{"id":2058,"date":"2012-04-04T10:07:53","date_gmt":"2012-04-04T10:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/?p=2058"},"modified":"2014-06-24T18:01:17","modified_gmt":"2014-06-24T17:01:17","slug":"from-the-funny-papers-spandex-add-the-nightly-news-marijuanaman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/?p=2058","title":{"rendered":"FROM THE FUNNY PAPERS: SPANDEX, ADD, THE NIGHTLY NEWS & MARIJUANAMAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>If Britain were going to have a superhero team made up of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual characters, then you\u2019d expect them to live in Brighton. It\u2019s the obvious choice. But that\u2019s about the only predictable thing in Martin Eden\u2019s indie comic series, Spandex<\/em>. There\u2019s an awful lot to like in these books, the twisty-turny storytelling, the simple, colourful and striking artwork, the memorable characters, and, for the most part, it all works extremely well. The fact that its lead characters are LGBT and that it deals smartly and sensitively with the issues raised by that fact is integral to the story, but it\u2019s almost a bonus on top of what is (for want of a better word) straightforwardly engaging storytelling.<\/p>\n

Eden originally conceived Spandex<\/em> as taking the form of a single book containing five non-consecutive issues (1, 4, 8, 12 and 15) pulled from an imaginary on-going comic series, leaving the reader to fill in the continuity. As someone who grew up reading random issues of American Marvel comics I picked up (mostly on seaside holidays in Donegal), this struck me as a brilliant idea \u2013 this was precisely how I first encountered superhero comics.<\/p>\n

However, that plan quickly fell by the wayside. Some of the episodic nature of the Spandex<\/em> story (now up to issue six) still hints at Eden\u2019s original vision, but what has emerged is (in form if not in content) a more traditional superhero story. Eden\u2019s brightly coloured little A5 comics have been widely praised, earning him an Eagle nomination and a deal with Titan to collect the story (the first collection, Spandex: Fast and Hard<\/em> containing the first three issues is released at the end of May).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The highlight of the book so far has been issue three \u2013 \u201cIf you were the last person on Earth\u201d \u2013 which is a splendidly creepy science fiction tale let down only by a slightly Russell-T-Davies-ending. If the series has a weakness, it is issue five, which features Eden\u2019s take on the obligatory \u201cbig event\u201d crossover but there was too much introductory chat and too many characters and I had difficulty making sense of it all. Issue six, however, was a fine return to form and features a cliffhanging ending designed to drive any remaining readers of a conservative bent into a foaming fury.<\/p>\n

Spandex <\/em>features a giant fifty foot lesbian, good jokes, genuine drama, sex, superhero punch-ups and moments of powerful affect \u2013 what more could you want from a comic? It\u2019s a little crudely done in places, but it is tremendous entertainment and Eden\u2019s open, emotionally honest writing style carries him over any bumps. You could wait for the Titan collection or you could go to http:\/\/spandexcomic.wordpress.com\/<\/a> and get all six issues published to date, plus a collection of mini comics and a badge and stuff for just \u00a315. I would if I were you. I\u2019m looking forward to the next issue, which promises to wrap up the loose threads of the series so far.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A far less successful comic is ADD: Adolescent Demo Division,<\/em> written by Douglas Rushkoff with art by Goran Suzuka and Jose Marzan Jr (from Vertigo). I wasn\u2019t keen on the artwork in this book, it lacked definition and detail and contributed to the sense that the story took place in a generically bland future. But the real villain in ADD<\/em> isn\u2019t the art, it isn\u2019t even the tediously predictable evil corporate mastermind, it is Rushkoff\u2019s unforgivably lazy writing.<\/p>\n

