Many, many, minis: Depression, joy, love, sorrow; these run the whole gamut of emotion

Weather
By Gabby Schulz
Published by Secret Acres



Gabby Schulz (a.k.a. Ken Dahl) is a cartoonist like no other, somehow able to depict the saddest, most cripplingly depressing events and make them not only hilarious, but also lyrically beautiful. This wordless comic depicts a schlubby fellow on a packed airplane in mid-flight as he stumbles to the lavatory in misery, flashing back to a consultation with a doctor in which he was unable to afford medical care, possibly for a life-threatening disease like cancer. His cares are briefly forgotten when he glances out a window and imagines himself flying gracefully through the clouds, naked and alone from all the miseries and humiliations of life. But, this being a Gabby Schulz comic, the horrors of human existence quickly intrude on his reverie in the most disgusting manner possible, bringing him right back down to muck-encrusted earth.

It's a short piece, fully in line with Schulz's style, featuring gorgeous cartooning, images both beautiful and disgusting, and a reminder of the awfulness of life, while still acknowledging the moments of beauty and wonder that make everything else worthwhile. There's nothing else like Schulz's comics, and that's probably a good thing; I don't know if I could take more than one of him.
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Deathzone
By Michel Fiffe
Self-published



I know next to nothing about DC's Suicide Squad comics from the 80s, aside from the basic concept of villains pressed into government service and forced to undertake dangerous missions, but it seems to be pretty well-regarded among those who enjoy capes-and-tights stories, and this tribute by Michel Fiffe makes a good case for it. But it also provides Fiffe with a chance to riff on the visual styles of artists like Steve Ditko and just have fun with characters and concepts that he enjoys. He ostensibly retells a certain storyline in which the team fights a squad of terrorist supervillains, but it seems that at least the ending must have been changed from the original story. Whatever the case, it's obvious that Fiffe is having fun coming up with crazy depictions of superpowers, interesting confrontations between characters, occasionally shocking bits of violence, and neat visuals, especially once everyone gets sucked into another dimension and attacked by weird monsters. It's all pretty awesome, and probably more so if you're invested in the characters and their histories both together and apart, but just experiencing the palpable enjoyment that is radiating from the page makes the read worthwhile. Fans of Fiffe, Suicide Squad, and any overlap between the two shouldn't miss out on something this fun.
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So...Buttons #5
Written by Jonathan Baylis
Art by Paul Westover, Thomas Boatwright, Noah Van Sciver, and Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg
Self-published



This issue of Jonathan Baylis' autobiographical series is a bit shorter (and cheaper) than usual, containing only four stories, but it's still a satisfying bite of decent little tales from Baylis' life, illustrated by a cadre of talented artists and embellished with an eye-catching cover by Tom Scioli. The stories include an amusing look at Baylis' fear of taking his dog to the vet, a depiction of his determination to recreate the coffee blend that his deli stopped selling, a sort of gag about the pressure-valve release of a shared joke following the emotional trauma of watching Schindler's List, and a cute story about trying to find the secret behind cooking the perfect brisket (a story which was also included in the Digestate anthology). As always, Baylis works with excellent artists who are perfectly suited for the mood of each individual tale, with highlights including Paul Westover's over-the-top exaggeration of Baylis' tears, Thomas Boatwright giving him cartoonish displays of anguish and stiff-jawed resolve, Noah Van Sciver's sort of thousand-yard-stare and the relief that humor can bring to it, and a perfect plop take by Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg. It's all as good one would expect from previous issues of the series, another chance to have a visit with a pal and hear some of his stories.
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Losers Weepers #1-3
By J.T. Yost
Published by Birdcage Bottom Books



There's something fascinating about found notes, photos, and other such objects, as any reader of Found magazine knows, a glimpse into complete strangers' lives that offers tantalizing hints about the complexities of their personalities and situations, and a reminder that there are countless others surrounding us, each person as rich and deep as the rest of us. J.t. Yost apparently shares this fascination, crafting the stories in this series of minicomics into stories that could fit around various notes or letters that he had chanced upon.

Of the three extant issues (there is apparently one more to come at some point), the first is the most effective, taking a heartbreaking journal entry by a young woman who is contemplating breaking up with her unstable (due to a life of abuse and drugs and a traumatic brain injury) boyfriend, but worries what will happen to him if she does; and also incorporating some filthy rap lyrics scrawled on an envelope and a note from a junkie about borrowing some cocaine. Around these artifacts, Yost comes up with a sad tale in which the girl from the journal runs into her ex-boyfriend years later, her current happy relationship sending him into a spiral of drug use and despair. The other issues stretch a bit to incorporate humorous notes from schoolkids, poorly-worded bulletin board ads, and letters from prison into interrelated tales of woe, to the point that they seem unnecessarily miserablist, trying to wring pathos out of some basic building blocks that don't fully support it. But Yost is really just doing what most do when they encounter these bits of human ephemera, trying to imagine the stories behind them and see the humanity from this tiny glimpse into their lives. His approach, while fairly dark, is as valid as any, and it's neat to watch him spin characters and dramatic situations from these basic threads. Would that we all could be so eloquent when contemplating the drama unfolding around us.
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Thinger Dingers
It's Dream Time, Snoop Doggy Dogg
By J.T. Yost
Published by Birdcage Bottom Books




These two minis are more of a catch-all for J.T. Yost, with Thinger Dingers collecting various short comics that have appeared in anthologies or magazines, and It's Dream Time, Snoop Doggy Dogg featuring several dream comics similar to some Yost had done previously. One's mileage on the latter may vary, depending on tolerance for this sort of "Dude, I had the craziest dream last night!" narrative. Me, I like the surreal weirdness of Yost being at a party crashed by Snoop Dogg wearing a Richard Pryor mustache, carpooling with Dick Cheney and avoiding being poisoned by the former VP, Roseanne Barr being his mother for some reason, having his wife be stolen by Arnold Schwarzenneger, or running into Henry Rollins as a hot dog salesman. One could probably attempt to psychoanalyze these dreams, especially if they know Yost outside of the comics he makes (which I don't), but even outside of any consideration of their "meaning", they do a nice job of capturing of some of the bizarre stuff that our brains can get up to when we're sleeping. Yost's cartoony characters and celebrity caricatures work really well for the types of strangeness they're telling, somehow managing to make the emotions and interactions seem just on the far side of "normal". If you're open to this sort of thing, the comic is definitely worth a look.

