Q&A Part Four

Steve asks: So Chad, tell me a comic writer/artist whose work is critically acclaimed but that you absolutely refuse to check out, despite the hype. What is it about their work that makes you reluctant to try it, even though its quality is so lauded.

Despite hearing many great things about Craig Thompson, I've never had the urge to check out his work. I don't even think I've flipped through one of his books, actually. Anytime I've seen Blankets in comic and book stores numerous times, but passed it over without a thought. Why I do this is probably because I'm not a fan of those autobiographical types of comics. I tend not to like autobiographies period unless it's about someone I'm interested in ahead of time (same with biographies). Why would I want to read about someone's life without some prior interest or hook? That said, I've also picked up at least one Chester Brown book that is autobiographical, so . . . I can't say for sure why I haven't read any of Thompson's work. Just instinct, I guess--something which I've learned to rely on since it's usually right (I seem to have a good sense for picking out comics, books, CDs, and DVDs that I'll like without any prior knowledge). Someday, maybe I'll check out something by Thompson. Who knows.

Steve: What is your opinion of the event-driven stories at Marvel and DC? (The practise more than the stories.)

Chad's Challenge part three: most important comics

So Chad asked me: You said that Eightball #22 and Jimmy Corrigan are the most important comics in the past five years (or so). Why these books?

Well, first of all, it's impossible to talk to any comics artist (and I mean an artist working in comics drawing something other than superheroes) that hasn't been influenced by Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware. Every artist I've ever spoken to has brought them up. Their stuff is just so innovative and really does more with the medium of comics than anything else you've ever seen. Ware especially really plays with the notion of how to even read the page of comics, so much so that even his indicia for his books are part of the CONTENT of the story and that you can't just zip right through even a page of his stories. You really have to examine each page of art to even figure out the flow of it, because of how elaborately crafted it is. And Clowes even doing a comic the size of Eightball #22, which is more than twice the size of a regular comic, and each page containing many different strands of story at once, is incredibly inventive.

And both stories are just so labyrinthine that they require a lot of you as a reader. Eightball #22 (which Clowes has repackaged as Ice Haven) is a series of interconnected stories in a particular town following a wide cast of characters and centering vaguely on a kidnapping case. It's very much like Winesburg, Ohio or Spoon River Anthology (or Short Cuts or Magnolia, if you prefer). It's an incredibly complex and subtle plot that doesn't spell it all out for readers, but it's not about the story really. It's about the characters and they all feel very real, every situation, every bit of dialogue.

And Jimmy Corrigan is like a Faulkner novel in its complexity and the way it jumps around in time. We see Jimmy Corrigan as an adult meeting his father for the first time, and we see Jimmy's grandfather as a child years in the past, and it's all incredibly moving character work that is intricately plotted out and expertly laid out on the page.

Basically these are the kinds of comics that made people sit up and go "wow, comics ARE literature!" much more than Maus or anything Eisner did or even the more recent media darlings like Blankets, Fun Home, or Persepolis. Don't get me wrong; I love all of those books. But they're honestly pretty simple to understand; like McCloud says, they use comics as their megaphone only.

But Jimmy Corrigan and Eightball #22 play with the medium just as much as they do tell a story, and the stories they both tell are much deeper than any of those previous examples. Faulknerian is a really apt description I think.

So Chad, tell me a comic writer/artist whose work is critically acclaimed but that you absolutely refuse to check out, despite the hype. What is it about their work that makes you reluctant to try it, even though its quality is so lauded.

Q&A Week Part Two

So, Steve asked: Tell me three books recently released in TPB or HC that you WISH you had the money/time to check out but haven't.

1. 100 Bullets: Not necessarily RECENT (although, since it's still ongoing, I'm going to say it counts), but, aside from The Invisibles, this is the Vertigo series I've been meaning to buy for the longest time. I plan to get the entire series in trades, so I haven't been in the biggest hurry. Actually, I've been putting it off partially because I'm afraid that I'll catch up before the series ends and will have to wait around. I'd rather put off the whole thing until I'm sure once I start, I'll be able to own the entire series.

2. 52: I figure I'll get all four trades, so I can read the entire thing. I saw the first trade in the shop the other day and ALMOST bought it. But, because of money concerns, I put it back down.

3. Ultimate Galactus deluxe hardcover: Recently released from Marvel, this collects the three "ultimate" mini-series by Warren Ellis and I've been waiting on this one for a while. I'll probably get it in the next few months, but it's on the backburner because of the same money concerns that prevented me from getting the 52 trade.

Now, Steve: You said that Eightball #22 and/or Jimmy Corrigan is/are the most important comic(s) in the (sort of) past five years. Why this/these book(s)? (You don't have to do both if you don't want to.)

Chad's challenge: my last trip to my LCS

So Chad issued a challenge to me that we do a week of posts with one of us posing a question to the other, the second person answering the question and then posing a new one to the first. Basically, this is just his clever attempt at getting me to post more, but I'll go along with it.

