SAVAGE SYMPOSIUM: WILSON by DAN CLOWES

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on May 10, 2010

Categories: Symposiums

Dan Clowes is the cartoonist and author of a considerable number of the most celebrated comics of the past 20 years, including GHOST WORLD, DAVID BORING, ICE HAVEN and THE DEATH RAY, all of which originated in his EIGHTBALL anthology series.  His most recent publication is WILSON, his first original graphic novel published by DRAWN & QUARTERLY and released on April 28, 2010. WILSON prompted the following Savage Critic round-table discussion, which took place via the internet between May 2 and May 9, 2010.

Abhay Did Capsule Reviews in April 2010

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on April 3, 2010

Categories: Reviews

I think the last time I tried to do capsule reviews was in 2008; honestly, I don’t think I’m too good at them.  But let me type anyways, let me stretch the old “whine about comics, boo-hoo, comics make me :( emoticon” muscles, lest they atrophy. Oh, what a tragedy that would be.  If you’ll indulge me.

An Interview with Donald Glut, by Abhay

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on March 31, 2010

Categories: Interviews

I noticed a promotional campaign for a vampire novel the other day:  PULP 2.0 Press, a pulp-fiction company, was promoting the re-release of BROTHER BLOOD, a “Blaxploitation” vampire novel written in 1969, set on Los Angeles’s Sunset Strip.  The author’s name– Donald Glut– rang a bell; sounded familiar.  Much later, I realized that I had seen his name any number of times in the last couple years, looking through the great old Warren magazines like EERIE for which he wrote extensively.  Some of you may also recognize his name from the novelization of the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Mr. Glut was gracious enough to agree to an interview.  I had intended this interview to concern his career in the comics, seeing…  Read More…

Does Abhay Rambling Incoherently about Webcomics Sound Fun? Oh. Oh well. Whoops.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on January 16, 2010

Categories: Reviews

It’s 2010. I wanted to start the decade by talking about the future. But, heck, I don’t know anything about the future. This one is just about webcomics. WARNING: this one is also particularly image intense. If that’s a concern for your computer, you might want to skip this one. If you google “overstimulated“– the seventh link google finds, at the time of this essay, is for a webcomic. The Webcomic List lists 15,075 comics at the time of this essay. That isn’t the total number of webcomics in existence; that’s just the number of webcomics that signed up for that particular website. So: more than 15,075. Maybe a little more, maybe significantly more– either way, more. Scott McCloud on…  Read More…

So, Why Do Nerdy Things Work? Abhay Concludes a 5-Part Series on BLUE BEETLE.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on December 29, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Why elves? Why mecha? Why Trekkers? Why Browncoats? Why mystery men? Why rocket men? Why invisible men? Why pulp? Why vampires, why werewolves, why creatures from the Black Lagoon? Why space opera, why slipstream, why sci-fi? Why splatterpunk, why steampunk, why cyberpunk, why mundane SF? Why Max Headroom? Why Mad Max? Why Sam & Max? Why Samwise Gamgee? Why cons? Why cosplay? Why LARP, why TMBG, why TARDIS? Why Felicia Day? Why Freddie, why Jason, why Eli Roth? Why kaiju, why Aeris, why 42? Why IDW, why BOOM!, why Oni? Why Marvel? Why DC? Uchhhhh, why me… Why do nerdy things work? I’ve got questions and no answers; you’ve apparently got free time. You’re reading the Savage Critics blog, and…  Read More…

Abhay Wrote a Quick Description of Dark Reign: The List — X-Men #1, For No Reason

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on December 4, 2009

Categories: Reviews

This one is not a review, really, so much as just a description of a Marvel comic book that was released in September 2009 called DARK REIGN: THE LIST — X-MEN #1. Spoiler warning! Here is my first attempt to explain the context of this comic: Marvel’s comics have been contributing to an ongoing “Event” storyline entitled DARK REIGN. Within that larger event, THE LIST was a smaller sub-event, marketed as follows: Marvel would combine its top writing and art talent (and also, some other people) on a series of one-shots that would feature pivotal moments in the ongoing DARK REIGN storyline. Specifically, it would feature the Green Goblin, the lead antagonist of the DARK REIGN event, attacking various key…  Read More…

