Read Comics

I read comics every day. I don’t think a single day goes by any more where I don’t read at least one, and usually, I read a trade’s worth. After all, that seems to be how most comics are packaged these days. While these won’t be complete reviews, I’m going to attempt to share my thoughts on what I read each day. If something I read warrants it, I’ll go into it more thoroughly.

So far I haven’t read much of Secret Invasion, although on the way back from Wizard World Chicago I caught up with The Initiative. Today, I started with an online checklist I found, reading Mighty Avengers #13, New Avengers #40, and Avengers: The Initiative #14. I know I’m a bit behind the times with these, but I wasn’t really interested in starting this until stuff started to be available in trade, or I was able to borrow them from a friend en masse. The stuff I’ve heard so far makes it seem that Secret Invasion itself will be much better read in one sitting…or at least not having to wait month by month.

So far, we just have the paranoia setting in, with no one knowing who is a skrull, except for 3-D Man. It’s kind of awesome how this character is getting a prominent role. I admit that I love it when minor characters are brought to the fore, like in Agents of Atlas and Shadowpact. Reading them in bunches like this, the art and writing tend to give me a bit whiplash, with such different styles as Bendis and Slott, Maleev, Gage, and Cheung.

I started the X-Factor: The Only Game in Town trade, reading issues 28 and 29, and finished off the latest collection of Legion of Super-Heroes, featuring the return of Jim Shooter. Quite a contrast in these two series, X-Factor keeping with the hard-boiled style started in the initial Madrox mini-series, and Legion spanning the galaxy with plenty of giant monsters and sci-fi action. Peter David is a bit more enjoyable to read than Jim Shooter right now, although I admit to a bit of bias against Shooter and his anti-gay edict when he was Editor in Chief of Marvel. I notice that Shooter lays it on a bit thick with Invisible Kid’s attraction to Giselle. I wonder if that has anything to do with the gay relationship between Lyle and Chemical King, and then later with Brainiac 5, in various iterations of the title. I am happy that Shooter ended the Lightning Lad being over his head in charge scenario; it was getting pretty tiresome and repetitive, and a little bit trite that he didn’t have any sort of assistant, computerized or otherwise. Come to think of it, both Lightning Lad and Madrox were feeling the burdens of leadership in these issues, but on different scales. Both of their teams are going up in flames, they both feel like things are out of their control, but they’re being blamed for it all. I’m also happy to see the return of Arcade. I feel I should’ve recognized his touch earlier, but I was surprised to see him appear when I turned the page. The cane is a bit Riddler-esque, but I love his Space Invaders socks. Nice touch with the Vote Saxon stickers as well. Everyone really does watch Doctor Who now, don’t they?

Handknit Heroes #1 has arrived… I can’t wait for #2! I first heard about this concept from the creator, our very own Stephanie Bryant (aka Mortaine). Stephanie is an old friend who has carved out a career as a professional writer, always finding new and interesting ways to ply her trade, most recently supporting her lifestyle as a traveling writer/ knitter, writing out of an RV with her husband. I received issue #1 in the mail with a nice press kit, announcing that she has turned her idea into a real published comic book with story and art… and knitting pattern!

The story has 4 main characters; a mom and her teenage twins, and one of their friends. Unbeknownst to each other, they all have developed powers. In this first issue, some of them start making connections, but it is clear that there is much more to come. I really enjoyed the art, which evoked the cuteness and angst inherent in teenage years. There was one panel I loved where mother and son sit eating ice cream together, separated by secrets, but sharing the same method of holding their spoons.

I had an unfamiliar feeling while reading this- wanting to knit something. I’m sure it will pass soon, but I’m impressed that it’s even possible. I had noticed the design as soon as it appeared in the story, thinking it was cute and functional (I hadn’t noticed that it was also featured on the back cover). I like the way that the piece was integrated into the story and the art, and the charming instructions and description of the designer in the back.

I am putting for my subscription as soon as I get paid, so that I don’t miss the next issue. For now, this book is only available on the comicknits website.

Mark Waid, editor of Boom Studios is giving away issue #1 of Hexed, a new comic written by Michael Alan Nelson and drawn by Emma Rios. It’s a good read, and well worth a look (more so because it’s free!). With a hot female protagonist who has some sort of magical powers, set in a christian mythos, it was a bit reminiscent for me of Strange Girl.

Click on the cover, or click here to go to the blog post and see the full issue. You may have to scroll down some before you get to the images. There’s a video about how Boom Studios is promoting the comic above the actual comic.

(Via Boing Boing.)

I’ve only just discovered ShortPacked!, a webcomic more or less about a bunch of toystore employees. It’s pretty good stuff, and if I weren’t at work right now, I’d probably waste a few hours reading it from the beginning.

(Via MinnPost, who got permission to reprint a really great recent comic about Clark Kent in the newmedia age.)

It’s little things like this that just make me grin when I read comics:

In The Punisher presents: Barracuda #2 (written by Garth Ennis, drawn by Goran Parlov), there’s a throwaway line when Barracuda sees a former fellow inmate on a first class flight to a banana republic.  Digby, the former inmate who is shaking in his boots at seeing Barracuda confesses that he now works for Hart Consolidated, who sent him on the trip to look into someone’s financials.  Barracuda says that Hart’s one of the biggest outfits in the country, why would they hire a fraud like Digby?

