George Sprott: I might complain, but I'm not as old as he was

George Sprott (1894-1975)

By Seth

I obviously haven't read enough of Seth's comics, because this is one very good book, and I would certainly like to experience more of the same. Similar to Chris Ware, Seth has a somewhat clinical approach to his storytelling, although it's far from cold or unfeeling. On the contrary, the point of this story seems to be to examine the life of the title character, with most of the content coming from "interviews" with people he associated with or the memories that went through his head in his last hours. Described as such, that sounds somewhat boring, but it's anything but. Rather, it's a fascinating look into the forces that shaped the entirety of Sprott's life, along with a great example of character building on Seth's part; by the end, Sprott feels incredibly real, to the point that readers might wonder if the book is non-fiction.

We learn early on that Sprott was a local TV host for the last few decades of his life, but it's only a few pages before we discover the rest of his history, with the notable part being his time as an Arctic explorer, which gave him the content for his show, "Northern Hi-Lights". As one of the interviewees states, the trips were of limited scientific value; he was more of a "gentleman explorer", there to hobnob with the natives and take films of the snowy landscape to be shown over and over on his show. In fact, the more one reads about Sprott, the more useless he seems; did his life have any positive impact at all on the world? The question is debatable, but even though many of the interviewees call him a bore or seem to think he was a pompous blowhard, they all seem to have some affection for him, as do various TV viewers, attendees of his lecture series, or, most significantly, his beloved niece. In the end, the cumulative effect of the lives he touched has a powerful result, making him seem an essential part of the human fabric.

Seth's narration is also a notable aspect of the story, adding a contemplative, apologitic voice to the scenes of exposition, starting with a pre-title-page spread of a fetal Sprott floating in an amniotic void and contemplating life both before life and after death:

Other scenes see the narrator apologize for not having enough information, insufficiently delivering details to the reader, or speculating on Sprott's feelings even while he seems to be privy to his thoughts and memories. It's a fascinating device, and one that definitely adds to the mood of the book, while emphasizing Seth as a presence in the story.

And he's certainly worth noticing, especially for the elegant artwork that captures so much nuance in a few simple lines:

I love the way the emotions of characters are captured so well through slight variation in expressions that are cartoony yet still communicative. And there's a great grasp of gesture and movement, easily shifting between realistic depictions and rounded simplifications of the human figure:

The pages themselves are beautifully designed and laid out, each one (for the most part) working as a single unit to tell part of the whole, which makes sense, given that they were originally serialized in the New York Times Magazine. The additions for this collected edition consist of sepia-toned flashbacks to points in Sprott's life, occasional near-abstract spreads of icebergs and such scenery, and a bravura fold-out sequence that works as a sort of barrage of memories that flash before Sprott's eyes in his last moments:

It's poignant, affecting stuff, especially the persistent guilt that continues to plague him after he impregnated and abandoned an Inuit woman on one of his expeditions.

The thing is, everything works together to present a believable portrait of a man and his life, and even though we realize that we've only seen a glimpse of his life and personality, we feel like we know him intimately, even though he's a fictional character. That's the real power of Seth's storytelling here, and he's amazingly good at it. The end result of the book is the feeling of a friend gained and lost, probably similar to being a viewer of his show, or possibly a documentary about the life of a minor celebrity, with the addition of being privy to some of his inner thoughts. It's the kind of experience that only comics can provide, and when a creator like Seth is steering you through it, you can't go wrong.

Series collection catchup

Here are some shorter looks at various trade collections that I recently got around to reading:

The Boys, volume 4: We Gotta Go Now

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Darick Robertson and John Higgins

I'm not sure why I like this series so much when I tend to get annoyed by the regular attempts to make superhero comics all "realistic" and "edgy". Maybe it's that Garth Ennis doesn't hold anything back; his heroes are exactly what we would expect from celebrities who are not only rich and famous but also have massive power and no consequences for their actions. Ennis seems to enjoy coming up with as much sick and twisted shit as he can, but he still grounds it in humanity, and while the violence and sex can be over the top, when it comes time for real horror, he pushes it right in our face. The dirty secret behind the series' stand-in for the X-Men is pretty damn awful, and while the consequence is horrifying, it still feels deserved, both for the perpetrators and those who aided them by not saying anything. Damn.

I also am enjoying the relationship between Hughie and his girlfriend. That's another way that Ennis grounds this over-the-top story: by developing realistic characters and relationships among all the nastiness and carnage. He's as good at writing tender romance as he is at coming up with funny sex and violence, which is surprising, but also quite nice.

And despite complaints I've heard that this storyline went on too long, I thought it worked rather well. It looks like I made the right decision when I switched to trades on this series.

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DMZ, volume 6: Blood in the Game

Written by Brian Wood

Art by Ricardo Burchielli

Reading this collection, I'm left wondering who equates Matty Roth with Brian Wood, since Matty comes off as a naive, easily-influenced doofus, even if he is well-meaning. He does seem to fight for what he thinks is right, but this story sees him get involved with a candidate in the election for a "provisional governor" of New York City, and while the guy seems charismatic, he doesn't appear to have much substance below the surface, riding mainly on the message of "giving a voice to the people". That's nice, but who knows what he's actually going to be able to accomplish, if anything. The series does seem to have taken a turn here, and maybe future stories will see Matty learning about the twisted politics and red tape that have to be dealt with in a tangled situation like this one, not to mention the fact that it's a dangerous war zone.

