The 2007 Meta Chart by Dick.....

Dick Hyacynth has posted his meta list of the top books of 2007 here. Dick obviously has a lot of spare time and/or is very, very obsessive about this sort of thing.

The Meta-list is a master list taking al of the online polls of best of 2007 comics and provides some interesting reading. But, like Heidi says, the best thing it points out is the astonishing breadth of material available out there. It truly is a great time to be reading comics.

Shooting War optioned as TV series.

My favourite comic of 2007 has just (as in a week ago, but I've only just got to writing about it type of just) been optioned for a TV series. If it's done well, it could be great. But I take the Alan Moore approach to these things; I'm really pleased someone likes it enough to pay for it. I'm pleased that the creators get a bit of cash for the rights. But th ething is a completely sepearte entitiy from the comic.

If you want to experience Shooting war in it's glory - buy the book. That's how they originally intended it. That's how it will always be done best. But congrats to Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman.

FPI blog story
Blog at Newarama story.

PROPAGANDA Best of 2007 - number 1Shooting War

My absolute favourite thing I've read in graphic novel format all this year - I really can't recommend it highly enough........

Shooting War

Written by Anthony Lappé
Art by Dan Goldman

“In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. George Orwell.

After reading this for the first time I knew it was going to be one of the best graphic novels I’d read this year. And on the second reading I knew it was the best. It really is that good.

Shooting War features Jimmy Burns; a young video-blogger, full of youthful bravado and stylish beyond measure, who just happens to be filming his latest anti-corporate rant outside a Starbucks when he manages to capture the suicide bombing that not only takes out the Starbucks but Jimmy’s upstairs flat as well. His life is gone, replaced with fame after self titled “extreme news” network, Global News, uploads his video feed across the nation. Jimmy is an instant celebrity journalist and is offered the posting of a lifetime – straight into downtown Baghdad into the middle of a conflict that’s become a shameful embarrassment to American administrations post Bush.

(the aftermath of the Starbucks bombing on the street and on the feed via Global News,
“your 24-hour home for terror news”)

Jimmy is initially reluctant, but as the network head explains:

“Bottom line. There’s nothing left for you here. Your apartment has been napalmed. Your gear is fried. By my watch your fifteen minutes are just about up.”

“I know you. I saw it in your eyes. You’re hooked now. You need the action.”

So Jimmy ends up in Baghdad. Smack in the middle of a disaster, in a war that’s been going on for far too long, with an occupying American force sitting in the middle of an increasingly confused civil war, allegiances blurring on all sides and chaos reigning.

The authors have taken today’s events and extrapolated them forwards a few years. It’s 2011, John McCain, a current Republican candidate, is a President struggling to cope with the “intractable quagmire” of a war he’s inherited from previous administrations. There’s a global oil crisis, gasoline is $10 a gallon, the Americans are increasingly aware they’re fighting a pointless, un-winnable war and the enemies seem to change almost every day.

Through the course of his posting in Iraq, Jimmy Burns grows to realise not just the insanity of his situation, but the subtle combination of both tragedy and farce that are keeping the war going. He finds himself a pawn of the terrorists, hated by the more corporate media and tolerated, barely, by the American forces.

The plot is a complicated web of wargames, lies and deceits on all sides as Burns uncovers and is manipulated by, a new type of terrorist; the Sword of Mohammed group, who fund their activities through call centres, web hosting, bot-nets and video games and will think nothing of using a mini nuke to remove their commercial competition in India. But if the terrorists are driven fanatics verging on madness, the same can be said for the Americans. Indeed the same could be said of anyone who gets involved in such an insane situation. As the insanity levels increase and the Global ramifications of the war in Iraq become clearer, Burns questions his motivations for being there, starts to doubt his place in the world and eventually makes a fateful decision to change the course of the war.

(new citizen journalist meets one of the few respectable Old School practitioners
in the form of veteran reporter Dan Rather, dispensing Yoda-like wisdom to Jimmy Burns)

Shooting War was initially published online as a Smith magazine webcomic, but this print version is a vastly expanded and altered version of the original. The authors have taken the freedom of print and created something very powerful; an achingly sharp political satire on the Iraq War, corporate America and the increasing impact of “civilian journalism” in response to corporate controlled traditional media.

