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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 9:28:38 GMT -5
I'm glued to the Biathlon world cup, and even the IBU cup sometimes. So the current olympics are an absolute must see! And I don't really see how that's rich people sports (most biathletes are custom officers or army).
Today's pursuit race was just incredible BTW.
I also love sprint skiing and couple figure skating.
But I never got into alpin skiing : there's barely any way to distinguish a race from the other....
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 8:49:12 GMT -5
I don't really get the "will comit to the series if I like the first issue" : how many books and movies didn't grab me in their first act before completely winning me over later on? Quite many if not the majority. But you don't have to buy that book or movie over and over again to read the later chapters or watch the later acts, so that's not at all an apt comparison. Cei-U! I summon the broken analogy! It is, because when I make my decision to follow a mini - after much pondering - I commit to the entirety of it and already know the global price of it, so it's no different from buying one book or one theatre ticket (just more expensive most of the time), as I only see the result as a whole in the end. (plus the fact that I only visit my LCS every 4-5-6 months at best). Edit : to be clear, these days, I NEVER start reading a limited series before I have all the issues in my possession, which probably explains more my stance. I'm not saying it's the right or best way to go, but again, I don't really get the "will commit to the series if I like the first issue", because of how often I've been surprised by unexpected improvement in quality after first act. So my MO now is to trust my instincts after I chose in the first place to sart a series. And the few mistakes along the line only enhances the actual good choices
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 8:45:46 GMT -5
What was wrong with the previous attempts was that the character they used (especially in the Milius film) was not Conan. Howard was clearly obsessed with the concept of personal freedom, and with the struggle of the self-relying individual chained by the rules of a society, of an oppressor, or of public opinion (as most clearly exemplified in his Esau Cairn character). His Conan would never, ever have tolerated to be a slave, or a gladiator. He would have died trying to escape first. Furthermore, he would never have let others dictate what his life would be; and the Milius character, for all that he knows an interesting evolution from complete boy-child to father-killer, is nothing at all like the actual Conan; the Milius guy is constantly letting others orient his destiny. The most recent cinematic interpretation did try to get the character closer to his source, but ultimately failed by tying him down with an oft-exploited vengence theme, which as in the Milius film does not reflect the spirit of freedom and oppotunism of the Howard creation. Maybe some day we’ll see a decent Conan on screen. We’ve seen flashes of him here and there, in a few scenes from (for exemple) Thief of Baghdad, The Scorpion King, and Rome. It is my belief that a TV series is more likely to delive the goods than a feature film, but careful optimism is the best I can muster right now! Give me Rome and the first 30 mn of the Millius flick, and this will be my favorite thing ever. I must say htat for once, I kind of strongly disagree with you on the Conan movie. The first (and strongest) arc is truely howardesque, with the cruelty of the randomness of life, and the forging of a mind and a body that is all about freedom in those times. The rest of the movie indeed sees Conan as relying on others and someties even naïve, but that was a logical development for that movie to tell a story that held its own. This is his formative and learning years after all... As for the comic book at Marvel, as it's now a given that Aaron is on board, anything short of Essad Ribic on interior art will be dismissed in favor of the Glenat books (which all look absolutely stunning, probably the best serialized Conan I've ever seen). As for Aaron's capacity at tackling sword n sorcery, I don't really see why one would judge this using his Dr Strange and Thor work when he did Weirdworld, which is THE true Sword and Sorcery marvel title he wrote, and did a mighty fine job at, didn't he? That being said, as much as I can enjoy him, I'm never really surprised by his ideas, so I must confess I'd rather have someone a little more adventureous, maybe even Chris Roberson... But please no more Roy Thomas dust-collecting fanboyism! I used to like the old Buscema books when I was a kid, but they now are some of the most painfull Conan books for me to read, only bested by the 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? ). Neal Adams would also be a horrible choice. If they want this to succeed, they need someone such as Ribic, a absolute beast of an artist, eye candy, great storytelling, and also a star. Adams or BWS would realistically only appeal to 50+ years old conservative fans, not the biggest show of confidance, right? Howard's work can be timeless, so Marvel need to move away from the old canon, be daring, like Glénat seem to now be, by Crom!
