Comix and match

Yes, Virginia, there is an unfavorable review of Blankets. It’s by the Pulse’s pseudonymous hatchetperson, Jess Lemon. This one isn’t a hatchetjob per se, because obviously we’re not talking about something along the lines of Vampirella/Witchblade, but it is pretty harsh. I think that much of the criticism of this book stems from reader uncertainty as to whether the breathless “I was sensitive, the girl was perfect, our love was magic” tone of the narration is Craig Thompson’s actual current view of the situation, or an incredible simulation of his view at the time. I think there’s enough self-knowledge visible in the story (the fact that the Craig character “missed” Raina even when he was with her, indicating that he’s already idealized her to the point where he can’t actually interact with her in any real way) to give lie to Lemon’s claims to the contrary.

Anyway, I can’t wait to see where The Comics Journal will come down on this book. I’d also be interested to see what they think of this as a marketing strategy for it. (As someone who saw the check in person, all I can really say is “damn!”)

Forager has an interesting article on how our culture’s aversion to heroism leads it to write off superhero stories. As anyone who’s spent some time on the Comics Journal messageboard can tell you, he’s right.

According to Newsarama, Chuck Austen’s sleazepic The Eternal has been cancelled. Damn. When the guy stays away from The Big Issues and instead uses Marvel characters and concepts to navigate through his twisted psyche, he’s good. But actually, I’d assumed this was going to be a miniseries anyway, and it looks like that’s basically how it’ll pan out–I couldn’t see these characters sustaining an ongoing title. My real concern is that since it was “cancelled,” it won’t be collected in trade–a fate that also seems to have befallen Darko Macan’s beautiful meditations on heroism as contained in his ill-fated run on Soldier X.

Also according to Newsarama, Entertainment Weekly will stop running its occasional comic review section, spinning it off into their subscriber-only music supplement. So much for mainstream exposure. Now I see why Joe Quesada complains so much about Paul Levitz’s reluctance or inability to use the AOLTW superstructure on his company’s behalf.

I just want to point out how beautifully readable NeilAlien’s blogging format is.

ADD offers his short list of comics masters. Tough to argue with, though I’m unfamiliar with Hornschemeier’s work. For the record, my run-down of the best–not just my favorite–English-language comics creators working today is as follows (in no order except the number one):

1) Chris Ware

* Phoebe Gloeckner

* Daniel Clowes

* Frank Miller

* Charles Burns

* Mike Mignola

* Jim Woodring

* Dave Cooper

* Craig Thompson

* Joe Sacco

And there are a ton of runners-up, boy howdy are there ever: Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, Julie Doucet, Paul Pope, Jason, David B., Hans Rickheit, Renee French, Ben Katchor, Brian Michael Bendis, Geof Darrow, Erik Larsen, Chester Brown, Will Eisner, Tony Millionaire, Mat Brinkman, Ron Rege Jr., Jordan Crane, Nick Bertozzi, Marc Bell, Frank Quitely, Jeffrey Brown, John Romita Jr., Art Spiegelman, Robert Crumb–some of whom are just a case of close but no cigar, some of whom I love but I don’t think have either done quite enough or quite the right thing to merit inclusion in the list, some of whom just aren’t doing as much work as they used to, some of whom are personal favorites whose place in my personal pantheon may or may not outstrip their place in the pantheon at large. And then there’s my big gaps in knowledge, Los Bros Hernandez and Dave Mazzuchelli’s European work being the most obvious examples.

Johnny Bacardi talks about some good new comics, including Pete Milligan & Javier Pulido’s Human Target. Though sullied (as are a good many DC/Vertigo comics) by colorist Lee Loughridge’s muddy, acidic green-brown palette (and his work on Kingpin #1 was so thoughtful and evocative! what’s up with that?), Pulido’s art is just beautiful–so simple, breezy, European. It’s a joy to look at.

(Speaking of Kingpin, I’m still enjoying the series, but any pretense to depicting the reality of criminality (which I lauded quite a bit in my review) has been chucked right out the window in favor of broad, almost tongue-in-cheek pulpisms. Writer Bruce Jones’s take on the character sets up an extremely interesting contrast with that of Brian Michael Bendis. Speaking of which…)

Both Johnny and Jim Henley are altogether too hard on Daredevil #50, which for my money is the best single issue ever done for the character that wasn’t written by a guy named Frank Miller. It really was everything I wanted out of a climax issue, and from what Bendis has said at the last couple of conventions, this really is it for the usual suspects. And yes, I liked the cameos by artists from DD’s past–it made sense in the context of the “when will it end?” mentality of the characters. Though if you’re doing this sort of thing for Daredevil it’s tough not to notice the absence of Miller, Mazzuchelli and Romita Jr. (particularly when Mike Oeming is inserted in their place–I like his work, but when did he work on Daredevil?).

Personal to Tegan: Doubt not! And thank you, as well as everyone else (and at this point, it really is everyone) who’s wished Amanda well.

Anyone interested in tedious anti-genre bias? The TCJ.com messboard’s got you covered.

Finally, the gents at Ninth Art manage to have a discussion about the state of the industry in which almost nothing relevant to the state of the industry is discussed, beyond the controversial proposition that in order for the industry to thrive, people need to buy good stuff. Um, yeah….