Epic Beards of Review: CMYK

The bright blue cover staring at me two weeks ago in the comic shop did more than just that. It whispered and beckoned to me with its come hither stare. It seduced me with its four-color blocks. 

The fact that it was a Vertigo title made it even sexier.

I hate to admit this, especially this early in the game: sometimes, I’m not the nerd I purport myself to be. The letters CMYK in those four-color blocks taunted me, but I couldn’t remember why.

My nerdy mojo must be off.

For the uninitiated, CMYK (that is to say [C]yan, [M]agenta, [Y]ellow and [B]lack ) are the four colors that make up the basic building blocks of color comics. You can combine these colors to get just about any hue you want. Vertigo (a mature DC Comics imprint) is known for their quarterlies and one-shots in recent years, and this year they’re making an attempt for these colors to serve as a 

base for their writers and artists.

The “blue” theme works well enough here, though it’s not as solid as some previous installments such as Time Warp and Ghosts. Not to say the offerings this quarter weren’t stellar: they just didn’t fit together solidly. Have no fear, there’re buckets of good things happening here.

There are three “price of fame” pieces that resonate deeply for one reason or another. The book opens up with a pretty gritty ditty about a girl the papers who they’re tagging with the moniker of “Banksy of Murder.” Another visits a washed-up has-been pop starlet making way for new blood. In the third, Madame Bluebeard takes a stab at the old folktale pairing a gay male with a woman to make their Hollywood relationship seem passable. This is by far the funniest offering in the issue, with a realization at the end as to who the narrators are.

Just two tales feel incomplete, or perhaps I’m clamoring for more. One such story, Blue Sundae, is about two British ice cream truck drivers. What starts out as a crazed call in the middle of the night turns into heroes battling supernatural forces beyond their understanding. And did I mention they’re British?

These nine stories showcase the intricacies of pacing within six-to-eight pages and the oomph contained therein to tell a tale. Different writers and artists bring about a deeper storytelling that works hand-in-hand to properly get the job done. These six-to-eight-page stories fit the format of the medium well, and the re-readability makes for a well-spent eight dollars. It can be a pretty hefty sum to pay for a comic, but I’ve not been disappointed yet. 

Very much looking forward to next quarter with [M]agenta.

This review originally appeared in the July 3 issue of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette Showcase.

Epic Beards of Review: Saga

One of the more exciting moments of this column will be discovering new things. Yes, from time to time, even I shall take the plunge. I myself, however, get the privilege to read some of these books for the second (or more!) times. Saga is written by Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Runaways) and illustrated by Fiona Staples, a swashbuckling space-faring fantasy I could shout across galaxies.

Marko and Alana are in love. They’re of differing species, however, and they’ve a baby on the way. The only problem (okay, one of MANY) is that their species are at war with each other. The three of them are being chased across star systems by bounty hunters, in-laws and ex-girlfriends. There are quite a lot of hands involved with their daughter Hazel’s upbringing, and bringing up a little bagging is part of that.

Hazel’s story (and that of her parents’) is told from an indeterminate time in the future. We know her parents are no longer alive, already darkening the edges of our story. She is an unreliable narrator of sorts, beginning her tale at the as she makes her escape from the womb, unfolding as she bounces around between the past and present-day from somewhere farther along down the line.

With all that being said: this is NOT a family-friendly comic, nor is it what the kids these days call Not Safe For Work (NSFW.) There are copious amounts of violence, sex and swearing; almost so much so that I honestly had to think twice about this being my first column.

I won’t go into the gory details here because, frankly, some of those details paint gory in a good light. Staples paints us a lush picture of space travel and warmongering that’s worth a thousand words. Cliché, yes, but in those panels which there are no words, you begin to understand where I’m coming from.

Aside from great story and art, there are plenty of other shenanigans jangling around here. There’s an honest-to-goodness letter page, something that has fallen by the wayside in today’s mainstream comics culture. The column only accepts letters sent through the postal service, making more of an eclectic feel to this comic. Letters are answered, and Vaughan and Staples occasionally throw in writing and art processes to titillate readers.

