Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 291
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LET’S STAY SAFE OUT THERE
Los Angeles is still burning, I believe. It’s a bit difficult to keep up with from the other side of the planet, but I think it’s the case that while winds have died down fires are still active.
I hope everyone stays safe. While everyone had been predicting this could happen for decades, I suspect nobody really believed it would happen to them. I guess that’s how time and circumstance get us all, in the end.
SOLICITATION INCOMING
Keep your eyes peeled to the Image catalog. We got movement.
INDONESIAN PICKUPS
I can’t pretend I can read the book, but it’s a joy to check out some local talent. Edwin Te fully embraces the Mead Notebook drawing of his highschool years. I think the lead is gifted demon powers when he wears the terrifying demon face. Not sure. Just happy that the spirit of doodling Spawn on your desk during social studies class never dies.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE SEVERAL DECADES MAKE
I’ve been carrying on about aesthetics for a long time. The idea that the content of your work matters far less than the style of it. Or, if you care to look at it differently, that the style IS the content, and the premise, message, and plot are supernumerary elements.
Not a particularly original observation. But one that doesn’t seem to have much purchase in mainstream comic books, where everyone holds two conflicting ideas in their heads: Comic books reflect the era they’re created in, imbuing each generation with its own self-directed take on the medium. AND, nobody wants comic books in 2025. Conflicting because it follows that if we were faithfully capturing the spirit of the moment, we’d have the readers of the moment. And we do not.
Enthusiasm is low. We know that. So does this mean that people are simply over comic books? Or does it mean that the talent has somehow crossed the wires and are not reflecting the moment? Or -the thesis here- is it possible that some things are eternal and ignoring those is costing us?
Below are pages from comic books featuring the same character, separated by 25 years. Without prejudice, take them in.
What stood out to you most?
There’s a shared value here: both are bordering on amateur. Which isn’t a knock. It’s the beauty of smaller publishers and the readers committed to them. Dedicated creators can get the necessary pages under their belts, while readers who prioritize vibe over virtuosity get to watch them grow.
Both pages certainly do reflect the moment they were created, at least in the nuts and bolts. The coloring work is acutely caught in amber. Look at the modeling on the boobs on that first page. Very of its time. And the lettering trends couldn’t be better demonstrated. Down to the concepts of lettering itself. Thought balloons vs captions. Lettering is where the tackiness of an era reveals itself hardest. There’s some trends happening right now that will be looked back on as crimes against art. But we never recognize it until a decade down the line.
So outside of the composite elements, what is the major difference between these two? FUN. Full disclosure: neither page is really to my tastes. But if you had to pick one to ensure a future for the medium, which page is more likely to bring a new reader into comic books? Now, if you’re a person who prioritizes politics over art, and you’re a prudish sort, perhaps the boobs are a turn-off. Alright. But if you love self-expression and think aesthetics are central to the human experience, well, c’mon. The choice is clear.
Lest you think I’m condemning artist number two or editors who hired him, I’d like you to consider that finding artist number one in 2025 would require a manhunt. Don’t get me wrong, there’s millions of artists still drawing in that style, but almost none of them are doing PAGES. The amateur, loosey-boobsey, fun type of artist is wasting his life drawing fucking pinups in .JPG format as $60 commissions. No interior pages under that person’s belt in 2025. The artist on the second page has no mentor to teach him any stylistic tricks from page one. Doing monthly interior pages of the first variety is beyond the pale for the majority of comic artists in the current moment. It’s a wild suggestion.
Look at the first page. The sidewalk is ass. The characters walking on it- ass. The interior of the church? Ass. But the first page fails on the same level, only it adds the unfortunate element of looking artificial. A CAD drawing of life, rather than a pencil messily tryna capture life. I’m talking about the aura of the work, not the literal tools.
So, yes, we’re representing the current moment in comics, repressed as it is. And in that stiffness we’re losing a(nother) generation. To manga. To animation. To Marvel Rivals, which has more sexuality on display than any mainstream comic book. A game with more monthly players than the total amount of comic readers in the United States.
FUN is eternal. Even in what we convinced ourselves was a humorless epoch like the past ten years, readers secretly craved FUN. They had to hide this desire, of course. Gauche to want a joyful, aesthetic hobby. Give us the misery-guts writers, shackled artists, and scold critics. We’ll just have to flash signals to each other we’re looking for something more like members of a secret society.
But, maybe that’s over. The readers (and potential readers) are calling out for a new sensibility that bring in the eternal FUN. I’m yet to see it manifest in corporate work, but I think the chill has left creator-owned and hopefully the indies soon.
