REMEMBER THE TIME WHEN YOU WERE A GIRL FROM MARS?

When I ran across Zaxy.com and discovered their subtitle was "That Girl is a Geek," I knew they were a site I could get behind. So, I sent Tara, their comics girl, a copy of Spell Checkers Volume 1, and she totally dug it! She included it in her countdown to Free Comic Book Day.

"This ain’t no Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The graphic novel reads like a wittier, current Mean Girls. And these girls are, indeed, mean. You’re rooting for the anti-hero, and you have a great time doing it.

But don’t worry boys, the writing and action is funny, fast paced, and cool enough to keep you hooked even if catty teenage girls aren’t your thing."

More in the link. Spend some time nosing around their site, it's totally worth it. They have a fun, different perspective.

Bonus illo for this post: Nico drew me this little drawing of Kimmie at Stumptown. Strathmore was handing out samples of some cool trading-card-sized paper for artists to use at shows, and he and Joëlle were passing fabulous mini sketches back and forth.

Actual size: 2 1/2" X 3 1/2"

Current Soundtrack: Gorillaz, "Three Hearts, Seven Seas, Twelve Moons;" Interpol, "Lights" (free download); Ash, "Arcadia/Space Shot (live)" (free download)

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2010 Jamie S. Rich

WHAT DO YA WANT FOR NOTHING? A RUBBER BISCUIT?

This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, and that means that all over the U.S. (and maybe even outside it), comic book retailers are going to have lots of free comics for fans and non-fans alike to give a try. This includes the first issue of Oni's awesome The 6th Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt, which I cannot recommend enough. I read it in Chicago and loved it.

You can look at the offical FCBD site for more info on stores in your area, but if you're in Portland, you can also plan to come see myself and Joëlle Jones at the Things from Another World on Sandy. We'll be there from 4-7, and I'm excited because we'll be sharing time with Steve Lieber, Erika Moen, and Terry and Rachel Dodson. Peep the full TFAW signing schedule for all their locations here. They promise that plenty of our books will be on hand--alas, those will cost you!

My pals Mike and Laura Allred will also be out and about, though they'll be at Cosmic Monkey.

Other quick links:

* Colleen Mondor reposts her review of You Have Killed Me at a noir-oriented site.

* Another great plug for my Audrey Portfolio, this one from Ducktastic.

Current Soundtrack: CocoRosie, Grey Oceans album stream

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2010 Jamie S. Rich

HOLLYWOOD GIRL ON THE FIRE ESCAPE: Stumptown 2010 edition

As promised, here are the sketches I got at this weekend's Stumptown Comics Festival.

Nicolas Hitori de


Monica Gallagher


Joëlle Jones


Angie Wang


Emi Lenox

Nico also drew me this awesome sketch in my open-themed book.

As always, the entire Audrey Hepburn portfolio is online at my Flickr account.

Thanks to the article I did for the Schulz Museum, I've gotten some great plugs for the portfolio at some of the comics blog. My appreciation to the folks at the Beat and Robot 6.

Current Soundtrack: Glee (I don't know why, I hate this show, and I sing "Beautiful" way better than that girl when I do karaoke)

WE ARE THE CROWD, WE ARE CO-COMING OUT

Stumptown 2010 has come and gone. It was a great show, including post-game karaoke with pals from Dark Horse and Fantagraphics and a DJ set by Paul Pope. I bought a few things, made a little money, talked and talked and talked. I got a few sketches I'll be posting in the next couple of days, but first, some on-the-town paparazzi snaps of the in-demand Spell Checkers crew.

Nicolas Hitori de


Joëlle Jones


Jamie S. Rich

Thanks to everyone who stopped by. We met lots of wonderful people. (Shout outs to Bryon and J. Eric!) Again, I'll be posting more as the days come by, including maybe some info on minicomics I was given.

A few more photos here.

Current Soundtrack: Catching up on TV, right now watching this week's "Survivor"

LAUGHING GAS THIS HAZMAT

Just a quick post of a couple links. Nico is here and we're about to visit Oni, and Stumptown starts tomorrow.

