REVIEW: Once-in-a-While Reviews #95.10
James Drew
======================================
by Jim Drew
(Back "issues" are available...)
Longshot Comics Book One Slave Labor Graphics
The Desert Peach #23 Aeon
ComicsLit Magazine #1 NBM Publishing
Legally blind Comics self-produced
Comic Effect #5 Paloma St. Publications
(Recent back issues of Once-in-a-While Reviews are available by e-mail
request. A self-published paper version of these review columns,
_Potshots_, is available by mail for $3.00 from Ciao! Publications,
P.O. Box 25233, San Mateo, CA 94402. Available: #1.)
Spoilers ahead...
***** ***** *****
Longshot Comics Book One Slave Labor Graphics $2.95 / 24 pp
Shane Simmons
Subtitled "The Long and Unlearned Life of Roland Gethers", this
single comic features the entire life of Roland Gethers set against a
backdrop of eighty-nine years of the British Empire. A bold undertaking, you
say. In one comic -- inconceivable, you claim. Yet here it is, regardless.
One hundred sixty panels per page.
Okay, so all the artwork is dots. Imagine you're in the back row of
the theater, okay?
Shane Simmons created a masterpiece of mini-comics with his epic
_Longshot_Comics_, and this is a reprint (with severe reformatting). Simmons
joins a long list (well, a short list, anyway) of other mini-comics creators
jumping into full size: Matt Feazell, Adrian Tomine, Jon Lewis, etc.
To appreciate this masterwork, ignore the minimalist artwork, and
read everything out loud, preferably in "Monty Python"-style voices (and
certainly where people can hear you and give you odd looks):
"That's just the pain talking."
"Yes! And I'm in rather a lot of it right now!"
"Why don't you give me something for it instead of making small talk?"
"All right. Hang on."
"I'll give you a shot of morphine."
"Make it a double."
"You women do go on when you're in labour."
Without a doubt, this is the densest read you will get from a comic
book in quite a while; it took me three days of sporadic reading to get
through all eighty-nine years of it. But it was three days well spent.
I would love to see Simmons get this animated!
* Slave Labor Graphics, 979 S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128
1-800-866-8929
dans...@aol.com (Dan Vado, publisher)
***** ***** *****
The Desert Peach #23 Aeon $2.95 / 24 pp
Donna Barr
Once again, we visit World War II Africa -- on the German side of
things -- and the battalion led by Pfirsich Rommel aka "The Desert Peach,"
the Desert Fox's pretty brother. And once again we explore the group of
misfits and eccentrics that make up the cast of this comic: the Peach, a gay
colonel (although his orientation doesn't enter into this story); Corporal
Udo Schmidt and his nomad wife, Falila; Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox;
Lieutenant Winzig, the camp Nazi; and several of the lesser characters.
This particular issue revolves around the completion of a bridge near
the battalion's campsite, an area riddled with ravines and crevasses. When a
well-meaning quartermaster in Germany found out that the Peach was an
engineer by trade, the battalion was supplied with a town's-worth of lumber.
While showing the completed bridge to the Fox, the Peach is treated to two
versions of Rommel's saving of a bridge during World War I; meanwhile, Rommel
is mentally devising plans of his own for the bridge.
Back at the camp, Falila has arrived, complete with her entourage --
she is a Tuareg princess, after all. Her people have taken notice of the
bridge and want to properly bless it. Meanwhile, Winzig is going through
mental somersaults, between the presence of Falila and company -- deemed
racial misfits by good-Nazi Winzig -- their heathen blessings on the bridge,
stresses of war, and poor supply lines for food.
_The_Desert_Peach_ is typically one of the best comics on the market.
Barr does an excellent job examining human nature, put in relief against
several unfamiliar-to-Americans settings: desert, wartime army life, and the
German army. Her penchant for inserting little lessons in German idiom and
history combined with her atypical art style give this comic a look and feel
unmatched in the rest of the industry.
Unfortunately, this particular issue does not hang together as well
as most of the series. There is a distinct feeling that too much was crammed
into the issue, leaving a sense of incompleteness. (Maybe this is intended,
and the next issue will continue the threads; there is no indication of that,
however.) If you have never picked up _The_Desert_Peach_ before, I recommend
digging up a back issue -- #22, with the introduction of female Private Gluck
and revelations about Corporal Kruger would be excellent -- and read this one
later, once you know how the series typically feels.
