diary of a guttersnipe 12/17/2012: did you see the words? (a.k.a. how many times can i make a kirby reference)

by Shawn Starr

This week we have a bunch of reviews and some more linkblogging (because i know the comics internet can always use more of that)...

Mini-Reviews

Avengers #1 (Marvel)
by Jonathan Hickman, Jerome Opeña, Dean White

This is the first book of the Marvel Now! relaunch (money grab) that i genuinely liked ('FF' passed by on the mammoth shoulders of Mike Allred, 'Captain America' existed in a place of competence, and 'Thor: God Of Thunder' took an issue to really click). As Chad Nevett pointed out (and i think he's the only one too, because besides him NO ONE read 'The Ultimates'), Hickman retreads or overlaps much of this issue's ideas with his short run on 'The Ultimates' just with less teeth. But hey that was the Ultimate Universe and that's only good enough to rip off whole segments from for your movie-films, THIS IS THE 616! and the fuckers gotta sell toys (also did anybody else notice how Opeña drew most of the cast to vaguely resemble their film counterparts? CORPORATE SYNERGY!).

This issue is pretty standard fair for Hickman as it deals heavily with the idea of futurism. In this issue Iron Man and Cap create a team of unique individuals to work as their replacements (or to work alongside them) for when the next big disaster happens. Luckily that disaster is happening right NOW!. The Future! IS. NOW.

Anyways team intercepts some new bad guys (are they new? I have no clue) on Mars who work for some galactic being (NOT GALACTUS!) (...maybe Galactus?) (...) who is going to fuck earth's shit up. Themes of evolution, science, and the interaction of the two are touched upon. Then everyone gets fucked up and they mail Cap back to AMERICA to tell everyone about how hardcore their underground punk band is.

Opeña is better than everyone else at Marvel as always (ok. Ribic and Allred are equals).

I guess cylindrical circles are the new Kirby Dots.

Hawkeye #5 (Marvel)
by Matt Fraction, Javier Pulido, Matt Hollingsworth

Worth it for the panel they swiped from Kirby alone (also the pretty art and solid script are pluses....up until the last page which is a giant cop out. Fuck you, Hawkeye murdered that dude, and i don't care what you say. HawkEYESTABBER!).

2001: A Space Odyssey #1 (Marvel)
by Jack Kirby, Mike Royer, George Roussous

The fine folks at Marvel decided to purchase the rights to adapt Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's Sci-Fi masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey" into a comic series. What an odd idea.

Odder yet is that they gave that project to Jack Kirby. JACK "PUNCHING NAZI'S IN THE FACE" KIRBY. A master of subtlety if i ever knew one.

Kirby, similar to his adaptation of "Planet of the Apes" (which DC decided not to licence, and instead just have Kirby "adapt" it liberally under the name 'Kamandi') runs wild with the concept. Unlike many writers and artists who faithfully adapt their source material, creating a self-aware derivative work which never lives up to the source material (hey guys i took this story you like and made it into a book!), Kirby simply takes the basic premise (a monolith which jump starts evolution) and creates his own universe around it. Taking Kubrick's near three hour long (mostly) silent masterpiece and turning it into a violent, jarring, unsubtle Kirby-esque nightmare of action and noise.

Jack Kirby's Silver Star (Image)
by Jack Kirby, Mike Royer, D. Bruce Berry

Kirby.

Blacklung (Fantagraphics)
by Chris Wright

Started out slow, got strong in the middle, ended up reaching for so much more than i expected. Not sure if it accomplished all of it though, but it's undeniably a beautifully rendered, written, and produced book.

RANDOM HAUNTS ~~~~BOO

Oily Comics opened up their subscription service again. Them's some good comics.

Jog on new Ditko comics is a must.

The images in this review / discussion of 'Sad Sex' are interesting...seems like a book that i need to look at.

Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez interview.

...the fuck.

Frank Santoro being named to the Eisner award committee is going to be very important (as everyone else has said). I wonder if his involvement is a move by the awards to not have another one of those "Not even nominating Jaime Hernandez for a single award" issues they suffered from last year (Seriously no love for 'The Love Bunglers'?). Or the slightly the less offensive splitting of the "Best Original Graphic Novel" between 'Wilson' and The (oh so) Dapper Men. Eisners, y'all mother fuckers be acting crazy these last few years! So anyways i guess we can all rest assured that Chris Ware will atl east get a nod, and possibly win, and a couple of those micro publishers alongside the stalwarts Fantagraphics and Drawn and Quarterly might sneak through to the cracks. That or they'll fuck up again...

I saw "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and it is my new favorite Wes Anderson film.

NEW KAMANDI OMNIBUS!

I picked up Basil Wolverton's 'Spacehawk' after Tim Callahan's review, and i have to agree with his assessment of it as a under-reported proto-art comic classic. Its got all the idea's of Bronze Age Kirby and an art style that's difficult to look at without recalling Jim Woodring and Robert Crumb. Also the production value on this book is beyond words. Fantagraphics continues to put out the best books for you dollar of any company in the field.

Wukuan Cardini's Orion sketch is pretty killer. He also has a new issue of 'Vortex' out.

The Comic Books Are Burning in Hell's episode on 'Dal Tokyo' was a great listen. 'Dal Tokyo' is a difficult work to grasp or even explain to someone who hasn't had direct contact with it, and they did a good job. Also oddly enough it's one of their funniest episodes.