Friday 30 September 2011

Books: Gemma Bovery

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Gemma Bovery
By Posy Simmonds

2000





Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


Islington is one of the most diverse boroughs in London with an almost 50/50 split between rich and poor. There are representatives from pretty much every single ethnic group out there all combining to make a vibrant, exciting and stimulating enivornment that makes it a great place to live, work and relax - not to mention it's library service which boasts some of the friendliest and most-helpful staff in the country (if not the world).

I find it kinda funny (I find it kinda sad) then that the Islington stereotype(what most people think of when they imagine the typical Islington resident)is a spiffy white middle-class type with some high-powered career in law, politics or the media who spends all their time either chattering about the latest Orange, Costa or Booker nominee or sticking their long pointy noses into a fancy-pants glass of wine ("I'm getting traces of elderflower and chocolatey mushrooms" and all that jazz...). That's only a small minority of the borough but (oh well): it's the ones group that have managed to define the entire area.

But (oh well) the people who conform to the Islington stereotypes are most definitely out there (I've met a fair few). Thankfully tho (and what would we do with out her?) Posy Simmonds is here to skewer them in their hearts - and make them dance and writhe for our entertainment. (Sorry - is that a bit much?).

Gemma Bovery is the first proper Posy Simmonds book that I've read. I started on Fred when I was a kid - then recently tried Literary Life and had such a fun time with that - that I thought I'd give one of her more wordy books a try (I'll admit now that I did write a post on here about Tamara Drewe which was written without me actually reading it - which felt a little naughty at the time: but when I tried to start it just seemed a little too daunting - but I'm now looking forward to properly giving it go...). The thing about her proper books - is that to the weary traveler attempting to scale the terrain for the first time it all looks very rocky and difficult. I mean (joking of course) people like to read comics because all those words in proper books gets a bit much: yet you open up Gemma Bovery and there's millions of the things scurrying across the page like ants - wordy ants made up out of letters (fetch me the spray). But wait - put the spray down - because even tho if it is roaming the bleak no man's land between "graphic novel" and "proper novel" that doesn't mean that it can't sap the strengths and powers of both - which is frankly what it does - with a considerable amount of wit and class (pun slightly intended).

But yes: I'm super glad that I gave this a proper go - because this is a comic that within just a few pages had clasped itself on to my brain and left me with no choice but to devour the whole thing in a few short hours. The characters are all amazing. All Islington stereotypes (even if some of them are French): with a lots of (the comics version at least) of location shooting in the surrounding areas. My favourite was Charlie's ex-wife who takes passive-aggression to sublime jujutsu levels.

No duh: the book is (of course) based the famous Gustave Flaubert proper novel Madame Bovary. I haven't read it (although my fussy and much-more-literary-minded flatmate keeps on pestering me to read it - in much the same way I keep imploring him to read Scott Pilgrim) but that did nothing to stop my fun from reading it (there is a handy French guide to point out most of the parallels but I'm pretty sure there's a few references I missed - oh well). All you need to know is that there's lots of passion, illicit affairs, secret bonking and it all ends in a terrible tragedy.

As well written as proper novels with plenty of spot-on lines ("...it was to feel oneself entering a particle storm of pheromones") and laugh out loud one-liners ("Sh*t. Sh*t! I chose bloody Quality of Life... now I've made myself poor.") and rustic pencils that capture every small glance and private defeat - and I should disclose that I felt myself falling every so slightly in love with Gemma's luminous, wide-open feline eyes. With tons of total throat-in-my-heart moments and a dry humour that drifts through every page like the smell of warm bread: this is a comic that is almost guaranteed to crack the shell of any human heart: romance, death, mystery and jokes - this book's got the lot.

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Links: Michiko Kakutani New York Times Review, Comics Worth Reading Review Quarterly Conversation Review.

Further reading: Tamara Drewe, Literary Life, Strangers in Paradise, The Rabbi's Cat, Kiki de Montparnasse, Pride and Prejudice.

All comments welcome.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Events: Islington Comic Forum 2011/10

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The next Islington Comic Forum is on:
Tuesday the 25th of October / 6:00pm to 7:30pm.
Upstairs Hall at North Library Manor Gardens N7 6JX
Here is a map.

Meet and talk with other members. Hear recommendations. Tell us what you think. And a selection of over 100 hand-picked titles for you to borrow and take home.

The Book of the Month is:
Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man Vol 1
Written by Brian Michael Bendis / Art by David Lafuente

If you get a chance please read it. You can reserve yourself a copy here. (For those of you that don't get the chance - don't worry - you can still come and join in with the discussions).

You can find us on facebook here.
And join in with the discussions here.
For more information (or if you have any questions) you can email us here .
Come and join us. All welcome.
We hope to see you there.

All comments welcome. 

Monday 26 September 2011

Books: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man (2010 - 2011)

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Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man
Vol 1: The World According to Peter Parker
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by David Lafuente

2010



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man
Vol 2: Chameleons
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by David Lafuente and Takeshi Miyazawa

2011



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

In 2000 Marvel launched their Ultimate line of comics - I think I've said this at the start of every Ultimate comic post: but basically - they thought it would make sense (business-wise and story-wise) to mint a fresh universe that begun every one of their superheros again right from the start - so new readers come jump on without worrying about 50-plus years of back-story. Or in the parlance of our time: they rebooted.

The Ultimate books were all fairly successful - especially in their early runs - even if some of them did tend to go off the rails a bit and turn all stodgy (Ultimate X-Men I'm looking at you): but the problem with fresh starts is that they only last so long and - well - after 10 years of superhero high jinks the powers that be decided that they needed to give their fresh start - a fresh start. Or - even better: they rebooted their reboot.

