Monday 11 August 2008
Bernie Brillstien RIP
Couldn't let the day pass without commenting on the death of Bernie Brillstien, one of the unsung heroes of late seventies and early eighties comedy. Without him we would have no Muppets, Sarurday Night Live, Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, or It's a Gary Shandling Show. Of course we have him to thank for ALF, but he's dead so i think we can let bygones be bygones.
He was the manager of not only John Belushi, but John Candy , and also Chris Farelly. Upon hearing of the latters death he famously quipped " I wish my fat clients would stop dieing"
Classy!!!!
Theres a great obit here. I recomend you check it out
cfx
A Change is Gonna Come..........
I wonder if i could get a David Bowie Figure and stick that in too!!!!
Thursday 7 August 2008
Alice In Sunderland Review.
This is from issue 10 of Verbal Magazine, and was something of a headfuck to review. It wasnt completely shallow, and as it had subtext , it drove me up the wall( i'm a shit like that). What i really wanted to say was it was all right , but the author is something of a self abuse expert. Sadly Verbal isnt that kind of publication. I did at the very least get to say that he was up his own hole, so Grots you have my admiration and respect for that. This issue had some nice reviews by big Dave Campell. Check it out here:
Alice in Sunderland: An Entertainment
by Bryan Talbot
In quite a departure from his normal work
on titles such as Batman, Judge Dredd, and
Hellblazer, comics veteran Bryan Talbot has
created one of the most thought provoking
graphic novel pieces in quite some time. Based
in part (in the loosest possible sense) on Alice
in Wonderland, Talbot (the main character
in his own comic no less), takes a sideways
journey looking at the history and character
of the city of Sunderland in general and its
Empire Theatre in particular.
Moving between past and future, and
containing a mixture of fantasy and reality the
narrative and art of the book are distinctly non
linear, switching between styles and ideas with
seemingly little rhyme or reason. There is a
wealth of both visual and factual information
contained within. Its all meticulously
researched, but it borders on information
overload, with some of the double page
spreads seeming quite confusing.
The author describes his work as being
‘an epic meditation on myth, history and
storytelling’ which is a pretty grand statement
about a book, and in the normal run of things,
would make it sound like he was right up his
own arse, but in the context of the story its
actually a reasonable enough claim. Its all very
clever, and you can’t ever shake the feeling
that its aware of how clever it is. Almost TOO
clever. Having said all that the art, in all its
varied styles is nothing short of superb, and
it’s very hard to be too critical of a book of any
kind that features the ghost of Syd James as
one of the major characters.
This is complex stuff and not for beginners. If
you’re one of the spandex set you may be best
advised to give this one a miss. However for a
fan of graphic literature looking for something
a little different. This is your fellah.
Thursday 24 July 2008
Underwhelming First Graphic Novel Reviews: Superman Infinite Crisis & Charleys War 17 October 1916 - 21
Graphic novels
Entertaining but at times maddeningly
confusing, Superman: Infinite Crisis (Marv
Wolfman, Joe Kelly, Jeff Loeb) deals with one
of the comic world’s most perplexing mysteries:
how is it that Superman has been around for
over seventy years, yet he is still only in his mid
to late twenties?
Not for beginners, this book features more
than 20 different Supermen, at least three
Superboys, and tries to condense 75 years
of character work into just over one hundred
pages. One for continuity buffs only.
Charley’s War: 17 October 1916 - 21
February 1917 is the third collection of Pat Mills’
and Joe Colquhoun’s spectacular World War I
epic. Originally printed in the UK war anthology
Battle, this is the continuing story of private
Charlie Bourne, who, having lied about his age to
enlist, comes to know the true horror of war.
Stunningly illustrated, meticulously
researched, and overtly anti-war, it’s hard to
believe that this was ever printed in a comic
intended for under-twelves.
Highly Recommended.
Wednesday 23 July 2008
First " Proper" Review
This is what I consider to be the first "real review" that I ever did. If only because the earlier ones were so short and shite. When i get round to posting them you'll see what i mean. Published in Verbal Issue 7.
