Johnny Ryan -- Angry Youth Comics almost defies description,
but I always find it funny, defiant and outrageous. Its creator took the
Five Questions and took 'em like a man.

What's the value of anger in youth?

It's always been the natural way of things. Young
people reach a certain age when they look around at
their world and see how boring and shitty it is. They
want to destroy it. All the great movements in art
were a result of this.

Is there any subject you've ever considered doing a strip on but decided
it was too controversial to tackle?

Usually, if I second guess an idea as being too
controversial then I know for sure that I should do
it. I think part of a "comedian's" job is to get
people riled up.

What's the last really disgusting thing you did or saw in your personal
life?

My girlfriend's brother came to visit last night and
brought along a "co-worker." The "co-worker" smelled
like ass so bad I thought I was going to faint. Before
he left he left a big black loogy in my sink.

Who would you say are your biggest influences, and what did they
contribute to your style?

There's a lot, but I'll try and comment on a few.

Robert Crumb: Probably my main influence. His
sketchbooks are filled with lots of funny, wacky and
terrifying stuff. If people think I'm disgusting and
retarded they need to read this shit. This guy's the
master!

Peter Bagge: The best writer in comics ever. His
dialogue always seems so natural, sharp and real. I
try to aspire to that. I also worked on a couple
issues of the now deceased SWEATSHOP, so I'm sure a
few of his "tricks" rubbed off on me.

Kaz: This guy's been doing his weekly strip UNDERWORLD
for over 10 years and it's still fantastic. I love
his stubble-covered urban landscapes. When I'm drawing
the garbage strewn all over Loady McGee's shack I
usually use Kaz strips for reference.

Ernie Bushmiller: NANCY is probably my favorite comic
strip ever. I love the way it looks. I love the way
all the gags are completely retarded and simple. It's
just the way a comic should be.

Gary Panter: This guy's a madman. I love the way he
combines high-brow and low-brow art. I recently got
one of his mini-comics in which Henry "The Asshole"
Webb is trying to escape from a crazed squirrel that
really really wants his "nuts". It's such a brilliant
yet simple idea. A tale as old as time. Man vs.
Nature. I wish I thought of it. I often find myself
reading his stuff and thinking that.

Some others are Dan Clowes, Charles Schulz, Tony
Millionaire, The 3 Stooges, Sam Henderson, Ivan
Brunetti, VIP, Little Rascals, Mad Magazine, etc...

What do you see as "The Johnny Ryan Legacy" to the
comics artform?

Comics don't have to be serious, meaningful,
award-winning objects of art. They can be infantile,
ugly, retarded and stupid.

Stop by Johnny Ryan's website
and get a load of Loady.

Labels: five questions

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:25 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 

The Week in Comics -- Here's a look at stuff arriving in comics shops Wednesday, March 3rd, 2004. If nothing else, at least I am getting off cheap this week.

ABSENCE OF INK

FORLORN FUNNIES #5 (MR) $10.95 -- America's best funnybook, this time half-forlorn and half-funny. Creator Paul Hornschemeier's one-man tour de force of cartooning, and the first issue since Mother, Come Home concluded. Don't be left behind.

AVATAR

MARK MILLAR'S THE UNFUNNIES #2 (Of 4) (MR) $3.50 -- I was impressed by the thematic dissonance presented in the first issue, note-perfect funny animal cartooning accompanied by dark perversity and a hint of a greater oddness. Definitely interested in seeing where it's all going.

DC COMICS

SWAMP THING #1 (MR) $2.95 -- For the first time since Alan Moore left, I'll be giving Swamp Thing a try. Maybe I'm just in the mood, or maybe it was the preview I read of the first few pages of this issue, but my curiousity is raised.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:01 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Friday Reading --

• Comics weblogs update page. Great idea!


• First look at Whedon's X-Men. Uh...

It's not much, but I am still sick. Have mercy and hopefully by Monday we'll be back up to full power here at ADD Central.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:27 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
I Must be Nuts -- Sorry, nothing new today other than the usual mealy-mouthed excuses. In the past 24 hours, I have continued to be sick, completed the most interesting and exciting interview I've ever done (which you will see -- and hear, I hope -- very soon), and early this morning agreed to write a magazine article by Tuesday. Which I will do in-between editing said interesting and exciting interview for airing on the radio station next week.

Oh, and Igor Kordey, I am sorry Marvel screwed you, but that's what they do. Don't be so shocked.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:52 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
More Applause -- CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP. (Happy anniversary, Neil!).

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:02 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
I'm A Wily Veteran -- Check out The Pulse's feature on who's likely to succeed Dirk Deppey as King Bloggy of Blogville.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:13 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Early Wednesday ADD -- I've now been sick since Friday morning, and I think my wife may be right that it could be pneumonia. In any case, I am not feeling my best at the moment, although I can't tell if I feel better, worse or the same as I did yesterday.

Later today I am set to record an interview I've been working on getting for months now, with one of the biggest names in comics history, and a personal favourite creator of mine. Wish me luck. Coincidentally, on the suggestion of a colleague, I proposed a Five Questions piece with another key figure in comics history, who is about to celebrate a unique accomplishment in the next few weeks. I just sent those questions off, so it's looking very good here at ADD Central for those of you who enjoy the 5Q. Judging from my e-mail, that seems to be just about everybody, and I'm very happy to see it's been so well received.

If you're a creator who reads this blog and would like to receive the 5Q treatment, or if you know a creator you would like to see interviewed, e-mail me and I'll get right on it.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:58 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Applause -- CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP. (Link courtesy of Progressive Ruin).

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:22 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 


Chester Brown -- One of the best and most unique graphic novels of 2003 -- or any year, for that matter -- was Louis Riel. Chester Brown's insightful biography of one of Canada's most iconoclastic historical figures was also a huge leap forward for Brown, and for comics as an artform. This particular Five Questions originated as an interview for the radio station I work at, and can be heard through the station's website. My thanks to Chester Brown and Drawn and Quarterly's Peggy Burns for helping arrange this interview, and special thanks to Broken Frontier's Chris Hunter for transcribing the audio.

Many of your earlier works focused primarily on stories from your own life, autobiographical stories. What did you learn from autobiographical cartooning and what caused you to shift gears into this latest mode?

I learned that when you do stories about your own life, the people around you get mad at you for depicting them wrong. So, doing someone else's life is safer...they tend to think that I've gotten certain details wrong and don't like the clothes I have them wearing or the opinions I have them proclaiming or whatever...

Louis Riel is a key figure in Canadian history, but most Americans, I don't think, will be too familiar with him. Can you tell me a little about what attracted you to him as a subject?

Well, when I began the project, politically, I was an anarchist, and so I was attracted to the story of someone who had tried to, or who had led two rebellions against the Canadian government. That was probably the primary attraction, although, also I've had an interest in issues about mental health and schizophrenia. My mother was a schizophrenic and so the whole part of the story that dealt with Riel's own craziness and his incarceration in a mental institution, that part appealed to me, too. I felt that I'd be able to do something interesting with that. He considered himself a prophet. He called himself the "Prophet Of The New World" and he basically tried to setup his own new religion. And that had people thinking he was crazy.

You had to compress certain events and characters in telling this story...tell me why that was necessary and what kind of judgment calls you found yourself making in the process.



It was necessary because I wanted to limit myself to about two hundred pages and comics need more space than prose does. You know, in prose, you can describe something quickly in a sentence, but if you're to depict what happens in that sentence, it might take a page or more. So, to really tell a biography fully, you'd need maybe, like, a thousand pages to tell it rather than the two hundred that I gave myself, but I wanted to limit myself to around two hundred pages because I knew that it would take a while to do even that much because comics are kind of time consuming; it took me about five years to do the project as it was and if I'd have done a thousand pages, it would have been that much longer, so, yeah, I needed to kind of compress events and combine characters and all that kind of stuff...

