This might be slightly off-topic, but I saw this article in the New York Times about Chris Ware's work:
<A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/04/arts/04WARE.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/04/arts/04WARE.html</A> <P>It is a nice thing for comics to be taken seriously in a mainstream newspaper. This article is one of the first I saw about comics or comic artists that took itself seriously as an article and didn't make any use of the silly language of superhero comics. For an example of the latter, see this review, also in the NY Times:
<A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/11/26/r ... gerst.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/11/26/r ... st.html</A> <P>It IS a well-written and interesting review, but I could have done without the title. Perhaps I'm being oversensitive. In either event, it's good to see the genre getting some attention. What do you all think?<P>You might need to register for the NY Times online to read the above-mentioned articles. It's free, but they do ask a few simple demographic questions (age, sex, location.. gee, seems like a bad chat room). If you don't like being asked such things, feel free to lie. I won't tell!
Something interesting...
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Kouban no Hakase
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Toronto has three major newspapers. One of them, the <I>Sun</I>, is a sensational tabloid rag that is taken seriously by no-one, and is not carried in campus libraries. The <I>Star</I> is the one that is distributed free on campus, and it used to be a respectable paper, but lately it has less news and more biased editorial-type reporting (nothing wrong with editorials, but opinion columns blasting away at people who haven't even been officially accused of crimes yet and may not even really be guilty don't belong on the front page trying to pass for news... never mind, you had to be there). My favourite is the <I>Globe & Mail</I>, which seems to have the most useful news and an arts section that talks about more than just movies and <I>Survivor</I>... but unfortunately, if memory serves me correctly, it has the smallest comics section. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif">
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Czhorat:
<B> Are you a poet in your real life, wish? I love the way you expressed that. It's enough to make ME depressed (and I never get depressed).</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Heh.. No, no poet, I'm afraid.. Just a wannabe graphic designer/artist/writer who doubles as a part time student and bookstore computer godess in her spare time. (Errr.. not that I'm a computer genius by any stretch, I just happen to be one of the bigger fish in this particularly small pond.) A small-town girl trying to find a meaningful carreer in a big city FAR away from aforementioned small town. I guess that's why Jimmy Corrigan gets to me. It's a dim and fogged reflection of a possible future self in a dark and rusty mirror.<P>The major city closest to where I live has two 'real' papers in one, the Journal and the Consititution (often packaged together as the Journal-Consititution), apparently identical facets of the same whole. It's not much of a thing, really. Pretty weak as far as journalism goes.<P>-Wish<p>[This message has been edited by wish (edited 04-05-2001).]
<B> Are you a poet in your real life, wish? I love the way you expressed that. It's enough to make ME depressed (and I never get depressed).</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Heh.. No, no poet, I'm afraid.. Just a wannabe graphic designer/artist/writer who doubles as a part time student and bookstore computer godess in her spare time. (Errr.. not that I'm a computer genius by any stretch, I just happen to be one of the bigger fish in this particularly small pond.) A small-town girl trying to find a meaningful carreer in a big city FAR away from aforementioned small town. I guess that's why Jimmy Corrigan gets to me. It's a dim and fogged reflection of a possible future self in a dark and rusty mirror.<P>The major city closest to where I live has two 'real' papers in one, the Journal and the Consititution (often packaged together as the Journal-Consititution), apparently identical facets of the same whole. It's not much of a thing, really. Pretty weak as far as journalism goes.<P>-Wish<p>[This message has been edited by wish (edited 04-05-2001).]
