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#1
Creative Common / Re: Does my Art look big in th...
Last post by Barrington Boots - Today at 09:47:45 AMI also like this Armitage better than the current Armitage. Nice work!
#2
News / Re: The Great Dante Readthroug...
Last post by Barrington Boots - Today at 09:46:00 AMQuote from: Trooper McFad on 18 May, 2024, 12:01:17 PMAnyway after a 2 weeks binge I'm up to podcast 32
This is some serious listening work, dude!
#3
Books & Comics / Re: Completely Self-absorbed T...
Last post by Barrington Boots - Today at 09:37:14 AMInteresting read this. Swamp Thing is something I've often thought about checking out. I've only ever read a single issue - a girl gave it to me as a gift and given I'm not hugely into superhero stuff I didn't want to taint it by reading around it and finding I didn't care for the series, if that makes sense - I rather like it in isolation.
As ever Colin you've got a very thoughtful take - I don't always comment on these posts but I always read and enjoy them.
As ever Colin you've got a very thoughtful take - I don't always comment on these posts but I always read and enjoy them.
#4
Prog / Re: Prog 2381: A grizzly fate
Last post by sadako - Today at 09:28:55 AMMeh. Still, if all Dredd is going to do from now on is keep trudging along from one fiasco after another as the sole survivor like the ancient f*cking mariner, he might as well retire. No, I haven't been happy with stories lately, how did you guess?
#5
Prog / Re: Prog 2383: Blood Work
Last post by Barrington Boots - Today at 09:21:42 AMLooks like a raft of Saturday Progs this week. As a sub the Prog always seems that little bit better on a Saturday.
Dredd I'm in the minority and going to say I'm not into this at all so far. Dredd is being a complete prick - which I expect to an extent but he's really dialled it up here. The childrens dialogue is a bit overly wordy and the villain doesn't excite me. I'm actually glad most others are digging this though, as it means it's a personal taste thing.
Intestinauts Absolutely terrific this week. I loved the CYOA bit - bonkers and very imaginitive, yes! The art is superb here too. My favourite bit is the robot using the saw robot as a weapon but its packed with cool, crazy little touches. Top thrill for me this week.
3riller I thought this was a really, really good opener. Great and unusual premise, mystery set up, cool artwork, great stuff all round.
Brink Very engaging episode. My favourite one so far. As a vegetarian the stuff with the meat plant was just so horrible - synthetic meat is something I like the concept of, but the part where the workers shock it to produce fear / pain response - for some reason this appalled me so much. Great writing. I am deeply suspicious of Wade with his knowing everything and everyone.
Proteus Vex continues to be top notch. Very visceral episode - the flashback scenes of Silk murdering her way to conquest alongside those of Midnight doing more or less the same, with the terrified faces of the Citheronians as she rampages through them was not lost on me. Glad to see the little axe-wielding bandana guy survived at the end.
Very strong Prog again. Thanks Tharg!
Dredd I'm in the minority and going to say I'm not into this at all so far. Dredd is being a complete prick - which I expect to an extent but he's really dialled it up here. The childrens dialogue is a bit overly wordy and the villain doesn't excite me. I'm actually glad most others are digging this though, as it means it's a personal taste thing.
Intestinauts Absolutely terrific this week. I loved the CYOA bit - bonkers and very imaginitive, yes! The art is superb here too. My favourite bit is the robot using the saw robot as a weapon but its packed with cool, crazy little touches. Top thrill for me this week.
3riller I thought this was a really, really good opener. Great and unusual premise, mystery set up, cool artwork, great stuff all round.
Brink Very engaging episode. My favourite one so far. As a vegetarian the stuff with the meat plant was just so horrible - synthetic meat is something I like the concept of, but the part where the workers shock it to produce fear / pain response - for some reason this appalled me so much. Great writing. I am deeply suspicious of Wade with his knowing everything and everyone.
Proteus Vex continues to be top notch. Very visceral episode - the flashback scenes of Silk murdering her way to conquest alongside those of Midnight doing more or less the same, with the terrified faces of the Citheronians as she rampages through them was not lost on me. Glad to see the little axe-wielding bandana guy survived at the end.
