Anyway, one of the reasons for this is that, well, most comics these days just don't light a fire under me. The blog is called 'Comics Should Be Good' after all, and, well, I'm finding that most of what flits under my nose these days is kind of mediocre.

Not bad, per se, just not 'good'.

Which leads us to Jamie Smart and 'Space Raoul'.

Jamie Smart is a plucky British cartoonist most known for 'Bear' a neat little comic which came out in the wake of Jhonen Vasquez' 'Johnny the Homicidal Maniac' when publishers were scrambling for the next thing which they could trademark and then proceed to smear all over clothing, stickers and lunchboxes and flog off to pimply, middle class goth kids at Hot Topic for a vastly inflated price.

Amongst the wave of forgettable detritus, there was something about 'Bear' which made me think it wasn't the usual load of cobbled-together crap trying in vain to replicate the 'kowaii' (cute but scary) work of Japanese artists like Junko Mizuno.

For one thing, it was actually funny, while pretty much everything else could, at best, manage a sort of tired, self referential wink ("Oh, look, it's a cute teddy bear... but it's evil... how potently ironic... oh, I may swoon..."), and on the other hand, it was competently executed.

Which brings us back to 'Space Raoul'.

Space Raoul is a plucky, bold and ever-so-British space hero who travels the galaxy with his trusty pal, Quibble, battling Space Ne'er-do-wells, encountering strange space races and weird space phenomena, and eating cake (possibly some sort of Space cake, but more likely some good, stout-hearted British cake he's packed especially for the journey). He's a short, pinkish-red doggy-looking thing with a bubble helmet, a star on his chest and a pipe.

And he's utterly delightful.

In fact, so euphorically delightful that it took all my efforts to write this review and not just write SPACE RAOUL over and over again in big letters, enthusiastically pounding and flailing my hands, arms, elbows and face into the keyboard.

So yes, the upshot is that, after doing a bunch of 'Space Raoul' pieces for a bunch of people, the kindly folks at Slave Labour Graphics have compiled them into a handy-dandy single-volume thing. At first, it seems rather slight, but one thing with Smart is that he crams the story into every spare corner of his page, and there's quite a bit to read here.

There's some neat subtexts about imperialism, Britishness, the hubris of the middle-class and so forth, but mostly it's jolly all-ages space fun which entertains and amuses without talking down to its audience.

If I had one quibble (besides our hero's trusty co-pilot), it's that, in replicating stuff that originally appeared in British Tabloid-sized comics into a digest-sized tpb, some of the script does tend towards the teeny. But aside from that, it's all jolly and pip-pip and what ho.

Do feel free to 'get amongst it'.

It's the civilised thing to do.

2 Comments

• At November 21, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  OOOOoooooo!

  I loved "Bear"... I'll keep an eye out for this. Thank you so much for the heads-up!

• At November 24, 2008, Pól Rua wrote:

  no worries. I certainly hope you dig it.

I admit, I'm pretty damn jaded with maybe 90% of comics these days. Of the other 10%, maybe 9/10ths is fun, entertaining stuff. It massages my brain in a pleasant way... so yeah, I'd definitely call it 'good', but I don't really see much that I regard as exceptionally so.

So when, two weeks in a row, I manage to grab two exceptionally good pieces of work (albeit, both of which were initially published twenty years ago or more), well, that's PRETTY DAMN GOOD.

Two weeks ago, HarperCollins book publishers released 'Zot! The Complete Black and White Collection' by Scott McCloud. I'd picked up the colour trades of 'Zot' years ago, and found them fun... entertaining stuff. The artwork was a little unpolished, and the storytelling a little simplistic, but it was entertaining enough, I guess.

First of all, this collection is great value. It's beautifully presented, 576 pages long, and retails for $24.95 US.

But beyond that, this is exceptional comics.

Scott McCloud is a proficient theorist. He's definitely not as polished in practical terms, but, like Will Eisner, he not only knows WHAT to do... but WHY you do it the way you do it. Admittedly, his work here is a little self-conscious, and he doesn't do it as seamlessly as Eisner (but hell, like that's any sort of criticism), but its still incredibly thoughtful work, and you can really see the growth of the mind which produced 'Understanding Comics' growing and blossoming.

But enough metafictional analysis, is it any good?

Yes. Yes it is. It's an extremely thoughtful work, and for all that the author admits that he's not the most proficient artist in the world, the gentle, somewhat naive, optimistic, clean art style complements the story perfectly. It would be easy to dismiss this work as overly sentimental, but it has a rare and wonderful sense of fun and optimism, without being simplistic. It's not afraid to deal with serious issues, but doesn't descend into that knee-jerk faux 'seriousness' which seems to be plaguing the mainstream scene these days. Its characters are three dimensional and realistic (in the sense that they're well-realized and recognizable people) without descending into knee-jerk faux 'realism'.

It touches on a number of themes, which may seem like they've been gone over before, but which were pretty dang risky back in the late 80's/early 90's,

It made me tremendously happy. And I really cared about the characters and their story.

And that's a good thing.

Last Week iDw presented the first half of their omnibus collection of Bill Messener-Loebs' 'Journey', from IdW. This series originally appeared in the early-mid 80's, and concerns the adventures of frontiersman 'Wolverine' McAllister. This one retails for $19.95 US and is 474 pages long, which is a dang big hunk o' reading.

As with 'Zot' the hand of Will Eisner can be seen here. Messner-Loebs' style is, like Eisner's serious, and yet cartoony in equal amounts. The characters are exaggerated and cartoonish, but their setting is meticulous and rich with detail. Events are sometimes preposterous, often humourous, but the characters within never treat themselves as farcical.

Messner-Loebs' historical awareness, as the central characters interact with historical figures, discuss social and political issues of the day and interact with one another is meticulous, but it's used to launch narratives, and springboard stories and adventures, rather than confine and restrict the story to persnickety concerns about accuracy and tone. Similarly, his knowledge of the local area, of the weather conditions, local native American tribes, environment, flora and fauna and woodcraft, are fascinating, but again, he uses this knowledge to entertain the reader... and entertain it does. 'Journey' is vastly energetic, often wildly funny, not infrequently terrifying, complex in terms of character and narrative and just a straight-up hoot to read.

Like 'Zot', it has a refreshing sense of verisimilitude. You know and understand the characters and find yourself intrigued by and absorbed in their stories.

It's a difficult series to pigeonhole, and in a way, it's the sort of series that could only have existed at the dawn of the Black and White boom, before people realized that comics, stories and genres had to be straightjacketed by artificial constraints like genre conventions, overarching themes or consistency of tone. Like Eisner's 'The Spirit', 'Journey' establishes its main character and gives a general idea of his milieu, but then feels free to tell whatever kind of stories the author feels like telling given those fairly vague parameters. And Messner-Loebs takes full advantage of this. From broad farce, to quite chilling scenes of horror. From tales of human relationships, to encounters with supernatural oddness. From historical drama and tales of wilderness survival to cartoon shenanigans.

And it's all done seamlessly. McAllister, like Denny Colt, is a malleable enough character, and his reactions to all of this is handled so well that the audience can just go with the flow. Sometimes, something happens today that isn't like what happened yesterday. You deal with it and move on.

So yeah, two damn good comics. Some damn good reading. Damn fine craft and bloody good value.

I believe I said 'Two Out Of Three'.

This week, I received a comic to review. I shan't mention it, because it's not going to be much of a review... more a general statement of policy.

If you're going to send me porno comics, they should be as good as Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's 'Lost Girls', Phil and Kaja Foglio's 'Xxxenophile', Bill Willingham's 'Ironwood' or Colleen Coover's 'Small Favours'. Just about every other pornographic comic book I've ever seen which isn't one of those mentioned above has left me pretty bloody cold.

