The John Stanley Library: Tubby
Written by John Stanley
Illustrated by John Stanley & Lloyd White
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

Drawn & Quarterly brings us another collection of John Stanley’s comics, with Tubby from 1954 and 1955, and it’s another solid winner.  Within these pages, the pudgy hero matches wits with spoiled rich kid Wilbur, aids friendly (and small) Martians trapped on Earth, and tries (with hilarious results) to keep girls away from his clubhouse.

Stanley’s warm humor, elegantly simple artwork (aided by finisher Lloyd White here) and inventive twists keep readers, particularly the target audience of young children, delighted throughout these fast-moving, upbeat adventures.  Stanley never preaches, but any character too big for their britches, including Tubby, finds him or herself upended by each tale’s final page. Similarly, as characters with hubris fall, readers see Tubby rewarded for his creativity and intelligence when he needs to defend himself against Wilbur’s plots or aid his Martian friends.

Drawn & Quarterly’s high standards make for an attractive book as well, with a well designed hardcover, sturdy, flat paper, and striking endpapers and contents pages.  The stories are pure plot, racing forward, rarely pausing to let readers contemplate some of their more outrageous elements, and Stanley plays every scene with a sense of whimsy and humor.  The artwork stands out for its simplicity and clarity.  In short, The John Stanley Library: Tubby maintains the high standards of writing, art and production of previous volumes in the Stanley Library series.  Young readers will certainly enjoy them, as will any reader with an appreciation of quality cartooning.

It’s somewhat astonishing how much there is in Julia Gfrörer’s Flesh and Bone, a 40-page, stapled six-by-eight-and-a-half-inch comic from Sparkplug.

While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the book is actually about witchcraft, that is definitely the subject matter, and Gfrörer works many bits and bobs of folklore about witches, their place in past society, superstitions and folklore.

Here’s a sabbat out in the woods, where a witch gives sexual favors to the devil. Here she is reading tea leaves, and offering magical help to a desperate local the church has refused. Here is an echo of Hansel and Gretel, of Baba Yaga’s hut in Wassilissa the Beautiful. There’s an animal familiar, a spell, a summoning…and magic that’s not really magic.

What’s remarkable is that while Gfrörer includes a survey of witch lore in so short a space, it’s all encountered naturally, in service to an engrossing, complete drama with a clean, succinct, satisfying structure and a simple, almost minimalist amount of detail.
(more…)

Backing Into Forward
Written by Jules Feiffer
Published by Doubleday

Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer’s memoir is not a cartoon.  There’s not much else wrong with it, however.

Although the narrative focuses primarily on his professional life, Rhoda Feiffer, Jules’ mother, shaped much of his career and personal life – by virtue of her overbearing, uncompromising manner. Most of us have, directly or indirectly, a Rhoda Feiffer, and will relate to the comical pressures on young Jules. Feiffer shares many hilarious anecdotes of writing theatre, fighting for pay at the Village Voice, and learning to cartoon on Uncle Sam’s dime. Although he rambles on in a few places, most of the tales remain to-the-point, keeping the reader focused on the tale at hand.

Feiffer drops many  names, which is the province of a memoir if you have names to drop.  The book’s core centers on his career as a cartoonist and writer, but his creativity is constantly influenced by issues in his personal life, so Feiffer is compelled to share tidbits about his children (particularly when he gets into his work in children’s books – oh, the drama of one child having a book about her and not another!) and marriages from time to time.  All told, it’s an engagingly written, very humorous look at the life of one of our most important cartoonists, a man who seemed to find many opportunities accidentally, yet always possessed the wit and creativity to take advantage of those open doors.

The Troublemakers
Written & Illustrated by Gilbert Hernandez
Published by Fantagraphics

Gilbert Hernandez’s latest book, The Troublemakers, continues his series of movies-within-comics.  In his Love & Rockets series, Hernandez’s sometime protagonist Rosalba “Fritz” Martinez gave up her psychiatry practice to become a B-movie queen, and The Troublemakers is – after 2007’s Chance in Hell – the second Fritz “movie.”  In this book, Hernandez’s plot follows four grifters, each trying to get their mitts on a $200,000 payout.

A few years ago, Hernandez seemed to be experimenting with comics (see Grip: The Strange World of Men) in the style of filmmaker David Lynch – stories heavy with surrealism and obscurely symbolic imagery.  With his “movie” books, Hernandez has moved into the milieu of another filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino, by embracing and indulging in the excesses and clichés of his cinematic inspirations.  Oddly, while I’ve never cared for Tarantino’s films, I’ve enjoyed Hernandez’s books – though not as much as his best Love & Rockets’ material.

