Panel Patter: The Newsletter, The Reboot Edition, Vol II (2021), Issue 1
It’s been a long time. We shouldn’t have left you without a dope beat to step to. To step to. To step to. To step to. *picky picky*
Put this one in a slab, Paneldom. The Panel Patter Newsletter has officially renumbered.
A reboot you say? I have questions.
You shouldn’t. You’ve been retconned out of existence.
Untrue. I now live Earth-5 and I’m 15 years younger.
Is that so?
Also, got a new origin. I’m a fossilized alien found by a band of Huns just after the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire.
You said you had questions.
Is this a shameless moneygrab?
Yes.
Can borrow fifteen dollars?
No.
Is this all a precursor to another inevitable reboot just so that you can use the term “Threeboot”?
No comment. Moving on . . .
A Nostalgia for Comics that Never Existed in Shaky Kane and Krent Able's Kane & Able
Scott captures the essence of the fantastic one-shot from two of comics most famous wiseguys.
Cool Off with Hellboy: Haunted Houses, Hellboy & Horror
Check out what Rachel has to say about the latest Hellboy iteration. Rachel, who isn’t 100% inclined towards horror, talks about why reading spooky stories in the summer time works better for her.
Do the Silly Walk with Jonathan Baylis's So Buttons #11
Scott explores the latest addition in the long running anthology series punctuated by a set of extraordinary artists from a variety of styles who bring Baylis’ short stories to life.
The Fleeting Nature of Summer in Elizabeth Holleville’s Summer Spirit from Nobrow
Dive into summer with Mike’s analysis of Holleville’s full-length debut.
Scott Reads Far Too Much Into Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth Compendium
Scott’s being hard on himself; he’s probably reading *just enough* into Sweet Tooth.
Will McPhail Makes Us All Look Inward With IN.
I have been anticipating this book for quite some time, and you will be too after you read Sean’s essay.
Stop and listen to Robyn Smith's The Saddest Angriest Black Girl In Town
Check out Scott’s thoughtful response to Robyn Smith’s call to action.
Get lost in the forest! Super! Magic Forest by Ansis Purins
We love Ansis here at Panel Patter, and his latest graphic novel is terrific. Take a look at James’s breakdown of Super! Magic Forest.
The Portrait of the Artist as an Unappreciated Son in Joe Ollman's Fictional Father
Ollman’s excellent graphic novel from Drawn and Quarterly explores the idea of the man behind the art, and Scott explores what that means for readers.
Gaining On the Job Experience with Guy Delisle's Factory Summers
With another D&Q publication as inspiration, Rachel recalls her own past jobs and finds Guy Delisle’s memoir poignant and satisfying.
Seeing the Sights with Whit Taylor's Montana Diary
Scott finds solace in the ability to travel, albeit metaphorically.
Sweat and Soap [Ase to Sekken] by Kintetsu Yamada
Kelli has provided some top notch manga coverage since joining the Panel Patter team, and she does some great work proving that we shouldn’t always judge a book by its (first volume) cover.
The Uncomfortable Thoughts in Ed Piskor's Red Room #1
Red Room - is it satire or self-indulgence? Scott muses on the first issue of this splatter punk series.
ADVANCE REVIEW: The Blue Flame #1 by Christopher Cantwell and Adam Gorham
I guess it isn’t an advance review at this point, but James still has some great things to say about an impressive debut issue.
"I will keep self erasing until there is nothing left of her." - Zac Thompson and Jen Hickman's Lonely Receiver
Mike calls Lonely Receiver a romance for the Black Runner crowd. See why.
Review: Young Shadow by Ben Sears
Mike looks at the best Batman book in recent years. No, seriously.
Quick Hit: The Grande Odalisque
Sean loves the whimsy of this excellent new heist tale from Fantagraphics.
Whatcha Readin’?
Neil
Decided to sign up to Shonen Jump to read manga in a budget (£1.99 a month!). Currently halfway through the crazy, violent and gory Chainsaw Man. Filled with great characters, dialogue to make you cringe and a lead half-human, half-demon angst teenager. It's a hell of a fun read.
Rachel
I read Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu which is about a young gay man nicknamed Bitty who joins his college's hockey team. The characters are surprisingly sweet and caring, despite swearing frequently. There's also far more baking than I anticipated. It's wonderful to see how open and welcoming the rest of the hockey team is to Bitty. I'm hoping to read the second volume soon.
I also recently finished Alison Bechdel's second book Are You My Mother? which was such an interesting and deep book about Bechdel's relationship with her mother both as a child and as an adult. She talks a lot about Virginia Woolf, child psychology, the creative process, and therapy. I ended up learning a lot about all of these topics, and it never felt dry or dull.
