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26 March 2005
[comics] Steve Bell interviews Robert Crumb … ‘We live in a different world now – we got too much fun, too many distractions. I don’t believe in fun. I’m too obsessive-compulsive to have fun. Fun’s for normal people. Sometimes I look around at a party and I go, “Look at those jerks over there, actually having fun.” That’s incredible. They’re so fucking well adjusted that they’re enjoying this situation with the loud music and too many people. To me, there are so many existential factors that are so deeply disturbing about that scene that I couldn’t possibly imagine how people have fun at something like that.’ [Related: G2 in Crumbland]
24 March 2005
[comics] 1000 Things to Like About Comics — another list from Tom Spurgeon … ‘…a simple list to remind us of the many ways in which the comics medium justifies and rewards our attention.’
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20 March 2005
[comics] I Married R. Crumb — interview with Aline Kominsky-Crumb. On Robert Crumb: ‘He’s been a cranky old guy since he was 25 years old. I’ve been with him for over 30 years. He was like an old man when he was young. Now he’s an old, old man. [Laughs.] Without drawing, I can’t imagine how bad he’d be. In his old age, I have to say, he’s become a lot more mellow.’
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18 March 2005
[comics] R. Crumb (at the NFT): ‘I can crosshatch like a motherfucker”
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16 March 2005
[comics] ‘When I was four, I knew I was weird’ — Guardian’s G2 section profiles Robert Crumb … ‘I ask Aline, who depicted herself losing her virginity in her first cartoon, who she thinks is the less politically correct of the two of them. Erm, she says, tough one – he just about edges it. “Well, he is a sexist, racist, antisemitic misogynist,” she says.’
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14 March 2005
[comics] Another run out for Fat Freddy’s Cat — Guardian readers letters regarding the Robert Crumb feature in G2 last week … ‘Your Crumb pages displayed explicit sex, violence to women, incest, bestiality and child abuse. I read the interview, to see what attempt was made to justify giving publicity to it, but none appeared. It was a case of “a work of genius” justifying the prostitution of a talent.’
11 March 2005
[comics] No complaints about ‘Doonesbury’ tribute to Hunter S. Thompson — article about Garry Trudeau’s tribute to Hunter S. Thompson … ‘For Trudeau’s Duke, in the end, is a character far more sinister than the self-created, self-destructive gonzo artist who shot himself last month. Duke has a “predatory nature,” the cartoonist explained. Once parachuted into a hot spot such as Haiti, Kuwait, Panama or Iraq, his “relentless opportunism” will always take over. He stands for “a certain kind of mad unconditionality. Duke is never ambivalent, never in personal conflict. His take is resolutely binary: Is this in my self-interest or not? It’s a kind of weird state of grace.”‘ [via The Comics Reporter]
8 March 2005
[comics] ‘A feast of ink lay in wait’ — Steve Bell on Robert Crumb … ‘His style is dirty, utterly realistic, yet strangely innocent. It has a documentary quality that enables him to tackle any subject head on. I was young and impressionable so I tried to draw like him. I’ve been trying ever since and never quite succeeded, which is probably just as well.’
6 March 2005
[comics] Interview with Grant Morrison on SuicideGirls (interview is SFW – website isn’t) … ‘The comic universes are living breathing alternate worlds we can visit. And, if we’re lucky enough to be comic book writers we get to play directly with the inhabitants and environments of the 2nd dimension. I wanted to travel in those worlds.’
1 March 2005
[comics] Well, what do you know? — interesting, spoiler-filled, review of Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers #0. ‘…in the final scene, the Seven Unknown Men are seen, all of them aging bald fellows in fine suits, fleeing their base of operations, a gigantic sewing machine that apparently creates the timestream of the universe. But they don’t abandon ship before selecting seven more conscripts, for seven more miniseries.’
24 February 2005
[comics] 100 Things That Actually Sort-Of Annoy Me About Comics — from PostmodernBarney.com … ’40) Trying to convince people that, no, really, tech stocks are probably a better investment than comic books. 39) Trying to do this to people I’m positive have a garage full of pogs and Beanie Babies.’
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23 February 2005
[comics] Scans from Misty Comic — complete set of scanned issues of the 70’s Girls Horror Comic (some of the stories were written by John Wagner and Pat Mills). [via Orbyn]
22 February 2005
[hst] Up The Creek — Warren Ellis on Hunter S. Thompson. ‘…how you leave the stage is at least as important as how you enter it. And he left it alone in a kitchen with a .45, dying in — and wouldn’t it be nice if it were the last time these words were typed together? — dying in fear, and loathing.’
