Posted by John Mueller, on March 7th, 2010
The content of alternative comics anthologies in the last ten years seems to be veering away from their (potentially offensive) underground roots. Instead, these collections seem to be reaching more towards the art gallery-centric world of the Pop Surrealism movement. For example, Blab! once regularly spotlighted cartoonists like Kaz, Daniel Clowes and Richard Sala. But now it reserves the most space for top names in the alternative art world like Gary Baseman, Mark Ryden and Camille Rose Garcia. All of these creators are equally...
Posted by John Mueller, on February 28th, 2010
It comes as little surprise that some of the best loved and oft re-visited works of literature are solidly based in the realms of fantasy. From A Midsummer’s Night Dream to Lord of the Rings there is something hugely appealing about taking our imaginations into the lands of vibrant, idyllic, fantasias.
In this genre there is perhaps no creation as well known or as frequently re-interpreted as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1898 edition)
First published...
Posted by John Mueller, on February 25th, 2010
This Saturday, February 27th. will be the opening reception for the exhibition Curiouser and Curiouser: Inspired by Alice In Wonderland at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA. Over 40 artists from the worlds of illustration, comics, production design and more will have new pieces on display featuring their interpetations of characters and imagery from the classic book. Work used in the production of the upcoming Tim Burton Alice In Wonderland film will be seen as well. Please note that the film related work will be on display opening...
Posted by John Mueller, on February 21st, 2010
The mixing up of genres can be a tricky thing. If a creator is not extremely well-versed in what makes the cross-pollinating genres work (as well as what is cliche and makes them fail), things simply will not gel. Thankfully, first-time comics writer Matt Maxwell knows how to fuse these things properly, making his hybrid western / horror graphic novel Strangeways: Murder Moon the very entertaining read that it is.
In Murder Moon, (self-published by Maxwell via Highway 62 press), ex-Civil War soldier Seth Collins is the survivor...
Posted by John Mueller, on February 14th, 2010
Artist Dave McKean has found tremendous success and acclaim in a wide variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, book illustration, photography, filmmaking, music, and, of course, comics. Legendary amongst sequential art enthusiasts, his singular and recognizable style is found in many of the most highly acclaimed titles of the last 20 years including Violent Cases, Mr. Punch, Arkham Asylum, and The Sandman, as well as his own creation Cages.
I had the pleasure of attending the opening reception for McKean’s newest...
Posted by John Mueller, on February 10th, 2010
This coming Saturday, February 13, Gallery Nucleus will be holding a special book signing with the legendary Barron Storey and Kent Williams. The event will be to celebrate the re-release of Storey’s long out of print (and extremely hard to find) The Marat/Sade Journals along with Williams’ most recent collection Kent Williams, Amalgam: Paintings and Drawings, 1992-2007.
Barron Storey began his art career in the 1960’s and his work has included a dozen covers for Time magazine, and the first ever official large scale painting...
Posted by John Mueller, on February 8th, 2010
Alhambra, California. Located not far from Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, Alhambra is a small, but thriving city proud of its large Asian and Hispanic population. Main Street here has seen a true rebirth in recent years as a wealth of new businesses, restaurants, and entertainment venues has turned a once neglected stretch of road into one that teems with life on any given evening. Yes, Alhambra is a city on the rise. Or at least it was, until the tragic events of Saturday, February 6, 2010 when it found itself victim to...
Posted by John Mueller, on February 4th, 2010
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner we should pause to recognize that love can, in fact, live beyond the grave, although in a somewhat bloodier fashion. Need proof? Then head down to Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA this weekend for the opening of their new show “Zombies In Love”.
Over two dozen artists from the worlds of comics, film design, illustration and special effects will give their take on rotted romance in what is guaranteed to be the coolest thing going down in L.A. this weekend. Featured...
Posted by John Mueller, on January 31st, 2010
Shitty jobs: almost all of us have had to put up with them at one point in our lives. Much more often than not working for an awful boss and/or company becomes a test of one’s endurance, where you ask yourself on a daily basis, “How much of a beating can my pride withstand before I just can’t take it anymore?” If this is the kind of situation you find yourself presently in, it may be of some comfort to know that you are not alone in your frustration and you’ll certainly realize this in reading Carol...
Posted by John Mueller, on January 24th, 2010
There is something enticing about tales of addiction, shame, and degradation that easily draws the reader into the skeleton-filled closets of the author. What exactly that attraction stems from is something I’ve been considering a lot since reading the sensational graphic novel The Alcoholic by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel, now available in trade paperback from Vertigo.
Is the attraction to this material due to having the chance to peek into the life of one who suffers from a problem that seems utterly foreign to those...
