Story by Brian Michael Bendis

Art by Alex Maleev

Ever since their critically acclaimed run on Daredevil, Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev have been a bit hit or miss. They did a four-issue Halo mini-series that took two years to come out; they did a few tie-ins to some of the major Marvel events such as Civil War and Secret Invasion; they created a new Spider-Woman series that was meant to be similar to their run on Daredevil and continue for years: it ended up lasting seven issues because they both got burned out after wasting their time on a motion comic version. Recently the two launched their first created-owned series together, Scarlet, which was actually pretty good until it’s abrupt ending. And now they are doing Moon Knight.

Bendis and Maleev’s Moon Knight sounds like what Spider-Woman was meant to be: a follow-up to Daredevil that takes a character that has largely been neglected or ignored for most of its publication history and reinventing it over a gigantic five-year storyline. Will this series actually make it past a first year? We’ll have to wait and see but regardless, this first issue was a great start.

My previous exposures to Moon Knight were the 2006 Moon Knight series by Charlie Huston and the recent Vengeance of the Moon Knight series by Gregg Hurwitz and Jerome Opena. Despite my lack of knowledge of the character, I really enjoyed both of these series (particularly the second) but I welcomed the additions of Bendis and Maleev to the title because they promised to show why Moon Knight was an interesting character.

This first issue is all about the new: Marc Spector (Moon Knight’s secret identity) has moved to Los Angeles and is producing a TV series based on his life. He also has three new personalities based on (technically this is a spoiler because it is revealed at the end of the issue but since Bendis used it as a selling point for the comic I think it’s fair to reveal it here too) Captain America, Spider-Man and Wolverine. These three (who he thinks are the actual Avengers) tell him he has to take out the Kingpin of Los Angeles. Moon Knight fights Mr. Hyde, who is working for the mysterious Kingpin, and discovers that whoever the Kingpin is, he has an Ultron robot.

Bendis makes a great job of establishing Moon Knight’s status quo and setting up the series’ premise in this issue. It is also refreshingly free of his usual dialogue tics (aside from the TV series at the beginning but I think that dialogue is intentional). As he has worked with Maleev on many projects before, he knows how to write for the artist extremely well and you can tell. There is a large action sequence near the end of the issue with very little dialogue: Bendis lets Maleev tell the story because he knows he can and if there’s anything Maleev can draw, it’s a great action sequence.

Moon Knight #1 was a great start to what is hopefully a great series. I hope that in five or six years time, this series will be up there with their run on Daredevil. Most of all, I hope they succeed in making Moon Knight an interesting character.

Story : 4/5

Art: 4/5

The post Craig’s Pick of the Week: Moon Knight #1 Review appeared first on The Faster Times.

Story by Scott Snyder

Art by Jock

“Hungry City” begins with the corpse of a giant killer whale being discovered in Gotham Global Modern Bank. Sounds like an ordinary day in Gotham City, right? That is until Dick Grayson cuts the whale open and a dead girl falls out… and then Commissior Gordon tells him that the head of the bank is actually the daughter of Anthony Zucco, the man who killed Dick’s parents.

#876 is only Scott Snyder’s sixth issue of Detective Comics but it already feels like he’s been writing Batman for years. His writing is so sharp and skilled; it almost seems unnatural that his work on this title could be so good so quickly. When Snyder originally announced his intention to return the title back to its’ mystery roots and focus on Batman as the detective once again, I thought it was odd that Dick was going to be the protagonist instead of Bruce Wayne, the more accomplished detective. But now it makes sense: with Dick as the protagonist, we are able to piece together the clues alongside him. Unlike Bruce, he is not always one step ahead of everyone else (the villains and the readers) and this is a unique quality that I don’t think has ever been utilized before in the Batman universe.

There is a scene early on in this issue where Dick and Gordon have a conversation while examining the whale. In only a few short pages, Snyder is able to express so much information without it feeling like dull exposition: even though Gordon is using the Waynes’ new crime lab, the rest of the G.C.P.D. aren’t comfortable with it; the whale is abnormally large for a female orca, possibly a result of someone feeding her growth hormones; the bank has only been around for six years but is growing faster than any other bank; the head of the bank is the daughter of the infamous Anthony Zuzzo; and Gordon’s son has returned and he would like Dick to meet with him. All of this information is conveyed in a sequence as exciting as any action scene, showing Snyder’s excellent use of pace.

I am also enjoying the development of Dick, especially because he is still running around as Batman. Dick is always trying to live up to Bruce and it is amusing to see him compare the two and show their similarities and differences. Snyder has made Dick into an interesting character and one that I actually want to read about every month.

Finally, one cannot talk about Detective Comics without Jock’s amazing art. He has always been one of my favourite artists but I think his work on this title is some of the best he has ever done. He draws some of the best action sequences in comics, as evident in this issue where Batman falls through the sky and later on when he is dodging bullets. These are two things we have seen numerous times before in countless Batman comics but Jock is able to somehow present these two things in a new perspective, making them feel as fresh and unique as they have ever been before. David Baron’s colours are also incredibly effective at making the title’s gritty, realistic tone come to life. The reds at the end of the issue in the car yard are particularly good, creating an ominous feeling of dread. How is Dick going to get out of this one?

Not only is Detective Comics one of the best Batman comics currently being published but it is also one of the best comics being published in general. Snyder and Jock make a great team and this is shaping up to be one of the better Batman runs of the past few years. #876 is the beginning of a new story arc and is a great jumping on point for new readers. If you’re not reading this comic, you’re missing out.

Story: 5/5

Art: 5/5

The post Craig’s Pick of the Week: Detective Comics #876 Review appeared first on The Faster Times.

Story by: Grant Morrison

Art by: Yanick Paquette

The premise of Batman Incorporated’s first year is, allegedly, a high-energy tour of the world, replete with colorful Superheroes, death traps and a looming conspiracy coloring the background. Instead, though, for me it seems more a tour of Grant Morrison’s interests, of which I am intimately familiar. Indeed, it might be more accurate to refer to me as a “Grant Morrison fan” rather than a “comic book fan”. The top shelf of my bookcase is proudly dedicated to every Morrison trade in print, with only several eluding me still. The point is, dedicated Morrisonite that I am, I have a pretty good idea of his eclectic and, more often than not, retrodite influences. As such, Batman INC #5 reads like a glance at the stream of media that Grant’s been pouring into his brain; William S. Burroughs, cultural anthropology, Pulp serials, British Indie comics, The Magic Christian and the Adam West Batman TV show are all represented here in one way or another.

First and foremost, it should be addressed that this arc is confusing to read. The first two issues were very straightforward, action/adventure comics riffs, high on concept and execution, but low on depth. I was cool with it; Batman and Son, the introductory story of Grant’s 5-year Batman run was pretty straightforward. Same for the first three issues of the Batman & Robin segment, and first Return of Bruce Wayne adventure (the caveman one). It is not an irrelevant pattern, as it could be observed within most of his career, from his very earliest work in the medium until today. It would seem that he likes to ease us in. Issues 3-5, however, owe a bit to the aforementioned William S. Burroughs, not in their content, but in their structure. Nonlinearity and fragmented narrative are a staple of Morrison comics, something he’s claimed stems from Burroughs’ cut-up style. Especially on a monthly schedule, this can make for an exceptionally difficult story, particularly for the uninitiated. Just ask people who bought Final Crisis.

