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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2018 1:05:44 GMT -5
Next we look at another French master, who hasn't been as highly lauded in the US; but, has been surprisingly well published here: Francois Boucq. Boucq was born in 1955, in Lille, and began his career in comics, as a political caricaturist, in La Pointe, L'Exapansion, Play-Boy, and Le Matin de Paris. He published his first bande desinee in 75 and started publishing in Pilote in 78. Mostly he worked in short stories, which brings us to our first book. Pioneers of the Human Adventure is a collection of some of those short pieces. The stories are diverse in setting, yet unified in representing a dreamlike worlld, where fantasy runs rampant and takes on a more literal quality. That Boucq was a caricaturist is evident, as his characters lean towards the exaggerated and slightly grotesque, like a Punch puppet. The main story features an insurance salesman, in a leopard-skin suit, as he goes off to work, literally in the "jungle' of the insurance world, as he crosses rope bridges, ducks spears, climbs around vegetation and more. The character, Jerome Moucherot, would go on to star in several albums, for Boucq. Also featured are a pair of brothers who take playing"war" to an absurd stage, to the consternation of their mother; and, a pair of lovers, who reveal their true selves, literally, as they remove cosmetic accents and step out of their skins. Boucq's stories are charming and comical. They may not have you laughing out loud; but, they will leave you grinning. The Magician's Wife, with novelist Jerome Charyn, is a darker tale of obsession and skewed love, as the magician, Edmund, falls in love with young girl Rita. He courts Rita's mother, to keep Rita nearby and uses her as his assistant. Slowly, he pushes young Rita in the act, supplanting her mother more and more, as she grows older. She reacts to Edmund's manipulations with rage, which unleashes a werewolf, within her and she flees Edmund, only to later return and find him enslaved. The dark tale is matched with evocative art..... Lastly, Catalan published Billy Budd, KGB, about the training and dispatching of a Soviet agent, to America. The main character, Billy, is a Ukranian orphan, with a hairlip, who is abused by others. All of the boys in the program are hidden behind featureless masks and body suits, looking rather like a fetish "gimp suit". Billy's grotesque mouth makes him easily identifiable. He is eventually assigned to the cover role of a high steel construction worker, where he saves the life of a Native American co-worker. The grateful man introduces him to the spiritual beliefs of his people and Billy comes to see a path beyond that of his KGB masters and the more decadent Western lifestyle. Again, Bocq's grotesque style adds flavor to the story, which also features a script by Charyn. Pioneers of the Human Adventure is long out of print; but, Dover republished The Magician's Wife and Billy Budd, KGB. Boucq also collaborated with Alejandro Jodorowsky, with the western, Bouncer, at Humanoids, and has contributed a story to XIII Mystery, a continuation of William Vance and Jan Van Hamme's XIII political/espionage thriller. Moving down the continent of Europe we come to Spanish artist Daniel Torres. Born in 1958, in Valencia, he started his career in 1980. With the death of Franco, in 1975, standards were loosened in Spanish publishing and a revolution took hold in Spanish comics, including the launching of the influential magazine El Vibora, which published Torres' work. In 1982 he launched his seminal feature, Rocco Vargas. The Adventures of Rocco Vargas feature our hero: nightclub owner, novelist and space hero. In the first story, he is approached by a mysterious woman, who is being chased by agents of the rulers of Triton. On Earth, our hero is known as Armando Mistral; but, he is also known across the galaxy as Rocco Vargas, space explorer and adventurer. The series is filled with Torres' ligne claire-influenced style, with art deco architecture (especially the Miami style) and spaceships. It's part Flash Gordon, part James Bond, part Sam Spade, with liberal dashes of action, intrigue, comedy and romance. In short, there is something for everyone. Following Torres and Roco Vargas (or Rocco Vargas, as spelled here, in the Catalan editions), is one of his influences, Edgar P Jacobs and Blake and Mortimer. The series is a classic and one of the seminal European adventure series, mixing archeological expeditions, mysteries, science fiction, and espionage into a melange of wonderful atmosphere, drama, and action. The series began in the debut of Tintin magazine, in 1946 and continued until Jacobs' death, in 1987. In the 1990s, Dargaud revived the series, with the blessing of Jacobs' estate, with Jean Van Hamme scripting and Ted Benoit drawing, which drew controversy from purists. However, the series proved popular to readers. The series stars Prof. Phillip Angus Mortimer, a Scottish physicist and Capt. Francis Percy Blake, soldier and MI5 agent (later head of the service). Together they face various adversaries, including longtime foe Col. Olrik. The Time Trap deals with a gift, bequeathed by Mortimer's old adversary, Dr Miloch, who created a time machine. Mortimer follows the instructions and finishes construction and activates it, only to be knocked unconcious as he is hurled back in time, in a revenge plot. He travels forward again, making a few stops along the way. Blake comes in later, to help defeat a final booby trap. In The Atlantis Mystery, Blake and Mortimer are trapped in a cavern by Col. Olrik. They find a hidden civilization, of advanced humans, who claims to be descdended from Atlantis. This is court intrigue and a plot to conquer the surface world. These are excellent adventures, filled with great characters, the ligne claire style, and smart scripts. Catalan had two books in the pipeline, when they ceased publishing. Since then, UK publisher Cinebook has reprinted all of the originals and most of the later volumes. Next, we will look and the more explicit works of Guido Crepax, Milo Manara, Liberatore, Magnusand Igort.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2018 13:12:15 GMT -5
Now we come to some of the creators who put the "adult" in adult comics. First off, the most notorious: Guido Crepax. Crepax was born in Milan, in 1933 and studied architecture (a common field of study, for European cartoonists). He was first published in 1959 and then joined the new Italian magazine, Linus, with his sci-fi series, Neutron. In the series, he had a girlfriend and journalist, modeled on actress Louise Brooks, called Valentina. She soon overshadowed the hero and took over. It is common, in adventure comics, for the damsel-in-distress trope to pop up, to create dramatic tension. It was true of Valentina and it grew to dominate. In fact, it overtook much of Crepax's work, as he would go on to adapt many sad-masochistic literary works. Catalan published two of these: Justine, by the Marquis de Sade, and Venus in Furs, by Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch. These two authors would lend their names to the term "sado-masochism. Justine features the life of a young woman, recounted to Madame Lorsagne, at the time of the French Revolution. Justine recounts her travels and deprivations, as she is repeatedly abused, raped, and made a slave by others. Venus in Furs features a man who dreams of speaking to Venus (who wears nothing but furs, in the dream) about love and his problems there. She tells of his dreams to Severin, who provides him with a manuscript, that describes his fascination with a woman, named Wanda. he encourages her to treat him badly and gans pleasure from it, submitting to be her slave. She eventually grows more cruel and takes another lover, humiliating Severin until the spell is broken. Pollyana this stuff ain't! Crepax would adapt these and similar works in the style he developed across Valentina. The heroines are often thin bodied (but with curves), often have Louise Brooks' likeness, and are quite often nude. The sexual situations are illustrated; but, not in a mechanical manner. Crepax's pages would be laid out in all kinds of fascinating manners, with a dreamlike quality to much of the story. Key scenes will dominate the page, while other elements will dance around those images. Crepax has an eye for costuming and setting, as he would depict boudoirs, salons, and other settings, as well as buildings and other architectural elements. Clothing often trends to the fetishistic, once the sexual element comes into play. prior to that it would be period correct, with a strong eye to fashion standards. The problem is, that for all of Crepax's beauty, his stories, by nature, are unsettling and, to some, outright offensive. They are too artistic for mere porn; but, the subject matter in these erotic classics is rarely positive; so, sex is often something endured, not enjoyed or not by both, until there is some kind of "awakening" in the reluctant participant. It is nearly impossible to post images from Crepax's erotic work, for obvious reasons, particularly these kinds of works. However, he didn't only work in this area. Catalan published two other works from him: one a literary adaptation, the