2/2/13

"Same Difference" by Derek Kirk Kim

Derek Kirk Kim's graphic novel "Same Difference" involves two parallel stories of college friends, Simon and Nancy. The book is essentially a short story, taking place over only a couple of days.

They start out in a cluttered but comfortable pho restaurant, and it ends in the wide open spaces of the beach and the night sky. From the restaurant, Simon sees Irene Cook, a friend of his from high school who once asked him to the Sadie Hawkins Day dance, but he lied to get out of it because she is blind.  Meanwhile, it's revealed that Nancy has been toying with the emotions of a guy named Ben Leland, who is infatuated with the woman who used to live in Nancy's apartment.

In the course of the story, both Simon and Nancy are offered easy chances at redemption, but they stumble along the way, afraid to do the right thing because it will expose their lies.

The dialog is chatty, but like Kim's other works, the characters were interesting enough that I was compelled to keep reading.  Also, there's always at least one or two dialogue-free panels per page, leaving space for reaction and reflection.

I loved the introduction by Gene Yang  ("American Born Chinese") as well as the afterword by Kim himself. Kim explains some of his process in writing, and what "Same Difference" meant to him:
No matter what I do in the future, "Same Difference will always be my most significant work. Not the most complex or proficient, and hopefully not the best, but the most significant...Same Difference gave me my own voice. For the first time, the creative process became an honest, organic channeling of myself.

Although the artwork is uneven at times, and as Kim mentions in the afterword, he even had to redraw Simon's nose on nearly every page, the resulting work truly is an honest and engaging story.
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"Philip K. Dick's Electric Ant" by David Mack and Pascal Alixe

I've been re-reading all of Philip K. Dick's novels, so as a pause I decided to get the comic book adaptation of "Electric Ant." Based on the 1969 short story published in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Garson Poole is the owner of Tri-Plan Electronics, a company that develops hi-tech weapons systems. After a car accident the doctors tell him he's an electric ant, an organic robot, "a precursor to the more modern replicant."

Naturally, this is disturbing news and Garson not only has trouble breaking it to his girlfriend, but it also makes him doubt his purpose as "owner" of the company, and his very existence. Prying open a seam in his chest he discovers a spaghetti of components, including a spool of punched tape which seems to control his senses, or possibly even his reality. He begins to tinker with the tape, covering over some holes, adding new ones, and that's when reality begins to break down.  The ending, like "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch," is ambiguous, but slightly hopeful. We are left with the impression that Garson Poole has transcended this reality.

With flying cars and a light touch of Film Noir retro, David Mack does a good job of incorporating the modern interpretation of PKD into the story.  I liked the TV blurb "...this segment of the Palmer Eldritch Empathy Hour brought to you by Perky Pats."  I have not read the short story (it's on my list of "to do"s), but I gather from summaries that it has a slightly different ending than the comic.

Pascal Alixe's art, at first, was disturbing to me. The blocky human figures with heavy dark lines felt rough, more like a WPA mural from the '30s.  But the style grew on me, and it felt appropriate to the theme. As Poole explores his body, and the dissolving reality around him some forms become more organic, and Alixe even throws in some Dali-like melting objects.

Published in 2010 by Marvel Comics, the book includes the covers by Paul Pope, and a sketchbook at the end, but no other commentary on the work. They credit Brian Michael Bendis as a consulting editor.  They also give thanks to the Dick estate, and refer to Electric Shepherd Productions .
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1/15/13

Cheverny Chateau: The inspiration for Marlinspike

A couple years ago I took a trip to France and visited Chateau Cheverny, Hergé's inspiration for Marlinspike. Located in the Loire valley, the Chateau is a minor one, along the string of other castles, including the very impressive Chateau Chambord. Also, the interior is nothing like Marlinspike, being much more cozy. Still, it was fun to visit "Captain Haddock's Castle" and walk around the grounds. There is a zoo directly across from the Castle, and, of course, a gift shop with lots of Tintin-themed knick-knacks.

A comic shop in Poitiers display an impressive array of comic-related figurines, including Tintin and Haddock in the middle
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12/31/12

"Good As Lily" by Derek Kirk Kim

Derek Kirk Kim's graphic novel "Tune: Vanishing Point " has been getting some acclaim this year. Intrigued, I decided to get a couple of his books from the library and check them out for myself.  So, my first introduction to Kim's work is his 2007 work "Good As Lily," illustrated by Jesse Hamm.

