Comicsgate. Stop it now.

Comics are art and literature. A hybrid form of communication. A combination  As such it falls under two crucial umbrellas that are essential to any functional culture or society. It is the sharing of ideas and concepts that allows us to build, improve, grow and progress. The ability to communicate our thoughts and feelings to those who may or may not share them.  To share your subjective or unbeknownst information and impart it onto other people.
Not all informations/stories/images/communiques will be of use/interest to the receiver.
There's a good chance you won't even like it or that you'll be made uncomfortable by it.
It's your choice to avoid it, not buy it or to boldly venture forth and discover it. Look into the new and unsettling to find out what makes you uncomfortable. Learn about other viewpoints and ultimately about yourself.
Everyone has a right to their opinions. There is no right to try and take them away from others or attempt to threaten, malign and attack them for holding a different perspective.
We should always seek to add to culture. Grow as people, people within a society.
If we limit our possibilities and act in narrow, reductive and regressive ways we will erode the foundation of our country and our many faceted culture.
Which brings me to the conflagration  that is Comicsgate.  Where a group of entitled and fearfilled  of deeply, dangerously selfinvolved persons take it upon themselves to confront, verbally abuse,  and terrorise comics creators and consumers because they are afraid of change and feel threatened by anything and everything different from their limited perspectives.
 This is nothing but the fearful dung slinging of spoiled and immature people who think they are losing their special club. The imagined refuge of straight white male nerddom.
Adding to the culture of comics never diminishes another.
New stories featuring a character you don't recognise or identify with,
don't make the stories you love go away. We have never removed Peter Parker stories to help promote Miles Morales. In shelving Sophie Campbell's Wet Moon it did not prohibit anyone from enjoying Superman.  There are comics for everyone. Comics are for everyone.  Heck, we stock Matt Furie's BoYs Club right next to Bitch Planet and Wuvable Oaf. Why? Because there is a wealth of wonderful, beautifully crafted stories out there and to close ourselves off to them would be a disservice to ourselves and our customers.There is room for everyone and if you can't accept that it is unfortunate.
Strong cultures and sub-cultures grow and keep growing. They add to their sum, A healthy body doesn't  hack off limbs just because another extremity believes it is in charge and deserves primacy.
Our store is a hotbed of truly diverse thought, conversation and product.
There is no consensus of thought except that each person has a right to their own thoughts and feelings. We share and debate. All honest questions are valid and welcomed. Often we veer into discussion territories that most businesses might be uncomfortable with. We value the opinions and uniqueness  of all our patrons. They make us strong and vibrant and viable as a business. We do it for the love. There are more lucrative ways to make a living, even within this business. We believe in the medium and it's ability to communicate and enrich the lives of the people they touch. Whatever you're looking to get out of it there is something in this weird wild and wonderful art form. Do your thing. Don't try to take another's away.

If my piece isn't direct enough or if my thoughts on the subject is not wholly apparent then read the following piece by comics' legend and top notch human Bill Sienkiewicz.
To Comicsgaters.

BARRIER by Vaughan and Martin

Barrier.
The fifth and final issue rolls out this week. It has provoked and prompted quite a bit of discussion.
The main questions:
What is it? What is the meaning of all this?
Why is Brian Vaughan throwing so many barriers at us ?
Doesnt't he want people to read this book?

Brian K Vaughan, superstar scribe of Saga and Marcos Martin who previously worked together on                The Private Eye have deigned that their latest mini-series be sideways oriented in that you flip the book up like a wall calendar. One of the small mercies is that the pages are oriented in the manner of Jeff Smith's TUKI and not the impenitrible and incomprehensible way Dave Sim's CEREBUS IN HELL created an additional slice of torment in the way the pages were to be read.
Although the comparison to CEREBUS IN HELL may be valid, because even though I
don't think Sim was making a metaphor with this inexplicable choice,
I do think Vaughan is saying something here.

But what? The story is set along the Mexican/U.S. border. The main characters don't share a language with which to communicate to each other through.
There's ALIENS!

The next attempt at thwarting comfortable consumption is the decision to make the book 3/4" taller (3cm for the rest of the world) than every other comic on the shelf. This makes it just a bit too tall to fit into standard sized comic storage bags, though it'll just fit into most storage boxes. Most. Storage, the anxiety inducing quandary faced by all comics readers/collectors is always a sensitive issue.

The series features two main protaganists. The characters are thrown quickly into a chaotic and bewildering situation. Having only each other for support but finding themselves unable to communicate because neither speaks the other's language. One speaks only English and seems to have a grudge against Mexicans. The other main character apparently is a Mexican gang affiliate and only speaks Spanish. The language and cultural divide create palpable tension and a sense of helpless futility.

