New Comics Day

Yes, I finally made it back to my local comics shop, after a few weeks where I jsut didn't feel sufficiently inspired to go and pick up new comics. And you know what? I ended up with three books. And only one of them was new. And the one book that I was really excited about, Or Else #3? Nowhere to be found. Fucking hell! Sometimes I wonder why I bother. I could probably just sign up for one of those mail-order comics services and be done with it, but I do love browsing, and stumbling upon odds and ends I never would've thought to order. What is a boy to do?

Anyways, here's what I got...

Little Star #4 (of 6) (Oni Press, $2.99)

Ah yes, Andi Watson. Always reliable for a good read. This is the newest installment of his latest mini-series, the introspective and down-to-earth Little Star, a tale of subtle relationship tension, parenthood, and minor job-related woes. What it lacks in melodrama it certainly makes up for in quiet intimacy. A rather sudden change of pace, coming after his oddball series Love Fights, which featured superheroes and superhero comic artists co-existing with each other, in between saving the world and becoming fodder for gossip magazines. But this issue, like the three previous, passes with nary a scene of histrionics (except from two-year old Cassie!), physical jeopardy, or overt conflict. It's a rare talent that can pull off a story that draws you in like this, without relying on soap-opera emoting. Even his previous stories of domestic turbulence raised the crisis-meter several notches above what we have here. And while we're two issues away from the series' end, we could almost end it here comfortably. Almost! The ending here is a minor twist that's going to do something a little paradoxical; change the story's status quo by keeping it's characters' stuck in theirs.

Dang! Comics and Stories (Top Shelf, $3.50)

I recognize Martin Cendreda's work from an anthology or two, and this has been sitting in my local comics shop's "Art-comix" ghetto shelf (near the floor, behind you as you face the new releases, almost as well hidden as the pitiful manga section), and I figured I'd try it out. While enjoyable and clever, it feels a little slight at $3.50 for an undersized book. I think this story, and the handful of back-up features, would've felt more at home in a larger collection of material, just due to the fact that it's a breezy read that relies on simple drawings and minimal text. Very good work, but probably not presented in the ideal format.

Drawn & Quarterly Showcase, Book Two (Drawn & Quarterly, $14.95)

Since it was a slow week, I figured I'd use the opportunity to complete my set of D&Q Showcase books. I like each book in this series a lot, as it usually contains at least one artist I'm familiar with (in this case, Jeffrey Brown) and at least one I've never seen or heard of before. It's a great way to introduce an artists work; package an "established" author with one whose had little owrk availabel in the US. And the production is always top notch on these books, with well-executed spot color printing. Jeffrey Brown works a little out of his usual element here, with a story that could almost be a True Crime story, if it weren't so offhand and open ended. Pentti Otsamo has a story that connects the inhabitants of an apartment bulding in a circle of small coinidences, and Erik de Graaf ends the volume with a short loss-of-innocence tale drawn in a crisp, graphic style that betrays his training as a designer before becoming a comic artist. It's a shame this book is an annual, as I'd love to see something of this quality coming out quarterly. But I guess that's what Mome is here for...

Cerebus blogging resumes soon. The C&S 2 entry is a bit more complicated than I'd anticipated. I'm done reading the entire first half of the series, but I'm going to have to take a small break so I don't get too far ahead of my posting. Stay tuned...

Blogaround Challenge

Because a couple of kind folks have stopped by looking at our site with critical eyes with this challenge in mind, I decided to take Tegan's Blogaround Challenge. Here are a couple of sites that caught my eye:

Four Realities
Nice extensive reviews and use of historical artificats. I learned quite a bit looking over the site.

Focused Totality
While the shopping lists weren't necessarily my taste, he posted a really interesting article on the "cold war" between mainstream, indie and manga fans. And I had to give some props since he listed Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life on his greatest hits banner.

