4 Indie Books

For this entry, a look at 4 different Indie books.

I'm not so interested in looking into publishers and how much cash was behind each book. Just know that by "indie" I mean, "fitting into the stereotypes of indie, such as being drawn and written by one dude and being about, you know, emotions and shit."

I decided to rank this in order from most-enjoyed to least. That way, even if you don't get all the way through, you'll hear the good instead of the bad.

1. Mid-Life by Joe Ollman

A favorite amongst these titles, Mid-Life focuses on a guy in a time period of his life that I feel is adequately explained by the title. As a matter of fact, three of four books in this entry are about a man in that time when ex-wives are abundant and unattractive physical features are rendered in dark ink.

Mid-Life reads like total autobiography, the disclaimer being that some parts may or may not be real. The details are so vivid, though, that you finish the book feeling like all of it was real and the only purpose of the disclaimer was to avoid trouble with the other "characters."

The main character is a guy who's been married a couple times, has two grown daughters and a baby son, and ends up crushing on a girl who is a semi-famous children's performer. Imagine Raffi with nice cans. Through some complicated shit, he gets the chance to actually meet boob-ed Raffi in a business setting and talk to her one-on-one.

It's an interesting premise because we all have our celebrity crushes that are totally okay because they are totally unrealistic. Most people don't mind when their girlfriend has a thing for Brad Pitt because for anything to happen they would somehow have to meet, Pitt would have to somehow be mysteriously yet powerfully attracted as well, and somehow they would end up falling in love together, you suddenly upset at Brad Pitt's changing shitty beards that were just some man's hair to you only days ago. In short, you might as well fall in love with a unicorn, because it's about equally likely that things will work out, especially since unicorns are well-known wifebeaters.

So, although it gets there through a very indie lens, at the heart of this book is an actual story as opposed to a series of pages expressing feelings and detailing impossibly small moments, a staple of this genre.


2. Life With Mr. Dangerous by Paul Hornschemeier

Life is a much shorter book, and it's a little closer to the indie stereotype in that the story is pretty much about the small little nothings of a relationship that exists mostly in the main character's head.

You have a female main character who makes some clumsy attempts at love, most of which are a little depressing and ultimately fruitless.

The thing that made this book work for me is that the story, though it can be sad at times, doesn't feel like it's purposefully shooting for sad with every turn of the page. There are some lighter moments, the art is more cartoon-y than realistic, and although the situation is a little rough it's 100% believable (see below).

This story didn't have that strong thread to it, the thing keeping you turning pages. But it does wrap itself up nicely and have a sense of flow. If someone showed you the pages of this book completely out of order, you could put them back in their proper places, which means it passes the test of having SOME kind of narrative.

The female character is seen a little less often in the role of a lonely, single nerd pining a bit too much. The character wasn't terribly feminine, but it was nice to see some different takes on the cliches, such as a mom who is a little overbearing but with her own set of problems, and a distant love who isn't a lying asshole of some variety.

Mr. Dangerous didn't blow my mind or anything, but it did what a quiet indie book is supposed to do, which is lend a little emotion and then get out of the reader's way.


3. Mr. Wonderful by Daniel Clowes

Well, you're probably familiar with Clowes' work by now. If not, I'd say give this one a try. You'll know whether you like him within a few pages.

This book, also about a guy in his mid-life getting back on the dating scene, has the Clowes' touch of having a lot of good, realistic touchstones, but with a few pages of bizarre interpersonal stuff that makes no sense to me thrown in as well.

Clowes' characters often find themselves in uncomfortable situations. Think about those cringe-worthy moments on a show like the Office, but ratcheted up and taken to a place where the discomfort is too frightening to laugh through.

I will say that this ended better for the character than most Clowes books. It also had more story to it than a book like Wilson, which is something I've come to value in indie books. So if you're into this, it's worth reading through the end.


4. Reunion by Pascal Girard

I wanted to like it. I really did.

The basic premise was about a guy headed to his high school reunion. He went to a small enough school that he knows everyone, so he decides to get in shape just a bit make a good impression. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to his wife/girlfriend/whatever, he exchanges some emails back and forth with an old flame in preparation for seeing her for the first time in a while.

In the beginning the book did a decent job of getting me to believe the whole thing, throwing in a couple fantasies about how Pascal thought the whole thing would go that were just outrageous enough to laugh at. He set himself up as the ex-nerd with a little something to prove.

But by the end, not only does the reality contrast with the fantasy, you don't even want the fantasy to come true for Pascal because he's such an asshole.

