REVIEW: 2001 A Space Odyssey #2



Writer, Artist, Editor: Jack Kirby

Marvel Comics, 1977.

(This review originally appeared at Weird Crime Theater.)

By pure coincidence, I found this comic at the Camberwell Collector’s Fair the very same week that I was reading Arthur C. Clarke’s novel version.

A cursory glance at the cover will tell you that Marvel’s approach to this property was so divorced from that of Stanley Kubrick or Clarke as to make it effectively unrecognizable. I mean, just look the price box alone!

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REVIEW: Wilson

by Dan Clowes

Drawn & Quarterly, 2010

(This review originally appeared at Weird Crime Theater.)

Look, let’s get some things out of the way right off the bat. Yes, as you may have heard, Wilson is not nearly as good as many of Dan Clowes’s other works. It’s not one of his best by any means, and it seems to be aiming for a kind of Jimmy Corrigan-like poignancy which it falls far short of (I’ll get back to this), but it’s still worth talking about, which is why I’m here.

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REVIEW: Action Comics #775

Joe Kelly, writer. Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo, pencillers.

DC Comics, 2001.

“Masks are for hiding. Capes are for play. ‘Villains’ don’t share their plans before they smoke you — ‘cept in campaign speeches. Or the pulpit or in front of the classroom. Reality is a mite bloodier than sitcoms or comics. The greys stretch out farther… Evil scientists. Bogey-men. Gimps in tights who want to ‘rule the world.’ From now on they’re yours — and the rest are ours to do with as we see fit.”

— Manchester Black (leader of The Elite) speaking to Superman

Despite some things you might have heard me say, or what you might have read in my diary that I keep under my pillow, I don’t really care about Superman in the greater context of things. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the Clark / Superman dichotomy, or what principles Superman embodies. If anything, I agree with Gary Groth’s 1988 essay that really Superman is a symbol of commercialism, exploitation, and the gangster morality of the comics industry. I love the first Christopher Reeve movie. And I like the character to the extent that he opens the door to stories in which, say, Jimmy Olsen uses a “Helmet of Hate” to turn Superman into a red devil with horns and then the horns crack open and tiny Supermen fly out, all drawn in an almost inappropriately naturalistic way by Curt Swan.

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#307 Getting some Action (Comics)

Action ComicsIf you’ve paid two seconds of attention to American comics recently, you probably know that DC “soft rebooted” its entire line, shipping fifty-two #1 issues last September. Since hyping the latest DC/Marvel news is not really our thing, we’ve been leaving that to other podcasts. But since Marvel zombie Tim, of his own free will, decided to pick up Grant Morrison’s Action Comics, and Kumar is a sometime Superman reader, we decided to present here our take on the first four issues.

Also, why reading comics on an iPhone is still a less-than-satisfactory experience; and, you too can be a DeconstructingComics.com columnist!

REVIEW: Canadian Ninja #1

Rogers Beausoleil: Script and Layout. Nathalie Lagace: Inks. Nelson Joly: Letter (sic).

Editions RGB, 1988.

Sometimes the only appropriate response to a thing like this is internet snark.

Quite obviously published during the height of the black-and-white boom-and-bust, it’s hard to tell how much a shoddy piece of junk like this was published out of sheer creative enthusiasm, and how much of it was mercenary. I’ll give you the facts, and you decide.

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REVIEW: Samurai, Son of Death

Writer: Sharman DiVono, Art: Hiroshi Hirata.

Eclipse Comics, 1987.

(This review originally appeared at Weird Crime Theater.)

Because of my own personal experience, I tend to approach fiction about Japan by Westerners with a spoonful of suspicion. Typically I find even pro-Japan works to be either somewhat or grossly based on generalization born of not spending long enough in the country, or not trying hard enough to get to know the people. Though, naturally, my own opinions of Japan are based on my own generalizations as well.

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REVIEW: Gangsta Rap Posse #2

by Benjamin Marra

Traditional Comics, 2011

Of all the comic covers I’ve seen featuring superheroes pummeling Nazis, this one takes the cake. And if you can’t handle the cover, then I should point out now that you will find even everything in this review offensive.

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REVIEW: Alan Moore: Storyteller

by Gary Spencer Millidge

Ilex Press, 2011

Conflict of Interest Warning: I provided scans of some of the rare material featured in this book, and I have a “Thanks” credit in it.

When this book was first announced, many of us Alan Moore fans were expecting a prose biography (the first) of Alan Moore. What we get instead is actually more like a coffee table art book chronological biography of the writings of Alan Moore.

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REVIEW: Tintin and Alph-Art

by Herge

translated by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner

Egmont, 2004

Herge began his final Tintin album — the 24th — in 1978, and it remained unfinished at the time of his death. This book is kind of a behind the scenes look at his working process. It showcases the work he did complete on it: thumbnails for most of the album (mostly stick-figure doodles really, sometimes just words in a panel), and a dialog script.

Wait. That might not be entirely accurate. It’s unclear from what’s presented how Herge actually worked.

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REVIEW: Birchfield Close

by Jon McNaught

Nobrow Press, 2010. Hardcover, 38 pages.

This is a book of astonishing beauty, pure and simple.

Birchfield Close is one of those not-common-enough books that’s not really about narrative, but about trying to represent sensory experience in comics. To some degree McNaught’s work resembles that of Chris Ware, but evacuated of story.

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