Part of me really wanted to revisit last week’s Cage Match at Comics Comics, given that this week David Heatley replied to some of his critics. But it would have been all quotes linking to one page, a clear cheat in the process of quote collection. Plus, as passionate and cutting as the posts may have been, the comments got shut down due to an increased breakdown in civility. And yet, I find it’s still worth a visit for such interesting lines as: “The pink bars, by the way, are pretty much a non-issue outside comics circles.” (Heatley); “… sounds like something some goofy, ill-informed and hissingly defensive superhero fan would write on a CompuServe message board in 1995.” (Tom Spurgeon); “I’m so sick of diplomatic (or faux-diplomatic) defenses and rationalizations… ” (Jeffrey Meyer); and “On the other hand … it is very, very hard to respond to criticism without looking like a douchebag, and it’s even harder when your work is so tied up with your personal life.” (Noah Berlatsky).
Now having dismissed that which I did not quote but did quote, on with the actual quotes.
“So that people can afford to buy them. So you don’t have to be rich to own a painting. I think everybody should be able to own art and have it in their homes. I’m kind of against posters. I think people should have real art made by real human hands in their homes.”
- James Kochalka explaining why he creates 2-inch by 2-inch paintings
“Sometimes I just want to make stand alone images — drawings, etchings (painting seems attractive to me but I’m not sure how to do it) without having to connect them to another image, but always come back to telling a story. I end up doing a drawing series or something and it tells a story anyway.”
- Renee French on whether she considers the pursuit of other art forms.
“Marvel 1985′s conclusion, like many of Millar’s lesser works, fails to deliver on any of the initial promises and is what I consider to be the worst thing a comic can be – forgettable.”
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“Final Crisis contains such an embarrassment of obscure DC heroes and fannish references that it actually requires a highly-trained reader to give you adequate back story. This practice of exhaustive online footnoting is one of the less-talked about ways that the internet is profoundly changing the way we read books — and not just comic books.”
- Annalee Newitz on the potential increasing impact of online footnoting
“Which isn’t to say I subscribe to the belief that you can’t ‘love comics,’ you can, I do, but I’m really glad I don’t love them in that creepy obsessive way I did when I was a kid and got terribly upset because Vibe died. It’s all about perspective. Of course, you, dear reader, could be the type who can cry at running shoe commercials, in which case: God be with you.”
- Tucker Stone in a footnote to his column regarding his relationship with/connection to Batman: A Death In The Family
“The big issue across the board in the near future may be a body blow to traditional advertising from which many comics have benefited.”
- Tom Spurgeon offering just one (of 30) from Two And One Half Dozen Not Very Deep Thoughts On Comics And Recessions
“The fact is that, except for a faithful few, the 32 page package is simply not perceived as value-for-money anymore, and the higher the price goes the less it’s perceived that way.”
- Steven Grant contemplating comics, pricing and format
“If uber-geek Kevin Smith could be any superhero right now, sadly, it might be Matter-Eater Lad.”
- Geoff Boucher acknowledging Smith’s weight concerns in a link to a Los Angeles Times piece that notes Smith ” … has been complaining about being fat in radio interviews and fretting about it on his blog much to the chagrin of Weinstein Co. publicists for the film …”
