Calexit Finally Hits the Shelves

Bursting with extra pages and political essays, Black Mask has finally delivered the first issue of "Calexit", their speculative fiction comic about the secession of California from the United States.

Make that "attempted secession."

When I first heard about it, I thought it was a nice time-capsule that harnessed the anger and frustration of the nation after the election of 2016.

I was excited to check it out, and included it as a Hot Jazz book for May, when it was due out.

Black Mask has, eh, shall we say aggressive deadline claims? It has a difficult time meeting some of those timetables, especially as the Big Two companies snatch up their talent.

Well, here's to hoping the next issue comes out within the next two months. Why two months?

Why not? It seems reasonable and likely, seeing as how it sounds like we'll be waiting until December for the last issue of 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, only eighteen months after the first issue was released.

Is it "Comix" or a "Sequential Art Project"?

I found some more underground, small print run graphic art comic that could be construed as comix, but that could be a stretch, seeing as how the subject matter isn't exactly comix-themed:

It's a collection of The Cave Man Speaks comics from Guarino and Westerfield, who I believe published originally online.

It also collects a longer form silent piece starring the main caveman from the cover in a bit of a darker role.

All in all, its pretty good, and I like supporting the fringes of the fringe. I am inspired to check out their other, far longer collaborations: "Amboy, Pop. 5" and "Moses", both of which are stationed at a local indie record store.

Free Graphic History Lesson

Recently returning from an adventure to old stomping grounds in New York City, I'm able to sit down and type up about a random free comic I grabbed from the park center at Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn:

Daly Clement is credited with the writing duties, with the job being the adaptation of Thomas During's memoir of surviving a British prison ship during the Revolutionary War.

This is an aspect of history I didn't know: the British would imprison their POWs in ships in Brooklyn's harbor where they were mercilessly treated.

James Bentley is the illustrator and while he has talent, is likely his first work that's gone to an outside publisher. The first and last page are digitally colored, while the interior is black and white, and the backgrounds are rather plain, but the story---and the storytelling---is moving.

I love these types of surprises: free comics independently printed and funded by Chase Bank and the Rush Philanthropic Foundation that illuminate a thing I previously knew nothing about.

Future Force Returns for Valiant

Like Secret Weapons a month before, Valiant is dusting off one of their older property names, using nearly identical font.

Back in 1992, starting with issue #9, "Rai" became "Rai and the Future Force":

And this summer the concept is either getting recycled, rebooted, or re-purposed, only it's a miniseries and it stars Faith:

I can honestly say with a touch of embarrassment that I haven't done my research into either of these story arcs. I read plenty of Valiant books, but I likely won't be adding this to my pull list. I like that not only are they re-purposing the title (my guess), they're using essentially the same word marking.

Beyond the Margins

If "sequential art" is mostly referred to as "comics", and this site is a place to talk about "independent" or the hipper "indie" comics, then "comix" is the drugged out punk rock bassist cousin of comics, selling cigarette smelling swag at shows.

Robert Crumb used to create sequential art about his scene, the first LSD wave in 1965 in San Francisco, and sell them out of a baby carriage walking up and down the Haight. They were sequential art stories about drug use and sex, police brutality, and general counter cultural stuff. It was given the title "comix."

Nowadays comix can be found in indie record stores, skate shops, and other random spots where punk rock still means something.

I found this, issue number five from Dumptruck Press:

Inside there is a specifically comix story, some drawings from one of Dumptruck's publishers, some neat photographs from different folks of skate boarding in action, and two separate anecdotes about meeting up with band members of different bands (and taking mushrooms).

It holds all the aspects of a comix publication these days: comix-styled sequential art, and content from other medium.

Here's the reverse of this issue:

This was a glossy production printed on 8.5" x 11" paper and folded in half.

I try to support sequential art in all it's forms, mostly independents and way-independents, but also occasionally one of the majors as well.

Catching Up on Readings, Part 2

This is the threatened follow up to the last post about catching up on reading the titles I get from my local store (the indie-cross sectional), but this is the Valiant edition:

The fist issue above is #27 from their Ninjak line:

This is actually the last of this title run. From here they're moving on with their Rapture title, with Ninjak, Magpie/Shadowman, and Punk Mambo helping the geomancer in the Deadside. That will span four months during which there will be no regular Ninjak title, and then they return after Rapture with a new numbering system and title Ninja-K, which is where this new iteration got his name, the 11th of MI-6's ninja agents.

Anyway, this is one helluva single issue. farewell or not. Ninjak ends up killing a scientist who has been busy with vivisection of some sort---splicing human DNA with other animals to varying degrees. Ninjak got the research, so killing the scientist was just a bonus. The main takeaway is that there's a secret government agency that is funding this research and its creation of human-hybrid-super-warriors. There are just too many risks in the world---magic, aliens, psiots---for regular humans to not do anything.