His question to me was "What did you buy on your last trip to the comic shop?" However, I'm going to cheat and not answer that question. My last trip to the comic shop was for the McCloud lecture, and I bought a copy of Understanding Comics for a friend. So I'm going to explain instead what I bought at the previous trip, since it's more, all-new stuff.

Countdown 42-- Countdown is a book that I think I would like better if it were a bit more tightly plotted. It's got some interesting characters and some great ideas for stories, but the execution hasn't been that great. With all the balls in the air, some of them have been falling to the ground. The Piper/Trickster story could be good on its own, while others could be good if given more attention/direction (Mary Marvel, the Challengers of the Beyond, and maybe Jimmy Olsen). But they all need more room to breathe and they all need to stop moving at a snail's pace.

DMZ #21-- This storyline of DMZ has been my least favorite thus far, but it's still not that bad. Day 208 is an interesting look at the history of the war, but this particular episode seemed rather needless, like the perspective we were given here didn't really add anything to the overall arc.

Green Arrow Year One #1-- A great look at the origin of the hero by the creative team that brought us the Losers. I was a big fan of that book and its realistic take on geopolitical intrigue (although it did descend into James Bond territory by the end, when it had started out more like Jason Bourne). And this book has a very similar feel to those early issues of Losers. I am a big fan of Mike Grell's retelling of the origin of this hero in The Wonder Years, but this does not feel like a rehash in the slightest.

JLA Classified #40-- Fantastic. Milligan's Kid Amazo story has definitely been worth the wait. Yes, the "free will v. predetermination" themes have been incredibly overt, but it's not trying to BE subtle. It's trying to smack you over the head with these themes and does so in a comedic way. And I LOVE the portrayal of the JLA here, that they are basically the villains of the story and seem to thwart the main character from getting what he wants, a normal life.

Justice Society Of America #7-- Eh. I'd go into detail, but it's not really worth the time too. Standard superhero fare. By the numbers. I have to remember to stop reading this book, not because it's bad but because it's not good. It just is. And I have plenty of other books that I could be spending my money on instead.

100 Bullets #84-- A good single issue, but not in the sense that it is new reader-friendly. Instead it's a "game-changer," a single issue that gets you looking at the playing field as established previously in a brand new way. This issue definitely made me think that perhaps all the time I've spent rooting for Graves was a mistake. The Minutemen get involved in some pretty shady stuff here, making you see that no one in the 100 Bullets universe is really on the side of the angels.

Superman Confidential #5-- This story arc will read much better in trade. Cooke's work is very reminiscent of New Frontier, and Sale's of Superman For All Seasons. It's a good story, but it just comes out so rarely that I think I would enjoy it more if I had waited until it was complete to read it.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #20-- Sad to see Sean McKeever leave this book, but he left it in a very interesting place (resetting the Peter/MJ relationship to it's "will they/Won't they?" state) and in very capable hands (David Hahn has been a great replacement for Takeshi Miyazawa, who I thought was irreplaceable, and Terry Moore will pick up the ball and run with it I'm sure).

Ward of the State #3-- a short little mini by Image that wasn't bad but in the end is rather inconsequential. an interesting story idea (what if a foster parent was using her kids as a crew of hitmen?) that could have used more development. this final issue didn't give us enough time to think through the revelations we were shown, and this whole mini would have been a lot better if it had been spread out over four issues instead of just three.

Wasteland #10-- I actually bought this book a few weeks ago when it came out, but I waited until now to read it. I always do that, because I want to give it a fair shake. It's a read that requires a bit more out of you, being a post-apocalyptic tale in a future world with a language distanced from ours (much like Finder, another favorite of mine). It's a book worth reading every time, and this issue was no exception.

Now Chad, I ask you:
Tell me three books recently released in TPB or HC that you WISH you had the money/time to check out but haven't.

Take a drag or two

The Red Right Hand collects the remaining issues of Denise Mina's run of Hellblazer and, well, fuck, I wanted more. Not more issues by Mina, but more from the conclusion of her run. In the previous volume, Empathy is the Enemy, she does a good job of setting things up as the world is fucked as empathy becomes rampant, driving people to suicide from feeling the pain of others. How John and co. deal with the problem, though, left me wanting.

Don't get me wrong, there are some nice bits, like how the fate of the world relied on the England/Portugal World Cup game and . . . actually, that was the only thing that really impressed me.

Most of the story is everyone standing around, figuring out what to do while they're conveniently not affected by the empathy "virus." Sure, there are reasons, but it's just hard to take it seriously when over half a dozen people are standing around, trying to figure it all out.

Really, the biggest problem I had with this collection was the ending itself, which is supposed to have weight and meaning, but falls flat with a sacrifice made by a character we barely care about. Who cares?

It's not that the story itself is bad, it's just not great. It's a serviceable, mediocre story really. The set-up was good, but the delivery just couldn't live up to its promise.

And I see that next month (unless Wikipedia lies to me) has the final collection of Mike Carey's run released. After I get that, maybe I'll begin buying up the Delano and Ennis trades.

The devil you say!

