A Strange Day

Miles is skipping school to buy the new Cure CD. He was supposed to go with best friend Sarah, but she’s had less time and attention for him lately. Instead, he heads off by himself only to meet Anna, on the same errand.

Anna’s the perfect outsider angel. In miniskirt, fishnets, and heavy boots, she breaks Miles out of his self-centered shell — joking and flirting with him, explaining things about himself to him, and sharing his secret places. It’s clearly his story, with his emotions serving as the focal point, and we’ve seen her type of character before, the first love who inspires the man inside the boy.

A Strange Day
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The creators describe the book as “a teenage love story … for the person you once were… the sixteen year old that fell in love at first sight and took themselves all too seriously.” It’s a good summary. These lonely, disaffected kids have the wonder of finding a new world through each other. Their magical day will be a life-changing experience, if only in the memory, while the more experienced reader realizes how universal their experiences are.

Gill’s thick line gives the characters weight, yet they’re strangely flat. Her art is loose and wavy around the edges, well-suited to a story about teens who are also existing on the edge. I would have liked a little better lettering, though — the frequently missing periods and commas made the dialogue sometimes hard to read.

I know little about the band that serves as the central macguffin, but the emotions are so understandable that it didn’t matter. I suspect that if I’d known the songs whose lyrics were used, they’d contribute additional depth to the scenes they feature in.

Following in the mold of Hurd’s My Uncle Jeff, this is a well-observed encounter that feels inspired by real life. At 48 pages, this graphic novella is just the right length for the story of a day’s friendship. It’s oddly old-fashioned, pulling the curtain and leaving us to draw our own conclusions at the end.

7 Days to Fame

Writer Buddy Scalera was kind enough to give me copies of this miniseries at this year’s New York Con. I’d missed it when it first came out in late 2005, although I’d heard of its shocking premise.

7 Days to Fame #1

A TV host and his producer are going nowhere in late-night TV until a woman kills herself on their program. Suddenly, they’ve got the next great reality show concept (although they air it online instead of on TV, to avoid legal problems) — every week, someone with a fatal disease will explore their life over the series of the show, ending their seven days with suicide.

The three-issue length is just right. The first sets up the concept, its justification, and introduces the characters. Issue #2 works out the premise, demonstrates its potential for impact, and sets up a cliffhanger by involving a famous person. Issue #3 resolves the above and makes its statement about the disease of seeking fame and what’s wrong with the media that feed it. (Although obvious by that point, through its exaggeration.)

This is a dynamite concept in so many ways, and Scalera does an excellent job setting up the premise — making it plausible that characters we can sympathize with would do such a thing — and exploring different elements of it — how do they react to the fame? to the legal challenges? to the moral quandries?

Sadly, the art is terrible. Nick Diaz drew issue 1, and he isn’t ready yet for professional work. A lot of the story revolves around passionate conversations, which requires an ability to drew both people (especially faces) and entertaining talking scenes. He creates laughably gargoyle-esque expressions and misshapen heads, so much so that “just WHAT am I looking at?” risks becoming a distraction from the multi-layered material. Dennis Budd takes over for 2 and 3. He’s better than Diaz, but the work is still subject to distortions.

The concepts are solidly thought-provoking, but I almost wish that Scalera had written prose instead, because then I could have focused on the ideas without the distraction. I’m not sure why it was a comic, beyond Scalera knowing the field.

20th Century Boys Book 1 — Recommended

Review by Ed Sizemore

When Kenji was nine years old, he dreamed of saving Japan from alien invaders and nuclear holocaust, but as a 37-year-old man, he runs the family convenience store. His days are now filled with stocking shelves, dealing with his cranky mother, and raising the baby his sister dropped off at his doorstep. Suddenly, strange things begin to happen around him. A loyal customer and his wife disappear. Next, a childhood friend dies under mysterious circumstances. Stranger still is that a symbol from his childhood seems to be tied to all these events. Kenji wants to solve these mysteries and find out how they’re connected to his youth.

