Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 303
Morally Grey Character Wears Correct Graphic T
GREETINGS FROM…
No exotic location to report from today. I’m in the Northeast to record some music before we go on tour again. Miss my family, but still have some weeks of travel before I can get back to Australia.
In every photo my wife sends, the animals seem to be guilting me.
REMINDER
GEHENNA: NAKED AGGRESSION issue 1 AND 2 are up for order RIGHT NOW. Call you comic book shop today and demand they order you a copy. Don’t wave a gun around if they don’t, but secure other shopping avenues for sure.
And should this call to action wear on you after so many weeks: get used to it! We got multiple comic book series coming out this year and I need you to buy every single one!
I WOULD NEVER SAY
The image below should be a wakeup call for comic creators. People really notice.
The reason the image hits is because we know it’s true. Comic creators of various ideological moorings, and publishers afraid of losing goodwill (merchandising opportunities), insist that villains motivated by greed, revenge, pettiness, and misanthropy, are otherwise upright and current on social questions. The Joker could never be anti-LGBT. Thanos is incapable of holding an ugly view about immigrants.
It’s all so fucking stupid. When Alan Moore says comics are for delayed adults incapable of making space in their heads for real narratives, this is what he means.
Villains are villains. It’s intuitive that they should harbor some off-putting opinions. And let’s go one step further: heroes are human. If someone stops a terror attack, but in the press following the incident says something uncharitable about muslims, is the man less of a hero? A step further. The Pulse nightclub incident was resolved with a police raid, killing the perpetrator. If one of those officers holds homophobic views, does it negate whatever bravery he may’ve demonstrated that day?
What is this imaginary scale we break out for everyone but ourselves, where ASSHOLE is the greatest moral failing?
It’s fashionable to say “people are complex.” I don’t see it that way. People are simple. They hold views that contradict not because they contain multitudes, but because holding conflicting views is easy if you’re stupid. And we’re all stupid.
The Joker doesn’t have to be enlightened. But neither does Green Arrow. He can hold progressive viewpoints on any number of things, but have one (or more) glaringly regressive positions. Because he’s supposed to be a person.
You can’t have it both ways. Either these are characters, or they are costumes. Make a decision, corporate apologists. It’s fine these characters exist to sell toys. But they don’t have to FEEL like it.
FURTHERMORE
MY VIDEO OF THE WEEK
I made this.
SMASH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS (MAYBE?)
This was an interesting watch. Who owns a thing enough to alter it? The director? The studio?
Alien 3 is notoriously nobody’s film. David Fincher hated his experience making it, and by virtue of that hates the film. The studio likely has none of the same staff as when this film was made.
So do the fans own it? Can they make a definitive version? What would legitimize it? Could it be the quality? Because there is no chain of ownership creatively. I look forward to watching this one. I love the theater version of this film, so maybe I own it enough to shamelessly enjoy this Frankenstein version.
IT’S, LIKE, $10K PLUS A PIECE OF WHAT COMES IN
What say you?
I know people love tankobon size, and I get it. But I wanna print some of this stuff as big as possible. Which, of course, erases the audience for it entirely and turns it into a true can’t-win project. Frustrating.
DESIGN OF THE WEEK
This one is currently up for auction and if it wasn’t going for $91, I might make a bid. Striking central image, sure. But how about that schizo-coded text frame? Turns advertising into outsider art.
OK GOTTA GO AGAIN
Hope you all have a good week. I have no idea what day these newsletter drop on anymore, as time has lost all meaning. Do your best this week. I’m trying to catch up on a mountain of comic work duties I’ve somehow kept at bay. Wishing you greater organizational skills. Do for self.
Have you seen the collections of forgotten smut manga called Pink Banana that Showashowcase on ig is putting out? Really cool stuff.
Make no mistake, the animals ARE guilting you.