Working early. No content today…
Comments Off | Posted: April 19th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized…so here’s the sort of opening panel you’ll all appreciate.
Man, I love the idea of a “Great Three-Part Novel!”
Man, I love the idea of a “Great Three-Part Novel!”
April Previews Review Part Deux: The Previewing.
Comments Off | Posted: April 18th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedDC Comics, Johnny DC, CMX, Wildstorm, Vertigo, DC Direct, Etc.
The Dark Knight Detective, as always, leads of DC’s solicitations and of note is the advance-solicited Batman: City Of Crime collection featuring writing by Stray Bullets auteur David Lapham. I’ve heard good things about this run, along with a few negative comments from people whose opinions I respect, if not necessarily agree with consistently. What does the hive-mind think?
While I’m not exactly fond at all of the stories contained in the Superman/Doomsday Omnibus and Superman: Our Worlds At War Complete Edition trade paperbacks, they represent the sort of thing I’d like to see more of in the Superhero Comics Industry: giant, cheap slabs of pulp chock-full of the ur-content that drives the precious continuity so that an eager newcomer can be brought up to speed in an efficient manner.
DCU: Brave New World is the thematic followup to the justly-(in)famous Countdown To Infinite Crisis where, instead of Blue Beetle getting a bullet lobotomy, we get the first “new” appearances of The Atom, Martian Manhunter, OMAC (without awesomeness), Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, The Creeper, and Shazam! For a buck, I’ll check it out. Maybe there’ll be something I absolutely have readmore of, you know? If it sucks, I’ll sell it on eBay for $2 a month later.
Sergio Aragones gets what looks to be the penultimate issue of Solo, which I’m sure will entertain the dickens out of me. I loved the Solo concept to death. When a company like DC can’t manage to make its version of Sony Pictures Classics sell, that means there’s something very very amiss in the marketplace.
DC Showcase Presents The Elongated Man. Thank you, sir, may I please have another?
I should care about the new Wonder Woman book, shouldn’t I?
Anyway.
Over at Wildstorm, the excellent art of Dusten Nguyen gets butchered by the sheer hackery of Scott Lobdell’s writing with Manifest Eternity, a comic featuring a precis that looks suspiciously like Robotech by way of L. Ron Hubbard..
Gilbert Hernandez opens up the Vertigo solictations with the “Oh god, yes, I’ll buy it!” that is his 128 page graphic novel Sloth. Pitched as a “surrealistic romantic drama in the spirit of David Lynch,” I’m sure this is going to be pretty close to essential comics reading for me. You can check out a preview here. This is pretty much my pick of the month from my slightly-favored of the two corporate behemoths that dominate the comics industry. There’s some toys and stuff that I can’t work up a bit of interest for, so let’s just walk away while we can.
Must I, Neil Tennant, spend the rest of my days in this Pet Shop?
Comments Off | Posted: April 18th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized"We don’t have any way of restraining people."
Comments Off | Posted: April 18th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedThe Hesperia Star offers a more, er, fact-based take on the whole Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics controversy by, you know, talking to the librarians.
In Hesperia, librarian and branch manager Anne Marie Wentworth hadn�t heard any complaints about the book – and rarely any complaints at all.“I can�t remember the last time somebody complained about a book,” she said. “The last time somebody complained about a book it was a graphic novel.”
Graphic novels are book-format comic books generally intended for more mature audiences. The graphic novel a resident complained about contained no sexual content, as Wentworth recalls, but was more violent than most young adult titles. The book was moved to the adult section of the library.
“They�re not all jumbled together. We have a children�s section, we have a young adult�s section and an adult�s section,” she said. “We don�t have any way of restraining people.”
They do place some works behind the circulation counter, but typically for reasons other than content.
“The only items that we have that we keep behind the circulation desk are the things that will get ripped off if we don�t,” Wentworth said. “If we don�t leave the latest copy of People magazine behind the desk, only one person would get to read it, because it would walk out of the building.”
The relative lack of complaints is typical of the county library system as a whole, said Ed Kieczykowski, County Librarian, the head of the library system.
