Author: Van Jensen

Interview: Paul Karasik Deconstructs Fletcher Hanks Revamp

  • News
  • March 17, 2008

One of the surprise hits in comics last year was I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets, a collection of stories from Fletcher Hanks, a largely unknown comics creator in the Golden Age who is best described as "the Ed Wood of comics."

The bizarre tales – most featured "space wizard" Stardust, who came up with ever more creative and creepy means of dispatching villains – ended up a critical success, with the book making many "best of" lists, including my own.

The renewed attention to Hanks (his bizarre personal story is recounted with skill in an addendum at the back of I Shall Destroy) recently took another step, as Joe Keatinge and Mike Allred teamed up for an all-new Stardust story featured in the recent debut of Image Comics’ Next Issue Project #1.

Given this surge of attention in Hanks’ work, we thought it would be interesting to catch up with Paul Karasik, who edited I Shall Destroy and contributed the original Hanks background story to the volume.

Let’s just say he wasn’t happy with the new incarnation.

COMICMIX: The works of Fletcher Hanks, and Stardust particularly, have very much lingered in people’s minds and, as the success of I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets shows, retain a substantial appeal. Why do you think that is?

PAUL KARASIK: Fletcher Hanks is a master stylist and people are first attracted to style. Once you know what a Hanks story looks like you can always spot his work. In fact, this is one of the reasons I find it amazing that his work was not "discovered" years ago.

In fact, it seemed to me that many readers of I Shall Destory All the Civilized Planets were intrigued by the discovery aspect of my project. Not only was the work of a major comic book artist uncovered, but there was also a true-life mystery surrounding it all.

Finally, readers simply love the twisted quality of these brutal tales of maniacal retribution.

CMix: Given how dated those comics are and the idiosyncrasies of Hanks’ vision, should those comics be resuscitated by new creators?

PK: I can’t imagine a single reason to recreate Hanks’ work. It’s the same idea as remaking films you liked when you were younger. The impulse is fundamentally flawed and the results are categorically disastrous. (more…)

South Korean Comic Labeled Anti-Semitic

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  • March 17, 2008

The international comics scene is always interesting to keep an eye on, with bizarre stories cropping up every now and again. In that vein comes the news that the U.S. State Department made a report criticizing a South Korean comic book for being anti-Semitic.

According to the report, which was later presented to Congress, the book is the American volume of the Far Country, Neighbor Country series, according to this story in the Chosun newspaper. The series is intended for South Korean children, and it gives brief histories in comic book form of various countries around the world.

In the article, the anti-Semitic passages are listed as explaining the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks being caused by Muslims who hate the United States because "Jews use money and public discussion as weapons to make WASPs do what they want."

Here’s a few panels:

The article continued:

The series, written by Rhie Won-bok, a professor at Duksung Women’s University, was designed to teach youngsters the history and culture of other countries in comic book format. The "best-selling" children’s book series sold more than 10 million Korean-language copies, according to the report.

The report cited two examples of anti-Semitism in the book. One comic strip shows a newspaper, a magazine, a television, and a radio, each with a Star of David, and is captioned, "In a word, American public debate belongs to the Jews, and it’s no exaggeration to say that [U.S. media] are the voices of the Jews."

Another strip shows a man climbing a hill and then facing a brick wall inscribed with a Star of David and a STOP sign. The caption reads, "The final obstacle [to success] is always a fortress called Jews."

The author later acknowledged his mistake and pledged to write "in a more responsible way," the report said. In March 2007, the book’s publisher agreed to pull the controversial book from stores, the report added.

Like I said, lots of strange stuff here. For instance, it strikes me as strange to see anti-Semitism appear somewhere like South Korea. Also, I had no idea that the State Department’s duties include keeping tabs on anti-Semitism.

Review: ‘The Highwaymen’

On the surface, you’d think a good action movie would be a simple thing to pull off. Take one interesting protagonist, throw a ton of complications at him, have a nefarious villain behind things, add a little mystery and simmer. It’s always surprising, then, when so many bad action movies come out.

There are many things the new The Highwaymen comic (Wildstorm, $17.99) is not: It’s not complex. It’s not very serious. It doesn’t have all that much character development. What it does have, though, are all the elements of a perfect action movie, simmered to near perfection.

Writers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman follow the action rubric to a T, installing the plot (a young woman has a weapon of mass destruction inside her and everyone’s after her), the heroes (the aged Mr. McQueen and Mr. Monroe are killer and driver, respectively), and the villain (a shady leader of a U.S. government anti-terrorist organization).

I’m sure there will be those who dismiss this book as pop corn, but the thing about pop corn is, it’s hella good ever once in a while, especially when it’s popped just right.

The Highwaymen is pretty well nonstop action along a taut storyline, executed quite well by artist Lee Garbett (his work is similar to that of John Cassaday, except Garbett actually draws backgrounds). In short, the book just tries to be a really good action story, instead of overreaching for some grand purpose. It’s just violent and frivolous and fun, and there’s not a darn thing wrong with that.