Barrier is also being released weekly. Giving the reader (and retailers) no time to wait, take stock or recalibrate. No chance for a leisurely read. You are dragged in, on ground level and forces you to quickly assess the situation This confounding piece of art will also not be collected in any manner of Tradepaperback or Hardcover after completion which also adds a "get it now, or never" urgency. 

What does he want of us?

Just to get in get out and move on?

Everything about this seems to run counter to the structure and cycle of his various other long running episodic comics Saga or Paper Girls.

Marcos Martin's art is spectacular throughout and seemingly doesn offer and visual saboutage. Cleanly and preciesely illustrative with moments of supreme mind bending weirdness that serves to disorient and confound the readers and the characters. Certainly there is some graphic and nasty looking stuff, but nothing particularly eggregious. It all builds in a strange and kaleidoscopic pattern that doesn't allow for any easy footing or safe landings.

Is time a Barrier? Space?
How about Language?
Culture?
Our preconceived notions and expectations?
Are any of these barriers truly necessary or unavoidable?
Are the barriers are all in our minds?


Bill Burroughs said ,“Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.”
and as an achitect of societal deconstruction his techniques for unravelling states of complacency may be of use here.

Get Barrier.
Read it. Read it again.
Discuss.
Achieve interstellar travel.

and....oh by the way if all the things i just described and put forth didn't drive you as batty as it did me ...

the series is available fully online for whatever payment you deeem necessasry.

http://panelsyndicate.com/comics/barrier

That Lady is a Killer...

 Jöelle Jones has been making comics for over a decade now.
My first introduction to her work was with You Have Killed Me  , followed by12 Reasons I Love Her.
Around that time she also did some spot work on Matt Wagner and Amy Reeder's Madame  Xanadu.
 All three works featured slick, stylish and stylised work that while heavily design-centric, gave ample room for characters to come alive under her ink work. Stark scenery, statuesque vamps and barrel chested beaus abounded.

Moving forward she established her talents for gore and heavily textured rendering with the illustrative chores on Cullen Bunn's Hellheim , a furious bit of barbarian horror that nonetheless still featured the kind of breathtaking beautiful women that would become her calling card.

 2015 saw the debut of her creator owned series Lady Killer ,
which exploded her into the big time. The series being one of the most dynamic, stylish and brilliant creations in recent memory.
Immediately striking, her compositions are rock solid but it is the expressiveness of her characters; their body language and especially their facial features that she excels and transcends nearly every other artist.

 Her art seems to get better with every issue.

 No one does action, murder and mayhem with such style. All her characters are deadly, sexy and enthralling. It's impossible to not be captivated by Her storytelling skills are impeccable....moving the readers eye around at will,
directing each sequence masterfully.

Watch the way Jöelle pulls your eyes across the page, From the heavily detailed and fully realised rooms, lavishly detailed and filled with dynamic characters each with their own unique presence.  They are never static, there is an energy, a kinetic build that is sure to be unleashed in one of the next panels, violently and kaleidoscopically. As the tension builds the perspectives distort and the point of view whips around hard to sight a menace in the foreground.

Then she'll pull you in close for the kill watching the victim's eyes as death takes em. A hail of blood rain or shimmering light brings the curtains down. You exhale.

 One of the most memorable sequences comes from the second Lady Killer where a chase sequence between three characters takes place on foot thru a Miami bungalow from a cutaway overhead.
the pacing is unrelenting, the dread and tension is palpable, you get to hover like an angel of death anticipating each character's demise as it resolves. With only you knowing how close each is to their end.
For reference see the final sequence in Lady Killer #5 or Catwoman versus Talia al Ghul battle in Batman #35, which was another clinic in fight scene coordination. Even some of the quieter moments in her Mockingbird stories for Marvel have an undeniable pull and the chemistry between characters is palpable.

In comparing Jones' artwork to other legends of the field her work hold's its ground. The line work has a weight and strength of John Buscema and a
fluidity of movement that only Joe Kubert equals. In her willingness to distort perspectives and attack the scene from a multitude of angles reminds the viewer of Alex Toth or some of Kirby's most bombastic work. This is an artist that understands how bodies move and how the eye follows them.
Beyond that there is a precise, yet visceral element to the work that I think is unequaled by anyone,
the ability to render the sleek smooth Formica and aluminum, draped by intricate silks and lace with dizzying decor patterning and of course the bone blood and gristle of her characters as they play off the polished beauty of her heroines, whose eyes, deep piercing pools of glitter engage penetrate and condemn. You couldn't look away if you wanted.






