Very strong Prog again. Thanks Tharg!
#6
Film & TV / Re: Tim Burton Hints at Nemesi...
Last post by JayzusB.Christ - Today at 08:35:50 AMIt's an amazing bit of work. I'd only ever seen it as the video for that goth song, but I really like the original soundtrack and dialogue. And now I have a third way to pronounce Satanus - SayTANus, rather than SAYtanus or SahTANus.
Some of it is fairly clearly taking place on someone's kitchen table, but still, it really captures the spirit of Kev O'Neill at his maddest.
Some of it is fairly clearly taking place on someone's kitchen table, but still, it really captures the spirit of Kev O'Neill at his maddest.
#7
Books & Comics / Re: Completely Self-absorbed T...
Last post by Colin YNWA - Today at 07:47:36 AMPart 2 - Not on the List Alan Moore's Swamp Thing
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing is a really creative piece of work. It reads to me as a writer learning more and more of his craft and experimenting with what he can achieve and learning that frankly that's an incredible amount. Across the 42 (I think it is) issues he seems to be growing and stretching in different ways. And it's that which means much as I enjoy these comics I don't place them on my list. There's not the same sense of focused aim in this run, it flits across different ideas and themes, different ways of approaching how to use the character to tell different stories.
Now fair to say this should be a strength after all there will be numerous series, runs and stories where I enjoy this happening on this list and I do here, just not as much as with others. Its restlessness when combined with the fractured way I have come to these tales means they've never quite coalesced into a whole for me. They've never quite felt like a single story, even one using multiple storytelling ideas in the way I think I most enjoy.
I'm really conscious I'm likely being unfair here. I long intended to get the comics in a single format, maybe 'just' digitally and give it another go to see how well it hangs together. I've just never gotten around to it - see previous posts on there just being too many damned good comics out there. And these have never quite held that place in my heart to make me do that... yet. I do wonder when I do whether I will engage with these more and more positively.
After all I love superhero comics and these are good superhero comics... or are they. These almost self consciously push against being superhero comics, or at least traditional ones. Swamp Thing is born of horror comics. Yet Alan Moore and some brilliant artists he works with, seems enamoured with playing in the superhero universe he has his hands in and loved so much growing up. In doing that I think we get to why I've not rushed to that re-read. Just as we witness a writer experimenting with his craft and never quite being settled into a single story. Moore never seems to quite settle what he wants this to be in terms of genre. Again genre bending and mixing can be a really good thing. In this run however it feels more restless and unsettled. As if his desire to play with the superhero toys he has available to him stops him fully committing to what this might otherwise have been if he'd committed fully to this being a horror, supernatural comic and in some ways it falls between the two stalls.
I think it's this that means I've not rushed back to these. I've never quite settled with what this is. In part due to the way I've been introduced to these tales, in part by what I see Moore doing, or not doing. These are really good comics and I will get back to them. They're just not Moore's best for me.
We'll get to those as the list goes on.
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing is a really creative piece of work. It reads to me as a writer learning more and more of his craft and experimenting with what he can achieve and learning that frankly that's an incredible amount. Across the 42 (I think it is) issues he seems to be growing and stretching in different ways. And it's that which means much as I enjoy these comics I don't place them on my list. There's not the same sense of focused aim in this run, it flits across different ideas and themes, different ways of approaching how to use the character to tell different stories.
Now fair to say this should be a strength after all there will be numerous series, runs and stories where I enjoy this happening on this list and I do here, just not as much as with others. Its restlessness when combined with the fractured way I have come to these tales means they've never quite coalesced into a whole for me. They've never quite felt like a single story, even one using multiple storytelling ideas in the way I think I most enjoy.
I'm really conscious I'm likely being unfair here. I long intended to get the comics in a single format, maybe 'just' digitally and give it another go to see how well it hangs together. I've just never gotten around to it - see previous posts on there just being too many damned good comics out there. And these have never quite held that place in my heart to make me do that... yet. I do wonder when I do whether I will engage with these more and more positively.