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 8:17:29 GMT -5
I don't really get the "will comit to the series if I like the first issue" : how many books and movies didn't grab me in their first act before completely winning me over later on? Quite many if not the majority. When I decide I want to try a series when it is currently being published, I buy it monthly and more than often don't strart reading it before it's concluded. Sometimes I get disappointed, but less and less so (I barely buy any Marvel or DC though, as 90% of my buying is Dark Horse and Image. CUrrently, I'm only buying Punisher The Platoon, Batman White Knight and Mr Miracle blindly), and I'm fine with that : the ratio still is much more positive than with movies.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 4:05:24 GMT -5
If you'd make an analogy with Holywood, Cursed Earth would kind of be Birth Of A Nation, when America would be thepolitical 70ies of 3 days of The Condor or The Conversation.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 3:58:37 GMT -5
About the parade thing : as most seem to think this crazy idea was implemented to his mind when attending Bastille day in France, it's worth to note that the french military's parade ALWAYS features corps from other countries, AND that the army corps most highlighted and cheered is the foreign legion.
I guess he must have missed that, as well as Bastille day is about the people getting rid of its ruler.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 3:27:30 GMT -5
I logged my Marvel Universe stuff on comics.org recently and the count came to 14034. That's only normal sized floppies. Didn't get to prestige format or graphic novels yet. That fills a little over 60 long boxes, so about 233 comics per long box. I have about another 40 long boxes with the DC/independent/licensed Marvel stuff. Then about 10 long boxes and 23 short boxes of stuff I'm intending to sell one day. So I'd estimate 23,300 of stuff I intend to keep and another 5000 comics to sell. Then I have about 12 boxes and 7 book cases filled with graphic novels of various forms. Wow. I'd so love to have a look at those indie boxes and last 12 /7 ones No more boxs on my side soon : I'm building shelves for all my books as Ive managed to build an external extension to the house last summer, and there's a couple of virgin walls long enough to house most of the collection. As I don't bag my books, they take much less space too, I guess.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 3:15:49 GMT -5
This is the first I heard of Red Star and I don't see the character listed on the wiki page for 2000 AD. In which issue did that feature start? I never had access to the series when it was in its heyday and only just recently started reading some of the collected stuff I've picked up over the years: Rogue Trooper, Nemesis the Warlock, Future Shocks, and Adelbard Snazz. I'm enjoying all four series and really wish I could have read them in the original format, as they came out. I'm going roughly in order so pretty soon I'll probably start Slaine and some of the other Alan Moore stuff, like Halo Jones and D.R. & Quimby. I've never been all that attracted to Dredd, though I'd give it a try if I had one of the collections on hand here - which I thought I did but I can't see it anywhere in my disordered stacks and shelves, so my memory must be at fault. To anyone who, like me, isn't all that familiar with the mag and is more used to American comics, I'd say the closest parallel I can think of to the format is some of the Warren magazines like Eerie, with the black and white art and short instalments (usually 4 to 6 pages) - but I'd say the writing is at a higher level than the Warrens, on average, though I'm going by a relatively small sample from 2000 AD, so far. You've never heard about Red Star and couldn't wiki her since she actually is called Durham Red Shes been around for quite some time now, and has appeared in about 130 issues. About Dredd, I'd urge you to check the "America" story line, as it feature gorgeous art and one of the most relevant stories ever told in the zarjazz world (Judge Dredd Megazine #1-#5 vol.1, back in 1990 if memory serves right). But really, almost all of his stories written by wagner arund that time are gold, especially the long format ones. Since issue 3 back in early 1977, Dredd has been the sole series featured in every single issue BTW, that is his home. You could argue that the whole social critique that came with the "who watches the watchmen" concept of Moore came from this, as Dredd truely is a political comic, the vast majority of its stories making you develop empathy for the perps, while the story itself mostly ending bad for those.Dredd rarely is the star of his own strips, as he is kind of fighting back any emotions. So he is a concept : a kind of bogeyman who blindly enforces the law, to the point of absurdity. Of course you know that he is street level, so that the higher ups will very rarely face him. Some stri^s play it a little more cheeky though, and his robot house maid/Alfred who dearly loves him acts as the human part of Dredd, in a most comical fashion. But the best way to enjoy him is having read a ton of his early adventures, including the most parodical ones, so that you know him through te cracks, and so that when you read a stroy where's he's essentially (along all judges) the boogeyman, it will still stay contrasted in your mind. This is helped by the fact that Wagner has written the vast majority of all Dredd stories, which keeps the character "in character".
