Comics Daze

Brrr! It’s cold outside!

But I’ve got chawklits and a whole bunch of comics that arrived yesterday, so I think I’ll spend the day on the couch.

June Tabor: Ashore

12:36: Otherworld Barbara 1 by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics)

Wow, this is really something. We’re dumped straight into this group of people living in an apparently strange world with no explanation. And it feels so right: It’s kinda like watching a 50s melodrama? But with more mystery.

I’ve never been so bewildered in my life and I love it.

Various: Make More Noise (1)

It straightens out somewhat after a while, and everything’s explained… but for once, the explanations doesn’t puncture the excitement: The oddities keep coming, and things connect in ominous and interesting ways. It’s fabulous.

I’m not sure about the translation, though — “Why don’t you get lost?”, for instance. And sometimes it seems like the speech bubbles are arranged to be read from left to right, but makes things most confusing, but perhaps they were that way originally, too?

Anyway, it’s really fun and thrilling, but exhausting to read.

Richard and Linda Thompson: Hard Luck Stories (1): Sometimes it Happens

14:49: Love and Rockets #11 by Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics)

It’s always an event when a new issue of Love and Rockets appears, as if by magic.

Jaime takes the Tonta saga one little step further, and it’s cute…

And Gilbert keeps on filling in Fritz’ past. At this point, I’m not sure what his plan is here — I think he may have piled on so much stuff now that the Fritz storyline has already sunk.

I mean, I’ll always like his work, but it’s like — I used to obsess about making connections between things in his stories, and now I’m more like *lifts eyebrow*?

Various: Twenty Years of Prohibited Records: Curiosities

15:20: Good Boy! Magazine edited by Michael Sweater and Benji Nate (Silver Sprocket)

This is so not my thing.

Almost all the strips here seem to have a unified aesthetic? I kind of… I don’t even know… a Post Adventure Time thing? Video games and smoking pot? The above thing (by Sean Mac) was the only thing that even halfway worked for me.

15:41: The Adventures of Nib and Borba by Chaia Startz

It’s funny and weird. I like it.

16:01: Errands

Oops. Gotta run some errands.

Split: Jenhitt, So Low

16:27: Our Little Secret by Emily Carrongton (Drawn & Quarterly)

Well, this looks… ominous…

Interesting artwork — it sort of reminds me of Keiler Roberts in a way? The thin lines without much variation in weight. But with way more details.

Err… excuse me?

Those words don’t rhyme in English! Unless he’s saying — /skɔːn/? Well, I guess it’s possible they say it that way in some dialect…

Or is he saying /ləʊn/?

The mysteries are already piling up!

Sam Amidon: Fatal Flower Garden EP

Can you tell I’m just procrastinating because I don’t want to read this book? It’s going to be a horrible ordeal? I know, I bought it myself, but I basically just buy everything Drawn & Quarterly publishes.

And it’s… it’s the most horrifyingly gruesome book ever. Carrington is a really talented storyteller.

Time is a Mountain: II

17:33: Red Room: Trigger Warnings #1 by Ed Piskor (Fantagraphics)

This, on the other hand, is shit.

Time is a Mountain: II

17:35: Quiet Thoughts by Karen Shangguan (Avery Hill)

This is very soothing. Tranquil. I feel I needed that after that Carrington book.

I love the artwork. Both geometric and very organic.

Ass: 4

17:47: The Forest by Thomas Ott (Fantagraphics)

Very brief, but striking book.

Ass: 4

17:55: Aya: Life in Yop City by Marguerite Abouet & Clément Oubrierie (Drawn & Quarterly)

Hey… I’m pretty sure I’ve read this before? Hm… Ah! It was published as three separate books a decade ago? I probably read those back then, and I bought this by mistake, thinking it was a new book?

Sounds like something I’d do.

I think I’ll just re-read it anyway, then.

This is as soothing as I remember it. It’s got very French pacing — like one of those light-hearted sorta-romantic sorta-wistful comedies they do so well. And beautiful artwork and colouring.

*pause for dinner*

But it doesn’t read as well in this collected edition as I remember. It was great getting a hundred pages of this storyline a year — but reading it all in one go like this, I was starting to get a bit antsy towards the end.

Most gigantic collections of French comics have this problem: French comics are (in general) pretty compressed, and are meant as complete experiences when read album by album. I didn’t think that this one would have that problem, since it’s so soap opera-like, but it really does.