Of course, I would argue that the learning curve makes for a much more rewarding final product; issue 3 contains the seeds of 5’s development and resolution, which can be traced even further back in the run. We’re beginning to see a clear picture of the enigmatic Leviathan, a far-reaching organization, inevitably with nefarious intent. This is also a recurring motif of the Morrison’s opus, in the tradition of The Outer Church, The Cult of Dada and The Black Glove. El Sombrero, an antagonist from Batman, R.I.P. appeared to be the story’s villain (a la Lord Death Man), but beyond contriving the locked-room cliff hanger at the end of issue 3, he ended up not being good for much. No, forever relegated to being the gear in a larger scheme, both El Sombrero and similarly themed Scorpiana barely scratched the surface of Batman’s encompassing nemesis. At the very least, I would argue that the multi-layered adversary contributes greatly to a compelling story, even if you need to read the issues more than once just to figure out who Batman’s fighting against.

In terms of the moral divide of the forces at work (Batman and his allies v. the evils of the world), Morrison no longer even bothers to construe a suitably complex moral system for his characters to work within. One of my biggest frustrations with Superhero comics are the contradictory and simplistic ethical platitudes that seem innate the genre, probably encompassing anything that deals in strictly defined heroes and villains. Anyone right in the head will probably notice trends in the constant examination and reexamination of morality and superheroes, and more often than not find it tiresome. For the last decade, Morrison’s attitude has been to ignore the notion all together, and treat the ethical positions of the characters as facets of their mythological status, rarely indulging in pseudo-philosophical tracts about something that’s too divorced from reality to matter. And, boy, do I appreciate it.

Morrison has, instead, imbued his work with intellectual complexity though his profound analysis of fiction as a cultural construct, something he’s been exploring since the first comic he published (those silly Gideon Stargrave books he ripped off Michael Moorcock). Batman INC has the distinction, however, of doing so with an enchanting subtlety. He’s gotten to a point where his deconstructionist flourishes are so stylistic that they’re virtually indistinguishable from down-to-earth storytelling. When something is emotionally and intellectually effective, it stops mattering if its tongue-in-cheek or not, which Batman INC manages with distinct retro-flair. In the relatively short time that Morrison’s been writing him, Bruce Wayne has become a father, fought the devil, outwitted evil space Gods and witnessed Universal Heat Death, so that the book is no longer especially character driven doesn’t bother me; the story is finally being wrapped fully around its themes, and I couldn’t be happier.

Last but not least, I’d like to briefly discuss Yanick Paquette’s artwork. I believe Batman INC is the third Grant Morrison comic he’s illustrated (He did the Bulleteer mini from Seven Soldiers of Victory and an issue of Return of Bruce Wayne), and I’d say that he is neither the best nor the worst Morrison collaborator. He does a good job of visualizing the mad, often schizophrenic imagination of Grant Morrison for us, which is more than I can say for many artists, but perhaps lacks a certain nuance that really brings it to life. He can hardly be faulted for it; I think it’s something you either have, or you don’t. His figures are detailed and expressive, and he draws action particularly well. I was particularly impressed by a sequence he did illustrating the disjointed logic of an Alzheimer’s patient, with dramatics and dialogue sequences illogically. He has room to improve, though, and I look forward to him hopefully realizing it.

Story: 5/5

Art: 3/5

The post Maxwell’s Pick of the Week: Batman Incorporated # 5 appeared first on The Faster Times.

Story by Geoff Johns

Art by Doug Mahnke

For a while it felt like the Green Lantern comics had been treading water. After the Sinestro Corps War, excitement for the character and the universe had been as high as it had ever been. Then Blackest Night happened, which was ultimately disappointing because it was too big. Regardless, Geoff Johns had completed his Green Lantern trilogy, the same one he started all the way back in 2004 with Green Lantern: Rebirth. Most people would leave a title after they finished what they had set out to do but Johns stayed because he still loved the characters and wanted to continue telling stories with them. Is he going to be able to top what has gone before? Perhaps not, but he is still telling consistently entertaining stories and this issue was no exception.

Green Lantern #65 is part four in the “War of the Green Lanterns” story currently underway in both this title and its sister-title, Green Lantern Corps. Krona, an old-school villain revamped by Johns, has attacked Oa, returned Parallax to the power battery and restored the yellow impurity, and taken control of the Green Lantern Corps. While Kilowog tries to hold out against Krona’s torture, Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner try to find a way to Oa without using their rings. They do this by utilizing a spaceship Gardner has had built using Manhunter technology. Upon entering Oa’s atmosphere, they are immediately attacked by Kilowog and the rest of the Green Lanterns now under Krona’s control. They manage to reunite with John Stewart and Kyle Rayner, who have also removed their rings. Jordan’s plan to defeat Krona and reclaim Oa is for each of them to wear one of the other coloured power rings. Jordan picks yellow (fear), Gardner picks red (rage) because he doesn’t want to wear a thong if he picks violet (love), Stewart picks orange (greed) but Jordan makes him wear indigo (compassion), and Rayner picks blue (hope). The issue ends with the four announcing that it’s time to “beware our power.”

My main problem with Blackest Night (aside from the ridiculous number of tie-in mini-series’) was that it took a great premise (characters returning from the grave to become Black Lanterns) and ended up becoming an excuse for a bunch of characters to become various Lanterns. Johns seems to like having the characters interact with different colours (Jordan has almost worn every coloured ring) but in this story it actually makes sense: Jordan and the other three cannot use their Green Lantern rings because they no longer have control over them. Jordan has the rings from the other coloured Lanterns, so why not use them to defeat Krona? My only problem with this issue is to do with the characters’ selection of rings. I understand why Jordan wouldn’t want Stewart wearing an orange ring, but why indigo? To be honest, Stewart is so underused in the Green Lantern comics it’s hard to imagine any particular colour being well suited for him. He is unfortunately the one blank face of the comic; he just remains in the background and goes along with everyone else. I hope Johns uses Stewart becoming an Indigo Lantern to develop the character a bit more in the next few issues.

Doug Mahnke’s artwork continues to be the highlight of this comic. Whether you like Geoff Johns or not, you have to admit that Mahnke is just a great artist. He’s perfectly adept at both subtle character work and big action scenes in space. Green Lantern is definitely one of the most visually striking comics coming out each month, particularly due to Randy Mayor’s beautiful colouring.

I haven’t been reading Green Lantern Corps (one Green Lantern title is enough for me) so I’ve only been getting half of the “War of the Green Lanterns” story. While I do understand that I am missing out on a few things, most of the issue is fairly accessible and it’s easy to pick up on what has happened previously and what is happening now. While a lot of people have been disappointed with Green Lantern since Blackest Night, one must realise that Johns’ trilogy is over and it’s time to just enjoy one of the most entertaining comics currently being published.

Story: 4/5

Art: 5/5

The post Craig’s Pick of the Week: Green Lantern #65 Review appeared first on The Faster Times.

