Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 219
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WEEK
A fun one for me, because I actually got some things done. For a minute I thought I forgot not just how to write comics and video games, but completely lost the ability to finish ANYTHING. Back on track now. Hope yours was equally productive.
ADULT CONTENT
It seems the comic shop version of the Black Mask title DON’T AVERT YOUR EYES is out in the wild. Backers of the Kickstarter have enjoyed their copies for a minute now. But stores just received a version with a cracking cover from Duski, an emerging master of lascivious illustration.
Lovely. Call your shop for this b&w, somewhat-pornographic, INDIE COMICS gem.
VOX POPULI
Appreciate anyone who has picked up STRINGER and doubly appreciate anyone leaving reviews in places that help plug it into the ‘recommends’ algorithm. Please, continue.
SAYING A THING OUT LOUD
Now, this is abnormal. Comic pros bitch about anything and everything when outta earshot of the bosses. Much rarer to see a guy go off publicly. And VERY irregular to do it when you’re still employed.
Now, I’m seeing all sorta spin on this. I have no insight into what the truth of the claim is. But I am finding it somewhat disturbing to watch his colleagues enact a CMYK Wall Of Silence and choose corporate over him.
He’s a jobber Big Two artist without clout. And the person he’s implicating (intentionally or otherwise) in his tweet, writer Tini Howard, is a ‘name.’ So pros have their marching orders. This man must be lying, they say.
Again, I have no insider knowledge. I can’t say if he’s lying to cover his ass, if Howard is late delivering scripts (she denies this), or if editorial confusion had the finished script in a holding pattern (the odds-on favorite).
No matter what the case, I believe this is a failure of editorially-driven corporate comics. And I believe that’s the case because we’ve seen it a half-dozen times in the past few years. Writers don’t have a relationship with the artists. Editorial isn’t just a facilitator, but a full middle-man, cutting off any type of real collaboration and ultimately friendship.
I made a big stink when Al Ewing fed Joe Bennett into a wood-chipper. The reason I took that position wasn’t because I sympathize with Bennett’s alleged views. It was because if my artist partner Marco was embroiled in the same type of controversy, it would not occur to me that holding his head underwater was the path I should take. Because he’s my friend. And even if he wasn’t, he would still BY NECESSITY be a person I respect. I am not as close with every artist I work with as I am with Marco. But I see every one of them as my creative equal (or superior), my colleague, and a PARTNER.
So when Leon intentionally or inadvertently throws Howard under the bus, I have to assume there is no connection between the two of them.
Now, let’s say he was putting the blame on editorial rather than Howard. Would that have been the right thing to do? Well, it’s a sign of supreme self-confidence or total naivety. Because this man’s odds of being hired again just went into single digits. But is it WRONG?
I honestly don’t know. It’s not how I would choose to handle a thing. I think the baseline respect we can pay each other is to keep private matters private. But, it seems clear this guy is at the end of his rope. Perhaps not a justification, but a reason at least.
And is his frustration justified? Well, I’ll say this: the foundation of an artist’s career is doing memorable work. If this deadline means his work will be rushed trash, then the cost to him is real. His name will go on the final product. The writer, editor, and artist’s name will all appear in the credits. But only one of them will be blamed if it looks terrible. And only one of them will see their page rates and commission prices stall. Assuming he’s telling the truth, he’s victim to a type of negligence that comes with real damages.
Before anyone enters the conversation with “but that’s comics” allow me to pre-answer you with, “yes. And it’s also the type of workers’ rights issue that a union, which apparently everyone wants, would exist to address.” So are we serious when we say we want things to get better? Or not?
My hope is that Leon, Howard, and editorial, can work out these differences. I also hope that saying something in anger doesn’t cost this man what it potentially could. And I hope creators who jumped to his execution would consider a more reasoned and reasonable direction.
CAN YOU BE INTERESTING WITHOUT BEING INTERESTING?
Just a thought I had as waded through the morass of comic writer Twitter.
As a writer can you provide anything unique if your thoughts are stock standard?
Let’s pick a time in the past that writers lived through. Say 2010. Now think of the things people thought at that time. Think about the things people DIDN’T think at that time. Consider what was normal. Politics. Humor. Etc.
The writer may’ve been on the progressive end of whatever the spectrum at that time was, but they were still on the spectrum that moment allowed. No matter how forward-thinking you are, it’s very difficult to be truly ahead of your time.
And now, we can safely assume, the writer thinks as most people think in 2023. Maybe they believe they’ve ‘evolved’ in whatever respect since 2010.
What’s that worth? In terms of what someone bring to writing, what value does it have? I ask because the internet is filled with people who believe we are at a cultural terminus of some type. This is it. What they thought five years ago wasn’t it. But this is it. And, thus, anything outside of the consensus is wrong. Looking backwards is plainly evil and looking forward… well… how is that possible? No, this must be it.
Without a heterodox thought in a writer’s head, and on guard against any entering, what are the odds they can tell us something? This is what I’m always banging on about regarding politics in comics. A good idea, but I’m yet to see it actually happen. Because the corporate window of acceptability is even narrower than the cultural window of acceptability, which is already woefully cramped.
When was the last time you were challenged by a comic? Not had your views reaffirmed. Not been congratulated for sharing the same views. But challenged.