Anyone know what Hart Consolidated is a reference to?  And the name Digby?

This last week saw the release of not one, but two new series based upon L. Frank Baum’s stories about Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tip, Jack Pumpkinhead, Glinda, and the rest in the land called Oz.

First up is Marvel’s adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Yes, this is the story on which the classic movie was based, but those looking for an adaptation of the movie will be (hopefully pleasantly) surprised.  The first issue of this 8-part series takes Dorothy from Kansas to the fateful meeting of the Scarecrow.  Written by Eric Shanower (no stranger to Oz, having done some graphic novels in the past), the comic faithfully replicates the whimsical, lighthearted, and innocent storytelling found in the original novel.  But the real star of the story is artist Skottie Young, who’s dreamlike drawings suggest a fantastical storybook quality that fits the tale perfectly.  I can’t think of any artist better matched to the story than he is.  I particularly loved his Scarecrow, and Oz in itself breathes deep with life.  Credit must also be given to colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu, who’s watercolors are bright, vibrant, and breathtaking.  Highly recommended.

This week’s other tale of Oz is The Land of Oz: The Manga – Return to the Emerald City, which covers the second part of Baum’s second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz.  While the manga has different characters, a different tone, and a different feel than Marvel’s adaptation, it is just as successful an adaptation of Baum’s Oz.  The Return to the Emerald City is written and drawn in glorious black and white by David Hutchinson for Antarctic Press, and comparing the two series you can really sense that there is a shared setting – that the stories take place in the same universe.  This story takes place well after the movie, as Tip and his companions Jack Pumpkinhead, Mr. H.M. Woggle-bug, Sawhorse, and Nick Chopper (The Tin Woodman) help the Scarecrow in his struggle against Queen Jinjur and the witch Mombi.  It’s a fun, farcical tale of misfortunes that make a great read.

Between the two I have to give the edge to Marvel’s version simply due to the outstanding art, but both make an excellent diversion to a land that has fascinated us for generations.

Jason, Florence and Marty talk about a bunch of stuff this time, including: Buffy: Season 8 #19, comic books at the Library, Umbrella Academy, Astro City, The Authority, the Luna Brothers and Sword, I Hate Gallant Girl, Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, superdickery.com, Neil Stephenson and Anathem, The Last Will and Testament, Jason’s new G1 phone purchase, and how sick we all are.

Somewhere in the middle, Jason tunes out and Florence and Marty launch into Married with Comics and talk about this week’s comics (Authority #5, Sword #13 & I Hate Gallant Girl #2).

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #024 (23 MB, 51 minutes)

Florence and Marty are joined by Florence’s sister Susie for a long-ish discussion of the new Buffy: Season 8, issue #19. Then Florence and Marty briefly discuss The Walking Dead #55.

Be warned, the spoilers start right away.

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Marty was right.

He has been trying to get me to read PS238 for weeks, and now that I finally picked it up, I have to agree that it’s awesome.  I’m already into the fourth volume, and I am glad that I still have a fifth to look forward to on the shelf.

For those of us who don’t recognise the nomenclature, apparently schools in New York use this naming system.  PS238 is just one more school on the surface, but 3 miles underground it is a high tech, high security school catering to kids with special gifts such as flight, super strength, telepathy, communing with the realm of daydreams, etc.  Aaron Williams takes this basic premise and riffs on familiar archetypes while he tells really interesting stories.  He goes beyond the obvious ideas and tells small stories about a range of kids and teachers, then adds in bigger arcs that span more than one trade.  I’ll keep reading and lending these out as long as Aaron keeps writing them.

This week Florence and Marty discuss Invincible #55, and Ender’s Game #2. As usual, spoiler alert applies.

Invincible #55

Florence: Invincible this week focused on one of my favorite characters, Allen the Alien.

Marty: You don’t think it was also about the dad?

Florence: I DO think it was also about the dad, but the dad isn’t one of my favorite characters. Honestly, I’d forgotten why Allen was extra-strong, why he was in the same place as Invincible’s dad, but I didn’t have any problem going along for the ride. I wasn’t that caught up in the central fight of the story, but I just enjoyed seeing Allen again, and there was an interesting revelation about the Viltrumites that seems like it will advance the over-all story.

Marty: That’s what I’m talking about. FINALLY we’re getting back to the main story. It’s been at least four issues now since we saw Allen or the father. This issue was almost good enough to make up for all the time we had to put up with side-stories and such, but the fight scene did seem to go on forever.

Florence: What did you think of the new lion guy?

Marty: I think he’s actually a tie-in from something. I’m not sure what.

Florence: Something else in image?

Marty: *looking it up* Battle Beast actually just appeared before in issue 19, I don’t think he’s a tie-in from anything else. So never mind. Anyway, yeah, I’ve thought Allen was one of my favorite characters since he was very first introduced. He was pretty bad-ass in this issue. He’s totally invincible now!

Florence: haha…

Marty: There was also a page at the end of the issue with the dad’s face pretty close up, and he had blood all over his mustache. I feel like that was some kind of weird nod to an obscure fetish or something.

Ender’s Game #2

Marty: I felt like this second issue was not nearly as strong as the first. They are really glossing over what were, in my recollection, my favorite parts of the book. Basically Ender’s introduction to all the games at battle school, and then of course his learning about the battle room, which they really only get to at the end of the issue. So maybe we’ll learn more about that (with Ender) in issue #3. I did realize after reading this issue that with only five issues total, they’re really going to have to cram the story in.

