Click Here To Read Part 1 of this week's Comic Column!!!
Hey folks, Harry here with Andrew and the crew of Gray Haven that took the time to go through the world of ONI PRESS and give us all a looksee at what's new... Personally, my favorite place in the Oni World is a certain igloo of a certain daughter of Santa Claus... that's right, Jingle Belle. Rumors around the frozen tundra claim there might be... gasp, shudder, holding breath... exhale......... Hollywood Development on the girl that Paul Dini loves to play with... Check out the cool animations and the non-stop look at what is happening at the North Pole this minute... Here's Andrew....
Oni Press
-by Andrew Goletz
(special thanks to my GHM cohorts Barry Wolborsky and Jack Blake for assisting with this one…and pay attention, we give out prizes in the end).
If you’re looking for pure quality in a Comic Publisher, you can’t do better than Oni Press. They have the best batting average in the industry. If you go into a comic store and see that little Oni Press logo, odds are that you’ll get a damn good comic. It’s hard to even think what the last sub-par Oni comic book was. Although they’ve only been around a short time, they continue to make a huge impact in the comic industry due to the quality of their books. With an emphasis on the story rather than gimmicks like multiple covers and 10 part crossovers, Oni Press has come to be known as THE place to take your creator-owned work.
Superstar creators Brian Michael Bendis, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Greg Rucka and Kevin Smith have all done projects with Oni Press, and the company continues promote the best new talents in the industry including Paul Dini (Batman the Animated Series) Phil Hester (The Coffin), Chynna Clugston-Major (Blue Monday), Jim Mahfood (Grrl Scouts/Stupid Comics), Jen Van Meter (Blair Witch/Hopeless Savages), J Torres (Alison Dare), Andi Watson (Geisha/Breakfast After Noon), Judd Winick (Barry Ween).
Oni Press may not be capable of putting out a bad comic. One of the benefits of being a smaller publishing company is more quality control, I suppose. Here is what we have to say about 8 of their more notable work that you can still find now. There’s a reason the lowest grade any of the books gets is an ‘A’.
The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius:
-reviewed by Barry Wolborsky
The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius, by Judd Winick (former Real World, San Francisco housemate who recently received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his Graphic Novel ‘Pedro and Me’) is one of the laugh out loud funniest comic books I’ve ever read. As the title indicates, it’s about a foul-mouthed, 10-year old boy genius and his best friend Jeremy, who is anything but. Starting out as a three-issue mini-series first published by Image Comics in 1999, it has since been reprinted in trade paperback format by Oni Press and spawned two additional mini-series, also published by Oni. The third and latest mini-series has been expanded to six issues and is currently on it’s 2nd, with the third about to ship this month. One of the great things about this series is that each issue is done in one, so there’s no need to search out back issues to catch up to any ongoing storyline. But trust me, you’ll want to.
On the surface, the main appeal of Barry Ween is it’s sharp, often crass humor, mixed in with action-adventure. But underneath, it’s a series about friendship, loyalty and being accepted for who you are. Winick’s exaggerated art style art fits the tone of the comic perfectly and it’s by far his best series work to date.
The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius is one of the freshest, funniest comic books currently being published and is highly recommended.
Grade: A+
Alison Dare, Little Miss Adventures:
- reviewed by Jack Blake
J.Torres has to be the most under-rated creator working in comics. The guy has put out an incredible body of work this year. Not even counting the wonderful ‘Slice of Life’ story he did for Slave Labor a few years back (The Copybook Tales, which will be available in TP from Fanboy this summer), he’s been writing some of the best stories in the industry. ‘Monsters Inc’, ‘Sidekicks’ and, of course, ‘Alison Dare’. I prefer his writing on this book because it seems the most similar to TCT, which is one of my favorite books ever. In Alison Dare, the adult and child characters speak realistically. Never once do I think to myself, oh this is only a comic book. Torres knows his characters and instills them with unique and interesting personalities. On top of that, his scenes with the Blue Scarab hero are very funny in a retro sort of pulp superhero style
J. Bone has a simplistic, yet terrific artist ability. He doesn’t fill his backgrounds in with a lot of detail, but the work doesn’t call for it, either. What he does draw is filled with life and energy and the pictures seem to move on the pages as you read them. There’s something special that I’ve always liked about this cleaner style of drawing. Bone’s work, ironically enough, reminds me the most of Jeff Smith, who does similar things in his own series, Bone.
