Sometimes you have to toss a kitten

I keep a close eye on the comic book market. Every week I check the Diamond shipping list to verify which comics are coming out so that I plan in advance for unusual items. And yet, somehow I missed that Oni's North World: Other Sagas had come out.

The beauty of North World is that it takes familiar tropes from the fantasy genre and merges them with the mundane world. People in North World carry swords and encounter magic on a daily basis, but otherwise they wear mostly-contemporary fashions, speak contemporary jargon and dwell in contemporary homes. One of the tales in Other Sagas is titled "In the Mall of the Mountain King," which probably sums up the North World experience.

This is essentially the third North World volume although it isn't numbered as such; the first two comprised "the Epic of Conrad," but with that story completed it's time to move on. Creator Lars Brown has stressed that although Conrad was the lead of the first two volumes but the real star is North World itself. Other Sagas is an anthology, featuring a variety of characters.

Conrad returns in Other Sagas for two tales, one set prior to his Epic, the other post-Epic. A few supporting characters from the Epic appear in stories of their own and there are various vignettes (some of them work of Lars' which predate North World but are being published by Oni for the first time). Highlights include Conrad hiring a bard to promote his adventures, a quest for a diamond that forces two adventurers to hurl kittens to save their lives (see above), and a cursed forest with rolling snakes, among other dangers.

Conrad was an excellent protagonist for the first two volumes as an everyman character who grounded the transpirings (which were something like Grosse Point Break meets Final Fantasy). It's a treat to see North World opening up to the rest of its environment and the thousand and one stories which can be told in this setting. If chance prevails, I may yet to live to see each of those tales. I only hope that next time I don't miss the week of release.

My Five Day Roadtrip: To Seattle and Back Again

DAY ONE

- In the morning I rose, dressed and packed my only travel bag. Realizing that I probably wouldn't have lunch and needing to eliminate food which would otherwise spoil, I took in a large breakfast. I left the house to catch a bus to Edmonton.

- On the way to the bus I made a brief excursion to look for shoes; all of my sneakers had been worn out and discarded and I realized that my boots would be too much for traveling around Seattle. However, the store I visited had nothing to interest me.

- I caught the Red Arrow bus to Edmonton. Red Arrow remains the superior bus between Calgary and Edmonton; I can't believe that Greyhound hasn't got an express.

- I was received in Edmonton by Olav, who was providing his car for the roadtrip. Olav brought his Calgary Flames jersey along, even though we planned to stop in Vancouver. After gathering Earl, the third member of our entourage, we departed from Edmonton.

- It was a long drive that evening. During the trip, the "check engine" light came on in the car, even though Olav had left the car with the mechanic before the trip. Unable to find any clue to the problem and not experiencing any unusual performance, we carried on. Had supper at A&W's.

- We arrived in Kamloops and stopped at a hotel for the night.

DAY TWO

- Departed Kamloops in the morning and headed for Vancouver. We didn't stop for breakfast so I made do with a muffin from a gas station

- Delayed while entering the city when an accident tied up traffic. When we passed the scene of the accident, I was stunned to see that one of the cars was a blackened, smoldering wreck.

- Went to meet Olav's friend Nathan for lunch. Nathan was attending a Stargate convention in Vancouver and Olav thought it might be funny to attend the convention. When we learned it was $200 at the door, we thought better of it.

- By now, Olav's Flames jersey was winning him some colorful remarks (and occasional warnings) from the locals. We met Nathan at a Red Robin's for lunch. When Calgary had a Red Robin's I frequented it often with Craig; I was amazed to find that the franchise still existed on the west coast. It was a good thing I had a harty meal because we didn't have supper that night.

- Earl & I dropped Olav off to visit some relatives, leaving the two of us with the car. We tried our best to navigate the city and finally found a mall where I bought two pairs of sneakers. With plenty of time to kill, Earl offered to treat me to the film Fast & Furious. Since he was paying, I accepted.

