It's funny because it's sad.
Вы думали, я шутила про продолжение?
Зря: у меня нет чувства юмора!
Итак, продолжаем:
Супергерои вообщеСупергерои вообще:
Why We Still Need Heroes - о том, что же означают супергерои. На самом деле, конечно, статья довольно поверхностная (особенно с прекраснейшим "это просто кино!" в конце - хотя, пожалуй, "политический" элемент последнего "Тёмного рыцаря" заслуживает эту оценку), особенно если вспомнить, что дискуссия о фашистском (скорее уж ницшеанском, но поскольку ницшеанский подход социально опасен именно потенциальной трансформацией в фашизм, утрирование представляется оправданным) элементе в супергероике вполне себе ведётся, причём давно. Имеющиеся два комментария едва ли не интереснее основного материала: It is way out of line to say that Batman is a form of propaganda for the 1% and for gun-toting, fascist conservative wingnuts. But what’s even more out of line is the declaration in the title of Maupin’s piece that we don’t need super-heroes. We absolutely do need super-heroes. We always will. Super-heroes serve as escapism when times are tough, they inspire us to do great things when the chips are down, and they teach us important life lessons. They are not saviors – it’s still up to us to get our asses out of the fire – but they represent the idea of the savior within us all.
The Male Superhero As Rock Star / Drag Queen - супергерои как обладатели качеств, не очень-то "полагающихся" мужчинам в нашей культуре: It is increasingly clear to me that part of my early interest in male superheroes stems from this interest in more visible men. On some level I like the fact that superheroes are so overtly trying to change people’s perception of them. They generally wear skintight clothing, brightly colored, body-conscious suits which aggressively assert that they’re totally aware of the external gaze. Simultaneously they hide their identity, sometimes to the extent of covering their faces. This creates an interesting tension between opposites, where the identity is protected while the body is vulnerable. There is strength in this visible disguise, which echoes the woman in a tight dress and a lot of make-up. Women and male superheroes both display physical assets, while guarding their identity with masks.
Are Superheroes Good for Society? - супергерои как источник, воли, вдохновения и ответов: Maybe if we look deep within ourselves we can find the strenghth to help those who can't help themselves. But some of us may have a strong heart, but a weak body. One hero we all know went through the same thing CAPTAIN AMERICA and if you wanna count him SPIDER-MAN. I'm not sayong go fight crime but there are smaller things that we can do. Maybe helping someone up if they fall. Or if you see someone getting picked on help them out. We can stand by our morals when faced with temptation of any kind.
The Benefits of Bonding with Batman - любопытная заметка. Интересно, каковы были бы результаты, реши авторы исследования обратить свой взгляд на женщин: In the researchers’ words, this suggests “one possible explanation for the overwhelming popularity of superheroes in our society is that, for some men, they may fulfill an important psychological function: making them feel better about their bodies.”
Comic books help humans strive to be extraordinary - и снова комиксы как источник вдохновения: Superhero stories are not just about meta-human champions beating on baddies. They’re about the struggle to be good and just. They’re about triumphing over impossible odds, whether they’re a heard of flesh-craving zombies, an enraged, gamma-powered mutant or a just a genius-gone-evil scientist. But most importantly, it’s about finding the human in someone who is a little bit more.
Интервью - Джо Куберт, Грант Моррисон, Марк Уэйд, Джим Ли, Брайан Ли О'Мэйли и прочие интересные люди, про которых вы знаете и не знаетеИнтервью:
Люди, про которых вы знаетеЛюди, про которых вы знаете:
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Joe Kubert by Alan Kupperberg & Steve Mitchell - большое старое интервью с легендарным Джо Кубертом. Забавно замечание интервьюера о том, что "супергероям конец", интервью вообще примечательно в том числе как демонстрация "пульса" индустрии на схваченный момент времени:
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IN my opinion, I’ve always felt that the success of Superman was always the stories. You could always have Superman in a position where he looks like he couldn’t escape but, at the last minute, he would get out of it alright. The artwork, to me, has always been terrible, except for the last two or three years. Since then, it has sort of come up to par with the stories. The stories have always been up there and that’s what I think has probably sold the book. A little kid can go out there and say, “Oh, gee! What is gonna happen to Superman this week?” It is interesting, like a TV show.
...
I think it was Milt Caniff who said that no comic strip, no cartoon effort can be considered really successful unless it’s a combination effort of writing and artwork by the person who is actually executing the final work. That is, generally speaking, the most successful efforts in the cartooning field have been done by guys who have controlled the writing as well as the artwork, for whatever thing they’re doing.
...
The Code is something that was profligated by the business itself. It’s not something that was foisted on the business. The business did it simply because they felt, on account of all the criticism that they’d received – to show that they were cognizant of their responsibilities. They formed their own board of censors. Now, I think that the Code will probably exist as long as they feel it’s important to have that stamp on the magazines. The most important fact in that the Code is on the magazine is merely in order to make an extra couple of sales.
Comic Relief with Mark Waid - Марк Уэйд говорит обо всём подряд. Народ больше всего (если опустить слова про отвратительное поведение DC в связи со смертью Джо Куберта) зацепился вот за это: The grimness is just absurd. It’s “how do we out-grim each other, how do we out-violence each other”. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not offended because I want comics to be like they were when I was a kid. I don’t care. I don’t want comics to be like they were when I was a kid because I still have my comics. If I need that I’ll go look at those. What I need is for comics to not cheapen out and just do what they think a bunch of bloodthirsty 15 year old fans want. Stop trying to gross us out with blood and violence. It’s just cheap. It’s bad storytelling. I’m not offended on a moral or ethical level, I’m just offended on a creativity level. There are other ways to create tension and drama than to have somebody stabbed through the back with a sword.
Люди вспомнили про участие Уэйда в "52", смерть Ральфа Дибни, и начали... задавать вопросы: So Who Killed Ralph Dibny Anyway?. Это приводит нас к разговору о текущей ситуации в DC, но полноценнно об этом (как я уже говорила) будет отдельно, а пока опустим.
Being Grant Morrison: From "HAPPY!" To MorrisonCon & Beyond - смотрите, Грант Моррисон! Оказывается, он - кавалер Ордена Британской Империи во втором поколении. Задумайтесь об этом. И ещё: он (пока?) завязывает с супергероями.
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I'm not saying that I'll never write superheroes again. It's just that my relationship to them has changed especially after finishing the book and I’m not sure if I want to maintain the same kind of relentless level of production.
...
But there's definitely some kind of centrifugal movement away from the mainstream toward new and more personal, expressive, creator-owned stuff, and I think it's partly because cinema has appropriated so much of the stuff we’ve been doing in comics for the last thirty years. Movie superheroes finally look better than their comic book counterparts. And creative people are more informed and want to own their ideas, and to be able to protect them or profit from them. The audience has developed a fresh appetite for new characters and stories which is driving a shift toward those kinds of stories again. Writers and artists are experimenting again. The future’s back and you could feel the floodgates opening at Image this year, in particular. It seems like everybody’s got something new coming out.
...
I wish I could be more like Warren Ellis, and have a commanding internet presence but I can never think of anything to say online. I waste days perfecting a few lines of an e-mail or tweet It’s pointless. For me nothing is faster, sexier and more rewarding than communicating with people in person.
Jim Lee reflects on a life in art — and the art of life - Джим Ли о своей карьере и своём творчестве. Видео.
War Rocket Ajax #127: Bill Willingham Talks 'Fabletown And Beyond' And, Yes, Stephanie Brown - подкаст. В какой-то момент там появляется Билл Уиллингэм, и с ним говорят, о да, о написанной им смерти Стефани Браун и о том, как Стефани стала Робином. Очередные радостные картинки из жизни DC! Да мы всё ещё будем говорить об этом отдельно.
Beyond the Many Lives of Scott Pilgrim - интервью с Брайаном Ли О'Мэйли о раскрашенном "Скотте Пилигриме", своём новом проекте и не только.
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Tumblr culture and the whole reappropriation-without-context thing are a double-edged sword in that they both raise awareness of my work and also kind of devalue it at the same time. But I don’t know. I guess I don’t mind. Culture is evolving and I’m along for the ride.
...
Like, I get to actually fix mistakes that were made so many years ago, or I get to spend more time on something that I always regretted rushing through. On the first book I made a lot of tiny changes that people won’t notice, just “correcting” faces and hair shapes and things. On the second book I started going to town a bit and really cleaned up and redrew some stuff. To some degree I might look at that when it comes out and wonder why I changed certain things at all, but it just felt kinda cathartic.
...