As for Thinger Dingers, it's more of a "miscellaneous" collection, featuring stories both fictional and not, with the longest being "Ruemates", in which Yost relates tales of several bad roommates he's had to suffer over the years (and he doesn't let himself off the hook, noting that his weird taste in music and propensity for adopting stray cats doesn't make him the ideal living companion), including a drug-abusing porn star and a pretentious asshole who wouldn't let anyone else use his furniture for fear of "body oil contamination". There's also a funny two-page story about a friend's crazy hillbilly "alter-ego" that he would freak people with at parties, especially when drunk; a cute story about the lullabies Yost sings to his baby daughter; and a couple fictional stories about pigeon relationships and a badly-managed old-timey funeral parlor. It's a nice collection of Yost's work, the perfect use of the format to compile work that wouldn't really fit anywhere else. I really enjoy Yost's cute style and sense of humor, and the way he grounds his cartoony characters in realistic settings, making for down-to-earth looks at relatable human behavior. I'll be sure to keep my eye out for any future minis he releases into the wild.
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The Mire
By Becky Cloonan
Self-published



Becky Cloonan's minicomics are always a great chance to see her talent unleashed on something original. Not that there's anything wrong with her work on properties like Batman or Conan the Barbarian, but when she gets to devote her imagination to depicting beautiful, fantastical, mournful works like this, the results are so much more satisfying. This particular mini sees a medieval knight send his squire to deliver a message to a castle in the middle of a swamp that seems to be haunted. After some supernatural scares, the boy, who was lamenting the missed opportunity to join an impending battle, learns that his relationship with his master was much more complicated and, as a closing montage reveals, tragic, than he had ever realized. It's a sad tale that's visually arresting, featuring a distinctive silkscreened cover colored with an eerie green tint that enhances the creepy, moody art of the interior in the imagination; distinctively gruesome ghosts, and a beautifully sad ending. I wish Cloonan had the opportunity to create comics this this on a larger scale and more regular basis; as it is, I think these minicomics are an annual labor of love for her, and I'll be sure to go to whatever lengths necessary to read them as long as she keeps putting them out.
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The Stolen Lovelight
By Paul and Tara Abbamondi
Self-published



This minicomic by the husband-and-wife team Paul and Tara Abbamondi is a sort of sci-fi romance, and it's a bit slight, but the art is a nice example of a cartoony style reminiscent of someone like Faith Erin Hicks or Hope Larson, and there are some nicely creepy moments within. The story involves a woman who arranges her own kidnapping in order to escape the possessive jerk she was being forced to marry. But when she wakes up on the kidnappers' spaceship, she is all alone, aside from Doc, the robot left controlling the ship, an oddly attentive artificial intelligence that starts getting kind of creepy and calling her "lovelight" all the time. When M, the man she was trying to escape, shows up to "rescue" her, she learns Doc's disturbing secret and tries to escape. The ending is slightly unsatisfying, although it does attempt to demonstrate that love conquers all, which is a nice thought. As a whole, the story is a bit rushed, and I don't know if I fully understand what happened in the finale, but there are some really nice moments, like the initial kidnapping, the eerily empty ship, and the increasingly unsettling attitude Doc starts exhibiting. I do like Tara Abbamondi's art a lot, so she's a talent I'll be sure to keep an eye on. That's one of the great things about minicomics: discovering a new artist that you want to see more of.

Miniature comics make for good reading too

Wolves
By Becky Cloonan
Self-published

Becky Cloonan's art is always something to behold, and this minicomic (which, interestingly, was originally published in a Japanese anthology) is no exception, being full of moodily shadowed forests, agonized expressions, and visceral violence. It opens on a naked man stumbling through some snowy woods and then flashes back (with occasional beautiful panels that stand out from the dark shadows of the main story with their delicately filigreed lines) to his quest to slay a monster and the emotional pain that brings him, for reasons that are slowly revealed. It's a wonderful bit of dark action, an excellent demonstration of Cloonan's art skills as she provides lived-in details of the medieval world, the creepy wild woods, and the desperation and resigned determination so plain on the characters' faces. Beautiful work, and being a self-published minicomic, a definite labor of love from Cloonan, an example of how telling these stories is like satisfying a need to get the work on paper and in people's hands. Passion!

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The Death of Elijah Lovejoy
By Noah Van Sciver
Published by 2D Cloud

Noah Van Sciver tells an interesting historical story in this minicomic, but he limits the content of the actual comic to the specific incident indicated by the title, explaining the background in an opening text piece so that the action can start immediately with the sequential art proper. Elijah Lovejoy was an abolitionist preacher and newspaper publisher in St. Louis who spoke out against the public lynching of an escaped slave, which led to a crowd gathering to kill him and destroy his printing press. Van Sciver depicts the standoff/siege, in which Lovejoy and his supporters holed up in a warehouse and tried to stay alive, running out of ammunition and making desperate attempts to keep from being burned out. It's harrowing and terrible to see the violence play out, barely understandable in this modern age to see such physical, visceral hatred over the issue of words being spoken against slavery. Van Sciver's art is pleasingly (and somewhat disturbingly, in this nasty context) cartoony, but he doesn't skimp on detail, and all the action is clear and understandable, with some nice touches like the blots of ink that splatter onto the page over bullet impacts. It's a fascinating little tale, an informative history lesson and a glimpse into the past of our country that should not be forgotten.
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Veggie Dog Saturn #5
By Jason Young
Published by Buyer Beware Comics

This is more of a traditional minicomic, fitting into the autobio/essay genre where the artist just does whatever he feels like. It's not bad, but it's not at the level of the previous two works. It is pretty decent for what it is though, with Jason Young relating stories from his childhood (including a pretty gross one about eating too much at a salad bar and puking in the bathroom sink), musing about the old "desert island records" question, and describing his one-time shoplifting habit, among other various subjects. Pretty standard minicomics material, but Young manages it well enough, with a nice caricature of himself sporting an ever-present beard and large, round, opaque glasses, and he has a facility for relating stories clearly, whether they are playing out silently or being narrated via captions. This isn't exactly something I would urge people to seek out, but it's worth picking up given the chance.
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Various micro-minicomics
By Brian John Mitchell, et al.
Published by Silber Media

Brian John Mitchell and his various artists seem to pump out these tiny comics with regularity, and while they're not exactly revolutionary works of art that demand seeking out whatever the cost, they're unique objects, interesting to examine as art done under constraints, with one small image and some text on each miniscule page, which can alternately make for interesting minimalism or self-indulgent pointlessness.

Of the minis pictured above, the most interesting is probably "Poit!", which features stick figure art from Dave Sim (yes, that Dave Sim) that was completed and then scripted by Mitchell. There are actually two versions of the comic, both using the same art, but of the two, "La Jetee" is a bit more effective, presenting the sudden transitions that occur along with the titular sound effect as either hallucinations or shifting realities, while "WTF" turns them into a guy apparently going crazy, leading to the same result. It might have been better to limit this to one version, but it's an interesting experiment.

