Congrats to ADDTF for one solid year of reading comics naked.

Also, welcome back ADD and In Sequence.

Did I miss anyone?

 
The Horribly Pretentious Two Person Comic Book Club

That's what me and Perse of Queer Granny were jokingly calling our little endeavour. It's nothing real serious, just a chance for some people to have an excuse to buy more comics and chat about them. If you're interested, we're talking about Batman-Year One by Miller and Mazzucchelli. The discussion can be found at Barbelith.

Very Small Wonders

Won an auction for the first six trades of Astro Boy the other day on ebay. And the Crisis on Multiple Earths trade, which reprints the classic JLA/JSA meets of the 60s. I'm a sucker for all that pre-crisis craziness. And, finally, I went into the local comic shop to pick up the first issue of Gotham Central, a new police procedural book by Brubaker, Rucka and Lark. I've always liked Lark, and this looks like it might be a nice companion piece to my only regular mainstream purchase, Catwoman. Instead, I stumbled upon a copy of Small Wonders, the Funny Animal Art of Frank Frazetta. I first heard about this book over on Shane Glines. It's really great. The characters are so much more animated than most funny animal art I've seen. And the inking, it goes without saying, is astounding. Lush and lively. The craziest story is the first entry, Snowman, which is supposed to be Frazetta's earliest work (and it shows). It involves a skull faced villain called Fang being left on a piece of ice to die by irate brigands. Fang frees himself and conjures up a horde of demons and a sea serpent to destroy a tribe of Inuit. Them he plans on taking over the world. The Inuit worship a statue of a cute little snowman, with a jaunty cap and a corncob pipe. The statue comes to life, and with an inexplicable Noo Yawk accent preoceeds to beat the tar out of the demons. In the end, Snowman throws Fang into a crocodile pit. No joke. It's played completely straight.

We are the Mods!

After much debate, I have decided to give my design teacher my copy of Mod Wheels as a Christmas gift. I was looking for something from his era, specifically something mod, since he had expressed an interest in my copy of Doctor Solar. J. suggested I give him Turok, because we all know how mod that is, which lead to the following...

"The honkers are approaching, Andar. We must get our Vespas out of the quicksand."
"But, Turok, that bird you shagged stole our gear. How will we ever get out of the Lost valley and back to Carnaby Street?"

posted by Steven at 10:59 PM

 
Guilty Pleasures.

"I admit to enjoying an occasional Archie or an old, ragged Little Lulu when no one is looking. I smile, more at the Lulus than Archies, knowing full well they were not created for me, an adult male of HARMUPH years, but for younger kids." From Journey Into Comics by Michael Sangiacomo.

The kind of quote posted above drives me nuts. Not to fault Mr. Sangiacomo. He likes what he likes. But I fail to see how being seen in possession of children's comics like Archie or Little Lulu is somehow more embarrassing than getting caught with , um, children's comics like Superman or the X-Men, other titles that have been covered in Journey into Comics. I can understand this kind of observation being true in an enclosed and incestuous community as you would find in many a local comics shop or gamer's guild, but in the world at large, Archie and Little Lulu are probably seen with less scorn than most. Just about every "non-comic reading" person I know, when pressed, admits to having enjoyed Archie and other children's books. They just don't see Archie, Little Lulu, or any other comic with mass public appeal like Calvin and Hobbes, as being in the category of comics as fanboys know it. I guess that's something comic fans and non-comic fans alike can agree on.

"Put that off and I'll tell you the Alan Moore story."

Grant Morrison has always been a little hit-and-miss for me. I prefer his shorter stories, where there's a consistent art team, to the more scattershot works like the Invisibles. Or maybe I've been overexposed to his work through my friends' love for him and the constant threads devoted to Morrison minutiae over at Barbelith. Not really his fault then, is it? Anyway, there's a delightfully huge interview at the aforementioned Barbelith conducted by Undo. I especially like the Glasgow bits.

I always forget to check the various rumour sites for comics. Thanks to Neilalien for inadvertently directing me to this week's Lying in the Gutters. Among the entries is a little piece on Morrison's New X-Men (which I've read until recently, until my brother stopped buying it) about halfway down the page. Even though it's just a rumour, the clash of ideologies has been discussed since Morrison's inception. Most pro-Morrison folk would rather see the rest of the X-Universe correspond with the New X-Men. That's how it seemed as if it was going to happen at first, and a lot of old school X-fans were pretty upset. It was theory bitches and fatbeards at high noon. Reminds me of what happened with Frank Miller, where after he had made Daredevil a surprise success, Marvel asked him to change a certain issue to make it more "Frank Miller." Miller left pretty soon after. Yeah, didn't see any of this coming...

Corrections Dept.

The other day I flew off the handle and wrote a little something about a perceived slight I've noticed in the blogging community, namely, finding links from blogs and using them without citing the blog you found it in. That entry has since been deleted. I received a few emails about it from people who became defensive or apologetic about this behaviour. When it comes right down to it I don't see how I have any right or clue that enables me to attack something I know nothing about. I've emailed private apologies to those who wrote me, but I'd like to also make this public apology. Other peoples' blogs and the way they run them are none of my damn business. Thanks to the people who responded for setting me straight.

Slash Report

As promised, I wanted to comment on my blog's lesser-known use as a portal for superhero slash fiction. To this date I have had people look for Aquaman slash and Captain America slash. For those who don't know what slash is, it is fan fiction that takes two (usually male) fictional characters of the same sex and plays upon an underlying sexual tension between them. I felt so bad for the poor souls who entered the phrase "aquaman slash" into google and found only this that I took it upon myself to find them some of what the doctor ordered. Knight of the King and its sequel King for a Knight find Batman and Aquaman alone in the JLA Watchtower. Twice. And if you're in a hurry, here's a 200 word liason between the the Sea King and the Dark Knight. As for Captain America slash, man, that's just sick.
posted by Steven at 7:06 PM

 
Trades.

I spent the majority of my time in the comic shop debating over a potential New Year's Resolution. I'm pretty comfortable with my weight, so instead I'm thinking of moving to purchasing solely trades. There are so many books that are being packaged these days that I could spend thousands of dollars without coming close to exhausting what's out there. And that's even with Ottawa's lack of a good alternative comic store (for pity's sake, why won't they carry hometown boy Dave Cooper's work?!?). Part of this has to do with the fact that I only go to the store once a month or so. When you break out of the weekly ritual, I guess it's easier to make other changes as well. Hm.

Another reason is that my pal Perse and I are gearing up for our pretentious "Two Person Comic Reading Club." She's fairly new to the whole "comics" thing, but the thing I love about a convert is their passion. That, and they don't come in with as many preconceptions of what they're reading. Note to speculators - Stop reading Wizard magazine and take a non-comic reading friend into the shop instead. They have the best eye for what's going to be hot. Not that I should encourage you beasts.

So, yeah, I'm away from my home and friends and missing those lazy summers when we would hang out at the gazebo all night and talk about whatever wacky four-colour trash they were reading at the moment while fourteen-year-olds would try to sell us weed. I'm hoping that making a committment to gab about whatever titles we decide on will bring some of that back. i'll keep you posted here in case anyone else wants to join in. Though if anyone does, we might have to postpone the use of Little Orphan Annie in the Great Depression.

Anyone with opinions on the great trade vs monthy debate, or any relevant links, please feel free to contact me. Rock the vote.

Speaking of which...

Why settle for the miserable Seth interview I posted last time when you can get the real deal from the Toronto Star (courtesy of Journalista). Check the Journalista link for a truly inspired/hideous headline pun.




posted by Steven at 12:49 AM