So Long Speakeasy ...

There was certainly a lot of writing on that wall, wasn't there?

Speakeasy's gone under, which was surprising only in it's speed. As is his wont, Warren Ellis sums it up in today's Bad Signal email:

Things aren't getting harder. This
isn't market correction. This, I'm
sorry to say, is one publisher
getting it wrong from start to
finish: releasing too many books,
without a support structure.

My first thought, of course, was the fate of Elk's Run. Some other Speakeasy books have flitted on and off my radar, but that's the book that matters. These guys just won't quit, though, and Josh says we'll see the rest of the series. I expect that after what this title's been though, a lot of other creative teams would simply give up. Thankfully, the Elk's Run crew is not "a lot of other creative teams".

I can't imagine in what alternate universe "Rich Johnston" and "credibility" belong in the same sentence, but it's not this one. He's softpedaled the Speakeasy situation all along, due to his having The Flying Friar placed there. It's been made clear: if you don't want Rich raking your muck, give him a book. After his continued excoriation of other failed publishing companies, to dismiss a story that swept the 'net with a promotional one-liner after it was all made public is a sauce so weak as to be indistinguishable from water.

Finally, I've been trying to appeal to the better angels of my nature and not highlight one particular quote from Speakeasy President Adam Fortier.

My better angels are not responding.

I just don'’t have any passion for this. The last number of months was full of constant problems, and the last week was just full of working ... not even to keep people happy, but just to keep people satisfied. It'’s just too tough. It's not necessarily a great place to be anymore.

Emphasis mine.

---

Essential Linkage:

• PopCultureShock: Speakeasy Shuts Its Doors: A Cautionary Tale
• Alan David Doane: The Rise and Inevitable Fall of Speakeasy Comics
• The Engine: Speakeasy Closes Its Doors...
• The Engine: SPEAKEASY CREATORS: Post-Crash Roll Call
• Comics Worth Reading: Speakeasy Shutdown Shocker!
• Comic Book Resources: SPEAKEASY COMICS SHUTS ITS DOORS, FORTIER SPEAKS

Categories:

• Comics
• Opinion

This Week's Releases: March 1, 2006

This Wednesday, I'll head down to 2005 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award Winning Night Flight Comics and pick up what looks to be a really fun batch of comics. It will only serve as prelude, however, to the true excitement of the day. .... More on that later.*

Infinite Crisis drops, and my worries were seemingly unjustified. It looks like One Year Later begins to kick off this week with JSA, Outsiders, relaunch-without-a-new-number-one Aquaman: Sword Of Atlantis, James Robinson's Detective Comics. Meanwhile, Adventures Of Superman wraps up the final story before those titles leap, Batman Annual cleans up some continuity, and Sam Keith stays blessedly unconnected to current events in Batman: Secrets. And so goes the DCU - it's big event comics, and the dangling carrot of One Year Later is going to get eaten. Fanboys will rampage over whether or not the wait was worth it.

Meanwhile, Marvel quietly delivers two of my favorite reads on the stands these days: Nextwave and Ultimates. Local, Fear Agent, and Gødland also arrive this week, and will allow me the delusion that I'm not a complete superhero whore.**

All this Wednesday goodness only serves as an appetizer to the day's main event. After I pick up this week's books, I'll be heading to my first real performance in almost a decade. I decided to knock of the rust by doing a staged reading, where there is light rehearsal and only a few performances. I have since realized that approaching a major Shakespeare role on three rehearsals is knocking off the rust with a sledgehammer.

• Adventures Of Superman #649
• Aquaman: Sword Of Atlantis #40
• Batman Annual #25
• Batman: Secrets #1
• Detective Comics #817
• Infinite Crisis #5
• JSA #83
• Outsiders #34
• Fear Agent #3
• Godland #8
• Next Wave #2
• Ultimates 2 #10
• X-Factor #4
• Local #4
• Hellboy: Makoma #2

---

* That's what we in the biz call a "tease".
** I will be sure to update y'all at some point on how many Google hits I get from the term "superhero whore".

