Spidey Zine, Spidey Zine

When Marvel and DC give creators carte blanche on their properties, good things tend to happen. DC's Solo gave 12 artist an entire issue to publish stories that included original characters and played with house toys. Strange Tales, the mini series filled with members of comic's independent scene, showed that the sense of humor Stan Lee used to build classic titles never went away. Thanks to parody laws and loop holes, sometimes people decide to use characters they don't own regardless of permission. One example is Air Pirates Funnies, an underground comic Dan O'Neill organized to see how far his group of cartoonists could get using Disney properties to tell stories with drugs, sex and everything else the 1970's could drum-up to irritate the house of mouse. With the Internet being used as a means for creators to offer original and fan art to the public, it's important that these loop-holes and parody laws can protect artists out there, because some of it is extremely good.

Hannah Blumenreich starts off her digital comic, Spidey Zine, with a disclaimer that reads: This is fan art and not official Marvel or Disney or what-ever and I’m going to shout this at every single person who handles this little comic collection because DEAR GOD if there is one thing I fear, it’s Disney Lawyers™. If her message doesn't save her from the threat of legal troubles, it serves up a good laugh and sets the tone for a collection of short stories that pays tribute to the comic relief Spider-Man bring to comics when fighting villains or battling personal problems. Blumenreich's short stories remind readers that Spider-Man was a teenager, trying to fit in, understand girls, figure out how to fight crime, and deal with Aunt May and a troubled past before he started to age, deal with clones and get rebooted.

The collection brings together seven stories that use one to four pages to show slice of life scenes that play with Spider-Man characters and their history. Most are built around jokes or uncomfortable moments that make you laugh, like a splash page with an in-costume Peter sitting on the couch with Aunt May while he holds her yarn and yells at The Gilmore Girls as she knits and tells him to sit on the cushions. Though the show he's watching might date the target audience, the scene reminds readers that Spider-Man started off as a teenager, the Marvel super hero the audience could see themselves in, the relatable kid with nerdy interests and super powers. These nerdy interests kick off the zine with Spidey swinging through the city while singing Leonard Nemoy's “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.” Watching a science nerd sing Spock's ode to a character from the hobbit shire, drawn with classic action shots, easy lines and fluid pacing make “Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” a quick ride with the perfect trifecta of nerdom comedy.

What makes the lives of Peter Parker and Spider-Man different from others is that he's always facing girl troubles no matter if it's with the mask (Black Cat) or without it (Mary Jane). In Spidey Zine, the main character gets his share of girl troubles. There's a comical re-imagining of Peter's introduction to Mary Jane in “Face It, Tiger,” and a story where he creates a missed connection by spending too much time talking about television to a girl that wants Spider-Man to get her home safely on Halloween in “Walk Home.”

Family is another important theme to Spider-Man stories, and Spidey Zine doesn't neglect that element. “Uncle Ben” shows how words aren't needed in comics. One of the bigger stories, “Uncle Ben” uses its panels to go through the losses in family Peter experiences to emphasis the importance of Aunt May. The lack of words paired with images that are filed with detail and information slow the tempo down and turn “Uncle Ben” into an honest story that starts off breaking your heart before leaving it mended and warm.

Because it uses a hot property, Hannah Blumenreich may not be able to charge you for it. But if you enjoyed her Not Quite Journal Comics you may want to see her apply her sense of humor and stylish work with a pen in Spidey Zine. If so, you can download it for free or donate what you want by visiting her web store and hoping it doesn't see the same conclusion Air Pirates Funnies did when it used Disney characters.

Building an Island

Island #1 brings something to comics that hasn’t been as popular as it once was for a long time now, the anthology comic book. When DC, Marvel and most other publishers started out in the comics industry, they published a generous amount of anthologies and used many of them to introduce some of comics’ most long-lasting and recognizable (world over) characters. While Peter Parker is no longer Spider-Man, the character started out in the pages of Amazing Fantasy, an anthology. Superman came from Adventure Comics, Batman came from Detective Comics, Thor came from Journey Into Mystery, and all characters became so popular that they took over those titles before getting titles with their own name on the cover. In more modern times, titles like Solo, Flinch and Vertigo Quarterly prove that DC never gave up on the idea of the anthology, even if they couldn’t keep the first two titles alive for long.