Personally, I’d love to see libraries employ “Restraint Assistants” that would physically tackle anyone reaching for, say, Tropic Of Cancer before their 21st birthday.
Finally doing a Previews Review.
Comments Off | Posted: April 18th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedSince DC and Image managed to put up their July solicits online already, I thought I should sober up long enough to look at the June offerings that were featured in this past Previews. We�ll start with Dark Horse this morning and I�ll do DC tonight or tomorrow, OK?
Dark Horse
The house that Schutz built only has a few new offerings for me. Concrete Volume 6: Strange Armor collects the complete origin of Paul Chadwick’s armored much beloved man-with-a-stone-body and examines the psychological repercussions of having your brain yanked out and placed in another body by aliens.
The second collection of Tycho and Gabe’s online adventures sees print with Penny Arcade Volume 2: Epic Legends Of The Magic Sword Kings. The first book was underordered by pretty much every comics shop and ended up doing gangbusters because, for once, Dark Horse managed to make sure there were enough copies of something in print to meet demand. I’m sure the second book will do the same business, especially with the quality that the first book had.
For those of you not reading the regular BPRD series, there’s a handy trade paperback coming out, collecting The Black Flame storyline. I’ve mentioned my love of this ongoing series a few times here and mock those who say they are Hellboy fans but aren’t picking this up. I mock you, I say!
A collection of Greg Preston’s photographs of comics artists and their studios, The Artist Within looks to be interesting, but not for $40. If you feel like splashing a couple of Jacksons, though, you get a look at Jack Kirby’s workspace, along with Frank Miller’s, the Simonsons, and Moebius among others.
I dunno if I’m actually going to order the first volume of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, but that cover is mighty intruiging. Kevin Melrose talks about it here.
Finally, Star Wars nerds can rejoice because there’s Volume One of the Rogue Squardon Omnibus. These are mighty enjoyable comics that feature the awesomeness of Wedge Antilles, which is mighty indeed. Dude blew up the second Death Star – what have you done with your life?
Nightcat!
Comments Off | Posted: April 17th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Normally, this blog is used to dispense opinions and information about comics that I think are good. There’s far too many bad books in this marketplace for anything resembling proper coverage by the staff of BeaucoupKevin.com and we’d hate to take away market share from our blog allies, Dave Campbell and Chris Sims. However, something so vile that it’s beyond comprehension dropped into my lap courtesy of my ally Roel Torres that it must be brought to light, so that others may avoid the mistake I made by sitting down and reading the first (and apparently only) comic featuring that singing sensation of the early 90s, Nightcat!
Yes, Marvel, always one to hop on board a fad right as it was petering out 1, decided they wanted to a comic featuring the real-life Latina Lita Ford just as grunge was about to rise up and smite the last bit of glam metal from the face of the earth. Jacqueline Tavarez is a young woman who lives with her overprotective cop father. For years, pops has vowed to keep her out of show business because her mom drank a lot, auditioned about as much, and died thanks to this combination. One day in high school, he finds out that she’s been playing with a “rock band” and explicitely forbids her from interacting with music in any way, shape, form or fashion and being a girl with little brain or backbone, she stayed meek and studied hard. The story really picks up when Jacqueline’s in college and sees an audition for a singer at the sort of nightclub that only exists in Marvel comics and bad, bad direct to video movies featuring Tawny Kitean.
Of course, to overcomplicate the matter, she decides to take on an alter ego so she can be a pop sensation and keep her old man happy, despite the fact that she’s clearly of legal age to do whatever the holy fuck she wants now.
Here’s how the equation works.
No, seriously, we get to that exact point. Once Nightcat has gotten her record contract, the fancy pad, and has managed to get on the cover of Time and Rolling Stone without her dad finding out (despite the fact he’s apparently the best cop in New York City) she stumbles upon a discovery that’s horrifying: the music business – and I can’t believe Marvel came up with something so unbelievable – is full of people who deal drugs. Deciding that we can’t have glam metal associated with drug use, Jacqueline dedicates herself to wiping out the problem by hand. The only problem is that the woman in charge,
See?