Coil: Sara Dale’s Sensual Massage

21:38: Chrz by Stefan J M van Dinther (Bries)

This is really cool. I first thought it was more of an abstract comic, but it’s got a pretty clear narrative.

Well. Clear-ish.

Very good.

21:48: Weeding by Geneviève Lebleu (Conundrum Press)

This starts off as an apparent relationship drama kind of thing, and then veers off into (quite effective) horror. Or… DOES IT!!?!? Dunn dunn dunn

I guess it’s a kind of post-de Forge comic book (with a slight video game feel to some of the bits). It’s pretty good, but my main problem was that I just couldn’t tell the characters apart, and there’s only like five of them.

22:09: And Now, Sir — Is This Your Missing Gonad? by Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics)

Hm… I love Jim Woodring, but this really reads like he’s done a whole bunch of spot illustrations (for whatever purpose) and then decided to collect them in a book. And jotted down some accompanying texts.

It just doesn’t build to anything, and while the artwork is pretty nice, not even that is up to his usual amazing standards. It’s a disappointing book.

But I guess any Woodring is better than no Woodring.

Coil: Sara Dale’s Sensual Massage

22:23: Bat Kid by Inoue Kazuo (Bubbles Zine Publications)

I guess this was a historically important Japanese sports comic strip? If I had read Ryan Holmberg’s 60 page essay, I’d probably know for sure, but I’m not going to do that, so I have only the 80 pages of strips reprinted here to go by, as well as a couple of dozen “activities pages” and quizzes. (About a decade and a half ago, I was reading somebody who was writing about comics, and they said “you know, I read more about comics now than I read actual comics” and then all the comments on that article said “right? me too!” and I realised that that was true for me, too, and I was horrified. And I decided to change my ways, because I love reading comics, and reading writing about comics cuts into my comics reading time. So I never read those things any more, but I’m sure it’s a lovely essay.)

The ratio is so lopsided that the book seems more like a vehicle for the essay than anything else.

But this comic is really tedious. I’m totally down with reading sports comics, but this just isn’t very good.

Even as a historical artefact.

The book itself is very nice, though (as a physical object).

Eric Malmberg: Den gåtfulla människan

22:44: XIII Mystery 2: Irina by P. Berthet & Corbeyran (Cinebook)

I’ve read (at most) just a couple of the Van Hamme XIII albums, so I’m not sure why I bought this spin-off book.

Cinebook have done their usual indifferent production work, I see…

… and this is might be the most inept French(ey) album I’ve read in quite a while. And that says a lot. I ditched it halfway through, and they were still in the recap/exposition part of the album.

And the artwork sucks, too.

23:02: Headland by Kate Schneider (Fantagraphics)

This is a lovely book. Just lovely — great artwork, fantastic pacing, and quite surprising.

The only jarring thing about the book is the way that it drops us right onto some text pages that explain to us, in the most dreary language possible, what we’ve just read.

Whyyyyy

But I mean, you shouldn’t let that stop you from buying it. I just suggest that before you start reading the book, rip the last few pages out and burn them, so that you don’t accidentally read them while reading the book itself.

I mean, rip them out and store them in a safe place.

23:13: The End

I’m totally exhausted by all this comics reading, so I think I’ll go out on a high point and call it a night.

Team Comics out!

PX Stuff

Read Yourself Raw pin by Art Spiegelman/Françoise Mouly around 1980.

I had this pin as a teenager, and used to wear it on my jacket from time to time, to the great puzzlement of, well, everybody. But I lost it!

I found it on ebay they other day, so I just had to get one now. I was the only bidder. Mua ha ha. Preciouses.

The back is very standard.

This blog post is part of the Punk Comix series.

PX77: Hup

Hup by Gary Panter (140x216mm)

This blog series was over half a year ago, but I’ve stumbled onto a couple of relevant items, so I thought I’d just write a few words about them.

More bonus tracks.

I was really excited to find this early Panter book. It’s a 32 page book published by Gary Panter in 1977. I’m guessing it was photo-copied?

The storyline is somewhat vague and some of the artwork tends towards abstraction, but it’s basically one long fight scene between a character called Hup and an insect guy. On Mars.

Note that Panter sings the pages as GARS ROZZ TEX, not Rozz-Tox, as he’d later do.

Oh, is this where Frank Miller picked up his entire style? It must be.

