Comicsgirl

Castle Waiting Volume II Buy at Amazon.com

The most amazing thing about Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting Volume II (Fantagraphics, 2010) is that nothing really happens.

And yet, it’s completely enthralling just the same.

The bulk of the action — if you can call it that — focuses on Jain moving into the Keep with her baby, Pindar, and visitors from Henry’s past showing up looking for help. But mostly, it’s just the characters interacting — they poke fun at each other, help each other out, chat, eat, explore and play games.

We do find out a bit more about Jain’s past, but there are no major revelations. I found myself not particularly caring about who the father of Jain’s baby is when it’s much more interesting to watch Jain trying to teach Simon to read. Or when Simon shares his secret of how he wins at nine pins with Chess. It’s the small moments that drive this book. Sister Peace’s teasing friendship with Chess is a delight, and Jain’s compassion toward the troubled doctor is sweet.

Medley’s art remains consistently gorgeous — both playful and meticulously. While this is firmly fantasy with its giants and dwarves and imps and all other manner of fantastic creatures, her characters look and feel so full of life they seem like real people (and that includes the ones with animal heads). I love lingering over her images and taking in the details in the folds of clothing or someone’s raised eyebrows.

I loved my time with these characters. It’s such a cliché to say “I didn’t want it to end!” but well, I kept flipping the last page over, unconvinced it was really the end.

The Essential Dazzler Vol. 1 Buy at Amazon.com

At Baltimore Comic-Con, I picked up The Essential Dazzler Vol. 1 because it was $5 and I like Dazzler.

This isn’t so much a review of that book — honestly, you probably already know if you’re someone who wants to read a lot of Dazzler or not. Nothing I could say could convince you otherwise.

Yes, these comics are fun — the stories are silly and without much consequence but the ridiculousness is spirited. I summarize this volume this way: In one issue, Dazzler goes to jail because she’s charged with “murdering” the villain Klaw (oh, don’t worry, she’s acquitted), but really, it’s just so she can fight the Grapplers. In case that’s not clear — there’s an entire sequence that is a fight in a women’s prison for no real reason other than it probably seemed like an awesome idea at the time.

Most of the title’s silly qualities come from the character of Dazzler herself. She was a character created by committee — a committee that basically gave up on her before the end of the process. Still, Marvel figured “We’ve already spent the money …” so they went ahead with the series. She was a disco singer who debuted at a point when no one cared about disco anymore (although the disco element was pretty quickly dropped). We are constantly told she’s an amazing singer even though we never get a good sense of what kind of music she likes to sing. She’s gorgeous and all the boys — including various superheroes — love her without question. She’s also really smart and was supposed to become a lawyer but she just wanted to sing! (I like how they use “lawyer” as code for “boring adult job that makes a lot of money.” After all, being a doctor is too noble and being a teacher doesn’t pay enough.)

She doesn’t want to be a heroine (I’d suggest a drinking game where you take a drink whenever Dazzler says some variation on “I am not a heroine! I just want to sing!” although I think that would get you very drunk very quickly, so it’s not a good idea) but is constantly saving the world or the universe. Or just a campus full of students. Her power is weak to start out (she can turn sound into light that, uh, confuses and disorients bad guys) before immediately swinging the other way, becoming excessively powerful (she can then store sound energy and release it as laser-like bursts or something. It’s explained constantly but I don’t know if I completely understand it).

Basically, Dazzler comes across like a character created by 14-year-old girls for other 14-year-old girls.

Still, she’s charming and independently-minded. Her dedication to her dream is admirable (she just wants to sing! you see). While her real-life problems — not having money, estrangement from her father — come across as pretty trivial matters (Dazzler needed some problems so she wouldn’t be too perfect), they’re still easy to relate to. I was amused by a lot of Dazzler for unintended reasons because this is a silly comic. Still, after a while, I found myself rooting for her and actually enjoying her adventures in a genuine way.

But I do think she needs to ditch those roller skates that magnetically attach to her shoes.

I know Dazzler is still hanging around the Marvel universe and has been involved with the X-Men recently. So while she’s never really gone away, I think she’s someone who could do with a revival. The idea of a pop star having to balance her career, love life and super powers is remains appealing. I think some out-of-continuity, standalone stories featuring Dazzler would be great fun. With current reference points in flashy pop stars like Lady Gaga and Ke$ha, I’m actually surprised no one has done this yet.

