Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 271
Everyone Lies, Nobody Minds (Again)
THERE’S A MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS EMAIL
Ok, so I went off on one. It’s the same type of material you’ve seen me lose my mind over time and time again, so I’m sequestering it. We’ll do a normal newsletter and then at the bottom with much warning, you’ll find some Dave Sim-esque rambling about a thing that eats me up. Longtime readers, avoid! You’ve seen it before! You will be bored! I think I’ve even done the Monster At the End of This Book bit before!
MAY HAVE A COLOR SOLUTION
Dialing in an approach for Maurizio’s inks is not easy. He puts a lot of black on the page, so with every bit of color you risk darkening the image. Details to follow.
OLD THINGS ARE GOOD NEW THINGS ARE ALSO GOOD
I’ve been doing interviews for the new Drug Church record and I was asked about this musical moment we’re in (upswing in small room guitar music that feels like hardcore but really isn’t). And I said I was grateful. It’s prolly over, but I enjoyed the energy and am happy for what it did for my band. The interviewer seemed surprised and wanted to know what would cause it to end, in my view.
And I said, “you.”
It wasn’t an indictment. It’s a natural process. Music press has to find new acts to write about every 12-24 months or they die. No names, but the outlets that have continued to write about Spoon every fucking year since 2001 are calcified or dead. For ad-based music press to exist, it has to create a new cool. And stay regular with it.
So a few outlets wrote about my band a bunch for two years. That’s a good run and I’m happy for it. Anything past that is gravy.
What about comic books?
Well, I just scrolled through one of the news sites and most of it wasn’t about creators at all. But what was had two names who’ve been working for 20 years, and another that’s been working for 30. In some respects, that’s nice to see. I want capable veterans to always have work. But, in major ways, it also sucks balls.
Let’s be honest and without judgement here: we get two new guys a year. Period. That’s all comics press can handle, seemingly. And we will hear about them nonstop. It used to be the guys who covertly made alliances with journalists. It used to be if you wanted know who was leaking Big Two info, you could make an educated guess by who was getting covered. Back scratching prevailed.
Now? I couldn’t say how they decide what creators to cover. But it feels like we’re getting photocopies of creators we’ve known for a long time. They feel familiar, don’t they? I mean, I guess they have to be at least a little similar. These are corporate hirings and the editors have pretty distinct preferences, after all. But does it not feel like we’re on the 4th iteration of some of these guys? There’s almost a nostalgia to it. “Can’t have Gaiman, but here’s a guy who really wants to be him.” And that’s mostly ok, because guys like Gaiman are ambitious and memorable. It’s a bit more discouraging when it’s “remember that guy with the receding hairline and patchy beard? We got a new one!”
Part of the problem: The “remember that other guy, we got a new one” thing happens in the Big Two (and Indie-Creator-Clearly-Angling-To-Get-Big-Two-Work) world. And that’s all comics press tends to cover. So the nostalgia is curated very narrowly.
I think we need a new vibe. Or maybe new outlets. At $4 a comic book, it’s asking too much of readers to try every indie book in the hope of finding new talent. Maybe comic press could help here a little. Develop trust with the audience and advise with uncompromised intention.
Or am I asking too much?
WHY THE BLACK GOO?
There’s a new Alien movie. I would like to be excited, but :
The more you add to lore, the science of a thing, or backstory, the more dogshit the thing becomes.
Prometheus was a horrid pile because it expanded on the unexplainable. Whatever Alien movie introduced the black spores was the same brand of “wait, why?”
This happens all the time in comic books, often from otherwise good creators. I wanna say it was Grant Morrison, a guy literally everyone respects, who introduced ‘secondary mutations’ to the X-Men. WOOF.
Hulk-has-Wolverine-claws-level woof. Wolverine-has-hot-claws-level woof.
We’re writing for pedants in 2024. People for whom the details of a thing eclipse the thrust of a thing. It’s a valid playground, and much of what I do in video games. But it’s not actually writing, is it? We’ve turned all pop literature into a tabletop roleplaying manual.
Here’s writing: character is trapped in sealed location with entity that wants to harm him/her. Make it interesting/scary/funny/sad/etc.
Here’s not writing: object is in location. Explain how.
People look at Marvel’s inability to make a new Blade movie with astonishment, because “half-vampire in sunglasses must kill vampires” is extremely light work. Likewise, “monster chases disenfranchised working person around a spaceship” does not require a galaxy brain.
Egg → Facehugger → Chestburster → Alien
What part of that isn’t exciting enough? Or is it not about excitement? Is it about expanding a thing and in that way saying you impacted it? Am I taking crazy pills or is making good stories impact enough?
