.
I’m writing this on the eve of the AML Conference and so I don’t know which worthy has since taken home the prize, but I just read one of them (I’m spending twelve hours on Amtrak today) and hey—I got time to write about it and a couple more.
The shortlisted work I just picked up from my local library is Skull Cat and the Curious Castle by Norman Shurtliff.
This is classic Norman. We’ve got cute critters and layouts like mazes and people rising above other’s expectations and dumb jokes and real heart. It’s perfect.
Plus it’s from one of the major publishers of kids comics and so I feel good assuming that this volume one will not be a volume only. We’ll follow this kid on his broken-sword adventures and we’ll find out what’s really going on in that castle. And exactly what it means to be a vampire in this world. I’ll be there.
An LDS artist I’ve just become aware of this month is Corey Egbert. He has a solo book coming out in September but I didn’t want to wait to get to know him so I checked out the comics adaptation of I Survived the Attack on September Eleventh, which he drew.
I’ll admit to an allergy to 9/11 fiction. In part, I know, because I’m still a bit damaged by that day (and I didn’t even know anyone who died) and in part because Jonathan Safran Foer‘s bad literary behavior leaves me shaking with rage to this day. But this was almost the only Egbert book my library had and so I gave it a chance.
I’m glad I did. Egbert’s restrained work helps keep the narrative balanced. It’s an excellent partnership that was struck in making this book. I look forward to see what he does on his own.
My third book is also part of a series. Another #1 in fact. It’s Matt Page’s Yesterday’s Tomorrow:
(I also just read his Family Portrait, but there I can just endorse this review and move on.)
This is my favorite of the three. It features the utter madness we associate with Matt, but this Mickey is such a grounded little fellow that he functions as our everyman guide through his experiences. That and its focus on narrative made this, for me, a more satisfying read than his (appropriately) much-lauded Future Day Saints series. Although it is quite short and it may be a while before we get another volume. In the meantime, I’d like the backcover as a poster, please.
[ASIDE: When speaking of Mormons making Mickey comics, one is constrained to mention that the most voluminous such artist was Floyd Gottfredson. (I might as the same question of Matt’s Mickey that I asked of Floyd’s.) One his his strips currently hangs at BYU’s Museum of Art (it’s in either this show or this show). It’s the only work by a Latter-day Saint artist in that show and, alas, he is not identified as the artist. Go drop that fun fact on your fellow patrons.]
These notices are all too brief to really count as reviews, but I have more pressing news to get to. Matt Page, BYU Special Collections maestro Trevor Alvord, Camilla Stark, and I are appearing on a panel and San Diego Comic-Con International this Thursday entitled “Mormons Who Are Making Comics“:
I had no idea this would be happening until very recently, but I’m excited to be back in San Diego preaching the good word. I think the slightly smaller panel will work out in the audience’s favor and, frankly, if you can’t be filled with wonder by the visions of Matt Page or the Desert Prophet, there is something seriously wrong with you.
We’ve had good turnouts every time we’ve done this and Trevor assures me this is an even better room at an even better time. So if you’ll be there, come say hi.
