Late birthday gift from my folks: new camera! That’s why I’ve not been posting to my flickr account so much, but that will soon change…once I get “MemoryStick Pro.” Freaking Sony and their proprietary crap.
File Under: Lazy
You’re a Post-Punk. You know 70s punk was cool, but
it was mostly just a stepping stone for the
greater intellectualism of what would come
after. The 80s were amazing. You quite possibly
have huge hair, and may wear lots of black.
Snare drums need reverb. Lots and lots of
reverb.
You Know Yer Indie. Let’s Sub-Categorize.
brought to you by Quizilla
I wish I could come up with something to post. Sure, I could review Sara Ryan and Steve Lieber’s Flytrap, informing you that for a mere $2, you could get in your hot little hands one of the just-plain-nicest comics I’ve had the pleasure to come across in a while. I could tell you that I always smile when I come across Lieber’s art, as it’s clean and to the point without being too minimal or realistic, and as I really loved the duo’s previous comics collaboration, Me And Edith Head, this was one of those no-brainer purchases for me even if I’m not quite the minicomics maven that some people manage to be.
I could go into how the lead character’s charming for reasons that Ryan points out on the back cover. I could mention that this is an enjoyably dense read that keeps your interest quite easily. But, instead, I’ll say this. For $2 you get to see monkey in a dress.
I can’t think of a better reason than that, frankly.
Apparently Warren Ellis and I have more in common than I thought: we both appreciate a good beating with a blunt metal instrument.
I’m tired. I’m cranky. I don’t want to think about variant covers or late series or expensive tchotskes that are going to be forgotten by their owners in a few short days in their quest to make sure they have more than the rest of the nerds crawling up the pile of crap that defines their lives more than family or friends or accomplishments of their own. Fuck them and fuck the companies that perpetuate this sort of behavior.
So. I’m going to tell you what I think is going to be good this week and while. Then, I’m going to retire to the room with the air conditioner and read this minicomic that Steve Lieber was kind enough to sell me and probably pass out until Kristin gets home from the Cape. Deal with it.
Dark Horse
JUN050014 BPRD THE BLACK FLAME #1 (OF 6) $2.99
Stop whining about it not being “real” Hellboy or the lack of Mignola; Guy Davis could illustrate a chapbook relating the dangers of venereal disease and I would leap upon it and possibly maim anyone who try to took it from me.
JUN058085 SERENITY CASSADAY CVR #1 (OF 3) (NEW PRTG) (O/A) (PP #681) $2.99
JUN058086 SERENITY HITCH CVR #1 (OF 3) (NEW PRTG) (O/A) (PP #681) $2.99
JUN058084 SERENITY J G JONES CVR #1 (OF 3) (NEW PRTG) (O/A) (PP #681) $2.99
The people that come into the shop and ask “Hey, do you have Serenity #1?” do not care about variant covers or printings or anything like that; they just want to hurry up and read the damned thing before they retreat to their homes and further abuse an old duster so they can be an authentic Browncoat on the night that Serenity hits the big screen. This could have come a little faster, but good on Dark Horse for at least putting the singles out there while there’s still some demand.
DC Comics
JUN050373 JLA CLASSIFIED #11 $2.99
I really quite liked the first issue of Ellis’s story, even with Deranged Madman In Search Of Viagra taking the place of Perry White. I’m also a fan of both Ellis and Guice, though, so I may be cutting this a bit more slack than I would if it were, say, a Chuck Austen / Ron Garney story. I’m OK with that. I’m not embarassed about my prejudices.
JUN050385 SEVEN SOLDIERS SHINING KNIGHT #4 (OF 4) $2.99
And so the first Seven Soldiers miniseries ends with, hopefully, a helluva bang. Considering the dovetailing the other books have done with each other, I think I’m going to be pretty OK with the outcome.
JUN050386 SOLO #6 $4.99
I may not be crazy about some of the writers chosen for this particular outing in the Solo series, but is there any way I can resist a comic with a cover that manages to be playful and sexy quite like this? I posit that there is not.
Image
JUN051788 HERO CAMP #4 (OF 4) $2.99
I really hope they do a $7 digest version of this when it hits trade; it’d be a perfect series for a lot of kids. I’m pretty sure they won’t, though, and I’ll be forced to try to convince some parent that $14 for a really good read for their precious little spawnage isn’t stupidly overpriced just because it’s “only a comic book.” How much did that video game system that has a lamprey-like grip on their cerebral cortex set you back, anyway?
