Happy Planetary Day!

It's finally happening.

We are finally getting the last issue of Planetary! Woo!!

For those that don't know, Planetary is a comic book series by creators extraordinaire Warren Ellis (aka the best writer in the business) and John Cassaday (aka the best artist in the business), and unsurprisingly given the pedigree this series is one of the best 5 or 10 I've ever read. It's about a trio of "archaeologists of the impossible" who go around tracking down the world's secret history but ultimately was about taking out "the Four", their opposite number except, you know...totally evil.

The first time I read anything from this series was 1998 in the back of an issue of Gen13 and now, over 10 years after the first actual issue was released, we are finally receiving the 27th and last issue of the series. It's been a long (LONG) and wild ride Ellis and Cassaday have taken us on, but entirely worth the wait. Well, correction: I'll let you know if it was worth the wait around 5 pm Alaska Standard Time. That's when I pick it up and read it at near Olympian speeds. Cannot wait, after waiting for 3 (THREE!) years between issues. It's going to be epic.

Come In Alone

#10 - Come In Alone by Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis is quite the hyphenate. Depending on when you catch him he is a social media proponent, a futurist, a novelist, a blogger, and a writer of often inspired and always imaginative comic books, which is what I know him for primarily. While each role alone is typically invaded by other sides of Ellis, rarely are all aspects of his persona clearly evident in his work. Within the pages of Come In Alone, his collection of columns/essays he wrote for Comic Book Resources in 1999 to 2000, Ellis wears all of his hats simultaneously. The fusion of his roles allows Ellis to effectively take the world of comics to pieces and build it again from the ground up over that years worth of columns, and it results in a collection that should be required reading for everyone affiliated with the world of comics, no matter how tertiary you perceive your role to be.

One of the most amazing things Ellis does is create a thematic arc within his fifty two weeks of columns. You could even say he set it up in the classic three act method. In the first act, he presents the comic industry as it was in the year 2000 - comics of low quality ran rampant, incredible amounts of continuity made most mainstream books impossible for new readers to pick up, and comic stores made it impossible for small books to survive. However, he also showed us that there is hope in unknown (at the time) creators such as Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction and Carla Speed McNeil (all Eisner award winners now).

In the second act, he started to get deep into the doom and gloom as Marvel started falling apart with Bob Harras getting fired, Joe Quesada getting hired, and the company as a whole getting into dire financial straits. This proved to be one of the most intriguing sections as this was one of the only times in history that it seemed like the medium as a whole could go under. Ellis analysis of all of this was extremely compelling, as you never really think of all of the hell that these people go through, and learning more about how truly terrible the comic book industry was in the late 90's is terrifying and almost makes me feel bad for reading comics then.

The third act really starts to focus on how what Ellis saw the industry as a whole then and what stores, readers, and creators can do to fix what is broken. Because they were broken. Ultimately, as he says, there are two things that need to be done to fix comics: emphasize quality and to expand your horizons. To quote him and then expand, "read Ultimate Spider-Man but tell me you'll never bother cracking the covers on Jinx or Torso," as it makes no sense that you would enjoy one version of a Bendis book, but not the others. Comic readers only reading Marvel or DC because of some unearned and ridiculous level of loyalty, readers robotically purchasing superhero books because they have been for years, stores only promoting the new Jeph Loeb book because people seem to like him. It all needed to go because when you get down to it that is completely absurd. Comic readers only have one way to vote and that is by using their money to buy quality not quantity.

The good news for Ellis year 2000 is that everything that he said needed to happen, happened. Mainstream comics are hitting a level of quality that we arguably have never seen before. Creators such as Brian Michael Bendis and Grant Morrison, two creators who have made careers out of fearless decisions and love of the medium, have managed to not only transcend past being niche writers to dictating the flow of entire universes for the big two. Titles like Blankets and Fun Home are critical successes and commercial smashes as well. Not only that, but sales are stronger than they have been in a decade because of renewed interest developed by film adaptations and comics being good again. In many ways, all has gone according to Uncle Warren's plan he set out for the industry. Perhaps they were listening?

