ONE TWO THREE REPEATER

I sort of feel like replying to NeilAlien's sermon, but...I can't get my head quite around what I want to say yet. It's not the accusation of groupthink that got under my skin. No, it was his sly attack on the whole point of the comics blogosphere; the "what kind of person presumes that other people should care what you think" question. And it's a good question, one I only kind of sort of have answers to; I mean, it's pretty much a given (and believe me, I've been the first to point to my own big clay feet) that I have no better point of view than any other schmo who buys comics every wednsday. Short, incomplete, answer: well, this is basically vanity press, and everyone should be onboard with what that entails. I know I am. Longer, more complete answer: forthcoming.

Or you could just go over here and read this piece by John Holbo. John is smarter than me, and a better writer, and likely smells better as well. He hits lots of the same notes I would (and some I wouldn't), only with more panache, about the point of this little excercise in egomania.

I know it's long, but really, it's worth your time. And if you stick to it long enough, you get a gratitious Black Bolt reference, so, you know. there's that.

Final thoughts before I punch out. Sean is wrong (see, see we do disagree!): there is a subtle but strong streak of self-selection at work in the blogosphere. People want hits and attention. For a new blog, the way to get those hits is for Sean or ADD or NeilAlien or, espcially, back in the day, Dirk to throw a link over. No incoming links equals no page views. A new blog that's ignored by the players in this scene, such as they are, isn't really going anywhere. Now, all of those guys are pretty good about linking to things they disagree with, if only to knock them down. And from what I know, which ranges from a little to nearly nothing, all are stand up guys. But still....you sort of get to know the big guns' soft spots, you know? Succes breeds reinforcement, and away we go. Hopefully, when the Great Schism happens we'll all still talk to each other.

TOTAL TRASH

Cleaning out the junk here at the Intermittent; out go some old links to sites, in come a fresh new batch. I highly doubt if there is anyone out there reading this who doesn't also read Chris Puzak, but if there....

Why are you still here?

THE PERILS OF A QUICK READ

Huh, Sen. Joseph Lieberman is writing Batman now? I guess we'll see a more family friendly comic then, excepting of course that issue where Batman beats the holy hell out of Al Gore.

Oh. Different Lieberman. Right. Slow down, don't read those headlines quite so fast, or stop paying attention to the Presidential race.

BEING ARI ARAD

So, evidently the rumour is that Ari Arad wants to really, really cut back on the titles Marvel is publishing. Basicallly the plan (allegedly) is to get rid of anything that is not in development as a movie property.

What's the point of that? Seems sort of half-assed, you know?

I mean, why keep any ongoing titles? If all Marvel cares about is the movies, why publish books at all? You can keep the trademarks alive for a long time even without monthly books. And I would guess that the number of kids who see the X-Men cartoon every month exceeds the number of...kids...that read the comic every month. It's not as if the books are keeping the characters out there in the public eye. So....why is Marvel publishing books at all? What's the upside for Marvel to publish any books at all, if it all it wants to be is a pimp for its IP?

It makes me wonder if Marvel is in the midst of something big, not on the publishing side but on the corporate side. Is Ari following the managment principles of Chainsaw Al Dunlop? Gut the biz for short term profits?

Anyway, this rumour just struck me as odd. Especially in light of DC's efforts to expand its publishing efforts. This must be what CIA analysts felt like looking at the Kremlin; somethings going on here, but what....

UPDATE: Arad, not Avrad. D'oh.

ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING

So, superhero's, snobbery, and the limitations of the genre; the "Topic That Endures" of comics fandom. Propping up that stiff corpse this week is Tim O'Neill. His essay is longish, and in response to Dave Fiore's earlier comments. I won't be quoting much of the essay, so go take a look at it before you read on down below.

Basically, I see two main problems with Tim's position. First, I think he makes the fairly common mistake of conflating things that bother him about the genre with objective problems with the genre, to the extent such things actually exist. Second, the categorical distinctions he draws are, in many and fundamental ways, at war with each other. Each of these points in turn; and I'll try to keep this post shorter than Jim Henley's take on the subject.

