Panel Patter: The Newsletter, Happy Festivus Edition
Festivus seems to start earlier and earlier every year. I saw aluminum poles in stores as early as September this year.
Welcome to this week’s iteration of Panel Patter: The Newsletter. Guess what? New comics day coincides with Festivus this year.
It’s a Festivus miracle!
Recent Patterings
Remina by Junji Ito - It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine
James profiled the latest Junji Ito translation, praising the master storyteller’s craft and foresight. For a book first published 15 years ago, it is surprisingly poignant in 2020. But it isn’t only Ito’s content that resonates over the decades, it’s his artistic ability to construct some of the more memorable panels that sets his work apart.
All of these emotions are perfectly brought to life in Ito’s remarkable facial acting in his art. Remina (the person) is beautiful but also kind of blank and unknowable. Her face conveys this perfectly, as she never dramatically changes expressions and her face itself feels like some sort of porcelain mask.
Second Coming: Having Another Go At The Only Begotten Son
Sean analyzed the latest from Paneldom favorite, Mark Russell. Returning to his popular, if not controversial, religious satire with artist Richard Pace, for a second season affords Sean the opportunity to analyze both the implications of the end of the first season and the new direction of the follow-up series.
During the most critical moments begging for an act of witness, where the last actions of some could be the lasting effects worth an eternity for others, is when it seems all that is taught seems to be all that was left behind. The question isn’t about whether a rapture will ever happen or at what point are the chosen ones to fly into the sky, but the true question more relevant to ask is for what will we who call upon his name for the micro-manipulative powers to control others do when he (capital “H”- he?) gets here.
Night Hunters #1 Shines Bright in it's Floating World Debut
A second dose of Sean this week brings an excellent essay on the debut of a comic from one of Paneldom’s favorite artists, Alexis Ziritt. Sean walks us through both the artistic and narrative choices of this cyberpunk story, continually finding himself lost in Ziritt’s panels.
I cannot verbally parade long enough to explain to you how important it is that Ziritt is the illustrator for Night Hunters. There is something indescribable that is the art that comes from him. It is far from polished, but neither is it close to any suggestion of haphazard. The attention to detail and subtle stabs at augmenting Baker’s story can easily be missed due to the oh-my-god-I-cannot-stop-staring vibrancy of the color work done also by Ziritt.
Panel Patter Interview with Matt Lesniewski
Sean. Does. Not. Sleep. Our man turned out his third piece this week with an entertaining interview with one of our favorite artists, Matt Lesniewski, ahead of his upcoming major publisher debut with Matt Kindt on Crimson Flower, due out late January from Dark Horse.
Matt: All of my stories come from a real place. It’s hard for me to invest in something as time- consuming as drawing and writing a comic book if it wasn’t something I related to in some way. The Freak is a metaphor. I’ve heard of several different interpretations of what the story is about, or how people relate to it — and that’s what I intended.
Catch It at the Comic Shop December 16th, 2020
Two double-picks and nine total publishers make up our picks for this past week.
On the Information Superhighway (Sorry, your Uber driver opted for inoffensive soft rock)
Ironically, the most offensive rock format.
Best Shots advance review: The Seeds is an end of the world story not about the end of the world
Over at our sister site? Cousin site? Friend site? Site we had a beer with once? Nonetheless, over at Newsarama, Scott took the opportunity to dive into an advance copy of The Seeds, a book that got off to a hot start after two issues, seem to have disappeared into the ether, but now rises like a Phoenix in graphic novel form.
Oh yeah, that's right, in this book aliens are walking among us, collecting the "seeds" of mankind before the world collapses in on itself. Nocenti and Aja speculate how the world may end in this book, giving us a warning of those last days from a personal and cosmological perspective.
Best Shots review: Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Reckless "lacks the rough edges of their best work"
Scott must have caught a bit of Sean’s insomnia, because he’s back again with another Newsarama review, this time of of the latest Brubaker/Phillips collab.
One of the big things that set this apart from Criminal is that a large part of the action and drama occurs in the bright California sun where so much of their past work is either taking place at night or is shielding itself from the daylight as if its characters fear being exposed by the sun. Reckless embraces the bright, revealing sunlight.
History Repeating Itself — As Something Entirely New : Thomas Lampion’s “The Burning Hotels”
At his personal blog, Four Color Apocalypse, Ryan Carey has a review of a new iteration of memoir in the form of The Burning Hotels.
