Kleefeld on Comics

Three Weeks Since A Mash-up!

2012-01-27T23:37:00.002-05:00

It's been nearly three weeks since I've done a mash-up, so I'm allowed one tonight, right? How about if I make one a little extra interesting? Text from today's Garfield, art from today's...

Bad Machinery

Sci-ence

Cool Jerk

Your "little extra" can be that I did three instead of my usual two, or that I made a couple of slight alterations to Paul Horn's art so that Paul Stanley makes an appearance. (I told you it was only a little extra.)

Actually, I did the art tweaks mainly because the lack of any real dialogue in Garfield today meant that these make almost no sense. By adding "The Starchild" makeup and the sign of the horns, the dialogue makes at least vaguely a kind of sense. I considered also doing a version with today's Garfield Minus Garfield but that seemed a little too self-referential.

Selling The Comics Lifestyle

2012-01-26T22:07:00.002-05:00

I first started going to a gym regularly in my early 30s. It was mostly an effort not to lose weight, but to avoid putting any more on and maybe get a bit of muscle strength as well. And while I was going to that gym, my weight remained pretty steady and I got a little stronger in my upper body. (But not much.) I did about an hour's workout pretty consistently every other day for maybe four years. I stopped going in 2007 largely because of finances.

In mid-2010, I learned that a friend was going to run a marathon. I said to myself, "Well, hell, if Chris can run a marathon, why can't I?" It wasn't exactly a bucket list item for me, but I thought it would be a neat accomplishment. So I tried repairing the decomposing treadmill in the basement and started running for the first time. The treadmill lasted only a few months before it died beyond my capacity to fix it. At which point I joined another gym, my finances having at least stabilized.

Since my goal was to complete a marathon, and having absolutely zero experience in running, I started reading up on it. And health in general. I read a lot, and was able to pick a great deal of information about fitness and nutrition. But to do any good, I had to start acting on it. I started eating breakfast again. I changed my lunches to primarily salads. I recently had the epiphany that I had unintentionally almost entirely eliminated red meat from my diet. And the marathon training itself is a regular schedule of running, of course, but also weights and swimming.

Not surprisingly, the gym has been pretty packed lately with a bunch of people trying to make good on New Year's resolutions. But I look around while I'm working out and I can pick out the folks who are most likely not going to continue showing up all year. In fact, I've already seen more than a few people who showed up every day for the first week or two now coming in more sporadically. You see, what these people don't get -- and what I didn't get until I really found myself embedded in it -- is that fitness is a lifestyle choice. You can show up at the gym and take the zumba class for a couple months and lose 10 pounds or whatever. But if you want to see a "permanent" change, and not just a short-term fix, it requires a mental adjustment as well. You need to incorporate a new exercise regimen and a new diet into your lifestyle. Diet, as they say, is a not a verb.

What does this have to do with comics, you ask? Well, comics is a lifestyle choice, too, isn't it? You're not JUST reading Spider-Man; you're going to the comic shop every week and chatting with the other folks there, you're online reading about upcoming storylines, you're creating fan art, you're hunting down back issues, you're analyzing plot points to see if you can figure out what comes next or whether or not they've screwed up the continuity... That's why "comic" conventions frequently also have actors, wrestlers and models as guests -- the "comic" of their title refers to the lifestyle, not the specific medium.

Gyms periodically offer discounts and use advertising that can go along the lines of, "Lose that belly fat so you look great on the beach this summer!" But the people those attract are mostly short-term customers. The long-term ones, the ones who act as an ongoing revenue stream, are the ones who have made a lifestyle choice, and they have a very different message sold to them. It's not four walls with some weights and treadmills; it's a club where friends hang out and bond.

I think more comic shops could stand to take this approach. Don't sell the customers/readers on the physical comic books themselves, sell them on the lifestyle of hanging out with cool people who lead interesting lives and have imaginative ideas. Comics is very much a lifestyle choice that goes beyond just reading the stories. Why are you here reading this, after all? There are some shops out that are doing this already, and some of those are doing it better than others. But I don't think you can grab new readers on the draw of a single character or book alone. At least, not for very long. I think the lifers that stay with comics are the ones who not only say that this is a cool medium, but the ones who say it's a cool medium with lots of cool people I want to hang out with.

Wednsday Link-o-rama

2012-01-25T18:59:00.000-05:00

Matt Kuhns examines the new DC logo. Unlike many folks who have criticized it, Kuhns is a bona fide graphic designer and looks at it specifically in that context.
PRI's The World has a piece on the "Hero, Villain, Yeti” exhibit about Tibet's depictions in comics at the Rubin Museum of Art.
I did not know this previously, but apparently the last Saturday of every August (the 25th this year) is International Cosplay Day. "It is to have fun and be able to cosplay for a day even when there is no convention in your area."
Krazy Kat animated in stop motion? Yes, please!

Breaking The Filter Bubble

2012-01-24T23:42:00.001-05:00

One of the complaints I've heard rendered against some comic fans and professionals over the years is that they can be too insular in their reading. I've heard some really talented pros before specifically cite that part of what makes them talented is that they don't limit the type of material they take in. More to the point, if they write or draw superhero comics all day for a living, they read not just other types of comics, but other types of material altogether. Novels and poems and song lyrics and non-fiction and just about anything else.

If all you ever take in is a certain type of story, that's all you're going to produce yourself. You'll basically wind up rehashing the same old stuff over and over. At best, you'll wind up being a hack. The basic way creativity works is when your brain puts together two (or more) ideas that previously weren't put together by anyone else. That's why mash-up artwork online can be popular -- combining two ideas that wouldn't normally be put together is new and different.

Beyond just characters, though, a broader base of information better informs what you produce. A lot of the sexism that shows up in mainstream comics, I think, stems from the fact that there are so few women in the industry. Male writers are just writing what they know: men. So female characters come off as shallow or two-dimensional; there's no real reference outside of all the other shallow and two-dimensional female comic characters.

I bring this up, to some degree, in response to Google's changes in their search results, which are now incorporating social media aspects to the top results. Basically, if you haven't seen/experienced this already, the upshot is that anything you search on, the first results are, whenever possible, going to be pulled from your and your friends'/acquaintances' sources. Their Picasa albums, their blogs, their Google+ posts, etc. The potential issue there is that your searches are more narrowly focused on what you and your friends already know. Eli Pariser calls this a "filter bubble."
Personally, I try to actively combat that filter bubble. I still read an inordinate amount of material relating to comics, of course, but I do try to counter that with some other things as well. Right now, I'm reading a biography of Cleopatra for example. I also specifically went in to TURN OFF those personalized search results. I found having those only really distracting because I don't want to search on what I already read through a link on someone else's profile; I want something new!

You can walk around in circles if you like, I suppose, and stay within your comfort zone all the time, but I'd rather see/hear a wider variety of voices than just reflections of my own. I might disagree with many of them or find them wholly irrelevant, but at least I saw that my thinking wasn't the only option out there.

The Wrong Restroom!

2012-01-23T16:24:00.000-05:00

I was traveling a couple weeks ago, and pulled off the road to a truck stop for a bio break. The men's room was full, so I stood inside the door by the sinks and waited my turn. While I was waiting, a 40-ish year old woman walked in and stopped dead as soon as she saw me, a look of complete bewilderment on her face. I said, simply, "Men's room," to which she immediately blurted out an "Oh, God, I'm sorry" and darted back out into the hall wearing a rather embarrassed look.

It reminded me of an incident from college. Most of my classes were in the "design, art, architecture and planning" (DAAP) building, which was set a bit apart from the rest of campus. It had kind of an odd layout, which befit the art students that generally populated its halls. One of the unusual "features" was that the men's and women's restrooms were located at opposite ends of the building on each floor. But instead of all the men's rooms being on the east end and all the women's on the west, they alternated poles depending on which floor you were on. The women's rooms were on the east end on floors 1 and 3, but on the west end on floors 2 and 4 with the reverse being true for the men's. So you had to be very conscious of which classroom you were in when you decided to take a break.

One night, I was in the studios working. It must have been close to the end of the semester, as there were several of us there. I got to a point where I needed some more supplies, and was going to make a run up to the local Walgreens. (Not the best choice for art supplies, certainly, but there aren't generally too many options at 3:00 in the morning.) I went around asking if anybody else needed anything and, not having any takers, made a quick stop to the restroom before I left.

As I'm sure you've guessed, it was the wrong one. I wasn't thinking about which floor I was on, and simply went to the nearest. It took me a couple seconds to register the discrepancy. "Wait, something doesn't look right here. Oh, hey! There's no urinals!" But, I figured, it was 3 AM and the whole building was almost empty so I might as well make use of the facilities. So I'm standing in one of the stalls when I hear the door open. Some footsteps were shortly followed by a pair of sneakers I could see in the stall next to me. Clearly pointing in the "correct" direction. Whoever she was, I'm sure she saw my shoes were going the "wrong" way, but she didn't seem to care enough to say anything. I finished up, washed my hands and left, catching one of my peers on the way out who was only just registering what had happened and trying to stifle a laugh. I shrugged and went off to Walgreens.

The memory sticks out for me because it was one of the first real first-hand experiences I had in a progressive culture. For that minute or two, it was a unisex bathroom. (This was several years prior to Ally McBeal giving that notion any widespread exposure.) That there were two of us, of different genders, sharing the facilities highlighted to me that, hey, we're just all people and any labels you may ascribe to or have applied to you don't really mean anything. I had no idea who she was and (I don't think) she had any idea who I was. We were just two people doing something that ALL people have to do.

I don't think I've ever told that story before. Not because I was embarrassed or anything like that, but simply because it was essentially a non-event. It was memorable to me precisely because of how much of a non-event it was. Maybe the girl in the stall next to me was simply terrified speechless, or was in some altered state of mind where she didn't even notice me. Hell, maybe it was another guy! Like I said, I never saw anything but sneakers. I prefer to take an Occam's razor approach and think she just didn't care that a guy was in the stall next to her, and it was largely unremarkable for her as well. Two people just going about their business.

Shouldn't that be how comic shops operate? Where anyone can walk in and not really care that there are other people milling about? They could be male, female, black, white, heterosexual, homosexual... Comic shops have been around considerably less time than public restrooms, yet they still continue to evoke reactions not dissimilar to the first woman I mentioned above. "Oh, God! This is a comic shop?!? I'm sorry!" Wouldn't the second scenario, where a female's presence in a comic shop is a non-event, be preferable?

I mean, really, if gender parity can be a non-issue in a restroom, why is it so hard in comic shops?

Fantasy To Reality

2012-01-22T22:47:00.000-05:00

I used to draw a lot more than I do now. Twelve, thirteen, somewhere in there... I had aspirations of becoming a comic book artist. I dutifully carried around an over-sized art pad, and tried copying my favorite heroes into it. Certainly by age fifteen, if not a little sooner, I had realized that I didn't have nearly the talent to draw comics for a living (I had one drawing that was supposed to be the Black Panther, but I screwed up the proportions really badly and I had to change his costume to make him Beast in his original appearance) but I still continued doodling in my notes and homework assignments and such.

One thing I started doing was cartooning myself to provide commentary on homework and tests. Rather than simply write a note in the margins for the teacher, I'd do a cartoon of myself with a speech bubble saying something (hopefully) clever. It wasn't a particularly good likeness, I don't think, and was a bit overly influenced by the likes of Jim Davis and Bill Amend. Over the next few years, I made it a little more representative of me and what I was drawing by seventeen hasn't changed much stylistically through today. (I just pulled out cartoon of myself I did in 1990, and the biggest difference between that and how I draw myself today is my hair.)

I also used my "self-portraits" as a means of expressing what I was thinking about. I'd draw myself in a Buck Rogers style space suit, and imagine exploring other worlds. Or in leather jacket and a fedora, swinging by a bullwhip over a river of crocodiles, on the hunt for lost treasure. Or in a Fantastic Four jumpsuit, flying as backup behind the original team. They were daydreams, mostly, of me being bigger/better/more than who I was.

As I said, I don't draw as much as I used to, but I found myself doodling a week or so ago. It was me, in my usual jeans and a t-shirt, defiantly defending my home from unseen attackers. And I recalled another doodle I had done at the end of 2009: me, in a very tattered version of my usual jeans and t-shirt, bruised and bloodied, looking like I'm about ready to collapse, in front of the broken numbers "2009." They were still not depicting reality, but they were very much less aspirational and very much more metaphoric.

I don't know when I stopped drawing myself as a superhero. The last distinct recollection I have was in college, shortly after I was introduced to Photoshop. (Wherein I promptly inserted myself into a few pages of The Infinity War.) But I'm left to wonder if that's because I stopped looking to comics as engines of wish fulfillment, or did I simply stop looking for those escapist ideas which then led to my not looking for them in comics?

In Case Of Loki, Break Glass

2012-01-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

Marvel: The Lost Generation

2012-01-20T23:16:00.003-05:00

I was mentally sifting through my superhero comics from the 1990s and early 2000s for Tom Spurgeon's latest "Five for Friday" and I recalled a mini-series from 2000 called Marvel: The Lost Generation by Roger Stern and John Byrne. The basic premise is that it fills in the gaps between the end of World War II and the introduction of the Fantastic Four. When the FF first debuted, that was only a period of about 15 years. But sometime in the 1970s or '80s, it kind of came to be understood that the Fantastic Four had only been around for ten years as they were on a different time-scale than the real world. And then sometime, I think, in the late 1980s or early 1990s, that got changed to that the FF have ALWAYS been around for about ten years and WILL CONTINUE to always have been around about ten years. More of a sliding time-scale. So now, in 2012, the team would have debuted almost 60 years after WWII ended! So what happened in those six decades?

Enter Marvel: The Lost Generation. The series was designed specifically around the idea of addressing not only those "missing" (at the time) five decades, but also any more time that might occur in the future. Each of the twelve issues hinted at what had been going on, but was left vague in terms of dates relative to just about everything else. A character who was a sidekick in one issue might be a grown hero in his own right in the next with no explicit explanation of what happened in between. Some characters would just stop appearing, and others would make obtuse allusions to their death/disappearance. There were a few characters who were effectively immortal that kept popping up, as did a time-travelling historian.

I thought it was a great solution to a very strange problem, and it was very well-executed as well. It was also one of the last really fun stories I read from Marvel. That's not to say the last one I enjoyed -- I enjoyed many stories after that, but there weren't many others that were fun. (The only other ones that spring to mind after that are the Waid/Wieringo run on Fantastic Four and Dan Slott's She-Hulk.)

The Lost Generation issues were numbered backwards. It debuted with #12 and counted down to #1. The stories, while all connected, are independent by design so the series can read either direction just as well. I talked to Stern shortly before the series came out, and he had argued to some of the folks at Marvel that it would be a benefit to do it that way, since they could theoretically produced two trade paperbacks from the series, one running in each direction. However, we're over a decade out now and it's never been reprinted in any form. I don't believe any of the characters that were introduced have been used since then either. Thematically, it seems to go very much against the grain of what Marvel is trying to do with their IPs now so I wouldn't expect to see a collected edition any time soon.

I'm sure one of the reasons I liked the book was because it felt very much like the type of comics I grew up on in the late '70s and early '80s. Not surprising given the creators involved. But since it was almost entirely new characters in a very different type of story than what I grew up with, I'm sure my appreciation for it isn't strictly nostalgic. I may just have to dig that series out again to re-read it. In both directions!

Curious FF Reprint Mystery

2012-01-19T09:57:00.000-05:00

I stumbled across a minor, but curious, mystery this morning. Here are the covers for Fantastic Four #135, 136 and 137...

And here are the covers for some French-language Canadian reprints that came out about two months after the originals...

Most of the covers of the reprint series are lifted from the original comics, with just the English translated into French. But for some reason, the issue reprinting Fantastic Four #136 doesn't have use the original cover art, but a panel of interior art.

Now it's certainly possible the original cover art was lost or destroyed. But here's the cover to a British reprint of the same story from about four years later...

It's been modified a bit to accomodate a slightly wider format, but there was clearly some form of reproducible art still around.

The best I can guess is that the cover art for the Canadian reprint might have been sent up north separately. The issues were in black and white, so they would've only needed the black line art (probably stats) for the interiors, but the covers used color and it seems probable that Marvel sent the color separations for the covers up to Canada. Those could have been handled differently, or from a different department, so I can see a situation where the Canadian printers simply didn't receive the cover art in time to hit their production deadlines. In such a case, utilizing interior art like a splash page makes sense.

But, then, why the strange treatment? Why the odd angle? Why the red border? Why color some of the figures, but not the Human Torch? And why color the figures with the least intense color of the three chosen? Questions I do not have even speculative answers for.

UPDATE: On further study, I think that The Complete Fantastic Four cover is in fact an entirely new piece of art, recreated based on the original. The more I look at the two, the more discrepancies I see: Medusa's left boot, the Torch's flame aura, the placement of Thing's left hand, the number of steps on that statue, the placement of the upper bike rider... There are more issues there than would be touched up for the size difference. Which leads me to think that the actual cover art for FF #136 was lost in the mail, and John Buscema recreated it based on a printed version. Whether he did so specifically for the British reprint, I can't say, however.

It's Wednesday! It's Links!

2012-01-18T21:23:00.000-05:00

Harris O'Malley has a good piece on Nerds and Male Privilege. Judging by the comments, some of you may be sick of seeing these types of articles but, frankly, until things actually get better, we continue to need precisely these types of articles so the issue doesn't get swept under the rug. Also, don't read the comments.
Noturno Sukhoi has put together a downloadable pattern to make your own Weapon-X Wolverine.
Daily News & Analysis has this short article on the increasing popularity of old Indian comic book characters.
So, Google Correlate. Kind of difficult to figure out what the hell it is/does. Fortunately, they've provide a short webcomic by Manu Cornet to explain it.

A Cynical Comment On SOPA/PIPA

2012-01-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling a bit of pressure to talk about SOPA and PIPA here, but I don't have much I feel I can add to the conversation. Everyone, to a person, whose opinion I respect that I've heard weigh in on the subject has said some variation of "these are horrible, horrible bills and should be killed." I agree. Completely. Nothing new for me to add there.

You'll note, though, I'm not taking the symbolic step of blacking out my site. Why? Because I rarely get more than 200 visitors a day, and I'm pretty confident that my regular readers probably share my opinions on SOPA and PIPA already. Blacking my site won't raise even a modicum of awareness.

I'm very, very cynical about the US government. What you or I say and do doesn't matter on this. Yes, I've written my politicians to let them know I'm against SOPA and PIPA, but it won't do any good. Because they're only listening to people who give them lots of money. Congress only started wavering on SOPA/PIPA after several major companies started taking action against it. The hearings on the matter where almost all the technical and legal experts said this was a bad move? Didn't sway Congress a bit. It's only when large sums of money started getting involved from groups opposing SOPA/PIPA did they care.

My opinion isn't worth shit in Washington. My opinion coupled with the opinions of every other person with a blog isn't worth shit. The only thing that matters is where the money is coming from. That's why these bills were introduced in the first place and why they're being contested now. Whether or not these pass in their current, or even modified form, has nothing to do with what's right or just or fair or what impact that has on you or me; it has everything to do with who lines politicians' pockets with the most money.

I think these are bad bills and should be stopped. I've written letters to Google, Facebook, etc. to take action. But that letter-writing is just to keep my conscious clear. The blackouts today are symbolic; the only thing that really matters is who ponies up the most cash. The rest of us can't really do anything of any consequence except try to work with/around/through the results. That's why I haven't said anything publicly on the subject before, and why I'm not going dark today.

Support The Underpug -- Er... Underdog!

2012-01-17T22:00:00.001-05:00

If I'm being honest with myself (which is what I usually strive for) I'm just a putz with a blog that gets read by maybe a handful of people. That this gets read at all never ceases to amaze me. Despite that, however, I'm going to make a blatant plug here to you handful of people to see if I can help someone else out a bit.

Ethan Young has been working on his Tails webcomic since 2009. It's a vaguely autobiographical comic which Young has characterized as "equal parts slice-of-life romance, comedy, drama, and epic fantasy." Last year, Hermes Press announced that they'll be publishing printed versions of the story with some updates as well as new features. I interviewed Young about it for MTV Geek at the time.

So, for those of you reading, take a moment to check out Tails online. If you like it, ask your Local Comic Shop to order a copy for you (Order #STK457317 in the Diamond catalog) or place an advance order on Amazon. I'm sure Ethan will appreciate the support!

(Also, if you're interested, I talked with Ethan back in 2010 about how race influenced him in creating his story. I really like his approach in the comic, and his rationale behind how he depicts race is pragmatically mature.)

The Biggest Superhero You Don't Know

2012-01-16T23:29:00.001-05:00

The S.O. and I were walking through a section of town called "Little India" and came across the movie poster you see here. The movie is called Ra.One and came out late in 2011. It's about a dad who's trying to connect with his son and develops an incredible video game based on his son's ideas, but the video game characters break into the real world. (At least, that's what I can tell from the somewhat enigmatic trailers and descriptions I've found so far.) The protagonist is played by Shah Rukh Khan, sometimes called the "King of Bollywood."

The movie was allegedly the most expensive Bollywood film ever with a budget of $23.75 million US. While apparently not a complete critical success, it grossed $45.6 million worldwide. It was initially released in 3,100 screens in India and another 904 around the world, and had the biggest ever opening weekend in India. The marketing campaign last nine months. Related toy products included character sculptures, action figures, video games, and a wearable "H.A.R.T." (not dissimilar to the arc reactor from the Iron Man movies). The official website includes an online comic prequel to the movie. All in all, a pretty similar treatment to, say, any of the recent spate of superhero movies that have come out of Hollywood the past several years.

And yet, here in the States? Almost nothing about it.

Granted, Ra.One was originally in Hindi and was only dubbed into Tamil and Telugu, but how many Japanese movies came over to the US with only subtitles to enjoy some reknown? And wasn't The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo a decent hit in the original Swedish before it got remade here?

I'm left wondering why IPs like Ra.One get so little attention? There are a lot of Bollywood movies, certainly, that don't get attention because they don't have any marketing budget. But this had a huge campaign behind it.

I have to assume that Hollywood distributors didn't feel they could market it to Americans. And I have to assume that's in large part because the people who are Hollywood distributors are white men. They didn't recognize themselves anywhere in Ra.One so why would anyone else be interested?

Today in the US, we celebrate the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to gain equal freedoms for everybody. Legally, that's largely in place, but we still have a LOOOOONG way to go before there's any real parity. As long as rich, white men control the messages, they'll keep making sure that their view is what's presented as "normal" and everything else is an aberration. Even if that aberration is only in the hero's skin color...

A Note On Handwriting Fonts

2012-01-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

The idea behind handwriting style fonts is to provide text with a more naturealistic, less machined feel. Helvetica, while an elegant font, tends to look a bit stiff and awkward when it's completed surrounded by and embedded in a full page of hand-drawn illustration. So handwriting fonts provide a nice middle ground, where they're still clean and recognizable letterforms, but their more organic design blends better with comic book style illustration.