Occasionally, Richard Moore will produce something well illustrated, but for the most part, that's it.

If it's not as good as the stuff above, I'll give it the same review. Trite, tedious rubbish. A bunch of joyless grudgefucks, sophomoric 'humour' and anonymous cumshots isn't 'good'.

Yes, porno comics CAN be good. But Sturgeon's 90% is almost ridiculously optimistic on this front.

5 Comments

• At August 8, 2008, Jeff Ryan wrote:

  Remember Sturgeon's Law: 90% of EVERYTHING is crap. Comics included.

• At August 8, 2008, Sean wrote:

  There's a company putting out bizarre sci-fi concepts with limited pornographic content based on "classic" porn films... I forget their ...

• At August 8, 2008, R. J. Sterling wrote:

  For accuracy, let's be fair to the writer and the character: I read one issue of 'Journey' 25 years ago ...

• At August 8, 2008, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  I love Journey! In addition to all the fine qualities you mention, it's a book in which the dialect adds ...

• At August 8, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I'm glad to see another ZOT! fan out there. I'm hoping more people discover and re-discover the series with the ...

And one of the perks is that sometimes, lovely people all over the world will send me things in the hopes that I'll say something about them (hopefully nice) here. And so, we come to 'The Hunter'.

'The Hunter' is a prestige-format comic from Dare Comics. It retails at $5.95 US and at first glance, is pretty well presented. The cover art is simple, but striking, reminding me a bit of Ken Steacy's work. Presentation is crisp, clear and uncluttered.

The story begins with a series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks on the US, resulting in the appearance of a number of superhumans. One of the things I like about this series is that characters, when talking to other characters who know what's going on, don't feel the need to give the reader any unnecessary exposition. I like the fact that, at the end of issue 1, there's still a feeling of mystery there about who these people are and what precisely they're doing. Which is nice.

The scripting is fairly tight and well-paced, and the art is simple and effective, with some nice, clear linework and equally clear storytelling. The colouring also deserves major kudos, and ads a real vibrancy to the artwork.
Unfortunately, the story is not without its weaknesses. The figure work can be a bit stilted at times, and characters are frequently staring full into the camera... this may be a bit nitpicky, but I found it a little jarring.

Some elements of the writing were a little 'off' too. It's obvious the writer is going for a Tom Clancy-esque technothriller vibe here, but the verisimilitude is a bit 'off'. The characterisation was pretty thin, and everyone seemed to be acting like archetypal versions of their character. The president is strong, good mister president-man, our hero is mister hero man, the villain is mister villain man. Add that to some of the scenes (the arms deal, for instance) having dialogue so cliched that it could've come straight from a Steven Seagal or Jean-Claude Van Damme film.
According to their website (www.darecomics.com), writer Adam Hamdy is a screenwriter (IMDB has three films listed), so I don't know what background (if any), I don't know anything about artist David Golding, but if this is their first published comics work, it's pretty sharp. Slick, professional, well-presented and pretty tight.

There are some teething problems, but seriously, if this is the first offering, it's pretty darned good. It's not the most original thing I've ever seen, but if you like your comics as straight-up, two-fisted action, you could do a hell of a lot worse. I think how well it'll do overall will be reflected in how well the creators deal with the mystery elements.

If the 'sleeper' thing is resolved well, then I think we're cooking with gas. If not, then it could fizzle. Keep me interested.

Just as an aside, I think it could've worked really well in a manga style. There's something about it that reminds me of Japanese 'not quite superhero' stuff like Guyver or Cyborg 009 that has all the superhero tropes but isn't wholly there.

9 Comments

• At January 5, 2008, Ian Astheimer wrote:

  Here is Golding's website. Seems he's done a a bit of comics work.

• At May 23, 2008, free online insure coverage wrote:

  free online insure coverage...

  microinstruction Mazda Satan?fleeing:deliberating couches?...

• At July 29, 2009, hwan Demingez wrote:

  I have recently read these 'Hunter' books on the net.... aaaand, well, i wasn't impressed!

  The story is dull... terrorists, one ...

• At July 29, 2009, adrian langton wrote:

  I completely agree! the cover art is spot on, very nice and crisp, just the right amount of touching up.

  the ...

• At July 29, 2009, Hiphop jee wrote:

  LOL! Stan Lee and Jack Kirby my ass!!

• At July 31, 2009, johnathan moss wrote:

  hunter is cool dude

• At August 2, 2009, anon wrote:

  I read part of the first of the hunter series last year and I have to say it was a ...

• At August 13, 2009, fanboy06 wrote:

  I read these books recently on the net after visiting the London Con a few weeks back.

  Pros: Anyone who ...

• At September 7, 2009, george of the jungle wrote:

  The art is ok, nothing overly impressive. I've seen way better. The writing on the other hand...shockingly bad. I went ...

For decades now, they've given us a bunch of series based on 'that kooky stuff the young'uns seem to like s'much' with the result that they usually come in at least a year after the trend's been relegated to the 5 for a dollar bargain bin.

I mean, seriously, 'Dazzler'? 'Team America'? 'US-1'? 'Street Poet Ray'?

They're essentially the equivalent of your uncool uncle with the socks and sandals who tries to keep up with the latest trends... or Bob Haney.

But now, they've realized that they can use their powers for good instead of evil. By finding really objectionable trends and using their Uncool Uncle powers to wipe them out.

So hooray Marvel, for having not one, but two superheroes who get their powers from self-mutilation. Let's hear it for Penance of 'The Thunderbolts' and Sister Grimm of 'The Runaways'. Hopefully, this means that the idea that self-mutilation, or cutting, which used to be a sign of serious psychological trauma can no longer be seen as fashionable by bored, middle class white kids who need to express the pain and horror that only having to be home by 11 p.m. or not being bought the car you wanted on your 18th birthday can bring.
C'mon Marvel, keep up the good work. Now, we just need a title featuring a Pro-Anorexic character and someone with Self-Diagnosed Aspergers'.

Do it for the kids, Marvel!

59 Comments

• At November 15, 2007, Jaap! wrote:

  Pro-ana? Mike Turner's got that niche covered! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night!

• At November 15, 2007, Erik wrote:

  Just think, Cloak and Dagger, the 80's teen hero duo can be replaced in the 00's by Binge Drinker Boy ...

• At November 15, 2007, JasonEdwards wrote:

  Is self-diagnosed Aspergers actually big with the kids these days?

  I'm so old that I can't tell if that's a joke ...

• At November 15, 2007, Eric Grant wrote:

  Man, I'm equal parts amused and offended by your post.

  I'm offused.

• At November 15, 2007, comixkid2099 wrote:

  siter grim doesn't actually self mutilate anymore, i think. she stopped a while back, and since then, if she needs ...

• At November 15, 2007, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  I hope we see a new character who describes everything as "ginormous."

• At November 15, 2007, andy wrote:

  yeah nico doesnt cut anymore, she jsut uses other methods, brushing teeth, biting her lip...... being on her period

• At November 15, 2007, tivo wrote:

  i always thought Penance was more an riff on sado maschoism than "cutting". Look at his outfit! its like ...

• At November 15, 2007, avengers63 wrote:

  Yea, TIVO, it's all latex slave action.

  Except for all the spikes he put on the INSIDE of the suit.

  And that ...

• At November 15, 2007, Freeform2 wrote:

  Wow, I didn't know that about Speedball/Penance.

  He's my hero.

• At November 15, 2007, Mongoose wrote:

  Can Marvel introduce a Chav character into Excalibur?

  ...Oh no wait, that wouldn't work. Nobody in Britain actually READS Excalibur...

  It was ...

• At November 15, 2007, Rob N. wrote:

  I wish people would find out what emo really is before they talk about it. I don't even like ...

