The Anchorage Press 'Enshrines' MUSH! . . .in the Outhouse!

In his review of MUSH!, Anchorage Press writer Jamie Smith exclaims,

This book should be enshrined in the outhouse as required and repeat reading

For a book like MUSH, I'm not sure there's much higher of a compliment than that! He also had many nice things to say about the book's refreshing take on talking animal comics and its authentic depiction of mushing. Jamie also talks at length about the art. Unlike most reviewers, Jamie brings a great deal of comics related experience to the table. He's taught comics and comic art at the University of Alaska as well as being a comics creator in his own right. His weekly cartoon, Nuggets, has appeared in the Anchorage Press and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner since 1988. In talking about the art for MUSH! he had this to say,

Infurnari’s artwork here is exceptional—his loose, sketchy linework using a Japanese manga quill pen lends a spontaneity to the drawings that thoroughly suits the subject matter

I could continue to quote this piece but I think it best for you to read it in its entirety here.

**Jamie Smith has also written an extended, 'redux' version of this review on his own blog, Ink and Snow. That review is available here.

It was a pleasure talking about MUSH with Jamie who brings a rare enthusiasm for the medium informed by decades of experience creating comics. Please go take a look at the review and while you're at it, go take a look at this nice gallery of Nuggets and other work by him.

Thanks!

Robot 6 Loves MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues!

Robot 6, one of the blogs over at Comic Book Resources, has a regular feature by Tim O'Shea called Talking Comics with Tim. In the latest installment, Tim talks to Glenn Eichler and myself about MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues. More interview than review, it's an interesting piece and I encourage you all to go read me wax rhapsodic or rap idiotic depending on your point of view. Here's a little taste…

O’Shea: Question for the both of you, there appear to be metaphorical fences in this book (between people and between the dogs), in addition to the physical fences. Would you agree?

Infurnari: When I read the script, I was reminded of how in art and literature natural landscapes have often represented the depths of the human psyche. There’s something about the dark bottomless fathoms of the oceans, the mysteries of the forest or the wide open expanses of sand or snow that spark our imaginations. In Mush!, the barren isolation of the Alaskan landscape sets the scene for a story about the dogs’ psychological state and ultimately our own interior lives as readers. The fences in this story are boundaries preventing the dogs from being out in the open on a run where they are most happy. The trail is their bliss and the fences that keep them from it mark the breeding area of their issues.

Eichler: Well, definitely. No one can ever know or meld with another person (or dog) entirely, and the isolation in which they all live just throws those differences into brighter relief. But that same isolation also creates fences that enclose the people and the dogs, forcing them together because they really can’t get away from each other. I’m saying the book has a lot of fences. It’s best to read it with a pair of wire cutters.

O’Shea: Glenn, not to get bogged down in details, but naming one’s dog is often a challenge. You really did a good job of naming the team of dogs in this story, did that come to you quite easily as you developed the characters or was it challenging with certain characters?

Eichler: I hate naming characters as a general rule, but I tried for a mix of the silliness and anthropomorphism often found in the names that real people give their real dogs. I also wanted to touch on the way people will give their puppies names that turn out to be either perfectly descriptive of their adult personalities, or utterly wrong.

O’Shea: Glenn (from the book’s acknowledgements you thank the dogs “who talk to him when he sleeps”) how long have you heard the dogs talking to you?

Eichler: I didn’t write that. The dog dictated it.

To read interview in its entirety, click here.

MUSH! is HUGE in Singapore!

You'll have to forgive my overly histrionic title but when Nicholas Yong, journalist for the Singapore Straits Times writes such a lovely review for MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues, I can't help but get a little excited. The book is available there through Books Kinokuniya. Here's the review in full:

Guy is going after team leader Dolly’s job. Buddy is lusting after Venus, who is not interested. And all Winston wants is a bit of respect, while nobody knows what Fiddler wants.

The dog-eat-dog world comes to life in this wry, offbeat tale of six sled dogs and their two owners in the remote Alaskan frost.

All six pooches have clearly defined personalities and all just want the boss to hitch them to his sled and take them on a run. As Fiddler, a mixed-breed Alaskan Husky, gloomily puts it: “Not much point being alive if we don’t run.” Much of the fun of the story lies in watching the dogs interact between the longed-for runs: These mutts are as flawed as their owners, plagued by ambition, self-doubt and self-absorption.

The outspoken, caustic Dolly, a gorgeous Seppal Siberian sled dog, gets the best lines. In response to Fiddler’s remark about a sled dog who does not run, she says: “The meaning of that dog’s life is, he should be a cat.”

There are also plenty of laughs at the expense of the hapless Buddy, a Greenland dog, whose lust for Dolly is the very definition of, erm, puppy love. He is too dense to tell that she is indifferent to him, although the owners have mated the two several times.

Infurnari’s frenetic, almost cartoonish visuals complement Eichler’s acerbic wit perfectly and make the dogs particularly expressive. The human characters almost pale in comparison.

Dog owners Frank and Patty have their own issues. Frank is determined to disavow human society, declaring that “my dogs care about me more than they do”. Exasperated, Patty has the perfect comeback: “How loving do you think your precious dogs would be if you didn’t control their food?”

There is a strange irony in seeing humans, who consider themselves highly evolved, and dogs, supposedly their best friends, bickering over the same things. Frank might as well be talking about people when he says of the dogs: “They’re never more than one bite away from backsliding into wildness.”

At the end of this charming, enjoyable tale, Frank and Patty face the same issue as the dogs: They just have to learn to get along and work together if they want to survive.

