Showing posts with label Starstruck Comics. Show all posts

Thursday, December 14, 2017

BEST COMICS: 2017

S T A R S T R U C K :
Old Proldiers Never Die

Shortcut links:
> Best Graphic Novel
> Best Comics
> Best Graphic Novels
> Best Collections
> Best Movies And TV
> Best Websites

> Rest In Power

B E S T
G R A P H I C
N O V E L :

-S T A R S T R U C K :
Old Proldiers Never Die,
by Elaine Lee, Michael Wm Kaluta, and Lee Moyer ⇧

The long-awaited second volume, reprinting a classic story now exorbinantly expanded with 50% new story and artwork, and newly painted color.

Quality is always timeless, and now it's lightyears ahead.

Learn More:

STARSTRUCK Strikes Back!: A History
STARSTRUCK: The Roots and Branches of Elaine Lee & Michael Kaluta's space opera
Starstruck website

B E S T
C O M I C S :

I D W

-S T A R S T R U C K :
Old Proldiers Never Die #1-6,
by Elaine Lee, Michael Wm Kaluta, and Lee Moyer ⇧

The serialized mini-series, more sophisticated than any other title going by leagues and bounds, and a gift that just keeps giving.

A hardboiled mystery, a galactic history, a cyberpunk noir, a war memoir, a transgressive romance, a second chance.

Smart art for sharp hearts.

> IDW

I M A G E

Art by Fiona Staples; Cliff Chiang

-SAGA, by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan _______ ⇧
So vital, so brutal.
The best continues to best itself.

-PAPER GIRLS, by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang _______ ⇧
Lazy comparisons to Stranger Things wither; this is far too wide, deep, and complex, an epic cryptogram of its own.

-ROCKET GIRL, by Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare _______
Three sightings this year!

-SOLID STATE, by Matt Fraction, Jonathan Coulton, and Albert Monteys _______
Concept album turned sci-fi opus.

-BLACK CLOUD, by Jason Latour, Ivan Brandon, and Greg Hinkle _______
What dreams may come.

-SPY SEAL, by Rich Tomasso _______
Clean-line spy adventure fun in the best Tintin tradition.

-MONSTRESS, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda _______
Best-selling author Marjorie Liu's Gothic Fantasy, with stunning art by Sana Takeda.

-THE AUTUMNLANDS, by Kurt Busiek, Benjamin Dewey, and Jordie Bellaire _______
Sociopolitical character-driven Fantasy.

-THE WICKED AND THE DIVINE, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie _______
Live, die, replete.

-SEX CRIMINALS, by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky _______ ⇧
Deeper, faster, harder. >

-DESCENDER, by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen _______
Indiana Croft.

-BLACK SCIENCE, by Rick Remender, Matteo Scalera, and Dean White _______
Dare all pretensions in parallel dimensions.

-INVISIBLE REPUBLIC, by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman _______ ⇧
The king is dead, long live the dream.

-SOUTHERN CROSS, by Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger _______
Mystery. Eternity.

-COPPERHEAD, by Jay Faerber and Scott Godlewski _______
HIGH NOON in the backwater worlds.

-LAZARUS, by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark _______
The ties that blind.

M A R V E L

Art by Cliff Chiang
-AMERICA, by Gabby Rivera, Joe Quinones, and Ramon Villalobos _______ ⇧
America Chavez to the rescue!
Fascists, beware!

-THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson _______
Too funny by far!

-MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR, by Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare, and Natacha Bustos _______
Inspiring all-ages book.
Science, dinosaurs, action!

-PATSY WALKER, a.k.a., Hellcat!, by Kate Leth and Brittney L. Williams _______
Great fun while it lasted.

Art by Russell Dauterman
-THE MIGHTY THOR, by Jason Aaron And Russell Dauterman _______ ⇧
Malekith, the Shi'ar, and The Phoenix take her on.
Even odds.

-MS. MARVEL, by G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa, and Adrian Alphona _______
Embiggen your mind.

-SPIDER-GWEN, by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez _______
Does whatever a spider can.

-Invincible Iron Man: IRONHEART, by Brian Michael Bendis and Stefano Caselli _______
She's 15, a genius, and a mecha. Step off.

BLACK PANTHER, by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze/Chris Sprouse _______
Bestselling author Ta-Nehisi Coates' brave experiment in bringing T'Challa forward to his fullest potential.

-ALIAS, by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos _______
The return of Jessica Jones (and her creators). Worth it for her snarky dialogue alone.

