LETHARGIC LAD 2011...

Above: Cover to Greg Hyland’s LETHARGiC LAD 2011. Lethargic Lad and all other prominent Lethargic Lad characters are TM and © 2012 Greg Hyland.

Tired of comics that are reboots? Annoyed with comics that are the "New" that, or "Next" this, or full of "52" crap? Then, it’s time you gave up on corporate super-hero comics and paid more attention to super-hero comics that are fun.

Today, my mailbox gave me LETHARGiC LAD 2011. The book was signed, numbered, and included a keen "Holy Crap" Lethargic Lad cover sketch by cartoonist Greg Hyland. LETHARGiC LAD 2011 is nicely printed, and the widescreen format is brilliant (as always). (Greg is still very smart.)

Greg’s writing is hysterical and his artwork is sharp. (Nice inking, Mr. Hyland.) And Greg’s annotations are entertaining and informative.

With LETHARGiC LAD 2011, Greg mocks WIZARD magazine (and who really doesn’t want to?), Rebecca Black (I forget who she is), super-hero deaths in comics, DC’s ‘New 52’, and Frank Miller’s HOLY TERROR (My favorite part of the book. But unlike Greg, I did enjoy HOLY TERROR.).

If you want to read comics that are witty and fun, then you’ll love LETHARGiC LAD 2011. I did.

To order the limited edition LETHARGiC LAD 2011 and to read new weekly LETHARGiC LAD webcomics, stop by the LETHARGiC LAD website.

I give LETHARGiC LAD 2011 four out of five NM’s:

What’s occupying Frank Miller’s mind?

Above photo: Comics creator Frank Miller (DAREDEVIL, SIN CITY, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, and HOLY TERROR).

Frank Miller shares his thoughts on the "Occupy" movement which started (at least here in the United States) in New York City's Zuccotti Park.

From Miller’s blog, Frank Miller Ink:

The "Occupy" movement, whether displaying itself on Wall Street or in the streets of Oakland (which has, with unspeakable cowardice, embraced it) is anything but an exercise of our blessed First Amendment. "Occupy" is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.



Above artwork: Over the many years, Frank Miller has been very vocal concerning hot topics like Creator’s Rights, Censorship, Hollywood, and terrorism.



Above: Artwork from Frank Miller’s recently-published graphic novel, HOLY TERROR.

It’s refreshing to see an opinion from our industry, the comics industry, that is not so (typically) Liberal. The "Occupy Wall Street" movement is made up of Socialists and Anarchists whose views are not the same as those of America’s Founding Fathers. You can’t just move into a privately-owned park, smoke dope, assault police officers, and commit rape (news that I have not seen reported by the media).



Above: Cover artwork to Frank Miller’s DAREDEVIL #188.

Comics versus Terrorism: Frank Miller’s HOLY TERROR...

Above: The cover to Frank Miller’s HOLY TERROR. HOLY TERROR is Copyright © 2011 Frank Miller, Inc.

Comics have the potential to be a powerful medium. This is a form of literature and entertainment that should say some things. Frank Miller addresses a certain something, Islamic terrorism, in his graphic novel, HOLY TERROR.

I could have done without the harsh language, though. Naughty words make me squeamish.



Frank Miller posted on his website:

My new comic book (or "graphic novel", I suppose it should be called, because it’s square bound) is naked propaganda.

And…

3000 of my neighbors were murdered. My country was, utterly unprovoked, savagely attacked. I wish all those responsible for the Atrocity of 9/11 to burn in hell. I’m too old to serve my country in any other way. Otherwise, I’d gladly be pulling the trigger myself.



In 2006, at the WonderCon convention in San Francisco, Miller shared a bit about how politics have played a role in comics:

It is, not to put too fine a point on it, a piece of propaganda... Superman punched out Hitler. So did Captain America. That's one of the things they're there for.



In an interview with NPR, Miller stated:

I schooled myself in the writings of Madison and Franklin and Adams and Jefferson. I came to love those noble, indestructible ideas. They were ideas, to my young mind, of rebellion and independence, not of idolatry.

And…

Then came that sunny September morning when airplanes crashed into towers a very few miles from my home and thousands of my neighbors were ruthlessly incinerated — reduced to ash.

And…

For the first time in my life, I know how it feels to face an existential menace. They want us to die. All of a sudden I realize what my parents were talking about all those years. Patriotism, I now believe, isn't some sentimental, old conceit. It's self-preservation. I believe patriotism is central to a nation's survival. Ben Franklin said it: "If we don't all hang together, we all hang separately." Just like you have to fight to protect your friends and family, and you count on them to watch your own back.