Part history of and part plea for renewed interest in comic books, this documentary talks with comic creators and retailers about the medium and current state trying to find out what happened to America’s affection for comics.
If you’re in Vancouver, this is your chance to see the documentary Ain’t It Cool News calls “terrifically entertaining”!
Never read a graphic novel before? Haven’t read a comic book in years?
(It’s catch-up time.)
Here’s some brand new stuff that came out the week of September 16 that I think is worth a look-see for someone with little to no history with comics. That means you should be able to pick any of these up cold without having read anything else. So take a look and see if something doesn’t grab your fancy. If so, follow the publisher links or Amazon.com links to buy yourself a copy. Or, head to your local friendly comic book shop.
Don’t have a lot of time, so not much commentary from me. Just imagine me being excited about all of these because they all look awesome.
Disclaimer: For the most part, I have not read these yet, so I can’t vouch for their quality. But, from what I’ve heard and seen, odds are good they just might appeal to you.
Mr. Stuffins – $12.99
By Andrew Cosby, Johanna Stokes & Alex Medellin
88 pages; published by Boom! Studios; available at Amazon.com
“My teddy bear’s a secret agent!” When a scientist succeeds in creating Artificial Intelligence, he discovers to his horror that the government plans on making it a weapon. On the run, he hides the program inside a mechanical toy bear. An unsuspecting family buys the toy bear and a little boy discovers a new best friend – a cute, cuddly toy bear who’s got all the moves of James Bond! Chaos, fun, and mayhem ensue, from the creator of EUREKA Andrew Cosby and EUREKA writer Johanna Stokes! Covers by MOUSE GUARD’s David Petersen.
The covers alone crack me up. Here’s a preview of the first several pages. And here’s another preview of the third chapter.
3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man – $19.95
By Matt Kindt
192 pages; published by Dark Horse Comics; available at Amazon.com
What would it be like to stand head and shoulders above everyone else — and to keep growing? Unable to interact with a fragile world that isn’t built to withstand your size? To live in a house that doesn’t fit you anymore — with a wife who doesn’t either?
Craig Pressgang’s life is well documented in his official CIA biography, Giant Man: Pillar of America, but the heroic picture it paints is only half the story. The continuous growth caused by Craig’s strange medical condition brings a variety of problems as he becomes more isolated and unknowable. Told in three eras by three women with unique relationships with Craig, 3 Story follows his sad life from his birth to the present.
Here’s a preview. Beautiful stuff. Also, here’s a the first of a 3-part interview with the writer/artist, which includes more images.
The Vietnam War: A Graphic History – $19.95
By Dwight Jon Zimmerman & Wayne Vansant
160 pages; published by Hill & Wang; available at Amazon.com
When Senator Edward Kennedy declared, “Iraq is George Bush’s Vietnam,” everyone understood. The Vietnam War has become the touchstone for U.S. military misadventures—a war lost on the home front although never truly lost on the battlefront. During the pivotal decade of 1962 to 1972, U.S. involvement rose from a few hundred advisers to a fighting force of more than one million. This same period saw the greatest schism in American society since the Civil War, a generational divide pitting mothers and fathers against sons and daughters who protested the country’s ever-growing military involvement in Vietnam. Meanwhile, well-intentioned decisions in Washington became operational orders with tragic outcomes in the rice paddies, jungles, and villages of Southeast Asia. Through beautifully rendered artwork, The Vietnam War: A Graphic History depicts the course of the war from its initial expansion in the early 1960s through the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, and what transpired at home, from the antiwar movement and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to the Watergate break-in and the resignation of a president.
I couldn’t find any previews for this but from what I’ve heard it’s a solid objective overview of this period of American history. It’s bound to be more engaging than a text book. Schools would be wise to take a look at this one.
Haunt of Horror – $29.99
By Richard Corben, Edgar Allen Poe & H.P. Lovecraft
216 pages; published by Marvel Comics; available at Amazon.com
Presenting one incredible collection of classic tales re-imagined by legendary horror artist Richard Corben. First, it’s Edgar Allan Poe as you’ve never seen him before. Classic Poe stories and poems are transformed into weird and disturbing new comic-book fantasies, with the original Poe texts printed alongside the new tales as an added bonus. It’s a frightening new presentation of Poe-inspired murder, madness and monstrosities! Then, Corben brings you a bold new interpretation full of eerie new spins on the poems and short stories of H.P. Lovecraft. Each adaptation is beautifully rendered in black and white with gray tones as only Corben can do it — along with a printing of the original source text by H.P. Lovecraft. Explicit Content.
