(1) “Should Zurich ever hold a Worldcon, I think we’ve got the GOH’s hotel room,” says Tom Galloway. It’s the Grand Kameha’s Space Suite.
Always dreamed of going to space but never felt cut out for grueling astronaut training?
Soon it’ll be possible to (almost) indulge this fantasy without leaving Earth.
A hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, has just unveiled a new suite kitted out to look like the inside of a space station.
Grand Kameha’s Space Suite comes equipped with a “zero gravity” bed — built to look like it’s floating above the ground — and steam bath designed to simulate a view into the universe.
(2) Tor Books is celebrating 35 years with a new logo.
Ain’t no mountain high enough?
(3) Author Tom Purdom has been in the hospital since August 5 reports the Broad Street Review —
You may know Tom as the author of five acclaimed science fiction novels as well as novelettes that appear in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. More likely you know him as the peripatetic and prolific chronicler of Philadelphia’s diverse classical music groups, whose scene he has covered for this and other publications since 1988. Tom’s relentless curiosity has also blessed BSR readers with thoughtful explorations of countless other topics, from arms control to religion to professional soccer to the growing appeal of older women in his senior years. As the paragraph above suggests, even at 79, Tom retains a youthful appetite for the cultural rewards of urban life and an eagerness to go public with his enthusiasms.
Hit from behind
At least that was the case until last month. Tom’s byline hasn’t appeared in BSR or anywhere else since August 11. Nor is he now living a life that anyone would describe as satisfying. Instead, Tom has spent the past seven weeks in a hospital bed, most of that time with his head held aloft by a neck brace, his arms and body connected to tubes, his lungs fed oxygen from a tank….
On August 5, Tom was enjoying his daily three-mile stroll along Philadelphia’s new Schuylkill River Trail. Behind him on bicycles, unknown to Tom, were a grown woman, a schoolteacher, and her elderly father. The woman, noticing one of her students walking the trail, waved happily and called to her father to share her discovery. The father turned his head and, in his distraction, crashed into Tom from behind.
In an instant, the active life Tom had savored for decades was shut down, at least temporarily. The blow to his back caused spinal injuries; his fall to the pavement caused a concussion, an enormous bump on his forehead, and two black eyes. His diaphragm was paralyzed.
(4) “Pluto’s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History” – read about it on the NASA site.
At half the diameter of Pluto, Charon is the largest satellite relative to its planet in the solar system. Many New Horizons scientists expected Charon to be a monotonous, crater-battered world; instead, they’re finding a landscape covered with mountains, canyons, landslides, surface-color variations and more.
“We thought the probability of seeing such interesting features on this satellite of a world at the far edge of our solar system was low,” said Ross Beyer, an affiliate of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team from the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, “but I couldn’t be more delighted with what we see.”
(5) Genevieve Valentine reviews Ancillary Mercy for NPR.
Breq has spent two books trying to bring down the head of the Radch, a galaxy-spanning empire. It’s complicated work (for one thing, the imperial civil war is between cloned iterations of the Empress herself), so it’s just as well for the series that Breq accidentally keeps falling into broken things that need fixing on a more local level: Her devoted lieutenant Seivarden, captaincy of a ship whose human crew has no idea of their leader’s past, a planetary assignment with the expected imperial prejudice, and a space station awash in all the cultural minutiae the Radchaai empire can offer. And luckily for readers, that’s quite a bit.
(6) George R.R. Martin previews his big investment in Santa Fe’s arts scene in “Meow Wolf Roars”.
The House of Eternal Return, long adrift is time and space, is spinning back towards earth and its eventual landing on the south side of Santa Fe… courtesy of the madmen and madwomen of Meow Wolf, the City Different’s wildest artist’s collective.
Remember Silva Lanes? That derelict bowling alley I bought last winter? If not, go back to January and February on this very Not A Blog and read the old posts. Or just Google “Silva Lanes” and my name, and you’ll find plenty of press coverage.
Anyway… work has been proceeding down on the south side ever since. My own construction crew has gutted the remains of the old structure, torn up the parking lot, and has been working day and night to bring everything up to code. Meanwhile, Meow Wolf’s artists have been across the street, making magic… and now they’ve moved in and started the installations. The two construction crews are working side by side.
(7) The local papers have also featured the development.
Santa Fe New Mexican – “Meow Wolf banks on returns with ambitious new exhibit”.
Take a kernel from the Children’s Museum, a wrinkle from an Explora science exhibit and a seam from Burning Man, and one has the inceptions of what Meow Wolf is hoping to create in Santa Fe.
But the exhibit that is being developed, designed, programmed, manufactured, cut and cobble together by the arts group in a 35,000 square foot former bowling alley is perhaps unlike what has ever come before.
The House of Eternal Return, an electronics- and sensory-heavy exhibit, will feature a Victorian house with passageways, forests, caves, treehouses, bridges, a light cloud, a sideways bus, an arcade and workship spaces.
As planned, visitors will be primed with lasers, smoke, touch sensors, color, story and fantasy.