Alison Dare is a wonderful idea for a comic book. The best way I could describe it is to tell you to imagine a young ‘miss’ Indiana Jones, but on an entirely more fun level. And this is by far the best issue of the series so far. The one-shot last year was spectacular and issue #1 of this mini-series was damn good, but here all the stops are pulled out. We learn all about the secret past of Alison’s parents and how they met. We also finally learn the origin of the Blue Scarab, during what may be his final adventure. Torres did a great job of connecting all of these different pieces into one solid story. There’s still one more issue to go before this mini wraps up, but I really hope they’re planning more Miss Adventures very soon.
Grade: A
Blue Monday: The Kids Are Alright
Blue Monday: Absolute Beginners
- reviewed by Barry Wolborsky
Originally published as a series of short stories in various comic anthologies at Dark Horse and then Oni, Chynna Clugston-Major’s character of Bleu Finnegan and friends were finally given their own three-issue mini-series, the Eisner nominated Blue Monday: The Kids Are Alright, in the spring of 2000. The short stories and mini-series have been collected into an affordable digest size trade paperback and a new, 4-issue mini-series called Blue Monday: Absolute Beginners is currently in progress.
The book, drawn in a manga-influenced style, is heavy on the comedy, and is a great look at a group of guys and girls in high school back in the early ‘90’s. It’s about friendship, Mods, teen lust, Brit-pop, practical jokes and being a teenage girl. But most of all it’s about fun, light-hearted comic books in which the creator lovingly recreates a part of her own past for mass consumption and does so with flair and humor.
Blue Monday is easily one of my favorite comics. It makes me laugh and more importantly makes me feel like I know the characters from my own High School days. It’s a great series and one that I highly recommend.
Grade: A+
For more on Chynna Clugston-Major, CLICK HERE
Breakfast After Noon:
- reviewed by Andrew Goletz
Written and illustrated by Andi Watson (Geisha and the forthcoming ‘Slow News Day’ from Slave Labor Graphics), BAN was one of the best comic series to come out in the past year and one of the best ‘slice of life’ stories to come out in years.
BAN tells the story of Rob and Louise, a couple engaged to be married, going through some rough times before the wedding. Rob loses his job through no fault of his own (simple economics...the company closed its doors) and settles into a funk. Louise meanwhile is trying to do whatever she can to make the situation better for the both of them. She wants to move forward with the wedding and with their life together. Rob doesn't think that he can do anything but work in the pottery field. Instead of going on job interviews, he rejects opportunities because they aren't what he's looking for.
While Rob starts to sink into depression because of the situation, Louise becomes more and more aggravated with him. Rob starts trying to find any excuse not to take a new job. Whether Rob is feeling guilty about his inability to provide or if he's just lazy, Louise does her best to cope, but it eventually becomes too much. They start to drift apart. Certainly it's too early in the relationship to be having these types of fights, but Rob doesn't appear to want to change and Louise can't just 'hope for the best' when she sees no effort on Rob's part.
I had no idea how this story would end and I was on the edge of my seat with every turn of the page. The story works because we’ve all been there. We've all had relationships where for one reason or another you had a fight and one of you wants their space while the other can't deal with the separation and the uncertainty. You want to call or visit the other person, but you know that by doing so it will only make things worse. You know what you did. The question here is 'what will Rob' do. Will he be patient and let things take their course or will he try and make Louise see what he feels?
When 'relationship stories' are written well, they can provide more humor than the best comedies, more anxiety than the best thrillers and more depth than the best dramas. Breakfast After Noon is all of these and more. Watson succeeds in every way that a creator can in this medium.
We don't really know what Rob and Louise were like before they got engaged and this series started, but we don't necessarily need to, either. The characters are so well written and defined that we just accept the fact that we don't know every single detail about them. I think the story works better like this, anyway.
The Breakfast After Noon Trade Paperback, reprinting all 6 issues, comes out July 6th. 200 pages for $19.95
Grade: A+
For more on Andi Watson, CLICK HERE
The Coffin:
- reviewed by Andrew Goletz
Written by Phil Hester (who is penciling the Kevin Smith written Green Arrow for DC Comics) and beautifully illustrated by Mike Huddleston, The Coffin is a brilliant and terrifying mix of science fiction and horror. The creative team has taken archetypes and situations we've seen before and twisted them into something ultimately more satisfying.
The story is about a scientist, Dr. Ashar Ahmad who has discovered a way to keep the soul alive after the body has passed, through a robotic looking containment unit. The doctor isn’t a very good man. He’s neglected his wife and has a child he doesn't even know. When Dr. Ahmad is betrayed and shot, he has only moments to get himself into the suit to save himself. He manages to put himself into the body in the nick of time and his consciousness is transformed into the robot...his coffin. But the people behind his death aren't satisfied. The man in charge wants the suit for himself so that he can essentially be immortal. The villain in this series, Oliver Heller, is a truly evil son of a bitch. He's the type of villain that you love to hate. He's killed before and he'll kill again to get what he wants. In fact, he'll do more than kill to achieve his objectives. And he'll strike at you through passive means just as soon as he would have you killed, which makes him even more dangerous.
