Oh, I don't know what I should tell you about this. All I should have to say is that 'it's a new work by Dan Clowes' and you'd be sold. Or maybe 'a new, self contained, full colour issue of Dan Clowes EIGHTBALL' and that would be that. I don't mean that in the same way I'd say 'a new work by Jon Lewis' and then believe that the phrase would send people flocking to buy it, I think I've learnt a little more than that.
- Mark on Eightball #23
n e w b o o k s
Sebastian O (£6-50 DC Vertigo) by Grant Morrison & Steve Yeowell.
'The Abbe, I'm afraid, has gone to meet his Maker. Hard to decide which of the two will receive the greater shock.'
The mot juste for this piece is louche. Accompanying qualifiers may include dashing, decadent, debonair and darling, for Sebastian O is an immaculately groomed, quick-witted rapscallion, who has seen more life in his late twenties than his entire generation. His generation, since you ask, is the late Victorian, where technology is a century ahead of its natural time. If you're familiar with Brideshead Revisited, think of n-n-naughty Antony Blanche with the looks of Sebastian Flyte, or Oscar Wilde in the body of a blonde Adam Ant - in effect, the Dandy Bi-Way Man. Together with the Abbe (a portly old queen), Arnold Truro (lover and poet), George Harkness (female novelist) and scheming Mason Theo Lavender, he formed the Club De Paradis Artificiel which rejected the squalor of nature in favour of the art of the artificial. When the story opens, however, Sebastian is imprisoned in Bedlam, asylum for the insane or the inconvenient, following an unspeakable act of betrayal. Sebastian, however, is not without his own resources, and embarks on a mission to inflict as much pain and as many bons mots as possible upon those responsible for his perilous predicament. Escaping The Crown, its lackeys, and its more perverse allies, however, will require physical finesse on a level with James Bond, wit of Wildean proportions, and several swift changes of perfectly pressed clothing. Good job it's written and drawn by two distinguished gentlemen with the perfect skills for the job, then. Originally published during the nascent months of the Vertigo imprint more than a decade ago, this all-too-brief, mischievous little number, remains one of Grant's funniest works, and one of Steve's most attractive series. There's a three-page time line that teases you with its massive potential, and I couldn't possibly finish a review without mentioning the name 'Weirdsly Daubery', whilst regretting that we never got to meet him.
Fervently recommended for fans of Alan Moore's LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, and the tv series The Avengers. Those with subscriptions to The Chap can consider it homework.
Cerebus vol 16: The Last Day (£12-99, £19-99 s/n, Aardvark Vanaheim) by Dave Sim & Gerhard. Cerebus too is off to meet his Maker. He was told he would die alone, unmourned and unloved, and now that day is here. But noone mentioned being betrayed by his own son. Never one to shy away from the commercially difficult, Dave spends the entire book focussing on a decrepit old Cerebus, locked away in a religious fortress of his own making, his body wrecked and wracked by almost every conceivable ailment. As such it parallels MELMOTH, of course, the half-way point in the 300-issue epic, which dealt with slow and painful death of Oscar Wilde. And never one to shy away from the insanely intricate, Gerhard's backgrounds, from the rich interiors to the stark, unwelcoming battlements outside, are without match anywhere on this planet. It's a sad book, but not without its moments of humour, and hats off to Dave for lingering long enough on such an unattractive topic most people tend to avoid, either in comics or real life. I took the last issue home, popped open a bottle of champagne, and read it at the approximate rate of one page every five minutes. I don't think anyone who - both emotionally and financially - has invested in this, the finest accomplishment the medium has seen to date, will be remotely disappointed by its conclusion. There was a lump in my throat the entire way through. Last month we promised you an overview because we're currently giving away the most accessible volume, HIGH SOCIETY for just £7-50, less than half its retail price. I'm afraid there's no time, now, because this is one of the last reviews written this month, but that doesn't mean you can't take advantage of the offer.
Carnet de Voyage (£9-99, Top Shelf) by Craig Thompson - 'This is not 'the Next Book', but rather a self-indulgent side-project -- a simple travel diary drawn while I was travelling through Europe & Morocco from March 5th to May 14th 2004.' He's not being fair to himself there. This is a fun, witty book with a conversational tone akin to Eddie Campbell's drifting sensibility.
Same Difference & Other Stories (£8-50) by Derek Kirk Kim -
'Kim captures the ups and downs of early adulthood
with sensitivity and gentle wit.... (And also) captures
the small but significant moments that define young
adult personalities.'
- The Comics Journal
'No American cartoonist has more promise in 2003
than Derek Kirk Kim.'
- Scott McCloud
Luckily, you can check out most everything in this book online at http://www.lowbright.com/
The main story (Same Difference) has two friends who should really get together, they've got such a good spark. Simon tells of a almost romance he had with a blind girl at school and how he bottled it at the last moment. Nancy has been misleading a guy through a postal romance after opening a letter meant for a previous tenant. The two Korean-Americans decide to set off to sneak a peek at the deceived Romeo. Derek keeps the beautifully toned artwork simple and direct, taking some cues from manga without straying near the amerimanga that I've seen too much of recently.
Maxx volume 3 (£11-99, Wildstorm/DC) by Sam Kieth with Bill Messner-Loebs - The plot thicks. Maxx gets really, really small. Sometimes he's a bunny.
Bone vol 9: Crown Of Horns (£12-50, Cartoon Books) by Jeff Smith - Well it's all over and it works. For those who haven't strayed in this magical story, here's what's gone on before. The three Bone cousins have been run out of their home town due to Phoney's money making schemes. They find themselves in a valley full of strange creatures and make their way to Barrelhaven where they're taken in and the grand plot begins to play out. The land is threatened by a dark power, on the threatens to turn the world to night and one girl is slowly coming around to remembering who she is. And how she can stop it. There are talking bugs, huge dragons, stupid rat creatures and a great swarm of locusts.
I think I compared this to Lord Of The Rings but maybe I meant the Hobbit. It's warmer than the big, big story. Funny with dark corners that grow in stature as the tale goes on.
Bone: One Volume Edition (£26-99 Cartoon Books) by Jeff Smith. Well, it's big and it's heavy. For those who haven't strayed into this magical story, here's the whole lot in one. 1,300 pages. Slightly smaller dimensions than the regular volumes, but what a whopper. Roughly two of the larger CEREBUS books combined.
City Of Glass (£8-99, Picador) by Paul Auster, Paul Karasik & David Mazzucchelli - Adaptations don't always work, literary adaptations can miss the mark by a mile, some can be so in love with the original text that they try and cram as much of it in as they can, forgetting what makes a good comic. I think that this either came out just as we opened or soon after and it blew me away. The plot keeps within the conventions of the hardboiled, private detective (this time an author), femme fatale, missing figure but then turns into a tale about storytelling. Karasik and Mazzucchelli make every panel count, showing why Mazzucchelli is so sorely missed in comics today. The opening page, keeping the book's strict nine panel layout has more twists and turns and stunning use and understanding of images than the entirety of most graphic novels. On that page you slowly uncover an image, pulling back to reveal more and, in tune with the text, your understanding of it changes from one panel to the next. And then it gets even better. There's no flab here, no padding everything has been fine-tuned and every part of the language of comics is used as the mystery unfolds. Stunning.
Planetary vol 3: Leaving The 20th Century h/c (£16-99) by Warren Ellis & John Cassady.
'They killed an entire world... so that they had somewhere to store their weapons.'
More on The Four, and finally revealed: just how Elijah Snow came to lose access to his memory before the series opened. In fact there's a lot of personal history being explored this time round (Elijah's tutelage, Jakita's relationship to Elijah and Ambrose's family), along with the customary twists on (and homages to) existing comicbook and science fiction history. Referenced this time round are Jules Verne, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (or was that just horror?), Tarzan, Oriental martial arts comics and film, plus Thor, (via The Matrix?), where ordinary objects are linked to an arsenal housed in a different location:
'Give it a sharp jolt of kinetic energy to trigger the relay, and voilà -- multiversal transposition. The cane goes there, the thing comes here.'
'How do you avoid getting your arm burned off every time you need a... whatever it is?'
'By being superhumanly resistant to damage.'
Wait until you see the other side.
Aborigine Dreamtime, Creation Songs and Ayres Rock... lost cities in remote jungles... rockets fired from superguns. It's all classic material, reworked with total authority and given a masterful, majestic new sheen. There's more gorgeous landscape, object and architectural art from Cassady, so rich in detail but flooded with light (c.f. the subterranean crystalline environment and metal armour from the first book - and speaking of that, you'll learn more about Ms. Hark, and the fate of James Wilder). For those yet to experience the wonders of PLANETARY (and I think 'wonders' is exactly the right word), those names will mean nothing yet, but that's what it's like reading the first if not second book as well. This is the key. This is where everything finally starts to fit together.
