Collects 1,168 pages that would have been better off remaining a tree.
- Stephen on Secret Wars II Omnibus
b o o k s f o r d e c e m b e r
Kramer's Ergot 7 HC (£80-00, Buenaventura Press) ~
"Art is making something out of nothing and selling it" - Frank Zappa
Expanse means expense as the highly respected and anticipated art-comics anthology goes the way of pricey coffee table books. Thirty-two of modern comics' best talent are given three 16" x 21" pages to work with. And while you're knee-jerking away from the price tag, you can expect to see the likes of Chris Ware, Jaimie Hernandez, Ben Jones, Daniel Clowes, Matt Brinkham, Kim Deitch, Anders Nilsen, C.F., Adrian Tomine, Gabrielle Bell, Matt Groening and many others taking full advantage of that space inside. That price tag has sparked some debate on internet forums about the "worth" of this anthology. With pages the size of old-school broadsheets, it's about what a cartoonist can do on a page that big rather than the dimensions of the page or the price of the book. Some people are bemoaning the price tag as an offence against the very principles of printed matter/comics/art; that comics should be for everybody and that £80 is an excluding price. It's not a new debate, it's been assigned to art forever, or rather misconstrued, I thought the "art is for everybody" debate was referring to the ability and the right to create rather than an ability to own art to the exclusivity of others. Anyway, don't get me rambling! Sammy Harkham has printed a limited number of these as he had for the previous volumes and everybody who would want it will have it regardless of price. And then it will be gone. They were never intended to introduce new people to comics, but new comics to the people looking for them. For anybody feeling slightly hurt by that price (I understand, it is £76-50 more expensive than the first KRAMER'S ERGOT!) I am trying to find the mysterious parody KRAYONS EGO. Watch this space.
Monologues For Calculating The Density Of Black Holes (£15-50, Fantagraphics) by Anders Nilsen ~ Second collection of experimental automatic cartooning. Profound? Funny? Bonkers? Or all three, at once, with Ice-cream? I think the last one was a recommendation for consumption rather than a question, sorry. I loved the first one which is still available at £12-50. Here's my review from long ago - "Taken from Nilsen's sketch book, this bares no resemblance to his detailed and laboured art from BIG QUESTIONS or his fantastic DOGS & WATER although it still plays with abstract imagery like the latter. With a conceptual backbone to support it past David-bad-art-for-the-sake-it-Shrigley comparisons, this is neither a sketchbook or a graphic novel. Rather it's an experiment embracing the spontaneity of the former and the structure of the later. If Dogs And Water was the well-scripted Film Four production then Monologues is the equivalent of a ranting stand-up act. Working within a stripped down sequential structure with impeccably placed figures, the page the stage, flying off on insane tangents like Bill Hicks at his most vitriolic. Mad, brilliant and spontaneous too, possibly the closest you could get to ad lib in comics. Borrowing the ideas of Automatic Writing, and the Surrealist Movement that followed it, and adapting them to fit the sequential boundaries of comics. Anders spent roughly a minute only on each page before moving to the next, maintaining a stream of spontaneous imagery as well as words. And they work as comics, one image follows the previous, sometimes for laughs which are easy to predict, but the bulk of this tome is filled with the kind of stuff most folk keep to them selves. Those pesky runaway inner-monologues. The last chapter exemplifies this the most as, remember, this is spilling out of Anders' head, the bastard son of Jesus and Mary - who appears throughout the book as he does here, with a squiggle for a head - explains his dissatisfaction with life and how he's only really happy in the void. The void being easy as hell to draw as it's the blank page behind him. Mad and genius." Click on Ander's name above to go to his Blog and more sketchbook brilliance.
Cecil & Jordan In New York (£12-99, Drawn & Quarterly) by Gabrielle Bell ~ Collects all her short stories from the last few years worth of anthologies including KRAMER'S ERGOT, MOME & DRAWN & QUARTERLY SHOWCASE. Highlighted here is that strangely sweet story about a young woman who turns herself into a chair so as to relieve the burden of her existence off her friends. That particular story is being adapted into a short film called "Interior Design" by Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Science Of Sleep), and will make up a third of his Tôkyô! trilogy, which brings me onto...
Kuruma Tohrimasu (£8-50, Drawn & Quarterly) by Gabrielle Bell & Michael Gondry ~ Originally created as a thank you to the cast and crew of Michael's short film "Interior Design" which is co-written by Gabrielle and Michael, this tasty little art book from D&Q's Petit Livres series contains all manner of sketches, photographs and ephemera relating to the production of the film and provides an interesting companion to CECIL & JORDAN IN NEW YORK.
Johnny Boo! Twinkle Power (£6-50, Top Shelf) by James Kochalka ~ More uber-twee for kids. Johnny Boo (a ghost) and Squiggle his pet (also a ghost) argue which is better; Boo Power or Squiggle Power? Tom reaches for Proton Pack to teach them both a lesson.
Nicolas (£6-50, Drawn & Quarterly) by Pascal Girard. Don't have anything for you yet except that this looks clean, simple and personal. A short series of vignettes following the loss of Pascal's younger brother trying to reconcile the enormity of that loss with the minutiae of life going on regardless.
Larry Marder's Beanworld Book 1: Wahoolazuma h/c (£12-99, Dark Horse) by Larry Marder. Nine issues of rescanned wonder from the original series. Black and white and thoroughly affordable. See comic section for the all-new, full-colour HOLIDAY SPECIAL and a full explanation of BEANWORLD itself.
Unlovable h/c with sparkly blue glitter (£12-99, Fantagraphics) by Esther Pearl Watson. Those who proclaim that the likes of Porcellino and Penfold can't draw can skip right over this, as can those who find the grotesque... unlovable. And big hair, leg warmers and overdone make-up are indeed grotesque especially given this sort of treatment. Brilliantly, this is all based on a teenager's very real diary which was discovered abandoned or more likely mislaid in a petrol station bathroom. Which is an odd place to leave it, but perhaps the urgency of a new entry dictated it. Originally serialised in Bust magazine (readership 80,000), you can read a very useful interview/overview here from which I cribbed this paragraph.
American Splendor: Another Dollar (£9-99, Vertigo/DC) by Harvey Pekar & David Lapham, Dawryn Cooke, Chris Weston etc. Second Vertigo volume of grumbling autobiography, but the thing is, Harvey's often right!
Lapham nails the fecklessness of the sad lad who pesters Harvey into letting him visit, but who has never read his comics and has absolutely nothing to say for himself except that his life sucks. It doesn't, but it will with a whingeing attitude like that. Then there's some sound advice about not blowing your gasket, a trip to Chicago which is prime Pekar - a shopping list of what he liked, what he disliked, what worried him and how he coped, all chased off with a fond farewell - followed by a little aside about grunting or not grunting. In "The Kirkus Reviewer" Harvey finds something very worthwhile complaining about, namely the shoddy journalism that went into a dismissive review of Pekar's MACEDONIA book (now in stock): "It's irritating to read the reactions of a few writers to MACEDONIA. Though even they seem to think it's informative. But they apparently believe graphic novels are intrinsically limited and should not concentrate on informing the public. Perhaps the most annoying comments came from Kirkus Reviews, whose unidentified writer said the work was "often educational, but only occasionally engaging." "Text heavy" and read "more often like a lecture than a graphic novel." "Text heavy"? The MACEDONIA text is clearly readable. The real problem is that many comic fans have no interest in international politics or foreign societies."
As it happens, in this instance Harvey’s wrong. It’s not remotely true than comic readers are allergic to politics or foreign societies. Otherwise I cannot account for the sales at Page 45 of (amongst many works) Joe Sacco’s graphic novels PALESTINE or SAFE AREA GORAZDE, Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning MAUS, Ted Rall’s SILK ROAD TO RUIN and TO AFGHANISTAN AND BACK, the comicbook adaptation of the 9/11 REPORT, and, of course, Marjane Satrapi’s PERSEPOLIS. It’s just that most prose reviewers, when they stray onto graphic novels, are culpably ill-informed on the medium they’re attempting to assess.
