Funnies Aficionado; Strangers in Paradise

http://www.strangersinparadise.com/sipindex.html

I love visual/graphic, sequential, story telling. Ok, "Comics." But I'm not really into aliens and mutants and people in tight, colorful costumes (well, except maybe for Mardigras).I once spent an hour and a half in a comic book store trying to find a graphic novel by a specific writer/artist team because their book emphasized relationships and emotional/intellectual struggles, not just action and violence. I finally found what I wanted, only to realize once I got home that it was the very same comic that I had already bought and read a year before.

What can I say? I guess other readers (presumably younger ones) are more interested in imagination and escapism, maybe even living vicariously- but I'm more interested in compelling story telling.

Terry Moore is a compelling story teller. It's no wonder Moore had already won one Will Eisner award and has been nominated for another, plus a Rubin, plus a Harvey award. Personally I think that Moore's style, both writing and drawing is far more reminiscent of Will Eisner' "the Spirit,' than the team DC Comics has reviving that series.

But Moore's characters aren't fighting crime or saving the world (usually), they're just trying to figure themselves out and help each other get through life, sort of like the rest of us. Unfortunately for me, as usual, I'm climbing on the band-wagon after the parade is over. Moore is wrapping up his master comic, 'Stranger's in Paradise,' after a 17 year run.

Strangers ("SIP") is a character-driven "dramadie" that revolves around Francine, Katina, and David, twenty-something friends caught in an unrequited love triangle. The tension is subtly played, it took me three issues to begin to catch on. David is an ex gang-banger/Art Major who's in love with Katina, who is a successful artist who's in love with Francine, who's Katina's straight best friend just an average girl with your average weight complex and an average job who's trying to make her way in the world.

There really isn't a lot of sexual tension in SIB, the emphasis is placed on friendship and loyalty. No kissing, not flirting or indulging in the erotic... at least not between the three main characters. There's plenty of dating and relationship struggles and angst.

Moore's drawing style is fluid, nuanced, attractive and at times sultry, without ever becoming exploitative. As a reader, I appreciate female protagonists, but as a comics reader it's hard to find authentic women characters. Let's face it, She-Hulk, Cat Woman, even Wonder Woman (who was originally created as a positive role model for young girls by a psychologist) are all pretty much soft-core porn for 10-14 year old boys. Moore isn't shamelessly preoccupied with bodies like say, Frank Cho's 'Liberty Meadows' comic strip.

As a matter of fact, I was convinced that Terry Moore was a woman, until I visited his website. Turns out, he's not gay either. Come to think of it, he's not between the ages of 14 and 30. He's not even single. All of these facts are amazing because he knows his characters, he seems to understand them, and have an uncanny empathy for them. That's what I appreciate most about Strangers in Paradise, that the characters are so genuine- authentic, real, honest, human, multidimensional, etc. etc.

I can't praise him enough for this. As a junior high and high school teacher, I'd like to think I've observed enough adolescents to be considered a credible witness to how realistic Moore makes his young characters and their constant, neurotic inner-conflicts.

It's a shame that Moore will no longer be producing new issues of SIB. It's a shame there aren't more comics like it, standing out among all of the typical overly commercialized, weird, violent, and formulaic stuff. It would also be a huge shame if all the straight readers were scared off by the understandably loyal LGBT following SIB built up over the last two decades.

If you're a true comics aficionado, you really owe it to yourself to give SIB a try. If you never thought of yourself as someone who'd enjoy comic books or graphic novels, then you really owe it to yourself to give SIB a look, it will really show you what a remarkable genre visual/graphic, sequential, story telling can be!

Being a superhero sucks, but this book doesn't

Daredevil Vol. 7: Hardcore by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


You can have your Frank Miller. For my money Bendis and Maleev are the best team in the comics biz. These guys know how to pull you into a story and keep the story moving in an unique, stylish manner.

This is not your typical comic book superhero thing with weird powers, costumes and mutants or people from other planets. This graphic novel is gritty, dark and plausible.

Matt Murdock struggles with civic responsibility, a blown secret identity, a faltering law practice, an FBI investigation into his activities as a vigilante in Hell's Kitchen in New York AND a new girlfriend- when a psychotic contract killer sets him on fire- announcing the return of his old nemesis, the organized crime boss bent on revenge. Did I mention that Murdock is blind?

