FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE WITH ITS COCK – JOIN IN!!!

Well that image from Crossed #4 is never leaving my head!! ‘Horse Cock’… Crossed #8 is out and the story ends with #9. Another great milestone in comic history by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows.

Walking Dead #68 has Rick and his new family reaching a settlement in D.C and I’m glad I’ve been here for the monthly ride with the last 54 issues (I started reading WD with #14, thanks Babs!).

I started reading The Last Resort with #5, It’s a five issue zombie-fest in the Day of the Dead remake vein – There’s plenty of action with decent characterisation in this book, backtrack and read the other issues.. It’s written by Palmiotti and Gray (Jonah Hex).

Faith Erin Hicks had a hilarious comic ‘Zombie Calling’ released in 2007 from SLG – tongue in cheek with the rules of zombie movies explained thoroughly.. What are the rules for zombie comics though?

There are a lot of zombie comics out every month. If you’re looking for sub-text related to global warming, modern consumerism, sexual mores – well it’s not there, at least not intentionally so. For most of the zombie-comics out there, there’s a scare way better than the movie you’re watching now on TV (with less camp too). In the best of them is a relentless feeling of terror and helplessness buoying you along with few moments of relief. You never know what’s going to come at you next month!

Oh and I just watched Zombieland!!! Rule No. 1: Cardio

GREAT COMIC EPICS #1 – DEAD WORLD!

The Dead World series is a zombie epic in which a supernatural plague turns the earth into a land of the undead. Vince Locke (Sandman, History of Violence) drew it for the most part and co-wrote it with Gary Reed and Stuart Kerr. Dead World departs from previous zombie lore – It features a more intelligent band of zombies who have come through the gateway and are intent on conquest of a new land. One might mistake it for an allegory of the invasion of the Americas, but it’s more than that – elegiac at times, otherwise gut wrenching it tells a myriad of stories about humans intent on survival and those who have given into despair. Dead World was a popular underground comic in the U.S during the 80s and early 90s and has seen a revival with a new mini-series out last October from Desperado comics.

No more zombies, I promise.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PLANTATIONS GONE?

A couple of years ago, noted psychogeographist and novelist Rohit Gupta (DJ Fadereu) made some prophetic remarks about Virgin Comics in an interview by an English broadsheet – the interview ran in a condensed form and was considerably tame unless you compared it with the full text of the same that he posted on thecomicsclub yahoogroup.

Virgin’s long gone. Liquid Comics is in it’s place. I don’t know any other company presently which has Virgin’s approach to producing comics in India.

But there’s so much fun on the horizon!! – Refer to next part of ‘THE STATE OF INDIAN COMICS in this column…

WIZZYWIG

Ed Piskor’s terrific series WIZZYWIG is about a hacker Kevin Phenicle Jr. aka Boingthump. Kevin’s character is an amalgam of Kevin Mitnick and Kevin Poulsen, two brilliant hackers/crackers while other elements of the story draw from Ed’s own life. WIZZYWIG volume 3 is out this month and you can check it out at www.edpiskor.com.

THEIR OLD TIME SUPERHEROES!

“They can’t play with our history”
I’m wary all of a sudden. I’m unsure how to deal with fanatics on the stock market, 20th and 21st century financial instruments, cars, motorcycles, mobiles, dead (and living) celebrities, dieting and Indian myths….

He ranted on about how the Virgin Comics ‘Ramayana’ was wrong and Rama did not eat ‘meat’ (he confused ‘mead’, a fermented drink made of honey with ‘meat’) and —–

I tuned off.

For everyone who comes to me and tells me “The Ramayana and Mahabharat are factual accounts of Ancient India”. I offer them this.

‘Beowulf’, was found in the possession of an English scholar in the 16th century AD. It is believed to date back to somewhere between the 8th to the 10th century and to be English in origin though its main subject is Scandanavian. Whether Beowulf was a epic with fictitious elements composed in memory and tribute to an actual king or a complete work of fiction is still the subject of debate. Excavations of a mound in Uppsala, Sweden confirm elements of the social culture related in ‘Beowulf’.

