Pittsburgh Tech Log/Sporadic Meme/Vast Wasteland//Features/Bush Watch/ Majic 12 Blog
Majic 12 Contents/ / Default Page / Inane Ramblings
Tell me how much you hate and despise my site!
See both Harlan Ellison and Virginia Postrel Uncensored!
“Once described as a
‘strontium wedding cake,’Neopolis as it is now brings to mind more a four-story,
car-pound designed by a varied committee including Ray Bradbury, Fritz Lang and Zeus. The
traffic gushes back and forth along the four-lane spiral freeway that connects the
city’s different levels, in a tide of vehicles whose lurid colorings and fins and
spines suggest a river seething with fantastic and primordial fish. At the crossings, in
the red light pauses, recent model robots, some no more than 10 years from the date of
their manufacture, trundle out to clean the windshields of the exhaust antlered
Stagmobiles and sparkling Terrificars.”
Top Ten , Books 1 and 2
Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Gene Ha, Zander Cannon
Paperback - 208 pages (July 2001)Top Ten is just one of
the great books put out by ABC comics and its one man svengali Alan Moore. It
is arguably the most science-fictional genre book ever put out. It doesn’t just have
science fictional ideas. It has every science fictional idea—good, bad, silly,
indifferent--probably ever imagined as they have been reduced and reseen through both
pulps and comics. It has parallel worlds (Our home city Neopolis, in a kind of sarcastic
aside about DC’s multiple Earths, is just one city of Many Earths) populated by Roman
Gods, sentient AIs and others. It features interstellar travel, interstellar species and a
busy (sometimes dangerous) teleportation. It features not only just your basic telepathy,
but people with synesthesia, precogs and even Stochastic Fats. Bioengineered bots,
mecha-hybrids and lamprey-legged thingies dot the landscape. Biotech alarmist Jeremy
Rifkin would faint dead away if ever placed in the Neopolis. And it has your basic
Superhero 101 templates: genetically designed gals (and their oddly annoying creators),
the athletic African satan worshipper (He’s a good guy and no I can’t quite
figure that out. It must be a pagan thing.), the girl in a mechanical suit, the girl who
can walk through walls and your basic superman type. There’s even a Popeye-like
pirate. It makes for a nice stroll through Superhero Icon Park.
The first 12 issues of Top Ten
are referred to as its first season. It's actually structured like the show of Hill
Street Blues, which I believe was openly acknowledged by Moore. Instead of the
actors and actresses who conducted the morning roll calls you’ve got your basic
talking Doberman Pincher in an exoskeleton. This is all quite the norm here in Neopolis
(read description above).
There are also some wonderful
revelations that unfold in the story over 12 issues. We have the Superman who really
isn’t a very good cop. We learn about
the superhero whose abilities really aren’t that impressive--heroes get injured and
killed in this series. We learn about the very very dark side of child heroes. I
personally like the AI cop with the heart of gold (Or does he want to rule the world?).
Alan really does a good job of explaining why people fear the AI potential. Joe P.I, who
looks like he walked off of a Voltron casting call, isn’t just scary because he can
logically talk a perp into committing suicide. He’s scary because he’s funny.
And a portly middle-aged woman with several kids fills his Iron Man suit. Not only that:
she’s lower middle class. How does she afford her nuclear weapons?
Hmmm…Moore’s deconstructions just never stop.
Yet the highlight for me would have to be the background allusions. I’m not sure if this is the artist’s idea or Alan’s but it’s pretty impressive. Every several pages that goes by in Top Ten contains an in-joke that only comic guys would get. There are several Kirby allusions, and one or two Stan Lee references. Scott McCloud makes an appearance, wearing a Zot shirt no less. Howard the Duck pulls a cameo, so does Spock with goatee, even that girl from Run Lola Run, who looks to be running. Alan Moore appears as a shackled slave. John Belushi’s Samurai serves food at the Top Ten cafeteria. The crew from Futurama makes an appearance and there are two Watchmen allusions and on and on it goes.