While at the bookstore the other night, I noticed a few trades were offered at discount prices (five bucks each), so I picked up a couple of Daredevil volumes: Underboss and Lowlife, labelled volumes four and six, but really the first and third of the Bendis/Maleev trades. I've heard many good things about their run, so did these books live up to the hype?

Yeah, sure.

Despite missing the second trade, Out, the story is pretty easy to follow from Underboss to Lowlife. In Underboss, there are two stories basically: someone is trying to kill Matt Murdock and a guy named Silke is trying to get rid of the Kingpin so he can take over. Now, the two seem unrelated at first, but it soon becomes known that Silke put the hit on Murdock as a signal to everyone that the Kingpin's days were numbered--which we know they are because he's killed in the first issue. Except, he survives and, by the end, Silke turns himself into the FBI for protection from Vanessa Fisk and the remaining loyal Kingpin men. To get FBI protection, he gives them a juicy secret: Matt Murdock is Daredevil.

Now, the recap page of Lowlife tells me that I missed Murdock's secret being expossed in a tabloid paper, prompting Murdock to sue the publisher and avoid being Daredevil. At the same time, Vanessa Fisk has sold off the Kingpin's criminal empire and left America for good.

Lowlife begins with the introduction of a new character, Milla, a blind woman Daredevil saves from getting hit by a truck. She's interesting as she later puts Murdock in a position where he can't deny being Daredevil to her because of the different ways she recognises people as opposed to those of us who can see. This volume has Murdock torn between being Daredevil and laying low long enough for people to stop watching him so closely. Except, the Owl has taken over the Kingpin's empire and is pushing a drug onto the streets that unlocks a person's potential mutation (this was also seen in Joe Casey's Uncanny X-Men run, although there, the Vanisher was behind it). Murdock wants it off the street, but because of the "Is Matt Murdock Daredevil?" question, must proceed with caution. In the end, he shuts the Owl down and the volume ends with the return of the Kingpin as he kills Silke in jail.

A few things stood out to me while reading these volumes:

* The shift from ALL CAPS dialogue to mixed-case dialogue must have been just so Bendis could fit more dialogue in. If not, he certainly took advantage of the shift as the volume definitely increases in Lowlife over Underboss. Not that I'm complaining as Bendis' dialogue works well here, especially because there isn't a lot of repetition, everything pushes the story forward.

* In the first few issues of Underboss, Bendis does a great job of showing us how overwhelming Murdock's heightened senses can be as he hunts down Nitro, but has problems because of all of the noise in New York, to the point where he can't hear what's going on five feet away, but is deafened by a stereo five blocks away.

* Those silent issues Marvel did that one month read like shit in trades. I've got four collections or runs featuring a silent issue and it doesn't work in ANY of them. You're going along fine and suddenly, an issue where there's no talking FOR NO APPARENT REASON. I didn't realise what the fuck was going on until the end of the issue when I remembered the whole "'Nuff Said" month.

* The scene where Stilt-Man quits is fantastic. Especially him explaining to Murdock just how scary Daredevil is to everyone--and the fact that without saying anything, Murdock seems strangely surprised by this news.

* The seeds for Murdock eventually declaring himself the new Kingpin are laid here in a couple of places: Stilt-Man's speech and Luke Cage's speech. Stilt-Man telling Murdock how he scares everyone combined with Luke telling him to step up, be a man, and clean up his own backyard point a clear line of action.

I'm definitely going to continue buying these books, starting with Out and then so on. The plus is that this will eventually lead to Brubaker and Lark's stuff, which is supposed to be pretty damn good, too.

Friday's signings

I missed the Peter Coogan lecture because I was waiting on a maintenance guy to show up and fix my dishwasher, but the McCloud signing and Kindt signing were both a fun time.

McCloud's Q&A session lasted about an hour and had some pretty interesting moments. He spent some time explaining the four different schools of thought he described in Making Comics, which is probably the best part of the book. It not only can apply to comics creators AND fans, but really it can be apply to any kind of artistic endeavour. In any medium there will be artists who simply see the medium as a means of expressing themselves, and those artists will always be in direct contrast with those who play with the format and experiment with the medium above all else.

There was also a great part of the lecture in which someone challenged his notion that single-panel cartoons (a la Family Circus or Far Side) aren't comics. I thought her argument was interesting because it's something I thought myself during a discussion at ICAF last year: that single panel cartoons have implied transitions with the moments before or after them that lie in the reader's imagination. McCloud still disagreed but I think it's a reasonable argument, especially considering it utilizes the concept of closure, of the reader allowing the axe to fall, that McCloud himself explains in Understanding Comics. I would REALLY love to write a paper on this idea, but for now it's going on the back burner.

I've got two videos available from the Scott McCloud lecture, neither of which is particularly insightful but both of which are kind of interesting. The first involves McCloud expressing his love for Scott Pilgrim:



And the second involves McCloud extolling the virtues of the old comic strip Nancy:



And here's a link to the first picture I took of me and Scott McCloud after the lecture. From that link, if you click "next" you can look at three more pictures from the Matt Kindt signing.