First off, it seems pretty obvious that the structural and storytelling tics of the superhero genre are really irritating to Tim. These little stylistic twitches are so flagrant to him that he can't see past them; because he gets stuck on the stylistic tropes of the genre, such as they are, he can't get to whatever emotional or metaphorical resonance lies underneath. And this is cool, really. Not a thing wrong with that position. I mean, I can't do opera. The genre requirements that opera works within are to me terribly silly and distracting. Same for old movies (please be gentle, Mr. Fiore). The set design, the style of acting; it all seems artificial to me. And so I find watching both opera and old movies to be uninteresting; the nature of those genre's is such that I can't find the point of access that would allow both enjoyment and analysis. The difference though, between Tim and myself, is that I try not to make the error of mistaking my personal, highly idiosyncratic tastes with the world. The mere fact that I don't like opera--or that Tim can't get past Batroc ze Leepah--doesn't compel a conclusion that either opera or superhero comics are objectively, fundamentally flawed. It would be a tremendous act of ego on my part to argue that my tastes are the ones by which the world should judge its art; I'll instead settle on using my tastes merely the guides by which I judge art. Not a one of us can make the broader claim, nor should we.

Okay, point the first out of the way. My second big problem with Tim's piece is that I think it's logic doesn't hang together. Not that it needs too, necessarily; if Tim were just saying, "hey, I don't much like these" there would be no need for logic at all. But Tim instead tries to construct a reasoned argument for the limitations of the genre, and I think he fails.

First off, he categorically states that superhero's aren't interesting, then later recants and says, sure, there have been some intelligent and thought provoking work done with them. So, his original position is wrong. It's not that all superhero's are uninteresting, but that most, perhaps the vast majority, of superhero books aren't. Okay. Fair enough. So why does this illustrate a failure of the genre versus a failure of the marketplace? Why is his essay about why the genre sucks instead of about ways the marketplace makes the genre suck?

Tim does take a backhanded swipe at the market; the by now standard routine, patented I think by Warren Ellis, of "Servicing the Trademarks." And if Tim were simply making the typical STT claims--that publishers don't want interesting work that hurts the trademark, that artists are better off working on things they own--well, that'd be fine. I might even agree. But he doesn't. His critique is of the whole process of allowing others to use intellectual property that isn't theirs. He more or less argues that those that create a character, or idea, create presumptively better works than those that later use those characters. Which is crap, when you think about it. Leaving aside the vast landscape of counter examples, both within comics and without--Miller on Daredevil, Peter Jackson on LOTR, Sophocles on Electra--Tim's essentially arguing that characters have an objective "essence" against which to measure fidelity. Huh? And even if this is true--even if the original creation retains the spark of its creators--why can't moving that essence within the narrative landscape be interesting, if only for the context? Weirdly enough, Tim's point here would lead to the same sort of ossified genre he deplores; do not take my favorite characters to new places, they were fine with Lee/Ditko, or Claremont/Byrne!

Lastly, Tim bizarrely asserts that supehero's, like fantasy and SF, are divorced from reality; but supehero comics, unlike fantasy and SF, can't construct an alternate reality with resonant psychological depth. This is Jim's angle of assault on Tim's piece, so I won't go on much longer here. Suffice it to say that I assume that Tim has reasons for this statement, but they're not in this post.

Look. I don't read many superhero titles these days. And even in the best of times, most superhero titles are crap. So I'm sympathetic to Tim; and, like I said above, Tim's perfectly within his rights to throw up his hands and walk away from the genre if it's not working for him. But unless you're already inclined to follow him, I don't see his post as giving anyone else a reason to walk out the door.

UPDATE: Added the links, cleared up a few grammar errors, and extended one or two points. Also, everyone reading this should know that Tim's been doing a bang-up job in trying to fill Dirk Deppey's shoes; the above is offered meekly, and in the spirit of healthy debate. Also, for more on this point, see Sean.

