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Breakdowns - Feathers in the Mousetrap

January 2, 2003

First off, I apologize for missing last week. I had every intention of being here 12/26, to close out the year, but the demands of the holidays and getting all the right toys bought and wrapped for your little darlings was too much for me. Hey, you can't be angry after that sentence, can you? Anyway, I'm either making it up to you or really punishing you with an extra-long column this week, so let's act like it's last week's column and this week's all put together. Some of the length is due to lengthy quoting of Doug (CREATURE TECH) TenNapel making a leap from defense of the religious theme of his book to equating homosexuality with child pornography. Fun stuff. Read it below as a digressive ramble early on in Part Two of my Best of 2002 thing. And good job, Chuck Dixon, for making it in the same section at the last minute with his own brand of homophobia. But overall, this is about the best books of the year, so we'll try to keep mostly positive.

Sorry to hear about the death of Clash frontman Joe Strummer. His music will live on, and I highly recommend his work with his last band, The Mescoleros. With the previous losses of George Harrison, Billy Wilder, John Buscema and Chuck Jones, it's been a tough year for some of my heroes.

A correction from last week: I mistakenly said that Joe (AUTOMATIC KAFKA) Casey's drug binge admissions in a Comic World News interview were deleted from their original "publication." Not true. They're still there, and somehow I kept missing them through two quick readings of the interview. So, while I still find fault with Casey's REVEAL story, I give him credit for his honesty in the interview.

HEY, WAIT...By Jason. Fantagraphics Books. $9.95
Can you spare just 20 minutes to have your heart broken? If the answer is yes, then pick up this somber masterpiece of loss and guilt. Jon and Bjorn are best friends, doing the things best friends do as kids: play outside, read comics, commit pranks. And then, on a dare, Bjorn dies. Jon has lost his best friend, and he goes on to spend the rest of his life haunted by what happened. I got to know Jason's work this year with his second U.S. release, SSHHHH..., and it's hard to say which is better. This is a simpler but no less effective story, utilizing a clean, funny-animal art style that makes its depth and sorrow more pronounced, sneaking it by you like a chocolate-covered habanero. The surreal gags in the beginning set the reader up for a summer's worth of fun and friendship, but beware: Jason is playing you. You'll thank him for it, though, if you've ever had a best friend you shared everything with. This will make you remember that time. If you've lost that friend in some way, this will bring those feelings back, too, in crashing waves. The humor, the magic realism, the narrative effects, the symbolism, and the rich cartooning-it all works magnificently.

FAIR WEATHER by Joe Matt. Drawn & Quarterly. $26.95
Okay, so I like stories about childhood friendships. Here's another one. But the underlying theme here is not about grief so much as it is about how difficult it is as adults to break the patterns we set for ourselves as children. That's kind of outside the actual book, though, which is really just some seriocomic childhood misadventures for Matt and his best friend at the time. As with his work in the adult stories in PEEPSHOW, he is his own best critic, focusing unerringly on his miserliness, insecurity, covetousness and general selfishness, and it's sadly amusing to think about how Joe's youthful obsession with comic-book collecting changed to his shockingly vast collection of porn.

Young Joe Matt is a creep to his parents and his unpopularity with peers is justified. Only Dave sticks by him as a friend, and he's a good enough friend to tell Joe some hard truths about himself to try to help the guy. So of course, Joe blows something special and secret between them for his own short-term gain. It might seem like a small incident to adults, but this was his best friend we're talking about here. How many of them does one have in their lifetime?

Matt's linework is exquisite, and the book is another gorgeous production from D&Q. The creator's wretched life continues to be mined for great art.

HAWAIIAN DICK #1 (OF 3) by B. Clay Moore and Steven Griffin. Image Comics. $2.95
This is a sharp crime comic set in 1953 Hawaii. I'm not sure which island, come to think of it. So it wraps a pretty standard but good story of an ex-cop/private eye getting on the wrong side of local gangsters, wrapped up in the cool daddy-o 50s accoutrements and all things Tiki and Tacky. The art has a Steve Lieber feel-not quite as good yet, but with excellent coloring. And as with other new Image series PARADIGM and REX MUNDI, the creators add a lot of info and personality after the issue ends. One thing, though: the subtitle of this mini is "Byrd of Paradise," and it makes me cringe. Go here for some free strips to get a feel for the book.

BATGIRL: YEAR ONE #1 (OF 9) by Chuck Dixon, Scott Beatty, Marcus Martin and Alvaro Lopez. DC Comics. $2.95
Ever since the Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli classic BATMAN: YEAR ONE, DC has been working this particular vein of gold. The street-level stories, realistic problems and smaller-scale menaces. The dark and minimalist Mazzucchelli art style. And you know, I'm sure there are plenty who could write a huge rant about how this makes the DC editors horrible, crass, unimaginative people, but damn if it doesn't work most of the time! The original CATWOMAN miniseries was all right; ROBIN: YEAR ONE (written by Dixon and Beatty as well) was very good, and now it's Barbara Gordon's turn.

Barbara Gordon, bright and perky information gatherer, is not as compelling as Dick Grayson, who shared similar losses with Batman but was able to find more joy in life. Barbara wants to be a cop, and her cop dad won't let her. Plus, she's too short, and too short for the FBI, too. Being a superhero is about the only way she can think of to use her gifts to help others. So far, so good. There is a goofy bit of narration when she says something about doing her own thing and not being inspired by someone else. Honey, you're BATgirl. So while there's a plausible motive for her to be a superheroine, her choosing to rip off Batman's act isn't explained, or it's sort of brushed aside as a kind of joke on her dad, which I didn't get at all.

