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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1996)
Cliff Hicks Artwork hits mark in comics With the hype of comic book writ ers (Neil Gaiman Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, J.M. DeMatteis, etc.), it seems the comics industry is starting to overlook the other important half of any comic team — the artist. Granted, today’s comics artists are a far cry from the Golden and Silver Age artists in the vein of Jack Kirby, but there’s nothing wrong with either the Classics Age or the Modem Age. Some of the Modem Age artists grab with their plush styles, and oth ers use stark bareness to emphasize their points. A modern-day Leonardo da Vinci, Dave McKean is the visual genius in comics today. McKean has done cov ers for every issue of “Sandman,” “Cages” (which he also wrote), “Batman: Arkham Asylum” and “Mr. Punch,” among other things. McKean blends both intensely fine detail in painting and sketching with photography, giving him a very dis tinct style. Sometimes it’s a photo col lage, sometimes it’s all painting, but mostly it’s somewhere in between. McKean stands as the next step in the evolution of art. Joseph Michacl-Linsner uses an entirely different style, one of well defined lines and strong colors. His work is just short of being painted (or maybe it is painted) and looks spec tacular. His scries, “Dawn,” has been worth every penny. And he wrote it himself. Miller also writes his “Sin City” series, but the art is every bit as mcn tionablc and memorable as the story itself. What stands out is that instead ot using black lines on a white back ground, for the most part. Miller re verses that and does white on black. The end effect is something very noir, with heavy shadows everywhere. But when you want color, and you want it dark and moody, the best choice of artists is John Bolton, whose painted work is perhaps some of the finest work in comics today. His credits include the first book of the original “Books of Magic” miniscries and the three-issue “Batman: Manbat” (which was wcll drawn, but not all that well-written). All of the artists on the original “Books of Magic” miniseries did ex cellent jobs. It really is one of the best told stories (Gaiman, natch) and one of the best-illustrated in comics in the last 10 years. It’s all painted artwork. One of those other artists also has a very distinct style, with tall, willowy characters and soft, pastel-like colors. That’s Charles Vess. He’s another to watch. Some of the other great artists in comics who haven’t been landmark artists, but have drawn good and in teresting art include Dave Sim (“Cerberus”), Jeff Smith (“Bone”), Chris Bachalo (“Death: The Time Of Your Life”), Marc Hempel (“Sand man” — “The Kindly Ones”), Michael Zulli (“Sandman” — “The Wake” — a pencilling masterpiece) and Jon J. Muth (“Mbonshadow”). Remember, as much as a good story will hold you, excellent art will take you to the next level. Illcks is a freshman Bews-editorial and English major and a Daily Nebraskan staff reporter. Risk-free rock Club offers bands for evervone i 1/1/ By Brooks Hitt Staff Reporter For most bands, finding a place to play all-ages shows in Omaha never has been easy — or economi cally viable. Rob Rathe and the Cog Factory are out to change that. Founded by Rathe, the Cog Fac tory is an all-ages club in Omaha. Its first show was held in June 1993. Previously, Rathe booked shows and held them in rented halls, which was rarely a profitable enterprise. “It wasn’t uncommon to lose $ 100 to $200,” Rathe said. This is were the Cog Factory dif fers. “We never lose money; we can’t. We never set up a show that has the possibility to lose money,” Rathe said. The Cog Factory has remained up front and honest with the bands who play there. Bands aren’t promised the moon —or any money at all, in fact — and the Cog Factory has t/ gained notoriety with agents for crossing out just about all of the guarantees on the contracts. So if no money is lost, who is cleaning up? No one. The Cog Factory is a nonprofit organization and intends on staying that way. Rathe is stretch ing the money just far enough to cover the bills. But when he begins to see a profit, Rathe plans on tak ing the money and investing it in the local music scene. Rathe knows what he is not go ing to do with the money. He said he didn’t want to “start a label, but help local bands put their stuff out.” Another reason why the Cog Fac tory is gaining popularity is their low cover charges. A show never costs more than $7, and a price that high is rare. Rathe said the Cog Factory’s ad ages status helped to keep ticket prices below the norm. “In general, bands like all-ages clubs, and understand that we’re not making tons of money off drinks,” ✓ he said. Some of the quality national bands that will be playing at the Cog in the next month include: Gas Huffer, Man or