GNG investigates The Private Eye
By Dan Brown SPOILER WARNING: This column contains plot details from the graphic novel covered by L.A. Mood’s comic book club last weekend. If you value surprise, scroll away now! This is your first and final warning. The L.A. Mood Graphic-Novel Group met Saturday, August 8. The book: The Private Eye, which was written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Marcos Martin with colour artist Muntsa Vicente. The Private Eye is a future noir that takes place in Los Angeles, just like another future noir you may know, the landmark film Blade Runner. This graphic novel continues the tradition of hard-boiled detective fiction with the creative team putting its own spin on the genre. (I haven’t had a chance to read the back-of-the-book material yet, so bear that in mind.) GNG member Gord said he felt it’s an underperformer compared to another Brian K. Vaughan-written tale of the future. “It’s no Y: The Last Man,” he said, referencing the speculative series about a dude living in a world of only women. Gord thought the worldbuilding in The Private Eye is good but felt the story is weak. One of the points brought up in our discussion was the format of the book. It’s wider than it is long, and is hard to hold, even the hardcover edition. The glossy paper flops in your hands when you try to read it. GNG member Amanda felt there was no panel in The Private Eye that couldn’t have been rendered in a standard comic format. In other words, it could have been a regular comic without any impact on the storytelling. I agree, the shape is kind of a pain. Giving it the title The Private Eye conjures up images of Humphrey Bogart and Jack Nicholson. The title is also a nod to the book’s central theme, personal privacy. It takes place in a post-internet world. At some point before the events of the book, all the information stored in the cloud leaked to the general public. As a result, there are no superheroes but everyone has a secret identity because staying anonymous is everyone’s central concern in this milieu. The investigator of the title wears a low-tech cloak that makes it hard for people to identify him. Others wear holographic masks. To be known is to be in danger. For my part, I enjoyed it. I thought The Private Eye contains some intriguing ideas. The future it depicts makes sense to me. It feels like Vaughan took current trends and explored how they might play out 50 or 100 years from now. One aspect of this future world – journalists taking on the functions of law enforcement – struck me as interesting. How did that happen? I wanted to know more about this society and the characters who inhabit it. But I’m a journalist, so perhaps I’m the only one who was enchanted with the idea of reporters turning into law enforcers. The members of the group also discussed how David Cronenberg (Gord’s pick) would be the ideal choice to direct a movie adaptation of this comic. The Canadian filmmaker would bring just the right touch of weirdness. I could see it working as not a movie, but a miniseries. The bottom line? The full range of reactions was represented Saturday morning. GNG member Carol didn’t find The Private Eye compelling enough to finish reading the thing, so at the risk of putting words in her mouth, I’ll call that a thumbs down. GNG member Gord gave it a thumbs sideways, neither up nor down. GNG member Amanda gave it a thumb slightly inclined upward, but not fully up. I give it a solid thumbs up. To me, it’s a thought-provoking and worthy future noir. L.A. Mood’s Graphic-Novel Group meets the second Saturday of every month. Next month’s selection is Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira Volume 1. It’s a cyberpunk manga. We’re set to meet September 12 at the gaming tables in the store at 11 a.m. You’re more than welcome to join the discussion! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
Supergirl is New To Me
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: Supergirl is new to me By Dan Brown I don’t know much about Supergirl. If you’re a regular reader of her adventures, then you likely know more about the venerable character than I do. How unschooled am I on Supergirl? I haven’t yet seen the new movie starring the Maiden of Might, which opened last weekend. And although I’ve had decades, I haven’t ever watched the 1984 feature film that stars Helen Slater in the title role, either. I do remember Supergirl being killed off in 1985 in the legendary Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries that rebooted the DC Universe. And I did greatly enjoy Canadian writer Mariko Tamaki’s attempt to relaunch Superman’s cousin in 2018 in Supergirl: Being Super. More on that in a moment. So in an attempt to learn more about the Woman of Tomorrow, I picked up the DC glossy magazine that features four “acclaimed” Supergirl issues, each one representing a new stab at bringing the hero back to prominence. One story has the flavour of a vintage sci-fi novel a la the John Carter of Mars books. Another reads like