Monday, August 30, 2004
Ryan Twombly at Newsarama reviews Flight:
It's a quietly ambitious work, a piece of fine art framed in traditional comic book aspect ratio, an outpouring of ink from artists many of whom work most often in pixels.
8:35:00 PM
Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party candidate for president, and David Cobb, the Green Party candidate for president, will debate tomorrow in Manhattan. (Link via Hit & Run.)
10:16:00 AM
The Observer has a great article on the status of non-fiction authors and demonstrates how works by fiction authors are not as highly sought as works by non-fiction authors.
The logic behind non-fiction promotions is laid bare by a new series from Penguin of classic titles, entitled Great Ideas, for which it has high hopes. The emphasis, however, is a slightly peculiar one, which tells one a lot about the predominance of non-fiction. It includes Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, Thomas a Kempis's The Inner Life, Schopenhauer's On the Suffering of the World and Nietzsche's Why I Am So Wise. (Link via ArtsJournal.)
9:55:00 AM
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
A couple of Newsarama threads:
First, this one, a press release from AdHouse Books announcing intentions to publish One Step After Another, a graphic novel from Fermin Solis, a Spanish artist. (The art, as mentioned in the thread, is Andi Watson-esque.)
Then there's this one, Wonderland: Children of the Future Age.
Wonderland is set in a future torn apart by conventional, chemical and biological warfare. Three teenagers struggle to retain their humanity and survive against seemingly overwhelming odds.
"It centers around Sarah, who's very headstrong, tomboyish and adventurous; Edison, Sarah's older brother, who's a genius at inventing things - including their robot, Mike-9 - but is also physically weak and clumsy; and, Poncho, an orphan who was rescued by the family after being left for dead by a marauding band of murderous thugs. Poncho is big and strong, but not too bright. He also harbors a secret crush on Sarah. Other than that they're just regular kids in an irregular world," Watson told Newsarama.
6:31:00 PM
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Gregg Easterbrook at Tuesday Morning Quarterback has his NFC preview up. I didn't link to his AFC preview last week, but it's right here.
10:11:00 AM
The new issue of Indy Magazine is up (Kudos to Bookslut). One thing I found interesting was Adam White's review of the entire run of Cerebus.
10:08:00 AM
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Gordon Marino at The Chronicle of Higher Education examines philosophy and boxing.
"The deeper you get into the fights, the more you may discover about things that would seem at first blush to have nothing to do with boxing. Lessons in spacing and leverage, or in holding part of oneself in reserve even when hotly engaged, are lessons not only in how one boxer reckons with another but also in how one person reckons with another. The fights teach many such lessons -- about virtues and limits of craft, about the need to impart meaning to hard facts by enfolding them in stories and spectacle, about getting hurt and getting old, about distance and intimacy, and especially about education itself: Boxing conducts an endless workshop in the teaching and learning of knowledge with consequences."
(Link via ArtsJournal.)
2:44:00 PM
The Washington Post looks at Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness: Modern History From the Sports Desk, the upcoming book from Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalist extraordinare.
Thompson is a genuinely unique figure in American journalism, a superb comic writer and a ferociously outspoken social and political critic. Anything he writes is worth reading, even when it radiates serious signs of having been composed under the influence of something rather more hallucinating than office coffee. So at least Thompson would like us to believe, since spaced-out is the persona he adopted back in the 1960s and has lived off ever since. No doubt he's done his share of bad (and good) stuff, but my hunch is that in significant measure this is an act; you don't think as clearly as Thompson does or write as much as he does -- more than a dozen books to date, not to mention fugitive journalism and scads of letters -- in a state of perpetual, drug-induced nirvana. Even though some of Thompson's stuff is over-the-top showing signs of having "been composed under the influence of something rather more hallucinating than office coffee," most of his work has generally been very good -- often tip-toeing the line between manic-filled rants and pure genius. I probably won't pick this book up right away, but it's definitely going on my "To Read" list.
1:07:00 PM
Friday, August 20, 2004
Just bought Demo #9 today. Because of monetary restrictions -- I just bought a new car and am going back to college half-time this semester -- I haven't been able to set aside some money for some comics I've wanted, including Flight, but that's OK. Other things have to come first and, realistically, I've been spending way too much money on comics (did I just write that?) since the new year.
3:25:00 PM
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
The New York Magazine takes a look at aesthetically pleasing barriers, and why some people are striving to create them.
4. Likening Jersey barriers to sumo wrestlers, Daniel Kaplan of Fox & Fowle Architects, which designed the Conde Nast Building, suggests a jujitsu approach instead--one that turns the attacker's mass against him. "Instead of a barrier, make the back two feet of the sidewalk strong enough to walk on but weak enough to break under a truck," he says. (Link via ArtsJournal.)
12:52:00 PM
Monday, August 16, 2004
The Globe and Mail of Toronto reviews Osamu Tezuka's Buddha.