Friday is a day for meeting writers/artists

Tomorrow at noon, at the St. Louis Science Center Dr. Peter Coogan, author of Superhero: Secret Origin of a Genre, will be delivering a one-hour lecture. Peter's an acquaintance that I've conversed with a few times, and I look forward to getting to hear him speak.

Tomorrow at four, the preeminent comics scholar Scott McCloud is doing a Q&A at my LCS Star Clipper and following that with a book signing. I've heard McCloud lecture once before, but it should be pretty cool to get the chance to hear him speak again.

Tomorrow at seven, at a book store called Subterranean Books which is across the street from my LCS, comic creator Matt Kindt will be having a book release party for his new book from Top Shelf, Secret Spy. Matt's a friend; he did the guest lecture for me once when I taught in Olney and just a few months ago at Lewis and Clark. I'm really looking forward to his new book since his last book 2 Sisters was so good.

And because I know Chad will care, in August my LCS is having a signing by a bunch of guys from Kansas City... including... Matt Fraction! ;)

I'm gonna suture up my future

I bought comics today. Wow, two week in a row!

New Avengers #32

Not much action in this issue, but an issue like this had to happen. You can't reveal Elektra as a Skrull and then not have these guys talk it over. Okay, you can, but you shouldn't.

A solid issue that served the needs of the larger story. The ending is interesting as it does have a certain ambiguity. Is Spider-Woman a Skrull? Or is she just doing what she thinks best? This does explain why she isn't on the cover of issue 34, though.

Punisher War Journal #9

More racist stuff. I don't know why it's leaving me so cold. I think part of the problem is that the jumping around isn't working. I got confused about what was going on when a bit in this issue. I think my main problem is that this story doesn't seem like it should be taking so long to tell, it should have been a two- or three-parter, but is stretched out for reasons I can't quite understand yet. Maybe as a whole, it will make more sense.

Captain America #26-27

And somehow the book is just as good, if not better now that Cap is dead. The effect of his death on the trio of supporting characters is interesting as each responds differently and in character. My only problem was the exchange between the Red Skull and Faustus in a little "battle of the egos." It fits their characters, but I wish it didn't. I wish Brubaker could move these guys to the point where, yeah, they're arrogant pricks, but they're working together, so every little thing doesn't become one step away from a pissing contest.

Stephen Colbert's Tek Jensen #1

Honestly, the Tek Jensen stuff on The Colbert Report never wowwed me. When Colbert would talk about his HUGE book, that was funny because we didn't actually get a story, it was more about the various stigmas attached to such a book. The animated shorts never really made me laugh. And neither did this comic. It does its best working with what's there, but . . . that isn't much. Kind of entertaining and not exactly BAD, but mostly just mediocre.

Fuck Green Lantern

I've been thinking a lot about Kyle Rayner. Ever since I learned of what happens to him in the Sinestro Corps one-shot, I can't seem to get that guy out of my head. I think, in my life, I've boughten three issues of Green Lantern, all the recent Geoff Johns series starring Hal. My only experience with Kyle is basically Grant Morrison's JLA, but somehow, he always felt like MY Green Lantern.

I was ten when Hal went all crazy and Kyle took over, so it's not like I didn't know who Hal was, I just didn't care. I also didn't care when Kyle appeared, because fuck Green Lantern. I always thought Green Lantern was a shitty superhero. One, he wore green, which is a dumb colour. Two, he wore a ring, which is very girly. And, three, I don't know why, but fuck Green Lantern. I just hated the guy, based on pure instinct. I still kind of do. I mean, come on, most powerful weapon in the universe and I should feel worried for the guy? (I've also had some BIG problems with the whole "space cop" angle of the character, mostly because if he is a member of some intergalactic police force, shouldn't the types of enemies differ GREATLY from his fellow superheroes? Just saying.)

But, nonetheless, I grew to actually like Kyle during Morrison's JLA run, because Morrison made the character seem cool and showed why he worked well as a superhero. A young, energetic guy playing well above his head in the shadow of another guy everyone liked a whole lot better. That's some good shit.

And then Hal came back and Kyle became Ion.

And now, in the ultimate Hal-fan irony, Kyle is Parallax, the villain Hal originally became--although now it's not an identity, it's a space parasite or something, because Hal couldn't have REALLY gone crazy, oh no.

For some reason, it bothers me. I don't know why, but it does.

Weird.

Despite anything I might have said before, the bar is a beautiful place

GraphiContent Random Reading July 10, 2007

I bought comics. Yay.

The Immortal Iron Fist #6

With every issue of this series, I wonder why this comic isn’t selling a million copies each month. It’s got action, it brings the funny, the art is amazing and, fuck, it’s a kung-fu billionaire. Kung-fu billionaire should have people coming in droves.

This issue wraps up “The Last Iron Fist Story” and is my favourite issue yet. Never has the phrase “Hail Hydra” been used so well. I haven’t read any Heroes for Hire (the current series), but I imagine that Misty and Colleen aren’t nearly as cool there as they are here. And you can’t imagine how much I laughed when Davos is all “You’re a cheater!” What a fucking douche.

I’m actually a little annoyed that next issue is a stand-alone about the pirate queen Iron Fist. I want the motherfucking tournament. Right now.

