Wednesday's Loot - 26 July 2006

If you haven't read all these books then be warned, I spoil plots sometimes.

Godland #12
Well that was certainly an ending wasn’t it? Again, I can’t say enough good things about this comic. It’s the perfect blend of old-school for a modern audience. It’s groovy cosmic fun. I’ll miss it while it’s on hiatus, but I’m thankful the creators had the decency to tell us in advance that there would be a delay instead of just letting us wait blindly like, say, Ultimate Hulk v. Wolverine. I love everything from the dialogue to the bright colours to the fantastic layouts in this issue. Heck, I feel like Lady Liberty on the cover and will shed a tear for this time away from Godland.
I rate this comic: A very satisfying cliff-hanger of an ending with enough fun to make up for anything you didn’t like this month.

JLA: Classified #25
Okay, so that ended. I liked the whole Royal Flush Gang using Tarot cards and the fortune telling bit was quite clever. But all in all I don’t really know why I kept buying this story. Oh well. I should have stuck with Green Lantern Corps I guess. And the previews show that this is the series where the JLA can’t interfere in global matters, it’s like the theme of the classified series I guess.
I rate this story: A decent Vibe moment in the end.

52 Week 12
Okay Montoya and The Question is still an intriguing mystery. Black Adam’s story is quite fascinating as well although that repeated dialogue from his woman friend would be a little annoying – it was bound to happen wasn’t it. Forget the broken elbow cast, this doubly placed dialogue is a bit of gaff. Still I’m not more than curious about the whole scarab symbolism no doubt about to connect Isis to the Blue Beetle. Crazy Billy is a grand idea but the whole Elongated Man sequence seems a bit, well, silly. I’d be a bit pissed if some alien teenager robbed me of my dead wife’s clothes and wedding ring for a “trial run” at resurrecting someone. And in two pages Mark Waid and Adam Hughes make me forget about the History of the DCU.
I rate this story: A decent advance in 52 with great character moments and interesting setups.

Batman #655
I thought the relaunch and Dini’s Detective story were good. This improves on all the goodness that has been happening to Batman and Bruce Wayne of late. Morrison has hit his stride with recompressing his storytelling. Oddly he manages to hit to the core of Batman in a manner that feels as fresh as his take on the laid back Superman in ASS. He’s trying to have fun and learn to be a regular guy again but of course there’s the international mystery involving the daughter of a more or less undying eco-terrorist who discovered his identity and seems to have Bruce’s son and an army of ninja-man-bats. Plus there’s a crowd shot of Bono and a Godzilla like creature in formaldehyde which are the attentions to detail that make a good story great.
I rate this story: Improving on an already improved longstanding character.

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Boy on Earth

This was a definite change of pace for me. I first came across Chris Ware’s ACME Novelty Library with Quimby Mouse during my first ever visit to Ottawa back in 1998, I believe. This was a time I was flirting with indy comics and had a genuine conceit that black and white, independent or manga was “better” than that corporate bullshit. And at some point a friend gave me a copy of Jimmy Corrigan for Christmas. It was the sequence in the story that takes place in a restaurant where Jimmy tries to call his mother without his father finding out. I remember it as clean and a fantastic visual but a bit bleak.

Then I sat down and read this collected version. I had no idea how bleak it would get. This isn’t a bad thing, the story is completely captivating but it is definitely bleak. It should be and it should invoke those feelings in the reader as it helps connect us to the protagonist who is basically paralyzed by his neuroses of trying to fit in.

This is a stream of consciousness story structure which took me a little while to get used to. I wasn’t sure if I could read the whole thing as I was having trouble adapting to the flow of the narrative and the layout. Once you start to get the hang of it and get over the hump of adapting to the fascinatingly mundane story it grows into directions you didn’t see coming. Oddly the World’s Columbian Fair in Chicago is becoming a setting for a lot of my reading – this book and the story of America’s first serial killer. But for the general flow it tends to focus on the aspects of life we experience when we’re trying not to focus on anything.

We get sound effects for shutting doors, shuffling feet or the air exhaling from vinyl chairs. The gaze of the reader is focused on everything but the face of secondary characters. We see the main characters but never anyone else face on. Jimmy doesn’t look them in the face and we’re not given that comfort either. This process further enhances the uncomfortable nature of the protagonist. We’re not given the regular parts of a comic to focus on – characters, dialogue and loud noises. We’re given the soft noises, characters who cough, clear their throats, swallow, shuffle and gently shut doors.

The art is presented in block colours that are generally toned down. We’re given mood through the clear and clean colouring. Along with these tonal variations everything has an extremely clean line. The artwork has a classic look to it but is almost architectural in some ways. Everything feels measured and precise all the time being new and modern with a sense of history to it. And seeing as the story is about a few generations of the same family that is a great way to present it. And the panel layout on landscape formatted pages allows for flights of fancy as the characters dream, since we’re already reading in a oddly whimsical manner.

And finally interspersed between everything are the Easter eggs. I don’t know what else to call the various cut outs and construction projects throughout the book. You can essentially create play things out of the mundane lives of these characters. Again the presentation is extremely new and original while feeling like they are very old. Unfortunately, I feel that Chris Ware is to a lot of comic creators what Alan Moore was to those previously. Whereas Moore’s Watchmen essentially ushered in the whole grim and gritty superhero story that was attempted to various degrees of success since, Chris Ware has essentially made art out of the extremely commonplace. Attempting to make art of the commonplace has been attempted a lot since Jimmy Corrigan came on the scene and has had various degrees of success. I know I’ve read a lot of nice looking comics that were essentially pointless but this collections doesn’t seem to fall to the traps that others have. I wish I could verbalize exactly what those traps are a bit better for you but I’m sure you too can recognize them when you experience them. I think a lot of it is that this collection is precisely that. We are given here a longer more comprehensive story instead of a slice of life. A slice of life on its own can feel extremely empty but counter posing slices against one another can help create meaning instead of trying to attach meaning where there is none. The collection finds meaning in how the slices are collected but a slice on its own has nothing to which it can be compared.

Got it? Good. If you haven’t read any Chris Ware yet, then give it a try. It’ll be like nothing else you’ve read. It’s captivating and beautiful but you may want to have a solid drink when you’re done to rinse down the gobs of depressed anxiety that you’ll experience reading this.

Words and Images - Flight and Gangland

Just when I was getting down on the semi-corporate blogs, one of them had to go and impress the hell out me with a great post on representing heroes and social paradigm shifts. Greg does a great job here.

And there was a comic thing in San Diego that a lot of other comic based sites covered.

Plus I can't seem to upload images anymore so this site is looking rather text-heavy these days. Nobody seems to be complaining though.

-----

Words and Images

Two of the first books I got from the library were compilations – Flight Vol. 1 and Gangland. I’d heard a lot of good things about Flight and Gangland just sort of caught my eye so I picked it up.

What did I think of them? Both had their strengths and weaknesses but the one I liked the least on first read has stayed with me the longest and I think I appreciate what was attempted a lot more. I’m, of course, talking about Flight. It’s been said many times before on the comiblognet by others better versed in comics than I, that Flight is really a great experiment. The artwork is simply fantastic but the stories are completely hit or miss. Actually, that’s being polite, some are down right boring and a waste of words, but the pictures, images and techniques more than make up for any lack of plot and dialogue.

Flight is primarily about the art and it delivers art in spades. It is a showcase for up and coming artists to present their work to us, the public. In a lot of ways, this volume reminds me of the Ottawa Animation Festival. This festival has pushed and continues to push the limits of what animation is. It’s not a festival of cartoons but of animation and any interpretation thereof. Same goes for Flight. It’s not about presenting a complete story or an action script. There’s some stream of consciousness stuff, some chapters from larger works, a couple of self-contained tales, but also a lot of imagery. It is more the graphic part of graphic storytelling.

Comics needs more collections like this. This is the cutting edge that bleeds out new and old techniques that can be used to tell stories. If nobody is pushing the limits of how to tell a graphic story the medium will dry up and die. However, if you don’t care about the cutting edge this is really not for you. This is for those readers who want to see where comics can go and may be heading. In the future we may see collage comics or ripped paper comics simply because this collection proved it is possible to use those techniques as graphic storytelling. I can’t wait to see the all cookie comic at some point.

Then there was Gangland. I don’t know what to really say about this except it takes a different approach to graphic storytelling than Flight did. It’s not a terrible collection if you like stories about horrible people doing horrible things with horrible images. I don’t mean poorly drawn, just bloody and disgusting as intended.

The stories in this collection were a lot better realized than the ones presented in Flight, however, if your not in the mood for violence the collection is sort of pointless. Still the stories do accommodate a genre and they all tend to function to their own internal logic. Whether or not you agree with that logic is a point of contention but they all have definite beginning, middle and end sequences. In the end these are more about the plot than the images, and while well done on both accounts, this really isn’t a genre defining work. I do, however, wish that more companies would work on this sort of thing because the collections would get better over time as the companies got the hang of it.

These are definitely worthy of a look, but I don’t know about actually buying either. I probably wouldn’t but that’s just me. If I had to choose, I would go for Flight especially if you’re looking for artistic inspiration. However, that being said, like the animation festival where I can only take so much abstract scratch animation to atonal music there’s only so much mundane slice of life that doesn’t really have an depth stories I can stomach. Wait until my next post when I contradict that last statement.