JEAN GREY, by Dennis Hopless with Victor Ibanez, + _______
When Phoenix died in 1980, it was as seismic an event in comics as if it had actually happened.
And then Marvel has devalued that endlessly ever since.
This do-over series does precisely what it should, fixing all of that in a bid to give her a better fate.

-SCARLET WITCH, by James Robinson and Various Artists _______
James Robinson (Starman) helmed this artful and character-driven modern Sorcery series to its end.

-SILVER SURFER, by Dan Slott, Michael Allred, and Laura Allred _______
Soaring down into a fine landing on their last ride.

_______________

S T A R
W A R S

Marvel is still nailing it making movies between the movies.

-STAR WARS, by Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen, + _______
The flagship title covers the Rebel side of events during the period between A NEW HOPE and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

-DARTH VADER: Dark Lord of the Sith, by
Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli _______
This new, second VADER series covers his emergence immediately after REVENGE OF THE SITH.

-STAR WARS: Screaming Citadel, by a cast of dozens _______
A crossover event between titles featuring the Rebels 'teaming up' with Doctor Aphra.

-STAR WARS: Doctor Aphra, by Kieron Gillen and Kev Walker _______ ⇧
Everyone's favorite anti-Indiana Jones gets her own series.
Scams, chaos, and sarcasm ensue.

-STAR WARS: Poe Dameron, by Charles Soule and Angel Unzueta _______
Though he was a blip in THE FORCE AWAKENS, he's become a fully realized adventurer in this fun series.

D C

-MISTER MIRACLE, by Tom King and Mitch Gerads _______
Tom King, lauded last year for the psychological dread of THE VISION, helps the great escape artist elude his inner demons.

-WONDER WOMAN '77 MEETS THE BIONIC WOMAN, by Andy Mandels and Judit Tondora (DC/Dynamite) _______
Because sentimental.

Timely Reminder, Dept.

WATCHMEN (1986) is a graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, with color by John Higgins.
They are the sole creators of this original saga, despite a copyright swindle by the publisher.
This is a self-contained story, period.
Any other "before" or "after" supplements, or "crossover integrations", are a complete fraud perpetrated by the greedy and supported by the foolish.

V E R T I G O

-ASTRO CITY, by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, + Alex Ross _______
Avert catastrophe, support Astro City.

Y O U N G
A N I M A L

Art by Tula Lotay

-SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL, by Cecil Castellucci and Marley Zarcone _______ ⇧
Everything great about the 1978 Ditko original and the Milligan/McCarthy/Bacchalo '90s Vertigo run, made new and vital again.
Psychotropic clean-line graphics and shaded emotional nuance.

-DOOM PATROL, by Gerard Way and Nick Derington _______
Gerard Way tranmutes everything great about Grant Morrison's '90s run into new gold.

D A R K
H O R S E

Art by Gene Ha
-MAE, by Gene Ha _______ ⇧
An all-ages cross-dimensional adventure series by the acclaimed artist of Alan Moore' TOP 10.

B E S T
G R A P H I C
N O V E L S :

-PROVIDENCE, Act 1,
-PROVIDENCE, Act 2,
-PROVIDENCE, Act 3, by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows (Avatar) _______ ⇧
Three volumes collecting Alan Moore's 12-issue maxi-series prequel to NEONOMICON, a terrifying rethink of Lovecraft.

-LOVE IS LOVE, by Various Creators (IDW/DC) _______ ⇧
A benifit anthology responding to the Orlando shooting tragedy, championing all aspects of the human love spectrum. >

Art by Emil Ferris
-MY FAVORITE THING IS MONSTERS, by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics) _______ ⇧
An ink-pen diary and montage on notebook paper, tracing a mystery on many levels.

-CRAWL SPACE, by Jesse Jacobs (Koyama Press) _______
Mindwarping graphics and soul-searching prose.

-MAGRITTE: This Is Not a Biography, by Vincent Zabus and Thomas Campi (SelfMadeHero) _______
Fall into Magritte's world, and become it.
This is not a pipe (dream).

-EVERYTHING IS FLAMMABLE, by Gabrielle Bell (Uncivilized Books) _______
Memoir, diary, confession, dissertation.
Family issues and rebuilding.

-YOU & A BIKE & A ROAD, by Eleanor Davis (Koyama Press) _______
Putting yourself back together again, one sketch and sketchy moment at a time.

-NOTHING LASTS FOREVER, by Sina Grace (Image) _______
Existentialism amid the freedom and fatuousness of the digital age.

-BOUNDLESS, by Jillian Tamaki (Drawn & Quarterly) _______
Surreal short stories that challenge the boundaries of self and nature.

