Synopsis: David is in love with Katchoo. Francine was in love with Freddie, thinks she might be in love with David, and also thinks she might be in love with Katchoo, even though she’s always considered herself heterosexual. Katchoo is in love with Francine, but also thinks she might be in love with David, even though she claims to hate all men. Confused? So are they.

This is Strangers In Paradise…

What can I say about this comic book series? Brilliant for one thing. When I first picked the comic up I was intrigued. I had, up until that point been reading comics like Witchblade (purely for the artwork), and Moore’s art style was so far removed from what I was used to. Most of the issues were in black and white, eshewing color until the appropriate moment. But what really caught me was the way in which he told the story of Katchoo, Francine and David.

Interspersed between traditional comic panels were lyrics, prose, notes…everything that you don’t see in a comic book. All of it combined to make the traditional story of love, loss, and revenge into something brilliant. It was the first time I had seen a comic artist do something like that.

Terry Moore has an almost uncanny ability to understand and portray human interaction in all its grandeur and ugliness. His two main characters, Katina Choovanski (Katchoo) and Francine Peters, are two of the most realistic women characters I have ever seen in a comic book. They rival some of my favorite Novel Characters.

If ever there was a comic that should be read it is this series…

Bonjour,

J’ai vu enfin les derniers épisodes de Battlestar Galactica dans la nuit de dimanche dernier. J’avais commencé comme tous les dimanches soirs à regarder les épisodes sur SciFi quand j’ai réalisé que le coffret de DVD contenait une version longue des deux derniers opus et j’ai craqué : à 2 h du matin, je finissais enfin cette saga. Wow ! Quelle épopée ! On a tout dit et tout lu sur la qualité de cette série, mais que ce soit en plus vraiment regardable, ça tient du miracle.

L’un des points capitaux est que la série soit restée courte ce qui a permis de ne pas délayer l’histoire et se perdre en détours inutiles.

J’ai bien aimé son côté philosophique ou comment amener les spectateurs à réfléchir sur des sujets qui nous concernent actuellement, mais sans avoir la charge émotionnelle et partisane qu’aurait un film historique ou un documentaire.

L’amateur de SF pure a eu sa dose de combats dans l’espace.

Je ne peux m’empêcher d’admirer les producteurs et auteurs d’avoir placé autant de personnages féminins forts et  intéressants…

La musique était vraiment géniale…

Une série magnifique de bout en bout. Je vais laisser reposer quelque temps et je crois que je vais me re-regarder la série à mon rythme.

La bonne SF est tellement rare à l’écran. Je suis tombée dans la SF quand j’étais petite. Ma mère aimait ça et sa bibliothèque en regorgeait. Vers 9-10 ans (j’étais précoce en terme de lecture), je découvrais mes premiers Asimov, VanVogt et autre Sturgeon sans oublier le français Francis Carsac. Plus tard, ce fut Dune (qui reste un des livres que j’ai le plus lu et relu).

Aujourd’hui, je n’ai pas beaucoup de livres de SF dans ma bibliothèque (ils sont déjà chez ma mère ou mon frère), mais un bon roman, une bonne série, un bon film me font toujours l’effet d’enfiler un bon vieux pull avec lequel on se sent paré pour toutes les aventures.

Histoire de vous taquiner, j’ai toujours dans mes cartons un projet de fanfic qui sera un cross-over entre Xena et Farscape (une autre sacrément bonne série de SF).

Question BD, autre chaudron dans lequel je suis tombée toute petite, encore grâce à ma mère, j’ai découvert au hasard de mes pérégrinations, le site digiBiDi qui propose des BD en version numérique, en prévue (avec au moins un dizaine de pages ce qui permet de se faire une idée de l’histoire et du style), en location pour 72 h ou à l’achat (de l’ordre de 4,50 € un album normalement vendu 12 €). Il y a aussi bien des BD européennes que des comics ou des mangas.

Dans la série comics, j’y ai vu Strangers in Paradise dont je vous ai déjà parlé (mais il faudra qu’ils m’expliquent pourquoi il n’y a que les albums 3, 8 et 13 !!)  ou Whiteout, l’album que je suis en train de lire en anglais (en version papier) en ce moment. Le lecteur de BD est pratique, les images sont bonnes et la lecture est fluide. C’est une bonne solution pour découvrir de nouveaux univers graphiques, sans se ruiner et sans avoir à construire de nouvelles étagères.

Sinon, ce soir, la première Flûte Enchantée au Châtelet (vous pouvez voir un petit montage vidéo en suivant ce lien et en cliquant sur la première vidéo en arrivant ici). Je vous raconterai.

En attendant, bon week-end !

That’s all, Folks !

…READ IT NOW!

If you like SiP Pocket Book 1 you will like SiP Pocket Book 2. Kek.

Schephs: ********* 9 out of 10

You can read my review of SiP Pocket Book 1 here.

If you haven’t read the first pocket book, please check out my review or go read it now! My point being that you ought not to read this review for it shall contain SPOILERS for the first book ONLY.

Again, I really love this series (I’m in the middle of pocket book 4 currently). The drawing style, while in black and white, is some of the most realistic that still maintains a comic book quality and feel. Meaning, every woman is not a Barbie or Playmate, but is drawn to varying body types. The same goes for every man—they aren’t all pro wrestlers, some are actually lean or even fat!

This is what makes the feelings in the story so real, so touching. Everything these characters go through, however occasionally far-fetched it seems, is believable because of their true-to-life appearances and emotions. I think this book will especially touch you if you’ve ever been conflicted about your sexuality or if you are currently feeling that way. Naturally this conflict appears in the first pocket book, but it is addressed further and in more detail.

Something I really have to commend Terry Moore for is the fact that each of these pocket books in the series still has a definite ending; though I always want to read more of the story, at the end of each pocket book I’ve felt closure and satisfaction. I think the only reason I still didn’t get 10 of 10 schephs was because the storytelling is occasionally confusing in this pocket book.

