TimC

Another interesting interview with the big hairy one -

http://www.honestpublishing.com/news/honest-alan-moore-interview-part-1-publishing-and-kindle/

- including thoughts on the current publishing scene, and on Frank Miller's recent fuckwittery.

Is anyone keeping up with the US Torchwood that's going on now (or was going on? I never remember these things). I watched a couple of episodes but the gore and dismemberment got to be too much. I'm a wimp, I know, but I couldn't handle people walking around with their heads on backwards and so forth. Was it good? Should I just get Whitney to watch it first so she can tell me when to close my eyes?

I did watch it all. It's some way from good. It has its moments, but overall it's a bit dull and doesn't make much sense at all. Worst of all, it's not much fun - imagine, if you like, the worst self-pitying stories of season 2 spread thinly over 10 hours. After the first couple of episodes, the problem's not so much worrying when to close your eyes, but trying to keep them open.

Or, to put it another way, the first two seasons were mad bollocks. 'Children of Earth' was the dog's bollocks. 'Miracle Day' is just bollocks.

Another vote for Blacksad. I got the Dark Horse collection of the first three stories for my birthday (as there's not a new Grandville this year), and it is indeed rather fine. The writing might be a bit too close to generic noir pastiche, but the art and the attention to detail are very lovely.

I'm reading Lautreamont's Maldoror (Alexis Lykiard translation). Surprisingly funny, especially the one where he fucks a shark.

Anyway, the Great Shooters Hill Novel: 'Somnium' by Steve Moore (with afterword by Alan Moore (no relation)).

The author shouldn't need any introduction, especially if you've read/seen/heard Big Hairy Alan's 'Unearthing' - this is the novel described in that biographical piece. A mythical, multi-layered stories-within-stories, postmodern hymn to the pre-modern and the pulchritudinous moon. May also appeal to Sandman fans.

http://strangeattractor.co.uk/shoppe/somnium/

Seconded. Pynchon is a good funny writer. Amis is a twat.

Thanks to the lads who invested in Cradlegrave. It's aces. Would you agree [ Spoiler : the ending is anti-climactic ], or do I need to re-read it already?

It is a bit flat dramatically, but it's kind of refreshing to see the

defeated by

.

I don't think it broke any new ground in the 'horror in suburbia' genre, but its depiction of a specific environment (I know several places just like that) was excellent. Art-wise, I wasn't keen on the obviously computer-generated backgrounds in many panels, or that several key characters looked awfully similar (maybe intentionally, I suppose), but it was otherwise solid.

I think I might have to dig out 'Straightgate' again.

Having to change all the clocks in the house because of the end of summertime. Mostly because I inevitably end up humming that fucking Cher song.

Spaceman was better than I was expecting, given the underwhelming preview/prelude in that Strange Adventures thing. Still not a fan of Azzarello's labored wordplay, but nice mood and setting.

I also picked up Cradlegrave after Jason's mention. A pretty tasty piece of kitchen sink gothic.

'Blink' is quite possibly the best episode I've seen too. It gets some negative criticism, which mystifies me.

I found it quite dull and silly, and blighted by Moffat's sitcom characterisation. Not the worst episode of NuWho (that'd be the space whale or the pirates), but it's not even the best Tennant-era Doctor-lite episode.

It worked well enough as a short story in one of the Annuals, to be fair.

Enjoyed it more than I was expecting to, and it even left me feeling a little more kindly towards the season as a whole. Low expectations can be useful.

Where I went the other weekend -

It does indeed have a certain atmosphere.

I never got into Transmet, in large part because I had read a lot of HST and could see exactly where Ellis was cribbing from.

It's not an unusual problem with Ellis, I find - his Hellblazer run was deeply in debt to the then-fashionable Derek Raymond, and whenever I look at his scifi work I'm reminded of specific New Scientist articles from circa six months previously.

Re the

- apart from the obvious Numbskulls reference, I seem to recall something very similar from, I think, a Micronauts comic some 30-odd years ago. Can anyone verify?

Not often I get to say this, but: that was a waste of Hitler.

Batman Incorporated 8 (the Digital Justice homage): "80s is right!"

 

It was something else, I'll give Morrison that.

So, it was an homage to "Digital Justice"? Because I was thinking that, while the art does engage you and I haven't seen something like this tried very often in comics, it was like reading something out of the 1980s.

One of the sections was headed 'Digital Justice', so that's bit of a nod. I liked the story a lot more once the characters had had the discussion about how 80s it all was.

Batman Incorporated 8 (the Digital Justice homage): "80s is right!"

Not the best issue so far, but it does advance the main story - which means it's even more of a pisser that the run's getting fucked over for this New 52 baloney.

A moderately evil web manga that's doing the rounds -

http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=350217&no=20&weekday=tue

Please tell me more! I love Dave McKean, especially Cages!

It's 280-odd pages of pure McKean - a wordless pornographic fantasia, in a succession of different art styles.

Interview and sample (cleanish) pages -

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32469

Dave McKean's 'Celluloid'. Dirty, dirty Dave McKean.

Speaking of things Lovecraftian, I'm reading Robert Chambers' 'The King in Yellow', which was a bit of an influence on HPL. Chambers could write, however.

I'd read one of the stories, 'The Yellow Sign', decades ago in a somewhat erroneous Lovecraftian anthology ('The Spawn of Cthulhu', which has one of the worst covers ever seen on professionally published book), and it had stood out then as considerably better than most of HPL and his imitators.

The book's out of copyright, so easily obtainable in electronic form. I, however, found a particularly squamous Ace edition from the 60s or thereabouts.

And The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue, Plague Of The Zombies, Return Of The Living Dead and I, Zombie: The Chronicles Of Pain, I hope?

Much as I love 'Manchester Morgue' (endlessly quotable: "Stop him! He's broken my oscilloscope!"), it's not a film I'd recommend as a good example of its genre, exactly.

RotPotA is indeed as much fun as a barrelful of monkeys. One does have to suspend disbelief at a few points, but the worst you can say is that it makes about as much sense than the original. Best Hollywood remake/reimagining/ripoff for a long time.

Although, as ever, all the bad guys are played by Brits.

Finally got 1969, and it is indeed a top read - both in the story itself, and in the reference game (I was particularly amused by the 'Bedazzled' gag.)

However, I was slightly disconcerted to look at Nevins' online annotations afterwards, and find that I'd already commented on a few points. I think these come from a message I sent on the previous volume, but given the time-drifty nature of the book, I wouldn't swear to it.