Categories:

• Comics
• NewReleases

Full Auto

Though it's been a major part of PC gaming for years, demos have not been huge in console gaming due to the need to physically distribute a disc. They've been relegated to magazine add-ins, and most demos are played by very few gamers. That's changed since last November: one of the changes the Xbox 360 has brought to console gaming is the downloadable demo. It's easy, it's free, and with a dearth of new releases for the system, you have a hungry audience.

It's a double-edged sword, though: a good demo can easily generate a lot of new game sales, but a horrible demo can drive just as many away. That's just what happened to Full Auto when they releases a lackluster demo containing some early code. The major response the demo of this game got on messageboards was: "I was thinking about this ... not now".

Which is too bad, because the final product is much better than that demo. Full Auto won't go down as the pinnacle of 360 gaming, but it's a madly fun game that delivers on its promise of the most satisfying vehicular mayhem this side of Mad Max. It's explodo gaming at its finest: you drive really fast, and lots of stuff blows up beautifully.


The experiences in a session of Full Auto are unlike anything I've played before. "Unlike" might not be the right word ... I've played things like this, but Full Auto amps it up to such a degree that it becomes fresh. Taking a corner too loose, smashing through plate glass windows and fishtailing through the display floor of an auto dealership as you slam on the gas to get back in the race .... sure, you can quibble about physics and framerate, but that's just dead fun. It's a helluva feeling to decide to drive through that corner coffee shop in order to cut in front of the racing pack, and just as much fun to blow up a tanker full of gas to explode the rival who's half a block ahead. Though the cars themselves aren't much to look at when you peel away from the finish line, the damage is modeled incredibly well. Add that to the beautiful cities, great effects, and some fantastic audio (especially the machine gun), and you have a true next-gen title which looks especially good on an HDTV.

Every game these days needs to have a unique wrinkle, and Full Auto's is "Unwreck" mode, where you can rewind the game a bit to try and escape the fireball fate you are heading for. At first glance it seemed a bit gimmicky, but it really serves to keep the risk/reward of your standard racer in check. Full Auto doesn't want you to drive carefully, or to hold back on a dangerous move and the ability to take a mulligan on a spectacular crash ensures that you can push things just that much farther. The real trick for these kind of arcade racers is managing the risk/reward ratio, and Full Auto has come down firmly on the side of "risk". It fundamentally rewards edgy madness in every mechanic, and encourages the gamer to create the kind of fantastic moments that prompt the classic ohmygoddidyouseethat!

The parts are all there, and Full Auto could easily become a huge franchise with just a few tweaks here and there. Though the game shines in multiplayer (whether online or with buddies'n'beers on the couch), the single player needs a bit more beef: with no storyline or real sense of advancement, the tracks and challenges tend to blend together. There are also a few technical glitches, like framerate issues and some bugs with Custom Soundtracks that need ironing out before this can stand with the best the genre has to offer. The promise is there, however, and I think this is easily as good a first entry as the original Burnout: and that series turned out the best arcade racer of all time. I hope the team at Sega and Pseudo Interactive can do the same, because Full Auto has the kind of impact fun that's hard to build in later.

T.G.I.F.: February 24, 2006

No. Tofurkey is not funny.

Strangely enough, Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #2 is funny. Very funny.

By Damon Lindelof, Leinil Francis Yu, and Dave McCaig.

Mouse Guard

Why isn't Mouse Guard part of Free Comic Book Day?

If I had to take one book on the stands as my evangelist creed, one book with which to convert the masses to comics, it would be Mouse Guard. Sure, it's oddly shaped. Sure, it's about talking mice with swords. Sure, it's not a masterwork of the medium. What it is, though, is a great idea of what comics can be. In lieu of it being offered on that magical Saturday in May, I'll probably pick up an extra copy or two on next week's trip to 2005 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award Winning Night Flight Comics: a copy for my girls to read (and mutilate), and some extras for nieces and nephews.

