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Breakdowns - At Home He's a Tourist

April 24, 2003

Almost 12,000 words, this one. A lot to commit to, I realize, but can you really afford to miss it?! Thought not.

So I’m back after a week in Maui, and I want to get right into it. Lots to talk about. Not just comics but maybe a little travel writing, too. I’ll try to be more amusing than helpful, which is how I generally go through life.

First, though, a thankee to all my friends and peers, d. emerson eddy, Alan David Doane, Jason Marcy, Derek Martinez, Nick Capetillo and especially Marc Mason, who not only contributed but edited all the other reviews into a seamless whole. Now he knows what I go through every week with these young Malaysians I’ve got “assisting” me. And thanks to EiC Chris Ryall for running with the idea. He agreed it was better than just having nothing new for two weeks, plus you readers got to see some stuff covered I might not have, or with different points of view. In fact, I got an e-mail from Oni Press EiC Jamie S. Rich thanking me for being one of the few people who “got” THREE DAYS IN EUROPE, not realizing until later that it was a fill-in column. I actually didn’t get it, but hey, it happens. I think we can all agree that Mike Hawthorne’s art rocks.

Two weeks of fill-ins are a big help, because I really didn’t get to read much in the way of comics in Maui, and why would I? I took along a few things that were light, in both senses of the word, from the Lewis Trondheim series DUNGEON and ODDBALLZ to the Graham (GRICKLE) Annable-edited anthology HICKEE. So we’ll get to two of those, with ODDBALLZ reviewed next week so I can get it the way I want it, as well as the first installment of my look at the HELLBOY saga from the immensely talented Mike Mignola, starting naturally with the first story, SEED OF DESTRUCTION. I will warn you, however, that it might be another couple weeks before the next installment, as I need to track down the trade of WAKE THE DEVIL, but it’s not like you’re going to bite your nails off waiting for my opinion of an eight-or-nine-year-old book, right? I’ll also do something a little unusual in regards to the newly-released THE ART OF HELLBOY hardcover, discussing little bits of it in each installment that pertain to the story reviewed. In a way, it’s sort of an experiment in positive reinforcement, as one review of a $50 hardcover, no matter how positive, can be ignored pretty easily. Tons more reviews as well, from superheroes to humor to romance and even some softcore porn. Oh, and we’ll also have my comments on the Eisner noms.

First, a few notes on my vacation, since you asked.

MAUI
Here’s a fun way to start a vacation: pack up a three-year-old, a six-month-old and have your mother-in-law (“you have to get the Maui ribs when you’re there—they’re to die for!”) drop you off at Lindbergh Field (San Diego’s airport) at 4:00 a.m. for the short flight to LAX. Mother-in-law squeals away from the United Airlines part of Terminal 1 with the emergency brake still on, and of course, since this is an express flight—oops, you need the United Express area a quarter mile back. This necessitates renting a cart to hold your collapsible playpen, three suitcases, three duffles, backpack and two car seats, just to go a hundred yard to where the shuttle bus picks you up to take you back to United Express, which means you have to load all your stuff onto the bus and take it off while watching the kids, trying not to annoy everyone.

Eventually, you’re at United Express and find out that you’ve been bumped from your flight and have to take another one in two hours to San Francisco. Your friends, who are staying next to you in the Maui condos and supposed to accompany you, still get to go to LA.

Now, call me anti-Asian if you want, just like they did at The Hague, but when I heard San Francisco, I didn’t think “GAY! GAY! GAY!”, I thought, “CHINATOWN! SARS! CHINATOWN! SARS!” And us in a sealed cabin if someone starts coughing. Obviously, that didn’t turn out to be a problem, but still, who needs the added worry, when you already expect one or both of your kids will make the flight a misery for you, your wife and the next three rows fore and aft.

My wife, waiting for the boarding call, calls our friend Kevin who must be boarding the LA flight around this time. He’s a CHP officer, so she’s asking him, loudly, if he’s brought his gun. “You’ve got your GUN? Are they letting you keep your GUN or do they need to hold onto your GUN during the flight?” With airport security what it is today (wildly varied? A farce? Forget it, just go with me here), I could just see this becoming an incident. It didn’t, and yes, I realize I’ve got setups but not a lot of punchlines here. Sorry.

United’s food is quite good. I wish I could grill chicken (or experiment on it) so that it falls apart so easily.

Why do airports not carry any baby formula? It doesn’t take up much space and you’d think there’s a significant need for it, especially with flight delays. Yes, we were only prepared for one bottle, not two.

The airport in Maui is muggy, but wait until you have to wait a solid hour to get your Dollar rental car. That is, wife Gretchen and baby Ainsley waited in the cool interior while Trevor and I had to guard the bags outside. On the shuttle to Dollar, Gretchen left one stroller, one car seat, and a backpack full of Trevor’s books and toys, thinking “the guy had heard” her say those needed to go on the shuttle. They were fortunately just sitting there at the airport when the shuttle brought me back. A similar mistake was made where she thought Trevor was with Kevin’s wife (her best friend) Ryan in the line at the luau, while I was busy trying to get a refund since it was raining.

Somehow, all the luggage was made to fit the stylish Dodge Stratus and we were on our way to nearly a week of fun and sun. Things from here on were pretty idyllic, actually, so I’d feel wrong harping on the little negatives. Sure, there was an officious woman guarding the hotel chairs at the beach we visited, whom we dubbed The Chair Nazi, and she was unpleasant. “If you’re not a guest here, you’re going to have to get off the grass (there was a grassy area before the beach, where I was resting with my daughter, who was napping in her stroller. The beach was windy and I didn’t want sand blowing on her). I didn’t bug you before.” This part I loved, that she wanted some credit for delaying her bitchiness.

Anyway, I got to do what I wanted, which was to hang out with family and friends, eat some fresh fish, drink a few beers and Mai Tais, and relax. I also came up with a drink, the Tradewind Treat, which was light and amber rum, orange-pineapple-strawberry juice, Orange Curacao, coconut syrup and ice. Not quite awful, and as strong as it was, you couldn’t get a buzz from it, maybe due to all the sugar, I dunno. Oh, and I golfed for the first time, playing a course where one hole required you to technically drive the ball over the ocean. Not being used to the sport, I tore a chunk of skin off my thumb so that it looked like Ahi underneath.

There was an Asian guy coughing in my row on the way back, not covering his mouth.

GENE FUSION A.D. 2310 #1 & 2 by Ivan Brandon, Neil Vokes and Jay Geldhof. Beckett Entertainment Comics. $2.95

“Remember Timmy Smits? Poor little guy.”

“You mean Timmy Splat?”

This is a revamp of GENE FUSION, which I don’t know much about other than that it was created by Jeff Amano, who’s still guiding its direction here. Set even farther in the future, GFAD2310 makes this gene fusion thing a marketable commodity, a form of entertainment. Players control their “fusimals”, these genetically altered animals, and have them battle in a ring, best thing wins. Could be a gruesome, dystopic premise, but the touch is fairly light though violent enough that I wouldn’t call this an “all ages” book—more like twelve and up? Typical videogame age, and the book has a videogame feel, with the plots mainly relating to the fights, one of which spills over and puts one of the players, the winsome Elyssa, much closer to the action than she wants. Vokes, who has some experience with revamps going back to his NINJAK days, has a simple and wholesome style to keep things fun and exciting without getting brutal, plus he’s especially good at facial expressions. Brandon writes an engaging, accessible story, and Elyssa is appealing, but he needs to work in some more development of the other characters, especially Ethan, the kid who seemed to be the focus in the first issue. He kind of disappears in the onlooker role right away, missing some of the potential of the character as the wide-eyed innocent thrust into an exciting but dangerous, violent milieu. Fantastic covers by Mike Avon Oeming and Kelsey (BASTARD SAMURAI) Shannon and so far, a fun, action-packed and unpretentious read.