20th Century Boys Book 1
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My first reaction after reading this book was, “This feels so American.” This is not a complaint, just an observation. It’s because the cultural references and Kenji’s experiences are typical of Americans his age. He talks about hearing the Rolling Stones for the first time and how obsessed he became with the song “Jumping Jack Flash”. How that song inspired him to learn guitar and fueled his desire to be in a rock band. Kenji remembers staying up all night hoping to see the moon landing on TV. The flashbacks to his youth reminded me of the film Stand by Me. As an adult, he visits the university campus, where two competing departments are playing a baseball game for bragging rights. So many details are similar to what you’d find in America that it just didn’t feel like the typical manga to me.

the literary excellence of this book completely caught me off guard.

20th Century Boys is a true graphic novel in the deepest sense of the term. It has all the characteristics of the best novels combined with excellent art. Perhaps it’s a sad comment on comics, both American and Japanese, but the literary excellence of this book completely caught me off guard. Here is a manga that is meticulously plotted with carefully crafted characters that come to life before your eyes. What makes these characters so real is their rich tapestry of emotions. You don’t just have the standard emotions of happiness, anger, and sadness. There’s also nostalgia, wistfulness, resignation, and regret. I’ve never read a manga with so much emotional complexity and subtlety. Urasawa brilliantly conveys these feelings powerfully, but indirectly.

These four panels are a perfect example of the power of comics.

Take, for example, Kenji’s unspoken regret about never getting to be a rock star. We’ve seen in flashbacks his love for the Rolling Stones, his learning guitar, and his skipping classes in college to hang out and play the instrument. An old friend comes by and asks if he still plays. He replies, “That old thing? I don’t even know where it is anymore. Look at these fingers. All soft and flabby!” His wistfulness can be seen in his posture, his facial expression, and heard in his words. These four panels are a perfect example of the power of comics. Each picture is worth a thousand words. It’s great to read a comic where the author has enough faith in this audience to understand what is going on without having to be spoon-fed.

Urasawa’s master storytelling is seen in the way he connects the flashbacks and the present. We aren’t shown idle remembrances from Kenji’s childhood; each episode from the past has some connection to the present. Sometimes you have to wait a couple of chapters for the full implications of how what we’ve seen fits. The interaction between the past and the present communicate poignantly that sense of nostalgia, even when Kenji himself isn’t aware of it. I like the way Urasawa strings the memories together. He really captures that stream-of-consciousness feel. Kenji’s memory about hearing the Stones leads to a memory of playing air guitar that leads to a memory of him buying his first guitar. Each episode tells us something further about Kenji and how the events are intertwined give a glimpse deep into his psyche. Urasawa has fashioned a tight narrative that rewards second and third readings.

I don’t want to paint this as a somber, humorless manga; it isn’t.

I don’t want to paint this as a somber, humorless manga; it isn’t. The first chapter starts out with great broad humor as we see Kenji and his mother together in the store bickering the way families do. Initially, Kenji comes off as a bit of a bumpkin, obsessed with running the convenience store. It’s a time-tested way to hook an audience, start with a joke. Slowly the manga settles into a more serious tone, but there is always a strand of humor running through the book. Urasawa doesn’t just use one style of humor either. Some of the jokes are very subtle, and if you’re not paying attention or reading too quickly, you’ll miss them.

It’s obvious by now that I like Kenji and find him a very sympathetic character. His most impressive characteristic is the ability to roll with the punches and disappointments in life most admirably. He didn’t get to save Japan from eminent danger or become a rock star, and he doesn’t wallow in bitterness over this. He runs the convenience store like that’s what he’s always wanted to do. His sister shows up, drops off her baby, and then disappears. He raises the child like she’s his own. He gives her all the love and care she needs without complaining about her being a burden. He’s a genuinely nice guy, and Urasawa doesn’t make fun of Kenji for being that.