Florence: I thought they were too heavy handed about Ender’s importance, and all the behind-the-scenes manipulations that went into bringing him into battle school. It’s possible that I’m being more forgiving to the book, I was much younger when I read it, and remember really loving it, but at the time it felt much more from the point of view of Ender. We weren’t privy to information outside of his knowledge, and we were really immersed in his experience, which made the revelation at the end of the book a very emotional shock.

Marty: I had a similar impression, but I’m really not remembering 100%. I think they right away go into the perspective of the instructor in this second issue, and I don’t remember that from the book at all.

Florence: I remember hearing lots of rumors about an Ender’s game movie a few years ago, and I always felt very protective of the story, and skeptical that they would do it right.

Marty: I’m pretty sure it’s still in the making. I hear something new about it every few years. IMDB has it listed as still in pre-production.

Florence: I have to say, I do really like the art of this comic (especially the color). And, in a way, I’m glad they’re doing it as a miniseries, rather than trying to stretch out the story into a much longer arc. It’s definitely a story that has a beginning and an end.

Marty: The coloring of the comic really reminds me of Orson Scott Card’s run on Ultimate Iron Man. I wonder if the artists are the same. (Looks like it’s the same artist, Pascal Ferry, who did Ultimate Iron Man II, 2008.)

Marty: I feel I should say something about what a bastard Orson Scott Card has turned out to be.

Florence: He’s listed as the creative director, and executive director, but not the script writer for the comic.

Marty: His politics are what damn him.

Florence: …his eagerness to apply his whacked-out religious beliefs to social commentary on his blog.

Marty: I’m still interested in reading the rest of these, and will probably continue to pick them up.

Flight is quite easily one of my favorite series of graphic novels. the Flight books are anthologies of short, illustrated stories, each unique, some continuous, others not. Each story in the volume is written and drawn by a different author, leading to a sort of sampling of styles and tastes. All the stories seem to have in common is that they all have something to do with the word “flight” whether directly or circumspectly. Each volume contains an ideal balance of reserved thought, and absolute hilarity. The contrast from one section to the next, from the story to the artwork to the very concept, is very refreshing and makes the books that much more satisfying to read. These books were an absolute joy to read, and I would recomend them for anyone. I can’t provide much in the way of an in depth summary, or plot synapsys, as there is too much in theese volumes to condense. all I can do is recomend that you read them. What I can do, is assure you that there is something in these books for everyone, and that I am certain that you will enjoy them.

Since these will be spoiler filled discussions, we’ll hide these behind a link. This week your favorite married comic-reading couple will be discussing four really good comics that happen to have come out this week: The Authority: World’s End #4, Gigantic #1, Sandman: The Dream Hunters #1, and Top 10 #2. (Not in that order.)

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This is the second installment of Florence and Marty reviewing their weekly pull list. Warning: these will be spoiler-filled entries.

Sword #12

Florence: So we’ve been complaining that not a lot has happened in a few issues. Something happened in this Issue that’s going to send ripples… But what happened seems so predictable that I wasn’t really excited about it. And it seems like what’s going to come next also seems incredibly predictable. I would love to be pleasantly surprised. With Girls I never knew what was going to come next. It’s almost as if what happened shocked the characters inside the book, but it didn’t really effect anyone reading it. Reading about people being shocked doesn’t necessarily produce excitement. They set up a big epic fight to the death, and they dragged it out for several issues, so at some point someone had to win, and it was probably going to be the main character. I’m bored.

Martin: What I’d like to say is that I think there’s really no way it can be that dumb. But all signs do indicate that’s what’s happening. I’m not sure he’s really dead.

Florence: It’s even more boring if he’s not really dead.

Martin: Yeah, I definitely see what you mean, then it’s like we’ve spent the last three issues doing nothing.

Florence: It seems like, in their minds (the luna brothers), it was really interesting and creative the things he could do with water. But we’ve all been reading comic books for a long time, being punched with an ice fist just doesn’t strike me as that innovative.

Martin: He had a big floating ice ball too! But I completely agree. I did think the end of the comic was interesting, the fact that this is all publicised and on the news suggests the government organization that had her in custody briefly earlier in the comic clearly doesn’t have all that much influence.

Florence: I did think the last page was my favorite part.

Martin: I think my favorite part was seeing the battle scene from above. It was cool how all the ice spread out from the center point of his death. I hope we get to find out how they got their powers. Because if this is really the death of a god, don’t you think there’d be reprecussions? I mean they just killed water. Now what?

Florence: I never thought they were actual gods, they just had the power of gods, compared with humans. There was an origin story somewhere in there.

Martin: I thought all we knew was that their mother had been an outcast, and gone up to a mountain, and that was about it.

Florence: I’ve forgotten it now.

Martin: Exactly.

No Hero #2

Martin: I can’t help but wonder how much we’re paying for those FIVE pages of Avatar ads and order forms in the back of this comic.

Florence: I definitely felt like the comic ended abruptly, because I didn’t know we were that close to the end with all those additional pages.

Martin: That minor quibble aside, I did really like this. I think the main guy, the inventor of the drug, is naive to think he can be the only one who ever creates superheroes.

Florence: I think he uses his current power to sabotage anyone who comes close to reproducing the formula.

