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21 April 2001
[comics] Custody Battle — Interesting article on Joe Simon and his legal fight to take back Captain America from Marvel Comics (who have claimed ownership since 1940). ‘Back in his day, Simon and his colleagues, writers and artists plying their trade in smoky office buildings, knew their audience: 12-year-old boys. They knew what they wanted: good guys in tights beating up the bad guys, who most often looked a lot like a guy named Adolf. But now, Simon says from his one-room apartment in Manhattan, “comic books are for, I dunno, the masturbation generation.” His laugh sounds like a train in the distance; his is a deep, New York voice that suggests a much younger man of sharp mind and sound body. “They all look alike–little boys with big guns and little girls with big boobs,” he says, and it’s hard to tell if he’s amused or disgusted.’ [via ComicGeek]
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18 April 2001
[comics] After Tangent there can only be…. Dave Sim’s Guide To Getting Chicks! ‘I’ve found that, with a little practice, it’s easy to go without sex entirely. Now that you’ve tamed that female, let her go. She’s under the mental size limit. It’s catch and release at the ol’ Sim fishin’ hole. I’m perfectly happy doing my puzzle books and lots and lots of push-ups. In fact, I’ve found that by going celibate and not masturbating, the sexual urge is like a rash that goes away on its own. A dirty, sinful, bad rash. It’s ugly. I hate it! I scrub and scrub but the filth just won’t. come. OFF.’
17 April 2001
[comics] Interesting interview with Kyle Baker at Silver Bullet Comics… ‘Television is designed for one thing: To sell advertising time. Television by necessity celebrates and incubates materialism. The goal of a television writer is to put an audience in a frame of mind favorable to buying the advertiser’s product. As writers, we are clearly instructed to avoid writing anything which may offend anyone. Phrases or situations that may seem tame or realistic to us are routinely cut from scripts because conservatives in the Midwest may be disturbed, and therefore may not buy detergent from the sponsor.’ [via Pete@Bugpowder]
15 April 2001
[comics] McCloud Cuckoo-Land — Gary Groth looks at Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics. ‘What is most deficient about the 113-page section devoted to comics and the Internet is the level of critical intelligence on display, which is embarrassingly superficial: McCloud embraces all Internet and digital technology without reservation. The bibliography doesn’t allow for any books remotely questioning of the new world order. Every book about computers or the Internet (and there aren’t many, at that) is basically by a well-known cheerleader for the industry; no dissidents are allowed in the McCloudian world view. In McCloud’s jolly and affirmative presentation, the Internet is an instrument of comics’ (not to say the world’s) salvation and skeptics are dismissed as “cynics,” to whom McCloud may as well hang a “Do Not Enter” sign on the cover of the book.’
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12 April 2001
[comics] Dave Sim’s final word on gender issues…. Tangent. Discussion about Sim and Tangent is going on here. ‘I think he’s out of his mind, but it’s kind of fascinating. I think Dave should ditch the aardvark and do Chick-style comics, like the Crusaders. He could draw himself and Gerhard as agents for the top-secret Government team, T.A.N.G.E.N.T, trying to cripple the feminist/homosexualist axis before it takes control of society, by rallying all the Men in the world who want to defend their right to smack the ol’ lady around a little if she stops bringing those beers every 15 minutes during the NASCAR marathon. Ger could be depicted as a black “street-dude”, lending cred at Dave’s side and helping him sacrifice all the homos, dog-fuckers, and ugly virgins that come their way. And all this before breakfast!’ — Eric Reynolds on Sim.
11 April 2001
[comics] A nice one page comic from Adrian Tomine…. First Date Signals.
10 April 2001
[comics] Brian Michael Bendis interviewed from an Australian comic convention… ‘…so to come to a convention and see a room full of people all that just love comics, it makes you feel good about comics, it makes you feel like comics will always be around, there?s too many people around that want them for it to be otherwise. Also, in America, conventions can get a little? ?smelly?, whereas at this one everyone was clean, there wasn?t a lot of crazy people, it was very nice. People with jobs, futures, spouses, and there were kids at the show too, which you don?t get much of that in America, so that?s nice.’
2 April 2001
[comics] Another comic-related weblog ComicGeek. Looks pretty comprehensive…
31 March 2001
[comics] Superheroes are evil ‘Let’s start with Superman. The Bible never mentions life in other planets. But Superman is not from Earth; he is from Krypton. This fact alone goes contradicts the Bible. And the horror continues. Superman is raised on Earth and grows up to become a superhero. People all over the Earth start worshipping this mysterious character. And where is Jesus in this picture? Superman never mentions God or Jesus. He is probably an atheist. And people in Metropolis see him as their Lord and Savior.’ [thanks Pete]
29 March 2001
[comics] Who’s hotter? Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis? Let the fans decide…. ‘I suggest you take this down. Now.’ — Ellis. [via WEF]
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[comics] Jack Chick vs. Freemasonary. There can be only one winner…. JESUS!
