The Stop Button
blogging by Andrew Wickliffe
Category: 1996
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So David’s poor fiancée never gets a single line. She never even gets to mention he looks twenty-five years younger than the last time she saw him. Rozum’s not just shortening the series this issue; double-sized or not, he’s hurrying up the storyline. At one point he inexplicably shifts perspective in a way to trick…
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Maybe Rozum should have just written a novel. This issue has David meeting his essentially immortal future love—they won’t get together for eighty years, which is then the lifespan of the series’s potential present action—and the Rabbi going around her castle seeing a bunch of funny supernatural people. Rozum has names for everything and everyone,…
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I always thought Gina Gershon got top billing for Bound–even though she’s only the lead for the first third or so–but it’s actually Jennifer Tilly, which is somewhat more appropriate. I say somewhat because at a certain point, Tilly too loses the spotlight. For a good twenty minutes in the middle, the film belongs to…
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I always thought Gina Gershon got top billing for Bound–even though she’s only the lead for the first third or so–but it’s actually Jennifer Tilly, which is somewhat more appropriate. I say somewhat because at a certain point, Tilly too loses the spotlight. For a good twenty minutes in the middle, the film belongs to…
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Milligan brings Girl to its unexpected and fantastic finish. In some ways it’s the least visually outlandish issue of the series. Fegredo is confined to a very realistic rendition now. The result is something a little more visually engaging than the other issues. Because the reader finally knows exactly what Fegredo’s supposed to be drawing…
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Milligan delivers an outstanding issue. One of the greatest things about Girl is how unpredictable he makes the narrative. But it’s more than just coming up with a great cliffhanger to this issue, it’s coming up with a great resolution to the previous issue’s cliffhanger. In between, Milligan fills in a bunch more about main…
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I suppose there is a little sensationalism in Girl. It takes place in a town called Bollockstown and there’s a lengthy dream sequence and a couple mammals going out a window and plummeting to their deaths. But Milligan makes the whole thing feel everyday. The comic’s about a–you guessed it–girl named Simone. Her family’s awful,…
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I suppose it would be possible for Trees Lounge to be more depressing. It’s a character study; the epical part of the narrative forces the protagonist (writer, director, star Buscemi) to realize he does not just dislike himself, he’s never really liked himself, and he’s not just hurting people now, he’s always been hurting people.…
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Unfortunately, it’s a very loose issue. Musgrove’s installment of Fat Dog Mendoza here is a big improvement over his previous work. Musgrove goes for cheap sight gags and a less narration while doing some decent artwork. It’s painless, occasionally amusing, but never funny. Without the dogfighting element, Trypto is lost. There’s a space alien element…
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Wow, what a downer. Arcudi’s The Creep returns (with O’Connell on art this time). It’s a very depressing story about him hanging out with a prostitute. It’s utterly fantastic. It still shocks me Arcudi can be so subtly devastating. Trypto has a happy installment though; the dog rescues his owner from a drug cartel. Again,…
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Miller’s pseudo-anti-misogyny Lance Blastoff is back… it’s amazing how someone can turn in something so stupid and pretend it’s profound. I guess the sci-fi setting means Miller has to work a little harder on his art. Trypto gets weird this time. The dog develops superpowers and goes around (flying like Krypto) freeing and magically rehabilitating…
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I was trying to remember where I knew Leialoha from… he inks now. He pencils and inks Trypto, which has a superhero dog splash page and then a rather traditional story. It’s about a stolen dog being forced to dogfight. Mumy and Ferrer’s script is fine and Leialoha has some imaginative composition, but his art…
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One Trick Rip-Off finishes here, the first story in the issue too. It’s pretty clear Pope was thinking, especially here—it has a multi-page wordless sequence for dramatic effect—of a single sitting read, not a one-year one. Some very nice art; some weak sentiment. The finish might read better as a single piece. Actually, it’s an…
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I was expecting The Ninth Gland to be creepier this issue, but I guess French has to save something for the finish. While it’s disturbing, it’s just disturbing imagery. The story itself is rather tame—though I imagine the payoff next issue will be something awful. Speaking of awful… Egg, Lovece and Schenck after-school special about…
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The issue opens with Egg, which is a well-intentioned look at child abuse. The narrator’s father is beating him and the school officials aren’t doing anything to help, even though some are well-intentioned. Lovece’s writing is better in dialogue. Dealing with the narrator’s Stockholm Syndrome, he fails. Also, introducing a giant creature into the situation…