Of course, it's not enough that she's trying to become a superhero; there must be an ongoing story about some menace she has to defeat, to earn her stripes. So far, this plot has barely reared its head, but the character stuff with resourceful, even pushy, Barbara is well done. The Martin/Lopez art is similar to ROBIN: YEAR ONE's Javier Pulido as Pulido's was to Mazzucchelli, but with diminishing returns. It's fine, but with no standout moments, though I think Martin has that potential. All in all, I don't think we're seeing the beginning of a classic here, but no one has dropped the ball, either. I still don't understand the reasoning behind making this a NINE-issue mini, but whatever.

CUSP by Thomas Herpich. Alternative Comics. $3.95
As a reviewer, and especially at the end of the year, you want to feel like, even if you didn't like something, you got it, you knew what the creator was trying to do. Well, one of us failed here. Let's say it's me. It's okay. If you'll follow the link above, you'll read that the stories in here are "painstakingly sincere." Well, I can't argue. The art is wonderful and obviously comes from a place of both great training and emotional investment. I'm not faulting his artistic gifts. But read more of the press release, past the flustered astronauts and gold-suited ex-misogynists to where they are described as "careening past an increasingly blurred landscape towards what they hope is some sort of enlightenment or maturity or something. A uniquely personal new voice in the comics world." It's in the "increasingly blurred" and the "or something" that I got lost. Actually, it was Page One. I give up. It beat me. I wish Herpich well; I'll look at more of his work, but I had no fucking clue what was going on. It's not a review, it's a raised white flag.

The Pornhound Part Two
Just a quick look at two books I read a few weeks ago. I don't want to get too behind on this stuff.

TART by Howie Dard. Eros Comix. $16.95
An emaciated blonde develops an insatiable lust for her big, buff brother, and uses several ruses to seduce him. Aside from a couple close calls, it doesn't really happen, and Dard includes other sexual partners for both of them to stretch things out. I guess this is a going concern? I didn't really object to the plot, as these are both adult characters who can do what they want. Having a seductress rather than a seducer helps, too. My complaint was that the art was grotesque. Dard is actually a very good artist, with an interesting airbrush look to it that dates it to the 80s but is unquestionably skilled. In fact, the best work was in a sketchbook section at the back of the book. But the lead character is so skinny and flatchested I couldn't help but think of that young blonde cokehead in BOOGIE NIGHTS who OD'd. Not the sexiest image. And Dard has a strange way of rendering female anatomy. In this case, it looks like a catfish. I just found the book mostly unpleasant, and there is very little story to make up for that.

HEAD OF THE CLASS by Ruben del Rincon and Hernan Migoya. Eros Comix. $9.95
The "Best Erotic Graphic Novel 2001" in Spain, this is a college-set story of a whore named Nina and the sweet nerd who loves her, German. Turns out she's pretty nice herself, and though her sex scenes with multiple partners are exciting, you really do end up rooting for German and her to hook up and create something more substantial. Good characters and dialogue, and sexy art. One of the better ones I've read so far in this little experiment.

THE GRENDEL SAGA
Part Six - Enter the Bat
Matt Wagner has always been very protective of his Grendel characters, and careful not to let the property be devalued with endless, unnecessary spin-offs and crossovers. However, Wagner clearly has an affinity for Batman, and so, when he had stories to tell, he produced two crossovers, one with the Hunter Rose Grendel in 1993, and one with Grendel-Prime in 1996. Since they were intercompany crossovers with the extra marketing considerations those entail, they were both released as pairs of one-shots, and with alternating top billing, as you will see below. However, be advised these are really just two distinct stories, not four.

BATMAN/GRENDEL: DEVIL'S RIDDLE and GRENDEL/BATMAN: DEVIL'S MASQUE by Matt Wagner. Comico and DC Comics. $4.95 ea.
Hunter Rose visits Gotham, both as author and criminal mastermind. As author, he's being courted by a Gotham publisher for his next novel, pouring on the formal charm for assistant editor Hilly Ferrington. As Grendel, he wants to find out when a Sphinx is coming to town for restoration. It's here where Bruce Wayne enters the picture, as Waynetech is the company funding the restoration and providing security. Rose goes about manipulating key players to get what he wants, extorting Ross, the manager of an art gallery that will display the restored Sphinx, with photos of the married man's male lover, and then he turns on the charm with Hilly, who just happens to be the friend and roommate of Rachel King, who works with the gallery and is involved in the Waynetech negotiations. She also has a crush on Wayne, sensing the coiled power beneath his bored playboy faŤade. Which in itself is an interesting take on Wayne, as most Batman stories have his Wayne persona fooling everyone. With this story, though, it's necessary that she has a thing for Wayne as a reflection and counterpoint to the crush Hilly is developing on the suave Hunter, this brilliant author who's also such a great listener. One really feels bad for Hilly, especially, because the manipulation is so cruel, going so far as taking the daughter she put up for adoption years ago and holding her for ransom. By contrast, Wayne/Batman pursues his goals heroically and with none of the head games Grendel uses. He cares nothing for Rachel but he is polite with her because it's a nicer thing to do.

