IFC comics doc starts tomorrow
Jun 05The fluffy TV Guide writing style aside, the 10 part documentary, Ink: Alter Egos Exposed, looks like some good viewing. The fact that we’ll be hearing from people like Gail Simone and Bendis suggests strongly that this isn’t going to a goofy, aren’t-comic-nerds-weird throw-away. Actually, the having ten parts is also a pretty clear hint that this is a serious undertaking. Can’t wait to see it!
Four-Color Critiques #5: This Column…ADVANTAGEOUS!
Jun 03I recently spent the better part of a weekend trapped deep in the bowels of my ancestral home in South Holland, IL, helping my parents clean their basement in preparation for a move.
This involved a couple things: I inhaled whole spoonfuls of mold and dust, I disposed of stacks upon stacks of Choose Your Own Adventure books and college mixtapes, and I sorted the last of my teenage comic book collection into two “keep” boxes and two “ditch” boxes.
Boy, was that a trip down memory lane. I came up in the speculator era; my most enthusiastic reading period was from about 1989 to 1994, or from age 13 to 18. This is the exact target age group for marketing ploys like “HOLY SHIT THIS COVER GLOWS IN THE DARK AND IF YOU SCRATCH OFF GHOST RIDER’S FACE MAYBE YOU’LL SEE JESUS OR TOM DEFALCO.”
Which means I found piles of quadruple and quintuple copies of many, MANY comics. I even somehow bought doubles of random issues in the midst of runs–like I have two copies of stray issues of Detective Comics, out of nowhere. Did Wizard tip me off that these would be “hawt” comics, or did I just buy them on accident? Who knows?
Spider-Man 1 was published in 1990 with something like fifty thousand slightly different covers, all of which I purchased, and some of them multiple times. As of this writing, I own three different versions; I’m keeping one, and consigning the rest to the dustbin of history.
The early issues of that Spider-Man title define the nineties’ EVENT COMIC. Written and drawn by Todd McFarlane, the debut issue of what was at the time the FIFTH Spider-Man book quickly became the highest-selling single issue of all time. As I understand it, X-Men 1 would come along just a year later and shatter that record.
I decided to sit down and re-read Spider-Man 1-5, or “Torment,” McFarlane’s first arc as writer-artist on the book, mostly because these comics exist in my mind more as EVENTS than artistic product. It’s one of those things where everyone somehow collectively decides, “Okay, we don’t give a shit if this is any good; we just all LIKE IT A LOT, and we will BUY A LOT OF IT. Hooray.” (Or more accurately, some shadow council of old white men sit in a semi-lit room and determine what we will like, and then commit massive resources of money and manpower at MAKING us like those things.)
But really now, are these comics truly the nadir of the speculator era’s emphasis on style and outrageousness over substance?
Probably. Damn, though, if they weren’t kinda fun to read.
Indy 4: Eating Crow
May 31By the time I sat down in the theater to actually see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I wasn’t really expecting the worst, as I have for months. In fact, I hoped it would be pretty good, as some of the reviews had suggested.
See, try as I might, I can only hate George Lucas to a point…I still WANT to like his movies, and wish for the best every time I watch his movies, even ones I’ve seen a thousand times. And Spielberg…well, I just passionately love the guy. Even his mistakes are fascinating to me.
So maybe it was those softened feelings, and just plain wanting to love another Indy movie. Or maybe it was being in a movie theater at 9:15 in the morning on a Monday, when I’d usually be slaving away in the cube farm, plowing the fields of bullshit for nuggets of gold.
Whatever it was, I enjoyed the living HELL out of Indiana Jones 4, and I don’t care who knows it.
Am I tasting a bit of crow as I type this? Sure. I deserve it. I’ve complained for months about a new Indy flick, in the classical hyperannoying fanboy style. I’m sure the halls of Lucasfilm, and the halls of Blogdom, have echoed with the howling of my hysterical rants.
I was wrong. No, scratch that–I was right; making a fourth Indiana Jones movie was a spectacularly awful idea. Fortunately, they managed to make a good movie out of that bad idea.
The Cranes Take No Responsibility for Jar Jar, However
May 30For those seeking to clothe themselves in the ultimate insider-y Star Wars reference, here is an awesome t-shirt.
I happened upon this baby on my recent trip to the Bay Area. It was being modeled by a cardboard cut-out Stephen Colbert in Pendragon and I had to have it immediately. I used to see these cranes every day on my commute. They sort of announce your return to the East Bay, all cool and crazy and beast-like. Anyway, I always loved them because they reminded me of the AT-AT Imperial Walkers. Then someone told me (upon seeing my shirt) that the cranes were actually one of the big AT-AT inspirations, as Bay Arean Lucas used to drive past them all the dang time. I don’t know if this is true or urban geek legend, but it certainly is plausible.
So anyway, here we have a tee that shows off my Oakland allegiance whilst also possibly making a sly geekian reference. Not too shabby.
Everyone Say Awwwww
May 29Clicking around, getting caught up on all my blogs after a busy-ass week, I found the cutest thing on Feminist SF — The Blog!
It’s awesome author Tamora Pierce posing with a young fan at WisCon. So adorable and sweet in a way that I can’t even quite articulate. He just looks so thrilled. Click through for the Flickr caption, it’s worth it.
I have a similar photo of me with Ursula K. Le Guin. Only I was in high school and I look like Sally O’ Scaryfan instead of the Cutest Fan Ever and I’m wearing a flouncy white shirt instead of an ingenious costume and Ursula looks kind of like, “Oh, um, hello CRAZY.”
But other than that, it’s exactly the same.
