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| Me at MOPOP October 06, 2018 |
Hello reader,
I made this blog post in order to quickly and graphically share some of my best posts about comics, especially the ones that contain some actual and original writing by me rather than just sharing the writing of others, which I do a lot (with due credit).
Mainly, I made this page to share with people who may be interested with a job for which I am applying.
I have probably selected too many. I tried to order them with the very, very best listed first, though I am so biased and so fond of what I do here on this blog that I have zero objective perspective on what is actually good or not.
For what it's worth, at least, the top four seem indicative of what I have done so far, though I have little to fully show of what I am capable as often the posts are made in some haste (because of daily publication). That said, I have new things in the work with original content. Stay tuned.
And thanks for tuning in for this one.
Leave me a comment!
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1439 - "Comics Are Going Downhill" - NOT!
The bee in the bonnet goes like this: so, I went to this game store on Christmas Eve in Longview. The store is GREAT, and I plan to go back. The owner was reading a hardcover collection of recent Aquaman comics by Geoff Johns, before DC's Rebirth. Good stuff. Some of my favorite stuff lately. But then he says, that "comics are going downhill" and that so many creators these days do not know "how to tell a good superhero story." I objected. I mentioned Image Comics, who is producing some truly great stuff and it's all creator owned. But then he says the thing about superhero stories, so I mention Dan Slott who takes a great deal of guff from fans as well as Bendis. There's more to unpack with that guy, but I have the bee there, stinging. Seems to me that there is more great material being published in the comic book world in the last few years than EVER BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF COMICS! Anyone who thinks the best days of comics are gone is not really paying attention to comic books these days.
Again, this connection works to make meaning on multiple levels.
The "Higher Judgement" is God, who is very much like Veidt, who has set himself up like a God, though Dr. Manhattan, greater still, may actually be a God, with the power of God.
Rorschach delivers himself to Veidt much as the "Marooned" narrator delivers himself to God.
Both seek vengeance. Both are uncompromising. Both take extreme actions to safeguard people and "do the right thing."
But what is the "shadow" Rorschach speaks of? Could this be Jung's shadow? Could this be the dark side, even farther into the belly of the whale than Rorschach went when he "became Rorschach" as he explains in chapter six?
But like Rorschach who delivers himself to the enemy, the narrator of "Marooned" ends up joining the Black Freighter in the end, becoming the horror he hoped to avert, becoming the evil he hoped to prevent.
This is a good start for the analysis I want my students to perform. I could go deeper and expand, but these passages I have written here show clearly the way these "connections" work in Watchmen.
Thanks for reading.
The Ten Cent Plague book review
Looking back, the comparison between Nazi Germany and comic books seems absurd as it and the whole witch hunt of the comic book industry seemed to my wife when she overheard me listening to David Hadju's The Ten Cent Plague. But these were serious allegations in the post-World War II era of the late 1940s and 1950s as Americans had to step lightly around accusations of Communist infiltration and influence as well as the mounting hysteria over the stalemate of the Cold War. The new Hitler was entirely invisible and far more insidious, and yet Americans wanted the same easy fix. Removing the Nazis and Hitler (as well as the fascist regimes of Italy and Japan) from Europe healed the world. But these were threats that were not just camped on the borders, they were invading and attacking. Hitler swept through Europe and the bombed England, before the Nazis were defeated. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and threatened the American Way from the other side of the world. With these threats eliminated, the protectors of the good, decent, and true spirit of freedom wanted another tangible and invading enemy to stamp out of existence. Like the "Communist Party," comic books became one of those enemies. And though comic books were not as crushed into defeat as the Nazis, the industry shrunk dramatically and one company, EC Comics, basically ceased all production.
One of the greatest strength of Gillen's writing is the many layers of each line of exposition, each line of dialogue, such as, in the initial conversation between Sol and his friends, we are treated to Ash's inner monologue: "This isn't a conversation. This is the sort of monologue you run in your head with lovers you'll never speak to again." Not only do the lines ring with truth, but there's layers more to unpack here as "Dominic Ash," presumably a man in the "real" world, is a woman in this world, who goes by "Ash," which makes those lines all the more pregnant with meaning.
