I don’t want to get too excited…
Comments Off | Posted: May 10th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized…but this page from 52 is pretty damn sexy.
Review: Vampire Loves
Comments Off | Posted: May 10th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedIn the mid-90s, somebody at Marvel (I want to say Tom DeFalco, but confirming this would require research) famously declared that Sleepwalker was “Sandman done right.” While this sentiment seems silly on the face of things, I’ve come to realize that to some people, having a spooky, nocturnal guy that punched his way out of most situations instead of talking his enemies into a stupor was the right concept. Me, I’m of the mind that while spooky, literary comics are all right, I’d much rather read something else set in the world of horror, if not Sleepwalker.
This is probably why I love Joann Sfar’s Vampire Loves so very much, as it takes the world of Poe, Lovecraft, Shelly, and Stoker and uses it as a backdrop for an unconventional comedy about one bloodsucker’s grappling with romance after breaking up with his wood-nymph girlfriend. The protagonist, Ferdinand, is the sort of vampire that bites with one tooth and would rather listen to folk music than Marilyn Manson, making him ill-suited to the whole dating-among-the-undead thing. It’s while trying to get over Lani that Ferdinand finds himself responsible for a murder investigation, having a horrible time at nightclubs, going on ocean cruises, and working his way through a series of painful near hook-ups that only lead to more misery for him (and laughs for the reader.)
A collection of four French books featuring Ferdinand, the 185-page Vampire Loves is packed with material and is one of the densest books I’ve read in a long time despite having a light, knowing tone. Sfar takes from both current Goth culture trends as well as European mythology to create a lively, believable world that I want to return to, unlike many horror-themed works. His enjoyable cartooning style (also on display in Sardine In Outer Space) invokes Charles Addams while standing out on its own with plenty of body language to liven up the talker bits.
Highly recommended by me, Vampire Loves is out this week. You can view preview pages here.
Comic Book Girlfriend: Number One In A Series.
Comments Off | Posted: May 9th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
She was born in England January 1, 1900 and died in orbit on New Years Eve 1999 after saving the planet. Her family perished on the Titanic and she moved in with her godfather, Albert Einstein. While in Zurich, she told a young Adolf Hitler to drop that whole art thing and look into politics. Soon after, she discovered she had complete control over electricity and in 1919 she stopped aging entirely.
Jenny Sparks traveled to a Sliding Albion, a parallel world where first contact happened during the Renaissance, married their prince, left after realizing what a monster he was, and came back to our world to become a pulp hero in America before operating against the Nazis during the second World War. After a postwar stint as a private eye, she had joined the clandestine British Space Group, an organization responsible for keeping the peace between the various alien races and alternate dimensions. It was while under their employ that she witnessed Sliding Albion’s intentional shunting of a bacterial attack on their territory into our own. The pathogens, when pushed through The Bleed, became the catalyst for a new generation of British superheroes.
These heroes, inspired by their American counterparts, banded together in the 1960s under Sparks’s leadership. However, an unfortunate turn of events forced her to kill one of her own during an open air music festival. After electrocuting the overdosing Abel Eternity, Sparks sank into an alcohol-driven depression that she wallowed in until the 1990s.
It was in the middle of the decade that Henry Bendix convinced her to join Stormwatch, a United Nations superhero organization dedicated to peacekeeping. There, she found yet another group of superpowered people foisted off on her as she unwillingly took command of Stormwatch Black, a covert urban action team. The missions her team went through caused her to re-evaluate her methodology.
After Stormwatch disbanded, Sparks embraced her new vision of what people with extraordinary abilities could and should do, gathering the remains of her Black team and adding a few new players to create The Authority. After fighting cloned superbeings and another attack from Sliding Albion before saving the planet from Earth’s original inhabitants, Jenny Sparks died in the arms of her teammates as the planet moved into a new century.
Her last words to the assembled group:
Save the world. They deserve it.
Be better. Or I’ll come back and kick your heads in.
She smoked a lot, drank too much, and had a hell of a temper. She was the Spirit of the Twentieth Century. That’s why she’s Comic Book Girlfriend #1.
Web-Based Word Processor Machine Go!
Comments Off | Posted: May 9th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedDoes anyone out there have a Writely invite they don’t mind tossing my way? We’re wanting to play with it here at the office and I’ve had no luck through the usual contacts that have that sort of thing lying about.
In other news, baby ducks sure are cute.
I love the sad monkey.
Comments Off | Posted: May 9th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Ivan Brunetti does Evolution.
Weekly Reader.
Comments Off | Posted: May 8th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedYes. Let us do that thing.