Beaucoup Kevin
I absolutely loved this site. Every single item on his shopping list was justified, which is nice because it can be boring to just see a list without really knowing why someone is stoked to go spend their hard-earned cash that week. And although unrelated to comics I loved his "podcast" (although more like a downloaded mix tape) which was a fun listen.

Fanboy Rampage
Most of what I read was comic news, which I normally don't read comic blogs for. I usually go to Comicsreporter.com or Newsarama.com. But what made me list this was his reporting of Fox News analyzing the "manga invasion of America." Why did I not hear about this anywhere else? Perhaps I missed that tag elsewhere, but what an interesting story.

Zilla and the Comic Junkies
I found this site to be one of my favorite comic blogs for aesthetics alone. It is well designed and thought out, with scanned panels and a nice color scheme. With a lot of information coming from a couple different contributors, this is certainly one that will be added to my bookmarks.

Spoilt!
I really appreciate the whole "damn the man" esprit de corps found on this site. It's focus is exactly what the title suggests: spoilers galore. The reason listed on the site for this is they feel the corporate stronghold on fans to fork over money to DC and Marvel weekly to read up on their superheros is unfair. So a group of contributors (though it seems Chris and Johanna are the ones posting the most) spill the beans. Good for them.

Gratitude

In a brief respite from Cerebus blogging, i'd like to thank a few kind souls in the teeming metropolis of the comic-blogging community (i'm still not sold on the word "blogosphere"...please, some better term must exist!) for sending some traffic our way.

And so, Clandestine Critic, Chris "Lefty" Brown, and Progressive Ruin, we owe y'all one!

Cerebus blogging continues once I've had a chance to revise my entry on the behemoth that is Church & State 2. And maybe we'll see some non Cerebus material if Serene's package from John Pham shows up...And it looks like this Wednesday will be the first time in 3 weeks I've been to my local shop, so hopefully there will be something for me other than the latest installment of Andi Watson's Little Star to write about. The Cerebus re-read is fun, but it'd be nice to have some respite...

Stick around!

Cerebus: Book Three

Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment. By the time my post on High Society was written and posted, I was 1/3 of the way into Church & State, Volume 1. At this point, I'm finished with that book, and halfway into Church & State 2.

So anyways....where did we leave off?

Ah yes. As Sim notes in the introduction to Volume 3, the original intent after High Society was to focus on shorter, standalone stories. It was only after the first few issues that he realized he was getting himself into something much more formidable. As such, the Church & State Volume One collection is divided into three sections. the first section is mainly comprised of a short, seemingly standalone story featuring Cerebus and a new character, Countess Michelle. But Cerebus' apparent rival and prime manipulator, Adam Weisshaupt, quickly enters the picture, with the Cockroach (ahem, Wolverroach!) in tow. And whenever Weisshaupt shows up, manipulation and political drama follow.

Soon, we are back hip-deep in the politics of Estarcion, where Weisshaupt has finally succeeded in striking an accord between various factions, and Cerebus is back in the routine of Prime Minister. Blackmailed into assuming this position, actually. By Weisshaupt, who has drugged Cerebus, married him off to Red Sophia, and revealed that, as President, he has the sole power to dissolve a marriage. And of course, desertion is punishable by execution.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, but there's one aspect of Church & State that I found really intriguing, and hadn't noticed before. For a book that's ostensibly examining Belief and Faith and their effects on Power, and vice versa (to paraphrase the introduction), we don't actually get into any sort of discussion of Faith or Belief or Theology until halfway into Volume 2. Essentially, Church & State is more a continuation of the themes of High Society: power and manipulation on a grand scale. Religion here is presented solely as a tool towards these ends, and faith is displayed only by characters who are on the receiving end of that manipulation, with the exception, perhaps, of Bran Mac Mufin (and I always wondered if Sim regretted naming the character that back in the early days...). Cerebus as Prime Minister and Cerebus as Pope differ only in the sheer level of control to be asserted over the willing followers. In High Society, control was acheived through deal-making, back-stabbing, alliance-forming and -breaking. In Church & State, political power is wielded by the Church works in much the same way, until Cerebus decides to take advantage of his perceived "infallibility" as Pope and bring the whole house of cards tumbling down.

