Author Archives: benchoward

Review: Kid Lobotomy #1

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Kid Lobotomy #1 is the launch title to IDW Publishing’s new Black Crown imprint spearheaded by ex-Vertigo editor Shelly Bond. It is even written by Vertigo alumni Peter Milligan. The book certainly reads like many of the imprint’s flagship titles: familiar genre tropes subverted, an emphasis on dramatic build up over instant gratification, grimy atmosphere, and references to non-comic book arts. Kid Lobotomy is attempting to be an audacious debut. The result is a mixed bag.

The art of Kid Lobotomy is by indie superstar Tess Fowler and industry veteran Lee Loughridge. Fowler gives the book a DIY, punk aesthetic. Characters and environments look rough and grimy. Fowler also shows to be more than capable of drawing horror scenes, mostly larger-than-life insects and humans transforming into ghastly ghouls. Lettering by Aditya Bidikar highlights the intensity of these scenes with striking lettering. Lee Loughridge adds gritty, yet almost neon colors to the art. A common criticism of the early Vertigo books were their constant use of a grainy coloring scheme that made scenes limited in their palettes. However, given the weird, perturbing story Kid Lobotomy is telling, it fits here like a glove. Fowler and Loughridge combined is like a low-budget, artsy grindhouse film, particularly for fans of Subconscious Cruelty (2000) and We Are The Flesh (2016).

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Fowler uniquely designs each character that still share a particular fashion. They have piercings, detailed tattoos, unconventional clothing, and dyed hair with outlandish designs. These are recognizable in various youth groups, particularly those with an emphasis on art, music, and rebellion. It’s a welcoming modern look to a medium where many artists seem unaware of how much fashion has changed. It also works perfectly for Peter Milligan’s writing. He often focuses stories about characters from unique subcultures, referencing their literature, music, film, and other arts. However, in Kid Lobotomy, Milligan sticks to older subculture icons such as Franz Kafka and Derek Jarman. While they’re certainly influences on many modern artists, the lack of references to any of said artists is confusing. What about Screaming Females? The Safdie Brothers? Certainly Milligan can mix what is going on now with what came before. Otherwise, having characters that look modern but only reference 20th-century arts is disingenuous.

The story itself is, also quite typical of Vertigo, a genre mash-up. In every advertisement of Kid Lobotomy thus far, it is described as a combination of Shakespeare’s King Lear and Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. Like King Lear, the title character is a young man being forced to take over his father’s kingdom except it’s a hotel called the Suites. The elements from Kafka involve giant bugs, mental illness, and metaphors of isolation. There also seems to be a Dexter element going on in which Kid Lobotomy literally performs “new lobotomy” on people to eat the unwanted part of their brains to control his schizophrenic illusions.

The genre mashing, while amusing, doesn’t seem to have a real purpose. A bunch of ideas are introduced, but none of them paint a whole canvas of exactly what Kid Lobotomy is about. Is it a tale of mental illness? Crime? Family drama? Preacher, The Unwritten, and The Sandman are all titles that similarly mash genre together but have a pretty clear picture of what their major themes are. At the moment, Kid Lobotomy does not. It struggles to do a proper introduction of the various story elements and expanding them enough to have a clear, precise goal of what it wants to say. This is the opposite of Peter Milligan’s past work, such as Greek Street where the combination of Greek tragedy and crime drama clearly told a story about how history repeats itself.

The struggle might stem from the unnecessarily convoluted story structure Milligan employs. Kid Lobotomy #1 starts off with a dream sequence, then to where the story is presently, then a flashback, then the series of event that lead to the present, and a few more scenes afterward. That doesn’t sound hard to follow, but Milligan’s narration is all over the place, uneven in how much exposition to drop or keep vague. It reflects a bad habit from Vertigo of stories trying too hard to be clever and becoming confusing for the reader. It’s not bad to challenge a reader to understand the meaning of a story, but they should still have an intuition of what it’s about and learn more by critically thinking. Confusion should not be a tool as such to induce this type of reading because it can prevent an intuitive spark.

What saves Kid Lobotomy’s narrative are the characters. On the surface, the core three characters seem stockish: Big Daddy, the shrewd, “family comes first” father figure; Rosebud, the femme fatale; and Kid Lobotomy, the rebellious young son that wants to be a unique individual. There are unique quirks to each of them. Despite his appearance, Big Daddy doesn’t seem all that bad. He’s more shrewd than cruel, insisting that having responsibility over the hotel will help Kid with his mental illness. In fact, Big Daddy clearly cares about his son to the point he spent a lot of money to save him. His flaw is in not realizing how much Rosebud feels neglected, not to mention ignoring the fact she is by far more qualified to run the hotel.

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Rosebud is quite manipulative, her mission being to drive Kid even crazier so she can take over the hotel. It’s hard to really hate her given how much she has been loyal and helpful to her father. Kid suddenly getting the hotel despite all Rosebud’s hard work is a major blow to her. She at least has a clear motivation beyond evil for the sake of it. Kid Lobotomy isn’t a selfish, annoying manchild as often is the case. Yes, he did drop out of med school to pursue a doomed career in music, but he doesn’t seem to hate his family. Also, he is oddly well read and his obsession with Kafka helps him contextualize his mental illness in order to deal with it. There is also incestual tension between him and Rosebud, often leading to sex acts such as a handjob. From the looks of it, Rosebud is dominating Kid, something he sometimes resists and other times embraces. This will no doubt be the most problematic element of the story, and hopefully Milligan will have good enough sense to at least keep it appropriately complicated. There are several other side characters, but the only two that stand out are a shape-shifting maid and two little girl ghosts. It’s hard to pin point them as characters given they’re either background or just reacting in ways that push forward Kid’s journey.

Two final nitpicks are that Milligan should write a little less dialogue and narration. Fowler and Loughridge’s art is strong enough to visually communicate information to the reader. The cover by Frank Quitely, which good for what it is, is too clean and realistic for the interiors’ gritty punk style. Also, while it is impressive the title logo has a 3D look, it is rather distracting and feels dated, something from a 90s action flick. On the Tess Fowler cover, it is completely out of place for her style.

Kid Lobotomy #1 is a mixed bag of a debut issue. It is visually strong while containing a potentially engaging narrative bogged down by flaws of pacing and development. There is still room for improvement next issue as ideas and characters are expanded upon. At the very least, Kid Lobotomy #1 shows that Black Crown publishing aims for comics that critically engage the reader.

Story: Peter Milligan Art: Tess Fowler, Lee Loughridge, Aditya Bidikar
Story: 7.0 Art: 10 Overall: 8.0

IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Panels To Chords #1: Queer N’ Roll with Kim & Kim

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Welcome to the second episode of Panels To Chords. We’ll be talking about our song choices for the summer 2016 hit from Black Mask Studios. Joining Ben and Madi are Elana Brooklyn and Logan Dalton, fellow comic critics at Graphic Policy and elsewhere.

KIM & KIM

Writer: Magdalene Visaggio, Artist: Eva Cabrera, Colorist: Claudia Aguirre, Letterer: Zakk Saam, Editor: Katy Rex, Covers: Tess Fowler w/ Kiki Jenkins, Devaki Neogi.

“Kim & Kim are twentysomething besties out to make a name for themselves in the wild world of interdimensional cowboy law enforcement. In a massive “screw you” to their parents and the authorities, they decide to hijack some high stakes bounty — and end up in way over their heads. Kim & Kim is a day-glo action adventure that’s bursting with energy and enthusiasm. It puts queer women and trans women front and center, with a story that embraces the absurd alongside realistic pathos.

“Blending the punk exuberance of TANK GIRL with the buddy adventure wackiness of SUPERBAD (if Michael Cera was a trans woman and Jonah Hill a queergirl partner in crime), Kim & Kim focuses on the power and meaning of female friendships as engines of validation. A bright, happy, punk rock sci fi adventure that is queer as shit.”

–From Black Mask Studios’ website

 

 

Megacon 2017: A Trip of Errors Part 4

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Goodbye For Now, But Not Before Some Goodies

After the LGBT panel, I had just enough time to make it to the Publishing Comics In The Digital Age panel hosted by Benny Powell and David Campiti of Red Giant Entertainment. Before going into digital comics, Benny Powell told the audience his story of breaking into comics. The old way was that you had to go to a convention like Megacon, of which there were very few. If you were an artist, you needed a portfolio of your work, and it needed actual sequential pieces. Pin ups wouldn’t (and still don’t) cut it. Powell met legendary comics professional Archie Goodwin in a Dallas convenion looked through Powell’s portfolio and asked about one story he did, what script was it? Originally, you would base your sequentials on a currently published script provided by the publisher. Powell decided to take the oddball approach of using an original story.

Goodwin, in the best backhanded comment ever, told him, “you ever thought of becoming a writer instead?”

“Well, have do you become a writer?” asked Powell.