* Aeon, 5014-D Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105
E.V...@GENIE.GEIC.COM (Edd Vick, publisher)
***** ***** *****
ComicsLit Magazine #1 NBM Publishing $2.95 / 30 pp
Cover: Bo Hampton / Editor: Terry Nantier
This marks NBM's first foray into comic magazine publishing (as
opposed to the comic *book* publishing they have done for nearly twenty
years). Their goal is to create an anthology highlighting works of a more
literary bent -- citing predecessors _Cheval_Noir_ and _Drawn_&_Quarterly_ as
examples. Many of the pieces which will appear in _ComicsLit_Magazine_ will
later be collected in graphic albums of their own.
_ComicsLit_Magazine_ is in blakc and white, although many of the
stories were originally done in color; this sometimes makes for muddy art,
especially from watercolor painted pieces. Still, at $2.95 for a magazine-
sized comic, this is certainly competitive with anything else in the market.)
Promised for future issues are stories by P. Craig Russell, David Wenzel, and
comic strip artist Ted Rall.
* Story #1: "Verdilak" (9 pp)
* Writer: Mark Kneece, Bo Hampton / Artist: Bo Hampton
Apparently adapted from/inspired by Tolstoy (I'm not familiar enough
with Tolstoy's works to know), "Verdilak" involves a woman named Maren who
takes shelter in a deconsecrated cathedral, where she is taken in by the
misshapen Ramash. She is content to stay there for a time, until Alibek -- a
notorious thief -- happens by and convinces Maren that Ramash serves the
devil and has kept her at the cathedral via evil potions. (And this may
actually be true.) Rescuing Maren, Alibek takes her to the village, whose
citizens then rise up against Ramash. Alibek's motives in rescuing Maren are
less than innocent themselves, however.
Kneece and Hampton tell a good story. The painted visuals are rich,
and the revelations about both Ramash and Alibek come as surprises, but not
poorly done ones.
* Story #2: "Klingon Battle Helmet" (11 pp)
* Writer: Rob Maisch / Artist: Scott Hampton
Taking place in the early 70's, Rob and his coworker Greg at the
bookshop have to deal with a local lecture by Leonard Nimoy, sure to bring
hordes of Star Trek fans into the area. Of course, when you bring in the
Trekkies, you also bring in the -- horrors! -- ultimate Trek fanboys. Worst
of them is a kid who eats/breathes/lives Star Trek, and who proceeds to put a
damper on merchandise sales by telling all the customers how inferior,
overpriced, or otherwise undesirable it all is. Revenge is sweet, though.
This is one of a series of shorts under the heading "Confessions of a
Cereal Eater," to be released as an album at some point in the future. This
is certainly one of the better short pieces published this year.
* Story #3: "A Hunger Artist" (10 pp)
* Original Story: Franz Kafka / Adapted by: Peter Kuper
This is the tale of a great human skeleton. Once an attraction in
his own right, crowds began to wane, so he joined a circus. Unfortunately,
not being the star attraction, his cage was placed near the menagerie. As
the days passed, the crowds passed him by even as he set new records for
fasting.
It is left as an exercise for the reader to draw parallels between
this story and the fickleness of the public with any sort of entertainment
medium or genre. This story is one of the nine being published in NBM's
_Give_It_Up_, a collection Kafka adaptations by Kuper, presumably all in the
same stark, high-contrast style as this.
* NBM Publishing, 185 Madison Avenue, Suite 1504, New York, NY 10016
1-800-886-1223
***** ***** *****
Legally blind Comics self-produced --- / 5 pp
Mike De Leon
This is a set of giveaway photocopies Mike prepared and distributed
to people at the 1994 San Diego Comic Con. It contains two stories: "The Guy
Named Mike" and "Rogaine Blues," both apparently autobiographical. The first
features "Mike" (a typical Gen-X'er, by appearances: jams, long hair, goatee,
piercings) preparing to tell the reader about himself and getting distracted
off onto tangents in the process, successfully doing exactly what he set out
to do. The second story has "Mike" wondering why he is losing his hair.
De Leon has a peculiar style, one certainly not typical for comics.
It is cartoony and anatomically peculiar at times, but not unattractive.
I have no idea what De Leon is doing these days, or if copies of this
are available.
