The Bottle City of Kandor

The Beats: A Graphic History

2011-06-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Set against a backdrop of the changing American cultural landscape of the 1950's and 60's, The Beats: A Graphic History is primarily a biographical work which focuses on leading Beat writers Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs. Appropriate to the medium, the graphic novel does not delve too much into literary analysis. Instead, with brutal honesty,swriter Harvey Pekar and illustrator Ed Piskor explore the sometimes sordid but always interesting personal lives and social impact of these and other Beat writers.

For those not familiar with the term, the Beats were known for their rejection of mainstream American values, experimentation with drugs and alternate forms of sexuality, and an interest in Eastern religions. The major works of Beat writing are Allen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), William Burroughs' Naked Lunch (1959) and Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957). Both Howl and Naked Lunch were the subject of obscenity trials that ultimately helped to liberalize what could be published in the United States. On the Road transformed Kerouac's friend Neal Cassady into a youth-culture hero. Many Beat themes eventually crossed over into mainstream American culture. For example, the television shows Dobie Gillis and Route 66 definitely borrowed from Beat writings, and many musicians such as John Lennon and Bob Dylan were inspired by the Beats, sometimes writing songs with them and even occasionally including them in their on-stage performances.

It is quite interesting indeed to see this subject matter portrayed in the style of Pekar's American Splendor. Known for his ironic depiction of everyday life, Pekar provides a very serviceable overview of a complicated subject. With his help, those not familiar with the Beats can learn quite a bit about the movement, although more research is required to learn something about the key literary works themselves. Those more familiar with the material can gain a very interesting perspective on who these writers really were. Pekar, with the help of his illustrator, really humanizes the Beats, and helps us to understand their struggles and their triumphs, as well as the intense isolation and depression they often experienced.

Coward

2011-05-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

Crime comics are back, and a great example of this is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip's amazing series Criminal. Coward is the first chapter of what promises to be a long-running, complex tapestry of crime and mayhem on the level of 100 Bullets. Leo Patterson is the coward to which the title refers. He is a professional pickpocket who learned the art from his father and uncle. He's never been arrested because he's meticulous about following the rules of his profession. (Like Lee Coburn in Harry in Your Pocket, right?) Of course, trouble begins when two former associates try to recruit him into an armored-car heist. Leo initially refuses because a dirty cop is involved, which is obviously a violation of his rules. But a beautiful former heroin addict named Greta is able to persuade Leo to participate in the crime. Needless to say, Leo is not able to make the scheme follow his 'rules'. Although Leo correctly surmises that there will be a double-cross, he's not exactly sure when the trap will be sprung. After a shootout which leaves Greta wounded and one of his 'friends' dead, Leo and Greta are able to escape with the score (which turns out to be heroin instead of diamonds). After a brief interlude, there are numerous heart-breaking plot twists and further spasms of violence. The ending is extremely dark, but surprisingly hopeful.

Part of the appeal of Criminal is the way each chapter fits into a much larger family saga. Each story arc is self-contained, but the central characters live in the same world and share a similar criminal background. For example, Leo Patterson is led to a life of crime when his father is sent to jail for the murder of Teeg Lawless, who is also a criminal. Future stories revolve around the criminal activities of Teeg's sons, Ricky and Tracy. Each cycle of crime leads to the next, each generation passes its crimes on to the next.

Criminal is everything we expect from noir crime fiction, and the entire series is true to the misanthropic themes of the genre. But we also see that Brubaker's broken misfits are capable of a tremendous amount of honor. And that's what makes it interesting, and cool.

The crime fiction of Jim Thompson

2011-05-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

Jim Thompson (1906-77) was a very innovative writer whose life and career took him from the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma all the way to Hollywood. Mostly known for his crime fiction, Thompson was not well particularly well regarded during his own lifetime, but he has received a great deal of critical appreciation since his death in 1977. Writers such as Ed Brubaker and James Ellroy have acknowledged his influence, and the movie industry continues to mine his work for screen ideas.

Before he turned to fiction, Thompson had a very versatile career as a newspaper writer and true crime author. This experience gave him a lot of insight into the criminal mind, and he had the ability (and the courage) to really get into the head of psychopathic killers. He was ahead of his time in this respect.