The main characters are uniformly of the ruling classes at this point. Lords, Dukes, Bishops, and the sort surround Cerebus and form the core of the unfolding drama. But of all these characters, even the most apparently faithful, like Bishop Powers, wield the masses' belief in their church as a weapon, a tool to broker deals and exert political power. The power struggle between the Eastern and Western churches is more about economic and political strength than it is about matters of doctrine and belief. It's the belief of the lower classes in the city of Iest and it's surroundings that give the church it's power. As long as the church has a grip on the faithful, it has a foothold in the political structure of the city-state. Religion as not only opiate of the masses, but also as the sword of the church.

Now, this gets complicated once Cerebus is appointed as the Pope of the Western Church, in yet another Machiavellian move by Bishop Powers intended to limit President Weisshaupt's influence. Bucking his expected role as a tool of the Eastern Church, Cerebus instead holes up in a hotel halfway between the upper and lower cities, surrounds himself with guards, and announces that Tarim will destroy the world in 10 days unless he receives every single piece of gold in the city. Suddenly, those used to using their faithful as a weapon find themselves on the receiving end of the weapon, which is being used for a particularly psychotic and monomaniacal purpose, with no regard for the possible consequences....

On a formal level, the narrative is structured more loosely than High Society was, with plenty of diversions and sidelines from the main story. There are several dream sequences and comic interludes as well. Whereas High Society built alot of humour into the situation itself, the first stretch of Church & State throws in a lot of funny asides and sight gags that don't relate directly to the storyline (Mrs. Tynsdale's two appearances, for example, are solely sight gags, and could easily be left out of the book without consequence). Not to say that they're completely disposable, but they don't drive the plot forward in the way that almost any given scene in High Society did.

And of course, we have more of Jaka. There's a pattern emerging in her appearances at this point. She arrives to provide a counterpoint to the other characters, to give Cerebus another option. But this time, having refused her twice, he perhaps realizes his mistake, and has his bodyguard, Bear (and boy, does this name become rife with subtext in Guys, a few years later!), bring her to him in the commandeered hotel. Red Sophia has left him, and he's sick of his own power and the continued attempts by those surrounding him to exert their influence.

But he's missed his chance now...he offers to give it all up, take her away to the mountains where the two of them can live away from everything; only to find out she's married. And pregnant.

The other pattern in Jaka's few appearances so far is violence. She's already been slapped by Cerebus once, the second time she shows up in High Society, and this time, she's forced to her knees, to Cerebus' eye-level as he tried to intimidate her into going along with him. These are difficult scenes, for obvious reasons, but moreso in hindsight. At the time, in a purely textual sense, the actions are perfectly in character for Cerebus, a barbarian with a short temper. But there's a particularly ugly example of this sort of in-character action coming up in the next book, that becomes even more difficult when you know a bit about the author and other people involved. But more on that in the next book's post.

We're reaching the end of the book, and there's still so much plot here....and this is only half of the story! We have Adam Weisshaupt's heart attack as he makes his final attempt to wrest away Cerebus' gold and power, followed by an apparent deathbed epiphany that seems to cast his actions in a glow of inevitable failure. We have Bran Mac Mufin's loss of faith in Cerebus, and his subsequent suicide as the walls of Cerebus' papacy literally fall down around him. There are repeated warnings, of an apparently mystical nature, to Cerebus, suggesting that he's embarked on a dangerous, even blasphemous course. But we don't see exactly how dangerous until the next book...

Foaming at the Mouth

If I have to wait too much longer for Local, I will most definitely die.

Is it happenstance that the first issue is based in Portland, Oregon - a place that I hold near and dear to my heart? I think not! I suspect that Brian Wood infiltrated my mind at some point during the creative process. Every preview page I've seen for this series makes me start salivating. There is no way that I can overstate my excitement for this series. What makes this particularly exciting is that this reads like the best character study series ever, with each issue following a different character in a different location.

