``x Chicks in leather
with guns - and a solid plot ta boot!

Writer: Devin Grayson with Greg Rucka
Artist: J. G. Jones and Scott Hampton
Trade Paperback
Marvel Knights 2001
$15.95

Now I’ll admit it. BLACK WIDOW wasn’t a “must have” because of the story. In actuality, I didn’t even consider it until I saw the nice little trade paperback sitting on the shelf: a tight little bundle of fantastic artwork by J. G. (MARVEL BOY) Jones and Scott (LUCIFER) Hampton.

I was instantly won over. I’ve seen these fellows’ work before but with WIDOW, they blew away every previous conception I had. It’s a damned pretty book with equally impressive stories.

The collection starts with a story by that batgirl Devin Grayson which shows Natasha Romanov (aka the Black Widow) hired by the US government to steal a deadly bio-toxin. The only problem is the Russians also sent in their Black Widow: Yelena Belova. Yelena is a graduate of the Russian Black Widow program - a smug "I've surpassed you at everything!” sort of girl. But Natasha says, “Oh yeah? Bring it on.” It’s all high kicks, bullets flying and splosions for the whole family.

Grayson shows off her talent for thinking, feeling characters, showing dramatic tension plus tons of action without the story losing integrity. Her scripting pulls few punches delivering a full blown spy thriller. Jones' women are beautiful; his thugs, ugly and oozing with stupidity. All this, coupled with his superb storytelling skills make for the best summer blockbuster flick you never saw.

Daredevil also makes a small appearance in this story, but I found Grayson’s DD to be a bit too dashing, too jocular for my taste. It makes him seem more useless than he really is.

Act Two of the book adds Greg (WHITEOUT) Rucka to the writing team and adds Hampton to the artistic side of the equation. I wouldn’t have thought that Grayson and Rucka would mix but they make a great team. Grayson once again shows her flair for interpersonal interaction and Rucka floods the script with spy lingo, completing the story.

This story puts Yelena and Natasha in a “Face-Off” type of situation. S.H.I.E.L.D. kidnaps Yelena and she wakes up with Natasha’s face. Her new mission: Kill Yelena Belova. Natasha, now with Yelena’s face, tries to find nukes stolen by her former boss.

On the whole the book is a great read. Grayson and Rucka do their best to upset Yelena’s world and still raise the stakes for Natasha. The stories move quickly and the loose ends are wrapped up in one sitting. And the lusch artwork makes it worth the price from the get-go.

RECOMMENDED for all who enjoy a good spytriller or just those who like pretty pictures.
``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xBLACK WIDOW``x1003298454,46357,Reviews``x``x``xReviewed by Brian Domingos``xBrian Domingos is a staff writer of PopImage. To him, everything is espionage. ``x ``x

Writer and Artist: Jordan Crane
Published by Red Ink, 2000
Original Graphic Novella
$8

There are so many comics today that vie far too hard for the viewer's attention by playing up the overblown, larger-than-life angle -- big illustrations, big ideas, very dynamic. They draw the eye, but they often go for the visual cheap thrill. Jordan Crane's THE LAST LONELY SATURDAY shows how absorbing a much subtler comic can be.

It is a little, squarebound comic about an elderly man who plans to spend his Saturday visiting his wife, or so we are initially led to believe. We soon discover that his plan is to spend his Saturday at his wife's grave, as she apparently died a while ago. A minimal enough plot, yet Crane is able to draw a full range of emotion through his simple and elegant storytelling skill.

As a matter of fact, THE LAST LONELY SATURDAY works partly because the plot is so understated. This allows Crane to emphasize the sheer emotion of the characters. As a result, expression through words becomes negligible. Which is probably why THE LAST LONELY SATURDAY is, largely, a "silent" comic.

The line used in the illustrations is organic and lush. As the plot allows the emotion to become more prominent, so too do the pictures themselves. Crane's characters, drawn in a very uncomplicated and almost elementary way, convey a wide range of facial expressions that easily capture a diverse spectrum of emotion. And the two-color (reddish brown and yellow) format in which it is printed gives the book a classic feel that does not overpower the other aspects of the story.

The story's layouts are genius in their lucidity. Panel to panel transitions are completely seamless and consistent. When something changes rather abruptly, it is because we are meant to notice it. There are several such panels where the border style shifts to a solid line to one that resembles the edge of a cloud, the reader automatically realizes that the panel is flashing back to a memory. Perhaps this has been done before, but in the context of the story, a minor detail like this impacts the reader right away. The reader can pick up on it, and continue absorbing the story. Just like that. Without pause.

The book is charming, something you can read over and over again, something that changes or evolves in meaning each time. Crane's work here encourages the reader to bring his or her own experiences to the fore when reading. Some readers may want more substance in a plot, criticizing the form-over-substance approach that many independent books take. I would still recommend THE LAST LONELY SATURDAY to those readers.

Recommended``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xTHE LAST LONELY SATURDAY``x1003298775,38966,Reviews``x``x``xReviewed by Paul Hanna``xPaul Hanna is Assistant Reviews Editor of PopImage.``x ``xRecently, I received a package from a Pepper Potts of the Stark Foundation containing a transcript of a long hidden telephone conversation. The pages revealed a fairly eye-opening account of one man's struggle with addiction... and another's struggle with the abyss before him. PHONE CONVERSATION: STARK ENTERPRISES 8/17/99: 9:35 AMSFX: (PHONE RINGING)

SENTIENT ARMOR: CAH-MON...

SFX: (PHONE RINGING)

SENTIENT ARMOR: HEE HEE...

[The receiver on the other end picks up; The next voice heard is that of Victor Von Doom, ruler of Latveria -- sworn enemy to the Fantastic Four.]

DOOM: YES?

SENTIENT ARMOR: GOOD MORNING... MAY I SPEAK WITH MISTER... DOON PLEASE?

DOOM: THAT'S DOOM, CRETIN. WHO IS THIS?

SENTIENT ARMOR: AH, GOOD MORNING, MY NAME IS RACHEL AND I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO YOU THIS MORNING ON HOW YOU CAN SAVE UP TO TEN PERCENT ON LONG DISTANCE --

DOOM: BAH! DOOM HAS BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN THIS!

[The phone hangs up; sounds of the phone being dialed again.]

SFX: (PHONE RINGING)

SENTIENT ARMOR: (WHISTLING)

[The receiver on the other end picks up; The next voice heard is that of Victor Von Doom, ruler of Latveria -- sworn enemy to the Fantastic Four.]

DOOM: YES...?

SENTIENT ARMOR: GOOD MORNING, IS THE LADY OF THE HOUSE PRESENT?

DOOM: WHA- LADY OF THE... IS THIS SOME SORT OF JOKE?

SENTIENT ARMOR: (HEE HEE)... JOKE, SIR?

DOOM: WHO IS THIS? RICHARDS?

SENTIENT ARMOR: (LIGHT GIGGLING)

DOOM: WAIT A MINUTE... I KNOW THAT LAUGH...THIS IS YOU, STARK, ISN'T IT?

SENTIENT ARMOR: (HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER)

DOOM: MY GOD... YOU'RE DRUNK AGAIN, AREN'T YOU?

SENTIENT ARMOR: MMM...AYBE....

DOOM: MY GOD, MAN -- IT'S NOT EVEN TEN A.M. AND YOU'RE HALF IN THE BAG!

SENTIENT ARMOR: (DRINKING SOUNDS)

DOOM: STOP IT -- GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF... FOR GOD'S SAKE...

SENTIENT ARMOR: (DRINKING SOUNDS FINISH) OKAY, DONE. AHEM... HELLO, IS THE LADY OF THE HOUSE PRESENT...?

DOOM: WHA-? THIS IS INSANE. GET SOME HELP, STARK.

[The phone hangs up; sounds of the phone being dialed again.]

SFX: (PHONE RINGING) SFX: (BEER CAN OPENING)

[The receiver on the other end picks up; The next voice heard is that of Victor Von Doom, ruler of Latveria -- sworn enemy to the Fantastic Four.]

DOOM: THIS BETTER NOT BE YOU, STARK...

SENTIENT ARMOR: NO STARK HERE. ES SENOR MOJO.

DOOM: (SIGHING) LOOK, I DON'T NORMALLY DO THIS... BUT IF I LET THIS GO I'LL NEVER GET TO FINISH WATCHING THE MCLAUGHLIN GROUP. STARK... YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.

SENTIENT ARMOR: ES NO SENOR STARK. ES SENOR MOJO... SENOR MOJO ES HOMBRE GRANDE (GIGGLING).

DOOM: FOR THE LOVE OF ETERNITY... YOU'RE A GENIUS WHEN YOU'RE SOBER... YOU HAVE FAME, WEALTH AND POWER -- WHY ARE YOU SO DEPENDANT UPON A DEPRESSANT?

SENTIENT ARMOR: AH, IF I ONLY HAD A HEART.

DOOM: OH, FOR THE LOVE OF --

SENTIENT ARMOR: BESIDES -- HIC -- BIG TALK FROM AN ADDICT.

DOOM: WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN, CRETIN?

SENTIENT ARMOR: CAH-MON, VIC... YOU SPOUT OFF LIKE SOME SORTA, SORTA BIG TALKING SPOUTER... BUT KETTLES TALK BIG WHEN THE POT IS... (GIGGLING) ...POT IS BLACK...

DOOM: WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU TRYING TO GET OUT?

SENTIENT ARMOR: SEE... YOU ALSO GOT A MONKEY ON YER BACK. DOOMY... YOU'RE ADDICTED TO RICHARDS.

DOOM: PREPOSTEROUS.

SENTIENT ARMOR: GESHUNDHEIT... (HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER; DRINKING NOISES)

DOOM: I AM NOT "ADDICTED" TO RICHARDS. THE MAN IS A VILE, INFERIOR REPLICA OF THE TRUE GENIUS THAT IS DOOM! SIMPLY BECAUSE I HAVE ENGAGED HIM IN A LIFELONG WAR OF THE INTELLECTS, AND LAUNCHED SEVERAL PERSONAL VENDETTAS AGAINST HIM DOES NOT MAKE ME "ADDICTED" TO HIM. I ALONE HAVE FOUGHT YOU IN BATTLE FOUR TIMES, AND SPIDERMAN MORE TIMES THAN I CAN RECOUNT. AND BESIDES... I CAN QUIT ANY TIME I WANT.

SENTIENT ARMOR: Y'KNOW, VIC... THEY SAY DENIAL AIN'T JUST A RIVER IN MISSISSIPPI.

DOOM: THAT'S EGYPT.

SENTIENT ARMOR: SO I FAILED GEOMETRY... SUE ME (GIGGLING).

DOOM: SIGH... LOOK... FINE... MAYBE WE BOTH HAVE A PROBLEM. WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO ABOUT IT?

SENTIENT ARMOR: WELL, I CAN ALWAYS HIRE DAVID CROSBY. WHO'S GONNA GET YOU OFF OF RICHARDS?

DOOM: MAN... I GUESS I BETTER CALL NAMOR. HE'S DONE THIS A FEW TIMES... JUST MAKE SURE YOU JOIN A TWELVE STEP PROGRAM, STARK.

SENTIENT ARMOR: SENOR STARK ES EL GONO. ES SENOR GALACTACOS GRANDE HOMBRE.

DOOM: SIGH... WHY DO I BOTHER?

[The phone hangs up; sounds of the phone being dialed again.]

SFX: (PHONE RINGING) SFX: (BEER CAN OPENING)

[The receiver on the other end picks up; The next voice heard is that of Magneto, Master of Magnetism -- sworn enemy to the X-Men.]

MAGNETO: GOOD MORNING, HOMO SUPERIORITY.

SENTIENT ARMOR: (GIGGLING) AH, GOOD MORNING, MY NAME IS RACHEL AND I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO YOU THIS MORNING ON HOW YOU CAN SAVE UP TO TEN PERCENT ON LONG DISTANCE --

PHONE CONVERSATION: STARK ENTERPRISES 9/2/99: 11:15 AMSFX: (PHONE RINGING)

TELEPHONE OPERATOR: GOOD MORNING, SPRINT PCS.

TONY STARK: YES, HI... THIS IS ANTHONY STARK OF STARK ENTERPRISES. FOR SOME REASON MY LONG DISTANCE BILL IS OVER SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS THIS MONTH. NOW, I'VE BEEN... AWAY... OUT OF MY ...UM... CALLING ZONE, YOU COULD SAY. I'D LIKE TO SORT THIS OUT...

[transcript ends]``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xIRON MAN'S SENTIENT ARMOR: THE LOST TAPES``x1003896419,84694,Industrial``x``x``xby Neil Kleid``xNeil Kleid is the co-founder of Third Eye Publishing and the creator of STAND UP COMICS- a series of forums designed to get the comics medium out into the public eye. He is a graphic designer, actor and improvisational genius. ``x ``x
A Review of Twentieth Century Fox's Movie Adaptation of FROM HELL

FROM HELL, the movie, tells the tale of the Ripper murders, from the point of view of Inspector Abberline, a policeman who gets oracular visions which help him track down the killer. Unlike Abberline, however, the people behind this film seem to suffer from a staggering lack of vision. This movie manages to combine the intellectual depth of a Harlequin romance with the subtle, understated elegance of a sledgehammer to the head. Hollywood must be very sure that its target audience for this film consists of cretins, since it spells out everything in heavy, unambivalent terms. Good is good, bad is bad, and never the gray shall be.

The characters quickly devolve into a bunch of cliches, with little or nothing to give them their own voice. Abberline, the good, kind, always politically correct policeman, doggedly tracking down the murderer against all odds. Godley, the sergeant who's unswervingly loyal to his officer. Mary Kelly, the hooker with the heart of gold. The brutal London mob. The supercilious, class-conscious elite. Single-note stereotypes, all. Horror is depicted more by the addition of copious gore rather than any acting performance; subtlety is well and truly disposed of, as far as this film's concerned. The players
are reduced to solid black and clear-cut white, eliminating any silly, distracting hues of gray.

On the flip side, it does have some beautiful imagery; one particularly striking one was the Ripper's grapes, which (in Abberline's visions) begin pulsating, like the beating of several hearts. The settings are well-constructed, and the lighting effects excellent. The cinematography is, in fact, deserving of a much better plot than it's been dealt; the result being a movie that comes across as all style and no substance. There are also some decent acting performances from Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane and Johnny Depp, working as best they can within the limits of the roles dealt them. However, if plot or characterization are of much consideration, then this movie probably isn't for you.

Viewed as a stand-alone movie, it's a hideously unsubtle plot, bolstered by some very pretty imagery. As an adaptation of the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, however, it fails colossally. In adaptations of books to cinema, it's not unusual to have some elements dropped, and others added, as the tale transitions between the two media. Here, however, the film alters its standpoint considerably, converting an elegant construct to a gory slasher movie;
and the elements of the book that did make it in stand out as garish, incongruous additions to the mix. They make little or no overall sense with regard to the theme of the film.

"If a gun is on the mantle in the first act, it must go off in the third." - Anton Chekhov

This adaptation suffers badly from trying to desperately squeeze in cool points of the original book, without necessarily seeing if it fits into the new framework of the film. Take the case of John Merrick, the Elephant Man. His appearance in the book served to further heighten the hellishness of that London and further, he served as a faux-Ganesha to mark an auspicious beginning to Gull's endeavours. In the film, his appearance serves no purpose beyond consuming a minute's worth of celluloid; aside from having appeared in the book, the sequence is an absolutely worthless appendage to the structure of the film.

The sole redeeming factor to this movie is that it will hopefully have added to the bank accounts of Mr. Moore and Campbell, and encourage them to produce more of their excellent work. By itself, however, it fails on almost every level save an example of "there-but-for-the-Grace-of-God-go-I".``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xThe Movie FROM HELL``x1003897275,28943,Reviews``x``x``xby Bala Menon ``xBala Menon is a contributing writer for PopImage.``x ``x
A Review of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's FROM HELL

Alan Moore, long known as one of comicdom's finest writers, joins with Eddie Campbell to produce this tale of Jack the Ripper.

Here, Moore builds a tale that stretches in ripples across time, as he attempts his own explanation of the Ripper murders. Not a three-dimensional pattern across Whitechapel, but rather a four-dimensional pattern across time, with the effects (and causes) of the Ripper murders travelling across the centuries, one man's plan to transcend his own mortality, at once an act of personal worship as well as an attempt to exalt himself and finally attain the face of God.

Focusing, not from the point of view of the hunters, but of the Ripper himself, Moore analyzes the available information, chooses whom he believes to be the most likely Ripper, and projects the suspect's beliefs and motivations from what is known of his life. The result is an appallingly dark story, made even more horrific by the non-randomness, the callousness of the killings.

Immensely erudite, a rationale is presented for the Ripper murders. Not simply a hack-and-slash murderer, lashing out mindlessly at any woman who crosses his path, but rather, an intricate plan, aimed at specific targets, for a specific purpose.

FROM HELL Cover

Campbell, a noted storyteller in his own right ( Bacchus, Alec), lives up to Moore's highly demanding scripts, portraying the dark immensity of London, from the hulking cathedrals towering above the city, to the people running through the streets.

This is the Ripper's story. From his early beginnings as a child, curious to learn the inner workings of the cosmos; to his professional rise, to become the Royal Physician; to his vision-inducing heart-attack, and awakening to knowledge of his Master; and to his final quest to further exalt that Lord. Not quite the malefic slasher of stage and screen, but a logical, intensely faithful man, carrying out what he believes to be his self-appointed mission for God.

But it is also London's tale, a tale of the city of that time and her people. Of the horror that existence holds for the people of that city, of several simple, callous, unthinking cruelties, that slap you in the face for their very unexpectedness. Despite the grander themes shaping the flow of the story, we are never allowed to forget the basic humanity of these miserable players on the stage.

There is no character in this tale so depraved, so brutalized, but that Moore and Campbell make them touch our hearts, see some small spark of humanity that we might empathize with. And thus further feel the horror of their tale.

The People (and London's architecture)

Moore and Campbell's characters are living, breathing people, bringing the London of 1888 to vivid life in our heads.

Sir William Withey Gull is a fanatic, a man so lost in his own terrible vision, that he is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it, twisting his associates' arms, preying on the fears of his superiors, using his own unshakable will to forge through all obstacles like a juggernaut. A stern man, raised to hold Duty above all, but his devotion to that Duty swathes him in rapture.

I am Sir William Withey Gull
Gull, alone, of all the characters here, rises above the demands
of the earth that he is rooted in, to seek out a higher, spiritual
plane. He maintains an ethereal attitude, striving to complete his
self-appointed task despite the frailty of his human tools, the
other players on this stage are very firmly rooted in their earth.

Moore takes a particular delight in parallels and double entendres, running through all his writing. In another of these, Gull is paired with Netley, an ignorant and unthinking man of the streets, a person conscious of nothing more than his desire to get ahead in life, a man very much of the earth, seeking higher knowledge only to aid him in this world.

Netley's shallowness, ingratiatingly servile nature and alarming stupidity make him the perfect unthinking tool for Gull to use.

Netley

Netley is a little man, all too conscious of it, and seeking power and advancement; yet, when he realizes the nature of the immense maelstrom he has gotten himself into, he panics, collapses. It's not the idea of murder that bother Netley; life itself is cheap in London of the time. No, it's the consciousness of being totally overwhelmed, enveloped by an all-encompassing power that is now an inextricable part of his daily life; it's Gull's staggering revelation that he always has been surrounded by this grand magic. Awakening produces terror here, rather than the grand enlightenment and vision provided to Gull. (Chapter 4 pages 36-37)

Abberline disappointed

Inspector Abberline is a man thrown back into a brutalized, decomposing part of London that he loathes, but is forced back into, out of political necessity.

Abberline's rage

Notice Campbell's depiction of the explosive frustration on Abberline's face, as he is transferred back to Whitechapel, the seat of his contempt; and contrast this to the disgust on his face when he realizes the true game being played within the corridors of power that he had coveted (Chapter 13 pages 8-11)

There's more than a small part of Abberline which empathizes with the denizens of Whitechapel; very much a man of the soil, it had been his home for fourteen years, and he knows it better than he understands the new realm of privilege that he has been drawn into.

Abberline's loathing

The prostitutes, Gull's targets, are perpetual victims, desperately trying to stay alive in a London that makes even day-to-day living difficult.

Look at Campbell's Chapter 5, where he visually contrasts the two Londons, Gull's London of privilege, and the hellish London of the poor. Soft grays ease Gull into his daily routine, while sharp cold blacks topple the women out of their peaceful sleep into London's cold.

The Ripper's victims are not particularly lovely women, and cannot said to be leading a happy life by any means. Observe the stark, hopeless terror of the prostitutes, faced with death or worse at the hands of the London mob (Chapter 3)

And yet Campbell never fails to sink in a needle to remind us of their humanity, time and again; Mary Kelly's calm, quiet smirk (Chapter 3, page 14) or the piteous misery of Annie Chapman (Chapter 7 page 5); or Kate Fellowes snatching a few moments of joy, in the midst of her drudgery (Chapter 9)it becomes impossible not to feel their torment, the sad, heart-rending despair, of a person condemned to this Hell through no fault of their own, and now unable to even conceive of an escape from it.

The piteous misery of Annie Chapman

London is no less a character in this tale, enveloping and shrouding the characters, driving them down its chosen path.

In the astonishingly powerful Chapter 4, we first see the grand plan drawn out by Gull, and the forces surrounding him that he capitalizes on to fulfil his task. Here, we see Gull's chilling revelation of his ultimate goal, made even more terrifying by the look of complete satisfaction on his face.

Gull's studies through Masonry have revealed to him the grand plan behind London's construction; the menacing constructions not only exalting the Deity but also stripping away the humanity from the little man; not bringing the man up to the level of the Deity, but
rather stressing the difference between them, making man far more acutely aware of how very little a thing he is. Every little detail, from the grand to the mundane, from the overpowering dome of St. Paul's, to the simple horse-brasses mounted on every carriage in London, bears witness to the grand magic mounted in this city.

Gull's plan

The city, an immense occult engine, prepared by occult architects and Masons through the ages, is now primed and targeted, prepared by a kill, and aimed at her Queen's foes by a fanatic willing to do anything for his Liege, and more, if it also serves his Deity. (Actually, serving his Liege is only incidental to Gull's higher plan, "the very tip of the iceberg". Victoria does not suspect what she has unleashed, in her attempts to protect her family's reputation.)

Gull's plan: the tip of the iceberg

As Hawksmoor built up the colossal London above, so too does Gull now build up his task in the streets below. London's innocents are expendable pawns in a plan to extoll the Gods, and thereby complete Gull's mission on Earth.

Magnifying and focussing London's darkness ...

For London is Hell ...

Strangely, the protagonist does not seem to cause as much agony and despair as the environment itself. Whitechapel, a Hellish nightmare to its poorest inhabitants, produces far more misery to its people than Gull. Campbell does more than justice to Moore's script, in producing an image of a Pit, its frightened inhabitants preying on each other, resigned to their fate, perpetually yearning for a better existence but without any real hope of one, desperately snatching at whatever small morsels of joy they can extract from the darkness.

This London is a very Hell ... and there are no happy characters here ... all of them suffering, in one way or another:

The Prince, confounded

A Prince, bullied and controlled by his Imperial mother, denied any chance of his own happiness;

Victoria's fear

The Empress herself, fearing revolution, living a cold and loveless existence;

Victoria alone

A shopgirl, robbed of her very mind, a pawn tossed about the
chessboard by forces beyond her control;

Annie

The prostitutes of London, cursed into an early life of despair, with little hope of improvement;

A Better Life

Sorrow

The Elephant Man, condemned to the Hell of his own body, but dreaming of the Heaven revealed to him by Gull;
Merrick, the Elephant Man Merrick Ganesa

Gull, himself, escaping a mortal Hell by an attempt to seize Heaven.

Gull's madness

The closest any of these characters ever come to Heaven is through their interactions with Gull; his casual words presenting the vision of a better world to John Merrick; and the few moments of childlike joy we see on the face of Polly Nicholls, a young woman robbed of her childhood, are those given to her by Gull, just prior to her death at his hands; a final contact with Gull's luminous Heaven, just before she passes out of the Hell that her life had become.

We are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde

In Moore's book, the only person who is looking at the stars is Gull himself. All the others are so lost in the pain of the gutters of Whitechapel that they see nothing beyond; no hope left. An occasional desperate dream of escape is all that's left to them, followed by the inevitable and quick dash of reality, and a return to their hopeless lives. Gull alone sees the glory of his task, permeating all the world.

Finale

Gull's descent

In another of Moore's mirrors, note Chapter 14, where Gull simultaneously plumbs the depths of madness, as he rises towards his ultimate goal, far above the common rut.

This is Gull's final triumph ... escaping from the earthy surroundings, into the grander, larger design that surrounds him. Then further, outside even the three dimensions, into the larger fourth; and finally, into the face of God. And the power of that ascension casts ripples through time, as the strength of Gull's faith, the intensity of his belief, affects others in his wake. The completion of his grand achievement simultaneously hurls him into the heights of his final goal as well as into the depths of madness.

He is swept up in the rapture that envelopes him, but rapidly losing all connection with his earthly life.

As he has made use of the structures built around him over time, so too does he now create his own occult structure, one extending through time, and spreading its ripples down the years.

And the strength of his creation influences other minds across the years, reflections and imitators, shadows of the original Ripper, sympathetic minds walking the path first traced by Gull; the grand design arising in shallower circles (first a century, then fifty years, then twenty-five and so on), moving through time towards a convergence.

And Gull's ascension completes, his mind reaching eternity, finally escaping his earthen body.

Gull's ascent

Moore combines a skillful blend of research and fiction, not resisting the appeal of including several coterminous characters and vignettes (Crowley's presence in London, Hitler's birth) to bolster his tale across time. The detailed glossary of his research and annotations of his work in writing this book gives still more insight into the creative process behind it.

In the final appendix, Moore wryly makes note of the work done by prior Ripperologists, observing their effect on each other (including his own work).

He acknowledges the immense quantity of legend that has built up around the Ripper, and the extremely muddy line drawn between myth and reality (often crossing boundaries), and his own contribution to those legends (further muddying and blurring the waters).

This is easily one of the finest works in the medium, and well deserves a place on any reader's bookshelf. Richly detailed, the book rewards multiple reads with new insights into the tale.``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xFrom Hell: Architecture in Time``x1003901122,98601,Reviews``x``x``xby Bala Menon ``xBala Menon is a contributing writer for PopImage.
All images on this page (c) Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, and used under the Fair Use doctrine
FROM HELL (c) Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, 1989, 1999``x ``xThe Collected Editions area is of growing importance at the Marvel offices these days. Thanks to staff such as Ben Abernathy you can look forward to a well designed collection to fit on your shelf. Ben took some time to speak with us about upcoming events in the special projects department at Marvel.

What brought you to Marvel Comics? Is it something you always wanted to do?

That's a good question... what brought me here initially? Well, money and growth opportunity! I was working in the Creative Service Department at DC Comics, in a position virtually created for me by the wonderful Richard Bruning (one helluva guy!) and I was working with the WildStorm crew. Unfortunately, after about a year, it didn't seem like there was much in the way of growth potential. I knew that Marvel was hiring (well, considering they'd laid off so many people, it stands to figure they'd be hiring SOMETHING). I landed a job interview for another Creative Services position, although it managed much more responsibility and was a definite pay raise. So, leaving all the great people at DC behind, I entered Marvel, working with their biggest licensees for approvals and whatnot. It was fun in the beginning (I got to play test the first Activision PlayStation games!!) but it hit a plateau. So, by chance, Polly Watson decided to pursue other opportunities and I got a call from Bill Jemas.

Knowing my editorial background from Dark Horse and having worked with Dale Crain at DC (another great guy!) he asked me if I'd be interested in heading up Collected Editions. I think I thought about it for about one second and then jumped at it. It was somewhat of a dream come true, to be honest. I mean c'mon, MARVEL COMICS EDITORIAL! It's pretty darn cool no matter HOW you look at it. Plus, it was a great time. Joe had just taken over as EIC, Bill was having astounding success with his various ideas (like the Ultimates), and Collected Editions was a promising area of growth. Besides, look at me now - people actually want to interview ME!!!

That's very cool. What position are you holding at this point and what does it cover in editorial?

My position is officially "Special Projects Manager" which means I edit all the reprints and then take on other fun products like the upcoming Recharge Collectible Card Game, the Marvel Masterprints, maybe some CD-Roms WAYYYY down the road. The title "Special Projects" is pretty wide open right now, but I primarily am the reprint man!

Aside from editing, where do you stand in the decision making process? If it's a group effort, who else gets a vote?

I'm on the front line of the decision making process. The main people making the choices are me and my boss, Bob Greenberger. Joe and Bill give a lot of input, as well as the editors (mainly Tom Brevoort, who I can accurately say, the books wouldn't be where they are without his input and guidance - Marvel is FULL of great people).
The people under me, especially Matty Ryan, also kick a lot of input and ideas. It tends to be a very democratic process. I like to gauge as many sources as possible when putting these together because my goal is really to put out a superior product.

Which collections are you most proud of? Any trade editions published thus far that excite you from a personal, fan perspective? I have to say the appearance of X-Men: Vignettes blew me away.

The collections I'm most proud of? Well, there's a few... Probably the one that I am singly most proud of, would be EARTH X. Now there's a couple reasons: This was my first book. I put a LOT of work into making this the package it turned into, even changing the page count at the last second and juggling hundreds of pages of film. I was so afraid I would screw up my first book, that when it came back and looked great (I still think it's one of our better designed books), I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. It was sugar on top that Alex, Jim, John, and Bill all thought it turned out well. I made Alex Ross happy on my first try! Some of the other favorite books were the second DAREDEVIL VISIONARIES: FRANK MILLER V.2 (need I say more?). My older brother turned me onto Mr. Miller's DAREDEVIL in high school, so this one was especially close to home. It was the death of Elektra, man!

One I'm working on right now definitely has my fan boy stirred up: CAPTAIN BRITAIN! Working with Alan Moore and Alan Davis has been an INCREDIBLE experience! Alan (Moore) is the nicest guy you could ever meet, has been really supportive and helpful in the process. Alan (Davis) has always been one of my favorite artists (again, I can thank my older brother and those EXCALIBUR issues!) and he, too, is incredibly nice... I guess it's a British thing! The work these two gentlemen have done is amazing to contemplate and this particular work will wow new audiences for years to come... It's due out in December, so it's almost the anniversary of EARTH X... heh heh heh...

Any idea yet on how UNIVERSE X is going to be handled as a collection, considering it's roughly 20 issues?

That's funny you ask, as I'm working on volume 1 today... The first volume will collect UNIVERSE X issues 0-7 and the Spidey, FF, and Cap specials, as well as the relevant Appendixes, Intros, etc. Volume 2 will reprint everything else from the series, through issue X. They're going to be a great package and I'm excited about putting them together. Both Jim and Alex have been really helpful and supportive in the early stages of this, so I think it's going to turn out really well. I can guarantee any fan of the series that they will NOT be disappointed!

One of the topics covered at the Marvel panels during Wizard World 2001 was the need to make comics collectible again. Were the Collected Editions created as an answer to the greater story demands on the short term without going back to press for multiple printings, thereby diluting the value of the first copies?

That's an interesting question. I don't think the Collected Editions Department here was created for that purpose, no, although it does bolster the print-to-order/no second printings mandate by getting the trades out quicker. I think the purpose is more getting the stories that people want to read in a more affordable and manageable form. It's all about money, man! I could see how some might interpret what we're doing as an extension of that mentality, but I'd like to think we're a little more than that.

I really wanted to talk about a personal favourite of mine, the Visionaries trade program. Now that Marvel has finished Miller's DAREDEVIL, are there any other specific runs you guys are hoping to tap into somewhere along the way?

The only one really planned, at this point, is probably the start of a Peter David/Hulk Visionaries. Otherwise, there aren't many on the schedule yet for next year...

Odin's beard! How in the world are you guys going to manage that? We're talking nearly a decade, right?

Well, I don't think there's any plans to collect ALL of it... we're going to start with the first bunch of issues and go from there, I think. Although the possibility exists of going the Claremont-Visionaries route and making it more of a "Best Of". Wouldn't it be cool to get the complete run, though?

Absolutely! Unfortunately, I missed David's run as a kid. I've always wanted to see the run from the start, which is why I've shied away from the individual trades up until now.

Any chance for another volume of THOR: VISIONARIES: WALTER SIMONSON?

Probably no for the moment on a second THOR book. I do think the sale velocity of the first volume yet warrants a second printing, but maybe later next year... A lot of people are clamoring for it, but it's not in the foreseeable future!

I've heard the Essential program is by far the most profitable trade system Marvel has running right now. It's been a shock recently to see Essentials announcements like Howard the Duck, Fury & The Howling Commandos, and Ant-Man (Ant-Man?!?)... has the high profitability allowed Marvel to get more obscure with their collections?

The nature of the Essentials DOES make them a profit center for the reprint department, but that also means that a book doesn't need to sell crazy numbers to make money (due to the cheap printing). For instance, when we did the ESSENTIAL CONAN, it sold really well and surprised a lot of people. Most people wondered why we did Conan ahead of characters like Iron Man or Daredevil, but the sales backed up that decision! There are various reasons for doing the other Essentials. Part of it is variety - retailers and fans alike want more variety than just FF, Avengers, X-Men, and Spider-Man. I get more e-mails demanding random Essentials (like an X-Factor one) than for the next sequence in the multiple volumes. For the upcoming Dr. Strange and Ant-Man books, we are reprinting EVERYTHING so, like the Silver Surfer, everything will be in one volume. Also, in the case of Ant-Man, it's his 40th Anniversary and we have to do SOMETHING for him!

Speaking of those random Essentials... any plans for X-FACTOR or possibly even NEW MUTANTS? As for Ant-Man, nothing surprises me anymore. After all, Artisan licensed the property with Marvel as a feature film...

No plans for either Essential, sorry. We kicked around an X-Factor one for a while, but it fell behind suggestions like Ghost Rider or Punisher. Who knows, maybe when the next movie comes around there might be a demand for stories of the original X-Men...

Ben, I want to thank you for participating in this interview. I think you're at the forefront of what could be the most valuable and exciting aspect of Marvel today. It's been a pleasure talking with you.

I should thank YOU for the interview. It's been a pleasure! People usually don't care what the reprint guys have to say, but we are a growing area and if the rest of the world is any indication (since they traffic primarily in graphic novel form) we're going to be even bigger in the coming years. I think the sky's the limit when it comes to the trade paperback. Now, if only I could convince everyone who reads this to go buy a book or two! ``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xINTERVIEW: BEHIND THE PANEL WITH BEN ABERNATHY``x1003905433,7214,Industrial``x``x``xConducted by Drew Reiber``xDrew Reiber is a contributing writer for PopImage.
All characters, titles, images mentioned or shown
are copyright and trademark their respective creators.``xMarvel.com - Marvel Comics Online
E-mail Us. - Send us an e-mail, commenting on this article. ``xOne comic I will always remember having a huge impact on me is DAREDEVIL #250, "Boom." I can even recall the place where I bought it- the Plymouth Meeting Mall, and the comic I bought it with- TRANSFORMERS #36 (that godawful "Spacehikers" story, and Jose Delbo's first issue- but that's another story). Sure, it had Daredevil battling a supervillain, Bullet, but this was no simple hero-fights-a-new-bad-guy story. Bullet wasn't just a criminal, he was a government agent out to discredit environmentalists to help a chemical company win a lawsuit. Matt Murdock was trying to keep a law clinic together while working for the plaintiff on the same lawsuit. Plus, there was the story of Bullet's son, a kid obsessed with nuclear war.

"Boom" may be best known as penciler John Romita Jr.'s first issue, but to me, it was something different. And I never forgot who wrote that story: Ann Nocenti.

Starting out in Marvel Editorial in the 80's, Nocenti has to her credit a wide range of diverse titles such as MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS, KID ETERNITY, WOLVERINE, SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-WOMAN, and the graphic novel collaboration with artist John Bolton: SOMEPLACE STRANGE. But Ann is probably best known for her four-year run on the man without fear: DAREDEVIL. She also co-created two of the most offbeat characters in Marvel history, Longshot and Typhoid Mary.

Ms. Nocenti has spent the past few years outside of the comics field, and is currently editor of Scenario: The Magazine of Screenwriting Art. I recently contacted her for an brief interview; I'd like to extend my deepest thanks to Ms. Nocenti for taking the time to speak with us.

Okay, how did you "break in" to comics?

I saw an ad in the back of the Village Voice for an assistant editorial position, and when I called up, the woman wouldn't tell me what exactly the company published. Natch, I assumed that meant it must be a porn joint. At the time I was fresh out of college with a worthless fine arts degree, and was slinging cocktails at some jazz club in the city... so I wasn't exactly qualified for anything much anyway. But I had just read a Henry Miller trilogy, the one that opens something like: "33 years old, age of Christ crucified, a failure in every sense of the word" and somewhere in there Miller is looking for a job, has no qualifications, and is intimidated by NYC's tall steel towers. But one day he impulsively enters a skyscraper, takes the elevator to the top, talks a blue streak of lies to some exec in a penthouse, and (almost) gets a job. So, thinking of Miller's chutzpah, I figured what the hell, see if you can bullshit your way into a job, even if it's just writing porn. When I got to the address, the first thing I saw a giant Captain America cutout. I'd never read a super-hero comic, wasn't really sure what they were let alone know they were a rich and complex art form, but I knew I wanted to work in an office with a giant cutout like that.

So, remembering the passage in the Henry Miller book, I went into the big executive's office and talked a blue streak of lies, invoking Nietzsche, McLuhan, Warhol, and anyone else I could think of that toyed with superhumans, pop art, or visual linguistics. On the way out a very nice woman named Virginia Romita said to me: "You don't smoke, do you?" So, adding one more lie to the pile, I said no. (Winstons, pack a day). I never thought I'd hear from them, figuring my bullshit was transparent as glaze on a donut, but Jim Shooter (who interviewed me) called the next day and hired me. Who knows why, maybe he thought bullshit was the best qualification to write comic books. So, I quit smoking and hustling cocktails, and began working for Marvel Comics.

And, ironically, it was sort of a porn joint. (Only kidding)

"Cripes, man! Hookers reading bibles!
I don't want to live in this New World..."

You started out at Marvel editorial in the 80's- what was that environment like, during Jim Shooter's "legendary" reign?

Life under Shooter's reign was like life in any benevolent dictatorship. At least he had a vision and was passionate about it, and underneath him the suppressed masses had fun in their insurgency meetings, and eventual revolt that overthrew the despot. Think Castro's Cuba -the guy's been espousing free elections for what, 40 years? But damned if he'll ever allow one.

Shooter loved comics, understood them pretty well, and the basic structural storytelling principles he imposed on them were very sound, but he was so damn maniacal about imposing them he forgot, in the process, that great individual artists and storytellers rise out of breaking the form, breaking the rules in interesting ways. So, principled as he was, he failed in that he tried to force his theories on very creative people in a dogmatic, dictatorial way. It reached a point, just before his fall, when you can pick up ANY Marvel comic of that year and find the "can't/must" panel, the one he inserted into every comic, the point at which the hero pauses to say, "I can't (fill in the blank) but I must (fill in the blank).

Shooter thought this would add instant conflict to every comic produced, but those imposed panels are just tumorous growths in otherwise healthy, unconflicted stories. But, that said, he was often very brave... I remember I wanted Bill Sienkiewicz to do a series of "experimental" painted covers on the NEW MUTANTS, and he supported me on that, and in many other things I wanted to try. Anyway, since the staff was unified in their anger at his bully methods when it came to story, many days at the office were a kind of fun complicity of rebellion.

The place was packed with creative editors: Mark Gruenwald, Louise Jones, Mike Carlin, Al Milgrom, Archie Goodwin, Larry Hama, Ralph Macchio, and many others, most of them witty cut-ups and pranksters that keep the office a very lively place. Plus, Steve Ditko, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, etc. etc... All these guys would visit and tell wacky stories and you could basically get through the day without working too hard. Anyway, it was a fun era (until it wasn't) and even though, during the years I was the editor of the X-MEN and all the "mutant" books, Shooter and I fought like hell, I always respected the guy for his passion for comics. And, as it turned out, the dullsville regime that replaced him makes him look practically open-minded in comparison...

Your first comic work, as I understand it, was a rather bizarre four issue run on Spider-Woman ending in the heroine's death. What was that like, having your first ongoing assignment leading to you killing your lead character off?

It was a wacky bit of fun, but I was too new to the game to understand that killing off beloved characters is a rotten thing to do. Looking back, I guess I was hoodwinked. I think Mark Gruenwald, who was the editor of the book, might have had some kind of personal agenda going on there, but I don't what, really. Maybe I don't want to know? Well, I was glad he gave me the work, and I had fun working with him, he was a very creative guy.

Actually, that wasn't my first job, my first comic work came from Denny O'Neil. He asked me to write a story for his BIZARRE ADVENTURES mag, and I think I wrote about a guy who "chased the bitch," as they say, chased lady luck too hard in the casinos. He beat the odds, but I can't remember how it ended for him, badly I think.

Longshot- where did this guy COME from? Reading the original miniseries, it seems at first he's coming from traditional fantasy roots but later on it becomes apparent he's from something entirely different- Mojoworld, 57 channels and nothing on. Did the character evolve as you were writing him?

I don't really know the answer to that one. I never read much fantasy or sci-fi, so he didn't come from there. I think I had some kind of muddled existential idea, that the Mojoworld was a funhouse version of our own media-obsessed world, Mojo produced completely manipulated beings, drenched in the tepid lukewarm bath of "culture", and Longshot stood outside that as a blank slate that had to create himself. Like, what is a human being if you could remove him from his world? Or something like that.

