Wednesday, February 27, 2008

What, Me Pregnant?

by Lynn Johnston

The year's worth of strips in this For Better or For Worse collection all play out with Elly's pregnancy in the background. (Well, okay, it's actually only nine month's worth of strips, but you know what I mean.) there are a lot of funny strips in here, but my favorite is the one right before April is born. It's a goofy gag, but Ms. Johnston set it up so well. I wonder what it must have been like to read those strips one day at a time. Oh, well...

Eh, I'll keep it on my shelf.
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Monday, February 25, 2008

Justice Society: Volume 1

by Paul Levitz, Gerry Conway, 4 pencillers, 2 inkers, ...

I've stopped reviewing comic reprint collections that I've borrowed from the library, but I think I'll make an exception with this one. The writing is somewhat awful, but I'd like to buy it someday.... Perhaps I should explain. I've been a fan of comic books on and off since childhood. Back in the eighties, when I was in an "on" period, I had a serious collector's mentality. No, not the type that would move me to buy a comic book, seal it in plastic, and monitor the Tokyo Comics Exchange for just the right time to sell. I was more of a comics archivist. If I discovered a title or character that I liked, then I would suddenly want to accumulate all the stories of said character. It was through this practice that I discovered that just because one writer and/or artist can create magic with a particular character, it doesn't mean that every writer and/or artist has done so. In fact, since the cheapest back issues were usually the klunkers of the series, I discovered this aspect of comics history relatively quickly. I didn't care, though. I just wanted to fill up all the spaces in my little comics ledger. Anyway, when I fell in love with Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron back then, I found myself seeking back issues featuring the Justice Society of America. That proved to be a rather frustrating quest. The original Golden Age comics, of course, were way out of my price range. On the other hand, amassing the All-Star Squadron issues I had missed was an easy task. In between were JSA guest appearances, Golden Age reprints, and the short lived revival of All Star Comics in the mid-seventies. The latter was the source of my frustration. I could get a random issue here and there, but rarely could I get many issues in a row. All I had were sporadic glimpses at the overall story, making for a awkward and uneven reading experience.

Finally, in this era of trade paperback reprints, I have been able to achieve my dream of fully experiencing the 1970s JSA. Unfortunately, it's still an awkward and uneven reading experience. The plotline jumps around from subplot to subplot. The writers seem to want to include all of the JSA members, but not at the same time. So, characters come and go, sometimes in the middle of a story. The attempts at personal drama make the heroes seem like high school kids, rather than the mature, "old guard" of super herodom. Objectively, the only redeeming qualities of the issues collected here is the artwork by Wally Wood and Keith Giffen and the character of Power Girl, who, despite her stilted, stereotypical characterization, adds some life to the drab storytelling. (Of course, there's also the eye candy factor, but I'm too old for that sort of thing...) In the end, this collection is pretty bad. But, doggone it, I still have empty spaces in my comics ledger....

It's truly only waiting room material.
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Saturday, February 23, 2008

If This Is a Lecture, How Long Will It Be?

by Lynn Johnston

This one's a nice collection of For Better or For Worse strips. It seems like the strips featuring the teen-aged Michael predominate, but there's also plenty featuring Elizabeth, Elly, John and the supporting cast. Some of the highlights are Phil and Georgia buying a house, Elly's day in traffic court and Michael and Gordon's adventures at the Valentine's Day dance.

Check it out.
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Friday, February 22, 2008

The Song of Roland

translated by Robert Harrison

In need of something to read over lunch, I pulled this on off the shelf. The Song of Roland is an old French tale, recounting a highly romanticized version of Charlemagne's battle against the Moors at the pass of Roncesvals. It's an epic tale of bravery, betrayal and medieval justice. While there are many parts that are awkward to a 21st Century reader, I found the book to be overall entertaining.