His best known work is probably The Killer Inside Me (1952). The narrator, Lou Ford, is a small-town sheriff who appears to be slightly dull-minded. Yet, in reality Sheriff Ford is very intelligent and experiences a nearly-constant urge to act violently; Ford describes his urge as the sickness (always italicised). Ford is a stereotypical serial killer, created by Thompson before that term even existed.

Other key works include The Getaway, which was adapted for the 1970 movie starring Steve McQueen and directed by Sam Peckinpah. Thompson wrote a script based on his novel, but McQueen rejected it as too reliant on dialogue with not enough action. The script was rewritten, and Thompson eventually sought, but lost, a Writers Guild arbitration to get script credit for the film. There is no question that the original story was greatly altered, but there is also no question that the original book would have been difficult or impossible to film.

Also noteworthy is The Grifters (1963). The narrator is Roy Dillon, master of the "short con", who has a romantic entanglement with another expert grifter, Moira Langtry, who sells sexual favors to her landlord in return for the rent money. Roy's mother, also a grifter, is in the picture as well. Together, the three characters get caught up in a crime spree which culminates in betrayal, infamy and murder. The Grifters was made into a movie in 1990, and this time there were very few changes to Thompson's original story.

Thompson's stories are usually first-person narratives which reveal a nihilistic world-view and a frighteningly deep understanding of the warped criminal mind. There are no good guys in Thompson's literature — most everyone is abusive, opportunistic, or simply waiting for the opportunity to pull a fast one.

Although Thompson was a prolific and generally successful writer, he was always broke and could never really get on his feet financially or otherwise. He acquired a drinking habit from the time in his youth when he worked as a bellboy in a rough Texas hotel, and later as a roughneck in the Oklahoma oilfields. He died from alcohol-related illnesses in 1977 at the age of 71.

100 Bullets

2009-10-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

100 Bullets is a crime fiction comic series created by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso and published by DC Comics under its Vertigo imprint. The series consists of numerous story arcs arising when a mysterious organization called the Minutemen gives certain people a gun with 100 untraceable bullets. These individuals are assured that the 100 bullets will enable to them to exact vengeance without any legal consequences. There is a much wider story, however, which involves numerous conspiracies related to the activities of the Minutemen going back hundreds of years. The series sets a very dark and realistic tone and most of the characters are deeply flawed criminals of some sort who very authentically display the dress and speech of an underground life on the street. Despite their humble backgrounds and true to the noir genre, many of these downtrodden losers are able to make honorable choices.

Sleeper

2009-07-26T09:56:00.001-07:00

Tom Cruise and Hollywood have discovered Ed Brubaker, but comic book fans have known about Brubaker and his crime comics for quite some time. According to wire reports, Cruise is seeking the film rights to Brubaker's Sleeper, and the property does seem perfect for the big screen. Sleeper features a secret agent (Holden Carver) whose fusion with an alien artifact makes him impervious to pain, gives him a powerful healing factor, and allows him to store pain and pass it on to others through skin contact. Carver goes undercover in a super villain’s powerful organization and is eventually caught between two warring sides with unclear allegiances. Mayhem ensues. I'm sure this was one of the most successful Hollywood pitch meetings of all time. It's a 'high concept', easily translated to the screen, and it's a great role for somebody like Tom Cruise. Warner Brothers thinks this might be the next big movie franchise, on the level of the Bourne movies.

So who is Ed Brubaker, and what else is he working on? By his own admission, as a teenager he was 'kind of a thief and a drug-addict...and lived in a really ugly world of speed-freaks and scumbags.' Fortunately, he turned himself around. But he retained a somewhat bent perspective as well as an interest in dark subject matter such as pulp crime fiction. (In his autobiography, My Dark Places, crime author James Ellroy describes a similar scenario, with similar results.)

Brubaker is probably best known for 'killing Captain America'. Except it was actually Steve Rogers that was killed, and the Captain America persona was taken over by his sidekick, Bucky. All grown up now, Bucky was previously known as the Winter Soldier, a programmed Soviet assassin. Let's just say that he has some issues. He is a much darker character than Steve Rogers, and is much more suited to Brubaker's noir style. In the hands of Brubaker, Captain America has become a pulpy blend of sci-fi and espionage.

