Midnight Snack: Or Else #5 Title: Or Else #5 Creators: Kevin Huizenga Publishing Information: Drawn and Quarterly, comic book (classic mini-comic sized), 40 pages, 2008, $4.95 Ordering Numbers: 9781897299814 (ISBN13)
I don't have much that's valuable to say about Kevin Huizenga's latest comic book, but I wanted to make sure that I mentioned it was out. Huizenga's one of the best cartoonists working, and anything he releases is likely to be worth your time. This one is, too. I imagine it could be a difficult comic in a lot of ways for a number of readers, although the work itself is fairly straight forward once you make the decision to dive in. Drawing its central story and perhaps its overall conceit from Giorgio Manganelli's Centuria, Huizenga works the thin, perhaps wholly artificial line between scene and story: a turtle in the house, a man's recovery from a near nervous breakdown in a country that's probably some variation of America puts him behind the lines of a religious war and its aftermath, sentences are diagrammed, a conversation unfolds and then is regretted, personalities are described, a relationship to house spiders is outlined, an ad promising easy answers is portrayed. While it's always pleasurable to read comics from Huizenga -- the way his style has blossomed into one of the signature "looks" of current alt-comics, and a more abstract version in a couple of the short-shorts -- this is also a deceptively rich book; I've returned to it a couple of times, and I don't feel like I'm close to getting from it all I will.
Not Comics: On Newspapers And Books
Two longish articles, one each on the decline of the newspaper and book industries, caught my eye yesterday.
* I thought this article by Michael Hirschorn on the inevitable, soon-to-be end for the New York Times -- why that's likely and what might happen as a result -- was really, really good. The best part is that he's one of the few people out there to take a hatchet to recent newspaper history as a contributor to all of what's happening right now, in an astonishing couple of paragraphs that first notes that "the public at large has been trained to undervalue journalists and journalism" and then goes into how papers themselves have "undermined the perceived value of serious newspaper journalism as well" by pursuing a service function that is absolutely replaceable and doesn't provide anything of value that will be missed. Near the end, we even get a hopeful note. "But over the long run, a world in which journalism is no longer weighed down by the need to fold an omnibus news product into a larger lifestyle-tastic package might turn out to be one in which actual reportage could make the case for why it matters, and why it might even be worth paying for. The best journalists will survive, and eventually thrive." Right on.
* my friend Gil brought to my attention this piece from the New York Times on austerity programs at various publishing houses, which reads at times as if it were designed to make you hate the book publishers with the white-hot fury of 10,000 suns. There's some good stuff in there like learning that book publishers are now backing away from advances a lot of people thought were too high and too riskily assigned in the first place. This more measured material surrounds some stuff that's positively spit-take worthy, like measuring the hard times in terms of only having one of three sales meetings at a fancy hotel or shifting maybe a half-star down in terms of where you take an author for a reimbursable lunch. What's most astonishing is how seemingly right up to the moment of recent firings the article seems to suggest that lavish parties were planned and retreats scheduled. As some people with a lot more smarts and financial acumen than I have have put it, the problem isn't that there's no longer enough money to have an industry that runs this way; it's that there never was.
1. Bottomless Bellybutton, Dash Shaw
2. Skyscrapers of the Midwest, Josh Cotter
3. Ganges #2, Kevin Huizenga
4. Pictures for Sad Children 2008, John Campbell
5. This Modern World, Tom Tomorrow
Missed It: Eyes On Angouleme Festival In Terms Of Performance In Economic Hard Times
I totally missed this October article at ActuaBD.com, kind of a laundry list of economy-related fears as they might have an impact on the 2009 Festival BD in Angouleme which will start later this month. A lot of the stuff there and in follow-up articles likethese seem to represent pretty standard coverage: a mix of announced events accompanied by a raised eyebrow, dire predictions (will the trains be running that weekend?), the thought that the festival may plan an economic-distressed version of the show alongside its regular plans for 2010 and then enact the plan that seems less crazy when it comes to it, and somewhere in there a laundry list of major sponsors in trouble, both state and private.
