The Puma Blues
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| the Puma Blues | |
 Cover of the Puma Blues #1 |
|
| Publisher | self-published |
|---|---|
| Format | limited series |
| Publication date | 1986 - 1989 |
| Number of issues | 23, plus one minicomic |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Stephen Murphy |
| Artist(s) | Michael Zulli |
The Puma Blues was a comic book written by Stephen Murphy and drawn by Michael Zulli. It ran from October 1986 to somewhere in the beginning of 1989, stretching over 23 regular issues and a single "half-issue" minicomic.
Published first by Aardvark One International and later by Mirage Studios, the story was set around the millennium as Gavia Immer, a governmental fauna agent, goes through an existential dilemma as he watches the videos his father left for him after his death.
The comic book's detailed artwork by Michael Zulli, which focused primarily on wildlife and nature, was superposed to a loose narrative with a druggy, dreamy, new age apocalyptic atmosphere. This de-structuralizing of the main narrative increased dramatically in later issues, with the second half of the series often taking the form of illustrated prose poetry within an associative narrative.
Contents |
[edit] Storyline
Issue #1 begins in March of the year 2000 (fourteen years in the future, by the comic's original publication date). It is a world of space shuttle passenger service, humanoid robotic workers, fully armored taxicabs, and children in gas masks -- and it's a world without the Bronx. It seems that on April 20, 1995, a white supremacist group attempted to kidnap the President during a visit to New York City. During the ensuing gunplay, a member of the group detonated a nuclear device, and five years later the Northeastern United States is still in recovery.
U.S. Agent Gavia Immer (sharing a name with the common loon) is stationed by the US military in a cabin in the woods of the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts. His new job consists of displacing mutated animals ('animutes' or 'biomutes') and collecting pH samples of the reservoir, which is frequently limed to compensate for the effects of acid rain.
Gavia is alone at this cabin (save for an occasional trespasser and the puma that stalks the mountains above the reservoir) but is in contact with his superiors through a video conferencing system, which he also uses to speak to his mother.
Haunted by his unresolved relationship with his late father, four years gone, he spends many nights watching a series of videotapes his father made documenting his search for truth -- something Gavia also desperately seeks.
Among the questions needing answers is that of a colony of flying manta rays -- the principal 'animute' inhabiting the reservoir. Although the government is aware of their existence, of chief concern at the story's outset is the origin of their mutation, as well as the importance of keeping the creatures a secret.
Starting with issue #21 the story skips two years ahead, and follows Gavia as he leaves the service and begins to travel cross-country.
[edit] Story arcs
Puma Blues consisted of three separate story arcs with two stand-alone issues; the first and second arcs were later collected in trade paperback form by Mirage Studios.
It was announced in issue #22 that the third story arc, Under a Deep Blue Sun, would conclude in issue #26. However, this arc ultimately remained unfinished. Puma Blues ended with issue #23.
The story arcs ran as follows:
- Issues #1-12 - Book One: "Watch That Man" (Aardvark One International/collected edition by Mirage Studios)
- Issues #13-19 - Book Two: "Sense of Doubt" (Aardvark One International/collected edition by Mirage Studios)
- Issue #20 - "Eat or Be Eaten" (self-published benefit issue)
- Issues #21-23 - Book Three: "Under a Deep Blue Sun" (intended to end at #26, Mirage Studios)
- Issue #24 1/2 - "Mobile" (16 page mini-comic, Mirage Studios)
[edit] Themes
A strong message of environmental responsibility runs throughout the series. In one of the most memorable scenes of the comic's run, a wealthy old woman enjoys a drive through the country with her robotic chauffeur. She sees a cluster of flowers with an aluminum can beside it and urgently requests the car pull over. She then asks the chauffeur to pick the flowers for her, leaving the can behind.
Most issues include sections called 'Notes on the Environment' and 'The Fraying Weave', which offered facts and often frightening statistics related to tropical rainforests, endangered animals, and other environmental concerns.
[edit] Distribution controversy ("the Puma Blues Incident")
In 1987, Puma Blues publisher Dave Sim fell into dispute with Diamond Comic Distributors over his decision not to use Diamond to distribute the Cerebus graphic novel High Society. As a result, Diamond's National Account Representative William D. Schanes informed Sim: "If it is your intention to pick and choose which products you want distributors to carry, it should be our privilege to choose what we wish to distribute. Therefore, it is our feeling we should no longer carry and promote Puma Blues."
A letter from Schanes to Sim, including the above quote, was reprinted in Puma Blues #15. At that time, Diamond distributed an estimated 33% of the series' print run. In the same issue, Puma Blues creators Murphy and Zulli responded with an open letter titled "Not Fade Away", stating their intent to continue with or without Diamond's support.
This incident was one of the primary factors leading to Sim's participation in developing the Creators' Bill of Rights [1].
[edit] Critical acclaim
The following quotes were included in the Puma Blues trade paperbacks: "The storytelling is interesting, the art is fascinating, and the style of the story that they're attempting to tell is quite impressive, quite ambitious." - Alan Moore
"the Puma Blues is intelligent and urgent mythology for the end of the millennium. Political, ecological SF for the technopathic everywhere: as fine and beautiful and unlikely as a flying manta." - Neil Gaiman
"Read a page until you see its meanings and then read it some more until you begin to see the meanings within the meanings." - Dave Sim
"This is a work of modern fiction that ranks with the very best of European graphic albums or even prose novels." - Chris McCubbin, Amazing Heroes
"Difficult but intriguing." - The Village Voice
"Zulli's wildlife art is utterly breathtaking...manages to show animal expressions without anthropomorphizing them - no mean feat. And Murphy's concern for the environment is clearly genuine. There's all sorts of intriguing concepts and situations floating around here." - The Comics Journal
"the Puma Blues is one of the finest examples of a new form in comics - the true 'work-in-progress.' It's a different type of comic book reading experience, demanding patience and diligence - but rewarding the reader with the thrills of a multi-level, imaginative, lushly-rendered story." - Peter Laird
The relative low print runs of the Puma Blues, coupled with Zulli's popularity in recent years (primarily due to his work on Neil Gaiman's Sandman) has made it a popular cult comic among both fans and collectors.[citation needed] The series was also praised by podcast DJ's Charlito and Mr Phil on the May 8, 2007 issue of Indie Spinner Rack.
A lengthy tribute to and analysis of the series by Steve Bissette was included in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Soul's Winter, a 2007 trade paperback collecting Zulli & Murphy's work on Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles .
[edit] References
- [1] - Mr Phil discusses Puma Blues on the Comic Geek Speak online forums
- [2] - Interview with Steve Bissette about the Creators' Bill of Rights.
- [3] - 7/4/06: blog discussing the (a)typical Puma Blues reading experience, through an in-depth examination of issue #18.
- [4] - partial cover gallery (issues 1-17).
- [5] - Puma Blues on the Indie Spinner Rack.
- the Puma Blues #15. Aardvark One International, Inc., February 1988. ISBN 0832-6606
- the Puma Blues #22. Mirage Studios, 1989. ISBN 0832-6606
- Murphy, Steven and Michael Zulli. the Puma Blues: Book One - Watch That Man, Mirage Studios.
- Murphy, Steven and Michael Zulli. the Puma Blues: Book Two - Sense of Doubt, Mirage Studios.