Brubaker is also one of the creators of Criminal. A straight-ahead crime series, Criminal features career criminals and ordinary people who get in over their heads, with violent and unpredictable results. One volume centered on a prizefighter who runs into some problems with the local crime bosses. Another story is about a Vietnam veteran who gets involved in a heist. Criminal is sharply written, beautifully illustrated by Sean Phillips, and is a worthy homage to the crime fiction of Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson. Each issue also has a prose section in the back, highlighting subjects such as the Black Lizard reprints of classic crime novels, or Harry-O, the classic TV crime show from 1974-75.

Brubaker and Phillips are also working on a new series called Incognito, which Brubaker says is "about a completely amoral guy with super-powers forced to pretend he's a normal law-abiding citizen, because he's in Witness Protection."

See links below for more information. No word on exactly when Sleeper will come to the big screen, but it looks like things are coming along nicely.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/books/08capt.html
http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeper_%28comic_book%29

Lush Life

2009-07-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

Lush Life is the highly acclaimed 2008 novel by Richard Price, best known as one of the writers of HBO's The Wire. Set in New York City's Lower East Side, the book works on several different levels. It is, of course a crime novel, and it works especially well as a mystery and a 'police procedural'. But it is also a very insightful study of a community in transition due to the 'land rush' of the last decade. Price very successfully portrays every socio-economic strata of the borough, from the Chinese and Hispanic underclass all the way to the mostly white yuppies, wannabe artists, actors and other strivers who are helping to gentrify the area.

The story has several characters at its center: Eric Cash, a 35 year old would-be actor who is just about to give up his dream; Matty, the detective who tries to solve the crime; and Tristan, the inner city kid who was unwittingly involved. Price displays each perspective with gripping psychological realism and succeeds in generating considerable sympathy for the motivations and difficulties of the criminals, their victims, and the police. Price's characters and dialogue really draw you in, and the plot keeps you hanging to the very end.

Thief

2009-06-24T20:59:00.001-07:00

Thief is a classic 1981 noir crime film written and directed by Michael Mann. James Caan plays Frank, an expert jewel thief who runs into some problems after taking down a major score. In an effort to recover money from his murdered fence, Frank is lured into working with Leo, a mobster, on a very large diamond heist. The heist is successful, but Frank's mob partners renege on the agreement. Frank angrily informs Leo that he will be paid, or there will be consequences. Leo's henchmen kidnap and eventually murder Frank's partner Barry (played by James Belushi). Frank takes his family to safety and is ultimately able to turn the tables on Leo, murdering him and several of his henchmen.

The movie is based on the true story of burglar John Seybold, who also served as a technical advisor to the film. The plot serves as an interesting counter-point to the work of Donald Westlake in his famous Parker series. Most notably, it would be unthinkable for Parker to work with the mob, and we can see why given the results for Frank in Thief. We can also see why Parker would consider it to be very unwise to have so many ties to the community. Frank is vulnerable because of the businesses that he owns, and also because of his family and home. Parker's burglar ethos requires that he be able to basically disappear on a moment's notice. My guess is that a real burglar would be much more like Parker, and that many liberties have been taken with Seybold's story in order to develop certain themes. By introducing certain elements such as a family and personal ties, Michael Mann explores Frank's desire for self-realization. Frank keeps a collage of pictures which represents his vision of the life that he is driven to have. So there is a definite pathos and tension to the film that would be lacking if it followed Westlake's Parker model. But at the same time, the film probably lacks verisimilitude. I.e., there is no way a real master thief would make the choices that Frank makes.

Also notable is the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.

The film displays meticulous attention to detail, which is a direct result of Mann's decision to employ Seybold as an advisor. The tools and techniques of the trade are authentic, right down to the oxy lance used to penetrate a safe.

If you watch closely, you will see CSI's William Petersen in a small role as a bartender. Later he will work with Mann in Manhunter, another overlooked classic of the 80's.

Donald Westlake's Parker

2009-05-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

Donald Westlake's Parker is a hardened professional thief who appeared in a string of crime novels published in the 1960's and 70's and written under the pen name of Richard Stark. Parker has been the inspiration for several movies, most recently Mel Gibson's Payback (1999), based on the first Parker novel The Hunter. Darwyn Cooke is working on a graphic novel which is also based The Hunter, soon to be published by IDW. If you like Ed Brubaker's Criminal series, you will definitely want to pick this up. Brubaker has acknowledged that his work is in many ways inspired by Westlake's Parker.

