Let the Healing Begin

Volume 11 #3
“News, reviews and opinions from the world of comics”
May 2007
Let the Healing Begin
So I know what it must seem like
– one month we’re all making fun
of Civil War and the next we’re
praising (parts of) it. Heck, this
month we’re not even picking a
side as you’ll see both pro and
con points of view about Marvel’s
biggest story ever.
Well, Big Planet has always
made a commitment to telling
you the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. Sometimes we’ll warn you off books
that we feel might not be all
they’re cracked up to be, and
other months we’ll swear by a
writer or a storyline.
We get it wrong sometimes,
but at least you can trust that
our biggest concern is you being
happy with the comics you read
and not feeling like we sold you
a bill of goods…one with two
variant covers.
Even with the varying points
of view about Civil War, one thing
I will say is that the stories spinning out of the war’s end have
been really exciting. I applaud
Marvel’s choice to really make
the effects of the series feel real
and permanent. Every title being
published is different now that
the war is over and things are
Fallen Son
 Wolverine: By Loeb and
Leinil Yu
 New Avengers: By Loeb and
Ed McGuinness
 Captain America: By Loeb
and John Romita Jr.
 Spider-Man: By Loeb and
David Finch
 Iron Man: By Loeb and John
Cassaday
especially awesome in books
like the Avengers titles, Captain
America
and
Thunderbolts.
Starting in April and continuing
into May is what is sure to be the
next great post-Civil War offering:
Civil War – Fallen Son.
Fallen Son is a series of selfcontained books examining the
effect Captain America’s death has
had on the rest of the characters in
the Marvel Universe. Conceived
by J. Michael Straczynski, written
by Jeph Loeb, covers by Michael
Turner and featuring a team of
all-star artists, each issue focuses
on one of the five different stages
of grief people experience after a
death (Denial, Anger, Bargaining,
Depression, and Acceptance). Let
the healing begin.
2 | www.bigplanetcomics.com
Hotline: 301.718.1890
artist…I’d much rather know
what Glenn Danzig does on
a normal Saturday afternoon
than how he put Samhain
together. I can’t wait to read
The Salon. That’s not really a
question…thoughts?
I’ve always felt like there’s been
a wall between history and
students and I wanted to bring
that down with THE SALON
and show how an art movement
was really born. The newspaper comics that Picasso read,
the chamber-pot that Braque
used, all these sort of things are
important to understanding how
Cubism was created.
Come meet
Nick Bertozzi!
Nick Bertozzi will
be signing all of his
graphic novels at the
Bethesda Big Planet
Comics on Saturday,
April 28 from 2-4
p.m.
Nick Bertozzi talks
up his two new
graphic novels
samples from both books at Nick’s
website: www.nickbertozzi.com
and then come back here to read
our recent conversation with the
man himself.
I know, I know…I keep skipping out on the classic comics
covers usually showcased in this
section. I’ll get back to that soon.
Promise. It’s just that too much
good stuff has been cropping up.
Stuff like this:
Nick
Bertozzi
is
a
supremely talented writer
and artist in addition to
being a rad guy, a teacher
and a father. You’d be
doing yourself a real
favor checking out any of
his work, but this month
we see the release of two
new graphic novels from Nick.
Houdini: The Handcuff King
by Nick and Jason Lutes examines a day in the life of escape
artist Harry Houdini, while
The Salon is Bertozzi’s utterly
amazing tale of Picasso, Braque,
Stein, Satie and Apollinaire
in 20th century Paris (Mature
Readers).
Go right now and check out
ID: So I’m sure you’re
getting a lot of this, but
you’re looking pretty prolific
with the two graphic novels
getting released in the same
month. Do you feel like
you’re going to have to keep
up this pace? Like you’ll
be up to 7 books a
month by 2009?
NB: The books were
supposed to come out
a year apart and there
was no overlap in the
drawing at all. But if it
came down to it, I know I
could draw a graphic novel
per month. Just kidding!
The Handcuff King looks
totally amazing. How was
the experience of working
with Jason Lutes?
I got paid to learn at the knee of
one of the best living American
cartoonists and work from his
thumbnails.
Tell me something I didn’t
know about Houdini that you
found out from working on
this project.
He was a jogger!
