AKA Goldfish
Shadows Fall
Optic Nerve
Answer Me!
Kabuki
Current reads are Tales from the Edge, Preacher, Books of Magic, Stray Bullets and Strangers in Paradise; your suggestion is quite welcome.
|
soon...more to come...
AKA Goldfish Current reads are Tales from the Edge, Preacher, Books of Magic, Stray Bullets and Strangers in Paradise; your suggestion is quite welcome.
|
|
|
Adrian Tomine is a student at UC Berkeley. Instead of rooting for the Bears at various sporting events (presumably), he has been spending time and money drawing, writing, printing and distributing his own mini-comic, Optic Nerve. After 7 self-published issues, he has joined Drawn & Quarterly so that he can concentrate on the comic itself and let D&Q do the promoting. Issue 8, or full-sized issue 1, is out, and Tomine continues his clean black-and-white drawings about (take a guess) people confused about relationships and what they are doing with their lives. For people who like that sense of deja vu, Optic Nerve strikes closer to home than other "reality" or personal comics. Tomine tends to cut the tension of his character's drab lives with some surreal twist that keeps the vignettes from becoming too pretentious. Tomine seems interested in those instances during one's day where one pauses and really thinks about what's going on; he seems to relish little bursts of happiness as well as the small failures of life. The characters are hip indie kids with all the right clothes, and average men and women one might encounter in any town, and they deal with doomed relationships, fetishes, and all the little things that can happen in a day that disturb it's normalcy. The artwork is similar to Dan Clowes' in Eightball, but the tone is not as angry or manic. The use of only black, white, and grey emphasizes the 50s-retro cityscapes and the characters themselves seem stuck in some time warp, unable to escape the fates that Tomine has bestowed upon them. Optic Nerve is not uplifting nor incendiary, and it does not intend to preach to or degrade the people who are featured. It is, on the other hand, a very smart comic that will unfortunately be published only twice a year. You may have to bother the local comic book shops to get them to order Optic Nerve, or else wait until October...
 
A.K.A. Goldfish is the title of a sneering, swaggering, swearing series of 5 comic books. Ace, Jack, and Queen were published in September 94, December 94, and May 95, respectively, and we can expect Joker in August and hopefully King, the finale, in December of this year. The creator, Brian Michael Bendis, is constructing a gritty, and dare I say "pulp fiction" scenario with his black and white stories-- think The Grifters or Glengarry Glen Ross, two movies suggested in his essential movie guide at the end of the Jack issue. The story is classic, and that's why it is so entertaining: A small-time con man. The heartless dame who wronged him. Showgirls. Hit men. And of course, the outrageous and elaborate club/casino surrounded by mean streets. Bendis has previously published Project FIRE, a retake of La Femme Nikita, and is obviously a fan of the Scam and the Con. He has done a good job, so far, of establishing his characters as people with quirks that we can grow to love and/or hate. Bendis' artwork finds obvious comparison with Frank Miller's work in Sin City, but Bendis is not quite as over-the-top nor so artistic. I'm not denying his drawing talent-- in a way Bendis' cinematic framing style is much more suited to blend with his narrative than Miller's "let's shock 'em with a masterpiece on every page" would have been. A.K.A. Goldfish may be hard to find in comic stores, but you can order directly from Caliber or from Bendis himself. Ignore the goofy title, put down the remote control and do a little reading this summer.
Fans of classic horror movies should appreciate the six-part miniseries of Shadows Fall, offered by the Vertigo branch of DC Comics. It aspires to fill the reader will suspense and sickly dread instead of just grossing them out with the usual blood and guts. The first issue is out now, and sets the scene of a city haunted by Warren Gale's soul, who for seventeen years has been occupying people's darknesses and leading them to suicide. It also gives us a glimpse into the life of Gale himself, an unsuspecting man who dreams of the lives and deaths of people he does not know when his soul, in the guise of his shadow, visits him at night. Many questions invariably arise when reading this comic. Why did Gale's soul leave its body? Why and how does it make people kill themselves? Why does it visit Gale and leave only disturbing stories of suicides in his mind? Part of the delight in reading a serial is waiting for the next issue to come, and hoping it holds all the answers to your questions. A good comic should tantalize but not frustrate, and knowing that Shadows Fall will conclude in some way in five more issues is an exciting aspect of reading it. John Ney Rieber, the writer, also writes the Books of Magic line for Vertigo. The narrative is sparse, and arranged in short and poetic phrases that lend grace and gravity to the city, which is portrayed as dark, dirty, and hopeless. The characters are all small, unremarkable people, which makes the events that happen all the more creepy than if the story was played out in the realm and scope of superheroes. The painted artwork of John Van Fleet says as much due to the detail involved as Reiber's words do. The style is at times photorealistic, but always manipulated and shrouded in shadows so that the reader never feels familiar with the view. Together, the writing, art, and layout tell a story that even a cinematographer would have trouble properly telling. If you've always thought that comic books were for kids, pick up the first issue of Shadows Fall and see how the genre now defies common misperception.
When I was visiting friends in Virginia I hung out, saw some shows and bought the requisite souvenirs. Possibly the most disgusting, offensive, tasteless, non-PC thing I brought home was this zine, ANSWER Me!, and of course it is published in Los Angeles. It has 131 pages stuffed with sick and demented ranting, macabre trivia, and autopsy photos. Oh, did I mention the illustrations from incarcerated serial killers? This zine truly challenges the sacredness of the Freedom of Speech. In fact, it is so nasty that I know some of you are already interested and slobbering all over yourselves for a copy. Too bad! This issue, the third, just sold out and was being offered for 25 bucks at some places, I'm told. Evidently, Americans like sleaze and extreme violence, though they won't often admit it. Hypocritical bastards! At least the editors, Jim and Debbie Goad, are honest enough to admit their fascination with the freakier aspects of life, and they know that we like it too. This issue's focus is on suicides. It chronicles the 100 most spectacular suicides in history in loving detail, and includes honorable mentions for each method. Also, there are transcriptions of calls Debbie made to a suicide prevention hotline and to the Man himself, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, as she pretended to have incurable cancer and begged him to help her die. I admit, this is grisly reading, especially considering Kurt Cobain's suicide and one particular photograph, but I couldn't help thinking that if he had read ANSWER Me!, he might not be dead right now. This zine is actually the best possible deterrent to suicide because it shows how stupid and bloody an event it is. There are also stories about the NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association), gun control, and little drawings by Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez and the recently executed John Wayne Gacy. ANSWER Me! is the kind of thing many people would secretly read and enjoy while insulting it in front of their friends...if they ever admitted to reading it in the first place. It is an interesting study in modern American culture, and the limits of acceptability. If you manage to get your hands on a copy, appreciate the satire and humor in every sentence. And if you are still offended, don't blame me I warned you.
|