Books: Freeway

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Freeway
By Mark Kalesniko
2011





Available now from Islington Libraries
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There's this theory (I don't know if you know it) that says that the reason that films based on comic books are so very much popular - or at the very least why there are so many of them - is because (to the untrained eye at least) a comic book and a storyboard look exactly the same: you know - pictures of things one happening after the other: you could swap them over and no one would even notice - right? Except - oops: no - wrong. Mainly because of the old chestnut (and I never get bored of saying this) that film is about management of time while comics are about the management of space (so true).

Which is why reading Mark Kalesniko's Freeway is such a strange experience: here it seems is a comic that seems to wish that it had been born as an animated movie instead. Like: you know how most comics bounce around from different point of view shots from panel to panel and leisurely let the minutes pass by as a scene unfolds - mainly honing in only on the moments of most interest? Well - Freeway isn't really like that: here the gaps between panels seems to be measured in milliseconds- with the same perspective held for successive panels: so much so that if you wanted [1] you could cut out the pages and make a pretty effective little flip-book [2].

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I mean - I think when I started I was a little bit undecided (and I guess I still am now really). Like: it is a bit weird when you have a story that's about one medium that you tell in another? Like: making a film about the benefits of opera; a song about how great literature is; a dance about your favourite building [3]: like - the thought that kinda just always sits at the back of my head when I encounter that type of thing is: hell - if you like that medium so much - then why aren't you using it? (To use an awful analogy: it'd be like using fruit to explain why you like meat or something). But then again: maybe that's part of the challenge you know? Like how in Ratatouille [4] there's those moments when they try and encapsulate the sensation of taste and flavor only using sound and images: so - well yeah - I'm torn [5].

But whatever - probably I'm over-thinking things - right? And maybe (you know) we should just talk about the story or whatever instead - right?

Well: for those of you who like their graphic entertainment a little bit middle-brow (you know: you prefer calling them "graphic novels" rather than "comic books"): then Freeway is going to be right up your street [7]. Yeah - it does star an anthropomorphic dog (whose facial expression is set (seemingly permanently) to "exasperated") but - hey: seeing how it's about animation and all that - that's like appropriate - right? (I can imagine someone saying at a dinner party: "I mean - it's like the story we're reading could be one of the films they're making." And someone else shaking their head going: "Wow man - that's so deep.") But I've got to say that even tho it's well crafted [8] and very good at capturing the minute changes from panel to panel that I mentioned above (so much so that there are bits - particularly when it's just the car speeding down the Freeway - that it's almost as if the images are moving) ultimately the sensation of reading was like watching a glossy ITV feature-length drama that so very badly wants to be taken seriously - I mean: the ambition is there but the actual "oh my god that was totally amazing" artistry just felt (I dunno) somewhat lacking (sorry Mark Kalesniko): as if it's main goal was just respect and nothing else and - well - for me: I'd prefer having a comic that can do more than just acting prestigious (but I realise that maybe it's just me).

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[1] Note: please don't obviously.

[2] You all know what a flip-book is right? You know: the type of thing that you used to draw at the bottom hand corner of your exercise book in school? Mainly of stuff exploding, cars crashing into each other and stuff like that... (Fun fact: the German word for flip book is "Daumenkino" which translates as  "thumb cinema" - which I'd say is a pretty cool name for it: "Hey - check out my thumb cinema!").

[3] Yes: intentional reference.

[4] And - hell yes: if I'm mentioning Ratatouille then I've just got to link to this (you're welcome). And - as we're talking about animation then I've just got to include a link to this and this.

[5] And if I'm being totally honest: I guess also that it just makes me feel (suspect) that maybe Mark Kalesniko's has his heart set more on animation than he does on comics - like he tried to break into Disney and couldn't get in and so this is his second choice or something - which (as a comic book reader) just kinda makes me (I dunno) unappreciated on something: like this is just second best an well - ok: will this do? kinda thing (but I'm guessing that's just all in my sick twisted mind - so whatever I guess) [6].

[6] Actually - oops: it turns out that he's a former animator (with his credits included The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Mulan, and Atlantis) so yeah: what do I know? (Answer: not much).

[7] Is that a car pun? I'm not sure...

[8] Well - mostly: it starts out very strong but then - as it goes on - and maybe this is natural for any massive book (it is 416 pages long!) - the quality of the artwork does start to dip ever-so-(almost)-imperceptibility: so that it just kind of feels a little rushed (am I being too harsh?).

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Links: Robot 6: Creator Q&A: Hop on Mark Kalesniko’s ‘Freeway’,

Further reading: Are You My Mother?, The Nao of Brown, Asterios Polyp, I'm Never Coming Back, Black Hole, David Boring, It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken, Jar of Fools.

All comments welcome.

Books: The Nao of Brown

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The Nao of Brown
By Glyn Dillon
2012





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Nick - one of the Comic Forumers regulars - has been going on about this book for ages and ages and ages. I mean - I've moaned about this before on here (I know): but Islington isn't exactly the quickest when it comes to getting copies of whatever the hot new thing is [1] and so - finally having this book in my hands after months and months of hearing Nick sing it's praises and seeing that washing machine head cover appear across the internet (and on the tops of seemingly every comics blogger's best comics of 2012 lists [2]) made me feel a little bit - I dunno - like I was the guy who only saw Inception when it came out on DVD: like I'm several steps behind the rest of humanity: still wearing flares while everyone else has already moved on to giant shoulder pads.

The good thing is tho is that - thanks to successful diverting of eyes and ears and lots of strategic instances of "no spoilers please!" I'd managed to make it all the way to my first read with no idea about what the book was actually you know - about: other than the fact that it was about someone with a washing machine for a head [3].