Creepy and macabre… just in time for Halloween. Here’s a review with some artwork.
LOS ANGELES – Actor Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica, Blade Runner) will make a special appearance for the screening of the documentary short Dig Comics at Los Angeles’ premiere comic book store Meltdown Comics.
Also joining Olmos for a post-screening Q & A will be Miguel Cima, the writer/director/host of Dig Comics along with members of the cast and crew.
Both a love letter to the American art form of comics and a call to arms to increase the dwindling audience, Dig Comics has already won the attention of Edward James Olmos’ company Olmos Productions, which has agreed to produce a long-form full-length Dig Comics. Olmos believes that as a medium, comic books not only increase literacy but also serves as an inspirational learning tool for both students and teachers.
Dig Comics won Best Documentary at the San Diego Comic-Con International: Independent Film Festival, and has been selected for screenings at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Tucson Film and Music Festival, and the Royal Flush Film Festival in New York City. It also recently screened at the Downtown Film Festival: Los Angeles.
Never read a graphic novel before? Haven’t read a comic book in years?
Here’s some brand new stuff that came out last week that I think is worth a look-see for someone with little to no history with comics. That means you should be able to pick any of these up cold without having read anything else. So take a look and see if something doesn’t grab your fancy. If so, follow the publisher links or Amazon.com links to buy yourself a copy. Or, head to your local friendly comic book shop.
Don’t have a lot of time, so not much commentary from me. Just imagine me being excited about all of these because they all look awesome.
Disclaimer: For the most part, I have not read these yet, so I can’t vouch for their quality. But, from what I’ve heard and seen, odds are good they just might appeal to you.
The Storm in the Barn – $24.99
By Matt Phelan
208 pages; published by Candlewick Press; available at Amazon.com
In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges: local bullies, his father’s failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl, including rising tensions in his small town and the spread of a shadowy illness. Certainly a case of “dust dementia” would explain who (or what) Jack has glimpsed in the Talbot’s abandoned barn — a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, it’s hard to trust what you see with your own eyes — and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes. With phenomenal pacing, sensitivity, and a sure command of suspense, Matt Phelan ushers us into a world where desperation is transformed by unexpected courage.
Tall tale. Thriller. Gripping historical fiction. This artful, sparely told graphic novel — a tale of a boy in Dust Bowl America — will resonate with young readers today.
Giraffes In My Hair: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Life – $19.99
By Bruce Paley & Carol Swain
120 pages; published by Fantagraphics Books; available at Amazon.com
A UNIQUE TAKE ON THE SUMMER OF LOVE GENERATION, THROUGH THE EYES OF AN ACCLAIMED GRAPHIC NOVELIST AND HER PARTNER, WHO LIVED IT
Bruce Paley turned 18 in 1967 during the Summer of Love, putting him on the front lines of the late-1960s youth movement. Paley’s tumultuous journey took him from being a Jack Kerouac-loving hippie in the 1960s, on the road with his 17-year-old girlfriend, dropping acid at Disneyland, living in a car, and crashing with armed Black Panthers at the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention, to hanging out at Max’s Kansas City, shooting heroin and cocaine with the likes of rock star Johnny Thunders, and frequenting Times Square’s seedy brothels — a journey that mirrored the changing times as the optimism of the ’60s gave way to the nihilism of the punk years. Over a dozen years, Bruce crossed paths with hippies, violent cops, rednecks, rock stars, and Black Panthers… and ended up a heroin addict for much of the 1970s.
These stories are vividly brought to life in Giraffes in My Hair (A Rock ’N’ Roll Life) by the compelling visual storytelling of Bruce’s partner, the cartoonist Carol Swain.
Swain’s trademark visual approach to comics, typified by exquisitely composed panels that vividly capture both anomie and pathos, is perfectly suited to dramatizing Paley’s life during that confusing, tumultuous period of American history — a life lived in the countercultural margins, amidst personal chaos and social dissolution. Swain’s storytelling rhythms are contemplative and breathes inner life into Paley’s turbulent stories, creating a perceptive prism to view the vast possibilities and endless pitfalls as experienced by a kid growing up in America in the late 1960s and early ’70s.
Here’s a 9-page preview (PDF), which makes up the first chapter.