I’m at a loss for words explaining
at just how enjoyable this series is. The backgrounds alone will give you hours of joy. It
has a number of winding and complicated stories that aren’t wrapped up in the first
season. You’ll find yourself asking who or what is the Rumor? Who are those level one
telepaths who can snuff out Suns and where are they kept? Will the Grey Goose ever be
captured? Will the Captain ever be outed for being gay?
“Sigh”. Better wait until next season…
So go out and buy the Top Ten
trade paperbacks. Alan Moore simply isn’t just the greatest writer to ever write
comics. He’s one of the world’s greatest living writers, period.
Wicked Kingdom
Writer: Ian Edginton
Artist: D'israeli
Located at www.coolbeansworld.com, Minimum of $2.95 a month to rent out content
“On Sunday
afternoons The Honourable Order of Tap Dancing Philosophers would hoof in heated debate as
to the nature of their world. Opinion
deviated wildly. One school of thought proposed it was laid by a marvelous celestial
chicken. Another, that it grew from seeds in a humus of belly-button fluff and furballs. A
radical third party contended it solely existed in the mind of a small child who’d
simply thought them into being. But to Wavy Davy Dali and Tiny Tom Fish Head this meant
little. So long as the sun shone and it snowed at Christmas they were happy.”
--From the Flash Animated
Prologue of Kingdom of the Wicked
Kingdom of the Wicked is just one
of the many stories—almost a dozen now--being offered at Cool Beans world (www.coolbeansworld.com).
It kind of feels like the old Moonshadow stories directed by a very dark Terry
Gilliam or if you remember, those brilliant Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children
comics of some time back. I can’t say enough about writer Ian Edginton, yet another
talented Brit writer I presume. He compares his work, unabashedly enough, to Roald Dahl in
his background piece at Cool Beans. No argument there. The spare precise poetry of his
prose reminds you of Brautigan or Vonnegut at his sixties peak. The art by D’israeli
is beautiful and occasionally enhanced by Photoshop-like effects. Think of D’israeli
as kind of a fuller figured Ted McKeever. The story concerns a children’s writer who
finds that the imaginary play world (Castrovolva) of his youth has been turned into a
dark, dystopian Hell, full of murder, butchery and war. It’s run by his alto-ego, the
Evil Great Dictator. It’s an incredible story. There isn’t a wrong note in it,
even though the origin of the Nemesis is a little bizarre. The Great Dictator has an
origin that reminds me of Jim Starlin’s Star Thief villain in his epic Adam Warlock
books of the seventies.
From The Kingdom of the Wicked Prologue
The prologue also features the best use
of Flash animation for comics that I have ever seen. The soundtrack, probably produced by
one guy with a midi synth, starts off pleasant but when we introduce the monster things go
sinister and dark in a quick hurry. Now, you have to pay $2.95 to get access to all these
comics for a month. But it’s a pretty good bargain. Kingdom of the Wicked
alone is worth the price of admission. But there are other stories here by Pat Mills, two
of Clive Barker’s classic horror novellas (“The Yattering and Jack” and
“In the Hills, In the Cities”) and other gems that I hope to be reviewing
in the weeks ahead.
The Evil Dictator As an Evil Child.
I might also note, for those science
fiction fans who are wondering whether this micropayment thing might ever take off, this
is probably the most successful paid content site that I’ve ever seen for comics. We
all remember the horrific Galaxy Online implosion. But this site is growing. I hope
somebody who sells and markets science fiction or fantasy gives this format a shot and
soon.
