Jimmy Olsen's Supercyclopedia

When I was a kid, I could buy comic books at lots of places, including supermarkets, pharmacies, flea markets, department stores, and convenient stores. One memorable acquisition for me was Ambush Bug #3 that I got at the Cumberland Farms by my house. I was 12, and it contained a comedic mini-history of the DC Comics universe, including lots of Silver Age madness and strange things like Glop, Egg Fu, Itty, Mopee, and Julius Schwartz. A lot of what I read was unfamiliar but it fired me up to learn more about these fantastical and arcane cast of characters. 

This slice of history is a prologue to why I think Jimmy Olsen's Supercyclopedia might also be a sort of gateway book. My first impression after reading it was to question its audience. I loved the book, but it's full of references that I get because I've read comic books for a very long time. I am all in for a dance battle between the Legion of Superheroes and the Legion of Substitute Heroes. I grin at appearances of Space Cabbie, Blue Devil, Mr. Mind, and Ultra the Ultra-Alien. I know the rules about engaging with Mister Mxyzptlk. And I think it's clever that Toyboy's robot minions have heads shaped like the Hall of Doom. And I feel these things might be lost on younger readers in ordinary circumstances, but the structure of this book has a layer of informational assistance in the form of mini-encyclopedia entries like this one:

Many of the obscure references get explained in quick fashion in a way that does not detract from the story. This book is as much an updated version of Who's Who for a new generation as it is its own adventure. The result is a fun romp through the DC Universe with a wonderful mix of the familiar and new. 

The main narrative is a sort of version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with Jimmy Olsen playing the Ford Prefect role. His presence is in a different appearance, as a black teen and not the original freckled faced, red-headed white boy, but the bones of his existence are still based on his many Silver Age shenanigans. When he is tasked with creating and propagating the Supercyclopedia by the New Gods, he gets some unwanted attention from the villainous Toyboy, who steals it and corrupts it into evil. And Jimmy is well suited to solving the problem by relying on his teen pals Rip Hunter and Linda Park and not simply calling in the Big Blue Boy Scout. 

The artwork conveys action as well as many fun moments, and it is jam-packed with Easter eggs for attentive readers. I had a lot of fun reading this book, and I hope that it might attract some newer, younger attention to this vibrant cast of characters. From its cover paying homage to Flash #163 to its conclusion, this book is a love letter to the weird and wonderful DC Multiverse.

The Supercyclopedia is a collaboration between writer Gabe Soria and artist Sandy Jarrell. Soria writes all sorts of things, including books, comics, role-playing games, and album liner notes. He is the creator of the Sword & Backpack RPG, the Midnight Arcade series, and has also co-written the graphic novel Life Sucks. Jarrell has drawn lots of comics, including Meteor Men, Batman 66, and The Legendary Lynx.

I was not able to find many reviews of it online, but the one I did read was a rave: J. Caleb Mozzocco liked the book so much, he actually bought a physical copy (He works in a library so that is a big deal!). He also wrote, "If you're a DC Comics fan, or are just curious about the publisher, it's a real love letter to the company, its creators and its universe, filled with appearances of many less-seen characters (Warlord, Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew, Angel and The Ape) and intriguing reinventions of a handful of characters (Cain and Abel as TV horror hosts, Doc Magnus as a kid with action figure-sized Metal Men)."

Jimmy Olsen's Supercyclopedia was published by DC Comics, and they offer more info about it here.

The Cola Pop Creemees: Opening Act

This book I got as part of Birdcage Bottom Books' 2023(!) Kickstarter campaign. The Cola Pop Creemees: Opening Act is on its surface a funny book, but its loopy, cartoon images masque several unique human dramas that all combine as one musical act. The Cola Pop Creemees consist of guitarist/front man Ralph Jonathan, drummer Wallace T.J., Mona Gertrude on tambourine, bassist Gil Christopher, and keyboardist Henrietta Susan. Part of this book details the politics of being in a band, with people jockeying for praise, songwriting credit, and attention. Part of it is a deep dive into the different band members' pasts, with a look at their childhoods, parents, and various life-shaping events.