- We met up with Olav again in the evening. I was ashamed to admit I had gone to see Fast & Furious and was evasive about what we had been up to. When Olav noticed that the "check engine" light had gone off, he assumed that Earl and I had done something to the car, possibly taken it to a garage. Earl and I played along with this idea, neither confirming nor denying Olav's assumptions. This would later prove to be a BAD IDEA.

- We decided to continue on to Seattle that night, but getting out of Vancouver and on to the correct highway was a lengthy and difficult task. We experienced no problems crossing the border, but Olav tired out before we could reach Seattle; we stopped at a hotel 30 minutes from the city and remained there for the rest of our stay.

DAY THREE

- We all slept in, missing the complimentary breakfast I had hoped to catch. We traveled on to Seattle, located the convention center where the Emerald City Comic Con was being held, then took a quasi-breakfast/lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Concerned about the number of meals I was missing, I took in another big lunch.

- At last, we went on to the convention. We traveled the floor both together and separate. Olav was most interested in acquiring new Robocop on a Unicorn sketches, while I had a lengthy list of autographs to seek out.

- Passing Gail Simone's table, I was surprised when Earl expressed ignorance of her work. I cajoled him into buying a Birds of Prey trade from her.

- Olav and I stood in Paul Smith's line for a lengthy period; I only wanted some autographs, but Olav was hoping for a sketch. I conversed with another person in line for most of the wait and he showed me a sketchbook full of great images which had been gathered over years, including the likes of Gulacy, Eisner & Kaluta. Smith was funny and gracious, but declined to sketch Robocop on a Unicorn.

- I visited the Proof table to see the book's complete creative team. Although I've known Riley Rossmo & Kelly Tindall for some time, I had never met writer Alex Grecian before. I collected autographs and admired a Dr. Who sketch Kelly was working on.

- I visited Stan Sakai's table to collect an autographed poster and receive his autograph on Usagi Yojimbo#99. I introduced myself as a friend of Texcap and related how Tex had convinced me to purchase the single issue. I mentioned that I was waiting for the collected Usagi trade so that I could follow the title from its beginning. "Oh, you're one of those." Sakai replied.

- I introduced myself to Christos N. Gage, collected some autographs and chatted about his work. I also apologized for not following his Wildstorm work, telling him that I couldn't follow Wildstorm's continuity. I also told him how I had used my blog to help promote the recent Avengers: The Initiative Featuring Reptil#1.

- I spent a ridiculous amount of time (1.5 hours?) at Jeff Parker's table, chatting him about Interman, Mysterius and others. Jeff kindly introduced me to one of his fans as "the guy who keeps me from making mistakes." I spent a great deal of time admiring the sketches Jeff drew for fans. I asked Jeff for a Robocop on a Unicorn on Olav's behalf and he supplied one.

- I met Jay Faerber and purchased a new copy of Dynamo 5 Vol.1 (Olav lost my copy) and the not-even-in-stores-yet Noble Causes Archives Vol.2 from him. I also apologized to him for insulting him at comicboards.com about 10 years ago.

- I also collected autographs from Khoi Pham, Ben Templesmith and Greg Horn.

- I finally went through the vendors and found myself searching for 1950s Atlas comics. One vendor had an amazing stock of Atlas books at reasonable prices; I walked away with a $50 stack of books.

- Near the end of the day, Olav mentioned that he had seen Lars Brown at the Oni booth and mentioned I was here. I sped to Oni, only to find Lars had left. Right then, I knew I would have to return the next day.

- After the show we wandered around looking for a place to have dinner. We finally chose a Mexican grill.

- We returned to the hotel reasonably early that night and spent some time reading the comics we purchased before bed.

DAY FOUR

- Earl and I rose early enough to take in the free breakfast.

- We went back to Seattle and rode the monorail to the Science Fiction Museum/Hall of Fame (rock n' roll) facility. Olav had free passes.