Some sites have called this a YA graphic novel, although in my opinion the "YA" tag is purely for marketing. Kim's pacing is delicate yet interesting.  The story starts with a bang as Grace Kwon is kidnapped in broad daylight as she sits in the park.  She's not alarmed, however, and we discover it's because her friends have abducted her for a surprise 18th birthday picnic. During the party we meet each friend and learn about his or her relationship with Grace. Just as the story feels like a shoujo manga like Peach Girl, Kim introduces a magical element in the form of a strange pig pinata sold to Grace by a strange old woman.  The scene of them breaking the pinata is strangely satisfying, words alone can't accurately describe the feeling.

What evolves from there is basically "Back to the Future" in reverse: three versions of Grace from other periods in her life manifest themselves to live with her.  The nine-year-old version, which Grace calls Katie is a glutton for cookies and candy.  The not-yet-thirty-year-old "Shana" seems to dread the future, but also is fixating on Grace's cute Drama teacher.  And the 70 year-old "Jessica" only wants to smoke, drink and watch "Antiques Roadshow" (because "Walker, Texas Ranger" isn't on for another two hours.)

You could say the story is also similar to "A Christmas Carol," with the three ghosts visiting, except that these other versions of Grace aren't ghosts. They interact with friends, lead fundraisers, start food fights and both help and hinder Grace as she tries to navigate the pinball events of high school.

Kim has put together an engaging story, with a satisfying arc and resolution.  The plot points are only occasionally predictable. You know that the boy she's grown up with, and overlooked since 3rd grade will obviously be the future boyfriend, but who could have predicted how they finally pay for production of the spring play? (I'm not telling.)

Kim has made much of his career doing webcomics, and halfway through book I was worried that this would be an ongoing story, drawn out over multiple volumes. The weakness of many webcomics is that they don't always focus on a definitive end. "Good As Lily," however, didn't disappoint -- the resolution was clear and satisfying.

After reading "Good As Lily" I'm excited to read more of Kim's work.  For those who are interested in the artist's commentary, Kim's website has a series of posts providing a commentary on the development of the characters and the art. The Wikipedia article on Kim is disappointingly short, although I'm sure it will grow in time.

Kim's website is http://www.lowbright.com/  or you can follow him on twitter @derekkirkkim.
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11/9/12

Knock, knock

According to Wikipedia, Knock-Knock jokes were first made popular in 1936 on Fred Allen's radio show. While reading a copy of "Police Comics" from 1941 I found this sequence that's essentially a visual version of a knock-knock joke and I wondered how long the artist had been planning to use it. Because of the layout of the comic the first two panels are in the middle of the page, while the second two show at the bottom. I took the liberty of laying it out as four consecutive panels, the way you might see it in the daily comics.



The character is #711, a man who was wrongfully sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. As part of his crusade for justice he puts on a cape and hat and tucks his pants into his socks (yes!), and escapes prison on a nightly basis to fight criminals and right wrongs.  He took his name from his prisoner number, so it seems odd that the warden doesn't suspect a thing. The comic fails to explain why his normally green prison garb turns maroon when he's in costume as #711.


10/14/12

What makes for a "good comic"?

"Reading Comics" reminded me of another book, recommended by Brian Michael Bendis as an essential reference for his comics class at Portland State University.  Although it's not specifically about comics, David Mamet's book "On Directing" explores the requirements that a visual medium puts on a story.  In one lecture Mamet builds a story based solely on the essential image of each scene, cutting away the dialogue to the bare essentials.

Incidentally, I recently started reading some older Golden Age comics. I found some of these comics, such as Will Eisner's The Spirit, or Captain Marvel Adventures interesting, regardless of nostalgia.

But other comics, while interesting, just weren't as engaging.  For example, "Invisible Scarlet O'Neill" always seemed like a comic that should have been better than it was. I mean: here's an experienced, competent artist writing a story about a sexy detective who can turn invisible, fights crime, and occasionally gets her dress ripped.  The story should be pretty good. As an experiment, I decided to take a part of a page of the story and examine some potential problems.

The first panel shows Sandy describing his predicament, despite the gag.
His speech is surprisingly coherent considering the beating he just received -- it probably should've been a thought balloon.  Perhaps the oddest thing about this panel is the placement of the narrator's caption, which seems like it should be at the top of the panel:  "And downstairs..."

In the second panel the thug considerately explains why he's torturing Sandy.

The third panel is most egregious.  The boss Malignant explains the drama, while the stooge partakes in some maid & butler dialogue.
This thug must really like explaining his actions, since he's talking to himself in the fourth panel.

Sandy, meanwhile, despite his concussion, is surprisingly astute at identifying the sound of someone shoveling mixing cement.

