The home laptop has died, may it rest in peace. Need to buy a new one/get the old one fixed, but that's not something that can be done easily in a few days. Therefore, don't expect much activity in these parts for the forseeable future. I'll be back soon.
In the time-honoured tradition of other, better bloggers, I warn you of the possibility of my less than 100% dedicated to the blog in the near future after the arrival of my copy of Lego Indiana Jones. I hear the theme music calling …
Undecided on whether to add to the blogroll or not, I shall make use of this post to have a record of some interesting blogs that have appeared in the last couple of weeks.
Greatest Movie Deaths of All Time – featuring video clips of carefully selected film deaths. Not much in the way of commentary, but you have to admire the focus.
Nad Shot – talking about focus, this blog is a collection of scans from comics of people being getting it in the groin. It’s wonderfully bizarre, and strangely hypnotic. Again, no commentary, but is it really needed?
Todd’s Blog – Todd Klein, best letterer and designer in the biz, talks about stuff. His recent series of posts on the different X-Men logos over the years was absolutely fascinating.
Stephen Fry’s blog – only two huge entries so far, but anything from the wonderful Mr Fry is a delight. Informed, full of anecdotes, funny and engaging – more please.
Stan Sakai’s livejournal site – although I would prefer Stan to knuckle down and create as much Usagi Yojimbo product as possible, I will allow him the time to post his thoughts on various topics whenever he has a free moment.
Andrew Collins' blog – “scriptwriter, journalist and broadcaster” journalist (NME, editor of Q for a while), presenter (I fondly remember Collins and Maconie’s Movie Club, a late-night film review show on ITV back in 1997), autobiographer, sitcom writer (Not Going Out), Film Editor of Radio Times, former editor of Empire magazine, radio DJ (Collins & Maconie’s Hit Parade on Radio 1, latterly on BBC6). He’s even written for Eastenders … Interesting to read someone with such a diverse media background writing for fun.
Short List – not strictly a blog, as it is the site for a free weekly newspaper, but it updates regularly so qualifies on that basis alone. Lists are half of blog content anyway, and these have a refreshing twist – the paper had a list of top ten crisps with their movie equivalents.
Rather than reviewing stuff, as I usually do, I have to comment on a comment.
Recently, I posted an old review of mine for a film called Londinium. Today, I was notified of a comment left about that post. It said:
Hey man, thanks for taking the time to bash my work. Love your site as well. All's good.
Live clean
Mike Binder
mikebinder.net
Thefreebird.com
You fucking dick
I got nothing today.
I feel bad about it. I didn’t know what to write about. I think it’s because I’m more a reviewer than anything else. I love talking about things I have seen or read; it’s something I’ve always done.
When I was younger, I wanted to be Barry Norman (no relation) doing the Film programme on BBC1. What a great job; being paid to watch films and then talk about them. Fantastic.
Obviously, life didn’t work out like that, hence this blog. And the reason for this post is that I haven’t seen a film or read a comic recently for the purposes of reviewing.
Not that I’m not reading or seeing things. My commute to work means my book reading is going strong. For example, recently I’ve read:
The Thursday Next novels (funny, charming, whimsical, with a great alternate history involving George Formby becoming President of England for life, and a great way with names, such as Schitt-Hawse)
The His Dark Materials trilogy (a wonderful story, mixing fantasy, quantum physics, religion, the concept of growing up, parallel worlds, the personification of souls as personal daemons, among many other things, told in a cracking adventure)
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (a charming tale of magic and history in England in the 1800s, told in a whopping 1000 pages of Victorian-like prose)
Charlie Brooker’s Screen Burn (a compilation of his scathingly funny articles from the Guide section of the Saturday Guardian for the last five years)
Peter Biskind’s Gods and Monsters (a collection of his essays, the early ones being particularly dour politically oriented stuff that was hard to get through)
Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of Comics (a fascinating look at the creation of the comic book industry, with particular emphasis on Superman)
That’s just off the top of my head; I’m probably forgetting a few. However, writing a book review is hard, which is why I’ve never tried it (because I am a coward), so I don’t bother talking about them.
