Category Archives: Blog

Utilitarian Review 7/9/11

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On HU

Tom Gill with follow up comments on his essay on Tatsume and Tsuge.

This week’s featured archive post: Ng Suat Tong on Chester Brown’s gospel adaptations.

Richard Cook provides a fourth of july Uncle Sam gallery.

Michael Arthur on Shimura Takako’s Wandering Son.

I posted a metal, blues, cock and rock music mix download.

I talked about my disappointment with Jack Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen stories, prompting an interesting comment thread including Matt Thorn, Domingos Isabelinho, Matthias Wivel, Jeet Heer, Jones, Johnny Bacardi, and lots of other folks.

Domingos Isabelinho discussed Andrea Bruno and the crisis of capitalism in Europe.

Robet Stanley Martin talked about Henry Miller and surrealism.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Comixology I talk about Rogue, critic Susan Kirtley, and Jacques Lacan.

At Splice Today I review Dolly Parton’s new album.

Also at Splice I talks about the upsides of an apocalyptic collapse of America’s economy.

Other Links

Terry Eagleton on the difficulty of being secular.

C.T. May on The Hangover II

Alyssa Rosenberg on Luther, the Wire, and Stringer Bell in love.

Monthly Stumblings # 11: Andrea Bruno

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Sabato tregua (Saturday’s truce) by Andrea Bruno

Deregulated financial capitalism immersed Southern Europe in a deep social, economical, and political crisis. The euro’s cohesion is at stake at the moment while PIGS countries (hail racism!), especially Greece, see their sovereign debt credit ratings descend into garbage (PIGS countries are: Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain; in 2008 the acronym became PIIGS with the inclusion of Ireland). IMF imposed restrictions choke the economy provoking unemployment. On top of that grim scenario Globalization dislocated factories from the so-called first world to become sweatshops in the so-called third world (if you think that slavery doesn’t exist anymore, think again…). Entire communities were destroyed with millions of unemployed people from all over the world (add post-colonial and post-communist to post-industrial) flocking to the major cities in search of a life. This created huge social problems with riots in France, for instance. Riots in Greece are part of everyday life by now…

These are, in a nutshell, our difficult European times. Any artist worth his or her salt should acknowledge them one way or the other. That’s what Italian comics artist Andrea Bruno eloquently does…

Panel from Sabato tregua (see below). Canicola, 2009. Not paginated. 

Sabato tregua is a big format book (18,5 x 12 inches, give or take) reminding two other similar experiments: French Futuropolis’ 30 x 40 [cm] collection, U.S.A’s Raw, in its first series incarnation (both appeared during the eighties). It was published by the art collective from Bologna, Canicola (“Cannicula,” or the star Sirius which announces the hottest days of Summer). Andrea Bruno had the idea to revive this huge format; another book (Grano blu – blue wheat -, by the great Anke Feuchtenberger), was already published in the same format. In case that you’re wondering, Canicola’s books have a (not very accurate, sometimes…) English translation at the bottom of the page. In the image reproduced above the character that is off-panel, Mario, says (I transcribe from the book’s translation):

What are you doing here?

While Christine, says:

Did you know [that,] since the shoe factory closed[,] the population of this town has decreased by 40%[?]

And, then, she continues:

Once it was a workers’ town, now it’s a thieves’ town. When a robbery happens in the nearby towns, the police come[s] here immediately to start the[ir] search.

While Christine speaks there’s a three panel zoom in that ends in a medium shot. Conversely Mario’s face is hidden most of the time by melancholic shadows. The same thing happens to other characters, but it’s not only that: Andrea Bruno’s “dirty” style disintegrates the physical world to mirror the disintegration of post-industrial communities.

Sabato tregua: “Let’s go”: a melancholic view of the world under capitalism.

Another disintegration occurs to the story. Andrea Bruno says a few interesting things about this particular aspect of his work:

What do we mean by “linear discourse?” The storyline, the plot may not be the only way to unify a narrative? Maybe images, signs and moods can also become the parts that “sustain” a story and give it an identity. I try not to do “antinarrative” comics, but I don’t like to draw stories that tell it all.

Andrea Bruno presses ink soaked cardboards  to the surface of his drawings. He uses white paint almost as much as he draws and paints with black India ink. The result is a very distinctive graphic style in which chance plays a part, blobs are as important as lines and the white surfaces are as important as the black ones. White, as in Alberto Breccia’s drawings (the old master has to be cited), is pretty much an active part of Andrea Bruno’s drawings, not just negative zones…

Anni luce (light years), original art, Miomao Gallery, 2007. A car is burned during a riot. A violent technique to depict violent acts.

