Maritimus

It would be nice if his employers at Netflix and editors would be ok with the women "not wanting to 'cancel'" him and that would be enough. "Not guilty, your honor. The defendant may go about his day". After they said they don't want him 'cancelled' they came out with quite a journal documenting what a black hole of a human he is - and also called his 'apology' half-assed and full of gaslighting - so they are not happy. Also, the number of them - probably 1/10 of an average rockstar - but that in itself adds up to quite a many-headed beast that many will not want to get close to. I'm just pondering here. 

49 minutes ago, dogpoet said:

"Sort that beard out, hairball," probably.

"You need to shave Warren - and i mean shave off some of those accounts you follow, ho ho"

It would be actually pretty dope if he wrote an apology issue where Spider is interviewing him.. would probably end up getting shot with the shit gun

I imagine Warren Ellis is sweating now the pictures of himself he sent to those girls all over the internet will "leak"..  if he doesn't play nice. Otherwise - the whole situation crosses so many grey areas - that i feel like it's not going away soon - until it's disected by groups of interest. If people are willing to publicly really dig into the dirty dirty of things.. A lot of it is already out . Will the girls keep lashing Warren Ellis? Can they stop it if they wanted to? Or is there going to be an Ellisgate the cyber trial? What would Spider Jerusalem say?

Time to catch up and dig into the past for a while.. 

I've been reading Frank Robbins' Batman from the late 60s that i can find. It's fun stuff, when Batman and Robin were a one-two punch&pun duo. I really enjoy the old color printing patterns. The limited palettes give it a unique comic book identity. Sometimes it's nice to read some colorful nonsense when things are bad.

It does sound like he is throwing a bunch of cliches of the time together - but unlike some other "top" writers of that period - he is aware of the humor in it.

The silver age - not so innocent in the 2000s. Robin? Nah, he is a killer now (or whatever that was with Red Hood). Dr Light - you think he is silly huh? No.. he is actually a rapist... etc. It makes sense that he would use an old character turned EVIL now..

Also, the colorful cartoony art really helps to separate it from the muddy brown palettes of the time. 

It did have a direct reference to Civil War, so you may be right it's a riff on grim and gritty/ heroes fighting heroes ( or are they heroes at all? The doubt.. the regret..). It might be just Ellis going agains the grain."Ruins" from the 90s is the same thing, but in reverse - a grim take on silly superhero ideas if i remember correctly

There is always some overlap not all of 2000s were shitty ( Ennis Punisher Max) or even gritty (umm.. Nextwave? X-Statix. All-Star Superman!) but about 90 % ratio is probably true for both decades.

Glad you like the term it just came out out of writing fast

I think maybe he wants to examine not answer that question - whether they will do things better? The obvious answer is no, and Milligan must know it would be too naive to think otherwise. It would be also too preachy just to point out "listen to your elders, they may have fucked up a lot - but they have also learned something from their mistakes". 

I think the interesting angle here is the autism and how technology has shaped the younger generation. What kind of world would they build? Maybe they are immune to the techno-virus because they have neurological changes because of being exposed to technology so much? I'm not sure what he is trying to say here - but i'm curious and trust him to avoid being cliche or ignorant.

I really liked and was impressed with how he handled the techno virus in The Names. He does his research.

I don't know if happy is the right word,  but i do think the 2000s were a horrible downer (and time of a lot of shitty gritty comics) and 2010s were a big creative upswing and positive, lighter themes (Squirrel Girl?? I didn't read it but that would never fly in the 2000s). Now it seems like we are going back to gritty realism and being worried all the time.

20 hours ago, Christian said:

I wonder if Peter Milligan's Tomorrow comic is going to be postponed now?

It's about a virus which kills off all the world's population over a certain age, leaving only the youngsters alive.

They should keep it going just to see what Milligan saw in the future - maybe we can learn something. But seriously, it seems the virus part got covered in the first issue, and it's too late to cancel that, i think we will move forward to the repercussions and see how the young generation moves forward. I thought his portrayal of different generations and the main character being on the autism spectrum basically, was ballsy and honest. 

Isn't it a bit similar to when a bunch of writers had smoldering rubble of collapsed buildings BEFORE or right around 9/11. I hope the sunspots are ok - Grant Morrison mentioned in his book that every 11 years we change the phase - btwn bummer and happy. Now we are close to the end of the happy. God damn you Morrison, why do you have to be so clever?

First of all - thank the gods for John Paul Leon. The cover hit me off the shelf right away. If i was unfamiliar with the book, i would have been intrigued. If i was on the fence whether to continue buying the current run (i was) it would have swayed me towards yes, let's give this a look (it did). Art on the inside is on the weird side - appropriate for a book with weird demons. That shit monster looked awesome. The story felt fresh, true to Hellblazer and enjoyable. It did not feel abrupt - Si Spurrier writes like an old school writer and crams the book with a lot of scenes, good dialogue and sarcasm that is a must with John. Tom The New Character is in perfect balance to John and his darkness.

