Miles’ Book of the Month
Tales Designed to Thrizzle #4
By Michael Kupperman
Fantagraphics, 2008
The LPP (laugh per page) rate of Tales Designed to Thrizzle averages at 2.5. And not “you think it’s funny and crack a smile” funny. I’m talking “howl like a wolf at the moon” funny. I bought this book for a friend’s birthday after I walked into LCS and asked what would would be a good small gift for someone who’s not that into comics. Thinking about it now, I want to go to my friend’s building, put on a ski mask, throw a grappling hook into their window, scale the wall, and steal this comic.
It’s that funny.
Tales Designed to Thrizzle is like a one-man anthology. Each page is a dense mix of humour, art styles, and non-sequiturs. Kupperman switches between short strips, five-page stories, and one-off splashes – sometimes all on the same page. What I like the most is his mastery over different art styles, picking the best one to go with the joke he’s telling. His work is also technically proficient, and I like anyone who takes humour that seriously.
Also, the bravery to make a couple of racy jokes here and there is also very welcomed. When I read the his fake add for “Indian Spirit Chewing Gum: Haunted with Real Indian Flavour” I laughed so hard the book fell off my lap.
I can’t recommend this book enough and urge everyone who breathes to buy a copy for themselves and one for everyone they love. They will love you for it and everyone will be thrizzled.
Isaac’s Book of the Month
Amazing Spider-Man #568
Written by Dan Slott
Pencils by John Romita Jr.
Inked by Klaus Janson
Colours by Dean White
Marvel Comics, 2008
The most striking thing about this issue is the art by returning penciller John Romita Jr. His work had been the definitive look for Spider-Man going into the new millennium and continued throughout the Straczynski run on Spider-Man. With “Brand New Day” an unbelievable freshness returned to the Spider-Man book. It just felt exciting to get a Spider-Man book again!
All that said, it’s amazing how good Romita Jr.’s stuff is. I know we were just going nuts for Marcos Martin a few weeks ago but MAN! Romita Jr. worked on Spider-Man for so long that we saw practically every iteration of a Spider-Man pose, scene, whatever, drawn by his hand and you start to take it for granted, but when you open up this book and see it again after an absence it’s like meeting up with an old friend. There’s a certain comfort in how much it has stayed the same when you’ve got Mark Bagley not even feeling like Mark Bagley anymore. Where are the mullets Mark? Where are the mullets?
You can still tell though that this is Romita Jr.’s “A” material. He’s coming back swinging and part of that is probably due to his being partnered up with Klaus Janson, famous for doing art on Daredevil, Batman: Year One, and Dark Knight Returns- the result is a beautiful softening of Romita’s “deadline” style.
In “New Ways to Die Part 1: Back with a Vengeance” (that’s the title of the story) we are treated to the return of classic Spidey villains Norman Osborn and Venom. This is the first use of classic villains since ‘Brand New Day’ happened and in many ways is our first look into the status quo of Spider-man’s brave new world. In an opening scene Spider-man is facing off against Menace, a new ill-named antagonist. The significance of which is that the dialogue all throughout that fight concerns the ineptitude of Menace as a character; this reveals the awareness that Dan Slott has concerning the criticisms of the character and becomes a dialogue with the audience addressing those concerns. Naturally, as a petulant fanboy, this is all I ask.
Another nice touch to the story, it has Peter Parker facing a problem where he then asks his friends for advice and then even accepts help from his friends. Often it has been the case that Spidey has stupidly not gone to his friends for help, resulting in him going to Latveria or something and accomplishing nothing. It’s a more realistic approach to the character that he would eventually learn enough to ask for help when he needs it. For so many years we’ve been stuck with him not even getting help from his wife (never have that problem again) leaving us with a very glum, overwrought Spidey when there was no need for him to be as such.
This issue is the real return of Spider-Man to the Marvel Universe, and it should be lauded as such.
My bad, it looks like Klaus Janson didn’t work on Batman: Year One- I knew I should have fact checked that one before sending it in. I was all “Of course I know who worked on Batman: Year One, I don’t need to check.”
The fact is, I totally couldn’t spell Mazzuccelli without having it in front of me.
This Thrizzle book intrigues and excites, I’ll definately keep an eye out for it.