Under the Radar's Protest Issue -- Indie/alt-rock magazine Under the Radar sent along their Protest Issue, which has a lengthy and informative section on politically-leaning bands and artists like Modest Mouse and Michael Stipe discussing their politics and how they navigate the minefield of being celebrity advocates for political causes they believe in. That section is fascinating and well-written...but it's not why they sent me the issue.

How disappointing, then, that the reason they did -- is on page 74, "Tights and the Good Fight," an article about what they call "political comics." It's a full-page, utterly bankrupt puff-piece featuring mostly toothless mid-level hacks suckling at Time-Warner's teat (plus one corporate comics temporary refugee selling to Image a title DC and Marvel likely rejected, but still not likely to be very good -- or politically significant) and passing it off as, gag, "political."

The three writers are:

* Brian K. Vaughan, who rarely creates a comic book I can stand and has changed the world not at all with his superhero book Ex Machina, the first issue of which was more than enough for me.

* Brian Wood, who has only held my attention with his most political work, Channel Zero (which he dismisses here as preachy and amateurish without acknowledging its immediacy and power), and with his least, Demo. The Under the Radar piece focuses on DMZ, which like Ex Machina, lost my interest before its first issue had concluded.

* And Mark Millar, who, Jesus, are his comics political? I like the guy as a human being and I love his Superman Adventures a lot, but any political message in his comics is usually buried in his wiseass self-satisfaction, and in any case the message is always lost in the joke he's made of himself over the years with his arrogant, desperate self-promotion. What was the political message of The Ultimates? The images that remain in memory are Captain America kicking a mentally ill monster when he's completely and utterly down, and Ant-Man assaulting his wife. Will War Heroes have anything valuable to say about the state of the world? Do you think I give a shit? Wake me up if it gets George W. Bush on the stand for crimes against humanity in the world court, or even calls for that to happen. (I will acknowledge that, published by Image, it's at least possible that could happen -- Time-Warner would sooner make Bruce Wayne a flaming homo for reals before they'd let Millar, or Vaughan, or Wood say anything true about our war criminal commander-in-chief.)

Fuck this shitty article on faux-political comics that utterly ignores vital comics with something genuine to say, like World War III Illustrated, The Filth, Shirtlifter, Diary of a Teenage Girl, Fun Home or even fucking Cerebus. This article might have had its origins in the best of intentions, but it's a slap in the face to comics creators who actually have something to say, and value that over the steady paycheck and ready promotional departments of two of the biggest comic book publishers in North America. Jesus Christ, they couldn't even include Garth Ennis in this sorry lot? Of course not, he might have said something true about something that matters.

It's amazing to me that a magazine that so obviously mines the most obscure labels and artists in rock music to find the gems contained in its music reviews pages, settles for the most facile, obvious and frankly shitty "political" comics to highlight in an otherwise excellent and important issue about the life and death issues of our time. No apparent effort was made to investigate the many political views of all stripes that can be found in mini-comics, alternative comics, artcomix or even goddamned Doonesbury.

But then again, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised at the tribute that Under the Radar pays to the most mediocre of corporate superhero comics and creators -- after all, look at the picture. Variant cover, anyone?

The rest of the magazine was fantastic. But it's not why they wanted me to cover it.

Labels: reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:16 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Frank Santoro on Bad Comic Art -- Here's the creator of Storeyville (so you goddamned well better know he knows what he's talking about) on bad comic book art that some people mistake for good.

Labels: art, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:11 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Obsession -- William Rees writes and Jeff Clemens draws this new graphic novel published by Heavy Proton. Neither the writing nor the art rises to the level of professional, and the story is lurid and wildly scattered, but there's an unusual sense of commitment and ambition to the telling of the story that I don't see much of, and that alone propelled me through the book.

The story is about a 16-year-old girl, Clarissa Case, who is trapped at home, having to help her handicapped mother, who seems to have been driven mad with pain. The girl encounters what the script seems to want us to believe is a handsome older man, but who kind of looks like an ape, or a hobo. She falls immediately for this "George Simmons," but perhaps the meeting was not as coincidental as Clarissa might think, dot dot dot.

The overall plot is outrageous but not entirely unbelievable for the sort of gothic melodrama Obsession aspires to be. Rees's dialogue is frequently absurd ("Well, now, you sure are a ripe tomato." "Sigh. Well, I guess I can trust you not to kill me!"). It falls apart in the details, though, such as the ridiculous diary entries and fantasies Clarissa entertains throughout the story.

Note to all comic book creators, from the very worst amateur to Alan Moore and Grant Morrison: I don't ever, ever read huge chunks of text purporting to be the character's diary or some article relevant to the story when they are plopped onto the comics page as part of the narrative. And I suspect I am not alone. Sorry, I'm reading comics right now, I seem to say to myself as my eyes glaze over and I move on to the next panel. And that happened a lot in Obsession. I couldn't be bothered to read Clarissa's diary entries or the segments where she imagines herself a nurse and George a handsome doctor. And I don't feel bad about that, because if these narrative elements were compelling and well-done, I'd have had no choice but to be compelled to read them and realize how well-done they were.

I mention that Obsession is lurid, and it is, in both the script and the art, the latter of which seems to be a perfect melding of Doomsday+1 era John Byrne and an attempt at aping Graham Ingels, EC's premier gothic horror specialist. Clemens, who the text at the back informs me attended the Joe Kubert School, clearly has a little potential but a long way to go before he gets there. And I'm not sure, but it seems to me that the full-page spread of the 40ish and quite grotesque George Simmons having sex with 16-year-old Clarissa might be illegal in some places, what with all the concern about the violation of young, fictional girls. It's just kind of an icky scene.

