From Steranko’s Raymond Chandler graphic novel RED TIDE. Wasn’t Dark Horse supposed to be reissuing this thing?
Frank Friday
Your weekly Woodring.
The Upside Down World of Gustave Verbeek
Gustave Verbeek was a Japanese artist of Dutch extraction who reinvented an American art form. He was published in the bafflingly brilliant New York Herald comics section of the turn of the century, alongside folks like Richard Outcault and Winsor McCay. He was a committed adherent to Nonsense techniques — he liked to set impossible constraints for himself and try to wrestle coherent stories out them. He outpaced the Surrealists by twenty years, and devised his own mind-bending comic strip vernacular out of portmanteau, reversal & esoteric cartoon symbolism.
Take a look at this panel from his UPSIDE DOWNS strip.
A fish, an island, and a man in a canoe. Now flip it upside down…
…and it’s a woman being eaten by a bird.
That’s how UPSIDE DOWNS works — six panel strips that read sequentially, which then flip upside down to become panels seven through twelve. The formal challenge of not just creating reversible images but creating images that reverse sequentially into a coherent story is absolutely insane.
Verbeek also created THE TERRORS OF THE TINY TADS, in which his bizarre visual games started with text: he created hybridized beasts out of combined words. Hippopotomobiles, hotelephants, pelicanoes and sweet potatoads capered across these charming nightmares.
Gustave Verbeek was a weird, fractured genius who invented a brand new language in which to tell stories and crack jokes. He would have fit right in to the Parisian salons of the 1920s. His work is gorgeously spotlighted in a elegant clothbound edition from Sunday Press.
He was a relic of a golden moment in the early 20th century when uniquely, almost inexplicably idiosyncratic talents could be seen in the pages of international newspapers, dancing gloriously to their own broken metronomes.
– Josh O’Neill
the last unicorn
i recently read an interview with moebius where he talked about the unicorn being a symbol in myth & legend for telepathic powers. somehow, as much as i’ve read over the years about myth & legend, i never made that connection. it also got me thinking about one of the last interviews moebius did, where he referred to himself as being like the last unicorn. if anyone else made that statement they’d seem like a pompous ass. with moebius, it just felt appropriate.
–chris stevens
good this week
prophet volume #2 & prophet #36 : a double dose of the out of this world series reinvention from brandon graham & company. this second collection has some of the finest art farel dalrymple has done to date.
mouse guard: legends of the guard #1 : david petersen’s newest anthology series spinning off of the charming all-ages MOUSE GUARD starts off strong, with petersen providing a framing sequence around some wonderful watercolor pages from stan sakai, a bang-up job by philadelphia’s own alex eckman-lawn, and a superbly delightful turn by ben caldwell.
Weekly Wednesday Winsor #1
COPRA #7
Michel Fiffe’s COPRA #7 is in the house. A fantastic, introspective issue that makes for a fine jumping on point for new readers and deepens the level of immersion for those of us who have been following along since the beginning. We also have a few copies of the COPRA COMPENDIUM, collecting the out of print issues 1-3. Fiffe sings his gritty warble in the key of Miller & Kirby, but the tune is all his own. If you enjoy good comics, you should be reading this book.
HECK, by Zander Cannon
Zander Cannon’s HECK is a devilish little slice of comics. Just published by Top Shelf in its original strip format, the deadpan fantasy tells the story of Hector “Heck” Hammerskold, a fallen high school football star who slinks back home after the death of his father, and inherits his family’s spooky old Victorian mansion, which just happens to house a portal to Hell. So Heck and his little buddy Elliot, the obsequious waterboy who still sees the faded idol as a star, set up a business running messages between the living and the damned.
Cannon’s book has all the trappings of a rip-roaring yarn, complete with terrifying creatures, rousing derring-do, a femme fatale and a stolen-treasure mystery, a square-jawed hero, and an astonishingly rich & fully developed metaphysics. But underneath its fun and familiar trappings, HECK has a ragged, disappointedly mortal core. It’s a story of regret and loss, of the inevitability of sin and temptation. It asks hard questions about the value of friendship and the nature of love, and doesn’t come up with any easy answers. It’s a skewering of the Hero myth and a celebration of the heroic heart.
