Happy Birthday, America!

Sometimes I think the world would be a better place if every country took a whole weekend off to high-five itself. As humble as ever I'm sure I speak for every man, woman and child in the United Kingdom when I say there are no hard feelings from over The Pond . So, after you folk have read Brian Hibbs' important update on his Graphic Novel Clubs below, well...kick off your Sunday shoes and cut Footloose! Put that needle in the groove and let The Loggins loose! America loves its Loggins! Happy Birthday, America! FOOTLOOSE! Art by Russ Heath, an American.

Comix Experience Graphic-Novel-of-the-month club update!

(Oddly, this was supposed to post 2 weeks ago, gr)  

We’re almost ready to launch the Graphic-Novel-of-the-Month club, so here’s your latest news!

STATUS UPDATES

We’re super-excited to tell you that the adult club has 206 members signed up – which means we only need 128 more members in order to hit our funding goal of 334 members.

Minimum Wage raised in San Francisco to $12.25 on May 1^st, but thanks to our membership, as of July 1^st we’re now not paying any staff member less than $13.50 per hour! So thank you very much for that! After we achieve our goal, every 25 members over and above that we gain will yield a 25 cents per hour raise for every staff member as well. There is no limit on this, and my most fervent hope is we can drive the club membership high enough to have the awesome Comix Experience staff be the highest paid comic store employees in the world!

The Kid’s Club is having a slightly slower start, and we’re just at 26 members today – but I really do think this has the potential for thousands of members, and we’re going to spend most of the summer figuring out the ways to get the word out there for the fall and the gift-giving season. If you have any thoughts or connections, please don’t hesitate to let us know!

Help us spread the news on your social media!

FIRST BILLING STARTS ON JULY 1^st!

We’re just about to bill, and start shipping the first books, so there's still time to join us and be in from the start! just go to www.graphicnovelclub.com to join!

OUR INAUGURAL CHOICES

Our inaugural pick to kick off our Graphic-Novel-of-the-Month Club is exactly the kind of book that we hoped it would be: smart and poignant, touching and emotional, showing the full range of what comics can do, by a real master of his craft, and, above all else, an eminently human read: “Room For Love” by ILYA.

A middle-age and washed up writer and an on-the-streets rent boy meet and have a remarkable and complex relationship. “Room For Love” eschews most standard romantic tropes for a sometimes painful, and always authentic, fully rounded study of its two characters. Like all of the best fiction, the characters are deeply changed by their encounters, and ILYA doesn’t shy away from exposing the truths at the heart of the characters and their assignations.

This is a story of opposites, and how they attract, as well as repel. This is a work of great intimacy, and is a markedly original work. We truly think this is one of the best graphic novels we’ve read this decade, and we could not possibly be happier that this is our debut pick.

All members of the club will receive a copy of “Room For Love”, but if you’re not an Adult club member, and would like to purchase a copy, or if you would like additional copies, please order below!

http://mkt.com/comix-experience/room-for-love-by-ilya

We are also EXTREMELY thrilled to announce that ILYA is going to be here in person for our first book club meeting, all the way from England – how cool is that? This is tentatively planned for Wed 7/29, but we will be confirming all of our dates in early July.

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Our inaugural pick for the KIDS club is a rollicking adventure: “Junior Braves of the Apocalypse” by Greg Smith and Michael Tanner, and Zach Lehner

The Junior Braves of Tribe 65 return from a camping trip to find swarms of bloodthirsty mutants have overrun their town, bringing death and destruction everywhere they go! With their families missing and their homes destroyed, these plucky kids must use all their scouting talents, combined smarts, and teamwork to survive the end of the world! Junior Braves: A Brave is Brave is the beginning of an exciting, new, young adult graphic novel series that is one part Goonies and one part The Walking Dead, full of zombies, adventure, and handy tips for wilderness survival!

All members of the KIDS club will receive a copy of “Junior Braves of the Apocalypse”, but if you’re not a Kids Club member, and would like to purchase a copy, or if you would like additional copies, please order below!

http://mkt.com/comix-experience/junior-braves-of-the-apocalypse-by-greg-smith-and-michael-tanner-july

The first KIDS CLUB meeting, with all three creators participating via video call is tentatively planned for Sunday 7/19 -- more details will be released soon!

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In picking the best graphic novel of each month, we usually also find several other books that we rate nearly as highly. While we can only have one choice each month to send out, we thought it might be useful to you to hear what our alternates were. These are our runner-ups for July 2015!

“Mike’s Place: A True Story of Love, Blues, and Terror in Tel Aviv” by Jack Baxter, Joshua Faudem and Koren Shadmi

Writing about Middle Eastern conflicts is tricky, because the roots of those conflicts are deep and divisive, and those of us who aren’t a part of it probably know very little of what we’re talking about. So I, for one, always welcome a new insight from involved parties. Co-author Jack Baxter is an American filmmaker who was making a documentary about Mike’s Place, a bar in Israel, when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb out in front, killing three and injuring fifty, including Baxter. This is a comic of the inspiration for the making of the documentary and then the event and the aftermath that was filled with both triumphs and tragedies. Baxter co-wrote the story with Joshua Faudem, who was the cameraman for the documentary.

There’s something extremely compelling about first hand recollections in comics, and this would be a solid entry for your autobiography shelf.

http://mkt.com/comix-experience/mikes-place-a-true-story-of-love-blues-and-terror-in-tel-aviv-by-jack-baxter-joshua-faudem-and-koren-shadmi

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“The Divine” by Boaz Lavie, Asaf Hanuka, and Tomer Hanuka

A civilian bomb consultant reluctantly accepts an off-the-books mining contract into an obscure Southeast Asian country, and becomes embroiled in civil war led by twin 10-year old guerillas wielding what about to be supernatural powers. Oh, and then there’s the Dragon…

This is a lovely lovely comic, filled with all the shimmering colors of a verdant paradise torn by war. My favorite sequence is set in a cave where the predominant color used is an inky purple, and yet the action and movement can clearly be followed. “The Divine” is the most action-driven comic in our July runner ups, and also, by far, the best drawn.

http://mkt.com/comix-experience/the-divine-by-boaz-lavie-asaf-hanuka-and-tomer-hanuka

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“Long Walk To Valhalla” by Adam Smith and Matthew Fox

Rory would love to forget about most of his life in rural Arkansas, maybe even including his brother Joe who has fits and sees visions in the fields and woods. When Rory’s car breaks down, he is befriended by a young girl named Sylvia, who emerges from the corn fields. Sylvia is a Valkyrie, sent by Odin to escort Rory to Valhalla. On their journey, Rory needs to confront the secrets of his life and family and come to learn the truth about Joe’s visions.

Sometimes you get a debut graphic novel that makes you think “Wow, I really have to keep an eye on those people!” The rhythms of comics are hard to master for people who have been doing it forever, so to see a first-time project done with such skill and assurance and verve, it thrills you to wonder where they’re be when they finally master their craft? Smith and Fox are two to watch for as this book missed being our Selection for the month by only a single point in the voting (out of forty possible)

http://mkt.com/comix-experience/long-walk-to-valhalla-by-adam-smith-and-matthew-fox-july

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We really think that ROOM FOR LOVE is a superb book, and there's still time to join www.graphicnovelclub.com and be a part of our meetings, including ILYA live and in person in late July!

We hope you'll join us!

-B

"People Come Here For Their Holidays." NOT COMICS! PROSE! Sometimes They Probably Aren't Going To Win Any Awards From The UK Tourist Board!

What could be better than War Comics? Western comics! But what’s better than Western comics? Why it's surely when I don’t talk about comics at all, and start banging on about some book like I even know what the Hell I’m talking about! Truly, we here at The Savage Critics know how to serve your needs. Look, you’re probably going on holiday, so why not let a complete stranger recommend a really upsetting, but very well-written book? Dettol©® won’t help with this boo-boo, because this? This isn’t just violence, this is…GBH!

Anyway, this… GBH By Ted Lewis SOHO CRIME (Soho Press, Inc), h/b, £19.99 (2015)

As all connoisseurs of thatch-cheeked 1970s Brit-crime authors know, the very great Ted Lewis popped his clogs in 1982 so what we actually have here is a 2015 reprint of his final, sublimely unpleasant novel from 1980. This edition is ballyhooed as its first publication in America, so I thought I’d better let America know it was out, and what America has let itself in for. Then America can run out and buy it and tuck into the magic of Ted Lewis. Don’t make me feel like I’ve wasted my time here, America! I know you’re out there, America! I can hear you breathing.

First up, even if you don’t realise it you’re probably aware of Ted Lewis’ work from JACK’S RETURN HOME (1970) which was filmed in 1971 as “Get Carter” by Mike “Flash Gordon” Hodges. Everyone’s seen that one, and if they haven’t, well, they just aren’t trying and those people need to up their game; just like the poor in Cameron’s Britain. Word on the street is that it was also filmed Blaxploitation style(?) by George Armitage in 1972 as “Hit Man” starring Bernie Casey and Pam Grier. I haven’t seen that one, but I imagine it’s…something. In 2000 another movie called “Get Carter” appeared and I did see that one; it starred Sylvester “F.I.S.T” Stallone and it was…nothing. As remakes go it was like Blackpool Tower is to the Eiffel Tower. And I mean a plastic souvenir Blackpool Tower that’s fallen behind the radiator in that tat and crap shop; the one next to the fortune teller’s with the picture of Madame Zsa Zsa shaking Sid Little’s hand in the window. So successful was the 1971 movie that the novel was renamed thereafter, and even today Hodges’ movie remains an unsettlingly accurate visual record of a time and place best left gone. Due to its surface wit and style “Get Carter” is frequently perceived as a stylish lad flick, but it is in fact the deeply unpleasant story of a vile man who is quite happy dishing shit out but reacts quite badly when some of it splashes on him. There were two print sequels (JACK CARTER’S LAW (1974) and JACK CARTER AND THE MAFIA PIGEON (1977)) and while the quality decreases as the titles lengthen, neither are quite as pointless as the end of the original might lead you to believe. They are a good time, but not a great time, basically. From what I’ve read (7 of his 9 novels) Ted Lewis never actually wrote a wholly bad book as such and, even better, he wrote a couple of real corkers. GET CARTER being one and GBH being t’other.

GBH is often referred to as Lewis’ “lost masterpiece”; over here (in the UK; the clue’s in my name) it’s only seen print in 1980 and 1994, and in paperback at that. So you are being truly singled out for special attention, America. Don’t throw this back in Soho Press’ face! Anyway, “lost” means no one bought it, I guess, because in the 10 years since GET CARTER Lewis had written some good books but hadn’t had a run of consistent crackers like that one everyone liked, so he’d probably slipped out of the public eye somewhat. Also, drinking. Unfortunately there aren’t any hard and fast rules about booze and creativity; some authors thrive on it but, let’s face it, most only think they do. Largely because they are drunk and their senses are impaired, obviously. After five pints even a ceaseless self-loather like me thinks he’s fucking marvellous, so Christ alone knows what happens in writers’ heads, modest folk that they often be. Anyway, it was his liver to do with what he would. Where the booze paid off (that price – Lewis died at 42. Ker-ching! Beat that Hot UKDeals!) was in a pretty honest portrayal of it, particularly on these pages. Like many a man in a hard-boiled yarn George Fowler sucks the booze down like it’s going out of fashion. Unlike most men in hard-boiled yarns the liquor isn’t used to enhance his manliness (and by proxy that of the (mostly male) audience) but rather ends up unmanning him. George Fowler gets very drunk indeed and the man who wrote George Fowler knew what it was like to get very drunk indeed. Getting very drunk indeed doesn’t do anyone any favours; fact. And getting very drunk indeed is the last thing a man in George Fowler’s position needs. George Fowler needs his wits about him. Because George Fowler is trapped in Mablethorpe. Out of season.

Uncredited photo of Ted Lewis from the back cover of JACK CARTER's LAW.

See that probably fell a bit flat because America probably isn’t as up on Mablethorpe as it expects the rest of the world to be on, say, Portland. (No, me neither.) So, Mablethorpe is a British seaside resort; a loose but highly centralised collection of shops, hotels, bars, bright lights and fast, thrillingly rickety rides which clings to the coast purely to soak up cash off visiting inlanders during what we laughingly refer to here as Summer. Things have probably changed by now, but back when the book was written (and is set) the British seaside’s charms were more of an exercise in collective wishful thinking than an actuality. Mablethorpe! Where dreams come alive! No one has ever said that. Cheap and cheerful was the order of the day back then, British seaside wise, but we didn’t know any better so we made do. Donkey rides! Postcards of toothbrush tashed husbands leering at ladies melons! Chips trod in vomit A sea too brown for comfort, and too cold to breach! Proper holidays they were. Out of season things were even less fun, with just the sea sullenly remaining but now even browner and colder; a vast turd consommé. The suicide rate in such places probably challenged that of dentists. And Lewis beautifully evokes this drab Purgatory Fowler has exiled himself to, from the awful architecture beneath the perpetually overcast sky to the snippy, chippy malcontents who fill the hours until the brief salvation of the next Summer with booze and backbiting. Fowler stands out amongst them as a sophisticate because Fowler is from The Smoke (i.e. London) and the attention his novelty attracts distracts him from his problems, but because of his problems attention’s the last thing he needs.

Fowler’s problems are back in The Smoke and he’s not overly keen for them to appear here in The Sea. When the book opens we know he has some problems, set-backs if you will, but not what they are. In a series of alternating chapters (The Sea, The Smoke, etc) we find them out as these twin narratives reveal Fowler’s twin losses; first that of his lifestyle and then, perhaps, that of his sanity. Or maybe his sanity’s already flown the coop and the final loss will somewhat more final in nature. Hard to tell with a bloke like George, sanity wise. Now, Jack Carter’s a crap but George Fowler is a monster. Of course, like all good monsters George thinks he perfectly normal, so it’s a clever move to tell the tale (mostly) from his POV. And then we did this, and then we did that, says George , all matter of fact, all low heart rate and slow eye-blink, and then the pieces come together in your mind and you choke back a bit of sick, but you can see George is wondering what all the fuss is about, of course, he continues, after that we had to clean up, and you wonder where the door is, but Ted Lewis has locked it behind him, and it’s just you and George now. And then the lights go off.

George is such a deep, dark pit of shit in fact that it’s entirely due to the titanic level of skill Lewis applies throughout that this reader could not only bear the big shitter longer than a page but even, every now and again, caught themselves actually rooting for him. Sure, I felt dirty but I admired the trick. George is a nasty man in a nasty business but he sees neither as such; he’s just a man and business is, well, business. And we get to know George’s business intimately as the book progresses, and while business may be good for him it is also very, very bad for others. Actually, it’s bad for him as well but he can’t see that. Lewis was always good at showing men arrogant in their belief that they were untouched by the things that damaged others, and then detailing the slow explosion of their unravelling when this belief evaporated like Scotch Mist. (Which is a drink; get me?) That’s only a piece of the parting gift Ted Lewis gave us here, as GBH also provides a convincing depiction of the underworld of the time, with its nasty antics and corrupt symbiosis between villains, filth and hacks and a good old wallow in the abhorrent brutality of a life lived in crime without once glamourising it. Some people (men, mostly) come away from GET CARTER liking Jack, but I can’t see anyone coming away from GBH liking George. It doesn’t mean you won’t feel for him though, because Ted Lewis’ parting shot is to convince us that even evil can love; but it’s still evil for all that. VERY GOOD!

Evil might well love but it gives short shrift to - COMICS!!!

