Regarding THE 50 THINGS THAT EVERY COMIC COLLECTION TRULY NEEDS

*"Week Two" of by Brunetti Cartooning thing should be up in the next day or so, just been waiting for the time to do some scanning*

So hands up, who else out there is a list fetishist? You know, the sort of person who really gets their rocks off when someone they enjoy reading or respect spends the time to really put together a sizable inventory of recommendations about something you are interested in that will 1) share a lot of things in common with your own collections, and 2) hopefully introduce you to something you've never heard of but now, sight unseen, you desperately need or want? Well, that's the story of my life.

Speaking of lists, here's my "You Can Play Along Too #2" response to Tom Spurgeon's list.

"Leave Plain = Things I don't have
Make Bold = Things I do have
Italics = I have some but probably not enough (optional)
Underline = I don't agree I need this (optional)"

UPDATE: I plan to...update...this as I go along, methodically filling in the so called gaps in the collection.

1. Something From The ACME Novelty Library

-really, it could hurt to own as much Chris Ware material as possible.

2. A Complete Run Of Arcade

-so what did I do when I first read this? Skim the article, create a new tab, start looking on Ebay. Yeah, I'm not so interested in a complete run of ARCADE as much as a sampling. UPDATE 10/15/08: Well, when I discovered there were only seven issues constituing a 'complete run', I figured what the hell? Just got in #6 and it is a real beaut!

3. Any Number Of Mini-Comics

-the majority of my mini-comics are whatever kind of stumbles its way through Diamond Distribution, and the one zine convention I was at in Vancouver.

4. At Least One Pogo Book From The 1950s

-as Spurgeon mentions, Fantagraphics is planning on doing an archival reprinting of this which I fully expect myself to buy.

5. A Barnaby Collection

-a comic I was completely unfamiliar with until I opened up IN THE STUDIO, THE COMICS: BEFORE 1945, and #28 all very recently. Again, 'new tab, search Ebay...' UPDATE 10/15/08: No luck so far.

6. Binky Brown and the Holy Virgin Mary

-hey, I just ordered this on Amazon last night...

7. As Many Issues of RAW as You Can Place Your Hands On

-a few weeks ago I was able to find a copy of READ YOURSELF RAW on Amazon too. But as the fella says, it would be nice to have all of this if the grey market price on this material wasn't so high.

8. A Little Stack of Archie Comics

-eh, fuck ARCHIE, frankly. I have one of those THE PIN-UP ART OF DAN DECARLO books from Fantagraphics, which I personally get a lot more, um, enjoyment out of than reading stories of Riverdale.

9. A Suite of Modern Literary Graphic Novels

-Pretty broad and all encompassing of anything in literati comics being published right now.

10. Several Tintin Albums

-My friend John's brother has the entire collection of these, all in original French language, and...looking at them...other than wanting to own the especially Europe-racist representations of Native American Indians and Congolese...pass? Maybe like other things I just haven't really paid attention to Herge enough to 'get it'. Say, isn't Steven Spielberg directing a live action Tintin thing? UPDATE 10/15/08: OK, I really do like Herge's art style, I could probably buy one or two (screw several) for the sake of research, but I don't know about the stories. I'd rather just look over the Marc Smeets pages in KRAMERS ERGOT 6 again, really.

11. A Smattering Of Treasury Editions Or Similarly Oversized Books

-I know I have at least the HOWARD THE DUCK Treasury Edition....

12. Several Significant Runs of Alternative Comic Book Series

-EIGHTBALL, dawg. EIGHTBALL.

13. A Few Early Comic Strip Collections To Your Taste

-A few months ago I was going on against the COMICS JOURNAL TOP 100 list that was filled with a lot of this kind of material...but I've come around to really like DICK TRACY, KRAZY KAT, and especially DREAMS OF THE RARE-BIT FIEND.

14. Several "Indy Comics" From Their Heyday

-Will always treasure my CEREBUS phonebooks. And one of these days I should buy that AMERICAN FLAGG HC that finally just came out too.

15. At Least One Comic Book From When You First Started Reading Comic Books

-This is either a GHOSTBUSTER 2 adaptation or one of the early Archie Comics TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES comics.

16. At Least One Comic That Failed to Finish The Way It Planned To

-Oh BIG NUMBERS...