“Oh, it is infinitely harder. Typically, you get an internship which is unpaid, go to New York which is very expensive, do it through college, so you’re taking out loans to work for others. That takes you on the path to becoming an assistant editor. You work there for many years and try to submit some stories. You might make it to editor and hire writers to be assistant editors because that’s how they get the gigs.”

“Oh. Wow, how do you get started.”

“No, kid. I’m offering you an internship at DC.”

Even knowing what he would go through, Powell signed up for the internship and was set on leaving for DC during the Summer semester. Unfortunately, he developed a medical condition. Turns out Powell was allergic to the state of Oklahoma. He called up Goodwin saying he needed to go the Spring semester instead, only DC didn’t have one.

“You like Marvel, kid?” asked Goodwin.

“Um, yeah,” said Powell.

“Give me five minutes.”

Being a big name at both DC and Marvel, Goodwin was able to call up Marvel and they had a top internship available during the Spring semester. Powell took it and was surprisingly able to write stories while interning to become an editor. David Campiti’s story was similar except that the professional he met was Julius Schwartz and ended up writing for Superman. The point of their anecdotes was to illustrate to us the audience that we are infinitely luckier. Thanks to the Internet, comics publishing has expanded beyond publishing houses like DC, Marvel, etc. Anyone can make a comic as long as they have the dedication and talent.

Powell and Campiti started giving advice, the first to figure out what kind of creator you are. Writer? Artist? Both? Campiti said that don’t worry if you’re a traditional artist. You can make traditional art than scan it to put online. There is also 3D art, photography comics, digital painting, etc. At the same time, you have to determine if you want to do comics on your own or collaborate. Even if you’re not the best, you will improve by doing. And with digital, there’s nothing you can’t do.

Powell went into greater detail with collaboration. There are two types: 1) Work-for-hire where you own the property 100% while the hired person does the work you want them to do by paying them money out of your pocket. 2) A collaboration where you share ownership with someone else, whatever the percentage ends up being should be fair. Never do a pseudo work-for-hire where it’s like “if we make money, I’ll pay you.” If you have a pet project you don’t want to give up, put it aside and try a new project first. Make a second comi you don’t mind sharing as much. Never have just one thing. If you’re a writer, you should be bubbling with ideas.

Campiti added that, online, your stories can be about anything. There’s no big publisher editor deciding your story is not trendy enough for the market. Campiti read a wonderful webcomic about a teenage girl that got braces and her life went to hell in a handbasket because of it.

Gee, that sounds familiar.

Now, the question was where do you find someone to collaborate with? There are many websites for these things, but the two Powell suggested are Deviantart and Digital Webbing. Deviantart is well known as a site for artists of all mediums to post their work for free. I know that collaborations can happen this way because Tom King, in a previous article, told a panel about how he found Barnaby Bagenda, his artist on The Omega Men, via the site. Digital Webbing is an old school forum-based talent agency for comic creators. One time Powell posted a work-for-hire position, and he got back 56 replies from artists. He went with a team from China and produced over 25 issues of a series.

Campiti advised the writers in the room, including me, to be ready to work with artists that learn on the job. That means bracing yourself for mistakes they cannot fix. Your finished project might not be the best out there, another good reason to put those pet projects in the drawer for later. Besides, you will be making mistakes as writer. That’s okay though because you will learn, lessons on what to do and what not will be drilled into your head. The goal is making the comic.

On the subject of script writing, Campiti said there is no set format. On his website, Glass House Graphics, there is a section with 9 samples of plot and script format, plus action sequences. All of them are diverse, but the point is to communicate clearly with the artist. Do not show off on panel description, particularly details about a scene that will not be visible. No “the night is dark with the air of death and blood.” Just “the night is dark” will do fine.

Powell went on to talking about host sites for your webcomic. You can do your own, programs like Squarespace are available. But for beginners it is easier to go to a publisher house. There is Comics Genesis, Comics Spider, etc. Google “free webcomic publishing.” You can eventually move into your website once you get a hang of it. While publishing, pick a steady, consistent frequency to upload that works for you. Once, twice a week is good. Don’t go overboard or too slow. Working ahead of schedule also helps.

You should wait until you have at least 20-30 pages ready to go for exercise before sending it out in the world. That way you have enough content to publish. Then go to forums and start showing it off. You will find an audience. While doing that, Powell talked about using ad networks to help further expand your outreach. He suggested Project Wonderful which is an ad network program that only charges a few cents a day. You can even collect ad revenue, just keep in mind it won’t be much.

Another important part of webcomics is networking. Advertisement, posting on forums, social media are all important. Powell also suggested that inviting artists to do guest comics is a great networking tool and vice versa. Yes, it will probably be for free or work-for-hire, but it can draw a new audience.

Finally, the most important of all this: Money!

Powell said having an audience is great, it’s what drives in the money. There is monetizing through ads, but that only goes so far. Print collections of your webcomic can bring a ton of revenue. Kickstarter is a great way to fund such a project and you can pre-sale online. There are also publishers like Red Giant where webcomic creators come to them for printed versions. Don’t do it though until you have an established amount of content and an audience that will be willing to buy. You can also go to places like Comixology and Top Folio for digital revenue. Powell concluded by suggesting everyone check out Red Giant’s new imprint, Absolute Comics Group which is a way of finding and giving back to new creators with money.

The Q&A segment began afterwards. The first question was what webcomic host sites would Powell and Campiti recommend? They suggested Keemspot because they’re helpful bringing in a new audience. They send announcements to their registered readers recommending new webcomics to read. On the question of if it’s a good idea to use multiple sites to host your webcomic, they said to stick to one so it will be easier for an audience to find you. Also, you don’t have to wait a certain amount of days to wait to start putting up ads. Start on day one. As far as the idea print comics are declining, Powell said it’s more likely collected volumes will become more popular than single issues. We’re already seeing that right now. Campiti pointed out it will also depend on changing in distribution. The monopoly of Diamond Distribution on the direct market needs to end because it reduces the medium to a niche market. It used to be you could get comics in a lot of different places, but now it’s mostly comic shops you have to go to. Also, price needs to be reduced because $4 for floppies is too much.

I learned a lot from this panel. It’ll be good information to use when I venture into making my own comics online. Afterwards, I collected more autographs (I learned nothing) and checked out more small press comics. I also took pictures of cosplayers, two of my favorite being Mary Poppins Youndu

and myself with Death.

I didn’t get to Red Giants booth, but I’ll be sure to check them out online. I left the con an hour or so later and had dinner with my friends. We all had a busy, exhausting day, but were bummed the con would be over tomorrow.

Sunday, May 28th, last day of Megacon. There isn’t much to tell about this day. It was dedicated mostly to collecting last minute goodies and saying farewell to friends. I stopped by the booth for Famous Faces & Funnies, my favorite comic book store from Melbourne, Florida. The owner, Rick Shea, is a good friend of mine. We caught up and I purchased a few graphic novels. I found out from him that John McCrea was at the con. He is the artist of titles like Hitman and Section 8 with my favorite writer Garth Ennis. I quickly snatched the first trade to Hitman and got McCrea to sign it. We didn’t get to talk much, but he was a pleasant man. Afterwards, I headed up to the entrance of the con and waited for my friends. Jeff and Sean showed up a few minutes later. Matt was late, but only because he picked up a Blu Ray copy of Godzilla: Resurgence.

We checked out of the hotel, packed up, and travelled back to Jacksonville–with a segue to Boston Market. Megacon 2017 was an interesting trip despite all the mistakes I made. If anything, it’s just part of learning to be a better writer and comic journalist. I want to thank Matt Oldham, Sean Mckenzie, and Jeff Gwinnup for coming with me. I want to thank rising comic stars like Sorah Suhng and Tee Franklin for their friendliness and insight. Thanks to all the comic professionals for autographs and fun panels. Thank you to Megacon and the Orange County Convention for giving me a press pass and setting up this wonderful event. I don’t know if I’ll go back as a reporter next year, but this will continue to be the most excited time of the year for me.

Megacon: A Trip Of Errors Part 3

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Too Much Of A Good Thing Can Be Bad

In reference to the subtitle above, I had two incidents where this was true. The first started in the morning with a hangover I hadn’t experienced since New Year’s of 2015, which is a bad thing considering that I was so drunk I threw up in a nice car and passed out in the bathroom with my pants down. This did not occur in the hotel room I shared with Sean, Matt, and Jeff. I was snugly in bed, but with a throbbing headache I might as well have slept on concrete.

With a headache, spinning vision, and nausea, I made my way slowly to the fridge, eating cherry tomatoes and drinking water in hopes it would curb the dryness of my mouth. Later, this would backfire as I regurgitated my snackings in the toilet. Forcing myself out of the John Wick suit, I replaced it with my John Constantine cosplay. I got “into character” and skipped showering. Hey, at least I brushed my teeth. Today was Saturday, the busiest day for any convention, and my plan was to get more signatures from comic pros, particularly Jason Aaron and Dan Slott. After that, I would stop by a panel about breaking into comics digitally.

