For those of you who aren’t reading Achewood already or have previously attempted to grok that golden action and failed due to it’s sheer subtle gynormity, let me tell you that NOW NOW NOW is a perfectly opportune time to get yourself hooked. There are things happening on an epic scale with a story arc that is so brilliant and exciting that I am considering running to California to spy through Chris Onstad’s window to see just what will happen next.

Start here (January 11, 2006) with a seemingly innocuous tale about a squirrel and his new product, and read through the present day. And hang on, ’cause as far as black-and-white cats go, this story is epic. Fighting, family and a fake sacks on cellphones. Chris Onstad brings it to you for free.

Occassional readers of comics, like say Garfield, may not quite “get” Achewood. It’s a whole world created a panel at a time – and the punchlines are long and sometimes elusive. The characters come and go and even have their own blogs, and seem to use language like a man solving a Rubik’s cube in a wind-tunnel. I love it.

A couple of years ago, at the urging of Najati, I read Joe Sacco’s account of life in the Palestinian state, aptly entitled “Palestine”. Sacco is an award-winning journalist, which is kind of odd because his medium is not newspaper or television or even radio, but rather the graphic novel. “Comm-ick books” you might say, but if you’d give over an hour or two to read “Palestine,” you’d think differently. “Palestine” details the day-to-day struggles of the ordinary people in the Palestinian state in the early 1990′s (before the most recent intifada) with unusual detail — gritty, gruesome, and often comic.

This time, he has published a short 8-page report from Iraq alongside American troops, entitled
Complacency Kills (32meg PDF). Again, he manages to detail the real-life details of war and its effects on the average person with stark detail and wry humor. Well worth the read.

If you are interested in any of Sacco’s stuff, I highly suggest good ol’ Fantagraphics. Also, here is a good interview with Joe Sacco.

“Comics are just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures.” — Harvey Pekar.

That is what a certain recent MetaFilter post asked. The whole “is black the new white?” thing is terribly played, but yes, it might be true. At least, I’d like to think so. The MetaFilter post linked an article at the New York Times entitled “Not Funnies”, and interviews a number of prominent graphic novelists including Alan Moore, Art Speigelman, Joe Sacco, and Chris Ware. Pretty interesting read for those interested in knowing why graphic novels “aren’t funnies” or “comics” as you might have assumed.

I think this line really sums it up: “[the next new thing, the new literary form] might be comic books. Seriously.”

I’m not going to summarize the article for you, but safe to say it will change your idea of why graphic novels are serious literature (not to say that superhero-style comics aren’t serious, but c’mon folks).

Further, Hunter sent me a link to a great interview with Grant Morrison, a heavy-hitter in the “comics” industry. He makes some salient points regarding the innovation that comics/graphic novels can and must make to stay relevant.

In any case, next time you are in your local Barnes & Nobles, ask your friendly bookseller to point you in the direction of the Graphic Novels section. Have a look-see.

update: I forgot to add this little snippet from the NYTimes article. Regarding Alan Moore’s (
From Hell) current project… “Right now, he is working on a pornographic graphic novel, ‘Lost Girls,’ in which the main characters are the Alice of ‘Through the Looking Glass,’ now known as Lady Fairchild and a laudanum-addicted lesbian; the slightly repressed Mrs. Harold Potter, nee Wendy Darling, from ‘Peter Pan’; and the randy Dorothy Gale, from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’” That, my friends, ain’t no superhero book.

Kelly, Najati and I saw Spider-man 2 last night. Hunter and I gave it three “RAD”s up. Go see it. Better than the first.

Today, after the batteries on my Nomad drained themselves playing early (read: good) U2, I decided to tune into WOXY up in Cincinnati via their internet audio stream — but it appeared to be down. Checking out their site, I learned that they A) stopped broadcasting on the web May 13th and B) had been sold back in January!!

Ever since I first tuned in to them back in early 2003, I had been smitten. I kept up-to-date with shows in Cinci, as well as good music in general. While it wasn’t perfect, it was still very independent and played good music. 97X was owned by Linda and Doug Balogh, who had solely owned and operated the station since the early 80′s. Being in their mid-to-late thirties at that time, they are now pushing 60, and would like to find time to enjoy the spoils of their labor. As mentioned on Sledge’s (a WOXY DJ) blog, they very well could have sold the radio station in ’96 or ’97 for triple what they received in the sale this year, but they decided to fight the good fight against behemoth corporations. (Don’t get me started on the 1996 Telecommunications Act which allowed corporations even greater ownership percentages in radio markets, please. It also started the broadband internet revolution, so it’s not ENTIRELY bad.) So alas, one of the very few family-owned/independent radio stations has gone off the air.