HUMAN TORCH #1 by Karl Kesel, Skottie Young, Joe Seung and Pierre-Andre Dery. Marvel Comics. $2.50
I picked this up with low expectations and more than a hint of snobbery. See, I’ve always felt the Human Torch was potentially a great character but very rarely written well. It’s true—many if not most reviewers would like to write their own comics, often times featuring the characters with whom they grew up. In this case, my trepidation over the series increased, not because of Kesel, who’s always a pretty reliable if unexceptional talent, but with the fact that the character has been updated to be a bratty modern kid. Add to that manga-influenced art and I expected something watered-down and pandering like the Marvel Mangaverse stuff.

Happily, I was wrong. I’m not sure exactly why we’re getting a high school story for Johnny Storm--who at this point is trying to convince his classmates he’s the Torch—but Kesel does a credible job with contemporary teen dialogue and rhythms. This is really a sharp book in the vein of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, focusing on teenager problems rather than supervillains. Johnny’s only opponent here is Mike Snow, who starts as a rather shy but talented Olympic wrestling hopeful but who becomes bitter and competitive when Johnny starts stealing his thunder. Kesel does an interesting thing here by depicting Snow not as a Flash Thompson-style egotistical jock, but as a pretty sweet guy who even puts himself in danger to save the burning Johnny before he finds out about his powers. Johnny is the bad one, not evil but hormonal, lacking parental guidance and dealing with the first rush of powers and fame. Can’t be easy to get your homework done when you were busy fighting the Mole Man on Monster Isle, right?

Young also impresses me with a style bearing some influence of Jim Mahfood and maybe some Mike Wieringo, but it’s definitely his own. He could stand to vary his shots a little so that every face isn’t at 3/4ths but I have no complaints beyond that, and really enjoyed the line weight and angularity of the faces. The cover coloring and logo are really dull (lots of yellow and brown) and I hope that doesn’t hurt sales of what might be a sleeper hit.

SWEATSHOP #1 (OF 6) by Peter Bagge, Stephen De Stephano and Bill Wray. DC Comics
It really hasn’t taken so many years for Bagge to go from the slob shtick of HATE to the sitcomics of THE MEGALOMANIACAL SPIDER-MAN and now this, a series of short comics stories (two in this issue) about fictional hack comic strip artist Mel Bowling and his young, underpaid assistants. Bagge’s HATE ANNUALs prove he hasn’t lost his bite or gift for social commentary, but the work here is tamely amusing, on a par with EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. Of course Mel is a tacky dresser. Of course he’s clueless about modern humor, music and anything else current. Of course he works his assistants to the bone and takes all the credit. Of course he’s cheap, sexist, homophobic and racist. I mean, he’s old, right? So he’s gotta be all those things, apparently. That’s not to say the book is bad, it’s just not surprising. The first story, about Mel’s campaign to win the coveted “Hammy” award for his funny animal strip, is maybe the worst, as it ends with some ridiculous slapstick. It’s kind of interesting that Bagge does reference real life cartoonists like Patrick (MUTTS) McDonnell, but that doesn’t save the story. The DeStephano-drawn “The New Recruit” is better, as a young black man, Elliot, is hired to be the new gag artist, and finds he is unable to shake the status quo, forced to revert to tired airline food gags. It’s got another weak, or at least overly familiar (it’s constructed fine) punchline. Bill Wray draws a funny epilogue of sorts to this story, one page each of the assistant’s comics diaries. Each is in a different style, and reveal a racist streak on the part of the pimply white dork, Nick, a sexual dynamo inside the sweet, untalented Carrie, and superhero fantasies for Alfred, who also has a thing for Carrie and even as a black man himself, sees the dreadlocked Elliot as some kind of raping monster. There’s another wit in these three pages scripted by Bagge to make up for a lot of the previous corniness.

HICKEE by Various. Edited by Graham Annable. Alternative Comics. $12.95
Having been somewhat disappointed in the last anthology book from Alternative, ROSETTA--nominated for an Eisner this year, see below—I wasn’t too enthused about this one, until I saw that Annable was involved, he of the very funny and sharp GRICKLE. He’s assembled here several other fairly like-minded cartoonists whose intention is not to push the envelope, not to conduct formal experiments, but to make you laugh. And it did, repeatedly. I chuckled, guffawed and wheezed at an astonishing 75-80% of the material, which rarely happens for me. The book hits that certain section of my funny bone containing hairline fractures from books such as Johnny Ryan’s ANGRY YOUTH COMIX and Sam Henderson’s MAGIC WHISTLE, simply drawn strips with the gags some pungent blend of the lowbrow and the absurd. The commitment to stupidity found in strips like “Caveman Ninja Meets Zombie Jogger” by Scott Campbell and “Human Monkey” by Nathan Stapley is, well, admirable, and I’m also aligned with the dark humor of “Bud & Corky” by Paul Brown, wherein the old “burning paper bag of shit” gag goes horribly wrong, turning into a deadly house fire. There are a lot of fart jokes, most actually quite good, and Annable broadens the scope of the book with whimsy, observational humor and the implementation of the exquisite corpse writing experiment, where one person starts with a panel, another person does a panel taking off from what happened in the first, and so on. There are several four-panel strips by “The Hickee Gang” and the results are often surprising, usually quite funny even if relying on shock or filth for the closer a lot of the time. I enjoyed this book a great deal and hope more are planned.

STYLISH VITTLES VOL. 1: I MET A GIRL by Tyler Page. Dementian Comics. $15
The first volume in this Eisner-nominated romance is just what the title proclaims it to be. College student Tyler, shy and focused on his art, finally meets that one special girl, Nanette, the one with whom you can talk with for hours the first time you meet her. Conflict arises briefly when Tyler learns Nanette is going overseas upon graduation, and will be gone for months. Should he clip this budding romance short, before he gets in too deep, or enjoy the time he has with her? What do you think?

Tyler makes the obvious choice and all is full of love. In order to develop Nanette beyond just the idealized Ms. Right, Page gives the reader access to her thoughts as well, and the deepening romance gains more dimension. A second conflict occurs near the end, as Nanette agonizes over differences in her and Tyler's faiths. It's an interesting problem, very common but not explored much in romantic fiction. In these early stages of romance, one bends over backwards to be patient and accepting of the new love's beliefs and morality, and it can create problems in the future when one becomes more natural and assertive. We'll see how this plays out in the second volume.

In technical terms, STYLISH VITTLES has some flaws. Tyler's thoughts and narration dominate the book, so it's a little jarring to switch to Nanette. Page's art is good and appropriate for the story, but he needs to work on faces, which are lacking in distinctive features and contour. And I also found the opening sequence, which starts from the universe to flowly focus in to Tyler, to be very well drawn and evocative but not of specific service or benefit to the story. It's like a really nice title sequence that doesn't fit the tone of the movie. Despite the small flaws, though, this is a warm, compelling story, similar in some ways to another superlative comics romance, TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD. Both are sloppy and overheated with emotion, and the sincerity makes up for the occasional mistake. It occurs to me that this could be a new trend. As important as the darker and more sophisticated comics of the late 80s and 90s have been to the medium, works such as these, BLANKETS and BOX OFFICE POISON could be signaling the start of an era of an unabashed, shameless age of romance, and it looks like there are enough male readers to sustain it. We shall see.