The five members all feature very different personalities, and many of them have been shaped and influenced by traumatic events. Sometimes the tenor of the stories can be slapstick or has a tinge of dark humor, but mostly they are relatable and moving. Some of the band members are depressed, some obsessed, some stressed, and it might be accurate, and sad, to say that Wallace T.J., who abuses a good many substances, might just be the most well adjusted of the bunch. Whatever the case, each story is incredibly compelling, and I found this book difficult to put down.

The Cola Pop Creemees: Opening Act paints remarkably vivid character portraits and is one that rewards reading and re-reading. It will make you laugh, cry, and seek a solo career where you never have to be in a band.

This is the debut graphic novel by Desmond Reed. Since this, he has published two further works about the Cola Pop Creemees: Lefty and The Horrors of Being Human. Reed speaks about his work on Opening Act in this interview.

The reviews I have read of this book have been glowing. I concur with Andy Oliver who wrote that "in less than 250 pages, The Cola Pop Creemees manages to make the reader so invested in this oddball cast that a second outing feels essential." Publishers Weekly called it "an unexpected, oddly emotional gem"

The Cola Pop Creemees: Opening Act was originally published by Birdcage Bottom Books, and they offer a preview and more information about it here. You can now buy it from Microcosm Publishing. This book features family trauma, adult relationships and situations, and drug use, so it is recommended mature enough to deal with those matters.

Holler

Continuing with my haul of comics from HeroesCon, today I am sharing Holler by Jeremy Massie. One of the best parts of going to Charlotte is seeing friends and getting to talk, even if it is while they are manning their booths and selling their wares. I always make a point to check in with pals Henry Eudy and Eraklis Petmezas, who are typically tabled next to each other, and this year they were joined by Massie. I was very eager to get Holler, as I had gotten the first few issues that were published by It's Alive but had not had the chance to finish the series. Lucky for me, Jeremy had this book for sale, and I loved reading it.

It's a pretty specific book, but I am the target audience in a few ways, because of my age and musical tastes. And I should note that it's not quite autobiography, but it is based on some real events and people. It's set in the 1990s in a small, rural town in Appalachian Virginia. Its narrator and main character is Mark, a high school student who does not really excel at academics, but he is a talented enough artist and musician. He plays guitar and joins his friends in a band called Magnesium Mama that plays grunge rock covers and some original songs. This scene puts him at odds with his family in some ways, as well as with the religious figures that factor heavily in his life. 

It also puts him in a clique that is at odds with the local "rednecks" (as he calls them), which leads to conflicts, both verbal and physical. Over the course of the book, Mark deals with a lot of different situations. He gets his first girlfriend, then experiences his first break-up. He experiments with drugs. He plays a lot of gigs and gets involved in a few different battles of the bands. He switches churches, sort of dates the preacher's daughter, and has to navigate the complicated ways his parents and he practice religion. 

The stories here are all told in episodes, and I found them highly compelling and poignant. The artwork is well paced, and is particularly excellent at capturing people's expressions and emotional reactions, which works very well as this book is very character driven. This book touches on a lot of issues that young people contend with as they get older and start trying to carve out spaces in the world, and it does so in a way that is sometimes humorous, occasionally cringe-inducing, and always relatable and human. Holler is one of the best coming-of-age graphic novels I have read, and I highly recommend it.

This book's creator Jeremy Massie has made all sorts of comics in various genres, including the superhero tales Amazing Age, horror stories Blood-Drenched Creature Double Feature, and the more realistic, solo-authored book All My Ghosts. He speaks about his work on Holler in this interview.

I was not able to locate many reviews of this book, which is a shame, because I feel it should be more widely known and read, because it is so good. Publishers Weekly concluded their review, "This bittersweet blast from the past will strike a chord with recovering high school outcasts."

Holler was published by Dark Horse, and they offer more information about it here. Because it features some drug use, sexual situations, profanity, and adolescent shenanigans, I recommend it for readers mature enough to deal with those matters. 

