The Big Lie #1

I read this book a few days ago and I still am not sure how I feel about it. 

For one thing, this 9/11 conspiracy theory comic book is something that I am quite surprised was ever made by Image Comics. Most, if not all comic book publishers are considered to be quite liberal. And while some of the 9/11 theories do attack the Bush family for giving the family of Osama bin Laden a sort of free pass as well as the scuttlebutt on whether W's administration knew of the attack or not; generally those who believe in such a cover-up are considered firmly right wingers.

A big fan of the X-Files, my wife found me this 2011 book at a warehouse sale. Gotta love her. She thinks I come up with some weird, wild theories. And yet, she still indulges me.

See, a local comic shop was trying to clear out some inventory for a steal. I think I might have paid a quarter for it. The cover, which bears a very angry Uncle Sam over the smoking ruins of the World Trade Center is quite powerful. The story inside. Eh, not quite so much?

Instead of being a book that covers just the facts, writer/artist Rick Veitch (Swamp Thing) frames his argument for a 9/11 conspiracy around a sci-fi premise that is almost as old as science fiction itself. A time traveler arrives at the World Trade Center on the morning of the attack. Her plan is to convince her husband to leave, thus saving his life. 

The husband works for a movie production company. Being in league with Spielberg and Lucas, the producer and his cohorts are highly skeptical of the woman. When warnings don't seem to motivate anyone to leave, the time traveler starts spouting out facts about that fateful day along with arguments about a conspiracy. 

See, I think the woman went about it all wrong. She should have proved that she was from the future. I know that Rick Veitch wanted to try to convince us the readers of a conspiracy as being behind the 9/11 attacks. But I think he didn't connect via his storytelling method. 

What Veitch should have done was to actually set this up like an X-Files episode. Have a couple of folks in a smoky office going over the facts and all of the discrepancies and such. I don't think have fictional characters to move the narrative forward would have been a bad idea. I just think that using time travel and the amount of ridicule and mockery the traveler goes through cheapens the impact of both the possibility of conspiracy and reality of a national tragedy.

An interesting read about a subject that I didn't know as much as I thought i did. It just wasn't executed very well to make me into a believer.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars. 

Cancer Vixen

 

October is breast cancer awareness month. It's also Halloween countdown month. I try to stay relevant and set the mood by reading comics and graphic novels that fit the season or an event going on at around the same time. If you noticed the books I have reviewed this month, you'll see that I have done a decent job with the spooky stuff. But when it comes to breast cancer awareness, the best I could do was find a Batman-themed Save the Ta-Tas image for my Facebook page.

   That was until I hit my local library last week and found ‘ Cancer Vixen.’ When I thumbed through it, I thought it was about a woman’s account of her battle with lung cancer. It didn't quite meet the breast cancer awareness requirement I was looking for, but I took what I could get. When I started this a couple of days later and learned that the book’s creator was actually diagnosed with breast cancer; well I must have been the first person in history to cheer for someone getting the disease.

  But only cause I can paint my blog pink for October. I swear!

  The book opens in 2004 with the author Marissa Acocella, right before she becomes Mrs. Marchetto. She's considered one of the Big Apple’s hottest cartoonists, a thriving member of the in-crowd, and in 2 weeks about to get married. But when the artist finds a lump, that all appears to come crashing down. Especially, when she learns that her health insurance has lapsed.

  The book then jumps back and forth to 2001. In the past we see Marissa receive an assignment that will connect her with her future fiance. Then on a fateful day in September, we witness the tragic events that put Marrisa in the dust clouds of the World Trade Center and inspire her to pen a cartoon article that will blast her into the stratosphere as a hot talent in New York’s (magazine) publishing world.

Marrisa remarks that her time in the toxic clouds of Ground Zero could be behind her cancer. But she doesn't dwell on that. In fact, what this possibility does is it opens the reader to a new dimension. What the author does to much success is occasionally travel a parallel universe filled with an array of cartoons she created during her cancer fight such as the “ What Caused My Cancer? Board Game.”

   Cancer Vixen reminds me of another magazine writer making it big in Manhattan at about the same time- Candace Bushnell. Her columns in the New York Observer inspired the hit TV show ‘Sex & The City’ about 4 women who struggle to find love in the social circles of the city that never sleeps.

  

  Now I have never seen a single episode of Sex & The City. So to my knowledge, one of the characters might have battled cancer but I doubt it. However, if they ever did a storyline about one of the girls and their struggles to stay in the ‘IT’ crowd, this graphic novel is what I imagine the HBO hit to be like. ( While researching on this review, I learned that one character named Samantha gets get breast cancer in the final season which occurred in 2004. However, as Cancer Vixen is a true story, any similarities are coincidence more than likely.)

    Cancer Vixen is one of those stories I couldn't put down. Engrossing with a passionate account of a cancer survivor's fight against breat cancer. With inovative storytelling techniques and a no-holds barred approach, this is a graphic novel that while isn't considered a classic yet- it will be. I highly reccommend it.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars. 

A moment of silence...

Never Forget...

"JLA: The Nail, Book Three"

WORTH CONSUMING!

The Nail comes to an end with an all-out battle against the biggest, baddest, most powerful enemy the Justice League as ever fought…Jimmy Olsen? I know this seems lame but it works. Just read the book. Then, you’ll see I was right!

"JLA: The Nail, Book Two"

WORTH CONSUMING!

The book is great- but things go from bad to worse for the Justice League!!! Some alien presence is building up a disdain for meta-humans and the world takes the Patriot Act to the highest level of fascism…EVER! The scary thing is that this book was written years before 9/11!

Between Heaven and Ground Zero by Leslie Haskin

WORTH CONSUMING!

This book was an eye opening account to what actually happened inside of one of the Twin Towers during the 9/11 attacks. See, when you look at the footage of the towers after the planes hit, it really looks like just a lot of smoke and that the buildings suffered very little damage. However, according to the author’s first-hand account, the interior was nothing like what the TV viewer saw happening outside.

  Walls melted, fireballs ripped throughout the elevator shafts and anywhere else it could find an opening. Dozens of people fell to their deaths- not just the one or two victims shown on TV that day. It was utter chaos.

    That chaos is the only thing I didn't like about reading this book. It also happens to be the author's journal of events written during her recovery process from PTSD. As a survivor of abuse, I understand how confusing the process of unravelling the events can be. And while this book didn't trigger any events for me, it's still hard to follow. The utter panic and disorder felt by the author is eerily present. Some events seem disjointed. And it really makes it hard for a reader to understand just where and when the action is taking place. Thankfully, a series of appendixes are included and ease some of the burden.

     I also wish that the author took more time on writing about her personal life and her post-9/11 career. Many of the captions in the photograph section and the dust jacket imply this, and I felt myself wanting to know more. Hopefully, Haskin will write another book covering this area- or even an expanded edition. If she does, it's a done deal that I'll be searching it out at my local library.