Perfectly capable of murder, Parker has almost no redeeming qualities, aside from his professionalism and the fact that he is an honest crook. In The Hunter, Parker chases his ex-partners and his ex-wife, who have betrayed him in a heist and left him for dead. He survives, but is arrested by the police. Slowly, methodically, one by one, Parker kills his betrayers, ultimately taking on the mob in the process.

Parker is a loner, in many ways indistinguishable from the unnamed protagonist of Clint Eastwood's Dollars trilogy. He operates in an amoral world where everybody is a criminal of some sort. In this world crime pays, there is no good or evil, but simply different styles of crime. Crime is a business, and all business is a form of criminal activity. In fact, Parker is an entrepreneur of sorts, competing with the syndicate and fending off assorted psychotics, amateurs and losers. Of course, there is no law, so Parker cannot be caught and punished. He can only be injured or delayed. He has no connection to society, and seeks only to acquire money in order to remove himself to comfortable isolation.

But what makes Parker so archetypal and enduring is that he speaks to something very deep in our collective psyches. We envy Parker's lack of shame, or guilt, or any type of sentimental feeling whatsoever. Although he is hunted constantly, he is totally unselfconscious, totally focused on his purpose. Parker is a very remarkable, enduring anti-hero.

Watchmen

2009-04-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

Watchmen is literature, at least it is according to Time magazine. Watchmen was the only graphic novel to appear on Time's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present".

Watchmen (1985) is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by the brilliant but temperamental writer Alan Moore. A near-mint, first printing of the entire series now sells for about $200. Moore also wrote From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, both of which have also been adapted for the screen. (League was a great comic book, but a terrible movie. Definitely explains why Moore has so much distrust of filmmakers attempting to adapt his works.)

Moore is also known for his 1986 masterpiece Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?. This was intended to close the book on the original Silver Age Superman's history subsequent to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Hard to explain, but anybody who enjoyed Superman comics as a kid in the 60's and the 70's should check it out. You can pick up the back issues for about $8.00.

In a nutshell, Watchmen takes place in an alternate history United States where the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. After government-sponsored superhero The Comedian is found murdered, the vigilante Rorschach warns his former colleagues of what he believes is a conspiracy to kill costumed heroes. As the story progresses, the protagonists discover that one of the heroes has devised a plan to stave off war between the United States and the USSR by carrying out a plan that will kill millions of innocent people.

Watchmen also features a comic within a comic in the form of Tales of the Black Freighter, a fictional comic book. Moore and Gibbons used a pirate comic because they reasoned that since the characters of Watchmen experience superheroes in real life, "they probably wouldn't be at all interested in superhero comics."

The most important character of Watchmen is probably Dr. Manhattan. In fact, he is the only 'superhero' in Watchmen that actually has superpowers. Through a nuclear accident, he acquires almost total omnipotence, which results in an interesting exploration of quantum mechanics. Due to his almost total mastery of his environment, time has no meaning to Dr. Manhattan. Time folds into itself, and he experiences all time frames as happening simultaneously. A similar theme is explored in Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel Destination Void, wherein the creation of a powerful artificial intelligence results in the folding of space/time.

Along with Frank Miller's 1986 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen was a breakthrough deconstruction of the superhero genre, and ushered in an entirely new approach to comics and the movies inspired by them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_happened_to_the_man_of_tomorrow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_The_Dark_Knight_Returns

Soon I Will Be Invincible

2009-03-31T10:51:00.000-07:00

Austin Grossman's 2007 novel, Soon I Will Be Invincible, is set in the real world with superheroes, and is just about the funniest thing I have ever read. It is written from the viewpoint of the supervillain Dr. Impossible and the female cyborg Fatale. The novel takes a perfectly realistic look at the lives and motivations of super-powered individuals.

Probably the best part of the novel is Dr. Impossible's deadpan, unintentionally hilarious internal monologue. All Dr. Impossible wants is what every evil super-genius wants. He wants to conquer the world, and he wants to explain his diabolical plan to you before he does it.