I’ve also been watching films on DVD and tape, but not to a degree to write about them: The Corpse Bride was a slim tale, told well, but not overly engaging; Red River, which took me a long time to get round to seeing, was worthy of its classic status (and I’m amazed that it was Montgomery Clift’s first film); Rabbit Proof Fence, which was worthy and well done, if a little dry; Closer, which was a good, if depressing, film that I never need to see again; The Aristocrats, an interesting look behind the scenes of the comedian, which might had more impact if I was more familiar with some of the American comedians in the film.
In the world of comics, there should be plenty to talk about but I don’t feel connection to the mainstream action of the moment. Contrary to popular opinion, I always found the first Superman film merely watchable, ruined by the bloody annoying and stupid ending, but I don’t revere it the way so many others do, meaning that I am only vaguely interested in Superman Returns. The spoiler ending of Civil War #2 doesn’t really affect me, as the character is one that I have never been emotionally connected to, and it doesn’t feel like it will stick; all the big events that seemed design to get press attention (as this did, in the New York Post) never last, like Superman dying and Batman’s broken back. I don’t know if I’m just getting old or if it is to do with the fact that telling a good story that also happens to be the spine for company wide crossovers, such as Civil War or Infinite Crisis, are mutually exclusive; trying to tell a satisfying narrative that sets up the new status quo for a continuing medium is tricky enough, without it being the event that the company wants it to be.
(Edit: additional note that the BBC is reporting on the Spider-man reveal here. Now I know it's real.)
The recent elevation of the crossover mini-series to major events is a curious thing, as it is trying to be the summer blockbuster but comes off as a sweeps week stunt (the US television spectacle where, as I understand it, guest stars and major events of a series are all thrust into shows in specific months in order to get the highest ratings, as these are the ratings that dictate how much the networks can charge for advertising in their programmes). Heavy promotion in the comics and on the web, hopefully pick up some outside press coverage, boost circulation numbers, create something they think the fans will want, give the comic blogosphere something to post about; it all seems a little wearisome and a bit desperate, even if it does show some effort on the part of the two majors, other than throwing enough shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.
So, this is what I write about when I don’t have anything to write about. If only I could invest this sort of energy in writing things I want to write about …
Good news, everyone! Comics Should Be Good is now part of the CBR family. Congratulations to the chaps at CSBG; they are one of the most interesting, consistent and genial blogs around, especially as they are a large group blog. I started reading them when the prolific Greg Burgas started writing for them (have you seen how much he writes on his own blog, Delenda Est Carthago? Where does he find the time?), and the site has been a regular ever since.
It is an interesting development – is this the future for comic blogs? Becoming assimilated into the larger news sites? The redesign for CSBG is very nice, improving on their very basic original Blogger template no end, and CBR hosting should mean a solid footing on the web, not having to suffer the blips that Blogger users have to suffer. Will the link to a site that makes money have any affect? Do the people feel different now that the site is run (not owned?) by CBR? Will the ads become annoying? (Probably not.)
It’s nice if the bloggers there pick up a little bit of change when people click on links; a small reward for hard work, even if that wasn’t the reason they did it in the first place. Not having the blogspot name at the end must be nice; there are certain sites where one forgets that it is hosted for free via Blogger (Diamond Geezer, or the low-end design but high-quality content of Dave’s Long box, for example), but should the owning of the name and domain be the ultimate goal? Or is it a by-product of success? Or a personal desire to own the name of your own site? I’ve often thought about it myself, but worry that my lack of knowledge will screw it up; having someone else responsible for the techy side was always one of the attractions of starting up on Blogger.
I look forward to continued quality from the CSBG team, and feel a small twinge of jealousy for their good fortune and their talents and drive that force them to continually produce and share their passion for comics.
I didn’t post yesterday because I was thinking about what I did in asking for people’s opinions and thinking about the comments that were left in response. I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to leave a comment; I really appreciate it and read what you said with interest.
The evening after publishing the post, I started to regret it and even contemplated removing it. It looked like I was being needy and looking for an ego massage and perhaps even a bit pathetic. This wasn’t the intent – I am genuinely interested in what other people reading my stuff think. So, apologies if the message came across a bit crass.
To respond to some of the points: Logan, I had the same feeling about Blogger’s comments system, and tried inputting Haloscan, but my web-fu was weak and I wasn’t happy with the way it looked. I’ve seen that Blogger have changed to try and emulate Haloscan with the comments appearing as a separate pop-up (and I like the fact that you can get people’s blog picture in there, as it’s a nice functionality), but it doesn’t seem to be working on my site yet. I’ve asked Blogger Helpdesk and wait to see what happens; if nothing comes of it, I’ll give Haloscan another go.
