Curly Head Ballet an Enchanting Summer Read
By Dan Brown Judging by the sticky weather and thunderstorms we’ve been having in recent days, the time for summer reading is here – even if summer won’t officially arrive for weeks. If you’re in the mood for a warm-weather read, The Curly Head Ballet by Forest City cartoonist Doug Rogers will scratch that particular itch. This 33-page, black-and-white tale is an enchanting, wistful look at one little girl who just wants to dance, and was inspired by the city’s Original Kids Theatre.It’s longer than a traditional kids’ book, but not quite a full graphic novel, yet still packs a (sweet) punch. I enjoyed it on a recent muggy afternoon. It’s one of those books that is as deep as you want it to be. You may know Rogers for his political cartoons. Following in the footsteps of London Free Press legend Merle Tingley, Rogers skewers politicians at all levels of government. A recent LondonOntLife online cartoon has Ontario Premier Doug Ford promising, during his announcement to loosen liquor restrictions, “Save just 10,000 pop-up tabs (off beer cans) and get a doctor!” Rogers also specializes in depicting cartoon cats of various shapes, sizes and hues. “I think this is the first time I have ever finished anything,” Rogers joked about Curly Head Ballet in a blog post in February. He completed the book this spring. As with other summer reads, questions like “What happens in this book?” are kind of moot. It’s more about creating a feeling, a vibe, surrendering to the atmosphere Rogers has conjured. Natasha, the heroine of the story, goes to Madame De Barge’s studio in order to learn how to dance. She finds fairies there, and the story follows her as she is mocked (the nymphs call her “NaTRASHa” at one point), then told she must “Lose your head! Throw that stinking thinking away!” before there’s a musical number that ends the story with a whirl of bodies. It’s not clear what’s “real” in this book, nor does it matter. The point is just to enjoy Rogers’ fluid, expressive drawings. As summer frees us from the cold, Curly Head Ballet is sufficiently entertaining to free you of any hangups to make sense of its narrative. So naturally I was floundering to think of a comparison for The Curly Head Ballet. I racked my brain for another artist or property that would help readers understand it without having the new book in their hands. Then, it struck me. The perfect parallel. And bonus, it’s also a local one.You may remember how I reviewed another atmospheric graphic novel in this space last summer. I’m talking about DS Barrick’s dreamlike Murgatroyd & Nepenthe. Although they are both from local creators, Murgatroyd & Nepenthe and The Curly Head Ballet don’t have much in common in terms of content. But I do think they are similar in terms of the vibe they evoke. “Darling, your head’s in the way! I can’t help you if your head’s in the way,” Madame De Berge scolds Natasha, a line I could very easily see passing between Barrick’s two title protagonists. Another way to think about it: I don’t know for sure, but these two local creators both seem to have been inspired by Berkeley Breathed after he ended Bloom County and remade the strip in an abstract vein, calling it Outland. So by all means, spend a day this summer in a field with your back against the grass looking up at the clouds in hopes of spotting familiar shapes. Or you could check out The Curly Head Ballet instead and let yourself be transported to a theatrical, imaginary place where children and fairies dance side-by-side like you always knew they should. (A good starting point if you’re new to Doug Rogers is his blog, which can be found at dougsamu.ca.) Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
As a child, I Was Not Pop-Culture Deprived
By Dan Brown For a long time, for some reason, I was under the impression there wasn’t much pop culture around when I was a kid. Oh sure, there were Marvel Comics, Lego building blocks and one movie called Star Wars. But compared to today’s tykes – who have AI, social media, online gaming, streaming services, you name it – I mistakenly believed I had been deprived. Heck, when I was a boy we didn’t even have dedicated comic-book stores like L.A. Mood! I’m 55 years old and for many years I looked back on the late 1970s/early 1980s as a time when there wasn’t much going on. In my memory, it seemed like a barren era free of fun. I recently sat down with my journal and made a list of all the pop culture I had access to back then. And guess what? I see now it was a freakin’ Golden Age. My memories were mistaken. There were so many things floating around that fired my developing imagination. Sure, a lot of the stuff I was reading, watching and playing with was shabby, cheap or just plain weird – Rocket Robin Hood, anyone? – but it was all fodder for my creativity. Want examples? Here are a few. Stores like the Drawing Card, the stationery supply place in Sherwood Forest Mall, had comic spinner racks where I picked up the latest issues of the Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Alpha Flight. The daily newspaper, which I delivered to doorsteps around Poplar Hill, had strips like Peanuts. More importantly, it featured the work of editorial cartoonist Merle Tingley – I may not have grasped his political points, but finding Luke Worm in each cartoon was a ton of fun. I rode my bike every Wednesday evening to the Coldstream Library. I borrowed many Tintin books, as well as the Merlin trilogy from Mary Stewart. There were also books, bought or borrowed from friends, by C.J. Cherryh and John Morressy.Once I graduated from