Posted by John Mueller, on January 21st, 2010
By now I would imagine that everyone reading this is familiar with the visual mind-melt that is James Cameron’s Avatar. Now you can meet several of the hugely talented folks who helped realize Cameron’s vision and brought it to life at The Art of Avatar group book signing at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA this Saturday evening, January 23rd. Eight (!) of the contributing artists will be on hand for a Q & A session starting at 6:00 p.m. followed by a signing of The Art of Avatar book.
Needless to say this volume...
Posted by John Mueller, on January 17th, 2010
Here at Sequential Sunday, the work discussed can sometimes be, well… a little dour. This realization came to me when I was deciding what book to discuss this week and noticed that they either revolved around alcoholism, an insane asylum, or The Holocaust. In light of this, I decided to make this week’s article a little more fun and breezy, while still showcasing a lot of great work and drawing upon sophisticated source material. With that I give you: Watchmen-themed cutesy crafts. You see, there is very little in...
Posted by John Mueller, on January 10th, 2010
Now that 2010 is in full swing I’d like to wish all of our Comic Impact readers all the best in the new year and charge right back into my Best of 2009 list. Up, up and away we go….
Criminal The Deluxe Edition by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Val Staples (Marvel/Icon)
It comes as no surprise that Ed Brubaker can write a great crime comic. What does come as a surprise is that any wirier, even one as talented as Brubaker, can take the crime/noir genre and make it feel so fresh and invigorating that it’s almost...
Posted by John Mueller, on January 3rd, 2010
I initially thought the task of compiling a list of the best in comics and related art books released in 2009 would be relatively easy. Boy was I wrong. We saw a wealth of amazing output from the indie press, mainstream publishers and collected works of illustrative artists of the past and present. 2009 has been a fantastic year overall for sequential art, the best of the last several, with my only real problem being finding the time (and money) to take them all in.
So without further ado here is Part I in my two-part series...
Posted by John Mueller, on December 27th, 2009
Your regularly scheduled programming (the Sequential Sunday column) will not be seen (or read) this week as I would like to take this time to thank all of our Comic Impact readers for making 2009 such a great year. I hope everyone has had the happiest of holidays, got what they wanted for Christmas, and did not see the following scenario in their house when Santa came calling…
I wish everyone nothing but the very best in the coming year. Your comments and feedback on Sequential Sunday have been greatly appreciated and I look...
Posted by John Mueller, on December 20th, 2009
Nobody likes being the last person to show up at a party, and boy do I feel like I’m the last person to show up at this one. I consider myself an avid fan of all things horror since childhood, but I have to admit that until now I have not read the incredible Image comic The Walking Dead. But like a straggler at a blowout drinking fast to be on everyone else’s fuzzy wavelength, I am attempting to make up for lost time. In the last week or so I have read all ten of the currently available trade paperback collections of The...
Posted by John Mueller, on December 14th, 2009
Since writing my last Sequential Sunday entry about the supremely talented artist Mark Schultz, I have been giving much thought to his influences and what the work of those artists have meant to me as well. The name that kept entering my mind the most, one whose work I’ve admired since childhood, is that of Al Williamson. Even though Williamson has had a long and highly esteemed career spanning several decades, the work of his that invariably jumps to my mind is the one that I was exposed to first - his comic book movie adaptations,...
Posted by John Mueller, on December 6th, 2009
Founded in 2002, Flesk Publications is still a relatively young company with less than twenty releases under its belt. But the astonishing work contained in these books display such an incredible degree of talent and wealth of beautiful artwork that they are, without a doubt, amongst the very top-tier of publishers of illustrative and fantasy art in this country. With a focus on some of the best American illustrators of the past and present, Flesk gives the heavily detailed art found in their collections the beautiful reproductions...
Posted by John Mueller, on December 3rd, 2009
Author Patrick Wensink has just released a new collection of highly bizarre (and extremely funny) short stories titled Sex Dungeon For Sale!
To mark the occasion he is holding a coloring contest in which the winner will get a set of autographed books including the brilliantly absurd Tales Designed To Thrizzle hardcover collection from Fantagraphics signed by Michael Kupperman!
The contest is simple: visit Patrick’s website, download one of the illustrations created for Sex Dungeon For Sale! and bust out some crayons!...
Posted by John Mueller, on November 29th, 2009
When one thinks of important American epicenters for the development and cultivation of comic art, there are a couple that will always spring to mind first. New York is one, of course, as New York City is the undisputed publishing capitol of the country and home to industry giants Marvel and DC. California is certainly another as San Francisco was ground zero for the counterculture movement of the 1960’s and the explosive, unapologetic underground comics that emerged from those politically charged and artistically liberating...
