The Song at the End of the World meme

Dr.K put it like this:

In Final Crisis 7, Superman finally kills Darkseid by singing a song into the newly constructed Miracle Machine. Morrison doesn't let the reader know exactly what song Superman sings, but instead leaves it up to the reader to fill in this particular gap.


What song do you think killed Darkseid?

Well, it occurred to me when I first read it that perhaps he sang, with his super-voice, the title track to Yoko Ono's Fly, as unlistenable a piece of recorded sound as I've ever heard. And I like Yoko's music, mostly.

But anyway, the next thing I thought of was this:

From, of course, R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)". Well, it seemed appropriate enough.

The Unsinkable Alan David Doane, inspired by Eddie Campbell's somewhat condescending remark "...anyone who thinks there are more than a few dozen so-called 'graphic novels' worth reading is an idiot.", has responded with a list of what he thinks are 100 graphic novels that are well worth your, mine, and our time. Since that's just begging to get all memed up, well, how can I resist? I shall bold the ones I've read, and add a * to those that I have read in floppy pamphlet format, but not via the actual collected publication. Which leads me to carp that more than a few of these are actually what I consider trade paperbacks, that is to say collections of previously printed works, rather than graphic novels, which I define as original stories written/drawn for and published in that format for the first time. Anyway, what ho!


100 - Little Nothings: The Curse of the Umbrella by Lewis Trondheim (NBM)

099 - Reid Fleming: Rogue to Riches by David Boswell (Deep Sea Comics)

098 - Real Stuff by Dennis Eichhorn et al (Swifty Morales Press)

097 - The Norm in Color by Michael Jantze (thenorm.com)

096 - Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley (Drawn and Quarterly)

095 - Life's a Bitch: The Collected Bitchy Bitch by Roberta Gregory (Fantagraphics)

094 - Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell (Top Shelf)

093 - Curses by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn and Quarterly)

092 - American Splendor: The Best of American Splendor by Harvey Pekar et al (Ballentine)

091 - War Stories by Garth Ennis et al (two volumes) (DC Comics)

090 - A Treasury of Victorian Murder: Abraham Lincoln by Rick Geary (NBM)

089 - Storeyville by Frank Santoro (Picturebox)

088 - All Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC Comics)*

087 - Spent by Joe Matt (Drawn and Quarterly)

086 - My War with Brian by Ted Rall (NBM)

085 - Mad Night by Richard Sala (Fantagraphics Books)

084 - Late Bloomer by Carol Tyler (Fantagraphics Books)

083 - The Collected Hutch Owen by Tom Hart (Top Shelf)

082 - God's Bosom and Other Stories by Jack Jackson (Fantagraphics Books)

081 - Fred the Clown by Roger Langridge (Fantagraphics Books)

080 - Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (Marvel)*

079 - Ripple by Dave Cooper (Fantagraphics)

078 - Conan: Born on the Battlefield by Kurt Busiek and Greg Ruth (Dark Horse)

077 - City of Glass by Paul Auster, Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli (Harper Perennial)

076 - Bone One Volume Edition by Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books)

075 - Black Hole by Charles Burns (Pantheon) (I've read a couple of the singles, but never finished this series. I should remedy that.)

074 - Daddy's Girl by By Debbie Drechsler (Fantagraphics Books)

073 - The Gypsy Lounge: Lunchtime Variety Criminals by Jasen Lex (Aweful Books)

072 - Marvel Boy by Grant Morrison and JG Jones (Marvel Comics)*

071 - The Walking Man by Jiro Tanaguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

070 - Waterwise by Joel Orff (Alternative Comics)

069 - Red Eye, Black Eye by K. Thor Jensen (Alternative Comics)

068 - Good-Bye by Yosihiro Tatsumi (Drawn and Quarterly)

067 - Abandon the Old in Tokyo by Yoshiro Tatsumi (Drawn and Quarterly)

066 - The Push Man - by Yoshiro Tatsumi (Drawn and Quarterly)

065 - Shuck Unmasked by Rick Simth and Tania Menesse (Top Shelf)

