The YouTube Channel is LIVE! Episode 1 Deep Dive!
More details about Eddie Campbell's Bacchus, Bonny Doon's Le Cigare Volant, Richard Starking's Elephantmen, and Domaine Serene's Yamhill Cuvée
“The Wine and Comics Pairing Show” is now live on YouTube with the drop of Episode #1. I am such a proud papa!
But I’m going to be a real-talk papa, too: my baby is a work-in-progress. Episode 1 is rough. We had no f***ing idea what we were doing in terms of camera placement, audio (especially audio!), pacing, editing, etc. We were nervous AF and only filming because we had to shut up and put out and just DO IT. Fake it ‘til we make it kinda thing. Well, get ready for a lot of faking….
But the comics and the wines we chose to showcase were absolutely perfect for a debut episode. And while overlong and rough around the edges, I still have a blast when I watch it, so I decided to let this remain the inaugural ep, warts and all. We get better, folks. That’s a promise.
Now it’s time for one of the key reasons this Substack exists: a deep dive into the comics and wines featured in the episode!
EDDIE CAMPELL’S BACCHUS
Was there ever a more perfect comic to kick off a “Wine and Comics Pairing Show”? Well, maybe Brian Hawkins’ and Sami Kivelä’s The Vineyard from Aftershock Comics, but at the time we recorded this, that comic hadn’t come out yet. So I digress.
Bacchus is, of course, the Greek god of wine (and debauchery, natch). Campbell is on record as saying Bacchus was his stab at making “an American style comic”. This is interesting, as the book doesn’t read like an American comic. At all. I do get that this is, in certain ways, a “heroic epic”, but it’s far from a super-hero ongoing or pulp adventure serialization. If anything, it reads like a highbrow 2000 A.D. collection. It’s remarkably non-commercial, in that very non-American, anti-capitalist way. Sure, there’s a smattering of “action” sequences. And many elements are reactions/commentary on American pulp comic serial tropes. But an American-style comic? Hell, no. It’s (sorry not sorry) better than that!
Interestingly, Campbell says he had nothing to do with the wine “pairings” the omnibuses contain. The publishers did that all on their own and didn’t even inform Campbell that they were doing it.
This is mildly surprising, but only mildly. Some of the pairings make sense - fruit-driven, approachable Cali Zin as the gateway wine for Book 1; a Greek wine (Assyrtiko) to pair with a volume where Bacchus and Co. island hop across the Grecian isles. But an Australian Petite Syrah? With the volume they paired it with? A box “blush” (rosé) for the Eyeball Kid? I can’t (quite) figure why. Plus: I’m pretty sure no winemaker in Australia spells Petite Syrah this way. (They spell it “Petite Sirah”.)
Now, I’m sure some of you are thinking: okay, so why the hell did YOU pair what you did with the book? Is there really a rhyme or reason to the pairings? Outside of whimsical and poetic connections to the wine and content of the comics? Glad you asked! There is, in fact, a system (of a sort) we base our pairings on, which will be the subject of a future post here on the substack! Pinky promise.
Bonny Doon’s 2019 Le Cigare Volant (aka “Flying Cigar”)
We read this out loud from the wine label in the episode, but it’s such a great bit I wanted to reprint it here:
In 1954 the village council of Chateauneuf-du-Pape was quite perturbed and apprehensive that UFOs or "flying cigars" might do damage to their vineyards. So, right-thinking men all, they passed a legal ordinance prohibiting such landings. The ordinance has worked well, as there have been no such landings since the adoption of this far-sighted legislation.
Ain’t that the best backstory to a wine name EVER? And it’s a true story!!!
But there’s more to tell about Bonny Doon and the maverick winemaker behind the label: Randall Grahm, the “Rhone Ranger”.
As we mentioned in the episode, Bonny Doon, Le Cigare Volant, and Randall Grahm have all undergone a major evolution starting with the 2018 vintage. This right here is the best online post to read about that, straight from Randall himself. He’s now gone on to become the winemaker of Popelouchum. I’ve had the honor of snatching two of their inaugural releases: their 2020 Syrah and 2020 Grenache, and they are stellar - if still very young - first releases. I even paired them on Twitter w/ Magnetic Press’ English language release of the experimental European graphic novel MR. INVINCIBLE.
In short: everything Grahm touches is worth drinking. Everything Grahm has sold to larger entities but kept a certain influence on are both insanely affordable (the 2019 Le Cigare Volant is only $14.99 at BevMo!!!) and worth drinking. Y’all need to seek out the widely available, lower cost 2018, 2019, and now 2020 Le Cigare Volant’s out there. The 2019 was superb. Worth at least twice its SRP.