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 12, 2018 2:48:00 GMT -5
Really? It's the highest award there is in the comic world, and Angouleme is the third biggest comic con in the world, the first one is you only take in account actual comics (no video game/holywood/toys/etc) Well, it is a top international prize, but America is all about home-grown awards and the Eisners are the top prize here; so, it is understandable to not get news about Angouleme. As for the mass media, they are surprised that comics still exist, let alone that there are conventions and festivals and awards. Every single comic news site I follow reported on this (comicsjournal, bleedingcooll, newsarama, comicsalliance...) The Eisner aren't as recognized internationally as Angouleme, because foreign comics have a separate prize section, which makes them almost irrelevant to some degree. Plus the way the Eisners are won/voted for is quite special : each year, the Eisner commitee selects I some jurors (less than 10), not necessarly artists, and thta's where the prize emanates. The Angouleme Grand Prize is solely voted by comic book pros, and anyone who is a published one can apply - so that's thousands of votes - and they nominate whatever they want. For years, Corben had come closer and closer to the top, but then he finally made the to 3 this year. When the top three is established, the jury (an international pool of creators) votes, and the winner gets to be the president of the next year festival. The festival has been delivering this prize and various others annualy since 1974, and gets to the mainstream news in Europe, at least for a short week. Not front page new, but, you won't find a single newspaper or newsTV show that didn't report about it in France. I even learned about it watching the morning news over here in Sweden
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 11, 2018 17:06:17 GMT -5
Well, I didn't need to look far away to find this in recent history But I'm sure it's changed somewhat. That being said, even when it was becoming too much of a boys club, there were some great stories, and it was for years the best lab for upcoming US comic writers : Andy Diggle and Mike Carey used their time there as a curiculum vitae to get the Hellblazer gig. Nowadays, it seems that Al Ewing is the latest "chosen"...
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 11, 2018 15:57:18 GMT -5
I have never heard of this award, but I do love Corben! Really? It's the highest award there is in the comic world, and Angouleme is the third biggest comic con in the world, the first one is you only take in account actual comics (no video game/holywood/toys/etc)
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 11, 2018 15:53:49 GMT -5
What do you mean by boys action? Didn't get reply when ask before from it being mention Just the past number of years I been getting 2000AD would say it far from boys only comic. Stories can be mature, various themes, variation of characters, strong realistic female leads. Doesn't seem a new thing really. Well, firstly, the amount of female creators throughout the ages within 2000AD is seriously lacking, even more so tan within mainstream US comics, which is baffling. Secondly, I fail to share your enthusiasm on the amount of strong realistic female leads, especially compared to the amount of male ones. Also, the social critique hasn't been as sharp as it once was in the first decade and some forth. Moreover, appart from Halo Jones, I find all female characters highly sexualized. As with Judge PSI Anderson, she's well developped, but tight spandex is the rule, and she's the only judge you ever see with the zip a little open, cleavage factor. Finally, I really see little appeal for a female readership if I'm being really honest. Dredd would be the most potent though, as he's almost asexual and so many stories have been really strong. If I was to recommand a 2000AD story to a female reader, I'd definitively start with America (Judge Dredd megazine) or Halo Jones.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 11, 2018 14:58:40 GMT -5
Have I missed something or has no one commented on the fact that Corben winning the Angouleme grand prize (the equivalent in comics of winning the oscar for best director)? Elected by a vast jury of is peers. The other two finalists were Chris Ware and Emmanuel Guibert. Most mainstream medias were very suprised by this, almost upset, but the industry finally recognized one of its most innovative and influential creators, one of the few that still improved and never had his style weaken since the mid 60ies. Corben in 2018 is as fresh if not more than at the hight of his popularity in the Heavy Metal late 70ies/80ies. And I'm happy I just got this directly from him :
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 11, 2018 14:49:12 GMT -5
Love my old fanzine, but I must say my favorite and most beloved comics of the past ten years have all been fanzines. Here's my favorite ever though :
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Feb 11, 2018 14:39:49 GMT -5
I read your thread on what happened. What a freak thing. Maybe something to do with diabetes? As I have a cousin who has this, they checked, but apparently no. I'll follow up on that thread if I get better answers.
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