Also this month: Harvey Pekar: Conversations (£14-50) featuring transcripts of interviews from over the last 25 years.
Waltz With Bashir: A Lebanon War Story (£11-99, Metropolitan Books) by Ari Folman & David Polonsky. PERSEPOLIS in reverse, this is a graphic novel adaptation of an animation film which receive substantial coverage from The Times On-Line. More at the link, but the author was one of Israeli soldiers involved in the massacre of 3,000 Palestinians in 1982, who was so traumatised he lost all memory of the incident.
Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! (£9-99, Adhouse) by Scott Morse. "Art... fatherhood... work... play. How do you reconcile one to the next? Award-winning author Scott Morse has decided it's time to try within the pages of TIGER!TIGER!TIGER!, a series of band desinee-style graphic works that combine varied styles of painting and illustration with sequential stories of wonder and the magic of the day-to-day. Morse's popular tiger from the pages of SOUTHPAW is reborn as a paper tiger through which Morse lives out moments of his life, attempting to harness an inner courage while tackling hard thoughts and new experiences, all the while doing his best to appreciate each moment as it comes."
Myspace Dark Horse Presents vol 2 (£12-99, Dark Horse) by Zach Whedon, Gerard Way, more & Guy Davis, Gabriel Bá, more. More UMBRELLA ACADEMY which Tom recently read, loved and described as "Grant Morrison pop". More other stuff as well. Go to their myspace or something. I've linked before.
B.P.M. (£10-50, Fiery Studios) by Paul Sizer. May be of interest to the PHONOGRAM crowd in that it involves DJ culture, but with a very different bent. It's also another of those online manoeuvres that attempt to mix photography and line-drawn art and I'm not going to comment on whether I found it successful yet because SHOOTING WAR didn't turn out right on the page, so we'll just have to see. Lots of commentary on the pages here, along with other music-related resources. It's a perfectly amiable story of an almost-there DJ, her girlfriend with a day job whom she passes in the night, her friendly connections and the scenes she frequents.
The War At Ellsmere (£8-50, Amaze Ink/SLG) by Faith Erin Hicks. Now that's a weird one: Bryan Lee O'Malley with an unmissable Nabiel Kanan influence on the cover?! All very welcome, of course. Plenty of interior pages for you to look at there, which suggest that this girls' school feud will be a lot more substantial than Faith's previous outings.
The Stuff Of Life: A Graphic Guide To Genetics And DNA (£10-99, Hill & Wang) by Mark Schultz & Zander Cannon, Kevin Cannon. Zander you may know from TOP TEN. Here an alien investigates human biology for the benefit of your education.
Ted McKeever Library Book 2: Eddy Current h/c (£23-50, Image) by Ted McKeever. I remember insanity, a strange suit (mail ordered, or was that something else?) and a very large nun. A very large nun.
Flaming Carrot Collected vol 1 Ltd. h/c (£32-99, Bob Burden Studios) by Bob Burden. Satirical flame-topped carrot-head adventures from 20 years ago with a new 10-page story and intro by Dave Sim.
Tiny Life (£6-50, Sliver Ltd) by Nick Jones & Nicolas Colacitti. The combined synopses here have me - well, if not intrigued, then at least willing to order a copy for inspection. A stick figure in a fleshed out world.
Soleil: Universal War book One (£16-99, Marvel) by Denis Bajram. European science fiction which looked absolutely gorgeous when the series was solicited back in May and then we were told it was unavailable in the UK, so not very universal at all. Now it's a book and we have ways and means so, once more:
"Civil war between core planets and outlying planetary settlements... The black wall absorbs all light and matter, and it's up to a band of soldiers facing court martial to investigate the phenomenon. What did they do wrong, and will they survive The Wall?
"Si grand, si sombre.
"Insondable."
So now you know.
Complete Just A Pilgrim h/c (£19-99, D.E.) by Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra. Both post-apocalyptic mini-series in one. Too old for me to salvage an old review.
Wasteland vol 3: Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos (£8-99, Oni) by Antony Johnston & Christopher Mitten. Unsurprisingly it's all about Johnston and Templesmith's Xbox 360 DEAD SPACE graphic novel on his website at the moment (h/c @ £16-99, Image - consider that my preview), but here's the third volume of his own post-apocalyptic epic which I vastly prefer to Garth's above, having far more to say about politics and religion. Here's its dedicated website.
House Of Mystery vol 1: Room And Boredom (£6-50, Vertigo/DC) by Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham & Luca Rossi, guest-stars galore. Took me a few seconds to work out the pun in the title, and that's a few seconds too long: it's clunky enough to be one of mine. (Room and board, if you're still wondering.) Enjoyed the first three issues, but got distracted. A bunch of people (and creatures) are trapped in The House Of Mystery which itself has been abducted from its rightful owner. It's like Hotel California in that "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." Some try, all fail, so they pass the time telling stories until they are taken away in a horse-drawn carriage, never to be seen again. Why?
Tokyo Days Bangkok Nights (£12-99, Vertigo) by Jonathan Vankin & Seth Fisher, Giuseppe Camuncoli ~ Oh why would they do this? They finally collect Vertigo Pop: Tokyo with amazing art by the late Seth Fisher, and they throw the utterly inferior Vertigo Pop: Bangkok on the end. Bah! The concept is simple and actually quite good - ignorant Americans abroad in two very different eastern cities eat their words and - in the case of Tokyo - blow their minds. Seth is note-perfect on the Tokyo story. His Superflat character designs and neon toybox architecture are pure pop. Now if they were to be aesthetically consistent they would of followed that with some equally suitable art in Bangkok, but instead Giuseppe cranks out art which is very "Vertigo" in all its bare minimum splendour.
Watchmen International Edition (£12-99, DC) by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons. Recoloured pages taken from the Absolute Edition, and a new, infinitely less iconic and eye-catching cover. So you pays yer money and you takes yer choice, but after we have sold out of our current copies this new edition will be the only one available in the UK. Also solicited this month: The Art Of The Film (£29-99, Titan), The Official Film Companion (£19-99, Titan) and Film Portraits (£34-99, Titan). Also, a Dave Gibbons signing at OK Comics, and that really is this month - see under merchandise section. Please be warned, it's not just you: over 100 people every single day will shortly be asking me, "Have you seen The Watchmen film yet?" I am already shuddering at the prospect, so if you could minimise your participation in this enraging torture, I and my blood pressure would be enormously grateful. The answer at any point for the rest of my given life will be exactly the same: "No". Nor is that an invitation for you to share your own experience, it's an attempt to shut that line of conversation down completely, immediately and irrevocably, and move swiftly on to helping you in any way at all when it comes to buying comics.
Saga Of The Swamp Thing book one h/c (£16-99, Vertigo/DC) by Alan Moore & Steve Bissette, John Totleben. Okay, well, here's the thing: you may or may not be aware of it, but the softcover doesn't contain Alan's first issue on the series. Never reprinted, that was #20 not #21, and if I recall correctly without digging out my own copy ("Well, you could, you know!" Yeah, there are a few more previews I probably need to do, though) it was more about wrapping up old threads than throwing everything that had gone before on its head. Which Alan quickly did. See, originally the idea was that Alec Holland was transformed by a freak accident into a muck-monster - just like Ted Sallis was over at Marvel so that some of us could titter at willy jokes (GIANT-SIZED MAN-THING) - but Alan had a far better idea which allowed him to explore environmental issues and more. Bissette and Totleben were utterly lush by the way, and had almost certainly read Will Eisner's ~THE SPIRIT, incorporating as they did the titles into the landscapes. Just a thought, but if DC insist on potentially pricing themselves out of the market with hardcovers, wouldn't this series also have benefited from a re-scan and colour job à la SANDMAN, WATCHMEN and KILLING JOKE? Preview here.