Martin: Obviously. But there was some kind of hint in there that this has been an ongoing struggle. They’ve been “attacked”, and I thought that was clearly by some other people with superpowers.

Florence: I think that attack could have been accomplished by someone without superpowers, and I thought that no one else had reproduced it yet.

Martin: I think time will prove me right on this one. But who knows. I just can’t see taking a super-powered person apart the way they said happened (in Minneapolis no less!) without having other super-powered people on their side. (Try saying “super powered people” three times fast.)

Florence: I think their knowledge of the anatomy is what allowed them to do it, not that they had to have identical powers.

Martin: We shall see. But you’re wrong. Oh, and I do really like the art. I think Juan Jose Ryp is getting a lot better.

Florence: I don’t really like the art. I think it serves the story pretty well, but it’s too brutal and bloody for me to enjoy it.

Martin: There wasn’t even that much blood in this one. Just some vomit, and a sort of blood-spattered hallucinatory orgy at the end. Do you think he’ll survive the induction?

Florence: Yes, or else there wouldn’t be a comic about him. I do think he’s intended to be the main character. He’s just been sort of passive so far. I think his journey is supposed to be the main story.

Martin: I think he’s getting set up to be the one who takes down the whole organization.

Florence: So what do you think the consequences they are referring to are? Is it just the pain and suffering he’s going through now, or that it’s long term? I think it fucks with your anatomy and physiology in ways that are not well balanced. In standard superhero fare, once you get your powers, that’s sort of it, you usually don’t have to deal with long term consequences. It’s just assumed that the rest of your bodily functions remain as normal. But in this, a sort of intentional drug-based alteration of the human body, I think the intention is that the rest of your body isn’t going to compensate in a pleasant way. That one woman was saying that you get the power of flight, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that your kneecaps can withstand the force of landing. I think there are going to be additional consequences that we don’t really understand yet.

Martin: So do you think this is going to be more about him, or more about the political story? I feel like what you’re suggesting could be a really cool premise for an interesting comic. But I think, and maybe this is just because I know this same creative team (Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp) created Black Summer, that this is going in a totally different direction. I actually believe that the story you’re talking about might be more interesting, but that it’s more likely this is not a personal story. I would love to be wrong about that, but I think the frequent TV spots, and talking heads really illustrate that this is supposed to be a bigger story than just about one man.

Oh my love, how I look forward to seeing your beautiful face, and your big chin, on the big screen again. And in person! The glorious Bruce Campbell will be in Minneapolis introducing six screenings of his new movie, My Name is Bruce on December 5th, 6th and 7th. Squeeeee! If you’re too young to know him as Evil Dead’s Ash Williams, you may know him as Sam from the USA Network’s Burn Notice. But there’s so much B-Movie greatness in between.

Florence and I have decided to do reviews of new issues from our pull list as they come out each week. Beware of spoilers, as we’ll be discussing the comics in depth. So far, as you can see, we have a fairly lame and generic title. Let us know if you have any suggestions in the comments.

This week it was just two issues, the new Echo and Invincible. Enjoy.

Echo #7

Florence: Moore’s art has really developed over the years, especially on men, since I’m more used to him drawing women. I feel like he’s doing a good job creating more than one male face. I really like his style, but he does sort of tend to have one face for all women, even though he does woman’s body shapes in more variety, which I really appreciate. I’m most intrigued by the character of Ivy Raven right now. When we were first introduced to her, she was a very sweet and loving mother, and now she’s clearly very formidable. In one panel we see her anger, and it’s scary. It shows that no matter what level of calm she exhibits, she’s dangerous. The last panel of the comic was very difficult to decipher.

Martin: I agree about the last panel being confusing. I won’t describe it for fear of giving it away, but I probably couldn’t if I wanted to, since I have no idea what happened. The old guy on the cover was the only other person at the crash site where Julie got her metal breastplate. Obviously he’s got some of whatever she has stuck to his hand. We only see him for about half a page in the whole comic, which felt weird since he was so prominently featured before we opened the book. I do feel like this was consistent with the rest of the story telling in the series, but the pace seemed to slow down quite a bit here. Not as much happens in this issue, and I guess I was a little disappointed by that.

Florence: That’s really just in contrast to the pacing he’s set already with the other issues in this title. That’s not compared to any normal comic’s pacing. This one has just started big and kept going. He’s set us up to expect that from every issue.

Martin: That’s true, but I guess I did feel like there were unnecessary scenes in this comic. If it doesn’t turn out that there’s a reason for the missing dog, then her asking about it was only to further highlight the stupid pet monkey that’s chained outside their motel room. The monkey got way more panels than necessary, IMHO.

Invincible #54

Florence: It’s your turn to go first.

Martin: Ha! I’m the one typing, and it looks like you were wrong about that prediction! Seriously, WTF? Invincible has sucked for like 4 or 5 issues now. I don’t even remember the last time it was cool. What ever happened to stuff happening in this comic?

Florence: I have detected no deterioration. I think it’s nice that he’s dating Atom Eve. I could have done without the four page spread of their relationship. It seemed to be both past and present. Like a montage.

Martin: I was going to say that, damnit. It was totally a montage! Montages are lame in all their forms. Except when used to make fun of montages, like in Team America: World Police.

Florence: Really though, if this just disappeared and I got twice as many Walking Dead issues, I’d be fine.

