I've mentioned Dwayne McDuffie before, of course:
In addition to the comic books I write whenever I can score an assignment, I'm currently contributing scripts to STATIC SHOCK! (the KIDS WB! animated series based on my comic book, STATIC) and JUSTICE LEAGUE, the new Cartoon Network animated series. Upcoming comics work includes an original graaphic novel called GIFTED (with artist Michelle Merkin) and the all-new THE ROAD TO HELL graphic novel (with co-writer and creator Matt S. Wayne and artist Kris Dresen).
Coincidentally, there's an interview with Kris Dresen up at TechnoDyke:
TechnoDyke: Who are your readers? A lot of females and lesbians (relative to their general presence in comic readership at all)Dresen: Judging from the correspondence we get, Manya's readership is almost equally divided between men and women, which is actually pretty cool. We get a lot of mail from guys who are excited because their wives/girlfriends never read comics but they love Manya. At shows we've been to recently we've been noticing that the women who buy our book range in age from early teens to their 70's, which is astounding.
Which quote is actually on page two of the interview, but it seemed silly linking directly to that. . .
I've pretty much given up on handing the Rare Good Comics to people, especially women, who don't normally read them. Mostly because the reaction -- "I thought comics were crap for teenage boys and developmentally arrested men, but this is nice." -- reminds me of the people who insist I'm not really black because, you know, I speak so well.
That, and I'm afraid they'll venture into a comics shop alone looking for more Rare Good Comics and either see the usual, and get scared, or have to deal with the teenage boys and developmentally arrested men who work/hang out in the shop, and get scared.
I'm also in a worse than normal mood today. Tourists are encouraged to post idiotic comments, because I'd dearly love to rip some random stranger on the 'net a new one for no particular reason. Cheaper than therapy, and safer than going out and starting fights in bars.
Ended up at TechnoDyke, which I assure you I don't normally read, following a link at Michelle's. Warning: that particular entry is not for the prudish.
Damn funny for the rest of us, though.
Think I'd like a Labia Lemon air freshener for the car, but I doubt they'll expand the line into those. . .
Update: Added links to the good stuff, Finder, Hopeless Savages and pretty much anything from Slave Labor, respectively. Anything by Jhonen Vasquez is worth a look, and the only thing keeping me from quoting passages from I Feel Sick is knowing that without the artwork, some of the magic is missing.
When we bought our car last year, it came with a seriously nasty item we can only assume was an air unfreshener. It smelled like a combination of diesel exhaust, shit, artificial pine fragrance, and kim chee, and let me tell you, this was not a good combination.
I think plain old Labia, let alone Labia Lemon, would be a dandy car air freshener fragrance. Particularly compared to that.
Incidentally, some of us broads like it when people hand us good comics to read. I never gravitated to comics until someone shoved Sandman into my hands. Then it was V for Vendetta. Then Love and Rockets and Zot. I've never been one to pick out comics for myself much, except filthy ones -- I really like Michael Manning -- and Bitchy Bitch and Hothead Paisan. But when someone I trust recommends one, I will go out of my way to read it.
Hothead Paisan. There's a name I hadn't thought of in a while.
Roberta gregory (of bitchy bitch fame) rocks! Is bitchy bitch still coming out?
Don't forget Dirty Plotte. If no one's ever shoved a dirty plotte in your face (hahahahaha) you ought to go see about picking one up.
Lesser-known but still just as good: Carrie McNinch. I think she's doing a minicomic called "The Assassin and the Whiner" now. Pretty much anyone who has ever done a zine would recognize her artwork, though. She used to be all over the place. She might still be, but I'm no longer hip enough to know what's "out there."
Pine-scented air fresheners are pine tree shaped.
Wouldn't that be a little distracting, dangling from the rear view?
Michelle, I have no idea what a Hothead Paisan is, or if the stress goes on the penultimate syllable, or the final one.
Dru, I'm the only one allowed to make self-deprecating remarks around here, thank you very much.
In fact, I'm only here to improve everyone else's self esteem by comparison.
Dunno what to say about the comics shop thing. I've always found it hard to find really good indie/creator-owned comics in comic shops on a regular basis--they don't seem to be as well-stocked or come as regularly through the distributor or whatever. I think if I'd been reading more good indie comics, I wouldn't have given up my subs.
And I say this as someone who used to work in a comics/game shop in grad school. It's not that I can't find them, it's just that when it becomes so much work, it's hard to get motivated to do it among the other bits of the daily/weekly/monthly grind.
Dangling from the mirror?
Hell, wouldn't the smell alone be distracting, albeit in a very pleasant way? :P
What did you think about Babyhead Magazine? You gave the pitch but never an update. Did you like it? Would you recommend it?
Dolo, um, I sort'a forgot about it, and never bought it. . .
I'd visit the shop tonight, but a) new comics tomorrow, so may as well wait, and b) there appears to be white, crunchy water falling from the sky.
First one to say the "s" word, dies.
VASpider, I'm so not going anywhere near that comment.
Ginger, some shops are way better than others at stocking the indie stuff. Minneapolis has at least two excellent comic shops, Big Brain and DreamHaven. But it also has crunchy water falling from the sky in mid-October.
Chicago Comics, here I come.
I've had subscription pulls a couple of different places and I've had bad luck.
If I get a sub again, it will be at Bedrock, which is supposed to be the best comics shop in Houston and is comics-only.
Hey, can't blame me. You started that one, Aaron. Or at least made the comment that...
... really, I'm amused by how much time on here is spent making with the coughing and the saynomore.
_The Assassin and the Whiner_, though without assassin since issue two or so, but never mind. Bought a stack of them at Caption 2000, in one of the student bars in Oxford, where rows upon rows of future Tory superstars (Edwina Curry!) looked down on me from the walls. Nice series.
Bitchy Bitch?
"Guess I'm done putting away the groceries now"
Not an image I'm likely to forget.
I liked Roberta Gregory's porn oneshot, because it neatly showed the drab reality behind porn fantasy.
Comics shops.... Living in a city with what The Comics Journal once called "the best comics shop in the world" I could glaot, but am too nice for that.
(That's http://www.lambiek.com/ btw)