(more…)

Make Me a Woman
Written & Illustrated by Vanessa Davis
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

Vanessa Davis’s book Make Me a Woman collects short autobiographical strips written and illustrated between 2004 and 2010.  The strips themselves range from one-page, hastily drawn sketchbook pages to fully-colored, longer sequences that appeared previously in various ‘zines, anthologies and online on Tablet magazine’s site.

Though the strips are all well drawn – the sketches in particular possess a liveliness – the pedestrian insights and self-effacing humor don’t enable the book to stand out compared to better autobio comics.  If this were a superhero comic, Make Me a Woman would be the middle-of-the-road book that you enjoy, but wouldn’t particularly miss if the budget required a cut.

Eden is, in its Middle Eastern origins and the Western tradition that sprang from them, a literal paradise, a sort of heaven on earth, a place of absolute perfection, the way things could have been—should have been—if mistakes weren’t made.

I’m as sure as I can possibly be without actually asking artist Pablo Holmberg that he didn’t choose Eden as the name of his comic strips in order to comment on their quality. The most likely origin is Bob Dylan’s “Gates of Eden”, as one of Holmberg’s pieces quotes the lyric “There are no kings inside the gates of Eden,” which is written on a sign hanging from a gate and confronting one of the recurring characters, who wears a crown and a coat with ermine trim. (“Don’t let it intimidate you,” says another recurring character, from the other side of the gate.)

It’s an exceptionally fitting title though, and the metaphor works. The comics collected in Eden are perfect and, even more uniquely, pure comics—they are comics that can only be comics, they do things that can only be done in comics and as comics. Each individual, page-long piece makes a statement, asks a question or evokes a mood or feeling through a combination of words, pictures and the manipulation of time that is only possible through sequential images.

The majority of Holmberg’s strips are four-panels. In their original, online iteration those four panels ran horizontally, but in Drawn and Quarterly’s collection, a perfect little six-inch-by-six-inch square, 120-page paperback, they are reorganized to run in two-by-two square-shaped grids. A handful of one-panel, single-image cartoons make for rule-proving exceptions. (more…)

Carmine Infantino: Penciler, Publisher, Provocateur
Edited by Jim Amash and Eric Nolen-Weathington
Published by TwoMorrows

This long form interview with classic comics illustrator and one-time DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino will be of interest, primarily, to Infantino and DC fans.  It’s a solid piece, covering the full breadth of Infantino’s career, which means that it’s also skimpy in places as the interviewer (Amash) and interviewee race to the next big moment.

Fortunately, Infantino had many big moments, from being among the last artists to draw the Golden Age Flash to designing and drawing the seminal adventures of the Silver Age Flash, from reworking Batman during the 1960s to overseeing DC Comics during the early days of the direct market.  Infantino’s not shy with his opinions, particularly at the end as regards the current state of superhero comics and the fates of his creations Barry Allen (death and rebirth are covered) and Ralph Dibny.

Ultimately, it’s not quite essential reading, but for fans of this dynamic artist or readers interested in the span of comics history he represents, Carmine Infantino: Penciler, Publisher, Provocateur provides plenty of interesting stories and insights into one man’s working methods, perspective on his career and evolving feelings regarding the industry itself.

Nipper, 1963-64
Written & Illustrated by Doug Wright
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

Doug Wright’s Nipper acted as the Canadian equivalent to Bil Keane’s The Family Circus.  There are many outward differences – Nipper is multi-paneled and almost entirely silent, whereas Keane’s strip is one image with an accompanying caption, but the overall tone of each strip is remarkably similar.  Those gosh-darn kids and their crazy antics!

Wright’s an excellent draftsman, so Nipper looks great.  If readers take anything away from the book, it will undoubtedly be an appreciation for Wright’s illustrative prowess.  In four to six panels, his elegant line and strong compositions capture the innocent and maddening travails of parenthood.  The slick drawings capture the idyllic dream of 1960s family life, a dream continually undermined by the chaotic endings of each sequence.

Doug Wright was a keen observer of the family dynamic, and a powerful, clean illustrator.  Combining his talents, he created an engaging, fun family comic strip, now collected by Drawn & Quarterly as Nipper, 1963-64. Taken in book form, the strips read incredibly quickly, giving readers not much more than an hour of enjoyment, but readers who appreciate this innocently charming material will certainly find it an hour well spent.