28 March 2001
[comics] 90 Christian Comics Tracts by Jack T. Chick! on sale at Ebay…. ‘I remember … reading 70 tracts in one sitting and being completely convinced I had wasted my life and was going straight to hell. … It’s a truly powerful experience to have this guy yelling at you for 70 tracts.’ ? Dan Clowes, comic book artist. [ Related Links: This Was Your Life!, Chick Publications]
26 March 2001
[comic] Some great postings on Dave Sim Vs. Jeff Smith at the Comicon message board from industry insiders like Colleen Doran, Stephen Bissette and Rick Veitch…. Doran’s comments are particularly insightful (click on the linked pages and scroll down looking for postings from “Colleen”). Doran: ‘What is the essence of Dave Sim? What is at his core? This man wants to be history, not a footnote in history. He wants to be big. He wants to be important. He is terrified that Cerebus, his life’s work, the primary focus of his waking hours for decades, will be marginalized, dismissed, stuck on the back shelf. Dave’s immortality is Cerebus and he is terrified he will not live forever. He is apalled that others, whom he perceives to be less worthy, will. That includes people like Picasso and Hemingway.’ [ Related Link: Cerebus Fan Site]
24 March 2001
[comics] Disinfo has the transcript of Grant Morrison’s interview with Richard Metzger (which has on Channel 4 a couple of months ago). ‘WOOOOOOOOOW! Here we are! Right! Fuck man, I tell you when I was a kid I read Robert Anton Wilson and all this shit and here we are, we’re standing here, talking about this shit and it’s real! OK, I’m pissed (Holds up red beaker.) and in half an hour I’m gonna come up on drugs, so watch for it!(Audience laughter.) I guess, I don’t know, is there any practising magicians in the audience? Put your hand up if we got any? Yeah? Come on! (Puts his hand up.) Bold! OK, a few. OK, by the time we finish this you’re all going to be practising magicians. This shit’s easy right?’ [ Related Links: Grant Morrison’s Website, TimeMachineGo, Barbelith]
21 March 2001
[comics] Running A Publishing House Out Of The Front Room — a five page Alec comic from Eddie Campbell. ‘The Alec stories are, it can finally be revealed, the autobiographical escapades of Eddie Campbell himself. From Bill “Saturday” Knight in The Days Of The Ace Rock’n’Roll Club to Alec MacGarry, to the unmasked Eddie Campbell in the most recent work (appearing in the monthly Bacchus comic), Campbell manages to find in the minutiae of everyday life the source of grand entertainment.’
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20 March 2001
[comics] Master of the Universe — Wired has a great article about Neal Adams and his slightly off the wall ideas about science. ‘Adams has been fascinated by science for as long as he can remember, and he travels between disciplines like a car zigzagging on the freeway. For him, the notion of a growing Earth is just a starting point on the way to debunking not only a core principle of geology – plate tectonics – but the very underpinnings of geophysics, cosmology, particle physics, even Einstein’s assertions about the speed of light. If the Earth is growing, he insists, this means the total amount of matter and energy in the universe is increasing – which means matter is infinite, not finite like big bang theorists believe. Adams doesn’t even believe there was a big bang. It was more like a whimper, a birthing cry to herald what’s really been going on ever since: Matter is being created all the time, in astounding quantities. The Earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the entire universe – it’s all growing. Not just expanding relative to one another through space. Growing.’
19 March 2001
[comics] Popimage previews comics arriving in May. It’s Grant Morrison’s month as DC reprint some of Animal Man, Marvel reprint Marvel Boy and the new X-Men series kicks off. On Animal Man: ‘Grant’s run on the book was a serious high point in his career. He managed to merge politics, satire, superhero fun, and good old-fashioned Grant wackiness together without running the book off track or losing his readers attention. Good job reprinting this DC, lets just hope more DOOM PATROL is next!’
