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I've been reading a lot of comics this summer, and it's the greatest.

I just finished Ms. Marvel Vol. 3: Crushed and the series continues to be fun, as was Rat Queens Volume 2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'Rygoth. I love to read about girls kicking ass! (See also, Nimona) One thing I really appreciate about Rat Queens and Nimona is that it's fantasy kick-ass fun, but there's underlying basis of pain. It's not always there or the focus of the narrative, but it bubbles up to color the story in a way that's really compelling. (Plus, now I have an excuse to yell I'M A SHARK! and see who laughs--new bestie test)

Oh, and I also read Lumberjanes which I loved for it's kick-ass girls and silliness, but also its friendship and their long-suffering camp counselor. I love these girls as an ensemble and their relationships. FRIENDSHIP TO THE MAX for reals.


Also in ongoing series... Fables Vol. 22: Farewell happened. The final Fairest, Fairest Vol. 5: The Clamour for Glamour comes out on Tuesday, but Fables is done. This is the series that turned me onto comics and my feelings about it ending are so bittersweet. I'm going to miss these characters and their stories and their lives and how Willingham played with meta-fiction and what happens when you put fictional characters in the real world. At the same time, the final volume was wonderful. I think it was a fitting tribute and end to the series and, in many ways, it was a farewell. It wrapped up the narrative arc nicely, left some loose ends, but not ones that will drive me batty, and let the characters say goodbye (sometimes very literally). I have been nervous lately because the last few volumes have been a bit of a blood bath, and there is some of that here, too, but... it's good. It's really, really good. My only complaint is that it's done and I very selfishly want more, more, more, more. (Also, I asked my friends at Secret Stacks what I should read to fill the Fables void, and they got Bill Willingham himself to answer and zomg.)

But also, I've been reading some new series!

I read the entirety of Y: The Last Man because Bellwether Friends did an episode about it. I am in love with Saga (which was also a Bellwether recommendation) which is also by Brian K Vaughn, so I thought I'd pick up all the Y before listening to their episode, so I'd be able to better understand. Y is the story of what happens when suddenly, all males (human and animal) drop dead. Except for Yorick and his monkey Ampersand. Science and governments want Yorick, but he just wants to get from New York to Australia where his girlfriend-maybe-fiance was when the gender-cide hit, but it also explores what happens when a gender dies. You get radical feminist movement burning sperm banks, countries that had higher gender equality do better than those who had more men in charge, and also a lot of people in deep morning. Plus little things-- it hit at rush hour so a lot of the highways are clogged with cars and what do you do with that many dead bodies? It was really interesting and good. I like the way it explored the different aspects of this new world as well as all the different theories people had for what caused it. (People have feelings about the ending. It wasn't the ending I necessarily wanted, but I think it was good for the story, if that makes sense. Fangirl Jennie was "eh" but literary critic Jennie was "oh, yes.") Also, let's talk Saga. I've read the four volumes that are out now and so good. It's about love and family and survival against the backdrop of intergalactic war! And their nanny is a ghost. (Basically, star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of this inter-galactic war have a kid and everyone wants them dead because there can't be proof that the two sides can get along and all they want to do is live and survive as a family, but always running puts strain on a relationship!) Also, let's just talk about how the romance novels are also political tracts wrapped in love story, because a romance reader, YES. There is meaning and metaphor and all the other trappings of HIGH LITERATURE in romance (and really, all genre) but it gets written off so often, but not here. That warms my heart.

I've also picked up the first four volumes of East of West. It's this story of a futuristic alternate history US where the country's fractured into several other countries and there's a religious cult and Four Horseman of the Apocalypse are reborn, except for Death, because he's left them for love and it all ties back to this religious cult and a prophesy and it's weird and not quite my usual thing, but really good at the same time.

Also for something amazing, but a little different than my usual fare, Secret Stacks also recommended I check out Pretty Deadly which is also about Death falling in love with a person. But this time it's Death's Daughter who's riding for revenge. And there's a girl in a feather cape and old man who travel from town to town to tell her story. It's hauntingly surreal and I cannot wait for more. (Please tell me there's more!)

What comics are you reading?


Books Provided by... my local library, except for Fables, which I bought.

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By Nick Eskey

On July 9^th at San Diego Comic-Con, the creators of comics “Eat of West” (Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta) and “Invisible Republic” (Gabriel Hardman and Corrina Bechko) gathered on behalf of Image Comics. These comic writers and artists were present to discuss the processes that they use to create their perspective works.

First the prompter asked the panel to talk about the comics themselves. “Eat of West is a Sci-fi Western,” said Jonathan Hickman. “The four horsemen come to bring about the apocalypse. But one of them falls in love; death of course. And he doesn’t feel like fulfilling his duty.” Gabriel Hardman said that “Invisible Republic is about a disgraced reporter that finds a hidden history of a foreign planet.”

