What I Am Reading - Some comics by Van Lente and Dunlavey

ACTION PHILOSOPHERS!

and

THE COMIC BOOK HISTORY of COMCIS

by

Fred Van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey

I'm only marginally familiar with Van Lente's work at Marvel, but I've been hearing a lot of buzz about the two historical non fiction books he does with cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey.  I must say, the buzz is very well deserved.  I enjoyed these two books immensely.  Both of these books are wonderful learning tools and I would recommend them to anyone regardless of their usual reading habits. 

Despite being their second collaboration, I read Comic Book History of Comics first, mostly because the subject matter is more appealing to me personally.  CBHC is a very thorough and straightforward history of the American Comic Book, from it's inception in the early 20th Century right up to the present day.  This book is a veritable who's who of comics and is a great companion book to Marvel Comics The Untold Story.  Though the two books are completely unrelated, they cover some of the same ground since, as we all know, Marvel plays a significant role in the history of comics.  The two books do a good job of cross checking each other.  I don't believe there were any facts in either book that contradicted the other, and in fact they both seem to corroborate the same story. 

What I liked best about CBHC is that it's not just a history lesson.  It's also a cheerleader for comics as an art form.  The book does an excellent job of educating the reader exactly why comics is a unique and necessary expression.  Van Lente and Dunlavey craft a beautiful book that is full of references to characters and creators alike.

ACTION PHILOSOPHERS! is a lot like CBHC, except instead of depicting he history of Comic Books, it outlines the history of philosophers (duh).  Like CBHC, Van Lente and Dunlavey give us, not only the history of famous philosophers throughout history and their theories, but also helps to explain what the nature of philosophy is and why people pursue it.  This book never seems to get too deep, but it does a good job of introducing different schools of thought and traces them all together though history and how they influence and relate to each other.  What I got most out of ACTION PHILOSOPHERS! was the desire to do some heavy research into a whole slew of writers and philosophers that I previously only had passing knowledge of.

What I Am Reading - Marvel Comics The Untold Story

Marvel Comics The Untold Story

by Sean Howe

This book is an absolute must read for any fan of Marvel Comics.  These days, Marvel Entertainment is definitely the giant of the comics industry, but it's interesting to note that they built their cult of personality around the concept of being the underdog.  

Sean Howe gives us an oral history of Marvel Comics culled from personal interviews, published articles, and pretty much any other source available.  This books starts at the very beginning, starting in 1940 when magazine publisher Martin Goodman decided to move into comics because it was easy money, right up to the recent purchase by Disney.

The book is framed around the tragic relationship of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  The two of them struck creative gold together throughout the 60's and it nearly destroyed both of them.  Anybody who grew up reading Marvel comic books is more than familiar with Smilin Stan Lee's mustache and glasses caricature, as well as his boisterous, self aggrandizing personality.  In this book, the veil is lifted and we see Stan the Man for the man he really is, a man who never really wanted to be in comics in the first place and desperately craved critic approval.  Likewise, we see Jack as we largely always knew him, a guy who was overwhelmed by responsibility, who put his family first, and preferred to work instead of making waves.

I was completely engrossed by this book.  It tells the story of the age old struggle between art and corporate interests and the people that get caught in between.

What I Am Reading: Deadpool #1

DEADPOOL #1

by

Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, and Tony Moore

I have a long history with Deadpool.  Between his first appearances in X-Force, through Joe Kelly's legendary solo series up to Fabian Nicieza's Cable & Deadpool buddy book, I've got a lot of Deadpool comics.  Pretty soon after the Cable & Deadpool series ended, Deadpool's popularity exploded, due mostly to his appearance in video games and his introduction to a new generation of nerds who aren't saddled with the prejudice toward Rob Liefeld and general 90's excess characters.  This resulted in a deluge of mediocre or terrible Deadpool comics with no clear purpose or ambition all tying in to the new Deadpool series written by Daniel Way.  I'll just say I'm not a fan of Way's writing and leave it at that.  So, it's been a few years since I've read a Deadpool book.

Well, the wheels have turned and it's now time for a new Deadpool series under Marvel's new reader friendly banner Marvel Now!  The new series is written by comedians Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan.  It's penciled and inked by Tony Moore and colored by Val Staples.

I'm a fan of Posehn's comedy and I'm a huge fan of Tony Moore, so this comic seemed like a safe bet, and it was pretty safe.  The comic was okay.  There wasn't anything offensively bad about the comic, but a lot of the jokes fell flat.  Stronger pacing would have helped this comic a lot.  A lot of the pages had a real stilted flow and suffered from too many panels trying to have punchlines in them.  There wasn't a strong sense of storytelling going on, just a lot of random panels with puns and one liners.   So, I was pretty disappointed with that. 

The story, which involves all of America's dead presidents being brought back to life so that they can destroy, and subsequently rebuild, the country is pretty solid.  Undead Presidents makes for a good visual, and there's plenty of room for comedy involving Deadpool shooting up historical icons. 