other his own story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Robert Louis Stevenson's famous work of a man who develops a potion that releases the beast within him. Hyde is everything the timid Jekyll is not; his id released. However, in the course of the novel, Hyde consorts with prostitutes and you do see nudity and brutality. The Man From Harlem is an original tale from Crepax, which allows him to move beyond his past work. Here, Crepax celebrates Jazz and the Jazz Age, often referencing jazz works within the story and having layouts mirror the rhythms of the piece. The story concerns Little Johnny Lincoln, who rescues a white prostitute from a mobster. He brings her home to stay with him, which upsets his mother, both for the potential danger from the mobster and the greater danger of bringing a white woman into a black household, in Harlem. The couple eventually grow romantic and Johnny is more obsessed with protecting her. In the end, a final confrontation with the mob occurs. There is great sensitivity here and beautiful, delicate linework. The page layouts are the real stars, as musicians playing juxtaposes the actions and interactions of the characters, in other setting. This work proved that Crepax was more than an illustrator of erotica, as the work is more about the characters and the time, and the music. Next up is Liberatore. Tanino (born Gaetano) Liberatore is an Italian artist who studied architecture and then worked for RCA, designing album covers. After meeting future collaborator Stefano Tamburini, he would publish his first comics work. The pairing of the two would lead to their most famous creation, RanXerox, in 1978. The character was originally called Rank Xerox in his debut, which led to legal trouble. Rank is a company that handled Xerox manufacturing and distribution in Europe, for the Xerox Corp. A quick name change and Rank became Ran. However, further issues in the US led to Heavy Metal using the name Ranx. RanXerox is a robot, created from Xerox parts, which weren't exactly up to snuff. He is prone to violence and extreme reaction. He is enthralled by a young girl, Lubna, who is underaged; but wild beyond her years. This relationship often brings Ranxerox into episodes of extreme violence. The series premiered during the apex of punk rock and is infused with the spirit of the punk movement, particularly the nihilist attitudes. Life holds little reward for Ranx and Lubna and they get by on their wits and Ranx violent strength. Liberatore has an sort of funhouse mirror, photographic quality to his work. he gets subtle details, while also exaggerating others. There is a gloss to his work, which belies the punk ethos. The character quickly became hugely popular, when it premiered in Heavy Metal, and came back for future visits (and Heavy metal collected the stories, as Ranx). Liberatore would also illustrate the cover to Frank Zappa's The Man From Utopia. Thanks to Heavy Metal, images of RanXerox became iconic... RanXerox is filled with sex and violence; but, it is exaggerated to the point of absurdity. It is a punk story, taken to almost Looney Tunes levels. Probably the most unsettling element to the series is Lubna, the too old for her own good mind, in an underaged body, mixing Lolita and Frankenstein, with a soundtrack from the Sex Pistols. Video Clips was the other publication of the work of Tamburini and Liberatore, from Catalan, featuring some of their shorter stories. Igort is less known than Crepax and Liberatore and, to my knowledge has only had two works published in English, in the US. The later one was 5 Is The Perfect Number, from Drawn & Quarterly. It features a noirish tale, set in Napoli. However, he first reached these shores with Dulled Feelings. Yeah, that is Batman on the cover; and, it isn't. That was the image that caught my attention; but, the interiors told a different story. The book collects short pieces from Igort, most with rather slight plot. What they are, however is a collection of amazing graphic images. Igort is, first and foremost, a stylist. At least, he was at this stage of his career. The main story features a Batman-like (well, it takes the suit farther then even Joel Schumacher was comfortable, which is why I can't post an image), who adopts a Russian boy to train him to become a Soviet vigilante of the night. The second story is an espionage tale, set in Japan. Both stories feature arresting graphics which overwhelm the narrative; but, show his twin fascinations with Russian art & literature and that of the Japanese. Igort eventually travelled to Japan and worked with Kodansha, the giant manga publisher. He shares many sensibilities with the Japanese and manga, in that art tells more of the story than text. The Japanese portion of the book is a mixture of deco stylings (it was the 80s) and Japanese prints. The fashions are western, the decoration Eastern. The vigilante tale is a parody of the Batman cliches, while upping the fetish element (especially in the rubber movie costume). Igort is Igor Tuveri, who was born in Sardinia, of Russian ancestry. His obsession of Russian art was built by his composer father, who was inspired by Russian music, while his mother told him of the great works of Russian literature. At 20, he moved to Bologna and started the magazine Valvoline, which burnt brightly, for a short time. Since then, he has been published by Kodansha and started his own publishing house, Coconino Press. Another lesser known creator, though one that is more hard hitting and explicit than Igort is Magnus. Magnus is Roberto Raviola (which sounds like a brand name, even more than Magnus!). He was born and raised in Bologna and attended the Academy of Fine Arts. He began his comic career in the 60s and quickly became one of the most celebrated and popular artists, through the crime series Kriminal and Satanik, rivals of the great Diabolik. With collaborator Max Bunker, they helped usher in the fumetti negri, or dark comics. These were tales of criminals and anti-heroes, battling the forces of authority, matching the rebellious spirit of the times. However, these books also drew criticism from conservative elements of society, especially the Church. Magnus (the name comes form the Latin Magnus Pictor Fecit, "A Great Painter Did It.") also created the seminal comedic adventure series Alan Ford (not to be confused with the British actor, of The Long Good Friday, and Snatched). However, these were not the works that Catalan chose to publish. Instead, they went with Necron. Necron features the mad nymphomaniac scientist Frieda Boher, who creates her own Frankenstein Monster, out of various corpses (including ample genitalia). Together, they share a series of adventures that lasted for 11 installments, though it was originally intended for just one (the publisher knew a good thing when he saw it). It's a comedic sex romp, parodying the conventions of science fiction and horror. It was created with Mirka Martini, aka Ilaria Volpe, who infused Frieda with strong, independent female characteristics and over-the-top characterizations. She's the dominant one; Necron is just along for the ride. Magnus altered his style for the work, adopting the ligne claire style of Franco-Belgian comics (Italian artists tended to be more illustrative, in style). As you can imagine, it's hard to post images from the series, especially since frieda favors clothing from the Wendy O Williams line of couture and Necron has a big "meat and two veg" hanging down. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking here; just silly fun, with ample doses of sex and humor. Catalan also published one of Magnus' more traditional features, The Specialist. I've never read this one, so I don't know anything about the plot. However, it is one of Magnus' more traditional adventure pieces and he excelled at that type of material, just as he did the more erotic work. I promised Manara; but, I will have to come back to him, in a bit. he will be next, rest assured.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 5, 2018 13:36:38 GMT -5
Writer Max Bunker (Luciano Secchi) deserves a co-creator credit with Magnus for Satanik, Kriminal, Maxmagnus and, especially, Alan Ford, which is probably their most successful and popular series (it was immensely popular in the former Yugoslavia, and still is in all of the successor states).
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2018 17:02:42 GMT -5
Writer Max Bunker (Luciano Secchi) deserves a co-creator credit with Magnus for Satanik, Kriminal, Maxmagnus and, especially, Alan Ford, which is probably their most successful and popular series (it was immensely popular in the former Yugoslavia, and still is in all of the successor states). Yeah, I had heard about Alan Ford, for a while; but, had never seen it. I did find a bunch of pdfs online; all from Serbo-Croatian comics. I can't read the text; but, I can follow the art pretty well. Kriminal was also adapted into two films and Satanik one, in the 60s. I've also seen bits and pieces of Magnus other erotic work, from the 80s. Maurice Horn, who edited The World Encyclopedia of comics, also put out Sex in the Comics, covering erotic works from around the globe. Magnus, Manara, Crepax, Forest, Peellaert, and stuff like Frank Springer (Phoebe Zeitgeist) and Russ Heath (Cowgirls at War).