Story by: Nick Spencer

Art by: Ariel Olivetti

It should say something that the best issue of Iron Man 2.0 so far has been the one without its supposed protagonist, Jim Rhodes. Sure, he pops up in voiceover dialogue for the first few pages, but this is an issue that relies on back-story, and writer Nick Spencer’s innovative writing style. Spencer has made his mark as one of the preeminent young writers in comic books over the last six months. Morning Glories has been a thrilling ride issue to issue, a compounding mystery series written with real panache. He wrote the book on how to make Jimmy Olsen relevant to the modern DC Universe in his Action Comics back-ups, collected and concluded in a one shot last month. And while his star has been shining brightly enough that I can’t help but pick up each book he’s writing, I simply have to admit that so far I really haven’t cared much for his run on Iron Man 2.0. The writing has been solid, and the concepts are stellar. Clearly Spencer is the man to match the intelligence of Matt Fraction’s run on Invincible Iron Man. And yet something has been missing.

I should probably admit that I’ve never really been drawn to Jim Rhodes or the War Machine armor he’s been wearing for almost 20 years. Iron Man has always been about something more than the suit he’s wearing. The stories have been as much about Tony Stark’s intellect as they’ve been about his superheroism in the Marvel Universe. Rhodes, on the other hand, seems to be all about the armor he wears. He’s a military man, driven by the desire to do right by his own moral code. He’s written to be a good man, the sort of person you look up to, and perhaps that’s the real issue. Tony Stark is a troubled guy, he has major flaws that are hard to overlook, and because of those flaws he is charming and relatable. Rhodes, on the other-hand is clean-cut. You get a sense of that in the first issue of 2.0, where he’s stationed in a military base he personally attacked back when Norman Osborn was running the Government. You’d expect there to be some recoil from that, beyond the blowhard General Rhodes has been positioned under. But even the people who are supposed to resent them admit that he was in the right.

I think what stood out to me about issue four is that it’s the first time we’ve seen Spencer been able to tackle this smart, action-packed story without having to rely on the man who is supposed to be in the leading role. It actually got me thinking about the story beyond Rhodes, and led to me picking up the last three issues and giving them another read-through. I get the sense that Spencer might see the same issue with Rhodes, and so he’s trying to build up a supporting cast around him that we care about more than Rhodes himself. Suzi Endo is the kind of dynamic character you want to have in every issue, and Kaylie seems to be getting extra attention out of the Intelligence contractors Rhodes is working with. I bet we’ll be seeing a lot more of them moving forward.

This issue we see a portrait of the kind of man the Government doesn’t want to admit that they actively recruit. A true sociopath, revealed in one-page excerpts of interviews with the various people who knew the supposedly dead villain, Palmer Addley, in his years before joining the DARPA R&D team. Punctuating these closed room discussions are silent two-page spreads, giving readers time to let Spencer’s high-octane dialogue really sink in. It was a powerful issue, not quite standalone, but enough to stand out from what has come before. I’m more invested in the story now that it seems like Nick Spencer is back to thinking outside the box in his storytelling.

Moving forward, I’d love to see Spencer pierce Jim Rhodes’ nobility and actually break him down a little. Military protagonists can be hard to get a handle on, It’s an issue I used to have with Captain America before Ed Brubaker used the return of Bucky to really get inside his head and make us relate to the big guy. So far, the successes of Iron Man 2.0 have been in despite of the protagonist, and without giving us that crucial insight to why we should care about him, I think the series is going to have a lot of trouble down the line. I fully trust Nick Spencer’s ability to crack his shell, and hopefully we’ll see that happen soon. Any book with Nick Spencer deserves to be on the top of my pull list, and this issue proved that that is certainly possible.

Story: 4.5/5

Art: 4/5

The post James’ Pick of the Week: Iron Man 2.0 #4 appeared first on The Faster Times.

This is a bit of a surprise since online rumormongers speculated that the villains would be Talia al Ghul (I know it was a long time ago but remember Batman Begins? Talia would be Liam Neeson’s daughter) and Dr. Hugo Strange.

The release of the trailer for the Arkham City video game, which prominently features Hugo Strange, seemed to reinforce the latter supposition.

But those rumors were wrong. Or at least, not entirely correct. Surprised?

So in the spirit of getting things spectacularly wrong, let’s speculate about the plot of The Dark Knight Rises based solely on today’s announcement.

Where we left off: At the end of The Dark Knight, Batman is an accused cop-killer hunted by the police. It would be logical for The Dark Knight Rises to continue this thread, in which Batman avoids the cops while cleaning up the Joker’s mess (remember: those Arkham inmates have been running loose since Batman Begins) and keeping the mob from returning to power.

Villain 1: First Bane: a juicer with a pituitary problem. He was introduced in the comics during the 1993 Knightfall storyline. He has a backpack that pumps this super-steroid called Venom into his bloodstream. He also has protective coverings over his vital organs, which makes him difficult to shoot fatally. Bane’s method of attacking Batman is methodical: release the Arkham inmates, wear Batman down, then break his back.

Here’s a picture of Bane:

Just kidding. That’s Texans linebacker Brian Cushing. But like Bane, he’s powered by rage and chemicals (allegedly).

Here’s the actual Bane, doing what he does best:

Bane: Hey Bats, they put nips on your pervert suit. Oh SNAP!

So how will Bane fit into The Dark Knight Rises? Bane is pretty similar to Hugo Strange who, as mentioned, was initially rumored to be the Tom Hardy villain. Recent photos of Hardy showed him with short hair and a beard–in line with Hugo Strange’s visual appearance. Of course, as specified in the press release, the villain is Bane.

Like Hugo Strange, however, Bane attacks Batman psychologically (there’s a Batman-Goes-Insane storyline every five years or so, when DC editors apparently feel things are a little too cheery in Gotham). Like Strange, Bane figures out Batman’s identity.

Moreover, an anonymous source indicated that The Dark Knight Rises will borrow heavily from the Prey storyline, in which Commissioner Gordon reluctantly hunts Batman. Prey, currently out of print, also features Hugo Strange, a rogue psychiatrist.

Incidentally has anyone noticed that Arkham Asylum doesn’t really have a proud track record regarding its staff? At least three Arkham doctors (Strange, Scarecrow, and Harley Quinn) went insane and became supervillains themselves.

Director Christopher Nolan takes inspiration from a variety of Batman comic book sources. The Dark Knight’s tone and plot were notably inspired by one-shots and miniseries such as The Long Halloween, Arkham Asylum, and The Killing Joke. Nolan recombines various aspects of the comic book mythos to create his own vision of the character and the world Batman inhabits.

Which is why I think the villain played by Tom Hardy, though named Bane, will be a combination of Bane and Hugo Strange. I also anticipate The Dark Knight Rises borrowing plotpoints from both Prey and Knightfall (among other arcs like Batman R.I.P.). If such is the case, it will recall Iron Man 2 in which director Jon Favreau combined separate villains Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash into…Mickey Rourke.

I can imagine Bane forming an uneasy alliance with the police to help take down Batman, as he did in an episode of The New Batman Adventures cartoon, all the while trying to consolidate the disorganized criminal underworld to gain power for himself. In the meantime, Batman will be psychologically and emotionally beaten to shit, similar to Knightfall, as he tries to capture the remaining Arkham inmates while avoiding the police.

Villain 2: This is ostensibly Catwoman, though the press release distinctly mentions Hathaway playing Selina Kyle, Catwoman’s alter ego. So there’s a possibility that Catwoman won’t actually appear or, if she does, it might be a third-reel appearance, similar to the emergence of Two-Face in The Dark Knight.

Catwoman remains a fan-favorite because of her frequent appearances during the 60s TV series and her prominence in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. But in the comics, she’s more like an occasional nemesis/bat-fuckbuddy.