There are, of course, any number of handwriting fonts out there, which can provide different nuanced voices and add to the flavor of a comic. Some creators make their own based on their personal lettering styles. On the whole, these work well. Easy reading and comprehension, but not as static as your typical serif or san serif. Here's a quick sample using Nate Piekos' Letter-o-matic...

Looks pretty good, right? That's in part because of the wording in that sentence. There's a good mix of letters there, with no double vowels or consonants. Now take a look at my name typed out in the same font...

Doesn't look quite as good. It doesn't feel like handwritten text any more. In large part because of the character redundancy. I've got three "E"s there, two right next to one another. The "E" form is very obviously identical across all three figures, making it come across as more planned, less spontaneous. And you notice this more because it's the only word you're looking at. You're not reading a full sentence and trying to process the meaning; you just need to understand the short blurb, so you can afford to spend more time looking at the individual letters. Because of that, the natural quirks that come with doing things by hand are more evident by their absence.

What if you made some substitutions, though?

The first "L" is an upside-down "7", the second "E" is flipped upside-down, and the third "E" is a backwards "3". All of the figures are now unique. A couple of problems remain, though. The "3" looks stylistically different than the other two "E"s, and the upside-down "E" doesn't feel quite right either.

What about actually modifying the letters, once they're put down?

Here, I've actually gone in and tried tweaking the characters more subtly. Changing the angle on crossbars by a degree, or shortening them a few pixels. It's not perfect by any means (I spent all of 90 seconds on it) but each character now has a unique form, but they still all look good as a whole. And the subtle changes prevent it from looking as machined as the first example above.

Obviously, doing this could be a tedious process, depending on how much you get into it. But for headlines and short exclamations, especially those with double letters, it makes a world of difference.

Graphitti As Comics?

2012-01-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

Graphitti as comics? Has anyone seen this?

I saw a documentary on graphitti and graphitti artists back in high school and I was inordinately impressed with the skill some of the artists had. Where I grew up, though, we had no such cool art. In fact, the only graphitti of any sort I recall seeing in person was on a nearby underpass where the word "pharoahs" (yes, it was spelled incorrectly) was crudely scrawled out over the eight support pylons.

Now, I know there are plenty of examples of comic style illustrations in graphitti. A quick Google search will turn up images like these...

But these aren't really comics, are they? There's no story, certainly, but nothing to that even suggests sequential art. They're still images, and they speak more to the symbology represented by the characters than telling a story.

And then you've got projects like this...
... which is very cool and impressive AND tell a story of sorts but, again, it's not comics.

Now, admittedly, I've never really lived in an area where graphitti was really raised to an art form and most of what I do see is painted over very quickly anyway. So my question goes out to the folks who live in closer proximity to good graphitti: have you seen examples of graphitti being used as the medium for a comic story or sequential art? Where there are a series of still pictures conveying a deliberate sequence? (Wow. Sounds a little like I'm channelling Scott McCloud there. Not intentional, I assure you.) Are there good examples out there for comics created as graphitti?

My Intro To Fumetti

2012-01-13T17:17:00.000-05:00

Fumetti, if you're unfamiliar with the term, is a form of comics where the images used are photographs instead of drawings. It's never been a particularly popular style here in the United States. I suspect this is largely because that the mass printing technology available didn't work on photos very well until the 1960s and, by then, the superhero genre was already doing a good job of crowding out other possibilities.

My introduction to it was in National Lampoon where the used to run short "Foto-Funnies." They usually seemed to center around the double entendre inherent in the word "strip" although I don't recall that reference ever being made explicit. The humor was generally pretty juvenile, and the comics seemed largely like an excuse for the magazine's producers to stare at naked women. Here's an example of the type of comic they often went with...

Really? Even when I was 13, I knew that didn't make sense and was an excuse to get a woman to undress in front of a camera. (Of course, I was 13 and didn't care because, well, I was 13 and looking at a naked woman!)

I don't remember seeing any that were actually sexy at all. There were some, in fact, that it was completely irrelevant who the people were -- there just needed to be two talking heads -- but they'd still have the woman topless for no reason. Still photos of boobs were pretty much the extent of the rationale behind the comics.

In that sense, I understood the benefit of fumetti (a term I wouldn't learn until years later) over illustration: you could get a greater sense of realism in depicting the human figure. If that was all you were really trying to show. It was easy to see you couldn't easily replicate, say, Spider-Man swinging through the New York skyline or an alien invasion that didn't look like guys in rubber suits. But if you just needed to have a couple people standing around talking, and you wanted them to look better than you could draw them, fumetti was the way to go.

This, of course, gave me a somewhat distorted picture of the style. It would be YEARS before I saw any real reason for fumetti besides the realistic depiction of naked people.

The Flame #1

2012-01-12T23:06:00.004-05:00

I just found that Farrell produced a comic called The Flame in 1954-55. This seems to be wholly unrelated to the more famous version published by Fox in the early 1940s. Not only are his costume and secret identity different, but this Flame does not need a flame gun, but can shoot blasts directly from his fingertips. Although in the one issue I've read, the only time he even does that is on the initial splash page which doesn't really take place in the story. He certainly doesn't have the panache of the Will Eisner/Lou Fine version that was more recently used in Project: Superpowers!

Technically, as noted in the indicia, it picked up the numbering from Lone Eagle so the first issue is actually listed as #5. But the second and third issues are simply called #2 and #3 (though none have issue numbers on the cover anyway). Also, interestingly, #3 was the first to sport the then-new Comic Code Authority seal, but it was also the last issue of the series.

Here's issue five/one, so you can check it out for yourself...

Links For Wednesday

2012-01-11T17:57:00.000-05:00

Peter Sanderson directs us to this notice that about the Metropolitan Museum hiring Sheena Wagstaff as its new curator of contemporary art. It's relevant for comics fans because Wagstaff also curated a show for the Whitney Museum about comics' influence on fine art. If her interest hasn't subsided, it could suggest that comics might make an appearance at the Met in the near/semi-near future.
The mystery behind why Justice Traps the Guilty #60A was numbered "60A" is solved!
Seth Godin has some high-level thoughts/reminders about "fair use."
Over at Anime Diet, M. Olivarez responds to Charlie Maib's "questionable statements" about the anime/manga industry that are "lacking in any grounded fact."
Girl-Wonder.org is holding elections for the Board of Directors.
Al Bigley digs out some old John Romita Sr. art for a never-produced Fantastic Four medalion.

Lessons From Genesis

2012-01-10T22:09:00.000-05:00

There have been a great many creative team-ups in comics over the years. Stan Lee & Jack Kirby spring immediately to mind, but there's also Marv Wolfman & George Perez, Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams, Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird, Mark Waid & Mike Wieringo... Regardless of how well the folks meshed and how good of friends they are, it would seem that their work is inevitably broken up. In mainstream comics, of course, the creators themselves historically don't have much say in who they get to work with and there are often outside factors preventing further collaborations. In the worst cases, though, there's a falling out and one of the partners walks away with extra baggage that keeps them from ever even considering teaming up with their former partner again.

I'm a fan of prog rock. Especially old school stuff like King Crimson, Nektar and Pink Floyd. My favorite band, though, was Genesis. Forget about Invisible Touch (with maybe the exception of "Domino" and "The Brazilian"), go back to A Trick of the Tail, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway or earlier for their really good stuff. Basically anything from before Steve Hackett left. (Though, since this is a comics related blog, I feel the need to point out that the first album after Hackett departed included "Scenes from a Night's Dream" which was about Winsor McCay's famous Little Nemo.)

In any event, I've read and heard more than my fair share of interviews with the band members from Genesis. One of the later ones that struck me was when Mike Rutherford was talking about that period I just mentioned. Peter Gabriel had left to do his own thing. Steve Hackett had just done the same. Phil Collins was having marital troubles. The band ended up putting itself on hiatus in 1979 after recording their first album without Hackett. Rutherford and Tony Banks did some solo work, Collins went on tour with Brand X and started playing around with some solo material himself (which would ultimately become Face Value in 1981). What Rutherford said in that later interview was that, in retrospect, that hiatus was crucial for them because it gave them all a chance to explore other avenues. So when Collins, Banks and Rutherford came back together in 1980, they had already worked on all their independent pet ideas and there was no jockeying to get this idea or that idea into the Genesis effort. They could focus on collaborating together and not vying to get their own musical ideas onto the album.

Now, arguably, their albums after that weren't as good creatively (though I do like the "hidden suite" on Duke and handful of their lesser known songs from subsequent albums) there's no question that they became more well-known and financially successful after that. And, individually, they all created a lot more. Mike + The Mechanics have ten albums, Rutherford has two solo albums, Banks has eight solo albums, Collins has eight solo albums and two soundtracks, plus they collectively have twelve more albums as Genesis since 1980. Not to mention an assortment of singles and Collins had a brief acting career in there as well. I'd call that a pretty impressive output, especially there's very little, if anything, there that's outright bad. Some not as good as others, obviously, but nothing you're going to stop mid-song.

Where I'm going with this is that, if an individual has a need to be creative, as many musicians and artists do, then their creative desires need to be given room to flourish. And that may not be on the project they're working on! Getting work done and creative expression are not necessarily overlapping goals. Creative folks need to express themselves, and a group setting isn't usually perfectly conducive to that. They might be able to get some of their ideas out, but probably not all of them. They can't not scratch that itch indefinitely, so they need some space to go off and do whatever it is they need to do -- write, draw, play music, sculpt... Hopefully, they'll be able to satisfy their creative urges before they become resentful of their partner inadvertently stifling them.

Remembering Wormy

2012-01-09T20:08:00.003-05:00

Back in the day, I played Dungeons & Dragons. I had a good pile of the books, and a stack of maybe 50-75 issues of Dragon magazine, the official mag for the game. I didn't have every consecutive issue, in part because distribution in my area was spotty and in part because, well, I didn't always find enough in every issue to warrant the cover price. In fact, with some of the issues I had, the only part I wanted to read was the comic section in the back, only a handful of pages in each issue. Early on especially, they consisted largely of spot gag cartoons with a sword-and-sorcery theme. But through a good chunk of the 1980s, they had three ongoing comics with regular characters and a consistent plot (sort of).

I probably enjoyed Phil Foglio's "What's New?" the most in part because there was very little in the way of continuity. So with my sporadic collection, I could pick up any random issue, read "What's New?" and be totally versed in what was going on. Not to mention that Foglio had an energetic drawing style and a clever, if occasionally juvenile, sense of humor. ("Next Month: Sex and D&D!") You may have seen Foglio's more recent work online. A comic called Girl Genius, which he works on with his wife Kaja. If you check out their online store, you can buy collected editions of "What's New?"

Larry Elmore's SnarfQuest was also a favorite. There was an overarching storyline, but it progressed pretty smoothly with a series of not-always-related mini-adventures. I think I also had the first couple of installments, so I understood the set-up from the start. But overall, it wasn't difficult to follow, even skipping the occasional chapter. I reviewed the collected edition here but I believe it's out of print.

Lastly was David A. Trampier's Wormy. It was a story about... I'm not sure exactly. Wormy was this dragon that lived by himself. He was pretty laid back and seemed to always be setting up some kind of huge role-playing game that he was maybe going to play against the dwarves. (I think?) His game "board" was so huge he had to hire out trolls to assemble all of it. The strip had a kind of meandering quality to it, with lots of tangents on side characters that at least didn't superficially seem to be related to the main plot. Here's a couple of sample pages...

It proved to be a rather difficult extended read, especially if you didn't get each and every issue. But the characters were so colorful and well-defined that even reading quick, unrelated snippets was deeply enjoyable. Imagine trying to read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy with every third or fourth chapter taken out. You could tell that what you were reading was wonderful, but you knew you were getting just how wonderful the complete version must be.

I stopped getting Dragon towards the end of high school, and apparently Trampier departed the strip quite suddenly and unexpectedly right around that same time. Wormy was left incomplete. No one seems to know his whereabouts. Dragon editor Kim Mohan said his checks came back uncashed. Trampier's brother-in-law said he thought he was in Illinois back in 2004, but he hadn't actually talked to him since 1982. I don't want to get into the mystery of what happened to him, but it's worth mentioning as why the story was never finished and why you're unlikely to ever see it in collected form.

Wormy was very much a character-driven comic. There weren't splashy layouts and the plot was, at best, obtuse because of the format. But the cartoons were very clean and stylish, the dialogue was usually exceptionally clever and the characters were ones that you could understand and appreciate. They were trolls and ogres and imps and demons and everything, but you could still recognize them as your friends, relatives, people down the street, etc. It really was a wonderfully engaging strip, even if you could never see the whole thing.

Several years ago, Haroog got copies of all the Dragon issues and posted scans of all the strips here. (It's where I got the above samples from.) The site doesn't seem to have been updated in a decade, and it looks like all the image links after the 1984 material are broken, but you can get a sense of the strip from pages prior to that.

In doing a little research for this post to get my facts straight, I came across plenty of stories of old gamers talking about Wormy and what may have happened to Trampier. While there's always questions surrounding his disappearance, everyone always talks about how they loved Wormy and were sad to see it go. Testament to the talent Trampier had, and the engagement readers felt with his characters.

Motivation

2012-01-08T23:39:00.000-05:00

Whether we consciously recognize it or not, every decision we make has a motivation of some kind behind it. When I first started writing for The Jack Kirby Collector back in 2003, my aim was primarily one of remembrance. In fact, I believe my first published article there actually mentions this in passing. That I wanted to there to be a record of my having contributed something to comicdom. I wasn't expecting to be another Will Eisner or Alex Raymond. I wasn't even shooting for the level of Bill Blackbeard or Shel Dorf. Just a small footnote in a short chapter would be sufficient.

I'd like to think that I've managed that much by now. I'd like to think that a comic historian several decades from now, if they're researching some topic I wrote about, would come across my name at least once. Of course, the more I continue to write, the more chance I'll have of that happening.

The reason motivation is interesting is because you can have several people doing the same thing, but because they have different reasons for doing it, they come at it differently. You can see this quite plainly at a gym. Especially in January.

Some folks are clearly there to get stronger and build muscle. Some folks are clearly there to lose weight. Some folks are clearly there as a social activity. Some folks are clearly there as some form of physical therapy. There's no right reason for going to the gym, of course, but some people you look at and wonder what prompted them to come. I don't mean that as an insult; it's just that they don't seem to have a big motivation to be there. Those people tend to stop showing up in February. They're not strongly motivated to continue.

It's a little less externally obvious, but it's evident in comic readers too. Some folks read for the escapism. Some folks read for the entertainment. Some folks read to study the craft. Some folks read as part of a social activity.

And that's significant because, as someone creating a comic that's intended to be read by these people, it would behoove you to have at least a basic understanding of why potential readers might read your comic. Beyond the "it's really cool because it's got a ninja" or whatever your superficial rationale for it is. That it has a ninja might be a selling point, but it won't be the underlying reason it's being read. Do readers find some emotional attachment to ninjas? Are they looking for examples of societal mores in feudal Japan?

That's not to say that every reader has the same motivation, of course. But my point is that if you, as a comic creator, begin straying away from the fundamental elements that the bulk of your readers are looking for, you'll likely start to lose them EVEN IF you keep the same basic characters and plot.

Of course, if you don't care about that, or find it irrelevant next to your desires as a creator, that's another issue. But if you're looking to become the next Bill Watterson or Milt Caniff, you should probably at least keep it in mind.

First 2012 Mash-Up

2012-01-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

I am just not feeling the whole writing thing today for some reason. Text is from today's Garfield, art from today's...

Bob the Squirrel

Artifice

I'm amused by the role-reversal in Bob while the version in Artifice takes a decidedly darker turn.

Thoughts For Aspiring Writers

2012-01-06T23:58:00.000-05:00

It's a bit strange to think of myself as a writer. I was just another blogger when I started Kleefeld on Comics, but now I've got ongoing columns for The Jack Kirby Collector, MTV Geek and Drawn Word (coming soon). I've contributed short pieces to a few different books now, and wrote an entire one myself, with another (slowly) in the works. So it kind of looks like I'm a writer of sorts now. Kind of makes me wish I took more classes on it in school.

When I was in, I believe, third grade, the teacher gave us a story assignment. I think it was a simple one-page story about whatever we wanted, but it was supposed to be fiction. I wrote about a battle between a barbarian and a wizard, and I liberally plagiarized the one Conan comic I had at the time. But, in that plagiarization, I lifted some dialogue. I recall the teacher being impressed and calling it out as a good example because I was the only one to use dialogue at all. No one else's story had anyone saying anything, and she pointed out how much more engaging and exciting my story was because of it. (I believe one line was something like, "Surrender, dog! Or I'll slit your throat from ear to ear!" Why that didn't seem to concern her, I don't know.)

English was, of course, a mandatory subject throughout grade school. I had pretty much all the same lessons as everyone else. I was more interested in art, though, so the "College for Kids" classes I would take up at the local community college on weekends were mostly centered around drawing. Those of us in the school's gifted & talented program did take a journalism course for one quarter in eighth grade, but it was as much about printing and production processes as it was about writing.

In high school, I somehow wound up working a bit on the school newspaper. I honestly don't know how that started because it wasn't something I actively pursued, and I never went to any meetings about it. I don't remember writing or turning anything in, but I can distinctly recall seeing my articles in the finished papers. My mom thought my report on the band's activities in one issue really stood out, and I got more than a few congratulations from other students for a particularly derisive op ed piece I wrote about the school administration. But I was more interested in the cartoons that I drew for the back of the paper.

Freshman English was mandatory in college, but I was in a graphic design program so nearly all of my projects were art related. I didn't even have many term papers to write. I did take a fiction writing class as an elective my senior year, but my pieces came across as horrendous compared to the other students in that class. My girlfriend at the time noted at one point that she thought I wrote very well. I don't know what work of mine she'd read, but she was minoring in English, so it didn't come across as completely idle praise.

But now, here I am writing every day. I'm still making my living doing design work, but there are people out there willing to pay for me to write, too! With little formal education or training beyond what most high school students get.

But, looking hindsight, one thing I can see that I've done is read. A lot of comics, to be sure, but a lot in general. And I often did more than just read; I took mental notes while I was reading. I wasn't thinking specifically in terms of formal writing conventions, obviously, but I could see, "Oh, the writer is dropping some heavy foreshadowing here; that's clumsy" or "Wow! That came out of left field! That doesn't make any sense!" Mostly a list of what not to do. But I still mentally absorbed things like narrative structure and character arcs and word choice.

For anyone out there who might want to be a writer -- of comics or non-fiction or whatever -- you will be told repeatedly to read a lot. Which you do need to do. But don't just; think about what you're reading. Is the author just following a standard Joseph Campbell narrative? Is the work driven by plot or characterization? What sort of tone do the specific words being used convey?

Reading is great.

Reading and thinking is even better!

Inability To See

2012-01-05T21:29:00.002-05:00

I sent the S.O. a link to an article this morning. Just a "Hey, this is interesting" thing. And I added, "Bonus points for using a mixed race couple in the photo, too!" To which she responded that it didn't really count because it was a black guy and a white woman. "Tired" is the word she used because it's the default for showing a mixed race couple. It's easy for me to point to examples where that doesn't happen -- there's another white guy here in the office who's married to a black woman, and there's the perennial geek fictional favorite of Zoe and Wash -- but the examples are ones that rather prominent in my field of vision. The co-worker is someone I have to work with almost daily and Firefly is one of the great sci-fi shows of television, so of course I see those. But in terms of the stuff that acts as something closer to white noise -- the flyers in my mailbox, ads running in the background while I'm waiting for a Hulu video to play, catalogs that usually get thrown in the trash with an at most casual glance, etc. -- that stuff rarely shows mixed race couples and, when they do, it's a black guy and a white woman.

But I'm a white guy who grew up in a white suburb and went into a field that's predominantly populated with white men. Which means that "white male" is what I think of by default. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Archie, Malcolm Reynolds, Han Solo, Harry Potter, Aragorn, Captain Kirk, Flash Gordon, Tarzan, James Bond, Indiana Jones, John McClane... These guys are "normal" in that they represent my default hero. Which is to say me, only handsome, clever and powerful. Anything 'not that' seems different or unusual.

I just started reading Mike Madrid's The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines which looks at superheroines throughout the history of comics. I'm only one chapter in, and it's amazing to see how much I just don't know about many of these characters. Some of it are characters I know but just never thought about in gender-specific terms. For example, the first female superhero, the Red Tornado, was essentially cross-dressing as a male. Or just how many of those old heroes had the dismissive "-girl" suffix instead of "-woman" that would have been more equitable to their male counterparts. Hawkgirl, Bulletgirl, Flame Girl, Doll Girl, Rocketgirl...

The reason, of course, those things never occurred to me is because I've looked at them from my default perspective. "Of course they're called 'girls'! They're weaker than men!" Never really questioning that they didn't have to be. I didn't need to look up to these characters and see them in the shadow of others because I always could look up to the characters casting those very shadows. I could easily look past Supergirl to see Superman. "Of course She-Hulk's name is derivative of the Hulk's! She came after him!" Did the Hulk have to be a male in the first place, though? Did she need to have a name derivative off his?

When I was a kid, I watched Dukes of Hazzard pretty regularly. Again, two guys like me only handsome, clever and powerful. Also they drove a cool car. The General Lee was an icon for the show, and the Confederate Flag on the roof became a shorthand icon for that. Except I heard it called the "rebel flag." And rebelling against corrupt government officials like Boss Hogg was the theme of the show. Freedom and justice were mete out by the Duke boys, not the inept and ineffectual law of Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. I took it that this "rebel" flag represented personal freedom and justice against oppressive governments. (Well, I was seven -- it was probably more like: "Rebelling against big ol' meanies.") The point is that this iconic flag was one with an excessively positive connotation for me. It wouldn't be until years later, probably sometime in college, that I began to realize that that image didn't hold the same meaning for everyone. That, for a lot of people, it meant slavery and lynchings and Jim Crow and exactly the opposite of what I had been told. Needless to say, I lowered the flag from my mental flagpole.

But while I know that flag's meaning intellectually, and while I've even removed my old emotional attachments to the image, I can only empathize with those who lived under it. I can only empathize with those who maybe didn't live through it themselves, but had relatives who did. I can only empathize with those people whose choices have been limited because their parents or grandparents were artificially prevented from moving forward. I can't sympathize with any of them, though, because I can't have had those experiences myself.

Try as I might, I can never fully appreciate what anyone's experiences are outside my own. Whether they're as huge as slavery or as insignificant as a hangover.

BUT!

I try. I make an active choice to try not judge people or their situation on my terms. I make an active choice to try to look outside my bubble and see what other people are seeing. Sometimes, that's seeking out comics whose lead characters are a mixed race couple like in Cafe con Leche. Maybe that's buying indie graphic novels with a strong, empowered female lead from a female creator like Alex Heberling. Maybe that's staying away from creators produce culturally insensitive work. (I'll let you fill in your own examples on that one!) Maybe that's all of the above.

