Will Eisner Week: Character Art!

This post will probably be a bit shorter than yesterday's, as I have less to say, and instead will focus mostly on showing pieces of art. I wanted to talk about Eisner's knack for character art, specifically movement and emotion. His characters are slightly exaggerated, mostly to show the emotions that they are experiencing. Some of this shows in facial expressions, but Eisner is especially great at showing it through posture and body movement. Check it:

(click pictures to enlarge)



I was originally going to put this image in yesterday's post, but I decided it reflected character art better than layout. Frimme is despondent here, which we can see from his slumped posture. The rain emphasises the sadness, of course.



This page is from "The Street Singer"; we see the titular character being tossed out of a bar while trying to retain some shred of dignity. His movements in the bottom two panels are superb.



This is the super from the story of the same name, and from this introductory page we see that he's a big, scary guy that people don't want to mess with.



But then in a subsequent page we get a glimpse of his home life and realize that's actually kind of a lonely fellow.



Here's a panel from the story "Cookalein", in which characters are traveling to the country on vacation. I especially like the guys checking out the girl; men don't make it this obvious in real life, but here Eisner demonstrates what our minds are up to.



And then we have the girl blowing off a guy who she thinks is below her station. Eisner gets the facial expression and posture perfect, representing her complete dismissal of him as a prospect. Meanwhile, he has an "Oh, brother" look on his face; he's probably been through this experience before.



This is a great scene, with a stereotypically overbearing and manipulative Jewish mother putting down the phone as she's cooking and letting her son think she's having some sort of attack. I love her bored facial expression, like she does this all the time.



The girl on the right is excited about going skating with the guy she likes, and it shows both on her face and in her posture. Her mom's not so pleased (he's a gentile).



And here they are skating. I love the graceful sense of movement here, as though they are dancing on the ice. I wish I could skate like this. If my wife and I tried this, we would end up with a lot of bruises.



Here's a scene of a gangster shaking down a guy who owes him money. He's completely casual about it, sipping tea as the guy buries his head in his hands in anguish.



And I just love the posture of this kid pretending to be a gunfighter.



Here's a city official realizing his fate if he doesn't go along with the mob. It's a good "glance at the camera" moment. His wide eyes and the bead of sweat really sell it.



Another good scene with lots of motion (sorry about the bad scan), as we see a boxing match that really demonstrates the physicality of the contestants.



I love how Eisner expresses the emotions of these characters, parents of an Irish girl and Jewish guy who just got married. It's a good mix in the space of a few panels, as we see the mother agonizing over her son's decision, then her semi-acceptance as she dances with the father of the bride, then the aftermath of a scene we have to imagine. Excellent stuff.



And finally, here is a Vietnam vet, stoic toward his lot in life after he came home without his legs. We actually saw this character before he went to war, and he was big, strong, bold, and hopeful. Here we see what war has done to him; he's hunched over and sour-faced, ready to live out the rest of his life regretting his earlier gung-ho attitude and bitter at the military for sending him off to a pointless war. Powerful stuff, summed up in one panel.
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Bonus: Spirit character art!

Introspection:



Anger:


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That's it for tonight. Come back tomorrow for more!

Will Eisner Week: Page layouts!

One thing Eisner was great at was innovative page layouts. He was as good as anyone with the standard panel lineup, usually going for a 2x2 or 3x3 format, with some variations. But where he really shone (in my opinion) was when he broke with the standard format and let the panels bleed into each other, or flow together in fascinating ways. I've scanned a bunch of pages from The 'Contract With God' Trilogy (sorry about the poor quality of some of the images; it's a thick hardcover book that's somewhat difficult to scan), and I'll comment on how I love what he does with them layout-wise. If you missed it, see my previous post about the book to get a background of the plot(s) and characters. Off we go! (click to enlarge images, of course).



These first two images are from A Contract With God, which doesn't seem (to me) to have as many innovative page layouts, as it was focused more on groundbreaking storytelling. The character design and art are still beautiful, but I'll get to that in another post. I did want to point out a few panels, however. The one above is near the beginning of the story, and although it's only one panel, I love the way it's presented, as if we are looking in through the window, spying on the characters. It's a motif that Eisner will use again in this series, and probably elsewhere.



