Occupy Comics #1

with contributions from Joshua Hale Fialkov, Joseph Infurnari, JM DeMatteis, Mike Cavallaro, Douglas Rushkoff, Dean Haspiel, Ales Kot, Tyler Crook, Ben Templesmith, Ronald Wimberly, Joshua Dysart, Kelly Bruce, Allen Gladfelter, Alan Moore, Matt Pizzolo, and Ayhan Hayrula

The timing of this new anthology comic is very odd.  I understand that the book was first funded through Kickstarter, and then solicited through Diamond by Black Mask comics, and that all of these things take time, but the Occupy Wall Street protestors were kicked out of Zucotti Park back at the end of 2011.  Sadly, the movement has appeared to have dissipated since then, which makes me wonder just what purpose this book, which promises to donate profits to "Occupy related initiatives", is really going to serve.

Still, I like anthology comics, and I like political discourse, so I thought this was worth picking up.  It's really a very earnest little comic, with a couple of nice pieces.  Joshua Hale Fialkov and Joe Infurnari's bit about the birth of the labour movement is nice.  I also enjoyed Matt Pizzolo and Ayhan Hayrula's strip about sampling Occupy and it's opposite, the Tea Party, and finding that they are neither of them accurately portrayed in the mainstream media.

Ales Kot and Tyler Crook have the best comic in this book, which shows the value of non-professional "citizen journalists".  It's the most linear and clear thing I think Kot has written yet.

I will admit to not really reading Alan Moore's lengthy piece on the history of political satire in comics. At least I think that's what it's about - I lost interest quickly, which also explains why I have a few barely read issues of Dodgem Logic lying around.

Reading this book, I couldn't help but think I was examining a historical document, which is kind of unfortunate.  There was a lot that needed to be said by the Occupy Movement, but that voice feels to be missing from our day-to-day discourse.  Maybe this book will inspire some of it to come back?  Perhaps a couple of years ago...

Creator-Owned Heroes #7

Written by Darwyn Cooke, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Steve Niles, Jeffrey Burandt, Seth Kushner, Chris Miskiewicz, and Dean Haspiel
Art by Darwyn Cooke, Jerry Lando, Scott Morse, Dean Haspiel, and Seth Kushner

With the news breaking this week that Creator-Owned Heroes, the comics anthology/self-publishing 'zine being produced by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Steve Niles, and a group of other people being canceled next month despite the ninth issue already being solicited, it's hard not to read this new (now penultimate) issue without a tinge of sadness.

I've been a little critical of this title in the past, finding its non-comics content amateurish, self-serving, and ultimately uninteresting, but I have been supportive of the goal of the book - to champion creator-owned work.

The saddest part of the cancellation is that the folks involved in this book have really begun to fine-tune what this book does.  They've added more creators (most notably Darwyn Cooke), and have given over more of the book's space to comics pages.  Also, instead of interviewing people like Jimmy Palmiotti's personal trainer, or cosplayers, they've focused the editorial content on creating creator-owned comics, offering advice to those starting out, and interviewing independent legends like Evan Dorkin.  Still, I buy this for the comics, so let's talk about those.

Darwyn Cooke's 'The Deadly Book' is a terrific tale, about a book that kills anyone who reads it, and thief who tries to steal it from his collector grandfather.  The story combines Borgesian conceits with the type of crime comic that Cooke does so well, and it tells a complete story in a short number of pages.  It's great.

Palmiotti, Gray, and Jerry Lando's 'Killswitch' story continues in fine form, as we learn a lot more about the title character and his upbringing, just as the collected mass of the world's assassin community come gunning for him.  I like Palmiotti and Gray on these types of stories best.

I don't always care for Steve Niles's writing, but when you pair him with artist Scott Morse, I'm going to be there for it.  Their new story, 'Meatbag' is about a private investigator who finds his contracted help ripped to ribbons (although his clothes are perfectly intact) on what was supposed to be a routine cheating wife case.  Morse paints this book in full-page panels that are gorgeous.

This issue also has a couple of shorter pieces.  'Blood and Brains', written by newcomer Jeffrey Burandt and pencilled by Dean Haspiel, shows us what happens when two fan-favourite horror concepts collides.  'The Complex' is a fumetti-style story about a video jockey who uses holograms and drugs to seduce women; I think it's a preview of a longer piece, but there is no explanation provided.

It is sad that as the quality of this book increases, it's publication is set to finish.  I believe there is a place for a book like this, and hope that something else will come along.

Scalped #50

Written by Jason Aaron
Art by RM Guera, Igor Kordey, Tim Truman, Jill Thomspon, Jordi Bernet, Denys Cowan, Dean Haspiel, Brendan McCarthy, and Steve Dillon

For as long as I've been writing about comics on the Internet, I've been hoping to draw new readers to Scalped (it was the first comic I ever reviewed).  I have been, on a monthly basis, blown away by the quality of this comic, and it is something that I think most comics readers would appreciate if they gave it a chance.  One hurdle, though, has been accessibility.  Scalped is a sprawling, complex story that, had a new reader not started at the beginning, it would be difficult to follow.

This fiftieth anniversary issue (and congratulations - that kind of number is amazing for a book like Scalped in today's market) is a perfect sampler for a new reader to get a sense of what this book is all about.  The issue opens with a father and son scalping a Sioux man in Montana in 1876.  The father, from a long line of 'Indian hunters' is passing on the finer points of scalping to his son, and shares with him their family's story, which is basically the story of the worst aspects of American history.  Things soon shift to a Sioux father and son, whose actions and lives parallel that of the Americans'.  The Sioux son's name is His Many Bad Horses, a name with great resonance for readers of Scalped.