Anyway, this is a fascinating little artefact. It’s very different from Panter’s work in the early 70s, but hasn’t yet morphed into his late-70s Jimbo style. Can’t really say it’s on the midway point, either — it’s something quite separate?

And with a lot of Japanese influences, and with the Dal-Tokyo name in place.

As you can see. the cover is basically a colour photostat (?) that’s been glued onto the black-and-white interiors.

This blog post is part of the Punk Comix series.

Comics Daze Domino Edition

A month ago, I bought a buttload of comics from Domino Books, but I’ve been strangely busy with one thing or another and I just haven’t found time to do any comics reading.

But finally, today’s the day, and I’ll read until I plotz, or I run out of comics from Domino to read, whichever comes first. And as usual with these posts, don’t expect anything intelligible in the way of “reviews”; I’ll just be jotting down a line or two here and there, mm kay?

And… I’ll be listening only to late-80s music? Yeah, sure. New comics; old music. 🤩Conceptual🤩

Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook: Sleeps With The Fishes

16:01: Francis Bacon by E. A. Bethea (Domino Books)

Most of the books I’m reading today aren’t actually published by Domino, just sold by them (because I’ve bought most of the books they’ve published already). But this one is newish, and I forgot to buy it last year. I think it ended up on quite a few “best of 2021” lists?

And… it’s great! It kinda reads like a prose poem, and I’m reminded of Eileen Myles (but perhaps just because I was reading a book of hers the other week). It’s got that mix of honesty and wistfulness and humour; lots of humour.

But it’s not just an illustrated poem — the expressive artwork does more than complement the text.

Nice one.

And… hey! She’s got more books that I haven’t read; but unfortunately just one that’s not sold out. (But I bought that one now.)

16:43: Bicycle Day by Brian Blomerth (Anthology Editions)

This is a book about how Albert Hoffman invented LSD, and the artwork’s kinda amazing.

And it’s obviously a heart-felt project for the artist, and it’s a fun read, but, uhm, I dunno.

I didn’t quite feel it.

Happy Mondays: Squirrel and G-man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)

16:57: Ripples by Hagiwara Rei (Glacier Bay Books)

This book is about loss and remembrance and all that kind of good stuff.

And the artwork’s really well suited for the story — things disappearing into the page and getting erased.

I was totally on board with this book until about halfway through, when I think it kinda tipped over into something more conventional in a way.

I mean, it’s a good book, but I found myself growing impatient with it towards the end, even though it’s a short, brisk read. It’s probably just me, though.

17:09: Facility Integrity by Nick Maandag (Pigeon Press)

Don’t show this book to Jeff Bezos!

That’s the problem with this sort of satire — I think you can pretty much guarantee that this is the workplace reality at places like Amazon warehouses already.

The plot is that management institutes a policy where the employees can only poop between 12 and 13, and then a hero stages a successful revolt, which is the fantasy part of it all. So like most satire, it’s not actually that funny? But it’s good.

Skinny Puppy: Cleanse Fold and Manipulate

17:50: The Domesticated Afterlife by Scott Finch

This starts off really intriguing…

… but then it turns out that it’s about “spirituality” and stuff, which just isn’t my thing at all. But I’m guessing somebody’s that into this thing might enjoy it?

It’s a lot. It’s got a kind of outsider art vibe (which I usually like), but again, the philosophical discussions here just didn’t interest me.

Throwing Muses: The Fat Skier

18:35: 19991 by Xylor Jane (Picturebox)

Oh, this is a catalogue of paintings.

It’s pretty cool.

Steve Reich: Works (2): Drumming

18:43: F by Imai Arata (Glacier Bay Books)

Very odd book. It’s drawn in a quite American indie fashion for a Japanese comic…

Although there are some lusher bits.

The story is about a terrorist group setting up a state in a breakaway part of Japan — so it’s an imagining of what could happen if the Islamic State happened in Japan, sort of, with all the religion and other distinguishing bits filed off, so the terrorists apparently have no ideology, and they’re being led by some guy right out of movies like Saw? And while Assad fucking Syria up was a major part of IS happening there, in this book the Japanese gummint is basically… doing nothing?

It’s a very confused book. My guess is that the artist wanted to make the audience care about the plight of people living under the horrors of the Islamic State by recontextualising it to “what if it happened here?”, but the weird non-specificity of what the State of F wants (beyond torturing people and posting clips of that to the internet) just…

I was sitting here reading it with one raised eyebrow the entire time.

But I mean, it’s well made — it’s got a good flow, storytelling wise.