Aside from the admitted contrivance of Hilly and Rachel being roommates, the plotting is mostly tight and imaginative and Wagner deserves a lot of credit for not just selling Grendel to the Bat-readership as a formidable, unique foe, but for doing it with consistent and strong characterization of Batman. Not only that, he gives us not one but two compelling female characters that add the emotional interest absent from Grendel and Batman, which makes the story more memorable than the average cat-and-mouse tale. There are a couple holes, however. In the first book, Rose decides to create a diversion, sending taunts as The Riddler to the police about how he will steal the Sphinx. But Batman sees through this right away, since it's a different Literary genius than he is, and with right-hand man Larry Stohler digging up facts, Rose should have been able to match Riddler more closely, or at the very least write an actual riddle. I got the feeling Wagner wanted to play with the Silver Age trope of how Batman's rogues would threaten to steal this or that valuable object, giving Batman and Robin time to prepare for it. It comes off as an intriguing element that just isn't properly integrated into the main story. Also, it's not made very clear why Rose wants the Sphinx, anyway. He does get to it, and uses acid to etch a design on the Sphinx's face that resembles the Grendel mask...but why? I don't know every Hunter Rose story, but although the arrogance of this act is consistent with the character-as is his believing his Riddler ruse will work-he always seemed too pragmatic and focused to waste time on artifacts and detailed operations that didn't expand his criminal empire. So, the motivation is off here, as are some of the plot points, but we are still left with an engrossing story of Batman against an evil, ruthless foe who is still completely sane, unlike many in Batman's Gallery.

GRENDEL QUEST by Matt Wagner. Dark Horse Comics. $4.95
This is a really curious project. Originally presented as a series of 14 four-page back-up stories in the pages of various GRENDEL TALES miniseries, Wagner writes and paints this tale of current Grendel-Khan Jupiter III hiring notorious Grendel assassins the Session Twins to find Grendel-Prime. Jupiter III is a pathetic leader, Nixonesque in his paranoia, and he feels the return of Grendel-Prime at his side could restore confidence in his rule. But other Grendel clan leaders, like the portly hedonist Wyotek Jones, don't want this to happen. Jones hires another notorious Grendel, Hitchcock Blue, to find Grendel-Prime first, stopping the Twins if he has to.

It's a good set-up, but nothing much happens after that. The Sessions torture a scientist whose lover, Dr. Creach, was working with Grendel-Prime on a secret scheme, but they don't learn what it is. Hitchcock Blue also gets to be cool and violent, but doesn't get any closer to finding Grendel-Prime. What the cyborg was working on was a machine to break the temporal barrier, fueled by the souls of slaves. If Grendel-Prime can find a fragment of "the true skull," i.e., Hunter Rose's, he will attain some measure of power and enlightenment. And with little difficulty, he and Creach get the machine working, and Grendel-Prime is on his way, disappearing for his date with Batman just as the Sessions show up. The denouement is Jupiter III with more egg on his face, and then the return of Grendel-Prime, having failed in his mission.

At just $4.95 (or whatever you can get for it at auction-it's out of print from Dark Horse currently), this 64-page story is worthwhile for the lush, adventurous painted art of Wagner, even if the story is poorly structured. It felt like he ran out of time to finish the thing properly before BATMAN/GRENDEL II was released. But again, the painted work is masterful, with the most striking images of Grendel-Prime ever seen. As a prequel to the following story, it's also helpful, because it more clearly explains Grendel-Prime's motivation in seeking the skull of Hunter Rose.

BATMAN/GRENDEL II: DEVIL'S BONES and GRENDEL/BATMAN II: DEVIL'S DANCE by Matt Wagner. Dark Horse Comics/DC Comics. $5.95 ea.
Wagner returned to Gotham in 1996 with this straightforward thriller, in which Grendel-Prime travels through some sort of temporal/dimensional vortex in order to steal the skull of Hunter Rose, which is currently on display in a museum exhibition about the city's most famous criminals. The man putting on the show, Professor Farouk Vinod, sees it as an important examination of violence defining character, an implicit suggestion that Batman and his Rogues share more than colorful costumes and props.

Commissioner Gordon gets a few pages of police procedural scenes, the voice of reason against Vinod's manic bluster, and then Grendel-Prime shows up, causing great destruction and injury. Batman arrives and finds this isn't just a Hunter Rose imitator, it's a 500-lb. killing machine. The rest of the first book is filled out with Grendel-Prime escaping, forcing a Waynetech employee working overtime to help him access the company's enormous power cells, so that he can recharge, and Batman finding him and fighting until he is laid low. Wagner uses a more iconic art style here, and Gregory Wright's vivid colors help keep the tension up, even if it's a much more linear, action-packed story than the previous BAT/GRENDEL outing.

In the second volume, the Waynetech employee, Glen Minomoto, is forced to help build Grendel-Prime's "gyrocore," a device worn on the chest that uses solar energy to help him levitate and return to his world. The cyborg convinces Minomoto that helping him return, with Rose's skull in hand, will help heal this desolate world, and this bit of manipulation has shades of Hunter Rose's own method of playing to people's sympathies and desires. Minomoto finds a bit of hero in himself, though, and refuses to help unless Batman is left alive. This gives Batman time to go off and devise a weapon to help foil Grendel-Prime's scheme, but it's really the last-minute appearance of a bow-wielding Robin who makes sure Grendel-Prime leaves this world without Rose's skull.