All-Star Superman vol 2 h/c (£12-99, DC) by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely. The concluding half of the definitive series. On sale February 12th.
Batman: R.I.P. The Deluxe Edition h/c (16-99, DC) by Grant Morrison & Tony Daniel. Oversized edition showcasing Daniel's art which really isn't all that special - where was Kubert and consistency when you needed them - and Morrison's mentalism, as The Dark Knight is pushed beyond the limits of sanity by The Joker and The Black Glove and finds himself with a back-up personality that likes to talk to itself. This too is the conclusion to a Morrison run, collecting BATMAN #676-683. Arrives on February 5th.
Flash: Emergency Stop (£8-50, DC) by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar & Paul Ryan, John Nyberg. "At last!" they write, and indeed, but then why did it take you so long? "Confined to a wheelchair after a run-in with the mystery villain known only as The Suit, how can The Flash protect Keystone City from evil run amok?" Alex Sarll will almost certainly tell you after January 22nd. It's sad that I only have time to communicate with some of my best friends via this Mailshot, isn't it?
Starman Omnibus vol 2 h/c (£32-99, DC) by James Robinson & Tony Harris, Guy Davis and co. Considering its cost, the first volume proved gratifyingly popular here, thanks in part I have to Phil Yates' substantial overview here. I slurred at Phil last night across the table at Squeak, and he said he still had some words left in him for this, which collects #17-29, Annual #1 and stories from SHOWCASE '95 #12 and SHOWCASE '96 #4-5, a title I cannot even recall existing. Meanwhile, here's one of Phil's last paragraphs: "Starman is a title like no other. It is both a celebration and education in the history of the character. Owing to Robinson’s fantastic knowledge of ancient DC, we are treated to glimpses of everyone who has taken the mantle, even if it was just a cancelled ten-issue series. It is also an amalgamation of the Golden Age and modern DC universe. Old favourites like The Shade and Solomon Grundy adorn the pages, and other less popular DC characters like Elongated Man and Black Condor are given a new home in Opal City. Even the now geriatric Sandman, Wesley Dodds, gets to pull on his gas mask for one last adventure." Sneak peak here. Oh yes, sorry, February 26th.
James Robinson's Complete WILDC.A.T.S. (£12-99, Wildstorm/DC) by James Robinson & Travis Charest, others. While we're on the subject of Robinson, who can forget his classic run on Jim Lee's Image creation? I have, for one.
Justice League Of America: The Lightning Saga s/c (£11-99, DC) by Brad Meltzer, Geoff Johns & Ed Benes, etc.. Slightly messy crossover from JLA #8-12 and JSA #5-6 providing a prequel to the superior Superman & The Legion Of Superheroes h/c (£16-99, DC) by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank. Members of the Legion are here in the present. They shouldn't be. Ships Jan 22nd.
La Muse (£12-99, Bighead) by Adi Tantimedh & Hugo Petrus. Good looking, well dressed and angst-free liberal activist superstar, Susan la Muse has powers, and is determined to save the world, and no except her and her fans seems pleased about it. Not terrorists, not the government, not even her best friend because it's ruined her life. As I say, though, Susan takes it all her her DKNY stride with a bright smile and no compunctions about doing unto others what they'd do to her with a bloody big bazooka in public. A surprisingly bright and attractive webcomic now given physical form, endorsed by Alan Moore as "stylish, sexy, intelligent and above all, contemporary". I haven't read the lot but you can at that link.
Powers vol 12: The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes (£12-99, Marvel) by Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming. The end of another era as the Deena Pilgrim sub-plot finally blows wide open and everyone finds out the truth: she's caught powers, and not in a good way. Things really are looking rather different by the end of this book, a perfect point for a pause which is exactly what's happening. In spite of recent solicitations, POWERS #30, the concluding issue in this collection, was the last for the second series. The series goes on hiatus while they build up more material and work on other projects, and will be relaunched with a new number one at some unspecified date down the line. I wrote that entire paragraph without thinking. Thank god I wasn't driving.
Secret Wars II Omnibus h/c (£65-00, Marvel) by 5,378 people writers with no talent between them & some artists whose talent was entirely wasted wherever it did exist. I mean, Mazzuchelli! All the tie-in titles are here, but centrally speaking the mini-series was written by Jim Shooter and "pencilled" by Al Milgrom, the least talented artist ever in the history of comics and that includes whichever man-child sent me that self-published superhero comic drawn in biro then reproduced on his office photocopier when no one was looking including his mother who would have died of disappointment at her son's hopeless ineptitude and lack of self-awareness. No one, but no one produced uglier pages than Al Milgrom whom I always suspected of having blackmailed his way into print. So for once I don't mind that this is an unsellably high-priced omnibus, for were it free it would still languish on our shelves until Rick Fuller visited. (Just kidding, Rick!) Oh, and I should just mention that the story was dire as well. In the first series The Beyonder, a being with near limitless power, abducted some Marvel superheroes and supervillains and popped them on a planet to fight. They fought. In this sequel, The Beyonder comes to Earth and oh Christ I've bored myself. Collects 1,168 pages that would have been better off remaining a tree.
Ultimate Origins h/c (£16-99, Marvel) by Brian Michael Bendis & Butch Guice. Clever little number that doesn't disappoint in its claim to show how interconnected seemingly separate events were over the course of the last seventy years in the Ultimate Universe. Lots of secrets revealed like the fact that Logan isn't a natural --- or Peter Parker's parents were by killed by --- and Nick Fury was --- then --- and --- All in the search of a --- which culminated in the creation of --- Are you Watching closely?
Ultimates 3: Sex, Lies & DVD h/c (£16-99, Marvel) by Jeph Loeb & Joe Madureira. Even the twist at the climax failed to make this any more endurable than a kick in the cods from a Man U striker. And that twist is given away on the front cover to the Direct Market cover to the book, so what on earth is the point? Visually, it was like looking through mud, whilst the script made you feel that your mouth was full of it. Someone nominally resembling the Scarlet Witch is killed by a bullet. Everyone else nominally resembling the characters created by Mark Millar in my favourite superhero series of all time (ULTIMATES SEASON 1 and 2) get angry and so does Magneto and this leads into ULTIMATUM next month. You cannot say I never warned you when the series was first announced. Drivel.
Spider-Man: Blue h/c (£16-99, Marvel) by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale. This is what Loeb is better at: nostalgia. Peter remembers his first love, Gwen Stacy, whose neck snapped when she passed a car crash on the motorway. Everyone else just slowed down making the inside lane slower than the outside and turning my two-hour drive down to Bristol into eight hours of anger. A reprint of my originally, vaguely more accurate review on arrival.
Mighty Avengers vol 3: Secret Invasion book 1 h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev, Khoi Pham, John Romita Jr. The combined storylines from MIGHTY AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS were continued in the pages of SECRET INVASION itself, so for those months the two titles looked back at all the sneaky developments that had secretly happened behind the scenes, and really rather clever they were too. Who, what, when and why? Makes more sense now, doesn't it?
New Avengers vol 9: Secret Invasion book 2 h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Brian Michael Bendis & Billy Tan, Jimmy Cheung. Does it make more sense now?
Avengers: First To Last h/c (£23-50, Marvel) by Peter David and others. A reprint of the two-part LAST AVENGERS STORY (Hawkeye's blind here also - I told you they always did that to him) and the filler shorts at the back on the recent AVENGERS CLASSIC reprint series. Makes no sense at all with a price like that.
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear h/c (£16-99, Marvel) by Frank Miller & John Romita Jr. Excellent choreography from John in yet another different edition of the Miller classic looking back at Matt's original encounters with the woman who would become Elektra in Frank's original run on the main title.
Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson vol 2 (£19-99, Marvel) by Frank Miller, Roger McKenzie & Miller, Janson. McKenzie gives over sole writer chores to Miller and Elektra arrives on the scene. #173-184.
Runaways: Dead End Kids s/c (£10-50, Marvel) by Joss Whedon & Michael Ryan. If you haven't already bought the hardcover. Can't be many of you. The kids accept an assignment from The Kingpin which lands them back in time.
X-Men: Angel Revelations (£12-99, Marvel) by Aguirre-Sacasa & Adam Pollina. Yeah, sorry, it wasn't very interesting by the end. My bad. At least no one bought a copy.
Rising Stars Compendium h/c (£65-00, Top Cow/Image) by J. Michael Straczynski, Fiona Avery & Brent Anderson, David Finch, Keu Cha, Karl Moline. Staczynski's first stab at superhero comics whose initial lack of anyone who had a right to call themselves an artist hampered it no end until Brent Anderson came along. He did it all much better later on in SUPREME POWER, but for those of you curious (and the set-up was great), we still have the first three softcovers which make up the whole story, the fourth being an add-on mini-series written by Avery. A comet strikes earth giving those in utero powers later on. The government steps in, then one in their midst realises he or she can acquire a greater portion of the power spread between them, if there are fewer of them alive. Then the government steps in again.
Transhuman (£9-99, Image) by Jonathan Hickman & J.M. Ringuet. If Hickman (NIGHTLY NEWS, PAX ROMANA) had been on art, I'd have read this. Was it any good?
Eerie Archives vol 1 h/c (£32-99, Dark Horse) by various to go with the CREEPY ones. Includes the likes of Frazetta, Toth, and Neal Adams.
Missing The Boat (£12-50, Image) by Wayne Chinsang AKA Justin Shady & Dwellephant. Unknown provenance for this all-ages tale, but the premise amused. The Churamane missed the boat, but it wasn't just any old boat, it was the last boat leaving Platform Dry Land before The Flood. The boat was Noah's Ark, and the Churamane were a species of animal none too bright and just too lazy to get off their arses and hoof their way over to The Ark on time. That's why you've never heard of them.
also scheduled:
Miss Don't Touch Me (£9-99, NBM) by Hubert & Kerascoet. Preview here.
Wolverton Bible h/c (£16-99, Fantagraphics) by Basil Wolverton
Never As Bad As You Think h/c (£10-50, Boom!) by Stuart & Kathryn Immonen
Dead She Said h/c (£12-99, IDW) by Steve Niles & Bernie Wrightson
Buffy Omnibus vol 6 (£16-99, Dark Horse) by various
Warhammer 40,000: Only War Omnibus (£16-99, Boom!) by various
Warhammer: Blood Of The Empire Omnibus (£16-99, Boom!) by various
Warhammer: Fire & Honor (£10-99, Boom!) by Graham McNeill & Tony Parker
Nova vol 1 h/c (£23-50, Marvel) by Abnett, Lanning & others
Guardians Of The Galaxy vol 1: Legacy h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Abnett, Lanning & Paul Pelletier
Punisher War Journal vol 4: Jigsaw! h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Fraction, Remender & Howard Chaykin
Wolverine: Dangerous Games h/c (£16-99, Marvel) by various
Marvel Illustrated: The Three Muskateers h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Roy Thomas & Hugo Petrus
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures vol 2 s/c (£10-50, Hamilton, Ruffner-Booth & Booth, Lim
Hedge Knight II: Sworn Sword s/c (£10-50, Marvel) by Martin, Avery & Mike S. Miller
Infinity Crusade vol 1 (£19-99, Marvel) by Jim Starlin & Rom Lim, Tom Raney, Angel Medina, Tom Grindberg.
New Exiles vol 2: Soul Awakening (£10-50, Marvel) by Claremont & Grummett, Luque
Onslaught Reborn (£9-99, Marvel) by Loeb & Liefeld
Captain America: The Chosen s/c (£12-99, Marvel) by David Morrell & Mitch Breitweiser
X-Factor vol 5: Only Game In Town s/c (£10-50, Marvel) by Peter David & Raimondi, De Landro
Hulk: Giant-Size (£8-50, Marvel) by various
X-Men: Complete Onslaught vol 4 (£19-99, Marvel) by various
What If Classic vol 5 (£19-99, Marvel) by various
Essential Wolverine vol 5 (£10-99, Marvel) by various
Batman: The Strange Deaths of Batman (£12-99, DC) by various, past and present
Birds Of Prey: Club Kids (£11-99, DC) by Tony Bedard & various
SC Classics Library: Legion Of Super-Heroes: The Life And Death Of Ferro Lad h/c (£26-99, DC) by Jim Shooter & Curt Swan
Green Arrow/Black Canary: Family Business s/c (£11-99, DC) by Judd Winnick & Cliff Chiang
Green Lantern: Wanted - Hal Jordan (£9-99, DC) by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis
Justice vol 3 s/c (£9-99, DC) by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross & Doug Braithwaite, Alex Ross
The Spirit vol 3 h/c (£12-99, DC) by Sergio Arragones, Mark Evanier & Mike Ploog, Paul Smith
The V.C.S. (£10-99, Rebellion) by Gerry Finley-Day & various
Tank Girl vol 3 Anniversary ed (£10-99, Titan) by Martin & Hewlett
m a n g a f o r d e c e m b e r
The Quest For The Missing Girl (£13-99, Fanfare/Ponent Mon) by Jiro Taniguchi. From the creator of the sublime WALKING MAN with its quiet but boundless beauty found all around him, this is a very different work. The mountains remain magnificent, but when Shiga comes down from them to honour a promise to his best friend who died in the Himalayas, he finds his quest to find the man's missing daughter Megumi leads him to trouble in the city. When it comes to the preview read the pages from the left, but read each individual page from right to left. See, much clearer now!
Tezuka's Black Jack vol 3 exclusive, ltd ed h/c (£16-99, Vertical Inc) by Osamu Tezuka. With the more affordable softcover editions published one month after these, we considered it entirely understandable that no one placed a single pre-order for the first hardcover, but Tom being ever the optimist ordered five of each anyway. Well done, Tom, because one minute after their arrival in the UK five people asked if we had any. They were the lucky ones, but only just. The moral being that if you know you're going to want a limited edition, please, please for you own sake and to avoid disappointment, could you order them as soon as you hear about them? Bless you.
Oishimbo! Japanese Cuisine (£8-50, Viz Media) by Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki ~ Instructional comics for the proper preparation and presentation of Japanese food. And why the hell not when Jaimie Oliver has a DS game! Frankly I'm waiting for a sweary Gordon Ramsey one or a pervy Nigella Lawson game. Y'know, really wear my stylus out.
The Manga Cookbook With Bento Boxed Set (£17-50) on the other hand is full of flavoursome recipes for spicing up your well thumbed graphic novels because, let's face it, if you've ever tried to eat their pages raw it's more than a little bland and soaks up your saliva like crazy. So whether it's soya sauce with a hint of ginger, a marinade of saki or a great bit flambé affair with sizzling sesame seeds, this shows you how best to cook your books without getting into trouble with the Inland Revenue.
c o m i c s f o r d e c e m b e r
Beanworld Holiday Special (£2-60, Dark Horse) by Larry Marder. First all-new material in over a decade, and in full colour.
Last month I wrote, "Marder created a unique world with a fully realised ecosystem which operated with its own laws for construction, reproduction and sustenance. Its several species of inhabitants had their own hierarchy, its individuals their own roles, aspirations and priorities. They even had their own terminology/slang. With their passion for play, exploration, art and invention, if I were to try to capture the series in a single word, I'd try "Celebration". Mark made the connection with Native American creativity and culture, and visually, you aint seen anything like it.