SOMEONE SENT YOU A BIRTHDAY COMIC BOOK CARD by Brian Clopper. Behemoth Books. $3.00
Sometimes when one reviews something, the question of just reviewing the contents or also discussing the marketability of the project comes up. What this is is a comic book story in the dimensions of a birthday card. Basically, for a little more than just a card, you can give an actual comic story to that comic book reader you know. It’s a true all-ages story about a dragon, Marvin, who chooses a different path than the others, who just want to guard castles all day. Marvin collects comics and other pop culture memorabilia. Eventually, the others catch on to how cool these things are and Marvin even gets a best-selling book about mining one’s past out of it. It’s sort of a preposterous premise, that comics are the route to fame and fortune, but it’s harmless in this context. The art isn’t comics format, it’s just full page stuff due to the greeting card size. It’s fine but Marvin’s design could have been more memorable. As for the marketability, well, this is a book with a limited appeal, but since those of you reading this are comics fans, you’re in the demographic, and it’s only $4 with shipping.

After writing this review, I misplaced the book, and Clopper’s site doesn’t have scans for it. However, you can go there to get a feel for his style.

STRIP SEARCH by Ernie Colon. Eros Comix. $9.95
A sleazy millionaire hires a tough, handsome private eye to find his missing, crazy wife, which leads the guy, McKinnick, into a seedy world of strip joints and S&M clubs. It turns out the wife isn’t a wife, though, but a poor woman the millionaire has been torturing for years, and the only thing she’d like better than being left alone is to get revenge.

I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much from this, figuring it was just Colon slumming for a buck, but it’s an appealing soft-porn spin on Raymond Chandler, a little like that kooky 60s adaptation of THE LITTLE SISTER. Colon apparently drew the thing in ballpoint while working a night security gig, then added a wash and other effects to make it presentable. The art has a rough quality to it which works pretty well here, the abundance of nude women sexy due to being more real and not so idealized. There’s no great dramatic pull to the story, but the humor, though dated in feel, is often effective. I also like the lack of cynicism and misogyny in the portrayal of McKinnick. Most stories of this sort would have several digressions for sex while he goes about his mission, but in a charming, old-fashioned bit of plotting, he only gets his “reward” once the job and some good deeds are done. It’s kind of like something Howard Chaykin might have done, but less insecure.

Note: I can’t really show the cover here, as it contains some nudity.

KILLER PRINCESSES #3 (OF 3) by Gail Simone and Lea Hernandez. Oni Press. $2.99
This is a book I really disliked at the beginning, skipped the second issue, and came back for the end only because it was sent to me. I can't say I laughed or liked the story much, but I will say that it was a far more interesting premise than I realized, with these sorority girls actually being the villains of the story, part of a long lineage of assassins of anyone who exhibited genius or a talent for moving humanity, meaning that not just Hitler was put down but JFK, MLK and others who did more good than harm. Didn't end up being my kind of thing, but an admirable and unique effort, anyway.

METAL HURLANT #5 by Alexandro Jodorowsky, Dan Jolley, Jorge Pereira Lucas and others. Humanoids Publishing. $3.95
The glossy anthology is settling into something of a groove, even if the Editorial hints at changes to come, including perhaps more ongoing serials. Right now there's really just one ongoing, the beautiful "Megalex" by Jodorowsky and Fred Beltran Alejandro Jodorowsky and Fred Beltran, and it’s the most beautiful part of the book, but the installments are frustratingly brief, especially for a bimonthly book. The story involves a clone deviating from his programmed life of 400 days, and this episode is like countless stories where the lead character is just what some underground rebels need to carry out their rebellion, and one of them—a sexy and mysterious woman, naturally—saves his life just in the nick of time. This will all probably read better once collected.

“The Guilt”, also written by Jodorowsky with art by Danish artist Christian Hojgaard, is part of the loosely connected series of “metal hurlant” (screaming metal) stories where the soul of a dead planet streaks, flaming, through the universe, touching the lives of other planets’ inhabitants in different ways. In this story, the people live a joyless existence, either stone crushing laborers or obese accountants, until the village idiot gazes at the sky and sees the comet. It causes him to grow wings, but, being a fool, he allows himself to be captured and interrogated. They want him to confess, to something. Anything. When they realize he is not guilty of anything, it somehow throws the whole system into disarray, and many more begin to sprout wings, following the fool to a fabled city in the clouds. An abstract but moving story, hampered somewhat by Hojgaard’s conventional art.

“Second Chances” by Jim McDonald and Jorge Pereira Lucas is an average science fiction story (more of a gambling/crime story in an SF setting) with a loopy ironic ending of the type Rod Serling would appreciate. It’s somewhat interesting to see Lucas doing something other than his Kirby riffs, but this style is not particularly distinctive. “Worship Services” by Dan Jolley and Igor David, however, is a hoot, a wacky horror story like one might see from Avatar, but with idiosyncratic and nicely colored art by David more in line with art comics. And one of the best parts of the magazine continues to be Jean-Pierre Dionnet’s wide-ranging essays on culture, in this issue touching on French feelings on the cultural value of pornography among several other topics. Dionnet has the gift of being cultured but not snobbish about it in his writing, only wanting to share what he has found, and with wit and enthusiasm.

DUNGEON #3 & 4 by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim. NBM Publishing. $2.95

“The shepherds were overrun and became slaves on the spot. Unwilling to tolerate this condition, they all died of chagrin and wretchedness during the night.”

I reviewed this book positively some months ago, either issue #1 or 2, because of its wealth of hilarious medieval gags and compact plotting, but the printing made the book a little bit of a chore to read. You see, NBM is releasing these issues in black-and-white-and-gray, when they were 48 page color albums before. But they’ve tinkered with the graytones, and now they pop out on the page a little better, making for a better visual experience and allowing the story to sink in more fully. These issues would be the second album, and while I long to see the stories in that format, in color, it will be a long time before that happens. So enjoy what is here.

In this story, Herbert, a duck (it’s a funny animal medieval book), has been sent from the castle dungeon to learn to be a great warrior after he fails in his duty to safeguard the castle treasure from one Sonya the Huge. In #4, he hooks up once again with fellow dungeon mate Marvin the Dragon (yes, this is the second character this week with the name, but Trondheim got there first, or at least before Clopper), who accelerates his fighting training. #3 is a lot of fun, but #4 is near brilliant and often profound. Marvin takes Herbert on a mission to steak the Goblin King’s socks, and the story is strewn with simple but meaningful advice about focusing on goals and seeing beyond what is said. I loved this part:

“Imagine a world where everything is backwards…where you live in the ground, where you breathe the ground, where you bang yourself against the air, where fire calms, where the sword caresses…What would the supreme weapon be? Concentrate on that when you fight with the feather.”

Very Zen. But also very funny, as Herbert fights on through 10,020 doors, the number of goblins doubling and doubling each time until he has to defeat over a million with just the feather. There is also a bit of pathos as Marvin becomes disillusioned with his master. The series really works out to be as winning a combination of humor, swords & sorcery and philosophy as GROO THE BARBARIAN, only with a European flavor and less fools.

CHRISTA SHERMOT’S 100% GUARANTEED HOW-TO MANUAL FOR GETTING ANYONE TO READ COMIC BOOKS!!! By Myatt Murphy and Scott Dalrymple. $.00
OK, before I get into this, let me say that I’m really happy these guys were nominated for an Eisner. I have issues with some of the nominations, as you’ll see below, but not these guys. Both extremely talented, and it’s an excellent book. Also, this 32 page comic is free, so who cares what I think, right?

Still, if you’re going to put a guarantee on something…

What works about this book is that it’s an effective promotional tool for the creators’ FADE FROM BLUE. There are excerpts here and they’re good ones. Also, the two-page list in back is clever, considered and useful, pointing people who like, say, 24 to 100 BULLETS or HUMAN TARGET, from THE RING to UZUMAKI. For these two reasons the book is worthwhile.

Where it doesn’t work, though, is in attempt at outreach towards a potential new reader. Look, we know Free Comic Book Day didn’t work last year and likely won’t this year without a lot more publicity, but for those who do somehow get word of it, this isn’t the book to hand to them. Murphy is a good writer but seems to have let his love for the character of Christa get in the way of the book’s goal. She talks. And talks. And talks. Yes, she’s funny and has good points, but there are so many words on the page, the balloons filling the page and presenting trails far too foreboding for a new reader. Don’t get me wrong; those who take the time to read will be informed and entertained, but these pages are daunting even for me, and look at all the stuff I read. Less is more. Very noble attempt, though.

