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Post by arecomicsevengood on Apr 1, 2024 23:33:41 GMT
Reading Ted McKeever's Pencil Head, his autobio/memoir thing (and final comic to date) about working in mainstream comics in the early nineties, names slightly changed to protect the guilty. It's interesting, obviously it is his perspective and he has a degree of bitterness about people who didn't support him, but his eccentric style was one I thought was cool or fascinating as a kid- I saw a Creeper story he did in Showcase '93, when I must have been 8 years old, and remember looking at it, aware of how different it was from other comics. It wasn't as impactful as Sam Kieth drawing Wolverine in Marvel Comics Presents, but it was a similar kind of feeling, of recognizing something was crazy and not like other comics, and identifying it as the work of an individual. So to hear that all these people in editorial hated his style - I mean I guess it makes sense as they're the sort of people who grew up to work in DC editorial, while I'm someone who grew up to write for the Comics Journal. We have different views about this stuff. Of course, as a different kind of snob, I wouldn't say McKeever's Metropol or Plastic Forks read great to an adult used to literary or alternative comics, but they're worth looking at.
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Post by imastupidbaby on Apr 3, 2024 17:51:51 GMT
Stack is getting pretty big...
Today I am going to read Asadora Vol. 6 and look at some Yokoyama Yuichi stuff I didn't know my wife had ^_^
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Post by arecomicsevengood on Apr 6, 2024 23:16:08 GMT
Read the Alan Moore/Bill Sienkiewicz series Big Numbers. I think I probably looked at or read the xerox copies of the Al Columbia drawn issue 3 ages ago - I might've basically read all the extant material in reverse order based on what became available to me when. This was my first time reading issue 1, followed by issue 2. It's very cool that after Watchmen Moore's idea of how to move comics forward was to do something so radically uncommercial, and that his contribution is this kind of structural ambition other people wouldn't attempt. There's very little to get out of the material that exists except the promise that it's going somewhere. I think it's cool, though it's not at all surprising that Sienkiewicz would rather do Stray Toasters or just work as an inker for hire.
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Post by junkflower on Apr 8, 2024 23:58:08 GMT
I've kinda been reading No. 5 by Taiyo Matsumoto on and off and... man, I hate to say it but it is not good. I'm a huge fan of Ping Pong and Tekkon Kinkreet, but No. 5 does not have the juice.
On the surface it seems cool right? Great art and character designs, Matsumoto maybe kinda doing an Airtight Garage kinda thing?
But I really find it to be an incoherent slog with several elements that actively work against each other. The roots of the plot are (from where I'm at anyway) left totally unexplained, which can work, but there's a TON of characters and A TON of talking and it just doesn't add up. I've tried to enjoy it as a psychedelic riff kinda thing like the aforementioned Airtight Garage but honestly it's a claustrophobic bummer. I don't recommend it.
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Post by dominocorp on Apr 9, 2024 5:46:28 GMT
Kona by Sam Glanzman is an incredible comic. All the Dell/Gold Key adventure stuff you can get your hands on, Tarzan/Kona/Turok, just such strong comics. Maybe some people like it ironicially, but I think it rivals the underground movement for floppies that are just perfect works of art...there's a book that talks about the genius editor that basically got Dell off the ground, I can't recall if it covers this stuff, but whoever was working on these books behind the scenes is an incredible comics mind, 50000x more books on whoever that is before we have another book on the Marvel Method. I love EC, but these Dell comics answer the question: 'what if EC didnt have the idiotic captions/obvious endings?'
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Post by BubblesZine on Apr 9, 2024 12:10:46 GMT
I've kinda been reading No. 5 by Taiyo Matsumoto on and off and... man, I hate to say it but it is not good. I'm a huge fan of Ping Pong and Tekkon Kinkreet, but No. 5 does not have the juice. On the surface it seems cool right? Great art and character designs, Matsumoto maybe kinda doing an Airtight Garage kinda thing? But I really find it to be an incoherent slog with several elements that actively work against each other. The roots of the plot are (from where I'm at anyway) left totally unexplained, which can work, but there's a TON of characters and A TON of talking and it just doesn't add up. I've tried to enjoy it as a psychedelic riff kinda thing like the aforementioned Airtight Garage but honestly it's a claustrophobic bummer. I don't recommend it. Feels validating to see you say this because I kinda agree but wasn't sure if it was me or something haha. Just wasn't hitting for me. Tokyo These Days' first volume was great though.