Now, I don’t need to draw a map for you here, do I? Nightcat goes in swinging, gets captured, gets recognized as a major pop star, gets injected with a cat blood serum, watches her dad (who’s undercover) get shot approximately 43 times, displays amazing new catlike powers, and gives the audience a nice panty shot in the space of 3 pages.
Once
Despite the fact that Jacqueline is studying criminology in college, she finds this completely unacceptable and decides that she’ll take Sharon Stone Amanda Gideon’s obviously-a-trap invitation to perform at some gala or event or whatever it could be that requires bad music. However, she’s got a plan, which goes awry to hilarious results.
She doesn’t die, of course, and we get something of a “climactic fight” just before she dedicates a truly mind-bogglingly awful song about never changing to her dead parents. All of this though, the stupidly chatty ninjas, the Cat-illac, the awful music, the costume, it’s all worth it for one scene and one scene only:
I have this image of Stan claiming royalties on her album and owning a trademark on her likeness, but that’s just me being catty.
Oh, dear, that’s rather a pun, isn’t it?
If you want to know more about Nightcat, check out this desperately-in-need-of-hard-returns biography here. Apparently, Jacqueline did release an album under the Nightcat moniker through RCA, but I’ve not found any samples. I think we’re glad of that. Also: Not that I’ve done this, but a Google Image Search on Ms Tavarez reveals that she was topless in Tromeo and Juliet.
Further research has cropped up this blurb in a 1994 issue of The Comics Journal:
Jacqueline Tavarez, who dressed as Marvel’s Nightcat at conventions, says she was fired by Marvel after appearing in a Joey Buttafuoco music video.
A Joey Buttafuoco music video. Truly a statement of how far any human being can fall.
1See: the Kiss comic’s coming out just before the band’s fractious solo LPs that led to Peter Criss’s departure. See also: Dazzler’s solo forays that came out right as stadiums were filling with people who wanted to burn records from The Trammps and The Bee Gees.
April 19: Comics! Huzzah!
Comments Off | Posted: April 17th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedPackages are in the truck, bound for your local shop.
Comics are in the packages. Our comics.
DC Comics
MAR060288 BATMAN THRILLKILLER TP NEW PTG $14.99
I’m a huge fan of this Chaykin/Brereton Elseworlds piece and think it stands up as an example of how to do one of those things properly, as the inversions are interesting and non-fannish in origin instead of the usual “What if a Green Lantern ring flew through Bruce Wayne’s window when he was a kid and murdered his parents?” Also: Brereton draw real purty, I think.
FEB060279 JLA CLASSIFIED #20 $2.99
Wrapping up the Gail Simone storyline, hopefully through punching. Lots of it.
FEB060295 SGT ROCK THE PROPHECY #4 (OF 6) $2.99
Hot damn, this has been a fun series. I mean, fun except for the puppy killing. And ethnic cleansing. And death.
Real fun.
JAN060298 SUPERMAN IN THE EIGHTIES $19.99
Is this really, you know, necessary? I have the sneaking feeling I ordered it anyway, just because it’s got some decent material – Action 507 and 508 feature a great story centering around the return of Pa Kent – and I just can’t be bothered to dig out my back issues when there’s a paperback with the same material.
I’m not a very good comics fan, am I?
Marvel
FEB061997 DAREDEVIL #84 $2.99
Yup, I’m still reading it. I think Daredevil is about to hit the “longest continually read by Kevin” mark, which was previously set by Preacher, which I started picking up around issue 13 or 14 after reading the first two trades. Sure, there’s comics I’ve read on and off for years, but I’m pretty fond of dropping a title when I stop enjoying it. This strikes some people as bizarre behavior that only a freak engages in.
FEB062036 NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #4 $2.99
FEB062062 X-STATIX PRESENTS DEAD GIRL #4 (OF 5) $2.99
I don’t need to sell these to the intelligent, beautiful people that would read them, do I? Nope.
Other Companies
JAN063012 A NUT AT THE OPERA HC (MR) $19.95
While not quite my thing, this Drawn and Quarterly book by Maurice Vellekoop looks to be sumptuous in its illustrations.
