The Compleat Moonshadow

By John Marc DeMatteis and Jon J Muth
(Graphic Novel)



JAMES says:

Yes, that’s right, I said Graphic novel. Not comic. If any work deserved to avoid the negative baggage of the sequential story-telling medium it is this one. Not only does it have a literary sensibility strong enough to justify the novel tag, it could even quite happily be a penguin classic if you added in a few humourless, patronising and distracting foot notes. The story of a young boy’s journey from innocence to experience, it falls firmly into the bildungsroman genre, specifically the masochistic bildungsroman of works like Candide or Nathanael West’s A Cool Million. In a presumed attempt by the author to punish his past self for his surrendered innocence (which, if we think back on our own over-earnest teenage years is all understandable), the eponymous hero suffers indignity, disease and betrayal as his romantic world view is extracted with a rusty hook.

When looked upon as independent sections matters are not always subtle, and you are reminded that the author also co-wrote the Justice League during it’s humourous late 80s phase. However if the characters are drawn with broad brush-strokes it is of a piece with what you might find in, say, Dickens or Moses. And it all adds to the archetypal feel of the work.

Perhaps the reason why few graphical works achieve a level where they could be referred to as literature is that they have twice the opportunity to fail. To succeed either the author must be one of the few, the happy few, artists who are also able to write well, or the collaborators are fortunate enough to have complimentary visions. That is definitely the case here, where Muth adapts his style to the plot sympathetically, from sketchy caricature to languid Klimt-esque eroticism, whilst not losing an over-arching and cohesive vision. And it’s mighty pretty.

There are, of course, downsides. Pleasure needs be bedded with her cruel master disappointment at all times, thus is the cosmic balance maintained. Throughout Moonshadow’s journey he is placed in numerous perilous positions, yet there is very rarely a sense of peril. Partly due to the fact that the narrator is the hero in his dotage, yet also due to a feeling of invulnerability as he drifts from one disaster to another. He even manages to keep his cat with him, for G’l Doses’s sake, whereas my two cannot make it to the end of our road without getting spooked and running up a tree with a tail as bushy as a Scotsman’s beard.

Also, whilst one gets a slight sense of superiority from reading a weighty novel on the tube, the stigma attached to having pictures mean this must needs be consumed at home. Finally, for the duration of the book you will have ‘Moonshadow’ by Cat Stevens stuck in your head.

Regardless, this is a work of real beauty and profundity. It's subject matter is all human life, and there are no definitive resolutions save that most definitive of all, and if you can read the final chapter without feeling the approach of manly yet sensitive tears then you are not welcome at my table.

I’ll lend it to you if you want.

9.3/10

The Silver Surfer

(Former Herald of Galactus)



JAMES says:

The Silver Surfer is basically a silver guy who files around in space on a surfboard, essentially in the nude, looking for planets for his boss to eat. Now you’d think this would be the coolest job in the universe, but you wouldn’t know it to listen to the guy. Since he was made redundant he spends his time sitting around on mountains moping about something or other in a tediously overwrought fashion. You really just want to slap the guy. Unfortunately this would do you no good because, as he is constantly reminding everyone, his skin can withstand comets/suns/the endless black cold lonely depths of space that stretch in front of you to eternity like the darkness in the heart of mankind. Actually, if Stan Lee wrote all my dialogue I’d probably be a bit bummed out.

The Silver Surfer was merely the most successful of a number of “sports in space” characters, including the skiing Black Racer (like death, but with fondue afterwards), Gaard (an alternate version of the Human Torch who protected a portal in space by playing hockey) and Kur-Lin (a symbiotic binary being, compose of a giant rock creature who spits asteroids at his foes and a feathered alien that flies in front of the asteroid whilst cleaning space with his tail so that it travels more smoothly, and who surprisingly is the only one of these I made up). So it could have been worse I suppose.

Also, Silver Surfer: Parable (by Moebius) rocks.

5.1/10

---

Buy Silver Surfer: Parable on Amazon now! Although apparently it's out-of-print and is just ludicrously expensive, so y'know. You'd have to really want it.

You Chose Right The First Time

By DGL and Chris Nicholas
(Comic Book)



NEILL says:

If there’s one thing better than comics, it’s FREE COMICS!! Especially when they don’t suck. You can imagine then my excitement upon receiving, all the way from the grand old state of Texas in the U. S. of A. a package containing the first couple of issues of ‘You Chose Right The First Time’, a comic which was not only FREE (perks of being a reviewer!) but quite strikingly and comprehensively does not suck.

Y.C.R.T.F.T tells the tale of the impressively-named Lem Bivage, who may be just about the least sympathetic protagonist to ever stink up the pages of a comic. A low-life morally repugnant murderous little shitbag with no principles, courage or apparent sense of personal hygiene, Bivage uneasily inhabits the world of Chicago in the late 60’s, a place of civil unrest, police corruption, perverted gangsters and filthy goddamn punk hippies. One of the chief joys of Y.C.R.T.F.T is how convincingly and entertainingly the creators evoke this messed-up setting. You can almost smell the piss and broken teeth. No, that’s a good thing.