Punisher War Journal #7-8

These issues didn’t do a whole lot for me, honestly. They’re decent, but there was none of that Fraction magic I’ve come to love. Well, except when Frank fights the bull. That was pretty cool.

Thunderbolts #115

It was all building to this. Ellis took this concept to its logical point: supervillains are no good at teamwork and, therefore, won’t function well as a team. The closest we see here to solid teamwork is between the two semi-heroic members of the group, while the crazier, more fucked up members can’t do anything. The way Ellis deals with Bullseye is genius, pointing out just how useless he is against superhumans. Too bad that next month features some one-shot by Paul Jenkins.

The Boys #7-8

The Boys are back in town, the Boys are back in town . . . please tell me someone’s made that joke before me.

Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson deliver more crude jokes about superheroes and I can see why some people are turned off. I’m rather enjoying this stuff, particularly the tension between how heroes really act and the sanitised comics of this world. There are some interesting possibilities there.

Plus, the gag at the beginning of issue eight where Hughie points out every word of dialogue in bold is pretty funny.

All-Star Superman #8

Wow, I really just diverge from the general opinion on this series, don’t I? For seven issues, I’ve been yawning and wondering how people are loving this book and then, issue eight arrives and I enjoy the hell out of it . . . and every review I read calls it a boring issue, probably the worst yet. What I read here was a clever comic where Superman used his wits to overcome a problem, while Zibarro became the hero, the good man he’s claimed he is. Slow moving? Yes. Drab art? Sure. But, this was the issue that finally showed some originality, one that took a Silver Age concept and did something interesting with it. Up until now, this series has just been a hybrid of Silver Age concepts with contemporary sensibilities, but only in the most superficial ways. This issue, though, pushed things further. I hope this is a sign of things to come.

Thor #1

Um, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, I did not just read a 22-page comic that could have, SHOULD have, only been six pages. That’s all that’s here: six pages of content. Fucking bullshit. We’ve been waiting all this time for a new Thor book and this is the first issue? Fuck you, Marvel.

Captain America #25 (Director’s Cut)

A decent comic. I’ve really liked everything I’ve read of Brubaker’s run on this book. I’ve been buying it in trades, but I’m pretty much caught up, so maybe when I’m in the store later this week, I’ve buy issues 26 and 27.

As for the death of Captain America, it’s well-done. It doesn’t feel like an “event” killing. If you’ve read everything up until this point, it makes total sense. The fact that Brubaker does this to Sharon, too, just shows how great he is. It’s one thing to kill Cap, but to put a mindfuck on Sharon like that?

Midnighter #7-9

All nice little stories, but not much more than that. We’ll see what Keith Giffen does with the book.

Gødland #18

This series keeps on going, maintaining its high level of quality, but glacier-like pace. That’s been my biggest issue with this series: it moves too damn slow. The Archers are still trapped in the Infinity Tower, but now Adam has to fight Crashman. It’s nice to see Adam get in a fight and hold his own well. Too often in the past, we’ve seen him get his ass handed to him, but this time, he uses his powers to utterly dominate Crashman. Other than that, not much here. A fun read, but I wish they’d pick up the pace.

Criminal #7

Oh, how I love this book. I especially like the narration in this story. It’s rare that third-person narration is used well in comics, but Brubaker does a fantastic job with it here. If people are paying attention, I expect to see third-person narration come back as a storytelling technique.

I also particularly liked Steven Grant’s short essay on Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye since I’ve been on a noir/detective kick lately and got it a couple of weeks ago. Couldn’t agree with him more about it being the most faithful adaptation of a Chandler work I’ve seen.

Fury

Finally picked up the collection of Ennis and Robertson’s Marvel Max Fury series. This is a really good read and fits in well with Ennis’ Punisher work. This version of Nick Fury makes a lot of sense and is more interesting than the current incarnation, the behind-the-scenes guy with his own agenda. The cold warrior with no war is a nice character and I wish we got to see more of it. This, along with Joe Casey’s Wildcats Volume 2, examines what happens after the war is over and it’s kind of funny how they both happened around the same time.

I particularly like how Ennis has Fury face three versions of himself: Dugan represents a Nick Fury who could have found peace, Li represents the modern warrior, and the Russian is a mirror of who Fury is. Fury shows disdain for all of them, but we get the idea that his disdain for the Russian is more denial of who he really is than anything else.

books on comics scholarship

I've been buying and reading a lot of books on comics scholarship recently in preparation for my presentations in October (by the by, did I ever mention here that my second proposal, "Fostering Critical Thinking in Comics," was accepted as well? I'll be presenting it in Chicago during the first weekend in October and the Plastic Man/Spirit paper during the second weekend of October in Kansas City).

