Topics

1

General / Toxic fandom in UK comics (including the prog)

« on: 24 March, 2022, 01:22:20 PM »

This is an interesting article, covering topics which have come up on the board:
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/toxic-fandom-comicsgate-uk-comics/

His commentary looks pretty accurate to me.

2

Books & Comics / Al Ewing statement on Immortal Hulk’s Joe Bennett

« on: 02 September, 2021, 08:15:00 PM »

Al Ewing has released a pretty scathing statement about the artist on their recent Immortal Hulk run, Joe Bennett:
https://twitter.com/Al_Ewing/status/1433473008996397062

I haven’t seen the piece he refers to, but I do remember an anti-Semitic trope that Bennett put into Hulk, allegedly by accident.

All very disappointing. It’s hard to see what else Ewing can do, though.

3

Other Reviews / Brink audiobook

« on: 25 August, 2021, 09:20:09 AM »

I've just finished the Brink audiobook, and I have to say its the best of the Penguin adaptations so far. The Pit was excellent, America and Slaine very good, but Brink takes it to another level. The voice cast is extremely well cast and the sound design is outstanding.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone, not just fellow Squaxx.

4

Off Topic / Saint Dolly

« on: 05 May, 2021, 09:27:47 AM »

I stood in line in a vast Exhibition Centre earlier this week and got my first vaccination, which was the Moderna shot. The nurse there was very thorough in covering possible side effects and what to watch out for. A really impressive setup.

Anyway, I started to google Moderna when I got home and found that Dolly Parton funded its early research. So, as well as being a great singer, songwriter, performer, funder of literacy programs and all round extremely nice person, she has now saved thousands of lives. Round of applause for Dolly!

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/17/dolly-parton-partly-funded-moderna-covid-vaccine-research
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/03/dolly-parton-gets-vaccinated-with-moderna-jab-she-helped-fund

5

General / Judge Dredd Penguin audiobooks

« on: 15 April, 2021, 12:48:50 PM »

I'm working through the Penguin audiobooks at the moment, and am really enjoying them.

I started with The Pit and its an excellent adaptation. It does require a keen ear to identify the many judges, though.

America is interesting. They include a lot of the Democracy stories, which are very useful in terms of context, but don't include of the Beeny follow up stories. This means that, having listened to a Wagner script throughout, it ends with Ennis' Twilights Last Gleaming. I know Ennis has in the past been critical of his own Dredd work, so I don't think I'm being controversial when I say that I think the storyline and characterisation are completely misjudged (pun intended) and undermine a lot of the previous stories in the audiobook. I wish they'd made a different decision on that.

6

Books & Comics / Keanu's Kickstarter comic

« on: 02 September, 2020, 10:04:04 AM »

Here's an oddity, an established publisher, well known comic creators and a major Hollywood star going to Kickstarter to fund a comic:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boom-studios/brzrkr-by-keanu-reeves-matt-kindt-and-ron-garney

Advance sales are great for cashflow, so I get that, but it just illustrates how Kickstarter is being used as a retail platform rather than a funding one. This has been happening in board games for years as well.

I have no idea of the quality of the comic.

7

General / Dredd and police brutality

« on: 24 July, 2020, 10:07:12 AM »

I just read this article which uses Dredd to comment on contemporary issues around police brutality, and it makes fascinating reading. The author certainly knows her Dredd, which makes a nice change from the usual surface-only treatment of the character in the mainstream and comics press. Writers also offer comment, including Wyatt, Carroll and Williams:

https://neotextcorp.com/culture/the-devil-you-know/

8

Books & Comics / Warren Ellis

« on: 13 July, 2020, 01:49:32 PM »

The allegations about Warren Ellis' behaviour that have been on social media for the last few weeks have now reached the mainstream press:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/13/women-speak-out-about-warren-ellis-transmetropolitan

There have been an awful lot of these stories. The comics industry seems to have a consistent track record of tolerating and enabling exploitation and abuse.

9

Help! / Helpdesk

« on: 11 June, 2020, 01:48:21 PM »

Is anyone getting any replies from the helpdesk? I saw the warning about them being busy, but I've had a query in for a while now (missing prog) without a response.

10

News / Alan Grant's community comic

« on: 20 May, 2020, 11:10:21 AM »

Alan Grant is in the news for a community comic project during the lockdown:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-52707072

11

General / Brendan McCarthy interview

« on: 05 May, 2020, 11:31:35 AM »

Cartoonist Kayfabe (Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg) have done an excellent, and long, interview with Brendan McCarthy. There's a lot about Mad Max, his various collaborations with Peter Milligan and Zaucer of Zilk. I'd recommend it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No57Ta3DgrQ

It's also available as a podcast.

If you enjoyed that, the one they did with Dave Gibbons a couple of months ago is also excellent. They've got some good stuff, those guys.

12

Film Discussion / Taika Waititi to direct and Krysty Wilson-Cairns to write new Star Wars

« on: 05 May, 2020, 09:09:22 AM »

https://www.starwars.com/news/taika-waititi-announce

Coming off the back of the rather good The Mandalorian, I am now interested in new Star Wars material. This sounds really promising! Wilson-Cairns is a very interesting choice and I'm really happy to see how fast her star has risen.

13

General / No floppy with Meg

« on: 16 March, 2020, 07:03:14 PM »

Has this been cancelled and I missed it? Did anyone else not get the usual collection with their Meg this month?

14

Film & TV / Umbrella Academy- Netflix

« on: 18 February, 2019, 08:56:09 AM »

Is anyone else watching this? I'm two episodes in, having not read the original comics, and it's basically The Royal Tenenbaums meets X-Men. The production values are very high and it's an interesting enough premise, so I'm enjoying it so far.

15

News / Glenn Fabry

« on: 28 September, 2018, 01:16:04 PM »

Sad to hear that Glenn Fabry has been diagnosed with lung cancer:
https://twitter.com/2000AD/status/1045643108288004097