The other chief joy is the art. Artist and co-writer Dave Lamplugh ('DGL') has a vivid blocky ‘woodcut-y’ style, and is not afraid of a pot of black ink. There are moments where the perspective and anatomy can be a little graceless, but these are more than made up for by flourishes of superb inventiveness and originality. There is a sequence in issue one where the art uses a kind of spotlight effect to follow the main character as he loses himself in a crowd that is incredibly effective and just plain damn cool. The cumulative effect of this comic is like reading James Ellroy illustrated by an angry bitter drunken genius. And that's got to be worth a look, right?

8.1/10

Want to read this comic but can’t find it in your local W. H. Smiths? No duh! Contact the creators direct on ycrtft@comic.com and I’m sure they’ll be happy to provide you with ordering details etc.

Strangehaven

by Gary Spencer Milldige
(Comic Book)



NEILL says:

Imagine, if you will, a cross between the Archers and Twin Peaks; an everyday tale of normal English village life with healthy lashings of sinister masonic conspiracy, UFO cult strangeness, amazonian indian mysticism and brutal multiple killings. With me so far? Doesn’t it sound fucking ace? Now imagine that this gloriously warped tale is illustrated with some of the most beautiful, stylish and evocative artwork being produced in Britain right now; a combination of bold, blocky line art and layered ink washes that makes the strangeness of the events it depicts all the more unsettling for grounding it in a reality of near-documentary authenticity. Okay, you still with me? God, I’m excited just describing it. Don’t you want to read this comic RIGHT NOW??? Of course you do. Right. Now imagine that you have to wait, on average, an ENTIRE FUCKING YEAR between instalments of this thing.I mean to say, what? If the Archers tried that I don’t think it’d go down too well. And, to be fair, about as much happens in a single issue of Strangehaven as in one 15-minute episode of Radio 4’s longest-running shit-arsed dull yokel soap. (The parallels don’t end there, in fact; for all his vivid imagination and astonishing artistic skill, writer / artist Millidge has a flair for stilted, prosaic dialogue that would be right at home amongst Ambridge’s denizens. Shit, this guy could dialogue for Emmerdale).

I’m torn as to whether I should recommend reading ‘Strangehaven’. On the one hand, it will condemn you to a lifetime of addiction, unfulfilled yearning and waiting… endlessly, endlessly waiting….On the other hand, it seriously is one of the best-looking things I have ever seen. On balance, I think I would have to say everyone should go and buy it so as to support such a rare and individual artist, so he can stop having to get other jobs to support himself and his family, and can get on with the important business of telling his bizarre, engrossing and utterly unique tale.

8/10

www.millidge.com - the website

Tintin at Sea

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
(Exhibition)



NEILL says:

Ah, Tintin. If there is one sight that makes me happier than anything else in the world, it is.. well, let's be honest, it's a big pie. But if there's anything else that even comes close, it is the back of a Tintin book: miniature versions of the covers of all the other books in the series, arranged in a perfect grid, their bright colours and dramatic scenes promising adventure and intrigue and... you know, all that good stuff. Many happy childhood afternoons were spent staring at these back covers, trying to imagine the grass-is-greener excitement to be found in the volumes our local library didn't have in stock. For example: to this day, I don't think I've ever read 'Flight 714'. But I'll tell you this: it looks DAMN exciting. I would go so far as to venture that the back covers of Tintin books must be one of the most successful cross-promotional marketing ventures in the history of publishing. A quick google tells me that the series has sold over 200 million volumes worldwide to date. Which, to put those figures into perspective, is a little bit better than dumbass comics has been doing lately. Little bit.

So, what is it about these books that has such enduring appeal? Why have readers around the world been gripped for the last 75 years by the globe-trotting adventures of a young boy in plus-fours, his live-in salty seaman pal, and his little alcoholic dog? It seems unlikely, you have to admit. Well, after admiring the superb 'Tintin at sea' exhibition at the Royal Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which displays many of Tintin creator George Remi's original pages of artwork for the series, I think I have the answer: it's because they're really, really great. It's very easy these days to knock Herge for the appalling imperialistic racial stereotypes on display in 'Tintin in the Congo', for the bizarre and disturbing attitude to animal rights which sees Tintin, in same adventure, insert dynamite into a rhinoceros for shits and giggles, or for the fact that he was, indisputably, a Nazi collaborator. And to be fair, no-one likes a Nazi collaborator. But the fact remains, the guy could work a pen like few other mortals. He was a true artist and a true professional, studying the world with an intense and passionate observational eye and transforming it through his graceful linework into a unique, coherent and beautiful body of art. His gift for narrative is all the more breathtaking when you consider that he was basically making up the rules from scratch as he went along: laying the groundwork for an entire medium. The chance to see his original drawings at this well-designed and thoroughly engaging exhibition was by turns humbling, fascinating, genuinely inspiring... you know, all that good stuff.