17. Some Osamu Tezuka

-Like Chris Ware, you really can't have enough of this stuff. ODE TO KIRIHITO is definitely a good place to start though, instead of having to tie yourself up into 8 volumes of BUDDHA right off the bat. Did a whole post about Tezuka here.

18. The Entire Run Of At Least One Manga Series

-I did a whole post about the manga I own here.

19. One Or Two 1970s Doonesbury Collections

-I just have so little interest in this...

20. At Least One Saul Steinberg Hardcover

-I know I've heard of Saul Steinberg, but this looks all very new to me. UPDATE 10/15/08: I haven't seen any of these pop at all (perhaps Spurgeon's article created a renewed Steinberg fervour?)

21. One Run of A Comic Strip That You Yourself Have Clipped

-I'm sure I've got a whole bunch of GARFIELD clippings somewhere...we'll just not talk about that though. Last time I did anything like this was in elementary school, keeping said clippings glued on loose leaf in a purple duotang.

22. A Selection of Comics That Interest You That You Can't Explain To Anyone Else

-Uh, I guess the 100-200 Jack Chick books I've got count? I guess that might cancel out #37 though...

23. At Least One Wood Cut Novel

-I think I only disagree with this notion because where's "at least one ballpoint pen comic"? UPDATE 10/15/08: I still admit I am pretty uncertain what this actually is, but people seem to get all dry at the mouth and their eyes roll back at the mention of it. Off the 'shouldn't be on the list' until further investigation.

24. As Much Peanuts As You Can Stand

-Between the dozen of archival hardcovers I'm already working on, my hope is that the current Fantagraphics collections don't go anywhere too soon.

25. Maus

-I think people really forget how amazing this is.

26. A Significant Sample of R. Crumb's Sketchbooks

-I think the only one of Crumb's Sketchbook collections you can get that's in print is Volume 10.

27. The original edition of Sick, Sick, Sick.

-"New tab, search Ebay...." And it's mine! UPDATE 10/15/08: Also just came in the mail, and I wish I was as confident as Feiffer to leave the lines the way he does. I guess all those horribly scribblers I dismiss are all actually Feiffer imitators?

28. The Smithsonian Collection Of Newspaper Comics

-And I just got this and the SMITHSONIAN COLLECTION OF COMIC-BOOK COMICS, based upon my first hearing about them in CARTOONING: PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE's bibliography. The same day I received my copy of COMIC-BOOK COMICS, I also recieved a copy of THE BLOT in the mail, and Tom Neely recalls the massive influence these books had on him. Tom Neely's THE BLOT is pretty well everything I want out of my own comics, so hey, you should really own these too....or borrow mine if you already know me.

29. Several copies of MAD

-Pretty well restrict myself to the Archive collection of these.

30. A stack of Jack Kirby 1970s Comic Books

-Those DC collections of these are pretty tops.

31. More than a few Stan Lee/Jack Kirby 1960s Marvel Comic Books

-Hey, more massive hardcover action! FANTASTIC FOUR is probably the best way to go for this goal...

32. A You're-Too-High-To-Tell Amount of Underground Comix

-Will eventually take a look at the FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS collection that just got released....though I'm sure there's something to be said about actually holding the comics themselves in your hands.

33. Some Calvin and Hobbes

-This and FAR SIDE are probably my fondest memories of funny comics from my kiddie days.

34. Some Love and Rockets

-Tried reading MAGGIE THE MECHANIC, and I have decided I am definitely a Gilbert sort of guy.

35. The Marvel Benefit Issue Of Coober Skeber

-I still love this cover, and would love to actually see this first hand instead of only as a .jpg.

36. A Few Comics Not In Your Native Tongue

-I have a softspot for Jodorowsky's Humanoids stu....oh, non-translated stuff? Well since BLACKSAD is unavailable in English nowadays...

37. A Nice Stack of Jack Chick Comics

-After finding this book in Calgary just before flying out to Vancouver one the first vacation Shanell and I took together, I have been in love with Jack Chick comics. There's this really strange, weird and fun underground trading of this stuff for pure kitsch fun, especially popular amongst us agnostic/atheist types.

38. A Stack of Comics You Can Hand To Anybody's Kid

-I think the majority of this stuff is DC animated stuff, but I've got my eye set for some of the Harvey Comics reprints Dark Horse has been doing. And eventually those mammoth Carl Barks Disney hardcovers will be coming out...

