What It Is – week ending 21 December [2014]

With apologies to Dave the Thune (as well as Mike Baron & Steve Rude).

WRITING:

Every day.  1000 words.  That’s the goal.

So, things are a bit slow in the writing department at this time of year.  We celebrate a purely secular Christmas here in the heart of Maine and there are presents to be wrapped, decorations to be hung (finally got the final bits up this week), and specials to watch.  This cuts into my writing, but I did manage to get some work done this week, padding out the 300K words for the year, which is going to make it difficult to equalize next year.  Sure, there’s some wiggle room, but not a lot, especially when one has a full-time job and a family that deserves one’s attention.  Plus there are all those good books and comics to read.  You need to feed the beast if you want to do this.  It’s good to have a bar to reach for, though. 

But, enough lamenting.  Here’s to the magic of Christmas!  When you can believe a man in a red suit can fly all around the world in one night to bring happiness to children at every corner of the Earth. 

READING:

The Wrenchies, by Farel Dalrymple, published by First Second Books.

I’d seen lots of headlines touting the wonder of Dalrymple’s book, and I am a fan of his art, so I figured I needed to check it out.  Sadly disappointed is how I might best sum up my reaction to this.  The settings and scenarios, the art and the color palette especially, the ideas surrounding a lot of this dystopian alternate-reality story are great.  But it was a slog to read, for me.  I don’t know.  It felt, a lot of times, like this should have been a novel.  Other than visualizing this dreary, sad world full of monsters and shadows, there’s no good reason why this was a comic.  Much of the dialogue revolves around explaining the history of the world or the scene on the page.  It’s full of expositional bits that could have been better realized through wordless pages of wonderful illustrations (if explanations were needed at all).  Writers like Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman can make text-heavy comics sing in a way few can, and Dalrymple is not one of those creators you come to for his deft hand with prose.  Maybe I missed the entire point of the book, and that’s wholly possible, but I did not enjoy this at all.  If not for the wonderful art, I probably would have returned it to the library without finishing it.

FRONTIER #6, “Ann by the Bed,” by Emily Carroll, published by Youth in Decline. 

Frontier is a quarterly series of art comics featuring a different artist with each new issue.  This most recent one, from Emily Carroll (whose Through the Woods has been getting much-deserved rave reviews), was amazing.  One of the best comics of the year.  In 32 pages, Carroll managed to infuse this short tale with enough atmosphere and dread that when I turned to the final page – which was one hell of an exclamation point – I worried, sans hyperbole, that I would be having nightmares about the main character of this short narrative.  Carroll builds the tension gradually and inventively throughout the course of this short comic and manages to tie it all up in a way that is chilling and brilliant.  Highest recommendation. 

Also jumped back into my pile of classic G.I. Joe comics.  I read issues 51-56 plus Yearbook #3.  These stories take place after the big anniversary issue, number 50, where the Joes attacked Springfield, home to Cobra, and were repelled by Cobra’s newest soldier, a composite from the DNA of the ten most acclaimed soldiers in history, Serpentor.  In these seven issues we see G.I. Joe disbanded, a full-out assault on the Pit by Serpentor, along with Cobra Commander, Destro, the Baroness, et al. that results in the decimation of the Joes’ secret headquarters, the reinstatement of the G.I. Joe team as a nimble, mobile unit with no set headquarter to help avoid future issues like this, Destro and Cobra Commander forced to work together to escape from beneath the rubble that is the Pit, and these two eventually discovering that Cobra Commander’s son, Billy, is not dead but in a coma, which causes CC to reevaluate his life, while back on Cobra Island Serpentor starts up a new plan to sell their Terror-Drome assault bases to third world, Communist countries like Sierra Gordo, in order to help finance Cobra’s plans and lead them to becoming a more above-ground and legal group, which comes with the new Cobra consulate building in Manhattan.  (*phew* … take a breath)  With the revelation of the new Terror-Drome, a disguised Snake-Eyes (in the guise of Flint) is dropped into Sierra Gordo with the plan of being captured so that he might infiltrate the base and learn more about it, which is followed by a rescue mission, led by Stalker, that goes wrong, leading to Scarlett seeking out Storm Shadow (who dropped into the Pit in one of these first issues and got the key to Snake-Eyes’s mountain cabin so that he could get away and contemplate his recent death and resurrection) for an infiltration of the consulate building to finally rescue Snake-Eyes from Cobra – a silent issue redux from Yearbook #3 that also introduced my favorite Joe artist, Ron Wagner, who will go on to draw most of the issues between #57 and 89.

