Category — Recent

And tonight I had to ask,

WTF  happens in the bathroom, Nigel?

Everything in there is drenched. All the toilet paper is wet, if I leave clothes, towels hairdriers there when I come back to get them they are wet.
Not damp Nigel  WET.  Sit on the dunny and you get rained on.

I cleaned it all up on the weekend wiped all the walls and the ceiling. Lovingly dried it off.

Tonight I go to the toilet and get rained on, again, the toilet paper is wet and I look at the floor and there’s a tiny little river of water, cascading between the tiles and the wall with a few struggling ant boatmen, rafting towards the drain on the sodden shells of cockroaches.
I clean the bathroom up, again cursing. Finally the smell of his burning dinner gets him downstairs. How to deal with this?
I opt for the, I am stupid and you are the cleffa one approach.

Nigel, I said, have you noticed if there is a leak or something when you have a shower…..in the ceiling maybe?

No… nuffin like that. Why?

Oh, it’s just I get rained on in there and the toilet paper is wet, everything is slimy and there is water banked up around the wall.

GUFFAW! Nothing to worry about, it just me I like a sauna and there isn’t one around so I turn the hot water on full and just let it steam up the room. Sauna is good for your skin. He says rocking on his size 994B feet his eyes twinkling with the realisation of his own cleverness.

Oh well, like I told you the other day about the power bill Nigel, blah, blah, expensive blah, hot, etc water, etc and, jeez….  MAAATE everything is fookin drenched.

Yeah, he larfs, even my clothes are soaked when I finish its just condensation, it’s ok. No need to worry. There’s no leak or anyfing like that.

Yeah! Well Nigel here’s the thing mate, I’m tired of having a piss in the rain it’s most fuckin uncomfortable and the FTP is cold and wet on my fanny and it’s pissing me orf.

AW well I suppose I could not have so much steam.
Aw well do you really think so Nigel, because that would be really fucking good if you could manage that mate because I’m sick of being watered like a bloody African Violet.

One of my favourite comic book series is Une aventure de John Difool. This is the source that director Luc Besson borrowed heavily from to make one of my also favourite (coincidently) movies The Fifth Element.

One of the creators of John Difool and the L’Incal series was Jodorowsky, a great visual director took the production to court however it was thrown out. The action was complicated in part I believe because Mœbius had worked on the film with Besson.

Jodorowsky almost made DUNE . He assembled an impressive crew to realise Dune before the budget blew out Jean Giraud, Chris Foss, HR Giger, Dan O’Bannon, Pink Floyd and Salvador Dali. When Dune was canned he incorporated many of the ideas that he had for the movie into the comic book series he wrote with comic book artist Mœbius.

In this post I plan to introduce the series to those who have not encountered it and hopefully increase readership of European comics.

I have the six volumes below to share with you.

The INCAL (Jodorowsky & Moebius)
• Tome 1 - L’Incal noir Volume 1 - The Black Incal
• Tome 2 - L’Incal lumière Volume 2 - The light Incal
• Tome 3 - Ce qui est en bas Volume 3 - What is the bottom
• Tome 4 - Ce qui est en haut Volume 4 - What is up
• Tome 5 - La cinquième essence 1 - Galaxie qui songe Volume 5 - The fifth essence 1 - Galaxie who dream
• Tome 6 - La cinquième essence 2 - La planète Difool Volume 6 - The fifth essence 2 - The planet Difool

Volume One

THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN DIFOOL

BRIEF SYNOPSIS
The future of the universe lies on the shoulders of one John Difool, a R class detective, a character of dubious integrity. He is joined by seven others and after locating Animah they travel to a temple in another dimension where in the heart of a forest of crystal, he recreates the Incal around Solune.
He is then entrusted with a mission, he must join with the Queen of the photo-bergs to save the world!

JOHN DIFOOL ANTI-HERO AND BUM
John Difool is a bum, a self absorbed character who spends most of his time trying to avoid responsibility. He appears childish and whimsical but his behavior is often reprehensible and he appears cowardly in spite of the urgings of a higher voice, I’Incal. You don’t feel that you should buy a used car off him let alone trust the fate of the universe to him. He is always tempted to go to the dark side, but when motivated by fear or by love he can commits acts of bravery.
Serendipity though is always on his side and amazingly he always manages to overcome even the worst of situations. At the end of the cycle, he also escapes the collective sacrifice that leads to the victory over the Incal Ténèbre. He is a bum but he is lucky, he is the perfect anti-hero.
The Tarot deck is the inspiration for L’Incal and John Difool, who strikes a resemblance to Crispin Glover, is modeled on the major arcane card The Fool, zero, the card represents folly mania, extravagance, frenzy, betrayal and carelessness.

DEEPO
Deepo, the instrument of comic situations is the companion of John Difool, a large seagull like bird who gained the gift of speech after he “swallowed” the Incal light . Deepo is a capricious creature with attitude he saves Difool at least twice. He bears some resentment to Difool, yeah some!.

TO BE CONTINUED.

I’m early, I think but I’m passing erstwhile young men with plastic bags hurrying from Kings comics chattering away comparing their coveted preferences in hand as they head to the next venue, Comic Kingdom.

They were earlier. I hope the queue isn’t going to be to long.

They’ll be disappointed, Comic Kingdom is disorganized and half the staff don’t even know its Free comic book day.
Don’t worry I’m on my way to Kinokuniya, Mecca for many in Sydney.

