Off: Comic Books

[C Mumford]

At 16:17 05.01.98 +0000, lil' ab wrote:
>Saw some of the new Creeper and thats
>>another yeech for me.  Creeper had great possibilities when first
>>intro'd through Batman but today he's just another pyscho with powers.
>>Better stop now I could get carried away big time.

Hmm, I liked the new Creeper - despite the "psycho gimmick" I think it has
interesting possibilities... and kickass inks by Sal Buscema (always hated
his brother's art :)

Jon Browne writes:

>Superman has been split into two independant entities, Superman Red &
>Superman Blue. Both are as dull as dishwater.

Once again, revamping the old *classic* tale >sigh<.... what, this is the
5th time now?? Haven't read Superman for about 3 years - absolutely loved
the great soap opera style the books had (and guess still have) for some
years.... the whole "Jimmy's homeless while ma and pa Kent are in trouble
and Supes has lost his memory on a distant planet while Cat's kid gets
offed and Lois almost cheating on Clark with the hispanic lover"-thang...

> Don't be too put out about
>them changing Supes as the one the killed/brought back/changed wasn't
>the Superman you love anyway. He died when Curt Swan stopped drawing
>him.

I (as just about everyone into comics) grew up with Swan, but I differ
there, as much as I love Swan for sentimental reasons :) Hell, the guy,
like Jim Aparo drew people made of cardboard but sure could tell a story
and knew his solid draftsmanship inside out. I was lucky enough to have Tex
Blaisdell (hard drinkin'/smokin' veteran Swan inker, who claims he was on
the phone with Wally Wood  when he dropped dead at his drawing table AND
was in the same car crash that killed Alex Raymond!!!!!! (Flash Gordon
creator)) and Jose Delbo (Wonder Woman & just about every DC character) as
art teachers.

> Superhero stuff, even when done well, has been done to death. The
>only hero title I really enjoy these days is Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
>Like in the '50's, the good stuff these days is in crime, sci-fi,
>horror.

I've wanted to check this out for a long time... I am just trying out
superhero books again after about 3 years, and the new Fantastic Four was a
truly great surprise - very stylish and classic - and RIGHT!!! IMO :)
Marvel have had their head up their ass for nearly 15 years maybe bancrupcy
was the cure??

> Do you read Frank Miller's Sin City?  That's as we say in
>England, The Dog's Bollocks.

Bah. Frank's descended into formala - might as well have Hart D. Fischer
ghosting his scripts IMO :) "Just insert 'fuck' and 'shit' in every
sentence" :)

> Preachers good,

Great great great book. HELLBLAZER remains, IMO, the most consistently
great fucking title with less than 5 crap issues in a 120 issue run.... IMO :)

> Invisibles is often
>excellant and, as it's an actionable rip-off of Jerry Cornelius, should
>appeal to most on BOC-L.

I never really recovered from Morrison melting my mind back in the Animal
Man and early Doom Patrol daze.... sploosh!

> Moorcock's doing a readable book for DC,
>Multiverse.

I find some of it pretty inaccessible like his Blood books.... maybe I
finally burnt out on him??? The OTHER guy next to Morrison who burned a
blazing synaptic trail thru my impressionable mind in the 80s??

>Fantagraphics continue to publish sterling work from the
>likes of P. Bagge (the post-punk Crumb) and Clowes (the post-punk punk).
>You can still get Barks' duck reprints, but not for long so buy now.
>Strangers In Paradise is an excellant soap title which brings women into
>comic shops (a novelty). Many of our regulars have finally turned wives
>and girlfriends onto comics with this title.  Not that it's aimed at
>women, it just happens to appeal to both genders for a change.

Read an issue of this, very subtle, very well done.

I also recommend Matt Wagner's (finally!) new Mage series! And Bill
Willingham's Coventry. And ANYTHING by Rick Veitch... (the THIRD guy to
revamp my head back in the 80's Swamp Thing - Moore may have a way with
words, but Veitch is COSMIC! His current stuff is so far out I wonder how
his kids will end up... raised by an insane/genius cartoonist >shudder<)

And, finally, the late, great and short lived recent Vermillion from
Helix/DC! Man, what an underrated series that was and I urge everyone to
search the cheapie bins for these!!


>Jon
>ObCD David Holmes "Let's Get Killed" - (inc. my brother's remix as
Delakota) at
>#34!! plug, plug!


Damn!!! So which one of you do your parents consider the most successful? :)

Christian