Here Was A Man - Part One

Southern Bastards #1
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist/Colourist: Jason Latour
April 2014
Image Comics

Craw County. This is a place you never want to find yourself in. Between the uneducated filth, the ill-mannered white folk, and the "violence-solves-everything" mentality, being in Craw County in one capacity or another is the equivalent of being on death row. Not only does the story contain the essential elements of the cold, ugly, pessimistic view of the American south, filled with lower-class degenerates whose only focus is on power and money (not so much different from upper-class archetypes...) and gaining self-confidence in matters of immense risk and trouble, the art excels at capturing the bleakness and disgust that the characters exude in their day-to-day life.

Our connection to all this atrociousness is Earl Tubb. He is an older gentleman, approximately in his late 40s-50s, having returned to his hometown to take care of packing up his not-at-all-recently deceased father's house and moving on from his past in Craw County. He visits his father's property, reminisces a while, then finds himself at a restaurant eating a fatass plate of ribs. It is here that Earl meets Dusty Tutwiler, a scrawny, nervous fellow who warns Earl to "get the fuck out of Craw County and never come back." Of course, had Earl listened to Dusty's thoughtful and considerate advice, we would not have Southern Bastards...

I've somehow failed to mention what sets the tone for the book from the get-go. The opening page (a double page splash that connects with the backside of the cover) features a disheveled looking dog taking a dump (sound effects included for your convenience), while there are several signs and billboards in the background advertising for the various different churches in the area. Does it really need explaining what the creative team is getting at here?.. Aside from the obvious comment on religion/spirituality, however unconscious/conscious, the dog acts as a warning to Tubb. The dog is essentially trying to communicate to Tubb to get the fuck out of Craw County, however Earl fails to notice the dog's warning, or even its presence at all. So that makes two separate occasions in which Earl is told to leave CC. Can't say he wasn't warned.

We get a bit of backstory on Earl's father, Sheriff Bertrand Tubb. We know that he wasn't well-liked and that he did what he could to protect the people of CC. It's rather obvious that Earl has returned to CC to reenact the supposed goodness that his father once bestowed, however how he will do that is the real mystery here... besides the obvious violence that Earl utilizes to set things right (this demonstrates that he obviously grew up in Craw County, if that's how he intends to solve problems).

The introduction to Earl's father, Bertrand Tubb.

The introduction of what will likely become the story's primary antagonist is perfectly executed. Through Esaw's first appearance, we get an intimate look at everything wrong with Craw County. Esaw pisses in public, he calls out to people as he does this, and ends up pissing on a dog (which looks an awful lot like the dog we meet at the beginning) all in his first page. He is the epitome of the vile, repugnant capabilities of humanity, especially those that inhabit the world of Southern Bastards. Both Jason's (the two creators) let us know immediately that Esaw is not to be empathized with. However, if you do in fact side with his actions, then perhaps you too should reside in Craw County.

Each character has his or her own distinct look, thanks to Latour's skilled pencils and line work. Dusty in particular is my favourite: his face is weathered and worn out, and the way in which it's so squished together captures the fear and worrisome attitude that he exudes, whereas Earl is always portrayed as hulkish and stoic. His body language is always upright and he, obviously with his actions and demeanour but also in the way he has been drawn, represents the goodness and optimism that Craw County lacks. Earl's face is always serious looking, like he means business (and he most certainly does).

A close-up of Dusty's decrepit face.

There is no shortage of violence here in Southern Bastards, however the violence is used to the book's benefit, not detriment. So much violence dominates mainstream entertainment mediums, whether it be in film, video games, or comics, but the violence here is used to display character qualities and express how the people in Craw County solve their issues, rather than being a mere gimmick to try attracting a large audience for a quick cash grab. The violence in Southern Bastards is used in such a way so as to tell the reader that violence is as natural as is something like reproduction or the need for nourishment; it's always going to be there whether we like it or not. What the book doesn't answer is whether that's a good thing.

