linkmachinego.com

11 February 2011
[comics] Bane … noted Batmanologist Chris Sims discusses the orgins and history of one of the Batman villains in the next Chris Nolan film … ‘Bane is essentially the most successful attempt at creating The Evil Version of Batman.’
9 February 2011
[comics] Respect Due: former 2000AD editor Steve MacManus‘Writers like Wagner, Mills, Grant and Alan Moore blossomed. New scribes such as Grant Morrison and Peter Milligan emerged. Great artists like Gibbons, Gibson, Bolland and McMahon did some of their finest work in this period on 2000AD. Amazing new talents like Simon Bisley, Glenn Fabry and Steve Dillon were nurtured in the comic.’
5 February 2011
[comics] Climate Change … another great science comic from Darryl Cunningham

Darryl Cunningham Investigates Climate Change

1 February 2011
[comics] I Am Thinking About The Old Man … a classic Moment Of Moore.
31 January 2011
[comics] Is Palookaville #20 The Last Comic Book?‘I bought Palookaville #20, mainly because I wanted to see the pictures of Seth’s cardboard city (which he says he fantasizes about as he drifts off to sleep each night), not because of the comics.’
27 January 2011
[comics] Our Valued Customers … real life quotes from comic shop customers …

Wolverine Can FUCK anyone he wants!

17 January 2011
[comics] Dan Clowes interviewed by Tom Spurgeon‘I can’t say that I would never do another comic and call it Eightball. I say there’s actually a very high probability that I would do that some day. Kind of for old time’s sake, or something. Or just to kind of rethink what a comic book means at some point. But right now it sure doesn’t feel like the thing to do. After David Boring I really should have stopped doing comic books. It made no sense to do Ice Haven and The Death-Ray as comic books. I was just so married to that format for so long, that I couldn’t have the first iterations of those work in anything but a comic book. In retrospect that seems crazy. To this day I can’t explain to people who aren’t enmeshed in the world of comics what The Death-Ray is.’
6 January 2011
[comics] A Moment Of Meme: A Moment of Ellis / A Moment of Morrison
4 January 2011
[comics] A Moment Of Moore … a snippet of Alan Moore every day. (RSS Feed)

V For Vendetta - I Love You

3 January 2011
[politics] Steve Bell’s Political Cartoons of the Year … On David Cameron: ‘By way of a bonus, Cameron does not favour the depiction. He came up to me at a Spectator party at the Tory conference in October, and asked me how long I was going to carrry on with it, before advising me: “You can only push a condom so far”.’
2 January 2011
[comics] Bill Sienkiewicz speaks about Big Numbers #3‘But with Big Numbers one of the demands – prerequisites – I’d placed upon myself was to work almost exclusively from the model as possible. I was going for as great a degree of illustrative photographic verisimilitude as I could muster. Dammit, I was going to adhere to the accurate reference no matter what. It was, in retrospect, a vain attempt to control everything – everything – completely, as things swirled and collided in midair all around. This was my Stanley Kubrick period. Of course, the more I tried to control everything, the more Real Life kicked my ass. Up and down the Route 95 corridor.’ [thanks @slovobooks]
31 December 2010
[comics] Not A Best Of: Comics In 2010 … Beaucoupkevin’s comic picks for 2010 … ‘I wanted to avoid mentioning reprints, particularly expensive large-format volumes that are already out of print, but reading all of Planetary in one dose reminds us that Ellis believes in people despite his curmudgeonly reputation. While Jakita Wagner kicking the shit out of anything that hoves into her view is my primary fetish when it comes to the title, getting an oversized look at John Cassaday’s development as a sequential artist free of the occasionally-year-long delays between issues is a genuine pleasure.’
25 December 2010
[comics] Merry Christmas From Paradax!… by Brendan McCarthy

Merry Xmas From Paradax

24 December 2010
[comics] Last night The Invisibles Saved My Life (24-Month Countdown Remix) … Remembering The Invisibles (done in the Grant Morrison style) … ‘It’s made me a better person and while there are a lot of comics that have done that, nobody does it better.’
22 December 2010
[comics] Distributing Your Seed Via Your Peers‘Eww! I don’t date married guys. Too much DRM.’
14 December 2010
[comics] 2000AD Front Covers To Prog 1500 … great time-lapse animation showing the evolution of the cover over the years …


