Jumbie

I'm sure they can think of better things to do with Angie during her lunch break. Either with or without a camera running.

Well, Brian Doherty of reason Magazine has a response of sorts to Ellis, at least so far as the Superheroes in comics angle goes. WHich is amazing since Doherty's article was written in 2001 :-).

Well actually it was written in response to Scott McCloud claiming that comics needs to break out from Superheroes.

I just found the article and I'm going to post some snippets and then a link to the full article.

The superhero and his fans are routinely figured as hopelessly puerile and possibly dangerous. But though those who would upgrade comics to Art or Literature may hate him, it could be that the superhero has given the form the energy to survive at all in a crowded and changing pop entertainment market.

From the very beginning of the comics trade, artists and writers labored under "work for hire" contracts... One effect of that longstanding arrangement was that comics were thought of as essentially creatorless, the brainchildren not of artists with something meaningful to say but of cash-conscious companies trying to squeeze one more dime out of a child’s sweaty palm. Hence, critics, when they deigned to notice comics at all, dismissed them as junk, an unlikely place for anything approaching serious artistic effort.

But first, comics creators and fans must dethrone the superhero comic, "a genre tailor-made for adolescent boys," says McCloud.

But in discussing the possibilities of a glorious, cornucopian future for comics, McCloud must address the obvious question: If comics have such unlimited potential as a serious art form, why are so damned many of them dominated by heavily muscled men in tights engaging in fisticuffs?

After those hearings, the comics industry adopted the Comics Code, an act of "self-regulation" designed to stave off actual government censorship. But the price, goes the standard history, was a high one: Comics were doomed to perpetual childishness.

In fact, mass-market comics were not, by any real evidence, on a path toward Shakespearean grandeur before the banal Code stopped such progress. See, for examples, William W. Savage Jr.’s entertaining Commies, Cowboys and Jungle Queens, which reprints representative examples of pre-Code comics and analyzes what they reveal of the post-war American psyche. The war, spy, and jungle stories he reprints don’t seem like an art form on the verge of greatness. If anything, they’re just fershluggener pop silliness that proves non-superhero comics can be as inane as men in tights at their dumbest.

Yet in many ways, McCloud has already gotten what he wants. There are, and have been for at least 15 or 20 years, many non-superhero comics around, mostly from smaller independent presses. The problem is, hardly anyone wants to buy them.

The father/superhero figure may well be part of the superhero’s enduring appeal, especially among adolescent boys -- an image of a heroic father figure who is not only able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but someone to pal around with between adventures. Such a fantasy may seem unbearably childish; it is, in fact, merely human and underwrites any number of universally acclaimed novels. Literature mavens may groan, but doubtless more people worldwide have been moved by Bruce Wayne’s relationship with the orphaned Dick Grayson than have been touched by Holden Caulfield’s search for a responsive father figure.

But however sophisticated an adventure story Watchmen was, in terms of audience expansion it was a dead-end. "Sophisticated" superhero comics remain insular works whose resonance relies greatly on a previous understanding and interest in the comic book medium.

Anyone who even aspires to being a comics artist in an American context will by necessity have been steeped in the superhero motif.

Far from choking off the vitality of the comic book, superheroes may be precisely that which has kept the form alive, albeit on a smaller scale than decades ago. Look at the fate of another form of pop entertainment that, along with comics, had a huge following in the 1940s: radio drama. There was no one unique thing that it provided better than any other art form, and it died.

Though McCloud tries to deny it, the serialized superhero comic provides something unique, something that other art forms can’t quite match, even when they try to... They are attractive and inspire passion because they provide a structurally different kind of aesthetic/storytelling experience than other, more respected storytelling forms.

The sort of non-superhero comics for which McCloud cheerleads do exist, and can be found in most comic shops (and even in many megabookstores). The market has made room for them. It’s just that no one seems to want them on the same scale they want Spider-Man or Superman.

The superhero comic can be incandescently great and grimily idiotic, but even at its worst, it playfully evokes a wonder-inducing sense of fantastic human invention, of a fertile reworking of eternally appealing myths of beings with powers far beyond those of mortal men.

It will probably turn out, to the consternation of McCloud, that comics, even if they are freed from the shackles of superherodom, will remain a niche market, a weird little sub-eddy in the ocean of popular entertainment... There may be no explosive renaissance ahead for comics; they are unlikely to dominate cultural production the way the novel did in the 19th century or film did in the 20th. But artists like Ware and Clowes will continue to do fascinating work, and their audiences will find it, even if it doesn’t conquer all. And the caped shadow of the superhero will doubtless, in various ways, continue hanging over comics for a long time to come.

Full article here: http://www.reason.com/news/show/28010.html

Shortpacked! scores again:

I figured this thread was the most appropriate place for this.

From my new favorite webcomic, 'Shortpacked!'

They've got a point. Selina in Year One... All the women in Sin City...

From my new favorite webcomic, 'Shortpacked!'

My assistant tells me I've gote -1 new messages.

Does that mean I owe someone a message?

Sorry to get all political on you guys, but here's what congressman Mike Doyle had to say about Mash-ups and copyrights at a discussion about the future of radio:

(bold type is mine)

Mr. Chairman, I want to tell you a story of a local guy done good. His name is Greg Gillis and by day he is a biomedical engineer in Pittsburgh. At night, he DJs under the name Girl Talk. His latest mash-up record made the top 2006 albums list from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and Spin Magazine amongst others. His shtick as the Chicago Tribune wrote about him is "based on the notion that some sampling of copyrighted material, especially when manipulated and recontextualized into a new art form is legit and deserves to be heard."

