Love and Rockets: Can I request more "movies"?

Love and Rockets: New Stories #7
By Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez
Published by Fantagraphics



This latest volume of the Hernandez Brothers' always-ongoing series sees an interesting confluence of interests, in that it sees both brothers present comics versions of B-movies that exist within the world of their stories. This isn't anything new for Gilbert, who has been alternating between the ongoing adventures of his long-running characters and the weird movies they make for years, but it's interesting to see Jaime take the same tack. And while he's not new to sci-fi/superhero stories, this one is striking, since he seems to be competing with Gilbert in the weird, disturbing department. While Gilbert's readers are used to stuff like this (from elsewhere within this issue):



Seeing something like this from Jaime is kind of off-putting:



It's still pretty compelling though, with the "movie" (which Maggie and Hopey watch in a theater, although at first I thought it might have been one of the comics that Tonta's teenage friends were making, with the character based on Angel) following a disgraced space princess who is exiled to the "asteroid of sorrows" for the crimes she has committed, but once she gets there, she learns that consuming the blood of the creatures who dwell there gives her superpowers, and thus a means to revenge. It's dark, fascinating stuff, taking Jaime's penchant for depicting shapely women with a punk attitude and going in a fully nihilistic direction with it, making a scorned woman a terrible force of nature to be reckoned with.

That may have been the highlight of this year's installment for me, but the story around it, involving Maggie and Hopey meeting up to go to a reunion of their old gang in Hoppers is also very good, with the two of them reconnecting, pondering their relationships with each other and their individual significant others, and wondering if they made a mistake by not staying together. I expect we'll see more of this next year, and I can't wait.

As for Gilbert, well, I'm still enjoying the glimpses he gives of the movies that Fritz and Killer star in more than the characters' offscreen adventures, although one story called "Daughters and Mothers and Daughters" was quite good. It starts with Fritz as a baby, and it follows her, her mother, and her other relatives throughout the years, showing how choices and mistakes made echo through the generations. It's got a nice gravitas (even with glimpses of movies starring a ridiculous comedian named Ping Pong), and it offers some interesting insights into the characters' lives. The other "behind the scenes" stories throughout the volume aren't as good, but as we see how more and more of Fritz's imitators and doubles pop up, it's interesting to see how she becomes distanced from people, including what might possibly be her daughter. There's some compelling stuff to be had here, but I'm still not really feeling whatever Gilbert is going for here, whether it's meant to be Hollywood satire or just soap-opera-style drama.



The B-movies that he shows us though, that I'm into. The longest one here is "The Magic Voyage of Aladdin", and it sees a kid playing the title part, but the most meaty roles going to Fritz and a couple of other similarly-proportioned ladies who play Morgana Le Fey, Circe, and a captured damsel, all of whom have magical powers of some sort, with everyone getting into sometimes-violent battles and all sorts of other nonsense. It's pretty goofy, but it's lots of fun, and it's the kind of thing I look forward to in Gilbert's stories in each new installment.

So, who knows what to expect for next year, but I bet it will be good. For now, we can marvel at the quiet beauty of lovely scenes like this:

Love and Rockets: How is it possible that Jaime keeps getting better?

Love and Rockets: New Stories #4
By Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez
Published by Fantagraphics

There's one beautiful, affecting page in the Jaime half of this latest issue/volume of Love and Rockets, seeing a morbidly obese woman reflecting on her marriage as her husband returns home, recalling the ups and downs of their relationship and how he fell out of love with him and then back in, all without letting him know about her inner emotional turmoil. It's absolutely lovely, and even tear-jerking, contrasting a person's silent, impenetrable exterior with the multitudes contained within and suggesting a fascinating life story briefly glimpsed in single panels, as if we're peeking through windows and guessing at everything that is going on. What's even more incredible is that this is the first page of the book, a tossed-off aside to Jaime's main story, showing the full extent of the world that exists all around the main characters. That's the level of skill he's working with here, and it's an excellent indicator of what is to come in the rest of "The Love Bunglers", which concludes here to powerful, resonant affect.

The finale of the story Jaime has been telling over the past couple of annual issues is a moment of bravura comics storytelling, but the buildup to it in the opening portions of this issue is pretty great a well, the kind of "hangout" comics that he has been doing for years (decades, really). We see the characters living their lives, with Maggie planning to open a garage, Ray pledging to provide the venture's startup money as an excuse to get close to her, Angel having some romantic escapades before leaving for college, and other characters orbiting around the edges of the story, all portrayed in a lively manner that makes their down-to-earth activities enjoyable and attention-grabbing, offering readers an experience akin to spending time with friends. It's what one expects to see when reading Love and Rockets, and Jaime has been doing it so consistently for so long that his excellence has become expected, the deft characterization and art that captures the movements and rhythms of life with just a touch of cartoony exaggeration transformed into a ho-hum normalcy. It's the curse of familiarity, but luckily, the greatness is still there when you stop to look at it. My favorite aspect is the flourishes of expressive body language that the characters display, like Maggie changing her clothes while making a phone call:

Or Angel bending over to plant a kiss on the object of her affection:



There's a flashback chapter similar to last year's "Browntown" story, although not nearly as devastating, in which a friend of Maggie's relates what happened when the Chascarillos returned to Hoppers after the events of that story, with her uncomprehendingly trying to pick up her friendship with Maggie where they left off without understanding the cause of the emotional turmoil Maggie and her family are going through. It's as nicely done as everything else, every image narrated in a believably pre-teen voice, concerned with the affairs of adolescents, puttering along with a nice, amiable rhythm before receiving its own abruptly tragic ending. It's very effective in what it does, quickly establishing its characters at a specific point in their lives and illuminating another heretofore-unknown area of Maggie's past.

