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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 15, 2018 1:00:38 GMT -5
I must confess I bought this solely for the cover : I also kind of know who the musicien is, and will never ever listen to that record. I got it for $0.50 and almost felt dirty getting a record solely for the cover artwork (a mighty cheesy one, might I add...). It is quite rare comic book artists are hired for record cover art by good and relevant music, somehow, as the choice will too often be a fanboy one. But then again, especially in the 70ies, great comic book artists seldom were good designers.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 13, 2018 13:44:43 GMT -5
Total immersion? Sorry but I don't follow you there. Being aware of who wins the biggest international comic book award hardly counts as total immersion in my book, especially in a community mostly interested in comic books. I dont judge, mind you, I'm just rather surprised. And dismissing this felt a little jaded to me, yes indeed, especially since that was mostly a great opportunity to talk about Corben before anything else, so why not take it as such? Or even Angouleme BTW : this year had a two huge exhibitions on Urasawa and Tezuka, with 200 original pages of the later!
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 13, 2018 12:16:03 GMT -5
Jaded much, hahah.
Thhis isn't about you guys, it's about him, being celebrated in a major way with mainstream coverage. I thought that was something noteworthy for people like us, especially when it's the biggest award in comic books, that's all.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 13, 2018 3:41:51 GMT -5
I do have to say I enjoy Verhoeven's commentaries on his movies, especially Starship Troopers, where he eviscerates a pompous American reviewer who missed the fact that Verhouven was satirizing fascist imagery, while pointing out his youth under the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. When I first saw that film in the theater, I was laughing out loud at his subversion of Heinlein's militaristic ideas. The best was when Neil Patrick Harris, old Doogie Howser himself, turns up in what looked like an SS uniform. What was scary was how many people in the theater seemed to think it looked cool. Back Book is great, but it's a different beast, and the situations it describes aren't that dutch centric. The same happened in many other countries at the time. I remember seing ST when it came out, and the controversies around it in the media, which showed how a small attention span most people have : the movie could somehow be seen as fascist propaganda - in one's puerile mind - if not for a small scene in the middle of the movie : a news show has a guest that suddenly says "well, you know, maybe they wouldnt have attacked us if we didn't attack them first...", only to be instantly muted by some more propaganda. The whole movie is there in a nutshell, but you just have to watch it carefully, as in real life, because when fascism comes knocking on our doors, it wil always loudly shout that it isn't so.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 13, 2018 2:56:16 GMT -5
Some of us have seen some of Paul Verhoeven's Dutch films, so we are at least familiar with guys who date Turkish women, gay men who romance women and have dreams of them castrating them, motorcycles, prostitutes and students who ended up in the Dutch resistance and Dutch SS. It's not a wide range of knowledge; but, not bad, for an American. Ah, Soldier of Orange, Turkish Delice, Spetters, Business is Business and Katie Tippel, all great classics! But I guess it would have been somewhat more dificult to sum up Rhe Fourth Man in one short catch phrase?
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 15:16:20 GMT -5
But... Don't you guys have other means to watch it but NBC in the US? It's so easy to find ohter channels streaming online, even english speaking ones. But watching a race with Fourcade in french, a race with Hirscher in austrian, a race in norwegian with Klaebo, htats just wonderfull.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 14:21:01 GMT -5
My 3 years old nephew already differentiates Trondheim from Kirby, Barks and Windsor McKay...
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 14:19:18 GMT -5
The only things I tend to buy single issues are smaller press kind of stuff or fringe projects form the big 2 whose survival hinges on single issue performance. -M Well there you go : I don't think I buying anyting but this kind of books these days, so that may explain why my way can work as well. I currently buy about 30-35 new books a month, depending on how many of my Image regulars are out on a specific month. That's already to much for my reading capacities when I'm healthy, when I consider all I have already "in store" to read, but as I've never folowed characters and always creators, I minimize the risks of making mistakes. And If it's a bad story from a creator I love, I'm interested in this as well. Another factor I just thought of, though : as a european, I might have a bigger fascination with the singles/floppies, as those are my exceptions. Oversized hardcovers are the norm over here, so this format with the advertizing and sometimes letters columun maybe holds greater charm to me than to US readers. I actually make a point to never buy collections of US books if I can find the originals with the commercials of the time the book was published at.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 14:09:43 GMT -5
It's already there since the begining, as his obsession with darwing the grass in such an unusually detailed way back then. When you see his work in the Studio book, you can see the progresion, but he aknowledges this as a starting point. That's why I always liked Wrightson and Jeff Jones better : Wrightson isn't trying to be others (appart from Gustav Doré in his later 70ies days), and Jones managed to do a good enough Klimt spoof that he could get away with, and escaping it by becoming more cartonish. But the whole lot was definitively on the art student side of things. Kaluta is weird, because he's closer to BWS? but at the same time attempts to be them all, and more than often fails because of that. But I love him anyways, sometimes
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 14:04:28 GMT -5
Sorry man , never heard of the award. Did Todd Mcfarlane win it in the past ?