I'll admit that it's often difficult to see outside my own biases. It often takes someone else to actively point out that, "You know, you're not really thinking about that from the perspective of someone who might actually have to deal with those issues." But even if you actively try to look at those issues, like praising that a mixed race couple is used at all, and find yourself hearing a "Yeah, but..." take it as a learning opportunity. Maybe the person you're hearing the "Yeah, but" from has a valid point because they've lived with it. Maybe the new Starfire is too trampy. Maybe Power Girl should grow up to become Power Woman. Maybe the name Black Lightning is pretty condescending.

Maybe... just maybe... your opinion only reflects your own personal preferences, and aren't indicative of anybody else's. Maybe... just maybe... they have a point, if you'd just look beyond your own bubble.

First Links Post Of 2012

2012-01-04T17:02:00.000-05:00

Here's a short interview with Matt Campbell over at Examiner.com. It's a pretty basic interview as far as the depth of the questions, but I'm struck that it's essentially a mainstream site talking about a webcomic without any of the usual tropes of "gosh, these webcomics are wildly new and different from most printed comics."
Apparently, George R.R. Martin has put up a list of fanzines he contributed to on his site; however, Chain Letters for Disturbed Children notes that there isn't much in the way of visuals, so he's begun posting scans of said fanzines.
The Webcomic Overlook has a nice write-up on the Phantom Lady.
I expect you've already heard that Karl Kesel has brought back Section Zero as a webcomic, right? Not true. Total myth. There's nothing to see here. Move along.

One Piece Social Commentary

2012-01-03T15:23:00.001-05:00

According to Wikipedia, One Piece is "the most popular manga series of all time in Japan and one of the most popular manga series worldwide. It is the highest-selling manga of all time in the history of Weekly Shōnen Jump, as well as currently being its most acclaimed manga. In 2010... volume 61 set a new record for the highest initial print run of any book in Japan in history... One Piece is currently ranked as the best-selling series of all time in manga history. It enjoys a very high readership, with more than 250 million volumes of the series sold by 2011." And that doesn't even talk to how many people enjoy the anime. So, pretty popular, right?

The series was created by Eiichiro Oda in 1996, and first saw regular serialization the following year. The basic story, if you're unfamiliar with it, follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his small band as he seeks to find the fabled One Piece treasure and become the King of the Pirates. The protagonists are all clearly labeled as pirates very early on, and they spend more than a fair amount of time fighting or evading the Marines. Naturally, over the course of the story, we're seen how the heroes are sympathetic characters and all of their illegal activities are easily justifiable and justified.

I only started getting into the series last year, but I'm up to the point in the story where Luffy is attempting to free his brother out of prison. (Which is to say that I've plowed through over ten years' worth of material in about 6-7 months!) But in the process of battling his way through the prison -- allegedly the strongest of it's kind, housing the most dangerous criminals on the planet -- every prisoner that isn't killed/wounded in the ensuing mayhem is released. Some are specific characters that have shown up in the past, and are now helping Luffy in order to win their own freedom back, but many are nameless background characters in black and white striped prison uniforms. Hundreds of prisoners now running free. The Vice Warden of the prison notes at one point that he has to ensure that no one escapes because that would cause a danger to the rest of the world. That the general population would be sent into a state of terror, knowing that so many hardened criminals were now free.

Except...

Once their escape looks like it will finally be a success, they start making comments about making sure they never get sent to prison again. And when they realize that one of their own willingly sacrificed himself to keep the gate open for them, they all go into weeping hysterics. So, perhaps not quite as hardened criminals as they've been made out by the Marines.

This is not far off the heels, too, of a story in which one of Luffy's crew is captured and sentenced to execution because she knew how to read some ancient history texts. They make it very clear in the story that she is being executed because she might read something the government doesn't want her to read. In this particular story, though, there's a clear intent that the Marines were after her, as a single individual, because they feared what she and she alone could do. And it was also suggested that she was, in part, being targeted by a personal grudge of a single official.

But in light of the more recent story, it got me thinking. Throughout the entire series, the World Government in One Piece is consistently shown in a negative light. Not only are the lower level Marines continually being trounced by the story's heroes, but the machinations of higher government officials is frequently shown as suspect, if not outright corrupt. Now, clearly, if the protagonists are going to be pirates, they have to be shown in a more positive light compared to their antagonists and it will of course default to showing the Marines poorly. But there are any number of ways that could be handled which would simply show the heroes as simply being misunderstood. Given the pervasive and continual nature of how not just the Marines, but very nearly everyone associated with the government is depicted, it can't help but lead to one inescapable message...

Governments are run by power-hungry elitists whose only interest is in keeping themselves in power, regardless of what it means to anybody else. Criminals are simply those who threaten that by daring to think differently. (Many of those in the prison were apparently only there because they raised transgender awareness.) That's not a new message, certainly, but it's a fairly consistent one throughout One Piece's decade and a half of publication.

Think about that for a second. A decade and a half. That's about the same amount of time that Harry Potter has been around. You've heard those stories about how many of the kids who started reading the Harry Potter books back in the day have grown up with the characters and are now adults themselves? As in, adults who vote. As in, adults who can't get a job and go to Occupy Wall Street protests.

Some of my political beliefs were influenced by pop culture. Everyone from Batman to Frank Zappa. I don't think I lifted any of those ideas wholesale, but they informed my thinking as much as family, friends, my own experiences, etc. I think everybody has some ideas they picked up from comics and movies and TV.

With that in mind, recall those two-hundred fifty million volumes of One Piece? Not including the individual chapters read via Shōnen Jump. Not including the anime.

I'm left wondering how many of those people at the Occupy protests know Luffy and the Straw Hats, and how much of an influence Oda may have had on them.

Fire & Water Review

2012-01-02T15:25:00.001-05:00

One of the reasons I don't do more reviews is that I can't seem to get the books and read them in enough time to be of any real use. But sometimes a book is worth highlighting even if it's a couple years old. Such is the case with Blake Bell's Fire and Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics.

It should come as no surprise that it's mostly a biography of Everett with some related info on the early days of what would later become known as Marvel Comics. I've had it sitting on my bookshelf for a little while now; it's large and inconvenient enough that I can't really carry it around to read on my lunch hour at work or anything. But it's a surprisingly fast read. I have to admit that I haven't studied Everett's work in great detail, nor much about the man himself, outside of his creation of the Sub-Mariner and his return to that character towards the end of his life. Consequently, much of this book was welcome information, from mundane issues about his childhood to a deeper look at his overall career in comics to some of the problems he fought to overcome. Much of the information comes from rare source material, many personal papers and notebooks as well as interviews with various family members, so it's good to see it all sorted through and recorded before it might get lost or destroyed.

The book looks like a coffee table style book and, to that end, it includes a lot of Everett artwork. Some original production art, some published material, many sketches and prelims. All of it looks fantastic. Worth browsing through just to see some of the detail he included on his pieces. The early pieces he did for NBC Radio are incredible, especially when you consider he was still in his teens when he did them!

There are two things I would've liked to have seen added to the book, though. First, I would have appreciated having notations in the text on where certain art pieces might be found. Some pieces are more-or-less where the explanatory text is, but many pieces are placed between chapters and there's an extra long art section in the back. Just a simple "see page 42" would have helped more than a few times where I was hoping to see what the text was referring to.

Second, I would have liked to have seen his dealings with alcoholism more evenly paced throughout the book. That he had lifelong problems with substance abuse beginning when he was 12 is mentioned early on, but then mostly dropped until his late 40s/early 50s. Granted, you don't want to focus his whole biography towards that one element of his life, especially since it's a negative one, but if it WAS a constant issue, as the book asserts, then I should think it would be more of a running theme. How did he deal with it while he was enlisted, for example? Were his various job losses due, in part, to alcoholism or was he just being stubborn as part of a basic personality make-up? There's a clear acknowledgement of the issue, but it's largely not referenced AS an issue except almost in retrospect.

That said, though, it is a beautiful book and has a lot of great information about Everett that I am glad to have learned. Worth keeping an eye out for this, if you can still find it!

Happy New Year, Sir, Yes. And Many Of Them!

2012-01-01T00:39:00.000-05:00

It Was Only A Dream by Winsor McCay circa 1903-05.

The Phantom: The Gold Key Years Review

2011-12-31T18:07:00.000-05:00

I've noted before that I've never really been able to "get" The Phantom. It always struck me as a brilliant concept, but I just couldn't find the right stories that really clicked with me. So I was really happy to get a review copy of The Phantom: The Gold Key Years from Hermes Press. Not that I necessarily knew it had especially great stories in it or anything, but it would be the largest chunk of Phantom stories that I've been able to read in essentially one sitting.

The book contains, to no surprise, reprints of the first eight issues of the Phantom comic book from Gold Key. The original comics went generally uncredited but, for the record, they're largely written by Bill Harris and drawn by Bill Lignante with painted covers by George Wilson. If I'm to understand things correctly, the stories represented in this volume were based on storylines from the comic strip, but re-worked to fit the comic book format. So, while everything was entirely redrawn, the pacing seems a little odd in places. But this also means that readers aren't bogged down with tedious and unnecessary fight scenes. I definitely have a better appreciation of the Phantom now that I've been able to read a good chunk of stories in one go, including adventures of both the 20th and 21st Phantoms.

But that's all in the original comics themselves. What about this collected edition?

The book itself is gorgeous. The Wilson covers look pretty spectacular throughout the book, and the Hermes Press art folks did an impressive job on recoloring everything. The recoloring is actually striking for what I think they did. They clearly had at least some of the original art, as evidenced by the reproduction of a couple of pieces. But the colors look to be taken from the original production, like they had all the color printing plates as well. BUT! It also looks like they went back and recolored all the figures and large blocks of background color so that they're more internally consistent. The resulting effect you get really clean, sharp colors where you tend to focus, but there's still some graininess here in just enough places to suggest that these are a half century old comics. There's no mis-registrations, but some occasionally lazy plate making from back in the day. It's a very interesting approach to recoloring old comics that I don't think I've seen before, and one that works surprisingly well, I think.

There's also a three page introduction by Ed Rhoades, who's a huge Phantom fan and president of the US Phantom fan club. (I think. The club doesn't seem to be active any more, as far as I can tell.) It's obviously there to put the comics in context, and it does indeed supply some interesting background information, but it's a bit of a harsh read. It's a bit disjointed, and there's some awkward phrasing that left me unclear about several points. I can see why Rhoades was asked to write an introduction and it does have some information there, but I think it detracts a bit from the quality of the production.

Aside from that, though, it is, as I said, a handsome book and certainly helped me to get a better handle on The Phantom. Of course, now I'll have to try to get my hands on all the other Phantom books Hermes is putting out!

Proto-Watchmen

2011-12-30T16:49:00.000-05:00

Watchmen has become one the seminal comic book stories of the past several decades. It's probably been read and discussed and poured over more than just about any other single work that's come out, certainly since 1970. So it's also fairly common knowledge that Alan Moore's original idea pitch was largely based around the Charlton characters that DC had then-recently acquired, but wasn't doing anything with. DC editor Dick Giordano liked the general story, but didn't want to use the Charlton heroes. Allegedly because it killed them many of them off, preventing their future use. But since everybody knew, even back in the 1980s, that death wasn't permanent in comic books, I suspect Giordano's decision also had something to do with the fact that he helped create many of those very same characters when he was an editor at Charlton.

"Helped create" is probably a bit strong. I gather that he said something more like, "We need some superheroes like Marvel, but only with less powers to make them more mortal." And Steve Ditko came back with a de-powered Captain Atom, a new Blue Beetle and the Question. But since Giordano was heralding this new "Action Heroes" line, it's hard to imagine that he didn't hold some emotional ties to the characters.

In any event, I've been reading the copy of Action Heroes Archives volume 2 that I received for Christmas. It reprints a lot of those old Charlton stories. And you know what? It's all there.

Everything that Moore did in Watchmen? All the elements for it were there in those Charlton books. I mean, obviously, there's no rape scene with Peacemaker and Nightshade, and the Question isn't shown watching his mother whore herself out on a nightly basis, but drawing those types of elements out of what Charlton did publish is not that much of a stretch. There's a seemingly congenial relationship between Captain Atom and Nightshade, but he's still a very cold character. They're also the only government-sanctioned heroes of the bunch. Blue Beetle shows a fair amount of insecurity and isn't actually all that effective as a hero. There's even an insult hurled towards the Question about how he doesn't "smell so pure."

I say that intending absolutely no disservice to Moore; what he wrote with Watchmen is exceptionally well-done on all counts. He doesn't steal or swipe from Charlton; it's just a larger springboard than I assumed. I had always figured that Moore was largely working with character archetypes and could have just as easily been referring to Superman, Batman, etc. No, he was clearly and definitively starting from the Charlton pool.

I'd always heard of the Charlton basis for Watchmen, but never really understood just how deep that connection was, and just how much of Ditko's work consequently shows up in Moore's. I wanted to see the Action Heroes Archives just to see what Ditko did, but it's making for a surprisingly much deeper understanding of what Moore did as well.

The Book Report

2011-12-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

I'm a pretty avid reader. I wouldn't say voracious, but I'm sure I read more than most people. Most of what I read anymore, though, is digital. Whether it's comics or articles or novels, I read more off a screen than I do off a dead tree. And what I do read off paper is almost always procured through an online source: Amazon, Lulu, Indy Planet, etc. All of which is to say that I don't actually make it inside bookstores very often any more. I think the last time I set foot in one was maybe early August, when Dad was in town and looking for something. The last time I actually bought something from a brick and mortar bookstore, I think, was October 2010.

Yesterday, I stopped in a local Books-A-Million, mostly to see what's changed. I've never thought of it as a good store, but it's still open and Borders isn't, so they're doing something right, I suppose.

The shelves were the usual disorganized mess that I expect from BAM. Nothing new there. But I did note that they had a lot fewer comics than they used to. Their manga section had decreased by two bookshelf sections, and a LOT of books were front-facing -- meaning they take up more shelf space. I've seen some bookstores still make their front-facing books at least two or three volumes deep, but that was not the case in what I saw here. Everything -- or very nearly everything -- was only only one book deep. So the fewer shelves devoted to manga were also less full.

The superhero section didn't seem obviously or overtly impacted, but I seem to recall the "adult" graphic novel section over by the harlequin romances seemed almost non-existent, with only a dozen or so titles. The YA section still had one copy of each Bone volume, and I came across an Amelia Rules! on the discount pile for a dollar. The art section still had several different books on how to draw manga/comics/superheroes.

Given that I'm looking just days after Christmas, it's entirely possible that the decreased number of books overall was due entirely to post-holiday shoppers. But that whole sections seemed to be given less space than before suggests there's more going on than just that. The question is: is this just a natural downward correction from over-estimation of the manga market (as the largest declines I saw were in the manga section) or is it a significant indicator of declining interest? Or, potentially, is this simply a bad decision BAM's part, forgetting that Japan suffered a massive earthquake earlier this year and would naturally have less product coming out? Given how quickly manga exploded in the bookstore market a few years ago, I'm inclined to think it's mostly a natural correction. But that's just a gut-level guess on my part. It'll be interesting to check back in 5-6 months to see what, if anything, has changed.

Last Link Day Of 2011

2011-12-28T13:32:00.000-05:00

Here's a Flickr set of comics produced by GE in 1953, trying to get more kids interested and involved with science and math. Titles included Adventures In Jet Power, Adventures Inside the Atom and Land of Plenty, A Story of Freedom and Power.
Basil Wolverton's most famous illustration animated in clay...

Chic Stone Self-Portrait

2011-12-27T23:04:00.003-05:00

I recently discovered this Chic Stone self-portrait squirreled away on an old CD-ROM...

Stone is probably best known for inking a number of Marvel comics in the 1960s, but he was an old hat by that point, having first worked in the Eisner-Iger Studios beginning in 1939. He wound up doing work for Fawcett, Lev Gleason, Timely and DC, sometimes ghosting for Bob Kane on Batman. He also went on to work for Dell and Skywald before a long stint with Archie Comics.

The piece above was obviously in deference to his inking work on over Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four, though this particular piece features his pencils. You can see that it's dated 1994, when Stone would have been 71. He died in July 2000.

Christmas Goodies

2011-12-26T21:35:00.001-05:00

I'm not in it for the presents, of course, but it's always cool when relatives get you gifts that speak to your interests. Here's a photo of the comics-related gifts I received this year....

The Classics Illustrated and Mad weren't Christmas gifts per se, but my great aunt apparently found them buried in the attic somewhere and passed them along. They're in pretty poor condition, but appear to still be complete, so they'll make some good reading copies.

Comics Between the Panels appears to be autographed. I can't quite make out the signature, though. It looks kind of like "BW Ward" but Bill Ward had been dead for six years based on the date with the inscription, and it doesn't look much like his signature anyway. I'll need to do some more investigating on that.

The monster art in the background is the original splash page artwork from Ravage 2099 #28. It's framed with a copy of the issue and a small plaque. The matte has a little water damage, so I'll have to replace that; hopefully, it hasn't gotten to the art itself.

The series of keychains depict a dozen Tintin covers, with one more based off the new movie. There's also a few collected editions, and a number of Marvel Minimates.

It was good to see the family over the past couple of days, and I got a chance to meet up with an old friend of mine for lunch today. That was really the best part of my holiday, but the gifts are pretty cool, too.

Joyeux Noël

2011-12-25T09:59:00.000-05:00

Journal de Tintin #61, December 1949

Larry The Duck: Future Comic Book Star?

2011-12-24T20:06:00.001-05:00

A friend of my dad's does magic shows in South Carolina. Mostly kids shows, I believe. One of his ideas was to bring a duck puppet (named Larry) to each of his shows, and use the character as memorable hook. Kids remember the silly duck moreso than the magician himself. What he's also done is made a website specifically for Larry, so kids can go an have a larger experience with him. And, not coincidentally, the moms and dads who see the site can slide over the magician's site and maybe hire him for a birthday party or school program or whatever.

But he's taken it a step further by having Larry the Duck write a couple of books. So the kids can take further interest in Larry's adventures. And, oh, hey, cool, the magician gets a few extra bucks on the side.

His latest book project is a comic book. It's still in the works, so I don't know that I can say much about it, but it sounds like he has a clever idea that utilizes the comic format pretty well. I think it's really cool that someone who has no direct relation to comics is using it a very real promotional item. What's more, that despite not overtly being a big comic fan himself (at least so far as I can tell) he's still taking advantage of the format, and doing things you can't really do in a storybook or prose format.

I don't know when the comic might be available, but it's something you might want keep an eye/ear out for.

This Is For Real?

2011-12-24T19:08:00.000-05:00

Even if I were deliberately looking for something like this (which I wasn't) I should never EVER have to stumble across anything like this...

I mean, what graphic designer in this day and age thinks it's appropriate to use Comic Sans for anything? Come on, people! It doesn't matter how rooted in comic book tropes your project is, there are always, always, ALWAYS better fonts to use than Comic Sans, and many of them are just as free!

Teetotaler Hulk

2011-12-23T23:46:00.000-05:00

I don't know that I've ever mentioned this on my blog, but I don't drink. Never have. The amount of alcohol I've imbibed in my entire lifetime couldn't fill a shot glass. To the best of my knowledge, there were no teetotalers in my family to follow in the footsteps of, nor were there any drunkards that I was making sure I didn't become. It's just something that I came to of my own volition many years ago. And surprisingly (to me, at least) it's never been an issue. Even through college, when I was offered a drink, I just said, "No, thanks. I don't drink," and that was the end of it. I never felt any real pressure, from friends or strangers, to drink; everyone just seemed to respect my decision. (Though I suspect that it caught many people off-guard enough to not know how to respond.)

Every now and then, I get asked why I don't drink. Not accusingly, just out of curiosity. I've never had a good answer. There are two things that seem to stand out as originating factors. First is the notion that alcohol kills brain cells. I believe this has largely been debunked, but when I was in school and the only real asset I had working for me was my brain, and the alcohol-killing-brain-cells idea was still accepted wisdom, that was influential.

The second concern I had was one of self-control. I have a strong sense of personal responsibility and free will, and the idea that I might do something when I wasn't in complete control of my own faculties scares the hell out of me. I like to think of myself as an intelligent, rational person who puts careful consideration into his decisions. But I also feel like that there are always wild and potentially destructive imaginings burbling just below the surface, ones that could be let loose if I didn't have some significant mental safeguards in place.

Between that and this memorable comic book ad from the 1990s visualizing that basic idea, it probably sounds overly dramatic. (Memorable, by the way, because of the poorly drawn illustration, not the concept. I mean, how does the bottom half of that pant leg not fall down around Hulk's ankle?) I never quite felt like I was staving off a Hulk-like transformation, but rather something more like a Human Torch accidentally cutting loose situation.

Still overly dramatic, given that I can't shoot fireballs from my hands, but the basic concern was there. If I didn't keep things in check at all times, something really ugly could happen and I might hurt someone. Hence, no alcohol. The handful of times that I have let my emotions get the better of me, even in a restrained fashion, it didn't end well. Nothing disastrous but, as I said, I was still able to mostly restrain myself. Had I not, well... I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be working at the level I'm at today.

It's curious to think that was something I picked up from comic books. Many of the same stories that featured the Human Torch also featured the Thing, who had no problems smoking and drinking. (At least, back in the day.) And yet, despite there never really being an overt message of teetotaling, it's something I picked up on and embraced as part of my personality. Even knowing those origins, it's hard for me to see why that was something I took from the stories versus the hundreds of other subtle, social messages. The combination of that message with my belief in free will? Maybe with my parents' teaching me about responsibility? Maybe a strong desire to be something of a non-conformist? What about completely independent, external factors I can't even recall -- movie characters getting drunk-people-drunk? I know that I still have no desire to drink, and it's still largely based on a heightened sense of personal responsibility, but it still seems like a strange message to pull out of Hulk and Fantastic Four comic books.

The More Things Change...

2011-12-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

"Knowledge and Amusement" by Winsor McCay, June 1920.

'Twas The Links Before Christmas

2011-12-21T17:23:00.000-05:00

That should probably be 'Twere, but it doesn't recall Clement Clarke Moore's very directly then. Also, if you're keeping score, I do celebrate Christmas despite being an atheist; it's a secular holiday with traditions based on a variety of pagan winter festivals. You mean to tell me that you seriously think those consumerist assholes yelling at you because you took "their" parking spot in front of Target are celebrating the birth of Jesus? People don't get depressed in the winter because of the darkness, people get depressed because everyone else starts act like total dickheads and it's evident that the "goodwill towards men" stuff is a bunch of bullshit. But I digress...

