Nurse Nurse

Sparkplug Books announced last week that they plan to release a collection of Katie Skelly’s Nurse Nurse minicomics, which she has been creating since 2003. The collection will come out in April, in time for a debut at the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Ore. and the MoCCA Festival in New York.

The eight Nurse Nurse minicomics are set in a future where mankind is attempting to colonize other planets, and star the nurses sent to treat the colonies as they become poisoned by the new atmospheres. In particular, the story is about Gemma, a nurse who travels to her new assignment on Venus where a mysterious substance is having an amorous effect on the Venusians … but is it a conspiracy, or just … science?

The 180 page, black and white paperback will retail for $15.

Megaupload

Legal | The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI on Thursday shut down the popular file-sharing site Megaupload, seized $50 million in assets and charged its founder and six others with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy that’s cost copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. The FBI has begun extradition proceedings in New Zealand to bring company founder Kim Schmitz, aka Kim DotCom, to the United States. He and three other associates are being held without bail until Monday, when they’ll receive a new hearing. Three others remain at large. They face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

News of the shutdown was met with retaliation by the hacker collective Anonymous, which attacked the websites of the Justice Department and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Founded in 2005, Megaupload allowed users to anonymously transfer files like movies and music and, certainly on a much smaller scale, comic books. The Hong Kong-based company, which reportedly employed as many as 155 people, is said to have made $175 million from ads and premium subscriptions. According to the indictment, DotCom, whose assets apparently include a fleet of cars, took in $42 million from the operation in 2010.

Before Megaupload was taken down, the company posted a statement on its website claiming that allegations it facilitated massive breaches of copyright are “vastly overblown”: “The fact is that the vast majority of Mega’s Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch.” [USA Today, The New York Times, CNET]

J.M. DeMatteis

Piracy | In response to recent conversations about the Stop Online Piracy Act, comics writer J.M. DeMatteis shares his thoughts on comic book piracy: “The bottom line — my bottom line, anyway — is this: If you’re enthusiastic about a particular creator, buy his or her work and then let others know about it. If you spread the word via file-sharing, it’s not much different than loaning a friend one of your books or CDs. Just as I once became an obsessive fan after taping my friends’ vinyl albums, many of your friends will become fans who’ll spend their hard-earned money on actively supporting that creator’s work.” [Creation Point]

Creators | Lynda Barry will be the spring artist in residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [University of Wisconsin-Madison News]

Creators | Movie producer and former Marvel Studios President Avi Arad chats briefly about his new manga The Innocent: “I’ve been in the world of comics all my life, and specifically into Japanese comics in the early days, before manga attempted to penetrate this market. I wanted to do The Innocent a long time ago. It stayed with me quite a while. Once I got out of Marvel Comics, it was one of the things on my bucket list to do a manga. I had an idea and I followed it, and here we are.” [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Dancer #1

Creators | Nathan Edmondson discusses Dancer, his upcoming Image Comics miniseries with artist Nic Klein about a retired assassin and his ballerina companion on the run from a sniper in Milan. [USA Today]

Creators | Jennifer Anderson spotlights Oil & Water, the new Fantagraphics graphic novel by Steve Duin and Shannon Wheeler that examines the impact of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf. [Beaverton Valley Times]

Creators | Collaborators Kurtis J. Wiebe and Tyler Jenkins talking about their upcoming Image/Shadowline series Peter Panzerfaust, which reimagines Peter Pan and the Lost Boys as Nazi resisters during World War II. [USA Today]

Publishing | Dave Ferraro and Patrick Markfort discuss the small publisher Sparkplug in their latest podcast. [Comics-and-More]

As far as I can recall, it’s the only picture I ever took of him. Now, with Dylan taken from us, far before his time, and long before the many, many people who’s lives he’s touched ever thought they’d have to let him go, I’ve found myself thinking about that photo, about that moment, about how Dylan never got a copy of it, about what he might have been thinking when he brought me over to that wall, wanting me to take his picture. The other side of death is the deep scary mystery that we humans, even after all this time, don’t really know how to truly approach or comprehend, but I need to believe that such a vivid and thoughtful person as Dylan can’t just stop existing. I need to believe that this photo is some kind of message from Dylan from the other side of his life and not an irony. This photo needs to be a victory.

—Theo Ellsworth, author of Sleeper Car, on the photograph of the late Sparkplug Comic Books publisher Dylan Williams you see above. I gasped audibly the first time I saw this picture and read Ellsworth’s post about it — how it was taken at the request of Williams, who’d already battled the cancer that would eventually claim him and was well aware of the challenges he might again have to face. And as I’ve made my way through the tributes and anecdotes and encomiums popping up all around the comics internet, I’ve been moved almost as powerfully time and time again.

Through the tributes of his fellow cartoonists and publishers, a picture of Williams emerges. He was a kind person who provided many friends with empathy they felt they could never properly return. He was an ethical person who ran his publishing business in a way that centered on treating, and paying, his artists fairly. He had an eye for talent, able to spot not just good cartoonists but also the good things about not-so-good cartoonists, both of which he nurtured to make them better. He was a comics die-hard who made contributions to the form in nearly every conceivable way—retailer, distributor, cartoonist, publisher, historian, organizer. And he really, really loved Alex Toth.

As I said in my own tribute, I feel that I only truly wised up to how valuable a publisher Williams really was shortly before the announcement that he was gravely ill. It’s a great regret that I never got the chance to corner him at a con and give him the “Wow, great job, man” he deserved. But lots and lots of people in comics had that chance, and more besides. Below, I’ve pulled a selection of snippets from longer tributes written by such people.

Several of these tributes were culled from The Comics Journal; many more from The Comics Reporter’s comprehensive “Collective Memory” post on Williams’s life, death, and work. Please visit these pages, follow the links there and below for people’s full posts, and deepen your understanding as to whom and what we have lost. Then please help his family pay his oustanding medical bills by shopping at the Sparkplug store or at Floating World Comics’ Divine Invasion benefit site.

—

I think [Dylan's] sunny public disposition came from his determination that, though he had fierce opinions about what was good and bad, he felt no need to define the “good” by defaming the “bad.” I think he could appreciate the blade when held in someone else’s hands but he did not trust it in his own, or see that as his role. Dylan was an equally sweet man whether he admired your work or not. He approached the work and the artists he admired from the side, he sidled up to you in a way that said this is not about you and not about me, but about the art we both love.—Trevor Alixopulos, The Hot Breath of War

I could go on and on about what comics meant to Dylan and what Dylan meant to comics: how he was one of the few publishers who still took time to distro self-published minicomics, how he firmly believed in continuing to publish pamphlet comics while others abandoned that model. Through Sparkplug Comics, Dylan was a steady fixture in the comics community, tirelessly exhibiting at shows, and introducing an array of comics of varying styles and artists off the beaten path. Right now, while I’m maybe not thinking too rationally, it is hard to imagine the small press, alt/indie comics world (whatever we calling it these days) continuing to flourish without Dylan. The landscape will definitely change with his absence but I am hopeful that other publishers will pick up the torch and continue to publish what Dylan called “weird ass comix.”—Rina Ayuyang, Whirlwind Wonderland

I remember, driving back from a comics show with him one night, he and I were in the middle of a long rambling conversation. Dylan was talking about something pretty mundane but he said “life’s too short to be an asshole.” That sums Dylan up to me. When a guy with leukemia tells you something like that, you take it to heart.—Elijah J. Brubaker, Reich

I think the key to understanding Dylan Williams is that he always thought as a cartoonist, first and foremost. And as a cartoonist, he was an outsider. Publishers rarely touched his work. As a publisher, he was an outsider. While no alt-comics publisher is really out to make money, Dylan brought a scrupulously fair and ethical approach to publishing inspired by punk icon Ian MacKaye. That business model was a small, self-sustaining approach driven not by maximum profits but by a realistic publication schedule, reasonable prices and fair practices for artists, all in the support of work he believed in completely.—Rob Clough, critic

I admired his drive, his ethics, and his ability to keep experimenting with new approaches and artistic styles. I respected the fact that he never quit or succumbed to bitterness, retaining the same earnest, honest, slightly shy demeanor he’d always had….A big fuck you to life for cutting it all short. He lived ethically and creatively and still wound up with years of suffering and an early death. That sucks.—Aaron Cometbus, Cometbus

Dylan really was as kind and decent and benevolent as a business person should be. He wasn’t about Dylan. He was about all those cartoonists he published. I do really feel that a publisher’s most important job is to spot and nurture talent. If you can’t do that, then there’s no need for you to publish. Dylan did that. Completely. Sparkplug existed solely for that purpose. Am I that noble? Are any of you that noble? Do I despair because I’m not sure there’s anybody to take his place?—Tom Devlin, Drawn and Quarterly

It’s so fitting that the first memory of Dylan I have is him in a comic store. Dylan LOVED comics in the most beautiful way I’ve ever seen someone love something. He used to say, when I complained about working at Forbidden Planet sometimes (sorry Jeff—it happened from time to time), that ‘selling comics is God’s work.’ There was an ample bit of humor in that but also a lot of real belief in the idea.—Austin English, Windy Corner

…what did he get out of these efforts? Here’s Dylan’s answer, from an interview he gave last year: “Things I love: Dealing with lots of people. Selling distro books to people. Publishing good comics, especially ones that other people wouldn’t publish. Not having to work for a shitty big company. Sending books out to people who order them. Going to Zine shows. Working with other publishers. Working with young/new comix people. … I’d have to say my favorite part is doing/distroing weird ass comix.” Notice how often the word “people” turns up in his reasons. Unlike the many misanthropic hermits of the comics field, Dylan understood that comics are really for and about people — that people are what give comics value. Like he said elsewhere in that interview: “Encouraging people is like the greatest feeling in the world.” And he did encourage people. One blogger recalls: “He was able to say …the things I needed to hear in a way that I actually heard them. [H]is support and encouragement changed my life.”—Jesse Hamm, Good as Lily

Dylan was very gracious to me and supported me in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s when I was starting out. He wrote me long letters (and later, emails) even analyzing individual panels, which level of interest and attention amazed, inspired, and sustained me—tips and crits about hands and angles (all the while emphasizing that all this is just his subjective opinion), along with a lot of encouragement and kind words. I’m eternally grateful to you for those letters, Dylan. I wish I had said that in the last few weeks but I didn’t realize how serious it was this time.—Kevin Huizenga, Or Else

Comics folks, no matter how well adjusted they are at home around their friends, become socially awkward and dysfunctional when they are in the same room together. It happens to me, still, and it’s hard to not blame myself for not being congenial enough or saying the wrong thing. Dylan didn’t seem to have this problem, but he was really good at spotting it. He had this particular sidle he’d do, that always made me secretly smile. If you ever saw Dylan at a convention you’d know what I’m talking about. He’d spot you having an awkward moment with another comics person, or with a customer, and he’d sidle over and interrupt, and make a recommendation or compliment one of the people or jokingly insult one of the people or just say whatever needed to be said, and everyone would be at ease.—Levon Jihanian, Danger Country

It was at the APE show last year that I started to learn that there’s a ton of creeps out there in the comics business and that Dylan was the one I would always stick with. He was completely behind all the artists he published and he was the most incredible friend….Dylan was the only audience I ever wanted to please with my comics. I hope I never forget him.—David King, Danny Dutch

For all the difficult people I’ve dealt with, my assorted rejections and failures, and all the terrible, unfair things that happen in the world, it helps just a little bit to think that I’m supposed to be learning something here. I would put Dylan’s passing in the category of a terrible, unfair thing happening, but he has taught us all so much about how to live. I can’t count the number of people he has influenced directly and indirectly to follow their dreams and fly their freak flag proudly. His kindness and generosity are unmatched, and anyone lucky enough to know him while he was here has been transformed by that privilege.—Minty Lewis, P.S. Comics

he was better than all of us. and he only wanted us to be ourselves. that’s all i can say right now.—Tom Neely, The Wolf

Perhaps the foremost quality about him that so many of us are noting now, what made Dylan so fucking unique, was his compassion. He cared so deeply about others. So many times I would veer into opening up to him about my personal troubles, getting into deep dark emotional territory, and he would nod and listen and commiserate. He knew how to respond without getting dark himself. He understood pain, but he rarely shared his own – he just offered himself to me as a sympathetic ear, a concerned friend. I never heard him speak ill of anyone. He had an astounding capability to see into peoples’ work – stuff I had long written off in some cases – and pull out what made it good, point out its strengths as if explaining an unknown language.—Sarah Oleksyk, Ivy

He was what we needed. Someone with a history and knowledge of comics to help make the comics our industry needed.—Chris Pitzer, AdHouse

Dylan became one of my go-to guys when I needed to talk serious about comics, not just the art of it, but the business of it. Dylan was an entrepreneur, he was straight up about it, but he came from a place where that didn’t mean you had a license to fuck people over. Dylan always tried to do the right thing, and he wasn’t shy about saying out loud what he thought the right thing was. Still, he never put someone else down for having different beliefs or approaches. He knew what was right for him, and he stuck with it.—John Porcellino, King-Cat Comics and Stories