Fallout
Writer: Jim Ottaviani
Artists: Janine Johnston, Steve Lieber, Vince Locke, Bernie Mireault and Jeff Parker
ISBN:
0-9660106-3-9 Fallout
succeeds moreso as a clichéd putdown of science fiction, as opposed to the science
history that it’s supposed to be. It bills itself as the biographical story of Robert
Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard and the political science of the atomic bomb. I suppose I compare
it to a putdown of science fiction, i.e. that it's primarily a fiction of ideas, and not
art. Character and story are often sacrificed goes the cpnventional complaint--articulated
in the Locus online letters pages as we speak. Fallout has the same problems. Just
in terms of its storytelling, it often falls short. The art is inconsistent in that many
artists put the book together in short sections. It’s not unlike having different
directors, of varied quality, directing alternative scenes. One minute it's Coppala, the next the guy who did Different Strokes. Some of the art is just plain bad, either sketchy
or too cartoonish. I could have done a more compelling art job using photoshop and
archival photos. As a story, it doesn’t quite work because you’re not
necessarily given a perspective as to what the politics mean. I suppose the writer was
trying to be objective but I sort of wish that they had made some judgment calls in terms
of what actually happened. Were Szilard and Oppenheimer commie sympathizers or
weren’t they? Stake out a position, please.
Fallout does offer, like the best
science fiction, a number of stunning insights—if
not artistic execution. We learn that Szilard probably had more to do with
developing the bomb than Einstein, whose influence was used almost in a celebrity like
way. We learn that Oppenheimer hired the best scientists he could find and didn’t pay
attention to political backgrounds. We learn about a lot of the details behind the
Manhattan Project. We learn that there were key women involved in building the bomb. We
also learn Oppenheimer was left out of further nuclear weapons development because of his
alleged ties to communist groups. He definitely fell victim to the McCarthy era, or did
he? This is where some perspective is appreciated. It’s like reading about the
Kennedy assassination and finding out the writer isn’t going to take a stand on that
single bullet theory thing.
Bottom line, this is not the most
engaging comics journalism/history that I’ve read. It’s just not in the class of
anything by Joe Sacco, Tim Truman or Scott McCloud, even though he praises the book in a
back cover quip. But if you’re interested in just how messy science can be or the
serendipitous (Szilard came very close to being captured by the Nazis) history of the
atomic bomb, Fallout might have something to offer.
Random Notes: Over at a Phil K.
Dick site they’re offering a free online version of comic legend Robert Crumb’s
take on Phil K. Dick. For those of us who enjoyed Crumb’s work on Kafka this is no
less entertaining. It’s well drawn and tells the definitively weird events that
surrounded and informed Phil K. Dick’s religious beliefs. If it’s to be
believed, it sounds like Dick experienced past lives, whacked out religious experiences
and may have been inadvertently slipping around in his own timestream. The life of Phil
Dick kind of sounds like the kinds of things that you read in a Phil Dick novel. Scary
stuff and its free. But it is a little hard to read. You might want to try looking at it
in 800 by 600.
The Comics Journal (Special
Edition, Winter 2002 – Volume One)
Paperback - 156 pages Special edition Vol 1 (January
26, 2002)
Fantagraphics Books; ISBN:
1560974737 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.43 x 12.00 x 11.86
My day of reckoning is at hand. As you
may or may not know, Gary Groth is the controversial editor of the Comics Journal.
He’s taken a radical view of comics in that anything that is genre related is less
than art. That’s why you probably will never see serious lengthy reviews of City
of Silence or the incredible ABC comics being
done by Alan Moore. That’s because genre can never rise to the level of great art. 1984
was just a lucky stroke. The fiction of Raymond Chandler is a tragic accident. This Harry
Potter thing will pass over. We should all be reading naturalistic fiction about divorces
and bridges in Madison County or something middle class by Updike. That’s high art.
And comics that even hint at spandex, radioactive spiders or heroic acts or science
fiction should never be taken seriously as something worthy of criticism. We can talk
about Alan’s performance art mags at length, but nothing of those low-brow,
low-culture ABC books. That’s all quite beneath us here at the Journal.