I don't think any of it was very planned or conscious, I just started at page one and had fun. I do remember when I came up with the glowing eye thing. It came from a one-eyed cat I was living with at the time, and how the one eye would glint in the dark at night. I thought that was so cool and eerie, I gave it to Longshot. I remember the editors I pitched it to (Carl Potts and Louise Jones), who were just amazing, very supportive of the whole project, but Carl was like, what do you mean, his eye glows? How can that be drawn? Why does it glow? Louise Jones was more like, who cares what it means, it's cool. But it worked out in the end, since Art Adams drew it so well, no one questioned it. And it seems to have caught on, 'cause years later there were dozens of characters with one eye glowing. I do know that Longshot's odd charm and innocence came from Art Adams... from the way he interpreted and drew him. Even though the writer does all the groundwork for a new character, they really don't come alive until they're drawn, so your question about did the character evolve, the answer is yes, most strongly influenced by Art. His work on Longshot was just so damn delicious, every new page was a thrill. When he designed Ricochet Rita, and Spiral (WOW!) and that little pup, I forget what I called him, that little puppy that grew and grew! You can't imagine how wonderful it was to be working with Art Adams.

You wrote DAREDEVIL for a very long period of time, issue #236, not too long after Frank Miller's "Born Again" storyline, to issue #291, with very few breaks in between. It's rather amazing, especially when compared to today's superhero comics, how much social commentary and smarter-than-average themes you were able to cram into Daredevil, and pretty much every other superhero comic you've done. Reading "Boom" (DD #250) or "The Billion Dollar Ashtray" (DD #273) were rather eye-opening experiences at my age.

Was the impression at Marvel that since the character doesn't sell unless it's got Frank Miller's name attached, you could pretty much do whatever you want?

Those Daredevil stories were a blast to write, and I always had great artists on that book, but the stories maybe could have used more breezy fun shit and less smartypants stuff. I haven't looked at them in many years, but if I read them again today I'd probably think they had too much politics and "social commentary." I just always had a problem with how the stories in super hero comics built to a violent conflict, and that's how the stories were resolved. Real life is very complex, and the way out of a conflict is just as often not violent. So, the fights were like tumors in the story, to me. On one level the fights are what make comics exciting, since action is cinematic and flows well from panel to panel, but it gets boring to build every story that way. So I'd try to mix that up by introducing stories where the conflict wasn't just a big bad villain or a monstrous threat to the planet - it was a little more complex, so the resolution was more complex than a simple fight.

"The sky exploded!
Daddy! This is IT! The end of the world!
Daddy! That was a nuclear explosion!
Back up! Radiation's coming!"

I think maybe it worked great sometimes, like with the Bullet character and his little son Lance in the bomb shelter, but sometimes the stories were crammed with too much talky shit, and they ceased to flow like cinema. Too much Oliver Stone, not enough Kurosawa. But, the reason I was able to do those stories was that Ralph Macchio, the editor, was a smart guy who liked smart stories. He was very supportive of everything I did, and we always made sure the stories were rockin' and kick-ass enough to keep the sales healthy.

Typhoid Mary. You could argue that no one has ever created a more fully realized female villain in comics. Where did you get the first idea for the character?

I guess I was sick of the girls in comics. They were the sweet hapless girlfriends of heroes, or they were bitch queens or evil witches, or the holier-than-thou goddesses, or whatever, but they bugged me. I wanted to shatter the female, and have all the shards form one woman. So Typhoid was partly the sweet hapless Mary, but was she so hapless? She was also the queen bitch, but was it men she liked to make squirm, or the innocent Mary inside her, forced to watch and participate?

Bloody Mary was the extreme feminist, so much that it was as if she was annihilating herself. On the surface, Typhoid always related to men, had her attention on men. But really, it was a bunch of women in conversation with each other.

Anyway, any "mode" Typhoid was in was always supposed to be seen in relation to the sides that were suppressed. I tried to get you to feel the haunting, watchful, pained presence of the "others". Again, these characters were not created so consciously, but more intuitively. I'm sure a "real" feminist could rip apart Typhoid, take me to task for her. Yeah, Typhoid's over the top, but she's so much fun to write... I'd love to do another story with her someday. But who knows, maybe they've killed her off by now. I haven't really been paying attention.

"sssh. Listen."
"What are you listening for?"
"For what I know is always out there -
- human nature's dark side."

I recently came across a 1996 interview with James Romberger where he said a graphic novel project you had been collaboration with him on, JEZEBEL'S VIRTUE, had been canceled by DC before it was finished. What was this project about, and more importantly, what the hell happened to it?

JEZEBEL'S VIRTUE came out of a piece of journalism I did, about a serial killer who was killing prostitutes, but the cops didn't consider them murders worth investigating, since they were "just whores". Eventually, the guy killed an upper middle class white girl in suburbia, and only THEN did they investigate. I did a lot of research, went to PONY meetings (an organization to help prostitutes,) interviewed a lot of girls before writing the story. I think it's the best thing I ever wrote, but just when it was supposed to be published, like in 1994 or something, was when both DC and Marvel got hit with drops in sales and big cutbacks. So Jezebel's Virtue got cut along with A LOT of other stuff. As for what happened to it, it's sitting in a drawer in DC's offices, and maybe they'll print it someday, I hope so. It really is a great story.

The 1995 Typhoid miniseries was a fine comic that sadly didn't get the attention it deserved, I think. Still, it's one of the best books Marvel published in the past decade. What was the genesis of that series?

Sorta the same answer as above. The Typhoid miniseries is where I did the actual story of the prostitute killings case, whereas Jezebel's Virtue was more a "day in the life of a prostitute" tale, that used a killing as a springboard and went off in a different direction. Jezebel was inspired by some of the girls I interviewed, and the stories they told me. As for the Typhoid miniseries, that got made because Marie Javins and her assistant Polly liked the character, wanted a story, and suggested John Van Fleet once I pitched a noirish type crime tale. They were right, the mix was perfect. John is brilliant. He really understood the story and added a lot to it. My favorite, of all the great pages he drew, was the scene where Typhoid makes a cop eat his own gun. (Wow!!!) I hope to be doing a Batman/Poison Ivy series with him next year.

"I don't like men who suck lollipops"

Finally, give the viewers at home the answer we've all been waiting for: Where the heck has Ann Nocenti been and what is she doing lately?

So, since I left comics...

I was an editor on Prison Life Magazine. We published the fiction, art, and journalism of convicts, and offered an eclectic view of life "behind the walls." My first hand exposure to the US prison system was a large part of the content in the Prisoner X novel I wrote that featured X-Men. The past decade I've also written quite a bit of journalism, essays, and short stories for various mags, and also wrote a couple plays, both of which were performed, one at the Lincoln Center "Out of Doors" series. I sold a few screenplays, and then took a job as the editor of Scenario Magazine (www.scenariomag.com). For that mag, I interview directors and screenwriters. My latest film scripts, "FULL TILT" and "HOTLINE," one sold, one optioned, are both in early pre-production. I'm in the process of writing a couple Batman and Catwoman projects for DC Comics, as I still love comics.

Thanks Ann.

For those interested in seeing more of Ann's work, well, you could start a letterwriting program to Marvels Trade offices and see about getting the TYPHOID mini-series collected - if they haven't already begun to do so that is. Also coming soon: check out SOMEPLACE STRANGE over at coolbeansworld.com. ``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xINTERVIEW: ANN NOCENTI``x1003908116,1971,Industrial``x``x``xConducted by Dan Coyle``xDan Coyle is News Editor for PopImage.
All characters, titles, images mentioned or shown are copyright
and trademark their respective creators.``xE-mail Us. - Send us an e-mail, commenting on this article. ``x FADE IN:

EXT.PUMPKIN PATCH - HALLOWEEN NIGHT

SALLY
I can't BELIEVE you're doing this AGAIN!

                               LINUS
                     Quiet, Sally! You'll scare away the
                     Great Pumpkin!

                               SALLY
                     "The Great Pumpkin." "The Great
                     Pumpkin." There IS no Great Pumpkin!
                     It's just some strange ritual you go
                     through every year that oddly resembles a
                     subtle indictment of organized religion!

                               LINUS
                     NO! There IS a Great Pumpkin! And he's
                     going to fly forth from the pumpkin patch
                     and give toys to all the good little
                     children...with a little help from me!

                               SALLY
                     What do you mean? And what's with that
                     weird book you're holding, the "Nee-Kro
                     Mon-I-Khan"...?

                               LINUS
                     I found it on Amazon.com! According to
                     the site, it can summon forth ALL the
                     spirits of Halloween! Um, do you have
                     any goat's blood on you...?

SALLY
Ask Lucy.

                               LINUS
                     Oh, it'll probably work without it...now
                     to read the spell..."Dark forces beyond
                     the veil of reality...wizened spirits of
                     Astograth...executives of the NBC
                     television network...summon forth the
                     black-hearted spirit of All Hallow's Eve,
                     and let him give me candy and toys!"
                         (pause)
                     I added that last part myself.

SALLY
Look!

            The sky SPLITS OPEN! Ancient spirits scream the SCREAMS OF
           THE DAMNED! "Inside Schwartz" actually becomes WATCHABLE!
           And from the sky comes...

                               LINUS
                     It's him! It's finally him! It's the
                     Great Pumpkin!

SALLY
I don't believe it! You were RIGHT!

                               GREAT PUMPKIN
                     HA HA HA! AFTER THESE COUNTLESS
                     MILLENNIA, THE DARK LORD SAMHAIN IS FREE
                     AT LAST!

                               LINUS
                     Great Pumpkin! Down here! I never gave
                     up on you! Could I have some Jolly
                     Ranchers?

                               GREAT PUMPKIN
                     FOOLISH BLANKETED MORTAL! DO YOU
                     COMPREHEND THE AWESOME POWERS YOU HAVE
                     UNLEASHED THIS NIGHT OF INFINITE TERROR?

LINUS
Um...what about a Snickers?

FHWOOOM! The Pumpkin INCINERATES Linus with a blast of
FLAME!

SALLY
AAAAAHHHH!

                               GREAT PUMPKIN
                     I GROW WEARY OF YOU IRRITATING YET ODDLY
                     PRECOCIOUS MORTALS! I SHALL FIND OTHER
                     REALMS IN WHICH TO WREAK HAVOC!

INT.FAMILY CIRCUS - DAY

PRIEST
So why did you call me, Mr. Keane?

                               DAD
                     I think...I think my daughter may be
                     possessed.

PRIEST
What makes you say that?

BLAAAAARG! A wave of GREEN PUKE is hurled on them!

PRIEST
AAAAAAAAHHHHHH! Who did that?!

                               DOLLY
                         (tied to a bed; giggling
                          insanely)
                     Not Me...Not Me...Not Me...

DAD
Dolly! Put down that crucifix NOW!

INT.DILBERT - DAY

                               DILBERT
                         (roaming the office halls with
                          a shotgun)
                     Heh heh heh...need more toner...need more
                     toner....

                               POINTY-HAIRED BOSS
                     Dilbert! Stop that! Lunch break was
                     over ten minutes ago! You can shoot
                     people when you're OFF the clock!

INT.LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND - DAY

                               LITTLE NEMO
                     Oh! Um! What a funny dream I had! I
                     dreamt that there was a horribly burned
                     child-molester with razor fingers coming
                     after...AAAAHHHH!

                               FREDDY KRUEGER
                     Sweet dreams, kiddie. Hey, wasn't this
                     strip cancelled like a hundred years ago?

INT.FUNKY WINKERBEAN - DAY

LES
Oh no! I'm being EVICTED!

LISA
Oh no! I have CANCER! Again!

                               FUNKY
                     Oh no! I'm about to fall off the WAGON!
                     DAMN YOU GREAT PUMPKIN!!!

                               GREAT PUMPKIN
                     ACTUALLY, I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING TO YOU.
                     YOUR STRIP IS ALWAYS THIS DEPRESSING.

FUNKY
Oh, right. Got any Scotch?

INT.PEANUTS - DAY

CHARLIEBROWN and the GANG are TRICK-OR-TREATING!

                               CHARLIE BROWN
                     Why do people always give me nothing but
                     rocks?! I mean, I'm wearing a COSTUME!
                     Do they just automatically hate me for no
                     rational reason?

LUCY
Your life is so oddly existental.

SuddenlySALLY runs up!

SALLY
HELP! HELP! IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN!

LUCY
Good grief. Not this again.

CHARLIE BROWN
Sally, there's no such--

GREAT PUMPKIN
HA HA! DIE, PREMATURELY BALD MORTAL!

ZAPPPPP!!!! A BLAST knocks the Pumpkin away from the Peanuts
gang!

CHARLIE BROWN
Who did that?

                               JASON FOX
                     Oh, hey there. I'm Jason from "Fox
                     Trot." My prodigious supergenius has
                     enabled me to construct anti-pumpkin
                     weaponry to take down this demonic force!

                               LUCY
                     You know, this sort of thing never
                     happened to Calvin and Hobbes.

                               JASON FOX
                     Bad news though -- I can't hold the
                     Pumpkin off forever! If we're going to
                     take him out, we need to put out the
                     magic candle inside his pumpkin-head! If
                     only we had something we could kick up
                     there, like a football...

Everyonelooks at Charlie Brown.

CHARLIE BROWN
Ohhhhhhh no!

JASON FOX
Come on!

                               CHARLIE BROWN
                         (sighs)
                     Look, I'll kick it...but Lucy, you're
                     going to have to hold it still this time!
                     The fate of the world is in the balance!
                     You CANNOT pull away the football!

                               LUCY
                     Charlie Brown! Of COURSE I'm not going
                     to pull it away! Don't be such a
                     blockhead! Now go on and kick it!

Sheputs the football down...Charlie Brown gears up, runs...

GREAT PUMPKIN
HA HA HA! I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!

                               CHARLIE BROWN
                         (to himself)
                     Okay, this is it...got to do this...can't
                     miss...can't miss...

INT.FLAMING PITS OF TARTARUS - FIVE MINUTES LATER

                               SCHRODER
                     Lucy, you couldn't let him kick the
                     stupid ball just ONCE?

                               LUCY
                     Okay, I'm just going to admit it -- I
                     think I have a problem.

                               CHARLIE BROWN
                     WOW! This place is GREAT! For once, I
                     don't have to worry about being rejected
                     by the little red-haired girl, losing
                     baseball games, getting a kite stuck in a
                     tree or everything else in my life going
                     wrong, because I KNOW it will! I'm...I'm
                     HOME!

SALLY
Good grief.

FADEOUT.

THE END.

``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xSTARVED FOR ATTENTION: THE GREAT PUMPKIN RETURNS``x1004506471,55949,Industrial``x``x``xby Zack Smith``xZACK SMITH (zacharymsmith@hotmail.com) would like to wish everyone a happy Halloween! And special thanks to Kelley Jones for the Pumpkin art! Go read THE CRUSADES, which is a hella-creepy book, and one you should be reading! And extra special thanks to Marc McKenzie for that sweet coloring job! YAY MARC!``x ``xLocal boys make big, come on the scene with new Original Graphic Novel.

I think the most important thing, about my interview with freshman creators Marc Bryant and Malcolm 'Mal' Jones is that Marc was late getting there. It's true. Mal, in his dorm room at art school, apologized for him twice before he showed up too. Where was Marc, you might ask? Out at the movies, with his wife. And to me, that really is the most important thing about the interview. Marc and Mal have lives, interests, and influences outside of the comics industry. It's that freshness that's so readily apparent in their new graphic novel, OVERTIME. They're comic fans, sure. But Malcolm draws from a wide variety of artistic influences, from classical to commercial. And despite having read maybe ten different stories that Marc has written, not one even flirted with superheroes. They're two very unique, very fresh voices, and OVERTIME is bound to be a very auspicious debut. I'm proud to bring you this interview with two friends and to show you how two PopImage kids made good.

POPIMAGE: First off, please introduce yourselves.
Marc Bryant: I'm Marc Bryant, writer and co-creator of OVERTIME.
Mal Jones: I'm Mal Jones, artist on OVERTIME
Marc Bryant: …and co-creator.
Mal Jones: …and co-creator!
Marc Bryant: Damn straight

POPIMAGE: That's interesting that you credit Malcolm with co-creation. Originally, you had started OVERTIME with a different artist hadn't you Marc?
Marc Bryant: Yeah, a very talented guy named Sherard Jackson. He did some of the design with me, when it was still an illustrated prose story at OPI8. Now, though, its gone through so many changes, it's as much Mal's show as it is mine. With Sherard's blessing, I might add.
Mal Jones: Sherard's stuff is so lovely.

POPIMAGE: Mal, how was it for you coming into a project which had begun with a separate artist?
Mal Jones: I had no problem with it, honestly. By the time Marc and I started working together on Overtime, we had already worked together on a few shorts (Afterbirth at NextComics and Date Night which will be in Cyberosia's Revolving Hammer). So we were vibing really well and Overtime had moved from prose to sequential art and was really becoming a new beast.
Marc Bryant: Mal took to it like a fish to water. He really knew what the story needed from day one.

POPIMAGE: Tell the nice readers a little bit about how you work together. Is it full script to artwork, or a little bit of give and take?
Marc Bryant: That's part of the miracle of the internet-we both chat a LOT during the day, so I'd send bits and pieces of what some people might call 'full scripts' then we'd riff on that until we had a scene or page that we were both pleased with. I can't believe I just said 'miracle of the internet'.
Mal Jones: Yeah, Marc sends me bits and I doodle out lay outs, send them to him, he adapts the scripts, I adapt my pages. It was an evolutionary style of creation.
Marc Bryant: At this point, between what we've done, and what we're working on, we have our own little 'virtual studio'.
Mal Jones: I would say Marc and I talked for at LEAST an hour a day during Overtime's creation. It was always changing and shifting. I have piles of unused pages and sketches.
Marc Bryant: At least an hour. Usually a lot more.

POPIMAGE: Mal, you've got a really unique graphic style. Was it a challenge adapting to what Marc was looking for on Overtime?
Marc Bryant: Hahaha…
Mal Jones: Hahaha… DAMN CROWD SCENES!
Marc Bryant: See, you're getting ahead of yourself again. :-)
Mal Jones: Honestly? Yes, it was hard. Overtime was my first "major" project. It had scenes where I had to draw 100's of people. Scenes where I had to evoke mood and tone in just a few panels of talking heads. Marc was INCREDIBLY patient with me. I was truly learning on the job.
Marc Bryant: And I'm pretty 'hands off' with artists in most cases. I left him to his own devices a LOT, which may have actually been frustrating for him at times.

POPIMAGE: Marc, this will be your first big project too, won't it?
Marc Bryant: Yes. By a long shot. Not the first feature length story I've written, but the first published.

POPIMAGE: Any sense of nervousness involved in the project for either of you? This is your first shot at really putting yourself out there, one would imagine it would be a little frightening.
Marc Bryant: Not as much nervousness as I would think. I was much more nervous pitching the book, than I am seeing it published. I always figured that would be the other way around.
Mal Jones: I feel the same as Marc. I mean, it's going out there in to the world like it should. It's not a story that is meant to be hidden away in the corners of closets. It should be in shelves, in homes. That's why we made it. It's just going out to where it belongs.

POPIMAGE: So what WAS the pitch process like, guys? Long and involved, and how did you end up with Cyberosia?
Marc Bryant: I met Scott Brown, ironically enough, when I was an editor at...Pop Image! We kept in touch, and met at the SDCC in 2000. He became interested in OT when it was still at opi8. When Mal and I hooked up after Sherard moved on to other projects, Scott and Kristen REALLY got interested in it. We pitched it at San Diego this past summer and now we're just a few months from seeing it published. The pitch process was relatively painless. Cyberosia know exactly what they're looking for in a book, and part of what they want is a book that is very true to the creators' vision.
Mal Jones: Painless?? The suspense was KILLING me! I'm so impatient
Marc Bryant: Well, you're young yet… You don't know long pitch process yet junior ;-)
Mal Jones: For me the pitch process was just part of the natural progress so you could say it took 8 months to pitch the book if you wanted. Marc and I hooked up in January, got to work, finished the book in the summer, pitched it at San Diego, and bam... one year after we started we will have a book in our hands.
Marc Bryant: Pretty good turnover rate for an OGN, even a shorter one, in this day and age I'd say.

POPIMAGE: Recently there was a post at the WEF where a creator was discouraged about pitching his project, as it didn't seem to be what the industry wanted. Yours is a science-fiction, original graphic novel. Not exactly a genre or form that's setting the world on fire. Was that a concern?
Mal Jones: Hell no. A story is a story. At least from my point of view :-)
Marc Bryant: I have to agree, and really, OT is a crime comic, disguised as a sci-fi piece. We've really tried to present it as such to. As far it being an OGN, I think people like AiT/PlanetLar and Top Shelf are seeing to it that OGN's DO start a fire. At least a small one.
Mal Jones: OGN's are such a great format. They look nice on bookshelves, stand up to time better then floppies. And OT's sci-fi elements are simply a setting for it to be a good crime story, akin to the type of thing one would see on Law and Order or Homicide. So the genre worries were pretty much non-existent to me.

POPIMAGE: Can you discuss some of your individual influences? Was there anything that specifically influenced this project?
Marc Bryant: The work of people like Brian Bendis and Ed Brubaker has had a big influence on the mystery aspect of the story, at least from my perspective. I'm a big fan of shows like Homicide as well. Originally, years ago when I had the idea, it was like a road story/romance set in the present day – except for the fact that everyone was immortal, it was a bit of a slice of life type thing. That idea didn't really have legs on it.
Mal Jones: I still like that idea.
Marc Bryant: Though, and little by little, it evolved into what it is now. I honestly don't remember WHAT my influences were at the start.
Mal Jones: My influences range from Monet and Manet, the impressionist school of painting, to Dave McKean and Bill Sienkiewicz.

POPIMAGE: Were there any significant changes made to the story between it's inception at OPI8 and the Original Graphic Novel coming in January?
Mal Jones: Yeah, Marc had to deal with my fine art lovin' artistic stylin'! :-)
Marc Bryant: Not really. I was in the process of writing it, as it 'aired' at OPI8. There were a couple changes (as far as the opening), and I made significant changes to Cafferty's character, but otherwise we finished up with the story I set out to tell.

POPIMAGE: You didn't find any difference between telling the story as illustrated prose and comic format?
Marc Bryant: Well, I haven't really written much prose, but that's what Chad wanted, so I was adapting my scripting style to prose from the beginning. The transition was very smooth.

POPIMAGE: Okay. I asked this question of Warren Ellis, and I'm asking it of you. What's more important to you, creating, or creating comics?
Marc Bryant: Ultimately, its creating. But if I have my say, comics will always be where I do the most work.
Mal Jones: Creating. To me creating is essential to my life. If it is in comics, then that's awesome. If I'm creating websites, awesome. If I'm making paintings, awesome. However, that said, comics as a form is intriguing and such a challenge that I don't think I'll ever not be trying to work in them.

POPIMAGE: Marc, what's the allure of comics to you?
Marc Bryant: I really did learn to read on comics. Its so hard to say what it is that attracts me to the art form, other than sentimentality. But it is such a fresh medium, and the possibilities are endless. Its been said time and again that you have a limitless special effects budget doing comics, and that's so true. You have a better shot of getting your own ideas in front of an audience, however small, than in any other medium really. I love comics. What else can I say?

POPIMAGE: You've mentioned that you worked very closely on the net, chatting back and forth. A lot of creative teams find the internet an obstacle in their communication, difficult to really feel out the other partner. Did any of these problems plague you?
Marc Bryant: In no way whatsoever. This book couldn't have been done without the internet. Its how we met, it's how we worked together, and it played a huge part in selling the book to Cyberosia.
Mal Jones: Nah, not that I've noticed. I mean, Marc may be sitting in his castle in the backwoods of Tennessee with a shotgun for all I know ready to blow my head off for what I did to his book. But that's the price of the internet, right? Seriously, no. Without the internet, OVERTIME would not exist at all.

POPIMAGE: How DID you hook up anyway? I don't think you mentioned how Mal came to be working on the project.
Mal Jones: I honestly have no idea how we hooked up.
Marc Bryant: The best I can recall, we met in the WEF chat one night, started talking, and then exchanged AIM screen names. The whole thing went from there. We knew each other's names from the WEF anyway.
Mal Jones: It was definitely through the Warren Ellis Forum, yeah. We did Date Night and then Afterbirth, and just putzed around with a couple of projects, and suddenly we started talking about Overtime and it just came together.

POPIMAGE: What have you got coming up? Anything you can discuss?
Marc Bryant: We have a short story, DATE NIGHT, in the upcoming anthology from CYBEROSIA, REVOLVING HAMMER. I have an article in the PopImage collection from Cyberosia. I also have a short strip in the works for NextComics, a couple of projects with Mike Norton, of THE WAITING PLACE fame, and Mal and I are already starting on another OGN. The working title is HAIL SUSAN.
Mal Jones: Well, as a pair we have Date Night, a short in Cyberosia's REVOLVING HAMMER, and I did the art for another short called MOMENT OF SILENCE written by Scott O. Brown that will be in it as well. Other than that I have some things that I'm writing and drawing myself that aren't worth mentioning more then that, and HAIL SUSAN with Marc. All that plus graduating from the University of Maryland means I've got a full plate.

POPIMAGE: Speaking of OGN's, why was it important to you that OVERTIME be in this format?
Marc Bryant: The main reason for me, was for it to have more appeal to non-comics readers, and to give a longer shelf life than if it was a serialized miniseries.
Mal Jones: As a fast paced crime story, it has this pacing, this structure, that just works as one solid read. The OGN is also viewed in a COMPLETELY different light by non comic readers.

POPIMAGE: What have you read recently that's really turned your crank?
Mal Jones: Well sitting on my desk right now is NON #5 from Highwater Books, SLOW JAMS from David Choe, ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN, and the DEADENDERS trade paperback.
Marc Bryant: I've gotten into a lot more 'indie' comics lately-PISTOLWHIP and MEPHISTO and the EMPTY BOX kicked my homesick ass. I also really liked Brian Ralph's CAVE-IN and Scott Mills' BIG CLAY POT. I'm also loving everything by Brian Azzarello, most of Bendis' work, COUSCOUS EXPRESS, and, surprise surprise the whole CROSSGEN line.
Mal Jones: Indie books eh, Marc? You've been hanging with me too much.
Marc Bryant: Please, I was reading comics when you were an itch in your daddy's rosy palm.

POPIMAGE: Crossgen, really? What do you like about it?
Mal Jones: I always enjoy the WAITING PLACE, the AiT/PlanetLAR series... my tastes are VERY wide so it's hard to really pick what I like a lot. Plus I haven't gotten new books in ages, so...
Marc Bryant: I like the fact that the CG books are first and foremost about the STORY, not the creators, not a franchise, not the company. About telling a good story. And the production values are top notch.

POPIMAGE: Interesting. OVERTIME is sci-fi/crime. What kinds of genres are you interested in working in? Anything in particular?
Mal Jones: Quirky Slice of Life. Anything really. EXCEPT superheroes.... at least not ones that wear tights. It's not that I'm this big ANTI superhero guy... I just don't enjoy drawing the damn things.
Marc Bryant: Right now, I'm leaning towards stories that fall outside of your usual genres. I'm interested in stuff like the Cohen Brothers do, or Wes (RUSHMORE) Anderson. Quirky, funny character stories, with a lot of suspense, and a lot of heart. Though I'm not above the occasional car chase. ;-)

POPIMAGE: Hypothetical: Marvel Comics comes to you tomorrow and asks you if you're interested in working with them. What would the answer be?
Mal Jones: Sure, why not, right? Marvel, no matter what anyone says about them, is a beast in the world of Comic Making. If they were willing to let me loose on one of their properties I would be too curious to say no.
Marc Bryant: My answer would be a resounding yes. The Marvel characters mean a lot to me, on a sentimental level, and I couldn't pass up my shot to make my mark on them, however insignificant. Plus, doing a Marvel book would put my name out there and help me build a following in a way most independent projects never could. If I could bring 20,000 people to something like OVERTIME by writing SPIDER-MAN, I would in a second.
Mal Jones: Of course, I'm going to do my best to bring 20,000 people to Overtime anyway, of course. I mean, come on, Jim Mahfood is doing the Fantastic Four! That's just smooth …

POPIMAGE: What do you think is the most important challenge facing the industry today?
Marc Bryant: Getting new readers, which ideally means creating books that can hold their own against other mediums, and creating the means to promote those books.
Mal Jones: The perception the "mainstream" has upon on comics. I mean, that's the problem right there... the fact that I have to refer to those that don't read comics as the mainstream. Comics are making headway in that area, but they still have a long way to go I think.
Marc Bryant: Can I add here, that Mal and I like working together so much, that we've formed an official partnership? It's called Overtime Comics, naturally enough, and we'll be launching the site soon. We intend to always be working on something. It's not a publishing venture, but its a creative partnership, that will inform and support everything we do creatively-together, separately, or with other creators.

POPIMAGE: What would be your dream project?
Marc Bryant: My dream project would be a feature length graphic novel, something like FROM HELL, published and distributed in the mainstream book trade, in hardcover and in color. Owned by myself and my collaborator of course.
Mal Jones: I don't have one, honestly. Any project that forces me to learn and adapt and grow as an artist is a "dream" to me. I'm not in comics for the money, heh. I'm in it for the craft.

PopImage would like to thank Marc and Mal for consenting to this interview. Just a reminder to check out their comparitively inexpensive Original Graphic Novel OVERTIME in January. For more on the series, please visit http://www.overtimecomics.com or the publisher's website at http://www.cyberosia.com .

``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xINTERVIEW: MARC BRYANT AND MAL JONES``x1004506971,92880,Industrial``x``x``xConducted by Christopher Butcher``xChristopher Butcher is Assistant Editor of PopImage.``x ``x

FELON #1
Writer: Greg Rucka
Pencils: Matthew Clark
Inks: Ray Snyder
Eight Issue Mini. Minotaur/Top Cow/Image 2001
$2.95

FELON is the second release from Top Cow’s new Minotaur imprint and follows the newly released Cassiday, out of prison and going after what is owed to her. She’s a con woman of obvious skill and Rucka does a great job of showing us this. My beef with FELON is that it stinks of a Top Cow book. The art work, while tightly following Rucka’s pacing seems very ‘1997’ in its composition. The storytelling is sloppy at times, leaving you with indiscernible panels at times. The colouring doesn’t help too much either as it carries the TC ‘House’ tinge to it. It’s earthy and muddy and draws a very heavy feel to it. I doubt I’d pick up another issue, but it might work for HardCore fans of Rucka’s crime work. (BD)

FOUR WOMEN #1
Writer/Artist: Sam Kieth
Additional Inks: Jim Sinclair
Five issue miniseries Homage/Wildstorm/DC 2001
$2.95

I’ve never really been a fan of Sam Keith’s work, but I usually find him interesting enough to at least give everything a shot. FOUR WOMEN is his most recent work since last year’s ZERO GIRL, also published by Wildstorm. FW follows, you guessed it, Four Women on the way to a reception and is narrated by one of the Women, Donna, as she explains the story to a now-anonymous outside person. The story is mostly the women sharing stories and talking in the car ride as they head to their predetermined destination. The thing is, though, it’s really quite boring. I actually put the book down a few times only to come back to it later because I couldn’t take it in one sitting. I had a lot of trouble getting into the characters. The issue ends with a horrific tragedy framed with panicked dialogue and subtle artwork. I just didn’t care terribly much. (BD)

NOBLE CAUSES #1
Writer: Jay Faerber
Penciler: Billy Dallas Patton (I), Patrick Gleason (II)
Inker: Damon Hacker (I), John Wycough (II)
One-Shot
Image 2001
$2.95

Jay Faerber has finally made his way into the realm of creator-owned books with NOBLE CAUSES, a soap opera-esque book about a dysfunctional family of super-heroes immersed in the public eye. I respect Jay as a creator for his integrity and professionalism, and I generally enjoy his work so I thought I’d give him the much deserved shot. The script comes across as a bit trite at times, but he’s doing something new and finding his niche. He’s taken a big step and one in the right direction. The book is structured in two different parts; one with the main story and the second with a small back story that fills in obvious blanks. The characters are pretty straightforward and the artwork is cartoony with a tinge of flash to it. As the series progresses this could turn into a top-notch book. I’m enjoying it so far. (BD)

JOKER: THE LAST LAUGH #1
Writers: Chuck Dixon and Scotty Beatty
Penciler: Pete Woods
Inker: Andrew Pepoy
DC Comics
$2.95

There's been a lot of flack about this crossover around the internet; frankly, I've never been so into comics that I cared enough. I bought the first issue to check it out and my purchasing it or any other will be based on its quality. As much as I've enjoyed Joker in movies and a few comics (THE KILLING JOKEis essential reading for any comic fan in my opinion); I'm not a huge fan. So convincing me to read a mini series about a near-death Joker who is looking to go out with a bang is an uphill battle. Writers Dixon and Beatty are still a long way from the top with me.

While there is a nice B-plot with Nightwing and Oracle on a well-scripted date, the actual story of Joker turning everyone else into joker-type people really doesn't enthuse me. Pete Wood's art is nice for the regular humans, but not nearly menacing enough for the Joker - a character I've found best depicted as a mix of cartoonish elements and horrific undertones. But cover artist Brian Bolland has it down; this story would have benefited from his work in the interior art. All in all, there isn't much to get worked up here one way or another. And I'm not going to buy issue two. (MS)

ICEMAN: ICONS #1
Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Aritst: Karl Kerschl
Marvel Comics
$2.50

Iceman's a interesting character to me; one I found myself a fan of for no reason I can place. Puns about his coolness aside, he's usually a well-written minor character; plenty of funny lines, but not much to him when you get down to it. I suppose this comic, if it has a purpose besides just selling more books to X-MEN fans, is to add some substance to the character.

Interestingly, we find this character already with more background than I realized; this issue follows Iceman's trip to Hong Kong to visit a son he's fathered with a woman there. I must admit this is far from anything I would have expected for an Iceman mini, and the end result is fairly satisfying. Still, the book follows the rather unpleasant recent trend of starting mini-series with an issue that sets up everything, with little of anything aside from exposition, then throws the reader an exciting last page to get you to buy the next issue. Yeah, it makes you want to read issue two, but I paid money to get a good story now, not in a month. So while I am intrigued by the last page of ICEMAN, I wish that the rest of the pages had had that much energy to them.

I did enjoy the art by Karl Kerschl, whose work I am unfamiliar with. His slightly manga-influenced style (jeez, is every artist right now "slightly manga influenced?") works well with the book's tone and is well complimented by a clear and clean coloring style. (MS)

DOOM PATROL #1
Writer: John Arcudi
Artist: Tan Eng Huat
DC Comics
$2.50

The cover of DOOM PATROL #1 volume whatever (three at least, I think) is a close-up of good old Robotman with a disgusted look on his face, the reflections of the rest of a new team shining on his forehead. A thought bubble reads, "We're doomed." Prophetic words indeed. I don't know how long this book can last in this state.

While I've read and admired Grant Morrison's early run on the book (collected in the trade CRAWLING FROM THE WRECKAGE), I've never been so attached to it that I couldn't imagine reading and enjoying a new version of the team. And John Arcudi is a writer whose work has really worked for me on a few occasions. Here, we get a new team, including old Cliff Steele, who wind up together after a few twists of fate. Along the way there is humor (none of it as funny as any issue of BARRY WEEN for example), and a little bit of rather lame super-hero action. I don't quite know what I was wanting out of this book, other than to be reasonably entertained. And I was not. It all felt rather tame and weak. I have little invested in these new characters, and there was little reason given why I should start caring about them. Art by newcomer Tan Eng Huat is not particularly exciting, but it does match the tone of the book well. If this book is to survive, I think it needs to get bigger and smarter, and give us a reason why we should care about these goofy characters who aren't all that funny. (MS)

``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xFIRST IMPRESSIONS``x1004507673,12327,Reviews``x``x``xAll reviews this time by Brian Domingos (BD) and Matt Singer (MS). ``xFIRST IMPRESSIONS runs every other week at PopImage.com. All artwork copyright it's respective owners and creators, used for purposes of review. ``x ``xReality, dream, god, redemption, love, tragedy, universal truths, Sinatra and more. You can't chat with J.M. DeMatteis without mentioning these.

From SPECTRE to SUPERGIRL to BATMAN, these are just some of the projects he is currently developing. Read ahead, maybe you'll learn something.

I see Spectre has a strong sense of family, do you feel your own experiences as a family man has had a strong baring on your recent writing? One minute you're reading Alice in Wonderland to your kids, the next you find yourself inspired to write a whole new arc.

All my experiences feed into my work; but, of course, my family being such an intimate part of my life, they can't help but have a profound influence. I'm sure there are aspects of my relationship with my daughter in Hal's relationship with Helen (not that I'm doing it very consciously).

Joker. Our Worlds at war. Do you find big inter-company crossovers have a negative effect on your storylines? Interrupting set plans with special tie-in issues and so forth?

To be honest, I've always HATED these Big Crossovers. Find them nothing but an annoyance. That said, I always try to do my best to come up with as good a story as I can within the context I'm presented with. But, if I had a choice, I would NEVER participate in these things.

Speaking of Joker, I know you're a Batman fan - but I see Joker as a particular constant with you. Do you feel you're drawn more towards the chaos in characters?

The Joker is one of those incredibly fascinating characters... perhaps because we don't really know who he is or what made him into the lunatic we so love and fear. He could have been any of us before he snapped. Yes, as you note, there's a chaos in the Joker... and it's a chaos we all have within us.

My four-parter "Going Sane," which ran in LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT about nine or ten years ago, remains perhaps the best super-hero story I've ever done - and it's because I got to explore the Joker's psyche in a whole new way.

All that said, I think over-exposure can beat any character into the ground... and I hope the Joker gets a rest when this current crossover is finished.

I see you've got a new LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT arc starting up, and from the description it seems sort of like Robin vs. Kathie Lee. Could you tell us a little about the story?

"Grimm" is set in the early days of Robin's career... Dick Grayson's a pretty innocent, inexperienced kid, still in awe and, yes, a little frightened of Batman. The villain of the piece is Mother Grimm: a throw-back (at least initially) to the more innocent, less psychotic villains of the 60's. The whole story has a Dickensian feeling. Oliver Twist in tights. My main goal with this one was simply to have some fun. Nothing earth-shaking here... just a good, solid story. Trevor Von Eden did the pencils. The amazing Garcia-Lopez did the inks.

Also coming up is the Batman Hardcover ABSOLUTION. Knowing you the title alone is interesting enough to make me want to hear more. Could you share with us the story? Has an artist been chosen as of yet?

ABSOLUTION is the opposite end of the spectrum from "Grimm." It's a very realistic story... no costumed characters other than Batman himself.... that begins a decade ago with the bombing of Bruce Wayne's office building by a left-wing terrorist group. The story follows Batman's pursuit of the woman behind the bombing... and it takes him around the world... ultimately to India, where what he finds is not at all what he expected.
The question at the heart of the story is: Can a man truly atone for his horrendous deeds? Can he balance out the evil that he's done by acts of compassion? (This, of course, is also the primary theme of Hal Jordan's quest in SPECTRE.)

The fully-painted art is by a newcomer named Brian Ashmore. I think he's about two-thirds of the way done with the book by now. No release date set... and given current events, I have a feeling DC might wait a little longer than planned to put it out.

Understood. It is a little eerie how so many themes in comicdom draw parallel to recent events. It should be known that this story was in development before the events of September 11th.

Speaking of Hardcovers. They're beautiful. Look nice on your shelf. And are terribly expensive. Do you see the growing abundance of Hard Cover exclusive stories a good idea or are the increasing HC books maybe a bit too much all at once?

I love the format. For something like WILLWORLD, where Seth Fisher's art really deserved a superb presentation, I thought it was totally appropriate. At the same time, I agree with you: That's a lot of money to dish out... and I think the high price may just limit sales in an ever-shrinking marketplace. At the same time, I think these kinds of items, placed in bookstores (as opposed to comics shops), and promoted properly, will do very well. So perhaps a soft-cover version for the direct market and a hardcover for the bookstores...?

What made you decide to have the narrative of Monsieur Stigmonus interact directly with the audience? I feel almost drawn to the theatrical sense of drama.

I love Monsieur Stigmonus. He's one of those characters who just came alive on the page. So, really, I didn't decide anything: he did. That device just suited his personality perfectly. I look forward to bringing him back in Year Two of THE SPECTRE.

Was there any specific influence for the character? When I say theatrical I can't help but relate Stigmonus to the old melodramatic villains that would turn his head to the audience or lean downstage and explain his evil plans. Encouraging boos and waxing mischievous moustaches.

I was looking for a character who would inject some energy into the book. An opponent who would be, in all ways the philosophical and moral opposite of the Spectre, and yet who would have real depth and be interesting, colourful, chaotic. When I was doing MAN-THING at Marvel, I (with brilliant visual help from Liam Sharp) created a character called Mr. Termineus, who had many of these qualities. I decided to come up with a character who would be, let's say Termineus's distant cousin, living in the DC Universe. And starting from that, Stigmonus began to take on a life of his own.

Speaking of which... Do you ever intend on maintaining certain patterns in your work. The relation between characters such as Stigmonus in SPECTRE and Mr. Termineus in MAN-THING for instance. Both visually similar, both strongly connected to a child.

Yes, all the work connects up. Old themes re-emerge. Old characters find new forms. I think most writers, artists, and musicians have certain themes and ideas that obsess them. We're all trying to tell our story, sing our song, and constantly refining it, trying to get at it in new ways. I think that you have to look at any artist's work as one piece. I certainly look at mine that way.

How would you describe SPECTRE to new readers? See, I don't think of it as a DC Heroes book, and it's not a Vertigo book. It's something in between. Between the super-hero and the unnatural, and 'Supernatural' is just too easy and answer.

