Archive for "Sep 29 2009"

Meet Cartoonist Hans Rickheit at FP NYC Thursday, 10/1/09 6pm

Forbidden Planet NYC (840 Broadway @13th St.) will be hosting cartoonist Hans Rickheit this coming Thursday evening.  Hans is the incredible talent behind Fantagraphics’ new graphic novel The Squirrel Machine.

AN ANACHRONISTIC PARABLE FOR THE CONVULSIVE ELITE

What is the squirrel machine? Is it a rodent ensnarement device? A mechanism for concealing one’s guarded harvest? An anachronistic fable? A meaningless diversion?

Set in a fictional 19th Century New England town, the narrative initially details the relationship and maturation of Edmund and William Torpor. But the two brothers quickly elicit the scorn and recrimination of an unamused public when they reveal their musical creations built from strange technologies and scavenged animal carcasses. Driven to seek a concealment for their aberrant activities, they make a startling discovery. Perhaps they will divine the mystery of the squirrel machine.

What is The Squirrel Machine?
• An immutably strange and haunting narrative that transcends known logics and presumptive dream-barriers;
• A distillation of subconscious beauty and inspired madness;
• A dangerous object for the incautious;
• A revelation for the undernourished crypto-seeker;
• The virgin caress of unconsummated apocalypse;
• The unspeakable thing that you always knew.

It’s also the legendary obscurantist cartoonist Hans Rickheit’s most ambitious graphic novel to date. Exquisitely rendered, strange, and hauntingly beautiful, this evocative and enigmatic book will ensure the inquisitive reader a spleenful of cerebral serenity that will require vast quantities of mediocrity to banish from memory.

You can also check out this vid, a (sorta) behind the scenes preview of the book, and featuring an interview with the man himself:

So remember: FP. Thursday. October 1st. 6pm. Squirrel Machine. Be there.

ART: Francis Manapul’s The Flash.

I’m a huge Flash fan, and the fact that after leaving Adventure Comics Geoff Johns and his insanely talented counterpart, Francis Manapul will be moving onto a Flash ongoing has me doing a little dance in my $9 buttfugly chair right now.

Alex Segura, the man behind DC’s The Source blog gives us a preview of some of Manapul’s sketches of my favorite superhero.

And here is Manapul talking about how he came to be on the title.

“These were done a while back near the end of my Legion run. I tried to make a go at the Flash and these were the sketches I did as a pitch to try and get the book. It was nixed as Geoff and I decided to do Adventure Comics (which I love and will miss very much). However the opportunity to get on the scarlett speedster arose and so here we are. I’ll actually be doing my own inks and watercolor on the new ongoing (much like Adventure Comics) so this is just a tease of sorts. Enjoy.”

There is more art at the Source.

Check out Rorschach as Freddy Krueger in the first trailer for Nightmare on Elm Street.

When I was a kid, my Dad frequently contributed to my movie fixation at a very young age. I watched extremely violent films that were spectacularly unsuitable for a kid between the ages of 6-8. This movie was one of them.  Predator was another one, which I still think is the best movie the Governator ever did. For me, this remake–though Jackie Earl Haley is an outstanding casting choice–has little chance to work for me.  It just isn’t Nightmare on Elm Street without Johnny Depp being crushed by a bed.  But thanks for trying.

Another thing I noticed: The Flash from Smallville (Kyle Gallner) keeps on  subjecting himself to these horror-porn films.  Like creepy stuff coming out of his mouth in a horror movie taking place in Connecticut, (hey, Connecticut is creepy enough. Why make a horror movie about it?). Gallner has upped his game in the horror movie genre by moving on to getting mauled by Megan Fox and now being killed by Rorschach. I tell you, Kyle, you’re becoming quite the rising star.

Another convention? This one is in Brooklyn.

A month after the Big Apple Con,  spotlighting Wizard Entertainment we’re going to have another comics related convention, this time celebrating the comic creators of Brooklyn! Sweet. 

Via press release, King Con will feature such creators as Brian Wood, Dean Haspiel, Molly Crabapple, and Al Jaffe. There is a ton more.

The convention is being held Nov. 7-8 at the Brooklyn Lyceum, which, I’ve never heard of because I live in Manhattan.  (I’ve been saying for years how I want to move to Brooklyn–just haven’t yet). Regardless, apparently the Brooklyn Lyceum is a one-hundred year old bath house.

“The lack of a Brooklyn based comic convention always surprised me,” says writer, artist, and convention co-organizer Mike Zagari. “Now with KING CON, Brooklyn’s flourishing and emerging writers and artists finally have an event to call their own!” With its close proximity to the subway, and its stunning, raw space, the building intends to do just that. Located in a century-old NYC Public Bath house turned event and performance space along a formerly rough and tumble industrial stretch of Fourth Avenue, the Lyceum has been, since 2000, a venue for emerging and well-established talent. Past showcases have included Jose Gonzalez, The Polyphonic Spree, The Dresden Dolls, Yo La Tengo, Fiona Apple and French folk singer Krystle Warren.

