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Thursday, June 30, 2005
Big news coming
Whoa, I've just recieved some big news that will drastically change this blog's standing in the blogpshere and to the public at large. I can't tell you about it now (there's just the smallest bit of paperwork left be sorted out) but I should be able to reveal all tomorrow. Don't worry, it's for the positive. In fact, you might say it will prove positive for the whole image of comic book blogs.
Stay tuned.
Permanent Link: 4:48 PM |
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The most befudilling thing about this cover (besides insects having to do jury duty)? Why is it Bee "Firing Squad" and not "Bee Firing Squad" or simply Bee Firing Squad? Do you think there were actual converations between the editor and the writer about this? I hope not but you never know.
Permanent Link: 11:09 AM |
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Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Essential Defenders review
Seeing how we got a little talk of ‘70s Marvel yesterday (thanks for the birthday greetings everybody!) I’d thought I’d share my thoughts on the recently published Essential Defenders. A lot of us here love those post-Lee/pre-Claremont Marvel books (Mike can talk to you about these books for days and Kevin is like me as were both discovering these books through the Essential line). This book was one of the best so why not come up with a 1,300+ word review?
Take a good look at the cover of Sub-Mariner #34, included in Essential Defenders. There you have Hulk, Silver Surfer and Prince Namor himself all in action above a gathering of some type of army. The three of them cry out that they must destroy these humans “else a planet dies!” The great thing about that cover is that you have three of Marvel Comics greatest superheroes and they’re in their best respective forms, going up against the human race. Marvel has had a rich history of anti-heroes dating back to Bill Everett’s Sub-Mariner. There is a character, at least in his earliest appearances, which spent most of his time fighting against humanity, not saving it. Jules Feiffer declared, in The Great Comic Book Heroes, that if Namor didn’t join in the fight against the Nazis like all the other Golden Age heroes he would go on to become “comics’ Black Muslim.” Well, it took the wild and wacky years of Marvel in the 1970s for that anti-establishment vigor to manifest itself fully into one of the most striking Marvel comics of the time. A whole non-team that fought against evil baddies like Xemnu and The Undying Ones but also did a lot of fighting against themselves as a super team that never truly incorporated.
By the early ‘70s Roy Thomas had taken over Stan Lee’s job as the writer of every Marvel comic. Thomas took this position as a chance to really create a cohesive sense of a “shared universe” by having the stories bleed into different titles. It’s a style that’s abused now in superhero comics but for the purpose of Essential Defenders it works alright as Dr. Strange and Namor team up against some mystical no-goodniks and later the Hulk and Silver Surfer join in for the fight against some weather machine in South America. Throughout the comics we find out that the stories work because the group is made up of anti-social malcontents who have no interest team spirit. Namor’s first priority is his undersea kingdom; Hulk’s childlike mind makes him quite the impatient one, the Surfer is never comfortable hanging around a bunch of Earth-born creatures and Dr. Strange’s efforts to keep the group together always comes off as arrogant and foolhardy. It is silly fun to see these guys be more interested in battling each other than super-villains and keeping some sense of their own individuality. They never become an official team like the Avengers, there’s no way the public would accept a team of Namor and Hulk. The X-Men might have been a team of superheroes made up of people shunned by humanity because of their genetic make up but the Defenders are shunned by humans because they’re freakish nuisances.
These comics are firmly entrenched in the “Marvel house style” of the time with its grimacing heroes and explosions of verbiage. It all depends on your personal tolerance for such a style (I’m the kind that’s quite enamored with it) but the comics here are of a much better example of that style than most other comics of the time. It starts with the mind-blowing and beautiful cosmic artwork of Gene Colan but the rests of the artists keep it far more traditional. The second real triumph in the book in terms of art comes when the Defenders get their own feature in Marvel Feature. The first issue has Ross Andru and Bill Everett teaming up to come up with this weird style that has disturbingly shaking lines to go along with the strong anatomy and exciting action. The fact is that the style looks a bit “off” works wonderfully for the gathering of this bunch of characters. Unfortunately that style only lasted for that one issue of Marvel Feature, with Ross Andru working with different inkers. His style is still fine but far less weird.
The book is fine superhero retro fun at that point but then the Defenders get their own title and things really start getting wacky. Still fun, mind you, but Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema are the minds behind these stories and they are two of the best creators Marvel had at the time. Tom Spurgeon and Jordan Raphael write in their book Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book how by the time the ‘70s rolled around, Marvel’s office was filled with younger guys who grew up on the Marvel books Stan Lee wrote. Now they were coming up with their own stories fed through the fan’s mind of what those original stories with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were like. There was an ironic distance to the Marvel zip now and a sense of out-doing what was done before. The note worthy thing about these books is how funny they can be. Hulk’s dialogue just gets more and more insane. The captions get wittier too with shout-outs to letters and an amping up of the manic pace. Personally, I always get a kick whenever Hulk admits to understanding none of what’s going on around him.
Buscema is truly the glue that keeps these stories entertaining. His skill at panel-to-panel transition, pacing and continuity were one of the greatest of the time. Like all Marvel artists at the time he did his best to recreate Kirby’s powerful action, and he doesn’t do a bad job, but Buscema also adds a bit of elegance that rivals John Romita Sr. Since he’s so able to take all these ingredients and make them into one unified style he has no trouble dealing with anything Englehart throws at him. That meant a lot of wacky and cosmic stuff and Buscema had no trouble having the Defenders end up in some extra-dimensional tornado and then switch to Silver Surfer’s pining for another world within a few pages.
Michael Chabon recently wrote how Marvel didn’t have any real stand-out female characters until the Thomas/John Buscema creation of Valkyrie came about. She was a character that was inspired by the social upheavals going on at the time, shouting out “up against the walls, male chauvinist pigs!” It was cool that there was a superheroine who would fight sexism as vigorously as her male counterparts fought Dr. Doom but the stories would always cop out in the end by revealing that the character was the creation of Thor villain Enchantress. Englehart does away with that by recreating the character as a character independent of any supervillain master. The politics were tuned down so she can add a little more depth into the team dynamics by being someone who actively wants the Defenders to be a true team. This heightens the drama coming from the tension of a team that doesn’t truly like each other and makes the book better and weirder.
The book’s conclusion is the superhero epic that is the Avengers/Defenders Clash. It is basically the Marvel version of those great old JLA/JSA team-ups Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky used to do. Englehart and Buscema create something that feels like a grand battle even though the plot that started the whole shebang is rather flimsy. That’s all right; it’s just the joy of seeing the Marvel establishment take on these outsiders in their over-the-top superhero ways that makes it all work. There is a problem in Bob Brown’s artwork. While his panel layouts do predict the “widescreen” method that would be used in the late ‘90s, his composing of figures in panels is clumsy and there isn’t much in the way of dynamic visuals (save the last Avengers issue) that are pulled off well. The book ends with a few stories written by Len Wein, where Buscema seems to have had a partner who brings out even better artwork in him. They’re fine stories, following in the dizzy frivoloity these comics hold for readers.