How to describe SPECTRE? Supernatural? Super-Hero? New Age? Dark Fantasy? It really does depend on the issue, doesn't it? In the coming months, the book is going to veer off even more into different directions. We've got a Christmas issue that features Santa Claus, Charles Dickens, and Ebenezer Scrooge, another issue that will be presented as prose accompanied by illustrations, another in which the Spectre doesn't even appear until the end of the story. Then we're going off into space for something a little more (excuse the expression) comic-booky. Spaceships and aliens and strange new worlds. So we're trying different things.

At its core, it's the theme of the book that matters, I think: Hal's search for redemption-and hope-for himself... and for the world. It's a theme that's become even more powerful, and poignant, in light of recent events.

Considering we create our own heaven and hell, is Hal Jordan's quest for redemption even necessary? If he need only to discover the power to redeem within, can he continue his outward quest for long, and if he were to find redemption would he continue as the Spectre despite it?

I think you've hit on something very important: Hal himself has to totally believe he has redeemed himself in order for his personal mission to be fulfilled. (Just as Abin Sur had to realize that he no longer needed to be in a Hell of his own making in SPECTRE #9.) It's not really God Hal's waiting for. God, I believe, is far more forgiving than we are.

And, even if Hal does achieve it-or realize that it's already there-there's still his broader mission in the world: helping us, as a race, realize what he is in the process of realizing. Where will it end? Well, I could see Hal coming to the end of his quest and having someone else take over the role of Spirit of Redemption. Or he could finally divest himself of his Hal-ness... evolve... and stay the Spectre for thousands of years. This is the kind of book that can go off in any direction-and that's the fun of it.

Heh. Even in one's own spiritual quest. You're your own worst critic. Speaking of the book's evolution into any number of directions, do you see yourself as staying on for long as possible or could you see yourself one day passing on the title to another?

I have no clue. I've been working in this business long enough to know that something could happen tomorrow and I could find myself booted off the book. Or I might suddenly decide that I've said whatever I need to say via this character and his world and quit. Or I'll find myself so filled with story ideas that I'll stay for three years. Or I'll PLAN to stay for three years and the book will be cancelled. You never know.

Now I came on this book without reading the LEGENDS OF THE DCU arc which preceded it. I feel I can read it well enough without having read those issues, but there are numerous references to the events carried out therein. Should readers use the LEGENDS OF THE DCU arc as a jumping on point before coming to the series? Any set plans for trade paper back collections of the LEGENDS OF THE DCU stories or the first few issues of SPECTRE?

No plans for a trade paperback of the Zulli-illustrated stories from LOTDCU. I think it's helpful to have read it, but the book has been moving along under its own power long enough that a new reader doesn't need to have seen those stories. I think, when the previous stories are referenced, we make things pretty clear.

I see Ryan Sook has come into some extra work recently, is he set for the series as far as future issues go? I also see Craig Hamilton is back for another guest spot, any chances on his filling the role of 'official' fill in artist or does DC have plans for him?

Craig Hamilton is our official fill-in guy. And he's done-and is doing-an incredible job. His work on SPECTRE #14, an interesting piece about a vampire, is his best yet. Blows away his previous issues.

As for Ryan, who quickly became one of my All Time Favorite Collaborators, I'm sorry to say that SPECTRE #13 will be his final issue. Happily, it's also his best issue... and the story just may be our best so far. It really breaks my heart to see him go. We had such a terrific time working together. But he had an offer he couldn't refuse and, really, that's the nature of the business.

Norm Breyfogle (of Batman fame) has signed on to do the arc after Craig's vampire story... and I hope he'll be sticking around for a while after that. His work is very different than Ryan's: Norm brings a new kind of energy to the book. He is extremely passionate about what he does... and it shows on the page.

Might that last issue of Ryan's be the prose issue?

Yes. SPECTRE #13 will be Ryan's last and that's our prose/illustrations issue. I'm extremely happy with the way it's turned out.

Do you ever find you adapt a script to fit a certain artists strengths. Maybe even something as small as a location, or certain symbols.

As I get more comfortable with an artist, I find I can trust them more. Once I knew what Ryan Sook was capable of, I knew I could push things as far as I wanted. That he would "get" what I was saying and not just visualize it but embellish and expand it.

Craig, too, is an extremely creative artist and I love his way of interpreting a story.

But I think that, rather than tailoring the story toward an artist's particular strengths, what happens is that, as I get to know what first-rate artists like Ryan and Craig are capable of, I relax and just push the borders outward, knowing that they'll be able to do whatever I ask... and then some.

That said, the final issue of Spectre was very much tailored to Ryan. I had discussed the story and my ideas about it with him and, based on that, he did a cover. One look at the cover (which I think is one of the best comic book covers I've ever seen) and I knew just how the story should be told. The cover gave me the method of telling the story.

Something similar happened years ago with Jon J Muth on MOONSHADOW.

We had discussed the story, he read my original outline, and then he showed up at my house with these wonderful Dickensian sketches. Looking at his visual interpretation of my ideas I suddenly understood how I should tell the story. His visuals gave me Moonshadow's voice. And that's the great joy of collaboration, isn't it? Writers and artists inspiring each other, pushing each other's comfort zones so that they'll try new things, discover new ways of telling the tale.

If reality is a dream, how would you envision your dreamer? Or your dream for that matter?

That question requires a book to really answer it; but I will say that, based on my own experiences (and all of this is so totally personal; everyone has to come up with their own answers), there's only One Dreamer and that's God... Who doesn't just dream all of us, but, like a writer getting profoundly involved in one of his stories, becomes all of us.

Now we all have different conceptions of God/The Dreamer and I tend to relate to the more personal aspects: Divine Incarnations like Rama, Jesus, Buddha and, above all, Meher Baba (and their female counterparts). In my experience, in my dream, what it all seems to come down to, no matter what spiritual/religious tradition one comes from, is Love. The universe may be an illusion, but Love is the Reality that binds the Dream and the Dreamer-that binds all of us-and makes our lives truly worth living.

That's the short answer, anyway. (Maybe I'd better get going on that book!)

Since each individual has the ability to shape dream/reality, will the Spectre then be drawn into particular individuals dreams of reality?

We touched on that at the end of the Stigmonus storyline... with Stigmonus being so rooted in his dream/worldview that he was literally incapable of seeing the other, more hopeful, universe Spectre was trying to show him... and we've touched on it, thematically, in the whole series. But a story that addresses that issue so directly is actually an intriguing idea. Maybe we'll do it.

HaHa! Of course once he gets stuck in one dream he may very well be pulled into others, and once you actually exist within a dream how could you NOT question reality? Also, think about dream as a whole other realm. If dreams exist on a separate plane, then do dreams continue to exist once the dreamer passes away? But then that's a whole other book isn't it?

Yeah. But (in my experience) it's not just about dreams. It's about the REALITY underlying the dream, connecting up all the dream-universes of the individual dreamers. And that Reality is God (the Original Dreamer. The Dreamer in all dreamers). And, to very loosely paraphrase Meher Baba, the reason why God dreamed all of these universes, dreamed all of us, into being... is so that the Love that He Is can have expression.

But then, that's a whole other book, too!

Last we talked Swamp Thing was brought up as a possible guest appearance and having just recently read the latest trade, the idea of 'What is evil' was brought up...

"Aphid eats leaf. Ladybug eats aphid. Soil absorbs dead ladybug. Plant feeds upon soil...
is aphid evil? Is ladybug evil? Is soil evil?
Where is evil, in all the wood?"

Alan Moore: BOOK 4 - A MURDER OF CROWS

...An idea crucial to the role of the Spectre. Have any Yin Yang conundrums popped up in writing this series?

Isn't the whole universe-on one level, at least-just one big "Yin Yang conundrum"? How could that not be reflected in anyone's writing? The whole Stigmonus storyline was certainly a Yin Yang ballet.

What I was thinking was also in terms of the Spectres quest. He who is intent on stopping evil and rectifying wrong. How does he decide on what is and isn't evil? Especially if evil doesn't exist? But then that's a whole other book isn't it? [I think that'll be my new mantra]

The Spectre's quest has become less and less one of seeking out evil. I'd say that the Spectre is not an anti-evil force, but A PRO-MERCY FORCE. Remember, he is no longer the Spirit of Wrath, he is the Spirit of Redemption. So the Spectre isn't intent on punishing/ending evil, he is intent on opening the doorway into good that exists in each soul. (But of course all of this is still a little confusing for Hal Jordan. It is for me, too!)

Have the obsessive Hal Jordan fans of the world been beating down your door over the series yet? "Hal wouldn't say that! He doesn't look right! He should use a giant mouse trap!"

I think there are quite a few old-time Hal Jordan fans out there who really hate the idea of Hal as the Spectre and no matter what we do, they're not gonna like it. But really, this isn't the Hal Jordan they knew. This is someone who went mad, went bad, died and was reborn in a new role, a new life. You can't expect him to be the same.

That said, I understand how they feel. As a reader, I never particularly liked the idea of Hal going nuts and becoming a murderer and I sometimes think the new Spectre would have been better served-and more warmly welcomed-with a brand new character instead of an old and beloved one. Still, I LOVE writing the character; Hal's been one of my favourites since I was a kid, and I think his journey is fascinating and opens up many wonderful story possibilities in all corners of the DCU. And I am extremely pleased with the way the book's been evolving.

Just so long as you weren't one of the people sending Kevin Dooley death threats.

Also upcoming is your SPECTRE: SOUL WAR story. Will this be a Hardcover as well? Knowing the OLD Spectre character, I'd guess this would be about judgement upon the heroes, but with the new direction I'm curious as to where this will lead. Can you tell us a little about it?

SOUL WAR is a Spectre-JLA story about an alien invasion of Earth; but, unlike the invasions we usually see, this one isn't on the physical plane: it's on the level of human consciousness.

Character-wise, the story explains the often strained relationship between the Spectre and his former partners in the JLA, with a special focus on the Hal-Batman relationship.

And, yes, it's another 96 page hardcover. Daryl Banks is the artist.

Now, are you a big fan of adversity? I've noticed in works like SPECTRE and GREEN LANTERN: WILLWORLD that just upon a moment of achievement or understanding there will be some obstacle that pops up to shoot them down, making them to start all over again. To forcefully change their way of thinking. Is this part of a mischievous sense of humour or perhaps your own technique for a more entertaining story?

Well, no story's gonna work without adversity. There has to be SOMETHING for the protagonist to push against... even if it's just that his feet are swollen and he can't get his shoes on in the morning. But more than being a fan of adversity, I'm a fan of the human spirit that can re-perceive adversity as a gift. The ability to come up against something that seems awful beyond words and use it to unfold psychologically and spiritually into something absolutely joyful.

Considering your work on books like SPECTRE and the SUPERGIRL: WINGS GN, have you been doing much research in terms of religious views and the mythology of Heaven and Hell, God and the devil? I see classic archetypal projections, such as the image of a snake have been showing up.

My relationship with-for lack of a better phrase-the Spiritual Reality has been at the core of my life, the hub around which everything else in my life turns, since I was seventeen years old: I couldn't keep it out of my work if I tried. So I guess living life is the real research.

"When I was seventeen... it was a very good year..."

One of your recent one-shots SUPERMAN WHERE IS THY STING [excellent] dealt with, amongst other things, Superman dealing with survivors guilt. A very interesting take on the complexities of Kal-El's psyche, I was wondering if this action was inspired by any specific person/people?

I just know-from my own personal experience and observation of other people-that children take on whatever's around them. If they're in an abusive situation, a traumatic situation, that makes them feel lost and powerless, they create guilt, a sense of responsibility: "It's MY fault. I caused this to happen!" In a warped way, by taking on the responsibility they are giving themselves a sense of power. (If you caused this nightmare, you must be very powerful indeed.) It's a method of psychological survival. But, once you're out of the situation, it's an utterly useless method and we have to grow beyond it.

As for Superman, what excited me was the fact that no one had ever thought of this before. Survivor's guilt is a fairly common thing in traumatic events. It wasn't a huge leap to think of the sole survivor of a doomed planet sitting on a toxic waste-dump of guilt. And I think it worked very nicely in the story. It gave us a new angle on Superman's psyche.

Can you tell us a little about your upcoming KANSAS SIGHTING GN? "It was a weather balloon! I swear!"

I've been fascinated by the UFO phenomenon for some time... especially the work of researchers like Kenneth Ring and John Mack who look at the UFO experience from a perspective of altered states of consciousness.

A few years ago, I was working on a Superman story and got to wondering who, other than the Kents, saw a UFO the night Kal-El came to Earth? Maybe that sighting has become legend in UFO circles? And maybe that rocket from Krypton wasn't the first one Jor-El sent? (Would you just blast your son off to another world without sending a few probes first?) And what if Superman himself was abducted by entities that were far, far different than the usual comic book space visitors?

Anyway, those thoughts led to THE KANSAS SIGHTING. I'm writing the first issue now (it'll be two 64 pagers), Jamie Tolagson is illustrating it, and I think it's going to be terrific, providing us with another, very different, take on Superman. But don't expect till 2003!

In stores as of October 10th is also the aforementioned SUPERGIRL: WINGS one-shot. Following an angel that has lost her way in her mission of caring for human souls. Wanting to disassociate from humanity, she is taken down a road of self-discovery that ultimately brings her closer to one soul than any other, that of Linda Danvers. Now I'm unfamiliar with Supergirl, is she an angel as well, what exactly is going on there? Why did you choose Supergirl to headline this story, as opposed to say, Zauriel, Superman or Aquaman who also make appearances but not in the leading roles.

I chose Supergirl for a very simple reason: The editor asked me to do a Supergirl Elseworlds! I wasn't all that familiar with the current version of the character (although I later read quite a few issues and have to say I was very impressed with Peter David's work on the book) before tackling this project; but when the editor suggested a story in which Supergirl was a literal angel (as opposed to the quasi-angelic superhero she is in the monthly), I got very intrigued and signed on.

The good news is you don't have to know ANYTHING about Supergirl to pick up WINGS. It is a complete, stand-alone story that has nothing to do with current continuity. Yes, we get to play with the DCU and see familiar characters in unfamiliar roles (Batman shows up as Satan himself, Aquaman is the literal Lord of the Oceans)-but it's the kind of tale you can just pick up and read without being burdened by years of back-story. I just got my copies this week and I think the book is quite lovely. Jamie Tolagson's artwork is elegant and truly magical. (Which is why I grabbed him for THE KANSAS SIGHTING.)

Now you're a New York boy, I hope you're well. Hope you and your family are well. Were you far enough from the towers to be safe? Have you made plans to address the tragedy in your writing or your music anytime in the near future?

Although I grew up in New York (Brooklyn, to be precise) and have lived in Manhattan, I now live a hundred or so miles away from the City... but I still have friends and family there so the whole thing was fairly traumatic. As for addressing the tragedy in my writing, I've signed on to do a story for DC's benefit book and that provides a wonderful outlet for my thoughts and feelings. And I'm sure these events will colour everyone's work in the days and months ahead.

As a music man yourself, what have you been listening to lately?

As I write this it's John Lennon's birthday (October 9) and I'm listening to lots of Lennon's solo work, which remains some of my favorite music of all time. Other things I've been enjoying? I've been on a World Music kick this year and (among other things) I've been listening to Krishna Das, Lama Gyurme & Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Jai Uttal, Tulku. But I really like all kinds of music, from the Beatles to Radiohead to Sinatra to Prokoviev.

Also in the works is J.M.'s ABADAZAD, a sort of contemporary Oz piece, an original graphic novel specifically aimed at a younger audience.

What can you tell us about ABADAZAD? Have any confirmations been made yet? I know you're interested in doing comics centered towards the children market, but rather then the comics industry why not take your books directly to other book publishers such as Scholastic? Wouldn't you have a better chance of reaching a wider audience that way, or are you just adamant about making a children's comic work?

No, I'm not at all adamant about only doing these stories in comic book format. I've completed one manuscript for a short children's book which my agent now has... and I am not adverse to doing something like ABADAZAD (or the equivalent) as a novel. In fact, I'm going to have to because it means so much to me.

But, as I've said before, I do feel that it's important for the comic book business to get its collective head out of its collective butt and start doing material that is accessible to younger readers. And I think ABADAZAD would be perfect. Michael Lark has expressed interest in illustrating the story, Joey Cavaliere wants to edit it, and, at the moment, we're waiting for Michael to finish up a project. When he gets close, the "official" proposal will go in to the Powers That Be at DC. So we'll see.

What about cross-promoting. Doing the story as a cartoon or movie simultaneously as a comic series or children's book?

Yes, I have considered that. I am STILL considering that.

In SUPERMAN WHERE IS THY STING you wrote about the mind and how it's not simply confined to one's head.

"Every cell in our bodies resonates with memories... intelligence.
Every atom of our being holds clues to who and what we are."

Which reminded me of something I once scribbled down about how our molecules are windows into other dimensions. Do you subscribe to the theory of a universe within? Power within ones self is obvious, but creation?

I guess I'd say that we're not just a PART of the universe (or universes) but we quite literally ARE THE UNIVERSE. I recently took a six day Qi Healing workshop with a seventy-three year old Chinese Master and the way he began each meditation was by saying: "You are universe... universe is you." I don't believe that's metaphorical. I believe that's the literal truth. The difference, as Meher Baba once noted, is in the states of consciousness. What we are (or aren't) AWARE of. It's one thing to say you're the universe, another to be that statement. And live from that truth.

Other then all mentioned, plug section. Plug away for all and everything you want.

Nothing to plug, really. Although I always encourage people to go to amazon.com's music section and buy lots and lots of copies of my CD, "How Many Lifetimes?".

Thanks to J.M. for taking the time to talk with us, and special thanks to J.M. for being an ever interesting interviewee.

For those who haven't yet discovered SPECTRE, keep your eyes open for a nice jumping on point in the months ahead. December's issue [#12] will be apart of DC's FULL COVERAGE month wherein the majority of it's titles will be tailored as entry point issues for new readers, all featuring specialty designed cover art. It's also a Christmas story, or as the solicitation reads:

"The Spectre of Christmas." The Phantom Stranger! Santa! Charles Dickens! Guest stars don't get any bigger than this. Our own friendly ghost joins in the ultimate team-up, as Hal Jordan takes on an evil Scrooge hell-bent on the destruction of Christmas, and ultimately, the hopes and dreams of all humanity. The Spectre must face demonic gargoyles and a blood-thirsty Victorian mob in order to save the world from an encroaching storm of darkness and despair!

And in January look for Ryan Sook's last issue with SPECTRE 13. A prose issue with detailed illustrations, which should be worth picking up for those reasons alone. Then in the following months, Craig Hamilton fills in, followed by a story arc featuring the work of Norm Breyfogle. So check it out, or if you're looking for a good self-contained story be sure to pick up the SUPERMAN: WHERE IS THY STING [featuring the best artwork Liam Sharp has done for years] and SUPERGIRL: WINGS prestige format one-shots, in stores now.

``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xINTERVIEW: J.M. DeMATTEIS: UPDATED``x1004508551,51852,Industrial``x``x``xConducted by Jonathan Ellis``xJonathan Ellis is Interviews Editor for PopImage.``xDC Comics.com - DC Comics Online..
FEATURE: The Will Behind WILLWORLD - Seth Fisher explains his artistic process regarding the GREEN LANTERN: WILLWORLD HC.
J.M. DeMatteis INTERVIEW - Read the J.M. DeMatteis interview from January 2001
E-mail Us. - Send us an e-mail, commenting on this article.
``xThere used to be a joint in Northampton, Massachusetts called The Words & Pictures Museum. Run by Kitchen Sink Press, if you walked in on the ground floor it was a small comic book store, but it really looked more like a gift store than your typical longbox back issue garage. The upper floors were an art museum. I have sat here for fifteen minutes and tried to remember the many and varied works that I studied and peered at and had to be told to stop smudging my nose on by the cute NoHo girl who worked there. There were too many to recall.

The remarkable, standout piece of the permanent collection -- a phrase that chimes with sad irony -- was a page from Eclipse Books’ “M”, illustrated by Jon J. Muth and based on Fritz Lang’s film.

The image was remarkable in that it possessed no storytelling in a comic book manner. It told a story the way that the “Pieta” or “A Study in Blue and Grey” tell stories. The great masters of portraiture and Realism painted pictures that held a scale that exceeded that which was constrained within the frame. The emotions of the people portrayed and the atmosphere of the surroundings provided a scope that was far wider than the segment that had been articulated with such detail and expression. Muth’s page had all of the grandeur and subtlety that one associated with grand masters, yet it was a two panel page, essentially repeating the same image.

Why was this image so effective? Muth’s skill at painting the solid shades of the human form without a single hard outline were fantastically real and tangible. And the simple repetition of the image made ones eyes flick from one to the other, seeing the additional details in the room, trying to divine the role of and relation with the second character that appeared in the second frame. It became, like most fine art, a work of audience interpretation, and intimate relationship between artist and audience with the image as the complex game of cipher between them.

When I read “M”, I passed right by the image without recognizing it. I read all four issues, realized I hadn’t seen it, and had to go back, page by page, until I found it hidden between pages 38 and 40 of the first issue.

How is it that the page could have left such a vivid impression on me while I was in The Words & Pictures Museum, but upon reading it, I would not have even recognized it? The key word to the answer is in the question: “reading”. I did not recognize the page because it became subservient to the words.

The juxtaposition of words and images is a strange, arranged marriage. Once a person learns how to read, one is unable to see a word as its individual component letters. The associative meaning for the word supplants its physical construction. When this word is seen in the future, it is not read, it is recognized, and the brain skips straight ahead to the associations. It is only in rare occurrences that one experiences a moment of ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD-like confusion where “all of a sudden you haven’t the faintest idea how to spell the word ‘wife’-or ‘house’-because when you write it down you just can’t remember having ever seen those letters in that order before” (Stoppard, p38).

The viewing of visual art is a completely different mental process, and there is no true juxtaposition of these two neural routes; one activity must submerge to the other, and reading will almost always take precedent.

And word balloons over painted artwork are perhaps the least juxtaposed of any two elements in a comic book. Again, when a page is painted as Muth does, with no solid outlines, a word balloon with its flat white background and clearly delineated border sits on top of the art, rendering it flat where the color and shading had attempted the illusion of depth. Jeff Smith is printing the word balloons in ROSE with a semi-translucency, so that the combination is not so jarring. Marvel Comics went a different route, adding visuals to the word balloons. Characters like Wolverine and the Thing now “speak” with a distinct font, attempting to provide visual cues as to what the voices must sound like, and adding an artistic dimension to the dialogue. A misguided attempt, perhaps, but a natural side-effect of having fun while messing about with computer-generated lettering.

Marvel is about to host an “event” in all of its ongoing series titles. Christened with a phrase that pays homage to one of Marvel’s most fervent creators, the comics giant is presenting a month of entirely wordless comics under the banner title of ‘NUFF SAID. Ignoring the trite title, this event is not necessarily a bad thing. It has the potential to showcase what comics aficionados have been crying from the rooftops for years now.

I ask you, what term is synonymous with “children’s book”? The answer: “picture book.” I have clear memories of being taught at some time in childhood that all children must put books that used both pictures and words behind them. Pictures were a crutch, training wheels that must be abandoned. This cultural slight against pictorial storytelling has withstood detailed examinations of Neal Adam’s artwork, where he composes not just individual panels, but the entire layout of a page as a giant picture. Scott McCloud’s lengthy chapter detailing the genetic ancestors of the contemporary comic would not sway the popular opinion that comics are a cheap entertainment for kids.

The feeling is that the word is always paramount. Clich�s like “a picture is worth a thousand words” may come all too quickly to one’s lips in response... but you will notice that said platitude is composed of words. This mistrust of the communicative power of words is behind the practice of redundant captions that has existed almost as long as comics as we know them (“The occupants of the car are shaken out --” ACTION COMICS #1, panel 66, 1938).

A month of silent storytelling from the most well-known comic publisher in the country does not actually stand a chance of successfully demonstrating that stories can be told wordlessly, in pictures, with as much eloquence as a prose passage. The stories, after all, will still be the superhero tales that one has come to expect from Marvel Comics. Just because a storytelling technique has been ordered from on high does not mean that the tales being told will also suddenly be revolutionized.

However, when asked to pick top five comics of 1999 for an article in THE COMICS JOURNAL (#220, Feb. 2000), contributor David A. Beron� named only wordless comics. Co managing Editor Eric Evans and writer Bart Beaty later singled out ALINE ET LES AUTRES by Guy Del�sle for his skill at wordless communication. Silent storytelling is noticed, and it is noticed as exceptional.

Not to continually jump all over Marvel, but the so-called “Marvel Style” of comic scripting may be largely responsible for the dearth of pictures without additional narrative. The Marvel Style, it has been explained to me, runs thusly: an outline of the plot and action is written and sent to the artist. The artist then breaks down the action into panels and pages, and returns it to the writer. The writer then creates dialogue to fit within the panels provided.

The natural result of this technique is too much exposition. The Marvel Style produces wordy comics, because the writer inherently doesn’t trust that the plot, as he scripted it, can be told through a visual narrative. So each panel is then filled with redundant dialogue and captions in order to make the author feel secure that a) the storyline is obvious to all, and b) he has had the final word.

I don’t have the ability to fully delve into all of the examples of comics that have attempted to vary the balance and explore the verity of the “juxtaposition” of images and text. However, I encourage you to read the following, if only to explore the dynamic yourself.

In 1979, EPIC comics published the first volume of ALFRED BESTER’S “THE STARS MY DESTINATION”, adapted for comics by Howard Chaykin and Byron Preiss. The second volume was never published independently, but in 1992, EPIC republished the first part along with the previously unseen second half in one complete volume.
Chaykin does some amazing visual gymnastics in order to break up the prose so that it relates specifically to certain panels. His layouts are far more mathematical than anything he attempted in AMERICAN FLAGG, and are -- by and large -- successful. Note the changes from prose dialogue to screenplay format and back again.

Cyberosia Publishing has just recently printed FRIGHTENING CURVES by Antony Johnston and Aman Chaudhary. Again, the text switches between prose and screenplay format -- what is so compelling about paring one’s writing down to nothing but dialogue? -- but there is an organized method here, as opposed to Chaykin and Preiss’s more haphazard transitions.
FRIGHTENING CURVES runs 128 pages, with a font size of 10 and some of the most cramped line spacing I’ve ever seen. There is a lavish illustration by Chaudhary approximately every third page. My cynical instinct is that if the font were any larger, or the spacing more relaxed, the pictures would appear more along the lines of every fifth or sixth page, and the balance of words and text would seem... off.

Brian Michael Bendis is perhaps the most verbose comics writer around. He is not held in disdain for this trait, it is not deemed a flaw, because it is all naturalistic dialogue. If he succumbed to the lure of vast amounts of inner dialogue in floating square captions, it would not be excusable.
The GOLDFISH collection published by Image Comics in 1998 ends with an eight page prose story featuring the title character. Bendis is exceptional, however. He also switches from word balloons and pictures to nearly six pages of straight dialogue without illustration during the central confrontation between the two main characters. He knows how to use white space and large amounts of solid black in his illustration. He organizes space much in the way that Chaykin does: layout is just as much a part of the vocabulary of the story as the words and images are themselves.

Additional Reading: Any Paradox Press BIG BOOK, THE BOGIE MAN by John Wagner and Alan Grant, KRAZY KAT by George Herriman, CAGES by Dave McKean, and THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley.

``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xSUBSPECIES: Prose, part 2``x1004510072,2724,Upfront``x``x``xby Benjamin Russell``xBenjamin Russell was geek enough to dress as King Mob for Hallowe'en. He scrupulously avoided mention of the fact that THE INVISIBLES were a revolutionary terrorist cell. He is also the Columns Editor for PopImage.``xThe Words & Pictures VIRTUAL Museum ``x By Harvey Kurtzman
Denis Kitchen Publishing
Hardcover
$25

Ok. So I was thinking about genius the other day.

Will Eisner, Jack Davis, Jack Kirby, Art Speigleman, Lou Fine, Will Elder…and Harvey Kurtzman.

THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANT is a lost gem that hasn't seen print for over forty years and, as it stands, produced at the peak of Kurtzman's creativity. How can I describe the fluidity of Kurtzman's lines? The beauty of his watercolors? The changing of colors with the changing seasons?

Genius.

I had already viewed a sampling of the book back in April at the Pittsburgh Comicon where the honorable Denis Kitchen had set up a booth right next to us, the CBLDF. I carefully looked through each page and knew that I had to get a hold of it before it disappeared into obscurity, like so many of the classics do today. And now I hold it in my hot little hands. I giggle in joy at viewing this masterpiece of comic storytelling. But there's a back-story. Yes, there's more here than a simple tale of a Grasshopper and an Ant. There's an underlying tale of philosophy and life; and of the 60's "Beatnik Philosophy."

By the time 1960 rolled around Kurtzman was very much down on his luck. He had spent a lot of time with avant guard artistes and thinkers such as Lenny Bruce and Shel Silverstein. He very much wanted to be an artiste. He even shaved his head and posed barefoot for a professional photo shoot. He was drawn to the beat lifestyle. He exemplified the non-conformist: The Grasshopper.

At the same time Kurtzman was a very hard worker. He labored over every piece of work he did from his attic studio. His supported a wife and four children. He had a mortgage. He had responsibilities. He was the Ant.

These forces met at constant struggling points which never resolved themselves. Hence the creation of this book. And what a book. By today's standards his brush and watercolor technique might be deemed crude. But Kurtzman's style was purely his own and here, he was at the top of his form. Everything comes through clear and distinct in a format deserving of the tale.

THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANT appeared only one time before the publication of this book: in the May 1960 issue of Esquire. At the time, Roger Price, a popular satirist in his own right, said he liked THE GRASSHOPPER but the illegibility of the format distracted him from its greatness. Well, Roger, here in high resolution is THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANT, pure and unblemished in it's re-telling.

This book, while a little expensive, is well worth the money. I feel honored to have this little book in my hands.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xTHE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANT``x1004512743,1455,Reviews``x``x``xReview by Marc Deering``xMarc Deering is a regular contributor to PopImage ``x ``x"You wish for interview, no? Hmmm...

...an opportunity to warp tender young minds with impressive story of evil lifestyle...

...a little something for the future henchmen and goons, perhaps?"

That little tidbit comes courtesy of the current JETCAT CLUBHOUSE series available now from Oni Press. For those unfamiliar, Jay Stephens grew up in the not so quaint suburbs filling his days doodling away with images of bloody wolverine claws and daydreaming on fields of grass of the day he could exploit his cute little insomnia inspired creations into truckloads of cash. The trucks got stuck on the highway so Jay had some time while anticipating their arrival to share a few words with us.

PopImage: Now one of the things I want to know is, how do you go from Sir John A McDonald to having, what, half a dozen animation deals going on?

Jay: It's amazing what you can accomplish when you set out to prove your junior high school classmates were idiots.

Last we talked you mentioned selling your X-MEN comics for drug money. Exactly how many grams does the Dark Phoenix Saga go for?

At some point in my sixteenth year, it hit me. I could keep spending cash on slowly rotting paper products, or party with my girlfriend. My priorities have been straight ever since. Only difference now is that I have my own comics to peddle!

Although your work is primarily rooted in the indy scene, your name pops up every so often with titles such as THE INVISIBLES and ALIENS. How did you first get involved with the big name companies?

It's all a kind of "WHO YOU KNOW" scene, really. All the indy editors, creators and fans end up at major publishers eventually. It's gravitational. But INVISIBLES and ALIENS aren't mainstream. 30,000 copies isn't mainstream, it's underground! NICKELODEON MAGAZINE and CHICKADEE... NOW THAT'S MAINSTREAM.

I know many in the indy field sometimes get angered over certain creators going mainstream, I mean the nerve of some cartoonists wanting to make a living, do you ever feel certain talent don't belong doing work in the mainstream market?

Um, well, I just declared that there wasn't any such thing as "MAINSTREAM" comics, didn't I? But, really, the popular comics are in a constant state of flux, just as all pop culture is. Today's underground is tomorrows mainstream. That's just as true for comics as it is for music, film, fashion, and everything else.

How has reaction been from your strip in CHICKADEE magazine? A kids magazine, but with sales records most comic creators would whore themselves for.

Yeah. It rocks. Some months we get around a hundred letters from fans. All kids aged 6-9. Who says kids aren't reading comics anymore? They're just not reading piece-of-crap comic books.

Would you ever consider publishing your books through Scholastic to get them in the hands of more younger readers?

I've done work for the magazine in the past. NICKELODEON and OWL also do some publishing outside of their ongoing magazines... it's a matter of time, really.

What is it about the all ages and young readers markets that appeals to you?

One thing that keeps coming up in discussions about the rotten state of the industry, is that there's an obvious lack of 'entry level' comics. The kind of comics that get young readers excited, and make them into life long comic book readers. Apparently, I'm the only guy in the whole business who took this seriously.

ATOMIC CITY TALES, which was really your break out series gave nods to titles like the old FANTASTIC FOUR and EC Horror books. Any plans to do another series in the same style?

Hell, yes! Oni [Press] will be reprinting the first ATOMIC CITY TALES collection in April 2002, with the second collection following soon after. And parts of the MADMAN/JETCAT project will be in that style, too. There are more plans for ATOMIC CITY projects that are still in developmental stages, as well.

There wouldn't happen to be ANOTHER animation deal planned for ATOMIC CITY TALES as well, would there?

Naw... that would be ostentatious.

Your work has been described as having that Saturday morning cartoon feel - what cartoons were your faves growing up? What shows are you watching now?

I watched way too much TV as a kid. MIGHTY MOUSE, TOM AND JERRY, the bulk of HANNA-BARBERRA, ASTRO BOY, and the old FLEISHER CARTOONS... Boy, those were the days. Nowadays I'm stuck watching stuff that my three-year-old daughter watches. ARTHUR's not so bad, actually. From what I do catch, I like TEACHER'S PET, FUTURAMA, MOUSEWORKS, and all of Bruce Timm's junk.

Ever a big fan of those old books - Mr. Happy, Mr. Snow, etc?

Not really. My daughter has a bunch of those 'Mr. Men' books. I was more of a BARBAPAPA kind of guy.

Monkeys. Cute chaos. Everyone likes monkeys. You have theories on this, lets hear them.

You know that our smiles and laughter evolved out of the simian response to fear... chattering and bearing teeth. Presumably, fear and insecurity are at the root of everything humans find humourous.

Wow. What an intelligent and thoughtful response. Did you read that in TIME or something?

My cousin's a monkey.

How did MADMAN/JETCAT come about? What will be the premise behind the series?

I'm not telling yet! It's really good and I don't want to spoil it. Doc Allred and I have been itching to jam for a while, and this seemed like the right moment.

You've got tons of collections coming up from Oni [Press] - how did you get involved with them and what are the current plans for the collections?

I'd known ONI editor Jamie Rich at DARK HORSE (See? It's all who you know) and liked some of the new books they were putting out. I basically pitched them the JETCAT CLUBHOUSE book over the table at San Diego. I've never been happier with a publisher (Though I guess that's not saying much, considering how often I've been screwed!), and I'm thrilled about having all my collections at a single publisher. The ODDVILLE reprint is due in January, ATOMIC CITY TALES-1 in April, JETCAT CLUBHOUSE in August, and ATOMIC CITY TALES-2 in October!

What inspirationed you to create characters like Jetcat and Space Ape?

Joy. Insomnia. Maybe both.

The Martian Manhunter used to have a little orange alien sidekick which you recently submitted a pitch to revive. Could you tell us a little about that?

Yeah, ZOOK. When writer Jean-Marc L'officier and I proposed a new ZOOK book to DC, they looked at us like we were heretics! They'd rather everyone forgot that a Pidgin-English speaking, interdimensional orange imp ever happened, I think. Just mentioning the name makes them throw you out on the street! I noticed Evan Dorkin was able to sneak ZOOK cameos into the BIZARRO book...
They probably haven't noticed yet.

And what about plans for a Bat-mite book? Maybe in the same vein of the recent Bizarro book?

I was happy to draw Batmite for a few panels of Dorkin's WORLD'S FUNNEST, but I doubt the opportunity till arise again anytime soon. DC has no sense of humour. Teeth firmly shrouded in lip at all times. Despite the constant moaning and groaning about how fewer and fewer people are reading comics...

Any confirmation on plans to work on Daniel Breretons NOCTURNALS: THE HIDEOUS LEAGUE?

Nope. I'd love to work with Dan on those characters again (we got really good feedback from their first appearance in NOCTURNALS: THE TROLL BRIDGE), but my calender is full for the time being.

What advice, if any, would you give to those trying to make it in the Biz today?

Don't even bother unless you love the art form so much that you have no other choice. It's harsh... but the rewards are there if you can manage to hang in for the long term. I seriously recommend trying everything else... illustration, mural painting, animation, graphic design, children's books, tattooing... before succumbing to comics.

What comic titles are you reading now?

DRAWN AND QUARTERLY, STRAY BULLETS/MURDER ME DEAD, LOVE AND ROCKETS, THB, SOF'BOY, HELLBOY, EIGHTBALL, NEW X-MEN, SUGAR BOOGER, PALOOKAVILLE, TOM STRONG, everything by Jim Woodring, Lewis Trondheim, Darwyn Cooke, Julie Doucet, and Joaan Sfar, MONKEYSUIT, X-FORCE, Rocco Vargas, geez... I could go on forever!

Comics journalism, in any form, how important is it?

Eight out of ten.

Finish these sentences;
Right now, in the industry we need more... Talent.
and less... hype.
and the weirdest thing anyone ever asked me to draw was... your momma.

Of course you can't leave without plugging. Plugging everything you can.

Plug. Plug. Plug...

Plug.

OK. 2002 will see four TPB's of mine published through ONI Press. If you didn't catch 'em the first time, you should pick up ODDVILLE! (JAN.), GO POWER!, THE COMPLETE ATOMIC CITY TALES VOL.1 (APRIL), and THE LAND OF NOD TREASURY (which is out now).

And there's even a couple of books for established Stephens sympathizers, the JETCAT CLUBHOUSE collection in August, and the long awaited SECOND ATOMIC CITY COLLECTION coming next fall. For the young and/or curious, CHICK AND DEE continues monthly in CHICKADEE MAGAZINE, With occasional digest-sized specials with more comics, puzzles and games. All this junk is detailed and linked on my website Jay Stephens.com, so check it out.

Thanks Jay.``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xINTERVIEW: JAY STEPHENS``x1005105910,82677,Industrial``x``x``xConducted by Jonathan Ellis``xJonathan Ellis is Interviews Editor for PopImage.
All characters, titles, images mentioned or shown are copyright
and trademark their respective creators.``xE-mail Us. - Send us an e-mail, commenting on this article. ``xFor diehard speedfreaks only
Written by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn
Art by Oscar Jimenez, Jim Cheung, Anthony Castrillo and Sergio Cariello
168 page trade paperback
DC Comics
$14.95 US

Two words, right up front: don’t bother. Not unless you’re completely au fait with FLASH continuity. Since this follows on from a previous collection, DEAD HEAT (wherein Wally West – a.k.a. the Flash, the fastest man alive – defeated a self-proclaimed ‘god of speed’ named Savitar). Opening to the beginning of this volume is akin to walking in halfway through a movie. To wit:

� You’re utterly lost…not unlike the title character, bouncing through the timestream for a goodly part of the story.

� You’re baffled by the inconsistent art – Jimenez is at the top of his game, but Cheung’s proto-manga stylings underwhelm; Castrillo’s uncanny resemblance to early John Byrne borders on plagiarism; and Cariello turns in a lacklustre effort come the book’s climax.

� You’re confused by the aforesaid time-travel story line. If you don’t get the references, you miss out. Truth be told, you’re only seeing a glimpse of a long-range plot.

True, the dialogue snaps and the character interplay is fleshed out nicely, but it’s all for naught if you don’t care for the players. If you don’t know one Flash from another – and there are quite a few running through this book – then stay away.

NEUTRAL
``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xFLASH: RACE AGAINST TIME``x1005112414,36200,Reviews``x``x``xReviewed by Brent A. Keane``xBrent A. Keane has done his dash. Now he’s tired and wants to rest…``x ``x

Rediscovering the ronin rabbit!

by Stan Sakai
Trade paperback
Fantagraphics
$14.95

I should be smacked. Really. See, I was just getting into comics when the "Black & White" explosion hit comics. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, Hamster Vice, Eclipse Comics, First Comics, all of them. I was there when they hit. Except I missed USAGI YOJIMBO. Oh, I saw it on the shelf, but I missed it. I'm paying for that mistake now, as I try to hunt down all the trades and spend a fortune on trying to read the entire series to date. Much to Stan's delight.

At the Pittsburgh Comicon 2001 this past April I found the first volume of the series at the Fantagraphics table. (Hehe, as a side note, Augie and I were fighting over who would buy it first and get to read it. You can see who won now, right?) Anyway.

I met Stan Sakai at last years' EXPO in Bethesda, MD, came across VOLUME #1 and haven't stopped loving it since.

VOLUME #1 is great. Stan sets up a character and world rich with history and culture. It's like walking in on an epic and watching it unfold before your eyes. Stan's art starts off very basic. That's not a bad thing, it's just that if you look at the earlier Usagi and compare it to the more recent stuff, you can see a big difference in the style of his art and the grace of his page layouts.

VOL. 1 is a great introduction to the character. Usagi is a wandering ronin, or masterless samurai, seeking shelter for the night. A lonely old woman takes him in and relates the story of a goblin terrorizing people in the nearby mountain. Usagi confronts the goblin but the story ends with a twist that you don't see coming. The first story shows you a hardened samurai sticking to the code of Bushido through even the toughest situations. More stories ensue and you are introduced to a wide variety of characters including Gennosuke, a character that still in comic to this day. The two stories featuring Genn are the funniest I've read in Usagi Yojimbo.