Arriving 7/1/15

The first week of July is not holding back at all. 8HOUSE from Brandon Graham and Marian Churchland debuts alongside WE STAND GUARD from Brian K. Vaughan and Steve Skroce.plus collections of AUTUMNLANDS and WICKED + DIVINE and new issues of ZERO and SECRET WARS. Check the cut for all the fresh comics!

8HOUSE ARCLIGHT #1 ACTION COMICS #42 A-FORCE #2 SWA AGE OF REPTILES ANCIENT EGYPTIANS #2 (OF 4) AIRBOY #2 (OF 4) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #19.1 AMERICAN VAMPIRE SECOND CYCLE #8 ANGEL AND FAITH SEASON 10 #16 ARCADIA #3 BALTIMORE CULT OF THE RED KING #3 (OF 5) BARB WIRE #1 BAT MITE #2 (OF 6) BATMAN BEYOND #2 BERLIN #19 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA #12 BIZARRO #2 (OF 6) BOBS BURGERS ONGOING #1 BROKEN WORLD #2 (OF 4) BUNKER #12 CHEW #50 DARTH VADER #7 DEADLY CLASS #14 DETECTIVE COMICS #42 DOCTOR WHO 12TH #9 FBP FEDERAL BUREAU OF PHYSICS #22 FUTURAMA COMICS #75 FUTURE IMPERFECT #2 SWA GIANT SIZE LITTLE MARVEL AVX #2 SWA GOD IS DEAD #37 GODKILLER WALK AMONG US #6 GRANT MORRISONS 18 DAYS #1 GREEN ARROW #42 GREEN LANTERN #42 GROOT #2 GUARDIANS TEAM-UP #7 HAUNTED HORROR #17 HE MAN THE ETERNITY WAR #7 HELP US GREAT WARRIOR #5 HUMANS #6 JUPITERS CIRCLE #4 JUSTICE INC AVENGER #2 LOBO #8 LOOKING FOR GROUP #4 MASKS 2 #4 (OF 8) MIAMI VICE REMIX #5 (OF 5) MICKEY MOUSE #1 MIDNIGHTER #2 MINIMUM WAGE SO MANY BAD DECISIONS #3 (OF 6) MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER #18 NAILBITER #14 NEVERBOY #5 (OF 6) NO MERCY #4 OMEGA MEN #2 ONYX #1 (OF 4) OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA #10 PRINCESS LEIA #5 (OF 5) PUNKS THE COMIC CBLDF SPEC RED SKULL #1 (OF 3) SWA REGULAR SHOW #25 SATELLITE SAM #15 SCOOBY DOO TEAM UP #11 SECRET WARS #4 (OF 8) SECRET WARS JOURNAL #3 (OF 5) SWA SONIC BOOM #9 SPIRE #1 (OF 8) TMNT ONGOING #47 TOWER CHRONICLES DREADSTALKER #11 UBER #26 ULTIMATE END #3 (OF 5) SWA UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #7 UNCANNY SEASON 2 #4 (OF 6) VERTIGO QUARTERLY SFX #2 WAR STORIES #10 WE STAND ON GUARD #1 WICKED & DIVINE #12 WILL EISNER SPIRIT #1 WITCHER FOX CHILDREN #4 (OF 5) WOODS #14 X-FILES SEASON 10 #25 X-O MANOWAR #38 X-TINCTION AGENDA #2 SWA YEARS OF FUTURE PAST #2 SWA ZERO #18

Books/Mags/Things AUTUMNLANDS TP VOL 01 TOOTH & CLAW AVENGERS TP VOL 06 INFINITE AVENGERS COMPLETE PEANUTS TP VOL 03 1955-1956 CORTO MALTESE GN BEYOND THE WINDY ISLES CRIMINAL TP VOL 06 LAST OF THE INNOCENT DMZ DELUXE EDITION HC BOOK 04 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY AND X-MEN HC BLACK VORTEX HEAVY METAL #275 JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #360 LONE WOLF & CUB OMNIBUS TP VOL 09 MISS BETTER LIVING THROUGH CRIME HC PRINCE VALIANT HC VOL 11 1957-1958 RUNAWAYS COMPLETE COLLECTION TP VOL 04 SHIELD TP VOL 01 PERFECT BULLETS STAR WARS LEGENDS EPIC COLLECTION TP VOL 01 OLD REPUBLIC SUPREME BLUE ROSE TP THOR GOD OF THUNDER HC VOL 02 TRANSFORMERS TP DRIFT EMPIRE OF STONE WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 02 FANDEMONIUM

as always, what do YOU think?

“I'm Not Sure I Ought To Have To DO It Alone." COMICS! Sometimes I Return With You Now To Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear…!

A bit of a break from war comics this time out. Because if there's one thing I know you folks love more than war comics it's Western comics. Damn, if I pander any harder I'm liable to break something! THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO by Truman, Magyar, Lansdale, Parsons & Joyce

Anyway, This...

THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO #1-4 Art by Timothy Truman & Rick Magyar Written by Joe R. Lansdale Lettered by Brad K. Joyce Coloured by Sam Parsons TOPPS Comics, $2.50ea (1994) The Lone Ranger created in 1933 by Fran Striker or George W. Trendle

When I was a kid I used to watch The Lone Ranger but then he got some curtains, and that was the end of that joke. A joke there almost as old as The Lone Ranger himself. Because not only did I (being a man whom we have established in past instalments is basically dust about to happen) watch the B&W TV show but so did my dad when he was a kid in Canada. That’s two very different places separated by decades, tons of water, different opinions on how to spell the word colour, and more miles than I can honestly be bothered to look up today. I checked with “Gil” and he only knows The Lone Ranger from the “poorly received” 2013 movie. He enjoyed it mind you, but since “poorly received” is polite Tinseltown speak for “the audience avoided it like it was trying to rub shit in their eyes” I imagine he was in the minority on that one. Prior to that there was a 1981 LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER movie, which even I’d forgotten about. I guess what I’m getting at is that by 1994 when these comics appeared The Lone Ranger’s appeal was somehat shy of raging like a prairie fire. While these comics would do nothing to change that state of affairs (a two-hour TV pilot was broadcast in 2003 on the WB channel and someone will one day admit to seeing it) they are by a talented team and if you’re partial to a Lansdale or Truman shindig you’ll probably like these comics too.

THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO by Truman, Magyar, Lansdale, Parsons & Joyce

Posterity may have given this series short shrift but be assured that here the pair bring the same scruffy panache they brought to their three Jonah Hex series for Vertigo. Anyone who has read their salty take on the man with the fried egg eye will know that Lansdale & Truman are as safe a pair of hands as could be found for a property like this. Timothy Truman’s art always looks like it has escaped from The Old West as it is. Even when tasked with superheroes such as Hawkman Truman’s art brings with it a singularly malodorous air of malnutrition and poor sanitation. And I mean that in a good way. I like a strong style; you should see my ties. So, when depicting a world where malnutrition and poor sanitation were something to aspire to then Timothy Truman’s the man, true. His whole body of work shows an obvious affinity for The Old West, so much so that back in 1985 his SCOUT series for Eclipse Comics had been basically set in a futuristic dystopia informed by Native American mythology which was, well, the Old West, just with better hardware and totemic demons. (If I recall correctly there was even a serape a la The Man With No Name in the first issue.) Scout is also, commonly, the name of Tonto’s horse, but that may be a stretch to test Reed Richards there. Here, even though it’s an oater, Truman doesn’t just have to draw horses and horseshit and saloons and spittoons though, because this is also a Joe R Lansdale joint so Truman’s art also has to encompass visual absurdities which range from the plain unsettling to the plumb appalling. He’s up to it though. The tranquil horror of an unfeasibly large pile of bodies is as queasily affecting as a land boat racing across the prairies is ridiculously impressive. Nor does Truman stint none on the small scale stuff, with the creature on the loose (no spoilers) possessing a ball crawling combination of dainty finickitiness and implacability which static images shouldn’t really be able to impart, but my crawling balls can assure you they do here. The art here isn’t pretty and nor is precision at a premium; the utter dicksplash of a Governor looks like Ronald Reagan for only a couple of panels, but it’s enough to make the bit where The Lone Ranger And Tonto give him his comeuppance via sarcasm and cigars that much sweeter. But the value of Truman’s imprecision is the flexibility it allows him, flexibility shown to no greater effect than when a creature swallows a man whole in a series of panels which will have you gingerly touching your own throat like a defrocked vicar in a moment of stress.

THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO by Truman, Magyar, Lansdale, Parsons & Joyce

While I’m trying to avoid spoiling this one it should be as clear as the river when the snows thaw that this time out The Lone Ranger and Tonto are up against a mite more than cattle rustlers or bank robbers. What they are up against is whatever fell out of Joe R Lansdale’s head while he was writing it, and what falls out of Joe R Lansdale’s head during the writing process can err towards the bizarre. And I mean that in a good way. I like a strong imagination; like when you used yours to picture my ties back there. Joe R Lansdale is of course America’s primo mojo storyteller hissownself. He writes weird fiction and crime basically. He ain’t exactly Don DeLillo, but sometimes you don’t want Don DeLillo. After all, you are large, you contain multitudes. So, stop putting yourself down. Comic reviews and a pep talk, no charge! You may know Joe R Lansdale’s work from the movies BUBBA Ho-TEP (2002) and Cold in July (2014), or the episode of MASTERS OF HORROR “Incident On And Off A Mountain Road” (2005). All of which are worth reading in their papery incarnations even if you have seen them. He’s also done a series of books starring Hap Collins and Leonard Pine which are profane and brutally violent in a way which never feels cheap because of the underlying moral horror which fuels them. Could be Hap and Leonard are a Lone Ranger and Tonto for the modern world, though they’d probably break your jaw and steal all your vanilla cookies for suggesting it. In photographs Lansdale looks like he’s stolen Robert Mitchum’s torso, and perpetually sports an expression of guarded tolerance at the very idea that someone would want to do a damnfool thing like take his picture with one of them new-fangled camera doohickeys. Basically the guy writes like he’s trying to smash through a wall. He’s good is what he is. And I don’t say that just because Joe R Lansdale ran his own dojo and could drop kick me so hard I’d be wearing my ass for a hat. No, he’s a good writer. The End. Part of why he’s a good writer is how lightly he wears his ingenuity. Instead of calling a fucking press conference to celebrate his meta antics when they occur he just ups and gets it done.

THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO by Truman, Magyar, Lansdale, Parsons & Joyce

Look, huddle in here round this imaginary fire and picture the scene with me…we’re way back now in the primitive hell of 1994 and TOPPS want to revive the Lone Ranger IP but, well, look, no one wants to start any trouble here but there’s no way around this, while The Lone Ranger’s okay it’s his mate who’s the issue. Because if you have The Lone Ranger you have to have Tonto. (Oh I sense your confusion what with his name being Lone and that, but his name means there aren’t any other Rangers with him rather than he prefers his own company.) Although Tonto was tardy, turning up first in the 11th episode of the radio serial, thereafter he was always with The Lone Ranger. Because after that like Silver, silver bullets, powder blue tasselled jackets and white Stetsons, Tonto is always part of the deal with The Lone Ranger. Tonto had, over time, become built in and by 1994 he’s now part of the origin, being as he’s the one who rescues Allen King/Bill Andrews/John Reid/Luke Hartman/Uncle Tom Cobbley and thus enables him to make the peculiar decision to turn his dead brother’s vest into a mask, and ride about hither and yon firing ostentatiously expensive bullets at men of low character. Which stuff is all just dandy, if highly suggestive of a particularly flamboyant form of PTSD, but Tonto is a Native American and that kind of character has not been, uh, well served in popular literature. For starters his name, unfortunately, means “silly” in Spanish. (In early Martin Amis novels “tonto” means fucked in the head, for some reason. I don’t know why; I’ll ask him next time I see him.) While he spoke in broken English (Tonto not Martin Amis) this was because he had (naturally enough) learnt it as a second language (still talking about Tonto here, not Martin Amis). Despite this actually making Tonto smarter than a monolingual like, say, oh, me his lack of verbal facility was often taken as a sign of stupidity. Luckily, Joe R Lansdale knows how to work round that stuff; he just writes Tonto like an intelligent human being.

THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO by Truman, Magyar, Lansdale, Parsons & Joyce

Which is smarter than it sounds and the smartness doesn’t stop there; he builds the obvious baggage the character brings right into the story itself. Throughout the mini-series references are made to the dime novels portraying the adventures of The Lone Ranger and Tonto. These are clearly meant to represent their earlier movies, books, comics, newspaper strips, etc with their, uh, less than ideal portrayal of Tonto and their possibly Ranger-centric approach. Again and again Truman’ delightfully scrofulous townsfolk treat The Lone Ranger like a movie star while his sidekick is kicked to the side. And it’s this stress between reality and public perception which is as threatening to the pair as any skin feasting fiend. Joe R Lansdale and Timothy Truman’s tale then is not just about a frightsome beast or revenge for sins past but also about two friends whose bond is riven by success and secrets. The entertainment is all in the ride because the end is never in doubt. After all, as all us old gits know, it’s part of The Lone Ranger’s credo that to have a friend one must be one. And The Lone Ranger and Tonto are many things to many people in many ages but they will always be friends to each other. (However, I suspect Tonto is the smarter of the two). THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO is whip-crack smart and scruffy stuff. In 2006 Dynamite would have greater success with a Lone Ranger series but I haven’t read that; I read this one and it’s GOOD!

They are how the West was won - COMICS!!!

Arriving 6/24/15

Smaller week than the others this month, but still excellent things! Return of BATGIRL plus new FIGHT CLUB 2 and MATERIAL. Check under the cut for the rest of this weeks comics!