Besides the "fix the industry" stuff, we also receive a lot of really, really entertaining stories and anecdotes. Whether it is his night with Mark Millar (who evidently is completely insane), an awesome interview with Grant Morrison, or stunning revelations like when Mark Waid shares that in 1999/2000 Morrison and himself pitched DC on letting them take over the Superman books, and DC responded with "you will never write Superman. Ever." Of course, they got the last laugh as both wrote acclaimed runs on Superman titles. Naturally.

Whether you read this to get insight into the comic book industry, or to figure out how to properly run a comic retail store, or for the hilarious anecdotes, or even if you read this to get into the bizarre mind of one of the most enigmatic and outspoken writers in the industry, it is a damn good book. I'll go ahead and admit that it is not one you can sit down and go through in one fell swoop. The jarring transition from subject to subject really makes this almost a one or two column at a time book, but its a very worthy read for those interested in comics.

Come In Alone: B+

Slices of Fried Gold - 10/14/08

Another week, another set of recommendations from me. This week I have two things I'm massively late on and another something that I'm sure anyone who reads this regularly is likely absolutely sick of hearing. No less, here are my recs for the week.

Music: Ratatat

Anything and everything Ratatat. Almost entirely instrumental, pretty much entirely fantastic as well. If you're the type who doesn't enjoy beat oriented electronic music, this isn't likely for you. Looking for deep lyrics? You don't get any lyrics here.

However, if you're looking for wondrously layered soundscapes, amalgamations of many electronic sounds, and actual panther roars in your music...well, have I got some music for you to listen to.

They drop some fat (phat?) beats here, and whether you want to listen to 2008 release LP3, 2006 release Classics, or 2004's self titled affair, you're going to get some damn fine music. Also, yes, I am rather late to this party. But it's cool, I'm making up for lost time quickly.

Books: Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis is my favorite comic writer. Well, to be fair, it's probably a tie between him and Brian K. Vaughan. Both dabble in extracurricular activities however, with BKV being a top writer for Lost and Ellis working the occasional prose based novel as well.

This is Ellis' first release, and I'm only a little ways in but I love it all the same. It captures the high concept plots he always brings to the table, the vulgarity of Transmetropolitan, and the new wave, sci-fi anglings on political situations that he so often injects into his writings.

In short, this novel is about an extremely down on his luck private eye, hired by the government to essentially restart America by finding the second, secret Constitution that's been lost somewhere in the underworld. Pretty bizarre, but so far? Hilarious, and extremely well written. Like I'd expect from Ellis, any day of the week.

TV: How I Met Your Mother season 4

I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but I kind of like this show. So far, the season has been as good as ever, somehow making hysterical episodes out of the following concepts: hatred of New Jersey, picking up women in an old man costume, Regis Philbin, the world's greatest burger, interventions, Canadian alter egos that only come out when plastered, renaissance faires, not seeing Star Wars, and taking orders from bears.

This show can make a joke out of anything. It's proven it this season, plus it maintains its ability to be touching without laying on the sap too thick. That's a hard line to walk, but they walk it well.

Plus, Barney Stinson maintains his position as the single funniest character on television. You were robbed of an Emmy NPH. Jeremy Piven cannot hold a candle to you.

Slowly going the way of the Buffalo

In 1997, Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson created a comic book series for DC called Transmetropolitan. It was the story of a journalist named Spider Jerusalem who had given up on the world and went to live in the woods like a crazy hermit person, until he ran out of money and had to go back to his life as a writer. After he returned, the world was like he remembered, except worse, and it was full of corruption and power hungry politicians. It was the story of Spider trying to take them out, and to effectively save the world, albeit through complete and utter anarchy.

Very good series, but it was also an extremely prescient series. Spider was a journalist who received all of his information from "feeds" that funneled huge amounts of information into him, he typed his stories directly into the feed (where all news and traditional print existed), and anything and everything you could ever want was on the net. The story never actually revealed when it took place (well, Spider said no one was really sure what year it was...at least we know that), but it might as well have been today.

This leads into today's topic: the death knell of print.

Today, I went to check the mail for my parents as I have been on a daily basis since they took their lengthy vacation from these here frosty lands of Alaska. As per usual, nothing I've been waiting for showed up, but excitingly enough, a new Entertainment Weekly had come out. I'm always excited for EW, but this week I noticed something.