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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

All Star Comics Archives: Volume 3

By Gardner Fox, Sheldon Mayer and numerous artists

The Justice Society goes to war! This volume reprints All Star Comics issues 11 to 14, originally published between June and December of 1942. Written in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, these stories feature the JSA facing off against the threat of the Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany. In "The Justice Society Joins the War on Japan", the mystery men (somewhat illogically) disband in order to join the armed forces in their civilian identities. But being a mystery man is a hard habit to break and our boys--and guest star Wonder Woman--end up finding an excuse to slip into costume and repel sundry attacks by the Japanese military. They do so well, in fact, that the Army recalls each member back to Washington to keep them from disrupting the normal forces. Instead, the JSA is reformed as the Justice Battalion, presumably to take on special missions against the Axis powers. The first mission is detailed in the next story, "The Black Dragon Menace". In that one the JSA thwarts the efforts of the secret Black Dragon society to steal weapon prototypes from across America. The third story, "Shanghaied Into Space", only tangentially involves the war. A Nazi scientist, in an attempt to rid the world of the Justice Society, knocks them out, places each into a separate rocket and sends them off to various planets in the solar system. (The premise sounds lame, but the adventures on the different planets are fun.) In the final tale, "Food for Starving Patriots", features the members of the JSA delivering miniaturized food to resistance fighters in the occupied nations of Europe. All of the tales are typical 1940s fare, filled with crude plots and overt racism. The art ranges from fair to excellent--the draft had yet to snatch up All American's better artists. All in all, it's one of the better volumes of the series.

It's on my shelf. (The comic shelf, in a long box.)
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Sunday, February 17, 2008

A Look Inside... For Better or For Worse

by Lynn Johnston

This is it--the big, 10th Anniversary extravaganza. Not only do you get a year's worth of For Better or For Worse strips; not only do you get an extra collection of favorite Sunday strips (in full color!); but you also get an illustrated essay chronicling the life of Lynn Johnston and the genesis of For Better or For Worse. ... Um, it's really more interesting than it sounds. Okay, maybe you need to be a cartoonist groupie or something. Well, I am, sort of, so I enjoyed it. So have my kids, as is evidenced by all of the pages which have broken free of the binding. Ah, well. When my siblings and I moved out of the house, my parents celebrated by buying new furniture and doing some remodeling. When our kids move out, I think I'm going to replace all the books they've worn out and maybe add a few more bookshelves. But I digress. In this collection, the Patterson kids have yet to move out. Michael is only turning thirteen, after all. In this collection, he seems to take center stage in the strip as we're treated to his first romance and all the social games of junior high school. Ah, thank God I don't have to go though that again...

It's on my shelf!
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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

A Wizard of Earthsea

by Ursula K. Le Guin

This is the tale of the coming of age of Ged, the greatest wizrd of Earthsea. Earthsea, or at least the part of it in which this story is set, is a place of hundreds of islands, clustered about. It's a place of magic, where wizards ply their trade alongside carpenters, masons and fishermen. In this volume, we see how young Ged discovers his innate mystical abilty and is instructed first by his aunt, a local witch, then the hermit wizard, Ogion, and finally at the great school for wizards on the isle of Roke. While there, he foolishly makes a grave mistake and the rest of the book recounts his attempt to rectify his mistake. I was a bit reminded of Harry Potter as I read the book. But the setting and culture of Earthsea came across as so much richer and believable than the world of Hogwarts. (Not to dis J.K. Rowling's fine work.) If magic, if words and people of supernatural power, really existed, I would suspect that the world would look much like the place that Ms. Le Guin has crafted. Ged, also, is a complex and fascinating character. This book is definitely worth checking out.

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Saturday, February 09, 2008

Pushing 40

by Lynn Johnston

In this For Better or For Worse collection, Uncle Phil gets married, Mrs. Baird has a romance, John has a mid-life crisis and the whole community shovels out from under the biggest snowstorm the strip has ever seen. All written with humor and affection. Check it out.