There were initially some indications of attempts to salvage 97X as an internet-only stream, but after some calculations it would seem that was made impossible by the RIAA‘s insistance on royalties for web broadcasts. Yay, way to stifle independence in radio. I hope thee choke on your foie gras.

For futher reading, check out Sledge’s blog, and his comments on the sale of 97X. Also, oh-so-apropo, PBS’s Frontline will be airing a broadcast entitled “The Way The Music Died” tonight at 9 PM. I’ll be watching, as should you. Oh, and it should be noted that the image used in this article is in fact, not related to WOXY or radio, but the cover image from Matt Fraction‘s great comic with the same title as this post.

In the last week, since we had been on vacation (and though we had ample Internet access) I had not kept up with Achewood, one of my favorite web comics of all time — even outpacing Penny Arcade by a far sight. Well, in the last week the author/artist/artiste of Achewood, Chris Onstad has really hit close to home with ol’ Ben.

“It’s like someone sold the mineral rights to my childhood to this man,” I tell Geoff, “and he’s dosing them out to me in the form of a cartoon strip each weekday.”

Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, Pinewood Derby cars (and how those damned pre-cut models were all so fab, but then our Troop outlawed them because it took away the spirit of the whole father-son Pinewood Derby car team thing — yeah! That’ll show you, you rich bastards with your fancy cars.), “your momma” jokes — wow. I’m stunned at the creativity of this man, but at the same time I fear when this time in my life will be over. When the artists of my generation have mined the Transformers and He-Man for all their comic worth. Think of the (old) children, Onstad! Conserve thy funny lode.

I can’t remember clearly if Hunter had mentioned Battle Royale to me a while back, but it certainly sounds like something i’d be interested in. Either that, or it’s something i’d like for reality TV to turn into.

The capsule from TokyoPop’s Battle Royale page reads:

In the future, random Jr. High School classes are chosen to compete in a game called Battle Royale. The rules: only one student can survive after 3 days on an island or else they all perish. Weapons are handed out and each student is sent out into the field alone and unprepared for the horror that awaits them. The classmates turn upon themselves in a battle for survival, treaties are made and broken, and former friends become foes as the relentless countdown continues. Amid the betrayals and rising body count, two classmates confess their love for each other and swear to survive this deadly game together.

Based on the live-action feature film that became a cause celebre and polarized much of Japan.

Yeah, did you read that? It was actually a movie before it was manga. It starred none other than Takeshi Kitano (ne’ Beat Takeshi). And never fear — in true Asian cinema fashion — they’ve made a sequel.

update: Wild and Woolly video has it in stock.

i’ve always been a fan of comics and more specifically, graphic novels. i owe this to Hunter, no doubt. i regularly check things out from the main branch of the Dixon Free Semi-Public Library. well, back in 2002, when Top Shelf Comics had there main distributor go kaput, leaving them in the lurch for fifty-large, i thought i’d get off my freeloading arse and buy a copy of Alan Moore’s spectacular From Hell (yes, the basis for the movie of the same title). Turns out Top Shelf was flooded with orders and I now have a copy of a great book of my own that I will no doubt read over and over.

Fast-forward to today (or last week, really), and I get an email from Warren Ellis (via his Bad Signal mailing list) that Fantagraphics, a publisher of many, many comics and graphic novels (read more here) was having problems — due in good part to yet another distributor fall-through among other problems — I, the foul-weather purchaser, sprang into action.

‘What did I buy?’ you ask. Well, let me say that I found quite a few things that I wanted when I was at Chicago Comics with Nick and Hunter. One of the most striking things was this book entitled Ssssh!. I won’t attempt to explain it any better than my link does — but I loved it. For whatever reason, I didn’t buy it. Well, I get home, do a little searching on google for “Sssh” (how many S’s should I use? I dunno!) and “Jason”, and as you might expect, I came up with diddly-squat. Well, I fumbled over to ArtBomb (a graphic-novel intensive review/exposure site pointed out to me by h\m/d a while back. I can’t remember exactly why I went there – it may have been on suggestion of Warren Ellis as there was a free, online comic he raved up. Well, anyway, what should be #2 on their “BOOK FEED” list? That’s right, Ssssh!. Hey, cool, I’d love to own that. Hey, I wonder if Fantagraphics carries that…. Hah! They do (good luck browsing their inventory for it, though. Just put in “Jason” in their search engine). Oh, wow — you can get the original Norwegian version in hardcover for $5 more! Awesome. So yeah, I bought that and his first book, Hey Wait! which garnered great reviews. Yeah, I’ve never read anything other than the wordless “Ssssh!”, but I thought I’d take a shot in the dark to help out a community that I’ve profited (non-monetarily, mind you) from for quite some time. My note in the “comments” field when ordering the books from Fantagraphics: “here’s to saving your ass! good luck!”