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Nicolas Juzda
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kouban no Hakase:
<B>Toronto has three major newspapers. One of them, the <I>Sun</I>, is a sensational tabloid rag that is taken seriously by no-one, and is not carried in campus libraries. The <I>Star</I> is the one that is distributed free on campus, and it used to be a respectable paper, but lately it has less news and more biased editorial-type reporting (nothing wrong with editorials, but opinion columns blasting away at people who haven't even been officially accused of crimes yet and may not even really be guilty don't belong on the front page trying to pass for news... never mind, you had to be there). My favourite is the <I>Globe & Mail</I>, which seems to have the most useful news and an arts section that talks about more than just movies and <I>Survivor</I>... but unfortunately, if memory serves me correctly, it has the smallest comics section. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gi ... QUOTE><P>I used to read both the Star and the Globe, but since the Star is now free on campus I just stick to it.<P>If anyone's curious, no, it doesn't look like Kouban and I go to the same school. His e-mail address is at York, and I'm at U of T.<P>Nicolas
<B>Toronto has three major newspapers. One of them, the <I>Sun</I>, is a sensational tabloid rag that is taken seriously by no-one, and is not carried in campus libraries. The <I>Star</I> is the one that is distributed free on campus, and it used to be a respectable paper, but lately it has less news and more biased editorial-type reporting (nothing wrong with editorials, but opinion columns blasting away at people who haven't even been officially accused of crimes yet and may not even really be guilty don't belong on the front page trying to pass for news... never mind, you had to be there). My favourite is the <I>Globe & Mail</I>, which seems to have the most useful news and an arts section that talks about more than just movies and <I>Survivor</I>... but unfortunately, if memory serves me correctly, it has the smallest comics section. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gi ... QUOTE><P>I used to read both the Star and the Globe, but since the Star is now free on campus I just stick to it.<P>If anyone's curious, no, it doesn't look like Kouban and I go to the same school. His e-mail address is at York, and I'm at U of T.<P>Nicolas
I've seen the collection of Mr. Ware's work, and I was highly impressed.. and a little... it's hard to describe exactly how I felt, really. I thoroughly enjoyed his graphic style (his display text and page composition is incredible), but, speaking for myself, I can only take so much of his (to be frank) depressing storylines. <P>I read the first half of the book in about two hours, going carefully over each page, and when I put it down, my head ached with a kind of sorrow and dispair that seemed to settle in my brain like heavy, cloudy silt tainting pure water. I just wanted to weep for this poor, pale creature who shuffles through life, aparently tormented by the disparity between the weird, ineffable dreams of his idle moments and the cold, bland, grey reality that will never release him. <P>I shouldn't ever write things on rainy days.. The clouds get into my skull and turn everything into thin wet drizzle.<P>-Wish
There's no big enough umbrella.
There's no big enough umbrella.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by wish:
<B>I read the first half of the book in about two hours, going carefully over each page, and when I put it down, my head ached with a kind of sorrow and dispair that seemed to settle in my brain like heavy, cloudy silt tainting pure water. I just wanted to weep for this poor, pale creature who shuffles through life, aparently tormented by the disparity between the weird, ineffable dreams of his idle moments and the cold, bland, grey reality that will never release him. <P>I shouldn't ever write things on rainy days.. The clouds get into my skull and turn everything into thin wet drizzle.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Are you a poet in your real life, wish? I love the way you expressed that. It's enough to make ME depressed (and I never get depressed).<P>I agree that Ware's work is very powerful. Half the time I wanted to slap his character in the face and tell him to get over it and DO something. The other half I just wanted to cry for him. <P>Aside from the high quality of the work itself, there are two other things I found remarkable about it. The first is that I found a copy of it in my local library. The only other graphic work I've seen there (at least in the adult section) is McCloud's <I>Understanding Comics</I>. Second is the very fact that it was reviewed in the NY Times. For those of you who don't know New York's newspapers, the Times is the only surviving broadsheet here in the city and by far the best newspaper available (the two tabloids, the New York Post and the Daily News are both rags. There's a tabloid on Long Island called Newsday that's also pretty decent). In the print edition, the article on Ware's work shared space with, among other things, an article on the Metropolitan Opera. It's just nice to see comics being taken seriously.<P>
<B>I read the first half of the book in about two hours, going carefully over each page, and when I put it down, my head ached with a kind of sorrow and dispair that seemed to settle in my brain like heavy, cloudy silt tainting pure water. I just wanted to weep for this poor, pale creature who shuffles through life, aparently tormented by the disparity between the weird, ineffable dreams of his idle moments and the cold, bland, grey reality that will never release him. <P>I shouldn't ever write things on rainy days.. The clouds get into my skull and turn everything into thin wet drizzle.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Are you a poet in your real life, wish? I love the way you expressed that. It's enough to make ME depressed (and I never get depressed).<P>I agree that Ware's work is very powerful. Half the time I wanted to slap his character in the face and tell him to get over it and DO something. The other half I just wanted to cry for him. <P>Aside from the high quality of the work itself, there are two other things I found remarkable about it. The first is that I found a copy of it in my local library. The only other graphic work I've seen there (at least in the adult section) is McCloud's <I>Understanding Comics</I>. Second is the very fact that it was reviewed in the NY Times. For those of you who don't know New York's newspapers, the Times is the only surviving broadsheet here in the city and by far the best newspaper available (the two tabloids, the New York Post and the Daily News are both rags. There's a tabloid on Long Island called Newsday that's also pretty decent). In the print edition, the article on Ware's work shared space with, among other things, an article on the Metropolitan Opera. It's just nice to see comics being taken seriously.<P>
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Maccabee
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No <I>Daily Forward</I>? <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/frown.gif"><P>There aren't many cities left with two full newspapers. Philly lost the <I>Bulletin</I> back in '83 or so. Boston and Washington still have rival papers (one liberal, one conservative). Richmond had 5 papers for 38,000 people in 1860, now it's got one for a metropolitan area of several hundred thousand.<P>It's too bad, as TV and radio news aren't nearly as deep or thoughtful. F*%#$@ing soundbites...<P>------------------
Risus est telum ultimum contra tyrranem. Nullus dictator exercitibus allibus ridiculem vulgi longe resistare potest.
