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Reviews and commentary by Tony Isabella
"America's Most Beloved Comic-Book Writer & Columnist"
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TONY'S ONLINE TIPS
for Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Shambler: An Insider's Novel of the Comic Book World by Michael Fleisher [iUniverse; $15.95] is the most unpleasant novel I've ever read. It was literally a chore to read it from start to finish and, more than once, I thought about falling back on my exit strategy of chucking it out the window.
Protagonist Kevin Ellman is a once-prolific and popular comic writer suffering crippling writer's block in the aftermath of his divorce and the death of his father. His proudest creation is the Shambler, "a strange beast-man, half-insane but intensely empathic, and touched by the love of the Golden Starling."
Ellman survives on the checks he receives from Dynamic Comics' trade paperback reprints of the Shambler and from the forthcoming Shambler movie that has been licensed by the publisher. Assigned to revamp a second-string super-hero recently acquired by Dynamic, he's been unable to come up with anything worthwhile. When asked to write a fill-in for the company's leading character, he plagiarizes another writer's story. In short, his professional life is pretty much a train wreck...and it looks golden next to the mess he's made of his personal life. One wants to sympathize with Ellman, but he seems determined to persist in behaviors - accepting loans from a mob-connected artist and pursuing a relationship with a porno shop booth dancer and occasional prostitute - that any rational person knows would lead to further misery. Ellman's life is torturous and reading about it only slightly less so.
Filled with innuendo based on rumors that have been floating around the comics industry since the 1970s, Shambler seems to revel in tabloid-like sleaze. Fleisher doesn't make much effort to disguise his characters. Is there any truth to his insinuations of their trashy activities? It's not for me to say, mostly because I didn't care about this stuff when I first heard these rumors back in the day and I care even less about it now. Sadly, the elements I find so disagreeable will probably sell more than a few copies of the novel. Sigh.
There are no pleasant characters in Shambler. Kevin's colleagues and friends are self-indulgent, self-loathing man-boys. Even the loan shark compares favorably to them.
The women in Kevin's life excel in emotional castration; even his mother seems to take some sick satisfaction from telling Kevin that his father never liked his stories. The closest we get to a likeable human being is an elderly pin-up model - big on bondage - who Kevin visits with a small group of friends. In the kind of sad psychobabble that runs all through this novel, Kevin learns she did that kind of modeling because she was punishing herself, protecting the world from a girl who could wish for the death of her abusive father and who subsequently blamed herself when he died. I don't know if that's supposed to be profound or satiric.
Kevin's life is crap at the start of Shambler and crap at its conclusion, which doesn't read so much as an actual ending as it does with even Fleisher getting too tired of dumping on the pathetic bastard. Ellman doesn't learn anything, doesn't grow as a person, doesn't even have the decency to die horribly. Where the heck is the Spectre when you need him?
Shambler gets no Tonys. It's an utterly repugnant book and, sadly, some will buy it for just that reason.
******
LIGHTNING ROUND REVIEWS
If your friendly neighborhood comics shop limits you to just but one free comic on Free Comic Book Day, that free comic should be my pal Thom Zahler's Love and Capes #7 [Maerkle Press]. This issue of "the heroically super situation comedy" marks a major development in the lives of book-store owner Abby and her boyfriend Mark, who is also the Crusader, the most powerful super-hero on the planet. In 24 filled pages, we get holiday fun with the families, heartwarming moments, incredible gifts, dialogue so clever that I literally laughed out loud on at least three occasions while reading the issue, some of the most likeable characters in comics, and some of the most inviting art as well. Issue after issue, this is one of the best comics published today.
Love and Capes #7 earns the full five Tonys.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch #91 and #92 [Archie Comics; $2.25 each] continue and complete the three-issue "The Turning," in which ancient wands bestowed great power on our young heroine while unleashing her dark side. The current stories, involving as they do, intrigue in and peril to the world of magic, don't contain much in the way of humor.
Writer/artist Tania Del Rio has done a good job transforming Sabrina into a manga-style star, aided by inker Jim Amash. I miss the George Gladir/Dan DeCarlo Sabrina, but I do like this version as well. My continuing recommendation/suggestion to Archie Comics is to repackage this material in manga-format paperbacks. It's a natural format for Del Rio's work and I also think the stories will work better in 200-page chunks.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch #91 and #92 earn three out of five Tonys.