I like the feeling that there is a story building and some perhaps Serious Shit coming - that John in his current state might not be able to deal with - and might not even want to admit that he is off his game. He has been running on reputation for a while, but reality is catching up to him

I'm excited for the next issue. I thought about giving it a 7 but the more i think about it - the more i like it - plus great art, cover, new character that is enjoyable - and bringing back my enjoyment of reading Hellblazer again - shit.. i give it a 9

Yeah - the final issue, that's why i specified the rest of The Devil You Know looked great, but it didn't seem that thought out or inspired. It was almost like they needed to hit the bulletpoints to get to the Grand Finale - and then Mignola took over and worked his magic. Also the finale really tied closer to the early Mignola Hellboy stuff more than the recent and it tied beatifully. If you read Wake The Devil, The Conqueror Worm, Seed of Destruction - this finale gives you what you were promised and never thought you would get

BPRD - Last issue was the best thing i read this year.

I couldn't think of anything else until i took a trip to the comic book store and bought The Weather Men because it had an awesome cover - and it blew me away. Its everything i want from a sci-fi book - big crazy ideas, good characters and some social context. What i read was issue 5 of season 2 - which makes it issue 11 i think - but i'm going to track it all down. The story feels like someone really thought about it for a long time about it and weaved a lot of big ideas - but did not overlook the character stuff and humor. I'm very impressed.

Also Hellboy and the Goloski Station is pretty much a perfect Hellboy story - even if it Did Not Have Werewolves - it was still awesome. The one-shot by Duncan Fegredo also top notch.

On Sunday, September 01, 2019 at 4:46 AM, JasonT said:

Yeah. It reminded me of how f*cking great X-Statix was. I wouldn't have known the Giant-Sized book existed if you hadn't mentioned it in this thread a couple of pages ago, so thank you.

Remember how pumped we were on here when the writer of X-Force and X-Statix was tipped to take over Hellblazer?

Now you will be reminded once again when X-Cellent comes out! I saw some of Allred's designs for new characters a few months ago - and just the names cracked me up - The Stork! I was sad and a bit puzzled why The Stork didn't make it to the Giant Sized X-Statix - but then i understood. He needed a whole new series. I am very excited :)

I actually got the news from Milligan himself when he visited NY for a store signing - he is very nice. Too bad i had to go before the drinks were out - i only got to chat a few minutes and have him sign and draw Doop on my X-Statix omnibus. I probably wouldn't have asked about Hellblazer though.. I wonder if he knows it was pretty bad. At least he bounced back. The Names was great. Terminal Hero had some great classic stuff in it before it got cut short. Britannia is pretty enjoyable. And there's that twisted The Prisoner which i have to get back to. I hope he can recapture more of that X-Statix magic - and he has Michael and Laura Allred for the ride. And The Stork.

Shalvey would be great - he has been doing some Batman work in recent years. I did by chance find Hitch's Batman cover today - Batman Annual 3 i think, and it looks great, more shadowy than usual - if he can maintain that level, i will be happy

Ellis did a sweet Batman story with Becky Cloonan in Detective 1000 - it was almost entirely a fight scene. Minimal captions of Batman's thought process as he dissasembles a special tactical unit of enhanced criminals worked very well for me. Brian Hitch is a bit of a strange choice for Batman - he excells in big superhero stories. With Batman i would like a touch of mood. Becky Cloonan really did a nice job. Francavilla would be great. Jock! Unless its a story about Batman fighting tanks in space.. otherwise it's about time Ellis wrote some Batman (i don't really count his LOTDK story..)

So the Giant-Sized X-Statix turned out to be excellent. Milligan as sharp and fresh and funny as ever- didn't miss a beat since the last X-Statix. Mike Allred took his art to a whole new level for this book, his expressions subtely refined, the detail and love in every panel, more that necessery but not too much. Laura Allred colors pop and glow in the right places, can be muted and quieter in others. Wow. And that last page.. X-cellent!

I think Hellboy In Hell was something Mignola really wanted to do - unleash his imagination - but it wasn't really plot driven. As much as i liked the ending of HoH - it was the ending of that series and like it had a bit of a dreamlike quality and no reprecussions in the "real world". In the BPRD ending i felt the real world shake - at least the real world of that story - but i also felt the impact as a reader. I'm happy both exist!

