DEMON by Jason Shiga

Jason Shiga's DEMON was first self-published in 21 chapters, print and digital, from 2014 to 2016, and then collected into four books from First Second in 2016 and 2017. It's the story of a man who, upon attempting suicide, discovers that he's a demon, meaning when his body dies his consciousness survives and he "possesses" the nearest human at the time of death. Complications ensue.

This is a really fun, if absurdly profane, comic, maybe Shiga's magnum opus to date (though I still have to pick up his new ADVENTUREGAME COMICS book, which seems promising). He creates a weird set of rules for how and why "demons" work in this world, and explores them in ways I can't even begin to understand how he got there.  I have to admit, there is a twist in the final book which I'm not sure I completely understand, in terms of what we've been told of how everything works, but I trust Shiga that the logic works out.

Just read it for the third time, but the first time in a short interval (one chapter a day most days for four weeks, and I have to say, a lot of those cliffhangers made sticking to the one-a-day plan difficult). I think it reads much better this way, and I'm kind of surprised that First Second split it the way they did, instead of one big book, or haven't come out with a complete one-volume version since.

Scribbly art update

 

Update on the Scribbly art by Sheldon Mayer I wrote about here.

The auction was won by Alex Johnson, and if it had to go to someone who wasn't me (or someone who would give it to me), Alex would have been my choice. He's found out a bit more about the history of the art and its prior owner. Look through his gallery, he's got some other Mayer work, plus lots of commissions of other artists doing covers for the non-existent "SUGAR & SPIKE #100".  All of them are great, but pay special attention to the Sergio Aragonés and Ramona Fradon ones.

He's also provided a closer look at the editorial note on the artwork.  Here's what we think it says:

1st line: Dear ... [maybe starts with a G?] Eliminate boardwalk
2nd line: Leave BG for sky. Also note
3rd line: Buzzy and Susie are okay in
4th line: position. Show other girls
5th line: All [being] seated and standing
6th line: in BG looking toward Buzzy.and Susie
7th line: Smiling flirtatiously and some just
8th line: Smiling (not as Sheldon
9th line: Interpreted them)

("BG" means "background")

That name on the first line is maddeningly unclear, but I'm pretty sure it starts with a "G".  And as it happens, "Graham Place" is the name of a major artist of the DC teen humour titles of the era, including being attributed with some BUZZY stories and covers (they were almost all unsigned, except for Mayer, so credits are spotty).  Anyone familiar with the styles of the time want to weigh in on whether he drew the BUZZY cover based on Mayer's unused SCRIBBLY cover?

Kevin O'Neill, R.I.P.

Sad to note the passing of Kevin O'Neill, comic book artist known in these parts for Nemesis the Warlock, Marshal Law and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, 

First, here's a cross-section of his career in covers:

Now a random look at some interior pages:

Obviously THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN has been his major work for the last two decades, with six volumes in collaboration with Alan Moore.  An interesting series, with O'Neill called upon to do some almost impossible things a few times every issue, and managing to make it look easy.

He did a few stories featuring the character Lobo, the most notable being LOBO CONVENTION SPECIAL #1 [1993] with Keith Giffen (Lobo co-creator with Roger Slifer) and Alan Grant.  

Here's a nice oddity, O'Neill inking a Jack Kirby page, featuring an obscure SHIELD villain of Kirby's creation.

A pair of pages for DC featuring their classic characters.  The Batman splash is an interesting design, and the Bizarro page from WHO'S WHO has some funny stuff in the background.  Rather famously, Alan Moore once talked about a proposal for a Bizarro series he wanted to do with O'Neill, which never came to pass (O'Neill did eventually do a short story with another writer).

Here's a promo piece for another of his major works, Nemesis the Warlock with writer Pat Mills.  Always thought it was a shame O'Neill wasn't able to draw more of the series, though the other artists (especially Bryan Talbot) did a good job carrying on in the world he designed. Definitely my favourite series to come out of 2000 AD.

Here's a nice charity piece he did for AARGH [1988], an anthology inspired by some homophobic laws being passed in the UK in that era.

O'Neill came in a few times on the OMEGA MEN series created by Joe Staton and Marv Wolfman.  The short story "Brief Lives" is an early collaboration with Alan Moore, and a cute story, while the other page is from a Marv Wolfman story, nicely realizing a nightmare alien world.

MARSHAL LAW is another major work, again in collaboration with Pat Mills, starting with an Epic series in 1987 and continuing through various publishers and crossovers for years after. I think that was the first place I saw his work.  A great series, always outrageous, frequently funny and a must read.

Another Alan Moore collaboration was "Tygers", a Green Lantern story featuring Abin Sur (created by Gil Kane and John Broome) which had more ideas per page than a lot of creators come up with in their careers.

417 years ago today...

 Remember, remember

 the fifth of November

The gunpowder treason and plot.

I see no reason

why the gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

(with thanks to David Lloyd, Alan Moore, Alan Grant, Norm Breyfogle, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon and whoever drew BUSTER)

Unseen Sheldon Mayer SCRIBBLY cover

So, interesting auction item, already out of my price range, and probably headed to much more.  This is a Sheldon Mayer cover to his SCRIBBLY series, which ran for 15 issues from 1948 to 1952 (the character himself dates back to 1936), but not one of the 15 covers that ran on the book.  According to the description, it was intended for #13 in 1950, but labelled as written off in 1951.

That alone makes it one of the most interesting bits of original art I've seen in a while. SCRIBBLY is a great little comic, really should have been reprinted by this point, so it's great to see a "new" page from it out of the blue.

