Archive for December, 2004
As reported on the Pulse …
Will Eisner recently had heart surgery, confirms longtime friend Denis Kitchen. Kitchen tells the Pulse:
“Will Eisner is in intensive care following open heart surgery on Wednesday afternoon. Quadruple bypass. He didn’t want anyone to know until he came through OK, but all signs are that he is recovering terrifically. He’s already joking with the nurses and “biting his lip” over delayed deadlines.
He’s not supposed to return to work for 6-8 weeks (I’m making side bets), so it’d be nice in the interim if the industry deluged him with warm words while he’s recuperating.
Please encourage fans and friends to send Get Well cards to:
Will Eisner Studios, Inc.
8333 West McNab Road,
Suite 131″
Best wishes to one of comics’ living legends.
Tamarac FL 33321).”
Illustrated Books
I’ve noticed in more and more books, particularly those by authors who have ties to comics or wear their comic influences on their sleeve, the use of illustrations to add to and complement the text. Here are a few recent examples:
* McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories (2004, McSweeney’s, Amazon listing) is another collection of genre stories edited by Michael Chabon similar to last year’s McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (2003, Vintage, Amazon listing). Featuring illustrations by Mike Mignola, the book has stories by Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Lethem, Roddy Doyle, China Mieville, Joyce Carol Oates, and Peter Straub among others.
* Michael Chabon’s most recent novella, The Final Solution (2004, Fourth Estate, Amazon listing), has as its protagonist an unnamed Sherlock Holmes. Jay Ryan contributes a number of pencil sketches incorporating text from the story.
* Jonathan Lethem, often discussed on this blog, had Chester Brown contribute the cover illustration to his novella This Shape We’re In (2001, McSweeney’s, Amazon listing). His most recent collection, Men and Cartoons (2004, Doubleday, Amazon listing), features a number of comic influenced stories.
* The Future Dictionary of America (2004, McSweeney’s, Amazon listing) is a left-leaning book with humorous entries written by a whole host of famous authors (King, Paul Auster, T.C. Boyle, Robert Coover, Glen David Gold, Jonathan Franzen, Dave Eggers, Eric Larsen, Rick Moody, Richard Powers, and dozens of others). Throughout are illustrations by Art Spiegelman, Adrian Tomine, R. Sikoryak, Chris Ware and others. Although it is not a sit-down and read cover-to-cover book, it is humorous. All proceeds were going to groups with progressive causes during the 2004 elections and I would imagine continue to do so.
I know that there are probably other books that fit this model. It was once quite common for books to be illustrated. While I’m sure that it never quite went away, it is nice to see that there are currently big name authors who feel strongly enough about it to start it up again. Any other examples anyone?
Daily Musings: Day 55
A couple years ago on a trip to Oregon, I took this picture on the beach:
At the time, it seemed like a pretty ridiculous sign. “Oh, right. Like you can’t see a big wave coming to shore?”
Needless to say, I feel quite differently about it now. Almost a year to the day after the devastating earthquake that hit Bam, Iran (killing over 30,000 people), another earthquake has brought devastation to southeast Asia by creating massive tsumanis. As of this writing, close to 13,000 people are believed dead. And unfortunately, I know that number will only climb in the days ahead.
“The rush of waves brought sudden disaster to people carrying out their daily activities on the ocean’s edge: Sunbathers on the beaches of the Thai resort of Phuket were washed away; a group of 32 Indians including 15 children were killed while taking a ritual Hindu bath to mark the full moon day; fishing boats, with their owners clinging to their sides, were picked up by the waves and tossed away.”
Having grown up on a steady diet of comic books where natural disasters such as tsunamis are a common occurrence, I think I took for granted the real speed of these tidal waves. I mean, I obviously understood the severity of the threat, but I was mostly of the mindset that surely people will have plenty of early warning before the waves hit the shoreline. I certainly would have had a hard time believing that one minute you could be sunbathing on the beach and the next you’re swept out to sea.
That’s before I learned the waves can travel as fast as 500 miles per hour.
It really is a sobering event. I know it’s cliche to talk about how it gives one pause to reflect on the fragile nature of our lives. But it’s true. And unless you’re a completely self-absorbed jerk, it’s impossible not put your own troubles in proper perspective compared to the plight of the people affected by such a large scale disaster.
Some ways you can help:
Relief International
Mercy Corps
International Committee of the red Cross
Daily Musings: Day 53
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
My car has been de-iced, Wendy’s neghborhood has electricity once more, they’ve sanded the roads in my hood, and the sun is shinning on the ice covered trees, giving them a beautiful glow.
So that’s gonna’ do it for me today. Have a great one.