It’s the end of the world how I like it

I was going to do a compare and contrast of Grant Morrison works yesterday, but it obviously didn’t work out. It seems that the entire country decided to call me during my lunch hour, which I unfortunately took at my desk.

Regardless of my inability to concentrate on two things at once I did want to mention just how much I enjoyed Vimanarama. If Morrison brings this sort of recompressed approach to his work in Batman I, for one, will be a happy happy Batfan. I liked this story much more than WE3, although in quite a few ways they have a lot in common. Not so much content as form and style of story telling.

This too is a story that I thought would be longer, not that I’m complaining about its length. I just had it envisioned as a twelve part comic instead of what it was. This doesn’t make it worse just faster to read. I do think that the recompression technique used here works a bit better but the plot sort of feels like it was a TV movie edited for length. But a few jumpy transitions isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A lot of decompressed stories suffer for their penchant for going into mind numbing detail to explain why someone is doing something or where they came from and their motivation.

All motivation and characterization is here presented through the interaction of characters – as it should be in my book. The main “hero” is the hapless Ali, who is about to meet the woman his father arranged for him to marry, Sofia. He feels trapped by his family and is sort of the stock “young artist who gives his father grief unlike his more conservative brother.” He only wants to form his own destiny and feels that if it isn’t god’s doing, it’s probably his father who hates him and won’t leave him alone. Heck, he can’t even go to the afterlife without his father and brother interrupting and passing judgment on how he’s trying to accomplish anything. As I read this book a lot of the comedy reminded me of movies like East is East or Bend it Like Beckham dealing with “ethnic” England.

I felt a bit homesick for London reading this. The art manages to capture the essence of the location as much as any film could. The characters are generally sympathetic and hilarious in the way only the “English” can be. And the surreal aspects aren’t trying to be all trippy or dark but rely on an extremely bright and awesome colour pallet. The extra bright yellows, pinks, greens and whites reflect the ideas that these mystical interactions are brighter than reality as they should be. While sort of blinding these light bringing moments remind the reader that the supernatural is meant to be inspiring or pure ideas. They exist as pure light or pure colour while our world reflects those ideal forms. Same goes for the evil parts. They are darker than our version of darkness and revel in the fact that we’ve managed to make our own planet a dark, unbreatheable, artificially created mess that strives for the ideal forms of darkness.

I guess in a lot of ways the story is merging the frantic storytelling action of Silver Age comics and Bollywood movies. There’s a great two page spread of Ali on his bike with women breaking into dance behind him. The mystically high-tech underground city/prison looks like an old Indian city. There’s Buddha bubble men and an unspeaking guy who looks like a Russian doll piled upon himself and doesn’t speak.

It’s fun. It’s bright shiny, glad I read it fun. It’s kind of hard to examine something that you thoroughly enjoyed.

Grant Morrison Creature Feature

Nope I haven’t finished the Animal Man trilogy of trade paperbacks. I did manage to read WE3 borrowed from the Ottawa Public Library, my new favorite geek-out location.

WE3 was a hell of a lot shorter than I thought it would be. There was some neat visual storytelling involved, especially the escape scene, but I have to say this book didn’t hit me as a recompressed story. It wasn’t decompressed but it also wasn’t the same manic energy of the old school stories found in the Showcase collections. It was some sort of new recombination – recompression. I hope I’ve managed to coin that as a term.

It was a short story that presented a few really cool ideas and a rather simple plot. It had a couple of touching moments and some really big explosions. While the story isn’t harmed by its relatively straight ahead pace it did still feel a bit slight to me. It felt more like plot rather than an examination of anything. We’re presented with rather big ideas but then they aren’t really explored all that much. That being said, what is presented is enough to keep one thinking. I think in a lot of ways that straight ahead but somewhat shallow surface exploration of big ideas reflects a the contradictions that are at the heart of the story.

It’s a story about cute and cuddly animals who are killing machines. They can talk and want to go home, but they explode, get hurt and hurt a lot of things. They draw us in but they also repulse us. We can see the attraction but also the repulsion of their existence. Most characters have a similar struggle going on in them – they try to be nice but cause a lot of death or they’re the unfeeling scientist who lets the pets live in the end. The art is realistic one moment then stylized the next. It’s equally cute and disgusting, or disgustingly cute if you enjoy puns.

I did appreciate the exploration of “smart” weapons and the reemergence of animal testing as a part of “bettering” society. We are living in a time when war is becoming an ever more distancing activity as we develop warmongering technology. War used to be fought face to face, then trench to trench and now it’s done over miles. The distance increases as the weapons get smarter. You can now simply be a pilot. Pilots only press buttons, the missiles find the targets and do the killing. It’s easier now to remove yourself from horrible actions but the potential for catastrophe is that much greater the more you remove people from their actions. Yes, the pilot is safer, but if he presses the button and the missile hits his allies he can’t stop it. The weapon does the work and not the person.

These animals, the WE3, are sort of the next step. They’re a hybrid of weapon and brain. They are the evolution of the smart weapon in that they have animal brains. However they still mostly function on instinct and the conscience and decision making is still left to the human scientists who are even further removed from the destruction in this case. In this story, the scientists just make cybernetic suits or train animals, they don’t even push buttons, but in the ends they are the ones responsible. It is more tragic when they make the connections and realize the effects of their disconnected actions.

If anything, Morrison manages to un-cool cyborgs with this story. I think he’s dead on for predicting where, why and how cyborgs get developed. It’s not a pretty picture no matter how much you want it to be.

Wednesday's Loot - 19 July 2006

52 Week 11
Okay the Ralph Dibny aspect seems to be ignored but is also a generally creepy mystery. The Renee Montoya and Question segment is a fantastic Batman, er, Bat-Woman story. They piece together some information, there’s some random were-animals and the snake lady, then BAM! Bat-Woman starts kicking gorilla ass. It’s the forties all over again.
I rate this comic: A decent intro for Bat-Woman.

Aquaman #43
Best opening page ever. Ever! This was a text heavy issue as the new Aquaman discusses his situation with Vulko and we’re given a bit more of the connection between him and the original. I felt this issue was chalk full of exposition and sets up some action in the next issue quite well. I’m actually quite taken by the mystery and I’m enjoying where this story is headed, and how it’s heading there. I do have to say that the dialogue was a bit confusing a couple of times but that might just be because I didn’t take any cold medication today and I’m quite stuffed up and dizzy.
I rate this comic: Engaging and intriguing enough to keep me on the series.

Battle For Bludhaven #6
Apparently this was all just a prelude for Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters. I’ll not be buying that so as a conclusion to this series I was left a little let down. I’ve been enjoying the hell out of this series since it began but I realized with the last issue and about half way through this one that there was no way all the loose ends would be tied up. It was well controlled insanity and does a good job of leading up to an intriguing ending/beginning but I don’t particularly want to jump on board a new series to see how this story “ends.” I am happy they destroyed Bludhaven though, there really wasn’t any way to make that place cool so just get rid of it. That’s quite ballsy. I am a little tired of the hero being pushed to the limit and having an extremely rash and overly dangerous temper tantrum. And Cpt. Atom’s armour is, well, not as cool as his regular get-up.
I rate this comic: A non-ending to a decent series.

Last week's stuff.

52 Week 10
This one is from last week but I didn’t post anything then. Clark Kent is pretty damned awesome in this issue but I’m sort of blasé about Super-Nova. I actually like where the whole Black Adam storyline is going although some name captions would have helped with the villains. I recognized August General in Iron from a previous issue and the Rocket Red Brigade but I have no idea who the rest are. Is that a female version of Copper-Head or is she like Dr. Medusa or something? And is that Dr. Strange? Still, I know a lot of folks are down on this series but I continue to appreciate it.
I rate this comic: Still worth the money week in and week out.

DMZ #9
This story arc is by far a high water mark for this series so far. Matty is equally engaging and paranoid in this one. He messes up as much as he learns but at least he’s developing as a person adapting to his situation. Plus his neighbour is a wonderfully mysterious “more-than-he-appears” character that feels like he’d be at home in Blade Runner or something along those lines.
I rate this comic: Setting a better standard for this series during this arc.

JLA: Classified #24
Okay I ended up buying this one on Monday when I went for a haircut since I had nothing to read and Green Lantern Corps was sold out. Sure this is a hokey return to a silly time in the JLA history and presents a lighter approach to story telling with Aquaman talking to salmon then washing himself in human blood. Read that again. AQUAMAN BATHES HIMSELF IN HUMAN BLOOD! What the fuck?! Okay, I like The Royal Flush Gang and all that, and this is a neat approach to their evolution and a decent focus on Vixen but Aquaman bathes himself in human blood.
I rate this comic: Reminiscent of a different time when comics were lighter and the heroes bathed themselves in the blood of their fallen enemies. Cripes!

Fear Agent #4
I also found this on Monday and couldn’t pass it up. Didn’t #5 come out recently? I don’t know what’s going on with this series anymore. I remember some cool old school sci-fi robots in the last issue I had and they seem to be back here but who the hell are the green barbarians? I have to go read the other issues because I was quite lost.
I rate this comic: Still good but does anyone know what the schedule is?

Library Treasures

In which I update a bit on where I've been and then talk about Rick Geary's Treasury of Victorian Murder, The Borden Tragedy, The Fatal Bullet and The Beast of Chicago. And I've tried to upload images, and Blogger says it's done but nothing appears so you're out of luck to see the covers here. I suggest looking through NBM's website and here and here for Geary's stuff.