And so: 'Ultimate' has now been replaced with 'Ultimate Comics' and (thusly) 'Ultimate Spider-Man' becomes 'Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man.' In terms of change that means we're back to #1 and Volume 1: and a brand new artist in the shape of David Lafuente but for those who've been following from the start we still have the evil brilliance of Brian Michael Bendis behind the writing wheel and the same motley crew of hormonal school-faring teens (most of whom have super-powers of one kind or another) and 21-Volume-Long saga keeps on trucking... Only now there's a big sign hanging outside saying "New Readers Hop On Here."

So. Does it work? Well... Without meaning to brag too much () I've read the whole of the Ultimate Spider-Man run - so it's hard to tell how confusing some of the stuff in these books is gonna be to any lay-persons who come wondering in: and tricky to judge how much is going to make sense. Obviously everyone knows all the basic parts of Spider-Man legend (mmmm "legend" - that's a word that seems to fit - but then I wonder how accurate it is in the etymological sense...? oh well): but Bendis has added and re-fitted a lot of parts: and there's one surprise (Johnny Storm's girlfriend) that will shock anyone who's new to game - but counts as old news to past readers: although nothing that stops both parties being able to enjoy it. I could say more about the set-up: but what could be taken for granted here is a revelation when it happens in Ultimate Spider-Man so I'm going to keep schtum.

My big recommendation is - if you get the chance - is to read Ultimate Spider-Man before this - and not only because it's a damn fine superhero book (yummy) - but - well - because I'm a sucker for starting things at the start because it means that things make sense and you can know what's going on instead of groping around in the dark(which looking at other people's random and hap-hazard comics reading patterns makes me feel something like a minority). Plus - I should also say: that there's some stuff in Vol 2 that will be clearer if you've read Ultimate Origins - so I would say you should check that out too. Don't worry so much about Jeph Loeb's Ultimatum which this book immediately followed: you don't want to read that because it's really really stinky - and all you really need to know about what happened in it is that Magneto made a really big wave and totalled New York with it and so now no-one likes mutants at all (even more so than before).

In terms of the books themselves. Well I prefer the new guys to Mark Bagley (the main artist from the earlier books): who made things look a little bit too pre-school. David Lafuente has a slight manga-thing going on with big fat heads and tiny little mouse-like facial features - but it suits the book well: and his round-headed little Spider-Man is pretty damn adorable. But in terms of tone - it retains the bouncy fun of before: mingling action, drama and tense and exciting adventures. It's a high school soap sprinkled with all your favourite superhero sugary bits.

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Links: Forbidden Planet Blog Review of #1, Sean T Collins Review of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1Alec Reads Comics Article: Those Issues of Ultimate Spider-man I Didn’t Read | Part 1Newsarama Interview with Brian Michael Bendis, Newsarama The "Ultimate" Brian Bendis Interview, Part 1 / Part 2.


Preceded by: Ultimate Spider-Man.

Followed by: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man (2012).

Further reading: Ultimate Origins, Ultimate Comics: Avengers, Ultimatum, Ultimate Comics: DoomsdayTakio.

Profiles: Brian Michael Bendis.

All comments welcome.

Books: Vimanarama

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Vimanarama
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Philip Bond

2006




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em as directed by Roland Emmerich: a knockabout Northern comedy with jokes about Turkish Delight mixed in with rampaging evil multi-dimensional beings with a bad attitude hell-bent on obliterating the planet. Woop.

A little compact mini-epic that manages to feel global yet always stays short and to-the-point (only 3 issues long). "Wacky" isn't a word that I'd normally use as a form of praise - (tainted as it is by the Colin Hunt's of the world - see: here) but this comic manages to bring out the fun and goofiness out of the wacky - leaving out anything feeling too stiff or forced: or doing crazy-stuff just for the sake of doing crazy-stuff: I mean: there is crazy-stuff but it always feels like it's there for a reason. Unlike others that I won't mention here (*cough* Hewligan's Haircut *cough*).

A lot of the wackiness quotient is down to the artwork as handled by Philip Bond - who I remember first from a 2000AD series called "Time Flies 2: Tempus Fugitive" (although can't actually remember anything else about it) but who's was also responsible for a few issues of The Invisibles (particularly the Invisibles Special: 'And We're All Policemen Now' that full of brain-damaged lines like:"Gideon! In your song "Aggression as a Well-Integrated Part of Primate Social Relationships", what did you mean by "sex versus non-sex versus parasite"?" Vimanarama comes a little from the same sort of head space - but because everything feels so joyous (synchronised dancing girls on the street!) it's less like being blared at by several thousands broken television sets and more like (much more like) being engulfed by waves of good vibrations and positive golden (and warm pinks and yellows) happy vibes (that is: when it's not zooming in on politican's being decapitated). His simple/distinct/cartoony style owes a lot to Tank Girl's Alan Martin (and - woop - Philip Bond did used to draw lots of Tank Girl): but his stuff never feels cluttered: and there's always a refreshing sense of space.

Seeing how it's Grant Morrison - I'm sure that it's all probably one big extended metaphor about how you have to let go of your conception of self before you can reach the godhead (or something). And all the Hindu (?) iconography completely passed me by (I don't even know what the title means): but I still managed to have a really good time - taking it in as a sort of Justice League of America off-shot (obviously my pool of references is pretty shallow) - but then is that so bad? It still left me with something to smile about on every page and the crunchy dialogue gives it plenty of bite (crunchy in that you can remove it from it's context and it still sounds cool: "Show me the face of God. Let him watch as I mutilate his creation beyond repair.")

So yeah: it's got abstract weirdness and cosmic grandeur: but like a stick of rock it's got Englishness that runs right through it in sweet bold red: making it an exciting change from the DC/Marvel market-leaders - let someone else save the world for a change.

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Links: Comics Bulletin of #1, Broken Frontier Review of #1 / #2, Fourth Age of Comics Review.

