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Breakdowns - Steel Plates Ahead

May 1, 2003

Happy May Day, whatever that means, and welcome to another edition of the column. I promise to keep it shorter than last week, especially since I don’t have any pressing commentary to deliver. Nope, just reviews this time, including early looks at a couple winners from the likes of Chynna Clugston-Major and Andi Watson for Oni Press and Michel Rabagliati’s excellent PAUL HAS A SUMMER JOB. I may have promised a couple other books last week that will have to wait until next week. The reviews are partially written but I didn’t want to hack out the rest. Better I should just hack out the following, right? Just kidding, I hope. Anyway, I should mention that based on my current “pull list” for my local comic shop, I’m moving more and more towards trade paperback collections rather than monthly issues. It’s less a matter of having to read a complete story all at once than just having a really messy house. This applies mainly to monthly miniseries and regular series you know will be collected, stuff from the bigger publishers, not the sporadic art comics stuff, which is more likely to need the support in order to justify publishing a collection. I’m still happy to review anything sent to me, though, and will still pick up a monthly here and there, as evidenced by this week’s review of the new Brian Vaughan/Jorge Lucas MYSTIQUE book.

WAY OF THE RAT: THE WALLS OF ZHUMAR by Chuck Dixon, Jeff Johnson and Tom Ryder. CrossGen Comics. $15.95
Boon Sai Hong is an accomplished thief but too immature to be more than a nuisance, until he breaks into the king’s castle and puts on a ring called the “Jade Rat.” It makes him an invincible warrior as long as he’s holding something he can use as a staff. All young warriors need mentors, and Hong soon has Po Po, who seems to be a wise man in the body of a monkey. Hong must learn the secret of the Jade Rat, as well as seek out some other magical devices, and avoid the king’s soldiers and assassins. The king has other problems, since he finds out he’s the bad guy in a Chinese version of HAMLET, and that didn’t work out well for the king in the old version.

This is a competent book, probably pretty fun for kids or young adults. Johnson opens up with a very good shot of the city of Zhumar, but as with movies, the rest of the scenes look like sets, or like the Universal Studios street they dress up to be any non-American place they want. Martial arts movies obviously influenced the art but little new was brought to the table. The action lacks the visceral nature or savage beauty of great manga, but it’s fine. Ryder has kind of a heavy line for this sort of thing and so the characters look posed and not fluid.

Some may criticize the book as not being authentic, but I don’t have a problem with Dixon mixing things up and not placing this in China or Japan or anywhere real. It’s a fantasy and with all the great, authentic manga and manhua in print, he might have better luck with a hybrid. But he has yet to make Zhumar or its people unique or particularly interesting. Po Po is kind of a silly idea, but actually works all right, and the staff thing is also a fine idea. I’ve said before that the main problem in a lot of CrossGen’s books is that there’s little feeling of urgency or of an important story to tell, and that’s true here. It’s a fantasy adventure comic as good or better than quite a few out there, but not essential or memorable.

PAUL HAS A SUMMER JOB by Michel Rabagliati. Drawn & Quarterly. $16.95
Paul is a directionless young man with nameless angers, and this has led him to a bit of a dead end, a numbing industrial job and he’s still living with his folks. When a friend calls to ask him to fill in as a last-minute replacement summer camp counselor, he accepts without hesitation. Some time in the mountains seems like a great escape, and what else does he have to do?

That summer ends up being the most significant of his life, as he becomes a man in a number of ways. His laziness and tendency to give up have no place here, as this camp is for underprivileged children in desperate need of some love, friendship, attention and inspiration. Paul has to quickly learn rock climbing well enough to teach it, and it’s an apt physical manifestation of the internal challenges he must overcome. The close-knit group of counselors and the needy children also force him to be more outgoing and positive, and his natural childlike qualities and way with a tune make him popular with both groups. More importantly, he finds teaching these children, from the little kids to the rambunctious teens, is rewarding and fun and worth whatever difficulties it presents.

A natural outgrowth of his improved self-image is that he begins a romance with a female counselor whom he never suspected would like him. It’s one of those magical, short-lived flings inextricably tied into one’s surroundings and mental and emotional landscape. Never to be the same, honeyed in memory.

