We have a ton of new material for you today. We're gonna have to slow down soon, I think. Geez.
First up, a one-week-only preview of Shigeru Mizuku’s first book in English-language translation, his 1973 WWII classic, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths. As Dan writes in his online intro, Mizuki is a "giant of manga," and this is reputed to be one of his greatest works. I haven't read the untranslated material, but this book is strong stuff, with a tone that veers between comic absurdity and violent anger at loss and stupidity. Read the excerpt here.
J. Caleb Mozzocco brings in his first contribution to the new Journal, a feature on Columbus, Ohio's just-about-to-premiere stage adaptation of Joshua Cotter's Skyscrapers of the Midwest.
The internet agrees: Pascal Girard is killing it with his Cartoonist's Diary entries this week. Today is day three, with plenty more MoCCA madness & cameo appearances.
On the review front, we have two new ones for you. First, our own editorial coordinator Kristy Valenti reviews the much-anticipated Lychee Light Club. Second, Sean T. Collins brings us his take on Gilbert Hernandez's Love from the Shadows. We hadn't planned on running two reviews of the book, but an accident of scheduling occurred: Sean actually turned in his review a few weeks before we published Tom De Haven's very different piece on the same subject. In any case, this is undoubtedly going to be the kind of book that provokes strong reactions among readers, and our error of planning turned out to be kind of fortuitous.
Finally, we're entering the eighties in the archives, with eleven new issues (52 through 62) up and ready to read. We're into prime-era Journal now, folks, days and days — if not weeks and months— of stellar reading material. If you've fallen behind, make some time to check these out before it's too late. Remember: once the team in Seattle puts the paywall in place, only subscribers will be able to access these issues.
In the meantime, we will try to identify some of the archival highlights for you in future posts, to point out some of the best material. For now, know that the Blood & Thunder columns are reliably entertaining, an that issue 53 has a rather famous interview with Harlan Ellison. Google it if you haven't heard.
Oh, and non-Journal-related (unless you count Dan's upcoming ramblings on dumb comic-book movies), Sean Howe unearthed an article about one film adaptation that was blessedly never released: Nancy: The Movie. A taste of what we narrowly missed: "But wait. Nancy won't be a kid. She'll be 35 and a record company executive - 'No. 2 at a record label,' said [producer Peter] Muller from his New York office. "'She'll have the same hair and polka dot dress, but she'll be intelligent, sensitive and driven. She realizes she can have it all.'"
Also, Kevin Czap reports on every comic shop in the Cleveland area. I wish someone would do this for all the major cities. It took me years of living in New York before I even heard of Roger's Time Machine. I could have wasted a lot more money if I'd known about it sooner.