Mouse Guard isn't just for kids, though. This beautiful little book about the adventures of a Rodent Knights Templar, protecting travelers and merchants along dangerous passages full of enemies to their kind, fits in that ever-so-elusive "All Ages" category. It's enjoyable because it's simple and beautiful, and very true: unconcerned with market niche, David Petersen
tells the tale as it comes to him, without worrying that it's "too dark" for kids, or "not dark enough" for everyone else. Like the best of Disney, or the Brothers Grimm, or Bone, there's a hint of darkness and rough edges.

Apart from the tone, I'd also proselytize with this as a near-perfect "single". As the industry gradually shifts to graphic novels, and most monthly books are simply serialized paperbacks, Mouse Guard hits the "single" structure just right. There's a complete story the this slim book, with multiple beats, but it ends on a nice cliffhanger that leaves you wanting more.


If I did have a problem with the book, it would be Greg's. The format's wonderful, but damned inconvenient as a long-term keeper. It's not about storage for investment purposes ... just that I'd like to keep this book around, and will need to make a special effort to do so.

Categories:

• Comics
• Reviews

Focused Linkblogging

• Matt Fraction posted the cover art from Five Fists Of Science, now on its way from Image Comics in May.
  
  I will humbly submit that May also contains my birthday. I will also humbly submit that Image Comics is based in Berkeley, CA ... and that I played Samuel Clemens in Berkeley many moons ago. Since two of those five fists appear to belong to Mr. Clemens himself, I believe the term "cosmic synergy" applies in some form or other.


• Not that I needed the validation ... but I agree - gamers make good dads.


• Marc Singer takes an occasional break from Morisonarama, and plunges into other comics. Sometimes, he even likes them.


• Happy Birthday, Bryan Lee O'Malley!


• "Freedom 3 to go after Osama bin Laden in May" - Capitalizing on the buzz surrounding Frank Miller's Holy Terror is a great idea. However, riding Miller's coattails with a press release that describes a cover without including that cover is not so good an idea. Riding Miller's coattails with a press release that points to a nonfunctioning website is also not a great play.


• And we'll end with a question: Does anyone mind that I've been introducing gaming content?

Categories:

• Comics
• Gaming
• Linkblogging

This Week's Releases: February 22, 2006

This week's trip to 2005 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award Winning Night Flight Comics will not "Make Comics Better", nor will it "Push Comix Forward". On the contrary: I may, in fact, be hurting comics. Jog points me to things that might broaden my horizons, but there are weeks where I like my horizons just where they are.

What can I say in my defense? Sometimes I just like comic-booky comics that have superheroes and tights and fists. The second arc of Astonishing X-Men was a pretty-well-unmitigated disaster, but it's hard not to give this series another chance. I feel sure Cassaday and Whedon will deliver the superheroes and tights and fists I am craving.

Were I to be pushing comics on one direction or another, I would be pushing it towards the direction of Mouse Guard, I think: Great art, unique(ish) subject, the promise of "all ages" but not "for kids". The American Way may, in fact, be pushing comics backwards to a time where the intersection of politics and powers was nouveau ... but considering the political wit of writer John Ridley's Three Kings, it's worth a try.

As a side note, the lateness of Infinite Crisis is interesting. At the moment, Diamond's not expecting it next week, either. Was Rich right? (Scroll to "State Of The Industry", and expect spoilers.)

• American Way #1
• Batman #650
• Green Lantern #9
• JLA Classified #17
• Wonder Woman #226
• Astonishing X-Men #13
• Captain America #15
• Iron Man: The Inevitable #3
• Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk #2
• Mouse Guard #1

Categories:

• Comics
• NewReleases

T.G.I.F.: February 17, 2006

I love time travel. I love "alternate" worlds. I love Mark Millar's Ultimate Fantastic Four.

