Multiversity Comics Update: Is this really happening?

Last time on my Multiversity Comics update, we'd just had our biggest visitor day ever because of a Twitter list Matt had come up with. That was an extremely exciting day, one where Gil, Matt and myself could hardly believe what was happening perpetually. Since then, things have settled down a bit, but not for a lack of excitement. In recent weeks, we've added a new writer in fellow Alaskan and Boscos patron Brandon Burpee. Not only that, but we've had a slew of exciting interviews start coming down the path, as I've interviewed personal favorites like Jonathan Hickman, Fred Van Lente, and Francis Manapul. That's not even the tip of the iceberg. In coming weeks we have interviews with industry giants and newer and highly lauded creators alike, such as:

• Brian Michael Bendis (essentially today's version of Stan Lee, the architect of Marvel Comics)
• Filip Sablik (Publisher of Top Cow Productions, one of the biggest companies in the industry)
• Joshua Dysart (acclaimed writer of Unknown Soldier and BPRD)
• David Petersen (Eisner Award winner best known for his work Mouse Guard)
• David Gallaher (Eisner Award winner best known for High Noon)

We have all of those, plus a number of other great creators like Phillip Tan, Brahm Revel, Jim McCann, and many, many more coming up, plus some other exciting interview opportunities that are presenting themselves.

If that wasn't exciting enough, we've started to get a good amount of press to help legitimize our venture even more so. The most exciting spotlight for me was when one of my favorite creators, Brian Wood of DMZ and Local fame, was emailed my review for the new issue of DMZ and promptly made a post on his forum discussing my review and what others opinions are of my thoughts. To think that I'm not just an outsider looking in but part of a site that seemingly is drawing the interest of all of those people I've idolized for forever is very exciting indeed. Of course, I can't ignore the fact that all of the interest in our site is earning me pretty sweet perks ("hello there package from company...you want me to read your title and feature it in my Small Press Spotlight column? Don't mind if I do!").

Possibly the coolest news of all though I've saved for last. I had been planning on going to the Emerald City ComiCon this year in Seattle, and now it appears that not only will I be attending, but I will be attending as a bonafide member of the press. Press pass and all, getting me into the events for free and into panels and the like automatically. To a huge dork like me whose aspirations for writing never really extended far out of endlessly ranting on this here blog (thank you all for reading it), it's pretty damn exciting. Yet, I do want to note that the more I write there the less time I have to write here. I'll still post plenty because it's my personal version of crack, but perhaps not as often as I have in the past. Still, follow my exploits at Multiversity Comics, and watch us grow into the next big comic site. Or not. Who knows, really? All I know is it's good to know reading comics for so long has started to pay off for me as a writer/person.

What would your Wu Tang name be?

Ghostface wears WAY more chains than me

Today I found myself in my cubicle, responding to emails, working through spreadsheets, and coming up with brilliant marketing plans (you know...the usual) all the while blaring incredibly awesome Ghostface Killah albums. First off it's pretty hilarious to me that I'm listening to Ghostface's unique brand of hardcore rap while working in cube world (whenever I'd go to warm my coffee, I'd leave my iTunes up and it would be an entire page of "Ghostface Killah" songs which, I'm fairly certain, is grounds for termination in corporate world). But besides that, I found myself really surprised by how dorky these songs were!

As Jada Yuen said in this article for NY Mag, "Wu Tang really seem to connect with dorky white guys," and I think I know why now. I cannot find any actual proof about this, but at one point I'm convinced that Seth Rogen stated that the reason the Wu Tang Clan was so awesome was because they are in to the same things as nerdy white guys. You know, comic books and kung fu.

All these guys love comics (Method refers to himself as Johnny Blaze from time to time - no accounting for taste), but after listening to Ghostface's albums today, I really, really know where the comic book part comes from. The guy refers to himself as Tony Starks for gods' sakes! The guy is constantly making comic references in his songs (in between massive amounts of innuendo and drug references of course), and apparently has even said on record he relates to Tony Stark's need to wear his armor to live because he uses machines to live with his diabetes. This guy is dedicated.

