After being in the doldrums for half a year after the Diamond melt-down, comics are flooding the markets again, so I guess I have to read some more comics today. Darn!
| Tujiko Noriko: PON |  |
11:31: Purr Quarterly #1
But first an oldie.
I was scanning Comics International when I saw this article — “a UK Raw?” I know, I know, all headlines that end with a question mark has the answer “no”, but still. Sounds intriguing.
So I went on ebay, and now I’ve got a copy, so let’s get reading.
So it has all these people, and a mini-comic insert. Inserts are very Raw.
But… this is very un-Raw.
I mean, I guess you could see this mix of art features, comics and text and go “you know what else is all pretentious and stuff? Raw! It’s just like Raw!”
But it isn’t at all. It’s like if you were going “how do I create an anti-Raw?” This is pretty much it. I don’t want to use hate speech here, but it reminds me quite a bit of Juxtapoz.
All “psychological” dramas and “shocking” shit.
And then, randomly, they reprint the first issue of Metropol… but shrunk down like this, and in black and white, “as originally intended”.
It’s a pretty naff magazine, and the Law of Headlines that End with a Question Mark remains undefeated.
| Fini Tribe: The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe (3) |  |
11:54: All the Cameras in My Room by Michael DeForge (Drawn & Quarterly)
Hey! There’s a booklet in this one, too.
“Denied one less rotation around the sun”… “denied one less”… So the more he spins, the more rotations around the sun Earth gets? That’s a very nice demon.
Heh heh.
I get so bored reading plot recaps that whenever I read a review of something, whenever we get to the plot recap portion (which is usually two thirds of any review) I just skip past that.
The reason I’m mentioning this is that this book feels a lot like reading plot recaps, and I really had to force my eyes to stay reading where they were instead of doing the instinctual “skip past the recap” bit.
(I know, I know — many people prefer reading recaps to actually watching a movie or whatever.)
I guess this book isn’t bad or anything, but early DeForge was such a gripping read — all these strange themes and things that came out of nowhere. This book is a collection of short stories that are either 1) gags or 2) extremely straightforward metaphors or 3) both.
It’s just a bit disappointing.
12:41: True-Man The Maximortal #3 by Rick Veitch
The next volume is the final one, and that finishes Veitch’s entire King Hell Heroica thing.
So this is the third chapter of the third volume (Bratpack is chronologically later), and… that’s a bit what it feels like: Veitch is writing a bridge, filling in plot points, and there’s a lot of material to get through this issue. So unfortunately, this does indeed too begin to read a bit like a plot recap.
But while this isn’t the most gripping chapter ever, it’s still pretty spiffy. Lots of fun stuff.
And as usual, there’s an additional 50 pages of reprints of old stuff included. It’s a good package.
| Joan as Police Woman: Real Life Evolution |  |
13:26: Oracles by Olivia Sullivan (Avery Hill)
This is quite lovely — it’s got a mood going on, and the art is attractive (if tablet-ey). But I’ve got one problem with the book that is going to sound really stupid: I hate the typeface they’ve chosen, which made me go *gag* as soon as I opened the book. It’s an upper-case one (normal enough for comics but a bit odd for poetry), but it’s all in italics. Which means that everything reads like it has emphasis. Which is like listening to someone reciting poetry using the most insistent, poetic tone, which just gets on my tits.
But really, it’s a lovely book. Shame about the typeface.
13:42: Physical Education by Joana Mosi (Pow Pow Press)
This book is fantastic. It’s Portuguese and it’s about an almost-thirty-year-old woman who is both nostalgic and not — which sounds very typical and a bit clichéd…
… but the way it’s told is just fantastic. The way it slides between different eras and scenes is kinda magical. And it’s funny.
And interesting.
I’ve seen people discuss why movies/books/comics avoid depicting a large part of modern lives — being on the phone — and the reason is “well, it’s boring”. Mosi manages to incorporate that stuff in a fresh, intriguing way, too.
Anyway — great book.
And now I think I’m going to buy some groceries, because I need to eat. Be right back.
Is it a coincidence that the “so-called” “insect” “friendly” way they plant parks these days also means that they don’t have to spend any money on maintaining them? IT”S A CONSPIRACY! How do I create groups on Facebook? “Insect Realists”.
| Richard Dawson & Circle: Henki |  |
15:02: Kottivakkam by Silje Rønneberg Hogstad (Jippi forlag)
I got some tomatoes. Mm… tomatoes…
I’m guessing this is autobiography — it’s about an art student in the 90s who goes to Chennai as an au pair (to teach the kid in the household Norwegian).
It’s a lot of fun!
But I’m guessing that if this were to be published in India, it’d spark another one of those riots they seem to keep having, because the book is mostly about how weird, injust and backwards they all are in India.
It’s a genre that has gone out of style because of obvious reasons, so it’s a nostalgic read.
But very entertaining, and the storytelling is on point — while nothing major happens, it’s always interesting without devolving into a series of funny vignettes, which these kinds of things have a tendency to do unless in the hands of a capable author.
15:36: La morte aux mains vivantes by Lafcadio Hearn/Martes Bathori
This is a screen-printed fold-out extravaganza.
It’s a horrible story of horrible hrror. Very well done.
| Snapped Ankles: 21 Metres To Hebden Bridge |  |
15:48: Night Chef by Mika Song (Random House)
Well, this is for children, but I’m actually finding it a bit hard to follow. That it’s hard to guess what these animals are supposed to be doesn’t help. This is a deformed chipmunk, I guess?
The story is cute and edumacational and stuff, and a lot happens, but…
| Shearwater: The New World |  |
16:04: Vad ska jag packa? by Tova Brodin (Lystring)
This is a fun book — it’s basically a handful of vignettes about interesting stuff that happened when the author was sixteen…
… and it’s engagingly told and really keeps your attention.
The artwork was done in acrylics on canvas — it must have taken forever to do. Very enjoyable.
| Conducta: Soundboy Johnny EP |  |
16:33: One Hundred Years of Reality by Kijitori Byu (Glacier Bay Books)
Hey, Glacier Bay… they used to publish so many books? But it’s been a while since I’ve seen anything from them, I think?
This is a collection of shorter pieces…
… and they’re enjoyable, and (like the artwork) they’re enjoyably vague.
| Mix’Elle: Rage Days EP |  |
But halfway through, I have to admit that I was getting kinda impatient with it all. It’s got one thing going throughout — a sort of half-dream, half-absurd thing that grows less interesting the more you read.
A shorter collection would have worked better, I think.
17:23: The End
OK, that’s enough comics for today.