What can I say, I like Tintin. Also, afterwards I got to have a big pie. Score!

8/10

Powers

By Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming
(Comic-book)



JAMES says:

If you like shows like NYPD Blue or CSI, realistic takes on the superhero genre, crackling wit, stylish cartoony art, an undertone of sexual tension, dark secrets, satire and fighting, you’ll like this series about cops having to police a world filled with super powered heroes and villains. If you don’t, I don’t know, you might like it, you might not. I’m not a mind reader, you know. Now clear off, I don’t want you hanging round here any more.

8.6/10

Comparitive Review: AIM vs AIM

AIM
(Evil Organisation)



NEILL says:

AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) is a subversive scientific think-tank founded in secret during WWII by the demented Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker to develop cutting-edge technology and weaponry for his terrorist organisation HYDRA. In the years since its inception, A.I.M. has been at the forefront of scientific development, introducing the world to countless inventions that are now commonplace; inventions such as:

• the Super-Adaptoid, an android capable of duplicating the form and superhuman powers of another being,


• the Cosmic Cube, an unimaginably powerful object capable of restructuring reality,

...and of course, who could forget:

• MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing), an artificially mutated human being with an enormous head and a stunted body who possesses superhuman intelligence and various psionic abilities.

Despite these impressive achievements, several questions hang over the organisational efficiency and long-term 'product roadmap' that governs A.I.M. For instance, many observers ask why, if these guys can invent laser beams and flying cars and MODOKs, why on Earth don't they patent some of this shit and make with the fat cash, instead of sitting around in their crappy secret lair underneath the Hudson River or wherever waiting until Nick Fury or Captain America turn up to kick their sorry asses. One also has to question the sanity of a Human Resources policy based on the principle of making their top scientific brains run around with guns like some kind of freaky yellow stormtroopers. Staff turnover is presumably pretty high due to the twin dangers of employees either being smashed by the Hulk or simply deciding they'd be better off relocating to a lower-risk, better-benefit-plan evil organisation. Like Microsoft! A Ha ha ha! No? Sigh...

In the final analysis, A.I.M. stand as a decidedly second-rate evil organisation; they lack the edgy glamour of a C.O.B.R.A or the sheer glorious acronymical excess of a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Furthermore, their efforts in the field of downtempo instrumental Hip-hop are decidedly negligible.

4.3/10

AIM
(Recording Artist)



NEILL says:

AIM, known to his parents as Andy Turner (or 'Andy', we may suppose) has produced two classic studio albums to date; Cold Water Music and Hinterland, and is probably the single finest Hip-hop producer ever to come out of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. His music is part of the great British tradition of downtempo instrumental Hip-hop, standing in a direct line with such artists as The Herbaliser and Rae & Christian, but his work shows a vision and a potential that could conceivably yet carry him far beyond such comparisons and into a whole other weight class. Whilst complex and utterly cool, many of his tunes carry an honest emotional charge rare in this kind of electronic music; from the joyful exuberance of the Souls of Mischief collaboration No Restriction to the sleepy melancholy optimism of A Twilight Zone. His collaborations with vocalist Kate Rogers are particularly effective; Sail (on Cold Water Music) being simply one of the more beautiful things you're likely to hear in a good year.

For all that, though, it must be said: he has never invented a Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing (or 'MODOK'), and indeed it seems unlikely that he ever will.

8.5/10

BAM!

by Various, ed: Jason Cobley
(UK indy comcs anthology)



Celebrity Guest Reviewer JOSHUA JACKSON Says:

I haven’t really been into comics since when I used to read the comic book adaptation of The Mighty Ducks, so it was a pleasant surprise when my good friend James gave me a copy of the latest issue of BAM. This comic features something that is missing from most comics not about young ice hockey teams, a sense of fun. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and being a small press comic you can see the love that goes into its production. While not as polished and glossy as some main-stream comics, it’s a bumper pack of stories with great variety, and at only £2 it represents value for money that even a millionaire superstar like me can appreciate. It’s also perfect for busy guys who spend too much time grooming their facial hair to read proper books. And when they make the movie version, if there’s a part going for a wise-cracking, slightly smug best friend, give me a call. Work’s kind of dried up since the Creek finished.

8/10

Little Nemo

By Windsor McKay
(Comic Strip)



NEILL says:

No-good Damn Punk Kid! For the love of god, would you just not eat before you go to bed!?!

3/10

JAMES says:

It’s all so beautiful! Little Nemo by Windsor McKay ran in the Sunday newspaper comic section from about 1905 to 1914, and tells the tale of a little kid who has some pretty freaky dreams. Obviously I wasn’t a fan at the time (being more of a Katzenjammer Kids man), but I’ve since got into in through a big shiny book reprinting a whole bunch of them. And how lovely they are. I was pretty much speechless when I first started turning the pages, they were that good. McKay can draw really outlandish things, like a camel-drawn carriage slipping on some fudge, and really make you think, yes, that is exactly how it would look. And that guy had some imagination, jeez, you have to wonder what he was eating before bed!

