- @McKelvie It took me ages to work out that she was the girl from “Nathan Barley”, n’all. For what it’s worth, agreed. She is the hotness. #
- Oh, there’s lovely, iTunes… Exactly what I needed first thing… ♫ http://blip.fm/~lk6j #
- @richjohnston re: Ross/Brand/Dr Who, Heh… a perfect thing to read, first thing in the mornin’. Made me chuckle, it did! #
- Oh, awesome, it’s started already… #
- I have SUCH a soft spot for Laurel and Hardy – they make me happy. Didn’t used to, but I love the songs… ♫ http://blip.fm/~lk7o #
- @steevbishop You know, if I was a cynical man, I might wonder whether the BBC aren’t hoping this Dr News will douche the Brand/Ross stuff. #
- I love songs about being a crappy band. Come to think of it, I can’t think of any others. But I love THIS song. ♫ http://blip.fm/~lk98 #
- Ah, well I remember seeing Perry Farrell simulate wanking into the audience at Reading. The crowd despaired, but… ♫ http://blip.fm/~lk9p #
- “I don’t know where to begin, living in sin… How can we talk? Look where we’ve been.” I listened the HELL out … ♫ http://blip.fm/~lkc3 #
- Guuuh… feel nauseous… #
- I have become comfortably numb. I mean, seriously, in my tummy. No metaphor. Though it isn’t actually that comfortable, thinking about it. #
- @ostephens Oh, wow, STILL love Lalla Ward – despite her marriage to increasingly fundamentalist Dawkins. Think Romana was formative for me. #
- @marcellerby I doubt that. I find that it just THINKS it’s smarter than me. Because it’s stupid. I still hate the new image uploads… #
- @baillie That was a comedy drama with a twist, all wrapped up in one tweet. You are the future of word writing people types! #
- Bollocks, that was, of course, aimed at @davidbaillie. Having that dreadful girl on all the news boggled me, and now I have the headbads. #
- @davidbaillie That dried-up evil old bitch. She has hounded my heels – my arch enemy since the Antigon Agenda Scenario in ’76. #
- @davidbaillie Whichwhat upset? My tummy one, the Dr Who one, or the Brand/Ross/Your Half-Sister one? #
- @davidbaillie … Oh, uh, sorry, yeah, that was me. I was trying to fix it. You know, make it better? I broked it. #
- @davidbaillie Ah… that explains the webcam. Thank goodness. I thought something VERY dodgy was going on. #
- Dammit, this day is just endlessly grim. I wish I could have just one single, solitary quantum of solace. Heh. See what I did there? #
- @davidbaillie … Oh thank goodness. Hm, ghostwritten… does that explain why sometimes your pieces are really good? #
- @davidbaillie … #
- @davidbaillie Joking! #
- @davidbaillie (Goodness, don’t want to get myself wrapped up in a controversy with a Baillie…That’d be a disaster.) #
- @davidbaillie But… but that’s where I do all my best work. If I can’t host another season of my topical, humourous panel show, I’m fucked. #
- @davidbaillie What will I do if I have to learn a non-arbitrary scoring system.