Overall, this is a series I'm very sorry I missed out on all those years ago. I am a huge fan of Fuedal Japan and the history involved in that era. If you are a fan of LONE WOLF & CUB this is a series to pick up. It has the same feeling that LW&C gives off. I highly recommend this series and with #50 on it's way, it should be a great jumping-on point for everyone else. Beautiful stuff.

Go. Buy it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xUSAGI YOJIMBO VOL. #1``x1005113045,29906,Reviews``x``x``xReviewed by Marc Deering``xMarc Deering is a regular contributor to PopImage .``x ``x Hello, and welcome to the Previews Review! January is customarily a slow month for comics solicitations, though you wouldn't know it from the several high-profile projects and great new books being offered! And where are they being offered, you might ask? Why, in Diamond Comics Distributors' PREVIEWS magazine, available at finer comic shops everywhere (or online at here at PopImage). With me as always in italics is my co-host, Scott Grunewald.
For a slow month, this issue of Previews was certainly packed with some cool stuff. If I were to list everything I'm pre-ordering this month we'd end up with a 10 page article.

Luckily, you didn't. I think we should be spared from any more of you're whoring for THOR'S HAMMER or STARBLAZERS merchandise.

You know that when I get my God Pheonix you'll be first in line to touch it. Go on, touch my God Phoenix, touch it, love it...

Why do we do the Previews Review? Simply, to promote good comics, and to encourage you as a consumer to pre-order your comics from your local comic shop (or mail order service). The Previews Review is grass-roots activism for positive change, so make sure that you're out there pre-ordering every month! Whether that's by doing a regular pull list or handing in an order thirty days, it really is important. Anyhow, on with the review!

9-11: EMERGENCY RELIEF
by Various
$14.95, b&w, 128 pages, Page 216, Alternative Comics,

Chris's Pick of the Month.

There are two very good things about this book. The first? All of the proceeds from it's sale are set to be donated to the American Red Cross. The second? It is a collection of some of the most gifted writers, artists, and storytellers in the comics industry, under one volume. The list of names is huge, and impressive, coming from all corners of the comics industry (and you can find the complete list of contributors here.) In advance of the book making it's appearance, Dean Haspiel's short story name has been posted in it's entirety at comicbookresources.com. If all of the stories included are as gripping and powerful, it may well be the best book published in 2002. Also of note to PopImage readers, Steve Stegelin will have a two page BOONDOGGLE short included.

The outpouring of support for the victims of the September 11th tragedy has been simply inspiring. I counted no less that four high profile releases solicited this month, each committed to giving all of the profits to the Red Cross and other related charities. The comic industry may have a lot of problems right now, but charity and kindness is not one of them. Bravo to all of you who participated in this book.

Scott's Pick of the Month

BATMAN: THE TEN CENT ADVENTURE
By Greg Rucka, Rick Burchett & Klaus Janson
$.10, FC, 32pg, page 77, DC, NOV010553

This stunt can't come at a better time than now. Greg Rucka has transformed Batman into the hard-boiled crime comic that it should have always been. Batman has never been about being a superhero. He doesn't have super powers or a magic ring, he has a brilliant mind and a body pushed to its limits. Greg Rucka understands that and has boiled the character down to his basics. I've been touting the Batman books for a while now, and I'm hoping this 10-Cent adventure opens the excellent books up to a wider audience.

This is the best thing ever. A full issue of Batman. For ten cents. I hope every retailer out there is ordering a minimum of one hundred of these, and hopefully a full thousand. And then, I hope they take advantage of the opportunity to hand these out to every single person that even steps inside the doors of their store. And then I hope that they've ordered a significant number of the follow-up issues to this story, and have a good number of BATMAN trade paperbacks on the racks as well. Most notably the newer stuff like Greg Rucka's DETECTIVE run, DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and STRIKES AGAIN by Frank Miller, etc. And then, I hope those retailers stock other works by the Batman creators. Like WHITEOUT and SIN CITY and 300 etc. Because this is a real opportunity to open up comic stores (not to mention the industry) to the general public. Let's take it.

It's even cheap enough that retailers can afford to give it away with each purchase.

FRIGHTENING CURVES PRINT SET
Art by Aman Chaudhary, designed by Antony Johnston
$49.99, Full Colour, 6 gorgeous prints, Page 406, Cyberosia Press, NOV

As the admittedly biased description above says, these are gorgeous pieces of artwork. Six super-high-quality prints on glossy stock. Not only suitable for framing, but worth showing off to every visitor who enters your home, apartment, or laboratory. Sure, they're expensive, but quality costs. And these are high quality. Honestly, they're really attractive, and hey, you deserve them :).

I've seen the prints at this past San Diego Comic Convention and can attest to their quality and beauty. Would it shock you to find out that it wasn't paint that brought those images to life but rather a loose pencil sketch and PhotoShop? Aman is the newest in a recent string of artists forgoing standard pencil, ink, or paintbrush techniques for the computer. Traditionalists be damned, it takes an artist to make a computer program sing like Aman does.

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA VOLUME 1 TP
by Chiho Saito
$15.95, b&w, 200 pages, Page 308, Viz Communications, NOV

For some reason, this book was solicited again this month (it was one I talked up quite a bit in the last Previews Review). Just in case this is the real solicitation and last month's was an error, I'd like to remind you to order it. UTENA is really, really freaking weird. I just want to re-iterate that. I just finished watching UTENA: THE MOVIE last night, and it's really tripped-out and beautiful. It features some strangely non-linear storytelling, undefined gender roles, all sorts of great stuff. This isn't the book you think it is. Give it a shot.

ISLAND VOLUME 1 POCKET MIXX TP
by In-Wan Youn & Kyung-Il Yang
$14.95, b&w, 168 pages, Page 308, Tokyopop,

I'm really torn about ISLAND. It's a really pretty series, being one of the few translated Korean books on the market. The art is very fresh and sexy, and gruesome when it needs to be. The concept and the story too, are lots of fun; A rich/bitch girl goes to teach on an island off the coast of Korea to learn a little humility, where she is promptly stalked by a serial killer. That's not the worst of it though, because there are also ancient demons out to get her (who will do much worse than the killer), so she hires the serial killer to destroy all the monsters, at $10,000 a pop. So it's sex and death, the key ingredients for any good horror story. What really bugs me though, is that this volume is pretty much a straight translation from Korean, with little to no re-writing. The translation is laughably bad, and is actively detrimental to the story. In fact, the first time I read the book I threw it down in disgust, and it's only after re-reading that I began to appreciate it. Although this problem will be fixed for future volumes, this one is the real introduction to the stories. So I can only give it, at best, a very cautious recommendation. If you think the terrible sub-titles and dubbing of old Kung Fu Films is hilarious and appealing, you'll have no problem here. If not? Stay far, far away.

All your serial killers are belong to us!

Did I do that joke last time? :)

AKIKO VOLUME 5 TP
by Mark Crilley
$12.95, b&w, 112 pages, Page 302, Sirius Entertainment,

Akiko is a wonderful all-ages book that has recently made the leap to mass-market distribution novels (which are selling quite well, by all accounts). It's another of those examples of the comic industry not getting it while the mainstream does. Buck the trend! Pick up this, the newest volume of AKIKO! (I haven't read the stories in volume 5 yet, but the first three volumes are just brilliant.)

I'm hoping Akiko's success is the mass-market will do one of two things. Either wake up creators of all-ages comics to the fact that the Direct Market has neither the ability, nor desire to sell comics to young girls. Or maybe, even better, prove to the Direct Market that the success of books like Sailor Moon and Powerpuff Girls is not a fluke, and that girls will buy comics if you order and sell them.

Nah. Girls don't like comics, silly. "If it's not for a twelve year old boy, it's not a comic book." Oh well.

BUNNY TOWN #1
by Will Allison
$2.99, b&w, 32 pages, Page 299, Radio Comics

"Fans of Johnny and Lenore should love the dark, gothic humor; and fans of Lortnoc will not want to miss this serving of Hello Kitty- style cuteness, warped by the darkest of evil!" I'm beginning to think that the work of Jhonen Vasquez is almost it's own genre now. It's a little bit sick. On the other hand, Will Allison did the under-appreciated PERVERT CLUB, and that buys a lot of credibility in my book.

Will Allison does good comics. PERVERT CLUB was a hell of a lot of fun and It's a shame that it's not around anymore. Count me in for whatever he has lined up next.

POPBOT #1
By Ashley Wood
$7.99, b&w, 48pg, page 286, Idea & Design Works, NOV012419

I'm biased in favour of people who use orange intelligently in their Previews advertisements. What can I say, I'm easy? It helps that this comic is described as "Dadaist", and it's by the very talented Ashley Wood. I'd even recommend it if it wasn't so expensive. $8 for a b&w 48 page book? Pass.

Granted, it's pricey, but sometimes you have to pay more for beautiful things. I'm going to give the book a chance to grab me.

BIPOLAR #2
By Tomar & Assof Hanuka & Etgar Keret
$2.95, b&w, 36pg, page 279, Five O'Clock Shadow, NOV012385

I picked Bipolar #1 blindly, and was very surprised at it's quality. It was clever, well written and had nice art, all for three bucks. I wish all the comics sold would offer as much.

WHITE RAIN #1
by Yoshitoshi ABe
$3.50, b&w, 40 pages, Page 276, Fanboy Comics,

Second time is the charm? This is re-solicited after, you know, not coming out for some reason. So, in the spirit of re-solicitation, here is my exact hype for WHITE RAIN #1 from last March's Previews Review:

"Yoshitoshi ABe is brilliant. I fawned over his haunting, beautiful work enough [on his awesome book ESSENCE]. Suffice to say it's still haunting and beautiful, but now it will be in a beautiful comic book. WHITE RAIN is creepy, SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN- like science fiction, created entirely from pencils and zipatone. I'm so very happy to see this coming to print. Order two. One for yourself, and one for a friend."

I'm still trying to figure out if the spelling of his last name is a typo that stuck, or pretension. :)

STRAY BULLETS #23
By David Lapham
$3.50, b&w, 32pg, page 274, El Capitan, NOV012358

David Lapham's crime stories do something to you when you read them. You can almost smell the blood rising from the page and hear the screams of its characters (Who will, almost inevitably be screaming at some point). His stories aren't scary, at least not in the conventional sense, but they're shocking in their brutality and truth. These aren't the heroic tales of a stern PI tracking down a perp; these are the dirty little stories that most writers are afraid to write. They're stories about sweaty sex, violent death, consuming greed, and the cold sting of betrayal. They're stories about love, hope, hatred and loss. They're the stories that fall between the cracks and get ignored. STRAY BULLETS is back. Hold onto something.

Hey look, Stray Bullets is back! A book that is probably entirely unique in the comic industry, STRAY BULLETS rocketed to fame for it's hard-edged noir ideals and brilliant, cinematic storytelling. After a less-than-favourably-received dalliance with the MURDER ME DEAD limited series, the incredibly talented Lapham returns to his (in my opinion) best creation.

While I'll admit to liking his short, brutal stories more than his book length tale's, MURDER ME DEAD was a damn good read and a lot of reviewers were overly harsh with it.

I think it suffered from the fact that it wasn't Stray Bullets, personally. I mean, it's one thing to put out a bad comic, but I saw some surprisingly harsh reactions to MURDER ME DEAD. I guess I'll find out the real story when the trade paperback shows up in December.

JACK STAFF VOLUME 1: YESTERDAY'S HEROES TP
by Paul Grist
$15.95, b&w, 112 pages, Page 267, Dancing Elephant Press, NOV

Don't know who Paul Grist is? He's a British creator who has worked on scads of books over his esteemed career. What's he best known for? Most likely it's his noir detective series KANE, stories of Star City police officers. It's really quite good, and you should order it. So what's JACK STAFF then? That's his better selling pulps 'n' superheroes story, in which a forgotten hero from the 1920's is on the run for a crime he didn't commit, aided and abetted by all manner of heroes, robots, and more. Make sure it's on your order form.

OVERTIME
By Marc Bryant & Mal Jones
$9.95, b&w, 76pg, page266, Cyberosia Publishing, NOV012303

Local boys make good. While it might be a little bit suspect of me to be recommending it, seeing as Cyberosia is also publishing the PopImage book this spring and Marc and Mal are friends of mine, I would honestly be recommending it anyhow. I've read the first several pages of it online, discussed the plot with Marc, and seen a bunch of the concept art (not to mention the brilliant Brian Wood cover). This is going to be a great original graphic novel with good production design and at a decent price. Honest recommendation, pick it up.

I've had the pleasure of reading the whole script, and of seeing most of the finished art and bias or not, this is a fantastic book. It's a Sci-Fi book that defies the rules of Sci-Fi and it's a police drama that fits comfortably inside, but isn't defined by, police drama conventions. Marc and Mal have created a unique and enjoyable comic that uses the Graphic Novel form to its fullest. Don't believe me? Fine, go check out the downloadable preview at www.cyberosia.com/OTpreview.pdf

STRANGE KILLINGS #1
By Warren Ellis & Mike Wolfer
$3.50, b&w, 32pg, Page 230, Avatar Press, NOV012165

Bolstered by the strength of the sick and twisted Stranger Kisses, I'm rather looking forward to this newest 'Strange' mini-series.

I don't really have anything to add to this, except to say that a trade paperback collection is imminent. I can't see any advantage to
buying it serially.

THE WAITING PLACE #12
By Sean McKeever, Mike Norton & Jeffrey Linke
$4.95, b&w, 48pg, Page 220, Slave Labor Graphics, NOV012119

This is the final issue of Sean McKeever's THE WAITING PLACE. I was actually flipping through some early issues of the series earlier this month, and I was sort of saddened. McKeever originally envisioned the book as having "seasons", sort of like a television show. With this, the end of the series, I feel a sense of loss. TWP is an enjoyable book, with great characterization, solid art, and engaging stories. The comic industry is poorer for it's absence. Congrats on a great run, guys.

Earlier, I was speaking a little about books that the Direct Market doesn't support, and all-ages books aren't the only victims of their shortsightedness. Virtually all of the issues of this brilliant series were sold at a only handful of comic stores in our country. I've heard reports of some stores selling twenty or thirty copies. And yet most retailers still maintain that books like this won't sell at their stores. I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe that the only places that people who read comics like this just happen to live within ten miles of one of the few comic stores that actually stock the book. The real reason these books don't sell when they're actually stocked is because you've driven the customers that would buy them out.

And just to make sure that the retailers don't get all of my wrath this month, I'd like to point out that these retailers might be more willing to take some risks if comics we returnable, like other print material. Wake up publishers, if Diamond won't get off their asses and make comics returnable, then maybe you should. Sure, you may have to pulp some issues, but I'd be willing to bet that your orders would increase significantly.

All that being said, I'm really going to miss The Waiting Place. It was a touching, heart felt comic that had more to say about young people than a dozen WB drama's ever could. While I'm sure Sean and Mike will be moving on to some great new projects, I still consider losing this series a loss.

Actually, Diamond is actively against publishers going returnable on anything but a very specific overship basis. Despite that, some publishers like TOP SHELF and (I believe ANTARCTIC PRESS) do have policies where you can return new, saleable merchandise to them and exchange it for other books. Granted, it's not super-publicized, but as a retailer-only concern I can't see why it would need to be.

Cross-Gen also got retailers to take a greater look at their work buy making it returnable. I'm not sure if they still do it, but I'm certain it was a major factor in the fledgling comic publisher's modest success.

PUBLIC DOMAIN: A CHANNEL ZERO DESIGN BOOK
By Brian Wood
$12.95, b&w, 112pg, page 216, AIT/Planet Lar, NOV012105

I've been dying for this book. Ever since I interviewed Brian last year I've been desperate to get even further inside his head and see where CHANNEL ZERO came from.

I really like Channel Zero. I really liked the DUPE special, and I'm a fan of Brian Wood's art and design. This is really a no-brainer.

I wish more artists would do something like this. I don't mean an artbook; anyone can slap one of those together. No, I'd love to see a book detailing how someone like Chris Ware works and creates his comics.

POP GUN WAR #2
By Farel Dalrymple
$2.50, b&w, 24pg, page 212, Absence Of Ink Press, NOV012091

This is one of the lost gems of 2000, though I don't really know how lost it is, per say, considering how loudly it was shouted from the rooftops. The second issue to the beautifully illustrated, surreal tale of a boy who finds angel wings. I don't often recommend second issues, but I'm recommending this. Go and get it. And if you can find the first issue, get that too.

It's also worth mentioning that Farel won a Xeric grant for the first issue last year. They don't just give Xeric grants to anyone, so you know this is a quality book worth checking out. I'm hoping the new publisher Absence of Ink Press will make sure there is less of a gap between issue's this time.

WIZARD EDGE
$4.99, colour, 128 pages, Page 198, Wizard Publications, NOV

I'm sort of happy and sort of insulted. I mean on the one hand, this is a great opportunity for the 16-or-so books that are above this solicitation to get some much-needed and much-deserved attention. On the other hand, the solicitation prominently mentions books and creators almost entirely from the front of the catalogue, except not superheroes (or not entirely superheroes). I really, really want this to be good. I mean, I want it to be good a lot. But… no, let's leave it there. I'm expecting a lot out of this. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

It's Wizard, of course it'll disappoint. Someone once told me that It was pointless of me to be so hard on Wizard because it was what it was, and it caters to a willing audience. I agree, so why now is it courting another? The cynic could say that it's just another reason to talk more about Kevin Smith...

Whatever, Wizard can do what it wants, but I won't pretend that I'm not annoyed by Edge's lack of female creators or, in a mass e-mailing, Wizard referring to creators like Jim Mahfood and Andi Watson as 'newer' creators when both have had very long and successful careers.

I'm going to wait.

I'm not going to bother.

MOMENT OF SILENCE
cover by joe quesada & alex ross
kevin smith, joe quesada, bill jemas & brian michael bendis (w)/igor kordey, john romita jr., mark bagley & chuck austen (p)
• THE SCOOP: An all-star collection of creators craft four silent stories - with all proceeds going to the victims of 9•11•01.
• THE STORY: Inspired by the true events, four duos of titanic talent unite to remember the heroic sacrifices of 9•11•01. And, in keeping with our 'Nuff Said event, all stories will be told with images only. The creative teams include: Kevin Smith (DAREDEVIL, Green Arrow) and Igor Kordey (CABLE); Marvel's EIC Joe Quesada and John Romita Jr. (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN); Marvel Prez Bill Jemas and Mark Bagley (ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN); and Brian Michael Bendis (DAREDEVIL) and Chuck Austen (ELEKTRA). And it's all wrapped in a touching cover penciled by Quesada and painted by Alex Ross. Best of all, Marvel will give all proceeds to the families that lost loved ones during the attack on America.

• THE FORMAT: 32 pages, with no ads. Printed on glossy stock with a cardstock cover.
7-59606-tbd-00111 (MarvelPG) 3.50

If this is what I think it is, then Bendis recently announced that the art for his contribution will be done by none other than Scott Morse.

X-MEN: FALL OF THE MUTANTS Trade Paperback
Cover by Alan Davis
$24.95, FC, 272pg, page180, Marvel, NOV011852

Marvel, true to its word, is searching their archives for some of the classic stories that made them stars. In the 80's, it was all about X-Men. Chris Claremont was, after several years of towing the line, breaking out and turning the X-Men into his book.

You can now expect Chris to come along and make fun of me for talking about this, but screw him, he's not really right in the head.

I don't need to make fun of you. Your choices speak for themselves, fanboy.

Touch my God Phoenix!

THE ULTIMATES #1
By Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch, & Andrew Currie
$2.25, FC, 32pg, page 157, Marvel, NOV011803

I just read the Wizard preview of this and it's really, really good. Aside from the fact that Bryan Hitch is one of the best illustrators in the business, in my humble estimation, the story really appears to be one of the most thoroughly constructed superhero books in years. Seems like a lot of fun. I have no problem with well-done superhero books. This is going to be a very well done superhero book.

Mark Millar doesn't mess around when it comes to stretching the boundaries of superhero comics. He took Authority to the next, over the top step, leaving people asking 'Warren Who?' and remade the X-Men into a hip, counter culture teenage drama. I'm dying to see what he can do with the Avengers.

Marvel's Mangaverse Event

I think it's really telling that for all of the attention that Marvel has received lately for top-notch art and design on their comics, these books are looking even sharper and more attractive than their normal stuff. Granted, they're not all winners (X-Men, Ghost Rider…) but all in all, they're an incredibly sharp looking bunch. Special kudos go to SPIDER-MAN though, for being the hip, current, excellent looking book that Ultimate could have been.

Wow. Interesting slam on the Ultimate Spider-man book. I'm not sure how recasting Spider-man as a ninja trained by Uncle Ben is something that would have been cool as more than a one off, but I will admit that it looks fun. I'm also interested in checking out The Punisher and Fantastic Four.

I don't think ULTIMATE went far enough to re-cast spider-man in a current light. It's still really… old looking. Just look at that artwork, that's slicker than most computer animation, not to mention most comic books on the stands. Ultimate would have benefited from interiors that looked like it's covers. For a start.

Really now? I think the Ultimate Spider-man covers are a weakness myself. I don't think changing Spider-man as radically as this special issue would have been a very good idea. The Ultimates wasn't about starting from scratch, it was about pulling down 40 years of continuity and re-thinking the character. I'm not a teenager by any means anymore, but I'd like to think I'm still reasonably in touch with what will and will not work for them. If marketed correctly, I could easily see this book being popular fans of say WB's SMALLEVILLE. Can't you see a weekly drama based on the life of Peter Parker? I read Ultimate Spider-man and get the same feeling I get while watching the Superman drama.

NOBLE CAUSES #1
By Jay Faerber, Patrick Gleason, Amanda Conner, John Wycough & Jimmy Palmiotti
$2.95, FC, 32pg, page127, Image, NOV011515

Noble Causes is a buzz book. That is to say, it came out and found a lot of positive feedback, good sell-through, and an audience. So if you found this one on the racks at your local shop and decided to give it a try, remember to pre-order this book with your comic retailer. Because these sorts of books don't always see the increase in orders that they deserve. And this book deserves them.

And everyone should check out the wonderful article Jay wrote for us about the evolution of Nobel Causes located here http://www.popimage.com/industrial/101701jayfaerber.shtml

DARKMINDS: MACROPOLIS #1
By Chris Sarracini, Jo Chen, Christina Chen, and Alan Wang
$2.95, FC, 32 pages, Page 114, Image, NOV

No no no no no. I know what you're thinking. STRIKE IT FROM YOUR MIND. We've all heard it before, and it doesn't apply here. This series is beautiful, illustrated expertly by Jo Chen (who is frighteningly talented), and ably assisted by her sister Christina Chen. It is written by a friend of mine named Chris Sarracini, and he can really write. So I'm going to tell you, drop all your pre-conceived notions about Dreamwave, and DARKMINDS in particular. This is going to be an ``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xNOVEMBER PREVIEWS REVIEW: For items shipping in January 2002``x1005113695,55046,Upfront``x``x``xby Chris Butcher and Scott Gruenwald``xChris is the DJ. Scottie's the rapper.``x ``xAll reviews this time by Matt Singer (MS) and Alex Bernstein (AB).

STAR WARS: TAG & BINK ARE DEAD #1 (of 2)
Writer: Kevin Rubio
Artist: Lucas Marangon
Inker: Howard M. Shum
Dark Horse Comics
$2.99

"Troops" has to be one of the coolest fan films ever. Hilarious yet respectful, I definitely think it set a bar for Star Wars geeks to follow that I think few have matched as of yet. In any event, when I heard that the creator of that short (which you can find on the Internet, and I urge you to do so, it's hilarious), Kevin Rubio, was writing a humor comic for Dark Horse, I had to find a copy. Mind you, TAG AND BINK isn't quite as inspired as "Troops," but it's certainly a fun read. Rubio's a great writer for this stuff. He's clearly a fan with a love for the source material, but he's also not afraid to poke fun. I love his takes on the poorly designed Stormtrooper costumes. Generally, he takes nothing as sacred. As much as I enjoy the comic itself, I especially applaud Dark Horse for doing a comic like this; it's probably a risk, but one that's had good results so far in the content department. I look forward to the conclusion. (MS)

NIGHTSIDE #1
Writer: Robert Weinberg
Artist: Tom Derenick
Marvel Comics
$2.99

Here's another unusual book from Marvel; no superheroes per se, but with very good looking art by Tom Derenick that seems more like it belongs in an Image book. The times, they are a'changin'. I'm always a fan of branching out, and the results here aren't terrible. Weinberg's premise is a world in which there's a race of beings known as "The Others" who take on forms of werewolves or vampires and haunt the human race. A sexier-than-she-needs-to-be private investigator named Sydney Taine is looking into a bizarre series of murders, while walking around in very tight outfights, which sometimes include cleveage. Sense my complaint? Weinberg's got some neat ideas here, but did the book have to be so porny? The full body cat-suit for our protagonist, and constant poses don't add anything. For me, they detract from the story. Give her some tasteful clothes and tighten up the mystery elements and I think we're on to something. (MS)

BLOODSTONE #1
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Penciler: Michael Lopez
Inker: Scott Hanna
Marvel Comics
$2.99

A week after NIGHTSIDE, a book about a needlessly sexy supernatural female private detective (say that five times fast), Marvel serves up BLOODSTONE, about a needlessly sexy teenager supernatural hunter. While the status quo is still being established after the first issue, it looks to be a smoothly blended concoction, equal parts BUFFY and TOMB RAIDER . As a result, there doesn't seem much original here. Our Buffy Croft, if you will, is name Elsa Bloodstone, a teenager who learns that her father was a great monster hunter, and because people in comics and movies who don't know their fathers had superpowers always end up gaining said powers, it appears that Elsa has a date with destiny (or clich�). I've already said; there isn't much of anything original here, and Michael Lopez's art is a series of girl in tight clothes poses. This series gets high marks for its stirring and brave depictions of bare midriffs, but low marks on just about everything else. (MS)

RUSE #1
Writer: Mark Waid
Penciler: Butch Guice
Inker: Michael Perkins
CrossGen Comics
$2.95

This is my first CrossGen comic. I've wanted to read something from this company, but I'm not a fan of the genres of most of their books and the few books I have read > cough cough MYSTIC < have left me unimpressed. So I was very excited to see Mark Waid writing a book about a Victorian-era private detective. Good for CrossGen for mixing things up, and good for everyone involved for making a fine first issue. Waid knows he's got a lead character with more than a passing resemblance to Sherlock Holmes, and he plays off that, using the uncanny detection skills for some smart gags. Guice's art, beautifully inked and colored, looks absolutely fantastic. The supernatural elements that tie the book to the rest of CrossGen seem kind of out of sync with the rest, and I'd wager the book would be stronger if it could be straight detective stories. But
it's still worth checking out for fans of crime or costume dramas. An interesting, different book, in a time when there's lots of very similar looking stuff out on the mainstream market. (MS)

NEGATION PREQUEL
Writers: Tony Bedard and Mark Waid
Penciler: Paul Pelletier
Inker: Dave Meikis
CrossGen Comics
$2.99

Why is the first issue of this book a "prequel" while last week's first issue of RUSE was a #1? It sure feels like a standard first issue. Seems confusing and unnecessary. As for the material itself, I was pleased and intrigued by the story, which features a bunch of strangers from worlds across the universe plucked from their homes and stranded on an alien planet for the purpose of being studied by a mysterious power. Of course, that fact is made less mysterious by the text page that explains everything you're about to read plus information that still not revealed by issue's end. I'm all for text summaries, but it's downright silly to put one in the first issue. It doesn't help that Bedard's dialogue is heavy-handed and his lengthy flashback narrations are clunky and awkward. I don't know how much Mark Waid contributed to this book (his credit is significantly smaller in size than Bedard's in the back of the book), but the dialogue feels like it could use more of his help. The art team, led by Paul Pelletier, a favorite of mine, has put together a good-looking book. I'll probably buy issue #1, but purchases after that will depend on whether or not these characters start speaking more like people and less like chess pieces with mouths. (MS)

DAREDEVIL #26
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Alex Maleev
Marvel Knights/Marvel Comics
$2.99

Bendis, the comic writer who needs no sleep, takes on Marvel Knights' flagship title DAREDEVIL (which, I'd argue, despite its delays, has been the strongest super-hero title around since it started twenty-six issues ago. Bob Gale's story was, to quote Chief O'Hara, "devilishly clever," and satisfying in some surprising ways). Bendis and collaborator Alex Maleev (previously together on SAM AND TWITCH), like all creative teams on this book, had a tough act to follow. Clearly, they are up to the task. Bendis' books of late have an intensity all over them; he knows his readers have high expectations and he delivers. Within three pages, he's thrown us for a loop with smooth dialogue and shocking plot twists. The rest of the issue flies along at breakneck pace with underworld intrigue, courtroom drama and super-hero action. Maleev's art is distinctive and gorgeous, all wild angles and fantastic emotions. Here's the fantastic issue of SAM AND TWITCH the two never got to make before Bendis left the title.DAREDEVIL fans rejoice, your book is still number one. (MS)

COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE #86
Edited by: Russ Cochran
Gemstone Publishing
$5.95

What a swell fanzine this was, once upon a time. Alas, no more. Now, publisher Russ Cochran is trying to put his own editorial spin on the mag and frankly, it's a mess. This is his third issue, actually - and behind an excellent George Perez JLA/AVENGERS cover is,
well, pretty much nothing. Before the advent of the entire TwoMorrows line of fanzines (not to mention the umpty-million websites) - CBM was truly unique, catering to die-hard collectors. Filled with obscure articles about things like DC ashcans from the 40's (with actual artwork to boot!), the magazine was best known for its "Gallery" section - a four-six page color section in the middle showing dozens of rare comic covers - ala the costly "Gerber" books. Sadly, upon assuming the editorial reigns, Cochran discontinued the Galleries - and doesn't even include much artwork! At 5.95 an issue it's just not worth the bother. Cochran has a solid history as a publisher. Let's see if he can dig up some editorial guidance to salvage this once fine zine. (AB)

THE WRITER'S BLOCK #1
Written by: Jim Shooter, Mike Baron, Roy Thomas
Art by: David Miller
Beyond Comics
$3.50

David Miller gets two points in his favor: a) he had a good idea - to get three different famous comic-book writers to script the same story (a B&W which Miller, himself, has drawn, of course) and present them all together; b) he got three famous-enough writers to go along with the program. Beyond the novelty, however, the thing is utterly abysmal. Miller's art is atrociously bad, reminiscent of the black-and-white boom of the mid-80's. His short interviews are terrible; his research absent (he credits Thomas for writing JSA instead of ALL STAR SQUADRON); and the entire book is crammed with typos - something you'd hope would be missing from a "writer's" magazine. The authors themselves - all "retired" from comics (except Thomas) - are genial, though you wonder why any of them have gotten involved in this. Shooter and Baron come across bitter and resentful of their recent lack of success. (Shooter at one point even questions Miller's poor art - gee, Jim, no kidding!) Only Thomas comes off confident and doesn't take the thing seriously. Probably cause he still gets work these days. (AB)``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xFIRST IMPRESSIONS``x1005607342,83073,Reviews``x``x``x``xFIRST IMPRESSIONS runs every other week at PopImage.com. All artwork copyright it's respective owners and creators, used for purposes of review. ``x ``xby Jessica Abel
Fantagraphics
$12.95

Reviewed by Adam Ford

SOUNDTRACK collects the work of US comic artist Jessica Abel from 1989 to 1996; primarily stories that appeared in Abel's ARTBABE series (issues one through five), but including other pieces created during that period. It's a comprehensive collection, hosting everything from cover artwork to anthology appearances, magazine journalism and record covers.

There are a lot of grungy love stories here set in bars, cafes and at band gigs, and the organic style of Abel's scruffy art accentuates the slacker feel. But rather than coming across as dull and self-important, as much of grunge culture did and does, these stories manage to shine. Abel has a compassion for her characters and a good eye for detail that makes these "real life non-stories" resonate in the mind of the reader. Perhaps it also helps that few of the characters in these stories are overtly presented as being Abel herself, which helps her veer away from the bottomless pit of self-indulgent autobio.

The journalism section is by far the most intriguing section, firstly because of the use of the comic form to tell a nonfiction reportage story, something that hasn't happened too often, and secondly because of the historical interest that comes from reading about past cultural phenomena. When Abel reviews a lecture presented by Camille Paglia, a bookshop talk by Elizabeth Wurtzel and a failed interview with Douglas Coupland, she uses comics' ability to present more than one concept at a time to great effect. Her own opinion (narrative boxes) and the opinions of the people she gets to vox pop for her (speech balloons) intertwine with the subject of the article themselves (the main body of the panel). The way Abel uses this technique underscores the close link that comics have with film and television, while taking advantage of the kind of compositional manipulations that are possible in the comic form. Another great example of this kind of comic-reportage is RADIO , a comic documentary also by Abel that deals with the production of one episode of NPR's "This American Life" (available as a self-contained comic and well worth checking out).

It's clear that Abel has a good understanding of how to make words and pictures complement each other. One can say what the other doesn't, and Abel knows well that she has more than one technique of communication at her command. In a single story she'll slip from the standard speech-balloon-and-pictures deal into a scene where the narration is written on a page in a diary with the protagonists in the background, and then there'll be a silent panel that communicates everything it needs to simply by using the facial expressions of her characters.

Abel also uses a tasty "split-screen" technique in strips such as "Oh! My Sisters!" "Sisters" depicts the difference between what a woman wants to do and what she actually does in response to a catcall from a man in the street. The panels are split in such a way that the two alternatives - beat the shit out of the guy or walk away - are spliced together, with the top half showing the beating and the bottom half depicting the retreat. This technique is also used with aplomb to provide a silent musical accompaniment for the day-in-the-life strip "Soundtrack." Tight letterboxed closeups of rock bands in various states of activity sit at the bottom of each panel as the main part depicts a woman going about her daily activities.

Though a lot of these stories are five years old or more they've hardly dated at all. The universal nature of Abel's subjects and her deft use of the storytelling capacity of comics make this a sophisticated and enjoyable collection, a great starting point for anyone interested in following her career.

For more comprehensive info on Jessica Abel's output, go to http://www.artbabe.com

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xSOUNDTRACK``x1005675354,25289,Reviews``x``x``x``xAdam Ford is a novelist, poet, journalist, comic artist, zine-maker and big fat stupid-head.``x ``xWhat if PopImage ran a contest and nobody came? Well, that's what almost happened a month ago when we ran our first ever TOPS OF THE POPS column. (Check it out, under the REVIEWS section.) Buried deep within the article (the intro paragraphs for those of you paying attention) was an incredible CONTEST!!!! but only one reader actually responded: "Nunodinis". Well, Nunodinis, we've picked you at random - and your comics are rushing their way to you, even as we speak. But for those of you who want a second chance...

SECOND CHANCE!!!

Simply submit your own personal, top 10, greatest, all-time desert island comics (single issues, tpbs or storylines) to the PopImage Forum. One winner will be picked at random to receive the entire DEFENDERS run of "The Headman Saga" (never collected in any form) as well as some other hard-to-find goodies from the first TOPS OF THE POPS column.

God, we're generous aren't we?! And look for the next TOPS column by our own Brian Domingos, coming your way next week!``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xCONTEST CONTEST CONTEST!!!``x1005676416,88759,Reviews``x``x``x``xWe're doing this because we love you.``x ``xI saw Suzanne Vega play the Lebanon Opera House a couple weekends back, and she didn’t know what to do with her hands. It must have been an awkward and uncomfortable situation that she was in, to stand onstage and sing while someone else was playing her music next to her.

Ms. Vega informed us that she had broken her arm riding a bicycle, and that the strength had not yet returned enough that she could play guitar for an entire concert. While she did play and sing for about five songs out of the twenty-one song set, she most frequently stood in front of the microphone, her hands hanging awkwardly at her sides. She would shove them in the pockets of her kimono, remove them, raise them to flutter on either side of the microphone, and then lower them back to her sides. Her fingers did not contort themselves into the chords of the songs, she did not play air guitar along with her guest guitarist. And so they flitted, not playing, not still.

It is not unusual for a musical artist to be faced with external variations on his or her creations. The transition from inspiration to publication is full to the brim with reinterpretation and compromise. The song begins with a key image and a catchy chord progression. Lyrics are spun and a melody line is constructed to compliment the tone and content of the finished lyrics. The song is tested: just the singer and the guitar. Refined as a hesitant new piece over a number of small-venue concerts, accompaniment is experimented with depending on whether the singer is performing solo or with back-up. Background harmony vocals are toyed with and discarded, a snare and a bass guitar line are finalized. Repeat audience members now recognize the song and request it.

The song then goes through another series of mutations upon recording. The producer, eager to use the amount of guest talent and varied instruments at his disposal, wishes to give the song layers of sound and accompaniment. A&R men from the artist’s label request that the song be recorded a little more up-tempo, as they’d like to have it as a possible second single in case the album does well upon release. The song is recorded piecemeal, starting with an electronic drum loop, adding bass, acoustic guitar, vocals, and then backing vocals. The drum loop is re-recorded with a real drummer, and a string ensemble is brought in and orchestrated for the final punch.

None of these studio musicians will accompany the artist on his or her album release tour, but a new set of musicians will do their best to reinterpret the recording producer’s reinterpretation of the road-tested variations on the artistic compromise of the original inspiration, in order to perform it in a feasible manner that will still be recognized by the radio audience.

If the artist is lucky he or she has actually had some input into these changes, and has actually agreed to them or become familiar enough with the current version that earlier version has been overwritten in his or her memory. In a radio station interview, the artist mentions he or she will be playing the song in an intimate, acoustic performance in the local Chain Bookstore cum Coffee Shop, and -- upon playing it -- flubs it a little bit, as it has become so unfamiliar.

I am assuming that most of the above description is familiar to Ms. Vega, but the last part is not common to her experience. Through it all, I assume that she keeps the core acoustic portrait of words and chords somewhere in her self, and no amount of studio permutations can alter that Uncarved Block. Which must have made it additionally odd to hear another guitarist play some of her most personal songs as she sang them, without the ability to alter tempo to accent a phrase or sculpt a refrain because she could not command both the words and the music. Even if she was used to the compromise of working with a band, of sacrificing some of the ability to put life and variation back into a song as it is being recreated as it is being performed, even if this has become part and parcel of performing after more than twenty years... her hands still didn’t know what to do with themselves.

I don’t have the patience to work through a transition, slowly shifting from my illustrative example into its application in the comics world. The issue irritates me enough to want to just blurt out the following:

If you didn’t create Spider-Man, don’t reinterpret him to serve your ends and tell the story you want to tell. Leave him alone, let him stop. Create characters of your own. Your great story about police corruption might sell easier if you can set it in Gotham and work Batman into it somehow, but it would work even better if you wrote it in a world of your own creation and with humans formed without the limitations or influence of years of continuity and a vocal fan-base.

Let the old characters cease with the departure of their original conceivers. Tell your own stories. Sing your own songs.``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xSUBSPECIES: Live in Concert``x1005717058,92073,Upfront``x``x``xby Benjamin Russell``xBenjamin Russell is feeling particularly cranky about extended corporate serial comics these days. He is also the Columns Editor of PopImage.``xThe Passionate Eye: The Collected Writing of Suzanne Vega -- now in paperback with numbered pages! ``xGreg has been working in comics for a few years now, but it was his recent work that graced the pages of his Image series J.U.D.G.E. and the recent MARVEL BACKPACK books that really launched his career with comic fandom. Greg's work can be currently seen gracing the covers of ELEKTRA each month, as well as an upcoming short in MARVEL KNIGHTS: DOUBLE SHOT issue 3.

Greg was kind enough to take the time to let us know how he got where he is and where he's headed.

POPIMAGE: What led you to choose art as a profession?

Greg Horn: I'm not sure really. I just love drawing and painting. My mother is an accomplished painter and she taught me to draw at a young age. I discovered comic books in 3rd grade and I've been drawing them ever since. I remember that I used to do a book during classes called the Justifiers which was very similar to the Avengers. Once I figured out that comic book artists get to work from home, I was sold. Of course, back then I had no idea how long it was going to take to get my dream job.

What is the process you use in which to create your art?

The painting technique used to do the covers is digital painting. It is very similar to paper painting except there is no original when you finish except for original pencil designs.

Can you tell us about the books you worked on before coming to Marvel?

Before Marvel I worked at a few toy and comic companies. I started at AC comics in the late 80s on their Femforce books, then from there I worked at Dagger, Malibu (Mortal Kombat), and Fleer. In 1997, I moved over to Image doing two ESPers series with Jim Hudnall. After a few years of hard work there, Image gave me the opportunity to do my own book called J.U.D.G.E. in 2000. Its been a long trip!

How did you come to work on Elektra as the cover artist?

I think I had built a good rep at the time for cover work. I had just finished my run on the Backpack books and X-men Universe books. Bendis called me one day and said "Greg, they're talking about giving you the Elektra job. It's going to be real freakin' big so make sure you say 'Yes. I will do it!'" At the time I had no idea just how freakin' big it would be. Elektra is everywhere. A month ago she was in USA Today and last week she was in Stuff magazine. Although, that doesn't interest me as much as an Elektra lunchbox!

Is there anything you can tell us about your upcoming Elektra short story in MARVEL KNIGHTS: DOUBLE-SHOT #3? The preview pages look incredible, btw.

Thanks Drew.
The interior pages for the Double shot are all painted in the same style that I use to do the covers. Rucka's story was a real challenge storytelling-wise and I had to try my hardest to follow him. I'd say this is my best interior work ever.

Your Man @ Marvel recently mentioned you're doing the cover art for IRON MAN #50. Will you be continuing cover duties for ELEKTRA and IRON MAN? Do you have any other cover or pinup jobs in the immediate future?

I really enjoy doing the Elektra covers and I plan to keep doing them for a while.... IRON MAN #50 was a one time deal launching the new creative team for the book, but later this year I will be in a position to do more Marvel projects. I can't say which titles are concerned, we haven't planned that far ahead!

