Will Allison

From Twitter 01-06-2010

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:01:54 GMT

23:59:56: Books turned in, commence Operation: RADICAL CHILLOUT

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From Twitter 01-05-2010

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:02:09 GMT

00:50:51: Funny how so many folks seem getting published in comics is a cakewalk. One single idea's all you need!

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From Twitter 12-30-2009

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:01:37 GMT

03:38:33: @Epers I'm putting that on a poster, with a kitten on it.
07:22:49: Listening to St. Vincent has made me realize I have intensely melodramatic taste in music. Really, now.

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From Twitter 12-27-2009

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:01:37 GMT

08:02:14: Faye Dunaway has never been sexier than in "Network". Sorry, "Bonnie and Clyde".
08:04:22: And if you didn't notice from the obscure '70s film reference, I got a Netflix account finally.
08:05:42: @colleencoover that story is heartwarming beyond the account. I love you two!
08:07:59: Trufax: they got Margot Kidder for Superman since they couldn't land Dunaway. #notrealllytrufax
09:30:55: The weird thing about "Network" is, history has proven it not cynical ENOUGH.

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From Twitter 12-26-2009

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 03:01:28 GMT

00:14:42: I gotta say, the Facebook and Twitter apps for Xbox Live are...not too useful.
00:48:28: I realize it's weird to complain about tech doo-dads on Christmas, but it's been that kind of holiday. But anyway, Merry Christmas!
20:37:18: My Boxing Day present to myself has apparently been massive oversleep before work.

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From Twitter 12-17-2009

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:01:32 GMT

00:56:29: @Epers Buck up, lil' pooper! You're good at drawing too!
06:25:35: No More Heroes 2: Must Buy!

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From Twitter 12-14-2009

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:01:48 GMT

02:19:09: @jetbaby oh god that sounds so tasty yum yum yum

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From Twitter 12-11-2009

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 03:01:31 GMT

20:50:58: @PiousKnob "Shoop" is the correct verb form, I believe. "I shooped my face into a photo of Salt 'n Pepa."

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From Twitter 12-05-2009

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:01:39 GMT

09:55:50: Interesting discussion about decision-making in games:http://bit.ly/6eafVi
09:56:25: My personal feeling is permanent decisions in games mirrors real life, so I'm for it.

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From Twitter 11-22-2009

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:01:26 GMT

09:24:22: Decided it was high time to integrate all my various social apps, so I'm testing this out..

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R.I.P. Rusty Haller

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:18:15 GMT

I never got the chance to meet Rusty Haller in person. I spoke with him on the phone, and even when he was dejected and disappointed by the downturns his life took, he always remained hopeful. We made plans to post his comics on our site, to work towards an eventual collection of Ace & Queenie. He always would get so excited about his story, always rethinking it to improve it. I'm still pretty stunned he'll never get the chance to finish it. I'm sorry, Rusty, that I'll never read that last chapter.

Hey, let's watch a movie!

Wed, 13 May 2009 10:04:38 GMT

Here's one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyx8mVp8p2o

A story about conquistadors attempting to find El Dorado, and it goes about as well as you'd expect.
Directed by Werner Herzog, and starring Klaus Kinski.

This. Video. Is. Brilliant.

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:59:34 GMT

http://vimeo.com/1124192?pg=embed&sec=1124192

Watchmen movie...

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:19:39 GMT

Seeing the "Watchmen" movie is basically like having that excitable 15 year-old who hangs around the comic store and usually only reads "The Punisher" tell you all about the book.

For three hours.

Oh, it's been so long...

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:27:26 GMT

Okay, I'll make a post, then.

I think Marvel is killing DC in sales because even though both companies' comics are basically awful, in the sense that any random issue you read will make no sense whatsoever, the Marvel comics at least have an identifiable status quo at the end. At the end of Civil War, Iron Man's in charge of the superheroes. At the end of 52, there's 52 worlds instead of infinite worlds? Yeah, that's a real popcorn concept. "You see, at the start of the Silver Age, there were infinite universes, then Crisis on Infinite Earths made it only one, then Infinite Crisis turned it back to infinite worlds, then 52..."
Who is NOT going to fall asleep to that sales pitch?