Outside, the heavy trench coat added to my woes as I sweated like crazy due to the Florida heat. Combine this with my headache and sensitive eyes, I feared the trek to the Orange County Convention Center would be hell (Hey, that would also be in character). As though a God send, a taxi stopped by and picked up the gang. Well, me and Matt anyway. Sean and Jeff were smart enough to go on ahead without us. It was a complimentary ride from Megacon, and the driver was a very nice gentlemen, so the ride turned out pleasant.

At the con, I rushed onto the floor. Starting around 11:00 AM, Jason Aaron would be showing up for autographs. Aaron is best known right now as the writer of Thor, but I’m a bigger fan of his creator-owned works such as Scalped, Southern Bastards, and The Goddamned about crime and the effects of traumatic experiences on people. I brought a trade of The Other Side, his miniseries with Cameron Stewart about two men from opposite sides of the Vietnam war slowly driven insane by the chaos around them. I waited in line eagerly, but bad things were taking place inside me. I could feel bile rising to my throat. I was getting ready to puke, and the urge got stronger as I approached closer and closer to Aaron. The feeling reached its peak at the front of the line. The Megacon staff guy asked me if I was okay? I told him no, that I felt like I was going to be sick and if I could quickly step out of line real quick? He told me yes, but I would have to go to the back afterwards. I was mad. What the heck, dude? I wait all this time and you don’t have the courtesy to at least let me back in my spot? I was determined not lose it. I took several deep threats and stayed put.

I managed to make it to Jason Aaron without puking. I was hoping to chat him up a little, tell him how much his work means to me and how great The Other Side is with his interpretation of the Vietnam War as a Lovecraftian entity that drove the people experiencing it mad. Unfortunately, I was pretty pale and shaking. I think Aaron could tell and was weirded out, so he kept things brief. I managed to get my signature and not puke on my hero, but at the same time I felt embarrassed for getting into such a crummy state. The first error of the day, and the lesson I learned was not going crazy with alcohol.

After Aaron’s signature I headed over to my friend Sorah’s booth. She was working on commissions but had time to talk. I told her about the hangover of which she felt bad even though I promised it was my fault for not keeping track of the drinks. After we finished talking, I got in line for my next autograph with an eager, mischievous grin. The next comic pro was Dan Slott.

Aside from Graphic Policy, I also happen to write for a website called the Outhouse. If you’re new to comics journalism, the Outhouse are muckrakers that hunt down awful things happening in the industry and bring them to light, much to the bane of professionals and publishers alike. One of our sworn enemies is Dan Slott, current writer of Spider Man and Silver Surfer. He has received criticism for being abrasive on social media, going so far as name searching himself and arguing with strangers. At one point, Slott got tired of seeing our criticisms and decided to block everyone associated with the Outhouse, including me. This was no great loss to me. I’ve read his work and have a mixed opinion of it. His Spider Man writing is boring, Silver Surfer is okay but borrows heavily from Doctor Who, and the only work of his I’ve enjoyed is Renew Your Vows, a miniseries about Peter Parker being a loving father and husband. You know, what fans want to see him as instead of a Tony Stark clone. However, when I learned he was going to be at Megacon, I could not pass up the opportunity. As far as I knew, he had no idea who I was and blocked me randomly. So, I brought my copy of Silver Surfer sign for him to sign.

As it turns out, Dan Slott was a nice man in person. He greeted me with a smile and signed my copy of Silver Surfer. I mentioned how it read like Doctor Who, and instead of being mad admitted how much he borrowed from the franchise. In fact, he mentioned how producers of the Doctor Who television series were fans of the comic. We exchanged a handshake, took a photograph, and parted ways on a friendly note. I was pleasantly surprised by this exchange. Perhaps the impersonal nature of the Internet causes people to be nastier than they would in person. I showed the gang my signature and we got a laugh out of it, but they were also glad Slott turned out to be cool.

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Suddenly, I got a call from a friend of mine, Stephanie, who was attending the con. She told me that in 10 minutes there was going to be a panel on LGBT themes in comics. There was a similar panel the day before but I forgot to go. I decided this was something I wanted to attend and rushed over to the panel, just barely making it on time.

Leading the panel was Marc Andreyko, a comic book writer with quite the number of titles in his portfolio including Manhunter and Wonder Woman ‘77. He is also an openly gay man and the project organizer behind Love is Love, an anthology benefiting the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, America’s deadliest mass shooting in history that specifically targeted the LGBT community. Joining him were fellow LGBT comic creators, artist Cat Staggs ( artist of Crosswind, Womanthology), her wife, writer Amanda Deibert (Wonder Woman ‘77, John Carpenter’s Tales For A Halloween Night) accompanied with their baby daughter Vivian (so cute), artist/writer Phil Jimenez (Superwoman, Fairest), artist/writer Tana Ford (Silk, Duck), writer Tee Franklin (Nailbiter #27, Bingo Love), colorist Jose Villarubia (Sweet Tooth, American Chavez) and artist/writer Dee Fish (Finding Dee, The Wellkeeper).

After introductions were made, Marc Andreyko started the panel with mentions of the anthology’s success and how 7 foreign countries have asked for translated editions. Andreyko especially loved how there was next to no editing for each of the short stories. Yes, there were spell checks and typical tweaks like that, but no creative interference. The stories came directly from the creator’s hearts. Even so, Andreyko praised the editors on the book, two of whom volunteered for the book despite having 13-15 monthly titles on their plate. Without them, or the readers, the book would not exist.

The questions asked were kept short and simple, allowing the panelists to give some truly great answers. One young man talked about how he has to constantly argue with his LCS (local comic shop) to have more titles with women and queer characters in them. He asked if those types of characters are reasons certain segments of the market won’t buy them? Even though they hoped that isn’t the case, all the panelists agreed that those type of consumers shouldn’t matter. Andreyko stated that honesty matters the most, doesn’t matter if a character is gay or straight, black, Jewish, etc. If a story rings true to human experience, people will enjoy it. That’s why he doesn’t start with a social identity with a character. He figures out the type of person they are who so happens to be these other things. It’s also important to have diverse experiences for marginalized characters or they just become a cliche. He gave an example of a gay character from a show called Happy Endings who is socially awkward, overweight, and has trouble getting dates. He has friends that complain the character isn’t a role model, and Andreyko agrees but he relates to him so much. I believe his point is to write characters that are real and not negative stereotypes or didactic caricatures.

Tee Franklin jumped in on this conversation by discussing the creation of her graphic novel, Bingo Love about two grandmas that fall in love. A lot of questions asked of her on the creation of the book was “why?” With that kind of reaction, she knew it wouldn’t be published at Dark Horse or Image, so instead Tee took the idea online and was able to find an audience for the concept and get the book successfully funded via Kickstarter. “If someone doesn’t want the story, they don’t have to read it. I’m not making it for them, I’m making it for the people that want to read it. I’ve had people come up to my booth and cry because they say that their grandmothers are gay, or one girl said ‘I want to get your book but I can’t because I’m hiding from my mom who I am, and I’m afraid she’ll find it.’ You’ve got to know the people whom you’re writing this book for, and if someone doesn’t like it screw them, it doesn’t matter.”

Phil Jimenez brought up how human experience isn’t universal, so he tries to write about very specific experiences. Although you do find from those specific experiences some universal patterns: looking for love, for confidence, for family, somewhere to belong, etc. Sometimes it takes exploring a specific experience outside of what we regularly see in media for universality. He tries to fill his stories with as many different people from diverse backgrounds as he can and is lucky enough to have worked with creative executives who are looking for that kind of work.

Dee Fish brought up when she came out as trans in a Webcomic of her’s that is oriented to a younger audience, Dandy & Company. She did a scene where she came out to the main character, Dandy, and was afraid of what would the reactions were going to be. “It went amazing! I had more people reading the comic and became more deeply invested and tried more of my work because they learned more about me. And if there was anyone really angry at me about it, I never got a letter or anything about it.”

The subject of queer erotica came up and someone asked if it should be considered just as essential as other media or if it’s holding the community back. Andreyko stated yet again good work is good work, including smut. Also, just because a storyteller is mostly known for smut doesn’t mean they can’t branch out to other types of stories. He brought up the mangaka Gengoroh Tagame who is mostly known for explicit gay erotica but recently came out with an all ages book called My Brother’s Husband, about a single father who’s brother has died and his Canadian husband comes to live with him and his daughter in Japan.

Tana Ford admitted that she has mixed feelings on this subject. Can people who don’t want diversity point to gay erotica and keep queer people in a ghetto because “Oh, they’re disgusting.” On this point, Phil Jimenez says that queer comic creators should decide how much they want their work sexualized. Keep in mind, the term queer does not mean gay sex. He uses it as a broad umbrella term for people that are outside of cis and heteronormativity. He theorizes queer people internalize this fear of their sex lives because culturally there has been pushback of openly expressing them. “The interesting part about the title Love is Love for me is it’s not just about who we love but who we’re attracted to. Who we want to build lives with romantically but also want to be with sexually.”