Part of this probably comes from the fact that Kenji and his friends are only seven years older than I am. I was too young to remember the moon landing, but I lived in a world profoundly shaped by that event. My friends and I also grew up listening to the radio and getting excited by music we were hearing. Kenji’s thirty-seven in this manga, I’m forty-one, so I can relate to where’s he at in life.

This manga is drawn in a much more realistic style than usual for the medium. In the beginning, it reminded me a little of the house style of Mad magazine, especially because of the exaggerated expressions Kenji and his mother use when fighting. Of course, this added to the ‘American’ feel of the book. After the second chapter, the artwork seemed to slightly move away from this style. All the artwork is excellent, but Urasawa’s real gift is facial expressions. He’s able to communicate any emotion. It’s a pleasure just to flip through the book and look at the all the facial closeups. He also lays out the pages well. He does wonderful things with panel sizes and arrangement to capture the right mood or quicken the pace.

20th Century Boys had me hooked before I even finished the first chapter.

20th Century Boys had me hooked before I even finished the first chapter. This book is written for adults, and really only adults can fully appreciate it. To truly get inside the characters and the narrative you need to be past thirty and settling in what you’re most likely going to be doing for the rest of your life. It’s a masterpiece. It’s so rare to read a comic, or even a novel, with so many layers put together so adeptly. I’m already jittery with anticipation for the next volume. (This review was based on a galley provided by the publisher.)

Interview With Allen Gladfelter (Strongman)

I spoke (via online chat) a few days ago with Allen Gladfelter, artist of Strongman, recently released by SLG Publishing. He talks about how he and writer Charles Soule work together, the importance of location research, an upcoming project with Joshua Dysart, and plans for a Strongman sequel.

Allen, Strongman is about a Mexican wrestler. Are you a wrestling fan?

I wasn’t so much before I started working on Strongman, but in the course of researching the Mexican Lucha Libre tradition, I came to appreciate it quite a bit.

How so?

Well, to be honest, I didn’t know a thing about Lucha Libre before I started working on Strongman. So I read a few books and got to thinking that I really need to see this for myself. I took a little side trip to Mexico and caught a Lucha Libre event live. It’s all REAL! The luchadores show up in their masks, the kids gape in awe, the people drink Tecate two at a time and munch on spicy snacks while the luchadores wage melodramatic battles of good versus evil. It’s a loud, close quarters, hilarious, and very entertaining scene. I can totally get the appeal.

Strongman

That sounds like a fun way to research! Is that level of involvement typical for your art?

For me it is. I mean, that’s how I want to approach my work. When I am faced with having to tell a story where the setting is a significant story element, then I think it’s important to go see that place for yourself if at all possible. It’s important to have something authentic to say about these places. For Strongman, I ventured to both Mexico and New York City because I needed to be able to get the sense of place correct. It makes the life that our hero, Tigre, is living all that much more real and believable.

How did you come to work on Strongman? Did you know the writer?

Charles Soule posted an ad on Digital Webbing, and I responded to it. He auditioned about a half dozen guys and decided that he liked my approach the best. While the other guys were just drawing wrestlers in superhero poses, I was drawing wrestlers walking down dark alleys with Eisner-type debris flying around in the wind. Charles has said that he thought my temperament would be better suited to the mood he was trying to achieve than any of the other guys.

Clever approach! Did you take a different tack based on information he provided?

Well, yes and no. Environment and mood have always been a primary interest of mine. My first published work was a story in Steve Buccellatto’s ComicCulture magazine written by Benjamin Raab called “The Lost Tribe”. That was a supernatural horror noir story set in a stygian kind of old Prague. I couldn’t go to Prague for that, but I worked hard trying to get a spooky, creepy feel for the place. So right from the start, environment and mood are evident as predominant artistic concerns. I think I simply have continued that approach in Strongman, and I intend to continue doing that.

Could you talk about how other examples of your work demonstrate that as well?

Like That

I did a short graphic novel called Like That, written by Patrick Rills, that is set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We have our lovebirds (it’s a romance comic!) hanging out and walking around on the Louisiana State University campus.

