I have seen the future of comics...
Friday, January 08, 2010
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Hey, Joe Kubert has yet another new book coming out...
Stan Sakai gives us a look at some of the work that went into the upcoming Usagi plush toy.
And if you bought THE ART OF DITKO and found one of the stories really took a weird turn in the middle, you'll want to read this. Sloppy.
Upcoming comic of interest:
DONG XOAI VIETNAM 1965 hardcover
A brand new 200 page war comic from Joe Kubert. Sign me up. Oh, and that reminds me, I never did get his JEW GANGSTER book. Looking around now, I think I was waiting for a softcover version that was on the schedule but never actually came out, so I guess I'll track down the hardcover.
ISBN-10: 1401221424
ISBN-13: 978-1401221423
Diamond JAN100309
And now, entirely unrelated, to prove goofy Batman covers didn't end with the "new look" in the mid-1960s...
Hm, I see this has been reprinted in a couple of SHOWCASE PRESENTS volumes I haven't picked up yet. I need to get caught up on those, although really, the stories never do justice to the covers.
And if you bought THE ART OF DITKO and found one of the stories really took a weird turn in the middle, you'll want to read this. Sloppy.
Upcoming comic of interest:
DONG XOAI VIETNAM 1965 hardcover
A brand new 200 page war comic from Joe Kubert. Sign me up. Oh, and that reminds me, I never did get his JEW GANGSTER book. Looking around now, I think I was waiting for a softcover version that was on the schedule but never actually came out, so I guess I'll track down the hardcover.
ISBN-10: 1401221424
ISBN-13: 978-1401221423
Diamond JAN100309
And now, entirely unrelated, to prove goofy Batman covers didn't end with the "new look" in the mid-1960s...
Hm, I see this has been reprinted in a couple of SHOWCASE PRESENTS volumes I haven't picked up yet. I need to get caught up on those, although really, the stories never do justice to the covers.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
WEST COAST BLUES by Tardi & Manchette
There have been a number of translations of French artist Jacques Tardi's large body of work into English over the years. From Dark Horse back around 20 years ago there were some translations of the early 20th century fantasy adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec stories that he wrote and drew. From Ibook a few years ago THE BLOODY STREETS OF PARIS, one of his adaptations of Leo Malet's Nestor Burma novels. Some other stuff from NBM and Fantagraphics. Personally, I haven't cared much for what I read of them. The art was mostly okay, but either because of the writing or translation I found I could never get into the stories enough to really appreciate the books.
Recently it seems Fantagraphics has decided to make a major effort to bring Tardi's work into English, with two books released in the last few months, and a third already on the schedule, a mix of his original solo work, his work as an artist for other writers and his adaptations of prose works by others. WEST COAST BLUES is in the last category, a 74-page adaptations of the 1976 novel LE PETIT BLEU DE LA CÔTE OUEST by Jean-Patrick Manchette, first published in French in 2005, one of several adaptations of Manchette that Tardi has done, although the first published in English.
While I can't say if it's because of the source material, translation or differences in Tardi's art (the Tardi I've read before was at least 15 years older than this), but I liked this one much more than the earlier stuff. It didn't start off that way, the first few pages I found a bit confusing, and I'm not entirely sure that was intentional, so I wound up starting and stopping it a few times. After that part is over, it becomes an entertaining crime/adventure story.
The plot is your basic "man who saw too much" set-up, a young man from Paris who finds himself pursued by a pair of not quite effective assassins for reasons he's not quite sure of, seeing his life spiral out of control in moments of intense violence. I can't say I find our lead, Gerfaut, very likable, or some of his actions very logical, but he serves the story.
Much more enjoyable are the two assassins out to get Gerfaut, but obviously not doing a very good job of it. They bring a fair bit of the comedy to the story, being a sort of PULP FICTION Jules & Vincent combination, years before Tarantino and Avary wrote anything. I don't know how much of the dynamic was in the original, but since the novel was apparently translated into English (as 3 TO KILL) and made into a movie (3 MEN TO DESTROY) I suppose there could be some influence there. Anyway, it's through the pop culture immersion of those two killers that we get that neat panel of the Marvel super-heroes up top, and my favourite scene in the book:
It took me a few minutes to figure out why that character looked so familiar, but then I realized that he's the Spider who appears every now and then in Paul Grist's JACK STAFF series. I knew Grist's characters in the series were often "influenced" by some obscure old British comics, but didn't realize that in this case he lifted one wholesale.