I suspect he had a lot of friends like me. But I didn’t have any friends like Dylan. He changed the way I see the world. Comics will not be the same for me without him. His impact as an artist, publisher, teacher, historian, and distributor is undeniable.—Jim Rugg, Afrodisiac

What I wanted to write in my book was something from one of our last conversations — this was right before the new cancer prognosis had come in. We were talking about life and (since he’d so narrowly just avoided it) death and, of course, comics. And he just said, in an offhand way while we were talking about some comics “business” thing — someone who’d (probably innocuously) inferred that Sparkplug being a “small” publisher somehow translates to being a “hobby” publisher (where actually, Dylan very much believed in keeping things small as a business model), and Dylan was kind of in an uproar: “You know, you say what you want, but comics are what I am — man, you cut me and I bleed comics.” It’s something he’d only say in confidence but anyone who ever met Dylan and would disagree with that statement is either lying or blind.—Zak Sally, Sammy the Mouse

It startled me then how fast he’d grown into a publishing giant. He had so much experience with underground and independent comics so it shouldn’t have startled me – he knew how to steer people to the real gold. That’s hard to do. And to do it for years with the enthusiasm Dylan had, still has somewhere up there I’m sure, is truly inspiring. It startles me now how fast this has all happened.—Frank Santoro, Cold Heat

I just participated on a comics panel with Dylan at the IPRC not long ago, and he was just as vital a comics intellect and crazy fanboy as ever. Part of the comics cognoscenti. I’d known Dylan since i began publishing; his activity in San Francisco with Puppy Toss was a huge influence on me, and was one of the catalysts that gave me the publishing bug. I featured some of his own comics in the Top Shelf anthology way back when. Wither Sparkplug, damnit? Shit crap damn. Dylan was a friend and a peer and he was one the good guys… —Brett Warnock, Top Shelf

Dylan Williams by Jesse Hamm

Justice League

Sales charts | Dollar sales of comics sold through Diamond Comic Distributors were up more than 15 percent in August, while graphic novel dollar sales rose by more than 31 percent when compared to the year-ago period. ICv2 puts the gains in perspective, noting that comic sales were down 17 percent in August 2010 and graphic novel sales were down 21 percent. August 2010 also had four ship weeks compared to August 2011′s five. DC Comics topped the August charts with Justice League #1, followed by Flashpoint #5, Fear Itself #5, Flashpoint #4 and Ultimate Comics Fallout #4. Serenity Better Days and Other Stories from Dark Horse was the no. 1 graphic novel for August. John Jackson Miller offers commentary as well as a look at the best-selling comics of this century, a list that will include Justice League #1. [ICv2, Comichron]

Comics | The Centers for Disease Control has awarded a roughly $145,000 contract to Terminus Media to create motion comics to educate young people about HIV. The comics will be offered on “internet-capable platforms” including desktop computers, laptop computers, video gaming systems, wireless phones and tablet computers. [Politico, Via]

Doonesbury

Comic strips | The Chicago Tribune has pulled this week’s Doonesbury comic strips from its pages because “they do not meet our standards of fairness,” according to Editor Gerould W. Kern. The strips in question reference allegations in The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin by Joe McGinniss, which comes out Sept. 20. Geoff Brown, associate managing editor of the entertainment section, says on the paper’s blog that he book is not yet available for verification or review by the Chicago Tribune. “To be sure, Doonesbury is a satirical cartoon, but the remarks are serious enough that we cannot publish the strip without more information, context and a response from Palin,” Brown wrote. [Trib Nation]

Publishers | Patrick Gavin profiles Bluewater Productions, which has found a niche publishing comic-book biographies of political figures ranging from Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton to Ronald Reagan and Al Franken. The biography of First Lady Michelle Obama reportedly has sold more than 130,000 copies. “She competes with Justin Bieber just a little bit,” says Bluewater President Darren Davis. “They’re neck and neck.” [Politico]

Comics | Johanna Draper Carlson takes a look at some recent changes in the Life With Archie magazine, which has dual storylines in which Archie marries Veronica and Betty, respectively. With the 12th issue, she sees cheaper paper stock and the disappearance of both ads and celebrity features. [Comics Worth Reading]

Creators | The industry continues to remember Sparkplug publisher Dylan Williams, who passed away this weekend. Drawn and Quarterly’s Tom Devlin, AdHouse Books publisher Chris Pitzer, Godland artist Tom Scioli, King-Cat creator John Porcellino, The Daily Cross Hatch’s Brian Heater and our own Matt Seneca and Sean T. Collins remember Williams, while Tom Spurgeon has a collection of more posts and memories from around the internet. [The Comics Reporter]

Heroes for Hope

Creators | Former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter recounts the creation of X-Men: Heroes for Hope, a “jam” benefit comic that featured the work of Chris Claremont, Stephen King, Jim Starlin, Bernie Wrightson, George Martin, Alan Moore and many other creators. He also notes how the original proposed benefactors of the project, Oxfam America, wanted nothing to do with the comic after seeing it. [Jim Shooter]

Creators | Entertainment Weekly writer Jeff Jensen discusses his Dark Horse graphic novel The Green River Killer: A True Detective Story, which chronicles the search by his father, King County Sheriff’s Det. Tom Jensen, for serial killer Gary Ridgway. [Seattle Weekly]

Creators | Michael Auger discusses Magic Bullet, the Washington, D.C. area all-comics newspaper created by the artist group DC Conspiracy that debuted at the Small Press Expo this past weekend. [The Gazette]

Conventions | Johanna Draper Carlson reports on this past weekend’s Small Press Expo. [Comics Worth Reading]

Commentary | David Brothers looks at the various “tics” of comic writers in general and Scott Snyder in particular. [4thletter]

Commentary | Tucker Stone continues his look at Darko Macan’s Cable stories, this time focusing on the Soldier X comics. [Factual Opinion]

Retailers | The prize for the oddest and most painful customer loyalty program goes to AlleyCat Comics in Chicago — make 50 purchases, punch a store employee in the gut. [Chicago Tribune]

Thor

The good folks at Portland’s Periscope Studios are holding a fundraiser for Sparkplug publisher Dylan Williams, who is dealing with a serious illness. Several of the artists who work out of Periscope, including Jonathan Case (who painted the showdown between Thor and Galactus you see above), Steve Lieber and Colleen Coover, have contributed artwork to an auction to benefit Williams.

You can find all the available pieces on Periscope’s eBay page.

Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #3

Hello and welcome once again to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest is Elisabeth Forsythe, marketing manager for online comic shop Things From Another World and frequent contributor to The Blog From Another World.

To see what Elisabeth and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, read on.

*****

Tim O’Shea

Captain America and Bucky #621: It’s so nice to see Chris Samnee drawing Cap and Bucky.

Mystery Men #4: Writer David Liss and artist Patrick Zircher have assembled an interesting new team in a relatively unexplored Marvel time era (Depression era). Hate to see it ending next issue–hopefully Marvel gives this creative team and property another miniseries down the road,, but I am unsure if sales will justify it.

FF #8

FF #8: New theory, I only enjoy this book when Sue Richards is in the cast. Thank God Sue was in this issue, even just being on the sidelines (with her concussion, Reed is following NFL policy it appears).

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #13: I have never read an issue of this comic, but with the DCU coming to an end I could not resist one last time with Guy Gardner and special guest star Batman Bruce. I am happy to say that writer Peter Tomasi provided a solid done in one with this story.

Xombi #6: Really satisfying end to a series (ending far too soon) I hope writer John Rozum gets to explore this character more down the road. But more importantly I hope Rozum and artist Frazer Irving work together again. The two talents compliment the hell out of each other and make for uniquely engaging storytelling.

Chris Mautner

Accidental Salad

Oh, not another semi-autobiographical comic full of twee musings on the small wonders of life, I hear you cry. Well, yes, that is a fitting description of Joe Decie’s The Accidental Salad ($7.99, Blank Slate Books), but Decie proves to be a funny, charming enough cartoonist that he manages to deftly avoid most of the usual cliches. Most of his tales, usually no more than a page long, start off with some common, everyday occurrence, like having a bad song stuck in your head, only to abruptly segue into fantasy, as when he gets rid of the song by pouring magical insects down his ear. His timing and wit is skilled enough that the strips never come off as insufferably cute or grating. I liked this book quite a bit.

In my recent plug of good Sparkplug books to buy, I didn’t mention Habitat #2 by Dunja Jankovic. That certainly wasn’t due to any lack of quality on her part, however. Jankovic tells stories about young, neurotic women trying to survive urban life. It’s far from a realistic comic, though; Jankovic creates a surreal, expressionist world where people get their phone and video messages from the toilet and you pay your rent to the neighbor living above you. It’s a trippy, at times bizarre comic that frequently breaks down into detailed abstract images in order to convey the nameless main character’s angst and anxiety, but it remains a compelling read throughout. I look forward to the next issue.

Brigid Alverson

Blackjacked and Pistol-Whipped: A Crime Does Not Pay Primer, out this week from Dark Horse, is a compilation of the classic crime comics from the 1940s that show crime not paying in a variety of violent and entertaining ways. Created by Charles Biro and Bob Wood (who himself ended up murdering his girlfriend and being murdered in turn), the stories are economical and told with plenty of action, if not strict accuracy (in one story, set in 1811, the characters not only wear 1940s clothes but speak in 1940s slang). Editor Denis Kitchen kicks it off with a truly worthy essay that begins with a bit of intrigue and doesn’t shy away from the shady side of this comic. Good stuff!

Totally at the other end of the spectrum, the sixth volume of Chi’s Sweet Home is as heartwarming a book as you can get. Chi was a stray cat who was adopted by a family who lived in an apartment complex that didn’t permit pets, which added a few shreds of dramatic conflict to the story; now they have moved, and the book consists entirely of beautiful watercolor paintings of Chi being perky. Occasionally she goes into a potentially dangerous situation, as when she encounters a larger, more territorial cat at the park, but since she never acknowledges the threat‹interpreting all the other cat’s actions as playfulness‹there’s no suspense. It’s good comfort food for the brain, and the book is saved from total blandness by a lovely and rather mysterious section at the end where Chi goes for a walk at night and encounters the neighborhood cats all sitting in the light of a streetlight. For a moment I thought there might be a cat cult or something, but no, this is Chi, so they’re just sittin’.

Elisabeth Forsythe

Captain America and Bucky

The comic I was most excited to see last week was Captain America & Bucky #621, in large part because of Chris Samnee’s retro-yet-timeless art (although I’m also a huge fan of Ed Brubaker and Marc Andreyko, see below). For a long time, Captain America was a difficult character for me to get into: one, because he’s been around for 60-plus years (and has the requisite continuity), and two, on the (admittedly) rare occasions I checked in on him in the ‘80s and ‘90s, he seemed bland and boring, totally divorced from his WWII roots.

Captain America & Bucky takes us back to WWII and tells the origin story of our heroes, from Bucky’s point of view. This was a smart choice: Bucky was created, in part, to be the “everyboy” the reader could identify with, the gateway character to Captain America. Putting him front and center and developing his back story in a real, bittersweet way made me immediately latch onto the story–I was emotionally invested at the get-go.

The story, which kicked off with issue #620, is just the right mixture of action and humor, with hints of darkness and even despair. This makes Samnee the perfect choice: his character acting is subtle, evocative, and always effective, and his action sequences are gangbusters. The look is retro but not costume-y; it feels authentic, instead of like it’s trying too hard. There’s a scene in #621 that takes place at a fair, and I swear I can hear the carnival music while I read. In short, Samnee, Brubaker, and Andreyko (check out his work on Manhunter if you haven’t yet–great stuff) are knocking it out of the park. Captain America & Bucky #622 is due out September 28.

My other can’t-wait-to-read-it obsession is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ excellent crime series, Criminal: The Last of the Innocent. On Twitter, Kevin Chiat called it “Watchmen for Archie,” and he couldn’t have been more on the nose. I’ve read all of Criminal thus far, and have loved it–so much so that I was actually a little apprehensive when I picked up the first issue of Innocent. Was this when it would start to go downhill? How great could it be, for how much longer?

I needn’t have worried: this is the best arc yet of a phenomenal series–new and different, yet totally in keeping with Criminal‘s dark, noir style. Riley Richards is an Archie Andrews-like character 20 years later, living in the big, bad city and married to rich-bitch Felix (after years of bouncing between her and the sweet girl next door, Lizzie), with a gambling habit and a longing to undo the mistakes of his past. Perhaps permanently.

Brubaker’s trick with Criminal is to present us with flawed, even despicable characters, and make us care about them–or at least what happens to them–without softening them one iota. Riley is a selfish prick who is willing to sacrifice every one of his lifelong relationships to feed his darker desires, but part of me is still hoping he gets away with it, somehow. Of course, that’s the best kind of noir.

