The Hurting

Hiatus Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry

Well, don't say I didn't warn you. I'm going to be in California for the next month or so, and while I will be able to check my e-mail and I will try to keep abreast of comings and goings in this here blogosphere, I don't anticipate spending too much time, if any, doing actual blogging. If I do, I'm sure the blogging updates page will tell you.

In case you care (not that you do) my mother is undergoing a rather serious operation and I'm going home for a while to help out. Nothing more, nothing less.

So, while I wanted to finish "Travels With Larry," unfortunately I will have to leave off for the time being. When I return I anticipate picking up right where I left off... which, all things considered, might just be a good thing for Larry, since by then the initial buzz of his first press "blitz" will have worn off across the blogosphere and he'll probably be anxious to hear people talking about him again. So, we'll pick up with the next chapter when I return. Even if the rest of the books in my AiT pile suck (which I doubt) I expect to spend quite a bit of time mulling over Warren Ellis' "Come In Alone" collection and Mr. Young's "True Facts" pamphlet/digest, so expect some good and meaty blogging when I return.

In other news, I'm supposed to pass this along to you, courtesy of the Larry Young Delphi Forum: "Hawaiian Dick" is being made into a movie. Better yet, instead of just another in a long line of Hollywood options, this seems to be actually moving forward, 'cause it looks like they got a star attached, Mr. Johnny Knoxville. (I'll hold off on any jokes about the dubious nature of Mr. Knoxville's stardom - he seems to be getting good advance praise for his work in that forthcoming Graham Parsons psuedobiopic, so I'll withhold judgement - stranger things have happened!)

The trip to the Larry Young Forum is worth it if only to see the James Kochalka pirate illustrations. Does this mean anything? I only ask because AiT/PlanetLar is probably the only serious indie publisher who hasn't published anything by Kochalka...

So, that's it for a while. I'm pretty tired now because the Wife and I just got back from seeing Einsturzende Neubauten in Boston. Great show, just fantastic. If they're in your neck of the woods, you should definitely check them out. I am tempted to say you can't really "get" them unless you've seen them live, but I won't... suffice it to say that The Wife, who has been listening to them for longer even than I, came away with a new respect for what they do after seeing them bang away on their metal instruments in person. And Blixa Bargeld is surprisingly very funny... I don't know what exactly I was expecting but a ten minute stand-up bit about being stuck in the Chicago airport for two days was not it. A splendid time was had by all.

Oh, one last thing you might like to hear. I was having a conversation with Larry Young over the e-mail, and the topic of the next "Astronauts in Trouble" book came out. I won't give anything away, but I will simply say that I think dropping the whole "astronaut" motif and going with "mimes" is a dicey proposition... "Mimes in Trouble" just does not have the same ring to it. And I think everyone who sees Larry Young in any capacity at any point in the future should point out to him that mimes are just not a good idea, and he should be ashamed of himself for thinking otherwise.

So, that's that. If you need me, drop me a line. Catch you on the flip side.

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OK, first of all, if you have any memory at all of the God-Awful "Captain Planet" television show, I think you should go here and read a pitch for the Vertigo version.

Back?

OK, "Travels From Larry" is taking on a life of its own. I seem to be writing more and more about each book. This is going to have to stop at some point, hopefully soon. Starting sometime roughly in the middle of next week I'm going to be taking a long hiatus from blogging and the internet in general (due to family obligations), so I sincerely hope to be done with this by then. I still have more than a few books to get around to and I don't want to shortchange any of them. Don't worry, I won't be gone for good, but I will be gone for a while.





Travels With Larry Part VIII

Astronauts In Trouble Part II

“Astronauts in Trouble” is a deeply satisfying work. It is one of those rare books that seems to have been created with an absolutely perfect conception of exactly what it is and is not. It’s a book that knows its limitations, which is certainly an achievement worthy of our respect.

If anything, my one problem with “AiT” is the fact that Larry Young seems too preoccupied with his own humility. As a storyteller, he rarely makes a wrong move. That his instincts seem so perfectly attuned to this project is perhaps a function not so much of the gemlike-perfection of the stories themselves but of their modest scope.

Let’s face it – science-fiction is nothing if not a historically bombastic genre. It’s usually “end of the universe” this, or “secret of existence” that. Comparatively rare is the sci-fi story that desires nothing more than to open a brief window on another time or place, to elucidate the feelings and thoughts of people in situations just different enough from our own to be interesting. This was something Heinlein excelled in, at least in his early years – illustrating the future through people. When he got older and started writing about Oz and John Carter and bringing together all the disparate elements in his own fiction, he lost sight of this notion.

There’s no bombast in “AiT,” and for that, given the almost comically cosmic nature of most sci-fi, we are grateful. But at the same time, the work is almost too lean, almost too spare. I think I can see why. There’s an old truism that “it’s better to say nothing and be thought a fool, than to speak and erase all doubt.” This is a very subtle trap for growing writers. We all know any number of impossibly verbose beginning authors: the kind who never use one word when twelve will do, and who have never met an adverb they didn’t like. It’s easy to be seduced by minimalism. I’m not going to say that “AiT” is minimal – “I Never Liked You” is minimal. But for a rip-roaring space adventure, it is sparse (particularly “Live From The Moon”).

By the time we get to “Space 1959,” Young’s voice has become much more confident. If anything, I would say that Young’s writing style reminds me of early “Cerebus.” In “High Society” and the early parts of “Church & State,” Sim weaves any number of incredibly complicated plot threads together into a coherent whole somewhat perversely by allowing the reader to perceive only selected parts of the story. In “High Society,” we see only what Cerebus sees, and the young Cerebus’ knowledge of politics is famously scattershot. Similarly, in “Space 1959,” Young adopts the similar tack of allowing the story to unfold organically without any real artificial impetus or conceit. We see the action unfolding as the Channel 7 Team does, and sometimes that means that events are slightly confusing or that character arcs are abridged.

But it’s not laziness, its really quite sophisticated. “Live From The Moon” isn’t quite as successful because there’s more story in it. We don’t see things solely through the eyes of the newscrew. Lots of things happen and Young tries to show us everything, but really, that wasn’t necessary. There's too much going on and he doesn't know how to show his cards gracefully. There’s definitely a progression from the first book to the second. Young knows what he’s doing, and the fact that “Live From The Moon” works as well as it does despite the slightly inconsistent narrative is a testament to his skill. But sometimes no matter how smart you are you have to learn by doing. Sometimes people repeat their mistakes often enough that they call it a career, and sometimes people possess the capacity to learn more from their misses than their hits. This is why “Space 1959” is a better read than “Live From The Moon,” and this is why I think whatever is next might be even better.

“Astronauts in Trouble” makes me want to go watch “The Right Stuff” again, or better yet, maybe get around to reading the book. It’s obvious that Larry Young is attracted to the actual nitty-gritty of rocketry and space travel. I doubt he would be very interested in a universe of frictionless gravity boats and faster than light travel. You never forget that space is a very dangerous place.

“One Shot, One Beer” is a trifle, but a perfectly pleasant trifle. If you’re up on your Bocaccio or your Chaucer you know the drill – a group of strangers are telling stories to pass the time. The stories are fun, with some interesting diversions and a few insights into the details of the “AiT” future history, but the book is mainly a showcase for Young’s dialogue. Of the three main features in the “AiT” omnibus I think this is my least favorite, but I will admit I am usually not a fan of the “manly men drinking beer” genre. Maybe I don’t hang out in bars enough – I mean, I know people do hang out in bars, but I don’t see the attraction. Give me a quiet night at home with the wife and a glass of soda pop. But I can’t stand liquor myself so perhaps I’m just biased.

There are a few brief bits in the end that round out the volume nicely. There’s a great Steve Weissman two-pager that reads like it was ripped out of the pages of “Tykes.” I’m tempted to say that my favorite thing in the entire book is an eight-page Darick Robertson story called “More Fun Than,” but I think I just like it because Robertson draws the funniest monkeys in comics. Someone needs to hire him to do a whole book full of monkeys.

I think “Astronauts in Trouble” is the best thing I’ve so far read from AiT/Planet Lar. It’s as good an adventure comic as you can hope to find on the stands today – intelligent without being cerebral, mordant without becoming Wodehouse In Space. I hasten to say that this Larry Young fellow has a bright future in comics – with a resmue like “AiT” I expect he’ll get himself a gig writing “Thor” or “Metamorpho” in no time at all.

PS - Hey, Larry, I think I know what your next AiT is going to be about. I won’t give it all away, but I’ve got your pitch right here: robot miners in the asteroid belt. You can have it, gratis.







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SWASTIKA EYES

Man, remind me to call people sincerely retarded again sometime soon. It really is fun.

OK, maybe this is my fault - maybe I'm too "subtle." My wife is always accusing me of being a horrible joke-teller because I'm so straight-faced you can't tell when the punchline is being delivered (to say nothing of the content of the jokes themselves). I hope I'm too subtle - because I don't want to think people are stupid.

Do you remember Spinal Tap? Everyboy loves Spinal Tap. The post from two days ago was The Hurting's idea of satire. Does this mean that the ideas were stupid? No. But the way the ideas were communicated... satire. I hoped that spending pages babbling about "Millennium would clue people into the fact that, hey, these words are about as rational as a foil-wrapped cucumber in my pants.

I got into a wonderful e-mail conversation with Larry Young after the last post. Basically, I think he "got" it, but I don't know if he "got" that it was basically a put-on. Yes, there's some deep frustration in there, but it's the type of frustration I think every person who truly cares about comics - from Gary Groth on down to your local retailer and even you, yourself, in your darket moments - can relate to. So, when I start babbling about a horrible 17 year-old crossover, take it from me that I'm not presenting any deep and thoughtful analysis, I'm not seriously staking any claim to any freakin' side of the "continuity" debate whatsoever...

I look around the blogosphere and see all sorts of people reacting with a totally straight face to words I wrote in a feverish tizzy of insanity. It's funny. Not because I fooled you, because I didn't mean to fool you. I meant every word I said... I just didn't mean you to take it so seriously. It's funny because it's sad, you know? There are some good bits in there that, if I had wanted, I could have sat here and wrote a good straight opinion piece on, but instead I chose to weave a strange rambling dissertation on "Millennium" and sincere mental retardation. If that phrase wasn't enough to tip you off that my tongue was planted firmly in cheek, well, I'm sorry. Do I need to label it as I humor column? Do I? Does the presence of a few valid points in betwee nthe sarcasm invalidate the humor content? Is the humor content even humorous? These are the questions I wrestle with during the long, dark midnight of my blackened soul.

And, hey, just so you know - I didn't buy Wildcats 3.0 or (until very recently) Stormwatch: Team Achilles either. Yeah, I'm a hypocrit, so what? But my point is still 100% valid - whether I bought the book or not, shouldn't we as an industry be able to support smaller niche titles without having to call out the National Guard in order to do it? I regret not buying Wildcats while it could have made a difference - it's actually a book that had been on my "should give a try soon" list. I feel bad whenever people's favorite books get cancelled, it's happened to me too. I feel bad when books that by every objective standard are critical darlings can't gain sales traction. Basically, Steven Grant wrote the non-Bizarro version of Tuesday's blog post over at this week's Permanent Damage. We must be sharing some kind of cosmic brainwave loop or something, because seriously, he is writing exactly what I was thinking, only he didn't write it as a dismissively insulting satire. Anyway, read what he has to sday, go back and re-read "Kill All Hippies" and tell me you don't see the satire now.

Seriously, people, I'm starting to get worried. It's like the blogosphere wants to
hyperventilate on controversy.
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KILL ALL HIPPIES



So I’ve been reading “Millennium” lately. Don’t ask why – really, is there a possible good answer for that? I mean, reading “Millennium” is the comic book equivalent of a horseradish enema. It’s not fun.

And yet I’m reading it. Apparently the Guardians of the Universe, who had left the universe sometime either right before or right after “Crisis,” have decided to return to the planet Earth with their Zamoran brides and usher in the next evolutionary stage of mankind. This involves ten people chosen totally at random by the Guardians in order to fulfill the cosmic prophecy that Earth will spawn the next race of galactic immortals. But, here’s the hook to really get all the kids – the Manhunters are opposed to this, so they want to stop the Guardians and the superheroes from bringing about the next step in human evolution – which everyone refers to as “The Millennium.”



Does this make sense? Thought not. See, the Manhunters are this ancient organization of beings who were really the Guardian’s first experiment in law-enforcement technology, and they really have it in for the little blue fellows.

I have a feeling that this is all Roy Thomas’ fault. Because there’s this almost unreadable issue of Secret Origins in the middle of this story that features – heh- the Secret Origin of the Manhunters. And I mean every Manhunter, from the multiple Golden Age Manhunters (who had been published by separate companies even), to the Kirby Manhunter, to the Simonson Manhunter – it just gets deeper and deeper. Someone decided that everything in the post-Crisis DCU had to refer to everything else, so there is no such thing as coincidence anymore. Every character who ever called himself a Manhunter, and every story that even slightly referenced the concept of Manhunting, is part of this Millennia imbroglio.

This is all filtered through the hyper-paranoid Cold War atmosphere that was thick throughout every DC book in the late 80's. Everything is muddy browns and ugly blues. There are constant and depressing reminders of nuclear war and the rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism. There's one issue where - I swear to God I couldn't make this up - the Blue Beetle travels to Iran to rescue this woman in a burka who has been selected by the Guardians for the Millennium project. She is, of course, stoned for her blasphemy against Allah. I have to wonder what kind of special crack they were smoking when they were plotting this thrill-a-minute crossover.



And it is a crossover in only the very best sense of the word, meaning that every title published by DC during the duration of the story was a crossover. Even stories that didn't have anything at all to do with Millennium still had the "Millennium" logo on the cover. And there was a caption on the front page of every story that said you had to read that week's issue of Millennium for this book to make any sense. Man, this just gets better.

The best part was that they decided to have Manhunters infiltrate every segment of the DCU, in order to gather information and sabotage their plots. So, wouldn’t you know it, the entire town of Smallville turns out to be . . . that’s right, you guessed it, Manhunters! Commisioner Gordon, he’s a Manhunter too. Hey, the Greek demigod Pan? He’s a Manhunter as well. Makes so much sense my teeth hurt. Makes so much sense, they decided that this story was so cool they never mentioned it again.

Comic books are the playground of the retarded. Whether your particular retardation is social, physical, sexual or mental, if you care enough to read this you are a retard. Reading “Millennia” brings this truth painfully alive for me. As un-PC as it may seem, it’s the diggedy-dang truth.



“Crisis on Infinite Earths” is the kind of story that really only makes sense if you were dropped on your head as a child – I see that now. I know we’re not supposed to care about things like “continuity,” but how is it possible to ignore the facts? If Batman and Green Lantern have been around and fighting crime for many years, and Wally West has been a superhero long enough to grow from a young teen to an adult – how can Superman have only been around for a couple years? Batman would have to have been Batman for at least ten years by the time of Millennium: he didn’t get Robin until Year 3, Robin had enough time to grow from a pre-teen to a grown adult and become Nightwing, and Bats even had enough time to find a brand new sidekick in Jason Todd – but Superman has only been around for a couple years. Yeah, OK. Even though every other story ever written contradicts this. If this whole thing doesn’t insult your intelligence, you don’t have any.

So, why do I read these things? Er, next question. Is it is a strange compulsion or deep-seated masochism? I don’t know. I’ve got a strange love-hate relationship with bad superhero books: I hate them, and yet I love to throw away hours of my life which I will never be able to reclaim in order to read them.



It makes me wonder, really, why people like Larry Young bother. I mean, really, it’s obvious that if you’re still in comics at this point and you’re Christian name isn’t Geppi, you’re in it either out of love or a misguided sense of idealism. Well, folks, idealism can’t pay the bills. The really good comics don’t sell.

Used to be, mid-to-bottom list titles like “Guardians of the Galaxy” could have nice, healthy runs without setting the sales charts on fire. I mean, “GotG” lasted 62 issues, with four annuals and a spin-off limited series. Obviously there was enough of a demand for the Guardians to bolster the series through five years and change of continued publication. It never set the world on fire, but enough people cared to keep it afloat for a long time. I think you can judge the health of any publishing field by the strength of the midlist. Anyone can make money selling a blockbusters, best-sellers that everyone wants to read – but if you can make money on mid-and-low performance titles, well then you have a healthy and diverse industry. You can publish books like “X-Men” that you know everyone is going to buy, but enough people are buying the books that you can branch out and have a little something for everyone. You’re not subsidizing the lesser titles at the expense of the big shots, but there are enough people buying comics that you can make money off of niche titles.



We don’t live in this world anymore. You either sell out your print-run or you are in imminent danger of cancellation. You either have a solid, proven property or you will be cancelled in a year.

There are more dead and forgotten properties than ongoing and successful franchises. And – here’s the kicker – it’s impossible to resurrect a dead franchise. Let me explain this one:

Say you’re a comic book publisher and you have an old property that you think might be due for a relaunch. You can take any old property – doesn’t matter if we’re talking “Alpha Flight” or “Firestorm,” it’s the same principle. On the one hand, the people who have never read the book are probably going to be skittish about picking up a new book that has years and decades of back continuity – because even if the continuity is kept to a dull roar, most readers would know that it’s still there, and that is a discouraging factor for many readers. And on the other hand, the people who have been your bread-and-butter for years – the fanboys, the intensely, painfully retarded fanboys – they want the book to pick up where it left off. They don’t just want the same character. They will be happy with nothing less than a retroactive uncancellation of the title in question. They don’t want to read the adventures of the All New, All Different “Alpha Flight,” they don’t even want to remember the 1997 relaunch that didn’t last past #15, they want Marvel to pick up publishing Alpha Flight again with issue # 129. Actually, that’s not quite true – they want the book to be retroactively relaunched from issue #29, because #28 was the last Byrne issue.



Oh, boy, but I wish I was exaggerating here. The sad fact is there are three types of comic readers today: those who know what the terms pre- and post- Crisis mean, those who know but don’t care, and Manga readers. And there are probably about 50 of the third type for every one who belongs to either of the first two types.

So, what does all this have to do with Larry Young and “Millennium”? Damn good question.

The comics industry, at least, the mainstream direct market, is fucked. The comics field is stronger than its been in years, with kids and women reading Manga, “art” and “alternative” comics racking up critical acclaim and respectable sales totally independent of the direct market, online comics coming into their own after a turbulent adolescence, and even the dead newspaper strip showing faint signs of life. But there are still not enough comics readers to support books like “Wildcats 3.0” and “Stormwatch: Team Achilles.” This tells me that not only is the average mainstream comic reader functionally illiterate, as well as sincerely retarded, but that we have a deeply unhealthy industry. If we can’t support even a few critically-acclaimed but low-selling titles, we can’t even pretend that there’s enough market diversity to power a 60-watt lightbulb.



Am I telling you anything you don’t already know? Well, look at this: “Sleeper” is probably the most popular cult book around today. It’s getting a brand new relaunch and Wildstorm is confident enough that the trades will sell to put their tentative support behind the book, for the time being. But do you know what had to happen here? The people who like “Sleeper” had to move heaven and earth to drum up the necessary support for this. This ain’t a television series like “Star Trek,” we’re talking about a small comic book that maybe ten thousand people read on a good month. Is this insane or what? You could probably get everyone who really likes “Sleeper” together in a medium-size gymnasium and have Ed Brubaker tell the stories in pantomime for less trouble.

We have lost the ability to change. When you have to have a huge line-wide crossover in order to simplify your books, instead of just, you know, simplifying your books, that seems to me to be the first indicator that something is wrong. They say we need to drop the continuity, but frankly, it doesn’t matter whether we publish “Ultimate Spider-Man” or “Infinity, Inc.” Everything kowtows to everything that has come before, simply by virtue of their having been something before. Try as they may, I don’t believe that the new “Doom Patrol” will be able to escape the stigma of blatantly retconning some of the most beloved stories of the last decade into Hypertime/oblivion. Anyone who would care enough about the Doom Patrol to actually want to buy a “Doom Patrol” comic is going to be offended by the retcon. And if you don’t know who the Doom Patrol are, you’re likely not going to care anyway unless they get Jim Lee to draw it.

The fact that “Powers” is going to triple or quadruple its orders by moving to Marvel is a sign that we as an industry have reached the point of no return.

I love reading crappy old comics like “Millennium.” It cleanses my soul, kind of like the self-inflicted scouring that medieval monks put themselves through. As much as I love sitting down and reading something new and great like “Astronauts in Trouble,” I almost don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t want to become attached to something just to see it die – or, if it doesn’t die, it will languish. I don’t know. Maybe it won’t. But the fact that something like “Astronauts in Trouble” has to compete for shelf space with the All-New All-Different “Alpha Flight” is suicidally depressing. If people like Larry Young really and truly cared for the comics industry, they’d put a slug in our brain and call it mercy.

We’re at the event horizon. There really is nothing we can do about it at this point. This world shall die and from our ashes shall rise the New Gods, and the twin world of Apokalips and New Genesis. Gary Groth shall bestride the cosmos like a titan, and he shall eat your “Millennium” back issues, transforming them with the cleansing fire of his belly into mulch for the new constellations.

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Travels With Larry Part VII

Astronauts In Trouble Part I

I have a very strong suspicion that Larry Young spent many of his formative years reading the works of Robert Heinlein. It’s a bit more than a mere “hunch,” and I think the textual evidence is quite revealing. And I’m not the only one who thinks so, either - just ask Kurt Busiek.

Heinlein is one of those writers who can really fuck you up if you happen to come upon him at just the right moment in your development. Much like J.R.R. Tolkein or C.S. Lewis or Frank Herbert, there’s something vertiginous about his confident mastery of fictional universes. If you get caught in the whirlpool at just the right age, it’s easy to get pulled in and stuck for a good long time. Some people spend the rest of their lives wondering around Middle Earth or Narnia or Arrakis – or, at the least, trying to find their ways back to these fabulous places - but there are also many who find themselves trapped in the Future History of Earth. Perhaps these folks are the scariest of all.

He wasn’t the best stylist, and his insight into the human condition was, at best, stilted (and at worst borderline fascistic). But there’s still something there, something so ruthlessly endearing and effortlessly optimistic that it can twist you for life. It’s the belief that someone somewhere always knows what he’s doing, and that the right thing and the pragmatic thing are usually one and the same – or at least they are if you have any sense in your head. Heinlein's is a harsh and hubristic world, filled with supermen and women who manage to do everything right and feel no pity for those unable to do the same. T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L. - there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Was there ever a better distillation of Libertarian philosophy?