-SAIGON CALLING: London 1963-75, by Marcelino Truong (Arsenal Pulp Press) _______ ⇧
This sequel to Such a Lovely Little War brings the Vietnamese expat through the Counter-Cultural Revolution.

-THE BEST WE COULD DO, by Thi Bui (Abrams) _______
Immigration is both escaping and finding continuously.

-POPPIES OF IRAQ, by Brigitte Findakly and Lewis Trondheim (Abrams) _______
Breezy cartooning belies a nuanced work coming to grips with dangerous social upheaval.

-SPINNING, by Tillie Walden (First Second) _______
Competitive skating across emotional thin ice. Finding your own glide.

-SHATTERED WARRIOR, by Sharon Shinn and Molly Knox Ostertag (First Second) _______ ⇧
Fighting galactic repression, with graphics by the artist of Strong Female Protagonist.

-KIM & KIM, Vol. 1: This Glamorous, High-Flying Rock Star Life, by Magdalene Visaggio, Matt Pizzolo, Katy Rex, Eva Cabrera, and Claudia Aguirre (Black Mask) _______
Here. Queer. Kickin' your rear.

-THE SMELL OF STARVING BOYS, by Loo Hui Phang and Frederik Peeters (SelfMadeHero) _______
A western where frontiers open up and boundaries dissolve.

B E S T
C O L L E C T I O N S /
R E I S S U E S :

-KIRBY 100, by Jack Kirby, + (TwoMorrows) _______ ⇧
A centennial celebration of the King of Comics.

-THE EC ARCHIVES: The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, Shock SuspenStories, Tales from the Crypt, Weird Fantasy, Weird Science, Two-Fisted Tales, Panic, Valor, Aces High, by various (Dark Horse) _______
EC Comics was, and is, the revolution.

-BERNIE WRIGHTSON Artifact Edition Cover, by Bernie Wrightson (IDW) _______
Bernie Wrightson was one of the greatest modern heirs to the Golden Age of Illustration.

Art by Gene Day

Larger here
-Hands of Shang Chi, MASTER OF KUNG FU: Omnibus, Volume 4, by Doug Moench and Gene Day, + (Marvel) _______ ⇧
MOKF was a pivotal work of the '70s shamefully kept out of print ever since by legal problems.
Moench's complex and meditative hero forecast the mature comics of the '80s, and Gene Day's astonishing art at the end is the hinge from Will Eisner to J.H. Williams III.

-MICHAEL WM KALUTA'S STARSTRUCK Artist's Edition, by Elaine Lee and Michael Wm Kaluta (IDW) _______ ⇧
The original art pages of the 1984 graphic novel of STARSTRUCK, photographed at actual size.
> IDW

-DAVE STEVENS' THE ROCKETEER Artisan Edition, by Dave Stevens (IDW) _______
The page art of the classic adventurer, photographed at actual size.

-BATWOMAN, by Greg Rucka and JH Williams III (DC) _______ ⇧
An always timely reprinting of the stunning series, unequaled by any other still.

-STREAK OF CHALK, by Miguelanxo Prado (NBM) _______
A 1994 prism for interpretation, anchored around the beautiful watercolor art.

_______________

WHERE WE COME FROM, Dept.
Explore the past to map the future.
Get with, get going.

-LAST GIRL STANDING, by Trina Robbins (Fantagraphics) _______ ⇧
The autobiography of Trina Robbins, whose imprint spans from Vampirella's costume and Wimmen's Comix to Wonder Woman and acclaimed histories of female comics creators.

-HOW TO READ NANCY: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels, by Paul Karasik And Mark Newgarden (Fantagraphics) _______
Using the (deceptively) formal clarity of Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy comic strip as a gateway to the medium.

B E S T
M O V I E S
a n d
T V:

I write and illustrate reviews of all comics-sourced films at the Four Color Films site.

Art by Tym Stevens
-LOGAN

-GHOST IN THE SHELL

-WONDER WOMAN

-SPIDER-MAN: Homecoming

-GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Vol. 2

-THOR: Raganarok

-JUSTICE LEAGUE

-LEGION, season 1

-THE DEFENDERS, season 1

See also:
> BEST MOVIES & TV: 2017

B E S T
W E B C O M I C S

-The Nib

-Strong Female Protagonist

R E S T
I N
P O W E R

SWAMP THING,
by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson

Bernie Wrightson
Len Wein

From you, we exist.
Because of you, we persist.

Nuff said, pilgrim. Excelsior!

© Tym Stevens

Thursday, December 19, 2013

ROCK Sex: PLANET STORIES - Whip It Good!

