(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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David Goldfarb, thanks! My library has:
Astro City : Through Open Doors / Kurt Busiek, writer ; Brent Eric Anderson, artist ; Alex Ross, covers
Is this an ok place to dip in my toe, or do you recommend that I go looking for “Life in the Big City”?
(Yeah for libraries that stock graphic novels!)
My Cerebus: Discovered it when I was working for Shinder’s back in 1990 or so. Picked up the then-extant trades and started buying individual issues, followed by trades. I gave up on it somewhere around Reads, I think, although I’d need to go back and double check.
One significant problem I had when he started getting into the text-heavy stuff: The pages were laid out, and the trades were bound, in such a way that the text went right into the gutter and the last word or two of each line would be pretty much unreadable. Did they ever do anything about that?
(To be clear: I mostly gave up on it because at that point I was pretty much dropping comics altogether; but based on what I’ve heard about later installments, I don’t regret what I missed. And I still voted for Cerebus above Dark Knight because High Society and Church & State were just stunning.)
@NickPheas:
I remember one issue of A1 which talked about that sort of thing. For those not familiar with it, A1 was an anthology series that’s been published off and on, in 1989, 1992, and 2004; I believe the issue I’m thinking of was in the 1992 series.
The editor had given all the people submitting stories the ability to specify whether they wanted their story to start on a left-hand page or a right-hand page, so they could control their pacing and expectations appropriately. This came up because, in one issue, the only way to arrange the stories to meet everybody’s requests was to have the editorial page in the middle of the book. So the editor called it a ‘Midword’ (as opposed to ‘Foreword’ or ‘Afterword’) and explained why it was there.
It provoked some thought on why comics creators would want to have pagination set up in particular ways.
I remember in the original trade collection of Gaiman’s Death: The High Cost of Living, there was one point where they had taken what was a two-page spread in the original comic and broken it across the front & back of a single page.
@Joe H.
Okay, now that’s just stupid. Ruining pacing by putting a left-hand surprise page on the right-hand side so it’s not a surprise anymore is one thing. Actually breaking up a two-page spread is something else.
There’s an issue of Zot!, one of the very greatest issues of a very great comic, (#33) where Scott McCloud does this. The main comic ends on a complete downer, goes into a letter column and then comes back with one of the most glorious, life affirming final pages you ever read. Find the collected Black And White edition and read it, read just that issue if you want, but it is glorious.
For the Complete Black and White there was an authorial endnote used instead of the letters page to get the same effect.
I had the joy of meeting McCloud at a signing tour for the Sculptor and rather got to gush at him over that issue. He seems a very nice man. It’s the one page he’s asked to sign more than any other.
IIRC, at least one of the original New X Men trades did that too.
McJulie: . Prediction: the final bracket is going to be Calvin and Hobbes vs. Sandman.
**whimper**
Skipping a few abstentions.
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
I was never really fond of the Dark Knight. I was once very fond of Cerebus. Even the recollection of his extended essay at the back of one about how women could not reason (full of enough logical fallacies to drive a truck through) doesn’t quite ruin it.
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
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
Doonesbury’s individual parts are rather more shallow and vapid, but the characters grow and expand in complexity hugely – as they must over decades. And as a political and cultural record of the US from the 70s to today, it’s hard to beat. Plus, I often laughed.
And yet… I was the one to put the Tale of One Bad Rat out as a suggestion. It’s one of my favourites, period. Sob.
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
I think I was too old to imprint by the time I encountered Asterix, but I was exactly the right age for Crisis. DC has made terrible mistakes trying to redo the reboot too often, but this one was done almost right.
ALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
Poor Nexus is rather the sacrificial lamb in this iteration.
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
abstain because the little of Kurt’s work I’ve read so far is high enough quality it could stand up to GG, even though I love GG.
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
Read the first few issues of The Invisibles, liked them ok but clearly not enough to keep going.
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
Reed Waller and Kate Worley were guests at the very first SF con I attended, at 15, and I enjoyed their talks, esp. the bit about difficulty getting their own work across the border for its prngraphic content whilst heading for a con where they were guests for that same not-really-prn. A while later, my older brother picked up some Omaha, and yes, explicit, but also had a story.
Still not enough to beat out Nausicaa.
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
abstain, though I read issues 24-26 of Animal Man and…. well.
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Maus, Art Spiegelman
I like Takahashi, in general. Maus is a whole other thing.