The book was originally serialized in pamphlet form as a series of ten comic books before, ultimately, being collected in this hardcover graphic novel. Since the book holds together so well as a single lengthy work, how do you feel about serializing it? Would you follow that format again?

I originally wrote out a script for the book beforehand and I thought it was going to work well as just a single work and I didn't really want to serialize it in comic book form. That was done at my publisher's suggestion because it did help finance the project as it went along, but, probably my next work I'm not going to serialize beforehand, I'm just going to release it as a graphic novel and that'll be the first that the public sees of it.

This project took a long time to do and it may be some time before your next graphic novel appears...how does a cartoonist support himself in these periods, when you're working on these really lengthy works and you don't have regular work appearing on a regular basis in the meantime?

I do get royalties from my older books, the money still does come in from that and sometimes from unusual sources, like foreign editons and that kind of thing. And, also, while doing the book, I did get a grant from the Canadian government, so that helped, too. I think this might have been the first graphic novel that did get a grant from the Canada Council For The Arts, but it kind of opened a door there because now they have an official category in their grant system for graphic novels.

Learn more about Chester Brown at the Drawn and Quarterly website.

Labels: five questions

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:18 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Monday Reading -- Let's run down some of the highlights of the comics internet over the past day or two...

• Here at home, Five Questions for Paul Hornschemeier, new comics reviews in Short, Sharp Shocks and a rundown of this week's new stuff in The Week in Comics.


• Over at Comixpedia, an intriguing and surprisingly complete picture of The Comics Blogosphere.


• Ninth Art has a look at the career of Mike Mignola.


• Broken Frontier's Graeme McMillan reflects on Marvel's poor netiquette.


• A slew of Johnny Bacardi Show comics reviews.


• A couple-three reviews at Insult to Injury.


• Tim O'Neil keeps up the good work of linkblogging in Dirk's absence.


• NeilAlien weighs in on the Ditko issue of The Comics Journal.


• Mick Martin rises from the dead.


• More from Jason Marcy on the subject of Diamond's distribution policies.

Now go forth and make with the clicky.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:29 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 


Paul Hornschemeier -- The creator of the recent graphic novel MOTHER, COME HOME, Paul Hornschemeier is one of my four or five favourite cartoonists of all time. With a new issue of his FORLORN FUNNIES comic coming up from Absence of Ink and a number of other projects in the works, Paul took some time out to answer Five Questions.

What spurred your interest in comics?

The first thing I drew, at age 4, was a cartoon. What spurred my interest in comics as a viable medium to tell something beyond a cliche was reading Ghost World one Christmas (1997) and realizing that this thing I had done since before I could spell my own name (which is a hell of a name to spell, let's face it) could be something so incredibly significant and stuffed with meaning and beauty.

What do feel you've gotten out of the artform, and what if anything would you like to give back to it?

I can't say what I've gotten from it, Alan, beyond intellectual excitement and some insight into other people's lives and beliefs, but I hope to give examples of different ways things could take shape, and, the BIG HOPE, a few good stories that escape simple gesturing and experimentation.

How have your artistic influences impacted on your development as a creator?

I think I have been very influenced by the film Yellow Submarine (yes, The Beatles cartoon), and by Jim Henson, as well as Maurice Sendek and Edward Gorey. There is something in the sad, drooping, floating worlds, sprinkled with explosions of manic color and heat, that seriously colored the ways I expressed things, even at a very young age. I think these people influenced the method by which I translate the world into images, even in my mind, before any paper is brought into the equation.

Why is design so important to you? What do you think the elegance your work and its presentation possesses conveys to the reader, if anything?

A cartoonist is a designer, if s/he is anything. A designer is simply taking elements and employing those elements to convey a message, bringing separate components together to form a unified voice, to play upon the mind of the readers in a certain way. I believe every element of the book needs to be analyzed: it is what carries and contains the story. And I think every element (paper color, paper weight, colors of ink, line quality, page layout, etc.) all serve as ingredients in the larger cognitive experience. Nothing should be ignored out of laziness. If you do not choose to address certain issues, let that be by choice, because it will certainly play a role in the perception of the audience.

What kind of relationship, if any, do you see yourself having with your readership?

In all honesty, very little. I see myself producing the stories to take care of something in myself, which is horribly selfish, and I can't understand why people support these sorts of things, but I thank them profusely for it. I care immensely for people and am very appreciative of any praise or criticism I receive, but I can't stop writing these things down. It's sort of awful, really.

Labels: five questions

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:00 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Short, Sharp Shocks -- Enlightened critiques of contemporary sequential art by one of the comics blogosphere's two biggest assholes.

Human Target #7 -- A three-part story focused on '60s radicals gone to ground begins here, and it's Peter Milligan's most expansive storyline in the title to date. In this first chapter, Christopher Chance is almost a bit player as we meet the people from a decades-old Weather Underground cell who are being picked off today as coincidentally Chris Chance decides to throw his fate to the wind. Artist Cliff Chiang has made the book his own, delivering an impressive realism with a gratifying economy of line. If you're someone who likes what Michael Lark is doing on Gotham Central or Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier, you should also give Human Target a look. It's a top-notch suspense title that is also one of the best-looking on the stands. Grade: 4.5/5

DC: The New Frontier #2 -- Speaking of Darwyn Cooke, the second issue of his epic take on DC history continues the high standard set in the debut issue. As an added bonus, there's more superheroes here, too, if that's your thing. This issue we see the Martian Manhunter's arrival on Earth, conflict between Superman and Wonder Woman, the origin of the Barry Allen Flash, and other vignettes, concluding with one of the most visually and thematically stunning moments I've seen in a superhero book in a long, long time. Please don't be deceived by the $6.95 cover price -- ad free and double-sized, this is the biggest bargain in superhero comics today, and also the best, freshest look at DC's stable of superheroes since Alan Moore was romping around the DCU all those years ago. Grade: 5/5

Demo #4 -- "Stand Strong" is the story of a gifted young man stuck in a dead-end job in a nowhere town who has to choose between the paths of nihilistic chaos and mere decency. I felt a definite Love and Rockets vibe in both the story and the art, with Becky Cloonan delivering some especially impressive page layouts that show off her beginning mastery of inking and page layout. Brian Wood's story is another resonant slice of somewhat strange life, as we've come to expect from Demo. It's safe to say at this point that this is a series well worth your attention, either now in single issues or in the eventual, inevitable and much-welcome TPB collection. Grade: 4/5

The Couriers: Dirtbike Manifesto -- Wants to be a loud, super-cool action comic but falls down on the artifical, unconvincing cool factor of its two lead characters and silly, off-the-wall stereotypes. Brian Wood's Demo shows he has potential as a writer, but Dirtbike Manifesto plays to his worst instincts (see also, Pounded). The art here has a few nice panels, and the layouts are mostly fine, but the mostly lifeless ink line is only overcome by decent greytones. This will probably satisfy the hardcore AiT/Planetlar/Brian Wood axis, but otherwise it's pretty much inessential. Grade: 3/5

Supernatural Law #39 -- Batton Lash delivers the usual wackiness in his lead story, "The Appeal of the 800 lb. Gorilla," but it's the back-up story that caught my true attention. "The Scariest Kid on Earth" is a surprisingly effective homage to Chris Ware, with the title character a Jimmy Corrigan stand-in afflicted with lycanthropy. Lash doesn't capture the essential agony of a typical Ware character, but I'm not sure he was trying to. The story is just noteworthy for its ambition and how close it comes to fulfilling it. Art Adams contributes a terrific cover that plays to his interests. Grade: 3.5/5

