Pick of the Week

November 23, 2011 – Comic Book Comics #6

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

Story by Fred Van Lente
Art by Ryan Dunlavey

Size: 40 pages
Price: 3.99

The form of the comic book is so malleable, and so rarely utilized for anything other than what we see week in and week out. A better medium for instruction and teaching may not exist. It has the ability to convey information concisely, while also being entertaining. You’ve got to do a little work to stay engaged (reading), but done well, it can be a pleasure.

Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey know that the comic book is more than what we usually make of it, and have proven so again and again with their previous creator owned work, Action Philosophers, and with their current project, Comic Book Comics. Where the former went very academic, teaching the basics of philosophical thought and its leaders, Comic Book Comics is exactly what the title suggests. They’re about comics, and the industry which produces them. I am a comic book industry junkie. It is a fascinating industry almost any way you look at it, from the early days right up through to today. The leaders of other business communities would gasp in horror at the way the comic industry has run itself over the decades, but still it plods on, shrinking yes, but undaunted. All six issues of this series have given history and perspective on various parts of the comics industry from its inception, each focusing on a few different stories per chapter, always in comic book form, of course. It works like this. Van Lente sets the stage for the period or person they’re covering, giving background and relevant details, and plenty of primary quotes. Dunlavey illustrates each scene, working in counterpoint to the mostly straightforward text, relying on lots of visual gags, while still helping to push the story along and clarify the salient points. But I just made that sound a lot more boring than it actually is.

This time out, they’re tackling the invention of the graphic novel, and who is responsible. Was it Will Eisner or much earlier than that? That’s followed by a simply amazing history of Japanese manga, specifically around Osamu Tezuka himself, and while I’d heard parts of the story, they managed to condense a huge and important story into the pages in a great way, explaining his effect on Japanese comics, but also on the comics we read in the west as well. Historically and contextually, it’s illuminating in a way a Wikipedia article couldn’t even hope to be. Next, they move on to the history and formation of the direct market, leading me to hope that every single person griping on the internet about what the industry should do, would at least take the time to read this and truly understand what the direct market is, and how its probably responsible for there being any comics available at all today.

Finally, they tackle the issue of digital comics piracy, and do it with aplomb. It’s thoughtful. It’s informed, and it’s fair. Obviously, these guys have a dog in this race, and don’t want their comics distributed for free, but they deftly construct a web where we can see the decreasing sales leading to higher prices, which combined with easy torrent access and an economic recession can lead to a significant issue facing the industry. They’re careful not to pass blame, or even draw a direct cause and effect, simply because it can’t be done with the information we have. But it was the best overview of the issue I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot.

While the information is great, and the sources and the arguments are laid out clearly and effectively, this book is also incredibly funny. There were plenty of sight gags that had me laughing out loud. I’ve decided that being funny in comics is really difficult. While a lot of people are trying, there aren’t actually all that many comics that employ much  well constructed humor. The stuff in Comic Book Comics is both broad and subtle, when appropriate. It reminds me that we’re stuck in this situation where we primarily read comics that are almost completely about superheroes, and that doesn’t need to be the case. Comics don’t even have to be all about the adventures of men, or monsters, or whatever spin on these kinds of things we accept as diversity. The text of the book talks about that as well, giving historical examples why things developed as they did. But this is a tactile example of just one way a comic book can be different, and really well done at the same time. So of course it’s self published with a small print run, because there’s not much of an audience out there for it, even though Fred Van Lente is a well known mainstream comic book writer. If I think about that too much, it gets me down. But then I remember the vast and rich history of comics, and how it’s been portrayed in this series, and I get happy again, because it exists, and you and I can read it, and we should celebrate that. So that’s what I’m doing right now.

If you’ve been reading comics for a long time, and you hear names passed around, and hear pros talking about different eras in comics, but don’t really know the stories, Comic Book Comics is as good a place to gets caught up as there is. It’s meaty too, at $3.99 for 40+ pages of reading. You’ll be entertained and you’ll come out of it knowing more than you did when you started. You can read them one at a time, out of order, or all at once. It’s the perfect cure for a comic book fan who wants to steer themselves out of a rut, and also understand how that rut got there in the first place.

Josh Flanagan
That’s Tom at Bergen Street Comics in that panel!
josh@ifanboy.com

Comments

  1. I have enough left of an iTunes voucher for this digitally…can I dive in with this one? I was sitting there tempted to buy it for nearly an hour, but thought I’d wait to see if it was Pick. It’s only 69p (99 cents). Help me, Josh – you’re my only hope!