Risus est telum ultimum contra tyrranem. Nullus dictator exercitibus allibus ridiculem vulgi longe resistare potest.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Czhorat:
<B>Aside from the high quality of the work itself, there are two other things I found remarkable about it. The first is that I found a copy of it in my local library. The only other graphic work I've seen there (at least in the adult section) is McCloud's <I>Understanding Comics</I>. Second is the very fact that it was reviewed in the NY Times. For those of you who don't know New York's newspapers, the Times is the only surviving broadsheet here in the city and by far the best newspaper available (the two tabloids, the New York Post and the Daily News are both rags. There's a tabloid on Long Island called Newsday that's also pretty decent). In the print edition, the article on Ware's work shared space with, among other things, an article on the Metropolitan Opera. It's just nice to see comics being taken seriously.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>The New York Times also reviewed Watchmen when it first came out in trade paperback form. That's why my dad bought it. (I first read it after sneaking it out of his bedside cabinet)<P>I was blessed with very open-minded parents. When I was a little kid we'd all go down to Comics & Comix together (back when it was at its old location on Telegraph Ave., which is now part of Amoeba Music). My mom would buy the latest issues of Mage (when it was available...Matt Wagner and deadlines do <I>not</I> mix) and Robotech, and I'd get Jonny Quest (Stop laughing! <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/mad.gif"> The comics were cool).<P>(I like parentheses! (Could you tell?) ) <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif"><P>------------------
"Sun Ra? He's out to lunch, all right...same place I eat at!"
- George Clinton
<B>Aside from the high quality of the work itself, there are two other things I found remarkable about it. The first is that I found a copy of it in my local library. The only other graphic work I've seen there (at least in the adult section) is McCloud's <I>Understanding Comics</I>. Second is the very fact that it was reviewed in the NY Times. For those of you who don't know New York's newspapers, the Times is the only surviving broadsheet here in the city and by far the best newspaper available (the two tabloids, the New York Post and the Daily News are both rags. There's a tabloid on Long Island called Newsday that's also pretty decent). In the print edition, the article on Ware's work shared space with, among other things, an article on the Metropolitan Opera. It's just nice to see comics being taken seriously.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>The New York Times also reviewed Watchmen when it first came out in trade paperback form. That's why my dad bought it. (I first read it after sneaking it out of his bedside cabinet)<P>I was blessed with very open-minded parents. When I was a little kid we'd all go down to Comics & Comix together (back when it was at its old location on Telegraph Ave., which is now part of Amoeba Music). My mom would buy the latest issues of Mage (when it was available...Matt Wagner and deadlines do <I>not</I> mix) and Robotech, and I'd get Jonny Quest (Stop laughing! <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/mad.gif"> The comics were cool).<P>(I like parentheses! (Could you tell?) ) <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif"><P>------------------
"Sun Ra? He's out to lunch, all right...same place I eat at!"
- George Clinton
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Tom the Fanboy
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heh heh, Portland (OR) lost it's competitive paper back in the 50s, but then again both papers had the same owners.<P>The Oregonian was the only kid on the block till this year when our local tycoon (some guy with a TV/Radio station and various industries) just started the Portland Tribune. It's big draw is that it's free and ONLY local news. There's other free papers round here but the Tribune has caused a big ruckus, I'm not sure why. <P>All I know is that it has cute adverts.
"Our international section is an ad for a Greek restaurant." and "When we talk about the Middle East we mean 82nd and Burnside."<P>Whatever. I only read the papers nowadays to translate events into my WoD games.
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Tom the Fanboy
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"Our international section is an ad for a Greek restaurant." and "When we talk about the Middle East we mean 82nd and Burnside."<P>Whatever. I only read the papers nowadays to translate events into my WoD games.
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Tom the Fanboy
http://www.geocities.com/tee-moss
The House of Tee-Moss, home of Billberg University and the Pop Subversion League.