SCC's Comics Talk

S!LENCE Story/Art: Tanky Big Egg Comics One of the best local comics to come out this year, S!LENCE debuted at this year's STGCC and reading it again, it still holds up as a strong story. Created originally as an entry for the Silent Manga Audition, Tanky has done a SF / jungle manga story that will have you at the edge of your seat and still tug the heartstrings. S!LENCE didn't win anything but it gave Tanky the opporunity to create this delightful silent comic, which reminds me of HK's Lai Tat Tat Weng. The same kind of quirkiness and sense of discovery.  Silent comics have been around for a long time. See David Berona's Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels. And for us in Southeast Asia with our myriad of languages, a silent comic actually transcends boundaries and borders. I did a few myself with artists from Indonesia and...

The Fix Story: Nick Spencer Art: Steve Lieber Image Comics Comics are like cable TV these days. Writers and artists plan their story arcs like TV series seasons. And the way we consume comics is like watching Netflix. Instead of buying the single issues, we wait for the trade and read everything at one go. That’s how most of us would have read The Fix, the new crime / comedy series by hot writer, Nick Spencer and the ever-reliable, Steve Lieber. The first issue had good press when it was released in April (it went into third printing). Four issues later, the first trade is out and it did brisk sales at this year’s STGCC where Spencer was a guest and was on site to sign and promote the book. Two bad LA cops (who rob old men in old folks home among other things) are under orders from their...

Ratings out of 5 stars.   The Mighty Skullboy Army Vol 1 Story/Art: Jacob Chabot Dark Horse Books The great thing about visiting cons or festivals is that it gives you a chance to browse through new (or old) works that you have not encountered before. Jacob Chabot, an invited guest of this year’s STGCC, is someone I have not known about. Picked up the first volume of The Mighty Skullboy Army and was surprised to find out it’s been around since 2000. This volume one collects the self-published mini-comics from 2000 to 2006 and was originally published in 2007. This reformatted second edition came out in 2015, which boasts a new cover and over 30 revised story pages. The premise is hilarious. What if your villainous CEO of an evil MNC (Skullboy) needs to go to a primary school because he is, well, too young to be that evil...

Ratings out of 5 stars.   The Magician’s Wife Story: Jerome Charyn Art: Francois Boucq Dover (2015) Some things you need time to appreciate. Like good wine and whiskey that aged well. Like Bob Dylan. The Magician’s Wife, one of the first magic realism graphic novels, is one of those works. I first read this in the 1980s and you don’t quite get it. But it left a deep impression. So when Dover re-released this book again last year, it was on my grab list. It is one of the most wonderful things I have read for a long time. A tale of love and betrayal, obsession and redemption. A magician wrongs his wife and both need to seek forgiveness for all that had gone before. Jerome Charyn’s story has stood the test of time while Francois Boucq’s art is simply stunning to behold. There is a certain purity to...

Return after a hiatus. Monthly now. Ratings out of 5 stars.   The Vision Vol 1: Little Worse Than A Man Writer: Tom King Artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta Marvel Tom King is one hell of a writer these days. He likes to pull the rug underneath your feet, sort of overturning conventions and expectations. Just read the first issue of Omega Men he wrote in 2015 – it opens with the execution of the White Lantern Kyle Rayner. The Omega Men is portrayed as jihadists, fighting against the Man and the System. A pushback and critique of neoliberalism? Perhaps. The Vision is no different. This is American Gothic dressed up as a Marvel superhero comic. Nothing is worse than a good man becoming the devil when he tries to do good. That is the tragedy of The Vision. He truly believes what he is doing is the right thing –...