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I can’t believe I’m about to make this statement—I liked Milgrom’s story the best. It’s some charming little thing about a guy treating his roaches as pets (after all other attempts at pet owning in New York fail). Milgrom’s style is more comic strip than I’ve seen and it works. Even if the protagonist does…
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Ninth Gland is fairly gross this issue, though French still hasn’t done anything to tell the reader what the story’s about. There’s something growing in the alien horse and the two girls who brought it to the hospital maintenance man will be affected somehow. It’s creepy. Pollock’s Devil Chef installment is somewhat less annoying than…
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I’ll start with the worst—Devil Chef. Pollock threatens a second installment. He can draw, this story shows, he just choses not to. It’s an unfunny strip with a lot of details and zero charm. On the other hand, Purcell and Mignola’s Rusty Razorciam is quite a bit of fun. Mignola’s not a good fit for…
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Okay, so Wray did have something to do with “Ren & Stimpy.” Otherwise, it’d be a little too coincidental. He does the art on Big Blown Baby (Fleming scripts). Great art, very detailed, very fluid. Too bad Fleming’s script is just a mediocre absurdist comedy thing. It’s amazing how many of these poorly written, obscenity-laden…
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Dark Horse had a misprint this issue. A couple pages were out of sequence on Niles’s Cal McDonald. Well, that misprint in addition to continuing Shaw’s Alan Brand and Musgrove and Chamberlin’s Pink Tornado. What’s funniest about Shaw this issue is how lazy he gets. Lots and lots of white space here. Alan Brand started…
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I probably read Heaven’s Prisoners, the novel, about eighteen years ago; I don’t remember it. But I’m sure this adaptation is faithful to the events of the novel because this movie is a mess and there’s no good reason for it. The novel can have space for a mystery and a character drama, but–at least…
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I remember seeing Mars Attacks! in the theater–in those days, the pre-Sleepy Hollow days, I was quite the Tim Burton aficionado. That affection has changed (changed is the polite word) in the last fourteen years, but Mars Attacks! has just gotten better and better on each viewing. At present, it’s my vote for Burton’s most…
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As a Muppet fan, the thing I miss most about Muppet Treasure Island is the Muppets. Oh, they’re around, but in neither of the film’s principal roles. Instead, it’s Tim Curry and Kevin Bishop–and their performances both have ups and downs. But neither is wholly responsible–in Bishop’s case, the script changes his character quite a…
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Motter opens and closes this issue with excerpts from Cosmo’s memoir. As with all memoirs, it’s interesting to see what’s omitted–in this case, it seems like Cosmo gets his girl back at some point in the future. But that aspect is just good writing from Motter, it’s nowhere near as interesting as how he finishes…
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Maybe I’m off a little about how Motter is plotting these issues. This issue is far more gradual than if it’d been the second part of a new minor arc. Instead, it’s Motter introducing new problems and resolving old. It’s so strange how he plots the book–it’s a character drama amid these fantastic settings and…
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Motter starts his second “arc” here, but it’s not important yet. It does surprise me how much I like his approach to this issue–introduce backstory in the first half of a comic, then bring it into the present action in the second half. Motter never makes it feel hurried… but he uses Cosmo’s narration to…
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And now, ever so slightly, the story begins to gel. Motter, without drawing attention to it, closes off one aspect of Terminal City. A character, established in the first issue, is totally different by the end of this issue. I think, as I struggle to remember my first time reading the series, this sort of…
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The second issue has a little less story than the first. It’s not quite a talking heads book because it’s before talking head books, but it’s basically everyone–except the girl and the human fly (I’m hoping names will start sticking next issue)–hanging around the hotel restaurant. Yes, a lot of new stuff is introduced–though an…
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The first time I read Terminal City, which must have been almost ten years ago, it knocked my socks off. I’m not sure if it knocked them from the first issue, as this time through, I’m not yet without socks. I’m close, of course. And finally knowing enough to say Michael Lark’s art here (at…
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The Farrelly Brothers created the mainstream gross-out comedy here in Kingpin, with all the familiar trappings–a familiar, if somewhat independently minded cast (Chris Elliot is in Kingpin), the star in need of a hit (Bill Murray), the popular soundtrack, and the storyline entirely capable of being tame, then ramped up for the belly laughs. The…
The Stop Button 