There's not much to like about Obsession; at 93 pages, it's over ten times longer than the EC horror comics I kind of think it wants to evoke. If it had been seven pages, written by Bill Gaines and drawn by Jack Kamen or the aforementioned Graham Ingels, it might still not be a very good story, but it would at least have caught the eye of Dr. Wertham. The only good thing I can say about it is that it possesses obvious ambition. It's clear its creators want to make comics and have the energy and desire to do so. I just wish they'd created a comic book that I could recommend.

Labels: reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:56 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing -- Hello, good morning and welcome to the Monday Briefing for the last day of June, 2008. Where does the time go? I usually answer "Shushan," which is a small, small village in Washington County, New York that has a lovely little museum, a train station and not much else.

Anyways, it was a fairly busy weekend of blogging hereabouts, so if you missed it, here's what you can catch up on today:

* I reviewed Lewis Black's new book on religion and go into my thoughts on the subject.

* Coincidentally, I also reviewed the most recent run of Godland issues by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli.

* I reviewed Trains are...Mint, an autobio/travelogue sort of graphic novel from upstart Blank Slate Books. Also took a look at the same publisher's We Can Still Be Friends; two very different books, but both worth your attention. Blank Slate is one to watch.

* If you've been reading me for any length of time at all, you know I really dig the comics of Nate Powell. His latest book got reviewed here this weekend, Swallow Me Whole. It won't be out for a couple of months, so let your retailer know you WANT. Because YOU DO.

* I organized the books on the shelf over my desk yesterday, causing me to list the books on writing that I keep close to hand. Do you have any writing guides or inspirations that you find useful?

* Bonus: The best thing I read online this weekend was Tom Spurgeon's interview with cartoonist Lynda Barry. It made me want her new book a lot, but it was sold out at the closest Borders. So I bought Charles Schulz's Happiness is a Warm Puppy instead. I haven't read it since I was maybe 7 or 8 years old, but since it was Schulz's first book and is filled with (presumably) illustrations unique to the book, I thought it was worth adding to my library. I brought my son along on the trip and bought him a Spongebob-heavy Nickelodeon magazine, which he devoured in the car on the ride home.

And that's that with that, as David Paymer used to say on Line of Fire, which was a really good show.

Labels: meta, monday briefing

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:19 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
We Can Still Be Friends -- Is there anything more emotionally agonizing than to be a young man with a crush on someone who doesn't feel the same way? That's the focus of the entirety of We Can Still Be Friends, a graphic novel by Mawil published by Blank Slate Books.

Mawil's loose, kinetic cartooning gets across the enthusiasm for life felt by youth at large in the world, combining the spontaneity of Lewis Trondheim with the confidence and charm of Michel Rabagliati. The story is told in vignettes broken up by Trondheim-like borderless panels of the author entertaining his pals over beer, as he recounts the cute girls he liked a lot and never managed to win.

His visual style is wide and generous enough to convey both the energy of a highrise full of adolescent squatters having a beer party and the arresting elegance of youth and beauty -- some of the panels of the girls Mawil recalls are startling in their ability to convey his passion for them to the reader in just a few strokes of his pen. Especially memorable is one early panel in which he passes the girl he is smitten with as they line up to pick dance partners at school. All the characters in the panel are gray except Mawil and the girl, who is turned away from us but directly toward the author, just for a second. It's an amazing panel that will stay with you even once you're done reading the book.

There's a full-page image of Mawil and various boys and girls seen from above enjoying each other's company that plays with the reader's experience of the scene, and demonstrates pretty definitively that Mawil thinks a lot about how his pages work, what their effect is on the reader as they are experienced.

The back of the book has quotes from cartoonists Joe Matt and Jeffrey Brown, and anyone who enjoys their autobiographical comics will certainly be entranced by We Can Still Be Friends. I like Mawil's cosmopolitan flair for depicting all the places he goes and the people from various cultures that he meets in his travels. The graphic novel feels heartfelt and genuine in its emotions, and sophisticated and wise in the unfolding of the narrative. The ending isn't necessarily what you'll hope for, but it certainly feels true and real in the way it carries across how these things usually go, until they go some other way.

Labels: reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:01 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
ADD Reviews Index Updated -- Subtitle: God damn I am a lazy bastard. For the first time since August 19th, 2007, I have updated the index page listing all my reviews. For the three of you who care, I apologize for being so damned lazy. There was a time I enjoyed webmastering as much as I enjoyed writing, but now I enjoy coding HTML about as much as I enjoy going to the dentist.

27 reviews were added to the page, a fact I am sure only I am interested in, insert smiley-face emoticon here.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:06 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Books About Writing Found on My Desk -- In no particular order:

Roget's Super Thesaurus by Marc McCutcheon

Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors

AP Broadcast News Handbook by Brad Kalbfeld

On Writing by Stephen King

The Elements of Editing by Arthur Plotnik

The Elements of Style (Fourth Edition) by Strunk and White

The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

Woe is I by Patricia T. O'Conner

I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm writing more lately, and enjoying the process a lot. I don't know what to credit it to, but it's certainly due in part to a conversation a week ago with Roger Green about his blogging process. So, thanks, Roger.

Labels: lists

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:25 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Swallow Me Whole -- Nate Powell's longest single story to date is also his best. The creator of Walkie Talkie, Please Release and other very good comics delivers an eerie, mysterious tale of that most everyday of subject, a family and their home.

Ruth and Perry are teenagers driven by hidden demons and the living ghost of their not-quite-dead grandmother. Each lives in their own haunted world, but they care about each other and ponder over the strangeness and possible madness that surrounds and infuses them.