Grendel-Prime has not nearly the dimension of character of Hunter Rose-though Wagner and Greg Rucka have explored it more in other tales-so it makes sense that this crossover story be more action-driven. That said, there really are no twists or surprises, and the appearances of Gordon and Robin feel more like filler. In fact, I'm not sure if Wagner has drawn a two-page action shot anywhere else; it wasn't necessary. It ends up being a fun but somewhat thin thriller, competent and good-looking but not strictly necessary for either Bat-or-Grendel fans.

The Best of 2002, Part Two

Settle in for a mammoth wrap-up of not only the best comics publications of the year, but just like last week, various other unusual comics-related categories. I also digress into something about Doug (CREATURE TECH) TenNapel and one of the brightest talents at Movie Poop Shoot. We begin with not so much an award but a list of acclaimed books I didn't get to that may very well have garnered awards if I'd read them. I don't think anyone can read everything good in a year, so I wanted to be honest about what I missed.

BOOKS I WOULD PROBABLY LOVE BUT HAVEN'T READ:
1. EPILEPTIC VOLUME 1 by David B - A heartfelt memoir of growing up with an epileptic brother with allusions to France's turbulent politics since the 60s. I'll be getting this close to when Volume 2 comes.
2. BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS by Kim Deitch - I did read a short Deitch comic this year and liked it a lot. This is a graphic novel apparently doing for the history of animation what Michael Chabon's THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY did for the history of comic books.
I'm also reading Phoebe Gloeckner's DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL right now, and it's great. Perhaps too much prose to be considered a graphic novel, though.
3. SHUTTERBUG FOLLIES by Jason Little - A nourish tale with more of a female appeal than usual? It looked good and has gotten great reviews; I just haven't looked into it yet.

4. B. KRIGSTEIN VOL. 1 by Greg Sadowski. The little Krigstein work I know is amazing, and though the $50 tag on this, the first of two volumes (a short story collection is coming as well), is formidable, I will be picking this up in 2003.

BEST ONGOING SERIES: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley and Art Thibert. Marvel Comics. It would be cooler to name something darker or less popular, like LUCIFER or something, but hey, I have the strongest emotional connection to this book. I've always loved Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and Bendis and Bagley have been doing the best, freshest take on him for the past couple years. And every time you have doubts about where Bendis is going, he brings it right back on track with a stellar issue, like the latest one. Runners-Up: CATWOMAN - Ed Brubaker made the character work for me when no previous version (except BATMAN: YEAR ONE) had, and amazingly, the art has remained consistently good through three artists. Interesting blend of moral ambiguity and old-fashioned sentiment. X-STATIX by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred is just as good a celebrity satire as it was as X-FORCE, though occasionally the cynicism can depress. INCREDIBLE HULK by Bruce Jones, John Romita, Jr. and the underrated Lee Weeks and Stuart Immonen has remained an engaging, suspenseful thriller for a year now. It's about time to tie off a couple of the plot threads, but it's always a good read, with Kaare Andrews doing some of the best covers in the business. 100 BULLETS by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso is even more convoluted, but now, in addition to Dizzy, we have Benito as a character to latch onto. And Dave Johnson is the other guy doing the best covers in the business.

BEST LIMITED SERIES: DEADLINE by Bill Rosemann and Guy Davis - I was looking at my list of possible winners, and this just kind of crept forward. It's a low-key superhero-related effort, especially for Marvel, but Rosemann nails the character of Kat Ferrell and Davis is always top-notch. Read my review here. Runners-Up: THE FILTH by Grant Morrison, Chris Weston and Gary Erskine is a damn good book, exploring sexual perversity and 60s spy shows like so many British comics writers seem to be obsessed with, but cleverer and funnier than anyone but Morrison could pull off. Doesn't quite win because it's not nearly finished, and Weston is a good but not great artist, still a bit stiff and odd with anatomy. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith was a fun, smart vampire tale with a great premise: vampires overrun a small Alaska town when it's dark for a month at a time. Appropriately horrific art and a great climax, though a bit light on character. Hopefully some of the gaps will be filled by the bonus pages in the upcoming trade. THE HOOD by Brian K. Vaughan, Kyle Hotz and Eric Powell was excellent, arguably as good as Vaughan's Y: THE LAST MAN, though with a narrower appeal due to using some B-grade Marvel supervillains. The lead character was fascinatingly ambiguous, as rounded a male character as DEADLINE's Kat was a female character, and it took some interesting turns. Look for the trade paperback when it's solicited. GLOBAL FREQUENCY by Warren Ellis and various is, as Poop Shoot's A.K. notes in his last TITLE BOUT, a fantastic concept, taking the underground cabal idea of so many other shows and movies and recasting them as forces for good, perfectly equipped to encounter the weirdest menaces humanity has to offer. I'm enjoying it, and think the revolving artist approach keeps things fresh, but it is true that the characters are thin and the suspense rather minor. I think it still works because Ellis has to tell each story in just one issue. No decompression. THE TRUTH by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker is fantastic so far, a smart and bold look at how racism in the 40s USA extended even to the brave African-American men laying down their lives for the country that gave them so little respect. There is a superhero angle coming-how the first test subject for the Super Soldier Serum that gave Captain America his powers was a black man (shades of Tuskegee)-so we'll have to see how that works, but I remain confident. The writing is tough and often quite funny, and Baker's artwork is perfect, because it doesn't hit you over the head with how meaningful this is all supposed to be. It just looks good and colorful and inviting. THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN II was about as good as the first, with the bonus of Moore's breathtaking melding of countless legends, fables and myths into a unique guided tour, in the illustrated text back-up story.

