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jokingofcourse

Name: Jo King O'Course

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February 10, 2021 5:23 pm I'm so confused by the Dallas T one-two punch questions... Question One asks you to ignore context, complexity and historical reality and reduce each decade to a single narrative/comic (and when has this human desire to reduce groups & history to simple biased narratives ever gone wrong for us? Those people bad, this war was about this, 80's comics are that...But everyone can feel like an expert because we know the one term definition. Also Decades are so arbitrary for comic book ages/importance) Then Question Two asks you to forget everything about Question One and jump back into reality and describe all the complexity and subtlety of the 90's comics decade and unpack it for all the "other" events/narratives that occurred. This kinda discounts that everything is a complex system with many simultaneous influences all fueling the possibilities of any given moment and that things exist in a complex causal chain. Also a lot this hinges on what you believe counts as "comics" or the "comics industry" and is susceptible to a large bias. ...but the 1940's should have totally been Captain America #1! (Detective 27 was 1939 and Batman was already popular and influential before Batman 1) ahk...reductionism feels so good...can't stop...Coke good, Pepsi bad...help. we're all doomed, aren't we...?
January 25, 2021 1:58 pm re: Rorschach #4 The elevator scene in this issue is in reference to the Captain Carnage conversation between Dan & Laurie (Nite Owl & Silk Spectre 2) during their dinner on the last page of Watchmen #1. (Captain Carnage used to pretend to be a super villain to be beaten up) “Whatever happened to him? He pulled it on Rorschach and Rorschach dropped him down an elevator shaft.” PHAAA HA HA HA It’s unclear in its storytelling, but most likely in Rorschach #4 that this scene was meant as flashback re-contextualization of the original Watchmen story, rather than an exploit of the new Strong-guy Rorschach (one assumes due to the presence of a costumed villain, probably placing it pre-Keene act in 1977) My guess it’s to add modern day unknowable-truth-paranoia to the original, tying both versions together. Are there bombs? Is their a plot? What is truth in a world of lies and insincere motivations? only Tom King can save us with all his answers. Wait...are we in a cult too?
January 18, 2021 4:59 pm Yes Conor now I have “Cerritos. Auto. Square.” radio spot jingle lodged in my brain on a Rain Man repeat. Thanks to my aged addled brain it’s slowly morphing into an O’Reilly Auto Parts- Cerritos Auto Square mash up. At least you didn’t start me on a Keeys on Van Nuys loop because those have broken lesser men. HaHa story seems in the “Cotton Candy Autopsy” arena from “Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children” of the DC/Piranha Press comics from my youth. An Ur dark clown story for interested parties. Issues #1 & #13. c.1989. will it ever rain?
January 14, 2021 8:33 pm Josh- Could stories about needless violence being ended by more violence ever be escapist entertainment from the events currently at hand? Perhaps. But probably other types of stories certainly seem like they would make for an easier escape. Conor- Plus one to your Star Wars curmudgeonliness. They keep over saturating us with content but somehow seem to keep making the world seem smaller. Although, I do say in concept Lucas’ idea of more prosperous times under the Jedi / Old Republic rule leading to cleaner life and aesthetics is interesting, just not well executed...Wait did I just complement something about the prequels? Maybe, There is good in me...
December 31, 2020 4:16 pm dollars to donuts, a phrase reference to comedian/author John Hodgman the “nostalgia is a toxic impulse”’ originator as heard weekly on his Judge John Hodgman podcast.
December 15, 2020 7:12 pm Just an uninformed FYI based on childhood reading memories: Freya is the Norse goddess with the chariot pulled by cats.(And Thor’s was pulled by battle goats) Frigga was Odin’s wife. Both were maybe once the same goddess but diverged into two separate ones but definitely Friday was named after them...or one of them...or...anyway they’re all just take offs of Venus the Roman goddess and original Friday namesake. I’m sure someone will “uhm actually “ correct the mis-info. And to that person, you’re welcome. Also I’m too lazy to Google read it up.
November 25, 2020 3:58 pm if 1 is awful...
November 16, 2020 12:24 pm I hasten to say, getting it out quickly before interruption: George Perez was working at Marvel on the Avengers in May 1980 when he created Taskmaster. George Perez left Marvel to work at DC comics on New Teen Titans in December 1980 creating Deathstroke. (disclaimer: cover dates, actual creation times were earlier, also ignoring any writer contributions) p.s. The Superman: Man of Tomorrow art has a Sanford Greene Powerman & Iron Fist feel. Enjoyable. Thanks for the tip.
October 19, 2020 3:07 am Finally got around to listening to this one and adding another voice to the choir of recommending this series to those who may be still considering. And for posterity’s sake (and based on my faulty memory..). Despite Japan having early word and picture creations that many consider comics, without the two key components of panel progression and utilization of page turns, most readers today would not find them comparable. Manga/comics as recognizable today in Japan entered post WWII inspired by the influx of US comic books. As I recall, few if any manga titles made it back to the US, until the direct market and the 80s black and white boom. Viz was first with titles like Crying Freeman then First comics had Lone Wolf and Cub and Eclipse with Appleseed and eventually Marvel with their Epic line publishing Akira (and yes Conor those were flipped and read left to right) I was a very early teen working at a comic shop back then and manga was yet another amazing expansion to comics potential. The art in those books was really exciting to those who loved the art form. Rob Liefeld on his podcast cited those mid 80’s Manga imports as an influence on his art. So by 1987 onward the influence back and forth between American comic artists and their Japanese Mangaka counterparts had been pretty much continuous.
August 16, 2020 10:17 am Yes, definitely. Start with Aaron/ Bachalo. I’m a huge Bachalo fan going back to Shade the Changing Man so the art alone made it a don’t miss, he gets to let loose here. Fan of Aaron’s crime books as well but this story was a lil’ twee and trying too much to be “of the moment“ but I’m old and grumpy so don’t let it deter you. And eventually get around to checking out those graphic novels, like when or if the next movie ever makes it out.