Seeing as it dates to the very birth of comics, unsurpiringly the narrative lets it down a bit. McKay was still finding his feet, as everyone was, when it came to narrative story-telling. To begin with he had sentences under his panels a la Rupert, but couldn’t quiet match them up so you were never sure which sentence matches which panel. Then he just put all the story at the start, so you knew what was going to happen through the pictures. He did finally get the hang of just letting the pictures and word bubbles tell the story. Also, the story itself isn’t terribly varied, consisting of Nemo trying to get to Slumberland to play with the princess (the title being a bit misleading as he doesn’t even get to Slumberland for the first year or so) before being woken up by something or other. But, like a PG Wodehouse story, it is the repetition that allows the master to ply his craft.

The only cartoonist I can think of that even comes close to McKay is Bill Waterson. Calvin and Hobbes is certainly funnier than Little Nemo (though the bit where little George Washington got Little Nemo in trouble for chopping down a cherry tree made me chuckle). But, for my money, there isn’t anyone who could draw as just plain good as McKay (apart from Neill, obviously).

7.9/10

Buy on Amazon: Little Nemo in Slumberland: v. 1

Fantastic Four - Imaginauts

by Mark waid and Mike Weiringo
(Comic book collection)



JAMES says:

Beware of Manifestos, my son. This volume collects Mark Waid’s first few issues writing the Fantastic Four, the comic super team who not only fight together, they live together. Like Morecombe and Wise. Included in the volume is the essay Waid writes explaining how he’s going to write the Fantastic Four, and show everyone else. All he really had to say is that he would not be as crap as pretty much everyone else who’s ever written it since Stan ‘the Man’ Lee and most people would’ve been happy, and this is essentially what he does say. Only in a Mark Waid smug way. But, y’know, at the end of the day it’s the comics that matter, and they’re a mixed bag. Like Superman, Fantastic Four comics often show a bit too much reverence for the characters, with writers feeling reluctant to do anything to denigrate characters they grew up with, and thus there can be a lack of evolution and dynamicism in the stories. Despite his revolutionary principles, Waid falls into the trap a bit here. They’re alright in a action comic style, but there’s not really any depth to them. Reading them is kind of the comic equivalent of watching Sliders. Basically, if you were ever trying to convince your girlfriend that comics can be literature, these aren’t the ones to use as examples. However, they’re OK. And sometimes that’s all you want. As for the art, the jury’s still out. No… wait.. I’m just hearing, yes, the jury are returning, and…. Yes, the verdict’s in…Well, ladies and gentlemen, it appears the art is clear and cheerful without being spectacular. And it fits the story well in that respect. So, worth reading if your brother bought the book and lent it to you, but not really one to spend money on.

5/10

NEILL says:

Damn it, he's so right.

5.8/10

---

Buy on Amazon: Imaginauts (Fantastic 4)

MBLEH!

By Bob Byrne
(Comic)



NEILL says:

MBLEH! is an indy comic book written, drawn and published by modern Irish renaissance man Bob Byrne. This is a man so confident in his talents that he thinks nothing of giving his comic a name that is basically unpronounceable and even if you can manage it, sounds a bit like someone being sick. Way to generate strong word-of-mouth! (Of course, I can hardly criticise others when it comes to choosing ill-thought-out names; at least Mr. Byrne hasn't set himself up to be known as 'that dumbass guy'.)

Still, never mind. MBLEH! is a thoroughly enjoyable collection of stories from Byrne's singularly fecund imagination, ranging from surrealist action-adventure to bitterly misanthropic autobiography. The disparate stories are bound together by a common tone of sleazily hallucinogenic bad taste, pitched somewhere between Gilbert Shelton's Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and early Irvine Welsh; whilst there's not nearly so many explicit drug references, there's definitely an air of being on something. And not necessarily something good. Cockroaches wearing papier-mache human masks, gangs of glue-addicted juvenile contract killers... it's all quite substantially messed up.

The absolute highlight of all this is the lead feature 'Clam Land', which features the ongoing adventures of the utterly perverted and morally corrupt Penzram, his insanely violent ice-cool-muthafucka pal Lucas, and his mentally-retarded coprophile infant nephew Herby in the colourful setting of Clamtown. Think Uncle Scrooge's Duckburg, but with more crack whores and bum rapists. Basically, this is one of the funniest things you're ever going to read, as long as you find jokes about AIDS and child mental illness funny. Which, clearly, I do. If you can see past the explicit violence and teddy-bear-fucking you will find a classic sitcom family structure, built around a central set of relationships that are really rather sweet.

So, yes. It's an excellent comic, and everyone should go and read it. Even you people who "don't read comics". You watch South Park, don't you? You read the Onion? You like things that are funny, yes? What's the matter with you? If we lived in a world with any kind of natural justice, Bob Byrne would be as famous as.. oh, I don't know, Carol Vorderman. At least.