I love this splash page. In general, Greg Land's excessive photoreferencing and stiff poses don't do much for me. But this is a beautiful splash page to cap off the latest Ultimate Fantastic Four.



(I do not love my scanner.)

Condemned: Criminal Origins

Condemned: Criminal Origins is not for the faint of heart. This launch title for the Xbox 360 didn't get much press, and has thankfully been spared the firestorm of controversy more high-profile targets are subject to. It's a grim tale of an FBI agent on the run as he tries to clear his name and hunt down serial killers in the midst of an epidemic of disease and madness ... Super Mario it's not. Though survival horror has been a huge genre for some time now, this represents a new blend of the genre with the more traditional first-person shooter (and just a dash of puzzle-solving), and it's all wrapped in a layer of grit and grime and blood that makes this play like Se7en: The Videogame.

When I talked about Call Of Duty 2, I discussed gaming as the ultimate extension of reader response theory: the reader/player is an active participant in creating the artistic experience, separate from authorial intent. This is really brought to the fore in Condemned, where the experience of the game will change wildly depending on your interaction with it. At it's most base level, this is a run-n-shoot like Doom or HALO, with very few enemies. Those who are skilled at the genre could easily rely on their reflexes to race through the game, dispatching enemies with ease.

For those lacking teh mad skillz (or those who simply wish to meet the game halfway) there's a wonderfully creepy, horrific time to be had. More than I few times, I sat in my darkened basement office, wondering why the hell I was putting my blood pressure through this. Attackers come from nowhere, and weapons are a tricky lot: though guns and ammunition are in short supply, you can pick up just about anything (from 2x4s to fireaxes to locker doors) and smack folks in the head with it. The game expertly plays with suspense as empty corridors become as fun as pitched battles. The developers understand that waiting for the next attack is half the fun, and the chaotic urban interiors (every site is seemingly under construction or destruction) provide plenty of opportunity for half-seen shadows and echoed footsteps in the distance.

Since your character is an investigator, the game adds a wrinkle to the genre by giving you various investigative tools to analyze fingerprints, bloodstains, and more. It's all very CSI-like, and promised to add a bit of depth to the game. Promises aren't results, though, as it falls apart on execution. It's still a welcome change from the suspense, and allows you to pore over the grisly crime scenes sprinkled liberally through the game ... but it's so limited and filled with so much hand-holding that it fails as a gameplay mechanic. For all intents and purposes, the investigation segments could be cutscenes and they'd be no less interactive.

The problems with the CSI segments are minor, and at least represent an attempt at breaking new ground. The disappointment in Condemned comes at the end, when hours of inventive, thrilling, genre-blending gameplay are thrown away for a long iteration of the gaming-standard Big Ending Fight. Wave after wave of minions? Check. Fight final boss multiple times? Check. Limited strategies? Check. In the final frames of the game, it betrays the principles that made it great, and I couldn't help but be thoroughly disappointed. Fighting strategies that have been developed are artificially crippled, and there's no way through but a slugfest with checkpoints spread few and far between. It's as if the final minutes of Se7en were replaced with the closing sequence to Jean Claude Van Damme's Double Impact.

I didn't finish the game, in fact. Minutes away from the conclusion, I simply gave up - betrayed by both my reflexes and the development team. I wish I knew what happened there, why the game so suddenly shifts tone and technique, but whatever the reason it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Condemned is 95% of a truly great and unique game, and I hope the rumored sequel will stay true to itself.

This Week's Releases: February 15, 2006

My trip to 2005 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award Winning Night Flight Comics tomorrow promises joy. Hopefully, it does not promise the two-hour one-way drive I had last week. I enjoy the drive, and the thinking time that provides ... but not that much time.

