Meanwhile #162

This week’s links and thinks and bangs and booms.

— As the film celebrates its 35th anniversary, this brief typographic history of Akira by Fonts in Use is a great read. Sat amongst the ever-expanding Manga section of UK bookshops, the bold design of the books is still incredibly striking, hasn’t aged a day.

— Rochester Institute of Technology’s Graphic Design Archive documents and preserves the work of significant American graphic designers active from the 1920s to the 1960s. Bit obsessed with George Tscherny right now.

— “Everything digital is now suspect. For Ethan and his cohort, only the analogue world can be trusted. Isn’t that neat for a film that leans into the techniques of the past?” – Silent London on the excellent new Mission: Impossible and Christopher McQuarrie’s debt to the silent era of physical stunts and locomotive carnage.

— Congratulations to Zoe Thorogood, a 24-year-old from Bradford, who has scooped five nominations for this week’s Eisner Awards. Going to read It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth asap.

— Exceedingly excited for Owen D. Pomery’s forthcoming book The Hard Switch. The kickstarter is this close to hitting a stretch goal that’ll give it a lovely dust jacket. GO PLEDGE NOW.

— My favourite tweet amongst the Cats-levels meme-ification of Oppenheimer.

— Colourist extraordinaire Marina Amaral is now substacking, delving into the stories and investigation behind the pictures she works on, such as this 1910 photograph by photo-documentarian Lewis Hine.

— Got actual goosebumps watching the trailer for Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. If little cinematic tyrants are your thing, I can highly recommend Taschen’s thorough delve into Stanley Kubrick’s archive, exploring every facet of prep for his own Napoleon film that didn’t happen.