Author: Andrew Wheeler

Halloween decorations are beginning to show up in stores, and the air had a decided chill today in my neck of the woods – so I guess the time is ripe to look at a couple of horror-tinged graphic novels for the fall.

Angel Skin is an original GN and apparently the first published comics work of its creators, Christian Westerlund and Robert Nazeby Herzig. (By the way, I’m tentatively assuming that the two are writer and artist, respectively, but the book itself doesn’t specify their roles.) It’s a dark afterlife fantasy, beginning with the suicide of our young protagonist, Joshua Barker. He then finds himself in a gloomy city that is, in most respects, identical to the world he lived in before his death.

The story moves on from there in somewhat predictable ways; Joshua is important and special, for some reason unspecified in the book, and is the focus of several people and factions who want to find God, for their own purposes. There’s a bit of melodramatic action, but much more specifying and emoting. The general consensus of the characters is that life is essentially hell. (See Bruce Eric Kaplan’s cartoon book Edmund and Rosemary Go To Hell, which I reviewed on my personal blog a couple of months back for a somewhat more nuanced version of the same general idea.) I’m afraid I’m no longer a teenager, so Angel Skin’s primary appeal passed me by, but it was never embarrassing or puerile. (And that’s saying a lot about a Goth afterlife fantasy; it could very easily have slid into the sophomoric, but it never does.) It’s mostly a story for Goths and other depressive young people, I think, and the ending isn’t quite as uplifting as I think it’s supposed to be, but Angel Skin is a serviceable GN, and quite good for anyone’s first professional work.

The really interesting aspect of Angel Skin, though, is the art. I don’t know which of the creators is responsible, but the style changes greatly from page to page, and even on a single page. Sometimes the figures have an animation-derived flatness, with blocks of solid color of grays filling in black outlines, while other times the figures are painted (or perhaps drawn in colored pencils?) or sketched in pencil lines. The background art style similarly changes, and doesn’t necessarily match the foreground. In fact, characters don’t stay in the same style, and the several styles often uneasily co-exist in one panel. I wasn’t able to work out any coherent reason for the changes – it doesn’t seem to relate to anything thematic in the story, or having to do with location, emotional states, or anything else I could think of – so I have to assume that it was simply done for artistic whim.

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Now you have no excuse not to hang up your super-suit…

Comics Links

Eddie Campbell writes about speech balloons (including his differences of opinion with Bryan Talbot).

Yann Martel, author of the Booker Prize-winning novel The Life of Pi, has been sending a book and cover letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper every week for the past three months. This week, the book he sent and wrote about was Art Spiegelman’s Maus.

Viper Comics, not content with making comics I’ve never heard of, is branching out into clothes I won’t wear.

Comic Book Resources talks to Andy Smith, artist of Stormwatch PHD.

Fantagraphics Books has a regular Shoot-Out party, in which they run out into the woods, dump a pile of old monitors, lawn mowers, and TVs, and then blow them to pieces with assorted firearms. Apparently, this is not precisely legal. Wow, if you’d told me there was a comics publisher that shot up electronics regularly, Fantagraphics would not be the one I guessed…

Comics Worth Reading isn’t sure if there’s any market for comics mini-series any more.

Associated Content interviews Desert Peach creator Donna Barr.

Comic Snob pulls together various bestseller charts to make a grand unified field theory of popular manga.

Dick Hates Your Blog tries to work up some hate for Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly.

Living Between Wednesdays likes that new magazine Comics Foundry.

Comics Reviews

Inside Pulse reviews the usual stack of comics, starting with Daredevil #100.

Sequential Tart reviews the newest Minx books, Clubbing and Good As Lily.

Comics Reporter reviews Will Eisner’s Life, in Pictures.

The Axis reviews Confessions of a Blabbermouth.

Warren Peace Sings the Blues reviews the Groo 25th Anniversary Special.

From The Savage Critics:

• Johanna checks out Stormwatch PHD #12 and others
• and Jog looks at Miriam #1.

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To start the week out on a pleasant note for about half of you – check out bikini jeans. [via Pat Cadigan]

Comics Links

The UK SF Book News Network talked to John Higgins, artist on a graphic novel adaptation of the old splatter-horror movie The Hills Have Eyes.

Estoreal reports on representing the Jack Kirby Museum at New York’s HOWL Festival in Tomkins Square Park.

The Baltimore Sun talks to Steven Parke, who uses a photo-manipulation style to create graphic novels.

A New York Times article on reality TV wandered off into graphic novel-land, talking about a book called The Homeless Channel.

Comics Reporter interviews Chris Brandt.

Comics Reviews

Library Journal’s current graphic novel reviews start out with the fourth volume of Kiyohiko Azuma’s Yotsuba&! (whose first volume recently confused me), and goes on to review a bunch of other things as well.

The Indypendent reviews a graphic novel called Fat Free.

Brad Curran of Comics Should Be Good reviews recent comics, kicking off with Batman #668.