Regardless of the weak pacing, the comic looks fantastic.  Moore's cartooning is really strong and he works really well in Deadpool's world.  Harking back to his work on The Walking Dead and The Exterminators, Moore draws a gruesome, bloody, and disgusting Deadpool.  In fact, Deadpool spends most of the issue with his mask off, laughing and joking about his scarred face.  I don't like that modern Deadpool is so gleefully happy to show off his ugly mug, but I guess it's all part of making the character more likable in the vein of Han shooting first or the Hulk never killing civilians.

What I found to be most obtrusive to the reading experience was Marvel's convoluted branding.  It's called Marvel Now! and most all of Marvel's books are relaunching with new #1's with a Marvel Now! logo slapped at the top of the book.  That's fine.  But then, at the bottom of the page, there's another logo proudly proclaiming "Join the ReEvolution".  Next to that is a little "AR" logo and the issue number.  I don't see the purpose of the ReEvolution rally cry or understand what it's supposed to even mean.  ReEvolution implies that it's some kind of reboot, but People at Marvel have gone out of their way to explain that Marvel Now! is not a reboot and is just a convenient jumping on point for new readers.  

Even more confusing is the "AR" logo.  Not only does the "AR" logo appear on the cover next to the numbering, but it is also mysteriously stamped onto the corners of five separate, seemingly random panels inside the comic.  I'm so baffled as to the meaning of the "AR" logo and it's appearance inside the book that I'm left to assume it has some kind of obvious meaning that I'm incapable of seeing.  Needless to say, it took me out of the reading experience.

For being a book designed specifically for new readers, it has the most convoluted and clumsy marketing and branding.  It's a mess.

The last page of the comic is a letter to the readers from the character Deadpool, himself.  There's been a lot of hubub lately about creators rights and a creators place inside the corporate comic system.  This letter seemed like another tool used by Marvel to further separate their intellectual property from the people hired to work on it.  The letter makes it pretty clear, the writers and artists are not working on the character, they are working FOR the character.  Though I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with it, I don't find it appealing.

I might take a look at future issues of this book, though I won't be high on my priorities. 

What I Am Reading - My Friend Dahmer and Punk Rock and Trailer Parks

My Friend Dahmer

Punk Rock and Trailer Parks

by Derf

Derf quickly became a favorite cartoonist of mine after reading his webcomic Trashed.  I'd been meaning to read Punk Rock and Trailer Parks since it was released and there's been notable talk about his epic work, My Friend Dahmer for years, so I finally decided to dive into them.  I was not disappointed. 

Derf has a real punk rock, underground comix aesthetic that should be easily noticeable to any reader, but his real strength comes in how he poses his characters and his ability to exaggerate expressions and body language.  Punk Rock and Trailer Parks is an excellent little piece of fiction about young men growing up in the height of the 80's punk rock boom in Akron, Ohio.  I really liked this book, having gone through my own awkward punk rock phase in high school.  Derf's story, and his own experiences most likely, were a lot more authentic than anything I ever did, but the emotional connection was the same.  It's got great laughs, great music references, and full frontal nudity.  A must read for any disenfranchised youth. 

My Friend Dahmer, on the other hand, is a much heavier subject.  As it turns out, Mr. Derf Backderf was a high school companion of Jeffery Dahmer, the serial killer.  Derf's comix aesthetics give us an honest, unglamorous  look into the high school life of the future killer.  It's a great look at the social lives of teenagers and an eye witness account to the daily life of a disturbed young man.  Through the eyes of Derf and his companions, we see the story of a clearly troubled young man who, not only never received a helping hand from the adults around him, seemed only to be pushed further over the edge by his own parents.  This is clearly Derf's greatest work.  It manages to maintain a sense of dark humor to itself, while still staying reverent to the unfortunate situation it recounts.

I look forward to anything else published by Derf.

What I Am Reading - Blacksad: A Silent Hell

Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canalez and Juanjo Guarnido

I love Blacksad.  This is the second Blacksad book, which collects the fourth and latest story as well as a few back up strips and an in depth write up about the artistic decisions by artist, Juanjo Guarnido.  This volume isn't quite as robust as the first volume, but it's still a great read.

What I love about this comic is that not only is it a great throwback to classic noir storytelling, but it's also a throwback to classic comic tropes in that the characters are all animal people.  Using animals in place of people is such a great technique for conveying a massive amount of information in as short a space possible.  We, as people, ascribe natural attributes to animals that are largely universal across all cultures.  By casting different animals as different characters, the reader is instantly able to infer certain characteristics, which can also then be undermined.  It's an effect that cannot be achieved by simply drawing human beings.

Anybody who likes comics, who likes to see the true artistry of the medium, must read these books.

What I Am Reading - Breathers

Breathers by Justin Madson

I met Justin a few months ago in Chicago.  He's a very nice guy.  I've seen this book talked about in a few places around the web and I'm surprised I haven't seen it talked about more because I liked it a lot. 

Breathers is is a beautiful blend of indie drama and neo noir science fiction.  The story is told in small vignettes that follow a few different characters and how they get through their lives in a world where the air is poisonous to breathe.  This comic is light on text, more focused on the character's emotional drama than it is on the storyline.  It all plays well with Madson's cartooning.  The light line work combined with the stylistically long limbs give the characters a surreal, airless feeling.  They float on the page like their float through their lives.

This is a fantastic self published book.  You can purchase the 426 page collection here.  I highly recommend it.