Conjure

Conjure
Feature Film
PlanetMatt Entertainment



Those of you who follow Dollar Bin Blues regularly will know that I rarely take a look at films. But I'm going to make an exception for Conjure, the brainchild of critically-acclaimed artist/illustrator Matt Busch. Why?

Because this is one of the worst movies I've seen in my life.

Matt Busch produced this film through PlanetMatt Entertainment. Directed by Matt Busch, Conjure is based on a script by Matt Busch, and stars fledgling thespian Matt Busch as critically-acclaimed artist/illustrator Matt Busch. It also stars Matt Busch's girlfriend Sarah Wilkinson as Matt Busch's girlfriend Sarah Wilkinson, and features costume design by Sarah Wilkinson.

See where this is going?

The film starts with a lengthy documentary segment (narrated by Matt Busch) covering Matt Busch's life, from his childhood, through his days playing keytar as a rocker, to his turning to art and meeting his girlfriend. I wouldn't want to say director Matt Busch is self-indulgent here; after all, who could resist focusing on a subject as interesting as Matt Busch? The film proper then picks up with Matt Busch walking through a cemetery, where he finds a single photograph of a house (or castle, as they call it) resting against a tombstone. Matt Busch then does what anyone would do in such a situation -- he steals the photograph from the gravesite and takes it home with him.

Long story short, the photograph exerts some sort of eldritch power over Matt Busch as he paints it, transporting Matt Busch and his girlfriend to the house castle located somewhere in California deep in the South American jungle. The house is haunted by ghosts that want Matt Busch to finish his painting, which raises the question: why didn't they just leave Matt Busch alone? Matt Busch was going to finish it anyway.

When the painting is done, Matt Busch and his girlfriend are transported back to their house. The ghosts now want to kill Matt Busch, for reasons never made clear, but true love wins out in the end.

The film then ends with more documentary footage, including what appears to be the preamble to a Matt Busch sex tape (starring Matt Busch), followed by Matt Busch returning the stolen photo to the grave so that the next kleptomaniac artist can find it.

If you're the type who likes riffing on crappy movies like the crew of the Satellite of Love, then you can have a good time watching Conjure -- we did. But, in all honesty, it is not a good movie. Not good at all.

The Left Bank Gang

The Left Bank Gang
Trade Paperback
Fantagraphics



Acclaimed cartoonist Jason's graphic novel The Left Bank Gang suffers from having one clever idea too many. The idea of the expatriate American authors who lived in Paris after the war being cartoonists rather than short story writers or novelists is cute; the idea of those same expats trying to alleviate their financial pressure by stealing the gate from a big prize fight is compelling. But the book spends too much time on the first idea to give the second enough room to breathe.

That being said, once the heist goes off -- and, naturally, goes horribly wrong -- things grab your attention, and I quite like the way Jason portrays the story of each of the characters involved in the robbery, gradually revealing the different strands of the narrative as he goes. Unfortunately, the sheer number of focal characters in The Left Bank Gang diffuses the emotional impact of the story.

The book is still entertaining, but I think it's the weakest of the three Jason works I've looked at this month.

The Last Musketeer

The Last Musketeer
Trade Paperback
Fantagraphics



The second of three Jason graphic novels I'll be looking at here on Dollar Bin Blues, The Last Musketeer displays the same style bittersweet ambiance and lightly comic, almost dreamlike storyline as I Killed Adolf Hitler.

The titular Musketeer is Athos, who has lived into the present day but fallen on hard times, reduced to telling tales of his glory days for spare change, which he then spends on alcohol. It's a sad state for a man who once defended the kingdom of France from enemies both without and within, but an unexpected invasion from Mars gives him the chance to reclaim his honour and self-respect.

As in I Killed Adolf Hitler, Jason expertly mixes the fantastic and the everyday to tell a story everyone can relate to. While I liked that title slightly more than this one, they're both well worth your time, and I'm looking forward to reading more.

I Killed Adolf Hitler

I Killed Adolf Hitler
Trade Paperback
Fantagraphics



I haven't been reading much in the way of comics since I moved, but I saw this on the shelf the university library, of all places, and figured it looked worth a shot.

I don't believe I've ever read anything by artist/writer Jason before, so I can't say if I Killed Adolf Hitler is typical of his work. But I can say that it's mildly sweet, mildly sad, mildly funny, and mildly bizarre. It's set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, a world where murder-for-hire is a legitimate occupation, and a world where time travel has (secretly) been invented. To go into more detail would be to risk ruining the fun of the book.