Most of the scenes in "Final Crisis" are better than whole issues of "Secret Invasion". The part where Dan Turpin becomes Darkseid? The scene where Darkseid gives his bad-ass "three billion voices" speech? Those are great. But the series reads like shorthand, scenes piled one on top of the other with no context, like the writer assumes we know all the beats of a crossover and can fill in the blanks on our own. I know the beats, I can fill in the blanks. But I don't want to. I want the satisfaction of a well-told story. "Final Crisis" and "Secret Invasion" both sacrifice story development for characters saying bad-ass, meaningless catchphrases. Either SI's "He loves you" or dialogue like FC's "Checkmate was created as the last move in the human game", what the fuck does that mean? Where does it get us? The effect is basically one of characters standing around spouting tough-guy bullshit.

"Secret Invasion" still wins, though. Don't get me wrong, it's a terrible, nearly unreadable comic. From scene to scene, it makes almost zero sense. But you can map the Marvel Universe status quo before Secret Invasion and after Secret Invasion, and understand how it's changed. How can you tell how the DC universe has changed after years of events? How many worlds there are? Whether Superman hung out with the Legion of Super-Heroes when he was a teenager? I can't even make sense of the status quo, how can I tell how the status quo has changed?

This, I think, is Marvel's strength. The actual quality of the individual issues is almost negligible. The way the overall "story" is hammered into shape is the important thing, and it's easy to chart a clear line from point A to point B. It has a sort of brutal efficiency I admire. Very "Mussolini at least made the trains run on time."

I get the feeling the DC event comics have a little more enthusiasm behind them, but they're so muddled, aren't they? I'll give a shiny lollipop to the person who can tell me how Batman R.I.P. ended. (It's a trick question, because apparently Batman R.I.P. ends in Final Crisis, but they couldn't tell us that because, you know, it'd spoil the great surprise and all.)

This is why I read manga when I want a superhero comic. Naruto, One Piece, Reborn: these are comics that are basically formulaic punch-up comics, analogous to your average super-hero book. But at least I can tell what's going on!

Powergirl

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:26:08 GMT

Thought I should post something. I never finished my Supergirl drawing, but when I did the SG one I also did a Powergirl image as well. Since the SG meme's pretty well died out now, but the PG one's only slightly past its sell-by date as of this writing, figured I'd post it up.

I decided to do a redesign to give her a more traditional superhero costume. She's the cousin of the Golden Age Superman (long story), so I copied the shape of his shield symbol for her. The blank yellow still evokes her "boob window" without threatening any catastrophic wardrobe failures. The rest of the outfit's pretty staid; I never understood why a fist-first hardass like Powergirl was always all flashing thighs and cup-spilling cleavage. I liked this meme because there didn't seem to be the weird political undercurrents the Supergirl meme had. I covered up Powergirl in my drawing because it made sense.

The whole meme started here: http://mooncalfe.livejournal.com/27229.html Go look there for more, and see a ton of really great artists!

Blogging the Sept 06 issue of Vogue.

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:50:49 GMT

Holy shit Vogue is a pit of ass-stink. Before I start, let me make it clear: I look like what Ted Kaczynski would look like if he made pies instead of bombs. Therefore, I can only look at Vogue through the "curious outsider" lens. Were I a 15-year-old girl, I would probably get an eating disorder immediately upon touching the pages, since the only women depicted in this magazine are at least 6 foot tall and at most 105 pounds. I'm sayin' these bitches be mad skinny, ya'll. To that end, I say to fashion designers: do you really think your 14-year-old cabana boys will really wear these clothes? If not, then why are you making this shit, since it would look horrible on any human being with hips?

In addition: why are your current style beacons the television shows "Rhoda" and "The Facts of Life"?

This fucking thing must be like 98% ads. In that vein...

The Gap ad: Jeremy Piven-- I love when you play a douchebag on "Entourage". You don't have to extend that persona to EVERY SINGLE THING YOU DO IN YOUR LIFE. I saw that show where you went to third-world nations, jerk.

Mia Farrow: "Smart Blur" is the greatest Photoshop filter, huh?

Andrew Marc ad: Oh wait, maybe "Median" is the best filter? It hurts my eyes and won't make your clothes any more interesting.

Jordache? KOHL'S? You spent money on ads in Vogue? You are deluding yourselves. Next we'll see Sears spending $300,000 a page in an attempt to make themselves look upscale.

Though it can't be that hard, since every purse I've seen in this mag looks like a giant hog's testicle with a logo stamped on it. (And a chain attached somewhere.)

And jewelry in this is Goodwill-level. Is that shit carved out of driftwood or something?