On the other end of the spectrum is Lost Kisses #21, which continues a series by Mitchell in which a stick figure both narrates his thoughts and comments "humorously" on them. Previous issues in the series have seen some tired exploration of typical male neuroses, but this one takes a bit of a departure, as the stick figure discusses time travel, which he believes he has been experiencing via seizures. Presented differently, this might be interesting, but the awkwardness of the dual narration and commentary ruins it, and the ever-grinning simplicity of the art makes the comics format of the story nearly pointless.

The Lost Kisses series also seems to have some offshoots, with Ultimate Lost Kisses #12 featuring art by Jeremy Johnson and telling the story of a pregnant teenager, and Extreme Lost Kisses #1, illustrated by Nick Marino, turning the stick figure protagonist into a pretty funny version of an action movie hero, all macho swagger, nonsensical plots, and constant violence. Both are a pleasant change, but not exactly the best of the bunch.

Mitchell definitely seems to do better when he branches out into varied subject matter, although recurring supernatural concepts like monsters and demons do seem to show up pretty regularly in these comics. "Monthly", which is nicely illustrated by Eric Shonborn, is kind of neat, about a guy searching for love, with the title and time period of his searches making sense after a revelatory twist. "Star" seems like it could also be interesting, following a traveling singer who is constantly being pursued by demons, and featuring some of the best artwork that fits onto these small pages by Kurt Dinse, full of moody, expressive shadows. It is a bit over-narrated though; Mitchell could stand to either pare down the language he uses or work on varying his style, since the declarative, staccato nature of his captions gets pretty repetitive over several of these comics. That probably wouldn't help "Vigilant" much though; it's a silly thing following some hooded figures who have apparently retreated from society so as to beat up ne'er do wells, with crude art by PB Kain.

In other genres, XO #7 continues the story of a sociopathic assassin who, in this installment, falls into drug-fueled debauchery and lets a woman get too close, but manages to survive a death threat through his sheer amorality. It's creepy in its depiction of a dead-eyed, near-emotionless killer, with pretty good art by Melissa Spence Gardner. Built #1 looks to start a new sci-fi series about a football-playing robot of the future who gains sentience and makes an attempt at freedom, and it's compelling and almost heartbreaking in its depiction of the robot's desire to live as more than a slave to violent entertainment. The art by Joe Badon is a bit scratchy and rough, but that's mostly just a style to get used to, and it works when depicting the action of the football game and the frantic flight of the robot.

Finally, the "Small Art Sampler" series contains some tiny paintings by Mitchell, all centered around various themes, printed in full color, but mostly just consisting of blobs of color. There is some attempt to explain the themes of each booklet through short text pieces, but they're pretty inscrutable, although I did kind of like the way the images in "Climb" resembled chain link fences. These were apparently all featured in a gallery show, which may have been a better manner of presentation, but they do make for an interesting collection of abstract art, and could allow one to make all manner of interpretations, if one was so inclined.

As always, it's nice to see Mitchell and pals making their attempts to expand the idea of what comics can be through contraction of the space used in the comics themselves. They're not always successful, but they're out there pumping these things out, obviously passionate about their art, and that's something to be admired. Hopefully they won't be quitting anytime soon.

Grinding the AX: Schoolgirls really aren't that interesting

Links:  If you haven't been checking out Derek Kirk Kim's Tune: Praxis and Allies, be sure to do so before it's too late.  He recently posted a message of despondence, feeling like nobody was paying attention to the comic he was giving away for free.  Luckily, many responded, assuring him that he does have an audience, but it doesn't hurt to remind people of the quality work he's got going.  If you don't want to read it on a screen, the first volume, which is almost finished, will be released in print by First Second this spring.  But do give it a look, if you like good comics.

In the "unfortunately will never see print" category, Becky Cloonan started off the year by mentioning the sad news that her graphic novel series East Coast Rising (I reviewed the first volume here, if you're interested and don't mind less-polished writing) will in all likelihood never be finished, but she does at least rectify the cliffhanger ending of the first volume by posting its resolution, starting here and continuing for the next several days.  Awesome.  Just a taste of what we're missing out on thanks to Tokyopop.

And speaking of opportunities missed, I've been out of the comics loop long enough that I completely missed that Faith Erin Hicks has started a webcomic (or rather the online version of a comic that runs in a weekly Halifax newspaper) called The Adventures of Superhero Girl.  I love Hicks' art, and this is a super fun, cute example of her work.  Plus, it's free!  Webcomics!

And one more: Doug TenNapel's new webcomic, Ratfist, started today.  Some sort of superhero thing, but since it's TenNapel, I'll read it.

Now for more manga dabblings:

"A Well-Dressed Corpse"
By Yuichi Kiriyama

This is another story about how terrible the world is, but it's pretty effective in its depiction of a harsh, ugly modern existence, spending only six pages jumping between loosely-connected, urban dwellers but managing to include rape, murder, abortion, and a general sense of society's lost soul, people who only interact long enough to do terrible things to each other, or to ignore each other completely.  Lots of heavy blacks, downcast expressions, and shadowed visages; this world is a pretty terrible place.  Good times!

"Arizona Sizzler"
By Saito Yunasuke

Shifting gears once again, here's a much lighter story, although it's still kind of ugly, at least in its crude art style.  It's also pretty pointless, seeming existing only to shock with a close up depiction of a banana-shaped penis and some spherical testicles, looming over a girl wandering through a desert.  It's kind of funny, a bit of deadpan weirdness as this naked man (who is either gigantic or just shown in extreme close-up, only visible from below and behind) keeps showing up and horrifying her, but there's nothing going on aside from that.  Kind of a waste of pages for a joke that could have been told in one panel.

"The Rainy Day Blouse" and "The First Umbrella"
By Akino Kondo

These two short pieces are also fairly uninteresting, although they at least seem to be attempting to capture some poetic imagery, following a schoolgirl wondering over how it never rains when she carries a certain umbrella.  Maybe it's prettier in the original Japanese, but it's not exactly evocative in this form, and the fairly plain art doesn't add much either.  Compared to most everything else in the volume, this is pretty eminently skippable.

"Stand By Me"
By Tomohiro Koizumi

Another school tale, although this one is about boys, and does feature at least a little bit of conflict.  One kid has a crush on a girl, and is spying on her in the bath, but his friend is the one who gets caught, leading to a falling out between them.  It's all about the intense emotions of youth, but it's nothing too special, especially considering the awkwardly-proportioned art, which gives everyone tiny heads and huge hands.  I don't know how much teen drama I'll be able to take after this book.

