Last week, we kicked off our Summer Tab comics-related choice picks with a look at the movies (‘A Superhero’s Welcome,’ May 15). And now, we present a round-up of the comic book-related in other media to indulge in…including comics themselves! Here’s some summer fun, whether you’re baking on the sands of Will Rogers State Beach or keeping cool inside your Highlands digs. DVDs If movie theaters make you (and your wallet) itch, bring the action home. Transcending expectations, ‘Transformers,’ based on the popular 1980s morphing robots of toys and comics, turns out to be (surprise!) a good Michael Bay film, marked by a star-making performance by Shia La Beouf (who co-stars with Harrison Ford in ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls’ opening this weekend). ‘Spider-Man 3’ and ‘Rise of the Silver Surfer: Fantastic Four’ offer solid Marvel Comics fun, but ‘Ghost Rider’ falls well short of being as cool as its eponymous hotheaded character. For those seeking mature, ‘grounded in reality’ superhero fare, ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ may well be the best of the Jason Bourne trilogy, while ‘Casino Royale’ does for James Bond what ‘Batman Begins’ did for the Caped Crusader: puts the menace back into its protagonist. Caustic and sardonic, the black humor-singed ‘Art School Confidential’ improves on ‘Ghost World,’ both with screenplays written by and based on comic strips by Oscar-nominated writer and cartoonist Dan Clowes. ‘Confidential’ plays best in its first two acts, as art college satire, before its forced whodunit denouement arrives. On a lighter note, independent filmmaker Allen Freeman shot ‘Dean LeCrone vs. the Mutants of Comic-Con’ at the 2006 San Diego convention. ‘Mutants”’with LeCrone’s Letterman-esque man-on-the-street mocking Comic-Con’s costumed freaks”pithily sums up the mega-convention and its inherent absurdities. This two-disc DVD is available at www.fanaticpress.com. MANGA Via imports or influence, Japanese comics have all but taken over the imagination of American comic book readers. The Tokyo noir of ‘Oldboy’ follows a recently freed man on a lurid odyssey to get the gangsters who imprisoned him for a decade, as well as some answers as to why. This year, the 1997 series by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi wrapped up an eight-book English translation on the Dark Horse imprint. But be warned: the 2003 Korean-made film adaptation falls short of the source material. Also just published: the conclusion of the 12-digest ‘The Drifting Classroom’ (Viz) ” Kazuo Umezo’s sci-fi-ish yarn about a classroom separated by a mysterious sinkhole. Either series makes for solid travel reading. And if you happen to road trip up to the Bay Area, continue your Japanese comics fix with sushi dinner at Manga-Manga in Berkeley (2399 Shattuck Ave.; 510-704-8224), where you can leaf through manga and Superman comics while waiting for another round of sake. GRAPHIC NOVELS, COMICS, & COMICS HISTORY Just because they’re comics doesn’t mean they’re for the kids, folks. The following graphic novels offer mature themes meant to engage older readers. Let’s begin with the most acclaimed graphic novel of 2007. ‘Exit Wounds’ (Drawn & Quarterly), by Israeli cartoonist Rutu Modan, uses the Middle East conflict only as a backdrop to a slice-of-life story about a man learning to fall in love while on a quest to investigate his estranged father’s death. Drawn in a style that evokes the “clear line” aesthetic of European master cartoonist Herg’ (whose iconic ‘Tintin’ comics will soon be the basis of a Steven Spielberg- and Peter Jackson-directed movie trilogy), Modan organically and masterfully shepherds her compelling story to its open-ended conclusion. A thoroughly satisfying read. Many moviegoers may not realize that recent critically acclaimed films ‘The Road to Perdition’ and ‘A History of Violence’ came from graphic novels. If you haven’t checked out the original material, these book-length comics still hold up. Inspired by manga classic ‘Lone Wolf and Cub,’ ‘The Road to Perdition’ (Paradox Press) may not be as well known as its tamer movie counterpart, the 2002 Sam