Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
On November 8, 2008, Rick Klaw attended his first comic book convention in almost a decade. Throughout
the 90s, when he served as the managing editor for Blackbird Comics and Mojo Press, he
frequented as many as seven cons per year, primarily in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and San
Diego. When Mojo Press began to dissolve in the fall of 1997, Rick whittled his convention
schedule down to the local literary gathering, Armadillocon, and few random World Fantasy Cons.
Since then, he has re-invented his professional persona from an editor and comic book writer
to a columnist, reviewer, and pop culture critic.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
The Obama Presidency will be a kind of Rorschach for America, with people
reading into his campaign, and eventually into his administration, what they want to see in themselves. Or,
as per the routine projections of the far right, what is unbearable in themselves.
Mark London Williams began to muse about what the role of
call-and-response is in graphic novels, etc., as part of the overall zeitgest -- to what degree comics
are indistinguishable from media as a "lump sum" -- will future anthropologists distinguish between
types of pop culture, when sifting through moves, TV shows, novels, et al., to determine what it was
we thought of ourselves? -- or do comics occupy a perch of their own?
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
A friend of Rick Klaw revealed his Obama presidency fears to Rick. While he stands firmly with the candidate, desiring
a change from the Republican rush to ruin of the previous eight years, he fears that the neo-Nazi racists of the extreme
far right, fermented by the assertions of neo-cons and their new poster child, Sarah Palin, will come to believe that
Barak Obama and his "terrorist" friends will destroy the so-called "real" America of the pro-life, gun-toting, evangelical Christians.
These worries over unlikely scenarios lies beyond his control, yet it paralyzes
and consumes him. Rick Klaw understand the instinct to freeze when confronted with the
overwhelming. He encounters a similar situation every day,
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
It's hard to know what's meant by "rebel" anymore, when a pro-corporate Presidential candidate,
whose supported nearly the entire agenda of his wealthy predecessor, can insist he's
a "maverick." Or when a large computer corporation insists you can "think different" by, well,
ponying up for their products. Or to put it another way, if there is a "rebellion," and it's not
televised, will it simply be diffused in the numerous blog posts of the individual participants?
Mark London Williams has some thoughts about Rebel Visions by writer/filmmaker Patrick Rosenkranz
and what it was like growing up in the heady days of underground comix.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
An essential aspect of comics since almost the beginning of the medium, the first all horror
anthology, the one-shot Eerie Comics (Avon), appeared
in 1947 with six stories including early work from art pioneer Joe Kubert. The following year,
B&I Publishing (later known as American Comics Group) published Adventures into
The Unknown, the first ongoing horror title. Featuring primarily ghost stories,
the series ran for 174 issues for over twenty years. Rick Klaw says that both of these titles later seemed
tame in terms of violence, gore, and content when compared to the emerging the EC line
of terror tales, the first great horror comic books.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
The "Janes" have been reigning, to certain degree, over the graphic novel world. Those
would be the P.L.A.I.N. Janes created by writer Cecil Castellucci and artist Jim Rugg, the kick-off title
to DC/Vertigo's Minx line of graphic novels, the marketing ploy being that they are more femme-friendly types of comics,
and the irony being that Cecil was one of the few actual femmes initially writing for the imprint.
Mark London Williams gives a little history and has an inteview with Cecil.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
Things changed earlier this decade. Graphic novels, largely ignored by both comic and book collectors, suddenly
acquired a collectible status similar to their prose and periodical brethren. Rick Klaw first noticed this phenomenon
about five years ago when a customer came into Half Price Books to sell Miracleman Book 3: Olympus.
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Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
In 1992, Rick Klaw appeared on his first Armadillocon panel along with Ellen Datlow and Gardner Dozois.
In 1993 and at the majority of Armadillocons through the rest of the decade, artist Doug Potter and Rick were
typically the only acknowledged comic book guests. In 2002, comic book contributors
flooded the convention as the previous detractors embraced this newly discovered medium. My, how things have
changed over the last 25 years.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
Speaking of summer travel, as noted at the end of the last column, Mark London Williams is back from the San Diego Comic Con.
In some ways, there's not a lot to say about the Con anymore. This is because everyone else is already saying it. Which
is to say: It has apparently become the mainstream America media/pop culture event of the year.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
In L.A. it has been the summer of books. No, not because everyone here in the Pueblo of Angels is
suddenly cracking open copies of Ask the Dust or Day of the Locust to unearth their town's own
literary history, but rather, because the two main gatherings of the
book industry -- the Book Expo of America (or "BEA") and the American Library Association's annual
gathering (or "ALA" for short) -- were held there. Our intrepid reporter, Mark London Williams,
scouted out the graphic novel scene.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
Reality plays by its own rules. This tenet, in the form of metafiction, litters the comic book
landscape. While this type of self-referential literature was quite common in comics strips,
the earliest story of this type that Rick Klaw uncovered, appeared in Captain Marvel
Adventures #22, dated March 26, 1943, some eight years after the publication of New Fun,
the first comic book of original material.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
Regular readers of comics news and reviews already
know that Rory Root, the affable, pioneering proprietor of Berkeley, California-based Comic Relief passed
away suddenly last month. The scope and breadth of what the store carried, how Rory was an advocate/supporter of
lesser-known, or just-starting-out-of-the-gate work, and how well liked he was in the comics community by
creators and retailers. Mark London Williams remembers his days growing up in the Berkeley area and how
Rory affected his development into the writer he is today.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
On May 8, 1940, The Chicago Daily News published Sterling North's influential condemnation of
comic books "A National Disgrace (And a challenge to American Parents)." North calls comics "a poisonous mushroom growth,"
calling upon parents and educators to "break the 'comics' magazines." And those who don't would be "guilty of criminal
negligence." He claims that "the antidote to the 'comic' magazine poison can be found in any library or good
bookstore." Rick Klaw notes that in 2008 most libraries and bookstores gladly sell "these lurid publications"
and that the line between prose and comics literature has never been closer.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
Comics were never just exclusively for the tights crowd, even if, for a few decades there, a glance at any American
newsstand would give you that impression. More and more, the film biz seems to be noticing, as other types of stories get picked for
translation to the big (or at least medium) screen. Thus, stories like Perdition and A History of
Violence, and now, from the company that produced the latter, another mob-themed pick-up, a four-issue story,
indie-published story, replete with its own "history of violence," called Pencilneck..
Mark London Williams has a chat with the writer of the series, Victor Carungi.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
During the annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) business meeting, some discussions took place
as to what kinds of works qualify professional science fiction/fantasy writers for membership.
Rick Klaw has some thoughts on what was said, what they should do to update their definitions and
what is happening in the rest of the world when it comes to graphic novels.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
Nexus Graphica is a column about graphic novels and comics that grew out of discussions
between Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams. They will alternate columns. The nature and subject of
each piece will vary from month to month, but it will always have something to do with graphic novels or comic books.
For his first column, Mark is grappling with the idea of what comics are for. Are they just
for fun? Or are comics -- when at their best -- simultaneously about individual lives (even
spandex-encased ones) and everyone's lives, our lives, all at once? Social commentary, perhaps.
Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
Nexus Graphica is a column about graphic novels and comics that grew out of discussions
between Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams. They will alternate columns. Like Rick Klaw's
Geeks With Books, the nature and subject of
each piece will vary from month to month, but it will always have something to do with graphic novels or comic books.
For the first column, Rick describes how they met and how their friendship evolved.
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