Thor: Tales of Asgard
Written by Stan Lee
Penciled by Jack Kirby
Inked by George Roussos, Don Heck, Paul Reinman, Chic Stone, Vince Colletta & Bill Everett
Colored by Matt Milla
Lettered by Artie Simek & Sam Rosen
Published by Marvel Comics

If there’s one good thing about the upcoming Thor film (there may be more than one, but this particular one is the highlight so far as I’m concerned), it is the existence of this book.  You see, back in the 60s, when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby came up with Thor, they devoted five or so pages in the back of their comic to short stories that were inspired directly from classical mythology, rather than fitting everything into an urban, superhero context.  Tales of Asgard started as short “origin”-type stories, but quickly evolved into a multi-part, epic/quest serial.

Tales of Asgard also stands out as perhaps the highest point of the classic Marvel Comics era.

(more…)

Happy Thanksgiving, Newsarama readers!  In case you’re not a football fan (or in case you’re not an American reader and just want to keep your ‘Rama routine going today), I thought I’d give you something to read while lazing through your tryptophan-induced slumber.

So here’s a set of Batman comics from DC Comics that I’ve read in the past couple days.

Batman Incorporated #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Penciled by Yanick Paquette
Inked by Michael Lacombe
Colored by Nathan Fairbairn
Lettered by John J. Hill
Cover art by J.H. Williams III or Paquette, Lacombe & Fairbairn

The new mission begins in earnest in Batman Incorporated #1, as Batman and Catwoman travel to Tokyo to train a Japanese Batman.  Of course, Lord Death Man’s already killed Batman’s first choice, so they’ll have to improvise.  Not much to complain about in an issue featuring catchy dialogue, a fun, fast pace, and sleek, dynamic superhero artwork from Paquette.  I’m not sure Morrison’s new take on Batman will last any longer than his take on the X-Men, but it looks like it will be a fun ride while it lasts.  Nice cliffhanger, with teases embedded right into it.  I hope Morrison keeps that in his bag of tricks. (more…)

American Vampire #6-8
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque
Colored by Dave McCaig
Lettered by Steve Wands
Published by DC/Vertigo

After my less-than-enthusiastic reaction to American Vampire v. 1, one dedicated fan of the series asked me to give it a second chance, and believed in the series enough to send me the next three issues. That fan’s faith is apparently rewarded, because Scott Snyder’s series finds its legs during this storyline.

Snyder’s still working the vampire and horror motifs effectively, but he’s found a thematic core that gives the series some meat beyond the scary imagery.  He’s also developing a more complex mythology, but the series draw here is witnessing the dark underbelly of America’s development.  The building of the Hoover Dam, and its effect on Las Vegas (gambling and prostitution to entertain the dam workers, and all the problems of a population boom) and the surrounding areas comes into the spotlight here.  Snyder threads his vampires into the Dam’s origin, giving the storyline plenty of spectacle and horror, but he maintains a solid thematic thread about the backroom dealing and duplicitous origins of America’s 20^th century development.

Rafael Albuquerque’s character designs and backdrops remain strong.  He excels in the quiet scenes, particularly the scenes of our heroic Chief Cashel talking with his wife or father.  Heavy shadowing captures the gothic terror of the vampires wonderfully as well.

I thought the series had some potential, but it’s nice to actually see some of it coming out here.  If you’re on the fence after the first book, American Vampire might yet be a series worth your while.

Victorian Undead: Sherlock Homes vs. Dracula #1
Written by Ian Edginton
Illustrated by Davide Fabbri with Tom Mandrake
Colored by Carrie Strachan
Lettered by Saida Temofonte
Cover art by Ryan Sook
Published by DC/Wildstorm

It’s probably just my own obliviousness, since this is a sequel and all, but did you know that there was a previous Victorian Undead series?  Sherlock Holmes vs. zombies?  I didn’t.  In truth, when this comic showed up in my mailbox, I kind of laughed at it, yet another genre mashup.  Cowboys vs. Aliens.  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  I haven’t actually read any of them.  They might be good, but it just doesn’t appeal to me.  But here is was, Sherlock Holmes battling Dracula, and it was in my hands.

Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula is, perhaps not surprisingly given Ian Edginton’s name in the credits, a very good genre potboiler.  Edginton doesn’t force the action – the set-up is simple, and Holmes involvement makes obvious sense.  The titular villain doesn’t appear until the final page, so readers are essentially treated to twenty pages of Holmes’ investigation.  Edginton clearly knows his Arthur Conan Doyle.

The art’s fairly strong, with strong character designs and very good page layouts.  Fabbri’s able to move the reader’s eye through the page very effectively.  The end result is a fun, engaging genre thriller, sharply dialogued, well drawn, and worth the time of any interested reader.

Transformers: the IDW Collection v.1

Written by Eric Holmes, Shane McCarthy & Simon Furman

Illustrated by Alex Milne, Marcelo Matere, Casey Coller, Robby Musso, Nick Roche, MD Bright & E.J. Su

Colored by Josh Perez, Zac Atkinson, Mark Bristow, Gabe Eltaeb, Joana Lafuente, Josh Burchman, John Raunch, Liam Shallo, Rob Ruffalo, Aaron Meyers, Simon Bork, Mark Englert, Sunder Raj & Kevin Senft

Lettered by Chris Mowry, Robbie Robbins, Neil Uyetake, Sulaco Studios & Tom B. Long

Published by IDW

I am not, by nature, a nostalgist.  The things that you once loved, particularly that you loved as a child, rarely hold that same gleaming splendor to the jaded adult eye.  And that’s fine – it’s not hard to find bits of entertainment that thrill a reader of my age.  Consequently, recent reboots (via comics, film or other formats) of childhood favorites haven’t really registered with me.  As much as I loved G.I. Joe or Masters of the Universe as a kid, I honestly don’t pay the slightest attention to revival attempts (and no, I haven’t seen the Joe movie).

(more…)

A Sickness in the Family
Written by Denise Mina
Illustrated by Antonio Fuso
Lettered by Clem Robins
Published by DC/Vertigo

Vertigo’s crime line has, by and large, left me cold.  So it’s a welcome surprise to find that Denise Mina and Antonio Fuso’s A Sickness in the Family achieves a twisted and creepy level of satisfaction.  Mina wisely forgoes the predictably washed-up, pseudo-alcoholic private dick protagonist that burdens many of the Vertigo crime titles, introducing readers instead to the Usher family (Yes, Edgar Poe readers have reason to do a double take).  Mom and Dad, Gramma, and three young adult children, all living together under one roof – where family tensions have them at each others’ throats.

Mina spends enough time on the entire cast to let readers connect to them and understand them.  Excepting Amy, always angry and blaming, and perhaps Gramma, whose on the tableau is limited early, each Usher is given room to show their shallow side and their reasons for being disgusted with their kin.  Yet Mina also takes time to present a softer, more human side of each person, rounding them out into something close to fully realized persons.

(more…)

Publisher Quirk Books’ new DC Comics: The 75th Anniversary Poster Book offers two different reading experiences, to potentially two different audiences.

Firstly and foremost, it’s exactly what its title indicates, a “poster book.” It’s 14 inches high, 11 wide and, as the cover says in font nearly as bit as the title, it “includes 100 ready-to-frame covers,” the edges perforated to easily tear the over-sized reproductions of the covers out to sticky-tape to your dorm room or frame and hang in your library (or the room you keep all your long boxes in; whatever).

As a comics critic and blogger as well as a comics reader, I suppose I’m a little bit more engaged with DC Comics covers than some potential consumers of this book, but even still, I was somewhat surprised by how many images from the book I was already quite familiar with, either from reading the books, reading about the books, or just seeing a blogger posting a funny image of a gorilla cover or Batman doing something goofy in order to make fun of it.

It does speak to the original power of many of the images included, and the pervasiveness of their influence—either because of the overall quality of the image itself, and/or to the association with the contents of the story lurking under it. Think Superman lifting a car over his head while that guy in the lower left-hand corner freaks out, or Batman flexing like a body builder while jumping in front of a lightning bolt, or The Joker with a camera, instructing the reader to “smile,” or Superman crying and cradling the body of Supergirl while the rest of the DC Universe assembles in the background like wallpaper.
(more…)

The Green Woman
Written by Peter Straub & Michael Easton
Illustrated by John Bolton
Lettered by Todd Klein
Published by DC/Vertigo

Famed horror novelist Peter Straub makes his first foray into comics scripting in The Greem Woman, accompanied by writer and actor Michael Easton and acclaimed painter John Bolton.  The story involves the serial killer Fielding “Fee” Bandolier from Straub’s 1993 Bram Stoker-winning novel The Throat on a new killing spree. Hunting him every step of the way is psychic detective Bob Steele.