Amanda Deibert chimed in this is why she’s pro gay smut. If straight people get to enjoy it, queer people damn well have a right to it. Not everyone enjoys smut, gay or straight, but they don’t have to read it and the queer community shouldn’t have to be responsible for the uncomfortable feelings of non-queer people over their sex lives. Besides, if they have those type of feelings then they’re already against LGBT rights. Jose Villarubia brought up how he learned that a good number of his female art students are into gay boy-on-boy romances. So, even then straight people can be into gay erotica as well. It all boils down to having good work no matter what it is.

The Q&A got serious when a young trans woman asked if all the different labels for various queer identities muddled things? The reason she asked is that she had a bad experience going to her LGBT council center. After coming out, she got 30 death threats, had a huge drop of friends, and, worst part, was turned away by a clerk at the center for not being gay or trans enough. Andreyko told her to found out who turned her away because what the clerk did was unacceptable and should be fired. He confessed to not having the same struggles too many LGBT have had on coming out because he had incredibly accepting family and friends. The thing to do is look for like-minded people offline and online. They are out there and you will find acceptance.

The final questions of the day came from my friend Stephanie who asked what tropes the panelists would like to see disappear from comics. This prompted Tee Franklin to laugh out loud. “Oh, we ain’t got time for all of them, sweetie.” What Tee wanted to see less of was the tendency to portray black people in constantly negative light such as crackheads and criminals. Tana Ford wanted the trope of killing of queer characters to stop. Let them live, please. Marc Andreyko wanted the gay stereotype of a witty gay man with no relationship but highly apt at fashion go away. For Phil Jimenez, the idea all queerness is through a white cis male’s perspective. POC queer characters shouldn’t exist as just the significant other of the white queer protagonist. Let there be POC couples. Amanda Deibert was happy that at least the trope of the lesbian going back to the man has seemed to disappear completely.

After the panel, many of the audience members went over to the young trans woman to comfort her and show their support. Andreyko went over to make sure she was all right. It was a great panel that reaffirmed my belief that diversity in comics is important. The one thing I regretted was not having focused more on Love is Love during my time here. In fact, Megacon had a big showcase of it, including an art display and party that night. I didn’t go because it would have cost too much money, but I still felt guilty I didn’t find more opportunities to write about it. I think this was because of my focus on autographs. Error #2: Focusing too much on autographs can lead to missed opportunities. Make sure to find other opportunities.

 

 

 

 

Review: The Few #6

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TheFew-06_cvr.jpgAfter her long journey of self-discovery, after they’ve taken everything from her, Edan Hale has turned on the Palace and infiltrates its city to strike a devastating blow, but Captain Jariks is waiting for her. As for Peter and Davey, they have learned the truth of Edan’s past and her tie to their younger sister. They must decide if she is still worth befriending or too far down the path of destruction. It’s a bloody, epic conclusion to one of the best series of 2017.

Before I go into the review, I want to say how much fun it has been reading and reviewing this series. Out of all the books currently in the direct market, The Few exemplifies the most of what comics as a medium can be, visually outstanding, narratively gripping, and sharply political. I plan on rereading this series again and again. If I ever do a list of Top Comics of 2017, this will be going somewhere up in the top 5. I thank Sean Lewis, Hayden Sherman, and Image Comics for having the smarts to create and publish this powerful dystopian scifi.

The fun begins with the cover, Edan striking a badass pose as she faces the Palace with a gun in hand. It also works thematically as a representation of Edan going turncoat, abandoning the home and values she once upheld with brutal force. She now plans on tearing it all down. Even more significant are the sentences on the back cover:

“A Hero To One.

“A Terrorist To Another.

“A Necessity To Herself.”

There is that word again, “necessity.” Throughout the series, it has been a dangerous concept justifying horrific actions. However, what this back cover suggests is that it can be more complex than that. It depends on the viewpoint of the judge. Actions can be justified, unjustified, or even both. This happens to be the thematic climax of Edan’s character arc.

As always with each chapter, there is a quote by a famous author/figure in history:

“As you get older it’s harder to have heroes. It’s almost more necessary.”

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Ernest Hemingway said that, and I think he means that people develop higher standards for who they consider a hero. They’re needed for better results. Now, does that mean Edan reaches the standard? Probably depends on your own. Personally, I think she becomes both.

The book opens to a two page spread of The Palace at night. It’s a sprawling black and white metropolis with a gray aerial tone. This is an interesting visualization given that Sherman colored the Palace mostly red in the previous issue. I think this change in color has meaning in perspective. From the previous issue, the perspective was that of Captain Jariks, a person who despite knowing her country’s flaws still regards it highly. In this issue, the perspective is that of Edan as indicated by the narrative captions. As someone that has turned against the Palace, the black and white coloring mirrors her cold disdain for it.

This opening spread is but one of the many examples of how much an art beast Hayden Sherman is. His style reminiscent of Frank Miller and punkzines that at first looks simplistic but becomes more complex and detailed the closer you look. The coloring plays a big factor here. Sherman is not representing reality but presenting ideas, adding a striking layer to visually represent the themes of the story. Also, they just look cool, especially during fight scenes. There’s a scene where red moves around with the combatants like an amoeba. In another fight, a 14-panel grid(!!!) switches back and forth between red/black and light/dark gray. Never in a moment does the art look dull in this book.

Going back to the opening spread, the true beauty of Sherman’s art is how it heightens Sean Lewis’ story, particularly dialogue and narration:

“My dear Palace. Bustling streets. Tall buildings. Home. We’ve been doing this dance for a while, friend. And tonight it ends.”

I hate the “We’ve been doing this dance” part of the paragraph. It’s a cliche done too many times in action stories and smudges the graveness of Edan’s statement. She is reminiscing about the Palace yes, but in a way to indicate she no longer sees it as her home. Combined with Sherman’s  dark art, it’s apparent Edan has nothing but cold disdain for the Palace. She is determined to do something to it for revenge. This can be interpreted without seeing Edan’s face. Never before have I seen a collaborative work where the writer and artist takes full of advantage of comics ability to combine text and image for deeper thematic meaning.

On one hand, this vendetta is justifiable given previous events. The reader feels for Edan and is cheering her on. I certainly was ready to watch her kick the Palace’s ass. Then I flipped to the next page and those feelings got complex.

The scene transitions to the Few’s campsite. Edan has made a dirty bomb, which shocked me as an American because of how strongly associated that weapon is with terrorism. Edan narrates that she has plans to cause massive damage on the Palace with it. She does not specify who the targets are. In fact, she does not seem to care about differentiating between military, government, or civilians. Edan’s revelation that the Palace are bad, while an important part of her development, has a dark consequence to it. Edan hasn’t become more empathetic. She simply has changed the target of her brutality. This is not portrayed as a good thing. The Few see that Edan is more violent than ever and keep their distance. She realizes this and decides to go alone. Her isolation represented by a blizzard as she disappears into.

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What’s amazing about this turn is that I still feel Edan’s justified. After all, the Palace have to be stopped. At the same time though I feel wary how hate has consumed her. It doesn’t get much better as Edan infiltrates the Palace during a festival and plots her attack with the specific goal of hurting them in a way that makes a statement. Just like the dirty bomb, I can’t help but associate this line of thinking with terrorism. It’s a mode of thinking that doesn’t take into consideration civilian harm. What happens if a person whose only sin is just happening to be born in the Palace gets stuck in the crossfire? The comic has no qualms siding with those that fight for their survival against oppressive regimes, but it becomes murky when attacks have no motivation except hate.

There is a happy ending (well, happy enough), but the comic never lets go of complexity. Even more challenging is the idea that complexity is a necessary part of freedom fighting. Edan does her best to make her target but the destruction she causes could lead to civilian casualties. Minimal perhaps, but still possible.

Bringing up history, I don’t think there is a single armed rebellion where there weren’t innocent casualties. The American Revolution, the Soviet Revolution, etc. In many cases, these revolutions would be overshadowed by later atrocities committed by the new regime. Even in peaceful revolutions, innocents are killed. I think the ending of The Few is a way of forcing the reader to face this issue. Edan has become a freedom fighter instead of an oppressor, she is fighting the good fight with the right people, but has to live with collateral damage. Like the back cover of the issue says, hero to one, terrorist to another. In the end, a necessity to herself and the world because who else is going to stand up to the Palace?

One of the flaws to this otherwise outstanding character arc is how it takes development away from other characters. Peter, Davey, and Captain Jariks are full of potential, but rarely fleshed out. The most disappointing is Captain Jariks, who earlier in the series got upset learning how the Palace had a hand in creating Herrod, a blood-thirsty militia leader. In #6, her complexity disappears and she reverts to being an unquestioning loyalist. Peter and Davey at least get a little more growth when having to make a decision regarding Edan. The dialogue exchanged between them is an intense emotional journey. The Few manages to have strong drama along with its striking visuals.

