New Comic Book Day

I bought some comics today at Forbidden Planet (13th and Broadway, Manhattan). I also work there and all day, while working register, I kept hoping for someone to buy one of these (except jin and jam which i actually got at GRNY). It didnt happen. Wednesday at FP is mostly about ringing up justice league of america or what have you. Which...hey, I'm totally cool with. If there's one thing that mainstream comic fans have over art comics fans, it's dedication and excitement. All the Wolverine fans come out the day Wolvies book comes out. They love it! So, where where the king cat fans? Huh? Sittin at home. Waiting for the weekend. I'd like to see art comic fans come up to the register with the same total commitment to comics that your average teen titans "head" has.




King Cat #69
by John P

I really love the first story in this...about Misun checking out some "for rent" signs and John looking out the window. It reminds me of the story where John is in the car with Kera, and she goes out to get food. John is in the car with the cat. Kera comes back and gives John french fries. The panel goes something like "here, i bought you french fries." then there's a silent panel. Then another panel with the caption "she bought me french fries." That is one of my all time favorite King Cat stories.

I think about it all the time...a nice moment of John rendering someones kindness (at least that's what i always think of it in terms of). Anyway....this first story in king Cat #69 seems like it's got legs for my memory in the same way that story did.



Jin and jam #1 by hellen jo

WHOA. This comic is soooooo cool. I can't get over it. I remember reading some early Hellen Jo comics and thinking (hoping?) "if I ever meet this girl, she will try to beat me up." Of course when you meet Hellen, she is the nicest girl in the world, which makes her tougher than tough comics all the more amazing. The drawing in this is just so cool. I wish i could draw like Hellen...it looks like so much fun. If there is any justice in the world, this will be the most popular comic around, STAT.



The Lagoon by Lilli Carre

I've been waiting for this comic to come out for a while. The Thing about Madeline and Dorado Park are two of my favorite mini comic of the last....well, two of my favorite minis ever. Carre is, to me, an incredible writer. Madeline was like a perfect little short story where everything clicked and you were kinda bowled over by the economy and precision of the project. Lagoon is really different, and (as an artist) very inspiring. It's fascinating to see Carre's line loosen up. There are even some drawing in here that are rather crude (crude by Lilli Carre standards that is)---and I love those drawings. I don't know if it was a choice to have meticulous drawings next to looser ones...but it's really potent and good when you look at the book. It's one of those things where comics are "intimate" in the way everyone says they are but cant articulate why. You can see the human hand in how this was built and the skill all at once.

What is most interesting to me, after reading it once, is how different the book feels from page to page (or within the same page sometimes). Madeline and Dorado had one dominant emotion throughout. Lagoon is almost light at times...and then, within the same page you'll feel totally different emotional pulls. But like Madeline and Dorado its got this total sense of authority to it. I trust this book.