This smacks of brilliance. I'm envisioning entire runs of Superman comics with Superman removed from them.
Feb 28, 2008
Garfield without Garfield
This smacks of brilliance. I'm envisioning entire runs of Superman comics with Superman removed from them.
Feb 25, 2008
The Triumphant (?) Return of Dave Sim!
Having just finished Cerebus, I have to admit to a little trepidation about Dave Sim's return to comics. It's undeniable that he's a master, but what the hell is he going to tell us about this time?
High Fashion, it turns out. Amongst other things.
glamourpuss (Ha! Dig that Canadian spelling), according to some advance reviews is less a comic in the traditional narrative sense, and more an artistic workout for Sim. For him to have chosen drawing pretty women seems odd, considering his well-known thoughts on feminism, and the fact that throughout his other comic (you know, that Cerebus thing), the strong female characters were, for the most part, antagonists. But you know what? It's new, ongoing Dave Sim, which really is all you need to know to go out and get it. He's a great artist, and I can't wait to see what he can do when applying himself to a more modern milieu. Admittedly, the comic is going to look very different without the brilliant backgrounds of Gerhard, but I would imagine that in considering jumping back into the industry that has alternately praised him and kicked the crap out of him, Sim wanted to do something as far from Cerebus as was possible to get. The world of international high fashion might well be that.
The website is cool and pink, with lots of drawings of pretty ladies. In a bold move, Sim has sent review copies to every store through Diamond, so if you really want to, you ought to be able to go down to your local and have a look through issue one. The comic is released for sale some time in April. I truly, truly hope it's as innovative, frustrating, gorgeous, and provocative as Cerebus.
Far more information, or at least promotion, can be found at Mr. Sim's very own blog, along with tantalizing teasers about his other upcoming project, Secret Project One, the website for which goes online very soon...
High Fashion, it turns out. Amongst other things.
glamourpuss (Ha! Dig that Canadian spelling), according to some advance reviews is less a comic in the traditional narrative sense, and more an artistic workout for Sim. For him to have chosen drawing pretty women seems odd, considering his well-known thoughts on feminism, and the fact that throughout his other comic (you know, that Cerebus thing), the strong female characters were, for the most part, antagonists. But you know what? It's new, ongoing Dave Sim, which really is all you need to know to go out and get it. He's a great artist, and I can't wait to see what he can do when applying himself to a more modern milieu. Admittedly, the comic is going to look very different without the brilliant backgrounds of Gerhard, but I would imagine that in considering jumping back into the industry that has alternately praised him and kicked the crap out of him, Sim wanted to do something as far from Cerebus as was possible to get. The world of international high fashion might well be that.
The website is cool and pink, with lots of drawings of pretty ladies. In a bold move, Sim has sent review copies to every store through Diamond, so if you really want to, you ought to be able to go down to your local and have a look through issue one. The comic is released for sale some time in April. I truly, truly hope it's as innovative, frustrating, gorgeous, and provocative as Cerebus.
Far more information, or at least promotion, can be found at Mr. Sim's very own blog, along with tantalizing teasers about his other upcoming project, Secret Project One, the website for which goes online very soon...
Feb 22, 2008
Comic Book Sites I'm Grooving On #1
The first of those "floating features" I was talking about. Every time I've got a good amount of cool sites to post, I will.
The Doom Patrol Review
A comprehensive listing of appearances by the Doom Patrol or it's members covering the period from 1963 to 2003, prior to John Byrne's ill-conceived reboot.
Jenny Everywhere
An open source comic character. I had a small hand in her creation, and she's been very successful. I have a couple of unproduced scripts in the Articles and Writings section.
Inferno Wikipedia Entry
Inferno is one of those crossovers that I have a soft spot for. Back when the soap opera of the X-Men was at it's height, it's one of the few that I'm trying to track down all the issues involved.
Cerebus Timeline
An ostensibly complete timeline of events in the universe of Cerebus the Aardvark, starting from the very beginning. A brilliant tool for the volumes of internet essays and discussion that are likely to spring up around Dave Sim's masterpiece.
Comic Book Database
Super useful.
The Doom Patrol Review
A comprehensive listing of appearances by the Doom Patrol or it's members covering the period from 1963 to 2003, prior to John Byrne's ill-conceived reboot.