Martin: Totally. I never thought it would get to this point. I used to love Invincible SO MUCH. I do have hope for the future though. Maybe someday they’ll get back to the plot line with that one-eyed alien, and Invincible’s dad…

Florence: Now that I think about it, I did really like the future stuff, the stuff with Immortal. It seemed like a plausible path for him.

Martin: I guess this was sort of like a one-off book. I think Kirkman should have written it as an Invincible spin-off with a different title. Maybe another Invincible Presents Atom Eve… No, that one actually had a cool story, and stuff happened in it. Maybe it should have been called Atom Eve loves Invincible.

I just finished reading the self-contained DC Justice series #1-12.  The entire run was co-written and drawn by Alex Ross, so the art is spectacular and the characterization is spot-on.  That’s not surprising, since I associate Ross with a consistent quality and craftsmanship that I don’t expect with most comic creators.  I really appreciate the epic feel without a cascading set of companion purchases, you can get the entire story in just 12 issues.

Justice pulls together the Justice League and many of their most familiar enemies for a story set on a grand scale.  I don’t want to spoil the premise, but one thread involves the release of Batman’s secret files on his companions and foes, several of which are revealed at the end of each issue, which is a treat.  Ross managed to showcase the complex humanity in every character (including the aliens and talking gorillas), never succumbing to the bla impersonal action blowouts that can easily overwhelm some comics.  There are big action blowouts, but by using the first-person voices of several characters in turn, we’re still able to see the personal aspect of the biggest battles.

It’s tough to convey the fact that this is also full of very funny moments, grounded in iconic characters we know well.  I can’t be the only one to crack up at a well-placed Batman glare.

This comic caught my eye this week, since I am a huge Obama fan.  I grabbed it on impulse, and only after staying at the store and waiting for Marty and Mike to finish their browsing, did I pick up the companion issue about John McCain.  Both comics seem intended to tell snippets of the life story and key political turning points of the two most prominent 2008 presidential candidates.  Like me, the creators of these comics seemed to be enamored with Obama, focusing on his childhood in Hawaii, the struggles that his mother and grandmother faced with limited incomes, his strong potential in school, and his connection to outsiders like “the Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance artists” in college.  I nearly swooned at the idea of my president being influenced by structural feminists.  His introduction to his wife as a respected professional colleague who had grown up on Chicago’s South Side was really sweet.  They both come off as fiercely intelligent and committed to social activism, which again made me want to squee.  On the whole, I came away knowing a little bit more about Obama’s personal past, but mainly just reinforcing the positive views I already held, which was fine by me.

McCain’s comic was piled up at the comic shop, seemingly untouched.  His cover is a little bit more unsettling, and the content included both a respectful account of his wartime experience and his association with past scandals.  There was a lot in here that I didn’t know about McCain’s history, which probably reflects more on my lack of interest than on any deep reporting conducted by the writers.  There are references in the back of the comic to biographical sources, but they are very vague and could not be used to substantiate any of the details.  To me, this comic tells the story of a man who has lived a long and varied life, who has a hot temper, who has been implicated in scandal (he cheated on his first wife, and had close ties to one of the famed Savings & Loan architects as a senator back in the 80′s).  One of the other tidbits that stuck in my brain is that his great-grandfather was a slave owner who died fighting for the South in the Civil War.  I know that it’s not fair to hold that against his descendant, and we’ve had many southern presidents whose family history I have not questioned.  The comic also details several of the principled stands that McCain took during the 2000 presidential primary that he has since contradicted. This includes his opposition to tax cuts aimed at the very wealthy, campaigning with Jerry Fallwell (whom he had earlier termed as an “agent of intolerance”), and his earlier abhorrence of dirty campaigning.  I came away from this comic with a slightly dimmer, but more nuanced, view of John McCain as a person, which reinforced my desire to see him far from the highest office in the land.

I found these interesting, but not scholarly or impartial, nor likely to change anyone’s existing political convictions.

A co-worker sent me this link to a Star Wars: The Clone Wars comic in something called the Star Wars Online Reader. There are three parts to it, each one meant to segue between one of the three Clone Wars TV episodes that have been released so far, and that you can also watch on StarWars.com. I’m assuming they’ll also be adding a new comic each week as a new TV episode comes out. Each episode also has a viewing guide (with detailed synopses), and some of them have commentary.

I didn’t actually go see the Clone Wars movie, but some of this stuff is pretty good, and I might have to watch it now.

Bonus link: StarWars.com has some weird stuff. Here’s an article on how to make star wars themed cat toys.

Rain Taxi returns with their annual book festival this Saturday, October 11th, at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College campus. With it they’re bringing Love and Rockets co-creator Jaime Hernandez, along with local cartoonist Zak Sally (Sammy the Mouse). They’ll be speaking at 1pm in the Spruce Room.

Co-sponsored by the Comic Art Program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Also? Check out this Love and Rockets inspired tattoo.

The Twin Cities stop of his tour is:

Wednesday, October 8th at 7:00pm
At Saint Paul’s United Church of Christ
900 Summit Avenue
St Paul, MN 55105
651-224-8320

Hosted by Red Balloon.

This venue seats 1100, and is home to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Event is free and open to the public, no tickets needed.

On Tuesday, October 21st, at 7PM CST at Florence & Marty’s apartment, we are holding our next ReadComics book club.  This month we will be discussing the first trade paperback of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, “Days Gone Bye”, which collects issues #1-6.