I Was A Teenage Michael Jackson Impersonator, And Other Musical Meanderings

One of the highlights of this year's HeroesCon for me was meeting Keith Knight and buying this book from him. I Was A Teenage Michael Jackson Impersonator, And Other Musical Meanderings is a funny and entertaining autobiographical comic that mainly details the author's brief stint making crazy amounts of money as a celebrity impersonator. For about a year and a half in the mid-1980s, starting when he was 17-years-old, he lip-synched and danced at birthday parties and department stores, joined a cadre of other touring impersonators, dated a Madonna impersonator, and learned a lot about the entertainment business. Also, ironically, by pretending to be someone else, he learned much about himself, the world, and how to get by in it.

Certainly, this book has lots of voyeuristic thrills, and it is fun to watch as Knight gets into (and out of) various scrapes and uncomfortable situations. His artwork is wonderfully cartoonish and expressive, bringing life and vibrancy to the proceedings, and the pacing makes the gags and witty dialogue land in hilarious fashion. As a bonus, interspersed between the chapters are passages from Knight's various comic strips that celebrate various musicians from David Bowie to Run DMC (RIP Jam-Master Jay) to Prince. If you have a fascination for 1980s pop culture and a sense of humor, this is the book for you.

The aforementioned Keith Knight created this book, and he has been celebrated for his past strips The K Chronicles and (th)ink. He is also a rapper and had his life and comics adapted into the comedy series Woke, which ran for two seasons on Hulu. I love this show and am glad it got two seasons, but I wish there were many more. Knight speaks about his MJ years and this book in this interview.

I Was A Teenage Michael Jackson Impersonator was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication in 2024. It was published by Keith Knight Press, and there is more info about it here. This book was originally funded by a Kickstarter campaign.

The Poet Color Comics Spectacular

This weekend I got the chance to attend my favorite comics convention, HeroesCon in Charlotte, NC. It is my favorite for multiple reasons: I get to see good friends like Jason DeHart, dive into back issue bins, catch up with some of my favorite comics creators, and, maybe best of all, get introduced to new comics and comics makers. In a twofer, my friend Jason introduced me to Todd Webb and his comic The Poet, and I bought this Color Comics Spectacular. I was enchanted by the comics here, and I will definitely be seeking out more. And next time I see him at a con, I will most certainly take him up on his $1 to draw me in crayon (even if the price goes up!). 

The Poet is a spare comic, full of observational humor, and contemplative moments. Mainly, the interplay is between three characters: the poet, the pigeon, and the park bench, which occasionally communicates via thought balloons(!). As you can see from the excerpt above, the strip is witty and features smart wordplay. The poet is more serene and thoughtful and the pigeon a bit more caustic and indulgent. Their differences make for interesting dynamics and exchanges, and I love how these comics bounce between philosophical and mundane matters with amusing, often poignant, results. 

In addition to drawing The Poet and various other comics that appeared in Nickelodeon Magazine, Todd Webb also records music under the moniker Seamonster. You can learn more about Webb's work on The Poet in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of this comic have been positive. Warren Craghead wrote, "Webb whittles and peels back layers to find more and more in these spare but vast strips. A man, a bench, a pigeon; THE WORLD. They hang out up the street from Charlie Brown and in the wake of Thoreau, Bushmiller and Cage." Henry Chamberlain reviews The Poet in a thoughtful way that puts it in context of classic comic strips.

The Poet Color Comics Spectacular was published by Second House. They have several compilations of these comics, mainly in black and white and also varying in length. You can also view them for free on Instagram or, for even more, subscribe to The Poet here.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: A Graphic Interpretation

I got this book for Fathers Day this year, and reading it has been a moving ordeal. I have not read the source material for this adaptation, but this graphic interpretation is structured in a way that features its author, scholar and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, as its narrator delivering a grand lecture. As lectures go, this one is engaging and chock full of information. It runs from a time 10,000 years ago when agricultural communities were being established around corn until protests and political actions very near our present day. In between is a vast channel of history, from the governmental and social structures of various tribes in North America to the ruling principles of European countries that eventually crossed the ocean in search of trade routes and treasures, only to conquer, enslave, and slaughter the people who already lived here.

