On Meeting the Artist II

Mr. Ryan Claytor of Elephant Eater Comics visited my LCS today. It was his last stop on his book signing tour, before settling into Lansing. Which is cool. It's always fun to meet the artist. Especially when the artist is an extremely nice guy who kind of reminds me of my (youngest) uncle (who, incidentally, is a painter living in California, and is also an extremely nice guy. Similar vibe, I guess.)

The thing is, though, while it's always fun to meet the artist, it can also be one of the most awkward guilt-trips ever. I'm not familiar with Ryan's work, nor did I budget for it today. It's the last Wednesday of the month, when most of my pull list comes out. I have a budget and a routine, and that didn't include a ten-dollar collected edition. So I found myself talking (awkwardly) to a recently local indie creator. Picked up the first trade to look at it, but... How do you stand in front of someone, anyone, and silently read (or read and comment on) their work in front of them? I had a similar problem when I met Guy Davis a couple years ago, but at least there I'd had the foresight to purchase and read his book (Unstable Molecules, a haunting take on the Fantastic Four) beforehand.

So that's the awkward. The guilt is passing up an autobiographical comic which, frankly, looks kind of cool with the creator sitting right there, and purchasing the Marvel monthlies I've already agreed to buy. Such is the nature of the pull list. *sigh*

Well, next week is slow. I'm pulling the Ms. Marvel Annual (Or at least, I think I am. Never can tell with my LCS. Gods, that's an awful cover...), I'm planning on Manhunter, and I'm curious about Marvel Apes (pending previews), but should they be there, I may plan on picking up the first collection of And Then One Day.

Exercise in Microfiction

I emerged from my first bed, shed my last coat and spread my wings. It was the first real warmth I had felt; the earth had coated and sheltered me, but it was still cold among the twisted roots and blind moving threads of flesh. Standing amidst the tall shadows, I drank it in. And soon, I folded my dry wings, rasping together in my first experimental song.

Around me, my brothers did the same. I know, because my leg membranes ached with the force of the chorus.

We soon found our bearings, my brothers and I. We touched the souls drifting up from the fruits of the tall shadows. We fed on these fruits when we first saw her. She was silent, but not demure, never demure. She leapt with confidence and grace greater than any of the other silent ones.

Every night my brothers and I courted her, our song growing as the world grew warmer. She did not choose between us. (I try to believe that she would have chosen me.) She ignored us, as we ignored everything but the world's bounty and her.

And then, one warm night, the ghost leaper took her. It was a giant beast, with damp fungal breath, and a cry that shook us all.

Fools, we leapt after it, dropping our bounty, for what was it next to her?

One by one, it took them, grasping them with an impossibly long strand of sour honey. We are agile, but it is fast, this beast. Of my brothers, I alone was quickest, springing behind a boulder, and finding shelter beneath.

Here I cower, but the cloak of earth is no longer a comfort, for I feel the monster's baleful cry. I touch its soul. And I know that the nearest fruit is much too far, and my crop is empty. The beast can afford to wait. I cannot.

Blue Beetle #26

I love Blue Beetle. Every month, without fail, Jaime's adventures make me smile. His family and friends make me smile. He makes me smile. I even like that this latest issue was in Spanish. Well, there's some English, too. The sound-effects are, well, sound-effects, and the "Scarab-speak" is clearly alien. But the bulk of Blue Beetle #26 is definitely something I can't read.

So I open it up for the first time. Actually, my comic is opened the first time by the manager at my LCS, who is curious. I like it when that happens, since the majority of my comics-based conversation occurs online, and I don't even have much of that. So he opens the book, tries reading some of the dialog aloud. He's pretty clearly not fluent. His 'r's, which are difficult in Spanish, don't sound right, but hey. It's fun! I don't try reading aloud. The manager has had two years of high school Spanish to my one. (French was my language of choice in high school. Had four years. I'm not fluent in that, either, but it's easier to pronounce.)

Yes. I can't speak, read, or understand Spanish. The characters' voices don't come alive in my head. So, when I open the book for the second time, I am effectively linguistically immersed. And I have the comforting knowledge that the equivalent of a Spanish phrasebook is tucked in my figurative back pocket. With one hand marking that handy English script, I play. Sometimes I read a page of script first, and then read the Spanish page it corresponds to. Sometimes I read a few pages in succession, Spanish first, then go back and translate before rereading those same pages. That's how I read a good chunk of the battle scene between Blue Beetle and Parasite. I realize, in my reread, that I hadn't been lost the first time through. Clear imagery and cognates probably have something to do with that.

There are quite a few ways, I'd imagine, for a non-Spanish speaker to read Blue Beetle #26. I'm patient enough to read it as a "'Nuff Said" comic, but that could be done. Again, the imagery is clear, and the characters are plenty expressive.

It's also a relatively simple story. It has depth, of course, between the family relationships and Parasite's analysis of Jaime. The Scarab gets to cut loose for once. The fact that Jaime trusts it enough for that says a lot about how he has come into his own as the third Blue Beetle. But nuances aside, I don't think the plot would be hard to follow even without that phrase book. It's a hero versus villain fight, framed by a family gathering, after all.

Actually, now I'm kicking myself for not reading this without a crutch the first time through. Did anyone? If so, how did it work out for you?

At any rate, it's fine Blue Beetle, and the last page, which has no words and needs none, is one of the sweetest things ever. And while I wouldn't want to read Spanish comics every month, this is a great novelty.

Also, it is easier to understand than DC Universe: Zero. That's in English, but the depth immersion is more than I am ready for. Can anyone translate that comic for me?