Albuquerque Journal – “Meow Wolf’s latest futuristic project bends time and space”.
George R.R. Martin, who bought the old Silva Lanes bowling alley for $750,000 on agreement to lease it to Meow Wolf, is now financing a $1 million to $2 million renovation of the building.
“Meow Wolf’s project is going to be exciting and strange,” Martin said in an email. “It’s something the city has never seen before.
Once open, the fantasy house will allow visitors to touch hundreds of digital connections imbedded in everything from walls and doors to furniture and personal items. Sensors will trigger a range of visiual and audio experiences, providing in many cases elaborate, visual transport to wild places.
(8) I doubt this has changed for all values of “we”….
#WhenIWasYourAge We consumed Twinkles, Cool Whip, and Yoo-hoo, without questioning their chemical composition.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 5, 2015
(9) Everybody needs a hobby. Emily Stoneking’s is making “Cruelty-Free Knit Anatomy Specimens”.
Will R. adds, “The alien autopsy is pretty good.”
Uh, yeah….
(10) Larry Correia responded to a comment on his “Fisking the New York Times’ Modern Man” post —
Well, since I get far more traffic than File 770, somebody must care.
Really? Let’s see what Alexa has to say about that.
- Global Rank – 140,439
- Global Rank – 175,887
But in the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you who is way out in front of this race —
- Global Rank – 78,211
(11) Adam-Troy Castro’s review of Upside Down concludes —
A pretty dumb story partially redeemed by some downright amazing visuals, it’s actually the second best movie where Kirsten Dunst kisses a guy upside down…
(12) Dave Freer starts the week by sharing his opinions about “Cultural appropriation and Political Correctness in writing” at Mad Genius Club.
Enter the newest shibboleth of Arts world (along with 23 sexes) intended to divide and exclude.
Cultural appropriation.
I’m a wicked man because I talked about Yogurt (Turkic) and Matryoshka dolls (Russian) and shibboleth (Hebrew). These words, and a meaning of them have all become quite normal in English, understood, accepted… and maybe not quite what they meant (or still mean) in their root-culture.
But the culture of the permanently offended (the one I adopt nothing from, because yes, I consider it inferior, and overdue for the scrapheap of history.) has discovered it as a new and valuable thing to… you guessed it!… Be offended by. Demand reparations for the terrible damage done. Exclusivity even. Heaven help you if you’re not gay, and write about something that could be considered gay culture, or Aboriginal, or Inuit or quite possibly of sex number 23 (is that the one where you identify as coffee table?). Contrariwise, you are to be utterly condemned, pilloried, attacked, decried as a sexist, racist, homophobic misogynist if you don’t include all the possible groups (including number 23) in your books, in the prescribed stereotype roles.
(13) Do not be confused by the last post – the following movie is not a documentary. “’No Men Beyond This Point’ Sci-Fi Comedy Lands At Samuel Goldwyn”.
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired worldwide rights (excluding Canada) to writer-director Mark Sawers’ sci-fi comedy satire No Men Beyond This Point, which just had its North American premiere in the Vanguard section at the Toronto Film Festival. The pic is set in a world where women no longer need men in order to reproduce and are no longer giving birth to male babies, leaving the male population on the verge of extinction. A 2016 release is in the works.
(14) Today’s Birthday Boy –
1952 – Clive Barker
(15) Apex Magazine publisher Jason Sizemore has announced a significant change to the magazine’s publication model. Subscribers will continue to get the new eBook edition delivered via email or to their Kindle account on the first Tuesday of each month. While Apex Magazine’s content will still be available as a free read, instead of posting the entire issue’s contents on that first Tuesday, they will be released over the course of the month.
Example: On the first Tuesday of the month, the entire issue becomes available to our subscribers (and to those who pay $2.99 for our nicely formatted eBook edition through Apex or our other vendors). That day, we will only post one of that issue’s short stories. One Wednesday, we will publish one poem, and on Thursday we will publish a nonfiction piece. A week later on the following Tuesday, we will repeat the cycle.
We at Apex Magazine feel like this is an ideal situation for our readers and our administrators. It rewards subscribers further with early access to content. It also allows us to focus on each contributing author singularly each week on the website. Readers win, authors win, subscribers win, and Apex Magazine wins!
(16) Councilmember Mike Bonin represents the 11th District in the city of Los Angeles. And the councilman says he has “the best collection of Justice Society of America action figures in all of Los Angeles.”
[Thanks to Steven H Silver, Will R., James H. Burns, JJ, Tom Galloway, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Soon Lee.]
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IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Nimona, Noelle Stephenson
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
Akira is an ok comic book, but really, it is as a movie it stands out. Nimone is good all the way.
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
Cerebus wasn’t really my thing. The Dark Knight though is EPIC!
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker
Pogo, Walt Kelly
Have a problem with the drawings in Why I Hate Saturn.
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
Astro City is great, but I loved Marvels. It was fantastic, felt new, different. Great job, Kurt! I’m going fanboy on your ass!