Well, on a new book, in a new world, it’s a clean break and I felt like I could push my art into new places. I can toss out intrinsic things about the Scott Pilgrim look that always bugged me over the years, and I can bring different influences to bear. I think the new book looks pretty different, but it’ll still be instantly recognizable as me.
The inspiration for Comic Sans gives his verdict on this 'awful' font - Дэйв Гиббонс о Comic Sans. Ну да.
Люди, о которых вы можете знать
Люди, о которых вы можете знать:
Round Two with Brian Wood - интервью с Брайаном Вудом. "Конан", "Звёздные войны" и особенности работы по найму. В какой-то момент становится очевидно, что задаваемые вопросы Вуда бесят, и он начинает откровенно отпинываться.
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The biggest, and most important thing is to know your place. With a licensed book, be it Conan or X-Men, I’m a hired gun, there to deliver a sсript according to instructions and basically walk away. With a creator-owned book, I’m running a business, one that I founded and own. Getting that straight in your head is key to sanity. I’ve seen some of my peers get too attached to the work for hire projects and have their hearts broken when they realize one day that, yeah, you ultimately don’t get to be the one who decides things.
I make it sound a little mercenary, but work for hire IS mercenary, and I don’t hold it against anyone. It’s the way it goes. I used to do creative work for a day job, design at a video game company, and it was the same thing.
...
This sort of thing happens elsewhere in comics, too, where readers are only interested if a story “matters,” meaning, its part of what they consider the “main” story. You can leave a lot of great work unread, taking that sort of binary approach. It also really stunts the industry as a whole, because new works can rarely get a toehold in a field of constantly self-referencing work. Some publishers are at the point of not bothering to launch new books that don’t “matter” because, well, the market has spoken.
...
I don’t have to be 100% fundamentalist in my devotion to all continuity, or 100% in direct opposition to all continuity with no chance at anything in between. There are degrees to how much you can reasonably let this sort of thing control the story.
Artist August: Brandon Graham [Interview] - Брэндон Грэм, автор King City и один из авторов (интервью с другими здесь и здесь) текущей инкарнации Prophet: So making art is like my diary and my entertainment and about trying to create something that could connect with someone the way Moebius or Shirow or Fil Barlow’s work connected with me. And sometimes it’s about just making it without worrying that anyone else will ever see it. I like drawing and coming up with stories and jokes. I like how many options art allows, I’ll never have enough time in my life to explore it all. I feel like the only thing I have to worry about is remembering that.
CBR SUNDAY CONVERSATION: Nicola Scott - Никола Скотт, в настоящее время рисующая для DC серию Earth 2 говорит о своей жизни и немного о работе.
CRUMB ON OTHERS, Part Four - легендарный Роберт Крамб о разных людях: Вуди Аллене, Чарльзе Бёрнсе, Абрахаме Линкольне, Ральфе Бакши, Эрже и прочих. Любопытно. Приктически полностью не про комиксы.
Fraction Broadcasts Sex, Murder, & Mystery in "Satellite Sam" - не интервью, а скорее коллекция высказываний о новом совместном проекте Говарда Чайкина и Мэтта Фракшена.
Jewish Mythology and Witch Trials: Terry Moore on Rachel Rising #10 - Терри Мур, автор Strangers in Paradise, о своём последнем проекте: It just seems that when you’re writing a big heavy story, everything ponders along like a semi, so once in awhile you need something to suddenly something rush up to you. It’s a subconscious thing, but I think it tires the reader out if every plot ponders along to the same methodical beat. Once in awhile, you need a swift right hook.
Chatting with Jock - интервью с художником The Losers: Drawing interior pages is about creating a whole; it’s not about one image, it’s about the way the comic is laid out. The way that you’re moving the reader’s eye around the page, the drama, the acting, all of those things, whereas for a cover, one thing I try to bring is a design sense. So I always like the covers to pop and grab you, but it should also tell a story as well and be intriguing.
Artist August: R.M. Guera [Interview] - интервью с художником недавно завершившейся серии Scalped: As I grew up on both American and European style of comics, I just had this sense about it – like a small vision inside bundle you show to nobody – that it is possible to make something like “best of both worlds”. I wanted to make those differences blur, and underline the sensitivity. It’s not important which “school” it is, it’s important that it’s a good story to tell. Make it more real. Like finding a great spot to intervene creatively
Conversing on Comics with Leinil Yu - интервью с нарисовавшим много всего для Marvel Лейнилом Ю.
Люди, про которых вы скорее всего не знаете
Люди, про которых вы скорее всего не знаете:
Paul Tobin On Madness And Paranoia In ‘Colder’ - смотрите, какая обложка! Пол Тобин о своём новом хоррор-комиксе: I never like it in paranormal stories where everything is so wonderfully explained. It’s far more terrifying for me to think in terms of “Ahh! Ghost!” then it is to understand, “Ahhh! Ghost! Because we took that sacred artifact from the dig site and if we get it sanctified by a properly ordained Irish-Shamaness then we can return it to the grave and give the ghosts the rest they deserve after being killed in battle by the hands of the Vikings in 853 AD.” That gives too much grounding. It removes the mystery. If you open up the closet at night and find that some of your laundry tumbled against the door, everyone knows they can go back to sleep, but you’ll stay awake all night until the mystery of why it creaked open is solved.” That terror of the unknown feeds on itself, and gnaws on you.
Si Spurrier: The Only Hope for the Ravaged Masses of Humanity - свежеобъявленный автор X-Men Legacy о своём авторском проекте: So with Extermination the concept was as simple as it was fun. Let’s accept the silliness of superhero conventions, let’s show a world where dressing in a colourful outfit is synonymous with being a Good Person, let’s have team-ups and ridiculous one-liners and overblown villainous schemes and daft weapons and all that… and then let’s take away every fucking thing that gives it meaning.
Artist August: Charles Paul Wilson III [Interview] - интервью с художником the Stuff of Legend: I dig down and try to find a way to empathize with each character’s experience as I draw them and whatever’s happening to them. If something tragic is happening with a character I sometimes feel for them when I come across it in sсript or it’s told to me over the phone, but I think I really feel it when I see the drawings working themselves out. And I think if it can kinda have the intended effect on me then there’s a good chance the reader will feel it too.
Люди, которые сами комиксы не создают
Люди, которые сами комиксы не создают:
Dan Braun Revives Your Favorite Horror Comics - человек (музыкант и пр.), занимающийся переизданием классических хоррор-антологий рассказывает об этом захватывающем процессе: Creepy was special, Creepy was something that I was not allowed to buy when I was that age; my parents wouldn’t want me reading that. Even though they were liberal, these comics were still too much. It always had a kind of mysterious lucidness to it, and I think it had a lot to do with the covers.
Interview: Philip Nel & Eric Reynolds on Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby from Fantagraphics - редакторы издания коллекции классических стрипов рассказываютоб этом захватывающем процессе о стрипе и его истории: Yeah, exactly. Unlike a lot of the great comic strips of all time, Barnaby was never in a ton of papers, so it was not the most commercially successful strip around. But it was definitely one of the most literate and beautifully drawn and funny and charming strips that I’m aware of.
@’s by Writer Larry Tye Of SUPERMAN: THE HIGH FLYING HISTORY OF AMERICA’S MOST ENDURING HERO! - автор книги про историю Супермена говорит про... ну давайте, угадайте: It's a function of being the first, the best, and the most righteous. That makes him an easy target, same as it always has. People always like to take a swing at the king of the mountain, in hopes of pushing him off and being remembered as the one who did. It's also easy to make fun of Dudley-do-Right, because doing good can seem boring and lacking in edge. The truth is that Superman keeps coming back, defying his critics, delighting writers and artists who help forever find new ways to make him interesting, relevant, and even vulnerable. My favorite touchstones on whether or not Superman is cool is how many kids hold him up as a model -- and all you need to do is walk down any street in America to see that more kids are wearing Superman's shirt than Spiderman's, Batman's, or any other hero's.
Comics versus Art: Interview with Bart Beaty - Барт Бити, профессор, возглавляющий Кафедру Английского (серьёзно, я не знаю, как это перевести не так коряво) в Университете Калгари говорит о новом, переработанном издании своей книги, в которой он рассматривает комиксы как искусство: The most difficult option is to try to completely reverse and upend those biases. That’s a more challenging task, because the biases are so commonplace in our culture. Comics scholars receive very little condemnation when we teach Crumb, Spiegelman and Ware (and Satrapi and Bechdel and…). When we do receive raised eyebrows is when we teach Archie and other works that are “not serious” or “not sophisticated”. The route that the comics world might have taken would have been to fundamentally challenge that ideology.
