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Well, here's my last Comic-Con Round-Up for 2010. You're surely thinking something like: "Comic-Con? That was weeks ago!" and you're absolutely right. But Comic-Con is so enormous that you could literally spend months sifting through everything. I've mentioned some of my finds for younger kids, and then for tweens and teens—and many of those are things that adults will certainly enjoy. This list, however, is for books that probably aren't appropriate for your kids—things that are marked "for mature readers," that I think are worth mentioning.
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe - Charles Yu
Extra Lives - Tom Bissell
My Best Friend is a Wookiee - Tony Pacitti
RASL - Jeff Smith
Lucky in Love - George Chieffet
Bodyworld - Dash Shaw
Elephantmen - Richard Starkings et al.
Radical Publishing: Time Bomb, Oblivion, Mata Hari, and more
North 40 - Aaron Williams & Fiona Staples
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe - Charles Yu
I've said it before, but it bears repeating: my favorite book from Comic-Con this year, hands-down, was Charles Yu's How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
And this week, over at Underwire, you can enter to win the Book From Nowhere, a version of Yu's book printed on silver-foil paper and bound in metal. Just be careful what you do with it. You don't want to end up being shot by your past self.
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter - Tom Bissell
Another non-comic I picked up at Comic-Con, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
My Best Friend Is a Wookiee - Tony Pacitti
Ok, one last non-comic, and then I'll get to the comics. My Best Friend is a Wookiee
I happened to be walking past the Adams Media booth when a marketing rep asked if I wanted a free book, signed by the author. I'm a sucker for free books—and when I saw the cover it piqued my curiosity. It's actually an Advance Reader Copy so I'm not sure how much (if any) is changed from this to final publication.
Pacitti writes about Star Wars and being a nerdy kid, getting picked on and finding solace in the world George Lucas created. He gets into a lot of other pop-culture subjects as well (like when everyone at his school got to see Jurassic Park but his mom wouldn't let him), but always brings it back to Star Wars. It's a bit crude in places and Pacitti wears his persecution like a badge, but it's also a mostly entertaining memoir of one kid's obsession. Fair warning: Pacitti talks about his memories the way he recalls them, so there's a lot of immature, politically incorrect slang.
RASL - Jeff Smith
I like Jeff Smith's work. Of course, when I say "Jeff Smith's work" I'm thinking of Bone, which he's best known for, and I had completely missed the fact that he has another series for adults: RASL. The freebie issue they handed out at Comic-Con was Chapter 6, so it's in the middle of the story, but I did hear Smith talk a little about it during his panel. RASL is an interdimensional art thief—he jumps to a parallel world, steals artwork, and then jumps back to sell it. That's most of what I know about him.
What really got my attention is that in Chapter 6, RASL's story is interspersed with the story of Nikola Tesla. It's a bit like what the American Physical Society tried to do with their Tesla comic book, but in RASL you can see the difference that a master storyteller can make.
I've only seen a small glimpse of RASL so far, and it's quite different from Bone—but still exhibit's Smith's superb drawings and seems to be an intriguing mix of sci-fi and noir.
Lucky in Love - George Chieffet & Stephen DeStefano
I was given a copy of Lucky in Love
Although it's a comic book, it has the feel of an autobiography. Lucky narrates the story, and often reveals his own shortcomings. He's obsessed with sex; he takes his dad's work truck out for joyrides, siphoning gas from other cars during the rationing period; he's a short guy and frequently gets overlooked for that reason. He goes to war but doesn't pass the pilot test, despite his desire to fly, and returns home a "war hero" though he really doesn't feel like one.
The illustrations by Stephen DeStefano are cartoony and look like something out of the 1940s. Even the pages of the book have a slightly yellowish color like old newsprint—the combined effect really puts you in Lucky's world, seeing the events happen as he relates them. There is a bit of sex and nudity, which makes the book inappropriate for kids, but actually not much violence at all. Lucky didn't really see much action during the war, so neither does the reader.
There were a couple sections that were really heavy on text. The whole book has a lot of narration, but in a few instances the text completely overpowered the drawings, and it felt out of place and sort of shoved-in. Outside of those, however, the story really drew me in and I was eager to see where Lucky went next.
While it's not a comic for somebody looking for superheroes or action sequences, I might actually recommend it for readers who like biographies and period pieces. It's a fascinating portrait of mid-century Italian-American culture, even if it's just a very small window into it.
BodyWorld - Dash Shaw
I only knew just a little bit about BodyWorld before Comic-Con—mostly that it was a long book that opened vertically, which made reading the book physically awkward. That, and the artwork inside was a mixture of drawings, paintings, montages and things you wouldn't find in a typical comic book. Pantheon Books sent me a copy, and it's one of those books that, after reading it, I wasn't entirely sure if I liked or not.