Abhay spent the Imaginary Comic-Holiday writing about DAR: A SUPER GIRLY ETC.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on October 4, 2009

Categories: Reviews

DAR: A SUPER GIRLY TOP SECRET COMIC DIARY, VOLUME ONE by Erika Moen— I read a collection of Erika Moen’s journal webcomic DAR. I don’t know if it’s available in stores; it was an impulse buy from the internet. I was trying to find something the Savage Critic website’s own Mr. Douglas Wolk had written, and instead found his appearance on something called the Erika Moen Show. The Erika Moen Show is a video-podcast where Ms. Moen sits on a dimly-lit couch with various comic/webcomic luminaries, and proceeds to ask said luminaries a variety of questions, with the help of the disembodied voice of Ms. Moen’s off-screen husband. If you’re interested in how the internet is rewriting the cartoonist-audience relationship,…  Read More…

Abhay Re: Crime Novels.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on September 13, 2009

Categories: Reviews

COMICS: All blow. Instead, I’ve been reading CRIME NOVELS. I turned my attention to the girl beside me. She was a reasonably sized, well-proportioned, dark-haired, basically sound specimen of human female, but she was doing her best to hide the fact, at least the female fact. She had a boy’s haircut, or what used to be a boy’s haircut before they all started letting it grow. She also had a boy’s pants on, complete with fly—pretty soon nothing will be safe from women’s lib, not even our jock-straps. – from MATT HELM: THE INTRIGUERS, by Donald Hamilton. SEVERANCE PACKAGE by Duane Swiercynski: The back cover promised action: a group of office drones show up for a meeting at corporate headquarters,…  Read More…

Abhay: "3 Jacks" by Ann Nocenti, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth, and Chris Eliopoulos

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on September 4, 2009

Categories: Reviews

So, “3 Jacks”—pretty much the best Marvel comic of the year so far, right? Tim O’Neil agrees; I agree; I don’t know who else has weighed in. “3 Jacks” is a 13-page back-up feature in DAREDEVIL #500, created by Ann Nocenti, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth and Chris Eliopoulos. The rest of the comic is inert; not worth anyone’s time. But: “3 Jacks,” everybody! Where do we start? Well, let’s start with the first page. The opening panel: buildings in silhouette, with the Coney Island Parachute Jump tower above the skyline. I don’t know much about the Parachute Jump tower, but: at the angle chosen, the way Aja draws it, does it resembles a cross to you? Our metal-crucifix is located…  Read More…

Abhay: GUS AND HIS GANG by Chris Blain

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on June 16, 2009

Categories: Reviews

On account of the whole “busy” thing, I’ve missed out on most of the Big Books of the Year so far. And on account of the whole “$4! For what???” thing, I’ve missed out on most of the mainstream, too. Halfway into the year, I think my favorite book so far is probably GUS AND HIS GANG by Chris Blain, published by First Second. Hell, not even a 2009 book, released in 2008, already definitively and thoroughly reviewed by my betters, placing the following somewhere between drastically unnecessary and deeply embarrassing, really. Now up for an Eisner Award in the category of Best Book No One Cares Won an Eisner. The nomination is well deserved for the art alone; perfectly…  Read More…

Abhay Talks about Two Stacks of Comics.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on March 29, 2009

Categories: Reviews

At the beginning of March, I spent a week living out of a hotel room. Hotel-living turns into the fucking Shining for me pretty fast. Long creepy hallways of identical rooms, filled with strangers. Why are there so many pillows on hotel beds now? 9 pillows? 10 pillows? The classier the hotel, the more pillows on the bed. Occam’s Razor says that the logical conclusion is that fancy people like to play pillow fort on vacation. Plus, thanks to the Local Channel 6 News Action Eyewitness Investigation Squad-team on my TV, I’m convinced that if I had UV goggles, the entire room and all 20 pillows would all glow white-hot with fancy-man semen stains, like Tron bukkake aftermath. After the…  Read More…

