Todd Klein's Blog, page 363

And Then I Read: THE UNKNOWN

© Boom Entertainment, Inc.

Okay, let's get this out of the way: she's a brilliant but dying crime solver, he's an ex-bouncer with great people-reading skills; they're detectives.

The odd-couple detective team is at least as old as Holmes and Watson, and if you add an occult angle you have "X-Files." Mark Waid has trod these halls before with RUSE, but this time the woman is the smart one. It's a fun series with some great action, a few nice thrills, a creepy undertone that becomes an overtone, and well-developed characters, all things you'd expect from Mark. A few angles are new: Catherine Allingham's eventually terminal brain tumor gives her some very odd hallucinations…or are they? James Doyle is handy when fists fly, but he's got a lot more going on for him than that. The plot has enough surprises to keep things interesting, and I enjoyed it throughout. And the ticking time bomb that is Catherine's illness gives everything an additional sense of urgency.

The interior art by Minck Oosterveer is quite nice, with a European album feel that works well for this subject matter. Some of his figures are a bit stiff, but in general he does a fine job, adding lots of atmosphere and drama, with effectively spooky lighting and a nice variety of angles and panel sizes, another way of saying his storytelling is quite good. In all, very fine work.

This is not great literature, but it's an entertaining read and one worth your time. Recommended.

And Then I Read: NEXUS ARCHIVES Vol. 11

© Mike Baron & Steve Rude.

I've always thought of this as the dark days of NEXUS: no Steve Rude at all in these issues, and I was prepared for a tough slog reading it, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't so at all, at least for the main stories written by Mike Baron. This proves once again that good writing can overcome inappropriate art. The art by Mark Heike, John K. Snyder III, Luke McDonnell and Hugh Haynes is not bad art, it just pales in comparison to that of Rude, and in the case of Snyder the style is jarringly different, creating great possibilities to knock one out of the story. It did happen a few times, but overall Baron's stories kept me in his world, as we finally meet the menacing and oft-mentioned god Elvon (or do we?),  laugh at the antics of Crocus, and follow Stan as Nexus trying to sort them out. Horatio Hellpop is here, too, but in a lesser outsider role that works well. The rest of the regular cast mixes it up on Ylum, getting into trouble as usual, with Elvon making things worse.

Here's a scene with the ever-popular Sinclair in action against Nexus. Not great work, but not terrible, either. It just doesn't seem like Nexus to me, though, visually.

As for the Judah backup stories, I've been skipping those, I find them tedious, not nearly as well written as the Baron feature stories. Despite my mixed feelings, if you're a NEXUS fan, these issues have stories that will entertain you, and they form an important part of the entire saga. On that basis, the book is recommended.

Cat in Bag

"What's in there, Tigger? Anything to eat?"

"Nothing but funny smells. Makes a nice loud crinkle sound, though."

"Are you sure there's nothing in there? What are you doing, then?"

"Nothing, but I'll let you have a look."

"There is something in here, Tigger. Me!"

"Very droll, Leo."

Cleaning Pens for Lettering

I'm preparing to do some hand-lettering for my next signed print using Faber Castell TG1-S technical drawing pens. My first task is to clean the old dried-out ink from inside the four pens I'm going to use. Back in the day when I lettered everything by hand, I rarely had to clean these pens, I kept them working correctly through constant use. Even ten years ago when I was doing two-thirds of my lettering work on the computer and one third by hand, the ink would still flow through them for a few months at a time. Now, when I'm lettering nearly everything on the computer, these pens sit neglected on my drawing table while the ink inside slowly dries and cakes, making them unuseable. So, yesterday I spent about an hour at the kitchen sink cleaning them. I try to do this when Ellen isn't home. India ink won't stick to or stain our steel sink and Corelle countertops, but the sight of inky mess everywhere is not for the faint of heart.

Turning the tap on a trickle, lukewarm, I take the first pen apart under the flow. The point-puller (6) screws over the end of the pen point  (2) and one continues screwing until the point lifts out of the point body  (4). Then the wire cap  (3) pulls off the back of the point and the wire (1) pulls out of the point body.

This will probably make more sense in the picture above, where the pen pieces are shown in order. Also shown in this pic is the ink reservoir, which pulls off the point body after it's unscrewed from the pen shaft. The pen cap (5) and the pen shaft are the only parts that don't have to be cleaned.

To loosen caked ink, long toothpicks (8) are handy, I usually go through a few of them. The other essential tool is lots of paper towels. In addition to wiping, the corners are rolled into points (7) to insert into the insides of the pen point, the wire cap, the point body and the ink reservoir. If the ink is dry and hard, it will take multiple cleanings with these tools to get all or most of it out. The wire is the most easily damaged part of the pen, if you bend it, chances are very good that the ink will never flow through that pen point again, so I handle it very carefully. Fortunately not much ink sticks to it. The hardest part to clean is the inside of the point (upper left in the picture above) especially the steel shaft where the wire passes through a tiny tunnel to the tip of the point, allowing the ink to flow around it and out the tip. If dried ink is inside that tunnel, the only way to get it out is to insert the wire, VERY carefully, into the tiny hole at the outside tip of that metal shaft, essentially running the wire the opposite way through the tunnel from which it usually goes. I've lost a number of pen points doing that. If it succeeds and goes through, I then blow air into the point, pushing any dried ink out of the point. After rinsing, I fill the point with water and blow on the wider plastic end of the point. If water squirts out of the point's steel tip, I know the tunnel is clear. If not, I repeat the process until it is.

