Back in the Loop

Unemployment is actually sort of good for some things, but one thing it definitely is not good for is keeping up a comic collecting habit. I've found myself on the receiving end of the downsizing stick recently, and have had to rein in my buying habits of late. Not having any disposable income really makes you think twice about what you absolutely need to pick up. And besides, it's not like I don't have a stack of unread stuff sitting here still.

This week's new installment of Love and Rockets was certainly a solid investment, mostly due to Jaime's contribution. His story this issue focuses on Ray and Vivian, two characters who don't seem to know what they want out of each other, yet find themselves practically attached at the hip. There's a scene early on, while Ray accompanies Vivian and her friend on some auditions, where Jaime's skill at depicting body language is at its understated best, with a lineup of hopeful ingenues revealing their attitudes with nothing but posture. He lets their attitudes shift and change, telling a separate little story behind Ray's introspective musings. There are so many great light comedic moments in this story, that the harrowing end to the installment hits a little harder through contrast. The quiet epilogue sheds a little more light on both of these characters, especially Vivian, who we get to see in sort of a new light. Quality from beginning to end, and yet another in the long list of reasons why he's a master of his craft.

I don't know if I'd put it on the same masterful level, but Nextwave: Agents of Hate has established its own high standard to live up to each month. It takes a true fuck-it-all attitude to take a concept that's already been run into the ground, and just keep pushing it until it breaks and splinters and becomes a parody of a parody, before taking on a life of its own and one-upping the original targets of its satire. I'm about as surprised as I could possibly be that Marvel is publishing one of my favorite regular series at the moment. The only thing that even comes close to this book is the late X-Statix, and possibly its recent spin-off, Dead Girl. They all share an irreverence in tone, but also, and more importantly, the understanding that satire is not an excuse to forget about actual drama. You can be as post-modern, self-referential and gimmicky as you want, but if you don't ultimately take your story seriously on its own terms, you'll probably fail. Nextwave succeeds not by undermining the tropes of superhero adventure, but by reveling in them shamelessly and unapologetically, with full awareness of their absurdity. It doesn't try to dress itself up as relevant, redeeming, or realistic, and there's something refreshing about that.

It's the end of the year, and lots of people are making lists to mark the occasion. We probably won't. But we may post some sort of wrap-up overview thing, in an informal, unranked, off-the-cuff sort of way. You have been warned.

Fantagraphics Grand Opening

Never let it be said that we here at Successless would miss out on a party. Especially not one that has comics, cartoonists, art, artists, music and beer. Double especially if it's only a 15 minute drive away.

So, with that in mind, we absolutely had to make it back down to the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle for the official grand opening of the Fantagraphics Books retail store, which happily coincided with the Georgetown art walk, and a gallery opening at Belle & Wissell promoting the new book Beasts! Nevermind that we had already hit up the soft opening a month earlier. This time, there would be beer!

The event was scheduled to kick off at 5pm, so we rolled in at a fashionably late 6pm. And boy were we surprised by the turnout! There was already an overflow crowd on the sidewalk out front, and plenty of crossover traffic between the store and the nearby galleries. Getting inside was easy enough, but moving around once inside proved difficult. It was packed, wall-to-wall, with a wide range of folks, from kids there with their parents, to young hipsters soaking in the atmosphere, to older aficionados digging for rare books. The counter staff (which usually consisted of one person) looked happy, bordering on overwhelmed, as I'm not sure they were expecting this kind of turnout.

The store itself was mostly in the same state as it was for the soft opening, just a little more polished and tweaked. The plain banner in the window was replaced with permanent vinyl graphics, based on Daniel Clowes artwork. The side wall was adorned with a selection of original art from Peter Bagge, R. Crumb, Jaime Hernandez, Chris Ware, and others, tastefully presented behind plexiglass. The damaged room had a larger inventory, including out-of-print comics (like Penny Century #3, which I was happy to finally find).


We hung around and shopped for a little while, bumping elbows with Ellen Forney, Andrice Arp and Kaz Strzepek (who chatted with us or a while), among others. When it got a little too claustrophobic (and we finished our complementary beers), we made our way over to the gallery to check out the Beasts exhibit. The space was small but elegant, with original artwork hanging on one wall, an interactive projection of pages from the book on the opposite side, and a beautiful diorama on the bookshelf, next to a selection of small-press art books. They were playing a mix of minimal techno from the upstairs staff area/DJ booth, which fit the modern design of the space quite well.










Back at the Fantagraphics store, local band The Rheas played a quick set of synth-laced indie pop, with store counterperson Rhea Patterson on drums. It was around 8 at this point, and the crowd showed no sign of thinning out yet, but we decided to take our leave. It was great to see such a large, diverse turnout for a comic store opening, though. I never would have guessed that even an institution like Fantagraphics could have pulled it off, with the economic state of the artform as it is. But I'm definitely happy to be proven wrong.