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Playing Catch Up v.8  - September 11 I know some of you will be interested in this as the oft-times controversial Frank Miller will be discussing his upbringing and newfound belief in patriotism and the U.S. flag in an essay for the NPR (National Public Radio) series This I Believe airing on Morning Edition, Monday, September 11. I remember early in his career Miller did an issue of MARVEL FANFARE featuring Captain America that predominantly featured the flag and it's meaning to the character. Frank is currently working on a new Batman book titled HOLY TERROR, BATMAN wherein Batman will take on Osama Bin Laden. Miller's essay for NPR is entitled "That Old Piece Of Cloth". Inspired by newsman Edward R. Murrow's radio program from the 50's, This I Believe features Americans from all walks of life expressing their core beliefs and values in short, personal essays. Past contributors include Senator John McCain, Tony Hawk, Penn Jillette, David Copperfield, Bill Gates and Colin Powell. In addition to airing during Morning Edition, his essay will be available to read and listen to at www.npr.org/thisibelieve on Monday. The website already includes the audio and transcripts for all past essayists as well. After never fully believing in patriotism and the U.S. flag, Miller discusses how the events of 9/11 shaped his newfound belief in patriotism and the flag. NPR has graciously allowed us to share a short excerpt from Miller's essay: "I could never stomach the flower-child twaddle of the Sixties crowd and I was ready to believe that our flag was just an old piece of cloth; and that patriotism was just some quaint relic, best left behind us. It was all about the ideas. I schooled myself in the writings of Madison and Franklin and Adams and Jefferson. I came to love those noble, indestructible ideas. They were ideas, to my young mind, of rebellion and independence, not of idolatry. The ideas, but not that piece of old cloth. To me, that stood for unthinking patriotism. It meant about as much to me as that insipid peace sign that was everywhere I looked: just another symbol of a generation's sentimentality, of its narcissistic worship of its own past glories. Then came that sunny September morning when airplanes crashed into Towers a very few miles from my home and thousands of my neighbors were ruthlessly incinerated. Reduced to ash." The new rendition of This I Believe, launched in April 2005, has become a big hit with listeners and shows the public's renewed interest in discussing beliefs and values. In addition to prominent essayists, the series has now received nearly 15,000 essays from listeners across the country. To date, every This I Believe essay has ranked among the top e-mailed stories on NPR.org. Each Monday, a new essay airs alternating between NPR's newsmagazines Morning Edition and All Things Considered. The series is a collaboration between NPR and This I Believe, Inc., Dan Gediman and Jay Allison, producers. Civil War Honestly, not really caring for it. The whole idea behind this big event was that the fans would share the characters anxiety as to which side to choose, but right from the get go it was a very obvious nazi allegory, and they're not shying away from it. The nazi or racism comparison is brought up in the books several times and we've even got Reed Richards playing the role of concentration-camp-designer/mad-scientist and they've been building up Iron Man to fill the role of ego-maniacal, evil prick since Warren Ellis' 'Extremis' storyline, and further exploring it in the recent mini by Joe Casey and Frazer Irving. I think part of it may be that Tony Stark has no personal struggles left and is now projecting outwards to create new struggles. Look at it this way, his corporation is sound, he's got loads of cash, he's surrounded by yes men, he's at his peak physically and has achieved a perfect meld of man and machine, he's come to terms with his drinking, he can break whatever laws he likes and come away clean but at the same time has no qualms about selling out his friends. He's not necessarily evil so much as he's just a big sopping prick. Keep that in mind though, Tony Stark is fighting on behalf of enforcing The Law, but has no problems with breaking laws himself so long as they fit his means. I understand that this is quite reflective of and inspired by the recent and often lunacy of the American government, Iron Man even shares traits with Bush in that he's a leader who will do malevolent things for what he may believe is something good, but acts unaware to the malevolence of those actions. But as to the comic world, I'm already seeing more then enough Nazi allegories in the X-Men and the entire overabundance of Marvel Nazi's is just making the books unpleasant to read. I was telling someone recently how the X-Men were now essentially living in a concentration camp and he thought it was hilarious that rather then round up mutants into one place, they simply just went to where they already were and built walls around them. The problem with presenting a struggle of having to choose between freedom and basic human rights and the American government is that a majority of people haven't been able to trust the government since 1963, let alone in recent years. There is potential here though, we get cool fanboy moments like the return of Thor as detailed by an amazing artist in Steve McNiven, shifting the focus to Spider-Man was a smart move as they're building him up to be isolated and disdained by everyone - on both sides of the war, once the gravity of his decision weighs in, and while I'll a little "nah" as to the core Civil War series, Civil War: Frontline is excellent. Civil War: Frontline is where they explore all the ramifications of the move to register super