Acme Novelty Library V. 19

Acme Novelty Library is Chris Ware's blanket title for every book he does (actually they get retitled when various stories get collected into a larger book, like his Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth) and a couple of weeks ago volume nineteen arrived (hardcover, full color, 77 pages for $15.95). Although Acme Novelty Library always sells a decent amount when all comic book stores and regular book store sales are tabulated, I'd think that if Ware would make each volume as distinct as their contents and didn't have such nondescript covers, that they'd do better. Having said that though, I think Chris Ware doesn't really care about their commercial appeal or he wouldn't just create these odes to depression that Acme Novelty Library are.

The painful sadness of Acme Novelty Library volume 19 is centered on W.K. Brown / Rusty Brown, a character who is inept in the way of social graces, has difficulty interacting with others, and for whom just basic day to day living is a struggle. Brown is a fan / aspiring writer of science-fiction and Acme Novelty Library 19 contains his only published short story and like the rest of Acme Novelty Library 19, takes longing and sadness to almost unbelievable new depths. Every volume of Acme Novelty Library can be read onto themselves and even though they're sure to be amongst the saddest things you'll ever read, they have an odd kind of beauty as well. Additionally even though there's only 77 pages, one Chris Ware page equals about four or five pages from almost any other cartoonist because he packs so much information on a page and manages to do so without overwhelming the page (but even if you have great eyesight, you'll probably need some kind of reading glasses!).

FreakAngels: Ellis & Duffield

This week the first trade of FreakAngels written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Paul Duffield (with a coloring assist by Alana Yuen) arrived at your favorite comic store (which I hope is mine, but if it's not, please let me know why it isn't). FreakAngels debuted as a weekly six page online comic in the early part of this year and continues to run weekly at www.freakangels.com. I'm going to defer to Warren Ellis in his description of what Freakangles is: "It's retro-punk, it's near future steampunk and builds on the legacy of disaster fiction." I haven't been reading Freakangels online because I don't like reading comics on the computer, but I did take a peek at it a few months ago and have been eagerly awaiting its hardcopy (trade paperback) release ever since.
Freakangels is just amazing and for me it ranks amongst the best work Ellis has ever done. One has just to look at the art by Paul Duffield (where did he come from all of a sudden!?) and you'll be hooked. Duffield's art has kind of a Josh Middleton (Superman / Shazam) crossed with Ghost In The Shell (from the anime) quality that has very lush varied character designs as well as backgrounds that very much give the world of FreakAngels a context that the reader can feel. FreakAngels is only $19.99 for 144 pages (sure you could read this online, but you'll want it read and look at it repeatedly).

Vegas Valley Comicfest 2008

Gilbert Hernadez (Love and Rockets, Sloth, Chance In Hell, Speak Of The Devil) with his daughter, Natalia Hernandez (who's in the third grade), with her first comic The Adventures of Crystal Girl.

Me with Dwayne McDuffie, writer of the excellent Justice League Unlimited cartoon, is presently writing DC's Justice League of America (in which some of his Milestone characters such as Static will be appearing next month), and some of his other writing included Beyond, Fantastic Four, and Damage Control for Marvel.
Steven Grant, holding the hardcover edition of the Punisher mini series he did with artist Mike Zeck. Grant has also written Whisper, Badlands, Two Guns, and for DC, he's written many Batman stories.

I think Vegas Valley Comicfest was a good time and seemed like a pretty good turnout. Kate said the panel she was on, Sex and Race In Comics, was well attended and she also operated the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund table, for which she signed up some new members and collected some donations. I hadn't heard yet how the other panels went or what their attendance was (and sadly didn't attend any of the panels as I like to introduce new people to my store via the booth I had at this event), but I'd see a good number of people in the comic dealers area after they got over so I think that's a good indication of how they went. I'd like to thank Suzanne Scott, the Clark County special events coordinator, for all she had done to make this happen and thanks also to Aziz, Katrina, and all the other volunteers who made everything run smooth!

Neil Gaiman & Vegas Bookfest

I'm going to do this entry of last night's sequence of events covering Neil Gaiman's keynote address for the Vegas Valley Book Festival in reserve order because my best photos of the night are in reverse order.

This first photo was taken at The Mixx at the Mandalay Bay reception (which followed Gaiman's address at the Clark County Library) benefitting Nevada Humanities. From left to right is Derrick (Comic Oasis, also here in Las Vegas), Neil Gaiman, myself, and Kate (thanks for taking the photo, Holly!). The Mixx is one of those trendy expensive nightclubs that you have to wait in a line to enter. Normally I avoid such places, but a good time was had there and the view of the city from The Mixx's 64th floor is pretty incredible.

(Photo two) Yesterday morning I remembered that I had a piece of original art hanging up in my store from the Neil Gaiman written Legend Of The Green Flame, with art by the amazing John Totleben, so I took this with me and was happy to have gotten it signed by Neil Gaiman.

(Photo Three) This somewhat blurry photo is of Neil Gaiman giving his keynote address. They requested no flashes so I turned my flash off (which explains the quality of the photo), even though several people where taking pictures throughout the presentation with their flashes on.