Anyway, I have recently purchased:

Jack Cole and Plastic Man, which is obviously going to help me a great deal with the Plastic Man paper and was a very interesting presentation of the zaniness that Cole brought to the character;

Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed, which has a bit on Eisner, but which ALSO has a bit on Marjane Satrapi which a colleague and I might use if we co-author a paper on her comics;

The Education of a Comics Artist, which I just got in the mail today and haven't even flipped through yet, but which also has a bit on Eisner and a bit on Satrapi;

and I just ordered today:

Grant Morrison: The Early Years, which should be helpful in the "Soul of a New Machine" portion of the "Fostering Critical Thinking" presentation;

Doom Patrols: A Theoretical Fiction of Postmodernism, which actually has a chapter that analyzes "Soul of a New Machine" which I've read online (and which you can too by clicking this link).

and Reading Comics, by Douglas Wolk, who reveals in the pages of this book that he was the writer behind Jess Lemon, infamous reviewer for the Pulse.

The Most Important Comic of the Past Five Years?

So, on Friday, I'm in my local comic shop and Tim, the owner of my LCS, asks me "What is the most important comic of the past five years?"

I had nothing.

Tim didn't either, nor did anyone else in the store. Nothing released in the past five years seemed to jump out as the most important book released.

I've been thinking since then and I've still got nothing. Nothing seems that important, that world-changing, like I'll still remember the first time I read it years from now.

Can anyone think of that comic?

Countdown to Who Cares?

And today, we conclude our look at DC's latest Countdown teaser, because, well, I don't have any more ideas. Actually, I don't have an idea for this post, but I didn't have any ideas for the previous ones ahead of time either, so . . .

I dunno . . . Mary Marvel is . . . evil? And does . . . evil . . . stuff? Lex Luthor looks pretty upset, huh? And that Pied Piper guy is all gesturing towards him--what's up with that? And don't get me started on Catwoman! I am convinced the key to this picture is Catwoman, because . . . seriously, what the fuck is the point of this picture? Yeah, it's a nice looking piece of art and Ethan Van Sciver does a great job, but, really, what the fuck? Are there actually people trying to figure this shit out? Do people care? Is this getting people all excited, especially after reading Didio's explanation of the first one? I mean, say what you will about Marvel: Elektra getting run through and turning out to be a Skrull is a LOT more exciting than weirdo cryptic image with an infinite number of possibilities. You know what would make this image a worthwhile tool? CONTEXT. Without any context, the whole thing is meaningless. Readers of Countdown can probably figure out a few of these things, but some are totally meaningless. What is up with Catwoman? Or the Martian Manhunter? Or Mullet Superman? Have any of them been mentioned in the same sentence as the whole Countdown thing before this? If not, then so what? The sad thing is, my four crazy theories seem just as likely as any others, because there's nothing here to provide any real guidance. I'm all for trying to get the fans involved and excited, but to do so in a game of "Guess how I took a plot-point, altered it symbolically to get here, except do it in reverse!"? Why not just tell compelling, interesting stories that get people excited? Honestly, I'm not a DC guy or a Marvel guy--look through my collection, you'll find I'm split pretty evenly and that's usually because of the creator, not the character, but Marvel has me interested right now and DC doesn't and that says something, because my only loyalty is to the writing. And this image did nothing for me except inspire contempt and the urge to make fun of it for a week.

But, hey, at least someone's talking about it, I guess. That's something.

Countdown to DCU PMS Crisis!

Continuing my mockery of the latest Countdown teaser from DC . . .

The sky is red and it swirls in the middle, just like every other crisis the DCU has. The swirl is obviously a vagina and the red obviously means menstruation. If the DCU is alive as Grant Morrison has argued it is, I'm thinking the DCU is a woman and that she's on the rag and she is pissed off because her boyfriend (the Marvel universe, I'm guessing) did something stupid like, I dunno, forgot to ask her if she wanted the last slice of pizza three weeks ago on movie night. Now, everyone in the DCU suffers, because the bitch is back hence evil inheriting the earth and the blood on Luthor's hands. It's from the DCU's vagina as he's realised the truth of the entire universe. Note also how Darkseid, with his phallic-shaped head has been destroyed, while the three women in the bottom left are all excited. Soon, the Marvel universe is going to pay and so will every man on earth in Countdown to DCU PMS Crisis!

(And why, yes, I am single. How did you guess? It was the "on the rag" line, wasn't it? Fuck.)

Cowntdown to Pissed Off Old People Crisis

Continuing my mocking of DC's latest teaser image for Countdown . . .

They're all standing on Darkseid's head, which can only mean one thing: one of the younger heroes killed him. Maybe a bunch of them. The Teen Titans killed Darkseid. Why? So when old Flash and old Green Lantern and Wildcat are all "Do it our way, because we beat Hitler!" the kids can respond "Fuck off, grandpa, we beat Darkseid. Who the fuck is Hitler?" The old JSA guys are pissed off now, because, well, shit, Darkseid IS worse and tougher than Hitler. Lacking the ability to gloat about beating a guy with funny mustache, they decide to beat up on the Teen Titans to prove they're superior and the Teen Titans kick the crap out of them. Jay Garrick breaks a hip and Wildcat can't seem to stop coughing, while what's his name Scott keeps looking for his domino mask, even though IT'S ON HIS FUCKING FACE! And the JLA get involved, trying to make peace, but that doesn't work and soon, all of the superheroes kill each other. And evil inherits the earth. Only in . . . Countdown to Pissed Off Old People Crisis!