So apparently the main requirements to be a member of the Wu Tang Clan are love for the Shaolin and the Marvel comic universe. Done and done. When do I get to appear on an album? Can I go on their next tour? After seeing them at Bumbershoot 2007 and seeing the million man march of people they had on stage, why exactly can't I be a member? I'm fairly certain most every other person in the Pacific Northwest that evening was a member, so I feel like I should get my shot, especially considering pretty much no one on stage was doing anything besides hyping and acting ridiculous.

I suppose the main reason why I can't join is because I don't have an awesome nickname like Inspectah Deck or Raekwon, but really, how hard is it to come up with an awesome name like that? I'll keep you posted, but you heard it here first: David Harper - Wu Tang Clan member.

Think Cosmically, Act Locally

#1 - Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly

For my first venture into reading of the year (horrible start to the year caused by a very, very busy January), I read Brian Wood (of DMZ fame) and Ryan Kelly's wonderful 12 issue comic series Local.

While wandering Title Wave books in Anchorage with my mom, we randomly came across a comics "section" (two quick points: quotes on section because it was on book shelf which is smaller than my collection, and that Title Wave is the place that had an employee that I asked "where are your graphic novels?" to which she responded with , in the most condescending way possible, "we only have the German novel Maus", with a look of contempt and disdain in her eyes - not a fan of her) and I eagerly looked through it. While I'm not a fan of Title Wave and their pretentious nature ("I read, thus, I am better than you"), they do offer killer discounts. I saw a collection of all 12 issues of Local and saw that it was only $17.50 while it was $29.99 at Barnes and Noble, well, needless to say I eagerly snatched it up.

Strangely, I then went to Barnes and Noble, drank my coffee and tore through the whole series while listening to Explosions in the Sky (a current fave). I loved every second of this story, which follows one character named Megan McKeenan through her youth as a person who never can find a true home. Each issue features her in a new location, with most issues focusing on her while some focus on others with her simply appearing in them.

All in all though, it's a study of the meaning of home today, of finding yourself through the lens of a location, and it really is an excellent read for a younger person such as myself who still has not necessarily solidifed my sense of identity. The character of Megan finds herself impulsively jumping around the continent of North America, not really searching for something in particular, but trying to find something all the same. She begins her travels in Portland and weaves the continent, and Wood and Kelly meticulously researched each and every location Megan visits (I totally recognized the Pharmacy in Portland and the route she takes into Missoula, Montana) to add a real sense of realism to the story.

Wood really is the king of realistic comics right now, as even his more outlandish comic DMZ, which follows a photographer in a modern day American civil war, is steeped in realism unseen in other comics today. Not only are the locations entirely accurate, but the emotions and thought process behind characters simply feels more human than characters in other comics (or books for that matter). The growth he writes into protagonist Megan is natural and really gives the book an arc when on first sight there doesn't appear to be one.

Of course, Ryan Kelly's art really grounds the story as well, as his locations are not quite photo realistic but extremely detailed, his characters properly convey emotions and thought (although his men do tend to look a bit...similar), and he creates one of the more dynamic looking female characters around with his look for Megan.

All in all, this book is fantastic. Not only does it hit home with the search for identity today, but Megan really has this every girl feel that strikes me strongly as well. I can see a bit of every girl I've ever known in her, and she truly is a remarkable creation by Wood and Kelly.

I definitely recommend this for everyone who wants a good read, regardless of whether you're into comics or not.

Local: A-

Superman vs. Inflation

Action Comics #1

For the longest time, my friend Pat who works at Bosco's (my friendly neighborhood comic book joint) has said that comics will be hitting $3.99 sooner rather than later. With the way the economy is going and the fact that customers still purchase comics (when they're special of course) at the $3.99 price point, it really could be any day when the jump hits.

I figured, no way could this happen of course. The comic book industry throughout my life has taken moderate jumps, not huge jumps like that. $1 to $1.25. $1.25 to $1.50. $1.50 to $1.99. Things of that sort. That would be a jump of a whole dollar, increasing the price by a third of the existing amount. I could see a jump to $3.50, but $3.99? That's absurd. Think about all of the things you can get for $3.99?

• 3 gallons of gas (if you live somewhere besides Alaska...damn Alaska)
• A gallon of milk (in Alaska, I have no idea how much it is in places that forcibly try to curb my milk habit)
• 4 songs on iTunes
• Almost an entire half special at Benny's Taco Wagon
• Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy at Title Wave, plus have enough left over for a hot chocolate from Kaladi's to drink while reading

Needless to say my response was most often "surrrreeeeee Pat. Sure." as I cheerily purchased my massive stack of books. They'd never boost comics by a dollar in a bad economy. No way!