* The wonderful Jen Vaughn asked me to contribute an article to the Schulz Library blog, writing about the art of the convention sketchbook. You can read the article here.

Let's not forget Jen's own contribution to my sketch collection:

* And Broken Frontier weighs in with the first negative review of Spell Checkers, and it's absolutely hysterical. Dude, takes it way seriously. Read the whole thing, but some choice nuggets:

"I’m not really sure what inspired writer Jamie S. Rich to pen this story. Personally, I couldn’t have been less interested in this comic book if it was a graphic rendition of my home owner’s insurance policy."

"There are also quite a few problems with the actual mechanics of the book’s story. Because I disliked the three main characters so strongly, I focused my attention on the actual rules of the witchcraft being used. The three girls draw their powers from magical dolls that are consecrated in each others’ blood. And, what witch story doesn’t have a grimoire? There’s one here, and each witch takes her turn with the book, studying it and learning new spells. And yet, these spells are so simple it’s not even necessary to study them at all. For example, so Kimberly can smoke in class, she simply says “bubble,” and an enchanted bubble appears around her to contain the smoke. This is what the great witches of old transcribed into their dusty tomes: easy tips to help bratty teens go forth in life with their dirty habits? This is the legacy of great real-world occultists like John Dee and Jack Parsons. It’s a tragedy."

"It’s unfortunate that the artwork of Nicholas Hitori de doesn’t lend anything to this comic. His illustrations are incredibly sketchy, with lines appearing blurred and sloppy. These drawings look like rough drafts instead of final products. But the real problem with the artwork is the mass of uncountable Ben-Day dots. I don’t know the reason for them, whether it’s stylistic or for printing costs, but they are so intrusive to the artwork that they left me dizzied."

I had to look up Ben-Day dots. That's my favorite part. I am not sure if he thinks they don't require actual ink or because they are so old we get them on special or what, but the printing process eludes this poor gentleman.

Absolute love!

Current Soundtrack: Gorillaz, "The Sounder;" Cabaret Voltaire, "Breathe Deep"

I DON'T WANT TO BE A LOSER

NEW IN THEATRES...

* The Losers, another comic book adaptation that doesn't quite succeed.

This review of the film by Bobby Roberts cracked me up.

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* Il Posto, Ermanno Olmi's 1961 portrait of dreams deferred. Featuring the failure of a wonderful teen romance.

* Summer Hours, the most recent from Olivier Assayas, looking at how we accumulate things in our lives and what they mean when we are gone.

THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...

* Mammoth, an intriguing drama from Swedish director Lukas Moodysson, highlighted knockout performances from Gael Garcia Bernal and the always wonderful Michelle Williams.

Current Soundtrack: CocoRosie, "Brazilian Sun;" Brook Benton, "It's Just A Matter Of Time"

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2010 Jamie S. Rich

JOY KICKS DARKNESS

Comics writer and one of the main dudes at the Portland Mercury, Erik Henriksen, gives Spell Checkers another great plug in his Stumptown rundown over at his blog.

To wit:

"A special shout-out regarding Spell Checkers, the latest project from my pals Jamie S. Rich and Joëlle Jones, created with artist Nicolas Hitori de. I read it last night in a single sitting and had an absolute blast doing so—it’s funny and clever and gorgeous and (if there is such a thing) charmingly mean-spirited. The book follows a trio of teenage witches, but instead of washing down chocolate frogs with Felix Felicis at Hogwarts, they spend their days cheating on tests, seducing boys, and making life a living hell for all of the non-magical kids in their school. It’s definitely recommended, and you should go out right now and buy several copies—or at least head over to Oni Press for more info, including a 22-page preview. Also, Jamie, Joëlle, and Nicolas will have a table at Stumptown this weekend, which conveniently brings this whole post (sort of) full circle."

His reference to this Felix person makes me feel like one of the girls. "I don't know what that is. Are you speaking Na'vi again?"

