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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #72
18 October 1998
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
What good is this column if I can't drum up support for books I
really like and think you should all give a shot, as well, right?
ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEES - "CLAN APIS"
This week, the Xeric Foundation Grant-winning CLAN APIS premiered,
by Jay Hosler. It's an off-beat black and white book he's
self-publishing and it's a terrific book. It's the story of a hive
of bees. Everything about this book is right. But, first, the
story:
In this issue, Jay teaches us about how a bee is born and
metamorphisizes. It's a great set-up to introduce us to the
formative years and stages of being a bee. Make no mistake; you'll
learn something from this book. I'm sorry if that annoys you, but
if it helps any, I'll tell you right now that it's done in a most
entertaining and interesting way. For the most part, it's done in
dialogue between two bees. One's the older sister to the other and
is trying to guide her in how to grow up. It's typical sibling
commentary. It's fun to read, it's easy to read, and it's funny to
boot.
Special attention should be paid to the opening sequence in which
the Big Bang is paralleled to the opening of a flower and the bees'
conquest of the pollen therein. It's very clever stuff. It's also
done within the style of the story.
Jay Hosler employs a cartoony style, as he did in his funny COW-BOY
comic strips in CBG. But beyond the inviting view of bees contained
in this book, his stylistic choices and layout designs are wonderful
to behold. There's a lot of repetition and symmetry and order and
geometry in nature, particularly in the realm of the honeycombs, in
which this story takes place. Hosler uses this to his advantage,
incorporating the elements in page designs and the flow of
story-telling.
The book's design is done well, too. Most importantly, the inside
cover contains no text or art. It's straight black. This leads
into the story beautifully, and sets up the next page or two
perfectly. To have had something on that page in this issue would
have served only to ruin the moment.
There are no real ads in this issue, aside from a splash at the back
of the book to promote the next issue. There's a double-page spread
on the back cover. There are a couple of pages for letters and
informative bits about the life of bees.
I'm really impressed by this effort and I can't wait for the second
issue. There's no real mention of how often this book is going to
be published, though. I hope monthly, but I suppose it'll be closer
to bi-monthly or quarterly. In any case, it should be well worth
the wait.
In the meantime, go check out the web site:
http://www.geocities.com/athens/academy/8204
AQUAMAN #50
Erik Larsen is the new writer and I think gets off to a wonderful
start. For those of us not familiar with Aquaman's story, this
issue is a great jumping-on point. There's some classic Larsen
one-liners in this book, too.
Eric Battle's art, on the other hand, is a little suspect. It's not
all directly attributable to him, though. Inker Norm Rapmund's
style doesn't work for me. It flattens out anything he inks over.
(Take a look at the SUPERMAN: THE DOOMSDAY WARS first issue. His
inks don't work all that well over Dan Jurgen's pencils, either.
Even more amusing is the blurb on the back cover calling Rapmund a
"talented newcomer." Apparantly, nobody at DC ever read any Image
books from Rob Liefeld's studio about 5 or 6 years ago. He cut his
inking teeth on those books.)
Also, the book is dark. I understand it's not going to be terribly
bright on the ocean floor, but the coloring by Richard and Tonya
Horie is just morose and muddy in its darkness.
So the final verdict for this issue is that it's good reading, but
the rest of it is suspect. The execution could be helped a little
by a better and more experienced artist. Battle also has problems
telling a story, as several events come out happening too quickly or
off-panel entirely that should be shown.
BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN
Speaking of presentation, how much better can it get than the
hardcover, dust-jacketed collection of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's epic
maxi-series that was published this past week? Yes, it's $30, but
I'm glad I got it. I couldn't put the book down and ended up
breezing through it in three days. This is the first I've read it.
It's wonderful stuff, with a heavy noir-iush feel, clever ending,
and great story-telling and vibrant stylistic art.
What more could you ask for?
TRADE PAPERBACKS
This turned out to be quite the expensive week. Also out this week
was the latest Dragon TPB, POSSESSED; BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: THE
DUST WALTZ; and BABYLON 5: THE PRICE OF PEACE. Of course, this
coming week features the first of DC's TPBs collecting classic
archival Looney Tunes comic books, including a Porky Pig story drawn
by Disney Duck master Carl Barks.
ARGH!
-Augie
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