humans in various details and from various perspectives, in intelligent stories and with characters who are very aware that their government is slowly, scratch that, rapidly, turning [HAVE turned] their country into a police state. Marvel has succeeded in creating the potential for lots of thought provoking stories to explore, but has yet to meld them into something enjoyable to read in its core title [i.e. too many nazi's], and it really shouldn't have to be one or the other. The next ish is supposed to be "the best thing Mark Millar has ever written" but the main series in this huge event is really more of a stone tossed in the water, and the ripple effects felt in the Other books is where all the interesting things are happening. Previews Over in Brian's Until Your Heart Stops this week, he does an excellent job of scouring through the new Previews Catalogue for books shipping in November. There are some good picks there. I haven't had a chance to flip through the catalogue myself yet but there are two books I know about that I'd be terribly remiss not to mention: CONTENT 2 and MAKESHIFT MIRACLE. MAKESHIFT MIRACLE is an original graphic novel by Jim Zubkavich (That's writer/artist/professor/Project Manager/Partner/Rawk Gawd... Jim Zubkavich) and published by UDON comics. "How many times have you wished for a different life? How many moments have you let pass you by? A young boy named Colby Reynolds searches for the meaning of the world around him and discovers a place where dreams can come true, if he's willing to pay the price. On the way, he'll see sights he's never fathomed and encounter truths about himself he'll wish he never knew."  Mysterious, atmospheric and thought provoking, THE MAKESHIFT MIRACLE was one of the first complete graphic novels ever released on the Internet. Now finally in print with re-mastered artwork and lettering and featuring bonus material such as contributions from Bryan Lee O' Malley, Corey Lewis Rey, and more, readers can discover first hand the award-winning story that Scott McCloud [UNDERSTANDING COMICS, REINVENTING COMICS, ZOT, MAKING COMICS and general comics guru) calls "a melancholy, enchantingly drawn meditation on imagination and yearning". If this is the first time you've heard of Jim's work THE MAKESHIFT MIRACLE I can bloody well guarantee it won't be the last. THE MAKESHIFT MIRACLE is 8 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches, 200 pages Full Colour for $ 12.99 U.S. You can Pre-Order from your local retailer with Diamond Order Code SEP06 3621 and is a Spotlight item in the Previews Catalogue. Wait a minute? Did I just say 200 FULL COLOUR PAGES FOR ONLY $ 12.99? YES! I BELIEVE I DID! THAT'S THE BEST VALUE ON AN ORIGINAL WORK SINCE THE FLIGHT ANTHOLOGY! If you pay attention to the standard price point per page number you'll notice that you're saving quite a few bucks compared to other works of the same page count. Just saying is all... But wait, that's not all. Because Jim is also doing a special offer. If you order direct from Jim Zubkavich through THIS WEBSITE you will receive the book autographed and personalized, shipped right to your door and the first 200 orders will receive a free sketch. So let's tally this up: An original 200-page graphic novel with re-mastered art and lettering for only $ 12.99. The FIRST original graphic novel ever published by UDON comics. Jim received the Cartoonist's Choice Award for "Best Newcomer". Freakin' Scott McCloud wants you to read this book. AND the first 200 people to order direct from Jim will receive a FREE sketch, will get their copy autographed and personalized and shipped right to their door. AND it ships mid-late November so it'd make a perfect X-Mas gift! Honestly, if I have to hit you over the head to drag this home... I Will. Buy THE MAKESHIFT MIRACLE. Because I said so. Don't make me hurt you. CONTENT 2  The long awaited follow-up to Gia-Bao Tran's premiere book CONTENT. I've written about CONTENT before, when I picked it up it became the best book I'd read all year. After that Gia-Bao Tran had me for life and I'll be on board for whatever he comes up with next. Check out our First Impression review of the first CONTENT here [Nov.02] and our Interview with Gia-Bao Tran about CONTENT here for more on GB, CONTENT and to see an excerpt from issue 1 [Jan. 03]. "If a tree falls in the wood with no one around, does it make a sound? More importantly, if a cell phone escapes from its owner for a night of brothels and murder, does its owner's sister's admirer's mother care? Four stories woven together by shared experience and missed connections. An examination of the threads that bind us, and a meditation on how our world grows smaller the more we live... with cell phone sex." Robert Randle chose CONTENT 2 as a Staff Pick in the latest Previews Catalogue and describes CONTENT 2 as GB's "comic-making tour-de-force". He continues "GB can tell a story; in fact he can tell a story that's actually over a half dozen stories, and weave them all into a cyclical spiral of tragedy, humor, and bizarre coincidence that will probably get a smile out of all you Alex Robinson fans out there." I'm going to go re-read CONTENT 2 and delight in how much the cover reminds me of Toulouse-Lautrec. You really should give CONTENT a shot. Learn more and read an excerpt on GB's site over at GB Tran.com. CONTENT 2 is 56 pages, oversized and Black & White for $ 5.00. Pre-Order with Diamond Order Code SEP06 3268. Also, offered again is CONTENT issue 1. 40 pages Black & White for $ 3.00 U.S. Pre-Order with Diamond Order Code SEP06 3269. By The Way - PopImage now has an official MySpace page. Check us out.
 Jonathan Ellis is Co-Editor in Chief of PopImage  PopImage Forum - Discuss this message at the PopImage forum. Upfront Archive - Read past Upfront articles |
