Hmpf
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Posts posted by Hmpf
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Okay, I'm *really* looking forward to this.
The 'I'd eat my own guts' line was what sold me on her from the first interview on. That's the spirit! *eg*
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That quote was about Carver, not Castor, by the way.
Oops.
I should learn to read properly before posting. Ah, the bad habit of posting in five forums at the same time and chatting in two channels to boot... ;-)
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Ah... you're tempting me so badly... ;-)
Anyway. I just spent this month's comics money, so I'll definitely have to wait at least until next month. And I wanted to get 'Rare Cuts' next month...
Hmmm...
(So far I've only read borrowed trades and issues. I'm only beginning to buy them all.)
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How long does it usually take for a hardcover to come out as softcover? I really want to read All His Engines, but the hardcover is a bit too expensive for my monthly comics budget...
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I do not believe Chas is going to die....but read next issue (out this coming Weds.) to see what might happen with Chas. I too think he's going to leave the book for good....but he won't die!
If he leaves I'll be frelling depressed. I like the Chas-John-dynamic. There aren't many people from his past left in John's life, and I happen to think he's most interesting when he interacts with the people he's known the longest.
Uhm... how do you know what will happen already? You got a chance to read issues in advance? Or were you just making a guess about what's going to happen to him? (I hope you were... I really don't want Chas to leave. I could see him leave for a *while*, but not for good.)
And yeah, of course I'm going to read the next issue!
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Anyway, I believe that "Hellblazer" was very original (most of the time) during the Delano years, but has progressed to how you describe it, Hmpf. Bound to happen anyway!
I must admit I don't really know what the larger genre landscape looked like in the late 80s/early 90s. I was a bit too young to read stuff like Hellblazer then. ;-) (Well, technically, in the early 90s I was beginning to be about the right age to read HB, but at the time I didn't even realise I liked comics, let alone 'horror' comics. My love of comics is a fairly recent thing, or at least a recently reawakened thing - used to love them as a kid, then forgot about them for about twenty years...) So, while I have *some* awareness of the past of the genre, I can only truly compare HB to the genre landscape (in comics, and in general horror/dark fantasy) as it is today.
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no, actually, that would be me. Luis is a smart gent from portugal who just has bad prejudice against current and upcoming Hellblazer writers and European films.
Ah, thanks.
No doubt I'll learn my way around here, given a bit of time. You all seem to know each other quite well.
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and Luis comes with such a negative prejudice regarding ANYTHING Hellblazer related,
Ah, he the resident troll, then? (I'm new here...)
that he missed out on a very POSITIVE aspect of his conspiracy theory about miss Mina's HB arc resembling The da Vinci Code : imagine TDVC as seen through the eyes of John Constantine, who knows it's just a load of old bollocks and rubbish, making fun of the pillocks seeking the lost lineage of Jesus or whatever...?Yes, that could be fun indeed. :)
It's all in the writing.Yes.
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God, I hope Chas won't leave/die. I love Chas. (Not in the sexual way, mind. Although, depending on the artist, he sometimes does look nice enough... *g*)
On the other hand, it's almost too weird Chas has survived unscathed so far.
It's even weirder so few of John's enemies have tried going for his family before.
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You're right, James, that *does* sound different. I was basing my earlier statement on the rather more limited information in Mastadge's post.
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Well. Even *if* Denise Mina's plot should turn out to be derivative (which I'm not convinced of - we really do not know enough about it yet to make *any* kind of judgement about it) - to be honest, I don't read Hellblazer for originality.
I may be stating an unpopular opinion here (and I only just joined the forum, too! The audacity! ;-)) but: Hellblazer, IMHO, is not a very original comic. In the wide field, and by now fairly long history of horror/dark fantasy, we've seen it all before: the caustic, somewhat tortured antihero, the demons, and angels, and monsters, and gods; the urban myths, the apocalypses. HB uses tropes that have been used at least dozens, maybe hundreds of times before; it uses them well, most of the time, and it sometimes twists them a bit, but they're still tropes. What turns HB into a winner, at least for me, is *one* thing: a frelling fascinating protagonist. I read HB for character - and mainly for just one character, John Constantine. I want to understand him, figure him out, see what happens to him and how he reacts... Everything else is just windowdressing, as far as I am concerned (albeit a kind of windowdressing that I enjoy and would miss if it were to disappear ;-)). So what I'm mainly interested in is how good Denise Mina is at characterisation and character development. And what I read about her books seems to bode fairly well for that.