Now - of course I'm not going to blab anything about what the book is really about (but if you're looking for something like that then check out some of the links below and I'm sure that they can give you a précis): it's not really my style and after I went to so much trouble to keep myself ignorant I hardly want to go and spoil things for someone else - but what I will say is this: you know that type of mid-brow indie film where everything looks like it's been filmed with handheld cameras and everything rests upon the acting and stolen glances and all the things that the characters never get around to actually saying? Well - the Nao of Brown (in most respects) is the comics version of that. If you're expecting a machine with giant sledgehammers connected to a roaring 5000 horsepower engine built like a skyscraper with monster-truck wheels and designed to pummel you to the ground with it's over-whelming, bombastic might then (sorry) you're going to leave unsated. The Nao of Brown is more like a delicately pieced together musical instrument half-origami half-wind chime where the point isn't to have your breathe taken away - but more to lean in and admire the beauty (and make no mistake: (in terms of the water-coloured artwork [4]) it is frequently quite beautiful in the way it captures (to pluck two random examples from the air) submerged facial expressions [5] and the way a body balances on a bike as it swerves around a corner). The thing with that tho is that it makes things a lot more precarious: if you just want to bludgeon your readers - well: all you need to rely on is brute force: but if your aim is to make their hearts sing - well - then in that case: you need the steady hand and careful eye of a surgeon. And (oh dear) if I'm going to be completely honest here (and maybe I should whisper this next part): Glyn Dillon [6] whilst being totally aces at the whole drawing, arting, painting thing kinda lets himself down (just a bit) when it comes to the writing side: at least for my tastes (I should try and flesh this out a bit shouldn't I?).

I'm sure I've briefly touched this idea before - but what the hey: let's go again: in terms of my entertainment products (films, books, comics, whatever) my predilections always tend towards things which work towards exploding the fullest possibilities of the whatever format in comes in: or (to put it another way less convoluted way): I like films which do stuff that only films can do [7], I like books which do clever things you can only really do with printed words on a page [8] and with comics - well: my brain feel into Alan Moore's clutches at a pretty impressionable age and (as all those who've come to a meeting of the Comic Forum will attest) Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim is my always ready to-go as the answer to: "So - what's your favourite comic ever?"

The point of me saying all that is so you have some idea as to why - for me - the Nao of Brown feels a little bit of a disappointment and why I'd classify it as a weakness that you translate the whole thing in a "proper book novel" and not really miss too much (apart from: you know - the lack of pretty pictures). With only a few small exceptions here and there (and for me: those exceptions are the best part) most of the storytelling is done with the words rather than just relying on the interplay between the two: at one part a character talks about turning into a flower and the illustration right next to it is the character in flower-form: which (I dunno) seems a little bit lacking in imagination: both the art and the writing are delivering the same message and (for me) comics are at their best when they're combining to create an effect that neither one could accomplish alone. And - well yeah - strangely (and this seems to be the curse of lots of modern day comic book creators [9]): and this is maybe the way to put it first - the overall feeling I got when I finished it was that Glyn Dillon is more enamored with words than he is with images: like he wants to be writing Booker Prize fiction and it's just the comics holding him back: while I'd say: his strengths and abilities lie the other way and that really: he should be cutting out the words and focusing more on expanding the limits of his artwork.

But - hey: that's just me.

For the rest of you: I dunno - I mean: it's not as if the book is bad: the artwork (as I do believe I've already said) is - what's the right word? - resplendent. So much so that at times I felt guilty letting the story carry me on when it felt like I should have been taking the time to properly study each panel on each page. And yeah - well: (like I said) - it's like an indie film: it takes this issue and explores it - so that when you've done with it you can feel like you've learnt something and had some-sort of insight into a different world (wow - I never realised homeless people lived like that / or whatever) but it does so with a light enough touch that you don't need to worry about being too emotionally shaken or anything like that (I mean - while I was reading it - it seemed like strong stuff: but having finished it: it didn't really linger with me or anything like that).    

I mean - Jessica Hynes (who as Daisy Steiner [10] will always hold a special secret place in my heart) wrote the introduction: so it gets bonus points for that.

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[1] I don't know if we have an official mascot: but if we ever decided to get one - then my vote would be for Slowpoke ("Hey guys did you hear? There's this great Slowpoke meme.")

[2] This one by Good Ok Bad was actually posted on the Comic Forum's facebook page back in March by Nick: so you know I'm not just making stuff up.

[3] (although - actually - turns out that's not the case at all: oh well).

[4] My source here is Nick (yet again) who went to a thing with Glyn Dillon who did some live-drawing thing and who said (if I'm remembering this right?) that it was done with water-colours. So. Yes.

[5] Submerged as in: when someone's trying hard not to smile and they push it down underwater - but you can still see the faint outline on the side of their mouth. Trust me: you'll know it when you see it.

[6] Fun geeky comics fact: he's the younger brother of Steve Dillon: who most of you (should) know from his collaborations with Garth Ennis - namely the blasphemous brilliance of Preacher (speaking of: did anyone else notice the major similarity in the endings of Preacher and the Nao of Brown? I mean: I don't want to give things away for people that haven't read one of the other (or both) - but they both do the same thing and - in both cases - it's a major cop out).

[7] Examples? Well - my favourite two (and the ones which spring to mind the quickest) are: Speed Racer and Cloverfield. But if that's too low-brow for you then - 2001: A Space Odyssey is a good example. I mean - yeah: there is a book version - but (and I think we can all agree on this point) Dave Bowman going through the Stargate makes much more of an impact when you see it (rather than when you read it): which I guess is kinda my whole point.  

[8] See: Alasdair Gray, B. S. Johnson. would be the best two examples of that - also (I guess) David Foster Wallace: although I prefer his non-fiction to his fiction - and haven't got round to reading Infinite Jest yet (oh well).

[9] Best example of this: Alison Bechdel.

[10] I would put a Spaced quote here - but my brain can't decide which one to use (if you haven't seen Spaced ever at all - well then: you really should: especially as (although it's a TV show) it's also a really good example of - you know: using moving images to tell stories that you couldn't tell any other way).

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Links: The Comics Journal Review, Time Machine Go Review, Comic Book Resources Review, Good Ok Bad Review, The Comics Journal Interview, Robot 6 Interview.

Further reading: Solanin, The Playwright, I'm Never Coming Back, Phonogram, Lost at Sea, Ghost World, Buddha, American Born Chinese, Shortcomings, Are You My Mother?.

All comments welcome.

