GNG Assembles to Talk Mister X
By Dan Brown SPOILER WARNING: This column contains plot details from Dean Motter’s Mister X: The Modern Age, so stop reading right now if you value surprise! Here’s the lowdown on the most recent meeting of the L.A. Mood Graphic-Novel Group, which was held Saturday, June 14. The book: Dean Motter’s Mister X: The Modern Age, which collects all of the Mister X stories published by Dark Horse Comics. The discussion: The full range of opinions was represented around the table. There were people, like me, who love the book. There were others who felt meh – who didn’t give the book a thumb up or down, but a sideways thumb. And there were some who didn’t even feel motivated enough to finish reading the 360-page tome. Gord Mood, L.A. Mood’s co-owner, argued for including Mister X on the 2025 reading list at our January pitch meeting. He is among those who love it. Gord also brought some examples of Motter’s early work from Media 5 when he was a student at Fanshawe College. (Late Town Crier Bill Paul published that sci-fi fan publication.) I knew very little about the character beforehand. Knowing it had been praised for blending film noir, Art Deco and German Expressionism, I was expecting something ponderous and pretentious. Wrong! In my view, it’s an amazing graphic novel. DC can only wish that Batman were as cool as Mister X! It takes place in Radiant City, where it always seems to be 4 a.m. Its nickname is Somnopolis, because of the large number of residents who can’t sleep. The title character is possibly one of the original architects who founded Radiant City, it’s never made clear. The closest he gets to revealing his identity is when he states, “I want to fix my city. I want it to run as designed.” The problem? The city’s architecture is driving its residents insane. None of this, of course, is meant to be taken literally – which Gord’s business partner Carol Vandenberg touched on when she mentioned the humour of the book. The key, for me, was to not take anything in the book at face value. I appreciated how Mister X is a riot of invention. Some members of the group pointed out the many references in the story. For example, one robot who shows up is an homage to Gort from The Day The Earth Stood Still. 1984 is referenced, as well as CanCon icon Nash the Slash. The characters have the clipped speech of detectives in films from the 1940s: “You’re the man without a name,” an interrogator tells Mister X. “That’s what I’m called,” the mystery man replies. Even better, Motter adds his own creative touches, elevating The Modern Age to a level above a mashup. Mister X is an insomnalin addict, meaning if he doesn’t feed his habit, and falls asleep, he will automatically die. There are insomnatoriums on each block. Zombycillin is a drug that can bring the dead to life. Pscychetecture describes the style of buildings in Radiant City and how they torture the human mind. Further reading: Instead of reading, I would say watch Blade Runner or episodes from Batman: The Animated Series, as well as Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie. L.A. Mood’s Graphic-Novel Group meets the second Saturday of each month. Next month’s selection is Roaming, by cousin creators Jilliam and Mariko Tamaki. We continue our streak of Canadian books established in recent months! We’ll reconvene July 12 at the gaming tables in the store at 11 a.m. All are invited to come join the discussion! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Local Mini-comics Are Where It’s At!