Common Grounds #2 -- This is a book that wants to be like Astro City in the worst way, and very nearly is. Superhero vignettes that on the surface seem to have all the beats down pat, but are missing the essential humanity and thoughtfulness Kurt Busiek almost always brings to the party. The first story's over-the-top take on a woman pretending she's got powers in order to scare off a murderer is almost insulting in its inability to convince, and the second tale also fails in its ambitions, in this case to deliver a bittersweet take on generational heroism. Dan Jurgens gives the story more heft than it deserves, but Ethan Van Sciver's Brian Bolland imitation on the first story is earnest but stale. I know this book has won raves from some readers, but I find it inessential in the Geoff Johns style, and of course lacking decrepit corporate icons to let it slide by on nostalgia. Grade: 2.5/5

Spawn #132 -- Even shipping late as it always does, it's almost impressive that this title has reached 132 issues. I don't imagine anyone present at the "Image Revolution" (you know, the first one) thought their experiment was going to produce that kind of longevity. It's a shame, then, that Spawn is such a relentlessly ugly and uninteresting book. This one surprised me by having much more story than most of the issues that I've sampled over the years. A serial killer is bumping off people who look like Spawn's wife, Spawn (in his human form -- I have no idea -- or curiousity about -- how that happened) consults with noted cops Sam and Twitch (who are actually almost fun to read about in their own title, sometimes) and has a brief confrontation with the killer, to be continued. It all has an air of contempt for women (who are always just plot contrivances in this title anyway, unless Neil Gaiman is involved), and the recursive loop that the identity of the killer indicates makes it apparent that the only people that even exist in this universe are those that are needed to tell more bad stories and generate more action figures for Todd McFarlane's toy company. Spawn, meet Clown. Clown, meet Wynn. Wynn, meet Spawn's Wife. Spawn's Wife, meet Spawn. Lather, Rinse, Repeat for over ten years of mind-numbingly awful comics (plus that one interesting issue written by Dave Sim, of course). I don't know who is still buying this after all these years, and frankly I don't want to know. Spawn is violent, mindless superhero porn for those too meek to buy snuff films. Grade: 1/5

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:43 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 


The Week in Comics -- Here's a concise rundown of prominent new releases arriving in stores Wednesday, February 25th 2004.

DARK HORSE

FUSED #3 $2.99 -- Oh, hell. Somehow I missed #2. My review of #1 is here.

MICHAEL CHABON PRESENTS ADVENTURES OF THE ESCAPIST #1 $8.95 -- I don't have any advanced info about this, but you can read my take on the novel that inspired it here. (And a big THANK YOU to the Simply Comics gang for hosting my Comic Book Galaxy archives, you guys seriously rock).

DC COMICS

CAPER #5 (Of 12) (MR) $2.95 -- The story shoots forward a few decades -- my Caper #1-4 review is here.

CATWOMAN #28 $2.50 -- I love Ed Brubaker's writing, I truly do. I find myself waiting for Paul Gulacy to grow on me on this title, however.

COUP D'ETAT AUTHORITY #4 (Of 4) (MR) $2.95 -- I'm not sure what it would take for this issue to convince me that The Authority is currently worth reading, but this four-issue crossover has been pretty entertaining up to now. I am curious to see where it goes in this final issue.

AMERICA'S BEST COMICS

TOM STRONG #25 $2.95 -- Is this the much-dreaded Geoff Johns issue? I really wish, with the benefit of hindsight, that the ABC titles had been exclusively written by Alan Moore. No one was as kind to his babies as he was.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:42 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Early Saturday Morning -- Well, it's not too early, not for me, anyway. I've come down with a cold or something, and went to bed in a daze last night, tossed and turned between naps, and got up a couple of times to watch TV only to end up back in bed. All in all, a pretty lousy night. Wrote some reviews this morning, so hopefully we'll have a nice full review segment up on Monday, and hopefully a very special Five Questions unlike any I've done before.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 8:32 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Insulted and Injured -- Check out the newest group comics blog, Insult to Injury.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 8:24 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Thursday Reading -- Lots of good stuff has gone up online in the last day or so:

• Right here at home, Jim Crocker answers the Five Questions.


• Chris Allen's Breakdowns has a batch of new reviews and continues his Publisher Report Card. Chris also has his first Comics Journal review in this week's issue, so be sure to pick that up -- it's the issue with the giant Steve Ditko-drawn face on it. Only one of dozens of reasons to buy this issue.


• Shawn Hoke looks at Buddha in the new The Wall.


• Bryan Miller looks at Chosen and Stay Puffed in the new New Comics Day. Bryan says he's taking the column "bi-monthly," but I have a feeling he means "bi-weekly" or "semi-monthly." Unless he can really only crank one out every 60 days now?


• Steven Grant remembers Julius Schwartz and more in his new Permanent Damage.


• John Byrne's fans show they apparently don't know how to parse a sentence.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:58 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 



Jim Crocker -- I first made the acquaintance of Jim Crocker on The Comic Book Industry Alliance's Delphi Forum, a discussion group for retailers, creators and other industry figures. I found his posts there to be insightful and intelligent, and was very interested in watching his experience as he guided what was then a new business, Modern Myths, a diverse and incredibly well-stocked comics shop in Northampton, Massachusetts. I've visited Jim's store a few times and gotten to know him in person and by e-mail, and have developed a great respect for his approach to comics retailing and life in general. I've visited only a handful of truly progressive comics stores that try to serve a full range of customers with as wide a range of comics as possible, and Modern Myths, as far as I can see, points the way to the future of comics retailing. After you've read Jim's answers to the Five Questions, see if you don't agree.

What drives you to be a comics retailer, and what would you say is the primary mission or vision that informs the way you manage your shop?

Like many careers, it’s something I ended up doing sort of by accident. In college, I was convinced I was going to take my theater degree on to New York and direct plays. A job on a small used bookstore that sold comics sidetracked that and I eventually figured out I really enjoyed the job more than the plays I was doing in the evening, and, possibly more significantly, was better at it.

The major motivating force behind my doing this every day boils down to the best effort to reward ratio of any job I’ve tried, including theater work. I work as hard at this job as anyone else does at whatever else they do, but retailing, or at least good retailing, means that a complete stranger walks into your place and leaves happier than when they walked in. It happens dozens or maybe even hundreds of times a day, and every time, it’s a reward for doing what I do, parceled out throughout the day. Whatever other petty hassles or daily grind I have to push through to get my work done is paid off by that particular dividend.

It’s also nice to see my cube-drone buddies sigh with wistful envy when they ask what I do for a living.

First and foremost, I want to run a store that looks and feels like a well-run independent bookstore you’d find in any relatively progressive college town or small city. We can write and speechify and blog until we’re blue in the face that comics are Ready for Prime Time, but if we don’t have places that women, kids, and new readers can feel comfortable and welcome, we’re not going to make much headway.

I spent several years working for the Borders mass-market bookstores, and after that it became pretty clear to me how a specialty store could succeed in their shadow by taking page from their own book, which was to look at what worked in independent bookstores and then replicate it on a mass scale using their size as an advantage. So we looked at mass-market bookstores and replicated what we could while using our size as an advantage. We offer everything they can that we’re able to: liberal return policies; no-obligation special orders; convenient operating hours; parking; clean public restrooms; racking by genre including a dedicated section for young readers; gift certificates; credit card acceptance; computerized inventory; and offset what we can’t with the advantages traditionally touted as the ways for comics shops to compete: a wide selection that includes used and O/P titles and a knowledgeable staff. Hopefully, the balance will appeal to both longtime fans and new readers, which is what we’re shooting for.

More generally, we’re an independent bookstore that happens to specialize in sequential storytelling, so we look to other successful independent bookstores for ideas about advertising, community outreach, and how to deal with competition from the chains, as well as cherry picking the best ideas from the Direct Market. It’s a genuinely mixed blessing when people walk in and remark that “I didn’t realize this was a comic shop… it looks like a regular bookstore.”