(Seriously, that whole "we beat Hitler" line is getting lame at this point. It works in the real world, because Hitler was about as bad as it gets, but in the DCU where, well, the average costumed bank robber has the capabilities to cause more damage than Hitler ever imagined? Lame.)

My eyes are blue by the way

I had a good laugh at the hoopla over at Newsarama's preview of New Avengers #32 as some posters are all "Spider-Woman's eyes are green here! They're supposed to be brown! She must be a Skrull!"

Of course, in all of the comics with the character that I own, her eyes are green.

And, you know, Elektra's eyes were blue up until the moment she was killed (the last panel before she gets run through shows her wide-open blue eye).

Why the hell would shapeshifters change everything except for the eye colour? That's all kinds of retarded. Say what you will about Bendis, I don't think he's dumb enough to do that.

(And I am looking forward to this comic. I've been enjoying the hell out of the post-Civil War New Avengers.)

Countdown to Supermen Bully Crisis

Today, I continue my quest to decipher the hidden meaning of DC's newest Countdown teaser pic. Ignore what I said yesterday as I was obviously wrong and I'll prove it.

Look at the three Supermen and what do you notice. There's Kingdom Come Superman, Cyborg Superman and Mullet-Head-Back-From-The-Dead Superman and they are the key to understand the coming crisis. Note the look of shame on Cyborg Superman's face, while Mullet Superman gives him a stern talking to. The last time these two met, Mullet Superman totally kicked the crap out of Cyborg Superman, so he obviously has the power in the relationship. Now, Cyborg Superman recently joined the Sinestro Corps and there's no ring on his hand. Maybe he wears it on his left, I don't know, but I do know that Kingdom Come Superman's hand is glowing yellow. Why? Because he stole Cyborg Superman's ring. Him and Mullet Superman. They've turned into bullies, those two. They've decided that the best way to deal with villains from now on isn't to beat them up when they do something wrong, but to randomly terrorise them by pushing them around and stealing their stuff. Look how Mullet Superman is yelling and about to smack Cyborg Superman. Ah, it only looks that way. He's not positioned to smack, but to wrap his arm around Cyborg Superman's neck to put him in a hold and then give him the noogie of a lifetime. All while Kingdom Come Superman watches, admiring his new ring, which he thinks will help him get all sorts of action from the ladies. See, Kingdom Come Superman is all about the bling. That's why he really hated Magog, because Magog was always decked out, head-to-toe in gold and Kingdom Come Superman was totally jealous. That's why Kingdom Come Superman has the gold belt buckle. It is the first piece of bling he owns, now he was the cool yellow ring that almost looks like gold. But, it's better than gold, because it can do all sorts of stuff, like make him look like he's wearing gold head-to-toe. Now, Mullet Superman doesn't care about that stuff, he's just pissed off that he didn't get to stay dead longer. He's like a cranky child who didn't get a good night's sleep. He was dead, what, a few weeks? PFT! Not nearly long enough. So, now he's all cranky and pissed off and he's going to purple every villain's nurple until he feels better about himself. Why is Lex Luthor so sad? Mullet Superman twisted his titties right off, and the blood on his hands is nipple blood. Look at his shirt: NO NIPPLES! He's wearing a skin-tight suit and he has no nipples. And we all know from comic book logic, nipples in spandex are always standing at attention. It was also be retconned that Lex's hair didn't fall out, it was noogied off. The Joker is laughing about the whole thing, because he finds it funny, while the Penguin and the other two losers are all "Okay, maybe if we just give them our lunch money, we won't lose our nipples like Lex." The girls are all "Boys are so dumb!" because they know Mullet Superman would never dare attempt the purple nurple on them. He may be cranky, but he is still a gentleman, especially since Kingdom Come Superman is planning to use his new bling to get him some of Teen Anguish Mary Marvel, because he loves the bad girls. Crazy in the head, crazy in bed. The Monitors are obviously HALL Monitors and they need Ray Palmer, the ultimate DCU science geek to talk the two Supermen out of their reign of terror by delivering a moving speech about how bullying is wrong and geeks are alright. It's simply a Countdown to Supermen Bully Crisis!

Tomorrow, more of me making fun of this stupid bullshit.

Casanova: Luxuria

Shitty review written for University of Windsor Lance. Not actually a review of the collection since I only own the issues. Ah well.

Casanova: Luxuria
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Gabriel Bá
Image Comics
144 pgs., $24.99 (US)

Okay, so Casanova Quinn is a world class thief whose twin sister, Zephyr works for an international anti-terrorist agency called E.M.P.I.R.E. run by their father except Zephyr just got killed and Casanova just got kidnapped by an evil villain named Newman Xeno from another universe where Zephyr is the thief and Casanova is the good one, so that our Casanova will infiltrate E.M.P.I.R.E. and generally mess things up for them.

And that’s just part of what happens in the first issue.

Luxuria collects the first seven issues of Casanova by writer Matt Fraction and artist Gabriel Bá and never lets up for a moment. Despite the fact that each issue collected has fewer pages than the average comic, Fraction and Bá throw everything they can into each issue, creating a dense, but still quick-moving read.