13 December 2010
[comics] “YRUBB ORUTOO DA YREEMB UYON – – KRYPTONIU EWYRR!” … Mike Sterling on Kryptonian: ‘I suppose, once I have a spare decade and a complete collection of Superman comics, I can catalog the different ways Kryptonian has been represented over the years. Then I can finally fulfill my dream of opening a Kryptonian language camp for underprivileged children, and we can compete with the Klingon language camp across the lake…but perhaps I’ve said too much.’
7 December 2010
[comics] The Twitter Hulks … Kottke surveys the Hulks on Twitter …‘HULK WEIGH OVER 1 TONNE. HULK KISS ANYONE HULK WANTS TO. HULK WORRIES ABOUT EDITORIAL OVERSIGHT AT MARIE CLAIRE.’ (Cross-dressing Hulk)
6 December 2010
[movies] The Best Superhero Movie Ever … a pretty compelling argument for the 1966 Batman movie …

Cesar Romero as the Joker gets perhaps the least to do, though he certainly seems to be having the time of his life responding to the Penguin’s nautical submarine commands with an unhinged “Yo-ho!” or fluttering in terror while being stared down by Catwoman’s thoroughly inoffensive-looking house-cat. Frank Gorshin as the Riddler is, as always, incandescently insane — after he accidentally hits the Batcopter with one of his skyrwriting riddle missiles, his wonderment is so intense that it blurs the line between ecstasy and disappointment. Burgess Meredith as the waddling Penguin delivers some of the film’s best lines, declaiming with squawking relish as he contemplates the possible death of his henchmen, “Every one of them has a mother!” or urging his submarine crew to dive with the immortal exhortation, “Run silent, run deep!”

1 December 2010
[batman] Is Batman a State Actor? … how would things work with Batman and Gotham’s Police Force in real life? … ‘Batman’s rough and tumble style would lead to a rash of Section 1983 claims for damages and probably also for an injunction against Batman’s future cooperation in police investigations. As discussed earlier, most evidence that Batman collects would be inadmissible, and police use of that evidence might bar the use of additional evidence collected during a subsequent police investigation.’ [via jwz]
28 November 2010
[comics] Seasonal Gift From A Famous Resident‘Alan Moore, who is well known for his work in graphic novels, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is donating 300 Christmas hampers to residents in sheltered housing in Spring Boroughs, which is the area he grew up in, and to the homeless drop-in centre at the Salvation Army.’ [via @joekeatinge]
24 November 2010
[funny] Venk Diagram

Venk Diagram

23 November 2010
[comics] Scientists Confirm Existence of ‘Kirby Krackle’‘Scientists have made an incredible breakthrough in the study of antimatter that yielded the first ever creation and capture of antihydrogen, which looks almost exactly like the ubiquitous “Kirby Krackle” visual effect innovated by the legendary comics artist many decades ago.’
22 November 2010
[comics] Superhero or supervillain: Which lurks inside you?‘Plato suggested that no one could escape the corrupting influence of having the power to do anything without being caught – a sort of earlier version of “Lord of the Rings,” Galinsky said. “Power makes people feel psychologically invisible,” Galinsky told LiveScience. “It’s ironic, because in many ways they become more visible to other people.” Galinsky and other researchers have shown how people who feel entitled to their power became moral hypocrites by holding other people to higher moral standards for speeding or breaking tax laws – even as they judged themselves less harshly for the same actions.’
5 November 2010
[comics] Modern Men Don’t Know Enough About Comics, Complain Women‘Hair-stylist Helen Archer said: “My last boyfriend was rich, sensitive and hung like a pack mule, yet completely out of his depth in Forbidden Planet.”‘
28 October 2010
[comics] Garry Trudeau: ‘Doonesbury quickly became a cause of trouble’‘As [Trudeau] wrote on the 25th anniversary of Doonesbury: Satire is unfair. It’s rude and uncivil. It lacks balance and proportion, and it obeys none of the normal rules of engagement. Satire picks a one-sided fight, and the more its intended target reacts, the more its practitioner gains the advantage. And as if that weren’t enough, this savage, unregulated sport is protected by the United States constitution. Cool, huh?’
21 October 2010
[comics] Comics Time: Batman and Robin #14 … a review of Grant Morrison’s latest Batman comic. On Frazer Irving’s art: ‘To rely this much on subtle shifts of figurework and coloring to convey both vital plot information and to enhance our understanding and appreciation of the physical combat that is superhero comics’ bread and butter, to have the chops to pull it off and the confidence to even try…well, it’s pretty much unheard of outside of some really titanic stuff, Dave Gibbons on Watchmen/Frank Quitely on All Star Superman-type stuff. And while Irving shares with Quitely a genuine, contemporary sense of style and art that allows for neon-bright colors to really pop, his work (perhaps because he does all the color and texture himself) feels fuller.’
20 October 2010
[life] Grant Morrison Is On Twitter

