Author: Martha Thomases

Blue Pills: review

  • News
  • December 28, 2007

Blue Pills was previously published in Europe, where it won the Premios La Carcel de Papel in Spain and the Polish Jury Prize at Angouleme. It has sold over 20,000 copies in its original French edition, and now Houghton Mifflin is publishing it in the United States. This graphic novel by Frederik Peeters is a personal memoir of his relationship with a woman and her young son, both HIV positive. Intimate, emotional, deeply personal, it’s exactly the kind of story I thought I wouldn’t like.

I was wrong.

Let’s start with the main thing I thought I wouldn’t like: the artwork. Peeters uses a very blunt line, without a lot of detail. The impression is rough rather than smooth, sketchy rather than finished. The pages are, for the most part, variations on the six-panel grid. It doesn’t feel like something that can easily convey complex feelings, and yet, cumulatively, it does. (more…)

The Sweetest Gift, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • December 22, 2007

51q56wbs7dl-_ss500_-3685524Over a month ago, I was assigned to find out each presidential candidate’s favorite super-hero or heroine.  It seemed like it would be a fun assignment, a chance to find a bit of insight into how pop culture affects politics and vice versa.

Alas, only Ron Paul felt self-confident enough to answer our question.  I was impressed that not only did Dr. Paul know one super-hero from another, but he also knew one creator from another, specifically citing Paul Pope’s version of Batman. 

Why didn’t the other candidates respond?  John Tebbel thinks it’s because the race is so close that no one wants to risk saying something stupid that will alienate a segment of voters needed to gain percentages in the early primaries and caucuses.  Can the Marvel vs. DC split be so wide?  Do indy fans resent superhero fans this much?  I don’t think so.

Or maybe the question is considered too goofy for a future President of the most powerful country in the world.  However, in the last few days, I’ve heard how the candidates like their coffee and what their least favorite food is. 

I’ve had to conclude that these candidates simply don’t read comics, or graphic novels, or the funny pages.  Therefore, in the Spirit of the Season, I’ve decided to recommend the following:

Mike Huckabee:  This Baptist minister turned Governor of Arkansas seems like a personable guy.  His story about losing 100 pounds is inspirational, and he seems, in interviews, to be a friendly sort.  However, as he’s climbed in the polls, he’s become disturbingly more evangelical about the role of religion in public life, especially the federal government.  It would do him good to read Garth Ennis’ and Steve Dillon’s Preacher: Gone to Texas. 

(more…)

Harry Potter goes to South Park

  • News
  • December 19, 2007

harry_potter___south_park_by_sam_x_frank-1225224Deviant Art, a website devoted to the “art and skin community” (i.e. tattoos and other cool stuff) has a post today that combines two of 2007’s most popular fictional locations. Posted by Sam, who seems to be something of a Potterphile (including his favorite Wii game), it contains 45 of J. K. Rowling’s finest.

“This is basically a thing I started when I was bored and it developed, and developed…” says Sam, in case you couldn’t tell.

Besides South Park and Potter, Sam’s a fan of My Chemical Romance, which may be the new geek trifecta.

 

We Are Family, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • December 15, 2007

family_clean12-4183176The holidays! That glorious time of year, so beloved by People of Faith, who celebrate not only their respective religious holidays but also their prized Family Values! A love of family, they say, is what separates the Godfull from the Godless. Atheists and agnostics do not have family values.

Humbug.

Family is pretty much the definition of primal. Children are, traditionally, the result of sexual activity, which is something animals do (plants, not so much). Our relationships with our parents, or at least our mothers, define our existence, as mammals and as humans. We yearn simultaneously for closeness and independence, approval and self-reliance.

More recently, family is a social construct that facilitates pacing on property, so that parents can leave their possessions to their children instead of to the Church or the State. And when property is involved, so is greed, envy, revenge, and other emotions that make stories fun to read or watch (living this stuff is way less interesting). From the Greeks through Shakespeare, the Tales of Genji and more, blood and money make families tick.

Families are the font of comedy, too. What would comedy be like without guilt, and what kind of guilt would there be if we didn’t have families? Or fear and resentment?

(more…)

ComicMixer Robert Tinnell near you

  • News
  • December 11, 2007

Our own Robert Tinnell, co-writer of both EZ Street and Demons of Sherwood, is on the road promoting his graphic novel, Feast of the Seven Fishes.  He’s a charming man, with great stories.  Stop by and tell him ComicMix sent you!

Today, 12/11/07 in Philadelphia, PA

Fante’s Kitchen Ware’s 12:00PM – 3:00PM

1006 S 9th St

Philadelphia, PA 19147

Vesuvio’s Restaurant 5:00PM – 9:00PM

736 S 8th St

Philadelphia, PA 19147

12/12/07 in New York, New York

La Ferrara Café  2:00PM – 5:00PM

195 Grand St

New York, NY 10013

12/13/07 in New York, New York

La Lanterna di Vittorio 12:00PM – 3:00PM

129 MacDougal St

New York, NY 10012

12/14/07 in Boston, MA

Boston BeanStock 4:00PM – 8:00PM

97 Salem St

Boston MA 

Presidential candidate Ron Paul picks his super-hero favorite

  • News
  • December 10, 2007

ronpaul_flag-3417888As part of the run-up to the presidential primaries next year, ComicMix asked Texas Congressman Ron Paul who his favorite comic book super-hero might be.  We think this is at least as revealing as their favorite movies, favorite books, or favorite chocolate-chip cookie recipes.