Dr. Impossible's nemesis is Corefire. He is a good looking, overly self-assured, invulnerable dolt. Dr. Impossible hates him and so do I. He is one of the founding members of the supergroup the Champions.

Next in the pantheon, and also a founding member, is Blackwolf. He has no superpowers, but has trained his mind and body to near perfection. He has the single-minded focus of a borderline autistic, which he is rumored to be.

Damsel, the third founding member of the Champions, is the daughter of a golden age superhero and a princess of an alien planet. She has some issues due to her mixed heritage.

Fatale, who has no memory of her life before the accident that led to her transformation into a cyborg, eventually discovers that the corporation that saved her life was a front for Dr. Impossible. Needless to say, this little development comes into play later in the novel.

Some of the other more interesting characters include:

Lily, born in the far future and stranded in the present. Her powers include super-strength and she also has access to far future technology. Also notable for her translucent appearance.

Elphin, supposedly the last fairy on Earth. She is inhumanly fast and strong and has some nature-controlling powers. The novel never makes it clear if she really is a fairy, or if she's an alien of some sort.

Mr. Mystic, a magician much like Dr. Strange. His powers include illusion and teleportation.

Two of the most inexperienced Champions are Bluetooth and Phenom. Bluetooth is a geeky young hero infused with alien technology. He has the power to read minds and control electronic equipment. Phenom's powers come from his cybernetic implants. In one of the best scenes of the novel, the hapless duo attempt to interrogate Dr. Impossible, which leads to his escape. Oops!

The most important supervillains, other than Dr. Impossible, include Baron Ether, a Golden Age scientist and robotics expert. He is sort of a mentor to Dr. Impossible. The Pharoah, whose powers come from a magic hammer, is Dr. Impossible's friend, sort of. (Actually, he thinks he's an idiot.) The Pharoah's hammer is one of the most powerful objects on the planet and figures prominently in Dr. Impossible's plan to rule the Earth.

Not to spoil anything, but does it come as any surprise when the New Champions are able to foil Dr. Impossible's plan? No matter how close he comes, even Dr. Impossible knows that he will ultimately fail, and the cycle will begin anew. And in that process, we have a lot to learn from Dr. Impossible. As he stands on the verge of taking over the world, ' at the fulcrum point of creation', he blurts out, 'God I'm so unhappy.' Success means the end of the journey, and Dr. Impossible knows that the journey is more important than the goal. Defeat means renewal, and a rediscovery of your purpose. Dr. Impossible certainly knows his own purpose: 'When your laboratory explodes, lacing your body with a supercharged elixer, what do you do? You don't just lie there. You crawl out of the rubble, hideously scarred, and swear vengeance on the world. You keep going. You keep trying to take over the world'.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/books/review/Itzkoff2-t.html

http://bottlecity.blogspot.com

The Real James Bond

2009-03-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

In his 1966 play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard in effect deconstructs the character of Hamlet by shifting our perspective to that of two minor characters in the original play. In a similar way, Alan Moore's The Black Dossier deconstructs James Bond by showing him from the perspective of Wilhelmina Murray and Alan Quartermaine. He becomes Jimmy, a misogynistic, 'nasty little thug', quite different from the debonair, sophisticated spy that we are most familiar with. This version of Bond is in some respects reminiscent of the original Ian Fleming novels.

The 2006 reboot Casino Royale also shows James Bond in a different way: somewhat of a thug, quite a bit less confident, and certainly far removed from the Sean Connery and Roger Moore versions. While not completely inverting the character, the movie succeeds in returning to the original source material for a new perspective.

The picture on the left is an image of James Bond commissioned by Ian Fleming. He looks a lot more like Daniel Craig than Pierce Brosnan, doesn't he?

No discussion of The Black Dossier would be complete without referencing Jess Nevin's unbelievable annotations. See link below.

http://www.shsu.edu/~lib_jjn/dossier.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_%26_Guildenstern_Are_Dead

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

2009-03-01T18:50:00.000-08:00

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the Golden Age of Comics. The novel follows the lives of two Jewish boys, Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay. The pattern of their lives in some ways mirrors that of Superman creators Siegel and Shuster. They experience many of the same difficulties when they naively bargain away the rights to their creation, The Escapist. The novel also explores discrimination against Jewish immigrants, as well as the tragedy of the Holocaust.

