mini reviews: Bumperboy (Part One)

Bumperboy sets off to enter a marble competition, only to lose his marbles on the way, thanks to the machinations of a naughty bird. With story and art by Debbie Huey, Bumperboy is a lighthearted all-ages tale of adventure. On the Web at www.bumperboy.net.

mini reviews: Peop(le)s #3

In PEOP(le)S #3 writer/artist Fly presents a series of portraits of people she's met and known. Providing an encapsulated back story on each person along with a stream-of-conscious narrative to accompany the often haunting expressions, Fly gives you the feeling that you too are part of her world.

Her website and work can be found at http://www.bway.net/~fly

Klezmer: Book One: Tales of the Wild East – Joann Sfar

Three outcaste Jews and a Romi get together to form a klezmer band in pre-WWII Eastern Europe. Sfar presents a beautifully painted, somewhat rambling, tale of heartache and humor. While the characters still need developing and Sfar relies too strongly on internal monologue, there is great potential and emotion in this comic of a destroyed culture.

The Adventures of Mao on the Long March – Frederic Tuten

I’ve known about this book since I first met Tuten and how he fictionally depicts Mao’s famous “Long March” by making a collage of historical information and quotes from unrelated literary works. I finally decided to read it and was disappointed. Tuten’s idea is so clever that it started his literary career, but the work feels sloppy, taking pages of text and pasting them within his parameters, rather than a careful incorporating of shorter quotes that I expected. Also, as John Updike would complain of one of Tuten’s later works (which is ironic because he praises this one), Tuten’s writing is imbedded in the art world. The tale ends with a mock interview with Mao that I found amusing only because the Chairman sounds exactly like the author.

Battlestar Galactica – season 3

Let me be the one to say it: this season wasn’t very good. Galactica has been the poster child for the new face of sci-fi: intelligent, dramatic and relevant. It gained acclaim because it was about people, not spaceships. The trouble is that the latest episodes about the last human survivors fleeing from the genocidal mania of the religiously fanatical robots (Cylons), which people originally made, has brought to a head most of the dramatic character interactive plots that have been set up and the result has been nothing. What would the mad, traitor scientist Baltar do if he ever had to face the Cylon he once loved? How would she act in the reunion? If the sleeper agent, Sharon, ever got the chance to confront the people she unwillingly betrayed, how would she feel? Could Cylons and humans interact after the destruction of billions? How, exactly, do the Cylons intend to prove they can rule better than humans? The opening to every episode of Battlestar ends with the statement that the Cylons “have a plan.” Well, since they keep changing it, apparently they don’t. And neither do the writers.

The show has become so caught up in trying to be relevant and controversial by turning the series into a flawed statement about Iraq, where humans have became the terrorist insurgents, that it has forgot about the drama of characters. The few episodes that aren’t politically based are derived from Star Trek: TNG plots and all of them discount the trauma of a people losing at least 99% of their population and all their territory. Honestly, the show should look to the Holocaust survivors for inspiration and instruction. It took years to set up the dynamics Galactica had and the opportunity was squandered. When Battlestar gets cancelled the excuse will be that audiences just don’t watch sci-fi. Maybe, but they do watch drama about people. And that is what the show has stopped producing.

A Series of Unfortunate Events [movie]

I avoided the movie version of the first three books of the series that bears its name because I thought it would be horrible and yet I was pleasantly surprised. The movie had great visuals and was true to the “unfortunate” nature of the plot about the orphaned Baudelaire siblings who must defend their inheritance from the greed of the murderous Count Olaf. The problems were that the movie was too heavy handed in the concept of bad things happening to good people, it didn’t capture the dynamics of the two older siblings (instead simply going for physical beauty, which neither of those children were suppose to have), and gave away far too many of the book’s secrets.

