'Best of TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
'Tricked' by Alex Robinson
Alex Robinson is a cartoonist who has done one comic book series that has been collected into a large trade paperback, and "Tricked" is only his second graphic novel. His first work, "Box Office Poison" was a small press comic that read like a soap opera about a book store employee who wants more out of life and his friend, who works as an assistant to a comic book artist who had been working since the 40's. Box Office Poison was one of the rare indy comics that grew as it went on, and while I disliked the ending, the comic itself was well done, showed a lot of promise and put Robinson on my radar as a cartoonist to watch.
So, when I picked up the graphic novel "Tricked", I wondered which Robinson I would get, the one who was excellent at writing dialog and could make page after page of people talking interesting, or the one who relied of poor plotting to move stories along.
As I started the book, I thought I had gotten the second one, but I am very glad to say that I was wrong. Dead wrong, and Tricked is a great novel that just happens to be done in a comic book form.
The story starts slowly, with small vignettes about the six characters the story will revolve around: a jaded rock star who can't come up with a new song, an office temp, a counterfeiter, a waitress, a runaway, and an angry obsessed fan with the story jumping from one character to the other. As the story goes on, some of the characters meet, some don't, and in some ways, the entire reason that they are the different focuses of the book is kept in the dark until the story's climax. Robinson does a great job of taking each character forward in their story, then stopping and going back to another character, building up the reader's involvement with them, but always leaving the question in the back of your mind as to why the story is about these people until he decides to tell you. My only minor complaint is that one of the characters (who the reader will be able to pick out quickly) is TOO unlikeable and should have been given some redeeming qualities so as to fit in with the theme of the book.
The art is also something that should be noted, and even though don't know half as much as I should about the art end of comics, Robinson's art is impressive. He has a cartoony style that at first seems too simplistic for the story he is telling, but allows him to show emotion through the character quickly. This works in favor of the story, however, since we soon see that we were wrong about some aspects of them, right about others, and he is able to get across a vast array of emotions with the smallest number of pen lines possible. When a character is very simply6 designed, it is easier for the reader to "project" themselves into that character and the story, and Robinson does that to a greater degree than I would have thought at first glance.
The other skill Robinson has as a storyteller is his ability to pull the reader into the story. While I had misgiving about the story in the opening pages, by the time I was about 20 pages in, I could not put the book down, and stayed up far into the night because I simply had to know what was going to happen next.
"Tricked" is a book that appeals to anyone who likes good fiction, doesn't have a single person in tights running around, and is one of the better graphic novels I have read this year. "Tricked" gets a 4 out of 5 and only lost a point because of of one of the major characters being weak. If you read it and find you are interested in his other book "Box Office Poison", I give it a 3 out of 5.
Cory!! Strode (The Best Dressed Man In Comics) has written comic books, novels, jokes for comedians, Op Ed columns, the on-line comic strip
www.Asylumon5thstreet.com and has all kinds of things on his website, www.solitairerose.com
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
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"After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed." So begins the statement that Mel Gibson's publicists were desperately shopping around the US media yesterday, phrased, apparently, in the vain hope of presenting an epic incident of potentially career-destroying bigotry as just one of those things that happens when you're tipsy.
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Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
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Best part of the heat wave having passed is the cats no longer think of me as their personal salt lick.
No new flags.
Memorabilia To Be Auctioned
'Star Trek'
"Star Trek" memorabilia spanning four decades - including Vulcan jewelry and Starfleet mini-dresses - went on display Wednesday in London in preparation for the first official auction of studio items from the sci-fi phenomenon.
The collection of more than 1,000 items is being sold CBS Paramount Television to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first "Star Trek" TV episode, said Helen Bailey, head of entertainment collections at Christie's auction house. The show ran from 1966 to 1969, but spawned five spinoff series and 10 films.
Weapons and models of the Starship Enterprise from the original series to the 2002 movie "Star Trek: Nemesis" remain on display at Christie's in central London until Tuesday, before going to four U.S. cities en route to Christie's in New York City for the three-day sale beginning Oct. 5.
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Narrates Katrina Documentary
Meryl Streep
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The documentary will open in New Orleans on Aug. 29 to mark the anniversary of Katrina's surge through the Gulf Coast, the company said. It will be released in Los Angeles on Sept. 8 and in IMAX theaters worldwide on Dec. 22.
Director-producer Greg MacGillivray said "Hurricane on the Bayou" is a call to restore Louisiana's coastal wetlands, which help protect New Orleans against deadly storms, as well as a "profound musical celebration of a city that has been called the soul of America."
The film stars music producer-songwriter Allen Toussaint, blues singer-guitarist Tab Benoit, 14-year-old fiddler Amanda Shaw and zydeco accordion player Chubby Carrier.
Meryl Streep
Over Tattoos & T-Shirts
Elton John
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"It's been a thing the British have always been very good at, with Bowie, myself, T.Rex, the Who, Queen. ... We all embraced that side of it," John, 59, tells Fashion Rocks magazine, on newsstands Aug. 8.
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Elton John
'War Is Over' Billboards
'The U.S. vs. John Lennon'
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The documentary from filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld is a chronicle of Lennon's transformation from musician to anti-war activist and how the U.S. government sought to silence him, in the view of the filmmakers. Leaf, Scheinfeld and Lionsgate marketing executives spent a lot of time with Ono preparing the campaign.