With this not so extraordinary history
in mind, let us take a look at the special Winter 2002 edition of The Comics Journal. Let
us look at it in a hostile way. Let’s look at it in the way that Tony Soprano settles
old gambling debts. Let’s use the same Satanic calculation that Gary (Is he the
Antichrist?) used when he had Ted Rall and Danny Hellman—involved in litigation with
each other—review each other’s books.
In fact, I would like to say something
about this edition of the Comics Journal, whose editorial judgment I seriously question,
whose very principals tell us there can be no such thing as the great science fiction
novel. I would like to say something harsh, with shards. And after reading it, I must
inform the reading public—without a hint of bias or vengeance on my mind—that it
is…is…well:…..
Brilliant. And you have no idea how much
it pains me to say that.
First it looks beautiful. It’s a
huge book, probably 12 by 12 both ways or more. It costs about $20 but you end up getting
a high quality soft cover coffee table book. What makes this particular issue of the
Journal so special is that it includes about several dozen pages of original comics
stories, with the theme being the cartoonist’s craft.
The vast majority of these stories are
dazzling. Of course, a lot of the better stories veer headlong into surrealist fantasy,
which suggests genre, which means that even though it looks like they’re brilliant we
should respect the Journal’s hatred of genre and ignore our lying eyes. The best
story had to be by Linda Medley. It switches from black and white to color, throws in a
few allusions to both Moebius and Moby Dick, and even manages to quietly touch upon the
9-11 tragedies. She does that and kind of gives you a Scott McCloud treatment of what
comics mean, all in less than five pages. Just a stunner of a story. But there are more
like that. The Bill Griffith (Zippy) story is hilarious. The Jessica Abel and Art
Spiegelman one-page stories are nothing short of masterpieces. There are pages so
beautiful from Theodore Jouflas and Tony Millionaire that they will make you weep. The
Spain Rodriguez story is really a very intelligent critique of science fiction and
features a meeting with Phil K. Dick—all of this lessens the value of the work of
course, bringing it down the low culture level of the Madding Crowd, which I’m sure
the Journal would agree with.
It has all that plus the usual
assortment of high-end Journal commentary and rants. It’s a must read and a must buy.
I hate admitting that. So, looks like you win this round Groth. But I’ll be back. Oh
I’ll be back. You’ll rue the day etcetera etcetera.
Complete Index of Top Ten Allusions , References and Jokes (That I like.)
I've attempted to collect all the Top Ten
allusions, references and in-jokes that I can find in the backgrounds. Feel free to
contrast and compare.
Issue
One: Her First Day on the New Job
Page
Four, top panel:
The core of the tenth precinct
headquarters looks like the Justice League’s Hall of Justice. Plus has a fountain
before the entrance.
Page
Four, left bottom panel:
The
Mural background spotlights the first science heroes of Neopolis. It’s drawn and
inked in Jack Kirby’s style.
Page
Eight, center panel:
Absolut
Kirby Ad.
Page
25, top panel:
Another
Shot of the Kirbyesque mural panel.
Book
Two:
Page
Thirteen, top panel:
Billboard
for the Replacement Gods, which just happens to be a book done by Gene Ha. Also: There is
the Church of the Great Hole in the Ground, which might be a reference to those black
holes that would appear in certain Warner Brothers cartoons and I believe also made an
appearance in the animated Beatles film Yellow Submarine.
Book
Three:
Page
24, left lower corner:
Billboard
for Granny Goodwrench. This is another Kirby allusion. This time for Granny Goodness of
Mother Box, Scott Free and New Gods fame.
Book
Four:
On
page 15, bottom panel:
What
kinds of comics do the citizens of Neopolis read? The answer is in King Peacock’s
hands and it’s called “Businessman”…
Page
23, third panel:
When
you drive by the porn theaters in Neopolis you get some obvious porn titles for this
dimension: “Stretchable Sluts”, and “Quadruple
Lass” in “Four Play”.
Funny
billboard again: “You wouldn’t Like me when I’m Naked.” It advertises
something called non rip fabric gamma pants.