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
I read the first Fables and went meh.
Cool – I can actually vote on a few things this lunchtime! I actually have read both of some of these and remember them enough to have an opinion about it. Wow.
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
Dragonball, Akira Toriyama
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
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
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder
Animal Man 1-26, Grant Morrison and Chas Truog
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
Good grief does this look messed up in preview.
Hmmm … Or as I think about it, it might have been the other way around — a double-page spread being printed on the front & back of the same sheet in one of the individual issues, then corrected in the trade. I do remember being incredibly confused at first.
And yeah, that’s one of those things that really just shouldn’t happen regardless.
@NickPheas:
Heh, I remember that; I started picking up Zot! about halfway through its original print run. The ‘Earth stories’ were brilliant character pieces.
I got to meet him on the one Canadian stop on his Making Comics 50-state tour back in 2006/2007, which was arranged in Toronto by The Beguiling (the same people who now organize the Toronto Comic Arts Festival).
During the Q&A afterward, one of the questions asked was which underrated comic book he thought most deserved to be made into a movie. His answer was ‘Mr. X’, mostly for the amazing visuals. I don’t know if he realized at the time this would be a good answer for the home crowd, as Dean Motter, the creator of Mr. X, was a graphics designer from Toronto and the original publication was from Vortex Graphics, also local.
Lenora Rose on October 6, 2015 at 9:00 am said:
That’s actually pretty tame compared to his later WOMEN SNUFF OUT THE LIFE-SPARK OF ALL MENS rants.
Joe H: It was the first release of the individual issue. They rereleased the issue in a corrected vs. I *hope* they got it right in the trade.
Lenora Rose: Yes, now that you say that, that’s exactly what happened. And I’m certain the trade was corrected; unfortunately, mine is in a box in a closet blocked off by many other boxes, so I can’t check directly at the moment.
> “There’s an issue of Zot!, one of the very greatest issues of a very great comic, (#33) where Scott McCloud does this.”
THAT ISSUE
SO GOOD
CANNOT EVEN
(Such a fan of Zot! that I once had a … probably embarrassing fanning-out moment when I met Ivy Ratafia’s sister Holly at a puppet show. She was surprised that I had even heard of Ivy Ratafia, much less that I was able to list all the issues Ivy Ratafia had credits on, including of course #33 …)
Seems like nearly every time Girl Genius goes into print, they have to add a page or two to make sure the double-page spreads land where they should.
Jamoche: I guess that’s a weakness of starting off online?
(And yes, I am aware GG started in its very early days as a paper comic. I’m a friend of one of the colorists. But that was then.)
@Scott Frazer
His descent into full on MRA and comics Truther was a sad thing to watch. He and MacFarlane teamed up for one of the worst written and self-congratulatory early issues of Spawn where Cerebus fluffs Spawn for ‘not having been given away by his creator’, while showing at least four properties that were licensed during their creator’s lifetime and bought from their estate.
Thank you for putting together this bracket. I’m following it with interest (and taking notes!) as, although I was never really into comics or graphic novels, I’ve now started reading them to help me with foreign-language learning. I get to geek out with the storylines and be able to vaguely follow them without suffering a dictionary-inspired headache.
So far, I’ve been able to find Saga and Fables in translation here and hopefully a few more works that get the File770 seal of approval will have made it!
I have more stakes in this than I thought I would, despite patchy comics reading habits, particularly in the superhero world. Several of these I’d really like to vote for but their competition is reputable and unread by me.
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
Battle of the misogynists!
I’m thinking High Society and Church and State in particular. So good, even when he’s just literally re-doing The Marx Brothers.
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
Dragonball, Akira Toriyama
No contest.
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
Also no contest. Oh I bounced off From Hell so hard.
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
I’m somewhat prejudiced against autobiographical comics in that I will usually choose a fictional comic over an autobiographical one.
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
Almost a hard choice – Elfquest was the first underground comic I was exposed to, because of its brief burst into popular culture. But Bone? I laughed until I cried multiple times.
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
No contest. I’m not certain how Schulz would fare against Watterson in my head, honestly…
Lastly, if allowed, I’d like to write in Street Angel, by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca. Short-lived but awesomely fun and ridiculous comic. I forgot to nominate it earlier. It was a gem when it came out.
Any of the three works in the brackets would do fine, I’d say. And sure, THROUGH OPEN DOORS would work well.