BATGIRL #5 (OF 9) by Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. DC Comics. $2.95
I won’t spend an awful lot of time on this review, because halfway through a nine-issue limited series, you’re either in our you’re not. But for all the grief Chuck Dixon gets, even from me on occasion, he and similarly maligned (for his early RUSE issues) Scott Beatty deserve credit when they get it right. This series may not go down as a classic, nowhere near the quality of the Miller/Mazzuchelli BATMAN: YEAR ONE and possibly not even as good as Dixon’s and Beatty’s own ROBIN: YEAR ONE, but this one issue in particular was very strong. Heretofore it has seemed that the writers have relied too much on the characterization of Barbara Gordon to carry the book and didn’t have a good villain or plot to sustain interest. Barbara is a fine character with a premise that has worked for decades—she wants to prove her worth to Daddy but also be independent, and has found a way to do that as Batgirl—but readers need more than just a competent turning of old soil, and in this issue we get a great take on Killer Moth. He doesn’t want to be simply another costumed do-badder but the guy who the other criminals pay to protect them from Batman and law enforcement. He’s rich and has the kooky moth-related gadgets, but just wants to be a kind of barrier and facilitator rather than a plotter and conqueror. There are some great, funny scenes where his plans fall apart and he quickly regains his composure and dumb persistence. This study in foolishness is offset nicely by the origin of Firefly, a move special effects director turned costumed pyromaniac. He’s got an obsession with fire and it doesn’t mix well with his misogyny, ego and nihilism. This series is now much more interesting than it began. Add to that the increasingly sure and subtle work by Martin and Lopez and this could be one of the last really good Bat-tales we see from Dixon.

2000 A.D. PROGS 1336-1337 by John Wagner, Cam Kennedy, Gordon Rennie, Pat Mills, Carlos Ezquerra and others. Rebellion Co.
It’s never a bad time to get in on one of the best science fiction comics magazines out there, but this is a better time than most. Having just completed the 15-part JUDGE DREDD/ALIENS: INCUBUS storyline, also being released as four monthly issues by Dark Horse, it’s time for some new thrills. As always, Dredd is here, this time in the two-part “Trial of Orlok”, which picks up on events in last year’s “Sin City” epic. Cam Kennedy’s art is as sharp and dynamic as ever, but the story is little more than a courtroom epilogue with a spot of action thrown in. It seems to be an analogy to America’s War on Terror, but Wagner is always good at putting entertainment ahead of political statements. “Caballistics, Inc.” returns soon after a disappointingly muddled serial with one that looks a little more promising. The viper in their midst, Ravne, is starting to show his true colors. There are certainly enough comics about paranormal investigation these days, but Dom Reardon’s art has a creepy, Mignolaesque feel to it, though not nearly as developed, and I’m hoping the characters start to develop further. Prog #1336 debuts the Andy Diggle/Andy Clarke “Snow/Tiger”, a timely counterterrorism story involving a stolen vial of ebola, a hothead operative and his pacifistic female Indian partner, and the trail leads to an Aryan Nation cell in America. Clarke is one of the more exciting 2000 AD artists to come along in years, as witnessed by the “13” serial, soon to be collected by Titan, and his talent may soon find him snatched up for DC projects as Diggle and 2000 AD vets Jock and Kev Walker have been. “The Interceptors” begins in Prog 1337, an Ian Edginton/Steve Pugh alien invasion story that actually packs some surprise. Impossible to tell if this will be sustained, but it’s a good start, and with strong art from Pugh, whose style I really loathed on GENERATION X. Much better and more detailed here. Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra, old warhorses both, bring back the A.B.C. Warriors for a handsome but so far unmemorable and hard to follow story. They’re kind of like an edgy, futuristic version of DC’s Metal Men, a concept hard to take seriously. All in all, a pretty strong showing, however.

ASTRO CITY: LOCAL HEROES #2 (OF 5) by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson. Wildstorm Comics. $2.95
After a good but slightly disappointing start to the miniseries, Busiek turns in one of his best scripts in years in a story playing off the cruelty displayed in the Superman/Lois Lane relationship of the 50s. Atomicus is less like Superman than Astro City's Samaritan is, but the similarity is the way the nuclear-powered alien seems to challenge the Lois type, the plucky Irene Merrywether, to figure out his secret identity. The cruelty comes in when she does, revealing him to be, like Clark Kent was to Lois, a mild-mannered coworker, and Atomicus keeps coming up with ways to make her appear a fool, using clones of himself to be in two places at once, for example. Irene keeps taking the challenge, thinking--as a woman in love might--that Atomicus wants her to prove that she can handle herself and the dangerous life of being his mate--but she realizes one day that she's wrong. I won't spoil the end, as it's excellent, logical and emotional, and Busiek even adds a nice grace note of hope in the guise of Irene's daughter carrying on a heroic legacy, sort of paying a karmic debt to the Earth for Mom. I wouldn't be surprised if this is nominated for some awards next year for Best Single Issue.

RED RIGHT HAND – A LOOK AT MIKE MIGNOLA’S HELLBOY

Part One – Seed of Destruction
Before we get started, I should mention that the following is meant as a series of reviews only. I’ll throw in background when I know it and feel it’s appropriate, but this is not meant to be an exhaustive history of the Hellboy mythos. I’m interested in mainly just looking at the stories and charting Mignola’s growth as a writer and artist. If I’ve done my job at all, you will want to go here and find out more. The site is short on analysis but heavy on facts and minutiae. A recent issue of COMIC BOOK ARTIST has a comprehensive interview with Mike Mignola as well.

Unlike many at the time, I was a reader who was captivated by Mignola’s art from the beginning, or at least my first Mignola book, the Starlin-scripted COSMIC ODYSSEY. I was just getting into DC books at the time and this was a nice introduction to The New Gods, Mignola presenting his characters as squat and with outsized torsos in relation to their legs, with some of the power of Kirby in them. I didn’t get everything he did next but kept an eye on him, and when the LEGEND imprint came about I was in Heaven.

Dark Horse Comics had from its inception been supportive of creator-owned material. The company made and makes most of its money from licensed books like the various STAR WARS titles and the sale of collectibles like busts, PVC figures, coffee mugs, t-shirts and Zippo lighters with comics characters on them. But the critical acclaim and much of the company’s identity derived from the works of iconoclastic creators such as Frank Miller, Paul Chadwick, Matt Wagner, Chris Warner and others. In 1993, Miller, a comics superstar from seminal work on company-owned characters Daredevil and Batman who had since been creating his own projects for Dark Horse such as HARD BOILED, GIVE ME LIBERTY and BIG GUY AND RUSTY THE BOY ROBOT, formed the LEGEND imprint with another controversial work-for-hire creator at a similar level of fame, John Byrne; the less prolific but much loved artist Arthur Adams and the would-be superstar, Mike Mignola. More than an imprint, though, there was a shared philosophy that from this day forward, the creators would put all or most of their efforts towards characters of their own creation. Byrne had NEXT MEN; Miller had SIN CITY; Chadwick continued his CONCRETE stories, and Mignola brought forth the book that would make his career, HELLBOY.

SEED OF DESTRUCTION found Mignola not quite ready to go it completely alone, so he asked Byrne to script the story for him based on Mignola’s plot, and I believe Mignola then changed some lines here and there. They had a brief try-out of the character in a short story in a comic put out by the then-San Diego Comic-Con and Mignola did a story in COMICS BUYERS GUIDE and then this four issue miniseries was soon unveiled.