THE SAVAGE CRITIQUE

Brian Hibbs emailed me a response to the post below. It is, with his permission reproduced below. I'll append my response in a little bit; but suffice to say that based on his response, I'll willingly concede that Brian may have the better of some of these arguments. Others, I'm not so sure about, even after reading his email. The rest may be two people who love rhetoric talking past each other. In any event, Brian's comments are worth reading, and thinking about. His comments are also a reminder that, surprisingly enough, people actually read these damn things, and that I (along with everyone else) should sometimes watch what we say. It's very easy to say or imply something about someone I've never met, sitting here typing at home; it's good to remember that there are people on the other end out there, most of whom are plugging along in good faith, just like me.

In any event, on with the show....

------
(Hibbs stars below, in italics)

Just FYI, I plan to try and track BookScan “from here on out” – once a year looking in and seeing what’s going on, and to see if and where there is growth.

But, just like Sean before you, I don’t think it’s especially fair to characterize my column as advocating “ignore(ing) an upward trend” – as I said there, and I’ll say here again, I LOVE comics in Bookstores – it creates more customers for US!

What I’m objecting to is the undercurrent of bookstore commenting that implies that the DM should just go away. I disagree, I think that, sure, the DM needs to be TUNED, but it’s still, and will continue to be a 10x more efficient method of selling our product.
---

I believe (though can’t be 100% certain) that “endcap” space in big stores is generally PURCHASED by publishers – that’s why CrossGen had endcap space a few months ago. And that’s at least one of the factors that brought them to the brink of ruin when their comics didn’t sell DESPITE the endcaps. Big returns + big placement fees is a bad combo.

That’s not to imply that this manga won’t sell in the same space, of course.
---
In regards to teen readers, as I wrote to Sean, I never suggested anyone IGNORE them, what I meant to suggest is that IF manga is a trend (rather than a new category) among that demo, then THIS point of the product’s life cycle isn’t the wise place to JUMP IN.

In fact, I’d point to the Old Fogey Theory which states “When DC decides to pursue a trend, that trend is then officially over”

Can you find any evidence that Dark Horse’s manga line has had any spill-over to the rest of what they publish?
---
I’d like to observe as someone with nearly 20 years experience (no pun intended!) selling books to people [not just fans but “civilians”, too] that, quite often, quality DOESN’T sell and crap just FLIES out the door. In fact, it’s usually through the interdiction of folks like me taking a financial chance and hand-selling a work until that material gets “found” by its audience.

The observation (and I think I noted it clearly as a working theory, not anything I can prove) of manga’s periodical-like sales clearly went over the heads of much of my audience – I’m just too used to writing for the “industry” audience rather than a general one that I don’t explain everything the way I probably should.

The concepts of “turns”, which I tried to describe, or things I left implied, like “return on investment” where Tokyopop’s shitty discount (45%!) makes them more difficult to be profitable with, probably need whole columns by themselves.

But, as a retailer, you approach “periodicals” in a very different manner in which you approach “perennials” – they just function in different ways. For you, then end consumer, it doesn’t mean anything, but for “the trade” it surely does.

The point wasn’t “Western = better”, Dave – that’s a very shallow read.

---

I assume nothing about other comic shops. In fact, I bet you I have a much more nasty opinion of shitty comic shops than almost anyone.

I’m also well aware that most stores are shitty. There are plenty of shitty stores in my “cosmopolitan” city, too!

And that makes what the “good” stores do that much more remarkable, in my opinion. And it shows me that the best way to grow comics, as a whole, is to encourage more DM retailers to open.

Especially now that we actually have the product base and market mechanisms to make “backlist-driven” stores “easy” to run.

When I opened Comix Experience in ’89, there were very few TPs, and those that were became a bitch to properly stock because of the decentralized nature of distribution at the time. Ordering something basic like WATCHMEN could take a month or more to show up depending on which distributor had stock at which warehouse.