What might surprise some of you about that original, linked-to article is a line of thinking that you used to see in North American comics a lot: that the exhibitions and awards nominees reflect an elitist view of the art form that does not serve the industry when tough times are in the offing. While my gut reaction is that's a load of poo the same way it usually is when it's presented as an argument here, it's fascinating to see it pop up in a different comics culture. I wonder if we're in for its rebirth over here in 2009 or 2010.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* new columnist at the Pakistan Daily Times. This would likely never happen in the US, and yet it's in the US that the newspaper industry is reeling and sick. Just sayin'.
* it looks like yesterday's reports that Mike Peters was being sued by Fedecafe, the Colombian National Coffee Growers' Federation is a "is about to be sued" story rather than a "has been sued" story. The group objects to a cartoon in a series of cartoons that seemed to be stringing together bizarre food myths that indicated pieces of Juan Valdez might have been put into coffee by crime lords. Peters has released a statement through I believe the Associated Press that he meant no offense.
As I recall, the last time an American entertainment figure was sued by a food industry we ended up with Dr. Phil, so this story greatly worries me.
* I have no idea what this is, but it's awesome-looking.
* the New York Comic-Con has their programming schedule up. ICv2.com's pre-weekend business overview seminar is the must-attend event of these shows, but there seem to be a few items of interest sprinkled throughout as well. Someone should sit down and figure out just how the Internet has changed convention programming, because I think it has radically done so but I'm not sure how. I know that for me but also some of my less focused on comics every day of their lives friends, my interest in seeing yet another discussion of certain issues or the presentation certain companies might make on upcoming books seems less vital than it used to be because you have that information available to you on-line. So a lot about what draws me to any panel these days is access to certain and the event qualities (whether the speakers are funny, say) of the presentation. Just a thought.
* finally, the writers Leigh Walton and Laura Hudson debut a blog devoted to reading and commenting on all 300 issues of Dave Sim's Cerebus. I find this interesting for reasons removed from the male/female make-up of the contributors and what that might mean for future issues, or even what little I've read of either writer's past critical analysis. The first thing that's interesting to me is taking on Cerebus as a series of comic books, which might be odd to some people given how much Sim stresses its singular narrative identity and how most people who buy it now are doing so in trade form. I prefer to see it that way, too. The second is that Walton and Hudson are both relatively very young -- younger than Cerebus, in fact -- and that will likely shape how they see a lot of factors, especially those early on. For example, I'm pretty certain their discussion of the first issue lacks significant mention of dominant artistic influence Barry Windsor-Smith, which is the first place a lot of people my age would go.
The pedigree on this book is fascinating to the point that the work itself fails to match it. This is essentially a self-published lithograph comic novella by artist Don Freeman from 1955, a short urban fable about a man who splits into two people to follow both halves of his personality during the day. Upon returning home, Floyd W. Skitzafroid confronts the problems created by this arrangement and comes to a sweet solution. Freeman's picture-making proves to be a lot of fun: it's a complete and recognizable world, and the "acting" of the cartoon figures seems open and generous and funny without slipping into preciousness. The background material by Dave Kiersh about Freeman's identity less as a man divided than one without an artist "country" carries the bulk of one's reading time -- Freeman's cartoon story is not only simple but it's very quickly told and if you're one of those people that counts pages or seconds on the clock you're going to be disappointed. I liked it without loving it, and am more pleased than that to hear about another work in the not-exactly-comics, yes-exactly-comics tradition from half a century ago.
This Isn't A Library: New And Notable Releases To The Comics Direct Market
*****
Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.
I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. But were I in a comic book shop tomorrow I would more than likely pick up the following and look them over. My retailer might not like it, but he'll survive.