Ah, but as nice as these stories are, they all seem to be prelude to the dazzlingly virtuosic end of this chapter in the Locas saga, which breaks format from the usual straightforward storytelling to engage in some formal play before taking some jarring jumps forward in time to see Maggie and Ray's relationship play out over several years. It starts with a scene in which Maggie and Ray separately realize they need to be together, with a page of mirrored panels that sees them rushing toward a middle ground. The imagery indicates that they are already most of the way there, their surroundings continuing off the panels as if their worlds are already blending together, the characters themselves steadily moving closer and closer together, until Ray is pulled off course in the last panel with what turns out to be a devastating distraction:

This is then followed up by a two-page spread that sees a number of individual moments from throughout the characters' lives (and also throughout the course of the series; see here for annotations), each panel offering one character's view of the other, with the corresponding reverse view situated on the opposite side of the spread. It's a beautifully moving collection of memories, a lifetime of shared moments piling together and forming a sort of jigsaw puzzle image, or at least a portion of a whole that still seems to fit together seamlessly. And then Jaime plunges forward with abandon into the future, giving readers short glimpses of everything that transpires in the characters' relationship, but still making each moment satisfying and heartfelt. It's a leap headfirst into what seems at first to be a sad life apart before Maggie and Ray inevitably fall back into each other's orbit, capping things off with an ending of sorts, as least for now. This could signal an end to the current era of Locas stories, but these characters are less figures of Jaime's imagination than real people alive in the minds of readers everywhere at this point, and even if another story featuring them never appears, we can rest assured that they will continue to live on, somewhere, sometime.

Oh yes, there are also some stories by Gilbert in this volume, but compared to the excellence on display in Jaime's milieu, they're pretty negligible. Killer and Fritz co-star in a vampire movie that's all about youthful attitudes toward the future or peer pressure or something, and then Fritz meets with a male friend (ex-lover?) for an afternoon of conversation that is pointedly, purposefully meaningless, dancing around any subject of substance and sticking to philosophical absurdities, refusing any questioning of themselves or each other, perhaps as an attempt to enjoy each other's company without getting too involved. Both stories are nice enough, the vampire thing being a decent example of the recurring "B-movies" that Gilbert has been returning to in recent years, and the conversation scene having a nicely playful air, but it all ends up being pretty lightweight in comparison to the fantastic artwork and storytelling on display in the other half of the volume. Hopefully some brotherly competition will spur Gilbert to take things up to another level, because as of 2011, Jaime is handily winning the "Best Hernandez" competition.

Love and Rockets: Soaring ever-upward into the pantheon

Love and Rockets: New Stories #3

By Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez

The Hernandez brothers have been making excellent comics for so long that another installment of their long-running series might seem unremarkable, but the current format, which sees 100-page "issues" released annually, makes each release notable, a little book of good material.  And this one is really damn good, with a typically surreal and horrifying story from Gilbert and an excellent bit of character work from Jaime.  Isn't it awesome that stuff on this level is what we've come to expect?

Gilbert first:  I gotta say, the more I see of the current run of "Teenage Killer" stories, the less interest I have in the character.  Her story in this issue is the low point, and while it has some interest, mainly in the abrupt scene shifts and what might be some meta-commentary, it doesn't seem to go anywhere, much like Gilbert's story in last year's issue.  I am interested in that meta aspect, which sees a young actress complaining about only being able to follow in her great aunt Fritz's footsteps, telling the same stories over and over; is Gilbert tired of following his group of characters, ready to break out and do something different?  He does seem to be doing his most interesting work lately in the related books like Speak of the Devil and Chance in Hell (some of which get mentioned here, along with a story from MySpace Dark Horse Presents); maybe he would be better served to just go in that direction completely?

He kind of does exactly that with his other story in this issue (although, as with the aforementioned works, it is referred to as a movie within the larger Gilbert universe), which is a sci-fi tale that sees three workers fucking around with the animal-people denizens of the land in which they are installing some sort of equipment.  It's weird, nasty stuff, with the "civilized" humans thinking little of mistreating the natives, starting out by making fun of them or manipulating them for their own amusement, and eventually escalating into horrific rape and murder.  It seems like it could be a symbolic statement about how first-world countries treat people in the third world as sub-human, or maybe a statement about animal rights, but an offhand statement by one of the characters that "Everyone's all worked up about helping the Haitian earthquake victims, but not a peep about any Chilean earthquake relief efforts" seems to point toward the former interpretation.  But whatever you want to read into it, it's a striking, horrifying story, full of the signature harsh linework, inky scribbles, and pools of black that Gilbert does so well, with the scariest details being the grinning characters who don't seem all that disturbed by their own depravities.

Jaime, on the other hand, has managed to keep his own cohesive world of characters alive for as long as the series has been running, in something close to real time.  He has two stories, here, with a "present day" tale of Maggie hanging out with old pals Reno and Ray split apart and bookending a flashback story to Maggie's youth that is pretty powerful.  It's a fascinating look at Maggie and her siblings as they lament moving away from their old neighborhood so that they can live with their father, bickering and teasing as kids are wont to do, and only barely cognizant of the troubles that are taking their toll on their parents' marriage.  It's an effective way to place readers in the point of view of the kids, painfully aware of the emotions that are going right over the characters' heads.  There's also a plot involving the abuse of Maggie's younger brother Calvin by an older boy that is horrifyingly realistic, the predator enticing the prey with the air of knowledge and worldliness that comes from being a few years older, and the pain being inflicted displayed all too openly on the younger boy's face.  It's harrowing stuff, and it comes to a boil along with everything else, eventually exploding in a way that makes Maggie's mother's reaction understandable but still just awful and sad.  

