Comics212

“I am unable to understand how a man of honor could take a newspaper in his hands without a shudder of disgust.” – BAUDELAIRE

“If one wishes to know the real power of the press, one should pay attention, not to what it says, but to the way in which it is listened to. There are times when its very heat is a symptom of weakness and prophesies its end. Its clamors and its fears often speak in the same voice. It only cries so loud because its audience is becoming deaf.” – TOCQUEVILLE

“My business is to teach my aspirations to confirm themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations.” – T. H. HUXLEY

- Christopher, from The Viking Book of Aphorisms, by W. H. Auden and Louis Kronenberger, Viking Press, 1962.

Shannon Gerard at TCAF 2007. Picture by Blake Bell.

Visitors to the 2007 Toronto Comic Arts Festival may be familiar with the works of cartoonists Shannon Gerard and Stef Lenk. In addition to both cartoonists (multi-disciplinary artists, actually) launching brand new comics as part of the lead-up to the festival, they also had one of the most interesting displays at the event. Comprised of a life-sized sculpture implying the classic board-game OPERATION and knitted and crocheted pairs of boobs and a penis’ & testicles (alongside promotional images shown here), these pieces (and the brand new books that accompanied them) sat amongst all of their other comics work, and the cartoonists themselves were set-up across from Top Shelf and at an all-ages event with nary a peep of trouble. I did a double-take myself when I saw the handsomely-produced member hanging on the wall at the show, but then I’ve already dealt with my own fear of cock… I thought it was a great display.

Apparently at York University in the North of Toronto? That cock-stuff don’t fly.

According to BlogTO.com, after a complaint by an anonymous YorkU professor a window display featuring the work of Gerard and Lenk was removed from the York University Bookstore. The display was promoting both the works themselves and a gallery display of art from both Lenk’s and Gerard’s projects, and while the work is certainly provocative, I don’t think anyone expected this reaction.

Although it’s not mentioned at BlogTO, Shannon Gerard is actually a YorkU alum and may even have taught there, I know that she sat on the TCAF 2005 Comics Academia panel alongside folks like Bart Beaty and Phoebe Gloeckner. I think it’s important that this material not be characterized as the work of a University student still ‘finding’ themselves, particularly because Gerard’s work is quite accomplished and even popular here in town. Also interesting? A version of the display featuring all of the same components hung in the window of bookstore Pages, right downtown on Toronto’s busiest street (and at one of our busiest intersections) for weeks without any notable incident.

I don’t mean to keep stealing all of the good bits from the BlogTO article, but let’s tie the whole thesis together, shall we:

“Although no one knows if it was the nudity or the crocheted Boobs and Dinks, Chhangur suspects, “it was the piercing on the crocheted penis on the cut out male figure and the open discussion about testicular cancer. Breast cancer seems socially accepted as is the depiction, (real or crocheted) of breasts but not penis’ or testicular cancer. Most of the complaints came from grown, white, heterosexual, men.”"
- BlogTo.com

Huh, how about that? Where have I heard about ostensibly straight white dudes having a problem with artistic depictions of male genitalia before?

Where… where could that be?

Anyway, let’s keep it positive. Why don’t you go and check out Shannon Gerard’s site at http://www.shannongerard.org/, and Stef Lenk’s site at http://steflenk.com/. Both are solid artists with excellent comics projects, and it’s nice to have an excuse…despite the unfortunate nature of said excuse…to link them.

- Chris

Bryan Lee O’Malley just sent out a little note that the brand new promo website for Scott Pilgrim is now online, featuring a spiffy new design by Nadine Lessio… the same talented designer that produced my own site here. http://www.scottpilgrim.com/ features icons, wallpaper, press info, and even a preview of the forthcoming fourth volume of the book.

Speaking of which, I hear that print proofs have already made their way into certain reviewers’ hands, and the book is currently scheduled to drop November 7th, give or take a week for printing and distribution vagaries. I turned down the preview… I really want to read the final book and I’ve already spoiled two or three things about the story for myself by accident so I’m trying to stay as far away from the pages as possible. But if you just can’t wait, then head over and check it out.

- Christopher

Impressions of Odaiba: An artificial island set in the Tokyo Bay, Odaiba, to me, felt like a very calculated escape from the rigours and density of areas like Shinjuku (home of Tokyo Municipal City Hall) or Ginza (‘old Tokyo’). It has the feeling of a massive theme-park, incorporating malls, rides, and bonified attractions. While much of our trip to Japan felt very specifically accomodating to tourism, Odaiba felt very much like a place for the locals to hang out and visit, particularly on a weekend. It also had a considerably more Western feel than many of the places we visited, thanks to it’s “box store” archetecture, wide streets, and very deliberate-feeling street layout.

