First, not quite a link, but an opportunity now taken to send Ian Brill of Brill Building renown a Bacardi Show Birthday Greeting! And yes, I know I've been slack about BSBdG's lately; lots of notable people have birthdays in June and I should have made special mention of not only the Master, Alex Toth but the Maestro Brian Wilson.
Well, the film has certainly drawn the ire of fans of the original source material, including the writer of said source material- and I can't say one way or the other because I've yet to read it myself- but even if the V For Vendetta film turns out to be a cluster fuck as only Hollywood can create, this is still a sweet poster image.
And can there be ANY doubt about the righteousness of the Thanagarian cause when no less a respected and loved figure such as OWLY can don the sacred hawk armor and prepare to kick some Rannie butt? From an Andy Runton LJ post in which he presents several sketches of Owly as various characters.
Mrs. B and I went to a consignment shop yesterday in a small town (even smaller than Horse Cave! True!) where my Mom has been working part time, to drop off some merchandise for sale and to visit and shop around. As I looked at their book section, what should I spy all nestled amongst the Harlequin romances and John Grisham novels but a copy of Neil Gaiman's first prose novel, Neverwhere, for the astounding price of one big fat dollar! Now, I have (unreasonably, perhaps) so far avoided Gaiman's prose work, mostly because I was afraid that his pretentious and often twee style would become an endurance test without a collaborator like Jill Thompson or Marc Hempel along to leaven it a bit...but for a dollar, well, why the heck not. I'm about two chapters in, and so far it's not bad but it's early. I'll have more when I'm done.Several have linked already to the latest Basement Tapes with Casey and Fraction, in which the dungeon-dwelling duo hold forth about the contrasts between the comics of the 70s and those produced today. I mostly agree with their comments and criticisms, but speaking as someone who was reading them the first time around back in the day, I think there's a good reason that the caption has kinda gone the way of the passenger pigeon: writers like Steve Englehart, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas even, and many others ran the device into the ground with jokey, wannabe-hip and cheesy writing that made me cringe when I was 13 and hasn't aged much better as a potentially nostalgic 40-year-old. Which is not to say that most of these gentlemen weren't good writers, on the contrary (well, Conway excluded)- but I could only take so much imitation Stan Lee jive patter. Sometimes a writer like Don McGregor would come along and write such floridly imaginative narration that it made the device worthwhile- McGregor never tried to ingratiate himself with his readership, but mostly the narrative caption was worn down to a nub by the mid-'80s. I don't miss it, and would like to point out that it is still used in many books, but mostly as first-person narration and not the writer trying to portray Tommy Chong as the Voice of God.
I'm ashamed of myself that I like this, the cover for Gun Candy #2, as much as I do. It's by Brian Stelfreeze and Phil Noto, by the way. Something about the composition- the twisty, turny body english perspective, on this one. YES, and the heat-packing Lolita, too. Happy? Actually, 12 Gauge has some interesting stuff coming out, most notably the reprinting of Jason Pearson's violent, but well drawn and mostly entertaining Body Bags, which I picked up faithfully back in the mid-'90s. I don't see anything about this reprint which will compel me to buy, but I recommend it to those droogies who don't mind a bit of the old ultra-violence.On to other subjects- I've posted the cover for my overdue contribution to the round 2 Mixed Bag Project CD- go check it out! And comment! Hopefully I'll be mailing these babies out very soon.
Allrighty then. That's all for now.
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