For a black and white book, the art here is more vivid and telling than what you find in most color productions. It's amazing to look at, really. The expressions on the human characters are captured wonderfully, and the backgrounds and hard objects like the Coffin look almost 3 dimensional.
The design of the Coffin is something else that is striking because it has a look that blends simplicity with technology and looks like something that could actually be made.
The story offers a uniquely compelling concept, but the dialogue is just as great. The characters look like flesh and blood and they speak like 'real' people. When Dr. Ahmad finally realizes the folly of his life and just what he has done, it's an incredible and powerful moment. You can feel the emotion as he comes to the realization of the type of man he was and what type of man he wishes he could be. It's only one of many brilliant moments. All of the characters are fully developed and the thin moral lines drawn between good and evil are just skewed enough to give the reader a clear idea of who the good guy is and who the bad guy is.
Word is that this is to be adapted into a big budget film. For now, the Coffin is just a comic. It’s a very good comic that you should check out before movie hype overshadows this incredibly original and innovative series. So go and seek out the back issues, or better, yet wait for the Trade Paperback on August 10th, which will collect the entire 4-issue mini-series. 112 pages. $11.95.
Grade: A
Jetcat Clubhouse: reviewed by Jack Blake
Written and illustrated by Jay Stephens, whose ‘Land of Nod’ Treasury is also available now for $11.95, Jetcat is a comic that’s pretty hard to accurately describe. It’s most similar to ‘Alison Dare’ in that it can be read and enjoyed by young readers and adults alike. The youngsters will enjoy the sight gags and jokes while older readers will appreciate the more subtle touches.
Or you can take it from their press blurb: ‘Who says there are no comics for kids? And who says that just because it’s for kids that you can’t read it, too? I mean, milk comes out of your nose if you’re 10 or if you’re 40, right? Jetcat is the greatest elementary school-aged character to ever don a cape.’
Maybe that’s not enough to persuade you to check out this wonderful little series, but you should, particularly if there’s a young person in your family who would enjoy a story like this. Stephens has an ability to tell as much of a story with his pictures as he does with his words and Jetcat is a series that does cross the age barrier.
Grade: A
Queen and Country: -reviewed by Barry Wolborsky
Written by Greg Rucka (Whiteout, Detective Comics) and illustrated by Steve Rolston (with covers by Tim Sale), Queen & Country is Oni Press' first ongoing series. Loosely spun off from Rucka's first Whiteout mini-series, Q&C follows the exploits of Tara Chase (Lili Sharpe in Whiteout), a British Intelligence Agent and her fellow "Minders" in the Special Operations Directorate.
With only two issues under its belt, Q&C has quickly and effortlessly established it's main character and supporting cast while telling two completely different stories. The first issue deals with Tara's mission in Kosovo. The second, mostly dialogue driven issue, explores the direct repercussions of that mission on Tara's own personal life.
With expressive, versatile artwork by Rolston along with sharp characterization and dialogue from Rucka, Queen & Country is a winner from cover to cover and my pick for the best new series of 2001.
Grade: A+
For more on Steve Rolston, Click Here
For more on Greg Rucka, Click HEre
Soulwind: Books I-V
-reviewed by Barry Wolborsky
Originally published by Image Comics, Scott Morse’s Soulwind never went beyond its first 8 issues. Then in 1999, Oni Press reprinted those issues as two digest sized trade paperbacks, Soulwind Book I: The Kid From Planet Earth and Soulwind Book II: The Day I Tried To Live. Breaking convention, Oni and Morse published the remainder of the series in as three original graphic novels, Soulwind Book III: The Infamous Transit Vagrants, Soulwind Book IV: The Way Things Never Happened and completing the series, Soulwind Book V: The August Ones.
Spanning planets and centuries, the Soulwind series tells the story of a young boy named Nick and his destiny as the bearer of the magical sword, Soulwind. Combining a Star Wars-like feel for mythology, action and adventure with quiet characterization, Soulwind is an excellent read.
However, a plot synopsis at the beginning of each volume would have been a great help in recalling previous events, as each volume was published on a quarterly basis, and I found the long wait between volumes caused me to forget much of what had transpired. Fortunately, thanks to the fact that these comics are trade paperbacks and graphic novels they will presumably be kept in print for a long time, enabling those of you new to the Soulwind saga to read all 5 volumes in one or two sittings.