 Jöelle's writing talents fully emerged with Lady Killer 2 . Seemingly, the move to becoming the all in one writer/artist/creator has made the communication of her ideas even more efficient and effective. All the elements that made her previous works succeed have exponentially improved.  This has unleashed a multi-talented comics creator the likes of which we haven't had since the heyday of Frank Miller, Walter Simonson or the previously mentioned Matt Wagner.
If she manages to be half as productive as any of those talents, we're all going to need some extra book shelves as I can't see her doing anything less than essential.

The best way for that is to get yourself copies of her Lady Killer books, then keep reading Batman as it moves towards Bruce and Selina's wedding.Which leads us to the July 4th Bat & Cat Wedding in issue #50 of Batman, which coincides with Ms. Jones' DC writing debut with Catwoman #1.
The new series is also drawn by Jöelle with colors by the supremely gifted Laura Allred.

 The hype around both books is huge already and surely justified. The crossover appeal from both mainstream Super Hero readers and Indie comics fans is immense. Jöelle's work draws fans of the medium/art-form from every direction.
If you need more, this year DC is releasing four statues in their Designer series that feature Jöelle's designs. The first of which, based on last year's Supergirl Being Super mini-series presents
Kara Zor-el looking windswept and youthful, her head tilted optimistically to the horizon.
Figures featuring Harley Quinn, Batgirl and Catwoman are to follow.


 If my words aren't convincing enough, consider that a woman who knows so much about methods of elimination and crime scene sanitation, who has a keen eye and interest as to what is necessary to make folks disappear, you better stay on her good side.
So buy all her stuff and then no one has to worry about clean up and disposal!



That's all I can muster for now.

See you on Wednesday.





All images are copyrighted by their respective owners and used for review and allegedly journalistic purposes.

Mister Miracle: an examination in progress

NOTE: I have been trying to make sense of and reconcile my feelings and thoughts about the current Mister Miracle series since it hit stands early this Summer.
I am nowhere near any sort of conclusion. In the meantime, here are some of my various points and ponderings on King and Gerads' masterwork in progress.
I will update this as I go along.

It's certainly no secret to anyone who shops in our store about just how much I love Jack Kirby.
One of my kids is named partly for the King.
Though it may seem heretical to dedicated Marvelites, I do believe The Fourth World to be Jack's greatest achievement. My favourite among the stories would be those of Scott Free, Mister Miracle.
These stories were bolder more dynamic and full of wonder and joy than the other Fourth World books and the thinking about how Mr Miracle would or did escape all those traps always captured my imagination.

Imagination, this is the place where The King lived. No one has ever had a bigger, wilder or more ambitious imagination. At the very least he was the major driving force behind comics in North America for over 50 yrs. Super Hero books wouldn't be what they are without him and all those Billion Dollar movies wouldn't even exist if not for Jack's fertile mind. He was/is the source of inspiration for countless artists and comics creators. Even the ones that don't realise it or directly pay tribute owe him a debt.
To quote Mark Evanier (Jack's longtime friend and assistant,
"when we reach the end/center of the universe it's gonna have Jack's signature."
And for my two cents, i think if we pierce the source wall you'll find Jack there at his drawing table smokin' a cigar and he'll ask ,"what took ya so long? didn't I show you the way?"


But I digress.....

Tom King and Mitch Gerads have done one of the best comics in recent history with
Sheriff of Babylon. It is a powerful observance of the complexities and casualties of the fall of Saddam in Iraq. It is a bleak, deeply wounding story that interweaves the lives of multiple people and describes the traumatic human cost of war/occupation/liberation. Graying all the edges and creating more questions than it answers.
This is appropriate and fascinating as a study of Geo-Politics, warfare, Post Traumatic Stress, religion, tribalism, capitalism. It reveals the ugly truth of our world. It scars you but it leaves you stronger and better for the experience.
There is a similar current running through the pages of Mister Miracle. It frames the lives of a group of individuals who have been at war for a long time. Some appear to be on the same side but their goals are not the same. Trust is fractured. Reality seems intangible and the title character wants nothing but to get away from it all. By any means.





The series is masterfully written and so skillfully illustrated that it is near impossible to find a flaw. It is it's own inescapable trap. I don't want to be there, damaged, disillusioned and wounded, wandering through Scott Free's life but I can't escape it ether.
Super Hero fiction is often some combination of parable and metaphor. Allegories and Mythologies built into four-color titans that give us the gods to believe in that suit the day. They occasionally dip into dark territory, dealing with all too human suffering, violence and abuse but they attempt to transcend this and posit a hopeful future.