But despite all of the satire, this is no dry political treatise on the ills of war and the mistake that is Iraq. Lappé crafts a very fine action adventure amongst the satire, incredibly fast paced and genuinely exciting (even if the excitement leaves you a little guilty after a while).

To pick out any particular set piece from the work is almost too hard, there’s just too much going on that warrants mention, but a particularly effective piece to emphasise the delicate balancing act between action and satire comes some way into the book as Burns is trapped in Baghdad, watching with horror as a small army of US military robots trundle through the streets pounding all hell out of the neighbourhood. A quick cut away reveals the robot’s control room, where bank after bank of Dilbert like cube dwellers play warfare via Playstation and watch their kill scores beamed live onto big screens. Two pages later Burns is inside a hospital walking through wards of men, women and children brutally mown down by these wargamers

“Is this another US military murder or just more unfortunate collateral damage?” asks Burns.

“When does it become a war crime? Is an objective war correspondent not supposed to ask that question?”

It’s an eerie, disturbing moment, perfectly illustrating how fine a line between telling a story so well and reporting on events the authors have had to tread. That the images and the plot stays with me even now is testament to how well they’ve managed it.

What gives Shooting War the legitimacy that any book of this sort usually lacks is the impeccable resume of the writer Lappé. As an experienced war journalist, Lappé went out to Iraq in 2003 to film the documentary Battleground: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge for the Guerrilla News Network. His experience shows in the sense of realism throughout this wonderful book (you can read some of Anthony’s thoughts on Shooting War back when it was still running online here on the blog - Joe).

Of course, something this good needs an artist to match and Dan Goldman delivers a perfect artistic accompaniment to the story. He’s working in a mixture of photography, computer generated art, illustration, montage and computer FX is worked together to make one seamless whole, capable of driving home the terrible events in the story with violence and power. Goldman’s lush visuals embed the reader into the story in the same way Burns is embedded in Iraq; we’re together experiencing the horrors, the confusion and the madness first hand. It’s an impressive trick and Goldman pulls it off with aplomb.

Even as I was writing this review I found myself reliving the book. It’s now had the third reading and is just as good, just as exciting, just as incendiary as the first time round. It’s quite simply the book of the year.

Shooting War is a full-colour, 192-page hardcover graphic novel published by Grand Central Publishing (US) and Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK) by Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman. It started as a serialized webcomic and online community on SMITH Magazine.

Review originally posted at Propaganda on the FPI weblog here.

PROPAGANDA Best of 2007 - number 2 Fluffy

Fluffy

Written and illustrated by Simone Lia

For a book featuring a very cute talking bunny Fluffy is an almost unbearably sad tale. At the heart of this desperate sadness is Fluffy, a talking baby rabbit who genuinely believes that a man called Michael is his daddy. And although Michael knows he must tell this poor deluded little rabbit the truth so many things seem to keep getting in the way.

Because as troubled and deluded Fluffy is, it’s nothing compared to the mess that Michael is in. He’s a seething mass of anxiety, despair and stress, desperate for closeness, yet struggling with the demands placed upon him from Fluffy and the unwanted attention of Fluffy’s nursery school teacher. Michael has a feeling that life is just too much for him to cope with, that there’s too much weighing down upon him, too many things demanding his time, and it’s heartbreaking to see Fluffy’s love for him causing him such pain.

(panels from Simone Lia’s Fluffy, published by Jonathan Cape.
Could the question about hair be a subtle joke? Hair-hare-rabbit, geddit? Never mind…)

In a telling spread, Michael’s brain map looks at his current situation and does the simplest thing it can – decides to run. His weakness is palpable. He’s just not strong enough to cope with his life. And you’re angry at him; angry that he is letting Fluffy down. But thankfully, in running to Sicily to visit Michael’s family at least some of the problems are resolved, not the least of which is Fluffy’s partial acceptance of his Rabbit nature, Michael’s acceptance of Fluffy’s unconditional love and the Nursery Teacher calling off her pursuit.

