Now Streaming: Married to Comics by John Kinhart

By Better Letters • 21 Nov 2024

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Panel from a comic showing two lovers discussing a sign ('Amore, I ❤️ U') that the man has painted for the woman.

Carol Tyler's relationship with Justin Green forms part of her autobiographical comic books.

Something I neglected to mention in my 'Signs of the Summer' post was the screening of Married to Comics that I attended/organised at the Rio Cinema in Dalston, London. The good news for those that have been unable to catch it on the big screen is that it's now streaming.

Stream Married to Comics

The film is a feature-length documentary about the life and work of two pioneers in the genre of autobiographic comics: Justin Green (RIP) and Carol Tyler. (You may recall Justin from his Sign Game strips and/or the Sign Painters film.) As the title suggests, they were married to each other, with their relationship and individual perspectives on it creating much of the film's intrigue.

Married to Comics trailer on Vimeo.

Contributors to the film include luminaries such as Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman, who discuss the profound influence that Green and Tyler's comics had on them. And, for sign painting folk, there's a lovely segment with Green discussing his Sign Game series for Signs of the Times magazine, which he describes as some of his favourite work.

I recommend setting aside a couple of hours this weekend to take a trip into Green and Tyler's minds, and to learn about the remarkable lives and work that emerged from them.

Married to Comics is available via different streaming services. If you are outside the USA then you may need to install a VPN to access it. (Independent productions like this always benefit from ratings and reviews—yes, for the algorithm!—so be sure to leave one if you do watch it.) Thank you to John Kinhart and Carol Tyler for all of the work that has gone into the film, and for now making it available online after its time at the festivals.