Permanent Link: 9:55 AM |
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Tuesday, June 28, 2005
But wait, there's more!
The birthday celebration continues as I have a gift for all of you. Considering Sleeper is the new essay I have up at Comic Book Galaxy. To be frank people, I believe it is the best thing I have written for the internet. It's a large, hard look at an amazing book. If you're a fan of Sleeper or not I would like you to check this out. Also, feel free to offer any feedback about what I have written. And hey, if it inspires you to check out any of the Sleeper trades that are out there now I know my work has not been in vain.
Permanent Link: 10:57 AM |
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I would like you to dance
22 years ago some lady gave birth to Ian T. Brill. Five days after celebrating one year of blogging I'm celebrating 22 years of breathing and the world of internet comic punditry has given me some good presents!
Matt Fraction and Joe Casey talk '70s comics. The books of "the Marvel Cosmic trilogy" of Englehart, Starlin and Gerber are the superhero comics I read now as opposed to whatever is coming out today. Hell, maybe I'll spend some of that birthday dough on Essential Luke Cage. They are comics of their era but their era is infinitely superior to the current one of superhero comics.
The man most responsible for me being a comic book pundit is Gary Groth, both because of his own writing and The Comics Journal. The fact that he's blogging now is enough for me to hang up my hat and say "why read me when you can read him?" I love that the smart, vicious and witty way he writes has translated into the blogosphere. The news of a Michael Kupperman book is tremendous good news and his points about The Harvey are good ones (also, they remind me of this Yummy Fur cover).
Stuff like that reaffirms my love of comics and writing about comics. Seems appropriate enough for the 22nd anniversary of me being alive.
Permanent Link: 9:06 AM |
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Monday, June 27, 2005
Take me to your comic books and baseball cards
From Graeme and Rich Johnston comes one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. Fast forward to 16:20 into this BBC show to see a report on Johnston's latest comic project but don't forget to see the segment afterward. I loved how the ever so demur British chat show host asked so delicately "they're not all like that character on The Simpsons are they?" If I could get that as a .wav sound to go off whenever someone visits this blog I'd be happy. Considering it was Pat Mills who was being interviewed, the man behind one of the most gleefully spiteful comics ever, I was surprised he was so reserved and thoughtful throughout. It would be cool if he brought that cynicism to this show but instead we got a well-spoken gentleman speaking articulately and intelligently about comics to an audience who knows little of the medium. Darn.
***
Jack Black. Naomi Watts. A giant gorilla. Sold!
Permanent Link: 7:56 PM |
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Save me, Gerry Conway!
Let us now praise Justice League #200. Well, I'll praise it anyway. See, I've found out lately that any work you do, even if it's something you love, will end up giving you that "work" feeling where you have to convince yourself to start finishing tasks even though you’re not in the mood to do them.
I'm talking about being a critic, this time for comics (really the lowest rung on the critic ladder. I'm sure cooking utensil critics are laughing at me right now). Never can I truthfully say I regretted saying yes to either of the people I review comics for. The fact that I sometimes get paid to do something in the comics industry is a Hell lot better than other ways I can make money. Still, it is work and it can feel like work. I get a lot of comics for free (which is totally awesome) but it's a weird feeling where everything I read I have to then write about. I have to write why something works, why something doesn't work. I find this helpful in a lot of ways but I sometimes wonder if I'm doing a disservice to the books I'm reviewing and/or a disservice to my reading experience. There's something great about just enjoying a book and leaving it alone, knowing that you've liked it for your own reasons and never have to explain why. There's even a sense of mystery, maybe you’ve enjoyed a book and can't completely articulate why. You know what's wrong with that? Nothing.
That's where Mike comes in. I tell the man yesterday that I'm tired of comics, or at least tired of the feeling that everything I read I have to critique in some way or another. I demanded something "old and stupid" and this is what the Progressive one bestowed upon me. I won't even tell you a damn thing about the book (other than that you can't go wrong with Gil Kane and Brian Bolland between the same covers). Anyway, Mikester himself goes over the book at his place. It was just great to read something and put it down.
I hope I don't come off as whining about my current situation. There's not a lot of things that aren’t going good in my life right now, but the fact that I write for The Comics Journal and Comic Book Galaxy are two of the few high points. I love doing this. If I sometimes get a feeling of being burnt out from comics at the end of the week all I have to do is remind myself how lucky I am to even have this position and I get right back to the word processor.
Reviewing comics is great but it only works if you're willing to give yourself some Justice League anniversary issue goodness once in a while. Just don't make a habit of it, reading too much of this stuff will knock your critical abilities right to the ground. I mean the dialogue on page 21…
Permanent Link: 4:52 PM |
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Saturday, June 25, 2005
It came true!
At the end of 2004 I said it would be cool to see a panel on comic blogging end up on the programming for a big convention. Well, scroll on down to the third listing here and you'll find Mark Evanier is hosting such a panel next month for San Diego. With Heidi MacDonald and Tom Spurgeon on board I don’t doubt that it will be worth attending. Evanier's the best moderator at this con and when you go to a lot of panels you'll learn to appreciate that real fast.
I'll be at San Diego myself as both fan and reporter and I hope to make it to this panel. Maybe I'll add my thoughts but I don't think it will be necessary. I'm just glad blogging is getting some recognition, mostly due to the quality of the bloggers listed above.
Permanent Link: 9:16 AM |
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Friday, June 24, 2005
Land of the Dead Review
We started this week with movies so let's end it there too. I caught a midnight showing of George A. Romero's Land of the Dead and figured I'd write a few words on the film, seeing as how some of you might catch it this weekend.
I saw this film with my zombie movie loving friends who were more than ready for this. Me, I have enjoyed both versions of Dawn of the Dead liked 28 Days Later and thought Shaun of the Dead was really funny (Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright get zombie cameos in this film) but that's about as far as my experience with zombie movies go (let's forget all about House of the Dead). From watching the first Dawn and reading up about the rest of Romero's career I remain impressed that he is someone who believes that gory horror movies are fertile grounds for social satire. After all, of the working class that Romero cares for what are they most likely to see, Land of the Dead or the latest Ken Loach film?
Land deals the neurosis of living in the "War on Terror" in a manner that goes along just fine with a movie that features plenty of horror violence and explosions. The land of the living is protected from the zombies by bodies of water (or at least they think they're protected). The "fat cats," that being Romero’s term, live in the high-rise tower of Fiddler's Green while the rest of the population are meant to be pacified with their vices and increasingly crueler entertainment, many of which employs captured zombies. The characters live in a bawdier Deadwood, driving home Ken’s point of the similarity between Westerns and zombie movies. Dennis Hopper is the cigar chompin’ fattest of the cats who isn’t too happy when John Leguizamo’s character Cholo hijacks “Dead Reckoning,” the big anti-zombie truck that can do all types of damage, especially when those stinger missiles are flying towards a certain tower. Simon Baker’s Riley, our rugged hero, and his gang (including Asia Argento, daughter of one of Romero’s collaborators) are brought in to get Cholo and Dead Reckoning but they have their own plans.
