Saturday, January 31, 2015
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Recently Read: Bat Lash: Guns and Roses
a crack shot, of course), Bat Lash was DC's attempt to update the western comic for the
counter culture audience. Created by Carmine Infantino and Sergio Aragones, the short-lived series was better than it could have been and created a small but loyal following.
Forty years later (perhaps in order to use and retain the trademark), DC published a new
Bat Lash miniseries, Guns and Roses, with plot by Aragones, script by western novelist
Peter Brandvold and art by veteran John Severin, nearly ninety; it was one of his last
published works.
The series, collected in trade paperback, is fun and suspenseful, with old-fashioned
narrow escapes, delicious villains and plot twists and turns. It's a prequel; the origin of
Bat Lash. The characterization doesn't really jibe with the later Bat Lash we know, but
the story works anyway. I was a bit disappointed that Peter Brandvold seemed to be writing
down to the medium a bit; an author who makes a living writing novels should invest into
the comic medium the same sense of depth and characterization a good novel contains.
Where Guns and Roses excels, though, is in John Severin's mind-blowingly detailed and
researched art. Every panel is wrought with hand-crafted care. It's some of the best work
of his career, an achievement more beautifully accomplished than that of cartoonists a
fourth of his age. For that reason alone, I recommend Guns and Roses.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Friday, January 16, 2015
The New Age of Indie Comics
New Age Comics was a 1985 joint promotional venture between fifteen indie comics publishing companies, including Fantagraphics Books Inc., Kitchen Sink and Last Gasp. Here's the front and back covers and some inside pages, plus an intro by Will Eisner.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Dig That Stupid Swab
1993 Kitchen Sink Catalog Front and Back Cover
I do miss this company, which published a diverse range of comic strip reprints and experimental newer work. Once upon a time, I bought Kitchen Sink books every month.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
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