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Underground > Comic Books >

Automatic kafka

at the scarwash

21:46 / 21.08.02

Anyone picking this up? #2 today. First issue seemed pretty much phildickian pinocchio routine again, "I wanna be a real boy, lets have a violent, drug induced fantasy involving naked chicks." But written ok, and goodish art.

jUne, a sunshiny month

11:14 / 27.08.02

waiting for the #2 in my mailbox...
don't tell too much about it please !

15:59 / 27.08.02

What's all this then?

Sounds interesting.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

17:12 / 27.08.02

If I may, I suggest picking up issue 1 and givingit a ruffle. It's very funny, uses Ashley Wood's art quite well, and might just be about something too. It seems to be diving into a few ideas about the comic universe, some bits about commercialism and there's a Cliff Steel-ish robot guy trying to figure out what it's all about. It's the one of three comics I don't feel weird about buying every month (the other two being the Filth and NXM... sometimes).

23:18 / 27.08.02

This is probably the first title I've read where Ashley Wood's art adds to the story rather than obscuring it.

Joe Casey is new to me, so I'm not sure where he's headed in this book. Main character definitely reminds me of Robotman. Could either go really well or horribly wrong.

No star here laces

07:38 / 28.08.02

I thought it was appallingly bad. I was suckered by it having a cool name and a good cover, but what a turd it turned out to be.

I never want to have to read another comic about a fucking superhero's psychological problems involving flashbacks and hallucinatory sequences. This must be the most tired formula around at the minute and the worst thing about it is that everyone doing it seems to think its somehow deep and revoutionary. Ick.

Good art, mind, but I can't be doing with it.

at the scarwash

21:30 / 28.08.02

Yeah Lyra, you know, I left it on the bus right after I read it, and I was kind of glad. There's nothing wrong with it, mind, just a depressing sameness. Really a pity, as the art really interests me. I'd like to see someone use ash wood in an interesting way. Well, I guess the Uncanny X-Men Annual was pretty great.

And what's with the title? I hate the way people use Kafka to evoke this silly sweaty surrealistic anxiety thing. Sure it's there, but there's much more than that.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

19:59 / 15.09.02

Back from the dead, much like Kafka was... I'm in two minds about this having read issue 1, so I'll probably get issue 2 when I next go to a comic shop and judge it on that. Issue one reads like Joe Casey, who I've never read until now, is trying to do Philip K. Dick but ending up in 'Seekers: into the Mystery' territory, not helped by Ashley Wood's brilliant but reminiscent art.

However, the 'are we brilliant or are we shit' blurb on the letters page seems designed to make people come down on the 'you are shit goodbye' side.

So is this Kafka an existing character with a backsotry that it would be helpful to know, or is he fresh and new and we'll all learn and grow and hug as we go along, if we can be bothered to sign up for the ride?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:56 / 24.11.02

Is no-one else still getting this? Just picked up issue 5 and it's extremely badly written, this month Casey seems to think he's writing Marshall Law without the social commentary, but then you get to the scorpion, and possibly, just possibly, they've found out they're in fiction...
"Even I'm being derivative right now! Can't you see it? They don't let us do this too often... These things tend to spoil the surprise..."
Hmmmm.

10:26 / 25.11.02

I'm still getting this. I've never been a big Casey fan but I really like the art. I also really liked the Peanuts issue (#4). I didn't get that link for ages. I can't work out if I'm not keen on the story because I know its written by Casey or whether its just because the writing is poor. I'm sticking around for the time being to see how it develops. I find I generally stop caring about a comic by #9 and only realise later that I've stopped buying it. (See new Doom Patrol).

Casey comes across as juvenile at times and thinks its cool to put the word 'fuck' into a comic.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

12:30 / 25.11.02

I got that a lot with this issue, and didn't really like the last one. I'm going to give it a year and then make a firm decision, for every cool moment Casey puts in he then does something incredibly crass and dumb, I just wonder when Kafka is going to wake up and realise he's dead. I mean, that's the point of the thing right?

14:19 / 25.11.02

I hadn't thought of the concept being that Automatic Kafka is already dead. I'll have to go back and read them all from the start to see what impression I get. The comic is coming across more and more as a $trangers comic rather than an Automatic Kafka comic. He's hardly been in the last two issues. Maybe he's not dead but going to realise that he's living in a comic book (Now where have we read that before?). Maybe its all one big trip from the drugs he took in the first issue.