The People of the Mist – H. Rider Haggard

I’ve always wanted to read something from this legend of the pulp era who brought us King Solomon’s Mines and was loved by such diverse authors as the literary Henry James to the cult favorite Lin Carter, yet after two hundred pages of this ridiculous racist rant with flat characters smothering the mundane action-adventure plot of the heroic Englishman questing to restore his honor by braving the savagery of Africa—and getting the girl—I couldn’t take it any longer.

Veronica Mars

The actress who plays the character Veronica is very pretty. There, I said something nice about this show about a high school girl who is an ostracized, stylish genius who works as a private detective. That was the best I could do considering that the plot is trite, characters ridiculous, and acting pathetic with insane amounts of voice over exposition. I watched the first three episodes and hated it. Proponents of the show tell me that it doesn’t become good until the sixth one and I should give it a chance. I’d sooner give suicide a chance. There is nothing redeeming about this abomination. Well, except the lead actress’s looks. But she’s supposed to be seventeen and therefore underage, which makes me an abomination. Wow, the show is worse than I thought.

Star Trek: Voyager

Lost in Space—I mean, Voyager, came from the success of Star Trek: TNG. The show puts the crew of the star ship Voyager and a band of rebels tens of thousands of light years from a home they desperately wish to return to. I recently caught a few episodes on a marathon and remembered just why this show was canceled. The series is filled with flat characters pathetically attempting to bond (usually the female Capt. Janeway and some other hot, female, humanoid crewmate) and a barrage of episodes dedicated to temporal paradoxes. All the people I know that cared for this show agreed with my assessment and couldn’t explain why they kept watching. Perhaps it is akin to a traffic accident.

How Did You Make That Christmas Card?

Welcome! Thanks for asking.

STEP 1: THE IDEA
Step one is probably the hardest step. How do you come up with an idea that will be fun and fit on a card? Some people get paid for that kind of thing--and here I am doing it for free. I had several ideas this year.

STEP 2: THE SKETCH
Next comes the sketch. I doodle around to try to figure out what works and what doesn't. Step 2 is really just an extension of Step 1. You can see some of the ideas I had here:

A gift from the Dem

Friends are difficult to find…



Geting goosed

I had some others, but I may need them for next year.

STEP 3: THE DRAWING
Next comes the actual drawing. I take an 11" x 14" sheet of Bristol (a heavy paper), and using a mechanical pencil, I sketch out the drawing. I draw everything out in pencil, trying to make as few mistakes as possible. I use a very hard lead so that the image is very faint if I need to erase. In this case, one of my sketches was pretty close to what I wanted, so I used a light box to trace the sketch onto the Bristol paper.

Sketch

Light box

STEP 4: INKING
Next I go over all of the pencils with ink. Some people think this means "tracing," but it's not. Inking adds a whole different character to the image. I use a brush to vary the line weights (compare Bush's chin line to his nose line) and to add some depth to the image.

Ink & brushes

Once all the ink is dry, I erase all the left over pencil lines. In this case, the inked copy looked like this:

Inked version

STEP 5: SCANNING
Next I scan the picture into my computer. This process turns the image into a digital computer file.

STEP 6: USING PHOTOSHOP and ILLUSTRATOR
I take the scanned image and open it in a software program called Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. These program allows me to manipulate the image and make it ready for printing. With Photoshop I added some gray tones and resized the image to make it card-ready. With Illustrator I created the word bubble and the text.

If you look closely at both the original and the finished product, you can see some of the changes I made:

• Filled in dress with black
• Made some black lines into white lines (dress)
  
• Drew a few sprigs of holly, scanned them, and then copied them multiple times to create the top and bottom border
• Used several different gray tones on the goose to give it additional depth
• Copied the goose and put it on the back of the card

STEP 7: PRINTING
Then it's off to the copy store to print the card. I had them print 2 images on a page of card stock and then cut the page in half.


Click for larger view

STEP 8: MAILING
Then JoAnn and I just address, stamp, add something witty like "Merry Christmas," and drop the cards in the mail. See how easy it is! Anyone can do it!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Visions of Christmas Cards Past:

2005:

2004: 2003: 2001:

2000: 1999: 1998:

Two Billion Years Ago

Click image for full size.

