Monthly Archive: January 2009

These two books have very little in common on the surface, but, beneath that…they deeply have little in common. But they’re both fairly new, not all that well-known, and self-published by their respective female creators (with an asterisk in the first case, which I’ll get to) – so that’s good enough for me.

The Martian Confederacy: Rednecks on the Red Planet, Vol. 1
Story by Jason McNamara; Art by Paige Braddock
Girl Swirl, July 2008, $15.00

[[[The Martian Confederacy]]] cannot be adequately described by the phrase “The Dukes of Hazard on Mars,” but it’s a good first stab. Our two heroes here aren’t brothers – one of them, Spinner, is actually an anthropomorphic bear, though the other, [[[Boone]]], is the expected tough-but-tender he-man type. And the closest thing to a Daisy Duke is Boone’s roommate, the android woman Lou – come to think of it, maybe she fits better in the “other Duke brother” slot.

Well, anyway, this is a story of beaten-down good ‘ol boys and girls battling the corrupt leadership – as personified by “the Alcalde” (whose name I can’t find, if it’s ever given), who calls himself “the legislative, judicial, and executive arm of Martian law” and also mentions that he’s the only lawman on the planet, though he scrounges up some additional muscle late in the book when he needs them. (Even assuming that his official position does give him power, he’s amazingly arbitrary and capricious in his “law enforcement” – the kind of cop who doesn’t survive long in a society where anyone other than him has a gun. I’m deeply surprised that he hasn’t woken up dead a dozen times before this story begins.)

Mars is owned outright by a small number of really nasty corporations, who keep the entire population – how large a population is not quite clear – in essentially indentured servitude, as the rich tourists come from Earth during the high season once a year. (Implying that the writer McNamara either doesn’t know much or doesn’t care much about orbits.) It’s 3535, after the usual humorous loss-of-all-data and resulting reborn society with quirky touches like “shatners” for money. And there are lots of anthropomorphics, who may or may not be an underclass even within the downtrodden Martian population. (They have their own bars and the Alcalde hates them – but plenty of groups have their own bars, and the Alcalde hates everyone.) And even odder things, like the woman Sally, who has heads and arms growing out of each end of her torso and split personalities to match. (Try not to think too much about her plumbing issues – that way lies madness.)

(more…)

Let’s say comics fandom congealed in the early 60s, or nearly 30 years after the first comic book was published. That means organized comics fandom has been around more than half again that span. We have our own history, and much of it has been chronicled ­­– brilliantly ­­– by Bill Schelly.

Now Bill has shifted his sights to a man whose own career has mirrored the growth of the medium: Joe Kubert. One of the first generation of comics artists by virtue of his seeking, and getting, employment when he was 11, he got into comics about the same time that Superman did. Joe has continued to write, draw and edit comics to this day. Best known for his work on [[[Hawkman]]], [[[Sgt. Rock]]], [[[Tarzan]]] and his own creation, [[[Tor]]], Joe has also been a pioneer in the direct sales comics movement (Sojourn) and in the modern graphic novel movement.

Kubert is at least as well-known for his work as America’s primary educator of cartoonists: his Kubert School in New Jersey has given us dozens of first-rate talent – from Timothy Truman to Tom Mandrake, from Alex Maleev to Shane Davis, plus a couple of kids named Kubert.

Swell. Everybody’s got a favorite artist, and Kubert’s mine. I’ve waxed poetic about the man before. So, for Schelly to entertain and educate me, well, that’s quite a task.

One Bill met well in his biography Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert , published by Fantagraphics Books. He did a first-rate job, giving us Kubert’s comprehensive story and interviewing Joe and a great many others. He gives us the story of [[[Tor]]] publisher Archer St. John and his “involvement” with (read: target of) the Capone mob, his days at Harvey, EC, and DC… the whole kit and caboodle.

We’ve recently been offered excellent biographies of comics masters Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Joe Kubert has deserved similar treatment, and he’s received just that in Bill Schelly’s hands. I heartedly recommend it to all fans of the medium, its history, and its masters. It’s available through your friendly neighborhood comics shop, through Fantagraphics, and through Bill’s own Hamster Press.

We’ve had a lot of US Presidents show up in the comics, Jossip and the Chicago Tribune both hit on the major ones– Nixon in Watchmen, Bill Clinton speaking at Superman’s funeral, Reagan in The Dark Knight Returns, JFK impersonating Clark Kent. But there are many more that stick in t here are a few truly fictional US Presidents from the comics:

1. President Ken WInd — not wind like a watch, but wind as in freedom. A dead ringer for Dan Quayle and a tool of the Beast, he was set up to become President so he could start a nucelar war. He was stopped by Elektra and a goddammed agent of SHIELD. (Elektra: Assassin)

2. President Howard Johnson Nissen. The former Secretary of Agriculture, he became president when President Rexall and the rest of his cabinet were killed in an explosion. (Give Me Liberty) Incidentally, Secretary of Agriculture Margaret Valentine also got the top spot when all the men above her in the line of succession died. (Y: The Last Man)

3. President Prez Rickard. The first teenaged president of the United States, and the only one on this list to have his own series, this creation of Joe Simon made things run on time. Later written by Ed Brubaker, Neil Gaiman, and Frank Miller– he does that a lot, doesn’t he?

4. President Gary Callahan, a.k.a. "The Smiler". A rictus grin in a suit, he hates everyone and only wants to be President in order to control and oppress people, and has no problems killing anyone whose death will help him gain or keep power, or even get a rise in the polls– up to and including his own wife and children. The sworn enemy of Spider Jerusalem. (Transmetropolitan)

5. President Melanie Henderson. Okay, that was the name of the actress playing the President in the Spidey Super Stories short, "Spidey vs. the Funny Bunny", where a mischievous woman dressing in a rabbit costume and damaging Easter baskets by sitting on them. Spidey eventually foils the villain’s plans to disrupt the annual White House Easter Egg roll. Some sources indicate that Melanie may have been the first African American actress to portray an American president on television.

6. President Lex Luthor. Yes, Luthor won the 2000 Presidential Election. Couldn’t have been worse than what really happened, right?