It's very interesting to see what Wood is doing here; as I've said from the beginning, the real power behind this series is that it takes the real-life violence of war and plops it down in our backyard, where American's don't have that distancing barrier of the TV screen to make it easy to think it doesn't matter because it's happening on the other side of the world. The obvious analogy is Iraq, but there are many more similar areas of conflict, and all of them are full of complex issues like we see here. The plot sees an election for a "provisional government", but what does that even mean? Is Manhattan going to become a new country, separate from the split nations of the U.S.A. and the Free States? Will this government have any power, or is it just listening to the "occupiers"? Does all the fighting and death that springs up around the election have any value at all, or are the people just pawns being fought over by powerful governments and corporations? Sure, this is all fiction, but these exact sorts of questions are very real in conflict zones all over the world, and Wood brings it home for readers and makes us realize how lucky we are that we don't have to face them. Yet.

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Powers, volume 12: The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time

Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming

Art by Michael Avon Oeming

And so ends the current "volume" of the series. Not volume 12, like it says on the spine, but the volume that has been published by Marvel starting in 2004. Those issues constituted pretty much one long story, and it was pretty damn interesting, seeing major changes for the series' characters and some pretty dramatic events taking place. Even so, I'm not feeling this series like I once was; Bendis' dialogue, which once seemed refreshing, different, and funny, has become much more commonplace now that he has slathered his sub-Mamet-isms across the Marvel universe. It is still good to see him really cut loose though, pumping nasty sex and violence into his stories of superpowered crime and often making things quite disturbing. There's a sort of super-drug-addiction thing going on here that's really gross, and affecting since it's totally based in reality, with people willing to do anything for that next hit.

I dunno, I might be continuing to read this series out of momentum; it's certainly had its moments over the last decade, but it doesn't seem all that unique anymore. Oeming's art, which does do its job pretty well, can grate a little bit, with men mostly conforming to the broad-shouldered, square-jawed look, and women being short and wasp-waisted. I do appreciate the ever-changing nature of the characters though, and the sense of time moving forward and real change taking place. At the end of the volume (which is a natural endpoint and an understandable reason for the forthcoming relaunch and new #1 issue), Walker and Pilgrim are definitely in different places than they were at the beginning of the Icon series, and Pilgrim especially should make for a character to watch. She's stuck with some real guilt about what she has done, and all her relationships have been pretty much destroyed. I don't see her being written out of the series though, so maybe she'll become a PI or something. And Walker's burgeoning relationship with his new partner should be interesting as well, as long as Bendis can keep coming up with interesting cases. So will I keep reading? Yeah, probably. I hope I don't regret it.

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Jack of Fables, volume 5: Turning Pages

Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges

Art by Tony Akins and Russ Braun

It took me long enough to get around to reading this volume, but I'm glad I finally did. This really is a very entertaining series, one that takes the "fairy tales come alive" concept of its parent series and gives it a humorous spin, exploring the limits of the concept and even beginning to introduce some metafictional ideas. It's also slowly moving back toward the main Fables title, just in time to crash right into it for the "Great Fables Crossover", I assume.

Interestingly, the humor gets downplayed in the first of the two stories in this volume, which is a flashback story about Jack in the Old West, when he was a murderous outlaw named Jack Candle. He's always been kind of a lovable bastard, but here he pretty much drops the "lovable" part, and his mayhem spurs Fabletown to send Bigby Wolf to hunt him down and bring him in. It's a striking change for the series, as Jack is seen as kind of a nihilistic misanthrope while still remaining the basically cowardly doofus who mostly gets by on luck that we're used to seeing. When the showdown between him and Bigby finally occurs, he has a sort of breakdown that explains his murderous turn, confessing that after all the death he witnessed in the Civil War, he feels like human life is worthless. It's striking stuff, and a nice bit of characterization and unexpected use of real-world events.

And then it's back to the normal shenanigans, in a three-part story that gives details about the three Page sisters, explains a little bit about the Literals (who will be important in the crossover, getting their own tie-in miniseries), and sees Jack return to the Golden Boughs Retirement Home for what will presumably be a big battle in the next volume. There's some interesting stuff here, including a scary transformation for Humpty Dumpty, a bunch of imaginative "forgotten" Fables, narration directly to the reader by one Eliza Wall (she has three brothers), and some really tumultuous plot developments. It's enough to make me really interested in where things are going next.

I dunno, I really dig the main Fables book, but this one is fun as well, in a different sort of way. It's got kind of a tongue in cheeck attitude, and since it focuses mostly on one protagonist, it's a bit more focused. It's really a different style of storytelling, less epic and more adventurous, but still quite enjoyable all the same. I had been wondering if I wanted to continue to stick with it, but apparently that was just fading memory due to lack of exposure. No, I'm in for the long haul now.

