Alison Bechdel: ‘The Bechdel test was a joke… I didn’t intend for it to become a real gauge’

The US graphic novelist on having her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, turned into an audio series, ​growing up in a funeral home, ​and ​​her famous women-in-film test

Disney+ documentary reignites anger over Marvel Comics’ cult of Stan Lee

Families of artists Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, and broadcaster Jonathan Ross, say pair were at forefront of creating Marvel characters

Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter by Oscar Zarate review – enriching tale of the power of art

Using two time frames, this engrossing book flits between three modern admirers of the groundbreaking artist and the man himself wandering Europe

Dictatorship? How Hitler, Stalin and Trump show it’s easier than you think

Andrea Chalupa discusses her graphic novel, co-authored with Sarah Kendzior, about authoritarianism and its dangers

John Romita Sr: the Spider-Man artist was a titan of the comic-book world

The man who helped to bring an iconic character to life shaped the look of the Marvel Universe for decades

John Romita Sr, Spider-Man artist and co-creator of Wolverine, dead at 93

The celebrated artist began drawing for The Amazing Spider-Man in 1966, and served as an art director at Marvel for two decades. He died of natural causes

Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham review – to live and cry in LA

The cartoonist’s singular book, 14 years in the making, imbues the tale of a harried 1970s B-movie editor with panoramic scope

The Faber/Observer/Comica graphic short story prize 2023 – enter now!

The annual award for aspiring cartoonists offers the chance to be published in the Observer and win £1,000, with past winners going on to land film deals

On my radar: Ari Aster’s cultural highlights

The Hereditary and Midsommar ​film-maker ​on the genius of Daniel Clowes’s Eightball, ​a haunting ​Iranian drama and the revelatory writing of Édouard Levé

Work-Life Balance by Aisha Franz review – richly comic takedown of the wellness industry

This well-aimed tale of a self-obsessed therapist and her angsty clients nails the neuroticism of the digital age and its snake-oil remedies

Al Jaffee, legendary Mad magazine cartoonist, dies aged 102

The artist behind the magazine’s famous “fold-in” drawing, Jaffee was Mad’s longest-tenured contributor and only retired when he was 99

Rachel Pollack, trans activist and comic book writer, dies aged 77

Pollack, who created the first mainstream transgender superhero, Kate Godwin, had been fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Superman review – Christopher Reeve’s superhero origin movie still looks swell

Richard Donner’s 1978 event movie brought Hollywood grandeur, a great John Williams score and a gentlemanly hero quite unlike any other

Alice Oseman reveals plans for sixth volume of Heartstopper graphic novels

Forthcoming fifth volume of the hit series was planned to be the last but writer says a sixth book will give characters ‘their final moment to shine’

Manga-nifique! How France became obsessed with Japanese anime

In the 1970s, giant robot cartoons sparked a love affair with French fans (including Emmanuel Macron) – now the country is the world’s largest manga importer, and home to a new Murakami film