Boy o boy, I’m beat.
So?
Spirou!
Thanks to my friend Pablo, I knew about this Belgian series called Spirou, which has been through multiple publishings and translations since its creation in 1938. In contrast to Tintin and Asterix ( which I mention because of the inherent familiarity folks have with them), Spirou has been written and drawn by multiple creators, from Jijé in its early years to Morvan and Munuera in 2004. I know only of the artist Pablo has been raving about – André Franquin, who developed the characters and the storylines and is considered the definitive Spirou artist.
And now, thanks to Eurobooks, which has already brought out the Agatha Christie and Biggles graphic novels and claim to be bringing out comic book versions of Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, Spirou is available in India. And these are Franquin’s stories being published as oversized albums (the same format as Tintin and Asterix ) and are priced at 199 Rs each. I saw about twelve of them at Walden today. A quick flip-through reveals slightly sub-standard translation and lettering, the translators seem to have used a terrible typeface and I could see Americanisms abound in the dialog – but beggars can’t be choosers, I say. Am in cheapskate mode right now, otherwise would have bought the lot. Waiting for the next Bangalore trip where discounts will be negotiated and free book coupons put to good use.
Osamu Tezuka – Apollo’s Song
I finished Tezuka’s Apollo’s Song today morning, while waiting for a missing-in-action mechanic. Brilliant work, and a pretty fast read. Considering that it was a two-hour wait, and the book was the only one I had around, I read it twice.
The prologue of the book, like I had mentioned before, is a trippy look at human reproduction.
Scans of the prologue, to encourage you into buying the book.
A Quick War Dance Moment
Because John McCrea, he of Hitman fame, just replied to my mail.
*war-dance*
This and that
I had never thought I would be so enchanted by someone mutilating books. ( link via Eddie Campbell)
Had the most awesome experience last night when I saw, for the first time, a 20-minute video of Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts performing along with singer Mai Yamane live in Tokyo. Must have been the best audiovisual experience for me since Bjork: Live at Royal Opera House. There are videos of the Seatbelts floating around on youtube, but I had resisted watching them, bad audio-visual quality being part of the reason. Yamane, by the way, is the singer most associated with Ms Kanno’s compositions, her distinctive voice the hallmark of tracks like ‘The Real Folk Blues’ ( WHAT? You haven’t heard it? Go check out my mixtape already. Track 13, to be precise), ‘See You Space Cowboy’ and my personal favourite, ‘Rain’.
SQUEE moment 1: Yoko Kanno, dressed in a red trenchcoat and black top and shorts starts dancing to ‘Tank!’, the Cowboy Bebop theme, as the saxophone soloist goes wild.
SQUEE moment 2: Mai Yamane and Yoko Kanno start doing a bizarre robotic dance during ‘Want It All Back’, coordinating each other’s movements and adding to the fun of the song.
SQUEE moment(s) 3: Ms Kanno plays a plethora of Cowboy Bebop tunes on the piano, each tune effortlessly flowing into the other.
All in all, an amazing video. You can download it from most bit-torrent sites around, if you are interested.
Which reminds me, demonoid.com has been down for more than 48 hours now. Even Wired.com takes notice and talks about possible litigation by CRAI ( the Canadian version of the RIAA ), so fingers crossed.
Reading Barry Lyga’s Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl, something that I had been on the look out for since I read the preview chapter. ( Hmm, I wonder how I got to the site in the first place…Neil Gaiman linked to it? Possibly. ) Lyga wrote some bad comics – a couple of Warrior Nun Areala in the dark-and-speculatory nineties, and this is his first novel. Falls squarely into the YA category, and managed to get my complete attention by mentioning the words “Giant Size X-Men #1 in mint condition” in the second paragraph. As it turns out, the Fan Boy in the book is the narrator and the book namedrops Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea and Swamp Thing. Seems there’s also a guest appearance by Brian Michael Bendis, heh. And oh, I am “reading” the audiobook, because the actual thing isn’t really available in India.