City Of Silence (£6-50 Image) by Warren Ellis & Gary Erksine, D'Israeli. Precisely four years ago I wrote the following about issue #1 one. 'Apparently completed before Ellis began TRANSMETROPOLITAN, it's set in much the same dystopian future, except that the two 'ladies' and the 'gentleman' are private detectives rather than journalists. Reading this it occurred to me that Ellis simply likes having people shout and hit each other a lot... It felt like THE INVISIBLES in its waywardness, except that Ellis's imagination is sparked more by small bits of absurd extrapolation (here's a future, what bizarre advances/inventions/fashion statements are being made now?) than by communication, subtexts, metatexts and other things I don't know the meaning of. As such it was infinitely more enjoyable for this thicko, and the four text pieces at the back grew increasingly funny. I'd just like to add that if you did enjoy TRANSMET., this is the closest you'll get to more, and that four years ago we reviewed a mere twenty titles a month, so why I couldn't have provided you with some sort of plot I have no idea.
100 Bullets vol 7: Samurai (£8-50 DC Vertigo ) by Azzarello & Risso. Contains my favourite storyline so far, locked in a US penitentiary, which is way too comfortable a description to convey the hot, sweaty, razor-edge tensions of this dark and brutal hellhole. This is Eduardo - and indeed Brian - in masterful mode, and it's as nasty as anything I believe you'll see on Oz. If it isn't, I do not want to see Oz. Expect intimidatingly massive body builds, worryingly unpredictable shower scenes, and a lot of very vicious violence. Because it's part of 100 BULLETS you can also expect hidden agendas, brinksmanship, twists, and the most beat-perfect prison patter you'll probably need an inmate to decipher in places:
'Wassup, Erie?'
'Same 'ole same oh, Loop. Heard on the wire they was lettin' your toad ass out the hole... Figure I'd stop by, see who you was hol'in up.'
'Wha? You miss me?'
'Fuck that. You ain't pussy, dawg. Potential investment, s'what you are. Whole lotta book bein' made... on yo' onion. As in how long Nine Train's gonna wait to peel it. You ain't thinkin' 'bout P.C.in', are you?'
'Wha? Kick it with the chomos, rapists an' retards in Protective Custody? You trippin'?'
'Jus' checkin', ain't frontin''
'Why? You got my back?'
'Dawg, you know if I could --'
'You wood?'
'Goddamn, Loop. You an' that muthafuckin' sideways shit. Never give it a rest.'
'Arrest is what got me locked up wit' yo' nazi ass.'
Strangers In Paradise vol 14: David's Story (£5-99 Abstract Studio) by Terry Moore. So now you know - or you will once you've read it. Takes you right up to the beginning of the very first book. www.StrangersInParadise.com will explain exactly what this beautiful if often tragic series is all about, and even if you're a long-term reader, do give it a visit - there's a very cool animated intro!
Suspended In Language (16-99 GT Labs) by Jim Ottaviani & Leland Purvis. Niels Bohrs was a Nobel Prize-winning boffin born in 1885, and growing up during an era of remarkable scientific discovery. Just take the 1890s: Radium, X-Rays, Electrons, Radioactive Uranic Rays (no, me neither), Alpha Particles, and Beta Rays, none of which should have capital letters I'm sure, but I've written them now, so sod it. Oh yeah, and Freud was busy dishing out enough complexes to trouble a century of future introspectives. This is the story of Bohrs' life, his own voyage of discovery, and the most accessible explanation of how atoms do and don't work that I've ever come across (the solar system model is wrong, by the way, but it was the last time you could describe current thinking without resorting to pure mathematical formulae). I have to own up here and say that it probably isn't holiday reading and I made the mistake of reading it on holiday. My mind had switched off and shut down completely, so a little of the more involved theory had me mentally squinting. Plus I'm no scientist, as Dr. Cann of the chemistry department at Shrewsbury will instantly attest. But as Bohrs is said to have said 'Anyone who thinks they can talk about Quantum Physics without feeling dizzy hasn't understood the first thing about it.' Or, to put it another way, scientific theory is crazy - it has to be to stand a chance of being right!
This is, however, a fascinating read, made so by Ottaviani's instinctive grasp of comics' ability to animate rather than merely illustrate the narrative (as show in the whittling away of Denmark's territory early on) - and its capacity for parenthetical observations (when talking about Bohr's college papers on Relativity, what we actually see is the man contemplating an apple: ''80 calories if I eat it*...1,7000,000,000,000 calories if I split all its atoms!' *Digestion being a chemical rather than nuclear process. Fortunately.') That's two little side-notes in one, and as you've probably realised by now, Jim knows how to entertain, with the ever-studious Bohrs turning even the acquisition of a new pram into a rational debate.
This book is educational - there's no getting around it. You have to want to learn about these theories, or be forced to learn them for exams - at which point this will prove an infinitely more attractive text than any other you're likely to be landed with. Even the endnotes are comics rather than text, and Roger Langridge's contribution comes in the form of a separate mini-comic slipped into the inside back cover under a plastic sleeve (please note: you can extract the minicomic at the top - no knife required). Curious? This is the website: www.gt-labs.com Do we have any science teachers on the mailshot?
Kid Firechief (£8-50, Fantagraphics) by Steven Weissman - 'Even though he's just a young, orphaned boy, it's a well known fact there's no greater fire-fighter than Olaf Edwards, Kid Firechief! Well, did you ever wonder what would happed if the greatest fire-chief of all time fought one of the greatest fires of all time? Read - 'NERO CLAUDIUS CAESAR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS' - and find out!..' Rickety plots and sheer cheesiness are all part of the fun of this book. Weissman is better known for his books of little dead kids, DON'T CALL ME STUPID, WHITE FLOWER DAY and CHAMPS but now he turns to the living with the same sense of silliness.
Salmon Doubts (£9-99, Alternative Comics) by Adam Sacks - The life, from birth to death, of a salmon. It's a rich metaphor, the salmon following its nature by swimming upstream to carry on the species and then die. A friend sent me an image, a 'demotivational poster', of one of these salmon being eaten by a bear just as it was reaching the spawning ground. You can look at their life journey as part of the mysteries of life/God's plan or a metaphor for the struggle we go through in life. Sacks pretty much blows it by having nothing much to say, the book feels more of an exercise than a grand statement. For a better take on things that swim, crawl or fly, see Hosler's CLAN APIS or anything by the much missed Jon Lewis.
Spaghetti Western (£7-99 Oni) by Scott Morse. As mentioned in the DARK HORSE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT elsewhere in this mailshot, Scott really puts his back into projects, giving serious thought to their format, colour and textures. The whole of this contemporary book is delivered in light mushroom colours, but it was Tom who pointed out to be the constant presence of grainy sand-like atmosphere perfect for confusing you as to its time period. An old man with a persistent cough, and a dark-eyed accomplice mosey on in to a small town US bank dressed in ponchos, cowboy hats, and carrying shooters. But one thing's for sure - this won't be a conventional stick-up. Full-page panels in a landscape, small softcover, wearing an outer sleeve we'll find impossible to stock unwrapped, it'll just be ripped to shreds. Lovely idea, Oni, ludicrously impractical.
Wake The Dead (£12-99, IDW) by Steve Niles & Chee - It was only the other day that it clicked and I remembered that Steve Niles was behind the occasionally excellent neo-TABOO horror anthology FLY IN MY EYE. How long ago was that, twelve years? More? At the moment, I've lost track of how many titles he's doing but he's definitely making a name for himself. And everything he writes seems to be optioned for a film. Just like this Frankenstein retelling. Plenty of gore.
The Dark Horse Book Of Witchcraft h/c (£9-99 DH) by William Shakespeare, Tony Millionaire, Mike Mignola, Scott Allie, Clark Ashton Smith, Jim & Ruth Keegan, Mark Ricketss, Scott Morse, Evan Dorkin & Jill Thompson, Morse, Millionaire, Mignola, Paul Lee, Brian Horton, Keagan & Sean Phillips. I liked the biographies: 'William Shakespeare is the celebrated author of Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet and many other plays, poems, and sonnets. This is his first work for Dark Horse.' I also liked Jill's watercolour art for Dorkin's tale of dogs versus cats and their coven (similar in style to her LITTLE ENDLESS STORYBOOK, and once again, very much a children's story). On top of that there's more Hellboy, Scott Allie provides a sad and sinister tail of temptation and sacrifice, and Scott Morse, as ever, really knuckles down to craft something truly different, and upsetting. There's more, of course, but I've another twenty graphic novels on my desk, so I'll leave you to discover the rest yourselves.
Elfquest: The Searcher And The Sword h/c (£16-99 DC) by Wendy & Richard Pini. New story of straight-down-the-line elfin fantasy.