Now, I could have ordered Ssssh! from Amazon, if I wanted to. But that’s not what Fantagraphics needs — they are trying to get rid of overstocks that they’ve printed directly. Also, *technically*, Amazon doesn’t have the Norwegian hardcover, but whatever — I figure my support is more direct that way.

You want to know who is published by Fantagraphics? Well, here are some of the most recognizable:

Chris Ware
Dan Clowes – of Ghost World fame.
Peter Bagge

and last, but certainly not least:

Robert Crumb – you know, Fritz the Cat and all that stuff, but quite possibly the reason that alternative comics even have a place in this world.

Well, that’s all I’ve got. Go and check out Fantagraphics and see if there is anything you want, and further, check out ArtBomb for reviews/inspiration/etc.

update: Warren Ellis has summed up the whole Fantagraphics issue quite well in his column Brainpowered over at Artbomb. Check it out, it’s an interesting read.

tuesday hunter and I were left to our own devices as nick was working and joey was doing errands of some sort. so, off to the Art Institute of Chicago (you know, the one from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). again, we managed to utlize public transportation in a fashion becoming a pair of adults, and the “L” dropped us off a block from the art museum. now, despite the fact that I studied (and lived for a short time) near the J. B. Speed Art Museum, I never actually went it. Oh, and my mother was an art teacher for a while, but that didn’t get me in to an art museum either. so yeah, it was fairly overwhelming. you can look at photographic reproductions of art in books all you want, but that just does not do these paintings justice in the least. Degas mastery of light and shadow are breathtaking to see. Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist” when reproduced on the page is a bland shadow of the true color of the work. I am a big fan of Magritte’s work and they had plenty of his works there, as a number of other surrealists and modern artists. I could go on for days, but I think I’ll keep this short: you need to go. On Tuesdays, ’cause then it’s free. But even on normal days, it’s only $10 and that is a suggested donation. I should point out that non-flash photography is allowed in the Institute, but my forgetful self forget to bring the memory card for my camera.

After 3 hours in the Art Institute, we decided to nab a bite to eat at Potbelly Sandwich Works, so we hopped the train back a couple of stops. Potbelly’s is like a Quizno but with the old-timey flair of Another Place Sandwich Shop in Louisville. The sandwiches were tasty. The root beer cold. Yum.

Now, our next stop requires a little explaining. Hunter had bought issue #2 of Found Magazine (a magazine filled with “found” notes , pictures, letters, etc) along with a couple other ‘zines (hipper, cooler magazines than your mama’s) while at Chicago Comics, and was interested in finding more. Knowing this, I happened to see an ad for a ‘zine distro down on Augusta Boulevard near downtown. Thinking “hey, this would be a cool little side trip”, we decided that would be our next stop. Having had procured directions from the venerable and always trustworthy MapQuest and peeping a CTA map we felt confident. Well, I figured that the CTA’s Green Line trains were the closest alternative, so we got off at the Ashland stop. Well, some many many blocks later we arrive at Loop Distro at 1357 W. Augusta #1. It is apparent that this is, in fact, someones apartment. Thinking that “this is the ‘zine way of life man!”, we checked around. No other doors say #1, and the one that is #1 has photos inexplicably taped all over it. Check the knob — locked. Hmm. Well. Checking the website, it would seem that this joint is really just a distribution point. The ad wasn’t so clear. Ah well. We had an exciting time rolling through “Little Mexico City” anyway.

Turns out the Division Street stop on the Blue Line was far, far, closer to Loop Distro, so we ended up taking that home. I took a nap, because I’m old and walking is tiring.

Hunter contacted his friend Patience and his cousin Jeremy and Nick checked out the deal on the Second City show (Second City Unhinged) we were planning on seeing that night. Plans were set. Off to the Second City Etc. theatre. Jeremy was leaning against the building, as is his want, and we headed upstairs to find Patience, uh, patiently waiting. Patience is very charming, and appears younger than her age (which I won’t mention, well, yeah, i mean, it’s not everyday you meet a 600 year old woman that looks 29). Also, Patience complimented this very site, so she’s A Number-1 Top Dollar in my book. She is also a fan of Magritte, so yeah, Patience, you mah dogg. (BTW, Patience works for the Cape Cod Community College bookstore, owned by Follett, and is in town for a conference of some sort. Limos were provided.) Anyway. As mentioned, Jeremy was there and Hunter and I related that I had called him a “political mercenary” in a previous post. He said that consultancy is really more like whoring, and I rebutted that whores are just “sexual mercenaries”. Jeremy is cool, but he needs to accept his role in life as a kick-ass take-no-prisoners political mercenary. Soldier of Fortune sorta stuff. Yeah. Heh. Seriously folks, Jeremy is way cool. WAAAY COOL. Rad, even. Okay, now that I’ve finished lathering platitudes on these folks I just met, I’ll get on with the travelogue.

