The thesis advanced by this zippy, zappy survey of the funnies is that comic books are an expression of the rebellious North American id-rock'n'roll in newsprint. The movie opens with fifties footage of a ministerial type saying, "I think there ought to be a law against them. Tonight I'm going to show you why." Sure enough, Comic Book Confidential does...Utilizing comic book graphics, cleverly animated sequences (and wonderful archival footage), Canadian documentarian Ron Mann takes us from before WWII when superheroes came into their own and on up to the punky, anything-goes present. Along this madcap road we meet William M. Gaines, whose MAD Magazine dared satirize Senator Joseph McCarthy at the peak of his power; Stan Lee, eccentric sire of Spider Man; Art Spiegelman, co-creator of RAW; and the legendary R. Crumb, cartoon laureate of the Haight Ashbury. (Plus Linda Barry, Spain, Spary Flenniken, Dan O'Neill, Gilbert Shelton, Bill Griffith and more.) In the end, Comic Book Confidential is culturally energizing, the cinematic equivalent of listening to one of the "bad girl" groups of the early sixties: when you realize so much irreverent satire, straightforward iconoclasm and downright subversion are being absorbed by young minds, it gives you hope for the future. Jay Scott, The Globe and Mail