Morning from a weary and tired traveller.
Been living on the motorways of England and Wales this week so this may not make sense. Or, less sense than usual.
As you’ll see from the previous post I was lucky enough to appear on an episode of the Mega City Book Club with chum Eamonn Clarke talking about the brilliant Batman/Dylan Dog. You can have a listen right here.
It’s a bit of an online socialising week too. As on Friday (2/8/24 at 7.30pm) we have our semi-regular Drink & Draw session. A bunch of us get together on a call and chat about comics, some people draw and talk about craft. It’s usually a giggle and OPEN TO EVERYONE. You don’t even have to have your camera on and/or talk. We started running these during lockdown and it’s become a real favourite event. No need to join anything if you don’t want, here’s the link. Pop along, it’ll be a laugh.
Over at the ACP this week we chatted about the Eisner and the worth of the current awards system. We also time travelled back to 2004 and played a game of who won what. You can have a listen right here.
I have a lengthy episode of the NIA podcast dropping tomorrow that may include mention of this strange but awesome X-Men issue. Watch out for more news tomorrow.
I was going to rant on about a book I’m reading on Herbert Marshall McLuhan but I’ll save that for another day. I’m with Miller on this by the way.
So onto the task at hand.
Small Press Book of the Week.
Last week over at the ACP pod we chatted about our favourite comics companies of all time and First Comics came in at number three for me, just after Marvel and DC. A company full of genuinely genre-busting and medium-changing comics and creators. I won’t list them here but go look up what I’m talking about if you aren’t familiar.
There have so far been three of these new comics from Mike Baron, the original writer, with more being created by Steve Ride, the original artist. Independently of each other but without the magic we got when they worked together in the eighties. But this one is the nearest so far to the magic I once read. Add into the mix that cosmic satire and Clonezone the Hilariator and it is a winner.
Some outstanding art from Kelsey Shannon that has that retro-Toth/Rude/JLGL vibes for me. Not easy to find in the UK as it has just been released from a Kickstarter campaign (very promptly I might add) but worth looking for nevertheless.
Tops.
Easy choice this week. Sometimes you can come home.
Bottoms.
This looks fun right? Full of action? A glorious Adam Hughes cover right? Nope, the first four pages are of people sitting around in a living room looking sad. Genuinely. Talk about a second issue trying to keep the reader engaged? This does exactly fucking zero of that!
Written by Celeste Bronfman, with art by Emilio Lasio and Gilda Belviso. This is a massive waste of talent and cash. Add into that a story synopsis that reads like it was written by a computer and is faaaaaar too long for an issue 2. I checked out with a narcoleptic episode half way through it! Sometimes I feel like it’s the Uninterested Blind leading the idiotic around at the Big Two at the moment.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully see you on Friday.
Never Iron Anything - The Comics Review Website 