8.3/10

Full ordering details and lots of fun stuff besides are to be found at www.clamnuts.com - go have a look, it's great.

Stan Lee

(Iconic genius and living embodiment of the American comic book)



NEILL says:

For our less culturally sophisticated readers, Stan "The Man" Lee is the writer, editor and publisher who in the 1960s, along with such notable artistic collaborators as Jack "King" Kirby and Steve "I can't remember if he had a nick-name" Ditko, created Marvel Comics and all its iconic characters. Spider-man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-men... these were all down to Stan . Now, that's a hell of an achievement, you may think, and you'd be right. I mean, that extremely truncated list alone represents several of the most succesful blockbuster movies of recent times. All this makes "The Man".. well, a case could be made that it pretty much makes him one of the most important cultural figures of the century. I wouldn't make it myself, but I'm pretty sure it could be made.

So, you may ask: why have I spent a lifetime maligning this inspirational figure? As indeed I have, I must confess. It's clearly a generational issue. By the time I was a kid, reading comics, those glory days of creativity and innovation of the 60's were long gone. Stan Lee was just this vaguely creepy old guy who sort of hung around the place but never really did anything. He hadn't actually written anything in years; my only exposure to the man's talents was a short-lived series he wrote called 'Ravage 2099' which was... well, I'm at a loss for words, really. It was about a binman or something, only he was a werewolf, only he was a superhero, and it was like, in the future, and... oh, fuck it, who cares? The important point is that it was absolute undiluted SHIT. Cost a quid to buy, took five minutes to read, yet the memory of it can still cause me irritation and discomfort several years later. Bad karma for Stan!

Still, lets forget about that. I have recently had the pleasure of reading through a pile of 'Essential Spider-Man' collections. These massive phone-book sized volumes reprint, on cheap-and-cheerful newsprint, all the classic Marvel comics of the 1960s that to buy in their original form would cost so much I'd have to think seriously about selling my mother into white slavery. And, to be frank, I doubt I'd even make enough for a McDonalds value meal, let alone a Very Fine copy of Amazing Fantasy 15. These comics reveal an emormously talented writer, one who combines an advanced analytical understanding of the demands and requirements of the form with a wild, ceaselessly inventive imagination. What impresses most is the formal inventiveness; the fourth wall is relentlessly beaten down in a series of running jokes and asides in the commentary that show a remarkable grasp of postmodernism for a 1960s throwaway comic book for children. (Interesting fact I never knew - Marvel Comics actually jumped onto the cultural zeitgeist with both feet and changed its name, for a couple of heady months in 1964, to Marvel Pop Art Productions!) And, of course, they work perfectly as straightforward hero-fights-villain adventure stories; suffused with an irrepresible sense of fun and a hilarious line in 60's hipster dialogue. Everyone calls each other 'Dad', it's great!

So, on the one hand, he is a fabulously skillful writer who has created a pantheon of modern-day myths and legends which have brought satisfaction and delight to entire generations and look set to do so long into the future. But, on the other hand, he's also a self-promoting egomaniac with delusions of grandeur, there have always been questions about the extent to which he took the credit for the creativity and inspiration of his artistic partners, and as anyone who has seen Mallrats can attest, he is a shit actor. All of which would be forgivable, if not for the fact that he wrote 'Ravage 2099'.


5.8/10

Young Jump

(Weekly comics digest)



NEILL says:

You may or may not be aware of this, but the medium of comics has something of an image problem in this country. The popular perception of a comics reader is basically Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons: an overweight and deeply unattractive social inadequate, male, emotionally retarded, who probably still lives with his Mum. This appalling negative stereotype is all the more tragic for its sheer wrong-headedess; the average comics reader is in fact a lot more like your ever-loving blue-eyed reviewer: a suave sexy motherfucker who could kick your ass without breaking a sweat, and still lives with his Mum. It is a source of great consternation amongst the suave sexy motherfucker community that we seem to be stuck with this regrettable cultural ghettoisation. An example that is often held up by way of contrast is that of Japan, where comics are read by all sections of society from salaryman to schoolgirl, and in massive numbers. I have grown up with this shining mythical image of a tube train in Japan with all the passengers reading comics openly, without fear of social exclusion or reprisal sarcasm. And I have always wanted to be on that train, to be one of those passengers.

I was enormously happy then to be able to tick one box off the 'lifelong dream' list when I boarded a train back to my hotel on the Ginza line, clutching the copy of Young Jump I had recently bought at the station shop from a very nice newsagent man who had seemed awfully concerned and had gone out of his way to make clear to me that the comic I was buying was, you know, in Japanese.

I am pleased to report that there were indeed salarymen, schoolgirls and indeed old ladies sitting reading comics. And, taking Young Jump as an example (it seemed a fairly popular choice), I can offer the following TOP FIVE reasons why comics in Japan enjoy such fantastic success compared to the anglo-american varieties.