This comic was completely created on a computer using my new Wacom tablet. No physical art exists (if you don't count the original idea sketch). The tablet is basically like a mouse, but in the form of a pen and pad. It seems like it would be more natural than using a mouse, but I've trained my brain to match using a mouse with looking at the screen, while using a pen with the screen is still pretty awkward. Try writing without looking at what you're writing and you'll get the sensation.

So that's why I chose an easy drawing for the first time out. Plus, I'm still pretty awkward with Adobe Illustrator as well. So this "simple" cartoon took several hours. Remind me again how computers are making my life easier...

That said, in the long run, the tablet (with practice) should make many aspects of cartoon creation go more quickly. We'll see...

My Life as Literature: The Great Gatsby - Mark Alpert

The Sandman: Endless Nights – Neil Gaiman

Cashing in on the completed Sandman series, Gaiman writes a tale for each of his Endless characters (The Endless are universal forces such as Dream, Desire, Death and Destiny.). Unfortunately, the stories are rather uninteresting and do little to flesh-out the characters they are about.

Supergirl – Peter David

I often liked David’s work and wanted to see what he would do with the ultimate Barbie AKA Supergirl. Be aware, as far as I knew, Supergirl was the cousin of Superman, so I was in for a surprise when I learned that she was some sort of inhuman construct (after the first six issues of this comic, I’m still not sure what her deal is) that merged with a dieing woman in order to gain a soul. Too bad that woman was a psycho murderer whose boyfriend was in league with all sorts of supervillians. There is a lot to work with here and his team for art, letters and colors are great (Gary Frank’s art gives plenty of up-the miniskirt-shots that you know you want), yet after half a year worth of issues, I know nothing about the characters and honestly don’t care.

Age of Apocalypse

Imagine a world where Charles Xavier never lived to attempt to have mutants and humans live in harmony. Now imagine that Marvel comics actually made a comic book event that made sense or was any good. This series of crossover X-men titles is unreadable. The premise is that Xavier dies, his would-be archenemy takes over his dream and a powerful mutant named Apocalypse takes over America and starts genocide again humans. In this new reality, most bad guys are good guys, the rest of the non-mutant Marvel universe is ignored and we all know that all this will be rectified anyway (I never found out how as I couldn’t bring myself to finish the story). The writing sucks and the plot’s ridiculous (it’s not so much a world without Xavier, so much as a world where Magneto is the new Xavier, other superheroes are gone and there is Apocalypse) and it is a shame that Marvel hasn’t clue about quality.

The Squirrel # 1 Ships at Last!

I received my copies, both covers, of The Squirrel #1 today. My name appears on the credits page. Awesome. I get editor status. Thanks to the talented Kevin McVeigh.

Alas, on the Publisher Introduction page (which was added way after I worked on the book), I am called Peter. Yes. Peter. All we need now is Mary and we've got a band (I am sure, or I hope, that Ian said D'oh when he caught it). Luckily though, Kevin's lettering came through preserved. Then again, Kevin may be messing with me by having done that on purpose...! He is a cruel bastard, but talented.

• ORDER NOW! Only 19 regular covers in stock, it seems. They will go quickly.

Price: $3.50


28 page Full Size Comic, B+W w/color cover. First Printing, October 2006. By Kevin McVeigh

In this issue we learn the fantastic origin of "The Worlds Nuttiest Super-hero." From his early days living amongst the squirrels in the trees, to his high flying days in the circus as "The Spectacular Squirrel-Boy." Plus the shocking secret behind "The Squirrels'" amazing tail!! This is one issue you cant miss!!

When ordering, make sure you create an account FIRST and then add items to your cart.

I think they may accept Paypal only and ask them to make sure your books are well packed, so they don't get damaged.