The book takes a sharp turn at the reunion. It's like one of those Fokkers movies where the guy can't seem to do anything right, and people are very aggressive on calling him out on his shit. For example, the invite said "bring a beer for a tasting party." Like a dope, Pascal brings a single beer, a weird peach one, and then takes shit the entire time for not participating properly. He makes a dumb mistake that doesn't make sense, and then the level of outrage is a little out of proportion.

At another point he is on a bench having his leg examined by one fellow attendee while another is giving him a full oral exam. Someone snaps a picture which goes up online. It's WAY too much. Even if this story is 100% real, it's just too strange and over-the-top to be entertaining. Instead of watching events unfold, the reader spends most of his energy debating the truth behind it, which means that the author failed to either

A) Create a world in which these events are believable
or
B) Temper true-life events so that they are believable.



So, what makes for an indie book that I like?

-Art-
It counts, folks. It's nice when a writer can ink his own shit, but if the art is sub-par, the story is tough to get through. Fortunately, the art in all of these was pretty good. Mid-Life has a very Peter-Bagge-esque style. Mr. Wonderful hits a lot of the simpler notes of Chris Ware with an interesting color palette and well-defined lines. Clowes is a style to himself, and Reunion was sort of a light version of what's best about Jeffrey Brown.

-Story-
After reading a lot of this kind of stuff, I prefer a book with a story that I can sum up, and it helps if there's an interesting hook. Mid-Life is the main example here, giving us a love story of sorts but with a nice twist. But indie books that have a summary along the lines of "I don't know...it's pretty much about this dude's life" are so abundant that there isn't much room for them on my bookshelf.

-Realism-
Because these stories hinge on things being realistic, when the reality feels broken it leaves the book rudderless. There's a fistfight in Mr. Wonderful that feels pretty damn perfunctory, and it breaks the reality of this intense business going on under the surface.

-Natural Empathy-
The best indie books cause you to have a natural empathy for the character. Though you might not agree with some of the feelings expressed, you can acknowledge their existence and emotional logic. But when Pascal, in Reunion, borrows a suit from his brother that is WAY too big, then takes shit all night for wearing a weird suit, it's one thing. But when the book seems to be asking you to feel sorry for him, it loses all its edge. These characters, because they are meant to feel real, have to occupy a somewhat real world and react in somewhat realistic fashion. When a character acts like a complete lunatic, I just stop caring because now we're just watching a lunatic.

DC and It's 52

By now everyone has heard that DC is relaunching 52 of its titles with new #1's in August.

I have mixed feelings.

52 of them, to be exact.

1. I can't help but think that DC is just plain out of goddamn ideas. Like when I would get really stuck in Nintendo and just hit the reset button out of anger rather than for the mystery of what might come.

2. Day-of distribution of digital versions is excellent and a necessary step, although I'm not really sure what it has to do with a reboot or why you aren't doing it already.

3. Is it just me or do almost all of these characters look the same with only the addition of a slightly higher collar, which I assume is for those little rank dots the Star Trek guys wore.

4. Jeff Lemire (who wrote the very cool Sweet Tooth) is the only reason I could possibly conceive of for being excited that there will be a new Frankenstein comic. So I guess we all lucked out on that one.

5. I'll save everyone the first 6 issues: Bruce Wayne's parents were shot, just like before, but his dad owned a smartphone at the time.

6. I still fail to understand how making a character gay, just deciding that he or she is now gay, is being considerate and helpful to the gay community. I feel like that's a fundamental misunderstanding of how homosexuality works and what the consequences are, good and bad (good: youp*** videos. bad: HGTV)

7. Is there anyone on the planet who can name 52 DC titles?

8. Better yet, is there anyone on the planet who can name 52 DC titles they would like to read?

9. The results for me personally: I'll read the best 3-5 from the 52 trades that come out.

10. I can't decide what's worse: re-reading an origin I've heard 4,000 times (Superman) or re-reading an origin I didn't give a shit about in the first place (Metamorpho).

11. For the love of god, can Catwoman finally have a gun?

12. I know I can't let it go, but why do we need a Frankenstein in a world where superpowered aliens protect our cities and write our newspapers? Isn't that enough?

13. Every comic book company does a relaunch of some kind when a new movie comes out to capture that movie audience (Green Lantern). Couldn't they just create a limited series that begins at number one, thereby capturing that audience while it's excited and dropping the series once the heat dies down?

14. So we get a new Jonah Hex series that's taking place in the past. Why, why, why does it have to take place in the old west version of Gotham? You're always doing this shit, trying to weave these little pointless connections.