This Second City show involved 3 different improv groups all doing fairly different shows and mixing up styles and whatnots. Adding to the spectacular comedy was incidental piano music on the side of the stage, and coordinated lighting, which made things all the more fluid and interesting. The improv was great and very fluid. I think that the true key of improv is knowing what your fellow actors are going to do without having to say a word. When that happens, it really clicks. The first group, “Tuesday Night Special” did a rambling long-form (a la Project Improv), the second group “The Dirty Half Dozen” did about a half-dozen sketches each based on a single suggestion. My suggestion for “something you find in the kitchen” was “my wife”, which I think stunned the performer who was asking for the suggestion, but the sketch turned out funny as hell. The real ha-ha is that neither Kelly or I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So, the groups interpretation of this animal-like “wife” character that has to be flushed out of the kitchen by fire was all the more funny to me. And the girl playing “the wife” was hot and funny and had glasses. Real tall, though. The last group “Train Wreck” was just two guys, one playing the part of a lifeguard, the other as a towel rental clerk. Metaphysical pondering about alter-egos across the sea have never been funnier. Also, killing dead air with the line “So… You remember when you killed that guy?” always has a good outcome.

We hit an Irish pub sorta thing after the show, but they weren’t serving food, so we downed a round and found a Subway. Jeremy split, as a good mercenary needs his beauty sleep, and we ate our sandwiches while listening to overnight AM sports shows. We had passed a cool little dive called the Old Town Ale House. A jazz-laden jukebox kept time while we sat in the front window conversing over pints. A good time was had by all. We decided to split up, and Patience took a cab back to her hotel, which was probably going to be expensive, so Nick and Hunter chipped in (hey, I bought the drinks).

So — what’s ahead for today? Well, Hunter and I will be driving back to Louisville leaving here sometime mid-afternoonish (to beat the Chicago rush hour, and hopefully the Indianapolis rush hour as well).

Chuck has written to us “Day 6″ — and it seems that his little travelogues are less and less about Physics and more and more about eating and getting screwed by fake porn-mag distribution company. Well, enjoy.

{more}
– BEGIN TRANSMISSION –

DAY 6

Well, another illustrious day has come and gone. In the mid-afternoon, after heading up to SLAC for boring meetings and some SP, we headed off to San Fransisco again.

This time in SF, the day was not so optimal, it was a rare summer rain in the city of rainbows. Incidentally, the National Gay Pride parade was on Sunday, wow, what a goddamned spectacle!

So, we arrived and parked on pier 39, remember that number. After a little wandering of the low-cal, we found the cable cars and rode it. Irony was beheld, when I noticed the Rice-A-Roni add on the cable car. As I was not quick enough on the stampede when the car arrived at the station, I got to stand at the front (open, mind you) edge of the cable car, ad get to hold on to a single pole in the rain(the standing room was not covered). The cable car went up steep ass hills (SAHs) at a near 40 degree angle in places, and then down again on the other side of the hill. On the ride, we passed that section of Lombard street that is the most curving section of road in the world, and sure as fuck, they do not exaggerate. Soon after this, we entered a more traffic strewn section of town. First, there were some road cones in the road(obviously), but the cable car ran over them(it is on rails), the annoying part is that it ran over them right at the edge, the edge I was standing on, and they slid over to the side and pummeled my ankles, fuckin-a! But then, a car tried to pass us in the parking lane and fucking hit me, not the cable car, ME! goddamnit!

It is not as bad as you think, his side view mirror caught a bit-o-my-pants, but still, the fucker hit me. I did him better by leaving my muddy footprint on his window.

We then walked around in the shopping centers, and eventually found chinatown. Its nice, but to many foreigners. We ate there and I had the Dim Sum, which is just a plate of several finger foods. It was ok, but I suspect that this place was not the best dim sum in SF, as the sign proclaimed.

On the walk back to the car, I saw another YANK mag box! Yeah!! This one looked legit, with a handle and a stack of yank mags visible . So another attempt to get the YANK mag ensued. And, it ended in failure. The quarters got stuck in the change install place. NO YANK mag, and now, im almost totally positive that this is a scam. It re-goddamn-diculous!

Thats all for Monday, soon I shall return!

Chuck