Despite (or because of) her troubled nature, Ruth gets a job in a museum that, far from relieving the weirdness of her life, seems to immerse her even deeper into herself and her oddly comforting torment. Events begin to spin out of control in school as Ruth defies ignorance and bigotry, and finds that the nail that sticks out, gets hammered. Or perhaps pulled out of the wood altogether, as the surreal and yet inevitable ending descends upon the proceedings.

You may or may not have heard of Nate Powell -- my first exposure was through his outstanding four-issue small press series Walkie Talkie, and he's only gotten better ever since. He started publishing through Top Shelf with Please Release, and Swallow Me Whole is further confirmation that Powell is one of our most thoughtful and boundary-expanding cartoonists. It's a lush, if shadowy world he creates for his characters to find themselves in, and for you to lose yourself in. Ultimately, Powell knows that the shadows can swallow us whole if we're not careful, and sometimes even if we are. The question this graphic novels seems to ask is, should we fight it, or surrender to the dark? I suspect there are as many answers to the question as there are people to consider it.

---

Swallow Me Whole is published by Top Shelf Productions and will be released in September, 2008

Labels: reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:53 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Trains are...Mint -- For all those who dismiss autobiographical comics as trite, facile, samey, whatever the complaint -- here's the high concept of Trains are...Mint. The author, Oliver East, goes for walks from train station to train station near his home in Manchester, England. He sketches what he sees. The end.

For anyone with a little more sophisticated understanding of what is possible within the artform of comics, East's debut graphic novel is a modest, monumental achievement, a kind of British version of Jiro Taniguchi's The Walking Man.

The immediate appeal of East's book is the watercolour and pen and ink artwork with which he depicts his environment. The simplicity of his line favourably recalls John Porcellino's King-Cat Comics (as does his overall narrative tone, it should be mentioned), but every once in a while he astounds with a sharply observed brick wall or the perspective he conveys in his drawing of a fence, or a row of townhouses. His watercolour technique is subtle and lovely, with the same quiet brick-to-the-head revelatory power Frank Santoro brought to Storeyville.

Like Santoro, East experiments with the way his words interact with the images on his page. A frequent technique here is the conveyance of information through what at first appears to be a sign, or graffiti, or a poster on a wall. It's an arresting stylistic choice, one that really forces attention to what East is doing, and what he is saying. There's an almost inexplicable effect that arises from the way he utilizes this technique, something that makes an unnameable third element out of the cobination of words and pictures.

Click to enlarge image
Alan Moore believes his hometown of Northampton is the center of the universe, and his belief likely stems from the fact that A) He is a keen observer and B) He turns his observations on his own surroundings. Oliver East does the same thing in Trains are...Mint, delivering a microcosm of the graffiti and detritus that infuse these train stations and their environs, unpacking his observations into a universal map of the land we all make our way through every day of our lives.

Trains are...Mint is the first release from UK publisher Blank Slate Books, which is run by a couple of the owners of the legendary Forbidden Planet chain of comic book stores. As you might expect with that pedigree, the book is a thing of beauty not only in what it contains but in how it is produced. It's a compact, strikingly-well-reproduced hardcover that is a tactile joy to experience. And a perfect delivery system for Oliver East's comics.

East's style evokes Porcellino, as I mentioned above. It also recalls for me a little Kevin Huizenga here, a little Lynda Barry there, and a whole lot of Eddie Cambell Alec-sized whimsy and wonder. I have no idea if he actually is influenced by any of these folks, though -- his style feels sui generis in large part, and Trains are...Mint feels fresh and new, a shot across the bow to anyone thinking whatever can be done in comics form already has been done. This is something new, something you can lose yourself in, something you'll want more of.

---

Trains are...Mint is published by Blank Slate Books.

Labels: reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:01 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Ebert on Redemption -- I agree with a lot Roger Ebert has to say about art and storytelling, and I definitely found resonance in his thoughts on redemption. I think most of the stories that reach me most viscerally involve this theme, whether it's Spike on Buffy, or Bluesman, or even Mr. Arkadin, an Orson Welles movie I think is profoundly underrated. Anyway, go read what Ebert has to say. He's always thought-provoking and entertaining to read.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:51 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Government Hocus-Pocus Staves Off Personal Financial Apocalypse For the Moment -- Reuters has a good analysis piece up on why the economy is going to hell in a handbasket a little slower than expected. Don't worry, though, by the fall we're all pretty much fucked.

One wonders if this is precisely why the stimulus rebate program was conceived in the first place.

Labels: end of the world watch

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:42 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Me of Little Faith -- Comedian and actor Lewis Black's new book is not the in-your-face yockfest I was expecting. It's funny and profane in places, to be sure, and written in the unique voice I've come to expect from his always-welcome appearances on The Daily Show, but Me of Little Faith is about religion and spirituality, informed by a number of Black's own true-life experiences and containing more nuance and room for cosmic possibilities than one might expect.

Religion can be a sensitive subject -- in Comic Book Galaxy's earliest days, my arrogance and refusal to acknowledge that fact cost the site one of the best writers it ever (briefly) had, Johanna Draper Carlson. Maybe it was because of that incident that I learned to be more tolerant and a little less knee-jerky on the subject. But the fact is, I am an atheist, despite years of religious instruction at Southern Baptist schools in Florida. Or yes, perhaps because of that schooling. But that's not the whole story when it comes to me and the possibility that there's more to the cosmos than we are able to see with our immediate five senses, as I tried to explain in an essay back in 2000.