Will Brooker points me to Anita Sarkeesian's YouTube channel in which she discusses various facets of feminism in popular culture. She does a good job of pointing out issues of gender inequality in a simple and straight-forward manner. Some of those issues are obvious, some not so much. Though she covers all forms of media, she includes comics fairly regularly as well.
Matt Kuhns wonders why Jim Davis evidently wants to keep Garfield firmly rooted in 1986. I noticed the curious anachronism myself, but I chalked it up to the autopilot Matt dismisses.
Over at The Japan Times, they note the publication of Aftershock and Spirit of Hope both of whose proceeds going towards relief efforts for the disasters in Tohoku and Christchurch earlier this year.
Stuart Immonen alerts us to this video interview with Stan Lee from around 1970. (His wife Joan is the one hanging around in the background.) It's in Italian so I can't understand a word of it, but it sure looks and sounds like a hoot!

The Yellow Kid: The Latest & The Greatest

2011-12-20T09:46:00.000-05:00

So you're familiar with Richard Outcault's Yellow Kid as one of the original newspaper comic strip characters, right? He debuted in a Hogan's Alley strip in 1895, published in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. Outcault was hired away by William Randolph Hearst a year later, but Pulitzer retained the rights to Hogan's Alley. Outcault continued drawing the Yellow Kid, though, in comics of various names for Heart's New York Journal American.

The Yellow Kid became immensely popular very quickly, and many people tried to capitalize on that with their own marketing efforts. Mary Wood cites the character appearing on "pins, cigar boxes, sheet music, dolls, cap bombs, postcards, and a number of spin-off variety skits and theater productions." Some of these were officially licensed, some not.

One of those pieces I stumbled upon recently was a scan of sheet music. A piece called "The Yellow Kid: The Latest and the Greatest." It's adorned with Outcault drawings of the Yellow Kid, evidently done expressly for sheet music, if not this sheet music specifically. The Kid is dancing and singing around the margins, very visibly holding sheet music himself.

It strikes me as kind of an odd concept, since the Yellow Kid famously never actually spoke. Anything the character "said" was displayed on his dressing gown. So to provide music to a deliberately mute comic strip comes across as a curious pairing. But I supposed that people have always liked music, and since recordings were unavailable in the 1890s, sheet music was the way to go. Paper was relatively cheap, too, so if you already had a printing press, throwing together something like this would have been an easy way to make a buck, I suppose.

The music was written (and published) by Homer Tourjee with words by William Friday, Jr. There's a 1895 copyright on the page, but the lyrical reference to The Journal suggests it was actually 1896. Interestingly, I found another piece of sheet music dated 1896 called "The Dugan Kid Who Lives in Hogan's Alley." It's the exact same music, with slightly altered lyrics.

But what does it sound like?

So what I've done is taken the sheet music and transcribed it, note for note, into Garage Band. As I was going through, there were several things that struck me about the piece. It's written pretty simply; almost the entire song is in quarter notes and it's got what I would consider a slow pace. With that, though, there's a time change for the chorus, going from 4/4 to 3/4 and the transition between the two might be described, at best, as awkward. There were also several instances where the notation doesn't make sense -- notes that don't really make chords, rhythms that don't really fit in place, lyrics that don't line up with the music. If you take the piece as it's written, it's not all that good. I eventually found a version of this online where someone had actually arranged it so it sounds half-decent, but that's not what was written. The link below is what I put together, picking up a strictly literal interpretation of what was on the sheet music.

Play The Yellow Kid: The Latest & The Greatest

Let me reiterate: this is NOT somebody playing the music badly; this is how it was written! The chorus is meant to be played twice through each time, but it was honestly getting hard for me to keep listening to it, so I opted for just once each. The full lyrics are at the end of the post if you want to try follow along. (Like I said, though, they don't always line up with the music, so it can be a bit difficult in places.)

I would chalk the poor quality of this song up to the commercialism that allegedly drove Outcault from continuing with the character a couple years later. Recall that this was licensed, composed, written and published within a year of Yellow Kid's debut. It was most likely scribbled down hastily by Tourjee, typeset by someone else who probably had no real musical knowledge and edited quickly, if at all. Any "quirks" you might hear from someone playing would probably be attributed to the pianist and dismissed.

The song sounds very much in the style of the late 1800s, but it's almost refreshing to know that the crass commercialism we see in America today isn't entirely new.

LYRICS
Who doesn't know the "Dugan Kid"
He is the very latest
You'll find his pictures in the Journal every Sunday morn
He wears a mellow yellow dress
Of kids he is the greatest
Because he is the "slickest kid" that ever yet was born

Although but three or four years old
He's quite well known to fame
E'en though he has a homely face
Likewise a homely name
But he takes in all the picnics
Doesn't miss a baseball game
The "Dugan Kid" the latest up-to-datest

CHORUS
He's a plain little chap
From the heart of New York
Is the gay little Dugan boy
With smiles so sunny and ears so funny
He's New York's joy
When the band starts to play, is he in it?
"Well Say," Dugan's out of sight
For he's a corker a born New Yorker
And he's all right.

Some of his slang expressions
Have completely caught the city
You can hear them if you listen on the street most ev'ry day
Now though young Dugan's but a kid
His talk is often witty
And no matter where this urchin goes he's sure to have his say
When ever he gets rattled
He will holler "Hully Gee
Dere isn't any duck in town can get away wid me
For I'm a holy terror
When my fur is ruffled, see"
Says the "Dugan Kid" the latest up-to-datest

CHORUS
He's a plain little chap
From the heart of New York
Is the gay little Dugan boy
With smiles so sunny and easy so funny
He's New York's joy
When the band starts to play, is he in it?
"Well Say," Dugan's out of sight
For he's a corker a born New Yorker
And he's all right.

Fa-La-La-Lah-Mashup

2011-12-19T23:27:00.003-05:00

OK, the really cool/different post I wanted to do today is taking longer than I anticipated, so it'll have to go up tomorrow. In lieu of something else equally cool/different (which I don't have time for at this point) I'm going to throw up an inane/repetitive mashup. I did try something a little different with one of them, though -- I ran the dialogue backwards. Text from today's Garfield, art from today's...
Blue Milk Special

Bob the Squirrel

I'm kind of amused with the absurdity of the backwards strip. But despite being backwards, it still kind of makes sense. I'm not sure what that says about either Jim Davis or Frank Page, though.

When World-Building Fails

2011-12-18T18:32:00.000-05:00

One of the current trends in media is the paired notions of world-building and transmedia. You don't just tell a story; you tell a story in the scope of a broader world that can then be expanded upon in multiple outlets. Star Wars is a classic example. There's a Star Wars universe that was initially developed over the course of three movies. But George Lucas had other notions going on in his head that didn't make it to the screen. As did other people who worked on those movies. As did people who just saw them. Those ideas got expanded upon in other outlets like comic books, novels and bad made-for-TV holiday specials. Though most of the infamous 1978 Star Wars holiday special comes across as a cheap attempt to rake in some extra bucks on what may have been just a fad, it is notable for debuting Boba Fett two years prior to his "introduction" in Empire Strikes Back. Which suggests that Lucas was thinking about expanding the Star Wars concept beyond the movies pretty early on.

In any event, world-building and transmedia are considered the "now" approach to story-telling. If you're making a movie, you need to make sure the accompanying video game ties in with it as seamlessly as possible. If you're making a TV show, you need to make an accompanying comic book. An so on. Like anything else, it can be executed well or poorly. There's nothing wrong with the concept per se and, although it can be viewed cynically, whether or not it works largely depends on how good you are at actually telling all these stories in these different formats.

I recently came across a comic book series from mid-2010. It's a science fiction story, a little vague on the central concept but well-drawn with good dialogue. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's well written, though. See, it has this problem of providing too much world-building. The story starts in 1947 Roswell, and goes on at length (fully 1/3 of the first two -- and, to date, only -- issues) explaining how aliens came down and, wanting to the help the human race, did some time travel business to change the course of human history. Which is nice and all, but the main story occurs in this new, alternate timeline where there's spaceships and lasers and all sorts of fun, science fiction-y stuff. That has nothing to do with the backstory. They could easily have dropped the backstory parts and there would have been absolutely zero loss in comprehending the main story.

Go watch Star Wars: A New Hope. If you didn't see it when it first came out, try to forget everything you know about that universe. The movie starts with Darth Vader pursuing Princess Leia, and you pick up in the first few minutes the basic stolen-plans-for-the-Death-Star plot. Does it go into a long, in-depth discussion about how the Emperor tracked down and killed all the Jedi? How that was preceded by the Clone Wars and what that was all about? No. We get a couple of off-hand lines of dialogue about a quarter of the way into the movie. Twenty seconds out of a two hour movie.

And that's part of what people liked about the original movie back in the day. "Clone Wars? What the hell are those?" It wasn't germane to the story but it let the audience know there was a world out there beyond what we were seeing on the screen. Lucas' world-building was somewhat unintentional (he had simply written a story far too long to capture in a two-hour movie) but that still informed his story-telling in A New Hope. The audience picked up on and responded to that.

But if you spend your time trying to tell all your backstory along side your lead, you're going to lose your audience from a lack of focus. "Why am I learning about this guy, who's dead and buried by the time the protagonist is born?" The story is about Han and Luke, not Qui-Gon and Padme. It's about Frodo and Samwise, not Beren and Lúthien. It's about Superman and Batman, not Jor-El and Thomas Wayne.

As a creator, it does help to put some serious thought and consideration into how your worlds work. But it doesn't necessarily all need to be spelled out for your audience. Certainly not at the same time you're trying to tell your central story.

The Red Queen's Race

2011-12-17T23:35:00.000-05:00

We're at the tail end of 2011 and I am utterly astounded at how fast that went. I was just scanning through my timeline on Facebook, and I kept seeing notes about things that happened AGES ago! They seemed like ages, at any rate.

It used to be, even as late as a couple years ago, I would get to Friday and think, "Hey, cool. I can start the weekend now." It was certainly good break from the daily grind, but it didn't seem like that huge of a deal. These days, I feel like I'm running full speed all week and when I get home at the end of Thursday is when I collapse. But then I still have to drag myself through Friday, and I don't have all that much time to relax on the weekends.

"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else -- if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

That's from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass. I suspect a number of people feel kind of like that these days.

But one thing we do here at Castle Kleefeld is keep our eyes forward! "Face front" as Stan Lee used to say! So I'm looking ahead to 2012 as much as possible. I've got some things I'm trying to get in motion to keep me pretty busy throughout the year. Several months back, I talked about how we should try to follow a webcomic-type model of generating long-tail incomes. I'll be trying to more of that as time moves on.

Not to mention just working more, in general. Jack Kirby was often credited with being a fast artist, but a lot of it was that he would regularly sit down at the drawing board for insanely long stretches at a time. He was quick, sure, but he would also put in 10, 12 and 14 hour days with a pencil in his hand. I'll be using a keyboard and mouse instead of a pencil, but there's a similar gist there.

So, as you start planning for 2012, might I suggest a new pair of really good, high quality running shoes? Because if you want to make it anywhere, you're going to have to run twice as fast as you have been!

Thanks, Carl & Mike!

2011-12-16T17:36:00.000-05:00

I just received a couple of neat additions to my collection that I wanted to share. Two autographed pictures of Carl Ciarfalio as the Thing from the never-released Fantastic Four movie from 1994, and a DVD he's made called "The Making of the Thing" which features recently uncovered behind-the-scenes footage from the movie.
If you're a regular reader, you'll know I was big-time Fantastic Four fan for decades. Though the FF movie was never released, I got a decent copy on VHS years ago. Despite some obvious production flaws and several plot holes in the script, I always liked the movie and thought it did a better job capturing the spirit of the FF than either the 2005 or 2007 movies. So getting Ciarfalio's autograph signed to me is kind of special.

I wanted to take a moment to publicly thank Michael D. Hamersky for setting up a contest in which I could win these (check out his blog for thoughts and discussion about the comic industry) and Ciarfalio himself for helping out with the contest and sending over these personalized gifts (check out his site for upcoming appearances at both conventions and on TV). Thanks, guys!

Simon & Barreto

2011-12-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

The big news today, of course, has been the deaths of Joe Simon and Eduardo Barreto. I didn't really want to post anything about them since others are certainly going to do a much better job, but with both of them passing today, I didn't feel justified in ignoring both of them in favor of something suggesting that everything's hunky dory without them.

The loss of Simon is certainly unfortunate, but he was 98 years old and had already made a great many contributions to the field of comics. Everyone tends to focus on his creating Captain America -- which was/is certainly a huge deal -- but I think his bigger contribution was simply working and steering Jack Kirby in the early days of their respective careers. Kirby has noted before, I believe, that Simon was a fairly astute businessman, certainly moreso than Kirby himself, and that much of the success of "Simon & Kirby" came from Simon's selling the team to various publishers. Remember that Simon and Kirby didn't publish anything themselves; they essentially freelanced for Timely, National, Fawcett and others. Simon would often go to publishers with stories they had done and sell the publisher a "comic book package." If the publisher handled the printing and distribution, Simon & Kirby would handle the ideation and production and everything else, and everybody split the profits. That cemented Simon's and Kirby's names in people's minds, so when they parted ways in 1955, everyone wanted to get Kirby on their books. Had Simon not been such a good business partner, Kirby might not have wound up with the opportunity to create the Marvel Universe and the Fourth World and everything else he did from the late 1950s onward. I haven't read his more recent book, but his The Comic Book Makers from 2003 was very insightful in highlighting all the different parts of comics he touched beyond just Captain America.

Barreto is, in my mind, the more tragic of the two deaths. He was only 57 and still making noticeable contributions to comics. Personally, I first saw (and was impressed by) his work in Lex Luthor, the Unauthorized Biography. In particular, his scene-to-scene transitions struck me as well thought-out and executed. It's an element that not many artist seem to consider. Certainly not at the level Barreto did there. The most recent work of his that I've read is The Long Haul from 2005. I didn't realize until today that he's been largely working on comic strips since then, and I find it disappointing that so few people were seeing his work. I'm certainly glad he had regular work, but how many people actually read Judge Parker? Baretto certainly had plenty of talent, and he showed a lot of ability to work in different styles and genres with seeming ease. It's a shame that he couldn't have spent more time doing quality work, and that much of what he was doing was being vastly under-appreciated. Perhaps he didn't do as much for comics as Simon did even though he was older than when Simon had accomplished most of what he's known for. But that doesn't change that he was still contributing and looked to have many more years that he could continue doing so.

Though I haven't seen any new work from either for a few years now, both Simon and Barreto will be missed.

It's Monkey Day Links!

2011-12-14T09:32:00.001-05:00

December 14 is Monkey Day! Please celebrate responsibly.
Here's a cool-looking Gundam that's seven feet tall. Now, be amazed when I tell you that Taras Lesko designed and constructed it himself out of 720 sheets of paper! PAPER!!!
Columbia Journalism Review just republished this piece from 1965 which looked had how "consistently propagandistic" comics of the Cold War and how they may have actually influenced popular opinion. I love pieces like this, as they provide a closer-to-first-hand view of what are now historical comics.
Did I mention that Gundam is made out of paper?!?
Salon has some coverage of Hero, Villain, Yeti, the Rubin Museum's exhibit on Tibet's portrayal in comics over the years. It's supposedly a pretty extensive collection on display, though I saw no mention of the Inhuman's "Hidden Land."
Chip Kidd presented earlier this year at the AIGA Design Conference. Here's video of his talk on getting tapped to write an original Batman graphic novel.
I know this has circulated a bit already, but Doc V's look at Timely's Best Western is really impressive and worth a read.
Lastly, I'm not quite sure how I would categorize this or whether it's really worth mentioning on a comics blog, but Joe Bonomo recently interviewed Jim Linderman. Linderman collects... stuff. He's not a hoarder and regularly dumps his collection of whatever-it-was-that-he-was-collecting. He has some interesting thoughts on why he collects what he does, and what he gets out of collecting. It's not really comics related per se (though he does mention Robert Crumb once) but it's a curious aside to fandoms more generally.

Castle Kleefeld

2011-12-13T23:13:00.001-05:00

When I was growing up, I live with my parents, not surprisingly. For most of my childhood, I had my own room where I could close the door and totally lose myself in a comic book world. Resting on the floor of my closet, under my good shirts and pants that were hanging up, was my meager comic book collection. I would pull it out to read and re-read on my bed. The rest of the house was sort of like public property for the family so, while I could go into the living room or the kitchen or the basement to read, my room was were I could close the door.

Throughout college, I moved through a series of dwellings, thanks in no small part to the internship program which had all the students in my program on an alternating school/work schedule. We'd take classes for three months, and then work for three months, and then take classes for three months, and then work for three months. (And so on.) Because I ended up moving relatively frequently, I tried to keep things pretty light (at one point, I literally had everything I was going to live with for the next three months, including furniture, packed into a Ford Escort) so I left most of my comics at my folks' house.

Once I graduated and got a permanent job, I moved into an apartment that was intended to be more permanent. I made a point of removing ALL of my stuff out of my parents' place as quickly as I could, I think, largely to prove some semblance of independence to myself. My first apartment was decidedly my place (my girlfriend at the time was still finishing school and lived a few hours away) and I was able to designate a section towards my comic books. More significantly, the entire apartment was mine, so I could sit at the kitchen table, or in front of the TV, or on my bed and read my comics without fear of being distracted or interrupted.

Not quite 20 years later, I have a house of my own. I have an entire "room" for my comic book collection. My home office is a little larger than the bedroom I had as a kid, and there's currently a stack of 30-40 comics sitting here that I need to catalog before I file them away. I've got a couple graphic novels sitting on the nightstand next to my bed in the other room, one recently finished, one partially so. In the living room downstairs, I've got a stack of Tom Strong I'm working my way through sitting on the coffee table. On another end table is Habibi, still daring me to start it. The kitchen table has a small stack of books that I'm using as research.

I've been thinking about homes lately for some reason. I catch myself, on occasion, lying in bed listening to the rain pounding on the roof, or the wind howling past the windows; I think about what a fantastic thing a home is. There's the basic notion of shelter, obviously, but my home means I can keep stuff that's mine. I can set down a comic book, and it will still be there tomorrow in exactly the same state that I left it. No one is going to find it and run off with it, and there won't be any natural elements trying to inflict their entropy on it. My home not only protects me, but also my stuff. Which means, in turn, I can accumulate wealth. I can obtain items of value and ensure that they remain in my possession; my copy of Fantastic Four #1 is going to remain my copy until I decide that I want to be rid of it.

George Carlin used to do a great routine about stuff, largely playing American consumerism for laughs. I heartily agree that we shouldn't collectively buy as much stuff as we do, and far too much of what we do buy gets discarded carelessly. But I'm not about to suggest we get all back-to-nature/live-in-a-commune-and-only-eat-what-you-grow. But for the stuff we do get, whether its a necessity like food or a luxury like comics, I think being able to keep it intact and usable just by way of leaving it in your home is remarkable.

I could try to put in some message about helping the homeless this holiday season and, while that's a laudable cause, that's honestly not where my head was. I don't really have any particular suggestions for that, if it's something you'd like to pursue. I guess I'm just thinking about how lucky I am to have my own home, where I can shelter myself from the elements and store food and bathe and not have to worry about personally holding every item in possession, lest someone take it from me. I'm thinking out loud here about just how much I appreciate the walls that encircle my stuff and protect it while I'm at work or out of town. I'm thinking how much I really understand and appreciate the old "a man's home is his castle" adage right now.

Maybe my comics room isn't the super-comfortable, but still stylish library/sanctuary I'd like it to be. Maybe I don't have an ideal space for reading or researching comics. Maybe my workspace isn't particularly well-suited having a lot of research material at the ready while I'm writing. But, you know, it's still my home, and that's pretty darned awesome all by itself.

Experience Experiment

2011-12-12T21:14:00.000-05:00

Abigail Halpin has been doing a webcomic experiment called A Thousand Cups of Coffee throughout 2011; she's trying to post one new webcomic a week for the entire year. Which might not sound like a big deal when weighed against the folks who do it daily, but she's an illustrator by trade and I don't know what else she's got going on in her life. It was her challenge to herself, so I'll take her word that it is indeed something of a challenge for her.

In any event, here's what she posted today...

As you might guess, hers is a diary comic. Just little slices out of her life that she's captured in comic form. They're generally pleasant, fairly quiet pieces. Well done, but not really innovative. (That's not meant as a complaint, just an observation!)

But look again at today's strip. The yarn she's knitting winds its way out of the panel and down to the ball in the next. But then Halpin also morphs the yarn into the song lyrics she's listening to. It's not necessary to the structure of the comic, but provides a nice extra beat to it.

It's a nice, clever piece of sequential art that I don't think she would've thought of 11 months ago. I think it's the type of solution that comes from practicing the same thing over a long period of time. I think it's the main reason why, when asked how start a webcomic, many creators will just tell you to just do it.

There's a lot to be said for education and training and mentors and all of the formalized processes that can help people learn, but there's also a lot to be said for learning by doing. Experience is, after all, one of the best teachers.

Avast Review

2011-12-11T22:38:00.001-05:00

I picked up Avast! while purchasing some other comic-related goodies to give relatives for Christmas. There wasn't much of a description on the site, but it wasn't expensive, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

The story follows Cate O'Malley, a pirate under Captain Freeman. They ransack a ship and obtain the legendary Sea Hag's Pearl, which allegedly brings immortality to anyone who holds it. O'Malley takes over as captain once Freeman is killed (having dropped the Pearl) and soon finds herself under attack from the Armada. She also drops the Pearl as her ship is bombarded, but sees it roll overboard. She dives into the deep after it, and she's last seen under the water swimming ever deeper to catch the sink Pearl.

The book was a group effort from Amelia Onorato, Donna Almendrala, Bill Bedard, Andy Warner, Nate Wootters and Sean Knickerbocker. They're all credited as writers and colorists, and they all contributed to either the penciling or inking. For as collaborative an effort as it was, it holds together quite well. The art changes between sections isn't invisible, but it's not terribly noticeable either; some of the characters just look slightly off-model from the previous section.

The story holds together fairly well. I didn't find the characters terribly engaging, but they weren't exactly wooden either. I was struck, though, by a lot of the details about pirate life that were included. The type of stuff most folks aren't aware of -- like that a cannonball isn't so dangerous in and of itself, but it's the wood splinters that spray everywhere after it hits the ship that are more likely to kill you. There's also some nice continuity touches, like O'Malley eventually wearing a coat much like Freeman's or that she loses her eye shortly before going overboard.

The book is treated presented like a Golden Age comic from EC. It's got a message from the "Admiral Inky Solomon", fake ads, Ben-Day coloring effects, and even a February 1941 cover date. It feels a little off, though, but not having the quality level of illustration that was found at EC. You won't be mistaking any of this for Johnny Craig. It's not bad here, but it's a different style altogether. I think that probably hampers the book's impact more than anything; it just doesn't have the visual style of a Reed Crandall or a Wally Wood.

All in all, it's not a bad book. I suspect that it was a very educational experience for the creators (who, I think, worked on it as part of a Center for Cartoon Studies class) and it's interesting to see how that turned out. Especially as a collaborative effort. The book is available for $5.00 from Storenvy.