Erik is the scribe behind The Warriors: Jalibreak, which he blabs about here. The first issue came out from the Dabel Bros., and hopefully Dynamite is getting it back on track. I enjoyed it, and I have actually never seen the original The Warriors movie, so he must have done something right.

And since I am listening to Morrissey at the moment, might as well post the song that gave Spell Checkers its first chapter title, and which is the unofficial subtitle of the volume: "Because of My Poor Education."

Comic Book Reviews The Guild, HER-oes, Farscape

Spell Checker's leads the way in this week's video review session at TFAW!

MY MERCURY'S IN RETROGRADE

One of the local weeklies, the Portland Mercury, has some great comics coverage this week for Stumptown, and they include a review of Spell Checkers written by Courtney Ferguson. The whole thing is in the link:

"Spell Checkers jumps between present-day, manga-style drawings by Nicolas Hitori De, and clean, beautiful work by Joëlle Jones, who draws the witches in kindergarten flashbacks. The pairing of the two styles is initially a bit jarring--Hitori De's work is wispy and light, which makes the 15-year-olds look more juvenile than in Jones' crisp drawings. But settling into Jamie S. Rich's story it becomes apparent that the witches have devolved into a childish high-school power play, with Jones' work emphasizing how strong the girls were before boys and clothes took precedence. The sum result is a fun, fast book--one to follow as the Spell Checkers series continues."

The paper also has a review of Hope Larson's Mercury, which I highly recommend.

Current Soundtrack: "Jeopardy" on the teevee

JUST LOOK INTO HER FALSE-COLORED EYES

Not to be outdone by the girls of Spell Checkers, the dangerous ladies of You Have Killed Me have seduced their way into another awesome review. Tales from the Parents Basement/Astonishing Reviews has a new rave on their site, written by Ryan Doman.

A taste:

"The art by Joëlle Jones is jaw-dropping. This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen. I’m no artist, but there were times when I actually stopped reading and asked myself 'How the hell did she do that?' It takes something really special for me to stop reading the story and detach myself from the whole experience to pay special attention to one facet of the books creation - be that the art, the writing, or whatever. There was a few times that I stopped reading and just absorbed what I had just seen on the page. Beautiful, astounding work. The mood created by her art was incredible. She had certainly done her homework with some film noir classics, and it paid off in a big way.

Mr. Rich had done his homework as well. The plot and dialogue was pitch-perfect. Chandler and Spillane would have given this a 'thumbs up' - if not been a little jealous. Hard-boiled one-liners to die for. For such a nice gentleman (I’ve met him in person, and heard/seen interviews) he sure can write TOUGH very well. You can tell this was written by someone who has loved noir, and understands the conventions of the genre."

The rest in the link.

Current Soundtrack: Gorillaz, "On Melancholy Hill"

THE GIRLS IN THEIR WINTER CLOTHES

Spell Checkers vol. 1 goes on sale today, so what better time to give you a sneak peek at vol. 2?

Nico does a sketch before starting each chapter of the book so he can get a handle on what the girls are going to wear in that section. The second comic starts out during winter break, so here is a drawing of the ladies dressed for the cold.

The response to Spell Checkers has been great so far, I can't wait for the mass audience to get their hands on it.

Things also look good right now for Nico to make his flight tomorrow. Of course, we thought that Monday, so nothing is set until his feet are on the ground in Portland. The Comics Journal has a full rundown on what will be on display at Stumptown here, and Joëlle Jones and I both gave them answers. It's going to be a good show. We'll be at table 16, right next to Oni.

Current Soundtrack: P.M. Dawn, "The Puppet Show"

UH-HUH, THAT'S MY SH*T

Nico just pointed me to another great Spell Checkers Volume 1 review that I hadn't seen.

Geek Girl on the Street has given us a rave! Here is the lead of the piece:

"It’s Gossip Girl meets The Craft. Or Heathers meets Carrie. Or if Buffy the Vampire Slayer focused on Cordelia instead of the title character.

