Here are some things I found interesting in the world
of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self
publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc.
during the week ending 09232012:
“To me, the Queen can't help who she is any more than anybody else can. I’m more of a nihilist to be honest, none of it means anything to me. This is an object that will in fifty years be lying on a table in a flea market. I don't have kids, it's going nowhere. So to me, I don't attach all those values to it, and again maybe that's a class thing you know, I’m starting to see more things in terms of class all the time. I still feel the same way I do about the monarchy, the class system,
about everything I’ve ever written, about everything I will write. So
the idea that it doesn't change anything, that people can be so wound up
by something that has no effective meaning in the world kinda says it
all to me.
It's okay because it's no biggie, honestly you're not buying into
anything - because you can't. By your intrinsic nature, who you are and
where you were born, you can't buy into that system. They don't get it,
you know, we'll never buy into it. We're the common people, as Jarvis
Cocker said, and they'll never understand that." -
Grant Morrison,
MBE 2012 planet Earth.
- Hello brothers and sisters of teh intronets. I'd like to thank you all for returning once again to the Parade-O-Links. I'm thinking about you right now and I'm wishing you well. I know you have some big ideas. Some things you would like to do. And I am rooting for you. I know you can do it. Maybe today is the day you get just a little bit of it done. Maybe you lay off the twitter a little. Maybe you cut back on the XBox. Maybe you spend one less night at the bar each week. Maybe you lay down the cell pad pod phone and step outside and clear your head. Maybe this week you make some progress. Start small. Realistic goals. One thing at a time. You can do it. I can't wait to see it.
- SPX. The Small Press Expo was a big deal last weekend. By all accounts it was mankind's finest moment of the past thousand years give or take. Our man Henry Eudy brought in another home run of a report for file under other. I have read a great many fine posts about SPX this week and I do believe that all of them are indexed here at The Comics Reporter. I also recommend The Dollar Bin's post show report. "...the manga kids with their big-eyed foxes and spiky haired heroes, the boob and fart crowd, the high arters, the too weird to live, the too strange to die, the lonely bedroom autobio-bot, the cutesy and the gruesome, the middle finger and the plea for understanding, the genuinely funny and the sharply snide, the total mess and the delusional dreamer, the boring and the insipid and the occasional truly unique. I felt like the floor was full of wonders and I felt like cartooning was the greatest." God bless us comics.
- There is a very solid chance that Molly Crabapple had a more interesting week than you did. Actually, let's be honest, every week of Molly Crabapple's life is probably more interesting than mine or yours. Gotta admire a lady that gets up in the morning and go gets her some protest. I love the smell of civil disobedience in the morning. Makes me fell poetic. You know where I'm heading with this don't ya brothers and sisters? That's right folks, put on yer poetry boots, it's link haiku time.
- Durn tootin varmits are burning in hell. Wait. What? That new Chris Ware thing was not really at the show? Just a few copies? See, this the difference between Pantheon and the real small press publishers. The small press publishers would have been hand water coloring each panel in the parking lot and had the book ready when the doors opened. Just sayin'.
- That new Julia Wetz book looks swell. I liked Drinking At The Movies a lot. The sample I've read from this seems more focused and, well, ya know, better.
- Jim Rugg. Wow. I'm sure there is a pill one could take that would prevent someone from deciding to spend that much time on a project like that. But I'm glad that Jim Rugg is not aware of that pill.
- Have I talked about we draw comics? It could be a thing.
- That xkcd thing everyone lost their mind over was the most boring game I have ever played. It honestly made me angry. Not even going to link to it. Instead, I give you this.
- Well folks, I thought we would never see the day where Brad McGinty did not do something for me to link to. But, that day is.... not today! Brad drew the Shaper of Worlds for The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Reduxe Edition blog. Like ya do. Love that blog.
THE BEST SINGLE PRINT COMIC I READ LAST WEEK
...was not a print comic. I bought a bunch of new comics Saturday but my daughter has taken them from me. Apparently she needs to know what is new with Marceline and Thong Cyclops more than I do. So, let's go with a digital comic. Let's go with
The Surrogates Case Files #2 by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele.
I talked about the
first digital issue of this series a while back. The short version is that it is a sci fi police procedural. I would not call it a prequel to
The Surrogates because the stories stand on their own but they do take place earlier in Greer's career. This issue is has a lot to chew on. The character set up work was handled in the first issue so Venditti gets to play more with the interactions between Greer and his more experienced partner Townsend. I'm really enjoying the pacing of this series and how Venditti is able to just let the dialog roll more than he could in the
The Surrogates and
Flesh and Bone. Not a lot of action for Weldele to show off with but he more than makes up for it with the character "acting" in all the drama bits. This is a very strong team in a genre that I'm a sucker for and want more of. I'm also really into Venditti's
X-O Manowar but I've not been able to find the latest issue yet.
- And finally... I saw Molly in the crowd and I yelled right out loud, I said Molly ain't you proud well damn your eyes!
Oh, and one more
last thing! Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at
file under other? It's true! And, I'll probably respond. Twitter and
facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't
argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes. It's your intronet. Have
fun!
And
that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there
in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all
but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the
good stuff.
You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!
Shannon Smith
p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to
my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on
facebook.
p.p.p.s.
Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll
tumblr for ya.
