So where are the fabulously wealthy comic-geeks to set up grants for libraries, hm?

[ealgylden]

There are Joan of Arcadia vids now? Aw, I wanna see. Oh well, no one ever died from not getting a pony. I also see that the Serenity teaser trailer is online now (not that I can get the blasted thing to cooperate), and that leads me to a confession. I'm scared of this movie. I love Firefly with a mad passion, I miss it every time I turn on the tv, and I hate Fox for cutting it off at the knees, and yet... from a fannish standpoint, at the moment, it's safe. It's a closed canon with a lot of possibilities and a lot of loose ends, and that's fannish clover. I'm terribly fond of closed canon these days, what with all of my crimeslash fandoms coming horribly undone, Angel having ended with a "dammit, my favorite character!", and SG-1 perpetually teetering on the brink of oh-please-don't. So the promise of more Firefly is both thrilling and terrifying; there are so many ways it can go wrong and break my heart all over again (and I know it won't surprise anyone who knows me that most of those ways involve Simon). I loved the story the way it was, even incomplete. A new chapter is... daunting. And scary. I haven't forgotten Highlander: Endgame.

Of course, that doesn't mean I won't be there on opening day. *g*


I had things I was going to pretend to accomplish today, but instead I spent it hanging out with Little Sister and watching kids' shows on PBS. Oh hush, like you wouldn't watch cute young LeVar dance around in an awful '80's shirt singing about spiders if you could. And then a tempting meme torpedoed the last of my ambition for the day. Might as well embrace my inability to be productive, tomorrow is another day, blah blah blah. To think, I used to be such a striver. Okay, not recently, but... Anyway, here's that Leiber's Eleven meme that went around the comics blogs last week (I nicked it from krisdresen). To quote Steve Leiber:

I'd like to challenge other bloggers to come up with their own list of eleven titles that libraries should shelve. No rules, but participants are encouraged to cite a variety of genres, and you get extra bonus points if you can avoid repeating a publisher. One-line summaries are nice, but not required. And no, they don't have to be all-ages books, though all-ages lists are certainly welcome.

So here's a mix of all-ages and older-skewing titles. Not quite a "top ten" (top eleven?), just the ones that came to mind first. Only one manga, because eleven isn't very many and I needed to limit my options somehow. I did cheat a little by counting all books in a series as one title (well they are). I also cheated on the two Jay Hosler books. And I feel noooo guilt about it. :

1. Artesia, Artesia Afield, and Artesia Afire, by Mark Smylie (Archaia Studios Press)- I can't sum up this comic in one short snip, and it's on my list of future long posts*** anyway. So I'll do that soon (as soon as my copy of the third annual gets here, ahem, Midtown Comics...), and for now I'll just say it's a desert island comic for me, no question, and it would be on any "top [number]" list I made. Not all-ages (very much not).

2. Sheba: The Sands of Seth and Sheba: The Falcon and the Flame, by Walter S. Crane IV (Sick Mind Press)- I also plan to do a long post on this one soon. The adventures of a cat-mummy (with the aid of some fallen gods and goddesses). Funny, cute and smart- supposedly the third collected volume is due out soon, but "soon" is relative. Oh well, I'm happy to wait for a comic this cute and clever. All-ages, if you don't mind telling your kids about Zoroastrianism. And why would you mind?

3. Hawaiian Dick:Byrd of Paradise, by B. Clay Moore and Steven Griffin (Image Comics)- I've talked about this one several times before, not that I can find any of the darn posts right now. Oh well. Tropical noir (with zombies) in 1953 Hawaii, and one of the best collected editions I've seen in a while (affordable, too). The long-delayed second miniseries is due soon. Not all-ages.

4. Nausicaa, by Hayao Miyazaki (Viz Communications)- the only manga on my list, and one of the greatest ever IMO, from the great master behind Studio Ghibli. An epic war story and ecological cautionary tale with a gentle but powerful heroine. Wonderful stuff! I would love to replace my perfectly fine "perfect collection" copies with the new larger format volumes, just because they’re so darned pretty. Not (necessarily) all-ages, but not not, either.

5. Promethea, by Alan Moore, J.H. Williams III, et. al. (America's Best Comics)- College student Sophie becomes the newest avatar of Promethea, "the holy splendor of the imagination." Heady stuff, especially Sophie/Promethea's journey through the spheres of the Kabbalah, with some incredible art (like that in my icon, made by biichan). Not all-ages.

6a. Clan Apis, by Jay Hosler (Active Synapse)- A true classic. The life story of a honeybee. Funny, touching and educational without being Educational. The sort of comic that makes me wish I taught fifth-graders (though they'd laugh at me, since this comic always makes me cry). All-ages.

6b. The Sandwalk Adventures, by Jay Hosler (Active Synapse)- Charles Darwin explains evolutionary theory to his eyebrow mites. No, seriously. Every bit as wonderful as Clan Apis, goofy and strange and sweet. All-ages.

7. Amy Unbounded: Belondweg Blossoming, by Rachel Hartman (Pug House Press)- A medieval fantasy starring smart, sparky, ten-year-old Amy, and one of the best minicomics I've ever read. The (uncollected) early issues were great fun, but the "Belondweg Blossoming" arc, about growing up, braving the world, and the choices women make, brought it to a whole new, lovely level. Oh, Niesta. All-ages.

8. Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships and Age of Bronze: Sacrifice, by Eric Shanower (Image Comics)- The Trojan War retold, only not lamely like in Troy. *g* Another truly epic comic (I seem to have a thing for epics- Artesia, Nausicaa, Age of Bronze... hm)- Sacrifice gets us only as far as Iphigenia, so there's quite a way yet to go. Scholarly, but never dull (which is as it should be). Oh, and Patroklus? Totally not his cousin. Not all-ages.