ROCK Sex goes behind the cover story.

_______________

Famed Pulp magazine artist ALLEN ANDERSON whipped up a great idea, and he kept swinging great strokes with it!

ACTION STORIES (Winter, 1947)

PLANET STORIES (Winter, 1947)

PLANET STORIES (Summer, 1950)

PLANET STORIES (January, 1952)

Monday, August 5, 2013

STARSTRUCK Comics: New GALACTIC GIRL GUIDES Website!

All hail our cute overlords at the new Galactic Girl Guides website!

“A Girl Guide is wary, cunning, clever, assertive, flexible, patient, inventive and brave,
but not stupidly so.”
-Official Galactic Girl Guide Manual

"First, I was a girl scout. Sold cookies. Went camping. Got in trouble."
-Elaine Lee

L: Elaine Lee as Galatia 9;
R: Susan Norfleet as Brucilla the Muscle

Elaine Lee wanted to become a starship captain and she did.

Her day job was starring on the NBC soap opera THE DOCTORS, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy award. Beyond that, she led a theatre troupe which in 1980 put on the off-Broadway play STARSTRUCK, an affectionate spoof of all tropes Sci-Fi.

Like most things, the blame can lay on Brucilla the Muscle. A molten piston ready to blow, this character in the play had a past that rebounded in a key plot revelation: she had been a Galactic Girl Guide, and now something terrible has happened to her old sorority.

The Guides weren't seen onstage, merely implied as innocent stellar scout troops caught up in the plan of the villainess Verloona. But the conceptual seed was planted.

From this abstract aside, creative worlds would collide.

Elaine Lee colluded with Michael Wm. Kaluta, the famous artist who had designed her sets, costumes, and show poster: Why not be like their hero Moebius, and turn all these complicated backstories into an illustrated series Heavy Metal-style?

The HM serial stories of STARSTRUCK then became a graphic novel and maxi-series from Epic Comics, an adult imprint of Marvel, in 1984. They plotted, Elaine wrote, Michael drew. Geared for mature readers, these hilarious and complex comics also unleashed the Galactic Girl Guides onto the world.

Wherever the heroes Galatia 9 and Brucilla the Muscle careened in their space station escapades, the little GGG's were soon underfoot. They were everywhere and all aware. But where did they come from?

A coincidental image of stellar scouts
from 1952, included for fun.

NYC was a mess.

In 1980 it was a broke city with the fix against it. In the aftermath of the counterculture, caught between the punk uprising and the conservative clampdown, a liberating state of anarchy fermented within the entropy.

The STARSTRUCK stage set was cobbled from throwouts copped on the street, in tandem with the mercenary spirit of the music and film scene: Punk, No Wave, Mutant Disco, Hip Hop, and indie films.

Likewise, STARSTRUCK comics were set in AnarchEra, a universal free-for-all between regimes where everyone makes do pulling the screws without scruples.

But noone does it quite as well as the GGG.

“It’s a TOUGH GALAXY, but SOMEBODY’S gotta live in it. It might as well be YOU!”
– Galactic Girl Guide recruit poster

Art by Kaluta, color by Lee Moyer.

Readers first met actual Girl Guides toward the end of the Epic graphic novel. This same trio -Glynde, Scooter Jean, and Sneaker- dodged artfully through the following six Epic comics.

This is what we have to go on: the suspects are small, cute, and very devious. They are dressed in green, red, and black, with swirly-caps. They have six arms and are thus dangerous. Be on the look-out for jacked robots, stolen vehicles, missing moolah, and rigged gambling.

Galactic Girl Guides are the urchins -late of Dickens, Our Gang, and STAR TREK's "Miri"- with the art of street smarts. Pint-sized punks in skirts, they dance through anarchy in the AE. The GGG are girl scouts for an un-nurtured, denatured future.

They also traveled here from the past.

Kaluta loved ASTRO BOY, so he designed bladed hats for the stage wear of Verloona and Dwannyunn. These spun into the corkscrew hats of the Guides.

Lee loved Meddling Kids movies like OUR GANG (later shown on TV as "The Little Rascals"), THE PARENT TRAP, and THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS. Part slapstick, part subversion, all party.

Disney's HUEY DEWEY AND LOUIE comics were about the nature scouts earning their Junior Woodchucks badges with their wits, and to their uncle Donald Duck's apoplexy.

The GGG tipped the scales exponentially.

The GGG were wee girls, as in We Girls vs. The Galaxy.

They were Riot Grrrls before Kathleen was starting High School: feminine, fierce, networking, universal, active.