Now, you know me and
how my tastes skew more
towards the pro-wrestling,
heavy metal parking lot,
explosions, heat-vision,
exotic dancer, skeet shooting
side of things – so when
I read the description of
The Salon I was a little like
“Huh?” because I didn’t
show up for any classes in
college. But then I read some
of you descriptions of the
book and was really drawn
in by the questions you’re
asking about how the real
daily life of these artists
affected their work. I’m not
interested in learning things
I already know about an
The Salon has been a pretty
long time in the making.
When did you start and what
was the hardest part of the
process? I imagine you had
quite a bit of research to
deal with.
I started THE SALON in early
2002 on serializer.net as a lark. A
month or two in I realized what
I’d gotten myself into. I had to do
a ton of research and figure out
the ending.
So what else is going on?
What’s really next for
you? What comics are you
reading? What music are you
listening to?
I’ve spent a lot of time getting
out the word about THE SALON
and HOUDINI, but I’ve been
drawing Persimmon Cup, a scifi/fantasy comic for the online
comix collective that I’m part of
http://community.livejournal.co
m/act_i_vate/ . I also just signed
a contract for Houghton-Mifflin
to draw a Lenny Bruce bio-comic
written by Harvey Pekar.
I read anything that Christophe
Blain does and I just picked up
another volume of ENOMOTO,
the funniest comic ever. I’ve been
listening a lot to ENO and ELO,
but no EMO!
Hotline: 301.718.1890
www.bigplanetcomics.com | 3
Rewriting a Civil War
Getting to the real
truth of Marvel
Comics’ Civil War
I was preparing an April
Fool’s piece for the very, very
cool Comics Alliance website
(www.comicsalliance.com) when
I remembered something very
important: Behind every great lie
is a kernel of truth. I realized how
true this was when I went about
rewriting the Wikipedia entry on
the Lebanese Civil War so that it
reflected the events of Marvel’s
Civil War series. I was making
the joke that Marvel had simply
plagiarized the plot to Civil War by
swapping out certain words in this
entry on Wikipedia. What I didn’t
count on was how easy this would
be. I changed 22 words or phrases.
Just 22 words or phrases and I got
a startlingly accurate description
of the Civil War comic. I started
to wonder if I had stumbled
onto some sort of X-Files-esque
conspiracy. Had Marvel really just
used a series of historical events to
guide their best-selling mega-cross
over? Probably not, but the results
of my experiment will intrigue
you. Compare for yourself
paragraph by paragraph.
First the Wikipedia version:
The
multi-sided
Lebanese Civil War
(1975–1990) had its
origin in the conflicts and
political compromises after
the end of Lebanon’s administration by the Ottoman Empire and
was exacerbated by the nation’s
changing demographic trends,
Christian and Muslim inter-religious strife, and the involvement
of Syria, Israel and the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO).
The Marvel version:
The multi-sided Marvel Civil War
(1975–1990) had its origin in the
conflicts and political compromises after the end of Nick Fury’s
administration by S.H.I.E.L.D and
was exacerbated by the nation’s
changing demographic trends,
Mutant and Human strife, and the
involvement of the New Warriors.
Wikipedia:
During the course of the fighting,
alliances shifted rapidly and unpre-
Iron Man poses with some of his Lebanese teammates during a Civil War.. At least that’s how we think it happened.
dictably. By the end of the war,
nearly every party had allied with
and subsequently betrayed every
other party at least once.
The 1980s were especially
bleak, with much of
Beirut laid in ruins
during the Israeli invasion that evicted the
PLO from the country.
A number of war
crimes and terrorist acts
were committed by all the
Lebanese factions participating
in the war. The war deteriorated
ever further into sectarian carnage,
and in the end Lebanon’s effective
independence counted among the
casualties.
rated ever further into sectarian
carnage, and in the end Spider
Man’s effective independence
counted among the casualties.
UN in the aftermath of the assassination of Rafik Hariri.
Marvel:
By the time of the Taif Agreement
in 1989, Israel held on to a security
zone in southern Lebanon that it
justified as a buffer to prevent
attacks on northern Israel. The
Israeli Army eventually withdrew
in 2000, only to see Syria fill the
void from areas it had occupied
By the time of the Hero Registration Act in 2007, Iron Man held on
to a security zone in the Negative
Zone that he justified was a buffer
to prevent attacks on the United
States. Captain America eventually withdrew in 2007, only to see
Omega Flight fill the void from
areas it had occupied in Canada
since the mid-70s. Luke Cage
in northern and western Lebanon
since the mid-70s. Syria did not
withdraw its troops until 2005,
when it was forced out by the
joint pressure created by Lebanese
protest and powerful diplomatic
intervention from France and the
did not withdraw his troops, and
was forced out by the joint pressure created by The Avengers and
powerful diplomatic intervention
from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the UN in
the aftermath of the assassination
of Captain America.
