comix

Cory Doctorow has become famous for his vigorous anti-MPIAA, anti-RIAA stance, and for putting his money where his mouth is in terms of copy-freedom. Each time he publishes a new book he releases it for free electronically online. http://craphound.com The publicity has served to give him a wider audience than better authors who use only restrictive practices to get their works out to eyeballs. I have read a few of his books electronically, but had not bought any for two reasons. Firstly, I don't like paper. It is uncomfortable and cumbersome to use. (I'm currently reading an old paper book to research this year's NaNoWriMo work and hating the discomfort of battling with the pages.) Paper takes up a lot of storage space that is in scarce supply. Most paper begins to disintegrate in just decades. Paper is not only chemically unstable (a small flame can quickly turn a thousand books into a raging inferno), but it must be protected from a wide array of organisms that would love to devour it. Secondly, I haven't enjoyed one of his books enough to spend my scarce pennies on it.

Well, that has changed. Recently A number of Cory Doctorow's stories have been made into a set of comix published as a book "Cory Doctorow's Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now". They give me new respect for his talent. In my opinion he is a much better short story writer than a novelist (though I'll keep checking out more of his novels make sure -- free books make that possible). True to his convictions the book has been released online for free at the same time as being published on paper. Unfortunately this one is released as an Adobe pdf file. Ugh! Comix are one of the few things that I'll put up with the inconvenience of paper for now. There are no really good ways of releasing comix electronically at the moment. So I bought it. It was well worth the money, and I highly recommend it.

Terry Moore, who wrote and drew the brilliant "Strangers in Paradise" series, has begun a new series called "Echo". It is shaping up to be possibly as interesting as SiP. I'm only at issue 3, so it is a bit hard to tell yet, though the way I keep hankering to learn what happens next is a good sign.

Joss Whedon, of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Serenity"/"Firefly" fame has been very busy writing for comix. He took over from Brian K Vaughn, writing the excellent "Runaways" series. Joss' dialogue and plot twists in those issues are just wonderful. Same with his writing for Marvel's "Astonishing X-Men". I normally steer away from anything by Marvel, but Joss led me back to what I remember as a kid was astonishing only for its lack of understanding in how the world works. Joss Changed that for his run in "Astonishing X-Men". The dialogue is at times brilliant and the plot is utterly unpredictable yet weirdly believable.

I mentioned here some time ago that Joss also has been writing for "Buffy Season Eight" as a comic book series. That series (it hasn't ended yet) seems to be a little patchy, but when it works it truly shines, as Joss (and other writers) at their best. And the covers, mostly by Jo Chen, are to die for. There is something deeply affecting about issue 5 "The Chain" that moved me almost to tears. How many comix do that?

If you are in Australia (or even overseas) I recommend buying all your comix from my friend Peter at Alternate Worlds. He is more knowledgeable about comix than anyone I've ever met and he will do everything he can to help you. He is a very cool guy.

http://www.alternateworlds.com.au
76 Chapel Street,
Windsor 3181,
Victoria AUSTRALIA .
Phone 03 9529 2255 : Int: 61 3 95292255
Fax 03 9529 2040 : Int 61 3 95292040