Today’s Post is One of Reflection.
Ahhhhh. Old(er) comics. Brings back old thoughts. Focus your eyes and take my hand, capricious siblings. Let’s traipse hand-over-hand across the monkey bars in the rusting playground of memory with:
JOG’S TRUE TALES OF PIZZA DELIVERY!
I have an order from a guy living on (let’s call it) 105 Apple St. It’s night. I cruise up and down the street, looking for porch lights to guide my way. I eventually hit a lighted house; it’s #135 or so.
I get out of the car and decide to walk with the food, since it’s a nice evening and I don’t feel like driving much anymore. I follow the road down to house 105. It’s all dark, even inside. As I approach the porch, a middle-aged man emerges from the interior.
I give him the food and tell him that it’s $24.95. He stares at me blurrily. He’s obviously drunk. He sets the food down (with much difficulty, I must say) and manages to dig out a twenty and a ten.
I dig through my pockets to get him five ones (so I’ll hopefully get a tip). I hand him the change. He stares at the money blankly. He looks at me. He grins.
And tosses the bills right into his bushes as he scoops up his food and hobbles into the house.
I wait till he's was gone.
AND I GO RIGHT AFTER THE MONEY LIKE A DOG CHASING A STICK BECAUSE THAT‘S MY GAS FOR THE WHOLE FUCKING NIGHT ROTFL!!!
There were many important questions raised that night, as I dug through the leaves and dirt for one-dollar bills. But I ignored them all, because I had the overwhelming feeling that the customer was peeping out the window at me, giggling, sweating. I never saw him though. I never got another order to the house.
It was the best tip of the night.
Steed and Mrs. Peel Book 2 (of 3) by Grant Morrison, Anne Caulfield, and Ian Gibson
As you’ll recall from my review of Book 1, this is a prestige format series set in the world of the television show “The Avengers”, published by Eclipse Books (they of the US edition of “Miracleman”, along with Chris Ware’s first full-length comic “Floyd Farland, Citizen of the Future”) and Acme Press (who did a nice collection of Alan Moore’s “Maxwell the Magic Cat” if I recall correctly). This one came out in 1991, the year after the first. The final book was released in 1992. I’ve learned a bit more about this series after switching my brain to the ‘on’ position and looking for Ian Gibson’s website. The pertinent info is here.
Unlike Book 1, this volume is divided into two unique stories (remember that the story in Book 1 was divided into two halves, as continuing parts of the same narrative). The first half is part 3 of Morrison’s “The Golden Game”. Interestingly, the page numbering begins where it left off in Book 1, with page #46. Perhaps a re-packaging of the story in trade form was planned? I really know almost nothing about “The Avengers” as a program, but the image I always have of the show involves colorful sets and lots of style, all of which is evidenced here. Steed infiltrates the sinister lair of the gamers-only Palamedes Club, and uncovers a lot of stuff regarding the recent deaths and security leaks in British intelligence. A technique of Morrison‘s that I‘ve seen a few times, layers of reality stacked atop each other, comes into ’play’ here, as there appears to be several different games going on at once between different characters. Meanwhile Peel discovers something and races off to save the day, I guess. It’s nice that the story is becoming reminiscent of some of Morrison’s other works (if not as complete in its subversion of literal reality, only the perception of conflict), and it’s a nice time-passer.
The other half of the book begins a story by Anne Caulfield, writing her first comics story, according to Gibson‘s page (as linked above). It's called "Deadly Rainbow", and the page numbering resets at one. In contrast to Mrs. Peel’s lack of activity in Morrison’s story, the plot in this one focuses on her and Mr. Peel, who’s recently returned from being lost in the jungle. He whisks his bride away to aid him in fighting for the rights of the Leopard People, a native tribe who’re gradually becoming less and less tolerant of the industrialized world’s incursions on their turf. But perhaps they are too late to stop the violence. It’s a less splashy story than Morrison’s, and moves very quickly. Perhaps the whole deal with Peel’s husband would have more gravity is I was a fan of the show? Regardless, it’s a decent start.
Gibson does the art for both stories; he has a good deal of fun with the opening to Caulfield’s, mixing ancient picture-language style with more realistic (Gibson-realistic, that is) images to dole out the story’s background. Gibson’s style is well suited for the visual pizzazz of Morrison’s piece too, and his character art provides excellent likenesses of the familiar television cast, while neatly subsuming their images into loose cartoon lines, while the rest of the characters are free to become even more caricatured in their display.
I got this on eBay for about a dollar above the $4.95 cover price, which isn’t bad. I’ve yet to see a copy of Book 3 around, but I’ll at least consider picking it up, and not just to satisfy my completes urges; it’s an enjoyable series.