What is the biggest challenge facing you as a retailer?

In a nutshell, and not to be obtuse, it’s whatever I didn’t expect to be a challenge, because that means I won’t be prepared for it. The deck is stacked heavily in favor of large chain businesses in our economy, and every indication is that this situation is getting worse as opposed to better. There’s a reason that small businesses have such a high modern failure rate, and it’s that even the well-funded ones don’t have the capital to make too many mistakes or endure more than one or two unexpected sales-impacting events. Add on necessary but uncontrollable costs, particularly health care and weather-related stuff (our snow removal will cost a small fortune this year, for example), and that’s a lot of pressure that doesn’t have anything to do with actually selling comics.

The challenges inherent in the DM I deal with daily and they don’t frighten me because I can plan for them and have great resources (like the CBIA, Comics & Games Retailer Magazine, and private industry e-mail lists) to consult for help and bounce ideas off of. It’s the issues outside the purview of those discussions that cause the most trouble.

Or, with apologies, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

What do you believe the best method is to develop a growing customer base?

There are a number of ways to do this, and other retailers recommend many of them to me. I’m not nearly as good at guerilla marketing as I probably ought to be. We advertise less than we should.

Ultimately, my belief is that if I run the best store I can that word of mouth will go a long way to helping drive new customers to the store, because once they’re in the door, we’ll secure their business if they’re even remotely interested in what we’re selling, and that the viral nature of people with common interests will help without too much active intervention from us. When we ask how people heard about us, we get a majority answer of “a friend told me about you/I heard about you online/etc” over all the other responses. (My very favorite response is actually “I saw you when I drove by”, because it means someone stopped just because they saw “Comic Books” on the sign, without knowing anything else about us specifically, and they’re often the most pleasantly surprised.)

I am one of the people who believes that while we certainly need to expand the scope of our ambition beyond just our traditional fan base, chasing a mass audience like the kind enjoyed by, say, sports, or mainstream movies is not an efficient use of our time. We need to target the folks most likely to spend money in our store, as opposed to throwing ads at the wall to see what sticks.

That said, it’s my belief that the best effort that can be spent in ‘market development’ is in getting out of the store and into the Community to make your presence known in places where you’re likely to have an impact. One of the reasons we decided early on that we would have a staff is so that we could do just that. By attending conventions, especially ‘non-comics’ conventions like local SF and media Cons, we can actively go to potential customers rather than waiting for them to find us. Active participation in the local college events and various fandom groups means a potential pool of new customers every single semester, already predisposed to explore new stuff.

Separately, but related to this, is the fact that we sell graphic novels online. It’s a pretty simple site but it lists everything we carry new, and every sale we get through it helps support the larger mission of the store. Right now, it’s a very small portion of our sales, but it just about pays for all of our internet-related expenses, and is growing slowly. Internet outreach like our modest little proto-blog on LiveJournal and updates to our own website are particularly cool because they help keep in contact with both sets of customers at once and serve to reinforce the mission I mentioned above, but in a different context.

Tell me about the last great graphic novel you read.

The great GN I read most recently was Pedro & Me, which I reread in its entirety as a result of a contentious discussion regarding content advisories and warning labels on comics that’s going on in another forum. It holds up as one of the more human, affecting, and uncharacteristically emotionally vulnerable comics I can think of. Anyone who thinks that gays are somehow different than the rest of us should be tied to a chair and forced to read this book until they get it.

I read so much stuff that’s so different it’s really hard to nail down a single choice. Off the top of my head, I’ll say: LoEG 2 for collected GNs of genre stuff that’s appeared in periodical first, Planetes for manga, and Real Stuff for Literary/OGN.

I also just had a chance to really thoroughly read Peanuts: The Art of Charles Schulz, the retrospective by Chip Kidd, and I have to say it was like an epiphany… I haven’t gone back and read Peanuts in over 15 years, and rereading them now in the artfully designed context this book places them in left me nearly speechless with how genuinely seminal that work was. I was certainly looking forward to Fantagraphics’ forthcoming Complete Peanuts, but now I’m actually hungry for it, which is a good thing, because I think it’s a project that has a real possibility of generating some renewed popular interest in the classic comic strips more generally.

You live and work in a community (Northampton) that welcomes and embraces diversity, and in a state (Massachusetts) that is about to grant equal marriage rights to all, gays and lesbians included. I'm wondering how you feel about this and what impact you think it will have on your store and your community.

The specific issue of Massachusetts affirming equal rights for all citizens will have a pretty significant impact on my store in particular. Northampton has the highest concentration of lesbian citizens outside of San Francisco. This and the presence of the "Five Colleges" in the area make for a pretty progressive viewpoint regarding literature and the arts, and offers our store a unique opportunity to get comics into the hands of readers who are ready for them but would probably never have cause to enter a "traditional" comics shop.

We currently have one employee who is a lesbian in a long-term relationship who plan to get officially married when the state has worked out all the details, and two of the major stakeholders in the store are also a lesbian couple (who just celebrated their tenth anniversary!) living in Vermont under the auspices of the Civil Unions there who also plan to wed in Massachusetts when the option becomes available in May of this year.

Modern Myths specifically includes sexual orientation and gender status as protected classes (along with race, religion, physical handicap, national origin, etc.) in our diversity policy for hiring as well as companies we do business with, and has a standing company policy of offering benefits to domestic partners. Obviously, we're personally interested in the advancement of equal rights for gays and lesbians, but from our perspective it also makes very good business sense. We don't wear our political affiliation on our sleeves, and we do our best to leave discussions of contentious subjects like politics, religion, or the Red Sox at the door when we enter the store, but the obvious presence of a lesbian working in the store and a good selection of GLBT-friendly comics make it reasonably clear what our position is, and the community notices.

I think it's not unreasonable to expect that this situation will also mean a further influx not only of GLBT people seeking to gather in a region that respects their rights, but will also help to further build the larger progrssive community that will grow up as a consequence of the influx, as the friends, family, and support networks of those folks move to Massachusetts along with them in some cases. That we're set up to welcome them is not a coincidence, and a strategy that is not only in keeping with the spirit of the community of which we're a part, but also a sound business decision likely to help us secure new readers in a generally affluent, literate, and progressive customer demographic willing to spend significant entertainement dollars with businesses who welcome them and offer them something that speaks to their issues.

Stop by the Modern Myths website, and thanks to Jim for taking the time to wrangle the Five Questions.

Labels: five questions

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:41 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Byrne Art a Fraud -- From a reader:

[The art is from] Ganthet's Tale...Page Six, bottom panel. The slick bastards who did this recoloured the image (Byrne was showing him as actually charging the battery, and thus there was this green glow which shifted all the colours around), and then added a cover logo from the Gerard Jones era of the book (just a guess from the look of it....)...very slick.

Told ya.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:03 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Old Pros, Old Hat -- Take a look at this image...




Whether this is true or not may be hinted at by the cover date and issue number. On the other hand, Warren Ellis really apparently is taking over Ultimate Fantastic Four as of #7, with Stuart Immonen drawing.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:56 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 

The Week in Comics -- I overslept this morning and am disgustingly behind in everything. So here's a list of what looks good in this week's comics, mostly sans commentary.

COMING WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18TH

FANTAGRAPHICS

COMICS JOURNAL #258 (MR) $6.95 -- Editor Milo George's last full issue, packed with Steve Ditko Goodness. A must-read. Next month's will be too, for reasons very close to my heart.