Our first stop on the way to “Good times island” was Asakusa, a lovely area of town that, again, felt like actual people lived there. Japan’s transit system (as I may have mentioned) is awesome, and there are regular (and quick!) trains that head to Odaiba island regularly. But for our approach, we heard about a special little water-transport that would be worth investigating. Since we had two hours to kill before or trip, I figured we’d investigate the area. Right across from the ferry dock is the golden headquarters of Asahi (they make drinks, but are solely known in the west for their dry beers), and next to it is a building with a golden “flame” on top. Yeah.

Keep reading…

I was saving this for tomorrow, but I figured I’d bump the other stuff down the page for a little bit because I don’t think it needs any more attention positive or negative, it’s been pretty thoroughly torn to pieces by this point.

So, with that: another awesome post about Japan!

- Chris

 

I’ve been invited to dismiss, point by point, the… let’s be kind and say “unsupported” notions in Heidi MacDonald’s essay yesterday. It’s quite tempting to do so, but to what end? You don’t get to write something like that and then play the “I was just trying to encourage debate!” card. Quite honestly, I don’t find that the arguments that Heidi has set forth are worth debating, or really, that they’re arguments at all. Further, I feel like even engaging it gives it an unwarranted weight, and I’m sorry for two posts on the subjects in as many days.

Essentialy, I feel like this commenter at The Beat got it:

“The vagueness of Heidi’s argument (more like a collection of complaints) demonstrates the lack of intellectual rigor and attention to detail that so much comics “criticism” trades upon – particularly, but unfortunately not only, in an online forum such as this one. Only through generalizing conflations such as those employed by Heidi can one reduce an entire art form to polarizing binary categories, which then sinks the whole discourse to the dumb level of attacking and defending.

“Sweeping, provocative opinions need to be supported by analysis of detail in order to avoid coming off as mere gut reaction or the whims of taste.”

- Stephen Hirsch
http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/10/12/can-anyone-here-tell-a-story/#comment-458874

I can’t see saying much else about the situation as it currently stands. I just don’t think there’s anything worthwhile there, despite, as Tom mentioned, the ‘broad emotional appeal’ of the piece. It sounds a lot like my cartoonist friends bitching after a few pints at the bar, and I tend to hold that to a slightly different intellectual standard than criticism or debate. Usually I just order them another drink, secure in the knowledge that they’ll feel better in the morning.

- Christopher

Hey there. I wrote a review of the Chris Ware-edited Best American Comics 2007 book this week, and I think it came out pretty well. In it, I was trying to walk a very fine line between respecting the vision and accomplishments of the people involved in that work, and looking at the larger North American publishing industry to see if, really, the book was indicative of what is on store shelves and what’s “good”. Over at Publisher’s Weekly, Heidi has decided to obliterate that very fine line with a shotgun, and gives us one of the worst pieces of writing I’ve ever seen her put up on the blog. I understand her sentiments, but not only do I not agree with them I also think that she uses a series of outright untruths to bolster her arguments, which are muddy at best. 50% of the comics in The Best American Comics 2007 are not as good as a work published 10 years ago? Thanks for that, that’s very relevant.

My friend Cameron Stewart pops up in the comments section (first post!) to agree with Heidi straight-away, and although I was reading Heidi’s post with a growing sense of horror at the outlandishness of her statements (Really, Heidi? None of the literati are creating lasting characters or fiction? Then what the hell was Wimbledon Green? Which is excerpted in BAC2007 by the way…), seeing Cameron’s response (as well as that of Jennifer De Guzman at Slave Labor Graphics a little further down) puts the whole thing into perspective for me; no one likes to feel unappreciated, particularly not in what they believe to be a systematic way. But this whole post is symptomatic of the absolute worst, stupid, old-school “small-pond” mentality as anything I’ve seen on the internet in years. The complete narrative ouevre of Seth and Chester Brown has nothing to do with the critical, fan, or sales response to Johnny The Homicidal Maniac or The Other Side. If someone else’s artistic output is the recipient of critical or commercial success or acclaim, that is not a shot at anyone else’s work (except in the case where it is a direct and obvious shot at someone else’s work). You don’t like Houghton Mifflin, Anne Elizabeth Moore, and Chris’ Ware’s take on the best comics of 2006? Hey, neither did I, but at least I didn’t decide to blame a mysterious cabal of shadowy autobiographists/Art Spiegelman for it.

Heidi makes a passionate argument, and if the trackbacks in her comments section are any indication, there’s a hell of a lot of agreement about it already (and more in the wings). But passionate arguments aren’t necessarily intelligent ones either, and if I sat down and disarmed every single fallacy in this post I’d look like the world’s biggest asshole. Sadly, that role falls to poor Tom Spurgeon in the comments section, doomed to be the voice of reason which sets him firmly against more-or-less every other commenter.

What a train-wreck.

- Christopher

…or “It is October 8th and my rent is now over a week late. PLEASE BUY THESE.”

So I don’t really talk about the real ins and outs of store business very often, mostly because so many of our customers read the blog and I always get a little creeped out when they seem to know more about what’s going on ‘behind the scenes’ here at the store than I think they should. But the recent story about someone finding a copy of the first appearance of Batman in their attic, coupled with comics retailer Mike Sterling’s recent post about buying comics off of the general public in that sorta situation led me to want to post about it a little.