- - - - -

Well I think the hiatus is over although I’ve managed to get a sinus cold in the middle of a heatwave. It’s mid to high thirties all the time which is the low hundreds for you non-metric people. Anyway, it’s disgustingly humid out and I love central air.

In between going to Bluesfest and discovering a wide array of new music and seeing some old favourites (Wilco was amazing live by the way, if you get a chance you should definitely go) I managed to discover the Ottawa Public Library and their Graphic Novel collection. Since this city got amalgamated all the regional libraries are connected and you can request books from any of the cities libraries, they get sent to your branch and you can drop them off at any location you like. And you can do most of this stuff online as well as keeping your own list of books you’re planning to borrow. But enough of that.

I picked up a few of the books in Rick Geary’s Treasury of Victorian Murder series. I believe I heard about them a while back as they seemed familiar or James Sime mentioned them on the Isotope website or something.

Needless to say I was captivated by these books. It was a nice break from the capes, cowls, and cleavage of the superhero books I gravitate towards in my spending habits. In a lot of ways it was a nice escape from the routine I’ve created for myself.

The presentation of the Treasury is one of the first things I noticed and was drawn to. The format is smaller than the regular sized comic book page and similar to the proportions of the Bone: One Volume Edition. And this format along with how the story is presented is all reminiscent of grade school history books, or books that presented “true” history to younger readers. In a lot of ways it tricks you into learning something, even if it’s not pure history and sort of trivial or sensational history. As I read them I made sure to remember these titles in case someone ever mentioned to me that they had a son who wasn’t interested in reading. These are great books for boys as they’re not fictional and they’ve got dark content. For some reason a lot of boys tend to be drawn towards the blood and guts type of stories at a certain age if they’re reading anything at all. Stephen King sells gangbusters for a reason.

The black and white artwork manages to invoke a sense of history into the presentation. There is a focus on line work and crosshatching (although I don’t think it’s actually crosshatching but a lot of lines in one direction that is used to the same effect as crosshatching is – please let me know if this process has a name) with simple faces focusing on the spirit and look of the people involved. These are representations of the people involved but without the exaggeration of caricature. You won’t mistake Geary’s style for photo-realism but his characters look like their real life counterparts.

This drawing technique is echoed through the documentary-like style of the presentation. There are a lot of moments presented that are essentially photos with disembodied narration. And throughout each book there are a lot of over the shoulder shots as if the audience is following the players around and recording the action. This helps focus the audience’s attention on the era and the surroundings of the players as much as on the player’s and his or her actions. This expanded focus is one of the strengths of these collections.

As much as these books follow a specific plot with specific characters such as Lizzie Border, President Garfield and his assassin or H. H. Holmes, the books also present asides on what is happening around the characters. There are cross-sections of prototype air-conditioners used to keep James Garfield comfortable during a summer heat-wave after he was shot. There are blueprint style drawings of the Borden house or H. H. Holmes’ Castle. This taps into the feeling of learning something about the time and not just reading a murder mystery.

Each story isn’t presented in precisely the same manner. For instance, The Fatal Bullet takes a parallel approach to structuring the plot. It follows the lives of James Garfield and his assassin Charles Guiteau. There are a lot of striking parallels to be made and it’s fascinating to see how one man went on to great success, sometimes despite himself, and the other fell into a solitary mess of madness and insanity. The Border Tragedy is presented as if it’s told to you by a nosey neighbour, and while it sometimes forgets that style it does work most of the time. It’s a great way to capture the sense of a small town murder that has become legend. The Beast of Chicago presents the story of H. H. Holmes as if it were a newsreel. It follows his career and his twisted opportunism connected to the throngs of people coming to Chicago’s World Fair. I read this before going to bed and was really really creeped out by the story. It’s one thing to read and watch the X-Men fight giant spiked pinballs in Arcade’s Muderworld, it’s another to see the blueprints to The Castle guesthouse built by H. H. Holmes to murder and mutilate countless victims. I never knew such a place existed outside of fiction and the mere fact that it does is shocking enough to disturb me.

Honestly, forget about zombies and horror books for a little while and track down The Beast of Chicago if you want real scares that won’t be easily forgotten.

Random thoughts for Tuesday

Ghost Rider would be much cooler if he had a white motorcycle with a horse's skull strapped to the front and his bike had a horse skeleton motif. I’d hear Johnny Cash whenever I saw that.

The Phantom Lady actually has a figure. Sure, she’s still cheesecake but at least she isn’t a waif in the new solicits. Look at her thighs… (Okay that’s the saddest thing I ever wrote here, I promise not to do that anymore).

I’d like to see Dick Grayson and Tim Drake invite the Teen Titans over to Wayne Manor for a pool party and drinks when Bruce is away on business. I would if I had access to that place if only to hook up an X-box 360 to the big screen on the Bat-Computer.

I think there should be a black and white issue of Birds of Prey called Birds of Grey. It could be about a blizzard or something.

Wonder Twins Powers, Activate!

In the hopes that someone reading this is living in the Chicago area, please note that Gescheidle gallery is currently hosting Wonder Twins Powers, Activate! To take directly from the text in that link "This exhibit includes selected artists from across the globe who experiment in all media to create works that are aesthetically charged, and reference symmetry and metamorphosis. All the artists explore double troubles, science fiction, fantasy, blurred realities and inner visions. " There is even an online preview here.

And all this time you thought Wendy and Marvin we sort of lame, and at best the Teen Titans' house sitters. Finally someone has discovered the deeper meaning where none was assumed. I hope next year they do something based around the theme "Super Friends" or at least Aquaman's seahorse.

I totally ripped all this information off from the much cooler, Coolhunting. With a name like that you know it's much cooler than this site.

What today is.

July 13th is Embrace Your Geekiness Day. Just thought you all should know.

I think having a blog dedicated to comic books qualifies.

I did buy 52 and DMZ but I'm on hiatus so not posting. Dropped Green Lantern Corps and JLA: Classified. I'm busy listening to a lot of live music and falling in love with the library. Today I returned the Treasury of Victorian Murder - post upcoming - and picked up, Flight Vol. 1, Blankets, the massive Jimmy Corrigan collection, In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot, and Gangland. I believe the library system will let me begin my exploration of manga. It is free so it is less intimidating to take risks. I'll take suggestions by the way.

Still hiatusing

I should really go on hiatus more often. I’m still not fully back since Bluesfest is still going on. However, I just wanted to say that someone got a library card and is really enthusiastic about it!

Recently a lot of people in my life were talking about how great the public library system was in Ottawa. You could rent movies and request stuff from any of the amalgamated city libraries online and even renew your books online. What really made me curious was one friend who showed me the Zombie survival guide he got from the library. So I checked it out online and said to myself “Self, if they have Swamp Thing you’re going to get a library card.” They had Swamp Thing, although not the Alan Moore stuff which I wanted but I wasn’t specific so I went anyway.

Well I requested a bunch of stuff online but the real treasure was seeing their actual “Graphic Novel” section at the branch I can easily get to at lunch. The English selection was sparse but the rest of it was absolutely jammed full of Bandes Designes. I didn’t pick up any BD because I don’t have the energy to dedicate to reading with a French-English dictionary. Yes, even though I know French I haven’t exactly used it a lot in the last decade or so. So I’m a bit rusty. Still, this looks to be a great way to spend the winter months – cozy up to some Marshal Blueberry and hundreds of books I’ve not seen since my visit to France.

I did manage to pick up some English books. I took home WE3 and a bunch of Rick Geary’s Treasury of Victorian Murder series. I managed to read WE3 and two of the Geary books. I don’t know what to say at this moment but something will come of it shortly perhaps. I liked a lot of the ideas in WE3 and the relatively compressed story but I wasn’t completely enthralled or captivated. I appreciated it but I didn’t love it.

I also read the Treasury of Victorian Murder and The Fatal Bullet about the assassination of President Garfield. Sitting at home now are The Borden Tragedy and The Beast of Chicago both by Geary in the VicMur style. Again, I don’t have much to say about them right now except his style reminds me a lot of my friend Brian’s.

Music thoughts - and yes it relates to comics

On Saturday I saw a lot of good music. One of my favourite moments ever in Ottawa was seeing Brazilian Girls on a Saturday afternoon singing to a crowd of middle aged people in lawn chairs "Pussy pussy pussy marijuana!" Then trying to get all the guys to shout, I need one, I need one and all the women to shout, I got one, I got one! It was hundreds of older people looking on in wide eyed abject horror as their children rocked out to the German woman in a sexy Clockwork Orange style stage get-up. Other favourites were Great Lake Swimmers, Jason Colett and Feist. Friday night I saw Seu Jorge from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Broken Social Scene. I think summer officially starts for me when I see Broken Social Scene at an outdoor concert.

So this got me thinking a little bit about comic book blogs, as summer concerts tend to...

Basically I find myself less inclined to spend time reading the newly sponsored blogs. Has the content changed? Maybe not but my perception of it certainly has. I don't want to begrudge anyone their success, I think they should take what they can get and cash the cheques to continue their hobby. But under it all I'm still a punk kid at heart and I hear a subconscious voice in my skull screaming "Sellout!"