Further reading: Grant Morrison's 18 DaysJoe The BarbarianWe3SeaguyHewligan's Haircut, The Umbrella Academy, Sebastian O.

Profiles: Grant Morrison.

All comments welcome.

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Article: CultureCritic Guest Guide to Comics: Top 5 Comics + Top 5 Superhero Comics + Interview

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This article originally appeared on the CultureCritic website on the 20th and 21st of June 2011.
You can find it here and here.

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As part of our CultureCritic Guides series, we're inviting some of the best arts writers and bloggers we can find to give us a Guest Guide, introducing their particular area of cultural expertise. For our second installment we're taking on comics, or should that be graphic novels...?

Joel Janiurek runs the monthly Islington Comic Forum and the Islington Comics blog. He was introduced to the genre by a neighbour at an impressionably young age, and has been avidly reading since. While, as he points out, attempting to define why comics are great is akin to explaining the allure of film or literature, he has given it a go for us in this two-part guide. Part One is a brilliant overview of the (relatively) young medium, with Joel's top five comics that best exemplify everything that is unique, innovative and smart about the genre...

Words: Joel Janiurek

















I like comics. Maybe because it's still a young medium and so still fairly disrespectful. And, stating the obvious, words and pictures when combined (in just the right way) to tell a story can do lots of really cool stuff.

I work in a library, and thanks to my comic geekery I'm now running a book group called the Islington Comic Forum. Once a month a big bunch of nice people who're interested in comics come to North Library, Islington and we all sit around and talk in a pleasantly ramshackle way about what we like/don't like/love about various aspects of comic books (not just 'who would win in a fight between Superman and Spiderman'... most of the time). It's good fun. More info on that here.

With things going well, I thought I'd devise something to help to promote the comic stock we have at the library. There are a lot of comics out there, and for people who haven't been immersed in them it can be daunting and very easy to take wrong turnings and get lost (in a bad way). I figured people would like somewhere to go to for a little helping hand, someplace to get a brief write-up on what any specific comic was about – beyond a simple spoiler-full regurgitation of the plot – with suggestions about other comics of the same general ilk that they might also enjoy. And so the Islington Comics Blog was born.

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Five Smart, Cool and Awesome Must-Read Comic Books

1. The Filth
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Chris Weston


If there is anyone out there who still believes comic books are a bit beneath them, well, there's nothing I can do to help you. For everyone else, this is a good place to start. An insane journey through all the dirtiest aspects of the world around you (death, loneliness, garbage, pornography, decay, etc.) – it's called The Filth for a reason – this is a book that will drag you through the trash, and leave you feeling cleansed and revitalized by the time you come out the other side (like aversion therapy in book form). Devised and written by the evil super-genius Grant Morrison and probably one of my favourite artists ever, Chris Weston, it's a beautiful work of staggering greatness that also features a talking, pissed-off monkey.





















Further reading:
- The Invisibles / Grant Morrison
- No Hero / Warren Ellis
- Transmetropolitan / Warren Ellis


2. Scott Pilgrim
By Brian Lee O'Malley


This is one of my favourite things ever. Maybe because for a while in my early twenties I basically was Scott Pilgrim (and I say that with an equal amount of shame and pride). But, hell, even if for someone who has never known the joys of playing in a band, growing up stupid and falling in love, this still has everything to recommend it. The story is a joyful rollercoaster of thrills and jokes (and the jokes are really good), with every character feeling so fully human and independently alive, it is as if they have walked in from somewhere outside the page. But that's not all. The best part is that throughout all seven books (presented in small, fun-manga-size), the language of comics, how they work and the information (emotional and otherwise) they can contain, is stretched to the limit and reinvented several times over. I'll say it again: joyful rollercoaster.













Further reading:
- Lost at Sea / Bryan Lee O'Malley
- I Kill Giants / Joe Kelly
- The Umbrella Academy / Gerard Way


3. Asterios Polyp
By David Mazzucchelli


This might be one of the best books ever to illustrate the many innovations a comic can make – in terms of colouring, text, speech balloons and panel construction – yet it never feels like an empty formal exercise. Every smart and awesome thing it does is wielded for and welded into the strength and power of the nimble-footed storytelling. Following the exploits of a stuffed-shirt architect called Asterios Polyp, it is philosophical and profound, with light and breezy artwork that envolopes the mind with sunshine, romance and astrology.














Further reading:
- Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth / Chris Ware
- Logicomix / Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos Papadimitriou
- Batman: Year One / Frank Miller


4. Crossed
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Jacen Burrows


The Walking Dead (helped along no doubt by the recent TV series adaptation) is the big zombie-horror comic success of the moment, but for my twisted tastes, Crossed (by the writer of the notorious Preacher) offers much more smartness, coolness and downright awsomeness in its depiction of what happens when civilization collapses and everything goes to hell. Technically speaking, it is not a zombie comic, it is about something much worse, but all the survival-horror tropes are present and correct, albeit represented in fresh, new, awful ways. Be warned, this comic is probably not for everybody. Reading it is essentially like agreeing to undergo a traumatic event, and I couldn't shake the images from my head after it was done. But sometimes it's good to be scared.
















Further reading:
- The Walking Dead / Robert Kirkman
- Preacher / Garth Ennis
- Alan Moore's The Courtyard / Alan Moore


5. Blankets
By Craig Thompson


The polar opposite to Crossed, Blankets feels as soft and precious as a snowflake falling onto the tip of your nose. This is a delicate retracing of the first fubbling steps of romance that will melt your insides into mush. With artwork that blurs the boundaries between the real world and the emotional states of the characters in the comic, it is a vaguely surreal, dream-like masterwork that will leave you bewitched and spellbound.
