These were some fun comics.  I continue to be impressed at how well they stand up, with thirty years of hindsight.  Larry Hama writes some exciting narratives and rushes through myriad plot point, churning through story in a way that would be unfathomable today, while also managing to include the exposition in a manner that does not bog down the story too much.  And his artistic collaborators in these issues, Rod Whigham and then Ron Wagner, with Andy Mushynsky doing most of the inks, provide imagery that is clear and well-delineated without being too flashy.  An all-around enjoyable experience.

WATCHING:

Continuing with The Americans.  It’s still pretty great and well worth checking out if you’re a fan of exciting action/dramas or Cold War narratives.  Fun stuff.

  

MISCELLANY:

If you’ve not checked out the ITDMODcast (the podcast from In The Mouth Of Dorkness), and you are a lover of movies, you are missing out.  These guys talk intelligently about all types of film, and it’s just like all those conversations you had with your friends while hanging out in the parking lot, or when you all got together at someone’s house.  It’s a blast, and if you don’t watch out you might end up learning something.  The latest one I listened to was their Christmas special focusing on Die Hard (oh, and those other die hard movies; yes, lower case is intentional).  I haven’t seen this film since it first hit theaters.  Like Matt (@TheOmegaDork), I was not a fan of Bruce Willis and having him in the movie turned me off a bit to it, and I never did go back.  But after listening to these guys, I now realize I definitely have to watch this again – if, for nothing else, the way it is structured as a story.  Sounds like there are a large number of lessons I can take away from Die Hard for my own writing. 

SIGN OFF:

And, as always, check out Brad& Matt – mentioned above – and Don McMillan for their own weekly recaps on things comic-y and geeky, and we'll see what's what in seven.  

-chris

FYC replay: Superior Showcase from AdHouse

ANOTHER REPLAY FROM MY PULSE COLUMN, FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. Enjoy.

For Your Consideration: Superior Showcase #2 from AdHouse Books
By Chris Beckett
The 411:
Superior Showcase #2
Written & Drawn by Maris Wicks,
Farel Dalrymple & Joey Weiser
Cover by James Jean
32 pages, black & white
$2.95
AdHouse



What It Is (with apologies to Dave the Thune):

Superheroes are a tough nut to crack. On the one hand, they work best within the comics medium thanks in large part to the fact that the special effects budget of a comic consists of imagination, talent, pencil, paper, and ink. On the other hand, due to the ancillary economic benefits for licensing, the status quo of the majority of superheroes needs to remain constant, negating any real opportunity for growth within a given series. It is difficult to create something genuinely new within the realm of superheroes, but thankfully, Chris Pitzer, head honcho of AdHouse books, has found a solution with Superior Showcase.

Spinning out of AdHouse’s Project: Superior anthology, which saw independent cartoonists such as Paul Pope, Scott Morse, Dean Haspiel, and Brian Wood taking on the superhero genre, Superior Showcase is a standard 32-page comic showcasing other independent cartoonists’ take on superheroes. In this year’s issue, #2, Pitzer has gathered Maris Wicks, Farel Dalrymple, and Joey Weiser to play a new tune on an old stand-by, and the result is an incredibly fun book.


First up, Maris Wicks demonstrates the heroism of antibodies, neutrophils, and T-cells when they quickly come to the aid of a girl who scraped her knee while playing outside. A fun tale that imaginatively explores the battle between good (the antibodies) and evil (bacteria and other organisms foreign to the human body) that goes on every day within our bodies. She injects the story with action and drama as the bacteria attack, while also relating – in a very believable manner – the difficult task endured by the mother while trying to clean her daughter’s cut. Wicks’s simple art style meshes well with her amusing take on one of life’s universal experiences, making for an enjoyable read to which anyone can relate.

Second in line is Farel Dalrymple’s The Awesomest Super Guy, Hollis in: “Shadowsmen.” Dalrymple is well-known for his Pop Gun War graphic novel as well as short pieces in the Meathaus anthologies, and with “Shadowsmen,” he does not disappoint. A brooding tale that does not take itself too seriously, Hollis is an analogue of the famed caped crusader, Batman. Instilling fear into his enemies with a mask and a shadowy existence, Hollis comes to the aid of those in need. But, unlike Bruce Wayne, Hollis is a bit on the plump side. Despite being out of shape, his agility and speed are unmatched by the Shadowsmen and Hollis is able to save their latest victim with little difficulty.