It’s testament to Lia’s writing and gorgeous artwork that we, the reader, never question the logic of a baby talking rabbit desperate for love from his daddy. It’s an even greater achievement to make the reader care so much about the characters. The sense of longing and dependency from Fluffy, the sense of anxiety, stress and desperation from Michael are all expertly realised in Lia’s wonderful story.

But in the end, as if she realised that the despair was becoming a little too much for this funny animal story, Lia gives us salvation in Michael’s acceptance of his lot in life and a pledge to find beauty in the moment. The most wonderful scene occurs late in the story as Michael’s brain turns his thoughts from “my life is a mess” to “everything is beautiful”.

Michael leans back and simply realises that it’s all worthwhile, that there is no reason to worry, no reason to be stressed and every reason to live his life and look after the one thing that has always loved him – Fluffy. The realisation strikes in the top two panels, as Michael accepts that his life will not be the perfect thing he wanted. And it doesn’t matter. All that matters is here and now. All that matters is one tiny life is dependent upon you and you’ll never be happier than when you accept this. That perfect moment in the last panel is all that truly matters.

What Simone Lia manages to do so very well in Fluffy is capture a parent’s intense feelings of desperation, the continual worry and that guilt ridden selfish thought that your life is being taken over by someone else. We all suffer this at some point as we realise that our lives are no longer our own and they’re being controlled by our small bundle of joy. Lia quietly and powerfully paints a powerful, emotional portrait of what it’s like to be a parent.

(relationships are always tricky, especially when you seem to be experiencing an ‘Amelie’ type moment;
(c) Simone Lia)

Fluffy is an absolute joy of a graphic novel, full of unanswerable questions about life, love, responsibility and reality. Simone Lia’s art matched the emotional power of the story with a simplified style, cartoonish, fanciful yet capable of conveying intense emotional range in a few lines. Fluffy is achingly sad in parts yet manages to end in a way that fills even our cold, grown up hearts with joy. It’s a perfect Christmas present and a perfect book.

Originally posted at the FPI blog here.

PROPAGANDA Best of 2007 - number 3 Fell

Fell Volume 1 Feral City

Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Ben Templesmith

Warren Ellis is one of a key group of incredibly good British comics writers working in comics today, and in my opinion is in the top three (and that’s my top three - don’t argue) with Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. What I’ve always found fascinating with Ellis is that he’s continually experimenting, not only with the types of stories he tells but also the means of telling them. He’s always trying to find new and innovative ways of delivering comics, always looking at new technologies, new methods and new marketing strategies to challenge the accepted status quo.

Fell is the result of one of Ellis’ experiments in storytelling, from an idea formed as a response to the apparent demise of the comic as a throwaway pamphlet. The key idea is to produce something cheap and satisfying - a 16 page thin pamphlet for $1.99. But to also make each issue totally self-contained, an exercise in pure storytelling.

The first eight issues presented here all stick to pretty much the same formula; almost like TV drama in it’s structure with each self contained issue setting up and then resolving a story, yet within the greater drama there are points of ongoing character development. Fell is a stunning collection of great stories, all infused with Ellis’ trademark gonzo style familiar to all of us who’ve read his work on Transmetropolitan and that pays obvious dues to the work of writers such as the late, great Hunter S Thompson.

(welcome to Snowtown - the first page of Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith’s Fell: Feral City,
published by Image)

Fell is set in Snowtown, a part of the bigger un-named city that no longer wants any part of its little diseased suburb. Because Snowtown, quite obviously from the very first page of the book, is rotten to its core. It’s the Feral City of the title, a nightmare of urban decay with a populous either already driven mad by the depravity and desperation of the place or rapidly getting there. No one in Snowtown is normal, no one appears sane.

Richard Fell was the great police detective in the big city. But something happened, something big, nasty and very, very serious. Only the mysterious debt owed by the Police Commissioner keeps him on the force. As it is he’s shipped out of the city, across the bridge to Snowtown and told he’s to stay there until things blow over. This is Fell’s big secret, the credo he lives by: everyone is hiding something, even him.

The scale of the problem facing Fell is pretty obvious from his first meeting with his commanding officer, who patently isn’t well:

“You see, we cannot win. We are in hell, you and I. And I think you were probably transferred here so that I didn’t die alone. And I’m grateful for that. I think we will be friends. I have to take quite a lot of pills now.”

