Perhapablog

Sunday, February 24, 2008

comic commentary--spider-man family # 7!!

okay...

so i'm actually writing this on saturday as i will be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning--sunday morning--yesterday--for craig's house. after months of trying to get out there, sharon and i (and most likely, the jake) will be driving out for a couple of days to finally have christmas with the rousseaus! so, though i will be posting this remotely from his house on monday--today--i won't actually be back home 'til tuesday which was one of my favorite bands back in the 80s.
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in the meantime, whether you read it or not, go to augie de blieck's cool new commentary/interview column over at comic book resources and check out the nonsense that mark waid, karl kesel, nate cosby, and i threw out there over the fun of putting together the crazy "looter's quest" story in the most recent spider-man family! just like the story, it's a nutty, kooky romp of a round table and just might give you some insight into how insane comic book people can really be...

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=13091



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on the topic of appreciation, craig and i were just overwhelmed by the wonderful things that everyone said here and on the perhapanauts forum about the annual. thanks to everyone who left comments and messages and e-mails--it really means a lot to hear what you think--good or bad.

and while we don't wish to single anyone out in particular...well, we do.
i got this really wonderful letter from our pal, christian, and it summed up so much of what i've been feeling about craig's beautiful artwork and his ability to really make the characters "act" that i begged him to let me post it here.
he said, "aw, shucks...but okay"...


Todd-

Just wanted to drop some well deserved kudos on you and Craig for your
Annual. First off, the art was top notch. Craig’s love of the
character shines through as he’s adding more and more to them from the
previous series. Their evolution imparts more “them” for lack of a
better word. Giving Arisa and the gang more life, if you will. And the Devil
really came off as The Devil. It was also nice to see Hammerskold’s
team in action, too. I’m sure Craig’s been chomping at the bit to
throw them in aside from backgrounds. The old timey/flashback scenes
with the Jersey Devil popped off the page to me. Probably some of my
favorite work in the Annual. A tip of the hat to Craig.

The story was excellent. No other word for it. Mainly because of its
coming full circle with the pregnant women and their abusive husbands.
Love stories like that. The character growth is another great plus. That
little snippet of intelligence and razor sharp snoot from Choopie adds
more mystery to his character. Then you’ve got his rather rude remark
to Molly, which I’m sure didn’t help her deal with being dead.
Poor Molls. The BEDLAM work force all talking about MG and his remark
about being in “hiding.” And finally the relationship revealed. BUM BUM
BAHM! No Mulder/Scully waiting for the kiss here.

Like I said before it was nice to have the two teams mingled. (Is there
a chance of breaking them up into two comics once Perhapamania takes
over the world? Kinda of an X-Men and X-Factor thing.) Merrow is a very
interesting character, probably because we don’t know that much about
her at this point. Anyway I’m rambling. (That and I’ve got to get
back to work.) Great action, great dialogue and great art (Rico, too!)
pretty much sums up my feelings. Looking forward to seeing how the
series continues. Cheers!

Christian

P.S. Angie hasn’t had a chance to read the book yet, but once she
does I’ll try to glean some comments from her, too.


thanks, christian!
my sentiments exactly.

see y'all on wednesday!
smell ya later!
todd

"random calvin and hobbes of the week"

does this happen to you?
my brain is always trying to kill me!

5 comments:

Brian said...

Well said Christian, well said.

Normally, February is a rather bleak month here in the frozen northeast, but having the 'Haps Annual and the Spidey Family book to look forward to at the end of the month really helped getting through the month.

Thanks guys.

Cheers, Brian.

Christian D. Leaf said...

More comics should come with a commentary track. Thanks for pointing it out, Todd, as I would've missed it otherwise. One of my fave bits:

MW: "Ben doesn't eat his popcorn out of a trashcan because that's the only thing big enough for his mitts. He eats his popcorn out of a trash can because then no one wants to share."

And, yeah, while my brain does try to kill me I do plenty to try to kill it. Why must you be so tasty Guinness?!

Matt Wieringo said...

I am shamed to say that I haven't read the Annual yet! I was saving it for last and, unfortunately, lately, that means not at all. So I'm moving it to the top o' the heap (and it's a big heap) and promise to read it tonight. Loved the Spidey Family book though. I wish I could read two books at once, though, like Leaf. That would be cool.

I hope you guys are having fun with the Rousseaus, Todd. You all deserve it.

Heywood Jablomie said...

Ahh, now that's a letter to be proud of. Well put Christian!

That commentary was really cool! Very nice to hear a little bit of the back story. Wish there was more though(to that and the comic!)

My brain TRIES to kill me, then i proceed to ram my head into the wall and it shuts up real nice.

Anonymous said...

Todd-
Glad to hear you finally got Christmas with the Rousseaus.

I also liked "Till Tuesday" specially Aimee Mann.

Read most of the interview @ comic resources site(I'll finish it later). It's obvious you guys had fun with the story (also with the interview), I was laughing reading the interview. I just picked up the issue, but haven't had a chance to read it.

About the annual, I stopped reading Christian's comments because of a spoiler element.
I have not received my copies from Westfield yet, I probably should have gotten a back up copy @ my LCBS.

Anyway, I'll comment after I've read both the Annual and SM Family.