"My Old Man" and "Me"
By Shin'ichi Abe

The focus in these two short stories is all about normal people and their dreams, which, according to the author bio in the back of the book, is sort of a theme of Abe's work.  Kind of boring, but interesting in their simple depiction of regular people living in their houses, realistically shown going about their lives.  That's worth something, but it's not really interesting to make one stop and take note in a varied anthology like this; it would fit better in a longer book by the author, or a similarly-themed anthology.  Here, it's kind of just a short pause before another bit of weirdness comes along.

"Up & Over"
By Seiko Erisawa

Hmm, this section of the book seems to be all about "normal life"; this is another story about regular schoolchildren, a boy and a girl, with the boy telling the story of a broken piece of a marble that falls out of his pocket.  It's slight, but cute, due to effective facial expressions and some nice timing.  Inessential, but still memorable, at least for me.

"The Song of Mr. H"
By Shigeyuki Fukumitsu

Another story about people making their way in the modern world?  Sure, but this one has flair and life; I dig it.  There's a middle-aged salaryman whose life sucks, and after the positive feelings he gets from punching out a guy harassing a woman, he decides to become a boxer.  It's kind of amusing, in a deadpan way, but other than the cartoonishly deformed art, it's played completely straight, and it doesn't end up being the expected story of redemption, but still somehow manages to seem like a feel-good story, at least giving the character a feeling of peace.  It's kind of goofy, but it totally works; I would love to read more of Fukumitsu's manga.

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Looks like there will be one more post to go for this book.  Hopefully I'll get to it before too long...

Collection catchup: Gods and suicides and lesbians, oh my

Elsewhere: I reviewed the second volume of Demo at IndiePulp; it's really good (and hopefully the review isn't bad either).

Links:  This Sophia Wiedeman (The Deformitory) comic at Top Shelf 2.0 is quite good.

This partly animated comic by Vincent Giard is also pretty great, a cool example of the way animation can be used effectively in comics rather than as a distraction.  I've got to check out more of this guy's work.

I'm also curious about this new Japanese comics anthology which is available in English for the Kindle (or really any platform, since Kindle books can be read on Iphone, PC, etc.).  It got attention because Shintaro Kago has some comics in it, which makes it his first officially available English work, but from what I understand, it's only a few gag strips, but he'll have a longer-format story in the second issue.  I dunno, maybe I'll get a subscription or something.

So, here's my latest collection of (probably) shorter looks at stuff I've read recently:

Godland, volume 5: Far Beyond the Bang!
Written by Joe Casey
Art by Tom Scioli

Some comics hit my buttons just right that I love them intensely while having trouble expressing the reasons for doing so beyond "Wow, that's awesome!"  The Jack Kirby riff that Joe Casey and Tom Scioli do here is a perpetual winner, and they manage to nail the feel of the King's cosmic bombast perfectly, with the shouted proclamations and the world/galaxy/universe-shaking implications of the fights made perfectly clear.  They keep things going at a breakneck pace, with hero Adam Archer dragged into interstellar cosmic battle with forces he barely understands, while back on Earth the villainous Friedrich Nickelhead launches a political takeover for the super-criminal set.  There's some weird social/political commentary going on, but Casey never sits still long enough to make it seem didactic, and the gigantic action and bizarre character designs by Scioli constantly dazzle the eye and grab hold of the mind.  It's the almost-too-big-to-comprehend Kirby-style godly morality that I dig most though, as in a scene in which an evil being prepares to influence the evolution of two warring species on some distant planet, declaring "Eventualism now!", before being attacked by two other baroquely attired space-farers who declare, "We bring forth the anti-pillage! Prepare to defend your religion!" before being sent 12,000 years into the future (taking them to our present) to face the results of the evolutionary shepherding that was inflicted on the winners of the species war.  It's totally nuts, and also totally awesome.  I can't get enough of this madness; it's the closest anyone has come to recreating Kirby, and it comes from understanding that you can't just keep trotting out the New Gods or the Fantastic Four and running them through the same old adventures; you've got to push the limits, explore new frontiers, come up with your own exciting ideas.  That's exactly what Casey and Scioli are doing here, and it's glorious to behold.  I wish it would never end.
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Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, volume 2
By Koji Kumeta

The second volume of a manga series is often the place where the series really gels, and that seems to be the case here.  The first book was mostly focused on introducing the cast, including the ostensible main character, a suicidal teacher who exudes despair and hopelessness, trying to convince everyone he meets of the pointlessness of life.  The focus often turns to his wacky students though, who include his opposite number, a girl who is so optimistic that she can find a bright side to everything, as well as an ultra-precise neat freak, a shut-in, a boyfriend-obsessed stalker, a panty-flashing immigrant who threatens to sue everyone for sexual harassment, a refugee who barely speaks Japanese, and a girl who tries to stand out, but ends up being completely ordinary.  Having spent the first volume introducing all these goofballs, mangaka Koji Kumeta, who is apparently well-known as a satirist, can now just have goofy stuff happen and see how everyone reacts.  Sometimes a theme is established early on, like when Zetsubou-Sensei refuses to list grades on students' report cards, since life is better when you're ignorant of bad news, or when the Tanabata Festival, in which people write down wishes and hang them from trees, sees everyone sharing their wishes (and culminating in the teacher hanging himself from a tree).  This lets Kumeta riff on a theme, throwing out jokes left and right, having each character do something goofy that fits their personality, and always filling at least one panel with a list of examples of whatever the topic of the day is, usually making obscure references to Japanese culture that have to be explained in the footnotes.  Other times, something bizarre happens, making for a bunch of strange jokes, like a chapter in which a character claiming to be Admiral Matthew Perry (who forcibly opened Japan up to trade with the United States in 1854) shows up and goes around opening everything he sees, including a boy's zipper, the school's pool, and (in a failed attempt) Zetsubou-Sensei's heart.  Another story sees everyone travel back to the teacher's hometown, where his family apparently has an arranged-marriage custom in which anyone who looks into someone else's eyes has to marry them, which leads to all sorts of hijinx.  It's a totally ridiculous comic, but it's frequently really funny, even in the comedy that actually translates.  And that's a qualifier that must be made, since so many of the jokes are based on obscurities of Japanese language and culture, or pop culture and events that nobody on this side of the Pacific knows much about.  The extensive translator's notes do their best to explain things, but even with that resource, one gets the feeling that a lot of material is going right over their head.  But that's okay, since it just seems surreal and strange, and what does work, like the running jokes about things like a line of stalkers or a balding student that everyone ignores, is often laugh-out-loud funny.  It's that brand of odd, deadpan Japanese humor that you see in four-panel strips and the like, mixed with the loud proclamations and elaborate setups of other manga, ending up being a delightfully quirky collection of goofiness that makes just enough sense to be enjoyable. 
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Batwoman: Elegy
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by J.H. Williams III

I'm just about the last person on the internet to say this, but this is a pretty damn good comic.  If more superhero books were like this one, the genre wouldn't be a tiresome slog of soap opera plot developments and gratuitous violence.  This is a pretty simple deal about a crime fighter who stops a city-threatening scheme while balancing a private life and discovering a connection to a villain, while making some nods to a larger continuity that seems interesting enough to seek out more information or ignore as suits your purposes.  There's also an origin flashback and hints toward future plots that may or may not get around to happening, but that doesn't matter, because as an introduction to the character, this collected version works really well, telling a rousing story and quickly and memorably defining the characters.  It's really solid storytelling, although I must say that my favorite moment is when a fight between Batwoman and her arch-nemesis, a crazy lady who only speaks in quotes from Alice in Wonderland, is interrupted by a bunch of beast-men that just come rampaging through and start tearing into everybody.  It ends up being explained, but when it happens, it's a crazy "what the fuck?" moment, the kind of thing that can only happen in superhero comics.