Reading this series is like opening a trail of presents: each parallel to Archie is a surprise, yet so satisfying, and the flashbacks, drawn in a Dan Decarlo-esque style and titled “Life With Riley,” are a real treat. Phillips’ art is consistently excellent: his use of shadows and smoke give everything a dirty, tired look, while the flashbacks in this series show a completely different side to his skill, simple and sweet. Colorist Dave Stewart also deserves a big round of applause. The muted, greyed-out colors of the present day are a sharp contrast to the flat, bright colors of “Life With Riley.”

Criminal: The Last of the Innocents #4 concludes this story arc September 14.

Archie

Speaking of Archie, one of my favorite things I’ve purchased this year is IDW’s Archie: A Celebration of America’s Favorite Teenagers. IDW has done an incredible job with their Archie collections, and Archie: A Celebration of America’s Favorite Teenagers is just a fun book to own: oversized, hardcover, with a 3-D cover and gorgeous endpapers featuring Bob Montana’s art. As a longtime (and until lately, closeted) Archie fan, this is a book that tickled my nostalgia bone and fed me all kinds of tasty morsels of Archie’s birth and life.

Extensive sections on notable artists like Bob Montana, Bob Bolling, Harry Lucey, and Dan DeCarlo grabbed my attention–especially since back in the day, the names of the creators were rarely showcased. It was a lot of fun finally putting names and histories to the stories I’ve enjoyed since I was a little girl.

The book isn’t a dry history lesson, however–scans of original artwork, both black-and-white and in color, are breathtaking, and an entire section of rarities displays great stuff like fan club letterhead, paper dolls, board games, calendars, and much more.

Portland retailer Jason Leivian of Floating World Comics has announced that his store will be holding a benefit sale for Dylan Williams, the ailing head of independent publisher Sparkplug Comic Books. 100% of the proceeds generated at the store on Monday, August 29 and Tuesday, August 30 will be donated to pay for the medical care of the gravely ill Williams, who has no health insurance.

In addition, Leivian is organizing a benefit art show to raise additional money for Williams’s medical expenses, with a theme of Phillip K. Dick book covers. Leivian says he plans to post the contributing artists’ pieces on a dedicated blog, sell the originals on eBay, and sell prints of the contributions online, at retailers, and at cons like SPX and APE. Full details on this will be available Monday.

And remember, if you don’t live in Portland or aren’t in the market for original art, you can simply stop by Sparkplug’s online store and buy anything you like. (I suggested a few titles to start with the other day.)

The full press release on the benefit sale at Floating World is after the jump.

*****

Dylan Williams would never ask any of his friends to do a benefit like this. Not his style.

Sorry Dylan, I know you said no gifts, but your friends love you too much and you’re just going to have to accept this present.

A few days ago Tom Spurgeon and others sent out a call for people to support Dylan by buying Sparkplug Comic Books. When I heard how serious the situation was I felt shock and sadness. Felt a little helpless, then I think yesterday we all got the same idea at the same time. Gotta do something to help our friend. Jim Rugg emailed me last night about putting together an art fundraiser show which I’ll start organizing this weekend and I’ll have more info on Monday.

In the meantime we’re going to have a benefit sale at Floating World next Monday and Tuesday, August 29th – 30th.

We’re going to donate 100% of our proceeds from those two days to Dylan’s medical care (Dylan has no health insurance). We’ll have a special section of Sparkplug books for you to check out but the sale includes everything you buy on Monday and Tuesday.

Critic Rob Clough reports that Dylan Williams, the publisher of the idiosyncratic small-press outfit Sparkplug Comic Books, is dealing with a serious health crisis. And as with many problems involving people who’ve dedicated their lives to this art form, there’s a win-win solution: You can help support Dylan financially simply by buying some of Sparkplug’s awesome comic books.

Which ones, you ask? Good question! My first and foremost recommendation would be John Hankiewicz’s Asthma, one of the very best comics by anyone since the turn of the millennium — a cutting, haunting masterpiece of image-making and image-juxtaposing that’s one of the rare instances where calling it “comics as poetry” doesn’t make you feel like an idiot. There’s also Chris Cilla’s The Heavy Hand, a funny, foul-mouthed and strange science-fiction comic, or Inkweed by Chris Wright, a stunningly well-written short story collection about Muppet-like monsters in very human struggles.

Williams does important work with Sparkplug, putting out work of sparkling intelligence, with visuals that run the risk of not having a built-in audience for them. By publishing what he publishes he seeks to create that audience. That takes guts, putting your money where your mind is like that, and Dylan deserves to be rewarded for it, in sickness or in health. Right now, it’s in sickness, which makes buying his books an even better idea.

Captain Easy Vol. 1

It happens every year. Amidst all the hullaballoo of the big-name releases and show-stopping events and sleeper hits there are those titles that, for whatever reason, fail to generate any reviews, discussion or sales (or in some cases all three) whatsoever. 2010 was no exception. In fact, the wealth of stellar material that was released this year made it seem like there were an extraordinary number of great comics that garnered not even a peep from the blogosphere and press.

After the jump are six books that I think got nowhere near the amount of attention they deserved. There are lots more that I could include if I had the time. And I’m sure there are books that you read that you don’t think got enough praise as well. Be sure to let me know what they are in the comments section.

1) Captain Easy Vol. 1 by Roy Crane. CBR rules (no reprints allowed) prevented me from including this in their breakdown of the best 100 comics of the year, which seems like a crime as I consider this to be one of the big publishing events of 2010. I seem to be alone in that regard, though, as few folks managed to put this on their “best of” list except for a noble few. Despite his comparatively crude art style, Crane laid the groundwork for adventure strips that everyone from Milton Caniff to Alex Raymond to Hal Foster would follow. Aside from the obvious historical importance, however, Crane was just a great cartoonist. The Sunday pages in this book are full of high energy, action and slapstick. Crane was one of Schulz’s favorite cartoonists and one of his biggest influences. Reading this book this book, it’s not hard to see why.

Whirlwind Wonderland

2) Denys Wortman’s New York, edited by James Sturm and Brandon Elston. The other big reprint project of the year and a complete surprise to me. Like (I suspect) most people, I had never heard of Wortman before this collection of  his gag cartoons about everyday New York folks circa the 30s and 40s came out, but I was absolutely floored by his craftsmanship and ability to portray that era as richly as he did. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a cartoonist who has been able to capture their environment and culture as well as Wortman does in these pages. He’s that good.

3) Whirlwind Wonderland by Rina Ayuyang. Apart from an interview with Tom Spurgeon, I don’t think anyone paid attention to Ayuyang’s graphic novel debut this year. That’s a shame as it’s easily one of the most notable debuts of 2010. Her art style can come off as crude at times (her Brad Pitt needs work) but she chronicles her family’s foibles, her obsessions with pop culture and her Filipino heritage with love, warmth and humor. Sparkplug published a lot of great books this year, but this one might have been my favorite.

4) The High Soft Lisp by Gilbert Hernandez. Everyone went gaga over Xaime Hernandez’s contributions to the third volume of Love and Rockets: New Stories this year, myself included, and rightfully so — it was arguably the best thing he’s ever done. Less fanfare, however, seemed to come with this collection from Beto of stories concerning Luba’s sister Fritz. Part of that may be due to the fact these stories were originally serialized in the second run of Love and Rockets years ago and fans are already familiar with them. Another part may have to do with just how raw and emotionally devastating these tales are. Those who feel that Hernandez’s work relies too much on female objectification and fetishization need to read this book to understand how self-aware he is of that fact and its real-world consequences.

The High Soft Lisp

5) Harvey by Herve Bouchard and Janice Nadeau. This is a rather touching tale about a young boy who unexpectedly loses his father that I found at my local library. Bouchard narrates the tale from the boy’s first-person perspective, getting the confusion and insecurity just right while Nadeau’s lovely off-kilter, watercolor drawings capture the rural milieu perfectly. A really lovely, sad little book that I don’t think anyone was aware of outside of certain children’s book publishing circles.

6) Dungeon Monstres Vol. 3: Heartbreaker by Joann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, Carlos Nine and Killoffer. The Dungeon series in general doesn’t get the attention I think it deserves, but this new collection, combining two separate stories about two very different female characters — one set in the past, the other in the future — was especially noteworthy and in some ways seemed like a decided demarcation point to me. The first tale focuses on a cast member who up till now seemed not only dangerous but rather crazed. “Heartbreaker” gives us her back story and in turn makes one of the most sympathetic characters in the series so far. “The Depths” meanwhile portrays an innocent girl who transforms herself into a deadly and heartless warrior who turns against her people  in order to survive. Each tale is uncompromising and unsentimental. Taken together, the pair mark a decisive movement away from the light humor and wisecracking of the previous volumes and into darker, more emotionally resonant material.

• Apple is getting in on the Comic-Con pre-show hype by highlighting all their comic book applications within iTunes. In their “App Spotlight” newsletter, they wrote: “We’re dusting off our Klingon costumes — it’s time for Comic-Con. From Marvel Comics favorites to more recent releases such as Twilight: The Graphic Novel, you can now enjoy comics and graphic novels from past and present right on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.”

• The Comic-Con International site this year introduced a scheduling feature that allows you to pick and choose the panels, films, etc. you’d like to attend, and then export them to your mobile device of choice. In addition, it also shows you how many people have indicated which panels they plan to attend, which is a fun way to see how popular certain panels are.

My wife used it over the weekend; it took her about half an hour to set up, browse the extensive schedule, make her selections and subscribe to it so she gets updates directly on her iPhone calendar (the bulk of that time was going through the schedule and deciding what she wanted to attend). At the time, it looked the Glee and Joss Whedon panels were the most popular.

• Top Shelf Comix has posted information on the new books they’re bringing to the show, as well as who will be at their booth. Their guest list includes Jeff Lemire, Kathryn & Stuart Immonen, James Kochalka, Matt Kindt, Jeffrey Brown and more. New books include Ax Vol. 1, The Playwright and Fingerprints.

• Sparkplug sent details on what will be going down at their booth:

Lemon Styles

Sparkplug Comic Books is headed to the San Diego Comic-Con July 21st-25th with two new books:

Lemon Styles by David King
The Heavy Hand by Chris Cilla

Both are for sale on the Sparkplug on-line bookstore.

We’ll be bringing them and hundreds of other new and old comics to San Diego for our typical flea market style approach. Sparkplug will be carrying tons of of great self-published comix and zines including work by Noah Van Sciver, Benjamin Marra, Carrie McNinch, Steve Ditko, Aron Steinke, Jason T. Miles, Annie Murphy, Katie Skelly, Matthew Thurber and hundreds more. We’ll even have some old comics.

Our booth number is 1630, right next to Drawn and Quarterly and Last Gasp. We are sharing it with Tom Neely, Shawn Cheng, Levon Jihanian, Landry Walker and Eric Jones as well as more people!

Chris Cilla will be at the Sparkplug booth on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 2-6pm. David King will be at the booth Thursday through Sunday 10am-2pm. We also have Shannon O’Leary and Tim Goodyear there.

• Here is the signing schedule for Oni Press:

Mondo Urbano

Thurs
10:00 – 11:20 Bryan Lee O’Malley, Rafael Albuquerque, Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt
12:00 – 1:00 ONI PRESS PANELMONIUM 2010
1:20 – 2:20 Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt, Marc Guggenheim & Justin Greenwood, Joe Harris
2:30 – 3:50 Nico Hitori De, Jeff Wamester, Phil Gelatt, Robbi Rodriguez, Greg Rucka & Matthew Southworth
4:00 – 5:20 Rick Spears & Chuck BB, Lars Brown, Matt Loux, Ray Fawkes
5:30 – 6:50 Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir, Christopher Mitten, Ross Campbell, J. Torres

Fri
10:00 – 11:20 Bryan Lee O’Malley, Rafael Albuquerque, Brian Hurtt & Cullen Bunn
11:30 – 12:50 Christina Weir & Nunzio DeFilippis, Jeff Wamester, Greg Rucka, Ande Parks
1:00 – 2:20 Marc Guggenheim & Justin Greenwood, Joe Harris, Lars Brown, Robbi Rodriguez, Hunter Clark
2:30 – 3:50 Rick Spears & Chuck BB, Ross Campbell, Brian Hurtt & Cullen Bunn
4:00 – 5:20 Phil Gellat, J. Torres, Ray Fawkes, Matt Loux
5:30 – 6:50 Bryan Lee O’Malley, Nico Hitori De, Rafael Albuquerque

Sat
10:00 – 11:20 Hunter Clark, Greg Erb & Jason Oremland, J. Torres, Marc Guggenheim & Justin Greenwood, Rafael Albuquerque
11:30 – 12:50 Bryan Lee O’Malley, Jarrett Williams, Robbi Rodriguez, Joe Harris, Ross Campbell
1:00 – 2:20 Brian Hurtt & Cullen Bunn, Greg Rucka & Matthew Southworth, Ande Parks, Nico Hitori De
2:30 – 3:50 DJ Lance Rock, Matt Loux, Ray Fawkes
4:00 – 5:20 Brian Hurtt & Cullen Bunn, Chuck BB & Rick Spears, Phil Gelatt, Rafael Albuquerque
5:30 – 6:50 Bryan Lee O’Malley, Jarrett Williams, Christina Weir & Nunzio DeFilippis, Jeff Wamester, Chris Mitten

Sun
10:00 – 11:20 Bryan Lee O’Malley, Jarrett Williams, Christina Weir & Nunzio DeFilippis. Jeff Wamester, Chris Mitten
11:30 – 12:50 Brian Hurtt, Greg Rucka, Lars Brown, Joe Harris
1:00 – 2:20 Chuck BB & Rick Spears, Rafael Albuquerque, Ray Fawkes, Matt Loux
2:30 – 3:50 Jarrett Williams, Hunter Clark, Brian Hurtt, Robbi Rodriguez

• Smith Micro Software, Inc. (who I should point out is one of this blog’s sponsors) is bringing Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons to Comic-Con to greet fans at booth #5238 for exclusive signings. Gibbons creates his characters and storylines using Smith Micro’s Manga Studio software, and he will use Manga Studio to design an all-new, limited edition poster created specifically for Comic-Con 2010 attendees. Here’s a tease:

The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D.