What stands out to me most about the series is its political relevancy. We have a comic about an oppressive, ultranationalist regime that views a group of outsiders as immoral leeches that only want to destroy them and take their belongings, a wall built to keep non-natives out, brutal police that don’t mind gunning down even children if they profile them as a threat, a roaming gang of sociopathic men that find pleasure in the pain and misery they cause others, a small group of diverse rebels fighting desperately for survival while finding it hard to trust each other and worried that they could become the thing they oppose. This is Trump’s America as it is now, albeit an extreme fictional version. I don’t know if it was Sean Lewis’ intent or not, but there is no way of avoiding the similarities. I see this series in two ways: At it’s best, it is a cautionary tale of what will happen to America if we do not unite and work out our issues. At it’s most frightening, it is a prediction of what is going to happen years from now, and those on the left or at least against ultranationalist, xenophobic regimes will need to be ready for the inevitable war. I think many of us can agree we hope the former happens. But more and more each day, envisioning the latter as becoming a necessity.

Visually, narratively, and politically charged, The Few #6 is a satisfying conclusion. There are some turns that seem too convenient or easily achieved, but it does not dampen the raw, visceral reading experience. It is a series that I can say for certain goes beyond entertainment and enters the realm of true literature. I recommend this to anyone that is yearning for relevant scifi comics or relevant scifi in general.

Story: Sean Lewis Art: Hayden Sherman
Story: 9.5 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Megacon: A Trip of Errors Part 2

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You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Friday, May 26th. The gang and I woke up and prepared for our second day of Megacon. Matt and I decided to cosplay, him as Jason Voorhees (leaving quite the mess of fake blood in the bathroom that hopefully did cause some poor hotel maid to faint). Lacking creative but making up in looks, I brushed my hair back with product, put on a suit, and went as John Wick armed with a handgun and stuffed doggie. As it would turn out, plenty of people knew Jason but were blanking out on Wick. It could’ve been my blond hair or nerds showing poor taste.

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As reporters, Jeff and I made plans to go to certain panels since those are where the really interesting stuff about comics are discussed. Jeff went to a lot more than I did because my goal that was to meet Tom King and ask for an interview. If you don’t know who Tom King is, clearly you’ve been living under a rock but I’ll get you up to speed. He is the critically-praised author behind brilliant series such as The Vision, The Omega Men, and Sheriff of Babylon. What has made him such a household name is the use of genre fiction for dark, thought-provoking subject matters such as war, family, and religion. He also co-wrote Grayson with Tim Seeley and showed off the character’s butt a lot because, you know, even the moodiest writer needs a spark of joy.

Recently, Tom King has gotten big due to his run on Batman. It’s a highly contested run, some finding it trying too be smart or confusing for its own good. I on the other hand think it’s an emotional run about Batman coming to terms with his darker elements and attempting to become emotionally open and available to his friends. You know, while shooting out of his car to stop a plane crash and breaking into Bane’s fortress to take out thousands of goons. High literature! In all seriousness, this run has made me care about Batman again, and I’ll die on a hill defending it. I brought with me the first trade and waited eagerly in line for his autograph. I was also hoping to get an interview with him discussing his approaches to the series and Vision.

Tom King was exceptionally nice and energetic, appearing to be genuinely excited to meet fans. He wondered who I was cosplaying and guessed right away that I was supposed to be John Wick. He signed my trade and took a photograph with me. When I asked about an interview, he said that unfortunately he was not allowed to do interviews, that I had to ask permission from a Twitter handle I forgot. After Megacon, I would later find at least one video on YouTube of Tom King being interviewed with Scott Snyder. I remembered that Megacon instructed we had to go to a media room for approval, but it was a good walk back to where I had attained my press pass. Instead of pursuing this, I gave up too early and decided to move on. I did not attempt any other interviews that weekend. I was too caught up in the idea of interviewing Mr. King to think of alternatives. I will say though that I did request an interview with him online when filling out my press pass but never got back a response.

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That day was marked by two errors: 1) Make sure to persist in an interview and find out all your options, 2) Be prepared with a backup plan. I do have to comment that last year, I was allowed to interview comic guests simply by asking their permission and doing it at a time that would not interfere with their signings. I managed to do this with both Gail Simone and Brian Azzarello, the latter of which was a high profile guest that year with his work on TDKIII: The Master Race with Frank Miller. I appreciate that Megacon was running the con more efficiently this year, but at the same time restrictions being put on the press in regards to conducting interviews were needlessly strict and complicated.

Since I was unable to interview Tom King, I decided to go see him at a panel called Writing Comics 101. Along with Tom King were Gail Simone (Clean Room, Red Sonja), Greg Rucka (Lazarus, Wonder Woman), and Jody Houser (Faith, Mother Panic). They discussed what it’s like writing for comcis as a living, both creator-owned and work for hire, giving personal anecdotes to how they learned each lesson ever on the job. The moderator of the panel asked a series of questions, and each guest took time to give thoughtful answers.

    

1) When did you first realize there was such a job as writing comics?

Jody Houser, went first, saying that she always knew she wanted to be a writer but thought you had to write a novel or stage play to get recognized for it. She had always read comics here and there, but Mad Love by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm was the first she read that made her think “Man, comics are really good.” She first started off making webcomics before getting offers at bigger companies. It’s only recently now that she has so many high profile projects that she considers seriously pursuing them.

For Tom King, he always wanted to be a comic book writer, but he couldn’t say what that moment was. He distinctly remembers during Christmas when he was reading both The Dark Knight Returns and a trade of Frank Miller’s Daredevil run. He had no idea at the time who the writers were, so when he read them he thought “Man, these guys really know their voices!” King grew up in L.A., a mecca for failed writers. His father was run, so the thought of becomign one seemed absurd. He jokingly said he only realized you could a year ago when his wife stopped asking him if he wanted her job.

With Gail Simone, it took her five years into writing comics before she realized it could be a career. She always knew she wanted to be a writer, she always told stories, and the first big reaction she got was from a story she wrote in third grade. Everyone liked it, but Gail’s family talked her out of it, saying it wasn’t a viable career. Gail went on to be a hair stylist, owned a hair salon, and stayed at that while writing until it made no sense to continue. It was a scary moment to let go, but she eventually felt relieved. “Yay, I”m a comic book writer now!”

Greg Rucka’s mother was a journalist and his father a worker’s comp attorney, so writing was always in the house, plenty of books everywhere. He distinctly remembers hearing his mother’s typewriter going at machine speeds followed by an occasional DING! There was no mystery to writing. He knew it was a thing people did. As for comics, the first time he realized there was such a thing as authorial power in the medium was age 14 or 15. He was part of a group of Marvel Zombies, reading the comics they did. One day, he found something different from all the X-Men books they were reading, and that was Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Daredevil: Born Again. He read it and described it as a book where you can’t know it’s not written. You could hear Frank Miller’s voice in the story. He didn’t fully comprehend the story, but it made him realize “Oh, wow. There are really people writing these things. That would be kind of cool.”

 

2) Who were writers that were touchstones for you, names that you started paying attention to and followed?

For Gail Simone, that was Steve Gerber, writer of Howard the Duck, who she found to be a genius with a boundless imagination and brave enough to do things that no one else did. She also read Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Garth Ennis’ Preacher, and other Vertigo titles. These writers made her comics could be literature. Even now, she finds that comics currently have the best writers and artists working.

Tom King hated to be cliche, but Alan Moore and Frank Miller’s work really inspired him. A good number of superhero works also influenced him, especially during his Marvel Zombie years reading Power Pack, New Mutants, X-Factor, and Roger Stern’s work on Avengers.

Jody Houser hated to be cliched as well, but Alan Moore and Frank Miller for her as well, especially Moore with his transitions as she described as having a rhythm like music. Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America also was a huge influence. More recently, Jason Aaron and Mark Waid are influences, their books getting her back into Marvel. Oh, and of course everyone sitting at the panel.

For Greg Rucka, it was Dennis O’Neil. He tracked down everything that he wrote. When he started writing comic scripts, Rucka referenced Miller and Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One. Although he advised to pay attention to the structure of the book, NOT the actual script writing because it is radically different from how scripts are usually written. Also, do not do 18-something panels unless you have the right kind of artist, or else the artist you’re currently working with will kill you. He also remarked that on him being the oddball out not being a huge Alan Moore fan. He respects him, but doesn’t click with Moore’s work.

 

3) As I understand, sometimes working relations between writers and artists can be tricky in terms of communication. With creator-owned, it seems more direct. What have your artist collaborations taught you over the years?