Marvel
JUN052019 RUNAWAYS #7 $2.99
JUN052014 WHA HUH (RES) $3.99
There is one truly great joke in this book padded on both sides by lots of funky and fabulous Mahfood art and some writers and artists taking fairly tame potshots at each other. If I were a Livejournal sort, I’d say “Meh.”
Other Companies What Make Comic Books
APR052728 HERO SQUARED #2 (OF 3) $3.99
Wow, that Joe Abraham getting his hands broken made his art, which I liked in the special, look even better now. By this logic, breaking his legs will make him an Olympic runner.
MAR053073 LOVE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE #3 (MR) $6.95
I like this. Does this mean I like shôjo now? Can someone who reads shôjo tell me?
JUN052940 OR ELSE #3 (MR) $3.50
I really hope I remembered to order this as I really, really adored the second issue. I’m very fond of forgetting things, so let’s cross our fingers.
JUL052969 PURE TRANCE GN (MR) $19.98
Butcher really likes it and I feel like an ass for not picking it up at MoCCA, as everything I’ve seen from it looks brilliantly demented. I’m under the belief that it’s either going to make my head explode or reduce me to a catatonic state with prolonged exposure. Sounds good to me.
JUL052551 SMOKE & GUNS GN $12.95
This has been reviewed by others who seemed to think it was pretty darn OK. I fell in love with Fabio Moon’s art from the second I laid eyes on it, so it’s halfway there already.
Now, for an excerpt from this gem that Cole Odell posted in the comments at Fanboy Rampage:
I can’t understand why people find superhero comics done as steroid-enraged Chris Ware stories entertaining.
Amen, my spiritual brother who has no clue who I am. Amen.
Busy today, so you can just go have fun with the Flickr Magazine Generator.
Boy, that sure is something.
Today, as you probably don’t know unless you care about this sort of thing, is Jack Kirby’s birthday. He would have been 88. It’s easy enough to get the basic biographic details, along with some great resources as far as his bibliography, so instead I’m going to tell you all what Jack means in regards to my perception of the medium. To be brief, it�s as simple as �comics=Jack Kirby� in my mind. Yes, there’s many, many other excellent creators with long and storied careers, but I simply can’t imagine comics without Kirby at Marvel and DC.
The matter of who created what in the early Marvel Universe is, of course, up for a lot of debate. Kirby’s own stories varied wildly from having decided to save the company after walking in on Stan Lee crying over the fact that bankruptcy was looming to just accepting the Fantastic Four job as he would with any other western or monster or science fiction story Stan cranked out and not knowing or really caring about the script as long as the check didn’t bounce. Here’s what is a cold, hard fact, though: without Kirby, we probably would not have had the same Fantastic Four comic that captured so many young hearts and helped make superheroes cool again.
As Stan found himself busier and busier with his myriad responsibilities as editor-in-chief, huckster, and writer, the burden fell on Jack’s shoulders (which already bore the weight of a full two-thirds of the company’s artistic output) to create more and more from plots that were less and less defined, and create is exactly what he did. The Negative Zone! The Inhumans! Galactus! The Silver Surfer! Annihilus! All of these now long-standing characters and ideas came out of his imagination in a remarkably short amout of time in a single title, and mark the beginning of his most fertile period as a creator. His individual Marvel creations grew much larger than life and his art changed to reflect these concepts and the powers they contained, becoming more minimal while still imparting a sense of scale and urgency to the reader.
It’s this near-constant sense of panic and clear depiction of action that defines the idea of what a superhero comic�s art should be for me. After departing Marvel for DC’s promises of complete control, Jack’s storytelling in both scripts and art became more and more epic, showing the boundaries of comics at the time by slamming against them and knocking them a few inches out of place. Only a few of the most ambitious of Kirby’s Marvel creations would have fit well into his DC work. Long gone were the petty concerns of Johnny Storm, wondering if his hot rod was going to win the big race next weekend and in their place was a New God’s realization that his father was a Space Hitler that made Odin look positively pacifistic. Making sure that we beat the Russians in space seems like a quilting bee compared to a mohawked soldier pumelling his way through a horde of enemies in the World Of Tomorrow.