To say that the book\u2019s plot is overly familiar would be an understatement of a very high order. That Rushkoff could then make such a familiar stew so instantly forgettable, and I have the book open in front of me and I still can\u2019t recall any specifics of the plot, takes a special lack of talent. The story, what I can recall of it, features kids who are apparently being bred to play video games but are actually part of some industrial\/military conspiracy. There\u2019s a big-cheese corporate villain, who is moronically sketched out and whose big idea seems to be to sell kids who play video games giant life-size robots of other, genetically altered, kids who are infinitely better than them at video games \u2013 thereby ensuring that they are constantly humiliated by the huge automaton in their bedroom. And then there\u2019s the shallow characterisation of the core characters, the cool older kid who is obviously doomed, the insightful one whose a bit like Neo from The Matrix<\/em>, the bully, the bully\u2019s chubby muscle (there must be a shop where bullies go to get big, silent, fat kids to do their dirty work) and a girl who doesn\u2019t get to do much \u2013 no tedious stereotype or overworked clich\u00e9 is given a miss.<\/p>\n

The story meanders around a bit but doesn\u2019t spring any surprises (the scientist is what?) and then it all ends with a plop as the kids all upload themselves to something and apparently set themselves free \u2013 though what\u2019s to stop the evil businessmen from just turning off their servers and wipe them out isn\u2019t explained, but then neither is anything else, so best to just let it go.<\/p>\n

What makes ADD<\/em> all the more annoying is the po-faced presentation, with blurb from (better) writers that lead you to believe that this book has something interesting to say about the media society in which we live. It doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s a juvenile book in the worst possible sense.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>If you are looking for a comic that says something interesting about our modern, media-drenched, society and does it in a genuinely provocative and thrilling way, your time would be far more rewardingly spent picking up The Nightly News<\/em>, by Jonathan Hickman (first released in 2007 but now re-released in hardback from Image).<\/p>\n

There are no compromises in this book. It revolves around the actions of a group of vigilantes who set out to strike back at America\u2019s corrupt and manipulative press in the most brutal manner – shooting and blowing up journalists. This is an angry, dense book \u2013 it eschews, mostly, the traditional comic style of panels and splash pages \u2013 and instead mixes infographics and drawing and tiny text and endnotes and asides and running jokes and quotes into a complicated story of betrayal, lies and murder.<\/p>\n

Hickman has become better known, since this book\u2019s original release, for his work on Marvel superhero books, particularly his take on The Fantastic Four<\/em>, but there are no heroics (super or otherwise) here. There are no cute characters or accessible routes into this story, it grabs you and shakes you and demands that you think. In places it is almost all too much \u2013 tiny text, graphical overload, unforgiving storytelling \u2013 means that you have to put considerable effort into reading this book, but it certainly repays your hard work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>To coincide with the hardback reissue of The Nightly News<\/em>, Image have also rereleased a number of other early Hickman stories. The Red Wing<\/em> is a time travel\/paradox story which reads a bit like one of those 2000AD<\/em> short Future Shocks<\/em>, but spread over rather too many pages. Nick Pitarra\u2019s artwork is very striking but, although there is a hint of something interesting in Hickman\u2019s writing about the conflict between generations, it is never fully explored and is rather undermined by the too predictable twist ending. Red Mass for Mars<\/em> is a superhero tale which, although it features all the \u00a0familiar spandex archetypes (the superman, the crime fighter, the inventor, the mage) does manage to do something interesting with the idea. In the far future Earth faces invasion from an apparently unstoppable foe and the remaining few super-powered individuals must find a way to put aside old differences to save the planet. Within this familiar outline, Hickman manages to play with our expectations and to deliver a few moments I found genuinely shocking. Once again he\u2019s supported by some fine artwork (this time from Ryan Bodenheim) and if Red Mass for Mars<\/em> isn\u2019t quite a great book, it is certainly a very good one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I also read some of Hickman\u2019s work for Marvel this month, SHIELD: Architects of Forever<\/em>, but I don\u2019t feel I can review it properly because although, in theory, it is a complete mini-series collected in a graphic novel it is actually half a story and I want to reserve judgement until I\u2019ve seen how things work themselves out in the forthcoming second series. As it stands, however, SHIELD<\/em> is a fantastically complicated thing featuring a large cast of historical figures, including, Galileo, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Newton, Nostradamus and Tesla and minor characters from Marvel\u2019s universe (the fathers of Reed Richards and Tony Stark) with time travel and galactic threats and things living in the sun and betrayal. These characters are caught up in the work of Shield, an ancient organisation committed to defending the planet from the threat of anhilation and whose rallying cry is: “This is not how the world ends.” The obvious suggestion is that this will all, somehow, tie in to Marvel continuity and the secret government ageny, SHIELD, sometimes led by Nick Fury, but how that might work and whether it will be even remotely relevant isn’t clear. And I’m not sure it matters, because this story seems to be working perfectly well on its own terms, without the need for retconning or obeisance to decades of existing continuity. I still can\u2019t tell whether it\u2019s going to be brilliant or collapse into total bunkum, but this is a book worth picking up just for the fabulous artwork by Dustin Weaver, whose detailed pages could occupy your eyes for hours. I hadn\u2019t come across his art before, but I\u2019ll be looking out for more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lastly for now and, sadly, by every means least is Ziggy Marley\u2019s<\/em> Marijaunaman <\/em>by Jim Mahfood and Joe Casey, which is a dreadfully bad comic book from Image. I\u2019ve liked both Mahfood\u2019s and Casey\u2019s work on other projects, but Marijuanaman<\/em> is every bit as stupid and crass as the title suggests. For me the major social ill caused by marijuana is the danger of being cornered by some stoned loon and lectured to death about the wonders dope is and how evil \u201cthe man\u201d is \u2013 Marijuanaman<\/em> captures that horror with an almost uncanny precision. You can, I have been told, make almost anything out of hemp. Anything except, I think, a conversation that does not leave me wishing to dash my brains out against the nearest brick wall.<\/p>\n

