* Tom Spurgeon’s latest post on MoCCA points out the dysfunctional aspect of comics culture whereby complaining about anything is seen as meritless whining that spoils everyone’s good time rather than an attempt to redress legitimate problems instead of simply saying “thank you sir, may I have another.” He also reprints a lulzy thank-you letter from MoCCA that seems to indicate that the organization doesn’t grok the seriousness of the problems with this year’s show even at this comparatively late date. Or maybe they just didn’t feel like the thank-you note was the appropriate place to address those problems, I dunno. It’s not a good look given the climate, I can tell you that.
* Jog has posted a nice long comics-centric MoCCA recap, if you’re looking for something on the upside.
* This may be the most insulting thing anyone has ever said about the work of Brian K. Vaughan:
[Shia] LaBeouf tells Wizard magazine that [BKV’s Y: The Last Man protagonist] Yorick is too similar to his “Transformers” role of Sam Witwicky.
“You take Sam and you put a monkey on his shoulder,” said LaBeouf of Yorick’s sidekick Ampersand. “I don’t know if it’s that big a differential. It seems like he’s the ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation again.”
This guy really is as big of a tool as he seems, huh? (Via Jason Adams.)
* These days it seems like if I wrote up every terrifying shooting by some thug with a deranged political agenda I’d be blogging about nothing else, but there’s something uniquely horrifying about a World War II veteran turned raving anti-Semite, Holocaust denier, and old-school Illuminati conspiracy theorizer murdering people at the Holocaust Museum.
* Torture Link of the Day: London cops are under investigation for waterboarding suspects in a marijuana case. Torturing people over pot. Western values!
* But you know what, let’s end on an up note with a gratuitous picture of young Patti Smith. Homina homina. Mapplethorpe wasn’t tough to look at either if that’s what you’re into. (Via Elvis Depressley.)
Whether Tom meant it that way or not, I’m not sure about generalizing Julia’s remark into a symptom of “comics culture,” given that there isn’t anyone agreeing with her. (And I’m pretty sure Julia would take pride in the fact that no one agrees with her.)
I didn’t mean to imply Julia was reflective of comic book culture, only that her complaint doesn’t take into account the way it works. How should she know?
Personal to Evan Dorkin
Okay, fine, “churlish” is a funny word. But if you take another look at my post both before and I dropped the c-bomb, you’ll see that your beef with the Armory’s appearance was the only place where I disagreed with…