For more Greg Horn art including a special preview of his work that will appear in the upcoming MARVEL KNIGHTS: DOUBLE-SHOT, be sure to visit his webpage Greg Horn Judge.com.

``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xINTERVIEW: SHORT AND SWEET WITH GREG HORN``x1005746815,14599,Industrial``x``x``xConducted by Drew Reiber``xDrew Reiber is a contributing writer for PopImage.

All characters, titles, images mentioned or shown are copyright
and trademark their respective creators.``xE-mail Us. - Send us an e-mail, commenting on this article. ``xAce contributor Brian Domingo's Top 10 Desert Island Picks

Jeez.... You know, this is one of the hardest things I’ve had to write. You’d think that picking these ten works that I most enjoy would be easy, but think about it. You only get ten books, stories, single issues to choose from. I could have wasted nine of those choices with the PREACHER books, but I'm skipping those. No one collection is enough to fully enjoy it. But I’ve got some good ones. In no particular order then, so, please, pay attention:

JINX: THE DEFINITIVE EDITION
by Brian Michael Bendis
Image Comics
2001

This would come along for one obvious reason: It’s huge. It’s a great story and some great black and white work from Bendis. I see this as his true jewel of work. It’s romantic, fast paced and brings you unexpected results. With THE DEFINITIVE ED., you get all the “behind the scenes” work (sketch book, animation script, pin-ups) as well as the final edit of the work all under one cover. It doesn’t get much better than that.

(Available in fine comic shops everywhere.)

TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOLUME #2
"Lust For Life"
Writer: Warren Ellis
Penciler: Darick Robertson
Inker: Rodney Ramos, Kim Demulder
Vertigo/DC
1998

TRANSMET is one of those books that I will read until the cover is worn off and all the pages fall out. It’s an epic accomplishment for Ellis and Robertson, and will be talked about forever. Now, for my purposes here, "Lust For Life" is most appropriate, because it contains the uber-brilliant three-part “Freeze me with your Kiss,” but also has the stand alone classics: “What Spider Watches on TV,” “God Riding Shotgun,” and “Another Cold Morning.” All giving insights into who Spider is.

The first collection, "Back on the Street" shows us what Spider does, but "Lust for Life" tells us some of the why. We get his personal reactions to television and religion, while glimpsing some of his quiet, reflective moments. Spider’s not that bad of a guy after all.

(Available in fine comic shops everywhere.)

STARMAN: VOLUME #3
"A Wicked Inclination..."
Writer: James Robinson
Artists: Tony Harris, Wade von Grawbadger et al.
DC Comics
1998

Okay, admission time. This is my all-time favorite series. And I started with the third collection. Why? I’m not sure. It was there and I had a feeling about it. It was one of the best buys I’ve ever made. At this point in time, the STARMAN series had matured into what would soon become one of the best superhero books of all time. Robinson had a firm grasp of who Jack Knight was. Harris and Von Grawbadger had fine-tuned the art work into a form of semi-photo realistic genius.

This book contains the Eisner Award-winning “Sand and Stars” teaming up Jack Knight with his father’s old ally Wesley Dodds, AKA The Sandman. Robinson shows his knack for weaving those tales of times past with those from today resulting in an ultimately timeless story of heroes and villains.

Also contained in the tpb is “Hell and Back,” a thrilling story that not only adds to Jack’s growth as a person but fleshed out a large chunk of the supporting cast. New friends are made. Old friends are reunited. Predictions come true. It’s a book that knocks the wind out of you.

(Available in fine comic shops everywhere.)

STORMWATCH VOLUME #3
"Change Or Die"
Writer: Warren Ellis
Penciler: Tom Raney
Inker: Randy Elliot
Wildstorm/DC
1999

So one day this guy named Ellis comes on to that old Wildstorm Title, STORMWATCH, and starts to shake things up. He revamps just about everything possible, making the book readable for the first time in a great while. I was one of the faithful readers since SW #1, sad to say, and Ellis’ SW was a breath of fresh air. Then came "Change or Die." This story took all previous conceptions and tossed them out the window, then turned around and kicked you square in the nuts.

It’s a huge story of good vs. bad with the line that separates black and white severely blurred. Stormwatch fights the Changers, a group (not unlike the Authority) attempting to make the globe a better place. A Finer World. Ellis takes everything “superhero” and shakes it up letting the characters run full speed into each other. Raney, the series’ full time artist, does some of the best work of his career. The art is crisp, clear and at last Stormwatch gets the look it deserves.

(Available in fine comic shops everywhere.)

WILDC.A.T.s #15-16
Writer: James Robinson
Penciler: Travis Charest
Inker: Troy Hubbs
Wildstorm/Image
1994

This is an odd entry, I know, but one that really stands out in my mind. After issue 13, Jim Lee went on indefinite hiatus, leaving the series in need of both an artist and a writer. Robinson and Charest stepped in. Yeah, that Charest. The guy that’s work is so intricate and detailed that he can no longer book on a semi regular schedule. He was doing this book monthly. And it was beautiful. The best part, though, was the story. For the first time since Image Comics started, one of the books had a brain.

These stories were more than superperson versus super person. Robinson took a throwaway character from WC #2 and did a close look at the main attack squad of I/O (International Operations, think S.H.I.E.L.D). In issue 2, Ben Santini was crippled when Lord Emp blew off his knee cap during an I/O siege against the ‘C.A.T.s. By #15 Santini’s back at I/O, in control of the Black Razors and got a hard on to go after Emp and get some revenge. The thing is, though, the rest of the Razors all resent Santini because he’s now in charge. They talk about him behind his back and feel like they collectively got the shaft because he gained command of the squad. Robinson shows the Black Razors as real people instead of I/O cannon fodder. They all have their own lives with families, gambling problems, and other such quirks. They are thinking, feeling people. The WC are still in this book, too, serving as the back drop of the storyline. In the end, Santini uses his extensive experience and leadership abilities to take command and save the day, but it’s a helluva ride getting there.

Joe Casey talks about superheroes without all the crap in his WILDCATS now, but Robinson did it here, sixty plus issues ago. It's one of those 'blink and you miss it' types of stories.

(Check the quarter bins for these treats.)

FORTUNE AND GLORY
by Brian Michael Bendis
Oni Press
2000

Another Bendis book. I just reread this the other day. It’s really quite entertaining. The thing that makes it so fun is that it’s so real. He managed to sum up everything that is painful and tedious about the movie writing business in one simple volume. It's a point-of-view that is often ignored in comics today. He just has such a great attitude about his work and he seems like such a genuinely nice guy. This Bendis fellow's got something snappy on his hands.

(Available in fine comic shops everywhere.)

SKY APE
Writers: Phillip D. Amara & Tim McCarney
Artist: Richard Jenkins
AiT/PlaNETlar
2001

This one makes me laugh, plain and simple. If I’m sitting and feeling “not-so-right” I whip out the AiT/PlaNETlar re-release and laugh until I almost pee myself. It’s just great writing and wonderfully telling art and a Monkey With A Jet Pack. Yeah. Exactly. This book is guaranteed Gold. The storytelling is expressive and the jokes never get old.

And the best part, is that I picture the creative team just sitting around, giggling as they put this book together. It’s just silly, yet surprisingly Smart fun. A must have.

(Give Larry and Co. your money. Available in fine comic shops everywhere.)

TOP TEN: BOOK ONE
Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Gene Ha and Zander Cannon
ABC/Wildstorm/DC
2000

This is one of the most brilliantly crafted books of the past five years, easy. The premise is that in city of Neopolis, every citizen has superpowers, an alter ego and a costume. The job of keeping the peace is still necessary, so the story follows the officers of Precinct Ten, or Top Ten as they have been called.

The first story follows rookie Robyn Slinger through her first day on the job. We meet her stoic partner Jeff Smax as well as some of the other elaborate department members like the urban cowboy, Dust Devil, and his partner Shock-Headed Peter as well as about ten other members of the “regular” cast. Alan Moore, obviously gets a lot of credit here, for creating a vivid world full of fascinating characters. Although the cast is quite large, you get a feel for each character right away. It’s clever and funny, and yet tagged on is an equally gripping plot.

A lot of credit should also go to the art team of Gene Ha and Zander Cannon. Together they create a beautiful landscape for all of Moore’s noble characters to live in. The thing about this book is that I could read it everyday because the jokes still work, the stories are still interesting and the dialogue is on the nose. Also, each panel is chock full of details where the backgrounds are just as interesting as the foregrounds. It’s one of the only books that seems to live on its own.

(Available in fine comic shops everywhere.)

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN
(vol. 1, Hard Cover)
Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Kevin O'Neill
ABC/Wildstorm/DC
2000

Yes. Alan Moore. Again. Why? Okay. I’ll admit it: I’m Queer for Victorian English literature. This stuff kills me. Moore, along with artist Kevin O’Neill bring Allan Quartermain, Capt. Nemo, Hawley Griffin (aka The Invisible Man), Dr. Jekyll (with Mr. Hyde in tow) and Mina Murray together for a mission to save the world.

Eventually the story involves Cavorite from H. G. Wells’ "The First Men In The Moon" which was a special treat, as well as some cameos by many of the more famous characters from this era in literature. It’s a mighty great idea with a mighty fine result. It took an extra long time to be released but here it is all bundled under one handy cover. And a hardcover at that! What a treat. It’s a fun story with bits and pieces for any fan of the time period.

(Available in fine comic shops everywhere.)

THE COWBOY WALLY SHOW
By Kyle Baker
Marlowe & Company
1996

This is my favorite of the Kyle Baker books. It follows, documentary style, the career of Cowboy Wally from his tee vee shows to his feature film ‘Sands of Blood’ and finishing up with his version of Hamlet that he films in his jail cell with cardboard cut outs.

It’s a hoot of a book. Real low brow humor, great lines and clean, expressive artwork, makes this a constant reread. Basically, it’s funny. And, come on, if I’m stuck on a desert island, I’m going to need something to laugh about. It might as well be COWBOY WALLY ferchristsakes.

(Laugh 'til you pee. Available in fine comic shops everywhere.)

``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xTOPS OF THE POPS #2``x1005937749,75229,Reviews``x``x``x``xBrian J. Domingos is a staff writer for PopImage. He knows what's best for you. No, Really. ``x ``xWriter: J. Michael Straczynski
Pencils: John Romita Jr.
Inks: Scott Hanna
Marvel Comics
$2.25

Reviewed by Marc Deering

September 11, 2001

This is a day that will forever be burned into my memory. The day when everything stopped and then immediately jump-started into overdrive. See, I work for the government in Virginia and I distinctly remember getting two phone calls that morning at work. One from my wife and another from a friend of mine. They both told me to get off my computer and over to the television to see the World Trade Centers getting attacked. Neither one of them prepared me for the shock, the utter jarring of my senses, as I watched CNN replay, over and over, the planes smashing themselves into those two beautiful buildings. I sat in stunned silence as myself and my co-workers watched this horrific act. Then the entire building became a whirlwind of activity as new orders and policies literally flew off of commanders' desks. And then the next two weeks of my life would be absolutely crazy.

Fast forward to the week of Nov. 14, 2001. I run to my local comics shop to get this rumored, instant collectors item. Now, I'm not someone who buys comics for their "collectability." I find it silly but that's just me. I wanted to get this book only because I had seen so many previews and I knew what it would be about. So, I brought it back to work with me and I sat down to read. I didn't flip ahead. I simply opened up to the first page and started reading. It had me from the first page.

"We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you the following Special Bulletin"

Never have those words been truer. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is John Romita Jr.'s best work ever. Period. Scott Hanna does a fantastic job inking over John's work, but the layouts and composition of the entire book is beautiful. The opening double-page spread is one that will live with me just like watching CNN on 9-11. Horrific. How JR Jr. was able to capture that moment in time is beyond me. But he did it. Beautifully.

And to the story.

It is simply one of the better Spider-Man stories ever told. Now, I've never been a big Spider-Man fan and have never gotten into the regular ongoing series, I prefer the one-shots or collected graphic novels. This was one issue not to miss. I’m not saying it was the BEST Spider-Man book ever done, but it’s up there. This is one issue that stands up from 30 years of continuity and begs to be noticed. Straczynski tells a story from the iconic New Yorker superhero, Spidey, going through his day at ground zero as he tries to cope, and help others cope, with the magnitude of the situation. Spidey goes from helping move rubble, to helping EMS and FDNY/NYPD treat the injured and sick. And two moments in the book will move even the toughest of guys: one with a little boy and his father; the other with Captain America amid the rubble staring in disbelief at the carnage. Through and through, Straczynski pulls off a very believable story set within the confines of the Marvel Universe. He uses heroes that are, and always have been, based in New York City: the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, X-Men (hey, they live in New York state), and of course Spider-Man. All show up at one point or another, always helping out the hundreds of fire fighters and police officers who are also trying to help. The issue could read like a prolonged speech, given by a lousy politician, but it's not. It's a very poignant story with a deep message and told with heart. I hope to see more of these from JMS in the future.

Yes, continuity Freaks are going to jump all over Straczynski for using some villains. Doctor Doom, for one, is currently in a parallel universe. Magneto is supposedly dead. Personally, I don't care. The story is supposed to be told out of context from regular continuity; to show us events happening in the real world can be dealt with in comics.

So what do events in my life have to do with a Spider-Man comic? Nothing. But sometimes, not very often, I'll read a comic that touches me. That speaks volumes of heart, depth, and emotion to my very soul. And this was one of them. I can't begin to imagine how horrible a day that was for those living close to the World Trade Centers, or to the firemen and police officers down at ground zero. I can't.

It is November 19, 2001 now. We celebrate Thanksgiving this week here in the United States, and I, for one, have a great deal to be thankful for. My wife and I will cook Thanksgiving dinner and have all of our family and friends over. And we'll be thankful that we're all still alive and safe and together. I'll leave work today and look up in the sky. And like always I'll see a formation of F-16 Fighter planes soar past me.

Ahhhhh. The sound of roaring jet engines. That's the sound of freedom.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xAMAZING SPIDER-MAN #36``x1006267142,31093,Reviews``x``x``x``xMarc Deering is an officer in the U.S. Air Force and a regular contributor to PopImage.``x ``xA number of months ago, Gail Simone wrote a piece for her You'll All Be Sorry column on ComicBookResources.com that boiled vast runs of continuity, clunky expository dialogue, and turgid prose of our favorite comic books down to the bare essentials. She called her innovation CONDENSED COMICS CLASSICS.

Following the wild success of that venture (which led to Gail's stint on NIGHT NURSE), she decided to run a series of Condensed Comics by famous creators such as Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada and "uber-writer" Mark Waid. This paved the way for her upcoming run on DEADPOOL. Gail also asked those who post on her message board and the Warren Ellis Forum to try their hand at it Condensed Comics, and Gail was immediately inundated with scores of submissions - most of which came from a certain writer with too much time on his hands.

No - not Rob Liefield. Me.

Wishing to do something with the copious extra CCCs, Gail asked if I would consider collecting them and placing them in a Popimage column, with her blessing. The results are below.

Before you head to the madness, I want to thank a few people who made this possible: Ed Mathews and Benjamin Russell, for allowing us to run this here; All the contributing writers - including Warren Ellis, Steven Grant, Nancy Collins and Gail Simone. Also, I would like to take a moment to wish Gail well on all of her new ventures.

On to the comics!

[Note - any condensed comic not attributed to a writer has been written by Neil Kleid. Nyeah.]

ALIAS (MAX)

ALIAS: Damn superheroes. I was one of them

LUKE CAGE: Time for some sweet lovin'.

READERS: Sweet Christmas!

BRIAN BENDIS: Take that, Vertigo!

ALIENS VS. PREDATOR (DARK HORSE) by Jens Altmann

ALIENS: Hssss

PREDATORS: Groar

READERS: Cool.

DARK HORSE COMICS: Ka-ching!

AMBUSH BUG (DC)

AMBUSH BUG: Pop!

CHEEKS:

KEITH GIFFEN and ROBERT LOREN FLEMING: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!

ANGEL AND THE APE (VERTIGO)

ANGEL: I'm a sexy remake of a crappy character.

APE: …

ANGEL: My gorilla partner doesn't say much. We're from Vertigo. Have you seen my ass?

THE AUTHORITY (WILDSTORM) by Daniel Reece

SWIFT: I like having sex with men! And killing!

THE ENGINEER: I also like having sex with men! And killing!

MIDNIGHTER AND APOLLO: We also like having sex with men! And killing!

AVENGERS (MARVEL)

CAPTAIN AMERICA: It is time for me to step down -and we need a new line-up
- AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!

WARBIRD: I'll join!

WONDER MAN: Count me in!

IRON MAN: Is there beer?

JARVIS: Sure!

IRON MAN: Count me in!

BEAST: Hey, it's me! Crossing over from the wildly famous and best selling
X-Men comics!

AVENGERS: WOO HOO!

CAP: Wait - The Beast is back? I'll stay!

GEORGE PEREZ: I can't draw all of this - Mark Alessi, take me away!

BATMAN: DARK VICTORY (DC)

BATMAN: I beat Holiday - now I'm going to stop the freaks from taking over!

ROBIN: Not without me - a young, innocent, smooth boy to help!

JOKER: Now, who's the freak, pedophile hero?

BATMAN: Wh-what… he's only my ward.

JOKER (to Penguin): "Ward." Right. You owe me five bucks.

BIRDS OF PREY (DC)

ORACLE: I know every hero in the DCU, but I've never met any of them in person.

BLACK CANARY: I was on the Justice League - I'm taking orders from some chick I've never met.

ORACLE: Did you know I'm dating Nightwing? He's hot.

BLACK CANARY: Did you hear? Ollie's back - Kevin Smith is writing him.

ORACLE: The CLERKS guy?

POWER GIRL: Hi - I don't have a book, so I'm here for exposure!

ORACLE: Exposure being the operative word, Busty St. Clair.

BLUE BEETLE: Same with me - plus I'm the token male!

MALE READER 1: It's SEX AND THE CITY for superheroes!

MALE READER 2: I was expecting more lesbians.

BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (DARK HORSE)

BUFFY: I can't kill these vampires because my skirt's too tight...

MALE READERS BETWEEN 18-35: Sigh...

FEMALE READERS: Wasn't this originally a comedy?

CAPTAIN MARVEL (MARVEL)

RICK JONES: I'm a slacker connected to Mar-vell's kid, who is clueless about society and wants to be more human.

DC LAWYERS: We're here to subpoena you for copyright infringement on "HOURMAN."

PETER DAVID: Yeeps!

CHASE (DC) by Tim Lehnerer

CHASE: This is how the government controls metahumans--by keeping files on them and outthinking them. It usually doesn't go well in the field.

DC READERS: Wow...all this background information is going to fit together in a blinding revelation after a masterful slow build.

DC EDITORIAL: You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?

DAREDEVIL: YELLOW (MARVEL)

MATT MURDOCK: I love you, Dad!

JACK MURDOCK: I love you too, son, but I love the sweet, sweet gambling life more.

HITMEN: BANG!

MATT MURDOCK: I'm going to wear my dad's old sweaty old clothes and fight crime - even though the colors clash with EVERYTHING!

KINGPIN: Look! I'm fat even when I'm young!

DEADPOOL (MARVEL) by Gail Simone

DEADPOOL: OW! That hurt! I'm okay, though.

JOE KELLY: I curse all writers that follow me!

DOOM PATROL (DC)

ROBOTMAN: Man, doesn't DC ever learn?

HAWKMAN: I know. Buy a clue, people.

ELEKTRA (MARVEL KNIGHTS)

NICK FURY: I need you to kill someone.

ELEKTRA: Sure, right after I finish this modeling assignment. Let me get this bra off.

BILL JEMAS: Hotcha!

FANTASTIC FOUR (MARVEL)

REED RICHARDS: This is the shortest sentence I'll ever say.

SUE RICHARDS: I love you, Namo- I mean, Reed!

JOHNNY STORM: I'm on fire!

BEN GRIMM: It's Clobbering Time!

DOCTOR DOOM: Bah!

FLASH (DC)

FLASH: I'll save the day!

ABRA KADABRA: Time to die.

FLASH: I'm back - thanks to the love of Linda Park and the Speed Force!

MARK WAID: Time travel is fun!

GEOFF JOHNS: You're giving me a headache. Out.

G.I. JOE (IMAGE) by Brent Keane

Flint: Yo, Joe!

Cobra Commander: Cobra!

Snake Eyes:

GREEN ARROW (DC)

HAL JORDAN: I miss Ollie.

OLIVER QUEEN: I'm back! And I'm young!

CONNER HAWKE: What about m-?

KEVIN SMITH: Quiet, you.

JASON MEWES: Snoogans.

GREEN LANTERN (DC)

KYLE RAYNER: I am the last one.

DUNCAN MCCLOUD, THE HIGHLANDER: Been done.

KYLE RAYNER: I work as a freelance artist - lately I've been working in comics!

STEVE ROGERS: Been done.

KYLE RAYNER: Um… okay - I sleep with a green chick!

JAMES T. KIRK: Been done.

HELLBLAZER (VERTIGO) by Brendan McGinley

CONSTANTINE: Time for some cigs and a pint!

DEMON FROM HELL: Hsst! Snarl!

CONSTANTINE: Fuck, there goes another girlfriend.

HOPELESS SAVAGES (ONI PRESS)

EVERYONE: Oi!

RAT: I will not talk or dress like you.

EVERYONE: Cor!

JAMIE S. RICH: British people make me smile.

HULK (MARVEL)

HULK: BETTY DEAD! HULK SMASH!

DOC SAMSON: What you're feeling is remorse, Bruce. What we need to do is a complete overhaul of your psyche and inner child. It could take weeks, years even - but at the end, I think we'll actually make contact with "the beast within." Oh, and I charge by the hour.

HULK: HIGH PRICED SHRINK! HULK SMASH!

IRON MAN (MARVEL)

TONY STARK: Hey, I'm not drunk anymore!

IRON MAN'S SENTIENT ARMOR: I am!

TONY STARK: Quiet, you.

JLA (DC)

SUPERMAN, BATMAN, WONDER WOMAN, FLASH and GREEN LANTERN: We're the best of the best of the best!

AQUAMAN, MARTIAN MANHUNTER: So are we!

BATMAN: Your books were cancelled - you have monitor duty. Hh.

PLASTIC MAN: Look at me! My only redeemable quality is I can make silly jokes.

BLUE BEETLE and BOOSTER GOLD: Get ready for obscurity, pal.

GRANT MORRISON: Time to kill someone!

GREEN LANTERN: Pick Aquaman!

AQUAMAN: Good grief.

JLA /AVENGERS (DC/MARVEL)

CAPTAIN AMERICA: Avengers Assemble!

SUPERMAN: Get them, Justice League!

BIG FIGHT DRAWN BY PEREZ

CARLIN, QUESADA, JEMAS AND LEVITZ: We can retire on the cash!

JUDGE DREDD (DC) by Warren Ellis

CITIZEN: Hello!

(Fires Lawgiver into obvious perp twenty-five times)

DREDD: Sometimes I feel bad about the fascist regime I perpetuate.

(Fires Lawgiver into obvious perp twenty-five more times)

DREDD: Sometimes I don't.

JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE… (DC)

MIKE CARLIN: Reinvent our Universe!

STAN LEE: Okay, Effendi. (hands over a plot) How's that?

DC EDITORIAL: Hey, isn't that the origin of Spiderm-?

MIKE CARLIN: ‘Nuff said!

KILLER PRINCESSES (ONI PRESS) by Gail Simone

FAITH: I predict many critics won't get this book!

CHARITY: What book?

LEGION OF SUPERHEROES (DC) by Paul Newell

R.J. BRANDE: You kids saved my life! Form a Legion of Superheroes!

COSMIC BOY, LIGHTNING LAD and SATURN GIRL: Ok...

23 OTHER SUPERPOWERED TEENAGERS: Can we join?

COSMIC BOY, LIGHTNING LAD and SATURN GIRL: Ok...

FERRO LAD: AAAAGH!

MADMAN (DARK HORSE)

MADMAN: Snap!

SUPPORTING CAST: Jeepers!

MADMAN: Zoom!

READERS: Brilliant!

MARVELS (MARVEL) by Brendan McGinley

SHELDON: The Marvels are here to protect us!

GWEN STACY: SNAP!

SHELDON: ...okay, maybe not.

MAUS (PANTHEON BOOKS) by Andrew Wheeler

MICKEY: Hey, look Pluto! Nazis!

POWERS (IMAGE)

WALKER: I don't need a partner.

PILGRIM: Sure you do.

WALKER: But I...

PILGRIM: What?

WALKER: No.

PILGRIM: Did you?

WALKER: Drop it.

PILGRIM: Dropped.

TRIPHAMMER: We said "clitoris" in this book!

THE PUNISHER (MARVEL) by Steven Grant

CRIMINAL: We killed your wife and children.

PUNISHER: Frank Castle died with them. I'm The Punisher.

CRIMINAL: Then why do you kill us?

PUNISHER: We live. We die. Someday it will be my turn.

CRIMINAL: How about today?

PUNISHER: Today it's your turn.

SAVAGE DRAGON (IMAGE)

DRAGON: I don't know where I'm from - oh, look - BREASTS!

BLATANT T&A SHOTS AND LOTS O' GUNS

ERIK LARSEN: #@!%! You!… oh, don't quote me.

CHRIS ELIOPOLOUS: Buy DESPERATE TIMES!

SENTRY (MARVEL KNIGHTS)

SENTRY: I used to be a superhero - even before the Fantastic Four. I use this magic serum to become a hero. I think. It might be scotch.

IRON MAN: Scotch?

WIZARD: Waitaminute - this is all an elaborate hoax by Joe Quesada and Paul Jenkins!

JOE Q: Boo-yah!

SPAWN (IMAGE)

SPAWN: I'm a rotting corpse with powers. Todd draws me!

TODD MCFARLANE: Draw?

MIRACLEMAN: Why am I here again, then?

NEIL GAIMAN: I am NOT amused.

SPECTRE (DC)

JIM CORRIGAN: Stupid Cosmic powers - I've had it.

HAL JORDAN: Gimme gimme gimme!

H.E.AT. MEMBERS: Yay!

SPIDERMAN (MARVEL)

SPIDEY: That's it - my great responsibility has ruined my life too often. From this day forward there is NO SPIDERMAN!

DOCTOR OCTOPUS: Behold - the new Sinister Six!

SPIDEY: Well.. um… er….sigh. Gimme a minute to change.

STARMAN (DC)

JACK KNIGHT: I don't want to be a superhero.

TED KNIGHT: Yes you do - I know everything.

JACK KNIGHT: I'll collect a bunch of kitchy crap!

SHADE: Absynthe? It's delightful.

INSERT TIMES PAST STORY

JAMES ROBINSON: Time to wrap this up - Hawkman's back. Gotta go!

READERS: AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

STAR WARS TALES (DARK HORSE) by F. Chong Rutherford

SPOOB BANTAPAZARZOPLOP: I was a minor character appearing in the background of EPISODE 1. I looked like a bug with tentacles.

LUCASFILM LTD.: She's, uh, a Jedi, and Han Solo's ... cousin ...lessee.. Bobo.

STAR WARS FANS: GIMME GIMME GIMME!

SUPERMAN (DC) by Jens Altmann

SUPERMAN: I fight for good.

LEX LUTHOR: I commit evil deeds.

LOIS LANE: I've got the story.

PERRY WHITE: Don't call me "Chief."

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL (DC)

SUPERMAN: That was quite a Crisis... thank god I'm still alive.

LOIS: Sure, but you're horribly outdated.

JOHN BYRNE: (singing) I'm thinking MAKEover!!!!!

SWAMP THING (VERTIGO) by Nancy Collins

SWAMP THING: I love you more than life itself, even though you are human.

ABBY: I love you more than life itself, even though you are a plant.

SWAMP THING: Oops! I have to go on a quest at a moment's notice that will leave you and our child alone and unprotected for months at a time, exposed to all the weird, monstrous enemies I've made over the years, including your perverted molester undead uncle. Bye!

ARCANE: Remember me?

ASSORTED CAJUNS: Hoo-yah!

SWAMP THING: Honey! I'm back! Hey, where'd everybody go?

THOR (MARVEL)

THOR: By thy fabled rainbow bridge, I smite thee!

FROST GIANTS: RAARGH!

THOR: Back foul denizen of yon murky Hel!

FIRE GIANTS: RAARGH!

THOR: Now is the winter of our discontent...

ODIN: Welp, I'm dead again.

THUNDERBOLTS (MARVEL)

T-BOLTS: Look- we're heroes!

CITIZENS: Yay!

T-BOLTS: It's a good thing they don't know we're really the Masters of Evil.

CITIZENS: What was that?

T-BOLTS: D'oh!

TOP TEN (WILDSTORM)

READERS: Hey, it's a city full of superheroes!

CRITICS: Didn't they do that in ASTRO CITY?

READERS: Yes, but this has little fun clues and in jokes throughout the book!

CRITICS: Don't they do that in the SIMPSONS?

READERS: Yes, but this is by Alan Moore.

CRITICS: GENIUS!

TRANSMETROPOLITAN (VERTIGO)

SPIDER JERUSALEM: I write a column - I hate my life and I hate you.

READERS: Nifty glasses!

SPIDER JERUSALEM: Kiss my arse.

WARREN ELLIS FORUM: Let's go get drunk!

WARREN ELLIS: Excellent.

ULTIMATE SPIDERMAN (MARVEL)

SPIDERMAN: I'm young and hip.

SPIDERMAN VILLAINS: Hey - new origins!

MARY JANE WATSON: I'm still a hottie.

AUNT MAY: What a relief to be young and hip, yo.

UNDERSTANDING COMICS (KITCHEN SINK PRESS) by Nick Locking

SCOTT MCCLOUD: Hey! I'm explaining comics in the form of a comic! God, I'm clever. Comics are comics.

WORLDS AT WAR (DC)

IMPERIEX: Lookatme! I'm huge! There's thousands of me!

DC HEROES: We'll stop you!

BIG FIGHT

SUPERMAN: Welp, there goes Aquaman.

GENERAL ZOD: It isn't like he was helping you guys...

DC READERS: This is confusing as hell. Hey, didn't Luke Cage just get some over in ALIAS? Let's go read that.

X-FORCE (MARVEL)

X-FORCE: We're in it for the cash!

DOOP: (incomprehensible)

READER: What'd he say?

ROB LIEFIELD: "In it for the cash"? "Incomprehensible dialogue"? Hey! That's my YOUNGBLOOD concept!

X-MEN (MARVEL)

PROFESSOR X: To me, my X-Men!

WOLVERINE, CYCLOPS AND JEAN GREY: The world hates us!

MAGNETO: Am I a guy good guy now?

GRANT MORRISON: Out of the way, idiots.

MARVEL READERS: Yay!

YOUNG JUSTICE (DC)

ROBIN, SUPERBOY and IMPULSE: We're younger than our mentors and we're cool and hip!

SECRET, ARROWETTE and WONDER GIRL: Hi - we're cute girls - can we hang around and bring in key demographics?

ROBIN, SUPERBOY and IMPULSE: We're younger than our mentors and now we have raging hormones!

LIL' LOBO: FRAG!

RED TORNADO: You're all insane.``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xHUMOR: Attack of the Condensed Comics Classics!``x1006270214,25391,Upfront``x``x``xcompiled and written by Neil Kleid``xNeil Kleid is a contributing writer to PopImage.

Special thanks go to Nancy Collins, writer of Swamp Thing and Sunglasses at Night; Warren Ellis, writer of Planetary and Transmetropolitan; Steven Grant, writer of Whisper, Punisher, X-Man, and Permanent Damage at comicbookresources.com, and especially Gail Simone, writer of the forthcoming Deadpool, Night Nurse, Killer Princesses and past writer of You'll All Be Sorry at comicbookresources.com.``xYou'll All Be Sorry by Gail Simone on CBR.com
Permanent Damage by Steven Grant at CBR.com
The Warren Ellis Forum ``xIn which we review lots of first issues, some creative team changes and a very bizarre teaming of Spider-man and Mister Fantastic.

All reviews this time by Matt Singer (MS) and Marc Deering (MD).

WONDER WOMAN: SPIRIT OF TRUTH
Writer: Paul Dini
Artist: Alex Ross
DC Comics
$9.95

Let me get this first part off my chest. Wonder Woman has never looked better. Period. Alex Ross paints her like she's an actual person and he's the photographer following her around the world. His artwork throughout the entire book, like the previous editions, is unreal. Or rather, it's Uber-real. The story is another heart-warming superheroes-trying-to-fit-in-the-real-world scenario. Which isn't a bad thing. These kind of stories make you look at humanity from another perspective, see where some of our greatest flaws are, and inspire us to become a better people. The story follows Diana (Wonder Woman) as she tries to find her way around Man's World as an Ambassador of Truth and Justice. She flounders, even stumbles a bit, but after some much needed advice from another certain icon, finds how best to deal with her place in the world. Paul Dini and Alex Ross' execution of this type of storytelling is flawless. It's inspiring, beautiful, well done. Go get it. And if you didn't get the previous three volumes, SUPERMAN: PEACE ON EARTH, BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME, and SHAZAM!: POWER OF HOPE, go get them too. They're all more than worth the cover price. (MD)

INCREDIBLE HULK #34
Writer: Bruce Jones
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Tom Palmer
Marvel Comics
$2.25

New writer Bruce Jones' first issue is celebrated by an absolutely gorgeous cover that features the Hulk supporting his logo on his back, while he stands on the phrase "Return of the Monster," and it's ironic because the Hulk never appears on panel in this issue. Instead, Bruce Banner spends the issue hiding from the law in a Chicago slum, getting messages on his computer from a mysterious Mister Blue, and helping a young gang-banger-in-training named Jerome. A lot's been made of the similarities between Jones' new status quo and the old seventies "Hulk" show. And it's a valid point. But before you give him demerits for lack of originality consider that the old show was merely a rip off of "The Fugitive."

In any event, Jones' plot is interesting, his dialogue realistic and sharp, and his Banner an interesting character. Desperate and alone, but by no means depressed or pathetic, he even works with his new punk-cyber-quasi-emo look. And John Romita Jr.'s art is absolutely wonderful; beautifully finished and colored with an appropriately drab look. This is an intriguiging first issue, and I'll be buying the next one. (MS)

SUPERBOY #94
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti & Dan Didio
Penciler: John McCrea
Inker: James Hodgkins
DC Comics
$2.25

I cannot believe that SUPERBOY has lasted ninety-four issues. It makes me feel really old to think that I bought his first appearance when it originally hit the stands, and now his comic book is almost into the triple digits. In any case, he's got a new creative team, so I bought my first issue of 'BOY. It's not half bad. Superboy's forced to stop mooching off the Young Justice base for a place to stay, so he goes on an issue-long apartment search, which, naturally, ends with a big super-powered brawl as a means of getting him a swingin' pad. I like the way Palmiotti and Didio use their protagonist as an almost-Seinfeldian straight man for their mocking of apartment searches. There's some funny stuff and despite the rather typical arch of the story, the ending is a great twist that really sets up an very interesting new status quo. The art by John McCrea, the only man, by the way, who draws more monthly comics than Brian Michael Bendis writes, is quirky and certainly a departure from guys like Tom Grummett. His Superboy is rail thin and kinda scummy looking. But what the heck, the cartoony style suits the mood. This isn't as funny as a BARRY WEEN, but it's cute. That spiffy twist at the end leaves me interested enough to consider buying the next issue.(MS)

ELEKTRA AND WOLVERINE: THE REDEEMER #1 (of 3)
Writer: Greg Rucka
Illustrations: Yoshitaka Amano
Marvel Comics
$5.95

A lot of these First Impressions I write for Marvel books include a line "Good for Marvel for trying something new." Those wacky Bullpenners are pleasing a lot of people, I think, by really getting some diversity into their books (not a ton, let's not go overboard, but it's a good start). This one's no exception; an illustrated story with text by accomplished novelist Rucka and art by Japanese painter Yoshitaka Amano, who did a similarly styled book with Neil Gainman a few years ago called SANDMAN: THE DREAM HUNTERS. This time, it's a mini-series, not a graphic novel, about a battle between Elektra and Wolverine.

Except these two familiar characters aren't quite their regular continuity selves. Wolverine appears to have no ties to any sort of X-Men, nor does he even know what a mutant is. And, of course, the two characters have never met according to this issue, while more emphatic Wolverine fans recall a period where Elektra was actually a supporting character in his monthly book (between the eighth and ninth times she was killed, I believe).

While some might gripe about the rather loose continuity, I wasn't bothered by it. Rucka writes a damn good story, and Amano's pictures are pretty--though occassionally they don't match up with Rucka's descriptions of things, and that took me out of the book a little. Rucka fans are sure to enjoy this for the assassin/protection angle and the interesting characterization. If it wasn't for the high price tag, I'd say this is a definite must-read. And, as always, you have to support those new Marvel formats.(MS)

ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP #9
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Jim Mahfood
Marvel Comics
$2.25

So far, TEAM-UP really is the anthology it was promised to be; the previous three issues were gritty crime. This issue
is goofy sci-fi and self-parody. All hilariously written by Bendis, and perfectly pulled off artistically by Mahfood. Peter Parker gets to visit scientist Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four, and he accidentally lets loose a full scale Skrull invasion. Somehow, that sets the stage for mocking such prime targets as Bill Jemas, comic book grading, shameless name mentioning, and Bendis himself. This book is literally laugh-a-panel or more. And Mahfood's wonderfully detailed and unique art makes this book worth two or three reads just to make sure you've caught everything. Quite simply, this is the funniest comic I've read since ONI COLOR SPECIAL 2001's "Who Killed Madman?" piece, also by you-know-who. Bendis should write a self-referrential comedy book; the guy is really good at it. Too bad the guy can't get more regular work, he really seems underappreciated in this business lately.(MS)

GRIP: THE STRANGE WORLD OF MEN #1 (of 5)
Writer/Artist: Gilbert Hernandez
DC/Vertigo Comics
$2.50

First off, let me just say- HUH?!? Okay. Now. Wait, changed my mind, not done-WHAT THE HECK?!? Right. Done.

Gilbert Hernandez is a creator whose work, I'm ashamed to admit, I am woefully unfamiliar with. This is the first book of his that I've actually purchased. And all that confusion up there? I think it's actually intended. See, the book is about an amnesiac, who opens the first page of the book just as lost as we are. Clever way of making us identify with a character in a very bizarre situation. Bizarre's putting it lightly; this is a comic that would confuse and scare David Lynch.

Hernandez' trippy art fits the action; it involves people losing their skin and hot naked chicks who are really handy with ropes. I must admit that I am left intrigued, but the reader is truly clueless as to what the hell is going on. I dig chucking us in without explanation, but it'd be nice if things were just a little clearer at the end than when they started. Instead, my already-too-dry scalp gets some more scratching.(MS)

JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES #1
Writer: Ty Templeton
Penciller: Min S. Ku
Inker: Dan Davis
DC Comics
$1.99

I am so excited about this freaking JUSTICE LEAGUE cartoon (which hasn't premiered at the time I'm writing this) that I bought the comic book version just to get a jump on things. It sports a very nice Bruce Timm and Alex Ross cover, and the low cover price is a big plus as well. The story itself isn't much of a standout, a pretty generic team story with easily predictable plot twists and surprises. Granted, it's a book aimed at kids, but there isn't much that I they'll enjoy except for the cleverly written Flash character (clearly the star of this book in limited panel time; we'll see if that's how he comes across in the cartoon). Nothing particularly wrong with it, but it is sorely lacking the zing of some of the other ADVENTURES books I've read, especially the ones written by Scott McCloud or Mark Millar. (MS)

``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xFIRST IMPRESSIONS``x1006869633,98720,Reviews``x``x``x``xFIRST IMPRESSIONS runs every other week at PopImage.com. All artwork copyright it's respective owners and creators, used for purposes of review. ``x ``x

9-11
Emergency Relief
200 pages, $14.95
ISBN: 1-891867-12-1; DCD: NOV012111; Alternative Comics

Many comic companies have stepped up to the plate and organized benefit books to help those who were affected by the tragedy in NYC, Washington, DC, and near Pittsburgh, PA on September 11, 2001. To all of them, I say kudos. 9-11: Emergency Relief is one such effort and it brings together a diverse pool of talent with everyone from Dean Haspiel to Will Eisner and it is bound to appeal to a broad audience (Please note: that PopImage's Steve Stegelin, creator of Boondoggle is contributing to this book, as is contributing writer Neil Kleid). We chose this piece to showcase the book as it certainly touched me. It really drove home how I've been feeling about the tragedy. This piece is by Layla Lawlor and it is just one of the many powerful short stories contained in this benefit anthology. Please click on the images below. I'd like to thank Ms. Lawlor for sharing this piece with PopImage and for sharing her thoughts below the piece.


Medium - 64K Large - 195K	Medium - 60K Large - 200K

I didn't lose anyone close to me in the events of September 11, so I was unprepared for the shock and grief I felt -- and felt again whenever I'd sit down to try to write about it, which started driving me into a world-class case of writer's block. I had absolutely no idea of how to express my thoughts about that day. It was all mixed up, just a bunch of random sensory impressions and vivid memories. I couldn't even put many of them in chronological order. I kept trying to put it together into a coherent narrative and realized after a while that none of the linear stories that I was trying to write came anywhere near reflecting the randomness that had defined that day for me.

The defining element of Sept. 11 is its randomness. Chaos. I used the idea of trying to put the pieces back together as a central metaphor, because that's what we're all trying to do. Pieces of our lives, of our relationships, of our memories. I took that idea and made a concrete image out of it. You can't see the fragments that make up a shattered life or a jagged and confused memory, but they're there. A thing doesn't have to be seen or touched to be real -- as real as music, imagination, hatred or love.