Perhaps it sounds like I’m being harsh on the old man, and I guess I am. I fell in love with Heinlein overnight but I fell out of love just as quickly. Sure, there were one or two turbulent years in between – no denying that. But everyone has to learn sooner or later that its OK to disagree with a book - and I learned at the feet of the master. There’s a passage at the beginning of Solzhenitsyn’s “August, 1914” that reads especially true to this dilemma:

“He was confused by the multiplicity of truths, and exhausted by the struggle to find one more convincing than another. He had considered himself a Tolstoyan since the seventh form at school, and until he began handling so many books he had felt secure and comfortable in his belief. But he was given Lavrov and Mikhailovsky to read and what they said all seemed so true and so right! He was given Plekhanov – and that too was true, so so smoothly written, so cogent. Kropotkin’s ideas he also found to his liking – and true! Then he opened Vekhi and realized with a shock that here was something completely contrary to what he had read before, yet true! The truth of it pierced him to the quick!

“Books no longer inspired reverent joy but dread – dread that he would never be able to hold his own with an author, that every new book he read would seduce and enslave him.” (P. 18)

I suspect that Larry Young shares a great deal of my antagonistic feelings toward Heinlein. On the one hand, there's the great wealth of imagination and the visionary dedication to a single-minded conception of the universe and fiction's place within the larger skein of metaphysical existence. On the other, you have his frankly absurd conception of human psychology, with the painful emphases on competence and exigency as the heroic ideal. Ultimately, you have to take the good with the bad. But if you’re a writer you get the enviable task of cherry picking the good from the bad, and presenting your thoughts as more than merely the sum of what you have previously ingested.

So “Astronauts in Trouble” is Heinlein without the heaping side order of Ayn Rand. Maybe I’m off here – it’s perfectly conceivable that Larry Young has never even read Heinlein, but I sincerely doubt it. I know that Warren Ellis dislikes Heinlein – he’s said so more than once – but I honestly don’t see how anyone can write science fiction without some sort of affection for the Grandmaster. I just don’t see how that particularly infectious bug can really infect anyone who hasn’t received a fatal dosage of Future History at one point in their lives. It’s possible, I suppose – Ellis seems to make a good living writing non-Heinleinian sci-fi – but I don’t think it’s particular recommended, any more than it's particularly recommended to make a living in the fantasy genre without at least a passing acquaintance with Tolkein.

For better or for worse, the bedrock of sci-fi is also Heinlein's most basic message: the universe is a rational place, and there is no reason why mankind can't ultimately comprehend the way it works. There's no recourse to faith, there's no magic, and there's no real dialectic between arbitrary moral dogmas. The universe is unforgiving and mysterious, but it's also essentially fair, because you have as much chance of making your way as I do.

The biggest surprise for me on reading “Astronauts in Trouble” is the fact that the book really isn’t about astronauts at all. The stories in “AiT” are primarily about journalists and not the typically idealistic Woodward & Bernstein caricatures you usually encounter when fiction tackles the Fourth Estate, either. The Journalists in “AiT” are most importantly working journalists, who may give lip service to the idealized underpinnings of journalistic responsibility but for whom journalism is less a calling than a job. It’s a job they do well, but it’s still a job.

Oddly enough for a genre that prizes narrative formalism, Young’s characterization is rigorously naturalistic. (This is something I could probably have predicted, however, from reading the books he publishes.) At the end of the day, despite the large scale of their stories, the characters in “AiT” refuse to let it effect them. A humanist to the end, Young finds as much to celebrate in the inane but revealing small talk that sprouts between close friends and coworkers as the inky mysteries of deep space. I think that’s probably Larry Young’s single best improvement on Heinlien: he may not have quite the imagination, but he seems to understand people a lot better than Robert A. ever did.

In place of Heinlein's dogged adherence to the notion of supermen-and-women as the absolute authority in a subjective universe, Young substitutes the authority of the media. As I said, he doesn't subscribe to simplistic notions of the media's inherent responsibility - the media can just as easily be corrupted as any other human institution. The reporters and cameramen who stand as protagonists of "AiT" believe in doing their jobs, for better or for worse. And that's the difference: whereas Heinlein's heroes were insufferable in their self-congratulation, "AiT" working men are humbly confident in the banality and the circumscribed limitations of their responsibilities.


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Big day here at The Hurting. Just found out I got a music reviewer position for Popmatters that I sent in a resume for a while back. I'm stoked about that. Then I see that Rick over at the Poopsheet has posted my review of John Beltran's "In Full Color" album, so I'm happy about that too.

But the coolest of the cool - my wife finally has her own website up! Yes, you can go here and listen to a bunch of Anne's music (maybe not right now, she's still uploading some stuff, but soon). If you like The Hurting, just go over there and check it out, will ya?

Finally, "Travels With Larry" continues apace and I'm gratified by the response the feature has received. Now, whoever said that Mr. Larry Young was anything less than a gentleman and a scholar needs to get their head straight, because the man is definitely a class act. Seriously, how many people go out of their way to thank you for a negative review?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, feel free to contact me about reviewing your stuff if you're a publisher or creator. Look at all the free press AiT/Planet Lar got! Seriously dude, do you want to be left out when Hollywood comes-a-calling and all the people who sent books to The Hurting are rolling around in platinum-rimmed Escalades with Nelly and lighting their cigars with hundred-dollar bills?





Travels With Larry Part VI

Giant Robot Warriors

Ah, this book is alright. Neither great nor horrible, it floats comfortably in the middle realms.

“Giant Robot Warriors” posits a world wherein the titular robots have evolved into an alternative weapon of mass destruction alongside conventional weapons of mass destruction – nuclear, biological and chemical. The robots are called in to do battle in place of or in a complimentary position to conventional forces.

It’s a neat concept, but it helps not to squint too closely. For instance, the technicians have to be within a few hundred yards of their robots to control the battle. Additionally, there’s a “gentlemen’s agreement” among all robot combatants not to target the opponents pilots. First, I have a hard time believing they couldn’t use satellite communications to do just about anything these days. Second, I have an even harder time believing that every warring nation would abide by the agreement to not target the technicians behind the bot. Even if there was a Geneva Convention for GRWs, well . . . you see how many real-life nations play by the Geneva Accords.

Jumbles like this are part and parcel of the rat’s nest involved in writing convincing pseudo-military hard sci-fi. Maddeningly, some of the technical details seem very well conceived – such as the robots’ inability to function in desert conditions because of exposed joints. There’s a also a brief gag about this joint problem having been kept out of the press following a disastrous Gulf War mission, but just one panel later Agent McManus makes an offhand comment that leads the reader to infer that the Gulf War mission had been televised. There are enough of these tiny inconsistencies to keep the book from total success.

But, if you can buy the notion, it’s an enjoyable book. The pace is brisk and the main characters well delineated. I would say that Stuart Moore’s dialogue is probably one of the weaker points. It snaps in places, yes, but it also has something of a superreal swagger to it. The characters are all verbally dexterous to an improbable degree. Perhaps it’s my naturalistic prejudices showing, but improbable dialogue doesn’t sit well with my suspension of disbelief. (To be fair, this is a singular prejudice on my part, and it’s not wholly consistent. And admittedly, convincingly “real” dialogue is not perfect for every project, and any writer will tell you it’s a difficult craft to master.)

Ryan Kelly’s art is very good. This is another project, however, that could have benefited from the addition of color. The pages are simply too busy. As I’ve said many times before, drawing for black & white is an entirely different proposition from drawing for color, and you have to be able to flex your compositions accordingly. Because of the admirable complexity of much of the technical drawing in this book, it’s often hard to tell where your eye needs to flow. He’s good with spotting his blacks, but instead of utilizing empty space to allow his compositions room to breathe, every square inch seems cluttered with detail. Without color, it’s sometimes a chore to navigate through the narrative.

Additionally, Kelly occasionally flubs the consistency of his faces. The first panel wherein Agent McManus appears makes her look distinctly African-American, but throughout the rest of the book she’s clearly white.

It’s a fun book. More than anything else, both Moore and Kelly acquit themselves well. I don’t know if I would go so far as Booklist’s review, which boasted that GRW is “a graphic-novel sibling . . . of Dr. Strangelove,” if for no other reason than that the satire is probably a bit too broad for my tastes. (I won’t give away the major revelation, but I will say it’s no big surprise for those of us firmly on the Left of our dear President). “Giant Robot Warriors” is a good book that should be enthusiastically embraced by the giant robot fans in our audience – you know who you are - and it’s an agreeably entertaining read for anyone with a Jones for sci-fi shenanigans.

Not a home run, but a solid double. In any event, a lot better than Robot Jox.










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Travels With Larry Part V

Switchblade Honey

I came predisposed to dislike this book. Not because of any innate distaste for the genre or the creators, merely on the basis of Warren Ellis’ own words. If anyone cares, I think his own introduction to this book is the worst part. It’s probably prejudiced more than a few potential buyers against the volume. I can see them skimming the intro in the store, and saying to themselves “dude, not even the writer likes it . . .”

Most introductions feature something to the effect of “I love this book,” “I think it’s a groundbreaking piece of visionary craftsmanship,” at the very least “I don’t hate it.” Ellis writes, in introduction to prospective readers, that the volume is “. . . a joke. An extended gag at the expense of the colourless, clean SF of the Big Media. The anti-Star Trek.” If that wasn’t enough to ward off all but the most stalwart Ellis-boosters, he adds: “. . . be advised. This isn’t me at my most blisteringly intellectual.” He sells the book – his own book – far, far short.



I’ve always been lukewarm on Ellis. For everything of his that I like (“Doom 2099” [don’t laugh until you’ve read it], “Planetary”), I’ve read too many books that just weren’t very good (yeah, I’m looking at you, “Transmetropolitan”). In particular I’ve been feeling particularly burned by him this past year on account of the “Orbiter” hardcover. It’s an absolutely beautiful book, full of career-peak artwork by Ms. Colleen Doran, but the story attached to said artwork was horrible.

Ironically, “Orbiter” failed for the exact reasons that Warren Ellis claims to dislike Star Trek. And believe it or not, I think that regardless of absolutely everything Ellis says in his intro, “Switchblade Honey” works for the very same reasons that make Star Trek cool.



Or rather, made, as in past tense. It’s a sad fact of life for those of us who grew up on Star Trek, that the franchise just, well, sucks. There’s been so much water under the bridge, it might seem borderline apostasy to say this in public, but it’s the truth: I remember when Trek was cool. Hell, I remember when Captain Kirk was still the coolest hombre in the galaxy and it wasn’t an act tantamount to social suicide to admit that, yes, I Grokked Spock.

You see, way back in the day, for those too young to remember, Trek was just the coolest thing going. Captain Kirk and his homies flew around the galaxy and kicked ass, took names, and got laid a lot . . . but honestly, that was just window-dressing. There was something here that appealed to the nation’s pioneer spirit. There was some serious political and social commentary, and not just wussy crap either – they weren’t afraid to tackle racism, sexism, the Cold War – it was all fair game. Everyone knows that Gene Roddenberry famously described Trek as “Wagon Train in space” – but it was a westward expansion without manifest destiny, with white hats and black hats but most importantly with a Prime Directive and an underlying sense of moral decency. I can think of many, many worse messages to send in an action-adventure series aimed at young adults. In fact, many of those worse messages are being broadcast through our airwaves on a daily basis.

The problems started, not with the movies, but with Star Trek: The Next Generation. Yes, it was cool – at least in the beginning – but it was hard to avoid the fact that this was the science-fiction equivalent of perestroika. Sure, if you actually lived in the Federation, it was probably a lot better without hordes of rampaging Klingons, but from the standpoint of the viewer, just how fun was it to watch the adventures of a Starship Enterprise that funcitoned as a medium-sized city, with children underfoot and day-care centers? How many episodes featured the Enterprise shuffling diplomats to peace conferences? What about all those interminably asinine holodeck episodes?



I can’t impugn their motivations in wanting to present an optimistic future. But I also cannot forgive them for turning one of the coolest action series in history into a eunuch. There’s a reason why people liked the episodes that featured implacable nemeses like Q or the Borg a lot better than any in the seemingly endless series of Klingon political maneuvers or – gasp! – Romulan intrigues.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine made up for a lot of TNG’s sins. The fact that DS9 seemed hatched from a far more cynical and realpolitik viewpoint than any of the previous Treks no doubt helped in the matter. But still, the damage was done - Star Trek had essentially been PC’ed to death by Roddenberry’s own insistence on non-violent conflict throughout the shows early days and by the succession of mealy-mouthed corporate bean-counters – led by Mr. Rick Berman – who tore the last vestiges of cool from the fading brand. Voyager was a transparent attempt to win back the dynamic thrust of the original series, but the wan characters and woefully uneven writing doomed it. And in all honesty I still haven’t seen an episode of Enterprise. Ten years ago I loved Trek, but now I turn the channel when it comes on.

When Warren Ellis says he hates Trek, I deeply suspect that he hates everything Trek has become, everything it signifies in terms of genre fiction and the wider cultural context. But “Switchblade Honey” tells me that Ellis is perhaps the best possible choice in all the entertainment industry to try and revitalize the actual Trek brand. Whether he knows it or not, he seems to understand instinctively just why Trek was cool. Someone at Paramount needs to give him a huge pile of money to make Trek new again.



Is it a great piece of graphic literature? Hell no. It’s basically the OGN equivalent of an old-school pulp novel: fast, cheap and out of control. The art, by Mr. Brandon McKinney, is tolerable, the kind of fast crap you expect to see in something like 2000 AD. It’s the kind of crap that makes a virtue of its’ craptitude. You aren’t really tempted to linger over any of the pages to stare at the beautifully rendered details – fuck that shit. You don’t want to stick around on any page too long, anyway, or the plot holes will eat you alive. What you want to do is burn through this sucker as fast as you can, because it seems to have no real purpose than to climb into your brain and self-destruct. It’s a good thing.

The set-up for this story is remarkably simple. Basically, instead of having achieved a Trek-like utopia, mankind has reached the stars with all our evil intact. We’ve made first contact with an alien race called the Chasta, who we kind of, um, butchered and ate. But they were really a super-intelligent hive-mind organism with the means and the motive to eradicate entire species from the universe. They’ve just about succeeded with the human race, too. Enter our heroes.



The crew of the Switchblade Honey is pulled from the dregs of an intergalactic prison. You know them, they’re the kind of malcontents who are usually drafted for suicide missions of these sorts. They are sent into the galactic wilderness to begin a campaign of guerilla warfare.

Interestingly, despite proclivities for violence and slight anti-social tendencies, the one unifying factor for all the crewmen is their rigid decency. Many of them were imprisoned for failing to comply with morally despicable orders – abandoning comrades, firing on civilians and the like. The future space military in “Honey” seems just as situationally amoral as our own. (Before you interpret that in any way shape or form as a blanket condemnation of our own fighting forces, remember that my wife is a ten-year veteran of the US Air Force. But I’m also a student of history and I know that in every war there are atrocities and America has committed more than our fair share –those are just the facts of life.) This seems less a condemnation of Trek than military thinking in general, and in fact, it does a good job of highlighting just why Trek was so wonderfully, naively optimistic.



At the end of the day, the crew of the Switchblade Honey may seem rough & tumble because they smoke and drink, but it’s less a condemnation of Trek’s rampant PC than an examination of where exactly Trek went wrong. There’s excitement, urgency and a more than a little sex appeal (I mean, really, low cut skintight space blouses?) You’ve got fiendish alien foes and improbably high-tech wizardry. You’ve also got your fair share of plot holes and deus ex machina devices, but, truthfully, many less than you’d get from your average space opera movie. At the end of the day it’s just a damn satisfying read. I want to find out what happens next, and that’s about the best compliment I can possibly imagine in this day and age. Not bad for a “cheap joke.”

Considering the circumstances, I think this was a much more successful project than “Orbiter.” It’s true that under the gruff exterior of every cynic you’ll find the pink and bleeding heart of an idealist, and “Orbiter” was little more than a mash-note to manned space exploration. I agreed with the sentiment but I strongly disapproved of the treacle. “Switchblade Honey” manages to make that same point with considerably less narrative ballast. I paid $25 for “Orbiter” and “Switchblade Honey” cost $9.95 – I don’t have to tell you which is the better bargain.



The same idealism that Ellis holds close to his heart for space exploration is the very same idealism that fueled Trek way back when. Back before the galaxy was colonized, when it was still a rough and tumble place full of Klingons and Gorns and impossible space gangsters. Ryder, Ellis’ obligatory tough-as-nails maverick, even makes a speech towards the end of the book that could have easily come out of James T. Kirk’s Logbook:

”I joined the Navy because I wanted to explore. I wanted to Captain a starship and say, we don’t know what’s over there. Let’s go that way.” (Emphasis mine)

Ultimately, “Switchblade Honey” is a sight for these sore eyes. I’m sorry – you can go on all day about Farscape and Babylon 5 and freakin’ Stargate SG-1, but when it comes to space opera I still have a soft spot for the classics. Give me Dr. Who, give me Planet of the Apes and Silent Running and The Outer Limits (the old, good, series).

I’d buy a new volume of “Switchblade Honey” in a heartbeat.




"DON'T FUCK WITH ME"

# posted by The Estate of Tim O'Neil @ 1:25 AM

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Notable Links for 04/12

Well, did everybody have a happy Easter? Um, did you actually know it was Easter? If you're not Church-going folk, it's easy to overlook these things.

So, if you care, here's about the cutest Easter-related link you're likely to see. Don't blame me if you find it annoying.

Anyway, was that a tournament or what? I've been rooting for Phil to win himself a Major for years now, and for him to do it in Augusta, under such spectacular circumstances... wow. It reminds me why I love watching golf so much. Don't play it, but I watch it. Don't really pay attention to any other sport, either, but I do love me the golf.

* Well, I'll be damned. The rumors were true - "Powers" and "Kabuki" have jumped the good ship Image and have made their way to Marvel. Of course, they're not calling it Epic anymore, because in all honesty they'd be idiots to do that. Epic has twenty-five years' worth of baggage that they don't want to have to carry. It's called Icon - which I guess is as good a name as any. Perhaps not as good a name as "Captain Joey's Fun Time Four-Color Extravaganza," but what is? Anyway, read all about the sense-shattering revelations, including comments from all the major players, here (courtesy of Newsarama), here (courtesy of Comic Book Resources), or here (courtesy of The Pulse). It's all essentially the same story, but I don't want to leave anyone out. Meanwhile, Sean T. Collins has some of the best commentary on the announcement here.

In any event, someone really should point out to them that Icon is hardly the first time Marvel has offered complete creator ownership - last I looked, "Groo," "Elfquest," "Moonshadow," and "The Airtight Garage" were all still owned by Aragones, WaRP, Dematteis & Muth and Mobius, respectively. Hell, "Groo" has practically had more publishers than Alan Moore has hairs on his head.

But I am not going to be one of those who predicts Icon's quick demise. The fact is, Marvel is in the business of making money, and they wouldn't risk something like this so soon after the Epic V.2 fiasco if there wasn't an ironclad financial reasons for doing so. If they do it right, it'll work - and I'll be surprised if "Powers" doesn't at least double its' orders. That's a pretty cynical thing to say, I know, but that's the sorry state of this industry right now. Bendis and Mack aren't dumb.

* Also courtesy of the Pulse, we have confirmation of long-standing allegations made by "Dirty" Danny Hellman over at the Comicon boards that a recently terminated employee was fired for embezzlement. (The original allegation was made here.) Other than confirmation by Journal editor Dirk Deppey that the ex-employee in question was not Milo George, the alleged embezzler's identity remains unknown. Hmmm. Don't know what to think of this one - is it news or is it private? Well, that's a tough call. I imagine the answer to this question can only be found in the coming weeks - is anyone going to rise to the challenge and investigate this story? If not, we have no-one's word on the issue but Fantagraphics employees. Just on the surface of it there doesn't look to be much of a story - someone steals, they get caught and fired. Happens in business all over the country every day. But until and unless we know how much was stolen and by whom, it's basically a non-issue - empty speculation. It's not the Journal's job to open up potential litigation for the parent company (even though they've done that more than a few times over the years), so I imagine they won't write about it until the legal precedings are over and done, if ever.

Would we like to know what happened? Yes, the human desire for gossip is strong and sometimes overpowers common sense. But... do we need to know? Unless this impacts or has impacted parties outside of Fanta, I don't think so. But that's just my opinion, and I am a frequent contributor to the Journal and by extension a freelance Fantagraphics employee ('cause Gary Groth signs my checks!), so take that as you will.

* "For those who till now could only lust after the latest comic books brought in by “foreign” friends or cousins — be it the superheroes or funnies like MAD — can take a look around and see the local scene looking far brighter and better now. In the recent past, new titles from across popular labels such as DC and Marvel have been available at the neighbourhood newspaper and magazine shop every month, and often as soon as they are published abroad. All thanks to a small company quietly working away in its offices in Bangalore. Gotham Comics, a US-based company, has done a little more than revolutionise the Indian comics market, offering affordable comic books without compromising on production quality." Read more here, courtesy of the Calcutta Telegraph.

* "The increasing popularity of computer-generated animation hasn't erased the demand for animators skilled in the art of hand-drawn images. There are still jobs for recruits as nimble with a Macintosh as they are with a pencil. To prepare students for computer-driven work and keep them rooted in the traditional world of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' and 'Beauty and the Beast,' colleges are making sure they stay sharp in both techniques." Read more here, courtesy of the LA Daily News.

* Remember that Seth interview I linked to last week, from the Toronto Eye? Well, if you want to read an uncut transcript of that discussion, this is your lucky day. Link courtesy of The Cultural Gutter, via Sequential.

* Comic World News has a chat with David Yurkovich here, and has a look at Alternative Comics' output here.

* "Comic books are like wine. You can pick up a bottle at your local grocery store and trade expertise for price and convenience, or you can go to a wine or liquor store and become an oenophile. Drinkers of wine fall into three categories: those who like a glass of wine every now and then but don't really care about vintage, those who drink it socially and decide to cultivate their knowledge without being obsessive, and those who are introduced to fine wine by an oenophile and are seduced into the hobby." Torsten Adair speaks out on the recent retailer shuffles here, courtesy of ICV2.

