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The Jesus costume was great rofl
The guy who dressed up as Freakazoid needs to put on some light blue body paint.. stare
That was Mr Incredible, wasn't it?

Edit: Unless of course you were being sarcastic in which case I'll just go hide to distance myself from my shame.
Maiadorn
That was Mr Incredible, wasn't it?

Edit: Unless of course you were being sarcastic in which case I'll just go hide to distance myself from my shame.


No, it was Freakazoid. Great big F on the chest. Good costume, but lost without the face colour and crazy hair.
Ah, right. I kinda skimmed it to be honest and my computer was acting up so I couldn't check. Oh, the entirely-different-but-still-shameful shame!
You know how I often like to bang on about rejection of dualistic concepts?
Well not today! Today it's....

GOOD vs EVIL!!!!


As represented by this interview with Chuck Austen...
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=6669

And this interview with Mike Carey...
http://www.yourmomsbasement.com/archives/2006/02/mike_carey.html

I'll leave others to disect what's particularly abominable about the Austen interview...unless nobody bothers in which case I'll dive in later. So here's a few snippets that make me like Carey even more.

Quote:

A couple of weeks ago the British parliament almost passed into law a bill which would have allowed religious organisations to sue any and all broadcaster, commentators, stand-up comics and comic book writers for material which they felt was abusive or disrespectful of their faiths. If it had gone through with its original wording intact, I'd have been a sitting duck.


This is part of what I almost alluded to on the 'Freedom of Expression' thread, but restrained myself for fear of derailing an important discussion. Hats off to Carey for flagging it up as a concern that the wretched ******** thing got as far as it did.

Also...(bolds mine)...

Quote:

I'm with the free speech brigade on this one. I think the cartoons were unfunny, fairly crude and woefully clumsy in the point they were making. I also agree that they were offensive. But there ought to be complete freedom of expression so long as you're not committing or inciting a crime. The freedom to speak inoffensively, as someone else already said, is no freedom at all. And similarly, all Muslims who feel themselves offended have the absolute right to express their indignation and to take part in a public debate on the issue. That's how the system ought to work. You don't win arguments by stifling debate, or by threatening to kill people who disagree with you. Most people on both sides of the issue accept this: unfortunately a few rabid radicals in the two camps have stolen all the headlines as usual.

It all reminds me powerfully of the Salman Rushdie affair, when an Iranian imam declared a fatwah on Rushdie after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses. Then, as now, instead of defending the principle of free speech the UK government of the day made a lot of twittering noises about religious sensibilities and responsible use of civil liberties. I mean, on the one side we have satirical commentary, and on the other we have threats of murder. I know which one offends me.

There just aren't enough heart emoticons in the world.

And just when I thought I couldn't be feeling any sunnier...

Quote:

a very odd character named Ab-Death (the name is a homage to China Mieville) who describes himself in these terms. "It's best to think of me as amphibious. I can be alive, or I can be dead."


...we get Mieville references!
(Everyone here should read Mieville. I predict Cel loving him, Maiadorn having the same wobbly feelings he had about Swainston and Jean-Paul probably having read him already)

Adored Hunter

Kay_Challis

As represented by this interview with Chuck Austen...
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=6669

I'll leave others to disect what's particularly abominable about the Austen interview...


The man is still breathing, drawing a paycheck, and allowed to interact with other human beings? Christ, you think he'd at least pick a different pen-name. Not that his weasely ways wouldn't be found out, but at least it would be an attempt at shame.

Quote:

...we get Mieville references!
(Everyone here should read Mieville. I predict Cel loving him, Maiadorn having the same wobbly feelings he had about Swainston and Jean-Paul probably having read him already)


I haven't, actually, but the Wiki entry on him looks interesting. It's been a good day for book recommendations, giving and receiving and I got a huge hug from a Great Pyrenees pup while receiving. Also got some nice comments on my first short-story of the semester...but still. Puppies! xd

Wondering why you'd think I would have read the guy, tho'.
You know that whole sob story about being raised by a single mother was effectively cancelled out by those "Worldwatch" scans. How do you explain that, exactly? He isn't misogynist but he bankrolls comics that inarguably objectify women to a spectacular degree? Why is it that most of the industry is still willing to make excuses for him? Since when has he had a fanbase?

Adored Hunter

Spider_Jerusalem
You know that whole sob story about being raised by a single mother was effectively cancelled out by those "Worldwatch" scans. How do you explain that, exactly?


Last I heard of the family-life story Austen was shilling, he was trying to excuse the incessent child-abuse inserted into every character's past by saying he was raised with an abusive father. I'll try to find the cite...

EDIT: Oh, Christ...he actually did name Nurse Annie after his wife. Ewww!
Chris Bachalo's going to be Mike's X-Men artist? eek

That's it. I'm done. Any reservations about picking this up, gone. Vanished. Bamfed into the ether. Make July be here now.
Regarding China Mievelle: Following Pindy recommendations, I bought, on the same day, The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter, No Present Like Time by Steph Swainston, and Perdido Street Station by China Mievelle. And I was going to read them as soon as I'd finished Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb, but some books by a chap named Jasper Fforde slithered through my letter box and everything on my To Read list was bumped back four notches.