After the explosive ending to the last book, this one begins about 10 years after the events of that book. I don’t want to give away too much, but let’s just say it doesn’t stay that way. This technique kept me foaming at the mouth, although—as I mentioned above—it was occasionally disorienting.

So I guess the summary of this presentation is thus:  If you’ve read the first SiP pocket book, GO GET THIS ONE AND READ IT NOW BEFORE YOU ‘SPLODE!

Not too long ago I went up to the New York Comic Con.  While there, I chatted with comic creator Terry Moore (and his incredibly awesome wife Robyn, who I adore), author of the series Strangers in Paradise, and now Echo.  In 1999 – 2000, one of the first things that we did over at g14productions was create three “episodes” of an SIP show based on the first three issues of the comic book.  I especially loved the early runs of the book (they’re really fantastic, read them if you haven’t) so much that I never lost the desire to produce a moving media version of the story.  At that time, moving media really meant TV or movie.  In fact, Strangers in Paradise is one of only three comic book properties that I would love to produce into a show.

After I finished editing that first episode, I put it to VHS tape, met Terry at some point and handed it off to him.  g14 even got some press on the whole thing, as we were featured as part of the cover story (along with Ghost World, who would’ve thought?) of an independent film magazine.  Terry came back with a very complimentary email about the work, which was very flattering to me.  He and I continued to email occasionally and I spoke to his agent at the time, who was also incredibly nice and helpful in guiding me on what the process would be.  In 2001, I produced four different “spec” scenes using much nicer production equipment (Panasonic AJ-D95 cameras, shooting on their Pro-50 format) and again sent them off to Terry, again with complimentary results.

I think that part of the reason that nothing ever came of it is because I refused to follow the Hollywood format of creating a show and that’s really all anybody knew at that point.  New media and online video were just being conceived and bandwidth was just starting to get to the point where you could have video on a web site successfully.  So, would you trust a kid who was saying that he wanted to produce a live action version of your successful book with little money and no love of traditional distribution?  Especially at a time when comic book properties were just starting to get hot in Hollywood?

In around 2003, I lobbied Terry again to let me produce a version of the show.  I had remembered that he had told me if I could find a way to produce something outside of the traditional outlets, he would consider it.  We were starting to have some success with video and putting it up on our website and I was visualizing how it could be effective and how Terry could monetize a live action “web show” based on his audience.  I believe what I found out was that the rights had been optioned, and that I’d have to wait until that expired before anything could happen.  And then I just fell out of touch with Terry, because I felt like third time was a charm in being turned down.

But every time I heard a rumor that SIP was going to be a TV show, or a movie, or an animated series, etc., I felt a little bit of a twinge.  That urge to create a live action version of the story has never left me, and seeing Terry and Robyn really re-ignited that desire to do it.  So much so, that in my free time, I started re-editing the spec footage that we shot to eventually put up and actually show other people.  And I’m going to try something here.  I’d like to lay out my thought process for an SIP series, who I would cast, how it would work, etc. on the blog.

So every few posts, I’ll put up part of my plan about how I would go about producing SIP for online distribution (to start) if I had the chance and the blessing from Terry.  I don’t know if anything will come of it, but if nothing else I’ll get it out of my head for a little while longer.  At least until I read the books or see Terry again.

If you like Archie comics, complex and intriguing characters, or love triangles you will probably enjoy Strangers in Paradise.

Schephs: ********* 9 out of 10

I am not sure I can praise this comic enough. Not to mention that I find it somewhat difficult to review, because it brings a very strong reaction out of me that kind of clouds my thought hamster. He gets confused and wanders off to nibble cheese. Mmm, we sure do love cheeeeeeeze….

Oh, right.

The characters. The characters are brilliant! The characters make this comic. Don’t worry, there’s a plot too, but that’s icing on the cake. I’m pretty sure I could read about these characters forever, and as long as they stayed themselves I wouldn’t be too bothered about the overall plot. I hurry to reiterate that there is, however, a plotline.

As Neil Gaiman says of these comics, “What most people don’t know about love, sex, and relations with other human beings would fill a book. Strangers in Paradise is that book.” It’s really true—SiP covers a whole gamut of human experience and emotion, and so far I’ve only read the first book! This comic brought me to unbelievable ups and downs, because (I think I’ve mentioned this before) the characters are so real and you become so attached to how their lives are spinning out before you. The best thing about this comic is that even though there is certainly a cohesive theme, each character has a different worldview. Too often in comics and books, it seems that writers attach a sort of generic mindset to different groups of characters, usually based on culture or gender. Yes, I know, both of these things predispose a person to a certain mindset. But I’m thinking of, oh…for example, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. Make no mistake, I love this series and I was devastated when I heard that he died. But do all the women in the series have to be, in two words, uppity bitches? If you’ve read the series, odds are you’ll not only know what I’m talking about but completely agree with me. And no, not all women are uppity bitches, and if you believe that it’s because you’ve let some biddy whip you ‘cause she sexes you up.

This is avoided in SiP. I mean, completely averted, like my eyes that time I walked in on my parents. Katchoo is sort of a man-hater, but her best friend Francine is really a man-lover, judging by how much she is willing to concede to a guy just to maintain a relationship. That might sound like an insult, and I don’t mean it to, because I love Francine. And while David may seem weak at first, and Katchoo may be a bitch to him, ultimately he proves to be a very strong character and person. After all, Katchoo can be scary, but he never lets her intimidate him into leaving.

I don’t know what else to say to convince a person to read this comic. I mean, it’s been awarded the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for Best Comic Book, the Will Eisner Comics Industry Award (it’s like the Grammys for comics!) for Best Serialized Story, and the GLAAD Media Award for Best Comic Book.

Aw, don’t give me that blank stare. Just read the comic! I’m [nearly] certain you won’t regret it!