Plus, without license money, how will I pay for whores? # - @davidbaillie I didn’t mean it. I could tell the awesome was really all you. I’ve got a genuine piece of your writing. On that banana. #
- @warrenellis Dang those fundamentalists, they ruin EVERYTHING. Apparently I wasn’t an atheist the right way & now you aren’t a proper Twit? #
- That’s enough for one day. Will get back online at home. Stupid headwrongs. Girl One already en route, Dog One ready – hugs waiting at home! #
- @davidbaillie http://flickr.com/photos/nixsight/2750896013/ – http://flickr.com/photos/nixsight/2751731026/ – Am sure I’ll regret this… #
- @BeaucoupKevin You can live without knowing, sir. My whole country has turned into idiot city. It’s like Janet Jackson’s tit or something. #
- @soullastylianou The debate rages, but personally, I think there are female Gallifreyans & male Gallifreyans, so a female would be stunty. #
- Oh dear @steevbishop. At this point, there couldn’t be more of a fuss if Brand has had sex with Baillie when she was twelve or so… #
- … & then throw her in front of the car carrying Lady Diana, causing it to crash and kill almost everyone inside. Uh. @steevbishop #
- Hm. My head still doesn’t feel right. I either need a new glasses prescription, or I’ve got a brain tuna. Hope it’s not the tuna. #
- @VanessaY Sorry to hear about your delivery stupid. Sheesh, was that a whole day wasted? #
- Srsly? Well, happy birthday, but that totally sucks. You should UTTERLY stink-palm the delivery guy. Actually, don’t. That’s gross. Sorry! #
- Ooop, that was, of course, aimed at @vanessaY. Well, not OF COURSE, of course. But. Uh. Happy Birthday Vanessa! You’re awesome! #
-
Found Objects
We need comics. We don’t need the comic mainstream – certainly not as much as it needs us. And we wouldn’t even be having this argument about Watchmen if that book wasn’t part of that industry. It couldn’t have existed without it, it wouldn’t have been relevant without it, and most of us wouldn’t have even had the chance to read it without it.
We don’t have to give a shit about Watchmen, or Before Watchmen. We choose to.
We don’t have to fight about issues that we really have no skin in. We choose to.
We should really grow out of it.
Last Friday I wrote a really long post over at my site about Before Watchmen. It was probably too long, fence-sitting and unstructured to get as much widespread attention as some of the more aggressive pieces out there, but I still feel everything in it.
This is the tiniest part of it - a sentiment that I feel is pretty important - you can read the whole thing here.
I AM IN CONTROL OF MY EMOTIONS!
The Newly Announced Before Watchmen Is a Prime Example of What's Killing Mainstream Comics
“I have no idea whether this project will be any good or not. But it sits as a shining example of the fundamental flaw that exists in the comic industry, especially within DC Comics. They spend most of their time chasing the readers that grew up with their iconic characters rather than attempting to attract new readers who are growing up right now.”
Totally agree with this - though I think DC52, being a company-wide initiative, was more indicative of it, and I said as much at the time.
However, that backward looking trait in comics isn’t unique to publishers. Comic readers - many of whom are also comic retailers, which is a bigger issue - run wild with entitlement on either side of any comic-related debate, and stand ready to jump on anything that they perceive as a deviation or affront to comic texts or characters that they feel shouldn’t be touched. It all adds to the stupidly binary way any comic-related issue is handled.
The huge amount of brilliant work that goes un-discussed, unsupported and unbought in-between those two dominant cultures is the only genuine ongoing tragedy in comics today, I reckon. The rest is just semantics and negotiation of contracts.
Yup, yup, yup…the fact that people are wasting their time arguing about the merits of Before Watchmen while amazing books like The Interactives go largely ignored is, quite frankly, criminal.
Not least because it means that yet again we’re all having a conversation about Watchmen. I came to Watchmen a little bit late - like, a year after publication - and loved it at the time. It encouraged me to go on and read so many more other books, to read them critically, and work out why they work and don’t work etc etc etc. But the more people hold it to this impossible standard in such a hyperbolic and aggressive way, the more I find reasons to chip away at it.
If you love Watchmen that much, write about how good Watchmen is in it’s own right. Don’t use it as a stick to bash everything that’s come since. Don’t use it as a way to try and win an argument about whatever your pet comic issue is that week. I think Alan Moore’s biggest issue is that his book isn’t regarded enough in it’s own right, and it’s an important enough work to be handled without gossip-context and all the other bollocks that passes for adults-who-read-comics-talking-about-comics.
Show Alan Moore and Watchmen a bit of respect, and don’t try and impose your fucking context on it. It’s a work of art. It genuinely can’t be ruined by any art that follows, but it can be ruined by every third word spoken about it being bleaty, entitled shite.
