"In some sense, getting fired from the Voice was maybe the best thing to happen in my career," Nathan Lee tells Rotten Tomatoes. "Before I wrote for the Voice, a certain number of people were familiar with my work ... But I think having been able to write at the Voice for about a year and a half, I got to show a lot of people what I could really do. Because you can write at length and it's very unfettered; you can sort of say whatever you want, and I did." He says he's been fielding a lot of freelance offers since he was dismissed in March. When asked about the nationwide trend of the "disappearing critic," Lee doesn't mince words. "I mean, it's really sad that all these film critics are losing their jobs, but I think most film criticism is terrible. And not useful. And frankly, really boring."

Continue ReadingEx-Village Voice Film Critic On His Departure and the State of Criticism

In a letter from the editor celebrating the milestone, Bruce VanWyngarden traces the history of the Flyer, from its February 1989 debut to this week's issue. VanWyngarden gives props to previous editors Tim Sampson and Dennis Freeland, as well as Flyer publisher and former AAN Board President Kenneth Neill, and the staffers who rarely get such recognition. "The people who do count are those who create your weekly Flyer -- the writers, editors, art directors, ad sales folks, and others who make this publication possible," he writes.

Continue ReadingThe Memphis Flyer Prints its 1,000th Issue

"Hall of Best Knowledge is several things rolled into one: a bizarre self-help book; an eccentric college text; a guide to life from the unlikeliest of guides. It's hard to categorize (typographical novel? graphic metafiction?), even harder to explain," the National Post reports. The book's creator, Halifax-based graphic designer and artist Ray Fenwick, says the book was originally serialized in the The Coast after being rejected by other newspapers. "They were able to look past its weirdness," he says. The book is available now from Fantagraphics.

Continue ReadingSerialized Comic in The Coast Leads to Book

The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist's Explainers: The Complete Village Voice Strips 1956-66 is set to be released by Fantagraphics in June. The book, the first of four volumes collecting Feiffer's entire run of weekly strips from the Voice, features a lengthy introduction and interview with Feiffer by Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth. The "world premiere book release reading and signing" is scheduled for Thursday, May 15, at 7 pm at the Strand bookstore in New York. In other Jules Feiffer news, last week he published a new political cartoon in the Voice for the first time in more than a decade.

Continue ReadingJules Feiffer’s Early Village Voice Comics Collected in New Book

The Voice has finalists in three categories in the annual awards handed out by the Society for Professional Journalists' New York City chapter: Tom Robbins in beat reporting, Rob Harvilla in arts reporting, and Chloe A. Hillard in minority focus, which includes "coverage of a particular minority community, or of an issue with particular impact on such a community, that has import to the community at large." Winners will be announced May 15.

Continue ReadingThe Village Voice Has Three ‘Deadline Club Award’ Finalists