Check out the blog put together by Brian Wood, artist Ryan Kelley, and editor James Lucas Jones. Brian Wood also has some preview pages set up on his flickr account. There is even a preview page for issue #2 posted.

I suppose that's enough of the fangirl theatrics for today. A real post with substance will follow once I get my hands on an issue.

Cerebus: Book Two

(Book Two is done; if I keep this pace, I'll be done in no time).

Ah, here's where things really start coming together. The end of the self-titled first volume of Cerebus starts introducing a lot of the characters and concepts that come to the fore in this book, High Society. The level of detail that Dave Sim starts to introduce to his world, the ongoing political machinations of various city-states, all these become the basis of what may possibly be the most successful volume in the series.

But this is only book two! Did the series really peak that early? Well, yes, no and maybe. It depends. I think High Society is my favorite book for several reasons. It's the most transitional book, and I've noticed myself gravitating towards transitional works from authors, filmmakers, musicians, and other artists, so it makes sense that I would like this one. For example, my favorite Beatles album is Rubber Soul, because it stands comfortably astride a bridge in the Beatles legacy, just as they were outgrowing the simpler sentiments and straightforward, accomplished songcraft of their early albums, but before they took off on some of their more wildly indulgent later experiments. So too, I feel like High Society is the real beginning of the ambitious, upward slope of Cerebus, but still relies heavily on the quick wit and talent for both character and setting that make it's early years really shine. It may not be the most formally adventurous volume, although it has a trick or two up it's sleeve (the move away from an over-reliance on narrative captions that typify the early stories; the use of newspapers, letters, transcripts, etc. as additional methods to develop background information...not too unusual for the times, but it does demonstrate an increasing comfort with the medium). It may not be the most complicated storyline (Church & State and Mothers & Daughters are both longer, more intricate, and multilayered), but it's probably the tightest plot in the series, with fewer divergences and distractions from Cerebus' rise and fall as a political leader/puppet.

While the first volume consists of mostly individual stories that follow a slow, loosely defined arc, High Society flows from issue to issue without ever hitting a breaking point in the narrative. This is the way the series will progress from here on out, with a handful of exceptions (like the bridging stories that are collected in Cerebus Number Zero), but the ease with which Sim leaps into this massive undertaking is impressive. There were plot threads that flow from issue to issue in the first two year's worth of stories, and a few multi issue arcs, but nothing to prepare for a continuous two year story.

And of course, there's Jaka. When I first started reading Cerebus (post Jaka's Story), the character of Jaka is practically a mythical figure. Not a lot of page time, but a lot of presence, in a sense. I always got the impression that she had a huge amount of history in the first half of the book, but having just read through the first two books, she really only has 3 appearances so far, not counting a letter from her to Lord Julius that's briefly shown. When she shows up in High Society, it seems like there's been more development to their relationship than what we've seen on page (which at this point is their first encounter, involving a love potion, which ends with Cerebus seemingly unconcerned with her; and the aforementioned letter, that reveals her feelings for Cerebus somewhat indirectly). Maybe there's some Cerebus/Jaka stories that take place outside of the official, collected series? Is there some material I've missed in Swords of Cerebus, perhaps? I'll have to look into that. I'm not sure where or if there's a clear transition in Cerebus feelings towards Jaka, between her first appearance and her return in High Society.

Jaka is an interesting figure in Cerebus. In a book filled with interesting female characters, she's probably the most sympathetic. Astoria, arguably the biggest female character at this stage, is a stone-hearted manipulator (and I hear she's based on Dave's then-wife, Deni? This brings us to very interesting places in Church & State). Red Sophia is a walking caricature only slightly less ridiculous than the Cockroach (although we see a bit of growth from her in the next two books). We have yet to meet Cirin, one of the most important male or female characters, although we get a lot of hints at her actions from behind the scenes. But Jaka...she might be the one that tells us the most about Dave Sim, and even though she's currently cast as the noble, idealistic woman at this point, the way that she's portrayed is a great barometer of how far down the path to Issue 186 Dave has gone. But more on this as it becomes relevant...For the moment, she's possibly the only character who's not making any attempt to manipulate Cerebus (aside from the characters who are unable to, like Elrod the albino, who lacks the intelligence to comprehend his surroundings much of the time, let alone manipulate anyone).

