MONDOmagazine

Written by Denise Liu

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, Vol.1:
Pterror over Paris & The Eiffel Tower Demon
Jacques Tardi (w+a), Fantagraphics, 2010 English translation.

Originally published as Adele et la Bete, and Le Demon de la Tour (1976, Sud-Orient).

Read if you like: mystery, adventure epics, dinosaurs, French fiction, anti-heroes, comparing the book to the movie, carriages careening off bridges.

It’s said that you can’t judge a book by its cover. I guess we all need to be reminded that ugly people also have worth, feelings, a soul yadda yadda, but the relation just doesn’t stick for me. As an ugly person, I am offended that anyone would even presume that I have a soul. Quit looking for my redeeming qualities!

Sincerely now, the quality of a book’s cover design is absolutely crucial to piquing my interest while I’m browsing for the next read. Is anyone else here a sucker for Chip Kidd’s work? He had nothing to do with this book but, it seems that from the other reviews I’ve read, one look at this cover might tip you off as to whether or not you’ll like the Adele Blanc-Sec stories. It’s an 18th-century French woman with a pistol taking on a charging pterodactyl, for crying out loud — either you’re already appreciating the parody of adventure comics, or you’re going home… or back to the uggies’ corner (totally not judging). Read the rest of this entry »

Miles’ Book

Proof #7
Written by Alex Grecian
Art by Riley Rossmo
Image Comics, 2008

I really like comics that are formatted like Proof. There are no ads, there is plenty of story, and then there are essays and extra bits in the back. Criminal does this too and even Marvel is starting to add more fun back page stuff. It’s good and rewards you for actually taking the time to buy the month-to-month issues.

I also really like comics that have wacky premises. This book is about Bigfoot in a cardigan and secret agents and secret societies and has prophetic imps and dinosaurs. That’s a pretty winning combination, and the collection of all these different things comes together pretty well. There were definitely things in this issue that didn’t totally make sense to me, but the plot moved along well enough for me to understand what was more or less going on. I’d be interested in going back to see if there are more character moments in earlier issues because I didn’t get a lot of that in this issue.

Finally, I really like comics that have clean art: this book does not have clean art. It’s not bad, and I enjoy that in the back the writer even defends against complaints about how the art is sketchy and unfinished. I agree with him, and I’m sure the artist is a perfectionist, but that doesn’t mean his art couldn’t use less lines. There are detail lines where there should not be detail lines, and that’s the problem. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t. If anyone out there has seen MTV’s cartoon series Downtown, that’s where I think his art should go.

Isaac’s Random Comic of the Week

Witchblade/Devi #1
Written by Ron Marz
Art by Eric Basaldua
Virgin Comics, 2008

This particular issue is the first crossover ever for a Virgin comic’s character. At least, that’s what I read somewhere. It either said that in the issue, or on this thing called the “internet” which I used to see what this comic would look like before going out to buy it. While the comic has Devi’s name of the cover, it mostly this issue focuses on Sara Pezzini (Witchblade) travelling to India on the trail of a murderer.

Obviously, I can’t know this for sure, but I imagine next month when Devi/Witchblade #1 comes out from Virgin comics we’ll get the story again from Devi’s perspective. That doesn’t effect too much in this issue, though it will probably give us the good reason why Devi starts fighting with Witchblade.

Is she actually called Witchblade? Seems weird now that I think of it. That’s what the weapon she wears is called anyways.

As far as the writing goes, it was okay. Kind of by the numbers. That’s a crossover for you. There were a couple of blatant editing problems, so that sucks, but it happens. 

The art really was beautiful though. Except for a flashback to a swords-and-sorcery style adventure, the characters in this comic wear plain clothes. I know that sounds stupid, but it just looks realistic. 

So good job. 

The only thing I could gripe about is that the men in the comic look so generic, like it’s just a trace of a Jim Lee drawing. I usually complain about decompression in comics, but I wouldn’t mind if the scenes shifted a little slower in this issue. 

Clearly I wasn’t wowed here, but it was an okay book.

Try and guess who wrote what!

By Sam Linton and Leo K. Moncel & No One Else

Yeah, we know it may be a bit controversial — a bit “out there”, but we’re not afraid to say it: Toronto is a cool place to live. What, are we too controversial for you? Too REAL? Well, before you start flooding MONDO with angry letters demanding the resignation of these far too eXtreme columnists, allow us to list five places in T.O. which we think help make it a cool place to be. If you think you can handle it.