Here's the other page from Contract. I love the shadows. If you want to look at it symbolically, the character's life, and his very soul, have darkened, and we can see the shadows spreading from his figure down to take over his world, as he goes to the bank to turn to a life centered on money rather than God. It works sequentially as well, as we see him approaching the bank from outside before we see him talking to the banker inside.



Now we get into A Life Force, and the above panel is probably the one that inspired me to do this post. You've got two panels on the page, but they're separated by a line demarcating the edge of the building the viewer of the scene in the upper panel would be standing on. In fact, it's the same building that's in the background of the lower panel. This really adds to the voyeuristic sense of the whole series, drawing us into the story without us even realizing it.



This scene of a woman cleaning her house could be simple, but Eisner layers the panels atop each other, separating them with steam, shadows, and the edge of a blanket. I love the way he uses steam, smoke, or even the comic representation of a "scent" to break up panels. We'll see it again.



This shot of kids approaching a rabbi's apartment gives us their view of him. His "holy" nature (as he appears to them) is emphasised by the rays of light coming out of the doorway behind him. And I love the way they spread out to fill the silhouette of buildings in the background, causing the panels to bleed together, and showing how the rabbi's influence is felt in the kids' lives.



This character is mentally ill, and Eisner distorts both the panels and the text describing him to represent his skewed view of the world. It's distressing, and puts us in his head in a disconcerting manner. I especially like the eyes that seem to be staring at him from between the "panels", in the very background of his world.



I cut off the bottom of this page since the relevant part is at the top. This character (named Jacob) is paying for an old lover of his to immigrate from Germany (it's the 30's, and she's Jewish). By placing the ship at the top of the panel, in the location a thought balloon would normally go, Eisner shows us what is on his mind. Plus, we get a nifty transition as part of the ocean becomes the steam from his wife's cooking, which also draws your eye from the upper right corner to the lower left as we follow the steam trail, getting a view of Jacob sneaking out of the house.



Note: The image above is somewhat NSFW when enlarged. It's a scene between two lovers, but we get the voyeuristic feeling again, as Eisner transforms a typical panel layout into windows by placing bricks on the borders and clothes lines stretched across the foreground.



At the top of the above page, we see a woman freaking out about her husband leaving her. The large text and her contorted body gives us a feeling of what she (or anyone listening to her) is going through. The shadows make a nice panel border, but I especially like the border between the bottom panels, as the square of light from the open doorway also acts as the ceiling of the room in the bottom panel. I don't know about anyone else, but I have to be watching for this kind of thing. I imagine it's more difficult to lay a page out like this than it looks, but Eisner makes it seem so effortless that we almost don't even notice.

These next two panels represent what's arguably the climax of A Life Force, so I made the thumbnails smaller to try to avoid spoilers. But I'll probably mention plot details, so if you haven't read the book and don't want it given away (if it matters to you), skip the next two paragraphs.



Here we see the imbecilic Max follow a gangster into a lumberyard (a key location in the story), where he discovers Angelo's prostrate body, carrying him to safety. To tell the truth, the layout isn't especially innovative here, but I love the shot of Max carrying him with the huge plume of smoke behind him. And it's another example of the use of smoke as a panel border, which I like.



This page is a bit more interesting layout-wise, as we get the now-familiar smoke as panel borders, which serves to emphasize Angelo's confusion as he wakes up to see his lumber yard on fire. Nicely done. Oh, and I should mention that I love Eisner's depiction of thought balloons as clouds floating over the character's head.



Now we get into Dropsie Avenue. Eisner had matured and grown even more experimental by this point (well, judging from this trilogy, anyway), and while his art might be slightly rougher, his storytelling was at the top of its form. The above page is a beaut, using the motif of smoke as panel borders once again, but it's done beautifully as a flashback is contained in one of Eisner's cloud-like thought balloons, which is revealed to be a puff of smoke that the girl is exhaling.



This scene depicts the bribery of a public official, which Eisner makes explicit by positioning the characters inside dollar bills. Not exactly subtle, but it definitely works.



We see the passage of time on this page, with a bird's-eye view of Dropsie Avenue itself, photograph insets showing details of advancement, and a little strip depicting the woes of modern life for kids who play in the street. It's a great combination of elements.



