Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse

World renowned for Maus which won the Pulitzer Prize and became essential both to understanding the Shoah and to establishing the comic book as a mature narrative medium Art Spiegelman is far more than the creator of an iconic work. This documentary traces his career which is as eclectic as it is radical from his beginnings in the 1960s as co-creator of the Wacky Packages trading cards to the founding of key underground comics magazines such as Arcade with Bill Griffith and Raw with his partner Françoise Mouly.

The film also explores In the Shadow of No Towers which was his powerful response to 9/11 experienced from his home in Lower Manhattan. It also addresses his provocative New Yorker covers created between 1993 and 2003 which even sparked protests by New York police officers outside the magazine offices. The documentary further examines his public reaction to the recent banning of Maus by a Tennessee school board.

Spiegelman emerges as an eloquent and incisive guide to his own universe. He is joined by key figures from the comics world such as Robert Crumb and Gary Panter as well as by voices from younger generations including Joe Sacco, Jerry Craft and Molly Crabapple. All of them have been shaped by his sharp engagement with themes of trauma and personal memory.