Hope you like it!
Voting for the sake of Carla Speed McNeil.
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
I think you have to judge a very long run by its high points, and there’s a whole hundred-issue sequence here, up through Church & State, that’s frequently stunning.
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Pogo, Walt Kelly
It’s Pogo.
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Love Astro City. Never actually finished Marvels.
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
I can’t begin to say how much Peanuts made me who I am.
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Swamp Thing 20-64, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette and John Totleben and Rick Veitch
This run blew my mind. It represents the best of 80s British Invasion supers comics.
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
Huge influence on Young Moi.
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
As sometimes happens, casting this vote as my daughter’s proxy.
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Young me was moved by the deaths of Flash and Supergirl in Crisis, but the series’ influence has been almost wholly baleful.
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross
I quite liked Kingdom Come, which I read as I was coming off one of my comics gafiations.
GUIDED BY DREAMS
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
Nexus is great. But it’s not Sandman.
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
Fantastic Four 1-102, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Not a close call for me. I eventually turned savagely against Claremont’s wordiness and bombast, though I re-mellowed over time.
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
One is a classic of world cartooning that has shaped the field for decades. But the other is Nextwave: Agents of HATE! This vote is for the fleshy ones.
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
I’d have a harder time voting against The Filth, but even in that case, XKCD is an inescapable part of The Way We Live Now. And its highs are genuine monuments.
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
IS GUD DOG?
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
It’s got problems! But I’ve loved wrestling with them for 30-odd years.
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
This is my most “but these brackets make no sense” moment. Abstain.
OTHER REALMS
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby
Voting my heart here. The omnibus collections would be better if they fulfilled Kirby’s original intention to publish then edit for collection. But they’re still great. I am even one of the apparent few who actually thought Hunger Gods was both great in itself and a great capstone.
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
Hated the Authority. Suspect I will love Digger when I get to it based on UV’s other work.
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Maus, Art Spiegelman
A landmark. It changed the conversation.
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
The ne plus ultra.
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
Great science fiction. I think it tails off after the first few volumes, but up through The Rescuers it’s some of my very favorite work. Speed McNeil gave me a Pony cartoon she did at one Small Press Expo because I went and got her a real coke while she was trapped in a Pepsi building. So we”re practically besties.
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
Zot!, Scott McCloud
So amazing.
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
I’m sure Krazy Kat is great, but I don’t know much of it.
The third issue of Death: The High Cost of Living was reprinted because they managed to print it with a two page spread printed back to back. DC shipped replacement copies to match the initial orders of retailers.
In the first trade paperback of Sandman, they had to redo a page because it had originally been a two page spread, but was back to back in the collection. It was a different artist, too. This may have been because there was a delay printing Preludes and Nocturnes. The first Sandman trade published by DC was The Doll’s House which was the second Volume. Vol. 1 and 3 tabs came out about the same time as Vol. 4 HC.
@Jim Henley – from your comic voting, I think you’ll enjoy Digger, art and writing.
@Dex – Oh yegads, I’d managed to put that Spawn/Cerebus collab out of my brain.
@Cally: I actually hadn’t noticed that Kyra was doing that. I agree it’s a good idea and will do so going forward, with a link posted in the latest Scroll when a new round goes up.
@Cassy: that’s the start of the current series and is a reasonable jumping in place, with one caveat: the first story has some fourth-wall breaking. Whether you like that or dislike it, know that it’s not at all typical of the title as a whole.
@Jason: based on your other votes, I think you really should check out Beanworld.
There has, understandably, been a fair amount of discussion of what else might have gone on the bracket. I’m torn. I feel a need to explain and try to justify; but there’s a real danger it would degenerate into “David Goldfarb disses everybody’s favorite comics”, and we’ve had too much of that already. So it’s probably for the best that I forbear.
I’m really happy to see other people expressing love for Zot!
Gee, I can actually do some of this
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Nimona, Noelle Stephenson
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
But not this one
Nope
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
Nope
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker
Pogo, Walt Kelly
Nope
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
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
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
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
Nope
ALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka
Nope
GUIDED BY DREAMS
Nexus, Mike Baron and Steve Rude and various
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
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
For old time’s sake
(I owned all of these, but my mom….)