Any BMV Books (10 Edward Street, 471 Bloor Street West, 2289 Yonge Street)
Now, according to my dad’s cousin’s husband, this chain is a monstrous, multi-headed hydra (a redundant descriptor, admittedly) that sells books cheap because they were stolen from other, better book chains that maintain honest business practices (coincidentally, my dad’s cousin’s husband owns a Book City franchise). All I know is that they’ve got cheap books, cheap comics, and cheap DVD/TVD. In my book, that spells “honest business practices,” no matter how dishonest those practices may be. Familial obligations aside, I could never be angry at the chain that turned me on to Love & Rockets via their low, low prices on selected overstocked titles. These are the prices that have me labeling BMV as “a cool place,” no matter where that place may be (three city locations; see above). Books are cool, DVDs are cool, and low prices are just slammin’, so ipso facto, BMV is cool, right? Right.

P.S. So as not to sound like a total product placement, I should reiterate that BMV may, according to gossip, be a party to unethical business practices which harm the local small-businessman/woman. (Legal disclaimer: I am not saying that this claim is substantiated, and am thus not engaged in libel. I am merely repeating gossip, like so many supermarket tabloids.)

The Beguiling (601 Markham Street)
If you love the comics as much as I do (and really, I’m only around medium on the full continuum of comic geekosity,) you’ll love the Beguiling. See, the Beguiling is for everyone. Me, I like my Dave Sim (Cerebus) and gambling with the homemade stuff off the big rack in the front. But then I’ve got a friend who likes more offbeat stuff like Dan Clowes (Ghost World). And then I’ve got a friend who’s big-time into Marvel and all of that business. And we all agree that the Beguiling is where it’s at! The store wisely segregates the snobs from the yobs by putting the smarty-art comics and hell, even real book-books, in the downstairs section, and putting Marvel whammo comics and merchandise and manga upstairs. And it’s all in a house-turned-store behind the Honest Ed’s in the best bloody neighbourhood in the world.

The Giant LCBO on Yonge (Summerhill & Yonge)
Who’d have thought so much happiness could be found in one building? O, giant LCBO on Yonge just north of Summerhill, you make my heart sing and my liver cry out in agony! Seriously, this building is like my Mecca, in that I always make sure that I know what direction it is relative to me in case I need to kneel down and pray towards something. (That’s not offensive, right? Equating liquor with religion? Nah.) It’s the store with so much booze it takes a former train station (The North Toronto Train station, restored) to hold it all. I don’t even have to get anything to drink; I can just go there and kill a good hour or two walking down the hallowed halls, imagining cocktails, and putting beers, wines, and spirits on my mental “someday… someday…” list. Plus, it’s probably one of the classiest liquor stores in one of the most fairly high-end neighborhoods of the city, so there’s little chance of having your booze stolen from you right as you exit the store (happened to a friend of mine, I swear). Not that I’m a particular fan of high-end in general, but when it comes to liquor stores, better really DOES mean better. I mean, dodging desperate homeless people and sketch-machines does make for an entertaining Friday night booze purchase, but it’s not the kind of thing you want at a place where you go to worship. Anyway, if you can stomach going to a neighborhood full of spy gadget stores and pet beauty salons (catering to male and female rich idiots, respectively), I would always recommend a trip to Liquor-Mecca.

Mountain Equipment Co-Op (400 King Street West)
Seriously, it’s awesome. First of all, the building. Big glass front and then high, high ceilings. It’s a big trick to make you feel like you’re outdoors so that you think that you need all the stuff they’re selling right now. I had to buy a backpack and they were all laid out across the wall – some shiny and bright, others tough and sturdy, some rustic, some stylish, but all were beautiful. After an hour I chose the “book bag” backpack despite the feeling I should’ve got a more outdoorsy one, since I was at M.E.C. and am quasi-outdoorsy myself. The bag went for $32 and fulfilled my three criteria: space for laptop and binder, a compartment for a tupperwared lunch, and zippers that looked real sturdy. Then I perused the place for about an hour, just awestruck by all the stuff one could purchase for adventures one could have. I didn’t leave without getting a headlamp (the clerk knew a lot and ensured me this one would be suitable for night bikin’) and two dark chocolate bars, organic and free trade, to be a gift for a co-worker who cares about those things and very much loves chocolate.

The ROM, The ROM (what what) The ROM (100 Queen’s Park)
I know, the Michael Lee Chin Crystal may have left a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of people (not me! I love big ugly postmodern trainwrecks!), but c’mon, it’s The ROM! Many was the Saturday I spent there as a lad, looking through all the secret collections and hidden documents hidden from the general public under the benevolent auspices of the museum’s Saturday Morning Club. Mighty times they were, mighty times. Now, I’ll grant you that I was ten at the time, so any building that housed both dinosaurs and knights was pretty much guaranteed to titillate me in ways a pre-pubescent child would not readily have reference for. And although I’m not ten anymore, the glimpse of a full-length tyrannosaurus skeleton through the windows of that new crystal is still enough to give me that warm tingle of excitement, and the promise of knights is still definitely enough to get me inside the building. Then there are the giant totem poles going up the stairs, which of course are just gravy.