Books: The Playwright

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The Playwright
Written by Daren White
Art by Eddie Campbell
2010




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Cloud Atlas isn't out in England yet - but it is out in the States and is probably the only film [1] coming down the pipeline that I have any interest in whatsoever (Yes - like any right thinking person - I totally despised (in the sense of both contempt and deep repugnance) The Matrix sequels and all that they stood for): and so - yeah - I've been bounced around the internet a bit trying to find all the things that people have said about it [2]. Which is how I came to this article [3] which makes a big deal out of the fact that Tom Hanks is often described as an "Everyman" to quote David Haglund (the guy who wrote the article): "The term dates to a time and place where anyone who was not a straight, white (and arguably even British) man was explicitly regarded by law and social norms as inferior to those who were."

When I read this - I thought: well - yeah - ok: we live in a multicultural world and we shouldn't privilege one particular viewpoint over any other and if the Romney Obama election has taught has anything (has it taught us anything?) it's that in the USA white folk can no longer enjoy being in the majority [4]. I mean - back when I was a kid I always used to think that in the future everyone would have brown skin - I don't know how scientifically plausible or not that may be (and I'm a little scared to google it - just in case my computer thinks I'm a racist) but regardless (same as always): all the old ways we have of thinking about stuff are going to become increasingly irrelevant and everything is going to change and (hopefully) one day soon we can all enjoy being a minority. But - saying all that: I didn't really agree with the article. I mean - "Everyman" doesn't have to be a white guy (if someone described Will Smith and Denzel Washington as being "Everymen" I don't think I would disagree) and it's interesting how in the article itself David Haglund says that Tom Hanks had Portuguese ancestors and his father’s side was mostly British - like - it's that cool? That the "Everyman" has a background that's (ever so-slightly) culturally diverse? But whatever.

These are the kind of thoughts that were pinging around my head when I started to read The Playwright by Daren White (sorry - never heard of him before) and Eddie Campbell (oh yeah - The From Hell guy!) a comic that's about a guy who's very much supposed to be a "Everyman" - only not the glamorous Tom Hanks type that everyone wants to be: but the lonely, loser, slightly freaky type that everyone fears that they are inside their heart (or is that just me giving away far too much of myself? I dunno...). Hopeless in love (no - wait - actually - make that: hopeless with all forms of human relationships), cut off from the world around him - he's the kind of person who would be ideally suited for his own verse in Eleanor Rigby: all the lonely people and all that.

I mean - before I say what I'm going to say: don't get me wrong. This is a marvelous little book: from it's bright yellow cover to the understated Eddie Campbell artwork (which is a lot more together than the scratchy and jaded black and white version you may be used to from From Hell) and the dour authorial voice that watches over everything in the third person ("The Playwright did this" "The Playwright did that"): it's well written, everything hangs together in a nice way - you know: it's a serious little comic book that knows exactly what it's doing and accomplishes everything it sets out to do. With the overall effect rather like  drinking a particularly fine cup of tea in splendid little village restaurant - where the coasters are little white knitted things and the cake is deliciously crumbly. It's a good book. And if you like your comics unfussy and with a stiff upper lip then you're gonna enjoy reading it.

But all I could think of as I read it was - does the world really need another book about how hard the world can be for a middle-aged, middle-class white guy? I mean - if The Playwright had been released in non-picture "proper" book form then I could very easily imagine it being the kind of thing to get nominated for a Booker Prize - you know? It has that whole kinda "literary genre" vibe to it. Thing is tho - as we move into the 21st Century - this seems like the kinda of story that we've already all heard a million times before. It's not so much that there's something wrong with the "Everyman" concept say [5]: but if you're going to use it - and you want me on side: then I'd prefer you'd use it to tell a story that hasn't already wore itself out. Or to put it another way: the first five pages of Grant Morrison and Chris Weston's The Filth manages to cover the same terrain as the entirety of The Playwright before it goes on the Russian space monkeys and attacks of giant sperm [6].

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[1] Ok - fine. Also: World War Z. (2012: with zombies!? Yes please). But that's it.

[2] Out of all the stuff I've found I'd say that this New York Review of Books article is my favourite. If only for the bit when Ken Wilber describes Larry Wachowskis as one of the “most brilliant minds that I have jumped into a dance of intersubjectivity with.”

[3] Slate: Tom Hanks Is Not an “Everyman.” (there's really not that much to it that isn't in the title - but if you're really curious then you can read it here).

[4] I read this New Yorker article just the other day ("THE PARTY NEXT TIME As immigration turns red states blue, how can Republicans transform their platform?" Quote: "At the present rate, by 2016, whites will make up less than seventy per cent of voters. Romney’s loss to Barack Obama brought an end not just to his eight-year quest for the Presidency but to the Republican Party’s assumptions about the American electorate") so I guess all this stuff has been playing on my mind....

[5] In fact there's a Philip Roth novel called "Everyman" that I read once for a makeshift book-group when I just finished university - and (no matter how well written it was) - I kinda thought that story was boring then: and it's still boring now (maybe I'll change my mind when I get older and actually become the type of person these books are talking about? Who knows...? But I hope not).

[6] Of course - that's just where my whole tastes lie (and most of the time (it depends what mood you catch me in) I'd argue that the point of art (or whathaveyou) - and yeah for me anyway - is to show you something new and different and (hopefully) make you think about and experience the world in a different way): you yourself may be completely different - and there's nothing wrong with that (apart from the fact that you're wrong and you don't understand anything [7]).

[7] Ha ha ha - joke.

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Links: Comic Book Resources Interview with Daren White and Eddie Campbell, Graphic Novel Reporter Interview with Daren White and Eddie Campbell, Avoid The Future Review, Comics Should Be Good Review, Page 45 Review.

Further reading: From Hell, Alec: How to be an Artist, American Splendor: The Best of American Splendor, Breakdowns, Years of The Elephant, Berlin, Make Me A Woman, Asterios Polyp, I Never Liked You, The Filth.

All comments welcome.

Books: The Exterminators

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The Exterminators
Vol 1: Bug Brothers
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2006



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The Exterminators
Vol 2: Insurgency
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2007



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The Exterminators
Vol 3: Lies of Our Fathers
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2007



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The Exterminators
Vol 4: Crossfire and Collateral
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2008



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The Exterminators
Vol 5: Bug Brothers Forever
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2007



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I tried reading all of this but I only got one and a half books through before I'd had enough. Sorry.

