Alternative Visions
Alternative Visions |
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Page 19 of 29  Eithtball (Fantagraphics) by Dan Clowes Science fiction or fantasy was a more familiar comics genre, and in its alternative incarnation produced some remarkable offerings. It was particularly important in the early days of direct sales, because as well as appealing to comics fans, it succeeded in crossing over to those fans of prose fiction who also frequented the shops. Perhaps the biggest early hit was Cerebus the Aardvark (Aardvark-Vanaheim, 1977) by Dave Sim, which told the story of the adventures of a three-foot-tall aardvark, in a pseudo-medieval land populated by humans. It started out as a parody of Conan the Barbarian, but soon developed into something much more sophisticated. As Cerebus went from being a barbarian to kitchen-staff supervisor, to Prime Minister, to Pope, so the satire in the stories became ever more pointed, taking in some witty observations on politics and organized religion. The Cerebus saga has been subdivided into a number of graphic novels the size of telephone directories, and had been a pioneering work in terms of extended narratives. Other kinds of science fiction fantasy were also popular. Three titles were particularly notable: Elfquest (Warp, 1979) by Wendy and Richard Pini, a Tolkienesque epic about magic and misdeeds among a community of elves; Luther Arkwright (Never Ltd, 1982) by Bryan Talbot, which appeared as a series of graphic novels developing the story initiated in British news-stand title Near Myths and starring a Moorcock-style adventurer trying to avoid an English civil war in a parallel universe; and Mr X (Vortex, 1984) by the Hernandez brothers, the strange tale of a mysterious, speed-addicted architect and his visits to a futuristic city. In the 1990s, more contemporary themes took over, such as cyberpunk and dystopian eco-fiction.  Eithtball  Eithtball  Pages from 'Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron' (1990,1993), a bizarre, sexually intense, fever dream. |