Balenciaga: Is that coat made out of Play-Doh?

next page of Balenciaga ads: Oh, fuck YOU, Balenciaga. You used to be cool, but you totally sold out. Any skirt that looks like Strawberry Shortcake would wear it is NOT high fashion.

KEDS? With raggedy edges? I swear: Sears. Mark my fucking words.

Is it just me, or is Kate Moss wall-eyed? I swear I've seen her in like 28 ads, and she's looking east and west in every single one. "Cocaine's a hell of a drug," says my optometrist.

Andre Leon Talley: I truly and unironically respect you for being the most flamboyantly gay black man on the face of the planet. A lot of gay black men are "down low", but you are willing to wear a satin muu-muu in public. I think that makes you a (badly-dressed) role model, of sorts. Unfortunately, you're also a giant suppurating asshole. Please die in a nailgun accident.

Nostalgia: For Warren Beatty? He's a prick. When he got old enough to suffer erectile dysfunction, it set the cause of women FORWARD 12 years. No really, there was a party and shit. "Challenges to Roe v. Wade? No problem; Beatty's out of the picture, things are going okay."

Michael Kors: Now, I'm a hillbilly from Wal-Martistan that knows nothing of this "fashion" thing you rich folks speak of, but I remember Kors being something of a "bon vivant" in the fashion world. So why's he designing clothes that look like Honor Blackman's rejected wardrobe from the "Avengers" series? I have friends who wear A-line dresses; they don't look like walking turds while doing it.

Apparently fur is super-okay now, since it's on like every fourth page. Apparently all those small animals got fucking uppity, and it's PAYBACK TIME, bitch.

A Pea in the Pod ad: Hey preggos! Now you can look just as shitty as anorexic women!

The Nordstrom ads look like they were drawn by James Jean, if he got into a debilitating car accident that gave him brain damage and forced him to learn to draw with his feet.

Holy shit, even the Moschino clothes look shitty. Hey Moschino, you're supposed to be dressing slutty Italian chicks, not designing dresses that look like inflated trash bags.

Banana Republic ad: looks like meth addicts working in the Google office.

Isaac Mizrahi loves Jackie O. so much that he wants to dress every single middle-class hausfrau in America JUST LIKE HER.

A Payless shoe store ad. HA HA HA, Sears is just around the corner!

An article about how New Orleans is still completely fucked. Wow, I didn't really know about that Vogue, since I don't have eyeballs or ears with which to see or hear news. Hey, maybe you should just read this shit out loud to Andre Leon Talley and spare the rest of us. You could run another Payless or Keds ad with that page!

Hey, a Dillard's ad section! I think Dillard's sponsored a Spider-Man promotional comic back in the 80's where Spidey saved the Fort Worth Stockyards from some dumb villain. If I'm remembering wrong, don't correct me; it's the only thing keeping me from burning Dallas to the ground. I remember that comic being really insulting, though; like everyone in Texas was a cowboy, and shit. Watch your ass, Dallas.

Beyonce's in an ad for House of Dereon. Those clothes are ugly, Beyonce! Take them off! Then do a little dance for me, awww yeah...

There are rich folks in India, who'da thunk it? Oh wait, there are rich people wherever there's a ton of poor folks to exploit. I'm sending for my Che Guevara t-shirt in the morning, so you'll know I'm a Commie twat on sight.

Hah hah, they're wearing X-Ray Specs in the Versace ad. The goggles do nothing for Kate Moss though, she's still wall-eyed.

That Fendi bag looks like a spittoon. Or umbrella stand.

This might be the most positive thing I say in this post: if they were remaking "Flash Gordon", that Roberto Cavalli dress would be fucking fantastic. It is so horribly awesome.

Next page: Lesbians? You've got your hooks in me, Cavalli. You're my main man!

Men's Vogue: "You asshole penis-owners don't have sufficient levels of bulimia. We aim to correct that."

An article about how the new rich folk trend is philanthropy. HA HA HA HA HA (repeat for rest of post)

Guess ad: Is that bitch wearing a hair net? Are they trying to tell us hair nets are cool now? Anything a school lunch lady is required to wear is not cool. I'll let do-rags slide; when LL Cool J wears them they don't look totally ridiculous. But hair nets? Anyone who says that shit is fashionable should have all of their mansions burn down simultaneously.