Abhay’s Brief Note About Scott Pilgrim Volume 5.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on February 7, 2009

Categories: Reviews

In the coming weeks, it’s probable that much will be written about Bryan Lee O’Malley’s SCOTT PILGRIM Volume #5. It is EXCELLENT. This has been said with every installment, but: Volume #5 is the best written, most confidently executed installment of the series yet. Every comic, every success story attracts its share of Grinches– you know, it’s pretty fun to be that Grinch. But Volume #5 makes me so enormously sad for SCOTT PILGRIM’s Grinches. What a terrible fate that must be, to lack the capacity to enjoy this book. You’ve made terrible choices in life. So: I’m gushy sweaty spazzy about this book, basically– not a state of mind where anything I can write is well-advised or likely to…  Read More…

I’M FINISHED! Abhay Is Never Going to Write about SECRET INVASION Ever Again After #8.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on December 8, 2008

Categories: Reviews

So, with the eighth and final issue of SECRET INVASION now in hand, we’ve come finally to my favorite part. Not the ending of SECRET INVASION. The endings of crossovers are always lousy. The end of CIVIL WAR? Terrible ending. WORLD WAR HULK— I have no memory whatsoever of how that ended, and that’s a series I liked. INFINITE CRISIS— I still don’t understand the end of that series. RETURN OF THE JEDI— the Jedi wake up next to Bob Newhart from the THE BOB NEWHART SHOW…? No, my favorite part is spoiler-dodgin’. Marvel asks readers for, what, $32 (if not far more) for a crossover, by repeatedly promising them an ending that changes things… forever. But if you give…  Read More…

Speaking of Turkeys, Here’s Abhay’s FOURTH Blue Beetle Essay.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on November 28, 2008

Categories: Retailing/Industry , Reviews

I. Starting in April 2008, the SAVAGE CRITIC website began to bring you a five-part series on the cancellation of BLUE BEETLE. It “technically” hadn’t “happened” yet. “Technically”, BLUE BEETLE was only canceled on November 12th, but… It wasn’t exactly difficult to predict. And suddenly, last week: our little corner of the internet spasmed. Suddenly: I’m not alone. All sorts of people were asking themselves: “Why didn’t BLUE BEETLE succeed?” And their answers involved things being shoved into asses! I’m not alone, universe! I’m not alone! So… This one’s going to be extra ramble-y. Sorry. II. Before the blog post which received some attention last week, the book’s author, John Rogers posted an earlier statement to his (actually, otherwise quite…  Read More…

Secret Invasion #7: Is There Anything to Talk About With This Issue? Abhay Flounders.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on October 25, 2008

Categories: Reviews

The choice seven months ago was either to do this essay series for SECRET INVASION or to do this essay series for FINAL CRISIS. With it becoming more apparent than ever that FINAL CRISIS has run off its rails or might not have been on rails to begin with, production-wise… I think it behooves me to begin this, the penultimate SECRET INVASION essay by respectfully acknowledging that I win again, suckers. Let’s just say that I picked the right series, and let’s just say that a lot of you comics bloggers didn’t, and let’s just say that means that I won at blogging about comics, everybody! I know those of you who aren’t sore losers will wave while the sun…  Read More…

Abhay Atones For His Sins by Reviewing The Alcoholic

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on October 9, 2008

Categories: Reviews

THE ALCOHOLIC by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel; Published by DC-Vertigo, $19.99. I. I’d like to talk about the book design, for a moment. We’re a couple years after the point where smart, contemporary design is still surprising, but—but, still, great googly-moogly, the book design for THE ALCOHOLIC is glossy. Sepia-tinted author photos. A liberal use of Futura. The pages of the comic are book-ended by dark brown paper of a heavier stock. Taking off the slipcase reveals a carving of a bottle, with the book’s title for the bottle’s label. Every other odd page combines into a map to Bluebeard’s Treasure. Bluebeard’s Treasure is friendship. And the pull-quotes: a couple are from fanboy-world luminaries like Brian Vaughan and Neil…  Read More…