Sean
I’ve recently caught myself up with several caped and or cowled things in comics. I somehow found myself nearly a year behind on a lot of them. One that stood out particularly (and, frankly, was no surprise at doing so) was Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett and others. The story that this creative team are putting together is simply genius. Long time fans have plenty of Hulk-Smash to see as well as a carefully crafted story of the relationship of son to father. This horror comic is more than just that, it’s also a tragic story of anguish, it’s a story of the navigation through a mental health disorder, the pain brought by years of a buried past, and the weight that this carries as it literally splits your psyche into infinite versions of itself.
AJ
Dagger Dagger, which is a kickstarted 262 page sci-if anthology with some staggering talent. It’s a lot like volume 3 of Peow’s Ex Mag anthology, and even shares two artists with it, but overall has less cute stuff. Which if you’re like me is a plus. A stand out in Dagger Dagger is the Artyom Trakhanov comic, whose art combines Mike Mignola like figure drawing and David B. abstractions and shading.
James
I read Barry Windsor-Smith's Monsters over the weekend. In one day. That was an intense experience. It's a challenging read but highly affecting. Windsor-Smith's style in the book is a challenging one. There's a deliberate roughness to his work, and a lot of ugliness comes across in people. That's kind of the gist of the story, that while there is one titular "monster" in the story, the real monsters are the people all around the monster. It's an incredible accomplishment though. Highly immersive, and I just wanted to keep reading and seeing where it was going.
Kelli
I’m reading Will and Ariel Durant’s The Story of Civilization at the moment. It’s a massive 11 volume affair. I tend to dip in and out of it. It’s super dated, vol.1 was published in 1923, which makes for some cringe worthy reading at times. Will Durant is such a good writer though, a page turner, even if his biases bleed into his narration sometimes.
I am supplementing TSC with The Golden Rhinoceros since the Durants overlooked civilization in places like Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia. They also disregarded the Aztecs and the Incas. To mitigate that I’ll probably pick up Fifth Sun at some point.
My pile of library withdrawals is ever growing. I’m revisiting Taiyo Matsumoto’s Sunny and remembering why I love this series so much. He is such a great artist, with such a unique visual style. It is so atmospheric.
I also picked up A Sister by Bastien Vivès. It was a perfect read to start the summer, full of those nostalgic vibes of being a young teen let loose for summer vacation, and being free to explore the world and the self. It makes me want to revisit This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki.
Mike
I’ve read a bunch over the past few weeks, but the one that is sticking with me the most, and one that I’d like to write about soon, is Nate Powell’s Save it for Later. Not only do I find Powell’s ability to internalize the events of the past few years incredibly cathartic, I think it might be his best work as a cartoonist - and that says a lot.
Hot Take Express - What out of the box creator would you like to see tackle a Marvel or DC book a la Ed Piskor’s Grand Design?
Good Takes
Neil: I would love to see Alex Paknadel head up a Hellblazer comic. If his horror title Redfork on TKO Studios is anything to go but he'd write a fantastic story set in Mr Constantine's universe.
Rachel: I would love to have Faith Erin Hicks do practically any female superhero character, but especially someone like Squirrel Girl, Raven, Starfire, Ms. Marvel, etc. I started reading Hicks when she was doing an internet webcomic many years ago called Demonology 101 and I love both her drawing style and her writing. She is great at depicting the moments that happen between battles and that flesh the characters out.
Sean: I’m going with a trio of choices. First, I think it’d be freakin awesome to see Al Gofa do Thor. The worlds he’s capable of creating on a single page would be a nice fit for Asgard. Second, I’d be doing this question disservice if I didn’t add Troy Nixey with doing a Hulk run. Lately the linework that is coming from his most recent commission work is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Imagining the potential here makes me hope to god that it actually becomes reality. Last, but but but not least, I’d like to nominate Liz Suburbia as a hopeful to this list of comic book dream casting. I think a reboot of the Young Avengers would fit nicely in a Suburbia style. The punk rock aesthetic and the chaotic brilliance is perfect for the next chapter of that group of heroes.
James: I would love to see a Moon Knight series from Alexis Ziritt. Ziritt has done incredible, weird, psychedelic work in books like Space Riders, Night Hunters and Tarantula, and I think his style would lend itself perfectly to a character that often has a tenuous grip on reality. He would be perfect for hard-hitting action, and all sorts of psychedelic weirdness.
Mike: I would do cartwheels if we had some sort of Chris Ware Silver Age Justice League story. Ideally, I’d like some sort of long form retelling, but I’d settle for a short story.
Better Take
Kelli: Ah ha ha. Unfortunately, I’ve got nothing. I don’t really read superhero properties. I’m looking forward to to reading what the rest of the PP team comes up with, though!
Best Take
AJ: I hate the idea of anyone getting sidetracked by corporate work when they could just be pursuing their own creative vision. Marvel should just break off some of their movie division profits and pay out Koyama style no-strings-attached grants.
That will do it for this week’s edition of Panel Patter: The Newsletter. Be sure to check back at Panel Patter dot com for our weekly picks and new essays.