Next on the list is the second issue to the high profile follow up of one of their most well regarded titles of last year, Britannia:

Antonious Axia is back in the middle of everything again, only this time in Rome, as he's working for Nero specifically, and this time Nero is finally pushed to the brink. I'm sure our hero, and his lady-warrior-enemy/ally will survive the assault on the last page.

Juan Jose Ryp's art is phenomenal, if a little busy, and Peter Milligan is doing his thing. Sometimes I think this title could be published by Image or IDW or Boom! or Dark Horse...what makes it specifically have to be in the Valiant Universe? Is it the Vestal's Codex? Is that the same book hunted for in the Dr. Mirage series?

Next up is the third issue of this year's biggest Valiant title, the new X-O Manowar launch:

Lush to look at, this pre-order edition has all the extras that I'll be missing with the other issues (since I missed the pre-order deadline). Also, I can't get enough of Matt Kindt.

Lastly is the first issue of their fantasy epic storyline Rapture:

The art by Cafu is great and the story is multi-faceted like Kindt's best work. I wasn't really planning on getting this miniseries, but it was in my pull, and I'll definitely stick with it. Having read much of Kindt's work over the last few years, I can say that this issue reminds me more of his awesome multi-layered early Ninjak material than even the great new X-O series.

The new X-O is awesome, but fairly straightforward. Obviously it's hard work creating an entire universe with dynamic and contentious civilizations, and the nuance of the multi-layered, more earth-bound stories, will return, I'm sure. The fact that Kindt has already created three contentious and dynamic civilizations in three issues is a testament to his skill.

Rapture is going to be great when all chapters are in.

Catching Up On Readings, Part 1

With school coming to an end and a baby that's beginning to walk (and get fevers), I've fallen behind in reading the few books I have at my local shop.

Always a champion of the indie-fare, I realized that my reading pile was a cross section of some of the cooler independent works available.

This post is split between these four comics and the next four, only the next four are all Valiant books. Here we have a fully independent Italian-created Texan cowboy, and works from some of the day's hottest tiny companies: Black Mask, Aftershock, and Boom! Studios:

The first stop on my reading tour was this FCBD offer, a title and character of which I'd never heard:

Created in the 1950s in Italy, and as much a part of their collective consciousness as Superman and Batman, Tex is a cowboy and social justice warrior, the father to a half Navajo boy and apparently the leader of the Navajo themselves, he seems to epitomize all of the romantic Old West ideals that appeal so keenly to Europeans.

In this excerpt of the longer and black & white Tex: Patagonia, an American reader gets a glimpse of a world they never even conceive of: westward expansion of the white man (definitely familiar territory) in Argentina (???). We get Gauchos, cool non-American cowboy hats, and frank discussions between a half Navajo/half white kid and the general of the expeditionary forces about how the possible slaughter of native tribes may not sit so well with him and his father, the titular character of the tale. The general's response showed me the level of big-picture storytelling going on: (to paraphrase) "That I recognize some tribes are allies while others are not is why I have been sent."

The second issue on my current reading list is the long-awaited issue #4 of 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank:

The only thing that remotely bothers me about this series---and books in general from Black Mask---is the release schedule. Tiny companies that are trying to exist on the margins by creating awesome niche or otherwise novel and original content should be better about getting their books out at regular intervals.

I understand that Matthew Rosenberg's father has medical issues that pushed issue #3 back months, and that reset the entire series timeline. And I understand that tiny companies trying to exist on the margins must have an extraordinarily difficult time just staying afloat. Mad props.

Anyway, the tale of Paige trying to save her dad from going to prison by teaming up with her friends to rob the same bank her dad and his idiot cronies are planing on robbing is starting to pay off, and with just a single issue to go, I can tell that the subdued yet fantastically quirky art and wild storyline are just going to leave me wanting more.

Next, from another company on the margin, Aftershock, comes John Layman and Sam Kieth's second (of five) issue of Eleanor and the Egret:

I love the art: rough and raw, expressive and colorful, Kieth's passion flows from every panel. The story is just weird enough to grip me, and the plot thickened as we get the news of a connection between Anastasia Rue, the artist whose paintings Eleanor is stealing, and Eleanor herself. Also, it seems like everyone has a pet of some kind.

Last on this list is Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins third issue of Grass Kings from Boom! Studios:

Jenkins's watercolors are beautiful and Kindt's story is paced like an episode of network television, but a half-hour show. It goes by so fast, leaving you thirsty for more, and not feeling like you've just read two dozen pages.

The cover image from above is the gruesome climax to this issue: one of the sheriff's henchmen from the town across the lake---the Grass Kingdom's foe---has been killed and must be disposed of. Only it's too dangerous to weigh him down and sink him in the lake because that's the first place anyone would look. So these guys just drop the corpse behind some blockers, set up a guard, and let the scavengers have at him.

There is some really good work being done at the moment in the industry, and I'm glad to be able to enjoy it.

Look at these titles. Four books: one excerpt of a graphic novel, two miniseries, and one ongoing title, and nary a superpowered character anywhere in sight...unless we're counting the talking egret Ellis, I suppose.