Posted by John Mueller, on November 22nd, 2009
Many of the best creative endeavors are bound to be short lived. An artist will usually know when he’s said all he has to say before running the risk of going stale or to simply move on to the next phase of his artistic career. This certainly happens in the world of comics and seems to now apply to the brilliant strip The Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch.
Describing The Perry Bible Fellowship (which premiered in 2001 and is named after an actual church in Maine) to someone who has not seen it is near impossible...
Posted by John Mueller, on November 8th, 2009
For those who read fantasy comics, 2009 is proving itself to truly be a banner year with some of the quality genre material hitting the shops recently. First, there is the amazing continuing series Mouse Guard by David Petersen. Then we saw the phenomenal debut of Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy Bastian, which to me still stands as the best, and most beautifully drawn, title of the year. Now there is another comic to add to this imagination abundant list: The Stuff of Legend.
The first issue of The Stuff of Legend (written by...
Posted by John Mueller, on November 1st, 2009
Playing fast and loose with histories both real and imagined can be fertile ground for dry comedy and offer opportunities for moments of real poignancy as well. Both are found in abundance in the new chapbook by Francois Ayroles titled Key Moments From The History Of Comics. Presented in a series of single panel cartoons, comic creators from the distant past and the contemporary present are shown in small scenes of inspiration and isolation, melancholy and triumph.
Some of the most affecting pieces in the book are ones that...
Posted by John Mueller, on October 25th, 2009
The undisputed master of the Japanese horror manga genre is Kazuo Umezu. Born in 1936, Umezu is part of the generation of artists and writers who grew up in the wake of the devastating atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki followed by the humiliating defeat of Japan in WWII. The generational shell-shock of these events undeniably shaped the future of their work and served as the starting point for what is now the massive Japanese pop culture landscape.
Although he had started producing manga while still in high school,...
Posted by John Mueller, on October 18th, 2009
With Halloween right around the corner and all the spooky connotations that come with it hanging in the air it seemed like a good time to scour the shelves of my favorite comic book store for some seasonally appropriate material. The store in question is Comics Factory in Pasadena, CA where, if you’re an indie reader like me, you’re in luck as their selection of independents is so wide it almost rivals all the stock of the Big Two put together. Another huge plus for my ghoulish spree is that there seems to be more horror...
Posted by Simon Daoudi, on October 14th, 2009
Hello loyal Comic Impact fans! Here it is, the big #100 Podcast. Or for those of you who want more specifics, The Long Beach Comic Con footage. After reviewing the hours and hours and hours of Long Beach goodies, we have put together a fantastic video podcast. So join Simon, Dana, and Rich as they share their adventure with all of you.
Dana and J.T Krul discuss, Soulfire vol. 2, Titans #19 and physical education. Simon and comic great, Richard Starkings, talk about Elephantmen, Phillip K Dick, his time at Marvel UK, Comic Lettering...
Posted by John Mueller, on October 11th, 2009
With Halloween almost upon us I’d like to make mention of an incredible art show that just opened in the L.A. area that is not only seasonally appropriate, but also contains many connections to the world of comics: October Shadows at Gallery Nucleus in downtown Alhambra, CA.
Hallodry by Tony Lombardo
Gallery Nucleus (whose fifth anniversary is right around the corner) is a mandatory stop for anyone in Los Angeles with an interest in the current contemporary/pop surrealism art scene. Their stellar list of previously spotlighted...
Posted by John Mueller, on October 7th, 2009
Now that it’s been a few days since the end of the first annual Long Beach Comic-Con I’d thought I’d chirp in with some thoughts on the event. Firstly, it took place in the clean n’ cheery part of Long Beach as opposed to the “run, motherfucker, run!” areas which would have been not only an odd choice of locales, but potentially a complete disaster for us sensitive artistic types.
An entire afternoon passed in Long Beach and no one had to use their A-K. Today was a good day.
I was happy to see many independent publishers...
Posted by Simon Daoudi, on October 1st, 2009
Comicimpact will be attending the Long Beach Comic Con this weekend (October 2 – 4.) We will be working hard on getting the big news stories that you need to know out of the Con when it hits! We will also be setting up some interviews with your favorite people in the world of comics.
So if your heading to Long Beach make sure to look for Dana,Rich,John,Matt J,Sebastian and Simon as they will be around impacting the con the only way they know how…We just wish we knew how that is. Also let us know you are a fan and take a picture...