ELEPHANTMEN
This book has a unique origin story: the brainchild of long-time comics letterer Richard Starkings, who in 1992 founded “Comicraft”, a comic book lettering and font design studio that trained and hired letterers for just about every major comic publisher in the States and UK. Comicraft soon launched an imprint called “Active Design” in 1995 which sold Comicraft’s original fonts for professional use.
To help fuel Active Design’s font sales, Starkings wanted to insert Marvel/DC characters he had long lettered over into his advertisements. When he failed to get authorization from either Marvel or DC, he created his own mascot: the far future anthropomorphic hippopotamus adventurer/private eye, Hip Flask!
After appearing in nothing but adverts through the late 90’s, Flask was eventually given his own trio of one-shots, co-written by comic scribe Joe Casey and art by the incredible Ladronn, starting with “Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection” in 2002. The second one-shot was titled “Hip Flask: Elephantmen”.
Shortly after, the story continued in 2006’s Elephantmen ongoing series, where Hip was merely one of many characters that expanded the far future universe they inhabited. I don’t know if this decision was made in part by an accusation by Australian comic artist Jason Paulos that Hip Flask plagiarized his character, Hairbutt the Hippo (which admittedly predated Hip Flask by almost 10 years!) Starkings is on record as saying the similarities are bizarre coincidences, and the likelihood of Hairbutt - a comic we’d never heard of until we researched the Elephantmen series for this post - somehow being on Satrkings’ radar in the mid-90’s seems slim. But whatever the reason, the future of Starkings’ creator-owned work was less with neo-noir Hip Flask yarns and, instead, he switched gears to expand into an absolutely wild, complex, shockingly long-running sci-fi epic!
The impressive thing about Elephantmen is unquestionably its longevity. The series has now run 80 issues at Image Comics (and all of it collected into trades), with another 4 “Seasons” as part of Comixology’s “Originals” label. And according to the official Elephantmen Facebook page, Dark Horse Comics is planning to publish two Omnibuses collecting the Comixology runs in Feb and Oct 2023, respectively.
Domaine Serene Yamhill Cuvée Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
The wine Dallas paired with Elephantmen is a “cuvée”, which most commonly means it’s a blend, the suggestion being that it’s a winemaker’s choice blend of particular barrels, though your mileage may vary on how much you believe that hype for any given cuvée.
In this case, the term is being used with a more specific meaning, which is often a meaning used in Champagne: that this is a bottling of first-pressed (and best) juice. Your mileage may also vary (like Dallas’) in believing that bit of hype, too.
The “Yamhill” designation of this blend pre-dates the establishment of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA in 2004. An AVA is an American Viticultural Area, essentially an area recognized by the federal US government. Most wine will have an AVA designation or an “Appellation of Origin” which differs in that it can be a county (Napa), state (California), or country (United States). Federal law demands that any wine with an AVA must be made from at least 85% of grapes grown and finished within that AVA. For an Appellation, federal law demands that a minimum of 75% of grapes that made the wine be grown and finished within said appellation.
For this wine, the grapes are from Yamhill, but also grapes from the Dundee Hills and Eola-Amity Hills AVA’s. So the bottle can’t be stamped with “Yamhill-Carlton”, but as a name/title, they can call it just “Yamhill”, especially as the name was established prior to the Yamhill-Carlton AVA.
Nerd talk done! Here’s the tasting notes from Wine Enthusiast:
This is an exceptionally aromatic year for this wine, which jumps from the glass with spicy raspberry and cherry fruit. In the mouth it's sharp and a bit peppery, with some bite to the tannins. Aerate it if drinking over the next couple of years, or give it a bit of cellar time to smooth it out further.
From Dallas’ viewpoint, this was a wine that took some getting used to, you can read between the lines of the above review - “sharp and a bit peppery, with some bite…give it a bit of cellar time….” Much like the Elphantmen comic, which plainly had a long evolution to become the beast of a series that it is today, this is a wine that needs time to evolve. Or just look for an older vintage online - there are some 2013’s, 2014’s, and 2016’s floating around for close to the original retail price!
Next Up…
We’ll see you again for Ep 2, where we do our first “Baroque vs. Bargain” blind taste test, taking wines of the same type/varietal/region, some of which will make you “Ba-roke!” and others which can be bought for bargain bin prices. We taste them blind and see how we rank them! And, of course, we will be pairing this type/style of wine with some comics. So come back and join us then!