*****
SEP083845 RASL TP VOL 01 DRIFT (MR) $13.00
Along with Little Orphan Annie, this would be my pick of the week: Jeff Smith's compelling science fiction adventure story, 112 pages in an over-sized format maybe just a little bit more along the lines of how Smith originally intended the work to be seen until retailer feedback influenced the cartoonist into doing a much more standard-sized comic book for the serialized issues. Anyway, it looks fairly gorgeous, so anything even a little bit bigger is good. I think the pleasure one derives from the way Smith presents the story is going to be a big part of how people process the work. While I still suspect we're a couple of the standard issues away before the book reveals more of itself in a way that would make me feel safe suggesting what it's about, I'm definitely getting one of these.
OCT080036 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #21 $2.99 NOV080048 HELLBOY WILD HUNT #2 (OF 8) $2.99 NOV080053 KULL #3 (OF 6) $2.99 NOV083943 BOYS #26 (MR) $2.99 NOV082328 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #9 DKR $2.99 OCT082300 SWORD #14 (MR) $2.99 NOV082270 WALKING DEAD #57 (RES) (MR) $2.99 NOV080222 SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #3 (OF 4) (MR) $2.99
These are the standard-sized comic books that jumped out at me as coming from a pedigree or creators that make them the most likely to be worth a look, even though I'm not reading most of them. I am reading the last three, and it seems to me a sign of real sickness and noise in the current serials marketplace that a Sandman comic isn't at least a bigger deal than this one is. If I were a lawyer or management cog at US Goodrich right now instead of someone that writes about comics, the appearance of a comic book like that would likely be enough to bring me into a comics shop.
SEP080073 KUROSAGI CORPSE DELIVERY SERVICE TP VOL 08 (MR) $10.95 OCT084075 ME & THE DEVIL BLUES GN VOL 02 $19.95
Similarly, these are the manga series of decided interest with new volumes out.
MAY080050 GROO HELL ON EARTH TP $17.95 OCT080214 AMERICAN SPLENDOR ANOTHER DOLLAR TP (MR) $14.99 NOV082242 WALKING DEAD TP VOL 09 HERE WE REMAIN (MR) $14.99
Finally, here are three trade paperback sized collections in successful series with solid creators behind them that might pique your interest.
NOV082466 AGENTS OF ATLAS TP $24.99 OCT084300 TREASURY 20TH CENTURY MURDER SC VOL 01 LINDBERGH CHILD $9.95
Here are a couple of price-point friendly reprints of books I own in hardcover. The Lindbergh Child book from Rick Geary just seems like a nice volume at that size. The Agents of Atlas softcover features a bunch of bonus material in addition to the reasonably fun Marvel comic book of the same name, starring its 1950s abortive hero re-launch characters, plus those placed into that time period at some point in Marvel's overall publication history, minus the Timely guys, in a modern adventure. Kind of a League Of Extraordinarily Owned Lock Stock and Barrel By Marvel Gentlemen and Ladies.
AUG084173 COMPLETE LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE HC VOL 02 $39.99
I am totally in the bag for Little Orphan Annie. I'd pay another $20 for these collections.
NOV084257 WORMDYE GN (MR) $13.00 NOV084256 FATAL FAUX PAS GN (MR) $10.00
A couple of Secret Acres books, although I can't tell if the first one is just now making it into the catalog or is making it there again in a way that doesn't get it tagged with something. Wormdye has already been well-reviewed, and made quite a few Best of 2008 lists. Fatal Faux Pas is work from CCS buzz boy Samuel Gaskin. I deeply apologize for calling anyone "buzz boy."
*****
The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.
To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.
The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.
If I didn't list your comic, it's because of an overabundance of corn-related products in my food.
When A Story Is A Non-Story But Still A Story: Smell Of Steve's Planet Of Beer
With January and February sales generally representing a down period for the comic industry and with the delayed decision-making process that involves moving books around in a schedule months ahead of time, many folks that cover comics have been keeping a keen eye out for news of books from later on this Spring. In other words, if DC and Marvel have fewer books out in January that's one thing, but if they're keeping a lean schedule in May, that's quite another.
