John Reviews: Textura Dos

 

This review starts with a tangent, I’m afraid. Or maybe the rest of this will be tangential to this little story, depending on how strict you want to be with your definitions.

In any case, here it is: I have a bad case of Progressive Procrastination, which is characterized by the subject finding it increasingly easy to put something off the longer they have already done so. If any of my former professors are reading this, you now have an explanation for all of those times you found my essays slipped under your office doors roughly five minutes after the last possible second that they were due, still warm from the printer and held together with a hair clip I found on the ground on the way from the computer lab. This is also the reason that Textura Dos has been sitting on my coffee table for over a month instead of being long-since reviewed. Oh, the ignominity of my affliction.

All of this would be irrelevant and would only serve as a pitiful excuse to the nice folks at who sent me the book in the first place except that this one time, my horrible habits have paid off! More on that later, though – first, let me tell you about the book.

In Textura Dos, Matt Fox-Tucker and Guilherme Zauith explore the street art of Buenos Aires, Argentina, presenting a series of photographs of some of the most striking and beautiful pieces in the city, arranged geographically. Each section of the book contains a pocket history of the barrio that it is concerned with and details the type of art that is most prevalent on its respective streets. The book also contains a history of street art in Buenos Aires that gives some context for the sheer amount of graffiti that can be found in that city, and includes bonus downloads of art textures for use in your own projects. All of this is very interesting and enlightening (and English-Spanish bilingual!) but the real stars of the book are of course the photographs of the almost universally wonderful pieces that can be found on a bewildering variety of the city’s surfaces, ranging from stencils and tags to enormous and intricate portraits that cover the walls of disused factories and warehouses.

Which brings me back to my procrastination problems. Fact is, having Textura Dos sitting on my coffee table for a month has spawned a pretty fascinating series of conversations about the pros and cons of graffiti, something that I never would have pegged to be such a devisive topic for what is a generally like-minded group of people. I found myself somewhere in between my friend Tubby - who believes that all flat surfaces could do with a dose of sprayed-on beuatification - and my girlfriend, who lumps the most poorly-executed Sharpie tag in with the most sublimely beautiful mural as unconscionable vandalism. To be fair to her, she is the only one of us who actually owns property, but I still have to wish that there was a bit more of the beauty in this book to be found in my city.

Check out some of Buenos Aires' street art here.

John Buys Comics, Gets Around to Reading Them For Once

Firstly, though, a step back. Last week brought two delightful new additions to the ever-expanding John Lair’s library and I wanted to hearken back to them.

First up, Xenozoic, collecting Mark Schulz’s Xenozoic Tales series, which I for one had only ever encountered under the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs moniker up ‘til now, and despite the fact that that is a pretty good description of the series (there are classic cars! Dinosaurs abound!) I like the feel of the original better. It’s less Saturday morning cartoon and more pulpy high adventure, which is also a good description of the series. This is one of the most purely enjoyable things that I’ve bought in a while – humans plus dinosaurs plus strange science is almost always a winning combination, as far as I’m concerned.

And of course Superman vs. Muhammad Ali also came out last week. What a book! I would venture that DC pulled off one of the greatest Superman stories of all time here, an especially impressive feat in light of the fact that this is a book with a celebrity guest star, something that is frequently fraught with peril, but Superman and Ali both work so well both together and in concert, and (and this is important) in the context of a plot that is more than a shoddy background painting for the guest to be showcased in front of. Anyway, about a million nerds have already spouted off about how wonderful this thing is – I don’t have to bore you with yet another paean to its greatness.

I will, however, bring up just how supremely confident the Superman in this book is. Enough of these constant crises of identity and journeys of self-discovery, Clark! Be this guy again, because he is much more entertaining than you have been for a while now.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN THIS WEEK:

The Sixth Gun just finished its initial story arc, which means that we’ll be seeing a trade soon, which is terrific. I’ve already mentioned a lot of the things that endear this book to me – the complex morality of the protagonist, the creativity involved in introducing supernatural elements to the Western setting, etc. – but here’s another: with this sixth issue, Bunn and Hurtt have taken the settings and plot elements that they had established thusfar and blown most of them up. There’s character continuity, sure, but virtually everything else is going to be all shiny and new. I very much look forward to the new twists and turns and gunfighters and dry-gulchers.