With over 110 pages, Island #1 has Brandon Graham (Prophet) and Emma Rios (Pretty Deadly) working on new material alongside a range of new talent, exposing them to the audience of mainstream comics. This first issue starts off with a two-page cover spread, a four panel sequence above a small island leading into a bigger and more developed island, with open ports, docked ships, houses scattered around the edges and a view of the fish, abandoned submarine and relics that exists under the ocean. Marian Churchland starts the interior with two oil paintings, where the first comes off as an image of waves crashing against one another and the second a darker look at the ocean with an island in the distance, taking place during the night or the moment before a storm where the clouds cover the sky. These paintings set up Island as a different kind of anthology, one that could be part art book, part comic, part prose, part unexpected collection of polaroids found in the locked drawer of an abandoned building, a mix tape of what Graham and Rios think deserve the spotlight.

The first story, “I.D.,” is written and drawn by Rios and brings four people, that talk like they’ve never met before, into a diner to discuss what we later find out is body reassignment. In what comes off as the not too distant future, readers find themselves looking into a world where the media has just reported on the explosion of the Deimos Mission Vessel, part of a mining colony project. Not long after, a riot and storm break out and police come in to pacify the situation, dragging our innocent group into the dispute and putting them on their way to seek shelter. With a main theme of what seems to be change, “I.D.” starts off with the world full of exploration, development, social transition, displacement and an unknown organization offering people to take on new bodies in an untested experiment. With glimpses of character insight taken from the interviews the unknown organization has with the protagonists, “I.D.” hints at a story full of commentary on personal politics, the ways people identify themselves, deal with the identities society places on them and how to live with them.

After “I.D.,” Rios sticks around for a few pages to provide water colors for Kelly Sue Deconnick’s prose piece, “Railbirds.” The autobiographical short story takes a confessional tone as Deconnick describes events in her past that deal with becoming a writer, feeling like a writer and reminiscing on her relationship with friend and mentor Maggie Estep before her death from a heart-attack. The story weaving from memories of times spent on the race track with Estep, her first encounter with her husband, and the death of her grandmother and time as a smoker. These memories are looked at through a metaphor of horse racing, with the numbers and odds tied to them, and rules of writing as ways of living life. The writing is executed with odd transitions, coming off as stream of consciousness at some point and exposition at others. This can make reading it awkward, and make a reader wonder what images where in Deconnick's mind and what “Railbirds” would have been like if it was split up through panels in comics form, where Rios was given more range to work with. Nevertheless, there are rewarding moments, especially towards the story’s resolve, “Causality gives me comfort. But the truth is, bad things just happen sometimes and you don’t get to know why. You can’t steer a rollercoaster and the form won’t tell you who’s going to win.”

Graham’s contribution brings readers (back) into the world Multiple Warheads. Familiar characters Nikoli (a werewolf) and Sexica (an adventurer) walk through their alternate version of russia, where inhabitants can be anthropomorphic animals or flying whales that have restaurants built around them and have parts of their body harvested to feed diners. With each page, Graham packs information into his panels. With very detailed environments, readers aren’t only shown a new sci-fi/fantasy world, they have many new details identified and explained with meticulous notations, regardless of how superfluous these items seem. These notations often come off as a way for Graham to pack puns and jokes into the pages, giving his audience more than just a story, but a sort of narrative aside that somehow doesn’t break the pacing of his story. While Nikoli and Sex’s story starts off as a sort of romantic comedy in disguise, where the humdrum details of their relationship and personal lives, and Nikoli’s sense of inferiority to Sex, are focused on, some of the most visually impressive and enthralling moments aren’t concerned with their relationship at all. Starting off the chapter, Nikoli’s dream of “the wolf’s life” where a child rides a wolf on a short adventure through a magical forest that, along with its inhabitants, could have been in the movies Labyrinth or Never Ending Story. These few pages show animals with numbers in place of detailed faces, and works with a pacing similar to his other Image book, Prophet. This pensive sort of development is also present in the short part of the story that focus on the mysterious wizard that hides in the depths of the wailing walls and is delivered in a way that excites and begs to be elaborated on. By the end of the final chapter, Nikoli is left on the beginning of what could be the start of his own adventure and “Multiple Warheads: Ghost Town” leaves readers with plenty of reason to see how it picks up. The only downside is that three months will pass before it continues in Island #4.

