John's 5 Fave Manga

Everyone else is doing it so why can't I?  My five favorite manga currently being published:

• Club 9
• Hikaru No Go
• Oh My Goddess
• Planetes
• Sgt. Frog (but you knew that already, right?)

And in the honorable mention categories:

• Slam Dunk (favorite manga currently stuck in limbo)
• The Prince of Tennis (favorite manga to read for free from the library)
• Akira (favorite manga to read over and over again; also favorite manga to buy over and over again in multiple formats)
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (favorite manga to get lost in the art for hours at a time)
• Uzumaki (favorite manga to scare my wife with by opening to random images)

And, finally, in the complete in-joke category:  Favorite manga to disgust Shawn Hoke with.

Neil Kleid's column

Neil Kleid's latest column is good reading. While the column doesn't provide very much "new and shiny" advice for aspiring writers, it does present the information with style. Also, Brian Wood and Antony Johnston have good things to say, too. But, here's some Kleid:

The lengths one has to go to in order to focus on twenty-two pages of script or one hundred and twenty pages of screenplay? Months ago, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by some comic book websites and each asked me the same question: what's the hardest obstacle to overcome in order to become a working writer? Many would-be writers would jump up here, arms waving like know-it-all fifth-graders in remedial English and say that the toughest thing is getting noticed, standing out, finding time, getting connections or, if in comics, finding a dependable artist to work with.

I call bullshit to all of that. There are ways around all of those things so quit your bitching. Because if you're at that point in your evolution as a writer - if you've let yourself be sucker punched and are making excuses - then you'll never understand that all of those can be solved after tackling the ultimate obstacle:

Discipline. It's as simple as Point A to Point B. To master writing you must first master yourself.

I guess it would be too much to hope that the more people talk about this kind of thing, the less "The Man is keeping me down because he won't accept my pitch" posts we'll see around the internet. Also, it's nice to see on-line advice from creator-types that isn't:

• 90% self-promotion
• full of really poor writing (specifically, style and grammar errors)
• adopting a persona to appear "cool" or "interesting (often punctuated by tales of drinking prowess)

Also, it reminds me that I still haven't bought Julius, and that I'm stupid.

Hey! Lauren Weinstein interview!

Courtesy of Jeff Mason's e-mail: there's an interview with Inside Vineyland creator Lauren Weinstein at Flagpole Magazine.

Of special interest, on The State Of Comics:

With self publishing comes ultimate freedom. The fact that you don't have to think of your "target audience" is a godsend for the creative person wanting to express themselves. Just don't expect to rake in the cash.

I think that the comics boom everyone is talking about is definitely taking shape in America: next year a whole slew of "underground" cartoonists will release books through Holt, Harper Collins, Norton, Random House and Pantheon. I think it's exciting because for the first time, people are getting real money for these incredible labors of love.

I want to see more stories. Not so much artsy stuff that leaves you wanting some content, and not so much personal-journal stuff that leaves you wanting to rent Total Recall or something.

I can't say I disagree with her. Also, definitely check out Inside Vineyland if you have a couple bucks to spare. I bought it at MoCCA last year and adored it.

Links and personal stuff

• Continuing from the post directly below this... Somehow I missed the Epileptic news, but that's now on my "must buy" list (due, in part, to Shawn Hoke's take on it).

• Kevin Church brings the goodies on the battle that can be summed up as:

SUPERHERO GUY: Stupid black-and-white navel-gazing shit comics.

INDIE GUY: Stupid arrested-adolescent-fantasy shit comics.

• Proving again that licensing, not publishing, is the engine of the "big two," Marvel issues a press release on the consolidation of their apparel lines. And I won't lie - I'll gladly wear another geek-centric hoodie or knit top, and who are you to judge.

****

Now that the "fun" stuff is out of the way... I've been terribly busy with work, which kind of takes away from the non-paying blog stuff. Things have also been crazy at home - the wife and I have finalized our home-building plans, at least as far as design goes. How odd, that it was the house she wanted in the first place...

Not that I'm bitter. The one I was really leaning towards was more of a beach house type of thing, which would probably look stupid in the middle of the woods (not that I'll tell her that...). So, yeah. At some point this summer, I'll be a home owner. Crazy.

The 432nd Time's The Charm

I know everyone and their sibling has been talking about Epileptic, but for some reason it took a review in my local newspaper to catch my attention.  A big part of it was the nearly full-page reproduction of this striking image, I'm sure.  (I guess a picture really can be worth a thousand words.)  Now I'm rarin' to read this book, and reviews like this one from the New York Times only heighten my interest.  I put it on hold at my local library (how I love its online catalog and reserve system!) yesterday but now I'm not sure I can wait for the library's order to be fulfilled.  Amazon, here I come!  (34% off??  Why, thank you!!)