Mendes film starring the Palisadian Tom Hanks, but it deserves to be. This action-packed John Woo-violent period piece, as conceived by writer Max Allan Comics with gritty, illustrative art by Richard Piers Rayner, puts the ‘graphic’ back into graphic novels as ‘Perdition’ explores the contradiction between devout Catholic mob hitman Michael O’Sullivan and his love for his namesake son. O’Sullivan involves the junior Michael in his criminal activity as he hides from and hunts down members of the Irish mob who murdered his family (be sure to seek out the original and not the redundant sequel-prequel, ‘On the Road to Perdition’). The 2005 movie ‘A History of Violence’ was originally a 1997 Paradox Press book illustrated by Vincent Locke and written by British scribe John Wagner, creator of England’s nihilistic future shock comic, ‘Judge Dredd.’ While not as stellar as ‘Perdition,’ ‘History’ is its hard-boiled first cousin, courtesy of Locke’s loose, sketchy style. Worth a gander. Charles Burns returns with his teen plague saga ‘The Black Hole’ (Pantheon), a beautifully warped metaphorical take on mid-1970s adolescence inspired by ’50s sci-fi and paranoia B-movies (and soon to be a film). Incidentally, Burns illustrated the cover to the much buzzed about non-fiction book by David Hajdu, ‘The Ten-Cent Plague’ (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), an in-depth focus on the 1950s debates, spearheaded by Fredric Wertham, that accused comics of corrupting America’s youth and led to the establishment of the Comics Code censorship system. For further comic-book-history reading, ‘Men of Tomorrow’Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book’ (Perseus Books Group), a 2005 release by Gerald Jones, offers a fascinating look at Golden Age pioneers, including the tragic story of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. As for the kiddies, guess who’s making a comeback? Hint: a certain oblong-headed star of 1950s and ’60s claymation toons. Expect myriad Gumby-related projects this summer, including a documentary on creator Art Clokey, and a director’s-cut DVD of ‘Gumby: The Movie’ (with a sequel due in 2010). In March, WildCard Ink, official Gumby comics publisher, collected the first three issues of Bob Burden and Rick Geary’s award-winning series in a ‘Gumby’ trade paperback. This July, a spin-off comic book miniseries launches with Gumby’s pony pal sidekick in ‘Gumby’s Gang Featuring Pokey,’ written by yours truly with art by Rafael Navarro. HAPPENINGS Comic books shop events will keep you social and stocked on reading material all summer long. Get on the e-list of Hi De Ho Comics in Santa Monica (525 Santa Monica Blvd.; 310-394-2820) or The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach (1807 Manhattan Beach Blvd.; 310-372-6704) to keep abreast of this summer’s comic book action. The Golden Apple (7018 Melrose Ave., Hollywood; 323-658-6047), conveniently located nearby Pink’s Hot Dogs, throws the most exciting in-store events. Recent happenings have included an ‘Iron Man-A-Palooza’ that invited visitors to arrive in home-made costumes. Meltdown Comics & Collectables (7522 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; 323-851-7223) has a gallery space that plays host every three months to the alternative comics mini-convention Super*MARKET (www.supermarketla.com), where local cartoonists sell and sign their wares. Started in 2003 by Jessica Gao, a writer on the Nickelodeon cartoon ‘The Mighty B,’ back when she attended UCLA, Super*Market (fondly named after The Clash song ‘Lost in the Supermarket’) will center on anime/manga on August 31, running from noon to 6 p.m. Of course, any avid comics fan knows that the mother of all happenings is the 39th Annual Comic-Con International (www.comic-con.org), a five-day pop culture orgy from July 23-27 at San Diego’s Convention Center that attracts 100,000 attendees each year. Never a dull moment, but RSVP early: the convention and area hotels sell out fast. Young, old, or in between, there’s plenty of comics-related fun out there to make your summer of 2008 great.
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