Further reading:
- Stitches / David Small
- Fun Home / Alison Bechdel
- Black Hole / Charles Burns

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Top Five Superhero Comics That Are Well Worth Reading (Even If You're All Grown-Up Now)

1. Black Summer / No Hero
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Juan Jose Ryp


From the twisted minds of Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp comes two unconnected stories, both about vigilantism and what it means to operate outside and above the law. No Hero looks at how far people would go to obtain superpowers, while Black Summer deals with the fall-out when a superhero decides to kill the President of the USA. With hardcore violence, shocking plot twists, explosive artwork and brazen ideas, these books will leave you open-mouthed.















Further reading:
- Gravel / Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer
- Elektra: Assassin / Frank Miller
- Irredeemable / Mark Wald


2. The Umbrella Academy
Written by Gerard Way
Art by Gabriel Bá


For folks who like surreal flourishes and quippy fun. The issue titles of the first volume should tell you everything you need to know: 'The Day The Eiffel Tower Went Berserk', 'We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals', 'Baby, I'll Be Your Frankenstein', 'Brothers And Sisters, I Am An Atomic Bomb', for example. With a superhero family of misfits and lunatics battling the forces of evil, and each other (mostly each other), The Umbrella Academy is like drinking several cans of Coke all at once.


















Further reading:
- Powers / Brian Michael Bendis
- Chew / John Layman
- The Goon / Eric Powell


3. The Ultimates
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Bryan Hitch




















Possibly the best mainstream superhero comic ever produced, The Ultimates is the re-booted, up-to-date, action-packed, seriously cool incarnation of Marvel's famous superhero team The Avengers. Comprised of Iron Man, Thor, The Wasp, Giant Man, The Hulk and Captain America, it's a no-frills vision of archetypical heroes living the dream, and taking out the bad guys. With widescreen action sequences, believable characters and solid story construction, this is a complete bombastic joy from start to finish.

Further reading:
- Nemesis / Mark Millar
- Kick-Ass / Mark Millar
- The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century / Frank Miller


4. Ex Machina
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Tony Harris


Twin worlds collide – in this case, superheroes and politicians – in a very modern comic detailing the trials and tribulations of Major Mitchell Hundred of New York City, once known as 'The Great Machine', and the world's first and only superhero. Told in a broadly realistic fashion, Ex Machina takes place over the Hundred's four-year term, as he takes on threats both supernatural and supermundane. The story teases itself out bit-by-bit, and this is a deftly told superhero comic unafraid to push further and deeper than those that have gone before.










Further reading:
- Y: The Last Man / Brian K. Vaughan
- DMZ / Brian Wood
- The Authority / Warren Ellis


5. Top 10
Written by Alan Moore
Art by Gene Ha and Zander Cannon


Finally. I couldn't leave without at least one Alan Moore comic book. Although possibly best known for writing such dark and epic moody tales as Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell, he does have a light and bouncy funny side, which finds one of its best proponents in this book. What happens when you cross superheroes with Hill Street Blues? A crazy, multifaceted city where absolutely everybody, from taxi drivers to politicians, has a superpower – and some poor cops with the thankless task of policing it all. With no deeper message or themes holding it down, this is a wickedly enjoyable comic that is over much too soon.















Further reading:
- Tom Strong / Alan Moore
- Promethea / Alan Moore
- Gotham Central / Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker

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Interview

Which term do you prefer to use, 'graphic novels' or 'comics'?

I don't think it matters much, but if I had to I'd opt for comics, because, well – that's what they are called and you don't really need to dress them up with fussy labels. Pretty much everything that everyone says here is worth reading.

The term 'graphic novel' relies on the idea of the novel to define itself, and would anyone describe films as 'moving novels' or plays as 'physical films'? There are lots of things that novels can do that comics can't, but also vice versa. The one that springs to mind is that comics are much better at staying silent, they can show you something without having to comment on it.

Film adaptations of comics often incur the wrath of fans. Do you have any thoughts on why they fail to translate?

Obviously there are lots of different reasons why films turn out rubbish, but (as someone much smarter than me first pointed out) films are about management of time (how long a scene lasts, how long to hold that close-up etc.), while comics are about management of space (where things go on the page and so on), so they're not really that compatible/translatable. The difficulty lies in the fact that comics look a lot like storyboards – so I guess film makers get confused and think that everything is already there for them: all they need to do is film the panels and everything will turn out fine. Stating the obvious, anything that's good and worth spending time on tends to make the best of all the strengths (and weaknesses) of its chosen medium. Just because something is a good table, it doesn't mean it's going to be a good chair, and so on.

Can you recommend any good adaptations or shame any truly awful ones?

There's a small subset of adaptations made by the people who wrote the original comics, and they are all pretty great: Akira, Ghost World, When The Wind Blows, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. They know when to go their own way and do their own thing – which is what makes them interesting and worth watching. Otherwise, if an adaptation is exactly the same then why not just read the comic? The best example of that would be Sin City, which is the most faithful adaptation I think I've ever seen anywhere – but felt totally pointless.

Biggest disappointment: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. What would have been better is if Bryan Lee O'Malley and Edgar Wright had joined forces to make something totally new that worked better within the confines of a film, but then obviously it is really hard to get original films made nowadays that aren't based on a pre-existing 'property'.

What is more important, the drawings or the words?

In the best comics the two will always work in harmony – so much so that it's difficult to prize them apart. But there can be interesting exceptions where one can elevate the other. For my tastes, the artwork in the book The Rabbi's Cat (by Joann Sfar) is really rubbish, but it fits the story perfectly, and although I hated it at the start, by the end I wouldn't have had it any other way. Same with some Alan Moore stuff. A Small Killing looks awful and gaudy, but it really sets the mood and atmosphere and fits the story just right. xkcd has the worst artwork ever (just stick people), but still manages to be utterly amazing. It can work the other way, where amazingly brilliant artwork can take over, and mask how shallow the writing is.