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Northlanders, book 2: The Cross and the Hammer

Written by Brian Wood

Art by Ryan Kelly

Wow, here's another book to really get behind. Brian Wood is really stretching and trying to tell different sorts of stories with this series, and if you ask me, he's succeeding wonderfully. This second collection of his series of Viking stories takes place in an occupied Ireland in 1014 AD, splitting between the viewpoint of a self-styled freedom fighter named Magnus, and his pursuer, an educated Norseman named Ragnar. It's a fascinating, intense, and violent story of the latter chasing the former as he carves a swathe of violence across the kingdom in a one-man crusade to rid his country of its occupiers. And while it's just a minor subplot, an actual fight for the freedom of the country is taking place in the background, as an army of Irishmen have risen up to confront the Norse king and drive him out of their land. This might seem distracting from the main confrontation, but as the story hurtles toward its end, we see that it works as a counterpoint toward Magnus, who seems like an unstoppable badass carrying out his principles but is eventually revealed to be a broken, delusional murderer. It's a great conclusion, one that brings new light on everything that occurred over the course of the story.

Ryan Kelly's art is pretty great too, surprisingly full of blood and gore coming from the artist of Local. He rises to the occasion here beautifully, really bringing Wood's script to life through gorgeous landscapes (which, due to the contribution of colorist Dave McCaig, really match the harsh, forbidding vistas of the other artists who have worked on the series) and clearly-read emotions from the characters.

The story ends up being an excellent examination of the mentality of the nationalistic zealot and what constant violence can do to the mind. Wood has outdone himself here, and aside from one apparent error (SPOILER: Ragnar specifically states that Magnus has a companion, but we later find that Magnus' daughter was imaginary. END SPOILER), the whole thing holds together wonderfully, setting up what seems to be a straightforward story and then yanking the rug out from under readers at the end. This series has quickly become one of the best books that Vertigo is publishing.

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House of Mystery, volume 2: Love Stories for Dead People

Written by Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham, and Bethany & Peter Keele

Art by Luca Rossi, Tony Akins, David Petersen, Henry Flint, Berni Wrightson, and Kyle Baker

The best thing about this Vertigo series is probably the various short stories that appear in each issues, usually sold as stories told by patrons of the bar in the titular house. The first story arc saw several of these, and they provided a nice break from the confusing main storyline, often leading to some funny and/or horrific images by a string of excellent guest artists. Unfortunately, they seem to be downplayed in this second volume, with the focus returned to the regular cast and their strange encouters with the weirness of the house in which they are trapped. Sure, the shorts pop up in each issue, but with only one exception, they all focus on backstories of the cast; they're still entertaining (with the Tony Akins-illustrated story of Ann the pirate probably being the best, although Berni Wrightson's art on the story about the hapless maiden in all the monster movies is also pretty good), but they all seem to be in service of the increasingly tiresome main storyline, which is a disappointment. And that story is getting more annoying; weird shit happens, nothing gets explained, characters complain. I think I've had enough of that. It's just not clever or interesting enough, despite all the effort from Matthew Sturges writing and Luca Rossi's moody art.

I dunno; I guess it's just not doing it for me, which is a shame, since it started out well. I could also mention Kyle Baker's story about one character's magical childhood adventures, and David Petersen's fairy tale about a war between the cats and the birds; those were also decent. But I'm just not feeling it anymore; I think I'm done with this.

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And there's a dent in my reading pile! Not enough of one though, so I better keep reading.

Wizard Chicago 2009: Stuff what I done bought

Link: I'm late on this, but Chris Butcher is posting one FUN! strip by Evan Dorkin each day for something like the next year. Funny stuff; Dorkin is awesome.

Here are some of the comics I took home from the weekend, but not all of them, so there will be more to come at some point, I expect.

The Shortcut

By Brittney Sabo

This is the kind of minicomic that was all over the place at MoCCA, but in short supply at Wizard. And that's a shame; surely there are plenty of aspiring cartoonists in Chicago that are doing this kind of work. It's the kind of simple cartooning that looks good in on Xeroxed paper, but when you're trying to emulate the popular superhero stuff like most all the other non-pros at the show, you're worried about shiny coloring and glossy paper stock. But with something like this, you don't need fancy technology, you just need good art. And that's what Brittney Sabo has here, with a clean, expressive line that deceptively hides a good amount of detail. The story involves a boy wandering through a field and spotting some shadowy figures in a graveyard that he thinks are God and the devil dividing up the souls. Are they? If you read the comic, you can find out, but it's definitely a good punchline. This is exactly what minicomics are for, to present a short story in a small package and demonstrate the artist's skill. Sabo's got plenty of that; she's definitely a talent to pay attention to.

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Ghost Jars #1

By Brittney Sabo

And for another example of Sabo's talent, here's the first part of a longer story that retains the expressiveness of The Shortcut, but takes the creepy atmosphere and amplifies it, making for a strikingly moody tale. It follows Birdy, a seemingly-normal thirteen year old who is staying at her grandparents' house. She heads into the basement to ask her grandpa for a pop, but can't find him, and as she searches through his taxidermy lab, more details about her and her family become apparent, eventually leading to a pretty horrifying reveal, and a cliffhanger that makes one want to seek out the next installment right quick. It's a nice bit of amplification, going from slightly scary scenes like this one:

To the full on horror of the cliffhanger. Yes, Sabo is one to watch, and I can't wait to get my hands on the second issue.

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Johnny Recon #1

Written by Scott Dillon

Art by Mitch Gerads

The creators of this story have something special on their hands, an action-packed pulp sci-fi story that looks great for something produced independently. Mitch Gerads does some pretty impressive stuff here, both in his clean linework and the explosion of color that he lays over the top of it:

It ends up being almost overwhelming, but it works as a way to make the outer space setting seem bright and exciting and cosmic without going the obvious route of Kirby dots and other old-school depictions of energy. And it's very energetic, with a good deal of fast-paced action packed into a short page count.