  2. definitely gonna check this out! i visited new york in the summer and went to bergen st. comcis, got afrodisiac and bulletproof coffin, was a pretty cool shop!

  3. “A better medium for instruction and teaching may not exist.”

    Indeed. Scott McCloud’s books are just one example of this. I think they’re fantastic. Hell, I even ate up that Google Chrome comic to learn about how they did things. Give me tutorials in comic form, and I’ll learn the hell out of these scripting languages I have completely failed at studying.

    I had no idea about this series till I saw it on the list on Monday. Sounds interesting, and as a fan off the Scott McCloud books, I think I’d enjoy it the same.

    Lowest pulled PotW ever? 73 as of now.

  4. Really?

  5. A great book indeed that should be read by anyone who loves comics, history and /or comic book history. I spoke with Fred and Ryan at C2E2 this year and they were thinking of following this series up with a book focusing on the U.S. Presidents. I asked Fred what it was going to be called and he responded with, “I think we are going to go with ‘Action Presidents’.” I hope they are able to make that book happen because I am sure it will be as enjoyable and informative as Action Philosophers and Comic Book Comics.

  6. Fantastic four 600 was my pick I loved it

  7. oh man, this is gonna be another Scalped > Blackest Night flaming for Josh

    • I didn’t really care then either.

    • Good for you Josh. Why can’t people accept that these are Ron, Josh and Connor’s favorite read of the week. Not Josh, Ron and Connor’s prediction of what everyone else liked that week. Also, I don’t see anywhere up in the article where Josh said anything disparaging about any of the other comics that came out this week. Maybe he liked your pick just as much as you but liked Comic Book Comics a bit more.

      Oh well, you don’t need me to defend your pick. The article above does it better than I could,

      Bean

    • I stand by my earlier statement. Josh can pick up XYZ for POTW but FF #600 (not REALLY 600) is the pick of the week by the community by a overwhelming margin over Josh’s much lesser known pick of a comic ABOUT comics.
      The truth is the truth.
      ‘Nuff Said.

      Matthew

    • What is truth? Is truth unchanging law? We all have truths are they all the same?

      You claim this is not a “real” comic (Whatever the hell that is) and then go on to call this a comic when stating it is not a comic!? If you’re going to make ignorant comments at least be consistent, dammit!

      Josh has no need to defend his pick nor needlessly coddle/validate the fanbase who have overwhelmingly picked FF 600. Be brave enough to like something because you like and not because a website tells you too. Be even braver and like something different than others without being a dick about it.

    • I enjoyed reading FF #600 while I didn’t read comic book comics #6. I enjoyed FF more out of the stack of the 4 comics this week.

      I had fun reading FF it is that Josh picks most often the most obsure & off the wall stuff as a pick of the week. If it was Fables, Scalped, Hellblazer or DMZ that I would understand by this weeks pick was way out in right field.

      I’m sorry for my overreaction.

      Matthew

    • “Nothing is true, everything is permitted”

  8. The other issues were all great too. Luckily my old store stocked them, since moving to california I may end up buying this one digitally. Hurrah for form, content, and medium coagulation.

  9. i’ve come to terms with this week’s scalped not being the pick, i just hope it and the series gets some decent gets some decent coverage as it eases into the great comic beyond.

  10. Shame I missed out on this series originally. It sounds wonderful judging from this review but I guess I’ll have to wait for a trade.

    My POTW was Fantastic Four #600, bullshit renumbering and obvious returns aside.

  11. Just picked up the first issue while perusing the back-issue section at my LCS. Kinda cool to see the final issue being picked as POTW. Gives me something to look forward to!

    As a former comic shop owner and doodle fiend, anything about comics and its history is enough to get me to buy it!

    @Josh – nice write-up mate. Ever thought about doing it for a living? /wink

  12. I loved this series so much! I discovered it with issue #5. I ordered #’s 3 and 4 from Evil Twin directly. 1 and 2 were sold out so I still haven’t read them.

    Great series, and a nice pick Josh!

  13. Woah, meta.

    Next week – Ron picks the iFanboy Pick of the Weel Podcast #312 as his POTW!