DC Comics
MAR060309 52 WEEK #1 $2.50
The second post-Crisis DC Universe starts here! I’m actually looking forward quite a bit to this, at least in theory. Done-in-ones that build a larger picture of the New New DC sounds like…fun to me. That’s something the main DCU hasn’t had in a while. This, combined with the downright joyous Superman titles gives me hope.
FEB060316 AUTHORITY MAGNIFICENT KEVIN TP $14.99
Positively inessential, superhero-loathing material from Ennis. I think it’s a riot, but I’ve consistently proven that my tastes run contrary to the comic nerd zeitgeist.
FEB060261 CRISIS ON MULTIPLE EARTHS VOL 4 TP $14.99
Of course I’m getting this.
MAR060323 JONAH HEX #7 $2.99
Because Mean Bastard Monthly just isn’t doing it for me anymore…
FEB060252 SUPERMAN SHAZAM FIRST THUNDER TP $12.99
A year ago, I would have said “Fuck off!” to someone who said that there’d be a Judd Winick superhero comic I enjoyed, but now I embrace this fine little comic with open arms and even something resembling sincere affection.
Marvel
MAR062084 FANTASTIC FOUR FIRST FAMILY #3 (OF 6) $2.99
We get to see Marvel’s first family (a phrase I will never tire of) in their first public adventures with Casey and Weston building on the bare bones laid out by Lee and Kirby with nary a grumble from me, even if there’s a decidedly more mature theme running through the whole thing. If only the movie’s screenplay had run along similar lines instead of…doing what it did.
MAR062156 SKRULL KILL KREW TP $16.99
I love Grant Morrison’s. I have never made any sort of attempt to conceal this affection. I occasionally enjoy the writings of Mr. Mark Millar. I’m even fond of the delineation provided by Steve Yeowell most of the time. This, however, is an unmitigated disaster for long, painful stretches with only very few highlights, the brightest being Captain America’s appearance. The rest of the time, this comes across as a not-at-all-ironic version of those horrible 90s comics that caused me to flee, flee, flee for a while.
Other Companies, But Mostly First Second
FEB063050 ALIEEEN SC $12.95
MAR063221 DEOGRATIAS TALE OF RWANDA GN $16.95
FEB063051 FATE OF THE ARTIST SC $15.95
FEB063053 LOST COLONY BOOK 1 SNODGRASS CONSPIRACY SC $14.95
FEB063055 SARDINE IN OUTER SPACE SC $12.95
MAR063222 VAMPIRE LOVES GN $16.95
First Second Books has made one of the most impressive debuts I’ve seen in a long time, creating a proper launch that’s unlikely to generate even the slightest sneer from jaded comics bloggers such as me.
I’ve reviewed Sardine In Space and The Fate Of The Artist previously and found them each to be very excellent. I’ve held off on reading Alieeen and Deogratias because both of them seem to require a mood I’ve not quite been in yet. (The latter, especially, seems to drip with some sort of viscous fluid warning me away if I’ve not had a positively stellar day that I wish to see go into the emotional toilet.) I’ll take this chance to go over one of the other titles all quick like, ok? You don’t mind, do you?
The Lost Colony Book One appears to be animator and cartoonist Grady Klein’s debut graphic novel and while it’s certainly ambitious, his newness to the longform version of the media shows. Klein certainly has a very unique and iconic art style, but it seems to be ill-suited for this sort of material. In more than a few panels, I found myself slightly confused by his facial anatomy. Is that a nose? Is that a mouth? There’s a pipe hanging out of it – it must be a mouth! Even in sequences where the action was fairly straightforward, I found myself distracted by an art style that didn’t aesthetically synch with my own tastes.
Also up for some scrutiny is the construction of this volume as its own entity, separate from the ongoing series. Klein spends far too much of this first volume introducing characters that I’m sure will be very important in later books, but have very little function in this installment. I understand that Klein wishes to build a world, but perhaps a micro view was necessary for this introduction.
There is plenty of magic, to be sure. A few characters – Bertha Snodgrass and Pepe Wong, for example – stand out as being delightful right off the bat. Klein’s ability to create a new American history featuring alchemical magic mashed up with steam-powered science also serves him well. As a first volume in a series, I think this has a lot of potential, but as a single tome, I was left unsatisfied. How much of this is personal taste in regards to the art versus analytical thought is probably up for debate.
I’ll review Vampire Loves later, but suffice it to say that I found it to be eminently recommendable.
FEB063405 KINGS IN DISGUISE TP $16.95
This was one of the first “adult” comics I read (thanks to Josh,) with a fascinating, unfliching look on life in the Depression. I flipped through a copy of the new edition yesterday at the new England Mobile Book Fair (which is actually stationary and in Newton, MA) and the new oversized presentation by Norton does this material proud. I nearly bought it before realizing that, yes, I preordered it. Who needs instant gratification anyway?
