Review -- DAY MEN #1

Day Men #1

Writers: Matt Gagnon and Michael Alan Nelson

Artist: Brian Stelfreeze

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Rating: 4/5 stars

I may be breaking new ground here, but in order to do a short review about BOOM! Studios' Day Men #1 by artist Brian Stelfreeze and writers Matt Gagnon and Michael Alan Nelson, I need to address a review of this book that Andy Khouri wrote for ComicsAlliance. In effect, I will be reviewing a comic by reviewing a review of that comic. There may be a term for this, but right now I don't know what that is.

Day Men is a vampire/mafia book. The vampires in this story use “Day Men” to do their bidding and business during the sunlight hours to keep things running smoothly. The story revolves around David Reid, a Day Man who works for the Virgo family, and this first issue spends most of its narrative on exposition, setting up the beginning of a war between vampire families. What is most notable about Day Men, though, and what sets it apart from the myriad vampire comics out there, is the work of Brian Stelfreeze.

New York Subway (1905)

Monday

Reloaded from marieke v on Vimeo.
http://marieke.nu/reloaded_musicvideo/

Animated Musicvideo for dutch duo Baskerville

Sunday.

Holy Sheep from Yoann Bomal on Vimeo.

Saturday

One of My Favorite Comics Critics: Ken Chen

The Following is a short piece I contributed to an article called  I Don't Know Why You Wanna Impress Christgau: 10 of Our Favorite Comics Critics on Comics Bulletin in response to conversations we have been having about what is lacking in comics criticism in general.

Ken Chen

Notable piece: “The Devil You May Know”

“Horror is political precisely because the realm of the political is horrifying.” This is how Ken Chen began his May 9, 2013 column on DC Comics' announcement of Hellblazer's cancellation for The New Inquiry. As a critic, Chen used this as an opportunity to not only talk about how much of an influence the character of John Constantine had on him personally, but also the commentary Hellblazer itself made about the England of Margaret Thatcher. As he wrote in his piece, “Hellblazer represented an attempt to use genre fiction as a way to more accurately describe right-wing ascension.” Through his critical eye, Chen saw Hellblazer, specifically Jamie Delano's run on the series, as “unmistakably about forcing the reader to go from being a voyeur of genre horror comics and to become a witness of her own terrifying political conscience.”

As a critic, Chen saw the cancellation of Hellblazer as indicating a true shift in mainstream comics. While comics have become less niche and more culturally resonant, the “room for oppositional comics” becomes “restricted.” Hellblazer, in effect, had to be canceled because its true purpose was no longer possible. As well, since Thatcher left power, “no Hellblazer writer has grappled with how to imagine an oppositional space in the age of nominally left-wing conservatives like Clinton, Blair, and Obama.”

Thursday.

Cummulus & Nimbus from we think things on Vimeo.

Review -- QUANTUM AND WOODY #1

This Review Originally Ran on Comics Bulletin

Quantum and Woody #1

(James Asmus, Tom Fowler, Jordie Bellaire; Valiant)

 4/5 stars

Valiant Comics continues to prove that its relaunch was a good idea with the release of Quantum and Woody #1.  As Woody himself says when he accidentally sets off the Dynamo Systems in Zone Theta, "Ooo... Shiny."

Quantum and Woody #1 plays in a familiar sandbox. Two brothers, one an over-the-top, by-the-book law enforcement type and the other a ne'er-do-well, lovable, quipping rouge, are acrimoniously brought back together by their father's mysterious death. In the course of taking matters into their own hands, they are accidentally zapped by some kinda super power ray which, I guess, gives them super powers. It's your buddy cop story stitched up inside your basic "origin" tale -- like I said, we've built a lot of castles and moats in this sandbox before.

And it's obvious that Asmus and Fowler know this, but they use this knowledge to their advantage and use the tropes inherent in these formulas to propel the story. We already know this and that so they don't have to go on and on telling us why. Which frees them to have fun. And this is a fun book. A lot of fun.

Early on in the book, Asmus has on of the newscasters in this book ask if Quantum and Woody are really heroes or "dangerous overgrown children causing trouble?" The answer to that question is "Yes" -- these characters will be heroes, but, like all heroes, to do so they have to be "dangerous overgrown children" as well. Because heroes step outside of the expected, normal, don't-want-to-get-involved day-to-day behavior that we all, as adults, display constantly and consistently. We think that given the opportunity to be heroic, we would certainly step up to the challenge. But we're kidding ourselves. We won't and we don't. We bear witness to horrible things happening around us all the time, and continue to walk into the store, the office, the classroom, our home, without really doing anything about it.

Review -- MegaRobot or Why We Love It When Giant Robots Blow Shit Up.

This Review Originally Ran on Comics Bulletin

When I was in the third or fourth grade I would often distract myself from the tedium of the Texas brand of traditional factory style rote education by drawing robot battle comics. These things would be epic in scale -- huge explosions, endless rounds of ammunition, buildings being destroyed, shit flying all over the place, people screaming -- and they reflected the obvious discontent and disconnect I felt towards my role in the system, as well as my puerile drive to fuck shit up (of course).

Giant robots breaking things. There is something attractive about the concept, right? It persists (Pacific Rim) and has become almost part of our cultural consciousness. Why? Does it reflect the fact that we still need gods in our lives even though science has made us incredulous? Is a giant robot a science based mythological hero, one that we can get behind because... you know.... science? 

Or does it reflect our unease with the pace at which we are cocooning ourselves in technology? Is the giant robot breaking shit on a grand scale a projection of our sublimation into a digital existence, our fear of losing control as we technologically advance our lives, blurring work and entertainment and consciousness into one flashing screen after another?

These are big questions, which makes sense, as these are, after all, big robots.

Review -- PIPELINE LIZARDS #1

Pipeline Lizards #1

(Alexander Enlund)

4/5 stars

So there are these four lizards, right, named Dohdo, Laxton, Sulky and Flags, and they find this strange pipeline running through the land of the lizards. Nobody knows where it came from or what is inside, so these four lizards decide to follow the pipe to see where it goes. This is the premise of Swedish writer/artist Alexander Enlund's Pipeline Lizards, what may be my new favorite digital comic.

I found this book on Comixology Submit, but it turns out it's a web comic too, and thank goodness for that, because when Pipeline Lizards #1 ended, I needed more!  Pipeline Lizards is goofy and surreal, as well as full of interesting characters and a thick sense that there is some larger idea at work here. Enlund has found the perfect container for the story he wants to tell, and, as these lizards go through the stages of their journey, he gets to unpack more and more of what he wants to tell you.

As I read more small-press and web comics, I keep coming across more and more singular takes on the monomyth. There's something exciting about seeing enormously creative people working within the context of the familiar and making it a forum for their unique vision. Enlund does a great job of this with his story.

Bladerunner in 60 seconds

Your Chicken Enemy -- Cibo Matto

BABYMETAL - ド・キ・ド・キ☆モーニング - Doki Doki☆Morning

More Toast, Less Onion

The Statue Experiment