I have been providing covers for the Disney/Pixar World of Cars comics coming out from BOOM! Studios. I lived for a time in that part of Arizona along Route 66 where Radiator Springs is supposed to be, and I have taken it upon myself to start taking in auto racing events whenever possible, and I think that helps.

I once did a comic called Transaction that took place during the 1999 WTO protests, which I witnessed first hand. (It was a peaceful protest until the police started lobbing tear gas cans into the crowd!)

I drew a comic written by Joshua Dysart that is set deep in the Louisiana Swamp, and I actually got in a swamp boat and got a tour of the cypress groves out there. That was called How It Gets In, and it hasn’t been published yet. It’s pretty weird and we’ll probably have to self-publish it one of these days.

What’s the premise?

This guy is sitting around his house, abusing himself with the news porn on the television, when a fly emerges from the TV set and he swallows it. He coughs, gags, and then gets up and ventures out into the swamp, that’s when he finds that he has become the victim and the carrier of all that war and filth that TV spews on us.

That’s Josh’s side. My take on it was more personal. For me it was also about how sadness, disappointment, and sickness can divert someone from the single-minded pursuit of art. Josh had something to say, so he wrote it all down. I read it and it spoke to me and I drew it. It was a personal thing, just for fun really. It’s a pure work of art, born into the world through vessels who can’t quite explain how it came to be. (Read it online at Josh’s site.) Josh is a mad man, you know.

He’s one of my oldest friends in comics. I met him shortly after reading his work on Violent Messiahs. He’s a really friendly, positive guy, a cinephile, jazzbo, voracious reader, and I feel a real affinity for his dedication to his work. Did you know that for his recent Vertigo series, Unknown Soldier, he actually went all the way to UGANDA to research the civil war there? And then he put it all into his comic book! That’s the way to do it, I’ll tell you what. I really admire him for his willingness to go half way around the world to make his comic book the best it can be. And Unknown Soldier is a fantastic book.

What else are you working on now?

I am currently finishing up my Bachelor of Fine Art in Illustration. It will be my second degree after my Bachelor of Science in Education.

I’m going to continue self-publishing my personal work, The Inspectre: The Ghost Who Solves Crime, created in collaboration with my writing buddy, Mark Cooper. (That link has some of the images, but the words aren’t posted yet. Sorry, Mark! We’ll have to get on that asap.) It’s actually quite a bit different than the rest of my work. Much more cartoony, in a way.

The art style is based more on expressionistic wood-block printing and the picture books of Lynd Ward. Lots of black, inky shadows and spooky stuff. It’s about a ghost detective archetype struggling to maintain a sense of identity in the afterworld where your habits can overtake you and you can forget who you are and just wind up trapped on a lonesome road or in the corner of a room in an old house. So he finds a mystery to solve, and it turns out that the double cross may be that his need to investigate may simply be the habit that traps him. We’re talking with some companies about publishing it, but we don’t have anything in writing yet, so I can’t say when that’s going to hit. But it will, you’ll see!

I have another project called Guns McMenamin that’s going to be premiered at San Diego this year. It’s an action/comedy series, something like The Dukes of Hazard crossed with The Fast and the Furious. And it’s set in Baton Rouge. I’ll be travelling to Baton Rouge to research the place and prepare for the major set pieces later this year.

And we are planning to do a sequel to Strongman that I’ll start drawing in June.

How do you work with Charles? You’re doing a sequel, so y’all must get along ok.

More than OK! Charles is a good collaborator. He’s challenging but not recalcitrant. Creative, energetic, a little bit gonzo, even. He has quite a few interesting projects that are going full steam ahead, and I think it won’t be long before he’s as out there as Bendis or Kirkman or Cebulski.

What method do you use? How much back-and-forth do you have?

We start with a plot synopsis. I read what he’s got in mind and then tell him if I think it works or not. Then we discuss it at length before he produces a full script. I read that and do thumbnail layouts to see how it all flows, then we have another lengthy discussion about how it’s all shaping up.