West Coast Blues – $18.99
By Jacques Tardi & Jean-Patrick Manchette
80 pages; published by Fantagraphics Books; available at Amazon.com
A SAVAGE NOIR THRILLER REUNITING A MASTER CRIME NOVELIST AND A SUPERLATIVE FRENCH CARTOONIST
George Gerfaut, aimless young executive and desultory family man, witnesses a murder and finds himself sucked into a spiral of violence involving an exiled war criminal and two hired assassins. Adapting to the exigencies of his new life on the run with shocking ease, Gerfaut abandons his comfortable middle-class life for several months (including a sojourn in the countryside after an attempt to ride the rails turns spectacularly bad) until, joined with a new ally, he finally returns to settle all accounts… with brutal, bloody interest.
Originally released in 2005, West Coast Blues (Le Petit bleu de la côte ouest) is Tardi’s adaptation of a popular 1976 novel by the French crime writer Jean-Patrick Manchette. (The novel had been previously adapted to film under the more literal title Trois hommes à abattre, and was released in English by the San Francisco-based publisher City Lights under the English version of the same title, 3 to Kill.)
Tardi’s late-period, looser style infuses Manchette’s dark story with a seething, malevolent energy; he doesn’t shy away from the frequently grisly goings-on, while maintaining (particularly in the old-married-couple-style bickering of the two killers who are tracking Gerfaut) the mordant wit that characterizes his best work. This is the kind of graphic novel that Quentin Tarantino would love, and a double shot of Scotch for any fan of unrelenting, uncompromising crime fiction.
“Tardi brings a rough and gritty reality and an existential strangeness that makes his crime stories different than anyone else’s. I’ll read anything he draws.” – Ed Brubaker
“To put it simply, this shit kicks ass.” – Howard Chaykin
Dumb parents, little brothers, gigantic messes, and homework–this is the plight of young readers everywhere. And, until now, it had not been expressed by someone so close to the source.
Ten-year-old Alexa Kitchen may have an unusual talent–she is the world’s youngest comics artist–but she really is just like many girls her age. Just trying to get by in a world that seems determined to undermine her at every turn. Luckily she’s got a way with a pen and a good sense of humor.
This collection of funny, insightful cartoons based on the real-life trials of many families will resonate with young readers everywhere.
Grimwood’s Daughter – $12.99
By Jan Strnad & Kevin Nowlan
64 pages; published by IDW Publishing; available at Amazon.com
Grimwood’s Daughter chronicles the last days of the elves in their desperate war against man, magician, and dragon. Artist Kevin Nowlan’s powerful images elevate Jan Strnad’s dark, cautionary tale into a true gem of fantasy fiction, a graphic fable that is compelling, timeless, and unforgettable. Includes a special section with Nowlan sketches and preliminaries!
Here’s a blog post by artist Kevin Nowlan reminiscing about the original release of this story and talking about this new publication. And here’s another with a preview.
Supersmart Julian Calendar thinks moving to a new school will mean he can shed his nerdy image—but then he meets Ben and Greta, two secret scientists like himself. The three form a covert club, complete with a high-tech lair. There, they can work to their hearts content on projects like the Stink-O-Meter, the Kablovsky Copter, and the Nightsneak Goggles. All that tinkering comes in handy when the trio discovers an evil scientist’s dastardly plan to rob a museum. Can three inventors, armed with their wacky creations, hope to defeat this criminalmastermind?
Illustrated in full color throughout, The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook is a treat for the eyes, with marvelous gadgetry rendered in elaborate detail. And stay on the lookout formore Secret Science Alliance adventures from comic supergenius Eleanor Davis!
The Magic Meathands have started posting videos of our live shows again! This is the first MM video that I’m in, except you can’t see my head and I do almost nothing! Yay me! Still, it’s a fun video.
This is a game we’ve been doing to open our shows. It’s usually called Objection, but we’ve started to call it Cranky Lawyers. We take a suggestion from the audience. In this instance it was the word “objections”. You’ll get the idea of how it works pretty quickly.
For more videos, check out the Magic Meathands YouTube channel. There is also now a Magic Meathands Fan Page! And a Magic Meathands Twitter account! There’s also a Magic Meathands MySpace page but I’m not giving you a link to that because no one cares about MySpace anymore. (And the less said about the Hi5 account, the better.)
Never read a graphic novel before? Haven’t read a comic book in years?
Here’s some brand new stuff that came out last week that I think is worth a look-see for someone with little to no history with comics. That means you should be able to pick any of these up cold without having read anything else. So take a look and see if something doesn’t grab your fancy. If so, follow the publisher links or Amazon.com links to buy yourself a copy. Or, head to your local friendly comic book shop.
Disclaimer: For the most part, I have not read these yet, so I can’t vouch for their quality. But, from what I’ve heard and seen, odds are good they just might appeal to you.