What differentiates this book from a lot of the earnest, naked romantic comics from male creators these days is a maturity and a more sophisticated level of writing. Rabagliati began creating comics after his 20s were over, and after a career in graphic design, so the typical bohemian/bad dates/sophomoric jokes/pretentious formal experiment phases are over. This is a man looking back on a period of his life with some distance, and from the perspective of a father, and so he’s able to pull off some luminous, John Irvingesque storytelling involving the passing on of gifts and how their contexts change over time. Hey, he’s even able to work in a cute, plucky blind girl camper and have it be effective and not maudlin. His graphic design years also benefit the reader by presenting artwork fully formed, a bold and confident line somewhat reminiscent of Craig Thompson and Crockett Johnson. This is a warm, layered work full of compassion and quiet epiphanies, and not to be missed. Already a front-runner for next year’s awards.

POPBOT COLLECTION ONE by Ashley Wood and Sam Kieth. IDW Publishing. $35.00

Thirty-five bones is a lot to pay to be this confused, and yet, it’s a bargain for art and presentation of this caliber. It seems to me that too high a premium has been placed on clear sequential storytelling, to the extent that artwork of such texture, sexiness and range is undervalued. Who else is illustrating women this arousing, robots this cool and tactile, backgrounds this deep and palpable, or villains this disturbing? Wood is doing exceptional multimedia work here, switching from pencils to computer seamlessly. And those who find his storytelling too much of a chore on titles like HELLSPAWN or AUTOMATIC KAFKA should be suitably pleased with the format here, as Wood sticks mainly to one-or-two-panel pages of central images and little else but background texture.

But this is a review, not a love letter, and Wood already has two art books, so what about the story, huh? Well, it’s hard to say what the story is “essentially” about, but the main character is Kitty, a cat who used to be a drugged-out, womanizing punk rocker in the short-lived band 2215 Funlicker. He’s got a bodyguard named Popbot, a tough but simpleminded robot, and he’s going to need the protection. Hiring Sherlock Holmes, who sent himself to the future but not without some debilitating side effects, Kitty learns there are any number of people gunning for him, from the mother of an illegitimate cat-headed baby to ronin ninjas who worship Elvis Presley in BLUE HAWAII to the son of the devil, who really wants to make dad proud. And then there’s Miss Sham, Super Agent Bitch.

Yeah, it’s hard to follow, but with Kieth helping script (Wood took over the duties entirely for issue 3, the last one collected here), it’s always interesting. Kitty’s got a great voice and is pretty appealing for having no redeeming qualities. The demonic stuff is honestly disturbing as well. But where this really works is as an examination of pop culture and fame, very similar to Joe Casey’s work with Wood on KAFKA, actually. As a former star who doesn’t fit in with the rest of humanity, Kitty is not much different from Kafka, and the GEEEE BOB segments with Andy Warhol Clone #13 are just another way to zing empty American popular culture, and a novel one. It’s true the narrative often comes second to some cool art Wood feels like throwing in there, but it’s this good, I have a hard time complaining about it. There’s a place for ugly and meaningful, sensitive comics, so why not an alternative?

NOTE: Sam Keith scripted the first 30 pages collected here, and Ash Wood is guilty of the rest himself.

NIGHTMARE ALLEY adapted by Spain. Fantagraphics Books. $14.95

“He comes following you, begging for another chance and you say, ‘Okay, but after tonight, out you go’, but you give him his bottle. That night you drag out the lecture and lay it on thick. All the while you’re talking he’s thinking about sobering up and getting the crawling shakes. You give him time to think it over, while you’re talking. Then throw in the chicken…He’ll geek!”

So goes one of the more robust of many peppery, pitiless exchanges in Spain’s adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s legendary roman noir of a two-bit carny grifter with almost enough talent and charm to shake his demons. Almost.