After all I love superhero comics and these are good superhero comics... or are they. These almost self consciously push against being superhero comics, or at least traditional ones. Swamp Thing is born of horror comics. Yet Alan Moore and some brilliant artists he works with, seems enamoured with playing in the superhero universe he has his hands in and loved so much growing up. In doing that I think we get to why I've not rushed to that re-read. Just as we witness a writer experimenting with his craft and never quite being settled into a single story. Moore never seems to quite settle what he wants this to be in terms of genre. Again genre bending and mixing can be a really good thing. In this run however it feels more restless and unsettled. As if his desire to play with the superhero toys he has available to him stops him fully committing to what this might otherwise have been if he'd committed fully to this being a horror, supernatural comic and in some ways it falls between the two stalls.
I think it's this that means I've not rushed back to these. I've never quite settled with what this is. In part due to the way I've been introduced to these tales, in part by what I see Moore doing, or not doing. These are really good comics and I will get back to them. They're just not Moore's best for me.
We'll get to those as the list goes on.
#8
Books & Comics / Re: Completely Self-absorbed T...
Last post by Colin YNWA - Today at 07:47:02 AMPart 1 - Not on the List Alan Moore's Swamp Thing
Not on the list - Alan Moore's Swamp Thing
Look I promise you these 'Not on the list' entries aren't just going to become apologise for which Alan Moore comics don't make my list, but he's so significant that it sometimes feels necessary! Anyway this time I'm going to quickly discuss why
Copyright - DC Comics
isn't on the list. This one crops up here, but it could just as easily have appeared after my entry for Madman and this is as much about how I reflect on this run in relation to how I've read it as much as how I compare it to Moore's other work.
Let's get some basics out the way before getting any further into that. As most of you likely know Alan Moore's run of Swamp Thing started in 1984 and became in many ways the figurehead of the British Invasion of mainstream US comics (though artists Dave Gibbons and Brian Bolland got there first). Swamp Thing was an established DC character having been created in 1971 by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. It dabbled on the edges of the DC Universe, more linked to its horror titles, than DC's superhero ones. A short lived first series was followed up, off the back of a Wes Craven low budget movie, in 1982 with a second ongoing which didn't really do much. Until issue 21 - Moore having used his first issue 20 to tie up the existing plot threads. In the now famous issue 21 'Anatomy Lesson' Moore redeveloped the character's origin using the pieces that had been there before but in new, creative ways to redefine Swampy's story. He then built on this over a run lasting almost 4 years and 40 issues that for many refined not just the character but what could be done with a mainstream US comic series.
I have read this entire run, but only once from beginning to end in chronological order of publication. And even that was from a number of different sources and formats. This was also after reading pretty much all of it in bits and bats across the years and I do mean many years. I had a load of the 'Moore issues' back in the day when I was first collecting, but not all. Then when I got back into comics I picked up a number of issues, different ones as I sold the one's I'd previously owned. I then get a hardcover of the start of the run and some issues of Essential Vertigo issues - a black and white reprinting of the run (grrrh why do so many comics get this but not V for Vendetta!).
While gathering all this my reading list was nothing like as long as it is now so the run was first read in these bits and pieces, not as a cohesive whole. I did finally do a re-read from beginning to end maybe 15 years ago. I do wonder though if my initial fractured reading over the many years has impacted how I reflected on it. First impressions last and all that.
See on that re-read I found it slightly meandering. Moore is doing a LOT over the course of the run. From its beginning when it felt more firmly rooted in DC superhero stories, albeit using the characters in incredibly interesting ways, offering new reflections on these characters. He then seemed to try to focus (even) more on the horror and magical aspects creating a corner of DCs universe that is still well used today. Swamp Thing was becoming a key character of the wider world he was based in so even at the end of this time of Moore trying to create a space to tell different stories he was drawn back into DC proper. The Universe reshaping Crisis on Infinite Earths jumps into the key American Gothic storyline. So Moore takes drastic action, as I see it, and decides to have one last hooray with Batman before spinning Swamp Thing off into space to liberate him from as many confines as possible. To be fair this is likely not true as even when the disembodied Swampy is travelling the cosmos he encounters numerous characters from DC's cosmic corners. It's just the issues post 54 feel like Moore really spreading his wings, even further than he had already, and pushing the boundaries of what he could achieve in a 'regular' DC comic beyond even what he had already.
