[Bookshelf] The Collected Works of Vaughn Bode

In the early days of Ebay, I flipped this super vintage poster of a sexy centaur woman by the late comic book artist Vaughn Bode (1940-1975) that I'd found in a local bookstore. But I'll probably never part with the five trade paperbacks in my collection that feature Bode's collected comic book works. Published by Fantagraphics Books, these stellar trades contain classic strips by Bode culled from various self-published underground comix as well as comic strips that the cartoonist produced for several magazines, including National Lampoon's, Heavy Metal, and Witzend. Some of the trades from Fantagraphics' Bode Erotica series (4 volumes) are a little harder to find now for a reasonable price, but the Cheech Wizard, Deadbone and Junkwaffel trades can usually be found for around retail price. A must have for underground comix historians and students of old school graffiti art. Collect 'em all if you're cool like that, or just stick with the two Cheech Wizard volumes to get a sample of Bode's genius.  

[Book Report] Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is a lot more serious than it looks

Do not be fooled by the nonsensical-looking title or by the sugary sweet image of a sailor suit-clad schoolgirl wearing a moo cow headdress and a...mechanized udder. Johnathan Clements' Schoolgirl Milky Crisis (2009) is actually serious business.

Well, as serious as a 400-page collection of writings on the multi-million dollar businesses of Japanese animation, manga, and giant monster flicks can be.

From the pastel-colored front cover to the pastel-colored back cover, Clements fills the pages of Schoolgirl Milky Crisis with informative glimpses into the overlapping realms of Asian popular entertainment that most fans from the West will only get to dream about.

From the pampered life of an anime voice actress to the anime industry-crushing ambitions of a film studio owner from China––to the surprising censorship-related reasons why "tentacles" became so prevalent in anime erotica and several thought-provoking conversations with some of today's best-known makers of animation in Japan, Clements covers three continent's worth of fascinating territory.

The writing is well informed, engaging and immensely educational. But that should probably be expected from the very same author that gave fandom the Anime Encyclopedia, right? Highly recommended.

RZA on the power of imagination

  I was playing with my son and he goes "shoo-shoo"––making like he's shooting powers at me. "I'm sending my powers at you!" he'd yell. And the first time he did it, I said, "You know, that really won't hurt anybody."
   But the second time he did it, I didn't say that to him. Because I thought about it and realized that if you really have that will and that chi energy, and that understanding, who knows? Maybe you can fuck someone up that way. That thirty-sixth chamber in martial arts, that's the one where the fighter just forces energy at his opponent and knocks him across the room. So I don't want to take that away from a child.
   It's imagination. To imagine means to image. And once you make an image, you can make flesh. It's power upon power. And it's real. That power, that force--if you let it, it can move mountains.

– RZA

Source: The Wu-Tang Manual, pg. 87

David Carradine on superheroes

"When I was a little kid I read a comic book called Supersnipe. This maybe six-year-old kid was the world's biggest comic fan, and he dressed up in baggy red long johns with the window in the back, plus a cape and a little black mask, and went around trying to fight crime and stuff. But in a couple of the stories, he actually became Supersnipe, over six feet tall, with lots of muscles and skintight long johns, but still with this tiny six-year-old head on top of it all. And it wasn't exactly a dream in the stories; the daring deeds really did get done.

"Well, I was the world's greatest comic fan, and I got my grandmother to sew me a superhero costume and tried to fly in it, off the garage roof. I really believed this stuff, and I'm not embarrassed to say I still do... Superhuman abilities are a lot of fun. Rarely in the comic books do they get into the price. It's heavy, as I remember. But, hey, you live only an infinite number of times, so why not make yourself useful."

– David Carradine
Source: The Kill Bill Diary, pg. 131

[Book Report] Super #1 Robot

Super #1 Robot: Japanese Robot Toys, 1972-1982

The difference between men and boys is the age of their toys, and Tim Brisko's Super #1 Robot (Chronicle Books, 2005) showcases within its glossy pages a tantalizing taste of the candy-colored playthings that were once made for boys in Japan between 1972 and 1982.

That ten year time frame marked something of a golden age in robot toys, which were largely based on the towering titans of the animated TV shows of the day like Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Brave Raydeen, Space Dragon Gaiking, Space Knight Tekkaman, Beast King GoLion (aka Voltron), Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Mobile Suit Gundam, and others.

Boasting more than 200 pages of gorgeous color plates by photographer Tim Brisko, a fascinating 24-page essay by toy historians Matt Alt and Robert Duban, and a touching afterward by Bullmark Toys founder Saburo Ishiuziki, Super #1 Robot is the Christmas Wish Book you never had as a kid, and a compendium of classic robot toys that no full-grown otaku should be without. – SP

 1973 - Miracle Fighting Red Baron [Super Robot Red Baron], page 38

1974 - Great Mazinger [Great Mazinger], page 49

 1975 - Getter Dragun [Getter Robo G], page 75

1975 - Grandizer [UFO Robo Grandizer], page 85

 1976 - Combattra [Super Electromagnetic Robo Combattra], page 111

 1977 - Danguard Ace [Planetary Robo Danguard Ace], page 130

 1979 - Gundam Combination Set [Mobile Suit Gundam], page 165

1981 - Future Beast GoLion [Master of a Hundred Beasts: GoLion], page 188

Today - Meka Godzilla [Toho Kaiju], page 245