“Dagger Proof Mummy” is the third cliffhanger in the first issue of Island, and marks the first entry for a relative unknown that goes by one name, Ludroe. Besides a credit in Prophet #44 and King City (both Brendon Graham books), there’s not much out there about Ludroe, besides his blog. Dagger Proof Mummy shows a world of skateboarding, anthropomorphic cats and a mysterious figure that doesn’t seem to be fatigued by the knives those cats keep stabbing him with. Drawn in a graffiti style, the story focuses part on Reno and her teenage struggle of finding a group that fits in with. Choosing skateboard culture, she focuses her attention on Dirk, the king of the local skaters. With a backwards cap, Dirk gives her the advice on pulling off tricks by telling her, “It’s mental. Most people rehearse for failure. Once you break down your barriers… Anything is possible,” before before skating around the arch of an underpass. When Dirk attempts to jump the narrow bridges, something goes wrong and he vanishes in the gap between them. Soon after, dagger wielding cats appear, surrounding Reno before a mysterious figure wrapped in bandages comes to save her and taking daggers in the back in the process. Is this mummy Dirk? Maybe the next issue will answer this question.

Merriam-Webster’s final entry for “Island” reads “an isolated group or area; especially :  an isolated ethnological group.” While the stories in Island aren’t connected to one another thematically, the book exists as a sort of island in the ocean of contemporary comics that mostly concentrate on the genre-based stories of spandex heroics, science fiction, fantasy and whatever Post-Berger-Vertigo is turning into. With a business model of turning out quality books of all kinds and selling the first volume of trade paperbacks for $9.99, Island also functions as a way to look at Image Comics as an Island in the comics industry, one that takes chances that pay off, excites readers, and worms its way into becoming a top contender of Marvel and DC with the guts to put out an anthology that has 30 pages more than Vertigo Quarterly for same $7.99.

This article was originally published by Popmatters

The places I'll Be Going Traveling 60 Words Per Minute

I previously mentioned I'd be taking a little time away from this blog to contribute to another blog that concentrates on the music scene of my local area, Philadelphia. My contributions don't really get in the way of my updating to this blog, since I never used it to discuss matters I cover at Radio Static. Well, dear readers, I'm afraid this blog has just turned second fiddle.

As of a few days ago, I became a contributing writer to the pop culture website Pop Matters. I never knew if the site's name was a declarative statement or adjective and noun, but they get 1,000,000 unique visitors a month and I'm going to be submitting 2 articles a month for their comics page, and possibly random contributions to other pages. My first two will be the pieces where I wrote about Vertigo Comics and war comics, both originally published on a friend's blog before I decided to break out my web design knowledge and make this bad boy. Fear not, you will still be able to find those articles here. I'll also be retaining ownership of everything I write and posting them to this website a couple days after they go live on Popmatters.

As for the longer piece on comics I hinted at and am still writing / researching (yeah, I know I've been working on that a while, but I'm working a lot and in the middle of moving blah blah blah), it's about religion in comics and I'll probably be submitting it to Pop Matters because it's going to be a doozy.

Until then, keep an eye on Pop Matters and stick around here to see what my editors don't want you to see, you know, the true grit.

Grant Morrison & The Aftershock of Comics, or The World of Comic Books Is Exploding & A New Universe Is Blooming

A lot has been going in the word recently. There's wars going on overseas. Gay marriage became legal countrywide and the threat level went up on July 4th for the U.S. Google and Apple are spitting on each other for some new bout of nonsense that will most likely be settled in an overly long legal dispute.  But, none of that matters anymore because it's only two days old and this week is one of the most exciting things to happen to comics in a long time. The bad news is that on both counts, you're going to have to wait a while before any of it actually happens. Still, the news is very exciting! Yesterday, it was announced that Grant Morrison (yes, that Grant Morrison) will be the new editor-in-chief for Heavy Metal Magazine (yes, that Heavy Metal). If that isn't equal part exciting and wonderful, let me make it even weirder than Morrison's mind could conjure up by telling you Entertainment Weekly (yes, that Entertainment Weekly) broke the story. It will be very interesting to see what Morrison does with the magazine, considering how the publication has evolved into something that has many stories that focus on either a tone of heavy violence, elements of softcore pornography, or a mix thereof, and Morrison's stories are usually weird yarns that make you feel like you've been shooting up heroin with the ghost of Buddha and listening to the Dalai Lama divulge the secrets of the universe. Or maybe they're just incoherent gibberish. Either way, Morrison's stories are a rollercoaster ride that everyone should take the time to enjoy, while many Heavy Metal stories past the mid 80's are more action/adventure and T&A sensationalism. For that reason, it's hard to place Morrison in the world of contemporary Heavy Metal, but that may not be what will happen when you consider what the man has to say:

We’re trying to bring back some of that ’70s punk energy of Heavy Metal, but update it and make it new again. One of the things I like to do in my job is revamp properties and really get into the aesthetic of something, dig into the roots of what makes it work, then tinker with the engine and play around with it. So for me, it’s an aesthetic thing first and foremost. The idea of immersing myself in the aesthetic of Heavy Metal is exciting. It’s going to change the clothes I wear, the way I create; it’s like a performance for me. Beyond that, just the idea of being able to curate stories, decide the direction of the magazine, and work with great talent and develop new talent is an exciting opportunity.