Let’s get it.
MEDIA CONSUMPTION
After a year with virtually no novels read, I’m doing my best to stay committed to fiction in 2025.
The Lady In the Lake is one of those Chandler novels that just moves and moves and then you’re at the end. The prose has so much style without gorging itself on words. Half the time we get declaratives, the other half of the time we get punchy metaphors. Zero fat.
Private detective Philip Marlowe doing all the Marlowe things in this one. Every time I read detective fiction, I try to approximate the thinking that sets the protagonists apart. It’s always about observation. They are always picking up on things then making deductions based on those things. And what makes them interesting is that it’s all the stuff the rest of us don’t notice.
Except, I am starting to think most people DO notice. But these are Defective Marlowes out here. Always noticing things that aren’t real and coming to deductions that make no sense. An era of conspiracy, maybe. But definitely conspiracy thinking.
Anyway, I loved this book. I gotta remember which of these I’ve read and which I haven’t and go down the list.
From hard-boiled detective fiction to Hard Boiled, we’ve got a game I beat this week: Stranglehold.
It’s an alleged continuation of the John Woo film Hard Boiled, but really they just share the Detective Tequila lead. This game is all about stylish kills and was pretty fun. Didn’t overstay its welcome and allowed me to feel ok about putting in an hour here and an hour there. Max Payne meets Tony Hawk. I enjoyed it.
I also enjoyed Spec Ops: The Line, despite all indications I would not. This one has a mythical status among players who wanna believe video games have hit occasional narrative high-points. “The writing! You don’t even get it!” Alright, I’m open, but what is all this about the ‘twist’ of the thing?
Oh. People say the writing is good because the Americans are the bad guys? How compelling.
I hate this sorta shit. Not because I think the United States is in the right to adventure overseas. But because everyone knows. Truly. This game came out a decade into our occupation of Afghanistan. It had been eight years since Abu Ghraib. We KNOW. I mean, goddamn, Vietnam films had hammered the idea since 79. It’s not novel, this notion that America does bad. It’s obvious. And God help those of us into punk music. We’ve been drowning in this concept since we developed our tastes. Nothing new to it.
So, I was hating going into this one. What was expected of me? “Oh wow, the soldiers are not righteous paragons of the virtues we purport to value in the US? Oh, wait maybe WE aren’t righteous paragons EITHER?? I’m learning SO much!”
Too easy. Barf.
But, what the critics missed is that the story isn’t interesting, it’s merely told in an interesting way. There we go with content vs style again. The game takes a very slight science fiction angle, in the climate catastrophe lane, to provide a Heart Of Darkness setup. The twist is visible a mile off, but that’s ok. It all works. I would recommend the game, though I believe it’s been delisted from online stores due to a music licensing issue. So, seek it out however you can. The cover shooting feels like light problem-solving exercises and are fun if not particularly challenging. And the story works.
While in this hotel room in Jakarta, I had an ambition: I was gonna power through as much City Hunter material as possible. The series, the animated films, the live-action films, and so on. But region restrictions have made this impossible. So, I’m gonna power through the Black Emanuelle series and the Female Prisoner Scorpion series. I’ve watched a number of films in franchises, but it’s time to close it out.
The original Black Emanuelle is in some respects trashier then even the entries that include cannibals. She just sleeps with a married couple, some randos, and at one point a sports team, just cuz. She’s there to follow a lead? Newspaper stuff? Whatever. But the theme is the same Black Emanuelle theme as always: you can’t possess her, modern man. She’s something outside your understanding- a woman free to pursue her desires without the baggage of your expectations! Or something. A free spirit. She’s just very independent, ok?
Perfect Strangers is a perfect movie. It watches like a short story reads, with all the attendant virtues and drawbacks. It is nothing major. It’s just so damn edible. I watched this Larry Cohen film the same way I watch a Ken Burns documentaries. I’m looking at a place that doesn’t exist anymore. Captured on a film stock that doesn’t exist anymore. Featuring the types of people who don’t exist anymore speaking in ways that nobody speaks anymore. I hate New York, but this made me wish I could travel to this New York. Woody Allen never made sense to me. I always wanted to see what other people saw in his New York. I just couldn’t. But maybe Larry Cohen is my Woody Allen. Watch it.
PEACE OUT, SECOND WEEK OF THE YEAR
Alright, that’s it from me. Hope everyone stays away from fire and stumbles into some peace of mind. Do for self.
Gotta check out Absolute Batman. So so fun
Are you into using Plex to access stuff? I’m on Terpy Tv and it has everything I could want, and I think it’s not geo restricted