Larry Marder wrote: "Beanworld is about the affinity of life. It's like A Bug's Life meets MUTTS, as told by Dr. Seuss & Joseph Campbell. It's a weird fantasy dimension that operates under its own rules and laws, but also reflects deep truths about our world in doing so. All the characters, whether they are friends or adversaries, understand that ultimately they depend on each other for survival. Beanworld isn't a place, it's a process, and I can't wait to share that process with a new generation of readers!"
See book section for the first reprint hardcover @ £12-99 of the original series.
Sulk #2 (£6-50, Top Shelf) by Jeffrey Brown ~ The first issue arrived yesterday in all its pocket-sized glory. You know you ARE on to a good thing when you can sell three copies in a matter of minutes to people who have never read anything by Jeffrey simply by laughing uncontrollably. More on #1's epic superhero parody in part b. #2 contains yet more physical prowess with the story "Deadly Awesome" where we're introduced to the world of Mixed Martial Arts and the essence of sporting violence in an 80-page no-holds-barred cage-fighting battle between veteran Haruki Rabasaku and young upstart, Eldark Garpurb. Expect it to smudge from excess testosterone. Grr.
Fight Or Run #1 (£2-60, Buenaventura Press) by Kevin Huizenga ~ Something a bit more light-hearted from Kevin here. Straight-up fight comics in the abstract style he used in the computer game sequences in GANGES #2. Two adversaries face off then scrap or scarper energetically over the beautifully choreographed pages. As you read on, the fights progress through rounds in true Street Fighter II beat-em-up style. If only Udon's Capcom licences were nearly as exiting to read.
Phonogram 2: The Singles Club #1 of 7 (£2-40, Image) by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie. Music as magic, and the quandries of clubbing. Two of our favourite British pranksters are on top form, and series two is a go! "This means that you can ask your fine comics retailer to order you a copy of the creature. And we beg (if you’re dominant) and order (if you’re submissive) or whatever one you’re feeling today (if you’re switch) you to do so." Seven stand-alone stories this time with added Marc Ellerby. Added Marc Ellerby!
Frankenstein's Womb (£4-50, Avatar) by Warren Ellis & Marek Oleksicki. What really happened to Mary Shelley to inspire Frankenstein? Full synopsis and cover back there.
The Actress And The Bishop #1 (£2-60, Desperado) by Brian Bolland. A reprint of all those slightly risqué strips which themselves were reprinted in the BOLLAND STRIPS h/c we have in stock.
Mister X: Condemned #1 of 4 (£, 2-40, Dark Horse) by Dean Motter. "Twenty-five years ago, Dean Motter's Mister X debuted with a concept so clever and a character so captivating that it influenced an entire generation of comics fans and creators. Today, Motter reclaims the reins and sets out to inspire a whole new generation with Mister X: Condemned, a completely fresh introduction to the elusive Mister X and his dystopian home - Somnopolis, the City of Nightmares. With influences from Film Noir to German Expressionism, this story of a city gone mad and the never-sleeping man who's obsessed with saving it will amaze anyone interested in masterpiece storytelling born from the vision of a single iconoclastic creator. Noted as "Perhaps the first legitimate combination of science fiction and German Expressionism seen in comics" by Frank Miller, and "A sharp mixture of Raymond Chandler, Blade Runner, Peyton Place, and a post-punk Dante's Inferno" by Blitz magazine, this is certain to be one of the season's best mini-series."
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz #1 of 8 (£2-60, Marvel) by Eric Shanower & Skottie Young. Don't know if this is new Oz material from Eric (AGE OF BRONZE) Shanower or some of his old work. Nor do I care because I fucking hate The Wizard Of Oz with a passion. It's everything I loathe: twee morality, camp acting, gaudy colours, bloody fucking pigtails on prissy little girls, tiny little munchkin people (that might even be what they're called - how would I know, I've neither been able to stomach more than seven second snatches of it), and worst of all, songs! Whoever first invented the musical should be disinterred, brought back to life, not healed in any goddamn way, shape or form and subjected to an eternal loop of The Village People's videos at full blast for ever and ever or at least until we elect Sarah Palin and the whole world goes up in a ball of flame. A ball of pro-life flame, mind - no contradictions there. However, Skottie Young makes this look better than it has any right to whilst still calling itself The Wizard Of Oz so I could not possible scowl at you for ordering this. If, however, you do so whilst telling me how sorry you feel for Judy tragic Garland then I will lock you our cellar and let the snakes there have their say.*
*Emily was horrified last weekend to hear me tell Rob Sinfield's young son that if he touched the figures in the cabinet one more time then a trapdoor would open and he'd fall into our pit of snakes. On reflection - you know, when the tears started streaming down the poor kid's face - it was a mite harsh, but I tell you those tiny little hands never so much as wandered in the vicinity of the cabinet again. And it made his father laugh, so...
Incognito #1 (£2-40, Icon/Marvel) by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips. In a surprise (to me) move, the CRIMINAL team have once again plunged one fist into the superhero stomach whilst keeping the other firmly in the (under)belly of twilight crime. It's like SLEEPER all over again, only not. Instead of the lead here being a good guy undercover pretending to be bad, it's a bad guy with powers under Witness Protection pretending to be good or at least dull. The pages on that link will tell you everything you need to know, I think. Do you think our man can maintain his self-control or will he grow bored and start burning down the house?
Secret Invasion: Dark Reign (£2-60 and 48 pages contrary to the PREVIEWS information, Marvel) by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev. So the invasion is over. The battle has been fought, but has it been won? Is Marvel's planet Earth one big Iraq, or have we successfully repelled the intruding hoards? I don't know and Marvel won't tell until the day that SECRET INVASION #8 arrives. On that day there will be a wailing and gnashing of teeth plus a free copy of MARVEL: PREVIEWS: DARK REIGN EDITION to stick between them and chew on. This will finally reveal what to expect in this, AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #20, DARK REIGN: NEW NATION one-shot, INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #8, WAR MACHINE #1, MISS MARVEL #34, NEW AVENGERS #48 and the SECRET INVASION: REQUIEM one-shot which will actually be called something else. Until that day, my children, you must wait for covers and content, but I can tell you...
War Machine #1 (£2-10, Marvel) will be by Greg Pak & Leonardo Manco, and...
Dark Reign: New Nation (£2-60, Marvel) will be 48 pages long and by Brian Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, Jeff Parker, Greg Pak, Jim McCann, Adam Felber & Stefano Caselli, Carlo Paguylan, Leonardo Manco and more. Finally for this section...
Secret Invasion: Requiem one-shot (£2-60, Marvel). That's it. That's all the information you're getting because that's all the information we've been given, and even some of that is wrong. Which bit in particular...? The title, because that's not it. We've no cover, no creators, no content and no title. Basically, would you like to order a comic based on the fact that it'll cost you £2-60? I can just see myself on the shop floor: "This price is amazing - absolutely stunning. It starts off with a pound sterling sign that grips your wallet hard before leading you gently into a number that suggests more than mere singularity yet less than, say, a nuclear family. Or does it? Because if the average nuclear family is 2 point 4 children, and then this may have a surprise in store..." Actually, I don't know whether that suggests more about how absurd it is to demand we order a quantity of unreturnable comics with no pertinent information, or more about the level of bullshit I come out with when recommending comics. Embrace Stupidity.
Captain America: Theatre Of War: America First! (£3-50, Marvel) by Howard Chaykin. Lots of information about this, but so impressed am I with Marvel's strategy this month that I'm going to withhold it.
