Just how final will Final Crisis be?

And so the Final Crisis has begun...
If you don't dig on comic books, you might wanna just skip this post and wait for Thursday's special JAZZ edition.
I'm not going to get too in depth on the actual series here, let's leave that to our ol' pal Douglas Wolk, but I do want to touch on it.
Final Crisis is a new monthly (or thereabouts) miniseries from DC Comics that promises, well, to be the final Crisis. It's written by Grant Morrison with art by J.G. Jones, both of whom you might remember as being key players in the enormously enjoyable weekly series 52 from a year or so back. Morrison, of course, is also the current writer on both Batman and All Star Superman, two excellent comics. So it's got that going for it. As well, it promises to be a grand superhero epic spanning the entire history of the DC Universe. So, like, score.
It's been plugged under the tagline, "Heroes die. Legends live forever." So, um, we can probably expect some sort of Götterdämmerung where, y'know, our favourite four-colour heroes go the way of the dinosaur, only to be born anew, fresh and vital for a new heroic age!
All this AND major Kirby content, as Grant Morrison taps into the Fourth World mythology Kirby built at DC in the 70s (Morrison's recent Seven Soldiers opus not only built on the format of modal storytelling, it also drew heavily on Kirby concepts like the New Gods and Klarion the Witch Boy--no Don Rickles guest appearance, though).
The final issue of Final Crisis (according to current estimates--it seems like the more anticipated a title is, the lmore likely it is to slip behind schedule) is due in December of this year, and that seems as good a time as any to finally step off the mountain of reading comics by the issue and let the Sisyphean rock roll on down the slope.
I do still love the comics. Don't get me wrong. I'm just running out space in my life for them. They're cumbersome and fragile at the same time. And most of them don't really merit a second-reading, so why hold on to them??? I wish I knew other kids my age I could swap comics with so that I could a) read every comic ever and b) give the comics I've already read to a good home.
mp3: "I'm a Machine" by Slaraffenland

Ten Great Songs 2007 #8: Fifth Dimensional Johnny B. Goode and bonus last minute christmas guide

I've already said a ton about the Howling Hex and their new album XI, so I'm gonna shut up now. Except to say that if you like the riff from "American Woman", or hate it, you'll dig "FDJBG".

mp3: "Fifth Dimensional Johnny B. Goode" by the Howling Hex


If you're still trying to get your holiday shopping done, and I--or someone who thinks like I--happen to be on your list, here's some ideas.


Out of the Ordinary: Tales of Everyday Craziness by Jon Ronson - The first collection of Ronson's Guardian columns, this seems to be only available in the UK. Same story for the second collection, What I Do: More Tales of Everyday Craziness. Jon Ronson is my hero, and I am heartbroken that I don't have these books.

Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 3 - I haven't finished Vol. 2, and I haven't finished my second post about the series either, but sooner or later I'm going to have to have this. Might as well get it for free.

Anything by Raymond Sokolov - A fantastic writer, who writes mainly about food. He even wrote a biog on A.J. Liebling!

Honestly, that's really all I want. I've got lots of stuff. What I really need is more time to enjoy the stuff I already have. And maybe a generous and forgiving publisher.

If you're shopping for someone who is a bit like me, but not me, here's some other ideas:

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life - The first chapter in an amazingly rewarding graphic novel series by Canadian Bryan Lee O'Malley. At first it reads like yet another Toronto-based relationship comic (see also excellent works by: Jeff Lemire, Chester Brown, Hope Larson, Michael Noonan, Paul Rivoche, Maurice Vellekoop, and many, many other cartoonists who gravitate around Toronto, which might be the world capital of awesome comics in the 21st Century), but rather quickly reveals itself to be something quite extraordinary.

Threshold, the new album by Roger Dean Young & the Tin Cup. Fan-freaking-tastic. Any roots/americana lover in your life should have their own copy of this record/cd to cherish in private and public moments.

Forget the New Gods, what about the Old Gods?

Okay, I'm still working on my second post re: Jack Kirby's Fourth World, but in the meantime, this article showed up over Comic Book Resources today. Chris Knowles argues (and promotes his new book, Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Superheroes) for the influence of ancient myths on the creation of Superman and subsequent costumed crimefighters in general, and specifically that the cover of Action Comics #1 was all but copied from a Renaissance of Heracles by Antonio Pollauio. I gotta say, I'm not really buying that last bit. It seems a little too Da Vinci Code to me. But what do I know? Maybe someone with some art or design background (you out there, Wade?) can weigh in on these graphs and charts.

Knowles (a dubious name for someone putting forth opinions on the Internet) seems a little single-minded here, and makes no mention of circus strongmen, who most certainly influenced Superman's look. Circus strongmen indeed wore colourful costumes, including tights and leotards and sometimes capes or robes as they made their entrance into the ring, and were not shy at all about drawing comparisons to Greek, Roman and Judeo-Christian legends. Certainly, the circus would be much more familiar to a couple of teenagers growing up in Cleveland in the 1930s than Renaissance art.

And with all due respect to Siegel and Shuster (who, for the record, is as Canadian as Jack Kerouac--which is to say, not really), I think Knowles is giving them too much credit. I'm skeptical of Siegel's supposed contribution to the layout, and the process Knowles describes seems a little beyond the famously near-sighted Shuster's abilities.

All the same, Knowles has an interesting premise for his book (which CBR bafflingly describes as a "256 page novel"). Though its narrow focus seems to lead Knowles towards inflated conclusions, it's probably worth a look.

UPDATE: Knowles posted an interesting bit on his blog on the symbolism and metaphoric properties of superheroes, which is the stuff I like. Again, he's a little wide of his mark and a little too narrowly focused, but he's playing with fun ideas.

Thus he comes--the protector-wielder of the ASTRO-FORCE!

RX Comics had a giant sale over the weekend, and I stopped by on Sunday to look for Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber's Whiteout, since I accidentally picked up the sequel last week (thinking it was the first volume, of course). They didn't have it in stock, but they did have the first two volumes of DC's amazing reprint collection of Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, and let's just say the discounted price made them irresistible.

In the comics world, Jack Kirby is without peer. He was there at the start of the superhero genre, co-creating Captain America with Joe Simon in 1940 and was still doing high profile work until the mid-80s. Along the way, he either created or helped to create: the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Mighty Thor, and the Uncanny X-Men (Kirby's input on Spider-Man was minor, but he draw the cover to Amazing Fantasy #15, which was the first the world saw of the webbed-wallcrawler).

His Fourth World series, which included Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mr. Miracle, were pretty much the last great acts of imagination and creation in superhero comics. Everything since then has been pretty much about either lionizing the canon, or tearing it down. But the Fourth World characters and storylines were all new (excluding the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion, Kirby creations dormant since the 40s), and they were all Kirby.

...to be continued...

MP3: "Jack Kirby Was Ripped Off" by the Ken Vandermark Quartet