I read all of BPRD until The New World, which i read sporadically - it seemed like a lot of soldier action that i wasn't so much into - with some highlights like The Long Death. I hopped back on with The Devil You Know. Didn't read any of the Abe Sapien stuff or the Frankenstein - which turned out to be of some importance in setting up the underground world. Good time to fill in the gaps :)

Saw the movie - it's fantastic. It's not for everyone because it has an aesthetic of macabre - think Starship Troopers intensity, with some Robocop, Predator violence level thrown in - and directed with help from Hieronymus Bosch. It flows great - i thought it would be choppy, because it incorporates a few stories unrelated to The Wild Hunt - like the Mexico stuff, but it' done with logic. Do not listen to the bad reviews, don't base your opinion on the awful trailers - a lot of the stuff makes sense in the context. There is only one really bad joke there - and someone put it in the trailer - but there is tons of stuff that is just amazing. Best movie of the year for me - go see it in the theater - it's like a metal concert intensity - only for the fans but the fans love it. I loved it

Wow, so this is the end of the story..amazing that Mignola and the rest got here - and stunned with the ending. I gasped a few times, because some big stuff happens a few times. Mike Mignola drew half of the issue - and packed his pages with his probably best work ever - economic storytelling, where every panel is like a music note, and it flows with beautiful poetry of storytelling. Also, not much vagueness - pretty much everything that happens happens - its not a dream sequence, its not a prophecy.. it's the end of the world and scyscraper sized monsters are like 8th most noticable thing that happens here

go read that comic - even if you're not completly up with B.P.R.D - most of the plot points refer back to old school Hellboy stories that mignola wrote and drew. 

On Tuesday, December 11, 2018 at 3:12 PM, JasonT said:

You're a gem. Thanks very much!

The least I can do for all the cool stuff and laughs I got from all your posts over the years, seriously.. :)

10 hours ago, JasonT said:

18 pages sounds like a lot of work for you.  If you've already scanned it, email would be fine by me, or a Dropbox or Google Drive link; otherwise I'd prefer not to put you to the trouble.

There's 5 pages of text - the rest is design process, some original pages - i was probably going to take hq pictures of them, so it's not a problem. Aah, google drive, i forgot about that. Will do

...

Here it is. Sorry for the glare but scanning would be difficult

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-5J1fCc-e_infSnizP4894Qyy78ppXKe

21 hours ago, JasonT said:

I've got the floppies, so I'd love a look at Grant's backmatter.

Only if it's no trouble for you to scan & post.

I would happily post it - but i'm only allowed 0.31 mb here - what do you usually do with larger files? There is a total of 18 pages of extra content, including sketches, process, design - this book got a lot of love from the creators. I can just shoot an e-mail to whoever is interested, maybe that's simpler.

Morrison mentions this book is supposed to work more like a poem - it would account for different interpretations i guess - the story reflecting what the reader interprets within the nightmare - and daring him/her to look for hidden clues about the hideous forces that lurk in the spheres of the universe at the same time. This book gives me a feeling a Lynch movie often gives me - just out of grasp of conscious understanding, but close enough at times that i can't get it out of my head.

Morrison wrote full 5 pages of text at the end of Nameless HC- sending you off to various books, sources, real life places, mythology, Dark Side of the Tree of Life, schools of magic, "dreammachine", Enochian language, forgotten ruins, Aeonic handover- and that's just Chapter One of Six. I can post the pages somewhere if anyone's interested  in digging through this book again with a semblance of a compass. I know i will be picking at it, because it's just so beautifully done and weird.

Infinite Dark does sound interesting. The concepts of infinite unknown, are quite fitting when dealing with space adventure. I do like when they are at least wrapped in a familiar structure, somethimg to anchor the chaos and imagination - I just started re-reading The Nameless, and it's a brilliant read, just the mood, but there are occult/magical concepts in the story i feel you need to undestand just to  have a starting point, and then the narrative is non-linear, mixed with dream sequences..- i hope the re-read sheds an inch of clarity. Any theories would be interesting to hear as well. Is it supposed to be subjective and just a wild experience cobbled together from many sci-fi/horror concepts? Or does it have a linear story? Morrison's explanation at the end of the trade didn't do much to help honestly

In other news - Peter Milligan and Mike Allred are back with new X-Statix! I think it's a big one-shot if i remember correctly, not sure it's been formally announced, but yay!

I really, really liked The Outer Darkness! It seems Layman is taking his time to establish the main characters in the first part of the issue, giving art room to breathe with some splash pages of spaceships, etc, but towards the end of the issue the weird sci-fi/horror stuff starts coming in, offsetting the comfortable tropes we all know in these kinds of space crew stories. The simple art makes the weird stuff kind of more exciting, because you don't really expect it to go where it goes. Layman mentioning Event Horizon at the end confirmed that this is a read for me. Also, some nice dark humor where things get horrible.