The Alternative Press Expo, or APE, is coming up this weekend at The Concourse in San Francisco. The show runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Special guests include Jamaica Dyer, Phoebe Gloeckner, Dean Haspiel, Batton Lash, Lark Pien, Dash Shaw and Jeff Smith. Here are a few more items of interest if you’re attending …

Fantagraphics | Fantagraphics sent over their signing schedule for the show:

Saturday
11AM – 1PM: Jon Vermilyea (MOME) & Frank Santoro (MOME)
12:00–12:45 Spotlight on Dash Shaw
1PM – 3PM: Dash Shaw & T. Edward Bak (MOME)
3PM – 5PM: John Pham
5PM – 7PM: Renee French (MOME) & Andrice Arp (MOME)

Sunday
11AM – 1PM: Jon Vermilyea (MOME), Frank Santoro (MOME) & Dash Shaw
1PM – 3PM: T. Edward Bak (MOME) & John Pham
3PM – 5PM: Renee French & Andrice Arp

They’ll have many new releases on hand: The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez, Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical by Robert Williams, Pim & Francie by Al Columbia, Sublife #2 by John Pham, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw, MOME Vol. 16 by various, The Great Anti-War Cartoons by Craig Yoe, and Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga.

“As an added bonus, Dash Shaw is an official APE guest this year and will be signing copies of his new book, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D.,” writes Eric Reynolds. “For anyone who buys the book at one of his Fanta signings during APE, Dash will do an original PAINTING on the front cover! You will not want to miss out.”

CBLDF | Beanworld creator and CBLDF Board Member Larry Marder will helm the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund presence at APE in San Francisco. Their booth will have hundreds of books for donations of $5 and $10, including items from authors Cory Doctorow, Jeff Smith, Terry Moore, Josh Neufeld, Neil Gaiman, and many more. There’s also a CBLDF-sponsored Live Art Battle featuring Jeff Smith and Dean Haspiel on Sunday afternoon.

Whirlwind Wonderland

Sparkplug | Sparkplug Comic Books will premiere Whirlwind Wonderland by Rina Ayuyang, co-published with Tugboat Press. The book is also for sale on their website.

Sparkplug and Tugboat will be sitting next to each other, and Sparkplug will have Tom Neely, Teenage Dinosaur, Jesse Reklaw, Willow Dawson, Chris Cilla, Rina Ayuyang, David King, Renee French and Andrice Arp at their table, booth #359-362. Sparkplug will also be representing Bodega Distribution, Jason Martin, La Mano and Secret Acres at the show.

Drawn & Quarterly | D + Q will debut three books at the show: Red Snow, Big Questions 13 and Hot Potatoe. Here’s their signing schedule:

Saturday, October 17
12-3pm Marc Bell Signing
1-3pm R Sikoryak Signing
3-5pm Anders Nilsen Signing

Sunday, October 18
12-3pm Marc Signing
1-3pm R Sikoryak Signing
3-5pm Anders Signing

Blue Ringed Comics | Blue Ringed Comics will launch their new comic Kate Anderson Adventures. Creators Steven Sautter and Kathy Harnack will be on hand all weekend, signing and smiling. Drop by and enter to win a chance to be drawn into the next issue. They’ll be at booth 561.

Creators | King City creator Brandon Graham and Elephantman artist Marian Churchland will be at the Neon Monster booth, #454/455. Churchland will have a new mini-comic “about mice and dogs,” Graham writes on his blog.

Fanfare / Ponent Mon | Fanfare / Ponent Mon will be at booth 232, where they’ll be previewing two soon-to-be-released titles: Years of the Elephant by Willy Linthout and Jiro Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood #2. They’ll also have prize drawings and giveaways this weekend.

Map of My Heart

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Pull up a chair and sit down, won’t you? Our guest this week is Bill Kartalopoulos, who teaches classes about comics and illustration at Parsons, is a contributing editor for Print Magazine, and a comics reviewer for Publishers Weekly. But he’s probably best known as the Programming Coordinator for the SPX convention in Bethesda, MD.

Bill and everyone else has quite a number of books by their bedside table this week, so we’ll get right to it. Be a dear and click on the link below, won’t you?

Warlord #7

Tom Bondurant: Not really comics, but through the magic of Netflix I have been watching the “Middleman” TV show. After four episodes, it’s pretty charming, although it feels like a very Kevin Smith-y kind of show. Since creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach was involved with this adaptation, I imagine it’s fairly faithful to the comics, but I’m still tracking those down, so I can’t compare.

A little further from comics (Howard Chaykin, Roy Thomas, and Marvel are mentioned briefly), I finally found time to read J.W. Rinzler’s The Making Of Star Wars (2007). It’s an exhaustive coffee-table-sized tome (with dictionary-sized print) which dug deep into the Lucasfilm archives to describe, in nerdgasmic detail, the origins of George Lucas’s 1977 classic. The book is also thick with illustrations and other graphics, including periodic charts showing how each draft of the script crept closer to the final film. By the end I felt like I had been sleeping on a cot at ILM along with the other harried effects artists.

The book stops at December ’77, and seems to draw largely from period interviews, so it doesn’t get into the other movies or Lucas’ subsequent revisions to this one. However — and I don’t think was intended specifically, but I’m sure no one at Lucasfilm minds — it did give me a greater appreciation for Lucas wanting to revisit this movie. He put so much of himself into it, and was frustrated both by Fox and logistical limitations, that I can see where technological advances would make him want to “fix” things. Still doesn’t explain wanting Greedo to shoot first, though.

At last with the comics, I was pleasantly surprised by The Warlord #7, written and drawn by creator Mike Grell. After the initial six-issue arc which reintroduced the residents of Skartaris and brought in a new group of 21st-century explorers, this issue finds Travis Morgan with amnesia (as “The Middleman” noted, the kind which only happens in comic books) and the new best friend of an unfamiliar damsel-in-distress. There’s not much more to the story than that, but Grell tells it well, using double-page spreads both as spectacle and as an exposition substitute. Because there aren’t half-a-dozen characters to manage, the issue has more breathing room, and Grell paces the fights and the conversations effectively. This is also the
best I’ve seen of Grell’s artwork in a while — usually I think his figures are a little off, but not so much here. I don’t think he’ll be on story and art for an extended period, but like Dave Gibbons writing and drawing Green Lantern Corps a few years back, it’s nice to see him in familiar territory.

I’ve also started reading my TOTALLY FREE REVIEW COPY of Joe Daly’s Red Monkey Double Happiness Book, which arrived on my doorstep in a little wicker basket with a note saying “Please give this book a good rev– I mean, home,” but which for whatever reason I had been neglecting. So far I’ve gotten through the relatively-short first story, “The Leaky Cello Case,” and found it to be nice and laid-back, if a little talky. Our slacker hero Dave must deal not only with various personal crises — creativity stifled at work, a flooded
apartment, a sudden breakup — but with a mysterious and unfriendly new neighbor whose handlebar mustache reminded me of a SpongeBob villain. Naturally the guy’s up to no good, so Dave and his opposable big toes must solve the mystery before Mustache takes him out. It’s an amiable story, meandering through the details of Dave’s life so that the eventual plot feels like an afterthought. However, Daly’s
style is quite appealing, and his use of color really brings his panels to life. The establishing shots of Dave’s Cape Town environs are especially beautiful, and since the second story looks like a road trip I’m eager to see more of Daly’s vistas. Daly observes the nine-panel grid pretty strictly, but he gets a lot out of it — not like Watchmen, mind you, but still good.

I liked Strange Tales #2 well enough, but the story which still sticks with me (with Jacob Chabot’s Chia-Stache a close second) is Jhonen Vasquez’s bittersweet tale of little Donnie and his MODOK costume. Oh, Donnie — if only you knew how much MODOK loved you….

Finally, I thought Justice League: Cry For Justice #4 (written by James Robinson, drawn by Mauro Cascioli) was the least objectionable issue to date. This was mostly due to Green Arrow saying what many readers have been thinking for the past three months — namely, “Why The Face?” — and Shazam backing it up with, of all things, the Wisdom of Solomon. Oh, and having the Shade show up at the end didn’t hurt either. Generally speaking, this is where I thought the story was headed, so (for now, at least) I am happy. Or, you know, less upset.

Flash Gordon

Michael May: I’m not too far into Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon, but already I’m pleasantly surprised. Not only is it all of Williamson’s Flash stuff, but there are some nicely researched text chapters that deal with his life and how important Alex Raymond’s character became to it. And when they say that it’s all of Williamson’s Flash stuff, they’re not kidding. There are even pictures of some Flash-themed wood carvings he made in summer camp. Oh, and the dimensions of the book are huge so that you can make out all the details in the art. It’s a really beautiful book.

I’m also re-reading the original Agents of Atlas mini-series. It’s the first time I’ve read it in its collected form with the original Golden Age stories in the back. I read the Golden Age stuff before digging back into the modern story and I’m glad I did. I understand why Marvel ordered the material like they did, but I wish that they’d put it all in chronological order. The old stuff informs Parker and Kirk’s story a lot more than I thought it would. So much so, that even though Parker and Kirk fixed it so you don’t have to have read them, I’m now curious about the Marvel Boy stories in Fantastic Four and Marvel: The Lost Generation. And I was pretty sure that nothing could make me interested in Marvel: The Lost Generation.

The Doonesbury Chronicles

Tim O’Shea: Tom Spurgeon’s post, On The Subject Of Return Reading, made me track down the collected 1970s editions of Doonesbury. At present I’m enjoying The Doonesbury Chronicles and totally agree with Tom’s statement “I’m struck by how fantastic a character Joanie Caucus is.” Looking at the abundance of characters that Trudeau created back then, I would love to see Trudeau revisit certain character dynamics. (For instance, you rarely see scenes between Joanie and her daughter JJ any more…)

In terms of comics, for juxtaposition I bought Planetary 27 and Astonishing X-Men 31 both written by Warren Ellis. The end of this series (or getting there) was clearly a struggle for Ellis, and no wonder. By his own admission, his own illness as well as the illness and death of his father (among many other factors) are wrapped up in his writing of the series’ end. I wish I could compare Ellis’ writing of two+ years ago with this new issue of X-Men, but it would be an oranges to apples comparison. Just by its nature, I loved getting the closure of Planetary 27. In terms of Astonishing X-Men, I’ll be honest and admit I would not have bought it were it not for Phil Jimenez being the artist on the issue. That being said, Ellis’ ability to juggle the banter of an old familar team in the midtst of chaos and adventure is what makes the issue (in combination with Jimenez’s absolutely intoxicating pencils) a pleasure to read.

My Pal Carla(tm) has already thoroughly examined Doctor Voodoo‘s first issue. In comparison, my reaction is more simplistic. Even though I never read any of Bendis’ Avengers, I’m curious to see someone other than Stephen Strange (admittedly drawn badly in this issue) try his hand at being the Sorcerer Supreme. Jefte Palo’s art is a nice fit for the series — and Rick Remender’s hit-the-ground-running approach with the first issue ensures that I’ll be back for issue 2.

Sweet Tooth 2 has some great fight scenes. I never thought I would write a sentence like that involving a Vertigo book or Jeff Lemire. Keep surprising me, Lemire. I like it.