• At November 15, 2007, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  My students have been mocking emo in their strips for a year and a half. I have to figure that ...

• At November 15, 2007, Scott MacIver wrote:

  "...and someone with Self-Diagnosed Aspergers’."

  That had me rolling. Almost worse than Emo kids.

• At November 15, 2007, jazzbo wrote:

  I remember Comics Buyers Guide doing an article back in the late 80s/early 90s about how once a trend shows ...

• At November 15, 2007, The Mutt wrote:

  By the time a trend hits the comics, it's usually been dead for several years.

  So any day now I expect ...

• At November 15, 2007, T. wrote:

  I've always thought of Marvel as actually being the "cool uncle." I think they've usually are not that bad ...

• At November 15, 2007, Impulse2k1 wrote:

  You forgot about Trauma from Avengers: The Initiative he was actually called "emo-boy" by The Gauntlet

• At November 15, 2007, MarkAndrew wrote:

  I’ve always thought of Marvel as actually being the “cool uncle.” I think they’ve usually are not that bad in ...

• At November 15, 2007, Kevin Riddle wrote:

  If trends showing up in a comic book means that the trend is officially dead, then someone needs to put ...

• At November 15, 2007, Dave wrote:

  "from the eighties forward DC has been by far the more experimental smarter, and well, cooler of the two publishers."

  I ...

• At November 15, 2007, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Ah crap. Stewpid quote tags. I don't think I can edit my own comments.

  Dave - OK. THAT ...

• At November 15, 2007, Lynxara wrote:

  Marvel's more "street", which people who like to hallucinate about their comics being cool will use as an excuse to ...

• At November 15, 2007, sean wrote:

  "I wish people would find out what emo really is before they talk about it. I don’t even like emo ...

• At November 15, 2007, Novaya Havoc wrote:

  Dazzler is WAY cool. Don't compare her to those others. It was a great series!

• At November 15, 2007, T. wrote:

  I think the distinction that has to be made here is that as I read it, T. isn’t referring to ...

• At November 15, 2007, Apodaca wrote:

  As long as there are teenagers, there will be Emo kids. They might change the terminology, but they'll still have ...

• At November 15, 2007, davidwynne wrote:

  hmmm...

  My partner works in a secondary school (High school in american) and she could tell you that emo is still ...

• At November 15, 2007, Dupin wrote:

  well, around here, south of the border, this hideous trend is quite the novelty, but then again, we sorta import ...

• At November 15, 2007, Conor E wrote:

  Hmm. It was actually addressed in a story that Nico wasn't a cutter and was annoyed that her powers made ...

• At November 15, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  But as far as stuff published in the two mainstream universes, I think DC is hideously corny in comparison to ...

• At November 15, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Oh, and hilarious post Pol, it cracked me up.

• At November 15, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Pol, you're in a better position than anyone to keep us updated on whether or not Marvel's emo-killing technique is ...

• At November 15, 2007, Mark wrote:

  Aw, Sean beat me to the punch. Was that for real?

• At November 15, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  Honestly, Dazzler is cool in the same way that Bill Shatner or Adam West are.

  They've realized their inherent lameitude and ...

• At November 15, 2007, Dave wrote:

  Well, as far as Chavs go there was always Gav the Chav in Hellblazer, but he got slashed to death ...

• At November 15, 2007, Dracko wrote:

  I'm fairly certain Quesade killing emo makes him a philanthropist of some sort.

• At November 15, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I don’t even like emo anymore, but I still get tweaked by the way people with no frame of reference ...

• At November 15, 2007, davidwynne wrote:

  FGJ: yes, you are wrong.

  It is the sound of one boy crying.

• At November 15, 2007, Ian wrote:

  Ahh, 'emo', what a wonderful catch-all word that people use to describe anything sad. I miss the phrase 'teen-angst', ...

• At November 15, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Well there's angst, and then there's dressing in black, gluing your hair, crying all the time and saying pretentious shit ...

• At November 15, 2007, davidwynne wrote:

  You know, when I were a lad, we called it "goth".

  And I'd like to change my definition. Emo is the ...

• At November 15, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  I know exactly what 'emo' used to mean, but as it's a meaningless transitory marketing term, I feel free to ...

• At November 15, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  You know, when I were a lad, we called it “goth”.

  Where I'm from, the goths were always bigger than me.

  So ...

• At November 15, 2007, Brad Curran wrote:

  Emo is pretty much used in the same way as gay by all the teenagers I've been around since I ...

• At November 16, 2007, J to the AAP wrote:

  @FunkyGreenJerusalem:

  The T-shirt I saw said "If you're happy being Emo you're doing it wrong!". Heh.

  Anyway, the MU might seem cooler ...

• At November 16, 2007, Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Nov. 16, 2007: Play Stardust for me wrote:

  [...] [Snark] Emo is dead, thanks to Marvel Comics. [...]

• At November 16, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  Thanks very much.

• At November 16, 2007, Sidney Assbasket wrote:

  Is this the same Emu that used to hang out with the dear, departed Rod Hull?

  What?

• At November 16, 2007, davidwynne wrote:

  "I define emo as a goth I can kick the shit out of."

  Now now, there's no reason to commit physical ...

• At November 16, 2007, avengers63 wrote:

  Wouldn't kicking their ass go a long way to prove their defeatist "my life sux" attitude? While it may ...

• At November 16, 2007, Jason Rodriguez wrote:

  Too bad a symptom of Self-Diagnosed Aspergers is the lack of desire to read...even comics. Marvel would have to put ...

• At November 16, 2007, T. wrote:

  Anyway, the MU might seem cooler than the DCU but I wonder how much of that comes from other pop ...

• At November 16, 2007, Gonger wrote:

  Emo used to refer a clutch of Dischord bands (Washington DC) in the early/mid-80s, most notably Rites of Spring (later ...

• At November 16, 2007, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  I remember when bands like Karate were called "emo," and they played boring songs. The same riff over and over ...

• At November 16, 2007, Starleafgirl wrote:

  Darn Robbie for sullying the good name of Penance!

• At November 16, 2007, davidwynne wrote:

  Gonger-

  I feel your pain man! Does that sound too emo?

  I love Fugazi, and Bad Religion, and when the word "emo" ...

• At November 17, 2007, David Lynch wrote:

  Wait, if people with Self Diagnosed Aspergers don't read, why do I only ever see them posting stuff on the ...

• At January 6, 2008, kasm wrote:

  any one who disses emo should think wat they are say cuz emo comes from the word emotional and instead ...

It's not the greatest Luchador comic I've ever read - that honour goes to the magnificent 'Sonambulo' by Rafael Navarro (http://www.sonambulo.com/) - but it was good. Now, it's no secret that I'm a big wrestling fan, and the whole image and style of the luchador (especially the masked luchador) has a healthy appeal for me, so I'm biased.

But there's something else in this one, and I think I've nailed what it is.

The Beatles song, 'For The Benefit of Mister Kite' was written in the style of an old carnival poster. Promising thrills, chills, sensations... a million different sights, all guaranteed to raise a smile, a leer, a grimace of disgust, or terror, or pity... thousands of sights to amaze and dumbfound, all under the one tent!

And I realized, that's one of the things I love in my comics - and not just there.

I love it when a whole bunch of elements get thrown in together. You end up with all of these strange, cool elements all thrown together, and you get to see how they interrelate. Usually, with fantastic fiction, you get one thing (it's just like the real world only there's werewolves, or it's just like the real world only there's aliens, or whatever...).

Sometimes, you'll get two disparate elements like Vampires vs Werewolves, or Cowboys vs Dinosaurs ('Valley of the Gwangi', how I adore thee!), or Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein...