I've never linked to that piece before, and I don't really love the way it's written, but I swear every word in it is as true as I could explain at that time. And what made me think of that time, and the weird shit that seemed to be happening to me on a regular basis back then, are the extraordinary experiences Lewis Black recounts in some of the chapters of Me of Little Faith. As the book takes you on a tour of major moments of Blacks life (both as a child and as an adult), he occasionally drops a bomb on the reader about seeing what seemed to be a genuine halo around the head of a religious commune leader, or the fact that one of his best friends has what seem to be genuine psychic abilities and often calls to advise him or let him know about an important event about to happen in his life.

And skeptic I am, my initial impulse is to think Black is having some fun with his readers, or more cynically, just fuckin' with us. But the short, funny and revelatory chapters of this book build on each other until Black's comedy, sincerity and life experience come together to create a quite extraordinary explanation of one man's lifelong experience with both the utter baloney of much of organized, rote religion and the utter sublimity of first-person experience with the fact that there is much more to the universe -- and possibly beyond -- than any one of us could ever hope to understand.

And there's no question that the idea of God and the power of spirituality are attractive concepts, no matter what your beliefs. As I often tell my children, "Just because an idea isn't true doesn't mean it doesn't have power." Which has helped me to understand something as gigantic as George W. Bush's cynical manipulation of religious conservatives, or something as odd as my profound reaction to seeing Jack Kirby's astonishing portrait of Moses in the 50th issue of The Jack Kirby Collector. That picture struck others with its presence, as well; Fred Hembeck did an amazing drawing inspired by the very same picture in TJKC at the convention I met him at last weekend. Recognizing religion and mythology are seemingly hardwired into our brains, and that recognition can give enormous comfort or cause monumental disaster depending on how the ideas are delivered and for what reason. It's a complex subject, one Black seems to relish delving deep into.

Me of Little Faith offers up a lot of stories from Lewis Black's life, and the philosophy he's evolved along the way. There are funny stories about staying with hippies on a commune, and genuinely moving sections about his career and the events and people that have shaped it. Lewis Black may be an angry comedian (most of the shit he's angry about pisses me off too), but he's also a thoughtful human being, and he's a very good writer, and if you like his comedy or are interested in an unusual look at spirituality, this is a book that will get you thinking even as it gets you laughing.

Labels: real life, reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:59 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Gødland #19-23 -- I caught up with Joe Casey and Tom Scioli's Gødland this evening, having read the first three trade paperbacks a few months ago. It's to Casey and Scioli's credit that I could pick the story up easily (three metacosmic weirdos are destroying Las Vegas while Archer and Crashman are trapped inside the Infinity Tower by General Brigg and the government).

Scioli mentioned in a recent interview with Tom Spurgeon that he's been evolving his style, and that is wildly apparent in this run of issues; the Kirby stylings are all but gone (as even the unnamed letters-page author admits), and I missed them, but I gazed in wide wonder, to quote a phrase, at the wild leaps and bounds his visual style has made. The brutal and bizarre battle of Archer and Maxim the cosmic dog versus the three oddballs -- Ed, Supra and some joke on the word "ego" or another -- is a fantastic blend of Scioli's pop art fundamentals with what looks to me like mid-period Frank Miller Moebius pastiche, right down to what I think is an homage to a scene from Ronin. An homage that shows just how far this title has come in a visual sense.

Casey's writing continues to be a pleasing mix of comic book basics with tossed-off bits evoking Moore/Morrison detours into strange dimensions; an editor really is needed to catch the minor typos here and there, from the misuse of the apostrophe-d version of "its" to small, niggling errors that momentarily took me out of the altogether psychedelic (if not psychoactive) goings-on. But the plot and the dialogue are sterling examples of just how damned good Casey can be at his best, and the most recent issue concludes with a deliciously traditional sci-fi take on the cosmic reset button and the nagging sense that things ain't quite what they used to be.

Don't deny yourself the vast world of comics pleasure that is Gødland; you can probably enjoy any single issue about as much as any other, but taken altogether, to date the series is 23 issues of the most spectacular 21st century (if not 22nd) superhero comics storytelling you can possibly imagine. With a Journey gag that just won't quit in one issue, to boot. "Escape," indeed.

Labels: reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 11:26 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
"A Fondness for Comics." -- Thanks a lot, asshole. Just the kind of PR we need.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 8:40 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
New Forum for Kunstler Readers and Listeners -- Check out the new Kunstlercast Forum, a message board to discuss the issues brought up by the writings of James Howard Kunstler. It's an outgrowth of the Kunstlercast, an excellent weekly podcast discussing the emerging Long Emergency hosted by Duncan Crary and featuring James Howard Kunstler.

Labels: end of the world watch

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:34 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Good Star Trek Omens from AICN -- Harry Knowles at Ain't It Cool News has posted his thoughts after getting to see a few minutes of the Star Trek movie J.J. Abrams is working on for next summer, and the early word looks very good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this movie to be worthy of the Star Trek name, which no Trek movie really has been in quite some time.

And if you missed it, I posted a much longer piece about Star Trek earlier this week.

Labels: linkblogging, tv

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:16 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Happy Birthday, Dan Jurgens -- Born on this date in 1959, Dan Jurgens created one of my favourite superhero series of the 1990s, Sensational Spider-Man.

Jurgens delivered old-style Spider-Man stories despite the fact that his lead character was Spider-Clone Ben Reilly, not the original Peter Parker. Of course, this was at the height of Marvel's clone madness, so we were told at the time that Reilly actually was the original Peter. Maybe you had to be there, but if you weren't, be grateful you missed it.

You should definitely seek out the Jurgens run on this title, though -- seven issues, including a zero issue plus #1-6. All were inked by Klaus Janson, one of the finest superhero comics inkers of all time, and he made Jurgens look great. It seemed to my eyes that Jurgens was paying homage to Ross Andru with his depiction of Spider-Man in action, and he and Janson made for a formidable artistic team comparing favourably with more widely-loved Spider-Man artists like Ditko, Kane and Romita. I'd go so far as to say Jurgens and Janson delivered a nice amalgamation of all those styles, in fact, without sacrificing their own styles.