They had 'wings' in the millions, the savviest survival guide in the multiverse, and a filched satellite headquarters. They awarded medals for mischief to miscreant little missies. You kept an eye on the robots, clones, and soldiers, but the quick kid kept your wallet.

Never underestimate the power of cute. She's a doll, she's small, she'll sidle you seven sideways and let you take the fall. So long, sucker!

The adults in STARSTRUCK comics didn't stand a chance.

When the Epic series ended, the kids even stole the spotlight.

The GGG were a second stroke of genius for Lee and Kaluta. The disarming charm of the GGG gave that universe another chance at life.

A sharp cult of fans loved the sophisticated stories, intricate art, and perverse spirit of the adult STARSTRUCK comics. It was uniformly praised as an advance in comics and SF for female characters, complex storytelling, and satiric chaos. But the GGG had brought another dimension: kids and accessibility.

Usually a cameo in most SF fare, immature and fleeting, here children were a rippling undercurrent to the action that upended the cliches. They were more streetwise, crafty, and slippery than the adults, while endearing with their wits and cuteness.

Even straights who were baffled by all the subversive clamor in STARSTRUCK loved the Girl Guides.

Lee and Kaluta must have sensed this, and decided to do light-hearted, kid-friendly tales of the GGG independent from the main story.

In 1986, the Galactic Girl Guides made their solo debut as a back-up feature in Dave Stevens' THE ROCKETEER Adventure Magazine. If STARSTRUCK was Moebius, then the GGG stories were Eisner at his slapstick, sentimental best. These stories featured the sweet and madcap misadventures of the young Brucilla, with her accomplices Cookie and Puddy.

Would they get off the Kansas farm into the universe and earn their merit medals to become full-fledged GGG's? Could even mayhem, catastrophe, and spankings stop them?

It would take awhile to find out. A total of seven stories, all inked by Fantasy great and co-conspirator Charles Vess, were created, but THE ROCKETEER was grounded after only two issues.

STARSTRUCK started over in 1990 at Dark Horse Comics.

Lee and Kaluta reprinted the Epic stories expanded with oodles of new material. A Guide was seen on the first cover, adding one more for each issue of the series.

At the time, Dark Horse made its fortune franchising ALIEN and then STAR WARS as new stories. Publisher Mike Richardson then pitched their own properties for film, which led to eventual successes like THE MASK, HELLBOY, and SIN CITY.

Elaine Lee remembers Richardson pitching the idea for a Guide movie, retooled as "Maddie McPhee and the Galactic Girl Guides".

But the STARSTRUCK comics ended early at Dark Horse, for various reasons, and the expansions went on hold.

A never-before published Kaluta splash page for the Galactic Girl Guides movie pitch.
(© Lee and Kaluta)

Never count a good girl out.

The idea of an animated version of the GGG was then worked out in collaboration with Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, who wrote the screenplay for THE FLASH tv series (1990) and THE ROCKETEER film (1991).

Their Pet Fly Productions got an offer from the Nickelodeon cable network, who specialized in modern cartoon fare like DOUG, RUGRATS, and REN & STIMPY. The early 90's was also the era of rebooted smashes like DUCK TALES, ANIMANIACS, and Bruce Timm's BATMAN. When the offer didn't satisfy the production standard they had hoped to maintain, Pet Fly passed on it.

Elaine Lee remembers, "Bilson and DeMeo actually optioned the Guides twice, then Bilson optioned it for a potential video game, but the company wanted all the rights to the Guides and STARSTRUCK," a deal that co-creators/owners Lee and Kaluta declined as unwise.

Vector was a new friend for the Guides
in the unprinted stories.
Art by Linda Medley, color by Lee Moyer.
(© Lee and Kaluta)

But any Guide worth her plumb has her thumbs in multiple pies.

In the early 90's Tundra Publishing - flush with the success of their TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURLES comics, cartoons, and films - planned for a GGG comic: brand new stories co-plotted by Kaluta and Lee, scripted by Lee, and illustrated by Linda Medley.

Medley drew and inked 50 pages of new adventures of Bru, Cookie, and Puddy picking up where they had left off, now as scouts out and about in the 'verse, with new friends and calamity in tow.

Lee and Kaluta were friends with Phil Trumbo, who had won an Emmy directing the opening credits animation of PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE. They asked Trumbo to include his "Sky Pirates of the Stratosphere" strip as a chaser.

"They were going to print them as four books," Lee explains, "with Phil's 12-page stories as backup. Each book had a Guide story, a Science Project feature, an amazing mazes feature, and Phil's story." Although Trumbo's series was unconnected to the STARSTRUCK universe, she says, "We were going to do a page with the Guides saying that 'Sky Pirates' was their favorite comic."