Chabon shows that there were two reasons why Jewish writers and artists were so prominent in comic books and pop culture of the time. First, due to discrimination, this was sometimes the only work available. Secondly, comics and other pulp works were an important escape and creative outlet that allowed downtrodden immigrants the chance to dream and create their own heroic mythology.

Kavalier and Clay was a tremendous breakthrough that greatly contributed to the acceptance of comics as a uniquely American art form worthy of study and critical appreciation.

Kingdom Come

2009-03-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

Kingdom Come (1996) was a landmark DC mini-series written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Alex Ross. The story was based on Alex Ross's idea, and Mark Waid was added to the project due to his knowledge of DC history. Set in the not too distant future, the plot centers on an archetypal Superman who has retreated to his Fortress of Solitude, disillusioned due to a cataclysmic clash of values between the older generation of superheroes, and a newer, amoral group of meta-humans.

The precipitating event of the graphic novel is when the Joker kills Jimmy Olson, Perry White and Lois Lane, as well as the entire staff of the Daily Planet. Before he can be put on trial, the Joker is in turn murdered by a new superhero called Magog. Magog is later acquitted of murder, and it is this acquittal which causes Superman to become so disillusioned that he isolates himself from human society.

Later events in the novel center upon Superman's return to Metropolis and his attempts to put things back into order. He creates a sort of prison camp for metahumans he deems to be criminals. He eventually comes into conflict with a group of superheroes (and some supervillains) who have united around Batman, who feels that Superman has become too rigid in his ideals.

As the conflict reaches its climax, total disaster is averted by the sacrifice of Billy Batson/Captain Marvel. The remainder of the novel is devoted to a sort of coda. Wonder Woman become an ambassador for super-humans, Batman becomes a healer, and Superman essentially becomes a farmer as he begins to restore the Midwestern farmlands destroyed in the war.

There has always been a lot of discussion among critics as to who deserves most of the credit for the success of Kingdom Come. Possibly the best way to judge this is to have a look at some of the major projects that both have worked on since then. Alex Ross was one of the creators of 2005 DC mini-series Justice. Mark Waid is probably best known in recent years for his 'three-boot' of The Legion of Superheroes.

Young Liars

2008-12-22T07:23:00.001-08:00

Young Liars is an ongoing comic book series from David Lapham, published by DC's Vertigo imprint. It can be classified as crime fiction with a fairly realistic presentation, but much of the story and characterization is somewhat outlandish. Danny, the protagonist, is an aspiring musician who is obsessively in love with Sadie, who comes from a wealthy, unscrupulous (and very strange) family. Sadie is very uninhibited, due to a bullet being inextricably lodged in her brain. Other members of the group include CeeCee, a rock groupie; Donnie, a transvestite; Annie, an anorexic former model; and Runco, a rich boy who has many get-rich-quick schemes.

The real question is how to read Young Liars. Is it meant as a realistic take on the life of certain underground characters of New York City? Is it some kind of farce? Is it some kind of fantasy or dream? I think the correct answer is that it is all of these things. There are realistic aspects, but there is much that is clearly not meant to be taken seriously. For example, when Sadie beats up men twice her size, or water skis behind and then hijacks a cruise ship, this can be seen as a fantastical representation of what it is like to be involved with someone who has a brain injury or for some other reason cannot control their behavior. Sadie's paranoid suspicion of her family can also be seen in this way. No doubt, many people who are trying to break from their family often feel as if they have a midget Pinkerton detective chasing them. CeeCee's hangups regarding her abortion are very realistic, but the way that she keeps the fetus' tiny arm as a keepsake is perhaps a bit much. But all of the hangups, obsessions, unhealthy relationships, misguided goals, envies and backstabbing behaviors are very valid.

So the book should be read on several levels, and we probably wouldn't be reading it at all if these outlandish elements were not part of Lapham's style. Also, he doesn't even try to disguise the fact that Danny is not a reliable narrator. So that fact alone provides a clue that the entire story is purposefully over the top, exaggerated, not realistic, and dreamlike. It is meant to entertain and provoke, and perhaps make some valid observations about the dark issues many people cope with.