Now the entirety of stock of the “Big Four” is 3 days away at all times. These are major, major differences.

And, as near as I can tell, there are MORE stores persuing this course than every before – that’s why I threw in that stat about 1800 stores ordering STAR-coded books, that’s 2-6x what previous estimates would have held for stores with any backlist. See? Even the DM is making solid progress...
---
Bottom line I wasn’t trying to “critique” the bookstore market – just to give a couple of data points that I think show that “bookstores = salvation” and “manga = salvation” are inaccurate positions.

I think more places to sell comics are good, and I think more good comics to sell is good. But I also think that, all other things being equal, a specialist is going to do better than a generalist.

-B

BAD MOVIES

Wrong Turn. Lost in Translation. Both very bad films, for very different reasons.

More later, but trust me: Lost in Translation is the biggest sham in recent filmic history.

HAS GEORGE CLOONEY BEEN CONSULTED?

So....Ellis on FF? The new, teen-pop, all ages FF? The new best seller from the all new, family friendly Marvel? I can't imagine this lasting more than five issues before Ellis leaves in a huff over editorial interference. Unless he really needs the money, in which case all bets are off.

And in somewhat related news, does anyone else find it weird that George Clooney was so appalled by the Ennis Fury? Is it really any worse in tone than Three Kings, which featured its share of graphic violence? And really, doesn't Clooney buff his image as Captain Bachelor out there in L.A.? It just strikes me as strange that a one or two panel scene of Colonel Fury with some hookers struck deep at the core of Clooney's moral fiber. But what do I know...I've never slept with Lucy Liu, and he apparently has.

This post used my allotment of question marks for the day. I now go back to depleting the world's supply of semicolons.

AVERT YOUR EYES, THESE POSTS MAY ASSUME OTHER FORMS.

Man, were those last posts filled with typos and other grammatical gremlins. And this after Jim called me a great writer too....

Is there an Unqualified Offering jinx?

A SIGN OF....SOMETHING.

Shawn is right; bookstores are giving manga prime space now. And it's not just Barnes and Noble. This weekend, at Borders, I saw a manga endcap. More shocking, it used the word "shojou" to describe the selection on sale We've reached the point, it seems, where the market for manga is so broad and die hard that it the use of its estoric labels in public places makes good business sense.

I have no idea what this means.

LOST IN LA MANCHA

Dogpiling on Brian Hibbs, after Sean does the hard work....

Hibbs' basic point is that bookstores are not the panacea they're made out to be; and he drags out the charts and graphs to prove his point. But all the numerical handwaving is largely besides the point, because all he points to are static pictures of the market--and the phenomenon at issue is the dynamic growth in bookstore sales. Hibbs gives us Bookscan numbers from the past couple of months, all of which show that the direct market sells more OGN's than do booksellers. These numbers might in fact be true; but they are only partially relevant. More relevant are the numbers over time; and here I would expect that we'd see that bookstore sales have increased steadily over the past couple of years. Sure, it would be foolish to think that what goes up stays up (remember the NASDAQ!), but it would be equally foolish to ignore an upward trend.

Moreover, he ignores the fact that bookstores--and here we're talking not about little mom and pops, but giant multinational conglomerates in whose dark employ toil hordes of sales and market analysts, driven by the lash of independent consulting firms--seem to think that comics are going to be a big part of their sales; as Shawn notes, manga is getting prime endcap space. Unless we assume that all these bookstores have no idea of what the market wants, I can't imagine why we should follow Hibbs in discounting the growing role of bookstores.

Further, as Sean rightly notes, it is absolutely perverse of Hibbs to essentially write off teen readers. Are they fickle? Oh, god yes. Do they spend money in bundles? Again, yes. Would a smart publisher have plans to tap this market for as long as it lasts? Sure seems like it to me. Could this money subsidize other, non-manga books, a la Dark Horse, and it seems now, DC? I can't think of a reason why not.