But I really love the stuff where they just toss it all in there and stir it about, a process I, for the sake of argument will call 'making Hoopla Gumbo'. Crafting Hoopla Gumbo is the ability to take a bunch of these weird, disparate elements and see how they mix, without taking away the magic of each individual ingredient.

Now it's not always good. Look at the Marvel and DC Universes. You've got aliens, ancient lost civilizations, dark magical dimensions, robots, dinosaurs, spies, mutants, cavemen, talking monkeys, gods... all sorts of fun stuff. The problem there is that the stuff's been stewing for so long, it's turned into a colourless grey, undifferentiated mass.

Occasionally, someone will come along, like Morrison and his Seven Soldiers, take the stale old ingredients and realize that two-fisted cowboys, space gods, magicians, hidden pilgrim witches, evil faeries, undead soldiers, subway pirates and so forth can make a tasty gumbo
rather than a bland gruel, but yeah. That's the sort of stuff I'm talking about, where all the ingredients come together without them overpowering or deadening each other.

Northern Californian fantasy writer Tim Powers specializes in it. In 'Last Call', he crafts a story about a bunch of professional gamblers in Las Vegas, but he throws in Bugsy Siegal, Arthurian Myth, Chaos Theory, Magical Rituals, a Moon Goddess, and enough odd, quirky characters for three or four novels. In 'The Anubis Gates', he uses time travel, evil clowns, Egyptian sorcery, Victorian Orientalism, secret societies, Penny Dreadfuls and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, among others.
So anyway, I was talking about 'Lucha Libre' #1.

Okay, to start with, I was gonna buy this. Honestly, the adventures of five Luchadores kicking arse and taking names... I'm such a mark for this stuff. But it was the write-up on page 2 and 3 that really got me interested.

First of all, it opens with a map of Eastern Los Angeles. They start talking about the place, building it up, not just as some place you can find on GoogleEarth, or walk around, but as a setting for adventures and folklore, and all the while, without turning it into Middle Earth.

It's still the same place. It's no weird Angeleno theme park. It's still a real place, but there's something else there. There's magic and mystery. They serve Hoopla Gumbo there, but you're only getting a sniff on the wind at the moment.
On the second page, you get your first taste, in just two paragraphs:
"You get it, man? Life in LA ain't like the movies. There's no volcano suddenly erupting in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard: no buses jumping from one freeway to another; and there's no Jackie Chan running on the roofs of Chinatown. No terminators searching for Sarah Connor; no C4 under Danny Glover's toilet seat; and no Michael Douglas shooting at Burger King customers with a riot gun. These are just ridiculous inventions of uninspired screenwriters.

"Forget all that crap and accept the truth..."

And THEN, we get the mysterious dinosaur roaming the backstreets, the bickering alien couple in the UFO next to your car as stuck in gridlock as you, the werewolf gang, the Luchadores Five, the Pom Pom Ninja chicks, the Communist panda... and more...

The wonderful thing about all this is that they spend so much time making the place seem real, that the fantastic elements, instead of just turning into so much noise, really stand out. Everything keeps its flavour, and by placing the magical next to the mundane, they let the reader experience that magic more fully.
This isn't a perfect comic by any means. Some of the stuff falls flat, and it can be a bit of a mixed bag. It starts with the adventures of The Luchadores Five, which takes up over a little over half the issue. There's a lot happening, a bunch of stuff is introduced, and I'm really hanging out to see what happens next. There's a short general article giving a brief overview of Lucha Libre itself (which mysteriously features El Santo, the man in the SILVER mask, in a RED mask. Hrm... but other than that, is quite good, albeit brief), a couple of one-page gag strips featuring Profesor Furia, a morally bankrupt wrestling instructor (which I found somewhat weak, and yet at the same time, adding nicely to the book's anthology feel), some posters, and a back-up feature, 'Los Luchadoritos', about a group of young Mexican kids who idolize wrestlers, and dream of being Luchadors one day. Again, each one is pretty much a one page gag strip, but still, I like anthologies, and its nice to see the mix of artistic and writing styles in the book.

Unfortunately, one of the problems with Hoopla Gumbo is that sometimes, the taste won't live up to the smell. An intriguing premise will lead to a lacklustre pay-off. That's the risk you take. I'm intrigued enough by the smell of this one to sit in for the next course.

Hola.

3 Comments

• At September 7, 2007, sean wrote:

  As John Lennon said on the version on one of the 'Anthology' discs...

  "It's '*Being* For The Benefit of Mr. Kite'!"

• At September 7, 2007, sean wrote:

  But I too love 'The Valley of Gwangi'. I want a big budget remake of that.

• At September 10, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  I stand corrected.

  And yes, The Valley of the Gwangi rocks.

  O so much.

It's like Warren Ellis/Masumone Shirow-style technofetishism married to Paul Pope-style post-Cyberpunk romanticism, and Bryan Lee O'Malley-style absurdism with art by some sort of ungodly mutant artbaby spawn of Dan (Amazing Joy Buzzards) Hipp and Jim Mahfood. There's even flashes of China Mieville in there somewhere. Golly.

'King City' is the story of Joe. Joe is a professional lockpick, and also a Cat Master, which means that he owns, and is trained to operate, a strange cat which operates as a kind of universal magical tool/weapon/domestic pet. Joe makes his living stealing stuff, an as is typical for this kind of story, he ends up attracting the attention of the wrong people.

Also involved are Pete, Joe's best friend, who ends up in a mess of trouble with another group of extremely unpleasant people, Joe's ex-girlfriend Anna, and Anna's new boyfriend, Max, a veteran of the Korean Zombie Wars is having problems of his own. It's a glorious mess of Eastern Bloc Sasquatches, Lethal Snot Rockets, Alien Mermaids, Questionable Eating Habits, Sex, Love, Regret and Unfairly Hung She-Males.

'King City' does several things very, very well indeed. Firstly, it creates an incredibly rich and strange world which seems to have a life beyond the adventures of the main characters. Every character in every scene seems to have a life and a story of their own.
Also, while Graham does, at times, pepper the script with technological buzzwords in what, for the sake of brevity, I'll call Ellis-style, he does so in a way that entices, rather than alienates, the reader.

Secondly, while the technofetishism does come thick and fast, it knows that it's there as setting, and not as a replacement for character. At it's heart, 'King City' remembers that it's about its characters, and their stories, and even though putting the brains of Walt Disney and Theodore Roosevelt into giant cyborg spider bodies and having them fight is pretty damn cool... it's the characters, their stories and the wonderful, magical, magnificent city that have me desperately wanting the second installment of this series RIGHT NOW.

Plus, a crossword, activity pages, and handy lockpicking hints! How cool is that!?

'King City' is written, illustrated and created by Brandon Graham, and published by Tokyopop.

6 Comments

• At April 5, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Okay, this sounds like a slot machine I want to play. If there's any copies left next time I'm in ...

• At April 5, 2007, Ed Cunard wrote:

  You should check out his book ESCALATOR if you haven't already.

• At April 5, 2007, Paul wrote:

  Pol Rua, you have succeeded in piquing my interest.

• At April 5, 2007, Ryan Day wrote:

  Quite a good book. Not much on the plot, but it has a great feel. It's like reading a slow-motion ...

• At April 5, 2007, Ryan Dunlavey wrote:

  Read it twice in a row over the weekend.

  F-ing LOVED it.

• At April 9, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  Ed, This is the first thing I've seen of his, and I'm definitely interested in checking out anything else he's ...

We got talking about the spate of crossovers recently, Civil War and Infinite Crisis, mainly, but I got to thinking about the way the current crop are rolling from one crossover to the next.

With DC, you get Identity Crisis to Countdown to Infinite Crisis to Rann-Thanagar War/Villains United/Day of Vengeance/Omac Project to Infinite Crisis to 52 to WWIII to Countdown... With Marvel, it's Disassembled to House of M to Civil War to World War Hulk to the Initiative to Fallen Son.