17 February 2005
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15 February 2005
[comics] New take on life in Bradford — the Guardian looks at Grant Morrison’s new comic Vimanarama. ‘…the story is primarily a ripping yarn, with Ali and Sofia discovering a subterranean world beneath Bradford when a crate of turkish delight cracks open a hidden entrance in one of the family’s shops. Promotional material from DC Comics sums up the plot as “a modern-day Arabian Nights in the form of a Bollywood romantic comedy set on a celestial stage”.’
8 February 2005
[comics] The Craft — yet another Alan Moore interview … ‘We obviously have, as a species, a number of problems at this current time. The only way I can see for us to get round them is thinking our way round them — I can’t see us spending our way round them, we’re not going to be able to bomb our way around them. I could be wrong, maybe we can spend and bomb our way around them, but I would say on balance that if we’re gonna get round them at all, we’re gonna have to think our way around them, and that is gonna need new forms of thinking. I don’t know what they are, but I’d just say let’s try some of the options, and see if anything interesting comes up.’
3 February 2005
[comics] London Crumb — the Londonist blog covers a bunch of upcoming events about Robert Crumb in London during March … ‘All we need now is for Chris Ware to come back to London and we will be in geek heaven.’
28 January 2005
[comics] Stewart Lee interviews Alan Moore — on Radio 4’s Chain Reaction … ‘For the working classes British comics were just something you had like Rickets…’ [ Update: Alan Moore “Chain Reaction” Interview Transcript … On Swamp Thing: ‘The whole thing that the book hinged upon was there was this tragic individual who is basically like Hamlet covered in snot. (audience laughs) He just walks around feeling sorry for himself. That’s understandable, I mean I would too…’]
18 January 2005
[comics] Six Degrees of Snapper Carr — I would have guessed that the Kevin Bacon of comics is Rick Jones but what do I know? … ‘You can play the Six Degrees game in comics by linking a character via a chain of acquaintanceship to Snapper Carr. Scrooge McDuck is Donald Duck’s uncle. (Many, many Disney duck stories.) Donald Duck was a partner with Daffy Duck in an entertainment act (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) Daffy Duck has met Batman (Superman v. Bugs Bunny miniseries) Batman knows Snapper Carr.’ [Related: Captain America Wins Superhero Networking Crown]
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10 January 2005
[comics] This will be a good comic… good enough? — Metafilter discusses All-Star Batman and Superman … ‘Warren Ellis penned a column in 2000 regarding why Ultimate Marvel was a good idea and the logic holds for All-Star DC. Writers don’t want to be handicapped by decades of backstory. The fans that slavishly want icons frozen in narrative stasis are a miniscule, but loud voice, and they really should be ignored.’ [via Feeling Listless]
1 January 2005
[comics] Time Magazine on the Best Comics of 2004 … On Eightball #23: ‘For most comic books, when a nobody teenager discovers super powers and a gun that zaps anything out of existence, it usually results in his getting buff and facing the dilemmas of responsibility in between fist fights with ubervillans. Forget that. This is Clowes’ world.’
23 December 2004
[comics] GM: Talking All-Star Superman — Grant Morrison on his new Superman comics … ‘I just read – yesterday in fact – the story ‘Superman’s New Power’ which appeared in Superman #125 from November 1958. And guess what Superman’s new power was in the ‘conservative’ ’50s. That’s right – it’s a teeny-tiny little Superman who shoots out from the palm of the big Superman’s hand and does everything better than Superman himself, leaving the full-size Superman feeling redundant and worthless. Holy analysis, Batman! It’s mindbending, brilliant and eerie work. This is what it would be like if Charlie Kaufmann wrote and directed the Superman movie and it’s far from goofy or childish, it’s genuinely affecting and slightly disturbing to read Superman saying stuff like ‘Everyone’s impressed except ME! Don’t they understand how I feel — playing second fiddle to a miniature duplicate of myself…a sort of SUPER-IMP?’ And people think I’M weird? I %$%$^ wish I was weird like this! I wish pop comics today had the balls to be as poetic and poignant and truly ‘all-ages’ again, and a little less self-conscious. I feel a little ashamed for not even daring to think of a magnificent tiny Superman who makes the real Superman feel inadequate every time he springs from his hand.’
8 December 2004
[comics] The thing is, the Thing is Jewish — great article about religion in Superhero comics. ‘…it turns out that Jack Kirby, an active, synagogue-attending Jew, had a faith in mind for at least one of his characters. Mr. Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzburg) was an irascible, cigar-smoking, wryly funny product of New York City’s tough Lower East Side. So was his co-creation, Ben Grimm. Mr. Kirby died in 1996, but members of his family and many of the folks who worked for Marvel Comics over the decades say they knew that Mr. Kirby always thought of the Thing as a sort of alter-ego – and Jewish. In fact, Mr. Kirby once drew the Thing wearing the traditional Jewish skullcap and prayer shawl and holding a prayer book…’ [via Progressive Ruin]
18 November 2004
[comics] The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy — nicely done unofficial website for the much missed artist best known for his work on Judge Dredd and frequent collaborations with Peter Milligan … ‘Will he ever return to drawing a full comic strip? He has been quoted as saying, “Of course I will produce comic books in the future, but first I want to make sure I have enough money behind me so that I can self-publish the material I choose. I’m getting too long in the cock to have silly people telling me how to produce my own work. There’s just too much crap to put up with and quite frankly, I can’t be bothered with it”‘
16 November 2004
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7 November 2004
[comics] The Comics Reporter — Tom Spurgeon’s comic news weblog.
