Paul Jon Milne – Guts Power #1-6
Dan Cox and John Riordan – Hitsville UK
The gospel was told, some souls it swallowed whole
Mentally they fold and they eventually sold
Their life and times, deadly like the virus design
But too minute to dilute the scientist mind
Wu-Tang Clan – 'A Better Tomorrow'
Spacing (notice that this word speaks the articulation of space and time, the becoming-space of time and the becoming-time of space) is always the unperceived, the non-present, and the non-conscious. As such, if one can still use that expression in a non-phenomenological way; for here we pass the very limits of phenomenology.
Jacques Derrida – Of Grammatology
Two comic book series, both started before the world ended in December 2012, both completed some time after the apocalypse. So far so standard. What makes them both remarkable is how prescient they are about all the ways the world has continued to end and about how we might continue to live regardless.
To be brief: they reek not just of knowledge but of foresight.
The sixth and final issue of Paul Jon Milne's Guts Power spends most of its time getting ready to go out for the party. When I last reviewed this series, only the first four issues had been published but the mood of the comic was well established, its grimly eroticised kitchen sink misery distinguished from all the other neurotic indie comics out there by virtue of Milne's seeping imagination:
I'm stuck on Milne's style, on the use of that old fashioned alt-comix grossness not as a mode for outrageous straight white guy funtimes, but as a way to genuinely queer the Sex-Men experience.
With its tentative dance floor adventures, "Pepto-bawbag particles" and alluringly grotesque cast, Guts Power manages the rare trick of making one man's whims, stray thoughts and fancies seem like a genuine delight, probably because the combination feels fresh and true; would that the same could be said of all such ventures.
By the time issue #6 starts, death and romance have already happened and everyone is gearing up for some sort of revolution. You can practically feel the wee white dots form around you in the air, feel yourself being drawn back into the radiant possibility of a blank page, right up until the moment your cat farts and you're left sitting on your couch alone with your own misery.
Having sprinted through enough dodgy deals, guilty secrets, Beatific visions and nazi incursions to fill 23 issues of a normal comic, Hitsville UK crosses the finish line of its seventh issues with a sense of perspective that's bound to baffle all traditional metrics. Last time I checked in on the comic, I found myself racing to keep up with its evolution, with the way that it had left my initial concept of the series as a referential but not reverential pop fun somewhere way off in the distance:
What I will say is that the issues of Hitsville that have been published since then have had an increased sense of urgency to them. The boys may not have set out to create a fantasy of communal resilience in an age that seems increasingly under threat by undead attitudes, shambling zombie racism, and the endless monetization of your every passing daydream, but fuck me if they didn't do it anyway!
The conclusion of Hitsville UK gives you some sense as to who's pulling (or should that be playing?) the strings and some idea as to why. We still don't know why the world ended in 2012, or why it persists in this form, why even blogs have somehow been allowed to continue, but all of this prompts a question: why did the children of The Invisibles decide to persist in their endeavours, knowing that the end would come before anyone could finish their stories?
BEATS ME FOLKS! BETTER CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!
Posted by Illogical Volume
Filed in Comic art, comics criticism
Tags: Dan Cox, Guts Power, Hitsville UK, John Riordan, Paul Jon Milne, the end of the world, The Filth, The Invisibles
SILENCE! #278 The Introduction Special
In the beginning there was the word. Prior to that there was the introduction. Since the dawn of time immemorial began throughout history, the introduction has introduced readers to stories that have introduced us to the power of stories. What dark truths lie in the stories we tell our children? Powerful, dark truths that's what. Hadn't thought about that had you? You're welcome.