MOST DISAPPOINTING MINISERIES: THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES BACK by Frank Miller - Reviewed here, I don't have much to add, but while it didn't anger me as much as it did many-and I liked and admired much of the art and coloring-I'm still bewildered how confused Miller's vision was, and how Bob Schreck failed to exercise the least bit of editorial control. The GODFATHER III of comic book sequels? Runners-Up:MEK by Warren Ellis, Steve Rolston and Al Gordon - There's still one more issue, but two-thirds of the way in, I think my review will stand. Not a horrible book, but a bad artistic match for this material, and a thin story by an author overly impressed with quiet, uneventful moments that are often boring. THE VISION by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins - To be fair, I dropped out after the first issue, so maybe it pulled itself together, but a first issue of a four-issue mini is key. Dull, inconsequential stuff for a once-great character. CAGE by Brian Azzarello and Richard Corben - I didn't share in the view that this mini was racist at all; what's wrong with Cage thinking he's hot shit? Seems fairly consistent with past characterization. The problem was the plot wasn't exciting and the ending was awful and unresolved. ELEKTRA: GLIMPSE & ECHO by Scott Morse - Great book to look at, as we don't get to see Morse sequential work painted very often. But the plot, involving a basketball star in the thrall of ninja outfit The Hand, was just too silly, and solved too easily. POINT BLANK by Ed Brubaker and Colin Wilson - Actually, the whole series was pretty good except for a really bad ending that made the whole thing pointless. I would still recommend this with that caveat.

BEST COMIC CREATOR ONLINE MELTDOWN: Doug (CREATURE TECH) TenNapel. I reviewed TenNapel's mostly excellent graphic novel HERE, and if you look at the review, you'll see my problem with the book. Alan David Doane of Comic Book Galaxy, a site for which I used to write, if this is important, had the same problem, but to the degree that he wrote an explanation of why he couldn't even review the book. Oddly enough, and consistent with the stereotype of the never-say-die Christian, TenNapel wrote Doane to basically demand a review, and to castigate Doane for having such an insoluble bias against works putting forth a Christian message. You can read it all here. and marvel at it. Actually, re-reading this gets me worked up again, so let me digress from this awards ceremony to touch on a few of the comments:

I wish you could put it aside and judge my work on it's (sic) artistic and storytelling merits. I appreciate that you stated your bias up front (this is something most journalists never do) so my hats (sic) off to you for that.

This is an interesting comment, and brings up what is perhaps the most important ethical question a critic faces: can a work of art be judged solely on its own merits or does other information play a part? Can one ignore the views of the artist if known? Personally, I was able to enjoy the book enough to recommend it, with the caveat that it does put forth a religious agenda that is not compassionate in the execution. More on this in a moment...

If you hate religious pop culture where Christianity is shown as an entertaining and acceptable world view I wonder if you'd also slap the same "propaganda sticker" on Indiana Jones 1 & 3, Signs, The Exorcist, Chariots of Fire, The Apostle, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hellraiser, Carrie, End of Days, Dogma etc. I don't think it's fair to judge Creature Tech on its world view (since every story has a world view we will disagree with to some degree) but is it entertaining?!

So far, fine. I'm not speaking for Doane, and remember, this was addressed to him and his comments, but I had no problem with the resolution to the plot of CREATURE TECH being based in Christianity. Basically, as in "Indiana Jones 1" or RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, the hand of God puts things right. A deus without the machina. And yes, in both cases, it's entertaining. For me, it was the stuff around this story, that this scientist would be denied the woman he loves, a rapprochement with his father, and acceptance in his community if he didn't convert. That was what bothered me. Okay, let's get to the meltdowny part.

I would think you despise this kind of fundamentalism and censorship in ALL of its forms... even in you (I openly embrace fundamentalism [basics in Christianity] and censorship [of child porn] so I'm not being a hypocrite within my world view!).

What censorship and fundamentalism is going on? Doane chose not to review a book, while still talking about it and giving it webspace.

To dismiss an artwork for its Christian subject matter means you couldn't view Michealangelo (sic) painting or a classical works (sic) by Handel, Beethoven etc. As an open minded person, I can enjoy Vaghner (zhic) even though he was a secular humanist who was buddy buddy with Nietchze! (sic).

What comes through here is that TenNapel, like most of us and I presume like Doane, considers the views of the artist and weighs them against just how much he enjoys the work. To think in these terms would seem to be a little less than open-minded, but at least it's considerate. What would seem to be important, if one is even interested in such concerns, is what agenda is being put forth and how forcefully; i.e., the execution. "Silent Night" is a beautiful song to me without really thinking about baby Jesus in the manger. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA are good fantasy aside from the Christian roots. But back to the point, it seems to me that Doane did give consideration to the book in the amount of space devoted to the non-review. The message clearly, to him, overwhelmed the entertainment.