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Post by franlopez on Apr 9, 2024 15:39:14 GMT
I've kinda been reading No. 5 by Taiyo Matsumoto on and off and... man, I hate to say it but it is not good. I'm a huge fan of Ping Pong and Tekkon Kinkreet, but No. 5 does not have the juice. On the surface it seems cool right? Great art and character designs, Matsumoto maybe kinda doing an Airtight Garage kinda thing? But I really find it to be an incoherent slog with several elements that actively work against each other. The roots of the plot are (from where I'm at anyway) left totally unexplained, which can work, but there's a TON of characters and A TON of talking and it just doesn't add up. I've tried to enjoy it as a psychedelic riff kinda thing like the aforementioned Airtight Garage but honestly it's a claustrophobic bummer. I don't recommend it. Feels validating to see you say this because I kinda agree but wasn't sure if it was me or something haha. Just wasn't hitting for me. Tokyo These Days' first volume was great though.
Oh, yeah... I thought that was almost the consensus on No. 5? I don't think you two (and me) are alone in this, at all.
Sidenote 1: With all the interest that Tokyo These Days seems to have gathered, I was kinda surprised to not see many people talk about Sunny, which is probably the closest work Matsumoto had done before? (And, also, according to me - the most important opinion, of course - his best comic by a long shot). With the series done, would be interesting to compare them side to side.
Sidenote 2: Still can't believe Takemitsuzamurai has not come out in English... There's probably an interesting list to compile of works by unarguably fundamental authors, that had been translated to multiple langues, but are simply not available in English (not sure why, but looks like comics does very poorly in this area when compared to film or literature).
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Post by colinprojects on Apr 9, 2024 21:16:42 GMT
I backed the recent Underground Kingdom Comix anthology and got the back issues. They came in yesterday, I've been taking some time with them today. Some really excellent stuff in there.
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Post by BubblesZine on Apr 9, 2024 23:35:58 GMT
Feels validating to see you say this because I kinda agree but wasn't sure if it was me or something haha. Just wasn't hitting for me. Tokyo These Days' first volume was great though. Oh, yeah... I thought that was almost the consensus on No. 5? I don't think you two (and me) are alone in this, at all.
Sidenote 1: With all the interest that Tokyo These Days seems to have gathered, I was kinda surprised to not see many people talk about Sunny, which is probably the closest work Matsumoto had done before? (And, also, according to me - the most important opinion, of course - his best comic by a long shot). With the series done, would be interesting to compare them side to side. Sidenote 2: Still can't believe Takemitsuzamurai has not come out in English... There's probably an interesting list to compile of works by unarguably fundamental authors, that had been translated to multiple langues, but are simply not available in English (not sure why, but looks like comics does very poorly in this area when compared to film or literature).
I actually need to read Sunny... one day. I did read a scanlation of Hanaotoko years ago. His baseball comic, it was pretty fun.
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Post by manoopuesta on Apr 10, 2024 7:01:55 GMT
Feels validating to see you say this because I kinda agree but wasn't sure if it was me or something haha. Just wasn't hitting for me. Tokyo These Days' first volume was great though.
Oh, yeah... I thought that was almost the consensus on No. 5? I don't think you two (and me) are alone in this, at all.
Sidenote 1: With all the interest that Tokyo These Days seems to have gathered, I was kinda surprised to not see many people talk about Sunny, which is probably the closest work Matsumoto had done before? (And, also, according to me - the most important opinion, of course - his best comic by a long shot). With the series done, would be interesting to compare them side to side.
Sidenote 2: Still can't believe Takemitsuzamurai has not come out in English... There's probably an interesting list to compile of works by unarguably fundamental authors, that had been translated to multiple langues, but are simply not available in English (not sure why, but looks like comics does very poorly in this area when compared to film or literature).
Sunny is also my favorite. I've yet to read Tokyo These Days, but now that you've made this comparison I think I'll try reading it asap. I also didn't like No. 5, though I've only read the first issue. Another ones I didn't enjoy much for different reasons are: The Cats of the Louvre - I understand this was part of that series of comics that were supposed to be part of some Louvre project. Maybe the restrictions (whatever they were, apart from being located in the museum) didn't work to Matsumoto's advantage. The samurai one you mentioned (can't recall why, but I didn't).