Lawless

2008-12-16T12:22:00.001-08:00

Lawless, the second volume of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Criminal, begins shortly after the events of Coward. Tracy Lawless is AWOL from military prison, determined to find out who murdered his brother, Ricky Lawless. To get started, Tracy pulls a strong-arm robbery on the mob and tracks down an old acquaintance who specializes in forged identity documents. (If you think all of this will come back to haunt him later, you're right.) In short order, Tracy tracks down Ricky's old crew, murders their wheelman, and infiltrates the gang as their new driver. Tracy then gets close to Ricky's old girlfriend Mallory, who is also a member of the gang. Much mayem ensues, Tracy ends up finding out a lot more than he bargained for, and the ending leaves him with more questions than ever.

Incognito

2008-12-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

Incognito is a new series from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Scheduled to begin in December 2008, the five-part story will be released under Marvel's creator-owned imprint, Icon. In a nutshell, the story is about a super-powered villain attempting to hide out in the witness protection program. Like Sleeper, the protagonist of Incognito has super-powers. However, according to published reports Incognito will be more of a crime noir story, where Sleeper was a bit more like Watchmen-- an exploration of human nature in a world much like our own where some people just happen to have super powers. The new story will also have somewhat of an espionage theme, not unlike Bruabaker's current presentation of Captain America. Suffice it to say that we will see a very dark and pulpy blend of genres.

Like Criminal, Incognito will fill out the 36 pages with prose articles in the back. Reportedly, there will be more articles about the pulp realm, such as Doc Savage and the Shadow, as well as articles about the world that the comics industry grew out of.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=6451

Superman and the Mole Men

2008-11-30T15:54:00.001-08:00

Superman and the Mole Men is the 1951 black and white film which served as a pilot of sorts for the long-running Superman TV series. The 58 minute feature is somewhat serious and has a science fiction theme, whereas the TV series was usually more humorous and crime-oriented. In a nutshell, Clark and Lois are sent to investigate a race of subterranean Mole Men who are disturbed by the drilling of the world's deepest oil well. Despite their peculiar appearance, the Mole Men present no threat, and the majority of the story revolves around Superman protecting them and helping the townspeople to overcome their fear and prejudice. Even though George Reeves felt it would go nowhere, the movie was relatively well received, and it led directly to the successful TV series. The feature was eventually turned into a two-part show, and was used as a cliffhanger between the first and second seasons.

The Bottle City of Kandor

2008-11-25T07:38:00.001-08:00

Possibly the most iconic and memorable element of the Silver Age Superman mythos, the Bottle City of Kandor was created when Brainiac shrunk and stole the capitol city of Krypton, preserving it inside a glass bottle aboard his spacecraft. Superman eventually recovered Kandor from Brainiac, and placed it inside his Fortress of Solitude for safekeeping.

The bottle containing the city is made of unbreakable glass, and is sealed by a super-hard metal stopper. Superman keeps a close watch on air hoses and related apparatus and a doorway has been installed in the stopper to facilitate an easier exit. The gravity conditions and red sun of Krypton are duplicated to allow the Kandorians to live normal lives within the bottle. Superman uses a special monitor screen to keep in close communication with Kandor.

To enter Kandor, Superman uses Brainiac's shrinking ray to reduce to microscopic size. Once inside, Superman becomes an ordinary human being, without super-powers. Superman's most notable adventure within the bottle was probably when he and Jimmy Olson adopted the identities of Nightwing and Flamebird in order to investigate a criminal scientist. The other most notable aspect of the bottle city is the Superman Emergency Squad, a team of Kandorians that leaves the bottle from time to time in order to assist Superman.

Of course, the Silver Age Bottle City of Kandor was swept away in DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Over the years, DC has brought out newer, different versions of Kandor, but nothing as cool and interesting as the original.

American Splendor

2008-11-16T17:30:00.000-08:00

Sporadically published since 1976, American Splendor is a series of autobiographical comics based on the life of Cleveland native Harvey Pekar. In the 1960's, Pekar gained inspiration from the work of artist Robert Crumb, who eventually became one of the artists for the comic series. Taking Pekar's everyday life as its subject matter, American Splendor tells stories about Pekar's job as a file clerk, his money problems, car troubles, health problems, and a multitude of other anxieties and awkward situations that Pekar often experiences.

Pekar gained a certain level of notoriety in the 1980's when he appeared numerous times on David Letterman's show, and his graphic novels were eventually the basis of a 2003 movie starring Paul Giamatti.

