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Saturday, April 30, 2005
Ian's Love Letter to Steve Ditko
This is the third of the hardcover, oversized Visionaries series celebrating the founding talents behind the “Marvel Age of Comics.” The first two centered on the works of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee respectively but it is this third one dedicated to Steve Ditko that is probably my favorites. I love Kirby’s action-packed panels and Lee’s equally action-packed prose but it has always been Ditko’s distinctive style that has been my favorite. This book gives us plenty of fine examples of what makes Ditko so great.
Unlike Lee and Kirby, Ditko didn’t work in comics’ “Golden Age” so the first series of stories are drawn from Marvel’s pre-Fantastic Four line of sci-fi comics, mostly issues of Amazing Adult Fantasy (a title which would probably mean something different if it was published today). Here it’s clear that Ditko’s mastery of bringing out characters’ panic and neurosis was there from the start. “Help!” starts with a brilliantly weird splash page but the interesting thing about the story are the appearances of those strained eyes with the bushy eyelashes that Ditko gets so much use out of. Not to mention those hands…oh those wonderful Ditko hands. Many artists have used the power of the body to signify heroism or villainy but Ditko is the master of use a figure’s physicality to express far more commonplace emotions, such as doubt and fear. Blake Bell’s introduction mentions Will Eisner as an influence and like Eisner Ditko is interested in revealing the idiosyncrasies of people who are living in the high-stress urban world, the more grotesque looking the better. Many of these stories (in fact, the first comic page to be found in the book) give us characters in states shock and surprise and Ditko makes sure they look like all the world’s burden is upon them.
Ditko’s fantastic imagination is touched upon here, although it will be brought out even better later on. “No Sign of Life” has an ending that only works because of the way Ditko can conjure up otherworldly beings (extremely otherworldly in this case, the ending to this story pre-dates Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s “Mogo Doesn’t Socialize” by two decades and change). It is the story “The Unsuspecting” that might be the best of the stories that come from this era. Here Ditko’s abstract shapes, usually found in the background, become the main object. Something as bizarre as this comic leaves little mystery that Ditko’s work would become popular with Haight-Ashbury crowd who were usually reading Victor Moscoso and R. Crumb.
The writer for all of these stories is Stan Lee. While the humor and wittiness of Lee’s writing is on display in these stories, if not as confident as it would be a few years later, many of the scenarios and twist endings for the stories are pedestrian. There would really be nothing of interest in “I Am Not Human” or “Journey’s End” if they weren’t drawn by an artist of Ditko’s caliber. Two of the stories use the same ending dealing with the paradoxes of time travel, although the second one is much more satisfying because of Ditko’s cool way of drawing monsters.
Monsters and attempts at outdoing Rod Serling would eventually fall to the way side with Marvel’s books as the new breed of superheroes that Ditko, Kirby and Lee were devising came to the front. The early issues of Amazing Spider-Man and the Dr. Strange installments in Strange Tales are included but they have more historical importance than anything else. Lee said that the first Strange story “is nothing great” and he’s right. ASM would reach its greatness early on in the run but not with the Chameleon story reprinted here. They are still fine examples of Lee and Ditko’s prowess but only hint at the greatness that would come.
The first real great superhero story in the book is the issue of The Incredible Hulk included. Bell quotes John Romita Sr. in the introduction and Romita speaks of how every thing Ditko put on the page lets you know that you are reading a story that could only be drawn by him. This is certainly true when the Kirby character of the Hulk has these wonderful Ditko expressions of rage and frustration screaming from his face, perfect for the character. Ditko is also one of comics’ best artists to make use of the way panels work with other panels to create a well paced story and there are pages here that cement this fact. Sometimes there is only just so much motion shown between panels so that a real sense of time is felt in this story. Not to mention you get to see the Hulk carry a big honkin’ sci-fi gun, which is always a treat.
The Iron Man tale spotlights something that I also think is really significant about Ditkos’ work. The story here has Tony Stark dumping the old and clunky Iron Man costume for something much sleeker. If Carmine Infantino was the best character designer in comics of the 1960’s, then Ditko was right behind him. The Iron Man and Spider-Man costumes are great looking superhero outfits, even though by all usual measures they shouldn’t work. Most notably, the hero’s face is completely covered. Both costumes can seem somewhat ominous because of the characters’ anonymity (I wouldn’t be surprised of some younger comic readers, upon seeing this cover thought that Spider-Man was some weird looking Superman villain). These designs work though, the Spider-Man design especially has become one of the most recognizable pop culture images, because Ditko makes it work with his ability to create such exciting comics with his designs, from which all later artists take heed from.
Ditko of course would not be the artist he is if he did not do action well, one of the most important requirements for an artist doing superhero work. The first issue of Amazing Spider-Man Annual has Spider-Man talking on six of his arch-foes in triumphant splash pages, which really benefits from being presented here in an oversized format. Ditko’s action is different from Kirby’s or Gil Kane’s although there are some similarities to Kane because they both drew bodies in motion so well. Ditko has characters punch, jump and do all sorts of things with what I describe as “hard-hitting awkwardness.” They straddle the line between superheroics and drunks fighting a street brawl, the exact perfect place they should be for Spider-Man’s world. It’s a shame that some of the art in this annual seems rushed, although when Ditko features a character like The Vulture or The Sandman his linework reminds me a bit of Jules Feiffer. Again, it’s all about Ditko making what should be wrong charming. The back-up story is a fun tale of Stan Lee bothering Steve Ditko during the creative process that is especially interesting considering the very real criticisms Ditko would have for Lee later on.
The greatest Spider-Man stories in the book and indeed the greatest comics in this book are the issues of ASM #31-33. Here, everything that makes Ditko, Lee and Spider-Man comics great are given to us at their best. There’s the real life problems Parker has, the odd-looking villains like Doc Ock and his henchmen and of course the beautiful sequences with Spider-Man trapped under the heavy machinery. All are presented here in their best form. Ditko hits exactly zero bumps in moving this story and making it exciting and involving the entire way. At the risk of sounding too exuberant I will inform you that I got goosebumps reading this story and I was reminded why I read comics in the first place.
My love for Ditko’s was rediscovered more as the unique landscapes of Doctor Strange get their showcase with the two-part Dormammu story as well as the incredible final Ditko Strange story. Many of the panels have totally different sets that twist and turn in all different directions. It is Ditko’s already established ability at storytelling that holds it all together. Almost every panel of “The End at Last!” has something mind-blowing on it. The back-to-back splash panels featuring the Eternity character (a man made of a universe) are particularly wonderful. As much as I love these comics and as much as I usually love Lee’s writing I must say that I found the never-ending text inappropriate for the slightly creepy world of Dr. Strange.
There is a twenty-four year gap in between the last Doctor Strange story and the only Daredevil story here, part of Ditko’s “return to Marvel.” While the opening featuring Daredevil traveling into some kind of radioactive chamber still holds that Ditko takes every character into his own world, there is a distinct lack of intensity in these later stories. Comparing the way Ditko draws the Hulk working through his emotions in The Incredible Hulk #6 and #249 it definitely looks like things have calmed down with ol’ Jade Jaws. Hulk’s trip into Jack Frost’s icy lair reaches to some past glories but the madcap feeling Ditko brought in the stories from the 60’s feels lost.
The real great pick of the latter comics is the first issue of the mostly-forgotten hero Speedball. Ditko usually inks himself but here it took Jackson Guice to make things interesting. The linework is much bolder and those expressions of stress work well. Speedball’s odd superpower seems like something only Ditko could make look good and he does so here. It should also be known that while an obsession with Ayn Rand would define so much of Ditko’s creator owned work the only thing that touches the political in this book are the arguments between the parents of Speeball’s alter-ego Robbie Baldwin. Scripter Roger Stern also gives us the best writing found in the book. It would have made a great closer, even though the Squirrel Girl story makes me chuckle (it’s just cool to see Dr. Doom felled by a bunch of Squirrels).
After reading the Visionaries book for Lee and seeing the re-coloring jobs there I had my worries for this book. This is actually the best re-coloring job I’ve seen so far, with only a few instances in the Spider-Man comics obscuring the linework. I do share Ed Brubaker’s call for more gutter space after going over this book, though. It’s still something I can live with when it comes to a book collecting great stuff from one of my all-time favorites.
Permanent Link: 6:39 PM |
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Thursday, April 28, 2005
Tom Peyer posts an image that I think will live in comic book infamy. This is like when Sammy Davis Jr. hugged Nixon, except one of the people in the photo have been the subject of secret government expirments. The other just orders them.