But the company's collapse upended and suspended the girls again.

"Sky Pirates of the Stratosphere",
by Phil Trumbo.
(© Trumbo)

The Lee & Kaluta/ Medley stories have yet to see print.

But in 2009, IDW Publishing remastered STARSTRUCK, and all seven of the initial Lee/Kaluta/Vess GGG stories were finally printed together with lush color by painter Lee Moyer. Featured as back-up stories to the main narrative, the GGG won over a new generation of fans. All of this was collected in the STARSTRUCK Deluxe Edition graphic novel.

Yes, I'm looking at you. That's your cue to click the link.

And it turns out that Scooter Jean, of the Guide trio seen in Epic Comics, grows up to become the historian behind the hilarious Glossary that defines all things STARSTRUCK.

Elaine Lee is now a Producer for AudioComics, who specialize in adapting comics into audioplays for CD and download. They adapted the original STARSTRUCK stage play into a critically-acclaimed audioplay, followed by plans for new Galactic Girl Guide audioplays in the future.

Recently a successful Kickstarter campaign helped fund Lee and Kaluta's second STARSTRUCK graphic novel. With this new option in publishing for indie creators, there is perhaps the possibility for a similar publishing of Linda Medley's as-yet-unprinted GGG stories in its wake.

And now the Galactic Girl Guides have infiltrated the world net with their own website.

Read the adventures online of our cute overlords!

“TRUTH AS FAR AS IT GOES.”

“On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to the Mother and to my Universe, to help other Girl Guides, whenever doing so does not conflict with my own best interest, and to obey, if possible, the Galactic Girl Guide Law.”
– Galactic Girl Guide Pledge

★ A special thanks to Elaine Lee, Michael Wm. Kaluta, and Lee Moyer for their input and support for this article!

See also:

➤ STARSTRUCK website

➤ Galactic Girl Guides website

• The History of STARSTRUCK

• The Roots and Influence of STARSTRUCK

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

You Can Create the New STARSTRUCK Book... On Kickstarter!

Elaine Lee and Michael Wm. Kaluta's STARSTRUCK is one of the most acclaimed Graphic Novels ever!

Now you can help create the second volume, STARSTRUCK: Old Proldiers Never Die, on Kickstarter!

Recreate the future today at Kickstarter!

___________________

"I was, and am, a huge fan of STARSTRUCK,
which I think was one of the most brave and elegant experiments
in comic book story-telling."
-Clive Barker, "Hellraiser"
"Favorite comic book of all time? STARSTRUCK, by Lee and Kaluta."
-Mike Carey, writer; "X-Men", "Lucifer", "Hellblazer"
"When I draw there's certain people and books that I look at that inspire me. And one of them has always been STARSTRUCK."
-Geof Darrow, artist; "THE MATRIX" films; "The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot"

✔ U P D A T E
The STARSTRUCK: Old Proldiers Never Die was fully successful, exceeding its quota.

The resulting 6-issue mini-series and Graphic Novel compilation can be purchased here.

See Also:

➤ Starstruck.com

1.
• The Return of STARSTRUCK! Or, Riot Grrrls Conquer the Universe!,
the triumphant return of STARSTRUCK Comics
2.
• STARSTRUCK Strikes Back!,
the History of STARSTRUCK from Stage Play to Comics
3.
• The Big Bang of STARSTRUCK: The Roots and Branches of Elaine Lee & Michael Kaluta's space opera;
how it synthesized all Sci-Fi culture into something new, and predicted everything we've enjoyed since

• How STAR WARS Is Changing Everything!

• 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY - Its Transcendent Influence on all Pop Culture, with Music Player!

Monday, January 28, 2013

BEST COMICS: 2012

S A G A,
by Vaughan and Staples

Shortcut links:
• Best Graphic Novel
• Best Comics
•• Worst Comics
• Graphic Novels
• Best Collections/ Reissues
• Movies And TV
•• "V For Vindication"
• Best Media Sites

• Rest In Power

B E S T
G R A P H I C
N O V E L :
2 0 1 2

• STARSTRUCK Deluxe Edition, by Elaine Lee, Michael Wm. Kaluta, and Lee Moyer ⇧
(softcover)

"I was, and am, a huge fan of STARSTRUCK, which I think was one of the most brave and elegant experiments in comic book story-telling."
-CLIVE BARKER