That flashback is kind of the centerpiece of this issue, although it informs the latter-day story in interesting ways, highlighting the way Jaime has managed to build such a compelling cast and let them grow and develop such that they are as real as any of the readers by this point.  Jaime's art is so casually excellent by this point that it's easy to miss his subtle touches, like the way characters move so naturally, or how he shifts the reader's view around from different angles to keep a conversation from being the same panel repeated over and over.  And the way he makes the characters age so realistically, adding width to their faces and bodies, including extra lines on faces only when necessary, is so graceful that it's hardly noticeable, but kind of mind-boggling when you realize how obvious it is that these are the same characters at different ages.  It's quiet excellence, easy to take for granted, but amazing work all the same.

Yes, it's another great issue of one of the best comics series of all time; what else is new?  Jaime and Gilbert are rightfully revered as all-time great creators, but the fact that they are still pumping out incredible work and bettering themselves, sure to keep doing it for as long as possible, should make readers celebrate their wealth and fortune.  Even if everybody else quit, we would still be pretty lucky.  Long live Love and Rockets!

Love and Rockets: One out of two ain't bad

No links? Let's get straight to the good stuff:

Love and Rockets: New Stories, volume 2

By Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez

Well, I didn't think it was possible, but Gilbert Hernandez finally lost me with his portion of this year's volume. I've stuck with him through plenty of head-scratchers like Sloth, Chance in Hell, and Speak of the Devil, and while they've all been somewhat impenetrable, they were all still compelling and interesting stories. But here, he's gone deep into abstract (although not all the way into this kind of abstract), bizarre, dreamlike territory, without much of a plot to give readers something to hang on to while being assaulted with craziness.

Gilbert actually has two stories here, although they're related. The first one, "Sad Girl", is sort of a short introduction, following a teenage girl nicknamed "Killer" who seems rather blase about everything, although she is constantly barraged with questions about her role in a movie and her breakup with her boyfriend. The former subject seems most interesting; she states that it's a remake of an old "art house" movie, with her acting in front of a green screen while wearing a coat and shoes. But the latter interrogations might be more interesting to her; while we don't see anything happen, she might just live up to her moniker.

The problem I have here is that the character is not an interesting one (I would prefer to spend time with her afro-headed brother, who actually appears to have a personality), and Gilbert's predilection for drawing his women as large-breasted and tiny-waisted as possible has turned her into a grotesque freak (although she might be related to Luba? That would explain some of the anatomical improbabilities, at least in terms of cartoon genetics). Maybe Gilbert is trying to make a point, or at least an attempt at irony, about the character having an emphasized sexuality (her clothing certainly doesn't hide much, and she even works as a belly dancer) while still being young enough to claim to be grossed out by the idea.

Anyway, it's mostly just a lead-in to the second story, "Hypnotwist", which is purported to be the movie that Killer's was based on. It's a wordless bunch of surreality, following a woman in a coat who wanders the streets of a strange city, occasionally being stalked by freakish characters and getting involved in some mad goings-on after buying some magical shoes. Not much of it makes sense, although one could have a field day trying to interpret various symbolic meanings from the events. Many strange bits seems to occur around bottles or glasses; perhaps this indicates alcoholism. Other times, the woman is confronted by freakish older versions of herself, including a homeless woman and an emaciated victim of torment from a jeering crowd of partiers. Is this what she could end up as if she falls prey to the demon drink? Some scenes indicate that she is hopeful for motherhood and family, but maybe these dreams will all be destroyed by her actions? Occasional Masonic symbols show up, accompanied by shadowy, featurless figures, as if to indicate dark forces shaping her world, and at one point, she seems to be briefly replaced by Killer's version of her character, wearing a leather, cleavage-baring version of her outfit; are her sins being passed down to the next generation? A series of scenes involving large balloons bearing happy faces indicate...well, who knows what, but they certainly lead to some striking imagery, especially a scene in which an unconscious man's head is inflated to form a balloon, and is then punctured, leaving a disgusting pile of flesh:

And that's about the only thing I really got out of this story: weird, unsettling images, and a feeling of uneasy, nightmarish dread. If somebody wants to try to explain it all, be my guest, but I suspect it's a stream-of-consciousness exercise, with Gilbert emptying his head of whatever appears within it. That's all well and good; he's entitled to make whatever kind of comics his muse urges him to. But I would certainly prefer something with more of a narrative, or at least a plot and characters that I can follow. I know he can do it, and do it really well. There's always next year.

But while Gilbert might disappoint me in this annual go-round, his brother Jaime does exactly the opposite, confirming my beliefs in the heights of his cartooning powers as he delivers the finale to a raucous, yet still quite moving, tale of female superheroes. After the first part of this story in the previous volume, some lamented that Jaime could have been one of the foremost practitioners of superhero comics if he had chosen to stay within that genre over the past few decades, and he definitely confirms that belief here, delivering moving melodrama and engaging action, even going out of his way to relate the decades-long history of the characters, which wasn't really necessary, but still shows the level of commitment he has devoted to the story; it's not just a frivolous bit of chicks beating up on each other, it's a whole world he has created, with its unique history and a large cast of intermingling characters. It's tons of fun to watch him play with his creations, and it remains internally consistent while continuing to increase the complexity of the characters' interrelations. And it even (sort of) makes sense within the long-standing "Locas" continuity, as Maggie is revealed to be here from another dimension, giving her the power to tell the future via comics and secret gifts from Santa Claus.