15. See: Sgt. Rock, who is a modern soldier and (for no goddamn reason!) the grandson of the original Sgt. Rock.

16. Do we need a Batgirl AND a Batwoman?

17. If so, can we also get a Bat-Tween and BatBabyGirl?

18. So we've got Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: the New Guardians, and Red Lanterns? Perfect. Because I wasn't getting enough of Guy Gardner, Kilowog, and...you know, those 40,000 other dudes.

19. You're canceling Northlanders and launching a new series with swords and knights and shit under a different title, author, and with no following? Dum-dums!

20. Etrigan the demon gets his own title? Legit? You'll have to excuse me, I think that's for shit.

21. I, Vampire, a book featuring topless vampire teens on the cover. Hooray. It's about time someone captured the market for lame vampire teen romance. How is it that vampires are immortal, yet they act like they're 12 when they fall in love?

22. So we're re-numbering Batman Inc. and then continuing the storyline currently in progress? Is there any context in which that makes sense?

23. Justice League International aka Justice League Cast-Offs + Batman. Not to get too geeky here, but if you have an international team, why would you include a member who can't fly, can't teleport, and basically can't ever be on scene? Oh, wait. Because nobody cares about Booster Gold.

24. Mr. Terrific.

25. DC Universe Presents? Presents what? You have 51 goddamn options, what could I possibly be interested in beyond that?

26. Two Legion books? So, according to my calculations...46,000 characters to not care about, and Brainiac 5.

27. Hawk and Dove is getting a relaunch, two characters that represent war and peace. Oh, and boredom.

28. Batman Beyond was a show I enjoyed at age 12. But again, can we just concentrate on having one good Batman title instead of 5 decent ones?

29. So Batgirl will be de-paralyzed. Here's to hoping that, much like Professor X, this is the beginning of a long career of paralyzing and de-paralyzing.

30. Batwing: the Batman of Africa. Why?

31. Batman of Africa + Judd Winick = 2 issues before we get an AIDs arc.

32. Grifter gets his own book as a wisecracking assassin. If only Marvel'd given Deadpool hair...

33. Gee, do you think the new Kid Flash will be A: Experienced, B: Methodical, or C: Impulsive?

34. Can we talk about Blackhawks?

35. I hate how these teams of soldiers are sort of like soldiers except they seem to be allowed to wear whatever they fuck they want, including red sunglasses, low-rise pants for bare midriff, pink sneakers, and an Irish newsboy hat.

36. There's one guy flying around in the background. How come they always have one guy (like Snakeyes) who has a stealth suit that nobody else seems interested in? If I was on a baseball team and one dude was wearing a hat that gave him powers, I would think we should all have access to these magic hats.

37. Good thing they have a tough red-headed guy who is probably not from America.

38. Deathstroke the Terminator is getting his own series. Should be interesting. Won't be, but should be.

39. Wait, Demon Knights is about the Demon leading knights...in Camelot? Why didn't you say so? I always say, "More Camelot Stuff!"

40. The main character in I, Vampire has to decide to potentially go against his own kind to save humanity. Vampire betrayal? That's a new one. Well, unless you count Blade, Underworld, Interview with a Vampire, Twilight, Buffy, Morbius....you know, stuff with vampires in it.

41. Does this Madame Xanadu wear rollerskates and exist in the era of disco?

42. According to my count, we have 11 Batman-y titles coming. 11. That's approximately 21% of the relaunch.

43. Batman and Robin will feature Bruce Wayne and his son. Nothing like keeping it in the family to squash those rumors about what Robin was doing in those tight pants.

44. Oh, wait...

45. Batman: the Dark Knight is at issue #2 and will be going back to issue #1? Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride to undo 2 issues of shit there.

46. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Digital comics will be priced at $2.99, same as the physical issues, for the first four months? I feel strongly that the give and take of e-comics is the lowered price making up for the fact that you won't own a physical, collectible object.

47. Also, lowering the price after four months shows just how hard you love squeezing people for cash before you're ready to lower it to a more reasonable price.

48. Oh, and don't forget the $4.99 poly-bagged version of JLA. According to my calculations, that means collectors can be sure to buy a regular edition plus two poly-bagged editions, one that they can keep in the bag and one that they can open to redeem the code for the digital download. So that's a good $18 for one issue. Nice one.

49. As nice as it is to relaunch a black character, Static is an electric guy. Not that exciting.

50. Also, I suspect that the "rumors" that Static's signature Malcolm X hat might be replaced by something that people would goddamn recognize will prove true.

51. I'm really up for trying new things. I really am. But this isn't trying anything new. This is redoing the same stories again and again.

52. I know this all sounds cynical. But overall, my feeling is that things are changing, but for all the hooplah they aren't changing enough. In fact, most characters seem to be "changing" to be more status quo than they were before.