"Favorite comic of all time: STARSTRUCK, by Lee and Kaluta."
-MIKE CAREY

"Pick up this book, because not having read it is sort of like not having read POGO, or listened to "Trout Mask Replica", or seen a Hayao Miyazaki film."
-John Hilgart, THE COMICS JOURNAL

"STARSTRUCK could be both silly and smart, was progressive but unpretentious, and clever but not so impressed with itself that it ever forgot to entertain. IDW’s reprint of the series is a service to fans of science fiction, aficionados of comics as an art form, and anyone who loves a good story."
-W. Andrew Shephard, THE NEW INQUIRY

Buy from IDW

➤ STARSTRUCK Strikes Back!
➤ The Roots And Branches Of STARSTRUCK

B E S T
C O M I C S :
2 0 1 2

- - - - I N D I E S - - - -

• LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: 2009,
by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill (Top Shelf)

It was always about the extraordinary woman.

• SAGA,
by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)

Space Fantasy gets a challenging and adult rethink.
Excellent.

• FASHION BEAST,
by Alan Moore and Malcolm McClaren with Antony Johnston (Avatar)

In the late-'80s, Alan Moore wrote a script for a Malcolm McLaren film that didn't get made. Now the screenplay has been adapted into a 12-issue maxi-series by Antony Johnston.

• BLACK KISS II,
by Howard Chaykin (Image)

In the late-'80s Chaykin's gothic noir was so raunchy that it was sold sealed in black plastic bags. This new sequel was too much for European distributers, who refused to import it.>

• FRANKENSTEIN ALIVE, ALIVE,
by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson (IDW)

Wrightson. Frankenstein.

• STAR TREK,
by Mike Johnson, with Stephen Molnar, etc. (IDW)

J.J. Abrams' STAR TREK films rebooted the original series in a different timeline. Johnson's underrated follow-up comic fills out their 5-year-mission by taking classic episode stories into new directions.

• FATALE,
by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)

Like a jam session between Chandler and Lovecraft.

W O R S T
C O M I C S

- - - - - ~~D C~~ - - - - -
The modern comics landscape was recreated by Alan Moore.

When corporations betray> great creators>> for a buck>, they don't get my money or support.

- - - - - ~~M A R V E L~~ - - - - -
The vast marvel landscape was blueprinted by Jack Kirby.

When corporations betray> great creators> for a buck>>, they don't get my money or support.

Support creators over corporations.

B E S T
G R A P H I C
N O V E L S :
2 0 1 2

• ARE YOU MY MOTHER?,
by Alison Bechdel (Mariner Books) _______
The companion to the phenomenal FUN HOME (2006), which was TIME's Best Book of the Year.

• THE HIVE,
by Charles Burns (Pantheon) _______
The second book in Burn's trilogy about a postpunk Tintin.

• THE COMIC BOOK HISTORY OF COMICS: Birth Of A Medium,
by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey (IDW)
Why not tell the history of comics in its own unique style?

• Harvey Pekar's CLEVELAND,
by Harvey Pekar and Joseph Remnant (Z2 Comics)
Harvey Pekar turned Underground Comix into Indie Comics with his real-life confessionals.

• BABY'S IN BLACK: Astrid Kirchherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and The Beatles in Hamburg,
by Arne Bellstorf (First Second)
Photographer Astrid Kirchherr and bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, artists and lovers, were a crucial catalyst for the early Beatles.• >

B E S T
C O L L E C T I O N S
+ R E I S S U E S :
2 0 1 2

• Walt Disney’s DONALD DUCK: A Christmas For Shacktown, by Carl Barks (Fantagraphics)
Another master class from the maestro Barks.

• The Complete POGO, volume 2, by Walt Kelly (Fantagraphics)
Kelly's sly slapstick brought critical acclaim and literary validation from the mainstream media for the comic strip medium.

• CRIME DOES NOT PAY, by Various (Dark Horse)
A collection of the notorious anti-Crime comics that right wing zealots misused to maim the comics industry.>

• JACK DAVIS: Drawing American Pop Culture - A Career Retrospective, by Jack Davis (Fantagraphics)
Davis catapulted out of Mad Magazine to become the premiere cartoonist for magazine and album covers.

• OUT OF THE SHADOWS (retrospective of Mort Meskin), by Mort Meskin (Fantagraphics)
The underrated artist's use of light and shadow influenced many of the best creators in comics history.

• SPACEHAWK, by Basil Wolverton (Fantagraphics)
Actual stories by the most belovedly grotesque artist of all.

• CORTO MALTESE: The Ballad of the Salt Sea, by Hugo Pratt (Universe)
Mature adventure tales with cinematic eye and literary tongue.

