About Kim A. Munson

Kim A Munson (MA SFSU) is the editor of the Eisner Award-nominated anthology Comic Art in Museums (University Press of Mississippi press release) the first academic book to explore the evolution of thought about comic art 1930-present as manifested in art exhibitions. Kim is an art historian, author, artist, and curator living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has contributed essays on comic art, museum exhibitions, labor emblems, and other topics to numerous books and journals including The Cambridge Companion to Comics, The Comics of R. Crumb: Underground in the Art Museum, Routledge Handbook of the Secret Origins of Comics Studies, International Journal of Comic Art, and Places Journal. She was a 2022 Eisner Awards Judge and the curator of Women in Comics at the Society of Illustrators (NY), the Palazzo Merulana (Rome), and the Foques Corte dell'Arte (Naples) and Colleen Doran Illustrates Neil Gaiman (Society of Illustrators, NY & San Diego Comic-Con Museum).

Colleen Doran Illustrates Neil Gaiman

65 beautiful drawings by Colleen Doran are in view at the San Diego Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park through April 2024. Doran/Gaiman projects represented in the show include Chivalry, Snow Glass Apples, Troll Bridge, American Gods, Norse Mythology, Sandman, and Doran’s latest project, the official adaption of Good Omens. The exhibit was developed by Kim with the Society of Illustrators in NY, where it was shown from March to July 2023. Exhibit photos from San Diego.

Colleen talks with visitors about Good Omens . Photo: N. Ricoy © 2023 SDCC.

Colleen and I signing in the museum’s bookstore.

On opening day 10/4, Collen and I had a conversation about her art in the museum’s theatre, hosted by SDCC’s Eddie Ibrahim.

Kim Munson, Neil Gaiman, and Colleen Doran at MoCCA Arts Festival, NY (4/2/23). Photo by Karen Green.

Documentary: Lichtenstein and Comics

i was recently included in this fascinating documentary about Lichtenstien’s comics paintings. My part was filmed in 2017. Here I’m talking about Lichtenstein and Russ Heath, the artist who drew several of the war comics Lichtenstein appropriated in some of his most famous paintings. I had just seen Russ at a comics convention in San Jose. He passed in 2018.

The film has gotten a lot of press including ArtNet and this year-end list from The Week, “Art That Made the News.”

Washington Post: “Did Lichtenstien create art or copy it? A new documentary stokes the controversy.”

News

*Spotlight on Colleen Doran*, Wondercon, Saturday, 3/30/24. I was also on *Comic Culture in Museums: Pop Culture on Display! moderated by Patrick Reed. Photo by Danny barer.*

SDCC Memory: Denis Kitchen and Trina Robbins on a panel about underground comix, 2010.

New Books: I have agreed to edit books on Denis Kitchen (submitted) & Trina Robbins for UPM’s Conversations series, forthcoming 2024, 2025.

Chivalry: A new essay on Chivalry is upcoming in the Winter 2024 issue of Source: Notes in the History of Art (U of Chicago journals). I presented on Chivalry at academic conferences for the International Society for the Study of Medievalism and the College Arts Association.

Monsters: I’m working with Emil Ferris (My Favorite Thing is Monsters v. 2) on an exhibit of her work at Society of Illustrators (NY) July 31 - Oct 19, 2024.

Mutts: I am developing a Patrick McDonnell exhibit with the SDCC Museum opening January 2025.

New Essay: “Maurice Horn: A Memorial.” International Journal of Comic Art Vol 25, No 1, Spring 2023. Pgs 504-509.

New Review: Katherine Kelp-Stebbins reviews Comic Art in Museums for the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics.

New Chapter: George Lucas in Museums to the anthology Lucas: His Hollywood Legacy, edited by Richard Ravalli for the University of Kentucky Press film studies series (available May 14, 2024).