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Reviews
In association with
www.brokenfrontier.com
Spent. Joe Matt.
Drawn and Quarterly, 2007.
Spent. Joe Matt. Drawn and Quarterly, 2007. I banged into
the neighborhood comics shop last night, announcing, "I'm
looking for a comic book by Joe Matt. I don't know the title.
All I know is that it starts with an S." This shop shelves
alphabetically by title. The clerk's face glazed over, and
so I said hopefully, "I guess I'll just go through all the
S's, hoping I can find it?" "Yeah, that's about all we can
do," he replied. He pretended to help me for a bit, and then
went back to surfing at DC's website. I found Spent, pounced,
and took it up to the desk. Holding it up so he could see
the cover, I gleefully announced, in a loud, clear voice,
"Isn't this great! This is exactly how I look at the end of
the day!"
I'm a naughty, wicked woman. I know.
T he thing is, I'm comfortable with sex. I really enjoy sexual
expression. I'm not going to hate a graphic memoir because
it's about a porn addict.
It's more likely that I'll hate a graphic memoir because it's
a graphic memoir. Crumb, Pekar, Spiegelman, and Satrapi aside,
I really believe that by default, comics artists should avoid
writing graphic memoirs. (Come to think of it, we could do
with less prose memoirs, too.) So I was prepared to loathe
Spent.
Joe Matt was prepared for me to loathe it, too. In the cruel
tirade he aims at himself as he paces his tiny dump of a room,
he imagines what his disappointed readers will say. "He has
no self-awareness or insight," they'll say
and they'll be
right.
Continue to the full review at
Broken Frontier.
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to cart 
 Chiaroscuro:
An Indy Steps Out of the Shadows
IDW
Tale as old as time: artist working as a professional in
the field (in this case animation), reaches peak of creative
frustration, seeks to produce a product artistically under
his control, and so naturally turns to self-published comics.
Refurbishing his favorite ideas culled from an earlier, more
casually self-made work (in this case, a comic called Eclectic
Café ), artist gets to work on producing his first honest-to-goodness
masterpiece.
Masterpiece receives all due critical recognition, winning
a Xeric Grant in the year 2000 and managing a steady seven-issue
run, all carried by Diamond Distributors, all heralded by
fans and industry pros alike, until, as with most self-published
gems, life puts a kibosh on artists financial situation.
Self-published comic gets shelved. Artist continues to work
in animation. Artist continues to draw comic, though no longer
published. For years, nothing more is heard.
Then: artists gets second chance in the form of a Prince
Edward Island grant to finish book. Artist prints 100 copies
and sends them to publisher and professional alike. Publishers
proceed to lose all copies in the mail. Professionals read
the work and rave about it online, including one particularly
persuasive professional named Dave Sim. Sims online hurrahs
catch the attention of IDWs President, Ted Adams, who asks
artist to send him a copy, as he never got the chance to read
the last copy, as it was lost in the mail. Adams enjoys book
very much. Artist get work published by IDW, a big enough
name in publishing that now articles like this are written
about it. The work and the bona fide artiste in question?
Continue to the full review at
Broken Frontier.
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Incredible Hulk #112
Marvel Comics, 2007.
This issue is the last issue of the Incredible Hulk. It is
also the first issue of the Incredible Herc. Confused? Dont
be. After the events of World War Hulk, everyones favorite
green-skinned monster is presumably gone forever. Since it
is hard to have a Hulk book without there being a Hulk (unless
you create a red Hulk for the occasion, more on that next
month), the focus of the book shifts to the Jade Giants fellow
Avenger and frequent sparring partner, Hercules. Hercules,
and the teen genius Amadeus Cho, are in big trouble for the
aid they gave Old Greenskin during his invasion. Their only
choice? To start running. But S.H.I.E.L.D. doesnt intend
to let them off the hook. The result? A swath of destruction
across the U.S.A. and a hard-travelling adventure for our
heroes.
Continue to the full review at
Broken Frontier.
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Last but not least !!
A merry X-mas to you all
and all the best in 2008 !!
May you live long and prosper.
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