Stanton Carlisle joins the Ten-O-One show as a barely competent fortune teller but soon enough his ambition, shrewd intelligence, and powers of observation help him polish his act and become one of the more popular attractions in the troupe. He’s seen the bottom rung—the drunk forced to bite off chickens’ heads for a bottle—and that’s not for him. He begins sleeping with Zeena the fortune teller, married to a drunk performer herself, though a few steps above geekdom, and they’re careful not to arouse suspicion. It’s a tight-knit group.

When Stan engineers the death of Zeena’s husband by alcohol poisoning, we know he’s doomed. And yet, there are opportunities for happiness. Zeena loves him and they’re making money and have friends. But Stan, it’s clear, is never going to be a happy man.

Still, he puts his self-hatred to work for him. Whereas most of the carny folk are good-natured and content with entertainment and short cons, Stan begins a startling scam of base cruelty and blasphemy, posing as a spiritualist to take money from the rich and gullible. Stan at this time is barely able to hold himself together, treating Zeena cruelly and cheating on her with his psychologist, who is also involved in the deception of one of her rich clients with Stan. When Stan finds that he is the one ultimately being conned, and that it has led to the end of his relationship with Zeena, the only good thing in his life, his ruin is assured. Spain distills the novel into a potent, dense tale rich with the hot blood and cold dread of Jim Thompson. He shows you Point B and then Point A and with a master’s touch, still makes you think Stan might be able to escape his fate. His art is well suited to the lurid story, all clingy fabrics and Brilliantined hair and faces that mark people as either operators or suckers. The book has been years in the making and well worth the wait.

LOVE FIGHTS #1 & 2 by Andi Watson. Oni Press. $2.95 each.
Coming in June
Things fall apart, as they say, but sometimes they work out fine. This book was originally pitched to Marvel, and would have entailed a change in artist and who knows what other changes (see: Watson’s upcoming NAMOR). So I’m thankful that we get to see Watson in both writer and artist roles here, and we have some measure of comfort knowing Oni is the publisher, who did right by Watson on the sublime BREAKFAST AFTER NOON and DUMPED.

Nearly all comics creators today were introduced to the medium through superheroes, and even the most sophisticated of them, such as Chris Ware or Daniel Clowes, have been unable to resist exploring that influence. Watson, an earnest romanticist, is no exception, and here finds a way to set a new romance in a world where superheroes exist.

Jack is the penciler of a longtime superhero’s comic, and the hero’s popularity is slipping these days. Tabloid rumors certainly don’t help sales of the squeaky-clean comic. Nora is an assistant at one of these tabloids, and is trying to break in as a writer. Jack and Nora meet cute and by the end of the second issue have agreed to a date mostly through the efforts of the more assertive Nora. It’s a nice touch that she’s more confident in the ways of romance than she is at work. It’s also a classic conflict with Jack a little put out that Nora works for the tabloid that threatens his own job. A little like YOU’VE GOT MAIL in some ways, but with the female character representing crassness and lack of compassion. Not to worry, though, as Nora’s rejected story suggests indicate she’s got a lot of heart, and that’s something that may cost her this demeaning job.

By now, it’s expected that Watson deliver a story with multidimensional characters; good and charming people with foibles and conflicts but the kind of concern for each other that compels them to work at their problems. But though it’s not the main focus here, Watson is carefully building a dramatic supervillain story. We’ve really only heard the mysterious cad and seen him abduct Nora’s cat so far, and the brevity has increased the suspense. Also worth noting is that Watson’s art here includes some wonderful charcoal work, giving the book a unique texture it wouldn’t have had as a corporate, computer-colored comic. Things do work out sometimes.

ODDBALLZ #3-5 by Lewis Trondheim and Manu Larcenet. NBM Publishing. $2.95
This book with the bad comedy movie name should really be called TRONDHEIM DOUBLE FEATURE, but I guess that’s not as marketable here. What it is, is a serialization of Trondheim’s graphic novels featuring McConey Rabbit and Astronauts of the Future, the latter drawn by Larcenet in a style marginally similar to Bill Watterson, as you can see in the cover scan. Trondheim’s stories are generally about 48 pages total, so the stories are spread out here over four issues of about 12 pages per story. This means that my starting point, #3, represents the halfway point for the first McConey and Astronauts stories, so take that into consideration.