The story, on the other hand is interesting, but a bit hard to follow. It has to do with a man being voluntarily abducted by aliens from Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, and then it jumps forward in time to "1947 A.E. (After Extraction)", whatever that means. Is it supposed to be one thousand, nine hundred and forty-seven years later? The characters in the story share the abductee's last name (Recon), so maybe they're his descendants? Anyway, we meet up with the title character at a card game that turns into a shootout and the beginnings of a big chase before ending with a cliffhanger. Johnny Recon seems to be a good protagonist, a Han Solo type of lovable rogue that's prone to wisecracks and impulsive action. It would be nicer if we got to spend more time with him; he doesn't even show up until halfway through the issue.

But even with its shortcomings, it's a great debut, and looks pretty incredible for an independently-produced and -published comic. Dillon and Gerads are other talents to watch, and Gerads especially is an artist that is certain to get more attention. Now when does issue #2 come out?

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Amo Jamon

By Gabriel Bautista, Jr.

Gabriel Bautista is one of the Pulpo Press crew, a group of young, talented cartoonists that look to be full of energy and excitement about making comics. This short comic (which reprints a story that originally ran in one of Image's Popgun anthologies) fits into their aesthetic, telling a goofy little story about urban slackers that happen to be humanoid animals. It does attempt to hit some emotional beats, but lapses back into humor with the cartoonily bestial expressions of emotion:

And then it ends on a pretty funny punchline that the title kind of gives away. It's kind of lightweight entertainment, but Bautista demonstrates some cartooning chops here, and he's hopefully destined to keep growing and developing his talent. It should be fun to watch.

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Thulu

By Timothy Weaver

This is another Pulpo Press book, but it's more of a short graphic novel than a single-issue story, one of those stereotypical indie books about college-age slackers and their relationships. The protagonist, named Guy, meets a girl and starts dating her while trying to ignore the obnoxious taunting of his friends. And that's about it. Weaver does demonstrate a good grasp of the kind of dumbass guy behavior of swearing, taunting, and name-calling, and he has a nice, cartoony style, most of the time:

The problem is that it goes on kind of long; the story could have used some tightening, and probably would have worked better by cutting the length by a third or so. And the art can often be kind of stiff, especially in movement of limbs and strange facial expressions. But just because it isn't perfect doesn't mean it's not worth a look, and Weaver could definitely develop into an interesting talent with a little work. Yes, he's another one to watch; let's hope he lives up to my (overly high) expectations.

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Lucius Hammer #0

Written by Brian Williams

Art by Christian Colbert

Writer Brian Williams stated that the original impetus behind this comic was dissatisfaction with Marvel's treatment of Luke Cage; his attempts to write what he thought was a better version of the character turned into a comic of itself about a black superhero. And it's easy to see what he was going for here in this origin issue, as the character is introduced as a super-competent, upstanding, highly intelligent paragon of strength, justice, and morality. And that's kind of the problem here (although, being mostly a preview, the book could end up being more complex in its final form): Lucius Hammer is too perfect, a hero without any flaws who appears to be up against a world that conspires against him. It's not enough to ruin the book or anything, but one suspects that story possibilities could run out very quickly with such a one-dimensional character.

Luckily, Williams has a talented collaborator on board in Christian Colbert, who has a really nice, clean, cartoony style that gives a rounded, yet muscular feel to the characters:

This is a "rough cut", so presumably the pencils here will eventually be given clean, strong inks and really pop off the page. When that happens, it will be a great-looking book. Hopefully Williams will be able to develop the characters and story around it to match.

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There were a few other books that I picked up, but they really weren't of good enough quality to give more than a passing mention. Eric Rampson and Wil Brendel's The Redeemers seems like it could be a halfway-decent story about a rock band that secretly fights demons with their magical instruments; it's best quality is the pretty-good cartoony art. And Guilty Conscience, by "Jeff" and "Nolan" of Albatross Entertainment, is a grotesque murder procedural with a decent twist and some fairly ugly art.

There were some other books I want to talk about though, so expect more soon. Comics!

The ultimate hipster douchebag, episode 4

Far Arden: Not too far, thankfully

Elsewhere: I reviewed The Marvels Project #1 at Comics Bulletin. Ed Brubaker! Nostalgia? Decent comics?

Links: I might have to go to this horror-themed gallery show the next time I'm in Portland. Tom Neely (recreating classic horror comics covers) and Hellen Jo (drawing freaky Asian ghosts and monsters) have some images of their included works.

David Brothers posted the anime version of Osamu Tezuka's "The Greatest Robot in the World", the story that Naoki Urasawa's Pluto is based on. I still haven't read the original manga story, but this looks like a good, free alternative.

I was going to talk about stuff I got at Wizard Chicago, but this has to go back to the library, so I gotta write about it:

Far Arden

By Kevin Cannon

Wow, now this was a treat. With this thick little brick of a book, Kevin Cannon has seemingly come out of nowhere and leapt into the ranks of young creators to keep an eye on. Sure, he was around already, collaborating with his not-brother Zander and Jim Ottaviani on various educational comics, but here he steps out on his own, and does it assuredly, demonstrating a great grasp of character and a talent for fast-moving, exciting, funny storytelling. Who knew he had it in him?