X Men Noir #1 (£2-60, Marvel) by Fred Van Lente & Dennios Calero, Spider-Man Noir #1 (£2-60, Marvel) by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky & Carmine Di Giandomenico. I know! I know what Marvel needs most right now with its 5 billion titles a month and a complete regime change both in its regular universe and Ultimate line! It needs another imprint with even more titles! Brilliant! So here we have the first two titles of Marvel Noir set in the 1930s after The Great Depression when the mob is in charge. We're talking hats, coats and guns, and dolls you toy rather than play with. Oh right, molls, not dolls. Still, I like that joke so it stays. I don't like the idea of even more shelf-stuffers, though, so please order now or even don't.
Moon Knight: Silent Knight #1 (£2-60, Marvel) by Peter Milligan & Laurence Campbell. One-shot, I think, set during Christmas Eve. Oh god, is it that time of the year already?
Punisher War Zone #1 of 6 (£2-60, Marvel) by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon. Yusss! Ma Gnucci, wizened and limbless mob-bitch is back, and so are is the creative team responsible for her last appearance in PUNISHER: WELCOME BACK FRANK (and obviously, the whole of PREACHER), which was more black comedy than anything else, and nothing like where Garth went on his subsequent PUNISHER MAX series.
Punisher Max X-Mas Special (£2-60, Marvel) by Jason Aaron & Roland Boschi. From the writer of Vertigo's OTHER SIDE and SCALPED.
Wolverine: Flies To A Spider (£2-60, Marvel) by Gregg Hurwitz & Jerome Opena. From the writer who took up PUNISHER MAX where Garth Ennis left off and is currently doing a damn good job of it south of the border. Biker gangs.
Marvels: Eye Of The Camera #1 of 6 (£2-60, Marvel) by Kurt Busiek & Jay Anacleto. Sequel to MARVELS, in which the more innocent age of the Marvel Universe, right up until the death of Gwen Stacy, was viewed from ground level by a photo-journalist and the rest of Manhattan's population. Fifteen years on and Kurt's back with a different painter (less light) but the same photojournalist to record what happened next.
X-Men: King-Breaker #1 of 4 (£2-60, Marvel) by Christopher Yost & Dustin Weaver. Sequel to X-MEN: EMPEROR VULCAN which was the sequel to UNCANNY X-MEN: RISE AND FALL OF THE SHI'AR EMPIRE which itself was a sequel to X-MEN: DEADLY GENESIS in which Cyclops and Havok found they had a brother they were until then unaware of who had died way back when but was better again. To cut several hundred pages short that brother Vulcan is now emperor of the Shi'Ar Empire (turn left at the wormhole), Havok and Polaris are his prisoners, and he's just read Mein Kampf. Expansion imminent.
X-Men: Infernus #1 of 4 (£2-60, Marvel) by C.B. Cebulski & Giuseppi Camuncoli. Sequel to... I have no idea. I don't even remember Darkchylde. Was she an evil doppelganger of Ilyana Rasputin, Colossus' sister? Well, she's queen of Limbo (turn right down the manhole) and she too has expansionist plans that involve planet Earth.
Final Crisis: Secret Files #1 (£2-60, DC) by Grant Morrison, Peter J. Tomasi & Frank Quitely, various. "Submit to Darkseid and read the full Anti-Life Equation!"
Justice League Of America #28 (£2-10, DC) by Dwayne McDuffie & Ed Benes. "The Shadow Cabinet has stolen the mortal remains of Dr. Light." I say, that's a little drastic. I understand it's a bit of a shock that Peter Mandelson's back, but I can't quite see how this'll help them.
Watchmen #1 new printing (99 pence, DC) By Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons. Now that's what I call pointless.
The Darkness: Lodbrok's Hand (£2-10, Top Cow/Image) by Phil Hester & Michael Oeming. One-shot with art from Mr. POWERS himself, which partly explains that title's hiatus.
Comics Journal #295 (£7-99, Fantagraphics). If all goes to plan (and it didn't recently in an issue that promised Grant Morrison but delivered only the Deitches) this should feature two Page 45 CBOTMC writers, Brian K. Vaughan and Gipi in extensive separate interviews.
m e r c h a n d i s e
Sandman Anniversay Poster (£6-99, DC Direct) by many. Jam piece with about as much atmosphere as a punctured space suit. Not why we ever read SANDMAN, no.
XOXO - Hugs & Kisses Postcard Book (£8-99, Chronicle Books) by James Jean ~ Actually, we just sourced this from somewhere else so we have it now! Thirty different postcards of beautiful and oft disturbing artwork. The design of this is just insanely sweet, with rounded corners, silver embossed title and further silver detail on the fastening tab - this collection stands out from the rest even without taking into account James Jean's iconic paintings. Surreal pop in the post.
p l a g i a r i s m !
Ah, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! Do you detect a certain stylistic bent to the following?
"What do you mean?"
I mean the questions!
"What about them?"
They're followed by answers!
"But that's good, right?"
Of course it is. Though Jared hasn't quite got it right yet: you're not supposed to pay respect to your guest of honour - you're supposed to poke fun at them. I think.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it's an OK Comics Event! (Like there aren't enough of them already. Will you fucking stop it, mate, you're making Page 45 look like slackers.)
DAVE GIBBONS will be signing copies of his new book,
WATCHING THE WATCHMEN, at OK Comics on Friday 24th October, from 1pm.
Who is Dave Gibbons?
As well as working on comics such as Dr Who, 2000AD, Green Lantern, Superman, Give Me Liberty and his own creation Originals, Gibbons is best know as the artist of Watchmen.
What is Watchmen?
WATCHMEN has been a constant bestseller since its release and is widely considered the greatest graphic novel of all time. Written by Alan Moore, it has earned an acclaimed place in modern literary history.
The feature film adaptation of WATCHMEN will be released in 2009.
What is Watching the Watchmen?
WATCHING THE WATCHMEN is the colossal book that sheds new light on this influential work. Providing the ultimate companion to the comic book masterpiece, Dave Gibbons gives his own account of the genesis of WATCHMEN in this majestic volume, opening his archives to reveal excised pages, early versions of the script, original character designs, sketches and much more, including posters, covers and rare portfolio art. Featuring the breathtaking design of Chip Kidd and Mike Essl, WATCHING THE WATCHMEN is both a major art book, and the definitive companion to the graphic novel that changed an industry.
What’s going on?
Dave Gibbons will be at OK Comics from 1pm on Friday 24th October, signing copies of the new book and, time permitting, anything else people want to bring along. We expect the event to be extremely well attended, so anybody who wants to come along is encouraged to arrive early. The first 50 people will receive a free KAPOWCH! (OK bag for life) containing free comics.
We’ll have other Dave Gibbons books, and other free give stuff available on the day.
What’s OK Comics?
OK COMICS is the award winning independent comic book shop in Leeds selling comics, graphic novels and magazines.
For any further information please contact Jared at OK Comics,
0113 2469366, or shop@okcomics.co.uk
OK Comics, 19 Thornton’s Arcade, Briggate, Leeds, LS1 6LQ
www.okcomics.co.uk
Okay, you get that reference to the film for free. Next motherfucker who mentions the film here gets the rest of their message cauterised at the offending stump.
* * *
UK Postage (overseas at cost):
£1-00 for the first comic or t-shirt (unless there's a book included in the package in which case it's just 25 pence), and 25 pence thereafter...
£1-00 each for of the pocket-sized manga books, £1-50 each for all other books except...
Complete Calvin & Hobbes slipcased edition and Little Nemo will cost a flat £5-00 postage, but anything ordered on top of it will of course be postage free, because.....
Maximum postage for all this lot in whatever quantities is £5-00.
Posters and prints are sent separately @ £1-50 for as many as we can fit in a single tube.
Standing Orders:
To ensure that you never miss a single issue of a title you read, Page 45 provides a free standing order service either for personal collection or sending by post. All you have to do is tell us which titles you want, and we'll save them for you as they come out. You can visit or phone or even email as often as you want, but we must hear from you at least once every three months, please. Single orders and reservations just as gratefully received as any others.