Regarding the issue of comics outside of my normal selection, it’s something I’d like to do, but it mainly comes down to money and taste. Money because it’s hard to justify buying something I don’t actively want (I’m not a rich man). Taste because … well, I don’t know if I’m a genre fan (as Paul O’Brien said in his infamous post) or if I don’t have a taste for what might be considered the ‘artier’ aspect of comics, such as Blankets or James Kochalka’s work but, then again, I don’t have much of a taste for the excessively arty in other media, such as cinema or books. I appreciate the offer, though. I do intend to try something different and outside of my normal range, as a way of stretching my reviewing abilities, so we shall see.
Jason, I understand what you are getting at; there is a lot of the formula to my blog and others, so it’s a fully justifiable criticism. Part of this is due to my laziness – the links, solicitations, picks and reviews are easy to do, whereas the individuality of which you speak requires effort. This is something I have a problem with but is something I intend to try and rectify. I have quite a few ideas for, for want of a better word, pieces that I want to try which will involve doing research and writing which will hopefully broaden the range and develop some individuality to the site.
Greg, same as Logan and Jason :)
Mark, I get what you’re saying, although I don’t think I’m looking for notice and recognition (unless it’s a subconscious thing, and I am an attention-seeking whore without realising it). I think I’m trying to accomplish several things with this site, but haven’t succeeded yet :) But what you said has given me food for thought, so thanks.
James, I hope I’m not completely lacking in fun, but I get what you mean. Your '10 Greatest Comic Battles Ever' is an example of the sort of thing I want to do, once I get off my lazy arse and put in the effort. My stuff won’t be as good as yours, obviously, but it has got my brain working in ways it hadn’t regarding this blog, joining bizarre connections and creating new ones, which will hopefully be reflected in the future. I don’t know about letting my hair down – I’ve always had it cut pretty short :)
I used to think that I could write regular posts based on some sort of inspiration creating a frenzy of creativity. This was quite retarded thinking and so I hope to start writing more focussed pieces, which might mean not posting everyday, which I have to realise isn’t the most important thing in the world.
Well, that was an incredibly self-indulgent post, wasn’t it? Bloggers thinking out loud in their blogs – it’s blogsterbation, for goodness sake. To make up for this, I will post a long review of a book I should have got ages ago (once Blogger is working normally again, that is, and allows me to upload images).
Having accepted the Blogaround challenge (in this post) and then reading that Evan very kindly said nice things about me in this post, after I emailed & blogged some constructive criticism of his site after he asked for opinion of his site, and saw that he got some good criticism from other kindly comic bloggers, it got me thinking – would it be brazen of me to ask for your opinion of this blog? I primarily post for myself but I also want other people to read my blog, so it would be helpful and interesting to know what people think of the blog and what they would want to read here as well.
So, I WANT YOU AND YOUR OPINIONS – I want your non-clandestine criticisms …
Please feel free to either email or leave a comment with your thoughts, criticisms and suggestions regarding this blog; all will be gratefully accepted. Thank you in advance.
And now, I’m going to tell you what comics I will be buying this week for my own nefarious reasons:
Jack Cross #1
Legion of Super-Heroes #9
Daredevil #76
Queen & Country: Declassified v2 #2
Note that I am not getting Q&C: Declassified v3 because it is not by Mr. Rucka, no offence to Mr. Johnston. This is probably very silly but I’m not a fan of spin-off material done by someone other than the original creator. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been burned by bad experiences (which I have erased from my memory, as I can’t recall any specific examples) or if it’s a rule of thumb supposedly skewing towards a principle. I feel bad because it is Oni but don’t want to go back on my guideline.
I’m looking forward to Jack Cross, as I’m partial to Ellis, spies and violent gun-play, which is covered by this single book – how lucky am I? Daredevil #76 begins Bendis & Maleev’s final arc, so I’m expecting big things; Bendis has been telling some very good stories, so his final tale should be a doozy.
In other stuff, Greg lets you know that you should own Avengers Forever, and he is quite correct. Logan answers my question regarding why he has so many crap DVDs in his collection. And Peter David talks about the new X-Factor book, which is fortunately not called New X-Factor.