Gillen picks up issue two where issue one left off and establishes Ash as the narrator: "I was the Dictator. I learned how to tell stories." Stephanie Hans art washes color like light swept water colours across a three-panel page, revealing the fantasy-rich milieu in which the characters find themselves. for his part, Gillen doles out information slowly. Sol is now Grandmaster (whatever that means) having killed the previous Grandmaster. Also, Ash reminds us that the Geas binding them all to silence has been lifted, and she can freely share "everything." And this "everything" is so much that this sharing will happen slowly, piecemeal, and with vast tracts of landscape left in abeyance, pinned in our minds for future expansion.
The Invisible Woman did not start out with “woman” as part of her name. From the inception of super heroism in the 1930s, with the notable exceptiob of Wonder Woman and a few others, most characters were labelled as “girls” – Supergirl and Batgirl – or as “lasses” – Light Lass and Shadow Lass. So it was not surprising that when new Marvel Comics creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created the Fantastic Four in 1961, they christened the group’s only female character as a “girl.” The Invisible Girl would remain a “girl” even after she married the team’s leader and gave birth to a child in what would become the new company’s First Family of superheroes.
Like most women in comics, the Invisible Girl’s powers were non-threatening and mainly meant for defense. If in a tight spot, she could hide by “disappearing,” turning invisible until the danger passed. Susan Storm (later Susan Richards) represented what society thought about women of the time: they were “girls” who needed to hide when it came time to fight the giant green monsters busting out of subterranean caverns.
Her force fields were an afterthought. (After all, she was called “Invisible Girl” not “Invisible Force Field Girl.”) She could shape giant shields or bubbles to protect herself and the members of her superhero family. Using her force fields wasn’t easy and caused her constant pain and anguish, much the same facially in the illustrations of the 1960s and 1970s as the depcitions of her giving birth. Unlike the men in the group whose powers did not cause them pain to maintain against the onslaught of their foes, The Invisible Girl would often show her “natural feminine” weakness by straining painfully to maintain the shield. When she couldn’t handle the stress of maintaining the force field, her male companions would need to save the day. For most of the first 100 issues of The Fantastic Four, The Invisible Girl would need more protecting from the threats that
also in -
What is so threatening to people -- mostly men -- about criticism of the sexism (even the outright misogyny) in comics or other male-dominated media?
I don't get it.
Asselin's criticism of the Teen Titans cover seemed reasonable and right on target. Besides, the art is just terrible from a technical POV, IMHO.
People can disagree, but why does the disagreement have to jump to rape threats
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #257 - So many graphic novels; so little time
Before the shamelessly stolen Good Reads TEXT, I will wax a bit on why. One thing I love about Private Eye is the smart way it allows the world's background to emerge. One difference between visual media such as films and comics is that the visuals can carry a great deal of information that would have to be described in prose and a reader will hold this visual information in abeyance until it is explained. So it is with Private Eye. Why does the guy have a fish head? Why is that woman wearing a a suit that makes her looking like a Tiger walking upright? Why do we see an ad that reads: "The LA Times: Your tax dollars at work!"? It's all explained eventually, but at first, it's all a strange and wonderful future that is fascinating and mysterious. When we finally get that street shot, shown above from page 10, and see all the different people, if we're not hooked by the story, we should be hooked by the visuals.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1450 - About Scripts for Comic Books and Jack Kirby
KIRBY SCREWED: I just read the first issue of a new magazine called Comic Book Creator. The issue can be read for free online. There is also a great blog article on Comic Book Justice: Taking Credit (Part One) about Jack Kirby. Though not directly related, but in keeping with my trend for recommending books, another book that I frequently recommend to my wife along with Pattern Recognition as "one of the best books on the shelves of this house" is Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which explores the ways in which comic book creators of yesteryear were not fairly compensated for all their creations. There may be no comic book creator as prolific and as poorly compensated as Jack "The King" Kirby.