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2018 22:32:16 GMT -5
Okay, I promised Manara and Manar it will be. Born in 1945, in Luson, he was obsessed with art and sculpture at an early age, even running away to see an exhibition. In the late 60s, he discovered comix, such as Guy Peelaert's Adv. of Jodelle and it became his life's work, starting in 1969. Catalan seemed to have a thing for Manara (or had a lot of acces to his work, for reasonable rates). We'll start with an early one, that was lighter on the eroticism, The Ape. The Ape was created in collaboration with Silverio Pisu, whose sister provides an introduction to the album. She had a fascination with China and its literature, which helped her brother conceive The Ape, with Manara illustrating. The story was inspired by the tales of the Monkey King and we see the ape born of an egg, offered up by the Earth and fertilized by the sky. The Ape is born and begins his journey. Along the way he will gain followers and lead 1000 of them to a paradise, where he will be restless. This one has a lot less sex than later works and the adventure is at the forefront. manara's line is sketchier, mixing traditional illustration with elements of Asian styles. The story is rather dense and somewhat hectic, as the Ape moves from situation to situation. Along the way there is a bit of political and social satire, befitting Manara's past as a polical artist for a Maoist group., in his younger days. Next, we have an example of Manara's dabbling with the western, with The Paper Man. Here, manara treads the realm of Charlier and Giraud's Blueberry, but with a more cynical touch. Our young edventurer rides across the western landscape and encounters a British expatriate (son of a soldier of Wellington, who believes he is in the American Revolution) and a native Oglala Sioux, called White Rabbit. There is also a man who gains tremendous power, when it rains, which drives him berzerk. The end result is a comical mess of enticing characters, with a rather tragic ending (it is the West, after all. The girl is bemused by the naive young man and he is shocked by her open ways, in the area of sex. He seeks to protect her; but, he is the babe in the woods. The Snowman is a period tale of a journalist, who journey to the Himalayas, in search of a story. After an avalanche, he wakes up in a lamasery and witnesses their rituals, and also strange happenings in the area, revolving around the legendary Yeti. There is a creature; but, the truth is not what is expected. here, manara engages in more traditional adventure, in the mystic land of Tibet, a long favorite of comic creators, after the success of James Hilton's The Lost Horizon, which gave birth to the fabled Shangri-La. This brings us around to Manara's satirical works, revolving around the fictional stand-in, Giuseppe Bergman. Bergman is Manara, even down to the likeness, and he is a character who is in search of the Grand Adventure, where doing is greater than talking of. The series makes fun of leftist rhetoric of the late 60s and early 70s (particularly the Far Left of Europe), as well as the conventions of adventure fiction (especially comics). In the first album, The Great Adventure: HP and Giuseppe bergman, the narrator is tapped to have his great adventure; but, he has no experience in this line and is hooked up with an adventure master, HP (an homage to Corto Maltese and Sgt Kirk creator Hugo Pratt).. GB begins a journey that will take him to Latin America, down the Orinoco. Along the way, the character will break the 4th wall (sort of; not directly, but through conversations)and comment on the structure of adventure stories, as the conventions play out around him. Book 2, An Author in Search of 6 Characters, find GB's latest adventure interrupted at the start by the unavailability of the actress in the lead female role (called Miss Jane and wearing a sci-fi costume reminiscent of Barbarella). A costumer substitutes, much to her chagrin, as it requires her to show cleavage and leg, while she claims to be an ordinary woman of ordinary attractiveness. However, she comes alive in the role. There is also Miss St Ambroglio, who acts as a facilitator in moving along the plot and a sort of antagonist for the heroine. A loose plot revolves around and ancient Incan solar technology secret and a dying man who hands the heroine a briefcase. She ends up on the, partially clothed, and trapped in a restroom. She is saved and ends up headed for Ethiopia and everything reaches a massive finale, complete with a stage set and a dance number! Dies Irae continues GP's adventures in Africa and Perchance to Dream moves them to India. Catalan folded before To See the Stars could be adapted. The stories are satirical, yet still take you and the characters on a big adventure, with commentary along the way. For instance, Miss St Ambroglio chastises the costumer for delaying things, as she is eating up the page count for the adventure. Later, she is told that there are only 36 strips to go. Sex and nudity are part and parcel, moreso that The Ape, The Snowman or The Paper Man; yet, it is not the main feature. It is a trope that is explored, like many others. This brings us to the pure erotica, for which Manara is most famous. Click is one of Manara's most infamous. A doctor steals an invention that unleashes the pleasure centers of the brain and turns on the libido. He uses it to get back at the cold wife of a patient. With a flick of a switch, she is transformed, against her will, into a raving nymphomaniac. She goes shopping with a female friend and the device is activated, driving her to masturbate in a changing room. She is driven mad at a party and while on vacation, is driven to attack the pubescent child of a friend. Again, all of this is against her will! By the end, she is engaging in sex in front of her husband. The twist is that the device never worked and it was all within the wife's head. The problem with the ending is that it does not absolve what is basically rape, in mental and physical form, not to mention the molestation of a child. This one that I cannot recommend as erotica. I'm no prude; but, I found little comical in this and far more to be disturbing and salacious. By contrast, Hidden Camera is a bit lighter, though it has some dark moments. It's a series of short pieces,revolving around a Candid Camera style crew of filmmakers. In one story, they are selling a show to a backer, with the gimmick of offering a thousand dollars to any woman to display her genitals. They try to con the female member of the crew into acting as a plant, to do it and entice others to also do it. She tells them off and leaves and they try it without her. the end result is abject failure, until the crewmember shows up to help out, dropping her drawers in the middle of a busy intersection, which is caught full on camera, thus, selling the show, when it looked like it would be a bust. In another, which ends on a darker note, she goes undercover in a Miss Italy pageant, capturing the behind the scenes with the hidden camera. One of the contestants is a small breasted woman, who is there solely to dance, alone, on stage, at the finale. She talks of attempting suicide, in her youth, due to her bust; but, she has grown to accept it. However, a comic is brought out for the finale and her number is cut. She tries to go on; but,is dragged off stage. Everyone else goes to a party and the crew member wonders where she is at and recalls her statements about suicide. She finds her having slashed her wrists with glass, dancing, until blood loss causes her to faint. The crew woman calls for help as she kicks away the camera. Another features the ordeal of a modern witch, with an inquisitor, and a ritual involving two men in animal masks fighting over whose sperm will be used in a ritual to bring rain (with genitals flying). A stunt at the Coliseum, with a faked Martian landing, goes haywire and the girl (in green make-up, is trapped, after an accident is caused, killing a man. She must flee a hostile crowd and ends up hanging from the helicopter that transported the "UFO". Shorts is another collection of shorter tales, though I have not seen that one. Lastly, there are Manara's collaborations with two rather famous figures The first is Hugo prat, who wrote Indian Summer. The second if Trip to Tulum, with Frederico Fellini. I haven't seen either of these; but, given the pedigree, they are worth seeking. Manara would be printed again at NBM, with even more of his works available, which would then be collected by Dark Horse in the Manara Library. His work isn't for everyone; but, it is beautiful and stylish and definitely deserves the label "art" (well, a great majority of his work). In recent years he has collaborated with Alejandro Jodorowsky, on the Borgia series, featuring the powerful Italian family, which included a pope and a murderess. He also produced a chapter for Neil gaiman's Sandman: Endless Nights and X-Women; plus, a rather infamous variant cover for Spider Woman, which proved that his style may not find the same reception it once did. Next, we looks at some of the diverse creators who were showcased by Catalan on the smaller scale., including Paul Gillon's The Survivor, the works of Loustal, Mattotti, Mattioli's Squeak the Mouse and Superwest Comics, and more.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 6, 2018 7:51:40 GMT -5