Can you think of an instance?
THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING ALIVE CONCURRENT W/ HEROES
I heard someone make a point I hadn’t considered but now can’t get outta my head. Regarding the death of Cormac McCarthy, this person said “what a privilege it was to be alive at the same time as one of the greats.” Think about that for a second. It’s overwhelming.
I love Gene Hackman. I’m not any type of critic or student of the craft of acting. But like most people, I can identify a miracle taking place in front of me. And that’s how I feel during the best Hackman scenes. Like I’m watching something singular. Something that other people can’t do.
I’m grateful he’s got a large filmography. But someday I’ll reach the end of it. And there will be no new Hackman work to experience. And right now, there’s no actor stepping up to take his place.
And what of comics? There’s living creators who I would put in the ‘best of OUR time’ category, but who would we put in the ‘best of ALL-time’ category? Moore is retired from comics. Miller is winding down. So who do we have? Did I not fully appreciate the fleeting moment their creative peak and my time as a reader overlapped? Sad, really.
Here’s a great director talking on a great director. It’s very fulfilling to watch genuine appreciation. Tarantino gets what a privilege it is to anticipate and experience new work from a hero.
RFK JR ON A RAP PODCAST TALKING ABOUT HOW TUROK COMICS PROMPTED HIM TO DO ACID
Very few had this one on their bingo card. The power of comics.
MEDIA CONSUMPTION THIS WEEK
If I hit a comic shop with a decent manga selection, I don’t seek out the known quantities. The stuff I’m ‘supposed’ to read is left on the shelves. Instead, I do a grab bag of very-likely-dog-shit from the downmarket publishers. Seven Seas and its imprints, Yen Press, and on. The stuff NO ONE recommends, but somehow has 10 volumes.
The reason I do this is simple: it’s fun to look for gold. Maybe it’s like fishing. There’s something rewarding in long stretches of failure followed by a hit. Manga’s low price allows me to take chances. And usually I find SOMETHING of value, even if it’s just a novel concept that doesn’t quite get off the ground.
My trip to Outland in Oslo was a feeding frenzy of crap manga. And my hopes were high. I had a 40-something-hour trip home and I wanted that gold.
I’ve got one more title to read from that shopping spree, but I think I’m batting zero. This was a real turd haul. Here’s one such animal dropping:
Now you may look at this and say, “yeah, of course, Patrick. It’s gonna be a trash manga.” But you clearly don’t understand the game. The fact that it looks like it’ll be no-impact, poorly written, fan-service is WHY I buy it. I don’t go prospecting for gold by approaching a large pile of already-mined gold. We go knee-deep in the creek.
GAL GOHAN is about a ‘gal’ which is not a term I was familiar with. I suppose the western analogue would be bimbo. Gal subculture in Japan includes tanning and sporting cartoonishly sexy attire. The manga is not exactly a lesson in the subtleties of it, so I’m piecing together what little I know.
I’m difficult to offend. Fiction is just that. To depict a thing is not to condone or promote it. Uncomfortable or even upsetting topics or themes don’t typically bother me on the conceptual level. There’s few stories that truly can’t be told.
But at least through volume one, there’s nothing to this title but a student trying to seduce her teacher. Which is the type of story, and I don’t say this often, that sorta needs a reason to be told. And I don’t necessarily mean it has to justify itself to me on some moral level. I just mean, this isn’t a story. It’s fan-service for fan-service’s sake.
This reads like someone who was never a student, never a teacher, and maybe not technically literate, telling anecdotes rather than a story. I could see it having value if the first volume ended with a twist reveal of the student OR the teacher’s real motivations. But it just never happened.
No gold found.
In other media consumed, I was impressed with SISU. It’s a concise action movie with a silent protagonist who is unwilling to die. Our lead kills lots of nazis, is a responsible dog owner, and never loses our attention. A seriously fun film.
BATMAN IS BACK, MAN
Continuing my read of BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, we’ve got the Barr/Sears arc called FAITH. A recovering drug addict imprints on Batman and follows (clumsily) in his footsteps. It’s a simple story about hero worship and needing purpose, and it’s pretty effective as a quick morality tale.
What’s less effective is Randy Elliott’s inks over Sears pencils. He really chonked those lines up, and I get the impulse. This is Batman, after all. Even the shadows created by muscles should be dark. But Sears sold himself to most of us through his Wizard column, where we got a different flavor entirely. Maybe it wouldn’t have worked as well, but I think I just wanted to see it.
OTHER PEOPLE’S STUFF
Blindsided by a new Brandon Graham Kickstarter. I was aware of the project, but I didn’t know it would see print so soon.
Graham has two modes, personal work and wild sci-fi fantasy. I find his personal work very affecting, but I do not turn my nose up at his genre material either. His pages are among the smoothest in mainstream comics. It’s interesting to see something so studied appear so effortless.
If you like his work and somehow aren’t aware of the Kickstarter, or don’t know him and are excited by my excitement, give it a look.
THAT’S ABOUT IT
for this week, at least. Hope you stay productive and find yourself some quiet time. Those of you saying it’s too hot where you live, I’m jealous. It’s rained the entire week and I’d sit on the sun if it meant I wasn’t wet walking the dog. Put fruit in your ice tray. Do for self.