So if I love it so much why don’t I marry it? you ask. Well, that’s probably because I’m already engaged. Also, I only got 9 schephs out of it because I can’t erase the lingering fear that later on in the series the author does something that completely ruins the story. I doubt it, but the fear won’t go away.

I’d like to close with a fun little anecdote from this year’s Comic-Con.

Still only about three-fourths of the way through the first SiP, but already in love with it, I stumbled across the SiP booth in the exhibit hall. Oh joy! I thought. And then I noticed a woman sitting behind the table. I had been debating with myself the other day about whether Terry Moore was a woman or a man. It really could have been either—the writing and drawing style certainly aren’t surefire methods to tell one way or another. At some point I had decided on woman. So in all my ignoramusness, I asked the woman, “Are you Terry Moore?” I wanted only to say how much I enjoyed the comic without even having finished it.

Ah, nooo. That wasn’t Terry Moore at all. Terry Moore is a man. Of course. 50/50 chance and I completely screwed it. The woman was perfectly nice about it, but all the same I retreated in gender-confused shame.

…just read the comic, okay?

Eu tenho que admitir que adoro histórias em quadrinhos, mas não tenho o hábito de acompanhar muitas fielmente não. Adoraria, mas é uma boa grana e eu não sei nem por onde começar. O que eu sei é que existem dois quadrinhos americanos da qual sou fã e tenho a coleção completa. Um deles sendo Watchmen, que teve sua versão para cinema esse ano, e o outro se chama Estranhos no Paraíso (Strangers in Paradise). É sobre essa história que vou fazer uma pequena resenha (ai, que sério esse tom… Vou ver o que posso fazer pra melhorar isso, rs).

Na verdade eu tenho que agradecer a minha melhor amiga Tamara por ter insistido em me mostrar a série do Terry Moore. Eu achava que tinha tudo pra ser bobinha e infantil, mas não podia estar mais enganada. A história se baseia na na relação de duas amigas e aqueles que estão em suas vidas: Katina “Katchoo” Choovansky e Helen Francine Peters, embora todo mundo só as chame de Katchoo e Francine. A primeira foi a adolescente que sofreu abusos em casa e fugiu para se tornar prostituta de luxo, num organização psycho na California. Além de todo o passado conturbado a única coisa boa que ela guarda desde os tempos de colégio foi a amizade intensa com a Francine, por quem Katchoo é abertamente apaixonada. Já Francine é a típica “fofinha” (no sentido de gente acima do peso que é paranóica com a balança e tem uma relação amor e ódio com a comida e seu corpo), com uma vida certinha, e uma família conservadora (pelo menos é o que aparenta). Ela também ama a amiga, mas acha que não da mesma maneira, então vive se envolvendo com os maiores cafajestes, incluindo o Sr Freddy Femur, personagem recorrente dos quadrinhos.

Além das duas amigas, outros personagens vão ficando cada vez mais importantes, como é o caso de David Qin, que é apaixonado por Katchoo e acaba balançando os sentimentos dela um pouco, e formando um triângulo amoroso com as protagonistas. Outras duas figuraças são Casey Bullocks-Femur e a mãe da Francine. Tá, eu vou parar de contar coisas da história porque é looooonga e tem muita “mitologia”. Quem teve a curiosidade despertada por procurar os livros no Amazon ou qualquer outra livraria que importe. A série Estranhos no Paraíso chegou a ser publicada em parte no Brasil, mas não foi muito longe. Acho que o mercado pra esse tipo de quadrinho no país não é muito forte.

Eu sinto muito falta de ler coisas novas das meninas, mas também fiquei mais do que satisfeita com a maneira como o quadrinho terminou, então não posso reclamar não. Sem contar que ficou muito tempo em publicação, na maior parte completamente independente, sem uma editora de nome por trás. Clap clap pro Terry Moore, que mesmo com toda dificuldade conseguiu produzir uma série de tanto sucesso.

Recentemente um outro quadrinho do TM foi comprado pras telonas, então quem sabe não teremos a versão “live action” (rs) dessas figuras tão interessantes.

O site oficial do SiP é: www.strangersinparadise.com

Até a próxima!

I‘ve had a browse through PREVIEWS #250, for items on sale September and beyond.

A good month of stuff, especially from DC, though some of those are advanced-solicitates.

SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-The Fearless Freaks 1986-2006 (2006).

This is an assemblage of ten recordings from twenty years of The Flaming Lips.  It’s something of a soundtrack to the movie of the same name, but it’s more of a collection of rare and unavailable tracks.  Most of the tracks are live, and, since I’m not a big collector of unreleased works, they were all new to me.

Except of course that track 2 is “Free Radicals” which is from the then-soon-to-be-released At War with the Mystics.  The opening track, “Wayne’s Intro…Smoking a J with the Fearless Freaks” is a pretty instrumental with an introduction to the album by Wayne himself.  I’ve since found the instrumental online and it’s a really good listen (with the intro, it’s not something you’d want to listen to all that often, frankly).

The next track is “Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Existential Fear.”  According to Wayne’s intro it’s a very rare track and it fits quite nicely into the time period of its recording (2005).  It’s a bit more acoustic sounding than most of their work at this time, but it’s still really good.

The rest of the disc is live tracks from various shows throughout their career.  And the thing that is somewhat amazing is how noisy/sloppy/untechnical the band sounds compared to their post Zaireeka explorations of sonic landscapes. “With You…” dates back to 1986, when the Lips were a noisy bunch of punks.  “Whole Lotta Love/You Can’t Stop the Spring” comes from 1988 and is a ramshackle mess–well the Led Zep cover is a mess– intentionally so. In fact all of the songs from this era have a feeling of what Wayne desribeds as “Our playing is on the verge of overtaking itself.”  It’s sloppy, noisy, fast and pretty wonderful.

The disc also contains a cover of “Space Age Love Song” by A Flock of Seagulls.  It’s from that same time period and is hard to determine if it’s reverent or not.

