Comix Reading List #39: Vietnam Journal Book One: Indian Country

 39. VIETNAM JOURNAL BOOK ONE: INDIAN COUNTRY (Caliber Comics) Kindle

I love well written and drawn war comics, like Harvey Kurtzman's EC Comics work or Jack Jackson's historical undergrounds, so I'm undertaking an epic reread of all of Don Lomax's VIETNAM JOURNAL series which is on a similar level, in my opinion.

Don Lomax (1944-) started in EASY RIDER in 1975 (according to Leonard Rifas' interview with Lomax in THE COMICS JOURNAL #136), and continuing in the late 70s in the fading light of the undergrounds, groundlevels, and porn magazines. In the early 80s he moved around smaller independents before settling in at First Comics on backup stories "The Black Flame" and probably the least known Alan Moore series of the decade, the serial in Howard Chaykin's AMERICAN FLAGG #21-27. Then he moved to Apple Comics and the Richard Pini-edited FANTASCI where he contributed the "Captain Obese" feature. (comics.org) This brings us up to the start of VIETNAM JOURNAL and this collection.

The first four issues of the series are reprinted here, Lomax focuses on the soldiers that newspaper reporter Scott "Journal" Neithammer encounters to great effect, bringing down the jingoistic attitude of most mainstream war comics while keeping the action level high. Finally, I just love Lomax's art, while being cartoony he does an excellent job of realistically depicting weapons and backgrounds. He would have fit in well on the Kurtzman EC war books!

I just started on the second collection from Caliber Comics, so more to come...

Comix Reading List #38: Torpedo 1972 1

 38. TORPEDO 1972 #1 (Ablaze) Hoopla

I stumbled across this one on the Hoopla app, and decided to give it a try since the original TORPEDO 1936 series author, Enrique Sanchez Abuli, was involved. In fact, the story starts out very well, setting the scene on the very first page, introducing our two main characters, and slowly building up to re-introducing Torpedo. There are many touches of humor throughout, including unfortunately the rape scene (which I'm pretty sure was a cliche in every early 70s R-rated movie) where the boyfriend tells his fiancee upon hearing Torpedo raped her, "My God! My God! And I missed it!" Upon rereading , this reads a lot better as an over the top black comedy.

Argentinean artist Eduardo risso steps in for Jordi Bernet on art duties. Risso, known in the US for the long-running 100 BULLETS, excels at facial expressions and sexy women. I like this series art by Risso better than his previous work I've seen...

Illustrations from the 2019 French edition published by Glenat

Comix Reading List #37: The Art of Ramona Fradon

 37. THE ART OF RAMONA FRADON edited by Robert Greenberger (Dynamite) Hoopla

I read this after learning of Ramona Fradon's (1926-2024) passing earlier this year. I was surprised to see this charming book had come out from Dynamite, high praise to them for such a high class tribute to a comics legend. There's a pretty much book-length conversation between Ramona Fradon and fellow creator Howard Chaykin, it is very well illustrated throughout by examples from all phases of her career.

My favorite Ramona Fradon series is her 1970s version of PLASTIC MAN in collaboration with writer Steve Skeates...

Comix Reading List #36: Canon 3

36. CANON #3 (Colin Blanchette/Alex Eklund)

In the third issue there is a shift to a wider variety of content in CANON. With the usual cartoonist-centric interviews and profiles, we get a large number of short reviews of alternative comics, news from Ray Carcases, and a rundown of West coast comics/comix conventions in 2023. All great additions to this reader.

The only published interview with graphic novelists Lili Thu Fierro and Generoso Fierro (by editor Colin Blanchette) is a welcome sight. I have all three of their current books, but have been hesitant to tackle them . Blanchette draws out very hepful process information, biographical bits, and extensive discussion of the inspirations and intentions for VESSEL, INVERSION, and CHUA. All make for an essential reader's guide for the trilogy.