And speaking of supernatural craziness, Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil came out this week, with art by Richard Corben. It’s excellent, with one of the best twists on the old haunted house story that I’ve seen in a long time, but more importantly it’s a new Hellboy book that someone can pick up without being invested in the series already, which important for those like me who have a twisted need to get their friends hooked on excellent series but know the pain of scaring them away with an enormous stack of trade paperbacks “for context”. Two new Hellboy yarns, some creepy art and my personal guarantee that at least one mummy gets punched out, how can you resist that? YOU CANNOT.

Batman, Batman, Batman. There is a lot of Batman coming out right now and I just keep on buying it, and probably will until it stops being good (and possibly beyond that and into terrible, if the fact that I’m still buying Superman is any indication). Heck, why should I stop? I love the idea of DC having more international heroes, more Batmen of All Nations, as long as they all have distinct identities like Mr. Unknown and the Knight and so forth and aren’t just a series of guys named Batman (or possibly Bat-hombre, Bat-chap and Bat-homme). 

              

And here's where I get to the part where my title starts to become a lie. I did actually read most of What I Did, the new hardcover collection of stories by John-favourite Jason and his melancholy bird- and dog-men. I haven't even opened Brian Talbot's Grandeville: Mon Amour, though, partially because I'm incredibly confident that it's going to be amazing but mostly because I did a lot of my reading on the bus today and I feared that the sexy badger-lady on the cover might get me some unwanted attention from the sarcastic teens in the next seat over.

And that is that. Good night.

John Buys Comics and Things Go Squirrelly

Yes I bought comics; so many comics did I buy. Events, however have conspired to ensure that I've read almost none of them. As such, I have only two small observations this week:

1. Surefire way to make Johnathan sad: fill the newest copy of I, Zombie with printing errors. Specifically, one third to one half of the book was just the same two or three scenes repeating over and over, and not in the "this is an arty comic" kind of way. I guess it's a measure of how much I love the book that I was so devastated by this, but all that really means is that my enemies now have a new way to strike at me. !!! Maybe they already have!

2. Not that those Return of Bruce Wayne one-shots where he visits all of the extended Batman family and spies on them for a while have been excruciatingly awful, but Batman and Robin number 16 shows them all up by being one of those comics in which Grant Morrison writes something perfectly, in this case the reintroduction of Batman to the DC Universe (Mild Spoilers Ahoy). Batman appears at the climax of the Dick/Damian/Dr. Hurt battle (dramatic reappearance), utterly destroys the Doctor in a head-on confrontation (demonstration of essential Batmanishness) and gives his partners some credit/a great-big grin (proof that his attitude toward his peers has shifted away from insufferable and humourless). Zip, bing, bong, no White Casebook malarky required. Oh, plus he punches the Joker, which I'm sure he missed on his long voyage through time.

And that's it, pretty much. Good night, all.

The Spookiest John Buys Comics Ever

... at least, as far as I know. Give me a shout if I've been creepin' you out on a regular basis with my eerie insights.

In a nice bit of conicidencing, most of the comics that I bought yesterday and have gotten around to reading (*cough*) have some spooky overtones. Or undertones. Or whichever tone it is when the book is all about being spooky, and I guess that a fair numbe rof my regular purchases are all about that. Zatanna No. 6, for example, continues the tale of her rumble with the demon Mammon, and what's spookier than a straight-up demon from Hell? And have I mentioned The Bulletproof Coffin lately? Issue 5 (of 6!) of that just came out, and it remains full of the kind of surreal, vaguely disturbing stuff that would have had the Young Johnathan raptly freaking out and makes Old Johnathan just plain happy. Seriously, this is a fantastic comic. And of course Creepy No. 4 came out this week, if you want a comic that's going to be overt about it.

Big news! Action Comics No. 864 features the return of Neil Gaimen's version of Death to the DCU proper! Unless that happened recently already and I missed it! Really, it's the fact that this might herald the return of such fun types as John Constantine and the ever-lovin' Swamp Thing to the super-hero-style comics that they were birthed from that makes me happy - it's the contrast between the grim Vertigo types and their four-colour counterparts that makes for some really terrific stories.