If I have a difference of opinion with Charles, then I better be able to explain myself pretty clearly, and sometimes he agrees with me, sometimes not. Eventually, we come to an agreement, and I go back and draw the pages as best as I can. I send pages to him in 20-page packets and move on to the next batch while he letters them and gets them ready for the book. I think our system works pretty well.

What can you tell me about the next book?

As the cloud of guilt and depression begins to lift from Tigre’s life, he decides that he needs to return to Mexico. He finds the place has not changed to his liking in the 30 years since he left. Poverty, violence, civil war. This would never have stood had Tigre remained in his country and continued fighting for truth and justice. Well, he’s back now, and those outlaw gangs and corrupt politicians better watch out!

I’m going to start drawing it in June, it will take about a year to complete, then about 3 or 4 months to produce and distribute…. So I guess it’ll be about late 2010.

Thanks very much for your time, Allen!

You’re welcome. I’d like to say that I’m really happy to speak to you, and I’d like to shout out to my friends and collaborators Mark Cooper, Charles Soule, Patrick Rills, Josh Dysart, and Steve Buccellatto. I’ve always appreciated their hard work and support. And if I don’t throw a word in to my mother and sister, I would be a bad son and brother. I couldn’t be a cartoonist without their support.

Marvel Donates Obama Comics to ComicsPRO

ComicsPRO, the trade organization for direct market comic retailer, announced today that

Retailers who join ComicsPRO as Full Members can get a hand from Marvel. Marvel made available some first printing variant covers of Amazing Spider-Man #583, featuring President Barack Obama. This hot, sold-out issue has gone for more than $100 at auction, and retailers who join now can get one for free while supplies last!

Except that current prices, based on ebay sales finished today, range as low as $44, so it appears that this collectible may have peaked. Other copies offered starting at $25 and $50 closed with no bids. Given that Marvel did four or five reprints of the cover, everyone who wants one may have one.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice idea, that a retailer get back something to help offset their membership dues — heck, DC’s done that for years with exclusive RRP editions of comics given out at their invite-only retailer gatherings. I’m just a little tired, personally, of this “let’s exploit the President” approach to marketing. Plus, without knowing how many “some” are, it’s tough to know how generous Marvel is being. Although it is considerate that ComicsPRO isn’t leaving out existing members: “Existing Full Members can get a free Obama variant copy with an early
renewal of 2009-2010 dues.”

But wait! There’s more! Marvel is also discounting subscriptions to their Marvel Retailer Resource Center. According to Marvel, “The Marvel Retailer Resource Center enables retailers to create websites for their stores with up-to-the-minute news, artwork, catalog listings and changes, as well as maps and local happenings.” In other words, they’re selling branded web creation packages. It’s very difficult to find any concrete information on pricing online, but reportedly, it’s over $100 a year for this service. So this “extra $10 discount” is a gesture, but not very substantial. I suspect any store that knows they need a website already has one. Others may not want to be so locked into one vendor’s products.

The press release also says that ComicsPRO has “more than 140 members with more than 180 storefronts.” Given the usual estimate of about 3000 comic retailers, that’s 6% of stores, but I bet they’re the most active and involved ones.

Batman Movies Coming on Blu-Ray, Re-Released on DV

The Batman Anthology, a collection of the four previous Batman movies, now out of print on DVD, has been announced for March 10. They’re pushing the announcement that this will be the first time the movies are available on Blu-Ray, but the regular editions will be coming back into print as well.

Batman Anthology
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Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin will be available in a Blu-Ray box set. Also included will be “over 18 hours of special features, including documentaries from directors Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher, deleted scenes, and music videos”, plus a digital copy of Batman (The Movie) suitable for download to computer or iPod. (Note: I’m assuming that means the first film in the set, not the 60s campy version, but I might be wrong.) On Blu-Ray, these films are only available as a set at a list price of $130 US. (If you only want the good ones, wait a bit. I’m sure individual discs will follow.)

