On HU

Erica Friedman looks at incompetent competence in the novel Wicked City: Black Guard.

Alex Buchet attempts to connect Ezra Pound and Kevin Bacon.

Matt Seneca interviews CF.

Ng Suat Tong reviews Oji Suzuki’s “A Single Match.

I discuss the lame bad boys of Groundhog Day and From Dusk to Dawn.

Caroline Small talks about the unsatisfying futurist nostalgia of Pascal Blanchet’s White Rapids.

Marguerite Van Cook discussed the limitations of the video art of Bill Viola.

I looked at some crappy floppies by Morrison, Bendis, and Straczynski.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At comixology I talk about the opening chapter illustration in the Wizard of Oz.

That’s the first page of the first chapter of The Wizard of Oz, written (of course) by L. Frank Baum, and illustrated by W.W. (William Wallace) Denslow. As you can see, Dorothy is leaning on the first letter of her own name, standing beside a Kansas wheat stalk. She stares into a mysterious fairie twilight…and not coincidentally, also seems to be staring into the book itself, with its own mysterious fairie treasures. Dorothy is about to enter the story, and she’s also the story itself; she’s an image and a name. You can’t show her without showing the start of the book.

At Splice Today I talk about Chicago’s lame response to the recent blizzard.

And also at Splice I review the new Iron and Wine record.

On HU

Cough Syrup wonders if we need comics.

Nadim Damluji discusses Mickey Mouse in Egypt.

I talk about fathers and vultures in Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Library #10.

Richard Cook discusses the limitations of editorial cartoons about the revolution in Egypt.

Vom Marlowe reviews Sakuya Sakura’s yaoi manga Endless Comfort.

I review Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit #2.

And I talk about Sid and Marty Krofft’s children’s shows.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Splice Today I review a new DVD of classic nudie films.

So, could that be? Could someone get off by watching this thing?

Anything’s possible, of course. People are turned on by plush toys. People are turned on by Jennifer Aniston. Somewhere out there, there’s probably someone turned on by Jennifer Aniston plush toys. God help them.

Also at Splice, I discuss being underwhelmed by David Wojnarowicz’s Fire In My Belly

The big screen turns out to have been an important part of the experience. When I came out, the gallery attendant commented that I looked shocked. I smiled queasily. “No,” I said. “It’s just the hand-held camera. It makes me nauseous.” And other than that, I was mostly indifferent. The 13-minute version in particular was underwhelming. No ant-covered crucifixes here: instead, this was simply a collage of more-or-less interesting scenes from Wojnarowicz’s trip to Mexico. A boy in the street blowing fire, some circus performers, sugar skulls, Aztec carvings, a cock fight inevitably juxtaposed with a wrestling match. Or, in other words —look! Exotic Mexicans! They are colorful and alien, entertaining and slightly ominous! Also (the wall text helpfully informed me) they are spiritual.

And at Splice I reviewed the new, and sadly kind of crappy Wanda Jackson album.

Other Links
I missed this post mortem on Culture 11, where I was a writer for a while.

The Factual Opinion has been quiet for the last month or so, so I was pleased to see them back up with Nina’s very funny takedown of Memoir and Tucker’s very funny takedown of everything else.

Matthias Wivel has been writing up a storm over at tcj.com, including reports from Angouleme and an interview with Chris Ware.

And your Panelists link of the week: Charles Hatfield on teaching superheroes (including Wonder Woman.)”

On HU

Domingos Isabelinho does a close read of a page of Herge. In comments he explains what he did wrong.

Stephanie Folse looks at issues 3 and 4 of Elfquest.

Matthias Wivel looks at Jimmy Corrigan in light of Chris Ware’s later work.

Richard Cook looks back at the Comics Code.

Ng Suat Tong reviews Brecht Evens’ “The Wrong Place.”

I discuss Stanley Cavell’s theories of film in relation to Mondrian, HIroshige, Jeff Wall, Blaise Larmee, art, film, and comics.

Alex Buchet looks at how British comics have influenced the English language.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Splice Today I talk about Chicago juke.

Other LInks

Stanley Fish has a nice review of True Grit.

Chris Sims explains Bane.

Matt Seneca on a panel from Tintin.

Jason Overby quits.

Kate Beaton presents sexy Batman. (Via Sean Collins.

And your Panelist link of the week: Derik Badman discusses bricks.

On HU

Kinukitty was underwhelmed by much yaoi.

Sean Michael Robinson discussed Manga! Manga! and interviewed its writer, Frederik Schodt.