Lego, Dungeons & Dragons was there to feed my hunger for adventure. I spent many hours creating imaginary settings and characters. Via my clock radio, I listened to Fanshawe College’s CIXX-FM in the years before it was shut down by the CRTC for license violations. For someone who liked to groove to bands like Blue Oyster Cult, it was a godsend. My aunt and uncle got me a subscription to OMNI, the sci-fi magazine. This was supplemented by other cool periodicals I bought with my paper-carrier cash, chief among them Dragon Magazine, which supported my burgeoning D&D habit.On TV, there was the Muppet Show, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica. I was also a big fan of Doctor Who, which aired on TVOntario on Thursday and Saturday nights in serial cliffhanger form. Thundarr the Barbarian was one of the cartoons I watched every weekend. At the movies, it’s true there were many turkeys – such as the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers remakes. However, there were also gems – for example, Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I now consider the perfect film. At my grandmother’s home in far-off St. Catharines I would Them! and other horror flicks from yesteryear on the TV in her basement. You may think this is one of those columns where I despair for the youth of today. Don’t worry. Everyone’s “imagination journey” is different and I refuse to beat up on the current generation of young ones. The truth is, you cobble together the ingredients you need to feed your imagination from whatever happens to be at hand. In fact, the most important thing I had going for me wasn’t a thing at all, but parents who read to me from a very early age so I became a lifelong reader. Also, I had raw free time, especially during summers, to play and draw and think.The truth is, I can’t wait to see what the next generation – raised on Captain Underpants, ChatGPT, Disney+, and the evergreen Lego – comes up with when they get older. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
New Snoopy Collection is All About Camp
By Dan Brown If you have a little ones at home who are going to sleepover camp for the first time this summer, you might want to get them a copy of Snoopy: Beagle Scout Adventures before they depart. Packed with 164 pages of cartoons, this latest Peanuts Kids Collection from Andrews McMeel Publishing will help get your child in the right frame of mind. Going to camp can be a big step, but this book teaches that it can be a fun adventure – despite the drawbacks, like missing family. “Everyone in the world is lonely,” Snoopy tells one of his little yellow bird friends while in the bush after they have crawled into their sleeping bags. “Try to think of something nice.” Snoopy’s feathered charge responds that a hot fudge sundae would help him get over his loneliness. That’s just one example of Charles Schulz’s gentle, philosophical humour. Nor is it just Snoopy who leaves home in this anthology. Charlie Brown, Linus and Peppermint Patty are among the other Peanuts characters who get a taste of the camp life. On the first night in his bunk, Linus despairs. “What if my mother and dad move away while I’m gone, and don’t tell me?’’ Those are some pretty grownup feelings! Now, you might think Linus would get grief for dragging his security blanket around, but in one strip he cracks it like a whip, separating a branch from a tree. “They won’t tease me more than once,” he says calmly after the display of pinpoint accuracy. This collection, which landed at the end of April, was promoted in a Free Comic Book Day sampler a couple weeks ago. After checking out the freebie, I knew I had to get a copy of the book because I’m a big fan of Snoop’s imagination-driven outings. You never know for sure in Schulz’s cartoons what is real and what is a flight of fantasy, which is part of his work’s appeal. These cartoons are presented in colour, as opposed to their original black-and-white newspaper appearances. And they have the dates removed from them, which left me wondering if young readers will get all of Schulz’s references.When he shows Sally, Charlie Brown’s sister, in a bean-bag chair watching TV, do they know it was a piece of furniture popularized in the 1970s? Do they know what “videotape” is? Do they still write letters? Charlie Brown himself considers going to Canada as a way to avoid having to go to camp, but will kids today understand Schulz is making a Vietnam Era draft-dodging reference? Comic books are mentioned more than once. In one panel, Marcie describes what’s happening in a comic book to Peppermint Patty: “It’s where Spiderperson is on this bridge and . . . “ Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but could that line be an allusion to the Gwen Stacy storyline in Marvel Comics? Schulz’s religious references are also impossible to miss. “I think it’s a sin to be bored,” Snoopy tells Woodstock and his fellow birds as they march through the woods, the beagle awed at the beauty of nature around them.The genius of Peanuts is that it speaks to readers at different times in their life.I originally fell in love with Snoopy and the gang when I was delivering the London Free Press as a grade-school kid. Back then, Peanuts made me laugh.When I read a book like Beagle Scout Adventures as an adult, I fall in love with Charles Schulz’s creations all over again. Today, Schulz’s cartoons makes me feel, and think. So once you’ve packed your kid one off to camp, take the book and read it yourself – as a way to keep from missing the wee ones too much. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Are Comicons Changing?