When Comic Cultures Clash!

At this point it's pretty much a given:  Any online article dealing with Fantagraphics is going to lead to some sort of "mainstream superhero comics vs. artsy alternative comics" fight.  But the ages-old conflict is rarely as entertaining as it is in this Pulse thread where a look at Fantagraphics' publishing plans for 2005 quickly degenerates into a typical "us vs. them" argument.  But don't just take my word for it.  Here are some of the gems awaiting you in that thread:

SEE! George Gebhardt, staff writer at Silver Bullet Comics ("The Internet's Most Diverse Comics Webzine"), admit: "Any time I hear 'alternative' art, I think 'bad art.'  I think crap."

LEARN! how to persuade people through the use of subtle and respectful discourse, as practiced by Alan David Doane:  "The sooner assholes like that put themselves out of business, the better off we all are."

SHUDDER! at the sick fantasies of the poster named Primate: "I dream a dream of a world in which Asterix, Wolverine, Plastic Man, Goku, and Jimmy Corrigan all share a group hug..."

PUZZLE! over TK Enright's assertion that a list of nearly forty recent comic reviews from the past four issues of The Comics Journal supports his point that the Journal primarily covers Fantagraphics material...when only one of the books reviewed was published by Fantagraphics!

It's not all anger and bile, though.  There's some genuinely interesting discussion about the general health of the comic book industry -- a discussion made even more interesting when you consider the names and pedigrees of several of the participants (Dirk Deppey, Eric Reynolds, Tom Spurgeon, and Brian Hibbs).  A poster named "hamsterdance" actually learns several things about Fantagraphics and what they publish based on the article and subsequent online research.  Several people get their questions answered about when they can expect upcoming Fantagraphics books to be released.  And "hamsterdance" links to an interesting Wired article about the economics of the "Long Tail" where online merchants are finding profit in the extended non-hit niche markets underserved (or altogether ignored) by traditional brick-and-mortar vendors.

If this was Jeopardy, it would be the "Potpourri" category

Finally added Polite Dissent to the blogroll. I actually thought I had Scott listed before, but I'm a moron. While I'm on the subject, check out Scott's very kick ass contest, which I will enter at some point if I have the time.

Also added to the blogroll is the newly-minted Nostalgia Nook. The first two posts are good bite-sized looks at some classic comic strips written in an accessible way. I like Lena - we met at MoCCA last year, so she's already met the "reads more than superhero comics" requisite.

I spent at least two hours searching my book collection for that Krassner book I mentioned yesterday, but couldn't find it. I hate when that happens, because I never have any clue how these books seem to disappear. I'm thinking I may have brought it to the Poconos with me at some point and left it at my mother's house. At least, I'm hoping it's that. I always lend books to people, but I have about a 50/50 chance of seeing books come back to me. I don't specifically remember lending it out, but that doesn't mean that I didn't. Some books I've had to replace via loans:

Naked Lunch, On The Road, Trainspotting, About A Boy, the first four Preacher collections, The Crack-Up, A Moveable Feast. Why these books in particular, I have no idea.

Really, though, I don't mind terribly - used bookstores tend to be an inexpensive way to replace these, and I'm not concerned with the condition of the book (provided that it is still readable, of course).

Also, new The Comics Journal. So now I have something to do while I spend the afternoon getting my wife's truck fixed.

So that's where The Realist has been

Even with this big old internet thing at my fingertips, my life in west/central Pennsylvania has left me disconnected with a lot of the influences and stimuli that stirred me when I lived in a more cosmopolitan setting. So, big ups to Tom Spurgeon for reminding me about Paul Krassner via Krassner's column on newspaper comic strips and a weak-willed media.

I first discovered Krassner through his autiobiography, Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut : Misadventures in Counter-Culture, another in my list of favorite self-indulgent autobiographies. While the focus of that book is on Krassner (of course), it provides an entertaining, well-written snapshot of the counter-culture in America from the '50s to the '80s. The Library Journal blurb Amazon quotes provides the essential, concise version of the book in a way better than I can:

In 1984, when People magazine published a special section on the 1960s, it hailed Krassner as the "father of the underground press." Krassner's typically puckish reaction: "I demanded a blood test." On and off since 1958, Krassner has published the Realist , a no-holds-barred satirical magazine whose influence is wildly disproportionate to its modest circulation figures. Along the way, he found time to edit Lenny Bruce's memoirs, introduce Groucho Marx to LSD, and serve as Larry Flynt's publisher for Hustler. Krassner is an engagingly modest man who constantly seems surprised to be asked to appear in public with Norman Mailer, Ken Kesey, or Allen Ginsberg. A marvelous portrait showing how a man kept his sanity, integrity, and sense of humor through some very turbulent times; for most popular collections.