Greg Rucka recounted how while a novelist, the communication was very direct. His editor was great and helpful even though she didn’t really like him. He would take 6 months to write a draft, send it to her, and she would give back notes on how to fix it. Even though they had a relationship where they stood in each other’s corners, they would communicate and see each other. It was easier to do that kind of relationship in novels than comics though when there are normally more than one person involved. When first starting at DC, there was a strict policy where writers couldn’t communicate with artists. Yeah, you could request a phone number, but usually the answer would be no. Everything went strictly through editors. Looking back at his old work, Rucka could see all the problems with it because of a lack of communication. Part of it was his failure to communicate clearly through the script, the other was editorial not giving a rat’s ass (his words, not mine). Things have evolved, fortunately. With social media, it’s easy to communicate with an artist and editorial is no longer as controlling.

Gail Simone said different projects come out differently. She always writes full scripts, so it is what it is. However, she understands things have to go through an editor. Each step, a little bit of the initial energy gets lost. When you’re working directly with your artist, there’s this energy on the page you cannot replicate if you have to go through ten people to get that message across. She finds that creator-owned work tends to have more of the original energy intake. Simone has also worked with artists whose second language is English. The frustration is that if she can directly talk to an artist, an issue is resolved in two days. If it goes through editorial, it can take two months. It’s important to have a good working relationship with an artist, one where they know what you’re saying and can do it without much instruction. It’s best when the editor of a project understands this and doesn’t feel the need to micro-manage so much.

Tom King had run a gauntlet of experiences. With Omega Men, Barnaby Bagenda (the artist) he never met him, never talked to him. He found Bagenda on Deviantart. He lives in Indonesia and has an agent that handles communication. He drew 11 issues perfectly, King did layouts which helped. The thing that is most important is to know your artist cares. If they don’t, that’s where you’re in a bad spot.

Tom King did his best not to curse at first, but when realizing the only child present was a baby let loose. Rucka informed the crowd that if they expected a room full of writers to not curse, they’re sadly mistaken. I can speak from personal experience as a writer. We curse like sailors. Worse than sailors, actually. So, like…demon sailors?

Going back to Tom King’s point about an artist caring, you need to know what they care about. Do they care about the project? Do they just want to reach a deadline, make some great pages for a portfolio? Hell, maybe they just want to draw scenes of hockey. That actually happened when King collaborated on Batman with Jason Fabok. Fabok is a Canadian and a big fan of hockey. So, that’s why in a recent issue of Batman, Bruce Wayne is watching hockey. King decided to attract Jason Fabok to the project by giving him hockey scenes he could draw. Point is, not matter what, just make an artist care enough to deliver good work.

Jody Houser was originally a screenwriter, and unfortunately got bad advice that comics were like that. They’re not. Houser’s original scripts were too sparse for an artist, and they had a zillion questions for her after reading them. It’s a balance between writing enough detail for your artist to have an idea of what to do but also room to do their own thing. Houser has only done work-for-hire so far in her career, so it all goes through an editor. However, there are projects like Mother Panic with rotating artists, so they’re all giving commentary on the scripts and art turned in, which Houser finds to be a cool process. There are other times where she likes to push an artist to draw something outside their boundaries, such as with Marguerite Sauvage on Faith. This artist is well known for her beautiful drawings, particularly with fashion. But Houser was happy on one issue of getting her to do horror-style art, since those are the kind of stories Houser likes best. Mixing things up is always a good idea.

There were many more questions like this, but to list them all would take too long. In summary, what I learned from this panel is to always have constant contact with artists, figure out what they like/don’t like to draw, sometimes push them outside their comfort zones, to always hope that you get a good editor and if not work around that. At one point, the audience lined up and asked questions for the writers. My question was:

 

4) When doing a creator-owned book, do you think while writing a story of a particular artist who will draw it because they fit the aesthetic you want? Even if it ends up a situation where you’re not going to know who the artist is until after some scripts are written because of, like, it’s a corporate work-for-hire thing, do you write your story to fit that artist’s style?

For Greg Rucka, creator-owned work tends to have more direct collaboration between writer and artist. Even then, you have to know what they don’t like to draw. Liam Sharp doesn’t like to draw cities or tech, but while on Wonder Woman, Rucka had to tell him to bite the bullet sometimes when it became necessary. Once he do this we’ll get to the stones and dancing demons, I prom. To me, story has to have primacy. The story must have primacy over comfortability. Michael Lark is another example because he hates almost everything Rucka asks him to draw and then will deliver it beautifully every time. He’ll be mad about it but also admit it looks good.

Gail Simone added that some of the best things come out when you’re uncomfortable. For her, it depends on the project. With Crosswind, she had Cat Staggs in mind. She approached her and Staggs made sketches and got the concept right away. She doesn’t worry much about it all after that point. With Walter Giovani whom she’s doing a creator-owned all ages project, they loved being a team on Red Sonja and wanted to work together again, so Simone sent Giovani some ideas and asked him which one was he most interested in. Giovani chose the all ages one because he has two young daughters and wanted to work on something they could read. Once she knows the artist and what they’re capable of doing, Simone likes to push it a little bit because she believes if you’re working on something and you’re comfortable, you should start over. You should be feeling uncomfortable whether it be anger, love, or horniness or whatever.

Speaking of his Batman collaborator Mikel Janin, Tom King said they have been working together for three years yet fundamentally disagree on how comic books should be done. King thinks comics should be in small boxes on a grid and read as a vertical medium. Mikel thinks of them as a horizontal medium, which means double page spreads. He’ll take King’s pages and smoosh them together. However, King sees Janin as a superior storyteller and trusts his judgment. In one issue, King did what Janin wanted and made an entire issue of just double-page spreads as revenge, and he ended up turning in his best work.

Last but not least, Jody Houser said it’s easier when you know who the artist is ahead of time and plan things out. That’s what’s going on with her current DC title Mother Panic. Each artist on the book has a distinct style, so each story is catered around to them.

Afterwards, I went back on the floor to pick up more comics from independent creators, including Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy A. Bastion. I also snagged mainstream books, such as a signed copy of Secret Six from Gail Simone.

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The final victory of the day was getting Scott Snyder to sign my trade of Wytches and compliments for Graphic Policy being fair and balanced in our reporting. Hot dog!

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The gang and I left the convention to go out for dinner. We stopped by an Asian restaurant where I picked up a mere salad. This would prove a mistake. I later joined up with my good friend Sorah Suhng and had cocktails with her. We had a pleasant about comics, the industry, music, etc. Unfortunately, Sorah was buying the cocktails and I was not keeping track of the amount of Maker’s Mark I drank. By the end of our conversation, I was very drunk. An uber back to the hotel prevented any roadside damage, but the swirling or the headache going on in my head. I went to bed feeling like I was tumbling through water. That would not be the end of my misery though.

MegaCon: A Trip of Errors Part One

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Arrival and Forgetting

May 25-28, MegaCon was hosted in Orlando, Florida in the Orange County Convention Center. It’s the state’s largest annual convention, covering comics, scifi/fantasy, horror, animation, and video games. Despite the main focus of this year on the guest appearances of Tim Curry and many other cast members of Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), there was a strong presence of the comics due to the attendance of industry superstars like Tom King, Jason Aaron, Skottie Young, Dan Slott, Amanda Conner, Gail Simone, etc. Also, the sponsorship of the Eisner-nominated Love is Love, an anthology in honor of the victims of the anti-LGBT shooting at the Pulse nightclub. For me, a comics journalist, this seemed like an opportunity to go check out. The adventure was interesting with a mixture of highs and lows, and most of all learning from quite a few mistakes I made.

It all started Thursday, May 25th. My good friends Sean Mckenzie, Matt Oldham, and Jeff Gwinnup (a writer for The Outhousers, a site I have written about MegaCon previously) joined me on this journey.

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With all our stuff packed and snacks at the ready, we drove off to Orlando. Jeff and Matt were in one car, Sean and I in another. All things considered, it was a pleasant trip that only got tricky when we made it to our destination. See, I had booked two rooms at the Rosen hotel where we stayed at last time. However, I made a mistake. There are two Rosen hotels. The one closest to the Orange County Convention Center, literally just a walk across a skyline to, was the Plaza. I booked us at the Center, at least a 15 minute walk or so from our destination. Not all bad, given there were free shuttles, but I still felt like an idiot not booking the right hotel. This proved a bit of a hassle when Sean and I arrived at the Center and had to wait for Jeff and Matt who ended up at the Plaza. This was my first mistake, and the lesson I learned from it was to make sure that the hotel you check into is EXACTLY the correct one you’re supposed to be at.

We checked into the hotel only to discover that the two rooms booked would be more expensive than everyone in the party could afford, so we bumped down to one, forcing Sean and I to share a bed while Matt and Jeff shared another. Mistake #2 and the lesson learned: Be exact with the price of the rooms and make sure it’s affordable for all parties. When we set up in our room, I discovered that my obsession of bringing the right comic books to get signed led to forgetting toothpaste, dental floss, and, more importantly, multiple pairs of underwear. Yep, that’s right I attended all four days of Megacon with only one pair of drawers. I washed it in the sink, but still. Bad on me to fall into the stereotype of a geek that can’t maintain proper hygiene. Mistake #3 and lesson learned: Make sure you have necessities packed correctly before the superficial crap.