Stan Lee Universe Review

2011-12-10T22:28:00.001-05:00

I first started paying attention to what Stan Lee was saying outside the comic books in the early-to-mid 1980s. I was starting to read up on and study the history of comics, particularly the Fantastic Four and Marvel. Lee had long been THE go-to comic book celebrity, so it wasn't all that difficult to find interviews and articles about him. With my initial focus on and interest in the FF, though, I paid a little more attention to Lee even as I began broadening my scope. Jack Kirby, too, of course, but Lee tended to be more out-spoken.

One thing I've found fascinating is watching Lee over the past quarter century. He's frequently asked the same questions over and over again, and he has a pile of stock come-backs and anecdotes. But what's struck me as how they've morphed over the years. I recall when he first started trotting the notion that he'd told these anecdotes too many times; he said something to the effect of, "I've been telling these stories for so many years now, but I don't know if they're really true. I figure there must be some aspect of them that is, though, otherwise they wouldn't be good stories for me to tell." That's gotten truncated over the years and these days he spits out something more like, "I've told these stories so many times, they're true." You can see how he got from one to the other, but if you only heard the recent version, you'd wind up with a substantially different interpretation.

So here come Danny Fingeroth and Roy Thomas with The Stan Lee Universe. Although it's very much about Lee, it's not a biography like Tom Spurgeon's book. It's a collection of articles, interviews, remembrances and ephemera that are collectively used to build a portrait of Lee. Much of it comes from Lee's personal archives, so it's in his own words, but unlike his autobiography, there isn't several decades of poor memory and self-aggrandizing hyperbole getting in the way. This is Lee telling his story as it happened.

I have to admit that I had some concern when I first came to the book. I'm pretty familiar with Lee's life and career, having read quite a bit about him over the years, and I thought that another book on the man might just wind up being a somewhat repetitive fanfare for him. I think he's contributed quite a lot to the comic industry, to be sure, but I also tend to think the credit he's given, while not wholly unjustified, does something of a disservice to many of the other great comic creators who did so much for the industry. While there is some unabashed gushing about Lee in the book -- primarily in the new interviews with Lee's old colleagues -- there's much more focus on presenting things in fairly straight-forward manner.

The book is organized in a more-or-less chronological fashion, starting with a 1957 interview and running through to Who Wants to be a Superhero? and The Traveler. Many of the archive pieces are rare, some of which I had never been aware of, much less seen. All of which paints a picture of not only who Stan Lee is, but how he got to be who he is over the past 50 years. You can follow some of the subtle changes in his demeanor and attitude from one interview to the next, where he attributes credit and when. If you're one of those folks trying to piece together just what the hell was going on at Marvel in the early 1960s, this goes a long way to detailing that.

Honestly, this is a book I wish I had twenty-five years ago. There's a lot about Lee in here, naturally, and by extension there's a lot about the early days of Marvel Comics. I'm sure that most comic fans will find something decidedly new and interesting in it; I've been reading about Lee for decades and got some new insights out of it. It's really well put-together and organized, with lots of rarities that I would've assumed were long since lost to time. Definitely worth picking up if you have any interest in Marvel or comics history in general!

Warrior/Peacemaker

2011-12-09T23:40:00.001-05:00

The S.O. passed along this link to an article about a work-in-progress graphic novel by Julian Voloj about Benjamin Melendez, who was instrumental in the Hoe Avenue Peace Meeting which brought about a much-needed truce among the rival gangs of the South Bronx in the 1970s.

There's an excerpt of the work at the link. It looks as if Voloj, while a talented artist, isn't well-versed in comics. There look to be some minor issues with story flow, balloon placement and the like. But that said, I think it's a great sounded project and one worth keeping an eye on because it tells a story that no one else is telling. And I don't mean that in the cliched, "do you even know what unique means" kind of way. Voloj's story is picking up an obscure piece of history that I can guarantee will never be in any history book and, at most, maybe get only a passing mention in books about gang culture or hip-hop. He does note there's a condensed version of Melendez's importance in another article, but I don't think that has nearly the impact compared to what I'm seeing in the graphic version. I think that change of media will make the story significantly more accessible, more potent and, ultimately, more useful. In any event, it will certainly be something I think worth keeping an eye out for in the future.

An exhibit at the Bronx River Arts Center will begin this weekend, showcasing some of Voloj's work so far. And on Sunday, from 3:00 until 6:00, Melendez himself will be there as part of a panel discussion on "Activists and Artists Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Hoe Avenue Peace Meeting." If you're in the area, it sounds like it's worth checking out.

Character Affinity

2011-12-08T21:39:00.001-05:00

What makes readers connect with a comic? Well, it's obviously different for every individual and there are a number of factors involved, but one of the biggies is character affinity. How much the reader personally identifies with the main character(s).

When I was a kid, Batman was my favorite character. He was confident and powerful (in a human capacity -- none of this lifting-cars-over-your-head garbage), he was smart and he didn't have any pesky girls bothering him. (This was obviously at a time when I still thought girls were "icky.") I wasn't any of those things myself, but they were all traits I aspired to at some level. I wasn't reading much, if anything, in terms of characterization so even the flat presentation of him in those Filmation cartoons was acceptable. While I like other superheroes, Batman (and, to a lesser extent, Green Arrow) stood out because he was a regular guy. No power ring, no super speed, no talking to fish... just a dude and whatever he had tucked in his belt. I related to that self-reliance and ingenuity and not-feeling-inferior-next-to-the-most-powerful-heroes-on-the-planet thing. That's what I wanted to be.

When I started getting old enough to look for more three-dimensional characters, I found the Fantastic Four. They were a little more rounded than Batman -- at least the Batman I was exposed to at the time. Plus, they weren't fighting crime (which I had no real interest in) so much as exploring the universe. Or, sometimes, other universes! I saw bits of myself particularly in Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch -- I aspired to be like Reed, but I was probably closer to Johnny in terms of temperament and intelligence. Also, the camaraderie the team displayed was something I wanted for myself. I kept seeing people making allusions in the comic press to the Fantastic Four as a family, but I was thought that seemed a bit of a stretch. (Ben and Johnny as children to Reed and Sue as parents? Really?) No, they were four people who CHOSE to be with one another because they liked each other. Four people who were CLOSER than family because they WANTED to be with one another; there was no "well, you're related so you have to make nice to him during Christmas dinner, even if you think he's an ass" or anything along those lines. To have a group of friends as close as the Fantastic Four clearly were, that was something special.

But the aspirational angle is only a part of it. Direct identification is a pretty heavy influencer as well. Think about why Spider-Man was became so popular so quickly... Peter Parker was a dorky teenager who was riddled with self-doubt, and wasn't sure where he'd get enough money to buy Aunt May's medicine. A lot of people saw themselves in very much that role. Awkward and broke. They (inwardly) lacked confidence like Peter and struck out with girls like Peter and weren't sure if they had enough money to buy a slice of pizza like Peter. "Yeah! That's exactly what I'm going through! I'm not the only one! Somebody else gets it!" Plus, with Spider-Man, they still get the aspirational side of being a powerful hero that no one really knows about.

But there's also the more realistic affinity as well. The slice of life comics wherein a creator throws him/herself on the page and the reader not only says, "Yeah! That's exactly what I'm going through!" but also "And this isn't fiction! This creator REALLY is experiencing the same things I am!"

When I got divorced, it was (not surprisingly) very difficult emotionally for me. It was made more difficult because, despite the 50% divorce rate, I personally knew almost no one who had gotten a divorce. At least no one who ever admitted it to me. So when I discovered that cartoonist Frank Page was going through the same situation at the same time I was, AND putting it all in his comic strip Bob the Squirrel... well, it's hard to imagine me not feeling a sense of kinship with the man. Or at least his cartoon avatar. The strip is funny, and I'd still be reading today based on that alone, but feeling like I fought the same battles alongside Frank, each strip resounds with me a little more deeply.

Where I'm going with this is: if you really want to reach your audience in any sort of meaningful way, your characters need some degree of authenticity. You're not going to replicate each and every experience they've had, and you're not going to hit each and every member of your audience. But the more you give your readers an opportunity to feel an affinity to your characters -- because I'm not just talking about your lead protagonist here, but ALL of your characters -- the more likely they'll respond emotionally. And the more likely they are to respond emotionally, the more likely they'll stick around and, in a best case scenario, even advocate your strip. Like I just did for Bob.

Wednesday-ish Links

2011-12-07T17:25:00.000-05:00

Though he posted this a few months ago, I just came across this check (at right) that Tom Orzechowski was issued from Marvel back in 1990. Note the amount the check is made out for. He relays the story behind this odd check over on Facebook.
Neil Cohn points to several studies that track eye movements as people read comics. The various findings seem fairly obvious upon reflection, but it's great to see science backing this up.
Bobby Timony presents his pitch for a proposed Wonder Twins project. I believe he has the permissions set to "Public" but it might still require you to log in to Google.
I'm not sure if this circulated around before when it was first uploaded, but here's Wally Wood's "22 Frames That Always Work" as a live action video...

Last Minute Tuesday Mash-Up!

2011-12-06T23:52:00.001-05:00

Mainly just so I can have a post for today, here's the text from today's Garfield with art from today's...

Superhero Girl

PhD

More Me Than You Wanted

2011-12-05T19:00:00.000-05:00

Let's do another "What's Sean Working On" post.

The Webcomic Beacon Newscast
Most recently, I was a guest on the Webcomic Newscast of the Webcomic Beacon podcast. I joined Thom Revor, Eric Kimball and Alex Heberling to talk about some of the news in the world of webcomics. I had a good time, and I don't think I sounded like too much of an idiot, despite it being my first podcast. (Obviously, though, I'm biased. Also, I haven't listened to the final version.) Anyway, go take a listen. Some good discussion.
The Drawn Word
Christopher Irving is starting up a new magazine about comics. According to the press release, "My biggest goal with Drawn Word is to elevate writing about comics, packaging it as a magazine that reaches out to everyone from new to old readers, and features a variety of editorial and creative voices." I'll be one of the contributors, looking at (primarily) European comic creators you may have heard of but don't know much about. Also on board are Matt Murray (The World of Smurfs), Jared Gniewek (Scary-Oke) and Kurt Christenson (Power Play). The first issue is due out in early 2012.
The Jack Kirby Collector
I've still got my "Incidental Iconography" column going, but the next issue is a special Fantastic Four themed one written entirely by Mark Alexander. ("Why isn't the world' biggest FF fan contributing to a special FF issue?" I don't know either.) But I will be back for TJCK #59 in early 2012.
MTV Geek
My "Kleefeld on Webcomics" column is still going strong. I'm particularly happy with my column from last week in which I interviewed Rina Piccolo. (Yes, she does webcomics, too!)
Harry Blackstone, The Comic Book Magician Detective
I'm still working on my next book, but I have to admit it's been a little slow going lately. I was initially hoping to have it January or February, but some of the art is requiring more touch-ups than I anticipated, so it might be a bit later than that.
Kleefeld on Comics
Oh, you hadn't noticed that I'm still blogging away?

The Hero Code Review

2011-12-04T22:12:00.001-05:00

The Hero Code is a book that was successfully funded through Kickstarter, though I have to admit that completely escaped my notice until author Jamie Gambell graciously sent me a copy of the first issue.

The main story starts with some crooks trying to escape the police. The superhero Optiman intercedes and apprehends the criminals after getting blasted several times with a laser cannon. A pair of adults siblings discuss the sudden appearance of so many super-powered humans while watching a newscast of Optiman's heroism. They decide he isn't related but might well prove to be a useful ally. Meanwhile, crime boss Disalvo Lafontaine gets upset that the goons shown on TV had gotten a hold of one of his cannons, and suggests a "visit" to its inventor, who is busy seemingly grander experiments. At the policeman's ball, the Commission tries to avoid discussing this Black Wraith vigilante with other guests, just as the Wraith goes about mopping up a robbery across town. A mysterious figure watches the three heroes on monitors and imagines that finding out if those three will be "enough" will be fun.

The three heroes in question are fairly obvious stand-ins for Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. Or at least the archetypes those DC heroes generally embody. There's not a lot of time for elaborate characterization, so it's hard to say at this point how original these new characters are, or how deep they are as characters, but I was pleased how they were introduced -- each given his/her own different entrance without a cumbersome origin story off the bat. I particularly liked how Black Wraith (and his secret identity) are introduced -- very smartly handled. Though I did think the Wonder Woman stand-in could have used a bit more attention. It was a nice set-up and did a good job of providing an overview of the world we're looking at, but it didn't say anything really about her; we don't even learn her name.

Gambell has some lofty ambitions here. According to the issue's afterword, "The Hero Code is simply a comic book in which the good guys prevail." I think that sells the intentions a bit short, though. By making some immediate comparisons to DC's trinity, it does allow readers to follow the story premise quickly without a lot of exposition, but it also suggests the launch of a new superhero universe. There's nothing to say that can't be done, but that's not an easy task either, as evidenced by the string of unsuccessful publishers over the decades who have tried exactly that. Now, that may not be the case here -- we're only looking at one issue, after all -- but they brought up the DC comparison in the first place and additional comparisons are inevitable.

With that said, though, Gambell's actual story is solid. Good dialogue and natural-sounding exposition. He also knows when to hold back and let the artwork speak for itself. Artist Jonathan Rector turns in some nice work, which I'm sure makes that easier. Excellent linework throughout, and good storytelling chops. No wasted space with gratuitous splash pages or anything.

The book looks to be off to a good start. I think the second and third issues will really be telling with regards to how good the story is, overall. If Gambell and Rector keep are able to keep on with what they're doing, this would make a handsome TPB or hardcover down the road. The first issue can be purchased in print from Monkey Pipe Studios or online from Graphicly.

Cowboys & Aliens Circa 1952

2011-12-03T22:57:00.001-05:00

Apparently, Steven Busti is claiming that "Cowboys & Aliens" was his idea back in 1994, published the following year in Bizarre Fantasy, and that Scott Rosenberg swiped it for Platinum's 2006 series Cowboys & Aliens. I haven't read either series or seen the recent movie to be able to compare them directly but, frankly, they both suspiciously sound a lot like Charlton's old Space Western Comics from 1952...

So, not exactly an entirely original concept we're dealing with here.

New Almost A Superhero Shirts Available!

2011-12-02T23:12:00.001-05:00

As promised some time back, I've got a couple more designs available at my Almost a Superhero shop. I have to say I'm particularly amused with the meta-textual reference in the one...

There's still plenty of time to order before Christmas! And you might as well get one for yourself while you're getting gifts for the rest of the family!

Specificity VS Generalization

2011-12-01T22:21:00.001-05:00

The first comic that really got me hooked on the medium was Fantastic Four. I just loved the sense of adventure and exploration among a group of really close friends. I got really interested in the overall story and the characters, and I spent a lot of time working to become a Fantastic Four expert.But not long after I started reading that, I began seeing other characters appear in the book. And the Fantastic Four would make cameos in other books. Which got me interested in the broader Marvel Universe. What was this Avengers Mansion place they were hanging out at like? Who's this new Captain Marvel chick? I spent a lot of time working to become a Marvel expert.It didn't take long either to notice that creators whose work I really enjoyed would move on to other books. Some of them not even published by Marvel! So I found myself reading Green Arrow and JLA and the like. I spent a lot of time working to become a comic book expert.And then one of those creators had the audacity to stop publishing and move online! I was following Girl Genius from the first published issue, having recalled Phil Foglio's excellent "What's New?" from Dragon Magazine. But it helped to point me in the direction of webcomics, and I've since spent a lot of time working to become a webcomics expert.Interestingly, it was webcomics that led me back to newspaper strips. The spats and flame wars between the two camps led me to look up what was actually going on in the funny pages these days. How were these legacy strips still around after their creators passed away? I've spent a lot of time working to become a newspaper strip expert.Oh, yeah, and throw manga and European comics in there, too, somewhere.I'm not claiming to have actually become an expert; I think I have TONS to learn on all manner of comic subjects. But it just struck me tonight as an interesting journey of an increasingly broader scope to what I'm trying to become an expert at. My column at MTV is about webcomics generally, but my column for The Jack Kirby Collector is on the specific character illustrations from one creator who died before he knew what the web was. My first book was broadly covered comic book fandom, and my next one is on a specific comic book series from the 1940s. I don't know that the more generalized approach I've been working towards is necessarily any better/worse than the specificity I used to focus on, but it's proven to be a fascinating journey. I'm looking forward to see what else within comics I can sink my teeth into!

Last Wednesday Links For November

2011-11-30T17:17:00.000-05:00

The Learned Fangirl talks about a (sadly not online) article in the December issue of Decibel which tackles the female un-friendly attitude over at DC. While the debate is hardly new for comics folks, it's surprising to see it turn up over in "America's only extreme music magazine."
Erika D. Peterman interviews Cheryl Lynn Eaton about the Ormes Society for CNN. "We don't look the same, we don't create the same work, we don't read the same comics, but we'd all like to be respected, please."
Doc Jenkins presents a Comics and Graphic Storytelling syllabus "which is designed to expose students to a range of different methods for studying the medium and to as broad a sample of (primarily) American comics and graphic storytelling as I could cram into one subject." A lot of the usual suspects show up in the reading list -- Eisner, McCloud, Spigelman, etc. -- but there's also other less well-known folks like Howard Cruise and Ho Che Anderson. Jenkins' stuff is always worth a read, but with my (and presumably your) interest in comics, this is particularly relevant.
Blake Bell points to this image showing the Fantagraphics catalog entry for The Secret History Of Marvel Comics: Jack Kirby and the Moonlighting Artists at Martin Goodman’s Empire.
The Globe and Mail takes a look at how tablet sales are a boon for digital comics.

Too Many Comics!

2011-11-29T23:36:00.000-05:00

It was only about four or five years ago that my comic reading was primarily limited by my bank account. I had a finite amount of income and I had to pay my bills before I could buy anything like comics. When my financial situation changed pretty radically, I had to cut my comic buying to zero. I just simply did not have the extra cash to afford comics on top of the mortgage, electric bill, water bill, food, etc.

I'd been reading a handful of webcomics before that -- I think I started reading them regularly around 2004 -- but I now found myself with more time to read more webcomics. Since I was no longer purchasing print ones. I set up a decent reading system, including for those that don't have handy RSS feeds, and I would add new comics as I came across ones that looked/sounded interesting.

I did some traveling for Thanksgiving this past weekend, and couldn't really keep up with all my regular comics. I caught a few of them, but mostly just the ones that tended to be more time-sensitive. I knew I could catch up on the others later.

Tonight I sat down to 300-some pages of webcomics that I hadn't read yet. I got through maybe half of them. And many of them will get updated overnight, so I'm sure I'll be back over 200 by morning. With my other obligations, I don't expect I'll get caught up until the weekend. And that's only from missing a couple of days!

So, for the first time ever, I'm considering paring back my reading because I simply don't have the time to keep up with everything. It's an interesting change from earlier where money was my limiting factor. Now, I can get a hold of everything I want, but it's more than I can actually keep up with. It's an interesting challenge to face, and I'll need to set aside some time to think about what comics really appeal to me in a very different way than I have before.

Not only are there the quality and genre components to consider (which I'm accustomed to) but also a frequency issue. A webcomic that comes out daily will eat up more time than one that's weekly or simply irregular. How does that factor in? Does a really great daily comic equal a mediocre weekly one? What about something pretty good that comes out three times week?

Also, I keep finding new comics. How do those fit in? What sort of "grace period" should I give them before making a choice between that one and another one I had been reading previously? (Since I obviously don't want to just wind up with the volume of comics I'm at now again in a few months.)

Just something new and interesting for me to consider.

Cyber Monday Comic Deals

2011-11-28T12:12:00.001-05:00

Here's some special Cyber Monday comic-related deals I've found. Most are good for today only.

Comic Buyers' Guide is offering $5 off $30 purchases, $10 off $50 purchases and $15 off $75 purchases. Also if you spend $30 or more, you'll receive free shipping. Use the promo code KPCYBER at checkout.
Sideshow Collectibles has a number of items marked up to 50% off.
TwoMorrows has their book catalog marked down by 50%! (I believe it applies to all the books except their new releases.)
Marvel has 30% annual subscriptions to their digital comics if you use the promo code CYBER11.
Thwipster has Thunderbolts by Warren Ellis Ultimate Collection, A Drifting Life and American Vampire hardcover volumes 1 & 2 for 34-46% off. Also, if you use the code LUDDITEMONDAY, you can get an extra $10 off any order over $100.
Use the discount code CYBERMONDAY305 to save 30% off any/all Lulu orders. (Including, of course, Comic Book Fanthropology!)
Cafe Press has an automatic 30% discount taken off t-shirts like these as you checkout. (No extra codes required!)
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is offering a number of personalized gifts from the likes of Neil Gaiman, Paul Levitz, Scott McCloud, Adrian Tomine and others. Plus, The Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation will increase their donation to the CBLDF as more of you/us contribute! Details are here.

Those are just the ones I know about. I'm sure other deals are out there if you're interested in getting some comic-related bargains.

XMas Gifts Via Frank Page

2011-11-27T20:46:00.001-05:00

This commission was an early Christmas gift I got for the S.O. It's a portrait of us (and our animals) by Frank Page. Very cheap but very good work. Head over to http://bobthesquirrel.com for more info and to get one of your own. (By the way, Frank, she absolutely loves it!)

Buster Brown

2011-11-26T10:45:00.000-05:00

If you're at all like me, you're probably more familiar with Buster Brown via the shoes than anything else. Though certainly not as popular as they once were, I distinctly recall a time when "Buster Browns" were the 7-year-old's equivalent of Air Jordans or Crocs. However, Buster Brown was actually a comic strip character BEFORE become a shoe mascot.

Buster Brown debuted as a comic strip in the New York Herald in 1902. It was created by Richard Outcault, who is perhaps better known as the creator of the Yellow Kid from almost a decade earlier. The character was then bought by the Brown Shoe Company in 1904 and debuted as the company mascot at the World's Fair in St. Louis. Outcault continued drawing the character in the comics until 1921.

But the character continued on. Beginning in 1925, a series of live-action comedy shorts were produced featuring Arthur Trimble in the titular role. Tige the dog was played by Pal the Wonder Dog, who would later go on to become the iconic Petey in Our Gang shorts. Here's "Knockout Buster"...

There were, I believe, 49 Buster Brown shorts in all. "Knockout Buster" was #43 and was first released on March 6, 1929. Buster Brown didn't receive any notable media exposure again until a radio show in 1943, and then a television program in 1951. The Buster Brown comic book ran from 1945 until 1956, with a handful of additional one-off issues throughout the 1950s.

After that, the only new Buster Brown material I'm aware of are commercials. There were a few reprint books in the 1970s, but nothing new that I can find. Which would probably explain why many folks my age or younger aren't aware of Buster Brown's history as a bona fide comic character!

Books On Sale

2011-11-25T08:49:00.003-05:00

Well, I'd be remiss if I didn't try to cater to the consumerism mindset going on this weekend. As you may or may not know, I have some items I created up for sale. Things your friends and loved ones might appreciate receiving this holiday season.