The story sets up the usual format for the books to come with Hellboy and associates Abe Sapien and Elizabeth Sherman investigating the death-by-multiple-frog-bites of Hellboy’s figurative father, Trevor Bruttenholm. Bruttenholm had been part of a team sent to stop the Nazi’s “Project Ragna Rok”, which sought to bring a demon into our world, to be used to ensure victory in WWII. The man in charge of the project was named von Krupt, and he enlisted the services of a mystic clearly meant to be Rasputin, alive all these years. The demon brought forth is Hellboy, who is then raised to be as good and human as possible after the Nazis are defeated. He joins the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.), providing him a great job in which to have lots of monster-killing adventures.

Despite some anachronisms, as noted by famed novelist Robert Bloch in his Introduction, the opening sequence is stunning, black panel borders, silhouettes, haunted-looking architecture and shadowy eyes perfectly conveying a mood of somber but stirring evil. And as interviews have revealed, whenever the mood gets too Gothic in the story, Mignola feels compelled to switch gears and throw in some Kirbyesque action, in the first three issues/chapters mainly fights with frog monsters and in the last part a battle with the still-alive Rasputin. The Kirby influence is overt in the action and to some degree in the character design, especially the Thing-like “right hand of doom”. The other major influence is H.P. Lovecraft and his nameless demons called forth from Stygian depths.

The writing is a little rough in spots—either Mignola or Byrne seem unsure of Hellboy’s voice at this point, and give him a poor attempt at a catchphrase, “That’s all for you,” whenever he dispatches some wretched creature. But so much of what works about the book is already present, the type of story and its delicious blend of pulp/Goth storytelling, the moody but action-packed artwork. Abe and Liz, Rasputin, the mysterious aliens, and a number of other things are given just enough space to be effective for this story, intriguing the reader to pick up on these story threads Mignola probably hadn’t really worked out at this point. It’s the mark of a restlessly creative, and even at this stage, confident, creator.

Notes: The two short stories are included in the trade paperback, $17.95 from Dark Horse Comics, as well as a pinup gallery with work by Kevin Nowlan (who designed Hellboy’s logo), Frank Miller and others. The superhero character featured in the opening scene is The Torch of Liberty, created by Byrne, featured in a one-shot drawn by Kieron Dwyer in 1994(?) and also in some back-up stories in JOHN BYRNE’S NEXT MEN. Hellboy made cameo appearances in one of those issues, as well as Byrne’s BABE 2, but they’re not important. THE ART OF HELLBOY, $49.95 Dark Horse Comics, features editor Scott Allie’s look at the genesis of the character, and the very first drawings of Hellboy, and first drawing of the superhero team book(!) idea that eventually became HELLBOY, are also included. SEED OF DESTRUCTION has had several covers in its various printings, and the current one shows some significant changes in how Mignola depicts the character now as opposed to then. We’ll discuss that more as we go.

The next chapter will be the second graphic novel, WAKE THE DEVIL, but expect to wait a few weeks for that.

And now, it’s time to get a little cranky…

MASTER NOMINEE LIST, 2002 Eisner Awards

Best Short Story
"Between Two Worlds: The Strange and Sad Story of Erich Wolfgang Korngold," by P. Craig Russell, in Comics Journal Summer Special 2002 (Fantagraphics)
"Green Tea," by J. Sheridan LeFanu, adapted by Kevin Huizenga, in Orchid (Sparkplug)
"The Magician and the Snake," by Katie Mignola and Mike Mignola, in Dark Horse Maverick: Happy Endings (Dark Horse)
"Untitled" (first story in book) by Jason, in Shhh (Fantagraphics)
"Telekinetic," by Tomer Hanuka, in Bipolar #3 (Alternative Comics)

Okay, this is on its face not a bad group, all talented creators. Well, I didn’t read Huizenga’s story yet, for what it’s worth. But I have some problems with most of the choices. First, is a comics biography really a short story? I realize there’s no category for biography or nonfiction or whatever, but that’s all the Korngold story was, a nice, beautiful-looking bio. Korngold sounded like an interesting, tragic man, but even Russell didn’t have the ability, or the space, to make the music come alive on the page. Again, “Green Tea” may be wonderful, but I’d be more inclined to vote for something written expressly for comics, not an adaptation. If I draw some Raymond Carver stories real good, can I be the new Tomine?

And as much as I love Mignola’s work, and recognize how sweet it is to nominate his eight-year-old daughter, and appreciate that it was a good, offbeat little fable, it wasn’t that good, you know? It’s really not a case of it being an insult to adult creators, because really, who’s even doing short stories much these days? There’s not much in X-MEN UNLIMITED or MARVEL DOUBLE SHOT that’s going to compete, right? And “Telekinetic” is good, but there are better shorts in the latest URBAN HIPSTER, really. This has to go to the Jason story, though again, I have an issue with its nomination, only in that SSHHHH! is really a complete graphic novel in chapters, not just a bunch of stories, in my opinion.

Best Single Issue or One-Shot
The Castaways, by Rob Vollmar and Pablo Callejo (Absence of Ink)
Fleep, by Jason Shiga (Sparkplug)
My Friend Dahmer, by Derf (Derfcity Comics)
My Uncle Jeff, by Damon Hurd (Origin)
The Stuff of Dreams, by Kim Deitch (Fantagraphics)

Qualifications out of the way—haven’t read FLEEP or DAHMER, heard good things on the former and mixed on the latter. I’m rather surprised that a somewhat controversial subject like Jeffrey Dahmer is nominated, so that speaks pretty well for its quality. Of the other books, it’s pretty much neck-and-neck between THE CASTAWAYS and MY UNCLE JEFF. Both are very warm, human books, the former a Depression-era coming-of-age story rich in atmosphere and with excellent and appropriate art. It’s also just a little bit short—I felt the journey, as good as it was, had barely begun before it was coming to a close. MY UNCLE JEFF is one of my favorite books of the year, a sweet but relatively unvarnished look at family, in particular an uncle who has found his own grace and dignity in life. It’s well observed, with good if not spectacular art. I wouldn’t mind either winning. THE STUFF OF DREAMS was quite good, and a fair introduction to Deitch’s work, as it was for me, but not worthy of nomination. Deitch deserves his nom in the graphic novel category for THE BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS, and that’s it.

Best Serialized Story
Daredevil #32-37: "Out," by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev (Marvel)
Fables #1-5: "Legends in Exile," by Bill Willingham, Lan Medina, and Steve Leialoha (Vertigo/DC)
Finder #25-29: "Dream Sequence," by Carla Speed McNeil (Lightspeed Press)
Incredible Hulk #34-39: "Return of the Monster," by Bruce Jones, John Romita, Jr., and Tom Palmer (Marvel)
Queen & Country #8-12: "Operation: Crystal Ball." by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez (Oni)

I’ve never read FINDER but have no real problem with anything nominated here. I mean, I thought the second arc of FABLES was superior to the first, yet don’t think it’s as good a book as Y, POWERS, 21 DOWN, 100 BULLETS or CATWOMAN. Plus, I get the collections, but isn’t the latest arc of STRAY BULLETS supposed to be incredible? Maybe the arcs have to be completed in time for nomination, though. “Out” I’ll give a pass to not because it wasn’t good but because I can’t remember where it fits in with “Underboss” and “Lowlife”. That’s not a bad thing; it’s just that one issue of DD flows naturally into the next. Speaking of Bendis, the latest arcs of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN and POWERS have been incredible. But back to this award, both FABLES and HULK are very good but somewhat flawed books (well, FABLES is very well done and doesn’t have the amazing coincidences of HULK, but also doesn’t have characters to like), so I’ll go with the ripping yarn in QUEEN & COUNTRY. Very tense stuff. And to tell you the truth, that PUNISHER story about dirty cops was top-notch. If Eisner members had more guts, it’d be there.