I started thinking Marvel and DC and their recent crop of crossovers as one-armed bandits. The 'fun' of playing a slot machine isn't yanking a lever, or even necessarily getting a payout... it's that moment of anticipation of what's going to happen next. What you're paying for isn't the pay-off, but the chance you MIGHT get a pay-off.

With a slot machine, you put in money and you get that feeling of anticipation that maybe something good will happen soon. Most of the time, you're disappointed... so you put more money in.

Same with these comics. It's like "This issue may be shit, but seriously, wait'll you see the ramifications, next issue!!!"

It's a continuous bait-and-switch where you keep reading hoping the next issue's gonna be the one where it stops sucking.

And, like a one-armed bandit, 99 out of a hundred times... you get disappointment... but it might start getting good just around the corner!

It's very clever. They've basically figured out a way to sell nothing, with the promise MAYBE of something better later on.

It's quite astounding, and in a way, quite brilliant.

P.T. Barnam would be proud.

This way to the egress.

15 Comments

• At April 4, 2007, Bill Reed wrote:

  Brilliant.

• At April 4, 2007, veghead wrote:

  The House always wins.

• At April 4, 2007, Anonymouse wrote:

  The only difference I would point out is that slot machines are a thriving and successful industry.

  Other than that, great ...

• At April 4, 2007, Vertical wrote:

  Awesome post. Well put.

• At April 4, 2007, Ryan H wrote:

  From the point of view of someone who reads most TPBs of sereis not really affected byt he big crossovers, ...

• At April 4, 2007, Evan Waters wrote:

  They do seem to work on the same principle (the name of which escapes me)- basically, that people (and maybe ...

• At April 5, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  There's definitely a bit of that in the superhero comics biz, but at least the superhero books that I've held ...

• At April 5, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  Rohan: No idea. I'm just such a media slut, I never ask questions.

  And yeah, there ARE a lot of good ...

• At April 5, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  That's very true. I actually considered picking up a Spidey book the other day when my Spidey 3 invite came ...

• At April 5, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  Exactly, and with so much reprint material available in trade, if you absolutely NEED a Spider-Man fix (for example), there's ...

• At April 5, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Yeah, the Essentials are great. I hear wonderful things about 'Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane', too. The hardcover looks worth getting.

  I ...

• At April 5, 2007, John Seavey wrote:

  I will point out that this isn't a new thing (and here we go again, crossover-boy talking on and on...) ...

• At April 5, 2007, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  I'd also point out that Jim Shooter absolutely WAS subjected to the same microscopic fan scrutiny during his tenure. The ...

• At April 5, 2007, veghead wrote:

  Watching tv last night made me realize that your slot machine analogy works with Lost, too. Why am I ...

• At April 5, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Yeah, veghead, I have a feeling a lot of the stuff we read/watch fits into Pol's analogy. That's why he's ...

Many of you may have already read it, but here it is for public consumption.

The Superhero as Playground Equipment

I like to look at it this way.
There's a park with slides and swings and stuff in it. All the swings and stuff are designed for kids, and the kids enjoy playing there.

One night, Frank Miller and Alan Moore wander along. They play on the seesaw for a bit and muck around on the swings. "Hrm..." they think.

Then they go off. They invent a new kind of high tech mechanical swing-set. It's a bit intense so they doesn't encourage kids to ride it. A bunch of grown ups who used to play in the park when they were kids ride the mechanical swing-set and really dig it.

Suddenly, all sorts of people are building weird new swingsets and seesaws and jungle gyms which were never designed for kids. It's getting difficult for kids to find places to play because these new amusement centres are taking real estate away from the old-style playgrounds.
Suddenly, all the adults who are enjoying riding these weird new rides discover the old playgrounds they used to play in when they were kids. They kick all the kids out and start souping up all the rides so they're no longer safe for the kids to play on.

Across the country, kids everywhere are looking around at these new swings and seesaws and tyre-swings and merry-go-rounds and thinking... "This looks terrible."
Any kid who DOES venture into a playground is surrounded by strange 30 year olds sitting around on their swings and seesaws and talking about rape and vengeance and boobs. Most of them are wearing Spider-Man and Punisher t-shirts and smell weird.

So yeah, what's wrong with 'mature' superhero comics again?

57 Comments

• At March 29, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Well said, monkey man. I like that you recognised Alan Moore and Frank Miller as brilliant producers of mature material, ...

• At March 29, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  Unfortunately, almost all of the folks who followed Moore and Miller saw the surface and mistook it for the substance.

• At March 29, 2007, Michael wrote:

  Or, as Steven Grant put it rather succinctly, "Alan Moore was the one of the worst things to happen to ...

• At March 29, 2007, John Seavey wrote:

  I've been of the same opinion for a while, but I've been calling the phenomenon "The grown-ups are taking away ...

• At March 29, 2007, thekamisama wrote:

  Like comics, the kids don't go to the playgrounds anymore.

  They also don't go to the library or the Dairy Queen. ...

• At March 29, 2007, Mike wrote:

  Thank you for an excellent analogy! While I think it is fine, actually, for there to be "mature" superhero ...

• At March 29, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Having said that, though, Justice League Unlimited is pretty awesome. A friend of mine used that book (and some of ...

• At March 29, 2007, Matt wrote:

  um, the kids wouldn't give two shits about their old swingsets.

  they're too busy enjoying their NEW swingsets, which speak ...

• At March 29, 2007, Kenn MFP wrote:

  This speaks to a thought I've been having this week.

  I recently pulled out an old JLA comic - ...

• At March 29, 2007, Joe Rice wrote:

  Kenn: Better comics.

• At March 29, 2007, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  so what this basically amounts to is another adult comics reader who wants to trap their childhood playthings in amber, ...

• At March 29, 2007, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Or better yet, ask yourself if the all-ages rating on the Dini-Timm DC cartoons hurt their intelligence of approach, or ...

• At March 29, 2007, veghead wrote:

  I'm gonna echo the comment that there were loads of other people working really hard to get the kids off ...

• At March 29, 2007, Kenn MFP wrote:

  Joe: True enough. There's plenty of good stuff out there. And as an adult who loves Moore and ...

• At March 29, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  Try it this way. Look at the history of superhero comics and then substitute “Harry Potter” or “Nancy Drew” or ...

• At March 29, 2007, Anonymous wrote:

  This brings a thought to mind: creators and pundits bash the Comics Code, the self-regulatory set of rules that the ...

• At March 29, 2007, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Because your still not sophisticated enough in your tastes to appreciate Enemy Ace? Or Sugar and Spike?

• At March 29, 2007, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Aimed at Entzauberung. Not Anon.

  Because, really, following Daredevil at 11 speaks of some kinda intelligence, which marganalizing a whole ...

• At March 29, 2007, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Although Anon - The medium has emerged as an adult entertainment industry, rather than a childs.

  Well, with Fun Home ...

• At March 29, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  Well, the point of my post was that the sentiment "we must give the toys back to the children!" would ...

• At March 29, 2007, Omar Karindu wrote:

  As far as I can tell, the best-selling DM comics aren't really adult, all-ages, or even adolescent-targeted. They're comics ...

• At March 29, 2007, Jacob Munford wrote:

  I think that growing up with a certain vein of storytelling is no excuse for refusing to recognize appropriate tonality ...

• At March 29, 2007, MarkAndrew wrote:

  entz - Fair 'nuff, I took that as a blanket dismissal of all of Silver Age DC, which seemed ...

• At March 29, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  I think that growing up with a certain vein of storytelling is no excuse for refusing to recognize appropriate tonality ...