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
PS238, Aaron Williams
Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt
Nope
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and various
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and various
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Nope
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Face cloth, please
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
Good thing I already have that cloth
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
The Incal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius and various
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
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
Nope
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
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
Nope
HEROES OF MYTH
Age of Bronze, Eric Shanower
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
Nope
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
The Nikopol trilogy, Enki Bilal
Zot!, Scott McCloud
Nope
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Krazy Kat, George Herriman
David Goldfarb
Heavy is the hand that rolls the dice.
We know. You just Torgerson’d the hell out of it in a transparent and democratic process!
Strangely, you got better results…
Apparently Camestros won an internet or two earlier today.
https://twitter.com/scalzi/status/651339313859428352?s=09
Dex on October 6, 2015 at 9:41 am said:
I have that issue!
I actually have the first 20 or so issues of Spawn somewhere. One of my few ventures into the world of spandex-clad comics.
Time for round one of the Rory Root Memorial Comics Bracket!
(One small change from the preliminary list: the Claremont run on X-Men is extended to #150, so as to include “Days of Future Past” and “Kitty’s Fairy Tale”. Not that I think that’ll help it much, when it’s up against Lee and Kirby FF….)
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Nimona, Noelle Stephenson
Akira, Katsuhiro OtomoAkira is beautiful, but the writing on Nimona is top-notch.
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave SimCouldn’t we just title this bracket “THE BRAIN-EATER FED WELL ON THESE PEOPLE”?
Honestly, it’s hard to pick one, knowing what both of these guys became.
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle BakerPogo, Walt Kelly
Honestly, no contest.
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex RossAstro City just had so many fun moments to it. Like the Junkman is still one of my favorite villans.
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
Dragonball, Akira ToriyamaHaving to make this choice really kind of depresses me.
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 CampbellI actually consider From Hell to be part of Moore’s decline, and also arks the more obvious phase of his obsession with hurting women.
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan TalbotDoonesbury, Gary Trudeau
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and Charlie AdlardManly because I really hate the basic social and political argument the Walking Dead is making.
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George PerezNEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, Paul Levitz and Keith GiffenALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
Astro Boy, Osamu TezukaGUIDED BY DREAMS
Nexus, Mike Baron and Steve Rude and variousThe Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
Mike Baron honestly didn’t seem to know how to end that series.
COSMIC, ATOMIC, IT’S ALL RADIATION
Fantastic Four 1-102, Stan Lee and Jack KirbyX-Men 94-150, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum / John Byrne
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges RemiNextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
I’ll take the foul-mouthed heroes over the racist adventures of a Belgian, thank you.
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart ImmonenPartialy, because well, Superman is still stuck in the superhero genre, and Girl Genius is doing something new.
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
PS238, Aaron Williams
Corto Maltese, Hugo PrattI like the kids, never liked the sailor. Now if it had been Modesty Blaise instead…
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and variousA very witty general interest comic vs. trying to cast a spell.
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and variousWe3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Harvey Pekar is really talented and observant…and I can’t stand him.
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave GibbonsPersepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Actually, come to think of it, you can start to see the problematic elements of Moore and women as far back as this. Hmm.
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate WorleyNausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
…this was a joke, right? Not even in the same league.
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy PiniWhile the words “seminal” and “game changing” can be applied to Elfquest, I liked the writing on Bone more. But I have to remember that without Elfquest there would’t have been a Bone.
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
The Incal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius and variousV for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
The writing on the Incal frankly, I thought kind of floundered.
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve DitkoUnderstanding Comics, Scott McCloud
Understanding Comics gave us a lot of vocabulary and insight in doing exactly what the title said.
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder
Animal Man 1-26, Grant Morrison and Chas TruogI thought “Tales” was an incredible exercise in worldbuilding frm the fundamental level.
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack KirbyKind of a pity that Little Nemo didn’t go up against Sandman.
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan HitchThe Authority did what it set out to do, which was make summer blockbusters in comic form. Digger on the other hand, made me cry. S there.
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Urusei Yatsura, Rumiko Takahashi
Maus, Art SpiegelmanMaus will probably win this one, and I can’t complain, but UY created characters that stayed with me for decades.
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various‘Cause I don’t want to kick the writer of Calvin and Hobbes in the shins.
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George PerezWhile NTT will probably win this on name recognition alone, I consider it still hobbled by the current constraints of comics publishing. Finder on the other hand has such a depth of setting, nuanced characters and unexpected directions a plot can go, that I would consider it Hugo worthy.