Wikipedia:
Marvel:
During the course of the fighting,
alliances shifted rapidly and
unpredictably. By the end of
the war, nearly every party had
allied with and subsequently
betrayed every other party at
least once. The year 2007 was
especially bleak, with much of
Connecticut laid in ruins during
the New Warriors invasion that
evicted tons of dead kids from the
country. A number of war crimes
and terrorist acts were committed
by the Thunderbolts participating
in the war. The war deterio-
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Hotline: 301.718.1890
start Buffy Season 8 has gotten
off to. And now he’s added the
already excellent Runaways
to his credits. If you weren’t
already into this Brian Vaughncreated series it is now officially
mandatory reading. Issue #26
will feature Whedon writing the
Punisher as the kids find Frank
Castle during a trip to New
York. Joss Whedon…writing the
Punisher. Wow.
Amazons Attack
Do not sleep on ANYTHING
DC Comics is doing these days.
Their long-term planning is
outstanding and has led to
fantastic
and
intricate storytelling over the
last few years.
So when the
publisher
says
that
Amazons
Attack sets up
huge events in
the DCU for next year, you’d
better believe it. Besides, where
else are you going to get Batman
and Superman fighting hordes of
gladiator women?
Marvel Zombies: Dead
Days
This is the prologue to Marvel
Zombies by the original creative
team of Robert Kirkman and
Sean Phillips. Every month I go
off about how
amazing Marvel
Zombies is and
how
you’re
totally blowing
it if you’re not
reading
this
surprising,
hilarious and original superzombie romp. I’m not going to do
that this month. I’m not going to
tell you that you need to buy this
book to find out how the whole
mess started. I’m not going to
tell you that if you like zombie
stuff and aren’t reading this,
then you’re nuts. I’m not going
to tell you that even if you’re not
into zombie stuff and you aren’t
reading this, you’re nuts. I’m just
going to sit here and wait to read
it myself. You can do what you
want.
Incredible
Hulk #106
& World
War Hulk
Prologue:
World
Breaker
I’d buy stock
in this summer’s World War
Hulk story if I could – that’s
how sure I am of its impending
Batman #666
awesomeness, especially after
the four-page preview that came
out last month. I’m not actually
suggesting that you buy stock
in Marvel by the way…it’s just a
saying. When Planet Hulk started
last year I was immensely skeptical. Slowly, but surely I found
myself buying into the whole
idea of the Hulk being stranded
on a gladiator planet by The Illuminati. It just kept getting better
and better, to the point that the
Hulk’s reasons for coming back
to Earth really mean something.
I’m actually rooting for him to
get back and kick the crap out of
Iron Man and Reed Richards. So
I’m telling you right now to read
these prologue issues and get on
board with what promises to be
quite the slugfest.
Silverfish Hardcover
David Lapham’s Stray Bullets is
one of my favorite (if just a little
confusing) black and white crime
comics ever. This original graphic
novel promises to bring all of the
awesome from Stray Bullets in a
self-contained environment. I will
buy this the day it comes out and
you should too.
Runaways #25 & 26
It’s no secret how much we love
Joss Whedon. Love. Him. Buffy?
Angel? Astonishing X-Men? I’m
not willing to admit the lengths
I’d go to in order to read his
comics
every
month…especially after the jaw-dropping
I know my love of Grant
Morrison’s Batman boarders on
obsessive, but how could I not
point out that Batman #666 is a
story set 15 years in the future and
starring Batman’s son, Damian, as
the Caped Crusader? I’m totally
listening to Slayer while I read
this issue.
Midnighter #7
Head’s up! Guest writer alert!
Brian K. Vaughan takes over for
one issue with
artist
Darick
Robertson
to
explain exactly
how Midnighter’s
powers
work in an issue
that’s bound to
feature lots and
lots of violence.
It’s a good thing
I’ll already have the Slayer CDs
out from Batman #666 for this.
Big Planet Orbit Volume 11 #3; May 2007 is published by Joel Pollack, Peter Casazza
and Jared Smith for Big Planet Comics. www.bigplanetcomics.com.
Big Planet Comics, Inc. 4908 Fairmont Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814, 301.654.6856
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