Along with David Cross, Zach Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman has liberated stand-up comedy from the zany fratboys and sweater-clad neurotics. Mirman’s latest album, God Is A Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger’s (Sub Pop), isn’t representative of a “new breed” of comedy or a supposedly edgy advancement in humor; it’s a collection of smart, imaginative bits that embody the anger, absurdity and awkwardness of everyday life. You might also say it’s full of guffaws. Mirman, who also published a book this year (the mock-advice tome The Will To Whatevs) and regularly appears on HBO’s Flight Of The Conchords, is guest editing magnetmagazine.com this week. Read our Q&A with him.
Mirman: The Twelve is a wonderful graphic novel that I recently happened upon. I forget who recommended it me to, probably a guy at a comic-book store who was a little frustrated that I wasn’t totally up to date on the Blackest Night/Green Lantern storyline. The Twelve is about 12 forgotten superheroes from Marvel’s Golden Age, who are cryogenically frozen by Nazis (for later experimentation) during the Battle of Berlin in 1945. But—oops!—right as they’re frozen in time, the bunker is bombed in an air raid and all the Nazis are killed, leaving these heroes frozen, only to be discovered 60 years later. And guess what? Even in superhero land, a lot has changed in 60 years, and it’s a confusing new world and you have to deal with weird family problems and overcome feelings of inadequacy, even if you’re part magic and can fly. The comic is mostly about all these heroes dealing with their personal problems and trying to adjust to modern life. It’s really wonderful. I only read the graphic novel bringing together the first six issues, but hopefully they’ll finish the second half soon.