Hibbs also tries to argue that manga has little in the way of return business. Once the kids have read through Chobits, they're done; whereas, of course, Watchmen still sells, thus proving that Western comics have better long term viability. Which is of course why all those trades of Spider Man 2099 are still selling like hotcakes. Oh wait....it doesn't. Quality works will have long term sales. Crap doesn't, mostly. Akira will have long term sales. Calvin and Hobbes (as Hibbs notes) will have long term sales. Watchmen will have long term sales. And Chobits (maybe, I can't really speak to it's quality), and Ghost Rider, and Cathy won't.

And finally, Hibbs makes the mistake of assuming that his store--located in a fairly cosmopolitan city, and evidently serving a pretty diverse clientele--is representative of stores nationwide. It ain't, based on my experience is six states. In most of the stores I've been to, a copy of Love and Rockets would be as rare a thing as a female customer.

Really, there are lots of smart ways to critique the bookstore market, or manga. We've in fact gone over lots of them. Hibbs' piece? Not one them.

GOODBYE TO THE KING

When I said below that Dirk was the heart of comics blogdom, I meant it. And it's thus with sadness for the comics net that I extend to Dirk congratulations on the promotion; and hopefully we all can live up to his example with respect both the breadth of coverage and depth of thought.

JUMPING ON THE NEW TRAIN

Watchmen blogging? Feh. That's so, like, two weeks ago. This week the smart money is on a run of Dark Knight blogging. I don't have time (see below) for much in depth contribution to this sure to hopping topic, but I will say this: the genius of Frank Miller is that he at once strips characters to their essence and then inflates that essence until it fills the whole world.

Look at what Miller did with Sin City. The characters are defined by at most two recognizable emotions at any given time, usually Love/vengeance. They have no personal life apart from their obsessive need to either redeem their love/avenge their love/avenge their betrayal/save their lover. The bad guys aren't just bad, they're demonic: pedophiles, cannibals, perverts, murderers. These are characters devoid of any nuance. And they should be shallow, dull, uniteresting. But they're not. Miller powers through that problem by cranking the volume up to eleven. It's not just love, but LOVE! VENGEANCE! DUTY! Miller's technique is the comics equivalent of Glenn Branca guitar symphonies: keep smacking away at the same couple of notes until they fill the whole room with reverb and overtones and you're so overwhelmed by the sheer power that you don't even notice the simplicity of the underlying scheme.

This is seen even in the art for Sin City; black and white not for the morality (which is often in fact quite gray) of the town but for the the lack of nuance in the stories. And look at the panel compositions. Miller has moved to stark, large images, that are iconic in the true sense of the term: when you see Marv silhouetted climbing a building, or three pages of a man trying to get up after a heart attack, you're seeing one moment, one emotion inflated to point of dominance. Note that these are often static panels. Each moment exists on its own terms, as pure expressions of the thematic emotion.

I'd say this is why Miller's Dark Knight is often imitated but never surpassed. Miller boiled Batman down to his essence; an obsessive, calculated need for violent justice. And then he took this essence and juiced it up into a narrative juggernaut. His followers go the essence, but forget to juice it up; and so we're left with tales of an obessive hero that get old quick. Without adding more nuance, there are only so many ways to tell stories about Batman's particular obession.

Anyway. This theory is half-baked and has likely been said better elsewhere. But it is to me, now, the key to his work. Miller tears down and pumps up like no one else in comics.

Link to the Dark Knight piece via Sean.

THE ROAD TO FOUR COLOR HELL

It's what I'm on apparently, what with my fortnightly posting schedule. The culprit in this most recent dry spell? The new Intermittent Puppy, D.C. She's adorable (I'll put her up against Sean's cat in the cuteness derby, sight unseen), smart, headstrong as all get out, and only sort of housebroken. Therefore time I could spend on the computer is spent instead on mop and bucket duty.