• At March 29, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  It´s just that "appropriate tonality" is not a fixed concept, in this context it´s usually when proponent of said tonality ...

• At March 29, 2007, Michael wrote:

  "But what if the Nancy Drew approach was altered in the mid-80´s, and generations of girls had grown up viewing ...

• At March 29, 2007, Jacob Munford wrote:

  No, appropriate tonality is not a fixed concept in the sense that you can blanket every superhero book with the ...

• At March 29, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  Once you lose sight of the core concept, you’ve got nothing.

  Interesting post. What is the "core" of the genre to ...

• At March 29, 2007, John Seavey wrote:

  The point of the column is not, "Superhero comics should be more like the way they were when I was ...

• At March 29, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  Are you talking to me? Because I

  A.Didn´t bring upp Fraggle Rock (JM did)

  B.Never said comics should grow up with me

  I ...

• At March 29, 2007, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Most good kid's fiction deals with some pretty dark stuff, though. I'm fine with concentration camp X-men.

• At March 29, 2007, David wrote:

  There's a fair point here - in an ideal world the major comics publishers would publish some stories which are ...

• At March 29, 2007, Crystal W. wrote:

  "I think that growing up with a certain vein of storytelling is no excuse for refusing to recognize appropriate tonality ...

• At March 29, 2007, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Truthfully, I just pulled the Nancy Drew example out of a hat because I assumed no writer was idiot enough ...

• At March 30, 2007, Paul Newell wrote:

  "Across the country, kids everywhere are looking around at these new swings and seesaws and tyre-swings and merry-go-rounds and thinking… ...

• At March 30, 2007, Paul Newell wrote:

  OOPS. Forgot to mention that I'm one of the 40 year old kids that likes playing on both sides of ...

• At March 30, 2007, John Seavey wrote:

  Greg Hatcher said:

  "Okay. But get used to the idea that twenty years of insisting that these superhero stories cater to ...

• At March 30, 2007, jacob munford wrote:

  "Interesting post. What is the “core” of the genre to you? "

  First of all, thank you for keeping things civil. ...

• At March 30, 2007, Matt wrote:

  (lots of comments I wanted to respond to, but I'm using Greg's because it's a pretty good summary of the ...

• At March 30, 2007, Matt wrote:

  Furthermore, here are a list of books I bought TODAY, that I would give to a kid and feel fine ...

• At March 30, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  I was going to post something, but I agree with absolutely everything Matt said.

  And, for the third time, I am ...

• At March 30, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  An answer to J Munford, though.

  I really thought your posts was interesting, it got me to think. However, your "rules" ...

• At March 30, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  An admirable person/group of people goes to unrealistically absurd means in order to save others. This can involve direct personal ...

• At March 30, 2007, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Damn it, I really want to reply to a lot of stuff here... but I don't have time. Maybe I'll ...

• At March 30, 2007, jacob munford wrote:

  No problem, I'm not quite happy with my definiton either. I think that we just might have differing views on ...

• At March 30, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  My sticking point is that the superheroic figure can be found in almost any genre from myth to fantasy to ...

• At March 30, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  To Greg, a question

  what do you think of Miller DD? Just curious.

• At March 30, 2007, Matt wrote:

  greg, I think where your questions relate to a) quality and b) gratuitous violence and/or sex, they're absolutely valid, and ...

• At March 30, 2007, John Seavey wrote:

  Y'know, one of the things that occurs to me is that when people (at least, when I) talk about "things ...

• At March 31, 2007, Kenn MFP wrote:

  The new Doctor Who is a great example. My kids are watching it religiously. They know it's been around ...

• At March 31, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Hhn. As much as I thought I agreed with what Pol was saying, Matt makes more sense to me. I ...

• At April 1, 2007, Matt wrote:

  Okay, so I read this week's Green Lantern, and there's some nipple-free naked boobies, so scratch that off the list. ...

• At April 1, 2007, Matt wrote:

  I'm re-reading my comments above, too, real quick, and I wanted to apologize in advance if I came off too ...

• At April 2, 2007, MacQuarrie wrote:

  Paul Newell sez: "What I have seen in that time, however, is the 15-25 year old kids running around saying ...

• At April 2, 2007, MacQuarrie wrote:

  [quote]I think if we really got into unpacking it, we all have more in common (obviously! we’re all nerds who ...

• At April 3, 2007, Matt wrote:

  I'll answer your question re: silver age if you tell me why I'm a sexual deviant because I like to ...

• At April 5, 2007, MacQuarrie wrote:

  The implication of that statement is that the person asking the question about the Silver Age is the same person ...

For ages, I mourned of ever seeing more. The art was crisp, the gags funny, and hell, I have a real weakness for monkeys and I'll be damned if Unit 2 isn't the cutest li'l dickens!

So anyway, the upshot is that Dark Horse has finally released a digest-sized collection of 'The Mighty Skullboy Army' and I am a happy, happy feller.

The essential set-up is that Skullboy (Real Name: Skullboy) is an evil preteen criminal mastermind and head of an (equally evil) corporate empire who, due to his young age, still has to attend elementary school.

This is a considerable inconvenience to him, and so, to aid him in his evil enterprises, he has recruited THE MIGHTY SKULLBOY ARMY, which is intended to consist of Unit 1, a formidable robot armed with an array of lethal and nonlethal weapons technology and Unit 2, a monkey genetically engineered to be a superintelligent killing machine.

Unit 1, while actually armed with a bunch of high tech weaponry, looks like a wind-up toy robot, and is far, far more focussed on his own self-interests.

Unit 2, is also (sporadically) superintelligent, but is still a silly monkey, and would much rather use his great mind to discover new and better ways to piss about. He is almost entirely UNinterested in pretty much all of Skullboy's schemes.

Initially, it's similar to Jhonen Vasquez' 'Invader Zim', with a vainglorious but incompetent would-be conqueror and his equally incompetent, but less committed assistant(s), but it really lacks the mean-spiritedness and satire of Vasquez' work, instead using energy and whimsy. This is just silly fun cartooning, suitable for all-ages with some great timing, smashing gags, and an extremely clean black and white linework which I just love to bits.

Normally, I like to do detailed academic reviews or foulmouthed rants, but seriously, this book is too simple at its heart for the first, and too damn good-spirited for the second. Simply put, this is a fun book. It makes me happy.

Recommended.

5 Comments

• At February 23, 2007, jason wrote:

  A second to your recommendation, this book is hilarious. To paraphrase Chris Sims, it's essentially Dr. Doom in elementary ...

• At February 23, 2007, John Platt wrote:

  I have (I think) all of the original mini-comics. Hilarious stuff. Great fun, and well worth the book treatment.

• At February 24, 2007, adam gallardo wrote:

  I was smart enough to include Jacob's Skull Boy Army in an anthology I edited for Dark Horse a few ...

• At February 26, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  Actually, Adam, that was the first place I saw Skullboy and his gang, and so I have to thank you ...

• At October 8, 2007, CandyShopGirl wrote:

  Hail!

  What do you think about Apple Iogo? >:)

That said, I received a review copy of Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix's* 'Stagger Lee' published by Image Comics, and it would be churlish of me not to...

My initial impression was favourable. It's an extremely well-designed and presented book. It seems like the creators were going for the sort of thing that could look good on a coffee table or in a reference library, and they've succeeded.
And now that I've done judging a book by it's cover...

'Stagger Lee' is one of the classic American folk songs , starting with an actual event (the shooting of Billy Lyons by Shelton 'Stag' Lee) passing into widespread oral tradition, and then, into endless variations, permutations and renditions since by a variety of artists and in a variety of styles.

What this book does is (a) present a story which pulls together the known historical elements into a period legal drama covering the aftermath of the murder, while (b) detailing the different elements of the song and tracing its development from folk ballad to gangsta anthem, with a great many stops in-between.