I have made resolutions to stop buying miniseries, and wait out the trade. Then something like Paul Pope's Batman: Year One Hundred comes along and snaps my willpower like a twig. I seem to be in a real love/hate relationship with Brian Wood's stuff lately, but I'm hoping Supermarket lands on the "love" side. Ultimate Fantastic Four kicks off the "President Thor" arc, and the idea of Mark Millar playing with this character some more is what got me to follow his run on UFF in the first place - his Ultimate Thor is one of the more interesting characters in superhero comics today. New Avengers is off the pull list, but the last issue piqued my interest just enough that I will give it a flip-through.

In the "Things I Probably Won't Buy" Department is the debut of the Brubaker/Lark Daredevil. I'd follow those two just about anywhere, but I've been reading Daredevil in the oversized hardcovers, so am at least a year behind and don't want to leap ahead. Also of note is the Kid Eternity trade, collecting the 90's Morrison/Fegredo miniseries, which is probably hoping to capitalize on his decidedly odd appearance in a recent issue of Teen Titans. I think Justice is on my pull list, but this will be my last issue ... I honestly forget it exists between issues, and that's not a good sign.

• Action Comics #836
• Batman: Year One Hundred #1
• Firestorm #22
• JSA Classified #9
• Justice #4
• Sgt Rock: The Prophecy #2
• Supermarket #1
• New Avengers #16
• Ultimate Fantastic Four #27
• X-Men: Deadly Genesis #4
• X-Statix Presents Dead Girl #2
• Conan #25

Categories:

• Comics
• NewReleases

Focused Linkblogging of Love

It's Valentine's Day, so it's all about the love in this little linkblog:

• Reason #67 in "Why I Love Double Articulation":
  

  By some happy cosmic accident, these absolutely symmetrical covers were published only a year apart, at a time when I was young enough to feel that comics were like signals from the stars, profound messages from a distant planet or from beneath the crust of this one, artifacts, alien or ancient, intended exclusively for me.




• Mike Sterling loves comics.



• Have I ever mentioned how much I love Brian Cronin's monthly feature over at Comics Should Be Good, "Judging Books By Their Covers"? I haven't? ... Well, I really love "Judging Books By Their Covers".



• Beaucoup Kevin is noticing a possible pattern in AiT/PlanetLar solicitations, and he mentions a "nagging rumor" that Five Fists Of Science has jumped from Ait/PlanetLar to Image. It's page at the AiT/PlanetLar site has gone missing and the switch is confirmed in this week's All The Rage, as it was apparently announced at WonderCon. This is the one Ait/PlanetLar title that's really on my radar, and news it's actually on it's way (regardless of publisher) is most welcome and fills me with thoughts of steampunk love.

Categories:

• Comics
• Linkblogging

Focused Linkblogging

• Rawhide was labeled MAX because the major hook and focus of the project was the sexuality of the main character, a 50-plus year old established character. The reason the books featuring the characters you named in your question [Northstar, Hulkling, Asguardian] don't carry a MAX label is because that's not the focus of their books. The sexuality aspect of their lives is just one part of the whole that makes up their books, as opposed to Rawhide, where the fact that he was gay and his history was the major point of the book.
  -- Joe Quesada at NEWSARAMA.COM

  
  So, in other words, if a gay character is presented as a human being and not a mincing stereotype .... then you don't need the MAX label? It's like some Bizarro imprint where adolescent fag jokes are "adult" content, and an approach where characters transcend token status is "for the kids".


• Snark is plentiful on the WeboComicsBlogoNet. Really funny snark is a bit harder to find. 2 Guys Buying Comics made me laugh a lot with "Fly On The Wall, Vol. I: JLA".



• Morrison said that he's already plotted 15 issues, and in his first issue alone, he has 15 ninja man-bats as well as Talia, and the story is called "Batman & Son". Morrison said Batman coming out of 52 OYL will be a more of a "fun guy, more healthy", more like the "Neal Adams, hairy-chested, love-god" version of Batman.

  
  It only took six months to get the news I wanted - though Kubertness is still pending. Morrison on Batman and Dini on Detective is about as happy as WonderCon news could make me.


