MEANWHILE AND THE Cynthia Von Buhler ARCHITECTURE von Buhler OF DESIRE MARCH 2020 - NO. 39

Bill Sienkiewicz

Dave McKean David Mack Sienkiewicz

Kirby Steranko

Neil Gaiman

Bill Neal Adams

Klimt Giacometti

Ei- leen Gray Artemisia Gentileschi

Rembrandt Velazquez

Gina Siciliano

Siciliano Gen- tileschi

The Comics & Graphic Novel Bulletin of Most graphic novels book to Lazy Parenting from no laughing matter when tech Our star attraction is the ture Time and Conan the Barbari- professional acrobats, come in the same Drawn & Quarterly. Ren- maven Hannah leaves it all be- largest and longest of these an, too, as the last of the this visually boisterous format, size and dered with a light touch hind for her new social app, odd-sized items. Battlepug is Kinmundians rides his Battlepug saga of the waning shape, a roughly 8.5 x augmented with well-placed “Know Me”. Beta-tested in a the hit webcomic compiled against the evil Catwulf and a days of vaudeville un- 11 rectangle. But late- gray tones, Handbook details small religious community, the in the Compugdium by Image. host of giant animals. Alay-Oop folds in full page draw- ly, as part of the ex- all the fun and frustration of app erases the boundaries be- Mike Norton’s thrilling and reprints William Gropper’s ings inked with Grop- plosion in alternative family life, with DeLisle of- tween self and group in this hilarious fantasy epic will graphic novel from the 1930s. A per’s energetic brush- styles, printing and ten the butt of the joke. It’s timely novel by Will Dinski. delight fans of Bone, Adven- pantomime comic about a trio of work. Pencils are the format, LPL has re- chosen medium of Ho ceived a bunch of -ward Chackowicz. small and/or strangely Most of the profane, shaped books. Some disturbing and utterly are collections of car- hilarious cartoons that toons, others compi- fill Nothing to See Here lations of web comics, are in pencil, with oc- still others actual nov- casional rough-hewn els. French cartoonist inks. From “New York- Guy Delisle takes er cartoons gone ter- a break from his non- ribly wrong” to free- fiction comics such as hand explosions from Pyongyang and Hostage the id, Chackowicz (see 741.5 #6) to pen delivers one of the totes adorbs Hand- year’s funniest books.

The book begins where But E-1027 was not the work of the directions and times, far too many of the story ends: Le Corbu- man friends called Corbu. The Mod- them the result of the League’s own sier, icon of 20th Century actions. Moore’s monster mash-up ernist milestone located on the sunny of pulp tropes and characters reach- Modernist architecture, es peak overload. Creatures of drowns during his morn- shores of the South of France was de- Shakespeare and Fleming, Lovecraft ing swim. His body is signed by one Eileen Gray. Like many and Brecht, Moorcock and Verne rub elbows and throw fists with charac- found in the shadow of women, Gray was erased from the his- ters from British film, TV and comics. his last domicile, a mas- tory of her age and her art. A House Especially the army of derivative has terpiece of housing de- -beens and never-weres of English Under the Sun looks to repair that. superhero strips; the major sub-plot sign known as E-1027. of Tempest parodies the likes of the Flash Avenger, Ace Hart the Atom EILEEN GRAY Man and the kid who got his powers by eating ice cream. The Tempest is A HOUSE UNDER very much part of Moore’s ongoing THE SUN critique of the superhero myth. As the retired Captain Universe says, “Fantastic adventurers were once inspiring rarities. Now there’s a mon- oculture of supermen, so they’re Twenty years after its beginning, the nothing special.” Yet the story ends by Charlotte Malterre-Barths saga of the League of Extraordinary with the wedding of the Captain and Gentlemen comes to a close in The his former team-mate Electro-girl, a and Zosia Dzierzawska Tempest. Originally intended as a lark moment of clarity and joy amid the (NOBROW) by writer Alan Moore, the tale of the cataclysm devouring the Earth and Beaumont — Central “Justice League of Victorian England” its sister planets. Unleashed from became a sprawling commentary on the id of humanity, our dreams and Writer Malterre-Barthes bounces be- says Eileen. “So...the house the whole of Anglo-American pop cul- dreads rise up in a tidal wave of must be able to adapt.” ture from the Bronze Age to the Eliza- werewolves, ghouls and kaiju that tween Gray’s past—a playful childhood, Eventually Gray’s own life bethan Era to the 21st Century. Only swamps civilization. Moore gives her rise in the Parisian bohemia of the became unfixed. Tired of there was no Elizabeth in the world of Mina and her pals a happy ending— personal and professional the League; instead, there was Queen or at least a quick getaway. But he 1920s (see cover)—and her present, liv- Gloriana, the Fairie Queene of Spen- jealousies, she walked away still tolls the warning bell, as he has ing and loving in the house she designed ser’s epic poem. And, as revealed in for years, concerning our cultures’ from the artistic life and out from the bottom up. Utterly inexperi- The Tempest, the League and its ante- descent into fantasy and fanaticism. of the history books. Drawn cedents were created by Gloriana to Get Tempest at Central and Eastside enced at building, Gray learned as she with a lively humanity by avenge the oppression of the Fair Folk Zosia Dzierzawska, Eileen by her successors to the English Right: Flanked by Satin Astro, Mars- worked, from blueprints to construction, man and the former Mrs. Peel, the Gray is a treasure. A House throne. This revelation is but one of immortal Orlando remembers the bringing to life her own theories of archi- Under the Sun can be found many as the League’s long-time lead- tecture. “People do not lead...fixed lives,” er Mina Harker and her allies Orlando friends and foes of the League of Ex- at Beaumont and Central. and Emma Night face foes from all traordinary Gentlemen. MEANWHILE We move from the page to the stage and back again with The Illuminati Ball written and drawn by Cynthia Von Buhler, author of Minky Woodcock, the Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini (see 741.5 no. 22). This lovely package from Titan Comics is based on the “immersive theat- rical experience” produced by the multi- talented von Buhler. Five very different people receive invitations to the titular event. The scientist, the singer, the celebrity chef, the attorney, the financier— all accept for different reasons. The Ball turns out to be a masquer- ade, with most participants hidden behind bizarre and fabulous animal masks. But as the party wears on, the difference between man and beast begins to blur, leading to a revelation of the Illuminati’s true plans and the crimes against nature already committed in the cause