SuperHero Photography - Josh Hamman - короткое интервью с фотографом комикс-косплея. Да, контраст с предыдущей ссылкой разителен. Да, я специально.
Ну и по мелочам:
Грег Пак об X-Treme X-Men, Лиа Мур и Джон Реппион о Damsels, Talking Comics with Tim | Van Jensen, интервью с Менди Чеггуром, и Крис Гиаруссо о своём, вдохновлённом Кирби, авторском комиксе.
Создатели и персонажи - кто важнее?Создатели и персонажи:
Kurt Busiek wants to know: Is it creators or characters that win your money? - начавшееся с записи Курта Бьюсека обсуждение того, что же скорее привлечёт читателей: имена авторов или герои/франчайз.
The mob has spoken: Creators trump characters (mostly) - подведение итогов обсуждения: A number of people observed that characters, specifically superhero and sci-fi/fantasy characters, first brought them to comics. As they matured as readers and/or grew tired of the cyclical nature of those stories, they followed specific creators whose work spoke to them, even if that was to creator-owned books or books at other publishers.
Comic Vine NewsRSS Email Us a Story Off My Mind: Comic Book Characters Vs. Creators - про то, вера в какую мотивацию читателей отражается в действиях издательств: If there are popular characters that will sell no matter who the creative team is, why don't publishers put their top creative teams on titles that don't sell? Marvel puts their "architects" on the top titles. If a book was selling poorly it would make more sense to put the really good writers and artists on them to boost sales while the popular characters will be able to sell themselves. It doesn't work that way.
Marvel HOW? - про то, как приходится отвечать на вопрос о предпочтениях в свете грядущих подвижек в Marvel: Who knows what the real draw is in this medium? The big-league players who want to bleed you dry of every last dime even as you lie openly weeping, clutching your desiccated throat and crying to the heavens, “Why, God? I have given you everything, and this is how I am repaid? What recourse is there for me?” as your bloodied wallet falls into an open gutter provide their consumers with the very best comic book entertainment on the market at the fairest, rock-bottom prices have their own ideas about what drives their consumers.
Комиксы как медиум - рассуждения о том, что есть "комикс" и инструкции в помощь интересующимся процессомКомиксы как медиум:
Jim Valentino on the Potential of Comics - просто чтобы задать тон, короткое видео с одним из основателей Image Comics, говорящим о потенциале медиума.
Comics Within Comics: John Stanley's Little Lulu Fairy Tale Meta-Stories - принципе это довольно интересный рассказ о Little Lulu, но меня скорее зацепили слова о том, что является комиксом, а что - нет. Как вы, возможно, помните, я с радостью готова заявить, что та или иная вещь комиксом не является, но, скажем так, не то чтобы по этому поводу существует окончательный консенсус: Pretty drawings galore, line-work and color, and a narrative, all situated within ruled boxes. (Not to mention Tarzan's impressive mullet.) Comics, right? They were published in newspaper comic sections, and they did contain something that compelled readers to return on a weekly basis. Yet these picture-stories lack the one defining tool that makes comics comics. Part of the distinct recipe of comics is the speech or thought balloon.
Abstract Comics - о конкретной антологии в частности и об "абстрактных комиксах" (блог для интересующихся) вообще: So-called “abstract comics” is one of the more extreme fronts. It names a form of wordless comics that not only dispenses with the word, but also those things traditionally allied with it, like speech, sound, plot, and interiority... In these, as in a number of works in the anthology, there is an interest in what might be termed a logic of “vestigiality”: the organ divorced from its original function but still maintained, so that it oftentimes comes to impose upon the organism that had abandoned it. Might this principle also underlie the metamorphic comics? After all, their plasmatic substances have a striking resemblance to the spongy, pneumatic contours of the speech or thought balloon. If so, it seems that the abstraction of comics against the word and its supports is never total, but rather marked with traces of partial amputation.
Missing Ink - о леттеринге, вырисовке букв. Интересен весь архив колонки, но тут автор говорит прежде всего об инструментах: The traditional tool for comics lettering is a dip pen with a specialized lettering nib, which has a flattened surface, usually round or oval shaped, which puts ink down smoothly and evenly. This is in contrast with the more angular drawing nib, which allows the user to vary the amount of ink that reaches the paper and create a range of line qualities. Conventional block lettering strives for a strong, even, consistent line. If you are used to a dip pen and can load and wipe one so it works, then outfitting yourself with lettering tools is a matter of finding a source of lettering nibs of the proper size to suit your page compositions.
Techniques and Tricks: What Not to Do - учимся на чужих ошибках: заметка о том, чего делать не стоит.
DECOMPRESSED 006: MARK WAID AND MATT FRACTION ON THE MARVEL METHOD. = Мэтт Фрэкшен и Марк Уэйд рассказывают в блоге Киерона Гиллена о том, что означает делать сценарии для комиксов по "методу Марвел". Подкаст.
Карл Кисл - про одно хорошее делоКарл Кисл - про одно хорошее дело:
Околокомиксный мир часто представляется довольно специфическим, закупоренным и сосредоточенным на созерцании своего безумно интересного но всё-таки пупка. Поэтому, всякий раз, когда кто-то, известный прежде всего как "человек из индустрии" делает что-то, оказывающее положительно воздействие на "реальный мир", это вызывает особое чувство, содержащее в себе гордость с удивлением, но ими отнюдь не ограничивающееся.
К чему это я?
Вот к чему: Карл Кисл, автор, писавший, помимо прочего серию про Супербоя (ну ту, родом из 90-х) и серию про Харли Куин, недавно объявил, что он распродаёт свою обширную коллекцию комиксов. Почему он решил это сделать? Потому что ему и его жене внезапно понадобились деньги: они усыновили младенца с врождённой героиновой зависимостью: Karl Kesel, Marvel Comics Writer, Sells Comic Book Collection For Adoption Of Baby With Heroin Exposure.
Похоже, продажа коллекции прошла успешно, что не может не радовать: Reddit users, retailer and creators rally to help Karl Kesel and family
А... а и всё. Просто захотелось вам об этом рассказать.
Отзывы и рекомендацииОтзывы и рекомендации:
Marie Severin’s Due - отзыв на книгу о Мари Северин, одной из немногих масштабно засветившихся в (относительно) ранней истории медиума женщин. Автор сбивается на рассказ о самой Мари. но оно и к лучшему: The E.C. section is particularly well done. Severin began coloring for them when editor Harvey Kurtzman wanted to upgrade the look of the books, in Severin’s words “to look more like Prince Valiant in the newspaper.” For the next few years she colored first Kurtzman’s war books, then the entire line, with the exception of some covers and stories colored by the perfectionist Kurtzman, as well as a few stories colored by the similarly autonomously-minded Bernard Krigstein (both of whom Severin typically characterizes as “artsy-fartsy”). When Cassell tells Severin, “you’ve been credited with a lot of the success of EC because of those vibrant covers,” she effaces herself to credit instead the quality of the “content,” but truly, covers are the primary selling factors on the newsstand and the color is the more significant part of the initial impact of the visuals on the reader. And, Severin’s interior coloring is no less sensitive and considered.
Top Ten Dense Comics - десять комиксов, при повторном прочтении которых открываются всё новые и новые грани.
Review: Philosophy: A Discovery in Comics - философские учения в комиксах. Есть в этом что-то такое то... ну, книжек "для чайников", чёрт, у нас в стране вполне себе шутят про "N в комиксх" как единственную понятную убогим форму подачи информации: Again and again, de Heer makes choices that bring the reader closer to the ideas that she is expressing in her book. Again and again, she uses the power of the comics page -- and her very conversational approach to the material -- to make it thoroughly relatable and -- really, seriously, no lie -- actually fun while not skimping on the important material that any budding philosopher needs to know.
This Comic Is Good – Shooters OGN - комикс о ветеранах и, похоже, том, какова жизнь после армии: The PTSD aspect of the book is fascinating, because like depression, how can you possibly understand it unless you actually lived through it? Here, Trautmann and Jerwa shine as they do their damndest to get us to understand something that we can never really understand.
Lost at Sea - об одной из первых (да, до "Скотта Пилигрима" работ Брайана Ли О'Мэйли: At the end of the day, whether you call Lost at Sea a road-trip story or a coming-of-age/bildungsroman or something else—at its most basic and pared-down, Lost at Sea is a book about going home. I can’t begin to suspect why those who write the book off as “emo bullshit” do so, nor would it be very much a fruitful endeavor to try. Everyone’s got their reasons, their biases, their preconceived notions. Maybe mine are why I enjoyed the book.