Anyway, I’m completely at a loss on how Selina Kyle will fit into Nolan’s saga as anything other than an obligatory love interest. I assume Nolan will do more with the character than we’ve seen in the comics where, let’s be honest, she’s been pretty limited. Maybe there will be some scintillating Bacall-Bogart-style banter. Except Batman doesn’t banter. At all. Especially not in Christian Bale’s throat cancer voice.

Regardless, I anticipate lots of leather fetish sex between Catwoman and Batman. I hope they leave their masks on and I hope it’s as perverted as a PG-13 rating allows.

In conclusion, here’s Tom Hardy beating people up in the film Bronson, just so you have an idea what to expect of him as Bane. It’s on Netflix Instant.

The post New Dark Knight Villains Revealed: What Does This Tell Us About the Movie’s Plot? appeared first on The Faster Times.

The first 30 pages of Tribes are currently available via online preview.

The first volume Tribes takes place in a future where a nano-tech virus (referred to as “the dog years”) has shortened the human lifespan to twenty-one years. Society has reverted to tribes of children clothed in the ruins of the past. The story starts out with a look at a tribe called the Sky-Shadows, and on a member called Sundog. After a quick look at their society Sundog sees a helicopter crash into the nearby woods and finds that the lone survivor of the crash is a man in his fifties. He then runs away from his people and goes on a quest to reverse the dog years. Along the way he meets other tribes, and explores the world while finding out more about the events that shaped it.

The story isn’t anything new, or revolutionary, but is still told extraordinarily well. The characters are rich and the relationships between them are intriguing to watch unfold. Most of all though this story works because it is told in the beautiful artwork which is allowed to really shine in its unique horizontal format. The colors are vivid, the lines and ink impeccable, and the style looks like a blend of eastern manga style with western sensibilities which creates an extremely realistic cartoonish appearance.

The following is The Faster Times’s interview with author Michael Geszel and artist Inaki Miranda, conducted via telephone and email respectively.

The Faster Times: One of the cool things about the book is the layout. You have a horizontal format.

Michael Geszel: This is my first book. And it was Inaki who said let’s do a horizontal book. I wanted to push the envelope. I wanted to push the frickin’ page. So the production company, Soulcraft, said to do that and worry later about the production problems.

Inaki Miranda: It was really Mike’s fault. We had a lot of conversations and exchange of ideas before the first page you find in the book ever got penciled. Mike pushed my art and thinking a lot from the start, he wanted Tribes to be a very immersive experience. I did a good number of breakdowns for the first pages, but we wouldn’t find that point where he’d go “yes, this is it”. Art is another language all by itself, so it’s hard to describe what we were looking for, it’s easier to know what doesn’t work, that’s the process of experimentation. It involved playing differently with time and how the information was presented on the page.

One day I was in a bookstore looking at art books and I stumbled upon a book that featured a compilation of works of designer Chip Kidd. It had this cool horizontal format and something clicked in my head. The way the interior pages were designed, and how the information was presented I thought it was quite innovative. So I bought it and went back home with this new inspiration and sketched a breakdown for the first page in this new format and that was it. Mike finally said “yes, that’s it”. Ultimately it was really Mike’s decision and risk to take, and I’m very happy he rejected so many first pages so we could arrive to this final format.

TFT: How did it affect the storytelling process? Is it different to tell a story in that format?

MG: The discipline is to try to tell the story in pictures. I don’t write a lot of text. That’s frustrating: a lot of comics have a lot of text. If you can write as much text as you want on the page, it doesn’t force you to have the discipline to tell the story in pictures. And we all know pictures are a very powerful of communicating ideas. Working in the horizontal format reinforced that. Comics are a visual medium; it’s not a prose novel. So going horizontal just reaffirmed that I needed to tell as much of this in pictures.

IM: As for what it added…first it allowed me to do very cinematic widescreen shots when needed. I’m a big fan of the widescreen format, the composition of a good widescreen shot brings energy to my inspiration, it’s like enjoying a painting for me. And Mike had it very clear from the beginning that he wanted cinematic visuals…page two with oil rig, that shot is a perfect example of what Mike wanted Tribes to be. So the horizontal format was the perfect playground for both of us to have fun.

It also brought an opportunity to play with time and rhythm; sometimes it felt like I was doing two pages inside one, because I could make the eye cover the page going down twice. Or in some cases you could also get the sensation of two things happening at the same time because of how they coexist in the page, you can change the order of the read and it works just as well. This unconsciously speeds up the rhythm.

As for what was lost…uhmmm, I guess only that you have to be more careful with the book when reading it.

TFT: The art is gorgeous. I remember reading it at the con waiting for the Walking Dead, and I got a lot of comments about it.

MG: Oh yeah that’s right! You were reading it in a line and someone else came back and told us about it! I remember that—I appreciate that. The thing about this is (publicity) is really important because people don’t know about it. But once you show them the book and they feel it and they’re like “Wow, what’s that? I want it!” To IDW’s credit, they never said I can’t do a horizontal. I delivered a full, complete, soup-to-nuts cover-to-cover full book to them. And Inaki and I both supervised the design. Inaki works with the colorist from Madrid—they’ve known each other for a long time, since art school.

TFT: Can you tell us more about Soulcraft comics? What’s its relationship with IDW?

MG: Soulcraft is an independent self-financed production company. I make publishing details on a project-by-project basis. I was able to show the editor-in-chief of IDW a trailer I made for Tribes. And he wanted to go from there. That’s how it happened, but that doesn’t mean I’m an imprint. It’s a matter of managing book-by-book, project-by-project, finding a publisher. It’s a lot of pressure on you. But it allows for a degree of flexibility. Not easy, but it’s what I’m doing.

So yeah, in some ways it’s the perfect era to be an independent. Distribution is obviously very important. And with comics, it’s about getting into Previews and so forth. It helps to have a company like IDW because retailers know they’ll get the book and get it on time. I’ve heard that from a few of them and there are a lot of mistakes with them, in terms of printing errors and not getting books out on time. But IDW is known for quality and getting books out on time. I know they’ll be responsible to retailers.

I’m hopeful they’ll increase their market and marketing efforts over all. That’s something I’m looking forward to. They just brought in a great guy from Dark Horse to do their marketing.

TFT: How did you come to collaborate with Inaki on Tribes?

MG: I saw one image. One image. I saw a cover of the second trade paperback of something called The Lexian Chronicles. And I knew that’s what I was looking for. Inaki has a great balance between detail and design. That’s what I was looking for. And I love his lines. There’s a European sense of design and elegance to it.

I find a lot of American comics, the detail is overdone and there’s not enough design, or it’s all scratchy and crosshatchy, the angles are sharp and the lines aren’t elegant.

TFT: Inaki, what did you draw on for inspiration in your work on Tribes?

IM: My first focus was getting inside Mike’s head and understanding what he wanted Tribes to look like, once I had that, then it was about having fun with my own visual ideas. So there is a big part of the art that comes from what Mike envisioned and there’s another big part that comes from what I envisioned.

I’m a big classic Star Wars fan, I love how that trilogy managed to find the perfect balance of bold ideas and classic feel, design wise I mean. And that’s what I look for in my artwork, so in that sense I have to say that Star Wars is a constant inspiration in everything I do. One fun example of this is Skunktail…my inspiration for that character was totally R2-D2.