Update: Here are some more photos for you.
Permanent Link: 6:27 PM |
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Starring as the Molecule Man: Jeff Bridges
With the news that Marvel is teaming up with Paramount to make all their new films in-house people are wondering if this will change the tide for Marvel's success at the box office. BeaucoupKevin notes that the last batch of movies have not exactly set the world on fire (I suppose if Avi Arad had to start wearing a bracelet to remind himself not to going along with a mess like Elektra he'll be tattooing his face because of Man-Thing). So what's the remedy? Why, it's something Marvel has known about for years.
You need people to get interested in your vast array of properties. You have one studio to do it all in. In a comic book you'd come up with a company wide crossover. In a movie you'd make it an "epic trilogy" of sorts. The answer is clear people: Secret Wars I II and III (scroll down). Take all the characters that Paramount now has the rights for, have the Beyonder send them to a different dimension and have them all fight it out. If that’s not a plotline that can sustain three movies, I don’t know what is.
It’s true that because the rights are all tied up this is a cinematic crossover that cannot include Iron Man. Or Daredevil. Or Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey…really none of the X-Men. Spider-Man would like to show up but he’d have to talk it over with his lawyer and the paperwork would be horrendous. Yet, true believers, all hope is not lost. Captain America can still show up to this mighty battle. Nick Fury can be there to explain stuff and/or be gruff with people; it’s what he usually does when he appears. There’s still room for such powerhouses as Starfox, D-Man, Moondragon, Frog-Man and Gargoyle. Not to mention Thor, he’s public domain! You can stick him in any movie. I can already see people lining up to get a glimpse at what kind of action the team of Cap and Tigra will get into.
Who should helm this massive project you ask? Taking a cue from Sin City it seems the man only man for the job is the one who gave birth to this idea so many years ago. That’s right, if Paramount has any sense they’ll have Jim Shooter direct all three of these films. Not in collaboration with some more established director, either. This should be Shooter all by himself ordering actors around sets and saying when to roll. Having Shooter’s butt in the director’s chair only smells like one thing: success.
I don’t know if Marvel or Paramount will take such a leap into movie greatness. I can only hope they listen to my idea, as it will surely pay off for them. This is a world starved for groups and groups of superpeople battling each other in bizarre and incoherent scenarios. Why deprive them of such a thrill?
Permanent Link: 12:50 PM |
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Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Ian’s look back
It’s no doubt that Dave’s Long Box is one of the best new blogs out there. It’s this post that filled me with memories of my early days of comic book reading. Although I never sampled the delights of Extreme Justice first hand it looks like the prototypical superhero comic of the mid-90’s, from the promise of being “extreme” on down. This was what I had to deal with when I was a kid (I was 12 in 1995) but I will tell you now how I survived this onslaught.
I first started reading comics in the 4th grade because all the other boys at St. Paschal’s Baylon School were reading them. Being the mindless follower I am I soon began begging my Mom for trips to Hi De Ho Comics’ Thousand Oaks store which was located right across the street from my school. When I went through my friends’ collection of Marvel Universe trading cards I knew I had found a collection of wildly interesting concepts that my young brain raised on cartoons and video games could latch on to. At the same time the Ventura County Star profiled a local cartoonist named Jack Kirby. There I found out that people actually created these characters, which was a real revelation.
We were kids who had the overbearing dogma of Catholicism at school and then our parents were in the middle of divorcing at home. Our imaginations were captured by the Marvel heroes of the day: Venom, Ghost Rider, Punisher, Wolverine and good ol’ Spider-Man. We needed “heroes” who were bad-assess to give us an outlet for all the pre-pubescent angst we were feeling.
Finding Image Comics was like finding comic book Mecca for me. Here were comics that had no Comic Code Approval seals, which meant they got bloody and they got bloody often. The guys all had something sharp coming out of them and the girls were built like reject hourglasses. It was everything I could want as a 10-year-old. Soon Spawn, Cyberforce and WildC.A.T.S. became my favorite books. Marvel looked pale in comparison (except the X-Men books) and DC felt like the comic book company for old men (although I did fall into the “Death of Superman” hype). Wizard was some sick Bible for me, keeping me tuned into what was the books worth seeking. I knew what comics had to offer me: tons of violence and sex with nobody asking for ID. It was like I had stumbled upon Heaven.
This habit of mine would go on for a few years with monthly trips to the comic book store keeping me interested. By the time I was 12 Image had stop feeling exciting (I don’t think any of the original artist except Erik Larsen were still doing their own books in 1995). The only book of that time that made a lasting impact on me was The Maxx because it was more about Sam Kieth’s imagination than trying to license your book to be some Hollywood blockbuster (although Maxx did have a pretty good MTV cartoon that I still have on video). I actually found myself wanting something more than just a bunch of chaos on page. Trying to be “extreme” just didn’t impress me anymore. A trip to Universal Citywalk was where I found the collection Fun With Milk & Cheese by Evan Dorkin. These comics looked like nothing else I read. For one, they were funny. Here were two dairy products that acted selfish, rude and destructive across New York City. It was funny as Hell and for a year I would never let this book leave my side. Whether I was at school, family outings or church I would always be able to sneak a peek at Milk and Cheese shouting “Merv Griffin!” while everything around them shattered. I still have this book and it is easily the most worn out book I own.
From there I found myself with some kind of discriminating taste. Watching Marvel get swallowed up by Clone Sagas and Ages of Apocalypses didn’t interest me (this after I bought the first issue of every Age of Apocalypse book mind you). Seeing DC try to be “dark” and “extreme” was simply laughably. It made them look even more like the unhip bunch of losers I knew they were all along. My interest was now held by Dark Horse’s Legend line. Mike Allred’s Madman was my favorite superhero comic (the first Superman comic I bought after the whole “dying” thing was the crossover with Madman) because it looked like a superhero comic should: bright, fun and with a real sense of style. Frank Miller and Geoff Darrow’s Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot was the prettiest looking comic I think I ever saw at that point. I also gave Marvel a shot with Untold Tales of Spider-Man which was cheap (each issue was only 99 cents) but also gave me a good Spider-Man story in one issue, instead of making me buy all the other franchise titles for some stupid crossover. There was also Batman: The Animated Series going on the whole time that captured my interest in a character I never cared of before. It soon became my favorite TV show ever next to The Simpsons. I even sampled the Batman Adventures books and found that DC could put out a good comic when it wanted to.
By the time 1996 rolled around I knew I was going to begin high school in a year. I was already concentrating on playing guitar and soon enough issues of Guitar World replaced issues of Untold Tales of Spider-Man in my room. I figured comics may have pictures of pretty girls in them but if I stuck with music I could actually meet some real girls, which felt like an improvement. I did read Dark Knight Returns that year, though, and it blew my mind. I loved how it was dark and weird but not in the stupid way the old comics I liked were. It wasn’t enough for me to still be the rabid comic book fan I once was but I never totally dropped the hobby. I would buy the occasional Simpson comic or check in with my friends who still read Wizard and were into Spider-Man.
It was reading an article in TIME magazine about Chris Ware that I figured I should start finding comics that were actually as smart as any literature I was reading at the time. Soon, in 2000, I became a Fanatagraphics fanboy and began to find an interest in the whole history of comics. From there I was now a solid comic book fan, even starting a blog about my interest.
Now I’m still interested in works that have a distinct style but also ones that I can devour as a critic and someone who has creative aspirations of my own. I’ve fallen out of love with going to a comic store month after month to follow some narrative. Instead, I want to find something new and challenging every time I purchase something. There are a lot of talents out there like Kevin Huizenga, Corey Lewis, Derek Kirk Kim Jim Rugg and Adrian Tomine that keep me interested along with more established cartoonists that I love like the Hernandez Bros., Chester Brown and Dan Clowes. I think manga titles like Tokyo Tribes, Dead End and whatever Taiyo Matsumoto is doing are giving me entertainment like none I would have found otherwise. I still like the superhero books of Grant Morrison, Mark Waid and a few others but the mainstream world is cyclical. Right now it’s trying to be dark and serious (which usually means money-draining crossovers) like it was when I started reading comics but soon enough we’ll be back to when creators try to be optimistic (if only to congratulate themselves that they’re not “grim and gritty”). It wasn’t too long ago that Grant Morrison’s JLA was DC’s flagship title and Bill Jemas gave Marvel and sense of excitement. I think we’ll see things revert to those kinds of books in a few years. Of course by that time maybe I’ll have no interest in comics anymore and will instead devote myself to a blog about fly-fishing or ping-pong.
