Shine a Light

Today it’s about semi-autobiographical comics – fiction pieces that depict things close to the author, drawing heavily upon their immediate concerns, small press almost by definition, but not featuring the author as a character or claiming to depict their actual life. They loot freely from themselves and their kin and acquaintances, but put it into just enough of a fictional blender to be its own thing.

Generation who

Sickman-Garner speaks

Oh look! A post about the American demographic designated by the 24th letter of the English alphabet is pissing and moaning about its identity. But first, some comics.

Knockout

These two covers depict publications from the same year, 1989. However, the past couple of months’ posting hasn’t been about them, but about a non-simultaneous comparison between GURPS: Supers and the prior Champions (1981-1985, up through third edition). Here at the end of what’s been, for me anyway, a gut-wrenching dozen posts, I’ll review and reflect upon why.

Recursion isn’t just a river in Egypt

I love first-generation Champions. I love superhero comics. Here we have a superhero comic based on early Champions. Brace for the awesome! … oh wait …

It is what it is

I’ve been plinking away at this-or-that manga oriented post since I started this bog 28 months ago. I haven’t liked one of my drafts about it yet. I suppose it’s time to get them out there anyway, so, here comes the start of yet another not-organized “series.”

No pants necessary

Fleischer & Aparo

The Spectre wears a green Speedo over bare, pasty white skin. And he is scary as shit, man.

So not making friends here

Because in the course of dissecting an autobiographical point, I’m forced to say things you don’t wanna hear about the Wild Cards series.

Two men

In general this blog makes the case that 1970s culture in particular was not a hive of evil ignorance as I often see it described, but then again …

More women part 2

Here’s the sequel post to More women, completing my current venture into the sticky fluids of Cerebus, Dave Sim, women, and story thoughts. Let the flailing commence!

More women

I take no part in ostentatiously excluding Dave Sim and Cerebus the Aardvark from modern comics discussion, and I dislike the stink of piety that rises from it. “Are you now or have you ever been” regarding liking or valuing Sim’s work was instituted about twenty years ago and unfortunately seems to have stuck around.

God’s privy parts

You probably noticed that I had a little trouble staying out of the gender issue when summarizing the high-Church conflicts across the 300 issues of Cerebus the Aardvark

Seeing it

Here I thought I was going to be a lone voice, but a bit of searching showed me otherwise – recently, people have been coming out of the closet to admit they think Unbreakable is a freaking excellent superhero film.