What do you think comics can do that other mediums can't?

Maybe because they tell stories one panel at a time, comics are good at capturing single moments. And they can hold a seond in time, for you to ponder over for as long as you like. Comics are really good at the interplay between words and pictures, but if there's one thing that all really good comics understand, it is how to combine both in order to create a meaning larger or greater than either one could achieve on it own. A section from the end of Garth Ennis' run on The Punisher MAX series sticks in my head: a guy sitting in a bar watching the TV with a poem running over the top, it's just amazing. Going back to what I said before about how comics are about space management, that might contain the answer I'm trying to capture... Comics present a story in a way where, at every point, its future and its past are just next door. Some authors know how to make really good use of that. The Tale of One Bad Rat pulls you along you from one panel to the next in a way that's almost frightening.

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All comments welcome.

Books: Clumsy

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Clumsy
By Jeffrey Brown

2003





Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

It's not you - it's me. Maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe it is you. Yeah. It's you.

There's a mini-film genre that sprung up round the turn of the century which got tagged with the spot-on descriptor "mumblecore." (ha! "mumblecore"!) The films all look like they cost about 50p to make: with production values low or non-existent. The main characters aren't played by actors - but whoever the director knows or whoever was unlucky enough to be caught hanging around. All the protagonists are typically white, middle class, thoroughly-heterosexual guys in their mid-to-late twenties (hell - like most films right?): normally stuck in some kinda post-college funk. And - it's always about relationships and stuff - rather than (I don't know) stories (full disclosure: I like stories). Clumsy by Jeffrey Brown is the mumblecore of comics: the artwork (urg - so called) each page looks like it took about 10 seconds to toss off: it's all frazzled dirty lines and scribbled out mistakes: the story is (I assume - no one could be bothered to make up something so lifeless and dull) non-fictional: the whole clumsy (ho ho ho) make-up and break-up of a relationship told in painstakingly minute detail and lots and lots of naked hanging around and non-sexy sex.

I did not see the point of this book and was annoyed that I wasted my time reading as much of it as I did before I threw it into the fire (I knew we shouldn't have put a fireplace in the bedroom). Of course that doesn't mean that you won't enjoy it (or whatever the word is): but only if you don't care about things like being able to draw properly and other stupid stuff like that. And to be fair: lots and lots of people have praised it for it's unflinching intimacy and naked portrayal of blah blah blah.

And I want you to know that it's not that I have anything against the genre. I just don't like stuff when it's done so poorly. If you think that this might be the kind of book that you might go for then I'd recommend you try the superior Blankets, Blue Pills or Shortcomings. Which do the same kinda thing but much much much better.

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Links: The Iceberg Interview with Jeffrey Brown.

Further reading: Blankets, Blue Pills, Shortcomings, Hicksville, It's a Good Life If You Don't WeakenI Never Liked You.

All comments welcome.

Books: Sin City

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Sin City
Vol 1: The Hard Goodbye
By Frank Miller

1992




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Sin City
Vol 2: A Dame to Kill For
By Frank Miller

1994




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Sin City
Vol 3: The Big Fat Kill
By Frank Miller

1995




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Sin City
Vol 4: That Yellow Bastard
By Frank Miller

1994




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Sin City
Vol 5: Family Values
By Frank Miller

1997




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Sin City
Vol 6: Booze, Broads & Bullets
By Frank Miller

1998




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Sin City
Vol 7: Hell and Back
By Frank Miller

2000




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Apparently Frank Miller always wanted to write crime comics. Of course when he started the only option was superheroes - which is why he gravitated towards Daredevil and Batman - the most "crime-y" super-powered guys out there... But then: after the massive success of The Dark Knight Returns Frank found himself in the enviable position of being able to do whatever the hell he wanted - and it turned out that what he most wanted to do was: Sin City.

Looking back now it's very easy to overlook how jarring and unexpected and strange these books were when they were first released back in the early 1990s. There were other books around that dealt with more than just men in tights - but they were still playing familiar beats and using each frame and panel to advance the story in one way or another. Sin City on the other hand - and especially the first volume - glories and revels in images for their own sake: many of which balloon to fill the page - so while other comics would have a kiss last a small tucked away panel Frank likes to draw the moments out and let's them spill out full-size page after page after page. If you like operatic emotions played as loudly as possible then you will agree that this is a good thing. And then there's the explosive black and white artwork that maximizes the full effect of both. It's hard to tell if he poured the black ink on to white paper - or the other way around (mostly likely a bit of both I guess): but the effect is comparable to having knives poked all the way up to the tip of your eyeballs: it's stark, powerful and at all times utterly and totally melodramatic with all the characters flaunting themselves and their curves and bulges at every available opportunity.

The stories themselves are simple-seeming revenge/hero fantasies inflated to epic proportions that delight in taking unexpected twists and 360 degree turns ("neo-noir" is a good term - or even better: "super-noir"! noir stories souped up to superhuman scales). I say "simple-seeming" because although the plots seem to be lug-headed and brutish - steam-rolling from fight to fight: underneath the bang-bang there are mechanics and various small intricacies that would make a watchmaker jealous: it's not just the stories referencing each other: but the way that it refashions every single dog-eared cliché and worn-out trope to sting in strange new way - yeah - if they're making you feel sweaty and uncomfortable (That Yellow Bastard especially): then it's because that's what Frank wants you to.