The Manhattan Guardian – Gant Morrison

Morrison starts off his Seven Soldiers series with a newspaper’s personal superhero (paper and hero share the name of this comic title). Jake Jordan is down on his luck, but has the potential to be a hero and fight against various unusual threats to New York City and the world. Typical of Morrison, the story has some very interesting and bizarre ideas in it, yet he never bothers to fully develop any of it, so the reader simply jumps around from event to event without purpose. The four issue miniseries is only a primer plot for the ongoing series; too bad it didn’t sell me.

Robin: A Hero Reborn – Alan Grant and Chuck Dixon

The writers do a reasonable job giving life to the new (third) Robin in order to avoid the disdain readers had for the last one. The new boy wonder globetrots around the world and after a blind, billionaire, master killer in order to gain skills and develop a personality. Dixon, who writes most of this comic, tries to incorporate various characters (mostly new one) into the story to teach Robin various tricks of the trade and moral lessons. The tale wasn’t bad done, but all the secondary characters were.

Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying – Marv Wolfman

These five comics won best story (1989) by CBG fan award, which shows how poor the competition was. It takes place after the second Robin was killed and Batman is having trouble keeping himself together. DC comics spent a lot of energy re-introducing a reader friendly Robin, sidekick to the Dark Knight, but other than Batman and Two-Face trying to outthink each other, the story is mediocre and it is painfully obvious DC wants this Robin to be liked.

Catwoman: Her Sister’s Keeper – Mindy Newell

Inspired by Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, this Catwoman comic unfolds the early adventures of Selina Kyle as she learns to fight and well, not a whole lot else. The book uses some of Miller’s work (entire pages of the above story are inserted) and it is a good idea; however, despite playing off the ward Holly, Kyle’s sister the sister and the Batman himself, little is learned about Catwoman.

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall – Bill Willingham

The Fables comic title follows the lives of fairy tale characters that are living in exile in our world after the tyrannical Adversary has overrun their homelands. So far the refuges are all from European fairy tales, and so the group sends an ambassador to the fables of the Middle East in order to warn them of the Adversary and propose an alliance. This ambassador, Snow White, gets caught up in the machinations of Arabian politics and, in order to save her neck, distracts the sultan who holds her life in his hands with various tales about her fellow refugees. The set-up should sound familiar, but the tales are new and relate the tragedy of Willingham’s world with graceful profundity. This is a welcomed addition to the Fables storyline.

Hellboy: Sword of Storms

It seemed like a good idea: A cartoon movie about the demon paranormal investigator wherein he must stop a couple of demons (nasty ones, not like him) from destroying Earth. Did I mention he was trapped in Japan’s feudal past? The problem was that the animation was anime-lite (not at all like Mignola’s bizarre style), nothing was done with the characters, and the plot wasn’t very gripping.

The Prestige

Two rival magicians go to extremes to destroy each other in this movie adaptation of the novel. I should have liked it more. It was intelligent and filled with twists and surprises. The trouble was that it didn’t really work. The inciting incident (which is different from the book) should never have been a mystery to the characters who become fabulously wealthy in their low paying careers and are both utterly repulsive. In addition to unsympathetic protagonists, the plot itself, especially early on, was disjointed and rushed. After the opening night showing I had to clarify the events to a member of the audience who had just attempted to explain it to another.

Flushed Away

All is well in the British upper-class world of the pet rat, Roddy, until an intruder flushes him down the toilet and into an underground world filled with oddball denizens. With the help of fellow rat, Rita, Roddy attempts to return to his surface world and escapes the evil machinations of a diabolical toad. I was concerned that this film would be flush with toilet humor and was pleasantly surprised that the animation and humor was well done, highly entertaining and very clever.

