A last minute 2009 read and the decision to jump into the future of true love.

There comes times in long long waves when one begins to question ones actions and selves to push oneself to become lighter. See yourself in a thousand perspectives, see what you are when youre outside and strive to better eye the soul without so much emotional static warping the gravity. Kill the negative memories of past lives, learn to let go of yourself and relearn to float. Remember the good and proceed and turn to light. Fitting then, today, that this would have such an affect on me with the decade of complaint finally dying out with little more than a murmur and a realm of new, ever expanding possibilities permeating the air - It smells like the future, and the real one this time. It smells of evolution.

Often, a proper guide; a catalyst, is in order, to light the darkness of the simply unknown.

Madman Atomic Comics is a flare in a labyrinth of confused memories and a feverishly evolving beast in a new world of its own creation.

Growing up, in retrospect, always included these little flashes of resonance when you experience a tiny sliver of certain things, and it leaves a little sear in your headmeats forever; its always there, waiting for you to water it. Ive always loved that.

I remember seeing Madman a fair bit growing up, in wizard ads and comicshops and in toy form and all that, and the wonderfully simple design of his character left such a sear, to be continued over 10 years later.

So here i am, this book filled with stardust in my hands and so many layers working in unison its fucking staggering.

Michael Allred both writes and draws this, which is something i have an IMMENSE respect for, and Laura Allred, his wife, is the equally amazing colorist without which so much of the soul would be absent. Think like 40's or 50's scifi transplanted to now with colors so vibrant they melt your eyes and line weights so perfect it boggles your mind, and you start to get an idea of whats going on here. Its nonstop experimental panelwork, styles and storytelling the whole time. Theres a 17 page sequence of Madman searching through nothing trying to find what he and it is and why and what he has to do with it. Well every panel of these pages is him viewing himself from outside perspectives of himself, and each is in a different recognizable style of iconic artists and timelines of the last fifty years, all done flawlessly. I dont want to get sperm all over my mouth here, but id go as far as to say with some confidence that its one of the most brilliant comic sequences ive ever seen. I got chills.

And yeah, when i find something i really like, i fucking ramble and ramble about it, but thats because when you find something that attaches to your spine and changes you, you want to make it available to everyone, just in case it enriches someone else when they need it.

So hopefully my hooey and tom foolery will have seared a bit of Madman into your braingoo hive, like a little timebombed seed.

Tick Tock Tick Tock.

Be safe tonight guys, but refuse to hold back.
I'll see you on the other side. <3

Readin.

So i picked this one up the other day since i've seen it on many a "greatest comics of the decade" lists this week via whitechapel.

Its about pure, magical, first love.

Just read it and remember way back when love was the strongest concept you could possibly imagine.

readin

transmetropolitan volume 4: the new scum

readin

this is another one of those books i didnt know existed. it came out when i was 8, and ive seen the artists werk occasionally in transmet pinups and, unknown to me until today, big guy and rusty(which ive seen but never read, but now obviously have to). the detail that he jams into each and every panel is incredibly inspiring.

the internet is out of high quality ones, but heres a shit quality one just to give an example at the level of detail hes really working with, it makes my nethers moist.

click for bigger and blurrier

Readin.

Readin.

Readin.

Ok, let me start this one with a brief history of my world of comics, to hopefully shed some insight as to why i love them so much but am catching up on works from fucking 15 years ago like theyre new.

So once upon a time, i was a lad and i got into comics. Early on it was xmen and silver surfer(i had almost 100 issues of surfer, which was quite a feat for a young kid with no money, let me tell you). My moms friends boyfriend Jon would take me to conventions and i knew a guy that would sell them off at 1.00 a pop. I saw power rangers before it came to america when i was there too. That one with the pig guy thing that wanted to eat the world or something, i dunno.

I think he had a helmet..

At any rate, after i grew a bit i required more grey areas than marvels black and white hero villain situation could provide, so i moved onto image, dark horse, top cow; anyone that would supply me with a little more realism and brutality, as well as new kinds of illustration that the big 2 wouldnt really back. I always thought DC was garbage, until i much later found vertigo, which is like one of the greatest comic companies there is; well its also a subsidiary of DC, so there that is.

Anyways, i collected and collected and read and loved until i had about 2 bookshelves full of comics and dr seuss books(oh yes).

Well the long and short of it is that the bookshelves were kept in the garage, and one fateful day the water heater exploded and killed every single one of them, as well as all my baby books and childhood pictures.

Its weird when the things you identify yourself with are suddenly removed, its like losing a part of yourself.



Which brings me to this:



Written in 89', its crazy as shit yet no wonder i hadnt seen it before, i was 7 years old when it was made. Well this is something ive always wanted. A book of madness; of villainy; of Arkham. Characters. Deep, dark, thought out, well developed characters. Oh man, i am salivating.

First off, its Grant Morrison and Dave McKean, both of whom are on my very very short list of gods in the field. Its both a history of Arkham the man and the asylum, as well as a story of the madmen within, led by the joker of course, taking over the place on april fools day and demanding batman come and join them. Keep in mind that this is during batmans brooding dark times when he was mentally very fragile and identified with villains more than heroes most of the time, so hes scared that if he goes to Arkham, he'll likely feel as if he'd finally come home.

This version also has notes by Morrison page by page, somewhat explaining the madness and other little nuances, its deep, and if you've ever seen McKeans work, you'll be well aware that putting him on a project about pure madness and villainy is the greatest idea anyones ever had, even better than sandwiches.

One thing that really stuck to me in the notes was Morrison explaining his take on the joker. He suggests that the joker isnt insane like the others are. He describes him as having some form of "super-sanity", which he admits stems from the belief he has that multiple personalities is the next form of human evolution. Joker does not have a distinct personality, he is reborn each time he wakes, and the only thing that makes him what he is is his ability to reflect and adapt on the fly to his environment, which is a perfect evolutionary shift to survive in this ever changing time frame we are now living in.

He simply goes with the flow and is whatever the situation demands him to be, all the time.

Theres something about that concept that resonates with me to the point of paradigm shift.


Read this or suck forever.

That is all.

Readin.

(The pretty white cover edition apparently)

Fell volume 1: Feral city

Detective Fell gets transferred to snow city, the worst fucking place in the land. Ellis with some great writing as usual with Templesmith backing the mood nicely.

Black Orchid

Every time i read a comic by these guys, it more like actual literature coupled with fine art instead, which would bother me if it wasnt so fucking good. HIGHLY recommended.