It is my pleasure and honour to introduce this podcast by my good friend The Beast Must Die. When I was introduced to The Beast Must Die as a schoolboy, little did I know that 30 years later I would be introducing his Magnum opus. This podcast will introduce the lister to The Beast's unique relationship to introductions, covering curated TV broadcasts of films such as Alex Cox's introductions to Movie Drome and what introductions meant to him as a youngster reading graphic novels for the first time. He goes on to cover Alan Moore's introduction to The Dark Knight Returns, Pat Mills' introduction to the Titan edition of Nemesis Book 7 by Mills himself and John Hicklenton, Zenith Book 2 introduced by Grant Morrison, Frank Miller's introduction to Batman Year One, Morrison's introduction to Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo's Enigma and Milligan's introduction to Morrison's Invisibles.
Oh yes, and Neil Gaiman's dominance in the world of introductions. So, without further ado, I invite you to "hey listen" to the master scholar of all that comes before everything.
Gary Lactus
North Portslade
Tags: Alan Moore, Batmam year one, Enigma, frank miller, Grant Morrison, introduction, Introductions, John Hicklenton, Neil Gaiman, Nemesis, Pat Mills, Peter Milligan, the dark knight returns, The Invisibles, zenith
Mindless Defectors on True Detective
Still fired up from February's discussion of what's worth watching on American TV, Mindless twinset Mark (Amypoodle) and Adam (Adam) have written an Experts Guide to HBO's 'True Detective' and weird comic book fiction for Comic Alliance.
There's a lot of great stuff about Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, H.P. Lovecraft and Thomas Ligotti in that post – if you've read any of Mark or Adam's stuff before, you'll know what to expect, and if not you're going to enjoy finding out!
Filed in Grant Morrison, horror, Links
Tags: Alan Moore, cult fiction, From Hell, H.P. Lovecraft, Mister Miracle, neonomicon, Television, The Invisibles, Thomas Ligotti, True Detective
Tygers and Lambs #2 – Wild Children
What a joy it is to dance and sing…
…or so I seem to remember anyway. This bloggy vessel has now entered the fourth decade of its journey towards oblivion, so you can look forward to it trying out its new "all whinging, all the time" persona as its mechanics starts to fail and its withered captain feels the need to overcompensate in a tragic bid for immortality.
From New X-Men: Riot at Xaviers, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
But before I lose myself to that delightful journey, there's Ales Kot and Riley Rossmo's Wild Children, a comic book that couldn't feel more like a jolt from the nineties if it had come wrapped in a pair of novelty Spice Girls underpants and been delivered by a reformed Lee and Herring. Except that it's actually a lot more specific than that, because what Wild Chilren feels like is a a jolt from my nineties - if you can imagine a version of Grant Morrison and Philip Bond's Kill Yr Boyfriend that tries to encompass all of The Invisibles, you'll probably be imagining something quite like Wild Children. Like The Invisibles, Wild Children is clearly built to be read in a circle, and if the first line of dialogue – "I still don't understand" – doesn't get this point across, there's another line on the third page to make the design even harder to ignore: "Some of you may think we're evil, but I don't think you'll miss the point this time."
From The Invisibles #1, 'Dead Beatles', by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell
All of which is typical of Wild Children's approach. Part story, part lecture, Wild Children is a swaggering, talky comic that positions its readers as adult hostages, drugged and held at gunpoint by the titular teens. Weapons are brandished that may or may not be weapons, speeches about the nature of reality are given, tragedy ensues.
Some people might object to being positioned this way - former wild children with fluff-encrusted blank badges in their sock drawers might find themselves wanting to be the ones giving the lecture, for example – but while I would have probably have got more out of the comic if Riley Rossmo had been given more action to draw, the loose, unfinished quality of his line was enough to get me through a couple of reading cycles. And like I said, there's plenty of swagger in Wild Children's design. From its carefully combusted cover on in, this is clearly the work of a couple of people who want to start something.
The only question is, what is it that they want to start, exactly?
Click here to find out what YOU want, dear reader!
Filed in Reviews, Tygers and Lambs
Tags: Ales Kot, And so we return and begin again, Disco Dad defeated at last, Frank Quitely, hauntological, Hauntology, Riley Rossmo, Riot at Xaviers, Steve Yeowell, Teenage Kicks, The Invisibles, Tygers and Lambs, Wild Children