* Over at Ninth Art, Alasdair Watson takes a look at the "baffling" phenomenon of talented indie creators abandoning their indie dreams to go play in the Big Two's sandboxes as soon as they possibly can here. It's just a fact of life - the American comics industry is a cesspool of stunted ambition. This surprises anyone? (Of course, this is not to say that I wouldn't write for either of the Big Two in a heartbeat, because I would, and anyone who isn't independently wealthy who tells you otherwise is L-Y-I-N-G...)

* Wow. The orders for "Conan" #4 were bigger than the orders for issue #1. That's, um, amazing. It's also similarly amazing - albeit in a depressing way - that that's so amazing to begin with. What an industry! Read more here, courtesy of ICV2.

* The always-interesting (yes, even when he's writing about all those stupid X-books) Paul O'Brien delivers about the best postmortem of the "American Power" fiasco that I have yet seen here, courtesy of Ninth Art.

* "Public Square Books has joined forces with Norma Editorial of Spain to bring a diverse collection of Spanish Language Graphic Novels to American shores for the first time. Public Square will release the first titles to major retailers and wholesalers nationwide in May 2004. Ten to fifteen new selections will follow each month. The publishing program features a wide assortment of books for children, young adults, andmature audiences. Book buyers will be able to choose from many different genres-- from sci-fi to crime noir, anime to autobiography. Monthly selections also include Spanish language versions of acclaimed and popular American series such as Hellboy and Sin City, previously unavailable in the United States... The capacity of popular comics to expand into other markets, such as the film and gaming industries, in combination with an explosion of fanzines on the world wide web, has created an unprecedented demand for graphic novels in bookstores today. Public Square and Norma Editorial seek to further this trend by reaching out to an under-served U.S. Hispanic readership." Read more here. (Link courtesy of Artbomb.)

* Courtesy of the Journal board, we have news that veteran cartoonist Carol Lay is in dire financial trouble and is having a fire - er - divorce sale over at her web site (and her store is here). She says it's 20% off everything. If I had some dough, I'd be all over that, because she has long been one of my favorites... plus I have had relatives in such dire straits, so I definitely feel her pain. As it is, I am poor, but I can certainly beseech you to go give her a helping hand, can't I?

* Courtesy of Shawn Fumo at Worlds Within Worlds, we have news of Dark Horse Comics' recent acquisition: editor Carl Horn. Read about it here, courtesy of Anime News Network.

* "It doesn't sound all that exciting: another college student writing about Homer's odyssey - until you realize this trip ends not with Penelope in Ithaca, but with Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart. Credit Steven Keslowitz, a Brooklyn College sophomore who turned his Sunday night obsession with 'The Simpsons' into a scholarly study of the Springfield scene, ruminating on subjects from Bart's bad boy persona to Marge's towering 'do." Read more here, courtesy of the Ocala Star-Banner (link via Thought Balloons).


* "You’d have had to be watching closely to see Gettosake’s rise over the past few years. This year, however, you’d be hard-pressed to miss them. A studio specializing in 'urban style animation, comics and illustration,' Gettosake is made up of three brothers, Jeremy, Maurice and Robert Love. 'We’re a bunch of self taught artists and animators, who decided to put our talent to good use five years ago,' Jeremy told Newsarama. 'We were frustrated with the lack of diversity in mainstream comics and animation at the time so instead of griping, we decided to do something about it. It's been a long road, but I think we are only just now ‘Ready for our close up.’ We actually started out on the film/tv side moreso than comics. It was only last year when we took the plunge into this crazy industry. Now that we're here we plan on staying for a while.'" Read more here, courtesy of Newsarama.

* Johanna Draper Carlson has updated her Comics Worth Reading site with a slew of new reviews. Ms. Carlson takes a close look at Myatt Murphy & Scott Dalrymple's "Fade From Blue," has another go at the latest issue of Tom Beland's "True Story, Swear To God," in addition to reviews of various and sundry books from DC, Image and a few indies for good measure.


Flip over to her Image reviews to read her take on "PVP" #6 - the issue that reprints the infamous "Grafimaximo" sequence. I'm tempted to just reprint the whol critique since its so spot-on, but I will refrain and merely reprint this key passage:

"I shouldn't be surprised that he suspects criticism of his work must be a personal attack, since that's what he's dishing out under the guise of parody. When that's all someone's capable of in terms of criticism, that's the filter through which they view responses as well."

Great, great stuff. I really have to wonder why someone like James Kochalka felt the need to legitimize this jackass by giving him a cover. Oh well.

* Also courtesy of Ms. Carlson, we have Matt Madden's web site. I don't know if you've ever been there, but I found it pretty interesting myself.

* "In cosplay, short for costume play, fans dress up as their favourite characters from Japanese animation (anime), Hong Kong comics, video games and even Hollywood movies. They parade around in their fancy costumes and have their pictures taken. This activity, which started in Japan more than 10 years ago, has attracted many loyal enthusiasts in Singapore, Hong Kong and even the United States." See, where I come from we call that LAME. I remember when I lived in Northern CA and every Friday the vampire/goth kids used to run around the Ashland park and play their live-action "Vampire" games, and it just seems so... well, did I already say lame? Sigh. Read about it here, courtesy of the Straits Times.

* Hokey Smokes, Bullwinkle! Jim Henley actually does some comics blogging! He's got some nice capsule reviews of the latesy "Queen & Country" volume, in addition to the latest issues of "My Faith in Frankie," "Batman: Death And The Maidens," and a few others.

* The San Francisco Chronicle reviews two new DC/Vertigo OGN's - "Lovecraft" and "It's A Bird..." here.

* Ninth Art takes a look back at "Marvels" here - man, has it really been ten years already? I feel old.

* MIT takes a gander at the recent "X-Statix" storyline, "Back From The Dead," here - and somehow isn't horribly disgusted.

* Shawn Fumo tries out Hellboy here. Does he like it? Stay tuned!

* Rick at Eat More People writes some reviews here, of comics such as "Batman," "Hellblazer," and "Demo."

* Johnny Bacardi continues the Blogosphere-wide focus on AiT/Planet Lar here, with looks at "Last of the Independents," 'Codeflesh," and the "Couriers" trilogy. Pop Culture Gadabout takes a look at that selfsame "Couriers" triology here.

Huh.

You know, it just occurred to me that I don't want to do this anymore. Every day I sit here and spend anywhere from 4-8 hours every night putting together all these links... and it has occurred to me that I don't need to do this anymore. I don't get paid to do this. There's all sorts of wonderful people out there who post the news, to the point where this job has become filtering through all the other blogs to find all of their news. But really, I don't have to do that for you anymore.

When Dirk Deppey quit doing Journalista - er, put it on hiatus - I stepped in to start doing this daily linkblogging for a number of reasons. First and foremost: I felt that Journalista delivered an important public service to the comics world by assembling all the interesting and noteworthy material of the day - not just whomever is inking "Green Lantern" this month. He was not the first comics blogger but he was perhaps the best, and his example showed me that this whole thing isn't just a lark, that it isn't just a fan forum, it's an actual, living breathing community that needed to start acting in a responsible and conscientious manner. This means taking the plight of international cartoonists seriously, this means taking the defense of our own (for us Americans) First Amendment seriously - it means being aware of good work both in and outside the mainstream (for those more inclined to spandex), and being open to work both in and outside the indie spectrum (for those more inclined to the indie).

I believe very firmly in the stated goals of the Comics Journal as a guiding principle for my appreciation to the comics medium. Reading my first issue of the Journal changed my life, considering what a big part of my life comics were and remain. To this day, there is no excitement equal to getting a brand new issue of the Journal in the mail - there's always the possibility that there will be something inside that will totally uproot every established notion you've ever cherished about the industry and the artform. I refuse to approach comics in anything other than a rigorously critical but absolutely open-minded fashion. My prejudices exist to be demolished.

And I must reiterate: the Comics Blogosphere doesn't need me to do this anymore. Truth be told, I don't even know if we still need Journalista. The Blogosphere, aided primarily by this site here, has come into its own and reached something of a critical mass these past few months. More people are taking blogging more seriously, and they are blogging about a more varied and diverse set of issues than ever before. It's gotten to the point where the blogosphere is recognized as a legitimate, albeit proportionately small, force within the industry - or why else would Larry Young be giving away thousands of dollars worth of books in an attempt to garner some good word-of-mouth on the internet?

So, the long and short of it is: The Hurting is not going to be spending 4-8 hours every night doing this for free anymore. I just don't want to do it, plain and simple. I am adequately satisfied that I can do it - it was a big challenge and I think I met it pretty well. But in all seriousness, I've achieved my goals. The Blogosphere has reached the point where my not linkblogging is hardly going to make a difference for good or evil - it would be the height of egotism to say anything different. I've gotten my name out there a fair bit - I think it's fair to say that more people know who I am now than when I began. Hopefully I'll be able to capitalize on this and continue to gain momentum in my real job, that is, writing. And one of the biggest reasons I'm pulling the plug on the exhaustive linking is that I just don't have any time to do the real writing anymore. That's my job, even if I don't get paid too well for that, either. Plain and simple, I appreciate the positive feedback, but this isn't my job, and it's starting to take a toll on the quality of my life.

I'm not going to stop blogging. Travels With Larry will continue for the foreseeable future - I've still got a lot of AiT/Planet Lar books to wade through. Hopefully I will continue to receive books from people and publishers who want to receive a fair and balanced appraisal of their work (that wasn't a satirical jab at the Fox network, BTW, just a coincidence). I will continue to comment on whatever strikes my fancy. But I don't need - don't want - don't have to do all of this anymore, so I'm not going to.

Simple as that. Thanks for your patronage. If you like what I've done, there's a tip jar at the top.

Send me your thoughts, people.





Travels With Larry Part IV
Abel

I really wish I could say that “Abel” was a better book. It’s clearly a deeply felt work on the part or both creators, but it never achieves the artistic critical mass that separates the mediocre and the good.

There’s a lot going on here – perhaps too much for a single graphic novel of roughly 100 pages. It starts with a dead dog and ends with a lynching. In between we have rape, murder, slavery, incest and certain sociopathic tendencies. “Abel” is an unremittingly grim book, the kind of book that leaves you exhausted when you’re done. But it’s not the good kind of exhaustion, the buzz that you get from an exhilarating fictional experience, it’s merely the low buzzing fatigue of abuse.

William Harms has a keen grasp of the distended rhythms of life in the rural Midwest. None of the incidents in the story ring particularly false, but the narrative nevertheless staggers. The protagonist, twelve-year old John, is remarkably unsympathetic considering the repeated tragedies visited on him. It’s hard to be a sensitive boy growing up in harsh farm country, that much is understood. But it’s hard to sympathize with someone who seems to possess a clear understanding of good and evil but who fails to act according to his conscience, only according to his fear.

John has the chance to stand up and do the right thing twice in the course of the story. He doesn’t, not in the beginning when the dog is murdered and not at the end when his brother (accompanied by friends) rapes and murders a mentally retarded girl, and a local Chinese immigrant is lynched for the crime. Of course, his brother Philip is a budding sociopath, and of course, John is the only person who is fully aware of the length and breadth of his depredations. To belabor the biblical metaphor, Philip’s evil is the cross John has to bear.

I’ve received enough rejection letters to know that editors hate passive protagonists, and there’s a good reason for this: unless you’re Ralph Ellison, the reader wants to reach into the book and slap them. Life is depressing, yes, but art that merely recreates the surface sheen of misery that blankets existence, without offering any insight into the depths of feeling that motivates people to continue living, is callow and juvenile. People go on with their lives despite the constant presence of tragedy, and it is this phenomenon that captivates human nature, not the mere recitation of tragedy itself.

Mark Bloodworth is a perfectly competent artist, clearly capable but equally unprepared for the challenges of working in black and white (or, as is the case of “Abel,” dark sepia and white). He uses too many lines and has an uncertain grasp of the physical form. His faces and legs are sometimes vague and insubstantial. The kind of tightly rendered ink-brush hatching that Bloodworth employs without fail seems a cranky holdover from the mid-90’s, when dozens of comic book artists tried unsuccessfully to adopt the busy sheen of Image’s trademark textures. It usually doesn’t work in black and white, and it doesn’t work here. The inconsistencies of the line weight are equally distracting. Oddly, Bloodworth has a much keener grasp on the intricacies of architecture and landscaping – the type of details which usually elude comic book artists.

It would be wrong to say that “Abel” is a bad book. It definitely shows promise on a number of levels.. Ultimately, it’s just not a significant enough narrative to be truly disappointing. It’s a trifle. I look forward to reading anything either Harms or Bloodworth attempt from here on out. These creators will either build on the experience of producing it and make their next effort better, or not. The choice is theirs to make.





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Notable Links for 04/09

This is getting ridiculous. I seriously need an editor here. It might have just a little something to do with the fact that I usually post these damn things as the sun is coming up, but ultimately that's no excuse.

I remember thinking to myself yesterday evening: "Self, you know, it's really confusing that we have two Daves here in the Comics Blogosphere, one of these days you're going to screw up and get them confused." Boy, was that little voice in the back of my head prophetic. Because - heh - what did I do? I linked to Dave at Intermittent when I said I was linking to David Fiore at Motime Like The Present. That's about the worst thing I can imagine doing, only slightly less bad than linking to Marvel like this.

So, mea culpa. I'm just sort of not watching when the gnomes come in and tinker with these things... yeah, that's it, blame the gnomes.

In other news, I also misspelled the country of Colombia. Yes, Dave (Intermittent Dave, not Motime Dave) wrote in to point out that Columbia is a university in New York, and not the setting of Gabriel Garcia- Marquez's masterful "100 Years of Solitude." Admittedly, I don't think this is probably that uncommon a mistake. My spell checker accepts both so it wasn't likely to call me on it. But again, I'm stupid.

Now that I'm done flagellating myself, it's time to get to the Reader Mail portion of the program. And let's see who's poking out of the ol' mailbag today - why, it's Dave at Intermittent!

Tim,

Thanks for the link; (No Problem!) and you're right, I wasn't really trying to poke holes in your larger argument regarding the industry, only the smaller argument relating to whether good art can look at the world through a fantastic lens. I hope I was clear on that...I mean, I love Gravity's Rainbow, and can't trying to force Pynchon into retelling of World War II, but I wouldn't want all books on the war to ape Pynchon. So, in any event, assuming I'm not missing some snark, thanks for the fair handed treatment of what was intended on my part to be some fair handed criticism. (Nope, no snark intended. It'd be a pretty poor world - or at least a pretty poor art world - if we couldn't use fantastic elements in fiction however we wanted. But, again, it'd be a pretty poor world if every book about America's dependency on foreign energy with environmental themes had to also include giant spice worms.)

I keep meaning to eventually put up a post just summing up everything I think on this whole stupid superhero debate. Superhero's as genre: Fine. Superhero's for Adults: Fine. Not like superhero's: Fine, if that's your bag. Direct Market: Fucked. It gets so tiring having to elucidate all these points every time we round this particular corner...the whole "if you think that good superhero books are possible you must support the whole direct market" (or vice versa) thing is just so played out now.(Agreed, couldn't have put it better myself.)

Lastly (and sorry to take up this much of your time) (What, you think I have something I need to be doing? Heh, if I had something to do I wouldn't be doing this... [That was a joke, by the way.]): in your post re: the whole Millar/Cooke nonsense, you link to me when you mean to link to Dave Fiore. (Yeah, covered that.) Also, and I am the absolute last person in the whole wide world who should be point out spelling errors, but Columbia is a university in New York, Colombia is a country in Central America. (I think we covered this point too...)

Thanks again.

Dave

And thank you for taking the time to write. Wouldn't it be nice if all disagreements could be settled this amicably?

(By the way, is he Dave at Intermittent or is he Dave Intermittently? Is he Occasionally Doug? But I digress...)

And to Dave: you're very welcome for the "Damage Control" cover. Mile High Comics are the real heroes, though, for without them most of us would be unable to find fun comic book covers to throw into our blogs and message board posts for no real reason. Such as this:



Betcha forgot that Mignola did a cover for "Kickers, Inc," didn't you?

But seriously, I'd love to see Damage Control back pretty much in whatever shape I could. For some odd reason I just love the hell out of that series - all three of them - and I think they still stand up pretty damn well. I have a hard time thinking how you could really mess up the concept, seeing as how McDuffie was pretty fast and loose with it himself - I mean, one issue you have Dr. Doom defaulting on an overdue contractor's bill, the next you have She-Hulk telling Speedball that "drugs aren't the answer" - classic, classic stuff. (OK, they weren't subsequently published - the Doom issue was Vol. 1 #2, and She-Hulk was Vol. 2 #3, but you get the drift). The characters even used to show up now and again in the MU, but the last I recall is a brief cameo in Carlos Pacheco's "Fantastic Four." If they've shown up since then I missed it.

Finally, Mr. Larry Young over at his kinda-sorta blog said some nice things about my recent reviews of Ait/Planet Lar books, in particular yesterday's glowing look at the underrated "Codeflesh." But I'd like to clear up something I could perhaps have explained better: I think I understand why Codeflesh's mask is a UPC code - the satire intended, the dig at bland corporate super-characters. As I said, it's a brilliant visual, but I just don't see how it specifically fits with this particular character. Perhaps if the series had took off that is a story that would have been written, but as it is, it's something of an anomalous element. If I were to walk into the world of "Codeflesh" and ask Cameron why he wears that mask, I doubt he would say "because the guy who writes me thought it would be a clever dig at all generic superheroes that flood the stands." He would have a reason and hopefully it would be an interesting and compelling reason. I think this is one of those situations where unless the satirical element is addressed to some degree in the context of the story itself, it falls flat - like a joke without a punchline. But, again, this is an extremely minor quibble. I don't want anything to think that I didn't just love this book to hell - one or two qualms aside.

And on a related note, everyone who still thinks that Larry hates us Bloggers, here's a post over at Millarworld where he goes out of his way to say nice things about a good number of us. To paraphrase someone much more famous than me:

"He likes us, he really likes us!!!"

Aw, hell. I really wanted to get another chapter of "Travels With Larry" out tonight, but it's just too damn late. Hopefully I'll get some free time this weekend to spend on the series, so I can get a few in the can before Monday. Here's hoping - I really don't want to spend the rest of my life on this. But, you know, I'll probably get it finished before the next "Ultimates" volume comes out...

* This year's Eisner Award nominees have been announced, and Newsarama has the skinny here.

* "A TEENAGER and his father were jailed yesterday for an attack which left the son of Scotland’s top cartoonist with brain damage. Gordon Gibb, 19, was jailed for three years and nine months when he appeared for sentence at the High Court in Glasgow, for the assault on Sean McCormick, 20. Gibb’s father, also Gordon, 38, was jailed for six months for his part in the unprovoked attack in Finnie Street, Kilmarnock on 21 April, 2003. The victim’s father, the cartoonist Malky McCormick, who attended the court yesterday to see the sentence being passed, was furious at the length of terms handed out." Read more here, courtesy of News.Scotsman.com.

* "ABOUT 30 years ago, two redheaded 6-year-olds got into a frightful scrape in Surrey, England. One, Andrew Murphy, had come up with a potty-humor poem about the queen. The other, Matt Davies, had illustrated it. Despite the rumpus it caused ("I found myself on the receiving end of Britain's now-defunct corporal punishment system," Mr. Davies recalls), even his mother thought the picture quite good.

"Fast-forward to 2002, to a drawing board in White Plains, in the offices of The Journal News. There is Mr. Davies getting paid to . . . illustrate potty humor. About the queen, no less. His cartoon depicts graffiti in a Buckingham Palace bathroom stall, regarding who did what to whom among the Windsor entourage. The drawing was titled 'The Royal Throne, 2002.'

"His mother, he reports, still likes the cartoons. Even the cheeky ones. And so did the judges on the 2004 Pulitzer Prize committee, who gave Mr. Davies, 37, the highest honor in American journalism. This week, they awarded him the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning, the first for him and for The Journal News, a Gannett newspaper in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties. The prize was for a group of 20 political cartoons." Read more here, courtesy of the New York Times. Meanwhile, the Stamford Advocate takes another look at Davies' win here.

* "Sayonara, Bugs. See you later, Mickey. Animè , the Japanese cartoon art form, and its offbeat series featuring everything from demon fighters to gangs of talking hamsters, are moving in. Once marooned on the fringes of the U.S. television scene, animè is now on the cutting edge of cartooning. Enthusiasts say the art form's popularity has been driven by the Cartoon Network's programming, video games and the Internet, where thousands of Web sites are dedicated to animè , animè series, the games and the characters from each." Read more here, courtesy of the Baton Rouge, LA Advocate.

* "David Youngblood began the Typewriter anthology five years ago. Top Shelf has been supporting Youngblood's endeavors all along, purchasing copies and distributing them at conventions. Staros offered Youngblood the chance to have the anthology published at Top Shelf and the team up appears to be working. 24 cartoonists contributed to the newest issue of Typewriter, Sammy Harkham, Josh Simmons, Chris Wright, David Youngblood,
Richard Hahn, Lily Lau, Dylan Williams, Marc Bell, Nick Bertozzi, Stefan Gruber, Jonathan Russell, Scott Mills, Aaron Renier, Paul Hornshemeire, Nicolas Robel, Neil Fitzpatrick, Kurt Wolfgang, Lance Simmons, Farel Dalrymple, Jim Rugg, Nylso, Andrice Arp, Souther Salazar, and Michael Bonfiglio." Read more here, courtesy of The Pulse.

* The BBC News takes a look at how the print media has reacted to recent events in Iraq and the general "War on Terror," including the reaction of editorial cartoonists, here.

* Courtesy of Fanboy Rampage, we have the ve-e-e-ry interesting - but as of yet totally unsanctioned - whispers that Epic might not be so dead after all. This might go a long way to explain these recurring "Powers" and "Kabuki" rumors, which, while rampant, have yet to be officially denied by any of the principles. Millarworld is a wealth of information if you have time to sift through it.

* "On Tuesday, April 6 at 5:30 pm, McConomy Auditorium became a site of anger, frustration, and disappointment as the staff of The Tartan struggled to justify the publication of this year’s Natrat. The forum was intended for members of the campus community to pose questions to the writers and editors who contributed to the April Fools’ issue of the newspaper. However, questions were juggled and accountability circumvented. Though many voices were heard, one question remains unanswered: what is the future of The Tartan?

"At the onset, Dan Gilman, Student Body President, and Gilbert Dussek, Vice President, requested that everyone be respectful of the community. Seated behind a table on McConomy's stage were Jim Puls, Managing Editor, Bob Rost, the author of the questionable comic strip, and Alexander Meseguer, Editor-in-Chief.