Bodyworld is a really odd story, told in a really odd fashion. Professor Paulie Panther is one of the first characters you meet, and right away you can tell something's wrong with him. He claims to be a botanist, visiting the small town of Boney Borough to work with the school on identifying an unknown plant that has cropped up there. Pretty soon, though, the nature of his work becomes apparent: he's researching an "encyclopedia of the hallucinogenic effects of North American plantlife." That is, he travels around, looks for undiscovered or untested plant life, and smokes it.
There are several other major characters, including the sports-star high schooler Billy-Bob Borg and his girlfriend Pearl Peach, and one of the teachers, Jem Jewel; eventually all of their paths cross in surprising ways, particularly when the effects of the mystery plants kick in. Bodyworld isn't really a pleasant book to read—none of the characters are what you'd call good, upstanding folk. However, the way that Shaw reveals the truth about the plants and how he portrays the drug-addled perceptions of the characters is pretty hallucinogenic itself.
If you're into experimental comics, ways of pushing the boundaries of the medium, BodyWorld might be right up your alley. However, don't say I didn't warn you—this is not a book that gives you a warm, happy feeling when you finish.
Elephantmen - Richard Starkings and Moritat
I remember seeing Elephantmen at my first Comic-Con in 2005, but it was one of those things I jotted down to check out later ... and then never got around to it. This year they were handing out some of their old issues for free so I picked up a couple, from December 2006 and March 2007. While it's hard to get a real sense of the storyline, here's what I can gather: the Elephantmen (who aren't specifically elephants) are animal-human hybrids, originally bred as slaves or workers. It's hard to say exactly how things stand at this point in the story, but they do appear to be somewhat integrated into society, following a bloody uprising sometime in the past.
The stories have a film noir feel to them—it actually reminds me of Calvin's "Tracer Bullet" alter ego, only much more deadly. The artwork is fantastic and the animals look real and massive and dangerous. But it's certainly not something you want to leave lying around if you have young kids—one of the issues I have shows an elephant, blood dripping from his tusk, about to stomp on a very bloody man—quite gruesome and not kid-friendly in the least.
The two bits I've seen are good enough that I'm curious to start at the beginning
Radical Publishing
We've written about Radical Publishing before: they're the ones behind Aladdin, Legends, Caliber, and Shrapnel, among others. Many of their comics are for mature readers only, though, so some of them don't always feel like the best fit for GeekDad. But I've enjoyed many of their series that I've read, so I'll list just a few of them here that might be worthwhile:
Oblivion is a sci-fi story by Joseph Kosinski, the director of TRON: Legacy. This book is not actually a comic, but prose with illustrations—a picture book for adults, if you will. I picked up a preview with some sample art and the first chapter, and I'm looking forward to the finished book. The story is about a burnt-out planet overrun by savage aliens called Scavengers. The humans live up in the sky, sending drones down below to wipe out the Scavengers. Oblivion is due sometime this fall.
Time Bomb is a 3-part series (the first two are out now) by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, illustrated by Paul Gulacy. Archeologists discover a hidden Nazi city deep under Berlin, where Hitler's doomsday device has waited dormant until now. When a team of scientists attempts to travel back in time just far enough to prevent the bomb from going off, they end up going back farther than intended, ending up in Nazi Germany at the height of Hitler's power.
Mata Hari, by Rich Wilkes and Roy Martinez, is a historical fiction imagining the life of Mata Hari—sex symbol, double agent. But was she really a German spy, responsible for the deaths of 50,000 French soldiers? Or was she merely a scapegoat, executed as a sacrificial lamb to boost French morale? Of course, none of us know for sure. The case files are sealed until 2017—but until then, you can read Wilkes and Martinez's best guess, coming next spring.
Radical has a number of other titles as well—some continuing series like Shrapnel and Hotwire, but plenty of new ones as well, ranging from sci-fi to horror. Visit their website to check out the rest.
North 40 - Aaron Williams & Fiona Staples
I've mentioned Aaron Williams earlier—some of his online comics are great nerd-tastic fun—but he also wrote this story for Wildstorm comics last year. North 40 is quite different from his other comics, which are lighter in tone. This one is a Lovecraftian nightmare—a couple of residents of rural Conover County unknowingly release, well, Cthulhu. The next morning, people awake to find themselves (or others) changed—some have become beasts, some have gained powers. A girl named Amanda Walker finds herself recruited by a mysterious figure who seems to know what's going on. Meanwhile, no-nonsense Sheriff Morgan tries to keep the peace.
Williams had some copies of the first issue and gave me one, and it's a good start. The collected issues are coming out as a trade paperback