Posted by John Mueller, on September 27th, 2009
There’s something fascinating about seeing your favorite hero doing what they do best, but in a radically altered setting or environment. A big favorite of mine as a kid was What If? from Marvel. In (somewhat) more recent years it’s a real kick to see what DC creators do with the various Elseworlds releases. One that always springs to mind is Gotham By Gaslight in which we see what Batman would be like if he lived and operated in the late 1800’s. Pretty far-out to be sure, but how is the reader to react upon seeing the...
Posted by John Mueller, on September 20th, 2009
The widespread popularity and availability of Marvel in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s (it seemed like almost every store had a spinner rack in them) meant that any comic loving kid who grew up in those eras more than likely read copious amounts from those now classic years. Some of those kids grew up to become today’s top independent creators, and though their usual output shares little resemblance to the traditional superhero themes of the comic book publishing giant, they seemed to have gleefully accepted the chance to...
Posted by John Mueller, on September 13th, 2009
Putting aside the fact that the comics themselves featured many of the same classic characters we’ve known all our lives, the often-forgettable releases from Marvel in the 1990’s bares little resemblance to the company’s output today. When you factor in the abolishment of the Epic line, bad business practices leading to a glut of material (over 100 titles at one point), and their top name creators jumping ship to launch the instantly successful Image, you get a titan of the industry not exactly in the midst of a new...
Posted by John Mueller, on September 6th, 2009
Like most kids (boys especially) I was drawn to anything that had dinosaurs in it.
Movies like King Kong, The Valley of Gwangi, One Million Years B.C. and The Land That Time Forgot were mandatory viewing when they would pop up on Saturday afternoon television (this was back in the pre-historic days shortly before cable and home video). Comics like Jack Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur and The War That Time Forgot were read and reread endlessly. Even though I loved anything even remotely monster related there was a difference when it...
Posted by John Mueller, on August 23rd, 2009
Today’s comic book artists working within the mainstream may not always be consciously aware of just how little restrictions are put on their work. When the human body is represented, there isn’t always a whole lot left to the imagination even though the characters are fully clothed. A good example of this is the slick art of Guillem March on the current series Gotham City Sirens. The central characters look less like costumed villanesses and more like nude women whose bodies have been painted. Cartoonists of the past had...
Posted by John Mueller, on August 16th, 2009
There are many comic collections and anthologies that champion comics’ relatively recent acceptance as true and serious art. The only potential problem is that many such volumes invariably become a bit stuffy and academic, forgetting that a primary function of reading comic books is that the experience should also be a fun and entertaining one. One sequential art historian who never lets us forget this point is the incomparable Craig Yoe via his series of eye-popping “Arf” books. To date there are four volumes: “Modern...
Posted by John Mueller, on August 9th, 2009
Existential dread and despair are feelings that are not easily communicated to a reader via text or imagery. That uneasy, creeping sense of malaise that accompanies being emotionally numb in a seemingly unending urban landscape of concrete and refuse is hard to nail down recognizably without seeming overdone or heavy-handed. However, one comics artist that understands these feelings and the environment that conjures them is Mark Beyer, and his favored method of expression are through his two key characters, the queasily comical...
Posted by John Mueller, on August 2nd, 2009
For this week’s installment of “Sequential Sunday” I’ve decided to forgo my usual long-winded appreciation of an indie/alternative/underground artist and instead jump right into some examples of the artist in question: Ivan Brunetti. The work (in this case examples of Brunetti’s very dirty minded gag cartoons) pretty much speaks for itself. An overview more worthy of this particular artist will appear in a future post, but for now here’s some filth to brighten your Sunday afternoon. Also, for those who are underage...
Posted by John Mueller, on July 26th, 2009
I really have no good, justifiable reason why I’ve never attended Comic-Con until this year. Growing up in the mid-west certainly makes the commute difficult, but now that I’ve lived on the west coast for 11 years (and the last 6 of those years in Southern California) it really makes no sense why I’ve waited until now to go. However, all that changed this year and I can now safely say I will never miss one again. What follows is a rundown of just a few of the notable people, places and things at the massive sensory overload...
Posted by John Mueller, on July 19th, 2009
Jack Cole will always be remembered primarily as the creator of the ever-malleable “Plastic Man,” one of the few characters from the Golden Age of comics that is still popular today, but what many mainstream fans may not be aware of is the gorgeous pin-up art Cole created for “Playboy” magazine during the early years of its run. As Cole looked to expand his career beyond comics in the early 1950’s (“Plastic Man” being primarily ghosted by other artists and writers at this point) he sought work in the magazine...
Posted by John Mueller, on July 12th, 2009
In the publishing world it is extremely rare for a graphic designer to become an art superstar in their own right, but this is exactly what has happened to Chip Kidd.