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18 March 2001
[comics] The Dave Sim Misogyny Page — the text of Cerebus #186… Hopefully, my final link about Dave Sim and Cerebus for some time. ‘I am alone, said Viktor Davis. I am not lonely. There is a big difference. I have not had a Merged Permanence in my life for five years. It took at least three of those five years for my brain to start functioning properly again. In the aftermath of being part of a Merged Void, all that is left for some time is Void Residue: Emptiness, Fear and Emotional Hunger. It is these three and the endless, fruitless search for a Permanent Cure that the Emotional Female Void calls Love. If you merge with that sensibility, you will share in its sickness. No matter what you pour into it, it remains empty; no matter how you reassure it, it remains afraid; no matter how much of yourself you permit it to devour, it remains hungry. If you look at her and see anything besides emptiness, fear and emotional hunger, you are looking at the parts of yourself which have been consumed to that point.’ [BTW, Merged Permanence = Loving Relationship in Bizzaro-Dave World.]
17 March 2001
[comics] My Obsession With Chess — I’ve been meaning to blog this for ages — a terrific on-line autobiographical comic from Scott McCloud.
16 March 2001
 [comics] Dave Sim want to have a boxing match with Jeff Smith. ‘Having had a year to try to figure out how to explain this to a largely feminist, largely feminzed crowed I figure the best bet is a (may God forgive me) movie analogy: Do you remember in the movie The Color of Money, the sequel–make that, the “sequel”–to The Hustler where the Tom Cruise character tells the Paul Newman character that he “threw” their big championship game, so he could “clean up” on side bets? And the Paul Newman character corners the Tom Cruise character and challenges him to a game, a for-real game? And he says to the Tom Cruise character, “Let’s clean this up”? That’s what I’m doing here. You can’t “clean up” a mess like this in a circus atmosphere. Jeff, I am saying, flat out, that you have lied. In lying, you have made a mess–a non-masculine mess. You have made a mess. Publicly. Let’s you and me, man-to-man, clean up the mess that you have made. Privately.’ [ Related Link: cerebus.org, Hey, kids!! It’s the Dave Sim Misogyny Page!]
[music] Guardian Unlimited interviews Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett about Gorillaz — their ‘Virtual Band’. ‘Tank Girl didn’t even make Hewlett rich. “I made some money,” he says. “You got screwed, mate,” Albarn tells him. “I didn’t get screwed, I mean, Jesus,” retorts Hewlett. “The comic industry just collapsed. But we got to spend the best part of a year hanging out in LA. And we got paid a big lump of cash for it.” Despite a good deal of hype, the 1995 film starring Lori Petty bombed. “I think we always knew it was going to be dreadful.”‘ [ Related Link: Gorillaz Website]
13 March 2001
[comics] The Trials of a Comic Book Hero. Proof that what goes around comes around — Stan Lee gets fleeced… ‘The white-haired comic book legend may be the head of an Internet entertainment startup, but he still hasn’t quite figured out how to work his computer. “This is how you save a file,” the twentysomething assistant begins. “And I double-click?” Lee asks. “No, you only have to click once.” Lee’s naiveté would be touching if it weren’t symptomatic of a potentially bigger problem: gullibility.’ [via Comics Journal Message Board]
12 March 2001
[comics] Oni Press have produced a free PDF version of of the first issue of Whiteout. Well worth the download… ‘If you haven’t read it, you are stupid and it’s no wonder you’ve got no girlfriend. Official’ — Warren Ellis. [via Barbelith Underground]
10 March 2001
 [comics] Eddie Campbell discusses Finishing From Hell…. ‘Eight years! 500 pages. Must be the longest single work Alan’s done on both counts. The astonishing thing is that he had the whole thing planned from the beginning. All the reference photos for the epilogue were shot in 1988. When Alan phoned me to offer me the gig he gave me a rundown of all the chapter titles, including prologue and epilogue. I don’t think he changed any of them as we progressed, although for a brief time ‘Blackmail or Mrs Barrett’ almost became ‘The Harlot’s Curse’. Any extra material that came to mind was fitted within the existing chapters without changing the total pattern, or structure. That word ‘structure’ sums up what Alan does best in all his work. In From Hell the structural idea behind everything is the architecture of time’ [ Related Links: On-Line Preview of From Hell, Buy From Hell]
[comics] I can’t recommend this comic enough…. Berlin by Jason Lutes. ‘Jason Lutes has set this captivating story in Germany during the twilight years of the Weimer Republic. Placing them against the backdrop of the real events of the time, Lutes has created a cast of fictional characters with a particular focus on the lives of two individuals, Kurt Severing and Marthe Muller. Following these people over the course of five years leading up to 1933, Lutes meticulously documents their hopes and struggles, and the dark shadow history has cast over their lives.’ [ Related Links: Ordering Information, Preview Pages of Berlin]