There’s a yearly reader’s survey and costume contest, and every month a best letter is chosen, netting winners with often irreverent ephemera from Vaughan’s desk drawer. Saga has created a community of readers, many of whom are sharing their own stories of love and loss. Veterans and active-duty soldiers, mothers and fathers, even book clubs are jumping on board.

Saga’s publisher Image Comics is also a whiz at handling the marketing angle for this series as well. At some point, issue one was selling for one dollar to get folks reading. As with all of their collected trades, the first trade sells for $9.99 instead of the $14.99 cover price follow-ups are tagged with. Vaughan and Staples also commit to taking two months off between arcs (every six issues) to make sure they’re caught up, as well as the readers. There’s always the hope fans will start buying single issues: there are no letter pages reprinted in the trades.

Saga (now in three trade collections and clocking in at 19 issues) is awash with originality and inventiveness the likes of which I’ve never seen. Every issue is better than the last and every character is your favorite.

This article originally appeared  06/05/2014 in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette Showcase as The Oracular Beard Presents...

Interview IV

So, here's a place we've not seen you before: an office.

You could call it that. It's really a storage room in some undisclosed location on campus where we've piled all of the goodies that wouldn't fit in the apartment with the arrival of our baby earlier this year.

The place is in varying states of disarray. Surprisingly, my desk is the cleanest area in the room. Have some art up and an action figure or two, some book ephemera.

Just my own little cubby away from everything.

Sounds like a good fit for you.
WAITAMINUTE!
BABY?!

Yah. Harrison Dale Conti was born February 5 at 255am. It was a bit of a scare at first, but everything turned out okay.

We named him after Harrison Ford, not William Henry Harrison like everyone thinks. The Dale comes from my wife's aunt. Okay, and maybe a little from the guy in The Walking Dead.

A little Traveling Tales trivia for you: HD are also the initials missing from the title of the fourth book of the series. Didn't realize that until later, but very hinky to see that pop up.

And how's your post-apocalyptic folk tale coming along?

Ah, you know. It comes in fits and starts. I was offered a lead this morning about writing for a local newspaper, so I may think about serializing the series somehow. Got the wheels turning, for sure.

So, baby. Have your writing practices changed?

Again, you know... I get to it when I can which is the completely wrong answer. I long to be doing this every day. Even this interview is just potchking until I sit down to the real thing.

Raising a youngling is hard work. The first couple of nights I was up all the time with feeding, piddling around at Traveling Tales, mainly Barry's story after the fact, and then my superhero short I was tackling for a workshop I attended earlier this winter.

I'd like this to be a job some day, so I need to start treating it as such.

And speaking of jobs, you've got something coming out tomorrow?

Yah, I do. The Oracular Beard now has a monthly gig in the Williamsport Sun Gazette reviewing comics. Funny, but this month is about a young family with a newborn on the run from some pretty unsavory characters. Very similar to our situation right now.

Oh?

No, just the fact that we've got a baby. It can be pretty hectic at times.

Anything else before we let you get down tot the nitty gritty?

Well, I've some photography down at the Avenue to finance my newest project. Maybe another chapbook of poetry, maybe a short story.

I think I'm going to try and coincide this with an appearance at LHU this fall so I have something new to shill and talk about. If I can dovetail it into Lock Haven's 175th birthday, that'd be pretty swank.

That superhero short story I finished for workshop was the first thing I've completed in five years, so that's given me a push to do some other stuff. I've a collection in mind, so we'll see where that gets me.

Breaking news!

***BREAKING NEWS***

Just finished up my first column for the Williamsport Sun-Gazette Showcase, premiering next Thursday!

Any guesses on what I'll be reviewing?