(...) I'm no prude; but, I found little comical in this and far more to be disturbing and salacious. (...) That's a problem I have with a lot of the erotica produced by some of these well-respected, (mainly) European comics artists. They'll often feature scenes of what is basically rape, child molestation or torture (i.e., not consensual BDSM), among other things, and apparently play it off for laughs.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 6, 2018 11:37:55 GMT -5
(...) I'm no prude; but, I found little comical in this and far more to be disturbing and salacious. (...) That's a problem I have with a lot of the erotica produced by some of these well-respected, (mainly) European comics artists. They'll often feature scenes of what is basically rape, child molestation or torture (i.e., not consensual BDSM), among other things, and apparently play it off for laughs. Part of why I stopped reading Heavy Metal was that Eastman seemed more interested in publishing Serpieri and the like than anything else. I can do without Druuna, no matter how great it looks. NBM fell down that rabbit hole, over time, as I will cover in my next series, when they started their Amerotica and Eurotica lines. They pretty much took over things to where NBM went from a place to find great comic strip reprints and some of the best European works to pretty much porn and the odd Rick Geary book. I think the last things I got from them were Giardino's No Pasaran & A jew in Communist Prague and Schuiten's Invisible Frontier. Lord knows, they went nuts for Manara, too. Crepax is one whose line work and layouts I love; but, not most of his subject matter. The Man From Harlem is brilliant and Valentina (what I have read of it, in Heavy Metal) was good; but, I have little desire to read De Sade, Sacher-Masoch, or Reage in prose or graphic form. I much prefer the lighter stuff of the 60s, like Forest's Barbarella or Peelaert's Adv. of Jodelle.. There's plenty of sex and nudity; but, the women are more liberated, the stories more playful and the whole reading experience is joyful. Magnus fell a bit more in that line; at least, in Necron. Franco Saudelli's The Blonde (published here by Fantagraphics' Eros line) s pretty much just an excuse for bondage and foot fetish; but, it is silly and lighthearted, like Almodovar's 80s films.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 9, 2018 23:52:50 GMT -5
So, we will kind of wrap things up with Catalan, with a look at some of the rest of their offerings. We are mostly down to several books that I have never seen, apart from the odd panel or two; but, there are a few with which I am more familiar. We'll start with those. We'll just stick with that censored cover. The Survivor is from Paul Gillon. Guillon was one of the old guard of French comics, having fallen into the field by accident, when he originally contemplated working in fashion or theater. With Jean-Claude forest (Barbarella), he created the Lost in Time series and he created this two volume series, at L'Echo des Savanes. Make no mistake, this is adult stuff, with plenty of graphic nudity and sex; but, there is also an intriguing sci-fi, post-apocalypse tale here. A woman, who was scuba diving with friends, survives an apocalyptic event, while trapped inside an underground cavern, which she entered from the sea, before being temporarily trapped in there. When she gets back to the shore, she finds the ashen bones of her friends. She strips off her wetsuit, grabs a nearby land rover and heads for the nearest town. Now, she is driving around topless, rather than wearing her wetsuit, for modesty. She may be French; but, that is a bit hard to swallow. Anyway, she finds the place deserted; so, she helps herself to clothes, at a department store and sets up shop in a hotel. The servant robot are still operating and one attends her needs. This goes beyond fetching her champagne. She uses a radio station transmitter to broadcast an appeal; but, doesn't hear from anyone. She comes to believe she is the only survivor. She has needs and placates her self with a bit of erotic cinema and some self-lovin'; but, eventually one of the hotel robots takes over the task, thanks to some handy equipment. This goes well for her, until a man appears, who heard her broadcast. They soon grow beyond surprise and elation and move on to repopulating the species. The robot doesn't like this. He eventually murders the male and continues to care for the female. In volume 2, she discovers she is pregnant and has the child. The robot helps her care for it and the child grows into a young boy. He resents the robot stepfather and takes steps, eventually, to secure his and his mother's freedom. Gillon's art is fantastic, very expressive and dynamic, though he gets more graphic than necessary and you can tell he makes choices calculated to draw in readers, even though it doesn't fit the story needs. There were a further 2 volumes in the series, published after Catalan ceased operations (or rather, the ceased operations before they could secure reprint rights). In a similar, though less sci-fi vein is Erma Jaguar, from Alex Varenne. Erma Jaguar is pure erotica, with rather stilted dialogue. Varenne's art (the books are black & white) is very moody and deceptively simple. He's very good with facial expressions and body language, though his figure wok is stylized. The stories mostly consist of Erma, who seems to be a wealthy woman, going on the prowl for fun. She's not averse to performing sex acts, as the build up to a joke. She also tends to rescue young ladies in trouble. There is nothing particularly deep in the work, though, as I say, Varenne has a nice, moody style. If he had more story, he might actually elevate this to something more than porn; but, that's what it ends up being; stylish, to be sure, but mainly excuses for sex scenes and little jokes played on Erma's victims (who usually deserve the humiliation they receive). Belgian artist hermann is represented in three albums, including a volume from his ongoing Towers of Bois Maury series, a medieval tale, which focuses more on the characters, than on action. Jeremiah 13 is the inspiration for the tv series, Jeremiah and features a post-apocalyptic world. Hermann is one of the masters of the field, having co-created the highly regarded Comanche series (a rival to Blueberry, which is often rated higher, in esteem than that noted work of Charlier and Giruad). In other words, you can't go wrong with Hermann. Burton & Cyb is from the team of Antonio Seguro and Jose Ortiz, featuring the humorous adventures of the pair, in a sci-fi setting. There have been at least 4 volumes of their stories. Ortiz is one of the more prolific Spanish artists, having worked for Warren, as well as 2000 Ad, in the UK (Rogue Trooper). Companions at Dusk: The Spell of the Misty Forest is a medieval fantasy adventure, from Francois Bourgeon. I had this album and Bourgeon's art was quite good, though I don't really recall the story very well. Sadly, Bourgeon's more noted work, Passengers of the Wind, has not been colelcted in the US. I have seen artwork from it and it is listed in the 1000 Comics You Should Read.... volume. Bourgeon is a safe bet for good work. Evaristo: Deep City is from Carlos Sampayo (Alack Sinner, Joe's Bar) and Francisco Solano Lopez. Solano Lopez, with Hector Oesterheld, created the seminal work The Eternaut, in Argentina. He also worked with Hugo Pratt on Ernie Pike. Evaristo was a police series, from this highly regarded pair. Fires is the seminal work from Italian artist Lorenzo Mattotti. It centers around the crewman of a ship that has to decide of a mysterious island is ready for civilization. Mattotti is inspired by painters and the book looks like a gallery of paintings, with a very dreamlike quality. Good-Bye and Other Stories is from Yoshihiro Tatsumi, one of the pioneers of the Geka style of alternative manga art. This is early work and some of his earliest in English. Drawn & Quarterly later published 3 volumes of his work. HR Giger's Necronomicon 2 had a volume from Catalan, though i haven't been able to find an image of the specific volume; just the other versions. Loustal is one of the top Franco-Belgian stylists, with work featured in Metal Hurlant, A Suivre, Pilote and the newspaper Liberation (among others). He has often been compared to painter David Hockney and is a noted stylist. I haven't read these; but, his art is intriguing to look at and worth taking a chance on. I'll continue this later, including Serpieri, Moebius, and Rod Kierkegard.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 11, 2018 1:39:22 GMT -5