Shepperton’s Waltz Review - вестерн с фантастикой: The entire set up is crazy, but the meat of the story is straight forward. The sci-fi aspects aren’t original, but written well. The reader knows next to nothing about the history of this little town and why the aliens are here, but we don’t care. Angus is an interesting character, and that’s all we need to know.
Review: Spooks Volume 2 - не-вестерн с мистическим детективом: Along the way you’ll uncover the corruption and deception threatening the very highest levels of the political classes in this very young, turn of the 20th Century America, not quite wild, certainly not west... And as good as the plotting is, the art by Rossi matches it. He gets it absolutely right almost every step of the way here, keeping that fine balance between good, simple, straightforward storytelling to keep hold of the complex plot, and throwing a little flashy stuff in simply because he’s oh so capable of it.
Johnny Space Commander: Smirk Til You Die - пародийный комикс про космические приключения. Обещан грубоватый юмор: I mean, Johnny Space Commander is basically Bill Watterson’s Spaceman Spiff with dick jokes. Its tagline is even “Saving The Universe One Ridiculous Situation After Another.” It’s old sci-fi pulp like what Calvin and Hobbes would lightly satirize, with a caffeinated story pace, simple-as-bread plots and cookie cutter characters, and it’s funny.
Women of Action | Courtney Crumrin - для тех, кому интересны интересные женские персонажи: What’s wonderful is that as a storyteller chronicling adventures in these worlds, he’s fearless. He doesn’t restrain himself, afraid of revealing too much and not leaving anything for later. Instead, he dives into the deep end and shows us what’s lurking there, confident that he’ll never run out of new characters, beasts, and magic to share.
Age of Reptiles Omnibus - для тех, кому интересны динозавры. Нет, правда, независимо от всего остального, изображения динозавров выглядят как минимум любопытно: Delgado’s first series, “Tribal Warfare,” features very detailed penwork. Every crease, crevice, and fold in his dinosaurs’ skin is rendered in crisp black lines. Delgado’s attention to detail is somewhat awe-striking, but generally (and despite a good sense of visual presence and doing a lot with negative space) the art in these pages feels exceptionally busy.
Tygers and Lambs #2 – Wild Children - тут вот какое дело: ранее отзывы на этот комикс были... ну очень разными. Положительными (Wild Children is completely different to anything on your ‘to read’ stack and deserves all the praise it gets. Sure, there are comics out there that make us question the world around us but how many make us question the very nature of comics themselves and the way that we consume them?), резко отрицательными (Эко-мусор пишет, эко-мусор в главных ролях, мысленный мусор в наполнении и лишь рисунок заставляет смотреть до конца то, что должно быть комиксом, но оказывается арт-хаусным, мерзотным проявлением эго и желания выделиться, которое ведёт автора. Дикие дети, дикие мысли, дикая дрянь) и смешанными (While “Wild Children” fails to completely impress and could better from some subtlety, the book suggests potential for a budding comics writer). Иными словами, это как минимум очень интересно: Now, if you were feeling harsh you could reduce this down to something like “living in a comic is weird, if you/I/we do in fact live in a comic”, but I’m mostly too charmed by Wild Children’s energy to take that approach. So, if the comic hasn’t quite managed to shatter my perception of time and space it has at least remind me of a time when I felt like that was possible.
Ryan Kelly offers first issue of Funrama for free - бесплатный комикс!
Preview: The Odyssey by Seymour Chwast - превью комикса от дизайнера.
Вещи, которые вы (почему-то) можете купитьВещи, которые вы (почему-то) можете купить:
Quick, Robin! To the Bat-bowling alley! - боулинг-атрибутика!
Comic Couture | Marvel villains, Batcuffs and more - Бэт-запонки! Бэт-плащ для вашей собаки! Ну или одежда с символом Супермена для неё же. Почему бы и нет!
Как вы могли заметить, я всегда лобавляю вот это "(почему-то)". В этот раз я увидела прекраснейшую новость, которой Вселенная ответила на мой вопрос - чтобы такие вещи происходили: Man Allegedly Attacks Roommate And Mother With Fake Wolverine Claws. Ну, то есть, это, конечно очень печально. Очень!
Списки и прочие развлеченияСписки и прочие развлечения:
On The Perils & Pleasures Of Comicbook Schools - школы в комиксах.
Those Tiny, Tiny Cartoon People: A Baker's Dozen Of At-Best Pint-Sized Heroes & Villains - миниатюрные, э... существа в комиксах.
Top Ten Favorite Comics Cats - кошки в комиксах!
Top 5: Super Villains to Avoid Choosing as Your High School Lab Partner - это тоже список!
This Year on Read Comics in Public Day… We Saw You! - женщины, публично читающие комиксы! Сперва я подумала, что в этом милом развлечении эпатажа куда больше, чем содержания, а потом вспомнила, как один из моих (фандомовских!) знакомых отреагировал на мои солова о том, что комиксы я читаю всё больше в метро с планшетника: "Слушай, люди же смотрят! Я бы застремался". Ну да. Хотя смотрят, что уж там. Вот сегодня с утра, когда я ехала на работу, моя соседка по скамье в метро усиленно пыталась разглядеть, что же это у меня там на экране.
Hours of fun: Nevins’ The Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes - об онлайн-энциклопедии героев Золотого Века. Ожидаемо, прелестно.
Progressive Ruin presents…the End of Civilization. - Майк Стерлинг разбирает очередной каталог с гиковским всем: At long last, Wonder Woman has finally achieved her full potential, as Batman’s newest Robin... This is identified as a “role-play accessory” in the catalog, and all I can picture is a kid running around shouting “the maniac has cut off E.T.s hand, OH GOD WHY”... I originally read this as “Doc Ock finds out Spidey’s secret identity,” but maybe he just finds out that Peter Parker is, like, a jerk or something. “Man, that Parker kid never tips! What a dick!”
КартинкиКартинки:
Вообще, конечно, картинки - это не моё. Обычн,о когда я вижу что-нибудь, кажущееся мне интересным, я кидаю соответствующую ссылку QVall, и считаю, что "моя работа здесь завершена". Но чёрт с ним, пусть будут картинки. Точнее, ссылки на картинки. Потому что я - это всё ещё я:
Tripwire covers 20 of the best – part one и Tripwire covers 20 of the best – part two - в честь двадцатилетия британского журнала комиксов Tripwire: его лучшие обложки.
iFanboy Upstarts: John Kantz - новый художник!
Sergio Toppi, 1932-2012 - не картинки, но косвенно про них. Краткий рассказ о Серджио Топпи: Toppi's work was classically grounded but also uniquely staged, focused on the human figure in several panels and pages that would make stand-alone illustrations by themselves. Many of his better single make dramatic use of white space as a balancing and directional element. His greatest contribution might have been in how the details of his work could slip into the fantastic in a way that emphasized or gave emotional context to the historically rigorous scene being depicted.
Milo Manara Draws The Scarlet Witch. And It’s Pretty Much As You’d Expect. - Алая Ведьма от Мило Манары. Это... это ужасно. Бррр. Если бы мне снились сны, это лицо я увидела бы в моих кошмарах.
What If Marvel 60s/70s Marvel were more like 60s/70s DC – weirdness ensues - как-то так:
Ну и всё. Да, я себя тоже пугаю. И раздражаю. Раздражаю чаще.
Вот вам напоследок особо актуальное в связи с ФБ:
Зря: у меня нет чувства юмора!
Итак, продолжаем:
Супергерои вообщеСупергерои вообще:
Why We Still Need Heroes - о том, что же означают супергерои. На самом деле, конечно, статья довольно поверхностная (особенно с прекраснейшим "это просто кино!" в конце - хотя, пожалуй, "политический" элемент последнего "Тёмного рыцаря" заслуживает эту оценку), особенно если вспомнить, что дискуссия о фашистском (скорее уж ницшеанском, но поскольку ницшеанский подход социально опасен именно потенциальной трансформацией в фашизм, утрирование представляется оправданным) элементе в супергероике вполне себе ведётся, причём давно. Имеющиеся два комментария едва ли не интереснее основного материала: It is way out of line to say that Batman is a form of propaganda for the 1% and for gun-toting, fascist conservative wingnuts. But what’s even more out of line is the declaration in the title of Maupin’s piece that we don’t need super-heroes. We absolutely do need super-heroes. We always will. Super-heroes serve as escapism when times are tough, they inspire us to do great things when the chips are down, and they teach us important life lessons. They are not saviors – it’s still up to us to get our asses out of the fire – but they represent the idea of the savior within us all.