My book is called Comic Book Fanthropology and looks at who and what comic book fans are. It's available here in paperback, hardcover and electronic formats. If you you use the coupon code BUYMYBOOK305 between now and December 14, you'll get 25% off your entire order.

I also have "Comic Book Fanthropologist" shirts, bags, mugs and even Christmahanakwanzika cards available here. (Sorry, but I can't discount those.)

I've also got my "Almost a Superhero" line of shirts, too. There's some fun ideas there, I think, ones that you won't find anywhere else. (Though, admittedly, I'm biased.)
Happy shopping everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:40:00.002-05:00

I'm Thanksgiving-ing today, so here's the Superman balloon from the Macy's parade circa the 1960s.

Turkey Day Eve Links

2011-11-23T15:45:00.004-05:00

Corey Blake does some solid follow-up work on the recent Bill Mantlo piece, adding some clarifications, updates and additions. If the previous Mantlo piece touched you, please go read Blake's piece as well.
The State Health Department of India is producing comic books to "make adolescent girls aware of the right age of marriage, the spacing required in birth of children and ill-effects of early marriage." I think the implication is that they don't want girls having children at such a young age that there are health problems and/or they drop out of school, but I'm not keen on how it's presented, at least in the article, as the "right age of marriage."
Here's Part Two of Doc Jenkins' chat about critical approaches to comics. As always, Jenkins brings up great points.
Alec Berry examines the corporate side of making comic books. There's nothing particularly earth-shattering in his piece, but it's a decidedly worthwhile read in that I think a lot of comic fans tend to NOT talk about it. I think they recognize that it's a business, but often don't fully connect that with the stories that wind up on the printed page.

Step One

2011-11-22T22:56:00.000-05:00

Dad and the S.O. each sent me a link to a new comic they had heard about, and I hadn't. One was Smoke and Mirrors from IDW about a stage magician who's transported to a dimension where real magic is the norm. One of the "hooks" of the book, though, is that there will be actual tricks in the book itself. Teachable magic with instructions in comic book form. (I think I may have heard the title before and assumed it was a continuation of Speakeasy's Smoke & Mirror from 2005.)

The other comic is The Dirt Candy Comic Book Cookbook. Dirt Candy is a vegetarian restaurant in New York City, and chef/owner Amanda Cohen is doing a cookbook in graphic novel form with artist Ryan Dunlavey. She says the "novel" part is a bit misleading since it's not really a novel, but there will be recipes explained with sequential art.

The notion of using comics as a instructional tool is nothing new. The 1940s comics I'm researching for my next book include pages like this...

And, of course, those airline safety brochures are really just comics as well. (Though often badly done.)

I'm quite pleased to see there are more such books coming out in the near future, but I'm curious what might have sparked the seemingly recent interest. The whole "comics are popular now" thing has been around for a few years, so I doubt it's that. Unless, of course, there are a lot more instructional comics that have come out that I never heard about. After all, both of these new examples only just came to my attention today, but news of them has been out there for at least a month or two. Maybe there's this whole genre of instructional comics that "the industry" isn't talking about. Books that show up in the cooking or DIY sections.

Something to keep my eyes out for...

Unintentional Irony

2011-11-21T22:36:00.000-05:00

Like many of you, I've been hearing news about the Occupy movement for a little while now. However, since I am holding down a full-time job -- one which I would like to keep -- it doesn't make much sense for me to head over to the nearest Occupy camp and get fined and/or arrested, despite my supporting them conceptually. (That sounds a bit hollow, I suppose, but as I mentioned a couple weeks back, I don't feel I can financially afford to live and still hold my ideals.)

When the police ransacked the People's Library in New York last week, I was stunned to see that A) the Occupy Wall Street group had a library (thanks for the substantive reporting, news media) and B) they were essentially playing out the back-story of Fahrenheit 451. Kudos to the Occupy people for retrieving what books they could and starting the People's Library again. The least I could do was to send over some books from my collection, now that I knew they were taking donations like that.

I don't have a lot (any?) books that would be truly be relevant and/or poignant to the movement as a whole, but what I do have are comics. So I packed up a collection of graphic novels and TPBs to send over. It was a bit of a mixed bag of books -- some Marvel, some DC, some independent. Just some things to maybe let them escape for a bit. Packed them up neatly, took them to the post office and sent them off. (With a confirmation of receipt since the post office attendant was eyeballing me a little strangely after he saw the address.)

After sending the box off, I realized I should probably remove the books from my personal collection database before I forget what I've done with them. It was only then that I realized that about a third of the books I sent off were by Frank Miller.

Yes, the same Frank Miller who caused a stink last week by ranting about how they were "a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists... fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness." I sent over The Dark Knight, Daredevil, some of his really good stuff.

I don't know Miller personally and have nothing against him. I still think he's turned out some fantastic comics over the years. But it still amused me to think that he is, if he hasn't already, inadvertently supporting the very group he decried. Had I realized that before I sent the books off, I might have seen JUST books by Miller.

Anyway, if you're interested in supporting the Occupy Wall Street People's Library, donations can be sent to:

The UPS Store
Re: Occupy Wall Street 
Attn: The People's Library
118A Fulton St. #205 
New York, NY 10038

A Slightly Different Approach

2011-11-20T22:15:00.000-05:00

If you've been... well, anywhere outside your home lately, you may have noticed the Christmas decorations are going up and carols being piped through the loudspeakers. And it gets you thinking that maybe you should start shopping for Christmas presents.

The past few years, I've tried being a little less conspicuous with what I give people. My favorite attempt recently was two years ago when I bought a pair of cheap, used laptops and converted them into digital picture frames. A little more personal (since I had to do the conversion myself) and not all that expensive (since they were ten years old). This year, though, I'm aiming for something a little different.

I've been becoming more interested lately in supporting more independent creators. Within comics, at least, I think there are some folks telling some really great stories that maybe aren't everyone's cup of tea, but ones that I can appreciate. What's more, they're by-passing traditional publishing methods in favor of doing their own thing. Which means that when a person buys their wares, a larger chunk of the money goes directly to them. So I've helped with a few Kickstarter projects, and have been buying more self-published works. I think my appreciation of this has increased since I self-published my own book.

In any event, with the recent Occupy movement bringing more attention to just how wide the income gap in the U.S. has become, it seems to me that I should be all the more interested in sending my money to individuals and smaller companies instead of the giant corporations who already make millions of dollars. Those companies aren't going to miss my business, I'm sure, but I suspect that the folks who are selling one book here and there will be very appreciative of what I can send them. So this year, I'm going to try to get the majority of my Christmas presents from smaller, indie folks who are just out doing good stuff.

It's early in my shopping for this year, so I don't know how well I'll do overall, but I've gotten two gifts so far that required personal emails from the creators to make sure they were putting together exactly what I wanted. And I have to say that, in both cases, it was pretty cool to get that kind of personal attention on some unique gifts. (I'd tell you what they are, but the recipients might be reading this.) The more I think about the idea, the more I like it. I'll try to do a follow-up post at the end of December to let you all know how well it goes over.

And *ahem* besides my book, I have some cool comic-related shirts for sale too. In case, you know, you might be interested in attempting something similar this holiday season.

Brenda Starr Volume One Review

2011-11-19T19:57:00.000-05:00

I got a chance to look at an advance preview of Brenda Starr, Reporter: The Collected Daily and Sunday Strips: Volume One from Hermes Press, due out in January. It reprints the first years of Dale Messick's famous newspaper strip, covering 1940 through 1946. Which sounds like am almost unwieldy amount for one book, but the strip only ran on Sundays until late 1945, before it finally went daily.

I was interested to read these because my only familiarity with Brenda Starr comes from the strips after Messick retired in 1982. I was curious what Messick herself had done, especially in lieu of her position as one of the pioneering female cartoonists in what is still a male-dominated industry.

There are several note-worthy things about this collection. First, because it covers a substantial period, readers are easily able to see Messick's art evolve. The earliest strips aren't bad, but they definitely improve as things move forward. Not only do Messick's illustration skills get smoother, but she also gets noticeably better with her storytelling and pacing.

Second, Hermes has included several extras that shed some more light on Messick herself. There are pieces by Messick's daughter and grand-daugher, one by cartoonist Richard Pietrzyk and another by comic creator and historian Trina Robbins. Robbins' is, not surprisingly, the most fact-filled and provides the broadest look at Messick's entire career. The familial pieces, more focused on impressions and a few anecdotes, speak more to Messick's character. Combined, they all paint a rounded picture of her, despite being a very minor part of the overall book.

Third, Hermes includes some annotated process pages, showing not only Messick's creation process -- with layout sketches, scans of original art and color guides -- but also some references to the digital clean-up work they did for producing the book. This latter portion is a decidedly small part of the book but quite useful, I think, in reminding some readers that more work goes into these reprint productions than simply scanning the pages in. None of these process pages gets overly technical, but enough to educate the completely uninformed as well as provide a guide that those already knowledgeable about the process generally can figure out what Messick was doing more specifically.

If you have any interest in Messick, Brenda Starr or newspaper strips, I think this looks to be a handsome and useful volume to add to your collection. I haven't seen many other reprints of these strips before, but Hermes has done a far superior job to ensuring these strips look/read well than any of Brenda Starr reprints I've seen previously.Brenda Starr, Reporter: The Collected Daily and Sunday Strips: Volume One is due out in January 2012.

HERBIE Hates You, Too

2011-11-18T22:14:00.000-05:00

Remember: HERBIE hates you, too. Wardrobe by Matt Geuther.

Shujaaz.FM

2011-11-17T21:22:00.000-05:00

You're thinking, "Sean, did a cat jump on your keyboard or something? What's up with the post title?"

No, that was deliberate. Shujaaz.FM is actually the title of a Kenyan comic book that was started in February 2010. It's about a Kenyan boy called Boyie who finds himself unemployed and unable to continue his formal education. So he hacks together a pirate radio station and uses it to broadcast a message to his peers, trying to help them improve their lives, both individually and collectively. Here's the video summary that introduced me to the concept...
The comic is available on the official website for free. As of this writing, fifteen chapters. As far as I can tell, though, the comics and the site are entirely written in sheng (a contemporary Kenyan slang that's kind of a mish-mash of Swahili and English) and, since it's very consciously directed towards Kenyan youth, I doubt it will get a formal translation any time soon. Understandable, but a bit disappointing since I would like to read it myself.

In any event, it sounds like a fantastic project from pretty much every angle. Lots of Kenyans are being employed to put the book together, it has a strong positive message for its readers, who are able to read the books for free, plus it's using any number of entry points (Facebook, radio, comics, etc.) to catch people's attention. From the sound of it, catching people's attention pretty effectively at that!

I'm thrilled to see this kind of thing in action, and I wish that I could hear more about cool international comic stories like this. Well, you can consider yourself mildly informed about this one at least!

Can It Be? Yes, It's Wednesday Links!

2011-11-16T17:11:00.005-05:00

Doc Jenkins begins talks (Part 1 of ??) with the authors of Critical Approaches to Comics "on some core issues surrounding the current state and future directions of the academic study of comics."
Botgirl Questi has a new post about why she quit Klout. Also included (and why I'm linking to it here) is one of her sporadic comics.
Care2 has a piece about Triangle Rose, allegedly the first comic book about the gay experience of the Holocaust. As far as I can tell, the book is only available in French right now (creators Michel Dufranne, Milorad Vicanovic-Maza and Christian Lerolle are French, after all) but it sounds like it would be a powerful read. Even if it doesn't get translated into English for an American audience, I expect it will open the doors a bit for more of this type of story to be told. (Hat tip to the S.O. for the link.)
Neil Cohen has another one of his online surveys up examining how easy/difficult it is to read comic strip sequences. Plus you get the opportunity to win a $50 gift card just by participating!
Mike Towry writes about starting a "new 'old school' comic convention in San Diego" in 2012.
Finally, offered without comment: Lindsay Lohan lands role in comic strip.

Thwipster Review

2011-11-15T23:19:00.000-05:00

Earlier this year, Thwipster launched as a new online retail site for with "daily deals for your inner geek." They're got graphic novels and statues and toys and the same type of material you'd find in a local comic shop. But only a VERY limited stock. You can't browse through finding the latest releases, or pre-order the Next Big Thing^TM, or even find that really great, super-popular book that EVERYBODY is talking about. As I'm writing this, they have exactly 18 items available for sale.

So why shop there?

Because they have great prices. They don't carry a wide range of goods but what they do have is priced really, really well. A lot is priced from 30-40% off the regular retail price, and I've seen some items discounted by as much as 80%! Not surprisingly, that kind of pricing helps to sell things out pretty quickly.

Which is the basic business model. By offering great deals, but only for a VERY limited time, they increase the sense that what you're getting is really special, so you're a little quicker to hit the "Buy Now" button. That might sound a little cynical, but Thwipster isn't doing anything that hasn't already been shown as perfectly viable and accepted model by eBay and Groupon and dozens of other sites you've probably already heard of. Plus, Thwipster seems a little more honest and up-front about that aspect of it.

I actually went ahead and put in an order with them last week. The two Kamandi Archives hardcovers were on sale for $20 each! They retail at $50 and I'd been eyeballing them off and on for a while now, so I opted to give these Thwipster guys a shot. I placed the order last week Sunday, and they shipped my books out at the end of the week; they arrived today.

The packing struck me as interesting. Just a normal cardboard mailing box, but inside the two books were packaged very similarly to how Amazon packages books: they were bound together in plastic with a cardboard backer to keep them from shifting around. The only real difference was that Thwipster used cling film instead of shrink wrap. Despite Amazon doing that for years, I think this is the first instance I've seen anyone else emulate it. The two books were both brand new, still in their original cellophane wrappers, so everything looks to be in great shape for me to sit down and read through Jack Kirby's apocalypse.

The site, like many others, encourages you to sign up for their Twitter and Facebook accounts, and subscribe to their email newsletter. In their case, though, it makes more sense than many other sites, since they use those outlets to let you know what deals they might have that day. (A key factor in their model, remember, since those books might not be there tomorrow!) Had I not been following them on Twitter, for example, I would likely have missed the deal on those Kamandi books.

With so few items to worry about, the site itself is pretty simple and easy to navigate. There's not really any searching-for-that-one-Superman-title-among-dozens-of-others problems; they either have it or they don't. And you can figure that out with a five-second scan of their home page. The deals are at least good, frequently great. Your biggest concern with them is making sure you don't buy too many things, since they're all so cheap. If they're able to keep these deals coming, and continue on with good customer service, I suspect they'll soon be a good-sized player in the comics retail industry.

(I do wonder how they're able to sell some of these items so cheaply without losing money, though. They must have some Mephistophelean deal with Diamond. Or maybe Thwipster just loots Diamond's warehouse periodically. Either way, I'm not asking questions, lest I find some mountain of a man named Guido at my front door!)

The Bird's Eye Kids Go Shopping

2011-11-14T21:45:00.000-05:00

You know, I get that some companies think it's a neat idea to make comics to promote themselves. And I get that creators hired to do those comics have a lot of constraints placed on them, not the least of which is trying to make a reasonably coherent and vaguely entertaining story out of absolute drek. But this is right down there with the worst.

Not that you're interested, but that big white box on the bottom of the cover was where a small box of crayons was glued. (You can see some of the residue stained the inside of the cover as well.) The yellow box above/behind the dog on the cover could be used for an individual grocer to put their own name/logo.

Creativity VS Consumption

2011-11-13T18:18:00.001-05:00

So what do you do with your free time? Read comics probably. Maybe just reading in general. Video games. Television. Movies. Stuff like that right, right? There's a lot of great (and a lot more not-so-great!) material out there to enjoy. Regardless of your preferences. It's great to unwind with your favorite book or show, and escape into their world for a bit.

But is that all you do with your free time?

I spent a good chunk of this weekend beta-testing a new Star Wars game (due out in December, I think). When I first heard about it, I thought it sounded really cool and something that I might be interested in, so I signed up for their email newsletter and to be put in the queue for beta-testers if they needed them. In playing this weekend, it looked like a fantastic game, but it also convinced me not to get it when it comes out. In the first place, my system could barely handle it, so if I really wanted to play, I'd need to shell out a decent amount of money not just for the game itself, but also some system upgrades. New video card, additional RAM, latest OS... Doable, but not exactly cheap.

More significantly, though, it was a very immersive world and I don't have the time to play more than occasionally. Some of my time, of course, goes to work and those types of adult responsibilities, but I also ensure that most of what remains of my free time goes into creating things. Writing, designing, drumming... Some of it is indeed freelance work on top of my day job, but some of it I do just for the sake of creation.

I was talking with a co-worker last week, and she was expressing a lot of dismay over how many people she knew did NOT create anything. They did their jobs by rote, and went home to repetitive and uninspired tasks, some necessary (like laundry) but others not (like watching TV). And some that could be executed with creativity (like cooking) but were often subject to drudgery (warming up frozen dinners). Her theory was that those people who live like that at home don't do a very good job at work either; there's little interest in trying new things or pushing the boundaries at all, and so their work is mundane and trivial. She noted that the people who seem to be doing the best and bringing the most to the company are the ones who create outside of work.

I'm hardly suggesting that everyone should stop consuming material and ONLY create it. I don't know that's even possible in the first place, and in the second place, you'd never get to see anyone else's ideas and you'd be stuck recycling your own material all the time. But what I am suggesting that you make a point to carve out some time in your schedule dedicated to creation. Doesn't matter what you create, or even what venue you choose. It doesn't matter if anyone is ever even aware of it. If you can't write, draw. If you can't draw, cook. If you can't cook, sing. If you can't sing, dance.

The point is NOT to create something that others can appreciate. The point is NOT to create something that only you think is great. The point is to create something for the sake of creating something. A phenomenally horrid school system here in the States has forced a lot of people's creative muscles to atrophy, but just like physical exercise, practicing being creative results in getting better at it. Without that creativity, you're really not much more than a zombie trudging through the motions of life.

You want to live a better life? Become more active to get your body moving, and then become more creative to get your brain moving.

Silhouetted Heroines

2011-11-12T19:46:00.000-05:00

I'm working on an art project, and I thought I might use some silhouetted figures as part of the design. So I go trolling around the interwebs looking for royalty-free silhouettes to use, preferably in vector format. And I quickly find the website All-Silhouettes.com which not only has many vector drawings of silhouetted people and objects, but also has them conveniently sorted.One of the files I stumble across has about 40 superheroines. Well, they're silhouettes, so 40 women-wearing-tight-clothing-with-a-few-flowy-bits-trailing-behind-them-in-dramatic-poses. Here's a sample...

And I'm scanning through them, and I'm thinking, "Yeah, that kind of looks like Ms. Marvel. That kind of looks like Hellcat. That kind of looks like Supergirl..." I figure they flipped through some comics for inspiration. Hardly surprising, really.But then I saw these two...

Now, if you don't know your 1980s Marvel comics very well, let me suggest where I think the inspiration for those two figures came from...

Nebula and Dagger. I don't know where these specific images were first used, but I know I saw them repeatedly in the various Handbooks and RPG materials that came out in the mid-1980s. I remembered them specifically because they had pretty unusual poses and, frankly, cast memorable silhouettes. Which leads me to wonder several things. First, are all of the superheroine silhouettes traced from specific artwork? Second, what about the other files from that same host; have they all been traced from existing work? Third, if they have been traced, what's the legal culpability of using them? I don't have answers to any of those questions, but it's something to think about.

"My Name Is Bill Mantlo. I Want To Go Home."

2011-11-11T14:07:00.001-05:00

The title of this post is one of the last journal entries writer Bill Mantlo made back in 1995, three years AFTER a hit-and-run driver barrled through him, severing his brain stem.

Back in 2007, I read and reviewed Mantlo: A Life in Comics, a biography of the man with detailed and appreciative notes about his work in comics. As I noted at the time, I was surprised by just how very much of Mantlo's work had impacted me, many of his stories making an indelible impression before I thought to look at who worked on them. And those aren't even the stories Mantlo was best known for, or the ones that got him the most praise.

I'm reminded of this today because LifeHealthPro just ran this impressive story about Mantlo. There's a good summary of his career as a writer, of course, and how he was just getting into the lawyering business, but what's most relevant here is the focus on what happened to him after the accident. That's a part of his story that's rarely told; it almost always ends with "Then he was hit by a car while roller blading, and has never really recovered."

Mantlo's own story is a tragic one. Beyond just the life-altering brain injury on the verge of his new career successes, but also the divorce (before the accident) and dealing with two kids trying to handle it. And then, after the accident, trying to deal with getting even adequate health care and the deep rifts that have torn apart the closest relatives and advocates he has apart. Tragic doesn't even really begin to describe it.

Knowing Mantlo's post-accident story is worthwhile for a couple of reasons. First, I think comic fans should recognize and acknowledge not only what Mantlo did for comics while he was in the industry, but also recognize and acknowledge that he's not dead. That his life didn't end back in 1992. Maybe his work didn't speak to you in quite the same way that Jack Kirby's or Chris Claremont's or Neil Gaiman's might have, but it was still pretty powerful stuff.

Second, I think everyone should recognize and be aware of just how messed up our health care system is. I've seen people out there -- average Americans -- who claim our health care system is the best in the world. It's not. Not by a long shot. Never mind that the World Health Organization rates America at #37, lower than Costa Rica and Chile, that Mantlo has had these kind of issues navigating the health care system should be more than enough to say there's something seriously wrong with what we have now.

Admittedly, it sounds like (at least from this article) some of the issues with Mantlo's recovery are his own anger and bitterness getting in the way of therapy. When it takes an insane strength of will to even get up in the morning, trying to recover lost motor skills must seem impossible, so I don't think we can judge Mantlo too harshly for that. Frankly, I'm impressed that he made as much recovery as he did.

But that speaks to a third lesson I think we should take away from this. In 1995, Mantlo typed out "I want to go home." After three years, he was obviously and understandably sick of hospitals and rehab, and wanted to return to life as he knew it before the accident. Who wouldn't? But he can't do that. None of us can do that. Time only flows in one direction; we can only take what we have right here and right now, and move forward with that. If some random event takes away some part of our life -- whether that's a job or one's health or a loved one or anything -- we can't get that back. And I think that's, sadly, part of what kept Mantlo in the state he's been in. You can't hold on to anger over what happened years ago; you can't cycle through past events in your mind forever. You can only move forward from where you are today.

Mantlo's problems are much larger than what he's been able to deal with. It has absolutely been crushing on him mentally, emotionally and physically. Far more than any person should have to deal with. But even though he's not writing comics any more, I think he still has valuable stories to pass on. Please go read the LifeHealthPro article, and then go buy a copy of Mantlo: A Life in Comics.

Stan Lee Was Gay?

2011-11-10T22:51:00.001-05:00

Over a decade before Stan Lee introduced Pinky Pinkerton to the world, he apparently went around proudly proclaiming to be gay himself...

From Gay Comics #29 circa 1947.

It's Wednesday! It's Links!

