comics reprint book,
2012—Hermes Press
Golden
Age Western Comics, comics reprint
book, 2012—powerhouse Publishing
The
Phantom: The Complete Comics: The Charlton Years, Volume 1, comics reprint book, 2011—Hermes Press
Land
of the Giants, comics reprint book, 2010—Hermes
Press
Alter Ego, Volume 3
“Monster Mash! Jeff Smith on Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil”, Interview, Alter Ego [Fawcett Collectors of America #126] #67 (April 2007) 82-84
“‘I'm Responsible For The Silver Age’: Robert
Kanigher on many subjects - including (very briefly) Showcase #4”, Alter Ego
#60 (July 2006) 18-24
“Life From A Flash Of Lightning: The significance
of Showcase #4”, Cover feature, Alter Ego #60 (July 2006) 5-8 "
“ ‘X’ Marks The Sprocket: The 1984 X-Men movie that might have been”, Cover
feature, Alter Ego #58 (May 2006)
9-15
“Children Of The Atom: How The X-Men mutated to
become the nucleus of Marvel Comics”, Cover feature, Alter Ego #58 (May 2006) 3-8 "
"Gil Kane on Comics--Past, Present, and
Future", Interview, Alter Ego #5
(Summer 2000) 16-20
Back
Issue
“Gotham City’s
Other Dynamic Duo: Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle”, Interview, Back Issue #22 (June 2007)
“The Genesis of
Hellboy: Mike Mignola”, Interview, Back
Issue #21 (April 2007) 3-5
“The Swivel-Arm
Battle-Grip Revolution: How G.I. Joe
recruited a new generation of comic-book readers”, Cover feature, Back Issue #16 (June 2006) 15-31
“Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye”, Back Issue #16 (June 2006) 8-14
“War in Space: Goodwin and Williamson's Star Wars Strip”, Essay, Back Issue #14 (February 2006) 65-69
Comic Book Artist, Volume I
“Western CIV 101: Unlocking the Mystery of Gold
Key Comics”, Cover feature, Comic Book
Artist #22 (Oct 2002) 16-31
"CBA Retrospective: The Life of Legendary
‘Big John’ Buscema", Essay, Comic
Book Artist #21 (Aug 2002) 4-B - 13-B
"In Memoriam: ‘This Was a Man!’”, Essay, Comic Book Artist #17 (January 2002)
48-55
“Endgame: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Strikes Twice!”, Essay, Comic Book Artist #14 (July 2001)
100-105
“Ric Meyers Interview: The Atlas Age of Comics”,
Interview, Comic Book Artist #16
(December 2001) 102-107
“Dan Reed Interview: An Offer They Couldn't
Refuse”, Interview, Comic Book Artist
#12 (March 2001) 102-103
“Closing the Books: Charlton's Twilight and
Afterlife”, Interview, Comic Book Artist
#12 (March 2001) 104-108
“Towering
Achievement: The Rise and Fall of Tower Comics”, Cover feature, Comic Book Artist #14 (July 2001) 12-17
“Joe Gill Interview: Mr. Prolific”, Interview, Comic Book Artist #9 (August 2000) 22-24
“Charlton's Action Hero Line: A Piece of the
Action”, Comic Book Artist #9 (August
2000) 25-29
“Charles Santangelo Interview: The Half-Dollar
Man”, Interview, Comic Book Artist #9
(August 2000) 12+13
“History
Lesson: The Charlton Empire”, Article (with Jon B. Cooke), Comic Book Artist #9 (August 2000) 14-21
Comic
Book Artist, Volume 2
“Irving on the Inside: Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey”, Comic Book Artist #4 (September 2004) 14
“Irving on the Inside: [Greg] Land's Lady”,
Interview, Comic Book Artist #3
(March 2004) 22
“Irving on the Inside: Flying high with Rags
Morales”, Interview, Comic Book Artist
#2 (October 2003) 22
“Irving on the Inside: Catching Up with Michael
Lark”, Interview, Comic Book Artist
#1 (July 2003) 26
Comic Book Marketplace
“Victor
Fox’s Blue Beetle!”, Cover feature, Comic
Book Marketplace #79 (June 2000), 20-26
Comics Buyer’s Guide
“Out
Here in the Stars: DC celebrates six decades of Starman”, Cover feature, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1433 (May 4, 2001)
38-42
“Discover
the Magic: Celebrate a decade of Jeff Smith’s Bone!”, Cover feature, Comics
Buyer’s Guide #1421 (February 9, 2001) 22-25
“Justice
for All: 60 years of the Justice Society of America”, Cover feature, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1419 (January 26,
2001) 24-29
“Seeing
Stars: Roy Thomas unveils The All-Star
Companion”, Comics Buyer’s Guide
#1419 (January 26, 2001) 22-23
“American
Revolution: 60 years of Captain America”, Cover feature, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1419 (January 19, 2001) 38-44
“Fighting
for Captain America’s rights – or rights to Captain America”, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1419 (January 19,
2001) 46
“Static Shock invades the Airwaves”,
Cover feature, Comics Buyer’s Guide
#1402 (September 29, 2000) 22-24
“The
Eternal Glow: DC celebrates Green Lantern’s 60th Birthday”, Cover
feature, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1396
(August 18, 2000) 22-27
“Assembling Again: The Avengers lead Marvel’s latest crossover”, Cover
feature, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1397
(August 25, 2000) 22-25