The pitch seems kinda cool: following around a bunch of - well - pest exterminators whose lives keep getting stranger and far out the more they see. But after a short while it just felt like it was going around the motions without actually doing anything new. And when I say around the motions - while there was a feeling that I had at the back of my mind that I couldn't quite put my finger on (the same kinda feeling I had when I was reading Wasteland actually) that all came together when I sneaked a peak at the wikipedia page and found out - oh right: when The Exterminators first started it wasn't a comic book at all: it was a TV show [1]. And when I read that everything just sorta fell into place. Because - yeah - as a pitch for a series - it's kinda perfect: if you wanna be (very) generous it's a bit like a cross between the gritty kitchen-sink life-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks realism of The Wire crossed with the oh-my-god-oh-my-god-oh-my-god mysterious ever so slightly paranormal (or is it just science-fiction) what's-in-the-box-ness of Lost and also - woo - evil cockroaches (because everyone loves evil cockroaches - am I right?). There's your down-on-his-lucky diamond in the rough anti-hero who has one last chance to get his life right, a rotating class of wacky side-kicks, a kooky love-interest and blah blah, blah. 

I dunno - it all just sorta feels so calculated. Not like it was someone who had a good story to tell - but rather a story that just ticked all the boxes. And while the artwork is solid (Tony Moore - who some of you may recognise as the guy who did the first two volumes of The Walking Dead before things apparently went sour between him and Robert Kirkman) it doesn't do much more than a camera would: and I like my comics to be a little more inventive and well comic-like than that. 

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[1] "The Exterminators initial incarnation was a TV pitch and pilot outline as writer Simon Oliver was working in the film industry at the time. After consideration Oliver realized the story wasn't really network material. Oliver then decided to pitch it to a comic book publisher. Luckily a film producer friend of Oliver had become good friends with Karen Berger of Vertigo Comics after they had discussed 100 Bullets. Through this friend the pitch of The Exterminators reached an interested publisher quickly. After some reworking with editor Jon Vankin the project was greenlit and the first issue was released January 2006."

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Links: Sean T Collins Review of Vol 1.

Further reading: Scalped, iZombie, Wasteland, 100 Bullets.

All comments welcome.

Books: The Silence of Our Friends

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The Silence of Our Friends
Written by Mark Long and Jim Demonakos
Art by Nate Powell
2012




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Wowzer.

I wasn't expecting much when I sat down with this. I just thought it'd be something relativity light to go with my lunch outside in the sunshine. Nate Powell's artwork looked simple and inviting and it didn't seem like something I'd have to struggle to get into. (On that count I was right - there's a tendancy for "serious" comics to kinda act forbidding - with artwork that tends to skew to the uninviting and headache-inducing - but one of the many things that's great about The Silence of Our Friends is that everything is presented so clearly that I can't imagine anyone not being able to get into it: it's all like - hey - welcome - how's it going? Would you like to sit down? How about I pull you up a chair and get you something to drink?). I mean - I knew from looking at that cover with all that black [1] that maybe it had like a dark undercurrent or something - but from the poses my best guess was that it was some sort of buddy cop thing? Like 48 Hours only as a comic book maybe? Or - judging from that hairstyle and the thick glasses on the main dude - maybe like a Watergate thriller type thing? Uncovering state secrets and the whathaveyou?

Well - no - turns out it's based on childhood recollections (one of the authors is the son of that white guy in the background) and it's all set in the history (namely: the late 60s all the way over in Houston, Texas): and there's people trying to do their best in a world that's seemingly doing everything it can to beat them down.

So why the "Wowzer"? Well - obviously - as an enlightened 21st Century world child I know that racism is bad bad bad bad bad [2] however - that doesn't mean that I like to read or watch or listen to simple Sesame Street type polemics telling me what I already know (and agree with) in a boring dull way ("This episode of Sesame Street was brought to you by the letters "Don't" and "Be" and the number "A racist.") And - you know - being so cocky and arrogant - I guess I just kinda felt like I'd heard it all before and there was no more stories I could hear from that whole "civil rights" era of history [3]. But - of course - I am an idiot. Because that "Wowzer" comes from The Silence of Our Friends making me feel in my gut the desperation of what it felt like to live back then and what it meant to try and do the right thing - and presenting that in a way that feels utterly unvarnished and as raw as an open wound. Like - yes - there are bits of this book that you will feel like you've seen play out before (but then I guess that's the thing about racists - they tend to be pretty one-dimensional) but then there's other parts that will hit you in the face like a slap: making simple points seem monumental. I could list all the great scenes and say how and why they work so good - but I wouldn't want to spoil it - and you'll know what I'm talking about when they roll around.  

All in all: good stuff.

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[1] Oh lordy - I just read that line back and realise that it sounds like it could be racist (!!!) So - just to confirm: I mean the background colour and not - like - anything else. Ok? Ok. Ok.

[2] I was tempted to try and write something frivolous or wannabe funny like "racism is silly" or something dopey like that - and if not that - then something with lots of swearing like "all racists are ____" - but then just settled for my go to of picking a simple word and then repeating it lots of times. But just to confirm: racism is an ugly belief for ugly people and it's both wrong and abhorrent: so don't be a racist - ok?

[3] Of course - if it's a civil rights thing with Captain America going up against Iron Man then - WOO! - count me in and pass the popcorn!

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Links: Comic Book Resources Review, Comic Book Resources Interview with Nate Powell.

Further reading: Swallow Me Whole, Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow.

All comments welcome.

Books: Scott Pilgrim

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Scott Pilgrim
Vol 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
By Bryan Lee O'Malley
2004




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Scott Pilgrim
Vol 2: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
By Bryan Lee O'Malley
2005




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Scott Pilgrim
Vol 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness
By Bryan Lee O'Malley
2006




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Scott Pilgrim
Vol 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together
By Bryan Lee O'Malley
2007




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Scott Pilgrim
Vol 5: Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe
By Bryan Lee O'Malley
2008




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Scott Pilgrim
Vol 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour
By Bryan Lee O'Malley
2010




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I think this is just going to be babbling. So - yeah - sorry for that. But hey - I'm passionate.

