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Author Topic: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics  (Read 22029 times)

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Ted Belmont

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #120 on: November 24, 2010, 07:30:55 AM »

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Royal☭

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #121 on: November 24, 2010, 07:56:01 AM »

Yeah!  I've been reading Concrete, but have been stuck because the shop doesn't carry book 5.  Must read more.

Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #122 on: January 16, 2011, 10:58:51 AM »

Dan Clowes's Wilson is fucking wonderful, maybe the best book of 2010.

The first thought I had when I started reading it was "This is like Peanuts with cursing."  That's grossly reductive and doesn't sound like a compliment, so let me explain.

Each page is a self-contained strip.  Usually they follow the gag format of somebody talking-talking-talking, then a silent "beat" panel, and then an ironic punchline.

But I get Schulz out of it for more reasons than just the rhythm.  Wilson is a story of colorful characters facing the human condition, trying, and usually failing, to make sense of it.  Peanuts, at its best, was bittersweet, and spoke to the everyday experience of things not quite going the way we wanted them to but hell, here we are, and let's make the best of it.

Wilson's got that same vibe.  He's no Charlie Brown (though Chuck certainly had his dick moments); he's not a good guy but not actually evil either; his sin is a profound, pervasive self-centeredness.  He's not the kind of guy you'd want to be around, but Clowes is a strong enough writer to make him sympathetic anyway, a flawed man who is nonetheless not so different from the rest of us, a guy who suffers tragedy and searches for meaning just like anybody else.  He makes mistakes, he never really finds what he's looking for, but really, who does?

It's a hilarious and touching book, and all the stronger for Clowes's ability to make us give a fuck about a guy who doesn't give a fuck about anybody else.  And his skill as a craftsman bears mentioning too -- a series of 75 single-page strips that form a satisfying narrative arc?  They don't make 'em like that anymore.  Wednesday Comics was a great example of what newspaper comics could be, and so is Wilson.  Every page of this book could have been serialized, day by day or even week by week.  It's a real shame newspaper comics aren't like that.

Clowes's artistic versatility also bears mention; he changes styles from one strip to the next, making the art fit the tone of each.

It's a great, great book from one of the best artists in the history of the medium.  My highest recommendation.  At $22 for 75 pages it may be a bit steep; I was planning on waiting for the paperback but got it on sale.  It's worth keeping an eye on drawnandquarterly.com and see if it goes on sale again.  It's also one of those books that belongs in a library, so it might be worth looking for it there.
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Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #123 on: March 02, 2011, 10:05:12 AM »

So I asked myself, "Does anybody REALLY need me to tell them that Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1 is awesome and they should buy it?"  And the answer is, the only people who would need me to tell them that are the people who need me to tell them that it exists and is available for sale.

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1 exists and is available for sale.  It is awesome and you should buy it.
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Royal☭

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #124 on: March 03, 2011, 11:53:13 AM »

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1 exists and is available for sale.  It is awesome and you should buy it.

And it is absolutely baffling to me that my local retailer keeps it on the top shelf, with the Hellblazers, Northlanders, and other violent, "mature" comics. It says "Written by a six-year-old" ON THE COVER and we put it in the adult section. Meanwhile, Brightest Day is still presented as a regular book, despite the fact that it probably shouldn't be read by anyone kids.

Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #125 on: March 03, 2011, 01:09:52 PM »

Odd.

I noticed that my guy had it in with the regular stuff and not in the kids' section, but I assumed that was a sales thing -- he mentioned Futurama started selling a lot better when he quit putting it with the all-ages books.
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Kayma

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #126 on: March 04, 2011, 08:16:29 PM »

My comic shop puts Axe Cop on the "Guaranteed or your money back" shelf, because they know what is up
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teg

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #127 on: April 08, 2011, 05:56:04 AM »

You know what? I haven't read a good comic in ages. Help me out here.

