Hawken: Melee #2

by Jim Mahfood

In such a busy new comics week as this last one was, it would be very easy to overlook something like this comic, but luckily, I noticed that Jim Mahfood was writing and drawing a video game comics tie-in.  I guess this Hawken: Melee series is a series of one-off issues, although it appears that the other issues are a little more traditional in their creators.

This issue, however, has Jim Mahfood doing a science fiction comic.  I couldn't possibly pass it up.  I have no idea what this Hawken stuff is all about, but it looks like it involves people fighting each other in walking battle tank things.

The story is about a single pilot, Lance Armourstrong, who while skilled, is a complete narcissist and liability to his team.  When the comic opens, we see Lance out for a night on the town with his fellow pilots, who are quietly plotting against him.

Mahfood is a master cartoonist, and it's a real treat to see him handle something like this.  He brings a hip-hop sensibility to everything he touches, and I like seeing how that applies to a project that would have presumably had a fair amount of direction from the game makers.

I hope to see more things like this coming from the newly revitalized Archaia (of course, I'd be even happier to see them finish off more of extant and unfinished projects like The Secret History).

Los Angeles Ink Stains

by Jim Mahfood

Los Angeles Ink Stains, the book, collects roughly three years worth of Jim Mahfood's on-line comics diary of the same name.  It's a chronicle of nights out, meals, late mornings, comic-cons, live art events, and a lot of drinking.  Basically, Mahfood decided to channel both Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman at the same time, and keep a journal of his life.  And it's brilliant.

There are times when the monotony of this book gets to me - many strips start with someone visiting from out of town, lead to a taco joint, then a bar or three, where Food One and his crew run into people they know, followed by late night shenanigans, an after party at his crib, and then sleep.  The joy is in the details though.

This guy knows how to live.  Reading this, you'd wonder how he ever has time to write and draw, but at the same time, I came away from this book in awe not just of his talent, but of the circle of friends he's been able to surround himself with.  Mahfood rolls with indie comics gods, fine artists, DJs, rappers, and musicians from the LA funk/rap scene.  This book is not name dropping in a pretentious way, this really is his crew, and he's blessed to be part of it.

The book is at its funniest in the scenes set in comic conventions, especially the San Diego ones, which we get to see from an outsider's insider perspective.  I also enjoyed reading about his travels to France and other parts of the world.

I've been a fan of Mahfood's work for a number of years now (the first time I can remember coming across it was when he drew a comic for the Felt 2 album), but reading this, I felt a lot more affinity for the man as a person.  He finishes off the book with a few short strips, including the Gary Wilson piece he did for the Side A anthology, and a touching tribute to his friend DJ Dusk, who was killed when he was hit by a car.

This is a great comic, spotlighting the talent of a very unique creator.  Highly recommended.

Chew #30

Written by John Layman
Art by Rob Guillory

There were plenty of signs that this issue was going to be a big, important one, but I still didn't expect it to go down the way it did.

As someone who has spent his whole life reading comics, it is rare that I am genuinely surprised or shocked by what I read.  Pretty much the only writer able to pull it off these days is Robert Kirkman, who has, three times in the last few years, caused me to pause and take a breath before continuing to read (twice major characters died, another someone special was shot in the head).  John Layman totally did it to me twice in this issue.

The book opens with Toni Chu's wedding to Paneer.  It's as great as that fold-out cover shown above makes it look, with the extended Chew cast acting much as they always do.  Oh, and Jim Mahfood makes a cameo!  It's a great scene, but as Layman has often been doing to us, it's not completely accurate, and then things take a decided turn to the dark, as some pretty terrible things happen.

I can't discuss it at all without spoiling it, except to say that this issue packs a solid emotional wallop, while still being funny as hell.  The series is now half-way through its run, and this is clearly a turning point, as the Collector (the supposedly vampiric cibopath) pushes things to a new level.

Layman and Guillory are perfect collaborators, much like Brubaker and Phillips and Kirkman and Adlard are.  Chew is one of the best comics being published today, and this is one of its best issues.  I'm still spinning from what happened in it.

