SHADE, THE CHANGING GIRL (2016-2017)

May 16, 2023

Shoehorning the idea of Shade and Madness into a teen girl is brilliant, and I’m shocked it didn’t happen earlier. Writer Cecil Castellucci does a magnificent job of showcasing Shade’s perspective — even if it’s technically not Rac Shade from Milligan’s run — as well as the captured youth that Shade inhabits, as well as the conflict that ensues by doing so, while also filling in new readers on the background of Rac Shade as well as the circumstances on Meta.

It’s also delightfully raw and emotional, in a youthful way that SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN occasionally touched on.

I will say: narratively, it is slight. It’s very low-stakes — yes, like with Milligan’s SHADE, Shade is being pursued by others in order to get the Madness Vest, but that’s more or less a MacGuffin. There’s little conflict — the twelve issues are mostly about this Shade reveling in the joys of Earth and making friends, which I find absolutely fantastic.

Similar to Milligan’s run, it’s overly infatuated with Americana, although in this case it’s all high schools and music and old TV shows, as opposed to repeatedly watching JFK die.

Castellucci does amazing work bringing Shade into a new generation, and Marley Zarcone’s art brings a vibrancy to the story that recalls a looser Mike Allred, especially with some of the more inventive layouts that are interspersed through the issues.

It’s an absolute delight, especially the second storyline. Shade discovering the world solo, luxuriating in everything they enjoy? I couldn’t stop grinning and laughing while reading it, while also relishing the surreal facets of the imagery. I can’t imagine a better re-invention of SHADE than this.

https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/shade-the-changing-girl-2016/shade-the-changing-girl-vol-1-earth-girl-made-easy

SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN (1990-1996)

May 15, 2023

If you are of a certain age and a certain type of comic book nerd, the DC imprint VERTIGO means a lot to you. For most, it represents realizing that mainstream comics can be more than folks endlessly punching each other and offer life stories and lessons and emotions.

Usually, most folks gravitate towards Neil Gaiman’s mythic SANDMAN run which, fair enough. I admit, I have an almost complete collection, mostly of individual issues, including signed copies of the initial storyline which is a prized possession. Or perhaps DEATH: THE HIGH COST OF LIVING mini. Maybe the grandfathered-in ANIMAL MAN or the DOOM PATROL series, which is now a brilliantly adapted TV series, and has an illustrious number of collections.

However, the little-known SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN is my favorite VERTIGO book from that time period. Peter Milligan took a bonkers Steve Ditko-created character and managed to twist it into something far more malleable. Each arc of his grappled with surprising facets of society and culture; from the American infatuation with the death of John F. Kennedy to quiet interpersonal dynamics, all told through the eyes of an alien who inhabits bodies and is intensely over-emotional.

It helped that he was accompanied by the dynamic pen and pencil work of a young Chris Bachalo and Mark Pennington, lending an extremely vibrant verve to Milligan’s imagination.

In the 90s, there was absolutely nothing like what SHADE was doing, and it’s still rare to find today. It was weird, bizarre, absolutely surreal, but still imbued with emotional heft.

I wish there was the demand for them to collect Milligan’s entire run as an omnibus — complete with Brendan McCarthy’s amazing psychedelic covers — but sadly, DC only individually collected three volumes of his work. Nonetheless, if you’re into weird — or just quality — fiction, I suggest seeking them out, as they’re (thankfully) still in-print, and then pick up the remaining issues via dollar-bins because I’m not about to lend out mine.

https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/shade-the-changing-man-1990/shade-the-changing-man-vol-1-the-american-scream-new-printing

BIG SWISS (2023)

May 13, 2023

Everyone knows the saying: “Never judge a book by its cover.”

Yeah, fuck that saying.

I’ll never refuse to read a book because of a terrible cover — I just bought a used Muriel Spark book that features an extremely off-putting cover, however I’m sure I’ll love it because it’s fucking Muriel Spark — but I will often buy a book solely because of a sharply designed, well-executed cover.

Jen Beagin’s BIG SWISS was one of those books. I mean, come on, scroll back up to the top of this post. I saw the cover, refrained from opening it, balked at reading the inscription in the slipcover and thought to myself: “I don’t know what this book is about, but I know I need it.”

I’ll note that I saw that one of my favorite media critics, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, wrote the best take on this novel — which I read well after reading the novel — please: read her words! Similarly, we both were won over on the cover alone.

(Worth noting? Kayla also pays lip service to Rebecca Dinerstein Knight’s novel HEX, which I absolutely loved and spilled some words about.)