April 2009 solicits just came out from Diamond Comic Distributions, and sure enough? A lot of the big books have made the leap to $3.99. Not all of them, but an attention getting percentage and most books that are deemed must buys. That's how they get you - "hey David...look at me. I'm awesome, you can't not get me." It's right too, so I do that. Next thing you know a slightly less awesome book moves up, and then another, and then another, and then next thing you know I'm paying $3.99 for Brave and the Bold (a lower tier comic that my mom and sister merrily pointed out - repeatedly - sounds like a daytime soap opera).

Well you know what comic industry? I've been looking to drop some books. You bump it to $3.99, sayanora title, I'm going to start trade waiting. Sure I'm impatient when it comes to comic books, but I'm not stupid. I have no problem saving $1.50 an issue if I have to wait 6 months longer.

The most amazing thing is that for the most part, comics are an industry that is in serious pain. The industries top books sell 1/8th of what they did as recently as 1990, the movies about the characters have not infused any titles with sudden sales rushes, and overall, while the quality is higher than it's ever been, issue by issue buzz is nowhere near P.F.C. (pre foil covers - aka before stupid, cheesy foil covers almost ruined the industry in the 90's).

Especially as a person who spent a few years of his life learning the ins and outs of business, I have to wonder what signs the big 2 have seen that indicate sales won't plummet after this increase. I don't really have any answers, but I really have to admit, I miss the days of $1 comics.

That's it? Seriously?

Batman and Darkseid plotting each other's demise

Grant Morrison, what is your status?

If you care to read Final Crisis, DC's current mega event, at some point in the future, you probably shouldn't read this. However, you should read this part here: don't read the damn thing.

I think I keep trying to convince myself that I really like it. It is entertaining, and conceptually, it's pretty spectacular. Darkseid and his fellow "new" New Gods take over the Earth as part of the transition into the fifth world, using the anti-life equation which has been spread throughout the Earth submitting the human race to Darkseid's will. Most heroes goes down in the first salvo, Batman is taken out after Batman R.I.P., Superman is in the future, and Wonder Woman has been brainwashed by the anti-life. What are the heroes to do? How can they save New Earth?

Yet, this is not the sum of all of its parts. It's Morrison at his most byzantine, it's rushed JG Jones art (plus middling Carlos Pacheco work over the rest of it), and the 2 page plot beats for seemingly massively important sections. When he does give a topic more than that, it's on the most random things, like two people sized cats fighting each other (okay, oversimplifying an actually pretty sweet fight between Tawky Tawny and Kalibak, but still).

Then, after not appearing for four issues, Batman shows up randomly, all of a sudden free after being captured by Darkseid's confederates. Of course, much posturing proceeds, Batman takes out a gun (even Morrison references the fact that he never uses guns) with a bullet that was used to kill Orion in the first issue (it can do that because it's full of radion...you know those New Gods, they're so silly), points it at Darkseid (who responds by Omega Sanctioning all up in Bats business), and then they kill each other by radion bullet and bendy eye beams respectively.

This all takes place over three pages.

So a fight between cat people gets two more pages than the death of the main villain of the story (possibly) and the most popular character in the DC universe. Of course due to the fact the Omega Sanction is actually something that puts the person into an endless loop of alternative realities that continuously suck worse than the previous one, it probably means Batman will get out (especially considering Mister Miracle did in another Morrison written book).

No less, the point isn't that Batman died. It's that he died in a 3 page section of an issue that cycled through plot elements as fast as I jump through channels while nothing is on (which makes sense as Morrison himself calls this "channel zapping comics."), it's that the entire series is disjointed, frantic, and all over the place, it's that the art is mediocre (besides Doug Mahnke's stellar final five pages - thank god he's drawing issue seven!), it's really a combination of everything.

While I really dug issue 4 and have overall found the series entertaining, it's just too much of the side of Morrison that people do not like. People applaud him for "challenging" the way comic book publishers write these vents, but come on now. Being different isn't always great. This issue is the perfect example of why it isn't.

Check here at the Daily Skew for a nice breakdown of issue #6. I'm glad to see public opinion is turning against Morrison in this regard. It's about damn time!