The Land Of Sokmunster h/c (£9-99 Astonish Books) by Mike Kunkel & Randy Heuser. It says something about this book's appeal that we've had to restock three times before managing to hold onto a review copy long enough to read it. Kunkel's previous work, the equally popular HEROBEAR & THE KID, was, like this, an all-ages tale, although the landscape hardcover format here sends it firmly into storybook territory, or - to stop skirting the issue - children's storybook territory, so far snapped up exclusively by - and my guess is for - adults. Like its predecessor, the hook is charm. It's charmingly written and charmingly drawn, with its underlying pencil lines retained for a soft, sketchy feel. Add in the arrowed side-notes, and you have a deliberate attempt to engage the reader in a chummy, ground-floor way, as if you're witnessing a work in progress, or being told the tale as directly as the young protagonist is telling it to his classmates. It's a classic quest with some quirky twists, because Sam's lost the nickel, which he was supposed to prove to his parents he could keep safe, to a Sokmunster called Spike. He was doing the laundry. Now, the Sokmunsters - who come in all shapes and sizes - are those thought lost in the wash by humans, and they have a land of their own which is where they've landed up when you think you've lost one. Same goes for those missing keys, loose change, wallets or even comicbooks, because the Sokmunsters, under King Jacque, have made it their mission to pop out of the washing machine and steal them from us. (Although it must be said that some of those comicbooks may have been left in the bar where you were reading them, or even on the counter of the shop from which you bought them. If anyone on this list recently bought a copy of McSweeneys and a bag of other stuff, please let us know. We have the bag of other stuff, and if you can successfully identify the contents, you can have them!) So Sam ends up in the land of Sokmunster, and in order to win back his nickel, he must help rescue its princess from the rival Moth King. Time to get inventive.
Sock Monkey: Uncle Gabby h/c (£9-99 Dark Horse) by Tony Millionaire. Feels like the SOCK MONKEY swansong, in the last Winnie The Pooh tale fashion. Was this ever for children, or did I read it all wrong? Because once more, it's sorrow for all. Externally? So inviting. Internally? Still very pretty. Going to read the words? Remove all razor blades from your domicile. Uncle Gabby the Sock Monkey has studied 'un-naming' in order to free objects of their constrictions. He embarks on a journey with fellow stuffed animal Mr. Crow and the hideous doll called Inches, to visit Ann-Louise who made him. But the house they find is completely deserted, with a stone monument in the back garden, and all of Uncle Gabby's memories unravel as the fantasies they were, then someone smashes the house in anyway.
It's almost funny, it's so unremittingly harsh.
Batman: The Order Of Beasts (£3-99, DC Elseworlds) by Eddie Campbell with Daren White & Michael Evans - I've lost my notes again but I do have the crumpled A4 piece of paper that an ex-customer bought in. The heading is 'The Complete Smith Chart, Black Magic Design' (you can see a pdf here if you really want to know) and it's something to do with complex mathematics and microwaves. He started off by saying that he wasn't mad but he gets messages and, basically, we're all headed into the vortex (something like the Death Star apparently, but also like the first Nemesis story in 2000ad) but we can turn it around. The red pen marks show where we're going and where we can go (a little heart there) and the words 'a love' and 'spell' in each top corner. He told me to warn everybody I know (I guess that includes you), shook my hand and left.
Meanwhile it's coming up to the WWII and Bruce Wayne and Alfred are visiting London when members of a secret society (see, it all links up) start getting bumped off. They're the Order Of The Beast and they start their meetings by saying 'Each man must become a beast to truly know himself' (put that into Yahoo and you get a page titled 'why Bill Gates is richer than you' and I'm going to leave it without comment) which I thought was slightly Aleister Crowley. This is a good little whodunit with Campbell putting in English signifiers like tea and bad teeth but it's a crying shame that the co-creator of FROM HELL and the creator of HOW TO BE AN ARTIST and AFTER THE SNOOTER is doing a cover version. I guess that after the death of EGOMANIA this is getting back on the horse again and proving that he's a great storyteller.
Batman: Hush vol 1 s/c (£8-50 DC) by Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee. Back in May I reviewed the Jim Lee artbook and declared that I would no longer hear a bad word said about the man, whilst entreating his ardent fans to check out the painting 'Batman over San Prospero, Italy' at the very least. Funnily enough it's ended up on the front of this softcover, recoloured to a light olive green. The architecture is patently Mediterranean, but what the hell, eh? Almost every friend and foe of Bruce Wayne becomes embroiled in a 12-issue mystery which goes right back to the boy's formative years, and the further the flashbacks go, the more monochromatic the washes used in their telling. These are my favourite bits of art, where Jim loosens up, but there's no denying his figure work throughout. There's romance, fist-fights and much past history to be exhumed, but for that you will have to wait for the second book. In the meantime each DC copy contains a free CD Rom of other works you can buy direct from our shelves, or, in the case of some of the hardcover Archives, order and receive within the week. (That was a public service announcement on behalf of the Lucre Loving Party.)
Ultimate Spiderman vol 10: Hollywood (£8-50 Marvel) by Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley. Same quote as the preview, simply because I like it so much, but just so you know, if you've heard of the variant version of the first episode in this book, don't waste your energy or hard-earned cash chasing it up - it's surprising how little of the dialogue had to be rewritten, and none of it involves Bendis' trademark wit. So: Peter learns that they're making a Spider-Man movie without his agreement. Dr. Octopus learns the same thing. They converge on the set, instantly saving Sam Raimi millions of dollars in special effects. Guest-starring Avi Arad and Tobey Maguire. Oh, and Aunt May goes on a break.
Aunt May: 'Now, I don't want an hanky-panky...'
Peter: 'Hanky-panky?'
May: 'You know what I mean, Peter.'
Peter: 'If I was living in the nineteen thirtees I might know what you mean.'
May: 'Nice lip. I'll be gone visiting my mom in Florida for a week, and while I'm gone...'
Peter: 'No hanky-panky.'
Gwen: 'Are we allowed to have hanky without the panky?'
Peter: 'Or just panky?'
Gwen: '(I think the panky gets us into the trouble area.)'
Peter: 'Well if I can't have the panky what's the point of the hanky?'
Gwen: 'What about shenanigans?'
Peter: 'Good point, Gwen. Are we allowed to be up to shenanigans?'
May: 'Oh, good news for me. Now I get smarty in stereo.'
http://www.gt-labs.com/
X-Men: Old Soldiers (£12-99 Marvel) by Christopher Claremont & Alan Davis. Beautifully recoloured cover masking a lamentably untouched interior, for Alan was not then the man of lush lines and gorgeous curves we know and adore today. The inking was thin, the printing was awful and the colouring insipid. 'But what about the story?' Precisely.
Daredevil vol 9: King Of Hell's Kitchen (£8-99 Marvel) by Bendis & Maleev. The best rain ever in comics. All genres of comics. The best. I've seen some seriously beautiful rain, from Frank Miller in the first SIN CITY graphic novel to Will Eisner in almost everything he does (say, when is that book of conversations between them coming out?). I'm also figuring in Bryan almighty Hitch in ULTIMATES vol 1 and Gerhard and Dave Sim in CEREBUS: JAKA'S STORY. This, however, boasts the finest rain of all, in a torrential, nocturnal downpour that almost streams off the pages as a blind lawyer with a walking stick takes on several hundred Yakuza single-handedly, having had a complete mental breakdown and declared himself the new Kingpin of crime. It'd be a grim read almost to the finish, and it's certainly very moving in places, but being by Bendis, it's also very funny. I've changed my mind, however, and am going to pull up on the dialogue. It's time Alex Maleev stole the credit for a haggard and brittle Ben Urich peering wearily - and vulnerably - over his glasses, some outstandingly textured shadows, and an incredible capacity for the illusion of movement in a thunderstorm that you will need to towel yourself down from. Exemplary colours from Matt Hollingsworth.
Avengers: Living Legends (£12-99 Marvel) by Kurt Busiek & George Pérez. Enough time was spent analysing this title in the preview to #500, but I did leave out the colour: THE AVENGERS has always been a colourful book, with lots of snazzy costumes, and in the hands of Byrne or Pérez or Davis or Adams (Neal) or Buscema (John) it's as shiny as marbles, which is one of the reasons I think it has a lot of young boy appeal. In Busiek's hands (until it staggered to an ungainly end) this was prime AVENGERS, with lots of subplots picked up and perked up from forty years of history (particularly during the Ultron storyline), in that it was superheroes as shiny marbles. However, on odd occasions there was a little bit more, something approaching the Millar in terms of social relevance, as witnessed here when they're facing a religious organisation (The Triune) which they're convinced is insidious, even though they have no real evidence. At the same time they're being accused by a substantial group of protesters of being elitist, and, in particular, racially exclusive, so you have the old quota/tokenism argument. Everything comes to a head when a young black man using the name Triathlon applies to join them, and Iron Man refuses point blank because he's a member of The Triune - refusing him effectively on religious grounds. There were some seriously well-scripted pages of argument there, with plenty of punch. There's also a decent discussion about parentage between The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (biologically they're Magneto's children, reared by a gypsy called Django Maximoff), and for what it's worth I empathise considerably. Basically, though, it's colourful costumes, shiny marbles and lots of crisp and pretty art. Nowt wrong with that, but I've a feeling #500 will be what I've been waiting for since I personally lost interest around page one, panel one of #201.
Wonderwoman: Down to Earth (£9-99 DC) by Greg Rucka & Drew Johnson. Bold stab at making one of DC's more remote characters more 'human' and at the same time more politically interesting, with ambassadorial duties, book signings and media battles. Plus the gods squabble. It's a little slow and there's no ending in sight as the book closes, but it's certainly different.