Or you know, maybe all and none of those things at the same time. Spell Checkers, due out from Oni Press on April [21], isn’t like most stories involving magical teens that tend to drive home the point that these are misunderstood kids looking to reclaim some power or something. They’re always the nerds, the kids that get made fun of. That’s not at all the case here, and it’s a great twist."

Read the whole thing here. Plus, you get to see what I guess is the site's very cool avatar in the sidebar.

One more day until the book is in stores. Tune in tomorrow for a sneak peak at volume 2. Yeah, you heard me!

Current Soundtrack: Suede, "Killer"

TEENIE WEENIE BOPPIE

One of my favorite interviewers, Tim O'Shea over at Talking Comics with Tim, grills our little pal Nico about Spell Checkers.

Read the full interview here, but here's a sneak:

O'Shea: You really execute some interesting panel layouts on certain pages, was that something you and Jamie discussed doing or was that totally your idea?

Hitori de: Jamie’s script was actually very clear with panel description but I was free to draw the panel layouts by myself. I think panel arrangement is especially important for the storytelling, it gives the book rhythm and establishes atmosphere. I’m heavily influenced by cinema and I always try to think of the page as a movie storyboard. I also like how dynamic manga pages are, with big twisted panels and characters coming out of them.

Again, Spell Checkers goes on sale Wednesday!

Current Soundtrack: Christina Aguilera, "Not Myself Tonight;" Dubstar, "I'm In Love With a German Film Star"



[ignore the on sale date at Amazon, it will be in stock shortly]

THANKS FOR CHICAGO, MR. JAMES

Spell Checkers is out this week, and I just got back from the C2E2 event in Chicago where we debuted the book and promoted the hell out of it. Some interesting product opportunities are possibly on the horizon, too, stuff we will be firming up shortly.

For those who came to C2E2, thanks so much! It was a fun show, and the fans were wonderful.

For those who didn't, check out Charlie Chu's Oni-centric Flickr stream from the show.

Also, Comic Book Resources has a really good write-up of the Oni Press panel, which I was a part of. This snazzy picture of myself and Ray Fawkes comes from that.

You really need to check out Ray's book Possessions. It's awesome.

Stumptown is this weekend. The show released its floorplan, and Joëlle, Nico, and I are sitting at page 16, right next to the Oni table. Nico is currently scheduled to fly out here on Thursday. Fingers crossed. He had rescheduled for today, and that flight got canceled, too.

By the way, Tales from the Parents Basement have a podcast from Emerald City that includes Joëlle and myself, a quick snippet around the 37-minute mark. They also talk about meeting Mike Allred just before us, starting just past the 35-minute mark. The actual interviews then show up later, with Joëlle and I at around 54:40.

Tales from the Parents Basement - Issue 54 - Emerald City Comic Con Review - Part 1!

Current Soundtrack: Blur, "Fool's Day" (download info); Mos Def mash-up Mos Dub (download info)

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2010 Jamie S. Rich

IT'LL PULL YOU FURTHER OUT TO SEA, IT'LL PULL YOU IN A DREAM

UPDATED WITH MY SIGNING SCHEDULE

Just a quick reminder that the Spell Checkers team is hitting the road!

Joost Swarte image taken from The Ephemerist, all rights reserved

Spell Checkers written by me and illustrated by Nicolas Hitori de and Joëlle Jones goes on sale next week, but our publisher Oni Press will be premiering it this weekend at C2E2, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo. Details on the event here. The show runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 4/16-18.

I will be appearing at C2E2 all three days, signing at the Oni Press booth. I will be there most of the con, but if you want to be sure to find me, stop by the Oni table at the times below. One confirmed event is I will be at the Oni Press panel on Saturday, running 1:30 to 2:30.

Fri
5:30 to 7

Sat
12 to 1:30
1:30 to 2:30 (panel)
3 to 4:30

Sun
10 to 1:30

Sunday I will need to leave around 3:00, so I am expecting to stay at the booth as long as possible until I have to bail.