“When You Smile” clocks in at 12 minutes, although really the song itself is about 5, with a 7 minute noise-fest afterward.  Meanwhile, “Sleeping on the Roof” comes from the Parking Lot Experiment in which about 50 people all play a tape from simultaneously.  This version is considerably longer than the version from The Soft Bulletin and it is far more profane.  The last several minutes consist of several people telling each other to Fuck Off.  It’s not really worth repeated listenings but it’s interesting for curiosity seekers.

The last track, from 2003, is “The Observer” also from Bulletin.  It’s quite a change from the rest of the disc, as the playing is crisp and the recording is quite clean.

The disc is meant for diehard fans of the band.  Casual listeners probably won’t enjoy this as much, and should just seek out the original albums.

[READ: April 8, 2009] Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane

Even though I’m a fan of comics, I’ve never really enjoyed the superhero vein of them.  But every once in a while a writer I like will jump into the fray and I will follow.

Kevin Smith did Green Arrow, a superhero I’d not even heard of, but I read his run of that one.  And now Terry Moore has done a limited run of the series Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.  I didn’t know anything about this series when I first heard he would be writing it.  I have since learned that there were 20 issues published in 2004-2005.  And this 5 issue mini-series may or may not have anything to do with the previous series (I’ll probably never investigate that).

But after that big super-hero welcome, this series has very little to do with suprheroes.  It’s more of a love story, or at least a frustrated love story.

This version of Spider-Man is, like the movie, set in high school.  Peter Parker is, of course, Spider-Man and Mary Jane is the love of his life.  But he can’t tell her he’s Spider-Man and…oh, you know all of this already.

This series focuses more on Mary Jane, and so this version of the story is fun with very minimal “action.”  Terry Moore wrote the dialogue (and did 4 of the 5 covers, I think), and he has a lot of fun writing high school sophomore speak.  He throws in a few teen phrases (about texting mostly), but it’s the rhythms that really hold true.

There’s a mini-arc in which someone makes a nasty website about MJ (very topical, Terry!) and that is nicely resolved.  And, there’s another mini arc in which Spider-Man is in a pretty bad accident.

While reading the 4th issue I said to myself, I wonder how long this series will be (I didn’t realize it was only 5 issues).  It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy it, but because it’s a fairly limited storyline…they can only not reveal their love for each other for so long without it getting tiresome.  And, realistically, how many plots can you do in this relatively limited format.  So, 5 issues was perfect.  It allows for the reader to imagine what will happen in the future without leaving questions unanswered.

This series is an all ages series, meaning it’s neither too violent nor too sexual.  The artwork is also very friendly…it never gets too too dark, but Rousseau has a lot of fun with shadings and distorting faces when they get angry.

If you’re a huge Spidey fan, this may not quite be up your alley as, let’s face it, it’s pretty girly.  But if you’re not much of a superhero fan, or, if you like Strangers in Paradise, then this is a very worthwhile miniseries.

And, for your Buffy fans, MJ looks an awful lot like Willow, too!

We’ve been doing this show for almost two years now, and I know there are a lot of episodes to go back over if you’ve just joined us. So to make it a bit easier I thought I’d post some links to some of the interviews we’d done in the past. I’ve included the episode number and a direct link, and a bit of information about who the person is and their work in comics, in case you wanted go back and listen.

Episode 7 – Interview with Jake Harold. Jake is the creator of his independently produced comic Tards. It’s definitely not one for the faint of heart.

Episode 13 – Interview with Terry Moore. Terry is the creator, artist and writer of Strangers in Paradise and Echo, two independently published books from his own studio, Abstract. He has also written for Marvel and he is currently writing Spider-man Loves Mary Jane and Runaways.

Episode 15 – Interview with Pete Rogers. He is a co-founder of Orang Utan Comics. We talk about how he got started in comics, 11th Hour – the new comics anthology and their connection with Markosia comics.

Episode 19 – Interview with Alex Grecian. He is the creator of Proof from Image comics. We talk about how he was introduced to comics, his influences and how Proof developed. This a great and very unique comic that deserves more attention so I highly recommend you check it out.

Episode 22 – Interview with Adam Hamdy. He is the creator and writer of The Hunter, from Dare Comics. We talk to him about how he got into comics and creating his independent book.

Episode 25 – Interview with Si Spurrier. He is the creator of Gutsville from Image Comics. He has also written for 2000AD, and more recently Marvel comics on titles such as Silver Surfer, Wolverine and Ghost Rider.

Episode 28 – B. Clay Moore. He is the creator of Hawaiian Dick and 76, and we also talk about what led him to comics, his work for Marvel and DC, his future projects and his comic properties that have been optioned for movies. We also briefly talk about Billy Smoke and Matthew Fox who is involved with the project.

Tiny Life Interview – Scott did a special interview whilst my computer was on a meltdown. He interviewed Nick Jones, creator of Tiny Life – the first volume of which was publish on December 3rd 2008.

Episode 38 – Interview with Ben Fisher and Mike Henderson, the writer and artist of Smuggling Spirits. They tell us about how they got interested in comics and the journey of getting Smuggling Spirits into print.

Bringing you some of the very best hidden gems from the world of independent comics, movies and TV.

In this episode we start with some news and reviews about the recenty New York Comic Con and some of the news that is more off the beaten path, comic news from smaller publishers, we talk new TV, and a new MMO.

Then it’s time for a trip to Bizarro world, as we have Challenge Steve where Scott pitches two comics to me to see if he can sell them enough so that I’ll pick up one or both. We start with a discussion about a previous recommendation from a Challenge Scott, Echo by Terry Moore, and Moon Lake, the first trade paperback which collects issues 1 through 5 of this new ongoing series.