Comprising seven volumes in total: that add up together - although they can be read in any order: it's a hefty collection but one that you can be happy swimming in and out of (it's such a bleak landscape that it could be dangerous reading them all one after another). Six of the volumes tell complete end-to-end stories - while Vol 6: Booze, Broads and Bullets (which in three words is pretty much the Modus operandi of the whole series): is a odds-and-ends collection of stories left over from elsewhere. My favourite is the first one (first published as just "Sin City" but then subsequently rebranded as "The Hard Goodbye" when things took off): whose always momentum-building ongoingingly-forward plot makes it feel both like the most stream-lined - and most epic. Although I'd also praise Hell and Back for it's virtuoso drug-filled middle section that is - simply put - freaking amazing.

Yes - it's all full of silhouetted babes with their clothes half-hanging off. Yes - it's full of macho-men being macho and doing tons of macho-kinda-stuff. And yes - it's it's all about as subtle as a swastika-shaped ninja star to the head: but (well): that's the point. It glorifies in the over-the-top scenarios and crazy juxtapositions with everyone pitched to absurdly heroic and grotesque proportions (and sometimes both at the same time) and uses them all to provoke all sorts of interesting reactions. Because - yeah - Frank Miller knows how to draw, and he knows how to write (even if it's just dumb-dumb stuff like: "There's nothing like a ravishingly beautiful nymphomaniac to distract a guy." - there's lots of better quotes I could pulled: but (sorry) that one's my favorite) and he knows how to pull plenty of your strings. The best description/explanation I've ever heard came from a Coen Brothers (see: here): "You have a scene in a movie when someone gets shot, right? ... And the squib goes off and the blood runs down and you get a reaction, right? It's movie fodder, you know what I mean? And in a really different way, a baby's face is movie fodder. You just wanna take elements that are good fodder and do something different with them." That's whats great about Sin City. It does something different. In a very cool way. Whilst purring in pure comics pleasure.

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Links: Comic Book Resources Review of the Entire Series, Bookslut Article: Sin City: The Adaptation, BLAM! The Literal Architecture of Sin City Article by Luke Arnott, Graphic Content Review of Vol 1 / Vol 2 / Vol 3 / Vol 4 / Vol 5 / Vol 6 / Vol 7.

Further reading: Criminal, Hard Boiled, 100 Bullets, Desolation Jones, Batman: Year One, Goldfish, Button Man, Richard Stark's ParkerDaredevil: Born Again.

Profiles: Frank Miller.

All comments welcome.

Events: The History and Future of Superheroes

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Wednesday 23 November / 6:30pm - 8:00pm 
The Gallery, Central Library 2 Fieldway Crescent N5 1PF

Paul Gravett - the writer of Great British Comics, Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese comics, Graphic Novels: Stories To Change Your Life, and 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die brings you a special talk on the world-straddling phenomenon of the superhero. Secret Origins are exposed and Secret Identities unmasked in this illustrated overview of the birth, growth and evolution of this frequently misunderstood and mind-bending genre. Taking in such diverse topics as The Golden Age origins of the superhero through to it's sixties DC and Marvel heyday and then on to it's modern incarnation and taking in such such icons as Batman, Spider-Man, The X-Men and Superman and such favourite authors as Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar and Ed Brubaker this is a must for both die-hard comics fans and anyone curious to see what all the fuss is about... You will be astounded, thrilled and amazed as your eyes are opened to one of the most exciting mediums on the planet.

Signed copies of ‘1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die’ will be available to buy at the event. This is a free event but numbers are limited. To obtain a ticket please phone 0207 527 6960 or email: angelica.ashcroft@islington.gov.uk.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Books: Desolation Jones

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Desolation Jones
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by J.H. Williams III

2006




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Spy stories all (pretty much) run on the idea that being a secret agent is the coolest job in the world. I read somewhere once that (statistically speaking) everyone on the planet has seen at least one James Bond film: but then with that 24 hour party lifestyle - (exotic locations, glamorous gadgets and thrilling escapades and all the rest of it): who are you to resist?

But what happens when the party finally starts to die down: and the guy that spent his life living on an excess of excess starts to frazzle apart and burn out - what happens when you're drinking not to have a good time but because you have to? ...

That guy with the grey skin stinking of leftover alcohol and cigarettes? That's Desolation Jones: the human personification of sticky floor the day after the party - with The Door's "When The Music's Over" playing on a loop in the room next door [1] (or if you prefer: The Weeknd), shiny no-longer white t-shirt sticking to your wheezy chest and a suspect stain's slowly creeping all over your body: this is what happens when a spy gets broke.

Combine this guy with a story structure built out of jet black Noir and leave to burn in the Los Angeles sunshine: and you've got a pretty good idea of what to expect from this comic. Noir is the perfect form for a guy like Desolation ("Desolation" - what a great word): one of the unspoken rules for noir stories is that whatever the luckless protagonist/detective is leading the way has to be past his best - and Desolation is nothing if not past his best: as are all the other poor walking wounded he meets along the way. Combine with a search for a priceless missing x (in this case: the holy grail of dirty movies), a total lack of trustworthy characters, dirty secrets hiding inside other dirty secrets and a past full of more pain than is human comprehensible we're off: and everyone is doomed.

From talking to other people (you know who you are): this is the Warren Ellis story for people that normally can't stand Warren Ellis. One of the big parts of that has got to be the lovingly rendered and detailed by J.H Williams III - who you really should know from his gob-smacking jaw-dropping mouth-watering work on Alan Moore's Promethea - (what do you mean you haven't read it?) who here makes despair and squalor look succulent and semi-magnificent and who's panel work is constructed less like something that's just doggingly going through and more like he's playing music (am loving the boxes falling across the action capturing each moment in it's own space - and the ghostly shadows cutting the wrong way (right to left) across the page). There's also this very cool slow-mo bullet-time thing going on - where reality snaps into red, black and white and everything gets all bendy. Too many comics rely on the same basic colours and styles throughout - but not this one: every chance it gets (mainly through Jones' druggy freakouts) the palette and perspectives start to shift and the tone bounces around all the minor notes mixing it up with a washed out - and it's all the better for it. Another reason why this it's good is that mostly (supermodernism speech aside) it avoids dropping in big ideas and instead focuses on the human cost of a good time all the time with one standout scene nestled in the middle that brings home how messed up things can get - in a nicely understated way (which makes a change to Warren Ellis' other stuff - which normally goes for the money shot).