a Twilight Zone episode. In the third tale, she was reintroduced as a secret-agent type operative. And in the concluding instalment, she’s basically a plot device in the relationship between Superman and his frenemy Batman. The multiple efforts to freshen up Supergirl point to an unavoidable conclusion: Comic fans may not find her all that compelling. It’s not like she was the first “Super” spinoff. That distinction goes to Superboy, who appeared in 1945, seven years after Action Comics No. 1 landed. Kara Zor-El wouldn’t depart Krypton’s Argo City until 1959, in the same era when DC introduced a dog, cat, horse and other super-powered survivors of Krypton. Each time, the publisher diminished what made Superman’s origin so poignant. His claim to fame – being the last son of a doomed planet, sent to Earth where its yellow sun would make him invincible – wasn’t so unique anymore. He wasn’t so special. So if you want a collection that tries to square the 1950s/1960s DC weirdness with the current continuity, as well as appeals to modern readers who would rather their comics be grim than silly, check out this magazine. I do love reading regular comics on a larger page. Now, if you want what I consider a superior Supergirl anthology, pick up the afore-mentioned Supergirl: Being Super. In my (admittedly limited) experience, it is the best Supergirl story out there. It effectively evokes the mood of what it would be like living as an alien teenager attending high school in a small American town. In one scene, Kara pops a zit on her chin. A minor problem we’ve all experienced, right? Just temporary grossness. Yet since she’s from Krypton, the zit explodes all over the bathroom, coating walls, floor and ceiling in thick green extraterrestrial slime. As if coming of age wasn’t bad enough. Even better, Being Super is pencilled precisely by Joelle Jones. If anyone reading this column has seen the new motion picture, I’d be grateful to hear your take. Is it good enough that I should see it while the movie is still in theatres? I understand the flick takes many of its cues from the John Carter-tinged Supergirl tale I mentioned above, and its structure mirrors not any comic property, but the classic movie western, True Grit. Is that the right combination of elements to turn Supergirl into a vibrant movie property? And maybe entice readers to seek out her comics? Let me know your answer in the comments! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: GNG does a twofer
By Dan Brown SPOILER WARNING: This column contains plot details from two graphic novels. If you value surprise, stop reading now! You’ve been warned. The L.A. Mood Graphic-Novel Group met Saturday, June13. Because our May meeting had been cancelled, we covered the assigned books for both May and June in our most recent sitting. The books: Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe, plus the graphic-novel adaptation of The Iliad. Dawn of the Black Axe Here’s the headline: All five members of GNG who were present gave this book a thumbs up. We loved it. Carol Vandenberg, L.A. Mood’s co-owner, has always been enchanted by the world-building David Petersen does on his Mouse Guard books. Petersen has created in his imagination an entire culture of medieval mice who live in a far-flung setting, which requires the Guard – whose members are forest rangers – to keep routes between the different communities open. Petersen’s mouse world has the same level of detail as Seth’s mythical city of Dominion. The Black Axe is kind of like Batman, operating outside the rules governing how Guard members behave. And yes, he carries a honking big black axe. His quest: To rid mousekind of the giant snakes that plague them. The new thing in Dawn of the Black Axe is how Petersen, who usually illustrates each book, recruited Gabriel Rodriguez to handle art duties. I thought the story might suffer with Petersen focusing on writing alone, but the group really appreciated what Rodriquez brings to table. Part of the discussion also centred on the Black Axe’s spirit guide. Is the ethereal elk real, is he a ghost, is he a projection from the axe bearer’s mind? I like how Rodriquez sometimes draws the elk as solid, but in other panels he appears to be from another plane of existence. GNG member Amanda pointed out there’s not a lot of joy in the book, no respite from the gloom. But that’s not what interests Petersen. This is a book about the cost of doing your duty and the sacrifices and compromises that follow. The Iliad We weren’t so effusive with our praise for this Gareth Hinds book. We read his comic version of this epic tale in part because its sequel, The Odyssey, is coming to the big screen this summer in a Christopher Nolan adaptation. Overall, we gave The Iliad not a thumb up or down, but a thumb sideways. It's fine. Carol thought it didn’t work on its own, but would make a good adjunct to studying the written version of the epic work. GNG member Matt noted how making it into a comic required Hinds to disrupt the rhyming of the