Abhay’s Sixth Review Of SKRULLS VERSUS NEW YORK Isn’t Very Cheerful For Some Reason.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on September 12, 2008

Categories: Reviews

BEFORE WE JUMP: Are fans excited about the SECRET INVASION? Can I watch them be excited? Through binoculars? Part of the pleasure I hoped to have from SECRET INVASION was voyeuristic. My emotional investment in the “Marvel Universe” is greater than an average person, true, but my suspicion is that it’s far, far, far behind that of the dedicated fans. The guys who love that company. The guys who have a favorite superhero they’ve been reading about for years. The guys who own costumes, and try to talk girls into attending Comic-Cum 2008. The Marvel Zombie. The True Believer. The Huddled Masses. The guys who get blamed for every single thing that’s gone wrong with comics. Part of what I…  Read More…

Abhay Writes about AIR #1, While Eating Wontons

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on August 24, 2008

Categories: Reviews

I’m undecided on AIR #1. Well, not really: I think it’s not very good. But, shit, I want to like it. It’s an implausible comic book. Action scenes obey no logic; characters’ actions make little sense; dialogue doesn’t resemble actual human speech; none of the emotions seem real. Fine. So: dream logic, then…? That seems to be how the book wants to be judged. The book opens with a wink to Salman Rushdie’s SATANIC VERSES, perhaps to signal to readers that the book will traffic in a similar sort of magical realism. And– and that’s something, isn’t it? Trusting readers to be savvy enough to not only catch that reference but to be able to infer a meaning from that…  Read More…

“I Should Write Some Boring Reviews Of Comics," Said Abhay, Out Loud, to Nobody in Particular.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on August 18, 2008

Categories: Reviews

I’ll try to avoid spoilers and skip the Jump; sorry if I screw up. THE ASTOUNDING WOLFMAN #7 by ROBERT KIRKMAN, JASON HOWARD, and RUS WOOTEN: I watched this video of Robert Kirkman the other day; he put out this odd video saying that established comic creators should focus exclusively on their own comics, and quit their jobs, and something-something-kids. But I had a weird time turning 30, too, so who am I to judge? Anyways, it at least worked as a marketing video, and successfully reminded me that guy existed and that I didn’t really have an articulate reason why I don’t read his comics other than “Tony Moore stopped drawing them.” So, this WOLFMAN thing: it’s apparently about…  Read More…

No Wind in the Sails Tonight, But Here’s Abhay and Secret Invasion #5 Anyways.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on August 14, 2008

Categories: Reviews

As part of my relentless pursuit to understand all things secret and invasive (e.g. your dad’s hands), I attended a symposium dedicated to SECRET INVASION comic books, held at the 2008 San Diego Film Festival or “Comic-Con” as it’s sometimes called. Within a half hour of arriving in San Diego, I was standing outside of the Hard Rock Hotel watching four bouncers rub a drunk, overweight, middle-aged Hispanic woman’s face into the pavement while she yelled “Yo, why you gotta twist my thumbs? Why you gotta be twistin’ on my thumbs?” But unfortunately, the entire weekend could not be that entertaining or make me feel that hopeful about my fellow man. The way the panel works is about 20-30 gentlemen…  Read More…

INTERVIEW: Abhay interviewed Ed Laroche, creator of ALMIGHTY.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on August 8, 2008

Categories: Interviews

ALMIGHTY is a 140-page self-published comic book created by Mr. Ed Laroche (with lettering by Jaymes Reed) that I purchased on a whim off the internet, based on the recommendation of a blog entry by comedian Patton Oswalt. It’s a straightforward post-apocalyptic action comic. Here is the back cover text in its entirety: “A girl has been abducted and a killer hired to find her and bring her home.” For a self-published comic by an unknown that I purchased off the internet, it exceeded my (low) expectations. I don’t think the main character’s arc is entirely earned, but I thought the action scenes were surprisingly accomplished. The book’s best action set piece is a 20 page sequence involving the main…  Read More…