Sunday, February 28, 2010

This was mainstream!

The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics (Abrams ComicArts) collects some of the best American children comics of the Golden Age. It features the works of Basil Wolverton, Carl Barks and many more.

A blurb at the back of the book says, “Comics: Not just for grown-ups anymore!” These comics were mainstream when they were published. A time when American comics have hardly matured; long before 1986.

Cultures change, and the arts go with them. This is why the Treasury is a treasure. You cannot expect comics of such styles to be produced these days. Do check this anthology out if you have the chance, even if you are an adult.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

john porcellino

I first read John Porcellino in 2001. The book was Perfect Example, first published by Highwater Books in 2000 and then reprinted by Drawn & Quarterly in 2005 and has been in print since then. It collects King-Cat Comics from 1997-98. (#52-53) That books deals with John's teenage years of growing up, growing apart from himself. John suffers from depression.

I connected with Perfect Example because John likes the same punk bands I did in the 1980s - Husker Du and Minutemen. I wrote to John and he kindly wrote back.

In 2005, Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man was published by La Mano. It collects stories John did about this summer job he took up for 5 years during college. These stories were from King-Cat Comics from 1989 to 1999. This event is important as it had something to do with John's medical condition in 1997-98.

Finally, King-Cat Classix was published in 2007 by Drawn & Quarterly and that collected materials from the first 50 issues of King-Cat Comics.

I just read finish Map of My Heart (D&Q, 2009) some weeks ago and it's still staying with me. It collects selected stories from King-Cat Comics #51-61 (1996-2002). In those 6 tumultuous years, John got married, resettled to another city/anxiety, fell seriously ill, got divorced and had a nervous breakdown. The stories end with him meeting someone new but he's still not sure about what lies ahead. Today, he is married to her and I am glad things have worked out for him.

It is only when I read the notes in Map of My Heart that I realised I have read John's life in order. From his final year in high school in Perfect Example to his college job in Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man and then the early years of King-Cat Comics in King-Cat Classix, it's like I've been prep for what would happen to John from 1996 onwards. With Map of My Heart, all the pieces had fallen into place and we are brought up to speed to 2002. Which means that when I first wrote to John in 2001, he was going through some really bad times in his life. And he was nice enough to write back.

That really struck me when I finally put Map of My Heart down.

p/s: John also did Thoreau at Walden in 2008 (The Center for Cartoon Studies) and Thoreau's philosophical view of the world would play a big part in how John deals with the ups and downs of life.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

minis

Just got this:

Newave!: The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s
Ed. Michael Dowers (FB)

In the early 1990s, I really got into American mini comics/zines (factsheet five!) and was sending out US dollar bills and getting minis in my mailbox in return. Starhead Comix, JR Williams, Dennis Worden, Steve Willis, Peter Bagge, Leanne Franson, Adrian Tomine, etc.

Some hits, some duds and I even got BigO magazine to do a mini comic in one of their issues. (Michael Mindflyer of OIC)

Same thing for this 892 page tome - mostly it's down memory lane and for archival purposes but little repeat reading value.

Btw, just found Leanne's website:
http://liliane.comicgenesis.com/

Just found this old review of mine of Below Critical Radar: Fanzines and Alternative Comics From 1976 to Now.

http://www.wittyworld.com/reviews/reviewcomicbooks.html

Hardboiled

3 noir comics hit a nerve in recent months.

1. West Coast Blues by Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi (FB)

2. Parker: The Hunter (Richard Stark's Hunter) by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)

3. Torpedo by Enrique Sanchez Abuli, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jordi Bernet, and Alex Toth (IDW)

I first read Torpedo when Catalan released its editions in the 1980s, but reading it again today at one seating, this has stood the test of time. Also good to see Tardi being translated and published in English again.

These books remind me of my first visit to Bukit Merah library in the early 1980s and borrowing my first book from a public library. It was Dashiell Hammett's The Dain Course (1929).

Chao Ham Ham.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

I read gulp……Ultimate Marvel Ultimatum

And it is not as horrible as I thought it would be, after reading all the comments and reviews on the internet. In fact, it is enjoyable, if you take the story lightly, ignore the plot holes, and read through as fast as you can without stopping to think what exactly is going on. As far as I am concerned, Ultimatum is meant to set a new status quo to the Ultimate Marvel universe, and a fine job it did. Characters not needed? Kill them. No need for Ultimate X-Men? Murder Xavier and Magneto. And to make sure there really is no chance of reviving the series, kill off Cyclops as well.

And that is why Ultimatum is good. I do not have to follow and understand its plots much. It matters not to me how or why things happen that way. I know that Magneto screwed Earth, and then characters were dying everywhere. And voila! Status not quo. Instant ultimate universe “reboot” in several issues. One twelve-issued, universe-rebooting series is more than enough.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Kino Bestsellers for Jan 2010

1. OISHINBO: IZAKAYA
by TETSU KARIYA, AKIRA HANASAKI

2. OURAN HIGH HOST CLUB VOLUME 15
by BISCO HATORI

3. A DRIFTING LIFE
by YOSHIHIRO TATSUMI

4. NARUTO VOLUME 47
by MASASHI KISHIMOTO

5. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN VOLUME 3
by MATT FRACTION, SALVADOR LARROCA

6. WALKING DEAD VOLUME 11
by ROBERT KIRKMAN

7. UNWRITTEN VOLUME 1
by MIKE CAREY, PETER GROSS

8. SIEGE PRELUDE
by BRIAN MICHEAL BENDIS

9. TSUBASA RESERVOIR CHRONICLE VOLUME 25
by CLAMP

10. OOKU THE INNER CHAMBER VOLUME 1
by FUMI YOSHINAGA