"Meseguer began by stating that prior to the forum, the editorial board of The Tartan asked him to take a leave of absence, which he was prepared to honor immediately." Read more here, courtesy of the Carnegie Pulse.

* The Jewish Journal takes a look at The Escapist, Michael Chabon's meta-fictional Golden Age comic character, through the prism of Jewish history here.

* Chris Allen has a new edition of Breakdowns up over at Movie Poop Shoot. This week he ... oh, hell, let's just say he reviews a big-ass pile of comics, including extended looks at Marvel's "Essential Punisher" and Alan Moore's work in the Liefeld-verse.

* Also at the Shoot this week, Professor Scott Tipton schools you on the history of Marvel's Captain Marvel here.

* "I was a big fan of 'Garfield' when it was still a new comic strip, back when he barely resembled the character of today. But over time I drifted away from the comic because it had lost its edge. When new it was a fun read because Davis had a way of turning typical cat traits into a distinct personality that made it all seem deliberate and somewhat condescending to people. I suppose if you read the strip now without having read it before, you can still find that to be somewhat of the case. But, for the long time reader, it seemed as if Davis had gone on autopilot, the strip was just the same jokes recycled incessantly." Read more here, courtesy of Filmjerk.

* Courtesy of Poopsheet: News, we have this gem of an interview with "Angry Youth Comics" creator Johnny Ryan - available both in english and en espanol! (Link via Dolby Surrender)

* Also courtesy of Poopsheet: News, we have word of a couple gems from The Stranger: an autobio story illustrated by Alison Bechdel and a food article with spot illos by Rick Altergott.

* And lets go for three: once again thanks to Poopsheet: News, Guy Leshinski reviews a pile of recent 'zines here for The Eye.

* "New comic companies come along all the time. Take a glance in the second half of Previews catalogue you'll find several new companies each month that tend to blend into one huge, somewhat undistinguishable blur. It seems to make a dent into the world of comics, you need to provide something unique. That's where Variance Press hopes to come in. A new comic company, Variance Press's first book is an anthology, aptly titled Variance Press Anthology #1." Read more here, courtesy of Newsarama.

* Jeff Smith talks to the Pulse about the end of "Bone" and his upcoming work on DC's "Captain Marvel" (which will undoubtedly be officially titled "Shazam!") here.

* Dave over at Motime explains how Grant Morrison snuck the unauthorized origin of the Care Bears into his run on "Doom Patrol." Makes me want to go find that old Care Bears 12" we have sitting around here somewhere in The Wife's stacks of vinyl...

* Marc Singer over at I Am Not The Beastmaster writes a particularly cogent and well-thought-out defense of the superhero here, on the thesis that superhero stories don't necessarily have to be metaphorical.

* Hey you. Yeah, you I think you probably want to buy this.

* There's always a lot of noise coming out from the mainstream hype machine - useless press releases and idiotic Q&A interviews. You don't need to read it, I don't need to read it. But every now and again and interview coems along that really is pretty interesting. Silver Bullet Comics talks to Chuck Austen here. I wish everyone put as much thought into their work as he obviously does. Now, you may or may not like what he does, but at least he's honest about why he does it.

* Flat Earth continues its tribute to all things Bob Haney here.

* "Ohio-born humorist, writer and cartoonist James Thurber is one of America's most beloved and eccentric characters. Comparisons to predecessor Mark Twain are fully justified. Both filtered the mundane details of their worlds through a decidedly skewed, and sometimes dark, comic perception. Both delivered keen-eyed, wry and laugh-out-loud-funny tales that are truly timeless in their ability to illuminate the human condition. And both weren't above poking fun at their own foibles and crotchets. The author pops up in an eye patch (he suffered partial blindness as the result of a childhood injury) in a couple of the sketches in the delightfully droll revue 'A Thurber Carnival,' the Tony Award-winning dramatic adaptation of Thurber's twisted whimsy. The original 1960 Broadway production was directed by Burgess Meredith and featured Peggy Cass, Alice Ghostley and Tom Ewell. Thurber appeared as himself for 88 performances." Read more here, courtesy of the Tallahassee Democrat. Whenever I think abotu James Thurber these days, I can't help but thinking of Ivan Brunetti, one of the great unsung cartoonists of our time. He's done a series of strips about Thurber, apparently in preparation for a book the man, and some of them can be found here, here, and here, courtesy of Highwater Books.

* The Pulse takes a look at the recent ... odd ... phenomenon of digging up dead people like Nathanial Hawthorne to write "The Flash" here. (It's satire, kids, they didn't really dig Hawthorne up. He's all moldy and stuff by now.)

* Courtesy of Eat More People: I would totally buy this.
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Notable Links for 04/08

Man, for some reason the hits have really jumped these last couple days. Mind you, I'm hardly complaining. The more the merrier. Maybe someday someone important will read this and offer me a job writing "Mary Worth" or something.

(Not that you're all not very important.)

* "An artist who survived the Rwandan genocide is marking the mass killing's 10th anniversary this month with a comic book that details his experiences. Montreal-based Rupert Bazambanza's Sourire malgré tout, or Smile Through the Tears, tells the story of the Rwanga family -- his friends who were killed in Rwanda a decade ago. Creating the book, which he began two years ago, has been a way for the artist to honour their memory." Read more here, courtesy of the CBC.

* "Zippy The Pinhead is back!

"Three weeks after the San Francisco-native comic character was banished from the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, The Examiner, San Francisco's hometown paper, has reintroduced Zippy into the five-day-a-week free tabloid.

"'As part of our continued product enhancement growth at The Examiner, I am proud to announce the return of the popular comic strip, Zippy,' President and Publisher P. Scott McKibben said. 'We believe the San Francisco and Bay Area readers of The Examiner have a connection with the strip and will enjoy seeing Zippy every day.'" Read more here, courtesy of the San Francisco Examiner.

* "A California judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit that could have cost Walt Disney Co. hundreds of millions of dollars from Winnie the Pooh product sales, saying Disney's foes lied and stole evidence. Stephen Slesinger Inc., the family firm suing Disney, 'is dishonest and shows no remorse,' Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy wrote in his decision. He ruled that Slesinger's actions threatened the integrity of the legal system and the 13-year-old case should be dismissed as punishment." Read more here, courtesy of Reuters.

* "The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) condemns the latest 'Doonesbury' comic strip, depicting a dialogue between President George W. Bush and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, which has President Bush calling Ms. Rice 'brown sugar.' 'As a black woman, I'm particularly offended and believe this is old- fashioned plantation racism,' says Michelle D. Bernard, Senior Fellow of the Independent Women's Forum. 'Gary Trudeau shows us that a tragic race and gender-based antebellum view of black women continues to haunt American culture.' The Independent Women's Forum calls on Mr. Trudeau, creator of 'Doonesbury,' to apologize and pull this cartoon from any future publications. IWF urges all newspapers that carried this strip, to apologize and pull it down from their websites." Read more here, courtesy of Yahoo! Finance.

* "A controversial cartoon in a college newspaper is causing some trouble. The student paper at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh printed a cartoon in an April Fool's Day edition. It showed a goat bragging to a mouse about how he had hit a black person on a bicycle. The cartoon in The Tartan angered readers and provoked an official review of the paper. School officials say the cartoonist has been fired and that two editors resigned." Read more here, courtesy of KPVI.

* "Being funny without being offensive is tough to do, which is why college newspapers that publish April Fools' Day editions often end up paying for it.

"Three student publications that put out spoofs this year — those at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania and the University of Nebraska at Omaha — know all too well.

"Carnegie Mellon's paper, the Tartan, voluntarily shut down for the rest of the semester after publishing a racially charged cartoon in its 12-page spoof edition. The cartoonist lost his job, and the editor in chief — who blamed fatigue for clouding his judgment — is taking a leave of absence until the fall.

"University of Scranton officials closed the Aquinas for parodying Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ,' college administrators and Georgetown University, a fellow Jesuit institution.

"The Gateway, the Nebraska paper, apologized for its four-page edition titled the Ghettoway. One story, with the headline "Gateway cameras stolen during weekend," was written by Ono Udidn. Another fake byline: Mindjo Bidness. The news editor, who is black, told the Gateway for a story Tuesday that she thought the content was representative of pop culture in general." Read more here, courtesy of the Washington Times.

* "A significant collection of 1930s comics has surfaced in upstate New York, where they were found in the insulation of an old house. The 21 books included such rare issues as Detective Comics #2, of which less than ten are know to exist; Tip Top #1; New Comics #1; Star Ranger #1, the first western comic; and The Comics Magazine #1. New Comics #1 is the oldest book, published in December of 1935; despite its age, it was in the best condition of the lot. New Comics was later retitled New Adventure, and eventually Adventure Comics, the long-lived DC Comics title." Read more here, courtesy of ICV2.

* Rich Johnston talks to Image bigwig and "Savage Dragon" impressario Erik Larsen here (link courtesy of Dynamic Forces).

* The Pulse interviews "Invisibles" and "The Filth" artist Chris Weston here.

* The Sydney Morning Herald profiles DJ/cartoonist Kid Koala here.

* Courtesy of loyal reader Mason Adams, we have an interview he conducted with current indie comics "Golden Boy" Nick Bertozzi ("Rubber Necker") here (link courtesy of Mr. Adams' zine, There's Nothing To Do Here).

* Ira Glass and Chris Ware are going to be doing some sort of live collaboration at UCLA this Saturday - I don't really understand what all it entails but it sounds fun. Read more here, courtesy of the San Bernardino County Sun.

* "Editorial cartoonist Matt Davies was thrilled to win a Pulitzer Prize yesterday for himself and for his paper -- The Journal News of White Plains, N.Y. 'If this newspaper were anywhere else, it would have huge respect,' he told E&P today. 'It puts out really good, top-notch stuff. But we're in the shadow of The New York Times. One thing the Times doesn't have is an editorial cartoonist. My publisher [Gary Sherlock] said to me, 'That's one of our biggest trump cards.' And it was, because Davies' Pulitzer was the first ever for the Journal News, owned by Gannett Co. Inc." Read more here, courtesy of Editor & Publisher.

* "The year was 1983 and teenagers Matt Davies and his sister Talitha were uprooted from their London suburban life with the transfer of their banker father to a U.S. job. They ended up in Westport going to Staples High School. 'It was a bit of a shock,' recalled Davies, now 37, who Monday was named the 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner in editorial cartooning for his work at The Journal News of White Plains, N.Y." Read more here, courtesy of Westport Now.

* Variety's "Bags and Boards" talks to Milestone Media honcho and all-around animaiton gadfly Dwayne McDuffie here. (But the real quesiton is - will we ever see more Damage Control???) Link courtesy of Thought Balloons.



Good God, but I sure loved that series.

* Courtesy of Artbomb, we have Mondaq's round-up of the Gaiman v. McFarlane legal battle here (registration is required... I know, I know...)

* Thanks to Mr. Neil Gaiman we have Peter Sanderson's lovely euglogy for Julie Schwartz here (link courtesy of IGN Filmforce).

* So, apparently Darwyn Cooke and Mark Millar got into a fight. They were really going at it down in the schoolyard and it's a good thing Miss Molloy was there or they would have got hurt something fierce. Sean T. Collins think that Cooke is in the wrong, and I would tend to agree with him myself. Christopher Butcher thinks Cooke is right, but he muddies the water in my book by insisting that respect is a desirable thing. Doesn't the fact that these characters are still around in 40 and some cases 60 years after their creation mean that folks like Millar have some respect for the creators? Dave over at Intermittent has some interesting things to say on the subject here (he's right, they're not mutually exclusive viewpoints!) (Link courtesy of Millarworld, where al lthe good fights seem to get started these days [I got the link from Dave who got it from Graeme, incidentally.])

* Over at Newsarama, Patrick Neighly takes a look at Slave Labor's "Street Angel" as well as Stephen Buell’s "Video" here.

* "In Germany they call him Tim, in Dutch he is called Kuifje, the Greeks call him Tentén and in China he’s known as Dingdong. Who am I talking about? Tintin! For 75 years the reporter with the distinctive quiff hairstyle and the small white terrier has been trotting around the globe, but now he is visiting the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, South East London. Marking his 75th birthday, the exhibition The Adventures of Tintin at Sea, running until September 5, is a collection of original drawings by Belgian Cartoonist Georges Remi – more commonly known as Hergé, the francophone pronunciation of his reversed initials – and some of the artefacts and models that inspired him." Read more here, courtesy of the 24 Hour Museum.

* "No one could call the yen Mickey Mouse money, but in one struggling Tokyo neighbourhood it is about to come up against a rival currency inspired by another popular cartoon character with a high-pitched voice. From tomorrow, shoppers in Takadanobaba will be able to buy their groceries with notes bearing the unmistakable features of Astro Boy, the most popular Japanese animation hero of all time." Read more here, courtesy of the Guardian.

* Silver Bullet Comics' weekly "Panel" discussion takes a look at just why comics aren't advertised on TV here.

* Also at SBC - Zack S. calls manga readers sheep. Man, I bet he likes getting pelted with potatoes when he appears in public.

* "It's hard to know just what to call Dennis Webb's Alexandria shop. The plants, some as unusual as a bonsai schefflera, don't quite define it, though they're the first thing a customer sees. The dozens of boxes of old comic books don't tell the whole story, either. And the used books and videos on scattered shelves, from romance novels to 'Dr. Who,' take up a lot of space, but they're not the reason most people visit this well-established hole in the wall. Truth is, the one-room store has two names -- Card & Comic Collectorama and Exotic Planterium -- but they don't begin to describe Webb's 30-year-old business at 2008 Mount Vernon Ave., in the Del Ray section of Alexandria, in an up-and-coming block that he shares with purveyors of fine wines and Thai food." Read more here, courtesy of the Washington Post.

* Pop Matters has updated their Comixs Reviews with new looks at DC's "The Monolith," Image's "Rex Mundi," as well as Dark Planet's "Rogues!" and "2 To The Chest." (Links courtesy of Kevin at Thought Balloons.)

* Steven Grant reviews a shitpile of new books and answers reader mail this week. Nothing too earth-shattering, but stil lworth reading. Link courtesy of Comic Book Resources.

* "SINGAPORE fans are getting their comics at a fraction of the American price - thanks to an American publishing house. Gotham Entertainment Group, a publishing house with offices in India and the United States, obtained the rights to publish DC Comics and Marvel regionally seven years ago. It started printing comics for the Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei markets in August last year. In Singapore, the $10 'specials' are a slightly smaller size. Some contain a collection of short stories featuring a comic-book character but most carry the same content as American trade paperbacks." Read more here, courtesy of the Straits Times.

* John Jakala over at Grotesque Anatomy reviews that recent big hit video game, "Avengers/JLA." (PS - Thanks for giving away the ending, jackass. [I keed, I keed.])

* "Brian Mead is a lithographer at VonHoffman Graphics in Eldridge, who moonlights as a coloring book artist, creating fill-in-the-space designs that encourage both creativity and learning. 'I look at coloring books to be the original interactive books. It's a throwback to before kids could sit in front of the TV,' observed Mead, a father of two young girls. '(Coloring) can buy a parent several hours of peace and quiet, without having to worry about setting them in front of the electronic babysitter.'" Read more here, courtesy of the Eldrige North Scott Press.


* "A Dundurn Street South man who buys and sells comic books and other collectibles has admitted involvement in a sophisticated fraud that siphoned more than $130,000 from the Royal Bank. The case appeared headed for trial yesterday but ended in a plea bargain for Douglas Kisko, 37, who was facing charges of uttering a forged document and fraud over $5,000. Ontario Court Justice Don Cooper reluctantly agreed to sentence Kisko to just one day in jail and ordered him to repay the bank. Cooper ordered restitution, which is a legal judgment in favour of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) that will follow Kisko for life or until the debt is paid." Read more here, courtesy of the Toronto Star.


* David Fiore finally gets to the good stuff: Ladies and Gentlemen, The Brotherhood of Dada.

* Meanwhile, the other Dave, over at Intermittent, gets it. It may look like he's poking a hole in my argument, but really, I think he's proving my point perfectly. What if every book about Columbia had to be filtered through magical realism - it'd get old real quick, wouldn't it? Wouldn't most people get pretty tired of that? Then you'd have a small, infinitely loyal but slowly dwindling coterie of Columbia-fanboys who refused to read any stories about Columbia but ones that involved magical-realism, and instead of even a diversity of magical-realist titles we'd have all these Macondo spinoffs and we'd have Rob Liefeld drawing the Buendia's with tiny feet and huge thighs... well, you get my idea. Good job, Dave.

* "John McPherson, whose cartoon 'Close to Home' is featured in newspapers around the world, will be inducted into Bucknell University's Association for the Arts Academy of Artistic Achievement. The ceremony will take place during the academy's annual Association for the Arts dinner in Lewisburg on April 17." Read more here, courtesy of WGAL.

* "One of the first things they teach you in higher level English composition school courses is how to find an audience. Who will care about your writing, and why? How will you establish credibility with this audience, and how will you appeal to them? What's the 'so what?' of your work? While the guidelines in that situation were clearly geared toward expository writing, the same concept goes for comics. Perhaps, since comics is a commercial medium as well as an artist medium, especially in comics." Read more here, courtesy of Silver Bullet Comics.

* I wasn't going to post to Legomancer's Previews rundown - really, aren't these things kinda boring? But it's worth reading just to learn about the Brotherhood of the Mite. Inspired.

* Mike Sterling at Progressive Ruin finds the weirdest things...





Travels With Larry Part III

Codeflesh TPB

I think I finally got Joe Casey figured out.

There’s always been something a bit . . . off about his work, and I know I haven’t been the only one to feel this way. He’s consistently scored high-profile gigs but has also consistently alienated his core constituency of superhero fanboys. In all honesty, I didn’t really spend too much time thinking about these things until I read his recent Comics Journal interview with Tom Spurgeon.

Now, I must confess I was a bit surprised when I saw that the Journal was going to interview Casey – mostly because, as I said, I had never really devoted any thought to the matter before. But once I sat down and read the interview, I could definitely see why someone as bright as Spurgeon would be interested in talking to someone like Casey. I had never really grokked his work before, and as I read and absorbed the interview a whole bunch of pieces fell into place in the back of my mind. The notion percolated that perhaps I needed to give Casey another try.

Then, thanks to AiT/Planet Lar, I got a copy of the “Codeflesh” trade, reprinting the eight original Codeflesh stories Casey did with Charlie Adlard. The stories were originally published in a little heralded Image flip-book called “Double Image.” I imagine no one “got” it, which is why the last three issues of the series were renamed “Double Take” and published by Funkotron instead of Image. But, thanks to the perspicacity of Larry Young, the stories are now in print for good under one cover. In a lot of ways, I think this might be the most interesting bit of Casey's work I've ever read. Reading “Codeflesh” makes me think that perhaps Casey really is one of the genre’s rare geniuses, like Grant Morrison with less flash.

Actually, if a comparison must be made, I think that Casey might just be the Jane Austen of superhero comics. People who have read little or none of their actual output often deride both Austen and Casey. Sometimes people who do read them still misunderstand them. But when it comes to craft and style, neither of them can be beat. And certainly when it comes to plumbing the dark thematic depths which underlie their respective genres – the Regency romance and the modern superhero tale - neither of them can really be matched for their biting satirical insight.

Under Casey’s watch, “Wildcats” was about a superhero team that falls apart and decides that the real power behind the world is money, and that the real engines of change are multinational corporations, not glorified Circus acrobats and strongmen. “Cable” was about a man out of time, a soldier in a time of waning peace who wanted desperately to have a chance at normalcy. And “Codeflesh” is basically about a man who likes to get the shit beat out of him on a regular basis for no other reason than he likes it.

The book’s protagonist – I’m not going to say hero – is a man named Cameron Daltrey. He’s a man with anger management issues. He’s a bail bondsman who specializes in the super-villain community – the type of felons who almost always run out on a bond. This means he has to bring them back in, usually in a very violent manner. He doesn’t have superpowers or magic weapons, he’s basically just a mean S.O.B. in a fright mask. The judge told him he couldn’t be a bounty hunter anymore so he took to wearing the mask, because he couldn’t face the prospect of life without the constant adrenaline rush of getting the crap beat out of him by third-rate super-crooks.

It’s an ugly book, a brutal book. There are no deeper issues of truth or justice at play here, just rivers of subtle masochism and not-so-subtle sadism. It’s the kind of book I honestly can’t imagine very many conventional superhero readers enjoying, because it says some unpleasant things about the concept of the superhero vigilante. It’s all well and good to claim you fight crime out of a deep sense of moral responsibility, but at the end of the day, how many of your favorite superheroes just kinda get off on beating the tar out of lame-o super-villains?

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the ethical nature of superheroes. Some think that dismissing the concept of vigilante behavior because of deeply moralistic qualms is to miss the point of the stories, that they’re metaphors for universal ethical and metaphysical questions. Well, that’s not the kind of superhero book that I think Joe Casey has any interest in writing. Furthermore I believe that “Codeflesh” is perhaps the most nakedly vicious attack on this train of thought that I have yet encountered. Casey has to be one of the most naturalistic writers in comics, because I just don’t think that it’s possible to apply overarching metaphors to his work without it ringing false.

To put it bluntly, Codeflesh is a fucking maniac, and reading this book makes you feel dirty. Furthermore, this feeling of repulsion tends to corrupt your perceptions of more conventional superheroics.

It’s not a perfect book. The worst part about it is that damn mask. It’s such a brilliant visual – a barcode where the face should be – but there’s no real thematic explanation for it in the story. Rorschach’s mask has a great little story of its own, there’s a reason that he wears it and those reasons can be traced back to his character and his milieu. But Codeflesh’s mask is just something he picked because it was there. I almost wish they could go back and change the face, in order to give that visual to someone like Grant Morrison, someone with more of an instinctive feel for visual metaphor than Casey.

The book suffers in places because of the transition to black and white. Drawing in black and white is a challenge that not every artist can meet. Most mainstream artists, especially, are conditioned to use color to balance their pages – giving their colorists the leeway to tweak the ebb and flow of their storytelling with contrasting and complimentary color schemes. In black and white, the artist doesn’t have this crutch, and it shows in “Codeflesh” whenever you have trouble picking the foreground from the background and are confused by the action in certain scenes. Busy lines look great when they’re colored in and you can easily discern the narrative, but sometimes more is less when you work in greytone.

