Extraterrestrial Encounters of the Literary Kind

I miss good used book stores. Not the shops that tear half of the covers off or only carry titles  that no one ever purchased in the first place (after all we still have the Dollar Store for those), but stores that sold previously read (and loved) books that were unusual or long out of print. I recently came across some books that had been purchased at a long closed used book store in my neighborhood, the Brown Bag Bookshop. They would carry all genres of unique and hard-to-find titles, some that were of great (intellectual) value. Among those books was one that may may prove very valuable in the alien-invasion-end-days-to-come, Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature.

Illustrated by Wayne Douglas Barlow ("the John James Audubon of otherworld creatures," or so the inside cover announces) and written by Ian Summers and Beth Meacham, Barlowe's Guide a comprehensive text and image of fifty alien creatures and worlds from science fiction literature. Drawing from the witting of prominent sci-fi authors such as Alan Dean Foster  and Ursula  K. LeGuin, the trio have crafted a beautiful collection of detailed illustrations and biographical info for a variety of literary alien species. With all the information one would find in a traditional field guide, including a gate-fold "Comparative Size Chart," this collection is a fantastic resource for fans of sci-fi literature as the drawings are based on the source documents from which they spring.

Sadly, this copy had been on my shelf during the time I actually read (or re-read) a number of the novels referenced within, and in some cases the visual would have helped by early comprehension. In other cases, the artist's visual interpretation based on his reading of the boo or story varied from my own, but it was interesting to consider just why that may have been. Looking back, there is a pretty huge spoiler for one of the novel's on the cover which I am glad not to have seen before reaching that point in my reading.With so many class pieces of science-fiction literature represented, and iconic creatures, it was a challenge to choose only of a select few favorites to share here.

Barlowe's Guide, page 68.

Barlowe's Guide, page 70.

Barlowe's Guide, page 98.

Published in 1979 by Workman Publishing, the copy I bought was only $8 in beautiful condition only six or seven years ago. A quick search online reveals that there are quite a few copies of this classic book available at the usual places, for not very much money at all, and many of the images can now be seen on the Interwebs, and a more detailed listing of the species included (along with source documents) within are viewable at it's Wikipedia entry.

Great Issues: Superman/Madman Hullabaloo #1-3 (1997)

From The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo! (1997), Issue #1 by Mike Allred.

When digging through long boxes looking for titles to re-read, I was reminded that back issues we as collector's imbue with "greatness" are often emblematic of transition in our fanboy lives. Great issues are not just those that entertain, or represent a momentous occasion in the characters' "lives," but also those which reflect a change in our own lives (collecting or otherwise).

Take this great issue for example. Written and drawn by Mike Allred, The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo!, is much more than a throwback to a more joyful style of comic book storytelling. Truth is, to label it as such would be to suggest that this type of story is not the norm for Allred. Hullabaloo demonstrates the staying power of solid writing and artistry that continues to be successful as is evident by Allred's current success on Marvel Comics' FF title. Those who have read and enjoyed Allred's other work, both independent such as The Atomics, or "mainstream" like Marvel's X-Factor, can attest to his ability to make the traditional (and, really, what continues to be more traditional than Superman?), both new and exciting. Even more unusual, especially for Superman in the last fifteen years or so, entertaining. (In some ways this foreshadows the more recent willingness of publishers using talent from smaller publishers to reinvigorate their characters.)


This really couldn't end any other way than with a Mxyzptlk
and Madman Twister showdown with the fate of two worlds
hanging in the balance.

When this fantastic miniseries was initially released in 1997, I was nearing the end of what had been a decade long love affair (translation: straight uninterrupted run of collecting) with all things Superman. In terms of my collecting and reading of comic books, it was also the beginning of my transition away from mainstream (Big Two, DC Comics and Marvel) and toward smaller publishers such as Dark Horse. In many ways, this crossover was my introduction to small press comic books.

Much like the amalgamation process that the two protagonists experience in the miniseries, Hullabaloo demonstrated for me, as a longtime Marvel/DC fanboy, that those titles, which had been relegated to the lower shelves of the new comic book rack, were accessible. More importantly, it also communicated an energy that I had not experienced in the "regular" books with which I had long term relationships, like Fantastic Four and the Superman titles.

After re-reading the series in anticipation of this post, I was pleased to realize that, at its heart, Hullabaloo is built around the theme of superficiality. When Superman (Clark Kent) and Madman (Frank Einstein) have their physical attributes mixed up, the previously "traditionally" unattractive Frank and handsome Clark initially deal with how this change will positively or negatively effect their relationships with others. Will Frank's girl love him even more? Will Lois (who at this time knows his secret identity) be less inclined to dig Clark? It is this anxiety that Mister Mxyzptlk uses to draw the two into conflict, and the small interactions with the supporting characters around this theme make fro some some sharp (and authentic) dialogue.