Gilgamesh, the fifth king of the Uruk dynasty of Sumeria was the subject of another epic. While he is considered a historical figure, the stories ascribe divinity to him that is not possible but likely to be the result of a cult-following, several successive rewrites of the epic and an accretion of stories from other cultures that are erroneously attributed towards him.

And so on.. I can imagine someone excavating a set of Marvel Masterworks: Spiderman and Gwen Stacy becomes the Madonna of that tribe.

The fact I know enough of Spider-lore to write this just blows me.

50 CENTURIES RIP-OFF

I know for a fact that almost every single person I have interacted with who wanted to create a comic book in India has wanted to do THEIR VERSION of the Mahabharat and the Ramayana. Of all these attempts, a large chunk of them wanted to do the story of Karna. Hanuman and Abhimanyu are other favourites. I’m as guilty as any of them.

I write this as I finished reading Goscinny and Morris’s Lucky Luke – Ghost Town, and wonder how many centuries will pass before Luke joins a Eurasian pantheon of Gods that includes Asterix, Babar l’Oliphant, Chacha Chaudari, Doraemon — Will my great grandson thirty six times removed spend the 60th and 61st century creating his own renditions of these saints!! or will he spend his time writing something ORIGINAL!!

WHO WROTE THIS? WHO DREW THAT? THANK YOU!

Cartoons have their credits in the beginning, so over time you start to associate and recall the creator’s name – Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Lab, Samurai Jack), Friz Freleng (The Looney Tunes, Pink Panther), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad), Matt Groening (The Simpsons, Futurama).With most comics from the U.S, Canada, South America, Japan and continental Europe, the creator is at the forefront or at the least the credit is given at the outset – even in company owned comics. There are comics that are otherwise – case in point, I’ve never been able to recall a single artist or writer for any story from Amar Chitra Katha although I can recognise the different illustration styles. The same goes for Commando comics, issues of Indrajal which featured characters like Buzz Sawyer, Mike Nomad, Rip Kirby and the Phantom.

I looked all over a comic book ‘Supa Tigers’ that I found as an insert in the Times Of India broadsheet, but there wasn’t any credits with the creators of the comics – There was a mention of the editor, one Loveleen Dua and the name of the marketing head (which I’ve forgotten)…

It is not very encouraging to say the least….

But to whomsoever drew these books, Supa Tigers, it was really well done.

THE STATE OF INDIAN COMICS – THE REVOLUTION WILL BE SELF-PUBLISHED?

Right now Comix-India is engaged in a brilliant experiment. It’s one of 2 attempts I know of currently by comic creators (CCs) to put out an anthology of work by CCs from India- COMIX.INDIA and Project C by Rimi C at Jadavpur University

I offer this – First print it out.

Here is an exercise you might try out -
a) Take your own comic to a printer and do a costing of the same. Find out how the printer will print the book – options for page size and paper thickness, colour separation, block vs digital printing, binding etc.
b) Take a package of comics; a hardcover, a 32 page single, a soft cover trade and go to a printer and ask him to give you a costing for 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000 and 50,000 copies of printing a similar type of book. The answers will surprise you.

Then do whatever it takes to get your comic out to as many readers as possible.

I recently met a book store owner in Bandra who helped a comic publisher produce and market their flagship comic book series. He had some brilliant ideas, some of which he managed to execute in full but for most of them, the publisher turned them down. But the experience for him was a unique one and I think it’s worth sharing with the rest of you. So for my next column, I will be including an interview with him.

NEXT – TO MARKET, TO MARKET! TO SELL MY FAT PIG!!

THE PICKS OF THE SCANSHEAVEN

Albatross Exploding Funny Books
Chimichanga #1 – Eric Powell’s a complete trip. I pick up anything of his I can get and will steal them from friend’s collections. For those of you interested in bearded girls and women, you can also check out Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting v1 the Hardcover.

Boom
Dingo #2
Ok.. Weird, trippy, no explanations on some of the obscure mythological references in it and a large black dog called Ceberus, Dingo has the makings of a great thriller. What’s in the box???
Anchor #3 – Another round of cannon fire from Phil Hester. The man is a veritable institution for his writing.

Dark Horse
Hellboy: Bride of Hell (one shot) – Another great duet by Mignola and Corben after the Makoma and the Crooked Man stories. There’s a little extract from Guy Davis’s new graphic novel The Marquis: Inferno at the end of the book.

