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ARTICLE 10
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PICK OF THE MONTH
MOTHER, COME HOME, by Paul Hornschemeier, from Dark Horse
AUG03 0038, pg. 31, $14.95
It's not fair to Hornschemeier to keep comparing him to Chris Ware, as people always do - he's very much got his own voice. But since I can't physically shove the books in front of your nose from here, it will have to do. Hornschemeier garners the comparison not just for the occasional superficial resemblance, and not just for his formal experimentation or the smartly designed packaging of his books, but because, like Ware, he is able to reproduce the various subtle shades of sorrow.
Especially in this book. MOTHER, COME HOME is about a family in which the mother has died of cancer. The father slowly becomes detached from the world and retreats into a fantasy of questing to rescue his lost wife; his young son covers for him as best he can, but eventually he has to be institutionalised. The son is taken in by his aunt and uncle, but he's unhappy there, and he, in turn, resolves to rescue his father.
Oddly, Dark Horse is soliciting the collection of this story before its serialization in Hornschemeier's Absence Of Ink series FORLORN FUNNIES has finished. In fact, FORLORN FUNNIES #4 hasn't even shown up in PREVIEWS yet. (Dark Horse does tend to solicit things even further than the usual three months in advance.) Whichever way it comes out first, I'll be very eager to get to read the conclusion to this wrenching and truthful work.
AUTOBIOGRAPHIX, by various
AUG03 0037, pg. 30, $14.95
One of those neat-looking little anthologies that Dark Horse spits out every so often. Along with the usual Dark Horse stalwarts (Frank Miller, Sergio Aragones, Paul Chadwick, Stan Sakai, Matt Wagner, etc.), this one includes Will Eisner, William Stout, Linda Medley, Paul Hornschemeier, Jason Lutes, and a bunch of others.
Vertigo's on autopilot again, though that's not necessarily a bad thing: there's a SANDMAN PRESENTS collection, a Garth Ennis HELLBLAZER collection (RAKE AT THE GATES OF HELL, AUG03 0276, pg. 99, $19.95), and a Grant Morrison ANIMAL MAN collection (VOL. 3: DEUS EX MACHINA, AUG03 0272, pg. 98, $19.95). That last book has been long awaited, as it collects the last issues of Morrison's run, where he inserts himself into the story and reveals to Animal Man that he is just a comic book character. (That Animal Man is, I mean, not Morrison.) That was pretty daring for a mainstream comic 15 years ago - hell, Joe Casey was able to pass the same stunt off as daring when he pulled it ending AUTOMATIC KAFKA a few months ago.
Oh, and there's also a SGT ROCK original graphic novel, drawn by ROCK signature artist Joe Kubert, and written by Brian Azzarello, whose knack for snappy punning titles on 100 BULLETS seems to have deserted him here (BETWEEN HELL AND A HARD PLACE, AUG03 0283, pg. 100, $24.95).
Also, down in Previews' Books Section, there's a coffee table art book called VERTIGO VISIONS: TEN YEARS ON THE EDGE (AUG03 2755, pg. 390, $24.95).
Warren Ellis has yet another three-issue miniseries at Wildstorm, this one called TWO-STEP (#1, AUG03 0265, pg. 97, $2.95), drawn by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti and billed as being like the more ludicrous comedy throwaway bits in TRANSMET. This suits me just fine, but I'm not preordering anything more by Ellis until I can be assured that it contains no more kvetching about cigarettes.
AGE OF BRONZE #18, by Eric Shanower
AUG03 1194, pg. 114, $3.50
More of Eric Shanower's finely wrought and comprehensive recounting of the whole furshlugginer Trojan War. In this issue: we draw closer to the sacrifice of Iphigenia.
STUPID COMICS #2, by Jim Mahfood
AUG03 1257, pg. 143, $2.95
A second collection of Mahfood's satirical newspaper comic, which resembles awfully closely Evan Dorkin in rant mode. Which wouldn't hurt, if Mahfood weren't picking on fat easy targets in a thuddingly obvious manner most of the time, judging by issue #1. (Hey, did you know that MTV hardly even plays music anymore?)