By Dan Brown It’s been a month since Free Comic Book Day. So the time is right to go over the freebies handed out at local comic stores like L.A. Mood on May 2 to put a spotlight on the ones that stand out. What really jumped out at me this year are the mini-comics from local creators, more on that in a moment. There were more than 40 titles in all, with something for members of every fandom. Such heroes as the Hulk, Spider-Man, Judge Dredd, Archie, the Thundercats and the Transformers show up. Publishers from Dark Horse to IDW to Image to Boom! are represented. Off the bat, I noticed how Titan Comics extended its streak for having the best cover of the FCBD lot, with the Scourge of the Serpent preview featuring a Roberto De La Torre rendering of everyone’s favourite barbarian, Conan, almost being swallowed by a giant snake. It’s a dynamic image and recalls the glory days of the Cimmerian over at Marvel, when he was drawn by John Buscema. And no surprise, Marvel put out a Fantastic Four sampler – the new FF movie, First Steps, comes out July 25, so expect lots more hype. The story concerns a group of bored teenage aliens who summon Marvel’s First Family by occult/scientific means. The Thing even gets to bellow, “It’s clobberin’ time!” but I’m not a fan of Johnny Storm’s handlebar moustache. (Nor Pedro Pascal’s, as regular readers of this column are aware.) There is a symbolic passing of the torch in I Hate Fairyland, with Byron illustrator Derek Laufman taking over art duties from Skottie Young. You can’t help but dig the four-page splash section Laufman supplies, including a glimpse at Hellicorn – his spoof of a certain demonic anti-hero. London/L.A. writer Sam Maggs is also part of the local contingent, handling script duties on Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins. The backup story is a Black Hammer prologue written by another Southwestern Ontario comic creator, Jeff Lemire. Now, about those mini-comics . . . They are not to be missed! Many of them were published by Kitchener’s Studio Comix. There’s a horror offering from Becka Kinzie titled Gehenna: Death Valley in which the characters recognize they are not acting wisely: “This is the stuff from horror movies! Stupid people doing stupid things!” one proclaims when they ignore warnings not to trespass In Wendy and the Sprite, Eric Olscvary sets himself the challenge of writing and drawing a comic about . . . a pile of snow. He more than rises to the occasion. Craig Ferguson and Alfonso Espinos offer readers a tale of the Night Spike, which has a Spy vs. Spy flavour and is also self-aware. At one point, after some back story is related, the Night Spike’s sidekick admits she embellished saying the duo had fought in the Secret Wars: “Well, I just said that to make the flashback a bit more dramatic!” I greatly enjoyed Scott Wojcik’s Cereal Box Time Machine, which tells the story of a trio of young siblings who get their hands on an all-powerful magic wand. They wish for a time machine – in the form of a cereal box – and are transported to a magical setting where they must rid a far-off land from a dragon who looks suspiciously like an overgrown version of their own cat. And I was utterly charmed by The Mini-Fridge Space Adventures from Roxy Reed Creations. It features a spaceship in the shape of a kitchen appliance with a penguin piloting the craft. The whole thing reminded me of Bob Burden’s Flaming Carrot. It also appears the mini-fridge of the title is larger on the inside. Hey, if it worked for a police call box, then why not? Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Snoopy’s Brother is a Tragic Figure
By Dan Brown Snoopy: Doghouse Tales is the new Peanuts collection aimed at young readers. I’m not young, but I enjoyed it. I’m a fool for Snoopy, as well as his little bird buddy Woodstock. I recommend this one if you want to learn more about Snoopy’s family – not the human one Charlie Brown belongs to, but Snoopy’s dog siblings. A fair number of the strips in this 172-page collection feature Spike, one of Snoopy’s brothers. Spike has always struck me as a tragic figure, so kids might learn some empathy reading this one. What do we know about Spike, apart from the fact he is Snoopy’s bro? Here’s a few details I gleaned from Doghouse Tales. He lives in the Mojave Desert near Needles, California. He has droopy eyes plus droopy whiskers, which look like a sad moustache. He’s rail thin. (It’s Snoopy’s brother Olaf who looks like he swallowed a Butterball turkey whole). He wears a bedraggled old fedora, which was once his grandfather’s fishing hat.. And there’s also something else important that readers learn – Spike has no human friends or family, no Charlie Brown figure in his life. And no Sally or Lucy or Linus, either. This is a large part of why my heart goes out to him: He seems so alone. Whenever we see Spike in his element, he’s surrounded only by sand and