But of course, the thing to talk about here is the art, by best-of-his-generation artist J.H. Williams III.  Without him, this would be an above-average exercise in Batman emulation, but he raises it to the level of the sublime, giving people realistic human motions and expressions and filling pages with dazzling layouts that propel the action excitingly across the page while highlighting the heightened-reality nature of superheroics with an art deco flair.  The great thing about it is that he does all this, encapsulating small actions in lightning-bolt-shaped panels, tilting frames and enclosing them in bat-themed shapes, turning panel borders into curlicued swirls of psychedelia when Batwoman is dosed with a hallucinogen, while still making all the action and movement perfectly clear.  During the flashback/origin story, he manages to transform his art into an imitation of David Mazzuchielli's work on Batman: Year One, but as the story progresses toward the present, it subtly metamorphoses into Williams' style, with a bit of Tim Sale or Sean Phillips.  It's pretty gorgeous work, worth all the acclaim it's received.  If the story ever gets finished, I'll try to read it as well, which is more than I can say for most Batman-related nonsense.
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Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love
Written by Chris Roberson
Art by Shawn McManus

The Fables franchise must be a tough one to get right, since what seems like a fairly easy story to handle (Cinderella as a spy, working with Aladdin to uncover a magical threat to the "mundane" world) comes off as fairly rote here, with little in the way of suspense or surprise, no real action to write home about, and some especially tiresome attempts to smoosh together fairy tale stuff with the real world.  Maybe it's the first-person narration, which constantly hangs over the proceedings, working in as many fairy tale references as possible, without much wit or humor.  It could be the fast-moving plot, which never sits still long enough to gather any sense of import, or the occasional shoehorning of a dumb moral into things.  The tiresome subplot about Cinderella's shoe-store employee screwing things up by selling magical shoes (like the ones from that fairy tale, you know, the one with the shoes that never stopped dancing) certainly doesn't help.  Whatever the case, writer Chris Roberson just doesn't have the feel for the Fables world that Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges do, as if he's managing to take things both too seriously and not seriously enough.  Artist Shawn McManus does his best to make it work though, turning his style into a reasonable facsimile of Mark Buckingham's distinctive work on the main Fables title, with some nice, thick lines, big expressions, and nicely anthropomorphic animals and monsters.  If it wasn't for him, this would probably be eminently skippable, but as it is, it's worth a look for Fables completists, but far, far from essential.

This week, I get a slight break, maybe

Elsewhere: I've got a review of Incarnate #1 up at Comics Bulletin. If you're wondering what that is, see below.

Missed it: This got lost in the SDCC shuffle for me, since I wasn't paying very close attention, but apparently Gerard Way and Becky Cloonan are doing a comic called Killjoys. Way talks about it here. I hope this is good, but since Umbrella Academy is pretty awesome, and I always love Cloonan's art, I expect it will be.

Mini-review: Ed Brubaker's Angel of Death is a pretty enjoyable little action movie, starring Zoe Bell as an assassin who sort of gets a conscience after receiving a grievous head injury (that's a pretty simplistic description). There's some nice fight scenes, and Bell is quite good, but the highlight is probably Brubaker's complex script that sees Bell's character getting tangled up with an extensive mafia hierarchy. Pretty cool, although it ends with a cliffhanger that sets up a sequel, which is good in an open-ended way but annoying in that it doesn't really seem like an ending. It was originally serialized online, but I don't think it's available anymore (here's the site, in case somebody wants to prove me wrong); now it's out on DVD. Check it out.

The last few weeks have been crazy, so this might be a Wednesday to slow down a tiny bit, or something. Of course, next weekend sees the Wizard Chicago Comicon, so that's going to keep me busy again (and have me spending money). Oy.

New comics this week (Wednesday, 8/5/09):

Absolution #1

Ah, Avatar. They used to be the transgressive comics company, telling stories with sex and gore that was so, so shocking (not really). Now, DC and Marvel are both equaling them in levels of nastiness, so what is Avatar supposed to do to compete? Tell a violent superhero story, of course? Since you can't find that anywhere else or anything. Christos N. Gage writes this one, which seems to be about a superhero who decides to get violent and murder criminals rather than arrest them. Wow, innovative. Hey, how many comics with a similar premise can we name? I'll kick it off with Black Summer and the obvious choice of the Punisher.

Agents of Atlas #9

Another issue of Jeff Parker's awesomeness, as the team confronts Jimmy Woo's ex, who is now also a rival to the throne of his empire. Art this time around is by Dan Panosian, who, from what I've seen, draws some kind of odd faces, but comes up with plenty of cool imagery. Man, I hope this book doesn't get cancelled.

All Winners Comics #1

Marvel's latest 70th anniversary thing, with a story by Karl Kesel and Steve Uy about all the golden age heroes teaming up, presumably to fight Hitler. Maybe fun? I dunno, these specials might be running out of steam.

Big Questions #12

Anders Nilsen's latest issue of his series that's apparently about birds exploring a plane wreck? I'm not sure, I haven't read any of it. Not that I don't want to, but at this point, I think I can wait for a collected version. I hope it doesn't take too long though, because I really want to read this.

Boys #33

Damn, I still gotta read that last trade. I think people are dying and shit in this current arc? I'm behind.

Chew #3

This book seems like the one that people are talking about, and from what I've seen, it looks really nice and is pretty fun. Seems like it's another one to catch up on at some point.

Dark Reign Zodiac #2

Oh man, here's probably the best thing to come out of Marvel's big event of the moment, with a totally balls-out nasty violent bit of nihilism from Joe Casey and Nathan Fox. Kick ass (and yes, it's much better than Kick-Ass).

Dead Run #3

Has anybody been following this zombie post-apocolypse thing from Boom!? I should give it a read and see what it's all about.