Page
22, Top Panel
Looks
Like a Version of a Roy Liechtenstein painting. (I’m probably spelling that wrong.)
The
Starship Enterprise is in the river in panel six, bottom right.
Book 7
Page
7
Bottom
Righthand panel:
An
appearance by the blue smurfs.
Page
20, 1st left hand panel:
There
is a picture of an apparently dead Robin/Bucky like sidekick whose sign says: Really dead.
Please Help.
Page
21, 5th panel, bottom right:
John
Belushi’s samurai seems to be serving at the Top Ten cafeteria.
Book 8
Page
7, bottom right hand corner:
Thomas
The Train engine makes a flying appearance.
Page
12, top panel.
Cameo
by Astro Boy.
Page
14, top panel:
Big
cameo panel. Keep in mind that the crime scene in this issue revolves around a platform
where people that fly are constantly circling by. In no particular order, we have a X Man
Sentinel, the falcon, the Vulture, Man-Bat and the early X Men Angel.
Page
20. Main panel:
This
is probably the biggest cameo panel in the 12 issue series. In no particular order: Howard
the Duck in the far right corner, the Mirror Mirror crew from Star Trek (from the
“evil” Spock with goatee dimension), the Sandman and an associate, and the girl
from Run Lola Run running (which makes sense since this is an interdimensional gateway or
a gateway to multiple possibilities). There’s even a funny ad called “Somewhere
You’re Tops”.
Page
21, Top panel:
There
are three members of Space Family Robinson. Two characters out of Tom Strong who travel
through dimensions. The gang from Stargate. It also looks like an allusion to the Warren
Beatty movie Heaven can Wait in the middle of the panel.
Page
21, Second Panel:
Definite
cameo by the Super Skrull. Behind him looks to be the Hulk villain The Leader.
Page
Four, middle panel 3:
There’s
only two backgrounds that allude to the Watchmen. This is one of them. There’s a
shadow silhouette of the station’s dog captain making out with a whore. For Watchmen
fans, there are tons of shadow silhouettes.
Page
Eight, middle panel:
Looks
like Alan Moore as a slave. There’s probably more stuff in this issue I just
couldn’t recognize it.
Book
Ten:
Page
one bottom panel:
Josie
and the Pussycats make an appearance.
It’s
pretty much the only cameo here that I can find. This issue is mostly a fight scene.
Plastic
Stan’s furniture place features a clear picture of Stan Lee.
Page
10:
First
panel, on the steps is a picture of Scott McCloud who is wearing a Zot t-shirt. Also looks
like some superfriends walking up the steps toward the interdimensional station.
Page
11:
Top
left panel: The cast of Futurama makes an appearance.
Middle
panel: Mary Poppins makes a fly-by.
Bottom
right panel: Futurama gang makes another appearance.
Page
12:
First
panel: Funny billboard says Soylent Green for People who Love People,
Also
looks like Tarzan or Kazar in the background…and a prominent DC character in a
hospital gown..
Page
13:
Doctor
Who and Fu Manchu walk by in the third panel, left.
Cameos
by the Green Hornet and Kato.
Page
20
Top
panel:
Ghostrider
on a burning unicycle, deadman floating about, the Spirit walking out from a grave…
Panel
three: The Preacher is apparently giving the sermon
Panel
two: gravestone for Electra.
Page
21:
Oscar
Wilde and the Hangman, from Astro City
Page
Four:
The
Blues Beetles are playing on a rooftop left 1st panel:
Page
Eight: The other Watchmen reference that I could find: There’s a character who’s
reading an issue of Nova Express.
Page
15: The Green Apple Green Grocer with Neal O’Neil, the proprietor…
Page
20:
At the
Quik Mart We have the six million dollar man and woman, some adult version of Speedy
Gonzalex, and two versions of the flash
Middle
panel: Eddie Murphy Dr. Doolittle plus English Dr. Doolitle
Page
30: American Flagg holds a child.