Fox may claim to be "fair and balanced" but their conservative commentators are open about their political persuasion. How many lefties tell you their bias? Tom Brokaw, Jennings, Rather, Koppel, all of the 60 minutes guys, Katie Kouric, Matt Lower, Tim Russert and all of CNN (Communist News Network) and NPR (National Palestine Radio) have ANY of these said that they are liberal? Will you ever see a pro-life story run on these shows? Thank God for Fox. We Republicans get ONE station and that's too much for you.

Finally, we're melting. We're confusing talk show hosts, who need to express a bias and generate conflict with guests to be entertaining, with news anchors who don't even write what they say. We're paranoid about Liberals wanting to take away our ONE station, and we're applying a Communist slant to CNN. Even better, NPR, who this year featured a multi-part piece on Jewish radio of the 30s and 40s, and Pulitzer-winning Middle East journalist Thomas Friedman, who writes critically of both Israel and the Palestinians, is pro-Palestine. Heh.

Further, the publisher Top SHelf is an enormous support for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (that largely defends hardcore porn, gay porn and child porn in rural communities) and has a majority of titles that are pro gay, anti God etc so to say the least, Creature Tech is "equal time" and it's one of the publisher's top sellers so everyone is winning. The money earned on Creature Tech will go into publishing more pro-gay anti God material so what's your problem?

This would be hilarious if it wasn't disturbing. Show me where the CBLDF defends child pornography. How can they defend the illegal, therefore indefensible? Gay porn and hardcore porn are legal, though perhaps the distinction should be made that the CBLDF is not defending the content but the person selling it.

I'm a Christian remember? We never read them thick books with all of those hard words.

Well, he's got the martyr part down pat.

All this aside, Alan, please review my book. I actually prefer to hear from Atheists than Christians on this story! Show me how unbiased journalism works!

Not necessary. Criticism is by its nature biased, and not journalism.

Now to piss you off. You really do need Jesus. And you can rest assured that the argument can be won using science and facts. This is not a fringe movement, it's the real deal. I'm ten times the skeptic that you ever could be and I'm kneeling at the foot of the cross. Keep asking the tough questions because that will bring you to the truth faster.

I'm not making fun of anyone's faith, but why does he care if others don't believe? Certainly not out of a sense of compassion and love. Runners-Up: DJ Coffman on Brian Bendis, on Bendis' own message board. The thread was ostensibly about my bossman Kevin Smith and his erratic comic output. DJ not only attempted to turn it (as many do) into a Bendis vs. Smith thing, but he pretty clearly accused Bendis (who was nice enough to include a Bendis-related spoof strip originally on this site in the back of an issue of POWERS) of plagiarism. Read DJ's posts here and here, with Bendis' reply here. Let me say that MPS brotherhood aside, I've always loved DJ's art, but out of line is out of line, you know? Apparently this plagiarism claim was based solely on an admission in Bendis' JINX graphic novel that the story was inspired to some extent by THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY. No other examples were given. Hopefully this has resolved itself amicably and that a lesson was learned. The other runner-up would be former DC artist Mike Miller, who revealed a homophobic streak on the CBLDF board. Rich Johnston wrote a bit about this in his column, since it wasn't just anti-gay remarks but juicy claims that Miller's career stall at DC was due to his outspoken anti-gay stance and the power of gay editors like Bob Schreck and a pro-gay DC agenda in general. It couldn't have anything to do with him being a mediocre artist, I guess. And still more homophobia, this time from Chuck (SIGIL) Dixon, right here on his message board I think it's reasonable to infer from these comments that Dixon has a problem with people being gay and his kids knowing about the concept of homosexuality. That RAWHIDE KID: SLAP LEATHER will carry some sort of Mature Readers label is not addressed, nor is Dixon's responsibility as a parent to know what his kids are reading. Sheesh, he's a comics writer-doesn't he buy their comics for them? Be a dad, Chuck. Also, why do so many people realize that trying to hide something from your kids, or to demonize it, is to make it so much more attractive? Kids who can't watch TV or eat Doritos at home get their fill at friends' houses. I could go into a longer rant, but let's leave it with this: People fight, and people fuck, Chuck. Why is only one of these natural activities acceptable to deal with in comics? And you haven't even read the book. I mean, a best guess is that it will be silly and inconsequential and unworthy of all the attention it's gotten, but who knows, right? Minus the media attention part, I could say the same thing about Dixon's upcoming BRATH. And some limp-wristed gay comedy stereotype Western is certainly not going to sell kids on sucking pole, so what are you worried about?

BEST COLLECTION:KRAZY & IGNATZ 1925-1926 by George Herriman - This was one of my great discoveries this year. Just hilarious, timeless work, as simple and profound as water. Here's hoping Fantagraphics gets to reprint all of them. Review here. Runners-Up: 20TH CENTURY EIGHTBALL by Dan Clowes - Clowes at his funniest and least precious. Dark and wonderful. SUMMER BLONDE by Adrian Tomine - ; LUBA IN AMERICA by Gilbert Hernandez - It seems like LOVE AND ROCKETS has been an institution for so long that people often overlook it (and the COMPLETE CRUMB COMICS) for their Best Of lists in favor of newer and perhaps less prolific talents. Meaning, there aren't that many Tomine or Clowes books in comparison to the twenty-plus L&R-related volumes, so how do you pick a favorite? Well, this one, reviewed here, was my first extended look at this world, having only read a few issues of LOVE AND ROCKETS VOL. 2 and LUBA COMICS AND STORIES. I like those fine, but with long-running stories like LUBA, it's best to read a big chunk like this in one sitting. Idiosyncratic, mysterious, sexy, funny, romantic, and above all, human.