AIT-PLANETLAR

DEMO #4 (Of 12) (MR) $2.95

IDW

WAKE THE DEAD #4 (Of 5) (MR) 3.99

DC COMICS

COUP DETAT WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 #3 (Of 4) (MR) 2.95
DC THE NEW FRONTIER #2 (Of 6) 6.95
HUMAN TARGET #7 (MR) 2.95

IMAGE

GRRL SCOUTS VOL 2 WORKS SUCKS TP 12.95
JACK STAFF VOL 1 EVERYTHING USED TO BE BLACK & WHITE TP 19.95
SAVAGE DRAGON #113 2.95

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:03 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Reloaded with Duds -- Here's AK's take on Marvel's X non-event.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:19 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Replacemats -- I find this NeilAlien post both sentimental and amusing.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:21 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Should Scars Be A Movie? -- It's an excellent graphic novel and highly recommended -- Marc Mason opines on if it should be turned into a movie.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:25 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
A Crumb Off the Old Block -- Good profile of cartoonist Sophie Crumb, link courtesy of Artblog.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:00 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Previews Review -- Haven't had time to write up this week's The Week in Comics yet, but check out Christopher Butcher and Scott Robins's Previews Review for notes on this week's new releases. And thanks for the namecheck in this week's column, Chris. I promise that book was naff. You can have my copy if you want.

Joe Lawler has also weighed in on this week's new releases.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:23 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Confidential to Jim Henley -- Why do you think I hate you? (Link courtesy of a particularly rich Sean Collins comix and match entry).

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:54 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 

Short, Sharp Shocks -- Now shorter and sharper than ever -- this week, at least. Valentine's Day and a coincidental three-day weekend ate into my writing time a bit, but here's a brief rundown of recent comics and whether they were any damned good at all.

James Kochalka's Sketchbook Diaries Volume Four -- You probably already know that The Sketchbook Diaries represent some of the most entertaining and enlightening autobiographical cartooning ever. In this volume, we see the next chapter begin in Kochalka's development as an artist and as a human being -- he and his wife Amy decide to have a baby. The year's worth of strips here also include a trip to the San Diego Comicon and numerous rock concerts. Kochalka's fame is odd and endearing and highly personal, and in this bargain-priced volume (eight bucks for a year's worth of daily cartoons), you get to feel what it's like to be James Kochalka, Superstar from the inside out. Vital work from a talent that is expanding our view of comics and the universe year by year. Grade: 5/5

Monokuro Kinderbook -- This 202 page graphic novel by Kan Takahama caught my eye with its elegant and understated design and won me over with its intriguing and autobiographical tales of life in Japan. The book features ten black and white tales of varying lengths, focusing on the enderly, artists, young lovers, children, a bartender -- real people, in other words. The stories are told in the kind of sideways, oblique way that we figure out the stories around us -- observation is rewarded as the details begin to fill themselves in, and it pays to study the details. Takahama is part of something called the "Nouvelle Manga" movement, according to a text piece, and is scheduled to have a piece in the next Comics Journal Winter Special. Her style strongly evokes David Mazzucchelli's in its deceptive simplicity and elegance of design -- and if you appreciate the aesthetic of Paul Hornschemeier, you'll feel at home here, too. This is a beautiful book from a talent that I want to read more from. You can view an untranslated preview of the artwork here. Grade: 5/5

Chosen #1 -- Mark Millar and Peter Gross deliver a current-day take on Christian mythology that wouldn't be at all out of place among such revered Vertigo titles as Sandman and Preacher. This looks to be the highlight of the Millarworld experiment, a thoughtful and intriguing extrapolation of the Jesus story with the best artwork I've ever seen Peter Gross deliver. Chosen should prove once and for all if Millar is in it to shock and awe or if he has higher creative goals -- the first issue indicates the latter by way of an unexpectedly compelling opening salvo. Grade: 4.5/5

Hard Time #1 -- Ugly, irrelevant, and made redundant by much better, similarly-themed books like Demo or even NYX. A pair of high school nerds shoot up the school, and one of them manifests superpowers during the Columbine-like events. Writer Steve Gerber's attempts at sociopolitical commentary are painful and embarrassing, as in the overweight African-American talk show hostess named "Opina," ha-ha-ha. Brian Hurtt's artwork is too simple for the obvious gravity meant to be implied by the plight of the characters, and it's absolutely crippled by the ghastly colour scheme. I just have no need or desire (or even ability) to read a full-length comic about blue people whose lives are occasionally brightened by outbursts of red. Based on Hard Time #1 and a handy preview of other titles in the back of the issue, I will be uniformly avoiding all future DC Focus titles. Grade: 0/5

Coup D'Etat #2: Stormwatch -- Not as good as the Sleeper story that preceeded it, but better than I had imagined. This second chapter of a four-issue crossover involves Stormwatch defying the Authority's, well, authority. As a sampler, it gives a good sense of what Stormwatch is about these days, although Micah Wright's characters have proven too ugly inside and out for me to manage to stay interested them very long. Grade: 3.9/5

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:32 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Early Tuesday Blogging -- Oh, man, it is too early to be up, even for me. But the heat was down too low in the bedroom and it was freezing and my wife was snoring and gah, here I am.

Later this morning -- in just under 11 hours, in fact, I am interviewing the creator of one of last year's most powerful and interesting graphic novels. Then one week from today, I am doing a second interview, one that I've been working to set up for many months now, and that is probably the most exciting interview, for me, that I have ever been involved in.

Hopefully I'll be able to tell you more about those very soon.

All right, I'm up for the day, way too early. I'm going to go finish up some reviews and get on with it.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:15 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 


Tony Isabella -- There aren't many people that have seen as much comics history as Tony Isabella, or who are so generous in sharing their experience and wisdom. Here he answers the Five Questions.

Your recent statements about Black Lightning seem to inflame a certain underinformed segment of the online comics community. Given the murky nature of many contractual questions in the comics community, and the enormous inequity between publishers and creators, what would you like readers to know when it comes to the issues, both as they apply to you, and in general?

I’d like the readers to know that creative issues are not always or even often the cut-and-dried “work-for-hire” which publishers make them out to be. I’d also like them to realize that they do a great disservice to creators and their creations when they attribute some sort of parental benevolence to those publishers. Both creators and publishers are looking out for their own best interests, but I believe the interests of the readers are better served by creators than by corporations.

As for how the issues apply to me personally, a quick Google search will doubtless bring readers more information than can possibly be good for them or me. I’ve answered questions over and over again, and answered them honestly. If some readers choose to disparage me as a result, so be it. I knew that was a distinct possibility when I went public.

What's your fondest memory of working at Marvel and/or DC over the course of your career?

I can’t narrow it down to just one.

Getting to work with Stan Lee at the start of my comics career was a youthful dream come true and I still remember the first time that he complimented me on some turn of phrase in something I’d written.

As an editor, it was thrilling to give first or early assignments to writers and artists who then went on to have long and fruitful careers.

I once had a fellow writer come up to me and tell me that a scene I’d written in a comic book spoke directly to the problems he had been having in his life and that my “advice” helped him get through those problems.

My Black Lightning writing, especially the second series of stories I did with Eddy Newell, remains something of which I am very proud, no matter how much DC shafted me in the process. My first series of BL stories inspired at least three readers to become teachers. It doesn’t get much better than that.

I got to work with many of my comics heroes and became good friends with several of them. Developing SATAN’S SIX with Jack Kirby gave me a chance to get to know him and Roz a little better near the end of their lives. If I could get a laugh out of Jack, I knew I was doing my job well.

This subject could be an entire interview in itself. For all that the comics industry does to demean, diminish, and destroy creative talents, I don’t regret devoting my efforts to it. I entertained a great many readers, made some good friends, and achieved enormous satisfaction from my work.

What's your least fondest memory about working in the so-called "mainstream?"

The day I got fired from BLACK LIGHTNING, the second series, by Pat “the Rat” Garrahy...and the weeks that followed.