39. At Least A Few Alan Moore Comics

-No, really, own as much Alan Moore as you possibly can (obviously I'm not talking about WILDCATS and VIOLATOR).

40. A Comic You Made Yourself

-I think I can pull that off...actually, I've got the first full length, completely pencilled and inked comics I ever did a few years ago called STALE MILK scanned into my computer ready to have something done to it....uh, any suggestions?

41. A Few Comics About Comics

-This is probably one of my favourites genres in any medium, really.

42. A Run Of Yummy Fur

-I think I will live with all the various Chester Brown collections I own already.

43. Some Frank Miller Comics

-Intellectually I kind of really dislike Frank Miller and his work, but thinking with my heart I think about the first Miller work I ever saw (TALES TO OFFEND), and the excellent MILLER/EISNER book...and kind of wind up in a stalemate.

44. Several Lee/Ditko/Romita Amazing Spider-Man Comic Books

-You might as well go crazy and buy the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN OMNIBUS Vol. 1 which collects all of the Lee/Ditko SPIDER-MAN run. When they release a Vol 2, which will be all Romita Sr. packed full of awesome, get that too.

45. A Few Great Comics Short Stories

-I recommend everything there Spurgeon recommends.

46. A Tijuana Bible

-Uh...I guess Ebay would have this sort of thing?

47. Some Weirdo

-Another one of those 'things I've heard all about, but never seen because I live in the middle of the prairie province of Alberta, Canada'....

48. An Array Of Comics In Various Non-Superhero Genres

-Good idea! This is almost needs not be saying, considering that anyone reading Tom Spurgeon...this is a given (but probably much of the list falls into that category).

49. An Editorial Cartoonist's Collection or Two

-I'd really have to be interested in this sub-genre to even start thinking about this....

50. A Few Collections From New Yorker Cartoonists

-1) I think a good substitute for this is buying back issues of COMIC ART Magazine. 2) I should probably set out and find a copy of Richard Taylor's INTRODUCTION TO CARTOONING.

And there goes an hour of my life...now to go finish re-watching THE WIRE Season 4. UPDATE 10/15/08: I'm sure it would greatly please you to know I have finished all of THE WIRE, and have moved onto the original TWILIGHT ZONE.

-Jarrett

Sketchbook of "Week One"

Because Tucker Stone demanded it! From Ivan Brunetti's CARTOONING: PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE, the first week of the class: Spontaneous Drawing. These will follow the similar format of my scanned in sketchbook image responding to the exercises and assignments, with me typing in the notes I wrote in response to each page.

So Exercise 1.1 consisted of drawing a subject, spending 3-4 minutes on it...then start over again, spending 2 minutes on that, start over again spending 1 minute, then 30 seconds, then 15 seconds, then 10 seconds, 5 seconds, etc. Started with a car, then a cat, castle, telephone, then a self-portrait.

A car
-not looking at any reference when starting these, working purely from memory
-don't have time to figure out perspective properly (and cars are damn well hard enough to draw anyway)
-narrowing down the most communicative lines as possible, while also trying to make the lines as attractive and pleasing as possible (didn't happen so much here)
-my favourite of the lot? the 2 minute car
-with more time, I was drawing the car parked
-with less time, I was drawing the car moving



A cat
-I'm noticing the more time I have, the more 'real' I try to make the subject look, and it actually winds up looking terrible
-Again, my favourite is the 2 minute drawing
-Hopefully not subconsciously sabotaging myself to that preference/conclusion
-again, hate the 4 minute drawing
-spent a lot of time on developing a face, and not much else (preoccupied with the details)
-with less time, the more 'essential' the lines you put down...
-a bit of movement with the cat, but not as much with the car




A castle
-without reference, my mind first went to how I would draw a castle for a bad fantasy comic I would have drawn when I was 12 years old
-the four minute drawing I don't actually mind compared to the previous 4 minute drawings
-Subsequent drawings seem to be referencing memories of the only real castles I've experienced outside of photographs...classic, simply, designed caricatures in mass media
-Bowser's castle from Super Mario Bros., and the Disney castle
-what makes up a castle? a main building, towers, portholes, a 'gate' for an entrance, and a flag
-never really went into much detail as far as what the actual castle is made of

A telephone
-with the 4 minute drawing, I've typically started larger. For some reason I think that 'more time=more detail=more room for detail clarity"
-the phone definitiely is smaller here
-really didn't have to think too hard about what components make up a phone
-very simple compared to the previous three subjects
-maybe because of its relationship to our own face it just 'makes sense'?
-also changed up the forms of phones one can depict (old analog, cordless, payphone)
-generally all look pretty decent
-some thought about the exercise itself; perhaps change up the rhythm? change subject matters? vary the order of the amount of time per subject? I found as I went along, starting at the top, my brain just started to eliminate excess information and planning on what I could actually draw in future drawings. Not sure if this is the point of the exercise or a drawback....