In Far Arden (which originally started as a dare, with Cannon attempting to complete one 24-hour comic chapter each month for a year, but that only lasted for four chapters), Cannon builds a wonderfully-detailed world in the North Canadian Arctic, populating it with explorers and fishermen, not to mention a traveling circus and a university. Our hero, the grizzled old sailor Army Shanks, gets drawn into a crazy adventure when he attempts to steal back his ship, the Areopagitica, from some enemies, and use it to finally set out to reach the fabled lost island of the title, which is supposed to be a tropical paradise heated by volcanic vents. Along the way, he ends up taking on an orphan sidekick, reuniting with an old flame, recalling friendships that had fallen by the wayside, getting involved in politics, and both alienating allies and finally attaining long-held goals. That might seem like a lot to fit into one book, but it's all in there and more, and it's a delight to be along for the ride.

As with so many enjoyable works of fiction, the real power here is not in the wild action or goofy jokes, but the characterization. A deep cast of characters (just look at that packed cover!) springs up around Army pretty quickly, including an orphan who seems to randomly stumble into the story early on but turns out to be connected to several others, a couple of college students who might or might not have devious motives for tagging along, and a fractured group of Army's old pals, all of whom have some motive for finding Far Arden. They all get their moments to shine in the story, and we learn about their various backstories and connections, really bringing the fantastical world to life.

And that helps, because it's a pretty silly, unbelievable setting, with everything taking place far north of any realistically habitable land, plenty of silly feats of action, and a cartoony art style that exaggerates movements, giving characters elongated limbs and wacky, funny movements:

And hilariously descriptive sound effects:

Not to mention things like the way Army's pipe seems to float next to his head while he's smoking, or the manga-style streams of tears that often flow down characters' faces. It all makes for a rollicking good time, and Cannon's funny dialogue and great sense of timing turns it all into a great ride. And the art style, which has a good, textured use of dense cross-hatched shading, works wonderfully to bring the barren land- and seascape to life, often leading to some nicely wistful images:

But the fascinating thing is the way the goofy adventure gradually morphs into something more serious, a meditation on friendships that grow apart and turn against each other as time goes on, on the way that people can drift apart and end up at odds with those they once cared about, on how romantic relationships can cause other relationships to suffer. Distant, probably hopeless dreams can provide sustenance for a time, but when one becomes obsessive, it can lead to tragedy and alienation, turning the pursuit of happiness into something that obliterates the happiness that already exists. Heavy stuff? Probably more so than is in the actual book, but it's fascinating the way that Cannon takes what starts out as a goofy romp and weaves serious threads in until he gets to a devastatingly emotional conclusion.

And that's what makes this book so special. Cannon gives us an enjoyable good time, but sneaks in some weighty content in a way that readers don't see it coming. It's effective stuff, and an announcement of an exciting talent to the comics scene. It's enough to make one giddy at the prospects of what might come next, although as we've learned from Shanks, it's best to temper expectations and be happy what we have. And when what we have is this good, we shouldn't complain.

This week, I'm trying to recover

Elsewhere: I joined Tim Callahan and Chad Nevett for this week's installment of The Splash Page on CBR to discuss Wednesday Comics #5. Fun!

Missed it: In Robot 6's roundup of San Diego news, they note that Kurt Busiek will have a new series coming from Wildstorm called Kurt Busiek's American Gothic, exploring American myths or something, but the cool part is that the art will be by Connor Willumsen, who I think is about to break out and become a big star in the comics world. He's pretty great, so this is one to watch out for.

Other links: Check out IDW's preview of the Act-I-Vate Primer. That book looks pretty great.

And speaking of comics you can read online, Dark Horse has posted the second Evan Dorkin/Jill Thompson Beasts of Burden story from the Dark Horse Book of... series. I can't wait for that series; it looks great.

And here's another interesting preview: Brandon Graham posts a bunch of pages from Marian Churchland's upcoming Beast.

New comics this week (Wednesday, 8/12/09):

Chronicles of Wormwood The Last Battle Preview

I liked the original Garth Ennis/Jacen Burrows series about the antichrist living on earth and doing his best to keep the apocalypse from happening, but the one-shot follow-up was kind of awful. This sequel series might be better; we'll see. Art this time around is by Oscar Jimenez. I was talking to Burrows at Wizard Chicago over the weekend, and he's kind of weirded out by Jimenez' work on the new book, since he's following Burrows' original designs, but with a much more realistic style. He thought that was pretty cool. So, yeah, this is only a preview and not the real book, but it's worth a mention.

DMZ #44

War in New York continues. I'm still behind. Ryan Kelly is still illustrating this arc, which I really need to see.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? #2

More wordy comics adapting Dick. I don't know if I'll be able to read this whole thing. What's the consensus here; is anybody buying the issues, or is it better to wait for it to be collected into a complete book?

Dominic Fortune #1

Howard Chaykin! I think Dominic Fortune is a Marvel character, but I don't now anything about him. This being a Marvel MAX book, Chaykin is going the "sex n' violence" route, with a WWII-era story about the character getting mixed up in a revolution in South America, or something like that. That's pretty cool.

Fables #87

I have no idea what's going on with this series, but I feel like I have to mention it each time a new issue comes out. I'll read it eventually.

Lockjaw and the pet Avengers #4 (of 4)

Those crazy critters finally face their foe. It's Thanos, of course. Eh, this thing isn't bad, but I haven't been blown away by it or anything. Maybe fun for kids? I dunno.