If I can make it home tonight (yet another Pennsylvania snowstorm may prevent this), I'll reread his memoir. I highly suggest it to the snarky bastards of the blogosphere, or anyone who isn't offended easily. Nothing makes me happier than rediscovering something after not thinking about it for a while, but it depresses me that I did forget. Do you ever get that feeling? Have you ever been surprised by remembering, either on your own or by a prompt provided by someone else, something from the past?

Free to a good home: STREET ANGEL (and other stuff)

Well, it turns out that I wasn't able to pick up my comics Friday - the store was closed due to illness. Really, though, it doesn't bother me. Instead, I spent the weekend being productive. I cleaned our place from top to bottom and spent some time with the dogs. The only downtime I had was spent watching Joan of Arcadia Friday night. Like David, I'm oddly fond of the show. I never would have thought it would be the kind of show I'd watch, what with the god stuff and all, but there's something about it. Even when it gets formulaic, maudlin or preachy, I'm still drawn to it. This week, though. Wow. All I can say is "zombie musical," which means the zombie craze might be dead.

So, I still can't talk comics. I had planned on writing about the Marvel commercials, some advertising-related columns, and the FCC this weekend, but I didn't get to it.

However, Alan David Doane can talk comics. He can give them away, too. If you haven't read Street Angel, here's your chance to get a whole bunch of Street Angel swag, including some original art for the grand prize winner.

More on the radio, as I haven't bought comics yet

So I haven't bought any comics for a while. I plan to remedy this tonight when I get off of work.

So, with the comics-related stuff not taking up as much room in my tiny brain, I've had more energy to think about other things, like Sirius satellite radio. I'll admit, much of the shiny newness of the satellite radio is gone. I'm still enjoying it (in fact, I haven't put a CD in my car since getting it), but that doesn't mean that there aren't things that bother me about it.

Although I listen to it frequently, I'm not head-over-heels with the old school hip hop coverage on Backspin. At first, I thought it was great. Instead of sticking to the more "anthem"-type old school stuff, they play songs that demonstrate the variety of hip hop from '79 to about '93, for the most part. It's nice that they're not sticking to the "canon" of the classics. I mean, it's refreshing to hear a Jimmy Spicer song that isn't "Dollar Dollar Bill," so the first time they played "The Bubble Bunch," I had to smile. By the sixth or seventh time I heard the same song, though... The same goes for Newcleus's "Jam On It" - they play the hell out of that joint. On the good side, it's nice to see that they play some MC Hammer, particularly his older, pre-"Can't Touch This" stuff, because that was hot shit back in the day. Yeah, I said it. I'd just like to see more variety by artist, I suppose. I mean, yay "Hey Lover," but how about "Rock The Bells?" The only artists I've heard multiple tracks from are Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run DMC, A Tribe Called Quest and Public Enemy. I'm not complaining - hooray for all that - and it could just be that I listen to the radio from 7:30-8:30AM and from 5:30-6:30PM. The other hip-hop stations are alright, but they generally suffer from the same repetitiveness. The exception is Wax 42. Plus, how cool is it that Kurtis Blow gets his own show?

I think the best part, for me, has been listening to things I forgot about. When I'd drive to work and listen to CDs, I kept sticking primarily to the jazz and hip-hop CDs I had in my car (as well as this kick-ass rock CD Shawn Hoke made me that had a bunch of artists I hadn't heard before). Now, I listen to more rock music, in its various permutations, than I ever would have thought. The one I listen to the most, Sirius Disorder, plays all sorts of good stuff, and even throws some random jazz stuff in there (although I'm sad that they haven't played Tom Waits once while I've been in the car), but I've explored the others. It's also more convenient than CDs, which is probably the real reason why I play with the remote so much. In the mood for reggae? Turn to the reggae station. Folk? Blues? Disco? Electronic stuff? A few clicks, and I'm there. And, of course, two NPR stations and Public Radio International...

If you're thinking about getting a satellite radio and are curious about the differences between Sirius and XM,check out this article. It's a little rock-heavy for my tastes, but an interesting look at both services.

Back!