Wherever millions of famished immigrants go xenophobia and racism follows them. Here’s what Andrea Bruno has to say about it:

I try to suppress the surface of well being, of the main fashions and customs, to show landscapes and relationships reduced to the bone. The denunciation is not direct, it’s more in the presuppositions than in what I choose to show. I prefer the peripheral vision. Racism and inequality, in my comics, are not denunciated, but appear as ‘normal,’ so to speak.  The effect renders them, maybe, even more hateful.

Sabato tregua: “Mario, [are you] a friend [of the] niggers, now?”

Andrea Bruno appeared in English in Suat’s Rosetta # 2.

Bursting With Boredom

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Superman…unconscious?!

Kirby fans often note that his comics are bursting with ideas. And, after reading DC’s two volume 2003 collections of Kirby’s run on Jimmy Olsen, I can’t deny it. Lots and lots of stuff happens in these stories. There’s secret underground hippie biker lost realms, secret government clone projects, green Jimmy Olsen clones, scrappy fighting kids, miniature clones of scrappy fighting kids, gratuitous Scottish accents, extradimensional evil, extradimensional good, alternate versions of Don Rickles, tiny worlds populated by even tinier monster movie rejects,groovy hippie pads, loch ness monsters, evil tycoons, evil mad scientists, and and lord knows what else. Just about every page has enough plot points to keep a typical contemporary comic happy for a year.

And yet. All those ideas, all that frantic creativity — you read one page and it’s charming; you read two pages and it’s impressive — you read a whole comics worth, though, and it starts to get wearisome. Kirby’s stereo has one volume, and that volume is everything plus the kitchen sink plus a four-armed monster and an atomic explosion. Occasionally he throws in schticky banter, not so much as a break from the noise as to make you wish the noise would come back and the banterers would shut the fuck up. And then (mercifully or not) the plot’s back, racing, racing, racing to nowhere in particular.

Superman…unconscious?!

Because, the sad truth is that, for all of Kirby’s ideas, not a one of them goes anywhere or builds to anything or does anything except sit there saying, “Ayup! Here’s an idea!” The result is that, for all the wild rushing and hand waving (literally with the four-armed monster(!!!!)) these books are incredibly, deafeningly tedious and repetitive. Protagonists are beset by antagonist, protagonists are knocked unconscious/otherwise immobilized; protagonists come back and beat antagonists (or occasionally realize that antagonists are good guys.) Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. It goes on and on, remorselessly, through more than 300 pages. Plot development, characterization, a point of any kind — forget it. Fight, setback, victory, fight, setback, victory. Epic.

Superman and Jimmy Olsen…unconscious?!

People often talk about the cosmic scale of Kirby’s comics. Maybe that’s true in some of his other work, but here the cosmic touches look suspiciously like the stupidest kind of fantasy/sci-fi cliches. Evil vs. good; dark vs. light. You can tell the bad guys because they say, “We’re bad guys!” and blow things up, whereas the good guys say “We’re good guys!” and blow things up. Also the good guys banter and the bad guys rant. The ranting is more fun than the banter, but not sufficiently more fun for me to care enough to root for one side or the other.

Marston/Peter were devoted to feminism and fetish; they had a ideological backdrop which informed and gave resonance to their nutty ideas. Bob Haney had a bizarrely idiosyncratic grasp on genre and the holes in genre which made his ideas stumble and bump against each other in a series of pratfalls which were both unexpected and meaningful. But Kirby, at least in the Jimmy Olsen series, has no ideological commitments to speak of, and when he uses genre — as in his use of vampires or werewolves — it’s carefully compartmentalized. The vampires and werewolves are from another world; Jimmy and Supes fight them and eventually help them, but they never really themselves end up in a horror story. Instead they fight, experience setbacks, and then attain victory.

I know what I’m really supposed to like in Kirby is the art. I’ve never really fallen in love with his work, but there are definitely moments here I enjoy. Here for intance:

In the left panel, everything’s blocky and off, even Superman himself. The pose, with arms behind him, makes his silhouette seem off; and even the S on his chest seems squashed and askew. In the right panel, the cityscape is tilted and odd; it looks like a lego city built on an incline. Both images have an odd, lumpiness — a material forcefulness that is not so much contradicted by, as built upon, their imperfections.