Every issue here, every 16 pages is a fantastic little story, there’s no filler, no slacking of the pace, the format simply doesn’t allow it. Ellis writes exactly as we know he loves to; filling his pages with the bizarre and the depraved, Nixon nuns with firearms, suicide bombers, voodoo worshiping basket cases, the sick, the twisted, the just plain stupid and the general flotsam and jetsam of a society gone over the edge. But he never allows the story to be overwhelmed by what’s going on around it. The basic police procedural plotline is always to the fore, necessarily so with only 16 short pages to tell the story in.

My favourite piece is the interrogation issue, where Fell and a suspect play out a deliciously twisted two-hander across the issue, with Fell trying to open up the suspect and get him to talk before the police run out of time and have to release him.

Fell: “Yardley & 88. Lots of people, lots of noise.”

Suspect: “I guess. I see lots of people”

Fell: “Corner Apartment?”

Suspect: “How’d you know that?”

Fell: “You like to watch. Corner apartment. Big windows. Playing with a couple of guns and just watching”.

Fell: “I threw the word “Noise” at you. You came back with “see.” So right now I know you’re visually geared.”

Suspect: “Look…”

Fell: ““Look”? Do you get it? How many other people would have said “Listen” to get me to focus on what they were saying to me?”

And it carries on like this, Fell completely disconcerting and dismantling this guy, until he cracks. It’s a simple plot device, but it’s quite wonderfully done. You’re drawn into the room, into the heads of both Fell and the suspect as Fell slowly yet surely pulls the suspect’s psyche apart.

A truly great piece of writing from Ellis is made so much better by the choice of artist, something that Ellis (or his editors) doesn’t always get right). When Ellis gels with an artist the result is often incredible; think John Cassaday on Planetary, Bryan Hitch on Authority or Darick Robertson on Transmetropolitan. Here, the art is handled quite beautifully by Ben Templesmith, famous now for his work on 30 Days Of Night. But as good as that was, the work on Fell has been much, much better.

Working to a very simple layout, usually a 3-tier page, between 5 to 9 panels per page, Templesmith manages to produce some incredible art; conveying both a sense of style and visual flair. But much more importantly, given the limited number of pages available to tell these fantastic little stories, Templesmith also proves he’s an excellent storyteller, his art functions incredibly well in service to Ellis’ writing. It’s visually interesting, detailed where necessary, veering into abstraction where necessary, but never failing to convey exactly what it should about the story.

(Father Jack’s worst nightmare - a Richard Nixon nun in Fell,
published Image, (c) Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith)

Fell is a stunning example of a great writer at the height of his powers teamed with an artist producing incredible work. This ranks up there with Planetary, Desolation Jones and Transmetropolitan as some of Ellis’ best works. A tour de force of everything that’s good about genre fiction in comics and quite simply the best example of crime fiction I’ve read for a while. Highly recommended.

Originally posted at FPI blog here

PROPAGANDA Best of 2007 - number 4Exit Wounds

Exit Wounds

Written and illustrated by Rutu Modan

Koby Franco is a young man working a taxi in Tel Aviv, his life is a slacker’s mess, he lives with his Aunt and Uncle and co-owns the taxi with them. Life is nothing but a cycle of work and sleep, with seemingly very little else to fill it. He speaks to his sister rarely and his Dad not at all after an estrangement following his Mom’s death.

But this changes on the day he’s hired to taxi Numi, a female soldier. Suddenly he’s confronted with the possibility that his Dad’s just died in a recent suicide bombing. Numi’s own life is suddenly and intricately entwined with Koby’s as it becomes obvious that Koby’s father and Numi were lovers up until a few weeks ago when he disappeared. She needs Koby to give a DNA sample to prove the identity of an unidentified corpse from the blast, but Koby is angry and storms off.

(Numi and Koby don’t exactly hit it off at first in Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds, published by Drawn & Quarterly)

But his interest and curiosity are piqued and he starts looking for his Dad on his own. Reluctantly he agrees to help Numi and the pair go on a road trip of sorts trying to discover the truth and, in doing so, come to realise that the man they are searching for has a far more complicated life than that of father or lover. By the end of the book Koby’s father’s fate is still uncertain, but his life and his secrets are slowly revealed until it seems that his non-appearance in the story contributes far more than his presence would have.