Here's a masterful depiction of one ethnic group supplanting another, as we see Irish youths watching from outside as Italians celebrate in a newly-built restaurant. I like the way the word ballon of the Italians singing bleeds into the square of light from the window. I also note the way the upper "border" of the page indicates light, but the page gets progressively more closed off and darker toward the bottom, showing the way the Irish are being shut out of the neighborhood.



Here we see the onset of World War II, shown all in one panel as a series of newspaper headlines. They read chronologically in a vertical order, forcing your eyes to zigzag back and forth to read them correctly, with the bottom row pointing toward the mushroom cloud signaling the end of the war. We also get a glimpse of the war underneath the "D-Day" headline, with the rough silhouette's of soldiers, a tank, and planes. These are also all moving to the left, drawing your eye to the explosion and the war's completion. Then you move straight down to the "Allies Occupy Berlin" headline, and the background of a short scene that takes place in Berlin. It's a great way to use background details to get the reader caught up while setting the scene for the next few pages.



And here's the final page I'll show today. It kind of makes me laugh, since it reminds me of the Black Canary issue of All-Star Batman and Robin. Readers of that book should know what I'm talking about. Here we see a bunch of tenants harassing the building owner/super about the condition of the building. We learned just before this that the building's boiler is malfunctioning and needs to be fixed. We see the literal and metaphorical pressure build up until it explodes, destroying the building. Nicely done.
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These are just a few of the examples of Eisner's great ability to lay out a page, focusing mostly on ones I liked and thought were innovative. One could make a study of any of Eisner's pages (hell, somebody probably has), as even the traditionally-laid out ones demonstrate masterful storytelling. He was an amazing artist, and this is just one facet of his talent. Keep checking back, as I'll return tomorrow to discuss another element of his amazing work.

Will Eisner Week interlude: new comics!

Sorry to interrupt the themed content so soon, but I'll go ahead and do my regular Monday preview of

New comics this week (Wednesday, 3/14/07):

Like I've been doing lately, I've been getting the list from Chris Butcher's site, so thanks, Chris! I would recommend checking out his post, since he highlights several comics which I wasn't aware of.

A LATE FREEZE 6.50

This is a minicomic, I guess, by Danica Novgodoroff, and it looks really nice. I have no idea if my store will get it. You can check out samples on her site here. I think I first heard about her on First Second's blog.

DAMNED #5 (MR) 3.50

Ah, this awesome series finishes. I've been really digging it, so I hope it ends well.

GARTH ENNIS CHRONICLES OF WORMWOOD #2 (OF 6) (MR) 3.99

I enjoyed the first issue of this series, so hopefully it will stay good. I expect the "action" to pick up somewhat, but who knows, we might just get low-key comedy. Go Ennis!

MAGIC MIRROR OF MC ESCHER TASCHEN 25TH ANIV ED (C: 12.99

I'm not sure what this is, but I like M.C. Escher. I'm sure I'll take a look at it if I see it, but who knows if it's worth buying?

KING CITY VOL 1 GN (OF 3) (MR) 9.99

Chris says this looks pretty great. It's by Brandon Graham, and it's from Tokyopop. Might be worth checking out. Oh, and according to Chris, it's direct market exclusive, so you won't find it at Borders.

PIRACY IS LIBERATION VOL 1 INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE 13.95

I don't know much about this, but I like the title. Here's the cover, courtesy of midtowncomics.com:



SAM NOIR RONIN HOLIDAY #2 (OF 3) 2.99

I liked the first issue of this mini. Now if only I can find the first mini and get caught up...

THUNDERBOLTS #112 2.99

I don't think I'm going to continue getting this series. It's somewhat amusing, but I'm just not really interested in this sort of thing right now, especially given my growing distaste for mainstream Marvel. I'll flip through it in the store and see if I see anything that makes me want to get it, but there probably won't be anything.

TOWN OF EVENING CALM COUNTRY OF CHERRY BLOSSOMS GN 9.99

I'll defer to Chris's judgment again; he says this is an important manga, about the aftereffects of the atom bomb on Hiroshima. I'll take a look if I see it. My shop doesn't stock much manga, so I usually check them out at Borders.

WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE #6 (MR) 3.99
WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE VOL 1 TP (MR) 19.99

I've been thinking about trying to catch up on this series, since I've liked what I saw of it, especially Ben Templesmith's art. Looks like the first collection is out, but it seems kind of expensive (which tends to be par for the course for IDW). Maybe.
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That's it for Chris's list, which is sometimes a little different up there in Canada, so he might be missing a couple things. According to Midtown Comics and Diamond's pre-list, we've also got:

FRANKLIN RICHARDS MARCH MADNESS $2.99

I love the Franklin Richards specials, and the cover of this one is great. Should be fun.
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Plus, I don't see it on any lists, but Adam Warren says his "sexy superhero comedy", Empowered, is coming out this week. I'll have to look at the official Diamond list when it's released tonight and see if it's on there.

UPDATE: I just read Warren's latest entry, and he says Empowered has been delayed again, but it will definitely ship on March 21st. That'll teach me to do my research.
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So, kind of a light week, which is nice after last week's backbreaking haul. I'm in the middle of Will Eisner Week here, so I don't know if I'll review any new comics, but maybe I'll get to them next week or something. If I feel like blogging about any of them. Stay tuned and find out!

Will Eisner Week begins!

I've been meaning to do some themed weeks for a while now, so I'm going to kick it off with a look at Will Eisner. I just finished reading The 'Contract With God' Trilogy, and rather than write a single review or something, I figured I would stretch it out into a week's worth of posts about stuff I loved about Eisner. And, serendipitously, it happened to be right after his birthday!

To tell the truth, I haven't actually read a lot of Eisner's works, but that's something I hope to remedy in my continual comics reading. The only comics of his I actually own are the aforementioned Trilogy, and The Best of the Spirit. I've also read To the Heart of the Storm, and probably some other stuff like other Spirit strips. I'm hoping to read more as soon as I can, especially Last Day in Vietnam, Minor Miracles, Life on Another Planet, Fagin the Jew, and plenty of others (recommendations are quite welcome). Who knows, maybe a sequel to Will Eisner Week will be forthcoming!

I'm planning to talk about what I like about Eisner's work over the next week, but I'll start off by talking about The 'Contract With God' Trilogy, since that's what I read most recently. For those who don't know, A Contract With God was Eisner's groundbreaking graphic novel (published in 1978) about life in a tenement building located on the fictional Dropsie Avenue in the Bronx, New York City. He followed it up five years later with A Life Force, and then returned one more time to the neighborhood in 1995 with Dropsie Avenue.

A Contract With God is really four separate short stories in one volume, and it's clear that Eisner is trying to break new ground and tell adult stories. His storytelling is still a little wobbly here, in my opinion, but it's still really arresting stuff, obviously coming from a very personal area. He grew up in a similar neighborhood, and many of the stories are clearly drawn from his memories. The first story, which shares its name with the title of the book, is about a Jewish man who had lived religiously all his life. He immigrated to the US from the Ukraine, and was very faithful to God, having drawn up a contract with God as a child, saying that he would follow God's ways and God would watch over him. At the beginning of the story, the man's daughter has died of un unstated illness. He feels that God has violated the contract, so he begins to live for himself, accumulating riches and giving up his religious ways. It's quite heartbreaking seeing the man's anguish, and Eisner sheds light on this in the introduction, revealing that soon before he wrote the book, his own teenage daughter died from leukemia. Knowing that, it's almost hard to read the emotions that Eisner lays bare on the page. I don't think he gave up his religion like his character does, but it was probably a very cathartic way for him to explore the possibility. Very moving stuff.

The other stories in the book are also quite good. "The Street Singer" is the story of a man who, rather than work for a living, goes around singing in alleys for the change that people throw from windows. Of course, he spends all the money on liquor rather than supporting his wife, and he's not above going up to an apartment if a woman summons him from her window. "The Super" is about a brutish superintendent who lives in the basement of the building he supervises. He ends up falling to temptation after being attracted to the (preteen) daughter of one of the tenants. Finally, "Cookalein" is about the country retreats that families would travel to in the summer. Kids would get up to hijinx, husbands and wives would philander, and young singles would try to hook up with a rich husband or wife. All three of these stories are drawn directly from, or at least inspired by, Eisner's memories, and it's a fascinating look at the past. I love stuff like this. Plus, Eisner seems to really be pushing the envelope, as the stories are filled with violence, nudity, and sex. It probably seemed pretty shocking at the time. Overall, it's an excellent book, but the best was yet to come.