On the other hand, the frequent musical pop culture references don't really work for me, but that could just be because I'm unfamiliar with the music in question, so I'm not sure if they add a layer of meaning that I'm missing (the fact that they're the source of the title of the work suggests that's possible).
Anyway, it's an enjoyable little book, so I'll definitely try some of the other Tardi material coming out. I have to say, I don't care that much for the cover design, which blows up and crops an interior page, then slaps a colour label on for the title and credits. I see they're using something similar for the later books, so maybe it'll look better as part of a series, and it certainly does give them a distinctive look.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Some old comics I got, some new ones that are interesting
Good mail day, as I finally got around to getting a copy of Tim Eldred's GREASE MONKEY book, a 300+ page book published a few years ago, collecting the first six 12-page stories Eldred published in various places back in the 1990s, and then continuing on with a few hundred more pages. Looks like some good reading ahead there.
Plus I got most of the WOLFF & BYRD / SUPERNATURAL LAW stuff I was missing, straight from Exhibit "A" Press. Still missing one issue they were sold out of, unfortunately, but looking forward to reading the stuff I did get.
Upcoming Comic of Interest
LITTLE ADVENTURES IN OZ BOOK 01
A compact collection of two of Eric Shanower's five original Oz graphic novels, originally published by First and Dark horse about 20 years ago. There's already a big collection of all five that IDW published a few years back, but if you don't have that, or the originals, this $10 book is a good cheap way to get them. This book has "The Enchanted Apple of Oz" and "The Ice King of Oz", and looks like it's shipping this week. A second book collecting the rest should be out in the summer.
ISBN-10: 1600105890
ISBN-13: 978-1600105890
Diamond NOV090862
Other comics of some interest this week, I seem Boom is coming out with their $25 book collecting the first half of Don Rosa's LIFE OF SCROOGE. Seems like a pretty odd format, considering Gemstone collected the whole thing in one book for $16, but I'm curious to see how it looks. Oh, and really good comics, so if you don't have it in another format, check it out.
And it looks like the new editions of the Kaluta/Lee STARSTRUCK series are actually coming out at a steady pace. I was a bit reluctant to pick them up since I didn't have much confidence in it not stalling early on. Is there any actually new stuff in the issues out so far, or just all reprint so far?
Plus I got most of the WOLFF & BYRD / SUPERNATURAL LAW stuff I was missing, straight from Exhibit "A" Press. Still missing one issue they were sold out of, unfortunately, but looking forward to reading the stuff I did get.
Upcoming Comic of Interest
LITTLE ADVENTURES IN OZ BOOK 01
A compact collection of two of Eric Shanower's five original Oz graphic novels, originally published by First and Dark horse about 20 years ago. There's already a big collection of all five that IDW published a few years back, but if you don't have that, or the originals, this $10 book is a good cheap way to get them. This book has "The Enchanted Apple of Oz" and "The Ice King of Oz", and looks like it's shipping this week. A second book collecting the rest should be out in the summer.
ISBN-10: 1600105890
ISBN-13: 978-1600105890
Diamond NOV090862
Other comics of some interest this week, I seem Boom is coming out with their $25 book collecting the first half of Don Rosa's LIFE OF SCROOGE. Seems like a pretty odd format, considering Gemstone collected the whole thing in one book for $16, but I'm curious to see how it looks. Oh, and really good comics, so if you don't have it in another format, check it out.
And it looks like the new editions of the Kaluta/Lee STARSTRUCK series are actually coming out at a steady pace. I was a bit reluctant to pick them up since I didn't have much confidence in it not stalling early on. Is there any actually new stuff in the issues out so far, or just all reprint so far?
Monday, January 04, 2010
ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS by Gaiman & Helquist
ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS is a short novel that Neil Gaiman wrote for World Book Day 2008 in the UK, which recently got a North American edition with illustrations by Brett Helquist. Apparently the original version had illustrations by Mark Buckingham, and while I have no problem with Helquist's work, I'd kind of like to see Buckingham's version. Oh, here's an example. And it looks like I can get a copy for 9 cents. Plus about 60 times that in postage...
This is Helquist's for the same chapter.