The Li'l Depressed Boy Vol.0: Lonely Heart Blues

Written by S. Steven Struble
Art by Ed Tadem, Lindsay Jane, Sina Grace, Jose Garibaldi, Chris Fenoglio, Zach Trover, Kristopher Struble, Jim Mahfood, Kanila Tripp, Roman Muradov, Justin Stewart, Sam Kieth, Jim Valentino, Scott Morse, Evan DiLeo, and Jamie McKelvie

I've been getting a lot more enjoyment out of the Image series The Li'l Depressed Boy than I expected.  Each issue has an effervescent quality to it though - it's utterly charming and fun to read, but it's usually a very quick read, which doesn't stick with me after I finish it.  Part of the problem I've had with the comic is that I don't fully understand a few fundamental things - like why is LDB a rag doll while everyone around him is a normal human being?  Also, why is LDB called the LDB?  He hasn't seemed all that depressed, at least not in the days leading up to his current state of confusion surrounding Jazz, the girl he likes.

I figured that this 'Volume 0' trade, collecting the web comics where LDB got his start, would shed some light on all this.  It doesn't really answer any of my questions, but it does provide a little more back-story and clarity on just who LDB is. And yah, he seems pretty depressed.

Many of the stories here are simple slice-of-life strips, wherein very little happens.  LDB microwaves food, or puts away Christmas decorations.  Nothing special really.  There are some strips that hint towards a dead girlfriend, or at least a dead crush, but really, we don't get to understand just who he is.

There is a long list of artists who worked on this character before Sina Grace became the dominant artist.  It's always a treat to see someone like Jim Mahfood working on a comic, but I think I was most impressed with the contributions of Chris Fenoglio, who I'm otherwise unfamiliar with.

This book could serve as a nice introduction to LDB, but could also put off new readers because it feels like it's somewhat lacking in substance.  It's probably best to start the series off with the first volume, which has a lot more story going on in it.  Still, this is a nice little collection.

Stupid Comics #1

by Jim Mahfood

I feel like I really need to track down more of Jim Mahfood's work.  I've read the Phoenix Edition of his Stupid Comics, basically a collection of a strip he did for an independent paper, and I read his Grrrl Scouts, but this is the first I've read of this series, which looks like it lasted three issues, spread over a number of years.

Anyway, this issue is made up of a number of one-page strips, with a couple lasting two pages.  Mahfood is a comics creator after my own heart - he listens to hip-hop, funk, and afrobeat music, and writes about jazz, the War on Terror, the War on Drugs, Catholicism, celebrity worship, technology obsessions, and gender relations.  He takes street kids to task for being boring, but also rails against hipster 'loop diggas'.

His pages are crammed full of his angry comics goodness, making this single issue a lengthy, complicated read.  I'm not sure what he's been up to lately, but I feel like I need to find out.

Stupid Comics: Phoenix Edition Vol. 1

by Jim Mahfood

There is a lot to like in this collection of Jim Mahfood's comic strips for the Phoenix New Times, a counter-cultural newspaper.  The strip has a few recurring characters, but is more focused on cultural and political commentary from one of the more underground creators to achieve mainstream comics recognition.

Mahfood's strip is concerned with many of the usual issues of the day - cultural complacency, environmentalism, Republican wars of aggression, the prominence of social networking technology in peoples' lives, Democratic ineffectiveness, celebrity culture, and the ridiculousness of Twilight.  To that list, he adds issues that are much more central to life in Phoenix, most especially, the on-going debate about immigration and the institutionalized lack of support for Mexicans and other Latin Americans in the region.

To that end, Mahfood positively eviscerates Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for his tent city prison, his pink underwear rules, and vicious anti-Mexican stance.  Sheriff Joe is an easy target, but that doesn't make it less fun.  He also takes aim at Governor Napolitano, and the Mayor of Phoenix with great regularity.

Not being from the area, I'm sure there are many jokes that I missed, but I did enjoy this collection of strips quite a bit.  There are many pages in this book that made me laugh.