Humour has always played a huge part in Cerebus, but this book is probably the funniest, and the most consistently funny. Between the multitude of characters who are essentially homages to comedians and characters, the increasingly ridiculous situations (Cerebus running an election campaign against a goat...and almost losing), and a narrative voice rife with one-liners, puns, and Marx Bros. style inversions, it's almost enough to make you forget you're reading a tale of political intrigue. It's almost like a dream line-up of comic voices playing off of each other, and the High Society epilogue story in Cerebus Number Zero takes this idea to it's logical conclusion, with Cerebus, Lord Julius (Groucho Marx), Duke Leonardi (Chico Marx), Elrod the Albino (Foghorn Leghorn), and a character based on Rodney Dangerfield trapped in a cargo hold riffing off of each other for 20-some odd pages.

Which of course, brings us into the loosely structured introduction to what would become Church & State. But that's another post.

Cerebus: Book One

One down, 15 to go.

I just finished the first, self-titled, Cerebus phone book last night. That's 25 issues out of 300 under my belt.

It's interesting to watch the early development of this book. The first few stories are pretty unambitious, for the most part nothing more than a passable barbarian/sword & sorcery pastiche with enough underhanded humour to qualify as parody. Even early on, Sim has a way of writing his characters with just enough awareness of the absurdity of their surroundings to be able to comment on it, but not enough to fully pull them out of their circumstances. That is to say, the stories work on a satirical level, tweaking the tenets of the genre, without undercutting the drama of the set-up. Cerebus, for all his put-upon bemoaning of the fools he must suffer, is never so detached from the narrative as to render it inconsequential. Rather than simply a vehicle for barbarian jokes, it functions equally well as a fantasy genre homage.

It doesn't take long for the book to branch out though. Despite the vast amount of material published in the fantasy genre, there's only so many archetypal stories to lampoon. Sim is quickly referencing material from other genres, most notably mainstream superheroes with the introduction of the Cockroach character, and, in an incongruous stroke of genius, Groucho Marx with the Lord Julius character. Surprisingly, a seemingly oddball character like this quickly becomes one of the most interesting characters in the book, and a fan favorite. There's certainly no denying the skill with which Groucho/Julius' dialogue is written, riffing on the screen persona he's been lifted from. For a book that was already flirting with meta-humour and asides to the reader, Groucho/Julius is a perfect fit. He takes the Cerebus as uber-straight man motif to whole new levels...

The characters develop quite a bit visually over this collection, with Cerebus ending up essentially in the state he'll stay in through the end of High Society and part of Church & State. Is the introduction of Gerhard the impetus for his final visual evolution? There seems to be some correlation there, but I'll have to pay attention to it as I'm reading.

A last short thing: The first Cerebus collection I ever read was Flight, and I didn't realize until years later that the opening sequences of Flight are referencing events that happened 150 issues earlier. We get a "Where Are They Now?" sequence for the Pigts, Theresa (from Professor Charles X. Claremont's school), Death, the Succubus, the mad King K'Cor, and other characters and items from the first two years of the book. Interesting way to kick off the second half...but more on that later, I guess.

Feminists Love Y

Being a modern day gal I subscribe to a awesome feminist magazine called Bust. If you read my previous post about female characters in comics, you get an idea why I feel a bit conflicted at times defending my title of comic fan to some of the non-comic reading feminists out there. It can be a hard title to defend, with the typical person thinking women in comics = big racks and not much more. So with this in mind, imagine my surprise when my favorite feminist magazine has a feature on a comic book artist *gasp*!

