June 2006 Comics
Posting scarcity will remain for the nonce. Recovering, reading, writing, drawing.
Quick words on new comics (mid-May to mid-June):
Uptight #1 by Jordan Crane (Fantagraphics): A stand-alone and the first part of a serialization. The stand-alone is a cliched tale hardly worth the time. “Keeping Two” the serialization, on the other hand, is already proving to be formally inventive and an interesting read. Crane uses borderless panels to signify flashbacks and outlined white silhouette’s to mark absence in this tale about death coming in threes. He also utilizes a strange set of black marks to represent noise. Worth following the serialization or just wait for the no doubt forthcoming collection?
Age of Bronze #23 by Eric Shanower (Image): In the same vein, it seems the serialization of this long-running series is in question with Shanower asking for comments in the letters page. Strange that before reaching that point in the comic I was thinking about cancelling my regular order for this and just waiting for the collections. I just can’t follow this book well enough in this form, particularly since it takes me forever to figure out who is who (a major failing here is Shanower’s inability to clearly delineate many of the characters from each other). The latest chapter (issue 20-) has shifted focus from the Aecheans to the Trojans.
Following Cerebus #8 (WinMill/Aardwark-Vanaheim): I find it odd that a publication devoted to Cerebus has few articles on Cerebus and when they do those articles are less interesting than most of the rest of the issue (as is again here the case with a mostly descriptive piece on the “Mind Games” issues, no real analysis just a lot of explanations and summaries). On the other hand, there is a strange jam comic from Seth, Chester Brown, Joe Matt, and Sim along with Matt’s interesting mini-essay on Jam comics in general. Also a comic by Roberta Gregory, a review of One for Sorrow by Lee Thacker, and a talk between Chester Brown and Sim on the comics “avant-garde” (i.e. Spiegelman, Ware, etc) which I would call more “indie darlings” than avant-garde. Gotta love Sim’s talk about the rather small size of their work as compared to his. This should probably be called “Following Sim” to be more accurate.
The Drowners by Nabiel Kanan (Image): A collection of Kanan’s four-issue self-published mini-series. I absolutely love his previous works (Exit, Lost Girl, Birthday Riots) and his stark graphic style. There has always been a certain thriller aspect to his works, but it is played up here to the detriment of the story and its characters. Too many thriller cliches. An unfortunately minor work by a comic artist who’s done much better (perhaps why this is not published by NBM who put out his last two books).
Carl Barks’ Greatest Ducktales Stories Volume 1 by Carl Barks (Gemstone): The so-called “good duck artist”’s comics that were adapted into the Ducktales cartoon (I watched it as a kid). Barks’ gets heaps of praise from the comics world so I had to give this a try. The stories are entertaining and the drawing is very clean, but I don’t find it particularly wonderful. Is this just one of those artists I don’t get or am I missing something? I need to find a good critical appreciation of Barks and see what the fuss is. The worst part of this book is the atrocious re-coloring that uses annoying computerized color spectrums (rainbows, fades, color shifts, etc) in almost every single panel for no obvious reason.
Can’t Get No by Rick Veitch (DC/Vertigo): I tried to read this. Really. I couldn’t. The narration is such that I gave up. While the concept of narration and images running on two converging and diverging paths is interesting, I don’t feel the narration is written well enough. It’s too over-wrought and abstracted. Maybe a try reading this again at another time.
Concrete: Think Like a Mountain Vol. 5 by Paul Chadwick (Dark Horse): Concrete becomes an environmentalist as he participates in some Earth First! protesting and monkeywrenching. The Concrete stories get better as they go along and this one is no exception.
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