2011-11-09T20:58:00.001-05:00

The Belated Nerd shares scans of "Chip Martin College Reporter" from the pages of 1960s' Boy's Life. It's exactly as riveting as it sounds, but it's been suggested that Neal Adams was the artist on some of the later unsigned strips after the series had been introduced by Tom Scheuer.
Alec Berry seems to think that another "Hey, everybody, comics are really cool! Really!" article is needed. His is posted over at The Daily Athenaeum.
Caleb Simmons has this very substantive and solid review of Manga: An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives. Simmons' final paragraph begins: "MANGA is a crucial step in the field of manga studies and should be read by everyone researching the genre."

Waxing Political

2011-11-08T23:59:00.000-05:00

I try to keep my blog pretty squarely on the topic of comics, but I'm going to veer off a bit tonight if you'll indulge me.

When I was a teenager, I came to the conclusion that all politicians were just lousy bastards and there wasn't a single one worth voting for. Plus it didn't matter anyway, since I never saw any that even remotely reflected my views on anything. Not surprisingly, I didn't even bother registering to vote once I was eligible.Why waste my time?

After I got out of college, I started paying attention to the world around me a little more. I started listening to the news, and understood things that were happening to people well outside my sphere of influence. Politics inevitably came up, and I started seeing politicians a little differently. They were still lousy bastards that weren't worth voting for, and I still didn't see any that even remotely reflected my views, but I did start seeing that some were not only not acting in my best interests, but actively working against everybody's interests except their own. Sometimes they were coy about it, but increasingly, they were pretty openly hostile in their views towards anyone who wasn't them.

So I began voting. Cynically. As much as I would like to vote for a candidate, I sadly myself voting against them at least as often as not. The lesser of two evils, as it were.

I don't expect government to work for me. I don't expect them to act in my best interests. I expect that the only person that's going to stick up for me is me. I think that a lot of people think similarly about businesses, but I apply that same notion to essentially any institution.

I live in a pretty solidly middle-class neighborhood. Kids ride their bikes in the street, people jog on the sidewalks, there always seems to be one guy mowing his lawn. Except for the lack of white picket fences, it wouldn't be terribly out of place in a 1950's sitcom. In the past three years, within a one mile radius of my house, there have been four foreclosures that I'm aware of. I can't speak to the individual issues each household had, but I bring it up because two of those four houses have been vacant for the past 1 1/2 to 2 years. Why? Nothing wrong with them, as far as I know, but the banks have never bothered to put them on the market. They haven't bothered because almost none of the houses that have gone up for sale willingly have sold in the past 2-3 years. I know there's one just four doors down from me that's been on the market for nearly two years.

I could get into the housing crisis and bank mess and all that, but you know the recent history there. Instead, let me embed this 1/2 hour video that goes back a bit further to explain things at a more macro level. (Stick with it. It can get a bit confusing in places, but it makes sense if you sit through the whole thing.) (Also, the last five minutes or so pay a bit of tribute to Frank Miller's 300 if you need a comic connection here.)
I'm fairly certain killing Henry Paulson isn't going to solve everything as the video sarcastically suggests at the end, but overall it does make fairly evident why we're all screwed these days.

And with the global economy on the verge of disaster (make no mistake, the crisis in Europe is by no means limited to Europe) I'm pretty well scared shitless. Like, building a bomb shelter with enough supplies for several years, type of scared. I'm okay with some things being beyond my control. I've (mostly) come to grips with the notion that I can't afford to hold to my ideals and survive. I understand that I'm not good at playing the corporate game, but I know it well enough that I can get by reasonably well most of the time.

But these days, I have no clue what comes next. Not just who gets elected and what type of policies they pass, but whether or not currency holds any value. I realize it's a somewhat irrational fear in the same way that I was scared that the Soviet Union might drop a nuclear bomb on us in the 1980s. Which is slightly comforting in that we obviously survived that decade without a nuclear attack but, at the same time, look what happened to the Soviet Union. I've actually tried (unsuccessfully) to look up how average Russian citizens coped on a day to day level with their country -- and economy! -- collapsing. Clearly, the precise nature of how/why the U.S.S.R. fell apart isn't really at all applicable to the U.S., but the impact of a country's economic and political system falling into complete disarray might be worth studying regardless of the root cause(s).

I've noted before how I think we all need to act at least partially like freelancers in order to keep income flowing regardless of our current job situation. I read another post recently that suggested that's how you get through retirement as well. (Again, not expecting the government to come through with anything like Social Security by the time I retire.) She opted for renting part of her house instead of writing a book, but the core concept was similar. (I won't link to that piece because I think the author was off-base on some other significant points.)

I'm still working towards that end because the only model I have to work with is what we've got right now. And since I don't know what things will look like in a year, much less a decade, I figure it's better to work with at least what's current than with not doing anything at all. Current might translate into whatever is next; not doing anything most definitely won't.

I've got the local election results scrolling by in the next window as I'm writing this. The results generally reflect which campaign spent more money on advertising, seemingly regardless of whether or not the bill is in the best interests of the 99%. I am by no means complaining about where I'm at; I don't have anywhere close to the hardships that a lot of people are facing these days. But I still see a lot of what I do as survival because, clearly, the people who are already wealthy are the ones running the show for their benefit. Not mine. And yet people still seem to be voting against their best interests. (I fully acknowledge my bias here, and that my best interests don't necessarily overlap everyone else's, but some of these issues don't serve anyone's interests except the 1%.)

I don't have a good way to wrap this post up. I'm scared, in part, because I'm trapped; I can't afford to switch jobs or attempt to move in this economy. I'm scared, in part, because I disagree with most people in my region at some really fundamental levels -- I can almost always predict how my district will vote on any given issue or candidate by choosing the opposite of how I vote. I'm scared, in part, because I don't have any answers. I don't even know the questions. I'm scared because I can't expect my government (local, state or federal) or any business I have to deal with to do anything but screw me over in every way they can. I do what I can, and that's largely just working to keep my head above water and, maybe, find a piece of driftwood to cling onto.

And, you know, that really kind of sucks that someone like me, doing even moderately well, has to think like that.

And Now, For My Next Book...

2011-11-07T21:31:00.000-05:00

I've teased off and on over the past couple of months that I'm researching another book. I've actually got work decently underway now, so I figure I'll go ahead and put the word out. The book is tentatively titled Harry Blackstone, The Comic Book Magician Detective. (A little cumbersome, I know.) It's a look at the Blackstone comics of the 1940s, which have been largely neglected because A) the title character was pretty famous for his other work as a stage magician and illusionist and B) writer Walter Gibson was pretty famous for his other work as creator and primary writer of The Shadow. Even the original artist, E.C. Stoner, was known more for his advertising work, including the original Mr. Peanut!

Anyway, I'm writing about how all of that came about to create some entertaining Golden Age comics, and I'm also going through and cleaning up some scans of about half a dozen issues to reprint for the first time ever, I believe. At the left is my initial shot at a cover design. Needs a little work yet, but it's something I can use as a promo piece for now. I probably won't have it ready until January or February, but I'll keep you posted on progress.

Newspaper Funnies Circa 1949

2011-11-06T17:49:00.000-05:00

You know, for as many great reprint collections are available these days, there's something to be said for seeing old comic strips in their original context. You ever look at an actual newspaper comics page from 50 years ago? Here's The Calgary Herald from March 22, 1949...

You might notice that it doesn't look all that different from today's newspaper. Cramped page, crossword, horoscope... Heck, even Mary Worth and Dagwood are still around! The printing quality has improved a bit, but the jokes haven't.

I really try to sympathize with companies that aren't able to keep up with the times. After all, there are people who put these newspapers together, not to mention the various comic artists whose work you see every day. But if you haven't appreciably changed anything about your product in half a century, it's really hard for me to justify why you're still even around.

Updated Media Landscape

2011-11-05T22:54:00.000-04:00

In case you're wondering what I'm reading/viewing these, besides comics, I figured I'd do one of my periodic posts on what media I'm consuming...

	Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll in Popular Culture Author Will Brooker is probably better known as the first person to get a doctorate in "Batman." While not strictly accurate, that did help get him some media attention and, I suspect, helped sell a few copies of his earlier book, Batman Unmasked. In Alice's Adventures, Brooker examines how other authors have examined Lewis Carroll and his Alice books, and compares their assertions with popular conceptions and historical facts. I'm a long-time fan of Carroll's and this is one of the best books I've read about him. I'm immensely enjoying this.
	One Piece I only started with One Piece this past summer when I discovered it on Hulu, and I've been immensely enjoying it. Right now, I'm at the beginning of the Enies Lobby arc. This series continues to impress me. (Except that one season where they did the pirate games thing. That got old really quickly, and didn't fit tonally well with the rest of the series.)
	Dale's Comic Fanzine Price Guide 2011 A price guide for comic book fanzines? Who knew? I just found Dale's Price Guide and, while it is just a price guide with little in the way of a narrative, it does seem to be pretty exhaustively researched from what I've seen thus far. If nothing else, it's an excellent resource for figuring out simply what's out there!
	Brave New World I just started the audio book version of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Whereas most people are familiar with George Orwell's distopian Big Brother scenario, Huxley wrote of a world where the population was fed so much mass media entertainment that they were like complacent sheep. I picked this up because that idea sounds eerily familiar.

Hurm... seems like I'm forgetting something, but everything else I can think of right now are actual comics that I've been trying to catch up on. I'll return to edit this if I remember something else.

Appreciate The Original

2011-11-04T22:53:00.000-04:00

The S.O. and I had a dinner last week in which we found ourselves in the company of a pair of British tourists, Dave and Paula. A nice couple in their late 40s/early 50s. Both had messy divorces a few years back, but afterwards found each other. They've been together about five years now. We chatted for the two hours or so that we were there about all sorts of things. Some trivial, some not. Some personal, some not.

At one point -- and I don't recall how this came up -- Paula noted that she'd seen the trailer for the upcoming Tintin movie and thought it looked horrible. That there were ways you could make a movie about a book and do it well, but this didn't look like it. She thought J.R.R. Tolkien would've approved of how the Lord of the Rings movies turned out, but C.S. Lewis would be turning over in his grave over the Narnia pictures. But she clearly did NOT like what she'd seen so far for Tintin.

I agreed that it didn't look promising to me, but that I didn't think that was relevant anyway. Because at the end of the day, regardless of how good or bad the movie ultimately is, we can always go back to Hergé's books, which are what everybody loved in the first place! Even if those go out of print (however unlikely that may be) there's still the existing copies in libraries and personal collections. A ligne claire Tintin and Snowy will always be around for us, whenever we like, regardless of how plasticine they look on film.

The subject of Doctor Who came up as well (initially in the context of how Paula's house kind of seemed like a TARDIS at times). Interestingly, Dave pointed out there seems to be a bit of a disconnect with the current series and older British fans. The new version seemed a little too Americanized, and it didn't feel quite like Doctor Who. I said that I still preferred the Tom Baker era stories for largely the same reason, and Dave went even further back citing his preference for William Hartnell. Here again, though, those old episodes are still available and the newer ones really do nothing to detract from them.

When I was a kid, a lot of media we consumed was transitory. If you missed that week's episode of Doctor Who, you probably were going to be stuck with a half-hour hole in the story, possibly for years. Heaven forbid you missed a story conclusion! And if you missed that month's comic, it was going to be a heck of a hunt finding it so you could catch up. And if you wanted a character's full back-story, your only option was to become a comic book collector (as opposed to simply a fan or a hobbyist) because reprints were relatively rare. You had to hunt down those decades-old issues if you wanted to read that story.

So if something got changed, that impacted you as a reader a lot more directly. When Barry Allen became the Flash in 1956, fans were glad to see some version of the character return to publication, but there's was zero indication at that time that Jay Garrick fans would ever see that specific character again. If you missed Detective Comics #327 when it first came out in 1964, you might've been confused as to why Batman suddenly looked different in #328; you wouldn't have had much recourse but to accept the changes and roll with them, or reject them and move on to something else entirely. In that type of environment, "Tintin looks wrong" might be justified.

But as I said, Hergé's work is still with us, despite him dying almost three decades ago. As are stories about Bat-Mite and Ace by Sheldon Moldoff. Virtually everything is available these days, often in multiple formats. So if you don't care for some of the recent revamps of Superman or Captain America or Spider-Man or Starfire, there's still plenty of great material featuring those characters that you can still easily go back to and enjoy.

The Porch

2011-11-03T21:27:00.001-04:00

I mentioned Derik Badman's "30 Days of Comics" in yesterday's post. Here's his piece from today...

Now, Badman's comics don't always follow a linear narrative, so this might not be some people's cup of tea. But I want to focus a bit on the art. Specifically, panels 3 and 4. Is there anyone reading this that doesn't recognize that porch? Anyone who didn't immediately recognize that porch?

Think about that for a second. It's an excessively simple backdrop. Almost too simple to recognize for what it is, since it's always depicted with absolutely zero perspective. And it's still instantly recognizable, not only as a porch (or stoop or whatever you want to call it) but as a specific porch. It's the porch.

You know how Ernie Bushmiller used to always draw his three rocks? One was just a single rock. Two was a pair of rocks. But three was "some rocks." Any more than three was unnecessary because you'd already conveyed the idea of "some rocks." Well, this porch beats that hands-down! As Badman suggests, it's drawn a little differently each time, but the design elements are so simple and elegant that you almost can't NOT make it look like the same every-porch, without making drastic changes to it. But you don't need to draw any of the characters in, or match the specific line variations, or provide any additional context. That porch comes from exactly one place and successfully represents every porch in America.

Charles Schulz was a genius.

Back With Wednesday Links

2011-11-02T16:53:00.000-04:00

Indigo Kelleigh opted to forgo candy this Halloween and passed out custom mini-comics! He's posted a copy online in case you weren't able to stop by his house on Beggar's Night.
Paul Fricke presents some of Alex Toth's character designs from the hard-to-find Alex Toth-- by design.
Derik Badman kicked off "30 Days of Comics" yesterday with this entry. Today's is here. It sounds like a fun idea and one of these years, when I don't have a zillion other things going on, I might give it a shot myself.

Under The Weather Mashup

2011-11-01T22:14:00.001-04:00

I'm feeling a bit icky today, so I'm just going to do a simple mash-up. The text, as always, is from today's Garfield and the artwork is from...

Sinfest

Bad Machinery

The original Garfield strip didn't really make sense either, so don't feel alarmed if you can't figure out what's going on. I was mildly amused to play with a couple of different visual treatments of "Winter approaches" in Bad Machinery.

What I've Been Up To

2011-10-31T22:46:00.002-04:00

I just got back from spending a little over a week in Key West -- a vacation extended off the back of a wedding (not mine). It was entirely relaxing and good to get off the grid for a while. (My posts from the past week and half were written well in advance.) But my mind is always drawn towards comics and, despite their not having a real presence on the island, I found a few items of interest.

First, it turns out that former Marvel Comics publisher, Shirrel Rhoades, lives down there, apparently moving down not long after he left Marvel. I discovered this because he had given an autographed copy of his book, Comic Books: How the Industry Works, to local restaurant, Sarabeth's. I don't recall seeing it come up in the usual comic circles, but it looked like a little bit more of an insider's view of the industry than most books. I'll be trying to pick up my own copy and review it here.

There was also a week-long festival called Fantasy Fest. Kind of a Mardi Gras type of thing. Lots of costumes and alcohol and such. The theme this year "Aquatic Afrolic" so many of the costumes were mermaids, Neptune, fish, pirates, etc. I even saw an Aquaman. I wasn't very inspired by most of the costumes -- you tend to see better ones at most comic conventions. Talking with one of the locals, it turns out that the costume aspect has been downplayed in recent years, in favor of exhibitionism. So, lots of body paint, clevage, butt cracks and more than a few folks displaying their genitalia. The woman's costume shown at the left was one of the more tame ones -- but only when seen from the front. (By the way, the gent in the somewhat more traditional Captain America outfit was with her, so their costumes were meant as a pair.) Not too many comic references overall, though. Besides Aquaman and the two Caps, I think I only saw one each Batman, Joker, Superman and Wonder Woman. For a week-long costume party that tends to have attendance in excess of 100,000 that strikes me as surprisingly light representation.

One of the local houses also decorated their place up with a Batman theme for, as far as I could tell, no discernible reason. Lots of places were decorated, but they generally tried to tie things to the aquatic theme. Why Batman? I don't know, but there it is.
There were some good costumes to be seen, and some which weren't spectacularly well-executed but still quite clever in concept. (The woman dressed as Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty had a particularly great twist on the costume that didn't involve showing any additional skin.) But overall, I think you could find better costumes at any decent sized comic con. And there's a much decreased chance of needing to un-see something at a comic convention, too!

Ersatz Kirby

2011-10-30T12:49:00.000-04:00

Jack Kirby influenced a lot of people. Partially by being just so damned prolific, but he was also just a darn good storyteller. In comic books, it's not at all difficult to find artists who've been influenced by the man, and there are plenty of homages to him. But some artists take things a step further.

Tom Scioli is perhaps the most famous (currently) comic artist working in a very obvious Kirby style. He's been criticized for it, but what I think is interesting about Scioli's work isn't so much that it looks like Kirby's illustration style, but that it also has that late 1970s, throwing-every-weird-idea-at-the-wall vibe to it. Scioli doesn't just draw squared off fingers and "Kirby Krackle", but he's putting some unusual ideas out there. Check out his webcomic American Barbarian if you don't know what I'm talking about.

I've also recently come across the work of Sterling Clark, who writes and draws Ntombinde as weekly syndicated adventure strip after producing a graphic novel about her. As with Scioli, Clark's illustration style bears a lot of the classic Kirby hallmarks. What strikes me as especially interesting is how Clark channels Kirby differently than Scioli. Clark's art looks more like Kirby's mid-1960s work. Where Scioli looks a bit like Kirby's pre-Machine Man 2001, Clark looks more like Kirby's Black Panther stories in Fantastic Four. Similarly, Clark takes more cues from Kirby's technical storytelling skills than his broad concepts. In fact, I was struck with how Clark seemed to have consciously studied Kirby's page and panel layouts, something I've only seen done once or twice before. And even then, it was for a decidedly limited duration. Clark's entire Ntombinde graphic novel, and the snippets of other stories about her I've seen, reads and feels like a culturally aware Kirby book with more natural-sounding dialogue. ("Culturally aware" in the sense that the protagonist is a Congolese woman.)

Now, favorably comparing these guys to Kirby is obviously intended as a compliment from me. But in the same way that Kirby didn't always produce gems, the same holds true for Scioli and Clark. Some of Scioli's concepts are a little "out there" and don't always make a lot of sense, and sometimes Clark takes some abrupt story turns that hearkens back to Kirby's tendency to not plan his work much further out than the page he was working on. But here again, they're pulling very different things out of the same man's oeuvre.

I think that's one of the fascinating things about studying art of any sort: tracing back creators' influences and trying to figure out how they arrived at a finished product. What's more, tracing back creators to find a common source and seeing what they took from that source. Because whatever strikes one person about an artist, good or bad, it's inevitably different from what the next person sees.

Newspaper Strip Artists From 2004

2011-10-29T10:39:00.001-04:00

I came across a copy of Hogan's Alley from a few years ago and it contained an interview with four newspaper strip cartoonists who were all "in the early part of their careers." It struck me as odd at first, largely because I didn't initially realize the interview was conducted in 2004, and all four cartoonists are fairly well-established now. But in double-checking, it seems doubly odd since two of the four artists had actually been in national syndication for nearly a decade when the interview took place. The four folks in question were Dave Coverly (Speed Bump, 1994), Jef Mallett (Frazz, 2001), Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine, 2000) and Hilary Price (Rhymes with Orange, 1995).

In any event, there were a few pieces that stood out for me in explaining the industry. More to the point, there was commentary by relative newcomers at a point when newspapers were on a noticeable downward slide, but few people had really acknowledged that yet. I think that it sheds light on A) the social rifts that occur even within the industry and B) the lack of any deep understanding about the internet by the industry at that time.

Price, speaking about cartooning veterans: "It seems like it was a much more insular community. Everyone lived in and around New York, and they went to people's offices, things like that. Now you can cartoon from anywhere. There used to be a real sense of community."

What he touches on here is essentially the same type of thing that's occurred between newspaper cartoonists and webcomic creators. The people who all came into their respective media at around the same time form a community of sorts based on a "we're sharing the same types of problems" attitude. It's clear throughout the interview, these four cartoonists get along well with each other, but there's most of a decade between them. But they all acknowledge that they're competing against Beetle Bailey and Blondie and Dennis the Menace and a bunch of "old guard" strips that aren't even being worked on by their original creators any more.

Pastis: "Editors say that older people threaten to cancel their subscriptions when they try to cancel these dinosaur strips, and I said to them that they're not going to cancel. Every town in this country is a one-paper town. There are like 10 two-paper markets. Where are they going to go? My generation, on the other hand, is not reading the paper like generations past. That's who papers should try to capture."

Interestingly, while they all note the advantages of using the internet to attract/maintain an audience -- Pastis freely acknowledging that his initial success was due in large part to United Features running Pearls on their site before actually syndicating to newspapers -- there is zero mention in any capacity of webcomics. There's no animosity shown towards them; it just seems like the notion of doing webcomics is so completely foreign to them that it's never even considered. As a point of reference, Penny Arcade had been running for six years at this point, and PvP was successful enough that Image had been publishing a print version of the comic for almost two years.

The issue seems to stem from two things. First, these people are cartoonists. Not technologists or futurists or sociologists or anything like that. Their job is primarily to draw funny comics every day, and there's no reason why they would know anything beyond that, unless they specifically took that up as another interest. Second, they all stepped into the cartooning world with the old newspaper syndication model firmly embedded in their heads. They've been told often enough and long enough that the only way to make a living drawing comic strips is how they've done it for the past century that they can't see any other way that it might work.

Coverly: "... no one has absolutely any idea where it's going to go or how anyone is going to make any money. It just seems like if people are reading it, they should be paying for it somehow." (He's actually referring here to posting newspaper strips online, not webcomics.)

That's trying to apply old business models to a new business. I don't know if Penny Arcade or PvP were entirely self-funding by 2004, but they certainly had that new model (giving the comics away for free) in place as something they were aiming for. I presume they were. Girl Genius dropped print comics in favor of web distribution at the end of 2004 and the Foglios were very candid about why they were doing it. So the notion that a webcomic creator could make a living doing that was not only around but proven in practice by 2004.

Don't get the wrong idea here. I like Coverly's, Mallett's, Pastis' and Price's work. I read all of their comics as they come out. But I read them for free online. Legally. But that they also seemed to display, at least in 2004, a complete ignorance of what their competition was speaks volumes to why there's a rift between them (not necessarily these four cartoonists specifically, but newspaper cartoonists in general) and webcomic creators, and why those who work in newspapers are still clueless as to why things aren't going so well for them these days.

