Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: ai, Art Spiegelman, gail simone
Art Spiegelman Uses A.I. On His Comic, Gail Simone Has An X-Men Take
Art Spiegelman Uses A.I. On His In The Shadow Of No Towers Comic, Gail Simone Has Her Own X-Men Take
Article Summary
- Art Spiegelman says he used A.I. for a published image for the first time on In The Shadow Of No Towers.
- The A.I.-generated sticker was created for Pantheon’s 25th-anniversary edition marking the September 11 attacks.
- Spiegelman called the move lazy, credited Françoise Mouly’s prompting help, and revived debate over A.I. in comics.
- Cartoonists blasted Art Spiegelman and A.I. use, while Gail Simone’s Uncanny X-Men page added sharp context.
Creator of Maus,Art Spiegelman has stated that he has used generative AI for the first time on a published project on a sticker for the 25th-anniversary edition of his 2004 book In The Shadow Of No Towers. The new edition from Pantheon, released to mark the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, is smaller than the original oversized volume and includes a cover sticker that depicts the burning towers as candles on a birthday cake. In an interview with Publishers Weekly, Art Spiegelman said of the sticker: “I wanted it to look like an old engraving, and I was lazy. I said, let’s do it with AI and see what happens.” He added that his wife, Françoise Mouly, the art editor for the New Yorker, assisted with the prompts: “She’s good at Claude whispering.” In the Shadow of No Towers began as a series of strips reflecting Art Spiegelman’s response to the 9/11 attacks, drawn in the format of early 20th-century Sunday newspaper comics. The original book faced publication resistance in the United States due to its political content and was initially serialised in Europe. The new edition retains that material while adding the AI-generated sticker as an anniversary element. The book’s closing comic notes that the towers “seem to get smaller every day… Happy Anniversary.”
Spanish-American cartoonist Victor Santos, creator of Polar,posted “Art Spiegelman using AI to make a cover is extremely sad on too many levels”. Comics journalist and illustrator Erik Thurmanwrote that Spiegelman “continues to be a miserable disappointment,” and later questioned whether Mouly’s involvement indicated broader AI use in The New Yorker‘s art department. Joe Gualtierisays, “Add Spiegelman to list of older artists seduced by AI, though at least he’s more honest about his reasons.” Brian Croninsays, “Art Spiegelman is a genius, but holy sh-t, dude, “I was too lazy’ is not an excuse for using AI to generate an image for the reissue of your book.” Adriano Moraes added, “The real problem is him and his wife Francoise Mouly decide what goes into The New Yorker. Of all the people, nobody should want these 2 in specific, having loose policies about AI because it can influence all the other magazines. Art Spiegelman in specific is a role model for way too many cartoonists. He gives the ok on using AI publicly it blurs the discussion way too much.” In an earlier public discussion, Art Spiegelman said he had briefly tried an early version of DALL-E when access was restricted and was “disappointed in what I saw,” though he noted the technology was improving rapidly. He expressed understanding of artists’ concerns about style imitation and copyright, while observing that anything reducible to a product could be handled by systems that “regurgitate existing products.” He defined art as something that “gives shape to one’s thoughts and feelings,” adding that AI cannot make art until it has those. Apropos of nothing, this recently appeared in Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simoneand Luciano Vecchio.
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