Marvel Divas #2

It's cancer-time! Yup, gotta have the breast cancer plot in a story about girlfriends. I was all right with the first issue, and who knows, this might end up being all right in the end, but it seems like an attempt to fill a niche that just isn't really there. Maybe fun for girls? Probably not.

Marvels Project #1

Here's the latest event thing about the importance of Marvel superheroes throughout history or something. I'm not sure if it ties into Marvels or is on its own, but it's noteworthy because it's by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. I think it involves time travel, and probably something about the beginnings of the Marvel heroes. Maybe it won't be bad, but it could certainly end up being one of those nostalgiafests that annoy the crap out of me. Maybe fun for nerds? Yeah, probably. I should have a review up at Comics Bulletin tomorrow.

Red Herring #1

I had not been aware of this before now; it's a new miniseries from Wildstorm about a conspiracy theorist or something, by David Tischman and Philip Bond. I'm not so sure about Tischman, but Bond is a great artist, so it'll look nice, at least.

Starstruck #1

This is a classic European-style fantasy/sci-fi comic from Elaine Lee and Michael William Kaluta, back in print from IDW with new coloring. Jog's been talking this up for a while, so I'm pretty interested to check it out.

Ultimate Comics Avengers #1

I guess Ultimatum didn't completely burn down the Ultimate Marvel universe, because it's getting relaunched again already. Will it be any good? Well, Mark Millar is writing this series, and Carlos Pacheco is drawing at least the first storyline, so it might be all right. Millar has done some of the best Ultimate stuff, and The Ultimates was also some of the most enjoyable work of his career, so hopefully this will be pretty good. Of course, he might have to spend too much time picking up the pieces after Jeph Loeb's childish destruction, so we'll see how it goes.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1

And here's the other Ultimate relaunch, with Brian Michael Bendis still plugging away at the character that's been the source of some of his best work. Again, he's probably going to be stuck cleaning up Loeb's mess for a bit, but hopefully he'll get back on track soon. David Lafuente is the new artist, and he's got a nice, fun style, so (also) hopefully he'll be able to make Bendis' talkiness look good. I'm probably too optimistic about these things, but it helps that I'm not actually planning to buy them.

Unwritten #4

I like what I've seen of this series, so it's one that I'll try to read when it gets collected. That scene from the previous issue (I think) in which the various horror writers were sniping at each other? Funny stuff.

Wednesday Comics #6

Yes, this is good stuff. Watch for a special appearance by me elsewhere discussing last week's issue; I'll link to it when it's up. As of this week, I'm loving Kamandi the most, but also enjoying Batman, Deadman, Hawkman, and Strange Adventures a whole bunch, having a good time with Flash, Sgt. Rock, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman, tolerating Metal Men, and hating Teen Titans and Superman. Is that everything? I'm getting old and forgetful, so I probably missed something.

10 Beautiful Assassins Vol 1 GN

I don't know about this. From Seven Seas, this seems to be a goofy action comic about a virginal master thief who is awesome at his job but gets befuddled around beautiful women (only beautiful ones? Even the homely ones should get the hormones racing). It's manga-style, and maybe enjoyable, although it seems to be done right-to-left, which I always find to be pointless and annoying in English-language comics. It looks like it was also a webcomic (or at least has a lengthy preview available), and you can read it online here.

Batman Hush Complete TPB

Oh yes, I'm sure this is something every Batman fan will have to have. Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee doing a nonsensical story about some new villain screwing with Batman and other lame shit going on. I read it a while back, and it's actually not bad for a big, dumb comic that manages to cram in every villain and guest star possible, but it's by no means great comics. And now it's available in one big book! Enjoy, losers.

Charlatan Ball TPB

Here, get this instead. Joe Casey and Andy Suriano bring the Kirby-style craziness in a story about a magician getting transported to a series of magical worlds and forced to compete in some sort of magical tournament even though he doesn't actually have any magical powers. It's insane, full of nutty characters and bizarre settings, moving with breakneck speed and using plenty of weird language. Between this and Godland, Casey seems to me to be the best heir to Kirby, coming up with wild ideas and putting his own spin on them rather than just trotting Kirby's characters (or analogues thereof) out for another go-round. I'm not sure if I understand this series completely, but I have a blast reading it; it's the kind of thing that gets me excited about comics, because I have no idea what's going to happen next. Plus, the art is really good too; I hope a second volume follows soon.

Fables Vol 12 The Dark Ages TPB

Ooh, this is always exciting. A new volume of Fables means I can finally start to get caught up on what is going on; hopefully the "Great Fables Crossover" collection won't take to long to come out either. I never know if I'm being objective when reading these, or if I've become a fan blinded to any faults. I do like reading the series though.

Geronimo Stilton GN Vol 01 Discovery of America
Geronimo Stilton GN Vol 02 Secret O/T Sphinx

I was not aware of this children's book series (which is an import from Italy, I think), but it's apparently about a mouse journalist and his time-traveling adventures, which sounds like fun. Although the books are credited to Stilton himself, the actual authors of the graphic novel versions are Luca Crippa, Maurizio Onnis, Demetrio Bargellini, and Gianluigi Fungo, with the original books written by Elisabetta Dami. Neat?