A self-portrait
-this was interesting...
-I have a lot more experience drawing myself than anything else here, so it came pretty fast and natural jotting myself down
-my traditional way of drawing myself (with no conscious effort to squeeze myself into a time frame) falls apart and I begin to have to figure out what makes me up 'essentially'
-the Essential Me, According To Me?
-glasses, light brown/blond hair combed to one side, plaid shirt, old man sweater, beard, 'dot' ees behind glasses (which, because of the frame, look like cartoony google eyes)...and I tend to draw myself thinner than I actually am



Exercise 1.2 was to do at least 25 doodles of famous cartoon characters, spending only 5 seconds per image.




















Exercise 1.3 was to grid out 100 (I only did 95) squares and fill them in, spending only 5 seconds on each 'panel' without too much hesitation for forethought.




















Assignment 1 was to assemble a 'doodle page' horizontally or vertically with some harmonic composition (ie. put some thought into how it looks in the end). I'll post that next time (like a crit!) And maybe like in real life, I'll not hand it in on time. So yes, next time: "Week Two".

-Jarrett

What I've Been Doing Lately

CARTOONING: PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE, by Ivan Brunetti; Easily one of the best books of its kind, I've been pawing through this compulsively for the last week. I'm on 'Week Four' of the course, and I'm debating whether to start scanning and posting my 'exercises' and 'homework assignments' from the weekly lessons soon or maybe once I've reached the halfway mark.

Oh, and if anyone has no idea what this is, it is a supplementary companion to COMIC ART MAGAZINE #9, which is still available new from Amazon.

-Jarrett

"In Russia, Comics Buy YOU...!"

Well, with the semester load starting to reveal itself to me, I am thinking this is going to be the future pace of the blog for the foreseeable future. But let this jump into next week's shipping invoice from Diamond!

I would just like to inform everyone that it looks like JENNA JAMESON'S SHADOW HUNTER HC Vol. 1 has been canceled. Hopefully you, me, and the entire industry can suffer from this hopefully only temporary loss. On the flipside, I thought I had successfully reordered COMICS COMICS #4 from Diamond, but that somehow got cancelled too. That really surprised me as I was hoping to give that a try as I've just become interested in the Picturebox Inc. works.

ABANDONED CARS HC, by Tim Lane; Like I was saying recently, I really was convinced I had ordered this for myself, but apparently I only thought about it. Alan David Doane's recent review was the reminder of how promising this looked, and confirms it is definitely worth owning. A mix of Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, and EC Comics? Yeah, sounds good to me.









ALL STAR SUPERMAN #12, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely; At this point I really can't see this disappointing....and if it does, I think I might just cry, scream, and/or curse.










ASTRO BOY TP Vol. 1 and 2, by Osamu Tezuka; a little omnibus of the first two and long unavailable volumes of Dark Horse's ASTRO BOY trades. Really glad to see these back, considering the movie is suppose to be out sometime soonish. Come on AKIRA, I can sell you too!










BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #2, by Mike Kunkel; It has got to have been way longer than a month since the first issue of this came out. Was that a scheduled delay? For being probably one of the best looking and well received Johnny DC comic launches they've pulled off so far, the first two issues come out this far apart? Damn.









CHARLES BURNS LIBRARY: BIG BABY, by Charles Burns; Not much to really say here, except that this week I got a copy of READ YOURSELF RAW from the Amazon Seller Market and it really is an impressive work. I am really glad to see that Buenaventura Press are planning on doing a Jerry Moriarty COMPLETE JACK SURVIVES down the road. I just read about him this week in my recently purchased COMIC ART #9, so it all kind of worked out nicely.






DC UNIVERSE: DECISIONS #1, by various master comics craftsmen; We've got only one copy of this bad boy heading straight to the file of the guy who buys one of everything from Marvel and DC, and that's about it. I kind of want to read it just to see how awful it is...but honestly, I have a lot of actually good comics to read, and certainly someone will have scanned, mocked, and lynched this comic on Wednesday better than I could.