FEB062876 WOLFSKIN #1 (OF 3) (MR) $3.99
How’s Ellis going to work a cellphone and pierced brunettes with guns into this barbarian tale? I guess we’ll have to read and find out.
Who wants a playlist? You want a playlist! These songs played as I wrote this:
- “You’re My Disco” by Waldorf
- “Now That I Own The BBC” (Motiv 8 Radio Mix) by Sparks
- “Sleeps Tonight” by Dominatrix
- “Seventeen” by Ladytron
- “Oops Oh My” by Ladytron
- “Shake The Disease” (Tiga Remix) by Depeche Mode
- “The Sadness Of Robot And Human” by Valium
- “Shout”(Dub Mix) by Tears For Fears
- “State Farm” by Yaz
- “That Boy Is All About Fun!” by Freezepop
- “Face To Face” by The Twins
- “Burn For You” (12″ Extended Remix) by INXS
Oh, Ironic Dance Party playlist, I do love you so much, except when I find myself doing the “pointing to the beat” thing in public.
Addendum: I just came home and sometimes, just sometimes, I am truly overwhelmed by the generosity of some people. Bully, thank you very, very, very much. What I don’t need will be spread among those who would enjoy the material provided. You are an upstanding stuffed bull whom I owe many a drink. Maybe root beer!
Scott Morse’s Superman.
Comments Off | Posted: May 8th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Found on ScottMorse.com.
There will be content tonight.
Genius Covers Sunday: In Spaaaaaaace!
Comments Off | Posted: May 7th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Kirby Saturday: With John Severin.
Comments Off | Posted: May 6th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
John Severin inked this image from the
Kirby Unleashed portfolio for the
back cover of The Jack Kirby Collector #25.
The featured hero in this piece is Bullseye, a western hero concocted by Jack and Joe Simon in the 50s for their Mainline Comics imprint. TJKC ran this article detailing their failed publishing venture. There’s also a dedicated Bulleye portfolio that Country Arts Studios put out in the late 70s. Oddly enough, I have both Kirby Unleashed and that portfolio, but not a single issue featuring the hero.
Some days, you need some live Mouse On Mars.
Comments Off | Posted: May 5th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized“Twift Shoeblade,” live on Overdrive.
Random Friday Rundown
Comments Off | Posted: May 5th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedThis morning, I walked past one of the local coffee shops on the way to my preferred local coffee shop and I saw a certain employee of said coffee shop on her way in for a day’s employment. Every time I see said employee, I think to myself “Wow, that woman has awesome breasts.” Also every time, I realize she’s looking at me and thinking “Would he stop staring at my awesome breasts?” I then attempt to avoid eye contact and slink off.
This is just one of the reasons that Ragnell is going to beat the living crap out of me one day.
A huge batch of comic reviews? I don’t really feel like ‘em this week. Sorry about that. If you’ve been wondering at the image extravaganza for the last few days, it’s because work is in Extra Mega Crunchtime Mode Extreme and staring at another keyboard and coming up with content when I get home is actually pretty detrimental to my mental well-being. I have learned, though, that posting an image from Rex Libris will double the number of hits to my web site. If you’re one of the visiting librarians, welcome! Please look at the other content and realize I am a gibbering moron at this time.
Anyway, back to this site’s usual subject matter. Yes, I read Infinite Crisis: a big “eh” to everything but the penultimate pages showing the big 3 acting like human beings for a moment or two. It’s not coincidental, I’m sure, that the only bit in Kingdom Come that I truly loved also involved a last-minute scene involving the same three characters acting like people for a moment after all the horror they’d experienced.
Civil War has an immensely satisfying Captain America Beats People Up scene, some heavy-handed political commentary (From Millar?!? The deuce, you say!), and really lovely art by McNiven. Civil War is a very professionally put-together comic that holds a minor bit of interest in me because of a few fictional people that I have an affinity for, but that’s all it is to me. I’m not familiar enough with the current state of the MU to be upset over characters doing something untoward, so maybe I’m not upset when some people think I should be. Alas, alack, etc.
I completely failed to notice that Adhouse’s Noble Boy by Scott Morse was shipping this week, and it’s a lovely thing. With a format like a children’s book and thick, glossy card stock pages, this is the sort of package that fetishists like myself really appreciate. The only real exception I take to the venture (echoed by the lovely Sara when she opened the book) is the unfortunate choice of all-caps Gill Sans Ultra Bold for the typeface. That just won’t do, people.
Yes, this is the sort of thing I think about sometimes.
I’ve mentioned my admiration for Ennis’s MAX run on The Punisher, but the storyline in the latest trade paperback, combined with my recent thoughts concerning capital punishment, really gave me pause a few times. I mean, here’s a comic about a man who does awful, awful things to people who truly deserve it. and I derive some sense of pleasure from the experience.
