Comicsgirl

Archive for May, 2008

I will be at Wizard World Philadelphia tomorrow (today?) to take in the sights and to hang out with my friend Timothy Lantz in the artist alley at table 1304. Stop by if you’re there.

Dream Country Buy from tfaw.com

This is where The Sandman gets good.

A collection of four stand-alone short stories, Dream Country is where Neil Gaiman figures out exactly what the potential of this comic is – he can just tell stories. They are all connected to dreams, but that’s secondary, honestly. In one of them, the lead character doesn’t even show up.

I find “Calliope” to be the weakest of the four – while I like the story, the ultimate moral involving the price of ideas is a little obvious to me and Kelley Jones’ art looks dated (lots of bad early 90s hair). It’s still a strong tale, though, and Gaiman’s ability to combine humor and brutality shines throughout.

Oh, how did I forget about “A Dream of A Thousand Cats”? Seeing the world through eyes of cats does change my perspective a bit (the punchline at the end is a cute one). Mostly, though, it’s about the power of dreams and our ability to shape the world, all packaged in this fun little tale. In a really odd way, I’m almost glad I didn’t remember it because it felt like I was reading it for the first time.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is perfect. It’s completely understandable why this won the World Fantasy Award. It’s elegant and masterful, both on the part of Gaiman and through Charles Vess’ beautiful work. It’s a story about a story, but it does point to the larger theme of The Sandman as a whole – “The price of getting what you want is getting what you once wanted.”

In “Facade,” Gaiman and Colleen Doran take a minor DC superherione and explore her inner life and ultimately death. While the territory of “superheroes as people” isn’t necessarily original (and it wasn’t at the time), it nicely connects the idea of superheroes into a larger mythology. It’s not my favorite Sandman story, but it’s always touching and surprising to me. And despite her insistence that she’s not “merciful,” Death remains an adorable, reassuring presence. Death is one of the most charming fictional characters I’ve ever read.

Despite the philosophy of “it’s best to start at the beginning,”I think I’d quickly hand Dream Country to someone who’s interested in The Sandman. Maybe I’d have to fill her in on a few things here and there, but I think this makes a wonderful introduction to both the humor and the heart of the series.

I’ve probably only read two things published by TokyoPop and neither of them were originally English-language comics. Which is to say that TokyoPop doesn’t interest me too much.

But it does seem like the Manga Pilot “contract” (or “pact” as they’re calling it) does exist to take advantage of young creators. Lea Hernandez has a great roundup of links here.

I like what Bryan Lee O’Malley has to say:

Listen to me: there are so many ways of getting your comics read by people. You can print them up on a photocopier, sell them at your local comic shop / record shop / independent bookstore. You can put them on the Internet – I believe you’re all familiar with this invention. It costs very little and takes away none of your rights. Many of my good friends make their living entirely from having comics on the web. You don’t need this.

And I think that’s the thing — TokyoPop may give creators exposure, but at what cost? Gene Luen Yang said that the awesome thing about comics is that you can draw one, make a copy and sell it to your mom for 25 cents and you’re a professional comic book artist.

I watched from as distance as MegaTokyo started out as a hobby of a couple of guys and then turned into a profession for one of them. Maybe that’s an anomaly, but it can be done. If someone wants to make comics, they don’t need TokyoPop to do so.

The Doll’s House Buy from tfaw.com

>Opening with “Tales in the Sand,” a story about Dream’s doomed romance with Nada, The Doll’s House begins what becomes something of a dichotomy in The Sandman — the differences between women’s stories and men’s stories. Here, Neil Gaiman seems to be realizing the potential of The Sandman — these stories can take place anywhere, anytime and don’t necessarily have to be rooted in the DC universe.

He then introduces Rose Walker, who will drive the rest of the events of The Doll’s House. I wanted to be her when I grew up.

At 14, I hadn’t seen anyone in comics quite like her — a girl that looked like me, or rather, looked how I’d like to look. She was recognizable. Perhaps not intentionally, but Rose was pandering to a female audience.

Looking back, it’s not that Rose is particularly special. She’s cute, has a good sense of style and is fairly smart and savvy, but mostly, she’s just a girl.

But I think that’s why she works. I think she’s a large part of the reason why The Sandman got pegged as a comic that women would like.

I like the overall story — Rose goes searching for her brother and ends mixed up with several escaped dream figures as well as a convention of serial killers. Gaiman’s ability to pull elements from everywhere is as smart and as impressive as I remember (and the diversion of “Men of Good Fortune” is still delightful).

The dream vortex stuff, though, feels under-developed and tossed in there. The concept isn’t a bad one, but the resolution to it feels rushed and slightly tacked on. I think the serial killers/escaped nightmares/missing brother stuff was enough of a plot.

It’s a small complaint. I don’t think The Sandman had quite found its pace yet, but there is still some wonderfully inventive sequences and surprising elements. If I read this for the first time today, I would’ve liked it quite a bit.

(I have the old The Doll’s House collection – the one that included a summary of what happened in the first seven issues and also included “The Sound of Her Wings.” Wikipedia tells me why this is that way – at the time, there were no plans to collect the first seven issues – but it always sort of amused me in the “Oh, you don’t have to read those other ones, just start here” kind of way. Because for some people, that may not be the worst of ideas.)