ADVENTURE TIME #41 AGE OF ULTRON VS MARVEL ZOMBIES #1 SWA ANNIHILATOR #6 (OF 6) ANT-MAN LARGER THAN LIFE #1 AQUAMAN #41 AUTEUR SISTER BAMBI #2 BATGIRL #41 BATMAN 66 #24 BLACK HOOD #5 BLACK WIDOW #19 SWA CONAN THE AVENGER #15 CROSSED BADLANDS #79 DAREDEVIL #16 DAWN VAMPIRELLA #4 (OF 6) DEATHSTROKE #7 DEEP STATE #7 DOCTOR WHO 10TH #12 DONALD DUCK #2 E IS FOR EXTINCTION #1 SWA EMPIRE UPRISING #3 FADE OUT #7 FIGHT CLUB 2 #2 FLASH #41 FRANKENSTEIN UNDERGROUND #4 (OF 5) GARBAGE PAIL KIDS GROSS ENCOUNTERS (ONE SHOT) GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #6 GRAYSON #9 GREEN LANTERN THE LOST ARMY #1 GRINDHOUSE DRIVE IN BLEED OUT #6 (OF 8) HELLBREAK #4 HOWARD THE DUCK #4 INFINITY GAUNTLET #2 SWA INVISIBLE REPUBLIC #4 JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS #4 JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #1 KAPTARA #3 KORVAC SAGA #1 SWA LADY MECHANIKA TABLET OF DESTINIES #3 (OF 6) LEGACY OF LUTHER STRODE #2 LEGENDERRY RED SONJA #5 (OF 5) LOKI AGENT OF ASGARD #15 SWA MARVEL UNIVERSE ULT SPIDER-MAN WEB WARRIORS #8 MATERIAL #2 MODOK ASSASSIN #2 (OF 5) SWA MULAN REVELATIONS #1 (OF 4) MYTHIC #2 NINJAK #4 ORPHAN BLACK #4 PASTAWAYS #4 PENNY DORA & THE WISHING BOX #5 (OF 5) PLANET HULK #2 SWA PUNISHER #19 SWA RASPUTIN #6 RESIDENT ALIEN SAM HAIN MYSTERY #2 SEX #22 SHADOW #100 SHIELD #7 SKYLANDERS #10 LIGHT IN THE DARK SONIC UNIVERSE #77 SONS OF THE DEVIL #2 SOUTHERN CROSS #4 SPAWN #253 SPREAD #8 SUICIDERS #5 SUPERMAN #41 SURFACE TENSION #2 (OF 5) TEEN TITANS #9 THIEF OF THIEVES #29 TITHE #3 TOMB RAIDER #17 TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE #42 TRANSFORMERS WINDBLADE COMBINER WARS #4 UFOLOGY #3 UNCANNY AVENGERS #5 UNCLE GRANDPA PIZZA STEVE SPECIAL #1 WALKING DEAD #143 WAYWARD #9 WE ARE ROBIN #1 WHERE MONSTERS DWELL #2 (OF 5) SWA X-MEN 92 #1 SWA

Books/Mags/Things ANT-MAN GIANT-MAN EPIC COLLECTION TP MAN IN ANT HILL ANT-MAN TP VOL 01 SECOND CHANCE MAN BATMAN & ROBIN TP VOL 05 THE BIG BURN (N52) CHRONICLES OF KING CONAN TP VOL 11 NIGHTMARE DON ROSA LIFE & TIMES SCROOGE MCDUCK ARTIST ED HC VOL 01 (NE FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #280 HATTER M SEEKING WONDER GN HIC HOC JOURNAL OF HUMOR VOL 01 UNITED STATES HOWARD THE DUCK TP VOL 01 COMPLETE COLLECTION INVINCIBLE TP VOL 21 JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #65 JOHNNY BOO MEETS DRAGON PUNCHER HC JSA OMNIBUS HC VOL 03 JUDGE DREDD TP VOL 07 KUROSAGI CORPSE DELIVERY SERVICE TP VOL 14 MASSIVE TP VOL 05 RAGNAROK MAZE RUNNER OFFICAL PRELUDE GN SCORCH TRIAL VOL 01 MIDAS FLESH TP VOL 02 NICKELODEON MAGAZINE #1 PREVIEWS #322 JULY 2015 RASPUTIN TP VOL 01 RUMBLE TP VOL 01 WHAT COLOR OF DARKNESS SECRET AVENGERS TP VOL 03 GOD LEVEL SECRET SIX TP VOL 02 MONEY FOR MURDER WYTCHES TP VOL 01

As always, what do YOU think?

New Tilting at Windmills is live!

Been a few months, missed it?  If so, find it at Comic Book Resources!  

-B

“You're Catching On, Buster!" COMICS! Sometimes I Don’t Want To Ruffle Any Feathers But I Do Have To Say That Nazis Seem Like Really Quite The Most Awful People!

I read a 1960s DC war comic. It was pretty neat. Don’t worry, it’s inevitable that we’ll hit some real shockers soon, but not this week.

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

Anyway, this…
OUR ARMY AT WAR #160
“What Is The Color Of Your Blood?”
Art by Joe Kubert
Written by Robert Kanigher
Sgt Rock created by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher
DC Comics, $0.12 (1965)

This yellowing and elderly comic clutched in my yellowing and elderly hands is remarkable for a number of reasons. The most amusing of those reasons is Robert Kanigher’s lovably hyperbolic reaction to a letter criticising his work on WONDER WOMAN: “What is one more scar to a walking battlefield?” This being OUR ARMY AT WAR and not WONDER WOMAN the precise criticism is irrelevant so Kanigher doesn’t print it. Kanigher’s steely indifference in the face of such criticism is, however, important so he does share that with us. “What is one more scar to a walking battlefield?” Fantastic stuff. Due to its relevance Kanigher is however able to share with us the rest of the letter which, fortuitously, is praise, this time for the Enemy Ace strip. Yes, as you’ve probably gathered from previous entries in the appallingly persistent “Old Man! Old Comics!” things I do, one of the very special pleasures of reading an old comic is the dip into the psyche of the Comics Scene Past it allows via the letters page. Usually, because I err towards old war comics, this is an exciting peek into the minds of readers who were inclined to address their excitable letters to fictional characters (“Hi, Sgt Rock! Remember when you shot that Jerry in the face? How did his brains taste?”) and correct mistakes regarding weaponry (“…the Koch-Wobbler sub-machine gun was in fact useless in prolonged firefights due to its tendency to overheat and loudly question why everyone couldn’t just get along.” ) The thrilling fusion of imagination and pedantry on display is an entertainment in itself, and an important indicator of how seriously the audience took this stuff. Well, some of the audience. Admittedly most of the audience neglected to write in and probably forgot these books as soon as they finished them, but, still, someone out there was listening. In recognition of this DC’s war comics would occasionally try to say something worth listening to. OUR ARMY AT WAR #160 is one such issue.

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

OUR ARMY AT WAR#160 is a Message Issue and, no, the message isn’t that you can’t hurt Robert Kanigher’s feelings with your WONDER WOMAN criticisms but rather that everyone should knock that racist shit off. From my privileged view point (white, male, one cat, no hair) it’s easy to think such a message is like telling everyone not to wash their hair in lava ,or not to keep tigers under the bed, and yet rumour has it that racism persists. Sure there’s a black President in The Americas but there was also all that pretty racist stuff about him being a Hawaiian muslim or something. (Those damn Hawaiians! Always causing a fuss! I don’t want to sound anti-Hawaiian here but…etc.) Things are by no means sorted on the racial equality front in 2015 and terrible, terrible things still happen to remind us of that. But things are… better (said the complacent middle aged white man) in 2015 so the clumsy but heartfelt sentiments on show here might seem a tad toothless. But not all times are these times. And this comic didn’t come out in 2015; it came out in 1965. That may well have been ten years after Rosa Parks changed everything by not going to the back of a bus but those ten years of Civil rights progress had been filled with tear gas, violence and death. In 1965 there may well have been the Voting Rights Act but there were also the Watts Riots (Aug 11-17, 1965) and the assassination of Malcolm X (21 Feb 1965). Offering up a plea for racial equality in a comical periodical might not exactly have been literary gunpowder, but in 1965 it was still far from empty gum flapping.

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

Throughout I’m treating this comic as a Kubert & Kanigher collaboration because comics are (ideally) a collaborative art form and Kubert & Kanigher worked closely together on the Rock comics. The storytelling with its in media res opening, repetitive reinforcement of key points, flash-backs, direct to the point of bluntness dialogue, use of quotes to highlight simple metaphors and the general ability to impart something quite rickety with the illusion of solidity is Kanigher at the top of his “get it done” game. Kubert’s art has an extra level of commitment here, with that lively looseness of line bolstered by the blunt impact of his blacks to smooth the eye through.

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

As I’ve said in the past I think Joe Kubert was quite keen on his comics being edifying so I can quite see the whole message thing originating from him, Kanigher giving the thing shape, and then the two batting it back and forth until time ran out and they just had to go with what they’d got. The result is not exactly buffed to a high gloss, but for all the slips into silliness and end runs past realism “What is The Color of Your Blood?” works well as a four colour punchy polemic.

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

As is traditional Sgt Rock headlines OUR ARMY AT WAR but for much of this blockbuster battle yarn Jackie Johnson takes centre stage. Because you aren’t old and daft you probably don’t read a lot of DC war comics so it’s maybe worth pointing out that Jackie Johnson is the black member of Easy Co. From my intensive researches (i.e. reading Codename: Gravedigger in MEN OF WAR) I can tell you that this is unrealistic as blacks and whites were segregated during WW2, with black soldiers relegated to menial and unpleasant tasks while the white soldiers did the fighting. However, due to further research (i.e. reading SGT ROCK comics) I can assure you that Sgt Rock stories are not supposed to be documentaries so, yes, there’s a black soldier in Easy Co. In 1965 America was still firmly impaled on the Punji sticks of the Vietnam War and soldiers (back before they were allowed porn vids) were notorious for reading comics. Sometimes people wonder how DC’s war comics lasted as long as they did and, simplistically, I think it’s because even though they were (mostly) about WW2 they allowed America to acknowledge and deal with the wars that came after. Anyway, racial segregation in the US Army had ended in 1948 so by 1965 black soldiers could die with white soldiers, which just goes to show equality isn’t all pony rides and ice cream. It also shows why Easy Co. anachronistically included a black soldier - it was an attempt to reflect the diversity of the armed forces audience of the time.

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

The exact individuals whom Jackie Johnson is supposed to be an amalgamation of varies according to who you ask, as this story revolves around boxing I’m going to stick with Jackie Johnson being a combination of Jack Johnson & Joe Louis, who were both boxers. They also both play directly into the ideas and themes Kubert & Kanigher are utilising. Man, that’s a chalk and elbow patches sentence right there. Before we get to that dusty stuff I have to tell you about the dust up it’s attached to. In essence then, Rock, Wild Man (he of the eerily prescient hipster beard) and Jackie Johnson are captured by Nazis, amongst whose number a familiar face is found. Fate (as if working against a really tight deadline with little room for such niceties as plausibility) has conspired to bring Jackie face to face with, one Uhlan who is not only a German boxer, but the very same German boxer to whom Jackie had memorably lost the heavyweight boxing championship prior to WW2 (!) Memorably for Jackie that is, not you because it didn’t really happen so how would you remember it? Turns out Jackie remembers it enough for everyone as we see in a series of flashbacks in which Jackie saves Easy Co. via a succession of typically Kanigher-esque acts awesomely entertaining in their unfeasibility, but then looks all sad and Sgt Rock stands near him and does one of his little monologues which explain Jackie’s sadness in a manly way. Basically, Jackie has really taken his Stateside loss at the hands of a Nazi, and the later use of his defeat as Propaganda, really badly. He needs to toughen up a bit; what if someone did something really awful like criticise his work on WONDER WOMAN?

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

Having won once the Nazi reckons twice can’t hurt and so elects to do so in an impromptu rematch. The idea here is to have a bit of fun during a rare spot of down time to demonstrate to his cackling pals the racial superiority of the white race. (Why, I do the same myself when running long macros at work!) Of course it’s implicit that once Jackie even starts to look as though he’s winning the Nazis will kill Rock, Wildman & Jackie because, well, Nazis are big jerks. So, at this point of suspense I naturally change the subject and start going on about Jack Johnson: Jack Johnson (1878-1946) was the first African-American world heavyweight boxing champion. His landmark 1908 win followed several years of doggedly pursuing the chance to fight for the title, and then fourteen rounds of hitting the Canadian Tommy Burns in the face. What’s important here isn’t his title but the fact that his victory was seen as a bit of an affront to believers in the self-same superiority of the white race which the Nazi in this story is so keen to prove. Unfortunately for Jack Johnson that was quite a lot of people in his own country at that point in history. Mind you, in their defence none of them were Nazis. This led to a string of white opponents being thrown at Johnson and the creation of the horrible term “Great White Hope”, because the hope was that the white man would put this uppity, um, fellow in his place. The white man repeatedly failed to do so until April 5 1915 when Johnson lost his title to Jess Willard. It’s this “Great White Hope” thing which is informing Kubert & Kanigher’s work here. The reference to the whole ugly deal of a white guy knocking a black guy down and thus proving the superiority of an entire race in one victorious act of thuggish brutality is inescapable. In Jack Johnson’s day apparently it all seemed pretty reasonable, but by 1965, thankfully, it’s a view presented as the childishly delusional nonsense it clearly is.

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

Joe Louis (1914-1981) has an even more direct connection to the narrative at hand. Joe Louis was also black and also a boxer, but following wise advice had played it safe and played it quiet in direct contrast to Jack Johnson whose flamboyance had really upset certain folk (white folks, I’m talking about whites folks there). Canny management had built Joe Louis up as a respectable and honourable sporting figure in the public eye. People were okay supporting Joe Louis. Which was good because Joe Louis would take on a symbolic aspect he probably could have done without. Jackie Johnson’s first loss to Uhlan echoes Joe Louis’ 1936 defeat at the gloves of Max Schmeling (1905-2005), a white German boxer. The state of things in Germany were frankly distressing at that time and so this victory was seized upon as proof positive of the Aryan superiority preached by the kind of people who think putting skulls on uniforms is an adult fashion decision. In 1938 a rematch occurred, and things with the Nazis were getting so bad so quickly the world was having trouble ignoring it. War was coming. The rematch was no longer only about black vs white, but also about Fascism vs Democracy. And so two men hitting each other for money took on a ridiculously potent symbolism. Records show that on the night of June 22, 1938 the myth of Aryan supremacy got in the ring with an athletic black man and lasted two minutes and four seconds. No, Joe Louis did not fall that night.   Despite his failure Schmeling, surprisingly, wasn’t stuck in an oven or shot but served his country as a paratrooper in WW2. The boxer Jackie faces is also a paratrooper. So, no, see, all these connections aren’t simply in my head. Now, I would like to tell you that following the fight Nazi Germany admitted it was wrong, apologised to everyone, rethought its philosophy and became a socialist utopia where men and women of all colours joyfully worked together to achieve the goal of peaceful space colonisation, but I would be lying. In fact Nazi Germany carried on merrily turning the world to fiery dung as though nothing had happened. Because apparently settling the whole racial superiority in the ring thing only counts if the white guy wins.

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

Where there’s boxing there’s blood, and that together with its colour is crucial in the racial power play on these pages. The Nazis were big on blood and not just the spilling of that of others, but the (supposed) purity of their own. While he’s being smacked about Jackie is constantly taunted as to the colour of his blood by the Nazi. Now, the Nazi obviously doesn’t believe Jackie’s blood is black, that would be ridiculous, it’s just the whole bending another to your will thing beloved of bullies everywhere. Because he believes the others’ lives are at stake Jackie won’t fight back, but equally he won’t give the Nazi the satisfaction of saying what he wants to hear. Luckily (cough) Rock and Wild Man break free and are beaten to the ground which allows the narrative to fudge the next bit nicely. Rock tells Jackie to take the guy’s face off and maybe Jackie hears him or maybe Jackie doesn’t, either way Jackie starts swinging and Jackie starts winning.

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

Seeing Uhlan guy in trouble the Nazis immediately fire on both of them to erase the mistake they have made, which is less than sporting of them. Wild Man and Rock now take out the Nazis without any trouble because (cough) Easy Company jump out of a bush and because it’s time for the big finish. Jackie and NAME are wounded but a transfusion could just save the Nazi’s life..! Sorry, no prize today for guessing what happens next.

Look, as inelegantly arrived at as it may be there is still a power in the final scenes where Jackie’s blood saves the Nazi’s life and the dude immediately recants his vicious idiocy. Yeah, turns out that there are actually two messages in this book - one is to knock that racist shit off, and the other is that people can change. As bumpy a narrative ride as it may be OUR ARMY AT WAR#160 turns out to be both right thinking and remarkably generous of spirit, and you know that can’t ever be less than VERY GOOD!

OUR ARMY AT WAR by Joe Kubert & Robert Kanigher

What's the only kind of dynamite that can stop a war? COMICS!!!! They are "Top-Special"!

Arriving 6/17/15

This week has the debut of BLACK CANARY and PREZ at DC, the return of SOUTHERN BASTARDS and LOW and more SECRET WARS madness with THORS and new OLD MAN LOGAN. Check the cut for all the new comics this week!

