Note: There’s a slight spoiler in the review, and in the thread here on “Alas.” So if you’re allergic to spoiliers, don’t click through to the review, and don’t read the thread here!
This review came out the same day as the “Blog About Comics” review. On Broken Frontier, Eric Lindberg writes:
Hereville also has a distinctly left-of-center approach to fantasy that I found appealing. Mirka’s stepmother Fruma challenges the view of dragons as an evil force, likening their man-eating tendencies to any other predator in nature. [Slight spoiler deleted by Amp.] These are nice offbeat touches that contribute to the individualism of this comic and its voice.
The mixture of influences is not always a seamless transition however. The placement of fantasy elements in this setting makes it a bit difficult to pinpoint the rules of the world of Hereville. Electricity and alarm clocks co-exist with monsters out of European legend. Some characters speak of trolls as if they are commonplace, while others have never heard the term and consider them a goisch (gentile) concept of no concern. Do these people and creatures truly co-exist? Is it all in Mirka’s head? Presumably, future Hereville storyarcs will more firmly establish Mirka’s world and how it works.
Deutsch’s style of cartooning bridges the gap between old-fashioned and modern sensibilities. His elongated figures with their exaggerated puppet-like expressions brought to mind the work of E.C. Segar (creator of Popeye), adding a fun and loose sense of charm to the proceedings. The sepia tone coloring lends a timeless feel to the story while the panel layout and storytelling techniques are more contemporary. This combination is an appropriate choice for the subject manner, reflecting the mix of Old World and New in the characters’ culture.
There’s more — head over to B.F. to read the whole review.
My first reaction: Whoo-hooo, I got compared to E.C. Segar! The comparison flatters me more than I deserve, but I don’t care — because I love Segar! (I have a reproduction of a pre-Popeye “Thimble Theater” strip on my wall).
My squeeeee!!-ness aside, it was a good review — not because it was positive (although I’m of course happy for that), but because it went deeper than just thumbs up or down. Thanks, Eric.
Might want to put a spoiler warning up at the top there. At least, I think I saw a spoiler…I quit reading after the first paragraph.
Bjartmarr, I don’t see anything in the review that’s a spoiler, except for folks who haven’t read it yet — all the specifics he refers to are in the 22 pages that have already been posted on the Hereville website.
Mirka never does save the witch’s life, anywhere in this comic — but she does rescue the witch from being pelted with mud and perhaps worse, in the pages that have already been released. Is that what you’re thinking of as a spoiler?
That’s great! Good work! Also, my e-mail about the Ampersand Press in the 983 area code of Washington state: I wanted to know if that was indeed your press that publishes your stuff because I was handeling your heavy ass mutha fuckin’ packages in the UPS trailer (that night was a busy heavy night, musta loaded 1,200 packages when I normally only load 700). So that’s why I was curious, if it wasn’t you press than they have your namesake and their packages ARE HEAVY! (Small box plus 40 lbs equals feels heavy!).
No, Amp, it was this:
Which isn’t a huge spoiler. But it was enough to make me quit reading the review: I figure that if someone posts a minor spoiler, then odds are likely that they’ll post a major one later on. You’re right that he doesn’t give away anything else.
Sorry…I’m a little sensitive ever since that fucktard Gene Seymour gave away the ending of Million Dollar Baby in his review in the LA Times.
Did I mention that Gene Seymour is a fucktard?
Bjartmarr:
Oh, that is a slight spoiler, now that you mention it; sorry I missed that. I’ll add a spoiler warning. Don’t worry, though: There are still a lot of surprises left for you in the troll’s scenes.
Jack, that does sound damned heavy; but it’s not me. I’m in Oregon, and don’t order boxes regularly.
The box of “Herevilles” for the Stumptown con should hit UPS tomorrow, and get to me by a week from tomorrow. I have no idea how much it will weigh. :-)
As a UPS insider, can you give me any idea how reliable the standard five-day-shipping is? (If I get it by the 25th, I’m fine; but any later than that and I’m totally screwed.) Should I pay extra to get the three-day shipping?
Like the fact he’s based on Daffy Duck.
Wow, that’s so cool! You’ve put a lot of hard work into this, and it’s rewarding to see that your return to cartooning in a more dedicated and serious manner is being met with thecritical attention you deserve. Hopefully that will translate into more sales, too.
And then you can sell out to Disney, like I know in your secret heart of hearts you really wanna do. It’ll be live action, recast at a Kibbutz in Israel and starring a Fanning as Mirka. I want bed sheets with a troll pillow.
Well I’ll be, some one else using the name Ampersand Press. As for five day shipping it depends on where its being shipped from. If its cross country you’ll get it in five to seven days. However if it’s not cross country than five day shipping is much better than doing one day, two day, or three day “air.” I put “air” in quotes because I’m constantly shipping two day “air” boxes in truck trailers that are filled with “Standard Shipping” boxes; because, depending on the distance a two day “air” will get to a destination in two days by ground. So most of the time when you order five day standard its being shipped with two day and three day “airs” so that five day standard is actually the price of standard shipping for the quality of a two day air. Which is why one should never ship their packages “air” in UPS as they are normally shipped “ground” by the company.
Weird huh?
One more feather in the cap.
I hadn’t really thought about how sepia tone suggests old, and how legends about dragon-slaying and trolls are deemed to refer to an older era. For people who read enough fantasy and magical realism, the relationship between fantasy and “the old days” gets pretty attenuated.
But this issue calls to mind various remarks in comments: Some people seem to think that Mirka must live in some by-gone day because … well, basically because she doesn’t live exactly like we do.
Does “not always a seamless transition” = “conflicted with my expectations”? Sure, in the first 13 pages I imagine we’re in Fiddler on the Roof land. Why? ‘Cuz that’s my association with Orthodox Jewish communities. After all, I assume that contemporary Western people don’t live like that, don’t use such terms, aren’t isolated from popular concepts such as “trolls.” Starting at p. 14, I get an awakening: oh, yes they do. This is “not a seamless transition” the way my discovery that Le Guin’s Ged had red-brown skin was not a seamless transition. It reveals a dissonance – not within the text, but between the text and my unstated assumptions. That ain’t a bug; it’s a feature.
Hey, Amp, remember that old SQL problem? I know I said ‘Glad to help, lets leave it at this…’ but now that I have decided to buy Mirka’s book, can I have that sketch somewhere ’round the first page?
Yeah, I’m asking for a personalized, signed copy. Do you do that? I promise I’ll keep it in very good company :-)
Sure! I still appreciate the help.
Send me an email telling me who you’d like a sketch of, and reminding me what email address you used when you bought a copy. Or, if you haven’t bought a copy yet, tell me that stuff when you do buy a copy.