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Things To Come: Previews October for comics shipping December 2001
So, anybody up for some widescreen comics? No? Lost your taste for big property damage? Can't we annihilate a couple world capitals, if only for old time's sake? What's the matter, lost your sense of humor? Yeah, so have I. So has everyone. This is the wake for the American Century, and nothing is funny right now, least of all enormous destruction. Does that mean THE AUTHORITY has to stop being the only relevant superhero book? Not necessarily. Warren Ellis turned STORMWATCH into THE AUTHORITY by downplaying the politics to make space for the action; what needs to be done now is precisely the opposite. It's a truism that the world has been getting exponentially smaller. Maybe it's too small for open and closed societies to coexist. The West does have plenty of blood on its hands, yes - but we do represent what are essentially Enlightenment values, while the Taliban is strictly Medieval. (Ironic, considering that the Islamic world had its Enlightenment while Europe was suffering the Dark Ages.) Their enemies are anybody who at all dissents from their fanatical perversion of Islam, up to and including the repressive Saudi theocracy, and thanks to bin Laden their reach is global. We may have to defend the ideals of plurality and co-existence by refusing to co-exist with these people. This is a contradictory sentiment, and nobody, least of all the left, has much resolved it. But everyone who has taken the trouble to learn how the Taliban have disfigured their own society has felt it, and has reflected that the Taliban hope to do the same to us. THE AUTHORITY has been riding that contradiction since its inception. Let's see now if it can dissect it. Anyhow. In the name of maintaining "our way of life," on with the column. I would love to be able to inform you that the new Previews is jammed with enticing new books that will distract you from omens of war. It isn't. Last month was awfully conservative, and I figured that publishers were just reserving their best stuff for the holiday gift-buying season. No such luck - they're just out of ideas. It's this column's policy to recommend only new material, but there being a paucity of that, I urge you to check out the relists, especially those of Alternative, Drawn & Quarterly, Fantagraphics, Humanoids, Metaphrog, Monkeysuit, NBM, Oni, and Titan. DC The big news this month is, of course, THE RETURN OF THE SON OF THE DARK KNIGHT RE-RETURNS BACK AGAIN ONCE MORE FOR THE SECOND TIME PART II, THE SEQUEL - DARK HARDER. I'll be upfront: I think DARK KNIGHT RETURNS is the single most overrated comic of all time. I'd tell you why, but it would take a whole column. Instead, we'll tackle some easier questions: Is a sequel a good idea? Hard to see why. DKR was special in large part because it gave the DC Universe what any true mythology needs - an ending (of sorts). The sequel violates that. It also contradicts everything Miller has said about the traps of superheroes, work-for-hire and nostalgia, which is nearly everything he's said in public for the past 10 years. Will THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES BACK attract civilians to comics, as its predecessor did in 1986? Of course not. The second Batman craze was only possible because of the first one, which the TV show sparked in 1966. The grim 'n' gritty Batman got its force by contrast to the camp version. The novelty's gone now, and the character is so diluted in the public imagination that contrast is now impossible. This will not "move the needle." (Particularly since, judging from the art samples, it looks sloppy as hell.) We're still doomed. Sorry. So what else is DC doing? Well, there's FULL COVERAGE, in which many DCU books will boast inventively designed covers and accessible, self-contained stories. What a concept! The books no doubt go back to being staid and incomprehensible for the other 11 months of the year. Only in comics could doing your furshlugginer job be an exceptional 'event.' And then there's... little else. An alien city has fallen on Southern California (who'd notice?) in HAVEN. I don't think it's supposed to be funny, but the central figure on the cover, the woman bravely hoisting her fallen comrade, looks like Beepo the Clown. The equally risible DEADMAN gets his own series. Popular online role-playing timesuck EVERQUEST