Tezuka's mastery of seemingly incongruous (and sometimes inappropriate) juxtapositions, both stylistic and thematic, are in every aspect of the story. At times, the narrative tone is solemn, as with the opening scene of a hare selflessly throwing itself into the fire to feed an ailing old Brahmin (later, Siddhartha's child disciple Assaji emulates this sacrifice, to feed a litter of starving wolf pups). Elsewhere, it is just plain silly -- while bathing in a spring, the Kosai General Budai is attacked by crocodiles after dismissing his guards, telling the reader vainly, "I can't let them see the pimple on my ass" (in another panel, he bats his eyelashes and giggles bashfully, like a girl).
(Link via Thought Balloons.)
11:40:00 AM
Time.comix reviews Eightball #23 by Dan Clowes.
"Eightball" #23 (Fantagraphics Books; 40 pages; $7), continues Clowes' ever more remarkable maturation as an artist with the single-issue story, "The Death Ray." Two years ago, "Eightball" #22 gave us an Altman-esque fractured look at the strange residents of suburbia (see TIME.comix review). Like its predecessor, number 23 is divided into multiple vignettes, but this time it focuses exclusively on the life of one character. Clowes takes the traditional superhero motifs -- extraordinary powers, special gadgets, the sidekick, and the origin story -- but eliminates the "super" and the "hero." Instead we get Andy, AKA The Death Ray, a drip of a guy with a completely self-serving sense of morality who beats people up and zaps anything or anybody into non-existence. Through him, Clowes creates a darkly hilarious upending of the superhero myth of great powers inspiring great responsibility. In Clowes' world, such power would simply become an extension of the hopelessly flawed, dull and petty people we often are.
(Link via Bookslut.)
11:14:00 AM
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Dirk Deppey previews The Comics Journal #262.
2:43:00 PM
Newsarama has another preview, this time of Olympus Heights #1:
Olympus Heights tells the story of Oliver Dobbs, who works for the local museum in Olympus Heights, Indiana. His run-ins with deities have been limited--so far--to statuary that turns up, without warning or explanation, at the museum's loading dock. That's about to change, as Oliver embarks on the adventure of his life!
2:19:00 PM
Friday, August 13, 2004
The Wall Street Journal reports that Brian Lamb, soon-to-be ex-host of "Booknotes" on C-SPAN, hopes that someone picks up on the idea. But before that, the Journal gives some andecdotes on the program:
Mr. Lamb's questions, although eliciting information, can be overly general: "What was it like running U.S. foreign policy?" Once in a while they delve into minutiae: "Why did you mention this person in the acknowledgments?" And sometimes the results are comical, as in a famous exchange between Mr. Lamb and Martin Gilbert, the leading biographer of Winston Churchill. Mr. Gilbert mentioned in passing that when Churchill was a young soldier "he was accused of buggery." Mr. Lamb then evenly asked him to "define it, please." An agitated Mr. Gilbert was nonplussed: "Oh, dear. Well, I -- I'm sorry. I thought the word we -- buggery is what used to be called a -- the -- an unnatural act of the Oscar Wilde type is how it was actually phrased in the euphemism of the British papers. It's -- you don't know what buggery is?"
10:17:00 PM
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Zach Smith reviews Stray Bullets: Somewhere Out West, the second hardcover collection featuring issues #8-14, over at Ninth Art.
The trick is, we know these characters are just dumb enough, just impulsive enough to fuck up their lives if given the chance, and we wait for that chance to come - and while we wait, we start to care about them, and wish the bad thing wouldn't happen. But we know it will.
12:08:00 PM
C-SPAN has announced plans to end its "Booknotes" television program, and that's a real shame. Sure, I didn't watch the program all too often, but I did enjoy an occasional chat or two. This past weekend I was watching it as they were replaying a "Booknotes" from 1992 with former President Richard Nixon highlighting his book Seize the Moment: America's Challenge in a One-Superpower World.
It was an interesting discussion to say the least, and the replay came on the eve of the 30th anniversary of Nixon's resignation of office.
11:52:00 AM
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Gregg Easterbrook has a new Tuesday Morning Quarterback column out.
1:41:00 PM
The World Series of Poker continues tonight on ESPN. Featured are $1,500 Razz, with a write-up here, and $5,000 Limit Hold'em, with a write-up here.
8:56:00 AM
Monday, August 09, 2004
Michael Farrelly interviews Brian Wood over at Bookslut.
And Comicbookslut Karin L. Kross takes an overdue look at some of the comics from this year's Free Comic Book Day.
Also, Gordon McAlpin reviews Craig Thompson's Carnet de Voyage.
