Walking on the Moon

Just so you all know, I did get into a real-world, out-loud discussion today about who would win a fight between R2D2 and Dr. Zaius.  (I was an Artoo supporter.)

I’ve got short reviews of Theodore Rex and WLT: A Radio Romance up on Bell, Book, and Candle.

Last weekend, on the 5th, I picked up and flew out to Flabob Airport in Riverside. Flabob’s my favorite kind of airport - small and full of activity. There’s a good inexpensive cafe there, and flying in is a good way to sharpen up my uncontrolled field skills. It was very hazy in the basin, partially due to all the wildfires, and not a perfect day for sightseeing from the air. Still it’s always nice to get up and see the world.  I popped in for lunch and a couple turns around the pattern.

On the way home it sounded as if someone had wandered into an airspace they should not have been in. I heard an airliner get a landing clearance canceled. I heard a similar problem last time, which I hope is just bad luck, not an indication of a rise in pilot deviations.

I took a few pictures at Flabob:

Two weeks in here:

Captain America #39, Brubaker, De La Torre, D’Armata. The Skull (?) continues his move, but the good guys are moving, too. From a plot perspective things are on the move more than the characterization this issue, but there are still some nice touches. We get to see Sam and Bucky working on the superhero tradition of talking and fighting simultaneously in a sparring session, and Sin find out once again how ineffective she is against real fighters; fortunately she’s a teen-ager and will never notice it. Still great super-hero work.

Madame Xanadu #1, Matt Wagner & Amy Reeder Hadley. Madame Xanadu is one of the many mystic powers of the DC/Vertigo universe who’s never really been a headliner nor a personal favorite, so it wasn’t out of any love for the character that I picked this up. What drew me to it was Matt Wagner who’s been a favorite creator since his Mage days. Wagner doesn’t disappoint in this issue with a fast-paced, introduction of the players and conflicts in this first arc, set in Arthurian times - obviously a setting with which he has some familiarity. The action is brisk and clear, and though the connection to Madame Xanadu is obscure at this point, it’s very diverting. I expected great things from Wagner, but I’ve never read anything by Hadley. Her art is really breathtaking: every page layout conveys the enormities of the settings and powers at play without slowing the narrative; individual panels are clear and crisp. Even the clouds of pixies that surround the magicians are enjoyable rather than annoying. This is a remarkable combination of storytellers. Well worth checking out.

Glamorpuss #1, Dave Sim. The problem with being Dave Sim - or I suppose one of the problems with being Dave Sim - is that you’ve become such an outsized personality that no matter what you set out to do, part of your work will always be judged partially as a reflection of you personally. Given that Sim is perceived as being either ridiculously conservative on women’s issues or downright misogynistic, when I saw what is apparently a fashion magazine parody
from him, I feared the worst. Didn’t stop me from buying it, mind you, but I expected some sort of rant trailing off into incoherence thinly disguised as parody. What I got was something else altogether.

Often when a reviewer throws out that phrase - “something else altogether” - they mean that there was a twist in the plot, or a particularly well executed piece of work that elevated it above expectations. Compared to its front cover, Glamorpuss really is something entirely different. (OK, Roy Thomas’s description on the back cover description is accurate, but who would believe it?) The book includes a (workmanlike) parody of fashion magazines in there that does hit the content advertised in the cover blurbs, but basically it’s 25 pages of Dave Sim polishing his considerable art skills by drawing photorealistic pictures of young girls. And he’s very up front about this inside. This is a Dave Sim sketchbook where he’s translating fashion magazine pictures into comics idiom working from lessons from some of the classics of serial comic strips. The word balloons and captions are mostly a discussion of what he’s learning and how he’s executing the work. It’s remarkably diverting and gorgeous to look at.

Whatever one thinks about Sim’s opinions are on Pressing Issues Of The Day, I think his opinions on the study and creation of comic art are fascinating. I think he’s an authentic genius of the comic page and it’s a delight to find him sharing that genius, especially in this bizarre format. A must.

Sad to see George go.  Via the AV Club, here are some of his words on death.

Boing Boing points out an interesting church sign.  As with many signs and portents, I thing interpretation is key.

Will Eisner’s The Spirit #18, Aragones, Evanier, Smith, Wong. There’s nothing wrong with this issue - no grotesque misalignments of anatomy or anything - but it still doesn’t work for me. As an Eisner tribute, it’s competent and conservative. As a riff on classic characters it’s a tame placement into modern times. It’s a good comic, but no one seems invested in breathing their own life into it.

Grendel: Behold the Devil #8 of 8, Matt Wagner. Behold the Devil ends somewhat anticlimactically. Wagner’s a victim of his own success here. The Hunter Rose Grendel’s story is immutable in all but details and operatic in scope even before the larger saga grows from it. The revelations in Behold the Devil are really a gilding of the lily - interesting enough for a Grendel completeist like myself, but not resonant. Unlike, say the two incidental protagonists of Batman/Grendel, the non-Grendel folks in this series have their destinies clear from the moment we see them on panel. Innocents caught in Grendel’s whirlwind are on the ride of their lives, but have some hope that they’ll merely be tossed onto fate’s shores somewhere they never expected; actual antagonists are invariably atomized (except Batman, of course). These two are clearly going to be annihilated as soon as their fumblings catch Hunter’s eye.

Wagner’s been able to tell exciting stories within those constraints before, but he’s running out of new angles. I don’t begrudge him the attempts, he’s a brilliant creator. And there’s plenty of craft on display here; Wagner’s storytelling and art are clear and keen. Sadly that craft is in the service of a story only an aficionado of Hunter could like, and they know how it comes out.

I’d call it a noble miscue.

Anna Mercury #2, Ellis and Percio. There’s no way that the second issue of this could be as good as the first - and it isn’t - but the ride’s still fast enough that no one’s catching their breath. It’s got the same feel as Speed or the first Star Wars (Episode IV).  You don’t want to look away for fear you’ll miss something.  Beyond that there’s still the seed planted in issue 1 that there’s still more to this than meets the eye. High energy fun.

“Ted, what’s your house number?”

“What?”

“It’s your Uncle John.  I’m on your street looking for your house and I don’t know the number.”

That’s my Uncle, all right.

He showed up Friday night looking for a place to catch a few z’s between San Luis Obispo and his home outside Phoenix.  My family isn’t the best long term planners.  I haven’t seen him in several years and we spent a day or so catching up and taking a flight before he was off again.  He’s a good guy and it was fun to see him. Brenda snapped a picture to document the history.

Doktor Sleepless #7, Ellis & Rodriguez.  At this point you’re probably either on the bus or off the bus with respect to this title.  I will say that this issue had particularly sharp dialog through it, though there were some clumps of exposition about the world’s underlying technology that showed the man behind the curtain a bit too clearly.  The graphical storytelling had some nice moments as well.  The siren call of the book remains the ideas, though and there were several nice ones scattered throughout.

Also of interest, the backmatter includes a transcript of a talk about the work so far.  Interesting analysis, and might draw some folks in who wouldn’t otherwise have come to it.  Assuming such people read the backmatter of issue 7 of a random comic; maybe it’s more for current readers.

A few words about Berg’s Lindbergh bio are up on Bell, Book, and Candle.