Heartthrobs is from max Cabanes, a French artist, whose work appeared in Pilote, L'Echo des Savanes, and several other top French magazines. It's a semi-autobiographical tale of a young man's adolescence in provincial France. The young protagonists mother has passed away and the grief and loneliness drive him to violence against animals (hens, in the village of his aunt and uncle, with whom he lives). When a girl moves in next door, his nascent sexuality is awakened and she becomes an obsession. Cabanes work is soft, yet realistic, though he uses caricature to accentuate some scenes. He also doesn't shy away from depicting the reality of the times (50s and early 60s), showing that life wasn't all rosy, then. Catalan published two volumes of the Ice Age series, by Gine aka Christian martinez. He was born in Algeria but of French stock (pied noirs, as the colonists were called) and returned to France in 1962. Catalan published Blind Mists and Death bird; but, I can find no images of the cover, nor any information about the series. He was better known in france for the series Capitaine Sabre, Finkel, and Les Boucliers de Mars. Killer Condum was an adult alternative book, from Ralf Konig, one of Germany's top cartoonists. Konig came out as a gay man early in his career and he was a pioneer of gay comix. His style is cartoony and his work infused with humor, though he deals in real life and serious subjects. He dealt with the AIDS epidemic in some of his works, though I don't know if that appears in this work. The work was later adapted into a film, directed by Martin Walz, in 1996, which was distributed in the US, by Troma, as The Condom of Horror. The plot revolves around the Hotel Quickie, where a series of attacks finds men with their genitalia bitten off. So, probably not for everyone. Mark-of-the-Dog is by Silvio Cadelo, an Italian artist, who worked in industrial design and advertising. he was inspired by the works of Moebius and entered comics, working for Linus, Alter, Frigidaire, and French comics A Suivre and L'Echo des Savanes.. He would later collaborate with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius. This work features a man who steals a heart, for his son, so that he will have free will. The boy dreams of boxing and love, while his sister steals other hearts, without registrations, to be sold on the black market. They also published The Romantic Flower, from Cadelo. Catalan published one or two volumes of Morbus Gravis, aka Druuna, from Serpieri. ostensibly, it is post-apocalyptic sci-fi; but, mostly it is porn. Not erotica, porn. These early stories are set in The City, where after a war, the people are living under the authority of religious institutions, while large parts of the populace are mutating into tentacled creatures. Druuna is usually nude and various violations happen and it's not my cup of tea, having seen some of it in Heavy Metal and not caring to see more. When Kevin Eastman took over the magazine, it was lousy with this kind of stuff, with Serpieri being a favorite. It wasn't the only thing published, but it drowned out other, less pronographic work. Heavy Metal would publish other volumes of the series. Peter Pank is a punk retelling of JM Barrie's Peter Pan, from Spanish artist Max (Francesc Capdevila Gisbert). Peter and the Lost Boys are punks, the Natives are hippies, the mermaids dominatrices, and the pirates are rockers. Peter faces hanging for rape and Wendy becomes a prostitute. Disney it ain't. It's an adult punk satire, purely in a comix style. It's a bit like watching the Disney version, while blasting the Ramones or Dead Kennedys. Realms features short pieces from American cartoonist Paul Kirchner, from Heavy Metal and Epic Illustrated. (can't find the Catalan cover). Remembering Jonathan was by Swiss artists Cosey (Bernard Cosendai) and was part of a larger series, with the character. Most of Cosey's work revolved around travel, with adult relationships and sensibilities; but not in en erotic context. Jonathan is a traveler, searching for his self, while reading things like Jung and the Vedas. It is less action & adventure and more philosophical travelogue. Shooting Stars is from Rod Kierekegaard Jr, featuring his caricatures of celebrities, in a detective story about Detective Rockfort, a private eye for various rock stars, with slight alterations to the name (he helps Madollar find her virginity, for instance). Prince is depicted as a Frankenstein Monster... Kierkegaard was already well known to Heavy Metal fans for Rock opera, which began in Washington DC's Unicorn Times. Squeak the Mouse is from Massimo Mattioli and is pretty much where the Simpsons ripped off Itchy and Scratchy. The series features extremely exaggerated, violent battles between cartoon cats and mice. It was so over-the-top that it went from grotesque to hilarious; but, a US Customs officer didn't see it that way and seized the book, declaring it obscene. Publisher Bernd Metz has said that if that had happened earlier, with something like Anarcoma, he would have given in and taken the book off the market. However, he cried "Bullhockey!" and challenged it in court, where it was ruled that the book was not obscene and that the customs officer had overstepped her boundaries. The ensuing publicity bumped up orders on the book, illustrating that censorship rarely works, for long and does more to promote than hinder. Now, be assured that this is not for kids, as it is pretty much an Underground and makes Itchy & Scratchy look like Garfield. Superwest was more comix fun from Mattioli. Stella Norris is from Roberto Baldazzini, who specializes in erotic work. This was an early work and he continued to publish the character until 1992. His work has often apepared in addult magazines and publications, like Penthouse Comix, Glamour, Blue, Diva and others. Tex Arcana was a long running series from John Findley, an American artist, and the work was heavily featured in Heavy Metal, in the early 80s. It's a parody of Western and Horror genres; but mixing in real horror; sort of a weird western. The stories are set in and around the small town of Hangman's corners and the first arc features a vampire who fights the townsfolk and accidentally conjures up two demons, who stay in the series. The Cabbie is from Spanish artist Marti Riera, who is greatly influenced by Chester Gould, creator of Dick Tracy. In fact, the book is like a channeling and subtle satire of Tracy and was part of the burgeoning Underground scene in Spain, post-Franco, in the magazine El Vibora. Talking Head is from Baciliero (Paolo Bacilieri), an Italian artist who has worked with Manara. Don't know much about the book; but, he is a very stylized artist, working in a comix sensibility. Zora and the Hibernauts is from Spanish artist Fernando Fernandez, who has worked for Fleetway, doing war comics, and for Warren, doing horror (in Vampirella). Yoko, Vic & Paul is a collection of stories from Roger Leloup's Yoko Tsuno sci-fi adventure series, which appeared in Spirou. It's all-ages adventure and quite well regarded, with over 28 volumes. This appeared as part of Catalan's ComCat all-ages imprint. Magic Crystal featured work from Mebius and Bati. It's Moebius, what more do you want? Okay, how about some Young Blueberry? These feature the adventures of the young Michael Blueberry, the future lieutenant, from Fort Navajo. These are classic works from Jean-Michel Charlier and Gir, aka Jean Giraud, aka Moebius (he used Gir, on Blueberry and Moebius for his sci-fi work, then began just using Moebius, as more knew that name). If I need to tell you about moebius and Blueberry, you just aren't trying! Well, put it this way, it is a western series, that transcends the cliches of the genre and treads the same kind of territory as Sergio Leone. Blueberry is considered to be one of the finest western series ever created, if that helps (skip the movie with Vincent Cassel, though; it has little to do with the comic series and has more in common with Jodorowsky than Charlier and Moebius). And that is Catalan Communications. By the early 90s, they were unable to sustain their publishing model, as rising costs and an increasingly fragmented Direct Market made for tough going. Their cash flow suffered and they closed shop. Some of their works were picked up by NBM, who will be the subject of my next series, as I continue to look at European and other international comics. However, I will skip the books that Catalan had already published. NBM is still a going concern, though they are not the publisher they once were, especially in the area of European and international comics. Come on back for Tarzan, Terry & the Pirates, Druillet, Segrelles, Giardino and Schuiten.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 19, 2018 18:06:11 GMT -5
Continuing our look at American translations of European comics, we come to a hybrid publisher: NBM. Nantier Beall Minoustchine (try saying that one five times, fast) began life in 1976, as Flying Buttress Publications. Founder Terry Nantier had spent part of his adolescence in Paris and developed an affinity for bande dessinee, or French comics (Franco-Belgian). He attended the Newhouse School of Communications (a part of Syracuse University) in 1976, where he met Chris Beall and marc Minoustchine. The united to form Flying Buttress Publications, with $2100 dollars. Their first works were European translations and a collection of Gene day stories. Racket Rumba is a spoof of noir detective stories, while Call of the Stars is one of Bilal's earlier works. Future Day collects some of Gene Day's work, seen in Star*Reach and elsewhere. They marketed these books as graphic albums, as the European publishers termed such works (stories were often serialized in magazines, like Pilote, Spirou, L'Echo des Savanes and Metal Hurlant, before being collected into albums). Once the term graphic novel took hold, they clung to it. Much of Flying Buttress Publications early success came via collections of classic adventure comic strips, including Terry & the Pirates, Wash Tubs and Hal Foster and Burne Hogarth's Tarzan strips. These were three of the four influential adventure stirps, routinely cited by the creators from the Golden and Silver Age comics. Tarzan needs little introduction, except to say that the popularity of the character is mostly down to Johnny Weissmuller and Hal Foster. The Weissmuller films travelled all over the world and so, too, did the Tarzan newspaper strip under Hal Foster. When Foster grew tired of toiling on the strip; but not enjoying the financial success, he left to create his masterpiece, Prince Valiant. The Tarzan strip passed into the very capable hands of Burne Hogarth. Many was the superhero spawned by artists who poured over Foster and Hogarth's Tarzan strips; just as many was the swipe of that same material, with the parade of Tarzan