First and foremost, I hate buying people’s comic collections.

I’m pretty lucky in that, generally, I don’t actually have to do it all that often, what with the store’s owner being a CGC-level grading expert, and a long list of friends that can do similar for us. Five minutes with a stack of comics and the owner can give a solid guess as to condition, value, and how much to pay for the lot. His efficiency at purchasing comics is a wonderful compliment to my aversion to same, and usually things work out well. But the past two weeks saw the owner on vacation, and that combined with school starting and rent needing to be paid and all that by half of the city, I probably picked up something in the neighborhood of 8 or 9 collections of comics while he was away. The material we picked up ranged from a poor art student selling her 20 beat-up alternative comics like Eightball and Hate, to four full long boxes of late 80s/early 90s drek, including a full box that included (and I’m not kidding here) only copies of X-Force #1 and X-Men #1. I bet when that guy bought 50 or 60 copies of X-Force #1, he wasn’t expecting a massive negative98% return on his investment, huh?

The best collection I bought was from a fella who was moving out of town and wanting to part with his beloved collection of material from the 1980s, almost exclusively bought at The Beguiling. That was awesome, and full of comics that I had (quite honestly) never seen before, as well as real rarities. Just digging through two massive suitcases of comics like that was fun in and of itself, and one of the more enjoyable aspects of picking up a collection, wading through not only rare comics, but actual comics history.

But mostly? No.

There was the sweet old guy who came in with a painstakingly collected complete run of Alex Toth Zorro comics, including some of the later Gold Key reprints. That’s a situation where a couple of points of difference in the comic’s grade changes what you sell it for by quite a bit of money. The pressure to grade and price the comic accurately is definitely on, and then you add in the fact that he clearly loves these comics and he needs the money that day with the implication that something terrible has happened to him, and he needs this money more than the joy of owning his favourite comics. So, no pressure there right?

Then the guy who comes in needing to sell off his prize collection, the comics of his youth, including WOLVERINE #1!!! He needs to pay his rent and he’s in a bind and… the Wolverine #1 is actually, somehow, the Rucka/Robertson Wolverine #1 from 2 or 3 years back, and anything older than 10 years is generally wrecked. Dude’s getting, on average, 25 cents a book when he’s expecting to walk out of the store with a few hundred bucks in his pocket. The desperation is palpable, and really, really uncomfortable. I mean, I could be all Comic Book Guy about it and try and completely disconnect myself from my job, both emotionally and rationally, and hand him his $50 and go back to watching YouTube, but man, who wants to be The Comic Book Guy? So you go through and start guiding a bunch of the books, trying to see if any of the random shit that comprises all of his childhood hopes and dreams might have a key book or two–a first appearance, an origin, a first-fight-scene, anything to push the comics he’s got out of the dreaded $3-$5 ‘filler’ range into something that’ll get his landlord off his back and make it seem less like he’s selling out for pennies. BAM! It looks like a bunch of bronze-age Justice League and Wonder Woman issues are just early enough to guide for $20-$40 depending on condition, and they’re (miraculously) in better condition than any of the more recent books. That raises his per-comic payment up to about 75 cents on average, and has him leaving with enough to feel good about the transaction. I breathe a sigh of relief, and put the boxes of comics in the “to be priced” pile.

Which I think I earned the right not to have to deal with… :-/

I don’t like being in the position of breaking bad news to desperate people, and “your comics investment is not what you think it is” certainly qualifies. In the story about the Detective Comics #27 purchase, it’s mentioned that the seller originally tried to deal with another local store and didn’t feel like they were getting a fair shake. Even my first response was “that owner was probably a cheat!” despite the fact that I’ve been in similar situations. Sometimes what we’re willing to pay does not match the expectations of what the seller wants for their books. That’s the beauty of not being the only shop in town I guess, but we’ve had people take personal offence at the suggestion that their white-polybagged-return-of-Superman comics are, in fact, not worth more than the nickel each we are willing to pay. Or that their ‘genuine first issue of Action Comics!’ is really a give-away reprint (worth about a nickel), or that their really old Spider-Man comics are the ones that the police used to give away warning about the dangers of like, child abuse or whatever, and they’re worth about a nickel. Or, you know, the massively successful Rucka/Robertson Wolverine relaunch. **Cough**

Granted, this is an original Detective Comics #27, and if the seller didn’t feel like they were getting all that they could? I’m glad that they went out and found someone else to deal with. There are always options (hell, they could’ve auctioned it themselves if they really wanted to, and gotten the retail price for it (less commission by the auction house) instead of whatever fraction of its guide value, however large or small, that they eventually sold it for).

So, there you go. A little bit more about my job: things I don’t like to or try to avoid doing. Don’t worry about me though, I make up for that aversion by inserting gratuitous links to The Beguiling’s online store in my personal time. It all balances out.

- Christopher