Sunday Revue April 7: Dead By Wednesday

The Curtain Lifts....
Annnnd What's This?
The MC Reappears Onstage!

That's right, gentlefolx. It's been quite the winter, but the Strip Show is BACK. And what a treat we have on stage today!

Dead by Wednesday, Volume 1

This is the life of Wednesday Daring: track space scum. Catch. Collect bounty. Spend reward. Repeat. Follow Daring on her adventures tracking down the galaxy's most notorious criminals, all with the help of her space slug, Andy, at her side. The creation of Kim and Sam Eggleston, Dead By Wednesday can be found at this link

The Rating

A Wild Space Ride!

The Raves

The joy of comics is that, with the right artist, you can lay out a world in a series of neat images. And this work has the right artist. It has the right writer too, and things get off to an...interesting start for our protagonist.
Welcome to Purgatory, and the life of Wednesday Dare. In a few clever panels, you have an entire world in mind, complete with multiple species, a history, the haves and the have nots. And Wednesday has a day to start...reluctantly.


With bounty-hunter grit and sexy wit, Wednesday is a great character.  She's got sass, and the skills to back it up.
And her friends aren't too shabby either.


The characters are laid out quickly and well, settling them into the multi-racial universe they inhabit deftly. And Wednesday's character is one that will stick in the mind. The art style is technically great and clever to boot, using backgrounds to good effect and adding in a few little easter eggs for the geeks in the audience. Color and shading are used to their fullest extent, and the species and ship designs are engaging without being distracting.

Sly, wry and full of quick wit, this comic is well written and well-versed in its genre. It gets us through setup and into action without missing a beat. But it still makes time for unexpected tenderness. That's a great thing to see in a comic.

With nice setup, nice action, and a nice payoff that has readers waiting for the next issue, this one has all the hallmarks of good comic writing.

The Razzes

I have two areas of objection, both minor, for this work.

1) I would have liked a little more story in the first issue, but it definitely got me hooked for a starter

2) while technically good, there's a sense of stiffness to the shoulders and arm gestures of a few characters. Male necks are also a bit stiff (no pun intended ;) ) I'd like to see more work on fluid lines to loosen that up.

The Revue

Raise a glass and read a copy.

Saint Patrick's Day Special 2019: American Wakes and Immigrant Heroes

Reblogged from an article written in 2018

Psst, Put Down Your Green Beer And Listen Up!

Superman's An Immigrant!

Yep, you read that right. Superman is an immigrant, and so are a lot of your favorite comic creators. Try googling the word 'comics' and add any name on this prestigious list.

*Max Gaines

*Harry Donenfeld

*Martin Goodman

*John Goldwater

*Louis Silberkleit 

* Eisner 

*Kurtzman

*Lee

* Kirby

*Siegel

*Shuster

*Infantino

*Spiegelman 

*Los Bros Hernandez

* Prohias

* Perez 

You'll find that each and every name belongs to someone arriving or born to recent arrivals in America.
So why the list?
Because today is March 17, when we honor-no, not green beer-one of the greatest waves of immigration America has ever seen. In America, Saint Patrick's Day is a cultural touchstone for hundreds of thousands of Irish people and their millions of Irish-American descendents. Today we honor and remember the sacrifice they made and the struggle they endured to become part of the fabric of America. In memory of their struggle, today is a fitting day to reflect on how today's homeless and tempest-tost are treated as well.

Saint Patrick's Day is deeply personal to me. I come from a half-Irish family and speak the Irish language. I grew up without green beer, but with songs about American Wakes, pride and loss.
In the 1800s, an American Wake was a party thrown for a person leaving Ireland for the shores of New Zeland, Australia, or America. It was a wake for a living person, since their family and friends were sure never to see them again. They came seeking opportunity.
But what they often found was intense discrimination, and comic artists were part of the wrongs done against them.

Racisim against the Irish perfectly underlines the insanity that racism truly is: two people who look exactly the same to modern eyes were, in 1849 Brooklyn or anywhere in America, judged by very different standards. One was a true American, upstanding and worthy. The other was a dirty Irishman, and would never amount to anything.

Today, I wonder if we could tell their grandchildren apart. Probably not. 

It has happened again and again, too many times. In 1775 the Germans and Poles were seen as destructive influences. 

In the 1840s, the Irish were called 'filthy Catholic rats'. 

In the 1880s, the children of those immigrants turned on new settlers arriving from China. 

Today, the grandchildren of immigrants turn their rage on those from South America and the destroyed Middle East who come searching for what their own families came to find: 

a place to build a life.

So, you enjoy Saint Patrick's day? You want to honor your ancestors?

Here's an idea.
Stop putting others through what they had to endure.

If you remember the stories of your ancestors, it is your duty to help the world stop perpetuating the same suffering they endured on a new people and a new generation.

But if you are a comic reader or a comic artist, you already hold a powerful tool against the crime of dehumanizing newcomers. We can support comics like Barrier by Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente.