SnarfQuest The Review

2011-10-28T11:46:00.000-04:00

Like many teenage boys in the 1980s, I was into Dungeons & Dragons. I didn't actually play all that much, but I had many of the books and boxed sets and magazines and such. And nestled in the back of each issue of Dragon Magazine was a serial adventure comic told in three-page increments. It was by none other than Larry Elmore, who called his story "SnarfQuest" after the lead character. Larry Elmore was THE artist for Dungeons & Dragons, illustrating many covers as well as providing lots of spot illustrations throughout the various books. I had already known him as a talent painter and to see him regularly do an actual story was a thrill!

Of course, this was back when I was still in my early teens. And it was the 1980s, so everybody's sense of style was pretty warped. So maybe I wasn't looking at things too clearly.

About three or four years ago, I stumbled across a collected edition of those SnarfQuest stories entitled, appropriately enough, SnarfQuest: The Book. I was thrilled once again since I didn't actually have ever installment of the story -- I only picked up Dragon sporadically and was missing a good chunk of the middle of the story. But that was still nostalgia working. I went to take another look at recently to see if I could look at it a little more critically.

The story is a sword-and-sorcery style fantasy focused on Snarf, a kind of bat-faced regular Joe of a guy who's trying to make something of himself. When his village's king dies, the citizens are all given a year to do as many great and heroic things as they can, and the one who comes back with the biggest reputation and most wealth will become king. Snarf then sets off to seek his fortunes. Adventures abound as Snarf teams up with the likes of Raffendorf (a prince enchanted into a giant rat), Aveeare (a time-travelling robot) and Willie (a giant dragon who thinks he's a duck).

The art, as to be expected from Elmore, is beautiful. He seems to have a knack for drawing everything with ease. He also does impressively well on the storytelling. Though he doesn't take many risks in that regard and sticks mainly to fairly standard page layouts, he still conveys the story well, regardless if it's a fight scene or talking heads or wildly careening through the middle of a town. The only "complaint" one can really lodge against the art, I think, is some of the costume choices Telerie makes when she finds some clothes from the future -- they're perhaps a bit too rooted in the mid-1980s.

The story has a good set-up. There's an overarching plot that holds things together, but also allows for the story to be told in a series of almost random adventures. Some things are more dangerous than others, some challenges require wit over skill, some adventures allow for more comedy... There's ultimately a good mix of all of that. Perhaps where it falls down a bit is in the way characters flit in and out of the story. It feels a bit like Elmore would throw in a character he thought could work, only to realize a few months later that he didn't have much of anywhere to go. Which might well be the case, since Elmore was cranking out quite a bit of work at the time and I believe this was his first sequential art piece. But it does lend a sort-of flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants feel to the story. Which actually kind of works for the set-up/setting, bearing in mind that a lot of D&D games that got played had players in and out of games as their schedules might not always permit the exact same group to always play together over the extended period that a single adventure might last. But if you're looking for a stable cast, this might not be a great choice for you.

Aside from that, though, it remains a solid, fun book. Worth a look, especially if you read any of those stories in Dragon like I did!

The Adventures Of Comicretailman

2011-10-27T10:02:00.002-04:00

I found this short comic in a quarter bin a little while back, and couldn't resist picking it up. It's a promotional piece from Retail Business Solutions, Inc. to try to coerce comic retailers to buy into their "Mr. Assistant" computerized sales system. Presumably it was sent to retailers for free. I can't find ANY information about Retail Business Solutions, it's president Larry Wickwar, or "Mr. Assistant" beyond what's presented in the pamphlet. You can learn pretty much everything I know about them in the reproduction below.

Two interesting things to keep in mind here. First, this is dated 1990. That strikes me as something of a disconnect because everything about the approach and the art screams to me mid-1980s. Granted, computers weren't in widespread use with smaller retail shops like you see in the comic industry, but this still strikes me as behind the curve by several years.

Second, the artwork is signed by Ben Dunn. Although the art style is a little different that his later work that I'm most familiar with, this appears to be the same Dunn who founded Antarctic Press in 1984 and created Ninja High School in 1987. His Warrior Nun Areala character was introduced in that title in 1993 and got her own series the following year.

Tales Through Time

2011-10-26T10:09:00.001-04:00

One of the stories that really intrigued me for many years was the origin of Rama-Tut. In part because it was one of the early Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four stories, but also because, by the time I started getting into comics, it had been followed up on twice. The new stories interestingly retconned the history a bit without actually changing it, just adding to it. I really enjoyed Steve Englehart's West Coast Avengers story here, and thought he handled things extremely well.

(Though I disagree with the central time travel premise of not actually being able to change the past. It suggests that we don't have free will, and everything we do is destined to happen and completely immutable. But I recognize that's just a so-far-unprovable theory, so I can accept a story with a contrary view. Provided it's done well. Which Englehart's is.)

At any rate, a few years back, I sat down and sorted out a specific panel-by-panel chronology of how all the stories and how they intersect one another. I had originally presented it to the Marvel Chronology Project, and it was used; however, it gets into a lot more detail than they generally present on their site. So I thought I'd re-present it here in its entirety, for anyone interested.

Rise of Apocalypse #2 pg. 11 p. 1 (flashback)
2958 BC - Rama-Tut crashes in ancient Egypt. He later cites that, when he captures the West Coast Avengers in 2940, he has been ruling for ten years. A minor issue here, though, is that in Rise of Apocalypse #1, there is a span of seventeen years given between Apocalypse's birth and the appearance of the Fantastic Four, AND that Rama-Tut was already instituted as Pharaoh at the time of Apocalypse's birth. Since we clearly establish in other stories that Rama-Tut had multiple reigns, I placed the original crash prior to Apocalypse's birth and am assuming that there is a period during Apocalypse's adolescence where Rama-Tut is removed from the throne temporarily. Thus, his line in West Coast Avengers #21 would refer to ten years of CONTINUOUS rule.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 11 p. 1 (flashback)
Same crash, a half-second later.

Rise of Apocalypse #2 pg. 11 p. 2-3 (flashback)
Baal finds Rama-Tut in the wreckage. Appearances by Baal, Rama-Tut.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 11 p. 2 (flashback)
Rama-Tut realizes he can't see. Appearances by Rama-Tut.

Rise of Apocalypse #2 pg. 11 p. 4 (flashback)
Rama-Tut is healed by Baal. Appearances by Baal, Rama-Tut.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 11 p. 3 (flashback)
Rama-Tut takes control using his advanced technology. Appearances by Rama-Tut.

Rise of Apocalypse #1 pg. 1-6
2957 BC - Apocalypse is born. Appearances by Apocalypse, Baal.

Rise of Apocalypse #2 pg. 12 p. 1-3 (flashback)
Rama-Tut returns to Baal's tribe, looking for Apocalypse. Appearances by Baal, Rama-Tut.

Rise of Apocalypse #1 pg. 7-23
Rama-Tut rules Egypt and recognizes Apocalypse's potential. Appearances by Apocalypse, Ozymandius, Logos, Rama-Tut, Nephri, Baal.

Rise of Apocalypse #2 pg. 1-10
Baal and Apocalypse wander around and find Rama-Tut's underground technology. Appearances by Apocalypse, Baal, Ozymandius, Nephri, Rama-Tut, Logos.

Rise of Apocalypse #2 pg. 12 p. 4 - pg. 22
Apocalypse begins to realize his power. Appearances by Apocalypse, Baal, Ozymandius, Logos, Nephri.

West Coast Avengers #20 pg. 22
2940 BC - The West Coast Avengers, trying to deal with a partially-working time machine, land in ancient Egypt only to be captured by Rama-Tut, who seems to have been expecting them. He stuns them into unconsciousness. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra, Rama-Tut.

West Coast Avengers #21 pg. 1 p. 1
West Coast Avengers #21 pg. 2 - 4
West Coast Avengers #21 pg. 10-11
West Coast Avengers #21 pg. 15 - 16 p. 4
Rama-Tut captures the West Coast Avengers and drops them in the desert to die. The priests of the Temple of Khonshu find them and bring them to the Temple. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra, Khonshu, Khonshu Priest, Rama-Tut. (Note that this is an actual appearance of Khonshu. I later cite instances of his statue which is supposed to imply his presence, without necessarily showing it literally.)

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 6-8
The Fantastic Four go back in time to find an optic nerve restorer for Alicia Masters. They fight with an army of Egyptians before being captured by Rama-Tut himself. Again, he stuns the heroes into unconsciousness. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl.

Rise of Apocalypse #3 pg. 1-6
Apocalypse is enslaved to help build a pyramid. Appearances by Apocalypse, Ozymandius, Isis.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 1 p. 1
The Avengers are led by a Khonshu Priest. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra, Khonshu Priest.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 3 p. 4 - pg. 6
Stephen Strange, searching for Morgana Blessing's soul, travels back in time. Searching through Rama-Tut's Sphinx, he unexpectedly encounters a barrage of automatic blasters that render him unconscious. Appearances by Dr. Strange.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 6 p. 4 - pg. 8
The West Coast Avengers run across Strange being carried away by two droids. They attack the droids, only to have more come out of the woodwork. Four new droids pick up Strange and carry him off as the Avengers battle the hordes of robots. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra, Dr. Strange, Khonshu Priest.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 8 p. 5
Strange is carried away by four robots. Appearances by Dr. Strange.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 9 p. 1
The robots carry Strange into a room. Appearances by Dr. Strange.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 9 p. 1-3
Just as the lid closes on the sarcophagus, Strange manages to release his astral form which would have trapped it inside. This scene is duplicated in West Coast Avengers #23 pg. 7 p. 4 (flashback). Appearances by Dr. Strange.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 9 p. 3-5
The Avengers arrive just after sarcophagus lid closes. They try to release Strange but, since Wonder Man can't even open the lid, they opt to let him remain in stasis while they look for the Fantastic Four. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra, Dr. Strange.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 9 p. 4 - pg. 10 p. 4
Strange wanders around in his astral form and is surprised to find Rama-Tut's throne room. Just after he enters, the guards bring forth the still-unconscious Fantastic Four. Strange scans Reed's mind to see the events leading up to their capture. Appearances by Dr. Strange, Rama-Tut, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Thing, Human Torch II.

Rise of Apocalypse #3 pg. 7 p. 1-3
Rama-Tut gloats to himself. Appearances by Rama-Tut, Logos.

West Coast Avengers #22 p. 10 p. 1-4
The Avengers continue to run through the corridors and find a room which is monitoring the throne room. As they enter, they see the Fantastic Four beginning to gain consciousness. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra, Rama-Tut, Invisible Girl, Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 9 p. 1-2
The Fantastic Four awaken and Rama-Tut makes introductions. This scene is duplicated in Rise of Apocalypse #3 pg. 7 p. 4 and Dr. Strange #53 pg. 10 p. 5. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Rama-Tut.

Rise of Apocalypse #3 pg. 7 p. 5 - pg. 8 p. 1
Logos questions his ruler's actions and notes that they're speaking in an unusual language. Appearances by Rama-Tut, Logos.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 9 p. 3-4
More introductions and posturing. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Rama-Tut.

Rise of Apocalypse #3 pg. 8 p. 2-4
Rama-Tut dismisses Logos, who questions what he's been witness to. Appearances by Rama-Tut, Logos.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 9 p. 5
Rama-Tut recounts his origin. This scene is duplicated in Rise of Apocalypse #3 pg. 8 p. 5-6. Appearances by Rama-Tut.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 11 p. 4 - pg. 12 p. 2
More recounting. This is duplicated (in somewhat mutated forms) in Dr. Strange #53 pg. 11 p. 1-2 and Rise of Apocalypse #3 pg. 9 - 10 p. 2. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Rama-Tut.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 11 p. 4 - pg. 12 p. 2
Rama-Tut dismisses the FF and has the Invisible Girl sent off to get dolled up. Strange's astral body is shocked into "unconsciousness" from an encephaloprobe on his real body. Appearances by Dr. Strange, Human Torch II, Invisible Girl, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Rama-Tut, Morgana Blessing.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 12 p. 3-5
Rama-Tut humiliates the FF. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Rama-Tut.

Rise of Apocalypse #3 pg. 10 pp. 3 - pg. 16
Apocalypse meets Nephri and finds out what happens to Logos. Appearances by Apocalypse, Nephri, Rama-Tut, Ozymandius, Logos, Osiris, Invisible Girl.

Rise of Apocalypse #3 pg. 17-22
Sunrise, the next day. Appearances by Apocalypse, Nephri, Ozymandius, Rama-Tut, Logos.

Rise of Apocalypse #4 pg. 1-14
The same morning. Apocalypse rebels against Tut and his lackeys. Appearances by Apocalypse, Rama-Tut, Oxymandius, Nephri, Logos.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 12 p. 3 - pg. 13 p. 1
Strange wakes up "over an hour later" and finds Morgana Blessing. Appearances by Dr. Strange, Morgana Blessing, Invisible Girl, Thing.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 13 p. 1-2
Susan's makeup is finished and she is escorted away. Appearances by Morgana Blessing, Invisible Girl.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 13 p. 3 - pg. 14 p. 2
Ben's big escape sequence. This sequence is duplicated in Dr. Strange #53 pg. 13 p. 2-5 and West Coast Avengers #23 pg. 7. p. 5-6 (flashback). Appearances by Thing.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 13 p. 8-9
Strange directs Ben back towards Rama-Tut's throne room. Appearances by Dr. Strange, Thing.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 14 p. 3-5
Ben barges in on Rama-Tut and Susan being entertained by Torch. This scene is duplicated in Dr. Strange #53 pg. 14 p. 1-2. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Rama-Tut, Invisible Girl.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 12 p. 5 - pg. 13
The Avengers finish off the robots and run into a room full of guards. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 15
The Thing releases Susan, who releases Torch. Johnny then attacks Rama-Tut, who flees into a secret passage. This is duplicated in Dr. Strange #53 pg. 14 p. 2-5 and West Coast Avengers #23 pg. 7 p. 7 (flashback). Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Rama-Tut, Invisible Girl.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 14 p. 1
The Avengers battle the guards. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 16 p. 1-2
Rama-Tut escapes via a secret passage. This is duplicated in West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 14 p. 2. Appearances by Rama-Tut.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 16 p. 3-6
The Fantastic Four begin to make their escape. Partially duplicated in Dr. Strange #53 pg. 15 p. 1-2. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Invisible Girl.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 15 p. 3-6
Strange directs Blessing to release his body. Appearances by Dr. Strange, Morgana Blessing.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 17
The Fantastic Four rescue Reed. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 16 p. 1-5
Rama-Tut runs into Strange and Blessing and activates some automated defense lasers. Just as Blessing and Strange leave... Appearances by Dr. Strange, Rama-Tut, Morgana Blessing.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 18 - 19 p. 2
The Fantastic Four melt their way into the heart of the Sphinx where Strange was just standing. They discover Rama-Tut on a viewscreen. This scene is duplicated, in part, in Dr. Strange #53 pg. 16 p. 6-7. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Rama-Tut.

Rise of Apocalypse #4 pg. 15
Ozymandias wanders the corridors of the Sphinx and sneaks past the Fantastic Four as they find the aforementioned viewscreen. Appearances by Ozymandius, Human Torch II.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 17
Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto on Blessing. Appearances by Dr. Strange, Morgana Blessing.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 19 p. 3 - pg. 20 p. 3
Rama-Tut unleashes more traps on the Fantastic Four. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 17 p. 4-6
The Avengers finish off the guards and try another corridor. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra.

Rise of Apocalypse #4 pg. 16-18
Apocalypse starts destroying Rama-Tut's technology within the Sphinx. Appearances by Apocalypse, Ozymandius.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 18 p. 1-4
The Avengers, still in the Sphinx, feel the place begin to fall apart. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra.

Rise of Apocalypse #pg. 19 p. 1
Rama-Tut's escape pod begins its launch.

Dr. Strange #53 pg. 18 p. 1-4
Strange and Blessing stand outside the Sphinx and watch. Appearances by Dr. Strange, Morgan Blessing.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 20 p. 4-6
Reed and Rama-Tut exchange taunts, as Rama-Tut launches his escape capsule. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Rama-Tut.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 18 p. 5-6
The Avengers see Rama-Tut's escape on a viewscreen. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra.

Rise of Apocalypse #4 pg. 19 p. 2
Egyptians outside watch Rama-Tut's escape and begin to panic.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 21 p. 1-5
The Fantastic Four find the optic nerve restorer and leave the Sphinx. This scene is duplicated in West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 19 p. 1-4 and Rise of Apocalypse #4 pg. 19 p. 3. Appearances by Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 19 p. 5-6
The Avengers are right behind the Fantastic Four. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 21 p. 6
The Fantastic Four run across the desert sand as the Sphinx begins to explode. This scene is duplicated in Rise of Apocalypse #4 pg. 19 p. 4. Appearances by Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch II, Invisible Girl.

Dr. Strange #53 pg 18 p. 5 - pg. 19 p. 4
Strange and Blessing watch the Sphinx explode and exchange goodbyes. Strange leaves. This scene is duplicated in West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 20 p. 1-4. Appearances by Dr. Strange, Morgana Blessing.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 20 p. 5-6
The Avengers leave the Sphinx. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra.

Fantastic Four #19 pg. 22 p. 1
The Fantastic Four see the time machine effect activated over their heads. This is the last scene of the original story with the Fantastic Four in ancient Egypt. This is duplicated in West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 20 p. 7. Appearances by Human Torch II, Invisible Girl, Mr. Fantastic, Thing.

West Coast Avengers #22 pg. 21 - 22 p. 1
The Avengers watch as the Fantastic Four vanish. Appearances by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra, Invisible Girl, Human Torch II, Thing, Mr. Fantastic.

West Coast Avengers #23 pg. 5 p. 5 - pg. 7 p. 3
West Coast Avengers #23 pg. 7 p. 8 - pg. 8 p. 6
The Avengers battle some Egyptian guards and head back to the Temple of Khonshu, where a priest tells them how all the storylines intertwine. Appearances by Iron Man, Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Tigra, Statue of Khonshu, Khonshu Priest.

Rise of Apocalypse #4 pg. 20
Apocalypse emerges from the now-destroyed, but still smoldering, Sphinx. Appearances by Apocalypse.

West Coast Avengers #23 pg. 17 - 19 p. 3
The Avengers are saved by Hank Pym, Firebird, and Moon Knight. Appearances by Hank Pym, Moon Knight, Firebird, Iron Man, Tigra, Wonder Man, Hawkeye, Statue of Khonshu, Khonshu Priest.

Rise of Apocalypse #4 pg. 21-22
2810 BC - Apocalypse visits an aging Nephri for the last time. Appearances by Apocalypse, Nephri.

Run! Run! Run!

2011-10-25T19:26:00.029-04:00

I'm still watching and enjoying One Piece but I have to say that my favorite theme song from the show (they change both the opening and closing themes repeatedly) is "Run! Run! Run!" by Otsuki Maki. The high energy of the song itself is part of it, but I find the lyrics inspiring as well, despite not translating very directly into English. Running so fast and so far that you out-race your own dreams. I love that idea! The song just makes me happy every time I hear it.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a video of the whole song, instead of the 60 seconds they use on the show. Translated lyrics are below the clip.

My overflowed feelings won't connect and
I tighten my grip of your hand.
Even if I'm alone, I'll begin to walk so
look after me to the far distance

I was thinking about it since morning
why is it so hot?
I begin to run faster than usual
wanting to feel the unseen wind.

From some time ago, those ideas won't depart from me.

My overflowed feelings won't connect and
I tighten my grip of your hand.
Even if I'm alone, I'll begin to walk so
look after me to the far distance.

For some reason, I couldn't sleep last night.
Why is it so far?

Because my feelings rush, I chase after it.

Holding onto my overflowed feelings
I continue to run within the wind.
The overflowed dream won't stop.
I want to wake this special feeling.

My overflowed feelings won't connect and
I tighten my grip of your hand.
Even if I'm alone, I'll begin to walk so
look after me to the far distance.

Mort Grim Review

2011-10-24T16:20:00.000-04:00

A little while back, Derik Badman sent me a decent sized pile of comics. Among them was Doug Fraser's Mort Grim.

The story is a fairly simple one. A sedan, trying to pass a slow-moving truck, gets into a nasty accident with a semi coming the other way. As the cops pull up, a leather-clad skeleton on a motorcycle races through, only to vanish moments later. In a small cafe, a waitress pours a final cup of coffee for a customer, who leaves to harvest his crops despite the season being well over. As he leaves, repeating "I'm not done", a car speeds by with the skeleton not far behind. A halo'd dog grabs hold of the skeleton's forearm and there's a violent crash. Seeing this, the waitress dives into the wreck. She reassembles the skeleton, pulling the bones from the dog's mouth, and informs him that the customer she had earlier is just up the road. The skeleton catches up with him, tucks his soul (still claiming "I'm not done") into his saddle bags and drives off.

Obviously, it's an updated take on the Grim Reaper, though the motorcycle and skeleton theme can't help but also be compared to Marvel's Ghost Rider. There's a noted difference in tone, however. Ghost Rider was clearly more the spirit of vengeance, trying to punish those who committed crimes, whereas Mort here seems more existential about his role. "There is no justice. There just is." People have to die, and he just collects them when their time comes.

What's more striking about the book is Fraser's art. He uses very bold linework, which is accentuated by a very limited color palette. Much like his commercial art, he's able to focus the viewer's attention on precisely the right details, and his storytelling is surprisingly (to me) smooth.

There's not a lot of story here for the $5.00 price tag, but it's very nice to look at (including the varnish on the cover that you can't see in any scans) and study. It remains available from AdHouse Books.

Early Alan Davis FF

2011-10-23T10:42:00.000-04:00

Recently, I found this squirreled away with some old files. If I recall correctly, it's the first piece of professionally printed Alan Davis artwork. Or one of his first pieces at any rate. It was a pin-up that was used in a Marvel UK book in the early 1980s. Probably 1983 judging by how I named the file.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd say he's improved a bit over the intervening years...

N.W. Ayer & Son

2011-10-22T13:17:00.004-04:00

N.W. Ayer and Son's American Newspaper Annual and Directory was a directory to US newspapers and periodicals, arranged by state and city, published in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was first published in 1880 and continued under the Ayer name until 1986. It really is just a directory listing and pretty dry material to sort through: names and addresses, founding date, circulation figures, etc. The reason you, the comic book fan, might be interested is because the listings include comic books publishers.

Their changing names and publishing configurations over the years can make sorting through and finding relevant information a bit tedious, if not downright difficult. Plus, the information listed is self-reported, so circulation figures can be a little suspect. But for edification purposes, here are three relevant pages from the 1963 edition featuring Dell, Marvel and National (DC)...

It's interesting to note that Marvel doesn't list ANY superhero comics. The timing could be such that the information is from before when Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men or Avengers launched, but after Incredible Hulk was going to be canceled. This would have been a VERY small window, though, and still doesn't account for why Fantastic Four isn't listed. My best guess is that they were still trying to hide the fact that they were publishing superhero comics in response to the successes DC was having. After all, Marvel's books were being distributed by Independent News at this point... a company which was owned by DC and had forced several publishing concessions on Marvel. (Such as limiting the number of titles they could publish in a month.)