Got along to the opening of Boxed In last night with a bunch of fine Melbourne comicers. Nine on Seven exhibition space turns out to be literally nine boxes of various sizes stuck to the wall of the Seventh floor of Curtin House (which is also where the roof top bar is). It’s currently showing the work of a group of serious and seriously awesome comic creators.

Diversity is the name of game here, of both style and approach. There’s the originals (and lovely they are too) of the beards we’ve seen on Mandy Ord’s blog the past few weeks (months?); there’s Jase Harper’s thoughtful musings on his move from Brisbane to Melbourne; there’s Pat Grant’s simple, effective, textured print about hunger (and farting); and there’s highlights from Tim Molloy’s recent show (and book) Saturn Returns. And then there’s Ben Hutchings‘ pop-up pokies machine, Michael Fikaris‘ lovely sketch, Leigh Rigozzi’s awesomeness and Michael Hawkins’ explosion of color.

But more than this (as if it wasn’t enough) there’s Jo Waite. Her wonderful work is not only a great piece, but it is mounted so beautifully, complete with stunning little Fimo pigeons in the bottom of the box.

Get along to it before a) it’s taken down on March 17 or, b) as Jo Waite fears, the weather has it’s way and the exposed boxes get washed away.

– Jen

Why hello, nice to see you again.  Now that reviewdle has moved, I’ve been omninously quiet on this board.  Turns out I have less to say about comics and zombies than anticipated.  But now?  Strike up the marching band, because I finally have something to contribute.

I’ve been writing a lot lately (as well as Sawbones I’m writing two projects for artist genius Jase Harper which are both super exciting and have started poking at the edges of a project for the absurdly talented Doug Holgate, see above re: super exciting) and when I write, I read comics.  Comics like these:

Copper – Kazu Kibuishi

It’s hard to get your hands on comics for kids these days, but there this was in Minatour (probably wedged in between Sin City and 30 Days of Night), a gorgeous, full color comic for kids. Copper and his dog Fred have whimsical adventures in their minds, dreams and real life (all pretty much with the same design aesthetic).  Usually one page strips, these comics rely heavily on the art (which is beautiful) and the setting (which is fantastically fantastical) to engage, but engage they do.  Just so pretty.  A bunch are online: check them out

Daisy Kutter – Kazu Kibuishi

Entirely by coincidence,  I grabbed another Kazu when Brendan Hallyday was pruning his comic collection at a recent Melbourne Creator’s Meet.  Very glad I did too.  Daisy Kutter is a Clint Eastwood-style bandit and the best train robber in a steam-punk Wild West.  She has a long standing love/hate relationship with the local sheriff and is about to embark on One Last Job.  Although (as with Copper) the story and dialogue are the weakest points, the art and design are outstanding and well worth the price of admission.

Blankets – Craig Thompson

This won two major Eisners and 3 major Harveys in 2004?  Really?  Generally, the black and white art is very good, but uneven.  I don’t need the art to be more polished (there is a lovely loose feeling about this), I’d just prefer more consistency in quality.  And the story?  The very definition of self indulgence.  This is an intensely personal story of Thompson’s first love and how he lost his faith, things that a lot of people should be able to engage with but his treatment is so… teenaged, so angsty and “you might have been in love once, but it was different for me, our love was special” that I just couldn’t sympathise.

Perfect Example – John Porcellino

Deceptively little happening here, both narratively and artistically, but I was drawn in nonetheless.  Porcellino’s simple line drawing is easy to comprehend and his words are quick to read, so I was half way through before I realized there was not much of a story to be had.  Again, this is intensely personal territory – Porcellino’s account of that weird lost time between school and whatever comes next, a severe bout of depression and figuring out love – but so much easier to stomach than Blankets.

Little Nothings – Lewis Trondhiem

Jackpot.   After two shades of not very impressive memoir, Trondheim reminds me (as Christopher Downes often does) that personal stories can, in fact, be done very very well.  Little Nothings is a collection of page-a-day journal comics that run the gamut of extraordinary events to the everyday.  His eye is wonderful, his pacing extraordinary, his stories pithy and his art terrific.  If you haven’t already, I highly recommend getting your hands on this one.

– Jen

I thought i’d do something different this week and share my pull list. For those who don’t read comics off-line a pull list is the list of comics you have your local comic book guy put aside for you. From month to month it changes as writers move about and i have to make monetary trade off’s but I hope you find this interesting.

Batgirl: The current incarnation of Batgirl has only being going for a few issues but already it’s a more interesting interpretation of both Stephanie Brown (former Spoiler, Robin and Robin love interest) and Batgirl (most recently Cassie Cain) than I’ve seen. Her mentor is Barbara Gordon, the first and best Batgirl and that dynamic has been one of the highlights of the series. After Joker shot her in the spine and ended her career as Batgirl, Babs has been super protective of the legacy so her mentoring Stephanie seems to be a relationship akin to a sports agent with his player. Sure she cares about the girl but she’s just as worried about the brand and isn’t afraid to bench Brown if she embarrasses it.

Gotham City Sirens: Ok by now you’ll have noticed I’m a Batman fan. and I can’t deny that. Sirens began as a book that I thought would stretch my love for all things Gotham. The premise of Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn rooming together screamed Sex in the Gotham City and that’s not something I can stomach reading however the awesome Paul Dini was writing it so I picked it up and boy I’m glad. The current arc is about joker’s old sidekick annoyed about Harley. It’s really a lament over the end of the Silver Age’s Joker’s old madcap schemes as he becomes more and more savage in this post-Miller era.

Deadpool- Merc with a Mouth: Wade Wilson is apparently the only thing Marvel is making money on at the moment with every cover this month featuring a variant Deadpool cover but as a fan following this guy since the late 90s I have yet to hit saturation even if my wallet has. Top of the pile of his multiple series has to be Merc with a Mouth which teams Wade up with Headpool, the zombie head of Deadpool from the Marvel Zombies universe. It’s been nothing short of brilliant combining adventure and humour.

The Seige: Ok I’ll admit it. I buying into the latest mega-event. After following the last few years of DC’s events which at every turn dropped the ball and left me and my friends asking what it was about and lamenting wasting our cash I’m giving the House of Ideas a go. For one reason their events seem far more contained. Yes I could get 300 tie ins but Civil War and Secret Invasion was a great read without having to do that. The other reason is Brian M. Bendis creates events that make sense and then tops himself by tying those events together so that the Seige is the direct descendant to 2004’s Disassembled and every event since then has built on that. When DC tried that following the great Identity Crisis they muddled the water so badly every event since then has in some way damaged their continuity.

In much less detail
Red Robin: Not sure why i’m persisting with this one. Ho hum since issue 1
Batman and Robin: Reasonably good so far but written by Grant Morrison so it’s only a matter of time before it stops making any sense.
Batman. Tony Daniels is handling the writing AND art chores on this and doing a damn good job.
Streets of Gotham: Again Paul Dini rocks. Nuff said
Futurama: I’ve got a soft spot for this show, even though it feels like the movies jumped the shark.
Superman/Batman: I have loyalty despite the fact it’s lost it’s edge since Loeb stopped writing it.
The Marvelous Land of Oz: While the text (ripped directly from the book) is quite dry the visuals courtesy of Skottie Young are mind-blowingly awesome. Get this book and be amazed.
Powers: A really different take on superheroes and the letters pages are worth the cover price alone.