Curran, still at CSBG, also pokes his head into the world of Marvel’s all-ages comics.

At The Savage Critics, two critics unleash tag-team havoc on today’s comics:

• Graeme McMillan catches up on his graphic novels
• Johanna checks out Mice Templar #1
• McMillan is back with a look at X-Men: Emperor Vulcan #1
• and then it’s back to Johanna for Potter’s Field #1
• finally, McMillan tags back in to suplex Parade (With Fireworks) #1 to win the Intercontinental Championship Belt!

Newsarama asks a bunch of comics critics why they don’t talk about the art. (When I don’t, personally, it’s usually because I simply forgot to mention it, or because there wasn’t anything interesting to say.)

Over on my personal blog, I went nuts with a overly long comparison of two art-comics anthologies from last year: Best American Comics 2006 and An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories.

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As I type this, it’s still Friday, which was New Comics Day back in my own misspent youth.  Very vaguely in honor of that, enjoy this picture of a Milk & Cheese magnet.

Comics Links

Jonathan Ross, British TV personality and famous snogger of Neil Gaiman, has an article in the Guardian about why he loved Steve Ditko. It also serves as a teaser for Ross’s documentary, In Search of Steve Ditko, appearing on BBC4 Sunday night at 9.

Comic Book Resources reprints Diamond’s charts for market share and sales for August in the direct market.

CBR interviews Andrea Offerman.

And CBR also interviews Billy Tucci.

The Small Press Expo has announced the nominees for this year’s Ignatz Awards.

Newsarama interviews Garth Ennis.

Cracked.com lists the ten funniest webcomics.

Omar Karindu, at Comics Should Be Good, argues that it was always stupid when comic-book superheroes fought real-world dictators, terrorists, and the like.

Mike Sterling ponders the state of Spider-Man’s marriage, and whether anyone but Joe Quesada was every strongly against it.

Nerds with Kids interviews Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer about their work on the kids’ show Yo Gabba Gabba.

The Washington Post looks at comics designed to be viewed on cellphones.

Comics Reviews

The Joplin Independent checks out the New Look Betty & Veronica.

PopMatters reviews the last ten issues of Strangers in Paradise.

The Onion’s A.V. Club reviews a bunch of comics.

The Christian Science Monitor reviews the new graphic novel biography of Ronald Reagan.

Warren Peace Sings the Blues reviews Osamu Tezuka’s bizarrely brilliant Apollo’s Song.

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog covers this week’s comics, starting with B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground #2.

Jog of The Savage Critics reviews two old Vertigo comics: Kill Your Boyfriend and Girl.

Occasional Superheroine really likes the new Thor series.

Yes But No But Yes has its eyes on this week’s comics.

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Hey, guess which loathed-by-the-Internets cover came out this week? Yup…that one.

Comics Links

Forbidden Planet International’s Continental Correspondent visits the Brussels Comics Center, and isn’t terribly impressed.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer talks with Douglas Wolk.

The Beat has some serious thoughts about the professionalism – or lack thereof – of the current crop of comic shop owners and management.

ICv2 interviews Viz’s Senior Vice President Liza Coppola.

Silver Bullet Comic Books interviews Umbrella Academy artist Gabriel Ba.

Panels and Pixels awoke to find itself buried under a giant wave of Naruto books.

At Newsarama, Grumpy Old Fan ponders the recent wave of creators returning to the books of their youth at DC.

The Chicago Reader talks to Anders Nilsen, cartoonist of The End. [via Newsarama]

Comics Reviews

Inside Pulse reviews Punisher War Journal #11.

Comic Book Resources’s Hannibal Tabu lists his “buy pile” for this week.

Warren Peace Sings the Blues reviews Good As Lily, the Minx graphic novel by Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm.

Greg Burgas of Comics Should Be Good reviews this week’s comics, starting with Bad Planet #3.

Living Between Wednesdays also reviews this week’s comics, but she starts with Wonder Girl #1.

At The Savage Critics, Graeme McMillan also looks at Wonder Girl #1.

And Occasional Superheroine reviews the Justice League of America Weding Special.

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(See the continuation for an explanation of our "Bob & Godzilla" photo today.)

Comics Links

Publishers Weekly Comics Week talks to Matt Fraction, writer of Casanova.

Steven Grant, at Comic Book Resources, thinks about Jack Kirby and the art of comic book covers, then and now.

Brian Michael Bendis was interviewed by CBR about the various flavors of Avengers currently available in the marketplace.

CBR also interviews Ryan Dunlavey, artist of Action Philosophers!

The Beat casts its beady eye on Platinum Studios’ plans to go public.

The Baltimore City Paper (motto: “Eh, who needs a fancy name. It’s only Baltimore.”) visits Steve Geppi’s museum.

The Edmonton Journal interviews Peter Kuper, author of Keep Forgetting to Remember.

The New York Daily News profiles Meredith Gran, creator of the webcomic Octopus Pie.

Washington Post Express interviews the creators of Black Metal.