Sometimes people get confused between form and content - about the ways a story can be told and what the story is actually - you know - about. Take Citizen Kane as an example (it doesn't matter if you haven't seen it - it's more just something that everything can agree that is (well supposed to be at least) good - "the greatest film ever made" etc). The reasons it's good isn't because it's about newspaper magnates and it's isn't because everyone loves a story about a sled: it's good because of how it's filmed and how it's edited and how it's all put together (this is where I should probably admit that I haven't actually seen it). It's not about the content - it's about the form (got it?). Now - of course - with most things the form and the content are pretty closely intwined - if you hear that a film is a weepy romantic drama - well - you can close your eyes and already imagine what the actors are going to look like, what kind of camera shots they're going to use and the songs that'll play on the soundtrack. Ditto action films, cartoons based on fairytales and pretty much anything starring Adam Sandler etc etc etc. But just because something seems like it's a rule - that doesn't mean that there aren't exceptions. Just because you know what the story's about - that doesn't mean that you know how that story is going to be told. And just because we live in a world of Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, Big Daddy, Click and You Don't Mess with the Zohan - that doesn't mean that sometimes something can't come along in a Citizen Kane-like fashion and innovate and revolutionize and excite you in all sorts of strange and wonderful and sexy ways.

All of this is my massively roundabout way of saying: forget what you think you know about Scott Pilgrim. Forget that all the volumes look so small and the artwork makes it seem like it's for kids. The things which are fantastic and artful and deep and profound and beautiful don't always come in the packages you expect them to (flashback to 1941: "I don't want to go and see a film about some media guy") and - I don't care what anyone says - Scott Pilgrim trumps pretty much any other comic out there for depth, experimentation and human observation not forgetting - goddamn it - heart.

There's an old phrase that says: happiness writes in white. What that means is that it's much easier to write about sad and miserable things than to say why you love something (which would explain why a lot of the longest posts I've written have been about book I really can't stand: while the books that I really cherish have left me a little more tongue-tied). Scott Pilgrim was one of the first books that I wrote about on this blog and basically all I could manage was saying how awesome it was. Quote: "This comic is - for a lack of two better words - Totally. Awesome. And awesome in so so so diverse and seperate ways. Go on: The artwork is economical and precise like a laser. The dialogue crackles with jokes and truthiness. And the characters each buzz in different pitches and keys each fully formed and with their own seperate agendas. But beyond all that this comic is a joy for the way it absolutely encapsulates the mindset of a post-teen young twenty-something. It's like virtual reality for the soul. You will know every small over-and under-side of Scott Pilgrim that there is to know. You will feel the awesome-ness of his highs and declarations of birthday supremacy all the way down to the car-crushing lows - and the sound, taste and smell of his obliterated heart conducted through the careful use of telephones and glorius panel construction. Is this making sense? No? Well... I don't care. The six volumes also include: robot fights, recipe ideas, movie stars on fire, coins and enough love and romance to power the world and light up the darkest hollowest hearts in creation. In sum: READ THIS BOOK."

Since writing that I've always wanted to come back to this post and explain exactly why these five comics made such an impact on me and why I believe that they are so - i dunno - special. And seeing how we're fast coming up on the 300th book post I thought that maybe now would be the right time. 

Altho I've kind of made it a bit of a policy to not mention any tie-in films of the books I write about on here (for this purist it would sully a discussion of Watchmen to mention Zack Snyder's thing in the same space) I've gotta admit that the only reason I even bothered picking up a copy in the first place is because I heard that Edgar Wright was making a film based on it (this must have been back in 2008/2009). And for that at least I'm grateful.[1] But then talking about what makes this book so important to me - it's another director that I feel like I should talk about: Terrence Malick.

Have you seen The Tree of Life? If you watch the trailer you'll get a fairly decent idea of what it's like. Lots of gorgeous cinematography and hushed voice narration combining to make mediative statements about human existence and our place in the world. I mean - yeah - it's a beautiful as watching angels playing frisbee (or whatever) but - I guess because it's reaching for EPIC and IMPORTANT truths about LIFE, THE UNIVERSE and EVERYTHING it doesn't have many laughs. And even tho I was really looking for a long time to seeing it (watch The Thin Red Line and then we'll talk): coming out of the cinema I felt a little bit - unsatisfied somehow. Like an inch inside me had been failed to be scratched properly. Talking it over with my friends afterwards I came to the conclusion that - if you want to make a grand masterpiece that - I dunno - tells it like it is about how life works then it doesn't make sense to be solemn about it - which is what The Tree of Life is - if nothing else: it's very serious.  

And that was one of things that I love so much about Scott Pilgrim - because - hey (but don't get me wrong - it's a comic that underneath everything is very serious about everything that it does) but it also manages the difficult trick of underlying all of it's hidden seriousness with lots and lots and lots of really great jokes [2].

One of the other things I love about Scott Pilgrim brings us back to Watchmen again. Now for lots of people - Watchmen is the graphic novel for the ages: there is none finer and nothing else that does as much or proudly struts around in such a clever fashion and I pretty much agree with every positive thing anyone ever says about it. And yet... (let me see if I can make this clear...) the thing about Watchmen is that it's very much of it's time (and hey - what's not - right? [3]): in that the only way to really make a 'serious' comic book that people would read was to make it about superheroes (obviously yeah - Maus - but shut up I'm trying to make somekind of a point): and the only way to really play with structure and form and all the rest of it was to mess around with the superhero archetype because hey - in terms of comics - that's really all there was (to bring back Maus again: as fine and important and all the rest it is: once you get past the main conceit - it's not really a very experimental book - no?). What's so great about Scott Pilgrim (for me at least) is that it feels like (and - hey - who cares if this is factually correct - it's all about the way it feels right?) the first comic book to be able to play around with (and 'play' is the word for making sense of these books in that they're all about messing around and playing with the limits and boundaries of what supposedly can't be done in a comic book - or to flip that the other way: to show all the myriad [4] possibilties to lie with the precise use of words and pictures): if Watchmen was about superheroes then - for this reader - Scott Pilgrim is about showing you just all the crazy stuff you can do with comics: and that they don't have to be rigid and contained - but rather can be wild and free and expressive and all about capturing fleeting moments and stolen glances [5].     