American Splendor has most recently been published by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo.

Cerebus the Aardvark

2008-11-13T17:28:00.001-08:00

Cerebus the Aardvark, created by Dave Sim, is one of the longest running comic book series ever published. Difficult to describe, the comic chronicles the adventures of Cerebus, a three foot tall aardvark who lives in the fictional world of Estarcion. Beginning in 1977 and completed in 2004, the series develops many religious and political themes as it follows Cerebus through numerous occupations and careers. Initially he is a mercenary, and later he is a politician, a religious leader and eventually a messiah.

Initially conceived as a parody of the sword and sorcery genre, and no doubt inspired by Steve Gerber's Howard the Duck, Cerebus was one of the first independent comics, at a time when the comics landscape was almost completely dominated by DC and Marvel. Involved in much controversy over the years, Dave Sim nevertheless became one of the leaders in the fight for creators' rights in comics.

Probably the best known storyline of the series was High Society (issues #26-50), where Cerebus finds himself enmeshed in the fast-paced world of high finance and politics. These issues were subsequently published as a graphic novel available through mail order only, which angered comic shop retailers who felt Sim owed them a great deal for the initial success of Cerebus.

In many ways, the arc of Cerebus from 1977 to 2004 is also the history of the many different ways that comics changed over the years, both creatively and as a business.

Doc Savage

2008-11-12T18:52:00.000-08:00

Doc Savage is a 1930's pulp character who was a very important forerunner to the modern superhero. Most fully realized by author Lester Dent, Doc Savage is a 6 ft 6 in giant, raised from birth to have great strength and endurance and near super-human physical abilities. He was also educated in all fields of learning in order to become a renaissance man, as well as a premier martial artist, explorer and adventurer. He is described by Dent as having the mental abilities of Sherlock Holmes and the physical abilities of Tarzan.

Doc does not wear a costume, but he does have a distinctive physical appearance. His skin is bronzed, his hair is close-cropped, and he has hypnotic gold-flecked eyes. Thus he is often described as "The Man of Bronze". Similar to Bruce Wayne, Doc has vast wealth and connections, and like Superman, he has a Fortress of Solitude. (Mort Weisinger pretty much lifted this idea in its entirety for the Superman mythos.) He also has a cohort of gifted teammates, which makes him the leader of one of the first 'super-teams'.

One of the more notable works in the Doc Savage canon, particularly for those interested in the Wold Newton hypothesis, is Philip José Farmer's fictional biography Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life.

H.P. Lovecraft

2008-11-09T09:48:00.001-08:00

H.P. Lovecraft (1890 – 1937), although relatively unknown during his own time, is one of the most important figures in horror fiction. His most notable creation was probably the cycle of stories known as the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared universe that has since been employed by many writers, most notably- for comic book fans, at least- Alan Moore.

Stories created within the Cthulhu Mythos usually take place in New England and center on the Great Old Ones, a fearsome assortment of powerful, grotesque alien deities who came from outer space and once ruled the Earth. These powerful beings are currently being held in abeyance, having fallen into a death-like sleep at some point in the distant past. The best known of these entities, but not necessarily the most powerful, is Cthulhu. Other key figures include Azathoth, the theological center of the mythos and Nyarlathotep, who does Azathoth's bidding.

The central theme of the Mythos is that the illusory nature of reality is a blessing. We do not see every aspect of reality, and we would surely lose our minds if we did. In the tradition of the Mythos, forbidden knowledge results in death and/or insanity.

Alan Moore has written prose stories set in the Cthulhun Mythos, and his works are sprinkled with references and homages to Lovecraft. Lovecraft's influence on Moore can definitely be seen in Swamp Thing, where Moore creates a mythos that is not unlike the Cthulhu Mythos.

Many books and dissertations have been written about Lovecraft. Other than his influence on Alan Moore, the important thing to know about Lovecraft is that he was one of the first writers to utilize what we would call a 'continuity'.

Hollywood discovers Ed Brubaker's 'Sleeper'

2008-11-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/books/08capt.html
http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeper_%28comic_book%29

The Bottle City of Kandor

2008-11-05T12:28:00.001-08:00

I found this great diagram of the Bottle City of Kandor.