Dark Reign — The List: Secret Warriors one shot sports two fun things, Ed McGuinness’ splash page homage to Steranko (the book also reprints Steranko’s Today Earth Died! story) and the reveal of Nick Fury’s personal list of “Save the world; Punch Norman (Osborn) in the face; and Have a beer”. Jonathan Hickman is fast becoming one of my favorite Marvel writers. I see no reason why this was a standalone issue (other than the reprint) as this could have been included in the ongoing series (and when released in TPB, I’m sure that’s how it will be handled). I understand that Marvel is in the business of making money,
but the frequency of one-shot offshoots from ongoing series is both annoying and nonsensical.

Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin is an interesting read for the sheer reason of seeing the character development he’s pulling off with Robin. The more that Damian spends time away from his mother and grandfather, the more he’s acting like a human being. It’s nice to see the character evolve from the one-note “you annoy me and I want to kill you because I’m a psycho” demeanor he frequently sported.

I’m a huge fan of Jeff Parker’s Agents of ATLAS (AoA), so I’m of two minds about this team-up with the X-Men. Hopefully it will get the legion of X-fans into wanting more AoA; but the other part of me gets overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters involved in the ever-growing X-family (Namor is an X-Men now?!? It just seems ridiculous that both Cloak and Namor apparently have to sport X’s on their costumes, apparently so the other X-Men won’t accidentally shoot them.) Also, I was slightly befuddled by the drastic shift in Jason Paz’s inking style (it was like going from Byrne to Colan) with the two-page Venus kidnapped scene. That being said, Parker gives Ken more funny lines, so I’m happy. No really, it’s the talking gorilla that’s always sold me on this series. The back-up tale, Atomic Age Heroes (with the Silver Age incarnation of the teams), is the real delight for me, however. Chris Samnee’s art style is the closest to a modern day Ditko (compliment)–yet more fluid in style than him–that I’ve ever seen.

BOOM’s Irredeemable continues to pleasantly surprise me through the reveals that writer Mark Waid has built into the overall tale. And speaking of Waid, he convinced me to buy Power Girl 5 with his recent post about one page in particular.

For my day job, I do rudimentary graphic design. In an effort to boost my skill set, I picked up from the libary a copy of Debbie Millman’s 2007 collection of interviews, How to Think Like A Great Graphic
Designer. It includes the following exchange with Chip Kidd:

“Do you regret anything?

“I regret not making the effort to meet Charles Schulz in his lifetime. I tried to make up for it by putting together a book that pays proper homage to his work (Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz). I think I was only partially successful.”

Hero Tales

Brigid Alverson: The Yen Press review copies arrived this week, and one that caught my eye right away was Hero Tales, a new series by Hiromu Arakawa, the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist. Actually, it’s by a bunch of people but Arakawa apparently did the art, and it’s very smooth. The story is your basic shonen martial arts tale of a young man with extraordinary powers who must prove himself; nothing new here, really. If you like lots and lots of fighting, with a few supernatural elements thrown in, then this is a good choice. (Actually, it’s wuxia, Chinese martial arts.) Arakawa has a clean, easy to read style, which makes this a pleasant book even for someone like me who is not a huge shonen fan.

I’m too friendly with the creators of Nightschool to do an objective review of it — I chat with Svet occasionally and the toner, Dee DuPuy, is a good friend of mine—but I’ll mention it here anyway. The story is still complicated, with several strands that haven’t quite come together yet, but it’s more fleshed-out than the first volume. Alex, the main character, seems to have a stronger voice in this volume. I love Svet’s art—like Arakawa’s, it’s clean and deceptively simple. She uses a few simple lines to sketch each character, but she chooses those lines well so that each character has a distinct personality.

One thing Yen Press does a lot of, and seems to do very well, is manhwa (Korean comics). They picked up Ice Kunion’s catalogue and have been publishing the books on beautiful paper with gorgeous covers. I wasn’t impressed with the first chapter of Sarasah when it ran in Yen Press — it’s about a girl who has a stalkerish obsession with a classmate, and at the end of the first chapter, she falls down a staircase and dies. When I picked it up again, though, I was charmed by the fact that she wound up in a heaven where the gods wear traditional robes but talk on cell phones. The story veers off into a past-life romance, which I think I can handle. Yen’s manhwa all has a similar look — it’s very stylized in the big-eyes-small-chin kind of way — and the drawings all seem rather hard-edged and flat. I’m not crazy about it, but if the story is good enough I can get past it. We’ll see.

Finder: Dream Sequence

Matt Maxwell: FINDER: DREAM SEQUENCE by Carla Speed McNeil
FINDER is a treasure in comics, and a rare one at that. In a medium that generally doesn’t serve up science fiction (much less *good* science fiction), FINDER wholeheartedly embraces the best of what makes good science fiction good. There’s both extrapolation and commentary on the current, but at the heart of it is how the technology affects (and even effects) the characters. But FINDER isn’t fetishist in either hardcore cyberpunk tropes or galaxy-spanning storylines that are simply high fantasy in drag. It presents honest and tangibly real stories that could only (as the saying goes) be told within comics. I won’t say that every page is exemplary of formalist wonder, but there are many pages that make you pause and consider what the medium can actually do, and how it can actually tell stories.

The story in DREAM SEQUENCE centers around Magri White, singularly gifted savant whose brain literally contains the most popular fiction/shared world in the world of FINDER. And that world is falling apart because Magri is falling apart. Weaving together a personal story as well as threads of the nature of creativity and the danger of self-loathing (particularly with regards to creative types, which is more destructive more often than you’d think), DREAM SEQUENCE is an outstanding example of why FINDER is among my very favorite comics. Sometimes it’s a daunting read, because McNeil walks her characters and her own voice right out to the edge, but that’s where the good stuff goes.

Sadly, I’ll be all caught up on FINDER books soon. But that doesn’t preclude re-reading (which is a rare thing amongst my comics reading these days.)

There’s other stuff I read this week, but not much of it compares.

Complete Jack Survives

Bill Kartalopoulos: Here are some short takes on some (but by no means all) of the books I picked up at SPX, with a few others thrown in for good measure.

Map of My Heart by John Porcellino
I’m only just now dipping into this. I’ve read bits and pieces of John Porcellino’s King-Cat over the years, and am thrilled to have this nearly complete chunk of ten consecutive issues – covers, text pages, letter columns, and all – to read together as a partial record of this remarkable and hugely influential cartoonist’s life and art. John was an eloquent and inspiring guest at SPX, and I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time with this book.

The Complete Jack Survives by Jerry Moriarty
Another book I’ve only sampled so far, but the two-or-three-pages-at-a-time approach is appropriate here. Moriarty blots out the line between painting and cartooning – he calls himself a “paintoonist” – and Buenaventura Press’s definitive collection appropriately functions both as a lavish art book and as a readable collection of these profound and masterful painted comics and comics paintings.

Inkweed by Chris Wright
This has been out for a little while, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Chris Wright at SPX this year, and grateful when he gave me a copy of his book. This nicely designed short story collection makes a sustained case for Wright as a comics storyteller with a consistent point of view and a distinctive (and still mutating) visual style. His work has its own texture, and his stories resonate.

The Golden Age of Marvel Comics vols. 1 and 2
Among other recent influences, Paul Karasik’s Fletcher Hanks books and Greg Sadowski’s Supermen! have got me looking at – if not necessarily always reading – some early “Golden Age” comics, including early superhero comics. Lots of these are available online, but I prefer reading historical comics on paper when I can, and preferably in color. This kind of material has most often been reprinted in expensive hardcover editions for collectors (though DC has published several titles in its affordable, full-color, paperback Chronicles series). Marvel has just collected several issues of the publisher’s first title, Marvel Mystery Comics, as a $125 hardcover which I will never buy. Fortunately, I stumbled across these two portable, full color paperback anthologies from the late-90s. The first volume, edited by Roy Thomas, offers a court historian’s take on the company’s pre-Code period. The second volume is more specifically focused on the initial heyday of the superhero genre, and features many unknown characters alongside Carl Burgos’s pulpy, primary Human Torch, Bill Everett’s peculiarly misanthropic Sub-Mariner, and Simon and Kirby’s blockbuster Captain America. These books are out of print, but still findable at prices much lower than any currently in-print, deluxe collections of work from this period. FYI.

1-800-Mice #3 by Matthew Thurber
Matthew Thurber’s funny and inventive eco-social picaresque continues in this third, self-published issue (available for order via his website). With each issue, Thurber pursues his preposterous premises toward their illogical conclusions while drawing his expansive and expanding narrative ever more tightly together.

Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga
Huizenga uses cartoon language to diagram the fuzzy chaos of mental insomnia with absolute clarity and precision. He’s also really made the Ignatz format his own, with stunning use of limited color.

Pines #2 by Jason T. Miles
I was very excited to get a copy of Jason T. Miles’ latest, hot-off-the-press mini-comic at SPX. My quick browse raises expectations that the new one will be as innovative, mysterious and meaningful as the series’ first issue.

Windy Corner Magazine #3 by Austin English, ed.
This has been out for a few months, but I must put a plug in for my friend (and roommate) Austin English’s strong (yet somehow under the radar) magazine/anthology series. In addition to serving as a vehicle for Austin’s own current stories, Windy Corner features a variety of comics and drawings by other artists alongside thoughtful essays and interviews (this issue features Carol Tyler in conversation with Vanessa Davis; issue #2 boasts the definitive-for-now John Hankiewicz interview). As in the best anthology projects, the range of work suggests a distinct – but not constrained – aesthetic approach to visual narrative and picture making. These digest-sized, full-color, staple-bound issues convey a tactile intimacy consistent with the lush and graceful work on display.

The Complete Peanuts: 1973-74

Welcome once again to What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is the esteemed critic and blogger Robert Clough. Rob is probably best known for his contributions to the seemingly now inert Sequart.com, though you can find most of his recent reviews on his blog, High-Low.

To see what Rob and the rest of us are reading, just click on the link below …

Hulk Visionaries: Peter David Vol. 1

Tom Bondurant: Just finished up the first collection of Hulk Visionaries: Peter David, which finds ol’ Doc Banner transforming at sundown into the unsavory gray Hulk. Most of the book involves SHIELD and an array of Hulkbusters in various shades of gung-ho. It didn’t seem to me that David had developed his signature style at this point in his career, and at times his dialogue reminded me of Marv Wolfman’s. (That’s not necessarily a bad thing.) Accordingly, the book tended to blur together into SHIELD vs. Hulk, with X-Factor in a couple of issues just for the heck of it. However, what really jumped out at me were Todd McFarlane’s pencils. This was pretty early in McFarlane’s career too, so his figures were pretty highly stylized, and almost too cute for the subject matter. His Hulk was suitably grotesque and menacing, but it never really fit with the chubby-cheeked Rick or the spindly, saucer-eyed Bruce.

Thanks to my LCS’s half-off shelf, I am currently enjoying Essential Avengers Vol. 3, which is full of Roy Thomas/John Buscema sturm und drang. Early on, I was getting a bit tired of the Goliath/Hawkeye relationship — are they rivals? best buds? secret lovers? — and the Magneto and Hercules subplots threatened to wear out their welcome as well. However, at the halfway point I’ve been impressed by two stories: the Crimson Cowl/Masters of Evil arc (especially its twist ending) and the Scarlet Centurion’s alternate timeline. The Black Panther also makes a good addition to the team. Hard to work up much sympathy for Hank Pym, though, knowing what’s in his future….

Matt Maxwell: Cursed Pirate Girl
Jeremy Bastian, writing and art.
I first heard about this book at SDCC in 2008, where I met Jeremy Bastian by The Century Guild’s booth (home of fine Art Nouveau and Art Deco collections as well as modern artists working in similar modes.). His work reminded me of what Arthur Rackham comics might look like if such a thing existed. It reads pretty well too, filled with fantasy around a piratical theme. Can’t wait to finish this one up, but in the meantime, I’ll go back and savor the lovely pages all over again.

More Dr. Strange essentials as well. Getting into the Bill Everett-illustrated stuff, which is wonderfully weird, maybe even just as much as Ditko’s art.

Brigid Alverson: It has been a very eclectic week. I have been reading the Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, which is beautiful and very well put together. The book has an old-fashioned look, with creamy paper, a muted color scheme, and decorated endpapaers, and it feels like the hefty tomes I used to get every Christmas as a child. The comics include plenty of old friends — Little Archie, Little Lulu — and a few new discoveries, like Sugar and Spike. I was afraid the comics would be boring or too old-fashioned, but they seem to have identified a number of true classics. It’s all produced with loving care and pulled together with an essay on the history of comics that puts many of the featured creators into historical context. Good stuff.

Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics

I also took another walk on the superhero side — sort of — with a look at the first five issues of Irredeemable, by Mark Waid and Peter Krause. It’s … interesting. The main character, The Plutonian, is a superhero who has cracked from the stress and hostility of his job and gone on a rampage, slaughtering ordinary people and targeting his former colleagues as well. It’s certainly an interesting premise, and I like the fact that we get to see him as a sympathetic character in flashbacks as well as the comments of the other superheroes, but I question the validity of the premise, that a person can go in an instant from all-good to all-bad. It seems that even in his current rage, a character as noble as that would have some second thoughts about going on a murderous rampage. Still, it’s a good read with an interesting setup and side plot, so I think I will stay with this series.