Now if you'll excuse me:

*flings self down onto couch with Lost In A Good Book, to do precisely that*
Jean-Paul
Kay_Challis

As represented by this interview with Chuck Austen...
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=6669

I'll leave others to disect what's particularly abominable about the Austen interview...


The man is still breathing, drawing a paycheck, and allowed to interact with other human beings?

These are of course unfortunate. It's the hypocrisy and the sense of matyrdom in the interview that I find so repellant. As much as the internet was unkind to Austen, it's now equally full of people calling Bendis all the names under the sun and 'hilariously' fantasising about stabbing him. But it's hard to imagine Bendis sitting up late into the night with a bottle of scotch, his eyes streaming with tears over all the hurtful words.

His odd attempts to dodge the charge of misogynistic writing are interesting too...a threefold strategy of subtley redefining the word so as to make it inapplicable to anything, doing the prose equivalent of a disgraced politician posing with his family, and then arguing that the only people who talk about misogyny are guys looking to pick up feminist chicks. Which in itself tells you about the limited number of ways that men and women can interact in Austen's imagnation.

Jean-Paul

Quote:

...we get Mieville references!
(Everyone here should read Mieville. I predict Cel loving him, Maiadorn having the same wobbly feelings he had about Swainston and Jean-Paul probably having read him already)


I haven't, actually, but the Wiki entry on him looks interesting. It's been a good day for book recommendations, giving and receiving and I got a huge hug from a Great Pyrenees pup while receiving. Also got some nice comments on my first short-story of the semester...but still. Puppies! xd

Wondering why you'd think I would have read the guy, tho'.

I've just got the impression that you're very up on Fantasy with a capital F. And from my perspective then Mieville feels like the most important thing to happen to the Fantasy novel since Pratchett.

Hmm...just seen the very poor Wiki article on the Mieville/Swainston/Harrison/etc 'New Weird' school of writing. Odd that they include Gaiman, but leave out Aylett and very odd that there's no talk of it as being a successor to the old Moorcock/Ballard 'New Worlds' school. And WTF The Dark Tower and X-Files have to do with anything I don't know. I really must start contributing to wiki someday.

Apropos to nothing: Look! Steph Swainston's list of favourite authors (Carter, Burroughs, etc) is almost exactly the same as mine!

Also apropos to nothing, the minute he writes a comic (well, I suppose there is that sorta-comic in Looking for Jake) then China Mieville's pic is going in the Pretty Boys thread.
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Spider_Jerusalem
You know that whole sob story about being raised by a single mother was effectively cancelled out by those "Worldwatch" scans.

That was a hilarious juxtaposition, wasn't it?
It would have been even better if they'd had those pics embedded in the text at the point he was pouring his heart out on that one. twisted

Maiadorn
Chris Bachalo's going to be Mike's X-Men artist? eek

3nodding And Bachalo's been doing lovely work on Claremont's Uncanny...which has been a shame as the fact it's been on Claremont's Uncanny has meant it's gone to waste.

I can't belive I'm panting for a book about Cable and Sabretooth. Though in a way the fact that I don't give a damn about anyone in his line-up (except Sam, once, in a far distant past when summers were longer and it always snowed at Christmas) makes me more eager to see if Carey is up to the challenge.

It's not hard to make me interested in the Devil. It's going to take genius to get me interested in a Liefeld character.

Maiadorn
Regarding China Mievelle: Following Pindy recommendations, I bought, on the same day, The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter, No Present Like Time by Steph Swainston, and Perdido Street Station by China Mievelle. And I was going to read them as soon as I'd finished Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb, but some books by a chap named Jasper Fforde slithered through my letter box and everything on my To Read list was bumped back four notches.

heart Yay! Both for your Fforde-prioritising and the shrewd purchases they've temporarily displaced.
Don't be too disappointed if Perdido Street Station just seems like a huge collection of Really Good Ideas rather than much of a story...the best thing about it is that it sets you up to get the most out of The Scar of which I promise you'll worship every pirate/vampire/sea-monster-infested page. Perdido is an incredible feat of world-building though, with really rich characters, unbeatable set-pieces (The ambassador for Hell scene might be my favourite) and so many "I've never seen that before" moments.

No Present Like Time is a much more 'relaxing' book than its its predessecor. It's not a traditional fantasy Quest novel by any means, but it's a lot closer to one than you'd think Swainston would step after reading The Year of Our War. The high demands on the reader that the first book makes aren't there so much either since the pressures off once you understand the Circle and its politcs. Almost a breezy read, and a chance to spend another three hundred or so pages with Jant, which can't be a bad thing.