Permanent Link: 9:32 AM |
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Monday, April 25, 2005
Chris Ware in the news
The Pulse has a story by Tom Spurgeon which reveals that Chris Ware will publish ACME Novelty Library #16 (as well as later issues it seems) himself, with Fantagraphics still doing the distributing.
As a big fan of Ware's work I'm glad that we have any news on the new issue of ACME at all. The fifteenth issue was my first exposure to the man's work. It was at a time where I was just dipping my toes back into the comic pool and reading his work was what made me want to dive in head first. It seems logical that Ware would now involve himself with even more of the production of his series. It's Ware's combination of talent along with the time and care he'll put in to making his work look like nothing else that makes him one of the greatest cartoonists of all time. There's no hyperbole there, just fact. The story says the book will ship late fall, which cannot come fast enough for me (I remember when Fantagraphics said this book was coming out in 2002).
I also like the news that Pantheon will collect some of the strips from various back issues of ACME. I loved Jimmy Corrigan like it was a family member but I think a lot of Ware's power is found in the strips he does that aren't part of a longer narrative.
If I can be a bit cheeky for a second I’ll say that Ware's work is so grand you don't mind that you can't fit his books on your bookshelf.
Permanent Link: 3:30 PM |
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Will the world ever truly be safe?
After reading Sharknife I've been on a Nintendo kick. So I decided to combine comics and video games in this post. Found at The Unofficial World of Nintendo here's the ending of Marvel Superheroes: War of the Gems.
Holy crap, that is the freakiest looking Captain America ever
 It's good to know that Jim Starlin's influence reached all the way to licensed Super Nintendo games.
 Safe from Captain Americas that look like they're drawn by Rick Altergott you mean?
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Springtime for Marvel - The Sequel
As an update from the last post it seems that Marvel's HITLER really did come out. This site is selling it for a $75 (scroll down to...well..."Hitler"). So if you're a Marvel Zombie (or a Hitler Zombie, but that's kind of different) this is quite the rare item to own.
There's even a a cover scan of the book. I must say that I find it odd that they promise "Over 100 Pictures" as if this is Tiger Beat magazine or something.
The perverse side of me (which is quite prevalent I must say) would love to own this book, even though I probably would have to explain myself every time somebody sees it in my possession. I guess I could store it next to my screenplay of the unreleased Jerry Lewis film The Day the Clown Cried.
Permanent Link: 8:42 PM |
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Springtime for Marvel
Is it just me or does the phrase "HITLER-produced by Marvel Comics" strike a very odd tone. Actually when I first read this, a snippet from the Stan's Soapbox of November 1974, I thought the exclamation point was part of the title. Although I think that naming a book HITLER! would be a bit too much for even 70's Marvel.
Did this book ever come out? Were there more in the line of biographies? I'm sure that the folks at Marvel just wanted to educate (that and make some kind of profit) but this does sound like a bad idea.
Permanent Link: 11:43 AM |
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Friday, April 22, 2005
Sharknife
When I was a kid I had a subscription to Nintendo Power that lasted for at least three years and was quite the avid video game player. During those heydays of SNES vs. Genesis commercials my friends and I would come up with our own video game ideas in between rounds of Street Fighter II and F-Zero. We would come up with brand new characters and moves for them as well as storylines that I’m sure would embarrass me, and I have blog devoted to comic books. After reading Sharknife I wouldn’t be surprised if Corey Lewis a.k.a. “The Rey” did the same thing when he was younger. This is a video game crammed into the pages of a comic book. The great thing is that Lewis accomplishes recreating all the fun one would have playing an NES solely by using still pictures. This is a new creator who has already proven he has some interesting things to do with a comic book.
The back cover promises us “100% Action Comics” (I line I hope doesn’t land him in some legal trouble with a certain subsidiary of Time-Warner Communications). Lewis knows that his strength is with giving the reader page after page of kinetic energy. A typical page structure has panel borders slashed across as if they’re claw marks, sound effects that fall of the page and figures whizzing by each other with only enough times to land hits on one another that cause abstract spirals and shapes to fall out of their bodies. In the first chapter this style takes some getting used to and it’s hard to always tell what’s going on in each panel. By the time chapter 5 rolls around, and the chapters move by pretty quickly here, Lewis had gotten more comfortable with this style and its easier to read this book and fall into the high-tempo groove he’s getting into. Lewis influence is not hard to see. Even if he didn’t list 100% as one of his favorite comics in the back, no one would be surprised that Lewis has read a lot of Paul Pope. They both employ a scattered, quick line that keeps things moving. Luckily Lewis doesn’t only absorb the Kirby influence in Pope but has probably also read his fair share of Kirby. The King’s work is the Holy Grail in terms of creating comic with mind-blowing violence and Lewis has soaked up the way Kirby used the weight and design of figures in his interest to make fight scenes look awesome.
There is something of a plot about in the book, but it’s just a pretense for the action to happen. The story is of Sharknife protecting The Guandong Factory, the five-story Chinese restaurant he works as a busboy at. All these weird little creatures have the nasty habit of disrupting service at the restaurant so lowly busboy Caesar Halleuja has to eat special fortune cookies that turns him into the mecha Sharknife to protect the establishment. Lewis makes sure these fight scenes feel like something of a video game, complete with references to “special moves,” displays of Hit Point bars and arrows exclaiming critical hits. The charm comes out the excitement Lewis has for this whole culture of “Nintendo chic.” The scene where Caesar convinces a young boy to throw him over a fortune cookie is full of oversized action and delight that it can definitely bring about a smile, giving the reader the adrenaline boost they would get when their characters gains a 1-Up.
With so much concentration on 8-bit action it’s a delightful surprise that Lewis can pull of the scenes of character interaction with the same fun sense of style as the rest of the book. Caesar and the restaurant owner’s daughter Chieko are usually drawn like half-graffiti/half-manga characters but the beginning of Chapter 3 has them in cuter, deformed version of themselves. I suppose it’s meant to recreate the way characters in RPG games look different in cut scenes, fight scenes and when they’re walking around a city. It’s a cool technique and the scenes show the that while this book isn’t going to be mistaken for Love & Rockets anytime soon, Lewis never lets a change in pace violate the tone of the book.
There is one misgiving I have about this comic. This will appeal to any of the people in this world who are in their late-teens/early-twenties, read Giant Robot magazine, watch FLCL, consider Deltron 3030 the high point of hip-hop and know that up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start is a postmodern prayer. I am one of those people, as are many of the people I go to school with (if Oni markets this book right they could have a huge hit on their hands like Slave Labor Graphics have huge hits in their Goth books), and I dug the Hell out of this book. I have the bad feeling though that if I handed this book to anyone a decade older than me or more they would be completely alienated. There is something to be said about young kids creating works for themselves that speak only to contemporary desires. Grant Morrison and Joe Casey have both said they want to see works by younger creators that owe nothing to the work they are doing so much so that they wouldn’t even recognize these new comics. In that case Sharknife certainly fits that bill. On the other hand there is also something to be noted about how while good work can interest a select group of people, great work deal in much more universal themes where one wouldn’t have to be raised in a certain decade to appreciate.
Sharknife is a good piece of work. It is a great representative of a certain subculture of youth. Lewis is a young creator and I hope he is creating comics for a long time. For that to happen it means he’ll have to keep growing and challenge himself and his audience. Bringing back memories of the days when shouting “ha-du-ken!” at the TV screen was a normal occurrence is cool but I want to see him use his gifts to give us a lot more. I think he can do it, it’s just a matter of will he or not.
Permanent Link: 2:29 PM |
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Thursday, April 21, 2005
Have you ever experienced adventure in your own bathtub?
At Pop Culture Bored poster Brian Nicholson let's us know that McSweeney's has a deal going on this week where if you spend more than $30 you get Michael Kupperman's book Snake 'n' Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret for FREE!
I urge those who can afford to take part in this to do so. There is not one single page of Kupperman's book that does not having something funny on it. If you're into the humor found in television shows like Mr. Show, the early-90's Saturday Night Live and TV Funhouse (where Robert Smigel adapted some of Kupperman's cartoons in this book) then this is right for you. Kupperman's slightly-off style of 1950's comic book art is perfect for EC comics parodies (Muder Me, Muder You! is one of the parody covers) as well as the longer strips that just get more and more bizarre as they go along, such as the story of the eponymous Snake 'n' Bacon.