I wandered over to the Rip Haywire site because I was interested in some of the old Milton Caniff comics archived there. Now I’m reading the title comic as well, and enjoying the creator’s gentle mockery of the action-adventure genre. It’s kind of goofy, and the three-panel gag-strip format works against it a bit—sometimes the punchline seems to come too quickly — but it’s a fun, light read, and I’m adding it to my RSS feed.

Daredevil #500

Tim O’Shea: Brigid, thanks so much for the tip on Rip Haywire, I’ll be adding that to my Google Reader ASAP. I love how many folks that are influenced by Milton Caniff. Years ago, Kurt Busiek made me aware of Randy Reynaldo’s all ages Rob Hanes Adventures another creator inspired by Caniff who knows how to create a fun tale.

Daredevil reached its 500 issue milestone this week, which includes a new tale by Ann Nocenti and David Aja. I didn’t appreciate Nocenti as much as I should have when I originally read her run of the book. Sometimes you run across a page that briefly and perfectly captures what comics as a visual medium can do. Matt Murdock has always been a great hero for taking the weight of the world on his shoulders. And yet no matter how many times he gets knocked down or knocked out, he keeps going. Aja captures that burden in the last page of the story, when Daredevil stands in a doorway, hesitating for a moment, before breaking into a full run. The POV on the scene is behind Daredevil, seeing him run out the door, but Aja is able to convey the steely resolve of the hero’s without showing his face or without any dialogue from Nocenti. Out of the many pages and plots crammed in 500, that is my favorite. As much as comics populate my life, rarely does a page give me pause like this one.

Batgirl #1

So Batgirl 1 launched this week. And if you judged the book by the one-page reveal/spoiler that DC Source did and the comments it inspired, you would think the creators killed a character, rather than launching a new book. (Honestly, I still get bewildered with folks that condemn a book without reading it, but it’s what fuels most comic book internet discussion.) While I think Barbara Gordon deserves her own book (and will likely have one again), it’s enjoyable to see her with a role in the book, potentially as a mentor (maybe more). Best of all, however, I think Bryan Q. Miller may be writing a Bat book that displays glimpses of a sense of humor. The Bat universe needs more of a sense of humor.

I was really looking forward to Fred Van Lente’s Chameleon arc on Spider-Man as I assumed he was teaming up with Barry Kitson for the whole arc. While Van Lente’s giving us a great Glory Grant and a change in the Peter Parker working for J. Jonah Jameson dynamics, artist Robert Atkins is pencilling 603 and he’s no Kitson. I thought Marvel juggled creative teams on arcs — not in the middle of arcs. Kitson returns to the arc in issue 604, but I really wish he could have been given the time to draw 603 as well. Alas, one of the causalities of keeping a weekly schedule, no matter how much advance planning Marvel editorial may execute.

American Widow

Michael May: I’m reading Alissa Torres’ American Widow and while I’m VERY hesitant to criticize the memoir of a woman who lost her husband on September 11th, I’m struggling with the presentation of the story so far. It’s deeply personal — as it should be — but so much so that I feel like I’m missing important elements that could help me connect to it more. We get glimpses and half-memories of Torres’ relationship with her husband, but not much that tells us what they were really like as a couple. We’re told that she was very angry with him the morning of 9/11, but – so far anyway – we’re not told why. Is that something that’s revealed later? Or is it just too personal for Torres to share? IS there such a thing as too personal when you’re writing a memoir about losing your husband on 9/11? I’m hoping it slows down and reveals more details as I keep reading. Right now, I can see how it must have been profoundly cathartic to write, but not so much to read.

Chris Mautner: I finally got around to finishing The Vietnam War: A Graphic History by Dwight Jon Zimmerman and Wayne Vansant. The book comes out next month — the publisher (Hill and Wang) sent me an uncorrected proof. It’s a very educational overview of the war, but sadly a deadly dull one as well. Vansant’s illustrations are just that; there’s no real attempt to integrate the words and pictures together to form some sort of joined narrative. The two exist separately from each other, and Zimmerman’s text overwhelms the text to the point where you even wonder why they bothered with pictures in the first place.

Ink Pen

The only other notable thing about the book is how pro-military it is. While it tries (and for the most part succeeds) to provide a balanced account, there’s no question it’s general position is that the war could have been won had it not been for the media, an dissatisfied and squeamish public and politicians that were more concerned about re-election than doing the best for the soldiers. Johnson in general gets a much worse rap than Nixon, who comes off as decidedly shrewder and a better strategist.

I’m always on the look out for good comic strips, which is why I’m so happy to have discovered Phil Dunlap’s Ink Pen, which recently got its first trade collection. It’s a lively strip that breaks down genre barriers by taking place in a job referral agency for comic and cartoon characters. Thus, you have superheroes like Captain Victorious and Looney Tunes types like Ralston Rabbit interacting with each other for laughs. Dunlap is a smart, funny gag man too, and he gets a lot of mileage by having the characters rub up against each other in unexpected ways. This is one for the daily news feed.

Robert Clough: I make a point of reviewing all formats of comics: minicomics, original graphic novels from the big publishing houses, collections of classic strips, and of course the collected output from the best of the alt-comics publishers. Here’s a snapshot of what’s exciting me the most at the moment.

Injury #3

On the classic comics tip, I just finished reading THE COMPLETE PEANUTS: 1973-74, published by Fantagraphics. This was the first volume from this series that included strips that I remember reading as a child. Collections of PEANUTS were the first comics I ever read, instilling a love for the form that persists to this day. It’s remarkable how sturdy the strip still was, 24 years into its run. The strip’s tone was starting to shift a bit toward absurdism (with the introduction of the sentient school that Sally talked to) and gag-chasing (with Snoopy’s writing), but there were still any number of poignant moments and even political statements. Schulz had tapped the well of having his characters personify neuroses and started using them a bit more directly.

I also read the HAPPY HOOLIGAN collection from the Forever Nuts line of NBM. Frederick Opper’s strip, which began at the dawn of the modern newspaper trip, was a wellspring of inspiration for several generations of artists. Opper packed detail after detail that fleshed out the incredibly simple format of this strip: Happy the hobo tries to help out a situation without asking, makes a goof, and winds up getting punished by getting beaten up, taken to jail, or both. This volume is a “best of” from 1903-1913 and is a must for any fan of humor comics.

Buenaventura Press is defying Diamond’s more strict policy by bundling three comics together in one package. That includes the third issue of Ted May & friends’ INJURY COMICS, which would have been an absolute rock of the direct market 10-15 years ago; THE AVIATRIX #1, by Eric Haven, another in a series of off-kilter superhero/monster comics; and I WANT YOU #1 by Lisa Hanawalt. I’ve heard her name mentioned as an up-and-comer for a few months now, and it was frankly astonishing to see how fully-formed her grotesque but quirky her sense of humor is. While there are elements of Renee French (in terms of the quality of her line) and Lauren Weinstein (in terms of the humor and the sense of the grotesque), there’s a groundswell of pure id that I rarely see in comics.

Department Art #1

The publisher whose sensibility synchs up most with mine at the moment is Dylan Williams’ Sparkplug Comic Books. I have a bunch of their recent books on my to-read pile, including Dunja Jankovic’s DEPARTMENT OF ART as well as the collaboration between Olga Volozova & Juliacks. Dylan has the uncanny ability to find artists who fit into his aesthetic sensibility while rarely interfering as an editor. A perfect example is the quirky, highly personal WINDY CORNER MAGAZINE, the third issue of which came out earlier this year. Austin English includes his own comics, guest comics, and reviews & features that feature artists covering other artists. English has excellent taste and has long had the ability to uncover bright young talents and bring them to light.

Speaking of which, let me briefly recommend a couple of mini-comics: THE NATURAL WORLD #2, by Damien Jay, and GREAT DEADS AGAINST THE DEAD #1, by Rob Jackson. Jay is an astonishing and imaginative artist deserving of wider recognition; this quasi-fantasy tale is one of his first attempts at a longer narrative. Jackson’s line is crude but there’s a direct simplicity and lack of artifice in both his genre depictions and deliberate attempts at getting laughs. As he continues to refine his line as well as his storytelling chops, his absurd sense of humor, I think Jackson will start to really draw some attention. As it stands, Jackson excels at telling straightforward genre stories that tend to veer off to some weird territories.

One last note: Carol Tyler’s YOU’LL NEVER KNOW is my favorite book of the year thus far. This memoir/biography/scrapbook is both formally challenging and emotionally devastating. Any critic serious about compiling a year-end list needs to keep this book under consideration.

The Tumor

Creators | Joshua Fialkov will have an ultra-limited edition ashcan of the first chapter of his new graphic novel, Tumor, that’s going to be the first original graphic novel premiering on the Amazon Kindle, releasing during the show. He’ll be at the Archaia Comics booth (#2635) for most of the weekend. There’s only 50 copies of the book for sale, first come, first serve. He’ll also have a few copies of both issues of Punks for anyone interested.

Publishers | First Second has posted their schedule for the con.

After hours | Mark Verheiden reports that the San Diego House Of Blues will host Bear McCreary: The music of Battlestar Galactica on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with appearances by members of the cast. More details here.

The home game | John Parker lists ways you can enjoy Comic Con from the comfort of your home. Here’s another way to play the home game that Chris Mautner will certainly enjoy.

Creators | More creator stuff: Jason Aaron’s schedule, Paul Hornschemeier’s books, Ted Mathot’s booth, Chuck BB’s schedule and print, David Hahn’s Fantastic Four print, Gene Yang’s schedule, Stuart Moore’s panels, Johnny and Tony’s trip video, Shane White’s preview and Scott Williams’ art book.

Publishers | Sparkplug Comic Books sent over information about Comic-Con and the Portland Zine Symposium:

Sparkplug Comic Books will be at two shows this week, the Port Zine Symposium (July 24-26) and San Diego Comic Con (July 22-26)

We’ll be premiering 3 new books:

the Shortest Interval – by David King
Sausage Hand – by Andrew Smith (published with Teenage Dinosaur)
Neptune – by Aron Nels Steinke (published with Tugboat Press)

At Portland Zine Symposium, we’ll be offering a wide variety of self published books from around the country. Emily Nilsson will be running the table. Aron Steinke, Teenage Dinosaur and Sean Christensen will be sharing table with us and Tugboat Press

At Comic Con we are sharing booth 1531 with Tom Neely’s I Will Destroy You.

http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/sandiegolayout.jpg

We’ll have Sparkplug books as well as books published by Tugboat Press, Teenage Dinosaur, Secret Acres, Bodega Distribution, La Mano, Partyka and other publishers. And, as usual we’ll have the self publishing flee market in full effect with work by artists like Fiona Smyth, Noah Van Sciver, Steve Ditko, Rina Ayuyang, Shaky Kane, Jason Overby, Jason T. Miles, Jesse Reklaw, Vanessa Davis, Renee French, Bobby Madness, Al Frank, Theo Elsworth and many many more.

Artists such as Julia Wertz, Austin English, Damien Jay, Ben Catmull, Minty Lewis, David King, Ben Catmull, Chris Cilla, Andrew Smith and Tim Goodyear others will be hanging out at the booth.

After hours | Here’s another concert opportunity, as Vice magazine brings Gwar to Comic-Con:

I wanted to pass over two great things Comic Con related. One is our Vice Guide
to Comics and the other is our FREE party Comic Con party “Brutal Legend” with
GWAR on July 23rd.

The Vice Guide to Comics is online and will available around San Diego during
Comic Con. It includes articles/interviews with Gary Panter, Al Jaffee, Anders
Nilsen, Chris Onstad, Gerard Way and so much more.

Read The Vice Guide to Comics

Vice Magazine is proud to announce that legendary rock band GWAR will headline
the Brutal Legend party the opening night of Comic Con.

FREE! CLICK HERE TO RSVP, 21+

BRUTAL LEGEND METAL MELTDOWN
Presented by VICE x EA
Starts at 9:30 PM
4th and B, San Diego, CA
Featuring GWAR, 3 Inches of Blood, Unholy Pink, Keith Morris (DJ Set)
21+ | Free with RSVP

RSVP – http://www.viceland.com/brutallegend/

Comic Guide – http://www.viceland.com/int/guide_comics/htdocs/

Free comics | Mark Wheaton of Cleaners fame has an offer for attending fans:

At the New York Comic Con and SF’s Wonder Con, Rahsan and I ended up giving away copies of “Cleaners” randomly to anyone who came up to the Dark Horse booth during signings – kind of pooling our comps and just putting them in the hands of anyone who even looked twice at us. At San Diego, we’re trying to be slightly more organized about it and are giving away all four issues of the “Absent Bodies” miniseries to the first 30 people who show up to the “Cleaners” signing, Thursday afternoon from 3 to 4 at the Dark Horse booth.