• MATT BAKER: The Art of Glamour, by Matt Baker (TwoMorrows)
Matt Baker was one of the pioneer African-American artists, who deserves all the spotlight he can get.

• OBSERVED WHILE FALLING: Bill Burroughs, Ah Pook, and Me, by Malcolm McNeill (Fantagraphics)
The story of how author William S. Burroughs and artist Malcolm McNeill attempted to create an avant-garde precursor to graphic novels.

• ALIEN: The Illustrated Story, by Archie Goodwin, Walter Simonson (Titan)
The classic comics adaptation of the 1979 film, at last re-released.

• MICHAEL WM KALUTA Sketchbook, Vol.1, 2, and 3, by Michael Wm Kaluta (IDW)
Collections of the concept sketches of one of the finest and most versatile illustrators.

• ANGEL CLAWS, by Alexandro Jodorowsky and Moebius (Humanoids)
The filmmaker (El Topo, Santa Sangre) and the illustrator (Arzach, Airtight Garage) collude in a portfolio of erotic surrealism.

• The Adventures of ADELE BLANC-SEC: Vol. 2, by Jaques Tardi (Fantagraphics)
The continuing misadventures of the grumpy investigator of the fantastic.

• FLEX MENTALLO: Man of Muscle Mystery, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (Vertigo)
The mini-series of The Doom Patrol's most unexpected character, remastered.

• SCOTT PILGRIM Color Edition Vol. 1 & 2, by Bryan Lee O'Malley, with Nathan Fairbairn (Oni)
1-2-3-4 BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTT!

• OCCUPY COMICS,
by various creators>
People are citizens, corporations are plagues.

B E S T
M O V I E S
+ T V :
2 0 1 2

I write and illustrate reviews of all comics-sourced films at the Four Color Films site.

• THE AVENGERS
> Four Color Films review

• THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
> Four Color Films review

• THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
> Four Color Films review

• JOHN CARTER

• SKYFALL

• ALTER EGOS

• CHRONICLE

• COMIC-CON Episode 4: A Fan's Hope

• ARGO
(For the Jack Kirby connection.)

• MISFITS, fourth season

• Better Things: The Life and Decisions of Jeffrey Catherine Jones
A fine documentary about the excellent unsung artist, featuring Gaiman, Moebius, Kaluta, Wrightson, McKean, Pope, Mignola, and Sienkiewicz.

• Sex In The Comix: The History of Erotic Content in Sequential Art
A fun documentary overview of international erotic graphix.

See also:
➤ BEST MOVIES & TV: 2012

V For Vindication, Dept.:

or, "Alan Moore knows the score."

Who cares about Hollywood adaptions when you can make your own films?

Alan Moore has teamed with filmmaker Mitch Jenkins to create a unified continuity of short films about a cabaret purgatory.

UPDATE: The short chapters were collected into a total film under the title SHOW PIECES.
Available here.

BEST MEDIA SITES

• io9
Under the mentorship of famed authors and founders Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz, this site has continually presented the best genre media analysis around.

• The Mary Sue

• The Afro Futurist Affair

R E S T
I N
P O W E R

M O E B I U S
Our father, whose art is heaven...

• Jean Giraud, a.k.a. Moebius
• John Severin
• Sheldon Moldoff
• Joe Kubert

From you, we exist.
Because of you, we persist.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

BEST COMICS: 2017

B E S T G R A P H I C N O V E L :

B E S T C O M I C S :

I D W

I M A G E

M A R V E L

D C

V E R T I G O

Y O U N G A N I M A L

D A R K H O R S E

B E S T G R A P H I C N O V E L S :

B E S T C O L L E C T I O N S / R E I S S U E S :

B E S T M O V I E S a n d T V:

B E S T W E B C O M I C S

R E S T I N P O W E R

Thursday, December 19, 2013

ROCK Sex: PLANET STORIES - Whip It Good!

Monday, August 5, 2013

STARSTRUCK Comics: New GALACTIC GIRL GUIDES Website!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

You Can Create the New STARSTRUCK Book... On Kickstarter!

Monday, January 28, 2013

BEST COMICS: 2012

B E S T G R A P H I C N O V E L : 2 0 1 2

B E S T C O M I C S : 2 0 1 2

- - - - I N D I E S - - - -

W O R S T C O M I C S

B E S T G R A P H I C N O V E L S : 2 0 1 2

B E S T C O L L E C T I O N S + R E I S S U E S : 2 0 1 2

B E S T M O V I E S + T V : 2 0 1 2

V For Vindication, Dept.:

BEST MEDIA SITES

R E S T I N P O W E R

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