And, of course, this is hard to resist:

In this power-packed issue — we look up the newsboy legions’ noses!

So, yes, I can appreciate that to some extent. And maybe the real way to enjoy these issues is not to read them at all, but just to flip through looking for those goofy Kirby monsters or enjoyably odd perspectives. But I did unfortunately read the thing…and having done so, I”m afraid Kirby’s art, enjoyable as it often is, doesn’t repay me for the couple of hours flushed down the drain. The power of the art, indeed, starts to veer towards self-parody; it seems to be relentlessly trying to convince you that something interesting is happening, to make up for the utter lack, not of ideas per se, but of ideas that have any meaning or consequence. Kirby ends up sounding like one of his typical monstrous creations, screaming “Aaruk! Aaruk!” It’s loud and has an initial novelty, but it doesn’t exactly fill me with admiration for the critter’s volcanic creativity.

Music For Middle-Brow Snobs: Aero Zeppelin

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Metal, blues, cock, and rock. Download Aero Zeppelin here.

1. Driving South — Jimi Hendrix
2. Movin’ Out — Aerosmith
3. Francene — ZZ Top
4. Sharp-Dressed Man — ZZ Top
5. D.O.A. — Van Halen
6. Iron Fist — Sodom
7. Ace of Spades — Motorhead
8. Territory —Sepultura
9. T.V. Eye — Stooges
10. Helpless — Metallica
11. Aero Zeppelin — Nirvana
12. Wearing and Tearing — Led Zeppelin
13. Can Do — Journey

Your Favorite Uncle – Uncle Sam in Posters, Cartoons, and Comics

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According to the Internets, Uncle Sam was the unintended creation of Samuel Wilson, who inspected meat purchased by the U.S. government during the War of 1812. Wilson’s assistant, Elbert Anderson, would ship him barrels of meat stamped with “E.A.” and “U.S.” The meat-packers working for Anderson had no idea what “U.S.” stood for until some smart-ass decided that it meant “Uncle Sam.” The joke spread along with the meat, and a national character was born. To celebrate Independence Day, here is a collection of Uncle Sam images from various print media.

1800s

In Harper’s Weekly (1862)

CAPTION: “Go ahead, Boys: I’ll take care of the Wives and Babies. GOD bless you!”

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In Harper’s Weekly (1864)

CAPTION: (to Young John Bull). “There, JACKY—there’s one of Daboll’s New Fog-Whistles for you. You’re always in a Fog about our affairs, you know. Now go and blow it upon Cape Race, and say it was UNCLE SAM sent you.”

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By Thomas Nast in Harper’s Weekly (1869)

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By Thomas Nast (1876)

CAPTION: “CUR-TAIL-PHOBIA. — U.S. ‘Because he steals? You are, as usual, ‘Mr. Statesman,‘ at the wrong end.'”

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By Grant Hamilton in Judge Magazine (1884)

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By Joseph Keppler in Puck Magazine (1895)

TITLE: “Uncle Sam’s Dream of Conquest and Carnage – Caused by Reading the Jingo Newspapers”

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In The Ram’s Horn (1896)

CAPTION: “EMIGRANT – ‘Can I come in?’ UNCLE SAM – ‘I ‘spose you can; there’s no law to keep you out.”

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In Sound Money (1896)

CAPTION: Cleveland holds Uncle Sam back while Spain pays old Rothschild’s bonds with Cuban blood.”

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By William Allen Rogers (1898)

TITLE: “Uncle Sam’s New Class in the Art of Self-Government”

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Early 1900s

By Emil Flohri in Judge Magazine (1907)

TITLE: “Uncle Sam – ‘I didn’t do that way with Cuba'”

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By J.K. Renour in Puck Magazine (1911)

TITLE: (J.P. Morgan) – “The Helping Hand”

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Poster by James Montgomery Flagg (1917)

Originally the cover for the July 6, 1916 issue of Leslie’s Weekly.

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Poster by James Montgomery Flagg (1918)

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Poster by W. Carson (1918)

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By Norman Rockwell in The Saturday Evening Post (1928)

TITLE: “Uncle Sam Takes Wings”

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1930s

By Miguel Covarrubias (1933)

TITLE: “The Wailing Wall of Gold”

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By Paulo Garretto in Vanity Fair (1934)

TITLE: “The Tattooed Man”

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By Berry Ardin (?) in LIFE Magazine (1934)

TITLE: “Dr. New Deal”

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By Frank Lea in The Country Gentleman (1936)

TITLE: “Which Way to Prosperity?”