FUNNIEST COMIC OR BOOK: ANGRY YOUTH COMIX by Johnny Ryan - I love Pete Bagge's HATE and applaud the way he's enlarged the scope of the book to accommodate essays and reportage, but AYC has neatly filled the lowbrow yuks niche that HATE somewhat abandoned. It's just really stupid and really funny. The latest issue, #4, features a hilarious story about a course in what makes for good comic books, including "sophisticated dialogue," the example of which is a man doffing his hat to a lady and exposing his large penis to her: "Boner, m'lady?" There's also the unconscionable classic, "Hipler," about a still-living Hitler changing his image and becoming a celebrity darling on Oprah and TRL. "Kill Some Jews? I Said Let's Kill Some BREWS!" Oh, we're all going to Hell. Runners-Up: PEEPSHOW by Joe Matt - #13 is the latest issue, the only one this year, and the first I've ever read. I loved it, and laughed cruelly and heartily at Matt's pathetic obsession with pornography, to the utter detriment of his career and social life. I don't feel bad for laughing; he clearly intends you do the same, and he gives friend and cartoonist Seth the best lines, proving Matt is well aware of his problems, even if he is unable to change at this time. BEG THE QUESTION by Bob Fingerman is hilarious, and shows up in the running for Best Graphic Novel as well. Keep reading.

MOST UNDERRATED: 21 DOWN by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Jesus Saiz - I'm reviewed this before but I can't find it in the archives. Anyway, guy can see people's deaths before they happen, and he himself knows he's going to die when he hits age 21. Part of Wildstorm's Eye of the Storm line of edgy superhero books, it's well-written, surprising book with very good, gritty art from Saiz. My retailer tells me the Eye of the Storm books are tanking, which is really a shame, as they all seem pretty good. AUTOMATIC KAFKA by Joe Casey and Ashley Wood is another one of these, and I'm liking it a lot. I don't really think it will amount to a great, deep story when all is said and done, but it's subversively fun and with sexy, unusual art with colors and a design sense better than most comics on the shelves. I also think POP GUN WAR by Farel Dalrymple is a fantastic book, and even if the story is not structured for mass appeal, I'm surprised more people aren't going nuts over the art and covers.

BEST WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis: USM; POWERS; DAREDEVIL; ALIAS - Look at that quartet of good-to-great books. I know it's not a surprising call to honor Bendis again, but it's hard to argue. The first two books were nearly flawless; ALIAS has actually improved, and I happen to love DD despite this White Tiger story becoming rather sluggish. The previous arc, "Underboss," was excellent, and I had no problems with the pacing at all. It doesn't hurt that he works with great artists, either. Runners-Up: Alan Moore will always be in the running as long as he writes comics. I wrote about LOEG II above, and continue to trust his work on PROMETHEA and the TOM STRONG books enough to wait for the hardcovers to read them. Grant Morrison has given us some more of his unhinged visions in THE FILTH, but to my mind his NEW X-MEN work is really often the stronger, as it's more character-based and compassionate. Brian K. Vaughan had a banner year with Y and THE HOOD, and Ed Brubaker gave us the wonderful CATWOMAN and GOTHAM CENTRAL, and stepped up the quality on BATMAN and now DETECTIVE COMICS.

MOST DISAPPOINTING NEW CREATIVE TEAM: Scott Beatty, Butch Guice and Mike Perkins, RUSE - I've read some Beatty work I've liked fine (see the BATGIRL: YEAR ONE review above), but taking over from Mark Waid's excellent, all-too-brief run gave me the feeling of the 1980 cast of SNL, like going from Bill Murray to Charles Rocket. They look about the same, but whoo-boy, what a difference. The period speech felt stilted where it flowed smoothly under Waid, and having the art team stay and continue to do great work almost made it worse. You want to stick around to see if it gets better. So far, not so much. Runner-Up: Geoff Johns, Kieron Dwyer and Rick Remender, AVENGERS - Not trying to beat up on Johns, who is to my mind never really bad, just mediocre. I can't even remember what happened in this storyline, and yet it's already solicited as a trade under the AVENGERS LEGENDS banner, Volume Two after AVENGERS FOREVER for Volume One. Again, it's that 1980 SNL thing. It's not all Johns' fault; he's just doing a very standard thing, putting together a new Avengers team with some hotheads to spice things up. We've been there before, and if you're making Jack of Hearts the loose cannon of the bunch, you're in trouble. But you can overlook standard Avengers fare if the art's good, and Dwyer/Remender just ain't. I like their work fine in the BLACKHEART BILLY stuff, and still like old Dwyer CAPTAIN AMERICAs, but something was just off here, line's too thick, people too ugly, something. Sadly, the Gary Frank two-parter wastes his talents on too many yelling heads and a confrontation between Jack and Ant-Man that will interest only hardcore Avengerphiles.