Even after his DC titles were all canceled and he came back to Marvel in the mid-70s, his creative impulses were still slanted towards the grandiose. It seemed that Kirby wanted to know why, in his absence Captain America duked it out with second-rate villains when he could and should take on a high-level conspiracy armed with something called “Madbomb? ” For whatever reason, a lot of the work from this material is derided by the fans, but I find myself capitvated by his ambiition: turning 2001 into a psychedelia showcase and remixing Chariots Of The Gods to create The Celestials. Sadly, he didn’t quite fit into the Marvel of the time, where Steves Englehart and Gerber were leading a new direction that, while insanely creative, was much more self-aware and sardonic compared the earnest nature of Kirby’s work.
It’s after this second departure from the house he helped build that Jack’s career fell into an irrecoverable retrograde. He tried publishing a few books that never got off the ground wih several companies and even came back to DC to wrap up his own New Gods saga as well as draw the (frankly, mind-numbing) Super-Powers tie-in comic along with a few pinups and occasional stories, but it was never the same for him.
Looking back, though, that decade-and-a half that bridged the Silver and Bronze Ages, when Jack was creating the new each and every month makes a lot of what’s happening in mainstream superhero comics seem positively dull. Outside of Grant Morrison, I can’t think of a single writer working at DC or Marvel that is intent on creation instead of maintenance, much like the Silver Age Superman stories that would occasionally excel, but most of the time seemed to be a matter of station-holding for the readers and characters.
Some would argue (just as I have, on occasion) that these companies are filling a need: to exploit pre-rendered universes to tell stories that the readers who like said universes will buy. There are some excellent writers who are very good at doing exactly that, but I’m missing Jack more than usual lately, and it’s not out of nostalgia. Do I want to read comics stories featuring people aping Kirby�s more easily utilized tropes? No. I want people to take the lessons that each page of his best work can give and apply them in unique ways. It�s the best way to pay tribute to The King.
Don’t Call It A Podcast.
(Because I have no idea how to do the requisite RSS feed yet and thought it was more important to say “Hey, look, about an hour of genre-hopping music that I decided to cobble together this morning for no particular reason.”)
What do you get if you right-click to download this 65mb, 160kbps mp3?
“Home and dry.” // Pet Shop Boys
“Modesty Plays” (12″ Mix) // Sparks
“Debaser” // The Pixies
“Sweetsmoke” // Mr. Scruff
“Tiger Rag” (Live) // Louis Armstrong
“Magic Carpet Ride” (Fatboy Slim Mix) // Mighty Dub Katz
“Seven Nation Army / In Da Club” (Live) // Basement Jaxx
“That’s When I Reach For My Revolver” // Moby
“Concrete And Clay” // Unit 4+2
“Yolk” // Family Soul
“I’m A Cuckoo” (by The Avalanches) // Belle & Sebastian
“You Can’t Break A Broken Heart” // The 6ths
“Tequila” // Allen Toussaint
“Fly Hawaii” // Luke Vibert & BJ Cole
If you like it, let me know. I’ll try to read all about this “podcasting” jazz soon, but I want to promise you one thing: you’ll never have to hear my dull, slighly nasal voice doing intros on songs or talking at you concerning stuff you’ve already read about. Questions can go in comments or whatever.
Disclaimer: If, for any reason, a record label thinks I’m doing their artists a disservice by including them in an MP3 that will expose their to new listeners, all they have to do is ask and I will be more than happy to remove their portion of the download.
Dear Comics Blogger Internet,
Please stop fucking blogging about the comics blogger internet. Blog about comics. Talk about what excites you or what you hate. Review your purchases and favorites. Discuss your favorite superheroes or stories in minute detail. Leave metacommentary to Graeme at the Rampage and instead focus on entertaining and informing your readers.You may refer to fine blogs such as Dave’s Long Box and The Jack Kirby Comics Weblog and Dial B For Blog to see nostalgia done right. I’d also recommend taking a look at Johanna’s site, among others on the left there to see people that I think add a good perspective to this medium.
Some people I really like have fallen to this habit of late and I’m sick and fucking tired of whining about whining.
Signed,
BeaucoupKevin
PS> Motherfucking Swarm shows up in next week’s issue of Runaways. I no longer have an excuse to not buy this book, do I?
Make sure that you look at the original and then read this.
Steranko (God love ‘im) probably should have been told
to reconsider his choices when it came to shadow placement,
especially considering the turbulent social climate of the time.
What if… a government-sponsored Captain America clone was used to create low-budget patriotic cartoons?
