Monitor Duty by Randy Lander "San Diego 2002 - Part Three" I've become a big fan of the graphic novel in recent years, and I picked up a few new ones in San Diego. I'll kick off this column with a look at a pair of single issues that I picked up, but for the most part I'll be looking at collected works and original graphic novels in this final installment of reviews of books I picked up at San Diego 2002. A United Front #1-2 (www.cartoonmilitia.com) by Cartoon Militia - In my last Monitor Duty, I looked at Comics-A-Go-Go, the mini-comic anthology from the Cartoon Militia. I also picked up issues one and two of their full-size anthology book, with covers by Scott Morse and Jim Mahfood. The first issue, printed on something approximating newsprint but whiter, has two full stories by Morse, a strange short called "Milliken Darby" that had another strip in the Oni Color special a couple years back and another strange but fun one about a boy who gets a bear to go trick or treating with him. Mahfood is also well represented in these books, with two shorts that were reprinted in last week's Stupid Comics. The second issue is from the rest of the Cartoon Militia for the most part, and there's some promising talent there, including the haunting "Uavhengighetens Pris" by artist Kristian Lihaug Fredriksen, the great short "Lower Level Kiosk" about the nature of Hell written by Shad Land with art by Ozel Ernie Colon's beautifully illustrated silent piece "Doodle Movie" and the gorgeous pin-up of "Introspection: Extraversion" by the enigmatic TEM. Both of these books are worth a look, and I'd be surprised if a few of these names didn't turn up later at Oni or Image or somewhere else. Ian Carney, Woodrow Phoenix & Aidan Potts (www.slavelabor.com) - Last year, I got myself a copy of Eager Beaver by Ian Carney and Woodrow Phoenix. It's a clever little full-color mini-comic that can be sealed and mailed to someone, and it has the wit of a twisted Warner Brothers cartoon (specifically the one where the obnoxious dog adopts Porky Pig) with an even more gruesome edge. I loved it, and set about this year to find some more. Thanks to Bob Simpkins at Slave Labor, I got my hands on Ian Carney and Woodrow Phoenix's massive collection Sugar Buzz: Live at Budokan! and Ian Carney's earlier work with artist Aidan Potts, Randy the Skeleton: Bag of Bones. Sugar Buzz: Live at Budokan! is literally impossible to really describe. The book is full of a variety of strips and oddball characters, including Pants Ant, a super-heroic ant with human-sized robotic pants, Urbane Gorilla (has to be seen to be believed), the Holiday Heroes (a super-hero group composed of Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc.) and the ultra-groovy space adventurers known as the Ultra Spacers. The entire book is heavily influenced by the whacked-out style of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and Carney and Phoenix have an ability with the ridiculous that is hard to beat. The book is damned odd, but there are laughs on just about every page, and if one feature doesn't work for you, the next one is bound to grab you more. It's sort of what you might get if Laugh-In had been a cartoon aimed at adults, executive produced by Grant Morrison. Phoenix's artwork is especially impressive, as he varies his style in each piece, but always has clean linework and detail that reminds me pleasantly of Andi Watson's work. Randy the Skeleton, on the other hand, was way too weird for me, but it reminds me a lot of some of Fantagraphics' stranger and more critically lauded work. Carney creates a character and a world that revolves around strange afterlife politics, including the universally derided orphans and the titular cross-dressing and boozing skeleton who collects "items of hyper-kitsch." The stories employ a sort of shifting logic that is akin to what you'd find in dreams or heavy drug trips, and I often found the book too dizzying to keep up with. Aidan Potts's artwork is ideal for these stories, a sort of woodcut style that is reminiscent of Richard Corben's work, with beautiful detail and a sort of lunatic imagination that matches Carney's bizarre creations. Though the strangeness of sensibilities is a constant between Randy and Sugar Buzz, I was surprised to see how different two properties by the same writer could be. Raider: From the Shadows (www.raidercomic.com) by Thom Zahler - Thom Zahler is a familiar name, as he's done work for other comics companies, but Raider was my first exposure to his artwork and writing that I can remember. I have to admit, Raider hits my sensibilities pretty square on... I was talked into the graphic novel at San Diego when he pitched it as "Alias (the TV show) meets... er, something I can't remember" (that last bit is me, not Thom. He had me when he mentioned Alias.) His intro to the book mentions the silent issue of G.I. Joe, one of the books instrumental in starting my comics fanaticism, and there's a reference to Die Hard, one of my all-time favorite action movies, in the book as well. Raider is almost a super-hero book, and the lead character comes complete with mysterious past to rival Wolverine and a name that sounds more like a super nom de