ALEX + ADA #15 AQUILA #3 (OF 5) ARCHIE VS PREDATOR #3 ARMOR WARS #2 SWA ASTRO CITY #24 BETTY & VERONICA #276 BLACK CANARY #1 BLOODSHOT REBORN #3 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #132 BTVS SEASON 10 #16 BUCKY BARNES WINTER SOLDIER #9 DARK HORSE PRESENTS 2014 #11 DEADPOOLS SECRET SECRET WARS #2 (OF 4) SWA DEATHLOK #9 DOCTOR WHO 11TH #13 DOCTOR WHO 9TH #2 (OF 5) DOOMED #1 DR FATE #1 EDWARD SCISSORHANDS #9 WHOLE AGAIN EI8HT #5 (OF 5) EMPTY ZONE #1 ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK #7 FICTION #1 (OF 4) GEORGE ROMEROS EMPIRE OF DEAD ACT THREE #3 (OF 5) GHOSTBUSTERS GET REAL #1 (OF 4) GIANT DAYS #4 GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS #9 GROO FRIENDS AND FOES #6 HARLEY QUINN & POWER GIRL #1 (OF 6) HEXED #11 INFINITE LOOP #3 (OF 6) JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1 KAIJUMAX #3 KITCHEN #8 (OF 8) KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #221 LAZARUS #17 LETTER 44 #17 LOW #7 LUMBERJANES #15 MAD MAX FURY ROAD FURIOSA #1 MAGNETO #19 SWA MANIFEST DESTINY #15 MARTIAN MANHUNTER #1 MEGA MAN #50 MEGA MAN WORLDS UNITE BATTLES #1 MIND MGMT #34 MOON KNIGHT #16 MS MARVEL #16 SWA MUNCHKIN #6 OCTOBER FACTION #8 OH KILLSTRIKE #2 (OF 4) OLD MAN LOGAN #2 SWA PATHFINDER ORIGINS #5 (OF 6) PLANTS VS ZOMBIES #1 BULLY FOR YOU POET ANDERSON DREAM WALKER #2 (OF 3) PREZ #1 (OF 12) PRINCELESS BE YOURSELF #1 (OF 4) PS BLACKCROSS #4 (OF 6) REVIVAL #30 RICK & MORTY #3 ROBIN SON OF BATMAN #1 RUNAWAYS #1 SWA RUNLOVEKILL #3 SECRET SIX #3 SENSATION COMICS FEATURING WONDER WOMAN #11 SIMPSONS COMICS #221 SINESTRO #12 SOUTHERN BASTARDS #9 SPONGEBOB COMICS ANNUAL GIANT SWIMTACULAR #3 SQUADRON SINISTER #1 SWA STAR TREK ONGOING #46 STRAY BULLETS SUNSHINE & ROSES #5 STUMPTOWN V3 #6 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #18 SURFACE #3 TEEN TITANS GO #10 THORS #1 SWA TMNT CASEY & APRIL #1 (OF 4) TRANSFORMERS #42 COMBINER WARS TREES #10 USAGI YOJIMBO #146 VALHALLA MAD #2 WONDER WOMAN #41 X-O MANOWAR #37

Books/Mags/Things 2000 AD PACK MAY 2015 ADVENTURE TIME BANANA GUARD ACADEMY TP VOL 01 ALTER EGO #133 AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL TP VOL 01 ANNIHILATION CONQUEST OMNIBUS HC AW YEAH COMICS TP VOL 02 TIME FOR ADVENTURE BACK ISSUE #81 BLACK CANARY AND ZATANNA BLOODSPELL TP CAPTAIN AMERICA MIGHTY AVENGERS TP VOL 01 OPEN FOR BUSINESS CHILD OF THE STORM HC CLOCKWORK ANGELS TP COLDER TP VOL 02 BAD SEED COMPLETE CRUMB COMICS TP VOL 16 1980S MORE STRUGGLE COMPLETE EIGHTBALL HC BOX SET ISSUES 1 - 18 COMPLETE PEANUTS HC VOL 23 1995-1996 DEATHSTROKE TP VOL 01 GODS OF WAR (N52) DRIFTER TP VOL 01 OUT OF THE NIGHT EC GRAHAM INGELS GRAVE BUSINESS & OTHER STORIES HC EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN HC EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN OMNIBUS TP FANTASTIC FOUR TP VOL 04 END IS FOUREVER FRAGMENTS OF HORROR HC JUNJI ITO GOTHAM ACADEMY TP VOL 01 (N52) JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #360 LITTLE NEMO RTN TO SLUMBERLAND TP LOAC ESSENTIALS HC VOL 07 TARZAN ORIGINAL DAILIES LOXLEYS AND CONFEDERATION HC MAD MAGAZINE #534 MASTER KEATON GN VOL 03 ME LIKES YOU VERY MUCH GN MY LITTLE PONY FIENDSHIP IS MAGIC TP NEW LONE WOLF AND CUB TP VOL 05 REDHAND DLX HC STAR TREK NEW VISIONS TP VOL 02 TOKYO GHOUL GN VOL 01

As always, what do YOU think?

"ARRRRRRRRUUUUGGGH!" COMICS! Sometimes I Should Have Probably Just Watched Valley of the Gwangi Instead!

There’s a new JURASSIC PARK movie out! I’m not particularly bothered! I won’t be going to see it! But I did read a comic adaptation of the first movie! So why waste happenstance! And that’s about as zeity as my geisty gets.

JURASSIC PARK by Kane & Perez, Simonson, Workman & Smith Anyway, this… JURASSIC PARK#1 -4 Art by Gil Kane & George Perez Written by Walter Simonson Lettered by John Workman Coloured by Tom Smith Based on the screenplay by David Koepp Based on the novel by Michael Crichton and on adaptations by Michael Crichton & Malia Scotch Marmo TOPPS COMICS, $2.95ea (1993)

In 1978 Michael Crichton wrote and directed the entertaining slice of speculative hooey WESTWORLD. This had robots run amuck in a theme park. Because genius cannot be hurried it would take Crichton a further 12 years to come up with the idea of replacing the robots with dinosaurs, which he did in his 1990 novel JURASSIC PARK. It would take a further 3 years before Steven “ALWAYS” Spielberg would deliver the technically innovative but peculiarly unsatisfying movie of the same name. As a tie-in the short lived TOPPS Comics threw this four issue adaptation out into the world. Several years later I bought them off E-Bay because I saw Gil Kane’s name on the listing. Last week I found them in the garage and finally read them. Which brings up to date, I think. I haven’t read the book so I’m not getting into that. I am as scientific as a chimp so I’m not getting into that either. But I do know I don’t really like JURASSIC PARK the movie and I know that because I’ve never owned it. And this is from a man who owned FALL TIME, TRACES OF RED and FTW on VHS. Yet never JURASSIC PARK. This is less because while JURASSIC PARK has many leathery denizens Mickey Rourke isn’t one of them, and more down to the fact I found JURASSIC PARK a bit underwhelming. I mean, it’s okay when you’re sat in front of it but as soon as you go and do something else there’s a nagging sense that you’ve just done something for the last 127 minutes but a maddening lack of specifics about what exactly that thing was. Usually when that happens I’m wearing a dress with blood in my hair and there’s a uniformed man outside with a bullhorn and some well-armed friends. All you know is it definitely involved Jeff Goldblum and a cup of water. For something that cost $63 million that seems like a remarkably poor return. Usually you can point at something about a movie and say That! That! is why it failed to entertain! But JURASSIC PARK is well directed, well scripted, ably cast, brimming with special FX which are special and, y’know, dinosaurs and…none of that ever actually comes together to make a good movie; it’s just stubbornly bland. As much of an achievement as the FX were at the time surely the eternal achievement of JURASSIC PARK is making a movie about resurrected dinosaurs running amok in an island paradise less engaging than sneaking a fart out.

JURASSIC PARK by Kane & Perez, Simonson, Workman & Smith

Of course, I had already been somewhat spoiled on the old dinosaurs running amuck front by Pat Mills and Various European Gentlemen’s FLESH in 2000AD (1977-1978). Despite “Pat Mills and Various European Gentlemen’s FLESH” sounding like something that would be seized at Customs, it was in fact a luridly violent strip aimed at children which involved time travelling Future Cowboys harvesting dinosaurs, in the course of which the tables quickly, predictably, and violently turn. It was fast, nasty and punched its point home like it was trying to grab your spine. In comparison JURASSIC PARK is like a dinosaurs’ tea party where the worst that happens is T-Rex spills milk on a doily and the Velociraptors say something unfortunate about someone’s sister. I don’t want to be crass (but we aren’t always all we want to be) but how many deaths are there in JURASSIC PARK? Four or five? Six tops. That’s pitiful. There are six deaths on every page of FLESH. And if there aren’t (because someone will take me literally) it feels like there are. The deaths in JURASSIC PARK are frictionless punchlines to efficient action set-ups. The deaths in FLESH, however, are nasty and brutal with much screaming and precision about exactly what is happening and how unpleasant it all is. Look, In FLESH you get dialogue like “Gotta STAB this she-hag right in the BRAIN!” and that’s always going to trump “Have some ice cream. Twenty two flavours and I tested every one!” Sure, no one talks like people do in FLESH but then no one is going back in time dressed as cowboys and farming dinosaurs for future supermarkets. YET! If you’re calling foul on dialogue on that creative battlefield you’re getting hung up on the wrong barbed wire, pal. Maybe that’s it - JURASSIC PARK tries to marry spectacle to respectability. Come on, anyone trying to make a respectable dinosaurs run amuck movie has failed at the first hurdle. Basically then, I remain ashamed that I enjoyed CARNOSAUR more.

JURASSIC PARK by Kane & Perez, Simonson, Workman & Smith

I can’t actually speak to how well the adaptation and the movie line up because I was unwilling to give up some of my valuable time spent staring into the middle distance and being disappointed in myself to rewatch it. And if you think that makes all this pointless exercise in self-amusement then have a banana! Take two; knock yourself out! Flash Fact: this is my free time. Anyway, parts of the comics adaptation are ridiculously faithful and I’m kind of thinking Walter Simonson simply and efficiently adapted the script (or at least a near to shooting script). I mean that’s basically all he does. I’m not making any huge perceptive leaps here. That’s no foul. Obviously expectations may be raised because of all that pushing-of-comics-into-weird-new-shapes-in-order-to-evoke-the-experience-of-the-movie he (and Archie Goodwin) did with ALIEN: THE ILLUSTRATED STORY. (I may have mentioned it previously. At length.) But Simonson doesn’t do that here so don’t be expecting what he hasn’t done. What he has done is deliver a meat’n’taters movie on the page. In fact, the most interesting thing visual invention wise is how John Workman positions his (as ever) wonderful lettering FX; they really help shunt the eye through the pages. Also interesting are the slight deviations from the movie I could identify. Unless I’m wrong there’s an extra scene with the lawyer at an amber mine (more lawyers talking to capable men in short sleeved shirts outdoors; that’s what JURASSIC PARK needed!) and I know I’m not wrong when Simonson has Kane & Perez illustrate Sam Neill’s “no one in the audience has ever heard of Raptors but you need to be aware of how awesome they are or all this build up simply won’t work…”speech to that random kid as a kind of dream sequence.

I also thought Bob Peck was in charge of the luckless wage slave bit at the start, but here it looks like it’s Howard Victor Chaykin sporting some shades. (And another thing, I mean, seriously, the whole fiasco is down to employers thinking they don’t have to adhere to basic Health & Safety because, what, it impacts on the “bottom line” and affects “targets” (trans: “money”). There’s a lot of huffing and puffing trying to make the lawyer the villain (because tradition) but all that dude wants is everyone to do what the law says. Fuck that dude, with his safety concerns; I hope he dies humiliatingly hiding in a portable loo. Look, I don’t care how cuddly Richard Attenborough is, he still values human life less than a theme park ride. That misty eyed reminiscence thing about the flea circus? Get real, people, Life is the Circus to Richard Attenborough and we, the people, are THE FLEAS! Dude’s a cock of the first order. Does he get eaten? No, he does not. That’s bloody Rule #1 in dinosaurs run amok movies- payback! Payback for the shitters of the world! Ultimately JURASSIC PARK is toothless (Oh God, that’s some great wordplay. Professional level shit there, John; keep that up! Publishers will be “interested” (trans: “money”) so it’s no wonder I can’t be doing with this movie.) Mind you maybe Gil Kane did that as a joke (recap: the Howard Chaykin in shades thing) because Gil Kane seems to be playing pretty loose character design wise.

JURASSIC PARK by Kane & Perez, Simonson, Workman & Smith

Oh, yeah, that’s why I have these comics – Gil Kane. No, not because I ever believed the lie of easy riches implicit in the “Special Collector’s Edition” status of these books with their protective sheaths (which you have to re-insert the comics back into; if you close your eyes you can imagine putting a French tickler on Gumby) and the trading cards included therein. Man, never has a generation been so betrayed as the Comics Fans of the ‘90s. Life wasn’t supposed to be like this. We were all going to be rich. None of us learned life skills because we were going to cash on our mint holofoil BALLJUGGLER#1s and live a life resembling a blizzard of jizz and glitter but with added cats in speedboats. None of us can actually even talk to people never mind hold down a job! Shit like this is why I’m in favour of regulation. Well, that and the whole global financial collapse which threw my country rightwards and into the arms of the Tories. Other than that though, it’s definitely the whole trading cards thing. So, Gil Kane. We were talking about Gil Kane; well, Gil’s here but so is George Perez. Look, I have no beef with George Perez’ work usually; it’s fine. A bit busy and stolid for me personally, but if you want a lot of superheroes all in one place George Perez can do that pretty well. But, man, here in the place where there are no superheroes his heavy lines and consequent dearth of suggestive space where the reader’s mind can play really flattens Kane’s work into inertia. I guess it’s decent enough stuff; he keeps Kane’s basics intact, nothing is omitted. In fairness there are a couple of “imaginary” scenes where the detail gets pared back and in those bits Perez and Kane are a team to reckon with. But Perez’ signature insistence on specificity really hurts Kane’s inherent grace and flow. It’s just a less than ideal combination; both men on their own – smashing, but together, meh, not so much. Hey, that’s how it goes sometimes.

JURASSIC PARK by Kane & Perez, Simonson, Workman & Smith

The salt’n’marshmallow art combo sure makes some of Kane’s faces look weird as well. There certainly seems to have been some kind of power struggle over Laura Dern’s face (artistically speaking). There’s no doubt in my fat and generous heart that Gil Kane was a phenomenal artist but he could only draw two ladies faces- either a goddess or a crone. Laura Dern is neither; she just looks like a normal human being. I’m saying it looks like George Perez redrew her face. Actually I don’t really know what’s going on with the faces here. Kane nails Wayne Knight (artistically speaking) but his Samuel L Jackson looks like he’s never heard of Samuel L Jackson, his Richard Attenborough looks like he’s got a mossy skin disease instead of a beard and (the late, great) Bob peck who looks like Gil Kane drew him in reality doesn’t look like Gil Kane drew him here. I find the face work in these comics fascinating but I can tell from the depth and regularity of your breathing that you want to move on. Why am I even talking about faces! It’s a comic about dinosaurs run amuck and I’m talking about faces! There’s the crux of the matter right there. I never got within about 2000 miles of Gil Kane but you don’t have to be Thought Jacker to guess he probably turned up here to draw dinosaurs, not a bunch of mostly normal looking people in drab clothes ambling about impressively unmemorable set designs. Eventually Kane does get to draw dinosaurs but Walter Simonson, tumbling into the trap of hyper-fidelity to the source, has knacked the pacing. So the bits where Gil can go dino-crazy are well worth showing up for but they are also kind of cramped and hurried. Meanwhile there are all these pages of weird faces saying words, none of which are why anyone turned up, least of all the audience.