It succeeds admirably at both of these goals. The characters in the drama are well-scripted, multidimensional and empathetic, if not always sympathetic. The drama itself unfolds gradually, with a measured, almost leisurely pace. The dialogue is crisp, and intelligently-scripted, however, while this results in a naturalistic style which avoids cheap melodrama, it may not hook readers looking for something a little more action-packed.

The art complements the story well, with Hendrix's clean-line style making sure that each character is an easily recognizable individual, and giving a real sense of place, time and atmosphere. However, like the scripting, it remains pleasantly low-key enough that the story remains 'about the story', rather than becoming 'about the art about the story'. However, I would be remiss if I didn't mention his more tonal work, which, used as chapter headings and for the cover, gives the book a classic, timeless, almost mythic feel.

With all that said, what I enjoyed most, though, were the interludes throughout the book detailing the history, elements and variations on the song. It's here that you get to see some real flair, as McCulloch and Hendrix enjoy the freedom of not having to deal with a naturalistic narrative. There's fourth-wall-breaking, a smattering of metafiction, and more than a little fascinating information delivered in an extremely entertaining fashion which makes great and knowing use of the strengths of the comic book medium.

It's also intriguing from the point of view of being 'about stories'. How they change depending on the teller, the audience and the times. How people change stories depending on what they want to take from the story, and how they relate it to their own lives, experiences and objectives. And of course, while this could easily become a dry discourse on folkways and narrative conventions and all that fooferah, the creators' verve, wit and energy ensures that the reader's attention never lag.

In fact, the entire structure of the work is designed to keep the reader consistently intrigued and entertained. The story and its interludes are well 'paced' so that, as the concept appears in the story, the interlude leaps into place, changing but never destroying the rhythm and pacing of the story.

In fact, in many respects, it's almost the perfect project to do as a comic book. The only thing missing is being able to hear the songs the creators reference, however, a substantial bibliography at the end will surely help with that.

As far as negative comments, I have only one. On the back cover is a review from 'Interview Magazine's Griel Marcus. In that excerpt, one of the more striking scenes from the book is 'spoiled', which I found irksome. Like discovering Darth Vader is Luke's father in the trailers.

So avoid the back cover by all means, however, if you find history, music, folklore, stories and how they grow and develop, I'd definitely advise against avoiding this book.

_____________________________________________

* - Damn, is this one of the best names ever or what?! I mean, maybe not Casanova Frankenstein good, but still...

5 Comments

• At February 9, 2007, howyadoin wrote:

  Greil Marcus is still alive? Shit, I haven't seen any new writing from him in a decade or so.

• At February 9, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  "Casanova Frankenstein" sounds like a wannabe Warren Ellis character name

• At February 9, 2007, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Casanova Frankenstein was the bad guy in Mystery Men (played by Geoffrey Rush). I'm sure he's in the comic ...

• At February 9, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  Ah - I've seen the film but I'd forgotten that name. If it's in a comedy then all is ...

• At February 12, 2007, Pól Rua wrote:

  Re: Casanova Frankenstein.

  Apparently, Geoffrey Rush signed to do the film chiefly because he wanted 'Casanova Frankenstein' on his resume.

Why should ANYONE be surprised by Thor killing a Giant?

If he had a business card, it'd be the second thing on it, right after 'making it rain'.

23 Comments

• At September 21, 2006, Elio García wrote:

  Well, Marvel's Thor isn't so much like the Norse Thor that the heroes who know him would be unsurprised at ...

• At September 21, 2006, Rohan Williams wrote:

  'Cause... 'cause this is Stan and Jack's Thor, man. Meh, I don't really care about 'Civil War' anyway, and it's ...

• At September 21, 2006, Pol Rua wrote:

  It just struck me as funny.

  "Oh my God! Thor killed a GIANT!"

  How... unlike him.

  waitasec...

• At September 21, 2006, Rohan Williams wrote:

  It IS pretty funny.

  Actually, after all the talk about the unmasking, I almost regretted not getting into 'Civil War', ...

• At September 21, 2006, markus wrote:

  Good catch, ought to get you a no-prize.

  (Except the guy wasn't a giant. Super-tall, but not a giant in the ...

• At September 21, 2006, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  Thor's business card should read:

  * Have Hammer - Will Travel *

  Smiting a specialty!

  - Rain

  - Time Travel

  - Hair Care Products

  ;-)

  ~P~

  P-TOR

• At September 21, 2006, The Mutt wrote:

  Shouldn't that be Hath Hammer - Shalt Travel?

• At September 21, 2006, Bill Reed wrote:

  Hee.

• At September 21, 2006, SallyP wrote:

  I wonder just how long Tony will maintain control of his little science experiment? Heh heh.

• At September 21, 2006, Edward Liu wrote:

  Yeah, but anybody who read that far into Norse mythology also realized that Thor is supposed to be red-haired with ...

• At September 21, 2006, Pol wrote:

  Thor comics arent supposed to be accurate Norse mythology, so why do you care? No presentation in comics form where ...

• At September 21, 2006, Scott wrote:

  I could buy them cloning Thor - heck, I think it's been done before, there was some character called Nobilis ...

• At September 21, 2006, Brian Cronin wrote:

  The hammer is a fake.

  It is basically just an energy gun shaped as a hammer.

• At September 21, 2006, John Seavey wrote:

  Actually, it occurred to me that the Thorclone would have no powers at all--we've seen time and time again that ...

• At September 21, 2006, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Which is another mark against Reed and Tony - they don't even know that Thor is dead for sure!

• At September 21, 2006, Matt wrote:

  I would assume that Reed would have some form of dimensional scanner which would register the fact that Asgard got ...

• At September 22, 2006, Rich Yan wrote:

  IF you could build a psuedo Mjolnir (sp?) why clone a Thor? Why not just have Iron Man weild it? ...

• At September 23, 2006, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  I'm pretty sure the whole point to cloning Thor would be to "have (a) God on our side".

  It's psychological warfare.

  "Gulp! ...

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Why is that? Some people put it down to him being Asian, and Asians are usually shoved into stereotypical 'silly Chinaman' roles... but I think it may be because he's not an actor... he's a Movie Star.

And Hollywood doesn't do Movie Stars anymore. You know the ones - Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Vincent Price, Errol Flynn... they weren't naturalistic. They didn't 'submerge themselves in their role'... they pretty much played themselves in every picture and made their reputation with charisma and force of personality.

Probably the closest we've got to that these days is Clint Eastwood. He always plays Clint Eastwood, but he's such a primordial force of nature that we just don't care.

Don't get me wrong, I like Dustin Hoffman. But it seems that ever since the adoption of Stanislavski and in particular The Actors' Studio's version of it, it's become the default setting. Suddenly, if you're not submerging and 'becoming the character', you're not acting...

Which brings me to comics.

When Marvel comics introduced 'superheroes with real problems' in the Early 60's, it was groundbreaking. Spider-Man couldn't get a date, The Thing hated his appearance, The X-Men were feared and hated by the very people they were trying to protect... Similarly, in the 80's we had the deconstructionist antics of Moore and Miller where they broke the heroes down into their parts, looked at them and asked, "But what does this MEAN?"

Both of these things were cool and groundbreaking.
But they're OPTIONS. They're WAYS of telling stories. And it seems to me that rather than examining them and using them as options, they've become The Default Setting. People can't see around them because they're in them up to their neck. They don't realize that there are different ways to tell a story besides Deconstruction and 'realism', when there are an almost infinite number of ways.

It's words and pictures. Words. And Pictures.

In infinite combinations. Some which suit the story in question, some which don't...

