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Friday, September 3, 2010
MOCCA Reviews
Part 1: the graphic novels
110 Per Cent
by Tony Consiglio
Top Shelf, $12.95
Middle-aged women obsess over Backstreet Boys-like vocal group, causing consternation amongst their family members and weakening their mutual friendship. Don’t expect the same kind of humor here as in Tony Consiglio’s cult mini-comic classic Double Cross – as he told me himself at MOCCA, he’s going for a more straightforward kind of story here. The three leads are clearly defined, as are their methods of idolatry of 110 Per Cent, and the humor here is bittersweet and more than a little dark in places, kind of like a Todd Solondz movie. The problem comes when the creator tries too hard to mimic the storytelling style of his best friend Alex Robinson, of Box Office Poison and Tricked fame. Robinson may be the most underrated storyteller in all of comics; his methods of depicting the passage of time and the movement through space of his characters are surpassed by only a small handful of creators, such as Chris Ware. When Consiglio attempts similar layout tricks, they don’t work as effectively and sometimes make no sense (pages 34-36, for example). The result is that they’re distracting and unnecessary. Consiglio is a good enough cartoonist on his own without needing to emulate anyone else. Worth getting as an intro to the artist’s work, but seek out his older material for a better indication of what he’s known for. B-
The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy’s Great Idea
adapted for comics by Raina Telgemeier
based on the book by Ann M. Martin
Scholastic/Graphix, $8.99
Enterprising pre-teens form babysitting service and learn about their neighbors and themselves in the process. Raina Telegemeier’s star has risen pretty quickly in a relatively short amount of time, and rightly so: she is without question one of the best new cartoonists I have seen this decade. She has a beautifully expressive line which she employs to great effect to give her characters vibrancy and personality, and I suspect she’s only going to get better as she gets older. With this book, she gets to showcase many things she does well, including drawing children and making them distinct from adults – not always easy. While I wouldn’t categorize her art as animation-like, it is evocative of a number of quality comic strip artists, including Bill Waterson, Alison Bechdel, and even (in some places) Charles Schulz.
Such a shame, then, that The Baby-Sitters Club comic disappointed me a little. Telgemeier is obviously working from a pre-existing source material, so I can’t lay the bulk of the blame at her feet, but once you get past the short-hand introductions to the characters, they come across as interchangeable and not all that interesting. Initially, the four protagonists are presented as the ringleader, the shy one, the rebel and the new girl with a secret. But there was very little in the way of personality development beyond that. Plus, they all got along too damn well! There was a bit of conflict between them very late in the book, but I would’ve liked to have seen some of that tension much sooner. I don’t mean they should’ve been fighting all the time, but they could’ve had, say, crossing agendas on how the club would operate and what they’d each get out of it. Also, while we get to see each of the girls’ problems with their clients, it’s all very situational; one episode to the next to the next.
Lingering conflict and drama come from the subplots involving Kristy and her mom’s new beau, as well as Stacey’s secret, which turns out to be not what you think it is – a revelation that felt like a deliberate rug-pulling. Judy Blume is considered by many to be the gold standard for young adult “real-world” stories (and yeah, I read her as a kid, too – they’re not just for girls), and if this graphic novel is any indication, Ann M. Martin is no Judy Blume.
Still, though, there is some good stuff plot-wise. I liked Kristy’s relationship with Karen and Andrew, in particular seeing how they each respond to the possibility of their parents marrying each other. I also liked watching Kristy and her mother interact, though I think Amelia Rules does a much better job at depicting how divorce affects children and their relationships with their parents. Then again, perhaps the BSC novel goes into more depth. I’d recommend this for Telgemeier’s art alone, but as a story it left me wanting a bit more. B-
The Wang: Who’s Your Daddy?