Giuseppe Zanotti ad: Your logo fails. Also, the model you employed has the largest head I've ever seen on a person ever. She's like a fucking Mardi Gras costume. If you're going to shove unrealistic images of women down our throats, at least spare us the sideshow crap. (I wouldn't mind if she was a midget or lobster girl though, those people have character.) That said, that lady got paid 50 grand to lay around in a crappy dress and think about the Poincare Conjecture with her gigantic brain-meat while someone took her picture, so I can't really laugh at her...

Juicy couture ad: You have let me down. You used to be about the sweatpants with stuff written on the ass; I could count on you to cut through the noise of Vogue with the clear tones of skanky, big-assed hoes. Now, you look like every other fucking thing in the magazine, and your models are scrawny and white. Also, your bags look like hog testicles.

Article: "What's your Shape?" Whatever it is, they're going to make you hate that shape profoundly.

Another Beyonce House of Derron ad: The outfit's better, but I specifically requested nudity. Beyonce would be far, far more fashionable buck naked. You can't improve her by putting clothes on.

Ladies, if you're an "X-shape", you apparently need to dress like Molly Ringwald in "Pretty in Pink". Who did you piss off, anyway? (My guess is Andre Leon Talley.)

"The Shrink Fit": If you're hot, only buy clothes by Italians. You'll still look like crap, but you'll also look really easy, and that's the important thing, isn't it ladies?

Stella McCartney ad: Moss still wall-eyed. Wearing a hog testicle with giant rivets.

A diamond belt-buckle with a pot leaf. It's not my culture, I shouldn't feel co-opted, but somehow I still feel it. If you buy this belt and wear it, I hope a dope-smoker with a sharpened screwdriver mugs you for it.

Cesare Paciotti ad: Hey, that girl's grabbing her breasts! Too bad she's so sickeningly underweight that her breasts have long since melted away. Maybe she's grabbing her ribs from hunger. Sexy, sexy hunger.

Ladies: If you're a "Triangle" shape (i.e., you have hips like a normal female), you should wear giant pants. Like Kriss-Kross. I expect you all to make them "jump, jump" post-haste.

HOLY SHIT WAL-MART HAS AN AD SECTION. This is better than Sears by a factor of 50.

The "Popsicle" shape: apparently, you have to wear a Balenciaga outfit that makes you look like a tampon. I'm not joking, red scarf and everything. Better learn to sew your own clothes!

I'm skipping a bunch of ads now, all of them make me want to cry. I don't cry though, because I'm all man, and used to facing tragedy. Even if I am posting about an issue of a fashion magazine.

Oh no, I'm getting sucked into reading the horrible articles. This is like a terrifying autopsy of female neurosis: "I'm a size 2, dare I wear skinny jeans?" "I, Mrs. Exeter, am of a certain age. Dare I wear puffy pirate shirts?" First off, you're a fucking size 2, of course you can wear skinny jeans you crazy jackass. If you were a size 28, I'd say no. And secondly, no one, of any age, should ever wear fucking poet shirts. Are you insane? Those aren't going to cover up your "of a certain age" arms, they're going to make them look ENORMOUS. And why are you hiding behind a pseudonym anyhow? Old hags don't get a name anymore over at Vogue? Are you really Anna Wintour? That would be the only way a pseudonym made sense, since every single person on the planet hopes your bespectacled head explodes like that guy in "Scanners". Go ahead, wear the fucking pirate shirt, then. Everyone else: laugh at Anna's poofy shirt.

Oh, hey: an article about an actual interesting person: Djuna Barnes, ambisexual author from the '20s-'30s who was promptly forgotten by history. So, there's a page and a half right there. And it only took 527 pages to get there.

Julian Schnabel looks like me in 20 years, except wearing shorts. Also: he is extremely wealthy. To that I say: "Hey Tubby, nice carpet."

Lanvin ad: Is that bitch dressed like a tonsil?

More articles: Apparently, lots of people write books about rich people. And therefore you should read them. I'm now pining for ads. Vogue should be 100% ads.

Another article: "Rules of attraction". Women don't know what they want in a relationship, or in the bedroom. Are you comfortable with your sex life? With your partner? Well, don't be. You expect too much. The ideal husband is a penis that burps and watches football; if you want more it's because YOU'RE the fuckup. This attractive older woman from Europe told us, so it must be true. In Europe they're so much more free than us.

"The Last Waltz": This model's clothes are all horrible. I like her hair, though. This woman is exactly 16 cheeseburgers away from being sexy.