Harvey Pekar is the champion of the mundane but
Misery Memoirs
American Splendor: Another Day - Volume 1 (Paperback)
by Harvey Pekar (Titan Books Ltd)
The Quitter by Harvey Pekar, Dean Haspiel (Titan Books Ltd)
For those not ‘in the know’ Harvey Pekar is the creator, writer and subject matter of American Splendor, his (initially) self published autobiographical comic book, now Oscar nominated film. American Splendor details his life as an obsessive compulsive, file clerk. A fat, balding, grumpy, self obsessed old get, it’s very difficult to imagine a more unlikely comic book hero. And if his comic stardom is unlikely then his subsequent transformation into a movie character is even more unlikely.
The new American Splendor anthology Another Day is illustrated by a galaxy of talented artists and looks at the changes in Pekars life since his movie success. Foremost amongst these changes is that as a media figure He has become something akin to the comics worlds best loved curmudgeon: a charge that he clearly has issue with. So much so that he spends a great portion of this volume complaining about such charges. In fact the majority of the book consists of him complaining; with the rest of the stories concern themselves with needless worrying about minor inconveniences. And while this is not necessarily a bad thing (its all highly entertaining) it certainly sounds like the work of a curmudgeon to me.
In contrast, The Quitter, is an account of Pekars early (pre comic), life. We meet a highly intelligent man from an immigrant family, who has a problem with structured education, living in the rust belt of the American mid west. Giving up at anything he tried his hand at rather than allowing himself the opportunity to fail (or as it turns out succeed) sports, lessons, relationships, jobs,
Why the fuck would anyone do such a thing?
Don't Stop Me Now
Freddie & Me by Mike Dawson (
Even at the best of times autobiographical comics are a funny wee beastie. It might just be me but there’s something quite disturbing about an anthropomorphic version of a real life person, pouring their heart and soul out onto the page for the benefit of the fan boys (who can then enjoy the vicarious thrills of having a social life or perhaps a girlfriend!). But to tell ones life story in comics form using the career arc of prog rock/opera super-group Queen as inspiration and reference point, takes a special kind of bravery o
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that there is anything wrong with slavish fan boy devotion to eithe
At times the Queen-love becomes a little nauseating (especially when referring to the Ben Elton penned musical ‘sensation’ We Will Rock You), and ultimately you might have to learn to live with it. But fuck me , you can't ever say you love Queen as much as this cunt does.
If you’re a fan of the hard rocking, apartheid cultural-embargo breaking,
Tuesday 22 July 2008
Mister Amperduke by Bob Byrne
It can be bought here
http://clamnuts.com/
Innovative and exciting - now this is what Graphic Novels are about, says
Life in Lego
Mister Amperduke by Bob Byrne (Clamnuts Comics)
Since the introduction of the first Graphic Novel (The Death of Captain Marvel for those who are keeping score), there has been much promised and little delivered in terms of innovation and new scope in the relatively young medium. Sure we’ve had Watchmen, and The Dark Knight Returns, and American Splendour, and all that good stuff, but those are essentially just reprints of comics. Alan Moore has made a few rumblings (in particular his recent League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier showed much flair), but what else has there been? For sure there have been great stories told (Fax From Sarajevo), and sure there are real world lessons to be expounded on (Maus), but when was the last time some played with the format? Where is the comic’s version of Catch 22 or Ulysses?
Bob Byrne is a
Mister Amperduke is the simple tale of a sort of dog/man and his struggle assisting a Robocop style hero in protecting his tiny, sentient Lego utopia from being destroyed by an out of control Cloverfield style monster. Nothing unusual there. What is however unusual is the fact that not one single word of dialogue is used throughout the book. 2000 panels over 150 odd pages. And this is where the strength of Mr Amperduke lies. The (admittedly bizarre) plot is conveyed through the artwork alone and it’s done mostly through facial expression. Please bear in mind how extraordinary a feat this is, given that were not talking about super realistic . We're talking about black and white pictures of a dog and the living Lego men he keeps in his basement. But these characters are real. They live and breathe. You care about what happens to them. And they’re expressive. So expressive, that it’s as if the story is being acted out by an army of 2d John Belushi’s.
If you could imagine a silent movie that was part Truman Show, part Godzilla, part philosophical quandary and part morality play, then you might begin to see the sort of thing I’m talking about.
Bob Byrne is carving quite a reputation for himself in the small press and independent comic’s field, and in Mister Amperduke he has delivered something really special. It’s impressive to see an Irish artist (especially one so young) pushing the envelope in such a fashion. Good luck following this one Bob.