2002-10-17 - 11:17 p.m.

Two extreme comics

Yesterday was Wednesday, and that means picking up another shipment of new comics at the UPS hub in Latham. Over the last few weeks they've been trying to enforce a policy that involves letting none of the business people who pick up their boxes early into the building. This creates a bottleneck at the customer service window as the UPS employee has to push each box individually through the window. Last week I was permitted inside the door to get my boxes together, this week I was told to wait in line. Make up your minds, people!

I can hardly wait to see what this is going to be like around Xmas when the volume of packages goes through the roof.

Anyway, this was another light weeks for new comics, but still a couple of books came in that I've been meaning to talk about for a while.

Simpsons Comics #75

Back in the 19050s and 1960s, a large percentage of comics consisted of TV and movie adaptations. That's not the case today, in fact, the adaptations seem to be going the other way with TV shows like Smallville and Birds of Prey taking their cue from established comic characters.

For the most part comic adaptations of TV shows suck. An example of how adaptations can go awry was seen in an issue of the 1960s Star Trek comic published by Gold Key, where Mr. Spock burst into tears over something. However, if there is an exception that proves the rule, it's the Simpsons.

The Simpsons comics are produced under their own imprint "Bongo Comics" and the comic is every bit as funny, hip and clever as the TV show. Series creator Matt Groening is involved with the comic, and routinely draws the covers for it.

Now, I'm not na�ve enough to think that Groening actually does all that much work on the comic. It's common practice for comic creators to sign books they had nothing to do with, i.e., Batman creator Bob Kane had little to do with all those comics that had his name on in the 1950s. However, the comic is true to the spirit of the TV show and the art looks very similar to its animation style.

The Simpsons TV show is also hip to comic culture, as one of the reoccurring characters is a portly bearded comic store owner. One of my favorite moments on the Simpsons TV show occurred during one of the Halloween episodes when a nuclear warhead was heading for Springfield. The comic store owner guy is walking down the street, muttering about Aquaman when he sees the missile coming straight for him. Just before the atomic flash a look of horrified realization crosses his face and he says: "I have wasted my life."

I laugh and laugh every time I see that. Curiously I know a comic store owner who is an almost exact physical match for that character, although NOTHING like him character-wise.

It's had to believe that they're already up to issue 75, and they're celebrating by having a special "moderately-sized issue." In other words, it's normal size. I think the comic celebrates its tenth anniversary next year.

This issue is told in the style of the old EC comic "Tales of the Crypt" and features Principal Skinner telling "Tales of the Vault of the Permanent Record File!" Ooh, scary! Hey, it's almost Halloween.

Even if you're not a comic fan, if you like the Simpsons TV show, you will like the comic. Also, Bongo produces a Futurama comic as well.

American Century #19

Okay, here's a nasty bit of business.

American Century tells the story of Harry Kraft, a disillusioned World War II veteran, exploring the seedy side of America in the 1950s. If you think that the 1950s was all like The Donna Reed Show or Pleasantville you have another think coming! This is close to X-rated, folks and shows a lot of nastiness.

In the first issues of the series, Harry faked his own death to get away from the boredom of the post-war American dream, and a wife he couldn't stand. Now Harry is back in Chicago, doing a little job for his ex-wife Beth, so she'll forget he exists again. Beth is running a "camera club" which is a studio where girlie pictures are produced, the sort of place where Bettie Page might have worked. She's being shaken down by a couple of crooked cops, and Harry's job is to get them off her back. He's doing this by burning down some of the other places that the cops are running the protection scam on.

See? Not very nice!

Writer Howard Chaykin specializes in this sort of lurid, seedy story, and frankly I'm eating this stuff up with a spoon. The patented Chaykin Wise-ass dialogue is much in evidence as well. The covers are also reminiscent of classic 50s pin-up work too.

Alas this comic doesn't sell very well, and I don't know how much longer its going to be around. I recommend it highly. It's one of my favorite guilty pleasures!