Just for some quick perspective on this issue: Kirby created Captain America, the Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Doctor Doom, the Silver Surfer, and The X-Men among many, many more. The total movie revenue (just movies, not the merchandising or other related revenues) earned so far from just those creations listed is SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS ($7,310,655, 909). This figure does not include revenue from Iron Man 3 or any movie thereafter.
Jack Kirby died in 1994. The Marvel/Disney empire is reaping astronomical profits based on Kirby's creations. Kirby's family has received exactly zero compensation in profit sharing from the movies featuring these creations.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1608 - Walking Dead is Done! LLWD!
The comic shows a court scene in which Carl is put on trial and wherein its decided that Carl is right and that the practice of putting the roamers on display be outlawed.
The comic ends with Carl reading to his daughter and talking about the importance of his father in creating the safer world that they now enjoy.
It's a good ending.
It's the ending they all deserve.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #320 - Readings - Assorted Books and Graphic Novels
I liked the conceit of this story, and I like that the volume collects a self-contained story. I really like that there's a reason that these two women are dressed as exhibitionist, fan boy fantasy, dream girls, so that there's internal logic to comic. These two women are still stereotypes of the evil, manipulative, scheming sex vamp, femme fatales, but there's a new twist on what they scheme and how. It's clever and well done.
I am fascinated by the Crossed series. I read it originally, and then gave up on it because it was simply cheap, sensationalism as far as I could see. Take the zombie apocalypse a la 28 Days Later style but make the monsters cannibals AND sex-crazed rapists murderers with IQs equivalent to the Incredible Hulk of the 1970s. The premise fuels the Avatar mission for extreme blood and guts horror AND Nudity AND extreme sexual content. It's a brilliant way to merge all those goals in one comic. Also, the crossed mark is an obvious religious reference, which is satisfying as commentary. But I did not think the premise had enough to sustain the comic, so I cut it from my pull years ago. Since Alan Moore decided to take a run at what the Crossed apocalypse looks like in 100 years, I had renewed interest in the Crossed series and decided to slowly read the whole thing in trade paperbacks.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #290 - Doctor Strange - T-shirt reprint and MOVIE TRAILER
JUNG? Did someone say JUNG? Look for more Jungian rhetoric hereabouts soon since I already have some posts in the works. I am a huge Jungian, and I take every chance I can get to pander and promote, advocate and proffer the ideas of Carl Jung.
Surreal landscapes have always been a favourite of mine, and Steve Ditko's work in this arena is unparalleled in comics. Many great artists followed creating their own excellence with Doctor Strange, such as one of my all-time favorites: Gene Colan.
And yet, I could not include Steve Ditko, as much as I love his work, in the top five favourite 1960s comic artists, which I detailed in T-shirt #83. After Kirby, Kane, Adams, Colan, and Romita, I would surely place Ditko sixth.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #624 - My Oldest - A collection of comic books - part one
Hey Mom,
So, I am recovering from this terrible virus that caught me in its jaws rather firmly.
Recuperation tactics: rest, fluids, and comic books. (Okay, also Motrin, Chinese Food, and puppies.)
It's not that I just read comic books when I am ill. I read them every day. Rarely does a day go by that I don't read at least one comic book. Today, in recovery, I re-read all the Revival trade paper backs and then read the new one before bed.
Anyway, comics make me feel good. They are part of a comforting world, despite problems I may have with their messages or depictions of people from different cultures or genders. Though, they are improving. I am working on a new post about Spider-Man's recent comment about racist messages in comics, but it's not ready yet, so, since I am a day behind, here's this post.
I have been working on this post for a while. I started collecting bits of the T-shirts blog that featured my oldest comic books (for which I made a category). I thought I could get this all in one post, but as I saw how huge it all grew, I trimmed. And then, I trimmed again to just this five entries: Batman (Detective Comics), the Fantastic Four, Flash, Superman, and Hawkman.