Adaptation Alley

This is how you make a comic movie

While perusing the movie site Aint It Cool News I came across two exciting things for comic book fans. There was the premiere of the new trailer for what I will call the Wolverine movie (aka the absurdly and unnecessarily long titled X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and the first review for Frank Miller's film adaptation of the Will Eisner comic classic the Spirit.

On one hand, you have the Wolverine movie, filled with comic delights such as Gambit and Deadpool finally making it into a movie, a plot delving into Wolverine's very interesting life and origin, and old man Logan getting down and dirty with some good ol' violence. Like he should be. As a movie fan, you have Liev Schreiber flat out dominating the trailer with his portrayal of Sabretooth, you have Danny Huston chewing the scenery as Stryker (I contest that Michael C. Hall would have filled it better, but that's neither here nor there - at least we can save Hall for Arcade further down the line), and you have Jackman looking as in his element as you can get.

In short, get excited folks. I get the feeling that Gavin Hood may actually deliver another good installment of mutant related comic adaptations.


Then on the other hand you have the review of the Spirit, a movie rife with challenges, not the least of which is an amateurish (at best) director in comic god Miller and an absurdly hyperstylized trailer. This review compares Battlefield Earth (one of the worst adaptations and movies ever) favorably to the Spirit.

Words used in that previous sentence did in fact include "compares," "favorably," and "Battlefield Earth."

You there? You five guys (I used to be one of you) who were holding out hope that Miller's adaptation could possibly be serviceable? Give up. Regardless of how poorly written or ridiculous the actual review may be, odds are this just confirms the worst - this movie is going to suck, and badly at that.

That's what always gets me. These movies have great source material. How can you not take decades of material and craft the best stories into something everyone wants to see? I just don't get it. Especially with the Spirit as it adapts one of the best comic stories ever in the "Sand Serif" arc. With all of the confidence the Wolvie preview gets me, movies like the Spirit take it away.

I really want to believe that Mendes and Caruso will do right by Preacher and Y the Last Man. While I can't expect perfect, please, please, please take us towards Wolverine and ignore everything that comes from the Spirit.

The zenith has been reached

Cover to Amazing Spider Man #576

I have officially reached the apex of my dorkdom. It simply cannot get any higher.

This week in Amazing Spider Man #576, I had a letter published. First letter in the letters page, David Harper, Anchorage, AK. There I am. Raving about a comic book.

My cup runneth over with excitement.

It's pretty much the coolest thing ever to happen to me, and it was the first time I've really felt a buzz from pure excitement in quite some time. I found it hard to purchase my comics without grinning ear to ear, and strangely I didn't reveal to my friendly neighborhood comic vendors at Bosco's that it happened. I think it was sheer disbelief. I've wanted to have a letter published in a comic since I was little, but this is the first time I've ever written in or been published. I mean, they may not admit it, but it's every comic fans dream to have a letter published on the letters page.

I may be insane, but I think this is more exciting for me than when Newsweek quoted my blog. Perhaps if they wanted to quote me about comic books, we may have a winner there. However, it wasn't, so it isn't. Take a look at it if you get the chance, but I know the average person doesn't really come by a comic book store often.

The Weekend Edition

This weekend was another one that was fun and fundamental, meaning that it was again full of all kinds of good natured fun and lots of reading. Of course, I really had to stay with my standard persona of all or nothing, and this weekend, from a partying and bizarre times standpoint at least, was definitely on the nothing side. But man, it was freaking awesome. What went down?

• GCI vs. the Biz Bee
• Being asked to be interviewed in a piece about cougars (not even joking)
• Catching City of Ember (not bad overall, but definitely didn't follow the book and had some ridiculously hokey CGI and an incessant need to speed through details, or ignore them entirely)
• Organizing my comic collection with my sister and mom
• Dinner with parents, sister, and two nieces
• Getting wiped out at scrabble
• Coffee discussions with dad and sister
• Finishing Warren Ellis' Crooked Little Vein
• Seeing the Rays make the World Series

It was definitely heavy on getting things done, but doing those things were a lot of fun. The highlight for the weekend?

"What in gods name did we get ourselves in to?"