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3 November 2004
[comics] Snowed-under Briggs resorts to eBay — Raymond Briggs has so much The Snowman merchandise stored at his house that he’s decided to attempt sell it all on eBay … ‘Briggs, 70, admitted he is a novice at internet selling. ‘I didn’t know about eBay. A lady who works for me is putting the stuff on. It could be a disaster: there are already pages of Snowman things there. I assumed everything would be £10 at least, but I’m amazed to see some of it going for 50p. Why bother? There are all the costs of postage and packing. You can buy something for that in a charity shop. ‘We’re starting with one item to see if it will work: a Snowman toy holding a tiny teddy bear, which I’ve signed. It’s very well made, like Steiff teddy bears, and I can’t remember if we’ve said £50 or £150. There are mad collectors out there who will buy anything with signatures…’
17 October 2004
[comics] The Ascent Of Fan — Ninth Art on Comics Fans … ‘Far from discussing their love of comics, the fans seem to spend more time debating the precise reasons why they suck, with particular reference to why things aren’t as good as they used to be – whether ‘used to be’ goes back two years, five, ten or twenty. This, of course, is the basic joke of THE SIMPSONS’ Comic Shop Guy. For a man who’s devoted his life to comics, he doesn’t actually seem to like any of them very much. And remember, these are the people who really adore comics. Just imagine what the people who can’t stand them must be like.’ [via Neilalien]
14 October 2004
[comics] The Sim/Gaiman Project — a collection of letters that Dave Sim has been sending to readers of Neil Gaiman’s Blog. ‘…for those who haven’t actually responded to the offer, it should be known that the sometimes irrascible tyrant and fire-breathing dragon Dave Sim has been enjoying tremendously the response he received from the Gaiman blog readers and those whom they’ve infected with the knowledge. These form letters are delightful and charming and so enjoyable that now everyone who has seen one wants to know what others have received.’
12 October 2004
[comics] Cerebus No. 84, Page 2 — Dave Sim on Marvel Comics, Jim Shooter, Secret Wars and a page from Cerebus … ‘Another of Big Jim’s hard and fast rules of storytelling was that “conflict creates character” which is why Dirty Fleagle and Dirty Drew spend most of their time as the Secret Sacred Wars Roach’s henchmen beating crap out of each other.’
11 October 2004
[comics] Christopher Reeve Obituary: ‘Of playing Clark Kent, Reeve reckoned that “there must be some difference stylistically between Clark and Superman. Otherwise you just have a pair of glasses standing in for a character.” Reeve, though he played the two roles straight without any sign of camp, revealed a deft Cary Grant-inspired comic timing. Unfortunately, the three sequels were a matter of diminishing returns and, after Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987), Reeve, determined to ‘escape the cape’, explained: “Look, I’ve flown, I’ve become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I’ve faced my peers, I’ve befriended children and small animals and I’ve rescued cats from trees. What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn’t been done?”‘
[comics] “Face Front! Clap Your Hands, You’re on the Winning Team!” — Rolling Stone article on Marvel Comics from 1971 … Marie Sevrin on Comic Fans: ‘”Gee,” she said, “they’re so uninteresting, that why they’re fans. If they were interesting they wouldn’t be fans. I mean, is a hospital ward interesting? The fans buy the books, but they don’t support comics. Comics are supported by many other normal little children, but the fans are the ones who are hung up on it. I think fans are very lonely.” She says the fans are arrogant now. They don’t gasp and ooh and ahh anymore. The new breed of fans just want to lean over your shoulder and tell you what you’re doing wrong.’
30 September 2004
[comics] Comics 101 — nicely done column profiling the history of various comic books including Daredevil, Doom Patrol and V for Vendetta … On Marvel’s Secret Wars II: ‘In this 9-issue train wreck, the Beyonder, his interest in humanity piqued by his observations last time around, shows up on Earth and decides to try humanity on for size. The Beyonder creates a body for himself (a perfect duplicate of Captain America, as a matter of fact) gives himself a Jheri-curl hairstyle and heads off to discover life as a human, starting off with a trip to Spider-Man’s apartment, where he gets a lesson in how to take a crap. (“The experience is consummated!” says the Beyonder as he exits the bathroom.) I only wish I was kidding.’