The idea of fractals is what allowed this concept of fragmentary lives to come together into a whole. The nature of a fractal is to make order out of chaos. Viewed up close, a fractal image (like a cloud, a river, or the coastline of Europe) doesn't just look random, it IS random, an apparently meaningless squiggle. Yet viewed on a large enough scale, fractals do have order and meaning, and can be described mathematically. Best of all, a fractal is self-similar. Like the DNA in each cell of our bodies, each fragment of a fractal, no matter how tiny, contains the information to re-create the whole.

The idea that our lives have a greater pattern that we are too small to see is hardly a new concept. But it takes on new importance after a seemingly meaningless event like this one. You don't need to subscribe to a particular religious belief (and I do not) in order to believe this -- any more than you need religion to believe that water molecules can arrange themselves into a cloud, a river or an ocean, all very different, all governed by the weird, fascinating, seemingly nonsensical mathematics of fractals. Any whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I do not believe in an eternal soul, but I do believe that a human being is more, far more, than carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. So, too, is a nation. Yet a nation is still made up of people, nothing more, nothing less. It isn't a flag or a song -- it's just people, all similar to each other as every human being is similar to every other. That can be its weakness, but it can also be the greatest strength of all.

Layla Lawlor
http://www.ravenschildren.com
``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xPoPREVIEW: 911: EMERGENCY RELIEF - Shattered Fractal Mirror``x1006996242,63769,Upfront``x``x``xby Ed Mathews``xEd Mathews is Editor in Chief of PopImage. Layla Lawlor is a contributing writer for Sequential Tart Magazine. Her illustrations can be seen in Lejendary Adventures game books and supplements.``xAlternative Comics
Sequential Tart
http://www.ravenschildren.com
Lejendary Adventures ``x FADE IN:

EXT.BEACH - DAY

Aragged man rides up on a horse. He wears nothing but a
loincloth, and an inhuman amount of hair covers his face.

Suddenly,he stops and gets off the horse -- we can see that
the man is in fact CHARLTON HESTON!

Collapsingonto the beach, he stares in horror at something
we can't see...and a single, horrified word escapes his lips:

CHARLTON HESTON
It's...

MONTY PYTHON & THEPLANET OF THE APES

            WRITTENBY
           JOHN CLEESE
           MICHAEL PALIN
           ERIC IDLE
           TERRY GILLIAM
           TERRY JONES
           42 AFRICAN MOUNTAIN GORILLAS
           62 PERSIAN MOUNTAIN GORILLAS
           73 BONOBOS (closely related to the mountain gorilla)
           AND ZACK SMITH

INT.SPACESHIP - DAY

ThePYTHONS are on a deep space mission!

                               JOHN CLEESE
                     Now be careful all! We must be certain
                     not to let the hyper-modulator malfunction!

                               ERIC IDLE
                     Why do we have to go into bloody space,
                     anyway? It's all dull and vaccumy!

                               MICHAEL PALIN
                     You're the one who's in dutch with the
                     publishers for the lousy sales of your
                     book "The Road to Mars," and YOU'RE
                     complaining about space?

                               TERRY JONES
                     And look at me! I've been reduced to dressing
                     up as bloody Toad in "The Wind in the
                     Willows" for Christ's sake!

                               JOHN CLEESE
                     And what the fuck was I doing in "Harry Potter"
                     anyway? I mean, Christ, I had two lines!
                     Let's face it -- aside from "A Fish Called
                     Wanda," has ANYTHING any of us has done
                     since the Pythons been worthwhile?

                              TERRY JONES
                     THAT's why we need to go to space!
                     To find NEW, preferably non-British sources
                     of material!

                               JOHN CLEESE
                     And the best thing about space is that
                     it's so fantastically HUGE that NONE of
                     our creditors will be able to find us!

                               ERIC IDLE
                     Well, I can't fault you that...but this idiot
                     we got to replace Graham Chapman is a complete
                     looney!

                               MARK WAHLBERG
                         (points out window)
                     You guys! It's a star! It's a star!
                     It's a big bright shiny star!

TheyCRASH!

EXT.PLANET - LATER

JOHN CLEESE
Well, this is a right mess.

                               MICHAEL PALIN
                    Look! There's a field of corn over there!
                    And some humans!

                               MARK WAHLBERG
                     Oooh! Furry bikini-girls! Marky Mark
                     got those GOOD vibrations! Sweet, sweet
                     sensations!

ERIC IDLE
You're a fucking tool, Mark.

                               MARK WAHLBERG
                         (under his breath)
                     At least Mark wasn't in last season of
                     "Suddenly Susan."

Suddenly,a HORN sounds! The humans FLEE in terror, from...

MONTY PYTHON &THE PLANET OF THE APES

TERRY JONES
My God! This is...incredible!

                               JOHN CLEESE
                     I know! They're using COCONUTS! How'd
                     they get those?

MARK WAHLBERG
Uhhh...maybe a swallow dropped them?

                               ERIC IDLE
                     Don't be ridiculous! Coconuts only exist
                     in a TEMPERATE climate! And to maintain
                     proper air velocity, a swallow would have
                     to...

Theapes CAPTURE the Pythons!

EXT.APE CITY - DAY

ThePythons are taken before the evil APE LEADER!

                               DR. ZAIUS
                     What is this?! Humans who SPEAK and TALK
                     and perform in ABSURDIST COMEDY SKETCHES?
                     IMPOSSIBLE!

MARK WAHLBERG
Monkey funny.

                               DR. ZAIUS
                     INSOLENCE! That's it, we're turning you
                     over for EXPERIMENTATION!

MARK WAHLBERG
Uh...probing bad?

                               DR. ZAIUS
                     Oooh, you damn dirty human...we're going
                     to inflict our WORST punishment on
                     you...enforced breeding with "Sports
                     Illustrated" swimsuit model ESTELLA
                     WARREN!

                               MARK WAHLBERG
                     NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! HELP MARK! MARK NO
                     WANT TO BE TOUCHED IN BATHING-SUIT AREA!

                               JOHN CLEESE
                     Don't worry, Mark! In a while, we can
                     all escape together!

MARK WAHLBERG
But I'm ready NOW!

He'sdragged off by the apes!

                               TERRY JONES
                     I say, that was a bit harsh. I mean,
                     Estella Warren? Did you ever SEE
                     "Driven?"

                               DR. ZAIUS
                     Do not question me, lowly Python! I can
                     do ANYTHING, because...
                         (sings)
                     Isn't it awfully nice to be Dr. Zaius?
                     Isn't it terribly keen to rule the apes?
                    You can bash a human on the head, or mark him with your brand,
                    Or shoot him with a rifle if he escapes!

                    Yes, isn't it firghtfully swell to be Dr. Zaius?
                    You can boss big-headed mutants all around!
                    Making sure they don't rise up against us all,
                    While they worship that warhead that's underground!

                    Isn't it amazingly good to be Dr. Zaius?
                    Isn't it super-neat to be the king?
                    You're the poobah, you're the boss, you're the honcho, the big cheese!
                    You manipulate the gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees!
                    You get to rain down fire, famine, pestilence and disease!
                    You're respected and you're wealthy, you live a life of ease!
                    For ruling all the apes is a task that is a breeze!
                    Just be sure to never ever throw your own feces...
                         (big finish)
                    Or you...will...get...shot!

Along, long, long moment. Zaius waits for applause, and
gets none. He scowls.

                               DR. ZAIUS
                     Oh that's it! I'm going to have to force
                     you ALL to breed with "Sports
                     Illustrated" swimsuit models!

JOHN CLEESE
NO! PLEASE! ANYTHING BUT THAT!

ERIC IDLE
HAVE MERCY!

EXT.SURREAL LITTLE TERRY GILLIAM CARTOON - DAY

                               NARRATOR
                     And so, the Pythons were taken to the
                     prison! But then, Mark Wahlberg managed
                     to convince Estella Warren to help them
                     escape, and so she did! And there was
                     much rejoicing!

PYTHONS
Yay.

                               NARRATOR
                     And with that, they made their way to the
                     Forbidden Zone! And there was much
                     rejoicing!

PYTHONS
Yay.

EXT.BEACH - DAY

ThePythons come across a TERRIFYING SIGHT!

JOHN CLEESE
Oh, no...we're on EARTH!

MICHAEL PALIN
What do you mean?

                               JOHN CLEESE
                     Well look! That's the Statue of
                     Liberty! It's been destroyed!

MICHAEL PALIN
No it hasn't. It's just resting.

                               JOHN CLEESE
                     Resting? It can't rest, it's an
                     inanimate object! It's been destroyed!

MICHAEL PALIN
Well, perhaps it's been stunned.

                               JOHN CLEESE
                     Inanimate objects cannot be stunned!
                         (walks up to statue)
                     Yoo hoo! Statue of Liberty! Hello!
                         (pounds on outside, jumps up and down on it, etc.)
                     Give me your tired, your poor, your
                     huddled masses and all that! See?
                     That's what I call a destroyed Statue of
                     Liberty!

MICHAEL PALIN
No no no...it's just pining for the Hudson Bay.

                               JOHN CLEESE
                     IT'S NOT PINING FOR THE HUDSON BAY, IT'S
    ``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xSTARVED FOR ATTENTION: MONTY PYTHON & THE PLANET OF THE APES``x1006998742,33576,Industrial``x``x``xby Zack Smith``xZACK SMITH (zacharymsmith@hotmail.com) would like to thank Ben Russell for the "cover" pic and Victor Gomez for whipping up that ape-shot on 24 hours notice. GO BEN AND VICTOR!

VICTOR GOMEZ (victoon@eresmas.com) is a Spanish artist currently studying in the art school. He's been working in an animation studio for four years while colaborating on comic magazines, and is now preparing a comic project with that Zack Smith boy.``x ``xFive kids, two cities, one creative team

Writer: Warren Ellis
Art: Steve Dillon
DC Comics/Wildstorm
$6.95

I’ve been a fan of Steve Dillon for a long time, going back to his work on JUDGE DREDD in the 80’s. So it's been fantastic to see him get due recognition and exposure on the likes of HELLBLAZER, PREACHER and THE PUNISHER, if only to show that while artistic trends come and go, clear and concise storytelling never goes out of style.

The chance to witness Dillon render a pair of Warren Ellis scripts, however, was something of a wish fulfilled. Ellis’ imagination can be – and I say this with all due respect – whacked out at the best of times, so I felt it to be a match made in comic book heaven. Even if the book and characters in question were GEN 13, which I regard as the bastard hybrid of an X-MEN knockoff and so-called "bad girl" title (read: mammaries, thighs, ass, and very little plot).

Admittedly, these two stories are a lot of fun – they are diversions in the truest sense, with no heavy continuity involved. “London’s Brilliant” is the better of the pair, with some excellent visuals and interesting cultural observations (i.e. Grunge’s take on British actors and their tendency to play villains…). The spotlight is squarely on the girls and Lynch (their mentor), as Burnout and Grunge meet their greatest nemesis yet: English beer.

“New York Confidential” has the kids come to the forefront a bit more, especially since there’s a demonic cop and shady rock journo to bounce them off, but the abrupt and downbeat ending may not be to everyone’s taste.

In short: good, honest fun (if not exactly clean), and the cover by John Cassaday is to this collection what icing is to cake. You could do far worse than to pick this up: two British creators at the top of their game, a bunch of bright young kids, a curmudgeonly ex-spy. What’s not to like?

RECOMMENDED

``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xGEN 13: LONDON/NEW YORK/HELL COLLECTION``x1008077866,2539,Reviews``x``x``xReviewed by Brent A. Keane``xBrent A. Keane has yet to become Gen-Active. It’s not for lack of trying, ``x ``xA tale of two trade paperbacks

AVENGERS: SUPREME JUSTICE
Written by Kurt Busiek
(with help from Mark Waid, Len Kaminski and John Ostrander)
Art by George Perez and Al Vey; Sean Chen, Andy Kubert, Carlos Pacheco and Derec Aucoin
Marvel 2001
$24.95

AVENGERS: ULTRON UNLIMITED
Written by Kurt Busiek
Art by George Perez and Al Vey;
Stuart Immonen and Wade Von Grawbadger
Marvel 2001
$14.95 US

Some stories lend themselves well to trade collections; WATCHMEN, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, MARVELS. Other stories (i.e. any given X-MEN crossover) don’t tend to work as well. SUPREME JUSTICE is indicative of the latter, while ULTRON UNLIMITED – by contrast – is far more suited to a collected edition. Understand, it’s not a slight against the material – by and large, both are well done – it’s the presentation of the material I’m unsure of.

SUPREME JUSTICE contains two linked stories: the first being the new Avengers roster’s baptism of fire against their old sparring partners, the Squadron Supreme; the second deals with one of Marvel’s stock ‘evil alien’ races, the Kree. Having two such continuity-heavy tales (one being a crossover with multiple writers and artists) in the one volume is a flawed idea as it would serve only to confuse the casual reader, and the diversity of hands involved – despite the attractive art and adequate script – results in a disjointed narrative. This is very much a case of the individual parts being far greater than the whole.

ULTRON UNLIMITED is a whole other kettle of fish, I’m glad to say. With this storyline, Busiek and Perez well and truly hit their stride: megalomaniac robots, an European nation laid waste, and a plot that both the novice and veteran reader will appreciate. All self-contained, with a beginning, middle and end; quite easily the best Avengers story of the last decade, and a worthy compliment to the likes of Morrison and Porter’s JLA or THE AUTHORITY under Ellis and Hitch.

Believe me, I’m all for Marvel’s revamped trade paperback program (should it cohere into something workable in the near future); caution should be exercised, though, regarding what material is collected and how. To put it more succinctly: if I had to advise someone on these books, I'd say...

SUPREME JUSTICE - RECOMMENDED - (though not enthusiastically)
ULTRON UNLIMITED - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xTHE AVENGERS``x1008079898,39749,Reviews``x``x``xReviewed by Brent A. Keane``xBrent A. Keane has nothing witty to say this time.``x ``xONI PRESS GETTING COCKY

Jamie S. Rich's head is copyright Oni Press, Inc.
PORTLAND, OREGON: An incredible string of critical and commercial independent comic books has started to go to the heads of the men in charge of Oni Press.�

“We are the shit,” Oni editor-in-chief Jamie S. Rich told FTW. “We kick ass. I’m beginning to worry we kick a little too much ass. I mean, one should really leave a little ass left for others to kick, right? We’re hogging all the ass.”�

From The Wire reporters flew to Portland to interview Rich about the upcoming winter releases from Oni Press, including current favorites like MAGIC PICKLE and HOPELESS SAVAGES. Instead, Rich spoke for four and half hours on “...the beauty that is Oni Press.”�

“It’s not even a challenge anymore. When we were starting out, I’d actually have to go pitch our books to the reading public. No longer. The world is convinced. We rock the party that rocks the party. We reign supreme, burrito supreme. We are the ‘been there, done that’ of the comic world. We came, we saw, we kicked its ass. �

“I have Joe Quesada leaving me phone messages in my office BEGGING for my job. Paul Levitz has started sending me checks in the mail. Marc Alessi offered to trade Nozemack and Jones for Mark Waid and two Kubert School grads. Bill Jemas is afraid of me. And he SHOULD be.”�

After Rich turned on a tape of “Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer and began dancing about the room, FTW gave up and left. He was still mumbling as we left:�

“If God was a comic book company, He would be Oni.”�

LINE FOR EARTH INVADERS BACKED UP FOR LIGHT YEARS

EARTH: Still reeling from the ‘Worlds at War’ battle this summer, Earth’s protectors are struggling against new groups of invaders on a daily basis. And it’s getting worse; space ships are lined up outside the solar system waiting patiently for their turn to try to take over the earth.�

The Justice League has already felled three attempted incursions this week, and anticipate at least two more by week’s end. Still, the line grows longer daily. JLA member Martian Manhunter gave FTW his best guess as to why so many aliens are interested in our planet of late.�

“I have heard talk of an intergalactic rumor that is being spread,” Manhunter said. “Apparently, they all think Earth has a chewy nougat center. You wouldn’t believe how popular Twix are on other planets.”�

Manhunter had no idea who started the rumor, or why, but expressed concern that these invaders won’t stop until an alternate source of nougat was located.�

And as the JLA searches for some way to find huge quantities of snack treats, the waiting list for aliens grows ever longer. As one can imagine, frustrated, impatient aliens don’t make for easygoing invaders.�
�
“I’ve been waiting out here for twelve clektoks!” Gardoz, a interplanetary raider from the planet Connri, told FTW via a really good translator. “I’ve already missed the season premiere of West Wing cause the line moves so slow!” Gardoz then honked his spaceship’s horn and futilely switched lanes.�
�

DON KING PROMOTES SUPERMAN/ALI REMATCH

Image copyright DC Comics.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: With its troubles of too many divisions, too many leagues, not enough contenders...professional boxing has seen better days. Amongst the complaints leveled against it, both critics and fans complain that the sport doesn’t receive enough network airtime, that the best fighters don’t fight, and that the cable networks -- primarily rivals HBO and Showtime -- have used their exclusive contracts with fighters to keep from happening the matches fans want .�

Legendary boxing promoter Don King has refused to let any of that stand in his way. “I hear people tell me they’d like to see, uh, uh, a lot of fights. Everday when I walk down the street. Hollyfield versus Lewis. Lewis versus Tyson. Roy Jones Junior versus someone who has been in a boxing ring before. But the one thing I hear more than most, and that’s what we’re here today to talk about, is Superman and Ali.”�

Boxing fanatics recalls the match with fond admiration. Muhammad Ali, arguably the greatest boxer of the century, versus Superman, the greatest hero the Earth has ever known, in an event for charity. In the end, Ali narrowly eked out a victory against the Man of Steel.�

Fans have been clamoring for a rematch, and finally, after years of waiting, it’s finally time for the big bout.�

“Ali/Superman II: Clay vs. Krypton,” as it’s being called, will finally get under way this coming December14th, from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The fight will be simulcast on Pay-Per-View.�

Much has been made already in the press about Ali’s condition. In one of the biggest tragedies in the sport’s history, Ali’s career has given him advanced Parkinson’s Disease, and many doubt he is in any condition to fight.

“Frankly, I don’t give a damn,” Superman told a reporter who inquired about his feelings on Ali’s condition. “I’ve beaten Metallo. I’ve beaten Parasite. I’ve beaten entire alien races, and I’ve come back from the dead. But I lost to Muhammad Ali in a boxing match. It’s a blemish on an otherwise brilliant career! Well, brother, it’s payback time. Come December 14th I’m gonna send Ali back to his maker.”�

King added that it was Superman himself who had brought about the rematch.�
�
“The Man of Fists of Steel was steamed about the loss in the first bout, no doubt about that. And as soon as we could find someone who’d sanction a fight between a sixty-year-old man with Parkinson’s Disease and an invincible alien, Superman jumped at the chance.”�

Once again, the fighters’ purses will go to charity, but there’s more on the line than that, according to Metropolis’ Favorite Son.

“How can I lose? Honestly, how can I lose? I have super-strength. I have super-speed. This is going to be quicker than Liston vs. Patterson. This is going to be quicker than Ultimate Warrior versus Honky Tonk Man!”�

When informed that Vegas bookmakers had put the early odds at the fight at 5:1 in Ali’s favor, Superman showed an uncharacteristic shortness of temper.�

“I’m gonna slaughter that geriatric, I don’t care how hard he’s been training! I’VE PUSHED THE MOON OUT OF ORBIT, FOR GOD’S SAKE!”�

When asked for comment, fellow member of the JLA, Batman, told From The Wire, “I’ve got thirty bucks on Ali.”�

Next up for King, a long delayed rematch between heavyweight legend Rocky Balboa and the corpse of the dead heavyweight champion Apollo Creed.``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xFROM THE WIRE: Week 19``x1008133891,78600,Upfront``x``x``xby Matt Singer``xAll characters appearing in this work are ™ & � their respective owners. All Rights Reserved. All material here published for purposes of satire, and no copyright infringement is attempted or implied. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental, or used as a fictional depiction or personality parody (permitted under Hustler Magazine v. Fallwell, 485 US 46, 108 S.Ct 876, 99 L.Ed.2d 41 (1988)). And, thanks to Comic Book Resources for the case citation.``x ``x

There has been a lot of talk about the fact that comic books need to break out into a wider audience. The reason why comics are such a marginalized medium has been discussed at length, and I don't feel the need to recap here.

One of the proposed solutions to this problem is to change people's perceptions of comic books by introducing discerning individuals to some of the finest examples of Graphic Literature out there. This idea is designed to prove that comics consist of more than THE UNCANNY X MEN or HAGAR THE HORRIBLE. Public perception of comics has been, many say, it's own worst enemy, but if people were exposed to the best that's out there, they too would realize the potential of the medium and embrace it with the sort of addicted desperation that current readers are all the poster children of.

People are always evangelical about their addictions, and I am no exception. So to test the above theory, I decided to become a comics proselyte, and I handed out copies of some of the most First Time Reader-accessible comics that I could find that I thought would suit the characters and temperament of the individual recipients. As it is the gift-giving season, and a great many people might think that this would be an optimum time to cultivate new readers, I thought I’d share my findings.

WHY I HATE SATURN, by Kyle Baker.

Long held to be a sterling example of high-quality graphic literature that could appeal to someone largely unfamiliar with the comics industry, WHY I HATE SATURN is the story of Anne, a columnist who has to deal with the variances of an unhappy lovelife and poor self-image while also trying to live with her sister, a passionate environmentalist who believes she is from the planet Saturn.

With a complete absence of superheroes -- although Laura does wear a form-fitting outfit when she is in her uniform as a Queen of the Leather Astro-Girls of Saturn -- and word balloons, the books is mostly comprised of extraordinarily cutting, hilarious dialogue about the foibles of the dating scene, gender double-standards, and populist trends. When it comes to plot, the book suffers a little, and the story is oddly paced and a little jumpy. This is to be excused because of the humor -- humor books always let character and story suffer a little in order to get some more gags in, it's the nature of the beast.

WHY I HATE SATURN was given to Nalyn, then a junior at Wellesley College. She found it to be amusing -- particularly the rendering of facial expressions of the characters -- and generally a fun read. She was somewhat surprised at the adult content of the book, expecting it to be a superhero satire, aimed more at kids, due to the cover image of what "looked like a super hero cleaning up after a dead person or something."

A comic novice, Nalyn states that she has seen "all kinds" of comic books, but tells me that what she refers to as "her comic book phase" consisted of buying all of the CALVIN & HOBBES books in middle school, "and then not really anything since." She closes with the final damning statement about the possibility of reading other comics or graphic novels in the future: "I don't read enough in general, so I don't know if I would spend my free time reading comics as opposed to literature... If I am in the mood for an easy read, I'd probably think of getting a comic book before a trashy novel of some sort..."

SPARKS: AN URBAN FAIRY TALE, by Lawrence Marvit

SPARKS is the story of a young woman and a robot pieced together from car parts and a Speak & Spell. The being was originally just a scarecrow sculpture built to represent "the perfect man" in the mind of Jo, the main character. It’s subsequent animation and the slow process of it learning about the world and how it works is part of the story, but not the most important part. The part that really hooks the reader is not fantastic in nature, but real. Jo, and her relationships, her preoccupations, her feelings of isolation, and her complex history all feel very real. They are nuanced and unusual, and yet finely-crafted and personally evocative. The robot is a comfortable escape hatch for Jo -- and the reader -- to turn to when the real world ultimately fails to provide resolution. But the emotional truth of the real world, as portrayed by creator Lawrence Mavrit, is undeniable.

Dina, an educator working in Oakland, explained while she had been exposed to many comics through friends and boyfriends in the past, that she couldn't recall having read a comic since she read MAUS in middle school. She mentioned that one of the reasons why she had never gotten into the habit of reading comics was that there is "too much on a page." SPARKS, however, "was better than most" with "slick" artwork. But unlike the comic community's critical response to the book, Dina did not find herself warming up to the unusual nature of the lead character. It would perhaps be fair to say that the character is not terribly unusual outside of the comic genre. Instead, while Dina described Jo as effective, a paring down to the essence of what a Cinderella heroine should be like in a modern adaptation, she still described the comics as basically "fantasy, hero/adventure type stuff..."

SPARKS, while certainly fantastic in nature, is a far cry from an adventure story. Yet the assumption on her part that the majority of comics do incorporate elements from the adventure genre -- hardly an inaccurate assumption -- created parallels that didn't exist, and helped reinforce the concept of comics as genre literature. In the end, she also said that she would choose to read literature before picking up another comic, if given the choice.

JUNGLE BOOK STORIES, adapted for comics by P.Craig Russell

What about a comic book that was based upon source material that the reader might be familiar with? Is it possible that the knowledge that the story and characters were literary, part of a greater, respectable canon might encourage a person to both pay more attention to the validity of the work, but also not need to pay as much attention to the story, as it might already be familiar?

I grabbed a copy of P.Craig Russell’s JUNGLE BOOK STORIES ...

Komal is a junior at Harvard College, with a passion for molecular biology, and a contagious energy for all that strikes her fancy. If there was anyone who could spread the joy of graphic literature, this woman could make it as appealing as hot cocoa after three hours of ice skating. I had hopes that Russell’s elegant line work and attention to detail would please her keen aesthetic sense, but also found I was lucky in that she actually was familiar with the story. It is fairly unusual to find someone had even attempted to read the original version of "The Jungle Book, Vol. 1" since Kipling’s biases have brought him into literary disrepute.

My plan backfired, as Komal expressed that she missed Kipling’s stylistic wit and commentary, as Russell had pared the stories down to the basic storyline and the some hints ate the politics and balance of power between species in the jungle. She also felt that Russell’s clean line work gave the art a dark, morose quality, and yet simultaneously a kinetic, "electric" quality that she appreciated. The tone of the stories seemed much more serious because of Russell’s pictures, but even this didn’t jive with her memory of the tales.

But in the end, she decided that she’d prefer to "move on to more significant things."

THE COWBOY WALLY SHOW, by Kyle Baker

Katherine, now teaching English in Phoenix, Arizona, wrote her senior thesis at Harvard on the viability of the cowboy novel as literature, and how it may have had an impact on the writing of literary luminaries, the likes of which include William Faulkner. The connection between her cowboy novels and the title of THE COWBOY WALLY SHOW is a minor gag -- she promised to include a mention of the novel in her thesis somehow -- but the assumption was that as a literature major she would appreciate the section of COWBOY WALLY that has to do with the filming of HAMLET.

THE COWBOY WALLY SHOW has a fascinating format. It begins as a television documentary about television and film star Cowboy Wally, but the this "storyline" seems to be mostly there in order to allow Baker to have a vehicle for his many, many one-liner gags. This structure allows him to string all of the jokes in a row with only a few panels of set-up in between each one. It is marvelously funny. The book then focuses on Wally's two film projects. The first a Foreign Legion Man picture about the terrors of masculinity and a little bit about the horror of war, and the second is "Hamlet" -- filmed while in jail. Hilarity ensues.

Katherine has not, as of this writing, yet read THE COWBOY WALLY SHOW.

CONCRETE: FRAGILE CREATURE, by Paul Chadwick

FRAGILE CREATURE is my favorite Concrete story, and the one I read first. I thought long and hard about whether this was the best introductory storyline for the uninitiated. I don't believe that it is... The secondary story about Maureen's relationship with a research scientist might seem distracting to a new reader, if one was unfamiliar with her character. But the primary story is about Concrete offscreen on a film set, and I felt that someone who was knowledgeable in the dramatic arts might appreciate the realism that Chadwick brought to the story -- primarily from his own experiences working on films.

CONCRETE is always about the practicalities of the fantastic nature of its eponymous protagonist. And if you have an enormous, superhumanly strong creature living in California, sooner or later Hollywood is going to come knocking. The great concept is not that they want Concrete as a star, but as a special effect: it is far more efficient to pay a single person to lift a car and throw it than it is to hire a team of crane operators and technicians to hoist a car and film it at 64 frames a second moving in reverse. Concrete just might be able to save a B-movie from going over budget.

Rebecca graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in Music, having investigated avenues of performance in dance, musical theatre, and opera. She has stood on center stage, and she has painted flats, and she has done just about everything in between. A comic book that incorporated the details and machinations of show business into its plot and it scenery might appeal to her, I thought. Apparently, I thought incorrectly, as she has never read the book.

SIGNAL TO NOISE, by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

The only person who had previously read comics was my friend Elaine, a graduate student at Yale. She and I had compared notes over THE SANDMAN years before, and so I picked her up a copy of SIGNAL TO NOISE, the marvelous, overwrought story of a man making a film about the coming of the last Millennium and how the people of 999 Anno Domini dealt with it.

She waited five days, and then devoured the book and wrote me the following:

I just finished Signal to Noise. I was waiting to read it, until I was ready. Wow. Thanks. I was annoyed, at just a few parts. To write like James Joyce and then write the sentence, "Artsy stuff," it gets on my nerves, I'm around too many people who show off their inscrutability, I'm here in the ivory tower from whence deconstructionalism was brought to the US, I think it's too easy to be inscrutable. But then again, I did just quote Foucault just this afternoon, and I did just write from whence. I'm not innocent of inscrutability. Sometimes being inscrutable is the only way to be true. And that page with the bright white light, the double-page, when he dies. It was hard for me to turn that page. It was a very good book. Thank you.

And she has never purchased an additional comic book in the year since I presented her with this book that pleased her so much. ``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xSUBSPECIES: Proselytes``x1008138213,33927,Upfront``x``x``xby Benjamin Russell``xBenjamin Russell, while the Columns Editor for Popimage, bears nothing in common with Anne's column editor in WHY I HATE SATURN. Especially not the beard.``x ``xHappy New Year! We're back! Woo Hoo! No Best/Worst of 2001 lists! (Yet.) Okay...okay...relax...settle down. We're still digesting our champagne and fruitcake.

Meanwhile, was DK2 a good book or a bad book? Who knows? Well, we could ask Marc Deering (MD) and Jon Ellis (JE). And Brian Domingos (BD) and Matt Singer (MS) have a few things to tell you as well. Check it out.

THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN #1
Written and Drawn by Frank Miller
Colors by Lynn Varley
DC Comics
$7.95

wow. I mean, really, WOW!
Everyone has that one comic. The one that completely changed the way they look at other comics. The original DARK KNIGHT RETURNS did that for me. When I read it fifteen years ago I never looked at comics the same again. Now, don't get me wrong, it was a great story. But what moved me was the way it was told. Miller's panel placements, layouts and overall art were groundbreaking. And all of this is evident in this new sequel. But add fifteen years of experience and you get a fantastic story told by a fantastic team of comic artists: Miller, Lynn Varley, and Todd Klein on lettering.
It's been three years since the events of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. Bruce Wayne is training a new militia to publically reveal the U.S. is run by a false government. He starts by rescuing various members of the JLA, locked away for the public good. (By eliminating the superhero, the government has repressed supervillain activity.) Once again, Batman takes on Superman the govt.s' willing scapegoat. (Miller never misses a chance to knock the old dog.)

As far as the art goes... it screams! It's like beefed up high school art mixed with adrenaline pumping video games. This book is radically different from DK1. DK1 was grim & gritty whereas this one is like listening to techno music: fast! And it captures exactly the current state of youth culture, beaten in in a way that no other comic today could. Miller hasn't missed a beat since the end of the last story-line. This one plops you smackdown in all of the crap and fun that the first series brought. If this story holds up for the remaining two issues, we could have a legitimate monster hit to bring readers back to comics again. (MD)

But on the other hand...

Ever feel bad when a company goes to a lot of trouble to put a huge marketing push behind a book that's just, bad? I tried to like it, I tried. I really did. It's always fun to see those classic characters strewn across a dark back draft. Or visions of an oversexed big brother futuristic society. Hell, they even made Green Arrow seem cool for a moment - "Oliver Queen. Billionaire turned communist." But in the end it was a losing battle. Sure it had some good points. There are certain points where the story is interesting enough for you to forget for a moment how bad the art is. Yes folks, I'm sorry, but Frank Miller seems to have gone the way of John Byrne. Rushed scribbles look to be done with a shaky sharpie. And someone please take photoshop away from Lynn Varley. You've seen what she can do with a paintbrush, but this - ugh. I don't know if this is meant to be some stylized effect to fit the theme of the book, but the colouring and the hooky effects, it just looks...bad.

Next stop, the price. Probably expecting me to complain here too, but no. To me the price seems to be exactly as it should be. But you might want to stick your dollars back in your pocket anyway and just get the trade. I imagine the series will read better as a whole, but what a way to start things off. Even the entire build-up, hiding a full-on shot of the bats until the end just doesn't work, friends. I suspect this may be more of a precursor to jumpstart renewed interest in a dark knight film, rather then to simply tell a good story. I don't really feel bad it turned out like this, it was expected. I saw the previews, so did you, so what? But I do feel bad for that one person. That one person who chose to start reading again for the first time in years. With this. That person I feel bad for. (JE)

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #600
Writer: Joe Casey
Artist: Mike Wieringo
Inker: Jose Marzan, Jr.
DC Comics
$3.95

I really liked these new SUPERMAN books when that big revamp came a year or two ago. But after a couple of months, the hassle of picking them all up began to outweigh the enjoyment I got reading them. And I don’t care what anyone says, you can’t just read one SUPERMAN book. But when a big anniversary issue comes out, I usually pick it up and see what these guys are up to.

Casey’s story leads Superman on a search for a missing President Luthor, AWOL after being kissed in public. I would have checked various health spas and resorts, but Superman goes to places like Suicide Slum searching for the Prez, who may be under some sort of mind control. He finds Lexy calling himself another name, wearing a bad tupee, and destroying Metropolis buildings.

The ironic thing about this issue being the big 600th is that, even though I’ve read very few SUPERMAN issues in my life, this felt like an incredibly done story. Casey doesn’t build too much suspense; we all know how it’s going to end, and mind control stories always strike me as a little lame. The one plot point that got me interested (why exactly Luthor was committing these specific crimes) gets a vague last page which raises more questions than it answers; and this is a $3.95 oversized book. For that much dough, I think we deserve a complete story. (MS)

JLA #61
Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciler: Doug Mahnke
Inker: Tom Nguyen
DC Comics
$2.25

So Mark Waid, Bryan Hitch Paul Neary and Laura DePuy have jumped ship. They did some nice work, but they weren’t happy with it; Fair enough. I’d rather them be happy than see them suffer through "poor" work on JLA. So we’ve got Kelly, Mahnke, Nguyen and Baron on board. A pretty good haul if you ask me.

Kelly’s been working wonders over on the "Super" books, and his X-MEN had a lot of promise a few years back. The story’s pretty simple, but uses just the right amount of exposition and action. Morrison had his wide-screen kick’splosions and Waid had talking heads. Kelly mixes it up, giving us some exposition without shoving it in our faces, which is always nice.

Mahnke manages to have gritty looking art work that still looks clean. The edges are rough and polished all at the same time. Very nice to look at. These guys are holding the bar up and hopefully, with time, will raise it to new heights. BD

ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY #15
Everything by Chris Ware
Fantagraphics
$10.95

Jesus. Ware again. Sometimes I feel like I've been cursed to enjoy this man's work so much. I mean, his stories are nowhere near happy, his art is something torn out of the 1920's and stylized, computerized and spit back out to resemble some retro-RETRO-comic that would likely have come out of the early 1900's. And I love every page of it.

ACME #15 is Chris Ware's first post-Jimmy Corrigan issue and final "Big Book of Jokes," a la ACME #7. This one features Quimby the mouse, Rocket Sam, Big Tex, Tales of Tomorrow, and Rusty Brown, not to mention that loveable depressive Jimmy Corrigan, himself. The most interesting are the Rusty Brown stories. Rusty is the guy that everyone of us knows or has at least seen. A fanboy at heart who cannot fathom the real world in all of it's...realism. (What makes Rusty even worse/better is I really do know someone exactly like him in every way. That's the scary part. For those of you who don't know a Rusty Brown, just go to a comic convention.) All in all this was, as ever, a fantastic issue. Ware's use of comic storytelling is far above everyone else. His use of color, in today's Photoshop era, is always plain and simple. Nothing flashy or fancy, just simple colors. All the strips are wonderful, evoke humor and, show off Ware's storytelling genius. If you read this for no other reason, read it for insight as to how to tell a story with sequential art. (MD)

THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #50
Writer: Mike Grell
Penciler: Michael Ryan
Inker: Sean Parsons
Marvel Comics
$3.50

Iron Man has never appealed to me. Like Thor, he’s just one of those characters that I can’t relate to, which makes reading him that much less interesting. Nevertheless, I usually give new teams on the book a chance, hoping they can turn me around to the character. Mike Grell and Michael Ryan’s take on Tony Stark isn’t particularly revolutionary, but it is a solid debut issue. I’m sure Iron Man fans will like it. I’ve read worse, but it didn’t turn me into a raging fan, either.

Tony Stark’s current status quo means he has to recharge his car battery of a heart every 48 hours or so, and he’s running dangerously low on time to get a fill-up, stuck behind enemy lines in the middle of a civil war in Eastern Europe. The plot is pretty standard, but it works.

Grell clearly knows and respects his lead character, I just think he needs to lean off the narration a little. He really pounds home some obvious points in it, and even goes the extra mile to repeat a line numerous times in the book. Less would have been more in this case. Ryan’s art looks nice with the book’s rich coloring and production job, but it’s hard to follow in a few spots (I couldn’t understand why Tony didn’t just go back and get his armor from the water at the start of the issue until I went back and noticed there was gunfire all around him; Ryan never bothers to show us the shooters so its easily missed amongst heavy narration) and sometimes his hands seem a little out of whack. But he does draw a mean Iron Man, can’t deny that.

IRON MAN fans will keep reading, but I suspect we won’t see a surge in readership in the coming months. But, hey, what do I know? Try it out, see what you think. (MS)

FAR WEST VOL. 1
Written and Drawn by Richard Moore
NBM Publishing
$12.95

This was an unexpected surprise. I was in Barnes and Noble the other day looking around in the Graphic Novel section and I came upon this little gem of a book. I like NBM's books. They generally put out a great selection of comics and this was no exception. The book deals with Meg, a bounty hunter that does her best to get by, and Phil, her friend and Grizzly Bear. Yes, a Grizzly Bear. 'Bout 7 feet tall long fur, huge claws. You've seen 'em right? Well the fun quirky part of this whole book is that everyone is an elf. Even Meg herself. There are ogres and shapeshifters and fairies in this version of our world in the old west, as Meg rying to make her way through life as a bounty hunter. Richard Moore is better than I thought. I'd heard of his BONEYARD but hadn't read it. Here, Moore has a nice detailed line that holds well for the story. There are moments where it seems he's picked his panels a little too "close-up" for my tastes. In the back are sketches and unused covers thrown in for the sake of his breathtaking pencil work. I almost wish he'd stayed with the tight pencils instead of the traditional pen and ink but either way, he's damn good. Nothing too in-depth, but really just a good, fun, adventuresome read. Give it a try. I'm glad I did. (MD)

ALAN MOORE’S GLORY #1
Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Marat Mychaels
Inker: Robert Jones
Colorist: Nimbus Studios
Avatar Press
$3.50

Generally, I avoid any book from Avatar, with an attractive woman on the cover. It typically means it’s comic porn inside. But this book also has Alan Moore’s name on the cover, so, at worst, it was bound to be challenging, well-written porn. Kidding aside, while there is a sex scene, this isn’t porn. And it is interesting and well-written, even if Moore’s walked this path before.

Glory is to Wonder Woman, what Supreme was to Superman. Like some of Moore’s other recent works, the heroine also has her own comic book story-within-a-story. The big juicy twist here involves Glory’s human alter-ego. I won’t spoil it, but it’s the smartest part of the book.

Not all that much happens in issue one. Most of the pages are cleverly disguised exposition. Marat Mychaels’ art is fine, but not outstanding in anyway. But like that twist above, there’s enough intriguing stuff here to keep me reading for at least one more issue. If you liked Moore’s SUPREME, you’d probably enjoy this book a lot. (MS)

BLOOD SHED #1-2
Written by Fern Wharton
Penciled by D.T. Washington
Inked and Colored by HiFI Designs
www.doubleeye.com
Double Eye Press
$2.95

This is a new series from a new publisher. A small publisher in fact and it's in full color. That may not be a big deal to many of you but if you've ever been to APE or The EXPO you'd know full color small press books are hard to find; mainly because printing is so expensive. But that's beside the point. Because it's also good! Yeah, I mean it. These guys do a bang-up job delivering a solid story and art. Plus it's got a buxom babe in it. (Wizard should be calling soon...) Anyway. To the substance of the book. BLOOD SHED takes place in the near future where humans and mutants are living together. There is a police force that actively uses mutants to help solve mutant crimes. The creation of the DMA (Department of Mutant Affairs) and DMPA (Department of Mutant/Paranormal Affairs) in 2043 arose from the necessity to protect unaltered humans from the criminal mutant element. The majority of Special Agents recruited within these government organizations are mutants. The DMA focuses on homicides, terrorism, and technology based crimes. The DMPA explores incidents that might be paranormal in nature such as poltergeist phenomena, UFO encounters and other mutant PSI related events (psychokinesis, precognition, altered states, and astral projection.) Blood Shed's team consists of highly trained Mutant Operatives. Each member has enhanced strength, impressive mental abilities and other physical attributes that aid them well during investigations. The two issues being reviewed were very well put together for a small press publisher. There are some pages where the panel pacing and placement kind of threw me off, but I didn't really miss anything in the over-all storytelling. I will definitely be looking for more. (But, then again, I might be a little biased. The kind people that produce this book, here in Virginia, just hired me to be the inker, starting with issue #4. hehehe……Be on the look out.) (MD)
``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xFIRST IMPRESSIONS``x1010504290,84335,Reviews``x``x``x``xFIRST IMPRESSIONS runs just about every other week (knock wood) at PopImage.com. All artwork copyright it's respective owners and creators, used for purposes of review. ``x ``xHoly Red Bank, Bluntman!

