Night Of The Beasts! At SHQ Tonight

Since first posting about how the first Beasts book was my favorite non-purchase of the last year, I've gone ahead and picked up the Beasts 2 hardcover. The first one sold out so quickly that I learned my lesson and snatched this one up as soon as I saw it was available at Secret Headquarters.

And what a beautiful book. Tonight Secret Headquarters will be gathering together a bunch of the excellent artists that helped contribute to both Beasts books for a celebration and signing. The first Beasts is also in softcover now.

You can learn more about beasts over at the official blog and at publisher Fantagraphics.

If you are in the Silver Lake / Los Feliz area tonight, stop by SHQ and say hi.

- TFM

Found: Grip: The Strange World of Men #1 - 5

Found this at Secret Headquarters last week. It's a Gilbert Hernandez (Love and Rockets, Sloth) Vertigo mini from 2002. No real idea what it's about but the covers are cool, the art is cool, it's from Vertigo and it's Gilbert Hernandez. So it's mine now.

I did find a Wired article about it. Here's a tidbit:

Mike Chang and his skin lead separate lives. That's the setup for Gilbert Hernandez's latest comic feat, Grip: The Strange World of Men. From there, the miniseries follows the tragic hero's travels in a classic mélange of fantasy, noir, comedy, and sci-fi. The fifth and final issue is due out in March.

Issue one drops the reader into a contemporary city full of freaks, poseurs, and trigger-happy gangsters. After a series of confusing encounters, Chang and his skin part company. How and why this happens are unclear, but the last panel foreshadows what's to come: A gap-toothed little girl with an eye patch frolics with Chang's floppy epidermis, which is drawn in a cheery style.

Sounds delightful. As far as I can tell Vertigo never collected this in trade form, so either I have happened on a hidden treasure or, well it's just not that good. Smart money is on the first option. I'll try to read it over the weekend and give you a review early next week.

- TFM

Phil Noto at Secret Headquarters this Friday

So my bitchin' LCS, The Secret Headquarters, is having some new Phil Noto pieces showing from December 12th through January 11th.

This Friday starting at 8 pm they will have a little party to celebrate and Phil will be in attendance. If you are in the area come on down, grab a cold one, check out some art and say hi.

I mean, look at this stuff. It's amazing, right? Anyone have $1,000 I can have...er, borrow?

Secret Headquarters is at 3817 W. Sunset Blvd in Silver Lake.




- TFM

Batman: The Cult

See what happens when you keep a positive attitude? Check out what I found at my neighborhood comic shop:

Four issues. Prestige format. First printings.

Batman: The Cult was written by Jim Starlin. Jim Starlin wrote the Batman storyline A Death In The Family in the late 1980's, which to this day is one of my most cherished comic book memories as a little nerd. I've never read this mini and I'm not sure how rare finding first printing single issues is, but that isn't the larger point. The point is I'm excited to take a trip back to my personal comics golden age, the 1980's. These moments are few and far between so you have to cherish them.

From Wikipedia:

The story follows the machinations of Deacon Blackfire and his band of homeless followers who have kidnapped Batman before the events of this story. Following a lengthy period of captivity Batman slowly succumbs to brainwashing. This eventually leads to him committing a murder in what proved to be controversial events among fans of the range. Under instructions from Blackfire, Batman opens fire with a machine-gun upon a man he believes to be Two-Face but ultimately turns out not to be. Batman is eventually freed from the cult but takes a long time to recover from his treatment at their hands. The story also delves into other territory. Gotham City politicians are assassinated by Blackfire's party of followers. An attempt on Commissioner Gordon's life is tried by Blackfire's group, leaving the commissioner in a hospital. Beyond Gotham authorities to protect the city, the National Guard is called in, then the Military and Martial Law is declared on Gotham. The series also features the second Robin, Jason Todd.

Given the nature of the story and Batman's apparent murder of an innocent civilian this story proved to be controversial among fans of the range. There were other graphic depictions in this series: the scarred face of a hooker victim leaves Batman in shock, while the comic panel clearly shows the reader what her scarred face looks like. Also the decapitated head of a Gotham City politician is tossed out of a sewer hole onto the street. The main villain Deacon Blackfire is seen bathing in a pit of blood from the dead corpses he has hanging above him.^[2] Due to the prestige format, DC was able to surpass the Comics Code Authority.

IGN Comics ranked Batman: The Cult #6 on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels, saying that "the story is told with callous brutality that makes it all the more powerful."^[1]

P.S. This is why I love Secret Headquarters. If you live in the neighborhood of Los Feliz / Silver Lake / Echo Park make this your go to place.

- TFM