by Maurice Harter
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by Maurice Harter |
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Comics
New Age
"I like to think of God as a stand-up comedian, playing to an audience who's afraid to laugh." -- Voltaire I really like the above quotation. It helps keep me centered when I start to take things too seriously. I've learned to look for the Cosmic Giggle whatever the situation I'm in, no matter how dire it might appear or painful it might feel. I've never understood why traditional Western religions view the Almighty as such a stern, forbidding, humorless Deity. I mean just look around. You've got the platypus, retrograde Mercury, the sex drive, the hassles of shaving¼just a few indications that the Creator has a sensahumor. And then of course there's the Y2K Bug, which if predictions are even partially true could usher in the Millennium with a gigantic Cosmic Giggle. Thank goodness you can buy a Y2K Survival supplies (y2Kfears.com and becalm.com). If you're putting a supply of freeze-dried food and bottled water into your bunker, then you might as well include a few of these Cosmic Giggle comic books. Vext (DC Pub; monthly, color, 32 pages, $2.50). Most people are familiar with the major Gods and Goddesses of religion (Jesus, Buddha, Shiva) and legend (Zeus, Thor, Gaia). But few individuals pay much thought to the many minor deities, each holding dominion over a different mundane aspect of life. Entities like Bargynn, the patron saint of uninvited guests, Yammar, who provokes incessant nagging, Placatius, lord of insincere apologies, and Tedyum, the spirit behind endless speeches. It's a serious oversight, since these dubious deities affect us more directly and more often than their loftier counterparts. Rogue archeologist Aaron Caldwell is obsessed with finding artifacts honoring these minor godlings, and tapping the power they contain. And then there's Vext, the patron deity of mishap and misfortune. Little is known about him (his computer file's been corrupted) except he has a disruptive influence on anyone or anything he encounters. Vext has just learned that the ethereal realm in which he lives has been foreclosed, and all the residents have been evicted. Unfortunately he never received a Relocation Preference Form. And he doesn't get along well with his caseworker (who can't understand why her computer keeps crashing). A Random Select Option relocates Vext to Midgard, also known as planet Earth, where he sets out to create a new life for himself. Finding an apartment, making friends, getting a driving license, and most importantly, understanding Earth customs all prove to be troublesome. What will happen when Vext meets up with Caldwell? Can our hapless poltergeist adapt without destroying his new homeworld in the process? Comics writer/artist Keith Giffen has previously expressed his gonzo humor in books like Lobo, Ambush Bug and Doctor Fate. Vext is one of his most inspired works, and it had me laughing out loud. The comic passes the "nuisance test" (would I go out of my way to obtain this?). This is a new title (four issues to date) which makes it easy and cheap to get in at the beginning. Dc hasn't been having much luck lately with its humor titles; both Gross Point and Major Bummer, which I also enjoyed, were canceled after a dozen issues. Hopefully Vext's aura of misfortune won't infect his own comic. Oh My Goddess! - Kosuke Fujishima (Dark Horse Pub; ongoing series, various formats and prices). It happened by accident. Young Keiichi Morisato was alone in his dorm room one night, bored, taking phone messages for his roommate, when a cosmic cross circuit connected him to a heavenly wrong number. ("Hello. You've reached the Goddess Technical Help Line.") Before he can say "Be careful what you wish for", he's nose to nose with an enchanting apparition, the beautiful young goddess Belldandy. The bewitching belle informs a befuddled Keiichi that he's been granted one wish. Convinced he's the victim of a practical joke (and frustrated over his failure with women), Keiichi decides to wish for "a goddess like you¼to be with me always." When a luminous whirlwind of energy fills the room, the stunned lad realizes that Belldandy is all too real -- but it's too late to change his mind. ("Your wish has been accepted into the system.") He now has a gorgeous guardian who will never leave him -- a serious problem when you live in an all-male dorm. Will his housemates be able to control their lust? Will his gal friends understand the unusual situation? And what about Urd, Belldandy's randy big sister? She thinks Bell and Keiichi make a dandy couple and intends to heat things up between them. Talk about three's company! Oh My Goddess! Is another fun Japanese manga in the mischievous tradition of Ranma ½ (boy is cursed with changing sex whenever doused with water), Maison Ikkoku (unrequited love disrupts a boarding house) and Lum (gorgeous space alien gets the hots for hapless Earth boy). These comics set up a fanciful romantic situation, then play out all the possibilities in soap-operatic short stories scripted with tongue firmly in cheek. Simple yet stylish line art and terse dialogue make these comics a quick read. Use them to cleanse your palate after downing something more serious. Dark Horse is publishing Oh My Goddess in various formats, including one-issue specials, mini-series and trade paperback collections.