We wrap up the episode with a discussion of Smuggling Spirits, a new horror/ noir graphic novel that we were sent recently. We talk in depth about the story and its concepts but we don’t give away too many spoilers. Smuggling Spirits takes place in a nightmarish Prohibition-era America, where humans live in fear of blood-thirsty creatures called “darklings.” A bootlegger and his young ward find themselves on the run when they stumble upon the key to destroying these deadly monstrosities. As the beasts close in to take back what’s theirs, the two make their final stand in a blend of horror, drama, action, and suspense.

Direct Download – Comic Book Outsiders Episode 37

The Internet is already abuzz with hype for the New York Comic Con starting today. If you want up-to-the-minute updates, check out Robot 6’s list of NYCC Twitter’s to follow. Choice recommendations indeed, but I would personally add TechGOnzo to the list, as well as Geeks of Doom and their YouTube video channel. Have fun!

Robot 6 is also reporting on the real star of this years show: Scott Pilgrim! Apparently the demand for the new volume is already far outpacing the supply despite it not being “officially” released yet (at least according to most bookstores). I just bought one local comic shop owner’s own copy out from under him, which is probably the last copy in the city. Can I live with the guilt? I think I can.

Discussion over Diamond’s recent raising of their pre-order limit has sparked again over at The Savage Critics and The Beat. Essentially the debate seems to come down to how Diamond chooses what to carry and their seemingly poor aesthetic. MacDonald brings up the appealing idea that maybe we won’t have a flood of crappy zombie books and such other useless comics clogging up the indie channels now, but Hibbs fears that, in the process, we may miss out the “next BONE,” or other such small press/self-published success stories. Is cleaning out the clutter worth potentially driving away the next Strangers in Paradise or, dare I say, Scott Pilgrim? I’m afraid we may be setting a standard that says, unless you’re able to get your foot in the door at a publisher at least as big as Image or Dark Horse or maybe IDW and Oni then you should just turn around and go home. Considering how badly comics needs new talent to keep things fresh – as the big guys keep eating up talent like Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction – I think that may be a poor standard to set.

In an interesting turn of events, ICv2 is reporting that graphic novel sales actually rose last year while manga sales contracted. Who would  have thought? Of course, most of that GN growth is spurred on directly by The Dark Knight and Watchmen hype, but its still surprising to see western comics doing better than manga. Maybe the manga fad is finally dying down now that teenagers have something new to be crazy about?

The School Library Journal picked up a story on a “Graphic Novels in Education” conference held at Fordham Universtiy. The conference itself is interesting and the story led me to The Graphic Classroom – an interesting and worthwhile read on its own – but what really cought my attention was this:

Throughout the daylong event, there was much debate about what the graphic novel/comic book format should be called. Many said the term “graphica” was too closely linked to “erotica.”

First of all, this is only the second time I’ve ever heard the term “graphica” used, the first being in the debut of the Graphic Novel Reporter newsletter. When did that happen? Has the term gained traction and I just kind of missed it somehow? Either way, my kneejerk reaction was “wow, what a stupid made up word!” After thinking about it though, its really not bad, and its kind of for the very reason that some people don’t like it: it sounds like “erotica.” Not erotica specifically really, but that “a” sound that every proper name for an art form seems to have: cinemA, theAtre, literAture. Its the most sophisticated word I’ve heard used, at least phonetically, to describe comics, but it still can’t shake the unfortunately negative connotation of the word “graphic” in our language. So maybe its not perfect, but its not a bad attempt to solve the name problem that the medium has. Who knows? Maybe one day the gained prominance of “graphica” as a respectable art will change the connotation of its root.

Finally, blog@Newsarama is getting ready for one of the most anticipated (by me at the very least) comics of year: Neil Gaiman’s two-issue Batman story “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”

Gaiman, one of the handful of creators that one can easily trace the current graphic novel boom back to, returning to do any comics work of any kind is a pretty exciting prospect, for both the readers and the company publishing him, particularly since he’s become more and more a prose a writer and less and less of a comics writer over the past few years.

He’s also coming off a huge week personally, in which one of his latest prose works won the Newbery award—DC couldn’t have asked for a better time to release a new Gaiman project.

That he’s working on a perennially hot character (Batman), that he’s working with a fairly hot artist (Andy Kubert), that he’s following the work of another hot and critically acclaimed writer (Grant Morrison) and that his story is being positioned as a spiritual sequel to a classic superhero comic by the man who’s probably most widely recognized as the greatest living comics writer (Alan Moore)…well, like I said, this should be a pretty exciting comic book release.

In prepation for next week’s release of the first half of the story, the blog looks back at Gaiman’s previous work on Batman, including Batman’s minor role in Black Orchid and Gaiman’s contribution to Batman: Black and White. So, if you plan on picking up the issue – and you should – go do your homework! Its part of being a good comics reader.

- j.

Unfortunately my girlfriend is out the country so I can’t hit her on the nose with a snowball (I can say things like that with impunity as I know she doesn’t like all this geekery and never drops by here).

This was the scene as I looked out my comic room this morning at 7am, which is a rare hour for me to see but I was going to the gym before work in a bid to fight the flab.

Hay dos autores de cómic del panorama independiente norteamericano que parecen seguir trayectorias paralelas: Jeff Smith y Terry Moore. Sin duda así sucede en nuestro país, ya que ambos fueron introducidos al mercado simultáneamente por la fenecida editorial Dude. En Estados Unidos, ambos autopublicaron dos de las series más interesantes del panorama independiente de la última década, Bone y Strangers in paradise, que se prolongaron 15 y 13 años en 55 y 90 comic-books respectivamente. Tras esta impresionante prueba de resistencia ambos se han hecho un hueco en los gigantes editoriales (Smith con Shazam! y otros en DC desde 2003 y Moore en Marvel con Spiderman, Runnaways y otros a partir de 2007). Ahora, en 2008, ambos autores han estrenado nueva serie, RASL y Echo, en sus propios sellos editoriales, Cartoon Books y Archaia Press, que por su calidad bien merecen una reseña en este blog.

