A Reading Pile Special: Understanding Comics Day Two

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
Chapter One - Setting the Record Straight
By Scott McCloud

McCloud begins his journey into the deeper world of comics in a unique way. He starts by poking a bit of fun at them. The writer was not initially enamored with the medium, even though he would grow up to change the face of comics through his work.

In the Eighth Grade, his good friend Kurt Busiek truly introduced him to the world of sequential art. Scott’s world was changed forever. He sensed something deeper in comics, but was met by scoffing of a familiar sort about these feelings. This set his motor running.

Why did people think comics were kid’s stuff, silly superhero books with bad art? So, the first order of business is to define comics. Partly to do away with the stigma, partly to open the discourse of the book.

The simplest definition would be Will Eisner’s. He defined comics as “sequential art.” Unfortunately, McCloud thinks that definition might be a bit too broad. So he comes up with a more detailed definition:

com-ics (kom’iks) n. plural in form, used with a singular verb. 1. Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.

Using this definition, the author proceeds to look at the history of comics. He reaches past Yellow Kid and the onset of modern comics and talks about Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Mixtec Manuscripts, the Bayeux Tapestry and more. He doesn’t attempt to pinpoint the genesis of the medium. History is not his goal here.

His goal is to get the narrow perception of comics recognized as the bunk it is. This is a medium that goes back centuries and has produced a Pulitzer Prize winning tome. It is not Kid’s stuff.

McCloud throws the gauntlet down from the very beginning. He is going to explore the qualities and possibilities of comics in depth. If what you it is all Superman and Spider-Man, he wants your biases out of the way fast. An open mind is going to be needed, cause he intends to expand it.

I hope you will join me tomorrow for day three of this special look at Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics.

From the Reading Pile: Pixu - The Mark of Evil

Pixu: The Mark of Evil
By Gabriel Ba, Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, and Fabio Moon

Four of comics most, for lack of a better word, avant garde artists team up for one creepy story.

When a strange marking appears in their apartment building, five people begin to have their lives changed.

The story here is not the easiest to grasp. The "monster" is not a physical beast but a plague of the mind. The abstraction that crawls from the walls and windows into the characters is a feeling of dread, confusion, chaos, etc. These various dark thoughts creep into each of the tenants and eats away at them.

This is one of the more disturbing reads in quite a while. As the evil is mental, there is no beast to be slain, outside the apartment and its occupants themselves.

What is most astonishing is that the styles of the four artists blend together. They are, of course, complimentary, but there are moments when it is as if one artist did it all, even though you can definitively say it was this one or that in a particular panel. Collectively, they create a new visual vocabulary that is not present when they work individually.

Pixu is a ground breaking work of horror that will set its seed in the reader, much as it has its players.

RIYL: Locke & Key, Sin Titulo, Strange Embrace

A Reading Pile Special: Understanding Comics Day One

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
By Scott McCloud

Okay, so today, I came to a special book on the Reading Pile. One that is remarkably different from any of the other books I have discussed thus far. As a result, The Reading Pile Special is born. In this, hopefully, recurring feature, I will take a deeper look at a book than any normal review can entail.

The first book being covered this way is Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud. This book is considered a touchstone in comics. It’s a comic about comics. Not the history of comics (although there is a very impressive one of those, Comic Book Comics). No, this book starts with a definition of the word comics and then goes into detail as to what comics are and what they as a medium mean or are capable of.

I’m excited to read this book. It’s analysis is supposed to be profound and it is regarded as a game changer. Garry Trudeau said, “When the 215 page journey is finally over, most readers will find it difficult to look at comics in quite the same way ever again.”

So join me, as I spend the next nine days look at each chapter in detail. I’ll probably write a more traditional review at the end, but no promises.

A word of warning, even though Understanding Comics is itself a comic book, I will not be criticizing McCloud’s art in these pieces. I will probably rarely, if ever, mention the art at all. I am more concerned with the content and the theories of this book.

I hope you will be here tomorrow for the discussion on Chapter 1.

Review Classic: Ultimates 3 #1

I recently reviewed a book by Jeph Loeb (as soon as it is live there will be a link blog). It inspired me to look up this old one from the pre Broken Frontier days. With the writer and the recent end of the Ultimate Universe, this one seems like a good one to pull up. Originally posted at www.ultimatecomicsonline.com.

Ultimates Vol. 3 #1
Written by Jeph Loeb
Art by Joe Madureira

I have not been a big supporter of the Ultimate Universe. Ultimate Spider-man just rubs me the wrong way, I could care less about Ultimate Power and let’s face it, Ultimate X-Men is where great writers decide to write garbage. All that being said there have been a few titles I have enjoyed. Three to be exact. Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk, Ultimate Iron Man and Ultimates. I was a huge fan of The Ultimates 2. I have yet to read Ultimates Volume 1, I have it in hardcover somewhere, but volume 2 started when I was just getting back into comics and to me, it was everything I ever wanted an Avengers comic to be. It was dark and seemed like it could be happening here.

Ultimates 3 seemed like a good idea. Jeph Loeb has always been hit or miss with me, although I really like his Batman and Superman books. However, his recent work has left me cold. The Fallen Son series suffered from being incredibly uneven in it’s writing and in a couple of issues (yes I am looking at you Spider-Man) laughably bad. His recent stint on Wolverine was so bad that after the second page of the second issue of the arc, I gave up until Loeb went away. This book is just nonsense. Am I to assume that Hawkeye’s new darker image is a result of the conclusion of the last series? Well, to drastically change a character like that needs some development and any attempt at actual characterization is absent here. Instead of getting to be introduced to Ultimate Black Panther, we get hints at a mystery. In an incredibly poor choice (that I can’t believe Marvel editorial let happen), Loeb decides to make the book more adult by introducing an incestuous relationship and then never bothers to show why the involved characters feel this way. The rest of the issue is a big fight with a villain that is just an obvious plot device to bring Spider-Man onto the team. All of this leads to what is supposed to be a shocking cliff hanger, but the problem is, I didn’t have any emotional investment in the characters so I didn’t care.