Enjoy. This is show and tell.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #651 - My Oldest - A collection of comic books - part two
FLYING: One of the best things about Silver Surfer is his flying "surf" board. This is such a cool feature of the Silver Surfer that I made a new category called "flying" to track all the heroes with flying as a primary ability or TV shows/movies that in some way feature flying prominently. Flying is very important. It's fantasy related. You do know what the Freudians say about flying dreams, right?
Surfing through the air is another level of cool to the flying fantasy thing. Plus, the surf board makes a great weapon.
As you can see in one of the images, I have a little Silver Surfer toy. I also have a much larger Silver Surfer toy, but it's packed in a box somewhere. If I find it, I may update this blog. Be warned!
SILVER SURFER: I could write volumes about the Silver Surfer, as he is one of my all-time favorite superheroes. But time constraints both mine (how much time I can devote to writing) and yours (I know people want to see shorter entries) confine me somewhat, though be warned, I may update!
The Wikipedia page is worth your time: SILVER SURFER WIKI.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #731 - The Legion of Superheroes - My Oldest - A collection of comic books - part three
THE MAIN REASON THAT THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES IS SO ATTRACTIVE is that it fosters a sense of community. This idea of a group of teenagers from various planets, some human, some not, some humanoid, some not (though originally all were humanoid at least), all coming together for a club of kids with powers who all have fun adventures but also get to hang out with like-minded kids with similar issues was a genius idea. The idea clearly appealed to others because the Legion fandom is possibly the single most active fan group in comics.
There's romance and romantic storylines. When the Legion is done well, there's a great mix of high adventure, science fiction, space opera, and soap opera, romantic-based melodrama. The page above captures that spirit. Look at Dream Girl's pose: oh the angst produced by the burden of her powers. Ayla (Light Lass) and Jo Nah (Ultra Boy) are quick to draw appropriate conclusions and ready for action.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1541 - Ten Important Comic Book Covers
The Wikipedia page is worth your time: SILVER SURFER WIKI.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #731 - The Legion of Superheroes - My Oldest - A collection of comic books - part three
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| most of the collection |
THE MAIN REASON THAT THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES IS SO ATTRACTIVE is that it fosters a sense of community. This idea of a group of teenagers from various planets, some human, some not, some humanoid, some not (though originally all were humanoid at least), all coming together for a club of kids with powers who all have fun adventures but also get to hang out with like-minded kids with similar issues was a genius idea. The idea clearly appealed to others because the Legion fandom is possibly the single most active fan group in comics.
There's romance and romantic storylines. When the Legion is done well, there's a great mix of high adventure, science fiction, space opera, and soap opera, romantic-based melodrama. The page above captures that spirit. Look at Dream Girl's pose: oh the angst produced by the burden of her powers. Ayla (Light Lass) and Jo Nah (Ultra Boy) are quick to draw appropriate conclusions and ready for action.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1541 - Ten Important Comic Book Covers
This issue of the 1968 series of Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. is among one of the most iconic covers in Marvel Comics history. I have the pre-color original art above and the finished cover below. Steranko borrowed images and ideas from the art of Salvador Dali for this arresting and thought-provoking cover that also, for many at the time, may have tapped into the mind-expanding drug culture.
I am also blown away when I dig into comics history because I discover things I didn't know and wish I had known in the 1980s. This issue proves my case as it was written by Archie Goodwin, with whom I worked in Marvel's Epic Comics for my college internship. I did not take proper advantage of learning from a master like Archie and picking his brain for the stories of all the things he had done and written prior to helming Marvel's version of Heavy Metal.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1357 - The problem with featuring Mopop's Marvel Exhibit
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2006.17 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1811 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
I am also blown away when I dig into comics history because I discover things I didn't know and wish I had known in the 1980s. This issue proves my case as it was written by Archie Goodwin, with whom I worked in Marvel's Epic Comics for my college internship. I did not take proper advantage of learning from a master like Archie and picking his brain for the stories of all the things he had done and written prior to helming Marvel's version of Heavy Metal.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1357 - The problem with featuring Mopop's Marvel Exhibit
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2006.17 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1811 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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