RASL introduce transformaciones importantes en la aproximación de Jeff Smith a la Historieta en relación a Bone, su anterior serie. En primer lugar, un salto muy llamativo de género literario. La fantasy con ribetes de comedia de Bone se sustituye en RASL por la ciencia-ficción de acción para contarnos la historia de un traficante de Arte entre dimensiones del espacio-tiempo que es perseguido por un misterio hombre-lagarto. En consecuencia, el autor transforma su estilo inicial influido por la caricatura, notablemente por Walt Kelly y Al Capp, en favor de un registro con más textura, aún titubeante en los 3 primeros comic-books que se han publicado de la serie. De igual manera y en el terreno narrativo, Jeff Smith abandona la retícula casi fija de 2 por 3 viñetas que se autoimpuso en Bone y Shazam!, muy adecuada a su dramaturgia de sketches, a favor de una composición de página más flexible con abundantes viñetas de formato panorámico y mayor variedad de planos, una fórmula adecuada al ritmo trepidante que desea imprimir a RASL.

Por su parte, Terry Moore abandona el registro de comedia costumbrista teñida de thriller conspiranóico de su Strangers in Paradise para ofrecernos en Echo una historia de superhéroes en la que la protagonista (Moore sigue siendo girl-friendly) sufre las consecuencias de un accidentando proyecto secreto del ejército norteamericano. El dibujo de Moore en Echo es más que solvente, conservando por momentos la amable economía gestual del indie ahora, en mi opinión personal, claramente influido por el mainstream británico, principalmente Frank Quitely. Sólo una pega. Su blanco y negro, más blanco que negro, pide a gritos el color, especialmente en las secuencias que pretenden focalizarnos en la mente de un personaje a través de una gama de grises. En el plano narrativo, Moore muestra un considerable despliegue que se adecua a la perfección al contenido del relato, repartiéndose entre una puesta en página visualmente dinámica y abierta para las secuencias de acción y un découpage más discreto para el desarrollo dramático de los diálogos.

Concluyendo, en este viaje de Smith y Moore hacia el terreno más comercial cuyo punto de apoyo común es la intriga como estrategia del relato, ambas series son muy recomendables como pasatiempo y diversión en estado puro. Sólo cabe esperar que Astiberri y Norma las trasladen pronto al papel en castellano sancionando el buen ojo que demostraron tener en su momento Jorge Iván Árgiz y Andrea Parissi.

Min första Strangers in Paradise var del tre. Ganska dumt, eftersom jag till slut inte begrep vad det handlade om. Därför pausade jag, köpte så småningom del ett och två, och nu har jag läst till och med del tre.
De rör sig mellan nutid och dåtid, med långa återblickar. Möjligen kan jag tycka att den våldsamma gangsterhistorien blir väl utflippad i trean. Det intressanta är ändå kärlekstriangeln Francine – Katchoo – David, deras lojalitet och känslor.
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Jag har gått in i ett totalt läscoma sen del två av Strangers in Paradise anlände igår. Åh, så underbart att dyka ner i den förvirrade, tragiska, spännande och roliga världen där Francine, Katchoo och David bor! Vilken fantastisk fantasi han har, Terry Moore, som hittat på alltihop och dessutom tecknar den själv.
Just nu är Katchoo kidnappad av miss Darcy Parker, när hon skulle leta rätt på David, som hon tror att hon behandlat orättvist illa. Samtidigt har Francine råkat bli omslagsflicka för kondomannonser på sitt nya reklamjobb, efter att ha varit tvungen att dra på sig några randiga spandexbrallor och en fluffig vit topp när hennes egna kläder blev nedstänkna utanför gymmet dit hon gick efter att ha hört elaka kommentarer om sin rumpa… Men varför försvann den där hårdingen Rachel, som var ihop med Francines gamla ex, bara för att dyka upp under nytt namn som fru till en lovande senator? Och varför har hon samma tatuering som Katchoo, den tatuering Darcy Parker sätter på alla sina ägodelar?
(Så här skrev jag om del ett.)
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En underbar historia om älskliga Francine och hetlevrade Katchoo, som bor ihop och är bästa vänner. Katchoo önskar i och för sig att de vore mer än vänner, men Francine är mer inne på män. Tidigt i albumet blir hon dumpad av Freddy, vilket gör Katchoo rasande så hon åker till Freddy och hämnas. Tyvärr blir hon då själv tagen av polisen, och det uppdagas att det finns en hemlig FBI-fil på Katchoo. Hmm…
En tredje huvudperson är snälle David, som ser Katchoo lägga något i handen på en Rodinstaty på museet. Det visar sig vara en använd tampong. Replikskiftet går:
- Interesting commentary you made on the Rodin back there.
- Sexist crap.
De blir mycket nära vänner, fast David vill vara mer än vänner, och han flyttar mer eller mindre in hos Katchoo och Francine.
Detta är alltså huvudkaraktärerna, men när Katchoos märkliga förflutna kommer tillbaka för att bita henne i baken följer det med en hel svärm udda personer. Svagt besläktade med persongalleriet hos bröderna Hernandez, tycker jag.
Strangers in Paradise är både ritad och skriven av Terry Moore, imponerande. Den är både snygg och uttrycksfull, och har dessutom en story som är spännande och intressant. Jag gillar de fina vänskapsskildringarna också. Hemsidan finns här.

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> Warm-Up: A Great Quake Coming? (Article Summary)

> National Geographic: Strangers in Paradise

> Film Questions

> Class discussion about adaptation and the film.

> Warm-Up: Magic Triangle

> Adaptation

> What does it mean? What does it mean to you? Give some examples.

> Kelp Fish demonstration

> Definition to be added to Ecosystems Glossary: Adaptation—Any structure or behavior of an organism that increases its chances of surviving and reproducing.

