1.
Number Cruncher is actually out this week! Si Spurrier on his new comic
here. And there's a great looking preview
here. Last week, I said Holden's art reminded of Jeff Lemire's a little bit, and I'm sticking to that, but you'll see on the first and second pages how easily he slides from blocky art with big, thick lines, like Chris Samnee's, into a thin wavering style. You'll also notice, from the preview, that the comic shifts from black and white to color, depending on where a particular scene is set-- it's a clever trick, and I like the use of it here, particularly because black and white is the afterlife and color is here on Earth.
2) Since the beginning of the summer, I've been making my way through the first
Love and Rockets series, via the handy little collected editions that Fantagraphics has been putting out. The
Companion to those books, and the many others that Los Bros Hernandez have made over the past three decades, includes resources, a timeline, three wide-ranging interviews, a character glossary, a comprehensive bibliography, that should be interesting to even the most casual fan, and of great help to any scholars working on these excellent, heartbreaking as often as they're heartwarming, stories.
3) If the
pictures of Brandon Graham's recent gallery show in Amsterdam aren't enough to convince you to take inside the artist and writer's first art book, I think its possible that maybe you just can't love. If you do decide to take a peek, you won't be disappointed. I promise.