'The U.S. vs. John Lennon'
Free Concert For Military
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Duff, the multi-platinum recording artist and star of movies such as "A Cinderella Story," performed "Hilary Duff Rocks for the Troops" in Fayetteville, home of Fort Bragg.
Those in attendance were either in the military or have a military family member. Duff has previously made a block of tickets available for military families but decided this time to perform just for them.
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Violin Used For Recording
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The violin left the hands of the Beethoven family at the start of the 19th century and was later found in the possession of an American woman whose aunt emigrated from Austria to the United States in the 1930s.
She sold it to the Bonn-based Beethoven Foundation 11 years ago for a symbolic sum.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Charged With Misdemeanor DUI
Mel Gibson
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Destroyed By Demented Doberman
Teddy Bears
A guard dog has ripped apart a collection of rare teddy bears, including one once owned by Elvis Presley, during a rampage at a children's museum.
"He just went berserk," said Daniel Medley, general manager of the Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, England, where hundreds of bears were chewed up Tuesday night by the 6-year-old Doberman pinscher named Barney.
Barney ripped the head off a brown stuffed bear once owned by the young Presley during the attack, leaving fluffy stuffing and bits of bears' limbs and heads on the museum floor. The bear, named Mabel, was made in 1909 by the German manufacturer Steiff.
The collection, valued at more than $900,000, included a red bear made by Farnell in 1910 and a Bobby Bruin made by Merrythought in 1936.
Teddy Bears
Now In W.Va. Prison
Richard Hatch
Richard Hatch, convicted of failing to pay taxes on the $1 million he won on the debut season of "Survivor," has been sent to a federal prison in West Virginia.
He is at the West Virginia Federal Correctional Institute in Morgantown. Last month, he was moved to the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City after previously being held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts.
Hatch, 45, of Newport, R.I., became known on CBS's "Survivor" as the "fat naked guy" for refusing to wear clothes.
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Adventures In Republican Ethics
Jeff Habay
A former legislator accused of concocting a bizarre fake anthrax plot to smear a constituent was ordered jailed Wednesday to serve a sentence for having aides do campaign work on state time.
The judge turned aside the request from former (PA) state Rep. Jeff Habay to delay his six-month to one-year sentence until his upcoming trial on the unrelated anthrax charges. Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning said it appeared Habay was using delays in that case to postpone his sentence in the earlier conviction.
"Criminal defendants often do that - they want to delay and delay and delay," Manning said. Habay was led from the courtroom in handcuffs and walked silently past reporters.
Habay, 40, a six-term Republican, was convicted in December of conflict of interest and resigned from his House seat when he was sentenced in February.
Jeff Habay
Loses Lawsuit
Maria Sharapova
A federal judge ruled against tennis star Maria Sharapova on Wednesday, saying a Florida production company was entitled to market a documentary on her despite her agents' attempts to halt distribution.
U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks said Byzantium Productions Inc. was lawful in its production of two films, "Anna's Army" and "Russian Women's Tennis." The documentaries did not violate trademark laws, the judge found.
The decision means Byzantium, a two-man operation in West Palm Beach, can move forward with plans to distribute its work in Japan and elsewhere, though the filmmakers said the damage had already been done.
Maria Sharapova
Lawyers Quitting
Michael Jackson
For the second time in a year, a law firm representing Michael Jackson has parted company with the pop star, saying it hasn't been paid and can't get Jackson on the phone.
For his part, Jackson claims he fired the firm. In any event, a federal judge in Manhattan on Monday gave attorneys at Wachtel & Masyr permission to withdraw from a case in which a financial company claims the singer owes it $48 million.
In a letter to the judge, attorney William Wachtel described his trouble communicating with Jackson through a series of representatives. Over months, Wachtel said, he dealt with the singer through one intermediary after another, only to be informed repeatedly that they were quitting or had been fired.
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Seize TV Station
500 Women
About 500 women banging spoons against pots and pans seized state-run television station Channel 9 and broadcast a homemade video Wednesday that showed police kicking protesters out of Oaxaca's main square last month.
The standoff is the latest by demonstrators who accuse Gov. Ulises Ruiz of rigging his 2004 election victory and violently repressing opposition groups.
Tensions have been on the rise since June, when state police attacked a demonstration of striking teachers occupying the historic central plaza and demanding a wage increase.
Tourism is down 75 percent, costing the city more than $45 million, according to the Mexican Employers Federation. Business leaders have asked the federal government to intervene, but aides to President Vicente Fox have said the problem must be resolved at the state level.
500 Women
Rare Cloud Formation
Antarctica
In Memory
Kim McLagan
Kim McLagan, a British fashion model in the 1960s and the wife of former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, died Wednesday in a traffic accident.
The 57-year-old spa owner was hit by a dump truck when she ran a stop sign in Travis County, said James Parrish, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. She was pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported.
McLagan, originally from London, moved to the Austin area with her husband in 1994, according to the Web site for her spa, K.M. Skincare, located southeast of Austin.
She married the Who drummer Keith Moon in 1966. The next year she appeared in the worldwide satellite debut of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" video. The couple divorced in 1975, and Moon died in 1978. She married Ian McLagan the same year.
Kim McLagan
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