I'm thinking of ordering either Blacksad or some new Tezuka manga, but suggestions are welcome.
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Norondor

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #128 on: April 08, 2011, 07:53:32 AM »

blacksad
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Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #129 on: April 09, 2011, 12:29:40 PM »

iZombie #12 is a fun little diversion with art by Gilbert Hernandez.  It's a one-off that takes place prior to the rest of the series, so no knowledge of the prior 11 issues is necessary.
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Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #130 on: June 09, 2011, 04:32:02 PM »

Fear Itself: Deadpool is a Deadpool comic by the guy who writes Dr. McNinja.

If you need further explanation and/or do not think that sounds awesome, then I can only conclude you do not know who Deadpool and/or Dr. McNinja are.
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Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #131 on: August 03, 2011, 01:33:44 PM »

I doubt there's anybody reading the thread who doesn't know who Sergio Aragones is, but in the spirit of the thread's title, in brief: Sergio Aragones is one of the greatest cartoonists who has ever lived.  He's best known for the little margin doodles in Mad Magazine, which he's been doing for nearly 50 years.  He also draws and co-writes Groo, a Conan spoof featuring a simpleminded warrior who travels the world, gets in fights, and causes destruction and mayhem.

Bongo Comics has just put out the first issue of Sergio Aragones Funnies, which is a comic where Aragones pretty much does whatever the hell he wants.  There are one-page gag strips, newspaper-style "Can you spot the difference?" puzzles, a short story sending up the Trojan Horse legend, and a personal anecdote of the time Aragones and his college buddies showed up as movie extras.  More than anything it resembles his issue of Solo some years back.

And it's wonderful.  Aragones doesn't just understand humor and pacing, he understands storytelling.  It really is a great, accessible, all-ages book, and well worth buying.
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Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #132 on: September 06, 2011, 12:59:16 PM »

I've remarked, on reading the first two issues of Dark Horse Presents, that it didn't quite qualify as something I'd recommend in this thread.

#3 isn't perfect, but I think it's finally there.

It starts up with a story by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons about a future where SWAT vs. kidnappers is treated like a sporting event.  It's formulaic but it works pretty well.

Then we've got the second chapter of 13, which feels more like it has a beginning, middle, and end than the first part.  I'm starting to like this one.  From there, we go to Finder, which is self-contained and which I'm beginning to quite like.

Concrete takes a break from the portents in the previous issue and tackles the ripped-from-the-headlines issue of police Taser brutality, and manages to avoid being preachy, taking sides, or peddling easy answers.  (In fact, the answer it finally gives is comically absurd, throwing the complexity of the real-life issue into sharper relief -- it reminded me of the "prisoners in our own school" bit on Simpsons.)  It's a wonderful little down-to-Earth, slice-of-life story where a superhero's just trying to help people in the everyday world.

And Chaykin's story is better this time around too, with far less misplaced boldface and a feeling that yeah, this IS actually building toward something.

The linchpin of the issue, though, is the first chapter of the new printing of Jim Steranko's Red Tide.

Now, this being the Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics thread, I'm going to take a moment to explain who Jim Steranko is.  You may not know the name, but you know his work.  Picture the X-Men logo for a second.  See it?  How quickly did it pop into your head?

That logo is Steranko's.  He drew TWO ISSUES of X-Men, in 1968, and his work is still instantly identifiable with the property.  Because he is, among other things, a consummate graphic designer.

He's also probably the biggest reason you know who Nick Fury is -- bigger than Kirby, Lee, Hitch, or even Samuel L Jackson.

In short, the guy did 29 comics for Marvel back in the 1960's and we're still talking about him.

Anyhow, Red Tide is NOT a Marvel work, and not a superhero work; it's pure noir detective story.  I've never read the 1970's original, so this was new to me, but this is a preview of a new printing, and it's gorgeous.

The story's not really anything new, but it's not supposed to be; this one's all about the presentation.  And it's striking: the book eschews grids and speech bubbles in favor of two panels and a text narration on each page.  Strictly speaking, the text would tell the story if the images were removed, but that's not the point -- this isn't simply an illustrated novel; the beats and rhythms of the art juxtaposed with the text are absolutely essential to the flow of the narrative.  And the art itself -- gorgeous, gorgeous stuff; the linework, colors, and layouts are masterful.

