Comicsgirl

Archive for November, 2008

I saw this post over at the Creative Loafing blog and I understood the point, but kind of wish it took the metaphor farther.

But reading about the “death” of Batman (and unless you’re living under a rock, that’s not really a spoiler) makes me think the comic-books-as-soap-operas thing is a little big closer than most people want to admit.

Because no one stays dead in either.

I was never exactly a regular soap-opera watcher. I kept up with All My Children growing up, mostly because my mom watched it (and when I’d come home for breaks during college or whatever, it was always easy to catch up). Cars would crash; planes would crash; people would fall off cliffs or lapse into comas. Even if there was a funeral, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that someone would appear later, with or without amnesia, claiming it was an evil twin/body double/etc. and they weren’t actually dead.

I understand that there are only so many stories writers can tell so many times before both they and the watchers start getting bored, but even in the better class of soap operas (and yes, they do exist), the stereotypes are mostly true.

How many superheroes have died, only to come back later? I don’t believe for a minute Bruce Wayne/Batman is dead. It may certainly make for an entertaining comic and a good read, but it’s not as dramatic knowing that it’s unlikely that’s the final outcome.

(I don’t read Batman, so you can gladly tell me I have no idea what I’m talking about and that Batman is dead forever. But I have read comics. And watched soap operas. Past experience tells me how these things usually turn out.)

I have little comment on the Blog@Newsarama crew departing for what I hope are bigger and better things for all of them. But I do personally find the entire sequence of events leading up to this more than a little depressing and I’m sorry they were put in this position. I certainly wish them the best of luck. (The Beat has more, including comments from JK Parkin.)

It’s very quiet out there and my schedule being what it is, I haven’t had much time to work on much. All my Google searches are just turning up stuff about Twilight right now (although the post from Splash Page about Neil Gaiman’s daughter Maddie and Mike Mignola’s daughter Katie reading the books was pretty much fun). Also a lot about Gossip Girls creator Josh Schwartz writing a movie script for X-Men: First Class (Not that I watch Gossip Girls or any of the other shows he’s been a part of, but I approve. I always liked the angst of X-Men. Still, we’ll see what happens).

Both those things are interesting on their own, but not so much worthy of their own post.

But I do feel the Coraline trailer is worthy of one.

OK, so it wasn’t a comic (although I did quite like P. Craig Russell’s comic version of it, which I’ll get around to reviewing here eventually), but I like Coraline. I was dubious about the movie at first but I’m now squarely in the “WANT TO SEE NOW” camp on this one.

I do think it’s funny that Neil Gaiman is not mentioned anywhere in the trailer. Not that I noticed, anyway.

We’ve all read those articles I like to mercilessly mock. You know the ones that have headlines like “Zap! Pow! Bang! Comics Aren’t Just For Kids Anymore!” They tell you that there are a bunch of comics out that have all kinds of terribly adult things in them and people are actually taking comics seriously now. Or something.

And sure, they need to stop writing these articles, but they make me a little sad for other reasons.

Kids like comics. Kids deserve comics. You know you had more than a few Archie Comics digests lying around and you probably enjoyed your share of Disney comics. This was long before you picked up any of the superhero stuff. You liked comics as a kid.

While there’s some exceptions, while everyone was busy trying to make comics all serious, people forgot about making comics for kids, or began to view them as somehow less interesting and inferior to the adult stuff.

Art Speigelman, whose Maus is often cited in those “comics aren’t for kids!” articles, and his wife Françoise Mouly, created Toon Books, comic-book style books for the youngest of readers, ages 4-8. And they are really awesome. I know I am often accused at having the same tastes as a 5-year-old, but I absolutely loved these. I was delighted to be provided with review copies of all three.

Spiegelman’s own Jack and the Box is probably for the youngest end of the target age group. It’s definitely a beginner’s book, with lots of repeated words and sounds as we follow Jack the rabbit as he plays with his new toy, a jack-in-the-box. Spiegelman creates plenty of inventive silliness with his bold art and color palette of muted primary colors. I found the jack-in-the-box to be a little scary looking, but there is still a playfulness to him. This reminded me quite a bit of the spirit of Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat and that’s not faint praise. This belongs on your child’s shelf.

Despite the word balloons, Eleanor Davis’ Stinky feels like a classic children’s picture book. It brought back memories of Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad series for me. Our title character, Stinky, is a troll-like creature who likes everything that smells bad. He has a pet toad, lives in a swamp and dines on anything pickled. He gets scared when a new boy, Nick, approaches his forest. It’s a neat reversal of roles — the monster being afraid of the human — and Stinky, despite his habits, comes across as pretty sweet. Davis’ art is adorable and round, giving the story a gentleness. There are also funny visual gags, like sleeping bugs and a hedgehog with a clothespin over his nose. The ultimate lesson of not judging people (or monsters) by appearances is always a good one. I giggled a lot at this book and was quite charmed by it. While I know some children who I should probably share this book with, I may be keeping it for myself.

Mo and Jo Fighting Together Forever, written by Jay Lynch with art by Dean Haspiel, feels the most like a comic book out of all three. It’s probably for the older readers in the age range, too. Mo and Jo are squabbling siblings who are given a super-suit by the Mighty Mojo. After they rip it in half, their mom creates two new suits from it for each of them, each with different powers.

In true comic book style, the brother and sister pair each decide they have what it takes to fight Lizard-like Saw Jaw. Mo uses her stretchy arms and Jo uses his magnet boots, but neither can defeat Saw Jaw alone. So of course the siblings learn they have to work together in order to beat the bad guy. While that outcome was pretty obvious to me from the start (I am, of course, much much older than the target demographic of this book), getting there is fun. Haspiel has a great understanding of super hero conventions and enjoys playing with them. Lynch’s dialogue is snappy and the siblings’ exchanges ring true as they try to outdo each other. This is the perfect book for the budding superhero comic book fans in your life, and maybe they’ll learn something along the way.

When I wrote about the children’s comic panel at SPX, I joked that I hoped there would be articles proclaiming “comics aren’t just for adults anymore.” I love that there are more and more great comics out there for children now. Don’t get me wrong — I like that there are more serious and mature comics out there, too, but I think there’s plenty of room for all of it. I love that imprints like Toon Books are dedicated to that cause.

Here’s a secret: I don’t particularly like Nightmare Before Christmas all that much. I’ve probably only seen it three times at most.

But I did whimper a little when I saw Jill Thompson’s proposal for a Nightmare graphic novel for Dark Horse. Nothing ever came of it.

So gorgeous, as one would expect from Thompson. I am kind of sad this didn’t happen.

(Link taken from Newsarama.)

It’s like all of my interests combined into one neat package.

I love this:

“I learned that animals are a part of us, so deeply embedded in what makes us human that the way we treat them and the environment has got to change, to be refined or we let a part of ourselves die. That sounds perhaps a little declamatory and dramatic but that, basically, is what it comes down to. As a species, if we’re to survive and evolve and allow the rest of the planet to do the same, we have to change the way we think and therefore, the way we interact with it.”

I obviously did not go to APE because no matter how I tried to justify it, I just could not rationalize going to San Francisco for a 24-hour period (and no one took me up on my offer of “I will pay you to go if you write for me”). So I have to rely on second-hand reports.

Luckily JK Parkin has a nice report on Day 1 (apparently the rain caused some problems). It looks like a fun time. I hope I will manage to go next year.

It was also announced that Ochre Ellipse won the 2008 Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics. I haven’t read it but I’m sure it’s a good pick.