HEROES OF MYTH
Age of Bronze, Eric ShanowerMage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
There are maybe three or four comics from the 80s that I still read- and Mage is one of them.
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
The Nikopol trilogy, Enki BilalZot!, Scott McCloud
Such a beautiful comic, Zot! is. and with one of my favorite woman characters.
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John CassadyKrazy Kat, George Herriman
Planetary started off so interesting, but Ellis failed to stick the landing. The Four went from a strange menace, to a well, boring Fantastic Four satire.
@Scott Frazer
I think I dropped it around issue 30 or so. Really, my main problem with MacFarlane was that he was the loudest and most righteous voice in the whole ‘creator-owned’ revolution when the Image creators left Marvel, spent forever talking about the evils of Marvel’s work to hire policies and the characters they ‘stole’ and how they were stifling innovation and young talent.
And his response was, instead of using his huge success to bankroll lots of new and young talent, was to hand over Spawn on a work to hire agreement to an artist who emulated his style and go to court to try and hold on to the rights to other creators properties.
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Abstain
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?
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
THE RIPPER AND THE VEGETABLE
Abstain
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Abstain
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
ALL OUT METAL
Abstain
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
Abstain
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
PS238, Aaron Williams
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
Abstain
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
Abstain
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Abstain
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
Abstain
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder
OTHER REALMS
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby
DEALING WITH GODS
Abstain
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
Maus, Art Spiegelman
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
NO!!! *sigh* I’m going to go with Fables….
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
Finder, Carla Speed McNeil
The New Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
Another hard one…*double sigh* I’m going with The New Teen Titans….
HEROES OF MYTH
Abstain
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
Abstain
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Abstain
The only way Seveneves should be in a Hugo conversation is “There’s no way that hot mess Seveneves should be nominated for a Hugo”
It’s a sprawling, repeated infodump, badly edited and incoherent novel.
I’ve also remember other stuff that annoyed me:
1) Gur 100% fhpprff engr bs gur guerr “fnivat znaxvaq” cebwrpgf – gur fcnpr bar, gur zvar bar, naq gur haqrefrn bar. Nyy bs juvpu fheivirq 5,000 lrnef. Bar jbhyq or n zvenpyr, 3 vf evqvphybhf
2) Jurer qvq gur er-vagebqhpgvba bs pnfu pbzr va? Erfbhepr pbafgenvarq fcnpr fgngvbaf frrz gb or fubeg ba pncvgnyvfg bccbeghavgvrf
3) Evqvphybhf gung gur 7 gevorf xrcg frcnengr sbe ybatre guna erpbeqrq uvfgbel
4) Evqvphybhf gung uhznaf pbhyq or ehaavat nebhaq ba gur fhesnpr juvpu vf orvat pybfryl zbavgberq sbe greensbezvat jvgubhg orvat abgvprq
5) V’z abg fher vs gur fhesnpr jnf gung ubg (rabhtu gb rkcnaq gur ngzbfcurer hc sne rabhtu gb rssrpg YRB), vg’q pbby qbja gb orvat uhzna gbyrenoyr va whfg 5,000 lrnef – gubhtu V’ir abg qbar gur zngu.
@Kurt Busiek & @David Goldfarb, thanks! (Fourth-wall-breaking, if done well, amuses me.) I shall pick up Through Open Doors next time I’m at the library!
When I see “____hole” I think “wormhole” as is right and proper.
I thought Spawn lost it after about 8-10 issues. McFarlane just wasn’t a writer. He figured out how to build up some tension and get the story going, then completely lost the thread and started doing novelty crap and, yeah, getting too much into the ethics or politics or whatever of comics at the time. Image being self-righteous was pretty hilarious in the first place, what with their multiple covers, their constant stream of issue #1s of clones of Marvel comics (with #2 maybe someday coming out, and #3 and up… not likely). I did manage to trade a Shadowhawk #1 for issues 2-10 (or something like that) of Hellblazer at a small con in Indiana, so I can’t say their collector fetishist marketing was all bad.
And Image put out The Maxx, so they can be forgiven for a lot.
Later on, I just stopped being able to handle the “modern” coloring and art style of Image comics and they faded from my consciousness.
@Rose: What is the problem with female characters in Watchmen? I have only read it once, but recall it as definitely better than mainstream comics (an extremely low bar to clear, true!)
