JOOST SWARTE

After decades of fascinating snippets of Joost Swarte work appearing in the likes of Raw, there is now a translated book of his work “Is That All There Is?” It’s a lovely collection, full of humour and great artwork. The title comes from the fact it’s quite a small book, and contains his lifetime’s comics work. However, if you order from the publisher direct, you get an extra minicomic with a few more bits and pieces.

HOW ABOUT THOSE COMICS STAMPS?

(AKA COMICS STAMPEDE 7)

The current set of commemorative stamps from Royal Mail have images from comics. The presentation pack has the ten stamps, a miniature edition of The Dandy, and a card with information on the ten comics featured.

The text is written by Graham Kibble-White and contains sentences such as the following: “The last significant comics launch came in 1977, with the sci-fi themed 2000ad.”

Ignoring many interesting comics that have launched in the past 35 years, I assume he is terming significance as financially successful.

But then what of Viz? You may recall that not only was it a big selling comic – it was actually at one point “Britain’s 5th best selling magazine - and you’ll never buy a bigger pile of shite" as the cover stated. Viz is not included because comics for Kibble-White are kids’ stuff that they used to make. Nostalgia rules here. There was a similar flavour to his book from a few years ago. Loads of good info, but from the limited point of view that comics are all but a dead issue. Something to look back on with fondness. He’s not a writer you look to find out what interesting comics are coming out now.

That's my wee niggle. It's still a very nice set.

PETER BAGGE RESET
I’m obviously not scanning the internet as often as I should. It took opening up the latest Previews catalogue to see that Peter Bagge has a new series out soon. A new comic from Bagge is always a cause for celebration. I previously did a lengthy interview with him in 2008, you can have a look here if you so wish. Since his big series Hate and Neat Stuff, he seems to be following a pattern of releasing a new graphic novel every 2 or 3 years, which is just fine by me.

His new comic is called Reset and is published by Dark Horse. This summary is from their website:

If you could relive major events in your life, would you take a stab at making things better—and would your best attempts only make things worse? Or would you use your second chance to put your most twisted, perverted fantasies in motion? These are questions washed-up actor and comedian Guy Krause asks himself after he signs up to be the main research subject for a virtual-reality experiment.

Excited about this series, I asked Peter to tell me some more about it…

DR: You're quoted as saying "I originally envisioned Reset mostly taking place in the virtual fantasy world of protagonist Guy Krause’s imagination". Are there similarities between this story and Other Lives?
PB: Yes, in that they both touch on the use of computer technology as an escapist tool, while also revealing much about someone's character by the way he or she uses it.
DR: Krause is a willing guinea pig in this story. Does he give informed consent? In the cover image he seems perturbed.
PB: Yes, he signs a contract, though as you'll find out when you read it NO ONE is "fully informed" re: this technology. I'd be giving away too much if I explain why, though!
DR: That image reminds me of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. Were you influenced by that movie in creating this comic? Or is that way off?
PB: Not influenced, but not way off either. Again, I'm trying not to give too much away!
DR: Ha ha! OK, what can you say? Why should I buy this comic, Peter?
PB: To answer all these questions you've been asking, David! This book contains the KEY TO LIFE!
DR: Ha ha! Brilliant! I don’t doubt it! What else can we look forward to from you in the future? Do you have any other comics lined up after this one?
PB: Yes, a biography of Margaret Sanger. Go figure!
DR: Have you actually finished Reset?
PB: I'm almost done with issue 4, the final issue.



I’m looking forward to reading this. The first issue will be in the shops April 18, 2012.

COMICS STAMPEDE 6

Oh, look what's coming in March...


Details can be found here.

ELMER

I'd recommend this comic by Gerry Alanguilan. The story is clever and amusingly written. The artwork is clear, detailed and has real personality. It reminds me of Kevin Maguire and/or Jason Lutes.
Here's a link to a trailer for it. A relatively new kind of selling tool for comics, and an interesting one.
Read the book, it's great.

CHRISTMAS COMICS: Spider-man

Here is a lovely painting by Bob Wakelin published in the Marvel UK Spider-Man Christmas Special 1984.



Have a Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS COMICS: Prison Funnies

Yippee! It's nearly Christmas. Here's a festive four page tale by Chip Zdarsky. This is from The Collected Prison Funnies, published in 2003. Click for the larger versions...

CHRISTMAS COMICS: Doomlord

Heading towards Christmas, so I've scanned a festive cover and story featuring Doomlord, from a December 1983 edition of Eagle.

Doomlord began as a photo strip. In the early 80s, Eagle had a few photo strips alongside its drawn ones. These were in genres such as football, western, etc. Doomlord was sci-fi made with photos of someone in a rubber mask.

It was witty though, and dealt with moral and philosophical issues. It was also popular which meant when the photo strips were done away with, Doomlord continued with artwork from Eric Bradbury and Heinzl among others. The scale of the science fiction action could be expanded outwith having to photograph it.

Alan Grant wrote both the photo and drawn versions, so there's a real continuity to the entire series.

So anyway, here's a Christmas themed pause in the earth-shattering main storyline.

COMICS STAMPEDE 5: DC Comics

This lovely set featuring artwork direct from the comics was released in 2006. The set is split into covers and images.


The strange thing is I have precisely one Aquaman comic, purchased in the late 70s, and its cover is the image used for his stamp. There must be thousands of Aquaman comics out there.

TRANSFORMERS CLASSICS UK

In the interests of full disclosure, I must write that I was involved in a small way during the production of this book. However I would have written favourably on it even if I hadn’t been. This book is a collection of comics which were produced by the Marvel UK office in the mid 1980s. I enjoyed the initial run at the time, as mentioned here.

As well as the stories themselves, with terrific artwork from John Ridgway, Geoff Senior, and many others, there are really fascinating behind the scenes articles. These include photos of the offices, and new interviews with most of the artist and editorial staff involved. Lots of artwork produced for poster, sticker and transfer giveaways is reproduced.

It was interesting to note that so many of the team producing the comic were practically novices, learning their craft on the job. Amazing, when you consider the big success Transformers quickly became, and the all-conquering multimedia franchise it has ended up as.

It’s also amusing to see British pop culture explained for an American audience. Hence the description of British annuals as being hardback books that come out close to Christmas and bear the following year’s date on them.

One gripe I would have is that as someone that read the original comics, I am used to seeing these stories in their original dimensions, as opposed to their new smaller size here. I imagine this shrinkage wouldn’t bother you if you hadn’t seen them before in the first place.

The volume is sizable, just shy of 300 pages. A lot of love has gone into the production, as evidenced in IDW editor James Roberts’ introduction. A terrific volume.