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1940s

Cover by Lou Fine (1940)

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Cover by Jack Binder (1942)

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Cover by Gill Fox (1942)

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Cover by Reed Crandall (1942)

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Poster by McClelland Barclay (1942)

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Poster by N.C. Wyeth (1943)

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Cover by Alex Kotzky (1944)

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Poster by James Montgomery Flagg (1944)

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By Kukryniksy in Krokodil (1947)

TITLE: “Equal Partners” (addressing the creation of NATO)

Kukryniksy was the pen name for three cartoonists who worked for the Moscow satirical paper, Krokodil.

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1950s

By Jerry Costello (c. 1950)

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Art by unknown (c. 1950s?)

CAPTION: “Don’t Misbehave!”

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By D.R. Fitzpatrick (1951)

TITLE: “The Firing of McArthur”

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By John Fischetti for Collier’s (1953)

TITLE: “Time for a New Declaration”

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1960s

By John Collins (1960)

TITLE: “Look, I have a beard too!”

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By The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (1967)

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By Herbert Block in The Washington Post (1968)

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Cover by Norman Mingo (1969)

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1970s

Poster by The Committee to Help Unsell the Vietnam War (1971)

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Cover by Nick Cardy (1973)

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Cover by Ernie Chan (1976)

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Cover by Rich Buckler and Vince Colletta (1976)

Freedom Fighters was canceled by issue 15.

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1980s

By Ray Osrin in The Plain Dealer (1980)

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Cover by Gil Kane (1983)

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Cover by Jerry Ordway (1984)

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Cover by Lorenz (1988)

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1990s

By Mischa Richter in The New Yorker (1991)

CAPTION: (Lady Liberty to Uncle Sam) “I say we renounce world leadership and just have fun.”

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Cover by Alex Ross (1997)

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2000s

By Gary Varvel in The Indianapolis Star (2001)

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Wallpaper by Alex Ross (c. 2001)

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Cover by Daniel Acuna (2006)

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Cover by Dave Johnson (2007)

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By Nick Craig (2008)

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By Pat Bagley in The Salt Lake Tribune (2008)

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By Mike Keefe in The Denver Post (2011)

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By Nate Beeler in The Washington Examiner (2011)

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_____________________

Many of the earliest Uncle Sam images were found at SonoftheSouth.net

The cover of National Comics #26 now correctly attributed.

Utilitarian Review 7/2/11

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News

Polling ended in our Best Comics Poll. Robert Stanley Martin explains what happens next.

On HU

Our Featured Archive post this week was Caroline Small’s discussion of autobiography and Aline Kominsky Crumb.

I talked about Twin Peaks, the Wire, Stalker, and the truth.

Stephanie Folse continued her Elfquest reread with issues 8 and 9.

I reviewed the Cartoon Introduction to Economics.

I discussed Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, True Romance, Green Lantern, and the luck of the assholes.

I reviewed the classic Heny/Aparo Batman/Deadman team up,one of my favorite comics ever.

Kinukitty reviewed Steven Tyler’s memoir.

Erica Friedman told the creators what to do and what not to do with the live action version of Noir.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Splice Today I talked about race, the South, and a new compilation of Delta Swamp Rock.

Also at Splice I talk about Beyonce’s latest disappointing album.

At Comixology I talk about superhero tropes and the ultraviolent Japanese exploitation film Machine Girl.

Other Links

A discussion of why there aren’t more women in comics.

Tucker Stone has a lovely Comics of the Weak this time out.

Also, Factual Opinion movie review this week: Bad Teacher and Jog on Green Lantern

Old but good Jason Thompson on Japan, Inc.

Melinda Beasi talks about talking about josei manga.

And more Jason Thompson — this one’s his Uzumaki review.

Sean Michael Robinson reviews Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths.

Alyssa Rosenberg on why Frank Miller and terrorism are not Jack Kirby and WW II.

An escort reviews Paying for It. (Hat tip: Sean Michael Robinson.)

Shaenon Garrity on how to get more women in comics.

Overthinking Things 7/1/2011

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A Open Letter to Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi.