But there's more...

Also with the original art from circa 1950 is this full sized re-creation from the 1980s by Sheldon Mayer.  A real delight, especially looking at some of the changes Mayer made, having Scribbly drawing the girls (which more fits in with the theme of the series), with the broken pencils in the sand.

Well, that's pretty cool.  Now how much would you pay. But there's more...

Very faint on the artwork is a note, unknown author, which has some notes about changing this into a cover for another DC teen book of the era, BUZZY.  It's not all legible (if you happen to buy it, let me know if more of it is readable).

What I can make out is:

"[illegible] Leave B.G. [background] For sky Also Buzzy and Susie are okay in position. Show other girls [illegible] In B.G. looking towards Buzzy and Susie smiling flirtatiously(?) and some just smiling (not as Sheldon interpreted(?) them)"

(see update for more)

Well, that's pretty interesting.  I wonder if...

Yep, BUZZY #33, artist unknown, from September-October 1950.  Which happens to be the same date as SCRIBBLY #13.  And which happens to be one of the issues of BUZZY to feature a Scribbly back-up story by Mayer (SCRIBBLY has a one year hiatus between #13 and #14, during which time DC's comics shrank from 52 pages to 36 pages, and a bunch of Scribbly short stories ran as back-ups in other DC teen titles). 

Well, that's quite enough...

Wait, did I mention the pages are "From the Harlan Ellison Collection"?  Well, that's kind of interesting.  Ellison was a prominent fantasy writer in a number of fields, with his hand in comics at several points, from as far back as a letter in a 1947 DC comic, plotting a 1954 EC comic by Al Williamson and many more activities as both a fan and a professional until his passing in 2018. His collection was legendary, to the point that Paul Chadwick made it the centerpiece of a Concrete story appearing in DARK HORSE PRESENTS #66 [1992], "Byrdland's Secret", where a barely-at-all disguised version of Ellison, "Dwayne Byrd" ("Cordwainer Bird" was a pen-name Ellison occasionally used for writing work he felt was compromised enough to take his name off).  Might be my favourite Concrete story, certainly the one that pops into my head most often, for a very specific reason.

In the story, Concrete and his friend Larry are invited to the home of Byrd, who was one of the writers on a movie that Concrete had worked on in a previous story (which was itself based on the 1987 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE film), ostensibly inviting Concrete to help decide if he should remove his name from the movie (presumably using a pseudonym like "Harlequin Ellis"), but obviously just wanting to meet Concrete.  

Byrd's house has an impressive collection, including a massive comic book collection which, ever since I read it, was how I imagined my dream comic collection storage system if I ever had stupid money (hasn't happened yet...).  Just something about rolling banks of shelves... I don't know why, shelving on tracks with hand cranks has always appealed to me.

Anyway, Byrd's house is obviously based on a Chadwick visit to Ellison's house, so even if it didn't make the panels, the Mayer cover and recreation are probably in there somewhere.  I am curious about the history of it, whether Ellison acquired the art and commissioned the recreation himself, or it it went through other hands before reaching him.

Well, anyway, I found it all interesting And not to be a cliché, but Christmas is always coming, and I do have at least one birthday every year, plus I'm sure there has to be a Blogger's Day or something...

Update with some new info here

Drew Ford, R.I.P.

Sad to note the sudden passing of Drew Ford at age 48.  There's a fundraiser right now to help the family through this difficult time.

I became aware of Ford when, from 2015 to 2017, he ran a comic book division for Dover Publications. This was an imprint remarkably aligned to my tastes, as you can see from that gallery of books up top, and moreover dedicated to delivering a quality product in cooperation with the creators, unlike most re-publishers of classic comics.  That PUMA BLUES book has a new 40-page coda by Zulli and Murphy.  That WANDERING STAR book has Teri Wood's original mini-comic version, plus numerous colour covers and prints. ATTU has a whole third unpublished book by Sam Glanzman.  PALEO has several stories never before printed by Jim Lawson, including two written by Stephen R. Bissette (who also provides detailed historical notes for several of the books).  I've written before about my "paper moratorium", where I avoid getting newly published comics with some exceptions for about the last decade. Well, for those years, these were most of the exceptions.  All gorgeous books, and I was tempted by many more that they published.

Never was quite sure why the line folded so quickly.  Certainly wasn't the quality of the work or the production.  Anyway, after that Ford founded his own It's Alive Press, continuing to bring some classic work back into print.

Pogofest 1995 Program [1995] (Random Comics Theatre)

Random Comics Theatre

Pogofest 1995 Program [1995]

This is the program to the 9th annual Pogofest, honouring the work of Walt Kelly, held in Waycross Georgia on October 27-28, 1995. just up the road from scenic  Okefenokee Swamp Park. Not sure if it's still held, or if not when it stopped, but my selection of programs goes to 2005, so that was probably it.  And no, I've never actually attended, though I have a bunch of programs...

This is a 16-page package put together by Steve Thompson, a name that should need no introduction to Pogo fans.  In addition to the map and schedule of the festival, this includes an introduction by Thompson, an essay by Carolyn Kelly, and several Walt Kelly rarities from magazines like COLLIER'S, TRUE THE MAN'S MAGAZINE and LIFE, plus a Kelly-inspired drawing by Charles Crumb from 1958. A fun sampler of the kind of stuff you'd find in Thompson's FORT MUDGE MOST magazine which ran for at least 95 issues.  The long COLLIER'S piece from 1955 is especially interesting for the drawing of Pogo meeting an actual possum.