Music recommendation: "In Rainbows"

Radiohead has released a new album this month entitled "In Rainbows."



It's quite good, although not as good as OK Computer or Kid A in my opinion. It's Radiohead, though, so it's still an excellent album. And you can pay whatever you want for it (so essentially you can get it for free but I recommend throwing at least a couple bucks their way, because I wholeheartedly support what they're doing distributing the album online). So you have no excuse not to download it and give it a listen.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

The Best American Comics (2007 Edition)
Edited by Chris Ware

I don't know what I could say about this book that isn't already in the title. This is a collection of the best comics of the year (at least, according to Chris Ware). Most of the usual names are here: your Brunettis, your Spiegelmans, your Crumbs and Tomines and Hernandezes (although only Gilbert this year, no Jaime). Just go buy it.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

First, I managed to get my computer working again via some questionable methods that are possibly dangerous and very likely a fire hazard, but never mind that. There's new Flight of the Living Dead on its way and The Sundays will be sent out to prospective publishers within the week.

The Girl From H.O.P.P.E.R.S
By Jaime Hernandez

Now, what I've really come here to talk about is my latest comic obsession, LOVE & ROCKETS, which was recommended to me by my friend Joe Frontirre. The comic, by Jaime & Gilbert Hernandez, has been published on and off since the early 80s, but they just started releasing these big trades of all the stories in chronological order, so I picked up the first one, "Maggie the Mechanic," a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. I've been itching to read volume two, "The Girl From H.O.P.P.E.R.S.," since then but was only just today able to find a copy at my local Borders.

Jaime is a fantastic artist and impresses me with his talent on every page. He also writes convincing and natural sounding dialogue, despite writing mostly for female characters. This is one of those indie slice-of-life comics I'm always going on about, and fans of other similar stuff like "Strangers in Paradise," "Wet Moon," or dare I say it, "The Sundays," should maybe check it out. There's a third volume called "La Perla Loca" out in December, and there are already two volumes of Gilbert's stuff as well. I'm not as familiar with Gilbert (having only read his Vertigo GN "Sloth" and one regular issue of "Love & Rockets"), but I'm looking forward to picking up his trades as well.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Year

FLIGHT VOLUME FOUR
Edited by Kazu Kibuishi

Every time a new one of these come out, I tell everyone how amazing FLIGHT is and how foolish they are for not reading it. Well, volume 4 just came out so here I am again. Jeff Smith's BONE still holds my number one spot for favorite comic, but in regards to comics that are still being published, it doesn't get any better than the yearly short story anthology FLIGHT.

Favorite stories this year:
"The Saga of Rex: Castaway" by Michael Gagne
"The Window Makers" by Kazu Kibuishi
"The Forever Box" by Sarah Mensinga
"Igloo Head and Tree Head" by Scott Campbell
"The Story of Binny" by Lark Pien

I also picked up DEMO by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, which I haven't read yet. I am a big fan of Becky Cloonan, especially her work on AMERICAN VIRGIN. I've been told by more than one person my art reminds them of Cloonan's, which I take as a great compliment.

By the way, my computer's broken which is why I haven't put any new art up recently. Flight of the Living Dead series 2 was supposed to start in August, but I don't know if it'll be possible now. I have the first few pages done but no way to upload them.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

THE SPIRIT #1
By Darwyn Cooke

I have to admit up front that I've never read a single issue of Will Eisner's original run of The Spirit. It's something I've always meant to get around to and just never did. But my love of Darwyn Cooke's art and detective stories meant picking up the new Spirit #1 an easy decision. I know this comic came out, like, a month ago, but I haven't been to the comic store in a while so it's new to me. It's a great set-up to the character and premise, and tells an entire story in one 22-page issue, something that's pretty rare nowadays.

Also picked up:
All-Star Superman #6: Fantastic. I've never been a fan of Superman, but Morrison and Quitely make me care about him, even while using characters from the forgettable "DC One Million" crossover from six or seven years ago to tell a touching personal story about Clark's last minutes with his adopted father.
American Virgin #9 & 10: I'm liking this comic even more the further it goes. Becky Cloonan only did a few pages of art for #10, though, which is kind of disappointing. Not that the fill-in artist didn't do a great job, but I love Cloonan's art.
Astonishing X-Men #19: Faaaaaaaaaaaaaantastic.
Ex Machina #25: Great, as always. This issue focuses on Bradbury, and I was surprised to realize that we never really knew that much about Bradbury's life before the events of Ex Machina #1.
Fables #56: Fuck, this comic is so goddamn good. A stand-alone Christmas story dealing with Santa Claus visiting Fabletown that manages to set up events to come in the war against the Adversary, while rewarding readers who picked up the recent 1001 Nights of Snowfall hardcover with details that people who didn't read it won't necessarily get.
Nextwave #11: This issue blew me away with its string of double-page splashes. Love it. I understand Immonen won't be drawing it anymore after issue #12, which makes me very sad.
New Universal #2: Haven't read it yet, actually. I liked the first issue, although I don't really like Salvador Laroca's art. I do like that he obviously drew one of the characters to be Sawyer from Lost, though.
The Vault of Michael Allred #3 of 4: Self-explanatory for those who know me. I can't pass up anything with Mike Allred's name on it, unless of course it's about the Book of Mormon.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

Acme Novelty Library #17
By Chris Ware

This is my first experience with Chris Ware's narrative work, having been impressed with his art after seeing it last week at the New York Jewish Museum. His art is very simplistic and clean, and he writes the kind of comic stories I love to read, the "slice-of-life" type stuff seen in Daniel Clowes and Guy Delisle's work.

