The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 799: Spacepig Hamadeus versus The Spectre General, 2012

I couldn't help myself. I had to see what happened next. This issue is really neat, in that it gives us a bunch of back story on some of the characters from yesterday's comic, and introduces some characters that I'm sure are going to pop up soon. I think what today's comic really did for me was to solidify my love for the characters and universe. There's even an ad for a new issue coming out next year, which made me give a little internal "Squee!"

The background on Tremb'axx was nicely handled, though I'll admit I saw the twist in the story coming. This is not a criticism of the storytelling, though. It served to reinforce just how evil the character actually is. And showed that even the evil amongst us will do crazy things for love. The second story, about Dillo Dhatta boasted some really cool art, especially in the sections dealing with Dhatta's memories. The panel borders disappear and we have jumble of images and captions relating his tale of woe to the reader. This disappearance of formal guides on the page nicely mirrors the way memory works, with prominent events at the fore, overshadowing more background occurrences. Of the three artists represented in today's comic, Justin Schauf really stands out. Not that any of the art is bad, but his fits the tenor of the story really nicely.

And then we have the continuation of Hamadeus's adventure, a battle with the Spectre General. I quite love the way that these comics are building this vast universe full of awesome, yet slightly ridiculous, characters. A story that gives you action, intrigue, drama, but doesn't take itself too seriously, is a good story. Both art and writing recognize that the concept is not a serious one, but also that just this lack of seriousness doesn't necessarily mean you can't explore some serious ideas.

I'd had the thought that I'd split these comics up over a week or two, but who am I kidding? I'll continue tomorrow with Spacepig Hamadeus and the Ambush at the Hourglass Sea.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 798: Spacepig Hamadeus and the Geysers of Doom, 2015

Alright alright alright! It's time to get onto one of my absolute favourite bits of any comic convention: reading and talking about the amazing indie comics I've procured.

I was chatting this weekend to the creators of a "queer space opera" called Crash and Burn (the first collection of which will be a featured graphic novel in the next couple of weeks), and I asked if it was okay to do a review and send them a link to it. They said yes, though only so long as it was a nice review. This got me thinking, and I realized that I don't think I've ever reviewed an indie comic from a con poorly. There is something about such a comic that is genuine. The passion of its creator comes through so much more than one might find in the more mediated properties that come from professional comics and publishers. And you actually get to talk to the people involved in the production of these comics, and hear their passion in their voices. This really, really enhances the experience of reading their work.

I had the opportunity to talk to writer, colourist, and letterer of this first Spacepig Hamadeus (though not first published, I think) adventure Donovan Yaciuk this weekend. I was delighted to discover that one of his influences in creating the series were old pulp fictions and movie serials, and that part of the aesthetic of Spacepig was to take on some of the dialogue qualities of those early serialized stories. It really, really comes through. If you're a fan of something like Atomic Robo, you should check out this comic. We're dropped into a fully-fleshed science fiction environment that is at once novel and familiar. The characters, both design and personality, are realized quickly and expertly (I really love Micanaut shaman Dar-Kushh), and the environment is introduced through a number of familiar tropes (underground alien kingdoms, high-strung robotic companions) that let the reader settle into the story with a minimum of confusion over who's who, and what's what. This is the first in a series of four I acquired at the Calgary Expo, so I'll be reading them over the next week or so (interspersed with some of the other comics I picked up). The art chores, handled in this issue by Justin Shauf and Ryan Howe, nicely depict the two eras in which the action takes place. Mr. Schauf's more stylized look is a nice fit for the non-stop action section of Hamadeus's adventure, while Mr. Howe's slightly more realistic flashback art provides a solid historical foundation for the present time events. I'm excited to see where the story goes. And given how much I enjoyed today's comic, it's very likely we'll get to see more of Spacepig Hamadeus tomorrow.

In the meantime, have a look at the website, and if you're intrigued, grab yourself a copy. You won't be disappointed.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 218: Canadian Corps #1, 2015

Having tempted fate yesterday by saying that everything I'd picked up in Edmonton so far had been amazing, I was worried that those three capricious ladies would punish me by handing be something bad to read today.

Looks like they didn't hear me.

I may be jumping the gun, but I feel like we're finally getting to a point in Canadian comics where we've figured out how to do a Canadian superteam without having to somehow compare ourselves to the glut of posthumans south of the border. Chapterhouse's new Captain Canuck series is phenomenal, and today's comic from September17 Productions is equally great. There's a nice spread of characters with a good range of power sets, and, one of the things I thought was really great, they're from all over the country. The concentration of heroes in Marvel Manhattan has always bothered me. The US is a huge country. Surely there's other places worth exploring. The September17 team understand this about Canada, and understand that our country is so large that to properly represent its diversity, you can't just focus on one city. Or province/territory.

You can see from the cover that the art style straddles that interesting place between cartooning and superhero comics, which offers a good range of inroads into the genre. There's action, comedy, drama, and the art style allows these disparate takes on the characters to mesh fairly seamlessly. I haven't quite figured out all of the character powers and back stories yet, but I'm definitely invested enough to want to. I think the other thing that really resonated for me is that, unlike something like Alpha Flight, or even Captain Canuck, the characters' identities and powers don't hinge on somehow being Canadian/Northern stereotypes. Yes, Warrant wears a maple leaf, but that's because he's a patriotic hero. The rest of the characters have powers (and names) that are simply superhero powers, not Canadian superhero powers.

(As a comparison, consider Northstar, Aurora, Snowbird, Puck.)

One of the things we talk about in literary studies is how we differentiate Canadian literature on the North American continent from US literature. Actually, it goes even further because we also talk about how to differentiate Canadian culture from US culture. A lot of the time we define ourselves by what we are not, which, most broadly speaking, means that we are not Americans. But when we are faced with the question of "What are we then?" there isn't always a good answer. I'll be interested to follow Canadian Corps and see how it addresses this question in its little corner of superhero comics. There is definitely that "Canadian" quality to it, but, predictably, I'm not entirely certain how to define it. Hopefully we'll see enough issues of the series that it will answer, in some small way, the question for us.

That's it for my Edmonton comics, I'm afraid. I kind of wish I'd bought more now. Perhaps, rather than hitting up Alien Worlds tomorrow, I'll spend the rest of the week looking at some other self-published comics in the collection. In any case, I'll see you tomorrow.