AARDVARK VANAHEIM
CEREBUS VOL. 15: LATTER DAYS, by Dave Sim and Gerhard
AUG03 1920, pg. 236, $30
Signed: AUG03 1921, pg. 236, $40
In this volume: Dave Sim's bizarre theology takes over the book entirely, as Cerebus delivers an interminable exegesis of the Pentateuch over acres of tiny, tiny print. It's all to prove that the Bible says women are inferior, which I'd have thought could be done with a lot less work. Interspersed with pastiches of classic comedians, that old Sim staple (this time out: the Three Stooges and Woody Allen), and increasingly random comics references, particularly to SPAWN, 10 years too late.
Ever see MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000? The TV show that heckled bad old movies? There was one movie, THE WILD WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN, that reduced Tom Servo to yelling at the screen, "END!! END!!" I know how he felt...
SOUTHPAW, by Scott Morse
AUG03 1938, pg. 237, $9.95
More Scott Morse, and once again I'm not prepared. This one is about a boxing tiger who mostly fights robots, was introduced in AdHouse's well-received robot-themed anthology PROJECT: TELSTAR, and is "the first of the three-part 'Animalia Novella' AdHouse Books series."
TRUE PORN, edited by Robyn Chapman & Kelli Nelson
AUG03 1948, pg. 239, $14.95
An anthology of indy cartoonists telling true stories about their sexual histories. There are some creators here, such as Ivan Brunetti, Victor Cayro and Hans Rickheit, whose work is so awesomely fucked-up that the prospect of them doing true porn is faintly terrifying. There are others, such as Jeffrey Brown, Laureen McCubbin and Ariel Schrag, who have already made names for themselves with sexually explicit autobiography.
AMAZE INK (SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS)
THE CITY VOL. 1, by Derf
AUG03 1958, pg. 240, $10.95
The first collection of Derf's sometimes-topical alternative weekly newspaper strip. You might know Derf from his recent autobio comic books, TRASHED (about his stint working on a dump truck) and MY FRIEND DAHMER (about attending high school with a future serial killer). The knobbly, grotesque art style might take a little getting used to, and like a lot of sometimes-topical alt-weekly strip artists he seems to be losing his sense of humour about the cement-headed Bush administration; but it's a good strong strip, and Derf's able to score points off of SUV-driving suburbanites and piercing-riddled hipsters alike.
Fantagraphics takes out a full-page ad to assure everybody that "We're Still Standing", and to indulge in some high-flown rhetoric that I assume is intentionally self-parodic, although with them it can be hard to tell.
THE COMICS JOURNAL LIBRARY VOL. 3: R CRUMB, edited by Milo George
AUG03 2248, pg. 314, $18.95
Even people who normally can't stand The Comics Journal have been lauding the deluxe oversize Library series, which draws from TCJ's 25-year archive of essays and definitive interviews. This one is on the notoriously cranky and perverted R Crumb, godfather of underground comix and one of TCJ's most rewarding interview subjects.
BLAB! VOL. 14, edited by Monte Beauchamp
AUG03 2249, pg. 315, $19.95
The big, fancy, unnerving anthology of the graphic arts. Highlighted features include David Sandlin's "Slumburbia", Sue Coe's "Weapons of Mass Destruction," and Spain Rodriguez's account of the birth of PLAYBOY, all of which suggest this will be the perfect gift for the 700 CLUB member in your life.
ZIPPY ANNUAL 2003, by Bill Griffith
AUG03 2250, pg. 315, $19.95
I like the fact that ZIPPY exists, since it's so much weirder than anything else on the stultified modern comics page. But after the last two ANNUALS, I'm all Zippied out for a good long time. Frankly, I don't care if I ever see another old diner or oversized roadside attraction again. Even GARFIELD isn't in this deep a rut. And while I'm at it, even though he hasn't brought it up in a while, I'm sick of hearing about Griffith's on-again, off-again development deal. Sell out or don't, Griffy, but for God's sake get it over with.
MIGHTY MITE, by Tony Millionaire
AUG03 2251, pg. 315, $6.95
A spin-off from Millionaire's weekly comic strip MAAKIES, starring (on the left-hand pages) alcoholic piratical ape Uncle Gabby, and (on the right-hand pages) a tiny parasite that takes a shine to him.