JAN063164 BIG MAX #1 $2.99
Slott + Gorillas = Fun. Here’s where I copy and paste the bit I wrote last week when I switched this and Thunder Monkey thanks to an ether binge:
OK, everyone who says Dan Slott is an amazing writer who needs to make more money? Here’s your chance to put your money where your typing fingers are because he owns part of this title, unlike the other material he’s worked on and by supporting this, maybe you get to make sure that his family gets the good brand of Ramen for dinner.Of course, it’s about crime-fighting primates, so I’m on it like tanning spray on Paris Hilton in February.
DEC053096 BAKERS DO THESE TOYS BELONG SOMEWHERE HC $18.95
My copy came to me last week, so this must be a left-coast shipment. I don’t really like bandying about terms like “greatest living cartoonist,” but if I did, Baker would certainly be in the running and this collection and (when it’s finished) Nat Turner show why.
Kirby Saturday? General Electric.
Comments Off | Posted: April 15th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedThis is a short sequence I’ve always liked from the first issue of the latter-day Simon and Kirby collaboration, The Sandman. I find the character’s name, alternately, very clever or just an annoying pun depending on my mood when I read this stuff.
Jimmy Olsen’s Freaky World: 4 Examples.
Comments Off | Posted: April 14th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Yes, tell the horses what their master, Jimmy Olsen, commands!
Perry White turned into a baby?
Olsen looking like Rip Van Winkle and dressed as Santa?
An Evolution Cabinet taking up a corner of the Daily Planet offices?
Just another day at a great Metropolitan newspaper!
Uh, um.
Uh.
Why is Jimmy’s crotch thinking?
Seriously.
Kawaii!
Comments Off | Posted: April 13th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedFollowing up on yesterday’s “porn” manga post, it looks like, yes, the book is being yanked from shelves despite being in the adult collection. The article features a photo which confirms a fact I’ve known for years: chldren are the only people that use the library system.
Has anyone out there actually read Manga: Sixty Years Of Japanese Comics? Does it, in fact, depict illustrations of sexual acts and sex with animals?
Starfish And Coffee, Maple Syrup and Jam.
Comments Off | Posted: April 13th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedIt’s Thursday, that’s coffee, those are comics.
Let’s do this thing.
While Action Philosophers Hate The French may be a misnomer, I am not going to hold that against Fred Van Lente and artist Ryan Dunlavey for one reason: I actually get a lot of the material presented without feeling like it’s been dumbed down. This issue takes the reader through the world as seen by Derrida, Sartre, and Descartes with plenty of humor, vim, and vigor without having to put up with droning professors or those clove-smoking assholes who always write in their Moleskins about man’s cruelty to man instead of doing something about it. If I were part of the Savage Critics, I would rate this Very Good.
100 Bullets is in this weird holding pattern for me. I still enjoy each issue and consider it to be the best thing Azzarello’s done, but part of me wants it to be over, already so I can go back and read the entire series. As always, Risso does what he does with a casual elegance that’s akin to watching Fred Astaire lightly perform moves that you could never, ever perform. Ever. (He also draws women the way I like them, but that’s beside the point.)
If I were Chris Sims, I would ask myself “Where’s the shark-eating bear with a jetpack?”
Thunder Monkey #1 seems like something I’d enjoy and while it gets a bit of clout with me for the whole “Giant Monkey That Fights Crime” thing, not much outside of one awkwardly-drawn fight scene and some clich�d pulp villain crime bits happen. Still, its heart is in the right place and I’m going to give it another issue before I drop it
If I were Mike Sterling, I would post a picture of a crappy-ass promo poster DC sent my shop in the 90s as a reward for reading this far.
The third issue of Batman: Year 100 features Pope going completely wild in the opening sequence, with lots of crazy-ass Batman hijinks beautifully rendered. A few more pieces of the story’s puzzle drop into place and there’s a particularly well-done scene where Batman undergoes a bit of psychic interrogation and doesn’t reveal a single thing about his identity. The idea of Batman being a complete cipher in a society that has trodden over everyone’s right to privacy is a powerful one and Pope’s using it to serve both the story’s theme and the story itself.