Therefore, it was with some degree of interest that I read a note received in a mass mailing from Brian Sendelbach, a cartoonist I like a lot who creates the Smell of Steve strip that exists both on-line and in a few alt-weeklies and on whose behalf Dark Horse announced they'd be releasing a print collection: Planet of Beer: A Smell of Steve Treasury. Here are the graphs of interest:
As just about everyone in the world doesn't know, I have a book coming out in March. It's called Planet of Beer: A Smell of Steve Treasury, and it's the distillation of many years' worth my weekly comic strip, Smell of Steve.
I'm pretty excited about the book. It's big, it's in full color, and it's the first time all these comic strips will be appearing in one place.
Only one wrinkle: Because of the usual Crappy Economy factors everyone's so familiar with now, Planet of Beer might not get published at all. The publisher, Dark Horse, claims that unless orders go up somewhat, they're going to pull the book.
Beyond the economy thing, it's been a challenge to market Planet of Beer. How do you describe comic strips that feature celebrities such as Nick Nolte and Sammy Hagar (as well as pop culture figures like Fonzie) in starring roles? How do you describe characters like President Carter & Kenny, Black Aquaman, and Bougle Gluce in a way that doesn't sound wacky and contrived? And how do you explain that Smell of Steve started off as a kind of conceptual art project, and ended up as, well... a different kind of conceptual art project?
Anyway, I'm a crappy salesman, and it's a crappy time to be selling anything. So this is no Planet of Beer hard-sell. I'm just letting you know that the book is available for pre-order here...
The rest of the letter gives you a place to pre-order the work; I'll share some of that information below.
The concern, of course, when you read something like this is that DHC might 1) be experiencing notably low pre-orders on a book which while it doesn't fit into its overt webcomics initiative is close enough that you might think sales would be better, 2) be putting one of its authors in a position to help in raising the level of pre-orders or not have the book published, and 3) be doing something similar with books whose creators don't happen to have me on their e-mail mass mailing list.
I asked Dark Horse for comment on both 1) this particular case and 2) if they're making similar requests of other authors concerning other books. Here's what I was given in response, which I'm told to ascribe to "a Dark Horse representative":
"While we were discussing the possibility of postponing the book's release to allow more time for pre-order, and we were encouraging Brian to do what he could on his part to get the word out, we have not yet come to the point where we were discussing the cancellation of the book. We are excited about Planet of Beer and will continue to stand behind it and all of our projects and creators both current and future."
Fair enough. Smoke, but no fire. There was enough initial confusion for there to be some left over, as I sent this along to Brian and received in return a statement from "a Smell of Steve representative":
I like Dark Horse. I've been very happy with my editor, and everybody who I've dealt with at Dark Horse.
I sent the e-mail in order to save my book as a direct response to information I received from Dark Horse regarding the possibility of Planet Of Beer not going to print.
Incidentally, I've been really surprised at the positive response. I feel like Sting in that "Message in a Bottle" song.
So there you have it. No financial Armageddon or book purge, just a struggling volume in a bad economy. I still think Spring publishing plans very much bear watching for signs of wider economic downturn influence, and will do so at every opportunity.
This leads me to a more important point: I really like the Smell of Steve material, and if any of you join me in liking this material or sometimes liking the things I like in general, I'm going to suggest you pre-order it and/or otherwise show support for one of the odder, more idiosyncratic comics of the last 20 years. Brian suggested this Amazon link. There's a petition out there I signed without reading but it involves a boycott and I wish I hadn't. You can probably find that if you want to. I would also direct you to the general web site for more comics, although actually, that's not fully up right now so here's Sendelbach's myspace page. If any retailers or people in position to support the work through press want to be put into contact with Brian and can't find something on the site and don't feel like working with Jacq Cohen at Dark Horse for some strange reason, And if you don't accept my word on these things, it seems as if the writer Warren Ellis likes it, too.