Overall, I highly recommend all of the Soulwind volumes as fun, exciting and at moments, touching comics literature.
Grade: A
Want to know more?
Go to Onipress.Com and check out some of the best comics being published, for free, by downloading them at the site (under free comic). Blue Monday is the featured book of the month, and the first issues of Geisha, Whiteout and Barry Ween are also archived. And while you’re tooling around on the site, be sure to check out the ‘Hopeless Savages’ strip (under Web Exclusive), which will soon debut from Oni as a 4 issue limited series in August. You can also order comics directly through Oni by clicking on ‘Store’. So check out the site and give the books a try. You won’t be disappointed.
And for an in-depth, exclusive interview with Oni Press Editor-in-Chief, Jamie S. Rich, CLICK HERE
I didn’t forget about the prizes, either!!!
First Prize:
Frumpy the Clown: Volume 1 and Volume 2. These 2 Trade Paperbacks collect Judd Winick’s Frumpy newspaper strips.
Who wins? The first person who calls the Comic Shop Locator number, goes to a comic store and purchases and reads (this is the most important part) a new comic (or more) and e-mails me what they thought.
Second Prize:
Breakfast After Noon Trade Paperback and Blue Monday: The Kids are Alright Trade Paperback. Read description above.
Who Wins? The first person who goes to Oni Press, checks out their online comics, and sends me reviews for them. The reviews will not be published unless the writer agrees to it.
Third Prize:
The Coffin Trade Paperback.
Who wins? The first person who checks out Hopeless Savages at OniPress.com and e-e-mails me what they thought.
This should be fun and you’ll all be reading some terrific books on top of it.
Can’t find a comic store in your area?
Call the Comic Shop Locator Service: 888-266-4226
Hey folks, Harry here... This week I take you back for a brief look at some of the PHOTO COVERS from the Golden Age of Comic Books... A look at the alternative lifestyle that comics afforded the readers back in the day. For example... The JOE LOUIS comic above... In this day, the comic readers courted the sports loving youth and young adult market by weaving stories and adventures about the heroes of the ring, diamond and field. In this book, Louis is an ideal, a champion... something to strive to become... Today, well... today we don't have too many of these types of sports heroes around. But looking at this cover... tell me you aren't thinking of casting Cuba Gooding Jr as Joe Louis right this second. Dear God is that not a creepy likeness?
Then you had the religious books that would hold the face of Oral Roberts... these stories were highly moral lessons wrapped up in religious doctrine. All the way up through the eighties I remember seeing books not unlike these... I believe the last one I saw was the Pope John Paul II by Marvel Comics. What self respecting comic store owner wouldn't place Oral Roberts #3 next to a HELLBLAZER #5?
We also had the wonderful books for the ladies. Notice the quote from Frank Sinatra on the cover... to ensure that the galls in the bobby socks would scoop up each and every copy. After all, what little girl didn't want to grow up to be Miss America. These comics would give way to BARBIE in decades to come.
Ahhh, now do you begin to understand the appeal of the photo cover? Hmmm? Look at that bikini... isn't it just delicious. Look at those quilted like color patters... what red blooded American man wouldn't want to see his Kitten in that outfit upon the miracle of modern science... the inflatable mattress! That's right boys... you could take a bed to the beach so that sand wouldn't get in all the unmentionable areas... This book taught the youth of the day about the problems they were going through.... the crazy issues of love, dating and what to wear. These were illustrated teen journals. Sometimes illustrated by gods...
No demographic was left unexploited by the time. This book was aimed at the afro-american community of the time. However, it should be noted that the book reads like the LIFE STORY before, but with everyone being Black instead. You would see no stories of segregation... no stories about mixed couples... These were fairly happy tales of romance. An interesting and telling document from the period, a period with Afro-Americans were commonly referred to as being the 'Negro'. Times and language change, but this book never does...
Then there were the comics that came to life with Television. THE HONEYMOONERS came on and Jackie Gleason became a star. So THE SOPRANOS is THE HONEYMOONERS of today... where are our James Gandolfini Comics? Come on... A season is too short, we need stories about our favorite Mob man that warms and chills our hearts in an hour every Sunday of a season... We need a fix! In this day... that fix came on the newstands... oh yeah, remember those?
Ya know, this book may be beat up, but ya know, I can't help but imagine this thing folded up in the back pocket of Corey Feldman in STAND BY ME... they're singing the song... a few hours later, this has to come out... A book read over and over again. You couldn't video tape your favorite shows, but you could read stories and illustrations about them... You could whistle their themes... make sound effects... play act like the characters... And these comics, this was how television was revisited by the youth of the day.