A big run of articles on how Marie Antoinette was like Paris Hilton, only with more attempts to breed a royal heir. Big photospread with Kirsten Dunst, including a dress that looks exactly like Hedorah.

Big article about how Pablo Picasso was very influential. Influential stuff is expensive.

Apparently, "volume" is the watchword for this fall. Women, it no longer matters which painful eating disorder you have: you are going to look fat no matter what. That bubble skirt is going to make sure of it.

Tartan is the new "haute grunge" look. Accessories are "brazen and tough" (read: hog testicle, chains hanging off).

Oh crap, looks like we've run out of anything else to talk about. There were some articles and ads, but it was the same crap they pushed in the first 600 pages of this kitten-crushing brick of garbage.

There was not ONE single outfit that I found to be really good. Maybe the Cavalli dress, but only because he dazzled me with lesbians. Women of the world, be warned: you are about to look fucking dowdy. Also, brain damaged. Sorry about that.

I have never been more grateful to have a penis attached to my body in my entire life.

"Magical Girlfriend"s : Threat or Menace?

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 10:25:57 GMT

Since I barely even look at this journal when I haven't written something new, I missed khyungbird's later comment on my previous post. Sorry about that, Jason. To be fair, I figured I should answer it here, and quote it so people know what I'm answering:

"As the artist of the extraordinarily excellent PERVERT CLUB... what is your opinion on fanservice-heavy romantic comedy comics of the LOVE HINA, VIDEO GIRL AI, etc. vein?

Do you feel that they are sort of a substitute for porn, or that they fulfill an entirely different function? Where do you draw the line? For what matter, which did you get into first?"

I think the "harem" and "magical girlfriend" genres of manga and anime are usually pretty lame, even though that's probably painting with a too-broad brush. But generally, I'm not a fan. I don't think they're necessarily a substitute for pornography, but they share a certain commonality with porn: where porn creates a fantasy of easy sex, "magical girlfriend" shows create a fantasy of easy love. Chobits, Oh! My Goddess, and Video Girl Ai all feature an intensely mediocre male lead that suddenly acquires a woman who loves him instantly, and won't leave him. The Tenchi Muyo, Love Hina etc. series usually have a main female lead, but don't rule out any of the other women being a romantic interest; the male lead essentially has his choice. All of the women are, in a sense, already his. And, by extension, the reader: do you like a certain "type" besides the female lead? Well, here's a bunch of stereotypical female characters, take your pick.

Where I'd draw the line would probably be in the amount of sexually explicit scenes in the series. Which I "got into" first? I'm not certain exactly what that means, but I'd guess porn by a country mile: I was reading sexually-explicit material pretty early in life, and only became aware of "magical girlfriend" shows later. As far as professionally, I drew the "harem" series Pervert Club first, but planned to draw sexually explicit comics before then. My involvement in each essentially came from the same place: dissatisfaction with other material in the genre, and a desire to alter some of the distasteful subtext in it. I can't say I've been exactly successful with either effort. But I continue making the porn because it seems like a "bigger" genre: while you can easily find alternatives to the "harem" genre in manga, porn is practically a medium unto itself. So I continue chiseling away at it.

Or maybe I'm just a twisted freak.

Porno pros and cons.

Sat, 04 Mar 2006 14:39:24 GMT

Porno comics are a strange thing. The general reactions to sexually-explicit comics are either outright dismissal, or extremely quiet consumption. Of course, there's Evan Dorkin's (paraphrased) reaction: "You fucking losers! With the money you spend on this shit you could go get a hooker!" The overall consensus seems to be that porn comics are an embarrassment to comics; something that shouldn't exist but for the presence of malformed homunculi too stupid or pathetic to know they're dragging the entire medium down to their deviant level. How dare they?

I draw porn comics. I also work for a company that wouldn't exist if they didn't publish porn. So I guess it'd be safe to say I'm for porn comics, if not an outright advocate. Even though I draw porn, I'm not an unequivocal flag-waver, though. I'm caught in a cross-fire: if I ever admit porno can be disgusting or dehumanizing, I'm playing into the hands of ultra-conservative types, but if I claim all porn to be beautiful and great I'm endorsing material that sickens me personally. It's basically a no-win situation, which is why I guess no one really talks about the subject.

