Next Door Neighbor Comics

My wife Barbara’s latest work is online: the current installment of SmithMag’s Next Door Neighbor series, featuring writers and artists including Harvey Pekar, Rick Veitch, Jonathan Ames, and other smart and funny people.

Barbara’s story centers on our own very special neighbor friend, Glenna Evans, who must be beheld to be comprehended. Besides giving me the thrill of seeing my wife back at the keyboard, the story has renewed my faith in the future of web comics and even personal narrative.

Testament is Complete

The complete Testament series, with annotation, is now available in four trade volumes from Vertigo/DC Comics. They’re in stock at most comics shops, and shipping from Amazon or other regular bookstores before the end of the week.

Testament 1: Akedah
Testament 2: West of Eden
Testament 3: Babel
Testament 4: Exodus

I’m delighted to see them all available at the same time, so that the whole story can be read and comprehended as a single experience. Yes, even the real Torah gets read mostly in weekly portions, but this story – which depicts a near-future plagued by a war over oil and a technologically enabled, viral global currency – definitely works better in book form than it did in individual pamphlets. Plus, DC let me add commentary, explanations, and references to these editions, which really do help readers use the story as a starting place and link to some important but relatively unknown material.

McCloud and Rushkoff at ComicCon

Just back home from Comic-Con, where I had the unique pleasure of doing a “conversation” with Scott McCloud, moderated by Marianne Petit.

I’ve received dozens of emails from people who were unable to attend, asking if there’s a transcript anywhere. Turns out there’s a lot better: a full video and an audio podcast, along with some commentary from the brilliant folks at DailyCrosshatch.

The conversation, as well as the whole convention, made me feel quite at home in comics again, after a brief hiatus to get caught up on my regular book. Honestly, there’s nothing like comics, and I feel like we’re still safely insulated from some of the forces that are diluting the power of alternative media. It’s safe here on the margins.

Here’s the first part of the discussion, which amounts to a monologue from me about what attracted me to comics, and why McCloud had such an impact on me and my comic Testament.

The Last Testament

The final single issue of Testament comes out next week. The last collection, complete with notes, will be following by summer. It’s been quite a ride, and the end came a bit sooner than I might have liked in an ideal world, but the story definitely reaches its conclusion.

I just saw Zeitgeist, that online documentary about the Bible, terrorism, centralized economics and RFID chips. It’s pretty much the pessimistic version of the same story – but told in a non-fiction narrative. Still, the parallels are kind of shocking. Check it out if you can keep yourself from falling into the agitprop nature of its assertions about the mechanics of 9-11. (I still don’t need scenarios about controlled detonations to understand how the event ultimately fits – or was made to fit – into a bigger agenda.)

Here’s the description of the last issue, along with a particularly nice cover. Thanks to all who worked on this book, particularly those who were there from beginning to end: Liam Sharp, Peter Gross, Jonathan Vankin, Pornsak Pinchote, Todd Klein, Jim Devlin, and our fearless leader, Karen Berger.

In the final issue of TESTAMENT, human beings, led by Jake and his father, rise to the level of their gods, exploiting the creative power of the nanos within them. But there’s only room for one set of gods in this universe, and the Bible’s deities will not go down without a fight. Finally, as a new reality emerges, a child waiting to be born, holds the key to humanity’s next great story.

Comics Rule, Censorship Sucks

An intense writing schedule will keep me from most holiday parties this year. But here’s one that simply can’t be missed: the annual Members Party for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

These are tough times for the Bill of Rights, and comics are just one of many canaries in the mine shaft (leading indicators). But they are a great litmus test for free speech, a highly accessible and fertile forum for ideas that simply can’t be disseminated through other mainstream media, and – perhaps most importantly – a way to share important concepts and ways of thinking with young people.

Join me, Paul Pope, Dan Goldman, Dean Haspiel, Moby, Alex Maleev, Jeff Newelt, as well as a number of other comics writers, artists and friends, as we celebrate and support freedom of expression in the original bottom-up mass medium.

Monday, December 10th, Village Pourhouse, 64 Third Ave @ 11th Street, 7pm. (The party is free, but requires a year’s membership in the CBLDF, which costs 25 bucks and is a worthy cause.)

Testament Volume Three

The third of what will ultimately be a four-volume set is being released this week. Testament Vol. 3: Babel.

I’m really proud of this one. I think the series is truly hitting its stride now that everyone understands who the “gods” are and why they can’t enter into the main panels of action. The story of a counterculture attempting to break a techno-fascist tyranny waged through centralized currency now moves front and center. Plus there’s another section of extensive notes, explaining the Bible and history on which some of my interpretations are based.

There’s a bunch of great Testament interviews online now, too:

This is probably the most recent, with Adam Elenbaas on Reality Sandwich.

Here’s the BoingBoing podcast interview.

Here’s the UndressMeRobot Interview.

And here’s one on Suicide Girls.

If you haven’t checked out this series, yet please do give it a try. I don’t expect to be working with Bible mythology again for a long time, and this is definitely the easiest way to get what it is I’ve been trying to point out about these stories. If you want to download the first issue for free, go over to the Vertigo website.