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nrh
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by nrh on Apr 10, 2024 13:08:06 GMT
Feels validating to see you say this because I kinda agree but wasn't sure if it was me or something haha. Just wasn't hitting for me. Tokyo These Days' first volume was great though.
Oh, yeah... I thought that was almost the consensus on No. 5? I don't think you two (and me) are alone in this, at all.
The reception for No. 5 is kind of funny I think. The original Viz publication cuts off so early that, for anyone lucky enough to read those books before they became prohibitively expensive, the series was frozen in amber as the surreal/slightly melancholy action fantasy that Taiyo Matsumoto originally conceived it as. And if you didn't read those (or the ipad app where the whole thing was published, with a lot more color and extra material than would be included in the printed editions) you only knew the series through the images, which I'd argue were for many years the defining/iconic images for a lot of people's imagination of Matsumoto (this seems kind of similar to Moebius, were Airtight Garage is for an American audience more of an idea than something they've actually read through). There's a pretty detailed TCJ piece about the series that's worth reading, but you can almost sense Matsumoto's relationship to the series shifting while you read it. It's still kind of too singular and committed to totally dismiss as a failure. I keep coming back to it every few years and still feel the same exhaustion as I reach the second half, which always makes me wonder about my own engagement as a reader - at some level am I just resentful that this isn't allowing me to consume it more smoothly? Sunny was definitely hurt by being one of the first series to start releasing at that price point, in the "prestige" hardcover format. The format is more accepted now - I didn't see nearly as much push back on the even more expensive Tokyo These Days - but a lot of the series seems to have drifted out of print.
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Post by disneyweirdness on Apr 10, 2024 19:41:45 GMT
Oh, yeah... I thought that was almost the consensus on No. 5? I don't think you two (and me) are alone in this, at all.
The reception for No. 5 is kind of funny I think. The original Viz publication cuts off so early that, for anyone lucky enough to read those books before they became prohibitively expensive, the series was frozen in amber as the surreal/slightly melancholy action fantasy that Taiyo Matsumoto originally conceived it as. And if you didn't read those (or the ipad app where the whole thing was published, with a lot more color and extra material than would be included in the printed editions) you only knew the series through the images, which I'd argue were for many years the defining/iconic images for a lot of people's imagination of Matsumoto (this seems kind of similar to Moebius, were Airtight Garage is for an American audience more of an idea than something they've actually read through). There's a pretty detailed TCJ piece about the series that's worth reading, but you can almost sense Matsumoto's relationship to the series shifting while you read it. It's still kind of too singular and committed to totally dismiss as a failure. I keep coming back to it every few years and still feel the same exhaustion as I reach the second half, which always makes me wonder about my own engagement as a reader - at some level am I just resentful that this isn't allowing me to consume it more smoothly? This makes a lot of sense, I was so amped to read this and then after book 2 I tapped out. Should revisit it
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Post by jporcellino on Apr 19, 2024 15:19:21 GMT
Ron Regé Jr: Shell Collection (Fanta/FU)
Robert Sergel: Satan's Kingdom (Secret Acres)
Two of my all-time favorite cartoonists, with really strong collections!
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Post by slugfizz on Apr 20, 2024 14:43:15 GMT
Recently, I've been a bit obsessed with comics artist Henri Dumas.
His exact location appears mysterious in his bio: "Henri Dumas is making Virulent Vessels of Vesicating Vices comics somewhere in the United States."
However, after a three second search, I came across a 2021 Facebook page for Phantasm Comics shop in New Hope, PA that refers to Henri as a "local artist."
His comics are all published by Hollow Press.
"Little Henri in Sour Land" (2019), his riff on Little Nemo, has crazy eye-popping swirling patterns-- just absolutely wild and gorgeous black and white mark-making.
"Den Dwellers #2" (2018) is no slouch either.
His latest series seems to be "Sparagomosia's Rising" which I haven't read yet but I'm sure it's great.
Of course, his comics are available through Hollow Press-- but they are also carried by the Floating World comics shop.
Highest recommendation for b&w art lovers!
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Post by disneyweirdness on Apr 20, 2024 16:54:22 GMT
Shadows Over Springfield by Harry Nordlinger
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