gets its own comic. It features "elven armies." Elves give me hives. ABC is putting out a SKETCHBOOK in overpriced prestige format, proving somebody is unclear on the concept. Stan Lee is still re-imagining stuff, to overwhelming indifference. That's about it. Vertigo redeems itself with the last of Garth Ennis' WAR STORIES, and the new LUCIFER TPB. DARK HORSE Dark Horse tries to counter-program DKSB with a deluxe edition of the first SIN CITY costing $175. This is for 64 pages of sketchbook material and a "framable print" of protagonist Marv, "who's hard as a rock and wrapped tighter than the bodies at the city morgue." Can we pressgang the copywriters at Dark Horse and/or Miller into Reichian therapy, pronto? IMAGE New POWERS trade, called ROLEPLAY. People seem to like POWERS, so, there's that. The rest is frankly beyond my ability to distinguish. UNIVERSE #4 tag line: "The other side has come to make their offer... and they don't believe in discrete [sic]." Was this translated from the Hungarian or something? HELLSPAWN remains conspicuously absent. Karma's a bitch, huh, Todd? MARVEL Marvel is first out of the gate with a Sept. 11 benefit book. HEROES (OCT011843, $3.50) gathers the biggest names in mainstream comics, with proceeds going to the Red Cross. More details here. The sheen is already wearing off of Max. FURY is Garth Ennis doing a low-rent Frank Miller impression (hard old soldier has no place in squishy new world, what a tragedy), and U.S. WAR MACHINE is a bland American simulation of Japanese big robot manga, for Marvel zombies who haven't noticed that real Japanese big robot manga is cheap and plentiful. Neither is getting good notices. ALIAS is, in part because Bendis had the wit to break all the taboos early and get on with his story. Fortunately for Max, the new HOWARD THE DUCK debuts next month. In preparation for that, Marvel has collected THE ESSENTIAL HOWARD THE DUCK (OCT011909, pg. 189, $14.95), which collects only stories creator Steve Gerber considers canonical, saints be praised. I'll admit I've not read this material - the famously bad movie adaptation put me off - but I know it broke ground, and it's good that Marvel has finally collected it. Bulletin: Marvel's line goes wordless for their gimmick event, 'Nuff Said! In possibly related news, Chris Claremont explodes. To be honest, as gimmicks go, this is a good one. Mainstream comics have long suffered from a lack of visual storytelling and an excess of verbiage. So, one step forward... ...two back. The Premium section contains an ELEKTRA #3 VARIANT for $20, containing "'hot' images of Elektra! How hot, do you say? Well check out the interior of this issue to find out!" Marvel claims it was a production glitch, but that doesn't matter. They're still selling nude variants, and that puts them on the ethical level of Chaos or Avatar. I don't think even the Maxim readers they're aiming for will be impressed by this. Marvel also needs punishing for foisting upon us the Horn/Austen school of computer-enhanced comics, an unholy union of fumetti and airbrushed van art. Photographic surrealism can work, as Dave McKean has proved, but photographic realism is contrary to the essence of comics. That's why fanboys like it, I guess - comics are disreputable, but painted realism is classy, and photographic realism is even classier. Who cares if it doesn't flow? ABSENCE OF INK COMICS PRESS Absence of Ink presents the next issue of their quarterly anthology, ABSENCE OF INK THEATER #2 (OCT012138, pg. 212, $.2.99). Most interesting to me are the serials 'The Castaways,' a Depression-era hobo story that raises memories of KINGS IN DISGUISE, and 'Raven's End,' a story of feudal Japan, distinguished by the slick artwork of Alessandro Scacchia. Less promising are 'Bune's World,' a HEAVY METAL-type barbarian thing, and 'Gareth Axel,' a pisstake of British comics writers. But two out of four ain't bad. They have a website, but the art samples are too small to be of real use. The preview at Comic Book Galaxy is better. ABSTRACT STUDIOS The deluxe version of the first STRANGERS IN PARADISE collection gets you in on the ground floor of the story that doesn't matter anymore, since Terry Moore has revenged himself on critics of the last storyline by hitting the Cosmik Reset Button. One pictures him bedeviled by the wraith of Martin "HEPCATS" Wagner, on parole from limbo, shrieking, "I told you coy '70s-sitcom-style