Old Man Winter & Other Sordid Tales GN

I've heard about this Xeric-winning collection of J.T. Yost's short stories here and there, and it sounds quite good. I'll have to check it out if I get the chance. Here, Sandy Bilus has a review.

Punisher War Zone TPB

This Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon reunion on the "funny" style of the Punisher was pretty damn enjoyable, full of gross violence and other such nastiness. And now it's collected, in case you missed it when it was coming out. Here, I reviewed the first, second, third, and fifth issues, so you can see what I really thought if you want.

Runaways Pride & Joy TPB

I think this is the trade paperback version of the first collection of the first volume of the series. It originally came out in a digest format, then more recently in a hardcover format, and now in a softcover. I guess. My choice would be the digest, or the thick hardcover that collects the entire first volume, but this works if you want to read the series, I suppose. It's good stuff; Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona have kids romp through the Marvel universe trying to do superhero-y stuff without getting caught up in the whole business of whatever is going on with the rest of the heroes. I give it my recommendation if you've never read it before.

Sandman By Joe Simon and Jack Kirby HC

Ooh, it's more of those Simon/Kirby reprints, collecting some golden age stuff they did in the 1940s. Me, I'm more interested in the later Kirby stuff, but I'll read anything by him that I can get my hands on. I bet this is rather interesting. I think the pair reunited on the character in the 70s, but that run isn't considered to be all that good. Anyway: Kirby! Yes!

Some New Kind Of Slaughter HC

I did not read this series from A. David Lewis and mpMann about flood myths around the world, but it sounded interesting. Of course, so did their previous book, The Lone and Level Sands, and I kind of hated that one. I'm always generous with the second chances though, so this might be worth checking out.

Universal War One Prem HC Revelations

Eurocomics from Marvel; I believe this is the second volume of their version of this series. I only read the first issue of the first volume, and thought it was pretty good. Maybe I'll get around to reading the rest of the series someday.

Vampire Dance GN

This is one of those Italian books that Dark Horse is releasing in the U.S., about vampires fighting neo-Nazis and shit. It's by Sergio Bleda, and it looks kinda neat, with some nice black and white artwork. Here's a short preview.

X-Men First Class TPB Finals GN

The end of Jeff Parker's run on the fan-favorite book about the early days of the X-Men; I read it, and it's pretty decent, although not really my sort of thing. The Colleen Coover-illustrated stories are pretty great though; too bad the whole book isn't like that.

Art Of Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea TP

Viz has this artbook of stuff from Hayao Miyazaki's latest movie. Hey, here's the story of my attempted viewing of the film: I went to the screening, but halfway through the movie, one of the reels was spliced in backward, so the movie suddenly started playing backward and upside down, with people walking backward and speaking in reverse. It was pretty ridiculous. Professional! So, yeah, the first half was pretty great, but I don't know how it turned out. I think they're redoing the screening next week, so I should be able to see it then. Good times!

Dogs Bullets & Carnage Vol 1 TP

Futuristic assassins! This book starts the series proper, after the introductory volume 0, which I liked when I read it. I'll have to check this one out if I get the chance.

Ikigami Ultimate Limit GN Vol 02

I also liked this manga about people dying by order of the government. I have this volume sitting on my review pile at home, so hopefully I'll get to it soon.

Oishinbo GN Vol 04 Fish Sushi & Sashimi

This might already be out, since I mentioned it a couple weeks ago in one of these posts, but my local shop has it on their release list, so I figure it's worth mentioning again. I'm in the process of reading it right now, so expect a review soon. In the meantime, here's what I thought of the sake volume. This series is fun.

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Wow, that's everything, which seems like a small week. That's fine, I've got a lot to catch up on. More content coming, as I always promise.

Wizard Chicago 2009: Sketches, and the sketching thereof

I may have bitched about some of the more unsavory bits of Wizard's show this year, but I was able to meet with plenty of creators that I like and either have them sign books or contribute to my Groo sketchbook. Here's the notable ones:

Tim Sievert drew a cool, detailed image in his book That Salty Air:

Jeffrey Brown did a funny Bighead picture inside Sulk #1:

And a cute kitty inside Cat Getting Out of a Bag:

And speaking of cute kitties, Jill Thompson drew these pictures of Scratches in two volumes of Magic Trixie:

Geof Darrow did this one in the back of Hard Boiled:

As for the Groo sketchbook (previous entries from which can be seen here), I got some great entries, including this one by Gabriel Bautista:

Tim Sievert appears to be continuing a fish theme (and going crazy with the detail and motion:

Kevin Cannon does funny:

Jeffrey Brown also does funny, taking the scatological angle:

David Petersen goes for the barbarian look:

And Jill Thompson does classic Groo, a not-bad imitation of Sergio Aragones himself:

I love seeing creators work like this; in some cases, I stood and watched people draw just to get a look at their style and technique. It never fails to amaze me, since I'm a pretty terribly drawer myself. That's one of those really cool things about conventions, and it redeems even a somewhat poor experience. Yay, comics!