You may have to love the series more for the art than the stories; most issues crossover with other titles in the Spider-line at that time. But the art is more than good enough for you to seek it out if you like well-drawn superhero comics.

Jurgens is often teamed with clean-line inkers who do nothing more than make his pencils ready for publication; on Sensational Spider-Man, Klaus Janson brought depth, mood and style to the art, and I'd love to see them work together again someday on a project worthy of their skills.They brought out the best in each other, and I remember these comics fondly and re-read them from time to time, amazed at how well the art holds up.

Happy birthday, Dan.

Labels: birthdays

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:05 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 4 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Five Questions for Roger Green -- The one good thing to come out of Al Gore's creation of the internet is the fact that I am able to communicate online with great people like Roger Green.

I saw him almost every week back in the 1980s, when as a teenager I was buying my comics at the legendary FantaCo Enterprises on Central Avenue in Albany, New York, but I never really developed any kind of relationship with the great guys that ran that store -- I don't know why I never really chatted them up, shy, I guess, and maybe a little intimidated (hey, these guys were also comic book characters, in Smilin' Ed Comics!) but they were always professional, helpful and kind to my teenaged self, and I have fond memories of seeing Roger, Mitch Cohn, Rocco Nigro and the late and much-missed Raoul Vezina at the store on a regular basis.

You've probably seen a FantaCo publication or two (or twenty) from time to time in your comic book travels; it seems like the Chronicles series (of which there were five, plus an annual) remain pretty ubiquitous, and if the checklists are now charmingly outdated (imagine an X-Men checklist that includes only Uncanny and scattered appearances in a few other titles?), the interviews and articles remain great comics journalism that holds up well. So well, in fact, that Marvel appropriated the Frank Miller/Klaus Janson interview from The Daredevil Chronicles for The Frank Miller Daredevil Omnibus. Ain't that something?

Anyway, a few years back Roger started blogging, and we ended up in touch, bonding over our very different but very much-loved memories of FantaCo. I'm grateful beyond measure for having had the experience of being a customer at one of the greatest comic book stores ever, and even more grateful to know Roger and Rocco now, just 27 years after the first time I walked in the door at 21 Central Avenue and said to myself "Holy shit, look at all these comic books!"

And now, in the spirit of The Frank Miller Daredevil Omnibus, I present to you my appropriated Five Questions for Roger Green.

What is your favourite comic book story?

Yeesh. I must admit a fondness for the Defenders when Gerber was writing it, and I love a good origin story (Spider-Man, Hulk), but ultimately, I end up with Giant-Size Man-Thing #1.

When reading comics, do you focus on the writing over the art, the art over the writing, or both about equally?

Serviceable art will allow me to read a well-told story. The most beautiful art will not save a terrible story line. One of the comic books I hate the most has to be Spider-Man #1. The McFarlane art was tolerable at best, but the story was so gawd awful, I stopped buying the title after three or four issues. Given the fact that I LOVED-LOVED-LOVED Peter Parker/Spider-Man, it was painful, but necessary. This was NOT the Peter I knew. The Spider-Man was more like Spawn. Loathsome.

When the Pinis used to come to FantaCo to do Elfquest signings, Richard used to rail against the comic fanboys who cared about art to the exclusion of story, and I thought he was absolutely right.

That said, sometimes the art DOES move me. I was buying Sub-Mariner during Bill Everett's second run, and I loved the look.


Roger Green at the Saratoga Springs Comicon, 21 June 2008

Who do you think is the greatest comic book artist still alive today and why?

Well, besides Fred G. Hembeck, who should be considered just based on the sheer number of characters he's drawn? I'll cop out and say Art Spiegelman because he helped bring the comic form out of the comic book ghetto.

What's your happiest memory of working at FantaCo?

I almost always loved when our publications came in, but I'm going to pick something rather arcane.

There was a graphic novelization of Stephen King's Creepshow drawn by Berni Wrightson in the mid-1980s. Having connections in both the comic and horror markets we knew, both instinctively and from comic and horror film stores we dealt with that there was still a demand for this title. The publisher, we ascertained, still had many copies of the book. I wrote to the publisher- nothing. I called the publisher - I was told the book was no longer available, which I knew to be untrue. Finally, I reached someone who acknowledged that they had copies but that it was not worth it for them to send it out only to deal with a huge percentage of returns.

So I said, "What if we bought them non-returnable?" I thought the guy's teeth were going to fall out. "Non-returnable?" So, we took 100 copies of it at 70% off the $6.95 cover price, put them in the store and listed them in a Fangoria ad, and blew through them. So I called again and said, can we have another 100?" By this point other stores were clamoring for this book, so we ordered an additional 500, and sold it to these horror book stores, and a few comic book stores, at 40% non-returnable. The stores got to sell a book they could otherwise not get, we made a decent profit even wholesaling someone else's book, and we kept the Wrightson book from just being remaindered. My persistence in dealing with this publisher was, strangely, my favorite FantaCo moment.

Here's another: I just came across in the past week a letter that one of FantaCo's mail order customers sent to me. Why it should resurface now, I have no idea, since we've only been in the house since 2000. (A 1989 article about the comic book Shriek was also in the pile.) This guy worked for Ryko, and he would send me, his mail order purveyor, free music.

Roger-
Good to speak to you on the phone today (1-26-88)...I'm finding Ryko fans in the strangest places.
Hope you enjoy these guys - I chucked in a couple 3", too. The one with no writing is "They Might Be Giants", a couple of guys from Hoboken, NJ.