DVD Review: ‘Legion of Superheroes’ Vol. 2

Maybe the most surprising thing about how much I’ve enjoyed the first episodes of the Legion of Superheroes cartoon series is how little I enjoy the team’s comic book adventures. I always liked the concept of the Legion, but the futuristic team has too large of a cast and too complex of a history for me to jump into.

The cartoon series (from Warner Brothers and DC) fixes those two criticisms by hemming in the team size to a handful of key characters and streamlining the background: A young [[[Superman]]] is pulled into the future to help a fledgling group of heroes save the world. Simple enough.

In this second volume (containing the episodes [[[Champions]]], [[[Fear Factory]]], [[[Brain Drain]]] and [[[Lightning Storm]]]), the team goes through a series of challenges that manage to be kid-appropriate without being overly simplistic. Like the legendary Batman: The Animated Series, the Legion consists of standalone episodes but also builds a deeper narrative of themes and plots, giving it appreciable depth.

Particularly, this volume highlights the character development of Lightning Lad as he becomes a greater hero, and that of his brother, Mekt, as he becomes a villain. Meanwhile, Superman finds his powers have limits, which serves as a lesson as he tries to become the universe’s greatest hero.

I definitely wouldn’t put this series on the same level as [[[Batman: TAS]]], but it’s a fun, clever and exciting foray into the 31st Century.

Review: ‘Secret Invasion Saga’

secinv-4353522A few years back, DC released the super-thick, super-cheap Countdown to Infinite Crisis to lead into the company’s massive Infinite Crisis event. In addition to recapping the years’ worth of hints that led to Crisis, the issue also contained some crucially important events, including the death of Ted Kord (Blue Beetle).

Marvel now has pulled that page out of the summer-event book, releasing Secret Invasion Saga last week as a free lead-in to the looming Secret Invasion of the Skrulls. While I can’t argue about the price, the content was more than a little underwhelming. In fact, I fell asleep while reading it. Twice.

Instead of actually telling a story, this issue is essentially a whole bunch of material culled from the Marvel Encyclopedia (look under "Skrull"). In one of the world’s longest internal monologues, Iron Man thinks over all the events that have led to this point (the reveal of Elektra as a Skrull, etc.). He covers the latest interstellar goings on from Annihilation and Skrull history as well.

While it’s nice to get a primer on things, the issue is extremely high on text and completely bereft of any new developments. If Marvel was planning on hooking new readers to the event, there’s no big eye-grabber here. They may have made some fans among insomniacs.

Between this, the grammar-unfriendly "Who do you trust?" marketing blitz and that bizarre Blair Witch-like video, Marvel’s off to a bit of a rough start to the Skrull invasion. Of course, they could probably shoot themselves in the foot and it would still sell like hot cakes with golden frosting.

College Paper Slams ‘Persepolis’ Reading Assignment

  • Uncategorized
  • March 7, 2008

persepolis_cover_big-7245347Not too long ago, I served as editor of a college newspaper, meaning I also headed up the editorial board that oversaw the paper’s opinion pages. More than a few times, the editorial board would be hard-pressed to come up with some topic worthy of bloviating upon.

I can only hope such a desperate lack of material was what spurred the editorial board of The Ithacan, Ithaca College’s (New York) student paper, to lambast the college’s leadership for choosing Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis as the summer reading assignment for incoming freshman. The editorial, in all its glory, is available right here.

An excerpt:

The idea of a graphic novel goes against the grain of typical required reading and may be welcomed by the incoming freshmen, who are part of a generation that has grown up in a world of fragmented cultures of television news, video games and the Internet.  But by coincidence, the selection of “Persepolis” comes soon after a November study by the National Endowment for the Arts indicating declined reading comprehension levels in young adults. 

Perhaps the selection of a graphic novel was an effort to engage members of a generation that seem to have lost an appetite for literature. But at some point, this idea of catering to different tastes only furthers the declining reading comprehension. Graphic novels are little more than advanced comic books. The thematic material of this book is worth broaching but its literary value, in terms of building vocabulary and furthering comprehension, falls short.

I think a lot of us working in comics have seen signs that the medium is making some pretty great strides in terms of general recognition and acceptance, but this editorial serves as a reminder that some people still need convincing. "Graphic novels are little more than advanced comic books"? There’s a lot of ignorance in that statement.

How about, instead of writing angry screeds against these college kids, instead we offer to send them a copy of Persepolis (I’d say it’s a safe wager that whoever wrote this editorial hasn’t read the book) as well as a collection of the numerous recent news articles about schools and libraries using comic books to effectively encourage reading among children.

Review: ‘Young Liars’ #1

I covered a handful of new series debuting this week in my Weekly Haul column earlier this week, but one new series slipped past. Thanks to the kind folks at DC then for sending over the first issue of David Lapham’s Young Liars, one of the more puzzling series to come around lately.

