Pee-Day!

Happy Presidents Day!!! yeah...

In honor of P-Day I've got The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln on deck, but first...

Hawnay Troof has made a new remix of High Places' "Head Spins" that you can and should download for free on the High Places MySpace Page. I like this remix a lot. "Head Spins" is a great song that makes me want to dance and bob my head. The remix, "Head Spinz", makes me want to do a different dance and bob my head faster.

Also, Eating Disorder is looking for a title for her Summer release. Send her your ideas. While you are there you should take a while to look around and be creeped out. Eating Disorder is a musician whom you really want to be friends with on MySpace. It's a lot like how you should be Warren Ellis' friend. The bulletins are frequent and crazy. She also has free downloads.


So on to "The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln" by Scott McCloud, of Understanding Comics fame. I really like this book.


As you can see, I got a deal-and-a-half. I never even knew about this book until I found it for 99 cents in a discount bin in Fairbanks. Here is an excerpt from McCloud's description:

I like to think of The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln as a "noble failure." The consensus of comics fans at the time seemed to be that "failure" was description enough.

McCloud blends CGI backgrounds with very cartoony and characters. The result is... a little... is painful the right word? The upside is that the art and storytelling are very clear and the pacing serves the story well. The story itself is actually pretty brilliant, and I think probably increasingly relevant in modern America. Young student Byron Johnson is a young black kid, frustrated with the vacant people around him. Here is Byron's reply to his teacher's question of what "Four score and seven years ago," means to him.


Ouch! Things look up when "Honest Abe" busts in to detention hall!


YEAH! Now that's executive action! The reader comes to realize that something is not quite right with ol' Abe when he acts like a complete idiot and cranks out the charm. Byron and his friend-who-wants-to-be-his-girlfriend Marcie have to expose the fraud before things get really out of hand, but what can two kids do against the charm of an American icon ressurected?

Enter: ABRAHAM LINCOLN!?!?!?!

That's right the real Abraham Lincoln is back too! Now they just have to figure a way to prove this all to human man is more real than the guy that looks like the face on the $5 bill. The story has action, excitement, and I seriously cry every time I read the ending. Symbols are powerful, scary things. From the real Lincoln:

SYMBOLS, America, can be useful tools.But beware of those who would have you used by them! Some of their symbols are pictures, some are familiar phrases, some are mere gestures. They are all designed to steal your hearts, America, but care little for your minds. It is your duty to assign both organs to attend them!

Heck yeah! This book serves up plenty of thrills, but maybe more importantly humanizes Lincoln in a way that nothing else I have encountered does.

Happy President's Day. Trust no one.