I kind of feel like this is the Jim Guthrie movement of blogs. For those of you that don't know the story (it might just be that the commercials play in Canada only), this guy is an "alternative" or "indy" artist who released a song for a bank before it was on an album. He's now being touted by the business sections of newspapers and magazines as proof that independent musicians want to cozy up to big money. When really it just alienates anyone who was predisposed to the charm of an independent artist, who created for the sake of creation.

I remember a big stink when Bob Dylan's The Times They are A'Changin' was used in a bank commercial. It was one of those end of civilization moments for a certain generation who now tout selling out as a virtue. It's okay for the people they look up to to "keep it real" but their children shouldn't learn that lesson. Yes I'm trying to use clichéd speech to make my point.

I'm wondering how many people have experienced the wisdom of Bill Hicks. To paraphrase him "When were banality and selling out to the highest bidder good examples to set for our children?"

I know I had issues with Search and Destroy being used by Nike, even if the commercial was pretty awesome. And now I'm hearing Iggy Pop songs to sell cruises and flowers and Blondie to sell dusting clothes. Yeah I know that these artists probably don't actually own the rights to their songs (I'm not about to do research or anything valid here), but it's still disconcerting. Although hearing Lust for Life, a song about male prostitutes who "hypnotize chickens" selling cruises, is kind of funny whether or not the irony was intentional.

So yeah, the content might not be any different in quality, and they might be doing well for themselves but I find myself less inclined to visit sponsored sights. If I wanted editorially mandated content I'd buy magazines or newspapers or watch television. If I want content straight from the creators head filtered (sometimes poorly like this post) through a keyboard onto the net I'll go to the blogs that keep their own. But that's just me and I can post whatever I like here.

Bonus Friday Post

Detective Comics #821

I’m glad I picked this up. While Robinson’s Batman/Detective crossover helped reinvigorate the whole Batman concept, Dini’s first issue of Detective is really a return to form for, not just Batman the character, but the actual comic itself. This issue is a done in one caper that, shockingly, highlights Bruce Wayne’s ability as a detective. There’s a neat throwaway villain reminiscent of the old time villains who were meant to appear in one caper then disappear forever. Modern comics seem to be plunging into the recycling fad a bit too much these days – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Façade has a neat shtick and serves the caper well. If I never see him again that’s fine but he does have potential as a Gotham based villain who should probably go up against The Question at some point.

I rate this comic: A true return to form for Detective Comics.

Damn you Paul Dini

So as the reviews start to pour in I'm more and more tempted to get this week's Detective Comics. I've loved Dini's Animated Series work and was sorely tempted to get this but avoided it because I didn't want to get sucked into another long to be continued marathon. Turns out it's a single issue story and I find that simply too inviting for my poor financial management to withstand.

Review pending buying and reading.

Hiatus fest.

I am on an unofficial, unspecified hiatus while Bluesfest is in town. Also, I'm planning to cut out most comics except 52 and the next Seven Soldiers trade until October or November. Those are the only guarantees at this point anyway with a lot of solid maybes like any Batman comic, and the minis I'm in the middle of like Secret Six.

If anything brilliant strikes me I'll let you all know.

Wednesday's Loot - 5 July 2006

I've managed to reduce my pulls this week to three. I decided to give Gail Simone's Atom a miss, even after I promised to buy it and she posted here and everything. It's not for lack of interest or anything, it's a purely financial move on my part. I just can't spend as much as I have been on comics. So I also gave Detective Comics a miss this week even though I like Dini's stuff from the Animated Series. I'm going to stick with Morrison's Batman for my fix of the caped crusader. It was a tough call. I guess my mind has changed a bit on a few things. Like jumping on points are just as easily jumping off points, unfortunately. Basically this financial situation I'm in is the same reason why I haven't picked up Manhunter or X-Factor yet even though I'm thoroughly interested in both. I guess they'll completely depend on which week I buy them.

On to the corporate whoredom:

Last Planet Standing #5
Wow that was all kinds of fun. There’s a big goofy ending that I kind of like, merging two cosmic beings into a creation of hope and rebirth. The only thing I wished there was more of is Thor hitting things with his hammer. This was a fabulous series that is completely self-contained, pounds upon pounds of fun, some great character pieces and a satisfying ending. All that and it came out pretty much instantaneously for a comic these days. There’s a reason this is my only Marvel purchase of late.
I rate this story: How I want more mini-series, not all, just more.

Secret Six #2
More focus on some villainous villains here. They hit the torture beat and then there’s the Pulp Fiction type of “humour” throughout. They’re nasty and mean but they’re still people. Noble deeds done ignobly, or something like that. The only things I wasn’t huge on was the whole lesbian bondage monologue. But I’m into neither so that might just be why. It seemed a bit extraneous.
I rate this story: A story about villainous villains who are willing to cut out your heart of gold and make sarcastic comments to you before you hit the floor dead.

52 Week 9
The newly resurrected zombie Batwoman makes a costumed appearance in one of the best issues of 52 yet. This one had some smackdown action between Steel and his daughter with Luthor being the evil plotting villain that he is. The lost in space heroes’ situation is explored a bit more with some decent foreboding action on that front. And then we’re treated to some great moments between The Question and Renee Montoya, with both of them dressed down for the sultry Gotham summer nights. I think they got rid of Batwoman’s high-heels from the last image.
I rate this story: A few moments we’ve been waiting for.

Modern Post Modern – The Sequel.

This time it’s genres! Um, sort of.

So I don’t have much more to add to my tirade of last week other than this. When DC had its last big major universe crushing event it did so in a new manner. Shocking, yes, but true. Unlike Marel’s current event and previous DC events, the lead up to Infinite Crisis was split into genres rather than a build up in all the titles. Yes there was still a build up in all the titles, there always is and always will be but DC went beyond that and tried to approach its own universe not only through its characters and proven titles but through four corners of the DCU which more or less match up to genres.

This is not a new approach for a commercial print house. Any publisher markets books under different genres but the big two comic companies tend to shy away from this. The four lead up mini-series focused almost directly on them. There was the magic section, the space section, the spy thriller section (aka crappy Omacs) and the villainous or noir section. I don’t think these series are the paragons of genre storytelling but other than their lead up to Infinite Crisis they serve little other purpose than to show that these corners of the DCU exist, and they have writers who can handle it.

Now the end success of each mini-series is not what I’m questioning. If you want to make fun of their quality or value go right ahead it doesn’t insult me. What I find interesting is that it’s not so much about the characters but the genres here. DC staked its claim to this during a big crossover instead of letting it happen naturally. I think it was their attempt to see if they could divvy up the company into a genre publisher. Let’s face it they have westerns, war stories, sword and sorcery and any number of other genre fictions happening and doing well right now. This is growth in the right direction.

The focus isn’t on, you like hero X, buy more books where hero X shows up or is the star. Marvel has cornered the market on that and does it better than anyone else. I’m glad DC didn’t try to go toe-to-toe with Marvel on that. Last time I said Marvel focuses on one thing first and foremost (mostly art) like big poses or moments. What they also do very well is focus on characters. Look at their current event comics. There’s Annihilation which is their exploration of Marvel’s Sci-fi stock of characters. They don’t focus on different genres or story telling techniques found in sci-fi but on their own characters interacting and reacting to an overarching story. Their lead ups to the event all focus on individual characters instead of different corners of the bookshelf.

DC’s approach to this type of character based storytelling can be seen in their dollarama specials. The most recent was Brave New World. It’s one dollar and introduces their next generation of new and improved old fashioned characters. It’s quick and dirty so you can make up your own mind to invest your time and money in an unknown property. It can work or it can backfire horribly. How many great trailers ended up being terrible movies, and how many great movies have crap trailers? If you’re interested in the character and ready to invest the time and money into one of them, the Marvel approach works fine. If you want to know the story is good before you plug in, then you’re hoping the Marvel trade paperback program is cranking them out. Honestly I have no idea what the state of the tpb program is for any publisher since my buying habits are, well, sort of random.

I seem to recall Marvel having those introduction books for their crossover events. Can someone let me know if they did one for Annihilation and what the cost was? I’m hoping they did the four intros for a buck thing, I think it’s a solid idea that wins over a skeptical fanbase that is inherently skeptical of everything nowadays.

So this isn’t very coherent or anything but I just wanted to say that DC appears to be exploring genre storytelling a bit more overtly than Marvel. Marvel continues to focus on characters first and foremost and connecting its characters to a larger universe wide story. DC shows its universe and presents that first, event through its characters. DC shows a universe where a hard drinking, hard smoking chimp dressed like Sherlock Holmes lives down the street from The Creeper. Marvel shows us Nova and unmasked Spider-Man and forces them to occupy a shared space, or tries to make them take part in a shared universe because Wolverine shows up in both. Sorry that was a low blow.

I’m not saying DC doesn’t do characters as well as Marvel or that Marvel doesn’t do genre as well as DC. I’m seeing DC working on their foundations first, and once they are solid you can forget out them and move on to great stories that don’t really need to connect to anything else. Marvel is looking at looser story ideas that can simply involve all their characters and tell that larger story through all its characters.

Its subtle but it’s different. Both work.

Superman Returns - The Required Post

Saturday was Canada Day and I watched England lose to Portugal on penalty kicks again. But France won and that makes me happy. What, you think Cormier is an English name?