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
Dragonball, Akira Toriyama
Peanuts was a favourite when I was younger. Dragonball neve stuck.
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
From Hell, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
Swamp Thing. I’m a fan of all versions, but this was so new. It was the one when you met someone reading on the train and you just had to start a conversaiton.
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
Never liked Doonesbury. Boring, bland, unsophisticated. No depth, stiff, dead figures.
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
Never liked Walking Dead.
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
Crisis wasn’t that good really. It changed much, but the story? The villains? Mostly nah for me. Asterix though is so good that we threw together parties based on them.
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
Fantastic artwork in Kingdom Come.
GUIDED BY DREAMS
Nexus, Mike Baron and Steve Rude and various
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
Is there even a contest?
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
Fantastic Four 1-102, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
X-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
Not even a competition. And never was a Kirby-fan.
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
I can’t even describe how much Tintin has meant to me. And it is known everywhere. You find Tintin-bars and paintings in Thailand, Zanzibar, Brazil, Malaysia, Cambodia, Mexico. This is no competition.
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
Abstain. Have not read Superman, and thought Girl Genius was fun, but not exceptional.
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
PS238, Aaron Williams
Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt
PS238 was not my style at all.
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and various
Nice artwork in The Invisibles, but empty. Only surface.
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and various
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Abstain. American Splendor was not my thing, byt haven’t read We3. Will do though! On my TBR list.
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
I’m a real Watchmen-fan.
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
Omaha wasn’t that fun. Thought people only read it because the vanilla sex. Nausicaa though is great!
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
Was never a fan of Elfquest, even if a friends father was publisher in Sweden.
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
The Incal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius and various
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
The Incal would have defeated others on the list, but no chance against V fo Vendetta.
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
Not interested in referential works. And Spiderman was so special when I started reading them.
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder
Animal Man 1-26, Grant Morrison and Chas Truog
But I’m not a fan of Animal Man. At least not in that version.
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby
I prefer Little Ego to Little Nemo, but I have never liked Kirby.
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
This one was the hardest yet!
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Urusei Yatsura, Rumiko Takahashi
Maus, Art Spiegelman
Abstain. Didn’t like any of them.
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
Fables is closer to me, but an extremly hard choice.
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
This one was special! Fantastic run!
HEROES OF MYTH
Age of Bronze, Eric Shanower
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
Abstain. Did not read.
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
The Nikopol trilogy, Enki Bilal
Zot!, Scott McCloud
Abstain. Didn’t like any of them.
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Krazy Kat, George Herriman
Never liked Krazy Cat.
Comics bracket:
2. Dark Knight Returns
4. Marvels
5. Peanuts
6. From Hell
7. Doonesbury
8. Oooh. Walking Dead.
9. Crisis. The original.
10. Kingdom Come.
13. Ouch. FF by a nose. Reed’s stretchy one, to be precise.
17. xkcd.
19. Watchmen.
20. Omaha.
22. V for Vendetta.
23. Spider-Man.
27. Maus.
28. Calvin and Hobbes.
29. New Teen Titans.
The next few rounds should be interesting…
Anna Feruglio Dal Dan on October 6, 2015 at 12:49 am said:
< == <
> == >
Also:
& == &
Basically it’s interpreting the comments as a lite-HTML (not everything works)
I haven’t participated in any of the bracket stuff, but I’m going to the use the omission of Strangers In Paradise as my excuse for a boycott of this one 🙂
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Nimona, Noelle Stephenson
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
This probably would have gone the other way had it been a selected section of Cerebus. But if I consider the two works as wholes, Miller.
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker
Pogo, Walt Kelly
Tough choice, but when Pogo was on, there was nothing that could compare to it.
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
If I have to pick one.
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
Dragonball, Akira Toriyama
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
From Hell, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
I always thought From Hell wasn’t Moore’s best. Other than the nonfake fake prophet, it didn’t do much for me.
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
Doonesbury has gotten laws changed.
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
Looking forward to volume 5.
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
I thought Kingdom Come was actually … not that good.
ALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka
GUIDED BY DREAMS
Nexus, Mike Baron and Steve Rude and various
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
I will be surprised if The Sandman does not go pretty far here.
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
Fantastic Four 1-102, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
X-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
Both served as the bases for innumerable works that followed. But that X-Men run is (1) much stronger writing, by far, and (2) my childhood.
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
Abstain, haven’t read Nextwave.
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
Sometimes I feel like the only person who bounced off of Girl Genius. There’s other work by the Foglios that I love, though.
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
PS238, Aaron Williams
Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt
Abstain, haven’t read either.
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and various
Extremely tough call.
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and various
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Abstain, haven’t read We3.
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis is fantastic. Watchmen still wins this for me.
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
Omaha is great, but I think a strong case could be made for Nausicaa as the greatest comic of all time.
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
Oof, I have much love for Elfquest. But Bone is the better of the two.
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
The Incal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius and various
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
I also never thought V for Vendetta was Moore at his best.
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
Ouch.