wannabes. This strip set the tone for the depiction of the human body in heroic acts, in comics. Terry & the Pirates was the masterpiece of Milton Caniff. It featured the adventures of young Terry Lee and his older partner, pat Ryan, as they found adventure in the South China Seas and Asian continent. Here is where adventure storytelling became an artform and the seminal character, The Dragon Lady, became the template for every femme fatale in comics, especially those in love with the hero (Catwoman, P'Gell, Miss Fear, Iron Maiden, etc). The Dragon Lady would switch sides at the drop of a hat, siding with her pirate horde and with the white heroes. The strip was marred by its racial depictions; but, it was fairly standard presentation in comics of the era. Caniff's depictions became more realistic, as time wore on, though the sidekick character, Connie, never escaped it, anymore than his knockoff, Chop-Chop, did, in Blackhawk (a Terry follower if ever there was one). Caniff, like Foster, chafed at not getting a bigger piece of the pie and left the strip to create Steve Canyon. Canyon was never quite the classic that Terry was; but, it's early years were fantastic, before it eventually turned into more of a family soap opera, with occasional adventure. Wash Tubbs is probably less known, these days. It was created by Roy Crane and it was massively popular, in its days, as it featured the comical and exciting adventures of Washington Tubbs II. originally he was a store owner and the strips were more gag-oriented; but, in its 12th week, Wash went off and joined the circus and then never looked back, seeking and losing fortunes, saving damsels, and running into ne'er-do-wells around the globe. he also met up with a square-jawed soldier of fortune, called Captain Easy, who eventually took over the strip. Life Foster and Caniff, Roy Crane was tired of making others rich and left to start his own strip, Buz Sawyer, about an aviation hero. Wash continued under Leslie Turner, who increased the role of Captain easy, until the strip title was changed to his name and Wash was relegated to a supporting role. Wash eventually married the daughter of a millionaire, who was often the source of their adventures. Eventually, the strip turned into more of a domestic comedy, with the hijinks of Wash's twin sons and his father-in-law (mainly in the Sunday strip, the daily was still more adventure-oriented). My local paper carried the Sunday strip, when I was a child, in the early 70s and it and Alley Oop were favorites (after Peanuts, of course). The only largely influential strips missing from NBM's offerings were Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant. Both had been partially reprinted by Nostalgia Press (as was Terry) and prince Valiant would go on to be reprinted by Fantagraphics, while Kitchen Sink got the rights to do Flash Gordon (they also published Steve Canyon, some Alley Oop, and several other strips). In the 1980s, NBM incorporated under that name and continued to bring in more European work. They not only used the Direct Market distribution system; but, also moved into the traditional book market, via partnership with Publishers Group West. By the 1990s, they had added material like Rick Geary's Treasury of Victorian Murder and other historical crime works, as well as erotic European and American material, under their Eurotica and Amerotica imprints. They moved into children's material with the Papercutz imprint, which is still operating, and started their Comics Lit line, for more mature material. P Craig Russell would publish his adaptations of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales through NBM. In our next installment, we will look at some of the early NBM graphic novel offerings, including their Stories of the Fantastic series.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 20, 2018 15:48:47 GMT -5
So, in the mid to late 80s, the growth of the Direct Market led to an explosion of content from other companies. It also led to an explosion of original graphic novels or other book reprints of comic stories, after a few years of experimentation with the packaging (Fireside Books, the Pocket Books paperbacks, Fiction Illustrated, things like A Contract With God and Sabre). It also led to an influx in foreign comics as the first wave of manga reached our shores, via companies like Eclipse and First Comics, and more European material came along, following in the steps of Heavy Metal. NBM was there early on, collecting many features that appeared in Heavy Metal, into graphic albums, in the European tradition. NBM launched a line of graphic albums for sci-fi and fantasy works, which had been previewed within the pages of Heavy Metal. The content varied wildly; but, a comon factor in all was an amazing display of imagination. The line was called Stories of the Fantastic.The first of these books was form French artist Philippe Cazaumayou, aka Caza. Caza had worked in advertising; but, switched over to bande dessinee in 1970, with the series Kris Kool. He produced short stories for Pilote, before eventually moving to Metal Hurlant. In 1975, he produced a series of short pieces, Scenes de la vie de banlieu, or Scenes from Suburbia. These are a series of odd little vignettes, set in a suburban world, though banlieu isn't exactly suburbia. The term is used for housing complexes, which are more like mini-urban communities, than suburban neighborhoods. The stories are more set in this environment than what we would think of suburbia. Caza's work originally centered around a stippling technique, to produce intricate and amazing visuals. He then switched to using color, producing amazing paintings. However, the stories themselves are less developed and more interested in projecting deamworlds and nightmare visions. It is very much a powerful visual collection, with a minimal structure. I have only seen these pieces, from Caza and they are fine little stories; but, it is really more of an art collection than a story one. I have seen other examples of his art and it is fantastic. I'm going to skip the sequence of volumes, since all but one volume of the Stories of the Fantastic series focus on a single artist and writer. Instead, we will move to the 5th volume, which reprinted a classic work. The 6 Voyages of Lone Sloane features the seminal work of French artist Philippe Druillet and Druillet is a name to reckon with. Druillet is one of the giants of bande dessinee and one of the founders of Les Humanoids Associes and the magazine Metal Hurlant. Druillet was a massive science fiction and comics fan and his first major work appeared in 1966, title Mystere des Abimes, the Mystery of the Abyss, which introduced the character of Lone Sloane. Sloane is a human who has escaped a cataclysm, called the Great Fear. His ship is destroyed and he is taken in by He Who Sees and is cursed to travel the spaceways, caught between battles of gods, pirates, and monsters. He travels in a large chair, moving across dimensional space, in stories inspired by a mixture of AE van Vogt, HP Lovecraft, MC Escher and Hindu art. It's kind of hard to summarize the story of Lone Sloane, as it is rather esoteric and the visuals carry things more. Suffice to say, a lot of weird stuff happens and it looks really cool! If you look over things you may see somethings that strike you familiar, even if you have never seen Druillet's work. Jack Kirby's cosmic wok is certainly an inspiration, though Druillet had Sloane in a chair before Metron came along. (though Kirby had guys like Kang in high tech barcaloungers). If you look at the image of what looks like a council table, with weird machinery above it, it may strike a chord with fans of the Giffen Great Darkness Saga era of the Legion of Superheroes. Giffen seemed to be pulling some design motifs from Lone Sloane and other Druillet works. It's not as blatant as his earlier Kirby and Kane swipes or his Munoz period; but, you can see a lot of Druillet influence in tech and decor in Giffen's 30th Century. Druillet was one of the darlings of the early (some say glory) days of Heavy Metal and they also put out a Druillet album, reprinting his Chaos. Dragon's Dream published Delirium, in 1973, predating Heavy Metal's printing of Lone Sloane. Druillet wasn't as prolific as some of his colleagues, like Moebius; but, he was highly regarded and was a darling of the French art world, working in film and television design, as well as rock album art and fine art collections. He also draws the distinction of generating one of the few (rather lengthy) negative comments in Maurice Horn's seminal World Encyclopedia of Comics. Horn was a scholar and member of the French comics community and the encyclopedia is an exhaustive survey of comics from around the globe, up to the time of original publication (early-mid 70s). The article on Druillet basically says that he is highly overrated and it reads like there was some kind of personal issue between the two men. Horn is critical of other strips; but not as much for an individual creator. Next we look at the rest of the series, which featured three works of Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters. If you want so see beautiful artwork, this is the place. Belgian artist Francois Schuiten was born in Brussels, the son of two architects, which is an important factor in his work. He studied at the Saint-Luc Institute, where he met Claude Renard, who ran the comics department. They collaborated on stories together, including Expres, Les Machinistes, and Metamorphoses. He also collaborated with his brother, Luc, on Terres Creuses (reprinted by Humanoids, as