In the grand scheme of things, I'm sure the world is better off with less posting and less indoor peeing rather than more of both.

EVOLUTION AT WORK

As us comics blogger types have proliferated (and that reminds me, an update the blogroll is waaaay overdue), the old guard has adapted; when every yahoo can give his opinions on things, it takes something more to make your blog stand out. And so we see ADD step up to the plate and give us essentially original journalism, interviews with James Kochalka and now, Dirk Deppey. ADD stays ahead of the evolutionary curve; while this site is a small furry animal scrounging for crumbs, Alan goes and gets himself thumbs.

Go and read the Dirk interview, if you haven't already. Lots of interesting stuff there, and nothing to detract from Dirk's deserved reputation as the heart of the comics net.

UPDATE: To everyone who came here via Alan's link: yes, I wrote "animan." Consider it either an egregious typo and cut me some slack or else a sly reference to Dr. Moreau and bask in the light of my genius. Up to you.

SOMETHING I LEARNED TODAY

Via Sean, the lyrics to Born Slippy. I would never have figured these out in a million years. Other than the "lager lager" bit, it was always a blur to me, albeit a blur with a really kicking beat.

And if you haven't, go show Sean some love already.

FIDDY WAS NOT HERE TO SING

Today was my birthday. My wife got me a guitar.

She rocks.

And soon, I will too.

FROM THE WRONG END OF THE TELESCOPE THE UNIVERSE IS VERY SMALL

One more thought on the topic of genre specific readers I alluded to below. The breadth of a genre is a matter of perspective; to those deep into something, minute variations look very large. I know friends, for example, that are deeply into motorcycles. And they can quote me chapter and verse as to why this random 1977 bike is different from the '78 version; different muffler, handles, rides different, etc. And I can't see it, at all. To them it's a whole different bike, to me it's more of the same.

The same holds true for devoted fans of any genre. Dilettantes wonder how the fan can read another book about people with powers, or watch another movie about zombies, or listen to yet another version of the Rites of Spring, since the all read/watch/sound more or less the same. And the fan can point out the minute and wonderful differences in every story, film, or performance. The fan can't see the limitations of the genre because they're attention is on the details; and so it never occurs to them that less obsessive types find fanish behavior odd.

Ask a superhero fan if the genre is limited and he'll come back with Watchmen, or Sleeper, or Swamp Thing, or Powers as examples of the genre's breadth. He'll tell you how it can be used to address all sorts of issues, be made a metaphor for many things; how the only limit on the stories to be told is the imagination of the creators. And from his perspective, he'll be right.

When you're this deep in, there is no need to read outside of the genre.

WE HATE YOU, COME JOIN US

John has been hosting a forum discussion on why superhero fans don't try other genres of comics, stemming from a discussion of Baraka and Black Magic In Morocco, and the commercial fate thereof. Lots of good stuff which I won't rehash here; but I will throw one idea into the ring (and it's not a new one, by any stretch). Many superhero fans don't branch out into other genres because they've been told for years that other genres are not for them.

Seriously.

The attitude of many of those who read, produce, or sell art comics (and this is of course a gross generalization) is oppositional to superhero comics; these latter are the bastard stepchild of the industry, to be hidden, and when not, scorned. By extension, the fans are idiots that need to "get the fuck out of comics."

This is a really unfair swipe at ADD, and we all know it; I'm pushing a position using his words that I doubt he in fact holds, and he clearly reads superhero books himself. And everyone knows that Austen is an awful, awful writer. It's been proved with charts and graphs. But really. Say someone likes, for whatever reason, Uncanny X-Men. For this they should be yelled at? Kicked around? And to what end? Do X-Men fans hear the taunting and nod their heads in amazed agreement: "My God, the man with the Monkey v. Robot is right! I have been wasting my life! Where oh where can I find a copy of Safe Area Gorazade?"