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 13:39:50 GMT -5
I am not happy with the coverage, especially on NBC. I watched mainly on the NBC Sport Channel. I watched Biathlon there and then saw it on regular NBC and it was very heavily edited. I wish they would show more of the medal ceremonies. Always a nice moment to see the athlete as their national anthem is played. I enjoyed the opening ceremony seeing all the countries come in. The flag bearer from Tonga stole the show! I'm obsessed with biathlon as well and folow it throughout the season, but this Olympic game is special, since both female and male sides may very well have their most dominant performer ever (Martin Fourcade and Laura Dahlmeier). I don't know haw the US coverage is, but here, I follow it both with french and swedish TV, with a does of UK eurosport, and it's great : no real focus on human stories, appart from personnal annecdotes, as the commentators all are former biathlete champions. I also follow this at the same time : biathlonresults.com/And there's a forum where you get live stats as well. Biathlon is such a great sport for people who enjoy their suspense AND stats. To be honest, the KoreanTV isn't the best at showing the races, and you kind of have to rely on the national TVs you follow to implement extra camera's on the range, so you can see all the shooters you are interested in. But I already see some progress since Saturday, as they are less focussing on the stars of the sport, and more on where the race is actually happening, be it stars or outsiders. Today's coverage of Samuelson was really good (and I was quite delighted with Fourcade in gold and the young swede in silver ). Kuzmina was so impressive as well in the women race, and Anaïs Bescon a sensational bronze. But oh did Martin deliver today, the best biathlete in history, nerves of steel, and more attitude than half of the field together. I'm also very eager to folow the skiing sprints, as it's an extremely fun format to watch. And Couple figure skating will probably be at its historically most epic, with the canadian and french pairs reaching never heard before highs, and finaly competing against each other this season.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 13:22:26 GMT -5
Absolutely, but the fact remains that minis are still being published in this manner. Your point is IMHO valid for ongoings, and I have the same experience you do, but as I was specifically adressing mini series/limited series (the topic at hand), if I know a series has an end in sight already planned, if I decide to buy issue one with all the info at hand, I commit to the whole series, so I already take in account the global price when I purchase issue one, hence my parallel with books or movies. As I never start reading the book before I have it all complete, it really is the same kind of experience anyways, and I'd rather have it that way. ALl I'm sayin
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 13:17:24 GMT -5
Hey Cody, I'm well aware of all that. But we are in one of thos uber niche sites, aren't we, one that prides itself with a sense of history. That's why I was surprised to see someone unaware of Angouleme here, and even more to not find any mention of the Corben awarded prize anywhere over here. I mean, there's not that many american cartoonists who have had such an influence globally, an artists that all artists respect and revere, even when you don't really like his material. The guy is a titan, an inovator, an iconoclast, and a true independant. The european comic comunity was so proud to manage to get him that prize, and so was the online english speaking community I saw react to it on the popular comic book news sites. Ande even if he was only known for those voluptuous naked women, that's aready something
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 13:09:35 GMT -5
BWS (I loathe his conan serialized work, never understand how most of you guys can excuse all the anatomical shortcomings. Maybe it was just fascinting back then to see him draw all this grass? Yeah! I did like that - seriously! And the "free" anatomy doesn't bother me at all - it,s the overall effect and atmosphere that works for me with BWS's stuff. I love everything about Ribic's artwork except for one thing: the blown-up, body-builder style physique that he gives some of his male heroes. It always detracts from my enjoyment when he does that. At least that's a real honest answer, I like that. I can understand one would see this as somehow atmospheric... It's not that I mind "free" anatomy, but more that I constantly get to hear fans of his describe his style as realistic and very coherant. Now Storyteller BWS area I can find interesting, even some of his 80ies stuff, but the Conan stuff, I can't put aside that he wants to draw in a realistic style, is fascinated by pre raphaelite art, but doesn't have the skills to do so, and it all explodes in his face. About Ribic, I get what you're saying, and it might feel that way for me too, except I have many exemples of his art in my mind where he doesn't draw men necessarly that way. I didn't read it, bt I guess he didn't draw Reed Richards that way, did he? I have some old Vertigo stuff where he showcases an ability to draw any kind of body type. But then again, I guess that the average Marvel reader is really happy with the trope you describe.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 9:32:31 GMT -5
Last night I got a call from an old friend that I talk to maybe 3 time a year. She spoiled the (ending?) of the latest Star Wars movie. Don't worry, it's a Godawful movie. Get spoiled and save yourself the cost of a cinema ticket. Spend the money you would've used for The Last Jedi on renting or buying Blade Runner 2049 instead. You'll be glad you did. BR2049 looked good, but it wasn't a good movie either (it was actually laughable in so many ways). I had high hopes for the Star Wars movie (being a fan of the director and not really in love with SW), but it was indeed a let down, just not the epic fail that hardcore fans want you to believe it is
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