I like this not for the swag, but because apparently I was giving him service worthy of him sending me free stuff. Still have that unlabeled TMBG disc.

What do you think is the single best publication FantaCo released in its history?

While I have a strong affection for the Spider-Man Chronicles, which I edited, I'm going to say Gates of Eden, which Mitch Cohn edited. No, I'm NOT going to pick The Amazing Herschell Gordon Lewis and his World of Exploitation Films, no matter how much you beg, Alan.

---

Gates of Eden #1 actually is my favourite FantaCo publication, too, it should be noted. It was decades ahead of its time and paved the way in part for the artcomix revolution that is still going on today. You can see Roger's version of this interview, and if you have any memories of or artwork by the late Raoul Vezina that you would like to share, please get in touch with Roger through this post.

Labels: fantaco, five questions, interviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:01 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Go and Read: Spurgeon on Uncanny X-Men -- Unexpected pleasure of the week, Tom Spurgeon's longish essay on why Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne/Austin-era X-Men were popular then and well-remembered now. I particularly like the passage where Tom, off the top of his head, mentions some visual high points like Jason Wyngarde's revealing shadow, images that stick with fans from that era even today.

I do think Claremont and Byrne set up the reason why Colossus put on his Soviet gear and declared himself a hardcore commie, though, Tom -- wasn't he brainwashed? Maybe not in a way that convinces us 40ish readers decades later, but when I was 13 or 14, it seemed reason enough for him to turn on his teammates.

Reading Tom's excellent thoughts on what remains my favourite corporate superhero stories of all time reminds me: Marvel, isn't it about time for Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume Two?

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:11 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Does Anyone Really Care About Star Trek Anymore? -- That's the question posed by Tom Spurgeon, and although he may have asked it rhetorically, as part of his review of a new Star Trek spin-off comic book by John Byrne, my answer is yes, and I have some thoughts on the subject.

I was born in 1966, the same year Star Trek debuted on NBC; I debuted in January, the show came along in September, so in a way I am older than Captain Kirk. Of course, the show had been in the works for a couple years before it was ready for public consumption, a failed pilot being produced in 1964 with Captain Pike instead of Captain Kirk, and I've always been fascinated with the question of what the show might have been like had Jeffrey Hunter had the lead instead of William Shatner. Sure, Spock was a goof in that original pilot ("The Cage"), but Hunter's Pike was a darker and more intense character in that one episode than Kirk generally got over 40 years of episodes and movies. Even Kirk's death in 1993's Generations movie failed to muster up the sort of darkness and drama that an event like the death of James Tiberius Kirk should have inspired. Co-screenwriter and Battlestar Galactica prime mover Ron Moore even admitted as much in a recent interview.

So, I was born the same year as Star Trek, as I was saying, but obviously that means I didn't catch it in its first go-round on the tee-vee. No, it was in syndicated reruns in the early 1970s that it probably caught my eye, maybe or maybe not as a result of seeing the Saturday morning animated series, also called Star Trek. Some people don't consider the animated version canon, but you know what? If it's called Star Trek, is produced by Gene Roddenberry and stars William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols, it's goddamned Star Trek, goofy aliens or not.

My mom and I shared our love for Star Trek -- she had watched it from the beginning, and she definitely watched it at her end. In the early 1990s, when she was sinking into the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease, I had a friend who worked at a video store who would sell me the then-new VHS releases of Star Trek episodes at cost, I think five or six bucks per tape. As I made my way through acquiring the series on VHS, my mom got curious about the tapes I was bringing home in stacks of three or four at a time, and she watched Star Trek again like it was something she had never seen. The disease had wiped out her memories of the show, but she was still sharp enough to appreciate its humour and sharp social commentary, and watching her watch those episodes in what I know now was the beginning of her end is one of my fondest, most bittersweet memories. Those tapes gave her endless hours of genuine pleasure, even as she slowly slipped away. If for nothing else, I'll always hold the original Star Trek in high regard for allowing her those many hours of entertainment.

When The Next Generation came along in 1987, I was dubious that Roddenberry and company could recapture lightning in a bottle. We'd had The Wrath of Khan in theaters by then, and that movie was really what recharged "the franchise" (a loathsome term) enough to justify trying another TV show a few years later. TNG's pilot was mostly uninspiring to me; I didn't care for the lack of conflict between the characters (a Roddenberry conceit), as conflict between the three leads was much of what made the original series and the best of the movies hum. Hell, the conflict between Kirk, Spock and McCoy was the best part of even the worst of the movies, The Motion Picture and The Final Frontier, the latter being Shatner's doomed-from-the-start attempt at writing and directing a Star Trek movie. You tried, but, She's dead, Jim.

The Next Generation got good after its unformed and meandering first season. Diana Muldaur replaced Gates McFadden as the ship's doctor, and she immediately added tension to the mix. A lot of people didn't care for her Doctor Pulaski, but I liked the way she mixed in with the rest of the cast. On the other hand, when she was unceremoniously ditched and Dr. Crusher came back, I was glad to see her, too. Probably for the same reason I never liked Babylon 5's first commander until he was fired after the first season then came back later and stirred everything up in some of the best episodes of the series. It's that whole Joseph Campbell thing about going out into the wilderness and coming back with the power to grant boons, I think.

But yeah, the Borg came in during season two of TNG and their Hellraiser-stylings and eerie, hive-mind coldness was too frigging cool for primetime TV. Apparently it was too cool for Star Trek, too, because after their initial appearance in the episode "Q-Who" and the amazing two-part, season bridging "Best of Both Worlds," the Borg were never again used well on The Next Generation. The were either Edward Scissorhands in the stupid episode about the li'l boy Borg, or playing second fiddle to Data's evil twin Lore. Ugh. But they started with great potential.