My visual goal was to bring a sense of pop art culture to the designs while making them look primitive, and then find a balance between the beauty of wild nature with the decay of a technological civilization. I was also a big fan of Logan’s Run when being a kid… one of the aspects that I love about Tribes is that it has these road movie elements, maybe more like a classic sci-fi and adventure story, like Planet of the Apes or Alan Quatermain, or Flash Gordon, or those pulp sci-fi novels from past decades where you had this feeling of discovering new worlds. The world Tribes moves through is full of undiscovered cultures and places, to me that’s just thrilling.

TFT: What is like working on a comic in a foreign language? What are the story telling challenges involved?

IM: Truth is I don’t know any other way. I never worked over a script in Spanish, I started working on Judge Dredd for 2000AD in UK, and now I’m working for the US comic scene, so I’m totally used to it. I spent a part of my childhood in California, so though my English is far from perfect, I make do well enough to read the scripts and discuss breakdowns with my editors. So there’re really no big challenges that can affect the storytelling because of that.

TFT: How do the plot and story themes of the series translate visually?

IM: Most of what I’ve said above answers this question I guess. There’s one more aspect though that’s also important. Everything I drew in Tribes needed to transmit a feeling of history, of a past life. The backgrounds had to show that they belonged to a different reality, with a different purpose. The characters had to be stepping a world they didn’t create or understand. I think there’s a magic to it that I tried to capture in the visuals. Everything had to be worn out, but it was very important to me that even if they were stained, I had to make them look cool and colorful. The characters for example, I wanted them not to be wearing clothes, but costumes, without the reader feeling that it was costumes, but instead practical clothes made from pieces of a past civilization (ours).

Also, in terms of the plot I found that the book can be divided in two visual stages, the first one is more primitive and wild, this one ends with them escaping the head hunter’s camp, From there on we start seeing more of the past technological society in the settings. As they start to relearn and claim what was once theirs.

TFT: Mike, what drew you to being interested in these tribal concepts? What drew you to the idea of making up a new ethnography?

MG: I’m interested in anthropology and how these societies develop. How we forge identities in our relationships with other people and our surroundings. You can see in the Middle East how clans are so prevalent and important, really. I’m fascinated with units and how things organize themselves and how to keep that cohesion with organization. And that’s the history of civilization. We have our nation-states which is how we organize things. The idea is that society collapses, but how do you rebuild it? There are a certain number of generations, but maybe there’s something beyond this tribal unit? In this case, it’s the quest. The virus and the nanounit.

TFT: One of my favorite parts of the book: we see a flashback to the early days of the plague and we see this war between factions starting up in the children of the world. Will we see more of the stages between the outbreak and where we are in the book?

MG: There are flashback to the civil wars, which is the immediate aftermath of the virus, in Los Angeles—where it’s centered. And there’s the scientist who talks about how it happened. But yes, we’ll explore more of that (backstory). The folk tales and folk songs that have emerged from some of the different events. But I wanted to jump ahead because it’s more interesting to show things once the tribal civilization has been established and how that would work.

TFT: That scene where they’re storming Dodger Stadium. It’s like the Illiad.

MG: Absolutely, it’s epic. I wanted to think big. That’s the culminating battle of the Kid Wars, when the killers swarm Dodger Stadium. And that settled the battle for Los Angeles for ten or fifteen years. From 2038 to 2050. We’ve come up with some stories about the Hollywood Kid Wars, which is the immediate aftermath, which shows what happens after the virus.

TFT (phone buzzes, fumbling): Ah fuck! You were saying about the Hollywood Kid Wars?

MG: To come up with a whole storyline about the rise of Jonathan X, this character who decides he won’t flee Los Angeles, won’t flee the chaos, but will stick around Dodger Stadium and turn on the lights because he’s inspired by this girl, to stick around and fight for something that means something. He won’t flee north where there’s water—he decides to stay. We came up with this story around Fort Italy and we came up with the character: how does he become Jonathan X. How does he become this leader? He puts the lights back on at Dodger Stadium. We definitely have some cool ideas, but we just needed to know how to do that: is it a series? Is it a one-shot? We’re not sure. We want to do Tribes II, so should I focus on the Kid Wars or get to Tribes II?

TFT: Inaki, was it challenging, or uncomfortable to draw scenes of terrible violence being acted out by children?

IM: It was fun and challenging! I think it makes the characters so much powerful and multidimensional; the scene where Sundog and Adams meet the headhunters for the first time was fantastic to draw, because suddenly you find that this kid doesn’t even blink when it comes to killing another human being for survival. But the way I drew them, with a cartoon touch, made the images of violence powerful as an art form and at the same time less disturbing. Eva’s beautiful colors played a huge part in this, she was able to keep everything like if it was a Pixar movie. Paul Pope said that Tribes was like Mad Max by the way of Disney, I think that’s a very smart way to put it.

The idea of kids having to kill for survival opens the door to a rich conglomeration of feelings that you have to show in their acting. I loved making them act, because in one moment Sundog was this thirteen years old kid with all his innocence and inner world to discover and at the next second he would totally transform into a wild animal, a perfect killing machine. I found that really cool, and it makes absolute sense in their world. This clash of age, morals and laws of nature leads the reader to a complex discussion about the human nature. That’s the magic Mike Geszel and Peter Spinetta brought to the table with Tribes, they created this highly entertaining adventure world, but at the same time rooted to a disturbing and raw social reality.

TFT: We’ve seen a wide variety of landscapes in Volume 1 of Tribes, and seen a fair amount of the world. What can we expect from upcoming volumes of the series visually and how will the styles be different from volume to volume?

IM: I haven’t read the script for Volume 2 yet, so I don’t know what we can expect in terms of settings. Mike and I have talked many times about the world of Tribes and we always end up excited about how infinite it is in terms of stories and visuals. I’m all about jumping to different settings and visuals every time to keep the eye curious and excited… that’s why I designed new costumes for them at the end of the book. I’m totally dying to draw them moving around in their new designs. And I just can’t wait to find out what they’ll do with the new vehicle and those new guns…I mean Sundog with a rifle? That I have to see!

In terms of style, I hope my art gets better from book to book and this ends up translating into showing an evolution in the characters, as the experiences they live make them grow up internally.

The post Hunting, Gathering, and the Apocalypse: Speaking with the Creators of TRIBES: The Dog Years appeared first on The Faster Times.

When most readers consider horror comics, they inevitably think of EC’s three flagship titles: Tales from the Crypt, Haunt of Fear, and Vault of Horror. EC’s horror comics were the most popular of their kind, thanks in large part to publisher Bill Gaines–who along with his editorial staff was highly active in each issue’s presentation, story, and look.

But while EC had a reputation for professional, quality comics, I was surprised to learn, in the introduction to Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s, that EC only accounted for 7% of the total horror titles produced during that era. The rest came from lesser-known and currently extinct publishers like Harvey, Fawcett, and Avon.

Comic historian Greg Sadowski and his colleague John Benson (who wrote the introduction) compiled these lost horror comics into Four Color Fear, published by Fantagraphics. While the selections in the anthology are just as graphic, and occasionally even more so, than their EC counterparts, they are also markedly different. Unlike EC, whose editorial staff laid out the pages, artists working at other shops had more free reign. Many of the stories collected in Four Color Fear have a looser, occasionally cruder, and more indie-quality feel. They’re less weighed down by caption-heavy narration. And while they lack the professional slickness of EC’s output, the comics in Four Color Fear are way more madcap. If, for instance, you ever wanted to read a story about a lethal love triangle between a man, a woman, and a cactus, you’ll find it in this volume.

