Sequent And It Looks Like Art
While I wasn't looking, the site Continuity Pages revamped itself as
Sequart. The site's design
leaves much to be desired, especially
that ghastly front page, but what the site lacks in aesthetic appeal it
more than makes up for in quality content. One of the best
columnists so far is Jeff Chon (and I'm not simply saying that because
Jeff just emailed me to ask if he could quote one of my brilliant
insights on manga in a future column; really, I'm not), whose column
"Arbiter Of Good
Taste" is a snarky delight. Some sample segments:
On
superhero comics'
continued move from goofy silliness to grim 'n' gritty
seriousness:
Green Arrow used to be a guy who shot plungers and boxing
gloves from a bow. Now he’s an earnest tough guy with an acute
social conscience who no longer shoots arrows with whoopee cushions and
chattering teeth attached to them. Why forsake one for the
other? Why suck out all the charm and the one thing that
distinguishes him from Hawkeye? Why can’t Green Arrow be an
earnest social crusader who shoots arrows with wax lips as tips?
On
the similarities
between recently departed former president Ronald Reagan and
now-inactive comic book activism
site
Savant:
I wrote
for a site that was like Reagan in many ways -- it polarized the
public, certain people wanted it to die, and it also was involved in an
arms for hostages deal.
On
the behemoth that is
Previews:
As you may or may not know, a gigantic mountain of crap is
released every month and there are a lot of great comics you may have
missed in Diamond Previews while reading about the lunchboxes and Zippo
lighters.
Jeff, in a long aside leading up to his
review of Nausicaä
Of The
Valley Of The Wind, also has skeptical thoughts on the
effectiveness of
American comic publishers repackaging their works to resemble manga:
Some people view manga as
the new “starter comics,” in that kids will read Dragonball Z
or Inu Yasha and then graduate to something more sophisticated
like Micronauts ... in theory. Manga
will save the mainstream comics industry in less than two generations
because of the new readers it will bring on board ... in theory.
So, since manga is so popular, what American
comics need to do is repackage their comics to look more like manga ...
iiiiinn theory.
From the context, it appears that Jeff is mainly addressing attempts to
draw characters such as Superman and Spider-Man with "big eyes,
speed-lines, and spiky hair," but I wonder what he thinks about efforts
to
reformat
existing Western works in the
more bookstore-friendly manga digest size? I know
Sean
Collins has been a big advocate for this move, but Jeff's comments
make me wonder if it'll really make any difference to fans of
Detective
Conan that
Sin
City is now going to be manga-sized.
I also loved Jeff's description of
Nausicaä's elite
pedigree:
I could be wrong, but this is the only comic in the
marketplace written and drawn by an Academy Award winner. OK,
fine -- two-time winner Diane Wiest (Best Supporting Actress:
Hannah and Her Sisters, Bullets over Broadway) wrote something called Badrock
Vs. the Bride of Robotjox, but until Rob Liefeld finishes drawing
it, it’s merely a comic solicited by an Academy Award winner
and nothing more.
And for those of us who weren't ga-ga over
Spider-Man 2,
we've found another like-minded soul in
Matt Martin:
Apparently Spider-Man is basically just a super-powered
firefighter. 2 for 2, Spidey!
Glad to see Doc Ock hit Magneto’s garage sale when he
went looking for a fusion reactor…
Doc Ock is apparently either a master detective or an utter
fuck-up. Harry sends him to convince Peter to give up
Spider-Man’s identity. How does Octopus get Peter’s
attention? By throwing a car at him when his back’s turned.
So either Octopus knows that Peter is Spider-Man (and hence, his Spider
Sense will save him) or he’s trying to kill him. And neither
choice makes any damned sense at all.
Was there anyone in that movie that Peter DIDN’T take his mask off for?
Like lifting scenes (and sets) from the first movie for the second
wasn’t bad enough, it looks like the third flick is setting up to be a
straight remake. If you didn’t know it was a Marvel production
beforehand, you sure as hell do now.
OK, that's probably enough shameless shilling for the site,
right? So you'll make me look good when you quote me, right,
Jeff? Jeff??