JURASSIC PARK by Kane & Perez, Simonson, Workman & Smith

I love Walter Simonson and I love Gil Kane, John Workman is a little cracker and George Perez ain’t never done me no harm so these comics weren’t a total wash. But Honesty, like Christ, compels me to admit they’ve both done better work elsewhere and there are even better dinosaur run amuck comics. So, sure, given the talent involved JURASSIC PARK may be EH! but then that goes for the movie too. So, as adaptations go it’s spot on.

What I want to know is, if dinosaurs were around for so long how come they never invented – COMICS!!!

Arriving 6/10/15

This is a big week! SAGA shows up for the month, the first collection of the always phenomenal BATGIRL hits the rack, IT WILL ALL HURT from Farel Dalrymple arrives and brand new TANK GIRL from Jamie Hewlett! Check the cut for all the hot June comics!

1602 WITCH HUNTER ANGELA #1 SWA 21ST CENTURY TANK GIRL #1 (OF 3) ADVENTURE TIME MARCELINE GONE ADRIFT #6 ADVENTURES OF TAD MARTIN #SICK SICK SIX ALL STAR SECTION 8 #1 (OF 6) ANGRY BIRDS #12 BATMAN #41 BATMAN SUPERMAN #21 BILL & TED MOST TRIUMPHANT RETURN #4 (OF 6) BIRTHRIGHT #8 BLACK SCIENCE #15 BLUBBER #1 CAPTAIN AMERICA AND MIGHTY AVENGERS #9 SWA CAPTAIN MARVEL AND CAROL CORPS #1 SWA CATERER ONE SHOT CATWOMAN #41 CHRONONAUTS #4 CLARENCE #1 (OF 4) COFFIN HILL #19 CONSTANTINE THE HELLBLAZER #1 COPPERHEAD #8 CROSSED PLUS 100 #5 DARK TOWER DRAWING THREE HOUSE CARDS #4 (OF 5) DEATH SENTENCE LONDON #1 DESCENDER #4 DETECTIVE COMICS #41 DISCIPLES #1 DOCTOR WHO 10TH #11 DRONES #3 (OF 5) EARTH 2 SOCIETY #1 FABLES THE WOLF AMONG US #6 FBP FEDERAL BUREAU OF PHYSICS #21 FOX (DARK CIRCLE) #3 GHOST RACERS #1 SWA GOLD DIGGER #222 GOTHAM ACADEMY #7 GRIEVOUS JOURNEY OF ICHABOD AZRAEL #4 (OF 6) HARLEY QUINN #17 HARROW COUNTY #2 HIT 1957 #3 (OF 4) INFERNO #2 SWA INHUMANS ATTILAN RISING #2 SWA INJECTION #2 INSUFFERABLE #2 IT WILL ALL HURT #1 KANAN LAST PADAWAN #3 LADY RAWHIDE LADY ZORRO #3 (OF 4) LANTERN CITY #2 (OF 12) LONG DISTANCE #1 (OF 4) LOOKING FOR GROUP #3 MANTLE #2 MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE SEASON TWO #8 MARVEL ZOMBIES #1 SWA MIAMI VICE REMIX #4 (OF 5) MIDNIGHT SOCIETY THE BLACK LAKE #1 MOUSE GUARD LEGENDS OF GUARD VOL 03 #4 (OF 4) MRS DEADPOOL AND HOWLING COMMANDOS #1 SWA MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #31 NAMELESS #4 NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #9 PALMIOTTI BRADY BIG CON JOB #4 (OF 4) RACHEL RISING #34 REBELS #3 RED HOOD ARSENAL #1 REGULAR SHOW #24 ROCHE LIMIT CLANDESTINY #2 SAGA #29 SAVAGE DRAGON #204 SAVIOR #3 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #58 SECRET VOICE #2 SECRET WARS 2099 #2 (OF 5) SWA SECRET WARS JOURNAL #2 (OF 5) SWA SILK #5 SILVER SURFER #12 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #273 SPIDER-GWEN #5 SPIDER-VERSE #2 SWA SPONGEBOB COMICS #45 STARFIRE #1 STARVE #1 STRANGE SPORTS STORIES #4 (OF 4) TITAN #1 TRANSFORMERS WINDBLADE COMBINER WARS #3 ULTIMATE END #2 (OF 5) SWA UNCLE SCROOGE #3 UNITY #19 WALKING DEAD #142 WE CAN NEVER GO HOME #3 (OF 5) WEIRDWORLD #1 SWA X-O MANOWAR 25TH ANN SPECIAL #1 ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS #6

Books/Mags/Things ADVENTURE TIME FLIP SIDE TP VOL 01 ALIEN VS PREDATOR FIRE & STONE TP ANT-MAN TP SCOTT LANG ARCHIE GIANT COMICS COLLECTION TP BATGIRL TP VOL 01 THE BATGIRL OF BURNSIDE (N52) BATMAN CATACLYSM TP NEW ED BODIES TP BPRD 1946 - 1948 HC BTVS SEASON 9 LIBRARY HC VOL 02 DANGER CLUB TP VOL 02 REBIRTH EAST OF WEST TP VOL 04 WHO WANTS WAR EC ARCHIVES TALES FROM THE CRYPT HC VOL 01 GRIP STRANGE WORLD OF MEN HC JACK KIRBY KAMANDI ARTIST ED HC VOL 01 MARVELS ANT-MAN PRELUDE TP MILES MORALES ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 02 REVELATIONS MS MARVEL TP VOL 03 CRUSHED NIGHTWING TP VOL 02 ROUGH JUSTICE NUTMEG TP VOL 01 ODYC TP VOL 01 SILVER SURFER TP VOL 02 WORLDS APART SIXTH GUN DAYS OF THE DEAD TP SUPER BILLY GOATS GRUFF GN SUPERMAN ACTION COMICS TP VOL 05 WHAT LIES BENEATH (N52) UBER TP VOL 04 WAKE TP

As always, what do YOU think?

"Pop...EVERYTHIN' I Want Costs MONEY!" COMICS! Sometimes I Slap Leather!

Sorry, that garage clearing was a beast. Still, look what I found:

Hawk, Son of Tomahawk by Thorne & Kanigher Anyway, this... TOMAHAWK# 135 Art by Frank Thorne, John Severin Written by Robert Kanigher, Jerry DeFuccio DC Comics, $0.15 (1971) Tomahawk created by Fred Ray & Ed Frances Herron Hawk, Son of Tomahawk created by Mr & Mrs Tomahawk

Here's a DC Western book I'd never heard of and didn't realise I owned. It's got a Joe Kubert cover that looks like an “Egg-timer Special” but still has time for a sweet charcoal effect background, and slips its lack of detail past by walloping you with a fistful of impact. Yeah, Joe Kubert could do you a cover like no other. Joe Kubert was also the Editor here, which explains the presence of Robert Kanigher on typewriter hammerin'. Back then Editors had a favoured stable (Western wordplay, cheers.) of talent whose most valued attributes were timeliness and dependability rather than flash, pizzaz or having performing hair. Kanigher was a sturdy workhouse who Kubert was always happy to employ because he knew that he could ask Kanigher for a 12 page oater by lunchtime tomorrow and Kanigher would deliver - like it was his job or something. Basically, books edited by Joe Kubert tend to have a lot of Robert Kanigher in them because Robert Kanigher got it done. And I tend to have a lot of Joe Kubert edited books because I like the weird genres they put him in charge of (War, Westerns, Apemen and Tor (always Tor)). Just in case you were thinking I was engaged on some stealth rehabilitation of Robert Kanigher or something.

Hawk, Son of Tomahawk by Thorne & Kanigher

The book is called SON OF TOMAHAWK but the indicia reveals it is actually TOMAHAWK, this discrepancy is due to the recent replacement of Tomahawk in the main strip by his son Hawk, Son of Tomahawk. The repercussions of this are documented in the letters page where the level of bewilderment, guarded optimism and plain dislike show comic fans' embrace of change is timeless in its consistency. Unfortunately, I lack any kind of context for this comic so I had to look up Tomahawk and it turns out his adventures were originally set during in the Revolutionary War where he fought on the wrong side (I'm British, natch). In this book he wanders about in his vest puffing on a corncob pipe while his son has all the fun. His son, Hawk, Son of Tomahawk, is a design classic in the same way as a Plymouth Fury. A Plymouth Fury that some crackjob's driven into a wall. Because Frank “Every Rose Has Its” Thorne's art here is characteristically light on detail it's hard to pin down Hawk, son of Tomahawk's look too specifically, as Thorne's work becomes more nebulous the harder you look at it. Basically though Hawk, son of Tomahawk, with his skunk streaked DA, tasselled jacket with tribal decals, and drainpipe jeans would make even Vegas Elvis do a double take. But then this is a new kind of Western hero.

Hawk, Son of Tomahawk by Thorne & Kanigher

Or at least I think it is; this is the only issue I own so it might just be an outlier in what is otherwise a run as salty and plain ornery as SCALPHUNTER or JONAH HEX. Here though it looks like every effort is being made to avoid offence, even to the extent of having a pacifist hero. Hawk, Son of Tomahawk's mum is a Native American and he has a toddler brother decked out in tribal duds. Which is nice, but they are pretty generic and later when some other Native Americans show up they are all stoic and dignified. Which is fine, very respectful and that but it's hardly the stuff of high drama. Luckily, there's always the White Man. I don't know why the White Man gets such a raw deal (reads a history book; cries. Okay, **** the White Man.) The story starts by some bad white guys harassing a peddlar who gives Hawk, Son of Tomahawk a catalogue as a reward. Now, remember the Old West was like a giant open air lunatic asylum where the only recreational activities were murder, rutting, trains and drinking until blindness set in. So a catalogue in the Old West would have been like the Internet but with less naked people involved in wallpaper paste accidents and less pictures of cats hating us. Seriously, Hawk is enraptured and decides immediately to set out to gain enough riches to buy some scented candles, Sea-Bison or a life-size cardboard glow-in-the-dark Abe Lincoln. Whatever; I don't know what they had in those things; vittals and gingham or something. Anyway, he bumps into his big pal who is just setting out with a treasure map. That's quite a coincidence to you, but if you had 12 pages you'd tend to think of it as expedient. There's a nice bit where they find the Ghost Mountain inside another mountain, but the gold turns out to be in a Native American burial ground. (Joke about America being one big Native American burial ground removed on grounds of taste.)

Hawk, Son of Tomahawk by Thorne & Kanigher Up until exhaustion and gold fever set in Hawk, son of Hawk's pal is pretty okay but then he gets all racist and violent like a Farcry game on legs. That's not because he's white though, let's be clear here; gold turns the guy's head, at which point he becomes a big murderous racist. This is good because if someone had more time they could “read” this story about the corrupting effect of the capitalist system and how its emphasis on reward sets people against one another. Or something. Mind you, I don't know if Kanigher accidentally stumbles on this, I've just had a brain fart, or it's actually built-in. It's not every comic that has the brass balls to declare that even The White Man isn't the villain, it's the system of exploitation in which he exists which is the true villain! Socialist Pacifist Western Comics for The Win! Anyway, the whole trapped underground with a violent racist thing is pretty unfortunate for Hawk, Son of Tomahawk, what with his Mum being a Native American. Even worse, he's in a 1970s comic where it seems they are actively trying to get away from the usual Western thing of plugging varmints and owlhoots at the drop of a stetson. Luckily, he's in a 1970s comic where it's still entirely okay for the greed addled white dude to get speared by a toppling corpse because this makes it both no one's fault and karmically just.

Hawk, Son of Tomahawk by Thorne & Kanigher

Basically, and admirably, Kanigher attempts to deliver a message via a tale without villains, heroes or excessive violence. Since all those things are the reasons comics are entertaining its no surprise their lack makes the result a little dull. But I do have to admire how Kanigher leaps out of his own trap built of good intentions. I was entertained after all, just in a different way than usual. It's efficiently and pleasantly drawn by Frank Thorne, whose art has a fluid grace not entirely unlike that of Joe Kubert. Thorne would later become famous for drawing Red Sonja and spend many happy years producing his own comics featuring ladies in a state of undress, and judging Red Sonja-a-like contests while dressed as a wizard. In many ways, I think we can all agree, Frank Thorne won.

AMERICA: "A Glance at Yesterday" by Sam Glanzman

After the lead feature Sam Glanzman gets roped in to do one of his typically informative double page spreads. I’m used to seeing these pop up in war comics so it’s interesting to note he was versatile enough to do The Old West too. Here kids get to thrill to a picture of a wagon train being burned, which is surrounded by informative illustrations of weapons the native Americans would have used to slaughter the same kids' ancestors and some of the headdresses they might have sported to do so. It's nice, dusty looking stuff and it's even nicer to be reminded that space fillers could be quality gear.

"SPOILERS" by Severin & DeFuccio The final 8 pages are a (probably reprinted) story called “Spoilers” by Jerry DeFuccio and illustrated by John Severin. This is a really dense tale with an attention to detail in the text which suggests it is an attempt to adapt a true story into comics. Maybe not though, because during a quick spin around the Internet I found no mention of “Kirby's Raiders” circa 1865. I did, however, find some really interesting pictures of naked people who had been involved in wallpaper paste accidents, and also of cats hating us. It's a nice yarn about a Confederate who goes back home to one of those mansions apparently everybody in the South seems to have lived in (well, everybody white). You know the ones with the big pillars and a big pile of fixings for them thar mint juleps out back. Unfortunately those Northern bastards have been at it and left it not unlike when a burglar breaks in and dumps one out on your bed (apparently it’s from the adrenalin; it makes you loose). As revenge Kirby forms his Rangers and they go around stealing gold from that darned gubbermint. Kirby takes a break, disperse his gang, hides the cash and takes up on a farm where he helps out with his honest toil until a bunch of locusts turn up. Basically, Kirby sees he has become a spoiler like the darn Yankees and the locusts. It ends with a hilariously underplayed final panel where he muses on the lesson he has learned and we are informed that the money he hid earlier had also fallen victim to the locusts. It’s left unsaid, but if I know my westerns then that guy’s life was short and punctuated by violent inquiries as to the location of the loot from his former colleagues. John Severin draws the holy Hell out of it all in his characteristic style - sharp as a craft knife and loaded with detail. Two decent strips and an informative space filler makes TOMAHAWK #135 a comic which is GOOD!

In 1971 for fifteen slim cents you could get Joe Kubert, Frank Thorne, Sam Glanzman and John Severin. Now that's – COMICS!!!

Insider Baseball: Comix Experience's June 2015 Ordering meeting "Podcast"

https://soundcloud.com/omixxperience/sets/june-15-comix-experience-ordering-meeting  

This is probably not a thing that we're going to post publicly every month (at least not where it is currently hosted, which only allows 3 hours of upload for no ongoing monthly payment), but I thought as a value-add to my comics consulting side business (www.comixconsulting.com) that maybe we'd try to record one of our ordering meetings and see who might be interested in buying a monthly subscription to such a thing.  Then the staff said "just make it public", so here it is.

It isn't really a "podcast", in that we're not recording in front of a mic, there's no production or editing or anything.  Just a (fairly) straight recording of one of our monthly ordering meetings.  This is probably MUCH better if you have a copy of this month's PREVIEWS in front of you to follow along with.  Because of the length restrictions, you can't play the "non comics" half hour -- but, honestly, that's probably for the best.