Yes, it's goofy and fun, but not completely frivolous; while there's plenty of frenetic, hard-hitting (yet still cartoony) action:

Jaime still makes time for nice character moments, like Boot Angel having a heart-to-heart with her mother about their family's legacy of superheroism:

Or the villainous Espectra Negra breaking down into tears as she is about to fail at her deadly mission:

Jaime has always been good at depicting women, from the way they move physically to how they interact emotionally, and he continues with that here, even in the midst of a slam-bang bunch of crazy, over-the-top action. It's as gorgeously drawn as ever, with the characters all seeming like real people, even when wearing spandex unitards and domino masks, and he manages to turn what could be a silly genre exercise into something affecting and true. That's no mean feat.

Who knows what the future holds for Love and Rockets, but next year's volume will be a hopeful light on the horizon. I would prefer if Gilbert would return to Palomar or tell some of the character-based stories that he does so well, but whatever he does, it should be fascinating to watch. Jaime, on the other hand, can do whatever he wants; I'd follow him to the gates of hell at this point. With the brothers still working at such a high level of quality after over 25 years, anything they do is worthy of attention and analysis. I don't think I'll ever tire of experiencing their work.

Love and Rockets: New Stories: I'm still way behind on the old ones

New webcomic for the sidebar:  Shrub Monkeys.  Great cartooning there, and pretty funny too.  Noticed via Scans_Daily and Journalista.

Love and Rockets: New Stories #1

Written by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez

Art by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez

The Hernandez brothers have switched their series to an annual format, and it's a nice move, since it's great to get such a big chunk of their work all at once.  And they seem to be moving in some interesting directions, especially Gilbert, as he continues to demonstrate his storytelling skill and tell creepy surreal stories along the lines of Grip, Sloth, and Chance in Hell.  

In fact, Gilbert has some fantastic stuff here, with the standout probably being "The New Adventures of Duke and Sammy", a goofy sci-fi story starring two comedians based on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.  It's a hilarious romp that sees them show up on alien planets and either massacre or dominate the natives, gaining and losing super-powers in the process.  Why?  Hey, why not?

Actually, that one is fun, but "Victory Dance" is probably the most compelling and assured, demonstrating Gilbert's knack for conveying a story that makes sense but requires some work on the reader's part.  In just six pages, one of which is wordless, we learn the backstory of a character named Julio who has recently suffered a tragedy.  But while the nature of said tragedy is never explicitly explained, it is discernable from the characters' dialogue and actions, with scenes jumping abruptly in time and space, reminiscent of Gilbert's masterpiece "Poison River".  It's wonderfully done, the kind of work that only a confident master cartoonist like Gilbert can manage.

Gilbert's other stories in the volume work mostly on a visceral, subconscious level.  "Papa" is a sort of prequel to "Victory Dance", but it's mostly unrelated, following a man as he wanders a strange landscape and ends up swelling up gruesomely after eating a poisonous-worm-infested taco:

There's also "?", which is a silent succession of surreal imagery, and "Never Say Never", which follows an anthropomorphic kangaroo who gambles in a casino and pals around with giant hot dogs.  Yeah, I don't know either.

And then there's "Chiro El Indio", which is written by Mario, the third Hernandez brother who occasionally shows up in the series.  It's a comedic tale about a moronic Indian man named Chiro and his equally dumb wife Preciosa, who both get manipulated by scheming land-grabbers working with the Catholic church.  It's pretty silly, but still enjoyable, and it features some nice, cartoony art by Gilbert:

For the other half of the book, Jaime provides an update to his long-running "Locas" universe, this time focusing on the superhero content that has lurked in the background while he was spinning realistic drama.  He seems to be interested in going wild with goofy action and crazy plots, and more power to him, because he's incredible at it.  He's always been great at dynamic storytelling and action, and that benefits this type of story well, along with his sense of humor, which keeps things lighthearted and fun.  The story involves the search for Penny Century, who has finally succeeded in her series-long quest to gain super-powers, but lost her children in the process and is on an intergalactic rampage of grief.  Maggie's friend Angel, who turns out to be a superhero named Boot Angel, teams up with several other superheroines to try to stop her.  It's pretty wild, but it's tons of fun, with lots of action, like this scene of Angel and another hero named Alarma fighting some robots:

In fact, Jaime is so good at motion and anatomy, that you can't help but stop and marvel at how well he does this sort of thing.  I love the way the bodies get realistically tangled in the second panel of the following sequence, and the flowing hair, speed lines, and other signifiers of motion are incredible to behold:

I certainly would like Jaime to get back to his other characters at some point (although I don't mind waiting, since I still haven't read volume 2 of the series), but if he wants to keep going with this superhero stuff, I don't mind, because he makes it incredibly enjoyable.

So it looks like Los Bros are still far from hitting a peak and going downhill; it's pretty astonishing that they've kept up such a consistent level of storytelling for nearly thirty years and are still going strong.  Let's hope they don't stop anytime soon.

The Best American Comics 2008: Oh boy, here we go again

Holy cow, two posts in one day?!  I haven't been this prolific for months and months!  That's assuming I actually finish this post before tomorrow...