Also read this week:

The Punisher vol. 6: Barracuda - Possibly my favorite of the Punisher MAX stories so far.
The Punisher X-Mas - One of the first non-Ennis written Punisher stories I've liked. Definitely better than last year's Christmas special.
Supermarket - I liked this story a lot until the ending, which seemed rushed. The artwork is very good, though.
The Walking Dead #32 - Really good. I'm glad the story's starting to pick up again after a few issues of not much happening.
Batman/The Spirit - I loved Darwyn Cooke's artwork, but Jeph Loeb's story just seemed cheesy and unnecessary. It seems this book was made for no reason other than to team up Batman and The Spirit, not because there was a good idea for a story. I'm looking forward to Darwyn Cooke's ongoing Spirit comic, though, since he's writing it himself.
Criminal #2 - Tops even the first issue. This is a really great series. I'm going to have to go back and pick up Sleeper now.
Gorillaz: The Rise of the Ogre - Being a huge fan of both the Gorillaz' music and Jamie Hewlett's artwork, this was a no-brainer. Haven't read it all yet, but it's definitely a funny and beautiful book.
David Boring - The second act of this three-act book by Daniel Clowes seemed a little out-of-place, but overall it was very enjoyable and beautifully drawn.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

SHENZHEN: A TRAVELOGUE FROM CHINA
by Guy Delisle


I was a big fan of Guy Delisle's previous book, PYONGYANG: A JOURNEY IN NORTH KOREA, and I was delighted to see this new one at Borders today.

PYONGYANG was an autobiographical comic about Delisle's stay in North Korea while working as the director of a Korean animation studio. Delisle, who is French-Canadian, writes the book in a diary-like way, going over his daily life while working in a country that intentionally isolates itself from the rest of the world. Delisle stays in a hotel with so few guests that they all stay on one or two floors, and those are the only ones with the electricity turned on. He orders french toast in the hotel restaurant and gets soggy bread warmed in the microwave. Radios are illegal and he can't even take a walk without having a Korean "guide" come with him. Everyone in Korea must wear a pin with a picture of Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, and their portraits must be hung in every room in every building in the country. Even the bathrooms. He brings a copy of Orwell's 1984 with to read and can't help but notice the similarities.

The new book, SHENZHEN, takes place in a less totalitarian country and Delisle seems to enjoy his stay in China a little bit more than he did North Korea. The differences between Western and Eastern cultures are still there, though, and he is staying in a city with very few non-Chinese people and almost no one that speaks English.

Both books are really great for anyone who likes diary-style comics like AMERICAN SPLENDOR or BLANKETS. I've read PYONGYANG three times now and I cannot recommend it enough.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

THE GOD DELUSION
By Richard Dawkins

"If atheism had a pope, it would be Richard Dawkins." - Penn Jillette

Richard Dawkins is an English biologist who has written several books on science and evolution. I've only previously read his book The Blind Watchmaker, which describes and explains natural selection in a way that a layperson can fully understand. His new book, The God Delusion, is sort of a follow-up and expansion of his BBC documentary on religion entitled The Root of All Evil?*. Keep in mind I can only comment on the first quarter of the book, having read that much so far.

The book goes into the common arguments for belief in god that tend to pop up from theists, and he shoots them down one by one. Points such as "something so complex as life on Earth must have had a designer," "everything can't have started from nothing, so god must have started it," even the transparent Pascal's Wager ("If you believe in god and are right, you go to Heaven. But if you're wrong you lose nothing") are shown to be completely empty arguments. He then shows the arguments for why there almost certainly is no god, and talks about the harm that religion does to the world, and why it's ridiculous that religion should be treated with a kind of respect and honor that makes it taboo to disagree with.

This book was not really meant for me, as an atheist, since its main goal is to show believers why the only really sane choice is nonbelief. But it is fascinating and I would recommend it to everyone, believer or nonbeliever. I started this review with a Penn Jillette quote (who interviewed Dawkins on his radio show recently, which is how I found out about the book), and I'll end it with one from the back cover:

"The God Delusion is smart, compassionate, and true like ice, like fire. If this book doesn't change the world, we're all screwed."

* The Root of All Evil? has not been shown on American television, and probably won't be anytime soon. A DVD release is apparently forthcoming, but if you'd like to watch it now, you can download part one here and part two here.