Candidate Paul, running for the Republican nomination on a Libertarian platform, was happy to respond. From Congressman Paul:

 

"My favorite comic book superhero is Baruch Wane, otherwise known as Batman, in The Batman Chronicles.  "The Berlin Batman," #11 in the series by Paul Pope, details Batman’s attempts to rescue the confiscated works of persecuted Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises, from Nazi Party hands. 

“Batman’s assistant Robin writes in the memoirs, "[Mises] was an advocate of individual liberty, free speech, and free thinking… and so, should I add, the Berlin Batman." Batman, a Jew in hiding in Nazi Austria, was willing to risk his life for the sake of the promulgation of freedom, and I find this to be super-heroic."

batman-chronicles-11-pg18-4306055

From The Batman Chronicles #11, written and drawn by Paul Pope, colors by Ted McKeever, letters by Ken Lopez. ©1998 DC Comics.

 

I Pity the Poor Immigrant, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • December 8, 2007

According to my reading of the nightly news (between 4 PM and 7 PM, we watch CNN, BBC, and NBC), illegal immigration is a huge issue as we go into the primary season for the various presidential nominations.  According to various estimates, there are as many as 12 million people living in the United States who are in the country illegally.  Some entered legally, as students or tourists, and didn’t leave when they were supposed to.  Others snuck in without going through the proper channels.

Neither party has a consensus on what its position is, but, to greatly oversimplify, the Democrats want to find a way to more quickly legalize the illegals while the Republicans want to deport them.

My opinions on the subject are greatly influenced by the comics I read now and read growing up as a child.  As a DC fan, I know:

  • Superman is an illegal immigrant (since granted citizenship), whose adopted parents committed perjury when they claimed he was their biological child. (more…)

Demons of Sherwood debuts today

  • Uncategorized
  • December 3, 2007

demonsofsherwoodcover-8572106Today, ComicMix takes you back to Sherwood Forest in Demons of Sherwood.  It’s twelve years after the end of the Robin Hood story you know, when Robin restores Richard to the throne and regains his castle. 

Happily ever after? Not really…

Robin is a drunk.  He hasn’t seen Marian since the end of their adventures with his merry men.  He hasn’t seen much of them, either.  And now comes word that Marian is in trouble, jailed as a witch by the Inquisitor from Rome…

Written by Robert Tinnell (co writer of EZ Street, and writer and director of the upcoming film Feast of the Seven Fishes, based on his comic), Demons is co-written and painted by the legendary Bo Hampton. Bo knows comics.  He has worked in comics and related media since 1978 as an artist and occasionally as a writer. He painted Viking Glory for DCComics and Legend of Sleepy Hollow for Image.  Last year he co-plotted with writer Tinnell and drew Sight Unseen, a graphic novel for Image. Bo, his wife Teresa, their daughters Caitlin and Callie, and their dog Tickets, currently reside in Atlanta, Georgia. He describes himself as a Southerner who never thought he had an accent until moving to New York to attend Art School whereupon he discovered that he was, after all, a hillbilly. But the kind of hillbilly that says "whereupon".

What is Demons of Sherwood about?

Bob:  Demons of Sherwood picks up the story of Robin Hood around more than a decade after his "glory days."  The Merry Men have moved on with their lives and Robin is pretty much a falling down drunk.  Worse, he hasn’t seen or heard from Marian in the intervening years – until now.  There’s a new breed of tyrant in the neighborhood, a self-proclaimed "Witchhunter" – and he’s tried Marian, found her guilty and sentenced her to death by burning.  So Robin’s got to get his act together.  Unfortunately, for all parties there really are demonic forces at work in Sherwood Forest…

(more…)

Baby, It’s Cold Outside, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • December 1, 2007

Convention season is over.  The days are short, and dark, and cold.  I don’t have to leave the house very often except to get food, or yarn, or comics.  I have much time in which to brood.  Here’s a few thoughts …

*  Comics came out on Thursday this week instead of Wednesday, and threw off my entire sense of rhythm.  The reason, I’m told, is that UPS was closed on Friday because of the Thanksgiving holiday.  Was this a surprise?  Doesn’t Thanksgiving always fall on a Thursday?  Get it together, people!  I don’t know what day it is if I haven’t read (and cursed at) Countdown!

  • I’m finding I like a weekly comic book as a format, just as I liked Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, Homicide, Buffy and other soapy serialized dramas.  It’s a shame they have to wreck the comic with fight scenes, when we could just have sordid interpersonal scandals, instead.  Tamper with a few paternity tests, and you won’t need those pesky parallel universes anymore. (more…)

Shopping Bag People, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • November 24, 2007

As you read this, the shopping malls are jammed. Many opened in the dark, with special sales to attract the first shoppers. The news programs will have stories about how many people got trampled trying to buy an item marked down a lot, and perhaps a heartwarming piece about a child who buys something for a poor family.

It’s the holidays.

Most of the world’s religions, major and minor, celebrate the passing of the Winter Solstice when the days stop getting darker and the light begins to return. It is a hopeful time. Whatever your traditions, you probably enjoy gathering with family and/or friends, eating and drinking, celebrating the return of the sun.

In the United States for most of the last century, the holidays are also the time to balance the books. Stores that might lose money all year count on the fourth quarter – October through December – to turn a profit. The day after Thanksgiving is dubbed, “Black Friday,” because that’s the day the red ink should stop. (more…)

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