The Best American Comics 2008

Edited by Lynda Barry

Series Editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden

For some reason, this annual volume always seems to inspire strong reactions in me (and I'm not the only one, if this infamous Beat post from last year is any judge).  I think it's the same reaction the people have to awards shows: "That [movie/song/show/comic/book/TV commercial] was all right, but I don't think it was the best of the year!  What about this other [band/play/music video] that I loved?  If you're not including it, that means you think I have bad taste!"  And so on.

But that's not really the point of this sort of thing, is it?  It seems like it's really all about spotlighting what the editors think is superior work, with the book's title being more succinct than We Think These Comics Are Pretty Good, In Our Opinion (2008 Edition).

Still, inclusion in this volume lends some respect, and it can be irksome to see a comic that doesn't seem to deserve said respect.  Thus, legions of complainers are born!  So, with that in mind, let's dive right in, shall we?

The comics stories in the book are presented in alphabetical order by the creator's name(s), so that seems like as good a method of discussing them as any.  But first, there's an introduction comic by the year's guest editor, Lynda Barry.  Myself, I've never really liked Barry's work, and this isn't really any exception.  She has some interesting personal anecdotes about experiencing comics like The Family Circus and the strips in Playboy as a child, and other ruminations on how we experience comics, but I don't think it holds together too well, and the complicated layouts are hard to read without enriching the reading experience at all.  I know people like her comics and all, but she just doesn't do anything for me.

But she's just the editor.  Let's look at the actual "best American comics of 2008" (which, it should be noted, came out between the eligibility dates of August 31, 2006 to September 1, 2007):

"Burden"

By Graham Annable

This is a good little story about a guy taking care of his brother's business after he moved away.  Or is it?  In the end, we find out that something else is going on that colors everything we've seen up to that point.  It's pretty nicely done; Graham Annable has a cartoony look that belies his background in animation; he does a great job of expressing subtle emotion without being realistically detailed.  I love this page, in which the main character visits his dad, who is distracted by a handheld video game:

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Yeah, I would say so.

War Fix (excerpt)

By David Axe and Steve Olexa

I reviewed this book back in the spring of 2007, and I thought it was quite good, a fascinating look at the pursuit of the adrenaline rush brought on by war journalism.  I was surprised that more people didn't talk about it, but maybe its inclusion here will get more discussion started.  In this excerpt, we see writer David Axe leave for Iraq and experience the horrors of war firsthand.  It's a pretty good example of the book's contents, and it really showcases Steve Olexa's complex artwork.  In fact, it's one of the few stories here to use non-traditional layouts; nearly every other story is composed of rectangular grids of panels, with little variation.  A lot of "artcomix" stick to this simple structure, but artists in the mainstream (including the non-superheroic offshoots that aren't quite "indie" enough to normally be considered for a book like this) often seem to try to mix up the panel layouts and experiment with the form a bit.  I happen to like that sort of thing quite a bit, and I definitely would have preferred to see more "realistic" artwork in the book.  But that's more about my tastes than any measure of quality.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Yes, and I recommend reading the book if you haven't had the chance.

"Trouble"

By T. Edward Bak

And now we get to the complaints.  This is apparently supposed to be a slice-of-life story, but it's not a very good one.  Two teenage girls lay around, watch TV, yell at a younger brother, discuss sex, and wrestle.  But not in a compelling manner or anything; no, it's a plotless bit of fluff that is probably supposed to be realistic, and the main interest is probably the frank discussion of sexuality and the swearing, but it's just boring.  The ugly art doesn't help either; it looks like it was done with a kids' marker set:

This is the kind of thing that pisses people off about anthologies like this.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Definitely not.  In fact, there are at least three better choices that cover similar subject matter in the "Notable Comics" section at the back of the book: Gabrielle Bell's "Hit Me", Ariel Schrag's "Shit", and Lauren Weinstein's "Horse Camp", all of which were in the Stuck in the Middle anthology (which I reviewed here).

Strips from Dykes to Watch Out For

By Alison Bechdel

Here we've got six somewhat random chapters of Alison Bechdel's biweekly strip from between August 9, 2006 and February 21, 2007.  As Bechdel states in the book's endnotes, she tries to keep the storylines of about a dozen characters running in real time while still injecting current news and politics into the background (or foreground) of the story.  It's kind of hard to tell from the excerpts here, but it seems like she does a good job of it.  The problem is, what we see is pretty limited; to get the full effect, you probably have to either read the strip as it comes out or comsume it in large chunks at once.  But it's obviously good work, so you can't fault the editors for wanting to include it.  I wonder if they made the best selections though; the most compelling storyline that we get a glimpse of involves two characters nearing a possible dissolution of their relationship, but there are also some strips included that don't even involve them.  Why were these particular strips selected?  Was it an attempt to showcase as many characters as possible?  It might have been better to try to focus on one storyline, to give the best demonstration of Bechdel's storytelling.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Maybe?  Probably?  Bechdel has been included in all three extant volumes of this series, and while she definitely deserved it for Fun Home last year, the editors don't make the best case for her inclusion with this selection.  If you're going to include a strip that runs in alternative weeklies, how about Keith Knight? 

The Salon (excerpt)

By Nick Bertozzi

But here's one I can definitely get behind.  This was one of my favorite books from last year (here's my review), and it certainly deserves any attention it hasn't already gotten.  Bertozzi's tale of art, murder, and magical absinthe was fascinating, and the excerpt chosen here is one of my favorite bits from the book, in which Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque work out some art theories that eventually led to the development of Cubism.  And, I'm happy to say, the excerpt also includes the infamous nude scene that got a retailer arrested for distributing obscene materials to a minor.  They didn't let the idiots scare them away from it; good for them.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Yes.