Writer Jonathan Hickman and Artist Nick Dragotta (“East of West”)

For any story, the first thing that has to get cleared is its development. “We had an idea for a world going through a rebellion,” said Gabriel. “We were thinking of this song from the 70’s that talked about rebellion in the future.” For East of West, Nick and Jonathan talk about how they went to lunch together. “Nick wanted a Western, and I wanted a Sci-fi,” said Jonathan Hickman. “When we couldn’t argue over which one, we just decided to do both.”

With the idea of the story decided, the teams would need to be able to work well together. With any collaboration between artist and writer, they would each need to learn the other’s habits. “Well, we’re married,” said Gabriel. “We live in the same house. Our working habits have a sort of ‘Jazz’ interplay. If something doesn’t work, we talk to each other and change it… It’s very organic. And if we want to change something, it’s not like we have to go to anyone and get the changed approved.” For East of West, artist Nick said “I just wanted to make the work easy between us.” Gabriel from Invisible Republic laughed as this, then adding “It’s never easy for us.”

Writer Gabriel Hardman and Artist Corinna Bechko (“Invisible Republic”)

What sets apart a graphic novel and a comic from a book is the artwork; it tells the story just as much as the dialogue. Nick Dragotta spoke about his own drawing style. “I like to use thumbnails as panels… to let them lead the reader’s eye. This is easier for me because I work in digital, and use layers.” Writer Jonathan Hickman added that because his time is limited, he has to look at his work as a whole. “I’ll give Nick what idea I have for dialogue, sometimes even the whole thing, knowing there’s a chance I’ll have to rewrite it all… I just try to get the hell out of the way, and let the artist have his way.”

After showing the completed art, Nick said that sometimes Jonathan will say a section “would do better with this addition of dialogue.” This would make Nick either add a page or two, or even go back and redo some of them. “An angle change might have happened,” he further adds.

Gabriel Harman says that he’s in large a story board artist, working on some movies just as “Tropic Thunder” and “Inception.” He prefers to use more traditional means, using paper and pencils to draw out the scenes, defining parts here and there but not fully. “And I’ll ink it as I go,” he said.  “I don’t do full penciling first, or I’ll find that I have this dead thing.”

Soon the topic of rules came up: whether there are rules for their work. “One thing I believe in is arbitrary rules,” said Gabriel. “Things go left and right, and important things to the front. [Also] never use caption to tell where the story is going… For us it’s about drama than literature. These things are how you tell the story.”

This led to a discussion of how the teams decide to convey their story. Some comic writers and artists use captions to partially tell it, and some use over dramatic scenes. “We try to tell emotion with less,” said Gabriel. “Struggle and intensity with how the characters hold themselves. I want them to be like pixies; I want them to be quiet, and I want them to be loud when loud… I don’t want it like ‘Jack Kirby,’ where everything is flying out at you.”

“If you’re a writer, it’s like a huge cheat to just tell someone what’s going on,” said Jonathan of East of West. “It’s like if they said ‘I ran as fast as I could,’ and then they run. There’s nothing worse than telling something twice.” Nick added that, “I first drive for clarity; simplify. And then I draw the heck out of it.”

After the art is pretty much done, coloring comes in. Color palettes can be very important as well when it comes to making the comic tie together well. Gabriel of Invisible Republic mentioned that since their comic has two time streams, they use two different palettes. “The present is a desaturated  film look, when film use to be used for movies.” Nick took it further by talking about the role of colorists. “[They are] like the new finishers… we give the colorist enough space to play and have it. Color sells books, really. If you are in perfect harmony with your colorist, you have it made.”

As a last discussion, the teams discussed their influences; where their ideas come from. “Manga, because they show, not tell,” said Nick Dragotta. Jonathan Hickman had a lot more to say on the subject. “I consumed as much as I could when I was beginning, and my first five projects could be seen as ‘this is like that, but meets this.’ I don’t read as much anymore  though… when I work it could spark an idea that I’ll want to include, or spark another idea that I don’t’ have time for… Nowadays I watch a lot of film.”

Gabriel Hardman said that “I take influences from other outside sources. Pull from everything, not just comics.” This is where Jonathan broke back in, and went on a rampage about comic ideas. “I also work for marvel as a writer, and they write comics for comics. They don’t take any original ideas, just basically mine their previous franchises. It’s incestuous. No, they’ve [expletive] themselves beyond incestuous.” He then discussed how “cool” it is when people are willing to try new original things. “It’s really cool.”

It’s great to see the process from where the story and art of our comics come to life. Because after all, that’s what makes comics, well, comics. And it’s great to have a company like Image that gives their writers and artists the space to let such creativity flow. Keep an eye out for “East of West” and “Invisible Republic.”