cacti. And as we know from the tree that munches on Charlie Brown’s kites, plants in the Peanuts universe can be menacing. Sure enough, in one of the collected strips a cactus catches a football Spike has thrown – it slowly deflates when it gets punctured by the cactus needles. It’s a contrast to other moments, as when a cactus holds an umbrella to shield Spike from a rare rainstorm in the desert. You know Charles Schulz was a powerful cartoonist and storyteller when he is able to invest a minor character like Spike with so much personality. It’s also interesting to see that while Spike has an active imagination, he has no full-on flights of fantasy the same way Snoopy does. Spike never takes a trip in his mind to the First World War battlefield, he is always stuck in the now. In one of his letters to Snoopy, Spike describes his circumstances, writing “Life here on the desert is hard but wonderful. Sometimes it is very hot. And the nights can be cold . . . But there are always beautiful places to walk and things to see.” That sounds like a spartan existence, but not without its charms. I’m constantly amazed at how Schulz was able to grind out newspaper strip after strip over the decades. I’m guessing such characters as Spike offered him a bit of a respite, allowing him to take a break from drawing cartoons about the “main” Peanuts gang by exercising a different set of storytelling muscles. There are the usual shenanigans in this anthology too. Lucy continues to vex pitcher/manager Charlie Brown from the outfield by blowing routine baseball plays. Peppermint Patty continues to receive D-minus grades, at one point being held back a grade before she is reinstated the following September, much to her friend Marci’s chagrin. In another four-panel sequence, Snoopy lets loose as a dancer, calling himself a “Flashbeagle,” which gives you some sense of when these strips originally appeared – around the time the 1983 flick Flashdance was in theatres. Doghouse Tales is published by Andrews McMeel Syndication. Purists will note the strips appear here in colour, not in black-and-white as they originally did Monday to Friday in daily newspapers. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Here’s a Bunch of Mini-Reviews
By Dan Brown Here’s the lowdown on a stack of comics I bought recently. There’s no logic to the choices, other than each cover struck my fancy while I was browsing the new-releases wall at L.A. Mood. Fantastic Four No. 29: Perhaps I have a case here to sue Marvel for bait-and-switch. I picked this one based on the cover, which promises an out-of-continuity tale answering the question, “What if . . . Mickey & friends became the Fantastic Four?” I was intrigued by the idea of Goofy switching places with the ever-loving Thing. As it turns out, it was a variant cover. Instead, I got a Ryan North/Cory Smith joint titled The Dream Team about Doctor Doom taking over . . . everything. This looks to be Marvel’s event series this summer, One World Under Doom, and I applaud the House of Ideas for taking this one on, if only because they are going to get so much blowback from Trump fans claiming it’s a metaphor for the current situation in the U.S. The FF goes to bat for the downtrodden . . . who in this case are vampires left over from the previous event series. Doctor Doom & Rocket Raccoon No. 1: I love the movie Rocket more than the comic Rocket, so in my mind I read his dialogue in Bradley Cooper’s voice. I haven’t read a J. Michael Straczynski-penned story in a long time, and this one is long on philosophy, short on action. Doom partners with the genetically engineered rodent to help him delve into the origins of . . . everything. Essentially, the Latverian ruler wants to travel back in time to a time before time. That is, before the Big Bang. I give Doom props for recognizing that a lowly raccoon is almost his mental equal. And one page features a Jack Kirby-esque collage, which is a bonus. What do they discover in preshistory? “The purpose of the universe is to understand the purpose of the universe.” It’s one of them paradoxes. Godzilla vs. Fantastic Four No. 1: This is easily the best-illustrated issue among my purchases, featuring John Romita Jr. art based on a Ryan North script. Marvel takes the existing Marvel continuity and fuses it with the Toho storyline, as happened with the original Marvel series about the fire-breathing unfrozen dinosaur. Reed even tips his hat to Dr. Daisuke Serizawa’s oxygen destroyer in the opening panels. One cool concept in this issue sees Godzilla foe King Ghidorah taking on the power cosmic in his role of herald of Galactus. And yes, it’s all leading up to an eventual battle between the Tokyo-demolisher and the world-devourer. Godzilla Heist No. 1: If you’re a fan of Godzila, this is truly an awesome time to be alive because you can read about him in more than one company’s comics. This IDW-published series