Seems like its going to be a great time, and a pretty cool venue, which I always appreciate, because I can’t stand bland venues (see the Javitz Center).

Books of Interest Releasing 9/30/09

Umbrella Academy vol 02: Dallas TP- A fractured team gets thrust into new adventure involving a plot to kill JFK.  An FP bestseller, The Umbrella Academy maintains the vibrant cool of volume one with Dallas well.  Written by Gerard Way (lead singer of My Chemical Romance and a former guest of FP and an overall swell fella) with glorious art by Gabriel Ba (Casanova), who never disappoints.

Prison Pit- Yaaaaaaaaaay!  New Johnny Ryan comics!  This time we’re served an original graphic novel from the Angry Youth Comix maestro, a hyper violent and darkly comical tale of intergalactic bloodbath as protagonist CF is thrust into the Prison Pit.  Powered by Johnny’s brilliant sense of humor (more heaping handfuls of gross blech than you can imagine, more offensive imagery than socially acceptable), this book is billed as a mishmash of influences- WWE, video games, Gary Panter’s Jimbo, and the Berserk manga.  I like to think of it as R. Crumb draws Tim Vigil’s Faust, minus the draftsmanship.  Recommended.

Buffy Season 8 Volume 5-  So I guess I’ll be seeing legions upon legions of Buffy fans this week in Forbidden Planet.  Okay then.  See ya then.

25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom- Alan Moore, he of  Lost Girls fame, contributes to this book examining centuries of smut, pornography, and filth.  Terrific.  While definitely not for all tastes, nor ages for that matter, the book posits that “the success and vibrancy of a society relates to its permissiveness in sexual matters,”and examines human history in that context.  Says Moore, “Sexually progressive cultures gave us literature, philosophy, civilization and the rest, while sexually restrictive cultures gave us the Dark Ages and the Holocaust.” It’s a pretty interesting tome, Especially if you like da nasty.

John McClane sketch from artist Stephen Thompson’s blog.

Die Hard #1- What? Come on, okay?  Die Hard’s my favorite Christmas movie and even I, on occasion, should be allowed to let go of snobbery and pretension long enough to enjoy big dumb fun.  Which brings us to this here comic book, chronicling  John McClane’s rookie tour with the NYPD in 1976.  Written by Howard Chaykin, a veteran of tough, grizzled action/crime stories, with art by Stephen Thopmson (Moonstone’s Buckaroo Banzai, Presidential Material: John McCain).

Sleeper Season Two TP-  Stop reading if you’ve heard my spiel about Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ masterpiece.  Okay, now that they’re gone, you simply MUST read Sleeper.  It contains zero moral value, and that’s fantastic. Secret agent Holden Carver is under deep, deep cover in THE underground criminal organization what’s got their hands in everything with seemingly no way out.  Why would he want to get out anyway, when evil’s so damn sexy?  It’s an amazingly well-executed story and if you have enjoyed these creators’ other series Criminal and Incognito you’ll more than dig this.

Absolute Promethea Vol. 01- One of our favorite Alan Moore books gets the gussied-up Absolute treatment from DC/Wildstorm.  There are precious few other things you can drop a hundred bucks on.  Anyone got a hundred bucks I can borrow?

Bad Dog #3- You may want to wait for the trade on this title due to its erratic schedule, but if you’re stalwart enough to jump on board or you’ve been following it all along you’ll know that Joe Kelly’s romp is one irreverent delight after another.  Best comic featuring a Werewolf bounty hunter ever.

And that’s just the tip of the bookshelf.  Have a good Wednesday, folks.

Eisner-Winners Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson @ Animal Planet

The Daily Treat, a blog for Animal Planet, one of the Discovery Channel’s other networks (sheesh, that was a handful) has a keen interview up with Evan Dorkin (Milk & Cheese, Dork) and Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother, The Invisibles) covering their new miniseries from Dark Horse, “Beasts of Burden.”

Evan: The series is about a group of neighborhood dogs and a stray cat that come together to protect their town from the supernatural.  The town is apparently cursed, and the people living there aren’t attentive enough to notice anything is wrong, at least not yet.  So it’s up to these pets to do what they can, with the help of two wise dogs who are training them in the occult.  So far they’ve dealt with a haunted doghouse, a coven of witches and their black cat familiars, a pack of zombie dogs, and a werewolf.

The new series spins out of their Eisner-winning short story that appeared in The Book of Hauntings from a few years back, and having read the recently released issue #1, I’m glad to report this new series has a lot of promise so far.

The entire interview can be read here.