I don’t want to go into much detail, but I was angry and depressed for months afterwards. There wasn’t a person at DC who hadn’t come to realize that hiring Garrahy had been a terrible move on the part of the just-promoted Mike Carlin. I was shocked that Paul Levitz and the other executives upheld my unjust dismissal...because they had admitted to friends of mine that they knew it was an unjust and unwarranted dismissal. Against all fairness and logic, they held to the company line that you had to back editors over freelancers, even knowing that Garrahy’s career as a DC editor was going to be relatively short. As it was.

To add further insult to the injury, I quickly learned that every editorial door at DC was closed to me. They circled the wagons in support of an editor - Garrahy - who most of them neither liked nor respected. It was absolutely insane, especially since, again, many of these editors were telling friends of mine that they thought my dismissal was unjust. It was a bad time for me.

I still get angry and even depressed about that stuff from time to time, but those are momentary lapses of mercifully short duration. I’ll talk about it when I feel I must, but I don’t expect anyone at DC to make it right...or to even recognize that they should make it right.

That would be the quickest way for DC to get rid of me once and for all. If they tried to make it right, the shock would probably kill me. And then they’d probably take out a nice ad in COMICS BUYER’S GUIDE mourning my loss. Cynical, aren’t I?

One more thing. I only answered this question because you’re a pal of mine. However, having answered it, I must now make my doubtless futile attempt to ward off the usual online idiots...

Yes, I have personal grievances against DC Comics. Those personal grievances are not as important an issue as DC’s mistreatment of so many of its minority characters or the mainstream comics industry’s mistreatment of creators. If you have a quarter of a brain in your heads, you’ll realize that.

Dismiss me as a bitter old crank if you must, but don’t allow that to be the end of your discussion of those issues. I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of one writer don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy industry that demeans its characters and their creators. Someday you'll understand that.

What's your assessment of the current state of the comics industry, in regard to its treatment of creators and in general?

In the interest of keeping this answer from becoming a book, I’ll define comics industry as the traditional DC/Marvel/Dark Horse/etc comics industry.

Certainly SOME creators are being treated well, some because they are the flavors of the month, and some because they keep producing successful (as defined by the diminished expectations of the 2004 market) comics. However, it should be noted that continued success is, by no means, proof against abrupt termination. Look how many great writers and artists of the past two decades can’t get work, not because their efforts didn’t sell as well as those of the newer kids, but because editors and publishers perceived them as being old-fashioned and of no interest to the readers. Not that the editors and publishers have much of a clue as to who their readers are and/or where they will find new readers.

I miss the days when one editor would work with one writer and one artist to create great comics. Even with three storytellers, there was a clarity and a unity to the comics. These days, creatively, it seems to be all group-think and mimicry. Manga is selling, so let’s clumsily weld faux-manga stylings to our classic characters. We oughta be in pictures, so let’s write our comics as if they were screenplays and cast aside some of our best and most unique ways of telling stories. We can’t just let comics be comics; they have to be like something else.

Keep in mind these are generalized comments as per your question. There are still some brilliant editors and even publishers in this industry. But, overall, I don’t believe the skill levels of comics editors and publishers have kept pace with the skill levels of the better creators. I’d even characterize this situation as a crisis, one which hampers seasoned veterans and promising newcomers alike.

Earth-2 died for nothing.

As for the current state of the industry in general, how sad is it that we practically orgasm when a comic book sells the hundred thou copies which comics routinely sold in decades past? We’ve lowered our expectations as we’ve raised our prices.

American comic books, especially most of the periodicals, are not a good value for customers. The minimalist storytelling styles now in vogue mandate mediocre stories stretched to fit as many issues as will fill a trade paperback. I completely understand the long-term importance of those collections, but these stories should be good and rich enough to justify six or eight issues instead of the collection being used to justify the six or eight issues. Many of them aren’t.

American comic books can overcome the value gap by either being so satisfying the customer feels he’s getting entertainment equal to what he pays for them...or by offering him as many pages-per-dollar as he can get from SHONEN JUMP or manga collections. Creators and editors have to be better and more productive.

American comic books can also stop repeating themselves endlessly. The multiple Batman/Spider-Man/X-Men titles are stealing sales from each other and from titles that could otherwise be a healthy second tier for the publishers. How many Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus mini-series and specials can we reasonable expect to sell in the couple months the second Spidey movie will be in general release? Why do we think successful movies based on comics will sell those comics when they’ve almost never done so in the past? And why am I asking the questions when I’m the interview subject?

What are your creative plans for 2004?

I’m counting on every editor and publisher in the industry calling me with offers of work once you post this interview.

Failing that, my plan is to create new characters and tell stories with those characters. I’m currently developing three comics which would kind of fit into the genres of super-hero, horror, and crime. When I complete the first scripts and series bibles, I’ll shop them around to various publishers.

Once these properties fail to sell as comic books, I’ll rework them into novels and/or screenplays. Because I think it will be a lot more cost-effective and time-effective if I can get rejected three times with the same properties.

In addition to my comics writing plans, I have signed to write my weekly “Tony’s Tips” column for COMICS BUYER’S GUIDE through 2004. I’m also working towards getting my “Tony’s Online Tips” columns to post every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at WORLD FAMOUS COMICS. Humble though these venues may be, the relationships are among the most satisfying and supportive of my career. I hope they continue for many years to come.

I should also mention that Bob Ingersoll and I are eagerly awaiting sales reports on STAR TREK: THE CASE OF THE COLONIST’S CORPSE. If this “Sam Cogley Mystery” of ours is successful, it could turn out to be the first in a series of Sam Cogley mysteries. Since we had a blast writing the character and crafting the ins-and-outs of this sci-fi whodunit, and since we received wonderful encouragement and support on this novel from our editors and publisher, we would love to go back to the future and do it again.

Keep up with Tony's opinions by reading his long-running Online Tips column, and stop by his message board to say hi.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:46 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
There Has to Be a Morning After -- Looks like Tim O'Neil has decided to fill an important hole left in the wake of Dirk Deppey putting Journalista! on hiatus. Here's Tim's list of comics news links.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:37 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Early Saturday Morning -- Early morning is when I am at my best, relatively speaking. In the 1990s I worked overnights, and even though I've been on a closer-to-normal schedule for the past four-and-a-half years, even on my days off I find myself getting up in what most people consider the middle of the night.

This morning I was up around 3 AM. My wife and kids obviously are still sleeping, so I went out in the living room and set out their Valentine's Day gifts, grabbed a handful of Cape Cod Reduced Fat potato chips and watched saved episodes of The Daily Show and Howard Stern from the DVR. There were two episodes of the Stern Show, but only one was entertaining. As soon as I realized the second one was a dud, I deleted it and prowled the list of stuff on the DVR.

I've had Donnie Brasco on there for a few weeks, and started watching that. Good movie about an undercover special agent played by Johnny Depp. I forgot how good it is. I'll probably finish the whole thing in segments over the weekend.

I tend to find it hard to stay in one place to sit and watch an entire movie, though, so I got up and surfed the web for a bit, finding the below-linked Fantagraphics Infodump. Lots of good news on there, especially that Eightball #23 should ship this summer. There are few cartoonists that entertain and excite me more than Dan Clowes. Interesting how many of those great cartoonists are on that same page. Fantagraphics is indeed home to the world's best cartoonists, and Drawn and Quarterly seems to have a good portion of the rest of them. I'd guess that over half of the true, great living cartoonists right now are associated with one of those two companies. And it might be closer to 75 percent.

Also while online, I decided to revise my list of links over in the right-side column, as I mentioned I wanted to do yesterday. I'm still not convinced this is the perfect iteration of the ADD Blog list o' links, but it's closer. Suggestions always welcome.

Don't know how much blogging will get done this weekend. Today is Valentine's Day and I want to spend it with my wife and kids, hopefully in activities both separate and together -- and Monday is President's Day, and we haven't even bought our tree yet.