View all my reviews

Funnies Aficionado

Guy and rOdd are Gary Larson reincarnated. Larson was so genius, it took two souls to replace him.

http://www.guyandrodd.com

Funnies Aficionado

(originally posted Feb. 2008- before I came up with the "Funnies Aficionado" feature)

I told myself that I would use this blog just for my own cartoons and not post things by other people- but holy crap, I stumbled on this guy's website http://www.savagechickens.com and he is HILARIOUS! I am SO incredibly jealous of how funny, creative, and free from convention he is. I have no idea if he's actually managing to make a living off of this stuff, or if he still has a "day job," but I just think he's the funniest cartoonist since Bill Waterson and the weirdest since Gary Larson. Apparently, like Scott Adams, he was working in the cubicle jungle and just up and decided that cartooning was a better lifestyle. So he started drawing chickens on PostIt Notes!

Funnies Aficionado

Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt really scares me. Most days I think Burritt has the most rapier wit and it is high time something as raw, sharp and unapologetic made it to the comics page. Other days I don't get her. And every once in a while I react the same way I do about South Park and Family Guy- "How does someone get away with that crap?!!"

I'm also one of a few people who believes that collage/montage should be an accepted and respected means of cartooning (you'll notice I do it alot myself). Whether it's New Adventures of Queen Victoria by Pab Sungenis or Montey Python cartoons by Terry Gilliam- I say if you have a sense of humor, a sense of irony, and a sense of design- then juxtaposition away. 

We need more cartoonists who are willing to challenge our sense of aesthetics and our cultural taboos.

http://www.gocomics.com/frogapplause

Funnies Aficionado

"Scary Gary" by Mark Buford debuted in 2008. This is one of those strips that kind of makes you say "who THINKS of this stuff?" Gary is a frumpy middle aged, over weight vampire who moved to the suburbs. Gary has a demon henchman who resents their middle-class lifestyle and gay Frankenstein-monster neighbors, Frank and Steve.

Buford has a quirky drawing style that reminds me a little of Gary Hart and Gary Larson, yet it's absolutely uniquely Buford's. His humor is sometimes corny, sometimes macabre, and always crisp and quick. He's a cross between Charles Addams and Seinfeld. This is really one of my favorite comic strips out there-  in fact, it's one of the reasons I wanted to start this "Funnies Aficionado" feature on this blog.

Scary Gary deserves to be a huge hit. Of course, I'm an overweight, middle aged, middle class white guy with a mortgage and a minivan, who was once a dark brooding Art major type in college so I would, wouldn't I?

http://www.creators.com/news/51.html

http://comics.com/scary_gary

Funnies Aficionado

Haven't done a very good job of drawing & posting new cartoons, or even of collaging or montaging either. I had an Art professor in college who said that artists were more prolific when they weren't on an even keel, giving credence to old maxim, "what garlic is to salad, insanity is to art."

Not to make excuses, but it's a good thing if I'm happy, contented, or well adjusted enough to not NEED to cartoon, that's a good thing. I've pretty well resigned myself to the idea that I'll never be a rich, famous, full-time professional  cartoonist. Which is just as well, because I enjoy teaching and parenting and because very few professional cartoonists are full-time, let alone rich or famous.

But what to do with this blog? Just leave it to acquire dust and cobwebs? Nah. I'm a life long cartoon aficionado, so why not share my love of the funnies with others?

Here's the first of my amateur reviews of some of my favorite cartoons and cartoonists.

I only recently became acquainted with 'Cul de Sac' by Richard Thompson and I'm already in love. Thompson has been an illustrator for the Washington Post years before he launched Cul de Sac in 2006. This year he'a a Ruben Award nominee and rightfully so. 

His drawing style has a freedom and loose spontaneous feeling like Edward Koren and Jules Fieffer, yet his staging is as sophisticated and immersive as Bill Watterson's. His writing is as whimsical and thoughtful as Bill Watterson's too. Yet the spirit of the strip is as light and gentle as Charles Schultz or Patrick McDonnell.

In short, the cartoon gods have endowed Thompson with all the magic at their disposal. It would be easy for me to become resentful lie Antonio Salieri was of Mozart in Amadeus, if his comic strip wasn't so intoxicating.

I hope to be following little Alice Otterloop and her family and classmates at Blisshaven Preschool for years to come. 

http://www.gocomics.com/culdesac

http://richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com