Marijuanaman<\/em> features an alien whose mystical powers are unleashed in the presence of one unique, Earthly herb. And no, it\u2019s not oregano. This alien lives on a commune, the last refuge of Rastafarian-ish hemp growers, who are fighting back against evil big business (a recurring theme this month). In this case the foe is a giant pharmaceutical company, \u00a0Pharma-Con, who wants to destroy natural highs so they can profit by getting the innocent people of Earth addicted to its nasty chemical drug, Ganjarex. There\u2019s an ineptly conceived mercenary supervillain, Cash Money, and some guff about higher consciousness and the evils of capitalism and not a lot of sense in this slim, overpriced hard back.<\/p>\n

There are lots of important points to be made about the pointlessness of the on-going \u201cwar on drugs\u201d, the ultimate futility of prohibition and the double-standards that apply to some addictive substances and not to others in our society. Marijuanaman<\/em> doesn\u2019t bother with any of those and the few coherent points it does make are crude and often irrelevant.[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

Some people might object that this comic presents the positive case for cannabis without any hint of the possible damage it can do (all drugs have side-effects).<\/p>\n

Such people should not concern themselves.<\/p>\n

Indeed, I believe that, if picked up by curious teenagers seeking information about recreational drug use, Marijuanaman<\/em> could well be a more effective aversion therapy than any government-backed scheme. So tedious is the cod-philosophising and so extravagantly stupid is the storytelling that there is a genuine possibility that, if someone (Michael Gove, for instance) decided to widely distributed Marijuanaman<\/em> to (say) every school in the country and make it a compulsory part of the curriculum, this book might, on its own, make weed history.<\/p>\n

There are people who claim that drug use offers creative insight and that new artistic horizons are revealed for those willing to open their minds. Marijuanaman<\/em> suggests that, at the very least, this is not a universal truth.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n
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[i]<\/a> I honestly don\u2019t think that one of the reasons dope is illegal in so many countries has anything to do with the threat hemp presents to existing textile industries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Britain were going to have a superhero team made up of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual characters, then you\u2019d expect them to live in Brighton. It\u2019s the obvious choice. But that\u2019s about the only predictable thing in Martin Eden\u2019s indie comic series, Spandex. There\u2019s an awful lot to like in these books, the twisty-turny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[106],"tags":[69,87,47,43],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/spandex-attack-poster.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27AP7-xc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2058"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2614,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions\/2614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}