BEST ARTIST: You know, I can't really choose. You look for artists for different things and in different moods. I'm always jazzed to see work from Mike Avon Oeming, Darwyn Cooke, Michael Allred, and now Kelsey (BASTARD SAMURAI) Shannon, but admittedly, there are a lot of similarities to all their styles. I love that style, that sort of animation look, and they're the foremost purveyors of it (especially with Bruce Timm not doing comics this year. I also go nuts for Ashley Wood stuff. But then, do you discount great artists whose work was printed this year but actually completed earlier, like Takehiko (VAGABOND) Inoue, or Juan (METABARONS) Gimenez? And for a mere $2.95, you've got to give credit to Ladronn for making HIP FLASK: UNNATURAL SELECTION one of the most beautiful books of the year.

BEST MAGAZINE: EDDIE CAMPBELL'S EGOMANIA - A dynamite new mag that wins for me because of its singular vision. It's just one very erudite cartoonist holding forth on whatever's on his mind, and I love all of it. Reviewed here. Runners-Up: COMIC BOOK ARTIST - This Jon B. Cooke-edited mag for TwoMorrows has always been a favorite, and now has taken up some of the dead COMICOLOGY's slack with a more modern spin, the current issue featuring interviews with Mike Mignola and Jill Thompson. THE COMICS JOURNAL - Also improved this year with Milo George taking the editorial reins from nutjob Anne Elizabeth Moore. TCJ still has the definitive interviews and the best writers, whether you agree with their opinions or not.

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OR ONE-SHOT: BEG THE QUESTION by Bob Fingerman - A richly funny romantic comedy with real characters, real situations and a wonderfully developed supporting cast. And it's really funny, too. Read my review here. Runners-Up, and there are many: FANTASTIC BUTTERFLIES by James Kochalka - Silly, sweet and even profound work from this prolific cartoonist, one of his best yet. Reviewed here. SSHHHH!! by Jason is his second graphic novel, and it's another beautiful heartbreaker, reviewed here. NO. 5 by ; PHOENIX: A TALE OF THE FUTURE by Osamu Tezuka - Reviewed here, it's a powerful tale of mankind's self-destruction. I could easily make it the "Best" but I feel weird about doing that to older books that are reprints. DUMPED by Andi Watson is another finely crafted love story as good as BREAKFAST AFTER NOON but more compact. Watson is like novelist Nick (ABOUT A BOY) Hornby in his understanding of immature young men, plus he can draw them pretty pictures. PULPATOON PILGRAMAGE by Joel Priddy - A magical set of stories involving an anthropomorphic bull and thistle, and a melancholy "row bot." Mythic but human, with evocative art. This is a creator to watch. Available from AdHouse Books. WHITE DEATH by Rob Morrison and Charles Adlard - A powerhouse anti-war story, authentic and chilling, with Adlard's best art yet. Reviewed here. FAIR WEATHER by Joe Matt - Reviewed above. THE CASTAWAYS by Rob Vollmar and Pablo Callejo - A terrific Depression-era coming of age tale set in the lost world of the hobo, reviewed here. MY UNCLE JEFF by Damon Hurd - A great little self-published one-shot about family bonds and the innate goodness of some people that is never saccharine, but very touching and warm. Reviewed here . NO. 5 by Taiyo Matsumoto - The BLACK AND WHITE creator returns with a European flavored manga about the defection of No. 5 from The Rainbow Council, a kind of peace-keeping force that exist in mainly a ceremonial capacity. No. 5 leaves to be with the woman he loves, a chubby, Inuit-like fish-munching gal, and the Council sends his co-workers after him, to bring him in or kill him. It's the first of a series, so it's not a complete story, but very exciting and with breathtaking artwork. From Viz Communications.

MOST DISAPPOINTING GRAPHIC NOVEL: TRENCHES by Scott Mills - My review of this book is admittedly harsh, but truthful. There is nothing original or interesting or knowing in this book, and Mills is ill-equipped to draw this type of story. He's not an untalented guy, though; I liked BIG CLAY POT and his new one, MY OWN LITTLE EMPIRE, which I'll review next week. Rather than beat this into the ground, let's finish with similarly uninsightful (but intentionally, ironically so) words about a soldier, from XTC side project THE DUKES OF STRATOSPHEAR: "Well you're a good man, Albert Brown/And you was wounded in the War/And though you shot some people down/You're still a good man, Albert Brown" Runner-Up: THREE FINGERS by Rich Koslowski - Reviewed but doesn't appear to be in the Archives right now, this is a well-drawn, nicely-designed, unfunny and boring fake docu on Toons, with an out-of-place bit about a disfiguring ritual some Toons performed to help their careers. Didn't work for me.

And finally, we have come to the end. Thanks for sticking with it, and the column, lo these last six months of 2002. And thanks for not snickering when I use the archaic "lo" in a sentence. It's been a great year for comics, for me. I've always believed there are too many talented creators to really keep up with, so many who go undiscovered by the average JSA reader. I was happy to finally get into Los Bros Hernandez, R. Crumb, Lewis Trondheim, Hermann, Carlos Trillo, Osamu Tezuka, Matt Madden, Eddie Campbell, Bob Fingerman, Andi Watson, Jason, George Herriman, Joe Sacco, Joe Matt, Dave Cooper and David Collier this year, plus discovering so many new guys. I'm also very proud that friends Miles (BASTARD SAMURAI) Gunter and Ivan (GENE FUSION) Brandon are busting out with their own cool comics, too. Whenever you think comics are stuck in a rut, try something from some of these new names. Happy New Year.

Next week: not so long.

2003: I will continue to rock.

Chris Allen

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