This is why I wish there were still letter columns in the backs of all comics: How cool would it be if Dr. Scott of Politedissent.com were to send letters containing all of the information in this post directly to editors? Pretty cool, I’d say. Well, at least we have the Internet for this sort of thing.
Another week, another instance of a surprising amount of violence in a DC comic: Chris Smits wonders how much action is too much action for Superman’s Action Comics after reading the brutal, bloody battle between Ursa and the new Flamebird in Action Comics #876. (Link via WFA).
The Australian behind the most popular Canadian superhero: On Saturday, The Australian offered a nice, thorough, easy-to-read overview of the road to and making of the new Wolverine movie, with plenty of conversation with star and producer Hugh Jackman.
“Suddenly, that material seems to have reached critical mass, and even the snootiest readers have realised they’ve been missing something”: Michael Gaber begins his review of Rutu Modan’s Jamilti and Other Stories for The Guardian with a rather incisive few paragrpahs about the mainstream media’s difficulties in reviewing comics and graphic novels at all. Check this out:
In this climate, reviewing new graphic work is both easier and more difficult. It’s no longer necessary to convince people that comics can be more than Batman or the Beano. On the other hand, anything with any merit tends to get overpraised and is routinely spared the sort of critical scrutiny brought to bear on everything else, from a new Zadie Smith novel to the latest Star Wars flick. The mainstream press almost never measures a graphic novel’s actual achievement against its unfulfilled potential. New converts, reluctant to show their cluelessness about the ninth art, merely parrot the publishers’ hype.
Yeah! That’s also a good argument for why mainstream media venues that pay the best should just hire comics critics to handle their comics criticism for them. Any editors in the reading audience? If so, I might be able to think of someone to recommend…
“Seth’s fabrications have the air of truth”: Speaking of good reads, check out this thorough piece about Seth and his work from The Walrus. (Link via Drawn and Quarterly).
Big in Sweden: Jeffrey Brown was in Stockholm, Sweden, and was interviewed on Swedish morning show Nyhetsmorgon, and Top Shelf has video here. It’s pretty fun; the introduction is in Swedish, so I didn’t understand a word of it, aside from “Yeffrey Brown,” but the actual interview segment is in English with Swedish subtitles. It still freaks me out when I see Brown and real life and realize that he doesn’t look exactly like his cartoon avatar, though.
Art to take Pryde in: I’m pretty sure I’ve previously mentioned Floating World Comics’ “Full of Pryde” art show, in which you favorite artist provide pictures of X-person Kitty Pryde to benefit the Oregon Hemophilia Treatment Center. Well I’m going to mention it again, because it’s great art for a great cause. You can read more about the May 7 event and see the entire list of contributors here. (Can these images be bound and sold in a comic or book format? Because I’d buy the hell out of that). You ca see artwork from contributors including Bryan Lee O’Malley, Joelle Jones, Rob G, Nathan Fox and more here.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I agree about the Action Comics article. The amount of goopy blood in a Superman story featuring a girl I never heard of and a boy I last saw as a 6 year old, was off putting. I think the fault might be more on the artist though. When Barrows was doing Teen Titans, he had a tendency for over the top blood during the inevitable “brawl issue” of an arc, even when it didn’t fit the story. I’m not a huge fan.