I don't know how many of Terence (Comic Kkrakk) Fuller's videos discussing his endless Matt Howarth acquisitions I've watched over the years, nonetheless I'm counting him as the biggest proponent of Howarth's comics efforts since Howarth himself.  So you couldn't ask for a better pairing of interviewer and subject. Terence comes up with some original questions and Matt Howarth is very generous with his time and memory. I learned quite a bit of new information about Howarth's career and came away eager to keep up the hunt.

Another new trend this issue are shorter more intense examinations of Andrew Neal, P. Craig Russell, and 90s Marvel death throes stalwart SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE. Interviews with original art collector Comics Hauler and Marco Davanzo and Rayan Kennedy of Alakazam Comics (Irvine CA) round out the issue.

LAST GASP VAULT SPECIAL EDITION:

Ryan Carey kills it with the seedy and sad story of underground cartoonist Jim Osborne. Following are some Osborne comics still available from Last Gasp, links to sale page include page length:

Solo comic

 A.W. Reet 2 pages

Sam Francisco 3 pages

B. Bearns 4 pages

Children of the Future illustration

Routine 6 pages

The Harbinger 4 pages

Salsa back cover

Inside front cover illustration

Comixjoint says 2 pages

Cover illustration

Kid Kill! 8 pages

EXTRA CREDIT:

Comixjoint and GCD credit this atypical cover to Jim Osborne!

New Alternative and Small Press Comix Arivals (March Week 2)

 Due to illness we are doing a quick post focusing on new and restocks at Domino Books (+1) this week, there wasn't even room for all the new stuff Austin English has gathered!

1. KOMIKAZE #22 Croatian anthology

2. THE CZOLGOSZ SYZYGY comics/politics zine edited by Ethan Heitner (interview)

3. THE POWER OF OUR VOICES edited by Ethan Heitner

4. PALESTINE by Joe Sacco

5. "Untitled" by Owwi Li

6. GRIXLY #59 (also 60-64) by Nate McDonough

7. THE DEVIL'S GRIN #5 by Alex Graham (all issues available)

8. FROGGIE WORLD VOLUME 1 by Allee Errico (published by Cram Books)

9. FULL COUNT SAMMY and SAMMY #3 both by Ashton Carless (JAYWALK, COWLICK, CRAM, SPACESHIP)

10. HEAVEN'S DOOR by Keiichi Koike (Highly recommended! I own this one and it's visually very different from typical Manga)

NEWSFLASH: Last Gasp is publishing a follow-up to this book in 2024. According to their 3/4/24 email newsletter, "Last Gasp has licensed ULTRA HEAVEN, Keiichi Koike's three-volume [!] psychedelic sci-fi manga." I don't know about you all, but I'll be anxiously awaiting this one...

BLUESKY BONUS: WIGGLE BIRD MAILING CLUB March zine is THE WOOF by Maty G. (bluesky) Only $6 a month on their Patreon gets you an exclusive comic/zine, "We publish a new zine every month from trans and queer authors and mail them to YOU!"

Comix Reading List #35: I Must Be Dreaming

35. I MUST BE DREAMING by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury) Library

NEW YORKER cartoonist Roz Chast makes an entertaining dream journal, very well organized into themes and lots of history thrown in. This is why libraries are so great, I never would have picked this up otherwise. 

Plus, I'm a sucker for a fight cloud...

Comix Reading List #34: So Buttons 13

34. SO BUTTONS #13 (Jonathan Baylis)

This is sort of a tribute to Harvey Pekar and AMERICAN SPLENDOR. Most of the first twelve pages go over the influence of AMERICAN SPLENDOR on SO BUTTONS, meeting Harvey Pekar, and several of the artists from the original series illustrate Jonathan's stories: Joe Zabel, Gary Dumm, Brian Bram, and Michael T. Gilbert. This got me to check out SO BUTTONS finally and I really enjoyed the whole issue, Jonathan Baylis has a style all his own.

                 Joe Zabel/Gary Dumm

The Rick Parker illustrated tribute to Ennio Morricone was particularly effective, Baylis has a real knack for matching artist with story.