A Glimpse into the Creative Process of Alex Chiu

Post by Alex Chiu.

1,000th Post! A Look Back and Thanks Given.

WOW.

I've posted 1,000 things in 1,000 days on this blog.

I thought that I should mark that event with a post about the 1,000 posts.

So here it is.

YOUR CHICKEN ENEMY started out as a repository for all my critical writing -- a resume, as it were, for a job hunt (I think). While this site continues to feature much of my writing, along the way it has morphed into a mood journal, an interactive art piece, an opportunity to share, a definition of self.

It's also a daily reminder that I am still here and a mirror onto the man I've become.

And that's Your Chicken Enemy.

As for the writing I've featured here, much of what is truly good was previously published on Comics Bulletin (which you should be checking daily as it features some of the smartest, most insightful, and well-written criticism of comics available anywhere on the web). Some of my favorite pieces were written in collaboration, and I would just like to take a moment to thank a few fellow writers (indulge me, it's my celebration after all).

City Lights

City Lights from Colin Rich on Vimeo.

Professor Scott Steiner Does The Math For You (at Sacrifice)

Review -- Charles Forsman's SNAKE OIL #8

Snake Oil #8

(Charles Forsman)

There are a number of cartoonists working today who deal with the pathos of existence by couching it in absurdist humor. Artists like Chris Ware, Noah Van Sciver, Charles Burns, and Brandon Graham often convey the misery of their themes through the subversion of expectations that comic Comics offer. Charles Forsman is one of those cartoonists too, and Snake Oil #8 proves this.

Presenting the narrative in the confines of mostly six or nine-panel pages, and arranged using something akin to the Burroughs cut-up method, Snake Oil #8 tells the story of Daniel Strong, who played a robot in a very popular Science Fiction movie, Star Force. His character was a protocol droid named 2-T0 whose adventures in a galaxy far, far away are enjoined with his robot companion, P2.

Forsman has the good sense to write on the inside cover of this book, “Any similarity between this material and Anthony Daniels is purely coincidental. Seriously. I love Anthony Daniels. I'm sure he is a very nice man.”

Just so we're clear on that.

Review -- WWE: SUPERSTARS #1

WWE: Superstars #1

(Mick Foley (with Shane Riches) / Alitha Martinez / Jayjay Jackson / Tom Orzechowski / Super Genius/Papercutz)

"You can't see me." Thus begins legendary professional wrestler Mick Foley's foray into the world of comic books. This is one of the (many) catch phrases said (often) by one of WWE's most popular (and most hated) superstars, John Cena, and by Foley using these words in the context of the fictional world of Titan City, WWE: Superstars #1 opens up meta-worlds within meta-worlds within worlds (within worlds).

See, the "real" world of professional wrestling is already filled with fictional characters – huge, over-the-top personalities, the more outlandish the better.  While their athletic ability is certainly part of their appeal, what truly distinguishes a WWE Superstar is his or her ability to convey character – wild, bombastic, larger-than-life. You can be good in the ring, but you sell the most t-shirts if you're good on "the mic".

The idea of an artist taking these hyperbolic and exaggerated creations of others, and then jamming them into a, by comparison, more mundane crime noir story, while still keeping true to both "realities," is either the most self-referential thing ever attempted, or the recipe for a great disaster.

It's A T. Rexmas!

Bantam Rooster - "Lets Just F*ck For Christmas"

The Sonics - "Don't Believe In Christmas"

Showcase Showdown - "Merry Christmas, I F*cked Your Snowman!"

Dirtbombs - "My Last Christmas"

Space Cretins - "Merry Christmas, Baby"

Review -- ABYSS by Saman Bemel-Benrud

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Abyss

(Saman Bemel-Benrud)

The first page of Saman Bemel-Benrud's Abyss could serve as the thesis to a dissertation on the effects of pervasive technology on the social order. Two black outlined characters seemingly float in stark relief against a white background, their backs to us, rendered flat in a sketched two-dimensional space. One character reaches out his left hand as if to hold the hand of the other, a claiming gesture meant to show their bond together as a couple. The other character floats next to him, her arms crossed, remaining immune to this connection. Almost every line on this page is vertical, emphasizing the rigidity of the boundaries between them, the gulf between personalities, even as there is the implied longing to connect.

Only connect! That is the whole of Bemel-Benrud's sermon.

What begins as a journey to a “go-to burrito spot” evolves into an exploration of how the ubiquitous social platforms we carry are as isolating as they are enjoining. It's a hollow form of connection, leaving us ghosts of interactivity whose souls are the victims of app gentrification

“Everything good is disappearing, replaced with empty pits. Like black magic, they absorb the life energy from a place then use it to summon open floor plans and gourmet kitchens.”

Review -- IPSO FACTO #1

Ipso Facto #1

(J.R. Rothenberg / Jason Badower / Annette Kwok)

Mosel Pearlman Ramirez is not who you think he is. A matter of fact, he's not who HE thinks he is either. Who is he? Well, according to the solicitation for Ipso Facto #1 on Comixology:

He was just another lovestruck Colorado kid, or so he always told himself. Then he woke up one day and found out the world was going to end -- unless he could remember who he really was.

That's a pretty heavy burden for any young man, especially for “just another second-semester-senior psyched to get the hell out.” This over use of hyphens and awesome alliteration aside, Mosel is your prototypical Campbell monomythic hero who, in issue one, is called to action by outside forces. He meets a character named Brezsny (who, I swear, looks exactly like a 21 Grams-era Sean Penn wearing an ascot), who tells him,  “This world needs you to remember who you are.”

Into this mix throw an evil corporate entity called Tryum Corporation, an alien invasion (maybe), an alcoholic mother, a girlfriend that just had an abortion without telling him, a bunch of guys with helmets shooting rifles, and a fake ID to buy booze. Stir this all around and you've got mystery, intrigue, action, and, above all else, story.

Review -- HARBINGER #19

Harbinger #19

(Joshua Dysart / Barry Kitson with Brian Level and Riley Rossmo / Ian Hannin / Dave Sharpe; Valiant)

The Valiant line of comics continues to wander into previously unknown red poppy-laden fields that offer thick and wavy stupor inducing questions like, “So, what do you get when you cross two imploding psionic dreamscapes and a super-powered psiot going through a mind squall?

The answer to this question happens to be Harbinger #19.

As if you didn't know that already.

I haven't visited the Harbinger field for quite some time. A matter of fact, the last time I Kubla Kahn-ed  any of this Xanadu, it was the zero issue. “But oh! That deep romantic chasm” seems like so long ago, for all sorts of things have occurred since then. Luckily (and pluckily, I might add), Valiant books all seem to feature a nifty little “Our Story So Far...” on their inside front cover, and so, as every comic may be someone's first, I quickly was able to drink “the milk of Paradise” and hop right into the story.