The Green Woman throws around several interesting ideas.  Unfortunately, few of them amount to very much – Bob Steele, named after a famed cowboy movie hero, struggles with the ideal of his name; planks from a cursed pirate ship make up parts of two buildings that play heavily into the book’s events; Fee flashes back to experiences in Vietnam while trying to control his compulsion to kill.

(more…)

Who Will Comfort Toffle?
Written & Illustrated by Tove Jansson
English script by Sophie Hannah
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

Tove Jansson’s second Moomin picture book gets a new English translation courtesy of Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly and English scripter/poet/writer Sophie Hannah.  Like the Moomin comic strips and Jansson’s first children’s book, The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My, Who Will Comfort Toffle? brims with whimsy and wonder.

Lonely Toffle journeys through Moomin Valley, encountering the denizens of Jansson’s imaginative world.  Every person she encounters, in addition to partaking in imaginative flights of fancy, has someone to share the moment with, yet Toffle remains alone, in search of a companion.  It’s a direct and clear message for kids, that we all feel lonely and that we’re the only person without somebody, but of course, it all works out when you meet the right person.  And you may have to persevere to meet that person, but doing so is worth the effort.

(more…)

Eternal teenagers Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys owe a great deal of their longevity to their adaptability. Not simply in how relatively easily they’ve been able to slide from prose mystery novels for the youngsters of the 1920s and ’30s into each new popular medium as it arose (comics included, obviously), but also in their ability to glom on to emerging trends, fashions and thinking.

It seems like it’s been quite a while since either Nancy or the Boys really had a hold of the zeitgeist, but they’re still around, you know?

Whether this Archie-like immortality is due to an essential blandness in the characters or an admirable blankness allowing for projection is something fans could argue with haters (provided either franchise possesses either); for the moment, let’s concern ourselves with current publishers of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys graphic novels’ ability to successfully translate the teen sleuths into library-friendly kids graphic novels, and in their savvy if transparent attempts to capitalize on the current pop literary interest in certain breeds of undead.

Nancy Drew, The New Case Files: Vampire Slayer, Part One promises an en vogue mash-up, it’s cover featuring a crossbow-toting young girl and a cute boy vampire standing upside down, bat-like in the background.

(more…)

American Vampire v.1
Written by Scott Snyder & Stephen King
Illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque
Colored by Dave McCaig
Lettered by Steve Wands
Published by DC/Vertigo

In recent years, that old horror staple, the vampire, has been co-opted by the froo-frooey clutches of melodramatic, angsty teen romance.  Well, American Vampire is trying damn hard to reclaim the bloodsuckers for the horror crowd, and it’s fairly successful in doing so.  Although American Vampire is Scott Snyder’s baby, having Stephen King write the origin of the series’ protagonist is a surefire way to get lots of notice and establish the series’ horror roots.

Now, admittedly, I’ve never had much interest in vampires (or zombies, mummies, creatures from any lagoons, or werefolk for that matter), so I’m not necessarily the target audience for a book like this (though it’s far more up my alley than, say, Twilight).  But the high concept is sound enough – ancient European vampires come to the United States, a young land ripe for exploitation.  Along the way, they create a new vamp, one Skinner Sweet, and the new land, the new blood (where, exactly, Skinner is descended from is never mentioned, although he appears to have European ancestry somewhere up the tree) and ole’ Charles Darwin’s theory combine to create a whole new breed of vampire.

(more…)

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less
Written & Illustrated by Sarah Glidden
Lettered by Clem Robins
Published by DC/Vertigo

A few years back, Sarah Glidden went on a Birthright Israel trip, which basically boils down to her taking a paid trip to Israel to experience life in the Holy Lands for herself.  If nothing else, good for her, because nobody’s yet offered a similar trip to those of us of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry! (Though I suppose I can drive to Amish country on my own.)

Actually, Glidden’s book detailing her experience – How to Understand Israel in 60 Day or Less – is a fascinating read.  Like many people, Glidden comes to the situation with a ton of baggage.  We all think we know about Israel or even, in the bigger picture, the Middle East or other cultures, but few of us have really walked in the shoes of those other people.  Through her experiences in Israel, however, readers are exposed to the intricacies of the peace process and the difficulties in finding compromises while still providing protection against extremism.

(more…)