• More Punks. This will find a publisher, won't it?


• I plan to have something up on Nana soon, work permitting. Until then, direct your eyes to Flipped, where David Welsh talks about this wonderful shojo manga.


• Maybe the best commentary on Sexy Chix is this post at Resplendent Beard which discusses the book and much more:
  

  When I'm linked to, I don't get tagged as a new female blogger or hailed for my estrogen-bathed insights (not that I have many insights in the first place, fond as I am of driveby-comedy-style blogging); I get descriptions of the "Not quite right in the head" variety, which is more than fair. Do any of you genuinely think that the bitchy webcomics make me sexy? Do you like my work less because you don't know what I look like--Hell, that you don't know my name? I suspect if I were to play up my gender, I might get more attention, but that goes against one of the few deep-seated moral precepts that I have: I will earn what I get. I don't want people to give me a pass or pay attention to me because I'm a girl in a man's world. It's dishonest.

Categories:

• Comics
• Linkblogging

Tales Designed To Thrizzle #2

Dear WeboComicsBlogoNet,

It's hard to do this. It's hard to be honest. It's hard to face a breakup, especially when you send me Valentines. I'll be so lonely when you shun me, and pretend like we never knew each other. You won't talk to me in the halls, or even accept my cleverly passed notes in English class.

Still, I have to risk it ... because what's a relationship without honesty? What I have to say isn't what you want to hear, and I fear how you'll view me.

I didn't like Tales Designed To Thrizzle.

There. I said it.

I'm sorry. I tried, but I just couldn't like it. I see where you're coming from: the design is fantastic, and Kupperman's range of his ideas is astounding. It's just that the book was trying too hard to be funny, so desperately calling out on each and every page "Hey! Look at how I phrased this kooky idea in an old-timey style! Isn't that hilarious? I'm talking about poop, but with irony." It's unrelenting in it's simple setup-punchline Dada structure. There's no change of pace, it's not surprising because you know that with each page you'll get about the same joke: something from Column A (Octopus), something from Column B (Fireman), add a dash of deadpan and bake until laughs emerge.

I know ... you laughed. And that's great - it really is.

But I didn't ... and if you're not laughing out loud at Thrizzle, there isn't much else there. Kupperman has an incredible eye, and if he gets past dadaist one-liners I'll be first in line. But even if it destroys our relationship, I won't be buying more Thrizzle.

So there it is.

I really liked Action Philosophers World Domination Handbook, though. Can we at least still be friends?

Love,
Mark

Categories:

• Comics
• Reviews

T.G.I.F.: February 10, 2006

Steve Leiber opened my sketchbook with an incredibly detailed Hawkman sketch.

Dev Madan contributed this sketch of Off-Ramp from the late, lamented Young Heroes In Love.

Even in sketch form, Phil Jimenez' Ragged Robin is sexy ...

... and Tim Sale's Joker is creepy.

WonderCon is this weekend. I imagine for those of you attending (or going to other events), this is a T.G.I.F. of exceptional T.G.I.F.-ness.

WonderCon is the only comics convention I've been to. I went in 1997, and had a great time, collecting the sketches which make up today's T.G.I.F.

Hope y'all going have a great time, and get some cool sketches and time spent with your favorite artists.

This Week's Shopping List: February 8, 2005

First, my contractually obligated* mention of my store of choice this Wednesday: 2005 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award Winning Night Flight Comics. Now onto the highlights of the week's books, done in the bulletpoint style that frees me from coherence and segues:

• Joe Kelly's Earth-2 Superman arc begins its run in the Superman titles. I've been excited about this since it was announced, and the extra credits on the cover don't dampen the enthusiasm: Kelly, Chaykin, Sale, Ordway (and others). This combined with a Levitz/Perez JSA takes the sting out, though. I have a soft spot for Earth-2, and this week promises much Earth-2 love.
  