McConey is an angst-filled, questioning rabbit who finds that the corporation he’s started working for is run by a man who sees himself as some kind of god. In the halls of the company, he has notices posted of various people and crimes for which they have not been punished. Further investigation by McConey reveals the owner is carrying out these punishments, so while the man is quick to draw a distinction between himself and God, he’s still quite willing to mete out justice himself. There’s little the versatile Trondheim cannot do in comics, but this examination of morality and vigilantism within a funny animal story doesn’t quite work. Amusing and thoughtful, but the ending is weak. It was a hard one to pull off, and the fact he comes pretty close makes it worth a read, though. Better, so far, is the story debuting in #5, “McConey in the Old West”, which is a fun Western romp about gold lust and mistaken identity. The radical change in setting suggests McConey is Trondheim’s all-purpose character when he has a story to tell that’s not character-based.

“Astronauts of the Future” is more of an ongoing story, both cute and surprising. Precocious young Gil and Martina believe the people around them are aliens, and their research leads them to a laboratory where they are humored, as one humors children and idiots. They’re cute, these kids and their fanciful notions. But Gil’s little sister is hit by a car and we find that…she’s a robot! Gil and Martina weren’t so far wrong, and soon they learn that the world was remade just for them, and why. It’s something of an adventure story, but with an emphasis on humor and the charming way children would deal with the discovery of cool space ships and laser pistols and the like. What makes it special is the characterization, and Trondheim knowingly depicts the kids as adaptable but very lonely. In fact, they could have left the planet some time ago, but Gil’s bond to his mother—even the robot version—is at this point too strong. In issue #5 it’s revealed just what the purpose of this elaborate ruse is, but it may be too late for our heroes to escape the real alien invasion. Featherweight and whimsical, but with real emotional underpinnings.

MYSTIQUE #1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Jorge Lucas. Marvel Comics. $2.99
DC puts out more books than Marvel, but there’s something interesting and unfortunate about Marvel. If they like you, they give you a lot of work, and sometimes it’s too much. I mean, I don’t blame Austen, Jones or Vaughan for pitching tons of miniseries and having Marvel approve them, or for taking easy money for movie adaptations, but if you stretch yourself a little thin or take something that’s not a good fit for your talents, you risk damaging your reputation for quality. Jones has done a lot of books for Marvel in the past year—I’d only recommend HULK, and maybe the CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHAT PRICE GLORY? miniseries for Steve Rude completists. Vaughan has done a ton of work for Marvel as well, and only THE HOOD really rocked. I have some hope for RUNAWAYS, which I forgot to preorder, and my retailer said there was a surprising interest in it.

And Marvel has a habit lately of doing the same overextending of good artists. I love Igor Kordey’s CABLE/SOLDIER-X work—I won’t be following him to X-TREME X-MEN. And Lucas’ style is coming into its own, but his best recent work is on a Jones-scripted WOLVERINE mini that few are reading.

I’m sorry—was I supposed to be reviewing something? Oh, yeah—MYSTIQUE. Well, this is actually pretty well written so far, but I’m not sure I’ll continue with it. The premise is that Professor X has in recent months hired some special mutant agents to carry out his work with deniability, so that he and the X-Men will continue to be known publicly as simply a mutant rescue team. One of these agents is killed by a firebreathing evil mutant, and X thinks a trained espionage agent like Mystique would be perfect for the job, even given her immorality. He just needs to find her, and enlists her ex-lover Forge to help.

Vaughan then kind of softens the tone of the book at this point, showing Mystique showing a merciful, maternal side to a young female enemy agent, and it doesn’t really work. Sure, it’s not completely out of character, as Mystique has shown a maternal side to Rogue in the past, but don’t set up the story with her as someone you can’t trust and then give her a heart of gold. It lessens my interest. It’s not bad, though, and Vaughan throws in some good lines.

Lucas does some good work here, particularly the design of Forge’s apartment, but cuts corners elsewhere, letting the colorist take care of the backgrounds. And the coloring is one of my least favorite styles, that weird, washed-out thing they do on THE FLASH where everything is kind of violet and the people all have an odd sheen to them. The characters often look a little awkward and unsteady on their feet, which is not what you want in a comic with a tough chick protagonist.

