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Review: Hotwire Comix and Capers
Hotwire Comix and Capers
Edited by Glenn Head
Featuring Michael Kupperman, Tony Millionaire, Johnny Ryan, Ivan Brunetti and Others.
Published by Fantagraphics Books. $19.95
It has been said that the only comics that cost too much are shitty comics. Generally, I agree, but in the case of Hotwire, I would have been a lot happier with it as a pretty good $6.95 comic than this oversized $19.95 trade. It's weird, too, because in his Introduction, Glenn Head slams some artcomix genres, then pulls back unconvincingly, and then laments the glory days of comic books that jumped out at you from the stands, that were unsavory and unhealthy and thrilling. And if that's what he wanted to bring back, why not do it as an actual comic book?!
Here's what we have, and before anyone gets too excited about the lineup of cartoonists above, know that they turn in some of their least-inspired work here. Kupperman's "Gangway for Murder" starts out in Thrizzle mode but grates quickly, while Ryan's "My Mother, the Idiot" is labored and indifferently drawn. Millionaire's two-pager is morbid without even his usual humor or finely-drawn settings, and Brunetti's silent, Buddhist parable was probably useful for him to draw, but it's hard to parse as a reader. Other notable non-starters are a Rick Altergott "Doofus" story with a gross-for-its-own-sake punchline, a couple pages of Sam Henderson doodles, a perfectly drawn but pointless Garfield parody by R. Sikoryak called "Mephistofield" that finds the cat as the Devil, and the disappointing return of Doug (Steven) Allen with some dopey thing about hillbilly animals. Even Onsmith, a cartoonist I started reading recently and think is hilarious, turns in several pages of depressing redneck-themed "Okie Jokies" that just make me wonder if he laughed at all while he was coming up with them. Was there a larger point? This problem of quality isn't exclusive to Hotwire--the big names often do anthologies as favors to friends and they save their best stuff for their own books--but it's more galling here due to the price and the sheer volume of lackluster work. Of cartoonists you're likely to know, David Lasky illustrates an offbeat but sincere biography of The Clash, and Matt Madden offers the slight but amusing story of lusty losers called "Fuck Freely and Without Fear." Lauren Weinstein's "The Call" is also compelling and rather disturbing.
Head himself serves up "Mindless Thrills," which is kind of a distillation of the theme of the book, a reveling in grotesquerie. It's kind of fun to look at; it's just that there's no real story here. He also includes some gross pin-ups of his own and ones by David Paleo that get old. Carol Swain's "Family Circus" is quietly desperate and sad in that way she displayed in Foodboy, though this is better and with some lovely, strange coloring.
The book isn't a total loss, though--it turns out the lesser-known cartoonists produce some really compelling work. Best is Tim Lane with his hardboiled dialogue exchange, "Sanctuary," and the riveting story of a man emerging from a twenty year drug haze to try to reclaim his life in "The Drive Home." Lane has an intensity in his art like a less-polished Charles Burns. I laughed at the absurdity of Christian Northeast's "All Your Favorite Oldies," which really picks up Kupperman's slack if you came to this book expecting the goods from him. And Mack White's "My Gun Is Long" is a sizzling JFK conspiracy story up there with Steven Grant's Badlands if not for some goofy double-entendres. If you can find this book cheap, go for it. Otherwise, seek out the work of some of the lesser-known guys who are hungry enough to deliver.
Edited by Glenn Head
Featuring Michael Kupperman, Tony Millionaire, Johnny Ryan, Ivan Brunetti and Others.
Published by Fantagraphics Books. $19.95
It has been said that the only comics that cost too much are shitty comics. Generally, I agree, but in the case of Hotwire, I would have been a lot happier with it as a pretty good $6.95 comic than this oversized $19.95 trade. It's weird, too, because in his Introduction, Glenn Head slams some artcomix genres, then pulls back unconvincingly, and then laments the glory days of comic books that jumped out at you from the stands, that were unsavory and unhealthy and thrilling. And if that's what he wanted to bring back, why not do it as an actual comic book?!
Here's what we have, and before anyone gets too excited about the lineup of cartoonists above, know that they turn in some of their least-inspired work here. Kupperman's "Gangway for Murder" starts out in Thrizzle mode but grates quickly, while Ryan's "My Mother, the Idiot" is labored and indifferently drawn. Millionaire's two-pager is morbid without even his usual humor or finely-drawn settings, and Brunetti's silent, Buddhist parable was probably useful for him to draw, but it's hard to parse as a reader. Other notable non-starters are a Rick Altergott "Doofus" story with a gross-for-its-own-sake punchline, a couple pages of Sam Henderson doodles, a perfectly drawn but pointless Garfield parody by R. Sikoryak called "Mephistofield" that finds the cat as the Devil, and the disappointing return of Doug (Steven) Allen with some dopey thing about hillbilly animals. Even Onsmith, a cartoonist I started reading recently and think is hilarious, turns in several pages of depressing redneck-themed "Okie Jokies" that just make me wonder if he laughed at all while he was coming up with them. Was there a larger point? This problem of quality isn't exclusive to Hotwire--the big names often do anthologies as favors to friends and they save their best stuff for their own books--but it's more galling here due to the price and the sheer volume of lackluster work. Of cartoonists you're likely to know, David Lasky illustrates an offbeat but sincere biography of The Clash, and Matt Madden offers the slight but amusing story of lusty losers called "Fuck Freely and Without Fear." Lauren Weinstein's "The Call" is also compelling and rather disturbing.
Head himself serves up "Mindless Thrills," which is kind of a distillation of the theme of the book, a reveling in grotesquerie. It's kind of fun to look at; it's just that there's no real story here. He also includes some gross pin-ups of his own and ones by David Paleo that get old. Carol Swain's "Family Circus" is quietly desperate and sad in that way she displayed in Foodboy, though this is better and with some lovely, strange coloring.
The book isn't a total loss, though--it turns out the lesser-known cartoonists produce some really compelling work. Best is Tim Lane with his hardboiled dialogue exchange, "Sanctuary," and the riveting story of a man emerging from a twenty year drug haze to try to reclaim his life in "The Drive Home." Lane has an intensity in his art like a less-polished Charles Burns. I laughed at the absurdity of Christian Northeast's "All Your Favorite Oldies," which really picks up Kupperman's slack if you came to this book expecting the goods from him. And Mack White's "My Gun Is Long" is a sizzling JFK conspiracy story up there with Steven Grant's Badlands if not for some goofy double-entendres. If you can find this book cheap, go for it. Otherwise, seek out the work of some of the lesser-known guys who are hungry enough to deliver.
Posted by ChristopherAllen at 9:31 PM [Link to this post]
1 Comments:
Funnily enough, I just finished reading the third and final volume of Head's prior Fanta anthology Snake Eyes (he had Kaz as associate editor on that one), and Mack White also had a piece in that one, also one of the best of the book (it's actually up on his site). I recall White having a really neat serial in Zero Zero too... I ought to pick up his old Villa of the Mysteries series some time...
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