So go and suck up the McSweeney's goodness and get yourself some free Kupperman. If one of your purchases is the September 2004 issue of The Beliver you'll get a free reprint of Army Man #1, the humor magazine by Simpsons writer Geroge Meyer that will go along quite well with the Kupperman funniness. But don't let me tell you what to buy, go get anything you want so along as it's enough to get the free book. Books are better when they're free.
Permanent Link: 11:28 AM |
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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
The Blogger That Came in From the Cold
I've got the sniffles right now so this will all probably sound bad upon reading. I apologize for any awkwardness (like that's anything new) and promise that future posts will be much healthier thanks to the magnified intake of Vitamin C. Let's start with the random ramblings of a rambler.
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Considering BeaucoupKevin and David Welsh's take on Alex Ross and his appeal I have thought of this: if fans of Alex Ross' work want so desperately to have their favorite hobby of comics to be taken so seriously why don't they support books by artists who are allowed to be as creative as they want and are making new grounds in comics as well as supporting the publishers like Fantagraphics or Top Shelf, that let the artists do that? That seems to be a lot better way to prove "this ain't kids stuff" than buying a poster with a grimacing Captain America on it.
Oh wait, would that mean leaving out those beloved superheroes? Well, if a reader wants his obsession to be taken seriously but cannot leave behind stories of a guy dealing with his parents’ death by dressing up as a bat, then I suggest that reader drops all comic book purchases and goes see a fucking psychologist. See, I get crankier when I'm sick.
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Back in 1993 Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Steve Bissette and a few other artist created the mini-series 1963. It was a well done throwback to the early Marvel comics done at the time by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and the rest of the bullpen. Complete with "Affable Al's Soapbox" and fake ads these comics were pitch perfect in the way they paid tribute to the early and best years of Marvel's superhero line. There were characters barely disguised as the Fantastic Four, Captain America and Thor. There was meant to be a crossover with the current Image superheroes at the time, but the whole thing went bust before that could happen.
This brings me to my idea. I want to see a mini-series called 1975. This will pay tribute to the Marvel of the 70's, where it felt like the inmates were truly running the asylum. The writing would channel how Marv Wolfman and Steve Englehart took the Stan Lee style of scripting into a more serious (although never too serious) direction and we could have artist paying tribute to Gene Colan and Dave Cockrum left and right. Characters would be based on Mantis, Blade, Shang-Chi and Luke Cage. I would like to see a Hoawrd the Duck-like character but Howard's creator already has created a few. Oh well, I suppose one more wouldn't hurt. I can't see it happening (although we are getting a lot of 70's Marvel in the Essential line) but I think it would be a cool book.
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This might be the coolest thing ever. Jason sees his work given the Sin City treatment on the Minnesota stage. I would think that his work specifically would translate well into moving storytelling because the lack of dialogue in his books means he relies more on how the characters express themselves visually to us. If this adaptation ever comes to wherever I'm at I'll check it out.
Still, I won't be fully happy until we get an Angry Youth Comix play. His work is like Shakespeare, only if that hack Shakespeare had any talent.
Permanent Link: 3:00 PM |
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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Or Else #2
In the first few pages of this comic, a reprint of his mini-comic Supermonster #14, Kevin Huizenga makes it clear to the readers that he has an uncanny ability to recreate the passage of time on a comics page so well that we cannot help but relate to the world of his characters Glenn Ganges and Wendy Caramel-Ganges. The first story is a few minutes out of Wendy’s day at work where Huizenga takes one panel from the two page story to shows every piece of information that is happening around Wendy’s office in the space of one minute. He’s showing us that the Ganges’ world is like ours, there are a million things going on at once and they’re all connected in some type of tapestry.
Huizenga then decides to look into the tapestry that is the Ganges’ personal lives as they are on the brink of parenthood and the different ways their lives could evolve. The Ganges are putting groceries away when Glenn starts dreaming about the baby he and his pregnant wife are going to have. Glenn sees his life as a father enjoying the small, mundane things with his child. Their life is nothing special by all appearances but there’s something sweet to be found in the sparse visual of Glenn teaching his offspring how to ride a bike. Glenn tells Wendy that he was fantasizing about being someone whose brain is damaged so he is constantly finding out his wife is pregnant for the first time. Wendy then sees her life as a mother, with the doctor handing her the newly born child. She sees danger as a household object lying around the house could hurt their child. When Wendy tells her husband this and they decide that they should move the real object from off the high shelf right now. Their anxieties about parenthood are furthered when the fantasies are gone and Wendy tells of a dysfunctional relative and her future. Right now they are in the prologue of being parents but they can already begin to imagine, as they do not yet know, what is in store for them.
In “The Sunset” time is no longer just a force of nature passing folks like the Ganges through their world. Here Huizenga rips it open in a brilliant use of his skills. Glenn is beginning to tell his wife an anecdote of what happened to him at the library. When Glenn is just beginning to speak of what transpired Huizenga dives into every single thing that is happening in that library, every person who is looking at books to the forestry just outside. This goes on and on until what makes up the comic itself is explored as drawings become looser, panels become smaller and all figures on the page become more abstract. Soon the reader literally folds out the comic to find a four page spread that I found to be the graphic equivalent to the climax of a grand crescendo in a composition. The distinct majesty in what Huizenga has accomplished here is now put to its best use. It’s as if the cartooning has gotten away from him and now is exploring itself. Soon everything coalesces back to normal and Glenn finishes the story of how the sunrises made him see sparks, all the while the readers are still reeling from what they just saw.
If in “The Sunset” Huizenga let the comic get away with itself it is in “The Moon Rose” that he grips a tight hold on it and delivers a very different but still awesome use of the comic book form. Glenn arrives home to see neighbors standing outside looking at the blood red moon before them. They say it is signifying the Second Coming. Glenn instead informs them in detail the scientific reason for the moon to appear larger and in such a color on this particular night. Huizenga turns Or Else #2 in an educational science piece as diagrams and optical illusions make sure that Glenn’s audience and the readers know of this scientific phenomena. “The Sunset” was about the wonder of how so much is happening in the world at once and this story is about the wonder of trying to unravel it and have it all make some kind of sense. Of course, Glenn realizes at the end that if Jesus does come back it will leave poor old Glenn embarrassed. Huizenga knows if you’re going to fill a story with talk a lot of complicated facts and figures you should leave the audience with a joke.
This main part of the 96-page comic is tackling, amongst other things, the idea of perception and how what one person can perceive differently than the person standing right next to him or her. The opus in “The Sunset” is so expressive that only Huizenga could draw it that way and probably could only draw that way that one time he decided to do it. The science stuff that comes later on is a series of cold hard facts that would never change no matter whose comic this was. Similarly, Glenn and Wendy have different worries and predictions for their child and start to see their future with different amounts of caution. Glenn interacting with his neighbors can even be seen as a comment on the way religion has an easy answer for everything while science has a better one. Huizenga does not forget the smaller examples of this, either. One panel shows the neighbors as Wendy imagines them (white) as opposed to how they really are (black). It’s a world made of millions of different things and people are putting them all together in a million different ways.
The final few pages of the book is a sweet and melancholy story of basketball and family that has the definite feel of authenticity to it, although I do not know if it is autobiographical. Huizenga ends his fantastic piece of work with the kind of emotions that glues us all together through the complex world he just recently pondered.
I’ve read Or Else #2 three times since I bought it two or so weeks ago and I look forward to reading it many more times. It holds up to being looked through over and over again. The work reprinted here is only a year old but yet I already want to christen it some of the best comics made, at least in a long while. At the very least it is a wonderful example of the potential of comics.
Permanent Link: 6:34 PM |
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Monday, April 18, 2005
"This is like a scene straight out of Alien. Only with cheese flavor."
I must say that I'm looking forward to living near a comic book store where this kind of thing happens. Besides the fact that one of those pictures features the last time we'll see gas for $2.49 in Northern California ever again, it's good to know that the Isotope name extends all the way to space. And, as I've always said, shopping for food at the gas station is shopping for damn good food. Just ask the astronauts.
Although don't count out the SoCal comic book stores! One time Corey and I walked into Mike and Dorian's store wearing really special suits. I'd tell you more but the courts won't let me!
Permanent Link: 10:56 PM |
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Moving on
Bill Sherman and Johanna Draper-Carlson have both gone over the idea of being a compulsive buyer and inevitable ending up with a lot of material you haven't read yet. Tom has gone over the feeling one gets looking at all the comics you own. These feelings have been rolling around in my head a lot lately.
I must admit that I am one of those people who like to indulge whenever I'm in a comic book store, record store, Barnes & Nobles or similar place. I find that I still have comics and DVD bought months ago (in a few cases a year ago) that I have not gotten to yet. The fact that I'm part of the "Napster generation" that can find our way to access a lot of content for free only worsens my condition. Now I find that I must make some changes.
As previously noted I will be moving in a few months. I'll be living in a college dorm which means the space I've been so used to while living in my Mom's middle-class suburban home will be gone. I plan to bring some comics with me but I realize that I am going to have to choose very carefully and bring only the ones I love the most, no matter how much I have collected. I have decided that two short-boxes and nine graphic novels will be enough for me to bring. The "pack rat" withdrawal begins now.
I've been racking my comics-loving brain over what to bring. I have books ranging from Richard Corben fantasy comics to comics journalism by Joe Sacco to crime manga by Taiyo Matsumoto. There's a lot to choose from but here are some titles I have decided on:
Essential Spider-Man vols. 1 & 2 - I love Stan Lee. I love Steve Ditko. I love that fact that a neurotic, sometimes shrill, sometimes arrogant yet also sometimes caring geek from Queens is one of the biggest superheroes of all time. These are the best superhero comics I own by a very wide margin.
Same Difference and Other Stories - There's a lot of good cartooning being done today by young cats just getting attention. Derek Kirk Kim is one of the best and having a nice small book of his humanistic little stories is a great thing.
Caricature - I love Clowes' longer works like Ghost World and David Boring but these short stories are the cream of the crop for my favorite era of Clowes. They feature the lonely, the odd and the jilted in stories that completely immerse the readers into their lives. The stories "Gynecology" and the eponymous tale are some of the best cartooning ever.
From Hell - It's the best Alan Moore work I own and the best Eddie Campbell work I own. That really should be enough but its also one of the most complex books I have ever read and I just can't resist that.
That leaves me with four more. This will mean many hours spent looking at my bookshelves wondering what I can part with for months on end (nevermind the fact that I haven't look at most of the books I have completed for years on end). The two shortboxes have already been decided. One will be "the Grant Morrison box" filled with complete runs of Doom Patrol, Flex Mentallo, Dare, Seaguy, WE3, Animal Man and other works by him. The second is "the mix box" featuring some of my favorite comics (or "floppy novels" if you prefer). That ranges from Action Comics #554 (the best of the Marv Wolfamn/Gil Kane Superman tales), my full run of Rubber Necker, the Walt Simonson Fantastic Four comics I own, Eightball #22, Rubber Blanket #3 and many other comics. I'm cheating by putting the first two volumes Tokyo Tribes in there but I love that manga and if they're small enough to fit I'll take advantage of that.
Perhaps I'll sell a lot of the books I leave behind on eBay once I find how well I go on without them. That will give me some quick dosh as well as breaking myself out of my materialistic rut. If I do or don't I'm still about to embark on a brave new phase of personal comic book fandom where it's not quantity that matter but quality. Will I survive cutting off most of my collection? Stay tuned to find out!
Permanent Link: 3:40 PM |
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Sunday, April 17, 2005
Batmobile Driver
Watching Scorsese on Scorsese on TCM I realized that DC Comics have quite the money-making opportunity on their hand.
What they should do is buy the rights for Taxi Driver and then repackage it on DVD as their own. The new title for the film will simply be If Batman was Real.
I do love this documentary and I recommend any fan of film to catch it. When he's talking about how uncomfortable he and DeNiro got while shooting King of Comedy (one of my all-time favorite films and my favorite Scosese film) I get one of those smiles that you can't knock off my face with a sledgehammer.
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Punk Witches
The June/May issue of Punk Planet features an interview with and one Hell of a good looking cover by the artist Tara McPherson, known in comics for her work for Vertigo (the magazine hasn't updated their website with image as of this writing). It's a short little interview but a nice one. It goes over her history coming up as an artist doing rock show posters and going to art school. It also discusses the feminine iconography of her work, which is what I found the most interesting. There's also a lot of pics of her work as well as a little picture of the artist herself.
If you ever have an extra $4,000 dollars on you I suggest picking up this piece at Wacko on Hollywood Blvd. Not a bad looking bit of art.
Permanent Link: 9:54 AM |
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Friday, April 15, 2005
Gene Colan for Hall of Fame
I don't really have much to say about the Eisner nominations. The part I'm probably most excited about is that I hope, I really hope, that Gene Colan gets into the Hall of Fame.
Colan has always been a favorite of mine since I found his work through Marvel's spiffy Essential line. First it was Essential Howard the Duck, where his masterful mix of funny animal style, sci-fi superhero work and his own brand of sweeping panel layouts and seductive facial structure made me want to read more of this guy. The Essential Tomb of Dracula reprints offer up Colan's artwork in a setting perfect for it: a dark tale of vampires and the adventurers after them. No one else can better put across the evil genius of Dracula or the mood of London at midnight with monsters on the prowl than Gene "The Dean" Colan. Since then I have found his work in the 1987 Spectre series, a character perfect for Colan's artwork but Doug Moench's writing (it was originally meant to be HTD's Steve Gerber!) isn't too good, and the Superman mini-series The Phantom Zone. I'll get around to buying the Essential Daredevil books soon enough, but I also hope Marvel sees fit to reprint his work on Dr. Strange and DC reprints more of his work on Batman, some of which ended up in the volume Batman in the Eighties. If you can find it, pick up What If? #21 which gives us the rare glimpse of Colan drawing the Fantastic Four.
Colan is a master of comics who has delighted millions of fans with his own startling and original style of "painting with pencils." There are many people on the list of Hall of Fame nominees who deserve to get in (and it makes no sense, other than to be needlessly sadistic, to list Hall of Fame nominees so we all know who didn't make the grade this year) and Colan is definitely one of the most deserving.
As for the rest of the Eisner nominations I only have the following thoughts: Kevin Huizenga beats all for short story, that issue of Demo was one of the weakest (I stopped buying the rest of the series after it), I'd love to see Johnny Ryan make an acceptance speech, Astonishing X-Men and Ex Machina are being drawn by artists too good to be doing those books and Tokyo Tribes should win for best foreign material (I'm sure the other works are good but do they have guys being fucked to death by big fat crime bosses? Where's that issue of Daredevil?).
I attend the Eisners last year. I liked some of it, but combining award shows with comics leaves one with a depressing feeling only heroic amounts of alcohol can fix.
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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Sometimes You Have to Grow Up
This week marks the first time in a long time where absolutely no books that shipped were of interest of me and I have no reason to go to the comic book shop. I like Mike and Dorian’s company and there are probably a few back issues I could get, but there’s no reason for me to part with my all-too-scarce-these-days cash on any new product. This will become a scenario that will become more and more common for I am now in the waning days of my “every week a trip to the comic book store” phase.
In August I’ll be moving to San Francisco and while the school I’ll be attending is about three miles from a well regarded comic book store I’ll take the change as a chance to quit the habitual side of comic book fandom. I’ve been finding that the “waiting for Wednesday” approach to comics less and less satisfying for a few reasons. One is the fact that I’m turned off by two big companies controlling the Direct Market that aren’t that interested in people my age as readers. A lot of Marvel and DC books depend on the reader to be already interested in the events of continuities and universes. For those who missed the intoxication of those story devices in their younger years because they were too busy reading far superior books like Pitt (hey, we all make mistakes when we’re younger) the current crops of books don’t offer much. DC can both enrage and/or delight men in their 30’s and 40’s but to everybody else it’s just too obscure to be interesting. Marvel seems to have done a bit of a better job of creating books that could possibly catch the attention of younger fans with Runaways, Livewires and the earlier issues of Ultimate Spider-Man (Sean T. Collins once described the latter as an American shonen manga, a fair assessment) but they are still a company that’s far too conservative to make any big splash with anyone outside their core audience. DC’s Vertigo line has success in their back catalog of Sandman and Preacher but I can’t think of any books they are currently publishing that can live up to those titles, although I think The Losers, one of the books I have phased out of my purchasing routines, has the potential to.
It is in fact another Vertigo title I have dropped that made me realize another reason why my trips to comic book stores should become less frequent. I was once very interested in Y the Last Man. Brian K. Vaughan comes up with a brilliant first issue with a high concept and ran with it. Soon enough I was waiting every month to see what was the latest with Yorrick, 355 and the all-female world they have to make their way in. I read every issue the day I bought them, often as the first comic I would read of the day. When I had to drop the book for financial reasons I agonized over the choice. It’s been four or five months since I’ve made the decision and I harbor no regret at all. I remember now that I was interested in the book as pulp-y serialized fiction, but Vaughan never really did have much to say about gender roles or sexual politics beyond the very ham-fisted. It was more about “how did he and his monkey survive?” than anything else and after a while I see that the price both financially and in terms of time are too much for me to get caught up in the continuing developments of it or most other comics. Reading the same titles month-in and month-out and repeating the phrases “it was a decent read” and “a nice way to kill ten minutes” over and over in my head became too punishing. I realize that I need to get more out of comics than that with what I’m already putting into the medium.
I still dig a lot of serialized genre fiction, but the thrills can be found more in television than in comics. Lost is a superior endeavor to 99% of the monthly comic out there and its getting pumped into every home in America for free. Why should I travel to a comic book store and pay four or five dollars for comics to find out the answer to pressing questions like “what’s Batman/Wolverine/Irving Forbush up to this month” when I can find a better thrill and sense of fun sitting in my living room?
Titles like Or Else or The Fixer remind me why I read comics after all these years. There are creators that remind me of the things that only comics can do and what potential the medium has outside of the dictates of a dying business. Reading those books I don’t feel like I’m in some stupid routine that I have to convince myself to stick with. I don’t make statements like “a decent read” but start to see the world around me different and perhaps evolve into a better person. It’s the whole reason I go to a comic book store in the first place.
I do plan to keep going to comic book stores. I love them (the good ones anyway). There are some superhero titles I like and others forthcoming that I look forward to. A lot of manga titles present unpretentious genre tales that are accessible to most people. It doesn’t always have to be about seeing the world around me differently; I just don’t ever want to lose sight of that in favor of turning comics into some kind of comfort food.
Not to mention I already promised James Sime I’d visit his store when I moved north. If you break a promise to that man…bad things happen.
Permanent Link: 10:57 PM |
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Tuesday, April 12, 2005
What if this blurb defeated everybody?
You know what makes this cover works? This:
Man, why can't we have more comics that sell themselves like this? If there's better sales line than "how bad could it be?" I don't want to hear it. I also wouldn't mind seeing a certain comic book commentator who wrote this issue talk about it, especially if he had anything to do with that brilliant blurb.
In other news Tom Peyer is a genius. Of course, if more people read Hourman that would hardly be news.
Permanent Link: 6:19 PM |
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Random crap from a crap blogger
Two blogs enter, only one leaves. I'm glad Melrsoe, Greeling and Costello are still blogging, it still gives me hope for this stupid blogosphere. I've been thinking about Melrose's final statement on his old blog, how getting so deep into the wild and wooly world of comic book politics can suck out the enjoyment found in the medium. I often get that feeling, as if everything I read I have to review here (although I seldom do reviews) or just he plain malaise one gets sifting through companies going for short-term successes based on “event” comics and reactions to them. If things get too bad I just know I can go to certain works that will restore my faith in comics, not unlike how Melrose and Co. start a blog about what they dig. I read some of Kirby's New Gods books, Love & Rockets or something by Derek Kirk Kim and I feel all better.
That and I've trained myself to see how people act in the comic book business as darkly hilarious. It's like a suicide set to Benny Hill music.
***
Flying Southwest airlines over the weekend I found something in their Spirit magazine that I had to share with you good people. The way they described the creator of Sin City sounded just a bit cheeky: "Basin City (nickname, 'Sin City') is a dark and violent town created by comic book icon Frank Miller. Let's just say, the man's got issues." Oh snap!
***
You know what I'd like to see? I’d like to see an in-depth and honest book on the history of Marvel Comics. It would go over their books, their creators, all their business ups-and-downs and everything else. Tom Spurgeon and Jordan Raphael's Stan Lee books come the closest but it's just about one man. Les Daniel's book, from what I've seen, is hardly as penetrating as it should be. I haven't read Comic Wars by Dan Raviv, but I do know it's only about one era of Marvel. I want the whole story of this American company. Perhaps I'll write the book myself, although I can't possibly do it now considering where my life is at currently.
Let's hope the next posts aren't so scattershot.
Permanent Link: 11:14 AM |
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Friday, April 08, 2005
Jazzy John
It's no secret that you can find the news about unreleased Marvel books through Amazon (Rich Johnston did it all the time). Looking up the price for the Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko book I found this bit of good news.
Marvel Visionaries: John Romita Sr. (not to be confused with the Spider-Man Visionaries book) will, according to the product description Amazon has posted, reprint the following books:
Strange Tales #4; Menace #11; Young Men #24, 26; Tales to Astonish #77; Tales of Suspense #77; Daredevil #16 and 17; Amazing Spider-Man #39, #40, #42, #50, #108, #109 and #365; Fantastic Four #105 and 106; Vampire Tales #2; and Untold Tales Of Spider-Man Minus 1.
I like a lot of things about these hardcover, over-sized Visionaries books (the Jack Kirby and Stan Lee ones have been released, the Ditko one will be out this month). They reprint works that would never be seen otherwise (Lee's prose piece for Captain America, Kirby's What If?, a lot of the pre-Fantastic Four sci-fi and monster Marvel books). We can see how an artist's work has evolved throughout the years. I have issues with the quality of reproduction on some of the reprints and of course there will always be arguments about what should and shouldn't have gone into the books (why were the Silver Surfer stories done with Moebius not in the Lee book?). Overall I am happy that there are collections that are based around creators that serve as a type of "greatest hits" and hope that Marvel will keep the series going.
Who else would be worthy of this treatment? Roy Thomas? John Buscema? Mark Gruenwald? I'd love it see Steve Englehart and Gene Colan editions myself but I doubt we'd see those. Still, a boy can wish.
Permanent Link: 12:24 PM |
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I still don't know how to pronounce the last name
I'm taking a trip up to San Francisco this weekend (no, not for APE although I wish that was the reason) so this will be the last post for a few days.
During the trip I'll be reading Or Else #2 for the second time since I bought it. The book, which arrived in comic stores last week, is the second in Kevin Huizenga's series for Drawn and Quarterly. I plan to post a (hopefully) close look at the book when I return. In the meantime I'll point you to some other places where Huizenga and his work have been considered.
Tom Spurgeon interviews Huizenga
D & Q's biography of the cartoonist
BeaucoupKevin looks at Or Else #2
Huizenga's comic for TIME magazine
TIME's Andrew Arnold writes an article about Or Else #1
Tim O'Neill's review of Or Esle #1
Marc Sobel's review of Or Else #1 (second item down)
Mike Hunter on Or Else #1
See you in a few!
Permanent Link: 9:15 AM |
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Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Reappearing comics
Marvel has informed retailers that Combat Zone the five issue miniseries recounting true stories of soldiers in Iraq has been cancelled.
Instead, the material will be collected and presented as an original graphic novel which will go on sale in July.
Oh...uh...I guess that answers my question of what the Hell happened to that series. It created a bit of a stir when it was solicited however many months ago but apparently not shipping and making it impossible for anybody to read it is one effective way of quelling any controversy. Now I suppose anyone who's interested in readings the likely slanted reports back from Iraq in comic form will soon have the opportunity.
What's odd is that this reminds me, as it did Jog, of Marvel's book 411. Here was a book with a political bent, albeit one totally opposite of Combat Zone, that created some fodder for the gossip and rumor fans because an essay by an anti-nukes activist (can't remember her name) was rejected. It too slowly slipped away from view, although in that case it was because the last issue didn't ship and I don't think anybody was reading it anyway (although I did like the Mark Millar/Frank Quietly story that Marvel had free on their website). I suppose Combat Zone has fared better because now we can read the whole thing, although something tells me Marvel is just going to dump this trade on retailers with little fanfare, the result being that barely anybody picks it up. It will sit next to the Marville trade on the shelf, reminding only a select few that every incarnation of Marvel has its own definition of "bottom of the barrel."
Unless, that is, people start talking about it, either praising or damning it, all over the internet. As Lyle pointed out concerning Countdown to Thingy Blah Blah, more talk is more buzz is more sales. Any type of talk will do, as long as there is a lot of it. Hell, this post alone could move about 10 more units if Marvel's lucky. Frankly, I don't see that happening. The world of vocal internet comic fandom has moved on. I believe the schedule now is to run out the Countdown outrage, kill some time going on about Marvel padding out stories in their "Ultimate" line, complaining about "House of M," back to DC whenever their new event mini-series comes out then maybe some freelancer will get fired and that will be good for a month or so of message board and comments section space. I don't know if Combat Zone will find a place with such a tight plan set up for the next few months but if "House of M" is smoother than predicted it can squeeze in. We'll see.
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Tuesday, April 05, 2005
The world of blogs
Holy Joe, Steve Gerber has a blog. Howard the Duck under Gerber and Colan was the best Marvel comic that didn't involve Kirby or Ditko. I really liked Hard Time and eagerly await its return.
Congratulations to Franklin Harris on his new promotion. It is sad that we will no longer have his blog, Harris was one of the people that were here for the beginning of the comics blogosphere and we were all lucky to have him around.
While The Outbreak has its own problems with zombies, Attentiondeficitdisorderlytooflat has returned to give us vintage Sean T. Collins (except he doesn't talk about comics).
Finally, in the Life of Ian department...er, I'm listening to the Soderbergh-on-Soderbergh commentary for Schizoplois instead of getting any work done.
Permanent Link: 12:47 PM |
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Obligatory Sin City review
You might have noticed the four-way Sin City reviews from the ACAPCWOVCCAOE (Mike and Dorian have posted theirs, Tom's is forthcoming as of this writing). It feels sort of like those promotions where four different comics can have their covers connect into one big picture. Except this picture includes trailers for Revenge of the Who Cares Anymore and a guy loudly snoring behind you.
Sin City is a film that revels in being over-the-top, and in that it certainly has captured the aesthetic Miller likes to bring to his work. Seeing images you've read in a comic book recreated perfectly on a big screen, and knowing they are playing on big screens all over the country, is a really weird feeling. It's as if Robert Rodriguez wanted to tell everybody about these great comics he's read and used his ability as a somewhat-successful filmmaker to do that on a wide scale. With that he created a film that showed us what would happen if you took the films Double Indemnity and The Big Sleep, put them on a ton of steroids and then had them play a billion violent video games. Almost everything is played to “11” here be it the sex, the violence or the visuals. I liked it.
The movie, and the books, get so over-the-top they reach into the bizarre. That's when I felt the movie was at its best. Scenes like Benicio Del Toro's pez dispenser-esque head speaking to Clive Owen or the Yellow Bastard whipping Jessica Alba with his belly showing are incredibly grotesque but in this case they don't feel like they violate what the film is going for but instead are the best representations of what it is about. The resulting effect of watching the whole two hours and six minute film is overwhelming but if you like this kind of thing (and I am one of those people who do) it is pleasing.
Seeing Miller’s beautifully crafted violence on screen was something I found to be a real treat. The gusto that the filmmakers went with images such as Bruce Willis tearing off Nick Stahl’s genitals, Mickey Rourke dragging a person from a car’s driver seat or pretty much all of “The Big Fat Kill” I found to be infectious. They brought many a smile to my face and warmed my black little heart. The scenes of horrific carnage are crammed next to scenes of beautiful movie making. The first one to take my breath away was the shadow hanging over the 11-year-old Nancy. It looked like the film noir scene we were all promised but never got. Seeing Willis walking through that forest on the way to the Roark farm proved to me that digital filmmaking is a worthy enough successor to what has come before. Willis also stars in that wonderful scene of him in that giant cage, something I was very glad to see translated well into the movie.
The film’s hurts the most in the acting department. Rodriguez and Miller cranked everything else to top volume but it seems some of the players didn’t reach as far as they needed to go. Stahl and Powers Boothe were the actors in “That Yellow Bastard” who accomplished the most with the material because really sunk their teeth into it. Unfortunately they were not the stars of the sequence which hurt the last third of the film a lot. Willis had a difficult role because he was meant to be a beaten down, sullen guy and that can’t be easy to go all out with. Unfortunately I don’t feel he quite beat that challenge. I agree with Dorian that Rosario Dawson was great because she was having a lot of fun. The final image of her smiling a wolf’s smile while firing an Uzi was one of the most enjoyable images I’ve seen in the movies all year. The real stand out was Rourke as Marv. The make-up did look a bit odd (the chin in particular first reminded me of a Jay Leno caricature) but between his voice and demeanor he sold it so well it stopped bothering me. By the time he’s in the electric chair and is asking the authorities “is that the best you got?” I believed he was the badass he was playing.
Sin City is a really good film but one not without its flaws. The curse of the anthology strikes again (some parts outshining others), in this case very hard because the last sequence was the weakest. When it comes out on DVD I’ll give it a rent and maybe buy it if I find it real cheap, but that’s about it. I like what Rodriguez and Miller accomplished but let’s hope this doesn’t starts a trend where all comic book adaptations are this faithful. I’ve already scared myself with images of Bob Layton on set for the Iron Man film shouting “he’s got to be drunker, drunker!!”
I do predict a cottage industry of psychological examinations of this film, though. You can’t have a movie where every five seconds you’re either seeing a penis be mutilated, a woman in scantily clad clothing or both at the same time and not except wave after wave of sophomores to come up the same idea of their “Sexual Fears in Popular Culture” essays.
Permanent Link: 11:05 AM |
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Monday, April 04, 2005
Morrison thoughts
Part 1
Part 2
Just to follow up on those reports with my personal reactions to the matter, I must say it made me like a better reader of Grant Morrison's work and put in me a desire to read some of his works over again, certainly Seaguy and The Filth. His talk of 5th Dimensions and fiction suits may be off-putting to some, but it's easier to get into when you see that he's just simply exploring what life as a comic book creator is like with the teachings his uncle gave him.
Morrison maintained throughout that all this stuff he talks about comes down to the situations we all experience in life and emotions we have about those situations. When one person asked about an ancient race of humans to be found, Morrison went on to say that you can change the scenery behind you from the boring to the fantastic but the human drama will always be there.
That's why the Morrison books I love the best never lose sight of things like friendship (Seaguy and Chubby), trying to get comfortable in your own skin (a lot of Doom Patrol) and youthful rebellion (Invisibles and Marvel Boy) as well as other issues we all have to go through in life. Morrison just processes that stuff in his work with nutty concepts like Danny the Street and a nasty chimp assassin.
Grant Morrison is a lot like his work. Seemingly too weird and too odd at first, you soon find out that he and his characters are just trying to make their way in a world where people are always going to desire to communicate with each other and that communication takes on all kinds of different forms, some more pleasant than others. We all try to wrap our heads (bald or not) around this crazy thing called life.
Permanent Link: 8:14 AM |
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Saturday, April 02, 2005
Grant Morrison's Night pt. 2
Part 1
Comic Book Resources' report (told you he was a snappy dresser).
Continuing with the Q&A from the audience and the discussion of magick, the universe and everything someone asked what books about magick inspired him. Morrison talked about how it was his uncle’s enthusiasm for the subject that sparked his interest. The talk of Christ chopping his own arm off (what to have it grow back, sir) was an inspiration. This uncle also gave Morrison his very first tarot card deck. There were magazines like “Lamp of Thought” and “Cybernomicon” that also got him into magick. They were like an escape from doing any hard research like a scholar. It was like “punk magick” because it was free of any dogma. The writer Ramsey Dukes was also someone that really clicked for Morrison. Crowley’s name was brought up, but Morrison didn’t really have much use for him. He felt the work that Crowley’s work is too historical and its best to steer clear of. He did like the mountain climber’s style of prose, though.
The next question asked about the Seven Soldiers “anti-series,” as Morrison called, that he’s working on now. It’s based around stuff he picks up on from old DC comics, like the universe Qwerq. He wondered what that universe would be like if it grew up and because something of a teenager. Morrison also went on to say he enjoys reading his old work because it’s like someone else wrote it, “especially the 90’s.”
A person asked if Morrison has created any new gods, and I think Morrison is the only comic book writer who would ask “you mean the characters or actual new gods?” Morrison explained how you can make energy that can conjure up any god you can want to. You can get really fucking angry to get the god of war, and then just get rid of him with a laugh. Your god might be a little FedEx truck (complete with little man driving it) but Morrison chose the New God Metron for his. Marvel Boy was meant to be his Horus character; he just gave it the form of a teenage boy from another universe “because that’s how I get paid.”
The best question of the night, in my mind, was when someone said that they appreciate the moral focus in his stories and the optimisms that can be found. Crazy Jane’s recovery in Doom Patrol and the plain optimism found in JLA were given examples. It was asked if he figures the moral and ethics in his stories before he writes them. Morrison said he’s not aware of any moral sense when he’s writing. He is an optimistic person and that simply comes out in his stories. He declared that comics have a duty to give the reader hope. The moral sense comes from the universe in which he writes for. Superman has the strong sense of moral code and a moral super-strength. He solves all the world’s problems without taking a life. If one feeds off that energy of a universe where the good guys always wins, maybe the good guys will get some wins here.
Next up was a person asking about his writing style and if he plans his overarching storylines, many of which wrap up in awesome endings, at the very beginning of writing them. Morrison admits that a great amount of work goes into his writing. The end is always in his mind, it’s just a matter of filling in the blanks. He sees it as a bit like architecture. A lot of the times it something that he is compelled to communicate. “The Invisibles were a weight in my head.”
Morrison’s musical plans were asked about. He said he plans to release a record through his website. Steven Severin of Siouxsie & the Banshees is a friend of his and Morrison said he wants to work with him. Morrison, by the way, does an awesome Morrissey impression. His taste in guitars is also pretty nice, what with the news of his purchase of a white Rickenbacker 12-string. I bet he’ll be banging out some George Harrison-esque riffs out of that one.
Someone went back into the past asking if his All-Star Superman has any elements of the Superman pitch he was a part of years ago. Morrison said he’s glad DC said no to the first pitch because he has much better ideas now. One thing that remains is his conversation with a fan at Comic-Con dressed as Superman who had the conversation as Superman. He was “ridiculously shamanic” and so very relaxed. After all, that’s how would be with the lack of any of the vulnerabilities we lowly mortals have. “He sits on a cloud looking down and saying ‘aren’t they great?’ Oh look, one’s about to hurt himself ZOOOOOM!” It was the inspiration for the cover of the first issue of All-Star Superman (I’d abbreviate that but it would come out as “Grant Morrison’s ASS” which I’m sure will now bump up my hit count). Joe Casey then asked about the Superman the next day spotted in Ralph’s. “It was the Dan Clowes’ Superman” with his grey hair and fucked-up look. He was just as good, “just the George Bush Superman.” That led to an account of how excited Chris Weston was to meet Bizarro walking through the convention halls. It was when Bizarro would simply not leave did the once excited Weston start to get terrified. The story ends with Bizarro leaving up a flight of stairs with everybody saying “Hello Bizarro!” which he delivered a hearty “Hello!” back. “Then he was probably arrested by the police and raped in a jail cell.”
One theme in Morrison’s work is his love of animals, which was asked about. “I really like them, used to have six cats. They defy everything and are really smart, too.” He’s fascinated by their different ways of communicating, either with each other or with humans. They “connect you to how we used to be.” He mentioned the emotion they’ve found chimps go through when things like kittens they are given die. “And they say they’re not human.” Morrison mentioned that in the past Blacks and Jews have been viewed as “not human” as well. The classification of who is human or not just changes with whomever the focus group is at the time.
The last question of the night asked who would win in the inevitable chaos magician war between him and Alan Moore. Morrison said “it’s not like that” but did then say “I’ve been doing it since 1978, he’s been doing it since 1994…what do you think?” He also told us that “the last issue of Promethea had some glaring errors.” At that point Jay Babcock mentioned that Morrison is the only person who saw Donnie Darko and said he knew it was inaccurate from personal experience. Then us audience members were invited to line-up and get books signed or even “follow him into the book so he can show you his 5th Dimension.”
I got in line to get my books, Doom Patrol #34 and Near Myths #5, signed by the man and have a little bit of a chat with him as well. Standing in line I heard a young woman talk into her cell phone and say “he look exactly the same in person and yes he is” with quite a bit of giddiness. Upon meeting the man (probably the most excited I’ve ever been as a comic fan) he told me that the Doom Patrol issue was one of his favorites and was surprised that I got a copy of Near Myths. I told him of the time I read every issue of Invisibles in one day and he seemed interested in how I felt afterwards. I said I could relate to his story about seeing time happening all at once, because I got something of that feeling as well. He was glad to hear it, saying the books are designed to impart that feeling onto the reader. We were two people in Los Angeles having a serious conversation about seeing through time. I loved it. I then asked if he checks out the comics blogosphere. He said he really didn’t. I explained that a lot of us are fans of Morrison’s work and wondered if he had a message for us (I actual thought of having him do an audio post from my cell phone but figured it would have held up the line). He said “thanks for reading and I love them all.” That’s Grant Morrison’s message to you bloggers. Savor it!
Permanent Link: 7:16 PM |
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Miller's Guide to the Dark Parts
Don't worry, the Grant Morrison reports will continue later tonight, but for right now I want to post you to what might be the best review of Sin City so far. Excerpts:
SIN CITY is a blisteringly violent movie with an anti-social, anti-Christian perspective. It weaves together three stories of sadistic men pursuing their own warped brands of justice in a depraved city. Become educated about what’s in this movie and don’t support it.
The dangerous individualism of SIN CITY teaches us that we cannot trust any man, which results in the amorality and paranoid violence exhibited in the movie.
Of course, Tom Peyer's favorite CAP Alert a.k.a. "God's Guide to the Hot Parts" also has something of a review up but I'll let Tom tell you about that one.
Why do I get the feeling that Frank Miller is going to turn these guys into characters in the next Sin City story? And doesn't the begining part of the first review (PaPaPa, RoRoRo, AbAb, B, LLL, VVV, SSS, NN, AA, DD, MMM) seem like it would make for lyrics in a great Iggy Pop song?
This also brings me to the greatest letter that has ever appeared in a comic book ever (Daredevil #184 to be precise):
I smell a potential catchphrase.
Permanent Link: 5:11 PM |
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Friday, April 01, 2005
Movie stuff
Hey, look at that it's the V for Vendetta website. I don't have high hopes for the film but like all geeky, maladjusted young men I lust after Natalie Portman like the lonely bastard I am. She's the kind of girl who could make you forget how sad your life is.
In other news, watching edited versions of Mr. Show reminds you of how horrible a place America is.
Permanent Link: 10:09 PM |
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Grant Morrison's Night pt. 1
Last night Grant Morrison appeared at Meltdown Comics to speak to Arthur magazine Editor Jay Babcock, take questions from his fans in the audience and sign some books. I had a blast.
Morrison's a snappy dresser, that's for sure, and can rock an all blue three-piece ensemble. The visual of the current, suave and bald version of Morrison appearing below and to the left of this poster that Meltdown had framed on their wall was quite awesome. It was a healthy sized crowd, filling up somewhere between a third and half of one of the largest comic book stores in America.
Babcock started off by asking Grant about his big project coming up, All-Star Superman, and how it was considered a "contact experience." Morrison went on to talk about how Superman was more real than him or his creators. He's a symbol that will live on and on that stands for the good that mankind can live up to. "It's a symbol for America," Morrison said. Now he wants to "reinvigorate the symbol."
He showed his sense of humor and ability to hold a crowd with his telling of the Mort Weisinger Superman stories, like when Superman convinces Lois Lane he was "a pug-ugly bastard" all along (and if you haven't heard a Scotsman use that phrase, you haven't lived) or when Superman gained a new power that shot a Super-Imp out of his hand. Morrison explained how the bizarre emotions going on with the Superman and Lois were like the stupid emotional stuff we all go through. He admitted that the weird stuff he comes up with doesn’t come close to what made up the 60’s DC books but he wants to bring that back, as well as the human drama that is a reflection of what we all go through.
Babcock wanted to get to the contact experience part, so Morrison went on to talk about how Morrison feels he is working inside the 2nd Dimension and how it’s a place he go into. “It’s just fiction, but it’s not just fiction. It’s not something you make up; it’s something you participate in. You can’t fuck with it, it’s a paper universe.” He said that’s why he’s not too big on when other creators try to bring the grim real world into their superhero stories. He said it was like bad anthropologists bring Christian ideas to their findings. The two things aren’t going to work together. “That world is unfettered and the real world can’t apply to them.”
Morrison then brought up his personal story of having a contact experience with the 5th Dimension. He likened it to being “electrocuted by God” although worried that when talking about it made it sounds “ridiculous.” I didn’t think so, and I hope I do it justice here. It involves Morrison going to Katmandu with a friend to find enlightenment. There, after a few activities that got him somewhere close to enlightenment, “silver blobs” appeared to him and asked him where to go. He figured the obvious answer was Alpha Centauri, which was an easy enough trip through space-time. Afterwards he was “peeled off” space-time and saw the universe as the separate entity in |