BIG SWISS is a whirlwind of a novel, all focused on a capital L Literary take on queerness, therapy, interloping, trauma, power dynamics and middle-aged insecurities. It’s about a 45-year-old fuckup of a woman falling in lust with a far-younger married woman and the cavalcade that comes with that undertaking, all while also trepidatiously straddling the trauma that both women have endured. It moves at a breathless pace and features some absolutely filthy notes that I have no idea how will be adapted in the forthcoming TV series. (Apparently it was optioned by Jodie Comer (KILLING EVE) a good year before it was even published.) That said, I certainly appreciate that they exist in the actual text. It also hedges way too close to home for me, something I never predicted based on the cover.

I read this while visiting family and couldn’t stop blushing, but also couldn’t stop reading it. It’s an exhilarating swing of a novel, one that is naked about its approach.

(Oh, I forgot to mention: there are a lot of bees. Way too many bees, and I’m someone who was told at a young age: “Don’t let a bee sting you” and I later rode a horse that trampled over a hornet’s nest and they took it out on me and also proceeded to ride a lawnmower over a wasp’s nest and they also took it out on me so I should kind of be dead by now, and I should feel a bit more affected by this material, but oddly I am not. Also: yes, I realize honeybees are completely different from wasps and hornets, but their stinger threat is still similar.)

You can purchase BIG SWISS via bookshop.org here.

HARLEY QUINN: THE ANIMATED SERIES: THE EAT. BANG! KILL. TOUR (2021-2022)

May 12, 2023

As I’ve noted before, I will never, ever shut up about the animated HARLEY QUINN show.

However, this is about the off-shoot comic series: HARLEY QUINN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, of which the first volume — “The Eat. BANG! Kill. Tour” — fills in the space between the second and third seasons, fleshing out the honeymoon period between Harley and Ivy. It’s penned by Tee Franklin (who willed the amazing Black elder queer comic BINGO LOVE into the world) with art by Max Sarin (John Allison’s GIANT DAYS — whose BOBBINS webcomic I dearly miss but also, goddamn, just let your eyes stare at how brilliantly that cover is designed), colors by Marissa Louise and lettered by Taylor Esposito, all working at the height of their powers.

I’ve spilled a lot of words about the TV show, but I came to this off-shoot with a bit of reluctance. I’ve been burned by so many opportunistic print cash-ins so many times, but figured I’d give it a go.

Reader: it’s amazing.

It’s even filthier and sexier and emotional than the show, but still sensitive and never exploitative. Franklin knows how to handle intimacy and physical wants and needs and exploration in a mannered way that feels both controlled but also raw.

While the show’s visuals are far more expressive than most animated shows, Sarin takes this to the next level. Everyone speaks through their eyes and mouths and arms, and Harley is constantly throwing herself around, and both Harles’ and Ive’s hair curls so beautifully and I sparkle through each and every page. Every panel is something I revel to.

I don’t want to ignore Marissa Lousie’s work, which is marvelously restrained while also being vibrant, or Esposito’s work, which is significantly nuanced until it shouldn’t be.

However, what’s most notable is that, while Harley’s name is on the cover, this is mostly about telling Ivy’s side of their romance and detailing how she feels about (spoiler alert) Kite Man and her breaking up at their own wedding, and reconciling her own personal trauma via her childhood, the latter of which is never quite touched on in the show (and Harley is too myopic to ask about). It’s a perfect exploration of an already brilliant journey.

If you are a fan of the show, or even if you aren’t — you can go in completely blind and they’ll explicitly catch you up — it’s an absolute delight of a read.

https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/harley-quinn-the-animated-series-vol-1-the-eat-bang-kill-tour

TWIN MIRROR (2020)

May 11, 2023

(PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox) TWIN MIRROR is the most recent game from LIFE IS STRANGE developer Don’t Nod, and it certainly feels like one. It’s yet another narrative-forward interactive adventure game focused on character interactions, dialogue branches, story-changing decisions, escapism and fantasy via superhero elements, and traumatic deaths.

In fact, it eeriely mirrors the first LIFE IS STRANGE game in a number of narrative and mechanical ways, even down to the protagonist having ghosted their best friend for years, then returning to their hometown, and it essentially recreates the ‘high school dream sequence’ Max endures where you’re endlessly walking through hallways and doors.

While it doesn’t take place in the Pacific Northwest, it does take place in rural West Virginia, and even features similar sequences from LIFE IS STRANGE 2 such as road and forest exploration, as well as looking after a plucky but rebellious youth.

So, you could say Don’t Nod have more than a house style; they have a house template.

Let me rewind a bit.

TWIN MIRROR features middle-aged ex-investigative journalist washout Sam Higgs who, after being rebuffed by a marriage proposal to his co-worker Anna, abandoned his hometown after penning an expose of the town’s central mining industry, causing them to shutter and forcing many folks out of work.

He returns two years later to attend the funeral of his prior best friend and co-journalist Nick, who appears to have died in a car crash. Matters escalate, and dramatic intrigue sets in, and Sam only has Anna and a mysterious other to help him sort matters out.