original. I found it to be Biblical in the sense there are many, many lists of the participants in the battle to overthrow Troy, which came across to me as similar to the long verses in the Bible indicating who begat whom. They go on and on. I also stumbled because the names listed in The Iliad aren’t familiar to me. I have a hard time dealing with the notion of gods and mortals who share many of the same feelings and motivations. In The Iliad, gods have children with mortals, they feel human emotions, they change their minds – it’s a mix that makes me uneasy as a reader as I’m not used to thinking of immortals with Earthly traits. Looming in the background of our discussion was a larger question: How can an artist adapt an ancient work of art so that it still speaks to readers in 2026? If you make too many changes, it may be more relatable, yet you’ll anger the purists. The bottom line: This Iliad would be a fine textbook or companion piece to the original. L.A. Mood’s Graphic-Novel Group meets the second Saturday of every month. Next month’s selection is Jeff Lemire’s autobiography, 10,000 Ink Stains. Lemire hails from Southwestern Ontario and if you’ve ever wanted to get a glimpse into his artistic process, check this one out! We’re set to meet July 11 at the gaming tables in the store at 11 a.m. All are welcome to join the discussion! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: Latest Volume of Palookaville is Classic Seth
By Dan Brown Palookaville 25 is classic Seth. The newest book from the father of Canada’s autobiographical comics school has three parts. It opens with the latest instalment in Nothing Lasts, based on Seth’s coming of age in Southwestern Ontario, then eventual move to Toronto. Next is a section about a sculpture Seth fashioned that sits by a bus stop just outside the Art Gallery of Guelph. It ends with Owen Moore, a fictional account of Dominion’s most celebrated painter, which originally appeared in serial form in the Walrus. You may know by now how Dominion is sort of like Seth’s version of the Marvel Universe. It’s a Canadian city of the 1950s that never existed, yet which we can all recall fondly. It’s the playground for the comic creator's imagination and nostalgic impulses. You might think, because the bookends of this volume are one true story and one fictional tale, that they have little in common. Fact is, they are both equally constructed. Nothing Lasts kicks off with an affair Seth had with an older woman at a Tilbury restaurant where he worked in his teen summers. It then transitions into a reflection on how he felt when he first moved to Toronto in 1980. The mostly small, cramped panels narrating his doomed puppy love give way to larger, more open frames that reflect the vibe of the big city. And funny thing, when Seth relocates to the Big Smoke he stops obsessing about his summer romance, if you can call it that, as he falls for Canada’s biggest city. What I especially appreciate about this chapter of his life story is the manifold footnotes he includes at the bottom of each page. They remind me of the explanatory material Marvel was notorious for packing into its comics in the 1970s to keep readers informed of connections they may have missed between other characters and plots. He also points out that the act of putting his memories on the page is fraught with complications. “I remember nothing,” he mentions at a crucial point in his narrative. He questions his own recollections at another point by saying, “It’s a muddle.” He contradicts himself, expands and explains his memories, revises them, then invites the reader to stop reading if they don't like his fragmented style. “Here, in this comic memoir, I can ramble as much as I want. Digress to my heart’s content,” he concludes. “And if you don’t like it, well, don’t let the door hit you on your way out.” In Owen Moore, which is made up of 10 one-page chapters, Seth creates an equally detailed history – of a person who never existed. Moore, we learn, painted Dominion street scenes. He had little success when he was alive, and by the time he had been discovered he was too far gone in his mental decline to provide answers for eager interviewers. Seth informs readers that Moore grew up in Corktown, a satellite community that was eventually swallowed up as Dominion grew. The character became an artist after experiencing a “vision of cosmic mundane perfection” while sick as a child in 1909. He grew up to be a Sunday painter who worked as a streetcar ticket taker during the week and was devoted to his indifferent mother. “He never married,” the narrative voice tells us, “That is, if his diaries are to be trusted.” None of this is real or true, of course. Just the result of Seth’s pure imaginings. Seth sets up Owen Moore as Dominion’s most famous artist, but the truth is much more complicated than that because it’s Seth himself, and not any of the characters he’s created, who is the most famous artist to come from Dominion. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group.