Best Continuing Series
Age of Bronze, by Eric Shanower (Image)
Daredevil, by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev (Marvel)
Fables, by Bill Willingham, Lan Medina, Mark Buckingham, and Steve Leialoha (Vertigo/DC)
Louis Reil, by Chester Brown (Drawn & Quarterly)
Strangers in Paradise, by Terry Moore (Abstract Studio)
True Story, Swear to God, by Tom Beland (Clib's Boy Comics)

Congrats to Beland, though I might honestly have put the AiT/PlanetLar collection in the graphic novel category instead. I have a slight problem nominating four issues a year for Best Continuing Series, so…well, I guess that knocks everybody out but FABLES and DAREDEVIL, so never mind. I would put POWERS ahead of DD, perhaps even USM, but that’s okay. STRANGERS IN PARADISE is a book I hardly register as existing, as no one in my shop orders it, so I’ve never seen it to even thumb through. AGE OF BRONZE and LOUIS REIL I’ll get as collections (I know the former has one trade already). Myself, I think this category should really be for the pumped-out stuff, because there’s enough good titles that fit this description that the one-to-four-issues-a-year guys should be pushed aside or nominated later for their collections. 100 BULLETS has somehow dropped off the map as of last year? What is this, the Golden Globes? It’s still just as good as ever. And what about LOVE AND ROCKETS?

Best Limited Series
Courtney Crumrin & the Night Things, by Ted Naifeh (Oni)
Hellboy: Third Wish, by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)
League of Extraordinary Gentleman, vol. 2, by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill (ABC)

This is a fucking outrage. Not the nominees themselves; they’re all good miniseries (I know A.K. over at TITLE BOUT hates CRUMRIN, but he likes PISTOLWHIP, so it’s a toss-up which one of us is full of shit), but the fact there’s only three nominated. OK, so it was a little late for UNSTABLE MOLECULES this year, but what about THE HOOD? What about…OK, so I can’t think of much, but I’m sure there were at least one or two other good minis they could’ve nominated. I’ll say Moore edges out Mignola for the stellar backup prose pieces, which represent a helluva lotta work.

Best New Series
Fables, by Bill Willingham, Lan Medina, Mark Buckingham, and Steve Leialoha (Vertigo/DC)
Forlorn Funnies, by Paul Hornscheimeier (Absence of Ink)
Gotham Central, by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Michael Lark (DC)
Nowhere Girl, by Justine Shaw (nowheregirl.com)
Y: The Last Man. by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra, and Jose Marzan (Vertigo/DC)

FORLORN FUNNIES. Y is great, but FORLORN FUNNIES. GOTHAM CENTRAL is very good, but FORLORN FUNNIES. NOWHERE GI…FORLORN FUNNIES. FABLES can’t be Best New Series and Best Ongoing—what the fuck is that? Unfair. THE GOON should have been there. PARADIGM…maybe. I liked what I read but am like five months behind, and that’s a bad sign. JACK STAFF is probably too new at just two issues, #2 released only last week, but I love it.

Best Title for a Younger Audience
Amelia Rules!, by Jimmy Gownley (Renaissance)
Growing Up Enchanted, by Jack Briglio and Alex Szewczuk (Too Hip Gotta Go Graphics)
Herobear and the Kid, by Mike Kunkel (Astonish Comics)
Pinky & Stinky, by James Kochalka (Top Shelf)
Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age, by Raymond Briggs (Knopf)
Wind in the Willows, vol. 4, by Kenneth Grahame, adapted by Michel Plessix (NBM)

I’ll sit this one out, as I’m not a Younger Audience and only read PINKY & STINKY. I liked it, but it’s not Kochalka’s best, and far too long and dark for younger readers. I’d like to check out that UG book, though. The Dark Horse/Strip Art ZACHARY HOLMES books should have gotten a nod, though, as should have LI’L SANTA by Robin and Trondheim.

Best Humor Publication
The Amazing Screw-On Head, by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)
Dork, by Evan Dorkin (SLG)
Fred the Clown, by Roger Langridge (Hotel Fred Press)
The House at Maakies Corner, by Tony Millionaire (Fantagraphics)
The Pro, by Garth Ennis, Amanda Conner, and Jimmy Palmiotti (Image)
Zippy Annual 2002, by Bill Griffith (Fantagraphics)

Hmm. Well, DORK came back with a strong issue, THE PRO was very funny though perhaps too upbeat at the end, but I’ll give it to Millionaire. Very funny stuff with wonderful art and packaging. Heard enough good stuff about FRED to want to pick it up. SCREW-ON was a great book and should’ve been in the One-Shot category, perhaps, but wasn’t what I’d call a humor publication. ZIPPY is so, so dead. I got through half, without a laugh. ANNOTATED MANTOOTH deserved at least a nomination.

Best Anthology
Orchid, edited by Ben Catmull and Dylan Williams (Sparkplug)
Rosetta: A Comics Anthology, edited by Ng Suat Tong (Alternative)
SPX 2002 (CBLDF)
Super Manga Blast, edited by Tim Ervin-Gore (Dark Horse)

How sad. I’ll give it to Orchid, not having read it, but having read the others. Rosetta is admirable in that all the works in there push the envelope of formalism, but very little of it is entertaining. SPX was a theme issue this year—biographies—and we all know how interesting they can be in comics form. I defy you to get through the whole thing. Super Manga is not, but SHONEN JUMP is better. HICKEE is a lot more fun than any of these, and STORYLINES was fun, formalist, sensitive, intelligent, well-designed and cheap.

Best Graphic Album-New
Epileptic, vol. 1, by David B. (L'Association)
Garlands of Moonlight, by Jai Sen and Rizky Wasisto Edi (Shoto Press)
One! Hundred! Demons! by Lynda Barry (Sasquatch Books)
Pulpatoon Pilgrimage, by Joel Priddy (AdHouse Books)
The Yellow Jar, by Patrick Atangan (NBM)

It’s odd in a way that the nominations can be so mainstream for Best Serialized Story, allowing room for the Hulk, but so obscure in this category. I mean, I keep up pretty well on what’s out there, and if I haven’t read it, I usually will at least have heard of it, read a message board comment or remember seeing the solicitation or something. But EDI? Never heard of it. Don’t know anyone personally who’s read GARLANDS, though the name is familiar. I’m curious about both now, which is good, but it does seem strange that more hyped books like CREATURE TECH or BIGG TIME are overlooked completely. Baru’s ROAD TO AMERICA—was that last year? Lynda Barry I never though much of, but who knows? I am happy about PULPATOON and YELLOW JAR’s noms, though, and would be happier if PULPATOON took it. EPILEPTIC is on my list to buy. But you know what? Thanks to AK for reminding me of a great graphic novel, DUMPED by Andi Watson, as good or better than BREAKFAST AFTER NOON but not getting the same props for some reason. Christine Norrie’s CHEAT was also very good.

Best Graphic Album-Reprint
After the Snooter, by Eddie Campbell (Eddie Campbell Books)
Batman: Black and White, vol. 2, edited by Mark Chiarello and Nick J. Napolitano (DC)
Beg the Question, by Bob Fingerman (Fantagraphics)
Bone: Treasure Hunters (Complete Bone Adventures, vol. 8), by Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books)
Boulevard of Broken Dreams, by Kim Deitch (Pantheon)
Fair Weather, by Joe Matt (Drawn & Quarterly)

Good nominations all, aside from the BATMAN book. It’s probably worth getting, but reading the stories collected when they were first published as backup stories, I remember a lot of disappointment. Some great stories but a lot of duds and near-misses. SNOOTER is brilliant and probably deserves it most, but I really liked BEG and FAIR WEATHER, too, and have a feeling I’ll enjoy BOULEVARD when I get round to it. And BONE’s great. I do think Adrian Tomine’s SUMMER BLONDE belongs in here, though. I also get peeved that the various LOVE & ROCKETS-related collections don’t get nominated, but I think it’s safe to expect one next year for the PALOMAR hardcover. And Humanoids’ reprintings of classics like THE INCAL and THE DORMANT BEAST should garner something, somewhere.