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder
Animal Man 1-26, Grant Morrison and Chas Truog
Ouch!
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby
OUCH!
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
OWWWWWW!!!
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Urusei Yatsura, Rumiko Takahashi
Maus, Art Spiegelman
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
Abstain, haven’t read Finder.
HEROES OF MYTH
Age of Bronze, Eric Shanower
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
Abstain, haven’t read either.
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
The Nikopol trilogy, Enki Bilal
Zot!, Scott McCloud
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Krazy Kat, George Herriman
And while I’m at it …
> “I hadn’t realised that nobody had nominated Fun Home…”
I did. And in place of one of my abstentions:
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
And I think I have four more abstentions to work with?
Ms. Marvel, G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona
Bloom County, Berkeley Breathed
Potential, Ariel Schrag
A Contract With God, Will Eisner
And, just in case I can:
Fritz the Cat, Robert Crumb
Ghost World, Daniel Clowes
Tank Girl, Alan Martin
As good as my reading of novels is (someone gave me props for consistently being able to pick in all of the matchups in Kyra’s brackets, I don’t remember who), my knowledge of comics is abysmal, so I am going to have to abstain. Alas.
All these people who haven’t read We3. Do. It might be the best thing Grant Morrison ever wrote.
I am still annoyed about the pagination of the collected edition though. There was a page in the original comics which was absolutely deliberately placed on the left hand page of the comic, so you built up to it, turned the page and it hit you between the eyes, which in collected editions has always been on the right, so you can’t escape the fact that it’s coming.
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Heh. Between this and Cerebus, the question could be which creator became more unhinged?
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Marvels was great, but Astor City crushed me in like 12 pages (The Nearness of You)
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
X-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
Oh Frak you man. Nextwave was brilliant, but you put it up against the titan that is Tintin…..
FAMOUS NAMES
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
PS238, Aaron Williams
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
::sob::
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
DEALING WITH GODS
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
Sorry RedWombat
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Maus, Art Spiegelman
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
HEROES OF MYTH
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Arrrrgh, just remembered that I forgot to nominate Alan Grants Anarky!
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Pogo, Walt Kelly
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
X-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
FAMOUS NAMES
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and various
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
HEROES OF MYTH
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
Zot!, Scott McCloud
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Krazy Kat, George Herriman
The Leckie AMA was very interesting, and seemed to be free of spoilers for Mercy.
I’ve read seven or eight of these. About half of them (Doonesbury, Peanuts) because they were in my newspaper when I was a kid. It is vaguely possible that I might, potentially, be able to vote in one bracket, sometime in the future.
(That said, I’m rooting <ahem> for Digger; I voted for it for the Hugo a few years back. Sorry, Kurt; I see from these brackets you’ve done a lot of quality work, but alas, I’ve not read any of it. (Where should I start?)
I’m reading and paying attention to all of the comments about what people like (and don’t like) and why, since my graphical reading is almost nil, and I really should fix that….
Cassy
So … I don’t mean this to be an attack, and I don’t want to start an argument or anything. I just wanted to point something out, in what I hope is a reasonable and constructive way.
Out of 95 creator names listed on the comics bracket, if I have counted correctly, 10 are women. That seems really low to me.
I absolutely understand that comics is a male-dominated field, and that this is still true today and was even more true the further you go back. I would definitely expect such a list to have significantly more male names than female names. Nonetheless, 10.5% still surprises me.
Of the men, there are also a number who are on the list two, three, or even four times for different works. I think it could certainly argued that if someone wrote or drew three of the greatest comics, they should be on for all of them. And also that different collaborations produce very different results. But on the other hand, there are a lot of important names that aren’t on there even once.
Is there stuff by, say, Alison Bechdel, G. Willow Wilson, Phoebe Gloeckner, Trina Robbins, Lynda Barry, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Rachel Pollack, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Ann Nocenti, Ariel Schrag, Kate Beaton, Diane DiMassa, Shaenon Garrity, Pia Guerra, Serena Valentino, Marjorie Henderson Buell, Gail Simone, Roberta Gregory, Louise Simonson, or Julie Maroh which would have done better than some of the things which did make it onto the list? I don’t know. But I would have liked to have seen them have a chance.
I think it might have been nice to see some initial heats or something, perhaps. Possibly the final list would have looked much the same. I do think there’s a chance, though, that there would be some names on there that aren’t right now.
I certainly understand that putting any list together for a bracket is really hard work, and I’d like to thank you for the time and effort in doing so. This is just my two cents.
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Pogo, Walt Kelly
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
X-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
HEROES OF MYTH
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
I’m surprised to see I actually recognize some of the names and have even read some of the works, but never a pair, so I don’t feel I can vote in this heat.
I was thinking that comics was very much a male-dominated field so I’m interested to see the many women comics authors/artists that Kyra mentioned. I’d add Minna Sundberg’s name to the list, just because I happen to know about Stand Still Stay Silent.
I’m still catching up with my reading from, uh, the second bracket back? The third? At any rate, I’m really enjoying all the brackets and looking forward to expanding my knowledge of SFF and comics.