Anyway, on Sunday I saw Superman Returns. This movie made me raise my fist and shout "Yeah!" in a cinema. I loved it.

Friday's Loot - 30 June 2006

I actually picked up these books last night. It was a pretty good week with my selection. I didn't buy a lot and was happy with what I did get.

52 Week 8
Another decent week of decent stories this time focusing more on Steel and whether or not Luthor has a conspiracy against the whole Superman mythos. I really like that idea the more I think about it. Luthor is trying to kill an idea in any manner he can, even if it means using that idea to destroy itself. That’s great supervillainy right there. There’s some nice bits off planet, in Star City and Metropolis as well.
I rate this story: Still holding my attention in a good way.

Batman #654
I kind of feel like I missed an issue in this story. It was Two-Face back in action but the ending was a bit too deus ex machina to be completely wonderful. Still, this really hit all the proper notes of a classic Batman story didn’t it? And the ending was really touching. How many super-hero comics have you read in the past year that were actually touching? Good stuff showing Batman as a man.
I rate this story: A great return to form for the franchise.

JLA: Classified #23
Things go from bad to worse for our fledgling heroes. I’m telling you, the wilds of Canada are not a place you want to spend a lot of time. Outside of mammals that can eat you they seem to be infested with card themed villains.
I rate this story: Like cigarettes and whisky in comic form.

Solo: Sergio Aragones
I think this is probably going to be my favourite single issue of 2006. This is page after page of cartoon fun. I can’t remember the last time I read any Aragones from when I was a kid reading Mad Magazine or watching TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes. This was simply a joy to read and look at. He manages to infuse every scene with a sense of pure joy. The school scenes capture our memories of the raucous classroom and the one ruled by the ash rod. I also like how every panel with a “collection” has a Groo. The two page wordless stories are simply classic Aragones fillers. They’re always good for a chuckle and show how simple a good comic can be. It’s deceptively simple. The stories he tells are all unique and self contained. Unlike some of the other Solo issues where stories felt a bit incomplete these are all wonderfully polished. If anything this is a classic cartoonist showing a new generation how things can be done with class. I’m sure his decades of experience make cartooning easier but this should be a textbook for anyone thinking they can write and draw their own funny books. Sergio simply gives a clinic as the skateboard kids say.
I rate this story: As close to perfect as an issue of Solo can be.

My view on Marvel and DC - The Modern and the Post-Modern.

I think I’ve figured out my feelings towards the big two comic publishers. I’ve resorted to literary criticism for this. I think Marvel is essentially formalizing its Modernist bent while DC has adopted a Postmodern approach to superhero comics. Now bear with me as I usually rewrite a lot of this stuff but I don’t particularly feel like it today so you’ll be getting my essay as, basically, a first draft.

So using the Wikipedia links above you can read the more comprehensive summaries of these two notions. But lets see how they apply to the case I’m trying to make.

First up Marvel. How do I claim they are Modernist? Well it can be reduced to the Modernist notion of whatever is new is best. The biggest weakness of Modernism is that it ignores everything that came before it and only gives accolades for that which is new and current for the fact that it is new and current. Is this always a bad thing? Of course not. It has allowed for some great leaps forward and fantastic new ideas and developments but it also creates an equal number of problems if it is held on to at all costs. This was where DC found itself after it’s first Crisis of Infinite Earths.

Look at the whole deal with Spider-man. In one act one of the core bases of the character has been stripped away. By removing one of the defining aspects of the character is this really the same character? It is an illusion of change but it is a change more for the sake of pure change than for any other reason. It reeks of the ultimate failure in Modernism – that simply because something is new does not mean it is any good at all. The change has little worth except that it is something new and never done before. In this case it is one of the only Spiderman stories never told except for the countless stories of one villain discovering his identity and wreaking havoc on his loved ones. This time it is Peter Parker’s own volition to unmask that drives the story.

Personally the more I think about Peter Parker unmasking the less I hate it. It will allow for a whole slew of new stories to be told, but ultimately it will fail. Just like the numerous costume changes there is a limit to how many stories an unmasked Peter Parker can be told before that too becomes the old standard that needs to be changed back to the original and time tested appeal of the character. Change in the name of progress, or change simply for the sake of change does not really make something better. Spiderman is like a car that is exactly the same as last year’s model on with a blue lighted interior instead of an orange lighted interior. Would you buy a whole new car if yours works fine simply for an unnecessary cosmetic change? Change for something else, some organic change or an extension of the character can work but a dramatic about face ignoring an entire history simply feels cheap. Marvel is simply adopting the Modernist idea of it is good because it is new. Change is good instead of change is different. It’s like your loved one walked in your door punched you in the gut and said they hate pickles. Sure it’s new but is it really any better? (It is if you hate pickles). Was anyone really concerned that Spiderman had a secret identity? Nope. Was anyone really clamoring for a major shakeup to the Spiderman mythos? Nope. But it’s change, it’s radical change and it does make for opinions and talking. However simply creating gossip and getting people talking doesn’t mean the work is actually any good.

What is it that Oscar Wilde said? “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” It’s a great quotation and marketing strategy but not a great storytelling strategy. You see, Wilde actually separated his publicity from his artistic endeavors which were strong enough to benefit from gossip.

This sudden about face doesn’t really come as an ultimate shock to a lot of people. The storytelling structure really fits into the philosophical underpinnings of the entire company. Marvel is known as the “art” company. They care about images first and story second. Whether or not that’s true across the board, I can’t say for sure because I simply don’t read everything that comes out (and I don’t sit on the editorial boards of each book). But that’s how I see it. Marvel goes for art while DC goes for different things. Again, this is how I see Marvel as a Modernist group. They put one thing on top of the rest. Give them poses, make it new and cool (but not too new or different) and we’ll print it. Get them talking about the shock and the big changes instead of content beyond that.

Even their approach to their universe and crossovers is taking a more Modernist turn. Everything ties into Civil War. Everything is there to serve one major movement and one major event. Each latest and greatest turn in the Marvel Universe doesn’t just affect a character, it affects everyone. Each hero, villain and character lines up in relation to the newest task at hand. Only when they start to question why they need to line up and take part does the creation start to show that there really isn’t any structure whatsoever. There is no reason for everyone to be involved or for these massive plot shocks that will require more massive plot shocks to cure.

Eventually, but not necessarily, Marvel could get to the point where DC is. DC had its crisis of Modernism and has essentially entered a Postmodern phase. It got to the point where devotion to new and different for its own sake simply couldn’t sustain itself across the DC Universe. The audience, the creators and the editors recognized that changes for the sake of change evolved their characters and stories too far from what made them interesting in the first place. The gave us a brilliant Modernist cross-over and managed to deconstruct their own properties, their own universe.

DC decided that they couldn’t support on massive hierarchy so they destroyed it and constructed something new (deconstruction in a sentence there folks). Now, one of the main aspects of Postmodernism is that you can never truly escape your foundations, so things like myth and legend, while remaining unique to each individual can never be truly left behind. That it is a fallacy to pretend the foundations weren’t there and simply worship at the altar of new and modern.

With the one year later stories and 52, DC has acknowledged its own past and isn’t trying to fix any of the actual problems they created for themselves in the Modernist era since the original Crisis of Infinite Earths. Those stories still exist warts and all and Infinite Crisis didn’t wiped them out, it managed to create a new slate that set up its own internal mechanisms and rules that differ slightly but they knew there was no way to invalidate that many years of stories, so they still happened they just hit reset and started all over again. DC isn’t ignoring their history in the least with the one year later stories, they are celebrating it. Have any of you been reading Batman these days? Do you think KGBeast was a highlight of the rogues gallery? Heck no. He was there, he’s still there but Batman has been reconnected to his own past and his current situation.

The stories in Batman seem new because they aren’t trying to be the newest latest and greatest. They are a development of an internal hierarchy. Whereas Marvel is trying to make all of its books fit into one major hierarchy, DC has basically splintered all of its books into individual hierarchies that while they do share threads are not essential to each other’s existence. You don’t need to read Batman to get more of the DC story, whereas Marvel is more about their entire line than characters existing on their own with a few shared elements.

I know what you’re saying now. There is no freaking way Aquaman recognizes its past while developing on its own. Sure I’ll allow you to say that. But it is able to exist on its own and I think its decompressed storytelling will eventually reveal the current series connection to the past. We’ll have to wait and see where it goes. But still, a Postmodern universe allows for this type of creation without invalidating everything else that came before. It feels like a reset button was pushed but when you look at the core of the series it does remain true to its roots. Undersea adventure. Yes the clothing has changed but it doesn’t destroy its own past. Have any of you seen Ian McKellan’s Richard III? It was set during WWII but it doesn’t invalidate the story being told or the source material because its Shakespeare taken out of the proper time period.

I like what DC is attempting. Yes its all tied together and there’s rampant consumerism driving a lot of their development plans but when you look at how the books interact with themselves and each other it is a lot more free form than how Marvel is approaching its books. Yes, some of DC’s series interact with others but most of that ended with the crisis. But you go to Marvel and its almost impossible to understand anything without buying everything else. DC is like a whole bunch of separate puzzles that when joined create a large picture but Marvel is a whole lot of pieces to one massive puzzle.

I know DC is just as guilty if not more so on creating interconnecting texts, but at least it seems to be limited to crossover titles and mini-series. Yes, every title was involved in a one year jump but there was no other way to transition that would have been a complete break that allowed for the same freedom of development along a recognizably more classic line. Some work better than others granted, but the stories are presented warts and all instead of trying to fix everything into place.