Charlie Adlard’s art has improved by leaps and bounds since his days on Topps’ “X-Files” adaptation (that’s the last place I remember seeing his work). His art is a lot looser and his lines are much more evocative – undoubtedly a byproduct of not having to follow tight licensing restrictions regarding the characters’ faces.

So, while “Codeflesh” is not a perfect book, it’s a damn good book. I think that there are a couple stylistic choices that ring false – the last story in particular hinges on an Eisneresque gimmick you will either love or loathe. But an overriding spirit of formal experimentation and thematic iconoclasm carries the book successfully. If it’s not there already, “Codeflesh” deserves a place on your bookshelf.



(I have no shame.)
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Notable Links 04/07

So, in answer to yesterday's Blogosphere Trivia Challenge, the groovy "Batman" comic in question was actually "Brave & The Bold" #102, featuring the Teen Titans as guest stars. This answer comes courtesy of Mr. Steven Wintle, proprietor of Flat Earth. Mr. Wintle was so inspired by fellow blogger Dave Lartigue's dilemma, he was inspired to write about the comic in question here. I love this because all the panels Steven reproduces show Batman walking around in broad daylight. Now, it's no secret that I am not a big Batman fan, but I guarantee that having Batman walk around city streets in the middle of the day is a perfect way to crush the suspension of belief flatter than a pancake, regardless of who's reading the book. For God's sake, it looks like he's window shopping! Where's Scott Shaw! when you need him? This one has all the makings of an Oddball classic...

In any event, it's a truncated Blog today. I gotta get up real early and take The Wife to a doctor's appointment in New Hampshire. Regular blogging and "Travels With Larry" will resume tomorrow. Do not fret, you're not going to miss anything good. Meanwhile, here's a couple interesting links...

* "TOKYOPOP Inc. and Disney Publishing Worldwide are bringing a number of popular Disney films and television series to life for readers with a new line of Cine-Manga(tm) books. The first new Disney Cine-Manga title, Lilo & Stitch, is set to debut in stores this April, with versions of That's So Raven, Princess Diaries 2, The Incredibles and The Lizzie McGuire Movie set to roll out in 2004. In total, there will be more than 24 Disney Cine-Manga projects slated for release over the next three years." Read more here, courtesy of Newsarama.

* "This June Dreamwave Productions will issue its first two DW Pockets editions collecting the Transformers Energon and Duel Masters comic book series in manga-size (5"x 7.25") full color trade paperbacks, with a suggested retail price of $10.95. The DW Pockets editions mirror the popular manga format right down to the vertical wraparound one color strip on the spine and dynamic manga-like cover illustrations. While some manga trades sell for as little as $7.95, the Dreamwave Pockets are printed in full color, making them a relative bargain at $10.95. The page counts for the DW Pockets -- 112 pages, while shorter than the typical manga release, are still substantial." Read the press release here, courtesy of ICV2.

Man, pretty soon every book in America is going to be sold in Manga format... up next, "The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot" in Manga format.

* "Eagle One Media, a multi-media company is proud to announce it will be distributing Intec Interactive's full line of Marvel and CrossGen Digital Comic Books to retailers and will also offer the complete line to consumers via Eagle One’s website (www.eagleonemedia.com). Each Digital Comic Book (DCB), which is playable on DVD, PC, and videogame consoles, contains a five to eight issue comic story-arc and at half the cost of the printed version, the value speaks for itself. A DCB blends the visual art and storytelling ability of published comic books with professional voice-overs, original music, stunning effects and high-end sound design. Plenty of extra material is packed in as well, like previews, character biographies, original sketches, a documentary about how comics are made, and bonus chapters (including classic first appearances of the main characters). All this provides over 100 minutes of viewable material on each DCB and with a quality on par with a major motion picture release." The Pulse has the press release here. Haven't they done these before, back when interactive CD-ROMs were huge? Didn't they flop?

* Barb Lien-Cooper writes about the whys and wherefors of Internet cartooning here (link courtesy of Sequential Tart).

* Thanks to Broken Frontier, we have more updates on "Broken Shakespeare"s Crossgen hijinks. Over at the Broken Frontier board, she's spilled the supposed beans about Crossgen's new financier - and I'll give you a hint, they're not exactly the Carnegie Foundation.

* Courtesy of Thought Balloons, MSNBC takes a look at "The Complete Peanuts."

* Stuart Moore takes you on a strange, strange journey through some strange, strange comics & sci-fi collectibles here (link courtesy of Newsarama).

* Courtesy of Fanboy Rampage, we have Mark Millar's campaign to save Crossgen's "American Power" series (link courtesy of Millarworld).

* "Who would have thought that Pittsburgh would ever become a hot bed of independent comic book activity? Though the 'burgh isn't as renowned for comic book publishing as New York or Seattle, it has managed to hold its own among independents thanks to veteran independent comics creators like Don Simpson, Wayno and several other artists and writers. With the publication of 'Street Angel' by the Pittsburgh-based artist and writing team of Brian Maruca and Jim Rugg, the region can finally boast an independent comic series that is as evocative and sexy as the Hernandez Brothers' 'Love & Rockets' series of the 1980s and '90s." Um, I think that's maybe laying it on a bit thick... I mean, it was a fun book, but "Love & Rockets"? Read the review here, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

* David Fiore continues the "Doom Patrol" blogging here, with a look at "Doom Patrol" #25 and a ramp-up to the "Brotherhood of Dada."

* If you liked my review of Ait/Planet Lar's "Demo" series yesterday, check out what Grotesque Anatomy has to say about it here.

* "LONG BEACH AUTHOR Glen David Gold doesn't see comic books as superheroes in Spandex knocking off villains with an assortment of 'POW,' 'ZAP,' 'WHAM' punches. 'When I was a kid, I read a lot of comic books and the story lines meant quite a lot to me,' says the Belmont Heights-based best-selling author, 40, whose favorite comic books include 'Daredevil,' 'The Hulk,' 'Howard the Duck,' 'X-Men' and 'The Fantastic Four.'
'The continuity, the soap opera nature of it, and the fantasy, took me out of my world. They also taught me how to tell stories,' he says. 'Comics have a sentimental meaning above and beyond what you can really defend in an academic sense.' Recently, Gold got to showcase his love for the format. He wrote 'The Lady or the Tiger' story line in the second issue of 'The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist' (Dark Horse Comics, $8.95), available in comic book shops Wednesday." Read more here, courtesy of the U Press-Telegram.

* Courtesy of Sean at the Journal board, we have some rather wacky recontextualizations of "Penny Arcade." I laughed, I cried, I hurled. (Who got that one? I just showed at least part of my age there...)

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Notable Links for 04/06

OK, first order of business: I've been contacted with a desperate cry for help from a fellow blogger. Since we all try to help each other out, I figured I would pass this along.

Mr. Dave Lartigue, owner and operator of the Legomancer site, is in quite a pickle regarding an old-skool "Batman" comic:

" FOR COMICS FANS: There's a 60s or 70s era Batman story
out there featuring a caped-and-cowled Dark Knight
strolling down the street in broad daylight, checking
out the pretty girls. The narration reveals that
'Batman digs this day.' Does anyone know what issue
this was in? Something tells me it's from an issue of
'Brave and the Bold' (it just radiates Bob Haney) but
I can't confirm if this is the case or which issue it
might be. I must know, for the sake of national
security! Any comics bloggers who read this, please
aid me in my quest! I've done some searching on
Google, but the internet is strangely silent on days
and the digging by Batman thereof."

Anyone who knows anything about this strange, strange Batman book should please drop Dave a note at legomancer at legomancer dot net. Hell, if you figure out what it is, CC me too, because I'll be damned if that isn't a pretty surreal description of a Batman story.

In other news, I just read "Superman/Batman" #1-6 this weekend, and boy, am I glad I didn't pay money for this. I haven't read a mainstream DCU title regularly for a long time, and I have to say I'm not impressed with what they've done to the place. Plus, Jeph Loeb really can't write, and I think I've figured out why. He comes from Hollywood, right? Writing those bad action movies and teen comedies? Well, in the movies, things like plot holes and character inconsistencies aren't that big of a deal. Sure, most astute moviegoers can't stand them, but in terms of the average moviegoer, you just need to keep them interested and propel the story along. If they story is good and the characters are halfway compelling, audiences will forgive anything.

The problem is, comics are a static medium. Little inconsistencies turn into huge gaping plotholes when you have the entire story in front of you, and you can flip back and forth at your liesure. I remember a few years ago I bought the "Long Halloween" trade - or was it an X-Mas gift? I can't really remember. I read it in about an hour, disliked it, and then I loaned it out and never bothered to get it back. You can see how impressed I was. Now, if it were a story on the big screen, chances are the little nagging problems would be overlooked entirely if the character work was solid and the plot held together. But in a book, you can totally tell that he just cribbed the first "Godfather" movie along with the best parts of "Year One." He's got the screenwriter's mentality - everything is delineated in terms of rhythm, but it's an artificially imposed rhythm. Instead of letting the story dictate it's own shape, he fits everything into a very simple mold. And the kids just eat it up - because he knows that what they really want is the "money shots," the big action poses and climactic fights - and that everything in between the "money shots" is superfluous. I haven't read "Hush," but I imagine I'm going to someday, and from what I've read of the story already I think I can predict exactly what the problems will be. The overall plot will be a loose, almost rickety framework around which to hang a bunch of cool "revelations" and fight scenes, strung together so that every chapter has just enough cool stuff to make you totally forget the stupid stuff.

Sadly, this is mainstream comics these days...

* The Crossgen Implosion continues in realtime. Bill Rosemann's departure apparently tripped the first domino, because now Marketing and Sales V.P. Chris Oarr has left the building as well. And "American Power" was cancelled as well, because apparently "new investors thought the book [to be] in poor taste." The Pulse has the story here.

On the one hand, I'm glad that "American Power" will nevr see the light of day. On the other hand... who knows? I said earlier it was a "Hail Mary" pass, and sure enough, most times "Hail Mary" passes don't work... but again, who knows? It might have surprised us. I think, based on what I know of the project and Chuck Dixon's reactionary politics, it was not likely to be anything more than offensive and juvenile in it's portrayal of complicated geopolitical situations - but its a free country, and if Crossgen wanted to publish the book, I kind of regret the fact that they didn't get to publish it. Because, if for no other reason, all the right-wingers are going to be screaming "PC Censorship!" every time the book is brought up from here to eternity. I think that people should publish whatever they want as part of the free and unrestrained commerce of ideas that makes this way of life so damn good. Part and parcel of that is the concept that stupid and irresponsible ideas should not be censored, but taken into the heart of public discourse. If I think you're wrong and you think you're right, that's room for discussion right there. Now that "American Power" isn't going to see the light of day, the discussion doesn't have anywhere to go - it falls back to the default name-calling - "bleeding-heart PC censors" vs. "Neanderthal reactionary troglodytes." Take your pick.

But, then again, most discussions never grow out of the name calling faze, so this is undoubtedly very optimistic. Extreme poses usually only cause extreme polarization.

Anyway, despite all that, good riddance to bad rubbish.

* Meanwhile, Fanboy Rampage has some very interesting scuttlebutt from the Comic Book Resources forums. If this is true (and remember, it is just a rumor), Crossgen has two months to live.

* "For nearly 40 years, Joan Crosby Tibbetts has waged a one-woman campaign against the makers of Skippy peanut butter, claiming the name was stolen from her father's popular Depression-era comic strip. On Monday, Tibbetts' legal battle ended when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear her suit against Skippy's manufacturer, a division of the multinational conglomerate Unilever. But Tibbetts, 71, said she'll continue her battle in the court of public opinion." Read more here, courtesy of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

* This week's Lying in the Gutters (courtesy of Comic Book Resources) had some interesting bits. In addition to poking the steaming corpse of "American Power," he also makes the suggestion that "Powers" and Kabuki" might be Marvel-bound - which would be simply disastrous for Image. But, there are two sides to every story. On the one hand, it really is a bad thing that the Number One writer in the industry (and if you don't believe me, how many of his books are in this month's top twenty?) can't get what most consider his best title out of - what - the top fifty? Top seventy five? Even with a relaunch? But on the other hand, that's the downside to working with Image. From what I understand, promotion is your responsibility in Image - you spend what you want to in order to promote your book. After Image Central gets their nut for printing and distribution, they have no further responsibility to you or your product.

So, if Bendis is unhappy with Image, Powers' baseline sales can't be the only issue. The fact is, it doesn't matter who you are, if you aren't working for the Big Two on a major superhero property, you might as well be pissing in the wind. Maybe "Powers" has reached the absolute topmost limit of its possible sales - as long as it has the Image "I" on the cover and not the big, red "Marvel" logo. I know, it may seem counterintuitive, but it's the sad truth of the way this industry works: people will buy anything with the Marvel logo on it. If you put out two identical books, one with the Image or DC logo on it, and another with Marvel on it, the Marvel one will outsell the first to an insanely irrational degree. The two things that have ever consistently counteracted this effect were the Superstar Artist Phenomenon and the 80's Nostalgia Phenomenon. Right now, we don't have any superstar artists anymore - they're all gone (McFarlane, Madurera [sic?]) or diminished (Liefeld, Larsen [no offense, but people take him for granted]). Now, somehow Mark Millar made "Wanted" a hit - but it still sells significantly less than any of his Marvel books ever have. I think perhaps the best proof of this problem comes from Erik Larsen's own words, over at Comicon's board's under the topic "PAD would be the worst choice possible for a second Hulk book:"

"People like to SAY that they want something new--but when push comes to shove--they'll take Ultimate Spider-Man over Powers five to one. It's pretty discouraging to work on a book that tries to give readers something new and exciting month after month only to find that most fans are much more interested in knowing if you're ever going to do something at Marvel."

This from the man who publishes "Powers." This industry has some serious priority problems, people.

But here's another quote from Rich Johnston, on the subject of Crossgen. This could be their epitaph, if anyone plants a tombstone:

"There is something to remember about CrossGen amidst all the allegations, recriminations, back biting and attacks, justified or otherwise. They tried. They tried to start a new kind of comics company, publishing a new kind of comic, and make a difference. Hell, they still might be able to. But they had odds stacked against them. The market turned towards old favourites rather than new ideas. And Marvel and DC management and staff took a personal dislike to the company, its ability to poach talent exclusively, and do away with editors. And they did everything they could to stop them." (Emphasis mine)

* "Carnegie Mellon University President Jared Cohon is establishing a commission to review the contents of an April Fools' Day edition of the student newspaper that sparked protests on campus. Cohon announced yesterday that the commission -- expected to be composed of one alumnus, three students and three members of the faculty and staff -- will make recommendations about possible disciplinary actions as a result of The Tartan's special edition." Read more here, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

* "Every 10 years, something major happens in Matt Davies' life. In 1983, his family moved from London, England, to the United States. In 1993, Davies became a full-time staff editorial cartoonist for The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y. In 2003, he was chosen as president-elect of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC). But Davies, 37, won't have to wait another decade for more big milestones. Last month, he was named the first recipient of the $10,000 Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning. And Davies is reportedly a Pulitzer Prize finalist." To read more about Davies, who actually did win the Pulitzer this year, go here, courtesy of Editor & Publisher. E&P has more on this years' Pulitzer winners here.

* Courtesy of ICV2: magazine sales are in the dumper for 2003.

* "'I wouldn't be offended if someone called me an otaku,' says Koichi Nakayasu, '. . . because I am.' 'Otaku' and proud -- and he's not alone. The number of hardcore manga and anime fan otaku probably number in the hundreds of thousands. If you include occasional consumers of otaku culture, maybe millions. Otaku culture has even spread abroad -- becoming one of Japan's most successful pop-culture exports." Read more here, courtesy of The Japan Times.

* Courtesy of ICV2, Australian retailer J. Carmody points out that Marvel might just be getting more than they bargained for in terms of their recent exclusivity deal with Source Interlink. Interesting stuff.



* "AS a nation that has spent centuries beating off the English, propped up the British Empire, and contributed to key developments in science and literature, Scotland has produced its share of colourful characters. Asked which figure best represents us, though, we chose a boy whose greatest claim to fame is sitting on a bucket.
Oor Wullie was given that dubious privilege yesterday when he was named as Scotland's most iconic figure by a poll of 1000 Scots. The comic character from Dundee, who has appeared in the Sunday Post since 1936, outshone our best sports stars, actors and historical figures." Read more here, courtesy of The Herald.

* Brandon Thomas navigates his way through the thorn-bush of race in comic here, courtesy of Silver Bullet Comics.

* Want to read an interesting peak into the process of turning an indie comic into a major motion picture? I thought so. Newsarama talks with "Two Over Ten" creator Myatt Murphy here.

* There's a new edition of Previews Review up here.

* "Archaia Studios Press is pleased to announce that "Artesia" ... is a 2003 Graphic Novel Book of the Year Award finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s annual prize. Gold, Silver and Bronze level award winners will be announced at this year’s BookExpo America in June. This is the first year Graphic Novels has been a category recognized by ForeWord’s annual award." Read the press release here, courtesy of Comic Book Resources.

* Just in case you missed it, Ringwood Ragefuck is having a contest to see who is the biggest "Loser" out there - and the winner gets a pile of "Loser" comic books (ie, the complete run of DC/Vertigo's "Losers" to date).

* Somehow I missed this: Mercury Studios has posted about comic page rhythm in comic books, and it's fascinating, informative stuff. Very much in line, I find, with some of my own thoughts on the matter. I would, incidentally, add another name to his list of masters of Rhythmical Storytelling: Walt Simonson. I've said it before and I'll say it again: there is no one working in comics now who could not benefit from a close reading of his work.

* Courtesy of the Journal board, we have confirmation that people actually did show up in front of the Chronicle offices on April 1st (to protest the lack of Zippy). Scroll down a bit for pictures.

* I can't seem to recall if this article has been up before. The Miami Herald examines the life and legacy of Charles Schulz here.

* "When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, there was nothing I loved to read more than the latest issue of The Uncanny X-Men or Captain Canuck. Back then, comic books were different – and I don't mean just the price. The ones I collected had a pulpy feel to them, and the prevailing attitude toward comics reflected the cheap paper on which they were printed: they were viewed as disposable, appropriate for children only. To be caught flipping through a comic 30 years ago was to be caught doing something juvenile and disreputable. Not today. Comic books are now slick mini-magazines made with glossy paper and sold in specialty shops that cater exclusively to connoisseurs of the medium. The people who produce them, meanwhile, are considered serious artists and writers whose work is, if not on par with 'real' literature, then close to it." This is a bad thing? Read more here, courtesy of the CBC.

* On a lighter note, here's the story of Bizarro Mr. Mxyzptlk, courtesy of The Pulse. One question: shouldn't the Bizarro Mr. Mxyzptlk be Mr. Kltpzyxm?

* And courtesty of Mr. Neil Gaiman, we have this. Don't you think it needs to be updated to reflect the advent of blogging?



Travels With Larry Part II

"Demo" #1-5

Writing short stories is hard work. Take my word for it. I would much rather sit there any day of the week and bang away on a long piece of fiction any than hammer out a concise, well-crafted little gem of a short story. This is just one man's opinion, but based on my experience, any old fool can write a novel, but it takes a real mensch to write a short story.

You only get one pass, so everything has to be perfect. The style and the pacing have to work together brilliantly - you have to succeed in making your point without being too obvious and then leave. There are many novels in this world that are in actuality short stories that didn't know when to stop. But there aren't many writers who can count brevity among their gifts.

There are a lot of bad short stories. It's easy to fall in a rut, to consciously or unconsciously approach writing a short story like solving a math problem. You have such and such a setting, such and such a conflict, such and such a resolution, and bam, you're done. How many times have you read the fiction in "The New Yorker" and been totally underwhelmed, underimpressed - basically convinced that whomever wrote that story took a class that told them How to Write Short Fiction and took every word the pencil-neck professor said to heart? Because a short story is short, it by necessity has to be really fucking interesting. While it's not recommended, you're allowed to start your book slowly. If you're short story starts slowly, chances are it ends slowly to, because, hey, guess what, there's not much room.

There are a few people I would single out as being masters of the short form. Based on my limited experience, I'd say that Stephen King, for all the guff he gets from some, is maybe the most brilliant short story writer alive today. You can learn more about the craft of writing from reading his short stories and novellas than just about anything else I can mention. Harlan Ellison writes pretty well, but I got pretty sick of him because of his exhausting hard-on for the Great High Concept. I know everyone likes David Foster Wallace, but most of his short stories just seem like school exercises to me. F. Scott Fitzgerald is quite possibly the greatest short story writer who ever lived, and if you don't believe me, than you can go screw.

So, this is basically a roundabout way of me getting to the topic at hand in the most bass-awkwards way possible. I enjoyed the first five issues of "Demo." I found them to be interesting and well done. They were not perfect, however, and I think both Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan have a long way to go before they will have begun to tap the deep recesses of their talent, of which "Demo" appears to be a mere tip of the proverbial iceberg.

As I said, writing short stories is tough business. I think it took a lot of guts for Wood to conceptualize "Demo" the way he did: 12 issues, 12 unconnected stories. A new character with a new superpower every issue. But they're not really superpowers, and that's the hook - they're merely strange abilities that serve to fuck up the lives of whomever possesses them. With great power comes... a big-ass headache, apparently.

I think the stories get better as the series advances. The first three stories seemed to rely on the same kind of stock short story pacing you see everywhere:
Establishing scene - boom.
Expository dialogue - boom.
Complication - boom.
Resolution - boom.
It's hard not to write like this. Writing has to have conflict of some kind, and conflict demands resolution - so, it’s hard to keep from letting the demands of the form break you down into cliche. Sometimes it happens - other times, more rarely than most would care to admit, inspiration strikes.

I think that the third issue is really when things started clicking for me. Although it resorts to that hoariest of cliches - the trick ending - I was honestly surprised when it snuck up on me. It's almost cheating, the way he did it: you're wondering for the entire issue just what the superpower is that we're dealing with. Of course, if he doesn't mention it right away it's going to be a Big Revelation. But the fact that he pulled it off in such a way that I didn't see it coming is to be commended. It's the first rule of magic, kids: distraction. I was so busy paying attention to the dialogue that when the action arrived I was shocked to see it.

I think that the fifth issue is probably the strongest, simply because it feels loosest. For whatever reason, it seems more honest, less attached to the contrivances of short-story structure. The climax was perfectly reached, subtle and effecting, and not merely another MacGuffin about the super-powers. Here we see Wood finally getting his head around the challenge. He's still got seven issues to go - amazing.