hijinx and ludicrous hard-boiled crime melodrama don't mix!" But hey, we'll always have PARADISE TOO!, at least until Moore's slush file is exhausted... ACTIVE SYNAPSE Mild-mannered biology professor by day and cartoonist by night, Jay Hosler created one of the most acclaimed books of 1999 in CLAN APIS, a manga-ish book about a hive of bees. SANDWALK ADVENTURES #1 (OCT012157, pg. 214, $2.95) is also about insects, namely the parasites living in Charles Darwin's eyebrows. Really. Would we lie to you? Hosler's comics are educational, but never dry - he has a knack for composition and comic timing that's reminiscent of Jeff Smith (BONE). His website is at www.jayhosler.com. ADHESIVE COMICS The vigilant anti-commercialists at TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN MAGAZINE #13 (OCT012158, pg. 216, $4.95) attack "corporate greed and mainstream mindlessness once again!" Also, they're selling TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN'S women's undies. Why didn't The Baffler think of that? AIT-PLANETLAR AIT-PlanetLar "Makes Comics Better" with a book that isn't comics: AVAILABLE LIGHT (OCT012164, pg. 216, $24.95), comprising digital photography and short prose pieces by Warren Ellis, the sort of thing he was putting on his side-project website, strangemachine.com. It's pricey, but should make a good gift book. CHAOS! COMICS Peter David proves the long-whispered rumor that he will indeed work for anybody. THE HAUNTED sounds like 'The Breakfast Club fights demons,' which is basically what I thought OUT THERE was, only with aliens. Maybe it's more original than that, but David doesn't inspire confidence when he says, "I can tell my 'own' stories, whatever that means." At least it's not a goddamn softcore stroke book or a piece of commodified teen mook rebellion. CROSSGEN Crossgen is rumored to have a long-term marketing plan. On current evidence, that plan is "come out with a new Mark Waid title every two months until he drops dead from exhaustion." Why keep dumping new titles on the market (this month, NEGATION) when hardly anyone can tell SIGIL from SOJOURN yet? Just to increase market share, one supposes, and to approximate in a year or so the coral reefs of integrated continuity that the Big Two have accreted over decades. Unfortunately, this has also been the strategy of nearly every failed upstart superhero company, ever. Dance faster, Mr. Alessi... DRAWN & QUARTERLY BERLIN #9 (OCT012405, pg. 268, $3.50), by Jason Lutes, is another perennial candidate for "Best Comic You're Not Reading". It's a cross-section of the Weimar Republic in the beginning stages of decay. Lutes is an effortlessly masterful storyteller - it's no wonder that he's a favorite of Scott McCloud - and BERLIN is meticulous, understated, and respectable. My only reservation is that it might be respectable to a fault... but that could well change in the next two volumes. Essential. DENIS KITCHEN PUBLISHING Offered again: THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANT (OCTO12397, pg. 267), by Harvey Kurtzman. I stand by my recommendation, but with a consumer warning. The pages are only printed on one side, so you get just 40 pages of story - each containing one panel - for $25. It was impossible to know this before purchasing the book. It's a lovely story, but I feel rooked. EUREKA PRODUCTIONS Fascinating, this. Eureka publishes a small literary magazine called ROSEBUD. They'd been dabbling in comics, and recently they put out a comics-themed number. That must have done well, because they're starting a sister magazine called ROSEBUD GRAPHIC CLASSICS. The subject for VOL. 1 (OCT012447, pg. 277, $7.95) is Poe, and they've got a dream lineup of illustrators, among them Gahan Wilson, the missing link between Charles Addams and Gary Larson; underground legend Spain Rodriguez; Rick "A TREASURY OF VICTORIAN MURDER" Geary; Richard "EVIL EYE" Sala, who's like a pulp Edward Gorey; and Maxon Crumb, Robert's crazier brother (one hopes they'll be reprinting his limited-edition, absurdly-expensive illustrated Poe of a few years back). So whether or not it succeeds where the various incarnations of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED failed, and fuses comics with literature to the detriment of neither, it will certainly look good trying. The website is at www.rsbd.net. FANTAGRAPHICS THE COMICS JOURNAL 2002 SPECIAL (OCT012449, pg. 278, $14.95 for you