EC ARCHIVES: TWO FISTED TALES Vol. 2, by various; The first volume of this was excellent, and I am guessing this will be no less excellent. I'm caught up with this for the time being, and I think FRONTLINE COMBAT should be out sooner than later...I'll probably go and finish catching up on WEIRD SCIENCE next, then start looking at the Crime/Horror stuff (which I've got cheap little reprints of the earlier issues of already).





GLAMOURPUSS #3, by Dave Sim; In some ways I really do wish this came out faster. I also hope this issue is an improvement on last issue. I can't get enough of Sim's illustrated historical essay on the photorealism style, and I find that the actual Glamourpuss material is kind of one-note. Also I kind of find it outright strange that, with the recent 'I Believe Dave Sim Isn't A Misogynist' petition, Sim is answering letters from readers, friends, and colleagues as....Glamourpuss. I am kind of tempted to actually write Sim a letter and see what happens (I have signed the petition as I don't believe Dave Sim is a misogynist, so he Might actually talk to me).





REFLECTIONS #1, by Marco Corona; I have been slowly working my way through the Ignatz series stuff, and this is next on the list. With so much I want to review, I really want to do a survey of the Ignatz series in blocks of ten, to see how the large scale project has come along.









A SHROUD FOR WALDO, by Kim Deitch; Well, regardless of what some people think, Deitch is still pretty awesome (the cover for the recent COMIC JOURNAL doesn't look great on screen, but when you actually hold it in your hand, it looks no worse or better than any other cover out there). No idea what to expect out of this, but I went in the same way with ALIAS THE CAT too.




And the Canadian exchange rate this week from Diamond? 8.25%. It might actually be worse for next week too. I guess I have chosen a pretty bad time to decide to start buying the nice archival hardcovers...

-Jarrett

On Social Realism

Thinking out loud here...

From Todd Hignite's IN THE STUDIO interview with Robert Crumb:

"Another whole area of art that I'm really interested in is the social realist period of American art from the teens, twenties, and thirties. Boy, I love some of that stuff, but again it's hard to find. A lot of those artists are totally obscure now. Reginald Marsh's paintings of everyday life around New York, the subways, the beach, railroad yards, street scenes...just people. They're fabulous." -Pg. 36









So in reviewing for my art history classes covering 1945-70, we touched back upon the ideas and general themes in the previous course, such as Cubism, Dada, Suprematism, early Abstract Expressionism, and artists Marcel Duchamp and Piet Mondrian. We then talked about the mostly shunted genre of Social/Socialist Realism. According to Dorothy Barenscott (my professor from last semester teaching 1900-1945), Social Realism was widely accepted and very popular right up until Hitler and Stalin also really liked it and pretty well tainted it with that liking. Barenscott's thoughts on the subject bare out well you consider how obscure Reginald Marsh is (let alone speak of a American Social Realism movement....which isn't Socialist Realism, but it is all pretty well connected and LOOKS the same, from a pure technical point of view).























I really wish I could find an image of A LEADER IN THE PIONEERS by Vychleslav Mariupulski (1949)! It creates an...interest...contrast to Norman Rockwell. Speaking of which...

Norman Rockwell. Really, instead of presenting paintings government mandated/accepted proclaiming virtues of communism and leadership, Rockwell presents works proclaiming the virtues of capitalism, Christianity, and American leadership. These works haunt the family restaurant/all-night dinners as prints and framed jigsaw puzzles. Sickening kitsch, a myopic nostalgia for a past and present that never existed. Are they technically skilled, masterfully even? Fuck yes, I could never paint that well. Even the caricature work, the expressions, the composition, the characterization....really outstanding. All these aspects of the works are very solid....but that is all part of the Sell. The commercial artist selling the consumer what they want to believe about themselves and the world around them. The exact same approach that Stalin's Socialist Realist painters followed! Here's some images of the Boy Scouts, and here's a link to Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings ("Freedom from Want" is pictures below).

A sticky sweet contrast to the works of his contemporaries (Edward Hopper's NIGHTHAWKS (1942) and his works of isolation, Robert Frank's photographs from the 1950s of alienation).

