Comics column returns with praise for Trench Ice’ tale
By Chris McCubbin
Staff Reporter
It’s been a long time since the last
“Comics Now” appeared. A lot has
happened in comics since the lastone.
Luckily for me almost all of it has
been completely unimportant.
But there have ban several high
points. Here’s a few of them:
“French Ice Featuring Carmen
Cru.” Art and writing — Lelong,
translated by RJ.M. Lofficier,
Renegade Press, $2.
Carmen Cru is one of the most
brilliant cartoon characters of the
1980s.
Carmen, a gnarled, shapeless, eld
erly woman, is constantly engaged in
a valiant struggle to live her life on her
own solitary terms. Meanwhile, the
rest of society keeps butting in with its
own petty rules and annoyances. This
is the exquisitely simple, genuinely
profound premise of “French Ice.”
In the latest issue (#7) Carmen
successfully copes with — which in
her case means manages to ignore —
a whiny, would-be suicide,a drunken
priest and his obsequious acolyte, and
a paranoid neighbor who thinks
Carmen is a witch.
Lclong’s satirical stories arc dark,
real and very funny, and Lofficicr’s
i
translation from the French is excel
lent. But what really sets French lee
above the rest is Lelong’s exquisitely
detailed, slightly grotesque drawing
style. Although Lelong’s style is en
tirely his own it bears comparison to
such modern masters as R. Crumb,
Quinoand William Mcssncr-Locbs.
“French Ice” is a brilliant work of
art that can stand before the harshest
literary and artistic criticism.
“Real War Stories.” Various*
creators, Eclipse Comics, $2.
This one-shot was organized by
the Central Committee for Conscien
tious Objectors. “Real War Stories” is
paci fist propaganda—it docsn ’ t even
pretend to be anything else — but it’s
sincere, honest and brilliantly exe
cuted propaganda.
An amazing assembly of profes
sionals donated their time and talent
to this project: Alan Moore, John
Totlebcn, Steve Bissette, Mike Barr,
Steve Leialoha, Bill Sicnkiewicz and
others.
Most of the stories arc first-person
accounts from victims of the U.S.
military establishment — a female
soldier is lied to by her superiors and
harassed by her peers, a college stu
dent goes to jail rather than register
for the draft, a Salvadoran human
rights activist narrowly escapes the
death squads.
The stories are albvcry well done,
but one of the the high-points is
“Tapestries” by Alan Moore, John
1 otlebcn (both of the classic Swamp
1 hing) and Stan Woch, based on the
books by Vietnam vet W.D. Earhart.
Tapestries” is a stunning juxtaposi
tion ot Earhart\s Vietnam experi
ences, his prewar illusions of inno
cence and sanity and his fragmented,
confused post-war existence.
Comics
Now
11 ’ s worth the cover price j ust to gel
Bill Sicnkicwicz’s horrific cover
based on the drawings of Salvadoran
children.
Politically, “Real War Stories” is
unabashedly one-sided and a bit sim
plistic, but the obvious care and sin
cerity behind the stories makes them
thought-provoking.
“Hellblazer.” Written by Jamie
Delano, art by John Ridgeway, DC,
$1.25.
John Constantine, the hero of
“Hellblazer,” was originally created
by Alan Moore during his mind-bog
gling stint on DC’s Swamp Thing.
Constantine is a smallish, dapperly
dressed (no long-underwear in this
comic, thank God) Englishman who
bears a more than passing resem
blance to Sting, the rock star. He has
a big chip on his shoulder that’s
modified by an acerbic, graveyard
humor. His profession is protecting
people from major-league supernatu
ral nasties who regard the human race
as a tempting midnight snack.
Judging from the first issue, “Hell
blazer” is a worthy successor to
“Swamp Thing.” The story is fast
paced (if a tad wordy). The art is
expressive and surprising, and both
arc genuinely scary. Fun stuff.
On the tube:
TV producers have finally glom
med on to the current popularity of
comics, and the results are better than
those of us who remember “Batman”
and “The Incredible Hulk” with
mixed affection and revulsion might
expect.
“Once a Hero,” a corny bit of
super-hero whimscy, was the first
show of the new season to fold. But
it’s been replaced by “Sable,” based
on Mike Grell’s comic “Jon Sable —
Freelance,” a realistic mercenary
adventure book.
Sable, the title character, is an ex
mercenary. Those scum (you know,
THOSE scum) killed his wife and
kids, so now he’s out to get any scum
that happen to be unfortunate to
s'ither into his path.