Arrowsmith: So Smart In Their Fine Uniforms (£9-99 DC Wildstorm) by Kurt Busiek & Carlos Pacheco. World War I fought by soldiers with bullets, barbed wire... and dragons, vampires, wizards and werewolves. A short mention is no criticism, because I'm all read-out this month, and Kurt's name should sell it anyway. Indeed my housemonkey thoroughly enjoyed it, and mentioned something like 'a substitute for RUSE'.
Less Than Heroes (£9-99 Top Shelf) by David Yurkovich. Chris Staros, Mr. Top Shelf himself, is a God, let me tell you. Warren Ellis says, 'If there have to be superhero comics, then I want them to be David Yurkovich's.' And the magnificent Marcia Allass from Ninthart calls David 'one of those setting the pace in today's industry'. They are all, for once in their lives, completely off their trolleys, I'm afraid - although in Marcia's case, thank heavens! This is excruciatingly tedious from start to finish, and quite painful to look at throughout. If you're remotely tempted, may I suggest holding off for the reprints of Grant Morrison's DOOM PATROL.
Firebreather vol 1 (£8-99 Image) by Phil Hester & Andy Kuhn. 'Let's see... awkward introduction, whispered insults, confrontation with principal, fight with bully, expelled by noon. Yeah... right on schedule.' Poor Duncan. School's not easy for any teenager than doesn't excel in sports. But when you have leathery orange skin and your Dad's a big red dragon with his own reservation set aside for him by The United Nations, you can't help drawing attention to yourself. His Mom wants him to grow up as normally as possible, but his Dad's keener on Duncan keeping in touch with his paternal heritage, and in his case that doesn't mean learning how to carve a Sunday roast, open a bottle of wine or whatever else Dad's tend to teach you - it means learning to fight big monsters and hang off cliff tops overnight. Still, as least his parents honour their custodial agreements amicably enough. Give or take an abduction. So what we have here is a pleasant enough coming-of-age tale with wings, visually reminiscent of Walt Simonson in places.
Invincible Ed h/c (£8-99 Dark Horse) by Ryan Woodward. Sticking with the college theme, Ed's also the victim of bullying by the resident jock, until he receives the power of invulnerability from an alien. Actually, there's nothing 'until' about it, because his bully receives the other half of the power, and Ed's girlfriend gets caught in the middle. The most interesting thing about this - apart from the price for a full colour hardcover - is the substantial shifts in art style throughout. It starts off all very Mike Kunkel (HEROBEAR & THE KID - and SOKMUNSTER elsewhere in this mailshot), only without the soft pencil lines retained under the inks. Then the soft pencil sketch lines replace inks almost entirely, then there's a two-page grey, white and red sequence as a direct tribute to Kunkel, then suddenly - Wham! - we're in realistic 'Renaissance' mode (and very fine it is too), before falling back on an all-out combo of this, that, and the other. I think (think) the realistic style may have been employed to accentuate the sequence where Ed's girlfriend is critically ill. I don't know. It's almost as if this book's a portfolio or demo: 'See, I can do anything. Very versatile, me. Gi's a job.' And evidently he can, is, and should be, although I'd probably employ a writer as well.
Flash Gordon h/c vol 1 (£9-99 Checker Book) by Alex Raymond. Hmmm, yes... (strokes beard/goatee).... 1930s, America, the Silver Screen, time of great scientific adventure, what? Saturday matinee, kids well behaved, not like today, hmmm, eh? And Alex Raymond - wasn't he, though? Flash, ah-hah, saviour of the universe! Marvellous.
Twisted Toyfare Theatre vol 4 (£6-50 Wizard) by lunatics. Here at Page 45, home to serious, black and white graphic novels, and sworn enemies of everything colourful, corporate and in capes, we frown on this sort of schoolboy puerility, which uses naff Marvel superhero toys to tell childish stories of unseemly shagging, bodily functions and practical jokes which rely on you having an encyclopaedic knowledge of the characters and their quirks. Which is obviously why I own copies of each and every one of them. But what pisses me off more than anything is that this volume has me cackling so hard I keep prssng th wraung kyss. Also, I can't decide which sequences most deserve quoting. How about an abridged version of the 24 season two parody? It won't help you much, but The Falcon is black, Redwing is a bird, and the final 'SQUISH!' means he won't be flying anywhere soon:
THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN PAGES 40 AND 45. EVENTS HAPPEN IN REAL TIME.
'President Falcon! S.H.I.E.L.D.* has received intelligence that a nuclear device has been planted here in Megoville!'
'Good Gravy! Could this be the work of A.I.M.**?'
*Supreme Headquarters Double Secret Something Something
**This stands for something, too.
'Dammit, Fury -- even with the colostomy bag you're still the best agent we've got! Why can't you handle this?'
'It's... it's the syphilis, sir. Turns out that guy I thought was a chick gave it to me bad. I only have hours to live.'
'That leaves only one man who can save us. Lemme just dial down the center and...'
'Y'ello?'
['My name is Special Agent Captain America. A nuclear bomb has been planted somewhere in Megoville. Today will be the longest six pages of my life.']
'All right, Electro... talk! Everyone who's read the 'Falcon' mini-series knows your his arch-nemesis! Where'd you plant the bomb!?'
'...The Falcon had his own series? Bullsh@#.'
'Enough talk, Electro! Now talk. These are closed-circuit monitors... Either you tell me where the bomb is or you can watch your family die one-by-one!'
'Can you move the chair? I'm getting a glare from the window.'
'We'll start with your wife!'
BLAM!
'Two things: first off, that wasn't my wife. That was my ex-wife. Second, that was awesome!'
'Who the...?' It's your sidekick, Redwing!'
'And he's got the nuclear detonator!'
'TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!*'
*'Cap, you don't understand! The Falcon is really an evil Skrull, and so is half of the town! They've been infiltrating Megoville, and using it to stage a global invasion! The bomb is the only hope of stopping them!'
'...What'd he say?'
'He said yo' momma's a ho, and she like it nasty!'
'My mother was a saint!'
SQUISH!
Attack Of The Political Cartoonists (£10-50 Dork Storm Press) by various. Oh, not what I was expecting. 150 pages devoted to 150 political cartoonists, each page containing four or five single panel cartoons or syndicated strips (mostly single panel cartoons), plus a biography and occasional e-mail address. So it's more of an illustrated guide or encyclopaedia than anything else, so quite light and fun to dip into. Some seriously clever stuff too. Not easy to convey without the images (obviously!), but, from Lalo Alcaraz, Deb Milbrath, Brian Fairrington and Jon Richards respectively... 'Liberty has been secured!' declares Bush, followed by a ear-muffed, blindfolded and gagged Statue of Liberty. Newsreader: 'Today millions of Americans return from the Labor Day holiday, relaxed and ready to resume their job search.' 'I'm against giving illegal aliens in this country any benefits...' says banker bloke reading paper in a cafe, while behind him, washing up... 'José, what does this 'benefit' mean?' 'It's what we do for their economy for five bucks a day....' Or - beautiful image, this - Bush preparing to attack a wasps' nest with a baseball bat: 'One good whack oughta do the trick...' Grande Fanta h/c (£32-99 IDW) by Ashley Wood. All three Ashley Wood artbooks in one smaller-sized edition. The first two in their original format are out of print, by the way. Ashley's the artist on LORE, AUTOMATIC KAFKA and the forthcoming METAL GEAR SOLID. For the final time: think Jon J. Muth, Kent Williams or Phil Hale, with a Sienkiewicz twang. [Customer Service Department recalls: Bill's name is pronounced Sin-keh-vich. People ask this on a monthly basis.]
n e w m a n g a
Tramps Like Us volume 1 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Yayoi Ogawa ~ Sumire is the hard-nosed bitch who puts her career before her love life. The latter of which has fallen behind since her fiancé left, due to an apparent inferiority complex ('You're too tall') on his part. It's not just because her expectations are too high, it's because they're the 'three highs' (higher education, higher pay, higher height!). Ultimately she still comes home to an empty bed each night. On one such night she finds a huge cardboard box outside her condo. With a young man inside, who she takes home and makes her pet. Sumire names him Momo, after the dog she adored as a child. Together they make an odd couple, with Sumire feeding and bathing him just like a dog and Momo playing along with it. Well face it, it's a sweet deal. And perhaps most bizarrely it remains largely innocent, refraining from turning into a brainless porno, focusing instead on there ever-growing co-dependence. Anyone who has ever had a dog or maybe a clingy love needs this. Suddenly all those strange things your pet did when you were out make a bit more sense. This was adapted into a live action T.V. show in Japan. Which I would kill to get my hands on as this is sweet, sentimental and absolutely bonkers in abnormal proportions.