Even better, though, is the fact that this is a comic about Lex Luthor coming to terms with having died (spoiler: Lex Luthor will not be dead in the next issue), and hot damn does Paul Cornell not continue to nail the characterization of one of my very favourite super-villains. I can't really go into the whats and hows of the tale without ruining it, but that won't stop me from declaring that it is pretty much perfectly delightful.

And speaking of perfectly delightful, how about Hellboy/Beasts of Burden: Sacrifice, which not only features a Jill Thompson-endered Hellboy, but has that Hellboy team up with the titular Beasts in an in-continuity adventure that clears up, like three or four of the mysteries left hanging from the last BoB miniseries. As witnessed a couple of weeks ago with the Masks and Monsters collection, I love me some Hellboy crossover, but I don't know that I ever expected to see one as satisfying as this. Plus this is a big issue for Puggs, my very favourite of the Beasts. If you don't mist up a bit over his last couple of panels then you are a monster. A monster, I say.

And the final spooky book in my pile, issue 2 of Billy the Kid's Old-Timey Oddities: the Ghastly Beast of London. If you're any kind of fan of The Goon or the original Billy the Kid's Old-Timey Oddities series then you're probably already reading this or at least calmly waiting for the trade. If not, well... unless you have an absolute aversion to anything of a bizarre nature in your comic books you should at least give this one a flip through in the store. Kyle Hotz has done an amazing job with the art on this series - it's detailed without becoming illegible and horrific without, you know, looking horrible. And of course there is the continuing delight to be found in the absolutely irredeemable character of Billy the Kid. Such an ass.

And that is that. WoOoOoOoOOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoo....

John Buys Comics, the Thrilling Return

Back to the comic-buying grind again, oh what fresh stale hell is this. I kid, of course - if I got paid for this it would be the best job ever.

First, some Last Week's News, cold off the presses. Did you know that The Outfit came out last week? You probably knew that. But just in case you were, like me, out of touch for a time I will repeat myself: The Outfit came out last week! And on the off chance that you have no idea what I'm talking about: way back in the Sixties novelist Donald Westlake came up with a character named Parker and started writing novels about him under the pen name Richard Stark. Parker is basically a sonovabitch, a freelance thief who pulls two or three big jobs a year and spend the rest of the time living the high life in hotels and resorts around the world. Parker is basically an ultracompetent sociopath and is one of the most enjoyable characters in literature. The books typically feature Parker and a rotating series of other thieves pulling off one or more big scores, usually while Parker is simultaneously trying to solve some small complication in his life, like being blackmailed or having the mob put a price on his head. It's all pretty wonderful.

 

And now Darwyn Cooke is adapting the series into comic books, first with last year's The Hunter (also adapted into the Mel Gibson movie Payback, trivia fans) and now with The Outfit. And let me tell you, the right guy is on the job. Bothe Cooke and Westlake-as-Stark operate in a glorious Fifties-shading-into-Sixties aesthetic so very well, and as a result the books both look and read like they were written just for my nostalgia-riddled soul. And of course the violence (of which there is much) is marvellously choreographed. Really, the only bad thing about the whole thing is having to wait for the next instalment. Where's my instant gratification, dang it?

Even farther back, a whole two weeks ago, Fantagraphics Books came out with the amazing Four Color Fear, a book that would have made my month all by itself. More on this one in a later post - tis the season, after all. 

THIS WEEK!

Batmans - Unless I missed an something in the confusion, the Scheduling Fairy has gotten drunk on her way to DC yet again. I mean, it's very possible that I did miss something, but shouldn't Bruce Wayne be returned to the DC Universe proper some time after the Return of Bruce Wayne series actually finishes? I guess it is awfully close, but having the penultimate issue of that particular series in the same pile of comics as the opening salvo of the Bruce Wayne: the Road Home event felt a little weird.

I can't get too worked up about the whole thing though, since The Road Home is following my very favourite event format and taking place in its own one-shots and minis instead of horning in on the associated ongoings that I enjoy so well unmolested. Way to diffuse my nerd-rage, DC.

Oh, the comics themselves? Not bad. The one-shots that I picked up were entertaining enough to justify their existence, which is always nice. I'd say pick 'em up if you're reading the associated series but don't feel left out if you don't. Meanwhile, The Return of Bruce Wayne didn't deliver awesome in quite the concentration that I'd gotten used to but that's to be expected with a next-to-last issue. Next issue: total awesomeness.

