September 2010 Archives

ON SUNDAY October 3rd Mary Lou K and her Howlin' Hounds will be playing two live gigs.

In the afternoon they will be a The Public in West Bromwich, from 1pm to 4pm, as part of Acoustic Bites.

While In the evening they will be at The Old Moseley Arms in Balsall Heath playing "Country Songs and Sweet Harmonies".

The Hounds are: Mary Lou K, Harmonica Higgins, Mickey "Blue" Jaynes, Tennessee Ernest Hudson, Uncle Hunt the Country C..C..Cartoonist (that's as in celebrated cartoonist Hunt Emerson!).

"Y'awll come on down if'n you can make it!"... Which is roughly translated as you're all invited!

CLICK ON Episode 36 of Shang Ri La La La below and it will expand to fill your screen.

For more information on the creators visit:

For Paul H Birch: www.myspace.com/paulhbirch

For Gary Crutchley: www.gcrutchley.blogspot.com

For Mats Engesten: www.go.to/engesten

For John Robbins: www.mylifeinshorts.blogspot.com

For Andrew Dodd: www.timebombcomics.com

COMMANDO ARTIST Keith Page will be attending the British International Comics Show (BICS) in Birmingham this October, to promote not one but two graphic novels he has coming out!

Page's books are The Iron Moon and London Calling, and both are written by screenwriter Stephen Walsh.

A veteran of the British comic industry, Keith Page's artwork has worked in TV Comic, Commando, 2000AD and The Sunday Times for which he drew Stingray.

As previously noted at Speech Balloons, London Calling is to be published by Time Bomb Comics, based in Birmingham.

The 56 page perfect bound book is set in a 1950s London one-step sideways to our own, wherein secret agent Charlotte Corday encounters invading Martians, talking puppets, and the vampire-hunting coppers of the Metropolitan V Squad as they deal with an outbreak of vampires at Highgate Cemetery.

The Iron Moon is to be published by new UK publisher Print Media Productions.

For The Iron Moon creators Walsh and Page introduce readers to Charlotte Corday, a lieutenant in the Royal Space Navy who finds herself up to her neck in a conspiracy that may see the galaxy plunged into war!

We are promised that we will:

"Goggle as she meets new and strange races, both mechanical and biological, ponder how she manages to put away so many cups of tea, and prepare to have your brain scrambled as she scoops us up and carries us to the very limits of this universe!"

Both Time Bomb and Print Media have stands at BICS 2010 and Keith Page and Stephen Walsh will be appearing to sign copies of their new books, further details may be be found on BICS' website.

For more about Keith Page visit: www.keithpageukcomicsartist.blogspot.com.

For more about Time Bomb Comics visit: www.timebombcomics.com

For more about Print Media visit: www.stripmagazine.co.uk

ANDIE TONG from the UK is the interior artist for the two-issue mini saga that is Tron: The Betrayal.

The series is published by Disney Publishing Worldwide, courtesy of its outlet at Marvel.

Tron: The Betrayal takes place after Disney's first Tron film with Kevin Flynn now in charge of Encom, the world's largest video game company.

Having built the Grid, a digital world filled with living programs, Flynn discovers it is about to develop a life of its own and, in order to control it, he's going to need to help of Tron.

The series will itself act as prequel to the forthcoming Tron: Legacy film that is due in December. Each book in the comic series is extra-sized and will be available soon.

Readers of the print edition of the Birmingham Mail will today have seen Erdington based comic writer Ian Edginton talking about his faithful adaptations of the Holmes novels.

Read the article here

CLICK ON Episode 35 of Shang Ri La La La below and it will expand to fill your screen.

For more information on the creators visit:

For Paul H Birch: www.myspace.com/paulhbirch

For Gary Crutchley: www.gcrutchley.blogspot.com

For Mats Engesten: www.go.to/engesten

For John Robbins: www.mylifeinshorts.blogspot.com

For Andrew Dodd: www.timebombcomics.com

Akira: Volume 1 by Katsuhiro Otomo

Dark Horse

From Barefoot Gen's real-life semi-autobiographical recollections of Japan being bombed during World War II to the hyper-adrenalized cyberpunk fiction of Akira is a curious change of reading matter.

The story of Akira relates that a new type of bomb hit Japan during 1992, but thirty years later those not at the epicentre had rebuilt their own locales and carried on to exist in a world two steps removed from Bladerunner, one bike ride away from The Wild Bunch, and due for a plot that take a leap into the unknown way beyond The Fury.