If I were Dave Campbell, I’d say that the entire issue is a F&$K YEAH! moment and then get 45 comments agreeing with that assessment. 22 of those would make some lame joke about the Verification Code that Blogger puts on comments.
BPRD: The Universal Machine‘s debut issue forgoes the slam-bang action that has marked the BPRD titles so far and gives the reader a pause with character moments and a great horror hook thanks to Kate’s quest to revive the much-beloved Roger. Apparently, the next issue features the story of Daimo’s death and resurrection, which is something I certainly look forward to. If you’ve not been reading BPRD because it’s not “real” Hellboy, you’re missing out – Mignola and Arcude are crafting adventures well worthy of your attention.
If I were Tom Spurgeon, the preceding paragraph would have six cousins and manage to sum up the movement of the entire medium somehow.
Man, I hate how damned good Spurgeon is.
I’ve only read two of the stories in the new Marvel Romance Redux: Restraining Orders Are For Other Girls, but with jokes about harvesting gender-defining organs, body odor as a turn-on, and some whacked-out Kirby hairdos on a few of the dames herein, I’m already ahead in the dollar-value game.
If I were Johanna Draper Carlson, I would have reviewed the latest Jughead instead of this.
The latest issue of Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli’s DMZ is insanely timely in the wake of Jill Carroll’s release. While not a lot happens in this first of five parts as far as plot goes, there’s some stunning art and the world-building manages to engage without turning into another lesson about how crummy people can be. I hate to be “that guy,” but this is a great jumping-on point for people who like what they’ve seen of the series but have been waiting for the trade.
If I were Dorian Wright, I’d post a picture of Tom Selleck circa 1983 at this point in the proceedings. In fact, I think I will anyway despite the man’s dubious politics:
It’s apparent to me that I must away to work, but here’s super-dense capsules of the other books I read and enjoyed:
Fantastic Four: First Family #2: just retro enough with modern touches that add “relevance.” Weston’s art is something I love dearly and the contrast with Kirby provides great metacontext when combined with Casey’s script.
Case Files: Sam And Twitch #23: I really enjoy this procedural title, but this issue smacked way, way too much of Law And Order: Kiddie Rape Kavalcade.
The Ellis books of the week? Desolation Jones #6 made me wonder what I ever did to Ellis to deserve such a cold, cold denouement. Fuck’s sake, man. Elegant in its brutality, though, with Williams just continuing to impress. Blackgas #2 actually made an origin for Zombification work for me. However, it’s bog-standard except for the Ellis Science And Dialogue Touch, which carries more weight with me than I care to admit.
That’s it. I’m out.
Doggs.
Clicking = Reading.
Comments Off | Posted: April 13th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Writer: Otto Binder � Artist: Bernard Sachs
From Mystery In Space #45.
Reprinted in DC Super-Stars #6.
The best band name ever…
Comments Off | Posted: April 12th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
You know, I have the feeling that telling kids to play with razors, electricity, and safety pins in this day and age would lead to trouble with Johnny Law.
Seriously, Sex With Animals? W h a t ?
Comments Off | Posted: April 12th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedUnder the condescending headline of “Good grief, Charlie Brown: Family stunned by adult comics at library,” here’s an article about a book about manga driving a child into madness in the desert town of Barstow.
A sample:
Parent Tamara Innis, who visited the Victorville library on Tuesday, considered the images deserving of a restrictive rating.“They do it with music, why not with a book with pornographic content?” she wondered.
Barret said that since the book was purchased about a year ago, it has been correctly placed in the adult collection.
“Library policy affirms the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, Freedom to Read and Freedom to View statements,” she said.
And even though the book was placed in the adult section, so were other cartoon books such as The Hulk, Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts, Jones said.
“That represents a wide variety in the full spectrum of comics,” Barret explained.
(Emphasis mine.)
I get the eerie feeling that we’re going to see manga under widespread assault very, very soon in this election year, as “moral values” is the only thing the Republican Party is going to be able to use in their campaigns outside of “immigration reform,” which looks to be going over like a lead balloon in many places.