Epic Beards of Review: The Garden of Darkness

Gillian Murray Kendall’s The Garden of Darkness blooms with subtlety. This post-apocalyptic young adult novel is like a little plot of land: you till in early Spring, plant your seeds and sit back to watch it grow.  In an age where these end of the world novels are shooting up like weeds, Garden blossoms and crowds out the others, soaking up the glory of the sun for itself. Sure you’ve got to water and weed it, but in the end, you’ve quite the bumper crop.

As an overburdened field suffers from loss of nutrients, we get your obligatory plague decimation—but there’s a twist: the Cure. Of course, if you happen to weather the plague and get said Cure, you’ve become a stark-raving lunatic, much creepier than being a zombie. If you’re a kid and haven’t yet succumbed to the plague, you now have to overcome the Cured and the day-to-day survival of a fallen world.

There’s a certain honesty here in the way different children handle their new-found lifestyles. It’s not just about missing their folks, it’s about how they deal. Our heroes are at times child-like, but not childish. The fact that survivors mentioned child services more than once was interesting, as were the way suicide and death in general. Much love to a character’s lethargy in response to basic hygiene. Too neat.

And although the main character wore her crush’s letterman jacket for the entirety of the novel, it acted as a tether to the former world, but not in a gooey, overly sentimental way. There is the slightest hint of love story taking place here, too, but it is deftly handled as mild flirtation.  Without the pressures of societal norms and high school drama, it allows itself to develop naturally.

Character development is spot-on as more and more hangers-on are introduced into bands. They balance well, unlike typical adventure novels where particular characters have special skill sets. Here, they just are: kids will be kids. Even the behemoth of a dog, Bear, our main character befriends early in the story, isn’t used as an easy way out of harmful situations.

Two of the more stellar plot points to note:

Not giving anything away, but there’s a grown man who deems himself “master-of-the-situation” whom is gathering children to his aid. As the book progresses, his intentions become clearer and it is compelling to see his chapters interspersed amid the novel as a parallel to our roving band of children and teens.

There’s also an aside about halfway through highlighting characters which we’ll never get a chance to interact with. As a brief interlude it was captivating to read of their ill-fated exploits in comparison to our main characters.

The ending sneaks up on you, and it’s worrisome that loose ends won’t be tied up. It was, however, clear, concise and a quite sharp way of ending things. It is beautifully wrought, and won’t be tied up in another series where you get a book and movie deal.

And so we return to the garden aspect of this book. Its shooting tendrils sprout up time and again about the pages literally and figuratively looking for a way to grow amid the darkness. There is some good fruit here, and it should be eaten of heartily.

The Garden of Darkness by Gillian Murray Kendall is due out 6/25/2014 from Ravenstone. 

Epic Beards of Review: Joe the Barbarian

“King Death! From your world did he spy mine! From sunless Hypogea his endless night extends. Restore my throne of light! The journey—arduous, companions on the way, et cetera! Traditional rules apply! Failure means an audience eternal with King Death!” –Lord Arc, Joe the Barbarian

There comes a time in life when we must give up childish things.

Really, though, who are we kidding? I’ve got a shelf of action figures, and those are the ones that aren’t yet packed away in boxes. Comic books abound in my apartment, with four longboxes full, even after culling two or more this summer.

Even more so, with a kid on the way, now’s the time to bulk up on heavy reading while I’ve got the chance.
I’ll admit, picking up Joe the Barbarian the other afternoon was an utter impulse buy, but you’d have to admit that Christmas Club money was burning a hole in my pocket. I was fortunate enough to make it through a week. It was one of those books I picked up when I was looking for something else, but quite surprised when this was really what I’d been looking for.

Like the story inside, the cover is this amalgamation of images: toys at Joe’s feet, scores of crosses from a veteran’s graveyard, Joe’s room—not to mention a floating island towards the top of the cover. Then there’s Joe, quite typically out of place through all this. It helped a heapload that the story was written by Grant Morrison, a real mainstay in comics. It also didn’t hurt that it was and Eisner award nominee for best limited series, comics’ highest achievement.