And finally in the lower right we see Malignant returning to his "date" with Scarlet O'Neill and some classic 50's noir dialogue.

So, while I wouldn't say that "Invisible Scarlett O'Neil" is poorly done, it shows that more could have been done to bring out a purely visual style in the comic. It seems like the modern ethic is to drop thought balloons, captions, and anything that distracts from the imagery on the page.

10/7/12

"Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu-Earth Volume 1" by Dave Gibbons, Alan Moore, et al.

In the distant future, a brutal war is waged between the Nort and the Southers on a strategically located planet called Nu Earth. Once it was a habitable planet, but after years of war the air is poisonous, the seas corrosive, and the only population are those engaged in combat. The Southers create a regiment of genetically engineered infantry (GIs) who can can survive on Nu Earth without protection, and have special features that make them better soldiers, but during one of the GI offensive a traitor exposes their location, and all of them are wiped out except the lone Rogue Trooper. He quest is to find the traitor and the generals that lead the attack and to avenge his fellow GIs. As part of his equipment he has the bio-chips of three fallen comrades embedded in his rifle, his helmet and his backpack. The bio-chips were a way for the military to save on training: if a soldier dies in combat they could download the soldier's persona into the chip and then later upload it to a clone for a ready-made soldier.

Alan Moore's name is on the cover, but in this volume he has contributed only two stories. Most of the stories are by Gerry Finley-Day, who also created the Rogue Trooper character and is apparently a real "idea man" for 2000 AD comics. The ongoing premise is of the Rogue Trooper searching for the traitor who betrayed the GIs, but Finley-Day does a good job of making each story personal, much like the war stories in DC's "G.I. Combat" comics. The Rogue Trooper stories ran in 2000AD comics, which isn't like US comics. It came out weekly, didn't have a glossy cover, and contained serialized anthologies. That meant that each issue devoted only three or four pages per character. Finley-Day does a good job of summarizing the past, jumping into the scenario, and then bringing it down to earth in only a few pages.

Of the longer multi-part stories, "Fort Neuro" was the least interesting. In that story, for some reason the Franks, Li-mees, and Roms have all assumed affectations which play out as ridiculous stereotypes (Napoleonic balls, Edwardian hunts, and disco parties). Only thanks to Rogue, and a couple of loyal robots, do the Southers break away from the trap and defend themselves against the Norters. I much rather preferred the stories that advanced the mission of Rogue in finding his traitor.

This volume is all in black & white, which fits the topic, but I also especially like the art work of Dave Gibbons (pre-"Watchmen"), who has some amazing imagination for composition. The black & white gives the stories a stark feeling, and mentions to the color of Rogue's skin (blue) or the acid yellow fog of chemicals are enough for me to add my own colors. Of the other artists, I found that Colin Wilson also had a fine line. Cam Kennedy and Brett Ewins do nice jobs, but they tend more toward darker, heavier lines.

For the sheer bulk, at $19.99 this book is worth the price. Given that the stories have great characters, clever jokes and insights, and tonnes of great art, it's even a better value.

Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu Earth 1 Stories by Gerry Finley-Day and Alan Moore. Art by Dave Gibbons, Colin Wilson, Brett Ewins and Cam Kennedy.
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8/22/12

Boys, Girls Men, Women! The World is on FIRE

Who could ignore an ad with a headline like this: "Boys, Girls Men, Women! The World is on FIRE. Serve The LORD and you can have these Prizes! (You can make money too!)"?



I found this ad from the FUNMan corporation on the back of Charlton "Strange Suspense Stories" #18 from 1954. The text reads:

"We will send you the wonderful prizes pictured on this page... or dozens of others, such as jewelry, radium dial wrist watches, tableware, tools, U-Make-It kits, leather kits, sewing kits, electric clocks, pressure cookers, scout equipments, model airplanes, and many others...all WITHOUT ONE PENNY OF COST. Crime, sin, graft, wars are the greatest they have ever been. Our leaders say a reawakening of Christianity is needed to save us. You can do your share by spreading the gospel into every home in your community. Merely show your friends and neighbors inspiring, beautiful Religious Wall Motto plaques. Many buy six or more to hang in every room. An amazing value, only 35cents... sell on sight. Secure big, cash commissions or exciting prizes for selling few as one set of 24 Mottos. Big Prize catalog sent Free! Serve the LORD and earn prizes you want."

Never mind about the radium dial wrist watches, just the name kills me: The FUNMan's Fun Club. Who could resist?  "Send No Money...We Trust You"!