Romero uses plenty of broad strokes to make all his points clear. I was expecting the racial politics might remain relatively below the surface but even that doesn’t happen, as shown in Hopper’s last scene. Not that there’s any point to expect subtlety from Romero at this point. The man has his own style that he’s mastered it this point so why should he go changing a working formula? He’s setting the movie’s message to the same pitch as the gore in the film and that’s a high one. I was most interested in the idea of “blowback” that happens throughout the film. Hopper thinks that he has the proletariat in firm control only to find that some of them can be just as greedy and heartless as him. What’s even worse is when some of these soldiers, who are just expected to be cannon fodder while those much better off benefit from their accomplishments, prove to have a better sense of ethics and morals than the people ordering them around. That really throws some gears into the works.
Baker reminded of Dominic West from "The Wire" for the whole movie. That's not a bad thing, though
The zombies, as you can well imagine, play heavily into the allusions Romero is trying to make as well. The opening scene has Leguizamo, Baker and other foot soldiers on a mission to pick up supplies in a zombie infested town. These “stenches” (that’s what military slang has christened them) have been plenty dehumanized in the minds of these soldiers but it turns out these enemies are actually developing, rather renewing, their humanity. They have some sense of comradery and skills in weaponry use. It might be an odd thing to say but Eugene Clark’s turn as leader zombie Big Daddy was one of the best and most affecting performances in the film.
Side-by-side with the politics is a well done action/horror film. If you’re the kind that claps approvingly at the innovative zombie attacks that Romero and his crew come up with, as I certainly am, then this is a movie that will not disappoint. Romero creates better sick thrills than directors a half or a third his age. 99% of the effects are mechanical with CGI employed only to fill out crowds and present establishing shots of the Fiddler’s Green tower. The oppressive feel of living between the powerful and those they command is made clear throughout the film with its muted colors and crowded frames. There’s not much in the way of suspense but that makes thematic sense since these people have been living with zombies for many years.
With all the chaos going on there’s not much time for quiet, thoughtful scenes that showcase the actors’ skills. There’s a scene between Leguizamo and Baker early on that would fit the bill but it’s dragged down by dialogue that doesn’t benefit from Romero’s “bigfoot” style as much as other facets of the film. In the midst of all the zombie action the actors get their chance to spout quick phrases of dialogue and look cool to one another. The main players and many of the supporting cast (I really dug Pedro Miguel Arce as Pillsbury) achieve this rather well. Hopper has his intensity bubbling just below his exterior and turns out to be a great choice for this devious robber baron straight out of a 1900’s political cartoon.
Land of the Dead isn’t just a horror film done better than the rest. Decades from now it’s one you can point to when you want to tell the younger folk what life in the turn of the 21st Century was like. Like all great pieces of art, this movie holds the mirror right up to us and does it in a pretty exhilarating way.
Permanent Link: 12:39 PM |
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Thursday, June 23, 2005
Is it too late to comment?
First off, thank you to all who have sent congratulations my way, both on the comments section of this blog and elsewhere. I appreciate all of them very much.
Now, I would like to comment on DC's announcement (OH NO, NOT ANOTHER BLOGGER GOING OVER IT) about Grant Morrison's (DOES EVERY THIRD BLOG POST HAVE TO BE ABOUT HIM?) new position as revamp master (THE BLOG'S DON'T EVEN HAVE A GOOD NAME FOR HIS NEW JOB). I know, I'm probably the last place in the world that's going to offer commentary on the subject and you're probably all tired of reading about it but it does tie into something I talked about months ago.
In the middle of this Newsarama article Morrison mentions that his role is reminiscent of what Julius Schwartz was doing in the 1950's. I think that's an apt enough comparison but I can't help but feel a bit like Shane Bailey does when he worries that DC is reading his blog.
Of course, I know anyone at DC has about 1,000 better things to do than read this or anybody else's comic book blog. It's just that in this February post I say that DC should bring out that old Schwartz spirit and start re-inventing old heroes who were relevant for the Cold War and make them relevant for today (and then make them relevant for tomorrow when the need for such action reemerges). I'm a Morrison fan to an almost completest degree (I've got the issues of Steed & Mrs. Peel to prove it!) so the news that DC is willing to let his mind do the reinventing is one I receive with joy.
Yet I wonder, will it be enough? When I think of reinvention these days I wonder if just having one writer (albeit one helluva writer) come up with new takes on a character enough? I think the times call for not just a reinvention in terms of writing but a reinvention in terms of art, packaging and marketing. I would really like to see overhauls on DC properties (and not just small potatoes Doll Man), as well as overhauls in how they are presented, that are so outrageous that they appear new and exciting to kids more use to hookah bars and playing games in the Grand Theft Auto series than arguing over who is the best Green Lantern. Morrison gets a lot of mileage out of younger generations clashing with the older ones (he claims his New X-Men run was inspired by "The War on Kids" more than anything else) so why not put some of that energy into making over old DC properties (for the purposes of this argument, all of DC's properties are "old")? More traditional fans are scared off by a creator like Morrison as it is, so why not just go all the way and let Bryan Lee O'Malley and Corey Lewis go crazy with DC's world? Make the books available in digest-sized chunks and have the Direct Market be something of an afterthought when reaching people through bookstores and malls is so much more potent. You'll know you've reached success when every fan over the age of 30 says "my era has passed."
I suppose that won't happen, though. DC panders to their base more than politicians under Karl Rove do. DC shouldn’t totally ignore those who have grown up with these characters but they should be more aggressive in making sure other generations will want to grow up with their versions of these characters. Having Morrison bring in new energy is the best we'll see and that's not too bad. I just hope these new books are more Klarion the With Boy and less JLA: Classified. Even a writer like Morrison gives us a stinker sometimes.
Permanent Link: 3:12 PM |
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Wednesday, June 22, 2005
I've been blogging for one year now!
A year, maybe two, and it's a good bet any given personal soapbox-type blog'll stop. -Matt Fraction
This will prove to be fairly self-indulgent. Yes, it’s the one year anniversary here at Brill Building. This post started everything off and soon the blogosphere got a little bit more crowded and quality dipped just that much more. If you don’t mind, let me take a look at the year that was in Brill Building history as well as some of my thoughts on being part of this community.
