Messages

>> The ego has landed.

And he's once more insisting that he's to blame for the whole psycho-superhero craze that swept the '80s.

Even for something he detests so vehemently, Byrne still feels the need to take credit for something of cultural significance in the genre.

>> Meanwhile... it appears that the truth behind Cosmic Ray may at last have been revealed.

Ah, that's old news. 'The bastard son of a black hole' might not sound scientific but it amounts to pretty much the same thing.

From what I remember, the first half of the film is pretty aimless but a few moments of nastiness kind of maintain the interest. The aforementioned tracking shot, although effective, does owe a debt to the Dawn of the Dead remake. It's also a challenge to NOT start quoting dialogue from The Thing towards the end.

And if you're freaked out by how grotesque Richard James often appears in those Aphex Twin videos then you might not like the vampire make-up.

It might explain why the writing credits at the end said it was 'based on the screenplay by'.

I think my problem with the statement regarding twelve year-olds is that it's too dismissive and, in the case of George Lucas, delusional.

2000 AD is far better than it was when I stopped buying with Prog 764 but it still lacks the energy of the first three hundred issues, the energy it retained intermittently until Prog 650, then only occasionally thereafter.

As noted already, an anthology is always prone to being hit-and-miss but that energy kept me going throughout; then habit, until I started duplicating issues simply because I hadn't realized I'd picked up last week's Prog already. By Prog 764, I don't think I was even reading Dredd anymore. I stopped not because I was then in my twenties but because 2000 AD had become a consistent shade of shite.

The current stories are probably the most knowingly sophisticated they've ever been but I get the sense of a pervading cynicism in the creative process itself, rather than the comic's attitude and stories. Then again, it could just be me who's being cynical.

>> NOTHING IS AS GOOD AS IT WAS WHEN YOU WERE 12 - THAT'S BECAUSE YOU WERE TWELVE!

It's also the standard defense by the likes of George Lucas when anyone dares to criticize.

Futuristic sweariness drags in Dan Dare. And if we're talking metanarratives, then that includes Doomlord and Manix.

Prog 1304 lost out to Prog 61 when Logan asked the very same question some four years ago.

That's 'Invasion 1984', iirc. Written by Wagner and Grant (under a pseudonym, if memory serves) and drawn by Eric Bradbury.

I read only the one episode in that free issue of Battle Action (Force?) that a long-since closed toy shop in Aldershot was giving away.

>> Sorry, had to get that in there.

It's keeping it in there, that's the issue with bulimia.

And double damn on reading this too late!

Dozed off during Factory: From Joy Division to . . . and woke up to this lazy shite. Unless I've been misinformed by last night's edition, Judge Dredd is a fascist cop created by Alan Grant and Carloz Esquerra; Kevin O'Neill drew 'Who Killed Pug Ugly?'; and the signficance of Viz is on a par with 2000 AD.

Thank fuck I dozed off again before Charles Shaar Murray showed up.

>> Blade 2 was super.

Your Music Television has woozified your brain, young Jared.

The film doesn't live up to its trailer. I think I prefer Blade II.

I don't care for most frat pack movies but DodgeBall and The 40 Year-Old Virgin were full of much unexpected mirth.

And ditto most of the above films, although a few of my favourite moments are somewhat diminished by repeated viewing (I'm thinking of Cleese's double-take in Life of Brian when Biggus Dickus says 'Hail Caesar!'. Likewise, in A Shot in the Dark when Clouseau, completely helpless, looks directly at us).