Abenobashi: Magical Shopping Arcade vol.1 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by GAINAX, Satoru Akahori, Ryusei Deguchi ~ Hilarious parody of all things Manga and Anime where two school kids find themselves transported to different versions of their local shopping arcade. I can't decide which is funnier, the spoof-fantasy world where they defeat a dragon by summoning a giant warrior to pummel said dragon with massive mammaries. Or the etiquette of driving an EVANGELION type transforming robot warrior in a tandem cockpit (you change positions when it transforms - Come on! Do I have to spell it out?). Sick, silly, and very, very funny. If you have no idea what this all means you're too old. But if you do... well you need to get out more. Preferably via the shop.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon vol 7 (£8-99 HK Comics) by Andy Seto & Wang Du Lu. If ever I grow up, I will stop laughing at people's funny names. (Go on, say 'Wang Du Lu' without smiling!) More pictures of martial arts warriors dancing like cranes and twirling long blades whilst declaring that they're twirling long blades using the Dancing Crane move. This month's sound effect: ''
Hino Horror volumes 3&4: Oninbo and the Bugs From Hell (£6-50 each, Cocoro Books) by Hideshi Hino - Imagine madness and night terrors as illnesses brought on by spectral insects that grow inside the troubled body. Then imagine creepy little demons that look like children (just a little scary) that feast on these bugs. Oninbo is one of these demons and he's not here to help, it's just a side effect of his hunger for the delectable pests. After THE RED SNAKE and THE BUG BOY this is more of a light-heated romp, well comparatively anyway. The art is still grotesque but the kids are cute/ugly in a way that must have influenced Junko Mizuno. Again there's no real moral centre. The boy whose bug makes him fear the water doesn't have to avoid his beloved swimming lessons because he's been bad. Oninbo doesn't do the paranormal insect control act because he wants to help out the sufferers. It's just something that happens.
Beans (£3-50 each, Deleter) by various - Seven of the second batch of ten books have just arrived. Tiny, hardback books by a variety of Japanese artists in a variety of styles. English translation in the back.
Also Arrived:
A lorry full of Tokyopop plus...
Catwoman: Nine Lives Of A Feline Fatale (£9-99 DC) by many. Across the years.
Akiko vol 7 (£9-99 Sirius) by Mark Crilley. For younger dears.
Possessed (£9-99 DC Wildstorm) by Johns, Grimminger & Sharp. They exorcise fears.
Flash: Blitz (£12-99 DC) by Geoff Johns & Kolins, Winslade. A man with twelve gears.
Fantastic Four vol 4: Hereafter (£7-99 Marvel) by Waid & Wieringo. Public trust's in arrears.
Green Lantern/Green Arrow vol 2 (£8-50 by Dennis O'Neil & Neal Adams. Smack attack tears.
Avengers vol 4: Lionheart of Avalon (£7-99 Marvel) by Chuck Austen & Olivier Coipel, Sean Chen. So bad it sears.
Spider-Man: Son Of the Goblin (£10-50 Marvel). Not for me, cheers.
n e w c o m i c s
Fluffy Part Two (£6, Cabanon Press) by Simone Lia - Well, that's my heart broken. Iron fist in the velvet glove. Fluffy and daddy are off to Sicily to see Nanna. A series of train journeys takes them through Paris and Rome. They meet people. Fluffy (as little rabbits are wont to do) goes wandering when he shouldn't and it's all very funny. And it's also very sad. Fluffy doesn't understand that he's a rabbit and gets very upset when daddy says he is. For some reason (and you're going to have to go with me here) I'm reminded of Henry and the baby in 'Eraserhead'. There's something very disturbing under the surface. Michael is burdened with this ersatz child who isn't really his child. He has all the responsibilities of a parent of a five year old but it's a talking rabbit. Everybody can see that it's a rabbit apart from Fluffy. Lia keeps it all light and bubbly, the part with Fluffy explaining how scared daddy is of flying is touching and funny, but there's something rather worrying about the whole set up.
Angry Youth Comics #7 (£2-60, Fantagraphics) by Johnny Ryan - 'The Latest Fashion Sensation' is one of the best offensive strips I'll read this year (hopefully) and the highlight is definitely the 3-panel 'Blankets by Craig Thompson (abridged)'. Class.
Sturgeon White Moss #s 3 & 4 (£5 each, White Moss Press) by various - Beautiful things. I'm going to have to start with the fourth issue at it's got a Marc Bell cover adapted from the print put out by Buenaventura Press. Sigh. And you get a six page strip by Bell inside along with new work by Martin Cendreda, Ron Regé jr, Simone Lia, Pat McEown, Alekander Zograf, Sophie Crumb and others. Lia's strip is the meeting of a block loo-freshener and an ice sculpture. The third issue has a uncharacteristic cover by Jason and a three short funnies by him, a back cover by Daniel Johnston, random drawings by Charles Burns, silliness by Tom Gauld, some mind melting pages by Mat Brinkman and more by Eric Reynolds, Cendreda and others.
Conversation #1 (£3-50, Top Shelf) by James Kochalka & Craig Thompson - A back & forth jam comic slightly larger than a cd booklet with one panel per page. Lots of waffle about creation, god, art and comics. Some of the interaction is nice but there's no real spark, no feeling that they're pushing each other higher and higher or trying to dazzle with each successive panel.
Gongwanadon (£3-50, Alternative Comics) by Tom Herpich - Herpich's CUSP was one of the best books of last year, a glorious ragbag of demos and experiments in storytelling, jumping from style to style with the grace of... oh, I don't know... the frog from the Beatrix Potter ballet. That's a pretty graceful thing for a guy with a big frog head. This is a similarly eclectic bunch of strips and although it may be a little ruder (at this point I say 'beaver' only to trip off the profanity detectors) it shows that he's still searching for new things to say and new ways to say them. Like Gilbert Hernandez' FEAR OF COMICS collection he'll staple a story to an initially unrelated art style and, by god!, it works. Some of it is very sweet (shirt on the deer's antlers) some mystifying (Gongwanadon itself) but it's all quite exhilarating.
Eightball #23 (£4-50, Fantagraphics) by Daniel Clowes - Oh, I don't know what I should tell you about this. All I should have to say is that 'it's a new work by Dan Clowes' and you'd be sold. Or maybe 'a new, self contained, full colour issue of Dan Clowes EIGHTBALL' and that would be that. I don't mean that in the same way I'd say 'a new work by Jon Lewis' and then believe that the phrase would send people flocking to buy it, I think I've learnt a little more than that. The fact that this is from the same guy who did GHOST WORLD, DAVID BORING, GREEN EYELINER and (duh) EIGHTBALL #22 will excite a good crowd but maybe that's not enough. Perhaps I'll lie about what's inside. Or maybe I won't.
It's the story of Andy and how school life wasn't everything is could have been, how his friends (possible exaggeration there) were misfits too and how, given the opportunity to do everything (everything!) you can still mess everything up. Chances are all it starts around 1976 and his girlfriend's living back in California (she hasn't written for ages but that hasn't sunk in) and his grandfather is the only family he has. We're on familiar Clowes territory, staying away from the major towns. At school he's regarded as punchable if he's noticed at all.
Now, take Andy and imagine that's he's Peter Parker or someone along that line. Try and take a detour. Let's make his father a scientist who created a special gun that wiped things out and a serum to make whoever took it super-strong. Or make it triggered by something analogous to the Marvel radiation-doesn't-make-us-sick-but-gives-us-powers and have him work out a costume to wear while avenging or becoming a creature of the night. Yeah, let's give him superpowers, a deadly gun and a costume and let him work out if great responsibility comes with great power. Of course, if I was Clowes I'd have it all go wrong and Andy would be left as stranded as everyone else, possibly a little more. Or that could have been what I got from the cover. Highly, highly recommended.
True Travel Tales (£2-20, All Thumbs Press) by various and Justin Hall - Hall gets friends (and his grandmother) to tell their tales of the road and he draws them up. The art and the telling remind me of early Jessica Abel. My favourite (apart from the cruisin' in Egypt) is Erica getting estranged from the bus trip to San Francisco.
Misery A Go-Go #1 (£2, AAA Milwaukee Publishing) by Mark Crnolatas, Douglas Paszkieicz & Randy Crider - These folks have contributed to ARSENIC LULLABIES and LAUGHTER OF THE DAMNED. Southpark style crude, lewd humour that's sometimes a little close to the knuckle. It'll have you wondering if you really should be laughing.
Stray Bullets #34 (£2-60, El Capitan) by David Lapham - For $5,000 you can buy www.straybullets.com but for £2-60 you get a perfect slice of fiction. I'm sure that, later, we'll find out how this fits into the grand scheme of things but for the moment it's twenty pages, completely self-contained. It's 1984, Mike and Brian are best buds, drinking, playing in the football team, passing around the girlie mags, wondering when they're going to get laid. The girls in school aren't like the ones in the magazines, they don't put out although Mike thinks that they do the lezbo thing together. As girls do. And then, because this is Stray Bullets, something happens and nothing will be the same ever again. The genius bit is that Lapham lops off the end of the story so you don't know which way it went. Murder or burglary? On an unrelated note...
Trucker Fags In Denial (£2-99, Fantagraphics) by Jim Goad & Jim Blanchard - I don't know how we're going to display this one, the back cover's almost as bad as the front. If you see something with stickers all over the bag, you know what it is.