As you can imagine my inspiration to blog came from seeing the success that my friends Mike and Dorian had with their blogs. Right around the time I got my blog I believe Tom and Corey started their respective blogs as well. Mike dubbed as the Associated Comics and Pop Culture Webloggers of Ventura County, CA and Outlying Environs and, as far I know, it’s the largest bunch of bloggers of this sort that all know each in real life and live in the same area. I think the main reason for this is because the store Mike and Dorian work at is so much better than most comic book stores (certainly better than any comic book store in Ventura County, as those fine and upstanding folks at the VC Reporter have made clear) that it attracts a smarter and more thoughtful reader, one that can actually communicate their feelings about comics and pop culture in a way that is worth reading. I thank all of them for not only inspiring me but for sharing their wonderful selves with the whole world.
The other inspiration for starting this damn thing was the fact that I had chosen to be a writer at about age 18 so when I was 20 it made sense that I would have my own forum to write whatever the Hell I want, in order to create some sort of discipline in myself as a writer (I was already working as an editor at my college newspaper by this time). I think that forcing me to write for the sake of writing has done that but I also feel interacting with the readers and other blogosphere participants has improved me a writer (and a person). The fact that I’m reading and joining in these large discussions with amazing talents like Tim O’Neil, Sean T. Collins, Chris Butcher, Dave Fiore, Johanna Draper Carlson and so many more, besides making me feel a bit unworthy to blog alongside them, has kept me on my toes and forced me to evolve quicker as a writer than if I never started this site. It is to my readers and fellow bloggers that I thank you very much.
Not let’s look at how things have been for this blog over the year. While there were big chunky review like these two I suppose I first made my mark when I filed a seven-part report of just three days from the Sand Diego Comic-Con (you can work your way back from here). It was a thrill to see myself linked to by Heidi MacDonald and Mark Evanier because I had enjoyed their writing and blogging previously. That, more than anything, made me feel like should stick with this blogging thing,
From there I suppose I came up with a pretty steady mix of personal thoughts on the blogosphere that were curt and accessible (if somewhat pointless) with much larger pieces that I am very proud of. Some were in the forms of reviews such as this gigantic review of two issues of Plastic Man (the two best issues to be far). Some were industry comment pieces like this essay on Marvel and DC writing off us younger folks who are not well versed in superhero continuity. It was surprising, in a good way, to see that essay got a lot of compliments and linkage. There were even a few e-mails I got from those who are working closely with those companies that were very cool. I appreciate all of those who invoked that essay and its sentiments in some way.
Besides the Comic-Con series the other series of essays I night be known for was the Talkin’ Chaykin essays, each one evaluating a different Howard Chaykin comic (again, you can work backwards from the last one). As you can see I’m a huge fan of Chaykin’s stuff and I’m glad to see that I gave him some notoriety on the blogosphere (not that someone of that talent needs someone like me) as well as drumming up discussion of his past work. I’m thinking of doing another series for the second year of this blog, based around a creator’s work. Looking at my bookshelf the only artist whose oeuvre I have amassed like Chaykin’s is Dan Clowes’ so maybe I can do “Considering Clowes” or some such thing.
Then there’s my other filtration with reporting-by-way-of-blogging, the two part report of Grant Morrison’s appearance at Meltdown Comics. There’s no shortage of blog posts about Morrison’s work but I like to think I offered something different in those two than what most blogs have. Since I’m moving to a metropolitan environment in August, San Francisco, that has some pretty interesting comics stuff happen from time to time we can expect to see more of that type of thing.
This blog has also helped me as a writer by scoring me work as a critic and journalist for other places. I have a lot of gratitude for The Comics Journal editors Dirk Deppey and Mike Dean for letting me to contribute to the finest magazine comics will ever see. I also thank Alan David Doane from letting me contribute to The New Comic Book Galaxy along with some of the best writers the internet comic punditry world has. When I see the authors of the articles mine stand beside I have to say I feel like I’m putting someone on. I suppose it’s just another motive for me to work on the craft of being a critic and a journalist. That’s something I don’t think should ever be abandoned.
Probably what most of you who have read this far are thinking of me
As I look towards the future I must say that I’m not that optimistic about myself and my standing in the blogosphere. That Matt Fraction quote does haunt me a bit. “Do I only have one good year in me?” is a worry I’ve been worrying about. Right now I’m going through what will be one of the biggest changes in my life so this blog hasn’t always been top (or middle) priority but when I move to Sucka Free City and start life as an university English major I think my life will calm back down long enough for me to amp up the quality of this blog. Hopefully. I don’t think I’ve ever been one of the better bloggers out there, just one of the people you probably check out because there’s nothing else to read and my link might be near the top the Comic Weblog Updates page. I suppose that’s all I deserve though, there’s nothing too dynamic here on Brill Building. There’s that and the feeling I get where I might give up reading comics in anything but a casual way. I might find myself reading about five graphic novels a year for fun and have that be all the comics I splurge on. Money’s tight and I’m getting older, going to the comic shop every Wednesday is just not the priority it once was.
Don’t worry; even if things change I’ll always be updating this crazy thing. It might be a comics/movies blog or comics/life-of-a-student blog or something totally different but Brill Building will always be around and it will always be this address. I hope you’ll continue reading but I’ll understand if you don’t.
Of course, it all worth it to read a total stranger doubt that I’m telling the truth about how I old I am on the Barbelith boards. That fucking cracked me up for days.
Permanent Link: 1:19 PM |
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Tuesday, June 21, 2005
In search of The Tick
This post owes a debt to one Mr. Bacardi, who has alerted me that the animated version of The Tick has returned to television by way of Toon Disney. My DVR is currently catching all the showings for me, much to my satisfaction. This was a cartoon that came by right when I was starting my comic book reading days. I was a pretty avid fan of Fox Kids' programming but, with the exception of Batman: The Animated Series, this show was by far my favorite. Watching it I can see why. This cartoon reminds me of what I look for in so many comics, especially superhero comic books. But first, let us go back farther than the weekend mornings of 1994.
I already had formed some discrimination when it came to comedy, even in my childhood days. My Glasgow-raised father turned my brother and me onto the BBC comedy radio series he himself grew up with. I liked them all but my favorite was The Goon Show, masterminded by Spike Milligan and featuring the talent of Peter Sellers. Without that show we wouldn’t have Monty Python or Mr. Show. John Lennon was such a fan that he chose George Martin to produce The Beatles’ records because he produced the show (Hard Days Night director Richard Lester also has his own Goon connection). The show astounded me because it was committed to silliness but silliness as a way to tell a story. This wasn’t sketch comedy, every episode was telling something that worked in the motif of the adventure stories other radio shows would have but they would just become more and more absurd as the plot thickens. I still laugh whenever think of “here, have a gorilla.” The idea that absurdity wouldn’t be a distraction from storytelling but be the main element of it had a profound effect on me when I was just starting to develop my taste in pop culture. (For those who want to listen to The Goon Show BBC 7 reruns shows on Monday nights)
Later on I would be old enough to stay up until 9:00, if you can believe such a thing. Nickelodeon stopped programming at 7:59 and Nick at Nite would come on with television of yesteryear. It was the revival of Get Smart that would hit me much like Milligan’s creation did. Mel Brooks and Buck Henry made themselves a show that was also quite silly and used that as a narrative device (the narrative device as it were) but here, my little brain was stunned, it was in a visual medium! You can get a lot sillier now when you can use moving pictures, as anyone who has seen a secret agent talk into a shoe can tell you.