Destroyer #5

The gross Robert Kirkman Marvel MAX thing comes to a close, and it's enjoyable enough, but the series hit a high point around #3 and has kind of dropped off since then. It's still all right though; I should have a review up tomorrow at Comics Bulletin.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? #2

More Philip K. Dick text with pictures. I'm still not convinced it's better than just reading the book, but whatever.

Doom Patrol #1

DC is trying once again to relaunch this series, and who knows if it will work this time around (my money is on "probably not"). There's a decent creative team on board though, with Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire. Wait, those guys are only doing the Metal Men backup feature! Well, that should be a good read, at least. On the main book, we've got Giffen and Matthew Clark, whoever he is. Maybe it will still be all right?

Ghost Riders Heaven's on Fire #1

I'm not sure what's going on here; I guess this kicks off Jason Aaron's last story arc on Ghost Rider? But they're relaunching it as a miniseries? I dunno. I still haven't read the damn book, but I always hear that it's great. Maybe this will be worth a shot. More than one flaming motorcycle dude, big demon battles or something, Roland Boschi on art; yeah, it could be all right.

Greek Street #2

Some people (like that asshole Tucker Stone) thought that the first issue of this Vertigo book was terrible and pretentious, but I read it and actually kind of liked it. Maybe I'm an easily-amused semi-intellectual who likes to play "Spot the Reference" (that explains why I like Fables, I guess), but it was interesting and bizarre, and I'm usually willing to give Peter Milligan the benefit of the doubt. I'll still wait for the trade though.

House of Mystery #16

More Vertigo stuff; like other books, I need to read the previous volume, dammit. I have no idea what's going on in this storyline, but Richard Corben draws this issue's guest story, so I'm all over it (when it gets collected).

Incarnate #1

I wouldn't normally bother to mention this sort of thing (unless I thought of a dumb joke or something), but I'm reviewing it for Comics Bulletin. It's one of those celebrity books, by Gene Simons' son Nick, and it's about immortal demon-gods preying on humanity in a manga style. Dumb? Kinda. You can read my thing for more; the link's up at the top of the post.

Invincible Iron Man #16

Matt Fraction keeps detailing Tony Stark's descent into drooling idiocy, and Salvador Larocca keeps tracing photos. I actually don't mind this book as of late.

Jersey Gods #6

This is another one that I need to catch up on; I considered buying the first trade last week, but decided I was spending too much already and had too damn many books sitting next to my bed unread. I'll try to get to it at some point though, since I do like what I saw of the Kirby-esque cosmic action. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Luke Cage Noir #1

I haven't been following the Marvel noir comics at all, since I find the whole exercise to be kind of dumb, but this one might be worth a look in case it can manage to capture a Devil in a Blue Dress feel or something. Probably not very likely, but you never know when you might be surprised.

Tyrese Gibsons Mayhem #1 (of 3)

Oh lord, why would I bother to mention this. Celebrities, dabbling in comics! Annoying! I guess it's just to link to Brian Hibbs' recent column about dealing with Gibson and promoting the book, which I found quite interesting. The comic itself seems dumb though, just a generic vigilante superhero thing. Avoid, says I!

Wednesday Comics #5

Hey, I realized the one serial from this that I didn't mention last week: Sergeant Rock! What was I thinking? That one's been cool, mostly due to Joe Kubert's art. It'll be funny if it's just Rock getting the hell beat out of him for the entire series, and then getting rescued in the last installment. So yeah, this series is a fun read; I'm thinking my favorite is Kamandi, with the absolutely beautiful artwork. Strange Adventures is also damn good, as is Hawkman. I can probably just copy and paste those last two sentences each week for the rest of the run.

Witchfinder In the Service of Angels #2

Tucker seemed to hate this one too, so I bet I would like it. Mike Mignola writes another Hellboy-verse thing, and it's probably spooky and cool. I'll watch for the collection.

8-9-3 GN

This Xeric Grant-winning graphic novel by Jack Hsu is about a Yakuza assassin having action-packed adventures, and it looks like it could be pretty cool. He says he's influenced by stuff like Crying Freeman and John Woo movies in this interview (which also has some preview art), and that's not bad company to aspire to. Yeah, I could check it out.

Abstract Comics Anthology HC

Fantagraphics' newest anthology is a collection of, well, read the title. I saw the book at MoCCA, and it looked pretty nice, which was actually contrary to my expectations. It's definitely more of an art piece, but you can't really expect anything else, I guess. Still, it's fascinating to see what you can do with comics when you're dealing with non-representational, non-narrative imagery, stretching the limits of the medium. Give it a look, artsy-fartsy types! You can download an excerpt at Fanta's site.

Agents of Atlas Prem HC Dark Reign

I mentioned this series above, so now I'll pimp it again: this collects the first story arc, and it's really good comics. Read it! Except I would wait for a paperback version, since the hardcover really isn't all that necessary. But that's just me.

Complete Jack Survives HC

Buenaventura Press is releasing this collection of Jerry Moriarty's classic strip from Raw. It was apparently an attempt to connect with his father and write about the latter's life, and it's received quite a bit of acclaim. Chris Ware writes the introduction to this volume. Seems like one of those "important" reprints that everyone should read; I imagine I'll glance at it in a year or two.

Death of the New Gods TPB

So, by all accounts, this was pretty fucking awful. I think it was supposed to be a sort of prequel to Grant Morrison's Final Crisis, but if anything, it served to make people leery of anything having to do with the New Gods. Did anybody read it? Can anybody tell me what actually happened? I think I glanced at an issue or two out of curiosity, and it seemed to have nothing to do with Final Crisis; the Infinity Man was killing Metron or something, and I guess the Source had taken on a body and was killing other people, and it didn't make any sense, and Superman was crying. Wow, it's total train wreck awfulness. So yeah, don't buy it, but if somebody wants to tell me all about it, feel free.

Edgar Allan Poe's Tales Of Death And Dementia TP

Simon & Schuster are putting out this kid-targeted adaptation of some of Poe's stories by Chris Grimly. I don't know how well Poe works in comics form, but this could still be kind of cool.

Warren Ellis' Frankenstein's Womb GN

The latest graphic novel in Warren Ellis' Apparat sub-imprint, this seems to be a bit of historical fiction about Mary Shelley traveling to Frankenstein's castle and getting the inspiration for her famous novel. I've really dug the other books of this sort that Ellis wrote, so this should be another good one, I expect. Art is by Marek Oleksicki; Avatar always seems to get those foreign guys to draw their books, don't they?

Gigantic Robot HC

Also from Buenaventura, this new Tom Gauld book looks pretty amazing, as anyone who has seen any of his art would expect. I guess it was on display at MoCCA, but I missed it. It's kind of expensive, being only 32 pages for $17, but it's really large with board book pages and features some stunning artwork, so maybe it's worth it. You can see some preview pages here.