“Getting the truth from comic books”, Cover feature, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1393 (July 28, 2000) 40-42
“Childhood experiences influence Streetwise”, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1393 (July 28, 2000) 44-45
“Behind
the Scenes: The ‘Josie’ lawsuit”, Comics
Buyer’s Guide #1390 (July 7, 2000) 6
“‘Backpack
Marvels’: new format for new readers”, Comics
Buyer’s Guide #1387 (June 16, 2000) 6
“Archie
Comics fires DeCarlo following lawsuit”, Comics
Buyer’s Guide #1387 (June 16, 2000) 6
“Slinging ink for ‘The Man’”: Joe Sinnott
looks back at a half-century of work on The FF, Treasure Chest, and more”, Cover feature, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1385 (June 2, 2000) 26-28
“The Rest of the West: AC Comics brings
companies back from Boot Hill”, Comics
Buyer’s Guide #1384 (May 26, 2000) 42
“A Gallop and a roar – A brief palaver on
Western comics”, Cover feature, Comics
Buyer’s Guide #1384 (May 26, 2000) 38-41
“Hawkman’s flying high: DC plans revival of
character, series”, Cover feature, Comics
Buyer’s Guide #24 (May 12, 2000) 24-25
“The
work habits of a Madman (creator):
Mike Allred faces the challenge of getting Madman back on track”, Cover
feature, Comics Buyer’s Guide #1368,
22-24
Comics Scene 2000
“Those Damned Detectives: Creator Mike Allred investigates
making G-Men from Hell into a
heavenly movie”, Comics Scene 2000 #3
(Sept 2000) 72-76
The
Drawn Word
“Brian
Wood Profile”, Interview essay, The Drawn
Word #1 (Spring 2012) 9-32
“Space
Oddity: Captain Marvel”, Historical essay, The
Drawn Word #1 (Spring 2012) 38-41
“Bill
Sienkiewicz: The Abstract Artist’s Abstract”, Interview essay, The Drawn Word #1 (Spring 2012) 66-83
The Jack Kirby Collector
“Reimagineers: John Romita, Jr. interview”, Interview, The Jack Kirby Collector #47 (Fall 2006) 22-23“Doing his Damnedest: Walter Simonson interview”, Interview, The Jack Kirby Collector #26 (Nov. 1999) 39-44COMIC BOOK WORK
Sally
Vane, Creator
The
Fourth Wheel, Plotter/inker/editor,
Hot Lead Studios/Homeward (non-profit) (2004) 4-page educational “ashcan” comic
book
“Miss Scarab”, Writer/inker/letterer, Femforce #122 (2003) 28-34
“Whizzards”, Breakdowns/layouts, Big Bang Comics: Whiz Kids #1 (April
2003) 22-40
Blackbird, Writer/inker/editor, Hot Lead Studios (self-published) (2002)
40-page comic book
Femforce
“Night
of the Goddess”, Writer/inker, Femforce
#125 (2004) 15-27
“An
Immaterial Love Story”, Writer/inker/letterer, Femforce #125 (2004) 37-43
“Untitled
She-Cat story,” Writer, Femforce #126
(2004) 17-23
“Mission
Prometheus: Part One”, Writer/inker, Femforce
#132 (2005) 1-5
“Mission
Prometheus: Part Two:, Writer, Femforce
#133 (2005) 24-29
“Generation
Gap”, Writer, Femforce #134 (2006)
1-24
“Love
Hurts”, Writer, Femforce #135 (2006)
13-19
“Death
of the Goddess!”, Writer, Femforce #136
(2006) 1-8
“Starcrossed”,
Story, Femforce #137 (2006) 1-6
“Jungle
Love”, Story, Femforce #137 (2006)
7-13
“Dagger
Quest”, Story, Femforce #137 (2006)
14-21
“My
own worst enemy”, Writer, Femforce #138
(2007) 1-9
“Shadowhunt”,
Story, Femforce #138 (2007) 11-17
CONFERENCE PANELS AND TALKS
“Hero, Villian, Yeti: Tibet in Comics” Art
unveiling, Rubin Museum, moderator, 4/18/12
“Leaping Tall Buildings: Behind the Pictures”,
Powerhouse Books Leaping Tall Buildings release party, moderator, 4/14/12
“Comics to Film”, Powerhouse Books Leaping Tall
Buildings release party, moderator, 4/14/12
“Autobio and Semi-Autobio Comic Books”, Powerhouse
Books Leaping Tall Buildings release party, moderator, 4/14/12
“New York: Real and Imagined”, Columbia
University, moderator, March 2012.
“Jerry Robinson Spotlight”, Barnes and Noble in
NYC, moderator, 6/29/11
“The Creativity and Business of Cartooning”, Pratt
Institute, panelist, 4/7/10
“Kyle Baker Spotlight”, King Con, moderator,
11/6/10
“Graphic NYC Panel”, King Con, moderator, 11/7/09
“Two MAD Men: Al Jaffee and Peter Kuper”, King
Con, moderator, 11/7/09
“The Blue Beetle: The Definitive Mysteryman”, San
Diego Comic Con, moderator, 6/00
MEDIA INTERVIEWS
The Drawn Word TV
“Peter Kuper”, Studio
interview, host, 2/20/2012
“Larry Hama”, Studio
interview, host, 2/20/2012
“Dash Shaw”, Studio
interview, host, 2/20/2012
“Chris Claremont”, Studio
interview, host, 2/20/2012
“Secret
Identity: Teacher Dons Cape, Cowl”, by Jason Norton, The Farmville Herald v112, #25 (February 13, 2002) Front page
“Artist Lets Hot Lead Fly: Irving’s Comic
Book Company Expands”, by Jason Norton, The
Farmville Herald v114, #14 (January 7, 2004) Front page
The Artist’s Craft, by Stacey Cochran (September, 2007) Video interview
Superhero Nation: A Documentary, by Ian Fischer (interviewed 2009) Video interview
Collected Comics Library, by Chris Marshall (May, 2011) Podcast interview
MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
2006-2008,
2012- Pop Culture Association
2012- Author’s Guild
