The Pickytarian

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January 27, 2005

Subway Reading: The Amazing Joy Buzzards and We3

The Amazing Joy Buzzards #1 - Since we were kids, my friends and I have been making our own comics. There's nothing professional-quality about them; the fun comes in the way we make them. One person comes up with a panel, then the book gets passed to the next guy, who draws the next panel, and so on. It doesn't take long - usually about three panels or so - for the stories to veer into the absurd. The one-upmanship involved in the endeavor means that things only get wackier from there. This exercise always reminds me of one the things I love about comics: anything can happen. There are no limits except the ones the author places upon himself. Something is too complicated to describe in words? It can be drawn! An idea is too subtle to present through pictures? Explain it through narration, dialogue, or inner dialogue! The tropes are all there, ready for exploitation. Most importantly, time travel, giant monsters, hyper-violence, pirate ships, and anything you can dream of can all be mashed together into the same story.

That brings me - finally - to The Amazing Joy Buzzards. Written by Mark Andrew Smith with art by Dan Hipp, this book is busting at the seams with energy and fun. It's one of those comics where you can smell the love that the creators have for their creation. Throw a rock band, a Mexican wrestler, an evil robot, and a giant marauding monster into a pot. Stir, bring to a boil, and let it simmer for 15 minutes. When it's done you will pull out this delightfully charming comic book.

Hipp's art shows a strong manga and graffiti influence. There is a fair helping of Jim Mahfood in his style. Mahfood, in fact, contributes a back-cover pin-up to the book. I might have a couple of nit-picks here and there (the open mouths that spilled over with teeth and giant tongues were a little disturbing), but overall the visuals were appealing. The storytelling was clear and the character designs were fun. I love the clever camera angles, such as the shots of bassist Stevo from behind and inside the water glass. A little line-weight variation and some stronger blacks would be welcome; as it is, there is a bit of a coloring-book feel to some of these panels.

Speaking of nit-picks, there was one egregious lettering mistake, where word balloons from one tier overlapped word balloons from the next tier down, skipping over some of the intervening panels. But it's stuff like this that gives this book some of its charm. It's like there are too many ideas, too much humor, and the pace is too fast to dwell on minor mechanical matters of craft. That's why it made me think of the crude amateur comics my friends and I put together - what they lack in execution they more than make up for with manic energy. After a few issues, I'm sure the rawness of the craft will tighten up. Hopefully the raw love for comics that oozes out of this book will remain. 4 stars.

We3 #3 - Holy Cripes. I swear to you that this book gave me the chills. An actual cold sensation rippled through my body this morning as I read the last few pages, and it wasn't due to the single-digit temperatures outside. Grant Morrison's script is suspenseful, dramatic, funny, and heartbreaking, and the most amazing thing is how well he achieves it all with such a slight story and minimal dialogue. It's a tribute to his sheer writing skill that he can pare a story down so far and still say so much.

While reading this issue, I noticed that there was a different quality to the inking than I am used to seeing from Quitely. The finishes were done with a loose, open line that stood in very nice contrast to his careful rendering. As it turns out, Jamie Grant is credited with "digital inks." I have to say that this was the best example of the digital inking process that I have seen. Other titles, such as 1602 and Conan, have featured art that went straight from pencils to digital, but the results were blurry lines and soft edges. While there are nice effects that can come from this look. I have always had an affinity for the binary nature of ink. It's black or it's white, and if you want texture, lighting effects, or visual hierarchy, you have to work within those limitations. I don't know the details of how the process used on We3 differs from the process used on these other efforts, but I love the results. I was definitely "fooled" into thinking this had been done with pen and brush, and I marvelled at the drawing skill that must have been involved.

I know that I run the risk of jumping on the blog-love bandwagon for this title, but I don't care. This 3-issue limited series was one of the best comic stories that I have ever read. 5 stars.

Posted by jdonelson_nyc at January 27, 2005 02:15 PM

Comments

Posted by: derek at January 27, 2005 07:52 PM