As the debt ceiling continues to crash into the Government
Shutdown, one wonders, why, again, this game of chicken?
As with other questions involving the paradoxical Chicken
with a capital C, there are no easy answers.
Throughout history, this urge to win while risking suicide
has motivated and amused countless hordes of dim-wits hell-bent on passing the
time counter-productively. One could argue that war in general falls into the
same category, actually, leading the baffled individual contemplating the finer
points of human history to stumble into rather uncomfortable terrain….
So, as in all pivotal moments within a narrative arc, one
reaches for the smoke-bomb, eject button, vial of antidote, or any kind of
non-descript device invented by a mad-scientist tortured by cross purposes and
glasses too thick to actually see through. My personal diversion from the scene
crumbling around me? The comics.
To wit: Greasers in Greece. This hilarious offering
by publishers GryphonKnights Comics, just now hot off the press, reads like the
comics I remember from earlier days. Complete with fan-art, pin-ups, and
interesting bios written by the creators themselves, this book is a steal at
$9.95.
Writer Dimitrios Fragiskatos and Illustrator Thomas J.
Griffin (a dynamic duo eerily reminiscent of the creative team from Michael
Chabon’s, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay), both steer clear
of the mundane while firmly embracing the familiar.
And maybe that’s why this story is so engaging: we know
exactly what’s going to happen. As in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,
and every episode of Lost in Space, Wayne’s
World, or even Gilligan’s Island for that matter,
the reader/viewer is enthralled by the comfort of paradox couched in the
familiar brought to us by characters who make us laugh.
This comic is filled with visual puns, running jokes,
socio-cultural asides and masterful allusions to all kinds of 20th
century archetypes and motifs. The lay-out is easy to read and the art is
involving. Overall, Griffin’s style is quite kinetic. I especially love the
cover, with the careening hot-rod and Roman Chariot animated by the
Zombie-esque hand of a Devil-god emperor puppeteer (pulling invisible strings,
of course).
Inside, my favorite visual moment rests with the three-panel
page where the car is sent through time. We get to observe the inked observer
aging and not-aging while the words and visuals break through the paper and
literally into our hands. The effect is further echoed by the crazed chicken
drawn in the bottom right-hand bottom corner, careening once more with a squawk
into the lower levels of consciousness…
As for dealing with the usual paradoxes found in time-travel
stories, for some reason, my brain is assuaged. Or perhaps massaged. Or, better
yet, sealed in a warm bath of CO-Q10 and placed on a shelf to glow in
perpetuity alongside Einstein’s.
How did Dimitrios pull this off? Usually, with time travel
stories, you reach that moment where you’re like: ok: if the characters do X,
then that changes history and then they wouldn’t exist and none of this would
be happening anyway, and why did I just waste another 45 minutes of my one wild
and precious life thinking along this frustrating and useless path of inquiry?
But this moment does not occur in Greasers in Greece. I am
guessing it has to do with the motive and powers of the evil Devil-god emperor,
but I won’t speak of it, as I don’t want to spoil the fun for you, dear Reader.
Short Video Interviews conducted at the book signing:
With Dimitrios Fragiskatos, Writer:
With Thomas J. Griffin, Artist:
With Sean Griffin, Editor:
Greasers in Greece. It’s wild! It’s out-o-sight!
Available now at Mid-Town Comics/Grand Central:
* (this review is slated for publication at MacDuff NYC, but I am posting this until that transpires because this is really a great comic, and I thought you'd like to be in the know...)