The Milkman Murders #1 (£2-25, Dark Horse) by Joe Casey & Steve Parkhouse - Intriguing (partially because they leave it on a huge cliffhanger) but badly written story using a sledgehammer to cut an apple pie. (That was a tribute to the subtle metaphors used in the book). American dream/reality doesn't match up. Someone is going to start murdering everybody because life isn't fair. Cry me a river.
Books Of Magick #1 (£1-80 DC Vertigo) by Si Spencer & Dean Ormston with Neil Gaiman. So much better than I was expecting, but that's what you get for publishing cast-me-down sludge for so long: it generates scepticism and resistance. And it's not as if dear Neil hasn't had his name attached to some godawful bollocks in the past (Tekno Comics, anyone?), so this could easily have been another 'Here's a grand, Neil, can you come up with a couple of nick-names and lend us your passing interest?'. Instead Neil and Si throw you in at the deep end, where Things Aren't Right, either here or there, and it's difficult to tell which is which. What we do know is that John Constantine's leading some creatures under siege in a snow-driven hell-hole of a castle, and is thoroughly bored of eating centaur to survive. We know that they're desperately awaiting the arrival of The Hunter, and we also know that's just not going to happen, because John's hidden him in another reality, where Tim Hunter's necking ketamine with his mates, after graduating with a 2:2 in marine biology. He's been back with Molly for fifteen months, and living with his mother. Who's dead, by the way. Oh, and magic? Ridiculous! Tim's never heard of it, and dreams are a load of nonsense too. Meanwhile Zatanna's fetching keys and - well, she's just rather fetching is all - and Jersualem doesn't look like the best holiday destination right now. Dean's art has leapt several levels taller, indeed he's gone a bit Chris Bachalo on us in places, and it's all a bit creepy and grim. 'Gnihsams!' as Zatanna might say, before the roof collapses in on her.
Powers vol 2 #1 (£2-20 Marvel Icon) by Bendis & Oeming. What you really want to know above all else, is whether the letters column has retained its characteristic vulgarity, now that the series is published by Marvel. Yes, it has. Eat this pudding as proof:
Yeah Mofo!
I bought a Powers statue!!! It only cost $1,050 on eBay...did I get screwed?'
- Mike Gaffney
Or we seriously underpriced those things. You know, I would have given you a hand job for $45, cleanup included. I've won Eisners for my handjobs. Do you know how many hand jobs $1,050 is?
Isn't it heart-warming to know that this is the guy delivering ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN to impressionable children? New this issue: Personal Ads. You heard me - genuine personal ads for love and attention between comicbook readers. Some of them are sweet; most of them are scary. But back to the comic, and yes, it's a perfect point for readers of Bendis' Marvel work to hop on board because there are five books available to date, one due soon, a final volume to tie up loose ends before the end of the year, and in any case everything has changed in the months between series. Homicide Detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim already had a tough enough job investigating murders dealing with 'Powers' (superheroes), but since the worldwide catastrophe in book six, their job has shifted from difficult to impossible, because all powers across the planet have been declared illegal. As a consequence, all law abiding metahumans have politely withdrawn, leaving cities to cope with a devastating free-for-all amongst supervillains, who were never that bothered about rules in the first place. Genius dialogue as always. Newcomers to this mailshot can either trust me or email Page 45 for some previous examples, because I've already given you a letter this time round, and there are rules about these things that I make up as I go along. If you like superheroes, buy this comic. It's that simple, really. [POWERS vol 6 @ £12-99 just in!. Review next month!] Kabuki: The Alchemy #1 (£2-25 Marvel Icon) by David Mack. The first 'Kabuki proper' series since Metamorphosis sees David Mack in full self-referential mode, but with a more refined narrative process and even more beautiful - and wittily contrived - painted pages, which make full, flexible use of collage, side-notes, family trees, dead insects and evolutionary charts. It's a very loose style to go with his loose washes, in which you can choose what order to read bits in, if at all. And in case you don't consciously register that, Mack provides a little nudge. 'My life is a brand new 'choose your own adventure' book. The kind you choose which page to turn to in order to read the story,' muses Ukiko to herself before a panel showing a page of a book on which is typed:
'The kind you choose which page to turn to in order to read the story,' Ukiko thought as she imagined reading these very thoughts in the format of that very kind of book. No doubt, some kind of literary wormhole was taking place.
The heroine then indulges in a little more customary introspection, after which, at the bottom of the same printed page:
If you want to find the answers to these questions: Turn to the next page of this book and continue. If you want to find out more about Kabuki's past: Turn to page one of Circle of Blood [the title of the first KABUKI trade paperback].
Mack has made no secret of the fact that KABUKI is very much an exploration of himself under the mask of a Japanese assassin. Indeed it's a book about masks, and identity, and Kabuki wears a mask of her own, both literally and figuratively. So it's no surprise that on the first few pages of this new series at a new publisher, we find the titular character, now free from the asylum and heading for sanctuary elsewhere, thinking about starting over afresh: 'Every exit is an entrance somewhere else. The Chinese calligraphers used to change their names mid career so they could start over as someone else. They would change their signature, their identity, so they could remain free to evolve artistically... Unconfined by the public's expectation for them to continue with a certain style or subject matter they has previously been know for.' You see what I mean about self-referential? I've a low tolerance for psychobabble (and have typed that precise sentence over a dozen times during the five or six years of these mailshots), and for me, in Metamorphosis, deciphering the script became a chore. Here, however, there is such a clever depth to the arrangements, analogies, and to the linguistic tricks employed, that it's much more satisfying, almost as if you're unlocking puzzles. Plus, of course, something actually happens, which for David Mack, is little short of revolutionary. You do, however, have to be interested in self-analysis as entertainment, or beautiful Japanese girls in watercolour. Sleeper Season 2 # 1, 2 (£2-20 each DC Wildstorm) by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips. Brubaker and Phillips, in my office, right now! You can't just churn out heart-stopping, break-neck thrillers like this on a regular basis without making everyone else at DC look comparatively inadequate. It's highly undiplomatic, and makes it very difficult for us to keep your comics on the shelves. Books one and two are being smuggled out of the shop by the dozen, so I've had to go undercover and pose as an indie guy disdaining this stuff as nonsense. Every now and then, when I'm sure I'm not being watched, I go back and sneak-read some more by torchlight. Noone knows which side I'm on. Your agent, Pat Sullivan at Diamond, has made covert contact several times over the last few weeks. The merchandise has been delivered. Now lower your game, or I'll have a heart attack. Powerless (£2-25 Marvel) by Matt Chernis, Peter Johnson & Michael Gaydos. Beautifully moody ALIAS artist joins two writers I'm less familiar with for a tale one of the writers (I forget which) emphatically denies is an old-style 'What If', as in 'What if Peter Parker, Matt Murdock, Logan, Emma Frost, and Frank Castle (amongst others) didn't have any powers (although Frank hasn't, so what's changed in that scenario?). And he's right, this is far more involved, set in the 'real world', and seen through the eyes of a psychiatrist who catches imaginary glimpses of the Marvel universe whenever he bumps into those who dressed up in costumers there. So, Peter Parker's still being picked on at High School, he's still lost his Uncle, and to make matters worse one of his arm's been disfigured by the venomous bite of a spider, and Norman Osborn is freaking him out in a manner that not even Gwen Stacy understands or is willing to believe. Matt Murdock's defending Frank Castle against a massacre he didn't commit, having been set up by The Kingpin, and fails to persuade the psychiatrist to testify as an expert witness. Then the psychiatrist receives an unsympathetic visitor who may have more issues than his client list combined. I'm not sure if we'll have any left by the time this is dispersed, but you can always ask, or wait for my preview of the inevitable trade paperback. At the moment, it's looking okay. Loki #1, 2 of 4 (£2-60 Marvel) by Rob Rodi & Esad Ribic. Painted art, perfect for those who lust after high fantasy, and mightily impressive it is too. Loki's twisted, constantly snarling face comes with bloodshot eyes and a goblin-like, gap-toothed mouth. He's surrounded by the most majestic landscapes and solid-stone, medieval architecture, beneath which lie Thor and the Lady Sif, battered and in chains, for Asgard has been conquered and the half-brother trickster is lord of the realm. Victory and revenge for perceived slights and former disgrace tastes not so sweet as Loki had anticipated, however. He receives hourly demands for reward from dangerously wavering allies, and one above all from Hela, Queen of the Dead - that of Thor's immortal soul. Coming back to fans of high fantasy, the dialogue will please all - it's by far the best attempted at Asgardian rhetoric I've read in comics, and provides some fresh and convincing insights into Thor's bitter, foolishly impulsive and surprisingly insecure half-brother. Rogue #1 (£2-25 Marvel) by Rodi & Richards. All set to tear this one to pieces, then made the mistake of actually reading it. Marvel's fault for offering a preview which showed nothing more than a trite and clumsy fight sequence. Away from all that there's an intriguing mystery revolving around what might be Rogue's home town (she's absorbed so many other people's memories by now, it's difficult to discern which are hers), a young girl who can't control her reality-trashing abilities when anxious, whose own memories seem strangely familiar to Rogue, and an all-too conveniently positioned young man who swears he's family though he's way too young, and who appears to be entirely immune to the X-Men's resident life-draining succubus. Shame it's so ugly inside. And outside, come to think of it.