Comics Reviews

Publishers Weekly reviews Robert C. Harvey’s biography of Milton Caniff.

Warren Peace Sings the Blues reviews the October issue of Shojo Beat, and finds an unexpected obsession with breasts.

Brian Cronin of Comics Should Be Good looks at this week’s Thor and realizes that editors should say no to J. Michael Straczynski more often.

All of Comics Should Be Good gang-review the first issue of Potter’s Field.

From The Savage Critics:

• Douglas Wolk reads Potter’s Field #1
• Graeme McMillan reviews a Countdown tie-in with a title so long it can be seen from space
• and Abhay starts a review of Runoff, and interviews its creator, Tom Manning.

Ain’t It Cool News reviews a pile of comics.

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Comics Links

The Washington Post Express interviews Percy Carey, who recently told his life story in the graphic novel Sentences. Carey, best known as an underground rapper, also appeared on Sesame Street as a seven-year-old.

Comic Book Resources interrogates Jonathan Hickman, writer/colorist of the upcoming A Red Mass for Mars.

Tom Spurgeon of Comics Reporter defends the humble comics shop.

Sequential Tart interviews Jesse Hamm, artist of Good As Lily.

Turning to the subjeect of For Better or For Worse: Lynn Johnston opens up a new front in her propaganda war to prove that Liz and Anthony are destined to be together. In other news, we have always been at war with Eastasia.

The Baltimore Sun visited the Baltimore Comic-Con.

Artist Jesse Hamm tells Comics Should Be Good about eight things he wants to see more of in comics.

Comics Reviews

Richard of Forbidden Planet International reviews The Plain Janes by Cecil Castelucci and Jim Rugg.

Dana of Comics Fodder reviews this week’s Marvels.

Warren Peace Sings the Blues reviews the first issue of Andi Watson’s new comic, Glister.

Occasional Superheroine is puzzled by the new Infinity, Inc. series.

The LA Times reviews Osamu Tezuka’s Apollo’s Song (and a Robert Silverberg short story collection from Subterranean – ha ha, SF readers! You can’t just skip over the comics links blithely, can you? It’s all good stuff, so sit back and check it all out.)

Living Between Wednesdays gets to last week’s comics just ahead of this week’s comics.

From The Savage Critics:

• Jeff Lester reviews a whole bunch of things
• Jog is surprised at Wolverine #57 and others
• and Brian Hibbs looks at a couple of Brian K. Vaughan comics.

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Comics Links

They’re sold out now, but for a brief, shining moment, the world had a chance to buy knitted Hellboy dolls. (Figures? Plushes? What do you call these things?) [via Newsarama]

This weekend, The New York Times dug through Stan Lee’s boxes of old photos for an article about the places he’s lived.

Comic Book Resources interviews Kent Williams.

The Friends of Lulu are looking for new board members, sayeth The Beat.

The Beat lists Diamond graphic novel sales charts from 2006 and 2007 (to date).

The Harlan Ellison/Fantagraphics legal matter just will not die…even after the supposedly final settlement, Ellison has now balked at posting the required-by-the-agreement 500-word rebuttal by Fantagraphics’s Gary Groth to three specific claims Ellison made about Groth. The unposted statement, and Ellison’s lawyer’s “not gonna do it” letter, are in the middle of this long post at The Beat.

Comics Reporter interviews Warren Craghead. (No, I didn’t know who he was, either. But CR likes him…)

The ComicBloc interviews Sean McKeever.

Some guy named Dan Stafford:

1)    wrote polite letters to various comics folks, like R. Crumb, Joe Matt, and James Kochalka, asking some questions.

2)    got letters back from same, with answers to those questions.

3)    Posted the results here.

The Bookseller (the UK’s magazine of bookselling) recently reported that UK manga publishers have had to beg the big chains over there to expand the space devoted to manga. Either the UK market is vastly different from the US, or Waterstone’s just isn’t that interested in making great piles of money…

Comics Reviews

The Joplin Independent reviews the Marvel comics adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.

The Globe and Mail reviews a bunch of graphic novels and comics, starting with Sara Varon’s Robot Dreams.

Hannibal Tabu of Comic Book Resources lists his “buy pile” for this week.

Brian Cronin of Comics Should Be Good reviews Nick Abadzis’s Laika.

Greg Burgas of Comics Should Be Good reviews this week’s comics, starting with Action Philosophers! #9.

Greg Hatcher of CSBG reviews a pile of stuff he got for free.

From The Savage Critics:

• Graeme McMillan reviews Black Canary Wedding Planner
• McMillan also reviews Amazing Spider-Man #544
• Diana Kingston-Gabai reviews Captain America: The Chosen #1
• Jeff Lester reviews Rutu Modan’s graphic novel Exit Wounds
• McMillan is back with a look at Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #1
• Jog looks back at an old miniseries, Batman: The Cult
• and McMillan comes back again for a review of Captain America: The Chosen #1. of his own.

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