Not on the list - Alan Moore's Swamp Thing
Look I promise you these 'Not on the list' entries aren't just going to become apologise for which Alan Moore comics don't make my list, but he's so significant that it sometimes feels necessary! Anyway this time I'm going to quickly discuss why
Copyright - DC Comics
isn't on the list. This one crops up here, but it could just as easily have appeared after my entry for Madman and this is as much about how I reflect on this run in relation to how I've read it as much as how I compare it to Moore's other work.
Let's get some basics out the way before getting any further into that. As most of you likely know Alan Moore's run of Swamp Thing started in 1984 and became in many ways the figurehead of the British Invasion of mainstream US comics (though artists Dave Gibbons and Brian Bolland got there first). Swamp Thing was an established DC character having been created in 1971 by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. It dabbled on the edges of the DC Universe, more linked to its horror titles, than DC's superhero ones. A short lived first series was followed up, off the back of a Wes Craven low budget movie, in 1982 with a second ongoing which didn't really do much. Until issue 21 - Moore having used his first issue 20 to tie up the existing plot threads. In the now famous issue 21 'Anatomy Lesson' Moore redeveloped the character's origin using the pieces that had been there before but in new, creative ways to redefine Swampy's story. He then built on this over a run lasting almost 4 years and 40 issues that for many refined not just the character but what could be done with a mainstream US comic series.
I have read this entire run, but only once from beginning to end in chronological order of publication. And even that was from a number of different sources and formats. This was also after reading pretty much all of it in bits and bats across the years and I do mean many years. I had a load of the 'Moore issues' back in the day when I was first collecting, but not all. Then when I got back into comics I picked up a number of issues, different ones as I sold the one's I'd previously owned. I then get a hardcover of the start of the run and some issues of Essential Vertigo issues - a black and white reprinting of the run (grrrh why do so many comics get this but not V for Vendetta!).
While gathering all this my reading list was nothing like as long as it is now so the run was first read in these bits and pieces, not as a cohesive whole. I did finally do a re-read from beginning to end maybe 15 years ago. I do wonder though if my initial fractured reading over the many years has impacted how I reflected on it. First impressions last and all that.
See on that re-read I found it slightly meandering. Moore is doing a LOT over the course of the run. From its beginning when it felt more firmly rooted in DC superhero stories, albeit using the characters in incredibly interesting ways, offering new reflections on these characters. He then seemed to try to focus (even) more on the horror and magical aspects creating a corner of DCs universe that is still well used today. Swamp Thing was becoming a key character of the wider world he was based in so even at the end of this time of Moore trying to create a space to tell different stories he was drawn back into DC proper. The Universe reshaping Crisis on Infinite Earths jumps into the key American Gothic storyline. So Moore takes drastic action, as I see it, and decides to have one last hooray with Batman before spinning Swamp Thing off into space to liberate him from as many confines as possible. To be fair this is likely not true as even when the disembodied Swampy is travelling the cosmos he encounters numerous characters from DC's cosmic corners. It's just the issues post 54 feel like Moore really spreading his wings, even further than he had already, and pushing the boundaries of what he could achieve in a 'regular' DC comic beyond even what he had already.
#9
Off Topic / Re: Boys Adventure comic blog
Last post by Richard S. - Today at 06:33:44 AMMy covers gallery for 'Street Sharks' comic (1997) is now complete for issues 1-9, the question now becomes 'did it make it to issue 10 (or higher)?' - any help much appreciated
https://boysadventurecomics.blogspot.com/2024/05/updated-street-sharks-comics-1997.html
https://boysadventurecomics.blogspot.com/2024/05/updated-street-sharks-comics-1997.html
#10
Prog / Re: Prog 2381: A grizzly fate
Last post by Funt Solo - 19 May, 2024, 11:24:56 PMJessica Paris could replace him, and take the name Dredd.