303 preview (£0-90) by Garth Ennis & Jacen Burrows. You don't need this. Hold on, I'm not damning the content - quite the reverse, for amongst other things Jacen Burrows has finally achieved his potential with the help of some sympathetic colouring, which is what he needed all along: colour. In the introduction Garth says, '303 begins as a war story, but changes halfway through into something I'm still not certain of myself. This is odd territory we're traversing, where the past pushes its warriors into the present with murderous intent, aiding and abetting destiny by means of numerous unwitting agents. It's the tale of a soldier who's been fighting for nothing all his life, but now believes he's found his purpose, and the one man who can stop him, a worn-out hero filled with fatal sadness.' Afghanistan, by the way, and the reason you don't need this is because it's five pages from issue #1, two from #2, and a cover. Doesn't mean you can't order the 303 mini-series itself, though; we're taking instructions right now.
Olympus Heights #1 (£2-99 IDW) by Kevin Munroe. Thoroughly Disney in tone, I thought. Cartoony art too, though not in the same way. Oliver Dobbs is assistant curator at the Olympus Heights museum, which houses a unique collection, largely consisting of anonymous donations of mythological statues which appear on their doorstep without warning. As he soon discovers, they're not exactly statues, but creatures in stasis, and his neighbour's not who or what he appears either.
Bloodhound #1 (£2-20 DC) by Dan Jolley & Leonard Kirk. Dan's doing FIRESTORM, right? Well, the guy can write. Everything's here in the right place and just the right quantity, so it breezes at a clipped pace. Travis Cleavenger, formerly of the Atlanta Police Department's Detective Bureau, is a very unpopular man serving a very long sentence for killing his partner. We don't know why he did it yet, but two sympathetic FBI agents want him out of prison. There's a serial killer on the loose, and they want his help. There's a pattern to each of the crimes: break-in followed by physical stalking, e-mails and phone calls, then rape, torture, murder. The killer's chosen his ninth victim, she's back in Atlanta and the phone calls have begun. It's his ex-partner's daughter. Like I said, the FBI want to offer Travis a deal and get him out of prison. Unfortunately both his fellow inmates have other ideas, and Travis will be damned lucky if he can get the FBI agents out alive. Solid art along the Buscema/Epting/Garney line. It appears to be a DC universe series, though there's no concrete evidence of that as yet. Good.
Ex Machina #2 (£2-20 DC Wildstorm) by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris. Very rare second-issue appearance here for this note-perfect piece of political intrigue with nominal fantasy element (strange object found in a river some years ago - only effect so far: the current Mayor of New York embarked on a brief and largely ill-advised career as well-meaning vigilante) and thriller undercurrents. The issues are sharp and cleverly contrived, and (don't say I never pander) the Mayor's Chief of Staff bears more than a passing resemblance to David Micheline's Mrs. Arbogast from IRON MAN twenty-something years ago. This issue: there's a painting of President Lincoln (the 'great emancipator') about to go on display in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The first problem? The artist stencilled the word 'Nigger' across it. The second? The artist isn't black. The third? The city funds the museum.
'This week is gonna suck, isn't it?'
Beautiful, clear art, and the best dialogue I've read from the writer of Y- THE LAST MAN and ULTIMATE X-MEN. Come on, someone over 35 buy it just for Mrs. Arbogast II. You'll make my day.
DC Comics Presents: Green Lantern (£1-80 DC) by Brian Azzarello & Norm Breyfogle; some other guys. Retro tribute to a DC editor not as loved by the ladies he worked with as he was/is by DC central. So completely not my thing that I read this as a token gesture on the strength of Azzarello (Morrison shares duties on MYSTERY IN SPACE in this series - please do with that information whatever you want), and couldn't even be bothered to read the second half by someone else. Turned out to be vaguely amusing, as it happens with Green Lantern handing out his power rings to all and sundry, including a bit of a foxstress: 'What do you say when you slip a ring on a Lady's finger?' she asks, pouting. '...Um... I give up!'
m e r c h a n d i s e
Rachael Williams coaster set (£11-99, Dark Horse). Beautiful designs featuring an ethereal young lady with large, luminous eyes and dark brown hair, surrounded by crimson and lilac flora. Originally it looked as if the backgrounds were white, but in fact they're creamy. Recipes include 'Woe Is Me Tea', and the following:
Walk all about in London town
Don't go home 'til your clothes are quite brown
Sprinkle all over with some of your tears
Roll into a bundle with a selection of fears
Soak overnight in a rusty old tub
Drain them carefully and give 'em a scrub
Pour the concoction into a bowl
Drink it for breakfast and cry for your soul.'
Could you please pass the twig and tortoise sandwiches? Thank you.
Sandman: Endless Nights Calendar 2005 (£10-99). Images taken from the book, days taken from the year, months taken from your life.
Almost Human CD (Projekt) Banned On Vulcan! CD (Projekt) by Voltaire. Prices unknown I'm afraid, because I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of each by Voltaire himself, creator of OH MY GOTH! and DEADY THE MALEVOLENT TEDDY (in stock, as always). However, here are two websites to assist you in your search: www.projekt.com and www.voltaire.net. I can think of at least one person I'll be buying the first for at Christmas, and several more the second. The first is a literally wicked album under a cover of Voltaire himself as a mildly satanic Eros, shot through with his own arrows like St. Sebastian with wings, for (as it's been said) this isn't an album you'd buy your lover until you were well and truly through with them - or they with you. As it happens it hits me in just the right musical as well as visual spot, containing so much My Life Story in it that it couldn't fail.* Lots of gypsy strings, a cracking pace, cool lilt, and perfectly timed lyrics with more than a dash of well-targeted bile. 'God Thinks' has had me chuckling worryingly on the shop floor, and I would play the EP 'Banned On Vulcan!' there too, because it's the finest Star Trek parody in any medium (I suspect that the more affection your have for the series, the louder you'll laugh), but the problem is we really don't want to reference it in a world which already associates comic shops too strongly with sci-fi. Anyway, this was my good deed for the day, after Voltaire rewarded my mean-spiritedness with shame-making generosity, but I swear to you that this rare music review is as unbiased as any I've attached to comics.
*My Life Story were an exuberant UK indie band during the last five years of the 1990s with something like 15 members originally, including three blonde goddesses on violins - pogoing frantically - trumpets, guitars and a mischievous London lead singer called Jake Shillingford. Live performers above all else, I've seen them more often than any other band to date. Singles include: 'Strumpet' and 'Girl A, Girl B, Boy C', but the best title's probably the B-side '[124 Pounds Of Boy Energy] Waiting To Explode'.
UK Postage (overseas at cost):
£1-00 for the first comic (unless there's a book included in the package in which case it's just 25 pence), and 25 pence thereafter.
£1-00 each for Tokyopop or Lonewolf books, £1-50 each for other books or t-shirts.
'Behind The Panels', 'Cages', 'Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels' and 'Love & Rockets: The Complete Palomar' will cost a flat £5-00 postage, but anything ordered on top of them will of course be postage free, because.....
Maximum postage for all this lot is £5-00.
Posters and prints are sent separately @ £1-50.
Standing Orders:
To ensure that you never miss a single issue of a title you read, Page 45 provides a free standing order service either for personal collection or sending by post. All you have to do is tell us which titles you want, and we'll save them for you as they come out. You can visit or phone as often as you want, but we must hear from you at least once every three months, please. Single orders and reservations just as gratefully received as any others.
More information can be found in Comics International (£1-50), the Previews catalogue (£3-25), at www.ninthart.com and www.sequentialtart.com or indeed by e-mailing us at page45@page45.com
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Our web-site address is www.page45.com. Construction, design and management by Dominique Kidd.
Removal instructions: there is no way out. Oh, okay, just type 'remove' in the subject heading, and feel our desolation.
Page 45 is a comic shop.
We are:
Mark Simpson
Stephen L. Holland
Tom Rosin
Page 45
9 Market Street
Nottingham
NG1 6HY
Tel: (0115) 9508045
Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm.
We bask on Sundays, sorry.
Page 45 mailshots wrestled to the ground by Stephen and Mark. Tom tackles TRAMPS LIKE US and ABENOBASHI: MAGICAL SHOPPING ARCADE.
The opinions expressed above or below do not necessarily reflect those of any website they end up on, even if its our own. Space may be given over to opposing views, but not if they're so well reasoned we can't tear holes in them.
l e t t e r s Well, that was fun. Four days in blissfully sunny Portugal for a family reunion which reached parts of my body no other holiday has reached before. Limbo dancing during a Club Tropicana evening? You wake up feeling very different, let me tell you. There were fourteen of us, and we're the sort of family that can turn sandcastle building into an Extreme Sport (which we did), although I'm the sort of person who can lose to my second cousins, Sebastian and Tristan (aged 9 and 7 respectively) not only at crazy golf, but also at adult tennis. Upsettingly, no one was remotely surprised. Which preamble hopefully goes some way to explaining why there are several titles missing from this mailshot. It's a serious liberty taking a few days off, I know, and there are repercussions. Next month we'll fill in the gaps, including Antony Johnston's CLOSER, I promise. Alexandra Willsher, referred to recently as one of our favourite mothers, did indeed manage to drag her 'carcass' into Page 45 as promised, and very fine it looked too. She really should have learned by now, shouldn't she?