Casino Royale

A new world needs a new James Bond and this inchoate, flawed, more realistic/human British secret agent is better than most even if he fluctuates between being superhuman and oblivious. The plot has too many false stops and is heavy handed with the clues, yet it is the most enjoyment I’ve had with 007 in at least a decade. So if you like to watch Bond struggle (that’s right) to outwit the card shark/investment banker (who is a cripple as all villains obviously are) to the world’s terrorists and his assorted goons, then this is the movie for you (as long as you ignore some of the sloppy plot points). Don’t worry, despite the update to the secret agent, there are hot women with ridiculously large breasts who want to have sex with Bond.

Avengers verse X-Men – Roger Stern & Tom Defalco

The Avengers want to bring Magneto before an international court of justice, the Soviet Super-soldiers want to assassinate him and the X-Men want to protect him. Despite that, there isn’t really much going on in this comic other than poorly done fight scenes and a bunch of chases.

The Sandman – Neil Gaiman

Some comics are meant to be read issue-by-issue, month-by-month, at a slow and steady pace. The Sandman was never such a comic, often relying on recurring characters that originally appeared for an instant and then are unseen for years and storylines that spanned many issues, constantly being interrupted with tangential and stand alone tales. The title ended years ago and I thought it was due time to reread the series, from the beginning, over a vastly shorter time than when I had first read them on the monthly schedule. By begging, borrowing, and browbeating, I temporarily acquired the complete trade paperback collection in preparation for this review. The Sandman is an interesting series; few could claim to be more important to the revitalization (however briefly) of the comic genre and yet, as Cej often states: the only difference between Gaiman and his creation is that one is two-dimensional and the other has no depth.

The series begins with Preludes & Nocturnes. We are introduced to Morpheus, the Dream King, one of the seven endless (sort of primal forces such as Death and Desire), who is imprisoned by a group of early twentieth century wizards. Upon his eventual escapes, Dream must reclaim his kingdom, vestments of office and correct the troubles his absence has caused. Gaiman handles Dream well, pitting him against adversaries that run the gamut from B villains to the Devil himself. The Sandman goes through a ton of artists over its lifetime and only the amazing covers of Dave McKean redeems them. Some readers feel this start was clunky as Gaiman was finding his footing, but I enjoyed this and it remains a favorite. This was the first time I had ever dealt with a comic character that, while ostensible part of the DC universe, was removed from human or superhuman concerns. In this trade, we also are introduced to Dream’s sister, Death, who will be the poster child for every Goth girl from that moment on and will solidify Gaiman’s place as ruler of the Goth world infinitely more than the equally gothic, annoyingly moody, heroin-chic Morpheus ever did. To this day, no single image brought more women into comics than Death and has allowed Gaiman to spend his life surrounded by hot, black and white bedecked women.

The Doll’s House has Dream continuing to pick up the pieces his absence has caused and he must reclaim dream-beings that have left his realm and caused chaos in ours, mainly to the lives of young Rose Walker, her family and friends. He also has to deal with a potential threat to the dream kingdom that may, in fact, be sponsored by some of his own Endless brethren. Here Gaiman leaves the DC world to stake his own claim and many of the events within are vital to future stories. We also see the beginning of Gaiman’s tendency to relegate his main character of Dream to secondary status in order to focus on developing the personalities of tertiary ones. Again, this was and is quite unusual for comics and makes for interesting reading, especially since many of his characters are females.

One of the shortest of the collections is Dream Country which is nothing but filler issues and while they are often enjoyable, they are equally frustrating for taking us away from the character will wish to see. This foreshadows Gaiman future writing when he will completely abandon his creation except for the occasional guest appearance.

Season of Mists is an anticlimactic tale in which the Lord of Dreams briefly reunites with the remnants of his family and attempts to redeem a wrong by pitting himself against Lucifer of Hell to unexpected and unwelcomed results that usher in much intrigue and some conflict. The problem with this next installment is similar to the style of writing which introduces each chapter and which I attempted to copy in my opening and that is that there is much pomp but every situation ends rather dully. Still, I liked that Dream had to deal with all sorts of myths (Gaiman’s interpretation of them, that it) and DC legends. My main problem is Gaiman’s views on Hell (yes, an author’s views aren’t always reflected in his work, but I’m willing to bet it’s true in this case). For a Jewish man, his belief in the afterlife stinks of both Catholic dogma and two-bit philosophy as unborn babies are condemned to hell as readily as those who only think they should be punished.

