Hey! It’s time to read some comics.
It’s hot! I’ve made some strawberry milkshake (ingredient list: strawberries and ice cream; it’s not ultra-processed which means that it’s healthy).
| Various: Pretty In Pink |  |
14:04: True-Man The Maximortal Volume Two by Rick Veitch
This was published a year ago, but I missed it. It’s print-on-demand and apparently only available through Amazon, for some reason? Yuck! But here’s a link anyway.
So this continues the story… which I’ve mostly forgotten all about, since I read the previous instalment years ago. But, er, it’s about how DC Comics is deep-stating the existence of Superman, and it also involved Marvel Comics, because why not. (Stan Lee working hard above.)
Which reminds me that I’ve been getting posts from this Facebook group in my feed lately. It’s apparently a group dedicated to documenting Stan Lee’s methods, and every other article is about how Lee is a totally untalented hack, and has never done anything of note ever. They’re probably right, but it’s starting to feel like some kind of obsessive cult…
| Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore: Tragic Magic |  |
Speaking of cults… this volume is pretty odd, and besides involving the Symbionese Liberation Army and James Bond, we also get Tarzan? Was he in the first volume, too? I forget.
Anyway, it’s classic Veitch — very dense and a lot of fun.
And as usual, the last 50 pages collect version old Veitch things, but, er, not all of it’s thrilling.
| Irreversible Entanglements: Future Present Past |  |
14:53: Meet the Gang by Austin Ansbro (Desert Island)
This is a collection of illustrations.
It’s cool.
| Various: When There Is No Sun |  |
14:55: Our Little Wild Time by Fred Noland (Fantagraphics)
It’s all transgressive and stuff.
And then half of the book is drawings based on mug shots or something.
OK, I gotta run some errands.
17:39: What We Mean by Yesterday Vol 2 by Benjamin Marra (Fantagraphics)
OK, I ended up taking a nap. Oops!
This is one of those books that collects a strip that was originally serialised on Instagram, and… it feels like it? The lack of ambition is palpable.
It’s about a hapless asshole going on a quest, which is the perfect framework for this kind of stuff. The humour is mostly derived from people talking in very stilted, formal speech, and… that doesn’t really work?
But it’s OK. It feels kinda video game derived, but the storytelling works, and it doesn’t go exactly where you expect it to go.
| Adult.: Kissing Luck Goodbye |  |
18:07: Mary Pain by Lola Lorente (Drawn & Quarterly)
That’s a very striking cover.
This is a Spanish book. I really like the mood it’s got going on — it seems to flow like a viscous liquid from panel to panel.
It’s about a woman moving back to her childhood home… which is a tried and true setup, but it goes somewhere else than normal.
It’s also got all these scenes that you first think are going to be dreams or symbolic or something, but then they turn out to be real.
It’s good stuff, but I wasn’t as gripped as I think you’re supposed to be.
| Various: The Best of Black Jazz Records |  |
18:35: Realicide #3 by Mikey Reger
Wow, love the artwork.
The first half of the book is mostly in the age-old underground comix tradition of ranting at the reader about random thoughts, many drug and sex related.
The last half is (I think?) a reprint of earlier issues of Realicide? They are quite different — it’s mostly autobio stories about growing up punk in San Francisco, and about parents dying and all that kind of stuff.
It’s really good. The artwork is engrossing and the stories are interesting.
…
OH FUCK! I thought that this was the start of a followup series or something — the title is “The End of The Arab of the Future vol 1”. Fucking Fantagraphics… this is really volume 5 of “The Arab of the Future”, which I’ve read in a different translation already.
Grr.
19:31: Super Creepshow #1 (Image Comics)
Errr… I have no recollection of buying this — perhaps Midtown just sent it as a freebie?
So the schtick here is that this is one of those twist ending horror anthologies, but it has super-heroes.
I guess it’s not horrible, but it’s kinda meh.
19:39: Leif by Anne-Kristin Strøm & Daniel Østvold (Ford Forlag)
This is a book about the author’s father…
… and I’m not sure how much is true and how much is made up, but it’s very entertaining, anyway.
| Squarepusher: Kammerkonzert |  |
20:03: Fox Bunny Funny by Andy Hartzell (Uncivilized Books)
Well, the artwork certainly is attractive.
So this entire thing is metaphorical?
But… it just doesn’t seem… well conceived. It feels pretty confused.
20:14: Palookaville #25 by Seth (Drawn & Quarterly)
Hey, it’s the latest Palookaville. He seems to have discovered his inner Rick Geary here — so many objects.
As usual, half the book is take up by his serial, which is about Seth reminiscing about his youth — and now he’s reached Toronto, which makes a change. I still really enjoy the mood he’s going for.
And as usual, we also get some of his art projects…
… and then a story published elsewhere.
It’s a solid, solid package. I’ll be here next year or whenever the next issue appears.
| Peaches: No Lube So Rude |  |
21:14: The Corten Steel Phoenix by Rich Tommaso (Floating World Comics)
Oh! I’ve read this before. This is a collection of those Spy Seal comics… but it’s been a while since I read those, so I might as well read the book.
Tommaso sure does that Tintin well.
This book is hugely enjoyable on a page-to-page basis, with Tommaso cribbing I mean paying homage to specific Tintin panels all over the place. But I must say that I found the storyline to be pretty… “eh?” That is, we get a lot of action sequences, and then we get a couple pages of infodumping, and then repeat. Sure, that’s very Bond, but it just doesn’t quite cohere?
But it’s fun, anyway.
| Maria BC: Marathon |  |
21:38: The End
I think that’s enough comics for one day. I’m exhausted. Even with the nap in the middle.