The secret is to find the BEST way to tell the story you want to tell. Some characters don't work as 'superheroes with real problems', and some stories just break when you try and take them apart. I think it'd be neat if some of these guys took a step back so they could see that the little foxhole they've exiled themselves to isn't the whole wide world - that there's a vast and expansive plain all around them and maybe, just maybe we could get outta this damn rut we seem to be in just now.

19 Comments

• At July 18, 2006, Omar Karindu wrote:

  I dunno, I tend to think we still have elements of the star system in Hollywood -- Tom Hanks, The ...

• At July 18, 2006, Pol Rua wrote:

  Hrm. I can see your point, but it's like Hollywood has decreed that that sort of 'broad' acting is bad. ...

• At July 19, 2006, Peter Hensel wrote:

  Submerging yourself into the act of someone is the essence of acting. To say that learning the intricacies of a ...

• At July 19, 2006, Pol Rua wrote:

  I'm not talking about actors. I'm talking about Movie Stars.

  While Bogart may not have had range, he was tremendously entertaining. ...

• At July 19, 2006, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Well, the general opinion on Tom Cruise has always been "he may not be a great actor, but he's a ...

• At July 19, 2006, Pol Rua wrote:

  I agree with you, that charisma is sometimes more important than ‘method’, but you know, I think most people would ...

• At July 19, 2006, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Sure, one way isn't 'more important' all the time, that's why I said 'sometimes'. What I mean is, in the ...

• At July 19, 2006, moose n squirrel wrote:

  I have to agree with the other dissenters. Blockbusters are pushed by nothing but "movie stars" these days. The Method ...

• At July 19, 2006, Matthew E wrote:

  I submit that George Clooney is a Movie Star.

• At July 19, 2006, Tim wrote:

  Pol-

  It seems to me that you aren't talking about comics so much as you're talking about superheroes. And as ...

• At July 19, 2006, Ryan wrote:

  To everyone who has disagree on the movie stars claim, you're missing the point. There are no doubt people ...

• At July 19, 2006, Omar Karindu wrote:

  I think you're absolutely right, Ryan, but I also think that this evidences a kind of split within Hollywood between ...

• At July 19, 2006, David C wrote:

  "Some characters don’t work as ’superheroes with real problems’, and some stories just break when you try and take them ...

• At July 19, 2006, Apodaca wrote:

  It's been said way better above me, but I also think you're dead wrong about the movie stars, thing, Pol. ...

• At July 19, 2006, Pol Rua wrote:

  I think the main difference between today's 'movie star' and your classic era movie star is that today's crop are ...

• At July 19, 2006, Rohan Williams wrote:

  On Captain America... I never liked the idea of an angsty Captain America, or most of the Avengers in general ...

• At July 19, 2006, Rohan Williams wrote:

  "I think the main difference between today’s ‘movie star’ and your classic era movie star is that today’s crop are ...

• At July 19, 2006, JR wrote:

  The big two's superhero titles are caught in something of a stylistic rut, basically using the Claremont X-Men mold (now ...

• At August 10, 2006, Stephen Frug wrote:

  Cary Grant played *very* different characters in The Philadelphia Story and Bringing Up Baby. The former is, I presume, ...

Couple of weeks ago, 'Detective' #821, the first issue scripted by Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Paul Dini, hit the stands. And he did something I haven't seen in a LONG time. He told a kickass Batman story.

There's a series of crimes, and the cops are puzzled. Batman enters the scene and discovers it's an all-new costumed foe. He investigates, traces the criminal to his lair, where's there's some punch-ups and a bit of detective work and the baddie gets carted off to jail.

In amongst all this, we get a bit of an insight into the new Bruce/Tim dynamic and there's a neat self-realization scene with Bruce at a party, allowing the reader to draw comparisons between the baddie and our hero if he or she so chooses, but it's not overplayed, and the introduction of an all-new costumed baddie into the Batman Rogue's Gallery.

So what makes this so special? Well for one, the fact that all this took place in a single issue. We got a complete story, featuring excitement, advenure, some fights, a bit of character development... Batman, Robin, Alfred, Gordon, a mystery, some detective work and a new character all in 22 pages.

How does Dini do it? Well for one, because he's a great writer. He writes economically, but with impact. But the main thing I see here is that Paul Dini is chiefly interested in telling a kickarse Batman story.

Not trying to redefine the character, or explore new avenues, to deconstruct, reconstruct, examine, re-examine, brief, debrief, fold, spindle or mutilate the character. Just, you know, tell a good story.

Look, we all know that 'The Anatomy Lesson' was brilliant, as was 'Dark Knight Returns' and 'Watchmen', but the simple fact is that we can't and really shouldn't expect that every time.

A good example of that is 'Adam Strange: Man of Two Worlds'. Basically, Alan Moore used Adam Strange in an issue of 'Swamp Thing', so DC decides they'll do a follow-up miniseries. Of course, this is pre-Vertigo, so they decide to do it in 'Alan Moore'-style (whatever THAT means!) .

As a result, rather than two-fisted jetpack shenanigans, we get a turgid and downbeat tale of familial disintegration, global extinction, self-loathing and despair... he even loses the jetpack after only two pages of use!

In trying to create genius, the creators have managed to summon forth a literary turd, when we would have been much happier with a tale of fin-headed jetpack shenanigans and mystery in space.

Now, I'm not saying everything should be done-in-one adventures. I don't think ANYTHING should everything. Sometimes, you HAVE to write a deep cultural exploration of the dark psychological landscape of a clay statue of a princess in a star-spangled miniskirt, a living compost heap or (gods help us) a twelve year old who turns into a magical grownup when he says the name of his wizard friend.

But don't you think it'd be nice sometime if, instead of trying to build the next 'War and Peace' on a foundation of radioactive spiderbites or shield-slinging octogenarians in blue chainmail, we could just settle with 'Tarzan of the Apes', 'Biggles' or 'Captain Blood'. Because while 'great' is ... well, 'great', I guess.

...there's nothing wrong with 'good'.

13 Comments

• At July 13, 2006, Matthew E wrote:

  I'd go you one further. I don't think you have to have a lot of psychological insight or introspection or ...

• At July 13, 2006, moose n squirrel wrote:

  Well, call me crazy, but while I like "good," I'll take "great" over "good" any day of the week.

• At July 13, 2006, fanboy d wrote:

  i heartily agree, in fact i intend to purchase this issue (which i don't collect) solely on your reccomendation - ...

• At July 13, 2006, KB wrote:

  I like great, but the problem is that you're much more likely to come out with "terrible" when aiming for ...

• At July 13, 2006, Evan Waters wrote:

  The thing is, if you're aiming for "good" or "fun", you may just happen across "great" in the process. The ...

• At July 13, 2006, Kevin Street wrote:

  "...fin-headed jetpack shenanigans and mystery in space."

  I try to fit a little of this into every day. Nothing beats a ...

• At July 13, 2006, Pol Rua wrote:

  My problem with the pendulum, is that it swings either too far or too slowly.

  Too often, it seems like we ...

• At July 13, 2006, Kevin Street wrote:

  I totally agree, which is why is so nice to see the current variety that's beginning to emerge in the ...

• At July 13, 2006, Rohan Williams wrote:

  I completely agree with you here, Pol. Variety in comics- in any storytelling medium- is essential, and once in awhile ...

• At July 13, 2006, Pol Rua wrote:

  The other reason I chose the title is that it seems that a lot of comics writers are trying to ...

• At July 14, 2006, Rohan Williams wrote:

  You know, now that I know you're into surf guitar, your shirts make a lot more sense.

• At July 14, 2006, Brian Cronin wrote:

  That's an excellent point, Rohan.

• At July 14, 2006, John Seavey wrote:

  My question is, "Why does everyone think single issue stories 'won't work' in trade form?" Can you somehow not collect ...