And then came The Tick, created by one Ben Edlund. If aural entertainment gave you a step on the rung of the silly ladder and live action let you climb a little higher then animation was reaching the very top and ringing that avant-garde victory bell. I can’t think of one scene out of the entire series that betrayed the off-beat environment of Tick’s The City. Superheroes, powerful authority figures in other stories, were what made everybody else’s lives absurd because of their total lack of connection to reality. I don’t think Arthur or The Tick, or most superheroes on the show for that matter, ever appeared outside of their costumes. In fact, we see in the first episode that Arthur gets fired from his accounting job because he won’t show up to work without wearing his “rabbit suit.” The Tick and Arthur aren’t going crazy; “they’re going sane in a crazy world” as our big blue friends puts it. This wasn’t strength and flight as power fantasy, this was the superhero, every damn one of them, as a person who carves out their individuality in the face of a bland world (I like how many people on the show are drawn with squinted, almost closed eyes).
 Read a book, people!
I think it was that apperception for “the absurd narrative” that gave me my love of comics. I find the superhero comics I like are the ones where one strange thing, often not seen as strange in a world where everyone loves a Kryptonian man, happens after another. I love the ‘60s superhero books edited by Mort Weisenger, Julie Schwartz and Stan Lee where the bright and colorful worlds of superheroes are presented with bombast and confidence about their “paper universe” as Grant Morrison would tell us. I suppose I still love the superhero comics the most that have some sense of humor to them (either intentional or not, and when it comes to comics it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference) and love exploring the things you can get away with by being of a superhero’s world instead of bringing in some real world angst into the proceedings. This appreciation bleeds out of superheroes and brings me to love the works of Gilbert Hernandez, Jim Woodring, Roger Langridge and the older Dan Clowes work like Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron. It’s not the only stimulation I go to comics for but it’s a pretty big catalyst for a lot of what I read.
Enough analysis though, let’s talk about the wonderful humor of The Tick! People, you have no idea how joyful it was for me to hear the Dr. Strangelove character scream out “Liar! Liar! PANTS ON FIRE!!” in the episode “The Tick vs. Dinosaur Neil.” It was just as good as I remember it. Those supervillains took what Dick Tracy and Batman started and just went crazy with it. Most of them were men dressed in three piece suits, just with freakish looking heads (the ultimate being Headless Henderson). The look of some weird globe popping out over a demurely dressed torso still looks cool, as Cillain Murphy’s Scarecrow from Batman Begins shows us. Then there’s The Terror’s rivalry against Theodore Roosevelt, Thrakazog and his roommate, the Man-Eating Cow and so much more.
Townsend Coleman’s voice for The Tick leads to one great vein of comedy, the heroes many confidently declared slogans. This IMDB page has a pretty good list of a lot of them, my favorite being “Sanity, you're a madman.” The Tick is one big ball of ridiculousness but he does seem genuinely interested in helping the people of the city of The City. He cares for others around him, certainly his pal Arthur, just in his own weird way.
We may never see a DVD release of the animated Tick (the live action show is out. I saw one episode and liked it but it didn’t match the manic cartoon show) but at least we have these reruns. As for current shows, I think a lot of the Adult Swim cartoons, specifically the reruns of Futurama and The Venture Brothers (one episode written by Edlund), do the trick for me. When it comes to comics there isn’t a lot for me in this cool and scary world of modern superheroes but I find Plastic Man hits the right notes sometimes and Super F*ckers just might be the best superhero comic out there right now. Hey, there’s plenty of both DC and Marvel’s back catalog we can mine for our snazzy superhero thrills.
Permanent Link: 12:58 PM |
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Monday, June 20, 2005
Quick link
A Livejournal community finds the most awesome thing ever. I'm glad to see the Darwyn Cooke Catwoman design get some exposure.
Permanent Link: 10:51 AM |
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Goodfellas and them screw-up Catholic boys.
Comics are all fine and good but I sometimes I like to write about movies, too. I've been on something of a Scorsese kick lately and was compelled to write this essay after purcahsing the two-disc edition of Goodfellas. I hope you dig it, maybe I should exapnd this site into all types of cultures and not just comics.
Consider Martin Scorsese for a second. This man is arguably the greatest living film director. So much so that while there are many great directors whose best films is relatively easy to determine (if any one doesn’t think Howard Hawks should have quit while he was ahead with I Was a Male War Bride they’re crazy!), looking over Scorsese’s oeuvre it’s hard to determine what his crown jewel is. Is it Taxi Driver, Scorsese and Paul Schrader on urban white boy angst pushed too far? Is it Raging Bull, where we see a man society views as an animal shoved into what should be normal domestic life? Is it King of Comedy, a sort of sequel to Taxi Driver where fame and show business replace a twisted idea of justice as the engine fuel for a madman’s mania?
Goodfellas may not be my favorite Scorsese film (that honor belong to King) but it is perhaps the greatest culmination of two subjects the director has found good use for in telling stories: organized crime and the Catholic experience. Looking at the plot of Goodfellas, it doesn’t seem to be much more than your usual “rise and fall of the gangster” or any other person making fortunes through crime. By 1990, the year of the film’s release, audiences had already seen it in countless movies, such as Scarface, but this film held something different. Usually it’s the rise that is the most striking; hedonism abounding in a way that only cinema can make look beautiful. Scorsese makes the audience remember the decline of small time mob soldier Henry Hill when the movie is over. That’s because, as Roger Ebert put it, “GoodFellas is about guilt more than anything else.” Hill’s whole desire to be a gangster was to get away from the dreariness of what the normal life of a lower-class, Irish-Italian man would have given him. Catholicism is never an explicit theme of the movie but of course that is the religion that Hill and the rest of his community was born into and raised around. His desire to fly away from the rest of “those goody-good people who worked shitty jobs for bum paychecks and took the subway to work every day” is as much a desire to get away from the dogma of the Catholic Church. Many have before him (including your humble author here) and as always there are the pangs of guilt whenever one is indulging in more than what is just plenary.
According to the audio commentary both Hill and former FBI agent Edward McDonald do for the Goodfellas DVD, Hill was trying to get out of the secular lifestyle of the mob even before things got bad. The film skips over Hill’s stint as a paratrooper but it does give us his conversion to Judaism upon marrying his wife Karen (not exactly a guilt-free religion). Still, the lifestyle afforded him a lot of nice things, the main one being comfort. The movie doesn’t have any scenes of Hill getting into threesomes with prostitutes or living in a mansion, all the good things these guys get, such as the nice tables at the club, are still strictly middle-class. The real hope for Hill is that he and his family will live with some real peace of mind and safety. That is too much to ask for with this lifestyle, as the “do you think I’m funny” scene makes clear, everything could fall apart at anytime.