Thanks for helping relieve us of so much money - I had a great time.
I'm surrounded now by stacks of stuff trying to re-organise our bedroom so I can keep it all in here whilst I read everything - I have an advantage in that bloke buys all the Daredevil/Alias stuff so I can enjoy it for free and now he's gone to Sweden for a week I get to secretly look at all of them first - as long as I wear little cotton gloves and read them with tweezers he'll never know. Muhahahaha.
Persepolis blew me away. Such a tragic story told in such a simple beautiful way. If there is another coming out can I have it in the Willsher standing order please.
Tom - thanks for the manga recommendations - child loved them all. At least I think she did - she put on the Strangers in Paradise t-shirt top when we got in and has only been seen twice since, reconnoitring the cupboards for food whilst nose still in book and grunting at me when I ask her if it is good before disappearing again with a tube of jaffa cakes.
Fluffy has stolen my heart. I have to hide it tho since it ruins my grouchy image to be seen becoming gooey over a simple bunny outline and giggling. The picture (complete with genuine P45 frame) is to go in the living room next to man's signed Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. It's the house look that says 'We like swords, death and small bunnies.' - hoorah for Ms Lia.
Is any of the spiderman stuff worth reading? I adored the second film - just sat there with a big idiot grin on my face - but I've avoided standard superhero fare for ages because I've hated most of it, but i wondered if there had been any Spidey 'reimaginings' that were any good. I have been caught watching the cartoon on Fox Kids in between holiday runs of The X-Men. Damn those evil sentinels, why can't everyone just get along? Ahem.
Right - enough waffling. I need to celebrate having the house to myself by eating a large bar of chocolate, using all the hot water for a bath and having a whole jug of pimms. Ah. Simple pleasures.
rgds,
Alexandra
Yes, but what quality pleasures!
The second instalment of PERSEPOLIS, the autobiography of Marjane Sartrapi growing up in, then leaving post-revolutionary Iran, arrives any week now. If you enjoyed MAUS, PERSEPOLIS is humbly commended to you. It was my favourite book last year.
On the superhero front, I've consistently recommended J. Michael Straczynski's run on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, not least for John Romita Jr.'s art, but mostly for Michael's Aunt May. Now that the secret cat is out of the identity bag, it's all a lot fresher. Moving and thoughtful to begin with, then full of waspish fun. Unfortunately for JMS, however, Brian Michael Bendis consistently steals the show in ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, which, if ever there were any doubts, was proved early on when Aunt May threatens to give young Peter a lecture on the birds and the bees. I sent Alexandra pastes of recent reviews, and she replied:
Stephen,
Thank you for digging out those spiderman reviews. I never knew that Mr Straczynski did comics as well (sad Babylon 5 fan) - this is something else i enjoy about the world of comics - until a few years ago it was pretty much unknown to me - so I'm still stumbling around going 'ooh, shiny' every time i see something that catches my eye and bouncing over and grabbing it.
I took Fluffy to work today. It provoked an enjoyable conversation with my boss.
'what's that?' 'fluffy' 'why are you reading it?' 'it's a simple line drawn ode to show that fatherhood is not about blood ties' 'weirdo' etc.
I had thought about adding that it was a modern extension of the Miffy genesis, incorporating a critical look at how the 'family' had evolved in modern times whilst still retaining the cuteness of talking rabbits, but i remembered that I enjoyed being employed.
Tassja has just read David Mack's latest Kabuki and she is NOT happy with the 'weird pictures'. I just showed her a few pages from Daredevil 8 and she clutched her head and made a distressed noise - ha - and she calls me old-fashioned. So I've given her Persepolis and Jane's World and shooed her away. Thanks for reserving the various bits I asked for.
Can you please add the first two Ultimate Spidermans to my order - you have cunningly tricked me into wanting to read the second one just to read Aunt May's advice on hot lurve, so of course i have to buy the first. I've now come to the conclusion that I'd enjoy reading Bendis' shopping list (oh, the majesty of those 4 tins of beans juxtaposed with the toilet roll - how does he do it...)
Looking forward to the next mailshot, be happy.
To avoid complaints, I have to emphasise that May didn't quite get as far as delivering - the threat was enough for Peter to squeal uncle. Hmm, poor choice of phrasing. Newlywed Marcus Cooper was also in the letter column, if only because I fancied a trip to Bermuda.
Stephen and Mark.
Oops sorry..... I did mean to send something invite-like along.
Well, got married yesterday in Plymouth (the wedding and first reception)
and off to Bermuda (second reception) next monday. Am very tried at the
moment. And have to go back to work tomorrow. :(
Dan and John say hi and spent most of the evening sitting in the corner of
the bar chatting about comics and Doom3 and Buffy, (Dan doesn't get Buffy)
Notable point of the night was the first dance, we picked Under Your Spell
from the Buffy musical episode, the one where Willow makes Tara very
happy ;) and it ends with the line 'you make me come plete' - no one at
the reception noticed ;)
I'll send you a link to photos when we get it all sorted and you can have
a laugh.
After we have stopped doing wedding stuff I'll ring up and get whatever
stuff is in my box.
Thanks
Marcus
Isn't that sweet? Nothing to do with comics, but sweet all the same. At one point I was going to marry Automaton's lovely Laura, just so we could have a reception. Our first dance? 'I Started Something I Couldn't Finish' by The Smiths.
Hello,
Congratulations on the award! Do you get a certificate or a badge or something?
When Roger Langridge won the award for best on-line comic last year, he was presented with an empty Bart Simpson bubble bath bottle. I don't know what we got, Dez took it home with him. I'm thinking a Forbidden Planet carrier bag, maybe.
Anyway it was well deserved. Please could you slip me a little something extra next time I'm in? I was hoping for a copy of McSweeny's vol 13 (your review sold it to me). The news of Rob Liefeld's imminent return to X-Force bemeaused me so much, I felt the need to shed my fanboy roots and finally embrace the warm bosom of something with a bit more under the covers. Whilst you're at it can I have a copy of Maus as well ?
Last time I was in Mark, Tom and I were trying to decide if Rob's return would be classified as a Post Modern Backlash, An Ironic Retro Pastiche or A Pre-New Wave Nostalgic Flashback. I'd love to know if there's an answer as you'll probably need a new section on the shelves for it.
Ta very much,
Chris [Hobbs]
Anyone out there have some suggestions?
How about Bollocks We Thought We'd Seen The Back Of?
Here's another Christopher saying 'hello'.
Hello
See?
I was interested to read the preview of The Originals in Part A this month. I saw a few pages of it in last year's Vertigo preview issue and wondered where it had got to. The idea behind it seems interesting, and of course the artwork looked great, although I too would have probably preferred something set in our 'mundane reality', but I'll wait and see what you think of it when it's actually out before making a decision. I was also amused by the Kingsland toll bridge incident, especially as although now living in Telford, I grew up in Shrewsbury (and went to the Wakeman with those nice green blazers!). I read the 3rd volume of Battle Royale over the weekend - I'm enjoying the story at the moment, so thanks for the recommendation. I've just started reading 'The Filth' this morning and I have to say I have no idea what to make of it at present although I don't suppose that's an unusual feeling.... Your carrier bags are great - it's just a shame that as I only seem to get over to Nottingham about once a year I only seem to have one at the moment!
Cheers
Christopher [Powell]
That's not fair. Do you think we should include a free carrier bag with every mail order purchase?
I should have twigged about Shrewsbury. We sent your Dad some recommendations there for your Christmas presents, didn't we? Completely forgotten it was called the Kingsland toll bridge, and I had no idea that reference would mean anything to anyone. Good job I wasn't making it up for a change.
Rounding things off, here's Sebastion O -- sorry, Alex Sarll -- with some more pithy/prissy retorts:
I suspect the reason The Originals isn't straight historical Mods is the same as one of the reasons V For Vendetta wasn't straight historical noir - the amount of research involved with such a project can get very trying for an artist. Even the modern world sometimes tempts them to cut corners - witness all the comics by American artists supposedly set in Britain but actually set in some theme park nightmare.
Also - I'm pretty sure there was a fourth, fairly pointless Batman/Dredd crossover which isn't in that new collection. Judgment in Gotham, Vendetta in Gotham, Ultimate Riddle and Die Laughing - I think it's Vendetta they've dropped.
If people genuinely want Onslaught trades, I have every sympathy with the poor things, but don't encourage them.
There were some damn fine writers on the Seventh Doctor once they ditched Bonnie Langford, you philistine.
Richard Morgan, who is writing the new Black Widow series, has three very fine SF novels to his name, most famously Altered Carbon. The blend of technology and intrigue bodes well for Black Widow.
'Is there a sole out there who doesn't think Mark's designs for the Page 45 carriers are so very cool?'
Well, I like them but I had no idea fish appreciated graphic design.
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