There are good arguments against pornography. One could argue porn exploits the people appearing in it, but porn comics can sidestep that issue since only the creators are involved. But one argument that does stand is that porn distorts human relations. Porn can reduce people to sexual robots, with no other thoughts or desires outside of pounding ass or eating hot cum. There's no room for anything else; all the expressions of human hope or reality that are the hallmark of good art are forced away. Another argument is that porn is the ultimate vulgarity: in a world that puts a price tag on everything, porn takes an act of intimacy and reduces it to commerce. Porn's also full of bizarre sexual misinformation. Comics are especially guilty of this: since there are no actors to complain, a porn cartoonist can come up with physically impossible scenarios, and the characters will exclaim nothing but joy. Even more horrible in porn comics is the prevalence of the rape fantasy. Where typical porn movies just depict women as moronic whores with the endurance of Hercules, comics still love to trade in the "she didn't want it at first, but learned to love it" cliche. One could argue that's comics' only real advantage in porn: an area where artists can rape, mutilate, and degrade women, and no one will call the police.

But there are good arguments for porn, too. Porn isn't designed for children; it's a fantasy for adults. Adults have experienced sex. Adults know that sex comes in the context of a relationship: you may get blowjobs, but you also have to take out the trash. Adults are aware of the discomfort, the awkwardness, the loneliness that can come hand-in-hand with sex, and they accept it. But they also dream: of sex without attachment, without consequence, without limits. The same way a child might consume the safe, structured world of a superhero comic or Harry Potter book, adults consume porn. In porn as in Potter, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination, and danger only appears in ritualized, distant forms. No one becomes HIV-positive in pornography. Since ritualized fantasy has been the bread-and-butter of comic books for decades now, why wouldn't the audience eventually graduate to sexual fantasies? How could that truly damage the medium?

The commercialization of sex isn't exclusive to pornography, either. Scantily-clad women sell us everything from beer to cars. Romantic comedies feature stories of beautiful people figuring out ways to have sex with each other. And singers like Jessica Simpson, Beyonce Knowles, and Gwen Stefani aren't very hard on the eyes. They don't dress like beekeepers in their videos, either (though that would be totally HOT.) In that light, pornography's just too gauche in its honesty: instead of using sex to sell you deodorant, CDs, or videogames, it just sells you sex. For once, you get what you paid for.

You could argue there's an aesthetic dimension to pornography, too. While it may be true that some people will masturbate to anything, most peoples' sexuality is just as quirky and individualistic as their personalities. There's real effort in finding that particular thing that will actually get someone sexually excited. And creating a piece of art that might expand someone's imagination, could have the potential reader considering other possibilities for pleasure? I would argue that is an achievement. Most obscenity laws are predicated on finding whether a work of art has merit outside of sexual stimulation. I think that sexual stimulation can be an artistic goal in itself. Why not? A pornographic artist must bring an artist's tools to bear: an intriguing concept, a strong visual style, and a clear line of action. A pornographer must communicate: the desire for satisfaction, the heat of bodies joining, the sensation of flesh on flesh. While a fuck book might not be on the same level as an unflinching account of the Holocaust, that doesn't mean it won't qualify as art. I believe people who dismiss porn utterly fail to see any possibilities in it. Sex drives human existence, and while very few porn stories might offer any insight to the human experience that doesn't mean it's impossible. Creating porno is like writing a minuet, or a pop song: within a rigid, self-imposed structure, create as much variation as you can. That technique, that function in itself can create meaning, can create art. Is it a symphony? No, but it doesn't have to be. Reductive, inhumane pornography isn't ALL pornography, it's just bad art.

Depending on which day you catch me, I could feel porn comics are banal and useless garbage, or the last frontier in comic art. But overall, I feel porn comics have a right to exist, and a function in the overall scheme of art. Like most popular culture, it's generally shit. But it also has the potential for greatness.

Off the top of my head...

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:35:56 GMT

At Marvel and DC, I can think of two currently-employed women writers: Gail Simone, and Devin Grayson.

At Marvel and DC, I can think of three women pencil/ink artists currently working: Amanda Connor, Colleen Doran, and Pia Guerra.

Marvel and DC combined represent roughly 65% of the American-produced comic book industry.

My personal theory is that the reason comics seem so hostile to women is because, essentially, women's talents are not considered valuable to most of the market. The two dominant publishers don't produce works that would appeal to women. Almost all of the comics they publish feature a very narrow artistic style, so that rules out women who would want to write or draw comics aimed at anyone other than a 12-25 year old male. The overall statement seems to be, "You're welcome to work in comics, as long as you want to write/draw Spider-Man or Batman (in roughly the same style they've always been depicted.)" If that applies to you, congratulations. If not, tough shit on you.