The Male Superhero As Rock Star / Drag Queen - супергерои как обладатели качеств, не очень-то "полагающихся" мужчинам в нашей культуре: It is increasingly clear to me that part of my early interest in male superheroes stems from this interest in more visible men. On some level I like the fact that superheroes are so overtly trying to change people’s perception of them. They generally wear skintight clothing, brightly colored, body-conscious suits which aggressively assert that they’re totally aware of the external gaze. Simultaneously they hide their identity, sometimes to the extent of covering their faces. This creates an interesting tension between opposites, where the identity is protected while the body is vulnerable. There is strength in this visible disguise, which echoes the woman in a tight dress and a lot of make-up. Women and male superheroes both display physical assets, while guarding their identity with masks.
Are Superheroes Good for Society? - супергерои как источник, воли, вдохновения и ответов: Maybe if we look deep within ourselves we can find the strenghth to help those who can't help themselves. But some of us may have a strong heart, but a weak body. One hero we all know went through the same thing CAPTAIN AMERICA and if you wanna count him SPIDER-MAN. I'm not sayong go fight crime but there are smaller things that we can do. Maybe helping someone up if they fall. Or if you see someone getting picked on help them out. We can stand by our morals when faced with temptation of any kind.
The Benefits of Bonding with Batman - любопытная заметка. Интересно, каковы были бы результаты, реши авторы исследования обратить свой взгляд на женщин: In the researchers’ words, this suggests “one possible explanation for the overwhelming popularity of superheroes in our society is that, for some men, they may fulfill an important psychological function: making them feel better about their bodies.”
Comic books help humans strive to be extraordinary - и снова комиксы как источник вдохновения: Superhero stories are not just about meta-human champions beating on baddies. They’re about the struggle to be good and just. They’re about triumphing over impossible odds, whether they’re a heard of flesh-craving zombies, an enraged, gamma-powered mutant or a just a genius-gone-evil scientist. But most importantly, it’s about finding the human in someone who is a little bit more.
Интервью - Джо Куберт, Грант Моррисон, Марк Уэйд, Джим Ли, Брайан Ли О'Мэйли и прочие интересные люди, про которых вы знаете и не знаетеИнтервью:
Люди, про которых вы знаетеЛюди, про которых вы знаете:
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Joe Kubert by Alan Kupperberg & Steve Mitchell - большое старое интервью с легендарным Джо Кубертом. Забавно замечание интервьюера о том, что "супергероям конец", интервью вообще примечательно в том числе как демонстрация "пульса" индустрии на схваченный момент времени:
ВыдержкиВыдержки:
IN my opinion, I’ve always felt that the success of Superman was always the stories. You could always have Superman in a position where he looks like he couldn’t escape but, at the last minute, he would get out of it alright. The artwork, to me, has always been terrible, except for the last two or three years. Since then, it has sort of come up to par with the stories. The stories have always been up there and that’s what I think has probably sold the book. A little kid can go out there and say, “Oh, gee! What is gonna happen to Superman this week?” It is interesting, like a TV show.
...
I think it was Milt Caniff who said that no comic strip, no cartoon effort can be considered really successful unless it’s a combination effort of writing and artwork by the person who is actually executing the final work. That is, generally speaking, the most successful efforts in the cartooning field have been done by guys who have controlled the writing as well as the artwork, for whatever thing they’re doing.
...
The Code is something that was profligated by the business itself. It’s not something that was foisted on the business. The business did it simply because they felt, on account of all the criticism that they’d received – to show that they were cognizant of their responsibilities. They formed their own board of censors. Now, I think that the Code will probably exist as long as they feel it’s important to have that stamp on the magazines. The most important fact in that the Code is on the magazine is merely in order to make an extra couple of sales.
Comic Relief with Mark Waid - Марк Уэйд говорит обо всём подряд. Народ больше всего (если опустить слова про отвратительное поведение DC в связи со смертью Джо Куберта) зацепился вот за это: The grimness is just absurd. It’s “how do we out-grim each other, how do we out-violence each other”. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not offended because I want comics to be like they were when I was a kid. I don’t care. I don’t want comics to be like they were when I was a kid because I still have my comics. If I need that I’ll go look at those. What I need is for comics to not cheapen out and just do what they think a bunch of bloodthirsty 15 year old fans want. Stop trying to gross us out with blood and violence. It’s just cheap. It’s bad storytelling. I’m not offended on a moral or ethical level, I’m just offended on a creativity level. There are other ways to create tension and drama than to have somebody stabbed through the back with a sword.
Люди вспомнили про участие Уэйда в "52", смерть Ральфа Дибни, и начали... задавать вопросы: So Who Killed Ralph Dibny Anyway?. Это приводит нас к разговору о текущей ситуации в DC, но полноценнно об этом (как я уже говорила) будет отдельно, а пока опустим.
Being Grant Morrison: From "HAPPY!" To MorrisonCon & Beyond - смотрите, Грант Моррисон! Оказывается, он - кавалер Ордена Британской Империи во втором поколении. Задумайтесь об этом. И ещё: он (пока?) завязывает с супергероями.
ВыдержкиВыдержки:
I'm not saying that I'll never write superheroes again. It's just that my relationship to them has changed especially after finishing the book and I’m not sure if I want to maintain the same kind of relentless level of production.
...
But there's definitely some kind of centrifugal movement away from the mainstream toward new and more personal, expressive, creator-owned stuff, and I think it's partly because cinema has appropriated so much of the stuff we’ve been doing in comics for the last thirty years. Movie superheroes finally look better than their comic book counterparts. And creative people are more informed and want to own their ideas, and to be able to protect them or profit from them. The audience has developed a fresh appetite for new characters and stories which is driving a shift toward those kinds of stories again. Writers and artists are experimenting again. The future’s back and you could feel the floodgates opening at Image this year, in particular. It seems like everybody’s got something new coming out.
...
I wish I could be more like Warren Ellis, and have a commanding internet presence but I can never think of anything to say online. I waste days perfecting a few lines of an e-mail or tweet It’s pointless. For me nothing is faster, sexier and more rewarding than communicating with people in person.
Jim Lee reflects on a life in art — and the art of life - Джим Ли о своей карьере и своём творчестве. Видео.
War Rocket Ajax #127: Bill Willingham Talks 'Fabletown And Beyond' And, Yes, Stephanie Brown - подкаст. В какой-то момент там появляется Билл Уиллингэм, и с ним говорят, о да, о написанной им смерти Стефани Браун и о том, как Стефани стала Робином. Очередные радостные картинки из жизни DC! Да мы всё ещё будем говорить об этом отдельно.
Beyond the Many Lives of Scott Pilgrim - интервью с Брайаном Ли О'Мэйли о раскрашенном "Скотте Пилигриме", своём новом проекте и не только.
ВыдержкиВыдержки:
Tumblr culture and the whole reappropriation-without-context thing are a double-edged sword in that they both raise awareness of my work and also kind of devalue it at the same time. But I don’t know. I guess I don’t mind. Culture is evolving and I’m along for the ride.
...
Like, I get to actually fix mistakes that were made so many years ago, or I get to spend more time on something that I always regretted rushing through. On the first book I made a lot of tiny changes that people won’t notice, just “correcting” faces and hair shapes and things. On the second book I started going to town a bit and really cleaned up and redrew some stuff. To some degree I might look at that when it comes out and wonder why I changed certain things at all, but it just felt kinda cathartic.
...
Well, on a new book, in a new world, it’s a clean break and I felt like I could push my art into new places. I can toss out intrinsic things about the Scott Pilgrim look that always bugged me over the years, and I can bring different influences to bear. I think the new book looks pretty different, but it’ll still be instantly recognizable as me.
The inspiration for Comic Sans gives his verdict on this 'awful' font - Дэйв Гиббонс о Comic Sans. Ну да.
Люди, о которых вы можете знать
Люди, о которых вы можете знать:
Round Two with Brian Wood - интервью с Брайаном Вудом. "Конан", "Звёздные войны" и особенности работы по найму. В какой-то момент становится очевидно, что задаваемые вопросы Вуда бесят, и он начинает откровенно отпинываться.
ВыдержкиВыдержки:
The biggest, and most important thing is to know your place. With a licensed book, be it Conan or X-Men, I’m a hired gun, there to deliver a sсript according to instructions and basically walk away. With a creator-owned book, I’m running a business, one that I founded and own. Getting that straight in your head is key to sanity. I’ve seen some of my peers get too attached to the work for hire projects and have their hearts broken when they realize one day that, yeah, you ultimately don’t get to be the one who decides things.
I make it sound a little mercenary, but work for hire IS mercenary, and I don’t hold it against anyone. It’s the way it goes. I used to do creative work for a day job, design at a video game company, and it was the same thing.