This recording is NOT FOR EVERYONE, it is really "here's the sausage getting made".... but if you're interested in how a pair of stores view what's coming up in August, well this is for you.  It is broken up in chapters based on publisher, but IF you're going to listen to it, it's probably to go All In.  But only if you're interested in Sausage-making!

Anyway, thoughts and comments will be the only way we ever ever ever do this again :)

-B

Arriving 6/3/15

June is here and with it comes a sizable first week of comics. New SECRET WARS and STAR WARS plus the debut of AIRBOY from James Robinson and Greg Hinkle, BROKEN WORLD from Frank Barbiere and Christopher Peterson and the first week of the new DC books, including MIDNIGHTER.  

Check the cut for the rest of the new comics this week.

ACTION COMICS #41 AGE OF REPTILES ANCIENT EGYPTIANS #1 AIRBOY #1 (OF 4) ALL NEW X-MEN #41 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #18.1 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #1 SWA ANGEL AND FAITH SEASON 10 #15 ARCADIA #2 ARCHIE #666 ARCHIE COMICS DOUBLE DIGEST #261 ARMOR WARS #1 SWA AUTUMNLANDS TOOTH & CLAW #6 BALTIMORE CULT OF THE RED KING #2 (OF 5) BAT MITE #1 (OF 6) BATMAN BEYOND #1 BIG MAN PLANS #3 (OF 4) BIZARRO #1 (OF 6) BRAVEST WARRIORS #33 BRIDES OF HELHEIM #6 BROKEN WORLD #1 (OF 4) BUNKER #11 CROSSED BADLANDS #78 D4VE #5 (OF 5) DARTH VADER #6 DEAD DROP #2 (OF 4) DEATH VIGIL #7 (OF 8) DOCTOR WHO 12TH #8 EMPTY #4 FEATHERS #6 FUTURE IMPERFECT #1 SWA GIANT SIZE LITTLE MARVEL AVX #1 SWA GREEN ARROW #41 GREEN LANTERN #41 GROOT #1 GUARDIANS TEAM-UP #6 HALOGEN #4 (OF 4) HELP US GREAT WARRIOR #4 HUMANS #5 JUPITERS CIRCLE #3 JUSTICE INC AVENGER #1 JUSTICE LEAGUE #41 LEGENDERRY RED SONJA #4 (OF 5) LOBO #7 LOLA XOXO WASTELAND MADAM #2 LOONEY TUNES #225 MASKS 2 #3 (OF 8) MASTER OF KUNG FU #2 (OF 4) SWA MAXX MAXXIMIZED #20 MICE TEMPLAR V NIGHTS END #3 (OF 5) MIDNIGHTER #1 MILLENNIUM #5 (OF 5) MINIMUM WAGE SO MANY BAD DECISIONS #2 (OF 6) MORNING GLORIES #46 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER #17 NAILBITER #13 NEVERBOY #4 NO MERCY #3 NONPLAYER #2 (OF 6) OMEGA MEN #1 PRINCESS LEIA #4 (OF 5) RAT GOD #5 (OF 5) RED SONJA VULTURES CIRCLE #5 SECRET WARS #3 (OF 8) SECRET WARS BATTLEWORLD #2 (OF 4) SWA SIMPSONS ILLUSTRATED #17 SIXTH GUN VALLEY OF DEATH #1 (OF 3) SONIC BOOM #8 REG CVR SPIDER-WOMAN #8 STAR WARS #6 SUICIDE RISK #25 SUPERIOR IRON MAN #9 SWORDS OF SORROW #2 (OF 6) TMNT MUTANIMALS #4 (OF 4) TRANSFORMERS VS GI JOE #7 UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #6 UNCANNY SEASON 2 #3 (OF 6) WAR STORIES #9 WICKED & DIVINE #11 WINTERWORLD FROZEN FLEET #2 (OF 3) WITCHER FOX CHILDREN #3 WOLVERINES #20 WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #1 WOODS #13 X-TINCTION AGENDA #1 SWA YEARS OF FUTURE PAST #1 SWA ZERO #17

Books/Mags/Things AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ULT NEWSPAPER COMICS HC VOL 01 1977-1979 BATMAN NOIR THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS DLX ED HC BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA TP VOL 01 BRAVO FOR ADVENTURE HC BUNKER TP VOL 02 COMPLETE PISTOLWHIP HC COURAGEOUS PRINCESS HC VOL 02 UNREMEMBERED LANDS CRIMINAL TP VOL 05 THE SINNERS FRANKENSTEIN MAD SCIENCE OF DICK BRIEFER TP FUSE TP VOL 02 GRIDLOCK GREEN ARROW TP VOL 03 THE TRIAL OF OLIVER QUEEN HERO HC VOL 01 HOUSE OF HEM TP INFINITE LOOP #2 (OF 6) JUSTICE INC TP VOL 01 MARVEL UNIVERSE ANT-MAN DIGEST TP NARUTO GN VOL 70 SO CUTE IT HURTS GN VOL 01 SWAMP THING TP VOL 06 THE SUREEN (N52) THANOS INFINITY RELATIVITY OGN HC TMNT ONGOING TP VOL 11 ATTACK ON TECHNODROME USAGI YOJIMBO SAGA TP VOL 03 VENOM BY REMENDER COMPLETE COLLECTION TP VOL 01

As always, what do YOU think?

Arriving 5/27/15

The final week of May brings big things. The debut of FIGHT CLUB 2 from Chuck Palahniuk and Cameron Stewart, the return of, and penultimate issue, of SANDMAN OVERTURE and the final week of DC's CONVERGENCE event and much more! Check the cut to see what else is landing this week!

ADVENTURE TIME #40 ALL NEW HAWKEYE #3 BART SIMPSON COMICS #96 BATMAN 66 #23 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA #11 BLACK HOOD #4 BLACK WIDOW #18 BRAVEST WARRIORS TALES HOLO JOHN #1 CAPTURE CREATURES #4 CBLDF PRESENTS ELEPHANTMEN SHOTS #1 CHEW #49 CONAN THE AVENGER #14 CONVERGENCE #8 (OF 8) CONVERGENCE ACTION COMICS #2 CONVERGENCE BLUE BEETLE #2 CONVERGENCE BOOSTER GOLD #2 CONVERGENCE CRIME SYNDICATE #2 CONVERGENCE DETECTIVE COMICS #2 CONVERGENCE INFINITY INC #2 CONVERGENCE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #2 CONVERGENCE PLASTIC MAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS #2 CONVERGENCE SHAZAM #2 CONVERGENCE WORLDS FINEST COMICS #2 CURB STOMP #4 DEADLY CLASS #13 DIVINITY #4 (OF 4) EDWARD SCISSORHANDS #8 WHOLE AGAIN ELFQUEST FINAL QUEST #9 FIGHT CLUB 2 #1 FRANKENSTEIN UNDERGROUND #3 (OF 5) FUBAR MOTHER RUSSIA #2 (OF 3) GOD IS DEAD #36 GODKILLER WALK AMONG US #5 GRINDHOUSE DRIVE IN BLEED OUT #5 (OF 8) HE MAN THE ETERNITY WAR #6 HELLBREAK #3 INFERNO #1 SWA INFINITE LOOP #2 (OF 6) INFINITY GAUNTLET #1 SWA INHUMANS ATTILAN RISING #1 SWA INVINCIBLE #120 INVISIBLE REPUBLIC #3 IRON FIST LIVING WEAPON #12 JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS #3 JUDGE DREDD #30 KING FLASH GORDON #4 (OF 4) KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #220 LIFE AFTER #10 MARVEL UNIVERSE ULT SPIDER-MAN WEB WARRIORS #7 MATERIAL #1 MISTER X RAZED #4 (OF 4) MODOK ASSASSIN #1 (OF 5) SWA MUNCHKIN #5 NOVA #31 NUTMEG #3 OCTOBER FACTION #7 OLD MAN LOGAN #1 SWA OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA #9 PASTAWAYS #3 PISCES #2 POPE HATS #4 POSTAL #4 POWERPUFF GIRLS SUPER SMASH-UP #5 (OF 6) PROVIDENCE #1 (OF 12) RAGNAROK #5 RED SONJA #16 SANDMAN OVERTURE #5 (OF 6) SECRET WARS 2099 #1 (OF 5) SWA SECRET WARS JOURNAL #1 (OF 5) SWA SEX #21 SHIELD #6 SONIC UNIVERSE #76 SONS OF THE DEVIL #1 SUICIDERS #4 SURFACE TENSION #1 (OF 5) TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #92 THEYRE NOT LIKE US #6 TMNT ONGOING #46 TOMB RAIDER #16 TOWER CHRONICLES DREADSTALKER #10 TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE #41 UBER #25 UNCANNY AVENGERS ULTRON FOREVER #1 WAYWARD #8 WHERE MONSTERS DWELL #1 (OF 5) SWA

Books/Mags/Things BATMAN ADVENTURES TP VOL 02 DEADPOOL CLASSIC TP VOL 11 MERC WITH MOUTH DEADPOOL TP VOL 08 ALL GOOD THINGS EDWARD SCISSORHANDS TP VOL 01 PARTS UNKNOWN GENIUS TP VOL 01 INFINITE BOWMAN GN NIGHTCRAWLER TP VOL 02 REBORN PREVIEWS #321 JUNE 2015 SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN TP VOL 19 (C: 0-1-2) THANOS VS HULK TP TMNT ONGOING (IDW) COLL HC VOL 01 TONY TAKEZAKIS NEON GENESIS EVANGELION TP YOU DONT SAY GN

As always, what do YOU think?

"WHO'S Stubborn?" COMICS! Sometimes Only The Sea Sees!

No, no, no! Oh, Sgt Rock, the optimum method of seagull attracting is to be a small child stood in St Ives holding a rapidly collapsing ’99, as my still somewhat traumatised son will attest. Naturally I realise it isn’t the fault of the seagull but rather that of the idiots who persist in feeding them in flagrant contravention of the many signs prohibiting this precise behaviour. (I am particularly proud of how middle-aged that sentence sounds; it’s the written equivalent of rolling up my jacket sleeves and nodding fiercely along to a shitty Phil Collins “number”. At a wedding.) SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher

Anyway, this... OUR ARMY AT WAR #258 Art by Russ Heath, Sam Glanzman Written by Robert Kanigher, Sam Glanzman DC Comics, $0.20 (1973) Sgt Rock created by Joe Kubert, Robert Kanigher & Bob Haney

This comic came out in 1973 and is set during a war which ended in 1945. As I peck these words out it’s 2015 and while you’ve probably heard of that war (The Second World War) you’ve probably never heard of this comic. There’s no real reason for you to have done so. I only found it because I’ve had to start clearing out the garage because someone had the crazy notion that we should put a car in there. Sheer madness, I trust you’ll agree. Obviously then, I’ve been sorting through my comics, and I read this one and thought I’d write about it precisely because it is a good example of the kind of comic that’s rarely mentioned; a 1970s DC war comic. 1970s DC war comics get the high hat because they aren’t as good as 1950s EC war comics and also, everybody probably (and rightly) feels a bit hinky about war as entertainment. This sensitivity to tastelessness can be seen right there in this issue's letter column:

Allan Asherman there, making sure everyone's on the same pag viz a viz reality and war. Besides Sgt Rock the book is also bulked out by other strips, most notably one of Sam Glanzman's unaffected and clear eyed depictions of serving aboard the USS Stevens. It's a particularly bleak tale drawn in Glanzman's Kuberty and roughly blunt signature style. Basically, Sam Glanzman is pretty great, you know?

USS STEVENS by Sam Glanzman

Anyway, this isn’t the old Comics Were Better Back Then! or the rarer Hey, Look a Lost Masterpiece! it’s just a look at one of hundreds of thousands of comics produced in the past before it slips into the obscurity it was intended for. Well, slips back into my garage, because this one’s a keeper.

SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher

Keeping it as basic as basic training then, the cover is by Joe Kubert but that’s not all of Joe Kubert’s contribution. If you squint at the print below the opening splash page it’s possible to see that the Editor was also Joe Kubert. Joe Kubert (1926-2012) was a titanic comics talent whose staggeringly voluminous output consisted largely (but not solely) of war comics. And Tor comics. In his later years he would attempt to connect more directly with the world by addressing the Bosnian conflict (Fax From Sarajevo ( 1990)) and by dealing with a chunk of personal issues in a series of OGNs addressing the Holocaust (Yossel, April 19, 1943 (2003)), parental expectations (Jew Gangster (2005)) and the reality of war (Dong Xoai, Vietnam, 1965 (2010)). All of them were visually striking if slightly over earnest comics which, disarmingly, sought to impart the importance of decency, respect and empathy. An admirable aim he pursued right up to the end of his life, and which saturates his final comics series (Joe Kubert Presents (2013)) And, yes, even his Tor comics. Here though, with OAaW#258, the mighty Joe Kubert’s visual contribution is a typically arresting cover featuring Sgt Rock wrestling a very yellow fellow indeed. Sgt Rock’s foe is a Japanese soldier and his icteric aspect may be down to a touch of malaria and an attendant pinch of jaundice, but let’s face it it’s probably down to the heavy handed colouring of the day. But wait, weren’t Sgt Rock and Easy Company active in the European Theatre which was kind of light on Japanese soldiers and, it should be noted, a really poor choice for a night out as theatres go? Every so often Robert Kanigher would find a reason to shift Sgt. Rock to the Pacific. This was largely for reasons of variety, I expect. While Bob Haney actually wrote the prototype Rock’s first appearance in OAaW#81 (1959), Kanigher created him (Rock, not Haney) in an editorial capacity and he and Joe Kubert further refined the character into his iconic state. Kanigher wrote the vast majority of Rock’s antics so it was probably primarily for the sake of his own sanity that he changed things up intermittently.

SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher

Of course the audience of the time (children, soldiers, degenerates, reprobates) couldn’t be counted on to have seen the previous issue so a quick catch up was always appreciated. The first page of this issue is one such catch-up. Today you might get a page of poorly proof read text, the tone of which can vary from the functional to the humorous. Here we get a Russ Heath splash page, which may very well just be an exercise in visual exposition, but it’s one done with such design flair and general artistic excellence I’d certainly hang that bad boy on my wall. Check it out. Check it out again. Still rocking, right? All the information a reader needs is represented visually right there. Rock’s haunted face has pride of place in a position suggesting the elements surrounding him are thoughts/memories, and the smoke trail of the falling plane carries the eye down while it gluts itself on the surrounding detail. You’d have to be trying very hard indeed not to interpret the visuals here correctly. Admittedly, yes, all the information a reader needs is repeated in the text box. But while this image-text repetition results in a certain level of redundancy intrinsic to the form at this time (i.e. 1973, not 2015) this occurs less frequently than you might expect in the following pages, but it does occur. I hold that this repetitiveness is entirely intentional and a natural result of the bifurcation of the workload, rather than bad writing per se. Say an editor asks a writer to write a script and assigns it to an artist, where’s the guarantee that they’ll get back a seamless piece of entertainment? It’s over there having tea with Lord Lucan is where that is. So, you make sure the writer writes it all down and you make sure the artist draws it all too; belt and braces, basically. Comics was different back then; it was better. No, of course it wasn’t. The rewards back then were pitiful. I’ve read this comic a couple of times and I can’t actually find the names “Robert Kanigher” or “Russ Heath” credited as writer or artist respectively. These dudes expected nothing. These dudes weren’t going on chat shows anytime soon, or getting their snout in the TV cash-trough, or snorting uncut Hollywood; they were making a comic and doing it as well as they could. Which in Russ Heath’s instance was phenomenally, in case I don’t make that clear later. Heath’s the star of this strip but Kanigher’s no slouch.

SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher Robert Kanigher (1915-2002) was, reportedly, not well loved by his peers but as far as posterity is concerned that carries as much weight as a politician’s promise. You pick up this book and you'll just find Robert Kanigher’s a decent writer. This sucker just chugs along. It’s 14 pages long but it feels like three times that, and in a good way. In another way he’s a very bad writer because the strip is just a succession of events that aren’t actually thematically connected or any of that fancy stuff; but it entertains. Since that was his job - he’s a good writer here. For the bulk of the issue Rock is alone and adrift yet Kanigher singularly fails to let us into Rock’s head except via his terse and basic narration of events.

SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher

Most writers wouldn’t exercise such restraint. There are no revelations about Rock’s past; it’s all about his present. This is good because Rock is a pretty basic character. Whatever you throw at him, he doesn’t fall. He endures. He’s a rock. That’s it. (It works, don’t knock it.) Having flashbacks to Rock’s first sweetheart, harvesting waving fields of corn, labouring in the steel mill and being dandled on Pappy’s knee etc. would dilute him. Sure, such after the fact encumbrances would appear in other Rock comics and be so poorly policed that at one point if you totted them up he’d got three Dads, like some shitty sit-com or something. In this comic there’s none of that; just a man existing moment to moment. Because that's how you survive a situation this horrific. Well, in this comic anyway. However, Kanigher’s nerve buckles when it comes to having faith that this stoic castaway stuff will keep the audience attentive. So we have a flashback with Easy Co. storming a pill box so that the kids get their customary action scene, complete with Kanigher’s signature move – the "TNT-whatsit" phrase ("Looks like that flyin' swastika is goin' to put us in the ice-box --with a TNT ICE-BERG!"). In his defence Kanigher does use the scene to establish the particular quality of Rock the issue will pivot around; his stubbornness. And, let's face it, editorial may have required certain “Sgt Rock” elements to appear in every issue; I think that’s pretty likely. A more organic outburst of action occurs when Rock lands on one of those tiny islands the Pacific hosts which are as numerous as my grudges, and he encounters some Japanese soldiers. A sequence of violence is then depicted by Russ Heath who, with ink, brush and genius, manages to communicate all the desperate tension and explosive movement of such an encounter. Being the shy type I’ve never been attacked by Japanese soldiers on a beach but for a few seconds Russ Heath sure made me feel like I had. Just Rock and the Japanese officer are left and, sensibly enough, they decide to pool their resources until they get back to the war.

SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher

I know, I know, you’re ahead of me here and are already thinking of John Boorman’s 1968 movie HELL IN THE PACIFIC. This movie starred Lee Marvin and Tosihro Mifune as WW2 enemies stranded on a Pacific island who first fight then unite, before the War inevitably returns and with it, duty. And this bit in the comic is, indeed, like that fine movie, but it isn’t 103 minutes long it’s 14 pages long. Kanigher & Heath don’t have the room to do more than nod in the movie’s direction but it’s a firm nod. So, I guess there’s a bit of pop culture referencing going on there; some homaging, yeah? You didn’t realise they did that before Community did you! This basic premise was also, uh, homaged somewhat more extensively in an episode of Battlestar Galactica, but that hadn’t happened in 1973 and I doubt Robert Kanigher had seen it unless he was prone to prophetic visons of crap culture. Depends how hard he was hitting the sauce, I guess. I know I’ve seen a few sights that way (badgers on mopeds!) One of the interesting things about the movie is that Marvin and Mifune never stray from their native languages so the audience shares their frustrations and breakthroughs, this is a great idea but probably not one the public warmed to as the movie was a huge financial loss. Kanigher & Heath don’t have time for all that smart malarkey so it turns out the Japanese officer can speak English.

SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher

In a pithy masterclass on exposition, Kanigher establishes how that is ("My mother taught it in school." BANG! Job done.) Kanigher cannily uses the officer to have Rock fill us in on the story so far, which is one time too many really. As though sensing this Russ Heath wades in and draws the balls off of what is basically several panels of two men sitting and talking. The standout here is the bit where Russ Heath takes us under the surface of the sea to show a shark shadowing the raft and its oblivious passengers. A certain kind of easily excited blogger might start telling you that this shark represents the war which exists independently of the two men’s attention and could explode into their lives without warning. Me, I think Russ heath is keeping both himself and his readers awake and just really drawing that shark the way sharks should be drawn - really well. Look at that panel. Damn, the song Russ Heath’s art sang in 1973 is so strong in this comic I can hear it all the way in th efuture year of 2015.

As I’ve said the strip is only 14 pages long (did you catch that?) and yet Rock’s journey takes days, weeks even. Kanigher acquits himself well, but it’s Russ Heath’s art which leaves you feeling you’ve shared Rock’s journey and appreciating its span while he generously spares you the actual tedium of it. Heath’s opening splash is a majestic thing but the double pager that follows it up is equally strong. Having established Rock is adrift on the previous page Heath uses the top panels on the next page to punch home how long Rock’s been floating and the cost it’s had on him. Alternating (and enlarging) Day-Night-Day panels punctuated by repetitious babble take the eye across to the seagulls which become in Rock’s sun-fried mind, and before our eyes, planes swooping down from the top right with their bullet trails diagonally strafing the combat happy joes of Easy Co., who push across to the right against the bullets and take us to the page turn. That’s some pretty sweet visual storytelling right there.

SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher

In a later sequence similar to the one at the top of page two Heath manages to make it send a different message; this time the panels again indicate an indeterminate but large amount of time has passed but Rock seems barely to have moved. The maddeningly slow pace of drifting depicted there, because unless some weather is happening the sea isn’t really rushing anywhere.

SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher

Again and again, on every page it’s Heath’s eye for detail which convinces. Heath pays everything the same level of interest and doesn’t play favourites. As a result his people are convincing in posture and expression within a world that seems concrete. He actually draws the sea for a start, then there’s the stances in the tussle on the raft, the body blown back by bullets, the predatory grace of a shark, everything, all the way down to the scabs on Rock’s head.

Just another comic; just another day at work for Russ Heath & Robert Kanigher. Our Army at War #258 is just VERY GOOD!

SGT ROCK by Heath & Kanigher

In the end all rocks must crumble but some things endure. Yeah, I'm talking about COMICS!!!

Arriving 5/20/15

This week brings the first proper week of Marvel's Secret Wars with a handful of the related titles, including A-FORCE from G. Willow Wilson, Marguerite Bennett and Jorge Molina. Plus new issues of LUMBERJANES, FADE OUT, JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS, STAR WARS, STRAY BULLETS and the return of OPTIC NERVE. Check the cut for all of the comics this weeks brings with it.

A-FORCE #1 SWA ANGRY BIRDS #11 AQUILA #2 (OF 5) ARCHIE VS PREDATOR #2 AVENGERS WORLD #21 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SIX #5 (OF 5) BLOODSHOT REBORN #2 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #131 BTVS SEASON 10 #15 CONVERGENCE #7 (OF 8) CONVERGENCE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #2 CONVERGENCE BATMAN & THE OUTSIDERS #2 CONVERGENCE FLASH #2 CONVERGENCE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #2 CONVERGENCE HAWKMAN #2 CONVERGENCE JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #2 CONVERGENCE NEW TEEN TITANS #2 CONVERGENCE SUPERBOY & THE LEGION #2 CONVERGENCE SWAMP THING #2 CONVERGENCE WONDER WOMAN #2 DAREDEVIL #15.1 DARK HORSE PRESENTS 2014 #10 DEADPOOLS SECRET SECRET WARS #1 (OF 4) SWA DEATHLOK #8 DIRK GENTLYS HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY #1 (OF 5) DJANGO ZORRO #7 (OF 7) DOCTOR WHO 10TH #10 DOCTOR WHO 11TH #12 DONALD DUCK #1 DRONES #2 (OF 5) EI8HT #4 (OF 5) EMPIRE UPRISING #2 FADE OUT #6 GHOSTED #20 GOON ONCE UPON A HARD TIME #3 (OF 4) GROO FRIENDS AND FOES #5 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #27 HEXED #10 INSUFFERABLE #1 JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS #3 KAIJUMAX #2 KAPTARA #2 KITCHEN #7 (OF 8) LADY MECHANIKA TABLET OF DESTINIES #2 (OF 6) LETTER 44 #16 LOKI AGENT OF ASGARD #14 SWA LUMBERJANES #14 MAD MAX FURY ROAD NUX & IMMORTAL JOE #1 MASTER OF KUNG FU #1 (OF 4) SWA MEGA MAN #49 MIND MGMT #33 MONO V2 #2 PACIFIC MOON KNIGHT #15 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #30 NEW VAMPIRELLA #12 NINJAK #3 CVR A LAROSA OH KILLSTRIKE #1 (OF 4) OPTIC NERVE #14 PEANUTS VOL 2 #28 PLANET HULK #1 SWA POWERS #3 RESIDENT ALIEN SAM HAIN MYSTERY #1 SATELLITE SAM #14 SECRET WARS BATTLEWORLD #1 (OF 4) SWA SENSATION COMICS FEATURING WONDER WOMAN #10 SHAFT #6 SHUTTER #12 SIMPSONS SUMMER SHINDIG #9 SKYLANDERS #9 RTN OF DRAGON KING SONS OF ANARCHY #21 SPARKS NEVADA MARSHAL ON MARS #3 (OF 4) SPAWN #252 SPIDER-VERSE #1 SWA STAR WARS #5 STRAY BULLETS SUNSHINE & ROSES #4 TITHE #2 TRANSFORMERS #41 COMBINER WARS TREES #9 UFOLOGY #2 ULTIMATE END #1 (OF 5) SWA UNCANNY X-MEN #34 USAGI YOJIMBO #145 VALHALLA MAD #1 WEIRD LOVE #7 WINTERWORLD FROZEN FLEET #1 (OF 3) WOLVERINES #19 WYTCHES #6 X-FILES SEASON 10 #24

Books/Mags/Things 2000 AD PACK APR 2015 ALL NEW GHOST RIDER TP VOL 02 LEGEND ANGEL & FAITH SEASON 10 TP VOL 02 LOST AND FOUND APOCALYPTIGIRL AN ARIA FOR THE END TIMES TP AXIS REVOLUTIONS TP BATMAN DETECTIVE COMICS HC VOL 06 ICARUS BPRD PLAGUE OF FROGS TP VOL 04 EX MACHINA TP BOOK 05 FANTASTIC FOUR EPIC COLLECTION: STRANGE DAYS TP GRAVEYARD SHIFT TP GRENDEL VS SHADOW HC INTERSECT TP VOL 01 METAMORPH JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #359 LOCKE & KEY MASTER EDITION HC VOL 01 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC TP VOL 07 SECRET WARRIORS COMPLETE COLLECTION TP VOL 01 STRAY BULLETS TP VOL 02 SOMEWHERE OUT WEST UNCANNY AVENGERS TP VOL 04 AVENGE EARTH UNCANNY X-MEN TP VOL 04 VS SHIELD UNWRITTEN TP VOL 11 VELVET TP VOL 02 THE SECRET LIVES OF DEAD MEN

“Who Will Buy My Biggish Shoes?" COMICS! Sometimes I Suddenly Realise What A Weird Idea Laugh Tracks Are!

This time out it’s The Bojeffries Saga by Steve (RESIDENT ALIEN) Parkhouse and Alan (CROSSED PLUS ONE HUNDRED) Moore. What? Yes, I am still in a mood. THE BOJEFFRIES SAGA by Steve Parkhouse & Alan Moore

Anyway, this… THE BOJEFFRIES SAGA Art by Steve Parkhouse Written by Alan Moore Top Shelf Productions, £9.99 (paper), £2.50 or something equally paltry (Digital) (2014) The Bojeffries Saga created by Steve Parkhouse and Alan Moore

Collected herein are all the extant Bojeffries Saga stories drawn by the sublime Steve Parkhouse and written by the astonishing Alan Moore. Having them all in one place is extraordinarily handy as the stories themselves were spread around a number of publications (WARRIOR, DALGODA, A-1, etc?) over a period of several decades and I don’t know about you (I’ve heard tales though) but my days of rooting about in longboxes like a pig hunting truffles are long gone. It’s just unseemly for a man of my age, you know. Also, I don’t live anywhere near my LCS. There’s even a previously unpublished strip to round out the book and further tempt the unconvinced. Anyway, a little clearing of the throat and we’re off. AAAahhhurrruHHHffluGGH-ACK-ACK! Oh, god, what is that! Um, it’s a fact: The Bojeffries Saga started in 1983 within issue 12 of Dez Skinn’s UK based monthly B&W anthology magazine WARRIOR. And, let’s be honest here, most of the appeal went over my then thirteen year old head. Far more appealing to my teeny tastes were Moore’s splashy reinvention of super-heroics (with Garry Leach and Alan Davis) in Miracleman and his (and David Lloyd’s) boldly political reinvention in V For Vendetta of The Abominable Dr Phibes as a stylish gutting of the vigilante trope (V isn’t a hero, just sayin’). In comparison with such lurid company The Bojeffries Saga was a somewhat more sedate proposition with, it turned out, equally lasting if far more subtle pleasures. The Bojeffries Saga didn’t change the course of capes comics forever and nor did it encourage people to protest capitalism en masse while sporting masks depicting a crap traitor purchased from a multi-national corporation. However, it did make me laugh. Which I think is the point of a comedy.

THE BOJEFFRIES SAGA by Steve Parkhouse & Alan Moore

Yes, The Bojeffries Saga is a comedy; it is essentially a comic book sit-com about a family. But one written by Alan Moore so the situation in question is, mostly, a humble British terraced house, and the family domiciled therein could only be described as a nuclear family because the baby is a sentient China Syndrome. Grandad Podlasp is a rapidly de-evolving Cthulloid mess, Glinda is a walking super-ego unfettered by self-awareness or restraint, uncle Raoul is a werewolf who isn’t the full shilling, uncle Festus is a vampire singularly failing to adapt to modernity, Reth, the son, consciously refuses to age past eleven and in their ridiculous midst paterfamilias Jobremus Bojeffries is just trying to keep the household running. Now the world don’t move to the beat of just one drum, what might be right for you might not be right for some! SHAZBAT! and I think we’ve all learned a valuable lesson, today, and all that, right? No, America, because not all comedy is like your comedy.

THE BOJEFFRIES SAGA by Steve Parkhouse & Alan Moore

The Bojeffries Saga is nothing like all that business, because The Bojeffries Saga is quintessentially British and very consciously of its time. This does not (Does. Not.) mean it is dated and its humour has faded. It’s still funny and fresh because Parkhouse & Moore’s comic is so beautifully executed I suspect it will prove to have a half-life equal to one of the aforementioned irradiated baby’s motions. Also, by having its nonsensical cast rub up against the actual times in which it was produced like a needy moggy, it produces a kind of satirical static electricity every time the book is opened. You know what I mean. Timeless, innit. On these pages Parkhouse & Moore build up a picture of a Britain that never existed but a picture so informed by authenticity of detail and experience it becomes, satirical excesses aside, a historical document of a Britain which did exist. Remarkable.