The Beat reports that About Comics is publishing a collection of Gail Simone’s You’ll All Be Sorry, which we all read on Comic Book Resources many many years ago. (It wasn’t that many, but this is Internet time.)

I remember the day when we all found out that the Gail who wrote YABS was also the Gail who did Women in Refrigerators. I think some were shocked and confused, but I personally was delighted by it.

Lots of people have been linking to Changing the Female Face of Comics, an interview Hudson Phillips did with Rebekah Isaacs, Amy Reeder Hadley, Johanna Draper Carlson, Angela Paman and Julia Wertz. It’s definitely worth reading (although the all-caps questions and tiny text size on the site make it slightly difficult. It got easier once I increased the text size in my browser).

I’m always happy to see more female creators and more female voices in comics (even just as fans), but I’m also surprised at how slow the industry has been to change. I doubt women will ever like comics in huge numbers, but we’re at a pretty good point. We may still have a ways to go but I do think we’re getting somewhere.

Preludes & Nocturnes Buy from tfaw.com

Out of all of The Sandman, I’ve probably read Preludes and Nocturnes the least. I always remember it as being disturbing and unpleasant. Even now, I kind of view it as a hazing – if readers get through it and still want more, they’ll probably love the rest of The Sandman.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it this time around. It’s messy, it’s harsh. It’s still disturbing and unpleasant, but it’s also a lot of fun.

I think Neil Gaiman was trying too hard to tie the story into the DC universe and so those bits seem even more out of place than they did at the time I read it. He had just to completely establish the mythology and there was a lot that clearly felt like he was just making it up as he went along. The storyline of Dream’s quest to regain his three missing objects is actually a little boring on its own without much payoff.

But there is such a rock ‘n’ roll self-assurance about it, especially in the first issue, “The Sleep of the Just.” It didn’t matter if Gaiman knew what he was doing or not – he was really good at making readers think he did. While Sam Keith later dropped out of the series, he along with Malcolm Jones III and Mike Dringenberg gave these issues a dark, pulpy feel and did much to establish the aesthetic of the series overall.

Part of why I haven’t read Preludes and Nocturnes too often is because I always have to deal with “24 Hours.” It was the sort of thing that made me irrationally hide my copy of Preludes in the back of my bookshelf when I was 14. I’m still not much of a fan of the story, but this time around, I was kind of surprised at how much it didn’t bother me. Yes, I’ve read it before and I knew what to expect, but I think in a time where movies referred to “torture porn,” become blockbusters, maybe “24 Hours” just doesn’t quite have the impact it once did. (I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.)

When I was 14, Preludes was like nothing else I’d ever read. It freaked me out, more than just a little, but it did make me want to keep reading. Revisiting it, it’s still like nothing else I’ve read. Despite being disjointed, it still feels very original to me. I think that surprised me to the most. I didn’t expect it to become my favorite, but I’m glad I read it again.

Next week: The Doll’s House

(Hi to everyone who is getting here via Neil Gaiman’s journal. I am happy to have you here.)

In 1994, growing up in the suburbs, if you were a girl who liked comics, there weren’t too many options. I was quickly outgrowing Elfquest and I was no where near cool enough for Love and Rockets. I still liked the superhero stuff, but I was getting bored. Strangers in Paradise was just getting started and anyway, I had no way of knowing about it (this was pre-Internet). There was no Y: The Last Man, the was no Persepolis.

Basically, being a teenage girl (not to mention one of a certain sensibility) in the ’90s who liked comics, it was pretty much inevitable I was going to read The Sandman.

Nearly 20 years after it first began (and more than 10 after it was completed), the reputation of The Sandman as being a comic girls like continues to be pervasive, to the point there’s a growing chorus of women who are saying “I don’t actually like The Sandman.” And I can understand that: After all, in the decade and a half since I first started reading it, there are many more comics out there that easily appeal to women. It’s no longer quite the go-to “my girlfriend will like this” series it once was.

It’s been years since I’ve read the whole thing (at least five for most of it, possibly 10 for some of it). So, is The Sandman still good? Does it hold up? Do I still like it?

I’m pretty sure I know the answers to all of these questions. Mostly, I just want an excuse to read the whole thing again.

So: One of the 10 collections a week until I’m done, starting tomorrow, to see if The Sandman is what I remember it to be.

Update: Here’s all of them, conveniently linked below. The cover images are from the editions I have and are obviously not current.

Preludes and Nocturnes
The Doll’s House
Dream Country
The Season of Mists
A Game of You
Fables and Reflections
Brief Lives
World’s End
The Kindly Ones
The Wake
In conclusion

Apparently, the Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is some kind of big deal. There was an opening gala with celebrities and everything.

The accompanying text does take an intriguing perspective but the photos I’ve seen from the exhibit itself seem a little boring — mostly just movie costumes.

Still, if I manage to get myself up to New York before September, I’ll probably check this out.

On Saturday, despite what the calendar says, it will be summer. We’ll have a superhero movie in the theaters and free comic books at the comic book store. I don’t need much of an excuse to go buy the next several volumes of Nana (thank you, Viz. I did enjoy having money), but if you do, Free Comic Book Day is the perfect day to go.