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Pogo, Walt Kelly
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
ALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Maus, Art Spiegelman
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Kyra, I can’t see that any of those names were ever nominated by someone? So kind of logical that they weren’t in the list. Personally, I only recognize a few of those names and those are from comics that never were to my taste. I have basically no idea if they have done anything to remember them by.
Kate Beaton is the exception. That is good stuff. Hark, a vagrant could have been a contender.
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
PS238, Aaron Williams
Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and various
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Urusei Yatsura, Rumiko Takahashi
Maus, Art Spiegelman
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Krazy Kat, George Herriman
If we go for comics by female writers, I’d go for Nemi by Lise Myhre. Didn’t nominate that one because I have no idea how read it is outside of scandinavia. Here it is one of the largest.
http://www.comicvine.com/nemi/4005-23383/forums/the-official-nemi-thread-596844/
Nemi does get translated into English, it was a feature in one of the free papers in Dublin for many years (until the paper was axed).
> “Kyra, I can’t see that any of those names were ever nominated by someone?”
I am reasonably certain a number of them were. I nominated some myself.
@Hampus Eckeman
Nemi gets run daily in the UK’s Metro free paper alongside Pearls Before Swine, available in most public transport generally having been left there by the previous occupant of your seat.
Kyra:
Ah, ok. Sorry, missed those. I’ll go back and check.
IanP:
Kind of logical, Metro was started in sweden for our subway.
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller – this category should be named ‘The Woman-Haters Club’
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Pogo, Walt Kelly
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson – As much as I loved Marvels (and Ruins, Ellis’ dystopian remix)
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross
ALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
X-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi – I think Nextwave got set up as a sacrifice here.
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and various
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and various
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Animal Man 1-26, Grant Morrison and Chas Truog
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
DEALING WITH GODS
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Maus, Art Spiegelman
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson – this one hurt. Nothing beats Calvin and Hobbies, but I love Fables.
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
HEROES OF MYTH
Age of Bronze, Eric Shanower
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
Zot!, Scott McCloud
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Raw, petty personal bias compels me to unlurk and submit the awesome Corinna Bechko to Kyra’s list. Writer and co-writer of Heathentown, Deep Gravity, Invisible Republic and others, along with the much-too-short Star Wars Legacy II.
As a historical footnote, SWL2 served as the chronological end of the Expanded Universe storyline. Thus, she’s not only, in my own opinion of course, artistically significant, but culturally as well. 🙂
On the very first page of nominations I’m seeing at least two I mentioned above (Alison Bechdel and Rachel Pollack), and at least four I didn’t (Donna Barr, Lela Dowling, Sydney Padua, and Minna Sundberg).
Super-quickly skimming through later nominations on the 9/27 and 9/30 threads, I’m seeing at least nine more I mentioned above (Gail Simone, Roberta Gregory, Ariel Schrag, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Trina Robbins, G. Willow Wilson, Kate Beaton, Ann Nocenti, Kelly Sue DeConnick), and at least thirteen I didn’t (Colleen Duran, Riyoko Ikeday, Linda Medley, Teri S. Wood, Sophie Crumb, Akimi Yoshida, Natsuki Takaya, Allie Brosh, Lynn Johnston, Colleen Coover, Megan Lavey-Heaton, Isabelle Melançon, Kadi Fedoruk).
And that was just glancing down pages as fast as possible, so I’d be surprised if I hadn’t missed a bunch.
@Kyra
I’m a bit surprised not to see something like Colleen Doren’s A Distant Soil, Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Captain Marvel or Jo Duffy’s Power Man and Iron Fist on the list. I think maybe putting some of the most classic (and entirely male dominated) comics strips up with comic books/graphic novels is going to skew the gender representation and might be better done separately.
Actually, I’d be very interested to see comic strips and comics in separate brackets. While there’s a lot of classic strips that are male dominated, the modern webcomic market is dominated by female creators. Seeing almost the old (newspaper) vs the new (webcomics) would be fascinating.
I missed out on the nominations thread. It’s been a long couple of weeks.
There are several titles listed that I have on the TBR pile, and more that I’ve heard good things about. Alas, there are only a couple categories I can reasonably vote in, but I have a few fillers for the ones where I abstain.
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
ALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
ALTERNATES:
Ms. Marvel, G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, Jacob Wyatt – I freaking love this book
I Kill Giants, Joe Kelly, J. M. Ken Niimura
Garfield: His 9 Lives, Jim Davis – I’ve had this book for decades. It is amazing.
Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout, Lauren Redniss
The Last Halloween, Abby Howard
Dark Science, Aaron Diaz
Captain Marvel, Kelly Sue DeConnick, David López, Lee Loughridge
Logicomix, Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos H. Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos, Annie Di Donna
Hereville, Barry Deutsch
Excalibur (Chris Claremont’s run) and Rat Queens should also be on the list somewhere.
Also, big thank you to Kyra for adding some new names to the to-investigate list.