064 - Paul Has A Summer Job by Michel Rabagliati (Drawn and Quarterly)

063 - Monkey vs. Robot by James Kochalka (Top Shelf)

062 - Hellboy by Mike Mignola (six volumes to date) (Dark Horse)*

061 - Lost Girls by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie (Top Shelf)

060 - McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13 edited by Chris Ware (McSweeney's)

059 - The Legend of Wild Man Fischer by Dennis Eichhorn and J.R. Williams (Top Shelf)

058 - The Fart Party by Julia Wertz (Atomic Books)

057 - Demo by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan (DC/Vertigo)

056 - The Silver Surfer by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (Marvel Comics) (I'm assuming this is the 1978 graphic novel, which I wasn't impressed with)

055 - Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus by Jack Kirby (four volumes) (DC Comics)* (I own the first two Omnibi, plan to get the others soon)

054 - Pizzeria Kamikaze by Etgar Keret and Asaf Hanuka (Alternative Comics)

053 - James Sturm's America by James Sturm (Drawn and Quarterly)

052 - Palestine by Joe Sacco (Fantagraphics Books)

051 - Strangehaven by Gary Spencer Millidge (three volumes to date) (Abiogenesis Press)

050 - The Outer Space Spirit by Will Eisner, Jules Feiffer and Wallace Wood (Kitchen Sink)* (I read these when Kitchen Sink reprinted them in the 70's magazine)

049 - Top Ten by Alan Moore, Zander Cannon and Gene Ha (two volumes) (America's Best Comics)*

048 - The Placebo Man by Tomer Hanuka

047 - We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC/Vertigo)*

046 - David Boring by Dan Clowes (Pantheon)*

045 - Cages by Dave McKean (NBM)

044 - Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw (Fantagraphics Books)

043 - Crecy by Warren Ellis and Raulo Caceres (Avatar Press)

042 - The Maakies by Tony Millionaire (Fantagraphics Books)

041 - The Book of Leviathan By Peter Blegvad (The Overlook Press)

040 - Fantastic Butterflies by James Kochalka (Alternative Comics)

039 - B. Krigstein Comics by Bernard Krigstein (Fantagraphics Books) (I want this)

038 - Jay's Days: Rise and Fall of the Pasta Shop Lothario by Jason Marcy (Hairy Bald Guy Books)

037 - Gødland by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli (Image Comics)

036 - Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley (four volumes to date) (Oni Press)

035 - The Filth by Grant Morrison and Chris Weston (DC/Vertigo)

034 - The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)

033 - Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (DC)*

032 - Marbles in My Underpants by Renee French (Oni Press)

031 - Catwoman Volumes One through Four by Ed Brubaker, Darwyn Cooke, et al (DC Comics)*

030 - Bluesman by Rob Vollmar and Pablo Callejo (NBM)

029 - The Castaways by Rob Vollmar and Pablo Callejo (NBM)

028 - DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke (DC Comics)*

027 - Mad Love by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm (DC Comics)

026 - The Journal Comic by Drew Weing (Self-published)

025 - 32 Stories by Adrian Tomine (Drawn and Quarterly)

024 - The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard by Eddie Campbell and Dan Best (First Second)

023 - It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly)

022 - Street Angel by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca (SLG)*

021 - Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli (DC Comics)*

020 - Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli (Marvel Comics)*

019 - Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (three volumes to date) (Marvel/Icon)*

018 - Sleeper by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (four volumes) (DC/Wildstorm)*

017 - Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin)

016 - The Complete Peanuts by Charles Schulz (Fantagraphics Books) (I have the first two volumes, plus a lifetime of reading the funnies)

015 - King-Cat Classix by John Porcellino (Drawn and Quarterly)

014 - Locas by Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics Books)*

013 - The Frank Book by Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics Books)

012 - The Ticking by Renée French (Top Shelf)

011 - Bob and Harv's Comics by Harvey Pekar and R. Crumb (4 Walls 8 Windows)

010 - Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics Books)* (By default- I am nowhere near as big a fan of Gilbert as I am Jaime)

009 - Alec: How to be an Artist by Eddie Campbell (Top Shelf)

008 - Hey, Wait... by Jason (Fantagraphics Books)

007 - Ghost World by Dan Clowes (Fantagraphics Books)*

006 - Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (Pantheon)

005 - American Elf: The Collected Sketchbook Diaries of James Kochalka (Top Shelf) (I've read a ton of the dailies, and I think I have at least one collection, but I don't think I have this particular one.)