If the value of comic books was based solely on what I think they should be worth (value being a relative thin really), I would suggest purchasing the trade paperback collection of the three issues miniseries as it is very reasonably priced at outlets such as Barnes and Noble. But because value is relative, if your choice of vehicle is individual issues (as mine is) you can still purchase The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo! in individual issues online (or in your local comic stores back issue long boxes) at the original cover price of $2.95.



In addition to action, the small moments between both sets of supporting characters make for great reading.

Retro Gaming: Hellboy: Science of Evil (2008)

I can't recall wanting to like a video game as much as I had hoped to enjoy Hellboy: Science of Evil. A fairly recent convert to Mike Mignola's universe of characters (Hellboy in Hell, B.P.R.D., Witchfinder, etceteras.) published by Dark Horse Comics, and a fan of both films, I had not been aware of the previously released Hellboy movie tie-in console game.


When I came across a used copy for $9.99, I snatched it up, excited to get going. So excited was I that I did not even wait to spend the money to follow my traditional pre-purchase ritual of checking online reviews before plunking down $60 on an X-Box 360 game. This was an inexpensive used version, and was, after all Hellboy, so how bad could it me. It was only after returning home and checking online reviews that I became worried. Hellboy would appear to be a fairly reviled gaming experience. Really though, for the price, what did I have to lose?

Sometimes, reviewers are not that far off: as a gaming experience Hellboy: Science of Evil was incredibly frustrating, not just for what it was, but worse, for the potential it squandered.


Chances are great that if you're reading this, you are already familiar with the well-loved characters, and perhaps marginally curious if this game is worth picking up for a certain amount of "fan-factor", so I'll cut to the chase and simply start by mentioning positives and negatives as I experienced them:

• Positives: the story adheres to both comic book and movie "universes," the voice work is done by the actor who portrayed Hellboy in the films (let's face it Ron Perlman, IS Hellboy!), the cut screen graphics are adequate and the characterization (movements and vocals) of Hellboy are solid.
• Not-so-positives: repetitive game play, including some odd game play moments when jumps aren't jumps or necessary objects or paths are off screen and difficult to find, the game play is not very intuitive, repetitive game play, the other characters from the book/movie are missing from the main story (though appearing on the box), this lack of playability of other characters makes the gameplay even more... repetitive.

There are also the standard (for older-generation games) dissolving rocks and melting set pieces, ghost graphics and dead spots. The game play was VERY frustrating and were it not for a gamefaq/walkthrough, I would have given up on this game after the first chapter during which it was impossible to figure out just what I, as the player, needed to find to move onto the next chapter.

Say "goodbye" to the only video game I've ever "walked out of" before it was over...

NBIM Day 22: Fantastic Four Chronicles (1982)

Parodies by both Fred Hembeck and Don Martinec (above) pepper Chronicles.

As National (Comic Book) Back Issue  Month  (NBIM) rolls on, and I reflect back on the titles I have thus far shared, it is more than a little surprising that I have yet to have posted about anything with the Fantastic Four (FF) or written and/or drawn by John Byrne--two of my all-time industry favorites. Like many, Byrne's run (starting first with breakdowns with issue #209 in 1979 and ending with issue #293 in 1986) on FF was both a gateway to comic book collecting and a high point. 

This cover, if net yet hanging
 in a museum, shoudl be.

During (and after) his FF work, I followed Byrne wherever he went wheter with Alpha Flight Volume 1 or to DC Comics Superman: Man of Steel reboot. I also stayed with the FF's various through various lurching starts, stops and start-up agains. I still collect FF, mostly out of affection for the past, and despite it's (to me) surprising recent success, have managed to be marginally engaged with the Hickman run. Maybe it's just that no one for me will ever create Fantastic Four adventures like John Byrne.

The Fantastic Four Chronicles, released in 1982 by FantaCo Enterprises (with the permission of Marvel Comics), is a collection of articles, interviews and recollections by many of the key contributors to the Fantastic Four mythos up through FF issue #241. John Byrne's essay "The Fantastic Four: A Personal Recollection" is one of a number of high points, written during the middle of his legendary run.

In 1982, the $1.50 cover price was something of an investment for a 13 year-old but one I made for two reasons: it was about the FF, so why wouldn't I buy it? and the beautifully realized cover by Byrne which, to my childhood eyes, appeared to have been painted in way that dictated it's hanging in a museum. After purchasing it, I enjoyed the pictures (especially the series spanning centerfold by Byrne) and read different parts of each interview and article before placing it into a comic book bag for safe keeping.