6 March 2001
[comics] Chick Comic Theater does some amusing analysis of Jack Chick’s best work: Don’t Try Suicide, What Do You Expect In A Town called Sodom?, Rock Music…Inside Satan’s Boombox, Dungeons and Dragons…Geeky Pastime, or Gateway to Hell? ‘…if I’m not mistaken, that demon on the right side of the bed is whacking off! I feel sorry for Lance’s Mom. Not only does she have to discover her dead son swinging like a Pinata, but she’s got to clean up the unholy demon spew from his bed, too.’ [via Venusberg]
3 March 2001
[comics] Pow! Wham! Permission Denied! According to Lingua Franca DC Comics rountinely deny reprint permissions to academic writers which write about Batman’s sexuality… ‘DC’s rejection of York’s request fits an apparent pattern of resistance to gay interpretations of Batman. In 1991, Routledge published an anthology titled The Many Lives of the Batman, which includes an article on Batman as a camp icon. Permission to reprint art was denied. In 1993, The New Republic ran a satiric cover cartoon in which Batman and Robin exchange terms of endearment. DC immediately asked for, and received, an apology.’ [thanks to John at Linkworthy]
28 February 2001
[comics] Queueing up to make superhero movies. It went under ‘WTF?’ a couple of months ago but Ang Lee *is* going to do a Hulk Movie… ‘…the allure of the Hulk’s irradiated tantrums for Ang Lee appears less clear-cut – until you recall just how unlikely the idea of such a subtle director making a martial-arts movie once sounded, and how sublime the results turned out. Indeed, many of the motifs of Lee’s films find an echo in the story of wide-eyed scientist Bruce Banner struggling to control his over-sized inner child. For a start, there are the strong female characters (in this case, Betty Ross, daughter of the US general intent on eliminating the Hulk); and the indifferent hand of fate as the hapless physicist finds himself increasingly consumed by his strange powers. Most persistently, there is the creeping sense of isolation; or, as the Hulk himself once put it, the knowledge that where he walks, “he walks alone!”.’
27 February 2001
[comics] Tintin in Thailand — a complete set of scans from the “lewd” comic strip which “shocked Belgium”… [via lukelog]
[comics] Another long, fascinating Alan Moore interview this time from 1998 which was published in the Idler… ‘I can’t conceive of vapour culture. I might not survive it. But that is where we are heading. I don’t know quite what I mean by my own metaphor, but I have feeling, it may bring in an even greater, faster space of fluid transmission, where no structures, as we used to understand structure, will sustain itself – we will have to come up with new notions of structure where things can change by the moment. I’m talking about physical structures, political structures, I can’t see coherent political structures in the traditional sense lasting beyond the next twenty years, I don’t think that would be possible.’ [via BugPowder]
26 February 2001
[comics] Slashdot looks at webcomics… lots of interesting links and commentary… From a posting: ‘This all holds fairly well with the subversive traditions of the comic. The web is reinforing those traditions and bringing them to the fore more than they were. This is a golden age for comics – they are being reborn.’
24 February 2001
[weblogs] New comics related weblog — GLITTERDAMMERUNG! from Chris at Not Enough of Me… ‘I buy comics for “It.” It is that feeling you get when you discover a really good comic, when you discover something so stunning that you can hardly believe that it’s just ink on paper. No other medium can give me that exact feeling, that “warm, fuzzy glow.” They can create other special feelings within me, but nothing quite like the one that I get from comics – that’s utterly unique. And that is why I buy comics, and that is why I’m doing this blog.’
21 February 2001
[cannibal comics] In the real world Hannibal does comics… *sigh*… Japan’s own “Cannibal” tries his hand at comics ‘Among the contents of Sagawa’s book is a passage that translates, “When I picked up her flesh in my fingers, it was the consistency of ‘toro’ (the fatty underbelly of the tuna, considered the prime cut). Caucasians are tasty indeed.”‘ [via Plastic]
[comics] Following up from the profile yesterday… Salon has an interview with Los Bros Hernandez… ‘We want comic books to reach a new audience, to keep getting better and better, to get more perspective, and when we are old men, we want to see new, young comic artists whose work is taken as seriously as any novel. We hope to see that in our lifetime. On the other hand, the comic books are in their own neat, kitschy, junky world that is unique to comics. We like that too. We like that it’s outlaw. You can’t repair comics, you can’t hang them in a museum and say, ‘This belongs next to the Mona Lisa.’ It’s the whole squirrelly factor, like early punk: There is the sense that this is bad, and we want it to be bad.