By the time the series folded in 1993 to make way for the TNG cast to move to movies, I was sorry to see them go off the small screen. I might even have teared up a little during "All Good Things," the series finale. The double-length episode was a powerhouse demonstration of Patrick Stewart's acting and appeal, and if the time-bending plot swallowed its own tail ultimately, Stewart and John DeLancie as Q totally sold me on it. It's one of the few TNG episodes I rewatch again with any regularity.

Here things get crazy with spin-offs and movies and action figures and all kinds of crap -- TNG on film only made it through four movies before crashing and burning. The first two, Generations and First Contact, were both okay-to-good, but the last two, Insurrection and especially the atrocious Nemesis, were not well-received. I recently re-watched Insurrection on TV and realized it would have made an acceptable episode of the TV series, but as a movie it was a failure. Just not big enough. Nemesis had a cool title and that was it. If it had been about the scientific Nemesis theory, it might have been cool. I was also disappointed that no one but me thought it would have been neat to have a Trek movie in theaters the first year of the new millennium, called, of course, Star Trek: 2001. Come on, that would have been great!

Well, probably not, but only because the people entrusted to Star Trek's stewardship after Gene Roddenberry left seemed hell-bent on botching the job the longer they had it. Despite good episodes now and then, overall in retrospect I have no use at all for Voyager or Deep Space Nine, and by the time Enterprise debuted on the short-lived UPN network it was designed to support, I had mostly given up. I don't think I watched one entire episode of Enterprise the entire four years it was on.

Which is funny, because this past February, on Valentine's Day, in fact, my family received as a gift a 42-inch HDTV. And I added some HD channels to our cable package. And on one of them, HDNet, they were showing reruns of Enterprise. And I found to my genuine shock that I mostly dug the show a whole lot.

Sure, Scott Bakula is wooden and ham-fisted as an actor, but so is William Shatner, and I found that I could accept his Captain Archer and even enjoy many of his performances. And I genuinely loved the performances of Jolene Blalock as T'Pol and Connor Trinneer as the ship's engineer. He was obviously modeled on Dr. McCoy with his southern accent and no-bullshit approach, but Blalock's T'Pol was as complex a character as Star Trek ever delivered, eventually going far, far further afield of Vulcan logic and traditions than Spock did in all the years he was on TV and in the movies. HDNet recently suspended their telecast of the series, leaving me high and dry near the end of the excellent third-season Xindi storyline, but thankfully in the internet era, as Spock was fond of saying, "there are always...possibilities." So I'll finish the show soon. My verdict is already in, though -- Enterprise was imperfect, but after the original series and TNG, its my favourite of all Star Trek series, and that kind of amazes me, but it captured the sense of mystery and adventure in outer space very well, the ship and the sets were great, and a lot of good acting (I also really liked John Billingsley and Linda Park) was to be found in many episodes.

Now we stand on the precipice of a new, next generation in Star Trek. J.J. Abrams is working on a new movie scheduled for release in May of 2009. Abrams is the producer of Lost, a show I have run hot and cold on but currently am pretty much in love with, and I am hopeful that the new movie will at the very least be one last good Star Trek movie, if not the revival of the concept in the public consciousness. I'm with whatever faction there is that wishes they'd found a place for Shatner in it, mostly because, hey, he's still around and he deserves on last shot at the chance to inspire, as Captain Kirk did for me at his best. He taught me there's no such thing as the no-win scenario, a lesson I took to heart and have believed in, at my best moments, ever since. And also because we've already lost DeForest Kelley and James Doohan, and I am blindsided to think we'll never, ever have Star Trek with them in it again. It makes me sad and makes me feel old.


So, I hope Abrams and crew turn out something great, and I think there's a better than 50/50 chance of that happening. Nimoy's Trek instincts have almost always been right on, and he's on-board for the movie and its story, and that has to be a good indicator.

Note to Tom Spurgeon: I wrote this all in one sitting, with the only research needed being how to spell "Trinneer," so I guess my answer to your question is, yes, I still care about Star Trek. Here's to hoping the people now responsible for its future do, too.

Labels: tv

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:06 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 3 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975 -- One of my pet peeves is comic book readers of a certain age who dislike the term "comix." If you can't parse the important difference between comics and comix, then you really ought not even be trying to talk about either in public, because you're simply not qualified.

Patrick Rosenkranz, on the other hand, is supremely qualified to write about underground comix, their genesis and significance to the artform, and he does so in the gorgeously illustrated new edition of Rebel Visions. His qualifications come from having lived through the era close to the heart of the action, and in fact many of the revealing photos of key underground creators are credited to Rosenkranz.

The narrative isn't limited by the author's memories and perceptions, though. Much of the prose consists of quotes from creators like R. Crumb, Trina Robbins, and many others who founded and perpetuated the underground comix movement. The narrative occasionally jumps back and forth in time, as it moves from creator to creator in retelling their firsthand experience, oral-history-style.

It's frankly a thrilling story that Rosenkranz recounts; the coming-together of the various houses and factions of underground comix creation was almost an accident of destiny, and the resulting explosion of comix spans the spectrum from the most hackneyed of crap to some of the most sublimely brilliant and mind-expanding stories ever told.

Rosenkranz allows the cartoonists plenty of room to relive their memories and share their theories, and the oversized dimensions of the book allow the reader to be immersed in the amazingly diverse examples of art from the era.