Somehow I coerced my sister and mom into helping me organize my comic collection. Note to all: I'm a comic freak. There are probably comic stores out there that have less than me. Negotiating all of these comics to fit into the boxes I had, splitting up the series and then organizing them numerically, and managing to do that in one day was a Herculean effort (Greek god or comic character, you decide) by all of us, and it was strangely therapeutic and incredibly fun in the midst of the torturous aspect.

Nearly done, about to die

By torturous, I of course am referring to the fact that I woke up this morning actually feeling sore from the experience. Sore. From moving comic book from box to box. Good lord. I am the world's biggest pansy.

Of course, most of the heavy lifting was done by my mom and sister, as I spent most of the time clarifying and finding old gems in my collection for me to read later (Examples of statements from me: "No, that is not a comic version of a soap opera." "The Initiative is not a comic. Avengers: The Initiative is, the other is just a branding Marvel used because of the after effects of Civil War. Why are you looking at me like that?" "It's okay that I read Spider Man Loves Mary Jane, I swear."). Thanks so much for the help, and I'm sure the both of you can hardly wait for next year when we do it again. Hopefully that won't have to happen, as theoretically I should be able to just organize as I go and not have to worry about any more all day affairs.

Oh who am I kidding. Of course I won't do that and we'll just have to do it again. But man, they sure look nice now! One unnecessary side effect is I believe my family thinks I'm either crazy or horribly addicted (little of both more than likely) but that's okay. They seem understanding of it at least. Everyone has their little thing. Mine just happens to be a 15 book a week comic diet.

Who knew?

While waiting for Kim as she rode the bus to the Loussac Library in Anchorage, I went in myself to go find a couple of books (the Road and City of Ember, shockingly because they both are being turned in to movies). Due to my stupidity and inability to understand what the computer monitor said, I ended up in the entirely wrong section of the library. Apparently it's been quite some time since I'd been there.

However, this is a great example of happy accidents. While I was wandering aimlessly wondering where exactly Fiction Level 2 was (right where I typed it into the computer) I found their glorious section of graphic novels and trade paperbacks. Comics! Beautiful comics, all over the library! Who knew this? All kinds of favorites were there, from Fables to Planetary to Hellboy, plus series that I've never read before but always wanted to like Astro City and Sandman.

It was awesome. I excitedly grabbed a large stack of them and went off to check them out, until they announced I can only get 3 because I didn't give them back the postcard they mailed me. Oops! No less, I'm stoked. I'm going to start living at the library now! Good work Anchorage Library system!

Happy National Comic Book Day!

Not to be confused with National Free Comic Book Day, today was National Comic Book Day! Hopefully everyone celebrated that in the customary manner (and by everyone I mean me and...me), which is going to the comic store and picking up your weekly books! Yay! That's what I did, and it was a hell of a week. Huge list of great titles, and everything I'd want from a week in comics. Perfect way to celebrate one of the best national holidays.

Lazy Tuesday (now with links!)

I'm pretty sure they're trying to kill me at work. Okay, perhaps that's a tad on the dramatic side, but my responsibility levels are through the roof and I'm fairly certain that they think I'm some sort of marketing equivalent of Atlas. Between that and being physically beat from a lack of sleep and intense basketball after work with Colver, I don't have the energy to really think something out. There were a number of things I wanted to post about, but due to the lack of energy I'll do another smattering of mini-posts with links to satisfy my horrible, horrible addiction to blogging.

Enjoy!