Strangely for me, the first thing to mark this book out as one to read was the sublime artwork. It’s immediately recognisable as European clean line but it’s one of the finest examples of the clean line style I’ve seen for years. It’s also a sublime mix of influences; with Hergé and Joost Swarte the most obvious. It’s the combination of simple foreground lines, a glorious, bright palette of colours in the foreground and most importantly, a subtle fade / wash effect on the backgrounds that gives every panel a slightly ethereal feel. I’m not an art fan generally, I’m far more interested in the writing. But this book warranted three separate readings, and at least one of these readings was purely concentrating on the artwork.

In Exit Wounds Modan has blended a very tender love story, a detective tale, a road trip of personal discovery and a meditation into love and loss into one fluent and moving book. But if you like your fiction complete with a tidy resolution you’re not about to find it here. There’s no traditional beginning, middle and end. Instead we’re visiting a moment in these character’s lives, observing their reactions to strange and unusual situations and then moving on. It’s a literary device rarely used in comics, but works spectacularly well in Exit Wounds.

(family arguments come head to head with the reality of suicide bombing and sudden, violent death in Exit Wounds, (c) Rutu Modan)

But one problem remains – if it’s this good, why hasn’t it been feted high and wide by the Guardian and other usual notable sources? It’s perfectly suited to join Maus, Palestine, Chris Ware, Persepolis and Fun Home as examples of literary Graphic Novels that cross over to real world success. But Exit Wounds hasn’t made the same critical inroads (although it has been highly lauded in comics circles).

The title probably has something to do with that. Call it Tel Aviv; A Love Story or something similar and the Guardian would have been all over it. A closer reading of the indicia shows that the title came from the translator; Noah Stollman. Modan should have ignored the suggestion. Someone who writes this well would surely have been able to give us something better than Exit Wounds, with its off-putting connotations of Hollywood shoot-em-ups.

But please, please, don’t be put off. Just because the Guardian hasn’t shouted about it means you get to impress your literary friends with your discovery. Go down to your local store and demand Exit Wounds.

Originally posted at FPI Blog here.

PROPAGANDA Best of 2007 - number 5All Star Superman

All Star Superman

Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant

When I reviewed All Star Superman on the basis of just the first issue (back in February) I concluded it was probably one of the best treatments of Superman I’d ever read. After reading the collection, I’m possibly even more impressed.

Morrison has taken Superman; a dull, tired character (after all, how many great stories can you honestly get out of God - the Superhero?) and just simply breathes new, vibrant, incredible, original life into him. But he’s done this not by ditching all the complex continuity and all the bizarre ideas that other writers have tried to ignore or simply write out of history, but by embracing it all. All the Super-Pets, the multi-coloured Kryptonite, the strange villains, the complex and convoluted time travellers, the Fortress of Solitude and it’s half million ton key, time telescopes to contact once and future Supermen, Baby sun eaters fed by miniature suns created on cosmic anvils, Lois Lane as Superwoman, Jimmy Olsen the boy reporter and his signal watch - it’s all here in Morrison’s Superman and all fits into the mythos perfectly well, so great is Morrison’s skill at integrating classic and much loved yet slightly silly elements into a modern, relevant comic.

He’s taken everything iconic about the character and distilled it into his version, perfectly integrating decades of history, continuity and myth into a perfect reading experience.

From the very first page it’s obvious that this is very special. You’ll never see a better origin story than the first 4 panels of this book. It set the tone of the entire tale; perfectly concise, succinct and managing to tell a complicated tale in a very simple fashion.

(one of comics all-time great origins summed up in a few panels
and still managing a nod to Moses in Morrison, Quitely and Grant’s All Star Superman, (c) DC)

But this isn’t all about Grant Morrison’s writing. His continuing collaboration with Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant is a thing of artistic perfection. Their Superman is all about quiet power with enormous restraint, their Clark Kent is a completely believable clumsy human. Every character is perfectly realised and wonderfully drawn. Quitely may get all the glory but Grant’s inking and colouring produce a life and vibrancy rarely seen in comics and the whole book is awash in glorious, vivid colour.