by Stan Yan
Squid Works, $9.95
College grad turned office schlemiel Eugene Wang returns in a new graphic novel featuring more corporate shenanigans, disturbing sexual encounters, and near-death experiences, along with a search for Eugene’s long lost father. The humor in this new Wang GN is slightly darker than the first one, which was a surprise – witness the car crash scene and what immediately follows, for example. While the satirical elements and character bits are still in place and still quite funny, the whole thing felt a bit disjointed, like it got lost somewhere along the way. Not necessarily a bad thing; I guess I just expected more involving Eugene’s dad. The art continues to impress; I especially like the facial reaction shots. B
I Love Led Zeppelin
by Ellen Forney
Fantagraphics, $19.95
Collected strips by the author covering over a decade – some autobiographical, some inspired by interviews with people, others fictional vignettes. One of the biggest highlights of the show for me this year was finally meeting Ellen Forney. When her previous collection of strips, Monkey Food, was released in 1999, I got it at SPX. I had heard good things about it and figured it was worth picking up, and though she was there that year I missed the chance to meet her. I read Monkey Food and enjoyed it immensely. I can’t explain exactly what it was about that book; my childhood was as far removed from hers as you can imagine, but I found myself completely immersed in her experiences as a child of the 70’s in a slightly left-of-center household. It was playful and engaging, with a total lack of self-consciousness; not a kids’ book by any means, but not something I’d label for “mature” readers either! And the artwork had such a gentle touch to it as well, switching back and forth from realistic to cartoony and in-between, with a confident ink line that helped make the characters feel intimate and familiar.
In Forney’s new collection, she’s very much an adult now, and reading about her weird and wacky friends and their various occupations and adventures and philosophies (as well as Forney’s own) is almost like catching up with an old friend after not seeing her for years and marveling at how much she’s changed. The intrinsic curiosity and exploration that marked her depiction of her childhood in Monkey Food endures, tinged now with a strong sexual and socio-political self-awareness. The how-to strips in the beginning exemplify this best. There’s a lot of fun stuff, but there’s also a great deal of genuinely useful and valuable information there too, the kind one doesn’t often get from mainstream media (e.g., “How to Smoke Pot and Stay Out of Jail,” “How to Talk About Drugs With Your Kid,” “How to Use Your Voice” – as self-defense in social situations).
There is so much to adore about Forney’s work, and while I Love Led Zeppelin isn’t quite on the same level for me as Monkey Food, that’s only because I hold the latter in such high esteem that very little could possibly compare to it for me. Get this book, read it, love it, learn from it, treasure it. B+
RoadStrips: A Graphic Journey Across America
by various
Chronicle Books, $22.95
An anthology of stories that emphasize what it means to be American, especially when viewed from different parts of the country. With a lineup that includes Jessica Abel, Keith Knight, Gilbert Hernandez, Roberta Gregory, Peter Kuper, Peter Bagge, Mary Fleener, and Terry LaBan, among many others, you know this is gonna be solid. Favorites include Abel’s showcase of the melting pot that is New York; LaBan talking about switching neighborhoods in Chicago and reconnecting with his Jewish identity; and Hernandez representing Mexican-Americans in his own way. B+
Black Mane
by Michael LaRiccia
One Time Press, $10
Semi-autobiographical account of the author’s life with an emphasis on stereotypes and surface appearances based on race and gender. Michael LaRiccia is Italian, but because of his dark complexion and hirsute appearance, in this story he’s often mistaken for other ethnicities, and that in itself is a quite interesting theme. Most of the story, however, involves the bizarre characters he encounters in his everyday life and their unusual behavior. He speculates on their conversations and actions to fill in the gaps he misses, and even indulges in a little revenge fantasy in some cases, but I don’t know… something about the way it was done felt kind of repetitive after awhile. Bob Fingerman’s Beg the Question found the right balance of general New York weirdness with stories involving the regular cast of characters. I would’ve liked to have seen more with his girlfriend and his co-workers and his buddies, who seemed like cool people themselves, and less of the revenge fantasies. B
The Best American Comics 2006 (advance copy)
by various
Houghton Mifflin, $22
Harvey Pekar co-edits this anthology of some of comics’ recent greatest hits, including complete stories and excerpts from longer works. Houghton Mifflin’s “Best American” series of anthologies has showcased quality contemporary literature for over 90 years, if you can believe that, and this year they’re finally gonna give comics their due by including them in this prestigious series, in a book all their own for the first time. I might have missed out on it were it not for my pal Vija, who attended MOCCA with me once again this year. She spotted their table while I was in another room talking to someone else and practically dragged me over to it, she was so excited about it. (Vija’s tastes, in general, tend to be slightly more highbrow than Yours Truly. But that’s okay – it’s part of why I love her.) The next time we hang out, I’m gonna let her have my copy, so yes, I admit, there was an ulterior motive for me acquiring this beyond wanting to read it.