Sweet Tooth #1 – $1.00
By Jeff Lemire
32 pages; published by DC Comics’ Vertigo
From out of the deep woods and the mind of acclaimed indie cartoonist Jeff Lemire (THE NOBODY, The Essex County Trilogy) comes a new Vertigo monthly ongoing series like no other! After being raised in total isolation, Gus – a boy born with deer-like antlers – is left to survive in an American landscape devastated a decade earlier by an inexplicable pandemic. Even more remarkable is that Gus is part of a rare new breed of human/animal hybrid children who have emerged in its wake, all apparently immune to the infection.
Enter Jepperd, a violent, hulking drifter who soon takes in Gus and promises to lead him to “The Preserve,” a fabled safe-haven for hybrid children. Along the way they’ll have to contend with science militias, deadly scavengers, rival bounty hunters, and hybrid worshipping cultists as they fight to make it to safety and solve the mysteries of this deadly new frontier.
This bizarre and haunting new series is boldly written and illustrated by Eisner-nominated creator Jeff Lemire and elegantly colored by fellow Eisner nominee Jose Villarubia. A little boy with antlers, a big man with guns, a world without hope – SWEET TOOTH #1 ships in September for only $1.00!
Yes, only $1! Jeff Lemire is very talented. You can risk a buck to check this comic out. Come on, do it already! OK, fine since you’re being so demanding, here’s a 7-page preview to twist your arm.
Dead Irons – $19.99
By James Kuhoric & Jason Shawn Alexander
168 pages; published by Dynamite Entertainment; available at Amazon.com
Three bounty hunter siblings blaze a path of death and destruction across the old west. Traveling by moonlight they rip criminals screaming for mercy from their hiding places, but none is ever given. Each bounty is torn, broken, and bled dry before they are delivered dead and payment collected in gold – no silver. The Irons are the most feared bounty hunting killers in the west, but that fear isn’t based on them being the fastest with a pistol or rifle. It’s because they’re the Walking Dead.
A lone tortured soul tracks them with vengeance and salvation driving him to end the curse upon his family. Those who he rescues call him savior but those who look upon his twisted and scarred face call him monster. Silas Irons is the only hope his brothers and sister have of salvation from the abominations they’ve become. But even the purity of his heart can’t stop the unnatural rage and bloodlust building in his diseased soul.
A black curse turned these siblings into monsters but deep rooted and twisted family history made them into the worst kind of horrors. This year’s biggest supernatural western tale is collected here for the very first time! Written by James Kuhoric (Freddy vs Jason vs Ash), illustrated by Jason Alexander (BPRD), and based on character designs and covers by Jae Lee (The Dark Tower).
Dead Irons – 99 innocent souls – 6 undead monsters – 1 shot to save the world.
If you like your comics a little bit eery and frightening, check the 12-page preview out at the publisher’s link above. Jason Shawn Alexander must be a scary man in person.
When K. Westree arrives at Bellsong Academy, she thinks she’s left her cat-burgling past behind her. But K. soon discovers the school has a mystery of its own, a hidden treasure left behind by its founder, and she’s the only one who has a hope of finding it. As she resumes her cat-burgling in an attempt to discover the school’s secrets, K. begins to question if a normal life is really what she wants.
I have unsuccessfully petitioned Richard Sala to mate with me several times. Yes, I realize this is scientifically impossible and inappropriate. You have your dreams, I’ll have mine, thank you very much. Publisher’s Weekly has an 8-page preview for you to drool at. Wipe your keyboards.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – $29.99
By L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower & Skottie Young
192 pages; published by Marvel Comics; available at Amazon.com
The premiere American fantasy adventure gets the Merry Marvel treatment! Eisner Award-winning writer/artist Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze) teams up with fan-favorite artist Skottie Young (New X-Men) to bring L. Frank Baum’s beloved classic to life! When Kansas farm girl Dorothy flies away to the magical Land of Oz, she fatally flattens a Wicked Witch, liberates a living Scarecrow and is hailed by the Munchkin people as a great sorceress…but all she really wants to know is: how does she get home?
This high-end hardcover is on the pricy side (and if it feels excessive, keep your eye out for the inevitable softcover edition later in the year) but this is so charming. Skottie Young seemed to resurrect himself as a new artist completely out of nowhere and his new style is so captivating. And writer Eric Shanower is a devout Oz disciple who has released his own Oz-inspired books. L. Frank Baum would be proud. Here’s a 5-page preview along with an interview with Shanower from last November.
