A. Heathen

You're a bad, bad man Mister Tom Willecome

TW -F/C = r(S)

Ah but Ade, how do the sales relate to the scores we've given the issues?

The ones we like sell fewer issues, OBVIOUSLY.

Equate no, connect yes.

Since you asked.

Tallying all the votes for Mike Carey's issues, the usual number of votes was between 29 and 35, but #206 had 40 for some reason.

I'm with Captain McMahon on this.

Marvel printing a story about homosexuals = good.

Marvel showing their readers what a deranged homophobe looks like = also good.

Marvel's response to that letter = reasonable.

You don't fight the fire of bigotry with fire, you fight it with reason.

I also disagree that the second letter is any harsher.

Where did you get the letters Christian?

all puns are bad puns and the ones that aren't are far too clever for their own good and go over my head anyway. So no, I'm not punny.

You're a cool hand, Lou K.

Young Pickle and Old Daisy.

Now, Evil Ade responds to something Red said.

"Why should anyone have the right to buy the use of other people's bodies?"

That's workforce capitalism for you.

Selkie, insofar as pornography entails prostitution (which it usually does) then yes, I am opposed to it. Why should anyone have the right to buy the use of other people's bodies? What is "natural" about that?

Just being droll.

I wonder how many people here have met many prostitutes ? Or porn stars for that matter.

In my line of work, the sex industry is over-represented, which indicates that it is not a lifestyle choice that people make without serious compulsion. In most of the cases it is part of a lifeline that originates with abuse or financial or emotional deprivation, other times the first step is "easy thrills" (drugs) or "easy money".

There are certainly a load of predatory people (men and SHOCK women) enticing people into the trade. And there are also some very supportive folks doing it.

The "happy hooker" exists in the same way that those people doing miserable jobs to get by (as mentioned by Christian upthread) live with it. Grudgingly getting on with what they see as their best way forward. Most of us here, clearly don't think they can be 100% happy, and in my experience (although not all prositutes use drugs or alcohol) none of them are even 50% happy.

My feeling on this is the same as the drugs. Illegal to provide prostitutes but not to be one. I hesitate to say illegal to use them, but the "statutory rape" suggestion is a good one. There are brothels with excellent health care support and who ensure that their staff are looked after, but it's the thin end of a wedge where the thick end are coerced or it is their last resort. Increasingly, we are reverting to the Victorian era of kidnapped women from poor countries or sex tourists visiting those countries - and worse, the child sex industry. Damn it's one thing to be liberalised, but another to ignore society's responsibilities.

Nice doggy, Kris. (I like your new sig, too.  )

 

Roger

Oscar

 

As I type, Rog sits purring on my knee, and Osc sits on the table, doing his 3rd fave thing after eating and sleeping, staring out of the window.

 

Rog says pfffffttthhhhhhh.....

 

"I'm not fat, I'm just big boned"

 

Mummy's boy.

He has two eyes, I assure you.

Karen's just been stroking the screen !

people really need to stop crumpeling up these covers and then deciding that they are going to use them after all...

 

Heheheh, I like that.

 

I am feeling a bit sorry for Greg Lauren now, though.

Don't defend him.

He's learning and that's the best cover yet.

Is it one of them furry guys from Star Wars?

Well done Rogue !

Don't forget, you can translate and reprint any of the annotations that might be useful to use.

I am not at liberty to divulge what he uses his penny whistle for.

Well, now that we know you're in touch with your inner Oprah, after seeing all the Austen stuff, and with your inner geek, after "Who," why don't you tell us about your Felix Castor novels. What are they about?

 

Alright, well Felix Castor is an exorcist: but he's not a man of faith, he's not a priest, and he's not a man who gained his power through any spiritual workings. He's purely and simply an ordinary guy who can bind and dispel ghosts or demons and make a living doing that. In a way, it's kind of horror noir: it's supernatural crime fiction.

 

One of the inspirations behind the Castor character is the work of Raymond Chandler. I'm drawing him as a gumshoe and jobbing exorcist, much like Chandler's gumshoe detectives, working for a set fee plus expenses, that sort of thing.

 

The setting is London of the present day, where the dead have started to rise, with a sudden increase in the number of hauntings and such, so suddenly there is a great need for people like Castor. When we meet him, he's retired: he'd been doing the exorcist thing for a number of years and he had a near miss with a demon, an encounter that went almost fatally wrong. He tried to exorcise a demon from a friend of his and almost killed the friend, and arguably did something that may be worse than killing him. So, Castor is lying low when we first meet him: he hasn't been working and he comes out of retirement to do something simple, but it turns out complex and ugly.

 

In terms of the sequence of novels as a whole, we start off by showing Castor in individual cases and then slowly broaden the canvas, asking the bigger questions about why the dead are rising, why is this seismic shift happening in the spirit world and is it a portent of something bigger? And we start to explore the implications for the real world: is life just one stage in a cycle like the life cycle of a butterfly? What's really going on here?

Hey Mike, how come you wrote all the cars on the wrong side of the road in "Reasons to be Cheerful" ? Is that we ended up in Slough instead of Bristol that time ?

:-P

I have more questions, but I'm saving them for next Friday.

Most are not as snarky as the above, of course.

Hey folks I may refer to this thread in putting together an interview with Mr Carey.

And may I say that Felix Castor is like a less miserable John, with a very Constantinian take on sending spirits back where they came from.

Part of the problem was the cartel that arranges distribution to UK newsagents (not comic shops). It's prohibitive to try and break in unless you're one of those big companies who bring out new magazines for fun.

I suspect those UK shops is where their rebranding will be directed.

I won't be surprised if it comes back as an A4 sized mag with paper cover rather than card - ie, what British shops (aka WHSmiths) will recognise as "A COMIC".

Since he is interviewed as a big giant head filling the screen, I'd say it's the real him.

It's a documentary/interview.

And how many times I have to point out to people that the physical appearance of John Constantine in a film is about as important as the brand of cigarettes he gives up. ie not.

Football is once again rubbish.

Birmingham totally outplayed a shite Charlton team, both had three shots on target. We had about ten off target (clue to lack of success) and even finishing with Heskey, Forssell and Sutton up front did not change the result.

Meanwhile, Match of the Day fails to show most of our chances and fails to show the free kick that should have resulted in a red card for Charlton defender.

The match was not lost on that decision, but you can bet your life if Melchiot had done the same to Bent in the last minute he'd have been sent off.

It's GRIM.

The Mindscape of Alan Moore is Dez Vylenz's excellent film and there's a trailer here http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4...81&q=alan+moore

If you watch to 40 seconds you'll see John Constantine.

I think Dez is still looking for a distributor for a DVD release, so pass it on !

It's aimed at the comics direct market which is usurped by American comics.

Confusedus he say "Man who walks straight line has not seen either side of that line".

Dilemma !

I voted for Wile E. but I have postal vote from Mrs B for Taz and I could quite easily have gone for him. But ...

you know F-, I say F- Foghorn Leghorn, boy.

And were George and Junior Looney Tunes ?

You know, "Can I have a dog, can I? Can I ? Puhleeez. I will hug him and pet him and call him George !"

http://www.nyxxunderground.com/MAMTOR/viewtopic.php?t=697

The first post is depressing, but Liam Sharp's post further down makes sense.

It is a KNOWN FACT that american comic shops are cowardly when it comes to proper anthologies, whereas in Europe we're all about anthology comics.

Hopefully that Mam Tor Roar will again be heard at Bristol.