(A note outside of my “expertise:” is it just me or is the whole “work in the country and earn your citizenship, maybe” thing that Bush has proposed smell like “slave class” to anyone else?)
Addendum: The Victorville Daily Press is running the same article under the headline “Good grief, Charlie Brown! Family stunned by porn comics at library”.
It’ll only set you back 25 comics…
Comments Off | Posted: April 12th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
I’ve Got The Brains, You’ve Got The Looks.
Comments Off | Posted: April 11th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedThis is basically for me and Bully, pulled from this post over at TimeMachineGo, which linked to this page reprinting an article about a certain famed comics creator in his younger days. There’s some very minor formatting changes here, but I have the feeling the original article was basically OCR’d.
The Press, Friday, November 12, 1976He�s Quick on the Draw � That�s Grant!
By Michael KernanYou�d be excused for thinking that the characters featured here had been dreamed up by a top comic strip writer and had been drawn by a professional cartoonist.
But they are, in fact, the brainchild and the work of a local, 16-year-old artist.
They�re part of the hobby that has grown into a whole way of life for Grant Morrison of Corkerhill.
Talent
Four years ago, Grant started reading American comics featuring such legendary super heroes as IRON FIST, MIGHTY HULK, BATMAN and SUPERMAN.As he�d been keen on drawing since an early age, he began sketching some of his favourite characters � and found he had talent for it.
Soon he progressed to creating his own characters and gave them names like MONAD and LUCH of the LONG.
Now, with the help of two young friends, he produces complete stories in comic form, featuring his own heroes.
Recently, Grant wrote to Marvel publications, the firm which produces most of these �power-packed� American comics � and asked for a job.
Of his work, the comic�s editor, Neil Tennant told him:
�We�re all very impressed with it � I�ve kept a piece of your art and your name and address should any vacancies arise at Marvel in the future.�He has already contributed work to Marvel.
Grant has no set formula for his comic strip stories.
�I think up a basic plot and make up the story as I go along,� he explained.
And he easily flits from story to story, adding a frame here and a frame there. His average work rate is about two pages a day.A fifth year pupil at Alan Glen�s Secondary School, Grant already has his art �O� level, and hopes to go to Art School eventually.
He says: �I�m hoping to take up art as a career. If that doesn�t come off I�ve nothing else in mind.�
Grant, who also writes poetry and is half way through a novel based on the Arthurian legends, says of his own art work: �I create super-heroes because I think people want to read about super heroes just now.
�I like to put characters into a superhero situation and see how they would react.
A lad with a great future is Grant Morrison.
When I get home tonight and have access to my vast archives, I’ll try to find a relevant bit concerning Neil Tennant’s time with Marvel.
Earth, Sun, Moon.
Comments Off | Posted: April 11th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedAs a latecomer to the whole Love And Rockets thing1, I’m more excited than I have any real right to be over the forthcoming Ignatz title from Gilberto Hernandez, New Tales of Old Palomar. Set when most of the Palomar cast were children, this three-chapter miniseries debuts in September with issues coming in six-month intervals. Deep amongst the long boxes of a certain comics shop, Mike Sterling is smiling even as he sorts through Midnight Sons issues to stick up on eBay.
Joining Beto are Marco Corona doing a title called Reflections and Richard Sala’s take on Snow White, Delphine. I’ve never seen Corona’s work before, but I do hope I can find a translation of his Frida Kahlo — Una Biografia Surreale sometime soon, as that sounds right up my alley. Anyway, you can find out more by visiting this entry at Flog!, the Fantagraphics Blog.
While I’m speaking of fine, fine graphic novels, I should point out that the NBM edition of Bluesman Volume 1 is hitting shelves this week. If you want to know what I think of this, go read my review from six weeks back.
1I’m actually still working my way through Locas after blowing through Palomar in a week. I am deeply ashamed.
New Site Design. (Reload / Refresh)
Comments Off | Posted: April 10th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedDecided I hated the old look quite a lot.
Fixed it.
Anyway, here’s three Eisner sketches of New York from this book.