JOG’S TRUE TALES OF PIZZA DELIVERY!
I have an order from a guy living on (let’s call it) 105 Apple St. It’s night. I cruise up and down the street, looking for porch lights to guide my way. I eventually hit a lighted house; it’s #135 or so.
I get out of the car and decide to walk with the food, since it’s a nice evening and I don’t feel like driving much anymore. I follow the road down to house 105. It’s all dark, even inside. As I approach the porch, a middle-aged man emerges from the interior.
I give him the food and tell him that it’s $24.95. He stares at me blurrily. He’s obviously drunk. He sets the food down (with much difficulty, I must say) and manages to dig out a twenty and a ten.
I dig through my pockets to get him five ones (so I’ll hopefully get a tip). I hand him the change. He stares at the money blankly. He looks at me. He grins.
And tosses the bills right into his bushes as he scoops up his food and hobbles into the house.
I wait till he's was gone.
AND I GO RIGHT AFTER THE MONEY LIKE A DOG CHASING A STICK BECAUSE THAT‘S MY GAS FOR THE WHOLE FUCKING NIGHT ROTFL!!!
There were many important questions raised that night, as I dug through the leaves and dirt for one-dollar bills. But I ignored them all, because I had the overwhelming feeling that the customer was peeping out the window at me, giggling, sweating. I never saw him though. I never got another order to the house.
It was the best tip of the night.
Steed and Mrs. Peel Book 2 (of 3) by Grant Morrison, Anne Caulfield, and Ian Gibson
As you’ll recall from my review of Book 1, this is a prestige format series set in the world of the television show “The Avengers”, published by Eclipse Books (they of the US edition of “Miracleman”, along with Chris Ware’s first full-length comic “Floyd Farland, Citizen of the Future”) and Acme Press (who did a nice collection of Alan Moore’s “Maxwell the Magic Cat” if I recall correctly). This one came out in 1991, the year after the first. The final book was released in 1992. I’ve learned a bit more about this series after switching my brain to the ‘on’ position and looking for Ian Gibson’s website. The pertinent info is here.
Unlike Book 1, this volume is divided into two unique stories (remember that the story in Book 1 was divided into two halves, as continuing parts of the same narrative). The first half is part 3 of Morrison’s “The Golden Game”. Interestingly, the page numbering begins where it left off in Book 1, with page #46. Perhaps a re-packaging of the story in trade form was planned? I really know almost nothing about “The Avengers” as a program, but the image I always have of the show involves colorful sets and lots of style, all of which is evidenced here. Steed infiltrates the sinister lair of the gamers-only Palamedes Club, and uncovers a lot of stuff regarding the recent deaths and security leaks in British intelligence. A technique of Morrison‘s that I‘ve seen a few times, layers of reality stacked atop each other, comes into ’play’ here, as there appears to be several different games going on at once between different characters. Meanwhile Peel discovers something and races off to save the day, I guess. It’s nice that the story is becoming reminiscent of some of Morrison’s other works (if not as complete in its subversion of literal reality, only the perception of conflict), and it’s a nice time-passer.
The other half of the book begins a story by Anne Caulfield, writing her first comics story, according to Gibson‘s page (as linked above). It's called "Deadly Rainbow", and the page numbering resets at one. In contrast to Mrs. Peel’s lack of activity in Morrison’s story, the plot in this one focuses on her and Mr. Peel, who’s recently returned from being lost in the jungle. He whisks his bride away to aid him in fighting for the rights of the Leopard People, a native tribe who’re gradually becoming less and less tolerant of the industrialized world’s incursions on their turf. But perhaps they are too late to stop the violence. It’s a less splashy story than Morrison’s, and moves very quickly. Perhaps the whole deal with Peel’s husband would have more gravity is I was a fan of the show? Regardless, it’s a decent start.
Gibson does the art for both stories; he has a good deal of fun with the opening to Caulfield’s, mixing ancient picture-language style with more realistic (Gibson-realistic, that is) images to dole out the story’s background. Gibson’s style is well suited for the visual pizzazz of Morrison’s piece too, and his character art provides excellent likenesses of the familiar television cast, while neatly subsuming their images into loose cartoon lines, while the rest of the characters are free to become even more caricatured in their display.
I got this on eBay for about a dollar above the $4.95 cover price, which isn’t bad. I’ve yet to see a copy of Book 3 around, but I’ll at least consider picking it up, and not just to satisfy my completes urges; it’s an enjoyable series.
posted by Jog at 11:56 PM
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