The following is The Faster Times’s conversation with Four Color Fear editor Greg Sadowski, conducted via email.

The Faster Times: You seemed to have a wealth of material to include in this collection. How easy or difficult was it to locate these forgotten horror comics?

Greg Sadowski: I was lucky with this one because (co-editor) John Benson had over 80% of these in his collection. John wrote the intro and was a tremendous help. The rest of the books came from a group of collectors who are always kind enough to help.

What were your considerations as you selected comics for Four Color Fear?

The quality of the writing was number one – each story had to be a compelling read. The art came second, though I think every story we chose has interesting art.

You mentioned you regret having to leave out legendary artist Steve Ditko’s work. Why didn’t he make the final cut?

Fantagraphics is reprinting all of Ditko’s early comics in separate volumes devoted entirely to the artist. We figured most people interested in that period would buy both books, and we wanted to give them the biggest bang for their buck.

EC seems to have been the most highly-regarded publisher of horror comics, even by its competitors. What specifically distinguished EC?

First and most importantly, EC’s success was due to publisher Bill Gaines. Everything runs down from the top. He surrounded himself with talented people and treated them with love and respect, and he loved publishing comics. When an artist arrived there and was accepted, he usually stayed.

Did the lesser known publishers like Avon, ACG, or Harvey have distinct styles (you describe EC’s general storytelling formula in the appendix) when it came to their horror comics?

Companies did tend to have a certain “house” look. Editor Sid Jacobsen at Harvey encouraged some of his artists to draw like EC artists. But as far as I know, EC was the only company whose editors (Al Feldstein and Harvey Kurtzman) laid out the story panels.

What was the demand for horror comics back in the 50s, compared to other genres?

I think horror outsold every genre except romance. The books were flying off the racks, which of course is why most companies published the genre.

Were most horror comics produced by studios or did publishers eventually create them in-house?

Most were created in-house, but a few came from outside packagers such as Jerry Iger and Bernard Baily.

What was the nature of the relationship between studios, like those run by Jerry Iger, and the publishers? Did the studios simply bundle comics together or did they work on commission, doing customized stories for each publisher?

In the early days (c. 1937-45) the shops often packaged the entire books, though some titles contained stories by different shops and were assembled by the publishers. By the late forties most publishers began running their own studios to eliminate the middle man. The shop system was on its way out by the horror period, with publishers hiring their own freelance artists and writers. I think Jerry Iger’s was the last to go, in the late 1950s.

Horror comics seemed to have a very brief heyday due to the adoption of the Comics Code Authority. Did you notice any evolution, from the early 50s until the mid-50s, in the way horror stories were told?

Well, like most commercial enterprises, the more you do something the more polished it becomes. This was certainly true at EC and Harvey. But at the fly-by-night companies, who were just trying to cash in on the craze, their style looks almost exactly the same from beginning to end.

Did the Comics Code Authority end horror comics for the publishers in Four Color Fear, or did they find ways to circumvent it, like CREEPY in the 60s?

Yes, the Comics Code (plus bad publicity and public opinion) ended the horror comics. CREEPY was able to circumvent the Code because it was a larger-sized black-and-white magazine, not a comic book. EC actually tried to do the same thing ten years earlier. Their horror magazines instantly failed, but MAD became an institution. So Gaines came out of it in good shape – one of the few.

You wrote that the first issue of EERIE “is now considered the very first true horror comic.” What distinguished EERIE from other previous attempts at horror?

Well, the one-shot EERIE 1 differed from the other attempts because in this case the entire book was devoted to horror. Before that, horror was featured as single stories in anthology comic books such as PUNCH and FUNNY PICTURE STORIES.

Did artists like Wally Wood, Joe Orlando, and Al Williamson have fan-followings or were their names only known by industry insiders?

Those three worked at EC, and EC was the first company to acknowledge their artists. They let them prominently sign their work, applauded them in the letters pages, and even featured full-page artist bios. So that’s where comic book fandom really began.

Were there any unique visual storytelling techniques that emerged from horror comics?

I think the genre in which one is working only incidentally inspires the creation of unique visual storytelling techniques. It always boils down to the talent of the individual artist, and his reaction to a particular script. It could just as easily be triggered by crime, romance, superhero, etc., as from horror.

Do you have a personal favorite in the collection?

I’ve always been a sucker for Basil Wolverton (above) and Jack Cole, so I’d say their group are my favorites.

The post Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s: A Conversation with Historian Greg Sadowski appeared first on The Faster Times.

Sarah Glidden is a cartoonist working out of Brooklyn. In 2008, she won an Ignatz Award for her travelogue mini-comic How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. That same comic has since been published in color as a Vertigo graphic novel (TFT review here). Glidden’s memoir is currently available in stores today.

She is currently working on a graphic novel project tentatively called Stumbling Towards Damascus, about the process of journalism and the way in which news is gathered and reported.

The Faster Times: In the first few pages of How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, you talk about deciding to go on Birthright to find out a little bit more about the conflict in Israel. Why was the conflict so important to you in the first place? Why did this stand out amongst all the other various political conflicts and debates throughout the world?

Sarah Glidden: It does seem sometimes like the conflict in Israel gets a disproportionate amount of attention from the rest of the world, especially when there are so many other conflicts going on that could benefit from a little more international help. The difference is that I grew up hearing about how important Israel is. I would say that my family was more culturally Jewish than religious, but my brothers and I did go to Sunday school and we studied for our bar and bat mitzvahs, so we were repeatedly told that Israel was our homeland, that it was a place for our people and that we should feel like it was our country too. You are encouraged to have a relationship with Israel. But the thing about relationships is that they’re very simple when you’re a child. When you get older they get more complicated and take a lot of work.

TFT: What made you eventually decide to go to Israel?

SG: So when I got older and started paying attention to the news more and I learned more about what was going on in Israel it felt really personal. Whenever I would hear about something that the Israeli government did that was oppressive or violent towards the Palestinians, I felt like I was partly responsible. I was a really sensitive kid and I turned into a sensitive adult and it really upset me to hear about everything that was going on over there. Violence and exploitation anywhere get to me. But with Israel I felt really torn because I was angry at the country for being part of the problem but I simultaneously wanted to defend it when people started talking about what it was doing wrong. I talk about this in the book, but Israel to an American Jew is like family. You are born into your connection to it and sometimes you get really pissed off at it, but when other people start attacking it you take it personally. “Don’t you say that about my uncle! You have no idea what he’s been through!”

Anyway, for a while in my 20’s I wanted to deny that connection all together and just let myself be angry with Israel without thinking twice. I think I wanted to go there so I could be sure that this was the right way to think about it. But that’s not how it ended up going.

TFT: Was there any part of the trip that you didn’t include that you regret not writing about?

SG: There’s no one incident that I regret not including, although there were a lot of funny or interesting anecdotes that had to get cut. But I do wish I had had more room to include some of the conversations I had with other people on the trip about how our relationships with Israel were shifting. The trip really had an impression on a lot of people. One girl I talked to had come from a more right-wing family and hadn’t thought a lot about the Palestinian side of things and she told me that the trip had forced her to face some of this in a way she hadn’t before. It had shifted her towards a more moderate point of view. This was interesting to me because I had had kind of the opposite experience, coming into the trip from the extreme left and moving away from that polar end of things.