This column is about comic conventions. I don’t have an overarching thesis. All I have is a bunch of evidence in search of a theory.What I mean is, I’ve noticed a few things recently about comicons – but I don’t know if they add up to any kind of coherent conclusion.So if I give you the evidence I’ve observed, maybe you can tell me what’s going on. Exhibit A: Maybe you heard how Umbrella Academy star Elliot Page caused a stir late last month at Calgary Expo by slamming the Alberta government over its policies on transgender youth.Page, who is trans, spoke out during a moderated conversation against legislation passed in January that, among other things, bans gender reassignment surgery for those under the age of 17. Much of what he said came in response to questions from the audience.Exhibit B: For years now, the mother of all pop-culture fests, the San Diego Comic-Con, has been co-opted by Hollywood.As Marvel and DC have become bigger players in the film world over the last 20 years, it has become a tradition to use San Diego as the platform for launching the summer’s big superhero and genre movies (Free Comic Book Day, another annual fixture that arrives earlier in the geek calendar, usually sees an accompanying superhero release as well).It’s enough for some San Diego purists to lament the passing of the days when Comic-Con was all about the comics, man! Exhibit C: The organizers of Fan Expo last week announced that former Mandalorian star Gina Carano will be a guest this August at the massive Toronto show.Carano, who played a rebel shock trooper who becomes a New Republic marshal on The Mandalorian, was fired by Lucasfilm in 2021. You may remember she had opposed mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic and made online posts that were interpreted as comparing the lot of conservatives in Hollywood with the treatment of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.So what’s the larger picture here? Comicons, which were once one of the few places comic enthusiasts could pick up rare back issues and talk superheroes, have evolved into all-purpose pop-culture happenings. Are they now changing into something even more removed from their original purpose?If Tinseltown has peacefully hijacked Comic-Con to further its financial goals, then what’s wrong with someone like Page using the Calgary Expo to make a political point? Maybe I’m conspiracy-minded, but it occurs to me that for Page, who has never been shy about sharing his opinions, this might have been a major reason to appear in Calgary.The response on mainstream media websites, from what I could see, was typical. Many of the commenters pointed out sarcastically how appropriate it was for Page to prompt a mini-furor at a comic convention. And then there were the angry social-media responses I saw to the Gina Carano announcement. This time it was Fan Expo supporters who were complaining about the one-time Mandalorian ally being invited to appear. They tore her up.It would be a shame if these developments mean fan conventions are becoming less welcoming. Or that they are becoming just another venue for public figures to make a political statement.I’ve been to my share of Fan Expos, Star Wars Celebrations, Dungeons & Dragons cons, Forest City Comicons and the rest. Last month I was at the Chatham Kent Expo. One of the reasons I love going to this type of gathering is that the vibe is always so relaxed and accepting. I wish you could bottle that laidback feeling because, in my experience, it’s rare.I hope to hell that the festering intolerance I read so much about in the media isn’t inevitably seeping into the safe spaces that I and other geeks treasure.But you tell me. What changes do you see happening on the con scene?Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Free Comic Book Day 2024 is Saturday May 4th
Save the date and celebrate at L.A. Mood 100 Kellogg Lane, suite 5, London. We will be open 10 am till 6 pm. There will be free comics, sales, costumes, guest artist Eric Olcsvary, random draws (including an unopened copy of Deadpool The Adamantium Collection (MSRP $240)), enter Shaw's name that flavour contest for their newest ice cream creation, spend over $20 to get a special discount on Shaw's super hero sundae, enter our Deadpool selfie contest by taking a photo with Deadpool and using the hashtag #LAMoodDeadpool, and more! Come early as we will have limited comics available (while supplies last!). For more details please check out www.freecomicbookday.com. There is plenty of free parking at 100 Kellogg Lane. If you don't see an available spot across from the atrium there is plenty of parking north of Dundas St. behind the old Emco building. Don’t miss out! Book Saturday May 4th in your calendar now! L.A. Mood Comics and Games100 Kellogg LaneSuite 5London ON N5W0B4Canada