Eventually, many years later, I returned to the issue and read it, as a college student, for what it was: an interesting exploration into the creative and editorial process, and further evidence that those involved with comic books do (and should) love comic books. Fantastic Four Chronicles also includes interviews with Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, and others, while also offering a tribute to FF co-creator Jack "The King" Kirby. Toward the back, there is a cool "Fantastic Four Checklist" with to-date information about all things FF Marvel had published to date that surely fueled my collector fever by presenting comic books as archivable, lasting "things" to be savored, stored and shared.

While Fantastic Four Chronicles is out of print, and may be difficult to come by (that is part of the fun, isn't it?), copies (and collections of FantaCo's Marvel "Chronicles" series (including Daredevil and The Avengers) are out there for the finding, and worth the effort if you are a fan.

Welcome to National Back Issue Month 2012!

Devil Dinosaur #1 (1978) edited, written and drawn by Jack "The King" Kirby.

It's ba-a-a-ack: September is once again National Back Issue Month! I'm unclear as to just how "official" this is in terms of comic book industry support, one of the folks who frequents the same lcs (local comic shop) as I has set up a NBIM Facebook group, and as I'm always looking or subjects on which to post I thought I'd go with it. Last year, I had hoped to post an issue each day of the month, but petered out about five days in; day 5 from last year can be seen here.

Begun last year as an anti-celebration of the Fall 2011 relaunch/reboot/redux of the DC Universe, it is just as relevant this year with the impending soft relaunch/reboot/reduxof the Marvel 616 Universe, Marvel NOW! The idea is that tthroughout September, when collector's new and old go into your local comic book store, they should add to the purchase of their new releases some goodies from the back issue boxes.  Often there are a great many comics that can be purchased for prices often the same (or less!) than a modern comic. The first issue of my NBIM celebration was culled from my own longboxes, Devil Dinosaur #1.
 
Devil Dinosaur was first released in early 1978 when I was nine years old. I had just begun collecting comic books, starting with another Kirby-infused classic, Fantastic Four (long after Kirby and Stan Lee had departed, of course). While I never did purchase Devil when it was originally released, I was glad to see it appear in a pile of older comics given to me by a colleague. Just the heading "NOW! The fantastic FIRST ISSUE," reminds the fanboy how, before incessant renumbering and rebooting, "first issues" used to mean something.

Devil Dinosaur co-starred Moon Boy, a characetr whose design was clearly influenced by
Kirby's work on an earlier  Marvel 2001: A Space Odyssey  comic book.

My first real Devil Dinosaur story was his brief appearance in Marvel's Godzilla issue 21 which came out right around the same time. Dinosaur's never seem to have much luck with ongoing series, Devil Dinosaur lasted only nine months and Godzilla went only 24 issues. Even the more current Runaways series was short lived despite being deemed a hit. (One character, Old Lace, is a genetically modified, human-sized dino, but that's close enough to be in the conversation.)

Devil Dinosaur is the perfect NBIM book: great visuals by a legendary creator doing fine work on one of his lesser, and therefore more affordable, works.

Binging & Purging

It has been a fantastic summer break, but now that I have spent much time filling gaps in comic runs and reorganizing (most of) my collection it is time to get back to "work." Not surprisingly, the process of organizing was not inexpensive. To do it well, I felt it was necessary to  purchase backboards and bags for each book, cardboard dividers for each newly purchased  longbox, and, most expensively, filling in some gaps in runs that I had wanted to see bridged. of course these "gaps" are filled by purchasing back issues of older comic runs.


Price of Bat Lash #5? 90 cents.
Value of a completed run to a fanboy?
Priceless!

The expense was not in the individual cost of each comic (all of which were cover price or cheaper) but in the volume of acquisitions. Sometimes this required unusually odd purchases from the Internet that were (after checking) unavailable at my local comic shop, such as issue 5 of DC's 2007 mini-series Bat Lash featuring art from the legendary (and recently deceased)  John Severin. This little jewel of a series also boasts a script by Peter Brandvold and Sergio Aragones, with a sharp cover Walter Simonson. For those of you who are not "in the know" that (with the exception of co-writer Branvold) is an extraordinary cast of creators!

But, now that I have spent some the my free time binging on comic book from the past, I need to update my weekly pull list and purge myself of some titles I have recently picked up am no longer willing to purchase regularly. It is a vicious circle. It is possible that next summer one of the titles I drop this month will fall back into my favor (new creative team, new direction) and I'll search for the issue to bridge the gap. As fate would have it, some titles I have enjoyed have recently wrapped up (iZombie and Gears of War), so some losses are through attrition. Truth is, I enjoy streamlining my pulls in such a way that I can focus the significantly reduced time I have to fewer titles and enjoy them more fully.

It's been a blast... see you in the trades (maybe)!