1) They're CHEAP!
2) They're BIG and FAT!
3) They're VARIED!
4) They're FUCKING UNBELIEVABLY WELL DRAWN!
5) They have TITS IN!

Anyway. One lifelong dream down. Now I just need to win the DMC world championships, attain the power of flight, meet Thelonious Monk and persuade Kitty Pryde to stop being a fictional character and come out for a drink. But where to start?

7/10

Pilot

By Mitzy
(Comic)



NEILL says:

Pilot is a small-press comic book concerning the adventures of a girl who, whilst wandering home through a field, accidentally stumbles upon and somehow mysteriously 'bonds' with some kind of alien spaceship. The ship is a sentient being which follows our hero's every vocal command, with a tendency towards being pedantic and over-literal. Exciting adventures and much flying about the place follow.

If this sounds a bit like Flight of the Navigator, that's because it is. I'm not even going to call it a 'spin' or a 'take' on Flight of the Navigator. It just IS Flight of the Navigator.

(For our less cultured readers: Flight of the Navigator is a 1986 Disney movie concerning the adventures of a boy who, whilst wandering home through a field, accidentally stumbles upon and somehow mysteriously 'bonds' with some kind of alien spaceship. The ship is a sentient being which follows our hero's every vocal command, with a tendency towards being pedantic and over-literal. Exciting adventures and much flying about the place follow.)

I don't wish to sound overly negative here - to me, Flight of the Navigator represents the absolute zenith of the mid-1980s kids fantasy-adventure-comedy-sci-fi genre, and certainly the finest achievement to date in the career of Sarah Jessica Parker. If only it could have shoe-horned in a storyline where a child magically swaps bodies with one of their parents, it would perhaps be my favourite film of all time.

To return to the point; Pilot is a marvellously fun read. It has energetic, stylish manga-influenced art and a very strong sense of design. It cost 50 pence and gave me several minutes of happiness, and I consider that a pretty wonderful thing. It does not particularly redefine the possibilities of sequential graphic literature, but on the other hand it is FUN. Reading this comic is like stuffing your face with crispy M&Ms and cherry coke and pogoing till you pass out at a Bis concert. Or, you know, whatever you consider fun.

Two issues available to date (I believe) - go look at the guy's website at www.goonpatrol.com for more details.

7/10

Chris Ware VS Alex Garland

at the ICA, 1st July
(Event)



JAMES says:

Chris Ware, writer/artist of Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on earth, winner of the Guardian First book award and recipient of 9/10 from URT. Alex Garland, author of traveller cliché book The Beach and screenwriter of 28 Days Later. The battle of the century! However, when I arrived at the ICA, there was no paddling pool filled with jelly on the stage, just the two men sitting there looking quite nervous (especially Ware). Clearly tonight was to be more about talking than wrestling, which I for one was glad about.

As part of the ICAs Comica season, Ware was here to discuss his work, with Garland acting as a kind of interviewer/facilitator. It started with a slideshow of Wares work, from Art School to the present day. This was a fascinating view of the artist in development. Themes emerged continually, and you got a sense of the shaping events of Wares life, that he would continually return to, including his sense of betrayal from his absent father, and the trauma of his grandmothers death. He also showed his influences, such as Krazy Kat and Siegel and Schuster Superman, alongside pieces where this influence was especially obvious. There were also photos of the toys he created, showing surprising skill with woodwork. You realise that the cardboard cut-out sections of Jimmy Corrigan will certainly work. He even showed al the models he made to check he got the lighting right in sections. Very in-depth.

After this Ware fielded questions, both from Garland and the audience, and finished with reference shots used for the Worlds Fair sequence of Jimmy Corrigan and some pages of his new strip as works in progress. The whole affair was very effective as an insight into the creative process of a genius. Ware, though shy, was incredibly witty. His continual self-depreciation did begin to grate, as it clearly did to Garland, who often took him to task for describing his own work in disparaging terms. The two managed to get a good flow of conversation going, though, and Garland’s questions were often insightful, allowing Ware to talk about his work without much interruption, but guiding him subtly between topics. The audience questions were slightly more mediocre, being along the lines of ‘What pens do you use’ and ‘How do you colour your work’. There was also some sorry customer who began his question ‘I asked you this 10 years ago, but I’m going to ask you again’. And then asked him why he used amputations a lot. Sicko.

But I think the greatest thing was seeing visually how autobiographical Jimmy Corrigan was. Ware looked like Corrigan, down to the big ol’ head, he sat like Corrigan, he even walked like Corrigan. It was like meeting a comic character come to life! Oh, and seeing Frank Skinner.

7.8/10

Comparitive Review: Hulk vs. Thing

NEILL says:

The Hulk
(Misunderstood Gamma-Irradiated monster)




You know the story, right? Emotionally repressed scientific genius Bruce Banner is caught in the blast of an experimental gamma bomb and transformed into a raging green force of violent emotion. Hey, it's a good origin story: there's action, there's Freudian subtext, and a whole bunch of tanks get smashed up.