Please note that due to the volcanoes in Iceland, Nicolas Hitori de has had his flight canceled and at this hour cannot make C2E2. (That is such a surreal thing to type.) This obviously bums us out, but there is nothing we can do.

Here is the cover of the book. Click on it to go through to the Oni Press page for the project, which also features a 22-page preview.

Next weekend, April 24 & 25, we'll also be at the Stumptown Comics Festival in Portland, Oregon, where Joëlle Jones and I have a table, and provided he can make new travel arrangements, Nico will be there, too. Since we'll have our own set-up, we'll be there straight through. Stumptown is a great show, and there are a ton of awesome guests. Check it out.

Portland folks can also see Joëlle and I on Free Comic Book Day. We'll be signing at the Things from Another World store on Sandy on May 1 starting at 4:00.

Current Soundtrack: The Clash, "Lost in the Supermarket;" The Good, the Bad & the Queen, "Northern Whale;" Camille Saint-Saëns, "Danse Macabre;" Gorillaz, "Superfast Jellyfish (Unicorn Kid Remix);" Muse, "The Groove"

ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH

NEW IN THEATRES...

* The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, an adapation of the Stieg Larsson novel that is largely successful thanks to an incomparable performance by Noomi Rapace. Starts in Portland this weekend at Cinema 21, who have really had an impressive calendar as of late.

* The Joneses, a flawed but mostly entertaining and original satire on the culture of consumption. With David Duchovny and Demi Moore.

* Kick-Ass, the adaptation of the Mark Millar/John Romita Jr. comic. For once, I think the movie is better than the source. Well, except for that JR Jr. art. You can't beat that!

For those curious about the comic, Floating World here in Portland tells me they have the hardcover back in stock and free KA T-shirts with purchase!

THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...

* The Fugitive Kind - Criterion Collection: Marlon Brando. Anna Magnani. Sidney Lumet. Tennessee Williams. What more do you need to know? (Also at Criterion Confessions.)

* Vivre sa vie - Criterion Collection, one of the best from the Godard/Karina collaboration. Also, one of my favorite of reviews in a long time. (Cross-posed at Criterion Confessions.)

* The Young Victoria with Emily Blunt. Whatever happened to the Teenage Queen?

Current Soundtrack: The Indelicates, Songs For Swinging Lovers - name your price, and buy it direct from the band!

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2010 Jamie S. Rich

WRAP YOUR TROUBLES IN DREAMS

NEW IN THEATRES/UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

A double dose of Akira Kurosawa this week, including a theatrical reissue!

* Ran, the master's 1985 take on King Lear is restored with a brand new print on its 25th birthday. Cinema 21 has it for a week starting tomorrow, so Portlanders should clear their calendars.

* Sanjuro, the sequel to Yojimbo continues the adventures of Toshiro Mifune's nameless samurai. (Not in theatres, get the DVD.)

NEW IN THEATRES...

* The Runaways, a mostly rockin' music biopic about the first all-girl rock band.

THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...

* The Imaginarium of Dr. Paranassus, the new film from Terry Gilliam, featuring Heath Ledger's last performance. I found it a lot smoother on second viewing, though still not Gilliam's best.

* The Italian Straw Hat, a 1927 silent farce from Rene Clair.

Current Soundtrack: MGMT, Congratulations (stream)



e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2010 Jamie S. Rich

WORDS, THEY MEAN NOTHING, SO YOU CAN'T STOP ME

Johanna Draper Carlson at Comics Worth Reading has posted another excellent review of Spell Checkers.

Here is the opening, click on the quote to read the rest:

"What if teen witches acted like real teens, mean and bitchy and selfish? That’s the appeal of this black-and-white graphic novel, out later this month from Oni Press.

Three girls cast a spell to give them power, vowing to be best friends forever. Now they’re in high school, and the way they rule the school is being questioned. Normally, they send duplicates to gym class and magically copy homework, but their spells aren’t working. Graffiti calls them names, they’re fighting over a guy, and in general, they’re cursed."

Johanna has a great site and a mega ton of reviews. Spend some time there when you get a chance.