Wizard Chicago 2009: Oh, comics, why do you test me

After seeing some of the heights of the comics medium at MoCCA 2009, the view of the industry/medium/genre from a mainstream standpoint at Chicago's least-exclusive convention is enough to make one come crashing back down to earth. As seemed to be the trend with any talk about the San Diego Comic-Con, comics themselves seem to be an afterthought here, with more space and attention devoted to wrestlers, models, actors, and toys than to the art form that gives the convention its name. It was even more so than in years past, since both Marvel and DC didn't bother to show up (outside of some panels), and neither did most of the smaller publishers like Image, Dark Horse, or Oni Press; the only publishers that seemed to have any presence were Top Shelf, Avatar, and Ape Entertainment. Instead, visitors were greeted with booth upon booth bearing these sorts of wares:

Why?! Who comes to a comics convention to check out swords, real or otherwise? It's a shame, and it's ridiculous to have to search to find any actual comics content. The retailer section wasn't quite so terrible, but while some might want to hunt through back issue bins to find that one silver age book missing from their collection, there wasn't much in a good third of the floor that you couldn't find at your local comic shop. Some might come to a convention for that sort of thing, but not me.

No, I'm more interested in immersing myself in comics, meeting creators and discussing their art, and hopefully discovering new talents. That wasn't a totally fruitless pursuit, but even the artists' alley section of the convention was littered with either low-quality amateurishness or table after table full of pin-up art, usually of the embarassing type that mostly consists of superheroines in various states of undress. It's painful to witness; is this what gets comics fans excited? Do I really want to be part of that sort of idiocy?

But in between the wanna-bes and wankers, real artists lurked, and it's always good to talk to them about their craft, discuss what projects they have coming up, and look at the often staggering piles of original art to really discover the nuances of their work. Nathan Fox is one such artist; his originals are amazing to witness, seemingly twice the size of a regular comics art page. No wonder he can really pack in the details. He mentioned a few upcoming projects that sound really exciting, including a graphic novel published by Scholastic called Dogs of War that's a historical story about soldiers working with dogs in World War I and II and Vietnam. Unfortunately, it won't be coming out until 2011, but it will certainly be one to look for. He's also hoping to be able to get to a graphic novel that he's collaborating on with Joe Casey; they were planning it when they got the opportunity to do Dark Reign: Zodiac, and opted for the paying work.

David Petersen, creator of Mouse Guard, talked about his plans for future installments of his popular series; next up is The Black Axe, which delves into the past to explore the history of one character. That will be followed by The Weasel War, another prequel. And then he will return to the "present", but take a leap forward in time to a point a bit after Winter 1152 wrapped up, hoping to have readers work to catch up with what is going on with the characters. It sounds like a good amount of material to look forward to.

Other creators had some interesting tidbits of information, including Katie Cook, who will be working on a licensed Jim Henson project for Archaia, although since it had not been officially announced, she was not at liberty to state whether it would be Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, or The Dark Crystal (my guess is the latter). Mike Allred noted that he's trying to make Eugene, Oregon famous in the upcoming Vertigo series I, Zombie. Jill Thompson will probably be doing another Scary Godmother comic after Beasts of Burden is finished (the preview pages she had of the first issue are just gorgeous). Phil Hester is excited about his upcoming series The Anchor, which is illustrated by Brian Churilla. And there were probably plenty of other notable encounters, proving that there was good content to be had at the con, if you knew where to look.

On the "new discoveries" front, the find of the show has to be Jeff Wamester, an artist who seems to be bursting with talent and ideas. His most notable work is probably WMD, as soon-to-begin webcomic with plenty of sci-fi trappings, but he has a few other projects that are going to be coming soon from his small publishing company. Looking through the work he had on display, he's definitely a creator that will be a big name and a sought-after talent very soon.

Scott Dillon and Mitch Gerads of Pop Gun Pulp were another source of exciting work; their book Johnny Recon looks like a nice bit of pulp sci-fi action, with some pretty amazingly dynamic art from Gerads. This looks to be another book that should gain some notice, if all is right with the world.

Brittany Sabo seems like another notable talent; she mostly had minicomics on display, but she and her collaborator A. Bratton have recently released a book called Francis Sharp in the Grip of the Uncanny, and she also contributed to the Big Funny project. Sabo's work seems more like what was on display at MoCCA, rather than the superhero-wannabe material that was inescapable here. It was quite refreshing to see a nice, simple bit of design and character; if all goes right, Sabo will be another talent on the indie comics scene soon.

And there were quite a few other indie cartoonists and webcomics makers on the scene, including Serena Guerra; Gabriel Bautista and the Pulpo crew; Agnes Garbowska, who is doing a kids' zombie book called You, Me, and Zombie; Len Kody, whose webcomic Chicago 1968 is about the infamous Democratic Convention; and at least one of the creators from Saint James Comics. And maybe a few others, but really, the pickings were pretty slim. You wouldn't necessarily think so if you saw the pile of stuff I came home with though:

Maybe it's the continued encroachment of Hollywood and other media on comicdom, or maybe Wizard's state of instability is scaring away the real talent, but this year's con seemed to be kind of a downer. Maybe a smaller show like the Windy City Comicon will be a good place for the focus to return to comics and talent to flourish, or perhaps next year's C2E2 will manage to get a good comics show to return to the city, but for right now Wizard, despite its highlights, is looking pretty avoidable. Any chance to interact with creators is welcome though, so I'll take what I can get.

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I'll have some reviews of stuff I got at the con in the next day or two, along with scans of sketches (including additions to my Groo sketchbook), and there should be some pictures up on Facebook too; I'll throw up a link when I've posted them (UPDATE: Here they are). And then it's back to normal around here, hopefully; I've still got a lot to catch up on. Oy.