Warning: This is a scary and explicit zombie story, and this volume is just the beginning of a very long story, so you shouldn’t expect a tidy ending. It has gotten great reviews for writing, and has already sucked me in thoroughly.  I’m looking forward to a lively discussion with our crew of Kirkman fans and anti-zombie spokespeople.

In a slight change of plans, we’re putting off our Buffy Season 8 #12-19 ReadComics book club selection until November, in hopes that we can include Susie’s expertise and that Joss actually puts out issue #19 someday.

UPDATE: Florence is sickly, so we’re going to try and postpone this just one week to the 28th. Hope everyone can still make it!

Random minicomic from Lutefisk Sushi Volume C (2008)

A painful childhood experience given life in drawing, The Slide, by Jesse Haller, features a young boy who is in over his head, literally.  I remember a number of similar events from my own past, although for me, it was the tornado slide that gave me a fright.  I remember the line of kids behind me, and how far down it looked.  The stricken look on the child’s face is very believable, and I feel that I probably shared his expression.

A few notable things: the first page sets up the location and season, and the slide in the title features prominently, in sort of a cross between nostalgia and loneliness.  There are a lot of little things that I caught as I read through it several times, like the detail in the background houses, and the playground equipment.  The view from the top of the slide, and then again from the bottom.  Toby’s sleeve from his hand-me-down flannel, which won’t stay tucked.  The way Toby is overwhelmed by the word balloons, and in particular the word balloon in the shape of the word GO.  His buttcrack revealed to further his embarrassment after he reaches the bottom.  And then the expression on his face in the last panel…I have to admit, I’m having a little trouble figuring this one out.  There’s something up with his mouth, maybe he got a bloody lip by sliding down on his face.  Could just be dirt.

A short, simple comic, but of such a strong shared memory.

I have the second Mighty Avengers collection checked out from the library, and I finished it this morning.  Of particular interest to me is issue 9, where the team invades Latveria to arrest Doom for turning most of Manhattan into Venom symbiotes.

What I found somewhat fascinating about this issue is that out of 24 pages (counting the cover), half of the pages consist of little more than a single large drawing.  Six of the pages are double-spreads of the Avengers battling Doombots.  A few others have small ancillary panels, but again, the primary art is one large drawing.  The drawings are quite detailed.  Lots of action is occuring in them.  But without a doubt, this is the “blockbuster action flick” of comics recently.  It’s like the last hour of Transformers.  Talk about your decompressed storytelling!  Six pages in a row of just enormous battle scenes.  It’s like a pin-up magazine rather than a comic.  I really wonder what people who plopped down three bucks for this thought, especially knowing that they would then have to wait another month to get the next issue.  Having got it from the library, I feel like I got the better end of the deal.

I haven’t looked up any other reviews of the comic yet, or any kind of response from Bendis on the message boards, but just looking at this comic as a single entity, you get the feeling that he may have been a little overworked at the time, and told Bagley to fill up some pages with fighting.

I am enjoying what I’m reading of Mighty Avengers so far, except I keep waiting for someone to say “Bwah ha ha!”  Iron Man’s repartee with Doom in the next issue is hugely reminiscent of the dialogue from the ’80s Justice League series, which is not a bad thing.  Super-hero comics could definitely use a bit more humour these days, in my opinion.

Carrie alerted me to this Goodreads interview with Neil Gaiman.

GR: Let’s talk about your new book. What inspired the story for The Graveyard Book?

NG: Twenty-three years ago, we lived in a little Sussex town in a tall house across the lane from a graveyard. We didn’t have a garden, and our 18-month-old son loved riding a tricycle. If he tried riding in the house he would have died because there were stairs everywhere, so every day I would take him down our precipitous stairs, and he would ride his little tricycle round and round the gravestones. As I watched him happily toddling I would think about how incredibly at home he looked. I thought that I could do something like The Jungle Book with that same equation of boy, orphaned, growing up somewhere else, but I could do it in a graveyard. I had that idea when I was 24 years old. I sat down and tried writing it and thought, “This is a really good idea, and this isn’t very good writing. I’m not good enough for this yet, and I will put it off until I’m better.”

And I’m glad I waited. I think it’s a better book than I set out to write 23 years ago, and I feel like the gods smiled on me, and I got very lucky. Normally, in anything I do, I’m fairly miserable. I do it, and I get grumpy because there is a huge, vast gulf, this aching disparity, between the platonic ideal of the project that was living in my head, and the small, sad, wizened, shaking, squeaking thing that I actually produce. And then there is The Graveyard Book, which is, I think, the first time I’ve felt really satisfied.

…

GR: Let’s go back a few years to The Sandman comic series, which took 2,000 pages and almost a decade of your career to date. Do you have any plans or aspirations to take on a project of this scope in the future?

NG: No! I’m so proud of Sandman. It really did take about 10 years of my life to do. It’s collected in The Absolute Sandmans, which together weigh about 30 pounds, and if you drop them on somebody you will do serious damage. It definitely didn’t leave me thinking, “I need to write more giant things.” Depending on how long I get to live, I will probably get to do another two, maybe even three, more American Gods books, and they are all great, big things, 500 to 600-page books, so it will probably be that length. But I can’t imagine doing anything that takes up my life and my headspace in the same way that Sandman did. There were times when what was going on in Sandman was much more real to me than anything that was going on in the world outside, just because I was spending more time with these characters.