12:02:00 PM
Saturday, August 07, 2004
From The Rack Reviews:
Demo #8, Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, AiT/PLANETLAR. "Mixtape" is a great read, and Becky's art on the last few pages, including the montage of Jess and the tape ribbon, is some of the best, most powerful wordless pages that Demo has introduced. I have all eight issues now, but haven't read them all (I think #5 and #6 remain unread), and "Mixtape" is probably my second favorite of those I have read. I love the standalone art and in this issue it seemed especially poignant. Demo stories remind me a lot of some of my own short stories, and I think that's why I've taken a hankering for the series. A-
Jack Staff #2, Paul Grist, Image. Yes, this one is a little bit old, but since #5 only recently came out, it's still fairly new, if only in terms of numbering. The color -- wow! -- maybe I was a bit too inebriated at the time, but they really jumped off the page. And it made me wonder about Kane being published in color, but that series is better in black and white. I still haven't read the first series, so maybe I'm not used to the story. But it really seemed to jump around a bunch, and it left me a little confused. B
Love Fights #10, Andi Watson, Oni. I'm not a particularly huge fan of Watson's, but I have seen some of his stuff, and I've liked most of what I've seen. A solid issue, but I wasn't enthralled with it. Maybe I need to re-read it. B-
11:54:00 AM
Friday, August 06, 2004
From The Shelf Reviews:
Hieroglyph #II (of IV), Ricardo Delgado, Dark Horse, Dec. 1999. Twenty-seven words of dialogue, all from one character plus four panels with narrative in them, that's all the script in this comic, but I still found it fun. Maybe it's because it reminds me of an amalgamation of Aliens, Predator and Stargate, and my love of sci fi. Anyway, however, and it's a solid comic. Not an epic masterpiece, but still a good adventure, as long as you take the time to absorb the art. C+
Everwinds #1, Steve Peters, Amaze Ink, Aug. 1997. This is a great comic. I can only hope to find the rest of the series, if it was even published, somewhere. I would love to finish the run. The story itself is about three characters -- a shaman, deer and fox, presumably -- are in a crossroads that connects all realities, and all the different ideas are the everwinds. The art is amazing. Just looking at the cover when I picked it up, I figured it would be a good read, but it really blew me away. A
3:07:00 PM
Comic Purchases, Aug. 6:
Arsenic Lullaby #15
Jack Staff #2
Cerebus: The Last Day
Soundtrack, Short Stories 1989-1996, by Jessica Abel
2:07:00 PM
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Over at Newsarama, Matt Brady gives us the scoop on Silent Forest, a story about a forest abandoned by humans and left for the animals.
Newsarama: At first glance Silent Forest resembles a children's comic. Was that the point? Is it supposed to make fun of those happy animal comics?
 Christian Beranek: It's a bunch of parodies so you can say that. Obviously we didn't want to stuff in there to offend kids but it is supposed to be subversive.
NRAMA: Was the idea just to do a fun story?
CB: It's basically the animals' tales in the forest. We just wanted a platform where we could tell as many different types of stories as possible with the same characters. We didn't want to have any rules or boundaries from the real world. I think when you have an anthropomorphic comic you have the opportunity to tell different types of stories without guidelines.
NRAMA: In it's own way, it's slightly reminiscent of Jeff Smith's Bone. Did you mean to parody that?
CB: That was not our intent. My brother, who first came up with the idea a couple of years ago, had never even heard of Bone.
9:10:00 PM
Michael Chabon's keynote speech at the San Diego Comic Con has been transcribed. Read it here. (Link via Bookslut.)
3:01:00 PM
From The Shelf Reviews:
Felon #1, Greg Rucka, Top Cow Productions, Nov. 2001. The story is about a female felon who gets her release from prison and tries to piece together what happened that caused her incarceration, primarily, what happened to the money (presumably she was in a group of robbers). It was a pretty good script, but the art wasn't up to the writing quality. Also, on the inside cover, the woman's pen number is AWC-980812-3, yet on the first page it's AWC-960812-3. Oops. C-
The Pants Ant Trouser Hour, Ian Carney and Woodrow Phoenix, Slave Labor, July 2001. An interesting concept: an ant in a controllable pants suit out to protect his city from pants evil-doers. I loved the art; it was reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon with an adult edge, but some of the gags were consistently repeated. At first, they were funny, but as you trucked through the 48-pager, they became quite banal. I would rate it higher, but the continual gags brought it down for me. C+
2:38:00 PM
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Spam, the Return
swimming in statements
imagine the results
incomprehension
come inside to see me
Energy cant taste this good
This Is Freaky
freedinner:
a down to earth country girl
(even though im really a slut lol)
this could mess things up
morning, and that she
knee, added: 'Dont get
Does my butt look fat?
If you die. Love continues.
One spin could make you rich
Don't stress
when will you get here
Assassinations have never
been so much fun
Immensly Popular
U-rgent news
It's cheating... but... it works!
Huge upside potential
Take a cruise through
domain names
Free Government Grant
just kidding
11:27:00 AM
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
The World Series of Poker continues tonight on ESPN. Featured are $5,000 Seven Card Stud, with a write-up here, and $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em, with a write-up here.
7:52:00 AM
Monday, August 02, 2004
Over at Newsarama, Ryan McLelland discusses Bill and Ted and Evan Dorkin.
"Bill and Ted turned out to be fun characters to work with and build a supporting cast around," said Dorkin. "But they're far from complex so I can't say I get lost in deep thought regarding them. They're happy, cheerful, adjusted, married with children and completely uncynical. They're nothing like any of my own characters, so they were interesting to work with for that reason alone. I worried less about the characters, who were fairly cypher-like and one note, and concentrated on plot, dialogue and as many jokes and oddball beats as I could fit into the mix."
11:29:00 AM
John Parker at Ninth Art talks about The Basement Tapes, Wizard, The Comics Journal and comics journalism.
11:09:00 AM
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