• Eddie Campbell writes the two-hundredth Legends of the Dark Knight, and that's good enough for me. I've not read an issue of this since 1998 ... but Eddie Campbell writing a done-in-one Super Sized Batman tale is something I can't resist.


• Incredible Hulk #92 begins a big storyarc "event", which does not interest me. Greg Pak writing the Jolly Green One does, because his work on the character in 1602: New World was pretty compelling.


• I think I'm a sucker for World War II superheroes. I think the good press for Battle Hymn: Farewell To The First Golden Age has me convinced. However, I also think that I'll need to see how the wallet's feeling ...


• Wanna know something about me? I really like Young Avengers.


• My feelings were mixed at first, but I sure am enjoying Midnight Kiss more and more with each issue. I was particularly harsh on Ryan Stegman's art, but his storytelling craft seems to be growing as the series goes along.


• Oh, goody! Yes ... goody. I can find no better term to describe the appearance of a new installment of Action Philosophers! (Featuring The Golem, it appears.)


• The first volume of Nana is still in my "I want to write about this" pile. I just have a hard time putting the experience of reading it into words, even after multiple attempts. The second volume should hit shelves today, and is as worthy a manga purchase as you could make.


• I remember the bang of buying JLA #1, when Grant Morrison blew the doors off the concept and made it the books I got the shakes for each month. The fact this run is ending as it is, with this miserable issue-filler .... it's a whimper.
  


• Ganges taught me my lesson. You win, WeboComicsBlogoNet. You win. I will seek out the Thrizzle.

---

• Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight #200
• JLA #125
• JSA #82
• Supergirl #4
• Superman #226
• Teen Titans #32
• Battle Hymn: Farewell To The First Golden Age TP
• Incredible Hulk #92
• Ultimate Extinction #2
• Young Avengers #10
• Midnight Kiss #3
• Action Philosophers: World Domination Handbook
• Nana Vol 2 TP
• Tales Designed To Thrizzle #2

*Of course there's no contract. Don't be silly, sillyhead.

Categories:

• Comics
• NewReleases

Focused Linkblogging

• Remember the guy with a fist for a head? Now he's online and will send you emails.


• Love Manga celebrates its one year blogoversary. My best wishes are belated, unfortunately. It's a great site, and one of the first I read in my RSS feed, as David constantly tempts me into more and more manga.


• When I see something like this (notice who's missing), I automatically now think of Kalinara and Ragnell and When Fangirls Attack!. If only Marvel did ... (James Meeley notices something completely different. Everyone notices they're decidedly bad sculpts.)

Categories:

• Comics
• Linkblogging

Sexy Chix

Chynna Clugston? Jill Thompson? Colleen Doran? Gail Simone? Colleen Coover? Amanda Conner? Trina Robbins?

Sexy Chix ... you had me at "Hello".

Thing of it is, though, I don't care if you're chix. I don't care if you're sexy. This is an anthology of some of the best creators working in comics these days, regardless of gender. I bought Sexy Chix because it contains some of the people in comics that make me excited about the artform.

Why, then, was I so nonplussed by Sexy Chix? A few pieces (notably "No Rites" by Madison Clell which hits with the force of a hurricane) made me glad I read the collection, but on the whole I was left feeling cold and unengaged.

It's not that I'm unable to appreciate art made from a woman's point of view. It's been scientifically established that my taste in manga is approximately that of a 16-year old girl. What those manga titles share, however, is great characterization that surpasses politics and gender.

I love reading female creators and characters, but I suppose I'm not interested in reading about Women. I'm interested in reading about people. I'm overjoyed if some of them are female, but I don't care to read the distilled concerns of a gender, be it my own or otherwise. Far too many of the pieces here are either about victimhood or a lost love. Far too many of these stories about women are actually about men, and their effect on women. Far too many feel generic and stereotypical. Far too many bang a feminist drum, writing about the concerns of a gender instead of the concerns of an individual. Trina Robbins' "Haseena Ross, Girl Detective" hits the right note, for me: confident, powerful women characters in a story that's doesn't need a man to define it or drive it. Entries from Carla Speed McNeil, Diana Schutz, Gail Simone and Alexa Kitchen also are enjoyable entries that are about interesting characters instead of abstract concerns.