Current Soundtrack: Doves, The Places Between: The Best of Doves

DIRTY DEAD MAN'S SHOES

Bam!

It's as if people like me all of a sudden.

The ever-wonderful Colleen Mondor has devoted her Bookslut in Training column this month to "The Mysteries of Youth" and she has kindly given special dispensation to include You Have Killed Me. Her extended blurb is below, but check out the whole column. Her writing is sharp and she always has great recommendations.

"Going from a girl who loves noir to an actual noir mystery, I was really impressed with You Have Killed Me, a new graphic novel from Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones. This one has it all, and it starts with the first-rate design by Oni Press. The cover is awesome (please, feel free to judge this one by the cover), but it’s the story that really sings -- and for fans of the genre (or those, like Suma’s Dani, who are brand new), it is an absolute killer. Set in 1939, the plot centers around P.I. Mercer and two women -- one who has hired him, and one who is missing. Mercer has a long, complicated involvement with the missing woman and her family, so this one is personal. All too fast, his questions find him with more clues than he can believe. There is the upcoming marriage to the wrong guy, the gambling habit that has drawn the attention of the powerful bad guy, and the attraction for the black trumpet player who had to know he had no real shot with the rich white dame (but tried anyway). Mercer gets beat to hell and back -- the story actually opens with him getting shot, and then flashes back -- and the twists and turns are perfection. From cops who push him around, to a murder at the racetrack, to revelations hidden behind wide, innocent-looking eyes, "classic" does not even begin to describe this book. And don’t think you have it figured out, because trust me, you don’t.

Special things of note: the black-and-white drawings are crisp and clean, and Jones is to be commended in particular for how much emotion she conveys on these faces. The dialog is snappy (it’s 1939; of course it’s snappy!), the slang right out of every good late-night movie you’ve ever seen, and the use of text boxes to carry Mercer’s thoughts forward -- even as dialogue bubbles surround him -- effectively keeps everything straight for the reader. A lot of work went into making this a first-class reading experience, and it shows. True to its nature, bold in its design, and classic in each and every word and picture You Have Killed Me is the introduction to noir that any reader will embrace. The coolest kids in class will be reading this one, trust me. And when you’re done with it, please watch Key Largo -- proof that noir doesn’t have to exist in a big city to be flat-out awesome. (High-school age only on this one -- it’s written for adults, and would best suit the fifteen-and-up crowd.)"

You know why I like Colleen? Because she knows how awesome Key Largo is. I would totally be a kept man in Lauren Bacall's houseboat.

Current Soundtrack: Laura Marling, I Speak Because I Can (full album stream) - are we sure this isn't just Beth Orton under the wrong name?

PICK IT UP, LAY IT IN THE CUT

Elisabeth at Things From Another World conducted a Spell Checkers-centric interview with Joëlle Jones and I at Emerald City. In which, not surprisingly, I hog the microphone. Yeah, I suck.

And the tables have turned. Now the Allreds are our background extras! Haw!

TFAW is a local store here in Portland. Order Spell Checkers vol. 1 from them and get 20% off.

Joëlle and I will also be signing at their Sandy Blvd. store on Free Comic Book Day, May 1st, at 4 pm.

Current Soundtrack: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, I Learned the Hard Way ($6.99 download!)

YET THE LANGUAGE THAT YOU USE REACTS LIKE CHEMICALS

Over at Robot 6, every Sunday is "What Are You Reading?" day, when a bunch of the writers for the blog share the books they've read this week.

This week, Brigid Alverson read an advance copy of Spell Checkers:

"Spell Checkers is the bad-girl answer to all those cute high school witch stories. The three antiheroines of Jamie S. Rich’s graphic novel, due out from Oni in two weeks, basically mugged a witch for her spell book and have been using it ever since to ensure they are top dogs at home and at school. With basically no controls, they smoke in school, cheat on their homework, skip out of gym, and slag on each other constantly. They are terrible role models but a lot of fun to watch. Joelle Jones, whose work I really admired in Token, designed the characters and draws the flashback sequences, while Nicolas Hitori De handles the rest of the artwork, using a manga-influenced style that’s a bit heavy on the screentones for my taste. The story is great, though, and it’s a lot of fun watching the main characters be as bad as they can be."