Bust compiled a list of "Men We Love" for various reasons and various backgrounds. For example, they had Chuck D. and Spike Jonze and Dim Mak records owner Steve Aoki listed as some kick-ass guys for various reasons. Contained in one of these pages I found a feature on Brian K. Vaughn who is most known for his work on Y: The Last Man.

In the feature Brian K. Vaughn talks about scouring feminist literature to get an idea of why armies of women would want to fight the last man on earth. He either is, or came across as the sensitive gender equalist, which can be hard to do. While I have heard lots about the series (if you haven't you have been living under a rock), I was never totally inclined to pick it up. I now am willing to change my mind and am unashamed in saying that I will probably pick it up now (or borrow some of Dylan's). Does that make me a follower? Sure, why not.

Oh yeah, now that it's been optioned as a movie, it will be interesting to see how this story unfolds. A comic book based movie that women AND men will want to see? That would be history in the making.

New Comics Day

Yes, it's that time again. I haven't read any of this yet, so these are just first impressions, and general rambling about What I Bought This Week. Try not to act too excited.

Mome #1 (Fantagraphics Books, $14.95)
This looks like the most interesting book this week, a new quarterly collection from about 10 indie comics creators spanning a range of styles: included are Sophie Crumb, Jeffrey Brown, John Pham, Paul Hornschemeier and others. The thing about this anthology is that it will feature the same lineup each issue, so every few months, you get to see the same old faces develop. From my brief glance inside, it looks like there's a subscription available, for $10 off the cover price of 4 issues. I'm considering doing that, since there's plenty of artists that I'm already a fan of, and plenty more that I've heard only good things about.

100 Bullets #63 (DC Comics, $2.75)
I used to be obsessed with this title, but that's sort of subsided. And I miss that. For some reason, I don't find it as compelling as I used to. Mind you, we're getting into some interesting territory, and starting to pick up a few loose threads from a year or two back, but the overall plotline doesn't feel as tightly wound, and much more is implied than shown or even told, leaving the reader to keep track of a lot of double-crosses and affiliations in order to make sense of the current state of affairs. Risso's artwork is even becoming broader and more exaggerated, especially notable in the development of the character design for Lono. I still enjoy this book, I just don't feel like it's at the consistently high level it used to be at. We'll see if this issue changes that at all.

Y: The Last Man #36 (DC Comics, $2.99)
Another title that's hit a bit of a rut, but we may be getting an injection of freshness, judging by this issue's cover. If Yorick's girlfriend Beth becomes more involved, and less of a background concern, then things could be taking a very different direction. But if this storyline ends with another female antagonist giving a speech about some historical feminine greivance before being gunned down, I'll...well, I don't know what I'll do, but it won't be pretty.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #194 (DC Comics, $2.50)
Man, the 13-year old me would kick my ass for buying all these DC comics. Where's your X-Men comics, Dylan? Huh? Traitor!

But I Digress.

This is passable superhero comics made more palatable by excellent Seth Fisher artwork, and some rather light touches by writers J.H. Williams III and Dan Curtis Johnson. So far, we've had a lot of setup for this re-telling of the origin of Mr. Freeze. I'm not too familiar with how DC's Batman line breaks down, but from what I can tell, this must be the continuity-free, anything-goes Batman book. Which essentiall means we get great playful moments like Batman giving out business cards and gathering a team of crime fighters who he briefs via 2-way video conferencing. It's Batman starting a vigilante corporation, which is sort of an interesting idea given his "real" background as Bruce Wayne, multibazillionaire playboy. Fun, lightweight material spruced up with an artist whose work I'd love to see much, much more of.