Admittedly, Wood does fall into some of the modern comic writer‘s worst traps. This allergy to captions just has to stop, because we've gotten to the point where "sparse" narration is shorthand for "deep" - but that's just lazy shorthand. "Sparse" is just a tool, and it doesn't cover up a lack of ideas. This is especially cloying in the second issue. I realize that the wide-open panels are meant to symbolize unease and escalate the dramatic tension, but there reaches a point where minimalism breaks down into sloth. I am not quite sure if they cross that line here or not.

Cloonan's art suffers a bit from the wide-open direction Wood gives her. I can't help feeling, as talented as she is, she could benefit from some strict nine-panel grids, from forcing her to tell the story through tight sequence instead of loose collage.


If I had picked up the first issue of the series, I would have wanted to pick up the next one. As it is, having read the first five in one sitting, I am very anxious to read the next. The nature of this experiment is such that you really can see the gears grinding away in their heads, trying to figure out how to build that better mousetrap - how to write a convincing short story.

I realize that a great part of the book's appeal has to do with the format - twelve single-issue graphic novels - but it would be stupid not to acknowledge the realities of the situation. This will be reprinted in a trade paperback, bonus material or no, and it will be a very important book when all is said and done. Whether or not the remaining seven issues improve on the promise of these first five is immaterial at this point - they could suck and it would still be worth reading just to see why they sucked. Anyone who wants to study the intricacies of the short story format could do a lot worse than to read "Demo."

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Notable Links for 04/05

Sometimes I am really embarrassed by my own shortcomings. Although I try - I really do - to be meticulous with this blog, sometimes these things get out of hand. I think it has something to do with the rather massive size of some of these posts, there's so much information it's almost inevitable that something gets overlooked.

Well, that's no excuse.

Last Friday I posted an extended quote from this post by Adam over at Completely Futile on the subject of superheroes. He basically said something very smart and very germane to this ongoing discussion, only a lot more succinctly than I had so far managed to. However, I somehow forgot to link back to his blog. This is just bad form on my part, and I have no better excuse than to point out it was really late at night. I'll try not to let it happen again - and if it does, please call me on it!

Anyway, while we're on the subject, Adam has seen fit to extrapolate on his original comments here - and I have to say that for someone who doesn't think highly of his knowledge in this field he certainly seems to have a pretty firm grasp on the facts. Agree or disagree, it's necessary reading.

So, before you ask - No, I haven't seen "Hellboy." I want to, but right now it's just not in the cards. One of the absolute worst aspects of having moved to the Northeast is the fact that going to the movies is so damn expensive out here. I mean, seriously, the price of a matinee showing in Worcester is the price of an evening showing in Oklahoma or rural California. I have no choice but to balk at this - it's in my blood to be a cheap bastard. So, as much as I would like to see "Hellboy," I just can't justify paying the scalpers' prices in these parts. But, in any event, I wasn't that excited about it. For some reason "Hellboy" was just never my favorite book. I don't even have but a few random issues. Mignola's work never appealed to me like it obviously did for so many others. I actually like that issue of "X-Force" he did better than just about anything else I've seen of his.

I'm going to get it for that one, aren't I?

But I’m hardly surprised it was able to beat “Walking Tall.” The Rock may be slightly charismatic but – come on – this is “Walking Tall” here. Even if the Rock isn’t actually playing Buford T. Pusser in this film, it’s still basically crap. I could have told you that before you spent $60 million to make it.

* Late breaking news: Crossgen's Bill Rosemann has resigned from his position as Senior V.P. of Operataions for the beleaguered company. The Pulse has the scoop here. Newsarama has the story here.

* "POLICE have frozen a $75,000 superannuation death payout for murder victim Lyndsay van Blanken as part of their investigation. The Daily Telegraph can exclusively reveal that one of the two men in her life was named as the beneficiary of the 'death payment' stipulated in Ms van Blanken's super plan. But after the 18-year-old Walt Disney cartoonist disappeared in November, police seized her superannuation records and froze her bank account.
Her body was found in January stuffed inside a cricket bag under a block of flats in Queens Park." Read more here, courtesy of The Australian.

* "The editor in chief and managing editor of a student newspaper at Carnegie Mellon University are considering resigning after the newspaper ran a comic strip that contained a racial slur. Alex Meseguer, editor in chief of The Tartan, will temporarily suspend the newspaper's operations in light of the publication's April Fool's Day edition, which not only contained the controversial comic strip, but also included depiction of female genitalia and poems about rape and mutilation." Read more here, courtesy of NEPA News. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review examines the story here.

* Courtesy of Neil Gaiman, we have the disturbing matter of The Academy of Art University in San Francisco taking a rather disturbing stand on the matter of violence in school - ie, expelling a student for writing a violent story and banning a violent David Foster Wallace story from the syllabus. Gaiman originally brought the matter to the attention of the collective blogosphere here, courtesy of a letter from Mr. Lemony Snicket himself, Daniel Handler. The issue has been reported by the San Francisco Chronicle here. In any event, if you live in the Bay Area I'd encourage you to make your support known in this issue - the First Amendment needs all the friends it can get.

But seriously, the only violence David Foster Wallace has ever inspired in me is the desire to fling the book across the room - but that's just me.

* "The nephew of Walt Disney has revealed he is to step up his campaign to oust the beleaguered chief executive of the multi-billion dollar company that gave the world some of its most enduring cartoon characters. Roy Disney, 73, quit the board of Disney last year after a clash with Michael Eisner, the company's chief executive. The two, who have each made $1 billion (£541 million) from the company, have been locked in a power struggle ever since, with Disney successfully forcing Eisner to stand down as the company's chairman at a shareholders' meeting last month. But Eisner, who has been blamed for the collapse in Disney's fortunes, remains as chief executive. Speaking in a BBC3 documentary to be screened tomorrow Roy Disney, who claims in the documentary he was fired, said: 'I told them at the time they might be sorry they did that, and I intend to make them sorry they did that.'" Read more here, courtesy of Mickey News.

The programme also quotes him as saying: "The company is rapacious and soulless and always looking for a quick buck, which is leading to a loss of public trust."


* Potentially the biggest news to come out of the gate in the past few days was the formation of ICAA - the International Comic Art Association. It's a trade organization - yes, folks, an honest-to-Gosh trade organization in an industry that desperately needs an (effective) organization just like this. James Sime has the skinny here, courtesy of Comic Book Resources.

* OK, as you know I usually try to avoid linking to subscription-only content, but Publisher's Weekly makes it hard to resist: they've got an article on the recent "Shonene Jump" in school brouhaha here, with quotes from the magazine's publisher (Viz) as well.

* "Editors Gary Spencer Millidge, Smoky Man, and Omar Martini are proud to announce that the charity tribute book, Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman, has raised a figure approaching $37,000.00 (US) for Alzheimer's charities. 'Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman' is a massive 352-page trade paperback featuring mostly all-new contributions in celebration of British comics-writing legend, Alan Moore's 50th birthday." The Pulse has the press release here.

* "Representing the '21st century Copyright Consideration Group,' Mangaka Fujiko Fujio and Satonaka Machiko visited Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi on March 30th with a petition to have manga lending rates imposed on manga-renting libraries. The group is seeking a reform to the Japanese copyright act that would set royalty fees for the lending of manga and other printed material in the same was that royalty fees are applied to the lending of Music CDs and other media. The Prime Minister stated that he enjoyed reading Tetsuwan Atom and Shonen Kenya and pointed out that he felt Intellectual copyright to be a very serious matter." Read more here, courtesy of Anime News Network.

* "A library in Toyama Prefecture now holds the entire collection of the Doraemon comic series, most of which was donated by a professor studying the famous robot cat "manga" hero, library officials said Monday. The Takaoka City Library in Takaoka opened the collection, which contains 1,344 versions, to the media on Monday. The library, which has been closed since January, will reopen at a new location on Tuesday." Read more here, courtesy of Japan Today.



* Matt Maxwell over at Broken Frontier has a few bones to pick with the constant, tiresome retreads that pass for "relaunches" in this industry. Of particular interest to longtime readers of this blog:

"Original work takes chances that franchises could never take and they can succeed far beyond franchises (not to mention grab readers who won’t feel it necessary to bone up on thirty years of back history to enjoy the work.) The toybox is a lot of fun to play with, no doubt. But the fact of the matter is that there’s only a couple hundred toys to play with, and some of ‘em are looking pretty shopworn by now. Sure, some new toys would be nice. But a new game altogether? Now that would be welcome."

Now doesn't that make sense? Makes me wish Mark Greuenwald was alive to add his two cents.

* Courtesy of Ninth Art, Alex Dueben takes a look at modern superhero comics and tries to parse just why he's uninterested in the genre here.

* The San Francisco Chronicle takes a look at upstart Japanese-import publisher Vertical Inc - publisher of Osamu Tezuka's "Buddha" - here.

* "A watercolour representation of a dghajsa tal-latini by the late Maltese cartoonist Alfred Gerada has been described as 'a creative masterpiece' by Chris Agius Sultana, a fine art sculpture and architectural restorer. Mr Agius Sultana bought the painting recently without knowing who the artist actually was. The dghajsa tal-latini was a traditional boat equipped with lateen sails used regularly for the carrying of foodstuffs and livestock between Malta and Gozo before the advent of mechanical propulsion. The painting is signed 'Gerada' and dated 1936. Mr Agius Sultana was not aware that Mr Gerada had been such a prolific painter, apart from a refined illustrator." Read more here, courtesy of the Times of Malta.



* Joey Manley takes a look at the state of modern webcomics from a business point of view here.

* I didn't know that Top Shelf Comics' website was posting brand-new content by cartoonists such as Josue Menjivar, Nate Beaty, Martin Cendreda, Andrew Brandou. Farel Dalrymple, Rob Goodin, Gregory Benton and Scott Malin, did you? Catch up on the fun here.

* Courtesy of Artbomb, we have news that the disparate worlds of comics and hip-hop are finally coming together. All Hip-Hop has the story behind Mike & Mark Davis' "Blokhedz" here.

* Johanna Draper Carlson has updated her Comics Worth Reading site with a pile of new reviews, including looks at books such as "Angel of the Woods" by Seán Michael Wilson and Jorge Heufemann, Bosch Fawstin's "Table for One" and John Ira Thomas and Jeremy Smith's "Zoo Force," New Tokyopop releases such as "Ai Yori Aoshi" and "I.N.V.U.," and an in-depth review of Oni Press' "Last Exit Before Toll."

* " The Cartoon Museum has a new home. The museum had its grand opening Thursday in Ticonderoga in Essex County, a few miles north of its former home in the town of Hague in neighboring Warren County. Stan Burdick, the museum's owner, said the museum houses hundreds of signed originals and prints of comics, cartoons, and fantasy art. The museum features everything from comic books to editorial cartoons. The museum also has an original work by C.M. Coolidge, the artist from northern New York who created the painting known as 'Dogs Playing Poker.'" Read more here, courtesy of The Champlain Channel.

* "As comics and cartoon imagery enter mainstream culture, they provide a vehicle for critique in a postmodern world. They continue a narrative tradition (for example, Disney characters and fairy tales) at a time when computer-generated systems of non-linear thinking are emerging and epitomize the accessibility and disposability of our times. Cartoons and comics have emerged as a universal language, providing immediately recognizable cultural icons that appeal to the instant gratification lying at the center of consumer culture. They have become a vehicle for cultural transmission and hybridization in an increasingly homogenized world." This is the thesis behind Western Washington University's upcoming Western Gallery exhibit, "Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation", which will show from April 5th to May 28th. For more information on the show, please go here (scroll down a bit). Link courtesy of Kevin at Thought Balloons.

* "The Michigan State University Comic Art Collection was beginning to gain prominence in the early 1970s, when it ran into its own version of the 'Green Goblin.' In one fell swoop, the goblin slipped the first issue of 'The Amazing Spider-Man' into a coat, dashed out of the basement of the Main Library and sold it to a local used bookstore. University librarians never again saw that copy, which now is valued at about $25,000 in near-mint condition. Randy Scott, MSU's comic art bibliographer who joined the Main
Library a few years after the incident, said the library now has a facsimile of the comic, but the original has been elusive." Read more about the library here, courtesy of the Lansing State Journal.

* "So. Is God a decadent aesthete with no neck who subsists upon the immoral syllabub of our pain? That's what 'Red Jack' is selling in Doom Patrol #23-24. There's a long-standing tradition in superhero comics of introducing 'omnipotent' figures and then demolishing their divine pretensions with Quaker theological jujitsu--no person or entity can truthfully claim to be God, because 'God is love' (John 4:8), and love doesn't make any claims. 'The House that Jack Built' is the Galactus story all over again, only better, because it is stripped of the misplaced awe that mars Jack Kirby's vision of the planet-eating solipsist. If God actually existed as an individuated personality, he/she/it would be indistinguishable from Marilyn Manson." David Fiore over at Motime Like The Present continues his borderline-obsessive (but never less than compelling) reconstruction of Grant Morrison's deconstructionist run on "Doom Patrol" here.

* Mike Sterling over at Progressive Ruin is just having too much fun for my comfort.

* Graeme McMillan is not afraid of loving Kirby's "Super Powers" books - and he want to tell you why here, courtesy of Broken Frontier.

* Also at Broken Frontier - Shawn Hoke takes a look at Ron Rege's "Skibber Bee Bye" here.

* Hey, what's up with this? Broken Frontier is posting all kinds of cool stuff - including the continuing saga of Steve Higgins' recent lecture feature starring Jeffrey Brown, Paul Hornschemeier, and Matt Kindt. Read about how he advertised the event here.

* "In the spring of 1973, the Topps Chewing Gum Company manufactured a line of trading cards that were advertising parodies known as Wacky Packages. To learn more about "Weakies -- The Breakfast of Chumps" and 'Cap'n Crud Cereal,' log on to www.wackypackages.org. This collector's paradise is run by Greg Grant, and he has images from all 16 Wacky Pack series available for viewing on the website." Some of the artists featured in the Wacky Packages history include Art Spiegelman, Jay Lynch, Kim Deitch, and Norman Saunders. Read more here, courtesy of News 24 Houston.

* The Jerusalem Post takes a look at Peter Kuper's adaption of Kafka's "Metamorphosis" as well as Will Eisner's recent "Fagin The Jew" here.

* "When the curtain goes up at city-based cartoonist Shi Da Phadnis' exhibition in the city on April 8, be prepared for a laugh riot. More so because Phadnis is organising an exhibition after 20 long years! The popular 78-year-old is a record-breaker of sorts. Sample this. He has been untiringly sketching the cover of the Diwali special Mohini for 52 straight years now, his first cover having appeared way back in 1952 (see picture)! If that is not enough, his cover for the state government's class one math text book is in its 25th year now. Every year, an estimated 35 lakh copies of the book are printed." Read more here, courtesy of The Times of India.

* Strangely enough, the Cleveland Plain Dealer has an article about the new "Doom Patrol" relaunch. Odd... wait, who's the writer? Michael Sangiacomo? Why is that name familiar... Read the article here.

* "The St. John the Baptist Library in LaPlace has a selection of graphic novel available for check out by patrons. Graphic novels look like a comic book, but is a stand-alone story that is published as a book. The story is told through the use of frame-by-frame drawings with inked dialoque. The books are shelved with the Young Adult paperback novels on a special shelf marked 'Graphic Novels.' Titles currently available are: 'Mystic,' by Ron Marz; 'Negation: Bohica,' by Tony Bedard; 'Ruse,' by Mark Waid; 'Meridian,' by Barbara Kesel; and 'The Path,' by Ron Marz." Sterling examples of the medium, those. Read more here, courtesy of the New Orleans Times Picayune.

* OK, this is for the peanut-gallery: a real-life physics professor explains just why Gwen Stacy had to die. read about it here, courtesy of Voice of America.

* Johnny Bacardi sure didn't like "Avengers/JLA" - no Sir he did not.



Travels With Larry Part I

So apparently AiT/Planet Lar publisher Larry Young decided it was time to see if maybe he could drum up some support for his products in the Greater Blogosphere. A number of us seem to have responded to a recent query of his - an open call, really - for any blogger or columnist to try out any Ait/Planet Lar books they might want to see. I saw the call and quite honestly I sat on it for a couple days, unsure whether or not I should respond. I mean, in all honesty, I knew about the company but I didn't really have any experience with their product. I had bought the collection of Warren Ellis' 'Come In Alone" columns but that was about it - and I hardly think that could be considered a representative book in any event. Did I have any interest in reviewing any of these books?

But finally, the clarion call of the new was too much for me to resist. I wrote Mr. Young a polite e-mail telling him that I was for the most part unfamiliar with the books he produced but that I was very interested in sampling some if I possibly could. He wrote back fairly quickly to tell me that there was a package on the way. During our brief conversation, it was revealed that he used to work at the comic store where I do most of my shopping these days - That's Entertainment in Worcestor, MA. It's a small world.

Well, I have to say I was quite surprised when the package arrived. For one, it arrived very quickly - within 48 hours. It's important to note that I'm about as far from San Francisco as one can be while still remaining within the contiguous United States. For another, he sent me a lot of books. I was expecting a couple, perhaps a few. I was also not planning on seeing them anytime soon. The fact that not only did the books arrive promptly but there were many books told me in very frank terms that Mr. Young was very eager to make friends.

Which makes a lot of sense, when you think about it.

It's no secret that Marvel doesn't send out any of their books to critics. With the exception of maybe a few major media outlets, it just doesn't happen, and you've got a better chance of getting a collected "Big Numbers" than getting on Marvel's comp list. While many grouse and complain, it only makes sense. If 2 out of every 3 comics sold in this country are Marvel (or some ridiculous number like that) why should they have to put any more effort than the bare minimum towards selling their wares in a captive market?

Folks like Larry Young face a different equation. Because of the market realities - which could kindly be termed "harsh" - independent comic publishers have to do everything they can to get their products in front of as many people as possible. What did he lose by sending me a bunch of product? Well, chances are that if I had never bought an AiT/Planet Lar book in the past, I might never buy one in the future. So, he's not stealing from himself. For the price of shipping and a handful of comp books he might end up selling who knows how many books in the long run, both to me and anyone who's paying attention to this blog (or anything else I might be writing for).

I think, based upon what I already know and what I've seen of the books I've been sent, that Larry Young is one of the best kind of publishers in the business. He publishes what he wants to read - pure and simple. Despite his somewhat gruff public image, he seems genuine in his desire to publish Good Comics. He doesn't seem like the type - and his company's output bears the weight of this theory - to publish obvious crap for the sake of selling more books, or to publish faddish titles to chase different fleeting audiences. I think it would be fairly easy, looking at a healthy cross-section of AiT/Planet Lar books, to get a handle on Larry Young as a publisher and as a comics fan, by the same token that you could probably get a good feel for Gary Groth and Kim Thompson's tastes by a quick scan of the Fantagraphics roster. There's a uniformity to the line that is appealing, a sense that all the books, even if they come from dozens of different creators, come from the same place and are reflective of the same attitudes.

There is something very egalitarian about the line, almost DIY.

Everyone is saying that more books should be produced as original graphic novels - that the "floppy" is a dying format - that superheroes are a dying genre - and that manga is the future. But no one even slightly close to the mainstream seems to be doing anything about it. You have Marvel saying that it's just not cost effective to produce their titles in graphic novel format. You have DC, which has to front-load their OGN's as expensive hardcovers in order to break even. And then you have tiny little AiT/Planet Lar, which seems to have no problems at all with producing OGNs at a reasonable price. That's impressive. I doubt they're making the kind of money they Marvel and DC are, but just the fact that they're doing it at all is really impressive to me. There's something so very satisfying about getting a nice thick hunk of book in your hand for a nice price, and on this level I think AiT/Planet Lar delivers one of the best bargains in the business.

Now, are the books themselves any good? That's an interesting question. While the line as a whole seems to be built on solid foundations and to reflect a comfortably unified aesthetic, the actual content of the books themselves is still the most important element. In the coming days I'll be exploring the line - travelling with Larry through the best and the worst of what his company has to offer. I think it should be pretty interesting.


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Notbale Links for 04/02

Hope everyone enjoyed the "April Fools" day content yesterday. Unlike many of my fellow bloggers, I didn't post a practical joke as such, but I hope everyone got a kick out of seeing an in-depth report on "Secret Wars II", of all things! Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag at Bloggity-Blog-Blog Blog does a pretty good job of highlighting all the jokes across the blogosphere here - but come on, doesn't twenty typed pages on "Secret Wars II" count as a joke?

I even seem to have inspired some inter-Blogosphere lovin' of my own. Mark Hale, owner & proprietor of Chaos Monkey's Abysmal Pit, was so inspired by my weirdo nostalgia that he was inspired to alter one of those covers I posted yesterday. It's funny, it really is. Maybe I would have showed some more of what actually went on inside those wacky books if I had had the opportunity - there are some real winners - but most of my comics are actually in storage in California. I wrote that whole thing from memory - pretty pathetic, no?

On a more disturbing note, it seems as if my reading comprehension skills are also abysmal. The last few days there has been some discussion over the future of indie distributor Cold Cut in the wake of Tokyopop's exclusivity deal with Diamond. Well, there was some misunderstanding whether or not this was actually bad for Cold Cut, and whether or not this would affect the back-end distribution in which Cold Cut specializes. Well, for me, Brett Warnock at Top Shelf, and everyone else across the myriad message boards and blogs, the answer seems to be fairly simple. Someone wrote in and told me to examine the actual original story posted at ICV2 - so I did. We were wrong, it is a bad thing for Cold Cut, and uniquivicably so - considering that Tokyopop hadn't even informed Cold Cut of the deal before the news broke online. Cold Cut doesn't sell any Tokyopop anymore - period. Seems as if we all need to go back to school, folks, because its pretty plain. That's the last time I listen to the peanut gallery!

* "Hobby shop owner Douglas Karsten, 44, of 525 W. Deerpath in Lake Forest, was arrested March 25 after he sold adult magazines to a child under age 18, said Michael Vukson, commander of investigations of the Lake Forest Police Department.

"Vukson said a parent called to complain March 11 that her 12-year-old son had bought Playboy magazine at Doug's Hobby Connection, located at 950 N. Western Ave. in Lake Forest, that day. On March 24 police asked the same boy to purchase another adult magazine from the store. After the youngster came out with an issue of Penthouse magazine, police issued a warrant for Karsten's arrest before arresting him the next day.

"Police seized more than 30 different adult magazine titles from the store and charged Karsten with two counts of distribution of harmful material. After he was arrested, Karsten posted a $2,000 bond pending an April 12 court date in Waukegan.