(Am I the only one to think of the television programme Runaround when I say the word 'blogaround' in my head, or is that too British-specific a reference?)
As suggested by Laura, according to her rules, I take … The Blogaround Challenge:
Love Manga
This is a nicely designed site with lots of info on manga, which is why I don’t usually read it. I’m scared to dip my toes into the waters of manga because it is so huge. But David makes it accessible and his enthusiasm for the form shines through.
Superblog!!
This is a wonderfully deranged site, with lots of bizarre things posted on a regular basis. I read 9 posts and none of them were about comics, so I should check out more to see if it’s a regular part of the site. Still, any site that has talks about about their love for Carla Gugino can’t be bad …
Successless Comic Blog
This is an offshoot for boyfriend and girlfriend Dylan and Serene where they do all their posting about comics. It’s quite new, but they been doing their other sites for a while, so they have a nice, relaxed writing style. Dylan seems to be undertaking the ambitious task of writing about the Cerebus phone books, for which he deserves credit and probably hospitalisation; hope it doesn’t turn him into Dave Sim …
Irresponsible Pictures
This is another manga blog, which is probably why I haven’t really read it before. It appears to be mostly linking to manga-related post and information, which is a good way for me to find out more about manga, but there is also some comment from Pata as well, in a enjoyable tone.
Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
The challenger herself – Laura has been doing this a while now, as you can tell from her site, which is very up-to-date and well-laid out, but I never got in the habit of reading her regularly perhaps, I think, because of the inclusion of journal-type posts (which I only find interesting if I know the person or if the subject is something I know about – I know, I’m so snobbish …). However, the blog is a mix of linkarounds, which are very craftily written so that you want to click on the link and find out more from her entertaining comments, the journal-type, and her ‘Rapid Reviews’ with the (I assume) starfish to grade the comics (due to her love of Aquaman). In fact, reading her blog again means I’ll have to read it more often.
The Four Colour Media Monitor
This does what it says on the tin; it provides links to other (professional and amateur) sites talking about comics of the moment. Avi provides some comment as well; if the archives are to be believed, it’s only been around for two months, but it doesn’t feel like that, which is a good sign in my books (even if Avi doesn’t seem to like Grant Morrison, which is practically heresy).
Trash Heap
JK seems to be another long time blogger; I don’t think I’ve ever read this before, but I will be checking it out from now on. From comics to pop culture stuff, there is a lot of crossover in my tastes, and an entertaining attitude to it all as well. And I agree with JK on the annoyance of Blogger’s image interface – why DOES it put any image, after the first one, at the top of the post?
The Comic Asylum
James’s site is perhaps one of the best reasons for the blogaround challenge; discovering a site you hadn’t tried before that you enjoy and admire. He has interesting thoughts on aspects of comics (from looking at why Annuals should be something of substance, to his detailed and researched look at his greatest comics battles) with a nice writing style. It’s so good that it makes me green with envy and have to find something to nitpick! So, James, you should either not add your name to your posts, or remove it from your permanent link signature, as it just makes you sound so proud of your name :)
Cognitive Dissonance
Johanna is a pillar of the online comic reviewing community, her Comics Worth Reading site being a mainstay and always an interesting read. Similarly, her blog is a good read, with its variety of commentary, linking and reviews. Although our tastes don’t cross over all the time, I will listen to her recommendations because she has clear opinions which are expressed eloquently, which is a skill I admire.
Chipped Ham Productions
Evan has been blogging for a while now, although, in his latest post, he asks for people’s thoughts on his blog, as he feels he doesn’t get enough visitors. His site is well presented and he posts some of the ‘classical’ comic blog topics, such as looking at the solicitations from the big publishers and suggestions for comics on new comic day. The thing missing for me is how he feels about the books on a personal level – there is a hint, but not enough, of how much or little he gets from the books he reads. The closest he gets is in talking about the trade for the original Excalibur in this post; I’d like to see more of that in his blog. I haven’t done a full search of his site, but he doesn’t seem to review the books he reads, which would give an indication of his personality more on the blog. This is, of course, in my humble opinion, and I can hardly be considered an expert, what with hardly any comments or staggering visitor numbers myself. But, he did ask for people's opinions :)
And that’s ten. Well, that was an interesting experiment. Thanks, Laura. I might have to do this again in a month or so; I’ll also have to do that post about the blogs that I read regularly as well. And to all I have commented upon, keep up the good work.
