Abbreviated Reviews

     In the spirit of restraining myself and limiting my usual tendency to over-write, here's a list of things I've been reading/hearing/enjoying.  This is also an exercise of sorts.  I'm working on writing a few small potato, self-printed comics at the moment, and am being increasingly mindful of the fact that comics are a visual medium. In other words, I can't write write as much as usual.  So with that in mind...

Comics:

1. Eddie Campbell's Alec: The King Canute Crowd and Alec: How To Be An Artist
 Masterful use of autobiography in comics.  Not so much self-serving as self-aware and conscious of the changing world around the self.  Both illustrate Campbell's progression from a young cartoonist to the point where he started moving beyond youthful indiscretion toward a more earnest, mature focus. (www.eddiecampbell.blogspot.com)

2.  Rust: Visitor In The Field
 I picked up creator Royden Lepp's first volume after reading the short story in Archaia's hardcover Free Comic Book Day Offering.  An easy all ages read, but manages to be mysterious and poignant at times.  The dust of the family farm is apparent in visuals and tone, as is the rust and grime of the machines. (www.archaia.com/archaia-titles/rust/)

3. What I Did
This collection of three books by Norwegian cartoonist Jason are simple only on the surface.  Get past initial assumption that these are simple comics and you'll see a great deal of depth.  Strong visual storytelling, and an equally strong sense of story as a whole, even when the comics are free of language and dialogue. (www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/jason-2.html)

Music:

1. Billy Bragg and Wilco: The Complete Mermaid Avenue Sessions
Hearing these three discs of unrecorded songs will remind you of the lyrical genius of Woody Guthrie.  Bragg and Wilco add original music to the bare lyrics, illustrating their own respective prowess at instrumentation and lyrical phrasing.  Disc one is a classic. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhVXORYHi08)

2.  Charles Mingus: Oh Yeah
It's the legendary jazz bassist/composer playing piano and singing.  Titles like Hog Callin' Blues, Devil Woman, Eat That Chicken and Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me imply a largely blues and gospel-infused record. An odd but worthwhile record to seek out for the jazz and blues fans among you. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEIx4kSSeVg)

3.  Hammock: Chasing After Shadows...Living With Ghosts
It might verge on New Age at points.  There's a direct/indirect connection to some of Brian Eno's ambience.  Manages to evoke varying emotions and environments.  Music that works well in the background, especially if you're cooking or working on a creative project. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlq7axDVF-E)  


That's it for the first of what may become a series of attempted Abbreviated Reviews.  If you check any of these books or albums out, let me know what you think.  

Comics Review: Pinocchio the Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of my favorite properties.  I've followed it from the movie to the television series to the comic.  I even read some of the BVS fiction (not fanfic have you, but the actually published books). I wasn't sure about how I felt about trading a feisty, sharp witted blonde for a wooden puppet who gets his stakes from his growing nose, but after meeting Van Jensen at Fanaticon in Asheville, NC, I added Pinocchio the Vampire Slayer to my buy pile at HeroesCon.

While Pinocchio is a different kind of cute than Buffy, he has a similar wit slinging one liners at vamps as he prepares to stake them.  Written by Van Jensen and drawn by Dusty Higgins, the comic picks up where the story we're familiar with from childhood ends.  Instead of the happy ending of Pinocchio becoming a real boy, his surrogate father, Geppetto has been murdered by vampires and no one in the village believes Pinocchio's warnings about the creatures of the night in spite of his nose not growing.

For their readers not familiar with the story of Pinocchio (and those who need their memories refreshed), Jensen and Higgins include a three page breakdown of the childhood story.  It may not be exactly how you remember it, but I wish the Disney movie had more of that flavor than I remember.  (Pinocchio is kind of an ass.)  This short intro is one of my favorite parts of the book.  It has more of a cartoon style than the rest of the art and a comic strip lay-out that is the perfect setting for the humor within each tiny panel.  

Pinocchio is an entertaining read that's quite the twist on an old story.  It blends childhood memories with the supernatural in a way that makes perfect sense.  The story is well-written and matches nicely to the art style of the book.

I'm looking forward to picking up Pinocchio: The Great Puppet Theater (Volume 2) at the next convention I see Jensen or Higgins (it looks like that might be SPX).  The best thing about reading a book later in its lifetime is new volumes already being out when you finish!