DDP
Hack and Slash #28 – “Err I don’t know who to call. Fish People have overrun my town and my girlfriend has gills errr… for boobs” – another hilarious issue from Tim Seeley!

IDW
The Last Resort #4 and #5 – Palmiotti and Grey write this zombie horror romp. I got into it late with issue 4, just finished #5 – seems interesting enough to look for the last 3 issues though.
Locke and Key: Crown of Shadows #2 – It doesn’t get sweeter than this series. Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez put out one of the best comics ever.

Marvel
Kick-Ass #7 – Mark Millar and John Romita’s ode to every comicbook fan who wanted to be a superhero. There’s just one more to go till the end.

Vertigo
Daytripper #1 – Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon write this absolutely exquisite series about Bras De Olivia Domingos, an obituary writer. I’d like to point how incredibly inclusive Vertigo has become, embracing multiple-genres and a ‘laisse tomber ou il veut’ editorial attitude in almost all its books. It’s a joy to give them my money.

MANGA PICKS – RECENT SCANLATIONS I’ve READ
1) Ciguatera (Mangascreener)
2) Noramimi (Mangascreener)
3) Yotsuba!!
4) Kiichi!! (Kotonoha Monkey-Pirate)
5) Ressentiment (Kotonoha Monkey-Pirate)

MANGA SCANLATIONS I’M WAITING ON!
1) Drifting Classroom v04 onwards – Waiting on Omanga to finish the next 8 volumes of this classic!
2) Happy! v11 onwards – Hugely prolific __________ and this is one of his least know but equally diverting series!! I love the premise!
3) Kiichi v2 onwards – Willful, completely unabashed and absolutely gripping – Kotonoha-Monkey Pirate should finish this off before anything else.

SATOSHI KON’S KAIKISEN – RETURN TO THE SEA!!

The first time I met Jo (Jo John, more on him in later columns), he asked me if I knew about Satoshi Kon. And I jumped!!!

Anyhow…

Kotonoha-Monkey Pirate has finally put out a complete scanlation of Satoshi Kon’s masterpiece ‘Return to the Sea’. The translation is by Megchan E Beanie and the Lettering is by Nomad Soul.

(NO SPOILERS AHEAD)

Kaikisen’s main story revolves around a creature of Japanese folklore – the mermaid and her egg. The story tells of a pact between a small fishing village and a mermaid to guard her egg for 60 years and then return it to the sea. In exchange the mermaid promises calm weather and abundant fishing for the people of the town. Yosuke is the grandson of the town’s chief priest who tends to the egg. Yosuke’s father is looking to bring about changes to the town with the developer Ozaki.

My first encounter with mermaids in horror manga was a copy of Mermaid Forest by Rumiko Takahashi. I’ve been chasing after more horror manga with mermaids since then but haven’t had much luck until this gem. Kaikisen is not mere cryptozoology or a serialised twist-in the tale horror story but horror in the vein of Domu (Katshuhiro Otomo) sharing several similarities with Otomo’s classic. It takes place in a single space – in this case, a sea side with an island off it’s coast – events that can’t be explained rationally and a battle of wills between Yozuke and the developer Ozaki.

Here’s the link for the scanlation.

MANGA SPUNK – HISTORIE IN THE AFTERNOON!!

At 19 I was engrossed in Nigel Tranter’s superb novellas on different Scottish personalities and heroes – Robert the Bruce, the Black Douglas, the Earl of Grey, James Graham, William Wallace. Nigel Tranter had an unusual style of combining historical facts with great characterization and the hallmark of his books was a heroic standard that made them one of the most compelling reads in my life. Hitoshi Iwaaki and Makoto Yumimura continue this tradition with Historie and Vinland Saga respectively. Both are published by the monthly seinen magazine ‘Afternoon’

SANDOW THE GREAT

Eugene Sandow, noted strongman, physical enthusiast and philanderer (yeah I don’t meant philanthropist) – the man was a legend in his time and his influence in popularising modern physical culture is felt till date. The wiki entry on him pretty much covers his life in brief and Google Books has several of his manuals available for viewing in parts.