It’s gratifying to see Aaron Williams’ PS238 in the brackets. It’s one of the best superhero webcomics around, and getting better by the issue.
If he finishes off the current issue soon, he will be eligible for 2015, so go and read him now.
Second the one about “I Kill Giants”. Wonderful comic.
I have just realized that the Swamp Thing – From Hell matchup should have been called ANATOMY LESSONS. Everyone please retcon that into place, thank you.
Ok; I’m home. Venice was perfect from 10am onwards; before that it was completely overcast, and cold. I had a late flight, so I spent the day leaning on the railings on the ship, watching Venice bustle around me.
I know there’s a File770 contributor living in Istanbul; that’s the closest to Venice I’ve ever come across. All in all, whilst I’m glad to be home it would be nice to be reading File770 somewhere warmer…
Ok, three comments after another about Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Captain Marvel convinces me that I have to take a look. Another one for the shopping basket.
Fun times, lets see how many of these I remember.
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross
ALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
X-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and various
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
The Incal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius and various
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Animal Man 1-26, Grant Morrison and Chas Truog
OTHER REALMS
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Maus, Art Spiegelman
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
HEROES OF MYTH
Age of Bronze, Eric Shanower
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Hampus, please use “strong” instead of “b” to bold your choices; I had to look at View Source to see what you voted for. I suppose David could see them since he didn’t say anything, but the rest of us are interested, too.
And David, may I suggest that you use the previous day’s Pixel Scroll to post your brackets, instead of the hot-off-the-presses one, the way Kyra did? That way discussion of the Scroll itself isn’t swamped by brackets.
Sorry Cally, willl do next time. May I ask what reader you use?
Book day! I just picked up Ancillary Mercy, Empire Ascendant (Kameron Hurley’s second Mirror Empire book) and, because of poor lifestyle choices, a newly-released collection of the first couple new Star Wars books (Rebel Dawn and Tarkin) plus a few short stories.
And I preordered Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Blades, just on general principles.
The seeding is KILLING me. What to choose . . .
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Nimona, Noelle Stephenson
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
The rain on my chest is like water from the sky.
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Pogo, Walt Kelly
Deck us all with Boston Charlie!.
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
All my life, Charlie Brown. All my life.
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
This was probably the hardest choice for me. Very different works. Doonesbury stopped being interesting a long time ago. But the highlights are very high indeed.
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
A better comic if not a better story.
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross
ALL OUT METAL
Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka
GUIDED BY DREAMS
Nexus, Mike Baron and Steve Rude and various
Shoulda been the Badger. Goosh for all your worth!
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
X-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
I was exactly the right age for these and had the greatest comic shop.
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
Was sure I’d say Tintin. But sitting here I want to go read Nextwave. Huh.
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Wait, All-Star Superman didn’t make it?
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and various
We3 was great. But Harvey Pekar.
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
The Incal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius and various
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder
This one hurt.
OTHER REALMS
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby
Auntie was looking at me.
DEALING WITH GODS
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Maus, Art Spiegelman
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
My first printing of the first collection is still treasured.
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
HEROES OF MYTH
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
Zot!, Scott McCloud
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Krazy Kat, George Herriman
Finally an easy one
1. Akira (although as comics I’d vote Appleseed over this if I could)
2. The Dark Knight Returns
When Cerebus was on it was on much better than TDKR. But given the scope of each, the short mini-series is the cleaner package overall.
3. Pogo
4. Marvels
5. Peanuts
6. Swamp Thing
7. Doonesbury
8. The Walking Dead
9. Crisis on Infinite Earths
10. Legion: The Great Darkness Saga (although I’d go with Giffen’s first story arc of the follow on vol. 4 “5 years later” series if I could, even with Giffen’s artistic scandal of copping the unique look of Argentinian artist Jose Munoz at that time in his career)
11. Astro Boy
12. Nexus
I’m a sucker for nostalgia and Nexus was there first; admittedly without that feeling The Sandman wins hands down.
13. X-Men 94-150.
This was my time. I can still remember as a kid my wheeling and dealing to secure a coverless 94 for $4 and the feeling of triumph to be able to read this story at a time prior to all of the various reprint collections.
14. Next wave
15. Girl Genius
Phil Foglio’s had me since What’s New With Phil and Dixie. Girl Genius is great fun.
19. Watchman
20. Nausicaa
21. Elfquest
23. –
Tried several times to get into V to no avail; the first upon its serialized miniseries, and a few more over the years. Just didn’t do it for me.
24. Amazing Spider-Man
25. Animal Man
This run of Morrison’s on Animal Man is probably his best work for me of all his stuff.
26. Fourth World
27. The Authority
28. Maus
29. Calvin and Hobbes
30. The New Teen Titans
31. Mage
32. Zot!
33. Planetary
Silly but True
Okay, you got me with the comics.
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Nimona, Noelle Stephenson
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
Nimona. Nimona is one of my favorite things to come along in ages. I read Akira back in the day, but barely remember it.