James Sturm and Rich Tommaso's Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow [Hyperion; $9.99] is less a biography of the man who was arguably "the best and fastest pitcher" ever to play baseball than it is a powerful tale of what he meant to African-Americans in the era of the Negro Leagues. As essayist Gerald Eddy concludes in his brief introduction, playing baseball was, for many black men, the American Dream come true. This then is a story of the sharing of that American Dream with those who aspired to baseball stardom themselves and those thrilled to share in the Dream by watching an artist like Paige at work.
Bigotry and discrimination laid heavy on those distant times - as they do today - and Sturm and Tommaso don't shy from including the evil that could be visited on blacks without warning. As with any good story, there are heroes and villains. As with the best stories, this one lifts the human spirit. It was never just about baseball.
Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow is a brilliantly-written, evocatively-drawn classic. It's a must-read graphic novel that should be part of every serious comics art devotee's library. It earns the full five out of five Tonys.
As per usual, Tales From Riverdale Digest #26 [Archie; $2.49] is an entertaining mix of new and old stories featuring the kids from Riverdale High. In the cover tale, while campaigning for the office of class president, a skeptical Reggie Mantle learns a few things about climate change. "A Warming Effect" is by George Gladir with art by Fernando Ruiz and Jon D'Agostino. A second new story, this one by Craig Boldman with art by Bill Galvin and Rich Koslowski, stars Archie, Dilton, and Dilton's new imaging software. How's that for keeping current?
The reprints include: Betty and Veronica arguing with one of the writers of their comic book; one of "Archie's Weird Mysteries"; a story in which Dilton turns into a Hulk-like creature, and Josie and the Pussycats.
Tales From Riverdale Digest #26 delivers a great deal of entertainment at a bargain price. It earns an impressive four out of five Tonys.
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COMICS IN THE COMICS
Here's another batch of Superman guest appearances from last year, starting with Tom Batiuk's Funky Winkerbean from April 29. It was part of a story which let to Darin learning that Lisa Moore was his birth mother.
Here's Dave Coverly's Speed Bump from May 19:
Dave Whammond's Reality Check from June 13:
The Flying McCoys from June 17:
One more for the road. It almost wouldn't be a Comics in the Comics without Dan Piraro. Here's his Bizarro panel from June 19:
More super CITC tomorrow.
******
TIP THE TIPSTER
Tony's Online Tips is a reader-sponsored feature, made possible through your "Tip The Tipster" donations. Today's column and eleven more like it are being brought to you by a reader whose donation was the second-largest in TOT's history...and I thank him for his incredibly generous support. Thanks to readers like him, we're fully funded well into May. If you'd like to contribute and keep TOT running, click on the "Tip The Tipster" link you'll find elsewhere on this page.
Thanks for spending a part of your day with me. I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 04/29/2008 | 04/30/2008 | 05/01/2008 >>
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THE "TONY" SCALE
ZERO: Burn your money before buying any comic receiving this rating. It doesn't *necessarily* mean there's absolutely nothing of value here - though it *could* - but whatever value it might possess shrinks into insignificance before its overall awfulness.
ONE: Buy something else. Maybe I found something which wasn't completely dreadful in the item, but not enough for me to recommend it when there are better comics available. I only want what's best for you, my children.
TWO: Basic judgment call. I found some value, but not enough to recommend it. My review should give you enough info to decide if you want to take a chance on it. Are you feeling lucky today, punk? Well, are you?
THREE: This denotes something I find perfectly respectable. There are better books out there, but I wouldn't regret buying this item. Based on my review, you should be able to determine if it's of interest to you. Let the Force guide you.
FOUR: I recommend anything earning this rating. Unless you don't like the genre, subject matter, or past work of the creators, I believe you'll enjoy this item. Isn't it uncanny how I can look right into your soul that way?
FIVE: Anything getting this rating is among the best comicdom has to offer. You should buy/read this, even if the genre/subject matter doesn't appeal to you. It's for your own good. Me, I live for comics and books this good...but not in a pathetic "Comic-Book Guy" sort of way.
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