The walk to the Orange County Convention Center wasn’t so bad, although in the summer heat, we sweated quite a bit. The convention center itself is a wonderful piece of architecture. While the interior was typical of convention centers I’ve been to, the exterior had some spectacular design to it.

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I like how the windows are large and sea shell-shaped. The interior, for all it’s blandness, is large and has plenty of space to move around in. Actually, this photo is just part of the entire center. There are many more sections, so huge it took up almost the entire chunk of land that we were on. I won’t bother to try and give you measurements. Take my word for how huge this place is.

We didn’t get to the center as a group. Jeff and I searched for the area to receive our press passes. Sean and Matt went their individual ways to get a scope of the convention. Jeff and I struggled to find our destination due to conflicting information from staff. I remember in the email I got from MegaCon that we were supposed to go to a room and pick up our passes. That’s how it worked when I attended last year, but this time we headed to the vast space where people lined up to pick up tickets. Imagine it like a Home Depot, made of gray concrete, big enough to contain a football stadium, and that’s pretty much what we were dealing with. It meant us walking a good distance to the booth, picking up our press passes, and trudging to the entrance. In total, it half an hour or so. I didn’t mind the walking, but confusion from the staff was bothersome. I will say that the booth attendants were friendly and helpful. They even gave us cookies.

The con floor consisted of sections separated by red and yellow curtains. One section dedicated to the media guests (anime, movies, animation, etc.) with a photo op next door. Beyond that was the main floor that squished retailers and artist alley together, and half a square for comic guests separating artist alley from the food court. I found this layout good but flawed. I appreciate that separation of areas were so heavily focused on. It forced a certain amount of crowd control, meaning that people had to funnel through openings into lanes designed for them. Most of the the time, it worked. However, for the alley containing artist’s alley, comic guests, and retailers, there were issues. Walkways for artist alley booths were narrow, making movement tricky. Another issue is that it became hard to find an artist’s booth you wanted to see because both the crowding and sensory overload of the experience made missing one easy, even if you walked right past them. Mind you, this is a large convention. No matter what you do, traffic is going to be difficult. Still, artist alley could have used more breathing room.

This day for me was all about scoping the area and pre-planning. I walked around the con, making sure I knew exactly where each creator I wanted to see would be and vendors selling cool stuff I wanted. I managed to meet familiar faces, including Sorah Suhng, Larry E. Watts, Walter Oslie, Roland Mann, Deonna Herrold, Caleb King, Carla Wyzgala, Gail Simone, and Rick Shea of Famous Faces and Funnies. It was fantastic seeing them again and catching up. I also got to meet new people, most notably Steve Horton and Tee Franklin, both of whom I only knew online at that point. I also got autographs from creators I wanted to meet. In fact, I believe that blind-sided me from other opportunities I could’ve taken at the con. Mistake #4 and lesson: Autographs aren’t everything. Diversify your experience.

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Me with Tee Franklin

There honestly wasn’t much else done or accomplished that day. Books were bought from the amazing people I mentioned above, but no panels or special events I wanted to attend. That is until my buddy Jeff informed me of a Q&A with Stan Lee. I remembered seeing him at a panel last year and how much fun it was. Given this would be Stan’s last MegaCon (allegedly), I sure as hell was going to be there.

Just like last year, Stan Lee’s Q&A was full of cheer and goodwill. The difference this time is that he ran late for 15 minutes. I would learn later from staff that Stan got lost for a bit, apparently misdirected to where he had to go. Well, that and he’s actually something of a troublemaker. Apparently, he likes to get away when he can and mess around on those wheel things you stand on and drive, whatever they’re called. Honestly, that made me smile because I can see why he would do it. Stan Lee is 90-something. He probably thinks “Screw it. I’m gonna have fun before I kick the bucket.”

When the Q&A finally started, it took off with a blast. Stan Lee’s personality boomed with joy and appreciation of his fans. He answered questions eagerly and honestly. The only issue was his hearing and each question had to be asked to him multiple times, mostly his handler Max repeating in closer range. Lee seemed particularly feisty this year, sometimes taking good-hearted jabs at fans. With asking questions, he asked them to keep it simple. If you can’t ask it in one sentence, make it simpler. There were times where I felt Stan Lee was a little too mean, but overall he kept it friendly.

Stan Lee’s handler brought up a story that was hilarious. Apparently, before going to the con, Stan really wanted to visit the Marvel section of Universal Studios. Mike made the call that he would be visiting, and everyone at the Marvel area freaked out, rushing to get things ready and keep it on the down low who was visiting. They arrived before the park opened, and a kid working inside where the comics are got a surprise.

Kid: “Oh my god! You’re–”

Mike: “Shh!”

After walking around and greeting everyone, Stan said he wanted to go on a ride.

Mike: “Which one?”

Stan: “The Hulk.”

Mike: “Stan, are you crazy?! You’re too old.”

Stan: “I want to!”

I don’t remember the rest of the story, but watching Stan and Mike exchange back and forth showed me that they had quite the camaraderie. Another anecdote I liked was Stan Lee’s talk of Jack Kirby’s art prowess, how he was the kind of artist that when working on a page, he didn’t need to do an outline. Just sat down, drew an image once then immediately inked it without a second thought. And it would always come out perfect.

The panel was running late and had to be wrapped up. Before leaving, Stan Lee thanked everyone for coming and stated earnestly how much he enjoyed being at the con, blown away that Marvel has become a cultural icon like he never dreamed of and had the fans to thank for that.

One last question was asked:

“Is this your last Megacon?”

Stan: “Oh, hell no.”

One can hope.

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Sorry about the fuzziness. Had to shoot a photo of a projection screen.

Review: The Few #5

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WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Last time, Edan, Pete, Davey, and the remnants of the Few squared off with Herrod and the Ragers. Herrod was defeated, but the Few took heavy losses, and Davey’s life is now hanging by a thread. Worse, Edan’s secret has come out, and Pete must decide what to do with her. Meanwhile in the Palace, decorated soldier Colonel Aliss Hale has learned of his daughter’s treason, sending him into a deep depression. Will his love for Edan trump his loyalty to the Palace? As the end approaches, pre-existing tensions will reach a boiling point in this issue, and after the events that transpire, there will be no turning back.

I’ve reviewed this series since issue #1, and I must say that no other issue has awed me with its visually beauty while simultaneously experiencing emotions of despair, joy, and anticipation quite like it. This for me is the best of the series and here is why.

As always with my reviews, it starts with the cover. The photograph is of Tracee, the young sister of Pete and Davey. I won’t reveal why, but she ties Edan’s dark past to her current predicament, the first connection with the Few that now weighs heavy on her conscious. Sherman’s color choices have always been fascinating, but I find symbolic relevance here. Tracee is ethnically black yet colored white. I’m guessing a mark of innocence. The background of her photograph is orange, intensely so. There’s something beautiful about this choice, capturing the energy of a happy disposition.

The gray hand holding Tracee’s photograph is ominous, a deathly gray contrasting the lively orange. Did something bad happen to Tracee? Is looking at the photograph filling the person with a dark feeling? Mind you, I read this comic and know what happens, so maybe I’m making up crap in order to give this cover more meaning than it has. I’ll let you decide on that.

I’ve repeated ad nauseum about Hayden Sherman’s amazing art, his mastery of panel layout, experimental coloring, and moody atmosphere. Issue #3 and #4 were more action-packed, allowing him to draw brutal destruction that would give Mad Max a run for its money. Issue #5 has Sherman return to atmosphere but just so happens to be his best work because of how it illustrates the raw emotion and thematic significance of Sean Lewis’ script.

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It starts with the opening pages of the Few entering a small town via RVs. It is surprisingly pristine, appearing to be closed down due to weather and not abandoned. Edan reminisces how even her father respected the Few for keeping their old homes intake, as though it’s there way of saying “We’re here too.” This scene is thematically part of Edan’s arc as she comes to recognize the humanity of the Few instead of little more than faceless terrorists. Lewis wrote this arc in a beautiful, heartfelt way and it has come to its peak. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean Edan’s saved.

The next scene is an intense interrogation as she confesses to Pete. Sherman decompresses it with close ups as the two exchange dialogue back and forth, tension boiling naturally. Edan’s arc might have come to a significant turn, but so has Pete. He now realizes his duty as the leader of the Few, to protect them from all potential threats including Edan. It is an intense and excruciating scene, especially with the photograph of Tracee present. It is an object that reminds Edan of her sullied past, how deep she truly hurt Pete. Death and melancholy are present in the dull, grayish color choices, a palette that has been omnipresent in the series to symbolize the desperation of the world, now more so given the scene’s emotional significance.