"The Thing about Madeline"

By Lilli Carre

This short story sees a woman who has an alcohol problem come home one night to discover another version of herself sleeping in her bed.  Her other self ends up taking over her life, and she gets forced out and strikes off to start anew.  It's really nicely done; Carre introduces the character just enough to make us care about her, so the ensuing weirdness really strikes a note of horror.  I really like the loose-limbed expressiveness of the characters, and the way Madeline becomes more and more disheveled as she loses control of her life is wonderfully sad:

What's the story about?  I'm not sure exactly, but it might be looking at the way people can settle into a rut to such a point that they don't even recognize themselves anymore, and the only way out of it is to reinvent yourself completely.  Or that might be hokum; the story is still really good.  

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  I would say yes.  The 2006 volume of this series had an excerpt of Carre's Tales of Woodsman Pete, and I wasn't too impressed with that, but this has made me completely reevaluate her.  I'll have to try to read more of her comics.

"Hopscotch"

By Martin Cendreda

This is a short one, only four pages long.  It's about two kids who are apparently homeless, hiding from adults by day and emerging at night to play in the streets, building fabulous structures out of discarded boxes.  It's a joyful little story, and Cendreda has some nice, expressive energy:

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Eh, it's pretty lightweight.  I don't know if Cendreda's art is so dazzling that you have to recognize this as better than almost everything out there.  But it's definitely not bad.  It's a cute, fun story, and I can't fault it for that.

"The Monkey and the Crab"

By Shawn Cheng and Sara Edward-Corbett

In what is apparently an adaptation of a Japanese folk tale, a monkey cons a crab out of a dumpling in exchange for a persimmon seed, since the seed can be planted to grow a tree that will yield more persimmons.  But when the tree grows, the monkey comes and steals the fruit and murders the crab.  Then the crab's son and his friends (an egg, a bee, a pile of poop, and a, um, fondue pot?) plot justice/revenge against the monkey.  I'm not sure what the point of this is; maybe the original tale has some sort of moral (beware of crafty people who want to take advantage of you?  Revenge is never satisfying?), but it seems like just an exercise in weirdness here.  The art style is minimalist, with blank white backgrounds surrounding the characters, but Cheng and Edward-Corbett do give the creatures a good expressiveness:

The two creators split the art duties, with Cheng illustrating the first half of the story and Edward-Corbett handling the rest, but they share a similar enough of a style that it's not too noticeable of a switch.  Overall, it's a decent story, but kind of arbitrarily strange.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Again, it's not bad, but I certainly wouldn't classify it as better than almost everything else out there.  That's my damn opinion, take it or leave it.

"Seven Sacks"

By Eleanor Davis

I've heard that Eleanor Davis is a really good young cartoonist, and this story (along with the cover of this volume) proves that popular opinion is correct.  It's a short tale, in which a ferryman carries a series of increasingly disturbing-looking creatures across a river, all of whom are carrying sacks containing something alive (one of them says it's rabbits).  They all seem to be going to some sort of gathering; what could it be?  We never find out, but we experience the freakiness of the situation along with the ferryman, and wonder if he should have done anything to find out what was going on or stop it.  Davis does a great job, giving the characters a nice expressiveness, which is especially impressive with the ferryman, who isn't drawn with a high level of detail.  But she really makes you feel what is going through his head, through the simple addition of a tiny sweat drop, or widened or narrowed eyes.  And the creatures are especially well done, looking increasingly weird and scary.  The backgrounds are beautiful, making it look like a placid, autumnal forest, which is all the more unsettling when all the strangeness enters the picture:

It's a very effective piece, perfectly paced for maximum effectiveness.  Nicely done.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Certainly.  Davis is definitely one to watch.

Strips from The City

By Derf

Another selection of the kind of strips that run in alternative weeklies.  I'm not too impressed by this one though; it seems to be about politics and current events, with occasional stops in the territory of the observation of the strange people the creator has seen.  But you know you're in dnagerous territory when the first strip compares George W. Bush to Hitler (specifically, the waning days of the Bush administration to Hitler in the bunker, with Bush urging his "troops" to fight on through a Fox News microphone).  Even if the art was excellent, that sort of thing would make me roll my eyes and check to see how long this section lasts.  But the art here is anything but; it's all lumpy, ugly people against poorly defined backgrounds.  Not a strip that I would seek out eagerly each week.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  I say no.

The Saga of the Bloody Benders (excerpt)

By Rick Geary

Rick Geary's Treasury of Victorian Murder series is great, presenting grim, true historical tales in a very matter-of-fact manner and using his detailed-yet-offputting art style to give the stories maximum creepiness.  This is a good one, about a family of strange immigrants in Kansas who murdered and robbed several travelers before disappearing.  The excerpt here covers a good section of the story but leaves you wanting to find out the details of what happened.  It's a great tease for the rest of the book.  Yes, this is good comics.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Yes.  Rick Geary is great.

Strips from Will and Abe's Guide to the Universe

By Matt Groening

I haven't really liked what I've read of Matt Groening's Life in Hell strip, but I had never seen his strips starring his sons.  That's too bad; I loved these selections, which do a great job of showing the weird logic in the way kids see the world, and how funny it can be to have them describe what is important or interesting to them.  I loved it; I'll have to check out the collected version of these strips if I get the chance.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Sure, although this is the third (and not the last) alternative weekly strip in this volume.  Are the comics in those newspapers really that great?