It’s not that Young Liars reinvents the wheel. It’s actually very similar to another new Vertigo series, The Vinyl Underground, in that both follow spunky young hedonists. The narrator is Danny, a Texas kid who moved up to New York to be a rockstar and failed miserably. But the central character is Sadie, an heiress who took a bullet to the head and lived, although the wound removed every inhibition she had.

The first issue is mostly set in a club, with Sadie alternating between dancing and beating the holy living snot out of people as Danny fills us in on the backstory. The gist is that Sadie’s dad and some unsavory characters are all tracking her down, and unpleasantness is about to meet this small group of friends.

While I was pretty disappointed with [[[The Vinyl Underground]]], [[[Young Liars]]] has at least piqued my interest. More than anything, I’m curious where Lapham is headed, but that’s based more on his past work than on the content of this issue. It’s more of a collection of fun pieces than a cohesive story so far, and it pales next to Lapham’s excellent Silverfish graphic novel from last year.

File this one under too soon to tell.

‘Sin City’ Videogame on the Way

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

Just the other day, ComicMix‘s Karl Cramer brought you the news that a Batman: The Dark Knight video game might be on the way. Now comes word that another comic/film property could be headed to consoles near you.

The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting story about the upcoming Sin City videogame. Sounds like a no-brainer, but the story has a couple of wrinkles. 

From the article:

But when the "Sin City" game hits store shelves around Christmas 2009, there will be no stars, no day-and-date marketing with the film’s sequel, "Sin City 2," and the publisher’s name on the box — Red Mile Entertainment — will be unknown to even the most hardcore gamers. Red Mile?


Indeed, the fledgling game maker has secured the rights not to either of the movies but to the seven graphic novels that comprised their source material, a strategy that even the company’s president and COO has a difficult time explaining.

Essentially, Red Mile decided it would be easier to develop the games from the comics, which have a lot more stories to choose from, giving the game creators more freedom, than to adapt something directly from the plot of the movie.

It’s probably a smart move, because the game can benefit from all the name recognition the movie earned without having to shell out for those specific rights. We’ll keep you posted.

The Weekly Haul: Reviews for March 6, 2008

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

Welcome to the inaugural Weekly Haul, a collection of reviews of this week’s comic book issues brought to you by none other than ComicMix. It was a big week for floppies, with four new series worth giving a read and several old standbys seeing new developments. Without further ado, let’s get to the reviews.

atom-8126234Book of the Week: The All-New Atom #21 — Anyone wondering whether this title would keep being a must-read after Gail Simone stepped aside as writer and Rick Remender took the reins can go ahead and relax. The All-New Atom is better than ever in this issue, which takes the classic archetypal conflict of man vs. himself and gives it one heck of a twist.

While trying to figure out if Ray Palmer’s experiments were responsible for Ivy Town’s craziness, the new Atom, Ryan, shrinks down to explore a sample of his own blood (sounds weird, but it makes sense). Remender makes that effort alone a pulse-pounder, but then Ryan finds some terrible infestation in his blood and all hell breaks loose.

While still a bit text heavy, the series remains just as zany as under Simone’s watch and is a bit more focused. Good stuff all the way around.

Runners Up:

Logan #1 — Brian K. Vaughan and Eduardo Risso taking on the most famous mutant is pretty well guaranteed to be a quality read. And while this issue is far from mind-blowing, it’s a far superior story of Wolverine getting his memory back than anything we’ve seen in Wolverine: Origins. The downside is Marvel once again arbitrarily slapping a $3.99 price tag on a book for no good reason.

Northlanders #4 — This is the classic "from bad to worse" part of the story, but Brian Wood pulls it off well. The best quality of this vikings series is how Wood gives depth to his characters and doesn’t let any of them fall too far into stereotypical roles of heroes and villains. Life is complicated, especially for blood-hungry Scandinavians.

Omega the Unknown #6 — For the most touching tribute yet to the recently deceased Steve Gerber, this issue merits a purchase. It’s also another darn fine bit of comics by Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple. After all the action of the past few issues, this one serves as a bit of set up to the coming battle with the robots before culminating with a well done metatextual flourish.

(more…)

‘Dark Oz’ Headed to Theaters

  • News
  • March 5, 2008

Another day, another comic book series being adapted into a movie. Variety is reporting that Pras Michael, best known as the guy who’s not Wyclef Jean in the Fugees, picked up film and TV rights to the ’90s comic book series Dark Oz.

The series, which was first published by Caliber Comics under the title Oz and then a five-issue miniseries titled Dark Oz from Arrow Comics Group, featured an older Dorothy returning to Oz and having further adventures, though of a much more dark variety. Hence the title.

Interestingly, the comics are long out of print. But you can still read them in digital form. Caliber and Arrow Comics have a deal with DriveThruComics to sell the issues online in downloadable form.

Production on the film is slated to begin late this year. The script was adapted from the original stories of Dark Oz creators Aaron Denenberg, Ralph Griffith and Stuart Kerr, Variety reported. It’s planned as a live-action film, with designs on making it into a trilogy.

Pras is also a producer of the upcoming film The Mutant Chronicles, which surprisingly enough is not a comic book adaptation.

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