The story cuts to a new scene in the Palace. Captain Irks, who has been pursuing Edan, goes to a skyscraper for a meeting with Colonel Aliss Hale. Red is a prominent color in this scene, and something about its particular hue feels domineering. It seems purposeful, a symbolic representation of the authoritarianism and chauvinism running deep in the city’s culture. Colonel Hale is drunkenly sobbing, broken that Edan would betray the Palace. With the red around him and his figure cast mostly in shadow, one gets the notion he is completely brainwashed and willing to do anything for his country. A common theme in the series is the danger of necessity, the willingness to do even the most heinous acts if you feel the conditions are justified. This scene adds a scarier layer, one that shows a person can justify their actions when completely enamored with the party they serve. I think of all the MAGAs and Pepe memes online, how they staunchly defend far right wing politics to the point of psychotic behavior like harassment. Perhaps even more insidiously subtle are people that persist in showcasing their patriotism with an overabundance of American flags, bald eagles, and other paraphenalia. We can say it’s just extravagance, but what if they’re so enamored with the U.S., they’re neurotically driven to overcompensate, and any flaw in that vision causes a massive meltdown?

The next to final scene is a damning, yet brilliantly illustrated point to this rabid jingoism. It involves a swarm of drones using holographic screens to project a speech on-screen. The catalyst of the scene leads to a series of four two-page spreads, one of the panels containing this simple but devastating lettering:

The emotional context this spread has to the unfolding events is devastating. The Palace is not only detrimental to the Few but its citizens as well. They get to live a comfortable life but in exchange for their sanity and value of life. Pete discovers a similar problem in the Few, wondering if the two sides will ever stop killing each other. He knows that an attack is still needed or else the Few will be wiped out. The truly dark power of Necessity is that it ties people to take actions that repeat an endless cycle of violence because the only other option is roll over and die.

I’m probably making The Few seem like a pessimistic series. To a certain extent, it is. All dystopias are like that. You need a pretty dark outlook on the state of the world to envision nightmarish futures. However, there’s always a kernel of hope. It happens earlier in a scene with Edan having a moment with the baby she’s been caring for since issue #1. The baby has called her mama. The area they’re in is claustrophobic and gray, yet feels calming, a moment of peace. Outside her window, the ghost of Ephram appears and tells her “Now you can fight for what you really believe” before disappearing. This scene is one of forgiveness and growth. Edan realizes she believes in the shared humanity of the people she once feared and will protect them with her life. It is a beautiful scene, a glimmer of hope that gives Edan a reason to fight on. Even after the devastating scene of the drones, she takes her anguish and uses it to fuel for her cause.

It has been a long while since a comic, a single issue no less, has been able to make me go through a whirlwind of emotions like this, experiencing both the lowest of despair and the highest of joy. It’s beautifully rendered in word and visual by the amazing creative team. The one flaw to an otherwise fantastic issue is that I think the Few forgive Edan too easily for her crimes. Maybe save that after a major conflict in the final issue. It continues to bug me, but then I think of everything else the issue has achieved and learn to deal with it.

The Few #5 is the most visually stunning, emotional issue of this amazing, relevant scifi series. Both Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman bring their A-games with the kind of passion all comics should have. This is Eisner-worthy material, and I’ll be rooting for the comic when the time comes.

Story: Sean Lewis Art: Hayden Sherman
Story: 9.5 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

Panels To Chords #0: Zero Hour With Mockingbird

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Welcome to Panel to Chords, a monthly podcast by Ben Howard and Madi Butler about music we listen to with our favorite comics. Each episode will feature a new comic with a round table discussion of our song selections. We hope to entertain listeners and deliver awesome playlists for the hottest titles out there. Check out the Spotify playlist to all songs we mention on the episode. This month, it’s the critically acclaimed Marvel spy thriller Mockingbird written by Chelsea Cain and illustrated by Kate Niemczyk.

 

 

Spotify playlist:

Review: The Few #4

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After the attack on the Few’s headquarters by Herrod, Edan Hale escapes into the woods along with the remaining guerillas, including Peter, Davey, and their father, leader of the Few. They’re not just licking their wounds though. The Few have a plan for revenge on Herrod. But there will be consequences, and Captain Jariks is right behind with the Palace forces. They now know of Edan’s desertion and plan on taking her in dead or alive. Will Edan finally see the error of her ways and change sides? More importantly, is it too late to atone for her sins?

The cover for The Few #4 might be the best in the series. Herrod and his Ragers are in full gear, posed intimidatingly, and colored in red which looks like they swam through a river of blood. The emotion one feels is fear, which is exactly the response these guys want while in their presence. I found this to be the most visceral response I’ve had to The Few’s cover so far, and also visually represent the focus of this issue, Herrod and his indulgent violence.

The opening quote comes courtesy of Nicollo Machiavelli:

Men ought to be indulged or utterly destroyed.

I do not know what line this comes from (probably Machiavelli’s classic book The Prince) or the original context in which it is written, but here it implies to Herrod and the Ragers, men who indulge in violence.

Throughout the series, Herrod and the Ragers appearance in a scene almost always ended in grandiose acts of violence. They kill in high numbers and in the bloodiest of fashions, leaving behind a grotesque crime scene. But why do they act this way? It was revealed in a previous issue that Herrod had been driven insane by hunger and a lack of oxygen due to the Palace’s theft of resources. One could assume Herrod’s extremism is revenge and, possibly, justified. However, that doesn’t take in account the sadistic glee he and his men demonstrate. Their introduction in issue #1 used a man’s failure to retrieve promised information as an excuse to slaughter an entire community, the back of issue #3 contains a Herrod newsletter (wait, what?) advertising the opportunity to rape women for new members, and this issue contains a scene of Davey confronted by Ragers as they talk to him with uncomfortably sexual and cannibal-toned dialogue.

For Herrod and the Ragers, the Machiavelli quote can be seen as nothing but negative. Indulgence in this series is bloodshed and cruelty. However, given Machiavelli’s questionable views (many say he taught despotism), Herrod is simply doing what is normal in a world where it’s survive or die. I have mentioned this in my previous reviews, how in a world without order and balance, morality becomes relative. So, in a twisted sense, Herrod’s actions, his indulgence, makes perfect sense. Same goes for the Palace. They indulge in resources stolen from outside states, but it’s fine because the world requires cruelty in order to survive. However, it is hard to argue this point when the demonstrations of cruelty or so brutal.

I believe, as characters, Herrod and the Ragers succeed as a cautionary tale of the survive or die philosophy. At what point does making traditionally immoral choices reverse back to just being that? When do you stop being a survivor and become a monster?

This question becomes the dramatic high point for Edan Hale. After three issues of struggling with her conditioning in the Palace to see the Few as nothing but the enemy, her ongoing struggle with reconciling the anti-Few sediment, one that allowed Edan to commit despicable acts for “the greater good”, comes to a dramatic climax, literally causing her to break down crying at one point. It is a satisfying, poignant moment topped by only the subsequent moment where Edan’s past catches up to her, hinting at an even greater conflict in the next issue.

For me, these dramatic character developments are the strongest points of this issue. So much build up from the past three issues has coalesced and cascaded into a great climax. It helps that Hayden Sherman continues to bring his A-game in art, this time with some of the most explosive, stylized action scenes so far in this series. He accomplishes this with very little, using a series of white lines for gunfire and explosion clouds surrounded by dark or medium colors to emphasize their intensity. My favorite piece of action was a splash page of a single man being gun downed. He is placed in the bottom center of a white page, orange gunfire events surrounding him in a downward direction accompanied by a barrage of bullets. It’s both a beautiful and emotionally devastating piece of art.

The color of blood changes in one scene from the experimental pastel red to a more typical darker shade. I believe this was made to emphasize the amount of dead bodies in the scene. It’s impressive, but also slightly annoyed by the sudden change to standard blood color that doesn’t go along with the rest of the unique pastel color scheme of the series. Finally, before the major showdown between Herrod and the Few, there are two pages utilizing the 9-panel grid for a scene of stealth. It is expertly used, slowly building up the tension before unleashing hell.

As for how this issue plays into the bigger themes of the series, I already mentioned how it further examines the danger of committing horrible acts out of necessity, namely that it is dangerous when rationalizing horrible acts on another side through dehumanization. This becomes harder when one spends time with the other side, seeing their humanity and realizing they are just like you trying to survive in a world that has gone insane. On the other hand, this issue justifies dehumanization, namely when a side proves to be truly awful. Herrod and the Ragers are so cruel and monstrous, no amount of understanding where they’re coming from can excuse or promote kindness toward them. I find this relevant to modern America where arguments are made to show the new crop of Neo-Nazis and fascists coming out of the woodwork under feeling empowered by Trump compassion. But how can that argument be made when their intentions are solely to cause harm to the marginalized? Turn the other cheek, and you quickly run out of cheeks. Sometimes there is no other option than to fight back.

There is no ideal, straight cut way of resolving conflict in The Few. Like Hayden Sherman with his art, Sean Lewis shades the moral landscape with an overwhelming gray tone. It often feels like there are no answers or at least none that will always be the right one. The story is deeply complex, always challenging, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Story: Sean Lewis Art: Hayden Sherman
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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