Take a domicile where the following resides or holds true: a punk woman, a man who thinks he’s a she, someone connected to the diner from Preludes & Nocturnes, a lesbian couple, bird involvement and two beings connected to the dreaming. No, I’m not recounting The Doll’s House, although Gaiman is running so low on ideas that when he picks up the story of Barbie from that storyline he copies the foundation into A Game of You. Barbara inexplicably becomes Rose, Hal is now Wanda, Hazel and Foxglove stand in for Chantal and Zelda, etc. There are even some crossover themes of a strong female lead going on a quest that relates back to an earlier point in her life and a statement about living life while one can and the potential problems of a collective unconscious. Despite the unoriginality, the tale of “Princess” Barbie verse the oppressive reign of the Cuckoo was gripping. More interesting to me was a side note thrown in by Gaiman. He has Barbie enter a comic book store with a floor that hadn’t been swept “in a decade” and face a repulsive all-boy club. In a documentary I saw last year, Gaiman states that retailers always thank him for bringing women into comic shops and he replies that maybe if you’d sweep the floor they’d return. Gaiman’s contribution to comics isn’t his writing or his characters, it is his desire to reach out and attract an audience that would read comics if given something to relate to. As the Cuckoo explains in A Game of You, girls don’t have the same fantasies of superheroes that boys do and the transgender Wanda makes it clear that blue isn’t always for boys anyway. Many of Gaiman’s characters are female, his protagonist isn’t a traditional superhero and his stories aren’t particularly action/adventure. Still, they sold and sold well, and if the comic genre had leaned from him it might not be the perpetually dieing industry that it is.

Once again we have a collection of filler issues. Fables & Reflections has the honor, however, of having good fillers. The first and last tales, “Three Septembers and a January” and “Ramadan,” respectively are powerful and heartfelt and reflect the higher purpose of dreams. The stories they bookend aren’t as strong although they introduce the important characters of Orpheus and the often hinted at Destruction.

Next is Brief Lives which takes us back to the Sandman plot. Delirium (based on singer Tori Amos) and Dream (always, inescapably, a stand in for Gaiman) go on a quest to find their missing brother, Destruction, to tragic results. Gaiman does a decent job fleshing out the personalities of the three endless (the same can’t be said of the secondary players) and readers are forced to acknowledge—if they haven’t already—that the Endless, with perhaps the exception of Destruction, are real jerks and Dream is the moodiest, lamest of them all. Still, the book is solid and enjoyable, unlike the next one….

I’m sick of Gaiman’s filler sagas and Worlds’ End is the worst. Gaiman hardly bothers to pretend that he’s still writing Sandman stories as he relays stories within stories that, most likely, were ideas he had before he had an outlet. Travelers from all sorts of worlds happen to wander into the inn at worlds' end and pass the time telling each other stories. It’s a decent idea, but if they aren’t going to be crafted like Fables & Reflections, than Gaiman should have stuck with the main plot.

The final volume in The Sandman collection is The Wake. Be aware that everything following is a spoiler so perhaps you might wish to skip this paragraph. Still here? The Wake deals with the aftermath of Morpheus’ death without actually tying up any loose ends. Again, I’m annoyed with Gaiman’s filler issues. Gaiman forces us to pay tribute to his creation (a creation that claims credit for Shakespeare’s works) when the end of his series should inspire reflection on its own merits. There isn’t so much a plot to The Wake as there is a theme that no one, regardless who they may be, is ever stuck in their life. Change is the escapes for everyone, no matter how trapped they may feel. It is a theme that runs throughout the series and it is a good one, even though it would be more convincing coming from a character that wasn’t an immortal to whom death is just a change of viewpoint.