1. ACME Novelty Library #19, Chris Ware (self-published, distributed by Drawn & Quarterly)
2. What It Is, Lynda Barry (Drawn & Quarterly)
3. Little Nothings, Lewis Trondheim (NBM)
4. Bottomless Belly Button, Dash Shaw (Fantagraphics)
5. Inkweed, Chris Wright (Sparkplug Comic Books)
6. Wormdye, Eamon Espey (Secret Acres)
7. Petey and Pussy, John Kerschbaum (Fantagraphics)
8. An Anthology Of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons And True Stories, Vol 2 (Yale University Press), edited by Ivan Brunetti
9. Breakdowns: Portrait Of The Artist As A Young %@&*!, Art Spiegelman (Pantheon)
10. Willie and Joe, Bill Mauldin (Fantagraphics)
11. The Hot Breath Of War , Trevor Alixopolous (Sparkplug Comic Books)
12. Bourbon Island 1730, Lewis Trondheim & Appollo (First Second)
13. Alan's War, Emmanuel Guibert (First Second)
14. Paul Goes Fishing, Michel Rabagliati (Drawn & Quarterly)
15. The works of Kevin Huizenga
16. Perla La Loca, Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
17. Beyond Palomar, Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
18. Errand Service, Will Dinski (self-published)
19. Bodyworld, Dash Shaw (webcomic)
20. Against Pain, Ron Rege', Jr (Drawn & Quarterly)
21. Ordinary Victories, Manu Larcenet (NBM)
22. Goddes of War, Lauren Weinstein (Picturebox)
23. Gus & His Gang, Christophe Blain (First Second)
24. Tales Designed To Thrizzle #4, Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics)
25. Capacity, Theo Ellsworth (Secret Acres)
26. Eye Of The Majestic Creature #3, Leslie Stein (self-published)
27. Best American Comics 2008 (Houghton-Mifflin)
28. I Still Live, Annie Murphy (self-published)
29. MOME #12
30. Nocturnal Conspiracies, David B (NBM)
31. Little Things, Jeffrey Brown (Touchstone)
32. The Rabbi's Cat 2, Joann Sfar (Pantheon)
33. Swell, Juliacks (self-published)
34. Spaniel Rage 2008, Vanessa Davis (self-published)
35. Pocket Full Of Rain, Jason (Fantagraphics)
36. The Complete Peanuts 1967-68, Charles Schulz (Fantagraphics)
37. Explainers, Jules Feiffer (Fantagraphics)
38. Where Demented Wented, Rory Hayes (Fantagraphics)
39. The Night Of Your Life, Jesse Reklaw (Dark Horse)
40. Snake Oil, Chuck Forsman (self-published)
41. Estrus Comics #6, Mari Naomi (self-published)
42. Love and Rockets New Stories #1, Los Bros Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
43. Hotwire, Volume 2 (Fantagraphics), edited by Glenn Head
44. Injury Comics #2, Ted May, Jeff Wilson & Jason Robards (Buenaventura)
45. Drawn & Quarterly Showcase #5 (Drawn & Quarterly)
46. Hall Of Best Knowledge, Ray Fenwick (Fantagraphics)
47. Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream, Laura Park (self-published)
48. Grotesque #2, Sergio Ponchionne (Fantagraphics)
49. Windy Corner Magazine #2 (Sparkplug Comic Books)
50. Magic Whistle #11, Sam Henderson (Alternative)
An anonymous author (I think) has posted a few chapters of a Steve Gerber biography on-line for your perusal. I hope this is completed because not only will I be able to read it, I won't have to write one. I was thinking out loud about Gerber the other day, and how far ahead of his time and generally good he was that you can find 1970s serial work he did that's as compelling and runs along the same lines as works out this year by Jonathan Lethem and Grant Morrison.
* Berlin 2, Jason Lutes
* 100 Bullets, Eduardo Risso
* Omega the Unknown, Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple
* Casanova Volume 2, Matt Fraction and Fábio Moon and Gabriel Ba
* American Flagg, Howard Chaykin
Title: Or Else #5
* it looks like yesterday's reports 
Title: Skitzy