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
I didn’t actually like The Dark Knight Returns back when it was new and everybody I knew was reading it. I had never read Frank Miller before, and discovered that, while I like his art, his stories have this nihilistic brutality to them that really turns me off.
I own the Cerebus collection with the Sandman parody in it. I bought it after years of flipping through other people’s collections and thinking “that art is really something, I should sit down and read the story someday.” But when I did that, I ended up not being quite as… enthralled… as I had hoped.
That art, though. It is gorgeous. Although it’s probably Gerhard’s work I really love.
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker
Pogo, Walt Kelly
I loved Why I Hate Saturn. Pogo… eh. Maybe you had to read it at the right time.
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
I haven’t read either. Actually, if you look at my comics reading in general, there is a pretty huge hole shaped like “traditional superhero books.”
In fact, from now on, I am just going to skip the ones where I haven’t read either one.
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
Dragonball, Akira Toriyama
Peanuts. For a while, back in the 70s, when I was a child, I was a huge fan.
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
From Hell, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
That is a tough one. But, Swamp Thing.
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
Another tough one, but, Doonesbury.
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
Saga. The Walking Dead seems like it should be exactly my sort of thing, but I’ve never managed to get into it. And Fiona Staples could get me to read anything.
GUIDED BY DREAMS
Nexus, Mike Baron and Steve Rude and various
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
I’ve only read The Sandman, but it would win against anything you could possibly pit it against. You would have to match it against Lord of the Rings or Buffy the Vampire Slayer to cause me even a moment’s hesitation.
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
Girl Genius. I have not read the Superman, but Girl Genius is a favorite.
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and various
XKCD. I always felt like I should like The Invisibles more than I actually did.
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and various
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
We3. Although I did like the American Splendor movie a lot more than I was expecting to. Does anybody else remember Harvey Pekar being a weirdo on David Letterman during the 80s?
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
This is tough. Watchmen is going to win, and it deserves it. But I really identified with Persepolis, and I love the deceptively simple artwork.
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
I loved Nausicaa and never really got into Omaha, so, an easy choice.
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
Bone, although it makes me feel curiously disloyal.
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
The Incal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius and various
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
V for Vendetta, although I have not read the other. I liked V for Vendetta a lot.
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
A classic. And also pretty useful as a how-to.
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Urusei Yatsura, Rumiko Takahashi
Maus, Art Spiegelman
Another classic.
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
Okay, THAT is a work that could give Sandman a run for its money. Prediction: the final bracket is going to be Calvin and Hobbes vs. Sandman.
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
Gorgeous and imaginative.
HEROES OF MYTH
Age of Bronze, Eric Shanower
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
Age of Bronze, although I’m kind of embarrassed to admit I never finished reading it and now I’m not sure where it is. The part I read was great, though.
Hampus: I’m using Iceweasel, which is basically Firefox, for Linux.
@Scott Frazer: I liked Strangers in Paradise when it was a soap opera. Moore lost me when he took the left turn into crime drama.
@Cassy B.: Start with Astro City. You can pretty much dive in at any volume (except maybe, y’know, “The Dark Age pt. 2”) but I’d recommend starting at the beginning with “Life in the Big City”. I think the story “The Nearness of You” is available for free from Comixology, if you want a taste.
@Kyra: You make an excellent point, and one that I now regret not thinking more about during my planning stages. In particular, Hark! A Vagrant! ought to be on, probably instead of one of the Warren Ellis titles. Bitch Planet would likely have made the cut if I had been doing this in a year or two from now; right now it’s too new. Thanks for sparking some discussion of female creators.
I missed the last round of the recent SF bracket. Here is my belated vote for Ancillary Justice and for Best of All Possible Worlds.
For the comics bracket, I’m perfectly okay with not counting these as votes since I don’t read very many comics, and what I have read was read in the early 90s mostly because a roommate worked at a local comics store.
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker
As I said, I don’t read enough comics to really vote in this round, but I did read this once and it was great!
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
And I’ve been reading this from the hugo packet and the library. Also great!
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
Of course.
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
Yay xkcd!
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
I liked the movie. I’ve never read the comic.
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Yes. Bone! Excellent stuff! with stupid, stupid rat creatures.
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
And I’ve been a Scott McCloud fan since an old roommate gave me Zot! to read.
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
Zot!, Scott McCloud
Zot! The best ever!
and someone above mentioned Strangers in Paradise. I’d vote for that, too. And for the Desert Peach.
@Cally & Hampus
Ditto on vanilla Firefox on Windoze here
@Kyra
Shaenon Garrity’s Monster of the Week or Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For or Fun Home would defeat many challengers. Kate Beaton has a new collection, which looks terrific. Y: The Last Man (art by Pia Guerra) seems like a bit of an oversight on a list like this — a true science fiction epic. Doom Patrol (Rachel Pollack) would also have been a solid choice.
I think the obvious solution is to have a second bracket, based on any obvious oversights from the first bracket.
snowcrash on October 6, 2015 at 2:48 am said:
Sim. Definitely Sim.
