A whole bunch of stuff impressed the hell out of me today.
Alan David Doane asks 5 Questions of Dave Sim, who, get this, answers them comprehensively but succinctly. I learned more about Sim and his work (as opposed to what he thinks of homosexuals, say) in these 5 Questions than I have in years of reprinted screeds and nasty exchanges that go on for page after page in the Comics Journal.
Bruce Baugh offers his own thoughts on Sim in a “What Went Wrong” kind of piece. I know next to nothing about Cerebus, but even given that I know these quotes from Bruce are true:
when the author is himself a character and routinely interjects real-world commentary, sometimes without any veiling at all, then it’s not being unfair to reject the story because of disliking those elements of it.
Thank you, Bruce, for summing up why I myself can sometimes read the work of someone whose politics or personal philosophy is diametrically opposed to my own, while other times I can’t. Oh, and this:
I haven’t read the last 70 or so issues, and I don’t have any plans to change that. Not all knowledge is worth the price it takes to acquire it, and in this case, whatever I might learn about characters I used to care about is not worth the pain of engaging with this man’s collapsing soul.
Yes, again. I hate to single out the Comics Journal (honest!) but the way they use their letters pages for disgruntled Sim readers to pick fights with the man, who is clearly mentally ill, and then reprint ten pages of hateful ideology from him whenever he provides them with it, teaches us nothing about anything, except about the casual cruelty of the Journal itself.
Now here’s something so good I can’t even quote from it: David Fiore‘s latest batch of Dark Knight Returns blogging. So good it makes my head hurt. I’m actually jealous. (I’m also jealous of his summary of the problem with the way the Comics Journal currently covers the superhero genre. But at least I inspired Dave to go get Teratoid Heights–I wonder what the Nabob of Narrative will make of that?)
WARNING: It’s incredibly spoiler-rich, but if you’ve read Jason’s Hey, Wait…, you must read Steven Wintle‘s analysis of it. It reveals something I would never in a million years have noticed myself, and I’m completely gobsmacked. You will be, too.
Jim Henley, Steven Berg, Steven Berg again, and Franklin Harris do battle over whether or not it’s good that the X-Men will be back in spandex again. (I know they’re still in spandex in the non-New X-Men books, but c’mon, Franklin–those don’t count!) I think it’s bad, but that has nothing to do with me feeling some sort of embarrassment about superheroes (please)–it has to do with how well the non-spandex outfits worked in the context of Grant Morrison’s brilliant run. They were part and parcel of the thrilling complexity of his ideas about change, difference, “villains” and “heroes” (to break out the Bowie quotes–and again, you know these aren’t things I’m embarrassed to enjoy!). Anyone who thought the black leather was merely a superficial, cosmetic change missed the point.
Finally, let’s all wish a happy blogday to Bill Sherman, the Pop Culture Gadabout! In many ways Bill is my blogfather; his ability to wax erudite on nearly every facet of pop culture is an unceasing inspiration to me. Long may he gad about!