BLUNTMAN AND CHRONIC
Writer: Kevin Smith
Pencillers: Mike Avon Oeming and Mike Allred
Inkers: Pat Garrahy and Mike Allred
Image Comics, 2002
$14.95

Reviewed by Matt Singer

It helps to live close to Kevin Smith's comic book store, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash. Thanks to my 732 area code, I was able to make the quick drive down to Red Bank and pick up a copy of this heavily anticipated graphic novel (by me, anyway), BLUNTMAN AND CHRONIC, before it became widely available. Never let it be said that living in Central NJ is not without its perks.

The clever premise here is that this book contains the actual comics made by Kevin Smith's characters in the film "Chasing Amy." In truth, Smith himself is the writer and the art is provided by the original art team from POWERS, Mike Oeming and Pat Garrahy, as well as material by Mike Allred. Hardcore fans will recognize the final story, "The Derris Affair" from its original appearance in the last issue of ONI DOUBLE FEATURE (it appears here for the first time in color).

If any book was review-proof, it's this one. If you're a Kevin Smith fan, you're probably going to buy this book. More accurately, you've been dying for this book since late summer 2001 when Smith's last film came out and the book was originally scheduled. And if you're one of those people who'd describe Smith's run on GREEN ARROW as "overly dialogued" then you're going to avoid this thing like a smelly monkey.

So let's cut the crap. Will Smith fans like this book? Not surprisingly, they'll love it. Will non-Smith fans? It depends; if they can get past that "Anything-that-guy-does-sucks" it's definitely possible that the more comic-savvy among them will enjoy some really well-pointed super-hero satire.

The three issues "reprinted" in this volume showcase some easily recognizable stereotypes from every comic book. There's an origin issue, a villains' origin issue, and a death issue (I'm not spoiling anything for anyone who's see "Chasing Amy"). I don't want to give away the jokes, but there is plenty of fun at the expense of time-honored super-hero clich�s. I also liked the way the duo use their status as heroes to further their careers as criminals, an idea that gets some very funny play when combined with the introduction of villains like Dickhead (just in case you were worried he was going to stop writing dick jokes) and Newsgroup (just in case you were worried he was a Warren Ellis fan).

Even though there are plenty of the in-jokes that View Askew (Smith's film company) fans have come to expect, and even cherish, there really is some smart stuff going on in the book behind the penis-shaped villainy and girl-on-girl obsessions. Smith has obviously read a lot of comic books, and puts his knowledge of the genre to good use.

I'm a big fan of Mike Oeming's work on POWERS; and, reteamed with former inks-and-colors collaborator Pat Garrahy, he does not disappoint. I could be a loser and complain how the same guy is purported to have drawn books that look as different as the styles of Oeming's and Allred's, but I'm willing to suspend disbelief, if only because the art is so outstanding. Not only do they sell every joke in the book, they are some truly gorgeous pages in here. My favorite is the two-page spread that kicks off the third issue, "Death Be Not Profitable." Check out the incredible color work on the background. If anything good came out of the novel's long delays, it was the extra time it afforded the artists to make a great-looking product.

BLUNTMAN AND CHRONIC is more accessible to comic book fans outside the View Askew sphere of influence than his other View Askew comics, but not by much. Casual fans might enjoy it, but fifteen dollars is a pretty steep price for what is a little more than four complete comic books. Still, the book is essential reading for fans, well worth the wait.

And I went the whole review without saying "snoogans" or "snoochie bootchies."

Aw, hell.

RECOMMENDED``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xBLUNTMAN AND CHRONIC``x1010511911,10132,Reviews``x``x``xReviewed by Matt Singer``xMatt Singer is head writer for PopImage's From The Wire, and also regularly contributes to the First Impressions column. Caitlin Bree is institutionalized at Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital about five minutes from his house. ``x ``xWe at PopImage were recently honored to talk to Alejandro Jodorowsky, the award winning film director and writer of THE METABARONS, THE INCAL and a number of other books from Humanoids Publishing (http://www.humanoids-publishing.com/). Humanoids arranged for us to speak to Mr. Jodorowsky, who sent us the following note regarding our interview arrangements:
You are all filled with great violence and cranberry muffins. Your words betray a deep unhappiness and addiction to spamwiches, which arouse you in ways you find most frightening. Peas and carrots cannot bring you peace and caring, because you are a stupid ugly American scum dumbface. Meatloaf casserole is tasty. I spit on you, and wish you dry-shaven head-to-toe with a Bic (TM) razor and drop-kicked into a vat of lemon juice. Is three o'clock Tuesday okay?
Although we had no idea what in the name of Holy Fuck he was saying, we were thrilled to have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to speak to this true, unquestioned genius of comics. So here is PI's own Zack Smith with the Master himself, Alejandro Jodorowsky!

Zack Smith: Wow, it is such an honor to talk to you, Mr. Jodorowsky. Thanks so much for granting this interview. This is my first one for PI, so go easy on me, okay? (laughs)
Alejandro Jodorowsky: Fair bees fly in the face of graveness.
ZS: Um...yeah. Let's start with a personal question of sorts. I've seen some of your films like EL TOPO and THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN at film festivals, and I really like them. Any chance as to whether they'll be released on DVD in the US in the near future?
AJ: The path of the trombone is ridden with telephone vaginas.
ZS: (pause) So...is that a "yes" or a "no?"
AJ: Skeksis heffalump, Slestak Marshall Will and Holly.
ZS: ...right. Moving on, let's talk about your new graphic album, SON OF THE GUN. This is an extraordinary piece of work. It moved me to tears.
AJ: WHAT?! Dingbat coconut strawberry Vietnam! Point missed! Point missed!
ZS: ...I actually understood that last part. So I missed the point of it? It's not supposed to be moving?
AJ: COMEDY! Funny laugh laugh pants wet! Jerry Lewis nice lady froynlavin! Twelfth dimensional spittoon cleaner Waffle House omelet special fricassee Maytag!
ZS: It's...it's a COMEDY? But what about the part where the main character...
AJ: PUNCHLINE! Smack seltzer fart-fart bang poof! Licky trodwink klapstweller remark Barbara Streisand!
ZS: ...I'm so sorry Mr. Jodorowsky, I thought it was...
AJ: THINK BAD! CREATION PURE SOUL ESSENCE, GRAPEFRUIT BARBEQUE! TASTY PUNCHLINE, CRISPY MARSUPIAL! BIRD NIGHT! BIRD NIGHT!
ZS: (sobbing) I'm sorry, I was only trying to say I liked your work...
AJ: Hmmf! You are SO American.
ZS: I just...I just...HEY! That last sentence was actually coherent!
AJ: Umm....um...semolina pilchards, climbing up the Eiffel Tower...
ZS: That's "I am the Walrus!" You're...wait a minute! What's that hat under the table?
AJ: Hat? No hat. Hat no...cat in the hat?
ZS: I can see it! It's a hat filled with pieces of paper with words on them!
AJ: Um, it, um...crystalline vortex creationism spiritual violence...
ZS: Stop it! You can't fool me anymore! You've just been pulling words out at random and using them as your answers, haven't you?!
AJ: No...I...butternut...limabean...okay, you got me! I've just been pulling this whole interview out of my ass!
ZS: I KNEW IT! But why?
AJ: Well, I mean, Christ, have you SEEN all the crazy shit I put in my comics and films?! What am I gonna say, "boy, I sure enjoy writing comics?" Oh yeah, THAT'S interesting. Let's face it, most comics interviews are kinda boring and predictable! Sure, I make no sense, but at least it's not just a bunch of hype for my upcoming stuff!
ZS: Well...I...there's always...I mean...okay, you have a point. This HAS been different, I'll give you that...whoo. I hope my NEXT interview isn't this crazy...
NEXT AT POPIMAGE:
Zack Smith: So, tell us about your latest project...
Grant Morrison: Well, "Triceratops Sushi" is about a Alsatian tunafish who begins a spirit journey backwards through the quantum field after having tantric sex with the Goddess while under the influence of psychoactive...
ZS: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! (jumps out window)
GM: Was it something I said?``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xSTARVED FOR ATTENTION: Alejandro Jodorowsky``x1010550949,38517,Industrial``x``x``xBy Zack M. Smith``xZACK SMITH (zacharymsmith@hotmail.com would like to thank Humanoids Publishing for their GREAT comics and graphic albums, which are MUST-READS for everyone who likes good, weird comics. And make sure to find out more about Jodorowsky and his work. You won't regret it.``xhttp://www.humanoids-publishing.com/ ``x
Ever since the first issue of POP GUN WAR hit the stands those lucky thousands of fans who were smart enough to pick it up were all wondering one thing: When does the next issue come out? We sat around, wondering for quite a while, reminiscent and curious, until recently when we were greeted with a treat from Absence of Ink Press. Starting this January A.O.I. will begin releasing the remaining issues of POP GUN WAR starting with the long awaited issue 2... Sweet.

You see ever since issue 1 came out the rave reviews just poured in, anyone who had anything to say something about this book were saying good things. Pop Gun War follows Sinclair, a young inner city boy who finds a pair of discarded angel wings and decides to tape them to his back. Reality and supernaturality delve together as Sinclair moves through the streets and all the weirdness caught in the concrete and shadows is drawn towards him. A little much to handle for a kid who can't even get into the club his sister is playing at. The story is enthralling and the art refreshing. A cool texturized style like few others you're likely to see these days. And the genius behind it all...

Farel Dalrymple.

First, how about a little familiarity for the fans. Introduce yourself.

Ok, my full name is Farel DeShongh Dalrymple. I'm 29 years old and have been living in New York for over five years. I'm originally from Oklahoma by way of California. I've been doing self-publishing in one way or another for about three years now.

Most people reading this will know you from POP GUN WAR and MEATHAUS, but you also have a background in animation, correct?

Yeah, animation was the way to put the bread on the table when I got out of school. I didn't really go to school for that sort of thing. I was an Illustration major. I just kind of fell into animation. I mostly did character designs, turnarounds, storyboards, and layout drawings for flash animation projects. I was working for one of those big Internet companies that blew apart last year. Now I am scrounging out a living doing the occasional storyboarding job.

How did you get into working on Storyboards?

I have gotten some jobs through the people I used to work to work at the Internet company. I have worked on some animation projects as well as a low budget movie. I really like doing storyboards. It is very close to doing comics. Unfortunately work has been a little slim lately. I might go back to waiting tables soon. Of course I could just work on POP GUN WAR all the time if I sold a few thousand more copies.

Now I don't remember seeing POP GUN WAR when it was solicited, but the day it came out - I saw it, bought it and the title immediately went on my 'pull list.' Since then I've heard nothing but good things about the book. Why do you think reactions have been so positive?

I don't know. I hate to confess this but I don't really buy comics too often. There are certainly several cartoonists that I admire but it takes so long for a single creator to produce a comic that I didn't see too many comics on the stands that I wanted to read. So I made POP GUN WAR with the idea in mind of a comic I might buy. I am sure every creator thinks what they do is unique and original so I may sound conceited but I don't really see too many comics out there that look anything like POP GUN WAR. I don't think my ideas are necessarily groundbreaking. I used a lot of common imagery, and typical comic book devices like surrealism, but maybe the way I presented the story, combined all these elements, is what appealed to people.
Although in mainstream comics, when you say surrealism most peoples thought are more likely drawn to images of Steranko drawing big swirls behind Nick Fury then the classic surrealists.
Yeah, that's not really what I meant by surrealism, although I loved those old Steranko comics. I bought a lot of those comics when I was younger. They were old when I bought them. I must have spent some serious money on all those. I wish I still had them.

The kind of surrealism I meant was more the classical meaning I guess. Some people have referred to POP GUN WAR as magical realism. Maybe that is a better definition. I always dislike trying to describe my work. For some reason I makes me feel uncomfortable. I am too worried people will get the wrong idea or something.

So what titles have been appealing enough lately for you to pop a few bucks out your pocket?

Not too many. Of course I buy the occasional Chris Ware, Paul Pope, or Dan Clowes. I usually buy their books a long time after they have come out. I never buy them right away. The problem is I hardly go to the comic store to even look anymore. Most of the comics I read are ones I have traded with people at conventions. I think the last comic I bought was Dave Cooper's "Dan and Larry". I really like that guy's stuff. Some of it is pretty disturbing but it's all so very nice to look at. I got a chance to see some pages from the new Michael Lark Batman book. I don't know if it's out yet or what but I will pick that up eventually. That stuff was amazing. It reminded me of the Mazzuchelli Batman year one.

It's been a good while between issues 1 and 2, what was the cause of the delay? What sort of timeframe can fans expect for the rest of the series?

I feel very guilty for the huge delay between the first two issues. It was my original plan to have a new book out every few months. What can I say? I have a bunch of excuses. At first there was just poor time planning on my part. Then there was the financial problem. The first book was funded by the Xeric grant for which I am very grateful. The second book has been finished for a while. I just didn't have any money to print the damn thing. So now that I have a real publisher he decided to put me on some sort of regular schedule. Which is a good thing for the readers and me. I have made a commitment to get out POP GUN WAR on a quarterly schedule. Since issue two will be in stores in January, issue three should be on the stands by April. Expect a new issue to follow every three months.

Since issue 1, issue 2 has gone from Cryptic press to meathaus publications and has now found it's home at absence of ink. Why all the jumping about and are there currently any plans for a reprint of issue 1?

I was under the Cryptic Press banner with my first publishing endeavor, SMITH'S ADVENTURES IN THE SUPERMUNDANE. John Green and Dave Roman are a couple of great guys. They didn't have the funds to pay for the printing but did the production work on POP GUN WAR as well as dealing with all distributors and that other stuff on both PGW and Smith. I found the whole process pretty intimidating. By the time I started work on the MEATHAUS anthology I was a little more confident. Though I remember John helping out quite a bit with the production on the first issue of MEATHAUS. After doing a few issues of MEATHAUS I got this crazy idea to start a comic publishing empire. I decided to publish POP GUN WAR under Meathaus Press. Sadly, a few months later I was collecting unemployment checks wondering what happened to my nice internet job.

By the time I was finished with the second issue I was severely unemployed (still am) and couldn't afford to print the book. Ed Irving at Absence of Ink Press heard about my financial dilemma and graciously decided to publish POP GUN WAR. No plans right now to re-print issue #1. I still have about 1,000 copies sitting in my friend's loft in Brooklyn. It sold pretty well for a first issue of an indie book. I sold over 2,200 copies just from Diamond. I had to do a re-print since I originally only had 2,000 copies printed. I do plan on collecting the first 5 issues in a trade paperback.

Are those thousand copies available for sale and if so how might fans get a hold of a copy?

They can always mail order them from me. Meathaus has a website, www.meathaus.com with our address and everything. Cold Cut was distributing POP GUN WAR as well as Tony Shenton. I still get an occasional small re-order form diamond, but I am not too sure how their re-order system works.

Staying as hush hush as possible, can you tell us how you got involved with artbomb?

Well, I guess it started when Ed Irving posted something about POP GUN WAR on a certain person's message board. Someone contacted him through that. Then I sent off my stuff to be posted on the Artbomb Site. I think that's it. I might be missing something.

Tell us about MEATHAUS and the role you play in that concern.

MEATHAUS is a comic book anthology consisting of illustrators, cartoonists, and animators mostly from the New York area though in the last couple of issues we have had people from other parts of the country as well. I have been the editor on the first five issues but it is really a group project. It started out as an excuse to make something and get together with a lot of my friends. Now it is a little more than that. Issue five, which should be back from the printers by the time people read this, is 104 pages long and features 21 different artists. I got some advanced copies the other day. It looks amazing. If anyone wants to check this book out they should start with this issue. It has been a lot of fun to work on MEATHAUS but with issue six some of the other guys are taking over the editor chores. I will still contribute but I'm a little burnt out on doing the editor/publisher thing.

Speaking of MEATHAUS publications, you've been trying to get a few projects off the ground involving contributors from the MEATHAUS anthology - any luck on that front?

Unfortunately no, Tomer Hanuka already had BiPOLAR, one of my favorite comics, going under Five O'clock Shadow. A few of the guys in issue #5 have their own projects too. I was really excited to get Vincent Stall from Minneapolis to contribute something to issue five. He does mini comics under the title KING MINI INTERNATIONAL and just did a full length book, ROBOT INVESTIGATOR. Nothing under the Meathaus Press logo though except for a cool mini comic Zac Baldus did called RED THREAD. Tomer and I were trying to encourage a few of the founding members of Meathaus to do some full length comics. Not many people want to invest their time doing something as financially unrewarding as comics. I can't blame them but I sure would love to see what these guys could do with their own books. I think a couple of them are still playing with the idea.

Do you think your ideas might be better suited to Graphic Novels then comic series, thus allowing for better bookstore distribution?

Oh yeah, totally. I think the market for the 24-page comic is dying. After I get tired of doing POP GUN WAR as a regular series it will just be graphic novels for me from then on. Everyone seems to like the bigger, graphic novel, trade paperback format better. Distributors, retailers and some publishers agree it is superior from a monetary standpoint. I am definitely going to compile the first five issues into a trade, maybe with some colour pages added.

One happy bit of news you recently announced on the WEF was having received the gold medal from the society of illustrators in their sequential category. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

The Society of Illustrators is an old establishment in New York that promotes the art of illustration. Every year they have an international call for entries. Selected winners are exhibited in a show then put in a full color book. They also have an annual student competition. This year was the first year they had a sequential category. It is any illustration where the sequence of images is necessary to fully illustrate the idea. The show for the sequential category will be from Feb.6 to Feb. 23, 2002. Their website is: Society Illustrators.org. I was hoping that I would get in the show but I was very happily surprised to find out I got the gold medal.

One of your favoured themes, as seen in POP GUN WAR is childhood and the negative feelings associated with being young and small. Could you yourself see this story represented in any other way then that of a comic book?

What do you mean exactly? Do you mean like a movie or a book?

Or whatever medium you prefer.

Sure, comics are just one way of telling the same story that everyone else is telling. I would love to someday work on my own film. I have even played with the idea of doing a POP GUN WAR short.

Do you have any experience working on films in terms of production and direction as opposed to just a artists position?

Not really. Some friends and I make videos sometimes. They are just short, funny films. I haven't attempted anything serious yet. Jay Sacher (from Meathaus) and I have been working on a movie script. I don't know if we will ever really make it into anything. I would like to get into other areas of film someday. My girlfriend is studying film right now. Maybe after she is famous she can get me into the business.

Are these feelings and concepts based on any specific childhood experiences of your own?

Actually I had a pretty good childhood. I remember being confused a lot. I think I was in my own world, "oh, were we supposed to go on a field trip today?" That's probably what they are calling A.D.D. these days. There were a lot of times though where I felt everything was unjust. I think a lot of children feel that way. Also, I spent a lot of time alone as a child. I tried to get those things across in Smith's Adventures. Occasionally, I use certain scenes I remember from my childhood as material when I write. That's the place I try to think from.

Back in our day, what they now refer to as ADD, was what we might have called creativity.

Yeah, I guess most creative people did a lot of daydreaming in school. When I was in grade school I noticed I would always do my best drawings while the teacher was talking.

You've mentioned plans of a children's book once PGW was completed. Is this still on the table? Being a full colour book, are you planning on doing the book fully painted?

Yeah, doing a children's book is something I think about almost every day. Once I get a few more issues of POP GUN WAR finished I want to start work on it. I would like to do it fully painted, probably in oils. I might mix it up though. I play around with computer coloring sometimes. I may do some more of that. Dave McKean makes it all look so darn easy.

It's interesting you'd chose oils as the medium. How much attention do you put towards texture in your art?

Texture is something I think about when I paint and draw. The types of paintings that I am more attracted to are usually the ones with texture. I like seeing brushstrokes. Comic artists like Sergio Toppi and Jorge Zaffino are really good at giving their work a textural quality. I think the reason I work mostly in oils when I paint is because that is the medium I learned to use while I was in school. It seemed to work ok for me so I stuck with it. If I ever start doing a lot of illustration work I may have to switch to acrylic or gouche.

With PGW issue 2 soon to hit the stands, what can fans expect from this issue?

I had a couple people tell me that the story in issue one was incomprehensible. If anyone was confused by the first issue don't expect it all to get cleared up in #2. I think it is a stronger book than issue #1. There are a few new characters in this issue. One of them is not a nice person. Sinclair and him get into a bit of a fight. I think people will like the book. I have a heard a lot of positive things from the few people I have showed it to. I am a little worried about Issue three, which is out in April. It is a slower paced than the first two issues but I think there is actually more stuff going on.

With a heavy NY influence, have you made any attempts in expressing the events of 9-11 in your art?

No, Not anything obvious or literal. I have a couple of friends that did some stuff for the Alternative Comics 9-11 book. I really liked what they had to say about it. But doing things like that is not really my style. I deal more with fantasy and surrealism. I'm not too good at expressing myself through something that heavy and frightening. I know I have been affected as a New Yorker and a person just like everyone else on the planet. I am sure that will show up in my art in some way. There seems to be an oppressive mood in this city since 9-11. People seem more hostile than ever. I think about moving every day. As ridiculous as this sounds I hope that the comic books I make from now on are truly uplifting in their own way.

Next time someone gives you attitude, pull out a copy of PGW ish 1 and say "Here. Have a comic" - it's sure to cheer up some people. 4 out of 5 doctors recommend it.

Yeah, I should try that. Right now I am sticking to my plan of trying not to ever leave my apartment.

Heh. Ladies and gentlemen, the making of a true artiste...

Special thanks to Farel for the interview and thanks to Edward Irvin of Absence of Ink press for helping things along. Be sure to check out new issues of POP GUN WAR and MEATHAUS coming soon. If you haven't picked them up yet, you are truly missing out on some amazing talent - don't be surprised when these lads are in high demand. And if you have picked up your copies by now then you already know I'm right.

Good for you.

And don't forget, Farel is open for new work assignments - I'm looking YOUR way Larry Young! You too Jamie Rich. I've haven't forgotten you either Jim Valentino. And don't start thinking I won't be mentioning your names as well; Joey Q, Karen Berger and Mark Chiarello...

YOU HEARD ME.
``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xINTERVIEW: FAREL DALRYMPLE: POP GUN GENIUS``x1011240780,75145,Industrial``x``x``xInterview conducted by Jonathan Ellis``xJonathan Ellis is Interviews Editor for PopImage. He is not however a big shot editor at one of the biggest and best comic companies currently out there, but if he were he'd certainly snag up a talent like Farel before someone else did.

I'm just saying is all.
``xE-mail Us. - Send us an e-mail, commenting on this article.
Meathaus.com - Check out this anthology bringing together some amazing talent
Xeric Foundation.com - The Xeric Foundation - helping talented work reach you.
``x

"Translation" is the second chapter of Pop Gun War in this new ongoing series from Xeric grant recipient Farel Dalrymple and Absence Of Ink Comic Press. In this issue we find Sunshine Montana and Rachel going for a walk. The Emilies get ready for a show. The Rich Kid causes some mischief. And Sinclair, the boy with wings, has a scuffle with Kool, the crazy monk.
PopImage is proud to present a special four-page preview of the newest episode of POP GUN WAR
Click on each image to view the full page.
POP GUN WAR issue 2 is brought to you courtesy of Absence of Ink Comic Press
Questions, comments and envelopes stuffed with cash can be directed to Publisher S. Edward Irvin, C/O Absence of Ink Press
Box 875
Lincoln, CA 95648
Or through e-mail at absenceofink@onypsus.com
And be sure to bookmark the Absence of Ink site for further news on POP GUN WAR and other projects at Onypsus.com/absenceofink.

POP GUN WAR # 2 comes to from Farel Dalrymple, is 24 pages of Black and White mastery, and comes at the beautifully low price of 2.50 US.
Be on the look out because it hits stands in January.

Can't find issue # 1? Not a problem. Just visit meathaus.com to find copies of POP GUN WAR and many other great works. Enjoy.
Special thanks to Farel Dalrymple and S. Edward Irvin!
``xEd Mathews``xruckus24@aol.com``xPopPreview: POP GUN WAR # 2
``x1011241835,71205,Industrial``x``x``xCourtesy Absence Of Ink Press``xCourtesy Absence Of Ink Press.``xE-mail Us. - Send us an e-mail, commenting on this article.
Meathaus.com - Check out this anthology bringing together some amazing talent
Xeric Foundation.com - The Xeric Foundation - helping talented work reach you.
``xWho fears for the man without fear? Ben Urich, that's who.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: David Mack
Marvel Comics
$2.99

How many of you have, at some point, heard the words: "You want something to cry about? I'll give you something to cry about!"
Not very pleasant is it?

This story follows aging reporter Ben Urich as he investigates the abused son of the villain Leapfrog - a goofball-in-tights that most people just want to forget. Problem is the boy needs help, and that's not going to happen unless Urich can figure out exactly what caused the boy to be so traumatized. The story deals with the type of tragedy no-one likes to see. A child in pain.

First let me tell you one of the reasons why I really liked this story. Because it's something I can hand to my friends and they'd love it. Did they have a thing for Miller's run on DD? Are they big fans of Bendis and Mack? No. They could give two shits about a blind guy in red underwear. But they'd still love this.

Ever since I first read Bendis, it's always been that great cinematic dialogue that's done it for me. Clever quips and small human truths immersed throughout the text. reference to Flintstones vitamins. Bendis reminds you that, yes, these are people. People with jobs and family and thoughts and memories. It's so easy to get caught up in the god-like nature of our favorite super-heroes that it's nice to see someone take a step back and look at the characters as more than just icons.

Speaking of Bendis' writing, anyone remember Stanislavski? (If you've ever acted you have.) Stanislavski suggested actors BECOME the role, not just act the role. Think of it this way - If I were THAT character in THAT situation, what would I as THAT character DO in THAT situation? Well I wouldn't be surprised if Bendis knows the name. He does a beautiful job of putting himself in his characters' roles and expressing their, well, character: the teary eyes of a worried mother; a writer's dream of being Hemingway; personal revelations from Peter Parker reminding us that he too knows what it feels like to be an orphan.

This book also features fully painted artwork by the one and only David Mack.

A-hem.

Fuck yeah!

Mack's art is beautiful and addictive. His painted pages are always amazing. The pure emotion of just the first few pages is reminiscent of the high quality of work that Jae Lee and Jose Villarubia were putting out with HELLSHOCK. I'm a big fan of using mixed media in your art and Mack knows how to make things look just right. He knows what works best and when not to overdo it. For instance, in one scene we see a group of smokers huddled outside - and combined with the art is the actual Surgeon General's Warning. Gotta love it. There's even a scene where Ben enters a movie theatre and guess what's on the screen? TAXI DRIVER baby! It's cool shit like that scattered throughout the pages that makes this read even more entertaining.

One of the things I love about the photo realism of Mack's paintings is you'll always find a few characters that look a bit (or disturbingly a lot), like someone you know. A close resemblance between Leonardo DiCaprio and Peter Parker. A bit of Kim Basinger in one of the interns...

Mack does a great job of expressing the characters personalities. J. Jonah Jameson, Publisher of the Daily Bugle, is always shown from down low to suggest superiority. Ben Urich keeps his body tight, arms close to his chest showing the reader when he feels small or grumpy. Also notice that in the first chapter narration identifies that Ben is using a keyboard. But when the shot pulls out, he's revealed huddled over a typewriter, letting the reader know Ben is from the Old School of writers. This sets the tone for Ben's character for the remaining chapters. Also pay close attention to the eyes. There's a lot of deep emotion, sadness and attitude of all the characters represented perfectly just through their eyes.

As for the end of the story. The end is… predictable. It was obvious what was going to happen, a single frame of art clenched it for me. But upon rereading the story I suspect they knew you'd figure it out, so why not play up on that? Consider the child's mantra from the very beginning: "I know what you've done, Fury. It's time to turn the tables." "time to turn the tables". Or the vision of the battle wherein the two fight while "energy crackles all around them." So there are hints (more so then mentioned here). Notice how many times "garbage" comes into play. And they're there right from the very beginning. That seems to tell me they weren't as concerned with surprising you at the end as with just telling the story well. Which they did.

Plans for a trade have not yet been announced, but the previous storyline looks to be collected next year so this one shouldn't be far along. I just hope that they do the sole four issues as a single trade. This story really deserves to be told in one volume. So let this story be told on its own and let the next storyline be told on its own as well. Of course if you want to throw in some snazzy Polaroid's and bonus pieces like those that usually make it into Mack's KABUKI collections, I for one won't mind.

Since its relaunch DAREDEVIL has maintained the ability to attract top talent and continuously reinvent itself. The deadline snags seem to have been dealt with and I trust Stuart Moore will see to it that the quality of the book won't falter. Be on the look out for the return of Bendis to DAREDEVIL joining artist Alex Maleev as of issue 26. And if you're looking for more of David Mack's work, the KABUKI: METAMORPHOSIS softcover is in stores now.

Later.

RECOMMENDED``xabernstein``xabcs@blast.net``xDAREDEVIL #16-19``x1012919834,86772,Reviews``x``x``xReviewed by Jonathan Ellis``xJonathan Ellis is Interviews Editor for PopImage.``x ``xMARVEL OFFERS TO PRINT THE AUTHORITY, BATMAN

By Matt Singer

NEW YORK: At their weekly press conference, Marvel President Bill Jemas and Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada answered the usual range of questions regarding organic webshooters and the alleged amphetamine-laced ink found in old copies of THUNDERSTRIKE that caused people to purchase it. But, in a surprising and unusual announcement, the pair declared their intentions to return fandom’s favorite ultra-violent superhero team to publishing.

"This is not about Marvel, and the money this will make for Marvel," Jemas said. "We are, first and foremost, about pleasing fans, and we see how upset people are, understandably so, about the recent demise of the monthly AUTHORITY book. Luckily, we are in a position to do something about it."

After numerous questions from reporters about Quesada’s obsession with the Sylvester Stallone movie Over The Top, he continued. "We have put a very serious offer on the table that I just this morning sent over to Paul Levitz at DC, that would allow Marvel rights to publish brand new AUTHORITY comics."

"And," Jemas chimed in, "just in case DC needs the deal sweetened, we've offered to take the old and, let's face it, worn out Batman property that they’ve been trying to dump on us for a very long time as part of the package licensing agreement."

Questioning the reality of DC dumping Batman, Quesada responded, "Who would want Batman? The old guy’s book is almost up to eight hundred issues. As we've shown with books like ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN and relaunched books like DAREDEVIL, people don’t want seventy years of comics books and lame confusing continuity. They cancelled that Batman cartoon and that Future Batman cartoon, which everyone knows was just a Spider-Man cartoon disguised as a Batman cartoon anyway."

"And no one wants to say it at DC," Jemas said, "but that dime comic book practically bankrupted the place."

In exchange for the rights to publish the books, Marvel would pay DC a hefty financial package and what give DC Jemas described only as "other considerations." Industry insiders think this could include the rights to Fabian Nicieza, a Kubert, and two editorial interns to be named later.

From The Wire tried to reach DC staff for comment, but Marvel bought all their phones earlier that afternoon.

THE AUTHORITY FOIL INTERDIMENSIONAL RIFT IN BLEED WITH HOSTESS FRUIT PIES

By Matt Singer, with additional reporting by Chris Moreno

THE CARRIER: At their weekly press conference, The Authority recapped an attempt by a strange new alien race to infiltrate our reality through a rip in the interdimensional area known as "The Bleed."

"These aliens," team leader Jack Hawksmoor explained, "were trying to get into our world and give it a Leona Helmsley-style facelift. They tore a hole through The Bleed and we pursued in The Carrier."

The alien race, whose name and origin have yet to be determined, breached our world with an army of over six hundred thousand hyperjets.

"With only six of us, and a continent-worth of them, we had do something drastic. But we’re good at drastic."

The Doctor, listening to the Earth’s heartbeat, taking its pulse, listening to its lungs, and feeling it’s stomach and asking if it hurt here, here, and here, got an idea. He collected the world’s supply of Hostess fruit pies (which come in 5 great flavors!) and dropped them on the invading force.

Halting in their tracks, the aliens partook of the treats, eating the pies (now with better, flakier crust!) and generally not destroying the Earth. The alien leader, who was given the experimental new chocolate pies remarked, "WOW! REAL FRUIT FILLING! DELICIOUS AND FRESH! I NO LONGER DESIRE THE CONQUEST OF EARTH!"

The now-harmless aliens were returned to their dimension by The Engineer while Apollo and Midnighter waved them along cheerfully.

"Time and time again, we are amazed at the effectiveness of the Hostess Pies and cakes," remarked Hawksmoor. "Violence for violence's sake is not the style of The Authority, and when villains can be defeated by pastry, certainly we utilize that option. Now let us sing 'Kumbayah'"

The entire team joined hands with reporters and everyone sang and then they ate fruit pies, and then they had an orgy.

THE DC ANNOUNCES NEW AUTHORITY BABIES SERIES

By Matt Singer, with additional reporting by Ed Mathews

NEW YORK: In light of current events, THE AUTHORITY was scheduled to end with the conclusion of Mark Millar's final storyline on the book. Outraged fan reaction has led DC/Wildstorm, at their weekly press conference, to announce a new replacement book that is currently being titled THE AUTHORITY BABIES.

New DC President and Grand Poobah Paul Levitz said the series stems from, "a desire to keep the fans we love happy, while acknowledging that things are a lot different than when we started the book. I think THE AUTHORITY BABIES is the book that speaks to the comic audience of today."

The Babies is a team of familiar Authority stars, de-aged and solving baby-sized crises. The initial roster is led by two year-old Jenny Wetsums, heading a team of "titanic toddlers" including Sunny, Nite Nite, The Choo-Choo-eer, Vroom, Doc, and Jackie Smoors.

Levitz added, "Midnighter, Last Call, Nite Nite... it’s all the same thing really. You’ll hardly notice the difference. No one seemed to notice so far, anyway."

The series does not have a scripter yet, but John McCrea has already drawn issues one through nine from plots by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of BATMAN AND ROBIN Akiva Goldsman.

"Akiva is just a tremendous writer, and he’s come up with some great ideas to introduce the series. In the introductory issue, the Babies have to fight off a power-mad babysitter who steals their pacifiers."

Issue one will debut this March. The all-ages book will be Comic Code approved, and have a cover price of $8.95.``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xFROM THE WIRE: All Authority, All the time!``x1014658642,963,Industrial``x``x``x``xAll characters appearing in this work are ™ & � their respective owners. All Rights Reserved. All material here published for purposes of satire, and no copyright infringement is attempted or implied. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental, or used as a fictional depiction or personality parody (permitted under Hustler Magazine v. Fallwell, 485 US 46, 108 S.Ct 876, 99 L.Ed.2d 41 (1988)). And, thanks to Comic Book Resources for the case citation.``x ``xCAST OF CHARACTERS:

ALBERT JAMES FRANCINGTON -- a well-bred lad of his early ‘20s, suffering from a condition of minor corpulence, and possessed of a grave desire to commit an act of fornication

JACK QUINCEY HORSTFORD -- a beloved school-yard chum of Albert’s, and a mysterious rogue of ill-repute

ROYCE XAVIER BEAULAC-PONTILLIER -- owner of a shop of illustrated periodicals

CECILY RUMSON-WENTWORTH -- a comely lass coveted by Albert, of fair, oil-free skin and great non-corpulence, and of reputation prone to the free granting of copius carnal favors onto the male gender

LIST OF SCENES:

ACT ONE: Inside the comics-shop; mid-day.

ACT TWO: Also inside the comics-shop; slightly later in the mid-day;

ACT THREE: Also also inside the comics-shop, slightly later than mid-day but not quite the evening or a time when the tramps and pick-pockets and street-walkers and minorities would choose to roam the fair streets of the city, really.

ACT ONE

(ROYCE is behind the counter, reading a copy of the Maxim picture-paper. Enter ALBERT.)

ALBERT: What ho, Royce! I say, ‘tis a smashing day for the new orders to come in, ‘tis it not?

ROYCE: I say t’would be best that you desisted from your incessant babbling, as I am attempting to fantasize about enacting a physical congress with this starlet of the “Dawson’s Creek” television-programme. Now be out with your wants, as the smell of your skin-oil soaked body is urging my own body to violently expel the kippers I consumed during tea-time.

ALBERT: (Laughs merrily) Oh Royce, your corking wit remains as rapier-sharp as ever! I do confess, you have brought me many a chuckle with your cheeky remarks over the years!

ROYCE: Just make your purchases and exit lest I am forced to re-load my shot-gun.

ALBERT: Will do, certainly! (Goes over to the racks and collects some books) What’s this then? I say! This will not do! This will not do at all! I say!

ROYCE: Stop that. You are making noises which serve to increase my awareness of your existence.

ALBERT: Good Royce, this situation is absolutely intolerable! You are utterly bereft of the new issue of “Henry Kensingsmith, Freelance Missionary!”

ROYCE: It would seem that I have sold out of copies, a fact that appears to have eluded your wanking-blinded eyes. Well, off with you then.

ALBERT: But I dare say I am to pick up a copy of this issue for Cecily Rumson-Wentworth, she who has been the subject of numerous nocturnal ejaculations on my part! If I fail at this task, she will doubtlessly reject me altogether! O calamity!

ROYCE: You are still here. Why is this exactly?

ALBERT: Truly I am fortune’s fool! Whatever shall I do? What? O what?

ROYCE: If you need me, I will be in the water-closet. Do not steal any of my inventory, or I will beat you most severely with a raking-device.

(Exit ROYCE with Maxim picture-paper. ALBERT remains, shrieking in agony to the heavens over his cruel and lamentable fate.)

END OF ACT ONE.

ACT TWO

(ALBERT is slumped against the store counter, weeping tears of the purest grief. Enter JACK.)

JACK: Hullo Albert! I see that you are not well!

ALBERT: O Jack, my beloved school-yard chum who is now a rogue of ill-repute! Horrors have been visited upon my soul, the likes of which no man should ever know! Royce has failed to provide me with a copy of the picture-paper I so badly crave!

JACK: Royce’s views on ordering seem somewhat lax. Really, if the retailers don't provide us with enough copies, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.

ALBERT: Indeed, I agree with you in this case Jack, my schoolyard chum of ill-repute. Let us take our grievances to Royce him-self!

JACK: Smashing idea! (He and ALBERT head over to the water-closet door.) Royce! Royce! Reveal yourself, infernal villain!

ROYCE: (Pokes his head out) What the Devil do you want? I am attempting to achieve a manual orgasm!

JACK: It seems you did not order enough copies of the book my friend Albert wanted! Why did you commit such a vile act, you thieving son of a spittoon-cleaner?

ROYCE: Bah, ‘tis not my fault! The consortium responsible for the production of the book prevents me from re-ordering its products! Therefore I am made to order heavily on its higher profile works and less for its smaller productions, to better conserve my ordering-budget! Now away with you unless you wish to view my back-side!

JACK: (Slams door) Well, this is quite the fine kettle of kippers! But perhaps Royce is not to blame after all!

ALBERT: Why, whatever do you mean, Jack, my beloved school-yard chum turned notorious rogue of ill-repute?

JACK: I mean that Royce was simply unable to get the number of copies he needed, as we was uncertain of who wanted them in the first place! There-fore, he ordered a limited amount and was caught short when you entered his fine establishment!

ALBERT: Good heavens! It is entirely possible you are correct in this assumption. I suppose I will have to send an electronic telegram of some kind to the owner of the comics-company, and allow him to know of my grievances. I must say, this is quite frustrating and disheartening, and now I will in all likelihood never be allowed to carnally damage Cecily Rumson-Wentworth. What horrible tragedy!

JACK: Yes, it would appear that we are now at a point of greatest drama! How-ever shall there be a satisfying resolution to these travails? How? How?

ROYCE: (From inside water-closet) Would you quit making so much noise? The soaring octaves of your voices disrupts my toilet-bound sanctuary! Damned fan-boys!

END OF ACT TWO.

(Intermission to be held, during which time corn chips with melted cheese, carbonated sugar water and large sausage-like meats on sticks deep-fried in corn-meal will be served)

ACT THREE

(JACK and ALBERT lie slumped against the rack; Jack looks grim, while Albert weeps profusely. Enter ROYCE, from the water-closet.)

ROYCE: I must say I wish I could afford a sink in there, but there are always luxuries one cannot afford in this life. (Sees JACK and ALBERT) Hey! What are the two of you doing here? This is not a lending-library!

JACK: We are not reading, Royce! We are merely lamenting the fact that my poor chum Albert here is now surely doomed to die as virginal as Queen Elizabeth! What folly is this world of fan boyishness!

ROYCE: Oh, now go on with you. I grow weary of your prattling!

ALBERT: Your words are hollow and empty, like my poor broken heart! I spit at you, black hearted clerk! May your daughters all elope with coal-miners, you accursed foppish dandy!

ROYCE: What insult is this? I declare, your back-sides have not been properly whelped! Away! Away now!

(He leaps from behind the counter and chases the two around the shop repeatedly, as a merry tune plays in the back-ground. Enter CECILY.)

CECILY: What is this chicanery? Answer me, all!

ALBERT: (Stops running) O my dearest Cecily! I fear that I have been unable to purchase for you the book you desire thanks to a complex process of ordering difficulties explained to me by Jack, my beloved school-yard chum who is now a mysterious rogue of ill-repute!

CECILY: What’s this? You did not simply think to pre-order the issue?

ALBERT, JACK, ROYCE: Pardon?

CECILY: Dear fellows: We live in an age of ideals. These ideals have been postulated on all of the finer message-boards, and have gradually trickled their way down to the news-groups and to Wizard magazine. It is now commonly believed that the proper way to enjoy one’s comics is to pre-order an issue in advance, by simply viewing the desired item in a particular catalogue, then informing the retailer that you wish to purchase that issue when it is published. He will then order a copy exclusively for your enjoyment, allowing you to purchase it when he receives a copy. Thus, he is able to make a sale, and you can enjoy a copy instead of tracking it down through the dark and merciless docks of the e-Bay, or waiting for a trade-paper-back to be published, although that’s another play altogether, really.