Lore = snore. Fuck lore. Fuck the goofy “gotta ‘improve’ on perfect formulas or I don’t exist” mentality of corporate hires. It’s like every creative works for these companies develops an executive brain after a time. Just tell stories, man. Prove you can add humanity before you add new plushies.
MEDIA CONSUMPTION
Gave some Big Two books a shot this week. Wooboy.
I’m about to devote some paragraphs to the writing of this one so lemme first comment on the art. Spokes works in a style that is very new-reader friendly. That said, it falls into the Tony Harris trap at times of looking too posed. And these figure outlines are THICK. That ensures the characters pop on every panel, but on many panels also makes them pop so hard they are no longer part of the book.
Tom King is an interesting creator. He receives a lotta criticism for his recurring themes and favorite tropes. And, yeah, they are unavoidable in his work. But I’m sympathetic. I only write about three things. So what are King’s mental hobgoblins? His heroes are all broken, but in a very 2020s post-therapy way. Which, frankly, is much less exciting than a 1980s I-go-to-the-boxing-gym-to-work-off-my-anger way. Action scenes feel like a contractual obligation when he writes them, and it’s clear that he would prefer books where the drama is limited to dialogue.
The constant commentary about King is that he has a problem with women. But, not the way, say, Ted Nugent seems to have a problem with women. Rather, King’s hang-up goes the other way. He venerates women. What’s the problem with that, you ask? Well, nothing in real life. Really, a great feature in a husband. But this is FICTION, where pedestals don’t really work.
I remember when Brian Wood and Greg Rucka were the creators who wrote ‘strong female characters.’ They were mostly good but would occasionally trip into the ‘badass’ phenomenon, where you are so desperate to show your female protagonist as capable that you make her Poochie D from The Simpsons. It could get sloppy, but was mostly forgivable. Time has passed and these good creators have had their work from that era reappraised as high cringe. Because in 2024, it’s considered gauche for male writers to do the ‘strong female character’ thing. And I suspect that King’s ‘women written like brooding pulp detectives just returned from the Korean War’ thing will age just as poorly.
Now I get that this is a Jenny Sparks book, and even at the character’s start she was supposed to be rough and brash (can’t you see she smokes??). But you know how it’s possible to approximate a thing but still be miles from convincing? Like putting a mannequin in the passenger side seat of a car to use the HOV lane? That’s how this ‘brash’ character comes off. And maybe that owes a bit to the nerfing of DC’s Black Label. Comics are read, which means your eyes hover over standout words. They don’t disappear into the atmosphere like sound does. They linger. So “fuck” is really closer to “FUCK!!!” And “#$%*!” is more like “FUUU-UUU-UUU-CCC-KKK!!!” because in a book aimed at adults, the censoring of normal adult words stands out more than simply using them. It makes the Jenny Sparks’ character’s dialogue truly painful to navigate. Your eye trips over all this junk meant to… keep it a comic book for children who will never, ever, ever, read it? Also, the smoking thing. I’m putting together some books with throwback elements. Things you don’t see in comics anymore but weren’t at all weird 15 years ago. And I am constantly on guard to not unwittingly throw lampshades on those aspects. Because “look, what a badass, she smokes” is the type of attention seeking behavior that just bricks every time. I went back and looked at the original THE AUTHORITY comics and Sparks smokes throughout. But it never looks like we’re supposed to get hung up on it. It’s just like the “#%$*!” nonsense. It’s all just shit that doesn’t work.
Anyway, fans of Tom King will like it.
Mark Russell is an interesting creator too. I’ve defended him for years for having his own voice. I’m always clear that I quite hate it, but it is very much a voice. On X-FACTOR that voice is both booming loud and somehow also drowned out by history.
Because I’ve read this book before.
The idea of a superhero team being the subject of a reality show is VERY tired. And because it’s been tired for decades, there has been more than enough satirical takes o the idea. Even down to “the heroes died! That’s sorta good!” ratings thing, it’s all just very well-worn.
And maybe because this is a Marvel book, Russell’s “did you see? Did you see what I did there? Look! I made a joke. You got it, right?” writing style is in overdrive. This is like a children’s book with a ‘consumerism/celebrity/whatever is dehumanizing’ message for the little tikes. Look at this page:
I’m about to publish a book about a woman who shoots people in the face. That’s the pitch. And that has more nuance to it than the above page. I get Russell is broad as a bit, but bits still gotta land. “Yaaay! X-Factor! We love you!” Mad Magazine this is not.
Fans of Mark Russell may like it.
You don’t need to watch this one.
This one you should maybe watch. A very early Troma sex comedy that has a ton of energy. Not a ton of sex. But just a massive love of making small films. Thumbs mostly up.