jobnik! an american girl's adventures in the israeli army

jobnik!
writer/artist/letterer: Miriam Libicki
2008
real gone girl studios

Soo... a friend lent this comic to me after having been to Israel herself. Pretty cool stuff huh? I believe she was given the book by someone she was visiting there, but perhaps I've mixed up what she told me (if only my brain worked properly more often). She hasn't read it yet but hopefully she does soon. Anyways... After experiencing the current Detective Comics run, I needed something fresh and intimate to wash the bad taste out of my mouth (well, that's partially due to this cold coffee, but I digress). jobnik!, upon first glance, seemed like the right place to go. I knew nothing of this book beforehand, nor anything about creator Miriam Libicki (the best way to enter a work in my humble opinion). Before opening the book however, I noticed that it came with a seal of approval by the infamous R. Crumb on the back cover. It is not surprising that he would immediately discuss the ways in which bodies are depicted (is that all he thinks about?). Thankfully he gives praise before complaining about Libicki's portrayal of the characters' figures: "[She has] an uncanny gift to draw the human body in naturalistic poses.... I wish I could do that. [But] there must be some tall skinny people in the Israeli army. They can't all be short and stocky with big eyes!" As much as I appreciate and admire Libicki's work, Crumb is not false in his critique. Libicki could use some work at experimenting with various body types so as to differentiate her characters and give them more personality through their physique. However, this did not hinder the story from excelling on various fronts.

One of the highlights of jobnik! is how Libicki thrusts the reader into her (semi?)fictionalized auto-biographical portrayal of her life, not unlike how Libicki herself (or Miriam as we come to know her in the comic) is thrown into her new job as secretary of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). In the prologue, we learn that this story will explore Libicki's sexuality, as well as her emotional well-being (or rather, not-so-well being). Libicki lets us know that this is not your average read-for-pleasure type comic; she gives the reader the heads-up about where she will be taking us, without revealing too much so as to reel in our attention with just the right mix of intrigue and curiosity.

There are several interesting page layouts that Libicki uses in each chapter that demonstrate her skill to experiment with the medium, whilst still being capable of telling an interesting story despite using unconventional designs (pages 23, 36-37, 45,67, and 73 just to name a few). Libicki is able to cover lots of ground with her layouts. For example, on p. 73, she juxtaposes two panels against one another as time lapses, with the left side zooming out of her military base to eventually reveal the sphere of the earth, while on the right side the story moves through significant events related to the present scenario (doing my best to avoid spoilers here!), slowly homing in from the past and onto our present version of Miriam. One side of the page zooms out, the other closes in; this suggests that Libicki is trying to get a bigger picture view of the conflict occurring in Israel through both a detached, objective view, as well as through a personal, intimate account of Miriam's life.

Libicki's gorgeous B&W pencil art. She excels at shading.

jobnik! also performs well at capturing what it is like to be a sexually curious female living in a world of uncertainty and impermanence. This is not to say that this should be taken as a guide-line or absolute for every young girl/woman, but rather sheds light on the female perspective and just how complex that can be. [SIDE NOTE: The only other comic I can think of that I have read that also does this, and does it well I might add, is Julie Maroh's Blue is the Warmest Colour, published in English by Arsenal Pulp Press.] We learn that Miriam has had her share of ups and downs in the dating scene, more often than not falling on the latter of the two. Miriam's encounters with men suggests multiple possibilities: a) Miriam has poor taste in men; b) men are, generally speaking, (almost) entirely devoid of emotional connection and lack serious commitment skills, and seek out women (specifically Miriam, as well as some others in the book) for the sole means of alleviating their lustful desires; or c) both of the above. The only respectable men in the comic are Miriam's homosexual friend Yossi, whom Miriam obviously does not engage with sexually, and a friend introduced late in the story named Mike who ensure that she makes her bus to New York okay. Whenever sex is involved, men are portrayed as being selfish and cold. It's hard to say whether Libicki deliberately meant to convey that (most, if not) all men objectify women in her story or whether she is trying to be as accurate to her life as possible in depicting how her past lovers treated her. At any rate, it was difficult to sympathize and connect with any of the male characters in the story (besides Yossi).