Ng Suat Tong introduced the awards for the Best Online Comics Criticism.

The final list of Best Online Comics Criticism.

Bill Randall, one of the judges of the Best Online Comics Criticism, discussed the list and his choices.

I talked about two of my favorite pieces of comics criticism from last year.

Vom Marlowe discussed the use of ink in Kouga’s Loveless.

Caroline Small talked about sequence (or the lack thereof) in Saul Steinberg’s Passport.

Alex Buchet looked at the influence of editorial and panel cartoons on the English language.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Splice Today I explain why Michael Chabon is not necessarily more thoughtful than Barack Obama.

This, indeed, seems to be the cause of part of Chabon’s dyspepsia. Artists, especially successful artists like Chabon, receive such fulsome praise that I think they can occasionally mistake themselves for priests. Which is maybe why he felt qualified to proclaim with such certainty that heaven isn’t real and that death is just absence. To suggest otherwise is a stylistic error—rectifiable only by transforming the clumsy words of the President through the magical gifts of a real writer.

Also at Splice, I discuss the Meads of Asphodel’s anti-Christian Broadway black metal.

I do have a hideous attraction/repulsion for show tunes, and I think it makes sense to think of them as the music of the Antichrist. Especially if the show tunes are written by Andrew Lloyd Weber. And I dare anyone to listen to the second half of the song “Addicted to Christ” without having major Jesus Christ Superstar flashbacks. There’s a lonely horn that wanted to be jazz but had its soul stolen by music theater, and then a choral refugee starts singing like a chipper thespian—“Who is God? I am God? Are you God? But what God? I’m no God, it’s my God.” Soon enough we’ve got contrapuntal voices reciting bitter lyrics in an uplifting back and forth (First cheerful voice: “God hates you all!” Cheerful choral response: “Circumcise!”) And after not too long, again like Lloyd Weber, we launch into some classic rocky concept-album strut. Even the end, with a more traditional metal vocalist and a heavier roar, still has the busy crescendos and prog-rock shifts that strongly suggest Vegas.

Other Links

Sean T. Collins argues that Dirk Deppey’s column ran out of gas at the end, and that tcj.com is an embarrassment. It’s a thoughtful piece; if you scroll down you can see me doing some arguing in comments.

This made me want to try those old Rachel Pollack Doom Patrol issues again.

I liked Ariel Schrag’s column on Patricia Highsmith.

On HU

I wrote about films and self-reflexivity in Tarkovsky’s Solaris

James Romberger discussed the beginnings of his love for Alex toth and Jack Kirby.

Richard Cook looked at the gay hijinks in the 1992 Marvel Swimsuit Special.

Jason Michelitch discussed Face/Off, The Death of Superman, and the pointless inevitability of hero fiction.

Ng Suat Tong reviewed Mezzo and Pirus’ King of the Flies.

I try to remember a panel from Peanuts.

I talk about class in the Big Bang Theory.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Metabunker, Matthias Wivel happily anticipates the Fantagraphics edition of Carl Barks.

At Comixology, I compare the Iron Man movie and Bataille’s poetry.

In another poem Bataille declares, “I fill the sky with my presence.” And that does seem to be the point for ecstatic modernity, whether pop dreck or snooty highbrow philosophizing. Presumably it’s Nietzsche’s fault that God is dead and all we’re left with is the will to power of arms traders and self-proclaimed radicals. Or maybe Jung’s right and it’s just a mythopoetical heroic something — though it seems telling that we’ve only recently decided that we require one hysterically hyperbolic hero with a thousand faces rather than making do with all the dinky little heroes with one face each.

At Splice Today I tell Matt Yglesias not to bore the children.

Far from having a job in which discipline is necessary, Yglesias has one of the least disciplined jobs one could imagine. If being bored in school had any effect on him, it was not to instill an ability to focus on trivial, mindless tasks. Instead, it’s apparently convinced him to have nothing whatsoever to do with those tasks. He’s not going to spell. He’s not going to write about only economics and policy. He’s not going to work at a job he doesn’t want to. Such drudgery is for those school kids who need to be trained for lives of data entry and/or stupid paperwork. Matt Yglesias? He’s going to pat those little suckers on the head and go off and write a post about the Washington Wizerdds.

Other Links

I may have made fun of Matt Yglesias this week, but his diss of Sarah Palin is really funny.

And Jonathan Scalzi’s made me laugh too. She’s a good punchline, damn it.

Shaenon Garrity’s essay on Sandman is great.