Gotta say too: that this would be the perfect book to read in tandem with another Warren Ellis book called "Fell" - which is the night-time twin to Desolation's day-time horrors. So yeah.

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[1] Not that I'm a Doors fan or anything: but that song's sweats kinda the same kinda of loose, sleazy energy as the book - and Jim "Mojo Rising" Morrison fat mystic hippy routine is the kinda headache inducing character you could imagine hiding in the background in one of the many (beautiful oh so beautiful) panels.

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Further reading: The Filth, Promethea, Queen and Country, Fell, Sleeper, Sin City, Red, FreakAngels, Batwoman: Elegy, Goldfish.

Profiles: Warren EllisJ. H. Williams III.

All comments welcome

Saturday 17 September 2011

Books: Kingdom Come

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Kingdom Come
Written by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Art by Alex Ross

1998




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Everyone loves a good Ragnarök. And in the mid-nineties Kingdom Come was the place to go for anyone wanting to get their apocalyptic superhero kicks. Taking place in a universe where all the first generation superheroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman et al have grown old and increasingly irrelevant - superseded by a younger violent generation of heroes who have none of those old moral qualms and a much more brash and over-the-top attitude to dispensing with bad guys (spot the subtext) Kingdom Come is equal-parts lamination for the gods of times past and triumphant hallelujah for the power they still hold. Owing quite a debt of gratitude to Alan Moore's Twilight of the Superheroes pitch (which you can read here) and fortified with the same prevalent gloom as The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen (which gets a few sly nods and winks): it nonetheless manages to dropkick the reader with a succession of thrilling moments all building to an epic end-of-the-world climax. With expertly written dialogue that's always to the point (""Man of tomorrow", my ass. Try "Man of the nineteen-fifties!"") and - this should go without saying by now - magnificent painted artwork from Alex Ross: this is a comic that cackles with all sorts of intense brilliance. It's pompous - yeah - but it works: and it's the right tone for this kind of downcast and moody colossal undertaking and (thankfully) it never gets "grim+gritty": so it's still something that the kids can enjoy.

One of the only possible down-sides are the many, many references to seemingly every other DC character in existence (as with all these types of books - you may need to check out wikipedia at several points): this may make it seem that you need to be a DC aficionado to be able to make sense of the story - but don't worry: as long as you're good with your superhero basics (ie you know the difference between your Dark Knights and Man of Steels): then you'll be ok.

Also - have to say: that this may be one of the best Superman stories (along with Red Son and All Star Superman) ever written (he's always at his best when he's facing nebulous worldwide problems rather than just beating up bad guys). So there's that to recommend it too.

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Links: The Hurting Article: I've Run Out of Cute Titles / Pocket Change / Iconography / What We Talk About When We Talk About Kingdom ComeWorld's of Westfield Interview with Alex Ross, Comic Book Resources Interview with Alex Ross, Comic Book Resources Review, Wired Review, Ninth Art Review, The M0vie Blog Review, Hooded Utilitarian Article: A Piercing Glimpse of Pants.

Further reading: Marvels, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Superman: Red Son, Final Crisis, DC: The New Frontier, Irredeemable, Superman: BirthrightWolverine: Old Man Logan, The World's Greatest Super-Heroes, Civil War, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Back, Superman: All Star Superman, Watchmen, Justice.

All comments welcome.

Books: Ultimate Spider-Man

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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 1: Power and Responsibility
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2001



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 2: Learning Curve
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley and Art Thibert

2001



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 3: Double Trouble
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2001



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 4: Legacy
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2002



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 5: Public Scrutiny
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2003





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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 6: Venom
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2003





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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 7: Irresponsible
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2003



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 8: Cats & Kings
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2004



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 9: Ultimate Six
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley and Trevor Hairsine

2004



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 10: Hollywood
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2004



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 11: Carnage
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2004



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 12: Superstars
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2005



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 13: Hobgoblin
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2005



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 14: Warriors
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Andy Kubert

2006



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 15: Silver Sable
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2006



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 16: Deadpool
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2006



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 17: Clone Saga
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2007



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 18: Ultimate Knights
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

2007



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 19: Death of a Goblin
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley and Stuart Immonen

2008



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 20: And His Amazing Friends
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen

2008



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 21: War Of The Symbiotes
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen

2009



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Ultimate Spider-Man
Vol 22: Ultimatum
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen

2009



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Ultimate Spider-Man opened my eyes to the fact that Spider-Man is - (damn the rest of them) - the perfect superhero. Observe: He's got the super and the powers (sure) - but at the same time he's got the humanity and relatability and the always-staked-against-him odds that make him a true honest-to-god (whisper it now) hero. When Batman and Superman (the only other real contenders to the perfect superhero crown) go up against the bad guys - you know that they have nothing to fear: Batman's got all his gadgets and bottomless billionaire resources - while Superman can only be hurt by alien green glowing rock. Spider-Man on the other hand - apart from his spider-strength. crazy spin webbing and wall walking [1] - apart from that: is flesh and blood and human. He can be hurt. He can bleed. He can die.