However, on regular DVD, you have a lot more choices. You can get single-disk editions of each movie for $13 or two-disc special editions at $27 apiece. Those are coming out on February 10, with a Collection following on March 10 for $80.

This announcement struck me as more evidence of how hard studios are pushing Blu-Ray now. That’s the focus of the piece, with the other discs mentioned as an afterthought, with no specific information on their content or special features. And looking at the prices, you can understand why — $50 more for an enhanced picture? I’m not interested, thanks.

It’s a shame that they didn’t do a fancy tin box with plenty of extras, like Superman got. Maybe that’s down the road for next holiday season.

Star Trek

Just got back from seeing the new Star Trek movie, and I enjoyed it. Which surprised me, since I’d stopped watching the series a long time ago (both films and TV). This is really a Star Trek for this generation, providing much more depth to most of the characters while still acknowledging their classic roots. All the favorite elements — Vulcan neck pinch, “Dammit, I’m a doctor, not a physicist”, Kirk’s skirt-chasing, plenty more classic phrases — are here, but there’s more, too. Including a few too many scenes of a ship getting attacked, something blowing up, and bodies flying through the air for my taste.

Things I Liked

The movie looks like it cost a lot and it’s all on the screen. Visually impressive.

The use of silence to remind viewers space is soundless, as well as for dramatic effect.

Spock is to Kirk as Batman is to Superman. This is Spock’s movie — Zachary Quinto gives him the most shading and diversity, and much of the plot revolves around him. This shouldn’t be surprising, since Leonard Nimoy is also in the film (and significantly so, a wonderful addition I really appreciated). Quinto’s portrayal is excellent, too, capturing the essentials of the original character while bringing his own spin to it. His storyline provides almost all of the depth of the film.

Anton Yelchin as Chekov. I already liked him from Charlie Bartlett, but he does a great job as the math prodigy (and putting echoes of the much-despised Wesley into the character was clever!). The actor is also Russian by birth, a nice touch in casting, which makes the accent more palatable.

Simon Pegg as Engineer Montgomery Scott. He provides some needed humor and “normal people” behavior late in the film.

Simon Pegg as Scotty, Karl Urban as Bones, and John Cho as Sulu

Karl Urban as McCoy. His cantankerous nature fit well and balanced the other, younger, starry-eyed characters.

In general, all of the cast were well-done, especially Bruce Greenwood as Captain Pike, who played leader and teacher while still seeming active and powerful. I was overall meh, though, about Christopher Pine’s Kirk. He wasn’t quite as “lovable in spite of being a jerk” as he should have been.

Things I didn’t like so much

The Romulan threat. Another “so evil” ranting bad guy who lives in a muck pit. What, bad guys can’t like light?

Time travel and Spock as deus ex machina. The transporter becomes even more of one. It’s treated as a super plot device, which is something that will need to be addressed if this becomes a series again.

What was the point of the young Kirk scene? The best I could come up with was that it provided something before he turns up at the bar, so it shows he was troubled, not just a lush. My second guess: someone really liked the sports car.

A bit too much typical SBU action movie (S**t Blows Up) at times. I know it’s competing with Wolverine, Terminator, etc. this summer, but I preferred the more impressive, more unusual space effects.

Worst of all for me was the treatment of women. I should have known, once the academy students showed up with the females still wearing short skirts. But even with a more modern Uhura, the four women (only) with significant speaking roles (most minor) are all primarily defined by their relationships to men: wife, mother, girlfriend. But I guess with so much focus on Kirk-Spock bonding, that shouldn’t surprise me.

Overall, on the summer movie scale (”did it provide an enjoyable escape for a few hours?”), it was quite successful. I hope to see more in the series to come.

Similar Posts: Tokyopop in March: NG Life, Tsubasa: Those With Wings, Star Trek Manga Ultimate Edition § Tokyopop’s TV Science Fiction: Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: The Next Generation § Star Trek Comic Promo § Voices of a Distant Star § Little Star