The biggest clue that DC was going back towards a Postmodern worldview was when Infinite Crisis became meta. The text itself became aware of its place in our world or its own limits and strengths. These are funny books people. Men are bulletproof and breasts defy gravity on every single woman – making sure history is done realistically seems a false notion to restrict this universe with. I mean how many of you actually jumped a year into the future? Comics work better when they aren’t limited to over arching restrictions but the organic developments that work in relation to their own separately created existence.

In other words, if the Aquaman stories work in relation to themselves then who cares if they match up with Batman’s? If they connect on some vague point, like a meteor streaks across the ocean’s sky and crashes in Gotham, that’s cool if you happen to notice it and actually buy both books. If you need to buy Aquaman to understand what’s happening in Gotham, then that doesn’t work for me. It’s why Omac was such a piece of shit as a series. It wasn’t actually a series. If the individual books are too interconnected then they are not standing on their own strengths. The one year later jump gave these series back their own feet whereas Marvel seems to be doing the Yertle the Turtle impression that DC gave us with their last crisis of tying everything together into one large construction that requires everything to remain strong (unlike the Ultimate Marvel Universe which is basically Postmodern Marvel).

And finally, DC is making a concerted effort to reach into different genres through the superhero medium. There is an ongoing western and fantasy books, there are gay men and women and a racially diverse cast that isn’t presented or seen only as tokenism. DC is presenting characters that exist on their own merits, that are introduced in their own stories and develop a natural rapport with the audience (or not). Yes the coverage of the new Bat-Woman has been reduced to lesbian in tights resurrected (when did Batwoman become a zombie by the way?) but the character is introduced as a character within 52. She doesn’t pop up fully formed like Athena. She’s easing her way into the new reality of Gotham in 52. Yes there’s a past established but she isn’t forced into the story suddenly without any appearance of motivation other than to get the gossip mongers spreading ink. That’s an added benefit that can bring readers to the series but the series is strong enough to stand on its own unlike Civil War that feels forced to make changes.

Personally I’d like Marvel to get out of the major crossover business and give us a bit of time to read their books in relation to themselves. I’m loving Last Planet Standing for that simple reason. It’s nowhere near perfect but it works within its own set limits. Same with The Ultimates. I’d like to see more of the Marvel books doing what they do best instead of simply trying to give me a product that is simply different than the product I intended to buy for the sake of creating new content. Does that make sense to anyone else?

Sith Calls

You want to know what it's like being me all day?

The Emporer knows. Stupid rebellion.

No Loot Wednesday - replaced by We Were On Our Own

It seems that there are no comic book shipments in Ottawa today. Who knows it might just be late and they'll be in the shops when I go home after work. So no pointless opinionating until they arrive in the city.

-----

I picked up We Were On Our Own when I was in Toronto a few weeks back and decided to check out The Beguiling. Chris was in NY at MOCCA and I was in a bit of a crappo mood that day after a lot of driving around for an entire weekend. Still, I wanted to check it out and pick up some stuff I’m finding hard to locate in Ottawa. Here's a link to a pdf preview. For some reason I can't seem to get photos loaded through blogger.

Basically I wanted something other than superheroes. I wanted a story that would be touching and a break from what I usually read. So I figured the memoirs of an older woman consisting of her and her mother’s escape from Budapest during WWII was as far away from capes as I could get without being erotic gay baseball manga.

I have to admit, I tended to avoid this book for the last few weeks. For a number of different reasons I seemed to avoid starting it. Part of the reason is what little I knew about the story and the main other reason was lack of time. I wanted to make sure I could sit down and read it all from cover to cover instead of in installments. Eventually I found myself with free time on a Sunday. I picked it up and read through the entire story as my cup of tea went cold on the coffee table. I was simply enraptured by the story.

The basic plot one we’ve come across countless times in the retelling of World War Two. The horrors of the extermination and brutality shown towards fellow human beings has long been recognized but this book it a part of the growing pantheon of stories about hope. The hope and desire to survive are quickly becoming a new mythology for this generation. This story acknowledges the horrors but focuses on the will of the survivors to simply survive. This is a basic human trait. It is the prime desire of any animal to survive and yet this story does not reduce its characters to a primal urge.

Yes they are simply trying to survive when faced with insurmountable odds but the characters manage it with something other than basic instinct. I want to say pride or grace but considering the circumstances involved none of these descriptors fit quite right. I think it’s because of all the horrors surrounding these women that the simple fact that they don’t give in makes them appear noble and strong.

The point of view of the story helps make the horrors a bit more digestible. We see everything through the eyes of a child. So we look up to her mother just as Miriam does. We don’t get the full details of what is happening but we see enough to be disturbed and see her strength of character to continue with her life. And ultimately for every large evil committed we see a small act of kindness as if both were simply unavoidable when dealing with people.

Then there are “extras” after the story is concluded – which I have to admit was shocking in the simple fact that it was a happy ending. WE are given snippets of letters her father wrote, a photo of a young Miriam, and a little anecdote about a map that honestly brought tears to my eyes. It was so unbelievable touching that it’s taken me a while to get to writing about it.

In the end the snippet about the map helps sum up the story. So many things from that time were simply lost. This story helps preserve some of the fear and wonder experienced.

I have to say that the only real complaint I have is the cardboard cover isn’t the greatest material choice. At least I think it’s cardboard because by the time I got it home all the corners were dented and starting to separate. And I wasn’t using the book for batting practice or anything.

Oh, I also picked up this book because it explored a time and place I know very little about. I was in Budapest for a while and it’s really one of the unknown gems of Europe. I even saw Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels there for the first time because it was like three weeks since I was somewhere where anyone spoke any English whatsoever and the movies were subtitled and not dubbed. I wanted to learn a bit more about the place which I did both through this book and by using this book as a catalyst to look up a few things about the history of Budapest.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. The art is recognizable and just distorted enough to convey both the ugliness of the situations and the beauty of others. There are frenetic violent scenes causing the reader a lot of tension but they are counter balanced with unbelievably loving and tender scenes. The sketchy pencil drawing used throughout really does solidify the childhood point of view throughout. This could just as easily be seen in the margins of a young girl’s schoolbook as in a graphic novel. I guess it was disturbingly beautiful if you’ll allow for the oxymoron. It is a wonderful book of a personal history that I’ve been recommending to people in look of a good book for a summer weekend.

Recommended Viewing

Last night I watched Paul Greengrass's film Bloody Sunday. I have not seen a film this good in a long long time. It was simply captivating from start to finish, even if I couldn't make out the young thug's accent.

It looks and feels like a documentary using long single shots, jump cuts and hand held cameras to tell the story. There isn't cuts and angles but someone following around subjects who don't appear to be speaking "dialogue." It makes the inevitable outcome that much more gripping and staggering.

Now, I'm no historian so I don't know how accurate this is other than the fact that 13 Irish protestors were killed and 14 injured. The film does wear its politics on its sleeve but that really doesn't detract from its power. I have never felt such dread and terror at an outcome the entire film was building towards and that I felt was completely pointless and easily avoided. You see the pieces of a bloody disaster taking shape for pointless reasons on behalf of the British.

-----

On a lighter note, I tried to make a few of the suggested villains. I ran into a few troubles. Saddly there are no ape parts in the character creation scenes. I got sort of close but it looked like a large grey and black man with fangs and not a gorilla or ape of any sort. Also there are no bows and arrows available so that was a no go. For some reason I didn't remember the alien gangster, which I'll gladly try to create at some point. And while I do appreciate the Walrus and the Carpenter I think it would only work if I had an online friend to play the other character. Instead I flew around in my blue Iron Man knock off "Mr. Zap" and beat up heroes with my electricity based powers. I love robbing fictional banks.

Name that Villain

So I've got the trial version of City of Villains (it's about to run out I think) and I'm trying to come up with a few more villains to play. I want your help if you're willing to give it.

So far I have a thug that looks like a blue Iron Man called Mr. Zap. I also have an X-ray eye-beam shooting radiation shooting villain called Nuclaire. After that I'm kind of stuck.

I want a few more Silver Age type of villains that aren't gangsters. I'd say Golden Age type of villains but I know little of this time in comic bookery. So help me come up with a few themes, power types and costume ideas and I'll let you know who I choose.

I'm trying to avoid those dark, gritty, barb-wire clad villains of the nineties so no "thing so evil that it cannot be named" type of entries. Wait, I might make a piece of Swedish furniture and call it "&The Thing so Evil it Cannot be Named&."

Preference will go towards people with Dr. Mr. Miss. Mrs. His Lordship, and the ilk in its title. I have Saturday to myself so I'm going for a major geek-out.

Another day without a post.

I tried to read Casanova and didn't even finish it. I was hoping I could get behind the book and while I do hope people will it's not for me and I know this. I'm also thinking of ending this blog on the one year mark since most topics are covered sufficiently well elsewhere and I find myself struggling for things to say - well relevant things anyway. We'll see. I'm kind of having a crap day so tomorrow may bring more sunshine or something.

Wednesday's Loot - 21 June 2006

I'm going to try and do this with one sentence reviews. I already know it'll be tough and I'll kind of cheat because there was a lot of goodness this week. I wanted to only buy 52 in order to save some dough but it seems that every series I like had an issue this week or ended so I bought the final instalment. I didn't pick up Manhunter because I can't fund more purchases and I dropped Shadowpact for the same reason - even if I liked issue one.