JACK: Good heavens! What an astounding theory!

ALBERT: Yes! O Cecily, what a fool I was not to pre-order the issue for you! If only there was a way to find you the issue you so desire!

JACK: There is! (Whips off his disguise) You see, as a mysterious rogue of ill-repute, I secretly operate a small publishing-house under the pseudonym of “William Jemas!” And having witnessed the horrors brought upon you all by this lamentable situation, I will gladly use my connections within this industry to fetch you call a copy post-haste, and revise my policies on re-orders even more post-hastily!

CECILY and ALBERT: (In unison) HUZZAH!

ROYCE: What? This astonishing last-minute revelation makes no sense! In fact, this whole bloody incident makes no sense at all!

ALBERT: I care not, he who has likely not gazed upon his own member since he was a teen ager! Dear Cecily, will you forgive my foolishness?

CECILY: O silly Albert, of course I shall! Provided you purchase me dinner and accompany me the newest theatrical production with Ben Affleck, of course.

ALBERT: Oh, the sacrifices I make for the merest possibility of achieving third base! Farewell! (Exit ALBERT with CECILY; JACK following.)

ROYCE: (Gazes after them) Lord, what fools these fan-boys be! Well, at the very least I am alone again, and can enjoy the newest issue of the Vampirella picture-paper.
(He heads off for the water-closet. Curtain)``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xSTARVED FOR ATTENTION:
The Importance of Earnestly Pre-Ordering One's Comics
A Ripping Comedic Dramatization in Three Acts``x1014688693,59697,Industrial``x``x``xby Zachary M. Smith, Esq.``xZACHARY M. SMITH, ESQ. believes you should all pre-order your comics from such fine retail establishments as Khepri. Now be off with you, damned fan-boys!``x ``x
Chris Claremont has been one of the leading comic creators over the past 25 years. Legendary for his 17 year run on UNCANNY X-MEN, he also launched The NEW MUTANTS, (New) X-MEN, CLASSIC X-MEN, WOLVERINE and EXCALIBUR, with stints on popular titles such as FANTASTIC FOUR, IRON FIST and SPIDER-WOMAN. He is currently working on X-TREME X-MEN as well as the upcoming GEN13 relaunch.
Chris took the time out of his very busy schedule to speak with us about his work and the comics industry.
First let me say thank you for taking the time to talk with me, Mr. Claremont... or would you rather me call you Chris?
Chris is fine.
What's your perspective on things during these past eight months? Considering the roller coaster ride of change at Marvel Comics, the mammoth revamp of the X-MEN line (including X-TREME X-MEN's debut), and the upswing of Marvel feature films... would you say the climate has changed for the better?
It's been a very interesting and challenging time. Never a dull moment, that's for sure. If current reports of upticks in overall industry sales, and the accompanying buzz about Marvel products, are any indication, clearly there has been some measure of improvement.
On the subject of change for Marvel Comics, I'm thrilled to see the jump-start of the trade department has revealed X-MEN: VIGNETTES. I've been waiting a long time to see those wonderful backup stories from CLASSIC X-MEN finally reprinted. Were you surprised to see the plans for this trade finally come to fruition? What recent events or direction do you think led to the collection?
I'm always surprised by editorial decisions at Marvel because, as a freelancer, I'm not in that decision loop. It's always nice to see your own work presented in multiple formats - I look forward to seeing Salva and my "Doom" arc from FF collected and reprinted as a trade edition - but as for the publishing and/or editorial rationale for these decisions, those are questions better directed to Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas.
I know that there were plans for a trade paperback when you were still producing the series with artist John Bolton and editor Ann Nocenti. Do you have any insight into the developments that may have caused the long delay?
Times change, policies change, editors and editors-in-chief and publishers have better ideas. Again, those are management decisions. Off my radar.
What was the motivation for the creation of the vignettes back when CLASSIC X-MEN was first started? What was it like developing the series with Bolton and Nocenti?
We wanted to differentiate "CLASSIC" from the standard run-of-the-mill reprint title. Our hope was, by making fully one-third of the book original material, we could entice readers who might have read, might still possess the story being reprinted but would enjoy the back-up as well and thereby generate stronger and more lasting sales. Unfortunately, that notion worked better when the reprinted stories ran 18 pages instead of the succeeding 22 / 23 page format. Working with John is a marvel, always has been. He's one of the finest artists I know and the sensibility he brought to the stories made them striking and individual and as much fun to write as they were to read. Same goes for Ann, one of the best editors I've worked with and someone with a truly abstract view of reality. It was fun, top to bottom.
Looking back at your contribution to the vignettes, what would you say were the highlights? When it comes to the actual stories, which would you say were your favorites and which you would spotlight for readers today?
"These stories, far more than the standard run of X-stories, were far more personal and idiosyncratic."
Hard to say. These stories, far more than the standard run of X-stories, were far more personal and idiosyncratic. I mean, if I started making a list, there'd be the silent story, the Storm/writer story, the Magneto-"origin" story, the Magneto Nazi Hunter story, the Colossus/dancer story, and so on and so forth. Not to mention the stories I wish I'd written, where Ann Nocenti and Jo Duffy got to play quite evocatively with John.
While we're still on the subject of trades, what other works of yours does Marvel have scheduled or planned to reprint? Might we see Dream's End or perhaps CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS 2 collected soon enough? Are there any other Marvel story arcs you would like to see put into trade?
As I said, the series I'd very much like to see compiled is the whole "Doom" arc from FF. Contest, sure why not. "Dreams End," who cares?
I'd also love to see the "Doom armor" arc collected, as I thought it was excellent. I bring up "Dream's End" because it seemed as a turning point for many X-Men concepts. Two long standing characters died, a major villain surpassed her own limits of cruelty and Destiny's legacy grew thirteen-fold. When the arc was finished, had you worked out the basic plan for X-TREME X-MEN?
Pretty much, although my abrupt removal from X-MEN and UNCANNY jump-started the conceptual process big-time.
What were your feelings on the passing of Moira MacTaggart? As her creator, I'd imagine you would have had more of a stake in the character than anyone.
I was sorry to see her go. I'm sorry to see any character I created (or for that matter any character I feel invested in, as writer or reader) go. But lately, that seems to be happening more often than not so you get used to it.
Now that you're a few issues into X-TREME X-MEN, are you pleased with the direction/reactions thus far? Were you surprised to see so many fans get overworked by the cliffhanger in issue #2?

"All I, all any of us, can do is tell our stories to the best of our ability and hope we craft a secure and powerful enough reality - of the moment - that readers will accept these events and respond honestly."
I'm not altogether sure as yet that many fans are "overworked" by the ending to #2. The predominant impression I get from the message boards and various emails is that most folks don't believe it's a fact. They expected a miraculous save or are content to assume that it won't last, that this is merely some prelude to her latest resurrection. And to be honest, though I can assure them to the contrary 'til I'm blue in the face, they have a legitimate point. In comics, these days, nobody dies forever. I'm sure, should times and creators change, that some ambitious young writer will find a way to resurrect Genosha. We've broken faith with the readers regarding various characters so many times, for reasons that at the time I'm sure seemed altogether legitimate, that they simply don't trust us anymore to follow through on anything. All I, all any of us, can do is tell our stories to the best of our ability and hope we craft a secure and powerful enough reality - of the moment - that readers will accept these events and respond honestly.

As far as reader reactions to the book itself, they're mixed. I believe the book has tremendous potential and am very pleased that the vast majority of the readers who take the time and effort to voice their opinions, either directly to me or on various message boards, are of the same mind and are committed to "X-TREME" with passionate enthusiasm. They're also not shy about voicing the elements they don't like, which we're working on. What I enjoy most about the book is that for whatever reason we've retained the ability to surprise our readership. Even in today's hyper-inquisitive market, nobody outside the X-offices had a clue what was intended for Psylocke. We kept the secret, right up to the end. My hope - our hope - is that we can continue to do so, to make this a book which contains an ongoing level of legitimate suspense, where the readers really don't know everything that's going to happen. And consequently, stay interested.
Considering the elements you're currently working with (New concepts, Salvador working in a new art format, new editor), is there more room for creativity than in the past?
So far, there's tremendous room and we're trying to take every possible advantage of it, spinning off events in "NEW" and "UNCANNY" as much as possible - what happens there has a tremendous impact on my cast, and I would hope the reverse is also true.
Speaking of creative freedom, what are your thoughts of Marvel's departure from the Comics Code Authority? Do you believe if they had made this move, say back during your original run in UNCANNY, it would have affected your storylines? Were there any concessions made at the time you feel would have been okay outside the restrictions of the Code?
It's a corporate policy decision. I'm not sure it will materially affect the way I approach my writing, at least on X-TREME, and to be frank - given the type of book we were producing, when UNCANNY was it - not to mention the mass-market audience we were aiming for, I'm not sure we would handle things much differently back then, code or no code. As Frank Miller and I discovered, the Code was never an impediment to good or artful writing. You could pretty much imply whatever you wanted in terms of relationships or whatever, so long as you employed a measure of discretion. I also think that's more fun, both for the writers and the readers.
While we're still on the subject of your contributions to the X-MEN core titles, as well as CLASSIC X-MEN... are there still some juicy subplots you're not quite done with that we may expect to see sooner or later? I must admit, if I may be so bold, that I have a soft spot for M'Rin and C'Jime.
Anything is possible.
Chris, I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with us. For more Claremont check out X-TREME X-MEN from Marvel Comics, and coming soon - an original STORM hardcover with Igor Kordey as well as an upcoming relaunch on GEN13.
``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xINTERVIEW: Chris Claremont``x1014733889,60431,Industrial``x``x``xconducted by Drew Reiber``xDrew Reiber is a contributing writer for PopImage.``x ``x
Phil Hester was born in Iowa in the magical '60s, where he still lives with his wife and two children. Some of you may know Phil best for his current work on the highly popular GREEN ARROW, or for the increasingly popular COFFIN. But Phil's work includes much more, from CLERKS to SWAMP THING, from THE WRETCH to FOOT SOLDIERS. Phil Hester has been honing his abilities for years and now takes his spot in the sky as a rising star.
Drew Reiber took some time to talk with Phil about how things have been and where they are heading. Also be sure to check out Phil's contribution to the ALTERNATIVE COMICS: 9-11: EMERGENCY RELIEF book on sale January 16th.
PopImage: Being that you're half way through GREEN ARROW and soon moving to THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, do you think awareness to THE COFFIN and your other work have been heightened?
Definitely. I have to thank Kevin and DC for the attention. I also am grateful to Wizard for their incessant pimping of THE COFFIN. Also, more people ask me when I'm bringing back THE WRETCH than probably ever read it.
Has it been a shock to have James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment developing THE COFFIN as a feature film? What did you think when you first found out they were interested?
A happy shock. Actually a whole bunch of studios were expressing interest at the same time and Lightstorm kind of pushed their way to the front and took charge. I'm ecstatic about them. They make great movies and they seem to genuinely believe in the quality of the source material.
For those unfamiliar to THE COFFIN, how would you best describe it to them?
THE COFFIN is a morality play set in the world of high-tech crypto-science. It's about a man who has die to value his life and become a monster to value his humanity. Also, it has cool fights.
What were your inspirations for THE COFFIN?
Well, it shouldn't be too hard to see the Swamp Thing influence, both the original Wein/Wrightson and Alan Moore runs. It really has roots in all those man becomes monster/science run amok kind of tales. Plus a heavy dose of mythology and Joseph Campbell. All of this fired by an intense hatred for ethos revolving around self-interest.
How would you describe your experience thus far on GREEN ARROW?
Fantastic. I get to work with the best writer and inker in comics, respectively. Schreck is the greatest editor, too. I'm ruined for regular comics.
Who has been your favorite guest character to work with in GA so far? Why?
Batman. Both Kevin and I went into this with no real predisposition to Batman. I mean, what can I possibly add to the mythos after all these talented folk through the history of comics? But actually working on him has got me fired up. I think I bring a kind of brutality and alien quality to him. Kevin gives him a true personality, more human. It's a neat juxtaposition.
Will you be contributing to the upcoming GREEN ARROW SECRET FILES? If so, how?
You'll have to ask Mr. Schreck.
What led you guys to the idea of relaunching THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD?
Kevin. Plus, it seems kind of odd to have 18+ Batman books and none specifically geared for team-ups. B&B was so cool when I was a kid.
Are there any specific characters (heroes or villains) you would like to eventually tackle in the new series?
Well, I like those dark corners. Ragman, The Creeper, Shade, etc. The losers, you know. So far, Kevin's gotten a handle on every new character he's tackled, so whatever he decides will be cool.
Are there any other upcoming works/events you would like to mention... or that I might have mistakenly neglected to mention?
Just DEEP SLEEPER. The follow-up to THE COFFIN that Mike and I are working on for Oni. Out who-knows-when?
Big thanks to Phil for taking the time for this interview. You can check out GREEN ARROW currently on stands from DC Comics, a consistent best seller on Diamond's Top Ten lists. You can also find THE COFFIN available from ONI Press.
Thanks Phil.
``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xINTERVIEW: Short and Sweet with Phil Hester``x1014734373,95628,Industrial``x``x``xconducted by Drew Reiber``xDrew Reiber is a contributing writer for PopImage.``x ``x
San Fran boy Ted Naifeh has been working in the biz for over a decade, working on such titles as GLOOMCOOKIE and NOCTURNALS, as well as video game design and illustration work, Ted has certainly reached a point where he is in his prime. Even with several projects on the burner, Ted took the time to talk to us about his career and his new project COURTNEY CRUMRIN AND THE NIGHT THINGS which comes out this March from Oni Press.
This new series follows a little girl named Courtney who is transplanted from her city neighborhood to a spooky old house in a rich suburb, to live in the home of her great uncle Aloysius. Her parents, delighted with their new home and its superior social status, are oblivious to Uncle Aloysius's bizarre nature. Only Courtney is aware of the unnatural goings on in the house, and indeed throughout the neighborhood. She soon learns that Aloysius is a warlock, a member of a coven of mystics, and through the old house many peculiar persons come and go, though not by the front door. Little by little she discovers her own talents in witchcraft, using it to deal with the frequent troubles that beset her in this strange, shadowy world she has discovered.
PopImage: With over a decade of experience in the biz you've accumulated a large range of credits and have worked in many mediums and styles. It's evident that you've studied art and architecture in detail, so I'm curious where your training lies?
Ted: Mainly in illustration. Formal education was something I dabbled in, taking several college courses, but I never got a degree. I was focused on learning to draw comics, and most art college courses don't directly pertain to that field.
Your credits include a variety of venues, from video game design to illustration, and yet you seem to have made your home with comics. Any particular reason you've chosen comics over working on films or commercial art?
What I came to realize working in video games, card games, and from what I know of movies, it's just not rewarding enough. I love the work of comics; I love drawing every stitch of clothing, every expression, every brick in every building, every line on every page. I don't always remember that I love it, especially when under deadline, but I do. When you work in most other media, movies, videogames etc, you get to do one aspect of the work, like the sets, or costume design, or maybe the look of a monster of two. You don't get to do it all. And generally there's someone in charge making the actual decisions, and you just carry them out, realizing someone else's vision. I could get into that sort of position, but then I'd just be delegating tasks to others instead of doing the actual work myself. With comics, I can think up an idea for a story, design the characters and the settings, and see it all come out the way I want it by doing the work myself instead of hiring others to do it for me. It's just more satisfying.
So would you ever consider bringing any of your properties to another medium? For instance, COURTNEY CRUMRIN may make an interesting animated series.
That's something ONI specializes in. They have a partner company that takes the comics properties and sells them to television and movie studios. They mentioned that they wanted to show Courtney to the Jim Henson Company, which is currently doing Farscape for the Sci-Fi channel. Personally I'd love to see them handle Courtney using puppetry. Labyrinth is one of my very favourite movies, so as you can imagine, this would be a dream come true for me.
With David Bowie as Uncle Aloysius!
On the other hand, I didn't get into comics as a stepping-stone to movies or television, so I wouldn't want to get too involved in that end of things. I'd prefer to take any money they offer for the property rights, and just go on doing comics, if it's all the same. I fantasize about getting into film sometimes, but in reality I'd probably dislike it. I'm better at working with pen and ink than people. In other media I've seen really great ideas get so mired by marketers second-guessing the audience that they lose the original intent entirely. I've watched it happen in the games industry. In comics there's less money at stake, less worry about tooling a project to please the audience, and therefore less interference and more freedom to take the ideas further and do unique and innovative things. I can have complete control, and make decisions to please myself alone. Call me a megalomaniac if you like.
I notice your art changes with each project you've taken on, from NOCTURNALS, to MACHINE and currently with COURTNEY CRUMRIN. Do you decide on the style of the book based on how you think it should be seen or do you try and bend your style to what look would be most befitting of the book?
I never put that much thought into it till I did GLOOMCOOKIE, which needed to look more cartoonish. That style freed me up to explore simpler ways of getting images across and I think my subsequent work has benefited from it. Right now I'm working on a Star Wars book, and the look must obviously be much more realistic than GLOOMCOOKIE. But having worked out a style where I basically stripped out all but the most essential elements, I now feel much more confident to insert detail where it really counts, instead of overworking the art in ways that wouldn't even get noticed, and taking forever to do it.
Your paintings are great, but I don't see them that often. Do you still do paintings when you have the time or do you mainly reserve that time for commissioned works now?
The paintings were mainly done for Magic cards and other role-playing game cards. I'd love to do more painting, but there's not a lot of work in it, and I don't really have much time to do it for pleasure. If only I didn't have this habit of sleeping eight hours a day. Alas.
I'm working on other creator-owned projects besides Courtney, and I may paint covers for some of them. It really depends on how well received Courtney is and how much license I'll get for my future projects, and also how much free time I'll have to practice the craft.
Where do you find you draw the majority of your influences from? In keeping with the 'dark' and 'spooky', I imagine characters such as Edgar Allen Poe and Marilyn Manson play an occasional role.
Poe, Edward Gorey, Aubrey Beardsley. The list goes on. Marilyn Manson is delicious. He transgresses gender, and blurs the lines between the beautiful and the grotesque. I wish more performers did that kind of thing. I also love illustrators like Dave McKean and Yoshitaka Amano, whose non-comic backgrounds give their comic work an amazing uniqueness. While neither of them would be considered "dark" or "spooky", those elements are in their work and give it resonance.
Do you prefer to create or work with characters with a bit of androgyny inherent in their personalities and characterization?
As often as I can get away with it. I've always liked that stuff. I remember picking up Jon Muth's Dracula GN, chiefly done in watercolor, and being quite spellbound at his effeminate depiction of Dracula. Then there was Mike Dringenberg's take on Sandman, and Chris Claremont's multiple butch girl characters. Androgyny permeates comics in a subtle way, as it permeates most media. It's just something I like. One of my favorite characters to draw in GLOOMCOOKIE was Max, the tall lanky boy that always wore skirts and heavy lipstick.
When did you first express interest in the spooky and magical? The strange and bizarre?
When I was a kid I was quite taken with Bauhaus (the band, not the design movement. I wasn't THAT cool). Their esthetic was fascinating. The stark, cruel effeminate beauty of lead singer Peter Murphy took my breath away. I've broadened my interests considerably since then of course, but I must admit I still have an old-school gothic streak. Many of my old friends have given it up entirely, mostly out of embarrassment, but I think that's just silly. Everything interesting has a bit of darkness to it.
Were you into the scene to the extent of pale faces and dark mascara?
Not really. I've always been more on the rock & roll side of the goth world. I loved Dead Can Dance when they first appeared and bought several of their early albums, but I almost feel that they were the worst thing that could have happened to goth music. Say what you like about the staggering pretensions of bands like Bauhaus, Souxsie and the Banshees, and (especially) The Sisters of Mercy, they're all pretty darned rock and roll. Now days the scene's more about velvet and embroidered waistcoats and Vampire: The Masquerade. And as much as I find that stuff enjoyable, it's not so much my thing as the earlier stuff. These days I'm more about retro glam, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, that sort of thing. I'm even dreaming up a comic-book in that vein.
That could make quite a few people very happy.

Speaking of upcoming projects, there's talk of you taking on another GUNWITCH series following the recent OUTSKIRTS OF DOOM mini. Have you confirmed anything in regards to a follow-up project?
Not yet. I'd love to do one, but I think I should wait till I have a larger fan base, and my involvement will be more attractive to Dan Brereton's audience and less of a drawback. Not that they didn't seem to like the book, but there was less enthusiasm for it than for books that Dan paints himself, for obvious reasons. I'm hoping (arrogantly perhaps) that this won't always be the case, and that people will some day be just as interested in a NOCTURNALS book drawn by myself as one drawn by him.
Now that you're involved with ONI, do you plan on bringing your other properties such as EVA: IRON KITTEN, HOW LOATHSOME and NICKI SHADOW to print anytime soon?
Oni has been great. I can't wait to start negotiating other projects with them. Right now we're waiting to see how well Courtney Crumrin is received before we talk about other things. Iron Kitten was the first thing that I submitted, but they had several other "bad-ass chick" comics already, and my proposal seemed redundant to their lineup. Courtney on the other hand was unlike anything else they've done, and since they liked it immediately they went ahead and took it on. They might be interested in Iron Kitten later on, but if not, that's fine too. I've got lots of other ideas.
What can you tell us about these projects respectively?
Eva: Iron Kitten is kind of a science fiction Buffy the Vampire Slayer thing, where the main character is secretly a deep-cover cyber-warrior disguised as a high-school student. It's totally slapstick (even more so than Buffy). Eva is very obviously a robot, although no-one seems to notice, seeing only this superficially perfect statuesque beauty. It's basically my own take on the Japanese manga style.
How Loathsome is my take on the autobiographical underground comic. I've read several of these and found them often entertaining, but occasionally self-indulgent. I thought about the kind of person whose autobiography I'd like to read, and came up with Catherine Gore; a gender-questioning, semi-gothic writer whose strange lifestyle and disreputable friends provide various entertaining stories. Having come up with the premise, I realized that I wasn't really up to the task of writing such exotic material, so I enlisted the help of my own disreputable friend Tristan, who reads more of this kind of writing than I.
Nicki Shadow is a straight-up cyberpunk series about teen-aged cyber-hacker street gangs, straight out of William Gibson. I drew the series several years ago and the first two issues were self- published by the writer. The whole book is done and we're hoping that Oni will want to pick it up and maybe do a Trade Paperback. I'm still very proud of that series, and feel it's one of the best books I've ever worked on.
In the meantime you're ALSO working on a STAR WARS graphic novel for Dark Horse. Can you tell us about this? Has an expected release date been set?
It should be out in February. It's a spin-off series about two characters from Episode 2, Jango Fett, Father of Boba Fett, and Zam Wesell. They're bounty-hunters, and in the story they get wind of a plot by this rogue general to destroy Corescant with a bomb that, unfortunately, Jango himself had inadvertently supplied on another job. I could tell you more, but the Lucasfilm people would eliminate us both.
Ha! Bring it on Boba Fett! I'll feed your ass to some, weird lizard thing or... some other geeky fanboy reference.
He was always my favorite character from Empire. I felt a bit cheated (as did most people I think) at his pathetic end in Jedi. I'm glad to see the character being re-addressed in Clones. And I'm thrilled to be drawing the costume for this GN. The Clones costume is even cooler than the original.
Do you think that with the recent success of shows such as Buffy, and increased interest in the Indiana Jones style adventures and the appeal of the mystery of shadows, that a book such as COURTNEY CRUMRIN has a steady niche in the market?
I'd like to think so. The thing about spooky books is that they attract attention from a certain market that other genres don't. But just because the Sandman/Buffy/Jhonan Vasquez fans notice it, doesn't mean they'll automatically buy it. In the end it'll have to sink or swim on it's own merits. I think the series is pretty well written, but whether it resonates with people the way Buffy does, or JOHNNY THE HOMICIDAL MANIAC, or GLOOMCOOKIE for that matter, remains to be seen.
Could you introduce us to the cast of THE NIGHT THINGS?
Well, there's Courtney Crumrin, the main character. She's based a bit off of Matilda, or Harry Potter, the kind of miserable protagonist with a tragic home-life that's about to have her ordinary world burst open. But I always thought that it was a little ridiculous that these sweet, wonderful children would come from such wretched families, so I decided that Courtney would carry the scars of her home life. She's sullen and grouchy, and doesn't tend to get along with other children. She's very negative, but in a way that rings true to life and makes one relate to her. She's a character that's used to disappointment, and she doesn't know quite how to react when things start going her way.
Courtney's Uncle Aloysius Crumrin is her doorway into the world of the Night Things. He has invited Courtney's parents to live with him in his mansion under the pretext of needing someone to look after him in his old age. But in reality he needs them to provide the neighborhood a distraction from his peculiar behavior. He's a Warlock, a prominent member of a magical society, and also the foremost authority on The Night Things. He also is sullen and grouchy, but is extremely fond of Courtney, and takes an interest in her development as a user of witchcraft.
Then there are the Night Things themselves in their various forms. Some are small and harmless, like the ones that dwell in Aloysius' house. Some are more dangerous, like the goblin that haunts the nearby wood, catching and eating any children foolish enough to stray in. Some have magical properties that are of value to witches. Some are kept as pets, some trade their skills for things only witches can provide. As Courtney learns more and more about the Night Things, she begins to feel more at home among them than either her classmates or her fellow witches.
To find out more, fans can read the online mini-comic at The Night Things.com.
How often is your work influenced by your own childhood?
Almost always, I guess. Frequently. I don't think I would have taken much interest in How Loathsome as a kid, but mostly I try to stop and assess the direction in which my artwork is heading and say to myself, "What would you have thought of this stuff at fifteen when you were looking at Frank Miller and Jon Totleben and Moebius? What was your criteria then?" Or I'll look over a story idea like Courtney Crumrin and think, "Would you have read this at, say eleven? Or fifteen? Or even twenty?" Sometimes the closest thing we can get to an objective opinion is to step out of ourselves as we are and be someone we once were again.
In the recent solicitation for COURTNEY CRUMRIN your style is expressed as having the best to offer from both the pre and post Mike Mignola eras, is this a comment on your style as relating to Mignola or did you ever have any experience working with Mike?
I've never worked with Mike. I suppose the influence is obvious, so I might as well address it. The funny thing is that I didn't like Mike's work at all when I first saw it in Cosmic Odyssey. It was Gotham By Gaslight that first grabbed my interest (inked beautifully by P. Craig Russell and gorgeously colored). That I think is when the gothic stuff started appearing in his work. Little by little he became one of my main influences. From him I learned the overwhelming benefits of composition, and how it can make or break a page. No matter how well you've rendered your figures, no matter how dynamic your action is, without good composition, it all gets muddled and ultimately your page is unreadable. Composition was the weakest aspect of my work until I discovered Mike, and now I think it's one of the strongest.
Are there any projects you'd like to do with someone else handling the art chores?
Never really thought about it. It would be nice to at some point be hired strictly for my writing skills, but I think that's a long way off yet. I would like to have Dan Brereton draw something that I write, since we have so similar an esthetic.
Most people can't go to a convention without coming back with a strange story or too, but considering you're now working with ONI and the appeal of your work to fans who veer on the books of a bleaker variety, you must have met some interesting people by now.
Sadly, most of the fans of my spooky work are pretty normal, garden-variety goth comics fans. That's to say they're more or less like normal comics fans but better dressed. Unlike Neil Gaiman or Jhonan Vasquez, I've never had discussions with fans about how becoming a vampire might reverse gender reassignment surgery, and I've never received dead squirrels or human hair as a gift. But I'm still hopeful.
People giving you dead things is not as fun as you might think.
Have you found that having a website and interacting with fans through the net has at all affected or influenced your work?
It's made me feel more confident to have so much positive feedback. I get an e-mail at least once a week from people who either miss my work on GLOOMCOOKIE or are just discovering it. It's a nice feeling.
What advice, if any, would you give to those trying to make it in the Biz today?
You got to love the work. Comics are a labor of love, and if you go into it thinking it's going to be a steady paycheck, you're going to be disappointed. I've never expected comics to pay my rent, so when they do I'm always pleasantly surprised.
My other advice is this: don't rely on comic art or comic writing as your soul influence. Explore other kinds of art and other kinds of writing. Get education, or educate yourself. Don't go into the biz thinking, "I want to do it too", go in thinking, "I want to do it different; I want to do it better." In other words, don't be a clone of your favorite artist. Have something new to offer, something worth giving back into the medium that you love.
And finally - plug time. Plug everything and anything your heart desires... followed by a dirty limerick.
Since I've already plugged all my stuff, I'll just say that I think everyone should go out and rent Hedwig and the Angry Inch. It's my favorite movie this year, possibly one of my top ten films.
Got this from Nerve.com by someone named Ethan Coen. Dunno if it's the same one.
In the dark, the girl's innocent chum
Misdirected his dick up her bum.
Being told gently so,
The lad piped, "Penis? No!
This is how I've stopped sucking my thumb!"
Thanks Ted. For more of Ted's work and tons of preview pages for upcoming works visit Ted's site @ Ted Naifeh.com.
``xjellis``xpopimage@hotmail.com``xINTERVIEW: TED NAIFEH AND THE NIGHT THINGS``x1014766670,90656,Industrial``x``x``xInterview conducted by Jonathan Ellis``xJonathan Ellis is the Interviews Editor for PopImage.``xNocturnals.com - Official Site of artist Daniel Brereton
Oni Press.com - Oni Press: Damn Fine Publishers
E-mail Us. - Send us an e-mail, commenting on this article. ``xIn 1985 Marvel Comics put out an X-Men comic called Heroes for Hope, featuring a compendium of writers and artists each contributing a page or two of story and art as the X-Men each went through an experience viscerally demonstrating the effects of starvation and despair. Proceeds were donated to famine relief.

In 1986 DC Comics put out a fund-raiser comics called Heroes Against Hunger that famously had Batman, Superman, and Lex Luthor teaming up to combat famine in African nations. Proceeds from the sales of the book were donated to the Ethiopian Famine Relief Fund.

In 2002 Image, DC, Chaos!, and Dark Horse Comics put out a collaborative two-volume set of stories and artwork created in response to the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. All the work put in to the creation of the volumes was donated, and all proceeds from the sales are being donated to the New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund, Survivors Fund of the National Capital Region, and other organizations providing relief.

In 1990, Breakthrough was published simultaneously in thirteen different countries, an anthology commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. In the UK, Breakthrough was published by Titan Books, but in the US it wasn't published by a mainstream comic book company. Catalan Communications is now defunct, but seemed to specialize in erotic Science Fiction volumes and translations of Spanish works, including what seems to be a gorgeous adaptation of Dracula. Featuring twenty-seven contributors including Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, Moebius, Milo Manara, Daniel Torres, and Dave Gibbons, the only American contributor was Bill Sienkiewicz. The gorgeous cover is provided by Enki Bilal, who has also provided the world with The Black Order Brigade.

What's the old Sesame Street song? "Three of these things belong together..."

Comic books are not great for commentary on current events. It takes a long time to get a comic book from conception to distribution. Gary Trudeau, the writer and artist of Doonesbury is frequently relegated by persnickety editors to the Editorial Page, since readers complain that thought and awareness are not what they want when the read "the funnies". Trudeau may have a heavy political slant to his strip, but he's at a disadvantage on the editorial page. Editorial cartoons are conceived, edited, and finished in a single day, by-and-large, and the print time is virtually immediate. Jim Borgman of the Cincinnati Enquirer sees his work in the paper the next day. Trudeau sends out a week's worth of strips on a Friday, and they won't see print for another ten days.

The lead time in a monthly comic book is considerably longer. Those working on the 9 11 volumes must have worried slightly about the effectiveness of their works when they arrived in stores in late January, more than four months after the events depicted. Not that the work is no longer relevant, but that the bloom might have been off of the rose, and generosity of spirit may not have been in the forefront of the population's collective minds. Marvel hustled its Heroes poster book out in about a month, and the result is decidedly uneven. The BBC reports that Joe Quesada said "The goal [of HEROES] was to have the world's greatest superhero creators honouring the world's greatest heroes."

He said this to contradict the query that perhaps showing comic heroes alongside real-life heroes would in some manner diminish the efforts of emergency personnel. But, frankly, I think Joe missed the boat. He addressed the wrong issue, something he might have picked up if he had taken a look at Heroes for Hope or Heroes Against Hunger.

Such works cheapen "the world's greatest superhero[es]" and makes them look garish and largely unnecessary.

DC Comics has placed a selection of contributions to 9-11 : Volume 2 online. The initial story by Steven T. Seagle goes a long way in showing the clunky rationales that must be waded through in an attempt to make parallels between fictional and real heroism. Batman and Superman are generally characterized as fighting a "never-ending battle against crime" -- they're not supposed to win a decisive victory, as it would fly in the face of the commercial serial format. But in books like Heroes Against Hunger or Andrew Vachss' Batman: Night Cries, the futility and reality of the situation becomes all-too apparent. Of course, that was part of the point of Night Cries, but it is an unintentional weakness in the two famine benefit books. Our costumed heroes sly down from the sky bearing food and water and tools for irrigation and medical supplies and Save The Day... Before they turn around and see that they haven't made enough of a difference.

The tone is wrong. The obvious point is that you, the reader, are supposed to feel as if your monetary contribution in the purchase of the above comics will provide a little bit of vicarious super-heroism and allow some glorious moments of color and hope. This is then immediately undercut by the statement that it's not enough. Neither manpower nor Superman-power is sufficient.

Breakthrough is a pleasant aberration. Not raising money for anything, it still has a superficial resemblance to the other compilations: anthological in nature, multiple contributors, and commenting on a particular aspect of The Real. But there is a singular lack of heroes -- except for Gibbons' clunky satirical pastiche featuring Western Capitalism as Superman -- and the stories are more interested in artistic expression than they are in being a vehicle for content. The introduction speaks to this. Editor Pierre Christin notes that "while authors, musicians and intellectuals were eclipsing men in dark hats wholesale, few, if any, graphic artists were to be found" speaking out against the Wall, the Iron Curtain, and the oppression of East Germany. This volume allows that freedom. Some of these stories waited for decades to be available to Western audiences. How's that for production lag?``xm3lbatoast``xm3lbat@yahoo.com``xSUBSPECIES: Current Events``x1014789678,57543,Upfront``x``x``xby Benjamin Russell``xBenjamin Russell is the Columns Editor of PopImage``xUPFRONT: See Paul T. Riddell’s archived column on production time. ``xWe're back! Again! Woo Hoo!

Welcome to the NEW First Impressions - with dynamic uh... with a bold new... with - with - okay so far it's really not that different from the old First Impressions. But our reviewers are raring to go with the best new comics coverage in the market.

And speaking of reviewers...PI is currently looking for fresh reviewing blood! (Sounds sort of disgusting doesn't it?) Contributors can contact Reviews Editor Alex Bernstein through the
PopImage Message Forum.

But back to business. First we're going to do a little catching up on the month we missed since the last FI column. All reviews this time by Marc Deering (MD), Jon Ellis (JE), Matt Singer (MS) and new reviewer Brian Cremins (BC).

THE ULTIMATES #1
Writer: Mark Millar
Penciller: Bryan Hitch
Marvel Comics
$2.25

Fans have been waiting eagerly for this book; and with good reason. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch have each done incredible work on THE AUTHORITY (though, regrettably, never together) and this collaboration marks the fourth book from Marvel's excellent Ultimate line. The book itself, a World War II story starring Captain America and Bucky, feels more like a prequel than a first issue. It sounds silly when CrossGen uses that title for its books; but here it actually would have fit. The content is good. It's an interesting, gritty story with lots of good character, but Hitch's cover image of the team is so gorgeous that I want to get right to the action. As for his interior art, well Hitch is still the most exciting comics penciller to read lately, and his line work is fantastic, but the absence of long time collaborator Laura DePuy on colors is unfortunately felt. It's a fine first issue, if it is backstory. Bring on issue two and the real team. (MS)

Kinda of tame really. A PG "Saving Private Ryan." Which seems a bit off because in the first few pages we see miles of soldiers storming an installation that makes D-Day look like a foothill. This story follows the last moments leading up to Captain America's disappearance during WWII. This issue really serves as a prologue to the rest of the story, I know my favorite part of the entire issue was the last page which serves to set the mood for things to come. From this issue I can only wonder if the story would have been better served as a footnote Or if it should have been longer. Never the less you can tell this series will get better as you go.

One thing I've been hearing has been in regards to the colouring, which I found to be quite solid. Perhaps too much use of a glow effect here and there, but otherwise fine. The paper quality on the other hand my be a factor in peoples perception of the art. (JE)

THE POWER COMPANY #1
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Penciler: Tom Grummett
Inker: Wade Von Grawbadger
DC Comics
$2.50

Kurt Busiek wrote the fantastic MARVELS, did some great ASTRO CITYs and some underrated UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN. But his output of late has struck me as very clich�d, and dialogue-wise, for me, he simply can't match guys like Bendis or Azzarello.

The new book is a clever idea, a super hero team that functions like a law firm, but after issue one I question whether the execution will live up to the high concept. The ending, in which a supernatural enemy from another dimension attacks, is generic, it might as well be any other super-hero team. The book should have the guts to go all the way with the idea, and not just fill pages with people talking about how different things will be only to fall into a typical Avengers-type villain on the final page. (MS)

LA PERDIDA - PART ONE
by Jessica Abel
Fantagraphics Books
$4.95

In the last few years Jessica Abel has made a name for herself with her Fantagraphics series ARTBABE. Her plain-spoken stories of young romantic artists, writers, and lovers trying to understand their lives in the big city should come packaged with a complimentary copy of The Smiths' Greatest Hits. Abel makes what she does look easy and that is part of her brilliance: her stories creep up on you slowly. Suddenly you find yourself wishing you could buy her characters a drink, walk them home, or tell them your own stories.

Abel's new Fantagraphics series is LA PERDIDA, the "lost one." A young American woman named Carla travels to Mexico City to search for her Mexican roots and her ex-boyfriend Harry. After arriving in the city, she says, "I had this immediate feeling that everything would be OK, that I would find the Mexico I was looking for, that it still existed." What she finds is an alcoholic ex-boyfriend who ignores her, and his jaded American expatriate friends. Carla is determined not to be the usual "ugly American tourist" and decides to study Spanish and the rich culture which surrounds her.

Abel is a master of characterization. Within the first few pages of Part One you will sympathize with Carla's confusion and cheer on her optimism. Abel also weaves in a number of cultural references which will reward the careful reader. Legendary American writers Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, who spent a great deal of time in Mexico in the 1950s, are used to powerful effect at the end of Part One.

La Perdida is drawn in a fluid style which recalls the sketchy, spontaneous work of Milton Caniff or Hugo Pratt. Part One begins as a romance, continues as a travelogue, and ends as a ghost story. With Part Two scheduled for release in March, you'll have plenty of time to reread this beautiful, sometimes chilling story, and wait anxiously for what Abel has in store for us next.(BC)

CAPTAIN AMERICA: DEAD MAN RUNNING #1
Writer: Darko Macan
Artist: Daniel Zezelj
Marvel Comics
$2.99

When last we left Captain America, he was a little dead. So it's odd, if unsurprising, to find him alive and well in the jungles of Columbia in this new mini-series. If anything has changed, we wouldn't know, because Macan has so far ignored any sort of Cap continuity. I might have cared about that if this wasn't such a fine first issue.

A stranded American army troop gets aid in the form of an airdropped Captain America, who leads the gang to an airstrip a few days walk away. But, of course, not everything is as it seems. Macan's got a fascinating story here, and he slowly reveals bits of information, wrenching maximum suspense out of each twist. The final page is a great cliffhanger, and I'll definitely be picking up the next issue.

Interior artist Daniel Zezelj has been getting a lot of praise lately, and I really like his work. It's very dark and the lines are thick, it's a distinctive style that would probably seem out of place in a book with a lighter tone but fits perfectly with Macan's story. The book even has a striking cover. Hands down, this is the best Captain America comic I've read since Mark Waid's first run. (MS)

HOWARD THE DUCK #1
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Phil Winslade
Marvel/MAX Comics
$2.99

Fresh off his debut film (if fifteen years is fresh) Howard The Duck finally gets a new comic book. I don't know much about Howard, and a little more backstory on these characters would have been nice. But the story, about Howard and his pal Beverly trying to make ends meet and Beverly finding a job with a firm that "creates" boy bands, is a cute idea, and it's executed with some great jokes from Gerber. Winslade's art works great for me, but likely there will still be fans who don't like his line work. Personally, I can't see the problem. Overall, it's a little tame in a comic book world that already has BARRY WEEN, but the racks can always use another funny book in a world of generic tights comics. (MS)

SUPERBOY #95
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti & Dan Didio
Penciller: John McCrea
Inker: James Hodgkins
DC Comics
$2.25

This is the first issue in a whole new direction! If you've been reading comics for more than five years you've probably heard that about a million times. During the '90's it was about once a month. Now, Jimmy Palmiotti and Dan Didio have taken the reigns over on Superboy and it looks to be a hilarious shake-up of events.

Their first issue entails Superboy finding a new place to live as the Young Justice headquarters are full and there is no more room for him. (Which baffles me, honestly. Young Justice is HQ'ed in an old hotel, so there should be more than enough room for him.) That aside, it's a fun issue. Hilarity ensues and Superboy is cast out into the harsh, homeless side of Metropolis to find a home. If you've ever had to find an apartment in any city or town, you can sympathize with Superboy's predicament. I know I can. Heck, even if you've had to find a roommate you could sympathize.

John McCrea and James Hodgkins are there for the art chores. McCrea can sometimes pull off a very zany, crazy kind of art style that fits situations like this. He can also be very serious with his art (e.g. THE MONARCHY, BATMAN). Here he's funny and it works. He keeps a steady pace that allows for a lot of Three Stooges-like material to happen. From