On the positive side of exploring Miriam's sexual and romantic escapades, we get an in-depth view of what love means to her and how important it is to her overall happiness. Despite the unpleasant encounters Miriam faces, it is easy for the reader to empathize with her and long for her to find whatever it is that she is looking for. Unfortunately, Miriam suffers from placing such high importance on the man she is with and idealizes her relationships far too much. It's tough to say whether Miriam has grown or not in the end, as the story concludes unexpectedly, however she is at least self-aware that she lives a polyamorous lifestyle. I'm by no means poking at polyamory here, but it is obvious that Miriam longs for a committed monogamous relationship and she never seems truly happy because of this. Contradictory to that, Miriam has little self-control at stopping herself from sleeping with strange men on a regular basis, which causes her great distress and injures her self-esteem. Perhaps she is a closet-polyamorist and needs to step outside and realize just what it actually is that she wants. Or perhaps she is a monogomist willing to settle for anything until she finds her "soul mate." Whatever the case, she's got some issues to deal with (if she wants to attain the happiness that she expresses the desire to find).

See what I mean? Is that pencil or some sort of digital pencil gray scaling?

Libicki's artwork is what really drew me in to jobnik! I'm a sucker for pencils and her work was a delight to ogle. It looks like there are ink washes or some form of gray scaling that was added digitally after she drew the pages out in pencil; some of the gray colouring looks pixel-y in areas, whereas in others it's much easier to see where she used pencil to shade in sections. Perhaps the scanning of the pages altered the look of her pencils and made it appear to be gray scaled. At any rate, Libicki has the chops to convey emotion and settings in B&W well and I'm eager to read more of her work (her hand-drawn lettering is impressive as well!).

Some criticisms of her art style coincides with what I quoted R. Crumb of at the beginning of this review: Libicki draws her characters too similarly to one another. During several scenes, it became difficult to tell who was who, especially when three characters in a panel all have the same facial features and body types. I found myself forgetting the names of characters and had minor difficulty telling who was who; it's distracting from the flow of the story to have to flip back to pages and try to figure out who's who. To aid this, Lubicki would have been better off using names more frequently since there is an abundance of characters who come and go in each chapter.

I'll conclude this raving with a quote from jobnik! that strikes me as a perfect summary of Miriam:

'i did think you were interesting. i thought you could draw well. but i saw very quickly that you don't respect yourself. and how can i respect a girl who doesn't respect herself?' (91)

It's been such a long time...

It's been a while. A while since what, you ask? Well, many things. It's been a while since I've shaved my head. It's been a long time since I last went to the United States of America. It's been many days since I walked the halls of Courtice Secondary. It's also been quite some time since I've reviewed a comic book. You probably would never have any inclination as to what I'm about to say next, but you're fairly bright and reasonably educated, so I suppose you'll be able to figure out what's coming next from good ol' me.

It's best to be organized if we want to make any progress here, so let's go out on a whim and say that we'll be seeing reviews from these fine indie/creator-owned comics (that is, up until I decide to drop the series, if I in fact choose to do so..):

• The Auteur
• Minimum Wage
• Nailbiter
• Saga (collected edition reviews only)
• Sex Criminals
• Southern Bastards
• The Superannuated Man

AND 

• an assortment of collected editions and original stand-alone material

Feel free to give me feedback. Let me know whether you like what I do, hate it, or heck, even give your own review in the comments. Got something you think I should check out? I'm always open to reading new comics that I have no idea about. The newer, the merrier (but let's not be limiting here folks, there's great old stuff out there that deserves our attention too). 

Love,
S.

P.S. 

Don't get me wrong, I love superhero stuff (Batman, Hawkeye, Swamp Thing, and Ms. Marvel are my personal favourites) but let's be real: new ideas aren't as easy to sell, nor do they survive as easily in our market as our costumed friends' series do. As an aspiring comic-book writer myself, I'm of the mind to help spread the good word about original ideas and help my favourite comic creators survive in the industry so they can keep creating stories that will (hopefully) be worth reading and so I will continually be entertained and inspired to create the best stuff I can possibly can (whew! whatta run-on sentence). So basically, the more exposure a creator-owned series receives, the increased longevity it has, meaning that we, both the creator and the reader, benefit from this.

Here's to reading great original comics. Happy reading!