Later, we see Bad Horses as a man, brought to the Prairie Rose reservation in 1889 by government soldiers, after being one of the last hold-outs among his people.  Once there, he has a vision which is shown in a series of splash pages, each drawn by a different artist.  The narration of these pages reads like a tone poem, giving a new reader everything they would need to know about Scalped in terms of its atmosphere, while rewarding long-time readers with a new perspective or way of looking at most of the central characters.

It's interesting to read Scalped as a book about hope and resistance.  So often, the title feels to be more about despair, acceptance, and defeat.  Aaron is a subtle and gifted writer, and I found it awesome to see so many different artists provide their interpretations of things.  The best sequence in the book belongs to regular series artist RM Guera however, as he hand-letters his pages, and makes the old Wild West look as dirty and sad as it really was.

I also appreciate the way that Jill Thompson snuck the Beasts of Burden into the book too.

American Splendor: Another Day

Written by Harvey Pekar
Art by Ho Che Anderson, Zachary Baldus, Hilary Barta, Greg Budgett, Gary Dumm, Eddie Campbell, Richard Corben, Hunt Emerson, Bob Fingerman, Rick Geary, Dean Haspiel, Gibert Hernandez, Leonardo Manco, Josh Neufeld, Chris Samnee, Ty Templeton, Steve Vance, Chris Weston, and Chandler Wood

This is the first that I've read any of the late Harvey Pekar's autobiographical comics series American Splendor, and I was surprised by two things.  The first is the caliber of artist involved in this anthology project.  Look over the list above - there are some incredible artists contributing here.  What I enjoyed most about that is seeing the different ways in which they draw Harvey.  He's always recognizable, but each artist plays with his image subtly, emphasizing different aspects of his personality or appearance.  I think Richard Corben's take on him was the furthest from the mark, but it was still very cool to see how he went about it.  I love Chris Weston's contribution, and am always up for some Ty Templeton.

The second thing that surprised me was the utter aimlessness of the writing.  I expected that Pekar's stories would be small, slice of life things, built around the struggles of everyday life.  What I didn't expect was that they would be so dull in their depiction of the quotidian.  A typical story in this collection has Harvey get up in the morning, go to the bank, and then go to the pharmacy to get his prescription filled.  When it isn't ready, he has to go to the HMO.  End of story.  There is no observation about life, or lesson learned; that's just it.

Another good example has him call over the neighbour to help him fix the toilet.  Then he feels gratitude.  That's it.  There's another toilet-fixing story earlier in the book, but at least in that one, we can revel in Harvey's victory.  Better stories involve conflict with his foster daughter, and there is one in which he remembers hurting a friend as a child.  These fit better into the autobiographical mode.  I know that the minute attention to boring detail was Pekar's thing; it just doesn't make for compelling reading.  Thankfully, the art is really good.

Cuba: My Revolution

Written by Inverna Lockpez
Art by Dean Haspiel

There aren't enough comics like this.  The writer of Cuba: My Revolution is a Cuban-American fine artist, and this terrific graphic novel is based on her experiences as a young woman in revolutionary Cuba.  When we first meet Sonya, Lockpez's fictional alter ego, she is 17 and getting ready to go out for New Year's Eve with her stepfather's thirty-five year old cousin.  Sonya is an interesting person - she's equally adept at painting as she is with a scalpel, and she soon becomes involved with the newly victorious Fidel Castro's militia.

What follows is a slow, excruciating process through which Sonya eventually loses all faith in Castro and his regime.  It's fascinating to watch as this young woman struggles against all evidence to maintain her belief in the revolution.  Even when she is arrested and tortured for trying to save the life of a wounded prisoner, Sonya clings to the belief that the horrid treatment she received was simply a mistake.  Eventually, even the strongest of faiths can be eroded by a constant stream of evidence to the contrary, and as things become harder and harder for people living in Cuba, Sonya has to wake up.

The book veers a little close to the type of anti-Cuban rhetoric we are used to seeing from the United States, and I would have liked to learn a little more of what happened to Sonya upon arriving in the US, but I did enjoy this book quite a bit.  As with his other recent Vertigo book, The Alcoholic, artist Dean Haspiel does a terrific job of depicting the memoirist author's experiences.  Good stuff.

The Alcoholic

Written by Jonathan Ames
Art by Dean Haspiel

I love Vertigo hardcovers in this format. There's something deeply satisfying about cracking open a book with these dimensions, and they are just about the perfect length.

This book is, I imagine, a highly autobiographical examination of a character named Jonathan A's descent into alcoholism. What elevates this above the purely confessional level is that Ames provides a great deal of insight into the roots and causes of his disease.

As well, the book is very funny in parts. There is a level of honesty and self-deprecation that is rare in literature, and although somewhat common in comics, is still handled uniquely throughout this book. Haspiel's art works very well with this type of story - his characters emote, and A's drunken or drugged out flights of fancy are handled as if they are common occurrences, making them stand out for their originality.

This book reminded me of MF Grimm's 'Sentences' - another Vertigo hardcover by a non-comics writer telling his life story. It's an interesting sub-genre for them to be exploring, and I hope they produce more like this.