THE COMICS JOURNAL #257
AUG03 2253, pg. 315, $6.95
This issue's main interviewee is Rick Griffin (posthumously), the most psychedelic of the original underground cartoonists. Also, there's a small interview with mainstream youngish quasi-firebrand Joe Casey, and a chat with Craig Thompson and Gilbert Hernandez.
YOSSEL: APRIL 19, 1943, by Joe Kubert
Hardcover: AUG03 2342, pg. 329, $24.95
Joe Kubert writes and draws a graphic novel about the Holocaust. There are very few people in comics with the stature Kubert has, so I suppose he can weather the inevitable comparisons to MAUS. Yossel is a Jewish teenager in Nazi-occupied Poland, and a budding cartoonist, but, of course, he's doomed.
I'm a little wary about this - Kubert's last big serious GN, FAX FROM SARAJEVO, was worthy and clearly heartfelt, but betrayed his roots in pulpy action comics, what with the big explosions going KRUMPF and all. One of the reasons MAUS worked is that it was free of those kinds of storytelling conventions - in that context, they would have smacked of kitsch. However, the couple of sample pages included in the Previews ad suggest that Kubert has solved the problem by telling the story largely through Yossel's own sketches. I'll be interested to see how the finished product turns out.
DOUBLE DUCE, by Aaron Cometbus
AUG03 2376, pg. 338, $6.50
I know Cometbus only by his reputation as one of the pre-eminent 'zine creators. This collection, according to the blurb, "reads like a reality television show from the lows of Berkeley punk life".
ODDBALLZ: VENETIAN BLIND #1, by Lewis Trondheim & Fabrice Parme
AUG03 2395, pg. 339, $2.95
Ah, the end of the first ODDBALLZ miniseries didn't mean the end of Trondheim at NBM after all! That's heartening. This new series features only stand-alone stories, which might be an easier sell.
ISAAC THE PIRATE VOL. 1, by Christophe Blain
Also on the Eurocomics front, it's good to see more from Blain, too - NBM's recent release THE SPEED ABATER was a lovely little paranoiac mood piece. This book won the prize for Best Album at the gargantuan French comicon Angouleme, so it ought to be good; and, besides, doesn't everybody love pirates?
THE P CRAIG RUSSELL LIBRARY OF OPERA ADAPTATIONS, VOL. 2, by P. Craig Russell
Hardcover: AUG03 2398, pg. 339, $24.95
This looks to be a bit variable, actually. The samples of Russell's adaptation of PARSIFAL look like relatively early work, and they're pure bombast in the mighty Marvel manner. But I've got his adaptation of "The Clowns" from I PAGLIACCI, also included here, and it's tops - much better 'acted,' so to speak.
RALPH SNART ADVENTURES, by Marc Hansen
AUG03 2413, pg. 340, $24.95
Now I've seen everything. A 400-page trade paperback of RALPH SNART? I think the long-dreaded TPB glut may officially be at hand.
Ralph Snart, the titular (huh huh, huh huh) character, is a clinically insane beer monster who goes on adventures inside his own beer-soaked brain, most of which revolve around beer. (Can you tell that this started life as a college strip?) I had a couple issues of this as a kid, and I had a hazy recollection of it as sort of a drinking man's Hunt Emerson - though, looking at samples of it now, I think that only holds true if you drink as much as Snart himself. Hey, I would have been 14 or thereabouts at the time, and I had dubious taste (unlike now).
400-page RALPH SNART collection. Blows my mind, it does.
LOST AT SEA, by Bryan O'Malley
AUG03 2416, pg. 340, $11.95
A debut original graphic novel by one of the former artists on Oni's HOPELESS SAVAGES. What we seem to have here is a Neurotic Girl Outsider, trapped on a cross-country road trip with some high school acquaintances and being forced by circumstances to open up. Oni's ad says this should appeal to fans of Andi Watson's books and of OPTIC NERVE, which gets my attention. Though the first thing the strips on O'Malley's website suggested to me was a less zany Chynna Clugston-Major.
QUEEN & COUNTRY VOL. 4: OPERATION BLACKWALL, by Greg Rucka and Jason Alexander
Softcover: AUG03 2421, pg. 343, $8.95
Hardcover: AUG03 2420, pg. 343, $20
I keep saying this is the best espionage comic running in the hopes that somebody will give it some competition and thereby invest that line of praise with some meaning. We live in hope. Anyhow, it's a real good series and if you're not reading it, it's certainly not because we here at Ninth Art didn't hype it enough.