This philosophy became especially true when Ross discovered such illustrators as Andrew Loomis and the great Norman Rockwell. "I idealized people like Rockwell, who drew in that photorealistic style," Ross says. "When I was 16 or so, I said to myself, ‘I want to see that in a comic book!’" - from Alex Ross Art bio of the artist

Now we're talking comics! When I first started hitting the comic blogs, Frank Santoro's short article on why he hates Alex Ross was making the rounds, and riling up the easily riled. Anyway, I think my issue isn't so much with Ross's approach to illustration, but what that style of illustration he has decided to pursue represents. Your regular Direct Market customer trips over themselves fawning over Alex Ross.* I have had at least one customer declare KINGDOM COME a superior work to WATCHMEN....which is just retarded.

Anyway, short version: Alex Ross is successful in that he sells the customer the illusion the customer wants to believe. That illusion for the Direct Market? That Alex Ross with his technical skill somehow elevates the comics medium to that of legitimate literature, so as properly extol and qualify the usually ashamed superhero comics purchaser's decisions in life. "Look, Mom! Look at this art! Just like the paintings on your wall! See, comics are for adults too!" Yeah, it is all very seductive, until you read the shit and realize unless you know who anyone is in the DC universe, none of it matters, no matter how 'prettily' drawn it is.

-Jarrett

*Speculation: at the Calgary Comics Expo last year, Bruce Timm and Mark Waid were both attending. The year before Bruce Timm also appeared, and both years the line up to get him to sign or draw anything was about an hour long at any given time. Mark Waid had maybe one or two people at his table at any given moment. When I grabbed a few things for him to sign, I actively avoided grabbing KINGDOM COME because it is just so....obvious. So stuff like EMPIRE, POTTER'S FIELD, JLA: THE SILVER AGE, JLA: YEAR ONE, and BRAVE & THE BOLD it was. Uh, so my speculation: I cannot even fathom the sort of line up for Alex Ross. In fact, I am confident it would dwarf Bruce Timm as Bruce Timm dwarfed Mark Waid.

"A General Survey of New Comics Out 9/10/08"

A more broad look at what is coming out...

100 BULLETS #95 and EX MACHINA #38; Both series setting up to their finite conclusions. 100 BULLETS seems to have at least worked through the scheduling issues it had over the last couple of years, and EX MACHINA seems to be stuck in those same problems. I re-read the series back in June, was all caught up...and I think one issues has come out since. EX MACHINA too reminds me that Brian K. Vaughn has kind of fallen behind in the monthly comics game (Y: THE LAST MAN has been over for over half a year, RUNAWAYS a year, and let's not talk about LOGAN). Hopefully he does another graphic novel ala PRIDE OF BAGHDAD sooner than later...

AFRO SAMURAI SC Vol. 1; This material was exhibited recently at the Vancouver Art Gallery for their comics show, and from what I saw in the art magazine, the pages for this look amazing.

ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #10; The order code for this starts at FEB08...so just a little over 4 months late...and I'm pretty sure #11 has been cancelled and has yet to be re-solicited. I would also like to remind you all that I cannot keep the hardcover collection of #1-9 instock.

BOYS #22 GLOW IN THE DARK COVER; Your's for the low low price of 14.95US. I was about to laugh and scoff at anyone who would buy this, but then I remembered I put myself down for the $15 'zombie variant' of GLAMOURPUSS #4. I really am in no position to judge.

CABLE KING SIZE SPECTACULAR #1; I laughed at the title.

COMICS JOURNAL #292, COMICS JOURNAL LIBRARY Vol. 7: HARVEY KURTZMAN, LOVE & ROCKETS NEW STORIES #1, PORTABLE FRANK SC; Thanks Fantagraphics for this fall line-up beatdown! Again, the strange one-week later Canada thing strikes again. Actually, I thought that is what happened with ABANDONED CARS, but after one-week past and it still wasn't in, I went and consulted the orders and I totally forgot to mark myself down for it (or I'm forgetting that I told myself I was going to wait for the reviews). But yeah, that's a lot of stuff all at once. What I'm really looking forward to is the (reissue?) of the CJL Kurtzman book. I was actually starting to get antsy about when this was finally coming out (again?), but here it is.

DEADPOOL #1; It is unbelievable how many people are looking forward to this. I've had people telling me to make sure this goes into their file months before the first issue was even solicited. The only thing I hope that comes out of this is Marvel continues doing DEADPOOL CLASSIC trades, working their way into Joe Kelly's ok-to-great run on the character.