Dalrymple’s style reminds me a bit of Joe Kubert’s, especially the manner in which he shades his figures to give them depth and form. The ease with which Hollis dispatches the villains and the victim’s subsequent skepticism regarding his savior all play to the heroic ideal set forth by the titular character, while Dalrymple’s evocation of the Batman myth also adds another layer to an already entertaining story.

Finally, in Joey Weiser’s The Unremarkable Tree Frog, readers are entertained by “everyday” superheroes working their corporate jobs. Tree Frog works in the mail room of a local “Business Co.” and whiles away his time daydreaming about Thievery Girl and how he might approach her for a date. On this particular day, he also discovers a fellow superhero in the art department named Jack Hammer. Always looking for like-minded individuals with whom he might discuss his affinity for superheroing, Tree Frog approaches him. But instead of the kindred spirit he’d anticipated, Tree Frog finds that Jack Hammer is an anti-hero. Disappointed, Tree Frog heads home at the end of another work day and runs into Thievery Girl, a scenario he has gone over in his mind a dozen times. But the question is, will he be suave, or will he be stupefied?


This tale by Weiser drops superheroes into the mundane world of the everyman, and his clean crisp art, which has a slight animation feel to it, really works to sell this story. The audience can relate to the common ups and downs Tree Frog experiences in his day job, and the hopes and fears of this “mail room hero” are ones everyone has experienced.

Superior Showcase #2 is an incredibly entertaining – and fun – comic book. For the same price of any mainstream book, one can get three inventive and enjoyable tales that look at superheroes from a new, and much appreciated, angle. AdHouse is doing some great stuff, and if you’ve never tried anything from this publisher before, I would recommend seeking out this book for a sample of the quality and diversity others have come to expect from them.

An Interview with CHRIS PITZER:

CHRIS BECKETT: Why comics? What was it that attracted you to this storytelling medium?

CHRIS PITZER: The pretty pictures. Well, when I was a kid. That and the superhero fantasy. Again, when I was a kid. Nowadays, it’s more of the excitement of finding something new that I enjoy. If I publish it, hopefully that excitement will be shared with others.

BECKETT: How did the idea for Superior Showcase come together?

PITZER: It was originally our Free Comic Book Day Comic oh so many years ago. To have some fun, we numbered that issue #0. After Project: Superior was done and in the can, and in stores, Nick Bertozzi told me that he had finally finished his Superior story. Well, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work with Nick, so I came up with the idea of turning Superior into a floppy and just publishing them whenever the time was right. Which seems about once a year. We’ve got the third issue almost locked and loaded, and I’m pretty excited about the details of that one.

BECKETT: For these short pieces in Superior Showcase, do you solicit material from creators or do they come to you with proposals in hand?

PITZER: Both. It all depends on whether or not what people submit works, and if it makes sense in a big picture sort of way. The second issue is rather interesting, because it seems that people either dig it or they don’t.


BECKETT: When aspiring creators approach you at conventions, what do you look for in their proposals?

PITZER: Well, conventions aren’t really the place to give me a proposal. I mean, sure, I can take it, but I don’t have the time, or the mind-energy to actually look at it and give it a thoughtful critique or decision right then and there. I talked about this a bit on my SDCC countdown blog series, and basically, before a convention is over, I’ll sit down and divide the proposals into two piles... The ones I’ll take back and give some thought to and the ones that get left behind. I’m honest in that regard at a show, though. I’ll tell people if they only have a handful of proposals, they might be best served by taking it elsewhere (unless I’m floored by what I see.)

BECKETT: What do these aspiring creators forget or overlook when approaching you that could help them if they’d only remembered or considered it beforehand?

PITZER: Know me (AdHouse) and know you. Sure, I’m going to branch out and do an oddball publishing thing here and there, but really, each publisher has their own vibe/vision.

BECKETT: What other projects are coming from AdHouse that you would like to tell readers about?

PITZER: Let’s see.... The Ride Home by Joey Weiser just came out a bit ago. It’s a pretty cool all-ages romp of an adventure story about a gnome who gets kicked out of his van and has to survive in the biggish city. Skyscrapers of the Midwest #4 by Josh Cotter will be out in a few months. It’s the last issue of this series. Pretty neat in that if you look at all the covers, each one is a season. And, it’s pretty nice in that Josh has brought back a few characters from the previous issues, so it feels like one big story arc. And, Johnny Hiro #2 by Fred Chao should be hitting shelves soon. It’s at the printer as we type.