The chapter is followed with a three-page interview with Steranko.  I find the interviewer a little too fawning, and Steranko spends too much time talking about how this is a TRUE graphic novel, and how he was doing them before Eisner.  But once he starts getting into the nuts-and-bolts technique of it, it's a great read; he talks about colors and lightsourcing and how he really did do shit nobody else was doing (or, in some cases, has done since).  Again, I haven't seen the original work so I don't know what the colors were like, but the new ones look fantastic, and maybe this really IS a case where a recolored version is superior to the original.

The back half of the book is a bit more of a mixed bag.  Neil Adams's Blood still doesn't feel like it was written to be split up into 8-page chunks and just begins and ends completely abruptly.  Corben's contribution feels similarly disjointed but at least looks pretty doing it.  The gag strips, Indecisive Man and the final installment of Mr. Monster, aren't actually very funny but are pretty to look at.

Ultimately, it's $8 for 104 pages, which range in quality from middling to fucking amazing.  For the most part it's approachable to people who haven't read the first couple of issues.  Ultimately, I think it's pretty great and I want to see more comics like it.

And next month we'll see the return of Dorkin and Thompson's Beasts of Burden, a recent favorite of mine that mixes talking animals with eldritch horror.  And soon after we'll be seeing new Hellboy/BPRD stories besides.

In short: great book; worth checking out.
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Büge

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #133 on: September 06, 2011, 01:07:06 PM »

:mahboi: Before Jim Steranko became a comics artist he worked in a circus as an escape artist. In fact, he is the man Jack Kirby based Mr. Miracle on.
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Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #134 on: September 06, 2011, 01:17:43 PM »

Ha, yes, the Ferris Wheel Story is a must-read.

Actually, that reminds me of another Steranko work that most of the people reading this thread have probably seen: he storyboarded the Mister Miracle episode of JLU.
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Royal☭

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #135 on: September 06, 2011, 03:13:25 PM »

According to Wikipedia (grain of salt), he developed the character design for a little old guy named Indiana Jones. Hell, the Wikipedia article also includes this gem:

Quote
By his account, he learned stage magic using paraphernalia from his father's stage magician act, and in his teens spent several summers working with circuses and carnivals, working his way up to sideshow performer as a fire-eater and in acts involving a bed of nails and sleight-of-hand. At school, he competed on the gymnastics team, on the rings and parallel bars, and later took up boxing and, under swordmaster Dan Phillips in New York City, fencing.[13] At 17, Steranko and another teenage boy were arrested for a string of burglaries and car thefts in Pennsylvania.[14]

Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #136 on: September 06, 2011, 03:53:10 PM »

Dunno if he designed Indy himself, but he definitely did designs for the movie.
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Royal☭

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #137 on: September 06, 2011, 03:55:29 PM »

From the Wiki

Quote
For the movie industry, Steranko has produced a number of posters for various films, and was a conceptual artist on Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), doing production designs for the film and designing the character of Indiana Jones.[40]"Raiders Of The Lost Ark". Empire. 2006-09-29. pp. 72–82.

Mongrel

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #138 on: September 06, 2011, 06:41:13 PM »

Wow, they finally reprinted Red Tide? I can finally GET a fucking copy?

I remember being promised a reprint of that in the early 90's.
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Thad

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Re: Comics for People Who Don't Read Comics
« Reply #139 on: September 06, 2011, 08:24:36 PM »

It's not on the stands yet, and I can't find a release date offhand, but given that they're actually previewing and promoting the thing I have to expect they at least INTEND to release it shortly.

I found a long-running thread on the subject at Marvel Masterworks Fansite.  The last page does a bit of comparison on the colors in the two versions.  I can see the charm in each version, and anyway the comparison's pretty damn meaningless on a screen.  Different coloring processes look different on different kinds of paper, which is kind of the point of recoloring books in the first place.

...oh also I forgot to mention during the "Steranko is a badass" portion of the conversation that, in the interview, he talks about being bullied on the way home from school, taking boxing lessons, and learning to fight dirty.  Good times.
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