...
This sort of thing happens elsewhere in comics, too, where readers are only interested if a story “matters,” meaning, its part of what they consider the “main” story. You can leave a lot of great work unread, taking that sort of binary approach. It also really stunts the industry as a whole, because new works can rarely get a toehold in a field of constantly self-referencing work. Some publishers are at the point of not bothering to launch new books that don’t “matter” because, well, the market has spoken.
...
I don’t have to be 100% fundamentalist in my devotion to all continuity, or 100% in direct opposition to all continuity with no chance at anything in between. There are degrees to how much you can reasonably let this sort of thing control the story.
Artist August: Brandon Graham [Interview] - Брэндон Грэм, автор King City и один из авторов (интервью с другими здесь и здесь) текущей инкарнации Prophet: So making art is like my diary and my entertainment and about trying to create something that could connect with someone the way Moebius or Shirow or Fil Barlow’s work connected with me. And sometimes it’s about just making it without worrying that anyone else will ever see it. I like drawing and coming up with stories and jokes. I like how many options art allows, I’ll never have enough time in my life to explore it all. I feel like the only thing I have to worry about is remembering that.
CBR SUNDAY CONVERSATION: Nicola Scott - Никола Скотт, в настоящее время рисующая для DC серию Earth 2 говорит о своей жизни и немного о работе.
CRUMB ON OTHERS, Part Four - легендарный Роберт Крамб о разных людях: Вуди Аллене, Чарльзе Бёрнсе, Абрахаме Линкольне, Ральфе Бакши, Эрже и прочих. Любопытно. Приктически полностью не про комиксы.
Fraction Broadcasts Sex, Murder, & Mystery in "Satellite Sam" - не интервью, а скорее коллекция высказываний о новом совместном проекте Говарда Чайкина и Мэтта Фракшена.
Jewish Mythology and Witch Trials: Terry Moore on Rachel Rising #10 - Терри Мур, автор Strangers in Paradise, о своём последнем проекте: It just seems that when you’re writing a big heavy story, everything ponders along like a semi, so once in awhile you need something to suddenly something rush up to you. It’s a subconscious thing, but I think it tires the reader out if every plot ponders along to the same methodical beat. Once in awhile, you need a swift right hook.
Chatting with Jock - интервью с художником The Losers: Drawing interior pages is about creating a whole; it’s not about one image, it’s about the way the comic is laid out. The way that you’re moving the reader’s eye around the page, the drama, the acting, all of those things, whereas for a cover, one thing I try to bring is a design sense. So I always like the covers to pop and grab you, but it should also tell a story as well and be intriguing.
Artist August: R.M. Guera [Interview] - интервью с художником недавно завершившейся серии Scalped: As I grew up on both American and European style of comics, I just had this sense about it – like a small vision inside bundle you show to nobody – that it is possible to make something like “best of both worlds”. I wanted to make those differences blur, and underline the sensitivity. It’s not important which “school” it is, it’s important that it’s a good story to tell. Make it more real. Like finding a great spot to intervene creatively
Conversing on Comics with Leinil Yu - интервью с нарисовавшим много всего для Marvel Лейнилом Ю.
Люди, про которых вы скорее всего не знаете
Люди, про которых вы скорее всего не знаете:
Paul Tobin On Madness And Paranoia In ‘Colder’ - смотрите, какая обложка! Пол Тобин о своём новом хоррор-комиксе: I never like it in paranormal stories where everything is so wonderfully explained. It’s far more terrifying for me to think in terms of “Ahh! Ghost!” then it is to understand, “Ahhh! Ghost! Because we took that sacred artifact from the dig site and if we get it sanctified by a properly ordained Irish-Shamaness then we can return it to the grave and give the ghosts the rest they deserve after being killed in battle by the hands of the Vikings in 853 AD.” That gives too much grounding. It removes the mystery. If you open up the closet at night and find that some of your laundry tumbled against the door, everyone knows they can go back to sleep, but you’ll stay awake all night until the mystery of why it creaked open is solved.” That terror of the unknown feeds on itself, and gnaws on you.
Si Spurrier: The Only Hope for the Ravaged Masses of Humanity - свежеобъявленный автор X-Men Legacy о своём авторском проекте: So with Extermination the concept was as simple as it was fun. Let’s accept the silliness of superhero conventions, let’s show a world where dressing in a colourful outfit is synonymous with being a Good Person, let’s have team-ups and ridiculous one-liners and overblown villainous schemes and daft weapons and all that… and then let’s take away every fucking thing that gives it meaning.
Artist August: Charles Paul Wilson III [Interview] - интервью с художником the Stuff of Legend: I dig down and try to find a way to empathize with each character’s experience as I draw them and whatever’s happening to them. If something tragic is happening with a character I sometimes feel for them when I come across it in sсript or it’s told to me over the phone, but I think I really feel it when I see the drawings working themselves out. And I think if it can kinda have the intended effect on me then there’s a good chance the reader will feel it too.
Люди, которые сами комиксы не создают
Люди, которые сами комиксы не создают:
Dan Braun Revives Your Favorite Horror Comics - человек (музыкант и пр.), занимающийся переизданием классических хоррор-антологий рассказывает об этом захватывающем процессе: Creepy was special, Creepy was something that I was not allowed to buy when I was that age; my parents wouldn’t want me reading that. Even though they were liberal, these comics were still too much. It always had a kind of mysterious lucidness to it, and I think it had a lot to do with the covers.
Interview: Philip Nel & Eric Reynolds on Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby from Fantagraphics - редакторы издания коллекции классических стрипов рассказывают
@’s by Writer Larry Tye Of SUPERMAN: THE HIGH FLYING HISTORY OF AMERICA’S MOST ENDURING HERO! - автор книги про историю Супермена говорит про... ну давайте, угадайте: It's a function of being the first, the best, and the most righteous. That makes him an easy target, same as it always has. People always like to take a swing at the king of the mountain, in hopes of pushing him off and being remembered as the one who did. It's also easy to make fun of Dudley-do-Right, because doing good can seem boring and lacking in edge. The truth is that Superman keeps coming back, defying his critics, delighting writers and artists who help forever find new ways to make him interesting, relevant, and even vulnerable. My favorite touchstones on whether or not Superman is cool is how many kids hold him up as a model -- and all you need to do is walk down any street in America to see that more kids are wearing Superman's shirt than Spiderman's, Batman's, or any other hero's.
Comics versus Art: Interview with Bart Beaty - Барт Бити, профессор, возглавляющий Кафедру Английского (серьёзно, я не знаю, как это перевести не так коряво) в Университете Калгари говорит о новом, переработанном издании своей книги, в которой он рассматривает комиксы как искусство: The most difficult option is to try to completely reverse and upend those biases. That’s a more challenging task, because the biases are so commonplace in our culture. Comics scholars receive very little condemnation when we teach Crumb, Spiegelman and Ware (and Satrapi and Bechdel and…). When we do receive raised eyebrows is when we teach Archie and other works that are “not serious” or “not sophisticated”. The route that the comics world might have taken would have been to fundamentally challenge that ideology.
SuperHero Photography - Josh Hamman - короткое интервью с фотографом комикс-косплея. Да, контраст с предыдущей ссылкой разителен. Да, я специально.
Ну и по мелочам:
Грег Пак об X-Treme X-Men, Лиа Мур и Джон Реппион о Damsels, Talking Comics with Tim | Van Jensen, интервью с Менди Чеггуром, и Крис Гиаруссо о своём, вдохновлённом Кирби, авторском комиксе.
Создатели и персонажи - кто важнее?Создатели и персонажи:
Kurt Busiek wants to know: Is it creators or characters that win your money? - начавшееся с записи Курта Бьюсека обсуждение того, что же скорее привлечёт читателей: имена авторов или герои/франчайз.
The mob has spoken: Creators trump characters (mostly) - подведение итогов обсуждения: A number of people observed that characters, specifically superhero and sci-fi/fantasy characters, first brought them to comics. As they matured as readers and/or grew tired of the cyclical nature of those stories, they followed specific creators whose work spoke to them, even if that was to creator-owned books or books at other publishers.
Comic Vine NewsRSS Email Us a Story Off My Mind: Comic Book Characters Vs. Creators - про то, вера в какую мотивацию читателей отражается в действиях издательств: If there are popular characters that will sell no matter who the creative team is, why don't publishers put their top creative teams on titles that don't sell? Marvel puts their "architects" on the top titles. If a book was selling poorly it would make more sense to put the really good writers and artists on them to boost sales while the popular characters will be able to sell themselves. It doesn't work that way.