I think I need to start a petition to extend Tuesday night by at least three hours. We can take them from Monday morning; nobody’ll miss them. (Or I can go with my original petition for a thirty-hour day and a 25% dimmer sun…)
Why?
Let’s see. Flash. Agents of SHIELD. Scream Queens. iZombie. And three of those are even in the same time slot.
Kyra, when did your dice start making TV schedules?
@Rev. Bob
Kyra’s dice are really starting to get out of hand. Too much feeding after midnight?
@Kathodus
There was a lot of good in the early Image and it did have the effect of blowing up the comics market to a certain extent. (I’d say less so than Vertigo, ultimately) Even MacFarlane’s books ending up churning out some great work under some newer creators like Bendis’ ‘Sam and Twitch’. What it has evolved into over the years is a pretty amazing brand which is constantly finding intriguing new work. So in a way it accomplished MacFarlane’s stated role, just did so after he left the brand behind.
Image’s first early days were rocky as all hell, but they’ve become one of the best indie publishers around in recent years. I also have a warm spot for Wildstorm, which really matured once Jim Lee stepped back – Alan Moore and Joe Casey’s runs on Wildcats, Warren Ellis on Stormwatch and later The Authority were great highlights of the mid-90s to mid-2000s. Even beyond that they had a fierce willingness to experiment prior to being absorbed into the New 52, with their mature readers superhero line, and then actually going through with an end of the world and post-apocalyptic aftermath.
@Dex, @Lorcan Nagle – good to read that. I really haven’t kept up at all with Image, so I really am a low-information commenter.
My usual rules apply: to choose to read is to evaluate (although I’m not going to apply it as liberally here, since graphic stories are not an automatic part of my reading program).
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Nimona, Noelle Stephenson
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
abstain
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
In general, there are categories of humor that I’m deathly allergic to more than any reaction I have to other aspects of writing. Given the prevalence of humor in graphic stories, there may be a high rate of anti-voting for things like Cerebus that I bounce off of.
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY…
Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker
Pogo, Walt Kelly
I tended to be introduced to Pogo second-hand via my father’s love for the strip. (Thanks to him, I can sing most of “Deck us all with Boston Charlie” from memory.)
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
Abstain (sorry)
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
Dragonball, Akira Toriyama
Peanuts has its flaws, but even more strengths.
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
abstain
POTTER VS. POTHEAD
The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot
Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau
This was THE political strip of my life and times. Hard-hitting and never flinching.
GHOSTS AND ZOMBIES
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
Asterix, with the reservation that the ethnic stereotypes (especially of Black characters) are really really awful.
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
abstain
ALL OUT METAL
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka
abstain
GUIDED BY DREAMS
Nexus, Mike Baron and Steve Rude and various
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
abstain – Look, I realize it’s a failing, but Gaiman has never enticed me.
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
Oh, OUCH. This was nasty to get in the first round. Back when I was first purchasing my own comics, FF was “my” series. But the X-men taught me things about everyone having a tribe that I really needed.
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
abstain
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
I’m reluctantly going to abstain on this one. I’ve read enough Girl Genius to know it makes me itch, so I’m not willing to treat reading as endorsement this time.
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
PS238, Aaron Williams
Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt
abstain
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison and various
Totally fabulous strip. One of the few I’m currently subscribed to.
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
American Splendor, Harvey Pekar and various
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
abstain
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
I feel a bit weird about not having read either. (Saw the Watchmen movie — more gratuitously violent than I care for.)
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Omaha the Cat Dancer, Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
abstain
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Bone, Jeff Smith
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
Bone is another one of those that I bounced off of soundly.
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
The Incal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius and various
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
abstain
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
I loved Spider-Man, but McCloud is a genius.
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder
Animal Man 1-26, Grant Morrison and Chas Truog
abstain
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby
abstain
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
I really need to get Digger, but have to abstain at the moment.
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
HEROES OF MYTH
Age of Bronze, Eric Shanower
Mage: The Hero Discovered, Matt Wagner
Fabulous and well-researched art on this one.
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
The Nikopol trilogy, Enki Bilal
Zot!, Scott McCloud
abstain
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Krazy Kat, George Herriman
abstain
Some of my votes (and comments) are really Miss Science the Elder’s, because she knows more than me.
IN JAPAN, “-A” IS NOT A FEMININE ENDING
Nimona, Noelle Stephenson
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
“No Award oh my god no award for Miller or Sim ever”
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
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
(she wants me to vote lots of extra times for FMA)
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
“Claremont’s run is The run for a reason.”