Also Alison Bechdel's Fun Home is listed as one of CBC's Hot Stuff list for the best stuff of summer 2006. It's even top ten. Congrats.

52 Week 7
Ralph Dibny comes out swinging while Montoya becomes a new favourite for me and Adam Strange grows a beard in a week.

Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy #6
Is there really any other way this story could have ended?

All-Star Superman #4
Jimmy Olsen is the bane of Superman’s life and is not gay no matter how much he wears women’s clothing or is draped in rainbows.

Justice #6
Finally a glimpse of the heroes starting to organize a comeback.

Ultimates #11
It’s been a while but it’s fan-freaking-tastic and I don’t have to buy the Ulitmate Hulk v. Wolverine miniseries to find out how that ends.

Last Planet Standing #4
This comic has an Excavatron and no other comic does making them pale in comparison while adding riffs on the original Secret Wars and a petty bureaucrat make it cosmic comic gold.

Casanova #1
I didn’t read it yet.

I need to write something else here about 52 this week. I don’t know who the big guy at the end is. Is it one of the Manhunter robots from a bygone time? Also, A. knows someone who fractured an elbow but the doctors read their reports wrong and put a cast on her arm like Montoya has and it made the fracture worse. When the cast was properly replaced and she healed up she could never use her elbow to its full extent again. If Montoya’s elbow is fractured then putting a cast on below the elbow will make sure the elbow never heals and she’s in ridiculous pain. I think this cast would be fine for a fractured wrist but I'm not a doctor. Also, All-Star Superman is truly a fantastic comic all the time isn't it?

Monday - All clear.

I'm back to work for today and today only. England plays again tomorrow and I really have nothing to offer the comic blogorama today except that I will now be referring to John Terry of England as The Minister of Defense. Even if he plays for Chelsea who I loathe slightly less than Manchester United, I will give him props for that goal line save against TnT. If this post is gibberish to you then you need to watch more proper football. The kind where they actually use their feet.

Couple of things plus Marvel 1602

I just want to put this out there. I think I have discovered the shocking conclusion of 52. Donna Troy is the Earth-2 Huntress. They react the same to crisises and infinity.

-----

Sure the Spider-man reveal makes me think it's only a matter of time before an alarm clock rings and this was all a dream. However, even if it ignores one of the basic tennants of the character, this does open up a new door for Spider-man writers. I think any change can have positive results and honestly it's better than divorcing him because you're tired of writing about a happily married man. That's just bullshit. Spider-man revealing - sure I'm not big on it but I don't own the character. It's like that kid who put his Hotwheels into a vice pretending it was a car crusher. Sure it's fun but you end up with a pile of broken Hotwheels in the end and I wouldn't do it with my own unless they were already broken.

-----

I was going to do a longer post on Marvel 1602 but England had me in heart palpitations for 82 minutes and I needed more beer to calm my nerves yesterday. So here's the condensed post.

Marvel 1602 was one of very few graphic novels at the local Chapters. I kept seeing it, sometimes I'd give it a cursory flip then move on. I was intrigued but not committed to buying it - then it went on sale online so I ordered it. I read it and liked it. But it's really one of those books that could go either way. It's really destined for a couple of very specific groups:

Group A:
English Majors who read Marvel Comics

Group B:
History Buffs who read Marvel Comics

Group C:
Neil Gaiman completists

Group D:
English or History major who once read Marvel Comics and has an internet connection to figure out the missing pieces s/he doesn't know.

If you're not one of these I'm not sure this would work for you. I do think it's a great gateway comic but not for everyone. The reader needs to appreciate too many things on too many levels for it to be universally accessible. A fun read, definitely, but I'm not completely sure if everyone would want to see so much of the Marvel Universe redone instead of following one character around with cursory interaction with the rest of the Marvel U.

Also the severed head of Doctor Strange is a brilliant allusion to the severed head of Bob Dobbs if in fact that was intended, otherwise it's still good in my book but less clever.

Wednesday's Loot - 14 June 2006

52 Week 6
Another issue that furthers some plots along nicely. I’m liking how Black Adam’s story is shaping up to be a new cold war type of scenario with the introduction of The Great Ten and international politics coming into play. I thought it was well handled and a great way to play off the sovereign border issues with planetary concerns. Plus there’s a time-bubble and Booster is proving to be an ass so it’ll end up being an evil Skeets framing him (I’m guessing).
I rate this comic: Still keeping my attention.

Battle for Bludhaven #5
Robin says it best on the very last page – “This is completely insane.” I love this comic. Atomic Knights, Nuclear Family, various nuclear themed baddies, Captain Atom, Teen Titans, some kind of Freedom Fighters and a few other characters thrown in for good measure. Firebrand is taken into some sort of pseudo reality of the future while going for help – hmmm, was this cut out of Civil War? Anyway, how can you top a potty mouthed android terrier? I didn’t think you could, but this comic also has Hal Jordan beating Major Force with a refrigerator for the Kyle Rayner girlfriend episode, a bunch of the Freedom Fighters questioning Major Force’s sanity after he rips Major Victory’s arm off (there’s a plague of arm ripping in the DCU these days), the Teen Titans acting how they should be, and an evil nuclear guy figuring he could make more money selling all the weapons and android dogs other villains make instead of trying to blow shit up. And to top it all off, the image you see on the cover actually takes place in the comic.
I rate this comic: Exactly what I want from my summer entertainment.

DMZ #8
Part three of the Body of a Journalist moves the story along in an unexpected manner. After some decent single issues Brian Wood is really showing his storytelling chops with this series. Matty’s life heats up in a manner I didn’t see coming as he’s basically betrayed by everyone. He’s being used and sold out simultaneously by his employers while delivering ultimatums meant to goad a shooting war by the other. This plot boils along nicely and we’re given a bit more history that helps set up the current state of affairs. I liked this series from day one but then started to waver a bit until this current arc came along. It’s not about one point of view or another it’s about this guy making his own way and trying to do it on his own terms in a world trying to force him into choosing sides.
I rate this comic: Part of an arc folks should use to jump onto the series.

JLA Classified #22
So this is the infamous JLA Detroit? It’s not bad really. I like the tortured hero approach to Steel but I’ll let Scipio go on about Vibe, he’s better at it than me. The Royal Flush Gang is kind of neat here. I ended up dropping the Super Buddies arc of this series but I may keep with this one if the story continues along without me needing to have read other issues of JLA Detroit.
I rate this comic: Good if you’re into the nostalgia trip and up for something that has an older comic vibe.

Green Lantern Corps #1
I wasn’t sure if I was going to buy this series or not. I’m glad I did.
I rate this comic: I liked the miniseries and I like this book.

That's it for me, I'm now a DCZombie. I looked at the spoiler in Civil War though. Honestly, I think Marvel needs a crisis of their own.

God is good but didn’t do it for me

Tantalizing title, I know but shockingly this isn’t about religion or belief systems. It’s about why I stopped reading Ex Machina. It’s meant to be a bit of a pun on “God in the machine” that isn’t all that great of a pun.

I started out really liking this series but it sort of sputtered out for me. I was hearing good things and reading some good reviews online so I picked up The First Hundred Days and was frankly, blown away at the premise. It managed to straddle the worlds of superheroics and topical politics while simultaneously straddling realism with fantasy in its execution.

And Vaughn set up a premise that would allow him to tackle issues from whichever point of view he wanted to. Having Mitchel Hundred elected as an independent allows the writer to tackle issues from his own point of view which may not tow a party line. I don’t think this is a bad thing at all since nothing is as cut and dry as a two party system wants things to be. Having the present intercut with the past also works well giving a bit of backstory simultaneous to the current plot. And mixing action with intrigue is never a bad thing with me.

Now, I really liked the first trade. It was one of the first new things I bought coming back to comics and it really impressed me for how simply different and brave the whole premise was. Then it kind of lost its luster for me in almost the same way Jonah Hex did. I really like both of them but I don’t buy either series anymore in the same way I don’t buy Sloan albums anymore. I’ve got some albums I really like and it all kind of starts to sound the same after a while. Not that it’s bad, but I already have enough and I want some more diversity no matter how good it is. Sounds insane right? But it’s how I roll. If I get it, I want more, not more of the same. Plus the violence just started to get a bit much for me. I’m not advocating against graphic violence I think taking a fairly realistic approach to violence is better than making it sensational but after a while I started to think okay, setup, flashback, something eviscerated, to be continued - every time I picked up Ex Machina.

Basically I felt that The First Hundred Days was a great setup but Vaughn never got around to pulling the trigger on the series. It’s like watching someone set up this fantastic set of dominoes but then they shut out the lights and say come back next month to see them fall, only next month they set up more dominoes. Kind of like Marvel taking a middle path in Civil War I started to feel like Mitchel Hundred was sort of talking about politics but without ever really getting all that political. Quite simply it didn’t really hold my attention anymore but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad book by any means, in fact it’s quite good.