Their "Exclusive!" first story was the "First Look" at Tropic Thunder, and to be more specific, the first look at how Robert Downey Jr. plays a black man in the movie (as seen below). Next couple pages in, they have the analysis about the rumored cast of the upcoming Justice League movie (don't even get me started), along with their picks of who would be better. Their Must List of things to love this week included "Garfield Minus Garfield," a website that recreates Garfield comics minus the titular character, making it a mostly one man show starring the criminally depressed Jon Arbuckle.

Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., and Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder

Of course there is this. And this. And this. The first link takes you to a website that released the "exclusive" shot of Tropic Thunder a full week before my EW arrived (which looks pretty much awesome I may add). The second discusses the Justice League choices (and even scoops on one other role) back on February 25th, more than two weeks ago. The third was the Garfield site hyped on Penny-Arcade on February 27th. All new stories from EW that were a week or older in Internet time.

These of course are just a few of the examples of the things that they were scooped by the internet, but when reading it I kept finding myself going back to Spider Jerusalem's future. Is this a path we're headed down? As most anyone who reads this likely knows, the feeds from Spider's future are in existence right now (feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed...kthx!). Web based news sites and opinion/news blogs are rocketing upwards in hits, while traditional print news continues to decline (a great example of this is the New York Times, whose website jumped 7.5 million viewers quarter to quarter last year but the newspaper continues to steadily decline, albeit at a less dramatic rate than other traditional newspapers). We can buy groceries, cars, organs, children, new hair, illegal substances, and life size cutouts of Han Solo with just the click of a button.

It's all happening.

Later on, while browsing the daily music news at frequent haunt Absolute Punk, I saw a story about how legendary rock magazine NME is now down to just 64,000 issues in circulation a month. It's weekly sales used to be at 300,000. Nowadays, NME maintains relevance by having an extremely popular website, using its branded name on tours, and having one of the most popular concerts yearly in the NME Awards, but it's still far down from its once lofty heights.

We aren't heading down the path towards Spider's futre. We are there.

Of course, every print magazine and newspaper could definitely take a play out of NME, New York Times, and EW's playbooks. They've all successfully shifted a lot of their focus over to the online world, heavily developing their presence online while maintaining the actual printed work as the flagship (figurehead may be a more accurate term).

EW especially has been successful at shifting their print space away from "news" to things they can win at, such as interviews and clever opinion pieces like this weeks fantastic "25 Wild Pop Culture Debates." Their news section continues to decrease in size, and they continue to expand into new templates of stories - it could be argued that the previously mentioned "Debates" section was their published representation of a forum discussion about such taboo subjects as "What's better? Star Wars or Star Trek?" These types of moves have been very successful and necessary for EW to remain relevant in the marketplace.

Other giants such as Marvel Comics have shifted their focus to the digital revolution, with Marvel recently releasing an intense online publishing initiative to buoy their flagging comic sales. As an example of how far comics have fallen - in 1991 X-Men #1 came out and sold over 1 million copies. Now? Top sellers in the industry hover around the 10,000 issues sold mark. Even though Spider-Man and X-Men movies in the past have been some of the biggest in the world, and this summer's Iron Man and Incredible Hulk look likely to recapture that glory, the industry is at an all time low in sales. Are Marvel's attempts to use the digital medium to get back to form likely feasible? Maybe, maybe not. Remains to be seen (although I know I did my job at contributing - 24 comics bought today - good lord).

So there are plenty of examples of big time publishers shifting away from print and moving towards online ventures out of sheer necessity. The question is, is print really going away, or will it always exist?

Certain things I believe will not be replaced in print, at least in the near future. Books, regardless of how much Amazon would like you to buy Kindle, will be around for a long time. People genuinely connect with books, they cherish favorite books, they fall asleep with them, they protect them from harm. There is some connection that books have with us as readers that other forms of print do not receive, a nostalgic assault they put on our senses. They're like old friends who never go away, so long as we treat them right (sort of like real old friends I suppose).

Really, the primary section of print that I believe will slowly disappear will be news based. Newspapers and magazines will begin being phased out in favor of electronic versions, and you'll see plenty of others simply go under. But the more creative print outlets will continue to survive, whatever Warren Ellis and his in-print embodiment Spider Jerusalem believe. The creative spirit deserves a more tangible representation than a visual recreation on a screen, and I believe it will continue to receive it at least throughout my lifetime.

In short, the clock is ticking, but we still haven't reached midnight. Well, in some time zones.