This book is encyclopedic with historical figures such as Tecumseh and Andrew Jackson, events such as the Wounded Knee Massacre and the Trail of Tears, and (sadly) influential publications such as Last of the Mohicans. But this is no dry account, and what I appreciate about it most is how it explores historical concepts and expounds on how specific ideologies were formed and propagated and how large-scale murder and theft were made to look heroic and just. It covers the idea of Manifest Destiny and how a campaign of mass genocide was pitched as a moral crusade, and it also touches on how policies such as the Homestead Acts and economic happenings like the California gold rush mightily and swiftly led to native peoples losing land and rights. There is much to think about here that pertains to current events, propaganda, and modern history, questions and critiques that are worth pursuing to make a more equitable and just world. This book is the best sort, one that leaves the reader changed after putting it down.

One critique I do have is that the book features many large blocks of text, which can be dense, but I feel that it also scaffolds them well with detailed artwork that conveys not only images of the past but also a good amount of emotion and drama. The artwork well suits the prose, providing much needed context that supports and promotes comprehension of the big ideas within.

Pulling off the large feat of adapting this book was Paul Peart-Smith. He is a British artist who has been making comics for over three decades, drawing stories for 2000 AD and many other publishers, including a graphic adaptation of W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folks. Both he and Dunbar-Ortiz speak about this adaptation of Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States in this interview.

I was not able to find many reviews of this book online, but I very much agree with Brian Cronin who wrote, "This is a book that is very worth reading for anyone who wants to challenge what they think about American history."

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States was published by Beacon Press, and they offer more information about it here.

The Great British Bump-Off

I am a big fan of The Great British Bake Off and murder mysteries, and boy was I excited when this series was solicited. The Great British Bump-Off not only marries these two things, it's also written by John Allison, whose work I have been following for decades now. It stars sleuth Shauna Wickle, one of the stars of the webcomic Bad Machinery, as a contestant on a parody version of the esteemed reality baking competition. Someone has poisoned one of the most competitive bakers, and the producers have tasked Shauna with finding the culprit while also being on the show and completing the challenges. Hijinks and suspense ensue.

Drama!

There are a few things that make this book highly appealing. The artwork is cartoonish and dynamic, a great platform for both broad humor and some of the more sinister undercurrents of the plot. The dialogue is snappy, and I found myself laughing and smirking along at this book a few times. The murder mystery plot is a lively one, with plenty of colorful suspects and red herrings, a la Agatha Christie. And if you are a fan of the actual reality competition, like I am, there are plenty of delightful in-jokes and references to the show's many tropes. Still, I feel this book would be attractive to anyone who is not familiar with the show, as these are some excellent comics, and the storytelling is masterfully crafted.

The Great British Bump-Off was created by writer John Allison, artist Max Sarin, colorist Sammy Borras, and letterer Jim Campbell. Allison and Sarin also collaborated on the Eisner Award-winning series Giant Days. Borras colors many comics, most recently in The Phoenix. Campbell has lettered a good number of comics, including Barbaric. Allison talks about his inspirations and work on The Great British Bump-Off in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been glowing. Johana Draper Carlson called it "a joy to read" and added, "The mystery is legitimate, and I was thrilled to follow through the twists and turns." And I completely agree with Tegan O'Neil who wrote, "The problem with The Great British Bump-Off is simply that the series is only four issues long." Nathan Simmons concluded, "Don’t worry if you haven’t watched that series [The Great British Bake Off] before, though; you should still be able to enjoy mystery and the lunacy on display in The Great British Bump-Off, even if you can’t tell a parfait from a trifle."

The Great British Bump-Off was published by Dark Horse, and they provide more information about it here. Fans of this series will be happy to know there is a follow-up, The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt being published right now.