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
pass
FAMOUS NAMES
Girl Genius, Phil & Kaja Foglio
THE SCHOOL AND THE SEA
pass
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
XKCD, Randall Munroe
DOG, CAT, BUNNY, MONKEY
We3, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
STRONG-WILLED GIRLS
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
“Nausicaa are you kidding me no one beats Nausicaa”
WOLFRIDERS AND RAT CREATURES
Elfquest, Richard and Wendy Pini
NEAR FUTURE VS. FAR FUTURE, DYSTOPIAN EDITION
pass
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, OR MINERAL?
pass
OTHER REALMS
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
DEALING WITH GODS
Digger, Ursula Vernon
“DIGGER LIKE FIVE TIMES DIGGER IS THE BEST”
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE AXIS
pass
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
THE SIN-EATER AND THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER
pass
HEROES OF MYTH
pass
THE FAR-FLUNG FUTURE! 1965 OR 2023?
pass
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
pass
I had been assuming that this was simply the first of several first-round heats based on the names/titles I recalled seeing in nominations that weren’t included I’m fairly certain that I nominated Colleen Doran’s A Distant Soil, and I know I would have nommed Bechdel if I hadn’t already seen someone else do so. I’m wondering if the dreaded page-skip happened when compiling nominations?
@Vasha:
@Rose: What is the problem with female characters in Watchmen?
Best in mind, that I’m starting from a point a couple years ago where I read a Moore comic, threw it at the wall, and asked “Is Moore actually capable of writing a comic where women aren’t abused?”
Looking backward to see a trend is a dicey proposition, but when I started noticing the overall trend of how Moore treats female characters, I started thinking I could see some antecedent in Sally Jupiter. It is fairly thin, though. Of course the relationship of women to men of power in Moore’s works is another thing entirely, and a better case can be made there.
I also suspect, based on some subtext in Miracleman as well, that Moore may have been restrained by editorial policy. Maybe. It’s a bit like looking at Church and State and seeing the seeds of where Sim was going to go.
Heather Rose Jones: If it turned out there was more than one first-round heat, that would be interesting. All up to the bracket-runner, of course.
THE DARK KNIGHT VERSUS THE MOON ROACH
The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
Cerebus the Aardvark, Dave Sim
don’t care for either, write in Daredevil: Born again
SO WHICH ONE WILL KURT HIMSELF VOTE FOR?
Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Marvels, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
Interesting, like Marvels, but alone for the worldbuilding Astro City
IF WISHES WERE BEAGLES
Peanuts, Charles Schulz
Dragonball, Akira Toriyama
Peanuts Not a DBfan
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 just more a superheroguy and Constantine
THESE SHADOW DEMONS ARE CRAZY
The Adventures of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez
fun, or worlddistruction, fun Asterix for my childhood
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
Kingdom Come despite the consequences (Magog shuder)
GUIDED BY DREAMS
Nexus, Mike Baron and Steve Rude and various
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and various
I normally don’t vote against Comics, I didn’t read, but it’s Sandman
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
That hurts X-Men
GLOBE-TROTTING ADVENTURERS
The Adventures of Tintin, Georges Remi
Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
More lukwarm in Tintin, so Nextwave
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Well I only watched the movie of Persepolis, good one but I will vote Watchmen even if the movie was the reason I have a bad reputition in my family (the reason I shouldn’t recomend books anymore was A Game of Thrones)
KINDS OF POWER, KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
Clasic vote Amazing Spider-Man
IT’S ALL IN THE STORIES YOU TELL
Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham and various
Uh, Fables difficult
NEW STYLE VS. OLD
Planetary, Warren Ellis and John Cassady
Krazy Kat, George Herriman
Well, perhabs not an expert, but Planetary, don’t like Wildstorm that much, but that one is good (Astro City is the other exection for me)
I’m still pondering a couple of the match-ups, so I’m not voting quite yet, but in the mean time:
By the time I’d heard of Cerebus the cat was already out of the bag about Sim’s less appealing politics, so with that in mind I decided that there were lots of comic writers who saw me as fully human and I’d rather give money to them. Any of them. I’ve never read any of Cerebus. suppose at some point in the distant future, given access to a free copy, I might have a look, but Mount File770 is unlikely to shrink enough to make it worthwhile any time soon.
@Mike Glyer
Very subtle. 🙂