3.4 billion years of evolution to create this perfectly self-aware phone/flesh fusion. Are you there, Mother?Thu Oct 14 03:58:46 via web


19 October 2010
[comics] Super-Hero Hoarders: The 7 Biggest Pack-Rats In Comics‘Some hoarders are marked not just by the objects they have stuffed away into their own personal Fortress of Hoarditudes, but also by the extreme lengths they’ll go to to acquire them, and nobody — nobody — goes quite as far as Superman himself. Dumpster diving is one thing, but actual diving to the bottom of the ocean so that you can retrieve the wreckage of the Titanic and rebuild it in your living room? Sure there’s nothing else you could be doing with your time there, Clark?’
10 October 2010
[comics] Great Picture of Harvey Pekar reading American Splendor #5

Harvey Pekar Reading American Splendor #5

9 October 2010
[comics] Were The Wartime Beano And Dandy Editors On A Nazi Death List?‘Seventy years ago this year, the Nazi’s were working on the details of Operation Sealion, their planned invasion of mainland Britain. These plans included a list of people who were to be rounded up by, or handed over to, the Nazi security forces once they were in control of the United Kingdom. It has been said that the editors of the Beano and Dandy were included on this list due to the humorous, and therefore disrespectful, attitude that the two comics had towards Adolph Hitler…’
6 October 2010
[comics] What ‘Batman’ Taught Me About Being a Good Dad‘I am trying to build a good human being here, someone who will make the world better for his presence. Because I don’t know any other way to do it, that means I’m building a little geek. So he can’t know, yet, that death doesn’t really mean anything in comics. I want him to think that these stories have weight, that they mean something; they are our myths. I give my son comics and cartoons and episodes of Thunderbirds because I want him to understand right and wrong, and why it’s important to fight the dark side of the Force. The mantras spoken in this corner of pop culture are immature, but they have power: With great power comes great responsibility. Truth, justice, and the American Way. The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. No evil shall escape my sight.’
30 September 2010
[2000ad] Mind The Oranges, Marlon!!

Mind The Oranges, Marlon!!