Daily Musings: Day 52
My bro got the Family Guy season 3 DVD set from the library, so I’ve been watching a lot of it over these past few days. And I have to say, it’s a shame that FOX killed that show. Not that it’s anything new to them. They also effectively killed Futurama by scheduling it after Sunday night football only to preempt it each time.
Meanwhile, The Simpsons, though arguably one of the best, funniest, and cleverest shows to ever air on TV, limps along, years past its prime. Which is too bad. I’d rather see my favorite entertainment bow out gracefully while at the top (see Calvin & Hobbes), instead of becoming a sad parody of themselves.
Anyway, back to the Family Guy. The thing I liked about that show, aside from it being actually laugh-out-loud funny, was that the pace was fast. The jokes came at you at a breakneck pace, often times hitting you while you were still trying to process the prior ones. In a landscape filled with crap-ass sitcoms and regurgitated humor, it was refreshing to watch a show that tried to fit so much comedy in the space of its 20 minutes that it exploded with a frenetic energy. And besides, Stewie is one of the all time funniest characters ever created.
(For the comic geeks, one of the episodes featured Peter buying an old fishing boat from a police auction. The name of the boat? “The S.S. More Powerful Than Superman, Batman, Spider-man, and The Incredible Hulk Put Together”.)
By the way, happy Christmas eve to all of you out there. And for those of you in Columbus, I hope your power is back on and your streets have been cleared. As for me, I spent the better part of the day chipping off an inch-thick layer of ice from my car, thanks to the idiots at Discount Tires who thought the way to unfreeze my doors was to pour buckets of hot water over them. Yes, you read that right.
Daily Musings: Day 51
Snowstorms and blizzards can be a pain in the ass. On the other hands, there’s nothing like a good snow (or in our case, an ice storm) to bring people together.
After I called in to work and took a “snow day” this morning, I curled up with a hot bowl of oatmeal and watched the local news. They were covering every angle of the crippling snow and ice mess that has brought the city to its knees. And it warmed my heart to see scenes of neighbors helping other neighbors dig their cars out, or total strangers helping to push stuck cars out of snow drifts. After all, that’s what it’s about, right? It reminded me of the really nasty snowfall we had last winter, and how in my neighborhood alone I was involved in at least four such cases of helping out, or needing help.
On a more personal note, I got to spend the whole day with Wendy and Hanna. Their whole neighborhood is without power, so I invited them over. We played spy games, made lunch, watched movies, made giant robots with Tinker-toys, and took Hanna sledding. I had originally planned on cleaning up around the house and catching up on some reading and writing. Wendy had planned on running some errands. But the snow storm had other plans for us.
And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Daily Musings: Day 50
One for the comic book geeks: I just saw a rerun of Law & Order where the murder victim’s name was John Byrne. Insert own joke here.
Speaking of TV shows, I made a point of not watching the new ABC show Lost when it first aired. This is because 1) I don’t really care for the work of J.J. Abrams, the show’s creator/producer, and 2) I had a feeling that the very “hook” of the show, i.e. the mystery behind the island and what’s going on there, would also be its undoing. Let me explain.
In my opinion, Abrams’ other show, Alias, suffers from the X-Files syndrome. Mainly, the big mystery/conflict at the heart of the show will be dragged out endlessly as long as the ratings are good and they need to keep the show on the air. They will pad the storyline, they will introduce endless new subplots, just so they won’t have to logically end the story. Which makes economic sense, obviously, but it makes for a very unsatisfying and frustrating experience for the viewer. I don’t want to read a book that’s never going to end as long as people keep buying the next chapter. Even in comics, where serialized stories are the norm, there is usually some sort of closure on the main story arcs. And besides, there’s no big mystery at the heart of the iconic characters. Superman hasn’t been trying to return to Krypton for the past 65 years. Batman hasn’t been trying to solve the mystery of his parents’ murder for thousands of issues.
But in TV land, with shows like The X-Files, Alias, Quantum Leap, Star Trek Voyager, and I’m betting Lost, there is one major quest or plot element that defines the show. And we all know it’s never going to be resolved because that would mean the end of the show. You know the next episode teaser for Quantum Leap where it looks like Sam is going to find his way back home is just bullshit. You know the “shocking” episode of the X-Files that promises startling revelations is bullshit. In the end, nothing changes and nothing is resolved until it’s time for the series to be cancelled. And even then, there’s usually a lame open-ended finale to keep the prospects for a spin-off show or movie or whatever open.
So each episode becomes a tired game of “how can we string along the audience this week without really accomplishing anything?” In the case of Alias, they accomplish this by pretending to change the status quo with their “big” revelations that everything you thought you knew about these characters and organizations is wrong. Every other week. Repeated ad infinitum.