When the dust settles, I have to admit I greatly enjoyed The Sandman. For all its pointless tangents, anticlimactic stories, self-pitting characters and inconsistent art, it was a groundbreaking work that changed the entire comic book world. Well, it could have-should have changed it. Sadly, many of the lessons taught to the industry--that females characters can be heroes without ridiculous anatomies, that the world isn’t always black and white and that not every story needs a caped crusader--in the wake of The Sandman have long been forgotten, or, at least, remembered only in dreams.

Daredevil: The Murdock Papers - A Trade Paperback Review

Writer Brian Michael Bendis' and artist Alex Maleev's run on Daredevil has been one of the best comic reads ever. Rarely has a book held my interest for so long and provided me with this much enjoyment via Matt Murdock's ups and downs as superhero Daredevil, and as a lawyer, husband, friend, and lover. I've enthusiastically read the entire second volume of the series, issues 1-81 (also available in trade paperback and hardcover format).

It has been amazing to see how the choices of a blind lawyer and superhero have lead Matt Murdock into the predicament that is the close to this unpredictable and awesome run by the above mentioned creative duo.

Bendis and Maleev have left this book in an amazing original and awkward spot for any superhero comic book. I can hardly wait to see what Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark have in store for the Man Without Fear.

Daredevil: Volume 13: The Murdock Papers is published my Marvel Comics, 2006.

*Available at finer independent comic book and regular book stores, libraries (including Cej’s personal one) and also from those big box book stores that do not need your support as much.

Young Geeks in Love - A Houston Comix & Zine Festival 2006 Review

Young Geeks in Love, 2003, by the talented writer artist Robert Bienvenu answers the dilemma most comic geeks face at one time or another. What happens when you bring your girlfriend or boyfriend home for the first time and they see your enormous....comic book collection? Find out what happens to one man in this great comic.

Laugh-out-loud funny, with excellent storytelling. This one is a winner.

Published by Red City Comics.

Unshelved – Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum

This daily comic strip recounts the mundane adventures of Dewey, the Young Adult Librarian, his coworkers and acquaintances, as he deals with the typical occurrences of the public library system. Dewey is, well, me: he’s an acerbic, lazy, obsessed with popular culture—especially from his childhood—generation Xer and even looks like me (although I’ve never had the opportunity to ignore the interminable advances of a hot, young teacher as he does) and maybe that’s why I so enjoy this comic. Because of its characters and subject matter (the main characters of the comic are generic librarian stereotypes such as the cranky, older Luddite and the bubbly children’s librarian, as well as the sassy kid and an assortment of freaks for flavor), Unshelved might seem geared for librarians, but I don’t see how a humorous, simply drawn strip about dealing with public stupidity and government bureaucracy should be reserved for one profession.

Evil Dead: The Musical

When Sam Raimi wrote and directed the horror film, Evil Dead, in which a group of friends take a vacation in a cabin in the woods and accidentally unleash demonic spirits, he wanted it to be scary. Since that time, his and star Bruce Campbell’s work has been the essence of camp. The musical’s plot is the same, although it throws in some parts from the third Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, and takes the campy attitude and runs with it. I wasn’t sure how good this show would actually be. I thought perhaps it would simply be a lame attempt to cash in on a cult classic, but this production was astonishing. There were great dance numbers, funny lines and absolutely hilarious songs (my favorite being “What the…?”). The only problem with the show was the crowd and theater. The performance space was once a movie theater and the seats were designed for people looking up, not trying to see past some guy’s fat head. The crowd had a tendency to forget that yelling at the screen and making crude jokes is best saved for when you are viewing the original movies at home, and not when you’ve just paid a decent amount of money to have professionals act out the jokes and comments for you.