29 September 2010
[comics] Go Look: Clark Kent’s honeymoon began on a down note.
22 September 2010
[comics] Paying For It — Long-Rumored Chester Brown Graphic Memoir Officially Announced By D+Q For Spring 2011‘Following months of flashes and brief mentions that Chester Brown was working on a comics memoir about his experiences as a customer for prostitution, Drawn & Quarterly announced today that the book in question will come out in Spring 2011 and will be called Paying For It. Its publisher promising a mix of the personal and the polemical combining the issues explored in 1992’s The Playboy with the political awareness suffusing 2003’s Louis Riel…’
15 September 2010
[comics] Go Look: John Romita Jr. does Judge Dredd.
14 September 2010
[comics] Superheroes Are Misunderstood‘Yes, Iron Man (in his film version, at least) and Batman articulate a glorious spectacle of dripping wealth and grey-area morality, but the narratives of their respective worlds already include layers of self-deception, personal uncertainty and the difficulty of every quest for higher ideals.’
11 September 2010
[comics] Tom Spurgeon On Alan Moore’s Interview About Watchmen And DC‘If Alan Moore thinks every single writer in comics today sucks balls, if he thinks the worst of the best, if his reputation is slightly diminished today in part because of an unsuccessful movie adaptation with which he wanted nothing to do, and even if he lends himself to wisecracks about his hair and his religious practices and his apparent drug use, none of that changes for one second his lamentable experiences with one of its major publishers. Alan Moore has earned his frustration, his suspicions and his occasional flashes of anger. He should be listened to and learned from, not dismissed and certainly never mocked.’
4 September 2010
[comics] Go Look: Jack Kirby predicted Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” Rally 40 years ago‘It’s the others, Godfrey! Those who don’t think right!’
2 September 2010
[comics] Mark Millar’s CLiNT Is About What You’d Expect … Chris Sims reviews the first issue of CLiNT magazine ‘If nothing else, I figured it’d be interesting to see how it was all put together, but after reading the everything in the first issue, from Millar’s typically half-serious, over-the-top hucksterism in the intro (“Grandpa had ‘The Eagle,’ Dad had ‘2000AD’ and now you’ve got ‘CLiNT,’ you lucky people”) to the last page’s anonymously-written “secret diary of a celebrity pot-head,” I could really only come away with one thought: It certainly is a magazine put out by Mark Millar.’
31 August 2010
[comics] A life in drawing … an interview with Posy Simmonds (the film adaptation of Tamara Drewe is out this week) …

Posy – initially Rosemary – Simmonds was born in Cookham, Berkshire in August 1945, the middle of five children brought up on a prosperous dairy farm. She was precociously good at drawing and at an early age learned “that if I drew a fairy very well people would say it was good. But if I then made her smoke a cigarette people would laugh”. Early inspiration came from bound editions of Punch, running back to the late 19th-century, that she could reach off the lower shelves of a bookcase. “The smell of those old magazines which had drawings of Hitler is still for me the smell of war. And it was always completely normal that drawings could have words attached.”

28 August 2010
[comics] Alan Moore Gets Psychogeographical With Unearthing … Wired Interviews Alan Moore … ‘If you are brought up in a neighborhood that resembles a rat trap, pretty soon you are going to come to the conclusion that you are probably a rat. If on the other hand you have got to the tool of psychogeography — or poetry, to give it a less trendy and more accessible name — then you can look at the ordinary world around you with the eye of a poet. Finding events which rhyme with other events, what little coincidences or connections can be drawn to these places and people. You can put them into an arrangement that says something new about them.’
25 August 2010
[comics] I’m the Goddamn Batman … [original] …

I'm The Goddamn Batman!

[tv] These are Their Stories … nicely done cartoons based on one line summaries of Law and Order episodes from a TV Guide … Lawyer is Secretly a Stripper / Goren Takes on a Chess Master / A Pedophile Uses the Internet.
24 August 2010
[comics] Go Look: nana nana nana nana BATJESUS!
23 August 2010
[comics] The Top 10 Most Awesome Moments of Luke Cage: Power Man‘That is the greatest panel in the history of Luke Cage. It might be the greatest panel in the history of Dr. Doom, and I’d go so far as to say that there’s a good chance it’s the best panel in Marvel Comics history.’ [the panel]
18 August 2010
[comics] Go Look: Joe Sacco’s Portrait Of The Cartoonist As A Dog Owner

Joe Sacco On His Dog...

11 August 2010
[comics] Barely Seeing Daylight … a stop motion video of comic artist D’Israeli drawing comics for one day compressed into forty-three seconds. (more…)
10 August 2010
[comics] Name Five Extended Moments In Comics History You Wish Had Been Documented On Film As They Were Happening … some intriguing choices from readers of The Comics Reporter‘Dave Sim’s life from issues 1 to 300 of Cerebus’
6 August 2010
[comics] The Complete D.R. & Quinch … a review of one of Alan Moore’s early works from 2000AD … ‘It’d be hard today to convey the level and nature of the excitement readers felt in 1984 when a fresh new talent — an author — blew into the company town, overhauling a run-of-the-mill commercial comic, revitalizing it completely and, in the process, making it utterly his own. Who was this guy? Where had he learned to write like that?’