REVIEW: Johnny Cash – I See A Darkness

Written and drawn by Reinhard Kleist.

Abrams ComicArts, 2009.

This book is part graphic biography and part lyrical interpretation.

There were two major pieces of media that I enjoyed that had a strong impact on how I experienced this book. One was the 2006 film Walk The Line. The other was The Man In Black: His Own Story In His Own Words, his autobiography published in 1983. Cash would later revisit the autobiography, but Man In Black ends with the acceptance of sobriety, quitting smoking and returning to his Christian background with renewed faith.

I See A Darkness overlaps material from those two pieces. It deals mainly with the early years of Cash’s career, climaxing with his performance at Folsom Prison. There is some material set after the death of June, his wife, in the last year of his life while he is recording an album produced by Rick Rubin.

What this book offers is some interesting visual interpretations of Cash’s songs. Of particular note is Cocaine Blues from the Folsom Prison performance. The story of the song is played out over several pages, the lyrics recounted as text that weaves through the panels. The song A Boy Named Sue is also developed with this method, and to great effect. In a way it was able to do things which a song could not by providing images to accompany the text of the lyrics. In a way it Continue reading REVIEW: Johnny Cash – I See A Darkness

#316 Matthew Forsythe

It pays to advertise! In episode #311, Tim asked Matthew Forsythe to contact him for an interview, and Matthew responded! This week he tells us about his two books that are informed by Korean (and other) folktales, Ojingogo and Jinchalo; about his tools, influences, and developing a style; and much more.

#315 Catching up with Rashad and Jarrett

It’s been a while since we caught up with Rashad Doucet (“My Dog is a Superhero”, “Nadia’s Jewelry Box”) and Jarrett Williams (“SuperPro K.O.”, “Lunar Boy”), two graduates of the Savannah College of Art and Design who have been on the podcast several times apiece. This time Tim takes them on together, and hilarity — not to mention some great conversation about building a comics career — ensues!

#314 Tiny Comics, Novel Manga, and Manga Translation for India

Okashi na FutariBrian John Mitchell talks about his Kickstarter project to fund the making of his matchbook-sized comics. Two of these books involved a collaboration with Dave Sim!

Rook Bartly” (US Air Force active duty member Jason) tells us about “Okashi na Futari”, the Japanese novel series whose author has hired him to draw a manga version of the story.

Then, Kumar returns to tell us about a couple of his recent manga translation projects, “Stupid Guy Goes to India” (which landed him an interview in the March 25 Mumbai Sunday Mid-Day, pg 38-39) and Osamu Tezuka’s “Adolf”.

All this, plus the announcement of the winning “what do you like about Deconstructing Comics” entry!

#313 Audio comics

DaredevilOver the years we’ve repeatedly looked at how other media adapt to comics, and vice-versa. This time around, Tim and Kevin look at the challenges of converting comics to audio, including Black & White Nexus #3 (1982) and Daredevil #1 (2011), plus some unofficial takes (including our own!) on Watchmen.

#312 Ryan Cecil Smith: The Interview

SFSFA few weeks back on Critiquing Comics, we discussed the work of science-fiction creator Ryan Cecil Smith; we liked it so much, we decided to have him on the show! Kumar talks with him this week about his influences, producing and promoting his books, and more.

REVIEW: Orc Stain

Created, written and drawn by James Stokoe.

Image Comics, 2010.

I can think of few books that match Orc Stain in the sheer level of raw creativity, fun, perversity, and originality. Stokoe has embarked on a program of world building worthy of an off-duty cultural anthropologist competing in a science fiction/fantasy pitch contest where the ideas are so daring they cannot be implemented in a medium other than an independent comic book (albeit one published and distributed by Image).

Orc Stain is the story of a lowly orc named “One Eye” who has a talent for being able to see the structural weakness in any container, building or edifice. Whether this ability is supernatural or is based on more normal perceptions is not really explained in the first volume. What it does do is allow him to do something which other orcs are not very good at: figure out solutions to problems that do not involve punching or stabbing. Continue reading REVIEW: Orc Stain

#046 “Doc Frankenstein” and burning questions

Doc FrankensteinFLASHBACK! The Wachowski Brothers’ Doc Frankenstein #2 and further discussion of burning questions such as: Can single-panel cartoons be considered “comics”? Are comics “drawn” or “illustrated”? How does society — American and Japanese — perceive comics creators or comics readers? Tim and Brandon ponder. Originally published October 23, 2006.

REVIEW: Signal To Noise

Written by Neil Gaiman

Art by Dave McKean

Dark Horse Comics, 2007 (New Edition)

Originally serialized in a magazine called The Face (United Kingdom) and collected into a single volume in 1992, this book represents some early usage of digital manipulation, photographic collage and highly expressionistic Dave McKean artwork. Dave McKean has an ability to use a Canon laser photocopier the way many traditional illustrators use pen and ink.

The narrative is essentially about millenarianism. Being written a decade before the year 2000, this book was also accurate in its predictions about how the millennium would result in the changing of more or less nothing. The presaged view of the ten years in the future may not be the most exciting depiction of pre-millennium tension that I have ever read, but after the fact and with the element of hindsight it is probably one of the most accurate. Unlike other works which tie into the Y2K cultural experience, this book manages to transcend such a time-dependent experience to capture the feeling of impending futurism mixed with dread and presents the more rational, grounded view which we experience with our mundane memories of that millennium event. Continue reading REVIEW: Signal To Noise

REVIEW: Mazinger

Go Nagai Creator, Story and Art; Takayuki S. / Mecha Design; Kazuhiro Amachi / Color; David Lewis and Alex Wald/ English Adaptation

First Comics, 1988

A few episodes back, I erroneously stated that Glenn Danzig was the first to bring Go Nagai’s work over to the US with Devilman (in which he infamously added nostrils to the characters for the American version).

This was categorically incorrect, and I should have known it at the time. Continue reading REVIEW: Mazinger