004 - Ice Haven by Dan Clowes (Pantheon)

003 - Louis Riel by Chester Brown (Drawn and Quarterly)

002 - Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner (Frog LTD)

001 - From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (Top Shelf)*


35 out of 100. Not so hot, huh! No wonder Deppey ignores me. Anyway, see how you stack up! I might try to come up with a list of GNs I would have put on the list instead someday, but don't stand on one leg waiting...

Got tagged by the estimable Plok for a meme that I've seen making the rounds lately, and since I'm not really coming up with anything to put here lately (in fact, still haven't read all the comics I got last Friday!), I think this will do.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.

I listen to five times that in the course of a normal day; that really makes it hard to pick tracks that really stand out...but these are some that came to mind when I pondered the criteria. This is going to be less of a "songs that shape my Spring/Summer" list and more of a "songs that I remember digging lately" list. And yep, don't worry, it's all boring old fart 70's music, or music made by boring old farts that came to prominence in that decade in which I grew up in most ways.

1. I COME TUMBLIN' by Grand Funk Railroad (E Pluribus Funk)
As I've stated on many occasions, when I was 11-12 yrs of age GFR was the band all the cool older kids listened to. Pluribus was the last album they did before expanding into a four-man group, firing their manager/producer, and enlisting Todd Rundgren to make them pop stars via We're an American Band. Anyway, I used to have this album on 8-track many years ago, and gave it a good proper listening to in its time, but it had been many years since I'd had the opportunity to do so again until recently acquiring this album via download. I had forgotten what a non-stop hard-rocking album this was, with the bass up front in the mix, and "Tumblin' " is a great example that also sports good group harmonies.

2. DOLPHINS by Tim Buckley (Sefronia)
I've been an absolute fiend for Buckley lately; acquiring nearly all his albums in the last few months. He started out as a gentle folkie type, but soon metamorphosed into a restless stylistic chameleon whose subsequent albums ran the gamut from Miles Davis-influenced experimental to Van Morrison/Ray Charles/Rolling Stones style R&B, but never sounded mawkish or imitative. And his voice- oh my god, the man could sing like no one on this Earth. Problem is, the more he tried to break new ground and keep his restless muse happy, the farther into obscurity he sank, each album selling poorer than the previous until his premature drug-related death in 1975. This is a cover of a song by New York folk hero Fred Neil, whose greatest claim to fame was as writer of "Everybody's Talkin'", which Harry Nilsson took to the bank via the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack- Buckley performed it from his early days, and had long intended to record it. Finally, he got around to doing it on 1973's Sefronia, his penultimate release, and I think he really did it justice. To see him performing this live from this period, go here, and prepare to be amazed.

3. BYE BYE BLACKBIRD by Ringo Starr from Sentimental Journey
Paul released a home-crafted set of pop songs, John his highly personal and abrasive kiss off to his former group, and George bided his time, delivering a mammoth set of finely crafted songs that he'd been sitting on, in some cases, for three years. What did Ringo do in the wake of the breakup? Why, he put out an album's worth of standards, "for me Mum" as he put it at the time, probably the most non-rockish thing he could have possibly done. If you ever wanted to hear what Richie sounded like singing "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" and "Stardust", with appropriate accompaniment that was arranged by a clutch of celebrity arrangers such as George Martin, Paul McCartney, Richard Perry, and Quincy Jones, well, here you go. This is the second cut and probably the catchiest, arranged by Maurice Gibb using a big band arrangement with banjo. Tra la la. I think he could do worse than to revisit this type of music, even though it's a bit late for the Harry Connick, Jr./Brian Setzer-led Big Band and Swing revival. Anything's better than the last four or so half-assed mediocre-sounding pop records he's done.

4. DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA/FLYING CLOUD by the Doobie Brothers from What Were Once Vices are Now Habits
Song one is a rock/folk exercise with a nautical theme, sung and written by Patrick Simmons. You remember, the guitarist with the really long hair that wrote "Black Water", which is also on this album. Song two is an lovely synth/acoustic guitar-driven instrumental. When I was a teen and in my early 20's I loved the good-time hippie-vibe summertime keg party rock/folk boogie-band stylings of the Bros., before Mike McDonald joined up and changed them (for the worse) into a poor man's Steely Dan. These two tracks always remind me of listening to them in the back seat of my parent's car at 4 AM one summer, on my old portable 8-track player with the sound down low, as we drove to Florida for a vacation when I was (I think) 15.

5. NOBODY LOVES YOU LIKE I DO by Emerson, Lake and Palmer from Works Vol. 1
Toldja this was a bunch of old boring fart music, didn't I? Anyway, after shooting their collective wad with 1973's excellent (well, I think so anyway) Brain Salad Surgery album, they preceeded to fart around with live albums and such for four years, even planning to do the "simultaneous release of solo albums" thing that Yes beat them to by a year because they apparently had lost all patience with each other, until finally deciding to put them all together as one big double album extravaganza called Works Vol.1, which makes it sound a lot more impressive than it really was- Emerson's side was exciting for piano enthusiasts and precious few others; drummer Palmer's side was a collection of melody-challenged percussive-themed pop songs with all-star accompaniment, and the two-song side that featured the trio reunited in the studio for as long as they could tolerate each other contained a tuneful, but overlong instrumental Copland cover and a really overlong and melody free song about Pirates, which at least had the saving grace of Pete Sinfield lyrics. But Greg Lake's side was a whole 'nother thing- collaborating with Sinfield, he presented five grandiose acoustic-guitar based and orchestra-driven ballads, three of which are effectively romantic, one of which is quite cynical and features Sinfield's best wordsmithery, and then there's this one, which seems to be a love letter to ELP fans. It's bighearted and sports another great melody, with a atmospheric, muted guitar solo in the middle. I rarely listen to the other three sides, but lately I've been in the mood to hear Lake's, and this song, in particular.

6. BIRDS FLY SOUTH by Maria Muldaur from Open Your Eyes
Eyes was Maria's last release for Warners, where she found her greatest success only six years earlier with "Midnight at the Oasis". By 1979, she was trying to stay current by working some contemproary disco rhythms and R&B into her folk/jazz/country mix, and it was sometimes an awkward fit. Still, especially if you're a fan, there's a lot to like about this album, which often reminds one of contemporaneous Little Feat in places and still features a couple of tracks that remind of past glories, like this one. It's a sweetly cheerful little old-fashioned sounding soulish shuffle in which Maria informes her beau that when he's down she'll fuck him and make him feel all better. Honestly, that little scamp. I don't have the album credits handy, but someone contributes some sassy/sprightly harmonica at the beginning that is somewhat annoying early on but adds a lot in the middle solo break.

7. DOWN ON RODEO by Lindsey Buckingham from Under the Skin
This is from Lindsay's long-delayed 2006 follow-up to his last solo album, 1992's Out of the Cradle. It's mostly acoustic and sparsely arranged, with Buckingham playing most of the instruments, save for Mick Fleetwood and John McVie providing a rhythm section for a couple of cuts...and this is one of them. I actually enjoy this album a lot more than I expected- I like Lindsey more when he's in full-on studio wonk Brian Wilson wannabe mode and often find his manic acoustic playing hard to take. The lead cut is the worst offender, but it's actually not that bad once one gets acclimated. Anyway, in this case "Rodeo" refers to Rodeo Drive of course, and it's kind of a melancholy look back at days gone by in later years with a dynamite melodic hook in the chorus.



And that's only a few- if I had done this a couple of days later, there would be a different set of songs, of that I've no doubt. I'm not going to tag anybody else, but if you think you'd like to give it a whirl, please let me know because I've enjoyed reading many of the others I've seen around the 'Sphere.