"If convicted, the misdemeanor carries a maximum fine of $2,500 and up to one year in jail, said Vukson.

"State law makes it illegal to sell pornographic magazines to anyone under the age of 18.

"Karsten said he opened the hobby and gaming shop 15 months ago to sell comic books, sports cards and other games to both adults and children. He began selling adult magazines after mostly college-age customers would request to see a catalogue that contained listings for collectible comic books and the magazines." Read more here, courtesy of the Pioneer Press.

* "The annual Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo (SPACE) will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Columbus East (I-70 and Hamilton Road). Guests will include David Sim and Gerhard, creators of Cerebus." Read more here, courtesy of This Week Ohio. If you want more information on SPACE, go here.

* "Southwest Missouri State University is once again being accused of stifling free speech on campus. The controversy involves a cartoon meant to poke fun at a common Thanksgiving tradition. The faculty advisor and student editor of The Standard, the campus newspaper at Southwest Missouri State, are being investigated by the school and threatened with punishment for publishing an editorial cartoon that an American Indian group found 'offensive' and a 'form of harassment.' The cartoon, printed on November 21, 2003, and labeled 'The 2nd Thanksgiving,' depicts two Indians meeting a pilgrim woman with a gift of canned corn. The pilgrim responds: 'Gladys, the Indians are here and it looks like they brought corn ... again.'" The article can be found here, courtesy of Agape Press. Read the offending strip here.

* "Marvel Enterprises, Inc., (NYSE: MVL) a global character-based entertainment licensing company, has recently signed agreements that effectively consolidate its licenses into single marquee partners for the underwear, candy and costume categories. These new arrangements represent Marvel's strategic approach to category management whereby Marvel seeks to enhance the caliber of its partners while expanding the marketing and promotional support for its product lines, resulting in higher returns to all parties. The license partners include Hanes apparel for underwear, R.M. Palmer for confection and Disguise in the costume category. Marvel is currently evaluating several other categories in which to pursue similar broad partnerships." Read the press release here, courtesy of Business Wire.



* Sequential Tart has updated their site, with a report on this year's Alternative Press Expo, an interview with "WJHC" creator Jane Fisher, a more nuanced travelogue of APE, a new column by Ms. Deanna Lytle examining gender issues in the communications field, an examination of the recent "spandex vs. leather" debate by Mr. Kirk Boxleitner, and an article by Ms. Kim DeVries on the trials and tribulations of teaching Warren Ellis' "Transmetropolitan" at MIT.

* "Studying the 'magazine-cover curse' is a favorite pastime of many a market analyst. The idea is that by the time a phenomenon or a person reaches magazine-cover status, it's often all downhill from there. Such may be the case with Japan's war against currency traders. Only, the yen isn't experiencing the curse of the magazine cover, but of the comic-book cover. Loads of salarymen riding Tokyo's subway system are reading an unlikely 'manga' comic series on Japan's yen sales. Part of the popular 'Golgo 13' action-hero serial, it spins a sinister tale of U.S. officials pressuring the Bank of Japan to buy dollars. The reason: To avoid a meltdown in the world's biggest economy." Read more here, courtesy of Bloomburg.com.


* Newsarama talks with Ian Edgington about his Crossgen experiences here.

* While you're there, Newsarama also talks with animator-turned-cartoonist Michael Gagne about his upcoming "Parables: An Anthology" here.

* Daniel Epstein over at UnderGround Online chats with Image publisher and "Savage Dragon" creator Erik Larsen here.

* The Comics Journal has updated their main page with the skinny on the forthcoming Winter 2004 Special Edition - I'm drooling already, I tell you. If you, like me, can't wait, then you can take solace in this preview of the comic strip portion, a strip by none other than Mr. Gilbert Hernandez.

* They've also got a new edition of Dogsbody up over there - and this week Daniel Holloway sticks it to Sonny Liew's "Malinky Robot: Stinky Fish Blues," Farel Dalrymple's "Pop Gun War," Ben T. Steckler's "Get Bent" #10 and Tom Manning's "Runoff" #2-#5.

* There was a new edition of The Beat at The Pulse this week... but not a lot of interest therein, save for news of a new Colleen Doran documentary, and a few scant details about Compgate II.

* So, Tony Millionaire's "Maakies" was pulled by 23 papers for the use of the word "boner." Or, at least it would have been if it weren't - APRIL FIRST. Link courtesy of the Journal board.

* OK, I don't think I'm alone in just not getting what Alan David Doane is saying today. It's good to see him back, but it's not good that I can't really understand what's going on here. Looks like some kind of find/replace exercise but I'll be damned if I can figure out of what... thought it might be one of Dave Sim's "Tangent" pieces but I skimmed through the whole essay and didn't see this passage. I'll be damned if I know what's up.

* Bill Sherman at Pop Culture Gadabout doesn't know what to make of these new-fangled "X-Men" all the kids are talking about these days...

* Austrailia's Age profiles turntablist extraordinaire and part-time cartoonist Kid Koala here.

* Flat Earth gets zapped by Mr. Mxyzptlk!!!Oh no! Now we have to get Billy to say his name backwards or the Family Circus will never leave...

* Over at Newsarama, Ryan McLelland takes a look at something quite possibly more horrifying than even "Secret Wars II"... that's right - Rob Liefeld's "Captain America." At least he only paid a quarter for it...

* "Jeffrey Brown, Paul Hornschemeier, and Matt Kindt will be giving a 'Special Lecture on the Graphic Narrative' (that's what the flyer says: three people, one lecture) at the Dr. John D. Stull Performing Arts Center at Olney Central College, Olney, IL on Friday, Apr. 2 (tomorrow) at 1 PM." I mentioned this before but if you're in town it can't hurt to mention it again - link courtesy Adam Stephanides at the Journal board.


* I did not know that Jordan Crane was doing a weekly serialized strip for Reddingk - but now, thanks to the Journal board, I do.

* Erick Hogan interviews Xeric-award winner Neil Kleid ("Ninety Candles") in this week's Open Your Mouth at Comic book Resources.

* Courtesy of Poopsheet: News, we have word of the forthcoming Providence Zine Fest. The fest will be from 11-5 on Saturday, April 24th. Sounds fun... if you want more info, go here.

* "Books are great but require a lot of dedication, magazines are easy reads but can lack the substance of books, and newspaper subscriptions are hard to keep up with during a busy quarter. Lost all hope? Try comics. They can have the emotional depth of a book, the visual appeal and readability of a magazine, and like episodes of 'The Simpsons,' never get boring. The world of comics goes beyond spandex-clad superheroes and daily newspaper strips. It encompasses everything you could ever find in a movie - from humor to emotional turmoil to plots that leave you sitting on the edge of the seat." Read more here, courtesy of the California Aggie.

* "Robert Sarnoff, noted local artist and [Rockaway, NY] Wave editorial cartoonist will soon be honored by the United States Postal Service by having his painting of a Rockaway jetty used as a cancellation cachet that will be postmarked at the Rockaway Beach Post Office." Read more here, courtesy of the Rockaway Wave.


* "For nearly half a century, Irene Ford Henschel thought it was no laughing matter to help her husband, Robert, haul his childhood comic books around the country to follow his career as an aircraft engineer. 'He was definitely a pack rat. I was a farm girl and didn't want to save too much because you had to keep it clean,' she said. 'We packed up the crystal, the china -- our wedding gifts -- and the comic books. Every time,' she said. They moved from Michigan to California (twice), to Atlanta (also twice) and finally to Wichita 23 years ago. But she'll have the last laugh Saturday when 121 of her late husband's more than 300 vintage comics from the 1930s and 1940s go on the auction block. He died in 1999 at age 75, three months short of their 50th wedding anniversary. Read more here, courtesy of Kansas.com.

* Strong Bad has answered his 100th e-mail (link courtesy of Homestarrunner.com).

* Eve Tushnet again replies to my reply to her... you know, every time we go around about this, I start to get really frustrated and hope this is my last word on the subject... but when people are as polite, thoughtful and courteous and Ms. Tushnet its hard to get too upset about it.

She might be on to something when she points out that a more recent convert to the world of spandex fiction might be much more accustomed to lend the books some slack than a lifelong devotee such as myself. Again, I find myself agreeing with her for the most part. If you look into things with that kind of hindsight, being able to cherry pick the good and the great from the decades of mediocre and crap product that many of us have been exposed to - well, I suppose it'd be hard not to see a genre of limitless expectations. But the sad fact is I've just read too many comic books. I have been reading comic books since I was just a wee lad - growing up on Barks before I ever got to the spandex books, but taking to the spandex like a duck to the water. When I think of super-hero comics I don't think of "Watchmen" or "Animal Man," I think of "Secret Wars II." The fact is, that's what the fans want. That's what the companies want to produce - crap. Crap is uncontroversial, crap keeps the status quo, crap creates the illusion of change when it's really just trademarks moving around on a chessboard.

Perhaps, if we lived in some sort of perfect world, these would not be insurmountable obstacles. Eve is right to point out Sturgeon's Law - the bit about the 95% or whatever being crap. Well, the difference when you're applying Sturgeon's Law to superhero books is that the market has dwindled to such that crap is all the market wants. If you ask the average moviegoer whether or not they'd rather see a good movie or a crap movie, most will tell you they want to see a good movie. Same with novels, music, theater, dance... any art you can mention. Crap is produced, and crap sells, but there's at least the ghost of a definition of good and bad. In superhero comics, its not like that. The fanbase is so small and warped that their standard of what is really good has nothing to do with what any sane person might actually think is good or bad. It has to do with strange standards of reality of which you seem to be blissfully ignorant. This is the reality of the mainstream comics industry. They want to spend the rest of their lives replicating either Claremont & Byrne's "Uncanny X-Men" or Moore's "Swamp Thing" - and mostly it's the former.

Which is why I was not surprised by the post-Morrison X-Books. "New X-Men" was fun, but it was a lark. If they could have possibly reinvigorated the franchise without resorting to Morrison, they would have done so in a heartbeat - because taking the chance to publish something that might be good is taking the chance to publish something that might be controversial or unpalatable to the baby birds of fandom. As I've said all along, if it were possible to separate the truly good works from the bad - to slice out a corner of the medium to actually explore the "genre of ethics" - I would leap at the chance. But it's just not possible. Good books are the exception, not the rule, and furthermore, they are an unwelcome exception - unwelcome to the fanboys who consume the majority of the books and pay the bills and unwelcome to the corporations who would be just as happy never publishing anything more challenging than "Spidey Super Stories."

Sometimes good stuff is produced. Sometimes - very rarely - but sometimes you actually get a whiff of the same kind of revelatory freedom Siegel and Shuster must have felt. But, I stand by what I've said: the genre is limiting. Genres are interesting in inverse proportion to the generic constraints placed on them. If you look at all the constraints behind mainstream superhero books, it's enough to make you despair that anything decent and worthwhile will ever come out of the genre. The fact that good things do occasionally... well, that's just a minor miracle.

So, yes, you could say my experience has biased me. I've seen too much that cannot be unseen. The industry is a steaming cesspool of stagnant ideations and retarded memes. The people who buy the vast majority of books want nothing more than what they've been buying since they were twelve. The genre wears the chains it has forged these past forty years, and it has no one but itself to blame that it can no longer move.

On this topic, I came across this post by Adam at Completely Futile which I seem to have missed the other day when it was originally posted. There's a lot of good stuff here, but the real money quote is this:

"This isn't to say that superhero comics don't offer anything that superhero movies don't. They do: they offer elaborate multi-hero universes, endless soap-operatic plotlines, and continuity stretching back decades, which movies can't match. But these features have no intrinsic link to superheroes: it's historical contingency which explains why superhero comics came to display these features, rather than, say, funny-animal comics. I'd go so far as to say that it is these features, rather than superheroes per se, which are the real attraction of superhero comics for their current readers. To back up this assertion, or even to make it plausible, would take another and longer post. But as a small piece of supporting evidence, I'll point to the persistent failure of comics like Batman Adventures, which are intended to be general reader-friendly, and so steer clear of these features, in the direct sales market."

Not only is he right, but he says it much more succinctly than I have so far been able to. Perhaps the great Platonic ideal of the superhero has great potential, but the superhero as he exists now does not. And I don't believe anyone who doesn't have an obsessive interest in the latter will care about the former.

|

Notable Links for 04/01

First, I'd like to answer some reader mail. Regarding the conversation these last few days over the repercussions of Tokyopop going exclusive with Diamond in the direct market, Top Shelf Publishing's own Brett Warnock writes in with clarification of the situation:

"I'm pretty certain that this 'exclusive' is primarily in regards to the book trade, and the front-end market in the direct market. That is, since Cold Cut is essentially a back-order outfit for the direct market only, I don't believe there is a conflict of interest."

I hope that answers any questions anyone might have had. Seems it wasn't that bad a deal by Cold Cut after all.

* "A political comic in a magazine handed out at an event organized by the Queen’s Palestinian Human Rights association last fall was interpreted as anti-Semitic by Sara Berger, president of Queen’s Hillel. Members of the association, however, said they never intended to promote anti-Semitism on campus. 'At an event at the beginning of the year they were handing out the Washington Report magazine, which had a section in the middle with comics that were anti-Semitic,' Berger told the Journal. 'There were portrayals of Jews with big noses [and] stars on their arms, holding money bags.' Ali Al Nasser, vice-president of the Palestinian Human Rights association at Queen’s, said the comics were misunderstood." Read more here, courtesy of the Queens Journal.

* Amateur cartoonist and photographer Ray Ueno has died at age 68. Read more here, courtesy of Stars & Stripes.

* "Renowned cartoonist R K Laxman, journalist Kuldip Nayar, former Governor Karan Singh, eminent diplomat L M Singvi and Justice M M Ismail were among other personalities awarded by Jayendra Saraswati Swami of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, here on Wednesday, for outstanding performances in their fields. Though Laxman, who is ailing, was not present, his grand daughter Mahalaxmi Laxman received the award on his behalf. The girl presented to the pontiff a portrait of the senior pontiff of the mutt with the 'common man' offering pranam, drawn by her grandfather, as a mark of respect." Read more here, courtesy of the Times of India.

* "The actors who provide the voices for the cartoon characters on the long-running TV show 'The Simpsons' have stopped work in a bid to force a settlement of lengthy contract renewal talks, Daily Variety has reported.
The Hollywood trade paper said the six actors have not shown up for two script readings in the past few weeks, holding up production on the hit satire's upcoming 16th season. It quoted insiders as saying each cast member is asking for about $360,000 (195,460 pounds) an episode, or $8 million for a 22-episode season. Each member currently earns $125,000 an episode." Read more here, courtesy of Reuters.co.uk.

* Courtesy of SIlver Bullet Comics, we have the news that DC's "Catwoman" has won this year's award for "Outstanding Comic Book" at the GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Awards. Read more here.

* "The Kentucky Derby Festival announced that 'Cathy' cartoonist Cathy Guisewite will be grand marshal of the 49th annual Pegasus Parade April 29 in Louisville, Ky. A 'Cathy' character balloon will also appear." Read more here, courtesy of Editor & Publisher.

* "March 31, 2004, Marc Hansen and Barry Petersen have been named as additions to the Board of Directors of NOW Media Group, Inc. according to NOW Comics founder Tony Caputo. 'As shareholders, both of these excellent gentlemen will have voting rights at the annual board meeting, scheduled at the end of each calendar year,' Caputo said. 'Both also have a minority stake in NOW Media Group, Inc. an Illinois corporation, which owns NOW Comics as an imprint and trademark.'" The Pulse has the press release here.

* Steven Grant answers reader mail at Permanent Dmaage this week.

* I don't usually, as you know, post to movie stuff, but this article on the "Hellboy" flick from the North Carolina Times I found to be very interesting.

* Courtesy of Newsarama, we have the winners of this year's Diamond Gem Awards here.

* Richard Johnston talks to ex-Crossgen writer Ian Edgington in this week's Waiting For Tommy (link courtesy of Dynamic Forces). There's also a rather... surreal... Q&A with Joe Quesada tacked onto the end. I guess he's just trying to make up for his previous disaster of a Quesada interview. Anyway, one quote in particular jumped out at me - in reference to the possibility of spin-offs from the popular "1602" mini-series:

"...but like many of our franchises, slow growth, slow growth and more slow growth.

To which I can only reply:


















MARVEL COMICS: Moderation is Our Middle Name

* "I-Pods, Gap jeans, McHappy meals -- John Gallant didn't have any of those as a boy growing up on Prince Edward Island. In fact, as he makes abundantly clear in his new memoir, Gallant didn't have much of anything. Bannock, Beans and Black Tea, the title of Gallant's first book published by Drawn & Quarterly, is the story of a dirt-poor childhood. One thing that sets Gallant's memoir apart is the fact that his son provided illustrations for the book. While Gallant still calls his boy Gregory, the rest of the world knows him as Seth, the author of such graphic novels as It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken, and an illustrator for such magazines as The New Yorker. (Seth, 41, legally changed his name when he was in his late teens and was into the Toronto punk scene.) Another thing that distinguishes the book is its bitter litany of deprivation. One grim story after another accumulates to form an angry howl at life's injustice." Read more here, courtesy of The Globe and Mail.

* Kevin over at Thought Balloons has news of the Attorney General of Rhode Island, who is hanging a Stan Lee quote over the entrance to the state office building where he works. Unfortunately, it's not "Goddamn, how about a show with a stripper who fights crime? The kids would like that one, wouldn't they?" Here's the link, courtesy of the Providence Journal (registration required).

* Mike Sterling over at Progressive Ruin may not be in today, but his pal Dorian steps in and continues the Blogosphere-wide lovefest for Grant Morrison's "Doom Patrol" that David Fiore started recently. Dorian discusses here how "Doom Patrol" #34 clearly warped his mind.

* Sean T. Collins is mad as hell... and really, he has no choice but to take it. (Yes it was a tortured movie reference, your point would be..?) In any event, I share his grief that Marvel is turning back the clock, but it was inevitable. It's almost comforting in an asinine way. When a company is on the rocks, they try anything they can to claw their way back to the top. When things are going good, they try as hard as they can not to rock the boat - it's Business 101. Marvel was about as low as you can go in the late 90's, and they had nowhere to go but up. Thankfully, they put some people in charge who had some wild guesses at making good books. A few of those guesses were wildly successful, and a few of them were even worth reading. But the majority of them... well, lets just say that its a good thing that the ideas that worked worked really well. For every Morrison on "New X-Men," you had Joe Casey on "Uncanny". For every "Alias," you had the "Rawhide Kid," and for every "Ultimate Marvel," you had "Tsunami." Lets not even mention Epic, U-Decide, Mark Waid off "Fantastic Four," the no-reprint policy, "Fight Club" Thunderbolts, the horrible "Silver Surfer" relaunch or "Marville." It's basically throwing stuff up on the walls and seeing what sticks - there's no rocket science here. How many different creative Teams has "Iron Man" had in the past three years? Why did they screw up the marketing of "Truth: Red, White and Black" so badly? I'm not going to get nostalgic for the glory days of NuMarvel.

Remember Zombie Punisher?


What's one more Punisher cover between friends?

It's hard to forget, I know. But back when Quesada was just “Marvel Knights” EIC they had Bernie Freakin' Wrightson back on the boards to do it. The one thing NuMarvel knows how to do it throw people at problems until they stick. Wrightson didn't do it for the kids... hire the people who did "Preacher." Problem solved. Hey, if I had told you three years ago that John Severin would be drawing a big-time Marvel western series, you'd have crapped your pants in joy. But did you buy "Rawhide Kid"? No, me neither. Getting Milligan & Allred to revamp the worst-selling "X-Men" spinoff was brilliant - but if it hadn't worked, they'd have tried something different in six months. If Bendis hadn't clicked on "Daredevil", he wouldn't have lasted six months either. But he brought the back up to fairly successful numbers - around just under 60,000 a month as opposed to around 45,000 at the beginning of his run - so he stayed (numbers courtesy of ICV2).

Marvel is in the business to sell comics. Like any business, they are prey to market ebbs and flows - but unlike most businesses, Marvel is also in the position to actually create ebbs and flows dependent on their behavior. So I don't believe NuMarvel knows what its doing in any great way, because the record shows they've been right no more than, oh, maybe a third of the time. But in this business I guess that's all you need. It is not in Marvel's interest to publish thought-provoking postmodernist superhero narratives - they're in the business of making money. Now is the time in the traditional business cycle when you stop experimenting, go with what works and reap the profits of your expansionary phase. In another five years or so when this fails, who knows? Maybe there won't be a direct market left by then.

* Courtesy of Dave at Motime Like The Present, we have an essay on the influence of Jorge Luis Borges on Grant Morrison (link courtesy of The Modern World).

* "Stewart 'Staz' Johnson features in his new role, which he likens to that of TV's Handy Andy, in Zero to Hero on Sunday afternoon. The show features two teams of three people who get their chance to live out a fantasy and become a superhero with the help of Stewart and designer Venetia. Using a range of household junk, or the kind of things lurking at the back of the garage, contestants and designers get together to make an outfit that the would-be new Supermen or Superwomen must wear to complete a task set for a fictitious comic book character." Read more here, courtesy of Wakefield Today. Hey, from drawing "Robin" to this in just a few short years... gotta love that kind of career trajectory.

* Peoples is still talking about Jamie Rich's recent column . Here, Dave at Intermittent gives it a whack.

* Comic Book Resources talks with Alan David Doane's favorite punching bag, Clifford Meth, here.

* Babar at Simply Comics relates the joy of seeing Michael Chabon at the VA book festival here.

* Scott at All Ages give the down-low on a joint presentation he was lucky to see by Chester Brown and Seth here. Sounds great. Now, I'll bet right about now Joe Matt is wishing he actually did something that would get folks to want to see him talk in front of large amounts of people, eh?

* Silver Bullet Comics' usually interesting weekly "Panel" discussion takes a look at... sound effects... this week. Oh well, can't win them all.

* Also at Silver Bullet Comics, Tim Hartnett takes a look at comic book covers here.

* Ever wonder what happened to comic scribe Gerry Conway? Well, he's making a lot more money now (link courtesy Relish).