"Mammalogy"

By Eric Haven

This starts out as a silent, prehistoric nature story, as a dinosaur chases a little rodent around.  That's interesting enough, but then we flash forward to the present day for a dumb story in which a superhero named The Mongoose fights a lizard monster.  Ha ha, aren't superheroes lame?  I'm sure the anatomy and action are supposed to look incorrect and awkward, because you have to emphasize the fact that guys in tights are stupid:

There is one funny line, in which the girl being rescued asks if the furry-costumed Mongoose is a "furvert", but other than that, this is pretty boring.  There's also a pointless framing sequence around the superhero bit, in which a pudgy, bespectacled guy (apparently an author stand-in) watches the fight on TV.  I guess this is supposed to be about the eternal war between reptiles and mammals, but whatever.  It's not a good story.  Maybe if Haven had stuck with the dinosaurs, he would have had something.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  God, no.  Indie comics shouldn't have to be about how lame superheroes are anymore.  Move on already, people.

"Gold Diggers of 1969"

By Jaime Hernandez

In this flashback to the childhood of Maggie, one of the main characters in Jaime Hernandez's "Locas" stories, we see her tag along as her mother worries about paying bills and taking care of her kids, since her husband is always away on business, and she is about to give birth again.  It's a nice look at the characters' past; in addition to Maggie and her mom and sister, we also see a teenage Izzy and Blanca and Maggie's aunt Vicki, who is already busy being a wrestler.  The story is probably most effective for those who are familiar with the characters, but even newcomers should be able to relate with a woman who is worried about providing for her children and the way she relies on family and community.  Jaime uses a neat art style here, stripping his level of detail down to minimal levels and presenting the story in tiny panels, with the characters appearing as more cartoony, even super-deformed versions of themselves:

But he still has enough mastery of cartooning to make the characters wonderfully expressive.  Look at the way that little line under Maggie's mom's eye gives her a look of exhaustion.  Wow.  Any visit with these characters is nice, but Jaime uses every chance to deepen their personalities and build on their rich history.  Great stuff.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Yes.  Jaime Hernandez is a master.

Strips from Underworld

By Kaz

I generally like what I've read of Underworld, but these are not very good.  Ugly characters say nonsensical things, and sometimes it's mildly funny.  The cartooning is decent, but nothing to write home about.  This one amused me though:

I guess this is supposed to be silly cartoons for adults, but the adult aspect is pretty much limited to some violence or naughty words.  Yawn.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  I say no.  Another alternative weekly strip?  Come on.

"Cousin Grampa"

By Michael Kupperman

Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle is some really funny stuff, but this story seems to have been chosen because it is surreal and impenetrable, and thus more artsy.  An old man wanders past some weird stuff and ignores it, choosing to watch TV instead.  Compared to the laugh riot that Kupperman can deliver, this one is pretty boring.  If it was my only exposure to Kupperman, I wouldn't bother reading anything else by him.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  I'll say no.  Kupperman has much better stuff than this.

"Turtle, Keep it Steady"

By Joseph Lambert

Now this one I like.  It's a version of the old tortoise-and-hare story, with the competitors playing drums.  The turtle lays down a steady beat, but the rabbit goes nuts, pounding out a frenzied rhythm while drinking and making out with a girl rabbit at the same time.  Guess who wins?  There's not much to it, but Lambert makes it enormously entertaining by giving all the animals (both the performers and the bystanders who dance to the beat) a nice expressiveness.  He also comes up with a nifty depiction of the rhythm, with word balloons containing abstract shapes that represent the beats:

Yeah!  That's pretty cool.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  I'll say yes.  It's pretty short and inconsequential, but with neat comics ideas, fun characters, and a cool atmosphere, what else do you need?

"Cupid's Day Off"

By Evan Larson

Cupid, who has begun to take his job too seriously, treating it like he's on military assignment, decides to take a vacation, leaving the equipment in the hands of his assistant with instructions to mess with it.  But she feels bad about all the unhappiness in the world, so she decides to remedy it by shooting everything she sees with cupid arrows.  This leads to some enormously funny bits:

When Cupid finds out, he's pissed.  What will he do?  It's a pretty funny little strip, and Larson has a nice, cartoony style that fits the story perfectly.  Fun stuff.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Maybe?  Light and inconsequential again, but still pretty enjoyable.

Berlin (excerpt)

By Jason Lutes

I had heard that Jason Lutes' series was quite good, but until now, I had never read any of it.  After this excerpt, I feel that it is imperative that I get my hands on the series as soon as I can.  It's a really well-done historical comic, looking at the titular city in the 1920s and 30s.  We see people struggling with poverty and the collapse of the banks, the rise of National Socialism, and the prevalence of anti-Semitism.  Even in this small sample, it's a good portrait of the contents of the series, exhibiting Lutes' grasp of character and setting, and his well-defined artwork.  He gets the locales down really well, and the characters look realistic, like we're watching real people live their lives.  Plus, there's humor and action:

Yeah, I've gotta read more of this.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  I think it's safe to say yes.

Percy Gloom (excerpt)

By Cathy Malkasian

I heard this was a really good graphic novel, but I never got a chance to read it.  I hope to rectify that someday, and this excerpt only makes me want to do it soon.  We see the title character as he reminisces about his wife, whom he loved deeply.  But she joined a cult called the Funnelheads, and she ended up dying in a suicide ritual.  It's a sad story, and Malkasian's expressive linework gives Percy and those around him real feeling, even when using such a cartoony style:

Again, I gotta read more of this.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Again again, I think it's safe to say yes.