Movie comparisons aside what happens in this 350 collection is that a gang of college kids on a dare enter the old wreckage of Japan on their motorcycles on night, some strange little fellow appears on a road and one of the bikers called Tetsuo gets hurt trying to avoid hitting him. The police (or maybe military, or even something more black ops orientated) turn up and take the kid away.

The day after the bikers can find no clues about where Tetsuo's been taken. A chance meeting with a brother and sister who seem to know more than most gets one of the bikers, Kaneda, involved more than he intended, and from there on its chase scenes, potential capturers, some torture, the odd hint here and there of some grand scheme involving kids psychokinetically mutated due to that bomb, and the ultimate mystery of who or what Akira might be.

The sheet tour de force pyrotechnics of Otomo's heavily cinematic-influenced art has the reader turning pages swiftly with great swooping panoramas and epic chase scenes countered by studied perspective holds to frame as revelations unfold.

One could say the movie influences are too great, but long drawn out visuals are the Japanese manga way, and Otomo adapted Akira to a highly successful animated film (anime) himself, and that's the area his creativity has continued in rather than comics. So do Japanese creators see manga as the poor parent to anime? I hope not.

Regardless, there's no doubt Akira is something very special and deserves much of the praise people have reaped over it, and several decades after first seeing print it still holds up well.

For myself, I look forward to seeing how the characters and plot develops in subsequent collections, while admitting I find the dichotomy of praising Barefoot Gen's intent and admiring the work of Akira.

Barefoot Gen Volume Three - Life After the Bomb

Last Gasp

In this third semi-autobiographical epic comic album series by Kejii Nakazawa we witness new atrocities as Gen and his surviving family cope after the bombing of Hiroshima in World War II. But, as often in this series, all is not complete despair.

Chiefly this volume tells us that where there is life, there is hope. Ryuta, the child gang leader from the previous volume is taken in by Gen's mother, after being found to be not such a bad sort after all; indeed many presumptions concerning characters are revealed to be untruths as Nakazawa peels away at his characters to reveal more about them.

Nakazawa constantly reminds us that he, and his characters, lay blame at the fault of the Japanese military and business elite for entering his nation into a war they could not win without natural resources. Also, while America launches the nuclear bombs that caused such devastation to the country, we are reminded that Britain was viewed as an equal enemy having undertaken many military operations in the Asian theatre of war; but it is only when Russia decides to end its non-conflict pact that Japan's power elite acknowledge the game is up and surrender.

Between these events we see a different face to the barbaric Japanese military we saw in previous volumes and witness how they come to the radiated war zones to aid the injured when and where they can. Also, Gen's elder brother who has been away working for the war effort returns to deliver a happy ending to this volume.

For many years we were given the impression that the series had long been lauded in Japan, but as Jun Ishiko states in his introduction there were those still in power who tried to suppress Nakazawa's telling this story; after all those in power rarely appreciate their selfish misdeeds being taken into account.

I continue to applaud Last Gasp for bringing these important comics into unabridged English language collections.

There are facts revealed that should not be forgotten, and, lessons we have to remember, and, as I hope I've made clear, this is not one long horror story; there is joy and humour and a celebration to be found in this collection too.

However, as I noted in Volume One, I worry that the distance of time will prevent those too young to know about these historical events from reading an important, worthwhile, and satisfying a read. They should.

Barefoot Gen Volume Two - The Day After

Last Gasp

A 234 page second volume sounds an extraordinary amount of time even to relate the day after the Americans atom bombed Hiroshima, suffice to say that is just a starting point.

As I've said countless times, and no doubt repeated myself in print too, I'm not one for the modern interpretation of a journey; my life's too short, I need to know there's a destination in site.

Fortunately Nakazawa's road is paved with meaningful incidents where there are insights and revelations, along with painful reminders of just how low mankind is perfectly capable of sinking and the odd touch of genuine tender humanity etched onto as a species.

The crux of the story hangs on Gen's pregnant mother being unable to breastfeed her new born daughter and his unwittingly going hell for leather through radiated bomb-struck rubbish tips and beyond in search of food for him family.

Amidst this Gen comes across several who like him have survived the nuclear attack but sent quite mad by it, and he chances upon a girl who he at first mistakes for his older (now dead) sister but befriends her nonetheless, although he is at first afraid to tell her how her face has literally melted from the radiation fallout for the girl has told him how she longs to grow up and become a dancer. He then comes across a lad he thinks is his dead younger brother but it's not and the lad is trouble being a leader of a gang of orphans who will steal and cause trouble to find food; and that's just a simplistic explanation for the youth will play a greater part in the story later.

Suffice to say this is one long horror tale filled with some rare moments of joy - for most children will find it even in the darkest of days.

