Speculative Friction:
a blog of comics and literary criticism written by Bill Baker

"it fills you up"

4-5-06

I reread Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine this past weekend. This isn't just one of my favorite books, it's been a touchstone for most of my life. It had a huge impact upon me when I first read it, so much so that I made rereading this bittersweet séance summoning of the ghosts of the final Golden Summer of the author's bucolic boyhood an annual event, one which I gladly observed every first week of the summer break from school for most of my tweens and teens.

Yeah, there are other books which are almost or equally important to me, most of which I'm sure I'll talk about at some point or other in this forum. That's because I'm sure to reacquaint myself with certain works--be it a graphic or traditional novel, a movie, play or, like last week, a television series, an album or single, etc.--at various times throughout the year[s]. Sometimes it's just a nice visit with an old friend, laughing about the apparent or perceived changes Time has wrought in either one of the parties involved while reminiscing over past events, bright and dark. Other times it's almost as if it's your own personal Book of Revelations, and each sentence, each page brings into view a strangely familiar, unmapped and virgin New World. What was known becomes Terra Incognita, as previously friendly vistas are now foreign, leaving you with the sense that, just maybe, "Here There Be Dragons" might be true for once. And you wouldn't have it any other way.

And that's what really sets a "classic" apart from the rest, at least for me. It might not happen every time I encounter it, but each of these seminal works gives me something of real, lasting and personal value--and which changes as I do. Or, to be more precise, my perception of the work becomes enlarged, or opened up, because of my own passage through time, along with the consequent accumulation of experience and, ideally, wisdom of some sort. It's almost as if these various novels, plays, poems spoken or set to song, and pictures moving or not, it's almost as if these art objects act in some sense like a novel-length koan, offering what I need to see, feel, touch, taste, smell and vicariously live and understand about life at that point. Or maybe it's what I'm ready to understand, sometimes in a manner which defies any explanation, at that stage which these divers gems have to offer.

Regardless, Dandelion Wine is a touchstone book for me. I'm still trying to sort out everything that came of this reading, probably my first in five years or longer, but I do know I can say this much about it: It filled me up and satisfied in ways that no food, potion or brew could ever match, and left me wishing the experience would never end. And hating myself for understanding yet again that, to be real and true, it had to end. Just as every thing in this life has to end, it seems. Just to give it some kind of meaning and weight, if nothing else. That's one of the primarily attributes of both art and life, if you think about it.

Just one of the hard but important lessons [re]learned this time through, and applicable to most likely everything, I suppose.

So, with that in mind, let's find out...


What's Bill been reading this week?

3-29-06 through 4-4-06


Dandelion Wine
Much too often these days, "coming of age" suggests Porkies more than a story of a young person's dawning self-awareness--and we're likely the poorer for it as individuals and as a culture. Using the metaphor suggested by the book's title as a springboard, Bradbury re-imagines his boyhood's final "perfect summer" using his patented blend of magical realism, pulp-fueled fantasies and native wit. Delivered in the Grand Master's liquid, often lyric voice, this is a seemingly-simple novel of real and surprising depths. Every page is peppered with passions subtle and quick, while each chapter is larded with seemingly endless wisdoms, bitter and sweet and otherwise. Dandelion Wine is that rare book which offers a reader rewards--both large and small--reading after reading, year after year. My highest recommendations.
The 1999 Avon hardcover reprints Ray Bradbury's classic tale of a Midwestern boy's coming of age at the end of an era.
Avon Books
www.AvonBooks.com


All Star Superman # 3
Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly, fully supported by Jamie Grant and crew, continue their pitch-perfect performance, laying down a solid foundation redolent of yesteryear that provides the counterpoint to the bracing posthuman hooks. What we've got here, is an unabashedly heartfelt paean to the romance genre of yore powered by the long-unrequited, highly ironic romantic triangle consisting of Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane. This one lays bare the NuRomantic heart beating beneath the shiny surface of the Morrison-Quietly hit machine, and serves up some truly breathtakingly sweet and beautiful tableaus that can haunt. Just about perfect, and worth every penny spent, and more. And there just ain't no higher recommendation than that, my friends.
The third issue of a mini-series featuring DC Comics' icon, Superman
DC Comics
www.DCcomics.com