The film hits on the idea of paying for your sins in its masterful last hour. We learn about Jimmy Conway and the boys pulling off the Lufthansa heist with Hill screaming happily in the shower. Yet there is only one time that any reward for this scheme is seen. Jimmy tells an underling not to be stupid for buying a nice car for him and his wife, even if it is in his mother-in-law’s name. From that point on the movie is just about whacking man after man solely for their participation in the crime. All they have to show for their indulgence is a severe version of trying to clean your hands because that dirt won’t come off.
The greatest sequence in the film is what the filmmakers referred to as “Last Day as a Wiseguy.” The title cards keep track of the minutes that roll past in Hill’s day as he has many errands to run, from getting Conway silencers to making sure the spaghetti sauce is just right, all the while he has paranoid thought of helicopters following him. Scorsese notes on the “making of” documentary on the DVD that Hill’s stress comes from everything, from helicopters to the sauce, being held with the utmost priority. This is scarily similar to the feeling of having the beliefs of Catholicism drilled into your head. George Meyer is responsible for a lot of the humor and popularity of The Simpsons and explained in a New Yorker article on him what growing up Catholic was like for him:
I did feel that I was made to shoulder a lot of burdens that shouldn't have been mine -- such as the frustrations of older women wearing nun costumes. People talk about how horrible it is to be brought up Catholic, and it's all true. The main thing was that there was no sense of proportion. I would chew a piece of gum at school, and the nun would say, 'Jesus is very angry with you about that,' and on the wall behind her would be a dying, bleeding guy on a cross. That's a horrifying image to throw at a little kid. You really could almost think that your talking in line, say, was on a par with killing Jesus. You just weren't sure, and there was never a moderating voice.
The scene ends with a lawman pointing a gun to Hill’s head and telling him not to move else he blows his brains out. The emotion in Hill’s eyes, more than anything, is relief. Hill tells you that if this was a Wiseguy you wouldn’t hear anybody talking, you would have just been killed. The law and the offer of the Witness Protection Program is a chance to enter back into God’s good graces. It’s restricting, no fun at all. But that’s the price for un-Godly indulgence.
The previous is just one interpretation of an excellent film. It’s certainly not a message the filmmakers seem to feel is the point of the film. Someone with no experience with the Mother Church would have no trouble absorbing so much from this movie. Still, the constant feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop is that of the Lapse Catholic’s, much in the same way that death hovers over every mob soldiers’ head. Scorsese, the former seminary student, depicts the Catholic experience better than any other filmmakers alive and Goodfellas is second only to The Last Temptation of Christ in that canon.
Permanent Link: 8:36 AM |
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Friday, June 17, 2005
Holy Slighty-Drunk Ramblings, Batman!
The Batman themed episode of Little Steven's Underground Garage is up at their archives page. I had trouble getting the jukebox technology to work but I did listen to the first hour in my car, when the show originally aired last Saturday that is, and I can tell you it is worth listening to. Most of all is the slightly deranged introduction by Adam West. It starts out funny then gets a little creepy, just the way I like it. The whole show may have tied into the release of Batman Begins but this being a show about garage rock you can understand why it is the '60 Batman show that gets its due here. It is pop art mastery for two hours and certainly don't miss those Batman-inspired oddities that lead into the commercial breaks.
The show actually got me thinking, when will there be a superhero adaptation that has as much visual impact as the comics itself? Sin City comes the closest but that was turning a movie into a graphic novel (three to be exact) instead of the other way around. Where will there be a superhero movie where the filmmakers make a lasting effect that can live on for years, like the four-decade legacy the Batman TV show and its wild, campy fun did?
When I see the commercials for Fantastic Four I think "competent action movie" and that's really what most of these superhero adaptations over the past few years have been: action films of varying degrees of success. Reading comics I have sometimes felt that moment, you may have as well, that feels like lightning has hit you because of what you just saw. It happened to me when I first saw Jack Kirby's work, it happened to me when I first saw Bernie Krigstein's work and it happened to me when I first saw Walt Simonson's work. Film has also gave me a similar jolt, like when I saw Citizen Kane, Taxi Driver or Mullholland Drive for the first time. So why can't we see that shared power of visual storytelling meet in a superhero movie? Where's the director who is going to put his or her own stamp on a film and make it about more than just a corporate tie-in and instead make it something very special, as special as the Steve Ditko Dr. Strange stories or Dave Mazzuchelli's work? I suppose Ghost World comes closest (not a superhero movie, I know) but Dan Clowes was there throughout the film. I'm thinking about someone from totally outside of comics doing something with a genre comics are more than familiar with, superheroes and all the iconic glory that comes with them, and breathe a whole new life into them exactly because they are working in film and not comics.
I don't know, maybe The Incredibles is what comes the closest to what I want, but animation is something different, y'know? What I'm basically saying is: I want Martin Scorsese or David Lynch to do a superhero movie and I want it to blow people away. Probably won't happen, especially seeing how Lynch's Ronnie Rocket never materialized (look for the screenplay on-line or read about it in this book). As for Scorsese, I suppose Taxi Driver could be considered a superhero movie. That’s an essay for another time.
Now, let’s get rid of this slightly-drunk business.
Permanent Link: 9:19 PM |
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Thursday, June 16, 2005
The electric eel inside my head
I've gotta check on my blog, check on the comments, check on the hits...gotta read other people's blogs, read other people's comments, see if the comments have changed, see if people are happy are sad are fighting are laughing are smoking are doping...what are the new comics coming out, what are the new comics coming out I can afford, what are the new comics coming out I can talk about, what are the new comic coming out I can afford and talk about...what are people saying about the comics I can/can't/maybe/can't afford, what are they not saying, what should they be saying...who posted where, why won't I post, why can't I post...where's the time to do something fun even though I'm probably incapable of having fun...will I still be reading comics in ten years...in five years...in one year...tomorrow...forever...whenever...did I read comics or do I just read about them...can I just read about them and never actually read them...should I, could I, would I...why am I even doing this at all???????????????????
It is hazardous to live your life at such a high pitch.
Permanent Link: 12:48 PM |
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Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Monday, June 13, 2005
Plug Time
Hey, that new Comic Book Galaxy sure looks nice-lookin'! You've got a column by Mike Sterling, Ed Cunard interviewing Tom Spurgeon and Larry Young offering you a chance to win everything AIT-Planet Lar ever made. All of introduced by the one, the only Mark Millar. It is true that if you look through the "Staff" page you'll see some bozo named Brill will also be writing for them but that shouldn't stop you from checking out this new site. In fact, Mr. Doane has employed the good idea to use the brightest minds of the comics blogosphere and beyond in this new site. CBG is a site...on the gooooooo!
