Nick Danger

The Incal, written by Jodorowsky, art by Mobius. Published in sections in the 1980s. I saw pieces of it in Heavy Metal, but this is the first time I've read it all the way through.





Mobius was an amazing artist. In one panel, he shows eight anonymous technicians in a row in front of computers. You've seen that shot a hundred times before. But Mobius drew each one of them doing something different. For a single panel, those guys had personalities. Some of the backgrounds are insanely detailed. A high tech dystopian city, miles of garbage, a thousand-warrior battle royale, and an ocean planet are drawn in exquisite detail. Yet he was so good at flow that I was swiftly drawn from one panel to the next, forgetting that I wanted to look at the details.

Jodorowsky's script is a lot like what he had done in El Topo in the 1960s -- lots of arresting ideas in an atmosphere of mysticism, but a plot that never quite makes sense. Part of the problem is the serial publication required a climax every few pages. It got repetitive how a new problem would come out of nowhere, and be quickly solved by a solution out of nowhere at the start of the next chapter. In order to fight The Darkness, the Incal says that everyone in the galaxy has to go into theta sleep. Next chapter: Okay, done. But wait: there are 78 billion people in the next galaxy who are awake!

It's still worth reading, because the good ideas are brilliant, and they still hold up despite having been taken and reused so many times by other creators since then.

This book is smaller than magazine size. I briefly thought about getting one of the collectible full size books. But everyone else had the same thought and the prices went up fast. I decided not to get one when the price went above $250. Someone thought it was worth $890 for the last one on Amazon Marketplace.

I don't this this is filmable. The plot is incoherent, the protagonist is unlikeable, and it would all have to be CGI.

Nick Danger

Krazy and Ignatz: Tiger Tea.




The Krazy Kat dailies were mainly gag-a-day strips. Herriman sometimes got an idea that produced gags for three to five days. Then there's Tiger Tea. This book collects the Tiger Tea story, which ran for almost a hundred days. It has more whimsy and fewer puns than usual, a strong plot, and very few thrown bricks. I prefer whimsy, so I think it's a great book.

I have a fairly large Krazy Kat collection, but I missed this book when it came out at $13. It's out of print now and I had to pay double.

davidh777

I found Alex Toth Genius Isolated at a LCS and have always been interested in it so I got it, despite the unwieldy size and high price tag. Then the dude at the counter mentions he also has a copy of Genius Illustrated in the back, so I bought that too.

I guess these are technically still in print and available at the Library of American Comics website, but I’m ok with the purchase.

Bronkster

Dammit, Nick! You bring up stuff I've never heard of and I end up having to have it! I have a few Krazy Kat books and eventually plan to try to get more, but this intrigued me right away. Found a few on Ebay - one with a different cover but same description as the others. It was $18 (with free shipping!) so I snagged it.

Bronkster

My Tiger Tea book arrived today. Nice book! Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Nick! I only flipped through it, and will read it as soon as I'm finished with Terry and the Pirates.

Trevor

I’m seriously debating that new Terry and the Pirates set. A ‘free’ 13th volume of ‘special features’ is very tempting.

davidh777

I pre-ordered the Terry and the Pirates set which was supposed to ship this month, but publishing delays have pushed it to maybe end of April. Good news is you can still get in on the pre-order.

Trevor

Darn it, I thought I had successfully resisted that temptation!

Nick Danger

What Terry and the Pirates is that? The only version I see that's available for pre-order is from Clover Press, at $120 per volume.

$1200 for a set is too rich for me.

Paul_SD

This was the offer around Black Friday- is it still active until the first volume actually ships?




I signed up for the full subscription. I seem to recall the initial payment at the time was around $210. I think shipping will be billed separately, as each volume goes out.
If it were an up front charge of $900, there's no way I would have signed up. $225/ year seemed doable- especially if I can sell off the older IDW volumes to help defray the cost.
You're committed to paying the year upfront, but can cancel the series at the next years renewal.

Seeing the differences in blowups between the two convinced me. I would have loved to have seen this printed even larger, but the improvement in reproduction quality is substantial enough on it's own to justify the upgrade.

davidh777

The $900 pre-order offer is still live on the clover site. First payment is $215. They expect to receive the shipment on June 6 so they gave Diamond a new release date of June 29.

Trevor

I think I’m going to do the 1/13 bundle. I like exclusives, and reading those two will make me more sure that I really want the rest. I’ll lose some money if I go all in maybe, but less risk if I decide I don’t need it all.

davidh777

You probably know this, but vol. 13 is all bonus material. That would certainly give you a feel for the strip, but obviously with spoilers.

Vol. 1 is the first year, and I’ve heard it gets better after that. FWIW I really enjoyed the part of the first LOAC volume I read, so that gave me confidence to dive in on the set.

Bronkster

I finished volume one of Terry and the Pirates (not the new release, obviously) and really liked it. I'd love to continue with the series, but given that I'm at an age now where the probability of my ever re-reading it would be slim, I just can't justify the cost. Twenty years ago this would be a no-brainer.

Paul_SD

I'm not trying to get anyone into financial straits, but I honestly don't think that any first time reader will be able to get a good impression of why the strip made it's mark from just the first of these new volumes.

Even in the older, six volume editions that Bronkster is reading, the content of the second volume is where the strip really found it's footing and started to become something special.

The first year or so is fun enough, throwback adventure fare, but it's definitely more narratively slight in comparison to how the strip develops in the second year and beyond. Especially once the war impacts it.
By the middle of his run, he's assembled this wonderfully diverse, Howard Hawks-style cast of richly embellished supporting characters that all keep weaving surprisingly, and naturally, in and out of the main characters lives.

In the older set, once you get to the fourth volume and the character arc of Raven, you should be able to understand why the strip is considered a masterpiece.
At that point, when you look back to those first months to a year, and all the b-movie skullduggery with the Dragon Lady, it's like you're looking back at a child who's now a man. Literally.

Trevor

Thanks Paul. Given my lack of space and backlog, perhaps this is best for a possible future Hoopla or library binge month at the beach.

You just saved me $900! Probably over a grand with shipping….

Paul_SD

(salivating)


Probably should have amended or rescinded that.
People will be able to get an idea of why the strip is beloved from the first volumes of the old or new editions. Caniff's storytelling verve is there from the get go.
It's just that the strip gets so much deeper into the dramatics as it advances- characters, subplots, atmosphere...
It's a little like the jump from Star Wars to Empire- except that the strip never regresses to Return of the Jedi. It keeps going at that same trajectory of not dumbing the material down or taking the easy way out.

Paul_SD

Clover Press just sent out an email. They have Vol. 1 and 13 in hand and are currently packing them to ship out to customers.

It's also last call to get in on early bird pricing.

davidh777

My TOTP is scheduled to arrive on Friday!

Paul_SD

Mine was scheduled for the 11th, but showed up today.
I'm happy seeing how these were packed. That was always a big ? for me. I hope the remaining 11 volumes will be double boxed as well.

davidh777

Yeah, mine arrived yesterday. The vols 1 and 13 are individually shrink-wrapped, then they’re shrink-wrapped together, then they’re in a packing box inside a mailing box. Very secure, and the strips themselves look great.

Nick Danger

C'mon! Pics!

davidh777

Fair. Here are a few that were posted on Facebook.

davidh777

These are comparing the previous version with the new version.

Bronkster

Whoa, those look awesome! Wish I could justify the set.