Gwaii SC

Arcana is publishing this kiddie comic about a young sasquatch having adventures or something. Looks like it could be kinda cute. Maybe.

Irredeemable Vol 1 TP

Hey, this is another example of those violent superhero books I was talking about above. Being Mark Waid's over-hyped series about (basically) Superman going evil, it got a bit of flack when the first issue debuted, but it's turned out to be a decent story about people not being sure what to do when the most powerful superhero on earth decides to just randomly start killing people and shit. Sometimes effective and scary, other times kind of dumb, but not terrible or anything. So here's the first volume if you want to get on board.

Locas HC Vol 2

Oh man, it's another huge collection of Jaime Hernandez's amazing stories from Love and Rockets. I'm not sure if this collects the entire second volume's worth of work or not, but it does include Ghost of Hoppers and The Education of Hopey Glass. I'm torn as to whether I should get this or wait for the softcover collections that will surely follow, but I do definitely plan to own these stories in some form or another. Greatness. Here's where you can download an excerpt, if you need persuasion.

Magic Pickle And The Garden Of Evil TP

More kids' comics. Scott Morse has this new volume in his goofy series; I haven't read any of it, but I've heard that it's tons of fun. I'll have to check it out sometime.

Metal Men TPB

This is the softcover collection of the Duncan Rouleau written-and-drawn miniseries from a year or two ago. I was interested in it at the time, but I never did get around to reading it. Maybe this is my chance, but since I've kind of lost the will, I might look for it at the library or something rather than buy it. Take that, DC!

MMW Golden Age Young Allies HC Vol 1

Do people buy these pricey collections of old Marvel comics? I am kind of interested in reading some of the golden age stuff, but there's no way I'll spend a ton for these sorts of things. Might be fun reading though. There's a recommendation for you.

Pax Romana Volume 1 TPB

Jonathan Hickman! I really liked this series about dudes going back in time and fucking around with the Roman Empire. It's the kind of thing that I hope Hickman can still find time to do now that he's doing a lot of work for Marvel. The "volume 1" indicates a follow-up; make it happen, Hickman!

Rose GN Graphix Ed

Didn't this come out last week? Did I even mention it? Eh, just in case, it's a sort of prequel to Bone written by Jeff Smith and illustrated by Charles Vess. It's pretty decent fantasy stuff, and it's also quite easy on the eyes. Not really necessary to the whole saga or anything though.

Spider-Man And The Human Torch HC

This is a fancy, overpriced collection of the miniseries that Dan Slott and Ty Templeton did a few years ago exploring the history of the two title characters. It's pretty good reading though, making for a fun look at their relationship and even being kind of touching at the end. Hmm, that sounds lame. Fine, don't buy it then.

Transmetropolitan Vol. 3 New Print TPB

The next volume of the current version of this series' collections, this one contains issues 13-18, the "Year of the Bastard" storyline. I thought these were going to be expanded or something, combining two volumes into one, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I like this comic, but I haven't read all of it. I need to do so.

When We Fall GN

Wow, this looks like it could be incredibly, obnoxiously precious, but maybe also compelling and emotional? It's by somebody who calls himself "Mr. Clement", and it's about a rabbit who "travels through time to collect a spaceship filled with cookie crumbs of broken relationships". Yikes. It does look nice though, so maybe the "cute shit all about feelings" style won't drag it down. Or maybe I'm a cranky old bastard who has no room for emotions in his black heart, and this is actually a wrenching masterpiece or something. Take your pick.

Young Lovecraft GN

This is the first print volume of a Spanish webcomic about, obviously, a young H.P. Lovecraft and his humorous adventures. Sounds interesting, but if the sample given on the English translation of the website is any indication, it's not all that different from the usual American webcomics that are quippy and fairly dumb. Maybe it gets better?

Tezuka's Black Jack Vol 6 TP

Man, I'm behind on this series as well, and I love me some Tezuka. Awesome surgery and crazy shit; this series rocks. I'll have to try to catch up soon.

Shonen Jump Vol 7 #9 September 2009

And finally, it's the latest issue of the boys' manga, with lots of speed lines and sometimes-comprehensible action. I've read this one, and I might write about it if I get around to it in between all my Kirby obsessions and whatnot. I miss Shojo Beat.

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That appearst to be the extent of interesting releases, from where I'm sitting. Not much for me to buy, which is nice. I'm sure there will be more to come soon though.

MoCCA 2009: Sketchy Sketchy

More MoCCA content tomorrow, I hope, but for now, here are the various sketches I got from creators, either in books when they signed them, or in my Groo sketchbook, shared because I love that sort of thing.

First up: Jason! I was surprised and excited when he said he knew of the blog, since for some reason, he was not somebody I expected to know of my existence. His new book, Low Moon, was on sale, but I decided not to buy it, figuring I can easily pick it up elsewhere and focus on buying the more obscure stuff. So instead, I had my copy of Meow, Baby! on hand, having brought it to read on the plane (and blazed through it, because it's hilarious), and he signed it and did a quick sketch:

One of the big debuts of the show was the second volume of Kazimir Strzepek's The Mourning Star, but I had yet to pick up the first one, so it looks like part two will have to wait until later. But I did buy part one, and here's Kaz's dedication:

I was also quite excited to finally get my hands on Tom Neely's The Blot, a self-published book that you had to order directly from the artist (or shop at a store that does so). I'm really excited to read it, and here's Neely's dedication, drawn around the ink blot that's printed on the page:

I've been hearing about Lamar Abrams' Remake, and Adhouse was nice enough to comp me a review copy. Luckily, Abrams was right there, so he signed it and drew a cute depiction of the main character:

Adhouse also gave me a copy of Mike Dawson's Ace-Face, and after I talked to Dawson and expressed affection for his two superpowered kid characters (who are in the book, it turns out), he drew this sketch when he signed it:

Finally (as far as books featuring signatures and sketches go), I made sure to get the second and third volumes of Templar, Arizona, since I liked volume one so much. Spike drew some cute sketches inside, with volume two sporting a cuttlefish:

And volume 3 featuring a dragon who is kind of jowly, and maybe also hung over:

And that's it for book inscriptions, but now comes the really cool part. The Groo sketchbook! I got a bunch of good entries last year at Wizard World Chicago, and this was my chance to get even more. First up: Paul Hornschemeier gets all modern art with what might be my new favorite entry:

Tom Neely goes all gory:

Kazimir Strzepek contributes the first Rufferto (but not the last!):

Becky Cloonan tries to dilute the testosterone with a female character (I'm happy to have more of the supporting cast):

Fred Chao goes for the cute (and throws in another Rufferto!):

Jamie Tanner gets meticulous (it was really cool to watch him draw all those little lines):

Matt Weigle gives us some bodily emissions:

Connor Willumsen goes for the slapstick:

Nate Powell does anger:

Scott Campbell also does cute, but throws in some dismemberment:

And one more bit of cuteness, from Lucy Knisley:

God, I love these. Thanks so much to everybody who contributed. You guys are all awesome.