Anyway, this is the story of a young boy named Odd living in a village in Norway back in the days of the vikings. During a winter that seems to be lasting much longer than it should Odd meets three talking animals, who (spoiler alert) turn out to be the transformed versions of the major gods of Asgard, Odin, Thor and Loki, trapped in those forms after a Frost Giant took over Asgard.
Gaiman sure seems to like the Æsir, as this is at least the third time that he's used them in his work, after minor recurring bits in SANDMAN and a more major role in AMERICAN GODS. And a few years ago he was going to do some comics about what I consider the real Asgardian gods (the ones designed by Jack Kirby) with P. Craig Russell, though I guess that was called off quite a while ago.
Anyway, it's a cute little story, the short length avoids some of aspects of Gaiman's prose that I'm less fond of (and it is the classic Gaiman plot of a dissatisfied person in the real-world finding himself thrust into heroism in a separate magical world), but the lack of room for complexity removes some of the better aspects. Should be a pretty good for the intended younger audience, though I'd recommend THE GRAVEYARD BOOK and CORALINE before it from Gaiman's oeuvre.
This is Helquist's for the same chapter.
Anyway, this is the story of a young boy named Odd living in a village in Norway back in the days of the vikings. During a winter that seems to be lasting much longer than it should Odd meets three talking animals, who (spoiler alert) turn out to be the transformed versions of the major gods of Asgard, Odin, Thor and Loki, trapped in those forms after a Frost Giant took over Asgard.
Gaiman sure seems to like the Æsir, as this is at least the third time that he's used them in his work, after minor recurring bits in SANDMAN and a more major role in AMERICAN GODS. And a few years ago he was going to do some comics about what I consider the real Asgardian gods (the ones designed by Jack Kirby) with P. Craig Russell, though I guess that was called off quite a while ago.
Anyway, it's a cute little story, the short length avoids some of aspects of Gaiman's prose that I'm less fond of (and it is the classic Gaiman plot of a dissatisfied person in the real-world finding himself thrust into heroism in a separate magical world), but the lack of room for complexity removes some of the better aspects. Should be a pretty good for the intended younger audience, though I'd recommend THE GRAVEYARD BOOK and CORALINE before it from Gaiman's oeuvre.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Past, present and future comics, not in that order
Halfway through the Ninja Turtles brick of a book collecting the first few years of the original series. I think I'm going to have to put it away and get back to it in a few months. Fun stuff, but like most serialized comics doesn't really improve by reading a 600 page chunk in a few days.
Reading P. Craig Russell's adaptation of SANDMAN: THE DREAM HUNTERS, I think I enjoy it more than the illustrated prose version that came out way back when. I certainly like the art better.
Still going through the old MARSHAL LAW stuff, an issue every few days. That original story isn't my favourite bit, I'm not sure I would have kept reading after two or three issues if that was where I started (the first one I read was the TAKES MANHATTAN one-shot, then some later stuff, then the original series). Great art, but the story is a bit disjointed and unclear. Good thing I know it gets better.
Upcoming Comic of Interest:
BLAZING COMBAT Softcover
Already out in hardcover, but you can save a few bucks by picking up the upcoming softcover edition collecting the four issues of war comics mostly written by Archie Goodwin from the mid-1960s, with art including Alex Toth, John Severin, Wallace Wood, Gene Colan and many more. Great stuff, very well reproduced, plus with some interesting interviews with Goodwin and publisher James Warren in the back.
ISBN-10: 1606993666
ISBN-13: 978-1606993668
Diamond DEC090865
Let's keep with old Batman for the old amusing cover, #147 by Sheldon Moldoff. Boy, criminals in Gotham really are cowardly.
Reading P. Craig Russell's adaptation of SANDMAN: THE DREAM HUNTERS, I think I enjoy it more than the illustrated prose version that came out way back when. I certainly like the art better.
Still going through the old MARSHAL LAW stuff, an issue every few days. That original story isn't my favourite bit, I'm not sure I would have kept reading after two or three issues if that was where I started (the first one I read was the TAKES MANHATTAN one-shot, then some later stuff, then the original series). Great art, but the story is a bit disjointed and unclear. Good thing I know it gets better.
Upcoming Comic of Interest:
BLAZING COMBAT Softcover
Already out in hardcover, but you can save a few bucks by picking up the upcoming softcover edition collecting the four issues of war comics mostly written by Archie Goodwin from the mid-1960s, with art including Alex Toth, John Severin, Wallace Wood, Gene Colan and many more. Great stuff, very well reproduced, plus with some interesting interviews with Goodwin and publisher James Warren in the back.
