indefinite articles

What is a B-Side? Originally, on vinyl, the b-side was just the second side of an album. Quite simply, a record producer would sift through an artist’s songs and decide which ones were worthy to be pressed on the A-Side – placing them on the fast-track to radio and living rooms across America – and which would endure the fate of becoming a B-Side. For the latter, an eternity condemned to obscurity and stale stoner rooms was pretty much guaranteed. That is until the freaks and stoners crawled out from under their parents’ basements and dominated the dialogue on what’s “cool.” Now, B-Sides have become the icing, or maybe even the cream filling.

It seems that an artist can only put out B-Sides if they have already contributed a magnum opus. Not only that, but the B-Sides somehow welcome a greater intimacy between the fan and the artist(s), as if by owning the B-Sides you know the band or singer better than those chumps who never scoured the record isles. Basically, you’re not a real fan until you have the B-Sides. Well then, today I am a real fan because I have no way of describing Acme Novelty Library, Issue No. 7: The Big Book of Jokes other than Chris Ware’s B-Sides.

[Read more →]

There was a time when the first few notes of the Star Wars theme song would get me high. My heart would beat faster, my eyes would dilate, and my mind would go completely blank in preparation for nirvana. I was a junkie, and George Lucas was my dealer. So what happened? Prequels, that’s what happened.

As if Episodes I-III weren’t already the crack to the original trilogy’s cocaine, we now have meth in the form of the CGI film Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which is not to be confused with Star Wars: Clone Wars. Well, I guess it’s only appropriate that The Clone Wars is the Star Wars death rattle for me, considering that the introduction of computer graphics was the beginning of the end.

[Read more →]

This Week: Quimby the Mouse, collecting Chris Ware’s college comic strips found in Acme Novelty Library, issues #2 and #4.

Quimby the Mouse is by and large Chris Ware’s diary — or if you prefer to be more masculine and highbrow, his journal. It is nonsensical, often confusing, sometimes embarrassing, and, above all, exposing. Unlike other issues I have read up to this point, where the protagonists (Jimmy Corrigan and Rusty Brown) can be separated from Ware himself – making an appearance in Rusty Brown as an art teacher makes this especially true – Quimby is a personification of Ware’s feelings and consciousness.

[Read more →]

I begin this entry of my travelogue with the realization that two things must be true about Chris Ware.

1. He loves the ladies.
2. The ladies don’t love him.

These observations are not meant to be condescending or funny – well okay, maybe just a little funny – but are meant to provide some ounce of rationale that would explain the constant torment endured by the protagonists in Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth!

[Read more →]

This week: Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

Editor’s note: Marco is a relative neophyte to the world of art comics, and this Long Haul serves as an experiment, a chance to see Chris Ware’s comics with a set of fresh eyes. But some context here for the similarly uninitiated: perhaps the most important graphic novel of the past ten years, Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan is the generational successor to Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Hailed by The New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl as the “first formal masterpiece” of the medium, Jimmy Corrigan is sure to be a touchstone in the discussion of comics as the artform continues to develop in the coming years. And now, Marco digs in …

I love Chris Ware’s art style and storytelling. This isn’t the superficial love of an adolescent with his first girlfriend - my acne has long since cleared up and my voice hasn’t cracked in over a week! Rather, this is a mature love, filled with complex emotions, respect, and—like any true relationship—criticisms.

But, of course, this is not real love, because there is no true reciprocity. There’s no two-way communication. The pages I read don’t find me the least bit interesting, nor do they want to get to know me. They don’t say, “enough about me, what about you?” But to say we don’t have a conversation isn’t quite true. Indeed, the pages seem to ask, “enough about me, what do you think about me?”

[Read more →]

Today, Get Smart premiered in theaters across the nation. My prediction: It will be a financial success. However, the movie’s critical acclaim will largely hinge on the performance of one actor, and one actor alone. Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen: Dwayne Johnson will finally rise like a phoenix from his professional wrestling ashes and emerge as the most electrifying actor in the entertainment industry.

[Read more →]

Dear Mr. Verbinski,

I recently read online that you’ve been signed on to direct the movie adaptation of last year’s BioShock. That’s awesome! However, as much as I am excited to hear such a great video game is being turned into a live-action feature film (with a worthy director), I am also wary of this movie being the next Bloodrayne or Doom. So with that in mind, would you kindly take a suggestion? Just think of me as $10 on opening day.

[Read more →]

This week: Acme Novelty Library #16 - Rusty Brown, part 1

Admittedly, my initial impression was dismissive. Surely this cannot be the same artist/genius/comic-god my reputable friends - and even some disreputable ones - have been raving about, I thought. There’s no way that this art style, which almost looks like children’s book illustration, could convey the lavish and rich tapestry of characters I had been promised. Curse thee, sirens, for you have forsaken this lowly graphic novel newb and led me crashing into the rocks of disillusionment, leaving me alone, shipwrecked, drowning in an esoteric subculture without a - Ooh look, Rusty Brown has a fro! That’s hilarious!

[Read more →]

Watching the trailer for The Promotion , I am immediately conflicted. In one corner, indie-movie heavyweight, character actor in Days of Thunder , What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? , Boogie Nights , Magnolia , and The Good Girl - John C. Reilly! And in the other corner, riding the coattails of his role in American Pie - Seann William Scott. With each inappropriate remark and lapse in behavior, Reilly delivers a clinical jab full of comedic irony. However, parrying these masterful shots are Scott’s strained and deliberate attempts at humor, including making faces and nonsensical slapstick. These two gladiators seem to be deadlocked, so we’ll have to see how fatigue will decide this one in the later rounds.

[Read more →]

Where to begin? Most people would tell you, “at the beginning.” I say those people are conventionalist sheep. Also, they’re probably smart. I claim none of those. But whether you are the type of person who believes in a logical start, middle, and end or you think storytelling is as abstract as space and time, I still had to decide how to approach the daunting (yet very enjoyable) task of reading the entire collection of Chris Ware, graphic novelist and hilariously tortured artist.

I decided that my first step would be to research Mr. Ware’s body of work. Thirty seconds after jumping on my laptop I said, “Fuck that, I’m only reading his books.” So I provide you with this quick disclaimer: I’m only reading Acme Novelty Library. This rules out sketches, early strips in The Daily Texan , and Floyd Farland: Citizen of the Future , which is out of print anyway. That being said, I now had to come up with an order of reading 18½ issues, containing four graphic novels and four anthologized strips. Chronological seemed to be the most rational, providing me with context and a common thread to tether ideas and reactions to, as well as a framework to develop a subtext of commentary on Chris Ware’s development as a writer and artist. That would’ve been awesome if I hadn’t already read The Acme Novelty Library #16 (Rusty Brown Pt. 1 & Building Stories Pt. 1 ) earlier this year.

[Read more →]