Read the full article here. Brigid also makes me curious about Alice in the Country of Hearts, and their guest reviewer is Dylan Horrocks, author of Hicksville.

Current Soundtrack: Brett Anderson, Tour 2010 - Live in Berlin - 01.02.2010

DOUBLE KNOTS

Two-page article from the May 2010 Wizard!

Current Soundtrack: The Bird and the Bee, Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1 - A Tribute to Daryl Hall & John Oates

SOMETIME AROUND MIDNIGHT

Chris Allen over at Trouble with Comics invited me to be a part of their Guest Reviewer Month. There was no mandate, I just had to write about some comics I really liked. I took the opportunity to dig into my back shelves and pull out Howard Chaykin's Time². As the piece explains, I hadn't read the books since they were released in the mid-80s, and my mind wasn't just blown, the whole back of my head got taken off.

Here's a sample of what I wrote, linking to the full piece:

"...now that I’ve spent a couple of hours getting reacquainted with Time², all I can say is, “Holy geez god what the — WOW!” I know I strain the boundaries of hyperbole here, but these two books are like some kind of lost masterpiece. How is it that these aren’t constantly being talked about? How is fandom not collectively rattling some cages to get these comics reprinted? More people should know about this! Time² is truly one of the weirdest, craziest, most gonzo pieces of sci-fi pulp fiction you’re ever going to come across. Howard Chaykin has created a unique and fully realized world. It’s the type of thing that the Europeans get a lot of praise for doing in their books, but only a guy born in Newark, NJ, raised in the latter half of the 20th century on comics and jazz and nutso 1960s dreams of a whacked-out future could have come up with Time²."

Before anyone asks, hell no, I will not loan you my copies!

Here are a couple of images from the books that I found online: that cover I rave about, an example of the amazing lettering prowess of Ken Bruzenak, and an awesome teaser ad.

Current Soundtrack: Janelle Monáe feat. Big Boi, "Tightrope;" The Airborne Toxic Event, "Sometime Around Midnight"

IRRESISTIBLE BITCHES

Greg McElhatton has posted an awesome first review of Spell Checkers vol. 1 over at Read About Comics. Follow the quote to read the whole thing.

"How bitchy do you like your bitchy-high-school-girls stories? That, at the end of the day, is going to determine how much you like the new Spell Checkers series of graphic novels from Oni Press. Because trust me, Jamie S. Rich, Nicolas Hitore de, and Joëlle Jones have created a supremely bitchy trio of witches here, and while I suspect that will be a turn-off to some readers, other ones are going to laughing their heads off and cheering the ladies on for much, much more."

Current Soundtrack: Teenage Fanclub, "Baby Lee" (free download); Prince, "Irresistible Bitch"

OF MONSTERS & HEROES & MEN

NEW IN THEATRES...

* Clash of the Titans. Yes, yes, I know you want big monsters fighting, but do you also want to be bored by those same monsters and totally unimpressed by the digital effects and 3D? Then by all means, let the gods punish you.

* The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg & the Pentagon Papers, a compelling documentary about the man who tried--and kind of succeeded--to stop the Vietnam War.

The Most Dangerous Man opens in Portland at Cinema 21 this weekend, and Daniel Ellsberg will be appearing on Friday and Saturday to answer questions. Check their site for details.

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* Yojimbo, the samurai romp from Akira Kurosawa, who recently had his 100th birthday.

THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...

* Gogol Bordello Non-Stop, a documentary about the gypsy punks.

* Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa, a difficult boxed set from the Portuguese director. Neorealism in the Lisbon slums. (Also at Criterion Confessions.)

Current Soundtrack: Suede, High Hopes bootleg comp of early material and live performances;

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All text (c) 2010 Jamie S. Rich