the matt fraction cavalcade of whimsy

[Slewo.O]

Whaddya think of the current state of comics Matt?

And I mean beyond DC's new 52 or Marvel's Season One stuff. It seems to me like we're kind of entering the same period comics were at in the 80s. In that we have a LOT more new faces making a name for themselves than ever before. And not just by getting a book at the Big 2, but by getting their own books out to an audience. I mean if a shmuck like myself is even getting a chance to see himself published, we must be doing something right.

For me it seems like there's a better chance comics will beat out the current decline... Hopefully anyway.

[mattfraction]

Whaddya think of the current state of comics Matt?

And I mean beyond DC's new 52 or Marvel's Season One stuff. It seems to me like we're kind of entering the same period comics were at in the 80s. In that we have a LOT more new faces making a name for themselves than ever before. And not just by getting a book at the Big 2, but by getting their own books out to an audience. I mean if a shmuck like myself is even getting a chance to see himself published, we must be doing something right.

For me it seems like there's a better chance comics will beat out the current decline... Hopefully anyway.

i'm kinda exhausted from the retreat so forgive me not giving this both barrels right now:

there are more great comics being published now than ever before; more reasons to go to a store every week; more amazing books that use the medium so well that I can't imagine them existing anywhere else. The rest is just momentary austerity and growing pains. I've been here long enough that I've seen it before; the same doomsayers come calling and they say the same things. Comics aren't going anywhere. Comics are actually more diverse and vital than they were ten or eleven years ago, the last time everybody was freaking out.

[ardaniel]

Assume that I will eventually get to most of them, but, if I had to start with one Mountain Goats album, where do I go? I've been off in Gaslight Anthem/ Horrible Crowes/ Marian Call land lately.

Glad the retreat went well and you got back for wampa arm cake and pizza dip.

[mattfraction]

Um... yknow what, start with TALLAHASSEE and go forward to ALL ETERNALS DECK. Then when you've got seven records you love that were made in less than ten years discover that there are 6 other records and 6 EPs from when Mountain Goats was just a dude in a room with a four track. Start with ALL HAIL WEST TEXAS, then maybe try the compilations PROTEIN SOURCE OF THE FUTURE...NOW!, or BITTER MELON FARM, or GHANA...

[bobawasright]

oh, hey, i remember you. hi again.

I have something like an associate's degree in fine arts and i dropped out of a few different film or animation/new media programs after that. I was a semester away from graduating when i left, and i left because i got a gig in my field (design, web-based design and the like, and was managing editor of a local magazine).

I suppose the right time to get into comics is when you can't stand being out of comics anymore.

Have you read any Alan Moore stuff? (Forgive me if that's insulting; I don't know how broad a reading base you've got). As i get older I find i like his content less but like his form more. Not just WATCHMEN and FROM HELL-- his early stuff, the 2000 AD shorts, MARVELMAN, V FOR VENDETTA, and SWAMP THING most especially were incredibly (are incredibly) educational for me. The old EC books-- they're reprinted all over the goddamn place in all kinds of formats. Literally any title you can fine. Frank Miller's RONIN, BATMAN YEAR ONE, THE DARK NIGHT RETURNS, and his writing on DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN were very formative. ANything Howard Chaykin has ever done, but AMERICAN FLAGG! first and foremost-- those first 12 most esentially but anything in the first volume (26 issues all told i think? 24? can't recall.) Talbot's LUTHER ARKWRIGHT, especially on CASANOVA. Chester Brown's ED THE HAPPY CLOWN, THE PLAYBOY, and I NEVER LIKED YOU. Kirby's FOURTH WORLD suite; KAMANDI, 2001, etc. The first volume of SILVER SURFER. Mid-period to late period Kirby THOR; Lee and Kirby FF's from, oh, say 30 or so through the end of their time on the title. otomo's DOMU. Tezuka's ADOLF. Urasawa's PLUTO. TEKKONKINKREET by Matsumoto. Anything that Moebius wrote and drew. Anything that Hugo Pratt touched. Charles Burns' BLACK HOLE. Ellis & Cassaday's PLANETARY. The early Paul Pope stuff that you can't find anywhere (not that I don't like his late period stuff but, man, if you can put your hands on those first five THB issues and the... three?... specials he put out, you're in for a treat). The silver age DC work of Gardener Fox and John Broome. Walter Simonson's THOR. Eisner. The non-SPIRIT stuff because you know it was him and not his shop and he was really swinging for the fences sometimes. Um... I literally could go on.

thanks for dropping by.

Thanks for the reading list! I think all of Alan Moore's stuff is great and I'm filling up on it every chance I get.
I'm now working on my first script and I'm about 1/4 way finished (after working on it for three and a half evenings), and I woud like to have it judged by someone when it is done before I go and publish it myself or hire an artist for it. I've already copyrighted the main ideas and characters, and I'd like to know if there's anybody in particular I should bring this to to have it judged.

Thanks! \K|B/

[beamish]

Um... yknow what, start with TALLAHASSEE and go forward to ALL ETERNALS DECK. Then when you've got seven records you love that were made in less than ten years discover that there are 6 other records and 6 EPs from when Mountain Goats was just a dude in a room with a four track. Start with ALL HAIL WEST TEXAS, then maybe try the compilations PROTEIN SOURCE OF THE FUTURE...NOW!, or BITTER MELON FARM, or GHANA...

C'mon Matt, I cannot afford to find more good music. My wife will kill me, what that on your conscience.

[ardaniel]

C'mon Matt, I cannot afford to find more good music. My wife will kill me, what that on your conscience.

There's a ton of Mountain Goats on Spotify, if you've got access to it.

Having listened through TALLAHASSEE, ALL ETERNALS DECK, and HERETIC PRIDE, I think my favorite so far is HERETIC PRIDE.

[ardaniel]

Your wife says that "bring it" is engraved inside her wedding band. What's on yours?

[mattfraction]

There's a ton of Mountain Goats on Spotify, if you've got access to it.

Having listened through TALLAHASSEE, ALL ETERNALS DECK, and HERETIC PRIDE, I think my favorite so far is HERETIC PRIDE.

his studio records have tended to have concepts or at least themes, at least, they did in the beginning-- TALLAHASSEE is about an alcoholic couple's collapse; WE SHALL ALL BE HEALED is about bottoming out on drugs; THE SUNSET TREE, surviving child abuse; GET LONELY, a breakup (maybe)... then it gets fuzzy; someone asked me what HERETIC PRIDE was about and the best I could come up with was "Monsters?"

So yeah. Monsters. It's good. ALL ETERNALS DECK is maybe the first record to ever have a song about the Warriors on it. And that song is lovely.

[mattfraction]

Your wife says that "bring it" is engraved inside her wedding band. What's on yours?

"It's on."