It’s kind of a “fuck the recession” move, but I always liked coming home from Comic Con with lots of free comics I’d never heard of before, so I figured why the hell not?

Toys | Shocker Toys:

Shocker Toys returns to San Diego Comic-Con Booth #3849 with five, count ‘em, five, exclusives, the return of an old favorite and one can’t miss party.

Tribune’s Dick Tracy will make his first appearance as a hyper-articulated 6” action figure in creator Chester Gould’s black and white comic strip style. The World’s Most Famous Detective will be available in two limited run action figures. The B&W standard version with suit and pistol, limited to 500 pieces, will be available on-site and at the Shocker Toys online store. The B&W variant figure, limited to 250 pieces, with Tracy in his iconic trench coat with Tommy gun, will be available only at Comic-Con with a purchase ticket given out at the show opening every day of the show.

Shocker Toys’ booth will also highlight their new articulated designer line, Mallows, with three exclusives: A Mallow version of the CCI Guy (the SDCC Logo) (250 pcs), The Phantom with yellow/black trunks (500 pcs) and Dethklok’s favorite rock and roll clown, Dr. Rockzo (500 pcs). On hand will also be DIY blank Mallows to design your own as well as custom contests and Artist custom Mallows showcased featuring some artist such as Phetus, Mad Hatter Creative and more.

If Dr. Rockzo isn’t enough for fans of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse, Shocker Toys will also be featuring a 500 piece re-release of the now legendary Dethklok set that took San Diego by storm in 2008.

Shocker Toys will also help kick off the Con in style with a Friday night Mallows release party at BONDI across from the convention center in the Gaslamp, more location info here. There will be custom Artist Mallows, giveaways and great music. Right before the party, Shocker Toys will be hosting a panel in room 4 on Friday July 24th, 6:30-7:30. Stop by for news, info and special giveaways.

Booth #3849 will feature contests, giveaways, feedback and new products. Also, meet Shocker Toys CEO Geoff Beckett, who will be answering questions about upcoming figures for Mallows, Indie Spotlight Series 2 and 3 and more. Be sure to mark it on your list of booths to visit.

In addition to the Comic-Con exclusives, updates to the Indie Spotlight line will be on display at the booth. This includes Series 2 in the final development stages, lineup and preliminary development for Series 3, and for the first time since Wizard Philly, Indie Spotlight Series 1 is back in stock. Look for the full lineup available at the booth.

Stores and Press are urged to contact Shocker Toys at info@shockertoys.com for more info about wholesale specials on-site and interview opportunities.

Creators | And finally, the folks at the Antidote Trust sent over their plans for the show:

THE ANTIDOTE TRUST, America’s premier collective of independent comic book, toy, and film creators, is thrilled to announce its schedule for the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, including a new location, a larger panel, and a growing list of celebrity signings.

Starting this year, The Antidote Trust moves to booth #2806, directly across from Dark Horse Comics, and adjacent to Diamond Comics Distributors and McFarlane Toys. “Although this is our third year exhibiting at Comic-Con, we almost feel that this is the first time fans will be able to spot us in the crowd,” says Dale Wilson, writer/creator of Caffeine Dreams and Butterfly Industrial 2.0. “This new location – right by Entrances C & D – allows our followers and potential new readers to get close and really check out the myriad of comics and products that our creators develop.”

In addition, the group follows up last year’s standing-room only presentation with the 2nd annual Antidote Trust Panel, 7:00 – 8:00 pm on Thursday, July 23, in Room 5AB. “The goal of our panel has always been to find others who are interested in creating their own properties and share with them the tricks of the trade we’ve picked up along the way,” says Robert Roach, Glyph Award-winning artist/creator of Menthu and The Roach. “Basically, this is the panel we wish was around when we were starting out. The fact that Comic-Con saw just how big out turnout was last year and supported our move to an even larger showroom makes us feel like we’re on to something.”

The Antidote Trust is also sponsoring several celebrity signings, including such comic book legends as Dwayne McDuffie, Tony DeZuniga, Ernie Chan, and other soon-to-be announced guests. “This is our way of giving back to the folks who support independent comics and, at the same time, geeking out a bit ourselves,” admits Andre Owens, creator of Force Galaxia. “It’s fun for guys like Dwayne [McDuffie] and Morrie Turner, who signed in 2007, since they can interact with their fans in a casual, open atmosphere, and it’s great for the fans since they don’t have to wait in a huge Marvel/DC line and can check out some cool indie books in the process.”

The Antidote Trust invites all Comic-Con attendees and interested parties to regularly visit its blog site, www.theantidotetrust.com, and Twitter feed at twitter.com/antidotetrust for updates on its signing schedule, portfolio reviews, freebees, special giveaways, and other guest appearances.

Notable Events at this year’s Comic-Con include:

* The first 100 customers at The Antidote Trust booth #2806 will receive a free TAT Pack – a bundle of coupons, comic samplers, and other freebees
* The 2nd Annual Antidote Trust Panel, Thursday, July 23, 7:00 – 8:00 pm, Room 5AB
* Dwayne McDuffie signings, Friday, July 24, 1:00 – 2:00 pm, Booth #2806, and Saturday, July 25, 1:00 – 2:00 pm, Booth #2806

Wrapped-Up Foxtrot

Wrapped-Up FoxTrot
by Bill Amend
Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.99

Here’s my basic problem with FoxTrot: I can’t stand the family. Not a one of them. They all come across as a bunch of unlikeable clods to me, each one too invested in their own personal tics and desperate obsessions to show any interest in each other. Really, they seem more interested in making each other miserable, especially the bratty youngest child, Jason, who would have been thrown to the lions years ago by any real-life family. Of course, without him we’d miss all those obvious and occasionally desperate attempt to reference contemporary pop culture. “Hey, they’re making a Star Trek movie! Let’s make a strip about it!” “Here’s a joke about World of Warcraft! You know, lots of people play that!” People complain about the saccharine sweetness of The Family Circus, but their are times I prefer that to the insufferable smart-alec attitudes of the Fox family.

This new Treasury collects the last of the daily strips as well as some Sundays. It’s certainly readable. It didn’t make me want to claw my eyes out the way, say Snuffy Smith does, but still, that’s a real annoying family.

More reviews after the link …

Syncopated

Syncopated: An Anthology of Nonfiction Picto-Essays
Edited by Brendan Burford
Villard, 160 pages $16.95.

Despite the “picto-essays” nonsense in the sub-title, this is actually a very good anthology, one of the best in recent memory really. I think one of the reasons for that is Burford gives the cartoonists a good bit of leeway in deciding what constitutes nonfiction, resulting in a nice variety of styles and subject matters, ranging from straight out memoir like Josh Neufeld’s quick rundown of father figures, history lessons like Nate Powell’s look at the Greenwood tragedy, straight biographies like Paul Karasik’s examination of psychologist Erik Erikson, journalistic essays like Alex Holden’s look at a stretch of grafitti underneath New York’s Riverside Park, and straight out illustrations, such as Tricia Van Den Bergh’s portfolio of park sketches. The breadth of material just underscores how all-encompassing the “nonfiction” genre is, and the variety of ways a good cartoonist can make use of it. Special mention must be made to Greg Cook’s interpretation of FBI reports about treatment of prisoners Guantanamo Bay. Through his use of silhouettes he’s able to avoid ramped-up melodrama or self-righteous indignation and cut right to the quick of the horror of the situation. It’s shoe-in for “best short story of 2009.”

Danny Dutch

Danny Dutch
by David King
Sparkplug Comic Books, $5.50

Four-panel comic strips featuring long-nosed, squat-bodied fellows conversing about wistful, philosophical subjects like friendship, death and the passage of time. The end result is an odd mix that seems to fall stylistically somewhere between John Hankiewicz and Stephen DeStafano. King’s cartoony style keeps hinting that manic high-jinks will break out at any second, but instead the comic attempts to be more contemplative and decidedly peculiar than that. It’s interesting, but I feel a bit removed from it, as though I’m admiring it from afar. Perhaps with time King will produce something that draws me in a bit more. It certainly seems like he’s capable of it.

Jin & Jam

Jin & Jam No. 1
by Hellen Jo
Sparkplug Comic Books, 36 pages, $5

Lots of folks have already proclaimed their love for this short comic about two tough teen girls — one streetwise, the other well-to-do — who become good friends despite their lives heading in polar opposite directions, so allow me to just add one more voice to the growing chorus. Jo is very obviously influenced by Tekkon Kinkreet author Taiyo Matsumoto, but she manages to bring her own blend of the down to earth (the budding relationship between the two girls) and the surreal (cops that literally rope in stray juveniles a la Gene Autry). It’s a really strong, fun comic that suggests Jo is an artist to be on the lookout for in the future.

Cold Heat #5 & 6

Cold Heat 5 and 6
by Frank Santoro and Ben Jones
PictureBox, 48 pages, $20

What impresses me about Cold Heat is how it at the same time manages to be an avant-garde, experimental comic and a action-adventure genre exercise albeit one involving time travel, space aliens, strange cults and martial arts. What’s more, it does so exceedingly well, with the more experimental aspects of the book feeding off and servicing the narrative but never derailing it. It’s a really solid work in progress that continues to fascinate as it develops. Admittedly, $20 is a lot for a 48-page book, but it could be awhile before this story is finally collected in one book, and if you’re anything like me, you’re not going to be able to wait.

A Mess of Everything

Like the subject line suggests, my review pile has become alarmingly tall and precarious over the past few weeks, so I’m going to try a few lightning-round reviews of books that were at the bottom so the whole thing doesn’t come crashing down on me over the weekend. I’ll probably end up doing another of these next week. Anyway:

A Mess of Everything
by Miss Lasko-Gross
Fantagraphics Books, $19.99.

A Mess of Everything, the second in Lasko-Gross’ planned autobio trilogy, is a much better and more confident book than her first entry, Escape from ‘Special’. Part of that is because she displays a bit more subtlety and balance in her portrayal of her teen-age years than she did in showcasing her insecure childhood. In particular, she shows how her alienation and hormonal angst blinded her to other people’s pain or sincere attempts at sympathy or help. A sequence involving a concerned teacher, for example, is spot on in showing how her self-pity keeps her from seeing how genuine the teacher’s concern is.

The book also works because halfway through it narrows its focus on the author’s relationship with her best friend, if anything a more troubled girl who is very likely suffering from an eating disorder. Everything suffers at times from  a “me, me, me, me” perspective that can occasionally prove claustrophobic, but in its portrayal of the importance and tenuous nature of teenage friendships, it glows with sharp recognition.

Berlin: City of Smoke

Berlin Book Two: City of Smoke
By Jason Lutes
Drawn and Quarterly, $19.95.

If any work is better served in collected format rather than parceled out in pamphlets it’s this one. Now that I don’t have to constantly remind myself who all the myriad characters are and what exactly happened in the last issue, I’m able to see the interconnected layers, both thematic and narrative, that run throughout Lutes’ story of pre-Nazi Germany. I’m able to better appreciate his skill at delineating characters’ emotions and frustration. I have a greater understanding of what he’s striving for. And I’m able to marvel at how far he’s progressed both as an artist and as a storyteller.

The Soddyssey and other Tales of Supernatural Law
by Batton Lash
Exhibit A Press, $17.95

This is a perfectly amiable and entertaining collection of amusing horror parodies that, if it never reaches the realms of the inspired, neither does it drag down into boredom or triteness.

The Soddyssey

A good deal of the problem lies in the fact that many of the jokes have long since moved past their sell-by date. Zingers about “The X-Files” were getting tired when these comics first came out in the mid-90s, and they’re even less funny now, particularly since they don’t say much more than “Hey, you watched this show, right?”

On the other hand, the Anne Rice parody has its moments, and Lash manages to get some clever mileage out of the old “I’m carrying Satan’s baby” bit by suggesting that pro-lifers would rather see the birth of the anti-christ than another abortion. What really sells the book though, are the main characters, lawyers Wolff & Byrd (and their secretary Mavis), who prove to be a likable, engaging pair. Those last two adjectives would serve well for a description of this book as well.

Waltz with Bashir
by Ari Folman and David Polonsky
Metropolitan Books, $18.

I haven’t seen the (Academy-Award nominated) movie that this book is based on yet, but I have a nagging feeling that it’s a lot better than this rather leaden, literal adaptation. Call it a hunch.

The Raven and Other Poems
by Edgar Allen Poe; Illustrated by Gahan Wilson
NBM, $9.95.

If you’re looking for an introduction to Wilson’s oeuvre in anticipation of that ginormous collection that Fantagraphics will be releasing later this year, you could do worse than this short collection of Poe poems, illustrated by the famed gag cartoonist with great relish. His raven manages to look both terrifying and comical at the same time, and that’s no mean feat, let me tell you.