20 February 2001
[comics] Salon provides a nice overview of The Hernandez Brothers’ Love and Rockets… ‘When people talk about the Hernandez brothers, they mention how much their work is like that of Gabriel García Márquez in comic book form, and how, in the early ’80s, they virtually invented the alternative graphic novel as a pleasure for art kids and “mature” readers who would never, ever have picked up a comic book. They mention how they chronicled Latino culture, from the barrio to below the border; and punk rock culture, and women’s wrestling long before these things became part of mainstream American culture.’ [ Related Links: Love and Rockets at Fantagraphics]
18 February 2001
[comics] Now this is bonkers… Bill Sienkiewicz did storyboards for a Thomas the Tank Engine film… [ Related Links: More of his work — Comics, Books and Magazines, Film and TV. At amazon.com – Elektra: Assassin.]
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17 February 2001
[comics] Diamond Previews interviews Dave Sim just before the final story arc of Cerebus debuts… ‘I’m very aware that I could still end up in jail — I’m pretty sure that Cerebus #186 qualifies under Canada’s “hate literature” laws. “Directed against an identifiable societal group” — in this case feminists. I’m sure it qualifies enough to get an indictment returned against me. Or I could end up dead, but that’s been part of the deal all along. One of the first things I expressed to God in my mind. “You know where I’m going with this. If at any time you find it necessary to hit me with the bus (laughter) everyone keeps talking about, believe me, I’ll understand completely.” Of course, it could be much worse than that. I could have to live to the age of ninety in a progressively more feminist world. To me, that makes any bus look like very small potatoes. “No! Please! The bus! The bus!”‘
16 February 2001
[morrison] Fantastic interview and in-depth profile of Grant Morrison at PopImage… also includes my index of Morrison’s work. :) ‘Just take a look at MARVEL BOY. I never have to SAY anything, I never have to SHOW anything particularly offensive and yet… the whole book reeks of barely-repressed sodomitic, incestuous lustings. I believe there are many and varied ways to inject a bracing dose of steaming eroticism into a given comic book.’
15 February 2001
[more tintin] David’s Favourite Captain Haddock Curses — ‘Fancy-dress fascist! Ostrogoth! Duck-billed platypus! Phylloxera! Logarithm! Jellied-eel! Macrocephalic baboon!’ [via Vavatch Orbital]
[comics] Hergé is spinning in his grave… Tintin in Thailand. ‘In another scene that is likely to anger fans of the comic strip, Tintin is pictured in a gay escort bar called “Sexy Boy”, where he is propositioned by two male Thai hosts. The album also contains graphic scenes of sodomy involving Snowy and Tintin’s Chinese friend Chang.’ [Related Links: Official Tintin site, BBC News Report]
14 February 2001
[comics] Now this is what I call content… the New Yorker has put online it’s archive of cartoons… I’ve searched for the artist Kalo in the database and come up with… nothing. :(
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13 February 2001
[morrison] Here is a transcript of Grant Morrison’s DisInfo TV episode… ‘…Coca-Cola is a sigil, the McDonalds ‘M’ is a sigil, these people are basically turning the world in to themselves using sigils. And if we don’t reverse that process and turn the world in to us using sigils, we’re going to be living in fucking McDonalds! Magic is accessible to everyone, the means of altering reality is accessible to everyone, and when everyone starts doing it we’re going to see our desire manifest on a gigantic scale. Everyone’s desire. What happens when everyone’s desire becomes manifest?’ [via Ms Woo]
12 February 2001
[comics] Interesting page about an unpublished Vertigo comic from Grant Morrison, Pete Milligan and Jamie Hewlett — Bizarre Boys. ‘BIZARRE BOYS, VERTIGO VOICES’ most irreverent title, is a story within a story within a story. It’s about some fictional characters called the Bizarre Boys, and about the writers who write them, and about the writers who are writing about the writers… There are two voices telling the tale of BIZARRE BOYS, and they don’t agree with each other at all. BIZARRE BOYS is a comic about a comic and about the process of putting together a comic. It’s a sparkling tapestry of post-modernism and a fast- moving breathless chase across time and space.’ [via the Warren Ellis Forum]
11 February 2001
[comics] Brief reviews of London Comic Shops… the top three are the best shops in London… Gosh: ‘Fight through the superheroes on the ground floor and head for the stairs at the back of the shop. The lead to a basement full of alternative & independent stuff. Usually a couple of shelves of self-published bits.’
6 February 2001
[morrison] Grant Morrison updates his website and has published good news for sad, lonely, fanboys everywhere: ‘”Sex is out of the question for me” admits once-promising Olympian John with a chuckle. “When you add my spinal injuries and other morbid disabilities to the obesity I’ve suffered since the accident well, you have the chemical combination for loneliness right there in the palm of your hand. That’s mostly why I started putting aside my spare time for poring over lists and charts and I can assure fans that 2001 will be be a hard and horny one for comics enthusiasts worldwide.”‘
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