FAGIN THE JEW, by Will Eisner
AUG03 2437, pg. 344, $15.95
This is interesting. Eisner set out to do a comics adaptation of Dickens' novel OLIVER TWIST, but he ran smack into the problem of the villain, Fagin, ringleader of the thieves and an archetypical Jewish boogieman to rival Shylock. Dickens later regretted the portrayal, and took almost all references to Fagin's Jewishness out of a later printing of the book, but there's really no way to disguise what he is.
So Eisner, who has made a specialty of Jewish culture throughout his long and lustrous career, decided to focus his book just on Fagin and his milieu, and to try to humanize the character a bit. That ought to be an attention-getter, especially since it's coming out through a major prose book publisher.
There are some preliminary sketches for the book on the Drawing Board section of Eisner's web site.
WATCHING DAYS BECOME YEARS #1, by Jeff LeVine
AUG03 2472, pg. 351, $4.50
LeVine was one the guys at the head of the slacker autobio pack of the early '90s, but since then he's largely slipped from view. It could be that most of his audience killed themselves. Reading LeVine's comics, which generally have titles like NO HOPE and (ironically meant) LUST FOR LIFE, you can see where a person might become overwhelmed by the futility of everything and reach for the razor blades. If your constitution is strong enough to withstand concentrated doses of ennui, you can see for yourself - he's put quite a few issues of his comics up for view on his website.
BOP: MORE BOX OFFICE POISON STORIES, by Alex Robinson
AUG03 2537, pg. 360, $9.95
This collects all the BOX OFFICE POISON stories that weren't included in the massive BOX OFFICE POISON graphic novel. (Actually, they were included, on pages 608-696; it's just that nobody ever made it that far. But I kid, BOX OFFICE POISON.)
COMICS MAGAZINES
THE COMICS INTERPRETER VOL. 2 #1, edited by Robert Young
AUG03 2621, pg. 378, $4.95
Ah, excellent. The Comics Interpreter has gotten a reputation for shit stirring, which Lord knows the comics press desperately needs; but I haven't seen for myself, because I haven't yet been able to find a copy in the shops. This new, slicker-looking incarnation will be my chance. This issue has a handsome deco-ish cover by Hans Rickheit, and features interviews with Glenn Fabry and with the always-provocative Paul Pope.
BOOKS SECTION
NARCOLEPSY, by Dave McKean
AUG03 2752, pg. 388, $30
This is a 96-page catalogue from McKean's European gallery show, featuring samples of his mammoth graphic novel CAGES and his collaborations with Neil Gaiman, as well as his painting and digitally-altered photographs.
STAN LEE AND THE RISE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN COMIC BOOK, by Tom Spurgeon and Jordan Raphael
hardcover: AUG03 2752, pg. 390, $24.95
This will raise some hackles. Tom Spurgeon was the executive editor of The Comics Journal for years, and Jordan Raphael is a former employee of the magazine. Stan Lee does not love the Journal, chiefly because Gary Groth, the Journal's publisher, has used the magazine to unabashedly advocate for the greater recognition of Jack Kirby, and has argued that Lee cheaply arrogated to himself all the credit for the authorship of the Marvel Universe at the expense of his old friend and collaborator. The magazine has actually run essays on all sides of the Lee/Kirby question, but it's still generally regarded as hostile to Lee. One of Spurgeon and Raphael's aims here is to settle that question once and for all. Poor doomed saps.
I have to admit that I've never been charmed by Lee - I found him overbearing and a little creepy from the very first time I saw him, in his COMIC BOOK GREATS series of videos - so I'm hardly objective. Spurgeon's was one of my favourite incarnations of the Journal, and it will be refreshing to have a book on Lee that isn't pure hagiography.
THE BOONDOCKS: A RIGHT TO BE HOSTILE, by Aaron McGruder
AUG03 2777, pg. 395, $16.95
A collection spanning all four years of McGruder's racially charged daily newspaper strip. It's one of the very few strips on the modern funnies page with any guts at all, but it's an easier strip to admire than to like.
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