“Do you think these As on my forehead stand for Alcoholics Anonymous?”
You know, I don’t want to complain or anything, but the fact that the third Queen And Country: Declassified miniseries (deftly written by Antony Johnston with Christopher Mitten doing the drawing end of things) had its final issue come out on the same week as the second issue of series creator Greg Rucka’s second Q&C:D did not go unnoticed in certain circles, namely me.
I will say this, though, in some slight defense of Rucka’s lateness in this matter. That Rick Burchett cat? He can fucking art an employee manual and I’d want to look at it. Some great storytelling on his part, combined with a story I find pretty neat (once I remembered what the hell was happening,) ameliorated the crankiness quite a bit.
Now, to gulp down the rest of my coffee and head off.
Written on the Palm at Diesel, 8:20am. I shoulda gotten an extra shot of espresso.
I feel like I’ve betrayed The Cause today, my friends. For some reason or another, the fact that Monkey In A Wagon Vs Lemur On A Big Wheel is put out by that small publishing concern that I love to hate, Alias, eluded me entirely. However, let’s take out the whole “Mike S Miller makes my teeth ache” portion of the equation and evaluate this title on its own merits, shall we? There’s a set of four dialogue-free stories in this well-stapled, nicely papered pamphlet: the title piece, a pirate tale called “Yo Ho Ho,” the superlative cautionary gambling story “A Day At The Raises,” and “Monkey Versus Lemuria,” exploring the origins of a long-standing, apparently species-wide grudge, and you know what? This isn’t a bad little thing at all.
While the nautical tale (baffingly enough) fails when it comes to cleverness (writer Tony DiGerolamo seems to lack in inherent absurdity that Ken Lillie-Paetz brings to his co-creation,) the rest of this book ably entertains while showing off the talents of artists Chris Moreno (the other co-creationatory sort) and Julie Faulkner. Lillie-Paetz really seems to run with the concept, allowing Moreno and Faulkner to indulge their cartoonish tendencies with absurd moments that reminded me of the more vicious Warner Brothers cartoons and referencing works as diverse as Charlotte’s Web and Metropolis.
It’s the uniform excellence of these other pieces that made me more disappointed in “Yo Ho Ho.” DiGerolamo’s story is more straightforward, yes, and Moreno’s art is a thing to gaze upon in wonder, but it seems to miss the entire point of having a naval officer lemur defeat a monkey pirate on the high seas, which is to make me laiugh like a five year old. So, is the whole kit and kaboodle worth three American dollars? Not quite, but I am not really regretting the purchase, as 3/4 of this thing was right up my alley.
Now, to change the subject away from animal antics and to talk about science fiction espionage that’s funny and enthralling at the same time. I’ve been trying to figure out how can I succinctly review the burst of fresh air that is Smoke, the final chapter of which came out this week. I finally came up with something that people in comics should do more often for the creators they like: express some gratitude.
So, thanks, Alex De Campi, for the future-shock script that never pandered while it entertained. Igor Kordey, your art was splendid. Yes, I’m gushing a bit, but I’m just so darn pleased with how it all came together in the end.
Now, to figure out if I’m actually going to review all the books I picked up this week…
Spend a moment looking at this little snippet from a Google ad. Now, tell me…are you shamed by you English?1
1(Scroll down. It’s totally worth it. Hi, Campbell!)
Marisa Hilarides Simoes, 25, holds a wheel of her
prize-winning Serenita cheese.
Chronicle photo by Craig Lee.
I think I’m in love.
(Thanks, Alice.)
Here’s the latest mix I’ve put together. 45 minutes of choir boys, chunky beats, pop tunes that have gotten all fucked up, field recordings, and glitchy ambient can be yours if you right-click here and “save as.” (65mb 192kbps mp3 file.) You’ll note the highly-imaginative name of “August 2005.”
Tracklisting? Sure, I’ll do that:
“Always Remember to Respect And Honour Your Mother” // Dusted.
“Where’s Johnny Sabatino?” // Dzihan & Kamien.
“Revolutionary Women Of The Windmill Part I” // Up, Bustle, And Out.
“Suzuki” // Tosca.
“Eva” (Instrumental Mix) // Heights Of Abraham.
“Physical” (UK Girls) // Goldfrapp.
“This Is Hardcore” (4 Hero Mix) // Pulp.
60 seconds of a Calcutta street.
“Toninas” // Berlin.
Let me know what you think.