Up until now I didn't think he was all that - but like I said: this comic has opened my eyes and my brain and my heart: and now I'm a full blown believer in the House of Spidey. And Ultimate Spider-Man is the reason why (amen brother Bendis!). How to explain the effect it's had on me? My best shot at an answer: you see the J J Abrams Star Trek film? Apart from the last 20 minutes when you realised they'd forgotten to write any kind of an ending: it was bright and fun and euphoric ("euphoric" is a good word - if I was going to choose one word to sum this all up it would be "euphoric"). What I found interested was that if it'd been made in the 1990s - it would have been full of unsufferable knowingness and annoying little post-modern winks - (not that there's anything wrong with that but...). But instead of that they made a film that went beyond that kind of clever-clever cynicism and - especially in the first half before it all fell apart: it was something that embraced the conventions of what went before but then reworked them in a way that made all the ideas they first started with seem like innovations. A teenage superhero going through all the trails and tribulations of school-life and living at home whilst also fighting the good fight? Awesome. Why has no one thought of this before?

Going further: with The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen and all of it's many, many imitators: the superhero comic has gone through every single manner of deconstruction possible - ever piece has been pulled apart, examined from every other angle and turned every other which other way (you want a list? fine: The Authority, Astro City, Wanted, Top 10, Irredeemable, No Hero, Animal Man, Black Summer, Marvels, Doom Patrol, Powers, DC: The New Frontier, Nemesis, Tom Strong - and those are just the good ones that spring into my head: there's lots, lots more). Ultimate Spider-Man for me is the first comic to take all the pieces lying around and put them all back together and for the first time in a long time tell an unapologetically up-lifting and exuberantly told superhero story with no frills, no nonsense and no messing around: and it doesn't feel like a re-boot or an updating: it feels like it's telling the story for the very first time (am I starting to repeat myself?).

Ok. I'm going to stop and start again: Ultimate Spider-Man was first published in 2000 - the first in the Marvel's Ultimate line of books. For those of you that don't know: All the Ultimate books are fresh starts - freeing the all the famous Marvel characters from their tangled decades-long continuities and letting them start again from square one with brand new takes and perspectives. So - if you've never read a Spider-Man book before - this is the perfect place to start. And if you have read a Spider-Man book before - then it's re-inventions of the Spider-Man myth (here the spiders are genetically altered instead of radioactive) will tickle your undersides like a wobbly feather.

But wait. Because I don't want to over-sell it and I don't want your expectations too high. This isn't a book that attempts to wow right from the off. Indeed - a few years back someone told me that I should try it - and so I picked up Volume 1: but just reading on it's own doesn't really do it. The first time is that the artwork is really really cartoony: which can make it a little bit hard to take seriously (at least until Stuart Immonen takes over anyhow). Also because a lot of the pleasures of the series is in the way it builds upon successive incidents and does lots and lots of lovely little intertwining to both create a universe that feels consistent and real and feeds and supplies all the emotive moments of high drama that will leave you shaken and bruised - not to mention the action set-pieces where all the simmering build-up gets given some sweet kick-ass release. So yeah: if you're going to try it - you're really going to need to give it a few volumes or so before it properly kicks in. And even then: I should warn you - it does tend to ebb and flow like a TV show: sometimes it's really amazing - but then there's also a few slumps in it too (hey - rough with the smooth: plus the fact that it's a monthly book that lasted the best part of a decade means you've gotta allow it a few times): there's a particularly bad patch when it everything gets a bit rote from like Vol 14 from it seems like all they're doing is re-introducing old Marvel characters in updated forms - but then Vol 17 brings it all back on track and makes everything ok again.

Specifics good things that this comic does: turns The Green Goblin into a credible threat which I didn't think was possible (hell - even Willem Dafoe gave it his best shot but still couldn't get past the fact that it was kinda - silly). Uses lots of nifty little story-dynamic kinda things that you probably won't even notice as they're happening (best example: Issue #13 is set entirely in Peter Parker's bedroom - but you probably won't realise because of all the drama it contains). Recasts all the Spider-Man tropes to make them hit harder on the gut level - so instead of Venom being an evil space parasite (yay for evil space parasites!) it's re-done in a nicer way to dig deeper into the heart of Peter Parker and provoke reactions more than just punchy-punchy. Plus Volume 9 (which might just be my favourite of them all - mainly thanks to Trevor Hairsine's artwork which does 'epic' very well [2]) manages to take on Mark Millar's Ultimates and out-play them in the fields of tense, action filled extravaganzas. Finds all the sweet spots between outlandish action and more day-to-day concerns (love all the fuss that one costume can cause): and grounds that in school soap-opera shenanigans. And - oh yeah - do I even need to say? The fact that it's written by Brian Michael Bendis means that all the dialogue all the time is always amazing.

And etc etc etc. There's so much more I could say - so much more I want to say but will leave it here. Suffice to say: There's few things as pleasurable as intelligently constructed big dumb superhero fun. If you're looking for your next comic fix: this is the place.

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[1] This comic has convinced me that walking on walls is coolest thing ever. It just looks so great. Connects to the hero to environment (as opposed to another panel of someone floating in the middle of the frame) and (most important?) feels so tantalisingly just out of reach. I mean: we'd all like to fly but we know it's impossible - but hell - if gravity just twitched a little to the side (or whatever) - I swear it'd be possible to do. Or that just me?

[2] And if you really wanted to - (don't know if the rest of the volumes are up to this?) - but you can just read it by itself and still have a really fun time: "they say the next war will be fought genetically" and all of that. In fact - I'd even go so far to say that's it's one of the best Ultimate books out there: really nice slow build: and a climax that manages to avoid being totally obvious (and I don't mind admitting that I even got just a tint little bit tearful towards the end - so that's good too).

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Further reading: Powers, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X-Men, The Ultimates, Spider-Man: Down Among The Dead Men / Venomous / The Last Stand, Superman: All Star Superman, Kick-Ass, Superman: Secret Identity.

Profiles: Brian Michael Bendis.

All comments welcome.