- The sci-fi museum was interesting - it displayed costumes, props and models from the likes of Star Wars, Star Trek, Terminator, Outer Limits, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes and so forth. There was also a lot of emphasis on sci-fi novels, with many of them displayed in cases throughout the exhibits.

- Unfortunately, the museum gift shop was a major letdown. It's a rather small shop with only a few shelves of books and most of them the sort of sci-fi books you can find at any Chapters. Given all the acclaimed and hard-to-find books on display at the exhibit, you would think the curators would use the gift shop to seize an opportunity for people to read the books for themselves while the titles are fresh in their minds. I just may write a complaint letter.

- The Hall of Fame wasn't that interesting to me; the exhibits included a history of guitars, a history of Seattle-area music and a display of local concert posters. Borrrring. But free.

- We took in lunch at the Cheesecake Factory again. While Olav and Earl went off to explore more of Seattle, I went back to the con to see Lars and other guests I had missed.

- Lars was the first person I sought out on arrival; we caught up briefly (we had been side-by-side at the 2007 Calgary Expo) and I bought an autographed copy of North World Vol.2 (not available at any of my local shops).

- I sought out a few autographs from Kurt Busiek and apologized for insulting him at comicboards.com about 10 years ago. This was a good weekend for my karma.

- I also obtained autographs from Mike Mignola, Stuart Immonen and Matt Fraction; that made everyone on my list.

- I visited the Proof table again while Riley was doing a Dr. Who sketch. I asked Riley for some paper and a pen: I had a special mission to undertake; when Riley learned what it was, he threw in a crayon. This would prove vital.

- I stood in line for Star Trek's Wil Wheaton, although he was absent from his booth when I arrived. Ahead of me was an attractive woman named Madison who was an exuberant Wheaton fan; when he finally arrived she began shrieking and jumping about. Without any paper for him to sign, instead she had him autograph her left breast; sayeth Wil: "I feel like a rock star." She loaned me her camera to take their picture.

- And now it was my turn and I presented Wil with the paper, pen and crayon along with my request for a sketch. Without flinching, Wil went to work with the crayon, commenting on the picture as he drew, much to the delight of his onlooking fans. Wil completed his masterpiece and I gratefully returned the pen and crayon to Riley, allowing the Proof team a chance to soak in Wil Wheaton's Robocop on a Unicorn.

- I went back to the vendors and picked up a Usagi Yojimbo poster, Fell trade and Losers trade, all for Earl. For myself, I found a $0.50 bin full of my own Marvel Universe handbooks; I took them all.

- I met up again with Olav and Earl at the end of the con. We had originally intended to visit a Travis concert in the evening, but Olav suggested that we start back toward Alberta instead. We agreed.

- We crossed the border back without incident and took in supper at a White Spot.

- It was on the drive back that the "check engine" light came on again. Earl and I confessed that we hadn't been to a garage as Olav had assumed, earning us his ire.

- We stopped again in Kamloops, albeit at a different (cheaper) hotel.

DAY FIVE

- Again we started out without taking breakfast. Lunch was spent at a Denny's.

- I should mention that aside from some snow & fog on the first night, this trip was full of clear, sunny weather. Certainly not what Seattle's reputation led me to expect.

- Olav & Earl dropped me off in Calgary after 6 PM. And so, the trip is finally over.

TALLY

Number of Autographs Collected: 15 different creators Number of Meals Missed: 5 Number of Vehicles Used: 5 (2 buses, 1 LRT, 1 car, 1 monorail) Number of Bad Vin Diesel Movies Seen: 1

Impressions on comics of 2008

There has been some interesting discussions of late in the comic book blogosphere around the many "best of" lists which emerge near the end of the year. Charges were made that some of these lists are overly pretentious. Others called for some standards to be invented then applied to the process of comic book reviews. Some chose to skip over "best of" in lieu of "what I liked." Some have a resigned weariness over the content which appears in such lists. Overall, the blogosphere is not asking for more "best of" lists.

