Word: comicalities
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Cult-classic science-fiction novel--check. Comic novel about environmentalists--check. Best-selling thriller--also check. What is there left for Neal Stephenson--author of Snow Crash, Zodiac and Cryptonomicon, among other novels--to write? The answer is The Baroque Cycle, a stunning 3,000-page trilogy about 17th century scientists that will defy any category, genre, precedent or label--except for genius. (That's right, I'm using the g-word...
...Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; 290 pp.; $9.95) continues the series of SPX anthologies that have become comix' greatest annual bargain. You can even (maybe) write it off on your taxes since it's published by the non-profit CBLDF - an organization that provides legal assistance to comix professionals with First Amendment troubles. The book appears in tandem with the Small Press Expo (SPX), an annual convention for alternative comix publishers that takes place every September. (It's happening this weekend in Bethesda, Maryland. See the SPX website for details...
...Kramer's Ergot," "Project: Telstar" and "SPX 2003" can be found at superior comic stores...
Ball of Fire is subtitled The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball. Kanfer does well by the tumultuous life, dishing with relish such anecdotes as the time Joan Crawford was a guest on The Lucy Show and declared that Ball "could 'outbitch' her any day of the week." But as for the comic art, he's short on insight, he offers little cultural context, and his one original explanation for I Love Lucy's enduring success is just weird: people love it because it is in black and white. "There is something incompatible," Kanfer writes, "about humor...
...Schickel's backhanded tribute to the legendary Bob Hope [ESSAY, Aug. 11]. Schickel said, "There was no depth to Hope." But the comedian provided millions of us with happiness, laughter and respite from rationing, poverty and rebuilding during the difficult period following World War II. The man was a comic genius, and although he had the luxury of scriptwriters, he was always quick-fire with his own natural wit. When his family asked whether he would prefer burial or cremation, his response was, "Surprise me." Hope passionately supported the U.S. all his life, even though he was British born...