Another problem I have with Casey is that he seems to be trying to write weirdness for the sake of it. Its like he's a big Grant Morrison fan and trying to emulate Morrisons writing but without the depth. With Morrison (and Milligans Shade) I get the feeling that they know what they are doing behind the weirdness but with Casey I get the impression he's making it up as he goes along and will struggle to pull it all together at the end.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

16:27 / 25.11.02

Yeah, it's rather reminiscent of what I read of Rachel Pollack's 'Doom Patrol', weird stuff happens because weird stuff has to happen, whereas with Grant or Milligan, weird is just normal stuff you haven't seen from the right perspective yet.

Casey has claimed there's a big clue in the first issue. So I'm thinking it's along the lines of the drug supposedly being fatal and something claiming to be death turning up. I know, I know, I'm twisting the evidence to fit my hypothesis...

Our Lady of The Two Towers

09:57 / 27.11.02

Joe Casey interview at CBR

11:54 / 27.11.02

Beat me to it! I just came here to post that link.

I've now gone back and reread the series from the start and still not sure whether he's alive, dead or tripping. Don't really have any new insights from rereading so I guess its time to wait for the next issue and see where it goes from there.

03:18 / 28.11.02

what was the peanuts link? I got 1 - 3 and then decided i didn't like it that much.

m.

16:27 / 28.11.02

Basically in issue 4 there is a homage to the Peanuts characters set when they have all grown up. If you weren't familiar with the Peanuts then you wouldn't get it but it can stand alone as the story of a guy who failed the Million Dollar Detail.

SPOILERS
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The issue follows Charles (Who was from the quiz show in issue 3 and his full name was revealed as Charles Brown then) as he returns to normal life.
It begins with Charles in therapy with an unnamed woman (who i s also his wife). (Lucy)
He has a younger sister (Sally - but is called Sara in the issue because apparantly Casey knew someone called Sally who liked to be known as Sarah) who is married to a guy in a mental home who holds a security blanket and surrounds himself with pumpkins during Halloween. (Linus)
Theres a Red Haired girl Charles is attracted to that he sees at a reunion party. (Mystery Redhead girl Charlie Brown always pined over)
The reunion party is for a talented pianist (Schroeder) who is being flirted with by Charles (presumably estragned) wife (Lucy).
Two lesbians are at the party one calls the other "Sir" (Pepermint Patty and Marcie).
Charles gets thrown out of the party and meets a dirty homeless guy (Pigpen).
Charles owns a beagle (Snoopy) and finds a small yellow bird by his house. (Woodstock)
Theres probably more that I've missed.

I read it twice before I got the connection. It was quite fun when I actually realised what it was about. Talk about the Penny dropping! Worth a read if you can find (or borrow) a copy.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

20:54 / 01.01.03

Oh dear, the only female character in the book thus far and she's some vaguely defined witch-type who's powers vary on how much sex she's having.

Still, the art is definitely growing on me now, though it seems that at least one of the main characters is aware he's in some sort of story.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

15:14 / 23.02.03

Woohoo! 7 issues in and finally what appears to be a storyline! Just proves what happens if you persevere.

21:02 / 11.05.03

Was anyone else disapointed by the way this turned out?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

13:41 / 12.05.03

In what way? I think Joe Casey thinks his scripts are deeper and profounder than they actually are. I think he believes he's hiding a deep intelligence behind a cool Morrison/Ennis/Ellis veneer, without actually showing us any evidence for that. But despite that the latest issue was okay.

13:48 / 13.05.03

I took this to be the final issue. I just feel that it's over far too quickly without wrapping it all up. I'm interested to hear what other people here think about the book because I'm not sure if I "get" it (or not), or if there's nothing to really "get" and the books just a bit of a mess.

Basically I think Casey ran out of time and couldn't finish it properly, which is why I'm disappointed

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

23:00 / 13.05.03

I think Casey had the potential to do something really fantastic here. Sadly, it was canceled before we got a chance to see if it panned out or not.

Aty least there's still WildCATS.