But - hey - I haven't actually read it since just before I saw the film: so maybe I should go and revisit it and then write something a little bit more considered (altho just between me and you - I do have a little bit of the fear that it won't be as good as I remember it). But still: it's comic book heaven and one of the most delightful (and heart-breaking) things that I think I've ever had the pleasure to experience in my life.

So - if you get the chance - check it out.

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[1] Altho the film left me feeling all sorts of disappointed when it came out. Main reasons for that I guess were the fact that it was always a bit of a fools errand to try and squeeze six books into one film (I reckon he's much much better with films which he gets to design from the bottom up and - seeing how there's so many characters (beyond even all the evil exs) it seems like maybe it would have been better as a six part TV series or something) and also - yes yes - as much as I love Arrested Development and all the rest: Michael Cera was mis-cast has the lovable dopey lead. (Altho that does raise the eternal question of: who would make a good Scott Pilgrim?)

[2] And seeing how so much of this has been about films - I'd say that the one film that Scott Pilgrim really reminds me of in the way that it uses jokes to break your heart is Charlie Kaufman's demented and brilliant Synecdoche, New York. Both of which remind of this David Foster Wallace essay: Laughing with Kafka. (Oh: mentioning David Foster Wallace in a footnote! What do I win?): Best example relevant: Todd Ingram's special powers compare and contrast with the scene in the Kaufman film where Caden is forced to speak German to his dying daughter. That stuff's funny - but it also hits home.

[3] Indeed: "It's funny, but certain faces seem to go in and out of style. You look at old photographs and everybody has a certain look to them, almost as if they're related. Look at pictures from ten years later and you can see that there's a new kind of face starting to predominate and that he old faces are fading away and vanishing, never to be seen again."

[4] Ha - "Myriad" is a word I've often heard used but never knew what it came from: apparently it's the classical Greek word for the number 10,000 - which sounds about right for the number of possibitlies that these books blow apart. 

[5] I know that for comic book fans/geeks it's all about the opposition between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison (which for those of you we don't know is kinda Blur vs. Oasis, Coke vs. Pepsi, Star Trek vs. Star Wars blood-feuds in that for people that aren't already emotionally invested - it's kinda hard to tell the difference) - but I'd say that there's a better comprassion to be made between Alan Moore and Scott Pilgrim (and dangnamit - I know I should replace the word "Scott Pilgrim" with "Bryan Lee O'Malley" - but it's just that I feel like I really know and intuit and have a deep spiritual connection with Scott Pilgrim the book, the character, the idea - while it feels like Bryan Lee O'Malley is just the guy who just happened to write it - which I guess could be taken as some sort of strange compliment? (I hope) but yeah - sorry Bryan!) But yeah: with Alan Moore on the one side representing comics as being slowly structured and careful built and expertly put together intricate machines while Scott Pilgrim (on the other side - playing computer games) is comics as feeling (because it's about feeling and - obviously obviously - Scott Pilgrim is probably one of the most intricately and obsessively put together comics out there) like everything just feel together in just the right way.

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Links: Focused Totality Review of Vol 1 and 2 / Focused Totality Review of Vol 3, Sean T Collins Review of Vol 4 / Vol 5 / Vol 6, Savage Critic Review of Vol 5, Warren Peace Sings The Blues Review of Vol 5, iFanboy Review of Vol 5, And Another iFanboy Review of Vol 5, Comics Alliance Review of Vol 6, The Comics Journal Review of Vol 6, NY Times Review of Vol 6, Comic Book Resources Review of Vol 6, iFanboy Review of Vol 6, Mindless Ones Article, Comics Alliance Interview.

Further reading: Lost at Sea, Solanin, I Kill Giants, Blankets, Orc Stain, Powers, The Umbrella Academy, Domu, 100 Bullets, xkcd, Anya's Ghost, The Perry Bible Fellowship.

All comments welcome.

Books: The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For

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The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For
Written by Alison Bechdel
2008





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

 
My first exposure to the brilliance that is Alison Bechdel came with picking up Fun Home - the graphic novel of recent years that wins over the sort of people who tend to think that "comic books" are a little bit beneath them. The copy I got had a glowing quote from the New York Times Book Review slapped across it and it all seemed to my eyes a little bit -  dunno - boring and pompous. Nonethelss I thought it seemed like a good book of the month for the Comic Forum and held my nose only to discover that - wow - yeah - actually: it's really good. Funny, sad and moving in the sort of way that you tend to get from a really good classic Sunday afternoon film.

Making my way through the reviews of it afterwards lots of people mentioned that since the early 1980s Bechdel had been writing a comic book strip called Dykes To Watch Out For. With an aggressie-sounding title like that it didn't seem like the most approachable comic out there - but on the strength of Fun Home I was tempted to give it a go. There was an email sent out just before International Woman's Day that asked if anyone wanted to recommend some new "Woman-related" (or however they phrased it) stock  - and I sent back a list of possible comic book titles (seeing how I am now unofficially the Comic Book Guy of Islington libraries) with Dykes To Watch Out For scrawled across the top.

I don't think we got any of the books at the time - but then - last month crusing the shelves of Central Library  - oh cool! (and then: wow! that's a thick book!) I grabbed it and took it back to North all ready for the Comic Forum meeting that afternoon - I stuck it on the table with all the rest of the books and tried to see if I could get anyone interested in taking it - but then - when everyone cleared out at the end - it was still sitting there - looking rather sad and forlorn.

What the hey I thought - I'll give it a quick read - write something nice up on the blog and then maybe I get someone to take it out next month. Although - to tell the truth - I didn't intend to read much of it: the introduction was brand-new and written in comic book style - so that was worth a look - but as for the rest of it - well - there was that title and most of the art at the start looked a little bit too creaky and didn't want to spend all that time making my way through what - I wrongly assumed - was all going to be a bit polemical. And - god - it started in the 1980s and how much of that stuff is going to be relevant now? And I'm sure it's meant for pre-existing fans anyway - so what's the point of just reading the greatest hits? And blah blah blah blah blah.