Dear Messrs Tapert and Raimi –

I hear that you’ve gotten the greenlight to create a live-action version of the Noir anime series for Starz. While I admit to trepidation at the idea that an American TV (premium cable, but still,) channel is interested in one of my favorite anime series, nonetheless, as the driving force behind Xena: Warrior Princess, I am willing to trust you both. (Not entirely indirectly, it was because of Xena that I now write here at HU, so I believe I owe you some thanks for the impact you’ve had on my life.)

Before I explain a little bit about Noir and what we, the fans, are and aren’t willing to tolerate, let me start with: 

Elements That Made Xena Great.

1 – “Strong Female” leads that actually were.

2 – Female team-up that acknowledged, but did not collapse because of, romantic entanglements with guys.

3 – Unresolved Sexual Tension between the leads – this is a critical point and I’ll get back to it in a moment.

4 – Xena smiling when she gutted people. Maybe it’s only me, but this was a key selling point for the show.

5 – The comedy. The jokes were always horribly corny and usually pretty stupid, but it meant that viewers never forgot the show was not to be taken seriously. This is a *very* important element when dealing with fans.

6 – Fighting – lots of it.

All of these, except the comedy should also be part of Noir. The anime Noir takes itself very seriously, so cornball humor would seem out of place for those of us who know the series but, again, I’m willing to give you some leeway here. Make it dry humor, rather than corny and I promise to behave.

Element That Did Not Make Xena Great

Joxer

I realize that he’s a relation, but if Ted Raimi shows up in Noir I will hate you, probably irrevocably. The one exception is if he shows up as one of the intended victims, is given a moving monologue, then Kirika shoots him. That is acceptable.

***

Having established some of the key concepts that should and shouldn’t be carried over, let’s talk Noir.

Noir is the first of a trilogy of “girls with guns on the run” anime series, all of which have certain elements in common. It would probably be a really terrific idea to translate at least one, hopefully several, of these elements to your new series.

Elements You Should Have in your noveau Noir

I’m going to assume you’ve got the whole older, worldly mature woman / younger, naive woman pairing thing down. You nailed it in Xena and something similar should work just fine for Noir. I won’t beat this one to death. Go with your guts.

Conspiracy

In the Noir anime, the shadow organization that pursues the leads is an occult, Medieval, secret society; in the second series Madlax. it’s a magic-driven gun-running, war-mongering organization and in the third series, El Cazador de la Bruja, it’s a scientific conspiracy to resurrect and co-opt a magical culture. As you can see, the anime director really liked to have his women running from a shadow organization. And so did the fans. I insist you must have a conspiracy. Because the original shadow organization was not only incredibly silly, but random and unevenly developed, fee free to handle it however you like…as long as there is conspiracy of some kind.

Professional Assassins

This is a no-brainer, honestly. Both Mirielle and Kirika are professional assassins. In Madlax. Rimelda was an assassin and in El Cazador de la Bruja, Nadie and Ricardo were assassin/bodyguards. So, please, don’t make them ex-soldiers, or ex-CIA gone rogue. It’s okay to just make them professional killers.

Unresolved Sexual Tension

You did this great in Xena. Just do the same exact thing in Noir. I don’t need them to get together…there just has to be the plausible possibility that they might.

UST, as we called in back in the day in the anime and manga fandom, is a common and popular element in team-up stories. I know it’s cable TV, but don’t give into the temptation of having them fake kissing, or going undercover and having to pretend to be girlfriends or anything else embarrassing and in bad taste. Start with respect that is returned, that maybe becomes something more.

Music

I’m throwing this out, knowing that you probably can’t do anything about this, but if you have actually watched Noir at all, you’ll realize that the music is practically a character in the story. The chances of you actually being able to license Salva Nos or Canta Per Me are slim to none, I realize, but if you can bring *one* thing over whole from the anime, choose the music.

 

Element from Noir Anime You Can Lose and No One Will Cry

The watch. Lose the watch, the watch’s musical theme, the watch’s 800 appearances as repeated footage. The watch isn’t the deal-breaker Ted Raimi is, but honestly, no one will miss the watch.

 

Bonus Fan Points

If you want the already-existing Noir fans to love you, (and we are poised and willing to love you!) please don’t pointlessly Americanize the names into Michelle and Karen or some such idiocy…we’re adults, we *know* there are other countries with names that are not in English!

It’s true that there are people who have never watched the anime, and have no reason to know what the character names are but, there are also people who are already fans of the series, who could specifically subscribe to Starz *just* for the pleasure of watching you not fuck up the series we love. Just sayin’.

Here’s looking forward to the new series.

Yours Truly,