"The Teachers Edition." (excerpt)

By John Meijas

This looks to be a minicomic about teaching art at an elementary school in the Bronx, which does seem to be a good subject for a comic.  And what we get here is a nice story, but I hate the ugly sort-of-cubist art style that Meijas uses:

I do think he captures some interesting moments here, but he ruins most of them with the art, which just turns me off.  Eh, maybe it's just me.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  I'm conflicted, since I do think it has the seed of something really good, and maybe the art is just not to my tastes.  So, maybe, depending on whether you can live with/actually enjoy the art?

"Graveyard"

By Sarah Oleksyk

A young woman works the night shift at an all-night print shop, and she befriends a homeless junkie, even becoming attracted to him.  She tries to help him out, and it seems like she might be making a difference, but as often happens, the addiction gets the better of him.  It's a really sad tale, and it's all too real, looking at the toll that drug addiction can take not only on the users, but also the people who care about them.  Oleksyk sells it really well, doing a great job of capturing the movements and expressions of her characters:

It's quite good; I've gotta see if I can check out some more of her work.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Definitely.  Weighty subject matter sways me, I guess.  But the excellent cartooning and good grasp of character certainly helps too.

"The Forbidden Zone"

By Kevin Pyle

This story takes an interesting approach, presenting the imaginary adventures of some kids as if they were soldiers in a war comic, but occasionally dropping back to the "real world" narrative:

It's an interesting idea, and there's some decent character work with the kids, but there's not much to it.  I think this is part of an ongoing story in Pyle's book (series?) Blindspot, but there's little indication of that here, so the story has to stand alone, it seems.  And it kind of fails on that level, abruptly ending with no real resolution.  But that could be seen as realistic, since adventures end when kids have to go home for the day.  

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Not quite.  Beyond the "war comics" idea, there's not enough there to be especially good.  A nifty gimmick does not a great comic make.

George Sprott (1894-1975) (excerpt)

By Seth

I haven't read much of Seth's work, not because I dislike him or anything, but because what I've read of his doesn't make me want to rush out and get my hands on his comics as soon as possible.  But this excerpt of his strip that ran in The New York Times Magazine changes that; it's excellent.  It's a look at the life of the title character, an explorer, writer, and TV host, told in one-page strips composed of tiny panels that seem filled with life and detail, even in their cartoony simplicity.  Seth makes the accumulation of details about Sprott's life fascinating and compelling, presenting his story with some nicely-designed pages and good character art.  Here, we mostly get interviews with acquaintances and relatives, along with some first-person reflection on life and some funny struggling by an omniscient narrator to communicate the essence of Sprott's life, but failing, only managing to recount the dry facts.  Even in this small portion of the story, we get some really poignant stuff, like the remnants of Sprott's life left over in the hotel room where he lived:

And there's much more.  Man, that's another cartoonist I've got to try to read more of.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Yes. 

"The Thanksgiving Series"

By Chris Ware

This series of five New Yorker covers (which Ware collected as Acme Novelty Library #18.5) get presented here in their entirety, printed sideways for awkward reading.  In typical Ware fashion, it's a nice collection of stories (or images that tell stories), looking at the lives of people and their families around the holidays.  There is one misstep though, and that's the fourth installment, which sees a pigeon named Penrod get berated by his wife to go collect food.  I usually enjoy the goofy stories where Ware anthropomorphizes animals or objects to an absurd degree (like "Branford, the Best Bee in the World", from Acme #17), but this one seems especially nonsensical (pigeons are afraid to go outside on Thanksgiving, because birds die on that day, I guess?) and pointless, and it interrupts the flow of the human story that the rest of the covers are telling.  Seems like a waste of space.

But Ware redeems himself with the last entry, which is a highly detailed look at the life of the older brother of an old man who appeared on the other covers.  The brother died in World War II, and the page collects a bunch of memories about him from his brother, with the little stories cascading down the page in tiny fragments.  It's beautiful and emotionally affecting, everything that Ware does so well:

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Yes, although the only essential page is the last one.  Still, Ware is a genius, and even if the other pages aren't perfect, this one more than makes up for them.

American Born Chinese (excerpt)

By Gene Luen Yang

This is another of the books that I really liked in 2007, presenting three interlinked stories that deal with the subtle and unsubtle racism that Asian-Americans deal with.  The excerpt here is a section from the most autobiographical of the stories, about a boy who wants to fit in with the other kids, and thus resists the friendship of a new kid who is a recent immigrant to the U.S., since he wants to distance himself from that which makes him different from the other kids.  It's a good bit of the story, and it makes you want to read the rest of the book.  Hopefully, people won't be put off by the fantasy and outrageously offensive sit-comminess of the other parts of the book.

Is it really one of the best comics of the year?  Sure.  Here's my review, for my full opinion on the book. 

So overall, that makes (approximately) 18 stories out of 26 that I think qualify for the description in the book's title.  Not a bad percentage, really, considering differences in taste.  Would I make any changes?  Well, obviously I would select a different lineup if I was in charge (you can see my picks for the best comics of 2007 for a lot of what would probably make it), and there are a few here that I think definitely do not belong, but it's a good collection, better than the 2006 edition, and probably better than 2007 (I didn't read that one, but I didn't think the list of inclusions was really up my alley).  It's definitely worth a read.