Certainly, there are many female creators in the industry. Many women work for the independent publishers, where the demographics and editorial dictates are not so strict. But remember, the indies only account for about 35% of the industry at BEST. Most comics by women don't even show up at your local comic shop.

And while women might someday become prominent in the English-language manga market, that doesn't really do non-manga comics by women much good, does it?

So what can a female, non-manga artist or writer do in this industry? Either work in the boy's-action idiom, work at the indies for no money, or avoid the medium entirely. There's lots more money in screenwriting and book/magazine illustration, after all...And that's how comics become that much poorer, weaker, and more obsolete.

My point is, the comics industry SEEMS hostile to women because IT ACTUALLY IS. Outside of behavior at conventions, outside of artists' depictions of scantily-clad heroines, comics simply do not value women's work enough. And unless and until the leading publishers begin to expand their published offerings, the industry will continue to stagnate.

Batgirl has a posse.

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 23:37:38 GMT

Alarmingly huge list of pages in the Batgirl meme:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/himynameisjamie/345568.html

Batgirl meme

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 09:46:38 GMT

A tangent to the "sexism in comics" controversy.

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:43:24 GMT

Recently, the comics intronets have been abuzz with discussion of the issue of sexism in the industry. I'm glad more attention is being focused on it, because it really seems like a problem to me here in the land of Eternal Junior High. I don't really have the space or inclination to run down the whole discussion, but http://womenincomics.blogspot.com/ is an excellent place to follow the whole discourse in one sitting.

I'm not a woman. I haven't ever witnessed blatant sexual harassment at conventions, and I've never even seen the outside of the Marvel or DC offices. So I have basically no qualifications to talk about this subject, but I'm going to talk anyway. I was issued this "My Opinion is Important" card at the White Male Privilege Clubhouse, and if I don't use it I'll lose my 15% discount on greens fees at the golf course. That's worth like 3 golf balls, and with my wicked slice I need to save all the balls I can. So here's my opinion:

I am totally not surprised things like this happen in comics. The comic industry is predominately male, and full of social maladapts. But it's depressing to see comic book people act like such assholes.

I'm tired of people demanding names in cases like these, because a). you're not a cop, so you don't need to know and b). whenever you do find out names, you sell out the woman immediately. When Colleen Doran told her story of an industry legend pouncing on her in her early career, people reacted with plenty of outrage and "how dare he?"s, but when it came out this industry legend was beloved Father of the Silver Age Julie Schwartz, people suddenly doubted her. "But he did 'Flash of Two Worlds'! He couldn't be a dirty old man!" That's not an exact quote, but it's the gist of what posters were saying. Just because someone wrote a funnybook you liked doesn't make them a good person.

I'm also sick of all the fucking Shining Knights posturing on these message boards. "If anyone ever did that when I was in the room, I'd knock his block off!" BullSHIT. First off, you'd probably just stand there like a pussy, so please drop all the Clark Kent-into-Superman fantasies right now. Second, what the FUCK would that accomplish? It wouldn't help the woman, it wouldn't remove the attacker from a position of power, and it'd probably get you locked up. Basically, your chivalrous male ego would just screw the situation up further. If you REALLY want to help, offer to testify on the woman's behalf. Then actually DO IT. THAT'S how you could make a difference, He-Man. Women don't need saviors, they need supporters.

But hey, I guess well-meaning dumbassery is better than denying it outright. Lots of guys seem to fall over themselves to talk about how since we don't know details, we can't make judgments, he said/she said, etc. etc. and how they can't decide what really happened so they'll stay out of it. You know how you ACTUALLY stay out of it? Don't comment. When you make a big show of being 'rational' and 'skeptical' and 'fair-minded', you don't really add anything to the discussion, and basically seem like another person denying it even happened. There's plenty of voices of doubt already; you don't need to throw in, Solomon. Maybe this post is violating my own rule here, but oh well, the die is cast. But I'm not eyeing any women suspiciously and keening, "Wellll, I don't knowww...." so I figure I'm pretty safe.

And finally, any man that refers to himself as a "gentleman" is really just a patronizing asshole. There, I said it. "Gentleman" is a description OTHER people apply to you; it's a title based on merit. If you claim you are one, you actually aren't. You're probably just about to make some passive-aggressive implication about someone. "I COULD say you're a drug-smoking Communist slut, but I'm too much of a gentleman to say such things." Your little rhetorical three-card monte game is not too difficult to figure out, putz.