Fascinating Fingers

by Shawn Lee & Clutchy Hopkins

This second collaboration by Ubiquity Records mainstays Shawn Lee and Clutchy Hopkins is quite different from their first outing together. There is still the same backdrop of spaced-out rhythms and futuristic instruments, but this time around, the two have focused more on creating different sounds and a more lush, textured album.

Also, for the first time in my Clutchy Hopkins memory, there is singing, provided by The Superimposers on one track. This is a very chilled album, although its variety makes it less monotonous than Clutchy's other albums (which are monotonous in a good way - it's not a criticism).

As with last time, the album artwork is provided by the incredible Jim Mahfood, which is very cool.

Grrl Scouts

by Jim Mahfood

Jim Mahfood is one of those artists who I always felt I should read more of. Although not all of his output has grabbed my interest, I really liked his story in Popgun, and have been meaning to give his comics adaptation of the second Felt album another read.

I came across Grrl Scouts recently, and felt it was worth a try. This is a pretty enjoyable story, fitting somewhere on a map around Brian Wood's 'Couriers' graphic novels. The Grrl's, Gwen, Daphne, and Rita are urban warriors, drug kingpins, graffiti queens, comic nerds, and more, all wrapped into three gorgeous packages. They hang out in a place called Freak City, where they deliver their drugs in 'Grrl Scout' cookie boxes, and chill.

Their activities attract the attention of the Brotherhood of the Cracker, a Templar-style organization, who decide to shut them down. Of course, it doesn't work, and the girls go to war. A fairly typical set-up for this type of comic, but one that is effective nonetheless.

Mahfood's art is very cool, and I like the use of gray tones throughout the comic. The story loses a bit of steam around the part where one of the Grrls reunites with her father, but otherwise moves at a good pace. I particularly enjoy the flashbacks at the beginning of each chapter, showing the grrls as young kids. This is a good comic.

Popgun Volume One

Edited by Mark Andrew Smith and Joe Keatinge

I love the idea of melding music and comics into a 'graphic mixtape'. The concept of being able to have a diverse and varied sampling of different artists, writers, and cartoonists is a strong one, although there are some places where the mixtape analogy is also what causes my complaints about this ambitious project.

Just like a real mixtape, this has some stuff in it that doesn't really fit. There are a few stories that are clearly meant for children, yet other parts of the book contain curses and sexual material (without nudity). It makes me wonder who the intended audience for this book really is.

My other complaint is that many of the stories are too short - just getting my interest before they are over.

On the other hand, this book contains some brilliant comics. I especially liked Jonathan Hickman's short appearance, as well as Mark Sable and Rob Guillory's strange midget Jonah Hex tale. Tim Seely and Jeremy Dale contribute an excellent zombie love story, and Erik Larsen's Cheeseburger Head might be the best thing I've ever seen him do. Joe Flood's story is nice, as is Chris Moreno's Ninja Platypus. Marcus White and Ed Tadem's ghost story is good, as is Richard Starking and Phil Yeh's historical examination of Genghis Khan. Robert Love and David Walker contribute 'The Blind Monkey Style', an Afro-Samurai/Ghost Dog kind of Daredevil story, which should be a regular series.

The two stories that really seem to take the 'mixtape' aspect seriously are Moritat's excellent tale of a struggling jazz musician, and Jim Mahfood's story of unrequited love.

Parts of this book are brilliant, some are merely average, and only a few stories were distasteful. I would like to see more from some of these artists, and look forward to getting ahold of volumes 2 and 3.

Clutch of the Tiger

by Shawn Lee and Clutchy Hopkins

So, according to the liner notes, Shawn Lee met up with the then-unidentified Clutchy Hopkins outside of a thrift store somewhere in the Mojave Desert, where he was given a tiger mask. This somehow started a lengthy collaboration between the two artists, which resulted in this album.

The album is the standard Clutchy Hopkins goodness. It's funky and chilled, and generally very enjoyable. It pretty much sounds a lot like his other work, which makes it an automatic purchase for me.

One difference is that on this album, there are song titles, which is a nice change of pace from his other work. As well, the album cover and liner notes are by the talented Jim Mahfood, which was a surprise.