Jenny Everywhere
An open source comic character. I had a small hand in her creation, and she's been very successful. I have a couple of unproduced scripts in the Articles and Writings section.
Inferno Wikipedia Entry
Inferno is one of those crossovers that I have a soft spot for. Back when the soap opera of the X-Men was at it's height, it's one of the few that I'm trying to track down all the issues involved.
Cerebus Timeline
An ostensibly complete timeline of events in the universe of Cerebus the Aardvark, starting from the very beginning. A brilliant tool for the volumes of internet essays and discussion that are likely to spring up around Dave Sim's masterpiece.
Comic Book Database
Super useful.
Preliminary Thoughts on Completing Cerebus
(Originally written Oct. 5, 2007. I had just completed my first full reading of Cerebus the Aardvark. I'm planning on going into this more, once a friend of mine is finished reading it, and we have a chance to discuss it further.)
I'm not sure how to react to the Cerebus epic. I definitely have to say it seemed to hit it's high point (for me) near the beginning, with "High Society", "Church & State" and "Jaka's Story". Brilliant volumes. The Mothers & Daughters stuff was good, definitely head and shoulders above the usual comic book fare. After that, though? "Guys" seemed to drag on a bit for me, as did "Rick's Story". The two volumes of Going Home were good, though more as commentaries on a couple of famous writers, rather than parts of the Cerebus story.
And then there's "Latter Days" and "The Last Day". Now, I know Dave Sim underwent a spiritual awakening while he was writing these books. And I am resolved to read his commentary, through the mouthpiece of Cerebus, on the Torah. But there's that little voice in the back of my head that wonders how different the end of the series would have been if Sim had not found God. Would it have been much the same ending, just without the religious overtone? Or was that always where Cerebus was heading? I'd love to hear some other people's thoughts on it. I've read most of the commentary I could find online, which cleared some things up for me, though it did make the end less affecting for me, once there was some explanation of what actually happened to Cerebus after he died. That one splash page had me tearing up, and I kind of wish I could hang on to that idea of the ending, instead of what was actually implied.
Can you tell I'm trying to talk about this without actually giving anything away?
I can see myself re-reading everything probably up to the end of "Rick's Story", because if you want a happy ending to the Cerebus saga, that's where you should stop. The last four volumes I found very hard-going. Maybe once or twice more, but no more than that.
But the whole thing with Shep-Shep was weird. Kind of right out of left field. Sim claims it's what he thinks happened with Egyptian culture, that there was a culture long eradicated before ours that was at that kind of height of medical knowledge, which is interesting and not without it's supporters. I just felt there was a lot left out of "The Last Day" that might have served to put the confrontation with Shep-Shep into a greater context. Or maybe I just missed it because I've spent the last month reading 6000 pages about the life of a misanthropic aardvark and my brain's a bit fried.
Is Dave Sim crazy? It's a question that seems to come up a lot in the post-Cerebus criticism. I can't say that he's crazy for having a spiritual awakening and throwing himself fully into it. I've done it myself, though to a lesser extent. But was he crazy to have it inform the story of Cerebus so much? After so profound an experience, could he have kept his religious beliefs apart from his art? Should he have?
Perhaps the best question is, if that's not what we expected from the end of Cerebus, what did we expect?
Good question.
I'm not sure how to react to the Cerebus epic. I definitely have to say it seemed to hit it's high point (for me) near the beginning, with "High Society", "Church & State" and "Jaka's Story". Brilliant volumes. The Mothers & Daughters stuff was good, definitely head and shoulders above the usual comic book fare. After that, though? "Guys" seemed to drag on a bit for me, as did "Rick's Story". The two volumes of Going Home were good, though more as commentaries on a couple of famous writers, rather than parts of the Cerebus story.
And then there's "Latter Days" and "The Last Day". Now, I know Dave Sim underwent a spiritual awakening while he was writing these books. And I am resolved to read his commentary, through the mouthpiece of Cerebus, on the Torah. But there's that little voice in the back of my head that wonders how different the end of the series would have been if Sim had not found God. Would it have been much the same ending, just without the religious overtone? Or was that always where Cerebus was heading? I'd love to hear some other people's thoughts on it. I've read most of the commentary I could find online, which cleared some things up for me, though it did make the end less affecting for me, once there was some explanation of what actually happened to Cerebus after he died. That one splash page had me tearing up, and I kind of wish I could hang on to that idea of the ending, instead of what was actually implied.