Yes, this books is a memoir, but it’s a highly inventive memoir, Lynchian in both its structure and imagery, firmly grounded (both in the past and the present) yet nevertheless hallucinatory and even a touch phantasmagoric. It’s unique, that’s for sure — and effectively so, at that.
From the Archives
Favorites from 2009
Hearken back to the nascent days of Paneldom, long before the cross-promotional sponsorship with Pepsi* (you remember the Panel Pepsi soft drink and the Pepsi Patter blog) and the hostile takeover of Wizard magazine**, before Rob owned two yachts*** and we were nominated for an Eisner****, for what looks to be the first year end list in Paneldom, Rob’s favorites from 2009.
*I don’t remember that.
**That doesn’t seem accurate.
***Untrue. Everyone knows Rob only owns one yacht.
****Ok, that one is true.
Extra Patterings
What did you read this week?
Scott
The Immortal Hulk is still one of the best comics and this week, we had two great issues. I'm a bit of a sucker for Christmas comics and silent issues so when you combine them, even if it's a King in Black crossover, I'm all over that.
James
I reread the newest issue of Captain Marvel and I've just been struck by the consistently high level of quality on the book since Kelly Thompson took over as writer. She's been joined by a variety of talented artists, but she's got just a great handle on the voice of Carol and many other characters. I was a HUGE fan of Thompson's Hawkeye book which focused on Kate Bishop, and think she's a really engaging storyteller, with a gift for great dialogue and relatable characters.
Mike
Based on Sean’s recommendation, I started reading Qualityland, a dystopic satire reminiscent of early Vonnegut and Brave New World. Comics-wise, I read caught up on We Live and finally got the chance to read Victory Point in print 😍.
Sean
Currently I’m decompressing my thoughts by reading Seanan McGuire’s first in the Wayward Children series, Every Heart a Doorway. After feeling saturated from comics these last few weeks I’ve decided to percolate self in something more poetic and mystical. Seanan is the perfect fit for this desire.
What’s a book that didn’t end up on your year end favorites list, but still made an impact on you in 2020?
Scott
I'm still on the fence about Sophie Yanow's The Contradictions. I didn't care for the characters but I think that's kind of the point of the story about these young women who are so wrapped up in their own lives. So if that's the point, I think Yanow's book may be pretty incredible even if I don't like it that much.
James
A Map to the Sun by Sloane Leong, published by First Second. This was an engaging graphic novel with an affecting story, but what really stuck with me was the art and colors. Leong is a skilled artist, but the incredible, bright, varied colors of each pages was something I have not quite experienced before, and it was among the more visually striking things I read all year.
Mike
I could ditto Scott and James. I felt the same about The Contradictions, and I’d concur that A Map to the Sun is one of the most visually stunning books of the year. I’d say Brubaker and Phillips Pulp stands out for me as a book that fell into the “I truly enjoyed this book,” but didn’t cross the threshold to “I absolutely adored this book.” That says a lot about the quality of offerings this year, because there is nothing disappointing about Pulp.
Sean
The November graphic novella series by Fraction and Charretier. It’s a highly ambitious visually captivating story that hasn’t yet concluded. My main reason for not having it on my year end list is for that reason specifically. I prefer to know how my story’s end before hailing them as a lasting favorite. That said, the beginning (and middle?) of the story so far is about as good as it can get.
What’s something new that you enjoyed in 2020?
Scott
Something that I wasn't expecting to enjoy is X of Swords. Going into it and even during the first half of it, it felt like a very standard crossover series but the 3 main issues, Hickman's X-Men issues, and Howard's Excalibur portions created a really strong spine for this story that allowed all of the other crossover issues to tell really fun, interconnected stories.
James
I read more horror comics than ever, and have realized that, if done well, I really love horror comics. Which is funny because I DO NOT like horror movies. I don't like being terrified in my movie-watching experience, but I can accept it in a comic, because when reading a comic I have much more control over the experience.
Mike
I’ve read a disproportionate amount of books either in translation or by creators outside North America. Not to lump diverse traditions together based off of geographical proximity, but I’ve truly enjoyed a set of comics from Asia, specifically Umma’s Table (South Korea), Year of the Rabbit (Cambodia), Mujirushi, and No Longer Human (both Japan.)
Sean
Horror made a huge comeback for me this year. I’ve always liked the genre but it got neglected in my reading pile in recent years. This year I have a handful of downright scary good titles that made my favorites list.
Requisite Kirk Tweet of the Week
You following us on Insta yet, or what?
That does it for this week’s edition of Panel Patter: The Newsletter. Check back in next week for Catch It Picks and the initial roll out of our year end favorites.