My favorite book in the trilogy is probably A Life Force, which I would compare to an Altman film, as it follows several characters as they weave in and out of each other's lives. Eisner is examining what people live for, what makes them keep struggling through life. The story is mostly set during the Depression, so it's an apt question for the times. The characters live in and around 55 Dropsie Avenue, the same building where A Contract With God was set. The characters we follow include Jacob, an aging carpenter who spent five years building a school for the local synagogue, only to see it get named after the man who donated the money to have it built; Jacob's family, which include his overbearing wife, his doctor son, and his schoolteacher daughter; the Rabbi, who ends up giving Jacob a reason to live when he asks him to build a room for his mentally-ill wife; Elton Shaftsbury, a rich stockbroker who lost everything in the market crash and is forced to work as a "runner"; Angelo, an Italian immigrant indebted to the mob; and young Willie, a teenage stand-in for Eisner that's dabbling in Communism. Not all of these characters interact directly with each other, but they all sort of flow through each other's lives, and we get a real sense of life during the Depression. It's wonderful stuff, beautifully illustrated, and interspersed with newspaper articles telling about the market crash, the harsh weather, and living conditions in the city. Fascinating.

Finally, we have Dropsie Avenue, a 120-year-long story about the origins and changes of the neighborhood itself, from it's beginnings as Dutch farmland, to it's change to high-rise tenements, to it's devolution into slums, to it's eventual destruction and rebirth as a suburban neighborhood, which seems to start the cycle all over. This is some beautiful storytelling as well, as we get a real sense of the geography of the neighborhood; it's fascinating to watch it evolve over time. We see some characters float in and out of the story, including a boxer-turned-civic-leader and an attorney that ends up representing the neighborhood on the city council. We see the ethnic changes over time, as the rich Dutch families give way to Irish immigrants, who end up supplanted by Jews and Italians, who are in turn replaced by Hispanics and Blacks. And, we see the heartbreaking change as the poplulation gets poorer and poorer, with any families with money moving out as "undesirable" elements move in (some of the "evacuations" are due to racism, but others to crime and poor living conditions). As we get closer to the present, it seems like the only residents left are gangs and druggies, and eventually pretty much all the buildings burn down (whether through arson or by accidental means). It's actually really sad to see the decline. Eisner is in total mastery of his form by this point, and he grabs you by the throat and forces you to watch the horrible things happening in the place you've come to love. Very sad stuff, and beautifully done.

So there's my thoughts on the trilogy. Stay tuned throughout the week for my examinations of Eisner's art and storytelling, and other tropes that I see. It should be fun!

Some quick links

Seems like I link to everything he does these days, but here's Vern's review of 300. My favorite line: "One thing that definitely sucks about being a woman in Sparta: it's too god damn cold. You can tell because their nipples are always rock hard. "

CBR has an interview/preview for Wonton Soup, a new graphic novel coming out soon from Oni press. Looks like fun.

Via Journalista!: A two-page strip from 2000AD that's one of Neil Gaiman's earliest comics. Fun!

Also from Journalista!: Some reviews on Bookslut of Project: Romantic and Outlaw Nation. I'd heard Outlaw Nation was pretty good, but this review is quite negative. Plus an interview with Alison Bechdel (author of Fun Home, as if you didn't know).
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All right, I'll stop there, but I'll add more if I find them, so stay tuned!

A bipolar week of comics

Well, it's about time I got around to:

Reviews of new comics!

Fantastic Four #543
Written by Dwayne McDuffie, Stan Lee, and Paul Pope
Art by Mike McKone, Nick Dragotta and Mike Allred, and Paul Pope



Well, I got this one due to Paul Pope's backup story, and I lucked out, because the other backup story is written by Stan Lee, with art by Nick Dragotta and Mike Allred! Awesome! The main story is a fairly boring affair; I suppose I might be interested if I was planning on reading the book monthly, but it's a Civil War epilogue, like the cover says, with the team hanging out and being a family while watching a TV special about their career. There's nothing wrong with it, but it just doesn't interest me.