I feel like I’m taking a Mitchel Hundred position on this book. Yes it’s good, but I don’t buy it anymore. I do think it can work as a gateway comic for some people who haven’t read comics in a while but can’t think of comics as anything other than superheroes and don’t want to see anything too far away from superheroes – or for political junkies. I kind of think of Ex Machina to be The Rolling Stones – you should probably buy at least one volume (but not a best of the Stones those are generally boring – get Exile on Main Street or Black and Blue or something). Same goes for this book – you should buy some but you don’t need to own it all. If you’re flagging for something interesting to read and haven’t checked it out yet, Ex Machina is a great book to check out. It’ll hold your attention for a while but it didn’t keep me on for the long haul although the series I have I have re-read.

I guess I’m saying I get it and I don’t feel the need to continue the journey of the characters in much the same way as Y: The Last Man which has an obviously plot direction and a mapped out journey for the characters. Ex Machina is topical and you can jump on and off when you like and if you don’t like something they’re tackling you can wait for the next storyline. Someday I may buy this again but until then I’m happy with what I have and will be looking to expand my reading collection beyond what is already there.

Return to Fun - Northwest Passage 2

This was more or less ready yesterday but I never got around to putting it up. And for some reason I can't post pictures so this is all text.

Well day one of the week off was fantastic but I’m thinking there is almost too much soccer on each day for me to keep up my interest. I said almost. We’ll see how it goes. I may have to just keep it on in the background while I do other things when there’s games I don’t particularly care about on the telly. Then again here I am at 8 a.m. waiting for Korea to play Togo when I should be at the gym or sleeping in.

That being said, I did get to read the second volume of Northwest Passage two nights ago and finished up the Action Philosopher’s Giant Sized Thing number one yesterday. I can’t really add much more praise to Action Philosophers than what you’ve no doubt read everywhere else on the comic book interblog. It really is good. I was doubtful since I had to buy a few of those Philosopher for Beginners books that were comics about the theories of different philosophers or philosophies like Deconstruction or whatever. Action Philosophers is a whole different beast. It mixes biography with the theories and philosophies of the Action Philosophers with a lot of fun art and jokes. And yes, the Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is really a highlight and exceptionally useful if you plan to examine pretty much anything containing a hero. Chances are if you like it, it follows the boardgame. Maybe that should be advice we as the comic book blogger-mongers heap upon comic book editors – “follow the boardgame.” Although the Saint Augustine done as a Marvel space opera was hard act to follow.

Then I get to Northwest Passage #2. I really should go back and read the first volume for a better sense of the story. Regardless, this is still one of my favourite comics being produced. Where Action Philosophers is able to mix the perfect amount of high-brow with Mexican Wrestlers and comic book humour Northwest Passage manages to present a fairly straightforward adventure story. This is as much a good thing as it is a rare thing these days. I don’t see this story starting strong then collapsing under editorial mandate for the Oni company wide crossover event of the summer.

Now for my slightly clever bit where I compare Northwest Passage to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey boardgame.

All the elements are there so far. Fort Newcastle is a peaceful locale with a retiring governor ready to go back to a roaring fire, snifter of brandy and a good book – perhaps to write his memoirs. There is a call to adventure back to the days of looking for the northwest passage (I think, I’m kind of going off memory of the first book here), and Charles Lord refuses it. Then the wizened and wounded Native shows up and has a vision that more or less matches up with an attack on Fort Newcastle. Charles Lord crosses the threshold not by defeating the first enemy or whatever but by beating his own desire to fight back. When the English discover what the French have done at Fort Duchess of York and the French arrive at Fort Newcastle the belly of the beast has been entered. The story iscurrently on the road of trials where Chantler plays with the boardgame’s form, in the atonement with the father.

This story is like the better comics I’ve read – it’s about an older guy coming to terms with his life and his place in the world. He was considered a hero and lived on his own terms – a man against nature itself. Now he has the chance to repeat those braveries but he’s older, he’s accomplished and has concerns outside of himself. It’s not about King and Country and glory to them through your actions but in coming to terms with the consequences of those adventures, in particular the French villain and the half-blooded son unaccepted by both the Cree and the English. The atonement with the father has the hero in the role of the father instead of a young hero dealing with his father’s legacy or whatever. We have a legacy father dealing with his own legacy and inheritors of it.

NWP is also a straight up rollicking adventure in the far Canadian North. There are heroes fighting villains and lots of running, jumping, swimming, paddling and hunting. It’s a genre that sort of hasn’t seen the light of day in a long long time. This used to be the dominant form of entertainment for young male readers and this series builds on that legacy with a bit of a twist. Comics have an older audience so here we also have an older protagonist instead of the young boy or teenager caught up in a world where they fight to live giving the younger readers a recognizable frame for the story. This may not be intentional but it does work to keep this reader engaged and I’m guessing it helps other older readers relate to a story that would otherwise be considered a purely young readers book.

I wouldn’t suggest simply picking up volume 2 in the hopes of getting a good story as you really need to have read the first volume to understand how the plot developed to this point. This story is really the introduction of some characters with great potential. There is John the Englishman who went native, has a past with Charles Lord and has shunned the European way altogether. He proves to be badass. Then there is Quick Jack who reminds me of Odysseus in that he’s quick of tongue and blade but as likely to cause you problems as get you out of them. And we get a bit more of the history of Charles Lord plus a scene that everyone who hated how Blue Beetle went down will love. Two characters comply so they can save themselves and work from the inside – well one of them is in the process of escaping but you should shut up already about Countdown and buy both volumes of Northwest Passage. Yeah I know all five of you reading this probably already bought the first volume or both but the hope is some random comic fan will see this post and be inspired.

Then there is the artwork. It’s like the Bruce Timm animated material but it works here for me better than the style does in Powers and even the JLU comics which are almost too cartoony sometimes. I love this style and I’m happy to support anyone drawing a book that is actually more representative than realistic. I believe the characters more because they can act more when they aren’t restricted by realistic interpretation. They can run faster, jump higher and exaggerate their expressions in a way that translates much more readily to the printed page (in my opinion at least). These are characters facing larger than life dangers so they should be represented in a manner that is larger than life. It’s not the fight against each other that makes them have to be effective but their surroundings. One slip up in the wilds of Canada and you’re done for. They need to be bigger, stronger, faster and smarter than when they were protected by the fort – Charles Lord knows this and you can see him transform from slouchy governor to the barrelchested adventurer of his youth. In otherwords, the art matches the story perfectly.

If you’re looking for a book that is quite simply entertaining this is the book for you. If you want adventure and new interesting characters instead of retreading familiar old territory, then this is the series for you.

The Search is Over

I have finally found a copy of Northwest Passage #2. I had to travel five hours and go to my friend's wedding to find a copy but I got it. Just before I cracked it open I thought it better be good after all this turmoil to get the dang thing. It was good. It was just as good and intreaguing as the first volume. I'll right more later today (maybe) when the world cup games are done for the day.

I also went to The Beguiling on Sunday but I wasn't particularly in a great mood after all the driving I did on Friday and Saturday. The selection was top notch but I didn't really stick around too long or particularly talk to anyone so I don't have much of an opinion of the place. It was packed to the rafters with stuff I can't find in Ottawa easily. And A. browsed through some comics for the first time ever. She was taken by the First Second books and some selections from Oni I believe.

I picked up the second volume of Northwest Passage, a signed copy of We Are on Our Own and a Free Scott Pilgrim. More later the second half of Australia v. Japan just started.

Wednesday's Loot - 7 June 2006

Slow week. Good for the pocket book. Blogger was kaput yesterday so this is only up now.

52 Week 5
Well I’m happy that a certain someone whose series I haven’t finished reading in trades has made it. Plus teasing orange nudity. What more do you want from a comic? Senseless violence and pseudo-science? Oh wait, that’s in there too. This issue focuses on the aftermath of the Rann-Thanagar War and what happened to the heroes in the zeta beam and all the ones not killed off in Infinite Crisis or the specials. I thought it was pretty cool. This issue really focuses on Steel rushing to the hospital to help out and a surprise announcement from good old supervillain standby Lex Luthor which you just know is going to lead to some kind of massive plot. And is anyone else creeped out by eye stuff. Ever since Un Chien Andalou, eye injuries make me queasy.
I rate this comic: Still the way complex decompressed stories work well outside of the trade format.

Detective Comics #820
What the hell’s up with Bruce’s dad? Did I miss something? Otherwise this was another straight forward addition to a straight forward Batman caper that I’m loving. Scarecrow is sufficiently creepy and Tim is written how Dick should be written. If you’re wanting a great Batman and Robin caper you could to much much worse that this Face the Face story. Can I see hands on who thinks Two-Face is setting up Harvey Dent? I give it 5 to 2 odds. I do have to say that the interaction between Batman and everyone else is being handled much better here. He respects people and says so without being mushy and stern/concerned without being an ass. Plus he’s acting like he has faith in people now – even people who repeatedly mess up. He’s kind of like Job I guess suffering for his own belief instead of how the biblical story plays out.
I rate this comic: Batman back to basics.

Last Planet Standing #3
Is this Marvel’s answer to 52? It feels like it’s coming out weekly. I love this comic. It’s just completely fun. It’s simply Galactus and his herald blowing shit up. They got rid of the Shi-ar and their impossible haircuts, then Asgard and it’s rainbow streets, this time out it was The Watcher and a bunch of celestials (except that was Reed not Galactus and no bodies have been produced).
I rate this comic: The Marvel summer series for me.

Also picked up Action Philosopher's Giant Sized Thing but only read the Plato bit so far.