Just wanted to let you guys know that my webcomic partners-in-crime over at SubCulture recently released a trade paperback titled, appropriately enough, SubCulture: the TPB, collecting their four-issue SubCulture comic mini-series. Written and drawn by the same amazing team that does the webcomic, my buddies Kevin Freeman (writer) and Stan Yan (artist) have created a book that’s a must for fans of the strip and of geek culture in general.
Although at first you might think you’re reading a typical “Beauty and the Geek” type story, you’ll soon find that the girl, Noel, is no typical beauty, and the guy, Jason, is no typical geek. Noel’s a somewhat snobbish, avant-garde artist, who looks down on “the mainstream” and is new to the whole “fanboy” scene (and the neighborhood). Jason’s a guy who, although he loves reading comics and playing videogames, hasn’t entirely embraced his inner geek. In fact, that’s one of the things I liked most about the book – it doesn’t blindly embrace the geek lifestyle of many of its characters, and isn’t just a bunch of Star Wars references and D&D jokes. In fact, in many cases it casts a critical eye on this behavior, most notably when Noel and Jason head down to the “Super Con” with his comic store friends. When Noel starts lashing out at all the costumes, adolescence and testosterone on display on the convention floor, it only seems especially harsh because of the truth behind the words.
So how does it all end up with this seemingly mismatched pair? Can they reconcile their differences and make it work? Is Noel’s artwork just too “out there” for Jason? Will Jason’s geeky roommate and friends down at the local comic shop ruin it for him? Well, you’re gonna have to read the book to find out. And with Kevin providing the great dialogue and story, and Stan providing the visuals that continue to impress me twice a week at SubCultureComic.com, it’s worth buying the book to see what happens.
Now’s a great time to buy, too, since they’re having a sale on the book right now. Go check out your options here (they have a regular edition and a signed-and-numbered edition). And while you’re there, check out the SubCulture webcomic if you’re not reading it already, since if nothing else, you just know the characters have impeccable taste in clothes and webcomics, as evidenced by this strip.
Wow, thanks for the love, Jeff! I’m glad you liked the book, and I’m glad that you “got” the story and the symbolism behind it. As I’ve mentioned in a couple of places, while it does poke fun at the culture, I am (fairly) proud to be one of them, and really, the geeks win in the end. After all, our motto is “Admit it. You’re one of them.”
Yes, thanks so much, Jeff, although, I think you can turn it on its head and see it as casting a critical eye on those of us who DON’T embrace our geekdom. I think that’s the great thing about this book is that we’ve gotten all sorts of different reviews claiming that we’re pushing this agenda or that agenda, when we just telling a story that obviously has affected our readers in different ways — ways I think our readers maybe WANT it to affect them. I don’t know.
Jeff, you’re da man!
Heh it’s clearly true on your board as well as ours. Stan and I are, clearly, professional threadkillers 🙂