Beginning his career in the mid-80’s, Chip Kidd has earned a reputation for his highly innovative book covers for authors such as John Updike, Bret Easton Ellis, David Sedaris, Dean Koontz and Cormac McCarthy. So admired is his work that several authors have a clause in their contract stating that only Kidd be allowed to design their covers. His most well known...
Posted by John Mueller, on July 5th, 2009
I have to admit that when I was in my teenage years I stayed mostly away from comics. Aside from the occasional issue of “Heavy Metal” or “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” I was pretty much oblivious to the changes that were happening in mainstream comics in the late 1980’s, particularly concerning super heroes. With the advent of “Watchmen” and “The Dark Knight Returns,” caped crusaders became bleak, grim and gritty with nary a cornball remark in sight for a hero to spout while punching out a thug. Of...
Posted by John Mueller, on June 28th, 2009
Comic anthology books are almost always a mixed bag. Though they often revolve around a certain theme, set of characters, or maintain a consistent tone, one cannot help but be either over or under whelmed by its contents. It is very rare to find an anthology that hits the mark on almost every page but the recent release “Typhon” is just that.
In Greek mythology Typhon was the most fearsome of all creatures, at one time even attempting to destroy Zeus himself. This tale is reflected on the cover of “Typhon” with an incredible...
Posted by John Mueller, on June 21st, 2009
An unusual thing began to happen to the underground comics emerging from San Francisco after
Slow Death #9
their initial first wave in the mid-to-late 1960’s. As the dreams of the revolutionary youth counterculture began to fall apart (signs of which were already beginning to show by the end of 1967 — the year of the “Summer Of Love”), the fading hopes of the generation were seeping into the comics of the time in extremely dark ways. Though those initial undergrounds had some nasty elements in them, mainly stemming...
Posted by John Mueller, on June 14th, 2009
This is a great time for those of us who love comics. Almost every genre is hitting creative high points, be it super heroes, horror or alternative humor. Yet even with so many great choices available something can come along so astonishing and unexpected that you can’t help but be in complete awe of it. A comic has done this to me today and that comic is the recently released first issue of “Cursed Pirate Girl” by Jeremy Bastian.
The story is set in 1728 in a Jamacian sea port ruled by the pompous Governer Maygun....
Posted by Sheldon Lee, on June 8th, 2009
Well as you may have noticed there was no Sequential Sunday yesterday and we just wanted to take some time out to say sorry. : ( Unfortunately, John had to go back home for a family emergency but has assured me that he will be back for another Sequential Sunday in a week….see we didn’t forget about you lovely people out there in internet land we love ya!!! Alright have a good Monday we will talk to ya soon. Say hello to your Mother for me alright……
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Posted by John Mueller, on May 31st, 2009
very aptly titled...
Let’s consider for a moment the most reviled of all forms of comedy: toilet humor. It’s something we’re all familiar with from an early age. Any child on a school playground is delighted to amuse his pals with a good pee or poop joke, or maybe simply by letting a loud one rip right in the middle of a school assembly. Let’s face it: the human body and its more odorous functions is prime comedy ground. This applies not just to children, but also for those whose sense of humor refuses to grow up (i.e....
Posted by John Mueller, on May 24th, 2009
Faust issue #3
“Not For Children” is the phrase that adorns the cover of several issues of the notorious adults-only comic book “Faust: Love of the Damned,” and I can safely state that a more appropriate warning has never been put on a cover before or since. The hyper-violent reality that the characters of “Faust” live in scales heights of bloodlust and depravity that I can only assume is completely unheard of and unseen by the majority of comic readers. The extreme sex and violence in this book are not mutually...
Posted by John Mueller, on May 17th, 2009
One of the amazing things about how the mind works while reading comics is that we are essentially experiencing what is called a jump-cut between every panel, yet we still have a completely fluid storytelling experience. Our brain automatically fills in that blank space between panels. This is very similar to watching a movie where every edit goes from one image to another in a fraction of a second. It should be jarring, but somehow it isn’t. The difference between comics and movies in this regard is that reading is a much...
Posted by John Mueller, on May 3rd, 2009
Have you ever wondered that, if Marcel Duchamp were alive today and chose to create comics instead of buying urinals, what kind of comics would they be? Strangely enough, the answer to the question above did in fact come to me as I waded through the sea of hilarious and impenetrable absurdity that is Michael Kupperman’s “Tales Designed To Thrizzle.“ Duchamp’s comics would read just like this.
The characters Kupperman creates in his stories (most of which are only a few pages or less long, creating constantly...