17 September 2004
[comics] Saved by the Beagle — profile of Fantagraphics … ‘When Love and Rockets debuted, underground comics consisted primarily of, as Thompson puts it, “Batman with tits — just like regular mainstream comics, but with a little bit of sex and violence thrown in.” The Hernandez brothers may have had a knack for beautiful female characters, but the stories — rich, multifaceted, character- rather than plot-driven — were an anomaly. Along with Crumb’s Weirdo and Art Spiegelman’s Raw, which appeared around the same time, Love and Rockets helped reinvent the comics underground for a post-hippie age, and it put Fantagraphics on the map.’
16 September 2004
[comics] Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore… as Lego. [via Neil Gaiman’s Journal]
13 September 2004
[movies] Sin City Preview Trailer … ‘A hardtop with a decent engine and make sure it’s got a big trunk.’ Click Image for Stills from Sin City.
9 September 2004
[blog] Progressive Ruin — new-to-me, nicely done blog about comics.
8 September 2004
[comics] Disney With Fangs — Newsarama interviews Grant Morrison on We3 … The Influences on We3: ‘Anything to do with innocent, misunderstood animals on the run from vicious human bastards. Animals getting their own back. The events played out in We3 are very different and far more shockingly violent than the adventures of Thomas O’Malley and the Duchess in The Aristocats, for example, but the basic idea of the animal odyssey across country in search of some seemingly hopeless safe haven is a very resonant and appealing theme which no-one has really played much with recently… certainly not in comics. I’ve always wanted to do one of those classic animal stories that make people cry, so this is like that… Disney with fangs. We3 is probably one of the first of these kind of stories to treat the animal heroes as animals and not as anthropomorphized representations with human emotions and speech patterns. So basically, we gave the popular old ‘animal quest’ idea a sci-fi coat of paint, spliced it with Miike Takashi uber-violence, and created a vehicle to demonstrate the ‘Western Manga’ storytelling style Frank and I are trying to develop.’
31 August 2004
[comics] Drawing Pains — a Guardian profile of Art Spiegelman … ‘Next year he will publish a visual memoir of his 10 years at the New Yorker, “with all the different covers and images I did. It’s basically a history of the wrestling matches, of what it means to try to graft an underground cartoonist’s sensibility on to the DNA of the New Yorker. God bless ’em, they tried. And God bless me, I tried. I guess I got spoiled at an early age. I got used to publishing myself without editorial interference.”‘
28 August 2004
[comics] Let’s get Vizical — BBC News Magazine on 25 Years of Viz … ‘In the 25 years since Viz comic first appeared, Sid [the Sexist], one of its most enduring characters, has spectacularly failed in the pursuit to which he has single-mindedly committed himself: having sex. Yet it almost didn’t happen like that, says Simon Donald, who started the comic with his brother Chris. When they set out to find a serious publishing deal, Sid’s crass exploits did not raise a smile with the suits at one of Britain’s magazine publishing giants. “They wanted Sid the Sexist to be Sid the Smooth Talker. They were offended by the fact he was politically incorrect,” says Simon Donald.’
25 August 2004
[comics] Green Arrow’s Journal of Crime Fighting and Goatee Maintenance — allegedly Oliver Queen’s Weblog … ‘Evil Do-ers Beware: star city smells like piss in the summer. the only thing that gets me thru my daily rooftop patrols is the new wilco album on my ipod.’
24 August 2004
[comics] The Beat — another weblog about comics – this one from Heidi McDonald.
19 August 2004
[comics] 2000AD and British Comics — nicely done website from the BBC Cult. Includes a reprint of Alan Moore’s DR & Quinch Have Fun on Earth (with art from Alan Davis) … ‘My name’s Ernie Quinch, college student. I like guns and starting fights. My psychiatrist says I’m a Pyschotic Deviant. But that doesn’t mean I’m a Bad Person, right?’
18 August 2004
[comics] Bags and Boards — Variety Magazine’s weblog about ‘…the trends, the buzz and the business of the comic book industry.’
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16 August 2004
[comics] We3 #1 Preview — the first four Pages from Morrison and Quitely’s new comic which is out next week … ‘They’re the ultimate cyborg assassins; armed with missiles, poison gas, state-of-the-art computer technology and unbreakable exo-skeletons. The government has spent millions to fuse the firepower of a battalion with the nervous systems of a dog named Bandit, a cat named Tinker, and a rabbit named Pirate. As part of a program to replace human soldiers with expendable animals, the U.S. government has transformed three ordinary pets into the ultimate killing machines. But now, those three animals have seized the chance to make a last, desperate run for ‘Home’. A run that will turn into a breathless hunt to the death against the might of the entire military/industrial complex.’
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