It's a Golden Rule in science fiction time-travel stories: innocent actions in the past can create serious repercussions in the future, generating impossible paradoxes. A man visiting the past accidentally kills the person destined to be his father, erasing his existence. But if he's never born, how can he travel back in time to kill his father? Time paradoxes like these were explored in classic stories by sf masters like Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury and Philip K. Dick. Their cautionary message: Don't mess with the past. But what if the opposite were true? What if time paradoxes are necessary to keep existence and evolution functioning properly? This provocative premise is the focus of this stimulating mini-series. One man has learned to step outside the flow of time. He recruits individuals throughout time to assist him with the task of consciously creating specific time paradoxes. His ultimate motive: discover the secret of creation, the conditions necessary to generate the ultimate paradox, life from non-life. But a group of renegades are chasing the Time Breakers throughout history, determined to stop their tampering. And they'll stop at nothing, even murder. Writer Rachel Pollack is also somewhat of a paradox, straddling two different worlds. Pollack is acclaimed for her metaphysical fiction and best-selling books about the Tarot. Yet she's also an avid comics fan who has penned a selective number of series and specials, including a stint on the surrealistic series The Doom Patrol. Much of her comics work incorporates new age notions and lets her play with fanciful ideas -- like time paradoxes. Recommended.
Curtis Banner is just an ordinary Joe, a social worker who hates his job, despises his clients, and is convinced that the world is conspiring against him. Caught up in the great Wheel of Life and Death, he's frantically running on a treadmill and going nowhere. Then one day, out on an appointment, he notices something¼odd¼about the client he's talking to. His perception sharpened, he starts to see other anomalies around him. Physical appearances are altered, speech patterns slur, dogs develop intelligence and start carrying guns, people float around in big bubbles. Is he dreaming? Hallucinating? Did he die and go to hell? Or could it be more momentous? Is it possible that the universe is evolving -- and leaving him behind? This gonzo story starts out straight and gets progressively wackier, but ultimately winds up nowhere. The abstract, jagged line art doesn't really serve the story; a more realistic style would have more effectively dramatized the surreal changes (dogs that look like dogs, carrying guns -- now that's disturbing). There's a germ of a great idea here, but it didn't evolve very well.
It's a momentous event that will bookmark the millennium. The Alpha and Omega of celestial happenings. God Con. A gathering of Deities large and small, representing all religions, sects, beliefs. A one-in-an-eternal lifetime for Them to mingle with each other and Their followers. Nexus has hesitations about holding this holy convention on his home planet Ylum, but he is intrigued by the idea. Among the activities planned: a reception (we'll need a billion name tags to identify the billion names of God); events to raise money for charity (Dunk the Buddha); and a panel discussion on the age-old question, "Why does God permit so much cruelty, suffering and death?" (The audience Q & A session is expected to be lively). Jesus likes the idea of God Con, but He's concerned that his Heavenly Father will cause trouble ("Thou shalt have no other Gods before me¼He takes that stuff seriously"). Logistics are horrendous, though not everybody needs physical lodging (Mother Nature resides in the birds and trees, the Son of God in the hearts of men and women). And when Satan shows up in the guise of a beautiful, seductive woman, all hell breaks loose. Followers from diverse factions are soon at each other's throats and a holy war breaks out. Attempting to quell the melee, Nexus is forced to re-examine his life and reconsider his beliefs. Mike Baron's Nexus was a popular sci-fi comic during the first wave of independent publishing. Eighty issues were published between 1981-91. Dark Horse now publishes sporadic mini-series like this one, which explores serious theological questions within a whimsical context. Pious religious practitioners should stay away from God Con, but anyone else will enjoy the crazy wisdom of this comic. Released in 1997, it's worth seeking out. Word is that Nexus is being developed as an animated TV series. I pray it makes it to the tube.
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