Miscellany

Super nice, clear sky, sunny and like late September all day.
Played Tetris and started listening to the Fu's latest on AOL before starting to write this. It's a live recording. Cool acoustic set so far, which includes "My Hero" and "Another Round."
I hope any readers caught my self-satire in the last post. When I was a comics buyer in another 'burg, I was as bad as anyone else. I used to wait for the mall days on end to open to get my fix. Working on the other side of the register killed it.
I hope I caught the tone of the typical Cerebus letter page of that era with the post. When Dave Sim was still publishing replies to selected letters, not only did he print one of mine, but had a pretty neat reply. He was starting to get controversial even then (mid-80's), and I wrote to say he had the right to say what he wanted in his own book. I never read Cerebus again after I left the comic book retail business, but I understand Sim went off the deep end with Cerebus years later. I understand he's now pretty much a recluse.
A duo still cranking out work is Los Bros. I don't have money -- a perpetual problem -- to buy their stuff, but I do read bits standing when I can. Discovering that kind of thing around '85 was a real breath of fresh air. Hopey and Maggie started me off, but I gradually came to "get" Palomar later on. If you're not a reader of Love and Rockets, give it a try. The quality black and whites might be a better long term value than the color graphic novels, which are expensive, I think. I did scrounge for a copy of the Fray color graphic novel a few months back, though, and continue to enjoy re-reading parts. (The Fu's are sticking with the acoustic set, and I'm about seven tracks into it now. There are 15 in all. It's very folky. They even have a string quartet playing behind "Live Again". The audience is really quiet*, like they're wondering "Where's the rock?" The second set has now started, and it's just Dave on vocals and guitar.)
There's another black-and-white from my retail days. It was called Usagi Yojimbo. The hero was a walking and talking rabbit who was a displaced samurai, a ronin. The footnotes explained samurai culture and Japanese terms as the story of Usagi unfolded. Quit before the mini-series finished, but maybe it's another oldie to look up. (Dave's now doing "Best of You" -- still solo acoustic guitar and vocals. The audience is singing along, so I guess they didn't all leave.)
Journey was another black and white title in a kind of limited series. Very high quality cartooning and storytelling, along with some historical material. William Messner-Loebs did the comic guy stuff, while I think his wife did the research. I really remember one sequence where it's snowing like crazy in the story (now why would I remember that?) and the snow looked like it was 'whiting out' the characters. Neat effect.
Most people into comics are not going to go for titles like that, I realize. Color titles like Ronin and the Elektra series by Bill Sin-KEV-itch (sorry, I can't spell his name -- the fanboys taught me how to pronounce it. Yes, I was friends with several of them. It was just that one day.) were way ahead of their time and really popular.
The Watchmen (the Alan Moore book) started coming out in comic book form a little after I got thawed out that year. I read the first issue or two, but could never "get" Moore in any title. I loved the way he told the stories, but couldn't quite handle his attitude toward them. I had the same problem with Frank Miller, except with the art. I liked his style, but not his actual execution. (Fu's have quit -- rockers beware! Skin and Bones is all acoustic.) I did see "V for Vendetta" earlier this year, and really liked the movie. Moore didn't -- so I guess his stuff is not my cup of tea (Twining's Russian Caravan, if I ever get back in the money ... . Not likely.)
OK, so I've lost everybody. But look up the Sienkiewicz book. (I did, for the spelling, on Wikipedia just now.) Frank Miller did the story. It's called Elektra: Assassin. The art was way gone. (Is that how you say it?) OK, I'm done.


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*I later bought the Fu Fighter's CD, and I still enjoy listening to it. On the CD, the audience is anything but quiet. They are going crazy between songs, and it makes the CD that much more enjoyable.


LJ orig.: 11/09/06