Revenge is very 2020s in many respects, but pure exploitation in other ways. The filmmaking was horror-cheap in the regard that it telegraphed every jump by keeping the camera on characters’ faces until [LOUD NOISE]. And I could maybe complain that the thing looks like an ad for the ARRI Alexa Mini it was filmed on. But it is BLESSEDLY straightforward. A rape-revenge story with a protagonist who challenges the audiences’ sympathies however slightly. Brutal violence. Good location. You know, the more I think about it the more I enjoy it. Simple and engaging.
A granddaddy of the genre I hadn’t seen in forever. And boy did I not remember how long the actual assault is. It feels like a third of the movie. I don’t know if anyone could call this great but I understand why it’s essential viewing.
The idea of seeing your prostitute mother murdered by a john and then hearing her voice compelling you to kill men who victimize women? That’s a movie. A trashy movie, but definitely a movie. Unfortunately, that’s only an idea hinted at in this film (which goes by Olivia in the US). This one goes in an inexplicably Arizona direction and never recovers.
THANK YOU FOR JOINING ME
I’m sick as a dog and sweating in a backhouse in Austin Texas like I’m kicking drugs. I’m very glad whatever animal flu I’m suffering through only arrived after my vacation with my wife. Hopefully your weekend is more productive. Have a good one. Do for self.
THE MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS NEWSLETTER
There MUST be something more to ‘point of view’ than “capitalism is bad.” There just has to be. Even if someone felt that in their soul, surely something that basic and compact could never excite you about a creator’s work? Surely.
Last time I carried on about this, I used a WEB OF SPIDER-MAN issue about skinheads to prove the point. And that point is, nobody believes you’re writing comic books for children anymore- so why are you writing comic books for children? These fucking idiotic primary colors of right and wrong are fine. However, when run through a the Bard/Vassar/Sarah Lawrence filter, these stupid offerings become unmistakably condescending.
And the truly irritating part of the whole charade is that it’s not the independent creators hammering that clunky messaging. It’s always the corporate creator who hopes to grow wealthy in the safety of that hermetically sealed Disney pablum lab. Which, I suppose, does prove their point in the meta: maybe capitalism IS bad if its defining characteristic is “do as I say, not as I do.”
“There is no ethical consumption under capitalism” and “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” are the type of say-something-without-inspection-or-introspection phrases popular with those who sell the idea of anti-capitalism. These are post hoc rationalizations for sellout behavior. Both are oppressively pessimistic but coming from slightly different angles of inaction.
“Nothing to be done. Gotta throat Mickey Mouse’s cock to survive out here. Wish it could be different, but, oh well, you know?”
And maybe that works in the non-aspirational rubber-and-road of everyday life. Maybe you really do gotta gargle Pluto’s nuts to survive in these content mines. But that does not explain away the root question: HOW DO YOU DECRY CAPITALISM FROM YOUR POSITION AT THE LARGEST ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION ON THE PLANET? A MULTINATIONAL MEGACORPORATION WITH YEARLY REVENUE ECLIPSING THE GDP OF LITHUANIA. IT WOULD BE LIKE IF THAT ANTI-RACIST WEB OF SPIDER-MAN STORY WAS PUBLISHED BY THE DAILY STORMER. IT’S NOT SUBVERSIVE; IT’S SUBSERVIENT.
What’s the real message here? That capitalism is bad but you can’t break the habit?
There Will Be Blood can be taken as commentary on capitalism. But do you see the words doing the work here? “Can be taken.” Important. When your work can ONLY be read one way, you’re a hack and your book better be REALLY FUN to make up for the hackery.
You know who I respect? James Tynion. He’s privileged and entitled and instead of being a weird self-hating freak about it, he makes it part of his work. His NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE (w/ lvario Martinez Bueno) is the most $60k-yearly-tuition book I’ve ever read. And that’s why it works. It’s a book that screams “I only know the sons and daughters of wealthy families, and there’s something fun to that. Maybe we’ll do safety-tested drugs and talk about why our fathers moved the family to Luxembourg for a few years.” Maybe some of us can’t relate, but we’re not supposed to. We’re supposed to get a view of something exotic and novel. Do that, you posers.
While we’re firing potentially meaningless chestnuts into the world, how about we revisit “the medium is the message.” In this case, the medium is monthly periodical comic books published by a subsidiary of a publicly traded corporation worth $200B. Now let me ask you, and I apologize to longtime readers of this newsletter who know this is my endless cry, do you believe your paymasters with the mouse ears would ever, in any world, allow you to broadcast a message that ran counter to their interests?
I take money from corporations. I buy corporate products. And that’s why if you ever see a critique of capitalism in my work, the finger will be pointing inward. There’s something so wormy about lecturing from safety. Yes, comic creator, please allow me to fight the system on your behalf. I know you’re busy angling for an animation gig and just can’t make it to Walden Pond this year.