We didn’t have Shatner, or anyone else. We should have had Hugh Jackman after all he is Aussie but we did have the irrepressibly enthusiastic W. Chew “chewie” Chan Comics Consultant at Kinokuniya. This is a job of passion for Chewie; he is a comic book artist and story boarder in his other life and working on a secret project for Dr. D Studios, Dr George Miller’s newish production company. Both Chewie and I worked in the art department on Dr. George Millers Happy Feet. He’s done a little bit of work here and there for Marvel

At the top of the stairs,  I fire up my brand new camcorder and head for Chewie. He’s promised to wear a dress. It’s a must see.

I pass a mouse scampering around the crowd darting in and out patting books back into shelves. The crowd thickens and I see Chewie behind the counter handing out free comics. The camera is rolling but I’m being bumped and hope the anti-shake button also has an anti-bump feature.

Chewie is to busy to stop for a coffee so we grab a few words on the run and he shows us his legs. Very nice for a bloke.

Nice legs

I grab a copy of John Stanley’s flip book Nancy and Melvin the Monster I want Owly but miss out. I luvs it.

The staff at Kinokuniya are, as usual, incredibly enthusiastic and helpful. Give them a koala bear stamp. An added bonus is the Kino Zine Fair.

Around a dozen comikers are manning the tables. Shannon Browning from Stab comics, Owen Nicholls, Storm Publishing, Dave Shilman, Dave McGuiness, Jason Franks, Black Glass Press, Little Hammer as well as Hayase .

It is good to see Aussie artists out and about. Finding local comics easily is not easy. Nobody stocks local work. These guys manage to keep the passion going in spite of the lack of opportunity for a wider audience for their work. We chat about the future of their work and the possibility of the internet. I buy a handful of local work including Robotoon, Woodville, Mission and Jaeger then succumb to finally buying a copy of Watchmen.

I have a book on hold I go to get it and mouse girl scampers into the backroom. “Is it My Bookie Wook?” she calls out. Yahuh, yes I laugh she hands it to me ever so gently.

Time to go home and read the spoils of the day.

What the... Gaston!

Easy going Gaston Lagaffe was created by André Franquin for the February 28, 1957 issue of Le journal de Spirou as a light hearted glimpse of life behind the scenes at the paper. Gaston is a blundering office clerk with a great sense of humour and remarkable lack of common sense who spends a lot of time napping, playing and avoiding work. His only response to his outstanding ability to botch, bungle and blunder ( “Lagaffe-The blunder”) is , “M’enfin!” (”What the…?”) .

A running gag in the series is the signing, or in Gastons case the non-signing of De Mesmaeker’s contracts: “Whatever’s in the contracts is irrelevant. What we want to see is how Gaston will prevent them from being signed.” says Franquin. All attempts to get the contracts signed are hysterically thwarted, and even when signed, he accidentally destroys them. Gaston always manages to wind Mesmaeker up, causing him to storm out,
or even pass out in frustration.

Comics, Manga, pictorial narratives.

BD “bande dessine”, not to be confused with “BD Blue-ray Disc”, along with manga, Japan, and comics, USA, is one of the three great traditions of pictorial narrative.

You have seen it around, really you have you may just not know that you have. Astérix, Lucky Luke, Marsupilami, The Smurfs, Tintin and Heavy Metal magazine, a translated spin off of the French Métal Hurlant, are examples of Bande Dessinée.

What’s in a name, you ask? Well the Italians call comics “Fumetto” little puffs of smoke. The Japanese call it manga the literal meaning translates to Whimsical pictures. And in Australia, America and other Anglo countries they are diminished as the funnies or comics. But in France and Belgium they are called “bande dessine” literally drawn strip and as part of the regions cultural and social fabric are respected forms of artist expression elevated to the position of “le neuvième art”, the ninth art.

BD, bande dessine the art form was added to Ricciotto Canudo’s “The Art Manifesto 1923” after film and television by Claude Beylie in 1964.

Claude Beylie’s The Art Manifesto 1964

1. Architecture,
2. Sculpture,
3. Painting,
4. Music,
5. Dance,
6. Poetry,
7. Film,
8. Television,
9. Bande Dessinée.

Ricciotto Canudo’s The Art Manifesto 1911

1. Architecture,
2. Sculpture,
3. Painting,
4. Music,
5. Dance,
6. Poetry
Ricciotto Canudo’s The Art Manifesto 1923
7. Film

They take their art seriously in Europe and the term “bande dessine” (pronounced “bayday”); unlike our comics or funnies gives no indication of subject matter, which imply a frivolous or asinine art form.

“BD” subject matter is vast though if you are searching for a francophone superhero you may be disappointed, with only a handful created in the whole history of Bande dessine. Captain Biceps and Superdupont(1972) superhero parodies, Fantax, 1946 a violent character with a foot in both camps of good and evil, amongst some of them. Narratives for children, teenagers and adults range from adventure, crime, fantasy, history, science fiction, romance, politics and adult drama; including erotica. SF, mystery, action and fantasy themes are also dominant.

The medium known as Bande Dessinée has been nurtured by a culturally progressive France and Belgium and has become recognised as an art in its own right and influential on other art forms.

There are a plethora of works, the majority of which are ordinary but with out such a prolific output there wouldn’t be a place for ideas to germinate and grow.

Larger than the traditional American or Manga comic book, hard covered and coloured they are generally owned by the artist not a publishing company including long running series with the exception of Spirou which is owned by Dupuis. The artist’s ownership of the titles contributes to the strength of the ongoing story line. Imagine what seven different writers would have done to Harry Potter.

The majority of BD series are limited short runs of four to six parts released as hard cover books up to 64pages. The auteur allowed time to develop in other words, it’s finished when it’s finished. There isn’t a monthly industry in the same way that we know it, fans can wait any where from six months to two years to get the latest instalment.

But what ever process or nom de plume, pictorial narrative takes, it is the Rock and Roll of story telling risky, some times dark, funny or experimental but always a rich and fascinating oeuvre.