9. Halo and Sprocket: Welcome to Humanity, by Kerry Callen (Slave Labor Graphics)- An angel, a robot, and their friend Katie explore what it means to be human. Sounds kind of dry, but it's actually silly, witty and charming. Cute cartoony art, too. All-ages.

10. Finder, by Carla Speed McNeil (Lightspeed Press)- Deep science fiction worldbuilding. Much too deep for a mini-synopsis. Wonderful art, fascinating characters, and some really impressive cultural creation make this series one of the strongest around. Not all-ages.

11. The Red Star: The Battle of Kar Dathra's Gate, by Christian Gossett et. al. (Image Comics)- This is only the first volume of an ongoing series, but I haven't liked the subsequent storylines as much, and it can stand alone. It's the story of Maya, a sorceress, soldier, widow of a hero of her alternate Soviet Union-esque nation's war, and hero in her own right, and the art is a striking blend of drawn figures and computer-generated backgrounds. Gorgeous and unique stuff.



*** The list, if you're curious, currently includes posts on Artesia, Sheba, a handful of selected JoA eps from last season, and the remaining twelve eps of Miracles, though I'll probably save those for fall, since I don't have many current shows left. Plus, anything that still makes sense out a summer's worth of post-it notes. Movies seen will have to wait for DVD, I think.


Wow, my biases are really visible in that list. Closest I get to the big presses are the three titles from Image (a strange quirk in itself, that), only one superhero (well, "science heroine") and she's an... odd duck, an overwhelming tilt toward female lead characters, a tendency toward history and fantasy (and historical fantasy)... I'm terribly predictable. But they're all such good comics! Must reads, every one.

Comments

[sffan.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit leery of the big damn movie myself. I'm terrified Joss will take out all the hoyay and I have a minor spoiler that makes my stomach clench. But, I am going to have faith in Joss and in the fact that he's got full autonomy for once. No fucking retarded network/studio fucking with his vision, forcing him to make things more funny, less dark, less clever, etc. etc.

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

How not-good a spoiler? Is it a Simon-y spoiler? Because I have much fear for Simon and a certain semi-relationship that is cute but can (IMO) only end in tears and pain, which is the last thing the poor boy needs at this point. And yeah, I have hoyay-loss fears too (surprise! *g*). Willful ambiguity is easier to do when you have lots of time and a dead time-slot than when you have two hours and a need to draw mainstream audiences. I've been trying to get spoiled for this movie, but they seem to have kept a pretty tight lid on it so far. All I've heard are rumors of the "Western-ness" being toned down, which makes me nervous (even though "Ariel" was my favorite episode and that's not Western at all). Oh well, it's early yet.

I used to have much more faith in Joss than I do now, but some of his plot and character choices in the last years of Buffy and Angel, some of his recent-ish interviews and his ongoing blind devotion to his Willow/Fred/Kaylee ideal (as much as I like Willow and Kaylee) have made me a bit more leery. I don't not trust him, I still think he's great, but I am more cautious than I was. If it were an adaptation from a book, like LotR or M&C, I don't think I'd be as tense, since I'm used to giving lots of leeway there and I don't usually have specific mental pictures of characters or such when I read (I don't picture actors or anything). But tv show to movie is not such a big jump, you know? And a tv show that I loved that much... yeah. But we'll see. It could all turn out happy after all. *g*

[sffan.livejournal.com]

Jewel hinted at a kiss. I'm still holding out for a really awkward, horrid one, wherein they both decide that there's nothing there.

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, that's what I was afraid of. Yeah, I'm with you. Maybe it'll be a Wesley/Cordelia-style kiss that'll kill the crush for once and for all and let them get on with being friends, because I just can't see a romance ending well for them. sigh

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I'd also includes classics like TinTin and Asterix the Gaul (preferably the British translations).

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

That's the problem with only eleven slots- it's just not enough room, darn it. Those also would be definites (I love Asterix, though I've never quite forgiven TinTin for some very dull French classes), though, along with the Peanuts collections starting to come from Fantagraphics. Maus, of course. Sandman, which is already one of the books most likely to turn up in a library if anything does, I think. Standards like Watchmen, From Hell and Cerebus, and books that got major mainstream attention like Jimmy Corrigan and Ghost World (whether or not I personally liked them). Some Will Eisner. Los Bros Hernandez. Moebius. P. Craig Russell's opera adaptations.

And then there are the ones that just barely missed my list, that may or may not be "important" but that I love, stuff like Vogelein, Persepolis, Far West, Castle Waiting, Charm School... definitely too many options. *g*

[vonniek.livejournal.com]

Seah and Margie's Joan of Arcadia vids are now online here (http://www.trickster.org/vids/). I don't know if you have broadband or dial-up, but even if you have dial-up, they're worth the trouble. "What It's All About" is a Will Girardi vid that works surprisingly well, and "Big Red Boat" is, like, the most adorable thing *ever*. I have to warn you though--vids are like crack. You may be wanting to see more once you're done with them. But you know, it's good crack, so it's OK.

Your friendly neighborhood vid-pusher

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

They're up, they're up, joy, joy! Thank you for the pointer! I was stunned to hear of any JoA vids at all, let alone two, since the show seems to be one that lots of folks like and few talk about, fannishly-speaking (myself included, what with my stacks of untyped notes). And that one of them is a Will vid, considering how (relatively) unpopular he is... so exciting! I should stop frittering around and write an "I love Will" post already. *g*

If only I weren't stuck with dial-up. I'm a fan of anticipation, but instant gratification would also be nice in this case, I think.

Thanks again!