Marvel HOW? - про то, как приходится отвечать на вопрос о предпочтениях в свете грядущих подвижек в Marvel: Who knows what the real draw is in this medium? The big-league players who want to bleed you dry of every last dime even as you lie openly weeping, clutching your desiccated throat and crying to the heavens, “Why, God? I have given you everything, and this is how I am repaid? What recourse is there for me?” as your bloodied wallet falls into an open gutter provide their consumers with the very best comic book entertainment on the market at the fairest, rock-bottom prices have their own ideas about what drives their consumers.
Комиксы как медиум - рассуждения о том, что есть "комикс" и инструкции в помощь интересующимся процессомКомиксы как медиум:
Jim Valentino on the Potential of Comics - просто чтобы задать тон, короткое видео с одним из основателей Image Comics, говорящим о потенциале медиума.
Comics Within Comics: John Stanley's Little Lulu Fairy Tale Meta-Stories - принципе это довольно интересный рассказ о Little Lulu, но меня скорее зацепили слова о том, что является комиксом, а что - нет. Как вы, возможно, помните, я с радостью готова заявить, что та или иная вещь комиксом не является, но, скажем так, не то чтобы по этому поводу существует окончательный консенсус: Pretty drawings galore, line-work and color, and a narrative, all situated within ruled boxes. (Not to mention Tarzan's impressive mullet.) Comics, right? They were published in newspaper comic sections, and they did contain something that compelled readers to return on a weekly basis. Yet these picture-stories lack the one defining tool that makes comics comics. Part of the distinct recipe of comics is the speech or thought balloon.
Abstract Comics - о конкретной антологии в частности и об "абстрактных комиксах" (блог для интересующихся) вообще: So-called “abstract comics” is one of the more extreme fronts. It names a form of wordless comics that not only dispenses with the word, but also those things traditionally allied with it, like speech, sound, plot, and interiority... In these, as in a number of works in the anthology, there is an interest in what might be termed a logic of “vestigiality”: the organ divorced from its original function but still maintained, so that it oftentimes comes to impose upon the organism that had abandoned it. Might this principle also underlie the metamorphic comics? After all, their plasmatic substances have a striking resemblance to the spongy, pneumatic contours of the speech or thought balloon. If so, it seems that the abstraction of comics against the word and its supports is never total, but rather marked with traces of partial amputation.
Missing Ink - о леттеринге, вырисовке букв. Интересен весь архив колонки, но тут автор говорит прежде всего об инструментах: The traditional tool for comics lettering is a dip pen with a specialized lettering nib, which has a flattened surface, usually round or oval shaped, which puts ink down smoothly and evenly. This is in contrast with the more angular drawing nib, which allows the user to vary the amount of ink that reaches the paper and create a range of line qualities. Conventional block lettering strives for a strong, even, consistent line. If you are used to a dip pen and can load and wipe one so it works, then outfitting yourself with lettering tools is a matter of finding a source of lettering nibs of the proper size to suit your page compositions.
Techniques and Tricks: What Not to Do - учимся на чужих ошибках: заметка о том, чего делать не стоит.
DECOMPRESSED 006: MARK WAID AND MATT FRACTION ON THE MARVEL METHOD. = Мэтт Фрэкшен и Марк Уэйд рассказывают в блоге Киерона Гиллена о том, что означает делать сценарии для комиксов по "методу Марвел". Подкаст.
Карл Кисл - про одно хорошее делоКарл Кисл - про одно хорошее дело:
Околокомиксный мир часто представляется довольно специфическим, закупоренным и сосредоточенным на созерцании своего безумно интересного но всё-таки пупка. Поэтому, всякий раз, когда кто-то, известный прежде всего как "человек из индустрии" делает что-то, оказывающее положительно воздействие на "реальный мир", это вызывает особое чувство, содержащее в себе гордость с удивлением, но ими отнюдь не ограничивающееся.
К чему это я?
Вот к чему: Карл Кисл, автор, писавший, помимо прочего серию про Супербоя (ну ту, родом из 90-х) и серию про Харли Куин, недавно объявил, что он распродаёт свою обширную коллекцию комиксов. Почему он решил это сделать? Потому что ему и его жене внезапно понадобились деньги: они усыновили младенца с врождённой героиновой зависимостью: Karl Kesel, Marvel Comics Writer, Sells Comic Book Collection For Adoption Of Baby With Heroin Exposure.
Похоже, продажа коллекции прошла успешно, что не может не радовать: Reddit users, retailer and creators rally to help Karl Kesel and family
А... а и всё. Просто захотелось вам об этом рассказать.
Отзывы и рекомендацииОтзывы и рекомендации:
Marie Severin’s Due - отзыв на книгу о Мари Северин, одной из немногих масштабно засветившихся в (относительно) ранней истории медиума женщин. Автор сбивается на рассказ о самой Мари. но оно и к лучшему: The E.C. section is particularly well done. Severin began coloring for them when editor Harvey Kurtzman wanted to upgrade the look of the books, in Severin’s words “to look more like Prince Valiant in the newspaper.” For the next few years she colored first Kurtzman’s war books, then the entire line, with the exception of some covers and stories colored by the perfectionist Kurtzman, as well as a few stories colored by the similarly autonomously-minded Bernard Krigstein (both of whom Severin typically characterizes as “artsy-fartsy”). When Cassell tells Severin, “you’ve been credited with a lot of the success of EC because of those vibrant covers,” she effaces herself to credit instead the quality of the “content,” but truly, covers are the primary selling factors on the newsstand and the color is the more significant part of the initial impact of the visuals on the reader. And, Severin’s interior coloring is no less sensitive and considered.
Top Ten Dense Comics - десять комиксов, при повторном прочтении которых открываются всё новые и новые грани.
Review: Philosophy: A Discovery in Comics - философские учения в комиксах. Есть в этом что-то такое то... ну, книжек "для чайников", чёрт, у нас в стране вполне себе шутят про "N в комиксх" как единственную понятную убогим форму подачи информации: Again and again, de Heer makes choices that bring the reader closer to the ideas that she is expressing in her book. Again and again, she uses the power of the comics page -- and her very conversational approach to the material -- to make it thoroughly relatable and -- really, seriously, no lie -- actually fun while not skimping on the important material that any budding philosopher needs to know.
This Comic Is Good – Shooters OGN - комикс о ветеранах и, похоже, том, какова жизнь после армии: The PTSD aspect of the book is fascinating, because like depression, how can you possibly understand it unless you actually lived through it? Here, Trautmann and Jerwa shine as they do their damndest to get us to understand something that we can never really understand.
Lost at Sea - об одной из первых (да, до "Скотта Пилигрима" работ Брайана Ли О'Мэйли: At the end of the day, whether you call Lost at Sea a road-trip story or a coming-of-age/bildungsroman or something else—at its most basic and pared-down, Lost at Sea is a book about going home. I can’t begin to suspect why those who write the book off as “emo bullshit” do so, nor would it be very much a fruitful endeavor to try. Everyone’s got their reasons, their biases, their preconceived notions. Maybe mine are why I enjoyed the book.
Shepperton’s Waltz Review - вестерн с фантастикой: The entire set up is crazy, but the meat of the story is straight forward. The sci-fi aspects aren’t original, but written well. The reader knows next to nothing about the history of this little town and why the aliens are here, but we don’t care. Angus is an interesting character, and that’s all we need to know.
Review: Spooks Volume 2 - не-вестерн с мистическим детективом: Along the way you’ll uncover the corruption and deception threatening the very highest levels of the political classes in this very young, turn of the 20th Century America, not quite wild, certainly not west... And as good as the plotting is, the art by Rossi matches it. He gets it absolutely right almost every step of the way here, keeping that fine balance between good, simple, straightforward storytelling to keep hold of the complex plot, and throwing a little flashy stuff in simply because he’s oh so capable of it.
Johnny Space Commander: Smirk Til You Die - пародийный комикс про космические приключения. Обещан грубоватый юмор: I mean, Johnny Space Commander is basically Bill Watterson’s Spaceman Spiff with dick jokes. Its tagline is even “Saving The Universe One Ridiculous Situation After Another.” It’s old sci-fi pulp like what Calvin and Hobbes would lightly satirize, with a caffeinated story pace, simple-as-bread plots and cookie cutter characters, and it’s funny.
Women of Action | Courtney Crumrin - для тех, кому интересны интересные женские персонажи: What’s wonderful is that as a storyteller chronicling adventures in these worlds, he’s fearless. He doesn’t restrain himself, afraid of revealing too much and not leaving anything for later. Instead, he dives into the deep end and shows us what’s lurking there, confident that he’ll never run out of new characters, beasts, and magic to share.