MoCCA 2009: I want to take comics behind the middle school and get it pregnant

I feel vitalized; my faith in comics is greater than it has ever been. Not that I was worried about the future of the medium or anything, since I don’t think anything short of worldwide apocalypse will wipe it out, but there’s nothing like being in huge room surrounded by more talent than the mind can fully comprehend to shore up one’s faith. And spending time with others that are as excited about comics as I am only increases the feeling. It’s pure sequential art euphoria.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. To fully explain: this past weekend saw the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art Festival held in New York City, and I was fortunate enough to make the trip from Chicago to be there. Held in the Lexington Avenue Armory, the show was a huge room packed with comics goodness, hundreds of cartoonists and publishers showing off their art. It was an amazing sight, and even more astonishing upon browsing the tables and seeing how high the level of quality is at a show like this. Having been to Wizard World Chicago the last two years, I’ve seen the kind of talent that congregates around the world of superheroes. Sure, there are some good artists there, but they’re diamonds in the rough; most of the space is taken by poor-to-mediocre drawings of Batman and Wolverine or hideous posters of scantily-clad superheroines. And that’s just in “artists’ alley”; don’t even get me started on the idiocy of the rest of the show floor. But MoCCA is different; it’s like the very best of the indie stuff has separated itself into its own organism, then multiplied to fill an equivalent space with greatness. I couldn’t get enough of it.

And that's good, because there was more there than I had time or energy for. I saw and talked to many creators, but missed a bunch more. It's hard to know where to start talking about it, but from a starting point, here's the pile of stuff I came home with:

I'll be talking about a lot of that stuff over the next few days or weeks, but I do want to point out a couple items of interest. The poster/brochure in the upper right is a Kevin Huizenga strip promoting the Center for Cartoon Studies, which is doing the hard work of training the next generation of cartoonists; they're pretty awesome.

Just to the left of that is a free handout from the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring an amazing fold-out poster (which you can see here) by John Kerschbaum that is packed full of detail and seeming to reproduce the entire contents of the museum. It's pretty incredible, and Kerschbaum suggests that you should go to the Met's site and email them to request that they sell it as a print in their gift shop. I've done so already.

Also, note the flyer for Transmission X, a great webcomics site that features work by creators like Cameron Stewart, Karl Kerschl, Michael Cho, Ramon Perez, and others. Give it a look; it's free!

Other people that I saw or talked to, mentioned as they occur to me:

John Meijas and the Paping people were pretty interesting. I probably would have spoken to Meijas more if I had realized he was the guy who did "The Teachers Edition", which I wrote about when I reviewed The Best American Comics 2008. Their anthologies are pretty awesome though, including the volume that is handmade with wood covers and bound with shoelace:

I ended up talking to Matt Weigle the most out of the group, and also Shawn Cheng (who also had a story in Best American).

I saw Becky Cloonan and Brian Wood at the Vertigo booth and got to look at the first issue of their upcoming second volume of Demo (which comes out in the fall), which I'm pretty excited about. Cloonan also has the collected Pixu book (which she worked on with Vasilis Lolos, Fabio Moon, and Gabriel Ba) coming out this fall from Dark Horse, and the preview copy of that volume she had looked great. And don't forget about her webcomic, KGB, which I mentioned yesterday!

Kevin Church and Benjamin Birdie were fun to talk to, and they had copies of their new collection of their webcomic The Rack. That's a great strip, and hopefully they'll have the book available to purchase online soon (if they do already and I missed it, sorry). you can purchase the book online here.

I was happy to meet Connor Willumsen, whom I happened across online a couple years ago and got excited about. I'm glad to report that he has only gotten better, as you can see from the art samples he posts on his blog. He had some pages from a graphic novel that he's working on (tentatively titled Everett) that were just mindblowingly good. If there's any justice in the world, this kid will be the next big thing.

That's the great thing about these conventions; stumbling on some undiscovered talent. Joshua Ray Stephens is another guy that I met, and I really regret not purchasing his book The Moth or the Flame; it looks incredible. Hopefully, I'll be able to remedy that mistake in the future.

I was also happy to meet Dean Haspiel and see his enthusiasm for the stuff going on at Act-I-Vate, especially their print anthology that's coming out this fall. They had a preview copy of the book, and it looks gorgeous, full of great work by the talents that are constantly making new comics available at the site.

And speaking of previews, Fantagraphics had a copy of their upcoming Abstract Comics, and that book also looks incredible. I'll have to seek it out when it comes out; here's an article all about it if you want to know more.

I met and talked to plenty of other people, including Kate Beaton, Kazimir Strzepek, Tom Neely, Matt Kindt, Evan Dorkin, Lucy Knisley, Fred Van Lente, Miriam Libicki, Jason, Frank Santoro, Spike, Paul Hornschemeier, Charles Hatfield, Lamar Abrams, Fred Chao, Jamie Tanner, Mike Dawson, Nate Powell, Leigh Walton, Scott Campbell, Bob Fingerman, Laura Hudson, Cameron Stewart, Mike Baehr, Hope Larson, and Hellen Jo. Whew!

And I also missed meeting a bunch of people who were there, like Ryan Dunlavey, Lilli Carre, Jog, Sean T. Collins, Kiel Phegley, Tim Callahan, Geoff Grogan (although I did buy his book Look Out! Monsters), Brian Ralph (I wanted to buy Daybreak, but ran out of money), Michael Kupperman, Adrian Tomine, Seth, and Gabrielle Bell.

I do want to give a shout out to fellow blogger Sandy Bilius; he and I met up, browsed through a bunch of tables, and attended a panel together, and I'm pleased to report that he's a great guy, not at all stunted by any affection for Rob Liefeld.

And I also want to send enormous thanks to my generous hosts Tucker and Nina Stone, who let me crash on their couch and shepherded me around the big city; I would probably have been in way over my head without them. It was wonderful getting to spend a buch of time with online friends and finding out that they're cool and fun in real life as well.

Like I said above, it was an incredible weekend, and I don't think I could have had a better time. This is what comics conventions should be all about. I should have more posts up within the next few days, including reviews of stuff that I picked up and possibly coverage of the panels I attended. So keep reading!

Edit: I've posted photos here; don't miss the ones of Tucker bringing the karaoke house down with "Smells Like Teen Spirit".