So it is au revoir to the following titles for the foreseeable future: Dark Avengers, X-Force, The Massive, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, G.I. Combat, Frankenstein Agent of Shade, '68 Scars, Batman, Fatale, Debris, Planetoid, Mind MGT, Planet of the Apes, Conan the Barbarian, Warlord of Mars, Mind the Gap, Warriors of Mars and Rachel Rising.  To be fair, some of these books have only been purchased this summer (idle hands and blah-blah-blah), so the only real regret is not stopping sooner (though each did have a quality which endeared it to me in the first place. FYI: Action Comics may also soon join these titles, once Grant Morrison wraps up his run on the title.

Allowing a day or two to recover from the hangover my collecting binge, and eventual purge, has left me with, I'm looking forward to getting back to school and getting back to weekly trips to the local comic shop to catch up with those titles which have made the cut...

Weekly Reading or "Why I Give Up On The Fantastic Four"

Despite negative commentary below, really, not a bad week, if I do say so myself!

Week-long school recesses are always a great time to catch up on light reading--or long runs of missed comic book series. In addition to the aforementioned The Walking Dead, Volume 3 trade paperback, I picked up a number of titles this week I had been looking forward to. After last week's uninspiring haul, and one that quite honestly had me questioning my commitment to more than one title, this week's issues seem to hold much more promise.

The only instant analysis I can offer is that a very quick read through of both Fantastic Four #603 and Uncanny X-Force #22 has only served to (unfortunately) reinforce my suspicions that I may be completely done with monthly Marvel Comics.

This is a disappointing turn of events, as I have been buying Fantastic Four for the better part of 35 years, and despite a lauded run by Marvel's latest "go-to" guy Jonathan Hickman, I am at the point where I have to confess to just not "getting it." Online reviews would lead you to believe that Fantastic Four (I can't even properly use the term "FF" as it has been co-opted by Hickman for use with a sister-comic entitled FF) is in the midst of a genre defining run. While I am glad that some like the stories (but would question how many are "new" readers), I find Hickman's big-thinking pseudo-science cold and unfeeling--just because the two character's who comprise the heart of the team--Sue and Ben--are always tearing up doesn't mean the proper emotional connection has been made with the reader. Well, this reader anyway.

Here's what I took home from the shop this week:

Uncanny X-Force #22 (Marvel)
Fantastic Four #603 (Marvel)
Prophet # 22 (Image)
American Vampire #24 (Vertigo)
The Sixth Gun #19 (Oni)
The Walking Dead #89, 90 , 93
The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #2 (IDW)
All Star Western #36 (DC)
I, Vampire #6 (DC)

The great news pertains to my latest fixation creating a pleasant challenge: resisting the urge to spoil events between issues 18 and 90 of The Walking Dead, as I am going to try my best to read them in order so that the narrative flow of the storyline remains intact. Over the next few months I hope to fill the gaps with trades, but the wait will not be easy. With any luck, next week's pull list will be short enough that I can pick up the fourth trade, too.

Turntable: Phillip Glass

Music is the common language of Turtle Island. The musical soundscape invites us to search all of its corners, and I particularly enjoy travelling to those islands that sing/celebrate in tones and languages which I can't comprehend linguistically or intellectually, but can feel deep in my bones. I don't know much about music, have never played an instrument, and can't carry a tune, but I like to be moved by sound...

As a kid growing up in an urban home, my friends and I listened to KRS-1, Public Enemy, Nirvana and AC/DC. One day in college as a was thumbing through the used albums(!), I came across a dark cover with light gray digital markings and a single bright red word splashed across the front: Koyaanisqatsi. Just below the title in small white, crisp print were the words "Music by Philip Glass."

Late at night, if I close my eyes, sometimes I still hear Albert DeRuiter's baritone (monotone?) chant from the title track of Philip Glass' soundtrack to the film Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance. As a side note, not knowing what an "arthouse" was, and lacking the bravery to seek one out alone, I did not see the film for which the music was written for until almost 10 years later.

Years later when I went to see the movie Kundun, the music was unmistakenly similiar to the record of my college days. Again, "music by Philip Glass". Checking the liner notes to the Kundan soundtrack, I learned that Glass is a practicing Buddhist. With this knowledge, my understanding of the simple, almost atonal sounds of both records connected with me on yet another level.

For a unique musical experience, I would like to suggest that you seek out these two soundtracks: Koyaanisqatsi and Kundun both composed by Phillip Glass. Glass is just one artist of interest on Turtle Island and I invite you to suggest some others, just as I will in future Soundscapes.

Click to purchase the compact disk Koyaanisqatsi online through Barnes & Noble

Click to purchase the compact disk Kundun online through Barnes & Noble