This graphic novel opens with Joe Manson on a school tour of a veteran’s graveyard for school. We soon come to find that his father has died in one of the Gulf Wars, and this field trip has special meaning for Joe. After being harassed by some high school bullies, they end up taking his candy, which has major implications for Joe throughout the story.

See, Joe’s got a mean case of diabetes. As he heads home to a room stuffed to the gills with all manner of action figures, he starts to hallucinate, heading off into another world where toys (and the threats) are real. Joe’s pet rat becomes a quite adept bodyguard, and the house itself represents this land where one wrong move could spell disaster for the world of Hypogea.

In just eight simple issues, Morrison and Murphy move characters like chess pieces not quite unlike Oz or Narnia. The level of fantasy is high, but spotting all sorts of random Transformers and other action figures from my childhood made the reading thankfully slow down a bit to take in the scope of the drawings that worked in tandem with the words.

Growth from Joe and a handful of other main characters kept the story moving from one of denial and dismissal to that of determination and daring. What begins as this motley crew of characters with differing motivations, brings them all together in the end to an appropriately fantastical ending.

This article originally appeared at Strip Tease in December 2013.

Epic Beards of Review: Seven Forges

I'm not sure what's just happened to me.

It's as if I"m just a lonely reviewer on Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Writer's Edition, and I've been quietly stabbed in the back by a would-be assassin.  I'm coughing up blood and my hands are slippery with the warm stuff as they struggle behind me, futilely grasping for the weapon.  Of all the back-handed, double-cross things to've done to a guy.

If I make it out of this alive, I'll gladly offer to be slapped around with the fiction of James A. Moore again.
Seven Forges isn't due out until September 24, but I'm already champing at the bit for the sequel.

What starts out as a seemingly routine trek across the wilderness wasteland of the north turns bleak right quick. What had been plodding for months through the ice and dust of a blasted cataclysmic landscape leads to an attack from mutated hyenas and a save from a barbarian as big as a house.

Oh, and there's a wizard behind all this madness.

Seven Forges is high fantasy like I've never seen--nary and elf, dwarf or dragon to be seen--but makes up for it with that pesky wizard and his harem, a mysterious race and a city hidden in the mountains.  After one character loses the use of his hands one of this mysterious race says something akin to 'Here, put your stumps in this magic box and "presto-change-o" you've got metal hands!'

Weird, yes.  But there's something about the function of this plot point that sings with the essence of the believable.  Moore gives us magic, swordplay and a fine mix of diplomacy that's perfectly well-rounded and doesn't bog the story down.

Seven Forges by James A. Moore is due out in paperback September 24 from Angry Robot Books.

Epic Beards of Review: Time Warp #1 (One Shot) and more!

So, I've been told I should update my blog more often.  Here are a few reasons why:

• Fellow bloggers over at Charlie the Cavalier and The Epoch Life have been wondering where the new stuff is.  Point taken.  I've been traveling abroad in Germany as well as teaching Upward Bound and still holding down the managerial duties here at the coffee shop.  Not to mention some top-secret Traveling Tales projects coming up, there's reasons, but they're more like excuses.

• I was awarded "Blog of the Week" over at NEPA Blogs the week of July 16.  My brother was quick to point out that I really couldn't be awarded with such awesome because I hadn't updated my blog in over two months, and therfore the point was moot.  Lisa over at "Charlie" was kind enough to mention that they film their segments months in advance.  Brother feud is a tie, but he can't even grow a beard.

• I wrote a pretty fun review of Time Warp #1 over at my new friends at Strip Tease.  Not nearly as scathing as it sounds, but a nice review site for comics.  Here's my review.

• I've also been given tons of free books from my friends over at Angry Robot Books!  I've finished sf/spy thriller The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu, detective novel Cambodian Book of the Dead by Tom Vater and am barreling through the fantasy Seven Forges by James A. Moore.  All SOLID selections, but I've gotten to where I don't expect anything less from them!

 Other than that, there's plenty going on here at the Beard, so don't fret, beardlets!  More to come soon!