The general story of these issues has Casanova trying to fit into this new universe, but has problems because each mission E.M.P.I.R.E. sends him on has a counter-mission dictated by Xeno, and he must walk the fine line between the two. In the second issue, he is sent to recall an undercover E.M.P.I.R.E. agent, but Xeno tells him to kill the agent, putting Casanova in a very difficult position.

Most of the missions shown here involve an attempt to dismantle the infrastructure of Sabine Seychelle, a master at building robots . . . that he also likes to have sex with. As the series progresses, Casanova dismantles more and more of Seychelle’s organisation in increasingly strange missions, including kidnapping the next Buddha, sneaking onto an island that appears once every 20 years and posing as a fashion photographer.

Fraction’s writing is very light and quirky but, at the same time, remains grounded. While every issue is full of hilarious moments, Fraction never treats his characters like jokes. What makes the series work is that all of the beyond belief elements presented are treated with respect and complete seriousness.

As well, his ability to balance multiple plots at the same time is impressive. Most issues have three or four plots going on in some way and, while complex, they never become confusing. Fraction uses a blend of sharp dialogue and intelligent pacing to pull everything together.

Gabriel Bá’s art is also a major asset and a lesser artist would get bogged down by the sheer amount of information conveyed on every page. His style is cartoony at times, realistic at others and shifts between the two effortlessly when needed. The use of the single greyish-green colouring also adds more depth to the art.

One of the most impressive achievements of Luxuria is how Fraction and Bá manage to take the clichéd bad boy character of Casanova and, over the course of the seven issues, transform him into a complex individual who defies expectations. It would have been easy to do a series about sexy women, big explosions and witty dialogue, but the pair goes above and beyond to include some fantastic character development as well. In this alternate universe, Casanova is put in a position where he can look at the people he knew from a new perspective, as well as examine his former life.

One of the best comic series in the past few years, Casanova’s first seven issues is collected in Luxuria, a must read for lovers of action-packed super-spy thrillers that involve discussion of the Beatles, naked men fighting and giant Japanese robots. Casanova’s second arc begins with issue eight available in August. It features new series artist Fabio Moon and the question “when is Casanova Quinn?”

Countdown to Martian Orgy Crisis!

So, DC has given the internet a new teaser image for Countdown and it's full of all sorts of clues as to what's coming up. And I'm going to break the code for part of the picture and, in the process, blow your mind.

What I find interesting is that the Martian Manhunter has a knife. Why does a shapeshifter need a knife? I find the possibilities truly engaging and terrifying. What threat exists where a shapeshifter can only use a knife to combat it? Or, is the knife really part of J'onn? Did he just make a knife come out of his hand? If he did that, why is it stained? Can't he just get rid of any stains himself? Or does he like having what I assume is blood on the knives he makes out of himself? And why is he behind the Joker and Catwoman? Is that the blood of Batman's enemies and these two are next? Has J'onn become a serial killer of bad guys? Is he all insane in the membrane, which is why he uses a knife? Is too cazy to remember he's a shapeshifter? Is that why he doesn't, you know, just fry their brains with shapeshifter-powered telepathy and is using a knife? What about the Penguin, then? He's all the way on the other side of the picture--is he next after Joker and Catwoman? Did these guys hurt Batman? Is J'onn secretly in love with Batman and being all protective of his one true love? Do Martians have the same male/female distinctions we do? Does J'onn care about appearances and just loves Bruce for his mind? Does he pretend to be various billionaire-groupies so he can get some quality time with "Little Bruce"? (By the way, I used to watch this show called Eros, which was a show about sex. Like talking about it and segments and various acitivities/topics. One of the show's regular commentators revealed in one episode that he named his penis Bruce. Ever since then, I've never been able to look at Batman the same way.) Is that why he's called the Martian Manhunter? Has J'onn always been about the cock? Are his stories about a wife and kid a lie because he knew humans were prejudiced against homosexuals? Does the knife symbolise J'onn erect, sexually frustrated penis? Is killing Batman's enemies a form of sexual excitement for him? Does he associate their blood with semen? Will the crisis wind up being angry shapeshifting Martian on a rampage after he's rejected by Gotham playboy? While Marvel argues over politics, DC argues over love? Is there anything more scary than a rejected shapeshifter? Will J'onn alter Batman's brain so his love his returned? Will J'onn alter everyone's brains so they all love him? Will he travel across themultiverse, spreading his Martian love waves and making everyone love him? Will the Monitors need Ray Palmer to shrink down and shoot J'onn's brain up to shit like future-Atom did in Morrison's "Rock of Ages" storyline to Darkseid? And when it's all over, will Lex Luthor be pissed off because, once again, the superheroes have killed someone he's loved, not knowing that J'onn MADE Lex love him along with everyone else, while the other villains are all "Shit, Lex is gay for the green Martian! Loser!"? Is this all just a countdown to a Martian Orgy Crisis?

And that's how I cracked the code of the picture. Your move, DC.