Shaving and Pop!

[avram]

I was thinking about shaving this morning. Well, afternoon. Because, of course, I shaved my face. Not my head; I’m letting that go for a bit. Another few days and I’ll be at the point where rubbing my head feels like stroking a cat.

Anyway, I generally shave my face every two or three days. There was a time, when I was young, when I shaved every damn day. That got to hurt like hell after a while, left me raw and bleeding. No wonder I eventually just stopped and grew a full beard, just trimming it every so often. Looking back on it, though, I can’t believe I left it like that for so long. I look at old photos of me and think my face looks like a giant bumblebee’s butt. Here, that’s me on the left:

I think I’m getting vain in my old age, caring more about how I look, something I made a point of seeming not to care about when I was young.

Which is one of the major themes of Vertigo Pop! London, a new comic in the Vertigo Pop! imprint (which I hadn’t realized was an imprint till now, since all I’d seen before was the Tokyo title). It’s about an aging rock star who has a way of swapping bodies, and finds a young, untalented wannabe musician to use it on. Good writing by Peter Milligan, good artwork by Philip Bond. I thought Bond’s work seemed stiff in The Invisibles, but he’s doing much better here. He’s really got a handle on his character’s faces, drawing the protagonist at age 30 and 60, making the difference in ages very clear while keeping it noticeably the same character even though the facial (and head) hair has changed. This is an artist who can draw faces as faces, not as abstracted masks. Anyway, just two issues out so far, both available at Cosmic Comics (and probably at Jim Hanley’s too), a good time to jump on.

Now I may check out Vertigo Pop! Tokyo. The art looked interesting, but somehow I’d never picked up enough of the story or characters while skimming it to get a feel for whether I’d like it.

Comments

Re: Whew.

[avram]

You should have seen me when I had a stinger sticking out my chin.

Re: Whew.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

ooooh baby.