If you chance upon it, check it out.

The League of Super Groovy Crimefighters #1

The League of Super Groovy Crimefighters #1 (June 2000)
Ongoing series
Ancient Studios



This series, which ran for five issues (only the first one in colour), appears to be the only offering from Ancient Studios and the only comic written by Jan-Ives Campbell. I can sort of see why. It's not that it's bad, per se. It's certainly not the worst thing I've looked at here on the bin. It's just not very good.

Like the Heroes of Rock and Fire comic that I reviewed last year, reading this comic leads you to believe that the creator has much more of the world sketched out in his head than he's showing you, and it suffers for it. There's a bit of an origin/explanation of the League on the inside cover, but personally I found that more interesting than what actually took place on the pages of the comic. The story features a bunch of people in costumes going through some bland comedic bits, with little to no personality to differentiate them from one another. I'm not sure if this is because there are too many characters thrown in all at once, or because of the awfully generic c-grade humour. Probably both.

There's a back-up story about Sergeant America finding out funding for his superheroing has been cut (which will cost him his powers) and going on the run. This is much better, because you get to focus on a couple of character rather than a half-dozen, and also because the humour is a bit more original than "Superheroes cause so much property damage when they fight crime!" I actually felt kind of bad for Sgt. America when he discovered his girlfriend (whom he had admittedly left behind five years before when he became a hero) was sleeping with the supervillain the Sceptre.

I got this for 50 cents, and I guess it's hard to say I didn't get my money's worth because I did enjoy the back-up. Still, you're probably better off holding onto those quarters in case you need to make a phone call.

Badger Saves the World #1-2

Badger Saves the World #1-2
Limited Series
IDW Publishing




Darn it, I wish I had the rest of this series.

For some reason, I bought issues one and two when they came out, but didn't buy the rest -- maybe because I hadn't gotten around to reading them when #3 came out, or maybe because it sold out, or maybe because I fell and hit my head. It doesn't matter. Now I've got to add the series to my watch list for when I hit the comics shows, because these two issues are a pretty fun read.

I knew only the bare bones about Badger before picking this up today, but you learn everything you need to know as the first issue progresses: Badger is a veteran and martial artist who has multiple personalities, one of which thinks he's a superhero, and he works for a modern-day druid with real magical powers. The two of them appear to live together in an estate/castle, along with Badger's therapist. The book has a bit of a right-wing slant to it, but in the vein of The Naked Gun rather than the Tea Party.

The series involves Badger's druidic friend enlisting his help in fighting the Russian terrorist Pavlov, who is using trained dogs as suicide bombers on behalf of the Nihilist Anti-Civilization Hate Organization (N.A.C.H.O.) The druid wants to stop this because he's dedicated to world peace; Badger wants to stop this because it's mean to the dogs.

These issues aren't perfect: the art is a little wonky in places, and I almost think it would be better suited to being presented in black and white; the humour misses its mark sometimes; and transitions between scenes aren't always delineated clearly. But it made me chuckle out loud more than once, and the plot -- at least what we've seen so far -- is rather clever (in the way of the aforementioned Naked Gun.) Probably worth a looksee if you're interested in action-comedy comic books or superheroes outside of the mainstream. As I said before, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for the other issues next time I'm cruising the bins.

Arsenic Lullaby #16

Arsenic Lullaby #16
Ongoing series
AAA Milwaukee Publishing



If Cyanide & Happiness is just too uplifting for you, Arsenic Lullaby may be the comic for you.

From the editorial comments at the back, it appears that the short comics that make up this issue were originally exclusives to the trade paperbacks that collected earlier issues in the series. They're all black humour -- the blackest of humours -- but unlike many other comics that ply that particular genre, they're also well written and drawn. The art has a decidedly cartoonish feel to it, but you can tell that a good deal of care and effort is put into every panel.

To give you an idea about the contents, the last (and longest) story in the comic starts off as a seemingly pat tale about children finding out a donut company's donut-shaped mascot doesn't really exist. Only you quickly learn that he does exist, and was avoiding the children because he's suffering from terrible depression as the result of being a victim of a Nazi concentration camp. It walks the line between horror, humour, and absurdity, and does so with remarkable skill.

I got my copy for free, with a big sticker pasted to the front saying it was to be handed out to fans of "the Flamming (sic) Carrot, Lenore, Squee, and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac." I love the Carrot, and I can certainly see the similarities, although this is much more disturbing than most of FC's adventures.

Go check out their website if you think this sounds like something you might like.