For the interested ADD Blog fan, and I know there are dozen of you, the next few weeks will include a great batch of Five Questions interviews. I also have a decent stack of comics to review, but I don't know for sure if I'll get to that today or not.

Anyway, this is my early Saturday morning. Everyone else in the house is still asleep, so I am going to go back and watch some more Donnie Brasco. Enjoy your weekend.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:02 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Fantagraphics Infodump -- Tons of good information on upcoming projects by some of the best cartoonists in the universe right here.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:41 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Mixed Emotions -- First of all, congratulations and great good luck to Dirk Deppey, who has been named the new editor of the Comics Journal, and discusses how this happened in today's hiatus-announcing iJournalista!. Dirk's nose for comics news and his insights into the industry have made his blog the first stop for just about everyone who A) Owns a computer B) Is interested in comics and C) Isn't a frigging idiot, so this hiatus is a bit panic-inducing to say the least. Given my druthers, I would love to see somebody suitable step in and temporarily fill Dirk's shoes, but I have no idea what went into the decision to just shut it down for a month. Dirk is offering up a mailing list so you can be notified when the blog resumes, however. It can't be soon enough for me.

The mixed emotions come in seeing the end of the Milo George era of the Journal, which followed a disastrous run by the previous, incompetent Anne Elizabeth Moore that nearly destroyed the magazine, in my opinion. Milo brought a great deal to the table in his time as editor, but most importantly, he made the Journal matter again. I wish him well and I hope he finds a new job that suits his intelligence and passion for journalism. He and Dirk are two of the most vital advocates for the comics artform that I have ever encountered, and I continue to respect and admire both of them more than just about anybody in the industry.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 8:12 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Thursday Blogging -- It's the off-week for Chris Allen's Breakdowns column, so, eh. Not much to talk about today in any event. I've got a lot going on behind the scenes, including lining up the next six or so Five Questions pieces, which will include some of the most popular alternative cartoonists around and at least one person I might call "the best writer ever to work in comics," if I wasn't afraid of jinxing the whole bloody thing...

For you process junkies, please note that I have revised the right-side column to move my reviews and the Five Questions into a higher and more prominent position. I also want to revise the links to other blogs, columns and sites in the next week or two, but I keep getting distracted by more immediate concerns. If you've got a link you'd like to suggest, e-mail it to me and I'll give it some thought.

Sadly, I think that's it for today. Sorry not to have more for you, but the next few days look to be pretty full, so hopefully that will make up for it.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:43 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Cartoonists on Distribution -- Yesterday's Five Questions for Jason
Marcy prompted this reponse from True Story, Swear to God creator Tom Beland:

When he's telling you about his thoughts on distributers, who is he talking about? Because, if it's Diamond, they've been COMPLETELY cooperative towards my work. And you have to realize that when I submitted TSSTG for distributing, I didn't even have the actual printing.. it was photocopied pages put together in a white binder with the name hand-written with an El Marko. They told me they looked at it and wanted to carry it and I've been with them for eight issues now, without EVER being asked to buy ad space.

The same can be said for FM International and Cold Cut Distributers. They've been amazing to work with from the get-go. FM and Cold Cut even carry my zines, which is not often done by distributers.

I think the biggest failure by indie creators is that they put all the effort into issue #1... and then issue #2 never comes out. They have to remember that Diamond is ALSO publishing and spending money in printing the catalog and in developing orders. They get orders for the first issue and the rest never come out. THAT'S what I hear from distributers at conventions. Also, and this happens with the bigger companies, but when they advertise a book in April and that issue doesn't meet deadline, why should a distributer carry that book? I've had four months in between issues, but Diamond knows that when I tell them a book will be ready that month, it'll be ready to ship that month. And the bigger companies provide more titles that bring in big bucks, so a late book won't damage them as much.

It sounds more like Marcy is going off hearsay and not on actual experience. But if it IS actual experience, he should say who he's been having difficulties with and find out if it's the industry all together or just an isolated problem.

Other than that, good interview. I'm really liking the concept.

I obviously don't have any firsthand experience with distributing comics, and no knowledge of Tom or Jason's experiences in trying to get distributed -- I can only say that I'd imagine every case is different, with a huge number of variables to be taken into consideration, not the least of which is Diamond's virtual monopoly over the direct market. That came to mind as I was writing today's review of Optic Nerve #9, a comic that is finished and printed and available for readers everywhere, except that it hasn't shipped from Diamond yet so many (most?) shops don't have it yet and won't for weeks -- and I'd imagine more than a few retailers are unaware that the book is available if they go direct to the publisher (Drawn and Quarterly) and probably through some of the smaller distributors like Cold Cut. What irritates me (and I am sure the creator and publisher in question) is knowing that the book is printed and available and that many interested readers (and I have heard customers asking when this issue was coming out, after a two-year gap since #8) aren't being clued in to the facts and will have to wait weeks to see the book. Things need to change.

Oh, and thanks to Tom for writing in -- and look for his own answers to the Five Questions in the near future. In the meantime, read this profile of Tom from The Orlando Sentinel (link courtesy of Journalista!).

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:12 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 

Optic Nerve #9
By Adrian Tomine
Published by Drawn and Quarterly

An ambitious three-issue story arc begins here, as Tomine embarks on his longest single story yet -- a graphic novel about race and relationships that the text piece tells us will likely be called "White on Rice" when it's collected.

The story is an examination of the life and obsessions of Ben Tanaka, a 20-something Japanese-American who works in a movie theater ("I'm in the industry..."), has a beautiful Asian girlfriend who he takes for granted ("Maybe I'll come to bed in a little bit," he says, ignoring her obvious sexual entreaties in favour of watching DVDs by himself), and has a growing obsession with white American girls. "We can both make an effort not to let these things get out of control," he says, and we recognize that, of course, they won't.

Tomine's cartooning is as elegant and controlled as ever. He obviously spends a lot of time thinking about the design of his books and the elements of his pages and panels, and his gift for convincing detail allows me as a reader to fully immerse myself in the details of his stories and the complexities of his characters. Tomine has a gift for sketching convincing portraits of his characters with just a few key words and images, and with the narrative opened up to three issues, he has room to use this to great advantage. When we see Ben's girlfriend hopefully offering herself to an indifferent Ben, we know this isn't the first time this has happened. A relationship disintegrating from repeated slights and hurt feelings is revealed, but Tomine skillfully manages to still make Ben human, and even likable. How could you not like a guy who pretends to be his lesbian best pal's boyfriend for the sake of her convincing her parents she's straight?

I don't know how strictly autobiographical "White on Rice" is, but Tomine's setting of the story within the Asian-American community brings a welcome verisimilitude, as when he mistakenly believes his friend's parents, who are Korean-American, could be deceived into thinking he is as well ("My family would spot your Japanese ass a mile away"). Tomine and his lead character clearly share some character traits, and I find myself not really caring if the story is actually based on events from his life -- like Raymond Carver, Tomine uses moments that feel real to evoke real feelings in his readers. Like Carver, Tomine's narrative successes provoke resonance and delight.

Tomine's characters here are in their 20s and not entirely certain what they want out of life -- Tomine himself is also in his 20s, and so it's not entirely surprising that he might choose to create a story about such characters. Where he impresses me is in how masterfully he depicts the characters and their conflicts. Scenes such as the confrontation between Ben and his girlfriend over his preference for porn featuring white American chicks rings painfully true, a young man who doesn't realize how obvious his desires are, and how much they hurt those who don't live up to his apparent standards.