Hollow Grounds. Then, with writer Benoit Peeters, he began his greatest works: Les Cites Obscures, or The Obscure Cities, which NBM titled the Cities of the Fantastic. It is here that the familial influence of architecture reaches its heights, as the very buildings and structures of the tales are characters in and of themselves. Great Walls of Samaris features a traveler who comes to a dreamlike city, filled with architectural wonders (with a bit of an Art Nouveau flavor). he has been dispatched to find out why no one ever returns from the city. there he meets strange people who seem oblivious to the outside world. He eventually does leave; but, is driven to return, only to find a major surprise. The story is very much in the mold of the Twilight Zone, where things aren't what they appear and the ending will mess with your head. The scenery is gorgeous... Fever in Urbicand presents a world that drifts between dream and nightmare. The story features Eugen Robik, an urbatecht, one who designs whole cities, not just buildings. He has presented a rationalization plan to the city council to fix the symmetry of the city, which is split by a river. The city is filled with grand, almost-fascist architecture and the tone seems to be very much "Them" and "Us," much like fritz Lang's Metropolis. A small, hollow cube is found at a building site. It features linking struts, which form the framework of a cube, like an Erector Set. Robik examines the cube and it doesn't seem to be made of any known metal. Nothing he does to it affects it. Then, he notices that little projections have formed at the corners. Over time, they grow into new struts, which link and form a new cube. The cycle continues and the structure grows geometrically. At one point, Robik falls asleep and the struts grow through his arm, like a tree growing through a barb wire fence, on an old farm. He feels no pain, but cannot extricate his arm. The structure eventually grows beyond his arm, freeing him. Soon, it grows to encompass the entire city, creating new crossings over the river and linking neighborhoods like never before. Society is turned upside down as people begin to meet at junctions and even construct meeting places (including brothels). Robik himself meets a woman and finds himself falling in love. The city fathers, however, are not happy with the anarchy that has developed and seek to destroy the structure, with little success. Then, the structure grows to a point that the man-made additions crumble and collapse and the structure grows beyond sight, until it is effectively gone from the world. Robik has been forever changed by the experience and the end sees him trying to construct the beginnings of a new cube. The book is a true masterpiece of both visual flair and sociological study, as we see how this agent of chaos turns the ordered society, with an elitist rule, into an anarchic situation, where social boundaries collapse. Fascists love their grand, imposing architecture, yet it is architecture, in the form of this phenomena, that brings down the fascist rule, if only for a brief time. it sows the seeds within Robik to make it permanent. NBM collected the story in this album, while Dark Horse serialized it in the earliest issues of Cheval Noir, their anthology of European stories. Cheval Noir and Heavy metal both featured the next volume, The Tower. The Tower tells of a caretaker, who is responsible for the upkeep of a level of The Tower, a massive edifice (think Tower of Babel). he is one of many who toil to repair the structure to maintain its integrity. However, he hasn't had communication with his superiors, on the lower levels, in some time. He is running out of materials and is having to make do with substandard supplies and is worried that the structure may fall apart. His letters pleading for more funds, supplies and help go unanswered, so he undertakes a journey below, to plead his case in person. As he descends, he discovers that the lower levels are deserted and he is alone. Something has happened to the Tower and its residents and he explores further to find out what. This is yet another dream world, as the caretaker journeys through a desolate wasteland of empty apartments and chambers, crumbling walls, massive gaps and loneliness. He finds other surprises along the way and fantasy even comes to life. Samaris dealt in dream vs reality, Fever in structures (both physical and social) and the barriers and connections they create. Tower deals in imagination and wonder, and life beyond the routine. It deals in preservation of the past and the desire to just live in the now; an age old conflict. NBM had no other collections of Caza or Druillet; but, they maintained their relationship with Schuiten and Peeters and translated their subsequent work, right into the last decade. (image features the Casteman cover, which is pretty much identical to the NBM version) Brusel is both a story and a commentary on architectural revision. The story centers on Constant Abeels, a shopkeeper in an alternate version of Brussels, in what appears to be the turn of the Century, or just after. He is opening a shop to sell plastic flowers and finds that the water has been cut off from his shop. he soon becomes mixed up in the conflict between a scheme to radically alter the look of the city and the community upon which the change is being forced. The work has a background in actual modernization in Brussels, as residents were forced out of areas to create the Palace of Justice and whole blocks of the old quarter were flattened, in the 50s and 60s, to create new high rise buildings. This practice became known as brusselization, a term with very negative connotations. Abeels meets a young woman, Tina, who is part of a resistance group and who falls for the older man (a trope seen in the Tower and Urbicand). We see an old hospital, with nuns using leeches and a modern hospital, with cranky doctors who are never around. There is a model of the city, which is shown to a group of distinguished guests, which brings to mind the Futurama exhibit of the 1939 World's Fair (created by industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes).... Schuiten is in love with his buildings; but, he and Peeters still center things around humanity, as we see the idealism of Tina, and show how the polluted old river is the source of Abeels' persistent cough, while the construction of the new city is destroying his shop. We also see nods to the previous volumes, as the Tower appears in a painting, in a businessman's office and an older Robik is seen in a hospital, scribbling in a notebook, muttering about The Network. In the end, we see a rather satirical accident that has greater connotations to the renovation project at large. Invisible frontier was the last adaptation of Schuiten and Peeters published by NBM. The story centers on a young cartographer, sent to a region to ensure it is properly mapped. He soon finds himself mixed in political manipulations, as well as romance. The leaders of this country seek to change its history and importance by changing the maps. In many ways this is a satire of Stalin and the attempts to rewrite Soviet history to fit his political viewpoint, though that is not unique to Stalin. We have seen how political forces seek to rewrite the historical narrative to fit their worldview, with things like apologist writings about Nixon and McCarthy, or purely political takes on history, such as Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States (a liberal POV) and Larry Schweikart's A Patriot's History of the United States (a conservative POV, specifically created to counter Zinn's book). Here, we see that altering maps to erase other places alters the society's perception of their world. As with the other books in the series, architecture and transport are major envornmental elements, as we see grand map rooms, airships, and elevated trains. Through it all, Schuiten's delicate line brings a dreamlike state to his visuals. It gives real humanity to his people, while making his landscapes both alive and illusory. With his background, he brings an environmental detail to comics that is far too often missing, especially in American superhero comics. Far too many have little or no background detail in their panels, or are incapable of presenting an environment that humans could live and work in. Schuiten fills his worlds with buildings and rooms and furniture. It is a trait shared with many European masters, even the more stylized ones (like Herge or Moebius). Schuiten's cityscapes and subesquent visuals drive the bulk of the story; but, peeters adds many human touches and the dialogue is living. The characters feel like real people, in fantastic environments. NBM culminated this with the publication of an art book about Schuiten and his work, The Book of Schuiten. This is an amazing survey of Schuiten's work, from spot illustrations to his graphic novels. Peeters provides an introduction and we see everything from a Time Magazine cover. celebrating literature, to works of transportation, architecture and dreams, especially dreams of flying. One of the major influences on Schuiten, aside from his architectural family, is Winsor Mccay, creator of the classic comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. Nemo's world was filled with flights of fantasy, strange architecture, or different perspectives on it and the natural world, mixed with lively and satirical characters. You can see elements of it throughout Schuiten's work. From here we will move on to other NBM favorites, including Vicente Segrelles The Mercenary and German artists Andreas' Rork.