(Fun Hulk fact #1: the reason our Bruce was in the way of the bomb in the first place was because he was trying to save this dumb punk teenage boy named Rick Jones. This Jones kid's a story in himself - the sorry bastard spent the best part of the 1960s being passed around between the alpha males of the Marvel superhero community in the role of 'sidekick' or 'partner'. Feel free to snigger in a knowing Werthamesque fashion.)

(Fun Hulk fact #2: Banner's forename was changed to David for the 1970s TV series because it was felt that the name Bruce was 'too gay'. Ahem. See Fun Hulk Fact #1.)

Anyway, the thing you have to understand about the Hulk is that he's just kind of dull. Yeah, the guy gets mad, he smashes stuff up, but then what? All this wandering around in a haunted paranoid daze through small-town middle-america… it's depressing, is what it is. The Hulk would be a lot cooler if he had a secret hideout, some sexy sidekicks and a bunch of cool gadgets, frankly.

(Fun Hulk fact #3: there was a period in the 90's when they tried giving the Hulk a secret hideout, some sexy sidekicks and a bunch of cool gadgets. Not to mention a genius-level IQ, a nice line in sarcastic wit and a fairly radical political consciousness - the tale where the Hulk travels to Israel to confront far-right zionist extremism being a personal favourite. I'm not making this up! It was ace! Didn't last, needless to say.)

He's big, he's dumb, he's basically quite boring. But he does have funky purple pants.

5/10


The Thing
(Tragic Cosmic Ray-irradiated monster)



Okay, so the Thing is basically the Hulk. Big dumb monster given to knocking down buildings and fighting supervillains. There are, however, several crucial differences, and in every one of these the Thing comes out on top. Firstly, there is the fact that whilst the Hulk is a mangy directionless homeless bum, the Thing lives in a big sci-fi skyscraper. Thing Bling, baby! What's more, he is regularly to be found hanging out in such ultra-exclusive joints as the Blue Area of the Moon, the lost city of Atlantis, and the Negative Zone. The Hulk just kinda mooches around the desert. He probably eats out of garbage cans, for gods sake.

Second is the related point that while the Hulk is basically a johnny no-mates, feared and hated by a society that blah blah fucking blah, the Thing gets to hang out with the Fantastic Four. Come on, living with your best friends, having adventures - it's like a neverending student flatshare paradise. With robots!

Thirdly, we may consider personality. As we all know, personality goes a long way. And whilst the Hulk can barely string a sentence together besides the (admittedly entertaining) "Hulk Smash!", the Thing a.k.a. Ben Grimm is a complex, nuanced and genuinely charming character. He embodies the mythological toughness of New York in the first half of the 20th century - the street-smart wiseguy ideal. With his long-running feud with the 'punk kids' on Yancey Street and his artful deployment of such colourful phrases as 'My Sweet Aunt Petunia' and 'Wotta revoltin' development', it's like he walked straight out of a Damon Runyon story. You have to love this guy.

And what's more, he says "It's Clobberin' Time!". Come on!

Finally, there is the area of aesthetics. The Hulk is green, which no-one's going to try and say isn't cool. But the Thing is a GUY MADE OF ORANGE ROCK! Good work, Jack Kirby!

No contest.

8/10

Brainiac

(Super-villain)




JAMES says:

While people are always harping on about Batman's colourful villains, I think Superman more than equals him in the foe department. Classics like Titano the Superape and Lex Luthor, as well as the less serious Mr Mxyzptlk and Bizarro. However, the cream of the crop has to be Brainiac. First of all, the name. He's brainy, but he's a maniac! No messing. Who knows what Terra Man is supposed to be? But best of all is his sheer inconsistency. First he's a space pirate with a white monkey who puts cities in bottles, then he actually has a computer for a brain, but was pretending to be a green man with circles on his head. He even had a son to really confuse people. Then he's a proper robot with scarey metal teeth, then he's a carnival mentalist possessed by an alien, then he's some big internet-style techno-virus or something. It's almost as if the writers didn't know what to do with him! In fact, I take it all back. He was good to start with, but now he's just rubbish. Boo!

3/10

The Rainbow Orchid

(Comic strip)



NEILL says:

The Rainbow Orchid is a comic strip which is currently being serialised in the UK indy anthology, 'BAM!'. It tells the tale of a foolish wager between bumbling aristocrats which is the catalyst for an epic expedition to Asia in search of the mysterious legendary 'Rainbow Orchid'.

It's early days yet, the characters have yet to even make it out of the country, but already the story is a thoroughly charming slice of nostalgia-tinged British adventurism. The dialogue sparkles, a mix of equal parts boys-own romp, literary and mythological allusion and surprisingly well-researched botany. The characters are vibrant and thoroughly likeable. The art, and indeed the whole shape of the enterprise, is clearly influenced to a large degree by Herge (he of the Adventures of Tintin, for our less literate readers). And Garen Ewing does well by the comparison - his art is a fluid blend of intricately observed detail and perfect, pared-down cartooning.