It's a way of life that consists of being fat and lonely and reading a lot of comic books and occasionally being grumpy about them and then crying yourself to sleep in your Lobo pajamas. It's not for everyone.
-Proof that Tom Spurgeon has a video camera in my house and watches the live feed.
Permanent Link: 9:17 AM |
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Sunday, June 12, 2005
Chillin' at the beach, down at Club Med
Things have not been so well here at Casa de Brill but hopefully next week will turn things around. It may mean that my meaty posts will have to be on days like Sunday where things are actually quiet for once but I'm still going to give you folks something good to read! I'll get back to the commentary about the track listing for my mix CD (read about the first half here) but first some thought on my comics by me.
Johanna posted about Randy from The Fourth Rail cutting back the superhero reviews in favor of the many alternatives out there. I correlate that post with another one she made about her dislike of DC's editorial policy putting a strain on dedicated fans wallets. Those two inferences are related in my mind. It’s because, I think anyway, that the reason superhero comics get so much copy written about them in the blogosphere and elsewhere is because there's just so much of them coming out, as any visit to the ComicList will tell you. I now think that the gigantic slew of superhero comic coming from The Big Two and other companies trying keep up are now the best reason to ignore them, as least the new ones. I still love the superduper work of past decades (expect an Essential Defenders review here soon!) but to keep up with these crossovers, reboots and the like seem to be causing more and more people to drop out. A lot of us are people who still love comics and will go towards different outputs for our comic joy (I liked David Welsh's comments on the subjects. Expect a review of Dead End coming here soon, as well) but what about the people who are not as invested in comics and just want to be a member of the happily entertained audience? Are they going to start checking out new things or are they just going to drop comics all together, as I did in the '90s when things were going bad for comics? The sales for these event books have been pretty hot (relative to the state of the industry that is) so maybe it's just us pontificators who are feeling down about the wave after wave of intellectual property recycling.
I also took interest in Dorian's post about "controversies" in the comics world. Being out of town for some of last week, it felt freeing to not be part of the hustle-and-bustle of these arguments and outrages going on, most of which add up to nothing in the grand scheme of things. Speaking as a journalist, I think it's interesting to watch what's going on as people behave this way, as if there's almost a beauty to it all its own. As a comic fan I just can't care and can hardly find myself mustering up the energy to go write blog posts about them (to write blog posts about how much I don't care on the other hand, that I can do!). I appreciated the editorial from a certain firearm enthusiastic feline who mentioned that going on and on about these quibbles seems to be important than enjoying the books for some people. I find that a big part of life is trying to stay positive and content in a corrupted world. The world of comics is especially corrupted but to me that is just more the reason to find what you love about the medium and indulge that aspect of it. Comic fans, as the kitten says, may be "very aggravating to deal with at times" but that doesn't mean I have to deal with them at all. I can't see myself spending a lot of time in comic book stores as I get older (perhaps not more than a few times a year after I move) and even blogging will be more about artists' work instead of their behavior and the behavior of their fans (and anti-fans as it were). I want to be a happy person and a happy comic book fan. If that means completely washing my hands of any sort of "fan" business and the vast majority of what passes for discourse on the internet, then I don't mind taking those actions.
Of course you know I'll probably have hundreds more posts about all types of controversies in the future, solely for the reason I can barley ever think of anything original to say myself. I'm to the blogosphere what ants are to meals, hardly ever thought of and, when thought of, seen as annoying. Anyway, who wants music?
14. Common – The Light
Simply put folks, it’s my favorite hip-hop song ever. I was in a pretty good place when this song first came out and I always like the way it makes me feel listening to it. A fantastic love song.
14b. Stiff Little Fingers – Alternative Ulster
I like a good, angry punk rock song with a political message behind it and this one from the “Irish Clash” delivers that pretty damn well. The vocals are totally sweet to me, so biting and vitriolic.
14c. ABBA – Does Your Mother Know?
This doesn’t sound like most ABBA songs, mainly for the male vocal being the lead. This almost feels like “punk ABBA” with the pounding eighth-note rhythm and lead guitar work.
15. Ted Leo – Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?
I put this here because I wanted Tom to check Leo out. He’s the best guy doing the “angry white boy with a guitar and a message” thing right now. Totally check him out live, too.
17. Del the Funkee Homosapein – Mistadoblina
An early Del song, it’s one I like a lot. I like how the sample works with the beat and the use of the choir to go along with it. Hey, it never hurts to have something fun and bouncy in a mix.
18. The Crystals – And Then He Kissed Me
Hey, it’s another girl group produced by Phil Spector doing a Barry/Greenwich song. I like this stuff a lot and that hook is so awesome in its simplicity. Used to great effect in that long tracking scene in Goodfellas.
19. The Beatles – Rain
You cannot go wrong with the Beatles. This feels like a song that should have been on Revolver but wasn’t. I love Ringo’s drumming here, the distorted guitars and the backward effects used at the end. Pure Beatles wonderfulness.
20. Sonic’s Rendezvous – City Slang
An off-shoot of The MC5, this one of those rocking songs that makes me love the vast musical history Detroit has.
21. The Smiths – The Charming Man
Johnny Marr is one of my favorite guitar players and this is his crown jewel. The whole song is him laying down these melodic riffs that are also textural. An amazing performance that will never be matched.
22. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Just Like Honey
Hey, doesn’t that drum intro sound familiar? The combination of Brill Building pop and loud distorted guitars gets to me every time. I thought it hit just the right mood to close out the disk. Used to great effect in Lost in Translation, where I remember having my breath taken away as soon as it came on.
I’m mostly satisfied with this mix. There are bands that I tried to get on that I felt didn’t work on a mix CD (Kraftwerk), bands I didn’t have room for (Sleater-Kinney) and whole genres of music that I love but always felt out of place on a mix (jazz, I really wanted to include some Eric Dolphy). Still, I hope people liked it. I’ll be reviewing some of the mixes I got in the coming days and weeks.
Permanent Link: 11:40 AM |
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Friday, June 10, 2005
Why is a site about comics writing about virgins?
Hey everybody, the trailer for The 40-Year-Old Virgin is up! I wrote what is probably the first review of the film, in case you’re interested in such things. Looking at the trailer it doesn't look like things have changed very much. I think that's a good thing because, even though I certainly didn't think the film was perfect, I really hope no studio muckery infected this movie. Whenever I see anything that resembles "alternative" comedy in films I worry that it will be neutered by some shortsighted businessman. It's probably shades of Run Ronnie, Run (not a case of studio problems but a schism between the director and Bob and David, I know).
Permanent Link: 6:54 PM |
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Thursday, June 09, 2005
Shove 'em up there again, Dennehy!
Sometimes the world wears you down so much that you just don't have the energy to go over the second half of a mix CD you made. Still, I love this little blog and I'm thankful for those of you you who still come here, knowing you may get nothing of real intellectual value at all. In that case, while I suffer from what I like to call a "stomach attack," I'll give you the greatest picture of that hero of Patton Oswalt, Craig Kilborn, myself and many others: The Robert Evans.