TFT: To what extent did your trip to Israel and your subsequent writing about it change your relationships with family or friends?

SG: I really thought that it would while I was on the trip, and I was terrified about that. In my relationship with my boyfriend at the time and a certain group of friends, politics was something that we talked about a lot and it had become a huge part of my identity. I thought I had a pretty solid grasp on how I thought about things. So when I started questioning my own thoughts on the conflict I thought that I was going to lose the respect of these people who had come to like a Sarah with a certain set of politics. Which is ridiculous! Who bases a relationship on personal politics? I had to learn how to separate these things from what actually matters in a friendship. So no, it didn’t end up changing anything, although I think maybe the people in my life have heard more than they ever wanted to about the Middle East. I talked about it way too much when I started working on the project. Now I kind of try to avoid the subject.

TFT: Do you think How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less is a guide to understanding Israel, or is it mostly a story about traveling in Israel?

SG: I think its the story of someone trying to understand a complicated place. I really did want to come to some conclusion when I went on that trip but being there I saw how naïve that hope was. But I think little by little my character comes to accept that its OK not to take a side and that you can have conflicting points of view on an issue. With anything complex that matters to us, we want some sort of validation that what we feel is ok. I was looking for someone else to tell me that the way I thought about Israel and the “situation” was the right one so that I didn’t have to worry anymore about whether I was wrong. But in the end I realized that you can’t rely on someone else to tell you that you’re feeling the right thing, you have to just accept that you’re on your own. All you can do is try your best to learn as much as possible and be open to other people’s points of view, but there’s never going to be some kind of end to it where someone says “congratulations! You have found the truth!” What comes with that is also learning that you shouldn’t try and convince other people to think like you. None of this is specific to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict either; it can apply to almost anything.

TFT: What do you want your readers to come away with after reading the graphic novel?

SG: I guess I hope readers can come away from the book feeling like they’re not alone if they’re confused and that maybe being lost in the big gray area in the middle can be better than being certain you are right.

TFT: Did your trip to Israel change your self-perception as an American-Jew?

SG: The experience I had in Israel was humbling. I realized that as much as I had thought I was well-informed on the political situation there, I actually only had a very basic grasp on the issues and had no idea how complex everything was. Which made me feel like an idiot for being such an annoying know-it-all beforehand. It wasn’t an instant change or anything, but I definitely started questioning myself more than I ever had. I was also came to see how judgmental I could be, how quick I had been to write someone off because they identified as a Republican or something like that. I had seen myself as a worldly, educated and kind bleeding-heart liberal but realized that I could be a real snobby jerk! Sometimes the people you think you have the least in common with are the ones you learn the most from.

TFT: How did Israel change you, and how much of the experience you went through was related to your Judaism?

SG: As for how this relates to Judaism, I’m not sure. Before the trip I didn’t think of being Jewish as an important part of my identity. I’m agnostic, I don’t go to synagogue, keep kosher or observe Shabbat. But during and since the trip I’ve come to see that Judaism is also about keeping close to your family, being concerned with social justice and questioning yourself and your relationship with the world. I used to think that you couldn’t consider yourself Jewish AND question Israel at the same time. On the trip, all we did was question Israel. The fact that the guides and the trip leaders werent telling me that I had to love it unconditionally made me feel more connected to Judaism itself. That may seem counterintuitive, but no one in my generation wants to be told they have to love something or feel a certain way. It just pushes us away.

TFT: What work for the comic did you do while in Israel, and did it affect the experience?

SG: I brought this big thick sketchbook, thinking that I was going to do a lot of sketching, but mostly I ended up writing a lot. I was writing down everything that everyone was saying and also trying to record my thoughts and emotions on things as they came up. Sometimes, like after my little mental breakdown, I couldn’t even figure out why I was so upset. So I wrote “I don’t even know why I’m so upset.” That helped me later when I was writing the comic. I didn’t want to write about what I knew in hindsight was my reason for being upset, I wanted to portray the actual confusion I had felt in that moment. I also took a lot of photos but I would have done this anyway. I’m a photo-addict. I’m not sure what effect it had on the experience though. I find that taking notes always helps me concentrate on what people are saying and keeps my mind from wandering, from daydreaming. So maybe if I hadn’t been taking so many notes I would have missed more of the history that we were being told about. Maybe I would have been more relaxed.

TFT: How did you pitch How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less to Vertigo, and what were their thoughts on the subject matter?

SG: I was really lucky because I didn’t have to pitch this to Vertigo. At the time graphic novels were extremely popular and the recession hadn’t hit yet, so lots of publishers were out looking for new talent. My editor, Jon Vankin, was at the MoCCA fest in New York and he came over to the table I was sharing with about 6 other Brooklyn cartoonists. I had started the book as self-published black and white minicomics and had made two chapters by then, and he asked me about them and ended up buying them. Then a few days later I got an email from him telling me that Vertigo was interested in publishing the complete book in color. I was shocked! And also really excited and terrified. I was pretty new to comics and wasn’t sure if I was ready to work with a publisher as big as Vertigo. But Jon and Karen Berger thought I was ready and that gave me the confidence to do the best I could on my first full-length book. In the beginning I thought they were crazy and I didn’t think my work had anything in common with Vertigo’s other books, but later I learned more about Vertigo and saw that they have a history of publishing work that is political and different.

TFT: While you don’t talk about it too much, what did your trip to Israel teach you about the culture of Israel, beyond just the conflict?

SG: I already knew that Israeli culture was a lot like American and European culture, but I was really surprised by how much I felt like I fit in. It felt familiar. When a lot of Americans think about Israel, we think of what we see on TV: a country bound up in a violent conflict. But that’s not the way life is for most people. It’s also just a normal place with people trying to live normal lives. It’s jarring at first to see young soldiers walking around with guns at a shopping center or to have your bag searched for weapons when you’re entering a restaurant, but you get used to that really quickly. Its interesting to see what people grow accustomed to.

TFT: Do you want to go back and take another trip to Israel in the near future? What would you want from your second trip to the country?

SG: I’d love to go back sometime and I only wish it weren’t so expensive to get there. I would want to visit friends mostly. But I’d also like to finally get to visit the West Bank. On my first trip I didn’t go because some people told me it would be dangerous for me to go alone and I got nervous. It’s funny because it was my Israeli friend who told me it would be too risky to go to Ramalah. Before the trip, there were some people thought it would be too risky for me to go to Israel itself! Anyway, I’ve always regretted the fact that I let this fear keep me away from what sounds like a normal city.

The post Born Into a Connection: Interview with Sarah Glidden appeared first on The Faster Times.

Much like writer/artist Sarah Glidden’s attitude at the beginning of her Birthright Israel trip [1], I approached her graphic novel How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less with trepidation. As someone who was born in Israel, who has a name about as Israeli as they come [2], who has spent a great deal of time in the country, and as someone who has had a rigorous education in the country’s history, Israel is a very important part of my life. However, I also like to think I know a good deal about it. So a graphic novel about Israel initially made me wary. Once I started reading, however, I found myself deeply immersed and emotionally invested. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less is a beautifully-illustrated book. Yet while it succeeds as a memoir, it falls short as an analysis of the country and conflict as a whole.