This volume concludes with Gen's mother finding shelter with an old friend but even that is a tainted compromise.

This volume, as did the first, contains an introduction by Art Speigelman, a piece written by Kejii Nakazawa himself and an article on the Barefoot Gen worldwide educational project.

Barefoot Gen Volume One - A Cartoon History of Hiroshima

Last Gasp

Kejii Nakazawa survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the American forces during the final days of World War II, he would grow up to be a respected comic strip artist in his native Japan, with many of his works reflecting his concerns regarding nuclear power, foremost among them the epic saga of Barefoot Gen.

For those who've grown up in the last twenty years, or are still doing so, nuclear power is generally assigned to works of hyper-fiction like sci-fi films or comics where you gain mutated super-powers from it and save the world from an even greater menace; or something the latest crop of well-paid politicians are offering sound-bites about regarding it being a wonderful choice as our main energy supply in future days.

To the latter, I say great when it's working properly, but I've got this lasting memory of Chernobyl's nuclear reactors blowing up, and some countries are still dealing with the aftermath of the radiation fallout from it to this day. To the former I'll say go ask your grandparents if they remember anyone in your family who signed up for National Service, got shipped to Australia to put on some goggles and watch a nuclear bomb test, then found out later they caught cancer because of it.

Me, I'm not convinced.

Nakazawa saw the horrific reality of it all, and that's when the bombs they made were a darned size smaller than the ones our world's leaders' scientists are capable of making these days.
Barefoot Gen is Nakazawa's semi autobiographical take on the events he was part of before, and there were ten original collections.

English language attempts have been made previously - Penguin tried putting out the series during the 90s when the first push towards putting graphic novels onto bookshelves in a big way was attempted, but those versions were abridged and didn't really work; in fact I recall reviewing it saying that for all its epic scope I preferred the copy of Nakazawa's I Saw It!, a regular US sized comic put out by Edu Comics, as I recall, wherein the tale told was done more succinctly but genuinely more satisfying in getting its message over for me.

Well, venerable underground comix publisher Last Gasp is to be applauded for bringing out the series in unabridged form, for the story is enhanced by the complete director's cut, as it were, being available now. And while we're at it, a show of hands for Birmingham's Yardley Library for being astute enough to have at least the first three volumes available on its shelves, and much read they are by the amount of "Date for Return" stamps inside them.

Volume One is far from all doom and gloom. It centres around Gen's family, his parents and siblings, some of whom live with them, others who are away working for the war effort. Idealistically, it establishes its viewpoint from Gen's father, a poor but hard working man knows it is the machinations of businessmen and a power-hungry military elite who have lead them into the madness of war, and worse that there is no hope of Japan's now winning.

It is through family life, our caring for the characters and understanding the daily problems they face that makes what will be the inevitable bombing all the more poignant.

Because of Gen's father's stance the family are castigated by others, a situation Gen and his younger brother often find hard to reconcile but get up to all manner of school boy antics to get by - escapades that wouldn't be out of place in a classic Dennis the Menace or Roger the Dodger strip. But there is hardship too, and cruelty far too often, and there's a level of violence of subjugation of liberties that's hard not to feel upset about, even when it's readily accepted as due punishment by some.

Suffice to say for some two hundred pages we are entreated to a family soap saga, with a world at war about them. And then the planes fly in; the bomb is dropped, and Nakazawa's pleasant cartoon style changes to reflect the atrocity of the atomic fallout - think you've seen one irradiated melting man to many to affect you? Then try the sole splash page of this book that shows a horse whinnying in pain as it catches fire. Not happy about that fellow animal lovers? Well, you're not meant to be, it's intended to shock and upset you.

The pace increases as young Gen, having survived, runs home, avoiding further catastrophes himself but witnessing those others have faced, and when he gets home he sees his pregnant mother weeping before the knocked down shack that was their home with his father, brother and sister trapped under the wreckage, unable to help and with the ensuing flames about to engulf the family this truly brings the dark poignancy of this story's message home: it's about the little people, you and me, trapped in a world we can't change individually, while those profit in violence carry on their own existence regardless.

Some forty pages later, this first volume promises not to end on a completely sour note and we see new life born as Gen's mother delivers him a new sister prematurely.

Across 284 pages a reader can laugh and smile, share sadness, add a little education, and be left deciding for themselves how right or wrong the use of atomic bombs are, and start wondering about the long term effects of nuclear power itself.

It's not surprising films and Tv serial adaptations have been made of Barefoot Gen, and we share some Youtube clips of those with you in this feature.