Studs Terkel’s Working: A Graphic Adaptation – $22.95
By Harvey Pekar
208 pages; published by The New Press; available at Amazon.com
“Working has been a book, a radio drama, a Broadway musical, and now a gripping graphic novel. I can’t speak for Studs, but I suspect he would have been tickled to see it adapted by a former government file clerk and wage slave, who knows all about working.” –Roger EbertIn the thirty-five years since Pulitzer Prize-winner Studs Terkel’s Working was first published, it has captivated millions of readers with lyrical and heartbreaking accounts of how their fellow citizens earn a living. Widely regarded as a masterpiece of words, it is now adapted into comic book form by comics legend Harvey Pekar, the blue-collar antihero of his American Book Award-winning comics series American Splendor.
In Studs Terkel’s Working, Pekar offers a brilliant visual adaptation of Terkel’s verbatim interviews, collaborating with both established comics veterans and some of the comic underground’s brightest new talent. Here are riveting accounts of the lives of ordinary Americans–farmers, miners, barbers, hookers, box boys, stockbrokers–depicted with unsurpassed dignity and frankness. A visual treat with a visceral impact, Studs Terkel’s Working will delight Terkel fans everywhere, and introduce his most powerful work to a new generation.
As the economy continues to threaten the middle-class, this is a great way to take an unfiltered look at the middle-class of 1974, to see how far we have (and haven’t) come. Includes contributions by Pablo Callejo, Gary Dumm, Danny Fingeroth, Peter Gullerud, Bob Hall, Ryan Inzana, Sabrina Jones, Peter Kuper, Terry Laban, Dylan Miner, Pat Moriarity, Emily Nemens, Joan Reilly, Sharon Rudahl, Nick Thorkelson, Anne Timmons, and Lance Tooks. Edited by Paul Buhle.
Sadly I can’t find a preview of this book online. If anyone knows of one, post a link in the comments or email me.
So to give you something to look at, and because I’m a pathetic JT freak, this gives me an excuse to post a video from YouTube. James Taylor wrote the beautiful song “Millworker” for the Broadway musical adaptation of Working. Here’s a cathartic rendition by Bruce Springsteen (if you want, skip to about 2:00 to get past the intro):
Spy vs. Spy: Danger! Intrigue! Stupidity! – $11.99
By Antonio Prohias
192 pages; published by Random House; available at Amazon.com
Don’t Go Stir Crazy!
Break Out the Duldrums!
Danger! Intrigue! Stupidity! locks up a collection of crazy clashes between those two bumbling MAD Spies!
“Spy vs. Spy” was the brainchild of Cuban-born political cartoonist Antonio Prohias, who fled his country after receiving death threats from Fidel Castro. Prohias settled in America, and in 1960 he began a 26-year run of Spy misadventures in MAD Magazine. This book by Prohias, long out of print, showcases his genius as an artist, storyteller, and graphic designer.
Classic fun and great for kids! If you enjoy this, there are two other books that have also been released, and have similar cover designs.
Stitches: A Memoir – $24.95
By David Small
336 pages; published by WW Norton; available at Amazon.com
The prize-winning children’s author depicts a childhood from hell in this searing yet redemptive graphic memoir.
One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had throat cancer and was expected to die. Small, a prize-winning children’s author, re-creates a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka. Readers will be riveted by his journey from speechless victim, subjected to X-rays by his radiologist father and scolded by his withholding and tormented mother, to his decision to flee his home at sixteen with nothing more than dreams of becoming an artist. Recalling Running with Scissors with its ability to evoke the trauma of a childhood lost, Stitches will transform adolescent and adult readers alike with its deeply liberating vision.
David Small has a site up to help promote the book, which has a slideshow of pages from the book, reviews, and other buzz and media. Now isn’t that convenient! What else could you need to entice you to check this out? A trailer, you say? OK:
Mr. Stuffins – $12.99
3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man – $19.95
The Vietnam War: A Graphic History – $19.95
Haunt of Horror – $29.99
The Storm in the Barn – $24.99
Giraffes In My Hair: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Life – $19.99
West Coast Blues – $18.99
Grown-Ups Are Dumb! (No Offense) – $8.99
Grimwood’s Daughter – $12.99
The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook – $10.99
Sweet Tooth #1 – $1.00
Dead Irons – $19.99
Cat Burglar Black – $16.99
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – $29.99
Studs Terkel’s Working: A Graphic Adaptation – $22.95
Spy vs. Spy: Danger! Intrigue! Stupidity! – $11.99
Stitches: A Memoir – $24.95
Corey Blake 