If you like comics and you like watching humans do stupid human stuff like falling in love and messing up relationships and trying to make themselves better people and whatever - then do yourself a favor and read this book because doing so will make you feel warm and happy on the inside (There's one strip that opens with an alarm clock going off and a character - with her eyes still firmly closed saying: "Urg! Not again! Didn't we just wake up yesterday?" - which is (in a nutshell) my entire philosophy on life) . It's a bit like a soap opera (this from someone that doesn't watch or like soap operas) only a lot more no nonsense (lots of things that mostly remain behind closed doors on TV aren't kept off-limits here - so check your prudishness in at the door). The thing I kept comparing to in my head when I started off was Love & Rockets - because while lots of people talk about that was being initmate and special and showing the careful development of characters over a long period time and making you feel like you bond with them like members of your family and creating effects that you can only get in a long-form comic etc - that doesn't matter - because (like I've said elsewhere) Love & Rockets is kinda rubbish and kinda dull and left this particular reader cold. While Dykes To Watch Out For does all of those things and also manages to be really funny at the same time (which I guess comes from the fact that each page was orginally meant to stand on it's own merits in a Newspaper on wherever). In fact Bechdel herself described it best as: "half op-ed column and half endless, serialized Victorian novel" and - indeed - it amazing how much it works as a potrait of it's time sorta thing as it weaves it's characters in-and-out through the end of the 20th Century and the start of the 21st with it's steady back-drop of presidents and historical events (9/11 in particular and the Bush the second's two terms get a lot of precedence - so much so that - even I (self-defineded snot-nosed liberal) found it a bit heavy-handed and was a bit "man - get over it"- but then I guess the loss of civil liberties and all the rest will do that to you). 

By the time I was done - it was hard to put down - and (in the tradition of reading a really really good novel) saying goodbye was like saying goodbye to my family *sniff*.

Also: yeah - if the title didn't tip you off - it's about lesbians. But - really - so what? [1]

(My only small quibble is that with a title like "The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For" - would it have been too much to include the strip that first introduced the world to The Bechdel Test?) And oh - just realised this shelving books today but Mo (who is basically me if I was a woman) is a spitting image of the guy on the cover of the "For Dummies" books! Coincidence? I think not).

But - basically - read this book.  

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[1] And damnit - I wish there was a way to acknowledge that fact without actually drawing attention to it. To be able to say: you know what? The sexual preferences of the characters in this book have absolutely nothing to do with how good or bad it is as a comic. I mean yes it's good that it increases mainstream awareness and all the rest - but just looking at it's Wikipedia page it has all this stuff about how it's "as important to new generations of lesbians as landmark novels like Rita Mae Brown’s Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) and Lisa Alther’s Kinflicks (1976) were to an earlier one" and "The strip was one of the most successful and longest-running queer comic strips" rather than just saying how good it is despite all that stuff. And not to be too soapboxy about stuff - but we're only going to advance as a culture (and all the rest) when we can stop having to mention this type of stuff ("hey read this book - but you should know - it's got Irish people in it." or whatever): and yeah I realise that me mentioning this is part of mentioning it - but well - yeah. *sigh* - (life is hard for me).

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Links: 1979 Semi-Finalist Review, Things Mean A Lot Review.

Further reading: Fun Home, Are You My Mother?, Strangers in Paradise, Love and Rockets: Heartbreak Soup.

Profiles: Alison Bechdel.

All comments welcome.

Books: Chicken with Plums

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Chicken with Plums
By Marjane Satrapi
2009





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


Here's where I admit that I haven't actually read Persepolis all the way through (comic book blasphemy I know). I did try really really hard - but the damn thing just didn't fufil my basic entertainment requirements (or something): I mean - hell - even Maus has Art Spiegelman's dad to keep things (slightly) buoyant.

Then I tried Embroideries - which (maybe because my expecations were low) - left me pleasently surprised. Something maybe about it being divorced from wider political concerns and focusing more on human relationships made it easier for me to enjoy (not that I have anything against books being political - I just think that the writer has to be really good in not making it all feel dry).

So - when I saw Chicken with Plums sitting on the shelf at another library (having been sent there on relief) - I thought - what the hell. Plus (just between you and me) - I always like to feature books like these so that the blog isn't just swamped with superhero stuff.

Anyways. Chicken with Plums - yeah - it was kinda cool. Much lighter and to the point than Persepolis - although not as funny and as cheeky as Embroideries. Telling the story of Nasser Ali Khan and his last few days on Earth - this is a book that's half folk tale / half anecdote. With a mood that's grave and serious - that still somehow manages to avoid being a complete bummer. I still find her artwork a little too extreme for my delicate tastes (all those chunks of black!) but when I finished reading this - I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time. 

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Links: PopMatters Review, Relevant Magazine Review, Collected Editions Review. 

Further reading: Embroideries, Habibi, The Rabbi's Cat.

All comments welcome.

Books: Love and Rockets: Heartbreak Soup

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Love and Rockets
Heartbreak Soup
By Gilbert Hernandez
2007




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


I'm gonna open with a quote from this AV Club Article here: "There are few comics in the history of the medium as universally beloved as Love And Rockets, the long-running Fantagraphics title by Los Angeles-based brothers Jaime and Gilberto (“Beto”) Hernandez, sometimes assisted by a third brother, Mario. The comic helped kick-start the alternative-comics revolution of the 1980s, it inspired the name of a well-known rock band, and has been so good for so long that it’s almost impossible to find anyone with something bad to say about it. "

*clears throat*

As far as I can tell I've covered pretty much every major 'serious' comic series on this blog (Sandman, Strangers In Paradise, Preacher, Hellboy etc etc etc) with the exception of one - Love and Rockets. The reason for that is simple - I've never read it properly. I mean - I tried dripping in a few times - but there was always something about it that seemed to resist my attempts. Everything just kinda seemed kinda bunched together and the art was just kinda - I dunno - sloopy. But as it says in the quote above this is a series that's loved by everyone - and so I just figured that there was something wrong with me - and I wasn't giving it the care and attention it obviously needed. I mean - this is a series that I think I have always been aware of - and has hung at the back of everything at the start of it all like Bob Dylan or The Beatles. If comics were arranged like people - then this is graphic novel royalty. The kind spoken of in devotional and hushed terms by it's loyal and unwavering subjects and a book that I have never heard anyone speak a bad word of - ever ever ever.