 You can help make sure kids who can use it get Rosita Gets Scared for free.  You can pass around The Golden Door, a comic about diverse immigrant experiences. You can tag somebody and get them to read Bleeding Cool Comic's article, Immigrants Are Welcome Here.
You can read American Born Chinese and understand how deep you can internalize self-loathing if others make it clear you are not welcome. You can read Permanent Alien to understand how high you can rise in spite of it.

And you can remember. Today is not about green beer and bad accents. Today is about a people who lost everything and arrived here desperate. By a certian orange windbag's standards, they would not be allowed into the country today.
But the Irish built our Northern cities and formed the backbone of America's industrial generation. The Chinese immigrants built our railroads and made Alaska, San Francisco and so many other American places thrive. Every group that has come has enriched our country. And every group that comes tomorrow will enrich it further.

So don't say 'Kiss me, I'm Irish' today. Say this:

Go ndéana a mhaith daoibh, a chairde.Céad míle fáilte daoibh. 

Pronnouced: Go je-nah a wah dov, a hairde. Cayd milla faltcha dov

Translated: You are welcome here, my friends. A hundred thousand welcomes to you all.

On Streamlining And Sanity

The Key To Good Work Is Finding The Time To Do It

As comic artists, we all know the importance of taking time for our art. But what do you do when you love many arts?

It's a question I've had to ask many times. Currently, I have 2(or 3, depending on how you count) blogs. A book series for sale. A webcomic. And a business.

For many of us, our creations are like flesh and blood children. We love them. We work for their wellbeing. We take care of them.

But sometimes the kids wear mom/dad out. What to do?

Here's some ideas:

• Write up a to-do list with solid deadlines (or semi-solid deadlines). Seeing the things that need work puts them in perspective. Many times, your tasks seem overwhelming partly because they're nebulous. Checking the tasks off one by one is a good morale boost.
• Prioritize. Are you getting enough out of each thing you're working on? What is it bringing you? Really ask yourself what it's worth.
• Streamline and Combine. I found myself that, many times, you will realize you're running redundant projects. Have a blog and a book series? A blog and a comic? Consider hosting one on the other unless you have a definite reason to avoid that. This is a plus for a number of reasons:
• More content in one place=more viewers
• Less pressure to keep up social media presence for multiple projects
• More peace of mind for you!
• Be Realistic. If you say you're going to get nine things done in a day and pull off four, you're going to feel down. Of course you are. So schedule yourself for doing four things. If you get more done, great! If not, you have time.
• Schedule. Plan your schedule out, with realistic time slots. A) it helps keep things in perspective, and B) things don't fall through the cracks. I do mine months in advance!
• Use A Post Scheduler For Social Media. I like Buffer, personally. Through the year I collect neat articles in a saved collection. On a weekend in January, I set up the social media for all my projects. My blogs are linked to their pages, so they feed directly into social media. This is such a weight off the creative mind!
• Take Care Of Yourself. If you feel like crap, you're probably going to produce crap. Athletes train and rest between training. Do the same, mental athlete.

To that end, I'm taking my own advice. As of February 28, the Strip Show will no longer have its own social media presence. All its posts and content will appear in the social media of 'Parmeshen', my personal webcomic. If you'd like to keep up, the content will pop up on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And, of course, right here. 

See you there!

-The MC

Hiatus Update

Look for More Regular Reviews March 1!

Technique Tuesday January 29: It's All In The Wrists

Today, Pitt Graff shows us that it's all in the wrist. The difference between a wrist and a tube with a hand on it is in defining the bones of the wrist.

Winter Intermission

I'm using these last weeks of the year to write manifold reviews and rebuild a buffer. Check back on the New Year for new reviews!

Sunday Revue September 23: Pride Of Baghdad

Raise Your Eyes And Prepare Your Soul For

 Based on a true story from the American bombing of Iraq in 2003, this work is a painful and powerful searching of our souls through the eyes of animals. The story in Pride of Baghdad  revolves around four African lions, the pride of the Baghdad zoo. When American military forces launched their airstrike during their invasion on Iraq, the wall of their enclosure is destroyed, and the pride escapes into ruined city of Baghdad.

What follows is fascinating and heart-wrenching. Pride Of Baghdad was written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Niko Henrichon. It can be read for free at this link and bought at this link. 

The Rating

A beautiful and arresting view of ourselves through the eyes of those we share the world with.

The Raves 

This is a story of the war that cuts through the politics. The endless recriminations. The self justifications. It is a stark story, clean and brutal as a lion's tooth. Through the clean sanity of animals focused on daily survival, we see our own insanity reflected.  Through eyes that see no justifications, we are forced to look at the true brutality of an urban war.

The art style is masterful in its atmospheric clarity. The writing is as clean as a knife blade. The characterization blends uncompromising truth and surprising compassion in an uneasy and well-performed dance. The writing is crisp, clean and witty enough to keep you engaged at all times.
As the pride walks bewildered through a world blown out of kilter, we are forced again and again to reflect on the choices made and the history that leads us to stand where we are in the world. It asks us to ask ourselves not only 'was this right?' but 'do we have the right?'

The Razzes

Nothing to report here. This work is heartrendingly gorgeous.

The Revue

More Americans, especially, need to read this comic. It is as beautiful and as painful as the sparkle of light on shattered glass in the street.