However, the backup stories are where the real action is. I probably read about Dragotta and Allred's involvement at some point, but I hadn't noticed that their story was written by Stan Lee, so that was a nice surprise. It's a pretty amusing affair, and it fits in quite well with the recent Stan Lee Meets... specials that Marvel put out to commemorate Lee's 65th year of working for them, or something like that (how old is he, anyway?). I ended up getting all those specials, and this story is exactly the same tone, with Stan showing up to convince the team to go fight the Mole Man, since Reed Richards is moping because nobody is congratulating them for their 45th anniversary (which is a weird number to celebrate anyway, if you ask me). I don't know if Stan has written anything worthwhile in the last 20 years or so, and this story, like much of his recent output, is pretty lightweight; he can't seem to stop talking about movies and merchandising. He ends up stopping the Mole Man by offering him a role in the next Marvel movie, and then he assures the FF that they'll get a huge celebration for their 50th anniversary. It's a fun little outing, with excellent art by Dragotta and Allred. They give a nice Kirby-esque feel, while throwing in a lot of details. There's a funny appearance by Joe Quesada and the rest of the Marvel Bullpen (any idea who any of the other guys are?):



I like the X-Statix poster on the wall. That series is gone, but not forgotten! And here's a great scene of Stan running between Mole Man's minions:



I love the body language. Hopefully all that exertion won't give him a heart attack (he's an old guy!). So, it's an enjoyable story, if light, with excellent art.

(By the way, I like Dragotta and Allred's recent team-ups, but I think that they look quite similar to Allred's solo work, so I looked for some solo Dragotta work, and here's what I found (click to enlarge, of course):



From X-Statix #20.



From Amazing Fantasy #15.



Not sure. Character design for Amazing Fantasy #15?

Interesting. His style seems fairly simple, so it looks like Allred is pretty much taking it over and making it his own. Maybe Dragotta is mostly doing layouts, with Allred finishing them in his own style.)

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Paul Pope's story is an old-school Spider-Man/Human Torch dust-up. J. Jonah Jameson is sick of getting the same old Spider-Man photos from Peter Parker, so he assigns him to take some pics of Johnny Storm in a hot-rod race. Of course, when Johnny spots Spidey setting up his camera, this happens:



And they end up fighting. By the way, this takes place in the past, before all the Civil War nonsense, with the Spidey identity reveal and the hey hey!, so it's like a classic Spidey/Torch fight, only illustrated in Pope's crazy, kinetic style:



It's pretty awesome, even though it's only ten pages long. So, the books pretty sweet, although I would have preferred if they had done some sort of separate anniversary special with just the backup stories, because then I wouldn't have had to pay for the regular boring part.
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Nat Turner volume 2 (of 2)
By Kyle Baker



Wow, this was incredible, even after the wait after issue #2 of the miniseries came out. For those who don't know, this comic was originally scheduled as a four-issue miniseries. The first two issues were released, then Baker decided to release the series as two graphic novels, with the first volume containing the first two issues of the series. So now volume 2 comes out, containing what would have been the final two issues of the miniseries. It's been quite a while to wait, but it was worth it.

This is the brutal true story of Nat Turner, a slave who led a revolt against slave owners in 1831. At least, he went to trial in 1831, so it probably wasn't any earlier than 1830. The first two issues were about Turner's mother being captured as a slave in Africa and brought to the U.S., and about Turner's childhood and life as a slave. He was very intelligent, having taught himself to read. Volume 2 sees the revolt begin, as we see Turner gather a few other slaves and go to murder their owners in their sleep. Then they make their way across the country, killing white families in each house and setting the slaves free to join their growing "army". Eventually they are defeated, and Turner is caught and hanged (sorry about the spoiler, but it's a 180-year-old story, and the ending is spoiled on the cover anyway).

The story is harrowing, told only in pictures and excerpts from The Confessions of Nat Turner, a book that was published containing an interview conducted with Turner while he was in prison awaiting execution. Baker shows us all the gory details, as Turner and his army slaughter the unsuspecting families, including the women and children. At one point, Turner and his men are leaving a house where they had killed a family, and the men remember that there was a baby in a cradle that they had forgotten about. We can see from Turner's expression that he is hesitant about killing a baby (great cartooning by Baker), but he remembers having his own child taken away from him, so he lets them return to the house to finish the job. Later, a large slave encounters the boy of the family that owned him (he was shown smiling at the boy on the first couple pages of the book). Here's his reaction:



Wow. It's the kind of violence that shocks and sickens you, but you can understand what drove them to it. Well, actually, I can't even begin to fathom what slavery is like, but some of the brutality and inhuman treatment that is shown toward slaves in this series at least gives a hint of the whole picture. This is a great, literary work, and it should be taught in schools. It shows us a horrifying part of our national history, and it's not something that should ever be forgotten.
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Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #2 (of 4)
By Jeff Smith