On Free Comic Book Day, Something For Everyone
I don’t know what kind of comics you like. But I can say this much with certainty: When you visit your favourite comic store on Free Comic Book Day (which lands on May 4) you will find a veritable horn o’plenty to pick from. That’s right. There’s something for everyone. It’s an old-fashioned cornucopia. Or maybe a comicopia? What I mean is, whatever publisher, fandom, character, creator, title you favour, you will find something to scratch that particular itch. I say this after getting a sneak peak of the bulk of the freebies that await you at stores like my preferred comics haunt, L.A. Mood Comics & Games. Fandoms like Star Wars, Stranger Things, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Planet of the Apes are represented by offerings from publishing houses such as Marvel, Dark Horse, Titan, Fantagraphics, and IDW. Here are a few highlights from my reading to help inform your FCBD excursion:*For a sentimental old fool like me, the title that jumps out is Snoopy: Beagle Scout Adventures, a sampler with strips pulled from the collection of the same name landing in bookstores at the end of April. What ‘s better than Snoopy and Woodstock camping in the woods? Snoopy and a whole troop of little Woodstocks camping in the woods! *Marvel is putting on a big push on a couple fronts. One is this year’s companywide crossover, called Blood Hunt. The premise is that perpetual night has fallen on the Marvel Universe, which means it’s feasting time for vampires, including the hungriest bloodsucker of them all, Dracula. The other front is Marvel’s Voices line, which features characters and creators aimed at the queer, Indigenous and Latino communities. *The best cover may be the one on Tons of Strange, a child-friendly homage to the EC horror titles of the 1950s. Inside, you’ll find Jawas playing dice in the sands of Tatooine! *Speaking of the 1950s, Stories from the Atlas Comics Library includes a Stan Lee-penned piece in which the then-unknown creator took aim at Fredric Wertham. He’s the crank psychiatrist who provided the anti-comics crowd with pseudo-scientific cover for their crusade to ban comics, which included comic burnings, back in the day! *Also in the running for best cover is the one for Conan: Battle of the Black Stone, which features everyone’s favourite barbarian hefting a bloody axe. It comes from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics. Is there a comics company out there that hasn’t published his adventures? The difference this time is the current licence holders are trying to situate Conan within a larger Robert E. Howard universe of characters. *Perhaps the broadest sampler pamphlet is the one featuring Asterix and Obelix, which includes episodes culled from seemingly every one of their books. Oh those wacky Gauls! *The Kill Shakespeare universe makes a return with Romeo Vs. Juliet, which imagines the star-crossed lovers crossing swords! How is this possible? It turns out Juliet faked her own death. No word in this promo pamphlet on how Romeo managed to shuffle back onto this mortal coil. *The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle handout includes a slice-of-life tale in which Master Splinter has a rare evening of quiet away from his adopted mutant sons. All I will say is that the rodent sensei doesn’t spend all his free time meditating!*The Cursed Library Prelude takes place in the Archie Horror world, so for those who prefer the dark side of Riverdale, prepare to meet Jinx, the daughter of Satan himself! It also features a snippet of a ghost story starring Archie’s favourite blond, Betty Cooper! So if you’re a fan of Venom, Flash Gordon, Johnny Quest, ThunderCats, Hellboy, Frankenstein’s wife or Mei-Mei the red panda, there’s something for you this FCBD. And that’s just the free comics . . . I hope you’ve been saving your shekels because the annual event is also a great excuse for London’s comic retailers to offer customers some outrageous deals!I love FCBD, dubbed Geek Christmas by some, for the feeling that’s in the air around town. It’s kind of like a moving fan convention as Forest City comic enthusiasts, cosplayers and pop-culture followers travel around our community, checking in at all the different stores. There’s a rare convergence this time as FCBD and May the Fourth (the day unofficially set aside to celebrate all things Star Wars) coincide, so there’s bound to be the waft of bantha steaks in the air. Don’t miss it! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
