To start things off...





If you've ever been punched in the gut, then you know how I felt after reading this book. This is a very personal fiction for Joe Kubert-it is essentially a what if story...what if his family had not been able to emigrate to America and they were still living in Poland when the Nazi occupation had begun. In his introduction, Joe tells how his parents had tried to leave Poland to come to America while his mother had been pregnant with him, and had been refused because of her pregnancy. Later that year, after Joe had been born, they were able to successfully leave Poland and come to America. 

Yossel's story is Joe playing the what if card if that second attempt had not happened, and his family had stayed in Poland. Yossel is a fictional version of Joe, a Polish Jew gifted with artistic talent dreaming of the heroes in the comic pages that were imported into Poland and an aspiring artist whose dreams are shattered when the Nazi's occupy Poland. Yossel's family is forced to relocate to the Warsaw ghetto, but Yossel's artistic ability wins him favor with the German police who like his depictions of heroes who they see as the embodiment of the Aryan ideal. That favor doesn't prevent Yossel's family from being selected to be shipped to Auschwitz, while Yossel himself remains in Warsaw. 

Yossel's friends dream of rebellion and resistance, but they are only dreams until Yossel discovers an escapee from Auschwitz who made it back to Warsaw, someone he knew from his home village. This escapee's account of the horrors of Auschwitz galvanize band, and they begin to plan and prepare for resistance. Their resistance and others like them in Warsaw blossom into the Ghetto Uprising of April 1943, which is where this story ends...I'll leave Yossel's fate unspoiled for any who want to read it....

I don't think I am ready to write about my emotional reaction to the story yet, so I am going to talk technique because it's easier and more objective. Kubert does the entire story as pencils only-no inks, many of the images still have the multiple layers of building up the image visible. He wanted to give the book a raw visceral feel, and it succeeds brilliantly. You can also feel the emotion Kubert pours into each panel in the art-especially when Yossel is drawing characters he imagines and hopes to one day draw in the comic pages-a caveman hero fighting prehistoric beasts, a Nordic prince with a strong sword arm, and a winged adventurer swooping in to save the day, all the hope and loss within those dreams held in the graphite on the page. 

The other technique of note is that this is in many ways the anti-modern comic-it is all done in captions-no dialogue whatsoever. All told form Yossel's point of view unless it is a story Yossel is hearing then we get exposition as Yossel hears it. In some ways it makes it more personal, we are seeing things from Yossel's perspective, but in others it does create a sense of separation form the events, we are observers being told the story-it's a first hand account, but still something we are the audience for, not a participant. However, that distance also heightens the feeling of helplessness in the reader- the events are unfolding and there is nothing you can do about it. It's a fait accompli-perhaps echoing how many across the world reacted to the stories of the Holocaust as they first heard them in the 40s. 

So Yossel-powerful, moving, and immediate. 

Read it. 

-M

Read my second GN this morning...

The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew; published by First Second (a division of Holtzbrink; 2014)

Yang and Liew take a little known character (The Green Turtle) from an obscure Golden Age comic (Blazing Comics by Rewl Publications) and craft an origin story for him that addresses some of the rumors and controversies that linger in the legacy of the book. The strip was done by one of the first Asian American creators (Chu Hing). Yang discusses the controversy in his afterward,and the decision to make it an afterward and not an introduction was a very good one as it lets the story stand on its own and then provide insight into it after you have read rather than having it color your experience of the story going in. The details are behind the spoiler tag below so if you want to read the story with fresh perspective, avoid them.




The story has one foot in the Golden Age in terms of tone and feel, yet is very much a story that appeals to the sensibilities of a modern audience. Liew's art is cartoony and exaggerated at times-some characters appear caricatures of stereotypes, but the main action sequences and most of the characters have a strong comic design sense behind them and fit within a pulp hero mold. Yang crafts a story that is humorous and human, yet a thrilling adventure ride with characters that are likable and deep, and feel real despite the ridiculousness of some of the situations. There are lots of nods to Golden Age superheroes that are tongue in cheek shout outs to classic characters (Batman and Superman, the weird Marvel Silver Age origins, etc.) In fact one of he host hysterical sequences in the book is when the mother of main character (Hank) decides he should be a super-hero and tried to get him super powers by exposing him to toxic waste (doesn't work), having him drink an exotic concoction of herbs and minerals (doesn't work) getting bit by an animal used in scientific experiments (doesn't work) and trying to make a deal with a supernatural entity via a seance (doesn't work) all much to Hank's bewilderment and detriment...then she hears about this super-hero who has no powers but has trained to be a hero and dresses up as a creepy flying animal....