Sorry, you said something? The Interactives? What’s that? I have never heard of it, therefore it must not be worth bothering with.
Yep, I completely agree with you here. As great as Watchmen was it has been a big part of what has utterly ruined comics (and I know that Moore agrees with this himself) as so many people have spent the years since using it as a template for what comic should be. It was a work of satire! It was never intended to be a “How To” guide for aspiring comic creators.
And The Interactives is this - http://theinteractives.com/
Huh. That looks ace, actually.
The Newly Announced Before Watchmen Is a Prime Example of What's Killing Mainstream Comics
“I have no idea whether this project will be any good or not. But it sits as a shining example of the fundamental flaw that exists in the comic industry, especially within DC Comics. They spend most of their time chasing the readers that grew up with their iconic characters rather than attempting to attract new readers who are growing up right now.”
Totally agree with this - though I think DC52, being a company-wide initiative, was more indicative of it, and I said as much at the time.
However, that backward looking trait in comics isn’t unique to publishers. Comic readers - many of whom are also comic retailers, which is a bigger issue - run wild with entitlement on either side of any comic-related debate, and stand ready to jump on anything that they perceive as a deviation or affront to comic texts or characters that they feel shouldn’t be touched. It all adds to the stupidly binary way any comic-related issue is handled.
The huge amount of brilliant work that goes un-discussed, unsupported and unbought in-between those two dominant cultures is the only genuine ongoing tragedy in comics today, I reckon. The rest is just semantics and negotiation of contracts.
Yup, yup, yup…the fact that people are wasting their time arguing about the merits of Before Watchmen while amazing books like The Interactives go largely ignored is, quite frankly, criminal.
Not least because it means that yet again we’re all having a conversation about Watchmen. I came to Watchmen a little bit late - like, a year after publication - and loved it at the time. It encouraged me to go on and read so many more other books, to read them critically, and work out why they work and don’t work etc etc etc. But the more people hold it to this impossible standard in such a hyperbolic and aggressive way, the more I find reasons to chip away at it.
If you love Watchmen that much, write about how good Watchmen is in it’s own right. Don’t use it as a stick to bash everything that’s come since. Don’t use it as a way to try and win an argument about whatever your pet comic issue is that week. I think Alan Moore’s biggest issue is that his book isn’t regarded enough in it’s own right, and it’s an important enough work to be handled without gossip-context and all the other bollocks that passes for adults-who-read-comics-talking-about-comics.
Show Alan Moore and Watchmen a bit of respect, and don’t try and impose your fucking context on it. It’s a work of art. It genuinely can’t be ruined by any art that follows, but it can be ruined by every third word spoken about it being bleaty, entitled shite.
Sorry, you said something? The Interactives? What’s that? I have never heard of it, therefore it must not be worth bothering with.
The Newly Announced Before Watchmen Is a Prime Example of What's Killing Mainstream Comics
“I have no idea whether this project will be any good or not. But it sits as a shining example of the fundamental flaw that exists in the comic industry, especially within DC Comics. They spend most of their time chasing the readers that grew up with their iconic characters rather than attempting to attract new readers who are growing up right now.”
Totally agree with this - though I think DC52, being a company-wide initiative, was more indicative of it, and I said as much at the time.
However, that backward looking trait in comics isn’t unique to publishers. Comic readers - many of whom are also comic retailers, which is a bigger issue - run wild with entitlement on either side of any comic-related debate, and stand ready to jump on anything that they perceive as a deviation or affront to comic texts or characters that they feel shouldn’t be touched. It all adds to the stupidly binary way any comic-related issue is handled.
The huge amount of brilliant work that goes un-discussed, unsupported and unbought in-between those two dominant cultures is the only genuine ongoing tragedy in comics today, I reckon. The rest is just semantics and negotiation of contracts.
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