Okay, I'm done. Now everyone on the internet shut up for a while.

Outlook Unclear

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 12:22:38 GMT

I was 19 years old, sitting in a dorm room in the University of Texas at Austin, when my life changed.

He said, "I'm thinking of publishing my comic books. I figure I'm not going to get a chance at any other company, so I might as well make my own. Want to get in on it?" I don't remember the exact words, but I remember the sentiment. I also remember the setting, one of the mirror-image dorm rooms of UT, me sitting on one bed and Dean sitting on the opposite, identical bed. Fluorescent lights beaming down on us as Dean Hsieh spoke the opportunity I'd been waiting my whole life to hear.

"Fuck yes!" Maybe I said that, I don't remember. I know that's what I thought, though. I was going to be a comic book artist. A real comic book! Created by me! This is the start of something big!

I wasn't a good artist. I drew sort of like Tatsuya Egawa struck retarded. But at the time, I thought I was The Shit. Why wouldn't people want to read my comics? I'd better come up with something quick...

I decided to go with a throwaway idea. I was getting tired of "harem anime", that genre of lovable everyman surrounded by cute girls exemplified by "Tenchi Muyo" or "Ah! My Goddess". What if the protagonist was weirder than the girls surrounding him? What if the girls were too wrapped up in their own obsessions to even notice him? Somehow, that turned into "Pervert Club", a story about a high-school transvestite and the all-girl club of fetishists that hoped to use him as a pawn to take over the school. To anchor it, I plundered two characters I'd created for a friend's fanzine. I figured it'd be a funny comic, quickly forgotten because within five years, tops, I'd be working for the Big Companies, making the Big Money. I can draw Spider-Man as well as the next shmoe...

I forgot to mention, Dean came from San Antonio. I remember visiting his parents; hard-working, hyper-motivated Taiwanese who owned a restaurant and bankrolled our publishing venture. After visiting SA for the first time, meeting various comic people that lived and worked there, I remember what I said to Dean. "Your parents are cool, but San Antonio fucking SUCKS."

It's ten years later. I live in San Antonio. I work for a comic book company. "Pervert Club" has been reprinted, and I get to sit at a table at cons listening to the same dumbfuck jokes I heard 10 years earlier. (One stupid cosplayer saying to his friend, "Hey [insert stupid cosplayer friend's name here], you should buy this book, since you're a pervert!" They never buy the book if they make that joke.) It's my most commercially successful work, tied with a comic book I drew about a suicidally-depressed rabbit. I make less money per year than a migrant farm worker.

The moral of the story is, you can't know what the future holds. Even when you have a goal that comes true like, "I will be a professional comic book artist", you don't know how that will actually turn out. Maybe you'll become rich. Maybe you'll become famous. But I guarantee you won't accurately predict the exact form that wealth or fame takes. I guarantee you won't predict the idea that people love the most. You might spend ten years creating works that are better written, better drawn and (in your opinion) more commercially viable, but that doesn't mean anyone else will care about them.
Your absolute worst idea, the one you attach no value to whatsoever, might be the one that hits. Your precious babies? The ones you've put your absolute best effort into, your devotion and love and back-breaking labor? People might not give half a shit about.

Don't take this shit lightly. Every single comic book (or OEL manga, call it whatever) you make is important. Nothing you create is disposable, nothing you create is worthless. Don't assume you're just going to get your foot in the door with a throwaway idea. That throwaway might be your best chance. That throwaway might be the thing people love years later, might be the thing that was more important to them than it ever was to you. That throwaway might be the only thing you're ever remembered for.

Don't think I'm being fatalistic here, or being a bitter old man. On a good day, I pretty much still think I'm The Shit. On a bad day, I worry about the fact I have no health insurance. But I haven't given up. I've lived ten years in grinding poverty, I've scrubbed toilets to make ends meet, and I still haven't given up. I still make comics. So don't write me off as bitter. Don't write me off as a has-been or never-was. Because if the stars align, if everything falls into place, I might make a comic that will put you to shame. Because I've eaten so much shit at this point, I've got nothing to lose. And I'm never, ever, ever going to stop making comics.

Don't take anything for granted, because you never know where you're going to wind up.

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 03:06:05 GMT