The book is veering deeper into the uncomfortable, painful and unsettling. what I'd call  "Identity Crisis" territory.. Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis is without a doubt the best story written featuring the Justice League, it deals with trust, deception and a traumatic sexual assault. A very powerful  and adult story of value that raises many moral, ethical questions though i have always questioned it's appropriateness in context of the Justice League, the DC universe and within the boundaries of super hero fiction. I don't believe it is a super hero story. it is a story that happens to superheros but it does not contain the mythical, iconic type of morality play we'd expect and that they are meta-human adventures is entirely incidental.

Which echoes my feelings about Mr Miracle. This book could easily be a sequel to Sheriff of Babylon. It is a story about a soldier suffering from PTSD who tries to end his life.
The  supernatural aspect of the characters and their lives are rarely part of the happenings, aside from a few Boom Tubes here and there. Scott and Barda are trying to move on with their careers following Scott's unsuccessful attempt on his life. The bandages on his wrists are obvious but not addressed, he isn't dealing well with things, seems to have muddled things in his mind, he can't quite be sure if his wife's eyes have always been the color they are now, he doesn' remember appointments he made and he sombrely/nonchalantly flippantly jokes about suicide much to the anquish of those around...
Mister Miracle seems to be moving without any opf the trade mark joy that he perenially faces the world.....
he seems blank, hopeless and like he has no will of his own....



The opposite to life in the Fourth World mythos is the ANTI-LIFE equation. This is a word, a command, and ability to nullify free will with a thought.  Mr Miracle has rebelled against this concept throughout his life, of which the early days were spent on Darkseid's Apokalips until he and his future wife, Barda escaped to Earth.

"One of the things that always burned my wife, Louise, was Mister Miracle. Orion is the son of hell, raised in heaven, and is a total badass. But Mister Miracle is the son of heaven, sent to hell, and is such a mellow guy. How did he become such a mellow guy? I decided it that what is meant is that Scott Free discovered as a young guy that he has the Anti-Life Equation in him. He’s in a battle and he yells “Stop!” And everything stops: hearts, blood flow, everything. He killed a bunch of people to discover that he had that power. Because of that, he has to be a zen master to not release it again. And I like the idea that the Anti-Life Equation has been living under Darkseid’s nose all this time.” – Walt Simonson



Has Scott accessed the Anti-Life Equation, or has it infected him? Is he working for New Genesis or Apokalips or has he just checked out mentally? There are numerous unanswered questions in the story. Many are even unspoken as you see the concern from Scott's loved ones and from the confused way Mr Miracle himself is behaving.



DARKSEID IS........

As I read each successive issue i feel the overwhelming urge to escape,
to get away from this dark working.
it is taking me down roads with the characters and with myself that I don't really want to go down.
the questioning of your sanity, no longer be able to trust in your perceptions or the people around you, or even to trust the perceptions of those people,  losing the will to live,
the trauma that comes with a life of struggle and turmoil, abuse, violence, shock and terror.















Scott has always floated above this miasmic upbringing and life but his past and the effect on him is something he can't get away from.


The purpose and metaphoric meanings of Mr Miracle the principles have been adhered to although the joy and spectacle have been stripped away.
the darkest days of Houdini.....a gut punch that kills.
Scott is someone who has seen the horrors of war and wants out, eventully he beomes resigned to his fate/role and then returns to Apokalips to earn his freedom but it is never enough.
there is no escape from life...unless its into death..






The design is structured in a rigid militant way. The confined layouts, boxing Scott into a regimented 9 panels per page that give a sense of claustrophobic entrapment. They also allow us to pause while gathering our thoughts and a chance to focus on those quiet, somber, frighteningly still moments.
Leaving the characters and reader feeling alone, lost and without hope.

the tension builds with each panel, page and issue and as it gets closer to the end we're sure to be twisting and turning praying for Scott's escape and like hs great friend Oberon fearing the worst has already happened .Oberon's appearance also leave syou wonmderoing abou the state of Scott's mind.

Maybe we can't escape the dreadful drudgery of our lives but if anyone can it is the World's Greatest Escape Artist. There may be hope after all.

Six issues down, I can confidently say we have a legitimate classic on our hands. A high working of comics art that will leave all affected.

http://www.comicsbeat.com/nycc-17-interview-tom-king-talks-mister-miracle-and-the-ever-flowing-river-of-shit/

http://www.comicsbeat.com/nycc17-an-hour-of-byrne-and-simonson-talking-kirby/