* "A local boy with diabetes is dealing with his disease and helping others learn about it as well, KMBC's Natalie Moultrie reported. Kamaal Washington, 10, found out five months ago he has diabetes. 'He went through a gamut of emotions -- worry and fear, 'Why me?', and then how to deal with it on a long-term basis,' Kamaal's mother, Dana, said. One way Kamaal is dealing with his diabetes is through drawing comic characters inspired by his father's Omega Man Comics. He and his 8-year-old brother created their own comic book, 'Omega Boy Vs. Dr. Diabetes.'" Read more here, courtesy of The Kansas City Channel.

* "Frank Pitt is a distant, unfeeling, single-minded, neglectful father, and Tom Stern loves him. That's probably because Pitt's not Stern's actual dad, but rather his creation. The balding chief executive, the namesake of the comic strip ‘CEO Dad,’ is a self-absorbed jerk, but one who's struck a chord as he tries to reconcile his roles as a boardroom shark and a family man. Stern, who co-writes the strip from his Woodland Hills home, has watched his brainchild grow from a funny joke to tell at parties into a syndicated comic running in five newspapers nationwide." Read more here, courtesy of the Miami Herald.

* The Kansas City Infozine reviews "Neal Adams' Monsters", from Infozine press, here.

* Courtesy of Billy Bates over at the Comicon boards, we've got this wonderful story... happy April Fools on this one, I guess.





Secret Wars II

Do you remember the first “Hellraiser”? There’s a scene at the very beginning of the movie where this dude goes and buys an evil puzzle box from a swarthy Arab merchant – despite the Arab’s protestations that the box is, you know, evil. So he goes home and solves the puzzle and leather demons from hell come through the wall and rip him limb from limb and carry him screaming and weeping down the corridors of hell. That’s kind of what it’s like to read “Secret Wars II.” Only more painful.

But . . . I was younger, dumber. I didn’t know any better.

I liked super heroes, especially Marvel super heroes. They were totally cool and stuff, and I couldn’t get enough of ‘em. And SWII (as it shall heretofore be known as) had not just one or a few but DOZENS of super heroes, all in the same damn book! How could I go wrong?

Well . . . as I was soon to learn, I could go terribly, terribly wrong.



"Marvel Super Heroes’ Secret Wars" was one of the most successful publishing phenomena of the 1980’s. Sad to say, because it really holds up about as well as Kleenex, but to judge from the way that book and “Crisis” together totally ruined comic publishing for a good decade or so, it was quite influential. Not influential in the nice creative inspiration way, but influential in the “Hey, I need a fifth Ferrari, why don’t you print up some more money, er, ‘Armageddon: 2001’” way. Needless to say, some very fat and sinister men became very rich off some very bad comics.

So, was there ever any doubt that there would be a Secret Wars II? Only if you were, you know, five. But any sequel would, by necessity, have less charm than the original, and since we’re talking about Secret Frickin’ Wars here and not “The Godfather,” there were bad muffins in the oven.

Now that I begin to write, I feel as if I’m getting something off my chest, undergoing some very important bit of catharsis. It is only recently I have begun to understand how twisted my perceptions are on a very basic level, due solely to the mind-numbing influence of SWII. Its important that I communicate these things, even if only to myself, even if the only person who reads these words is the on-duty physician down at the mental ward where I will be deposited, free to illustrate the walls with crayons made of my own frozen fecal matter. Damn you, “Big” Jim Shooter!

Anyway, we all know where SWII picks up. The Beyonder comes to Earth to learn about humanity. Seeing as how his only prior job experience was being the sum totality of another universe, it’s to be expected that he was somewhat baffled by the whole “existence” thang. Now, who had he previously sought out in an attempt to learn about life? The Dalai Lama? The Pope? Noam Chomsky? No . . . the Marvel Super Heroes. Remember how he had previously transported a whole passel of them onto a distant planet in order to fight amongst themselves for a full year? (Don’t worry if you had forgotten - a handy recap is never more than a few pages away!)

So, this tells us that the Beyonder just isn’t very bright in the first place – after all, going to The Mighty Avengers for advice on the meaning of life is almost as bad as going to “Hulk” Hogan and The Rock for advice on film acting. Any suspicions about his varying levels of brightness are only reinforced by the fact that the first person he visits upon arriving on Earth is The Molecule Man.

Now, here’s where the real fun part of the story gets started. The main conflict of the series basically occurs between the Beyonder and the Molecule Man. You see, it had been previously revealed (in MSHSW #11) that the Molecule Man was actually the most powerful being in all of existence, second only to the Beyonder himself. So, it made perfect sense to the Beyonder that he would be the most simpatico being in the universe.

But all the power in the Universe hadn’t done much for the Molecule Man’s outlook – he just wanted to live a quiet, unassuming life in Denver, with his girlfriend Marsha, otherwise known as the fifth-tier super villain Volcana (created by Dr. Doom during the first Secret Wars, by the way). However, life being what it is in the Marvel Universe, he just keeps getting dragged back into the thick of things.

This series, more than any other word I could possibly use to describe it, is repetitive. So, if he goes to see the Molecule Man once, he goes to see him fifteen times. They talk about life, the universe, their traumatic childhoods, the time a friend of their family’s took them aside one summer afternoon and . . .

No, I made that last part up. But the existence of the Molecule Man marks one of SWII’s great missed opportunities (actually, considering how they pretty much used a scorched earth policy in creating these damn things, its pretty much the only missed opportunity short of “MUHAMMED ALI vs. THE BEYONDER”). The Molecule Man was actually an interesting concept for a character – the most powerful being in the universe as an average nebbish. Anyone with two brain cells to grind together would have thought that had some potential – and apparently it had so much potential that the Molecule Man was almost retconned out of existence entirely by the machinations of later creators (more on this later).

Be that as it may, the existential dialogue throughout the series was of such a juvenile nature as to defy description. The Beyonder desired to understand the nature of desire – I know, its oxymoronic just to type it. There had previously been no longing or curiosity in his existence, so naturally, he was pretty pissed when he began experiencing these feelings. However, instead of the Marvel Super Heroes taking the Beyonder under their wing and befriending him, teaching him the meanings of life in a friendly and compassionate manner, they pretty much spent the next nine issues playing Dogpile-on-God.

Which is pretty pitiful when you think about it. Lets see - the man with knives coming out of his hands vs. the man who can destroy an entire galaxy in the blink of an eye. The man who can spin a web and lift a Volkswagon bug vs. the man who can destroy an entire galaxy in the blink of an eye. The man with an indestructible shield and a heart of gold vs. . . . well, you get the idea.

But it wouldn’t be very interesting to see the Marvel Super Heroes sitting down and talking about the nature of existence, now would it? So, instead of doing what most rational people would do in the awe-inspiring presence of the near Divine, they did what your illiterate cousin who works down at the gas station would do. Tried to kick his ass and put the shiv between his ribs.



The truly delicious thing about the second Secret Wars, however, was not the limited series itself (it says “limited series” but it sure as hell feels like forever), but the endless series of crossovers. It is neither the most mind-numbing crossover of all time (that medal would have to go to the Infinity War – a story so big as to spill over into half a year’s worth of “Moon Knight” continuity) nor the stupidest (that honor really, in all good conscience, has to go to “The Joker’s Last Laugh”), but it was one of the very first and the template for all those to follow.

As a conscientious young collector, I spent the next couple years tracking down every single SWII related book I could get my hands on. In this day of eBay, it would probably take you all of ten minutes to track down the whole series, but it took me a while longer back then. I can still remember the last one I actually found – “Power Man & Iron Fist” # 121. One of the better ones, actually, featuring Luke Cage taking the Beyonder to a soul food restaurant. (Could you make this stuff up? Well, obviously, yes, because someone did, someone very bad.)

Some of the crossovers, especially the early ones, were so tangentially connected to the main story as to be laughable. But they all had the Beyonder somewhere, and while I don’t think they are all worthy of discussion, some of them reached new lows in the field of bad comic books.



“Captain America” #308 actually features the smartest thing the Beyonder does in the entirety of this series. He decides to take a human form, so he spends the issue following Cap around before deciding to adopt a duplicate of Cap’s body as his own. Pretty smart. If it had happened in pre-Crisis DC, however, the Beyonder could have helped the Star Spangled Avenger on occasion by impersonated Cap in order to fool pesky girl reporters trying to uncover his secret identity.



“Web of Spider-Man” #6 and “Amazing Spider-Man” #268 deal with the aftermath following the Beyonder having turned a building (Power Man & Iron Fist’s building, incidentally) to solid gold at the conclusion of SWII #2. Seems the Beyonder really misunderstood the concept behind a market economy, at least as described by Luke Cage. Anyway, Spidey saves a bunch of people before getting wound up in the Kingpin and the government’s machinations – seems they have to dispose of the building, fast, or the entire world economy would have been instantly destabilized. Makes sense, right? What doesn’t make sense is Spidey whining and feeling guilty over swiping a single solid-gold notepad from the wreckage – after he busted his hump saving dozens of lives and helping the government avoid worldwide fiscal collapse. I would have probably grabbed whatever I could without seeming too ostentatious – so would most people. But Spidey? He’s got to feel guilty about it . . . don’t you just love the totally bogus and unrealistically stringent sense of morality they tried to foist on kids here?



“Daredevil” #223 is quite possibly the low point of the entire saga. I realize that’s saying quite a bit, but please bear with me here . . .
See, in SWII #3, the Beyonder took over the Earth. It didn’t take any work at all, and he actually found total domination quite boring. So, a little while later he shows up in the offices of Nelson & Murdock, Attorneys at Law, with the stated goal of achieving world domination through legitimate legal and financial means. As part of the initial commission, the Beyonder restores DD’s sight to him. Miraculously. Without any problems, just, boom, he can see now for the first time in twenty or so years. As you can imagine, Matt’s happy – ecstatic – and sets about enjoying his newfound sight. If it had just stopped here, not only would Daredevil had been a much happier (albeit less interesting) guy, but Marvel would have escaped with some shred of dignity intact. But no. The Beyonder ultimately realizes he doesn’t really have any interest in taking over the world at all, so he withdraws his commission from Nelson & Murdock’s firm. He tells Daredevil that he can keep his newly restored sight – as a gift. Here’s the part where most normal people – hell, just about anyone ever to live in the history of the world, especially anyone who’s ever experience actual physical disablement – would just say, “thanks, buddy,” and swing away on their Billy club. But no. In one of the single most absurd and implausible moments in the history of comics, Daredevil demands that the Beyonder take his sight back. Why? I don’t really understand, your guess is as good as mine. Leave it be said that the gods of comicdom were paying attention, and they sent the Kingpin in to fuck DD’s life up but good not half a year later, courtesy of Frank Miller. Stupidity is its own wonderful reward.



“Dazzler” #40 gets the runner-up nod for being the most confusing and unintelligible chapter in the series. In SWII #4, the Beyonder had fallen in love with Alison Blair, the fabulous Disco Dazzler (although she had dropped the disco prefix many years earlier). They parted on amicable terms but here he is again, showing up to see if he can get one more lay, just for old times’ sake. They don’t “get it on” again, but they do fight some demonic cyberpunk bikers. Or something. I couldn’t really tell, but the early Paul Chadwick art was pretty nice. To no-one’s surprise “Dazzler” was soon cancelled.



“Rom” #72 was also just a few issues away from that series’ end. Here we again encounter the major problem stemming from the Beyonder’s existence – how do you prevent him from becoming a deus ex machina of cosmic proportions, essentially rewriting series as he sees fit? In the case of “Daredevil,” they basically fumbled the ball. In the case of ‘Rom’, they . . . basically fumbled the ball. See, whoever had been writing “Rom” had given Rick Jones cancer. Yeah, they had given one of the longest-running supporting characters in the history of comics a terminal disease. Good thing the Beyonder showed up and cured Rick or they would have had to figure out another way to get out of this one. Nice Ditko art, though.



“The Thing” #30 featured the Beyonder as a professional wrestler. Too bad, if he'd showed up an issue later he could have met Devil Dinosaur.





“Fantastic Four” #285 featured one of the most insidiously wrong-headed stories in Marvel history. Johnny Storm is so bummed out after a young Torch obsessive immolates himself in imitation of his hero that he swears to never use his flame powers again. But the Beyonder shows up, during his life-affirming Samaritan phase, in order to show the Human Torch that he can’t feel responsible for the tragedy just because the kid had a screwed-up life. He says something to the effect that Johnny couldn’t allow the kid’s death to deter him from doing good, because it was only through his hero that “he had ever truly lived at all”.

Hmmm.

Yeah, that makes sense. Seems to me that the real message here is that people who set themselves on fire do not make good role models. But most canny readers would probably recognize more of themselves in the dead fan’s behavior than would sit comfortably. Its OK to be totally obsessed with distant fantasy role models because making it in real life is, you know, hard and stuff. Stay in your basement, set yourself on fire, its all good so long as you keep buying Marvel comics.



“Micronauts: The New Voyages” #16 gets the crown for being the most confusing, unintelligible and just plain nonsensical of all the crossovers. The Beyonder shows up in the Microverse and does something important – or something. Unless you’ve read every previous Micronauts book, chances are this one makes absolutely no sense. Leave it be said that the dreaded deus ex machina strikes again, as the Beyonder seems to save the Microverse from some sort of imminent destruction – or something. I’ve read this book half a dozen times but I just can’t make heads or tails of it.



“Cloak & Dagger” #4 is almost as bad as the aforementioned FF issue. In it, the Beyonder shoots heroin. No, I’m not kidding. I’m sure there’s all sorts of profound exposition on the darker nature of humanity and addiction as a demon of the soul, but the way the book was printed I can’t read about half the lettering. Neon yellow letters on black backgrounds printed with everyone’s favorite flexographic techniques. Anyway, did anyone ever notice the fact that Cloak & Dagger was a book about drugs, pedophilia and child pornography? Yeah, and they got together with Spider-Man and fought super-villains, too. Did I mention that the Beyonder shoots up?



The aforementioned “Power Man & Iron Fist” #121 (just four issues away from the end here, too) features Luke Cage taking the Beyonder to a soul food restaurant. Now, I have to give credit where credit is due – of everyone in this entire Godawful wreck of series, Luke Cage is really the only one to actually sit down with the Beyonder and try to, you know, talk things over. But then the Beyonder turns himself black and talks some bad jive – I know, it sounds horrible but its actually a pretty funny sequence. Anyway, there’s another kid in this book who’s dying of cancer, but he doesn’t get a reprieve from the Beyonder. I guess God really is an arbitrary asshole after all. They also have to explain to the Beyonder just why setting up a giant bank of television screens in order to monitor the comings and going of every living being on the planet was a bad idea.



“The New Defenders” #152 really was that title’s last issue – and a more ignominious ending one cannot imagine. The Beyonder shows up and gives Moondragon enough power to demolish the rest of the Defenders – good one. The worst part is, he was trying to help matters. Anyway, the Beast, Angel and Iceman had an appointment in the new “X-Factor” book that was starting up in just a month or so. Never did get to see what happened to that dog, though.

In the months leading directly up the story’s conclusion, numerous patterns begin to repeat themselves. A number of confusing subplots in various series come to a screeching halt as the “big shot” heroes of the MU – meaning, the top selling titles – all dropped what they were doing to mess with the Beyonder.



In the pages of “Peter Parker, Spider-Man” # 111 and “Amazing” #273, The Puma, of all people, discovers it is his fabled destiny to destroy the Beyonder, and that the Universe itself will give him the power to do so when the time is right. Well, it did, but he didn’t. We were, however, treated to the sight of the Puma’s aged Asian mentor listening to Duran Duran while praying in a Buddhist temple. Isn’t that so hip! It’s killing me, it’s so hip.



“X-Men” #202-203 has the Beyonder generally making things difficult for Marvel’s Merry Mutants. Rachel Summers (you know, Cyclops and Marvel Girl’s daughter from an alternate future) decides that she has to kill the Beyonder. Apparently, she hadn’t been paying attention just a few pages ago when the Puma tried. So in order to do this she kills all her friends in the X-Men. She needed their souls or something. Anyway, even though The Beyonder gives her a part of his power, she still wusses out. See, I told you she wasn’t paying attention. And even though Rachel Summers took their souls to use as cannon fodder against God, the X-Men got better. You thought they died for real? What do you think this is, the New Defenders?



“New Mutants” #36-37 has the Beyonder killing the New Mutants. I don’t just mean killing them a little bit, he totally vaporizes them and wipes their memory from the face of the planet. But don’t worry, they got better too. Really makes you wonder what they were thinking.



And then there’s “Fantastic Four” #288, featuring the rematch between Dr. Doom and the Beyonder. Any astute reader, knowing the long-standing enmity between the FF’s then writer/artist John Byrne and SWII perpetrator Jim Shooter could read this issue as a not-so-thinly veiled allegory for just how much these two chucklebunnies hated each other. See, it turns out that during the time when the first Secret Wars was going down, Doom had ostensibly been dead – killed by Byrne during the “Trial of Galactus” storyline. Of course, he wasn’t really dead, and Byrne had been planning his return all along. But Doom showing up smack dab in the middle of the first Secret Wars kinda blew that all to hell and gone. So, Doom tracks down the Beyonder and wants to know the score. Reed Richards scolds the Beyonder about messing with the time stream, warning him that not even he could survive a rupture in the fabric of the space-time continuum or something like that blah blah blah. So, Byrne basically lectures Shooter about messing with his continuity and fixes everything in the end by having the Beyonder send Doom back in time to the first Secret Wars. See, the Secret Wars weren’t even over and they already couldn’t wait to retcon Shooter’s baby into oblivion (more on that in a bit).

The Secret Wars ended pretty much for good with the release of SWII #9, prosaically entitled “A Time To Die.” After nine issues worth of mood swings and whiny bitching on an Olympic level, the Beyonder sits down and thinks things through. He makes himself human. Or something. Everyone dogpiles on him again, but it’s the Molecule Man going toe-to-toe with him that turns the tide. Finally, the Beyonder turns himself into a widdle biddy baby and gets zapped to death by the Molecule Man. Its just pain by this point, it really is. The only thing that would have redeemed it by this point would have been a two-page pin-up of Wolverine skewering the infant on his claws and devouring it whole. (But no, the only Wolverine-eating-baby-infant action to be found anywhere, so far as I know, is in the pages of “What If?” second series #6.)


(Trust me, there's some Wolvie-cannibalism inside.)

Shooter’s downfall shortly after the conclusion of the Secret Wars pretty much ensured that there would be no more sequels.

But that didn’t stop the Fantastic Four from spending half a year basically undoing everything that Shooter written. Now, I don’t know about you but one of the most annoying things I come across as a comic reader has to be when the creators’ personal differences spill onto the page, causing them to write stories with the express purpose of thumbing their noses at other peoples’ stories. Claremont and Byrne did this quite a bit when they were working on “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four”, respectively. By that same token “Secret Wars III” has to be the most petty and vindictive comic ever written.



“Fantastic Four” #319 basically said that everything associated with the Secret Wars had been a lie. The Beyonder hadn’t really been all-powerful – he had been merely an immature cosmic cube, not really that powerful at all. Him and the Molecule Man actually possessed two halves of the power necessary to make a mature cube - seems the accident that had spawned the Molecule Man had torn an interdimensional rift, creating access to wherever the energies for nascent Cosmic Cubes are stored. So, at the behest of everyone’s favorite double-amputee The Shaper of Worlds, they reformed the stillborn cube, causing the Beyonder to basically cease to exist in any capacity (as if being dead had ever held him back before) and killing the Molecule Man, to boot.


So, what about that galaxy the Beyonder had destroyed way back in MSHSW #1? Explained to be a mere illusion. What about all the great powers of the cosmos, such as Eternity, the Celestials, Galactus, etc, who had cowered and cringed for years because of how powerful the Beyonder was supposed to have been? Well, that’s never been adequately explained but lets move on now . . . and did I mention that the Beyonder shot up heroin in “Cloak & Dagger” #4?



So, not only were the combined Secret Wars one of the most insultingly stupid ideas ever executed on the comics page, but they were evidently too stupid to remain a part of canon, either. There’s nothing that makes me feel better about reading a story than to turn around and find out it was all a lie, a damn dirty lie!!! Someone, it seems, had been eating monkey brains and slowly fermenting in a bubbling broth of their own insanity.

Did I mention I once had a pet theory about the New Universe? At the end of SWII, the Beyonder’s death knell basically blasted a hole through the side of the universe. The “White Event” at the genesis of the “New U” hadn’t yet been explained properly, so since the two events actually coincided rather neatly it occurred to me that they might have been the same things. The “New U” had been established from the very beginning to be part of a totally different multiverse from the regular MU, so it was conceivable that the Beyonder’s death-rattle had blasted a hole in existence all the way across the other side of the omniverse. But after Shooter left Marvel, they decided to blow up the New U’s Pittsburg (Shooter’s hometown, probably not coincidentally) and find another explanation for the White Event. I always wondered if that’s what he had originally meant. I guess I’ll just have to take that burning question to my grave.



All told, Secret Wars II was one of the defining points in my life. As I type these words I realize just how much pain and despair there lies curdled up at the center of my soul.

Why did they do it? It’s not as if it’s impossible to make a decent crossover (“DC One Million” springs to mind). It’s not as if it’s even impossible to do a good story about godlike villains (the “Infinity Gauntlet” was fun). But for some strange reason, the circumstances behind SWII conspired to produce a solid year’s worth of comics so toxically bad as to scar small children.

I mean, seriously . . . in order to get away from the basic absurdity of having an omnipotent deus ex machina step into their universe, the creators had to annihilate any shred of internal consistency the books ever had. Otherwise we’d have a rich Spider-Man, a seeing Daredevil, dead X-Men, a dead Rick Jones, a destroyed Microverse (not that anyone would have cared about that), but . . . you get the picture.

I daresay that everyone on the entire planet should have to read SWII before they can die. It needs to be translated into every conceivable language possible, and force-fed to schoolchildren everywhere. People need to know, people need to fear. Otherwise, it could very well happen again. Never forget. Never again, never.

Tragedy of this caliber cannot be allowed to visit our children or our children’s children. SWII salted the once-fertile creative soil of the comics industry so badly that we are only now beginning to recover. The collectibles glut, the Image “revolution”, the massive widespread unintelligibility of mainstream comics – it can all be traced back here. This is the Original Sin.

“I desire to... understand.

In my realm, I am all! But here is multiplicity... here is diversity... here is incompleteness which I do not understand! I desire to understand!”

With these words was a generation’s innocence lost. We may not have learned much about the nature of life, but we saw the true face of evil. It was roughly handsome, with David Hasslehoff’s features and a bad jehri-curl. And, also, its worth noting that he wore a shiny silver tracksuit long before any of the rappers did.


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