The final test is to fill the ink reservoir with fresh ink, put the pen back together, and see if the ink will flow through. To get the ink started I tap the end of the shaft on the drawing board a few times, then shake the pen, point down, over some paper a few times. Inside the pen point, the wire should be felt moving up and down through the point like a tiny plunger. If it won't move, there may still be sticky ink in the point somewhere. Several minutes of tapping and shaking should get the ink moving, and when the first ink shows at the pen tip, I test the pen on the paper. If the ink is flowing smoothly, an even line emerges with no skips or gaps, and the pen is ready to use.

Tomorrow I'm going to find out how rusty my hand-lettering skills are…

Goodbye Accord, Hello Insight

I bought this Honda Accord new in 1994, and it's been a great ride ever since. It has a few small dents and scratches, but held up well for 144,000 miles. After about 10 years and 100,000 miles, though, I started talking about getting a new car, "as soon as this one has some kind of major and expensive problem." It never did, but as happens, gradually all the little problems reached a threshhold, and when the radio died a few months ago, that was the clincher. It was time for it to go.

Today I traded it in for a new 2010 Honda Insight, not that I got much for the trade, but every little bit helps. I've driven it less than two hours, but I already love it. We bought Ellen a Civic Hybrid in 2006, so now we both have Hybrids, and will drive as green as we can with two cars. I'm familiar with the driving style needed to get the best mileage in Honda's hybrids from Ellen's car, and in my two hours of driving I've already gotten the overall mpg from 36 to 44. And not only is it great to have a radio again, I can now play CDs! Plus, there's an iPod dock, so I'll probably finally get one of those, too.

I think I did quite well on the price, thanks to internet price quotes. After test driving this car at our local dealer, and getting a quote from them, I went online and got price quotes from the next two nearest dealers. Both were $1500 lower. Took that to the sales manager at our dealer, and he came very close to matching it. Competition can be a wonderful thing!

And Then I Read: THE VIKING PRINCE

© DC Comics, Inc.

I decided to read this collection of stories from the 1950s because, while I liked the idea of the series, I'd only read one or two Viking Prince adventures. The concept is similar to Prince Valiant, and covers some of the same territory, but with the focus on Vikings rather than King Arthur's court. The writing by Kanigher, Haney and Finger is a mixed bag; some good moments, some silly ones. Vikings vying for power with each other fueled the early stories, with the hero suffering from amnesia and unsure of his own background. Pretty good stuff. At some point, the writers ran out of steam on that and began inserting things that don't make so much sense: dinosaurs, water-skiing, native Americans, mermaids, and so on. The original cast was largely abandoned after the early run of stories in favor of a wandering hero with a mute bard companion, which seems an odd pairing. Lots of the Prince talking and the bard thinking about how he'd like to reply, but can't. Viking Prince shared THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD with Silent Knight for a while, then had a few issues all his own, which apparently didn't sell well enough to warrant a solo series. They tried a team-up with Sergeant Rock a few years later in one of the war comics, and that's where this collection ends.

The art by Joe Kubert is great throughout, he seems to have enjoyed drawing these characters, and puts lots of swordplay and swashbuckling action into them. About two-thirds of the stories also have early and excellent lettering by my favorite letterer Gaspar Saladino, as on this page. Look at that handsome initial cap A in the first caption, and I love that ZIINNG! The book has been recolored in the style of the original, but using the much finer dot-screens of today's comics, and the paper stock has a soft quality that suggests newsprint, but is of higher quality I think, making the reading experience quite close to that of reading the original comics, I bet. The color credit is Tell-A-Graphics with Joe Kubert. That's the Kubert School, I believe.

The one visual thing I don't like about this volume is the wretched design work, in the same style as other DC reprint hardcovers in this series I've looked at. They've picked some awful fonts and a design style using greatly enlarged pieces of art from the original comics that almost parodies the form in the spirit of Roy Lichtenstein (but not as well done), and they just stick with it. If I were Joe, I would have protested, but I imagine he didn't see the design work until the book was printed. If you can ignore that you might well enjoy this volume, more for the art, lettering and coloring than for the writing. Recommended on that basis.

And Then I Read: CITY OF THE BEASTS

© Isabel Allende, cover art © Cliff Nielsen.

This ambitious novel is aimed at young adult readers, but is complex enough to interest adults. Fifteen-year-old Alex's mother is very ill, and he must go to stay with his grandmother for a while. His grandmother is far from what one might expect, though. She's a feisty nature writer about to go on an expedition to an unexplored region of the Amazon river basin with a group hoping to find a mysterious creature known as the Yeti of the Amazon. Alex has no choice but to go with her, and soon finds himself in situations he could never have imagined, surrounded by dangerous wildlife and more dangerous people. Nadia, the daughter of the group's local guide, becomes a close friend, and before long they are spirited away from their group by natives of a tribe which has never made contact with civilization. That's only the beginning of Alex's adventures, though. With an ancient shaman, he and Nadia must make a harrowing journey into the sacred mountain of the gods of this world, or are they the Beasts his group was searching for all along? And once there, further challenges await him.