Page 45 gift vouchers available in denominations of £5-00. You get: a free card and envelope. We get: to see your friends, later on.
Removal instructions: there is no way out. Oh, okay, just type 'remove' in the subject heading, and feel our desolation.
Page 45 is a comic shop.
We are:
Stephen L. Holland
Tom Rosin
with Emily Hubbard
Page 45 was created in 1994 by Mark Simpson (1968-2005) and Stephen L. Holland (1703- ),
then kick-started with more than a little help from the glorious, glamorous Dominique Kidd.
Page 45
9 Market Street
Nottingham
NG1 6HY
Tel: (0115) 9508045
Open Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm.
Page 45 Mailshots written by Stephen and Tom, then edited by a myopic old manatee.
l e t t e r s
Enquiring minds want to know...
What is it with Marvel releasing so many h/c titles? I just want the s/c.
Tell me about it.
(No, please don't. Tell Marvel and DC.)
Thank you for the name check.
If ever you forget it again, just let me know. Should I take note of any middle names in case you need to check them as well?
Immortal Iron Fist vol 2: The Seven Capital Cities s/c (£11-99, Marvel) by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction & David Aja with Zonjic, Kano etc.. Wake Me Up Before You Dojo!
Wake me up before you dojo? That is genius. How long did you have to think of that one?
I'm afraid it came to me about six months ago, I filed it under "martial arts pun" then waited for a suitable book.
I really did.
All-Star Superman vol 1 s/c (£8-50, DC) by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely ~ Is this my kinda thang?
Oh yeah, it's top of the range superheroics. Tom reviewed the book but this what I made of the first issue... three years ago!
All-Star Superman #1 (£2-25, DC) by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely. Marvellous. There's a telling panel towards the end where a boy chases a dog into the path of an oncoming juggernaut, with Superman way too far behind to do anything about it. Except, of course, he's Superman, which is why Morrison doesn't bother showing you the outcome. You don't need to see it - he's Superman. So whereas other, lesser writers would have bored you for a good two pages with this episode entirely irrelevant to the whole ("How many times are you prepared to endure the Bat or the Spider foiling a simple street robbery on a helpless young lady? Over and over again. There are four pages of it here, with absolutely no connection to the story. And this is a hardcover, these pages cost money - although it's not as if Moench has anything to say on any of the others." - myself on BATMAN: HONG KONG from August 2003), Morrison just pops it in to show you how fast and reliable Superman is. Job done, let's move on. This is the second title of DC's answer to Marvel's revisionist Ultimate series, except that instead of going back to the beginning, they pop you in any old where. The "where" in this instance being the heart of a sunspot, where an expedition of scientists fall foul of Lex Luthor's sabotage. Lex knew Superman would save them, but in the meantime the Sun - the source of Superman's energy - has overcharged his cells with more raw energy than they're able to process. He's dying. Morrison's Luthor is as engaging as he is ruthless, as precise as he is clever, and as effective as a man supposedly that clever should be. Quitely, of course, is glorious, and my only answer to the dozens of customers who have - understandably given the character's mishandling over the years - dubiously suggested that they simply don't like Superman is... I couldn't agree with you more, but see what you think when an actual writer has a go. And to think that DC once told Morrison they would never in a million years let him near their prized possession.
Crooked Little Vein novel (£7-99, Harper Perennial) by Warren Ellis.
I'll take this, please.
Unmasked (£2-99, Tweeked Press) by Martin Simpson.
If there's one left I'll give this a go.
DC Universe: Last Will And Testament one-shot (£2-60, DC) by Brad Meltzer & Adam Kubert.
I'll take this one as well, please.
Michael Stone
There you are, I know it's controversial in a letters column, but we can begin on a letter. It doesn't always have to be about me.
[Calculating "Stephen to everyone else" ratio... Yes it does, Stephen: 99.9397% of each letter column is all about you - ed].
Yes, b --
[And you are a bore - ed.]
Hey Tom,
I just wanted to say 'thank you' for championing The Blot and for bringing it to the attention of a wider audience. It's probably one the best things I picked up last year and it instantly stuck me as something that would go down a treat with the more adventurous of Page 45 customers.
I think you're right about the book. It does act like an emotional mirror of sorts and can be interpreted in so many ways. I think it has an emotional resonance that will appeal to a broad range of people. Taken simply as the tale of a failed relationship, it's already a highly graphic and evocative affair, but that would be simplifying things horribly. I personally loved the portrayal of the creative act and everything that comes with it. The sense of isolation that permeates the story is palpable and there's so much more to be had from multiple readings. The phrase 'peeling an onion' comes to mind.
For those who want more Tom Neely, he's just done a comic book that will come with the Vinyl release of The Melvins 'A Senile Animal' album. Tom was kind enough to send me a copy and very good it is too. Keep an eye out for that one. I think there'll be the option of ordering the comic separately. Hydrahead Records or Tom's own website should have more on that.
I'll be in touch soon to pay for whatever I have waiting. I need to sort out gifts for some friends Birthdays too, so I'll likely pick up some extras.
Oh, thanks again for the Campbell / East prints, they're beautiful.
Oh, please put me down for one of those new editions of 'The Adventures of Luther Arkwright' by Bryan Talbot. I loved Heart of Empire, so I'm definitely looking forward to reading the original.
In other news, the Analysis of Bison Kills album 'Vantage' is finally out on Sound Devastation Records! The packaging came out looking very tasty and Danica Novgorodoff's cover art looks superb. We've also just put out the Celebrity Love Crisis demo, which comes in a hand assembled card sleeve that features Tom Cruise and an amorous octopus, all on a dinky 3" CD. I'll drop you one in the post when I get the chance.
Cheers,
Matt [Dick]
Danica you may remember as the creator of Page 45's CBOTMC choice A LATE FREEZE.
Also, thanks for the misdirection about the Campbell / East prints which are obviously hanging on my walls rather than the fictional recipient called Matthew Dick whom we made up five years ago in order to fill the letter column.
I have to say as another Bendis bitch you have tempted me to lay out a timeline to include all current developments and issues.... but i think i'll wait till Secret Invasion is done first :-P
If the baby's not a Skrull i'm calling Jessica. Come on from constantly swearing, alcoholic ex-superhero who slept around in her own book, to mum of the year with barely a swear word in the last year, i aint buying it - i call Skrull! Plus how much would it fuck with Luke's head and we do know how Bendis likes to fuck with the characters he loves....
Chris [Craven]
So who is stronger, the Hulk or The Thing?
Poor Luke. He's not going to be a happy bunny either way, is he?
(I know you were joking - or maybe you weren't - but actually I think it would be terribly funny if Bendis explained Jessica's lack of swearing as her being replaced by a Skrull rather than simply shunted of into profanity-free titles that weren't Marvel Max!)
Hey Stephen,
Cheers for what you wrote in the mailshot, you are too good to me :) Don't let my mails make you think I don't want to hear honest feedback at all, and I would be very interested in what you think of the newer issue which you should receive tomorrow. I'm confident you'll think it a lot better but I never know with you, but I'll send it anyway as even if you stock my comics or not I always find your comments to be very useful :) no pressure!
With the weekend friends movie if you're interested the trailer is now up on what will be a 20 minute piece, the music video for the trailer tho is just the opening credits of my return to London after the summer, so before you think it's just shots of me starin whistfully out of windows, know that Sean Azzopardi has simultaneously filmed his week alongside mine so look forward to two different perspectives of the days running up to Low Energy Day as well as a different slant on the event to what is shown on the promotional video!
See, that's what I mean, Oli: that's your natural medium. Beautifully photographed and edited. You should direct music videos and star in them. So should the stunningly pretty blonde girl.
Not received your latest mini, I'm afraid.
Hello
Put me down for the 1st CBOTMC choice of "Local" please.