Blood Orange #1 (Fantagraphics Books, $5.95)
Another Fantagraphics anthology book, this one an oldie from Spring 2004. I just read the third installment of this series, and although I enjoyed it enough to backtrack and try to dig up the first two (the second issue is still MIA), I wasn't sure what, if anything, the unifying theme was supposed to be. There's a lot of experimental, sort of fringe work int he third issue, and lots of playing with form and media, but there's also more straightforward work. I'm not sure if this has any sort of "mission" as an anthology, other than spotlighting the included artists. Now, I'm not saying every anthology book has to have an ironclad theme running through every piece of material it publishes, like, say, Project: Superior or Autobiographix, but it does make it easier to consider the book as a whole. Why are these particular pieces grouped here? What does the reader and/or artist gain from experienceing them as a collection? Maybe issue one will put a bit more focus on that question for me...

Ode to Jessica Abel

In light of Jessica Abel's upcoming feature in The Comics Journal, I decided to write a bit about one of my favorite artists.

I have been singing Jessica Abel's praises for a while now because I feel there are many things that she brings to the table in the art community like her website giving DIY advice to budding artists, her model to women on how to be a feminist comic artist without alienating readers, and her unique style.

I was first exposed to her work when I was browsing the web bored at work a couple years back. I wasn't really into comics at the time, but I found her website to be full of interesting stories (like when she and her now-husband, comic artist Matt Madden moved to Mexico City for a year) and nice art. Now I feel I've come full circle by finally buying some of her work. At my latest Comic Relief stop in Berkeley, I picked up Mirror, Window which is volume two of her Artbabe collection. It presents some really interesting pieces which showcase her enviable writing ability. While I personally feel her writing is far superior, that certainly isn't intended to say her art is bad. It's very concise and clean and recognizable. Reading her very methodical directions on drawing a comic, I can see why it appears this way.

Her journalism background lends a detached, observant style that I find to be really interesting. I think this testitifes to the strength of her craft because she doesn't used aged techniques to get stories across, like the tired internal dialogue to communicate character idiosyncrasies. It's nice to know that there are innovative people out there still working hard at being original.

Yep, I got it. Cerebus book 13 arrived in my mail on Friday. I now have all of Cerebus in one form or another, from the first colelction of barbarian/funny animal parody books, through to the bitter, bitter crackpot end. This is my new reading project over the next few months. 6,000 pages of comics about a talking aardvark. Am I crazy? Maybe. But not as crazy as the man who spent 27 consecutive years publishing this story monthly, on his own dime. That, I can guarantee.

I think what I'll be doing is posting reflections on each major storyline as I complete it. So there will be roughly 16 Cerebus related posts here, covering each phone book collection in some form or another. A lot of this material I've read before (everything up through the end of book 12, plus the final issue), and the rest will be new to me.

Wish me luck, I might need it.

In other news: Took a financially ill-advised trip to Comic Relief last night, on the way to the Anticon benefit show at Bottom of the Hill. Picked up a few more books there, including Epoxy #3, Pounded #1-3, Blood Orange #3, and Stupid Comics #3 (do you see a pattern here? Odd, I just noticed all those threes). I'll probably read those first, before I settle in on the big project above, but that shouldn't take too long. In fact, I think I'm gonna bike over to Aroma Roasters right now to read comics and play with my Mac.

Well, I had to cancel my order for Cerebus Book 13 from Amazon, as they were taking forever to get it in stock. I ended up reordering it through Comics Now, and it's on it's way to me as we speak (along with a copy of Rosetta 2). So the great Cerebus re-read will begin in a few days.

This is timed pretty conveniently, as I need to seriously limit my comics intake for the next few weeks. I can't justify buying any new comics, other than what's on my subscription list, in order to balance out my other recent purchase. So now I've got tons and tons of Cerebus books to get through, and hopefully, that will keep my consumerist tendencies in check.

(Yes, slow posting lately, but it's been a busy weekend, with a missed show, a minor fender bender and related insurance fuck-ups, and getting my Mac all set up. But once I get into the bug re-read, expect some regular updates...)

UPDATE: Well, I see we're listed on the Comics Weblog Update page now, so to all new readers: if you want to get a sense of what we write here, start with this post about my comics background, and Serene's introductory post over at her own site.