I am happy to see there is an Essential Dazzler Vol. 2. I may even pay more than $5 for it.

When cartoonist Cathy Guisewite announced on Aug. 11 that her strip Cathy was ending on Oct. 3, the reaction didn’t surprise me. Mostly, people spoke up to say how terrible the comic was, how Cathy was just about a woman who loved chocolate and worried about men and not being able to fit into a bathing suit.

But you know what? I like Cathy — the strip and the character. I’m sorry to see her go.

I haven’t really read the comic in years, but I’ve enjoyed going back and looking at the archive of strips. In them, I see a woman who has her flaws but nonetheless approaches life with clarity and humor. Yes, she’s obsessed with her weight and gets into small battles with her well-meaning mother, but she’s still capable of taking care of herself.

Is Cathy a role model, someone women should aspire to be? Maybe not, but I don’t think she needs to be. In some ways, she’s better — she’s someone we all know and can relate to. Am I as weight-obsessed as Cathy? No, but I still feel apprehension when I go to try things on in the dressing room. Do I console myself with chocolate? No, but that’s just because I tend to like savory things more as my indulgence.

She’s not me, but I see pieces of myself in Cathy. Certainly, she’s a caricature of some of the less-than-flattering parts of womanhood, but I think that just allows us to laugh at ourselves that much more.

I was talking about Cathy with my mom (I had sent her Shaenon K. Garrity’s Survey of Aacks because I thought she’d get a kick out of it) and she said she always related to Cathy’s experiences. My mom is a smart, independent and capable woman and always has been. If she likes Cathy, that’s a good enough recommendation for me.

The panel included on this entry is from one of our favorite Cathy strips. I actually still have a copy of it from when my mom cut it out of the newspaper for me.

The Comic Riffs interview with Cathy Guisewite is wonderful, and reveals her to be, not surprisingly, witty and charming. I wish her the best of luck.

And I will miss Cathy on the comics pages.

I am nearly settled in to my new place (yes, it’s taken a while) and my poor netbook being out of commission has meant I haven’t had as much time or opportunity to write (I just need a new battery and power adapter, though, so it’s a cheap fix. Well, cheaper than buying a new one, anyway).

I wrote these two posts for Geek Girl on the Street:

• You’ve seen the movie. Now read the comic
• You like the TV show. Now you can read the comic

No, they’re not anything you don’t know, but they were fun to do. I did notice that as I started to round stuff up how much stuff there was to round up (and yes, as I reported on Twitter, I realized I forgot The Losers).

In any case, I’ll be back to my (ir)regular posting schedule soon enough.

I really don’t know where last week went, honestly — I certainly wasn’t doing anything important. And even though it’s only Monday, I’m guessing this week will be the same. In lieu of a review or some other sort of proper entry, here’s just a roundup of things.

• Guess who’s going to San Diego for Comic-Con? That’s right — me. I will be there covering it for Geek Girl on the Street and I’m very excited. And well, perhaps a little overwhelmed. Or at least, I will be. And since I’ve already purchased my plane tickets, there’s no backing out now. (I’m flying out of Richmond, because even after paying for gas, it’s cheaper and I don’t have to worry so much about how I’d get home from BWI at 6 a.m. Monday morning since I have a very wonderful mother to pick me up in Richmond.)
• I didn’t know there was a Tamara Drewe movie coming out until today. I enjoy when movies get made of non-superhero comics (and about that, I clearly agree with TOON Books that we should just call them “comics.” I do, generally) and I’ll be seeing this one once it wanders over here.
• I did not go to the Trickster signing. Because I’m dumb. And moving. But the book looks absolutely wonderful and it’s on my list to purchase as things settle down a bit.
• And here’s a cool interview with Dave Roman about The Last Airbender: Zuko’s Story, out tomorrow. Some of us are much more excited about this than the movie itself (which I don’t think I’ll be seeing). And I’ll leave off with this quote from Roman (because it’s relevant to something mentioned above):
  

  I think that at the end of the day, it’s all comics. I think that comics as a whole always have name issues. There are people who love the phrase “comics” and there are people who hate the phrase “graphic novels.” And in the same way, there are people who hate “American Manga” as a term. There have always been always been so many names for these things, and no one is ever completely happy with them — but a lot of times the label is just to help sell books.