In one example, Mr. Chairman, he blended Elton John, Notorious B-I-G, and Destiny's Child all in the span of 30 seconds. And, while the legal indie-music download site eMusic.com took his stuff down due to possible copyright violation, he's now flying all over the world to open concerts and remix for artists like Beck.

 

The same cannot be said for Atlanta-based, hop-hop, mix-tape king DJ Drama. Mix-tapes, actually made on CDs, are sold at Best Buys and local record shops across the country and they are seen as crucial in making or breaking new acts in hip-hop. But even though artists on major labels are paying DJ Drama to get their next mixed-tape, the major record labels are leading raids and sending people like him to jail.

 

I hope that everyone involved will take a step back and ask themselves if mash-ups and mixtapes are really different or if it's the same as Paul McCartney admitting that he nicked the Chuck Berry bass-riff and used it on the Beatle's hit "I Saw Her Standing There."

 

Maybe it is. And, maybe Drama violated some clear bright lines. Or, maybe mixtapes are a powerful tool. And, maybe mash-ups are transformative new art that expands the consumers experience and doesn't compete with what an artist has made available on iTunes or at the CD store. And, I don't think Sir Paul asked for permission to borrow that bass line, but every time I listen to that song, I'm a little better off for him having done so.

I think that's just about the coolest congressman I've ever come across...

So I got out of bed and went to the sink and realized that my tongue was BLUE.

I didn't feel sick, but my first thought was that it was a mistake to finish off that jar of peanut butter I knew had been recalled by the manufacturer.

Anyways, just as I was about to call a doctor, I remembered I'd gotten up during the night and drank some purple Gatorade...

In other news, I continue to love stumble upon.

Thanks LL

IN other news... Infiniti has always made quality cars with great engineering.

Now, however, they've finally gotten around to making cars that look like something you'd want to be seen in. (and that look like something worth 45 000 dollars.)

Why am I mentioning this? I have no idea. I'm riding a bicycle to school at the moment and I have no idea when that's going to change. I have no money for a car.

So I was in a hurry this morning and I decided to go commando.

Ok, That's not true. No need to sugarcoat this.

I hadn't done laundry in a while and I was forced to go commando.

That's not the point of the story.

Tonight, I was taking off my jeans and had a Sometthing about Mary Franks and Beans kinda mishap.

My little feller is ok, but he's not gonna be partying for a while.

Hondo's has been really fucked up recently. I can't wait for 2track to come back so we can finally get some sanity in this place again.

I often hear a recording when I call customer service that says, "Please note that this call may be recorded to monitor quality" or something similar.

Is that a bluff or do they actually record you guys from time to time and then write reports?

Serious, that is word for word.

Do happen to have it on tape?

Dear MH, does your love of cuddly felines apply to tigers too?

How's this picture?

You can read the story behind that picture here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/2...n.ap/index.html

YOure apologizing to a troll?

Giving them free speech is one thing, giving them respect is a whole other can of worms

I'm not THAT familiar, but I know it happenned back before Skeeter had too much to do with Fightclub. My guess would be Irish Ninja listed madman as mod as a joke, but I can't be sure.

I am very sure his elevation to mod was a joke.

Yeah, but why?

The reasons you give for saying so may not be things we find objectionable...

IN that first pic, yeah... Looks ok in the others.

madman was never given mod powers

He was just named a mod as a joke.

The current admins/ mods ARE accountable, because we knw who they are and can discuss with them. If a mod edits someone, it'll say 'edited by ______' at the bottom and we can argue with that person.

If madman edits someone, then we don't know who did it cuz madman is a public troll. That leaves things open to abuse.

That may not apply anymore however, according to what MH is saying.

mARVeN, If you've taken over madman and changed the password so that only U can use him then it's true that he's not a public troll, but you've taken away the only thing that ever made him interestin (his multiplicity) and the rationale for naming him a mod in the first place disappears.

Aoi Inu's going on a cruise...

That reminds me: Whatever happened to that 'WIn a date with Sonny' thing?

This is rather childish don’t you think? I merely asked for my rights as a mod to be activated as is right. Seriously I try to voice my opinion and I get kicked out. For no just reason and for no just crime have you exiled me. Your hands are not clean of me.

madman is a hydra with no accountability and no way to reason with him.

Any old fool can stick his hand up his butt and make him speak. Giving madman admin abilities means power in anonymous, unaccountable, hands and that's not a good idea.

Holy fuckin shit, Arvchangel thank you so much for opening my eyes! I never realized that I was such an attention-seeking whore who only posts to make others notice me.

How naive of me to think all along that the things I post about, in an admin forum no less, are about what I believe in.

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YOu know, You've blocked me and sworn at me and called me all kinds of horrible things, and I just smiled because it was nothing less than I expected of you.

But for you to imply that I take this board lightly and that I have frivolous reasons for my positions on board policy is petty of you to a new extreme, besides being completely unfounded.

The position I've taken on trolls is the kind of position I have always taken on board admin matters. YOu weren't even around when Me and Bacchus and Yahven fought the edit wars back in Drunken Deities to make Politics the section of the board with the most freedom to speak your mind, so maybe you don't know, but the topic of speech in Hondo's is something I take real seriously.

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I'll listen to every argument you have to make for banning trolls and consider them, but I think you need to stop and think before you go accusing me of taking up this fight to get attention.

Batman is not a ninja true. But only because he is supposed to be BEYOND ninja. If he was just a detective he'd wear a suit from Sears.

Anyway, my point is: if, somehow, Sade, Lauryn Hill and Bjork got caught stealing soup from a orphanage of leper children, i know id be readin the headline and yelling "how you know they werent set up or some shit? fucking lepers."

As one who has known the ravages of leprosy, I find your choice of words most insulting. It is a shame that we have to add your name to the long list of bigotted shame that includes Isaiah Washington, Mel Gibson and Michael Richards.