HECK’s Hell is a place you come to find out who you really are. When you wind up there, you realize you’ve already been there all along. The story tears its characters to pieces, cutting and condemning until it finds something that refuses to be damned.
good this week
saga volume #2 : to know this book is to love it. this second volume ratchets up the tension while deepening our understanding of the characters at the same time. fine, fine comicbook making from brian vaughan and fiona staples. highest recommendation.
brother lono #1 : azzarello & risso jump back into the dirty waters of 100 BULLETS with this 8 issue series featuring the nastiest of all the minutemen. there will be blood.
sweet tooth volume #6 : the final volume in jeff lemire’s bittersweet quest story. lemire & colorist jose villarubia, along with guests like matt kindt and nate powell, crafted one of the most visually consistent series in recent memory, and the single-minded nature of the story propels the reader through a cruel world brightened by the developing love of one man for a deformed little boy. it all started with a chocolate bar.
Locust Moon Comics Festival 2013
This October, the LOCUST MOON COMICS FESTIVAL returns! If you want to find more info on the festival, its guests, and its programming, check out the Locust Moon Comics Festival website. And if you’re an artist, creator, or publisher yourself, you can apply for a table at the event. But before all that, check out the wonderful poster Rob Woods whipped up for the occasion:
On Saturday, October 5th, Locust Moon Comics will host the second LOCUST MOON COMICS FESTIVAL, an annual celebration of comics, illustration, and graphic arts, to be held at the Rotunda in West Philadelphia (4014 Walnut Street).
Building on last year’s event, this year’s iteration will feature more than twice as many creators in a larger, more versatile space, and add an expansive schedule of programs including workshops, panels, and discussions on the art, business, and history of comics. More than just a convention, this unique event will honor comic creators and comic creations. The emphasis will be on independent and creator-owned books, as the Rotunda will play host to some of the most distinguished and acclaimed artists, writers, and publishers in the comics world.
The LOCUST MOON COMICS FESTIVAL will boast a variety of local Philadelphia talent such as J.G. Jones (Final Crisis), Robert Woods (36 Lessons in Self-Destruction), James Comey (Donkey Punch), and Box Brown (Everything Dies), alongside acclaimed cartoonists from across North America including Farel Dalrymple (Pop Gun War), Chrissie Zullo (Cinderella), Todd Klein (Fables), Tom Scioli (Gødland), Michael Kupperman (Tales Designed to Thrizzle), and Benjamin Marra (Lincoln Washington: Free Man).
The festival will be an all-day affair on Saturday (10am to 6pm), as a cornucopia of publishers and creators vend their wares, sign books, and greet fans. A number of artists will debut festival-exclusive prints, and several will debut new books, including Robert Woods’ 36 LESSONS IN SELF-DESTRUCTION, the long-awaited complete collection of DEPRESSED PUNX mini-comics. While the festival itself takes place on Saturday, events and festivities at Locust Moon Comics will spill across the weekend, including a Drink & Draw, 36 LESSONS book release party, and post-con pancake breakfast.
“This new annual tradition is our way of recognizing and celebrating the huge variety of unique, independent voices in the world of comics,” says Locust Moon co-owner Josh O’Neill. “We want to exalt the infinite possibilities of the medium and acknowledge the intrepid talents that restlessly explore and expand its edges.”
Locust Moon Comics is a retail store, art gallery, and publishing company based in West Philadelphia. This event is the most recent of their many efforts to unify, accelerate, and publicize the burgeoning Philadelphia comic book scene.
Find further information about the event and more guests as they’re announced on the LOCUST MOON COMICS FESTIVAL website (locustmoonfest.com), Facebook (facebook.com/locustmoonfest), and Twitter (twitter.com/locustmoonfest).
Locust Moon Comics 