So, this would be the year I would choose to fashion such a write-up, eh? Rather than add my small voice to the din, I'm simply going to briefly list & discuss comic books I read in 2008 which made a lasting impression upon me. I do not necessarily consider them to be the best; some were originally published years earlier.

2008 was an unusual year for me; although the bulk of my purchases were for Marvel Comics (as has been the case since about 1990), I made a determined effort to broaden my reading habits. I solicited opinions from friends, scoured shelves at shops for odd material and tracked down many of the books I had seen for years in "all-time best" lists yet never read. Out of all that I purchased, here are 14 of the most impressionable, in alphabetical order:

I've enjoyed the Marvel Comics work of Fred Van Lente so much that Action Philosophers seemed a natural for me. Part of what drew me to the series was my own ignorance of the philosophers being discussed and a desire to learn. It turns out that, much like my beloved television show History Bites, humour is an effective means of teaching because I retained a great deal of the lessons.

It's a good thing that this is not a "best of" list or it would be arrogant of me to breathe a word about the All-New Iron Manual. Although this was not a perfect project it was one of the most exciting books I have written because of the amount of new artwork involved. I'm always pleased to give Eliot R. Brown's work a home, but to have a gallery of Iron Man armors by Carlo Pagulayan and a set of characters drawn by my teenage favorite Ron Lim made this particularly special for me.

I have tried repeatedly to get into the comic book incarnations of Hellboy & the BPRD, but to be honest, it takes a lot of effort; I don't think I'm the proper audience because I lack Mike Mignola's passion for reworking myths, fables and Lovecraft. Consequently, BPRD: The Ectoplasmic Man was a very pleasant surprise and is easily my favorite comic of the Hellboy mythos I have read. This done-in-one story relates the origin of the BPRD's Johann Krauss and it's the final panel which made me love it. The newly-deceased Krauss confronts a creature who feasts upon the dead; although Krauss' spirit is strong enough to avoid destruction, he can't actually stop the monster. Finally, Krauss receives a containment suit for his ectoplasmic remains and the final panel depicts him returning to the monster's lair. We don't get to see how the rematch plays out, it's left entirely to the imagination. I love a comic that lets me fill in a few of the blanks.

Enjoying Action Philosophers as I did, Comic Book Comics was a must-buy. What fascinates me about this series is that I considered myself rather well-educated in comic book history and yet Van Lente keeps drawing out anecdotes I had never heard while tying the fractured pieces of comics history into an easy-to-follow whole.

Dr. 13: Architecture & Mortality played around with a number of funky DC characters like Anthro the caveboy, the Haunted Tank and Captain Fear the ghost pirate. Irreverant takes on old properties are rather commonplace at Marvel & DC, but this one goes so far as to mock the creative direction of DC Comics, which tickled me. It turns out to be something of a celebration of the weird and the less-than-perfect while it condemns comics that exist to "fix" other comics.

The Immortal Iron Fist sent off its premiere creative team in 2008, bringing to an end a great run of action stories. The series' use of flashback tales and the way it built upon old stories while expanding Iron Fist's universe has done so much to make Iron Fist stand out at the head of his own mythos, rather than stapling him in with the rest of Marvel's heroes. This should be a textbook case for anyone trying to revive a dormant and neglected property.

Although I have heard good things online about Invincible for years now, I had never felt compelled to try the series out, even when free samples were offered. It took the recommendation of my friend Olav to lead me into a purchase and it turned out that Invincible is to my tastes (at least, my tastes at present). Writer Robert Kirkman seems to have been raised on many of the same comics I was and I enjoy how the series constantly finds a neat angle on old ideas. Invincible really got me thinking that this is the sort of super-hero comic the aging fanbase should be reading, rather than encouraging today's writers to alter the age-old Marvel/DC titles in the name of nostalgia or sophistication. In a way, I agree with Kirkman's diatribe, insofar as I'm beginning to think that Marvel/DC have led their super-heroes too far from their roots as kid-friendly creations. I would rather see the market send adult readers who want super-heroes to books such as Invincible and preserve the old heroes for future generations of kids; but that ship sailed a long time ago...