Joe Madureira is the artist on this issue. I work in a comic store, so while I was not reading books when he was drawing them, I get to see the mad passion that people have for his art. The muddiness (that is cause primarily by Lichtner’s colors) and over boxiness of the charaters made me rush to the back issue bins. I had to see what all those folk see in Battlechasers. Well, I lucked out and had an issue six in the regular runs here at the mall store (note Ultimate Comics no longer has a mall store - check the link above for locations). I took a peek, the lines were strong and the colors bright. There was some boxiness, but it just gave a distinctive quirk to the art in that book. I rushed back to my copy of Ultimates 3 #1. Then I rushed to look at the sketches in the back of Iron & the Maiden #0, they resembled the Battlechasers work. I rushed back to my copy of Ultimates 3. I am not convinced these are the same artists. Ultimates 3 is the work of a sloppy amateur. Sure he has been out of the game for a while, but why let the prototype sketches in the back of a book he let someone else draw be more polished then his hyped return to comics? Go back to games, I don’t need you. Your best work is on the cutting room floor and I get this garbage when I spend money?

Ultimates you are on notice, you have one more issue to stay on my pull list. I am even giving "One More Day" more of a chance then that. You better bring it next time.

From the Reading Pile: Daybreak Episode One

Daybreak Episode One
By Brian Ralph

A zombie book with two very unique qualities - no zombies and it is told in first person. The first person stands out the most. I don't think I have ever seen a comic from that point of view before. As with all first person narratives (especially in a visual medium), it works to a lesser extant than one would hope. While it is on its surface an awesome idea, it becomes contrived as there is no way to truly make it seamless. No matter the conceit, it is impossible for the reader to interact in the environment of the graphic novel.

The lack of zombies is nifty. This isn't a Walking Dead type thing where you see them in the beginning and end or every once in a while, there are NO ZOMBIES in this zombie book. This forces Ralph to make his characters sympathetic and believable. It is just a tad drawn out in this volume, but it works.

Art wise, the book has a Jeffery Brown type feel. It is a cartoon with rough lines that are surprisingly consistent. The designs work and the story telling is as fine as it can be for the concept.

This is an intriguing idea. Only reading further volumes will declare whether or not it is a particularly successful idea. Unfortunately, I don't think I am ready to commit more time to this one as of now.

For anyone interested in the book, it is distributed by Bodega and first appeared as a webcomic at newbodega.blogspot.com.

Worth a Second Look: The Mice Templar, Vol. 1: The Prophecy

The Mice Templar: The Prophecy
By Bryan J.L. Glass & Michael Avon Oeming

The adventures are Karic are a special journey that begin here. Long enthralled by the local Blacksmith's tales of an ancient order of Mice who keep all of mousedom safe, Karic is a boy prone to fantasy day dreams and eager to play swords and sorcery. When a stranger comes to town with a tale no one will hear, a dark destiny is carved out for our young hero.

The Mice Templar is a love letter to fantasy. It throws in a tablespoon of Star Wars, a cup of Redwall, a knob of Nymh, and a dash of The Lord of the Rings, but manages to come off not only as homage, but as a unique entity. This volume deals almost exclusively with how Karic becomes the last hope for an ancient order and a dying religion. He is not the first choice of the masters who need to see the legacy carried on, but he is a choice and that is something that they have long searched for.

Glass and Oeming's story is magnificent in its density and scope. The schedule of these first six issues was a bit of a problem, it seemed to come out almost haphazardly. The amount of story presented in each chapter and the unfortunate, yet incorrect, assumption that all the mice looked the same, made it hard to follow on a bi-monthly or longer schedule. The momentum of the book was lost in between chapters. The new volume which saw its first issue released this past Wednesday promises to be different with a new artist and its next issue shipping in a mere two weeks.

As you can see below, the review for that first issue of Volume Two showed that there was no love lost to this reader during the wait. That love for the story sparked this rereading and short review of the first part of the epic and it was not time wasted. This is a great story that is massively entertaining. Like those Lucas films that it seems to admire, this is one worth enjoying time and time again.

The Stuff of Legend Volume I: The Dark, Book I

The Stuff of Legend #1
Written by Mike Raicht and Brian Smith
Illustrated by Charles Paul Wilson III

Imagine if Andy in Toy Story was kidnapped. Buzz, Woody and the gang would run off to rescue him, right? Well, there would probably be a crazy committee meeting where Rex and Hamm tried to get out of it first, but they would man up eventually. That is how The Stuff of Legend begins. It quickly takes on a more serious, brooding and darker tone then the Pixar film though. It’s setting and less playful narrative add to this sense; but do not be mistaken, this comic is no less magical.

The first thing that stands out about this book is the design. This 8 inch by 8 inch square book opens to reveal a wood grained scrap book. (It is flat and on glossy paper, but you get the idea.) It is tattered, aging - brittle at the corners - and the panels make up the pictures filling it. The muted coloring of the book adds to the feel, a monochromatic relic, an artifact is in front of the reader. All of this creates a sense of history unlike any graphic narrative this reader has ever seen.

RIYL: Toy Story, Mice Templar, Unwritten, The Iron Giant, Fables