OMEGA THE UNKNOWN PREMIER HC; So I was originally picking these up individually, and we got shorted, didn't have enough for customers, no reorders, so I decided to forgo the rest of the series and wait until the hardcover was out. Artwise, this looks amazing. Story? What I read hadn't really captivated me as of yet, but we'll see how it works all together.

TRUTH SERUM Vol. 1; I haven't read THE LONELY PARADE yet, but Lawrence seemed to have loved it. I am expecting a similar reaction for this collection too.

ZORRO: COMPLETE ALEX TOTH; I have been contemplating buying these for such a long time, and finally I got sick of that Alex Toth shaped hole in my bookshelf staring me in the face.

-Jarrett

For My 100th Post...

*Pats self on back*

As we all celebrate this momentous occasion, Jennifer de Guzman, editor-in-chief of SLG, crashes the party with this really fantastic post about comic blogs.

Just two weeks ago I decided to move beyond just bookmarking all the blogs I follow and actually take advantage of Google Reader, compiling all of those blogs so I don't waste time surfing and checking out un-updated sites. On a good day, a person could easily spend an hour reading and catching up on the news and events of the past 24 hours...but as Guzman writes, it is mostly just skimming. A lot of the time we're just filling the time and space out of a sense you need to post Something.

In the last bit of her article, she mentions the quality writing of Douglas Wolk. It is in fact Wolk's READING COMICS and his reviews that appear...well, pretty much everywhere nowadays...that got me wanting to write about comics on as close a daily schedule as possible. During the course of the summer I felt like my critical writing had started to stagnant too soon...that I needed to work toward something that I would enjoy. And comics I enjoy a whole lot. In retrospective, I'm sure right now if I went through a lot of my posts, I could have spent far more time actually writing and developing some of them, maybe doing one Really good essay a week, instead of a bunch of one off tidbits (the dreaded link to another blog...should really just assume that you're all reading Tom Spurgeon and Dirk Deppey for that sort of thing).

Yeah, something to think about...while I look through all my new comics (for whatever reason, even with the holiday on Monday, comics arrived today...TWO FISTED TALES, here I come!)

-Jarrett

The Joys of Studenthood...

...and very little to do with comics, so unless you are intrisically interested in me as an Individual, this may not be the post for you.

Like probably a lot of bloggers, I am a student. And like a lot of students, it is the time of the year to bitch about the damn price of textbooks! I guess the nice thing about really enjoying Art History is that you're forced to buy books that aren't so terrible owning. The worst part of being an Art History major? Your textbooks are kind of expensive.

ART HISTORY VOL. 1, 3rd Edition by Marilyn Stokstad; Sort of the KRAMERS ERGOT 7 of this semester for me. And not unlike KE 7, I found this at Amazon.com for about $45 less than what the University bookstore has it at. The book's emphasis is more on Pre-14th century art from all over the world....which doesn't really float my boat at all, but I guess there's no avoiding this core class if I want to actually graduated one of these years. BOOKSTORE PRICE: $126.25


ART SINCE 1900: MODERNISM, ANTIMODERNISM, POSTMODERNISM: 1945 to Present, by Hal Foster, et al; "Part three" of the Art History chain, starting with 19th Century Art (my third favourite period of time), 1900-45 (my second favourite period of time), to 1945-1970 (my favourite period of time). BOOKSTORE PRICE: $62.50




CANADIAN ABORIGINAL AND SPIRITUAL ART: A VITAL LINK, by John W. Friesen; This is for one of the Native American Art classes I have to take to finish my degree...which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the whole subject is far more interesting than you would first guess. Probably my favourite professor at the unversity, Professor Leslie Dawn, specialized in the field, which I think says a lot about it. BOOKSTORE PRICE: $49.25



NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN ART: IT'S A QUESTION OF INTEGRITY, by Alfred Young Man; I'm pretty sure Young Man use to be the head of the Native American Studies Program at the U of L, so this might be an interesting book. BOOKSTORE PRICE: $19.95

This is not to mention the 'optional textbook SHORT GUIDE TO WRITING ABOUT ART, or the non-returnable course pack I have to buy as well. I really shouldn't say too much about the course pack because they typically save you a lot of money on several different books, all in one photocopied manual...plus, the professor of that class is the wife of a friend too, who I am sure has the same impeccable taste.

-Jarrett

Worth Your Time and Dollar: Dave Sim

-Jarrett