reads sort of like what would happen if Quentin Tarantino directed a kaiju flick. As powerful as Godzilla is, here his rampages are just a massive distraction for a ring of human thieves who, naturally, don’t know which one of them might betray the others.The story begins with the big G destroying a casino, which is certainly one way to make sure the authorities don’t pay attention to your scheme to plunder their treasures. Godzilla vs. Chicago One Shot: As part of the Godzilla vs. America series, local creators get a stab at fitting Godzilla into their own community’s neighbourhoods, politics, and culture. Also part of IDW’s current offerings, it’s really just an excuse to pay tribute to old-school comic sound effects such as:Dong donk!Zang!Zong!Choom!Fwomp! Fwooosh! Shreeonk!What can I say? I know what I like. Daring the Sun No. 2 by Forest City creator Scott Brian Woods: Called Crash Down, this tale of an astronaut traveling through the heart of a sun is “inspired by imagination comics of the past, science fiction, and a deep love of old-school adventure, sci-fi fantasy space operas.” The Kirby Crackle on the opening splash page jumped out at me, and the drawing on the back cover shows the pilot in a Flash Gordon-esque outfit with an old-school raygun. Somehow, he is connected to a warrior named Vala, who fends off dinosaur-like aliens in a barren landscape. If you like classic George Lucas intercutting, you will love the structure of this piece, ending naturally with a cliffhanger. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur 10th Anniversary Special No. 1: I don’t know how, exactly, Lunell Lafayette got a hold of the ultimate nullifier, but it’s one of the items she brings to her surprise 10th birthday party in New York. A back-of-the-book story flashes forward to when Moon Girl has grown into Moon Woman, and she visits Earth from the orbiting satellite. Senior Marvel Editor Mark Paniciccia says the series has lasted a decade because “it’s inspired young readers to embrace their individuality and believe in their potential.” Or maybe they just really like to groove on the blood-red T-Rex who is Moon Girl’s constant companion. What comics or graphic novels have you been reading lately? I’d love to hear about it in the comment box below! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Comic Writers Are the New Auteurs
By Dan Brown My brother Mike is four years older than me, but as kids we were both fans of Marvel Comics. One time, it might have been while I was reading an issue of Fantastic Four and he was perusing the latest Marvel Team-Up, he asked me a question. “Do you think the writer of a comic or the artist is more important?” For me, the answer was obvious: The person who draws the pictures. Not surprisingly, Mike disagreed, arguing the guy responsible for the words has primacy. That exchange has stuck with me to this day. Perhaps I was so adamant as a young boy because I had done more drawing than writing. My perception was that artists got no respect then, and I still believe that today. This is just a long-winded way of saying, in the modern comic industry, writers are the new auteurs. Illustrators, meanwhile, aren’t appreciated for everything they bring to the table. “Auteur” is a term borrowed from French New Wave cinema. I believe it originated in the French film magazine Cahiers du cinema in the 1950s Basically, auteur theory – as it applies to film – dictates that the director of the film is the one who supplies the overall vision. He or she is the “author” of the movie and the other folks involved – producers, screenplay writers, performers – are there to carry out his or her goals. It was a revolutionary idea decades ago. Today’s auteurs would include the likes of Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorcese, and James Cameron. They’re the ones who move the art forward. Somewhere along the line over the last five decades, writers have emerged as the equivalent figure in the comics industry. When I was reading Fantastic Four in the 1970s, I don’t remember comic fans talking a lot about the styles of different writers, but I do recall many debates about the best illustrators. In 2025, however, the conventional wisdom is that the writer is the one whose ideas and input count the most. On the cover of a typical mainstream comic, it’s the writer’s name that gets top billing. Often it’s just his or her last name – that’s how much recognition they get, how well-known they are. When comic publishers promote a new series, it’s frequently marketed to the public on the strength of the writer’s reputation and ability. I don’t know the exact moment when writers ascended to the level of being auteurs. I’m guessing it had a lot to do with three comics that came out in the 1980s: Alan Moore’s Watchmen, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, and Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Many