As I write this column my office desk is set up against a backyard pond looking window. Every morning a big orange tabby comes to hunt around the edges of the willows and cat tails. It is amazing that this predator goes home empty handed never. And on at least two occasions caught a creature nearly his size. I do not like that it kills, but also think cats will be cats. I watch somewhat transfixed where I sit, his motions and hunt are rather a danse macabre.
Writer/Artists: Edmond Baudoin, Jason, Max, R. Sikoryak, Ted Stearn, Martin Tom Dieck, Fabio Zimbres, Paul Pope, Jason Lutes, Anke Feuchtenberger, Michael Kupperman, Matt Madden, Craig Thompson, Andrea Bruno, Santiago Cohen, Miriam Katin, Stefan J. H. van Dinther, Lat, Ng Suat Tong, Vincent Stall, Feng Zikai, Liao Binxiong, Filipes Abranches, Jessica Khane, Pedro Nora
TPB, $19.95, black and white, some color
Anthologies are not my bag, usually. I read this one somewhat skeptically to start, not out of an aim to poop upon this work but out of my own bias against this sort of format. Because I like Jeff Mason publisher of Alternative Comics and want to review his products I had to read this with brand new eyes, so to speak. As such I saw an incredible collection of talents most all telling vital, important stories. It is an international collective of artists here, and it really is a window into as many different worlds and ideas as there are stories. Particularly powerful for me were the works of Feng Zikai and Liao Binxiong. Images from the struggle against the ravages of war, secret police, and life amidst poverty and terror were all illustrated. I am a historian, with a field area of Asian history, and I must say that these works were moving... perhaps for me even transformative. I feel changed by what I now know. I do not think that you can argue much against the power of that. People looking for hero stories and men in tights will no doubt be bummed out, but there is far more to comics than heroic fiction, and to life. No I did not love every story here, some of the works were either told in such a strange fashion I did not get it, or illustrated in such a manner that I did not like it. But ultimately, when I finished this book I was happy to have read it. To me, that means it was worth my time, which is far more valuable than money. Time you do not get back.
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It is time I pay tribute to some of my online friends
Todd and Jennifer Meyer own and run a magnificent company where art and commerce collide. Both are fabulous artists, and Todd designs many unique and beautiful statues for your lawn, and home. These are not your garden variety Garden Gnomes, each has character and they make me smile and hold my mouth agape in pleasant awe looking at the quality of work.
Tony Isabella writes a column and hosts a message board. He is a talented writer, a politically minded soul who swings somewhat left, and a father of two great kids and a good friend of mine. His works have not yet become fully collected in trades and should be, but it seems possible that he has begun a new career as writer of the Star Trek Mystery novels. I am a fan of his work but more a fan of him. He is a true character and an honest voice in an online world filled with savage faceless message boarding trolls. Check out his work and his message board.
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