Sable's wanted for murder, so he's
established a double life — merce
nary do-gooder by night, kiddie book
author (no kidding) by day.
“Sable” the TV show is slightly
melodramatic with an emphasis on
action, like a good comic book. Good,
clean fun.
“Beauty and the Beast” isanother
network offering that relics heavily
on the comics. 1 suspect that the con
ccpt of a peaceful but anti-social civi
lization living in tunnels under the
New York subways was lifted, more
or less entirely, from the Morlock
characters in Marvel’s X-Mcn.
Not only that, but, like a comic
book, “Beauty and the Beast” is
openly romantic and idealistic. Vin
cent, the misunderstood man-beast of
the title is a sympathetic monster
hero in the grand tradition of the Hulk
and the Swamp Thing (Have I men
tioned Swamp-Thing in ever)' review
so far? Good).
Stone’s ‘Wall Street’ blends elements of fact and fantasy
^BL_I_|
Photo Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
Oliver Stone directs his new film, “Wall Street.”
By The Associated Press
Oliver Slone’s “Wall Street”
captures the predator instinct and
avarice revealed in hostile take
over lights and the insider trading
scandal, but investment bankers
who previewed the film say it
neglects the honest majority and
may reinforce prejudices against
them.
Reel Life
“I thought it was a shallow dis
tortion of what’s going on,” said
Paul E. Tierney Jr., a financier in
Coniston partners, a New York
investment firm that has engaged
in some highly publicized takeover
battles.
“There were elements of truth in
it, but overall it was a pretty super
ficial and not very interesting
film,” Tierney said. “1 think that at
best it will be realized as a carica
ture and be light entertainment for
someone.
“But at worst it will be viewed
by Mr. and Mrs. America as a
confirmation dial Wall Street isrun
by a group of greedy, blixxlthirsiy
opportunists.”
“Wall Street” is the story of how
Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), a young
stock trader just out of business
school, is corrupted by Gordon
Gckko (Michael Douglas), a ruth
less and conniving speculator who
thrives by making huge stock prof
its, largely through illegally ob
taining inside information on im
pending takeover deals.
The film depicts a world in
which obsessions with wealth,
power and vanity crush morality
and virtue, where companies rou
tinely arc bought, sold or broken
up, where a young man’s dream is
fulfilled in his SI million pent
house condo, replete with a pasta
machine, sushi and a live-in girl
friend-decorator.
The year is 1985, in the midst of
a record-setting stock market that
appears to defy gravity. For that
reason alone, “Wall Street” is
largely outdated, since the Oct. 19
crash has squelched the euphoria
and heralded a period of austerity,
layoffs and consolidation.
Wall Streeters said other ele
ments of the film are a blend of
reality and fantasy, a boiled-down,
packaged two-hour Hollywood
financial soap opera that borrows
liberally from the Ivan Boesky
insider-trading scandal and the
corporate takeover craze that has
been reshaping the American
economy.
“My official review is that the
soundtrack is great,” said Asher >
Edelman, a well-known investor,
takeover strategist and Columbia
Business School teacher who is
friends with Stone, the film’s
writer-director whose last movie
was the Academy Award-winning
“Platoon.”
Particularly disappointing,
Edelman said, was Stone’s refer
ences to an ancient Chinese classic
“The Art of War,” w hich Edelman
uses in his class on corporate take
overs. In the film, “The Art of W ar” 1
is Gckko’s biblc for plundering 1
companies and cp^h;
mg adversaries. u " 7 n
Seasoned Wall Streeters likely ,
will enjoy watching the movie to t
identify popular Manhattan spots
and familiar faces used as extras,
but also may snicker at the idea that
stock traders gel seduced by
blondes m limousines or obtain
market-sensitive information by
tailing adversaries on motorcycles.
Steven Rattner, a managing
director at Morgan Stanley & Co.,
wrote in the Dec. 14 edition of
Newsweek magazine that “ “Wall
Street’ is to investment banking
w hat the movie ‘Casablanca’ was
to running a nightclub: It's enter
taining and it makes some timely
points about values, but it doesn’t
cover all the realities of the job ”
U S Department of Health & Homan Service*
TEST
YOUR
STRENGTH.
QUITTING. IT COULD BE
THE TEST OF YOUR LIFE.
TWO Drawing
27 inch . December 12
Mickey Mouse *need not be
dolls! present to win.
rc:;:-rre:.rv’.'i■•iwLVjnzTiEr.
Lower Level
Student Union
j