The Magic Toyshop
is an odd one...it's Carter's first novel and so is back in her slightly depressing phase of "OMG! Nothing about our identities is real! crying "

Took her until her last two novels to reach her final, joyful and celebratory position of "OMG! Nothing about our identities is real! Wait a minute! Wait a minute! This means....It's HUXLEY PIG time bay-bee! biggrin biggrin biggrin "

Maiadorn

Now if you'll excuse me:

*flings self down onto couch with Lost In A Good Book, to do precisely that*

Think I might join you. I took a break from The Well of Lost Plots to read Cloud Atlas...but I think Jurisfiction are calling me up over the footnoterphone(1) again.

One of these days we'll have to get a raiding party together and invade the books forum.

(1) - Damn right we are, Panda. Report to Chapter 18 immediately.
Kay_Challis
Also apropos to nothing, the minute he writes a comic (well, I suppose there is that sorta-comic in Looking for Jake) then China Mieville's pic is going in the Pretty Boys thread.
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Hel-lo![/Terry Thomas]

I remember in days of yore, when the eye candy thread was in its infancy, we suddenly stopped posting comic characters and started posting pictures of the creators. I say creators, it was mostly Neil Gaiman. I remember the "Neil Receiving An Award, Possibly For Being Lovely" picture and the "Nazarene Beat Poet" picture.

I'll always miss that portion of the thread that was retconned outof existance...*sniff*


Quote:
3nodding And Bachalo's been doing lovely work on Claremont's Uncanny...which has been a shame as the fact it's been on Claremont's Uncanny has meant it's gone to waste.


Sort of like using Clarice Cliff plates to hold a McDonald's take-away.

Quote:
I can't belive I'm panting for a book about Cable and Sabretooth. Though in a way the fact that I don't give a damn about anyone in his line-up (except Sam, once, in a far distant past when summers were longer and it always snowed at Christmas) makes me more eager to see if Carey is up to the challenge.


I think my response to each individual member of the Carey X-Men (trying to be clever, I almost decided to call them "The C-Men" until I said it out loud) went something like: "Meh, Blech, Meh, Meh, Yay, Yay, Meh." I expect Mike to turn the Mehs and the Blech into at least an interested "Hmmm...".

As for the Yays, I'll probably have to come up with some sort of parayay.


Quote:
the best thing about it is that it sets you up to get the most out of The Scar of which I promise you'll worship every pirate/vampire/sea-monster-infested page. Perdido is an incredible feat of world-building though, with really rich characters, unbeatable set-pieces (The ambassador for Hell scene might be my favourite) and so many "I've never seen that before" moments.


Well I know what just got bumped to the head of the queue and what's going on my list on my next monthly foray into Waterstone's.



I just can't shake the image of Virgil pointing at me and cackling.


Quote:
No Present Like Time is a much more 'relaxing' book than its its predessecor. It's not a traditional fantasy Quest novel by any means, but it's a lot closer to one than you'd think Swainston would step after reading The Year of Our War. The high demands on the reader that the first book makes aren't there so much either since the pressures off once you understand the Circle and its politcs. Almost a breezy read, and a chance to spend another three hundred or so pages with Jant, which can't be a bad thing.


I loved The Year of Our War, once I got past my squeamishness of being required to imagine giant bugs...*shudder*

One of these days, I'm going to take some of my ink-pen doodles and draw then properly and scan them, if only to show you the picture of Jant and Nikolai Dante, who both fall under the "I feel as though I shouldn't like you, but I do" umbrella.


Quote:
The Magic Toyshop is an odd one...it's Carter's first novel and so is back in her slightly depressing phase of "OMG! Nothing about our identities is real! crying "

Took her until her last two novels to reach her final, joyful and celebratory position of "OMG! Nothing about our identities is real! Wait a minute! Wait a minute! This means....It's HUXLEY PIG time bay-bee! biggrin biggrin biggrin "


I'll be honest and say that I bought it because of the title reminding me of The Magic Roundabout, which lead me to imagine what The Magic Roundabout would have been like had it been written by Angela Carter.

Quote:
One of these days we'll have to get a raiding party together and invade the books forum.


It surprises most of my friends that I don't live in a book forum, given that two walls out of four in my living room are covered entirely by a hodgepodge of bookcases piled on top of one another. I don't know what it is. Of all the forums I've seen on Gaia, I keep coming back to this one because there seems to be a greater sense of community. I did have a couple of forays into the Gaian book forum, but they were largely depressing affairs.

I wouldn't mind giving it another shot, though. 3nodding
http://www.newsarama.com/general/DavidLloyd/DavidLloyd.htm

David Lloyd talks of the upcoming V for Vendetta movie and his own graphic novel he is working on, Kickback.

EDIT:: http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/editors/Hilty/interview.html

DC editor Joan Hilty talks The Flash, Blue Beetle, Manhunter, The Outsiders, Birds of Prey, and Checkmate.


Highlight to read
Damn looks like some of the New Warriors are going to be offed. I actually enjoyed their last mini it was fun.
bobshots
Kay_Challis
Wally_West
my name isn't purple

crying
Why are you crying Kay? I think it's a good thing. Purple West? That's just a silly name, Wally sounds so much better. xp
It's better than Wally Purple.

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