There is so much going on in the book that a lot of it could pass you by on a first reading. This is where Morrison really earns his reputation of one of our greatest writers. His stories are superficially simple, fast and uncomplicated, but there is layer upon layer just waiting to be discovered. He writes every story in such a way to let you fill in the action. You don’t see the daring rescue, or the simple intervention to avoid some coming catastrophe, all we see is a before and after panel, it’s up to you to fill in the bits in between.

(even the world’s greatest superhero has his limits in All Star Superman, (c) DC)

Taken individually, the six issues here are shining exemplars of how to produce an old fashioned self contained comic. Every issue has enough to leave you gasping at the sheer enjoyment the comic provides. But throughout the book there is a larger story, and Lex Luthor is the key. In Morrison’s world Luthor is a perfect villain; evil, twisted and complicated. And it is Lex’s scheme to send Superman into the sun in issue 1 that reverberates throughout the book. This solar close encounter has effectively poisoned Superman. He finds out that he’s dying, Luthor has finally won. And this victory, this oncoming death informs everything in the book from that point onwards.

I’m not going to give anymore of the plot than that, because this really is one of those books that you deserve to pick up and be delighted by without knowing every little plot twist. Suffice it to say, you’re all in for a wonderful time.

It makes the grown up me feel the same way I did when the I did as a child reading Claremont and Byrne’s X-Men and the way the teenage me felt on reading Alan Moore’s Captain Britain or later, his Miracleman. And it fills me with the same excitement as I felt on first reading books like Sandman, Animal Man, Zenith, Transmetropolitan, Preacher, Planetary and any and all of the wonderful genre books of the last couple of decades. It’s instantly recognisable as a near perfect book, with Morrison, Quitely and Grant producing the most perfect Superman ever seen.

Originally posted at FPI blog here.

PRPOAGANDA Best of 2007 Graphic Novels

First, a mention of three books that didn’t make it to the list this year, but will very probably make the 2008 best of list. All three have been briefly perused and all three look incredible. Two of them are unread merely because they’ve been snatched from my grasp, wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree; Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neil’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier and Posy Simmonds’ Tamara Drewe.

The third unread great this year is a difficult one to actually admit to. Because it’s been sitting on my reading shelf for at least 6 months, waiting for me to free up the time I reckon I need to fully absorb and enjoy it’s brilliance. It’s Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot.

I’ve dipped in and out enough to realise it’s a wonderful work, but kept saying to myself I’d free up time to really devote myself to it. Alas, it’s nearly 2008 and time has not been kind. But enough of what I haven’t read, here’s the Propaganda 2007 list:

#1 Shooting War
#2 Fluffy
#3 Fell
#4 Exit Wounds
#5 All Star Superman

Two of my choices were easy ones and for those that know me, pretty obvious ones. Something by Warren Ellis and a Grant Morrison book would usually be right up there in my faves for any year to be honest; such is my enjoyment over the years of the work of both writers. I’ve written before of my possible inability to realise either writer is really capable of a bad piece of work, but this year Warren tested that idea to breaking with the awful Doktor Sleepless (reviewed here) and I still haven’t been bothered to pick up many of Morrison’s Batman comics or finish reading Seven Soldiers. But the two books here are classic genre works. Ellis’ Fell is just a great police procedural deliberately written to strict formatting rules whilst Morrison and Quitely are redefining my long held belief that Superman is a dull, washed out character with beautifully controlled stories exploring the full potential of the icon that is the big red S.

The other three are from new writers, if not to the medium, at least to me. Fluffy was a sheer joy to read, powerful, emotive and both heartbreakingly sad and wonderfully uplifting. Exit Wounds and Shooting War approach the subject of our troubled modern times in two very different ways. Rutu Modan looks at life in Israel through the eyes of normal, everyday people and gives us an intriguing and unsettling view, exploring the concept of identity and family along the way.

But Shooting War was the absolute revelation of the year. Coming out of nowhere, this book is a jaw-dropping portrayal of American aggression in the Middle East, a mix of political satire, war reportage and near-future science fiction. But it’s no bland treatise on the evils of US imperialism either. It’s a sharp political satire and a fast paced action adventure tale with a message as deeply embedded as the reporters involved. Quite brilliant.