No. When people pick fights, fights occur. Lines are drawn. Books are categorized as for us or for them. For the snobs or the unwashed masses or the fans or the intellectuals. And no one wants the other in their camp anyway: as much as people bitch about how books sell, very few actually want people to read art comics who won't "get them." It's indie rock syndrome, the comics version; no one can like the little band I like, because you won't love them the way I do and never will.

If we didn't insist on making one's taste in comics a litmus test of personal worth, or of commitment to the medium, we'd be much better off.

THE ECHO CHAMBER

Simonson FF in trade? Amen to that notion, brethren.

That new Britney Spears song with the messed up string bit? I'm bout it bout it.

For more people, products, or places that qualify for the coveted Intermittent Seal of Approval, check back here, and Make it Intermittent!

VIRGIN THOUGHTS

Was in Virgin Records today. They've got a big sale going on; lots of their OGN/trade section is in the clearance section. And not just stuff like Call of Duty; a bunch of manga trades, Bendis Daredevils, Bizarro comics, etc. A quick glance at the shelves of the Graphic Novels section sort of bears out this trend. Some superheros, some mange, but mostly, of all things, art comics. Fantagraphics books, Top Shelf stuff. Not sure if this is a country wide trend in Virgin or just at my store; but it looks for all the world to me as if Virgin has decided that upscale art comics are the market niche it's going to fill. And this makes some sense, as the Barnes and Noble in the mall has the manga crowd, and the comic store across the street has the spandex crowd.

Also: can someone explain to me how in heaven's name there is a four cd Motorhead box set? I mean, I like Motorhead. I own two Motorhead albums. I wear a Motorhead shirt when I play in basketball tournaments. But there is no way--no way-that there are four discs worth of worthwhile Motorhead material. It's simply not possible.

I find the whole thing quiet disturbing.

THE INTERMITTENT STACK OF INTIMIDATION

In this case, the stack of unread comics next to my bed. Man, have I gotten behind. Sitting there, making me feel guilty, are:

Luis Riel
The Maxx v. 1
Metropol v. 1-5
Brat Pack
Dead Memory
Bloody Streets of Paris
Testament
Ultimate X-Men HC 3
Jinx
Hectic Planet v. 2
Peculia

At some point, I'm going to just have to lock the doors, curl up with some cheese, pretzels, orange soda and spend a day getting my geek on; it's going to be me versus the pile, and the pile ain't going to win.

All apologies to John Jakala.

ROCK AND ROLL HIGHSCHOOL

I'll take the Sean Collins challenge. Here are the eighteen albums that rocked my world the most in highschool, no doubles allowed per artist.

1. Camper Von Beethoven - Key Lime Pie
2. Husker Du - Zen Arcade
3. Descendents - Liveage
4. Living Colour - Vivid
5. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
6. Guadalcanal Diary - Jamboree
7. Fishbone - Reality of My Surroundings
8. Pixies - Doolittle
9. Fugazi - Repeater
10.U2 - Joshua Tree
11.NoMeansNo - Live and Cuddly
12.De La Soul - Three Feet High and Rising
13.Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
14.Bob Mould - Workbook
15.Uncle Tupelo - Still Feel Gone
17.Rush - 2112
18.Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory

A NARRATIVE; OR, WHY WE'RE ALL DOOMED

Overheard today while waiting for my box to get pulled. This narrative is as accurate as I can remember. Seriously.

Customer, a middle age man wearing a green lantern shirt, pointing at some Manga near the Pokemon cards: "Do people actually read those?"

Manager: "Yeah, they do okay."

Customer: "I've been reading all on the message boards and stuff about how popular that stuff is. But I've never seen anyone reading it."

Manager: "No, it's mostly younger kids. Not the regular crowd. I'm not really into it."

Customer: "Me neither. I've seen some of the cartoons. They're so kiddie, you know? None of it makes any sense. And it's all the same."

Manager: "Yeah, it's all really similar. Lots of big robots and stuff."

Customer: "Yeah, I'm not surprised its not selling to adults. It just looks really juvenile. I don't see what the big deal is."