Ben is finding his way and exploring his options in the way that young men in their 20s often do, and as it often does, disaster seems possible but not necessarily imminent. "White on Rice" begins as a compelling character portrait backed up with interesting and unique supporting characters, and some of the strongest and most confident cartooning Tomine has yet delivered. We've waited two years for this issue of Optic Nerve, and it's been worth the wait -- Optic Nerve should be on every reader's shelf, and Tomine's confident writing and clean, compelling cartooning demand attention. This issue is highly recommended and I'm anxious to see the next chapter of Tomine's first longform story. Grade: 5/5

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:45 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 


Jason Marcy -- I love Jason Marcy's autobiographical
comics. Like no other cartoonist I can think of, he puts his
full and uncensored id out on the line in almost every story
he does, inviting your disgust, and sometimes your admiration.
No surprise at all that he'd answer the Five Questions.

Like my other favourite web cartoonist, you recently
had a child. Tell me how your son's membership in the Marcy
Family has affected your creativity?

Well, he's certainly added a whole new angle to it!
It's become really more about finding the time to be
creative, so most of my work gets done, well, at work,
while waiting for the pasta dough to mix. He's
certainly added a little more spice to my daily
journal strip, as he's become quite active and into
everything. If nothing else though, he's made me
realize I need to be far more creative, and start
bringing in more money from the cartooning. It's now a
real job to me, in a lot of ways, adding to the
household income. Only Xander could make me see the
benefits of that!

You're currently working on your third graphic novel
collecting your Jay's Days stories. Tell me how you see your
autobiographical work developing over the years you've been
doing it.

Hmmm...I see it as far more polished over the years. I
actually handed over the pages of the main story in
Jay's Days 3 to inker Joe Meyer, and he was amazed at
how well written and drawn it all was, calling it my
"best work to date" though I never know, though I do
get a feeling it's good. I think I've really grown in
both art and story. A lot of that comes from simply
studying the works of other autobio guys, and just
plain experience at knocking the stuff out, the whole
"just get down to brass tacks" thing of telling the
tale.

It's also a more refined process, involving full
scripting, then going over it as I draw to make sure
the essentials of what happened are there. Before I'd
just start with panel one and go until whenever. Now I
wanna make sure I get it as right and as real as it
happened, so the reader can feel he or she was there!!

How would you like to see the industry change to
make it a more hospitable environment for independent and
alternative creators and publishers?

The hot button topic!! I think the industry has to
have a far more fair process to allow indie guys in. I
hear a lot of bull coming from the major distributor
when it comes to the huge support they give indies,
and in some ways it's true, yet behind the scenes
there are a lot of talented people being turned away. I
see guys putting out work of such high calibre not in
the ditributor's catalogue because they can't afford
the ad space often required to get listed.

Obviously, we need a better system of distribution,
and that means we need good old fashioned real
competition again for the creator's revenues. Back when
there was more choice, I think there was a more open
door policy to indies, because who knew if the one
distributor didn't take a project and the other did
and it made money who would have that egg on their
faces? Wouldn't someone be made to answer for failing
to take a possible money generating book? Now it's a
lot of guys becoming comic critics instead of
distributors because they're the only game in town
taken seriously, and they often make decisions on a
project without any of the comic buying public's
input, in my view the final voice on what is "good" or
"bad." I think things should be listed and then judged
based on how orders go, not with shadowy "you buy this
ad, we'll carry you" backroom garbage. And I've heard
the horror stories from enough creators to know this
is how it works.

Tell me who your five favourite cartoonists are and
a little something about each one.

1. JAMES KOCHALKA: Pure genius. Very stylized, always
able to bring magic out of things I'd never see the
same way. He simply can find joy in everything the
world offers. Amazing. Owns the daily cartoon journal
format all the kids is imitatin' these days (yep, me
too). Made me call myself a "Kochalkaholic"!! And his
music is rockin' great stuff!! I will love to meet him
one day, though I'll probably be a fanboy geek...

2. JOE SACCO: Palestine, Safe Area Gorazde and The
Fixer should be required reading in every high school
or University, or both. Brings a brilliant art style to
report on stuff in the world most people barely get a
glimpse of in the news. Never flinches or pulls his
punches in any of his awesome works. Autobio that
really matters.

3. JOHN PORCELLINO: Like Kochalka, a genius in the
field. Everything he does looks so simple, yet it has
a complexity and poignancy way beyond its appearance.
Made me cry with one sentence in an issue of King Cat
Comics #60: "Jon...she's going to leave me." Should
have more trade collections than a hundred other
guys...

4. JOE MEYER: Without his inks, a lot of my work would
not have the power it does. His own stuff continues to
amaze me as well, with his upcoming "Slammin' Bunneez"
likely going to be a masterpiece, and his daily
journal work better steadily day by day. Truly my
right arm, and my best friend.

5. STEVE "THE DUDE" RUDE: Every artist should look to
this guy simply for his professionalism even if they
don't dig his art. Saw him do three straight days at a
con meeting and greeting, left the table only once or
twice and he was the most gracious guy in the world,
no matter who you were. As an artist has few peers,
his work on Nexus unsurpassed, and I'll say firmly
he's one of the few true masters of dynamic
storytelling in the field, yet also capable of making
those heroes very human and real. There's a story that
Jack Kirby (another favorite, right beneath Rude)
could draw the Thing battling it out with some beasty
and then equally have him sipping coffee and reading
the sports page like any average joe and make it
believeable. Rude has that in spades.

You once did a story about asking your wife to check
your ass for hemorrhoids. Is there anything that you've left out
of a strip because it was too personal, disgusting or embarrassing?

God yeah. Most of the time, it's based on my wife's
request (as in, "don't show us having sex!!"), though
I plan on doing a ton of embarrassing and even
disgusting stories, because a lot of them are funny to
people. I wanted to have a few stories in the upcoming
Volume 3 that showed my male pervert side, to me an
embarrassing thing, and even then I felt like I was
passing the buck so to speak. They likely don't go far
enough. I know I'll start crossing some bizarro fences
as time passes though, and I sort of stop giving a
damn. There's been stuff in all three trades I NEVER
would've shown in my early work, so I'm already
working out my taboo stuff.

Jason Marcy's all over the web. Read his Live Journal,
weblog and daily diary strips.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 8:12 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 


Anthony Williams -- Leave it to Mark Millar to have comics readers who might never buy a funny animal funnybook buying The Unfunnies in droves -- and then to deliver the shock and awe of realizing it's a funny animal funnybook about pedophilia. The artist of The Unfunnies agreed to answer Five Questions for me.

Tell me about your career and how it led to The Unfunnies.

I've been drawing comics for 16 years. Everything from Barbie to Batman.
Probably the most high profile American work is the X-Men movie adaptation.
I've worked with Mark in the past for 2000 AD.

What did you think when you read the script for the first issue?

I didn't realise it was going to be autobiographical.

The first issue has clearly upset some readers and retailers, but I
found it a fully-realized nightmare vision vividly brought to life by
you and Mark Millar. What do you hope readers of the book will come
away from it with when the final issue has shipped?

A bad taste in their mouth and a feeling that the world isn't quite as pleasant as we'd perhaps like it to be.
Also, I make no claims for this comic to be high art but at least we're doing something that differs from the mainstream which comics needs.

Have any of your friends or family members expressed an opinion one
way or the other about The Unfunnies?

My wife looks at me dubiously out of the corner of her eye and I choose my words carefully when explaining it to friends.

Do you have any future comics projects in the works?

I'm about to start a new strip for 2000 AD and another for Gamesworkshop's Warhammer. Both written by Dan Abnett. Plus loads of non-comics work.

Learn more about The Unfunnies and view some of the "offensive" covers at the Avatar website, and thanks to Anthony Williams for answering The Five Questions.

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:40 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Short, Sharp Shocks -- Brevity is the soul of wit. You know, there's got to be a quicker way to say that. Anyway, here's some compact examinations of recently printed sequential periodicals.

Coup D'Etat: Sleeper #1 (of 4) -- Despite strong reservations about the likely quality of the rest of this four-issue mini-series, the first corporate comics crossover event of '04 begins with a h