More photography here. Hopefully more posting (real content maybe?) tomorrow.
Permanent Link: 7:25 PM |
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Wednesday, June 08, 2005
I'm Mike D. and I'm back from the dead
Here is my actual "return to blogging post." Not much, I'm just going to go over the contents of the Mix CD I made for Chris Brown's little project. Many of you who participated in the exchange should be getting it soon; I sent them off last week. Some of them may have found the track listing paper a bit loose and I must apologize for that. If you want to get rid of it because of the hassle please feel free and view this post as the track listing. It's complete with commentary so hopefully those of you who didn't go sending in mixing CDs can hopefully enjoy reading this as well.
But first, since I've been gone away for a while, let me quickly go over the news of the day regarding comics:
DC doing their own "Essential" books sounds awesome, I even asked for it last month. If DC and Marvel just devoted themselves to reprinting their back catalog it would be just fine with me.
The "one year jump" for DC has potential but they'll probably find some way to screw it up, they always do. I would like it if one of the books made a reference to the strip The Norm, though. Also, didn't the Legion of Super-Heroes comic do this thing years ago?
The most awesome Wolverine ever.
I was kind of looking forward to that Watchmen movie. The director sounded really good in those interviews. Maybe this will be good. Batman Begins looks pretty good.
It's about time the greatest comic book publisher of all time got its own blog.
Now, on to the tunes. Ladies and gentleman I give you Ian Brill Presents: Mix Your Mind Up.
1. The Ronettes – Be My Baby
I figures starting off the record with a song from the actual Brill Building would make sense. The team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich are my favorite Brill songwriters, mainly for this and “Sugar Sugar” although there are plenty more great songs other than those. I know Phil Spector considered “River Deep, Mountain High” his pinnacle (another Barry/Greenwich song) but he’s wrong, this song is. Ronnie Spector’s voice is the ultimate girl group weapon, the drum intro is the greatest intro in the history of rock and the whole song is, as Brian Wilson would say, a “teenage symphony to God.” A favorite of Wilson and Joey Ramone, this is everything I love about music wrapped into one song.
2. Dr. Octagon – Earth People
The senior year of high school everything Dan the Automator did was my soundtrack. This is what broke him to the world along with the mania of Kool Keith’s rhymes. I don’t think underground rap ever got better than this.
3. Them – I Can Only Give You Everything
I’m not as big into garage rock as I once was but this song still sticks with me. The most brain dead simple riff played the Hell out of and Van Morison’s vocals here are more passionate than they are on “Gloria.” Them never had the career they should have but songs like this show that there was really something going on here.
4. Magnetic Fields – All My Little Words
Dorian told me that too many bloggers put this band (and ABBA) on their mix CDs but a) I didn’t participate in the first exchange and b) I don’t give a fuck, my love for these two bands are more important than that. I don’t think I’ll ever got tire of Stephen Merritt’s voice. This is one of my favorite Fields song, with a very cool banjo hook. Also, used in great effect in The Shield.
5. Prince – Controversy
I really debated which Prince song I would put on here, there’s just so many I love. I figured, what with this being a mix disc and all, I would go for a great single. The chorus is fucking killer.
6. John Frusciante – Mascara
Probably the most personal track on the record. When I was 18 there was a definite risk that I would become like Frusciante, Syd Barret or many others, being a guy who just stayed in his room only writing songs and doing acid. Well, I’m not so bad off now but there’s still a part of me that feels like the artistic side will win out over every part of my life. Luckily, Frusciante also got himself into better shape. I still love the first Frisciante solo album the best because it is one of the most direct creative statements an artist has ever made.
7. The Byrds – Feel A Whole Lot Better
One of my favorite guitar sounds of all-time is on this song. I love the Byrds’ jangly-pop sound, often imitated but never duplicated. This song, and Roger McGuinn’s solo in particular, is the best they ever got.
8. PJ Harvey – C’mon Billy
I think I learn more about life listening to PJ Harvey than any other artist. I like someone who can be so universal and personal at the same time and Harvey is one of the best examples of that. Rid of Me is actually my favorite album of hers but this one, of off To Bring You My Love, proves that a catchy song can be just as raw and emotional as anything else out there.
9. Handsome Boy Modeling School – The PJays
This also from that Automator year. He and Prince Paul crafted this album that, to me, was the nexus for all that was right in music during 1999. This cut has the most fun bass line I have heard. Dave and Del’s rhymes tell of street life in a way that is more about humor than horror, with the ending of Del’s verse the funniest lines in all of hip-hop.
12. Futureheads – Decent Days and Nights
First of, the track numbering is screwed up because of all the shifting of songs I did in making this album. Anyway, for some reason I didn’t put that much new music in the mix, although I really wanted to expose more people to LCD Soundsystem and The Kills. This is just a great friggin’ single that has the hookiest riff I’ve heard in a long time. I like a band that puts an emphasis on being catchy.
13. The Pharcyde – Passing Me By
A song of nostalgia and love, told in a way that reminds you why hip-hop is the force it is. That intro with the Hendrix sample then the keyboards always hits me. This is a group who I never thought got their due.
How’s about I cut this track listing commentary thing in half? I don’t want you folks to get bogged down in copy and really, who wants to read my musings for very long? Tomorrow will be more music because, after all, music is better than comics.
Permanent Link: 1:49 PM |
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Monday, June 06, 2005
Help me, please
I've been away for four and a half days. Tell me, what did I miss? If you do, there just might be a nice shiny dime in it for you.
P.S. If you've never read every issue of Sleeper all within the course of three days I highly recommend that you do so. It makes a great book greater.
Permanent Link: 6:57 PM |
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Wednesday, June 01, 2005
My scandolous past
I found a comic, actually just one page, which I did when I was 10 or 11-years-old. If the above image makes you hungry for more (how could it not?) then check out the whole thing here. The glare in the scan obscured it a little bit, including obscuring some dialogue, but looking over the thing I'm almost glad that is the case. It's a trifle embarrassing (more embarrassing is that I haven't really evolved as an artist) but I figured why not share a bit of my own creativity with you all. Thanks to Mike for scanning the damn thing and even trying to change the tint. If any of you can figure out a way that we can modify the scan so it will read better please don't be afraid to e-mail me.
As for the missing dialogue, I'll fill in the blanks for you. In the middle panel of the second row we have "Guess you're down 20 smackers!" After that it's "Hey, that's my snappy banter!" This concludes with the next panel where the nameless main character declares "Get your own next time!" As hard as it is to believe I did not have any help with scripting this book, this is pure pre-pubescent Brill firing on all cylinders.
I will now tell you that Brill Building will take a bit of a break as your ever humble host takes a trip to Arizona. Things will back in full swing sometime near the end of next week. Stay safe out there, kids.
Permanent Link: 5:46 PM |
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