comix

[miriam_e]

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

Comments

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I have really enjoyed Buffy Series Eight (I'm only into the first story arc), but I haven't moved into Joss' X-Men yet. I suspect I know which one 'The Chain' is, and how it tends, and it is a kind of story telling I wish Joss were doing on TV.

(A friend put me onto the new Justice League, specifically the first six issues called The Tornado's Path. It can be a bit heavy on the continuity side, but I really enjoyed it to the point where I am spending time reading Superman et al for the first time in decades, although my tastes are possibly a little more low-brow than yours. And I never use the word 'comix'. Certainly I think DC's comics are far better than those put out by Marvel. The seem more alive, more realistic, more serious. In the same way DC's '60s and early '70s books seemed so childish compared to the early Marvel age.)

There are no really good ways of releasing comix electronically at the moment.

I find cbr works fine. Certainly better'n pdf.
I had no idea Doctorow wrote comics. I'll have to hunt them down.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Oopsy. I forgot to add Cory Doctorow's website link above. I've remedied that now. Also added info on my favorite source for comix.

I never got into the Justice League. I found the overt USA patriotism offputting. (Much of the culture in USA always seemed to me as patriotically brainwashed as that in Mao's China and made me feel like vomitting.) I'll try to have a look at some recent Justice League. Thanks for the pointer.

I agree about DC's comix being better than Marvel. And Gold Key was best of all. They published Russ Manning's "Magnus, Robot Fighter" which in its day was one of the best pieces of science fiction available. It has recently been republished by Dark Horse as a set of 3 hardcover volumes.

I don't like the term "comix" either, but dislike "comics" even more. Most such graphical works have nothing to do with humor, which is unfortunately what the word "comic" brings to many people's minds. I use "comix" to go some way toward removing that ambiguity. I acknowledge it doesn't work particularly well.

I don't think I've tried cbr. Thanks. I shall give it a go.

This was Cory Doctorow's first foray into creating comix. By his own admission he didn't do much -- mostly kept out of the way of those who adapted his words to the visual medium. In my opinion it was a success.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Like Brad Meltzer, who wrote the JLA, I read my first JLA around the late 1970s. I was young enough not to understand patriotism or nationalism. When the book became Justice League I was.

I think it's still inherently an American cultural artifact, but there's never going to be any escaping that. Doesn't mean you can't tell human stories.

And Gold Key was best of all.
Ahahaha! Gold Key! Best known in my life for Star Trek and Donald Duck comics. I will have to look into Magnus, Robot Fighter.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs! Especially for the Terry Moore one, I'm a big ol' SIP fan!

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Glad to help. :D

Yes, I must re-read SiP. Been a while now. It was sad that it had to finally end. It was like having to say goodbye to old friends.

"Echo" seems like it is shaping up to have fallible characters, which made them so endearing in SiP. Once again the main character is a young woman who is caught up in something beyond her control. I'm looking forward to reading more. Whatever you do, don't judge the story by the first issue. Terry Moore has done a very sneaky thing and begun with a big mislead. :) An adventurous thing to do, but dangerous.