The underground comix are a far clearer antecedent to the artcomix movement of today than most modern-day readers probably realize. Fans of Geoff Johns or Brian Michael Bendis would be hard-pressed to find stories from any underground title that would interest them in the slightest, but readers who follow creators like Joe Matt, Chester Brown, Phoebe Gloeckner, James Kochalka or Roberta Gregory would certainly find lots to love about the undergrounds, and will absolutely find much of interest in Rebel Visions, one of the greatest historical recountings ever dedicated to the artform of comics. I mean, comix.

---

Rebel Visions is available from Fantagraphics Books and in better comic shops and bookstores.

Labels: reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:01 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Alex Toth in Panels and Pictures -- Today is the 80th anniversary of the birth of cartoonist Alex Toth, one of the dozen or so true masters of comic book art to have emerged from North America in the 20th Century. Here are some images that should demonstrate why he is so well-regarded.

Alex Toth, 1928-2006

Labels: panels and pictures

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:52 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Windows XP Gets Reprieve -- Here's some great news for Windows users (like me): Microsoft will now support the XP operating system through 2014.

I got my most recent home computer, which uses XP, in early 2004. Having heard nothing good about Vista at all since its release, and plenty of bad, I've been bending over backwards trying to bring my machine up to date in every way possible, hoping to make my XP last and last and last.

I'm glad to heard Microsoft is recognizing that XP is a superior operating system to Vista, even if they have to couch it in bullshit doubletalk so not to admit that Vista is a failure.

Labels: real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:16 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Reinventing Collapse -- My wife doesn't like to hear about the forthcoming end of the world, and I have a couple of otherwise intelligent friends at work who don't like to think about the fact that the American way of life is barreling over a cliff at 90 miles an hour, either. Most of the discussions I've had with them are based on my readings of James Howard Kunstler's work. Kunstler recommended Dmitry Orlov's Reinventing Collapse on his blog recently, and now having read it, I know I probably shouldn't discuss it with my wife or my friends at work, because Orlov's detailed comparisons of the collapse of the Soviet Union with the impending collapse of the United States (the SU and the US, as he symmetrically notes) are far, far scarier than the pictures Kunstler has painted to date.

Orlov was born in the Soviet Union and witnessed its dissolution first hand. He sees both the similarities and differences in the two cultures, and in the way the SU disintegrated and the US is disintegrating. Most impressively, he details how the citizens of the former Soviet Union coped with collapse, and how Americans are likely to respond to similar exigencies: "We should definitely not expect any grand rescue plans, innovative technology programs or miracles of social cohesion," he notes, bluntly.

Orlov speaks in very plain English, with sometimes biting humour, about how the soft, entitled people of the US are unlikely to be able to adjust to a quickly-changing lifestyle. Russians were used to the privations of the Soviet regime, he notes, but most Americans will not know what to do when consumer goods are no longer available, when gasoline is largely or entirely unavailable, or when justice is something that you and your family and community will have to decide for yourselves.

Orlov's book is not meant merely to frighten readers, capture media attention and drive up sales, however. It is essentially a guide that anyone can use to figure out the best way to survive the forthcoming changes the world is facing. Orlov's advice is customizable in the sense that he urges the reader to prioritize for themselves what they need to continue to live when society has broken down and irrevocably changed. It's not a workbook and there are no forms for you to fill out, but you'll be far better prepared for The Long Emergency once you've read Reinventing Collapse. As he points out, the only true necessities in life are air, water and food. Clothing, shelter, companionship, work and other non-necessities are likely to be difficult-to-impossible to come by in the areas hit worst by the collapse of the US society and infrastructure.

And if you're a victim of, as Kunstler calls it, "the psychology of previous investment" -- that is to say, you somehow still believe that gas prices will go back down, we'll always have centrally air-conditioned shopping malls, we're winning the war against Iraq (or at least, might not lose it) and a dollar will always be worth a dollar -- well, Orlov's prose is highly readable and wildly entertaining, so there's no reason not to give Reinventing Collapse a read. If you like to read before bedtime, though, do it now, while you still have lights by which to read.

Labels: end of the world watch, reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:19 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 7 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
End of the Worldwatch: Iran -- Check out this startlingly to-the-point analysis of the likely result of the US waging war against Iran, at globalresearch.ca. A sample:

If the United States attacks Iran either this summer or this fall, the American people had better be prepared for a shock that may perhaps be even greater to the national psyche (and economy) than 9/11. First of all, there will be significant U.S. casualties in the initial invasion. American jets will be shot down and the American pilots who are not killed will be taken prisoner - including female pilots. Iranian Yakhonts 26, Sunburn 22 and Exocet missiles will seek out and strike U.S. naval battle groups bottled up in the narrow waters of the Persian Gulf with very deadly results. American sailors will be killed and U.S. ships will be badly damaged and perhaps sunk. We may even witness the first attack on an American Aircraft carrier since World War II.

Ten years ago I believed the US had decades left; for the past few years I've thought it's less than a decade. Now I wonder if society as we know it will be here in a year.

Labels: end of the world watch

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:21 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
BLUESMAN in Comic Shops Tomorrow -- Just a quick note that Rob Vollmar and Pablo G. Callejo's BLUESMAN collected edition hardcover is arriving in comic book stores tomorrow from NBM Publishing.

BLUESMAN has been serialized over the course of the past few years, and is one of the best stories to be told in comics this decade. Rob and Pablo have worked very hard to come to this point, and I'm excited as hell that their work has finally come to fruition with the release of this definitive edition.

If you didn't pre-order the book from your retailer, please see The BLUESMAN Project for ordering number, artwork and additional information. Johanna Draper Carlson has also posted a very good interview with Rob Vollmar about BLUESMAN at Comics Worth Reading.

And congratulations to Rob, Pablo and NBM for making this happen.

Labels: recommendations

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:17 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE