There's no real point in making this too long, I just need to purge this out of my mind so I can walk away. I work some at a comic shop. Since practically all they order is Marvel and DC, I could and have read any of their published comics for free and put them back on the shelf. No revenue generated for Marvel or DC. Since I can get into movies for free, I could and have seen movies with their properties in them. No revenue generated for Marvel or DC. But beyond all that, I could just pirate all their stuff. No profit generated for Marvel or DC. The thing is, pirating is too easy. It's a false justification that I thankfully don't even have to apply in this situation. Because when I looked at the stuff that I was reading for free from Marvel and DC, there wasn't much there. Daredevil and Wonder Woman, that's it. Criminal if and when it comes back (maybe Brubaker and Phillips will play the long game and take it to Image). Not much to drop, but I was still hesitant. I mean, boycotting them doesn't really solve anything. Besides them not getting any of my money anyway, the comics exist solely for the merchandising and movies. That's where the real money is made and why these companies can barely be bothered to admit that the market is cannibalizing itself and losing readers consistently.
The whole process of thinking about this started when the Kirby family's attempted lawsuit didn't even go to court because the contracts are airtight. Sure, I knew Kirby and the vast majority of the old guard didn't get shit for all the groundwork they laid. I knew Alan Moore had been boned extensively by DC. But it was all out of my hands. I just wanted to read comic books. But then the snowball got rolling. Frank Santoro says goodbye to Marvel. Steve Bissette calls for a boycott of Marvel. James Sturm says he won't go see Avengers. The Gary Friedrich debacle where they singled out a guy, who by the way has no health insurance and is struggling to survive, for practices which all kinds of fucking hacks and wannabe company-men pull off on a regular basis. "Marvel's" The Avengers. Before Watchmen. Excellent posts by Sean Witzke, David Brothers, and Abhay Khosla and a series of tweets by Tom Spurgeon. But what really did it was the message implied in an idea of good will, the idea to donate money to the Hero Initiative or the Jack Kirby Museum Fund if you went to see the Avengers. I remember thinking it was a good idea that was unfortunately going to produce lackluster results, but what I took from it the most and what really finalized my decision was this part:
"Plus, of course, you - the collective “you”, representing comic book fans all over the world - want to see this movie. And you’re going to, most likely, right? Even though you know of the morally shady practices of Marvel towards its creators, they’ve got you hooked. Don’t be ashamed, they’ve had you hooked for years. It’s what they do."
I don't think this is what was intended, but that is the most damning and truthful thing ever written about comic fandom. The general public don't give a shit and shouldn't be bothered. But comic fans should know and respond better. We know about Bill Finger, Siegel and Schuster, about how Stan Lee somehow is elevated to godhood for only partial contributions, and about Steve Gerber. Certainly comics are not alone in this regard, you don't have to look hard to see where older creators were treated terribly in the world of films, music, and movies. This is not an ethical industry, but more importantly and why it is so damning, it is so arrogantly public and nonchalant about it still to this day. There also is no desire to change. Before Watchmen is the zenith of this, taking something that once stood to represent steps towards improvement and tossing it aside. Still, let's clarify: I don't think any of the people that consume Marvel and DC's products are evil. I don't think anyone who works on their products is evil. Certainly the industry pays relatively well and making a living being a cog in the wheel is far from isolated to comics. That reads passive aggressive, but I don't know anyway else to put it. Harlan Ellison manifesto, etc...
But "they've got you hooked?" Marvel and DC put out some decent to good stuff, sure. But what happens if you don't see Avengers or read the umpteenth incarnation of Daredevil? You maybe miss some good work, but why not read stuff that doesn't have a moral stain all over it? If you really like comics, there's plenty of stuff out there. If you only care about reading about superheroes, well, you've got to make up your own mind. I haven't read that many superhero comics relative to a ton of people, but I've read plenty of all levels of quality. There's still things to say about superheroes, but there's been enough to sate me. I'm good. So I'm officially unhooked. I have around 10 older Marvel and DC comics I'm going to get and then I'm riding into the sunset on Fury MAX, which looks to be an exit of incredible greatness. Who knows, maybe not just making a clean break here and now is proof that I'm even worse than the people who want to fuck all these people over so they can keep reading 100 Superman comics a month, because they're at least honest while I'm here puttering on about this garbage.
A specific point: the Before Watchmen row, unlike everything at Marvel, has made me go personal, which is kind of petty, but fuck it, it's my decision. This will not affect Marvel or DC in the absolute slightest. I just feel like I'm doing the right thing. It's invigorating in a way, like I'm moving forward positively. Pathetic? Yes and no, once again who cares, this is what I'm feeling, I'll be in the bathroom. So some people I'm done with period, specifically the ones who have said a bunch of stupid shit surrounding Before Watchmen. Stracynzski has always sucked, so no loss there. But Azzarello? That guy has written some damn good comics and is clearly a smart guy. Unfortunately, "There really is no controversy" and "Comic fans don't like new things"? Sorry, you lose. Just shutup and don't say anything OR just say, "I'm doing it for the money" or "I don't care." Darwyn Cooke? Jesus, just click on that Abhay link above. Hell, here it is again. We're all hypocrites, but you just took the prize! So I dumped all the comics of theirs that I had and won't be buying anymore, no matter if they're from Marvel or DC or not. Nobody point me towards something dumb by JG Jones, I've still got this Marvel Boy sketch that is awesome.
So no more Marvel or DC. Too long, apologies.
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Friday, May 18, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
We Got Arrested at Night
Recent thoughts...
Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore
Expectations can be weird. I had heard that this book told a continuing tale that stretched across centuries, and that is technically true but not the whole picture. Moore tackling similar spanning agendas in works like From Hell and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen fixated my mind a combined tale of resounding mythological and mystical significance with allusions to everyone and everything that happened within those time periods.
But that's not how it plays out, even if what happens is related. In From Hell, Moore was talking about the 20th century through his version of Jack the Ripper. But Voice of the Fire starts out in 4000 BC and ends up in the 1995 AD. Each of the 12 chapters moves the story forward into differing time periods. However, far from making the story more grandiose, it instead makes it more personal. In From Hell, all the stops were pulled out to show this single period in time and how it was manifested, along with Moore showing off, which he does all the time. Voice of the Fire is like the greatest hits of Moore's hometown and residence of Northampton. Each vignette takes on the air of meaning solely for the people affected within the story. Those occurrences and meanings certainly resonate later, but not in a cause and effect way. Unlike League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, where Moore really wants you to know he's being clever while throwing around his commentary, there is a not a need and/or desire for annotations. Instead, all the references are as blatant as can be. Moore often calls attention to them vividly that I wondered what was going on. But as I said before, this is due to the expectation that Moore's previous work had left me with. Before the last chapter, I wasn't sure what I had read. I got that Moore was looking at myths, psycho-geography, and to put it too simply, how things change but still stay the same.
But then I got to the final chapter and things coalesced. Removing the writing from the story and into Moore's own life (apparently, as it's obvious Moore is working subjectively with parts throughout the whole book), Moore finishes wrapping up Northampton, filling in the details from the previous chapter's endpoint of 1931, up to 1995. It's a depressing endpoint, Moore laying out a ruined, wasteland-esque town of inadequate council housing, faceless corporate-enveloping sprawl, random acts of deadly violence, and several occurrences relating back to the previous chapters, the town still progressing through time by spinning its wheels. In effect, Moore's book functions as a history of Northampton, prosed up to provide a record of how the town developed into the morass he sees today. His tone in the last chapter is a mix of caring elitism and incredulous scorn. Moore makes sure to mention the laborious nature of the research put into the book, tomes and records dug up that have lost all relevance in their obscurity. But at the same time, Moore goes to ask his uncle about a certain historical event, in of all places, a bingo hall. But then he maintains that he cannot really describe the book to him. Is Moore saying that all the information he dug up is really contained within the unsuspecting people of the town? Yet, somehow they do not have the capacity to understand or utilize it? Does he connect this back to how the denigrating town, and by extension the modern world, has no room for the supernatural or the occult? Or is Moore even talking about any of this? Outside the explanations and recounting, how you feel about the end probably speaks to your ability to tolerate good old fashioned bitching, none more so than when Moore tunes into the television broadcast to crucify all the content it can conjure. Then again, if I had written through Northampton's cycle, fueled by death, deceit, subjugation, misery, decapitation, limping, loss, razing, and burning, I might bitch a little myself. Moore is trapped between revealing the wonders inherent in his environment while being able to manage the horrifying traits of the people, places, and things manifest. I'll let him blow off some steam.
Oh, and the first chapter is written from the perspective of how Moore thought a caveman would process his thoughts. It's equally enlivening and frustrating, and the book has a hard time ever reaching that level of insanity thereafter.
Vanishing Point, directed by Richard Sarafian
Not a whole lot to say. Good car chases, some potentially interesting character dynamics get annihilated by retreaded and awkward exposition dumps, and the landscape of the early 1970s gets equally handled and fumbled, as the movie uses the functional tabula rasa of the main character to throw current events at him. Props to Barry Newman still, who plays the lead like the manufactured and purposefully decent megalomaniac he is, smiling straight into California on Benzedrine, making sure he gives them a hell of a challenge if they're going to grant him his way out.
Elektra: Assassin by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz
Take a trip back in time to a period in comics you might have thought you had figured out from reading Watchmen and Miller's own Dark Knight Returns. Those works are far from the insanity on display here. The book is clearly a tug of war between the creators. You have the steady capsule-gridded panels that Miller flooded Dark Knight with on one page, opposite the functional splash images Sienkiewicz packs into all the panels, splash page or not. Miller often bluntly describes what is happening or what will happen on the page with the narration. It leads to an admirable quality of comprehension mixed with the frenzied metal of Sienkiewicz, but possibly a less interesting comic in the end? I mean, it reads well but Sienkiewicz almost feels throttled, even when he's speeding, like he's on rails. Which makes sense, he's drawing at some basic level from a script, no matter how he develops and presents it. Not to remove Miller's contributions, but Sienkiewicz's style is one that screams for his singular output (yet he's mostly been a collaborator, so what do I know). Then again, the comic is often at it's best when Miller begins to drop in manic, staccato narrative information in disjointed bits that Sienkiewicz distills into images of crushing weight and impact. Two hundred miles an hour is still two hundred miles an hour, no matter if the path is preset or not. Ostensibly chocked with "meaning" given the setting and particulars (Cold War, military industrial complex, mutually assured destruction, US intervention, governmental misconduct), the whole thing instead is a gigantic indictment that never went to trial because all the particulars would've rigged the system if they hadn't blown it to hell beforehand. Forget relevance, says Miller, and look in wonder at how gloriously hatefucked the world is. Revel in the glory and ridiculousness before man initiates judgement day.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, directed by Steven Spielberg
The Nazis are back ya'll and we threw the Satan slavers to the curb. This is a reboot film for a series that never had any real continuity, following Temple of Doom, which in hindsight went a little too far into brutality according to Spielberg. All because George Lucas got dumped. Way to go George Lucas's wife, you ruined it for us all! Not really, because this is still pretty solid. It unfortunately comes across as a compromise that might even be the right one, sure, but not the best one overall. Nothing here can match the aforementioned misanthropy and organ removal of Temple of Doom, nor the airplane fight scene or the swordman shooting "gag", or really any scene from Raiders. Connery is fine but the familial dynamic is Spielberg ramming how these guys are the same person yet hate each other yet love each other eventually down your throat. See George, don't give up yet! *back slap* Still, the opening sequence is excellent and the Nazi turncoat woman's name is Elsa, which is close to Ilsa, which is a non-turncoat Nazi woman's name in Hellboy, which an awesome comic series that I need to re-read daily. The Last Crusade is good on it's own, but can't hold up to what came before.
Akira Volume 3 by Katsuhiro Otomo
It's a ballsy move when you're close to 600 pages in to basically drop the clear focus of the series in Tetsuo. But that's what Otomo does here. Maybe it suffers a bit, as there's no real mystery over whether or not Tetsuo is dead, but that's not what Otomo is really going for. Instead, every other character gets pushed ahead and motivations are revealed, culminating in the back half of the book being a a meeting point of everyone involved through lots and lots of violence. Unsurprisingly, the storytelling and the action sequencing are excellent, with Otomo solidifying his ability to perfectly lead the eye across the page. But it's the climax that makes it. After spending such a huge amount of time hyping the potential of Akira up, with plenty of moments that were already insanely powerful on their own, Otomo had a lot to deliver on. So he responds by going off for about 20 pages with nothing but wholesale destruction on a city-wide level, splashes and huge panels only. Each page is a pinnacle for him to supersede on the next, until there's nothing left. Except for Tetsuo to show back up on the last page now that Akira is awake. Delivered.
Ghostbusters II, directed by Ivan Reitman
Everyone always talked about Murray as Peter Vankman, but where the hell is the love for Rick Moranis? Ghosts show up and get busted and the writing is good enough to where everyone can be consistently funny and sometimes downright hilarious. And these guys are still having a hell of a time acting this shit. But Rick Moranis? Not a line wasted. These movies are funny and entertaining and there's plenty of room for that.
Akira Volume 4 by Katsuhiro Otomo
Volume 3 dropped Tetsuo and this volume drops Kaneda, which means a huge part of this massive story loses its two main characters for large periods of time but this is different. You always knew Tetsuo was coming back, but when he did it wasn't necessarily what was expected, but that's to Otomo's credit, and it's crystal clear why it's that way when Akira's magnitude is finally revealed. Likewise, it's easy to see that Kaneda is coming back, but he doesn't have the resilience of Tetsuo. So when he reemerges in the supernatural/out of body method, it's...odd, with no indication. When Tetsuo came back, Otomo didn't need to say anything yet ended up just off enough. Further, Kaneda's absence made me realize how much I missed the guy. I've never been a big fan of non-stop wisecracking characters, especially in something as ridiculously catastrophic as Akira. But it turns out Otomo was better off with Kaneda because of the levity he brings to the proceedings. That is the biggest cliche as I'm looking at it on the page, but it rings true because he's such a ludicrous contrast to everyone else that he grounds everything. Instead, lackluster ciphers like Chiyoko get more attention, her entire character being that of a resilient he-woman on the journey of killings. The start of the book is still really strong, as the story jumps forward and everything is just a bit off-kilter, owing to Otomo holding back details that later get fleshed out. Despite the bombastic art being the real draw of this comic, Otomo can nail the smaller moments, like he does with the Colonel throughout the whole volume. And the art is as amazing as ever. While previous editions showed Otomo drawing a dilapidated and degrading cityscape, the constant backdrop to his intimate action sequences, here we have the aftermath of cataclysmic destruction of a whole city. It's a whole new form of architecture porn and Otomo is the tenth dan. This volume wraps up with a classic "storm the castle" scene that alternates between ragtag machine gunners, heat seeking missiles, and the always welcome psychic showdowns. But, Kaneda? Yeah, I miss the dude and this volume drags some because he's MIA. It's not like I'm going to pack it in without getting to the finish, but I could use a re-up.
Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore
Expectations can be weird. I had heard that this book told a continuing tale that stretched across centuries, and that is technically true but not the whole picture. Moore tackling similar spanning agendas in works like From Hell and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen fixated my mind a combined tale of resounding mythological and mystical significance with allusions to everyone and everything that happened within those time periods.
But that's not how it plays out, even if what happens is related. In From Hell, Moore was talking about the 20th century through his version of Jack the Ripper. But Voice of the Fire starts out in 4000 BC and ends up in the 1995 AD. Each of the 12 chapters moves the story forward into differing time periods. However, far from making the story more grandiose, it instead makes it more personal. In From Hell, all the stops were pulled out to show this single period in time and how it was manifested, along with Moore showing off, which he does all the time. Voice of the Fire is like the greatest hits of Moore's hometown and residence of Northampton. Each vignette takes on the air of meaning solely for the people affected within the story. Those occurrences and meanings certainly resonate later, but not in a cause and effect way. Unlike League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, where Moore really wants you to know he's being clever while throwing around his commentary, there is a not a need and/or desire for annotations. Instead, all the references are as blatant as can be. Moore often calls attention to them vividly that I wondered what was going on. But as I said before, this is due to the expectation that Moore's previous work had left me with. Before the last chapter, I wasn't sure what I had read. I got that Moore was looking at myths, psycho-geography, and to put it too simply, how things change but still stay the same.
But then I got to the final chapter and things coalesced. Removing the writing from the story and into Moore's own life (apparently, as it's obvious Moore is working subjectively with parts throughout the whole book), Moore finishes wrapping up Northampton, filling in the details from the previous chapter's endpoint of 1931, up to 1995. It's a depressing endpoint, Moore laying out a ruined, wasteland-esque town of inadequate council housing, faceless corporate-enveloping sprawl, random acts of deadly violence, and several occurrences relating back to the previous chapters, the town still progressing through time by spinning its wheels. In effect, Moore's book functions as a history of Northampton, prosed up to provide a record of how the town developed into the morass he sees today. His tone in the last chapter is a mix of caring elitism and incredulous scorn. Moore makes sure to mention the laborious nature of the research put into the book, tomes and records dug up that have lost all relevance in their obscurity. But at the same time, Moore goes to ask his uncle about a certain historical event, in of all places, a bingo hall. But then he maintains that he cannot really describe the book to him. Is Moore saying that all the information he dug up is really contained within the unsuspecting people of the town? Yet, somehow they do not have the capacity to understand or utilize it? Does he connect this back to how the denigrating town, and by extension the modern world, has no room for the supernatural or the occult? Or is Moore even talking about any of this? Outside the explanations and recounting, how you feel about the end probably speaks to your ability to tolerate good old fashioned bitching, none more so than when Moore tunes into the television broadcast to crucify all the content it can conjure. Then again, if I had written through Northampton's cycle, fueled by death, deceit, subjugation, misery, decapitation, limping, loss, razing, and burning, I might bitch a little myself. Moore is trapped between revealing the wonders inherent in his environment while being able to manage the horrifying traits of the people, places, and things manifest. I'll let him blow off some steam.
Oh, and the first chapter is written from the perspective of how Moore thought a caveman would process his thoughts. It's equally enlivening and frustrating, and the book has a hard time ever reaching that level of insanity thereafter.
Vanishing Point, directed by Richard Sarafian
Not a whole lot to say. Good car chases, some potentially interesting character dynamics get annihilated by retreaded and awkward exposition dumps, and the landscape of the early 1970s gets equally handled and fumbled, as the movie uses the functional tabula rasa of the main character to throw current events at him. Props to Barry Newman still, who plays the lead like the manufactured and purposefully decent megalomaniac he is, smiling straight into California on Benzedrine, making sure he gives them a hell of a challenge if they're going to grant him his way out.
Elektra: Assassin by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz
Take a trip back in time to a period in comics you might have thought you had figured out from reading Watchmen and Miller's own Dark Knight Returns. Those works are far from the insanity on display here. The book is clearly a tug of war between the creators. You have the steady capsule-gridded panels that Miller flooded Dark Knight with on one page, opposite the functional splash images Sienkiewicz packs into all the panels, splash page or not. Miller often bluntly describes what is happening or what will happen on the page with the narration. It leads to an admirable quality of comprehension mixed with the frenzied metal of Sienkiewicz, but possibly a less interesting comic in the end? I mean, it reads well but Sienkiewicz almost feels throttled, even when he's speeding, like he's on rails. Which makes sense, he's drawing at some basic level from a script, no matter how he develops and presents it. Not to remove Miller's contributions, but Sienkiewicz's style is one that screams for his singular output (yet he's mostly been a collaborator, so what do I know). Then again, the comic is often at it's best when Miller begins to drop in manic, staccato narrative information in disjointed bits that Sienkiewicz distills into images of crushing weight and impact. Two hundred miles an hour is still two hundred miles an hour, no matter if the path is preset or not. Ostensibly chocked with "meaning" given the setting and particulars (Cold War, military industrial complex, mutually assured destruction, US intervention, governmental misconduct), the whole thing instead is a gigantic indictment that never went to trial because all the particulars would've rigged the system if they hadn't blown it to hell beforehand. Forget relevance, says Miller, and look in wonder at how gloriously hatefucked the world is. Revel in the glory and ridiculousness before man initiates judgement day.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, directed by Steven Spielberg
The Nazis are back ya'll and we threw the Satan slavers to the curb. This is a reboot film for a series that never had any real continuity, following Temple of Doom, which in hindsight went a little too far into brutality according to Spielberg. All because George Lucas got dumped. Way to go George Lucas's wife, you ruined it for us all! Not really, because this is still pretty solid. It unfortunately comes across as a compromise that might even be the right one, sure, but not the best one overall. Nothing here can match the aforementioned misanthropy and organ removal of Temple of Doom, nor the airplane fight scene or the swordman shooting "gag", or really any scene from Raiders. Connery is fine but the familial dynamic is Spielberg ramming how these guys are the same person yet hate each other yet love each other eventually down your throat. See George, don't give up yet! *back slap* Still, the opening sequence is excellent and the Nazi turncoat woman's name is Elsa, which is close to Ilsa, which is a non-turncoat Nazi woman's name in Hellboy, which an awesome comic series that I need to re-read daily. The Last Crusade is good on it's own, but can't hold up to what came before.
Akira Volume 3 by Katsuhiro Otomo
It's a ballsy move when you're close to 600 pages in to basically drop the clear focus of the series in Tetsuo. But that's what Otomo does here. Maybe it suffers a bit, as there's no real mystery over whether or not Tetsuo is dead, but that's not what Otomo is really going for. Instead, every other character gets pushed ahead and motivations are revealed, culminating in the back half of the book being a a meeting point of everyone involved through lots and lots of violence. Unsurprisingly, the storytelling and the action sequencing are excellent, with Otomo solidifying his ability to perfectly lead the eye across the page. But it's the climax that makes it. After spending such a huge amount of time hyping the potential of Akira up, with plenty of moments that were already insanely powerful on their own, Otomo had a lot to deliver on. So he responds by going off for about 20 pages with nothing but wholesale destruction on a city-wide level, splashes and huge panels only. Each page is a pinnacle for him to supersede on the next, until there's nothing left. Except for Tetsuo to show back up on the last page now that Akira is awake. Delivered.
Ghostbusters II, directed by Ivan Reitman
Everyone always talked about Murray as Peter Vankman, but where the hell is the love for Rick Moranis? Ghosts show up and get busted and the writing is good enough to where everyone can be consistently funny and sometimes downright hilarious. And these guys are still having a hell of a time acting this shit. But Rick Moranis? Not a line wasted. These movies are funny and entertaining and there's plenty of room for that.
Akira Volume 4 by Katsuhiro Otomo
Volume 3 dropped Tetsuo and this volume drops Kaneda, which means a huge part of this massive story loses its two main characters for large periods of time but this is different. You always knew Tetsuo was coming back, but when he did it wasn't necessarily what was expected, but that's to Otomo's credit, and it's crystal clear why it's that way when Akira's magnitude is finally revealed. Likewise, it's easy to see that Kaneda is coming back, but he doesn't have the resilience of Tetsuo. So when he reemerges in the supernatural/out of body method, it's...odd, with no indication. When Tetsuo came back, Otomo didn't need to say anything yet ended up just off enough. Further, Kaneda's absence made me realize how much I missed the guy. I've never been a big fan of non-stop wisecracking characters, especially in something as ridiculously catastrophic as Akira. But it turns out Otomo was better off with Kaneda because of the levity he brings to the proceedings. That is the biggest cliche as I'm looking at it on the page, but it rings true because he's such a ludicrous contrast to everyone else that he grounds everything. Instead, lackluster ciphers like Chiyoko get more attention, her entire character being that of a resilient he-woman on the journey of killings. The start of the book is still really strong, as the story jumps forward and everything is just a bit off-kilter, owing to Otomo holding back details that later get fleshed out. Despite the bombastic art being the real draw of this comic, Otomo can nail the smaller moments, like he does with the Colonel throughout the whole volume. And the art is as amazing as ever. While previous editions showed Otomo drawing a dilapidated and degrading cityscape, the constant backdrop to his intimate action sequences, here we have the aftermath of cataclysmic destruction of a whole city. It's a whole new form of architecture porn and Otomo is the tenth dan. This volume wraps up with a classic "storm the castle" scene that alternates between ragtag machine gunners, heat seeking missiles, and the always welcome psychic showdowns. But, Kaneda? Yeah, I miss the dude and this volume drags some because he's MIA. It's not like I'm going to pack it in without getting to the finish, but I could use a re-up.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Fun Formalism
(FYI, it's not that formalism is intrinsically not fun, it's just that it's formalism)
So Brandon Graham posted a link to the torrent of his recently-concluded comic series King City from Image. It's really good and has been written about by plenty of people better than me. There are plenty of memorable moments, but the one that stuck with me the most was from a backup story in the second issue. Check out these first two panels.
So Brandon Graham posted a link to the torrent of his recently-concluded comic series King City from Image. It's really good and has been written about by plenty of people better than me. There are plenty of memorable moments, but the one that stuck with me the most was from a backup story in the second issue. Check out these first two panels.
They knocked me on my ass. Formalism is a slippery slope. I remember the sequences from Asterios Polyp where Mazzucchelli was screaming COMICS on the page so loud that sometimes I just wanted to tune him out, despite the mastery on display. Graham substitutes screaming with subdued effortlessness. While Mazzucchelli wanted to make sure you knew about all the tricks the medium was capable of, Graham cares only about using those tricks to do cool shit. When I read this sequence, it took me straight out of the flow of the story and the panels, just like when I read the Asterios Poly sequences, except the above gave me a huge grin, while Asterios Polyp left me staring at the page. Both are showing off in a sense, but Graham comes off like a guy you could talk to about ridiculous comics stuff all day, while Mazzucchelli would be too busy presenting a research paper at an academic conference.
Is there anyone out there making comics having more fun than Brandon Graham? If you're up for a fool's chase, start looking.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Comics Junkyard: Moebius
This is going to be the first of hopefully many more posts that focus, in some way or another, on comics. I've recently reoriented my priorities and decided I want to focus more on comics in my free time. I'm not planning on doing many, if any, reviews because I don't think I can effectively write them nor do they really serve a purpose in a vacuum. Instead I'm going to look at sequences, panels, layouts, and the art in general. I have to preface this by saying I have no background or really any capacity at all to discuss art on the comics page. So what I'm going to talk about are the things that strike me about whatever I'm discussing. I'm hoping I can go beyond "this looks cool", but I'm also not going to write too in-depth on anything. So with all that, why not start with an absolute legend of comics, just so I can trap myself right at the beginning.
Moebius is a beast, plain and simple. He's influenced so many people it's ridiculous. I remember ten or eleven years ago when I was first getting into comics as a young teenager, I saw Ladrönn's promotional images for Hip Flask and was blown away. At the time I hadn't seen what I'll inadequately call the "Euro Sci-Fi" style, even though now I can tell that Ladrönn had clearly seen Moebius (which doesn't detract from him at all, and he might show up in one of these some day). I don't know if Moebius was the one to really create the style, but at this point it's immaterial; it's his style.
Sadly, while Moebius' influence might spread the world over, his work is hard to come by in English. Various companies have started publishing ventures to get his work into the US as far back as the 1970s (I wonder if you can find this stuff in the UK), but the majority of it commands high prices, though some of it is cheaper depending on the book. Thankfully Humanoids, the publisher that is synonymous with most of his work in France, is now directly publishing stories in America for what is the first time since their short partnership with DC in the early 2000s and two Moebius books have already been released.
Fortunately, I have the internet and silent stories to placate me for now. Major props go to Grantbridge Street & other misadventures, where you can find not only Moebius but all kinds of other awesome comic gems. The images that I use in this post came from there. So for the inaugural edition I'm going to look at an Arzak story that appeared first in english in Heavy Metal #3. From what I've found, there are four short Arzak stories that are explained by some as delving into the dreams or subconscious. If you're thinking, "oh great, has there ever been a more boring cop-out or pretentious story mechanism than dreams?", you're not alone. Don't worry though, because if these are Moebius' dreams, we should all want to get inside his head.
Page 1. Not a lot to say here, but I think overall the colors are excellent. The warm earthy yellows and light browns come across as perfectly natural.
Page 2. What really strikes me here is the back of the scarf in the second panel. The way it rests as the car stops instantly caught my eye because of how well pronounced it is. Moebius might be known for the fantastic, but he can get down with the technical just as well.
Page 3. More on color. The figure pops so well when he enters in panel 1 when removed from the heavy light outside. I also like how the interior of the hallway somewhat mimics his green and purple scheme. It's almost like he's emanating outwards (is he?). And in panel 2, look at the juxtaposition of the figure on the foreground on the left and the pipes or hoses running out of the structure in the background. Everything else is diminished and the reader sees a sense of awe through the figure, even if the figure doesn't necessarily show any.
Page 4. The figure in panel 1 is a level of detail that is exemplary. Detail is something that I think is unique to an artist. The best artists can control it and make it work no matter if their work is "detailed" (Geoff Darrow, Frank Quitely) or not (Eddie Campbell comes to mind, though I could be completely off base there, though it's immaterial, because he's a master). With the inferior artists it overcomes any sense of style and is simply detail (David Finch and Alex Ross are two examples that while different, are still quite similar). Panel 2 is the greatest naked flying kick ever. I also like how the besides the two moving figures, the background doesn't change between panels 2 and 3, but the perspective moves slightly upwards two dimensionally, possibly to represent the arc of our goggled friend after he's been kicked. Also, the spherical object in mid-air in panels 2 and 3? I was fixated on that when I first looked at this page. At first I thought the person (thing?) sitting down was tossing it, but now I'm not sure. It really doesn't matter, because this is Moebius throwing in these small incidental details that help to fill out something as outwardly simple as the whole story. It sounds stupid to call it making the story more realistic or to claim world building, so I won't. It's just Moebius.
Page 5. Look at the angle Moebius shows when dude hits the ground in the first panel. I get the (probably) unjustified feeling that if this were drawn stateside, the figure would just fall over dramatically on his face. But how he slides and hangs on to the case? Is the case so heavy its dragging him, or is he just hanging onto it above all else? All I know is I really like that angle.
Page 6. Oh look the horde has finally awoken and...nothing. He just calmly enters and Moebius pulls the rug.
Page 7. Well here's Arzak. Once again, I dig the little details. The footprints in the ground in panel 2 where Arzak has been just pacing in the same circle, with the dust cloud added for good measure. And that face in panel 3. That's a gritty veteran's face if I ever saw one. "Well there ain't any new shit for me anymore, ain't no problem I can't fix, and nothing a little squintin' can't account for." Moebius also gets to draw a cool sci-fi apparatus that requires two hands, so even Viv Savage can use it.
Page 8. That middle panel is pure satisfaction that doesn't require some elaborate reaction. "It's done like I knew it would be, problems solved until the next one shows up." The briefcase is put back on the rear of the car and we're done. The side of the car we only see in this panel contains the best type of restrained madness.
Moebius is a beast, plain and simple. He's influenced so many people it's ridiculous. I remember ten or eleven years ago when I was first getting into comics as a young teenager, I saw Ladrönn's promotional images for Hip Flask and was blown away. At the time I hadn't seen what I'll inadequately call the "Euro Sci-Fi" style, even though now I can tell that Ladrönn had clearly seen Moebius (which doesn't detract from him at all, and he might show up in one of these some day). I don't know if Moebius was the one to really create the style, but at this point it's immaterial; it's his style.
Sadly, while Moebius' influence might spread the world over, his work is hard to come by in English. Various companies have started publishing ventures to get his work into the US as far back as the 1970s (I wonder if you can find this stuff in the UK), but the majority of it commands high prices, though some of it is cheaper depending on the book. Thankfully Humanoids, the publisher that is synonymous with most of his work in France, is now directly publishing stories in America for what is the first time since their short partnership with DC in the early 2000s and two Moebius books have already been released.
Fortunately, I have the internet and silent stories to placate me for now. Major props go to Grantbridge Street & other misadventures, where you can find not only Moebius but all kinds of other awesome comic gems. The images that I use in this post came from there. So for the inaugural edition I'm going to look at an Arzak story that appeared first in english in Heavy Metal #3. From what I've found, there are four short Arzak stories that are explained by some as delving into the dreams or subconscious. If you're thinking, "oh great, has there ever been a more boring cop-out or pretentious story mechanism than dreams?", you're not alone. Don't worry though, because if these are Moebius' dreams, we should all want to get inside his head.
Page 1. Not a lot to say here, but I think overall the colors are excellent. The warm earthy yellows and light browns come across as perfectly natural.
Page 2. What really strikes me here is the back of the scarf in the second panel. The way it rests as the car stops instantly caught my eye because of how well pronounced it is. Moebius might be known for the fantastic, but he can get down with the technical just as well.
Page 3. More on color. The figure pops so well when he enters in panel 1 when removed from the heavy light outside. I also like how the interior of the hallway somewhat mimics his green and purple scheme. It's almost like he's emanating outwards (is he?). And in panel 2, look at the juxtaposition of the figure on the foreground on the left and the pipes or hoses running out of the structure in the background. Everything else is diminished and the reader sees a sense of awe through the figure, even if the figure doesn't necessarily show any.
Page 4. The figure in panel 1 is a level of detail that is exemplary. Detail is something that I think is unique to an artist. The best artists can control it and make it work no matter if their work is "detailed" (Geoff Darrow, Frank Quitely) or not (Eddie Campbell comes to mind, though I could be completely off base there, though it's immaterial, because he's a master). With the inferior artists it overcomes any sense of style and is simply detail (David Finch and Alex Ross are two examples that while different, are still quite similar). Panel 2 is the greatest naked flying kick ever. I also like how the besides the two moving figures, the background doesn't change between panels 2 and 3, but the perspective moves slightly upwards two dimensionally, possibly to represent the arc of our goggled friend after he's been kicked. Also, the spherical object in mid-air in panels 2 and 3? I was fixated on that when I first looked at this page. At first I thought the person (thing?) sitting down was tossing it, but now I'm not sure. It really doesn't matter, because this is Moebius throwing in these small incidental details that help to fill out something as outwardly simple as the whole story. It sounds stupid to call it making the story more realistic or to claim world building, so I won't. It's just Moebius.
Page 5. Look at the angle Moebius shows when dude hits the ground in the first panel. I get the (probably) unjustified feeling that if this were drawn stateside, the figure would just fall over dramatically on his face. But how he slides and hangs on to the case? Is the case so heavy its dragging him, or is he just hanging onto it above all else? All I know is I really like that angle.
Page 6. Oh look the horde has finally awoken and...nothing. He just calmly enters and Moebius pulls the rug.
Page 7. Well here's Arzak. Once again, I dig the little details. The footprints in the ground in panel 2 where Arzak has been just pacing in the same circle, with the dust cloud added for good measure. And that face in panel 3. That's a gritty veteran's face if I ever saw one. "Well there ain't any new shit for me anymore, ain't no problem I can't fix, and nothing a little squintin' can't account for." Moebius also gets to draw a cool sci-fi apparatus that requires two hands, so even Viv Savage can use it.
Page 8. That middle panel is pure satisfaction that doesn't require some elaborate reaction. "It's done like I knew it would be, problems solved until the next one shows up." The briefcase is put back on the rear of the car and we're done. The side of the car we only see in this panel contains the best type of restrained madness.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
C2E2 Report
I don't think I've ever written a con report, or at least published one. In honor of the first new con in Chicago in several years, I'm going to do this shit. One glaring flaw is that I took a record-low amount of photos, less than ten, so you'll just have to believe what I'm saying. I would imagine anyone that is reading this was probably there with me, so that disclaimer is pointless.
A little background: I attended Wizard's Chicago show from 2005-2009. Some years were better than others. Even at its most diverse, it's focus was always on Marvel and DC. As I gradually moved away from being exclusively in that territory, the show offered me less and less, but there were always things to look forward to and it always functioned as a vacation and a chance to hang out with friends, some who I rarely saw outside the trip. Unfortunately, the bottom fell out of Wizard's downward slope last year. Their strategy switched from comics to random media guests. Now I know all about how outside groups have been brought into comic conventions, often turning them into more of a general pop culture gathering than one for comics only. But in Wizard's case, they abandoned the comics part greatly. Marvel and DC weren't even there, which for a show that catered significantly to them and their fans, was downright baffling. Add to this Wizard's inability to bring in fresh guests and you had an event that I didn't feel like was worth driving six hours for and paying $60 to experience. As a group, we collectively decided we were done with Wizardworld.
At the time, Reed Exhibitions had announced they were going to bring a con to Chicago in 2010 but not much was known about it. However, judging from the quick rise of the New York Comic-Con that they ran, I had high hopes. As more details became available, my friends and I decided that C2E2 made more sense. I had a few problems with the scheduling due to school but was able to overcome them and I'm glad I did. I think it was a good first showing that has potential to only get better in the coming years.
Some specific points.
- There was a good variety and number of publishers there. Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, Boom!, Oni, Top Shelf, and Avatar all had booths. While I would love to see Fantagraphics or PictureBox, those companies are never going to come to a show like this. Pantheon was supposed to have a presence of some sort, but that didn't happen for reasons I'll get into later. There was a section on the floor dedicated to webcomics that saw heavy traffic also.
- Significant creator presence. In particular, they were creators there that had been at Wizard shows once or twice in the past and would have been established as a draw. The difference here was, they were all at this show. For a core Marvel/DC superhero fan, this show had a massive list of big names. In addition to that, Mike Mignola and Jeff Smith filled enough of a quasi-indie niche to show that the organizers aren't only thinking about one group. Also, Chris Ware (!) and Dash Shaw being present is a big deal period. Ware was only there for one hour and Shaw was in limbo the whole weekend (I'm getting there) but still: Chris Ware and Dash Shaw! Hopefully more people in the vein of the last group are continually recruited.
- The show is focused on comics. Sure, there were non-comics entities there. Art schools, Nintendo, and even a tattoo conglomerate had set up shop. But by and large, comics ruled the day. There were hardly any D-list celebrities there and outside the Kick-Ass premiere and a Doctor Who screening, there was really very little movie or television presence. Will this change in the coming years? Probably, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't appreciate it now.
- Much smaller than I expected. I'd guess this is more a product of first-year jitters than anything else. The show floor was smaller than the one in Rosemont for Wizard's show and there was still a good amount of open space. Even though there were more publishers, there were a lot less retailers than at past cons. Artist's Alley seemed about comparable. Attendance wasn't high either. Saturday was the busiest day as usual, but even then walking around wasn't too cumbersome. The thing is, I like all that just fine. The show had a pretty relaxed atmosphere, that while probably nothing like MoCCA or Heroes Con, still was pretty refreshing.
Beyond this, there is a multitude of small things I want to nitpick about. First, McCormick Place, where the show was, is in BFE. When I heard the location was going to be actually in Chicago instead of in Rosemont, I figured this meant downtown. Not exactly. McCormick Place basically was dropped on a huge piece of land right off the interstate. There is nothing around it. On Friday, we drove around for over an hour trying to find something to eat. Turns out there aren't any restaurants in the surrounding area, or at least we couldn't find any, with a GPS. On Sunday, we just decided to eat in Rosemont, where we staying, before heading to the con to avoid previous headaches. Secondly, the show was organized somewhat poorly. Part of this is that it was the first year, and both the attendees and the staff have to get used to everything, but beyond that some odd choices were made. We were often directed into rooms we could have easily avoided, and lines into the show were micromanaged to the point of futility. McCormick Place itself is confusing. Hopefully most of this will be better for both sides in the coming years as everyone settles in. Lastly, some of the staff were overly adamant and aggressive, but that has been the case for six years straight. Still, it's not necessary to yell at people to move forward when the person in front of them has taken five steps. Just sayin'.
Here's most of my haul.
It was another light year for me, as school and a pending trip to Germany in the summer are getting most of my money. Still, I'm happy with what I got. I found Boy's Club #2 and 3 along with Ganges #3 at the Chicago Comics booth. Always happy to support them after I visited their excellent store last year. I talked with Guy Davis for a bit in Artist's Alley and bought his sketchbook. I'm usually not a fan of con sketchbooks, as them seem hastily put together and I rarely give them a second look, but Davis's is nice. It's bound, bigger, and has a wide variety of art, along with quite a bit of interior writing and commentary, something missing from almost every other sketchbook I've looked at. Also ran into Matt Kindt for the third year in a row at the Top Shelf booth, where I got his new Super-Spy collection. I loved Super-Spy and bought this on the spot. Kindt unknowingly gave even more firepower to my obsession with eye patches by sketching one of the characters with one on the inside cover. I also bought almost all the Hellboy and BPRD trades I was missing, but didn't feel like including them, and I really don't know why. They're awesome though, trust me.
Prints and sketches have taken a hit in the past few years, as even the smaller artists I care about have been getting more popular and started charging more for their talents. Good for them I say. Guy Davis did the quick Lobster Johnson for me when I bought his sketchbook. The Seaguy was done by Cameron Stewart, who I didn't even know was going to be at the show until he was invited up on stage during a panel previewing a documentary on Grant Morrison. While I was at his table, a guy came up and asked if he could pencil a drawing of Batman on his leg that would be used as an outline for a tattoo. Stewart was reluctant, especially to draw it straight onto the guy. However, thanks to the internet I found the ending to this story. He drew it out on paper and gave it to the guy, who then did get the tattoo, which you can see here (went for the arm instead).
Special mention has got to go to these bad boys, courtesy of Cliff Chiang. I had seen these on his website and forgotten about them, but at $20 for both, how could I not buy them?
The thing that I'm most disappointed to not have in any of the pictures is a copy of Dash Shaw's new book Bodyworld. Originally serialized and still available as a webcomic on his website, it's this crazy soap-opera/sci-fi story that was unlike anything I'd ever read. The pictures of the book I've seen are gorgeous and it was the thing I was most looking forward to buying, not to mention actually meeting Shaw, whose other book, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century AD, had some excellent stories from his MOME and animation work as well. Sadly, Shaw didn't really have a presence at the show. He was on a panel with Chip Kidd and Chris Ware that I attended, but after that I searched for the Pantheon booth and couldn't find it. I was dismayed that they weren't in the show program even though they had been listed on the website. Randomly enough on Saturday, while setting on the floor in the cafeteria, I saw Shaw walking through the room. Funnily, my foot was asleep, so I couldn't catch up to him before he went outside. I didn't feel like walking outside and interrupting his phone conversation, so I stalker-esque waited for him. I ended up letting him back inside as the doors in that area lock from the inside (I didn't get it either) and talking to him from there. I hope he didn't think I was some nutball, but he was the person I was most looking forward to seeing. He went on to inform me that there had been a mixup and Pantheon had no exhibitor space or any of their product at the show, so he was basically screwed. We ended up setting in the cafeteria and talking about all kinds of random comics stuff for about a half hour. He signed my copy of Unclothed Man and drew some nice pen sketches on the inside. While I felt bad he didn't have any presence at the show, I likely wouldn't have gotten to talk to him on such an intimate level if he had. It's easily the coolest thing that's ever happened to me at a con, getting to talk to a guy who really is one of the most interesting and visionary new cartoonists in comics.
Overall, C2E2 was a grand ol' time. The show was leagues better than any of the Wizard shows and has the potential to get even better in the years to come. With some luck I'll be there to experience some of them.
A little background: I attended Wizard's Chicago show from 2005-2009. Some years were better than others. Even at its most diverse, it's focus was always on Marvel and DC. As I gradually moved away from being exclusively in that territory, the show offered me less and less, but there were always things to look forward to and it always functioned as a vacation and a chance to hang out with friends, some who I rarely saw outside the trip. Unfortunately, the bottom fell out of Wizard's downward slope last year. Their strategy switched from comics to random media guests. Now I know all about how outside groups have been brought into comic conventions, often turning them into more of a general pop culture gathering than one for comics only. But in Wizard's case, they abandoned the comics part greatly. Marvel and DC weren't even there, which for a show that catered significantly to them and their fans, was downright baffling. Add to this Wizard's inability to bring in fresh guests and you had an event that I didn't feel like was worth driving six hours for and paying $60 to experience. As a group, we collectively decided we were done with Wizardworld.
At the time, Reed Exhibitions had announced they were going to bring a con to Chicago in 2010 but not much was known about it. However, judging from the quick rise of the New York Comic-Con that they ran, I had high hopes. As more details became available, my friends and I decided that C2E2 made more sense. I had a few problems with the scheduling due to school but was able to overcome them and I'm glad I did. I think it was a good first showing that has potential to only get better in the coming years.
Some specific points.
- There was a good variety and number of publishers there. Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, Boom!, Oni, Top Shelf, and Avatar all had booths. While I would love to see Fantagraphics or PictureBox, those companies are never going to come to a show like this. Pantheon was supposed to have a presence of some sort, but that didn't happen for reasons I'll get into later. There was a section on the floor dedicated to webcomics that saw heavy traffic also.
- Significant creator presence. In particular, they were creators there that had been at Wizard shows once or twice in the past and would have been established as a draw. The difference here was, they were all at this show. For a core Marvel/DC superhero fan, this show had a massive list of big names. In addition to that, Mike Mignola and Jeff Smith filled enough of a quasi-indie niche to show that the organizers aren't only thinking about one group. Also, Chris Ware (!) and Dash Shaw being present is a big deal period. Ware was only there for one hour and Shaw was in limbo the whole weekend (I'm getting there) but still: Chris Ware and Dash Shaw! Hopefully more people in the vein of the last group are continually recruited.
- The show is focused on comics. Sure, there were non-comics entities there. Art schools, Nintendo, and even a tattoo conglomerate had set up shop. But by and large, comics ruled the day. There were hardly any D-list celebrities there and outside the Kick-Ass premiere and a Doctor Who screening, there was really very little movie or television presence. Will this change in the coming years? Probably, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't appreciate it now.
- Much smaller than I expected. I'd guess this is more a product of first-year jitters than anything else. The show floor was smaller than the one in Rosemont for Wizard's show and there was still a good amount of open space. Even though there were more publishers, there were a lot less retailers than at past cons. Artist's Alley seemed about comparable. Attendance wasn't high either. Saturday was the busiest day as usual, but even then walking around wasn't too cumbersome. The thing is, I like all that just fine. The show had a pretty relaxed atmosphere, that while probably nothing like MoCCA or Heroes Con, still was pretty refreshing.
Beyond this, there is a multitude of small things I want to nitpick about. First, McCormick Place, where the show was, is in BFE. When I heard the location was going to be actually in Chicago instead of in Rosemont, I figured this meant downtown. Not exactly. McCormick Place basically was dropped on a huge piece of land right off the interstate. There is nothing around it. On Friday, we drove around for over an hour trying to find something to eat. Turns out there aren't any restaurants in the surrounding area, or at least we couldn't find any, with a GPS. On Sunday, we just decided to eat in Rosemont, where we staying, before heading to the con to avoid previous headaches. Secondly, the show was organized somewhat poorly. Part of this is that it was the first year, and both the attendees and the staff have to get used to everything, but beyond that some odd choices were made. We were often directed into rooms we could have easily avoided, and lines into the show were micromanaged to the point of futility. McCormick Place itself is confusing. Hopefully most of this will be better for both sides in the coming years as everyone settles in. Lastly, some of the staff were overly adamant and aggressive, but that has been the case for six years straight. Still, it's not necessary to yell at people to move forward when the person in front of them has taken five steps. Just sayin'.
Here's most of my haul.
It was another light year for me, as school and a pending trip to Germany in the summer are getting most of my money. Still, I'm happy with what I got. I found Boy's Club #2 and 3 along with Ganges #3 at the Chicago Comics booth. Always happy to support them after I visited their excellent store last year. I talked with Guy Davis for a bit in Artist's Alley and bought his sketchbook. I'm usually not a fan of con sketchbooks, as them seem hastily put together and I rarely give them a second look, but Davis's is nice. It's bound, bigger, and has a wide variety of art, along with quite a bit of interior writing and commentary, something missing from almost every other sketchbook I've looked at. Also ran into Matt Kindt for the third year in a row at the Top Shelf booth, where I got his new Super-Spy collection. I loved Super-Spy and bought this on the spot. Kindt unknowingly gave even more firepower to my obsession with eye patches by sketching one of the characters with one on the inside cover. I also bought almost all the Hellboy and BPRD trades I was missing, but didn't feel like including them, and I really don't know why. They're awesome though, trust me.
Prints and sketches have taken a hit in the past few years, as even the smaller artists I care about have been getting more popular and started charging more for their talents. Good for them I say. Guy Davis did the quick Lobster Johnson for me when I bought his sketchbook. The Seaguy was done by Cameron Stewart, who I didn't even know was going to be at the show until he was invited up on stage during a panel previewing a documentary on Grant Morrison. While I was at his table, a guy came up and asked if he could pencil a drawing of Batman on his leg that would be used as an outline for a tattoo. Stewart was reluctant, especially to draw it straight onto the guy. However, thanks to the internet I found the ending to this story. He drew it out on paper and gave it to the guy, who then did get the tattoo, which you can see here (went for the arm instead).
Special mention has got to go to these bad boys, courtesy of Cliff Chiang. I had seen these on his website and forgotten about them, but at $20 for both, how could I not buy them?
The thing that I'm most disappointed to not have in any of the pictures is a copy of Dash Shaw's new book Bodyworld. Originally serialized and still available as a webcomic on his website, it's this crazy soap-opera/sci-fi story that was unlike anything I'd ever read. The pictures of the book I've seen are gorgeous and it was the thing I was most looking forward to buying, not to mention actually meeting Shaw, whose other book, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century AD, had some excellent stories from his MOME and animation work as well. Sadly, Shaw didn't really have a presence at the show. He was on a panel with Chip Kidd and Chris Ware that I attended, but after that I searched for the Pantheon booth and couldn't find it. I was dismayed that they weren't in the show program even though they had been listed on the website. Randomly enough on Saturday, while setting on the floor in the cafeteria, I saw Shaw walking through the room. Funnily, my foot was asleep, so I couldn't catch up to him before he went outside. I didn't feel like walking outside and interrupting his phone conversation, so I stalker-esque waited for him. I ended up letting him back inside as the doors in that area lock from the inside (I didn't get it either) and talking to him from there. I hope he didn't think I was some nutball, but he was the person I was most looking forward to seeing. He went on to inform me that there had been a mixup and Pantheon had no exhibitor space or any of their product at the show, so he was basically screwed. We ended up setting in the cafeteria and talking about all kinds of random comics stuff for about a half hour. He signed my copy of Unclothed Man and drew some nice pen sketches on the inside. While I felt bad he didn't have any presence at the show, I likely wouldn't have gotten to talk to him on such an intimate level if he had. It's easily the coolest thing that's ever happened to me at a con, getting to talk to a guy who really is one of the most interesting and visionary new cartoonists in comics.
Overall, C2E2 was a grand ol' time. The show was leagues better than any of the Wizard shows and has the potential to get even better in the years to come. With some luck I'll be there to experience some of them.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Hellboy: Wake the Devil
This is the second collected volume in the Hellboy series, even though a footnote tells me chronologically it falls after another story that is in the third book that contains shorter tales. Nevertheless, it's still early on in the shown career of "The World's Greatest Paranormal Investigator" and some of those crazy Russians and Germans show up for another go round. John Byrne, who scripted the first volume, Seed of Destruction, is absent this time, setting up Mignola on words and pictures. And he does a fine job. His dialogue is better than Byrne's, but his sequencing of events is a little shaky. There's quite a lot going on in Wake the Devil, and some of it has a lot less impact than maybe was intended. In particular, Mignola seems to have trouble doing anything with the supporting cast of the BPRD. Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman are joined by a couple of dead men walking. One of them sports and eye patch, and he blemishes the mystique of said accessory by dying. It's a sure thing that Nick Fury, Snake Plissken and Molotov Cocktease are disgusted beyond belief. But anyway, they basically get into trouble that doesn't concern anything in the greater story nor do those events get developed. It's a weak spot that fortunately doesn't blemish a strong overall work. The back story of Rasputin and some of the Nazis he worked with is expanded and tied into Mignola's version of folklore like Dracula and the Baba Yaga. It all comes together in an explosive finale that sees Hellboy more informed of his true purpose. And let's not forget the artwork. At this point Mignola had refined his style enough to where he was completely unique. While his stories do have some Jack Kirby in them, it's in his drawings that you can clearly see the King's influence. The blocky figures and black dots are joined by his excellent use of black space and shadow, able to create suspense and set an eerie mood. It's perfect for the stories he's telling of Victorian castles, monsters in dark depths and pulp heroes and villains. Overall, Wake the Devil is another impressive foray into the Hellboy universe, and I can't wait to dive in further.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Dapple
That post about Ron Paul sucked so I deleted it, and the Iron Fist review I wrote below is bad, but I left it up because some of the other things are okay. Also deleted a six paragraph draft I had brewing about cross promotion in MMA. I sure do have high standards for my one reader (hey Chris!). And the second part of this post is going to be close to unreadable, so read at your own peril.
But up first, I'm going to complain about stuff that doesn't make sense, at least to me. Several years ago I saw two articles in the local paper that completely contradicted each other and left me wondering what the hell is happening. First article says the overwhelming majority of people they surveyed don't support gay marriage. Then, right next to that, there's an article that says the overwhelming majority of people they surveyed dont' want to put a ban on gay marriage. Now I'm sure different groups of people were surveyed and maybe even in different areas but what a great choice of articles to place together. WE DON'T LIKE THAT CRAP BUT WE DON'T HATE IT ENOUGH TO STOP IT FOR GOOD...sorry gay people, have fun in eternal limbo or move to Canada, cause nothing changed. Or get to California. Isn't it great when the states get a hair up their ass and do whatever they want sometimes? And then it all gets overturned a month later, but still, fun while it lasted. Always seems to happen in the golden state, which makes it great when you're at the supermarket looking for the right brand of frozen orange juice and you hear discussion like, "CALIFORNYA has done nothing but destroy AMERICAN values and provide a breeding ground for sinners. Did you see where Jesus killed more Chinese cause they don't like him?" I bring up gay marriage cause there's this parallel that only I can see with how people view "da govament". When things are going great everybody wants the government to eat shit and not exist. But then when something goes wrong we come running! "Gas is $87 dollars a gallon, why doesn't the government do something for once and lower the gas price and help everybody by reaming the oil companies." Hey kids, good news, gas is down to $2 a gallon, but we think we're gonna look into some environmental regulations the oil companies might've broken that could result in fines. "NOW WAIT A MINUTE, YOU AIN'T GOT NO RIGHT TO TELL THEM HONEST, HARD WORKING ENTREPENEWERS WHAT THEY CAN'T DO. ANY MONEY THEY MAKE SHOULD BE THEIRS, AND NOT GO TO SOME WELFARE CHECK TO BUY DOPE WITH!" Wow, this got unreadable fast, but it was fun.
Now here's a comic series that I don't like for reasons I probably can't explain well and may not prove to be valid. And by series I mean issues one and two of Ultimates 2, because I couldn't force myself through any more. It's superheroes, but they're in the real world!
HOLY SHIT, THE REAL WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111112222222233333444445555555666666666777777
But wait mom, that doesn't really make sense does it? I mean, there aren't super soldiers or Norse gods running around outside. And guess what, ol' Johnny's right, there aren't! Don't tell Mark Millar though, because his whole foundation of life will crumble. In this real world, all the main characters are arrogant douchebags who talk a bunch, which makes drying paint look fascinating. Chief among them is Stalwart Steve Rogers, who is such a dumb prick in here it makes me want to run anywhere that has the Brubaker series and just masturbate fervently to its' contents. "People swearing is bad, all girls dress like whores, oh look, stereotypical thug black whippersnappers made a comment at me so this effectively placed cutaway shot will imply that I gave em' a whoopin cause I is awesome and they is dumz, lawlz." They've should've kept this asshole on ice. "Hey Thor, you have different opinion like Nazis and hang out in your opium rave den, so I will respond with punch." Oh but he's stopped by some obvious hipster protester Green Peace asshat who starts a beer assault on him...well sure. And I thought we couldn't get much lower than this A doesn't stand for suck. Here comes Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, on vacation floating through Italy. Then they get a phone call so they can show off their super snobbery, and imply that they like Europe, where everyone is a liberal cancer and should be thankful they exist because of Uncle Sam, but the guy that writes this is Scottish. Oh and Oprah is mentioned, and Tony Stark is on Larry King, because they're REAL PEOPLE IN THE REAL WORLD THAT THIS TAKES PLACE IN STARBUCKS. So to recap: superheroes are real, Captain America is written as a symbol of American elitism and arrogance and Pietro and Wanda are even bigger dipshits than the other people, cause they are all arty and hang out in Venice or something. So see, you can't single anyone out because they're all unrelatable AND unlikeable. Oh and Cap is teh narrowminded cause he thinks gods are dumb and he is a sucker cause he goes to church WHAT THE FUCK MARK MILLAR?
Good thing I only paid ten dollars for all thirteen issues, here I come ebay!
But up first, I'm going to complain about stuff that doesn't make sense, at least to me. Several years ago I saw two articles in the local paper that completely contradicted each other and left me wondering what the hell is happening. First article says the overwhelming majority of people they surveyed don't support gay marriage. Then, right next to that, there's an article that says the overwhelming majority of people they surveyed dont' want to put a ban on gay marriage. Now I'm sure different groups of people were surveyed and maybe even in different areas but what a great choice of articles to place together. WE DON'T LIKE THAT CRAP BUT WE DON'T HATE IT ENOUGH TO STOP IT FOR GOOD...sorry gay people, have fun in eternal limbo or move to Canada, cause nothing changed. Or get to California. Isn't it great when the states get a hair up their ass and do whatever they want sometimes? And then it all gets overturned a month later, but still, fun while it lasted. Always seems to happen in the golden state, which makes it great when you're at the supermarket looking for the right brand of frozen orange juice and you hear discussion like, "CALIFORNYA has done nothing but destroy AMERICAN values and provide a breeding ground for sinners. Did you see where Jesus killed more Chinese cause they don't like him?" I bring up gay marriage cause there's this parallel that only I can see with how people view "da govament". When things are going great everybody wants the government to eat shit and not exist. But then when something goes wrong we come running! "Gas is $87 dollars a gallon, why doesn't the government do something for once and lower the gas price and help everybody by reaming the oil companies." Hey kids, good news, gas is down to $2 a gallon, but we think we're gonna look into some environmental regulations the oil companies might've broken that could result in fines. "NOW WAIT A MINUTE, YOU AIN'T GOT NO RIGHT TO TELL THEM HONEST, HARD WORKING ENTREPENEWERS WHAT THEY CAN'T DO. ANY MONEY THEY MAKE SHOULD BE THEIRS, AND NOT GO TO SOME WELFARE CHECK TO BUY DOPE WITH!" Wow, this got unreadable fast, but it was fun.
Now here's a comic series that I don't like for reasons I probably can't explain well and may not prove to be valid. And by series I mean issues one and two of Ultimates 2, because I couldn't force myself through any more. It's superheroes, but they're in the real world!
HOLY SHIT, THE REAL WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111112222222233333444445555555666666666777777
But wait mom, that doesn't really make sense does it? I mean, there aren't super soldiers or Norse gods running around outside. And guess what, ol' Johnny's right, there aren't! Don't tell Mark Millar though, because his whole foundation of life will crumble. In this real world, all the main characters are arrogant douchebags who talk a bunch, which makes drying paint look fascinating. Chief among them is Stalwart Steve Rogers, who is such a dumb prick in here it makes me want to run anywhere that has the Brubaker series and just masturbate fervently to its' contents. "People swearing is bad, all girls dress like whores, oh look, stereotypical thug black whippersnappers made a comment at me so this effectively placed cutaway shot will imply that I gave em' a whoopin cause I is awesome and they is dumz, lawlz." They've should've kept this asshole on ice. "Hey Thor, you have different opinion like Nazis and hang out in your opium rave den, so I will respond with punch." Oh but he's stopped by some obvious hipster protester Green Peace asshat who starts a beer assault on him...well sure. And I thought we couldn't get much lower than this A doesn't stand for suck. Here comes Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, on vacation floating through Italy. Then they get a phone call so they can show off their super snobbery, and imply that they like Europe, where everyone is a liberal cancer and should be thankful they exist because of Uncle Sam, but the guy that writes this is Scottish. Oh and Oprah is mentioned, and Tony Stark is on Larry King, because they're REAL PEOPLE IN THE REAL WORLD THAT THIS TAKES PLACE IN STARBUCKS. So to recap: superheroes are real, Captain America is written as a symbol of American elitism and arrogance and Pietro and Wanda are even bigger dipshits than the other people, cause they are all arty and hang out in Venice or something. So see, you can't single anyone out because they're all unrelatable AND unlikeable. Oh and Cap is teh narrowminded cause he thinks gods are dumb and he is a sucker cause he goes to church WHAT THE FUCK MARK MILLAR?
Good thing I only paid ten dollars for all thirteen issues, here I come ebay!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Comics Come Forward
DC Universe #0 (or whatever the official title is): Prior to this I had practically given up on DC, but Final Crisis has me excited because I long ago drank the Morrison kool-aid and now hang on the man's every word (plus JG Jones on art and not someone like Howard Porter is cause for celebration). So in turn, I was ready for this to set the stage and hopefully fill me in on anything I needed to know. Instead I see snapshots of future books, some of which are related to Final Crisis and some that aren't. We get a little recap of past Crisis action and then it's on to the first preview, a Superman book. Big splash page and then stuff I don't understand. I don't have the comic here to give it a second look, so I'm assuming this ties into current Superman stories or DC universe continuity? Well, Geoff Johns and George Perez can do this one without me. Not a great start. Next up it's Batman, a book I'm still behind on. Batman and the Joker talk...and that's it. Morrison throws in plenty of symbolism, but as the tease for the actual story it doesn't work. Someone is after Batman...WOWZA KIDS! After this I just flipped through Frank Miller's Wonder Woman, a Green Lantern piece I didn't even want to attempt, something with the Spectre and then we get to the last story, the actual Final Crisis to-do. And it's easily the best thing in here because stuff is shown happening. We get Libra grouping villains up to worship what looks like Darkseid, and then a little Barry Allen bit at the end, all positioned around the scene of a figure falling through realities. It gets the job done. But overall, this wasn't the greatest idea of all time from DC, or maybe it would be better to say what the material they included wasn't the greatest. Also, what is up with the art? No one is credited in their story, which makes sense given that they're only three pages, but I have no idea who drew some of this. JG Jones is listed but it's not him on the last story or, to my eyes, anywhere else. I have no idea what Carlos Pacheco did either. In the end, this is the kind of thing DC seems to always be able to produce: something that irritates me. I'm still looking forward to Final Crisis, no thanks to this garbage.
Immortal Iron Fist #14: Kind of a disappointment. After the previous issue that contained people talking and not punching each other, we get the big explosive finale where the creators make you reflect that this book's run almost got you pregnant, sex be damned! Alas, it goes out not with a supernova, but with a firecracker. First off, David Aja is nowhere to be found. It seems like after about the tenth issue he just disappeared. Not that the art in his stead is terrible, but Aja had been doing some really nice work. Well anyway, all the subplots have to be resolved, and since way too many had been put in motion, we have to spend quite some time dealing with them. Which wouldn't be a problem, except most of these don't resolve around people getting kicked in the face, which was something I could usually count on from this book (issue #13 must have started a bad trend). It just takes all the things that should be awesome, like Danny Rand going DBZ on a bullet train and the Heroes for Hire destroying people, and takes all the energy out of them. And then it's over, with a small tidbit about what could be ahead in future stories, sans Fraction and Brubaker. But maybe it's a more fitting ending than I think. The book was always somewhat inconsistent, a little more as it went on. But it always had crazy parts that made me smile. And while this has been a fairly negative review, I'd by lying if the Immortal Weapons each getting their one panel with their ridiculously named attacks didn't have me grinning. Go Bride of Nine Spiders, go.
All-Star Superman #10: Here we go. I'll be honest, issue #9 had me nervous. It didn't really do much for the overall story, even though it kept to the overall established themes (plus the Steve Lombard sequence made my life). But Morrison pulls out all the stops here and presents what I'd argue is the best issue of the series yet. Superman goes about getting everything in order as he gets closer to death, which just leads to so many great moments, like applying the cure for cancer, cloning his DNA and finally finding a place for Kandor. Then there's the panel where he saves the goth girl, which would probably be ridiculed to the rafters if it had happened anywhere else, but in this book, it's just pure gold, no cheese at all. And then we get the universe creation and it's just ALL SO AWESOME! Whoo, I got worked up there. Oh and it's drawn by Frank Quitely, who's...well...the greatest superhero artist of his generation (if not all time). There, I said it!
Immortal Iron Fist #14: Kind of a disappointment. After the previous issue that contained people talking and not punching each other, we get the big explosive finale where the creators make you reflect that this book's run almost got you pregnant, sex be damned! Alas, it goes out not with a supernova, but with a firecracker. First off, David Aja is nowhere to be found. It seems like after about the tenth issue he just disappeared. Not that the art in his stead is terrible, but Aja had been doing some really nice work. Well anyway, all the subplots have to be resolved, and since way too many had been put in motion, we have to spend quite some time dealing with them. Which wouldn't be a problem, except most of these don't resolve around people getting kicked in the face, which was something I could usually count on from this book (issue #13 must have started a bad trend). It just takes all the things that should be awesome, like Danny Rand going DBZ on a bullet train and the Heroes for Hire destroying people, and takes all the energy out of them. And then it's over, with a small tidbit about what could be ahead in future stories, sans Fraction and Brubaker. But maybe it's a more fitting ending than I think. The book was always somewhat inconsistent, a little more as it went on. But it always had crazy parts that made me smile. And while this has been a fairly negative review, I'd by lying if the Immortal Weapons each getting their one panel with their ridiculously named attacks didn't have me grinning. Go Bride of Nine Spiders, go.
All-Star Superman #10: Here we go. I'll be honest, issue #9 had me nervous. It didn't really do much for the overall story, even though it kept to the overall established themes (plus the Steve Lombard sequence made my life). But Morrison pulls out all the stops here and presents what I'd argue is the best issue of the series yet. Superman goes about getting everything in order as he gets closer to death, which just leads to so many great moments, like applying the cure for cancer, cloning his DNA and finally finding a place for Kandor. Then there's the panel where he saves the goth girl, which would probably be ridiculed to the rafters if it had happened anywhere else, but in this book, it's just pure gold, no cheese at all. And then we get the universe creation and it's just ALL SO AWESOME! Whoo, I got worked up there. Oh and it's drawn by Frank Quitely, who's...well...the greatest superhero artist of his generation (if not all time). There, I said it!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Sequential Shenanigans
Over the past three months I lost track of any concept of new comics releases and unfortunately I'm still not caught up. I'm an issue behind on Iron Fist and Punisher and two or more back with Captain America, Daredevil, Batman and Brave and the Bold. The ones I've missed several issues of are ones I generally enjoy, but they don't have me running to the store. Let's take a look.
Captain America - Whenever I think of this title under Brubaker, I think of one word: solid. The writing is always good and you can tell these stories are planned out because the execution is always spot-on. That said, the consistency can lower my excitement because I already know what I'm going to get. On the other side is a book like Iron Fist, which probably isn't as dependable from a craft standpoint but always bursts with the mad ideas that make it work. Another problem I have is the coloring. Everything I've seen from Frank D'Armata has been the same blurry mess that obscures just enough to piss me off. The pencils from Epting and Perkins are once again "solid". But, the fact that they have such a similar style adds to my feelings of
seeing the book before I ever read it. I know a large part of this comes from the book being close to three years old. Still, this is a very solid book that Brubaker has made completely into an espionage/action mold. I just need to complain about something.
Daredevil - I can't even remember the last thing that happened when I read this. Mr. Fear was still around, which was issue 100 at the earliest. Like Captain America this book is always a decent read, but I always go for the Super Soldier first. I think a lot of that has to do with Cap being a book that Brubaker has been in total control of from the start. With Daredevil he had to deal with material that was there before he started, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but from his planning on Cap I'd like to have seen what he could do if he'd started from scratch. Plus, maybe it's just having read more stories of the character, but most of what he's doing seems like old-hat. Now that doesn't mean it's badly done, just that, once again, over in Cap he's set up things that seem new, to me at least.
Batman - Seeing Grant Morrison's name on a book will make me try it no matter what. Unfortunately, so far this has been about as uneven as they come. Plus, besides a three-issue stint by JH Williams III, the art has been uniformly bad. I thought Andy Kubert did some okay work on his first few issues but it was all downhill from there. Sadly, Tony Daniel has me praying for a Kubert return. The story has been completely up and down, with a decent if somewhat low impact opening arc, followed by a text story I didn't care for and two more issues that were just there. But then we got the excellent #666 and the Club of Heroes arc with Williams. Since then there's been two issues that were part of a crossover and now I'm hoping that some sort of regularity has returned, as that's where I left off. And more than anything, I'd like to know what the hell is going on with the larger picture, because while it's obvious we're being shown the different incarnations of Batman, just like with Superman, so far I don't have any idea where we're headed. But with Morrison that's really half the fun.
The Brave and the Bold - No idea where I'm at here either. The last two I read featured Wonder Woman and Power Girl and then Flash with the Doom Patrol. And both were very good, certainly the best of the series so far for me. Both displayed why Mark Waid can be an excellent superhero writer when he's on. He clearly has these characters down and has set up just enough of a continuing story to tie things together, while keeping things easy enough to follow and not bogging down the individual stories with an overcomplicated plot. The art kind of leaves me cold, but let me explain. George Perez is certainly a good artist. More than anything he always tell the story clearly, which is certainly important. But nothing really stands out for me personally. I've never seen Perez in the same light as a Gil Kane or a John Buscema. And maybe I just don't respect my elders enough, but I'd rather see the widescreen antics of a Cassaday or a Quitely over him any day. Still, this is superheroics at their old-school best. Fun stories with no mass murdering rapists or continuity that you need wikipedia for. Does DC actually know they're publishing this?
Later with thoughts on the books that put in me a full sprint.
Captain America - Whenever I think of this title under Brubaker, I think of one word: solid. The writing is always good and you can tell these stories are planned out because the execution is always spot-on. That said, the consistency can lower my excitement because I already know what I'm going to get. On the other side is a book like Iron Fist, which probably isn't as dependable from a craft standpoint but always bursts with the mad ideas that make it work. Another problem I have is the coloring. Everything I've seen from Frank D'Armata has been the same blurry mess that obscures just enough to piss me off. The pencils from Epting and Perkins are once again "solid". But, the fact that they have such a similar style adds to my feelings of
seeing the book before I ever read it. I know a large part of this comes from the book being close to three years old. Still, this is a very solid book that Brubaker has made completely into an espionage/action mold. I just need to complain about something.
Daredevil - I can't even remember the last thing that happened when I read this. Mr. Fear was still around, which was issue 100 at the earliest. Like Captain America this book is always a decent read, but I always go for the Super Soldier first. I think a lot of that has to do with Cap being a book that Brubaker has been in total control of from the start. With Daredevil he had to deal with material that was there before he started, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but from his planning on Cap I'd like to have seen what he could do if he'd started from scratch. Plus, maybe it's just having read more stories of the character, but most of what he's doing seems like old-hat. Now that doesn't mean it's badly done, just that, once again, over in Cap he's set up things that seem new, to me at least.
Batman - Seeing Grant Morrison's name on a book will make me try it no matter what. Unfortunately, so far this has been about as uneven as they come. Plus, besides a three-issue stint by JH Williams III, the art has been uniformly bad. I thought Andy Kubert did some okay work on his first few issues but it was all downhill from there. Sadly, Tony Daniel has me praying for a Kubert return. The story has been completely up and down, with a decent if somewhat low impact opening arc, followed by a text story I didn't care for and two more issues that were just there. But then we got the excellent #666 and the Club of Heroes arc with Williams. Since then there's been two issues that were part of a crossover and now I'm hoping that some sort of regularity has returned, as that's where I left off. And more than anything, I'd like to know what the hell is going on with the larger picture, because while it's obvious we're being shown the different incarnations of Batman, just like with Superman, so far I don't have any idea where we're headed. But with Morrison that's really half the fun.
The Brave and the Bold - No idea where I'm at here either. The last two I read featured Wonder Woman and Power Girl and then Flash with the Doom Patrol. And both were very good, certainly the best of the series so far for me. Both displayed why Mark Waid can be an excellent superhero writer when he's on. He clearly has these characters down and has set up just enough of a continuing story to tie things together, while keeping things easy enough to follow and not bogging down the individual stories with an overcomplicated plot. The art kind of leaves me cold, but let me explain. George Perez is certainly a good artist. More than anything he always tell the story clearly, which is certainly important. But nothing really stands out for me personally. I've never seen Perez in the same light as a Gil Kane or a John Buscema. And maybe I just don't respect my elders enough, but I'd rather see the widescreen antics of a Cassaday or a Quitely over him any day. Still, this is superheroics at their old-school best. Fun stories with no mass murdering rapists or continuity that you need wikipedia for. Does DC actually know they're publishing this?
Later with thoughts on the books that put in me a full sprint.
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