Again, I understand the financial necessity of it, but that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s manipulative storytelling that is insulting to the show’s fans. And in the end, it only leads to an overall piss-poor experience. Just look at the bloated, thrice dead corpse of The X-Files by the time they finally pulled the plug on that comatose patient.
On the other hand, I’ve caught a couple episodes of Lost in reruns and I have to admit that the premise, characters, and locales are all very intriguing. If there was a guarantee that this show was going to tell a finite story (like, say, Babylon 5), I could see myself becoming totally immersed in it. But alas, we all know that’s not going to happen. So no thanks, Mr. Abrams. I think I’ll just read up on the episode synopsis on the Internet if I ever find myself curious as to what’s going on with the show 8 years from now. I have a feeling I’ll miss out on some pretty cool stories here and there, but in the end I’m confident I’ll be saving myself a whole lot of wasted time and frustration.
A guy walked into the retail store where I work at about 9 p.m. last night asking if we carried comic books. I told him we didn’t have any, then tried to give him directions to the two closest stores where he could find them, all involving drives across town.
Remember way back when comics could be found in just about any corner drugstore or supermarket? Whenever someone lists things that have damaged the comics industry in recent years, I always see one thing missing: comic specialty shops. I love the Laughing Ogre myself, and specialty shops have allowed a much broader range of material to evolve– and they’re essential to self-publishers like myself. But they’ve also marginalized the audience for the books (which I blame for “growing up” the characters and stories of what were once more accessable books), taken them out of settings where a newcomer might “discover” them, and drastically reduced the number of outlets where they are available. Who thought this was a good idea? The comics industry began taking a beating when the economy was soaring a decade ago; that was about the time this shift occurred, if I’m not mistaken (if you place blame solely on the “speculator bubble”, I’d argue that was a product of specialty shops as well, since casual readers had them removed from settings where they could find them). Most people that hear I’m into comics tell me they weren’t even aware they were still being made today.
Obviously we need the specialty stores for stuff like mature themed books, independents, and self-published material. Also, they are an ideal outlet for trade paperbacks and comic-related merchandise. I can’t help but think that things would improve for comics in general if the biggest publishers made an aggressive push to get their core titles placed primarily in non-specialty retail stores again– even if they just produce ranges of cheap reprints available only in those settings.
While I was giving the guy directions last night, he seemed to lose interest three intersections into my description. He thanked me, but I didn’t get the impression he was going to be hunting down any of the stores I mentioned this afternoon.
Morrison on Superman
Newsarama has an interview with Grant Morrison about his involvement (with artist Frank Quietly) on the new Superman book for DC’s new “All-Star” line of books. And despite the fact that I really haven’t enjoyed much of his writing, and that I’m not a Superman fan, I find myself curious about this book. It’s DC’s pseudo version of Marvel’s Ultimate line…basically the focus will be taking their iconic characters and telling iconic stories more-or-less free of continuity. With big name creators. Morrison describes his 12-issue plans:
“The Fortress appears in issue #2, stuffed with a ton of new toys and gets haunted by the bandaged ghost of the Unknown Superman of 4500 AD. The Kandorians finally get out of that bottle. Superman gets a new power. Clark Kent winds up sharing a prison cell with Lex Luthor in issue #5. The Bizarro Cube Earth invades our world in an epic 2-part adventure (no ‘decompression’ here!) and we’re recasting the Bizarros as a frightening, unstoppable zombie-plague style menace. Bizarro Jor-El and the Bizarro JLA turn up in the second part of that story too. What else? We meet Earth’s replacement Superman and Clark Kent takes on a new superhero identity…Ten of the 12 issues are complete short stories in 22 pages, so lots of stuff happens. And it all links together as a maxi-arc or whatever they call them these days, entitled ‘The 12 Labors of Superman’.Overall, the series is more about Superman’s relationships with his friends and with the world than anything else.
People know my stuff and I’m sure they can guess what to expect. It’s going to be big, bold sci-fi Superman for 12 issues.”
And for you writers out there, here’s a little something to make you alternately jealous and impressed:
“I like to work a lot and try lots of different things. This year I’ve written a screenplay for a Dreamworks movie, a 300-page novel, a game script for the upcoming Predator: Concrete Jungle release, 40 comic books, several movie pitches and a bunch of other stuff. I’ve even been asked to script a theme park thrill ride.”
Wanna work on a romance comic?