There are about a dozen characters in this well-written tale that could have supported a book of their own, and enough plot to fill a standard trilogy, but it never feels cramped or rushed. Ecological themes are ever-present, but not in a preachy way; human nature is explored in a variety of good and bad aspects, and the world of this story is as engrossing and rich as that of the film "Avatar," but in a more realistic setting. Great read, and Allende has written sequels about Alex, which I'll be looking for in the future. Recommended.

And Then I Read: REVOLVER

© Matt Kindt.

There are some comics creators endowed with massive amounts of art talent, so that anything they turn out looks wonderful. There are others with less talent who produce work worth viewing through innovative concepts and thoroughly dedicated execution. Matt Kindt is one of those (sorry for the knock on your art skills, Matt). The idea behind this book is terrific: an ordinary guy with a dull job, an oppressive boss and an almost as oppressive girlfriend goes to sleep one night and wakes up in an alternate version of his world, one in the midst of a war, with chaos and destruction everywhere, a world where surviving from day to day is a major struggle. When an exhausted and stressed-out Sam goes to sleep in that world, he wakes up in his original dull but safe one. So it goes, each time he falls asleep, he jumps from one to the other. The same people are in both, but greatly changed by events. Gradually Sam begins to piece together some common threads, and sets out to track down a man who seems to be powerful in both worlds, and might have some answers as to what's going on. Sound intriguing? It is.

As I said, I'm not a big fan of Matt's art, it has a crudeness to it that doesn't appeal to me, but I do admire what he accomplishes with it. All the pages use a duotone color scheme, but different colors for each, helping to separate the two threads. Fine lettering by Steve Wands helps give the book a consistent voice, but everything else is by Kindt. This is a page from the chaotic world. The characters are well-developed, even if most of them aren't very sympathetic, and the plot continues to take surprising hops, just as Sam does. I like the way he gradually evolves from a passive observer of his own life to someone with a plan to take firm control of it, a plan that takes courage and cleverness. REVOLVER is a great read, and an innovative use of the graphic format as well. Recommended.

And Then I Read: MOM'S CANCER

© Brian Fies.

I have to admit this is not the sort of book I would pick up and read on my own, it was a gift from the writer and artist, Brian Fies at San Diego this summer. I tend to shy away from realistic slice-of-life comics in favor of ones containing places and things I couldn't experience in reality. Cancer in one's family is something I have experienced, though from more of a distance than described here, and it wasn't anything I'd want to repeat.

This book is a great example of how comics can make any subject interesting, sympathetic and understandable, however. The very act of telling a story with pictures invites readers into a world, and when the art is as charming as that of Brian Fies, it becomes a world one wants to continue visiting, page after page. And facing crushing problems and situations with a humor and clever visuals, as above, is comics at its best, in my opinion.

The most surprising thing about the story told in this book to me was the ending. I thought there could only be one obvious ending that any story containing cancer is going to lead to, but I was wrong. Rather than heavy tragedy, this book goes somewhere else, somewhere uplifting, without in any way dodging the seriousness of the subject. I'd offer this book to anyone who, like me, has had some real-life brushes with serious medical problems, it's a heartfelt journey that's hard to resist, and  eye-opening as well. Very highly recommended.

Mule Train (er, Carriage)

Friday morning in New Orleans, our last, was again sunny and comfortable. After breakfast outside in the French Market we walked along the river to Jackson Square, where mule-driven carriages line up to give half-hour tours of the French Quarter. We thought that would be a good way to wrap up our visit.

Here's the carriage we chose, or were beckoned into. We'd been seeing them regularly trotting through the quarter, all mule-powered, and I asked the driver, "Why mules?" His answer was, "They're smarter than horses. They won't work themselves to death; when they've had enough, they just stop. Also, they can handle the summer heat better, and store more water than a camel."

Our driver was known as The Professor because he used to teach history in the local high school before retiring and taking up carriage tours. That's him on the right. He was very entertaining, born and raised in the area, and full of stories and facts. "If you remember half of what I tell you," he said, "You'll know more about New Orleans than most of the locals. I should know, I graded their papers!"

He was kind enough to take our picture before we started, just so you know I really was there. It was a fun and informative half hour, well worth the $15 per person charged, and I'd recommend it to anyone visiting the Quarter.

We had time for a little more shopping, then headed back to our hotel to pack for home. And here we are as I write this, with the Big Easy just pleasant memories. Great trip, nice place.

One last bit of updating, Ivy Ratafia, Scott McCloud's wife reports that he's much better and on the way home. You can probably read more soon on Scott's blog. Last I checked Neil's twitter feed on HIS blog, he was just getting home today, delayed by storms. We'll all be back to work tomorrow, I expect.