And worst of the year? Well, I thought it was going to be Stephen King’s Dark Tower, beloved by everyone but me it seems. But last weekend I had the misfortune to waste 2 minutes of my life on The Ultimates. A spectacular new low (see here for that review). Expect reviews of all five of my favourite works here on the blog over the next few days.

The Fictions annual Christmas best of year cd.... 2007

Every year, for the last 4 years now I've done a special end of year cd to celebrate the music that's been rocking my stereo / i-pod this year.
It's then copied and sent out with christmas cards to all and sundry. Some enjoy them, some find them infuriating and some find them just bizarre.

This year's selection is:

Battles - Atlas
Oh I've talked about this before.
And still the best description of their music comes from their own MySpace page:
beep, boop, boop, crash, beep, loop, fwount,
bang, beep, boop, loop, sing, sing, beep, boop,
thanks you've been a wonderful audience

M.I.A. - $20
Oh, the cheek of it. A crashing, nasty beat, dirty synths, nagging voice and the chorus to the Pixies' Where Is My Mind thrown in for good measure.
Would have been my find of the year if not for Battles.

Kaiser Chiefs - Angry Mob
Always had a fondness for songs that start one way and morph their way into another completely different thing.

Kate Nash - Foundations.
"and dear god, I hope I'm not stuck with this one" was a line that stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. The despair and longing for a better life she puts into the bitterest of lyrics is stunning and still has the ability to send a shiver down my spine.

Regina Spektor - On The Radio
A gloriously chipper and bouncy song. Great sing-a-long as well. Begin to Hope was a lovely cd.

Red Guitars - Good Technology
1983. Over 24 years old. Good God. Still sounds fresh to my ears though. Hadn't heard it for years and then found it one day on a mp3blog.

Depeche Mode - Tora Tora Tora
Those heavyweight early Human League style synths kick in and it's divine.

Trademark - Toe The Line
2007 is the new 1982? Visage intro and pure synth glory from then on.

Dan Le Sac featuring Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Not Kill
Another one I've talked about before.

Nina Simone - Sinner Man
Ten minutes and still too short. This one could just go n forever and I'd still want more.

Marcus Brigstocke - Can we have our planet back please?
Always a bit of comedy on these cds. Never been sure about Brigstocke before this. He just never pressed the right comedy buttons for me. Until this. A 7 minute attack on the major religions. Quite brilliant.

Alan Parker (& the Orb) - Grey Clouds
This was featured on the recent Radio 1 anniversary show which brought back Annie Nightingale's Sunday Night Request Show. A quick, clever and affectionate piss take.

Steve Reich - Music for 18 musicians
And this year we end with the stunningly low key Steve Reich. Another one I've talked of before.

A good year for my music.
How was yours?

Best of 2007 lists - obviously Amazon didn't listen......

The Amazon.com list of the best books of 2007 is out. And topping the list?
Stephen King's Dark Tower adaptation.

This is what they say:
Sumptuously drawn by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove, adapted by long-time Stephen King expert Robin Furth (author of Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance) and scripted by New York Times bestseller Peter David, this series delves in depth into Roland's origins - the perfect introduction to this incredibly realized world; while long-time fans will thrill to adventures merely hinted at in the novels. Be there for the very beginning of a modern classic of fantasy literature!

This is what I thought:
This feels like Peter David trying his best to do a Neil Gaiman impression. Frankly it’s just not very good. This is David trying to be clever, trying to write in a style he simply doesn’t have the talent for and it fails on nearly every level. Sure, the art’s pretty, but not my cup of tea and I certainly wasn’t enjoying it when the overblown writing gets in the way.

I'm right, they're wrong. Sorry.

The rest of the list, can't really argue with it: Perry Bible Fellowship, Peanuts, Don Martin collection. Pretty Good.

And whilst we're on best of 2007 lists, Publisher's Weekly has theirs up now. This one's pretty much what I think a lot of them will be like; Alice in Sunderland, Shortcomings. Laika, Scott Pilgrim, Exit Wounds, All-Star Superman will all be featuring in a lot of lists methinks.

Fictions - Best of 2007 - The end of the year show.....