Arrow Publications (“a 20-year-old publishing company based in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area”) is looking for both writers and artists:
“In 2003, Arrow Publications embarked on a new venture in Illustrated Romance Fiction that is sure to appeal to a wide audience of romance fiction readers. The launching date is set for early 2005. These will be romantic, passionate character-driven stories filled with adventure and intrigue. Our stories will be beautifully illustrated with images of strong, capable, and desirable women falling in love with equally strong, capable, and virile men.”
And this from their Writer’s Submission Guidelines:
“Good storytelling, dialogue and pacing are musts. There should be two or three passionate, intimate encounters between the hero and the heroine…There should be sexual tension, as well as believable conflict, between the protagonists. The heroes and heroines must display spirit, yet be vulnerable. Perfect people are boring.”
(via DigitalWebbing)
Hacking into a Coke machine
Oh, those crazy hackers. Apparently breaking into government networks and corporate servers makes one thirsty. And what better way to quench your thirst than to hack into a coke vending machine for free drinks.
“Included in the low-level operating system that these babies run on is an actual debug menu that gives you access to all sorts of machine information and possibly gives you free cokes in older machines.”
(via boingboing)
Kaluta covers
Just felt like posting a few of the covers from the DC/Vertigo series, Lucifer. Cover art by the legendary Michael William Kaluta. Gorgeous stuff. I wish they’d use more of his work on their books.
Daily Musings: Day 48
What is up with people that feel the need to constantly talk? And by constantly, I mean nonstop, and by talk I mean blather-endlessly-about-inane-topics. Is it the whole “I love the sound of my own voice?” deal? Or is it some low self esteem/insecurity thing where forcing people to listen to your constant babbling somehow validates your existence in the world? And before someone points out the irony of me ranting about this topic on a blog, where I myself blather every day about inane topics, let me say this in my defense: blogging is passive. Nobody has to visit this site or read what I have to say. I’m not subjecting anyone to my thoughts. It’s that simple. Where as the type of annoying public prattle I’m talking about is very much an active, in-your-face endeavor. Similar to inconsiderate jerks on cellphones, jabbering away loudly as if the rest of the world wants to be subjected to the minutiae of their lives.
Anyway, The reason I mention this is because I was in a store earlier this evening and these two women were looking through some clothes. The nonstop talker (who we shall simply call Motor Mouth, or MM for short) did just that: talked nonstop. And I don’t mean “carried on a conversation with her friend”. No, I mean she just verbalized any and all thoughts in her head, nonstop, apparently for no other reason than to simply be talking. I really tried to tune her out, but it got to the point where I had to physically leave her vicinity to avoid an unhealthy display of rage. And I felt sorry for her friend, who not only couldn’t get a word in edgewise, but clearly wasn’t thrilled about her front row seat at MM’s Tourette’s Syndrome Theater.
MM: What about this shirt? I like it. But I don’t like the buttons. They’re, I don’t know…weird. I used to have a shirt like this one but I never wore it. I wonder where I put it. Probably in the back of the closet. Oh this one’s cool too. But it’s expensive. Definitely too much for this. I’d buy that if it wasn’t for the buttons. What do you think, the buttons are goofy, right? I just don’t like them. The color is nice though. I wish I could find a matching skirt. Or shorts. But they don’t carry shorts now.
Friend: Mmm hm.
MM: Wow, I haven’t seen something like this in a long time. Who even wears these anymore? I suppose the people I work with would wear them, but not me. Did I tell you about this guy at my work? Total creep. He asked me out to the Christmas party. How weird is that? Oh, I like the color on this one. Very spring. Except it’s winter now. But I like the color.
Friend: Yeah.
MM: I’ve got so much more shopping to get done for Christmas. God, I’m getting stressed out just thinking about it. And what should I get for Sherri? I just don’t know what she likes. Well, she’s into Yoga but I mean clothes. I really like the leather jackets. Too bad they don’t have too many in brown. It’s always black leather jackets. I like brown, like those bomber jackets. But some of them look stupid. Man, it was freezing out this morning. I almost called in sick to work. I should have. I could have finished my shopping. And ran some errands. I need to pick up stamps, I’m all out. It always happens this time of year.
Friend: Mmm.
I imagine it went on like this for the entire duration of their shopping, but I had to put some distance between us after a few minutes. Unbelievable.
Dispatch article on bloggers
(updated 12/21 with link to the article; registration required)
The Columbus Dispatch reporter Molly Willow (best. name. ever.) informs me that the article she wrote about Central Ohio bloggers will appear in tomorrow’s (12/21) Life section of the paper. Yours truly was interviewed for said article. No idea how many of my comments will make it in (probably only the embarrassing ones), but keep an eye out for it.
And so concludes another thrilling performance on my shameless self-promotion world tour.