THE BOJEFFRIES SAGA by Steve Parkhouse & Alan Moore

And it is, yes, that’s right, it is the little things. (No, see, I’m not making a joke about my penis here, because I have standards (but mostly because you expected one)) If The Devil is in the details then on the evidence of The Bojeffries Saga he’s got quite the sense of humour. (He’s still The Devil though; shun him!) Details, then. Christ, it’s like being back at school this. Okay, details it is. One chapter is written as a libretto by Moore and, logically enough, visually choreographed by Parkhouse as a dance number, and while the lightly comical way this captures and satirises the various gender and class divisions of the average British street of the time is remarkable in its efficiency and precision, being older than your pubes I was most struck by the reminder that car alarms were once as alien as having a werewolf as an Uncle. When the Bojeffries go on holiday the accumulation of only ever-so-slightly embellished detail made it feel like a recovered memory of all the tepid yet in retrospect deeply odd holidays I had endured as a child. Bloodbaths in Little Chefs initiated by PTSD riddled children’s toys (“Action Ears”!) aside, obviously. And industry? Remember when Britain had industries? When the majority of people worked in factories. Making stuff. And things. We used to be the best in the world at that! Making stuff and, er, things. Stanchions and that. Grommets. Instead today half the populace is employed in ringing up the other half of the populace to see if they have had an accident at work (not your fault!) or have purchased PPI recently. And the other half (yes, the third half. Glad to see you’re awake.) of the population have made a lifestyle choice to be poor and are getting fat on my taxes, isn’t that right David Cameron. Ey, David Cameron? Poverty is a “lifestyle choice” alright, you utter ****. (It’s okay, Brian, no need to get Legal involved, nobody reads this shit.)

THE BOJEFFRIES SAGA by Steve Parkhouse & Alan Moore

So, yeah, cough, uh, in one of the summers between terms working hard to piss away my parent’s dreams by failing to get a decent degree I worked for about three seconds in a pet food factory. In a very Bojeffries Saga touch I filled and assembled big cardboard Christmas crackers meant for dogs. They had dog biscuits in ‘em, rather than a very poor joke, a vinyl fish that can tell how sexy you are and a paper crown, obviously; what are you, nuts? The knack was in the folding; skills for life there. Now, limited as my horny handed experience was I can attest that Moore and Parkhouse’s chapter on Raoul’s workplace and their hilariously incendiary night out captures perfectly the bizarrely banal behaviour which passes for normalcy on the factory floor. Yes, in a dismayingly hilarious way Parkhouse and Moore convey all the fun and magic of the now mostly extinct manufacturing environment; with all its tedium, casual racism, cheeky misogyny and ever present threat that unspoken grudges will suddenly flare into violence. Good times, no, but the dog crackers got through. The later chapters might betray a slackening of the satirical noose as the targets seem slightly more obvious, the battles already lost. Mocking Reality TV probably only means something to people who still bear a grudge over the national shock when the light entertainer and Tory (natch) Leslie Crowther exhorted the British public in 1984 (game, set and natch) to “Cuhmm Ahhn DAWHN!”, and they did. It wasn’t Reality TV, but it was the thin end of the wedge. After Leslie Crowther, the deluge. So it’s 2015 and Reality TV has become as accepted as car alarms, but once both were new and both were funny and The Bojeffries Saga is a record of that time. History moves quicker now but The Bojeffries Saga just about kept up.

THE BOJEFFRIES SAGA by Steve Parkhouse & Alan Moore

I mean no disrespect to Steve Parkhouse when I say that Alan Moore’s the draw here because Moore’s the writer and that’s how comics, a primarily visual medium, works. Also, public awareness-wise Steve Parkhouse has missed a trick or two by not dressing like a Victorian dandy or worshipping a sock. Those being actual “lifestyle choices”, David Cameron, as opposed to poverty - which is not. Cowardly one sided baiting of our majority emboldened leader aside, the success of The Bojeffries Saga is down to Steve Parkhouse as much as Alan Moore, but it needs both to succeed, as anyone who has ever read the repellent and woeful Big Dave (which Parkhouse drew for 2000AD) will back me up. That piece of **** has never been reprinted, which is a mercy; for while there was nothing wrong with Parkhouse’s art the, ahem, script by Grant "Rebel, Rebel" Morrison (MBE) and Mark "The Socialist"Millar (MBE) is everything The Bojeffries Saga is not. And I mean that in a really bad way. A really bad way indeed. Posterity got it right by having The Bojeffries Saga survive and so we can still appreciate the lively and joyous art of Steve Parkhouse. Sure, the art on the part of Steve Parkhouse is a delight here, but then when is Steve Parkhouse’s art not a delight. (That’s rhetorical.) Right from the very first episode Parkhouse uses his deft draughtsmanship to conflate the scruffy fun of Leo (Bash Street Kids) Baxendale with the fidgety detail of Robert (Oh, come on now, really? Fritz The Cat, then.) Crumb while also providing facial cartooning the equal of Naoki (Monster) Urasawa. Parkhouse’s art develops, during the volume, from a fastidious approach with a slightly surreal filigree to a looser, and thus, more sprightly approach. Both styles are great but seeing the development flow through his work over the course of these pages is greater still. And Alan, Oor Alan, what of Alan Moore? Alan Moore seems to be having a ball here. Stylistically he shimmies about all over the shop, which is always a sign he’s enjoying his mystical self. There’s a libretto here, a story in the style of a (really) old Brit comic, plenty of fucking about with phonetics, and it’s all pretty ticklish round the funnybone region. Mind you, he still has a tendency to take a running joke and push it so hard that whether or not it passes through The Wall and breaks the tape like Seb Coe (a Tory) depends entirely on the reader. Other than that slight criticism, I’d have to say that The Bojeffries Saga by Steve Parkhouse and Alan Moore was very, very funny, which in real terms equates to VERY GOOD!

Sure, I could have saved us all a lot of grief and just said it was Eastenders by Monty Python directed by Mike Hodges, but where in that lot is there anything about - COMICS!!!

Arriving 5/13/15

Riding high on all this excitement, let us not forget that new comics are still coming Wednesday! It is a big one, too! SAGA, WALKING DEAD, SECRET WARS, MS MARVEL and EAST OF WEST, plus INJECTION from Warren Ellis, Declan Shavley and Jordie Bellaire, the team responsible for the recent MOON KNIGHT revival.

Check the cut for the rest of the books this week!

ABE SAPIEN #23 ADVENTURE TIME MARCELINE GONE ADRIFT #5 ANGELA ASGARDS ASSASSIN #6 ASTRO CITY #23 AUTEUR SISTER BAMBI #1 BILL & TED MOST TRIUMPHANT RETURN #3 (OF 6) BIRTHRIGHT #7 BLACK SCIENCE #14 BRAVEST WARRIORS #32 BUCKY BARNES WINTER SOLDIER #8 CAPTAIN AMERICA AND MIGHTY AVENGERS #8 SWA CAPTAIN MARVEL #15 CHRONONAUTS #3 COFFIN HILL #18 CONVERGENCE #6 (OF 8) CONVERGENCE AQUAMAN #2 CONVERGENCE BATMAN SHADOW OF THE BAT #2 CONVERGENCE CATWOMAN #2 CONVERGENCE GREEN ARROW #2 CONVERGENCE GREEN LANTERN PARALLAX #2 CONVERGENCE JUSTICE LEAGUE INTL #2 CONVERGENCE SUICIDE SQUAD #2 CONVERGENCE SUPERBOY #2 CONVERGENCE SUPERGIRL MATRIX #2 CONVERGENCE SUPERMAN MAN OF STEEL #2 COPPERHEAD #7 COWL #10 D4VE #4 (OF 5) DARK TOWER DRAWING THREE HOUSE CARDS #3 (OF 5) DARTH VADER #5 DEEP STATE #6 EAST OF WEST #19 ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK #6 FABLES THE WOLF AMONG US #5 FBP FEDERAL BUREAU OF PHYSICS #20 FIVE GHOSTS SPECIAL #1 GIANT DAYS #3 GRIEVOUS JOURNEY OF ICHABOD AZRAEL #3 (OF 6) GUARDIANS 3000 #8 HARROW COUNTY #1 HOWARD THE DUCK #3 INJECTION #1 JUDGE DREDD CLASSICS DARK JUDGES #5 (OF 5) LADY KILLER #5 LANTERN CITY #1 (OF 12) LEGENDARY STAR LORD #12 LOOKING FOR GROUP #2 MAGNETO #18 SWA MANTLE #1 MARVEL UNIVERSE GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #4 (OF 4) MAXX MAXXIMIZED #19 MIAMI VICE REMIX #3 (OF 5) MOUSE GUARD LEGENDS OF GUARD VOL 03 #3 (OF 4) MS MARVEL #15 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER #16 MYTHIC #1 ODYC #5 PATHFINDER ORIGINS #4 (OF 6) PS BLACKCROSS #3 (OF 6) REBELS #2 RICK & MORTY #2 RISE #2 COMICS AGAINST BULLYING ROBOCOP 2014 #11 RUNLOVEKILL #2 SAGA #28 SAVIOR #2 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #57 SECRET WARS #2 (OF 8) SILK #4 SIP (STRANGERS IN PARADISE) KIDS #3 SIXTH GUN DUST TO DUST #3 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #272 SOUTHERN CROSS #3 SPIDER-MAN 2099 #12 SPONGEBOB COMICS #44 STAR TREK NEW VISIONS RESISTANCE STAR TREK ONGOING #45 STORM #11 STRANGE SPORTS STORIES #3 (OF 4) THOR #8 UNCANNY AVENGERS #4 UNCLE SCROOGE #2 UNITY #18 WALKING DEAD #141 WOLVERINES #18 X-O MANOWAR #36 ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS #5

Books/Mags/Things ADVENTURE TIME SUGARY SHORTS HC VOL 02 ALIENS FIRE AND STONE TP ANGRY BIRDS COMICS HC VOL 02 WHEN PIGS FLY BATMAN ARKHAM RIDDLER TP BUCKY BARNES WINTER SOLDIER TP VOL 01 MAN ON WALL EARTH 2 WORLDS END TP VOL 01 (N52) FLOOD NOVEL IN PICTURES HC FOREVER EVIL TP (N52) NIGHT NURSE #1 PANTY & STOCKING WITH GARTERBELT TP REVIVAL TP VOL 05 GATHERING OF WATERS SANCTUM REDUX GN STAR WARS LEGENDS EPIC COLLECTION TP VOL 01 NEW REPUBLIC THOR PREM HC VOL 01 GODDESS OF THUNDER TOMB RAIDER TP VOL 02 SECRETS AND LIES V-WARS TP VOL 02 ALL OF US MONSTERS WALT DISNEY DONALD DUCK HC VOL 06 PIXILATED PARROT WUVABLE OAF HC

As always, what do YOU think?

AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD: Comix Experience expands GN of month club to kids!

Announcing the Kids' Graphic Novel Of The Month Club! www.graphicnovelclub.com/kids

Comics are going through an incredible renaissance at the moment, with more astonishing tales being produced than the average person could possibly hope to keep up on. One of the most explosive areas of growth is comics aimed at kids!

Kids love comics - our 26 years of running a comic book store can attest to that. But parents usually don’t know how or where to start. Parents want books that they can trust, so they usually fall back upon the same few characters and licenses that they see in other media, not knowing or having the time to figure out which are the truly special and thoughtful books with a passionate creative vision. And that's understandable! How can you have time to stay up on children’s literature when you barely have time to stay current with your own likes?

That’s where Comix Experience comes in – we eat, live and breathe comics, and while we’re mostly adults, we’re all kids at heart. Similar to our just-announced Graphic Novel of the Month Club, we're introducing the Kids' Graphic Novel of the Month Club to help put the best comics for kids in your child's hand every month. Plus, the Kids' Graphic Novel of the Month Club will have an 11-year-old on our advisory board – Ben, son of Comix Experience owner Brian Hibbs!

Beginning July 2015 we’ll send your favorite kid an amazing, compelling self-contained graphic novel every month that’s going to light their mind up and leave them wanting more! This pick will be a newly released book that month, so you don’t have to worry about them already having it. And each pick will be suitable for a typical 8-13 year old.

But wait, there’s more!

In addition to a great graphic novel they’ll also get:

● Access to a monthly live-streamed book club meeting where kids from all over the country will be able to discuss the graphic novel they’ve just read.

● Whenever possible, we’ll have the writer and artist of the book involved in the video meeting, there to answer your kid’s questions. And when we have the authors actually in-store, we’ll have a special club-only mixer for your kids to meet.

● We will start an invite-only and moderated message group where kids can write their own reviews of the books we send, and talk about it amongst themselves. Every kid who writes 10 reviews will earn a free book!

● We’ll also offer cool swag for the book, like posters and bookmarks, whenever available!

The whole thing is just $15 a month, the average price of a kid’s graphic novel. If you are local in San Francisco you may pick the book up, otherwise we can ship it for a nominal charge. Ways to Join the Club

Kids' Club membership is available on a month-to-month basis. You can sign up today by clicking the buttons below or by calling either of our stores:

● Comix Experience on Divisadero St. at (415) 863-9258

● Comix Experience Outpost on Ocean Ave. at (415) 239-2669 Club FAQs

Q. When does the club start?

A. We’ll start shipping book as of July 2015.

Q. What books will I get?

A. Some months we might send you a more expensive book, perhaps a nice hardcover, while some months it may be something less expensive – but every month you’ll get an accessible, compelling, and fun piece of original graphic fiction aimed at an 8-13 year old audience.  We will seldom pick stories based on movies or television shows, except when the book is truly exceptional. The value of the book should average out over the course of a year to the price of the membership.

We plan a mixture of genres and styles – sometimes it will be adventure fiction, sometimes it will be non-fiction or history, sometimes it will even be slice-of-life – but always chosen for the sensibilities of your kids.

Q. What if I don’t live in the Bay Area – can I still join?

A. Yes, absolutely! We’ll just have to add $6 a month for shipping and handling for sturdy packaging in a domestic US priority mail. We can offer this outside of the United States, but the shipping costs are pretty horrible (more than the cost of the club, sadly).

Contact us if you’re interested in international shipping.

Q. What if I can’t make it to a meeting or I live out of town?

A. We will also record all club meetings so if you’re out of town your kid can still watch.

Q. My child is really sensitive; will this be right for them?

A. You’re the best judge of what your kid can handle, but we’re aiming at an “average” 8-13 year old. We will sometimes choose work that is more slightly more serious in nature, but we’re vetting every choice with our in-house eleven year-old who has a pretty gentle personality.

Q. Is this for boys or girls?

A. We find that most kids are looking for compelling stories, regardless of the gender of the protagonist. Having said that, we’re going to aim for as even of a mix as we can possibly manage over the course of a year, dependent on the books that are actually released.

Q. Why are you doing this?

A. We have a Graphic Novel Club aimed at adults, and a teacher who joined wrote us asking if our choices could be freely shared with her students. We had to admit that 100% of the choices would not be sharable, but that made us think that putting together a package aimed directly at the kids made a whole lot of sense!  Teachers: Always the smartest ones in the room!

Q. What if my kid hates the book?

A. You can cancel the monthly plan at any time, and if you’re dissatisfied with any of our choices just return the book, and we’ll give you a full refund.

Q. Can I give this as a gift?

A.  Yes! In fact that’s our main intent with this – introducing the joys of comics to kids you know all around the country.

Q. What if I wanted a bulk subscription for my school or organization?

A. We can accommodate you! Please contact Brian Hibbs directly at brian@comixexperience.com to discuss bulk subscriptions.