Thanks go to Nicholas Yong for contacting me and bringing this to my attention.

The Onion AV Club gets MUSHY for MUSH!

Okay, I've been meaning to use that subject line for a while now and I just couldn't hold it any longer!! The Onion's AV Club takes a look at December graphic novel releases and had this to say about MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues:

It’s clear that writer Glenn Eichler and artist Joe Infurnari did their research before embarking on the graphic novel Mush! Sled Dogs With Issues (First Second). The book is full of information about how dog teams work together, both in cooperation and in competition. Eichler (creator of the MTV animated series Daria and current writer for The Colbert Report) extrapolates from animal psychology, creating characters with their own neuroses. Some of the dogs are jealous, some self-deprecating, some lustful. Then Eichler and Infurnari contrast the relationships of the pooches with that of their masters: a married couple who’ve begun to have some bitter disagreements about their decision to live out in the wild, far from society. Mush! feels like it ends too soon, but that’s mainly because the dogs and the humans alike are so well-defined that they could easily support a book twice as long. …

Thanks AV Club! You'll just have to wait until the sequel, SLUSH! Sled Dogs 2; Crazy in the Heat! where our favorite dysfunctional team of dogs find themselves recalled by the CIA for a covert mission in Hawaii with global repercussions! It's going to be a wonderful shark-jumping good time (yes, they will actually jump many sharks)!

Comics Alliance Features MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues!

Laura Hudson over at Comics Alliance has been generous enough to give MUSH! the deluxe treatment! In her preview (available here), you'll find 27 pages from the book–that's many more pages than are available anywhere else! You can only see them there! WHY AREN'T YOU AS EXCITED AS ME!! Thanks so much, Laura, and thank you Comics Alliance!

Stephen Colbert Loves MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues!

On last night's Colbert Report, Stephen had a brief segment about MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues! This is one of the coolest things EVER! He actually pronounced my name correctly, too! Here's a link to the full episode. Mush is featured at around 20:00. Enjoy!

http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/tue-december-6-2011-the-black-keys

Thanks, Stephen!

MUSH! and Trip City at Book Court in Brooklyn Dec. 8th!

You are invited to Cousin Corinne's LIVE COMIX BLOCK signing with presentations by Glenn Eichler, Joe Infurnari, Nick Abadzis, & Dean HaspielThursday, December 8th @7:00pm [sharp] BookCourt - 163 Court Street (b/w Pacific & Dean), Brooklyn, NY. http://bookcourt.org/ Curated & MC'd by Dean Haspiel http://deanhaspiel.com/

Glenn Eichler and Joe Infurnari's MUSH! SLED DOGS WITH ISSUES. Venus wants Buddy to quit asking her to “make puppies.” Buddy wants Winston’s help wooing Venus. Winston wants Guy’s respect. Guy wants Dolly’s job. Dolly wants to know the meaning of it all. Nobody knows what Fiddler really wants, not even Fiddler. But mostly . . . these sled dogs just want to run. Sounds simple? It should be, but even dogs have their office politics. Office politics with sharp, sharp teeth. From Colbert Report writer Glenn Eichler and dogchanneling artist Joe “Fur” Infurnari comes a postmodern tale of heroism on the tundra, epic romance, and yellow snow. (Hint: don’t eat it.) Mush! is Arrested Development meets Call of the Wild—two great tastes that taste pretty funny together.

Glenn Eichler has written for numerous TV series, in addition to developing and executive producing the MTV animated hit Daria. His previous graphic novel was Stuffed! with artist, Nick Bertozzi

Joe Infurnari grew up with his nose cold, wet, and buried in comics. His work has been recognized with multiple Eisner nominations, numerous publications, and membership in the prestigious web comics collective, ACT-I-VATE. He is a cat person. http://joeinfurnari.com/

Nick Abadzis' award winning, LAIKA with Alternative Endings. Laika was the abandoned puppy destined to become Earth's first space traveler. This is her journey. Nick Abadzis masterfully blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives. Along with Laika, there is Korolev, once a political prisoner, now a driven engineer at the top of the Soviet space program, and Yelena, the lab technician responsible for Laika's health and life. This intense triangle is rendered with the pitch-perfect emotionality of classics like Because of Winn Dixie, Shiloh, and Old Yeller. Abadzis gives life to a pivotal moment in modern history, casting light on the hidden moments of deep humanity behind history. Laika's story will speak straight to your heart. http://www.nickabadzis.com/

BookCourt is proud to celebrate TRIP CITY, the Brooklyn-filtered literary arts salon: http://welcometotripcity.com/

Nick Abadzis will be reading "Perfect Imperfect" Dean Haspiel will be reading his new BILLY DOGMA story, "The Last Romantic Antihero." And, Joe Infurnari will bookend the night with ULTRA Lad! in "Memoirs of the Kid Immortal!"

Be there or be square.

Paul Gravett Reviews MUSH!

In his online series, PG Reviews, Paul Gravett looks ahead to some notable December releases including MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues! He gives a lowdown on what the publisher, First Second, had to say about the book and then shifts to what he says about the book. Here's a quote,

Lovely design devices for the chapter titles and the skilled layouts that go full bleed and manga-esque in high-drama scenes show a creative team that knows how comics can really work. This is an utterly beguiling and touching dog story and not in the least bit ‘shaggy’! It will whoosh you away and make you want [to] shout out loud, ‘YAPABRA! BLEE DRAY CALLA SCOW!’

I'd say that's pretty good! Thanks for the review, Paul! The full review is available here.