*waits for the flames* (Well, okay, maybe not - you're all nice, civilised guys, right? ;-))
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Does that mean he'll be the second HB author who sort of create(s/d) his own 'copy'/version of Constantine after quitting the book? Ellis had William Gravel...
What does that mean, I wonder? Hmm... Maybe John Constantine's just hard to let go of... *g*
(Note: I'm totally clueless as to what tense to use when I'm referring to Ellis who has already left HB, and Carey who is about to, both.)
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... The Da Vinci Code...
... it's official now: I'm not getting back to the title after Carey leaves after all.
Uhm... from all I've heard, Mina seems to be a better writer than Brown, so I wouldn't worry too much. Granted, I haven't read any of her books yet...
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I'd like to add my voice to the chorus of Bermejo love. He's up there with Sean Phillips as my favourite HB artist. I'd love to have him back, and not just for a one-off issue!
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Maybe we should have a little inofficial letter writing campaign or something. I, too, would buy a Paul Jenkins TPB in a heartbeat.
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I've got a question about the Azzarello run. I must admit to being one of the people who rather dislike his take on HB and JC, so I rather rushed through the Azzarello run and I don't really feel like re-reading. So, I've decided to just be lazy instead and ask you to clear things up for me.
Well, actually, there are several things that left me a bit confused, like, for example, the chronology of the whole Stanley Manor affair, but most of that confusion I can live with easily enough. There's only one thing where I draw a complete blank: that reference to a twelve-year-old girl in Ohio, fifteen years ago, by the name of Katrina Bogdonovich, that Turro makes to Constantine in ... And Buried. What exactly is that about? (And should I feel stupid for not getting it? ;-))
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Sean Phillips' is the John in my head.
Wait. That sounds vaguely disturbing...
;-)
I also really like some of the guest artists, but I keep forgetting their names...
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I wouldn't want to have to plot HB, as I'm crap at plot - but one element I'd really like to see included in future HB stories would be John's aging. We've had references to his 35th and 40th birthday in the comic, and nothing since then. Everybody seems to be growing older except John. Gemma has grown up; Chas is a grandfather - but John seems essentially unchanged. In fact, he looked older under Jenkins/Phillips than he does now. Now, if he really *is* unchanged, that should be explained - I'm not even discounting the possibility; after all, he's been mixed up in some seriously weird shit, and who knows what the effects of that on the body may be. There are other fictitious universes where magic has some rejuvenating or life-prolonging effect, so... (Not saying that I *want* John's life magically prolonged - I'd just like to see the topic of his age addressed, one way or another.)
I always liked that Hellblazer wasn't set in some strange comic book universe where time never seemed to pass; I like that it's rooted in its time, and that John is rooted in *his* time. I don't think it would be a good idea to get rid of that aspect of the book. I'd rather see him age realistically, and either have the series stop at some point, or be taken over by another character.
Apart from the age issue, I'd also like to see him take stock of his life again. He's been so busy reacting for so long now, he hasn't had time to think about anything in ages, it seems. I'm not asking for another midlife crisis - he's had quite enough of those! ;-) But he *does* need some time and space to think.
BTW. Hi, I'm Hmpf, I'm new, and I'm a girl. *g*
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Well. I just went to the DC/Vertigo board and registered just to be able to state my desire for Delano and Jenkins trades there. Don't think it will help any, but it certainly can't hurt, I guess.
This is so frustrating. How will I ever get the whole series if I have to hunt down *hundreds* of back issues and pay collectors' prices for them? I can't afford to buy hundreds of issues at collectors' prices!