Can you tell I'm trying to talk about this without actually giving anything away?
I can see myself re-reading everything probably up to the end of "Rick's Story", because if you want a happy ending to the Cerebus saga, that's where you should stop. The last four volumes I found very hard-going. Maybe once or twice more, but no more than that.
But the whole thing with Shep-Shep was weird. Kind of right out of left field. Sim claims it's what he thinks happened with Egyptian culture, that there was a culture long eradicated before ours that was at that kind of height of medical knowledge, which is interesting and not without it's supporters. I just felt there was a lot left out of "The Last Day" that might have served to put the confrontation with Shep-Shep into a greater context. Or maybe I just missed it because I've spent the last month reading 6000 pages about the life of a misanthropic aardvark and my brain's a bit fried.
Is Dave Sim crazy? It's a question that seems to come up a lot in the post-Cerebus criticism. I can't say that he's crazy for having a spiritual awakening and throwing himself fully into it. I've done it myself, though to a lesser extent. But was he crazy to have it inform the story of Cerebus so much? After so profound an experience, could he have kept his religious beliefs apart from his art? Should he have?
Perhaps the best question is, if that's not what we expected from the end of Cerebus, what did we expect?
Good question.
Rest in Peace, Steve Gerber
(Originally written Feb. 17, 2008)
I came to Steve Gerber's writing through a Vegas showgirl and her dancing ostrich. I kid you not. The story "Piss on Earth" in the vertigo Winter's Edge anthology introduced me to Nevada the dancer and her ostrich, and when the series came out, I picked it up, and found out that the genesis of the series had come in an issue of the late 70's comic "Howard the Duck".
Wasn't that that crappy movie from the 80's, you may ask, and yes, yes it was. It was a crappy movie. But, intrigued as I was, I searched out the 16th issue of Howard the Duck, one in which Mr. Gerber ruminates on the creative process and his cross-country move. It was, in a word, revelatory.
Now, I'd been reading the "big names" for a few years. There was little that Grant Morrison, Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman wrote that I didn't voraciously devour. I prided myself on being a literary comic fan, not doting on artists, but on writers (though I've since revised that pompous practice). I was stunned to have found this wonderful dissertation and never have heard of the writer. Dutifully, I tracked down every issue of Howard with his name in the writer's credit (even the terribly expensive 1st appearance of KISS in a comic book), and read them. And it was brilliant. A vibrant and witty slice of the 1970's in the USA. A satire of the ideas and ideals sweeping through the nation in the wake of the hippy generation, a more cynical, yet every bit as optimistic, lens through which to read the culture. It was wonderful.
Unlike those other names I talked about earlier, I did not immediately go out and find all of Mr. Gerber's works right away and read them. But when I did come across one, it was always picked up and read and enjoyed. More recently, on and excursion into the 1970's Marvel output, I focussed on his work, his Defenders, Man-Thing, Tales of the Zombie, in the excellent Marvel Essentials series, and again I was blown away by his work.
Just yesterday (Saturday), I was in a comic store, rummaging through their $2 bins for copies of "Superman presents The Phantom Zone" and "Omega the Unknown", I found the two issues of "Creatures on the Loose" that he scripted, and the first installment of the Shanna the She-Devil story that was serialized in Marvel Fanfare. I came home, entered them into my database and read them. Then, while surfing the net last night, I found out that he had died a week earlier.
I won't go all weepy, and say it was like losing a friend or anything, because it wasn't. I only knew him through his words, and most of them things he wrote 30 years ago. But for talent, passionate talent, like that to be lost to us is terrible. It is useless to sit and wonder what he might have produced with another 10 years, but I do it anyway. I'm glad that I still have so much of his work to find and to read, but the sad bit is that when I have tracked it all down (and I'm a little obsessive, so I will), that'll be it.
I pulled out my Howard the Duck collection today. I think it's time to read them again, and pay my own little tribute to a guy who wrote comics like no one else did before, or has since. Thank you, Mr. Gerber. Your presence will be missed.
