The Complete Zenith

[ming]

Brendan McCarthy has left a lengthy comment on the Zenith article at the Comics Beat (was also put on FB)...  Worth a read, I think.

http://comicsbeat.com/mad-mental-crazy-the-true-life-of-the-fabulous-zenith-part-2/#comment-569818

[Richmond Clements]

Brendan McCarthy has left a lengthy comment on the Zenith article at the Comics Beat (was also put on FB)...  Worth a read, I think.

http://comicsbeat.com/mad-mental-crazy-the-true-life-of-the-fabulous-zenith-part-2/#comment-569818

ZING!

[klute]

Brendan McCarthy has left a lengthy comment on the Zenith article at the Comics Beat (was also put on FB)...  Worth a read, I think.

http://comicsbeat.com/mad-mental-crazy-the-true-life-of-the-fabulous-zenith-part-2/#comment-569818

Nice well worth a read

[Frank]

Brendan McCarthy has left a lengthy comment on the Zenith article at the Comics Beat (was also put on FB)...  Worth a read, I think.

http://comicsbeat.com/mad-mental-crazy-the-true-life-of-the-fabulous-zenith-part-2/#comment-569818

"You need to take what Grant says about Zenith and his earlier career with a pinch of salt. There's a lot of revisionist legend-buffing going on...

Some of us were actually there."

[hippynumber1]

Ouch! 

[JOE SOAP]

Wah, wah, wahhhhhh.

[Colin YNWA]

Sorry I'm probably being very slow but what does TWW stand for?

Third World War.

That was the story Mills said Titan weren't able to reprint on the podcast I mentioned. Be nice if things have changed.

Oh yeah... kinda obvious now!

As for Mr McCarthy's notes on the Zenith piece very revealing.

[TordelBack]

Grant has subsequently claimed that he invented Danny The Street whilst walking backwards around Paris in a Situationist hash-trance... or something.

The great thing about that piece is that it makes me like both Brendan and Grant even more than I already did.

[Spikes]

Brendan McCarthy has left a lengthy comment on the Zenith article at the Comics Beat (was also put on FB)...  Worth a read, I think.

http://comicsbeat.com/mad-mental-crazy-the-true-life-of-the-fabulous-zenith-part-2/#comment-569818

A great read that, Ming - thanks for posting. A intersting article, and a equally interesting comment from Brendan. Top stuff.

[Montynero]

haha! I love Brendan. He really is a visionary, artistically. His ideas, his sensibility. But I do wonder who'll pop up next with an even earlier 'down to earth' take on superheroes. Really, it's not a difficult idea to have. I'm sure it's a concept which has independently occurred to hundreds of creators at different times throughout the decades, reflecting the fashions of their particular time. The magic comes from what you do with an idea, how you realise it and blend it with other notions to create a compelling story. That's what Grant and Steve did so well, initially.

Very interested to read Paradax now!

[JOE SOAP]

haha! I love Brendan. He really is a visionary, artistically. His ideas, his sensibility. But I do wonder who'll pop up next with an even earlier 'down to earth' take on superheroes. Really, it's not a difficult idea to have. I'm sure it's a concept which has independently occurred to hundreds of creators at different times throughout the decades, reflecting the fashions of their particular time. The magic comes from what you do with an idea, how you realise it and blend it with other notions to create a compelling story. That's what Grant and Steve did so well, initially.

It's the style, tone and attitude of his own spin on it that he's really pointing up, not the the concept of down to earth superheroes itself. Zenith has a lot of the playfulness and design that Brendan initiated with Paradax.

[Montynero]

Crossed with the realism and tone you might in Moore's work -and the multiverse spanning scope of Grant's imagination. Which, you could argue, created something which felt new and interesting.

[Frank]

I do wonder who'll pop up next with an even earlier 'down to earth' take on superheroes. Really, it's not a difficult idea to have. I'm sure it's a concept which has independently occurred to hundreds of creators at different times throughout the decades

Superfolks is usually cited as what kicked off the trenchcoats, cigarettes and slanting rain period of costumed adventure, but - as you say - it's hardly an original idea. The most obvious precedent is the comedy sketch show staple of a slightly pudgy Superman coming home to a nagging wife and a dog that keeps taking atomic shits on the carpet. Moore and Co. took that idea and played it straight, in the same way Charlie Kauffman films are all basically the end of Blazing Saddles.

Anyone got any thoughts on what specific bit of magic bollocks (presumably imagery) Our Bren' is referring to when he says ""the 'magickal' stuff in Zenith wasn't original (2000AD had to pay off some artist for having his stuff ripped off later on in the series)"? Or is that just Brendan's own bit of "legend-buffing"? (i)


(i) quote, quote, quote of the week - McCarthy can't help casually tossing out those kind of gems, can he?

[Steve Green]

I can't remember who it was, but at a guess it's possibly the same person Grant Morrison mentions in the Titan intro pages?

I remember the line "they noticed"

[ming]

...I do wonder who'll pop up next with an even earlier 'down to earth' take on superheroes. Really, it's not a difficult idea to have. I'm sure it's a concept which has independently occurred to hundreds of creators at different times throughout the decades, reflecting the fashions of their particular time.

Superbrat-with-an-agent who's more interested in drinking, partying and chasing girls along with his media image?  Convergent evolution of a 'similar' idea or Grant thinking "I'll have a bit of that?"  You, the reader, decide!

Very interested to read Paradax now!

It's a good read, but the least challenging (intentionally so) of all the M&M Strange Days strips.  Freakwave's where it's at...