Jane Siberry: The Walking

19:38: Pause

Oops! I forgot I had to run some errands. Be back in an hour.

20:55: Back

And I got some er delicious kebab on the way back… that place used to be totally dependable a couple years back — tons of nice veggies and stuff, but apparently they’ve gone the way of all kebab shops now: Just meat and french fries and sauce. (With a homeopathic amount of lettuce.) Oh well.

And I’m deviating from the Domino-only plan while I’m eating, and reading this instead.

It’s by Greg and Hermann, and it’s kinda fun?

As expected, the kebab was “eh” and the mango lassi was “mmmm”.

The Residents: Discomo

21:36: 1-800 Mice by Matthew Thurber (Picturebox & Ambergris)

I’m pretty sure I have some issues of this, but not the earliest ones. Is Picturebox emptying its warehouse or something? I thought they’d completely shut down…

It’s a fascinating read — at the start, it’s not clear whether it’s all one narrative, or whether it’s a bunch of shorter pieces, or one longer narrative with shorter bits inserted. So you have to sort of make sense of things yourself, and it’s a lot of fun.

The Smiths: Strangeways, Here We Come

With the third issue, Picturebox is no longer publishing the book, and it goes to a larger format and white paper.

And… the plot sort of straightens out? A bit? And so does the artwork.

Still a lot of fun.

Various: Lonely is an Eyesore

22:47: Space For Black Hair #1 edited by Sabrina Sims

Hey, this isn’t a comic book…

Of course, I’m an expert on Black hair after reading Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers the other year, but this fanzine was still kinda fascinating.

Tuxedomoon: Pinheads on the Move

22:59: Our Grand Concourse by John Vasquez Mejias

This is a very wide and narrow book, apparently printed from woodcuts?

It’s totally and utterly brilliant.

23:11: The Palace of Champions by Henriette Valium (Conundrum Press)

I kind of more admire Valium’s comics than I enjoy them? I mean, I like them fine, but I’m kinda flabbergasted at the sheer amount of work he puts into them, and then I’m otherwise not that interested, really?

I can totally see people spending hours over these pages, teasing out all the details, but that’s not my thing.

And I guess these pages were mostly done in Photoshop? His 90s black and white stuff was more gnarly. (Gnarly’s good.)

Tuxedomoon: Pinheads on the Move

23:41: Fuff #1 & Trip To Key West (And Back) 1999 by Jeffrey Lewis

This is hilarious. So silly yet so well-timed.

And the autobio stuff is engrossing. Just looking at these pages, they look kind of impenetrable and messy, don’t they? But they read really well.

The inside front cover says that this is the fifth printing, and about 10K copies have been printed in total? That’s pretty unique for a self-published comic-book comics these days, but I can totally see why.

I’m getting the entire 13 issue run now. … There. Done.

The Cure: Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

The Key West book is earlier work, and the artwork’s rougher, but still kinda charming? And it’s got an exciting unmediated feeling to it? As if it’s unfiltered and drawn as experienced? I mean, nothing ever is, but that’s how it reads. It’s really entertaining.

He sure does end up chatting with … interesting people.

Anyway, it feels like a fresh take on a straight-up autobio comic.

Dead Can Dance: Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

01:25: Tinfoil Comix #5 edited by Floyd Tangeman (Domino Books)

This anthology reads very nicely — it’s a mixture of non-narrative…

… and somewhat-narrative strips that all have gorgeous artwork. My one gripe is that the editor could have made it clearer who did what: The contributors are listed in order, but you have to be really good at maths to see who did what. (Three plus one is er herp derp I eat paste.)

This might be Sasha Cravis? Somehow unnverving as well as beautiful.

OK, I should be going to bed soon… I’m exhausted from all this comics reading…

Dead Can Dance: Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

01:42: Life out of Sequence by Bruce Zeines

Wowzers.

Very intricate and appealing.

Andrew Poppy: Alphabed

01:51: The End

But now it’s definitely time for bed. And there’s like a third of the books from Domino left! *waugh*

Well, it was a good batch of books, eh?

March Music

Music I’ve bought in March.

Mostly just the usual nonsense, but I saw that Ministry is going to play here in November, so I wondered what they sounded like these days:

MINISTRY - Believe Me (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

And they’ve dumped the metal thing they were going for a decade ago? And they’re now back to their 80s sound, sort of? So I got the album (which is surprisingly good) and tickets.