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On a completely unrelated note, make sure not to install iTunes 7.0.1. I had heard from friends that iTunes 7 has been known to delete mp3s from users' computers. Last night my housemate Kyle told me the new version, 7.0.1, had fixed the glitch. I installed it and the first thing it did was to delete every single mp3 from my hard drive and iPod.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL
By Bill Willingham, et al.

Fables is, without a doubt, the best Vertigo series going on right now. The new graphic novel is a collection of short stories told by Snow White over the course of 1,001 nights that give something of a backstory to the Fables universe. We don't get all 1,001 stories, but the few that we get are terrific, and beautifully illustrated (except for Mark Wheatley, who apparently drew his story entirely in Sharpie). This also contains the first sequential art by James Jean that I've ever seen, and it's just as gorgeous as his covers.

Also contributing are Charles Vess, Michael Kaluda, John Bolton, Mark Buckingham (painted, even!), Derek Kirk Kim (this guy's great. If you haven't seen his stuff, Google him. It's worth it), Tara McPherson (never heard of her before, but I'm going to search for her stuff now. She was my favorite artist in the book), and Jill Thompson, who is great as always.

Also picked up Desolation Jones (nice to have the book back, and this issue's very good. There's even a Philip K. Dick reference!), Other Side #1 (which I also recommend wholeheartedly. If you like the first hour of "Full Metal Jacket," you'll like this one), and the 50c preview of The Absolute Sandman. It's got the whole first issue of Sandman, recolored with modern Photoshop magic. It looks great, although I can't see myself dropping a hundred bucks for the full book, since I already have all these stories.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

IN THE STUDIO: VISITS WITH CONTEMPORARY CARTOONISTS
By Todd Hignite

This is not really a comic book at all, but it is comic-related. It's a 300-page book of interviews with Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, Robert Crumb, Jaime Hernandez, Gary Panter, Seth, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware. I'm not familiar with all of the artists in here, but the ones I am familiar with are amazing. There are also tons of sketches and illustrations from the artists, and art that inspired them or that they find interesting. I haven't read all of it yet, but it's worth the cover price ($30) just for the artwork in it.

Runner-up: Sloth by Gilbert Hernandez. Beautifully illustrated, even if it does get really weird about halfway through. Fans of David Lynch movies might enjoy this one.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

THE VAULT OF MICHAEL ALLRED #1 of 4
By Michael Allred

Not that much came out this week really. All three issues I bought were new series or, in the case of my recommendation this week, a magazine-like collection of artwork, interviews, commentaries, and photos of one of my favorite comic book creators, Mike Allred. Allred is one of the biggest influences in my own comic book work, so it's amazing to be able to sit down and trace his evolution as an artist from his earliest work in the eighties to the point he's at now.

The other two things I picked up were Brian K. Vaughan's Dr. Strange: The Omen #1 and Criminal #1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. I haven't read either one yet.

I just got back into town after four days in New York City. Saw a show at the Laugh Factory, featuring Judah Friedlander and three other guys I'd never heard of, but all were good. I also watched a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman, which had the hilarious Amy Sedaris, and as the musical guest there was Trey Anastasio, who I understand used to host a fishing show or something.

I picked up the third season DVD of Penn & Teller's Bullshit!, which is a wonderful show, and was surprised to see a new Beck CD at the store. The Beck CD, which has been called "The Information," has a four-page booklet of white grid paper. There is no text or pictures, but there is a sheet of stickers, which you can use to create your own cover art, booklet, and back cover for the CD. Later I may post a picture of mine.

No Comic Book Recommendation This Week

Unfortunately, not that much came out this week at Funny Steve's Comic Book Emporium. I got the new Invincible, the new Ultimates and Jack of Fables and American Virgin. They were all really good comics, but you already know that. You've probably read them all too. I even searched Steve's 70% Off "The Shit No One Will Buy" Shelf, but couldn't find anything good to recommend here. Except Strangers in Paradise Pocket Book 2, which surprises me because it's such an excellent book. If anything he should be charging more for it. I already have it though. If you don't, well, then I recommend you buy that, I guess. But get book one first. Otherwise it won't make any sense.

Extras this week was good, though not as good as the David Bowie episode. The Office was excellent, as always. Lost starts back up next Wednesday. I'm going to be very happy for the next six weeks.

Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

NEXTWAVE: AGENTS OF H.A.T.E. #8
by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen

"I am Rorkannu, Master of the Dim Dimensions... and you cannot beat me up!"

I'd like to start doing these CBRotW's as more of a "the comic you're probably not reading" type of thing, because honestly, you can find recommendations for NextWave on every remotely comic-friendly website out there. But it was the most entertaining thing I read this week, and anyone who isn't reading it monthly is missing out. So this is the one time I'll recommend NextWave. And Warren Ellis along with it, because he writes some good stuff. If you're not reading Fell or Desolation Jones, now's the time to hop on those books, since they're both fairly early in their runs. Both are great, great comics. Also terrific this week were The Walking Dead and Strangers in Paradise.

And a brand new episode of Extras tonight. This may be the best one yet. Stephen Merchant and Barry off EastEnders are a comedic duo to rival the best. And David Bowie is a fucking genius.