HAIR HIGH by Bill Plympton. NBM Publishing. $10.95
As he has done previously, Plympton here offers a graphic novel version of one of his animated films months before the film is released, either getting more money from the consumer than they would spend on a ticket, or providing a fan with a valuable item documenting an early stage in the film’s production, depending on your point of view. It tells the story of Rod ‘n Cherri ‘n Spud. Rod is the football jock cretin, Cherri the vapid cheerleader girlfriend, and they’re the most popular kids at school. Is the school named Hair High? You know, I don’t even remember. It’s not at all important.

Spud is the new kid in school, a nerd (he actually looks normal, just not overly muscled like Rod) who causes instant scorn when he has the effrontery to insult Cherri, responding to her classroom request for an answer with a note reading, “study”. With the approval of the faculty, Spud is made Cherri’s slave, and this isn’t the first time such an arrangement has been made. But Spud is resilient and self-possessed and despite failing a chance to shine as a last-ditch-replacement football hero, he wears her down and they fall in love, with Rod seeking revenge. After that, the story takes an ill-advised detour, with Spud and Cherri returning to school as skeletons (they drowned), showing off and getting even, their love eternal. Plympton salvages things a bit with a framing sequence, where a bickering young couple are told this story and it rekindles their romance.

There are some good things here. A friend of mine remarked that he opened the book and could not follow it at all. It’s true that the uninked pencils take some getting used to, as they don’t jump off the page, but the storytelling is clear and I never found it tiring to the eyes. And some of Plympton’s rubber face shtick is amusing, but that’s the thing—it’s just shtick. I felt like the weird stuff was just there because he felt like that was what he’s known for. There was a kernel of an interesting 50s high school romance story here that could have been developed into something organically quirky, but instead the author either didn’t have the confidence or ability to pull that off, relying instead on the forced goofiness and the pointless skeleton lovers thing. Like I said, the ending with the other lovers is rather sweet and sincere, and it’s encouraging that Plympton trusts the moment enough not to distort reality too much (they have visible electricity sparking between their eyes, but that’s it), but overall there’s not enough of this.

SCOOTER GIRL #1 (OF 6) by Chynna Clugston-Major. Oni Press. $2.99.
Available 5/14/03
Clugston-Major, always an appealing cartoonist with a gift for comedic and realistic teen dialogue, takes another step forward in artistic growth with this new miniseries. As with BLUE MONDAY, the story is populated with high schoolers, but the focus this time is male, Ashton, the richest and most popular kid in school. He’s got the coolest scooter, wears the best clothes and haircut, and pulls all the hottest girls, without the knowledge of their boyfriends. It all changes when Margaret and her brother show up, though. She not only turns the prematurely jaded Ashton’s head, she makes him lose all composure. Worse for him, she sees through his act and isn’t impressed. When she learns about his womanizing, she lets the unsuspecting girls know, and Ashton becomes the most-hated boy in school, especially when the boyfriends find out. Margaret’s pretty much done punishing Ashton at this point, but somehow a chain of events has started, with Ashton’s clumsiness when she’s around causing him to become an athletic liability where he once was a hero; his Class Presidency rescinded due to the discovery of paid-for reports; and his father’s revelation that the family fortune is gone. It’s rather a stunning series of disasters for the boy, enough so that Clugston-Major accomplishes the neat trick of the reader now wanting this jerk to succeed again. I have a feeling that, knocked from his pedestal, Ashton will come back a better man, earning Margaret’s love if not his former social stature. Clugston-Major continues to refine her art into a unique style, refraining from obvious manga tropes like the “superdeformed” caricatures. She also presents her best, most controlled plotting yet, tight and locked into the rhythm of Ashton’s downfall, and free of any of the amusing but unnecessary fantastical or supernatural diversions seen in her other work.

Next Week: BLACK AND WHITE; SANCTUM; DIRTY STORIES and some other stuff, including a p/review of what promises to be one of the best new horror comics of the year, FRAGILE.

Chris Allen

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