The same site also posted an interview with Neal Stephenson.

UPDATE: Neil Stephenson will be at the Edina Galleria Barnes & Noble next Friday.

This isn’t really a review of a 24 year old comic, it’s more of a reminiscence. New Mutants #21 was the first issue of New Mutants I ever read, and possibly the first Marvel comic that got added to my collection. I was 13, and living in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Prior to that, I was mostly a DC reader, and really didn’t know anything about Marvel other than random Spider-Man comics that I’d read at the barber shop. It was the cover that drew me in for this issue of New Mutants. I didn’t know who the characters were, and I didn’t even really know the X-Men at that point. Not even Wolverine.

I bought the comic and started reading it. There were all these new characters who were about my age, and they had powers. The girls were having a slumber party, and the boys had been to a ball game. It was set at some boarding school, and there were a bunch of other characters who I also didn’t know. There were references to past events that I had no idea about, like Dani being in a wheelchair.  And then the weird stuff really started happening.  Some really strange looking black and white alien robot shows up and starts acting like a vampire, draining the life from organic things.  The blond girl materializes a sword and armor and pops in and out of holes that appear in the air.  One of the girls turns into lava and another turns into a wolf.  And there was a dragon!  And I loved it.  I couldn’t wait to read the next issue and then go back and find the back issues.  I think I ended up getting a package containing the first 20 issues for Christmas that year.  I had no idea who these people were or what was going on, but that just excited me to find out more.  It was expected that I would catch on by jumping into the deep end of this book, even though I was only 13.

There is no way this comic could make it out the door today. There is no synopsis page telling the “story so far”.  It’s not a “jumping on point.”  I guess my point is this: give people, and specifically kids more credit and don’t worry so much about comics being accessible to new readers.  If the stories are good, if they’re well-written, if they’re compelling, if the characters are intriguing, readers will yearn to learn more.  You don’t have to give it all to them on the first page.  When I bought New Mutants #21, there were no trade paperbacks collecting the issues virtually as fast as they came out.  There was no wikipedia to look things up on.  I suppose you could argue that there were message boards in the form of a BBS, but not the way there is today.  There was virtually no way for me to find out who these characters were aside from learning more about them each month, and seeing if I could find the back issues someplace.  But I didn’t care!  I loved learning about them bit by bit, and filling in the missing puzzle pieces where I could.

At some point, the comics industry lost sight of this, and it seems like they now feel that the only way to sell people on comics is to make sure no one ever gets lost, no one feels like they won’t know what’s going on from the beginning.  I constantly hear people complain about continuity, and how it’s impossible to know what’s going on unless you’ve read 20 years of this or that comic.  I’d say that’s only true if the writer isn’t doing their job, and by that, I don’t mean filling the reader in on 20 years of continuity.  I mean the writer isn’t telling a good story in that issue which makes the reader more interested in finding out more about who all these characters are and their histories.  It’s so easy to find that out today, too.  It’s practically impossible to find a comic character that doesn’t have their own page someplace on the Internet.  A friend recently linked me to a website devoted to international super-heroes (he loves the Phillipino ones).  Everything you need to know to follow along with Final Crisis, or Secret Invasion, or even the latest happenings in Duckburg is all there.  Maybe along the way, we as readers got a bit lazy too, after having everything spoonfed to us.

If anything comes of this mild rant, I hope that people will go and find a random comic on the shelf, doesn’t matter what issue number and give it a chance.  Find one where you like the cover, where something speaks to you, and pick it up and read it.  Even though you’ve never heard of these characters, even though you don’t know everything that’s happened to them.  Read it.  And hopefully you’ll feel what I felt reading New Mutants #21 when I was 13.

Those of us who watched Farscape when it was on (1999-2003) know that it was a beautifully shot science fiction show with a staggeringly hot cast of complex female characters spanning many alien species.  The hottest was Chiana, a gray alien exiled from her native culture for her rebellious ways and added to the crew in the middle of the first season, becoming one of the main characters and staying on through the final episode and miniseries.  Spazzy fangirl that I am, when I met the actress who played Chiana, Gigi Edgley, at a wedding/ unicycle competition in Minnesota yesterday, I gawked and grinned, texted Susie, and basked in her stardom.  The rest of the crowd got word that she was a famous actress, but no one else seemed to have a clue about the specifics.

A mutual friend introduced us to Gigi at the wedding, and she was incredibly nice and gracious about fan attention.  She is still doing a lot of appearances at conventions, and has also been branching out into projects of her own.  She is launching a comic titled Blue Shift.  Here is more info from her press release:

What’s Blue Shift?
BLUE SHIFT is a brand new Science Fiction Adventure comic series by Gigi Edgley, an Australian actress best known for her role as “Chiana” on the hit TV series FARSCAPE, and Brian Meredith, a comic book writer of such titles as Sprecken and Lucifer Fawkes and Co-Founder of the Emerald City ComiCon. The artwork for this series is by Sidney Lima, the artist for Zorro by Papercutz.

What’s It About?
BLUE SHIFT is the tale of a young woman named Pepper Jones [pictured above], who is abducted and experimented upon by an alien race that capture and sell humans (and other less advanced races) as slave labor for other aliens.