The Magic of Love – The Kunqu Society

Seeing that China’s world domination is inevitable and nigh, I figured I’d acclimate myself to some of their cultural forms. Kunqu is the 500 year-old Chinese equivalent of opera with the most striking difference being that their performances take all day. The Kunqu Society cut and pasted various romantic scenes from assorted works in order to present a taste of the art form. My pitiful occidental ears found the traditional Chinese instruments harsh and the stylized singing of an already intonation oriented language felt like the performances were done by Fran Drescher imitators. The newness of the art form to me was one of the show’s most tantalizing aspects and I enjoyed watching the careful movements and stunning costumes in all their vibrant colors. The hilarious (and never subtle) sexual innuendos of “Quench the Thirst”, wherein a scholar tries to examine more than books, was a highlight, as was the depressing “The Rebellion”, which depicts the last happy moment of an Emperor doomed to lose his love.

Recent Comic Reviews 11/17/06

Remember when a writer and artist would stay on a title for years at a time? These days, you're lucky to have the same team from page to page let alone month to month. What happened? You may or may not have been a fan of "our pal" Sal Buscema or "amiable" Al Milgrom, but they could deliver a book (or more) every month. And say what you will about Shooter, at least he made the trains run on time. No, I'm not really pining for the "good old days," but seesh, it's like Marvel and DC don't understand that comics is both art and a business, but anyway....

The Killer #1 This is a French import about a killer for hire. We don't know much beyond that in this first of ten issues, but Jacamon (w) and Matz (a) turn in a compelling look into the mind of a criminal. Also, on the plus side, this series is already finished, so it's just a matter of printing it in the States (and in English, presumably). So it should come out on time every month, right? This is the kind of series that can help pull the industry out of the single-genre format. Definitely worth a look.

Criminal #2 Another great crime drama from the new comic masters, Brubaker (w) and Philips (a). This issue was actually better than the first as we start to see the heist go into effect. Great characters and haunting art. It's hard to believe something this good can come from Marvel (albeit from their Icon line), but like The Killer, it certainly deserves some support.

Fables #55 Another rip-roaring issue. What I love about Willingham’s (w) work is his ability to mix politics and military themes into his stories. Given the state of the world, how is it that there aren’t more comics dealing with the issues of war and peace? Here, we see the machinations of the Adversary as his minions spot holes in his strategy to annihilate the Fables. And the backup story is an excellent analogy for foreign policy as dictated by fundamentalists.

Squadron Supreme #7 Wasn’t I just praising this book for keeping to a regular schedule? Oh wait, that was three months ago. Sigh. Gary Frank’s art is pretty, so maybe it’s worth the wait (and I’m assuming it is the art that is making the book late, which may be a huge assumption). The story, however, moves way too slowly, and JMS’s (w) political intrigue pales in comparison to Willingham’s. Note to self: don’t read these books back-to-back again. As soon as I find a good stopping point, I’m going to TPB-only on this title.

Shadowpact #7 We’re only up to issue #7, but we’re already on penciler #5. What is the problem, DC? I guess I shouldn’t complain, the book does at least keep a regular schedule, and the art has been decent, but still...have any of the post-Infinite Crisis books managed to be both monthly and have consistent creators? Story-wise, the team is starting to coalesce as a team, as they fight together and come up with their very own charter. Although it’s taking a bit long for my tastes, the Willingham magic is slowly revealing itself on this title as well.

Battle Pope

God enlists the Pope to kick ass and take names as the Devil makes another play at conquering earth. In additon to infallibility, the Pope now has muscles and guns (and JC as a sidekick). Unfortunately, Battle Pope is neither very sacriligeous (although your mileage may vary) nor very funny. I suppose if this is your first exposure to a crude version of God / Jesus / Santa Claus /the Church then you may be thrilled by the naughty depiction. For me, I've seen it enough times that it no longer has much cache. I'm typically a fan of Kirkman's writing, but here his jokes seem well-travelled. On the positive side, Tony Moore's art along with Val Staples's coloring is lively and works well with the material, keeping it lighthearted rather than dark.