I think it's safe for me to say that my non-updating streak is over. The big project I've been working on for the past two months has concluded. I'm not satisfied with the end result--the portfolio I included with my graduate school application is remarkably weak--but I am happy it's over. I ended up satisfied with one of the stories I included, so that's a start (and big ups to Graeme McMillan, Shawn Hoke and Kevin Church for being good friends and commenting on that one with something more substantial than "kewl! you rock!"). The second story didn't come out right, but I tweaked it as much as I could in the limited time I had left. You see, I blew the whole thing off for a few months, which was incredibly stupid on my part. Also, I found myself writing for a goal, and not for the joy of writing (which makes me cringe with how stupid, pretentious and "new-agey" that sounds). I haven't actually written anything outside of this blog and my old column at Comic World News since I was an undergraduate. Now, though, I think I've got the taste back, and if I get rejected this year (which is a big likelihood, both on the substance of my portfolio and the statistical odds), I plan to try again next year, hopefully with something less sucky.

Some quick items:

• This week, Rich Watson talks about the e-newsletter Glyph, his latest comics-related venture:

Every month, it'll feature news and information on the latest in black-themed comics, both corporate and independent. In addition, I plan on using it to promote up-and-coming talent, wherever possible. I'll print up hard copies that I'll bring with me to cons and comic shops, among other places, and I'll even mail them to Marvel and DC. Most importantly, though, I want it to be a place where readers- fans, creators, retailers, whomever– can speak about the things that matter most to us. In the beginning, at least, this will mean carrying over message board discussions and continuing them. To that end, I've enlisted the aid of two websites: the fanclub STEEL, about whom I've written in my old column, and the Museum of Black Superheroes, a site that catalogs black superheroes throughout history. Now, this won't mean that all my material for columns about black comics will go from here to Glyph; rather, it means that I'll be able to devote more time to the subject by focusing it there. Here, black comics are but one of many things I choose to write about.

Rich is also looking for people with the time and inclination to assist. You can email him for more information.

Later in the column, Rich talks about the passing of Will Eisner, and the controversy surrounding the Ebony character from The Spirit stories. What's nice about it is it's not one of those "I've never read anything by Eisner, but I still feel the need to comment because he was IMPORTANT" columns I've seen springing up here and there. If I didn't have a modicum of decorum and an appreciation of Eisner's work, I'd be tempted to do a post titled "Will Eisner - Still Dead." The man deserves more than a ham-fisted attempt at honoring his career.

• I know I'm late jumping on the resolutions bandwagon, but I still wanted to through some out there. I've been thinking about this whole blogging thing lately, and I've decided to make an effort to actually talk about the comics themselves. It's been pretty hard to do that the past month or so, as I haven't bought any comics. There was no point--I didn't have the time to read them anyway. Also, Christmas killed my wallet. Honestly, I'd like to follow in the footsteps of the newly-redesigned Peiratikos, because Steve and Rose have got that shit on lock. I still plan on doing other types of posts (including general comics posts, but also some hip-hop and book posts I've been promising people, and doggie pictures for Butcher once I find my camera), but I've lost touch with what brought me to the comics internet in the first place. If I have the time, I'll make a trip to the comics shop to pick some stuff up, but I have other things I've been sitting on (like Kramacher and Waterwise) that I may do more formal reviews of for Comic World News.

• Odd, but pleasant, news: my wife is turning into a comics fiend herself. She was elated with the Haunt of Fear collection and the Crayon Shinchan I bought her for Christmas. We talked about doing the Dollar Manga thing from Comics One, but as we were ordering, she noticed that the little security lock thing wasn't present in the bottom bar of the IE window, so she decided to cancel the order. I thought that was the end of it, but I got to the mail last night before she did, and noticed that she went and ordered Crayon Shinchan volumes three through nine. Next time she gets some free time to read (probably not until May, sadly), I'm going to surprise her with some of the horror manga John Jakala keeps suggesting. She's really into the whole horror thing, so I may start doing some exploration of my own into the genre. We both find it funny how much preconceived notions regarding gender affect our interactions with people. After Christmas, we rushed through a bunch of our gift certificates and cash as a quick way to blow through our post-holiday stress. At Target, we picked up Notting Hill and Love Actually on DVD. The clerk, doing that whole small talk thing, asks if I'm going to be a "good husband" and watch them with my wife. I would watch them with her, if I could chain her down and force her to watch a Hugh Grant movie.

I just publically admitted that I have a soft spot for Hugh Grant movies, didn't I? Fuck...

General chaos and disorder...

The Low Road is once again taking a few days off. This time, against my will. With the recent ice storm in the area, I have no power at home - I'm running on a generator right, and focusing on working on my graduate school stuff for as long as power will let me. Also, the storm has taken out the fiber-optic wires for the internet connection at work, so I won't be available during the day, either.