The idea of digging into the roots of Heavy Metal, a place where artists like Moebius, Bilal, Loustal, Boucq and Crepax enriched the soil, may be one of the things that is missing from comics today. While the prime usual suspects of Heavy Metal didn't shy away from sex and violence, they brought american audiences styles of art that hadn't been seen in comics and told stories that no U.S. publisher would dare tell (they had the comics code). The roots of Heavy Metal didn't just bud glorified smut and violence, they sprouted original comics stories and highbrow erotica. To revamp that plant as e-i-c might be one way to fertilize minds that Morrison hasn't pollinated yet, it may go up in smoke, but knowing morrison, it'll be one hell of a burning bush if it does. (Yes, I intentionally kept that metaphor going that long to juxt-a-pose Morrisons mixed one).

On the other end of comics news is Aftershock Comics. While Image Comics has been showing Vertigo that they've been in a bit of a dizzy spell for about a decade when it comes to creator-owned work, Aftershock has announced that it will be coming to comic shops in a big way by publishing creator-owned work from writers like Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Paul Jenkins, Garth Ennis, Justin Jordan, Phil Hester, Neil Gaiman, Frank Barbiere and Marguerite Bennett. If you haven't heard of Aftershock, that may be because they haven't released anything yet or because their site isn't fully developed. One great thing about Aftershock also involves its editor-in-chief. Mike Marts, former executive of the X-Men line will be taking the helm of e-i-c for Aftershock and explains, "When we launched AfterShock, our mission was to attract the best comic book creators in the business, and we're beyond excited to develop original projects with these industry leaders, but it’s only the beginning." With Gaiman, Ennis and Palmiotti, it's hard to imagine Aftershock not doing well. It's even harder to imagine their panel at San Diego Comic Con not being flooded with that name recognition. What makes them most interesting is the mission statement on their Facebook page, which reads, "Aftershock is a comic book company that combines the creative edge of an independent comic book publisher with the strengths of a traditional one." While this statement is vague, it hints at some promising possibilities like the idea of world building through serial titles that may have finite runs, but begin, middle and end like proper stories. With a mission statement like this, it echoes the idea of what CrossGen set out to do while mixing in the sensibility of classic Vertigo. Making a statement on his participation with the new publisher, Ennis offers some insight saying, “AfterShock looks to be making all the right moves. I’m delighted by the arrival of a new home for independent, creator-­owned comics.”

Comic Con may shed more light on these projects and answer questions, but Morrison's Heavy Metal and Aftershock sound like they will shake up the world of comics by doing what no one expected and the big two will regret not doing in the first place, giving fans what they already like and presenting it them in a way they never knew they'd love. 

I'm Expanding, Like The Universe

For those of you out there that like what I'm doing (I use Google Analytics and know I've got repeat readers out there), I'd like you to know that I'll be contributing to another blog: Radio Static Philly. With Radio Static, I'll be focusing on bands and live events around the scene in Philadelphia, my current physical territory.

At Radio Static, we're not out for the money. We're just a group of people that are passionate about music, love the Philly scene and want to help it grow by giving more exposure to the acts and venues that help develop the modern sound vibing through the streets in the City of Brotherly Love. If this sounds like something you'd like to know more about, check it out.

I've said my peace and will hopefully return to long-form essays with-in a week, bringing you a piece dealing with comics. I've got a lot of things on my end and also have some reading to do because my research has given me more than I originally planned to work with. Who knows, I may come back tomorrow with a short something or other if I get inspiration or insomnia. Stay tuned and beautiful, world.