• Think comics are just for nerds? You know who disagrees? Kobe Bryant. Read this awesome article about what his reading materials were for the trip to Beijing for the Olympics (100 Bullets and Preacher! Good call Kobe.) along with pics for proof. Thanks to blogger "To Infinity and Beyond?" for dropping that knowledge on me.
• CERN lit up the world's largest particle collider - the Large Hadron Collider - in an attempt to discover how atoms are created (amongst other things, such as finding God's particle in the mess). Some skeptics suggest this could be catastrophic to the Earth if things go wrong, as a black hole could potentially open. Clearly scientists are too busy making particle colliders to watch sci-fi, as they haven't thought of the possibilities of zombie breakouts, monsters from other dimensions, or even big glowing fields sucking in all metal and people in the room.
• Portugal. the Man's new album Censored Colors is streaming on their myspace page. In typical P.tM fashion, it's massively different than their other albums but is also really, really good. Congrats on being perpetually surprising and good guys. You represent Alaska well.
• Suck it Kindle! A company called Plastic Logic is working on an e-reader similar to Amazon's Kindle that is 8.5 by 11 (like a standard piece of paper), light weight, flexible, loaded with wi-fi, adobe/office compatibility, and has a battery that lasts days. It pretty much rules, and is looking at release some time in the first half of 2009.
• Proving people really can waste time and money on anything, a group at the Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, England did a study of 36,000 people to figure out if musical tastes have any relation to personality types. Their findings? People who listen to indie rock are creative, but are lazy, unkind, not generous, and have low self esteem. I disagree.
• Michael Caine claims that Johnny Depp is playing the Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman is playing the Penguin in the next Batman movie. I'd love to know how he knows this when Christopher Nolan has yet to start writing a script. Not a huge fan of Depp in that role - it's a pinch obvious and Depp would be more distracting than anything.
• Preacher was sent packing by HBO, as they claimed it "was just too dark and too violent and too controversial." To this I reply with, did they even read the series before optioning it? It's about a reverend powered by the word of god on a road trip with his hitman ex-girlfriend and a vampire to get God to atone for his sins. Yeah. They had to think that was going to be a family show.
• When did James Marsden become so funny? Check out the red band trailer for this new teen comedy Sex Drive to see Marsden really max out on the ridiculousness meter, plus a surprisingly entertaining looking teen comedy surrounding it.

The future is now

One of the ongoing themes of my blog has to be the struggle to prove that there is a place for the comic book medium next to mainstream literature. Most people look at comic books and assume that there is no real gravitas or substance, that within their pages are just people in tights running around and "POW!"ing or "ZAP!"ing each other. 

Of course, you have to remember that we're in an age in comics where heroes fight civil wars, that national icons are assassinated, that actual philosophical questions are posed to the readers. Of course, there is the occasional scantily clad superheroine (or near constantly if Greg Land is doing the pencils) and the massive brawl from time to time. But when even mainstream comics are stretching to put readers in a place that was often reserved for books, you have to wonder what the more niche, edgy works are doing.

For one of the best examples of what those works are doing and one of the best examples of the legitimacy of the medium, we have Vertigo's DMZ. This comic was created by writer Brian Wood (a rising star in the industry) and artist Riccardo Burchelli and it is the story of photojournalist Matthew (Matty) Roth. Matty is on his first assignment working for Liberty News Network, an assignment in which he is being taken into the demilitarized zone that is Manhattan. The setup for the story is that the nation was torn apart by civil war, and is best saved for Wood himself to say (taken from an interview he gave):

Midwestern militia groups revolt against their local governments in protest of rampant U.S. adventurism overseas and, in the absence of the National Guard, are able to gain far more ground than they thought possible. Small insurgent groups pop up in towns and cities across the country, and a sizable force, the Free States Army, pushes toward Manhattan. The city proves too big for them to take, and also for the U.S. Army to defend. The war stalls there, a stalemate, neither side being able to shift things.

This book is incredibly interesting, especially right now, because of the fragile environment we exist in following George W. Bush and his eight years in office and leading into the most tense presidential election I've ever experienced. The disparity between the two primary parties has never been so great, and this type of civil war is not that unbelievable when imagined in today's context.

Ultimately though, what makes this book so great is the human angle. Wood takes a unique angle that really doesn't show any political leanings or take sides, but really shows how wars (and especially the civil variety) can affect the people caught in the middle. How when it gets down to it, neither side in a war is ultimately right, both just end up being incredibly wrong because of the tragic cost of human life. We really get the perspective of what it's like to be on the ground and the daily struggle a person has to go through to just survive the day. Not only that, but you get perspectives into government, the control of mass media, and opportunistic corporations trying to get the easy dollar. This is not your grandfather's comic book by any means.

The characters are very three dimensional and believable (all the way from Matty to small supporting characters - especially after Wood's six issue vignette series about supporting characters that was collected in the trade paperback "The Hidden War"), and Burchelli does a masterful job of conveying what it takes to survive through his art. It's his first work for an American released publication, and the guy is just knocking it out of the park.

It's a remarkable story that really shines because of the allowances the comic book medium provides it. I greatly encourage anyone and everyone to check this out, as I honestly feel as if it is an important story to be told for people in America today. Of course, ultimately I know only Erik is going to read it (you better! this recommendation is for you!) but it's worth a shot for even non-comic fans.