My heart is a fish
Hiding in the pixel grass
In the scroll
In the scroll
Why yes I do have my nose in Ancillary Mercy right now, why do you ask?
The number of categories that had me thinking “oh, you asshole, how do I decide” was rather high and I expect that to continue. I continue to be glad that I spent way too much time in the comic book library (student funded organization) in college.
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Nimona, Noelle Stephenson
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
Have not read Nimona, but Akira is just so amazing.
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
And here I have the opposite problem. I can’t look at either of these without seeing what their creators became. So which brand of bigotry do I despise least?
Gotta pass.
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker
Pogo, Walt Kelly
I like Baker’s other stuff better, but I never could get Pogo.
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
This one was cruel. Not to Kurt, but to the rest of us.
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
Dragonball, Akira Toriyama
Pass. I never liked Peanuts and I’ve only seen the anime for Dragonball, and that was just the sequels.
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
From Hell, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
This one was actually easy. Up against V for Vendetta or Watchmen, it’d be tough. But I really didn’t like From Hell.
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
I haven’t read the Talbot. Doonesbury is just too damn good and important though.
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
Read the first volume and a half of the Walking Dead trades, couldn’t get into it. Meanwhile, I had a friend threatening to break my kneecaps when I was slow in returning Saga to her.
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
In part, we need the Europeans to stick around and Tintin will lose below. In part, Crisis just feels cheesy these days. I know it was amazing at the time, but that’s the problem with inventing new stuff: it gets copied.
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
ALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka
Pass. Have only ever seen the anime versions of these.
GUIDED BY DREAMS
Nexus, Mike Baron and Steve Rude and various
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
This is mean to anyone who supported Nexus.
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
Fantastic Four 1-102, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
X-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
The X-Men were always more enjoyable than the Fantastic Four. Sorry Stan.
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
It’s like Shakespeare, But with lots more punching
Ellis has a demented genius when it comes to superheroes. He goes with the absurdity without going to horrible nihilism like Ennis (why yes, I did read The Boys recently).
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
Oh, come one. Seriously. How do I decide?
Fine. Jerk
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
PS238, Aaron Williams
Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt
I actually have not read either. Pass
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and various
FFS. This is just mean. The Invisibles is the closest I have ever been to tripping while not on any substance (the sleep deprivation to finish the series probably helped). XKCD is the first web comic to appeal to me on an intellectual level.
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and various
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Pass
Have only read We3, was not terribly impressed vs. what other stuff I’ve read by Morrison. Have not read American Splendor.
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Again? Fine, choosing.
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
Have only read Nausicaa, but loved it so much.
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
This one was actually not that hard. Would I stand in line to buy a copy of Elfquest to get it autographed? No. Have I done that for Bone? Yes.
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
The Incal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius and various
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
I am running out of expletives. One the one hand, Moebius and Incal. On the other, V for Vendetta. Voting for Incal because I already voted for Moore in Watchmen.
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder
Animal Man 1-26, Grant Morrison and Chas Truog
Have not read Tales of the Beanworld. But Morrison’s metacomics, bringing himself in not as a god, but just as the writer, to have a conversation with his protagonist, well, it was amazing.
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby
Pass
Have only read bits and pieces of Little Nemo, not enough to know it well. Have not read any Fourth World stuff that I know of, although I do know some of the world.
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
#@%@&%#&^!!!!!
Shirley you cannot be serious.
Ok, which do I keep telling my friends to read, which do I just remember incredibly fondly?
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Urusei Yatsura, Rumiko Takahashi
Maus, Art Spiegelman
Have only read Maus, but well, it’s Maus.
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
This should be harder. Fables is great. But it’s Calvin and Hobbes.
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
Have not read Finder. But that doesn’t matter. Because Raven. (Yes, I am probably influenced by loving the show, but the comics were great.)
HEROES OF MYTH
Age of Bronze, Eric Shanower
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
Pass. I really didn’t like Mage (I know, I know) and I haven’t read Age of Bronze.
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
The Nikopol trilogy, Enki Bilal
Zot!, Scott McCloud
Pass, have only read Zot! and Nikopol sounds too amazing to vote against. Need to read it.
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Krazy Kat, George Herriman
I give up. You are literally Satan. Voted. Going to go curl up in a corner now.
And how was Transmetropolitan not on the list instead of The Authority? On the other hand, if you had put Transmet against Digger, my brain would have locked up for the day.
Prediction: Sandman vs. Watchmen for the final.
My Cerebus reading went sort of like this: Got into comics heavily after Cerebus had been around awhile, so I catch up with the phone books. Start collecting the actual comic somewhere around Church and State.
Several moves later and I never bother to find a local supplier for the comic addiction and it sort of drops cold turkey. I revisit some of the ones I used to collect later in trade paperback form, Cerebus included. Because of this I only get to see the downfall through the actual work itself as the comment sections aren’t reprinted in the phone books. As I’m getting more and more skeeved out by what I’m reading I finally start looking him up online and then get to witness the entire flame out.