|
To Be Continued #9
I know you thought I was going to bring you down again this week, with even more bad news about why, no matter how good you are, you'll never break into comics. Well, you're wrong. It may have been my plan but then I realized if I answered some of my E-mail and pretended that it was a column, I could trick Psycomic into paying me to free up space on my hard drive. So let's dip into the virtual mailbag, shall we? The McDuffie Genius Grant, a cash award I've offered to anyone who comes up with a method to save Comics As We Know It, has generated the most mail. Since I intend to milk my discussion of that topic for a whole column soon, we won't deal with any of those letters today, other than to say that so far, it looks like I'm in no danger of losing my five bucks. In addition to all the nice compliments, most of the rest of your e-mail was made up of well-thought out and helpful responses to my question, "what future columns do you want to see?" Using the same high level of responsiveness to consumer demand that made Milestone the sales giant it was, I'll likely ignore everything you tell me, do whatever I feel like and go quietly out of business. But since I asked, here's a sampling of what you had to say: The single most-requested column topic was my proposed look at the legendary Will Eisner and the problematic nature of The Spirit's liver-lipped, lawn-jockey of a side-kick, Ebony White. Ben Zwolinski's e-mail was typical, "The Spirit is arguably the best work of one of the best storytellers in the medium and yet… It is difficult for me. Eisner IS a genius as far as I'm concerned but well, Ebony convinces nobody! This is the pinnacle of comics?" Yeah, I feel you. On the other hand, Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind are considered pinnacles of American cinema and they're at least as embarrassing as Ebony White. I'm definitely going to reopen this can of worms, sometime. Speaking of embarrassing, I just got this note from former Deathlok cohort and colorist of practically everything Ted Turner missed, Gregory (Silver Sable) Wright, "Dude--in your latest column you describe Sam Keith getting a gig at Marvel, that led to Deadman. Big OOPS on you. That was Kelley Jones! He did get that gig at Marvel for the toy comic. GOTCHA!" Greg's correct and I apologize to both Sam and Kelley. This is the first time in recorded history that I have ever made an error. Now I know how the rest of you must feel. Although Greg has shamed me, I take comfort in knowing that I, at least know how to spell "Kieth." Nyahhh. A number of you had your own suggestions for column topics. David Rapp loaded me up with a mess of good ones. Unfortunately, most of them involved me slandering some of the very few people left in the industry who might still give me work (you know, if Hell froze over). So no go on those, David. I will borrow your idea of examining how Usenet affects the comic book industry (Short answer: "Disproportionately"). This parallel universe we inhabit where Quantum and Woody is a hit and nobody reads X-Men definitely bears closer examination. Has everybody seen Teletubbies? The show with the giant, brightly-colored babies who run around on a frighteningly green field of grass, giggling? Okay, the Teletubbies are played by grown men in baby suits right? So I keep asking myself, just how big are those rabbits? I mean, they'd have to be immense, wouldn't they?. All right, you got me. That last item wasn't in response to a letter and what's more had absolutely nothing to do with comics. I still need to know, though. Are they some kind of mutant, German Shepherd-sized bunnies? Is Night of the Lepus a documentary? Maybe I can connect this to comics; If anybody wants to do a comic book adaptation of Teletubbies, I insist on writing it, as it has an eerie fascination for me. If I'm flipping and I hit it, I cannot turn it off. This show is truly the strangest thing on TV since the unmatched weirdness of Lidsville, back in the Seventies. Lidsville was a show about a kid trapped in a world where everybody was some kind of living, giant hat except for, unaccountably, Charles Nelson Reilly. I'm serious, if you've ever seen Lidsville, you know the truth: You don't need drugs. TV is free. Okay, on to the Department of Graft. As any regular reader knows, when it comes to free stuff, you can call me Dwayne McRoundHeels. So far, this column has netted me way fewer freebies than my Science Fiction column has. Am I being too subtle? PUBLISHERS: IF YOU SEND ME A COPY OF YOUR BOOK, I'LL MENTION IT HERE. NO LIE! E-MAIL ME FOR DETAILS. Anyway, for those of you who have done your part, it's time for me to start paying up. Astronauts In Trouble: Live From The Moon is that rarest of graft, that is to say I'd have plugged even if writer/publisher Larry Young hadn't sent me all the free stuff (a complete set of the comics, a "making of" trade paperback and what I suspect is a less-than-completely-legal companion CD sound track! Way to go Larry!). I suspect I'm pretty much the target audience for this book. I'm an old SF guy who grew up on dog-eared paperbacks of Asimov, Heinlein and Clark and watched with growing alarm as the stuff I loved was replaced by Star Wars crap and fantasy trilogies with 5 or 6 books apiece in them. Astronauts In Trouble is a throwback, in the best sense of the word, to old-fashioned SF stories about working class guys in space (and yes, there is a romantic, pro technology, multi-billionaire industrialist in there). I like the art, too especially the storytelling. Penciller Matt Smith reminds me of Tommy Lee Edwards but he's also got his own thing happening. Luckily for you guys, the whole mini-series has just been reprinted as a trade paperback. Go get one. Links N' Things. Over the past couple of weeks, I've inadvertently neglected to put in links to stuff I'd intended for you to check out. Here's a bunch of 'em, in a row: You should own copies of Don McGregor's Detectives, Inc. compilations. If your local comic store punked out, you can buy them directly from Don's way-cool cyberpad. Kris Dresen's delightful Max and Lily: Whatever They Are collection is likewise available at her site. You'll also find links to samples of her breathtaking artwork and a place to buy back issues of her other comic, Manya (frankly, that one tends to go right over my head. It's gorgeous, though). I mentioned Gail Simone's comic book column a couple of weeks back but somehow neglected to tell you either its name ("You'll All Be Sorry!") or where you could find it (here). Gail strongly implies this is because I'm afraid that if you try it, you'll abandon my column for her admittedly much-funnier one. Little does she know that my readers are subliminally-programmed mind-slaves, who either have to come back, or go on Methadone (it's amazing what you can do with JavaScript). Okay. I'm running long again. Until we meet again, this is To Be Continued…
Home • Dwayne's Comic Credits • Dwayne's Bio • About Milestone • The Company Line • Milestone Press • Damage Control • Hardware • Icon • Icon TPB • The Road To Hell • Static • Comic Book Scripts • Links
|