> Adaptations, reading p. 42-45

> Questions 1-4, p. 45

> National Geographic: Strangers in Paradise

> Film Questions

Det herjer en feministdebattfeber i bloggosfæren for tida. Jeg har ikke orket engasjere meg eller en gang giddet å lese noe særlig av innleggene. Jeg er så ufattelig møkkalei diskusjonen om hva en feminist er, hvem som egentlig er feminister blablabla. I stedenfor sånn kjedelig “er du gucci-feminist eller livmorfeminist”-prat vil jeg være mye mer konstruktiv og fortelle hvilke inspirerende tegneserier dere kan lese.

5 på topp girl power-tegneserier

Strangers in paradise

Dette er den store “jeg kan ikke tro at en mann har skrevet dette” sagaen om to vanlige/uvanlige kvinner (og noen menn). Francine og Katchoo er noenogtjue, bor sammen og har vært venninner siden high school. Når de møter kunststudenten David og skumle folk fra Katchoos fortid dukker opp begynner ekstraordinære ting å skje. Serien er for omfattende til å la seg oppsummere her, men kort sagt handler den om kjærlighet, både den vennskapelige og romantiske sorten. Det handler om kjærlighet som dukker opp der du minst ventet det og på måter og i skikkelser du overhodet ikke ventet deg. Og om hvordan det av og til er en lang reise fram til det stedet der man vil være sammen med den man vil være med.

Strangers in paradise er rett og slett fantastisk. Et must å lese for alle som er opptatt av meningen med livet, kjærlighet og tegneserier.

Vamps

5 kvinnelige biker-vampyrer som herjer seg gjennom statene på jakt etter hevn, sex og ferskt blod. Det er essensen av Vamps. Elaine Lee står bak denne lille perlen fra 90-tallet. I åpningen kjører de fem vampyrdamene en stake gjennom gjennom hjertet til mesteren sin. Dermed er de frie til å gjøre som de vil og ikke være mesterens lille harem. 5 harleyer senere er de ute på veien og søker etter det gode livet, og etter hevn. Gjengens leder, Howler, vil ha hevn på de som tok fra henne barnet hennes når hun levde. Samtidig er tvillingsøsteren hennes på sporet av gjengen sammen med en etterforsker som skal løse mysteriet angående alle de blodløsene likene som stadig dukker opp. Drama og voldsomheter følger.

Dette er en fortelling med blod, vold, sex, gambling, motorsykler, alkohol og ikke minst fem hotte damer som ikke eier skrupler. Meget oppbyggelig for moralen til oss lovende unge piker med andre ord.

Questionable Content

Min desiderte favorittwebcomic. Hovedpersonen er strengt tatt Marty, en forsiktig og usikker indierocktype, men resten av persongalleriet har også etterhvert sterke roller. Og dette persongalleriet består stort sett av tøffe og kule jenter som ikke er redd for å komme med skarpe replikker, tømme en whiskeyflaske eller diskutere biseksualiteteten sin.

Questionable Content har karakterer med skikkelig personlighet, er veldig morsom og har som et av sine hovedbudskap at man skal behandle damer med skikkelig respekt. Synes noen burde gi skaperen Jeph Jacques en feministpris eller noe (ok, det høres bare døvt ut, men kanskje spandere en øl på ham og skryte litt av tatoveringene hans da).

Wet Moon

Ross Campbells fabelaktige verk om en gjeng med gothchicks down in the dirty south. Hovedpersonen Cleo og vennene hennes bor i den lille byen Wet Moon hvor de har begynt på første året på college. Dette er en veldig søt og kul tegneserie om dannelsesreisen til noen kule, men forvirra jenter som har piercing, tatoveringer, gothmetal og unaturlige hårfarger i fokus. Skulle ønske denne hadde eksistert da jeg var 15.

Ekstra kudos til Ross for å tegne skikkelige pene jenter som er langt i fra radmagre.

Møkkajentene

Er det flere enn meg som savner Møkkajentene på nest siste side i Morgenbladet? Kebbelife kan finne seg en annen avis, jeg vil ha ny dose med Møkkajentene hver fredag! Jeg tror mitt første møte med Møkkajentene var albumet Varmere, kaldere, varmere, kaldere. Et anmeldereksemplar ankom redaksjonskontoret til Under Dusken (studentavisa i Trondheim, hvor jeg jobbet en gang i tiden). En av unggutta av typen “jeg elsker å snakke om hvor tøff jeg er som drikker whiskey mens jeg leser Bukowski og er jeg ikke kul som kan sitere Nietzsche” plukket det opp. Reaksjonen lot ikke vente på seg: “Hehe, øh. De snakker om mensen og sånt, hø. Ææsj..”. Bedre kvalitetsstempel trenger du ikke.

Ok starting with one of my favorites, Urusei Yatsura who was introduced to me by Mr. Moroboshi aka Mr. O’Reilly . . . this comic book series is by Rumiko Takahashi. It started in Japan as a comic strip at first on the Weekly Shōnen Sunday from 1978 -1987.  It had such a huge success that it was adapted into a TV animeseries which eventually aired on television.

Lasting 195 episodes! The show is also known as Lum the Invader Girl, and Those Obnoxious Aliens.  The series is considered an excellent source for references to Japanese culture and mythology.

Lum, is the beautiful alien princess from planet Oniboshi, she meets a boy in school called  Moroboshi Ataru whose name translation means; “to be hit by a falling star“.  In fact, Lum insists that she and Ataru are soulmates and are destined to be together . . . .  The rest of Tomobiki School can’t believe Ataru’s luck. All the boys in class are madly in love with Lum.  Ataru, however, is the most lecherous human being ever to live, and is madly in love with his selfish self!  He chases girls and the girls runaway from him because of his bad attitude and selfish behaviour.