My only gripe with 'The Rainbow Orchid' is that it is clearly conceived of and written as a whole, with an eye on some future collected edition. This makes its current format, split into small installments with a long wait in between, less than ideal. It can be a little hard at the start of each episode to remember what is happening or indeed which of the multifold characters is which, exactly. Nonetheless, it's well worth seeking out. And whenever the inevitable collection does arrive, my word but it will be a beautiful thing.

9/10

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

by Chris Ware
(Graphic Novel)



Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth is a big fat graphic novel, proud winner of last year's Guardian First Book Award, now available in paperback.

NEILL says:

I liked it, it was purty.

Chris Ware's arch, structural portrait of family life is one of very, very few graphic novels I have ever read that does not by its very existence debase and insult the term 'graphic novel'. A lengthy and elaborately structured celebration of the excruciating banalities of emotional isolation, it offers a combination of epic grandeur and intimate pity that is genuinely affecting. The story is the tale of one developmentally stunted manchild and his wacky adventures failing to have any kind of meaningful human interaction with his long-lost absentee father or, indeed, anybody. As you can probably gather from that description, it’s really more about character than plot.

Any fictional character depicted with such savage loathing as the absolutely pathetic figure of Jimmy Corrigan is clearly a thinly-veiled representation of the author of the piece, and indeed that is the case here. With the full pitiless fury of the self-loathing semi-autobiographer, Ware lets rip and subjects his hero to a series of painful and humiliating traumas, always simultaneously reminding us how utterly uncharismatic the character is. (God forbid we should actually start to identify with the hapless little shit.) Jimmy Corrigan is a worthless human being; so consumed with a pitiful, craven fear of being disliked that he is barely able to function at all; barely even able to speak. Obviously a guy like this takes a while to warm to, and indeed that is the major problem with the book. Whilst admiring it in terms of formal achievement, it took me a long time to actually start to care about the story. This kicked in for me at some point during the middle section; a lengthy flashback set around the 1900 Chicago World’s Fair which tells the desperately sad story of another Jimmy Corrigan and another paternal abandonment. Here Ware tells a tale with incredible vividness and emotional force, which both engages on its own terms and provides a perfect counterpoint to the decidedly understated adventures of ‘present day’ Jimmy.

I suppose I should mention the art. It is a graphic novel, after all. What can I say? Ware’s work is inventive, stylish, frequently astonishing. It shows up pretty much everyone else working in comics whilst being an incredible glimpse of the potential of the medium. Blah blah yak yak. As I say. I liked it, it was purty.

9/10



JAMES says:

I both agree and disagree with my brother. This is a book of emotion rather than narrative, but I didn't feel that the main character being pathologically introverted meant we could not have an emotional connection with him. While he may not (hopefully) represent us, he does represent the fear of embarrassment and lack of confidence that we all possess, magnified to a painful level. I therefore felt for the younger Jimmy, continually wanting him to make some human connection, caring about him. The masterful way that Ware mixed fantasy and reality to really communicate his inner life, allowed me to feel a sense of hope about the character, even though he is doomed by his own insecurity to never be able to act, like Hamlet or something.

Conversely, I felt it was the lack of hope that made me find the protracted central flashback sequence heavy going. It was an effective tale of the misery and emotional destruction brought about by poverty and a home without love, and it created the feeling of an existence without escape so well, that it actually quite depressed me.

Anyway, the art was very effective in helping create the mood, and really shows the possibilities of the format. Some of the images stay in your mind, as memorable shots from a film do. It even includes a how-to-read comics bit, for those of the female persuasion.

One small quibble, if he was the Smartest Kid on Earth, how come he didn't build any giant robots or anything? An opportunity missed, methinks.

Two thumbs up

Hope for the Future

By Simon Perrins
(Comic)



Hope for The Future is a british indy comic written and drawn by Simon Perrins and Andrew Livesay. There are six issues to date. Further details on www.usby.freeuk.com

NEILL says:

In terms of sheer pound-for-pound entertainment, I can’t think of many things I like more than ‘Hope for the Future’. It’s like a sarcastic British Buffy, or a supernatural Spaced. I use TV shows rather than other comics as reference points because so does ‘Hope…’. It concerns a trio of students and their adventures protecting the world from supernatural evil in varying degrees of crapulence. The scripts are steeped in Pop and Geek culture to a frankly terrifying degree, there are so many background references and sight gags that you’ll be well rewarded by repeated readings, and there are a bunch of cute girls. Often with bunches. Come on, what’s not to love?

I suppose if I’m to find fault it would be that the humour can occasionally come off as slightly smug, as student comedy is wont to. On the whole, though, it’s just really fucking funny. Anyone who has seen Star Wars, anyone who enjoys the Simpsons, anyone who isn’t a completely dead-eyed cynical miserabilist and who likes to be entertained: you should be reading this comic. Why aren’t you? It’s dead cheap. You can even get it by PayPal, so you’ve no excuse.

8/10