Monster of the Abyss artist Eric Olcsvary visits with GNG
By Dan Brown SPOILER WARNING: This column contains plot details. If you value surprise, stop reading now. You’ve been warned! The L.A. Mood Graphic-Novel Group met Saturday, April 11, and had a special guest, Tillsonburg artist Eric Olcsvary. This is a brief outline of our discussion with him during our hour-long meeting. The book: The first two issues of Monster of the Abyss, written by Scott Wojcik, and illustrated by Olcsvary. The discussion: Eric gave us a look into his creative process, his background, and his partnership with Wojcik, who is also a local creator. Olcsvary says Wojcik is an idea machine! Wojcik’s kids Ashton and Hayden helped the writer come up with the story for Monster of the Abyss. This comic series follows the adventures of Sleepy Joe, who is a “magical and unique” stuffy brought home from a store in the “Eatons Mall.” Over the two issues he undergoes a drastic transformation, and Olcsvary said Joe being able to think but not talk (his mouth is stitched shut) is a key part of the character’s personality. Oh, and although many readers have asked the creative team about this, Sleepy Joe is not a reference to former U.S. president Joe Biden! By issue No. 2, Sleepy Joe has become Creepy Joe after being pulled into the underworld and having his persona changed. L.A. Mood co-owner and GNG member Gord Mood said the entity that forcibly transforms Joe, the Gloom King, is a Nietzschean kind of being. “Even the strong-willed can be broken, their resolve crushed,” it tells the toy. “Friendship is a lie, when darkness rises they’ll leave you to rot. You’re better off embracing your true nature. You are a creature of fear, destined for darkness.” If you haven’t guessed by now, Monster of the Abyss is a horror story. Olcsvary explained to the group’s members that although he is a metalhead when it comes to music, he is not a big horror guy – he just keeps getting offers to draw horror books! The part of the book where Joe is in the black pit also prompted a digression among the group about brainwashing. To what extent can a person (or even a fabric toy) be induced to do things that are outside their normal moral sphere? We had wide-ranging opinions. Another point we spent a decent chunk of time talking about is the colouring of the book. The first printing of Monster of the Abyss No. 1 was in black and white, which was followed by a colour version with colours by Payton Atkinson. We agreed as a group that we enjoyed the coloured version more. Olcsvary has described his own lines as a “bouncy, ink-heavy art style full of movement and unique composition.” He told us on Saturday that inking is his favourite part of the comic-making process! You can find Monster of the Abyss on the rack reserved for work by local comic creators. L.A. Mood’s Graphic-Novel Group meets the second Saturday of every month. Next month’s selection is Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe by David Petersen and Gabriel Rodriguez. Be warned, I am a HUGE Mouse Guard fan! We’re set to meet May 9 at the gaming tables in the store at 11 a.m. All are welcome to join the discussion! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group.
Goon References Please GNG
By Dan Brown SPOILER WARNING: This column contains plot details about Eric Powell’s Goon, so if you value surprise, do not continue reading. Stop now! The L.A. Mood Graphic-Novel Group convened on Saturday, March 14. Here’s a brief account of our discussion. The book: The Goon: Bunch of Old Crap Volume 1, which collects the character’s earliest stories. The discussion: Most of us appreciated the Goon, even if it wasn’t really our thing. Me, I loved it. I knew little about the Goon before this. I had a vague awareness of the long-running comic, and its supernatural flavour, but I had not actually read any of the his adventures. What can I say? Powell’s heedless spirit, which imbues the book with a unique energy, bowled me over. The collection was pitched by GNG member and L.A. Mood employee Matt. Much of our discussion centred around the book’s many references to the original source material that fired Powell’s imagination. For those who are new to the antihero, the Goon’s first issue came out in 1999. I found it to be a blend of ingredients that I have not seen in any other comics. One of Powell’s biggest inspirations is clearly Mad Magazine. You can feel the fun, anything-goes, slightly gross vibe in every panel. The protagonist – who looks like a giant boxer of old – is a former circus worker who becomes an enforcer for a mob boss. The twist, which comes fairly early in the chronology of the series, is the mob boss doesn’t exist – the Goon is himself the brains of the operation. He is accompanied by his homicidal sidekick Franky, who has eyes that lack pupils. Shades of Little Orphan Annie. It takes place on Lonely Street in a burg that is reminiscent of Central City, home to Will Eisner’s Spirit. The bane of the Goon’s existence are the zombies that keep popping up, only to be dispatched by his fist or a blast from a revolver. There are many other monsters rampaging about, like the sea creatures that evoke H.P. Lovecraft. There’s even a gigantic lizard-type baddie created by Powell as a way to express his love for such rubber-monster movies as Godzilla. Powell was also clearly influenced by Jack Kirby. The Goon often appears in action-packed spreads that unfold over two pages. Another source is the films noir of the 1940s. Franky is always seen in the duo's bar hangout trying to romance one dame or another. Even better, it’s so much fun to watch Powell cycle through so many different styles of illustrating. He never stops evolving. And for fans of old-school comics like yours truly, the throwback sound effects are a delight: Klang! Slap! Krash! Pow! I was in my glory. There are several more omnibus volumes of the Goon to enjoy, and I intend to get all of them. L.A. Mood’s Graphic-Novel Group meets the second Saturday of each month. Next month’s selection is from London comic creators Scott Wojcik and Eric Olcsvary, we are reading issues 1 and 2 of their Monster of the Abyss series. The group is set to meet next on Saturday April 11 at 11 a.m. at store’s the gaming tables. If you're interested in comics or graphic novels, we’d love to have you join us! 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.