L.A. Times obituary
N.Y. Times obituary
Mark Evanier's remembrance
Steve Gerber's Blog
I came to Steve Gerber's writing through a Vegas showgirl and her dancing ostrich. I kid you not. The story "Piss on Earth" in the vertigo Winter's Edge anthology introduced me to Nevada the dancer and her ostrich, and when the series came out, I picked it up, and found out that the genesis of the series had come in an issue of the late 70's comic "Howard the Duck".
Wasn't that that crappy movie from the 80's, you may ask, and yes, yes it was. It was a crappy movie. But, intrigued as I was, I searched out the 16th issue of Howard the Duck, one in which Mr. Gerber ruminates on the creative process and his cross-country move. It was, in a word, revelatory.
Now, I'd been reading the "big names" for a few years. There was little that Grant Morrison, Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman wrote that I didn't voraciously devour. I prided myself on being a literary comic fan, not doting on artists, but on writers (though I've since revised that pompous practice). I was stunned to have found this wonderful dissertation and never have heard of the writer. Dutifully, I tracked down every issue of Howard with his name in the writer's credit (even the terribly expensive 1st appearance of KISS in a comic book), and read them. And it was brilliant. A vibrant and witty slice of the 1970's in the USA. A satire of the ideas and ideals sweeping through the nation in the wake of the hippy generation, a more cynical, yet every bit as optimistic, lens through which to read the culture. It was wonderful.
Unlike those other names I talked about earlier, I did not immediately go out and find all of Mr. Gerber's works right away and read them. But when I did come across one, it was always picked up and read and enjoyed. More recently, on and excursion into the 1970's Marvel output, I focussed on his work, his Defenders, Man-Thing, Tales of the Zombie, in the excellent Marvel Essentials series, and again I was blown away by his work.
Just yesterday (Saturday), I was in a comic store, rummaging through their $2 bins for copies of "Superman presents The Phantom Zone" and "Omega the Unknown", I found the two issues of "Creatures on the Loose" that he scripted, and the first installment of the Shanna the She-Devil story that was serialized in Marvel Fanfare. I came home, entered them into my database and read them. Then, while surfing the net last night, I found out that he had died a week earlier.
I won't go all weepy, and say it was like losing a friend or anything, because it wasn't. I only knew him through his words, and most of them things he wrote 30 years ago. But for talent, passionate talent, like that to be lost to us is terrible. It is useless to sit and wonder what he might have produced with another 10 years, but I do it anyway. I'm glad that I still have so much of his work to find and to read, but the sad bit is that when I have tracked it all down (and I'm a little obsessive, so I will), that'll be it.
I pulled out my Howard the Duck collection today. I think it's time to read them again, and pay my own little tribute to a guy who wrote comics like no one else did before, or has since. Thank you, Mr. Gerber. Your presence will be missed.
L.A. Times obituary
N.Y. Times obituary
Mark Evanier's remembrance
Steve Gerber's Blog
Welcome
So, here's the thing. I love comics. All kinds, shapes, and sizes. And I'm going to talk about them here. I'll offer opinions and editorial, appreciations and reviews. I'll apologize in advance if my stuff offends your favourite writer/artist/hero/book/whatever, or if something clashes with your sensibilities. I'm extremely liberal in my views on sex, politics, religion, and other such inflammatory subjects, so in as much as those have to do with comics, I'm sorry if I offend.
In commenting, I'd ask that you keep belligerent behaviour to a minimum. I'm interested in discussion, rather than argument.
I've a few things I'm working on right now to post here. A four-part essay called "Flex Mentallo and the Ages of Comic Books" is in the planning stages. I'm going to start reviewing comic book shops in Southern Ontario (where I'm based), concentrating away from Toronto, and more on the stores in surrounding towns and cities. There'll be "floating features", reviews of comic shows in the area, bargain basement treasures, stuff like that.
While I'm working on new stuff, I'll post a few old pieces.
In commenting, I'd ask that you keep belligerent behaviour to a minimum. I'm interested in discussion, rather than argument.
I've a few things I'm working on right now to post here. A four-part essay called "Flex Mentallo and the Ages of Comic Books" is in the planning stages. I'm going to start reviewing comic book shops in Southern Ontario (where I'm based), concentrating away from Toronto, and more on the stores in surrounding towns and cities. There'll be "floating features", reviews of comic shows in the area, bargain basement treasures, stuff like that.
While I'm working on new stuff, I'll post a few old pieces.
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