Wait, does Knight and Squire fit here? Sure it does. Here is the easy calculation to determine whether you should buy this issue: take the delight that you felt when you read the preview for this a couple of weeks ago - and both zero delight and negative delight count - and multiply it by five, because the whole issue is just exactly as wonderful. Then, simply follow your heart. Paul Cornell and Jimmy Broxton are doing a terrific job of expanding the British corner of the DCU its own distinct place, one that has more than just a handful of characters with accents. Instead, they are developing both a rich retroactive history and a distinctive cultural flavour for the British superfolk scene. Plus, you know, Knight and Squire, two of the most criminally underutilized characters in comics, get their day in the sun. Hooray!

And in further Batman news, Masks and Monsters, the latest Hellboy collection came out this week and it's great. It contains the Hellboy/Starman/Batman crossover which among other things features Mike Mignola drawing super-heroes, which is one of thie things that brings me the most joy in this life. If I were ever to get acquisitive enough to collect anything obsessively it would definitely be Mignola-style super-hero drawings. So delightfully barrel-chested!

I think that I'll leave it at that, or perhaps at bat. Old things and bat things. Let's call it a theme week.

John Buys Comics, All Continues as Normal

This may be it, folks. We may have hit my point of karmic balance for those two astonishingly good weeks of new comics: a week of decent comics that are components of pretty good series. And that's okay, I guess. Kind of leaves me high and dry for reviews though. Let's see what I can do with talking about series rather than issues:

Legion of Super-Heroes - By Gar I'm happy to have a Legion series coming out, especially one that features lots of focus on Legionnaire interpersonal drama and sweeping future society hijinks. And heck, even if Matter-Eater Lad left for parts unknown off-panel last issue, the fact that Quislet and Tellus are hanging around balances my humours sufficiently to be joyful. Best of all, I kind of think that this series could be jumped onto with minimal research. Sure it's filled with callbacks to olde schoole Legion history, but none of it is actually necessary to understand what's going on. Pick up the trade of Geoff Johns' Legion storyline in Action a few years back and you should be good, plus you'll have a really fun comic to read.

Power Girl - Sure it's not as amazingly great as the first twelve issues were, but honestly I don't know if there's another creative team on the planet who could have continued the Connor/Palmiotti/Gray magic. Anyone who could have produced something equally as marvellous would have also done something completely different with the series, which would have paradoxically made it less good. So hooray for decent continuations, yes? Winick and Basrai have taken the reins with a minimum of fuss and have produced some genuinely enjoyable stories - I can be happy with that.

Supergirl - I read this comic, along with maybe four others, at lunch today and for some reason this was the one that the office wags mined their material from. "Supergirl!", they'd exclaim, a one-word challenge to my masculinity. "Why not Superman?", they would continue, but that was dangerous territory, and my boss for example got a pocket explanation of the House of El and its doings on Earth that he wasn't quite prepared for, mwaha. Besides, how can I stop reading what has been the most consistently entertaining of the Super-books for, like a year and a half and counting?

Justice League: Generation Lost - Wait, so the white lantern wants to prevent the events of Kingdom Come from happening? Isn't that, like Earth K-12 now anyway? How much do I have to pay for a multiverse that doesn't double up on themes? At least it kind of looks like Brightest Day might end with someone bumping off Magog.

Cowboy Ninja Viking - This is one of those series, one with a basic idea - folks with multiple personalities being trained as assassins - that could turn into a bunch of stupid and repetitious jokes by issue three but instead we have an engaging if somewhat silly character-driven tale of extremely violent international espionage. How did this happen? The main character is just a collection of memes, and yet I was genuinely heartbroken over a plot development in this issue. Bravo, I say, from my nest of perplexedness.

Hit Monkey - Okay, I guess that this one is over. But it was good, and that is important. See, you may have noticed that I don't read a lot of Marvel comics. At first, this was because I came back to reading the comical booklets just as Civil War was kicking off and DC was in its astonishing couple of years of excellence post-Infinite Crisis. Nowadays, it's mostly inertia that's keeping me away from the Marvel books, that and the event banner that most of them are sporting across the top of the cover. Books like this, that tie in to the Marvel Universe but don't really require outside knowledge, are really helping me ease my way in. Plus, you know: monkey assassin.

Sleep tight, folks. I am out of here.