What results is something that feels like an odd fusion of LIFE IS STRANGE, recent SILENT HILL games, and the Frogware Sherlock Holmes games. As mentioned earlier, it borrows a lot from LIFE IS STRANGE, but the bland, middle-aged protagonist, mining town, and guilt-obsession and illusionary characters feels very SILENT HILL, and the deduction puzzles are very Frogware. (Hell, they even include ‘Mind Palaces’.)

So, yeah, it’s an amalgamation that is perfect for me as I love all of those games, but perhaps not for everyone else.

Sadly, if you’re expecting the quirky, queer characters as seen in LIFE IS STRANGE, you should look elsewhere. These characters are straight archetypes; all older angst and repression. However, if you enjoy murder mysteries and adventure games, it’s a well-developed work.

FOETUS – [RLGN]

May 10, 2023

FRONT 242 – “Religion [Pussy Whipped]”

Obviously, I love J.G. Thirlwell (even if I keep misspelling his name as Thirwell or Jim Thirlwell) as well as his FOETUS project.

However, one my favorite pieces of his is a remix of another band’s song that he doesn’t even remember remixing: FRONT 242’s “Religion [Pussy Whipped]”, from their 1993 album 06:21:03:11 Up Evil. (Yes, that’s the actual title of the album.) It’s also available via FRONT 242’s “Religion” single, along with two other Thirlwell remixes.

It’s wall-to-wall percussion and hard-hitting noise. He knew the assignment even if he was fucking shitfaced while doing so, and it’s inadvertently brilliant, and I routinely solo-rock out to it.

It’s a perfectly punctuated stereo realization of the original “Religion” and it echoes in my brain so many years after I first heard it.

“YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME DIE! Swallow your priiide. Swallow your priiiiddeeeeee. LET ME BURN YOU, LET ME BURN YOU, LET ME BURN IT DOWN! BURN IT DOWN!”

FOETUS – [ADAM]

May 9, 2023

“(Not Adam)”

As previously mentioned, Thirlwell is a consummate composer, and “(Not Adam)” — from his 2005 album LOVE, as well as the (NOT ADAM) EP — finds him firing on all cylinders: the rolling percussion, the screaming strings, and especially the harpischord; it’s an amalgam of aural hedonism.

I will note: the following video is a bit disturbing in phantasmagoric ways and not exactly safe for work; it’s basically a twisted fever dream. Kind of surprised it was even made, frankly. I do enjoy it but I am a pretty messed up individual.

“As serious as cancer, as subtle as a heart attack.”

FOETUS – [SLNG]

May 8, 2023

“Slung”

There was a brief period of time where, after roughly twenty years of hard work, it looked like Thirlwell would be ‘The Next Big Thing’ in a post NINE INCH NAILS world. Sony threw a bunch of money at him.

What did he do with that cash?

Why, during the heyday of the swing revival he, he recorded his full-band swing song “Slung”.

“That doesn’t sound unusual!” you may be asking yourself.

And the first three minutes are not. But “Slung” is almost 12 minutes long, and the bulk of it lacks vocals, so make of that what you will. Thirlwell loves to push boundaries and he loves to compose. He knew he’d never get another chance at this so he went for broke, and — at least for me — it paid off.

“Why am I so paralyzed by the majesty of thighs?!”

While I loved FOETUS’s prior works, “Slung” made me a lifelong member. It’s so crazed but also expertly handled, while also being filthy in the only way that Thirlwell can be. It’s an absolutely singular piece that I can’t help but return to every few months.

It’s an epic work, well-worth every dollar they wrung from Thirlwell — because if you know how studios work, you have to pay that shit back. It’s a fucking deal with the devil.

I’ll note: the album photo? That’s real. I don’t know how he pulled off that very expensive bit, but props to him and Sony. It’s not easy to show projected pseudo-wartime tits in Times Square, much less get a wide-release displaying all of it, plus under the title of FOETUS and your album being named “GASH” but I think we’re in a better world for it.

“I INSIST I STAY ALIVE!”

FOETUS – [CIRR]

May 6, 2023

“Cirrhosis Of The Heart (Amon Tobin mix)”

Normally, Thirlwell is a pretty self-possessed individual; one who remixes but doesn’t allow remixes of his own works.

I’m thankful he allowed for BLOW to exist because the results are amazing, especially this Amon Tobin remix of “Cirrhosis Of The Heart”.

Enjoy.

FOETUS – [SSYP]

May 5, 2023

“The Ballad of Sisyphus T. Jones”

This is an absolutely thunderous maelstrom of a spaghetti western-influenced song.

It exemplifies all of the best attributes of FOTEUS/Thirlwell: leaning on pre-existing genres, while twisting them to more idiosyncratic means.

One of the best part of FOETUS and Thirlwell is: he loves strings! As an ex-cello player, I revel in that sort of thing!

It is absolutely brilliant and endlessly listenable.