Astroman?, Season to Risk and Seven Year Bitch. The Cog Factory always has shows on Fridays and Saturdays, as well as throughout the week. Besides the national bands, the shows feature a nice cross-section of the Lincoln and Omaha music scene. Bands interested in playing at the Cog Factory don’t need to follow the usual booking route of making phone calls and sending out tapes. Rathe said. Instead, the Cog Factory encourages bands of any musical style to set up their own shows with other acts and, in most cases, Rathe will provide the venue. It’s not arena rock, that’s for sure. If Rathe and the Cog Factory have anything to prove, it’s that T-shirts can be sold for less than $25 and tickets can still be bought for less than $20. Lame film best left in oblivion By Mark Baldridge Film Critic Life in Lincoln got you down? Try living in “Oblivion.” You’ll Movie Preview never oe sorry you’re not a struggling young film maker trying to make it in Tin sel Town again. Would-be struggling young actors, I cinematogra phers, gatters (whatever they are) and sundry wannabe-in-film-credits types also would be well advised to sit through “Living in Oblivion,” Tom DiCillo’s hip wannabe indie take on FrancoisTruffaut’s “Day for Night.” This film (which opens tonight at the Sheldon) should relieve even the most star-eyed of the desire to drop it all and run off to wait tables in Hol lywood. A little film about making little films and, more insidiously, the anxiety dreams of little filmmakers. See OBLIVION on 13 Poetry slam allows everyone to indulge By Patrick Hambrecht Senior Reporter Unlike a typical poetry reading, audience members are encouraged to scream, boo and giggle aloud at performers in the Angrian Revolution’s Poetry Slam on Thurs day night. “It’s not a setting where the au dience has to be quiet,” Angrian president Steven Sparling said. “You can laugh. You can be totally raucous.” Loud crowd participation and a competitive spirit is what makes a Poetry Slam unique, he said. Thursday’s poetry slam will take place in the Crib at the Nebraska Union. Five judges will be chosen ran domly out of the audience to rate poets on an Olympic scale of one to lO.-Pocts will be judged on liter ary quality and how well they read their poems, with prizes of $25, $ 15 and $10 gift certificates for the top three winners. Private poets and diary scribblers shouldn’t be embarrassed to per form, Sparling said. At last semester’s competition, many of the performers never had attended a slam before, he said. “The whole event itself was great,” he said. “Just about every one had one piece that really shone out.” Poets who haven’t performed publicly before should try reading for a few friends, or recording their written material onto a cassette tape, he said. It also might be a good idea for beginning performers to make sure their material is easy to understand. Sparling said. “In general, it’s probably a good idea not to include a lot of outside references that people are going to have to already know about, just to understand what you’re saying,” Sparling said. Sparling said he started the Angrian Revolution to create a fam ily-styled group of writers, modeled after Charlotte and Branwell Bronte. “They wrote about this imagi nary place called Angria,” he said. “I like the whole idea of a brother and sister working together. That’s what I wanted my club to do, help ing each other and improving our writing.” Poets who would like to perform should show up at 7:45 p.m. to sign up. The Poetry Slam will begin at 8 pjn. There is no sign-up fee, and admission is free. L-" «u1iatriaii/U(N Breakup leads to Ravine By Brooks Hitt Staff Reporter Following the demise of Omaha’s Ritual Device, former I _ ~ l mpmhprs uoncert Preview Mike Saklar, Eric Ebers and Randy Cot ton are ready to be gin a new project. The name of that project is Ravine. It was at a show last Septem ber, playing under the name “RichWillWearLcvis,” when the band first realized it could con tinue without vocalist Tim Moss. m" Vocal responsibilities are now shared among all three members. Trying to replace Moss is not their goal, but neither is forget ting about their years in Ritual Device. “Ritual Device is definitely a big part of the band, even though we’re not totally carrying on with the music,” said Saklar, Ravine’s guitarist. Similarities exist between Ritual Device and Ravine, but there are definite differences. . “It’s a much deeper and darker sound,” said Cotton, the band's bassist. Ravine’s members also real ize that the band will have to make some adjustments. “Tim’s stage antics helped tiring the crowd to the band, but now the music will have to do it,” Saklar said. Some of the ties made during the tenure in Ritual Device have helped the band to get a quick start. One such tie has been Frank Kozik. In July 1995, Ritual Device released a 10-inch record on Kozik’s label, Man’s Ruin Re See RAVINE on 13