The hypocritical dichotomy this presents is not lost on me at all. Why should I want a scumbag like Moussaoui to live while rooting for Frank Castle to make sure that the Romanian slave traders get what’s coming to them? Is my enjoyment (and admiration) of this material derived from my compartmentalization of my entertainment choices in a neat little box? Is it because I secretly want to go out and murderate those who cause our society harm?
My theory is that I love this material because it’s deeply, blackly funny to me and I get the same kicks from this as Jim does from the adventures of Jack Bauer. The Punisher, much like Captain America and Batman is hyper-competent and while he may have the occasional stumbling block – running out of ammunition, a civilian getting caught in the crossfire, etc – he always, always gets the job done and maybe that’s what I want. His war may never be over, but at the end of each of these perfectly-executed justice fantasies, the bad guy is disposed of.
For someone who wasn’t going to write a lot about comics, I sure filled some white space there, didn’t I? Speaking of comics, that thing with the Mysterious Publisher appears to be proceeding apace and while I got some truly great submissions for this whole thing, the nod went to Benjamin Birdie, who took a pretty poor test script and turned in this lovely thing:
According to the Mysterious Publisher, an announcement of sorts for the actual project may be happening early next week, if my beloved art monkey turns in his work on time. If you are said art monkey, get back to work! Less blog reading and more panels! Chop chop!
Summer of 2009? X4: The Xavier Code
Comments Off | Posted: May 4th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedI can’t believe anyone managed to make Nightcrawler more useless than usual…
You know what? The scary thing is that the later puzzles in the Fireside Marvel’s Mysterious Secret Messages book are actually much, much more difficult than the drivel that got Dan Brown acclaimed as a “Smart Writer” by people who don’t read things that aren’t TV Guide or Parade.
A Bargain At Twice The Price
Comments Off | Posted: May 4th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
From Rex Libris #4.
Political Content Follows.
Comments Off | Posted: May 3rd, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedThis article about the penalty phase in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial features what is perhaps the bravest statement I’ve seen anyone make in this current political climate:
Rosemary Dillard, whose husband Eddie died in the attacks, said of Moussaoui: “He’s a bad man, but we have a fair society.” She said of terrorists: “We will treat them with respect no matter what they do to us.”
Her restraint is amazing; she not only lost her husband on 9/11 – she lost a half-dozen coworkers. Rosemary had been with American Airlines for nearly 3 decades and was a base manager at Dulles that morning. She’s been actively involved in the pursuit of truth of what happened and where responsibility lies on that day.
Those elements demanding reciprocity and screaming that “an eye for an eye” is the only way need to look to her example. Rosemary went home every night to an empty bed after spending tireless hours in courtrooms, looking at a man accused of helping make sure her husband died. Makes sticking a ribbon on a car look downright pathetic, doesn’t it?
Hunger Is Not Super.
Comments Off | Posted: May 3rd, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedHelp Jenna raise money for Project Bread by clicking below.
A small donation goes a long way towards helping the
hungry in the Boston area.
"Let me hear you say it."
Comments Off | Posted: May 2nd, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedThe trailer for Superman Returns is now up.
Yes, I think I’ll be seeing this.
I’ve always accepted a certain amount of coincidence…
Comments Off | Posted: May 2nd, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized…and mental retardation in the Silver Age Superman mythos, but this may be taking it too far:
From The Boston Herald
Comments Off | Posted: May 2nd, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedNewbury Comics eyes superstore
By Scott Van Voorhis
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Goodbye Virgin Megastore and hello Newbury Comics?With Virgin Megastore set to leave Newbury Street, Allston-based Newbury Comics sees an opportunity.
The departure of Virgin and its three-story, 46,000-square-foot megastore will open up a pop culture and music void in the Boston area that Michael Dreese, chief executive of Newbury Comics, is eager to take advantage of. Dreese said he is considering opening up a superstore of his own, though it would probably come to less than half the size of Virgin�s Newbury Street music palace, set to shut next year.
However, Dreese, whose 26-store chain has built up a reputation as a music venue favored by local hipsters, isn�t necessarily eager to take Virgin�s Newbury Street store – though he might consider a single floor.
Rather, he is looking for a deal, whether it be in Somerville or Boston.
“When you hear that Virgin is closing, you say let�s go out and open a superstore,” Dreese said. “Ours would be a pop-culture superstore.”
Note to non-locals: no, it’s not a super comic-book store. It’s a record store that sells other junk and happens to have a comics rack in the back, where you can get well-pawed copies of the last month’s worth of DC and Marvel titles.