However, before these malevolent aliens can finish modifying her for hard labor and blind obedience, the unthinkable happens: Pepper fights back! With the help of another captive, she manages to escape their vile clutches, something that has never happened before.

Now, with her new companion at her side, Pepper finds herself traveling among the stars as she makes a new life for herself.

When Is It Coming Out?
BLUE SHIFT is scheduled to be released as a 3-issue miniseries in the summer of 2008. It is currently being produced by Rorschach Entertainment, which has put together a Blue Shift Preview Ashcan that contains the original 10-page story that started it all. This book is available for purchase online.

Buy The Blue Shift Preview Ashcan Here!! [currently out of stock]

More info can be found at the Blue Shift website.

Narcopolis was absolutely phenomenal.

This four-part miniseries was essentially about a future in which one city, (or citystate, we don’t really know how big it is), has colonized the world. This is meant in the historical “exploiting the indigenous cultures” sort of way, except that, as far as we can tell, the entire rest of the world is part of the exploited culture. But all we really see of it are a few African tribes getting blown to smithereens, so I guess that part isn’t especially explicit.

Anyway, you don’t really know whether the main character, named Gray Neighbor, is a freedom fighter, or just one lucky bastard who manages to escape the fascist state a few times, and ends up ultimately in training for the police force.

The first thing that really stood out for me about Narcopolis was the dialog. Anyone who has read George Orwell’s 1984 will probably be reminded of newspeak. As with reading 1984 for the first time, I felt the language really set the book apart from standard fiction (in this case comic book fiction), and really just sounded and felt totally different from what I’d consider to be every day conversational English. You could also tell that writer Jamie Delano really put a lot of thought and effort into the dialog, mostly because it never felt forced or unrealistic.

The parallels to 1984 don’t stop at the dialogue. There are all kinds of elements of the police state at play here, but I don’t want to say too much about plot, because the sense of discovery is part of the attraction of this comic, or it was for me anyway.

The art in Narcopolis is also pretty spectacular. Jeremy Rock appears to have a pretty publishing limited history, (especially when compared to Jamie Delano), but he more than holds his own by giving us a vivid glimpse into this distopia. I should probably mention that there is quite a bit of nudity in this comic, and it’s not for children both visually and thematically.

In short, Narcopolis absolutely blew me away. I am so far behind in reading stuff that the first three issues of this had sat unread on my shelves until this week when issue #4 came out and I resolved to read them all forthwith. Mostly I just wanted to make sure I’d read them before any more issues came out and I would then have had to decide whether to buy another issue of something I hadn’t yet read. Turns out, issue #4 was actually the last in the series, so I needn’t have worried. But I’m glad I did, because it gave me the push I needed to finally read these, and damn was it worth it!

The first issue of the next Northlanders arc came out today, and I decided not to get it.

As those of you who have been paying attention will already know, we chose Northlanders for our very first Comic Book Book Club. This was several months ago now, and just after the sixth issue of Northlanders had been released. I had somehow neglected to add Northlanders to our pull list, so it wasn’t until today that I finally had issues #7 and #8 to finish up the story.

Read on for a spoiler-filled analysis of the series so far, and especially the last two issues of the first story arc. (more…)

Unfortunately, I have to say, the jury is still out on Casey Blue for me.

Issue #4 came out last week, and before last night I had basically been collecting these without reading them. I liked the art, and had been hooked by the first couple of pages of the first issue (labeled “Now”) where it’s revealed that Casey is watching her own funeral. Then we jump presumably before the funeral (for a single page labeled “Then”), and then jump again to the main story line where Casey is a normal high school girl who plays volleyball. (This story line is labeled “In-Between”.)

Interesting enough premise, but in four issues, we have yet to return to that “present day” when Casey watches her funeral. We’ve figured out a bunch about who she is and why she’s a violent killer, although most of that is hearsay from a woman who tells her to “trust her instincts”. Let it suffice to say that we still really don’t know what’s going on.

At first after reading them, I was happy with these purchases, but in retrospect, while I was totally engrossed, not enough is actually happening, and I think my satisfaction with Issue #5 may determine whether I drop the series from my pull list.

I loved this issue for a lot of different reasons.

But an Einstein quote printed in the inside of the front cover has been making me think about it for days:

“Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” –Albert Einstein

The first time I was reminded of it, I was totally confused. I’m in the process of reading the novel Iron Sunrise, by Charles Stross, and all of a sudden the quote is utterly relevant, and I start paging through the book looking for it. I didn’t remember at first that it had been from this entirely unrelated source.

Then later I was thinking about the first Fear Agent TPB that got me all in such a tizzy last week, (I do, finally, have TPB 2 & 3 waiting for me to read them) and I realized the quote is relevant there also, although it’s a bit more of a stretch. Maybe this is just the month for time travel and death in hard science fiction for me. But surprising that it would come from Echo, which, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with time travel (thus far) whatsoever!

Other reasons that I loved this issue: The pacing has really picked up. Things are happening fast. Also, the characters! Such interesting and varied characters have appeared that I immediately want to know their backgrounds and stories. Almost badly enough to permit time taken away from the incredibly fascinating story that is unfolding. In general, this issue is more of the same, and by that I mean REALLY REALLY GOOD. I know I tried to read Strangers in Paradise at some point long, long ago. That was well before I’d read many comics, and I just didn’t get into it. Echo is so good that it makes me want to try again.