* Mike De Leon, 2146 E. 6th Street #B, Tucson, AZ 85719
(602) 770-9166
***** ***** *****
Comic Effect #5 Paloma St. Publications $3.50 / 48 pp
Contributors: Rich Morrissey, Merrill Singer, Mike Grogan, Ron Fortier, Jesse
Groth, Bill Miller, Thomas R. Boughan, Peter Iorillo, Christopher
Melchert, Jim Kingman, James Van Hise, J. Kevin Carrier, Chuck
Hatfield / Cover: Wayne Cash / Back Cover: Joseph Vargo /
Frontispiece: Dan Duncan / Editor: Jim Kingman
_Comic_Effect_ is subtitled "Emphasizing the Fun in Reading Comics,"
and it is a review zine rather than a comic book. There are far too few
comics zines (i.e., zines about comics, not mini-comics) being published
these days -- and I know whereof I speak. With the focus being so heavily on
the artist, the writer (especially the journalist) loses out.
What Kingman has done with _Comics_Effect_ is to gather together a
number of the industry's top letterhacks, entry-level pros, and other fans,
and then got them to write analysis reviews of comics. They doesn't just
focus on current comics, though. This issue looks at _Adventure_Comics_ #252
(1958), _Critical_Error_ #1 (1992), _Tarzan_ #55 (1954) vs. _Tarzan:_Love,_
_Lies,_and_the_Lost_City_ #1 (1992), Marvel's first _Nova_ series, _Green_
_Lantern_ #49 (1966 and 1993), _Marvels_ Book Two (1994), and so forth. Any
reader of mainstream comics with an eye toward history and critical analysis
will find quite a bit of interest in here (or in any issue, I'm sure).
This particular issue is dated from the spring of 1994; astute people
may automatically identify that as just after Jack Kirby died. The issue
begins with an editorial on Kirby by Kingman and ends with a nine-page essay
by Chuck Hatfield (see his frequent posting on the "comix" mailing list),
entitled "Jack Kirby and the _Pantheon_ Concept: The Beginnings of Modern
Superhero Myth". Hatfield's essay pays tribute to Kirby's history and
innovations, but I think he goes a little far in attributing pretty much
everything about mainstream comics to Kirby's influence, including the
"pantheon" concept and the "thriving fan community." While Kirby's influence
is great all around, even admittedly in these areas, both things were already
well on their way before the Marvel Age began in the early 1960's. The
"pantheon" idea, "superhuman heroes and villains springing from a common
origin, vying with each other like rival gods in a mythic pantheon," was
capitalized on by Kirby but was already strongly present in the _Superman_
family of titles by the early 1960's: Superman, Supergirl, the Super-Pets,
the Legion of Super-Heroes, Lex Luthor, the Phantom Zone Villains, the
Superman Revenge Squad, Kandor, and so on. Hokey, yes, but unquestionably
"pantheon." And the "fan community" had already started on its way with the
like of Roy Thomas, Jerry Bails, and Don and Maggie Thompson (whatever her
maiden name was) doing comics-oriented science fiction fanzines, and it was
allegedly fan demand which caused the continuous return of the Legion
throughout the _Superman_ titles. But I'm more than happy to forgive
Hatfield a little overexuberance; Kirby certainly did more with the concept
than anyone else, and he did it intentionally rather than accidentally.
The one downside to _Comic_Effect_ is the paucity of illustrations.
There are only six covers for the comics being reviewed/analyzed in here (and
two of those are in the editorial, for obscure Kirby books not even reviewed
in the issue) making for large blocks of unrelieved text and a not very
interesting interior look. Kingman is up to about #11 by now, though, so he
may well have resolved this. He has also recently started a new zine called
_Parallel_Earths_, devoted to analysis of the ways continuities change and
evolve over the years or across "universes."
* Paloma St. Publications, P.O. Box 2188, Pasadena, CA 91102-2188
------------------------------
| We passed booth after booth selling food:
Jim Drew | gyros, lumpia, falafel, barbecued chicken,
j...@frame.com | Polish sausages, Philadelphia cheesesteak, tofu
"Two-Stepping Smurf" | burritos, fresh squeezed organic fruit juices,
<neither innocent nor naive> | frozen yogurt, beer, beer, beer,...
B2h+ t e cd s k g+(p) rv q p | "Buffalo?" I said, pointing to one.
S8/5 g l+ y+ o+ a+ u++- j++ | "Tastes like chicken," Ron replied.
{opinions: mine != frame's} | - Marc Lynx, "Awl's Fare"