plume than an espionage codename. There are also elements of G.I. Joe here, with organizations known as the Benefactors (the good guys, a U.N. secret agency) and Dominators (the bad guys, a terrorist group bent on world domination) mapping pretty well to G.I. Joe and Cobra, as well as other fantastic espionage stories with competing agencies not tied to any specific governmental agenda. Raider is not a sophisticated examination of espionage like Queen & Country or even 24 or Alias. Gray morality, questions of loyalty and trust and operating above the law are all raised, but the protagonists deal with them fairly easily. However, the story is built upon an interesting plot, the characters are likable and well-fleshed-out, and the action is top notch. Zahler's artwork isn't fantastic, but it gets the job done. While there's not a lot of flash or style, and the character designs are actually somewhat generic, the storytelling is very strong, probably the most important aspect on a book like this. Chases through hotels, martial arts fights, infiltration of enemy bases and a daring aerial rescue are all important elements that wouldn't work without Zahler's ability to tell a story. Overall, I found Raider to be a little simplistic at times, but it's a page-turner, and those who enjoyed stuff like True Lies, XXX or other action-intensive espionage movies, as well as anyone who misses the classic G.I. Joe series, should definitely take a look when it comes out in December. I liked it a lot. More, please. Littlegreyman (Image) by C. Scott Morse - Apparently impossible to find on the Internet, Littlegreyman is one of Scott Morse's early works from Image. I hope it'll be in print again soon, because I also found it to be one of his most fun projects. Like all of Morse's projects, it has an air of strangeness about it, but instead of folk tales or mythology informing it, it is based around pop culture. Specific references to Clint Eastwood, Chow Yun Fat and Toshiro Mifune (I think), along with Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi and the Godfather make for a hilarious opening story, as well as showing that Morse and I share plenty in common where movies are concerned. Littlegreyman, a hapless little alien just trying to figure out why the "cinematic trio" would want him off of Earth, soon gets involved in a conspiracy involving men in black and sexy lingerie-wearing female agents. Morse's artwork looks fantastic, as always, and his re-imagined versions of Hollywood icons are both dead-on impressions and interesting interpretations that allow for some artistic individuality. Worlds Apart (www.bubbaandsmoot.com) by Scott Mills and various - The creator of acclaimed mini-comic Cells, as well as the Top Shelf graphic novels Big Clay Pot and Trenches, is someone I always try to buy something from at each Con, and this year it was Worlds Apart, a mini graphic novel with stories written by Mills and illustrated (mostly) by other mini-comics talent. The theme is science-fiction, but there's room in there for comedy, young adventure, time paradoxes, virtual reality and even robot zombies. The ideas are nifty, the stories short (in some cases too short... I wanted more) and the artwork a lot of fun, whether it's Pam Bliss's cartoony style or Thomas Scioli's Kirby-esque style. It's a nifty little burst of science-fiction, and it bodes well for Mills's next graphic novel, The Masterplan. Zed Volume One (www.gagneint.com) by Michel Gagne - Michel Gagne is a talent from the world of animation whose work I was first introduced to when I read the first three issues of Zed. In San Diego, Gagne passed me a copy of Zed Volume One, which collects #1-4 of the series into a very attractive and affordable package. Zed is best described as Dr. Seuss with a bodycount. The lead character, a cute and intelligent alien named Zed, accidentally blows up a planet (with his parents and the scientific community) on it in the first issue, and spends the rest of the story pursued by a militaristic general and his fleet, intent on using this accident to replace the sitting government. The last issue has a few revelations about the accident, though, which turn the whole story on its head, including the return of some of my favorite characters from the first issue. I greatly enjoyed Zed, and was a little saddened to discover that this was just volume one of the story. Not because I don't want to read more, in fact I'm very anxious to read more, but I was dying to see the end of the story, and now I have to wait. But Gagne, who already surprised me more than once with Zed #1-3, introduces some big shifts and revelations in the story with #4, and I can't recommend the trade highly enough. That about covers a good deal of what I saw and did in San Diego. Expect the Lar-apalooza, covering four or five AIT/Planet Lar releases, sometime soon, as well as a look at Cyberosia's remastered Cathedral Child, but those are separate features. In the meantime, be sure and check out my other San Diego features if you haven't already. To read part one, click HERE, and to read part two HERE. Email Randy Lander comments about this column, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.