Sandow was noted for modeling his body after what he called ‘The Grecian Ideal’ based on the proportions he had measured from classical Greek sculptures – and as you can see from this photo on his wikentry – he would strike poses similar to these sculptures to prove his point…

[As an aside anyone remember Asterix and the Laurel Wreath when Asterix strikes the slave who’s striking several striking poses in allusion to classical Greek sculptures at the ‘House of Typhus’?]

BARACK OBAMA – THE MAN, THE COMIC LEGEND

Well really!! I’ve noticed a lot of comics out there with Barack Obama in them as a title character – Barack the Barbarian, President Evil (just out), Drafted – The First 100 Days and as a minor character in Chuck (from Wildstorm) and several Marvel comics – Thunderbolts, Captain America and Amazing Spider-Man – any one know any more?.

The man gets a lot of love and respect…

—– unlike the former president. Anyone remember Ultimate X-Men #6 where Dubya is about to have a car dropped on him or the cover to Black Summer #0….

I remember there were some comics on Mao that I read years ago. I’ve long since lost them.. Richard Nixon had new holes torn in him by Mad in the 60s and 70s.

A BOOK I’M LOOKING FOR

The Monkey King – When I was in school in Mt. Abu, several of my classmates went to Himachal on a school trip during the Parent’s Week vacation. My classmate John Noronha returned with 3 books on the Monkey King. They were not comics, they were illustrated novels, with the story on one page and an illustration on the other page. I remember reading them again and again. When John and I met after 12 years, we were talking about books and John mentioned that he wished he could find a book he had back in school, to which I interjected – ‘Monkey King’.. the thought of the book brought two big smiles to our faces!! I went to Simla later that year and went through different book stores looking for the book but to no avail. I have also tried looking online for it but have not found a single book that fits the description.

Here’s what I remember again about the book in brief
1) The title character was the MONKEY KING (the Chinese one)
2) The book was an illustrated novel, NOT A COMIC.
3) It was about 8-9″ wide by 11-12 inches high.
4) It was in full colour.
5) The art of the Samurai Jack series reminded me of the art of the books.

THE CULTURAL VEIN – THIS ROAD LEADS TO/CAME FROM——

A comic is a book; a book is not necessarily a comic. A lot of people assume that someone who reads comics only read comics, or genre fiction. It’s a partly correct assumption since I know a lot of comic fiends who read Star Wars and Star Trek novels, but several of them are very astute readers. I was introduced to Murkami by Jay, one of my favourite fiends and Aditya (Bidkar) is a timeless source for recommendations of new books on his blog. As far as sharing culture goes, comic fiends are the most rabid – they imbibe it, engorge themselves on it – if the culture is referenced in the comics they read, they will go out and find it. Some comics that led me towards music were – Watchmen (Bob Dylan and John Cale of Velvet Underground), Sandman (Talking Heads), Tales from the Starlight Drive-In (Phil Ochs). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Watchmen led me to hunt down songs from the Three-Penny Opera, which in turn led me to Nina Simone.

Some other comics and the novels, authors and movies they led me to include
American Flagg – Philip Dick
Planetary – Carlos Castenada, Richard P. Feyman
League of Extra-Ordinary Gentlmen – Ashenden the British Agent by Somerset Maugham
Gravel – Carnacki the Ghostfinder by William Hope Hodgson
Criminal – Night and the City directed by Jules Dassin

I cannot recall any cases where the reverse is true —– where I enjoyed a comic series because it was in the vein of or referenced a book, movie or music that I liked. I can probably think of a few, but I can’t remember off-hand.

I always like to find the source. Recently when reading Ellis’s Crooked Vein, it struck me how much it felt like ‘Naked Lunch’, by Bill Burroughs. I am a sucker for Burroughs work and recently met a contemporary of Burroughs who told me that when he wrote Burroughs about his wife’s death, Burroughs wrote back to say that there must have been a part of him that wanted to shoot her. Some of Ellis’s work feels derived or owing a large debt towards other books – Transmetropolitan (Hunter Thompson’s work particularly a book I read a bit of in Landmark – On the Campaign Trail ‘72) and Desolation Jones (The Big Sleep).

Ian Rankin was in town (Mumbai) as part of some Litfest by the British Council library – The first book that I had the good fortune to read was not his Rebus series but the Hellblazer novel, Dark Entries.