ISBN-10: 1606993666
ISBN-13: 978-1606993668
Diamond DEC090865
Let's keep with old Batman for the old amusing cover, #147 by Sheldon Moldoff. Boy, criminals in Gotham really are cowardly.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
More short bits
A few random things while I work on some things to keep up the daily posting for a while.
Reminders of stuff to write about soon:
Tardi's WEST COAST BLUES, pretty good, the first Tardi I really enjoyed, although the beginning is a bit confusing.
Lucky Luke, still not quite that impressed. I'll give it a few more books to grow on me, Goscinny's earned that much.
Boy, Eddie Campbell really changed Bacchus a lot from his earliest stories.
PERSEPOLIS is really good. Why didn't anyone tell me? Yeah, okay, it was my own fault for taking this long to read it, but man, better than I expected. Definitely should have read this before Satrapi's other books.
Around the web:
Steve Bissette begins a brand new story online, "King of Monster Isle", with a whole mess of monsters (just a few of them over on the right) in the classic SRB tradition. This should be good.
I'm not sure why Dark Horse is still hosting their on-line comics at MySpace, but hey, look, a new series by Mark Crilley, "Brody's Ghost", starts in the latest one. Runs for three months, and the good news is that there's going to be a series of original graphic novels. Looking forward to that. And looking back a few months, I see there was a prelude to the new Groo series a while ago that I missed. Cute little story by Rick Geary a few months before that. Oh, and a second Beanworld story is going to be hosted there in April. The interface kind of sucks, though. Not quite "DC's Zuda Comics" sucks level, but pretty awkward.
Me elsewhere:
Kirby Weblog : Where Creatures Roam #3 [1970]
Ditko Weblog : Where Creatures Roam #3 [1970]
Upcoming Comic of Interest:
MEANWHILE PICK ANY PATH 3856 STORY POSSIBILITIES
I really like Jason Shiga's BOOKHUNTER, so it's really good to see that his next book is coming out from a major publisher, and looks to be something unique and experimental. Should be a book to watch for. And man, Abrams has been building up quite a selection of quality comics, haven't they?
ISBN-10: 0810984237
ISBN-13: 978-0810984233
Diamond NOV090577
And an amusing old cover, who doesn't love "Batman Jones"? Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris provide this 1957 cover.
Reminders of stuff to write about soon:
Tardi's WEST COAST BLUES, pretty good, the first Tardi I really enjoyed, although the beginning is a bit confusing.
Lucky Luke, still not quite that impressed. I'll give it a few more books to grow on me, Goscinny's earned that much.
Boy, Eddie Campbell really changed Bacchus a lot from his earliest stories.
PERSEPOLIS is really good. Why didn't anyone tell me? Yeah, okay, it was my own fault for taking this long to read it, but man, better than I expected. Definitely should have read this before Satrapi's other books.
Around the web:
Steve Bissette begins a brand new story online, "King of Monster Isle", with a whole mess of monsters (just a few of them over on the right) in the classic SRB tradition. This should be good.I'm not sure why Dark Horse is still hosting their on-line comics at MySpace, but hey, look, a new series by Mark Crilley, "Brody's Ghost", starts in the latest one. Runs for three months, and the good news is that there's going to be a series of original graphic novels. Looking forward to that. And looking back a few months, I see there was a prelude to the new Groo series a while ago that I missed. Cute little story by Rick Geary a few months before that. Oh, and a second Beanworld story is going to be hosted there in April. The interface kind of sucks, though. Not quite "DC's Zuda Comics" sucks level, but pretty awkward.
Me elsewhere:
Kirby Weblog : Where Creatures Roam #3 [1970]
Ditko Weblog : Where Creatures Roam #3 [1970]
Upcoming Comic of Interest:
MEANWHILE PICK ANY PATH 3856 STORY POSSIBILITIES
I really like Jason Shiga's BOOKHUNTER, so it's really good to see that his next book is coming out from a major publisher, and looks to be something unique and experimental. Should be a book to watch for. And man, Abrams has been building up quite a selection of quality comics, haven't they?
ISBN-10: 0810984237
ISBN-13: 978-0810984233
Diamond NOV090577
And an amusing old cover, who doesn't love "Batman Jones"? Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris provide this 1957 cover.
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