fans, as well as industry insiders, view that period as a renaissance when new life was breathed into the form. The guys involved became giants. (If you want to laugh at a savage satire of Moore in particular, check out Chip Zdarsky’s Public Domain series, which has a British comics writer character named Carter Dusk, who hangs a garden hose in front of the window in his study so he can brood as it’s raining all day long. In his own pretentious words, Dusk is a “dabbler in wordplay and mass-printed magic.”) You might think the passing of the years has softened my stance. Not so. I still think artists don’t get the props they deserve. I don’t know about your buying habits, but I usually pick up a comic or graphic novel based on who did the art. Since I first began to appreciate sequential storytelling, the art in the average comic book has gotten so much better. Yet I don’t see anyone arguing in 2025 that the same has happened to the writing. Or consider this: There are many artists who have branched out into writing, sometime Canadian John Byrne being one example. Artists like Byrne have been able to learn to do plotting, dialogue, pacing, and everything else writers have traditionally done. But can you think of a single instance of a writer learning how to draw? It just doesn’t happen. I would love to read your answer to the question my brother posed all those years ago. Feel free to drop it in the comment box below! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Read Local, Shop Local, Attend Local Cons
By Dan Brown I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know how the Trump tariffs are going to affect the price of comics, if at all. But if you’re looking for ways to put your comic-book dollars back into the local economy, be it Southwestern Ontario or Canada, here are a few ideas for how to do so. For starters, you can patronize local comics stores like L.A. Mood, which employs Londoners and supports the local pop-culture ecosystem by hosting events like Godzilla Day. The Forest City has always been blessed with more than its share of places where you can pick up your favourite comic titles, and the same goes for all of Southwestern Ontario. Here’s a fun road trip idea for when the warm weather arrives: Make it your goal to visit all the comic stores in this corner of Canada, which will mean travelling to such communities as Sarnia, Windsor, Chatham, Kitchener, and Guelph. I did so a few summers back and it was a blast! Along the same lines, when convention season starts back up, you don’t need to go all the way to San Diego (or even Toronto) to hang out with other comic enthusiasts.London has cons aplenty, including Forest City Comicon – which this year moves to a new date (November 2) and venue (the Lamplighter Inn). Other shows to keep in mind include the Chatham Kent Expo, which happens April 26 and 27. I realize bigger cons get bigger names. That doesn’t necessarily make for a better experience, though. For example, almost every DC or Marvel panel I’ve attended at Fan Expo in previous years can be summed up in one sentence: “Our company has such cool stories coming out soon, but if we told you the details it would spoil them.” The difference at a smaller event is the friendlier vibe, which is much warmer. There is no substitute for meeting comic fans or cosplayers in your own backyard! And what’s that, you say you also want to read local at this moment in our country’s history? It’s easy to make that happen by throwing your support behind specific creators and publishers. There are guys like Byron’s Derek Laufman, the graphic novelist responsible for Bot 9, RuinWorld, and Crimson Fall. Fans can buy his books and art directly from his website. Laufman also has a Patreon page, which offers exclusive first looks at the projects he is working on. Other Forest City creators to check out include Diana Tamblyn, A Jaye and Alison Williams, Scott MacDougall and D.S. Barrick (who publish under the banner of River Donkey Adventures), Sam Maggs, and don’t forget Bryan Lee O’Malley. Among the cartoonists with connections to the wider Southwestern Ontario scene are Jeff Lemire, Seth, Scott Chantler, and Joe Ollmann. Or perhaps you want to support Canadian publishing houses. Done. There’s always Drawn & Quarterly in Montreal, the East Coast’s Conundrum Press, and Chapterhouse Comics (the publisher of Captain Canuck). They all do compelling work. If you don’t like my ideas and you need more suggestions, just consult with the staff at your comic-store or the nearest librarian. When it comes to comics, and pop culture in general, our dominion punches way above its weight. So if you have any other suggestions of other creators to support, or different ways to keep your pop-culture dollars circulating close to home, I would love to hear all about them in the comment box below! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