First started as a self-published affair way back in 1981 Love and Rockets is a catch-all umbrella for the work of two brothers: Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez both of who write and draw and preside over their own separate fictional universes. Jaime writes about punks and the romantic entanglements of Margarita Luisa "Maggie" Chascarrillo and Esperanza "Hopey" Leticia Glass (yes - I'm just copying and pasting this from wikipedia) while Gilbert writes about a sleepy Latin American village named Palomar inspired (apparently) by the magical realist Gabriel García Márquez classic: One Hundred Years of Solitude (which I guess is the kind of thing you would have to say in the 1980s in order to get people to take your comic book seriously).

Now before I get my knives out I wanna say this: I don't deny that Love and Rockets is a comics classic. History is important and - even tho I don't think that currently I would be much use as a comics historian - it seems evident that Love and Rockets played an important part in the evolution and development of the art-form. But (here it comes) just because something is historically important and just because it helped blazed a trail and set the scene for everything that comes after - that doesn't mean that it's going to be worth your time.

I'm gonna use the Sex Pistols as an example (bear with me):

No one can deny that the Sex Pistols are a big deal. 1977 and Punk and all the rest. And without them - we wouldn't have today my absolute favourite musical genre: loud guitars and shouting melodically about stuff. And yeah - they've got two or three good songs that I like to hear every other year or so - but - let's not pretend that you'd want to put one of their albums on and listen to it from beginning to end (or maybe that kind of thing - listening to an album and enjoying the music - wasn't really what punk was about and I'm missing the point? Oh well - whatever).

So yeah - what does it matter if something is influential and all the rest - if you can't enjoy it on it's own merits? Another example (I don't care if it's not needed) is Raging Bull. Around the time that I was trying to get to grips properly with the Love and Rockets and making a concerted effort to understand and appreciate it - my girlfriend said that she wanted to watch Raging Bull - because she'd "heard it was really good." Hell yeah - I said - I love Raging Bull - I'll get a copy from the library... (skip to the end) ...it's not as good as I remembered it being. I mean - I could see all the cool things it did - and the way it pushed things forward - and all the nice editing and camera techniques - and Robert De Niro sure does a whole lot of acting. But as a film that's still as fresh and lively as I'm sure it was when it first came out (and way before everyone from David O. Russell to Paul Thomas Anderson (to name just the first two guys to pop into my head) stole all it's best moves).

But I realise now that I'm babbling (sorry).

The point (yeah - there's a point) is that taken on it's own merits Love and Rockets isn't all that. At least - not for this reader.

The things that people mainly tend to say when they praise this - is how great it is that the characters all age. Ok - fine. That's nice. But what else is there? The art still even after reading it closely nose up against the page (and waiting for the greatness to jump out at me) isn't all that. I mean - I guess that standards were lower back in the day. But it just didn't do anything for me. And the stories don't tend to do that much with the words and pictures: the stories just kind of sit there without doing much before they decide to stop at some random point and then glare at you with a kind of "yeah - what?" The one thing it really reminded me of was All About My Mother - a Pedro Almodóvar film that I got dragged to back in 1999 (I guess people thought it would be good for my soul or something): like - yeah - people have complicated relationships and time destroys all things. But would you mind serving me up some kind of entertainment?

I know that I sound like a major philistine at this point - and maybe you're saying to yourself that I'm the kind of comic fan that only likes his heroes with capes and four colours. No. I like it when comics go further and overstep all their boundaries and all the rest: even now most of the time I end up thinking that more books should try more things. And - damnit - I wanted to like Love and Rockets - I wanted to be seduced and won over. And - who knows? - maybe in a few years I'll try again and see the light. But for now: it's not exactly a book I would recommend.

I dunno. What do you think?

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Links: Shelf Life: 25 Years of Love & Rockets, Warren Peace Sings The Blues Review, Hooded Utilitarian Roundtable.

Further reading: Love and Rockets: Maggie the Mechanic, The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For,  Strangers in Paradise, Black Hole, David Boring,  Shortcomings.

All comments welcome.

Books: Strangers in Paradise

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Strangers in Paradise
Pocket Book 1
By Terry Moore
2004




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

Strangers in Paradise
Pocket Book 2
By Terry Moore
2004




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

Strangers in Paradise
Pocket Book 3
By Terry Moore
2004




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Strangers in Paradise
Pocket Book 4
By Terry Moore
2005




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Strangers in Paradise
Pocket Book 5
By Terry Moore
2005




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Strangers in Paradise
Pocket Book 6
By Terry Moore
2007




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

Before I started reading Strangers in Paradise I had it mixed up in my head with Love & Rockets. I knew that both were comics that were for people who "didn't normally read (urg) comic books" (and that would be the point when they said something about: "it's all just superheroes flying around isn't it?" and I would just silently nod and go "yeah - yeah" and then try and bring them on side by saying: "Oh - have you read Watchmen?" Because - everyone loves Watchmen) and just thought that it was all boring seriousness and serious boringness ("Strangers in Paradise"? I mean that titles makes it sounds like a poem. Urg!) But having taken the plunge I now realised how wrong I was. Because (unlike Love & Rockets - which is more like a Pedro Almodóvar film or something) Strangers in Paradise is pure fantastic awesomeness.

A long-running, mostly self-published black-and-white comic book notable for its large female fanbase starring Katina "Katchoo" Choovanski (a temperamental artist with a violent and mysterious past) and her kind-hearted best friend: Francine Peters-Silver (relationship status? well... it's complicated) this is a series that's less "graphic novel" and more full-blown soap opera. We've got histrionics, unrequited love and massively outlandish plots all held together with expertly built characters whose subtle emotions and thoughts are captured with precise detail by the lovingly drawn artwork. Seriously: if they were actors they would win Oscars and stuff. The whole series has been collected in 6 handy "pocket-book" (which basically means that they're small in page sizeness - but still kinda hefty in page countness) series. And like Mr Neil Gaiman says: "What most people don’t know about love, sex and relations with other human beings would fill a book. Strangers in Paradise is that book.”

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Links: Comic Book Resources Interview.

Further reading: Echo, The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For, Gemma Bovery, Fun Home, Love & Rockets: Heartbreak Soup, The Ballad of Halo Jones

All comments welcome.