Spoon Covers The Cramps, Oh The Lack Of Horror

The Cramps: Rock & Roll Spook Show

The Cramps came on to the music scene with songs that obviously and unapologetically ripped off riffs from classic gems of the 50's/60's era garage rock, surf rock and rockabilly. This has been well documented with the 3 volume compilation set "Songs The Cramp Taught Us," which brings the original songs together. What distinguished the songs The Cramps put to tape from the original source material is lyrics that came from the pits of hell and describe scenes of horror. While The Misfits did something similar, Danzig would scream and croon many of his lyrics while Jerry Only played his guitar at the speed of punk rock. Not striking as deeply into the punk sound as The Misfits, The Cramps kept a toe-tapping rhythm under lyrics that were spoken/sung with Lux Interior's performative vibrato in a way that exaggerated the elements of paranoia and creepiness of the lyrics in songs like "I Was A Teenage Werewolf," "Human Fly," "Green Door," and "Voodoo Idol." These songs don't only narrate spooky tales, but attempt to make the audience just as unsettled as the characters in them. It wasn't just the effects on the guitar, but the way Lux Interior sang that gave The Cramps a distinct sound and made the horror movie aspects of their music work so well. 

If you've never heard of The Cramps, you may not alone. They were nowhere near mainstream and probably make a few people uncomfortable. When songs like "TV Set," describe homicide and dismemberment, The Cramps weren't exactly radio friendly. Since the movie Poltergeist is being remade, it makes sense that the soundtrack could use a cover or two. One cover that will be on it is Spoon's version of The Cramps classic "TV Set." While Spoon's cover of The Cramps is actually very good, it is absent of the creepiness that makes the original unsettling. Spoon's version is so clean that it comes off as The Cramps if they were produced by Phil Spector. Britt Daniel does a great job of transcribing the jittery cadence Lux Interior first performed it with, but the frightening tones present in Lux's voice is not in Daniel's. While the cover is well worth listening to, it only make me wonder how great it would be to watch a scene in a horror movie where the original version plays as people are running scared.

The Sandman Movie Is Going To Be An Action-Packed Joyride, or Joseph Gordon Levitt Doesn't Watch Television

I have feelings and stuff

For those that don't know, actor and musician Joseph Gordon Levitt is adapting Neil Gaiman's Sandman for the big screen. It's likely no stretch to bet both Sandman and Gaiman fans are excited for this project since it has been in development hell for over a decade and the books have been one of Vertigo Comics biggest sellers for over two decades.

Still, the begged question of "why a movie and not a tv show" is even more present in a time where shows like Game of Thrones have become international successes. While movies are still big projects that gain popularity in many countries, Game of Thrones hit a level of popularity so high that its piracy is its own story. With creative sets, costumes with beautiful detail , very good acting, and visually astounding special effects and lush cinematography, Game of Thrones is pushing the boundaries of what to expect from television. And it's not alone. 

Before Game of Thrones, HBO, AMC and other channels produced shows like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Tudors and many others that brought television audiences stories that were more often delivered through movies. With great plot lines, writing and acting, a show like True Detective attracts movie actors (Woody Harrelson, Matthew Mcconaughey, Collin Farrel, Rachel McAdams) to the small screen for quality roles. It also tells a whole story that could easily suffer the pitfalls of truncation which so often happens in film. With this renaissance of television goin on, it's confusing that Levitt would say the following while trying to explain why he's making Sandman into a movie:

I think a big screen adaptation is a better idea and here’s why. If you did the episodic version, I think it could very well end up as a not-as-good-version of what is already brilliant in the comics. But by reworking the material into a big movie, Gaiman’s brilliant characters and ideas get to take shape in a way they never have before. Also, I think Sandman deserves to look absolutely mind-blowingly awesome, just on a visual level, and as cinematic as some tv shows are becoming these days, they still can’t compete with big movies visually, just because they can’t afford to.

This isn't to say Sandman shouldn't be a movie. (I don't think it should be, but that's not what I'm getting at here). However, looking at a show like Game of Thrones, the budget averaged 6 million per episode in season 4, and 8 million in season 5. With ten episodes, a season costs 60 -80 million dollars. To put this into perspective, the new Terminator movie has an estimated budget of 155 million. The new Terminator movie costed just under twice as much as the last season of Game of Thrones. While Terminator Genysis isn't the adaptation of a comic book, Kick-Ass is, and it cost 30 million, half as much as season 4 of Game of Thrones. While the budgets of these two movies factor in a great deal of action and explosions, Sandman's source material has none of that. Sandman, like Game of Thrones, is a plot based epic that will need a nice amount of CGI. Unlike, Game of Throne, Sandman doesn't have action. For this reason, it seems hard to imagine that HBO "can't afford to" adapt Sandman. However, when reading his quote, it seems easy to imagine that either Levitt doesn't watch television, know much about arithmetic, or is turning Sandman into the Terminator.

Oh no he didn't!!!!!!