Well, here's something to lighten the mood after the downer of the previous book. I don't know if I mentioned the first issue of this, other than to say I was excited about it. In any case, it was great, but the story gets even better here. It's nearly nonstop action, as Billy goes to the circus just in time to witness some talking crocodiles run rampant and attempt to eat the children in the audience. Billy changes into Captain Marvel so he can tear them a new one:



I love the croc at the bottom, rubbing his nose and crying after being socked in the kisser. In fact, I'm going to call it my current favorite comics panel. Billy is joined in his fight by a tiger, who we later find out is Talky Tawny, the old bum who helped him out last issue. There's other stuff going on, as Dr. Sivana has been named Attorney General and is establishing a Big Brother-style system to catch "evildoers". I sure didn't expect political commentary in this book, but it's just there for flavor. We've also got a huge Miyazaki-style monster standing in Central Park, and it calls itself Mr. Mind and says its monsters will come and destroy the human race. Uh oh.

Cap searches out his (Billy's) sister Mary (who was at the circus), and finds her in the care of Talky Tawny. He changes back to Billy to get acquainted with her, and it's all very cute. Smith is great at characterizing kids, and he nails their expressions:



He's also good at getting expressions out of animals, as we can see with Talky. Nice!

Eventually, another monster shows up in Central Park, so Billy has to change back to Captain Marvel to go check it out, but when he does, some lightning sparks off him and hits Mary, changing her to Mary Marvel! She retains her childlike form, but has the speed and flight of Cap. She's hilariously kid-like as she zips all over the place testing out her powers, and she races Cap to Central Park to confront the monsters. The book ends there, leaving us hanging. I can't wait until the next issue to see what happens next.
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The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #2 (of 7)
Written by Robin Furth and Peter David
Art by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove



Well, looks like I'm hooked, at least for the remainder of this miniseries. I know next-to-nothing about Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and I mostly picked the first issue of this series up because I like Jae Lee's art, but it's pretty cool, and unless it takes a huge downturn in future issues, I'll be sticking around.

I thought the narration in the series was a bit cutesy at first, but I'm getting used to it. It's written as if the story is being told around a campfire or something, with the narrator using a lot of slang and referring to the readers senses, saying things like, "Try to ignore, if ya can, the disgusting rending and tearing and slurping noises of his dinner. Notice instead the six spheres surrounding him." It's a bit odd, but not terribly annoying once you get used to it. Or maybe it was just toned down somewhat from the previous issue.



This issue sees the titular Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, leaving his hometown of Gilead and venturing into the wilderness. He's sure to come across interesting characters, some of whom we see here, including a band of deputies working for the evil antagonist of the story. Or one of them, at least; two or three "big bads" have been introduced so far. We also see a virginal young girl visiting a witch to be examined before she can be offered to her town's mayor as a concubine. There's some genuinely graphic sexual descriptions here, with the witch checking "lower" and saying, "Caulked tight, ye are. Good as ever was. But Thorin'll see to that, so he will." Yikes. And in another scene, the narrator describes the witch's reaction to a magical object: "...a foul-smelling old woman with sagging teats and a barren desert in the place where her ancient bowlegs come together...save, believe it or don't, such is her excitement over the sack the Eldred Jonas hands her that she feels a strange heat and unaccustomed moisture in that barren creek." Wow. Not what you usually read in the captions of Marvel comics. There is a "parental advisory" notice on the back of the comic, but I still found it a bit shocking. Maybe that was the point.



The story is still mostly setup for what's to come, and it's pretty interesting, but the real draw for me is the gorgeous art. I love Jae Lee's moody, shadow-filled drawings, and Richard Isanove's coloring really brings a beautiful depth and texture to them. I dig the way Lee depicts details like the baroque folds in clothing or bedsheets, or the gnarls of tree branches. And some of the more horrific elements are damn creepy. I won't ruin it here, but there's a character introduced who is disgustingly nasty. I like it; I don't get creeped out by comics too often.



