Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Read This, Too...

For two years in a row, I've promised a "Summer of Saturn" and failed to deliver.The truth is, the Jemm maxi-series is kind of a slog. The book is filled with oodles of sad characters who invariably have really bad things happen to them, until everything comes to a drawn out, totally depressing, open-ended conclusion. A decade and a half later, Jemm returns to continue as a literal whipping boy, his supporting cast forgotten or mutilated, until he himself receives a borderline offensive personality transplant. I would characterize myself as more of a Jemm supporter than a fan, seeing potential in the character and his role as a member of the Martian Manhunter Dynasty. Anyhow, barring a summer, I thought I would at least pack September with Jemm material, and I think I've done a reasonable job of it, but I suspect this has been a labor for everyone involved. I assume folks are more interested in J'Onn J'Onzz and closely related characters, plus I'm plain sick of Jemm for the moment, so let's just drop the matter until next June, at least?

Speaking of burn out, there's another one of them blog crossovers going on today, and I chose not to partake of it this round. However, a bunch of the people involved extended me courtesy of links and participation in the past, so I feel I should at least acknowledge what they're doing and offer my readers something for today. Read This Too's "basic idea is for each blogger involved to recommend a comic or trade they enjoy but don’t typically write about.  Thanks to our buddy Kelson from Speed Force for spearheading this interesting and horizon-expanding crossover!"

A lot of people like the Martian Manhunter for a variety of reasons, so rather than focus on one book, I'll offer a selection of brief recommendations broken down by category...

Gerard Jones fans

American Secrets was a quirky, twisting, obtuse and challenging piece of work. Jones' Green Lantern: Mosaic was like that, but more so. It's difficult, peculiar material for what's ostensibly a super-hero series, and the art isn't consistent, except in its likelihood to be aesthetically displeasing. Mosaic is not for everyone, and you pretty much have to read all eighteen issues to "get it." I recently described American Secrets as Blue Velvet to Mosaic's second season of Twin Peaks. If that whole sentence left you clueless, you're off to a bad start, but you can totally score these out of cheapie boxes. It might be worth taking the plunge.

Sleuths from Outer Space and other parts unknown.

Don't call Grace Kimble a vampire. She's just an ex-cop with a condition involving fangs, enhanced abilities, and a need to derive sustenance from blood. Grace gets by on what she can buy from the back door of a blood bank, and she's got zero tolerance for the murderous creeps who take theirs from fresh victims. Vigil was a series of short, interconnecting black & white crime drama mini-series that worked well in installments or as a whole. Mike Iverson's nine panel grids get the most out of every page of Arvin Loudermilk's stories. The books are smart, moody, sexy, and funny, with strong characterization. This book was so good, it survived three publisher changes before reaching its conclusion. Most of the run can be picked up for less than a buck each at My Comic Shop.com, and the earlier stories were collected into trades by both Millennium Comics and Duality Press.

Ostrander & Mandrake fans

John Gaunt was a private investigator/mercenary in Cynosure, an insane city where all dimensions met at some point or another. John Ostrander was still finding his way in the early days of Grimjack, aided by the art of Tim Truman and the novelty of early cyberpunk mingled with swashbuckling fantasy. After a rough patch in the 20s, Ostrander was joined by frequent collaborator Tom Mandrake with issue #31 and for two years following. Their first year was the culmination of a lot of groundwork into one of the finest extended arcs of the series. The second year was about as bad as I say their work on Martian Manhunter was, but major changes in art and continuity shortly thereafter reinvigorated the book. The best Ostrander/Mandrake stories were recently collected by IDW Publishing as The Legend of Grimjack Volume 6.

More recommendations across multiple blogs...

6 comments:

will_in_chicago said...

Frank, I enjoyed learning more about Jemm, but I think that the character still needs to be defined and given more meaning. It is kind of like watching a dish being cooked and wondering how it will turn out, even though there are some good ingredients in it. More so than J'Onn, Jemm needs to be worked on so that people will have an idea of who he is. Many people were saddened by the death of the Manhunter from Mars, but I don't think people know Jemm well enough to care much if the character died.

Your work on the summer of Saturn was good, but Jemm is one of those characters whom you hope someone does something great with but it has not happened yet.

Diabolu Frank said...

Will, I actually think Jemm is a pretty well rounded character. The problem is he's pacifistic, and comic book creators have as much understanding of that philosophy as they do marriage and children. It's "boring," so everything gets put through the meat grinder. I don't think Jemm works as a lead character in this industry, but just as Jemm's world was a direct parallel to Bronze Age Mars stories, you could take J.M. DeMatteis' failed "enlightened spiritualist" take on J'Onn J'Onzz and apply it quite comfortably to Jemm. I'd much rather see Jemm treated as a Ghani than the avenging Prince/King of Saturn.

will_in_chicago said...

Perhaps Jemm as a peacemaker would be a role that he could fill in the DC Universe. Of course, that would require some understanding of pacifism by the writers. (I sometimes think that DCs writers could benefit from crash courses in literature, history, cross culture studies, and maybe send a few good books their way, such as The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.)

Okay, I realize action sells comics in the eyes of many writers and editors. However, good stories is what really sells. There have been good episodes of shows such as Babylon 5 where there was relatively little action, but great stories.

LissBirds said...

I second Will's comments. I've been liking the Jemm posts, but haven't really said much or had any strong opinions either way because I haven't read any of his stories. But the fact that you just described the maxiseries as depressing and populated with sad characters actually makes me want to read it more, only because it's different from the typical superhero offering.

It's nice to see Mosaic described as for Gerard Jones fans. I don't think I've read anything else of Jones's besides American Secrets. (And Ch'p is in it, so that's two reasons for me to read it...)

Diabolu Frank said...

Um-- er-- about C'hp... :(

LissBirds said...

It's okay, I already know what happens to him. But at least he's in it for a little while. :(

I don't know all the details of his demise, but I bet it's as sad as this video. (And you thought Jemm was all sad and depressing.)