Messages

Live tweets from someone in the Cinema at the time: https://twitter.com/dingos8myTARDIS

Horrible. Hard to imagine what kind of motivation the guy thought he had. While mass shootings are usually senseless, it seems particularly wrong to think a movie might have triggered it.

It might not come across especially strongly in that article, but Jones is a conspiracy nut with a questionable grip on reality. Not quite shape-changing-lizard grade, but getting there. His "review" may even boost ticket-sales slightly, as his followers scrutinise Dredd for any Illuminati symbolism.

[that]

Wait, you mean that Alex Jones??

In other news: Crazy guy on corner reveals Obama is brain eating cannibal. Opinion on Dredd movie forthcoming.

[Funny or Die]

Funny or Die - Amusing (probably, I haven't heard it all yet) discussion of the 1995 abomination.
http://www.funnyordie.com/podcasts/c8ac52bbae/judge-dredd

Wow. They irritated me in the first 5 minutes more than Rob Schneider did... some feat.

Kinda like being trapped behind a bunch of chirpy hipster teens in a bus. For an hour.

It's a cutesy filler column attached to a small town newspaper, the critical equivalent of a Care Bear with a crayon. Not really worth responding to with such vitriol.

Picked up 'Creepy' Presents Richard Corben' from FP yesterday. A hefty collection of his work from Eerie and Creepy, beautifully presented with an excellent introduction by Jose Villarubia. His storytelling, composition and rendering throughout is a joy. I found Corben's work later on Heavy Metal with Den, Jeremy Brood, Vic And Blood and Mutant World so the majority of this book is new to me. It also includes covers (some of which some of you will have seen in portfolio collections over the years). The best find Ive chanced on in a while.

I'm fascinated by Corben's art. The first time I saw it I found it repugnant, but since then I've got to like it more and more. The solidity and weight of his figures, the way they look like they're made from compressed sausage meat, the grotesque anatomy of his nudes (especially Den, in which "sausage" is especially appropriate). Also those incredibly rich colours. He's one of a kind.

Ok, I just gotta share these gems then I'll shut up.

From an article about a photography assignment:

The other day, the Journal asked me about covering the SWAT team search and rescue training in town. It was during that week of training, the men would become certified SWAT members. It seemed like an interesting thing to cover; it was much different than sports or town festivals so I was eager to give it a shot.

From an article decrying baggy pants:

I look back at many 80s films (mostly Sylvester Stallone flicks) where the hero is wearing pants properly. They are pulled all the way up, secured with a belt, and the underwear is left to the imagination. A wonderful example would be the movies "Cobra" and "Over The Top" where Sylvester Stallone demonstrates the perfect way of wearing pants.

And the opening sentence of an article on, well, best left to the imagination:

When I woke up Saturday morning, I never expected that I would have become a man by the end of the night.

Actually, I take that back.

I've started looking back through her other articles, and I think I'm in love. Each one reads like a dispatch from the country of the concussed.

[staff photographer]

Oh man, that article is hilarious. She can hardly manage a single coherent sentence. One of my favs:

And "Fright Night," was not a more popular horror film in the 80's so I can see why there could be a remake in that film.

What??

the final straw has been drawn

You couldn't mangle a metaphor better than that if you tried.

I am gladly open to feedback

"Gladly open"??

Jessica Brown is the staff photographer for the Barrow Journal

That explains a lot. Sometimes it's best to stick to what you know.

The Steve Dillion/Kev Walker art on the first Fleisher scripted run - which seemed to go on forever - was one good thing about the strip. That Silver was a hottie.

The rest of the prog was ok, if forgettable.

Dante, though, fecking Dante.  A Watchmen ending.  Never would have predicted it, but I like it.  This is what makes 2000ad great - actually finishing one of its best stories at the height of its popularity.  I'd like to think that he went back to Jena and raised their son, but I think he'll be straight back into thievery and shaggery.

A Watchmen ending?  Does this mean that some far-right conspiracy nut magazine (with a website for Beaky Smoochie to link to when he wants to prove something)  is deciding wether or not to publish something about Dante, but we don't know which way they'll go?

I've never thought of the Watchmen ending being ambiguous at all. Anyone else?

He was set on fire (again), and plummeted into the harbour/sea... a duplicate was built by Clay that abducted him but that wasn't the real Gruber - he didn't turn up again in Inferno.

He did turn up in that other Harlem Heroes story, but I can barely remember anything about it, and it wasn't well received.

I've always assumed that was a "reboot" of the character, just as the second Harlem Heroes had no direct connection to the original aeroball team. His bionics looked a lot less extreme than the original, he was just a generic hardass hitman type with robo-eyes. A lot of episodes were spent emphasising how badass and indestructible he was - including one brutal scene where he beat up a stewardess - and then [spoiler]he got killed quite easily with a micro limpet mine.[/spoiler]

Not sure why I put that last bit in spoilers, as there's really nothing good about that story to spoil.

I actually think criminal leaders are the type of people who would survive Day of Chaos. They have a great sense of self preservation and so are more likely to have taken the advice to stay indoors.

True, but their organisations would still be massively shaken up by the massive loss of life among both cits and lower level gang members (not to mention the City's infrastructure being trashed, which doesn't even get a mention in this story). A story that addressed these issues could involve power-struggles as organised crime tried to fill gaps in their ranks or move into vacated territory, or show how such groups profit from - and in some cases even help (c. the Yakuza distributing aid after the Kobe earthquake) - reconstruction efforts.

What doesn't fit is a high-tec story about accountancy software hijinks. That's a story for business-as-usual Mega City, not one where the ashes from burnt-out blocks are still smoldering.

[Dredd: C]

Dredd: C. Really disappointed with this. The Dredd/Maitland chest exposure was bad enough (unforgivable, actually: Tharg should never have let those uniforms through), but underneath that lurks a story that has no place in the immediate aftermath of Day of Chaos. All those cits dead, yet the structures of organised crime are unaffected? The worst catastrophe in the history of the Big Meg described as "the riots"? Remember how everyone was speculating that the Meg would never be the same? Now we find out that, indeed, "the days of the great cabarets" are over. Oh no! Kill 350,000,000 people if you must, but not those famous Mega City cabarets!

There are heaps of potential stories to be told that would make sense in post-Day of Chaos without impinging upon the "big issues" that Wagner is presumably saving for himself. This isn't one of them.

Ichabod Azrael: A

Excellent. 'Nuff said.

1947: A+: Seriously, this should be held up as an example for several other currently scripters. Kek-W does more in 3 episodes than they manage in 7 or 8. This deserves resurrection as a continuing series.

Haven't read the Future Shock yet.

Dante: -A. I don't have the emotional attachment to this series that others seem to have, but this was a well done conclusion, nicely ambiguous.

In a side note, I can kinda see where Judo's coming from with the "Carry On" reference. Sure, there's plenty of violence and dark bits, but then there's also the comedy names - that doctor who was going to geld Dante, for example, and the hapless reporter - and the frequently slapstick nature of the action. Not sayin' that's a bad thing though.