November is upon us and all thoughts suddenly turn towards what the bloody hell am I going to get for people this year and more importantly, what is going to make it onto the Bruton mansions end of year cd.
(Now in it's fourth year and as much a regular part of the end of year festivities as Curried Nut Roast and the Doctor Who Christmas Special.)

Of course, this year it's different from the last couple of years where I've struggled to put new music on there. For the first time in a couple of years I'm actually having to draw up a shortlist and edit it down.

Of course, record of the year was sorted out way back in April. Battles Atlas is still the best thing I've heard this year. In fact it's the best thing I've heard for many, many years. They were on Jools Holland's Later show last night and were unbelievable, the best thing I've seen on there for an awfully long time.

Better late than never eh?Top comics & graphic novels of 2006 from staff at Nostalgia & Comics

Every year at Nostalgia & Comics we used to poll the staff and work out our favourite books of the year.
Well, just because I'm not there anymore doesn't mean I'm going to give up this tradition.... it does however mean that I end up forgetting about this post until nearly two months into the bloody year. But in the spirit of completion, good housekeeping and wanting to get to bed early tonight without actually sitting up for the next two hours (1 blogging, 1 reviewing), here goes....

Of course, it isn't particularly representative, only 4 of the staff managed to get it together enough to do a list - you people are obviously far too busy selling comics to do these dammit.

Richard
(that's me - bloody crap year for me reading comics - too much other stuff going on and I missed Oct-Dec with the house move altogether!)

All Star Superman
Fell
The Escapists
Desolation Jones
Fun Home
The Bakers
The Fate of the Artist
Disease of Language
Planetary

Tara:
All Star Superman
Dr Strange, The Oath
The Escapists
Justice League Of America
Seven Soldiers Of Victory
Pride Of Baghdad
Daredevil, Devil Inside And Out
Gotham Central vol 4 The Quick And The Dead
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol 5
Alias Omnibus

Michael
The Walking Dead
Pride of Baghdad
Iron Man: Extremis
Desolation Jones Volume 1: Made in England
Silent Dragon
Marvel Zombies
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Batman and the Monster Men
The Quitter

Stuart
DC: The New Frontier Absolute edition
Pride of Bagdad
American Born Chinese
The Complete Peanuts 1955 - 1958
DMZ: On the ground
Daredevil: The Devil Inside and Out
Next Wave: Agents of H.A.T.E. - This is what they want
Making Comics
Phonogram
Fell

Update 26/02/07:
Finally the other Rich posted his up on his own blog here:
But for completeness' sake these are his:
1) Pride of Baghdad
(2) Daredevil: The Devil Inside and Out Volume One
(3) Desolation Jones Volume 1: Made in England
(4) Revelations
(5) Iron Man: Extremis
(6) DC The New Frontier: Absolute Edition
(7) Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E Volume One: This Is What They Want
(8) Kingdom Come: Absolute Edition
(9) Silent Dragon
(10) Marvel Zombies

Scritti Politti - White Bread Black Beer

White Bread Black Beer
(Amazon Link)

I heard the wonderful Dr Abernathy on a Word magazine cd a while ago and ended up getting the album on the back of that.
It's marvellous. But sometimes a marvellous instant hit can wear after a few weeks of almost continuous play. It's often the albums you don't instantly rave over that last the longest time in your hearts.

My classic example of this was in 1985. I bought Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms and Propaganda's Secret Wish at the same time, loving Money for Nothing on the Dire Straits album and Jewel on the Propaganda album. The Dire Straits album was instantly accessible, but the Propaganda album didn't really do anything for me. Of course, 20 years later the Dire Straits album was chucked a long time ago but the Propaganda album is constantly on the ipod and much loved.

But the Scritti Pollitti cd is a lot more Propaganda than Dire Straits and is standing the test of time so far, regular plays are rewarding and the whole cd just gets better and better. Green's voice is still just as unique, just as haunting and beautiful as it was all those years ago. The music is older, more thoughtful but no less listenable for that. After all, I'm older now as well and my musical tastes have changed as well.

So, all in all, probably my favourite cd of the year. Or at least equal first, because Kate Bush's Aerial still stands out. And I know Aerial was 2005, but it's my best of list and if I say it's in, then it's in dammit!