Where in the World is BB?

For those folks who might be curious, no, I won't be attending this week's rendition of the increasingly popular Comic Con International--San Diego show. There are a number of reasons for my continued absence from that venue, the main one being that I have work to do here at the BFD Studios. It's the second year I've given it a miss, and, truth be told, I'm only a little bit saddened by this. And much of that regret has to do with the fact that San Diego typically provides the sole opportunity to see and speak with any number of people whose company I've always enjoyed. Beyond that...

Well, I don't really miss a lot of things associated with that particular con. Especially the overwhelming crowds of fans, which often made my work simply impossible to do during the show. Which meant that most of my evenings, which had been devoted to hanging out with friends old and new, had increasingly become devoted to still more work. And the simple fact is that there's some real wisdom in that old saw, "All work and no play makes [fill in the blank] a dull man." Or dullard, depending on your viewpoint.

Anyway, I won't be at San Diego this year. Maybe next year...if there's time and real reason for it.

However, I will be attending the Wizard World-Chicago early next month. It's much easier to deal with, logistically, and yet still allows me to do the things I need and want to do at shows: talk with my fellow professionals, do a bit of business, and hang out with any number of friends and good acquaintances. As is typical, I won't have a table, nor will any of the publishers I currently work with, so look for me wandering the floor if you'd like to talk, or just would like to say hello. That's why I'll be there, and I'm always interested in meeting new people and hearing what they have to say about any number of topics.

Beyond that, not a lot to talk about of substance this week, except for a few reviews of books I've actually had the time to read over the past seven days or so. Been working quite a bit on that unnamed project, which I hope to be able to reveal in the near future-maybe even next week. But that also means that my schedule's not allowed as much time for reading as I might wish. Still there's some very good items in this week's edition of...

What's Bill been reading lately? [covering the period 7-16-07 to 7-23-07]


Doug Tennapel's Black Cherry
by Doug Tennapel
Image Comics
http://www.image.com/

Eddie Paretti's a down-on-his-luck Mafioso takes on a job he shouldn't just to get out of debt--his assignment from a rival gang is to double cross his own boss by stealing a body the Don's got, quite literally, on ice. However, when Eddie succeeds in lifting "the package," he quickly discovers that all is not as it seems when the stiff proves to be alive...and very, very alien. Things then go from weird to utterly strange, as a Priest who shares a past with Eddie and a woman who might or might not have known our antihero in a former life step in to save both the otherworldly being and our entire world. And that's when Tennapel kicks everything into overdrive, by throwing liberal doses of the supernatural, theology and more earthly concerns into the mix.

You could call it The Godfather meets Repo Man, I suppose, but there's really no way to define or explain this book without ruining it for you. But rest assured that this tale somehow manages to discover the sacred in the profane, to alternate between scenes of sheer horror and sublime revelation, all the while ratcheting up the tension only to relieve it just a little with moments of real humor to produce a reading experience unlike anything else out there at the moment.

Still, given the amount of often extremely harsh language, along with the unavoidable religious message this tale delivers, this graphic novel certainly isn't for everyone. However, for those with an open mind, and those readers just looking for a helluva adventure, Black Cherry has my highest recommendation.


Batman: Harley and Ivy
Paul Dini and Judd Winick with Joe Chiodo, Bruce Timm and Ronnie Del Carmen
DC Comics
http://www.dccomics.com/

This collection gathers together a series of group of animated style tales featuring the Joker's ex-sidekick and love interest, the delightfully daffy and incredibly deadly Harley Quinn, and the original dark eco warrior, Pamela Isley, AKA Poison Ivy. And it's a real corker of a collection, with some truly fine work by everyone involved. But don't let the seemingly simple storylines and art fool you; yeah, these are tales that work for readers of almost all ages, but there's a good deal of smarts displayed in the writing, some real vigor in the visuals...and more than a little heat generated in the sometimes barely repressed sexuality which underscores the proceedings. These might be cartoony women, but they are, without a doubt, women who are in charge and quite at ease with every aspect of themselves, including the physical. A really fun, often engrossing read starring a couple of dames of criminal repute, I'd recommend this to most readers, especially those looking to spend some time living just a little dangerously.


EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt volume 2
by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines with Jack Davis, Graham Ingles, Joe Orlando, Wally Wood, et. al.
Gemstone Publishing
http://www.gemstonepub.com/

This second volume of the justly-revered Tales from the Crypt reprints issues # 6 through 10, and features some more of that nasty goodness that made these comics so popular when they first appeared, and which has fueled interest in the entire EC line. And little wonder, when you consider some of the luminaries who contributed to these and other books published under the Entertaining Comics imprint. There's nary a clunker herein, and more than a few tales that were instant classics. This volume features the same loving, even slavish devotion to high end values in both production and printing, with newly recolored reproductions that capture the look and feel of the originals in a lavish oversized hardcover.

However, I have noticed one specific problem with this particular volume regarding the lettering: there's obviously a few missing words and even substitutions of incorrect words for the originals scattered throughout the text, something that I haven't seen [or perhaps noticed] in the earlier EC Archives collections. Hopefully, this is but an aberration, and not a sign of things to come. Granted, it's not enough to totally ruin this book, being more of an annoyance, but this could easily avoided with a little more careful proofing. Still, this volume comes with the same high recommendations as the earlier releases in this historically important series of long overdue reprints.


And that's it for the moment. Now go have some fun. And if you're heading out to San Diego, travel well, be safe, and enjoy!