To Lumchan Ataru is “darling,” but Ataru has some problems with commitment . . . . Moroboshi always wants to be in control and master of his own harem. He takes Lum for granted, but deep down he truly loves her.  In many ways I can relate to Lumchan, we sometimes look passed the ugly outer shell of the person we appreciate most and truly believe that there is more to that.  She sees the kind full hearted Moroboshi that nobody can see except her.  He eventually ends up hurting himself by hurting Lum and realizes that he is not facing the truth about himself and his personal issues with life and the opposite sex.  You will have to read for yourself to know the end of this beautiful love story between Lumchan and Ataru Moroboshi.  All I can say is that love does conquer all and the heart can only take so much.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Lum holding Moroboshi and loving him as he is . . .

Moroboshi realizes later on how much he loves Lumchan when she is gone from his life . . . . . He misses her loud laughter, her joy, her loudness and impulsive and  wild behaviour.  He tries to date other girls but they are not quite the same.  Deep down inside he wants to be loved, missed and cherished and cannot deal with the quiet shy girls in Japan anymore.  He finally realizes he wants someone that can take his breath away every time he looks at her. This is were Moroboshi grows and finally  goes out to look for Lumchan in her native planet of Oniboshi.

On the other hand all the girls in class are in love with Mendo Shutaro,

Son of the richest family in Japan (and perhaps the world).  Mendo, however, is in love with himself, but finds some time to chase Lum as well.  We’re just getting started here. Shinobu, another classmate, is (like all the girls) in love with Mendo, and likes to toss furniture around when she’s upset. The school nurse, Sakura, a Shinto priestess, has an uncle named Cherry, a Buddhist priest who is in love with food.  I could go on but I’d probably begin to confuse you. Did I say earlier that I this was one of my favorite comics?  Urusei Yatsura must be the craziest comedy ever made. It’s yet another classic from Takahashi Rumiko.  Arigato Gozaimasu!!!

Strangers in Paradise read a while back during Jr. college. One of my favorite comic books to reread is Strangers in Paradise, not your typical super-hero comic. Was introduced to it by an old college friend I had in Japanese class 103. You know who you are Thank You!  It’s a very passionate story  kinda of a love triangle type of comic. It will definitely  keep you interested and wanting to read more.

At first I thought this is not your typical comic book it’s more like a love story but then it started getting interesting . . . .   You get a bit of everything from CIA  and secret service to personal feelings and past memories.  Well there is much to this series and it’s all good and juicy!  This is a must have for everyone!  (มาร์ก, ขอบคุณคุณอยู่ที่ไหนคุณ!!  . . . . .   ฉันคิดถึงคุณมาก

Frank Miller

Oh Frank Miller you remind me of John Lennon in many ways . . . ..  two of my favorites.  Well as I mentioned before I am a Frank Miller fan.  One of my favorites is ” A Dame to Kill For.”

The master of black and white. There was a time when I became  super obsessed with all of Frank Miller’s work. It almost made it into a religion. I fell in love with every character in the series.  Good or Evil everyone had a reason to do what they did.  It made life worth living even if it meant dying for it.  Most important is  his work it will always be influential and amazing.  The use of solely black and white, and only in big chunks of positive and negative space.

Urusei Yatsura by Rumiko Takahashi

Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore

Maison Ikoku  by Rumiko Takahashi

Sin Citty  by Frank Miller  (before it became famous)

Mandragora by Serpieri

Batman: “The Killing Joke”  by DC Comics  (1988 Version)

Marvel Comics  (too many)

Morbus Gravis by Serpieri

Echo and Criminal

Echo – Issue 5 – This issue ties up the first part of the story, in
Terry Moore’s new ongoing monthly series from Abstract Studios, his own
publishing company. Because this title is brand new, and because of his
new Marvel work (Spider-man Loves Mary Jane and Runaways), I suspect it
will get lot more attention than Strangers in Paradise. Echo is a very
different series than SiP in a number of ways. It still has all of
Terry’s strengths, fantastic artwork that looks so simple and clean, and
yet is elegant and deceptive for its simplicity, three dimensional
characters that feel like real people and eye-catching covers. Echo is a
much tighter series, in that it is an action/ sci-fi drama, and is
written more like a TV series for its episodic format. The pace is fast
and full of tension, but there are also character moments to flesh out
the main protagonists. I may be wrong but I believe this series is only
going to be about 18-24 issues, so the pacing is critical and it is a
much more focused story.

If you’ve not read Echo yet then the first trade which collects issues 1
through 5 has just come out. A very brief summary of the story without
spoiling it is – there is an explosion over the desert caused by a
cutting-edge military test gone wrong. The repercussions have some
unusual results on a couple of locals, including the main character, a
photographer called Julie Martin, and a Park Ranger called Dillon. Each
is trying to understand what has happened whilst the Powers That Be want
it buried and covered up before the truth gets out about what they were
doing. Suspicious characters and dodgy men in suits, unusual objects
raining from the sky and conspiracy theories are abound.

5 word summary – Intriguing, conspiracies, fast-paced, tense.

Criminal (volume 2) – Issue 4 – This issue marks the start of a new four
part story about a character we’ve seen before who appeared in an
earlier story, Lawless. Despite his previous appearance it isn’t
necessary to read Lawless to follow the story and you don’t feel as if
you’ve missed out on anything. Weaving the fate of characters together
and intertwining their stories gives the city a more realistic feel and
long term readers are rewarded for their loyalty.

Jacob writes and draws the Frank Kafka cartoon strips, a piece of
meta-fiction the characters often discuss themselves, but Jacob wasn’t
always a cartoonist. We learn that he used to be a forger who has gone
straight, mostly, but it seems as fate has something else in mind for
him and a random meeting in a diner lands him into trouble and personal
danger he’s not seen before. Jacob isn’t a fighter or top of the food
chain. He’s just a low-level crook who wants to be left alone and yet
somehow trouble always seems to find him, even when he’s doing a good
deed. Once again Brubaker hooks you from the first issue, by creating a
character who isn’t particularly likeable and yet you care about him and
want to see him succeed. This is crime fiction at its best.

5 word summary – Moody, unpredictable, violent, femme-fatale. ]]>