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Post by beccabear67 on Sept 22, 2018 0:07:27 GMT -5
I've gotten well into the Roger Leloup Yoko Tsuno books published in English by "Cinebook", but by the dates, and numbers which differ on foreign editions, mean that if there is any order to them it's been scrambled. Earlier drawn stories are more cartoony in style. I guess they are all-ages adventure, as often as not with a science-fictional slant, but some are more debunking something supernatural with science in some interesting place on our own planet. The latest one is #13... very well colored, but one complaint... Leloup draws feet too small!
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 22, 2018 9:54:51 GMT -5
I've gotten well into the Roger Leloup Yoko Tsuno books published in English by "Cinebook", but by the dates, and numbers which differ on foreign editions, mean that if there is any order to them it's been scrambled. Earlier drawn stories are more cartoony in style. I guess they are all-ages adventure, as often as not with a science-fictional slant, but some are more debunking something supernatural with science in some interesting place on our own planet. The latest one is #13... very well colored, but one complaint... Leloup draws feet too small! Cinebook is a bit inconsistent with their releases. Some are done chronologically and others more thematically. For instance, with Spirou & Fantasio, they started with Tome & Janry, then started to reprint some of Franquin, alternating between the two sets of creators. Blake & Mortimer isn't particularly chronological; but, Valerian and XIII were pretty much in sequence. With XIII, it is essential, as there is a definite chronology to the story. Valerian has that, to a point; but, there is room to move around, had they wished.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 26, 2018 14:32:43 GMT -5
One of the favorite series, from NBM, is one that they have revisited, in recent years: Vicente Segrelles' El Mercenario, aka The Mercenary. Spanish artist Vicente Segrelles began illustrating and painting at the age of 14, inheriting the talent in a family of artists. It took time to secure professional work, which began with book illustrations (the first was a book about firearms). In 1980, he got the chance to create a graphic novel and The Mercenary was the end result. The series features the nameless mercenary soldier, who rides a tamed flying dragon and is garbed in medieval plate armor. On the surface, the concept sounds rather like this... The mercenary comes from the hidden Country of the Clouds, a more advanced civilization than much of the rest of this world. His companion is Nan Tay, a female warrior and Arnoldo de Vinci is member of the Order of the Crater, who devises devices and creates weapons for the hero. Na Tay is one of the warriors who protects the members of the Order of the Crater. In this world, the mercenary faces monsters, dragons, giants, Amazonian warriors and te recurring villain Claust, an alchemist and enemy of the Order of the Crater. Quite frankly, most of that is very thin window dressing, for what The Mercenary is is an art colelction, in the form of a visual narrative. Segrelles painstakingly paints each panel in oil, which is why there are long gaps between volumes of the series. It's not a deep one for plot or drama; but, it doesn't really need to be, with scenery like this... The world looks like your typical fantasy series, except it is actually a science fiction tale. All "magic" presented is only advanced science and you do see machinery. You also get a fair bit of nudity, from nan Tay and others because why just rescue a maiden when you can rescue a nude maiden? Segrelles would split his time between creating the story panels for the next volume and illustrating covers for the Italian sci-fi magazine Urnia, as well as create a cartoon series, Sheriff Pat. Segrelles' work and these albums were highly praised by fans of fantasy art and the stories were a favorite of Heavy Metal. Next, we go from Spain to Germany, for the artist Andreas, and his fantasy/horror/mystery series, Rork. Andreas Martens was born in Weissenfells, East Germany, and studied art at the Fine Art Academy of Dusseldorf, and then at the Institut Saint-Luc, in Belgium. He was first published in the school magazine, then in Tintin (the magazine, not the Herge comics, themselves). His work also appeared in Au Suivre and Metal Hurlant, before coming to the US in the early issues of Cheval Noir, from Dark Horse, and then collected in albums by NBM. Rork is a wizard, from another dimension, with a startling head of white hair. He's a bit on the Dr Strange side of things and faces off against demonic enemies. The stories are often allegorical annd the alien demons he fights turn out to be agents of the Devil. One early story features what look like humanoid aliens in gas masks., decrepit old houses and lots of psychedelic imagery, as realty is rather fluid. One of the first things that struck me about the series, when I saw it in Cheval Noir, was how much the work looks like Bernie Wrightson. Turns out, Andreas was a big fan of Wrightson. Generally, I'm not much for mystical tales; but, the visual stylings of Andreas were something different, with touches of Wrightson, Ditko, Escher and other influences I don't recognize. The stories themselves are quite good, though the illustration far outmatches the writing. It's a bit more than just flashy illustrations, as the stories have depth; but, the visuals are really strong and make the story pop. Next we have a series I covered early on in this thread: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman, illustrated by Dutch artist Marvano. Joe Haldeman is one of the giants of science fiction. He was well travelled as a child, constantly uprooted. He graduated from the Univ of Maryland, with degrees in physics and astronomy and married Mary Gay Potter. He was drafted into the US Army, where he served as a combat engineer, in Vietnam. For the uninitiated, combat engineers deal in fortifications and demolitions; mostly, demolitions. It is dangerous work and also requires a great deal of training and technical skill. One of Haldeman's routine duties, in Vietnam, was setting charges to blow up trees, to create instant landing zones (LZs) for helicopters (mostly for medevac). He was wounded in combat and received the Purple Heart. Upon returning to the US, he poured his experiences into his debut novella, The War Year, centering around his tour of duty. he then expanded that material into the science fiction novel The Forever War. The Forever War deals in a centuries long conflict between Earth and aliens from a planet, in the constellation of Taurus. The narrator is William Mandela, a physics student drafted into the United Nations Expeditionary Force, which is being sent to face off against the then-unseen Tauruns. the novel takes Mandela from boot camp to his first mission, where his platoon runs up against the Taurans and engage the enemy, while a post-hypnotic suggestion is triggered, causing the soldiers to go into psychotic killing rages. Mandella eventually returns to Earth, 70 years after leaving, thanks to relativity, as he and his companions make near light speed jumps through space. He finds the world alien to him, with much of the population unemployed and living on subsistence and drugs. His younger brother is an old man and his mother is dying, as she is classed as a low medical priority, due to age, and has little access to medicines and treatment. Mandella decides to re-up, as he cannot function in this society and is promoted to officer rank. He develops a relationship with Mary Gay (named for Haldeman's wife) who is also an officer. After surviving an encounter in space, with the Taurans, they are tasked to a training command, after healing injuries. The couple are promised to be assigned together; but, Mary Gay is assigned to another ship, splitting the two on different relative timelines. The novel won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, in 1975/76 and had a major impact on both the sci-fi world, and in literature, in general, as one of the early works to deal with Vietnam (directly or, as in this case, allegorically) and the experiences of soldiers in that war. The graphic novel debuted in 1988, with Haldeman scripting and writing the dialogue, and Dutch artist Marvano handling the illustrations. It is very faithful to the novel, as one would expect, given that Haldeman did the daptation. Marvano adds a nice, clean, technical style which captures the look and feel of realistic space technology, bringing to mind illustrators like Robert McCall (who captured many of the NASA missions in his paintings) and industrial designers like Syd Mead and Star Wars conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie. Like Rork, the work was serialized (in its entirety) in Cheval Noir and collected (in color) by NBM. It was recently reprinted by Titan Comics, with all new covers. This is well worth having, as it is a terrific read, with excellent visuals, all in service to a seminal work of allegorical fiction and one of the classic anti-war works of literature, from a combat veteran (sharing the distinction with people like Tim O'Brien, Eric Maria Remarque and Evelyn Waugh). Also in the world of literature, NBM picked up the series The Ray bradbury Chronicles, taking over from Byron Preiss and Bantam/Spectra. These were anthologies of various creators adapting the stories of Ray Bradbury. There's plenty of excellent work to be found in these pages. We'll leave it at that, for now, and pick back up with some American work, from Rick Geary and P Craig Russell, plus a look at some of the contemporary comic strip collections, from NBM.
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Post by Rob Allen on Sept 26, 2018 15:54:28 GMT -5
Segrelles also did some of the best covers that Skywald published in the early-to-mid 70s.
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