sucker non-subscribers) is being done in an oversized coffee-table format. It has a feature interview with Joe Sacco, whose war journalism we need to heed now more than ever. It also has a whole lot of new strips, which constitute the only new comics Fantagraphics is publishing this month. The closest thing to a new book is the long-awaited softcover edition of Dan Clowes' CARICATURE (OCT012450, pg. 278, $16.95), a collection of short stories from EIGHTBALL. When it comes to character, Clowes has X-ray eyes. The best story in the book is the one that gave it its name, a masterpiece of economy in which a carnival caricaturist starts writing notes for a how-to book, which reveal more than he knows... This is just one of the essential books on offer. Check the resolicitations and special signed section for many more. FOGEL COMIX Kieron Dwyer got sued by Starbucks for parodying their logo on issue #0 of his truly tasteless joke book LOWEST COMIC DENOMINATOR. In retaliation, he did another Starbucks spoof on the cover of LCD #1. And Diamond won't show the cover of LCD #2 (OCT012489, pg. 284, $5.95) - they shunt all the LCD info into their porn catalog - but the website reveals that it's yet another Starbucks gag (and one recycled from his cancelled series BLACK HEART BILLY, yet). This copyright infringement suit is turning Dwyer into a real bore. An incredibly fatuous article he wrote for TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN MAGAZINE #12 ("Allow me to digress with some ruminations on the nature of the hero") reveals that Dwyer thinks he's a satirist now. He's not. LCD is profane, but at a 12-year-old level; that Dwyer is being sued over it is not a measure of his chutzpah, but of corporate over-sensitivity. He'd best get over himself before he starts reciting his court transcripts a la Saint Lenny. In the meantime, LCD #2 is highly recommended to people who are 12 or might occasionally feel 12. TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS Are you a "people person"? If so, stop reading this now. Everybody else: HEY, MISTER: THE FALL COLLECTION (OCT012677, pg. 316, $12.95) is the book for you. Mister, Aunt Mary and Young Tim are the 'Hideous Mutants' in a world full of privileged, beautiful people, doomed to suffer loneliness, despair, and the drudgery of retail clerking and office temping. The artwork is only competent, but cartoonist Pete Sickman-Garner is improving all the time. One recent story had Mister getting a makeover from the Greek gods, which he wouldn't have had the chops to pull off just a few years ago. Side note: the cover portrays Mister and Mary as Adam and Eve, being exiled from Eden. Despite the fact that they're covering their shame, Diamond has heavily censored the image. Probably they didn't want the people reading the Vamperotica and Verotik sections to be traumatized by the sight of an average physique. LAST GASP Fans of the Ligne Claire style will require TINTIN: THE COMPLETE COMPANION (OCT012553, pg. 295, $29.95). See Hergé's research and design sketches, and how doggedly he refined them for publication. MIRAGE STUDIOS Peter Laird and Jim Lawson are reviving TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. I told you everyone was out of ideas. ONI PRESS I don't give enough coverage to Oni, a fine publisher of entertaining, 'ground level' comics. They're debuting KILLER PRINCESSES (OCT012608, pg. 302, $2.95), written by Gail Simone, best known for her excellent lampoon column YOU'LL ALL BE SORRY at Comic Book Resources, and drawn by renowned Amerimanga artist Lea Hernandez (RUMBLE GIRLS). High-concept: ditzy debutantes turned world-class assassins. Shallow, stupid, hateful people cause mayhem without creasing their taffeta gowns. How can it miss? As ever, sample pages and exclusive strips can be found in abundance at the excellent onipress.com. SEQUENTIAL COMICS A new issue of Paul Hornshemeier's experimental comic, SEQUENTIAL #7 (OCT012636, pg. 307, $5.95 for 128 pages - a bargain!). A huge, attractive book containing some material from a huge, attractive website. Worth exploring. Chris Ekman is a political cartoonist. Ninth Art endorses the principle of Ideological Freeware. The author permits distribution of this article by private individuals, on condition that the author and source of the article are clearly shown, no charge is made, and the whole article is reproduced intact, including this notice. Back. |