  14. Awesome! They now have a link up to a site where I can get them! BOUGHT!

  15. Just picked up the entire series digitally at .99 a pop. Fantastic book, caught me completely off guard. Even though I picked FF #600 for my own POTW, I can’t wait to hear the commentary about the POTW on the podcast. And really, that’s what’s so great about what Conor, Ron, and Josh (and Paul, and Mike, and Jimski…) do each week: they talk about the things that inspire them, infuriate them, and take them completely by surprise. Which is exactly what I’m looking for in a comics discussion: I don’t need to have my opinions validated, I need (and crave) to be engaged, to hear new ideas and opinions and arguments that serve to better my own reading experiences. When I agree with their opinions, it’s great. When I DON’T agree with their opinions, it’s STILL great – because it gives me pause to think about what I’ve read a little more critically, and perhaps every once in a while dig into something and find a gem, like COMIC BOOK COMICS, or LUTHER STRODE, or AFRODISIAC, or a dozen other things that have made reading comics that much better.

    So a large thank you, Josh, for disagreeing with my pick and, in turn, turning me onto to something great I might not have discovered on my own..

  16. I loved that Van Lente and Dunlavey pointed out the one TRULY successful way to curtail piracy. Connecting with the consumers. Convince readers that these are real people behind the books, connect with them and they’ll be FAR less likely to pirate a book.

    Punishing people does nothing, connecting with them does wonders.

  17. “It’s meaty too, at $3.99 for 40+ pages of reading.”

    Jeez-a-lou, is that the truth! I’ve been working on this thing, on and off, all afternoon/evening. After hearing about this series around issue 3, my efforts to obtain any issues have been routinely thwarted. Until today. I was afraid that my little grail chase would just mean that actually reading it would be a let down. But no, I am scouring the internet to find any cheap copies because I must have more! I am about to settle for the digital copies, which will force me to finally buy an iPad. Thanks a lot Van Lente and Dunlavey!

    That Stan-Lee-busting-out-of-Fantastic-Four-#1-cover is particularly calling my name.

  18. Excellent choice. I just finished reading the other five issues last weekend, and in terms of scope and analysis, this is the most ambitious issue of Comic Book Comics to date.

  19. Great book. I was reading issue 2 on the bus yesterday. So meaty and informative I HIGHLY recommend this series.

  20. I actually did use Comic Book Comics (issue five) in one of my lessons last semester. I teach intro writing classes at an architecture college, and used the lawsuit issue to look at how writers synthesize ideas from research, cite their work, and comment on their findings. I’d hoped that students working in a design and art-based field would more readily respond to research in comic form than straight-ahead text. Most didn’t, but some did. In fact, one student was so enthusiastic he started writing his draft as a comic.

  21. So I bought all of these on a bus ride to new york for less than $6 on my ipad. What this comic did was take an industry which i have held in contempt for so long due to perceived greed and disregard for creativity and made me completely respect it. i have been known to get my comics from 0-day torrents when i was completely broke and couch-surfing, but i felt like complete shit after the final issue. i might be upset at the price-points that will most likely never go down… but its a hobby that takes a lot less money than others out there and i can’t imagine a world without comics so i will be careful but i will always buy my comics (and to a lesser extent, manga)

  22. Six bucks on the ipad for the entire series, you can’t beat that. I mean seriously.

  23. Pick of the weeks like this are the reason I started checking this site religiously. It’s easy to say “Man, Fantastic Four #600 was great.” or ” Wolverine And The X-Men is my favorite comic!” or “(insert event comic here) blew my mind!” But these are books I would probably pick up any way. Without Josh’s “obscure & off the wall stuff” predilection, I might not have picked up Scalped. Without Ron, I may never have given Moon Knight a chance. And without Conor, I wouldn’t have read….Ar….chie?

    Thanks for recommending this, Josh. I gave it a once over in the store, and with no info on it, didn’t pick it up. I’ll go back now and check it out.

  24. Paul (the letter writer, not the fuzzy typewriter guy):

    Get your sister Empowered.

  25. Read them both & loved them both.

    One way or another, I LOVE visiting this site. All’a you guys are THE BEST!!

  26. about piracy.

    My friend grew up completely away from comics. got into college, got into music piracy and on the fringes were comics. downloaded preacher, then scalped, then northlanders, ect ect. now, he just spent 150 dollars on his trip to Austin Texas at a great comic book shop. in the last month around 350 dollars on comics. he would have never gotten into comics without being exposed to them through piracy. that is money that would have never found its way into the industry otherwise.

    Cheers.

  27. This sounds like something I’d be interested in as I’ve always like the fandom aspects of comics and the creators. I used to pick up and read CBG to fandom press stuff so thanks for spotlighting it.

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