If only I had consulted Olav prior to purchasing JLA Presents: Aztek the Ultimate Man, I would be a happier man (and $15 richer). I was interested in this series because of the many complimentary things I had heard online so I bought the collection without even cracking the cover. It turns out that Aztek was not to my tastes. I appreciated it's quirky take on super-heroes but it was impossible to place any emotional investment in the characters. All told, it was simply too odd. Its presence on my bookshelf will be a reminder: "never again."

The big comic which I had heard of for years yet never read was Maus. It would have done me some good to find it years earlier, but I'm glad to finally have it done. By sheer coincidence, I was reading this at about the same time as the Diary of Anne Frank; that's a lot of Holocaust. Maus was the perfect compliment because of the contemporary material detailing the latter days of Spiegelman's father. It really informed me of the lasting impact of the Holocaust upon its survivors as I divined that Vladek Spiegelman's mindset was entrenched in the survivalist mentality of the camps and never returned to normal.

I had enjoyed Fred Hembeck's work when it ran in locales such as Marvel Age magazine, but I knew little about his earlier material (much less where to find it). The Nearly Complete Essential Hembeck Archives Omnibus solved that for me rather nicely. Although this phonebook-sized tome appeared to be a heavy read, I was confident that I could get through it in a couple of days - didn't I do the same with the various Marvel Essentials of similar size? Well, the Hembeck Archives took weeks. Many pages are crowded with text (which Hembeck apologizes for) as he goes on about comics he loved in his childhood, teenhood and at the time of original publication. I knew it would be funny, but it was also informative. Where else was I going to hear about that great Superman April Fool's story?

I had been following the webcomic version of North World since meeting Lars Brown in '06 and I was pleased to be there for the arrival of the print version. North World was the first webcomic I've followed which tells a story (as opposed to say, telling gags) and it opened up my eyes to the possibilities webcomics offer in a way 200 pages worth of Scott McCloud didn't. The "infinite" length and importance of page breaks really come through in the day-to-day process of webcomics.

It seems that this will be the last year to talk about Rex Libris, which ended its run with issue #13. This was one of the first independent comics that I really enjoyed, in no small part because of the librarian hero concept. Rex had a fine send-off for his last year, even if I still don't care about Lovecraft pastiche (see BPRD). I'll really miss the Barry's editorials with their send-ups of comic book publishing; Barry's catastrophic business decisions which supposedly caused the comic to go out of publication seemed prescient in light of the collapse of Virgin Comics around the same time.

When I placed a copy of Shockrockets down at the cash register, the clerk broke out into a grin. He had a lot of fondness for this book and I can see why. Although it was brought to a quick finish, it tells a fairly complete story about a young man who is recruited into a band of pilots who operate extraterrestrial aircrafts. Kurt Busiek was on his a-game here and Stuart Immonen turned out some fine art; Shockrockets is the best combination I've seen of Busiek's character-driven material alongside all-out-action. Best action hero comic I've read since Global Frequency.

Skaar: Son of Hulk has not been everything I wanted so far. As a sequel to the storyline "Planet Hulk" I've found it a bit disappointing, but there is one aspect which has impressed me - the art. I have never been a fan of Ron Garney's work but somehow his material in Skaar is really clicking for me. Perhaps it's the absence of his inker, perhaps it's the barbarian-style environs, but I've been seeing a Joe Kubert-esque quality to his work that I really, really enjoy. Likewise, Butch Guice has been turning in astounding work in the back-up stories. He has a real John Buscema flair that I hadn't noticed before (again, perhaps because of the subject matter) and there aren't many contemporary artists following in the footsteps of the Foster/Buscema types. Guice would be an amazing Conan artist.