I'm sure that just about everyone who reads my blog knows that Neil Gaiman is an award-winning, much-beloved writer of comic books and novels, so I'm not going to enumerate all of what he's done. Neil Gaiman's latest novel is called The Graveyard Book and he did a reading from that as well as reading two short children's books he has forthcoming (in addition to writing comic books and novels for adults, Gaiman is also a celebrated children's author, with his Coraline coming out as a stop-motion animation movie next year).

My favorite part of Gaiman's address was when he talked about attending the second science-fiction / fantasy convention in China last year. Gaiman explained that in China, it has only been in the last few years that their government has been accepting of people there enjoying those genres. Gaiman said this acceptance of science-fiction / fantasy in China came about because they looked at companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google and found that a high proportion of those companies' employees and innovators enjoy those genres. China has been really good at developing better versions of existing products / technologies, but they come up short in creating the new driving technologies that are the foundation of companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google. So China has made the correlation that science-fiction / fantasy fuels the imagination with what could be and engages thinking outside of the box. One of Neil Gaiman's books next year is a non-fiction novel on China.

Vegas Bookfest / Comicfest reminder

Tomorrow (Thursday, Nov. 6th), the Vegas Valley Book Festival kicks off with the keynote address by Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Good Omens) at the Clark County Library Main Theater (1401 E. Flamingo off of Maryland) at 7pm. They'll start giving out wristbands at 5:30pm so I'd suggest getting there early because with Gaiman's fanbase, it could fill up pretty easily. Gaiman is also going to be at the 5th Street School doing a limited signing, but I don't know exactly where that is or too much of details about that event.

On Saturday, November 8th, from 11-3pm, the Clark County Library will have the Comicfest portion of the Vegas Valley Bookfest. There will be guests, panels, comic book movies, signings, and local Vegas comic shop representation there and it's free (except for any books you buy) so stop by for a great way to close a great week! I blogged about this event on Monday, October 20th, so check out that entry for more details or pick up this week's CityLife (which comes out Wednesday, or Thursday morning in some spots) for expanded coverage of the Vegas Valley Comicfest.

President-elect Barack Obama...

...and much rejoicing commenced! After a loooong campaign, yesterday and last night people in the U.S. (including early voters) finally woke up and elected Barack Obama as our 44th President. Truly an amazing night! The sheer number of people that worked (often on a volunteer basis) to make this happen has been unprecedented and for their efforts to pay off like it did in yesterdays elections is extremely gratifying and bodes well for this countries future.

So who's going to Obama's inaugural address January, 20th 2009? Actually, the better question would be who wouldn't want to go if they could, but I'll just watch it on the big screen because as incredible as his inaugural is sure to be, I'm sure people will be stacked on top of each other. I'm going to guess that his guest of honor will be Ann Nixon Cooper, the 106 year old black woman that Obama talked about in his acceptance speech last night, as she has lived through and witnessed many landmark events throughout her 106 years. Ann Nixon Cooper's presence at Obama's inaguration would be the exclamation mark upon this incredibly inspiring time in America as the country moves forward, filled with promises of great new ways to approach politics to handle increasingly diverse people and challenges this country is experiencing. Additionally it's going to be interesting watching the Obama family these next four years (at least).

Obama & Vegas & the finish line!

First photo: This is the race track at Coronado High School in Henderson, Nevada, where Barack Obama appeared here in Vegas (well technically Henderson, but same difference) this morning for the 20th time since he announced his campaign for the White House. The gates opened about 6:30am and Obama arrived at 9:30am.

Second photo: In the background here you can see in big letters: "Nevada For Change" (click on photo to make the image larger). There was 15,000 people at this rally and seriously the passion for Obama as our next President is so inspiring amongst all classes, ethnicities, and age, that it's hard not to get the chills being in its presence. And I don't think this is just a case of "cult of personality", rather people really do believe that he is the engine that will drive true change and feel compelled to help make his Presidency happen.

Third photo: Nevada Democratic Senator and United States Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid, was at the rally to introduce Obama. Anyone who knows even a little bit about politics knows that Harry Reid is a get things done politician who has a very high level of respect in Washington D.C. as well as Nevada.

Fourth photo: A great sound-bite quote by Obama speaking at the rally, which sums up how I think people feel about the current state of our country: "We don't need big government, we don't need small government, we need smart government."

Through some very lucky circumstances, I was only about 15 feet from Obama at the event (the same distance I had seeing Michelle Obama this past Monday) and although the wait was long for the main event to start (as I mentioned in my Michelle Obama entry earlier this week), time goes by pretty fast with all of the excitement and history in the making that the audience is feeling and creating. Following is a bad analogy, but really, the difference in hearing Obama talk live in person even when you've heard him speak on tv and know his platforms, is like the difference in attending a really great live concert even though you've already got the cd or heard the songs on the radio - live is better and will impart upon those attending a renewed energy.

Getting back to my car after the rally I saw a great bumpersticker that read: "01/02/09 The End Of An Error." Or as a customer of mine, Al, said a couple of weeks ago to me when we were talking politics, "Now I can be on the road to stop hating my government." - (Actually those weren't his exact words, but that was the intended sentiment regarding what he said, a sentiment I share as I'm sure most everyone unhappy with the past eight years of the Bush / Cheney farce shares).