In terms of content, this is one powerful group of all-stars: Robert Crumb, Joe Sacco, Lynda Barry, Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Shelton, Alison Bechdel, Alex Robinson, Jessica Abel, Chris Ware, Rick Geary, and more. A large number of the pieces included are from other anthologies, like the McSweeney’s comics edition, World War 3, and Hi Horse Omnibus. The rest are taken from graphic novels, single issues of ongoing or limited series, or comic strips. According to her foreword, co-editor Anne Elizabeth Moore selected 150 pieces from a vast tidal wave of material published from January 1, 2004-August 15, 2005, from every far-flung corner of the medium you can think of, and then Pekar narrowed it down to the final 30.
This may be a flame-worthy statement, but I’m gonna say it: while the selections here are all of very-good-to-exceptional quality, I honestly think there’s a bias here towards “real-world” material. For example, Pekar says in his introduction that while he read some superhero stories as part of the selection process, he didn’t find any he found “particularly good.” Readers of this column know that while I’m no fan of the overwhelming majority of drek turned out by Marvel and DC these days, I have bestowed lavish praise on recent books like Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier and Kurt Busiek’s Superman: Secret Identity. Indeed, I would put those two in particular up against anything else in this anthology. I’m not necessarily advocating that every major genre deserves representation in this book. I can’t help but wonder, though, whether or not a conscious decision was made to make sure that it would look “grown-up,” so to speak, by downplaying horror and fantasy and science-fiction and yeah, even superheroes. (That’s downplaying, not excluding; Rebecca Dart’s selection from Rabbithead is my favorite of the ones I wasn’t already familiar with. It’s told in a remarkable bifurcating, multi-tiered format that tells several subplots of a single story all at once. You have to see it to understand.)
Crumb’s intro writes at length about the underground movement of the 60’s and his role in it, but he greatly diminishes the impact Marvel had during that same era, when it was still brand new and being read by college students and talked about on TV and in magazines – this following a decade where comics were considered anathema by the public. While you’ll likely not find a bigger cheerleader for independent and self-published comics than Pekar, for which I am eternally grateful, I think his love of “ordinary life” comics might occasionally blind him to the great work being done in other genres and the impact they have. I could be wrong, though.
Regardless, this is a fine anthology and it’s wonderful that Houghton Mifflin has chosen to honor the medium in this manner. Look for it when it comes out in October. A-
The Ticking
by Renee French
Top Shelf, $19.95
Deformed father sires even more deformed child, and as the two live in isolation, the child’s condition drives a wedge between the two. The Mistress of the Macabre returns with her longest and best work, continuing many of the themes that are indicative of her comics career. If you’ve never heard of Renee French, well, think of your favorite Tim Burton or David Lynch or especially David Cronenberg film, mix in some old-school German expressionism, add a touch of Edward Gorey and Charles Addams, and stir.
Cal and Edison’s relationship is a touching one to watch unfold. While Cal loves his son, he’s also deeply ashamed of his condition, and while he wants Edison to look more “normal,” he doesn’t realize that his son has learned how to adjust to his state better than Cal ever did to his own, something Edison discovers about two-thirds of the way into the story. I suspect there’s also a great deal of misplaced guilt on Cal’s part for fathering a child that resembles him, an act that digs up personal demons Cal thought he had exorcised long ago.
French’s storytelling style is very minimal, with anywhere from one to three small panels per page, and as a result I found myself lingering on the images longer than I would if it were a more traditional composition. Once again she works in pencil, and looking at the lush, smooth, gradated images is a lot like viewing an old 16 millimeter, black-and-white foreign film with subtitles (the text is underneath the images). There’s a great deal of subtlety to The Ticking; a lot of suggestion of plot and character based on fragments we see here and there, which is wonderful and brings the story alive that much more. Cal’s fate in particular leaves one wondering why it unfolded as it did. Well worth picking up. A-
Next week: the comics (no off week).
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