Cheers!
With regard to the Neil Gaiman & Alan Moore prints and suggestions of how to get rid of them - how about raffling them off to members of the afore mentioned CBOTMC?
Mmmm. I can see why you might think that a most excellent suggestion, but whilst we're very grateful to everyone signed up for Page 45's Comicbook Of The Month, I think I'd like the potential recipient(s) to come for a wider pool than that. Novelist Darren O'Shaughnessy, for example, is not a member yet buys every single nomination. I suspect that it's a conscious decision on his part to pay full price because he really is that kind of a man, bless 'im, so I wouldn't want to exclude him from that pool.
Are any of you Page 45ers attending the Birmingham International Comics Show at the weekend?
http://www.thecomicsshow.co.uk/
Christopher Powell
Good god no! I swore blind that after helping out Jeffrey Brown and Chris Staros at Bristol the other year that I would never, ever, ever again go to a comicbook convention that wasn't something like Caption (self-publishers and readers of such) or the hideously titled US Small Press Expo (similar). They bring me out in hives. Mind you, I promised myself the same thing ten years ago. One forgets.
I did, however spend the other weekend with Canada's Rosalind Penfold, creator of DRAGONSLIPPERS. No, you didn't miss a signing, it was a personal visit for a couple of nights to swap professional knowledge. It's been two and a half years since we published our review, and that's a lot of new people on the mailshot and over two hundred copies sold, so....
Dragonslippers: This Is What An Abusive Relationship Looks Like (£9-99, Harper Press) by Rosalind B. Penfold. We'll get to how utterly absorbing (and upsetting) this is as a narrative in a bit. However, that's quite the stark sub-title, that, isn't it? But then, have you never known a woman (or man) stuck in a relationship whose abusive nature they don't even recognise, such is the insidious level of manipulation? I think that's why the sub-title's so important, and I hope the book helps. I hope it's bought by or for victims who, through no fault of their own, need a mirror holding up to their lives: this is what it looks like - recognise anything? That's not love, it's not your fault, and you do deserve better. This isn't, of course, just a self-help book, although it doesn't fail in that department either ("Does more to to convey the effects of domestic violence than a dozen worthy textbooks," writes Meera Syal on the front - and she's got that right).
As I implied at the beginning, it's one of those candid real-life stories you simply cannot put down, much as you'd like to look away. It begins with the whirlwind of new passion and possession which overwhelms us all during the first stages of a new romance - to want to spend as much time as possible together, do anything and everything for each other, and keep the moments apart to a minimum. So it is with Rosalind and Brian, but then... "irregularities" begin appearing in the panels. Little things that Rosalind glimpses, as if in the corner of her eye, but which she puts down initially to over-enthusiasm and the ardour of Brian's love. Like driving across the lawn, only to screech up him within mere feet of her. And then there's the slow absorption of Rosalind into his life, and the removal of her own - of her identity and independence. He wants her to sell her business company - so that he can "look after" her. He fires the children's nanny - so she spends more time looking after them. He doesn't want her meeting the neighbours, and he's certainly not about to introduce himself to her friends who've never met him. Then, when things turn violent, he uses his children as emotional tools, and his previous wife's recent death as a manipulative ace-in-the-hole, his supposed grief as a Get Out Of Jail Free Card for anything and everything. And believe me when I type "everything". By the time we see how he treats his children in private, we're gone right past disturbing and straight into the realms of "fucking hell". However. All this is conveyed so much better in the book itself than I ever could in plain prose. When you read it, you'll understand exactly how Rosalind is disempowered to the extent that she thinks it's all her fault, that if only she would try harder to understand him, his mood swings would disappear.
Now, when I first saw the art without the storytelling, I was undecided. It's blobby and it's basic, but within minutes it's obvious that anything fussier, anything tricksier or more detailed would detract from what's being told and leave you on the outside, looking in, rather than caught in the middle of this horrendous brutality. The simpler you render something, the more accessible it becomes emotionally, in terms of identification, and that's the whole point of this book: Rosalind could be any woman, perhaps even the person reading it.
Here's a link to Rosalind's site so that you can get a flavour of the art. Showing you this does run the risk of countering my claim that this isn't merely a dry, didactic tract, but the book isn't laid out like this at all. The book is pure story, with none of the lecture-like analysis here. Although it is a pretty good lecture.
Rosalind looks nothing like her deliberately simplified self-depiction, being a chic and sharp and animated beyond belief. And I was right, she's a very accomplished artist. I knew we were going to click the second we met on the platform, but then when we got home and I offered her a glass of wine, she asked whether I had a back garden. Which... I do. But I couldn't understand why she'd ask at eight o'clock in the evening until she said, "I'm a closet smoker!"
Now I love Jeffrey Brown, Jennifer and baby Oscar and loved having all three to stay, watching Jeffrey "resetting" young Oscar every time he rolled too far round the lounge carpet! And I love Bryan Lee O'Malley and Hope Larson, and it was an honour as much as a pleasure having them over to cry at the woeful state of kitchen cupboard contents (baking powder five years out of date). But to have a comicbook creator come and stay who smokes is as much a godsend as it is a rarity these days, and thank goodness of course because we want them all to live forever!
The thing is, Rosalind is the first creator of a graphic novel I think I've met who has nothing whatsoever to do with the comicbook industry. She's from other parts of the professional artistic spectrum which is why it was a very useful exchange of knowledge. I learned far more about the mainstream prose publishing process (not half as professional as you or I might suppose) and was almost sorry to have to tell her what it was all about here. Well, not here, but you know what I mean: an industry all too reliant on superheroes and action figures.
On visiting Page 45 she swooned over ALL OVER COFFEE, Eddie Campbell's THE AMAZING REMARKABLE MONSIEUR LEOTARD, everything by Hope Larson, and along with those snapped up a copy of Dave Sim's JUDENHASS, and Abel and Madden's DRAWING WORDS AND WRITING PICTURES because, I can only assume, she's fond of sucking eggs. Oh yes, and she loved Ting's PERSEPOLIS cloth doll in our window so much that she offered to broker a deal for her between us and Marjane Satrapi. She's a "can do" woman!
Anyway, here's a few things I picked up specifically about DRAGONSLIPPERS (I'm still not sure if I'm allowed to tell you about the Richard & Judy fiasco, but perhaps that'll come out in any future interview we do together).
Originally published in Canada by Penguin, Rosalind provided them with 25 potential covers, and they choose the one she liked least. I couldn't agree more. A lurid yellow on an angry red? Not sending out the right signals, and potentially scary for victims. Unfortunately the American version's the same and we've been having to stock this in lieu of more British copies which should be arriving next week and have a far stronger and more intriguing cover which has sold better almost everywhere else it's been used. Still, that one wasn't particularly high on her list, either. Nor was she keen on the subtitle which was only ever supposed to be on the inside of the book, although I do like it for reasons stated above. In France the sub-title is translated as "To be in quicksand," whilst the Indonesian title is, "Love Me Better" (the final words in the book). Which also works for me. Polish publishers have proved the most adventurous with their marketing, whilst her favourite edition is the Spanish which is oversized with what she tells me are called French flaps.
In fact DRAGONSLIPPERS: THIS IS WHAT AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP LOOKS LIKE has now been translated, if I recall correctly, into every worldwide language except Chinese.
But then in China it is still socially acceptable to abuse your wife, your homosexual neighbour or indeed whole swathes of your population should you be inclined to build a hydroelectric damn or Olympic village where they live. Sorry, lived.
I don't think Rosalind's next book's going to fare any better there, either, if she goes ahead with TIBET: THIS IS WHAT A COUNTRY UNDER TYRANNICAL OCCUPATION LOOKS LIKE.
Here's a short video, courtesy of James Baker and Hayley Addis on their Italian holiday of slugs having sex.
Nice.
Craig Johnson