Perhaps it's inherent in the structure of an anthology like this: contributors focus on the common theme. I wonder if this was pitched as an anthology of black-and-white comics (that only coincidentally involved female creators) how the stories would have differed. In some alternate universe in my head, this is just called "Indy Comix", and it's only after a perusal of the contributors that I connect the dots and realize they're all women. I'd love to see that book, and read those stories.

Categories:

• Comics
• Reviews

T.G.I.F.: February 3, 2006

Usually the T.G.I.F. is all about the happy, but this week comes with very mixed emotions.

Most reading this blog know that Seth Fisher passed away yesterday. His work in Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big In Japan was stunning, and has graced this feature before. The fourth issue came out this week, and I re-read the set last night. Midway through the mad postmodernism of the third issue the thought came that I would love to see Fisher and Morrison team up in a verbal, visual, and imaginative barrage that would set pages on fire ....

Then I realized that wouldn't be happening.

However, it doesn't mean he didn't still make me smile last night. I have a lot of back issues to find, and he'll be speaking to me and making me smile for a long while to come.

Ganges #1

Isn't it a delight when the WeboComicsBlogoNet hypes something to death ... and then it delivers? The Pickytarian, Ian Brill, Jog (and here), Tom Spurgeon and others all threw their weight behind Kevin Huizenga's Ganges. I dithered a bit, as my comics budget is tight and it seemed hard to justify $7.95 for 32 pages.

It turns out that $7.95 for 32 pages of Ganges is a bargain. It's a beautiful edition, oversized and made with quality paper, but it's the content that makes this book a rich, dense, rewarding experience that's worth every penny that Fantagraphics' "Ignatz" line demands.

Kevin Huizenga fills those oversized pages with stylistic experimentation, but keeps it all grounded in a well-observed life. In particular, "Bed" really shines as an example of why Huizenga has garnered so much acclaim and "buzz". There's exciting stylistic work here, as the story is mainly told on pure black pages that uses simple shapes of limited color to communicate a wealth of emotion. That formal experiment never overwhelms the story, however. The page is not the point, the medium is not the message. Huizenga never loses sight of the simple little matters of life that give the book it's charm and appeal.

In too much autobiography, be it thinly-veiled or not, there's a temptation to lay on story and structure and meaning, with the events of the day acting as leitmotifs reminding us of the central theme of this particular life. It's in no way limited to comics, though it can certainly be seen in many indy comic creators like Seth or Chris Ware. Life obeying rules of thematic coherence is a lie, and it's why we turn to fiction: to give order to the chaos of our lives. Though the experimentation of the first story, "Time Traveling", is certainly eye-catching ... it's the simplicity of a day where the big concerns are litter, The Beatles, and the perils of late-night coffee that really make Ganges shine. Kevin Huizenga manages to be introspective without a hint of neuroses or narcissism, and he fully accepts that it doesn't all add up to a great thematic statement: it simply is. Ganges particularly shines in his depiction of Ganges' wife, Wendy, as she comes off the page with a wit and a character of her own that does not merely exist as a foil or counterpoint.

If there is a central theme, it is about time and how we swim in it. From repetitious routines that can make us feel stuck in a loop, to the possible futures of a litterer, to the weight of age, to the pressures of sleep as night weighs down ... it's all about time, be it geologic or imaginative. There's no conclusion, though, no summation. Huizenga examines the reactions we can have, and how time impacts up in many ways without trying to shove its square peg into a round hole.

This is my first exposure to Kevin Huizenga, but it won't be my last. I feel as excited as when I first read It's A Good Life, If You Don't Weaken, and saw something that spoke with elegance and love.

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