Best Archival Collection/Project
The Complete Crumb Comics, vol. 16, by R. Crumb (Fantagraphics)
Enemy Ace Archives, vol. 1, by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert (DC)
Hysteria in Remission: The Comix and Drawings of Robert Williams, edited by Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
Krazy & Ignatz, by George Herriman (Fantagraphics)
Sugar and Spike #1, by Sheldon Mayer (DC)

DC’s Archives are always done well, and I can’t knock them just because the format is always the same—it works, though it’s a bit pricey for the page count. I’m happy Joe Kubert is having some of his fine work collected in this manner, and I have no problem with them doing this for Shelly Mayer as well, though I don’t rate SUGAR & SPIKE as highly as many. The KRAZY & IGNATZ volumes continue to be essential and the best bargain in this category at just $14.95. I read just a few pages at a time late at night, like an aperitif. But though I’ve only glimpsed and not read the book, I would like the Robt Williams book to win. It’s an outstanding retrospective of his work from what I’ve seen, and it sends a good message that work outside the mainstream can live on and be honored. If you don’t want to send a message and just want to know what I like best, go KRAZY or CRUMB, though the latter isn’t the greatest example of his work.

Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material
Dead End, by Thomas Ott (Fantagraphics)
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, adapted by Jerry Kransky and Lorenzo Mattotti (NBM)
Epileptic, vol. 1, by David B. (L'Association)
Invisible Frontier, vol. 1, by Benoit Peeters and Francois Schuiten (NBM)
Shhhh!, by Jason (Fantagraphics)
Uzumaki, vols. 2-3, by Junji Ito (Viz)

Very good list, though I think Humanoids got stiffed on THE INCAL, THE DORMANT BEAST and METABARONS, especially with INVISIBLE FRONTIER not finished yet. I have yet to read EPILEPTIC, but enjoyed all the others, SSHHHH! (can anyone spell this correctly?) and UZUMAKI being a couple of my favorite books of the year, particularly UZUMAKI’s third and final volume. I also think VAGABOND should have been nominated—beautiful stuff and well-written. Perhaps there’s a bias against samurai manga after so many watered-down versions of it over the years? DEAD END is fun stuff, like Kafka writing TALES FROM THE CRYPT (hmm, maybe that doesn’t sound like fun to you, but this is my column). And HYDE really brought the hoary old Freudian story to life again with unforgettable imagery and color. Tough choices, but I’ll go with SSHHHH!, which moved me and feels like something I’ll read again and again.

Best Writer
Brian Michael Bendis, Powers (Image); Alias, Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man (Marvel)
Ed Brubaker, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Gotham Central (DC)
Bruce Jones, Incredible Hulk (Marvel)
Greg Rucka, Queen & Country (Oni) Gotham Central, Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia (DC)
Bill Willingham, Fables (Vertigo/DC)

Very mainstream list, huh? The indie writer seems to have little chance unless he can also draw. Even with delays in the release of his ABC books, Alan Moore continues to do breathtaking work on PROMETHEA, but maybe it will be honored again as it draws to a close this year. Willingham writes a good book, but he’s outmatched here, as is Jones. Jones was almost as prolific as Rucka, Brubaker or Bendis, but plenty of that work was bad, like CALL OF DUTY. Rucka gets credit for 1 ½ really good books, Q&C and only two cowritten issues of GOTHAM eligible when the votes were cast. No one bought HIKKETEIA, and the fact the Eisner folks misspelled it leads me to think they didn’t, either. It’s really between Bendis and Brubaker, and though I’ve been really happy with the enveloping darkness in Brubaker’s books, and the increasing quality in even mainstream stuff like DETECTIVE, Bendis still hasn’t lost a step. He remains king of the big comic candy mountain.

Best Writer/Artist
Jessica Abel, La Perdida (Fantagraphics)
Patrick Antangan, The Yellow Jar (NBM)
Lynda Barry, One! Hundred! Demons! (Sasquatch Books)
Carla Speed McNeil, Finder (Lightspeed Press)
Eric Shanower, Age of Bronze (Image)

Another spelling error, as the talented newcomer Atangan pays some dues with this minor insult, and will probably pay bigger dues by losing to FINDER, which left me cold. Lynda Barry, bleah. Shanower’s good but not fun, kind of dry (not him, his book—he’s a riot). Let’s give it to Abel, who’s doing something human and readable and not requiring of a degree in Mythology.

Best Writer/Artist-Humor
Kim Deitch, Stuff of Dreams (Fantagraphics)
Derf (John Beckderf), Trashed: True Tales from the Back of a Garbage Truck (SLG)
Roger Langridge, Fred the Clown (Hotel Fred Press)
Tony Millionaire, House at Maakies Corner (Fantagraphics)

No DORK? No ANGRY YOUTH? No MAGIC WHISTLE? I haven’t read FRED THE CLOWN, but it seems to be between that and MAAKIES, which is a great book. I’m intrigued by this Derf guy, though, who has this humor book and the DAHMER thing—that’s quite a range. Deitch is not funny—this is a total goof. Why not a little Peter David here? He at least writes some yuks in his books. Too many, but hey, let’s not be snobs about this.

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Seth Fisher, Vertigo Pop: Tokyo (Vertigo/DC); The Flash: Time Flies (DC)
Brian Hitch/Andrew Currie, The Ultimates (Marvel)
Michael Lark, Batman: Nine Lives; Gotham Central (DC)
Kevin O'Neill, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (ABC)
J. H. Williams III/Mick Gray, Promethea (ABC)

I really need to wrap this thing up. Jesus. Whew, okay…since this category is obviously weighted towards the spectacular and not just, that guy with great brushwork, it’s got to go with the beautiful Williams III/Gray team. All the others are very good, but there’s not much question about this one, with the possible exception of O’Neill.

Huh, what a weak way to cover myself. Sorry, O’Neill—yer out!

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
Eric Drooker, Blood Song (Harcourt)
David Mack, Kabuki: The Ghost Play (Image)
Lorenzo Mattotti, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (NBM)
George Pratt, Wolverine Netsuke (Marvel)

What’s so multimedia about BLOOD SONG? Lovely work, but c’mon. Good nominees all, but I’ll cop out and say that Mack and Pratt kind of cancel themselves out for beautiful art for stories we don’t like to admit we can’t comprehend. Mattotti all the way.

Best Coloring
Jeromy Cox, Promethea (ABC); Leave It to Chance (Image)
Matt Hollingsworth, Alias, Daredevil (Marvel); The Filth #1-3 (Vertigo/DC); Batman: Nine Lives, Catwoman, Catwoman: Selina's Big Score (DC)
Paul Hornschemeier, Forlorn Funnies (Absence of Ink)
Laura DePuy Martin, Ruse (CrossGen)
Patricia Mulvihill, Gotham Girls, Wonder Woman (DC); 100 Bullets, Hellblazer Special: Lady Constantine (Vertigo/DC)
Dave Stewart, Hellboy: Third Wish, The Amazing Screw-on Head (Dark Horse) Star Wars: Empire (Dark Horse); Human Target: Final Cut, Doom Patrol (Vertigo/DC); Tom Strong (ABC); Captain America (Marvel)

Tough category. These are all pros at the tops of their games, and I’ve enjoyed all their work. You really can tell the difference between good and great. In fact, Mark Chiarello is really an excellent colorist, or was—he’s more an editor and art director now, I guess—and yet his very good coloring on the HELLBOY book I reviewed above can’t hold a candle to Dave Stewart’s work with Mignola. I love his stuff and Hollingsworth’s. DePuy Martin is a master but just one book? I suppose if I’m going to count her out for that reason I have to do the same with Hornschemeier, and yet his work on his own book is wonderful and able to draw out great emotion in a reader. So I’d be happy for him to win, but in truth I’ll go with Stewart slightly over Hollingsworth for his masterful work with such a wide range of artists. I really wouldn’t mind any of these folks winning, though. I am capable of great kindness and mercy. The sea flows in and flows out and I remain seated in sand and care not.