Manager: "The fans are really into it. Like a cult. People dress up, all sorts of things."

Customer: "This is why I don't trust things I read online. I can't believe this stuff is going to stick around. It's just a fad."

Manager: "No, only a couple of our regulars order it. It's mostly just walk in traffic. We don't order it very heavy. We don't want to get stuck with it."

Whereupon the manager finished ringing him up, and out the door he went. I don't have the heart to even attempt to comment on this exchange, and present it to in the spirit of anthropology; a dispatch from the belly of the beast.

BUSTED

Dirk catches some errors in my piece on decompression, and depants me for the world to see. Corrections are here. And apologies are here.

This is therefore a good time to give what, on a much more pretentious blog, would be labeled as a statement of principles or somesuch. I'm enjoying doing this, but I also have a wife, and a job, and lots of other hobbies that I very much enjoy. I frankly have neither the time or inclination to do lots of fact checking; and thus, I'll freely submit that this blog is likely ridden with errors. Hell, many of my opinions are wrong. But part of the fun of this whole thing is learning things I didn't know. And I try to keep this blog ego free. So--if I paraphrase some book I read seven years ago, sorry. If I butcher your argument, sorry. If I fail to note that someone else made the same argument two weeks ago that I'm making now, and made it better, sorry. No malicious intent, I assure you; only a case of priorities.

Thank you, and goodnight.

WAITING FOR HENLEY

Jim Henley, while talking about Watchmen, sketches out his thoughts on the superhero comic as the perfect metaphorical vehicle to explore the ethical duties of power relationships. I'm not going to try and summarize it; Jim's a better writer than I, and deserves to have his thoughts read as they were written; but suffice to say, he should hurry up with his long promised OGN. Some of us are real interested to read it.

I DO NOT THINK THAT WORD MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS

I know I said posting would be light. Sue me.

Anyway, Graeme points to this article by Brandon Thomas about the horrors of "decompressed" comics; and of course, Thomas is just the tip of that particular wave of discontent. I'd be much more likely to jump in myself if I thought that any of these folks knew what the hell they were talking about.

Look. Decompression is a narrative technique; it is not shorthand for "talky comics." Seriously. Go pull The Dark Knight Returns off the shelf. Find the scene in Book Two where Joe Chill tears off Mrs. Wayne's pearl necklace. Look at it. Notice the abundance of little panels? This is decompression; an action that could drawn as two panels is drawn as two pages of panels to generate a particular mood; in this case, tension. Decompression has nothing to do with the story being told--it has to do with tools used to tell the story. A decompressed story can be full of action, as a quick look at lots of manga demonstrates. Polemical tip: it helps if you can correctly name what it is that's driving you nuts. Let's not stigmatize what can be an incredibly powerful tool for telling stories.

Now, having gone and called the good folks dumb, I'm going to be nice. I think that the substance of this critique, though mislabeled, has some force: I think that monthly comics are often padded out. But this is due to the market, which can't support monthly comics without the trades. If monthlies were still viable there would be no line wide push for six issue arcs, ready for collecting into trades. The solution is not to save the monthly. The solution is to finally let it die and to start publishing something else.

NOTE: I can't find my copy of Dark Knight. It might not be Issue Two. But you know what section I mean.

UPDATE: Dirk correctly points out that it was Brandon Thomas, not Brandon Stenger. Maybe I was thinking of the Sequential Swap member. Or maybe I was just lazy. In any event, it's always embarissing to have major fact errors in pieces talking about the factual errors of others. D'oh. Also, it's entirely possible that the example I used came from Scott Mcloud, or someone else; it seems familiar to me, but I really don't have the time to track it down. In any event, I'm not taking credit for it.

DAVE: WHAT HAPPENED

So. It's been a while. Again. And it's not as if I've been lacking things to say...but the sad truth is that real life has moved working on the page here way down on the priority list. Posting will be Intermittent until further notice. Apologies.