The Airy Tales
by Olga Volozova
Sparkplug Books, $15

It’s rare that I don’t finish a book or comic, no matter how bad, but The Airy Tales is filled with such twee sentimentalism and insipid moralizing that I found myself completely unable to get through it. It doesn’t help that I found the art to be unbearably crude, in a manner that made if frequently difficult to tell what exactly was being illustrated and how it tied into the text. I’ve got nothing against cute allegories per se, but when they’re presented in such an insufferable manner it makes it nigh impossible for me to interact with or draw any sort of pleasure out of them. If you can get through this book, you’re a better (or at least more tolerant) person than me.

Reich 6

Kevin mentioned this weekend’s Stumptown Comics Fest in his Comics A.M. post today, and the good folks at Sparkplug sent over information on three books they’ll be debuting at the show:

• Department of Art by Dunja Jankovic
• Reich #6 by Elijah Brubaker
• Bird Hurdler by Andrice Arp, Theo Ellsworth, Faryl Dalrymple, Zack Soto, Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg and Julia Gfrörer. This is a free book co-published by Sparkplug, Teenage Dinosaur and Tugboat Press.

They also sent over information about a pre-show event on Friday:

On Friday (April 17th) at 4:30-5:30pm @ the Portland Central Library (in the U.S. Bank Room) Sparkplug artists Hellen Jo and Ignatz Award-nominated Dunja Jankovic discuss and read from their work. Make sure you come!

Now, if you’d like to party and see all the new books in person they’ll be available on Friday night at the Guapo Comics & Coffee extravaganza. For more info on that you can check out: www.guapocomicsandbooks.com and take a look at the flier for the event, which is a giant reading and Kukoc awards ceremony. Reading at the event will be: Vanessa Davis, Jon Chadurjian, Coleen Frakes, Julia Gfrörer, Jason Martin, Hellen Jo, Calvin Wong and Corinne Mucha There will be all kinds of stuff going on there.

Reich #5

Besides being a cartoonist in his own right, Dylan Williams is also the brains behind Sparkplug Comic Books, which has published such noteworthy titles as Bookhunter by Jason Shiga, Reich by Elijah Brubaker and Asthma by John Hanckiewicz.

Wondering how a small press operation like Sparkplug would be affected by the turn in the economy, not to mention Diamond’s new policy changes, I sent a list of questions to Williams over email and he was kind enough to offer some thoughtful replies. Here’s what he had to say:

In general terms, how has Sparkplug Books been doing financially over the past year?

In general terms, Sparkplug keeps on growing. Last year was best one yet. It used to be that we’d get one order a week and now I can basically spend most of my time filling orders. It is kind of great and I keep on crossing my fingers. Money-wise, it is still a break-even affair but it is nice to not having to be “on the grind” as much as I was four or seven years ago.

Jin & Jan

How important is the direct market and Diamond to the success of the company?

The direct market is extremely important to us. I feel like comic shops are a sort of evolving thing, and they aren’t going to be what they once were. But I love what some of them are turning into. I really love small business people and the idea of individuals running stores selling stuff that they care about. We are always trying to expand our audience, but I feel like it is really important to work with small and like-minded business.

As for Diamond, they did Sparkplug a lot of good and they’ve been really supportive, but I figure that if they are going to cut off low-selling books, we aren’t going to depend on them to get into stores. We’ve had a great relationship with Tony Shenton, Last Gasp and the smaller distributors. It also really nice to have a relationship with stores through these smaller “distros.” I prefer to be on a first-name basis with as many people selling Sparkplug books as I can. For some of the smaller distributors it is about the same profit margin as Diamond but encouraging smaller business is what Sparkplug aspires towards.

How does Diamond’s new policies affect your bottom line? Are there any past, present or future projects that you feel will not make the cut-off?

Good question. In a weird way it won’t because their discount and cost of shipping was basically eating into any profit but there was an increase in interest with all the books that went through Diamond. By their new numbers, even Sparkplug’s most successful books wouldn’t make their cut. Of course, they turned down some of those books five years ago, so I have faith that things will change. I’m hoping that their change in interest will encourage small stores to go to other sources as well. We’ve been distributing other people’s books for about three years and that side of the business is just growing and growing, which is a sign that people are looking for independent and art comics and don’t know where to find them.

Do you feel as though you will have to keep a better eye on a project’s potential financial success in order to ensure it ends up in Previews in the future?

I’m of the mind that I should always be trying to keep a better eye on the financial potentials of the Spakplug books. I don’t base the potential success of book on Previews orders though. It gives me a good idea of what the people at Diamond and some comic shops think of the books but besides that, it isn’t good business to base art on commerce. Some of our biggest successes haven’t done well through them and the other way around too. Our job is to publish, distribute and promote the best comics we can to the best of our ability.

That said, we’re always looking at ways that we could do better. Shannon O’Leary joined the company last year as a promotions and public relations person and she has helped so much. If Diamond turns down some books now, then it is our job to go out and find new markets and work with the alternatives. We try not to look at the market as a static thing.

Are you worried that you’ll have to forgo pamphlets entirely to focus more on book-length works?

Here is one of the strangest things to me, I’ve heard about a few publishers ditching comic books (pamphlets) as a way of publishing comics. It is so weird to me for a number of reasons. First, the idea of selling luxury paperbacks is not what I started the company to do. “Comic Books” is in the name of our company so we’re stuck. And we like them. I mean, we’re not really tied to just pamphlet style books, but I’ve always been offended by the way “Graphic Novels” replaced comic books in the nomenclature. Ultimately it is all just a name, but it makes me sad to hear that pamphlets are being dumped because a distributor won’t be able to carry them. It is that kind of logic that leads to lower and lower levels of exploitation entertainment.

It is also strange to me because pamphlet style comic books are the most affordable and accessible form of comic books. And at this point in the post-George Bush economy, people don’t have a lot of money, so investing in more expensive books seems to be a big, dangerous mistake. People at shows and stores are still buying traditional comic books, maybe not as many for Marvel or DC or something but for a small concern, they are. I’ve had really good luck with them, we enjoy them artistically, and they are much more in line with our politics or approach to business, so we are continuing on with traditional comic books for the time being. Ultimately it is the artist’s choice.

Sparkplug has several new “comic books” out now — Jin and Jam, Reich and Danny Dutch. How has the public reception to these comics been? Do you feel confident that you can continue to publish future issues of at least the first two series?

We’re pretty excited to do more Jin and Jams. Danny Dutch is a sort of one off project that may transform into more. We also just published an art book/luxury paperback called the Airy Tales too. I feel the same way about all the books, the work and skill that went into them makes me confident more than anything else.

Do you feel you have a strong enough relationship with Diamond that if a project were on the borderline so to speak you could convince them to get it in the catalog?

Our Diamond sales rep is really cool but I wouldn’t want to put him or them in that place. I’ll continue to send things in but if they aren’t interested then that is the way things go. I hope that they’ll see the value of giving smaller publishers a chance but I don’t want to expect them to be more than focused on their financial realities as they see them. I don’t think of them as a monolithic entity, more like a collection of people all different and having their own approach to their business.

Do you have any other distributing options beyond Diamond to ensure getting your pamphlets into comic stores and beyond?

Oh yeah, Tony Shenton has been doing an amazing job. All the other small distros add up to about what Diamond was doing, if not more, actually. We’ve been having great interest through the website and at shows. And right now Portland is the most hoppin’ comic book town in the country. Maybe NYC is better … maybe. Anyway, I don’t want to start a coastal feud cause Bodega Distribution might bump me off or something.

Beyond Diamond’s new policies, has the bad economy affected Sparkplug in any way?

Well, it hasn’t really. It is kind of amazing. I mean, I expect the worst but I’m really happy to see that people are looking for good affordable independent comic books. I feel like if you publish good things and stand behind them, then people figure out that they can come back to you for more good stuff. It is a slow process and we’re not going to be able to publish a lot of things I’d like to, but the goal of Sparkplug is to make interesting and less known work more available to as many people as we can.

Jin & Jan

I thought I’d wind down our look at the year ahead in comic books and graphic novels with a look at indie/small press publishers Secret Acres and Sparkplug Books, and the manga publisher Seven Seas who is now under the Tor Books umbrella.

Don’t worry, this feature isn’t going away permanently. As the months pass and new preview catalogs come in the mail I’ll get back to typing these run-downs.

Let’s star with Secret Acres. The company plans to release at least three graphic novels this year, which I’ve listed below, with some informative quotes from company co-founder Barry Matthews:

PS Comics by Melanie Lewis. “PS Comics collects all four issues of Minty Lewis’s PS Comics mini-comics and includes a new story. The stories center on two groups of friends (the “Fruit Pals” and a group of talking Yorkies).” The book will debut at MoCCA and be in stores in July.

I Will Bite You and Other Stories by Joseph Lambert. “Joseph Lambert’s story, ‘Turtle Keep It Steady,’ was included in Best American Comics 2008. He is a recent Center for Cartoon Studies graduate and he’s writing and illustrating a book about Helen Keller for Hyperion.” Look for it at SPX and in stores in November.

Monsters by Ken Dahl. Ah, now this will surely create a bit of buzz when it makes its appearance at SPX (and in comic book stores in November). It’s Dahl’s autobiographical tale of contracting herpes. I’ve read the first three chapters, serialized as mini-comics, and it’s real nitty-gritty, cringe-inducing, emotional roller-coaster stuff.

Oh, and here’s one final item of note from Matthews:

Before I forget, we’re also planning on doing a very limited edition book by JB. His work was included in Kramer’s Ergot 7 and we’re publishing his collection, Curio Cabinet, in 2010. The project is still in development, so I won’t have any additional details for a month or so.

Moving on to Sparkplug Books which, according to publisher Dylan Williams, has three books out this year so far:

Jin & Jam #1 by Hellen Jo. Two unlikely teen-age companions — one can’t wait to leave town, the other never plans to — forge a friendship in this $5, 36-page comic.

The Airy Tales by Olga Volozova. Russian animator/artist/puppeteer/what-have-you Volozova offers up a collection of short stories about “the invisible threads that connect all the things around.” $15 for 138 pages.

Danny Dutch by David King. Web and mini-comics artiste King devotes a book to some delighfully amusing four-panel tales of Mr. Dutch and his “back alley rowdy” friends. $5.50 gets you 28 pages.

Williams also said he planned to release a new book by upcoming artist Dunja Jankovic entitled Department of Art. More on that news as it develops.

Let’s wrap this up with a quick look at Seven Seas’ manga plans:

Hayate X Blade Vol. 3 and 4 by Shizuru Hayahiya. This is a yuri-tinged action/comedy series about two mis-matched partners attending a sword-fighting school together. Volume 3 will be out in May. Volume 4 will be out in August. $9.99 each.

Inukami! Vol. 3. Story by Mamizu Arisawa. Art by Mari Matsuzawa. A wacky love comedy in the vein of Negima and Girls Bravo about a boy and a dog-like goddess who battle monsters together. I think. Lots of fan service though. $9.99, May.

Inkweed

I really like Chris Wright‘s art style. I like his not quite-abstract, not-quite cubist characters, and the way they’re knocked down to basic geometric shapes that intersect at odd and slightly uncomfortable angles. I like the way his line squiggles, harking back to classic strip artists like E.C. Segar while at the same time suggesting a nervious, barely containable energy. I like that his dialogue frequently sounds as though it walked out of the second act of an Ibsen play to knock back a few at the pub across the street. I like that he frequently goes crazy with the cross-hatching.

So I suppose it’s no real surprise that I found a lot to like about Inkweed, a  collection of short stories published by Sparkplug Press and I believe Wright’s first book of any sort to date (up till now he’s only put in appearances in various anthologies).

Age, the loss of one’s talent, desire, love, sex and the inability to get anywhere with members of the opposite sex are the pervading themes in these stories. An acclaimed painter stares into the abyss. An aging astronomer longs for his comely assistant. An author, newly besotted with a woman half his age, attempts to reconcile with his disaster of a son, with horribly tragic consequences. And, in my favorite tale, a water demon longs for his son’s wife, only to meet a sad fate.

Obviously, in addition to whatever romantic chip Wright may have on his shoulder, there’s more than a bit of the romantic in him. The notion of the writer against the world, of being in thrall to creativity but adrift in the “real world” of relationships and honest emotions seems to hold deep resonance for him. This sort of thing could quickly become insufferable were it not for Wright’s own self-deprecating humor (he reminds me of Walt Holcombe in that respect) and his afore-mentioned art. I especially liked how, as the book progressed, his layouts became more adventures until they seemed as knotted and and ornate as the characters laid upon the page.

I’m not quite sure why this book didn’t get more attention last year. Perhaps it got lost amidst a sea of other books. Perhaps Sparkplug simply didn’t have the marketing muscle to get it out into more hands. Perhaps folks were turned off by either the author’s “suffering artist” themes or his odd looking cast.

I hope it’s not the latter. Wright has developed an utterly unique and idiosyncratic style, one that deserves encouragement and praise. I plan on buying his next book.