Progress Always Comes Late

(a two page comic, for paid subscribers only)

“YOUR WRITING WOULD BE BETTER IF YOU DIDN’T APOLOGIZE SO MUCH.” That’s some advice I got recently from a fellow critic-turned-programmer, somebody whose work and determination I admire very much, during a long overdue WhatsApp call. He’s right, and I’ve taken it to heart… But also, I’m Catholic and he’s not. And since I resumed cartooning in 2024, I have only barely begun to think about how to integrate my recent exploits with pen and ink alongside my slightly better-established practice (?) as a movie critic (???).

But if anything synthesizes these totally contradictory passions, it’s my two-page contribution to the most recent product released by Cashiers Du Cinéma, a gloriously upstart zine written/drawn/edited/published exclusively by movie theater employees, founded by local geniuses Dan Welch and David Cardoza.

Last February, Brooklyn Academy of Music hosted a series honoring films about cinema workers, with a special release in which contributors would address specific titles.

From the list of available movies, I chose to laser in on Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1988 Best Foreign Language Film winner Cinema Paradiso, a four-hanky salute to the ✨magic of the movies✨ that was inescapable if you grew up loving film in the 1990s. For paid subscribers only, the pages are below.

More comics will be coming, quite soon, for better or worse. Until then, please visit Obvious Fake Press to order the full Cashiers zine (or indeed a box compiling the four issues that have been released thus far, plus the BAM special.) Happy weekend and vive le cinema.