The comic is $3.99, but you get a lot of bang for your buck. In addition to the main story, there's a text piece describing the origin of the "world" of the series, a map of the territory relevant to the issue, some examples of Lee's uncolored pencils, an essay by Stephen King about the comic, and a preview of the next issue. Not a bad deal.
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I have a couple more I wanted to talk about, but this has gotten really long, so I'll get to them another time (hopefully tomorrow). Plus, I've got an event of sorts that I'm hoping to start this weekend, so stay tuned for that!

So it's come to this

That's right, I'm going to the well of standard blog-post ideas to present:

Wacky search terms!

That's the hazard of installing a traffic monitor: you get obsessed with how many hits you get, and you find all the weird Google searches people use to come across your site. So check these out:

tommy pinball wizard pinball halo picture jesus

Well, I searched for it, but I couldn't find an image of Tommy surrounded by a halo of pinballs. Bummer. And I thought about searching for the following images, but I think you'll have to just find them yourself, watch the movie, or use your imagination.

baked beans ann-margaret
ann margret bubbles

Plus, I realized I spelled her name Ann-Margaret in my Tommy review, but it's actually Ann-Margret. Whoops.

american virgin vertigo disappoint

I sure thought it did, but maybe it's gotten better. I doubt it though, and I wish Becky Cloonan would move on to something else.

newuniversal characters resembling real actors

Ooh, I can help you with this one. Look.

okami lockjaw

That's an interesting combination. If there are any artists reading this, I would love to get a picture of Lockjaw as a the wolf from Okami, or maybe Amaterasu as an Inhuman. Maybe I'll even try to make one myself.

miss piggy karate pictures

Ah, now that's hilarious. I wish I had something to show you, but you'll have to find this elsewhere.

mole with tentacles on her nose

Yikes! I think this is the fellow you're looking for. Although why you specified a female, I'm not sure.

okami characters artwork mr orange

Here's a screenshot, but if you're looking for concept art or something, I suggesg Google Image Search.

main conflicts in lady sing the blues the movie

Jeez, I don't know what I would have to do with that. Haven't seen it, and I'm definitely not going to write your term paper about it for you.

police convention heist script

If you want to pay me, I'll write one for you. Let me know.

how do you shovel driveways in bully for ps2

No idea, but I suggest checking GameFAQs.

the departed double meaning

In the title? I dunno, maaan, maybe it means we're, like, all departed from ourselves mentally and shit.

funny technology caveman picture

Well, you could always read B.C., but I don't really recommend it (it sucks). Otherwise, you could read Maintenance, which is awesome. Or let me know if you really want me to draw one or something. But I'm not good at art, so don't expect quality.

real borat street new york chases after him runs away k

I think there's more to that term, but it got cut off. Somebody needs to learn to use a search engine. Sorry, can't help you with this one.

the spider man story

That's pretty vague. You see, this guy got bit by a radioactive spider...with great power comes great responsibility...etc. Let me know if you really want more details, but I'm sure you can find them somewhere.

men's underware

Yes, I do wear it (when I remember). Unless you're talking about some aspect of Chris Ware I'm not aware of.

a fat kid named warren.

Hey, that's just mean! I'm not fat (and my name's not actually Warren)!

hinatas naked pic

All right, that's not cool. I assume you mean the Hinata family (specifically the females) from Sgt. Frog, which is pretty much a kids' comic, you pervert. Although, the pnuematic (I love that term, by the way) Hinata females do end up in fanservice gear regularly, so do you really need to see them sans clothing? There's plenty of other porn out there, animated or otherwise.
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Well, that's all for now. I'll try to have some real content up tonight or tomorrow.

In which I enthrall readers with tales of site maintenance

Quick note: I found a cool site called LibraryThing in which you can catalogue the books you own. It's got this neat feature that I've added to the sidebar in which random books pop up when the page loads. Cool! Let me know if you check it out/create your own library.

Also, I've been adding links to the entries on Movies Recently Watched, Games Currently Playing, Currently Reading, and Wish List, pointing to any posts I've done that are relevant. And I figured if I finished reading something or picked up something on the wish list, I would put "finished" or "acquired" next to the item for a few days before I just removed it. And maybe a link to anything I wrote about the item. I'm all about the easy site navigation. So also, let me know if you have any suggestions for site maintenance or that sort of thing.
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I might put up some new comics reviews or something today, but it might also wait until tomorrow. And I'm planning a special "event" for this weekend or next week, so stay tuned!