Best Lettering
Todd Klein, Dark Knight Strikes Again, Detective Comics, Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia (DC); Fables, Human Target: Final Cut (Vertigo/DC); League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea, Tom Strong (ABC); Castle Waiting (Olio)
Richard Starkings/Comicraft, Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, Batman, Legion, The Power Company, Supergirl, Superman, Wonder Woman (DC); The Crusades, Hunter: The Age of Magic, Lucifer, Vertigo Pop: Tokyo (Vertigo/DC); Wildcats version 3.0 (WildStorm); Decoy, Victorian (Penny Farthing); Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection (Comicraft)
John Workman, Batman Family, Detective Comics, Orion, Superman: Day of Doom (DC);100% (Vertigo/DC)

Is there any reason to choose? These are the three best, most important letterers in the business and have been so for decades. I advance masked.

Best Cover Artist
Kaare Andrews, Incredible Hulk (Marvel)
Adam Hughes, Wonder Woman (DC)
Dave Johnson, Detective Comics (DC), 100 Bullets (Vertigo/DC)
Terry Moore, Strangers in Paradise (Abstract Studio)
J. H. Williams III, Promethea (ABC)

No on Terry Moore. No one will argue with me who reads this, so I won’t bother to explain. Adam Hughes is always good, but I can’t remember the last WONDER WOMAN cover that jumped out at me, or boinged out at me, if that’s more appropriate. Williams III of the Jackson Hole Williamses is a master, no question, but I think it’s time to move on from the Leyendecker homages and all the old shit, and vote for Kaare Andrews, doing…Norman Rockwell homages? OK, I don’t have much of a rationale for this, or for not voting for Johnson, who’s outdone himself on 100 BULLETS again and again, other than the fact that Andrews’ stuff feels newer and he’s shown a great range. The Rockwell stuff was fun, but then to go to #50, which I actually had to turn over because it was scary, er, to my son…is impressive. Again, though, I don’t mind any of these guys but Terry Moore winning. I’d rather Howard Huges widow Terry Moore won instead of comics’ Terry Moore. Dinty and Roger Moore, even.

Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
Richard Hahn, Lumakick (Lumakick Studio)
Myatt Murphy and Scott Dalrymple, Fade From Blue (Second 2 Some Studios)
Tyler Page, Stylish Vittles (Demention Comics)
Justine Shaw, Nowhere Girl (nowheregirl.com)
Jason Shiga, Fleep (Absence of Ink)

If I can get a little higher on this horse, I have to say that FLEEP misses out due to no one sending me a copy. I mean, hell, a lot of people read this column, spend a couple bucks and send me one. I love new stuff but I can’t order everything on my own. Anyway, the others and presumably Shiga are all legitimate talents worth watching, but Murphy and Dalrymple just may edge out Page, followed then by Shaw and then Hahn. Hahn is a really interesting artist but I found his book a little too precious, though redeemed by some funny strips interspersed among the longer twee stories. Page is a good writer but needs to continue to hone his art, while Shaw is both a good artist, colorist and writer but I can’t say the story stayed with me. Murphy and Dalrymple both have the goods and we’ll see much more from them. I also appreciate the regularity with which they produce the book.

Best Comics-Related Publication (Periodical or Book)
B. Krigstein, vol. 1, by Greg Sadowski (Fantagraphics)
Comic Art, edited by M. Todd Hignite (Comic Art)
Curt Swan: A Life in Comics, by Eddie Zeno (Vanguard)
The Imp #4, edited by Dan Raeburn (Daniel K. Raeburn)
Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975, by Patrick Rosenkrantz (Fantagraphics)
Tintin: The Complete Companion, by M. Farr (Last Gasp)

Haven’t read any of these except some of the Krigstein book, and that was enough. It’s incredible.

Best Publication Design
Batman: Nine Lives, designed by Amie Brockway-Metcalf (DC)
Beg the Question, designed by Bob Fingerman (Fantagraphics)
Corpus Monstrum, designed by Gary Gianni and Jim Keegan (Hieronymous Press)
House at Maakies Corner, designed by Chip Kidd (Fantagraphics)
One! Hundred! Demons!, designed by Lynda Barry (Sasquatch Books)

Was there something significant about the BATMAN book’s design, other than it being laid out sideways? Big deal. BEG was nice, not exceptional, and I have issues with black covers that are instantly corrupt as soon as you touch the book the first time. When you see publisher names like Sasquatch and Hieronymous, it’s a sure bet they’re run by fools eager to part with money, so I’m guessing both these books have costly and lush designs, and yet the Kidd job on MAAKIES was perfect, even better with the defects, actually.

Hall of Fame
Judges' Choices: Herge, Bernie Krigstein

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Voters will select four from the following:
Otto Binder
Johnny Craig
Reed Crandall
Jack Davis
Will Elder
Al Feldstein
Ramona Fradon
René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Floyd Gottfredson
Robert Kanigher
Jerry Robinson
John Severin

I always hate this category, because it makes a lot of great talents who are near death play a waiting game year after year. Just give it to all these guys. Get the living taken care of and fill the already dead in later, or mix them up a little but don’t deny anyone who’s listed. Keep the list secret and just announce the winners during the awards ceremony. Anyway, a lot of this comes down to taste, obviously, but let’s also weigh influence and importance on the medium, perhaps longevity as well. Jack Davis—you can still see a Davis-drawn ad and know he did it. That kind of distinctive style, over what, 60 years, is amazing. He’s in. Goscinny and Uderzo—ASTERIX. Incredible, world-renowned adventure/humor comics—they’re in. Reed Crandall would be #3, one of those incomparable artists who worked on nothing but forgettable characters like BULLETMAN and yet it’s still timeless art today. After those three, it’s a pretty open field. Gottfredson is great, but then, he was working from model sheets. Kanigher and Binder churned out lots of great scripts, and plenty of crud. Fradon did some nice AQUAMAN work, but there were plenty of superior artists in her day and since. Severin is still as good as he ever was, and even made CRACKED MAGAZINE worth getting, but never had that huge successful book. Feldstein and Craig are recognized primarily for their EC Comics work, of course, and between the two, I prefer Craig. Robinson is one of the best Batman artists, perhaps the most memorable version next to Neal Adams, but..well, no buts. I go with Robinson just over Craig, but again, let’s get them all in soon and start focusing on, I dunno, Crumb and some of these wizened former underground rebels or something.

There’s plenty more to discuss, such as why Eisner judge Jen (THE PULSE) Contino didn’t have to go through the same judging process as the rest, or what sort of filtering goes on before the judges even get to pick the books (all the eligible books are waiting for them in a room, to be read over a few days—what didn’t make it into the room?), but there’s just no more room and no more time. Go buy something.

Next week: Oh, a whole bunch of stuff I read and just didn’t have room to review this week, including Spain’s graphic novel adaptation of classic crime novel NIGHTMARE ALLEY, Stephano Raffaele’s instant horror classic FRAGILE; Ashley Wood’s POPBOT COLLECTION VOL. 1, Michel Rabagliati’s new graphic novel-length follow-up to 2000’s PAUL IN THE COUNTRY, PAUL HAS A SUMMER JOB; the first two issues of Andi Watson’s not-yet-released superhero-related romance LOVE FIGHTS, Bill Plympton’s adaptation of his film HAIR HIGH, Chynna Clugston-Major’s new black (romantic?) comedy SCOOTER GIRL and more…

Chris Allen

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