Age of Reptiles Omnibus - для тех, кому интересны динозавры. Нет, правда, независимо от всего остального, изображения динозавров выглядят как минимум любопытно: Delgado’s first series, “Tribal Warfare,” features very detailed penwork. Every crease, crevice, and fold in his dinosaurs’ skin is rendered in crisp black lines. Delgado’s attention to detail is somewhat awe-striking, but generally (and despite a good sense of visual presence and doing a lot with negative space) the art in these pages feels exceptionally busy.
Tygers and Lambs #2 – Wild Children - тут вот какое дело: ранее отзывы на этот комикс были... ну очень разными. Положительными (Wild Children is completely different to anything on your ‘to read’ stack and deserves all the praise it gets. Sure, there are comics out there that make us question the world around us but how many make us question the very nature of comics themselves and the way that we consume them?), резко отрицательными (Эко-мусор пишет, эко-мусор в главных ролях, мысленный мусор в наполнении и лишь рисунок заставляет смотреть до конца то, что должно быть комиксом, но оказывается арт-хаусным, мерзотным проявлением эго и желания выделиться, которое ведёт автора. Дикие дети, дикие мысли, дикая дрянь) и смешанными (While “Wild Children” fails to completely impress and could better from some subtlety, the book suggests potential for a budding comics writer). Иными словами, это как минимум очень интересно: Now, if you were feeling harsh you could reduce this down to something like “living in a comic is weird, if you/I/we do in fact live in a comic”, but I’m mostly too charmed by Wild Children’s energy to take that approach. So, if the comic hasn’t quite managed to shatter my perception of time and space it has at least remind me of a time when I felt like that was possible.
Ryan Kelly offers first issue of Funrama for free - бесплатный комикс!
Preview: The Odyssey by Seymour Chwast - превью комикса от дизайнера.
Вещи, которые вы (почему-то) можете купитьВещи, которые вы (почему-то) можете купить:
Quick, Robin! To the Bat-bowling alley! - боулинг-атрибутика!
Comic Couture | Marvel villains, Batcuffs and more - Бэт-запонки! Бэт-плащ для вашей собаки! Ну или одежда с символом Супермена для неё же. Почему бы и нет!
Как вы могли заметить, я всегда лобавляю вот это "(почему-то)". В этот раз я увидела прекраснейшую новость, которой Вселенная ответила на мой вопрос - чтобы такие вещи происходили: Man Allegedly Attacks Roommate And Mother With Fake Wolverine Claws. Ну, то есть, это, конечно очень печально. Очень!
Списки и прочие развлеченияСписки и прочие развлечения:
On The Perils & Pleasures Of Comicbook Schools - школы в комиксах.
Those Tiny, Tiny Cartoon People: A Baker's Dozen Of At-Best Pint-Sized Heroes & Villains - миниатюрные, э... существа в комиксах.
Top Ten Favorite Comics Cats - кошки в комиксах!
Top 5: Super Villains to Avoid Choosing as Your High School Lab Partner - это тоже список!
This Year on Read Comics in Public Day… We Saw You! - женщины, публично читающие комиксы! Сперва я подумала, что в этом милом развлечении эпатажа куда больше, чем содержания, а потом вспомнила, как один из моих (фандомовских!) знакомых отреагировал на мои солова о том, что комиксы я читаю всё больше в метро с планшетника: "Слушай, люди же смотрят! Я бы застремался". Ну да. Хотя смотрят, что уж там. Вот сегодня с утра, когда я ехала на работу, моя соседка по скамье в метро усиленно пыталась разглядеть, что же это у меня там на экране.
Hours of fun: Nevins’ The Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes - об онлайн-энциклопедии героев Золотого Века. Ожидаемо, прелестно.
Progressive Ruin presents…the End of Civilization. - Майк Стерлинг разбирает очередной каталог с гиковским всем: At long last, Wonder Woman has finally achieved her full potential, as Batman’s newest Robin... This is identified as a “role-play accessory” in the catalog, and all I can picture is a kid running around shouting “the maniac has cut off E.T.s hand, OH GOD WHY”... I originally read this as “Doc Ock finds out Spidey’s secret identity,” but maybe he just finds out that Peter Parker is, like, a jerk or something. “Man, that Parker kid never tips! What a dick!”
КартинкиКартинки:
Вообще, конечно, картинки - это не моё. Обычн,о когда я вижу что-нибудь, кажущееся мне интересным, я кидаю соответствующую ссылку QVall, и считаю, что "моя работа здесь завершена". Но чёрт с ним, пусть будут картинки. Точнее, ссылки на картинки. Потому что я - это всё ещё я:
Tripwire covers 20 of the best – part one и Tripwire covers 20 of the best – part two - в честь двадцатилетия британского журнала комиксов Tripwire: его лучшие обложки.
iFanboy Upstarts: John Kantz - новый художник!
Sergio Toppi, 1932-2012 - не картинки, но косвенно про них. Краткий рассказ о Серджио Топпи: Toppi's work was classically grounded but also uniquely staged, focused on the human figure in several panels and pages that would make stand-alone illustrations by themselves. Many of his better single make dramatic use of white space as a balancing and directional element. His greatest contribution might have been in how the details of his work could slip into the fantastic in a way that emphasized or gave emotional context to the historically rigorous scene being depicted.
Milo Manara Draws The Scarlet Witch. And It’s Pretty Much As You’d Expect. - Алая Ведьма от Мило Манары. Это... это ужасно. Бррр. Если бы мне снились сны, это лицо я увидела бы в моих кошмарах.
What If Marvel 60s/70s Marvel were more like 60s/70s DC – weirdness ensues - как-то так:
Ну и всё. Да, я себя тоже пугаю. И раздражаю. Раздражаю чаще.
Вот вам напоследок особо актуальное в связи с ФБ:
@темы: Ссылки
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04.09.2012 в 01:31-
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04.09.2012 в 01:36так они и в книги смотрят о.о
и просто смотрят,что поделать
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04.09.2012 в 01:42Ага. я обычно подкасты не слушаю, но тут Карнейдж подсказал, что надо, и... да.
так они и в книги смотрят о.о и просто смотрят,что поделать
Ну я и ответила, что как бы существенной разницы между комиксом и игрой в тех же Angry Birds (не в обиду им - у меня идеально пройдены все уровни всех игр) со стороны как бы и нет.
Обрабатываю последние пять ссылок - будь проклято моё желание поужинать!
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04.09.2012 в 01:43приятного аппетита
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04.09.2012 в 02:10Уффф, фсёёёё.
Для меня подкасты находятся в очень странном месте: они занимают одновременно слишком много и слишком мало моего внимания.
CBABIH слушали?
Или слишком не тот формат?
Из русского - ну, спайдермедийный, когда они его делают, вроде должен быть нормален (сужу по составу - я не слушала, без водки и не в реале я голоса этих людей слушать отказываюсь).
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04.09.2012 в 02:15Для меня подкасты находятся в очень странном месте: они занимают одновременно слишком много и слишком мало моего внимания.
почему слишком много?
я часто езжу и много слушаю в дороге. Передачи, подкасты, всё, кроме книг.Если встречаются аудио-интересности, приноси ссылки))
CBABIH слушали?
нет, а что за формат?
Из русского - ну, спайдермедийный, когда они его делают, вроде должен быть нормален
когда как и о чём, да)
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04.09.2012 в 02:27Я в дороге с планшетником и смотрю/читаю).
Собственно, я комиксы читаю в дороге.
нет, а что за формат?
Формат в смысле содержания. Это люди... определённого образа мышления, там Мэтт Сенека, Джог, Такер Стоун и прочие. Вот тут заметки/пояснения Джога со ссылками.
Если встречаются аудио-интересности, приноси ссылки))
Я же их не слушаю
Но, навскидку, не гарантируя контент: http://www.inkstuds.org/, http://www.savagecritic.com/category/podcasts/, http://mindlessones.com/category/podcast/, в закладках наверняка ещё что-то валяется...
когда как и о чём, да)
Предсказуемо).
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04.09.2012 в 02:33-
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04.09.2012 в 15:15На само деле, я тоже стремаюсь читать комиксы на планшете в метро, по крайней мере супергероические
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04.09.2012 в 16:51QVall, о, даже не на Комиксолоджи!
На само деле, я тоже стремаюсь читать комиксы на планшете в метро, по крайней мере супергероические
Помогает догонять всё вовремя зато!
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04.09.2012 в 17:00-
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05.09.2012 в 11:31-
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05.09.2012 в 12:22-
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08.09.2012 в 18:00-
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09.09.2012 в 00:12