Down # 4
This final issue of this bloody-minded mini-series brings Warren Ellis' tale of a "good cop gone bad" via her own personal Heart of Darkness to its inevitable conclusion--and I mean "inevitable" as in the tragic sense. Warren's work has always been interesting and entertaining, and much of his darkest work is as terribly compelling as witnessing a horrible accident unfold before your eyes. And Cully Hamner deserves an Eisner for his work on this book. If you missed the series, grab the trade when it hits in June, '06.
Fourth and final issue of a black-as-night noir undercover cop thriller
Top Cow
www.ImageComics.com


NextWave issues # 2 & 3
I've begun to think of this wondrously chaotic and senselessly destructive monthly as a kind of purposefully demented and depraved "animated look" series aimed at childlike adults. Or a comic book version of Adult Swim, as it were. And getting a double dose of it? Pure and twisted super hero fun as only Warren Ellis can write, and the incredibly versatile Stuart Immonen can illustrate. Do I recommend this book? [Insert evil laugh here]
Guess.
The second and third issues of a new ongoing series featuring a group of ill-humored B-grade heroes banding together to beat up and break things [no, really]
Marvel Entertainment
www.Marvel.com


Todd and Craig's The Perhapanauts # 4
This issue of that other well done and fun "agents of the supernatural fighting supernatural threats" title from Dark Horse brings this introductory mini-series to a close in an open ended manner which is, nonetheless, still satisfying. Let's hope that there's been enough interest in the series, and in any trade collection that may follow, to warrant a continuation of this intriguing series. I vote "Yea," just for the joy of seeing more of Craig Rousseau's wonderful line work, and in anticipation of getting to read another engrossing script by Todd Dezago. Extremely fine work all the way around, folks. Now, how's about an encore?
The final issue of a mini-series
Dark Horse
www.DarkHorse.com


Superman: The Man of Tomorrow archives volume 2
This gorgeous hardcover recaptures the architects and engineers of the now-legendary Silver Age of the Superman hard at work reimagining and rebuilding the Man of Steel's mythos for their era. These are the stories that redefined the legend of The Last Son of Krypton for a generation, built with real skill and vigor by the likes of Wayne Boring, Stan Kaye, Otto Binder, Bill Finger, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. This is the good stuff, folks, and however silly or contrived it might be at times, there's something good and true and inspired about this work. Even better, much, if not all, of the stories contained in this volume are simply sublime, representative of their particular day, yet timeless and fresh.
Second in a series of archival-quality hardcover books reprinting the seminal Silver Age adventures of The Man of Tomorrow
DC Comics
www.DCcomics.com


Atlas Era Tales to Astonish vol. # 1 [or Marvel Masterworks vol. 57]
Finally, after years of waiting, the House of Ideas reaches back to a nearly forgotten era when it was still printing comics under its original Atlas Comics Imprint to present one of the most eagerly anticipated editions of its Masterworks reprinting program. It's truly difficult to express just how much enjoyment I got from reading this book. Suffice to say that if you love weird giant monsters, invading hordes from outer space, underground worlds and the other great plot and storytelling devices of the pulps as done by the likes of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Joe Sinnott and Stan Lee, you'll understand exactly what I mean once you've enjoyed this book for yourself. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I feel a bit sorry for you, really. Again, this is the pure and good stuff, folks, and like The Man of Tomorrow collection, both firmly rooted in its era, yet still vital and affective entertainment. And I could easily argue that it's worth the price of admission for the covers and many of the splash pages, alone. Simply one of the best reprint books released so far this year.
A collection of the first ten issues of a seminal and extremely influential "weird science" anthology dating from the Atom Age of comics
Marvel Entertainment
www.Marvel.com