One Woman’s Internal Struggle

At its core, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less is really about Glidden’s trip to Israel and how it affected her. She begins in New York saying goodbye to a boyfriend who fears that she will “come back a brainwashed raging Zionist.” This scene sets the tone for Glidden’s initial misgivings. The beginning of the book is marked by Glidden’s active struggle to maintain her original perspective. She constantly questions whether or not what she hears from her Birthright trip is propaganda. On the one hand, this gets a little tedious; on the other hand, she is very self-aware and critical and is often concerned with her initial close-mindedness. The fear of being closed-minded weighed against the fear of having your beliefs pulled out from beneath you is a struggle many of us have had to deal with. It’s an internal struggle that Glidden portrays beautifully. In one sequence, Glidden listens bitterly to early Zionist poetry from the First Aliyah [3], and imagines herself speaking to an early settler about her annoyance. She makes a remark that she dislikes poetry and specifically dislikes poetry that has a “moral”. Her imaginary settler replies: “Maybe you just don’t like poetry about Zionism.”

Glidden gradually sees more of the Israel and, most importantly, she sees more of its citizens. She sheds many of her preconceptions and allows herself to see a side of the story that she hadn’t really considered beforehand. One notable scene where we see Glidden’s expanding perspective on the country is during a Purim parade, where she gets her first real taste of Israelis. She also begins to enjoy her experiences and sees Israel as more than just a controversy: she begins to appreciate its vibrancy and diversity. As she begins interacting others on her trip as well as Israelis she meets during her travel, she begins to finally appreciate them for their individuality.

The climax of Glidden’s trip is in an incredibly emotional scene in Israel’s Independence Hall [4], where her internal conflict comes to a head. From this point, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Specifically, Glidden addresses what the conflict means to her, how she defines herself around it, and how she lets it define her. She struggles with the politics of it as well as with her changing concept of her Jewish identity.

The Better of Two Faces

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less attempts to work on two levels: as a narrative memoir and as an analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It would be nice if it could simply be the first and not the second; however Glidden’s story is all about her own views of the conflict and how they affect her.

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less shines in its portrayal of the various characters Glidden meets on her trip. From Glidden’s self-portrait to the random Israelis she meets on her short visit, each one rings true and pops out of the page. Each character has a very distinct personality and political view. Generally the book’s point of view is confined to Glidden or her Israeli friend Nadan who serves as her foil. However we also see characters ranging from Arab vendors in the shuk [5] to Israeli soldiers. Most are portrayed very accurately, though there are a few that Glidden clearly doesn’t comprehend. For instance, she often identifies Chasidic Jews [6] as Orthodox Jews [7], which isn’t accurate as Orthodox Jewery is an entirely different movement. Her portrayal is also skewed about the actual Orthodox (and non-Chasidic) Jews, with an almost hostile view towards keeping the hallacha [8].

Glidden is exceptional at portraying the Israel’s landscape, as well as the various cities and locations she visits. One of the pleasures I had was recognizing the locations depicted in the illustrations. One of the great things about Israel is that it’s small, and people are bound to visit many of the same places and share similar experience of those places of those places. Many of the sites and activities that Glidden sees and participates in are universal for visitors in Israel.

Everybody goes to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and everybody visits the Dead Sea. Her portrayal of these locations and experiences is accurate, and she never shirks from writing in Hebrew when the story calls for it.

Glidden’s art is simple, yet effective. Her style is slightly cartoony, but this only magnifies the emotional weight of the story rather than detracts from it. The real beauty comes from the gorgeous watercolors, the texture of which adds to the book’s subdued power. I also enjoyed some of the techniques Glidden used to show her interiority.

For instance, she illustrates a tribunal in her head to determine whether or not Birthright is trying to brainwash her. She dramatizes imaginary discussions with historical figures like early settlers or the first Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. Most effective for me, however, are the wordless pages in which Glidden sits on the bus looking at the scenery around her.

They reminded me of my own trips across the country, weary from a flight, a day of walking around the city, or from a hike in the desert, just lazily looking out the window at the beautiful country. It made me very homesick. Once I picked up the book I was quickly absorbed by Glidden’s journey—so much so that when I finished I felt completely disoriented, I had forgotten I wasn’t actually in Israel.

Understanding Israel

If Glidden’s book weren’t called How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, I would probably end this review here. Though the book isn’t being sold as guide to the conflict, nor does the book claim that it is an actual explanation for the situation, many people will turn to this text hoping to understand the political situation. The bottom line is that you can’t stay in a country for a week or two as a tourist and understand it, or its various controversies. Glidden hasn’t experienced key parts of Israeli culture, so it wouldn’t be fair to expect her to understand the totality of the situation. Of course Glidden doesn’t claim to have the answers and doesn’t claim to be telling the reader what to think.

Still, the book is a little one-sided. Glidden is quick to point out the flaws and mistakes of the Israelis, which is fine, but she leaves out any criticism of the Palestinians. Glidden’s reproach centered only around Israel disturbed me profoundly. Glidden either doesn’t think that she has to question both sides of the argument or she has omitted one side. Either way, the absence detracts from many of the great points that the author makes.

Glidden also misrepresents some events. Take her depiction of the customs process with traveling to Israel. Because her trip is part of Birthright, the questioning process is unique and rigorous. Customs asks thorough questions about the participant’s Jewish background, so thorough in fact that when the author’s friend doesn’t know the answer to one she is pulled aside for extra security. This is certainly not the norm for most people entering the country on more mundane circumstances. But Glidden doesn’t address this and twists an important security measure into a racist inquiry. Perhaps Glidden isn’t aware of the difference as she has only been to the country on that one particular instance. But acknowledging her inexperience in matters like this, a more accurate portrayal is important when presenting the culture to readers unfamiliar with it.

So Where Does That Leave Us?

For all the problems I have with Glidden’s approach to analyzing Israel, her views are still valid. Like Glidden’s book, Israel can be interpreted many different ways. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less is an emotional and involving read that doesn’t offer any single conclusion. As cheesy as it sounds, it really is about the journey rather than the destination. This is a book that will undoubtedly be attacked for being too Pro-Israel by some and too Pro-Palestinian by others, but it’s emotionally honest. Quite frankly it’s refreshing to read a graphic novel that covers controversial topics like this even if you don’t agree with it.

How to Understand How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less will be available in book stores and comic book stores November 3.

[1] Birthright is a Jewish organization that offers free trips to Israel for Jews in their late teens or early twenties, who live outside of Israel that have never experienced Israeli culture.

[2] Zev is Hebrew for ‘wolf’ and is found predominantly in Israel, as it is one of the rare non-biblical Hebrew names.

[3] Aliyah is the Hebrew word for moving to Israel. The First Aliyah specifically refers to the first wave of Jewish immigrants to Israel in the 20th century.

[4] Independence Hall is the now a museum inside the building where the Israeli Declaration of Independence was signed

[5] A shuk is a Hebrew word for an Arab, or Arab-style market, and comes from the Arabic ‘souq’.

[6] Chasidic (or Hasidic) Judaism is a sect founded by the Rabbi Ba’al Shem Tov. Members of this sect are notable for their traditional attire of black suits and black hats.

[7] Orthodox Judaism is very loosely defined as Jews who hold a stricter following of the Torah and the rules within it. Mostly, this means following laws and customs like keeping Kosher, wearing a Kippa/Yarmulke, and observing special laws and restrictions on the Sabbath (Saturday).

[8]Jewish laws from the Torah, and/or the subsequent Rabbinic teachings.

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