He’s not done a lot of work for the big pub- the sinister shadowplay of espionage. Drake lishers lately, so Bill Sienkiewicz is not escapes her responsibilities to Crown and kin quite the household name he used to be by taking a solo sailboat trip out onto the among comics fans. But his influence is still deep blue sea. She ends up shipwrecked on obvious in the work of contemporary comics the shores of a mysterious derelict village. artistes such as Dave (Mr. Punch) McKean The Village, actually—and it is only a matter and David (Solo) Mack. It was Sienkiewicz of time before Drake finds herself caught up (pronounced “Sin-KEV-itch”) who built on in the decades-long struggle between the early experiments by Kirby, Steranko and men named Two and Six. The Prisoner: Shat- other aesthetically restless Silver Agers in tered Visage (Titan) is the officially author- adding elements such as collage and mixed ized sequel to the cult classic TV show media to his comics. Revolution is the first (available on DVD from Central!). Its theme of of a series of Oversize volumes from Six Foot how subterfuge and surveillance slipped the Press. An introduction by Neil Gaiman reins of their Cold War masters to become kicks off an examination of the early part of powers in themselves is all too relevant to- Bill’s career, detailing how just another day. As is the Young Adult graphic novel Neal Adams wannabe working on a funny- Banned Book Club (Iron Circus). Kim Hyun book starring a Batman wannabe trans- Sook was a teenager living under the repres- formed into the artist who brought Klimt sive military regime of 1980s South Korea. and Giacometti into the worlds of the Shad- She worked at the school newspaper under ow and the New Mutants. Bill Sienkiewicz: the thumb of uniformed muggs who okay and Revolution is a big, beautiful book ixnay every jot and tittle. Nonetheless, Kim available from Central. The recent re- and her friends risk life and liberty to read print of his breakthrough novel, Elektra: forbidden works of literature. Feel free to get Assassin, is available via lexpublib.org. this thrilling graphic bio at lexpublib.org!

of conspiracy. A visual trip, a narrative maze, The Illuminati Ball can be reserved through lex- publib.org. As described by our cover feature, life as an artist can be hard for a woman. But Ei- leen Gray had it made in the shade compared to Artemisia Gentileschi. Often called Italy’s greatest woman painter, the subject of I Know What I Am was the contemporary of such Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Velazquez (the subject of The Ladies-In-Waiting, another fine artistic biography, as seen in 741.5 #15). She was a woman, though, which is why you’ve prob- ably never heard of her. Cartoonist Gina Siciliano fixes that for you with her visually and factually detailed account of the Life and Times of Artemi- sia Gentileschi (Fantagraphics). As expressed in Siciliano’s masterful pencil-based art, Gen- tileschi broke new ground for women’s rights at a time when the very concept was hardly imagi- nable, taking on one of Rome’s leading citizens in a rape trial that shook the Italian Renais- sance. A masterwork of historical comics, I Know What I Am can be found at Central and Eastside. Alice Drake is also a woman in a man’s world, Back issues of 741.5 are available at lexpublib.org under the COLLECTIONS tab!