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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

American Empire: The Victorious Opposition

by Harry Turtledove

This, the seventh book of Mr. Turtledove's Timeline-191 series is essentially the chronicles of the first Featherston administration, starting in 1934. As the book opens, Jake Featherston--this reality's version of Adolf Hitler--has just been sworn in as the President of the Confederate States of America. All through the proceeding volumes, he's been holding grudges and remembering those who slighted him. Now he gets a chance for payback. There's no real surprises in how that particular storyline plays out. (Actually, there is one, now that I think of it, but you'll have to read the book to discover it.) But that's only one of the plot threads running through the series. Life goes on in North America, from the State of Sonora in the Confederate southwest to the Republic of Quebec, that puppet nation carved out of Canada during the Great War. All in all, it's a good read. My only real complaint is that, as part of a lenghty storyline, Mr. Turtledove finds it necessary to pull in a number of recaps from the previous novels for those readers who may not have read them. I wish he could have used footnotes or something, so I could blip over them and continue on with the action. Oh, well. When I get around to writing an 11 volume story, I suppose I can do it whatever way I want.

I just had to check it out.
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Amateur Furniture Construction


Oy! What a mess!
Originally uploaded by John
by Vernon M. Albers

I confess, the area around my desk is a mess. Part of it is simple sloppiness. Part of it is an overabundance of computer junk. Well, I haven't taken many steps to improve the former, but a couple weeks ago I did have a hankering to tackle the latter. "What I need," I told myself, "is a nice, multi-shelved rack that could sit by my desk and reduce the amount of floor and/or desk space required by my computer equipment." (Yes, I'm also wordy when talking to myself.) I also figured that I could save money and build it myself. I've got the basic carpentry tools and skills. All I needed, I thought, was to get a book from the library that might show me some tips for designing and building my own furniture. In my eagerness, I flagged four books from the library. The first one I got was this small volume. It didn't really help me, save that it might have reminded me that I'm haven't done that much carpentry. But it was interesting to page through it. The book was written in 1970, by a physics professor who did woodworking for a hobby. It was really like a peek into a different time. I'm used to simply worded, heavily illustrated, do-it-yourself manuals. In comparison, this book is simply illustrated and heavily worded. It reads like a college textbook. Mr. Albers is not interested in simply giving you the steps to build, say, a table. Rather he wants you to soak up all sorts of information from his years of experience, from how to sharpen your tools to what kinds of glue there are out there. It's not for the faint of heart.

'Tis pretty much just waiting room material.
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Monday, February 04, 2008

Amos Fortune: Free Man

by Elizabeth Yates

I found this one to be a rather unusual slave story. It's the true tale of Amos Fortune, a chieftain's son who was captured and enslaved around 1725 and brought to New England, where he eventually purchased his freedom. One thing that's unusual is that it's set in New England. I'm used to the American myth that Massachusetts is the bastion of liberty, where everyone is a born abolitionist. In the early 18th Century, that wasn't the case. Another unusual twist is that the story is rather lacking in passion. While Mr. Fortune desires freedom, he's portrayed as living a quiet and humble life as a slave, methodically working to amass the money needed to purchase his liberty. He takes the racism in his society in stride, always taking the high road. Of course, this was written in 1950's, back when everybody was supposed to shut up and get with the program. Especially if your skin is dark. But despite being too soft on slavery, it's an interesting look at a noble and admirable man.

Check it out.
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Sunday, February 03, 2008

It's All Downhill From Here

By Lynn Johnston

This was an exceptionally enjoyable For Better or For Worse collection. I think it has a nigh perfect mix of strips--some kid centered, some marriage centered, some work centered and some neighbor centered. Of course, it's also the era when John and Elly are around my own age. (Okay, maybe they're still a bit younger; but the older I get, the slower my self image is to catch up to my actual age.) It also contains Ms. Johnston's second attempt at a serious storyline--where John and Phil go canoeing with, um, less than pleasant results.

Woo-hoo! It's on my shelf!
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Friday, February 01, 2008

Keep the Home Fries Burning

By Lynn Johnston

What can I say? This one just doesn't stand out compared to the other FBoFW collections out there. It's worth checking out if you want a giggle, though.

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