Halfway through March and a handful of posts? Where is the dynamism of January and February? And why am I doing what sounds suspiciously like an apologetic post when rule 29 in this post tells you specifically not to?
There are many reasons, involving not freelancing, birthdays, home internet connection and laziness. But the strongest reason was trepidation. People are actually reading this blog, which is a shock, a nice shock. Now, when I sit down to write something, I become a little paralysed with fear at the thought that my words should be intelligent, funny, interesting, or at least readable.
All part of the process, I guess. Hopefully, I can overcome this nonsense and get back to reviewing, chatting, linking and slagging off things, which is what this blog is all about. If you've been checking in on me, thanks for doing so. I promise to do better and make it worth your while.
(Looks like I took the 'clandestine' bit a tad too literally ...)
The BBC provide the best news on television and online, so when they do a new items about the Bloggies, well, that's some serious validation right there. The report says how the 2005 Bloggies server went down from so many people voting. I'm impressed, but it also makes sense, because that's the way blogs work. I know that this site will never, ever be linked to any awards, but it's nice to know that something is done to reward those people who inspire and enthuse fellow bloggers like myself with their sterling and continuous efforts.
This must be the price to pay for using a popular, and free, blogging service. There are problems loading blogspot sites, and I can't get to the new post page to fill this blog with lots of patented Clandestine Critic nonsense. But, I can use BlogThis! to do this post (well, I assume; I'll be able to see when I hit Publish, but I won't be able to edit it if things work or not when I do, so this might look a bit foolish if this posts and then can't do anything else – aaaarrrrggghhhh), so will someone tell me what's going on?
If I may mangle a Harlan Ellison title: I have no application and I must blog ...
When I started this blog, only the other day, I was thinking about how I'd have to spend some time writing posts, developing a voice, putting up regular updates before I would have to move to the next stage of getting people to link to me and notice me.
So, I was mightily surprised by this post from veteran blogger, TomTheDog, which links to my post about the Golden Globes, which was only my second post, and the fact that he's added me to his links list already. When I get round to sorting out my links list, I'll reciprocate.
This is great – it means I don't have to do anything more, as I've already entered the incestuous world that is the blogosphere!
Um.
So, what now?
Actually, I'm mighty flattered, and will have to live up to the honour of this link by continuing to post more nonsense, I mean, careful cultural criticism and indiscriminate linking.
For example, I wanted to talk about how the lovely, luscious, etc., Natalie Portman, even before she got an award to officialy maker her an 'Actor', has decided to star in a comic book adaptation. (Let's hope this doesn't mirror Halle Berry, who got her Oscar, perhaps through Academy sentiment for ignoring black actresses for so long more than her acting ability, and then went and starred in the wonderfully reviewed Catwoman.)
As a fan of the comic book medium, I always get a little excited by seeing comics translated into films. Well, except for Catwoman, perhaps. Comic books use dynamic yet static images to tell a story and, especially in superhero books, represent movement and action. We, the reader, have to do the work and provide the motion between the panels (as discussed by Scott McCloud in his excellent book, Understanding Comics). So, seeing it translated to live action is always a bit of a thrill, especially in something as dynamic as, say, Spider-Man, or the X-Men. It's just the way I am. Sometimes, this leads to disappointment, sometimes to glee, but this doesn't dampen the interest each time something new is announced.
Now, V for Vendetta is a great piece of work by the comic genius that is Alan Moore. A tale about fascist England and the man who fights against this using acts of terrorism, it is told with Moore's usual poetry (all the chapter headings are words beginning with the letter 'V', which sometimes required turning to the dictionary, and reflected the themes of the ensuing chapter) and ably assisted by David Lloyd's painted art.
But, the film is being written by the Wachowski brothers, which is worrying after the Matrix sequels tried to destroy their original masterpiece, and because of the fact that V wears a Guy Fawkes mask, and it contains terrorism. I was going to write more about how worried I am by this, but someone more able and funnier beat me to it. Dorian tells it like it is, so I don't have to.
Gosh, this blogging lark is easy; why didn't I do it sooner?
