Sturm, James – The Golem’s Mighty Swing

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The Golem’s Mighty Swing

There are plenty of people out there who will tell you that Dan Clowes, Chris Ware and the Hernandez Bros. are going to lead comics into the mainstream, that their new work especially will get all kinds of people into it and get comics out of the underground. I don’t buy it. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t say enough good things about any of those people. I just don’t think that they will make comics an accepted form of literature. They’re catered to a small, elitist crowd and that’s where they will stay, just like the best movies. If comics are ever going to be genuinely accepted, we need more books like this. I can see this being adapted into a film years from now and getting commercial and critical success, where Ghost World only made it to the art theaters. It’s the story of a baseball teams of Jewish people in the 1920’s and what they had to deal with on a daily basis. Broke and desperate, they are approached by a huckster who promises them all fame and money if they only agree to dress the only black member of their team up in the gear of a golem, which is a monster of Jewish mythology. They play some places where they’re seen as heroes and others where they’re lucky to get out alive. Crisp, clean artwork too. Reminds me of Jason Lutes a little. The only thing that some people might not like about this is all the time he spends on minute details of baseball games. If you don’t like baseball at all it might leave you cold, but I don’t think much of baseball and I was never bored. And instead of rounding the team out and having everyone with their own story, he chooses to focus on a select few and really realizes the characters. This is good stuff, one of the better things I’ve read lately. Call me crazy, but I see this guy as being genuinely famous in the next few years. See what the fuss is about before there is a fuss…