Despite the humor elements, his is still an entertaining superhero adventure with a nice pulpy overtone steeped in the culture of Chinese tradition, and a great fun read.


Here's a sample page to give you a taste of the interior...




-M

Ed the Happy Clown by Chester Brown, published by Drawn & Quarterly






I remember liking this story when it was serialized in Yummy Fur, but that was some years ago.  Read today, as a whole, not so much.  I like Brown's artwork, and the story is weird in ways I like.  One guy has the head of Ronald Reagan replace the head of his penis, one girl keeps getting killed and coming back (once as a vampire), one guy has trouble with his hand falling off, there's a parallel dimension, rat-eating pygmies in the sewers, aliens, mask-wearing police - it's a surrealistic ride.  But Brown admits he was making it all up as he went, as an experiment in spontaneous creation, and it shows.  I'm more a character and plot guy, and that's not where his focus is.  It's interesting, it's funny, and I do like the somewhat cartoony artwork.  But it just doesn't hang together enough as a story for my tastes.  (Plus, I really didn't like the ending, where Josie, my favorite character, is severely punished for something she did, when she came off as more of a victim to me.  Brown admits he added that ending to a reprint of the story, because he 'couldn't let Josie get away with' killing the guy who killed her.  Me, I was okay with it.) It's worth checking out, if you share my taste for the outre.  I just wish I'd liked it more.

 

I wanted to include a taste of Brown's art, but much of it is NSFW, so let's try that spoilers thing

I've long argued that volume 2 is a far better place to start, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

And, in case you missed it, coke & comics has been reviewing Usagi from the beginning for the board. You can follow his reviews of volume one here: drive.google.com/file/d/0B7QFN1RlOQJnMHhKamdORTF6UUE/view

The Chronicles of Genghis Grimtoad



Writer(s): Alan Grant & John Wagner
Art: Ian Gibson
Publisher : Marvel Comics UK
Cover Date: 1990
Originally Printed: Strip #1-10

I picked this up on a whim and thought the Ian Gibson cover art was interesting. His interior artwork is also quite good. I thought it was a fun read. The story itself is pretty standard fantasy with an epic quest, some interesting characters and lots of battles. King Ranald sends his wife and son to safety in order to protect them from doom and ensure the future of the kingdom of Haven. They are accompanied by a small party including the untrained sorcerer apprentice Genghis Grimtoad. Genghis must overcome his own ineptness to defeat the evil sorcerer Toadthrax the Black. My sole complaint is that this collection contains only the first part of the saga and I'm not sure what other material is out there or if it's even collected.

I think I may need to ask for an intervention.

You see I saw Read a Graphic Novel week and saw this...and thought it was a good idea.

This is how low I have sunk.
I could have gone to the library and hunted down some Eisner(well maybe, certainly not my local library, but someone over here MAY have an Eisner), I could have found something online, but no, I thought I would be smart, read this, you already have it, you don't have to try hard for this one...IDIOT.

I read the previous 2, not great, but I read them, but this is just a whole new level of...f***ing mediocrity, actually it aspires to mediocrity, it wishes fervently at the altar of graven idols for the opportunity to be mediocre, ...it...mate it blows chunks.

No spoilers, go, see for yourselves, if you dare. I'm only a Kiwi, what would I know about the great American hero. Go on, I dare you, read this piece of ****.

I have rarely been so annoyed with a comic as to wish I had those minutes back in my life, I've read some crap in my time, you only have to look in my reading club list, BUT I really wish I hadn't wasted that hour or so this morning.

So...Intervention...nah stuff it, Ive got a stack of comics that wont read themselves...