Recommended Online Comics Resources -- If you're a regular reader here, this may all be old hat to you, but I've posted a guide to the best online comics resources at iTaggit.

Labels: meta, recommendations

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:46 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Amazing Things About Me -- Here's just a few of the things I have learned about myself by reading a comments thread at Comics Should Be Good:

1) I want to move in with James Kochalka.

2) I "assume a binary continuum" of "good" comics vs. "evil" comics.

3) I am "not a person but rather a highly advanced computer program that is able to effortlessly generate article after article of blowhardism."

4) I've "chosen a side, and [am] writing propaganda for the home team."

5) I "fulfill all the popular negative stereotypes of the 'professional critic.'"

Rebuttals:

1. I would not move in with James Kochalka until baby Oliver is out of diapers. I've changed enough diapers for one lifetime, thanks very much.

2. It's not so much good versus evil comics, as good versus evil comics "fans."

3. Since I actually am a highly advanced computer program that is able to effortlessly generate article after article of blowhardism, I can't really argue with #3.

4. I'm not sure, but I think this one means I am gay. Which would explain why I want to move in with James Kochalka, actually. God damn it, these people may be on to something.

5. Not so, I lost my ascot years ago and can't afford a new one.

Apropos of Nothing

If, after learning all these new and amazing facts, you would like to expose yourself to more of my blowhardism, please do check out my newest articles at iTaggit.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:28 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 5 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Update -- I appreciate the comments and emails about my lack of posting, and I apologize for my absence these past days. As noted previously, I was pretty seriously ill, and although I am mostly recovered I still have a bad cough, fatigue, and most damning of all, an inability to concentrate enough to write anything of substance here. Bear with me and hopefully I'll be back stirring up shit within a few days.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:26 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Midweek Update -- I'm still alive, and over the worst, but still recovering from the flu. Sorry for the lack of posts this week; hopefully I'll be back up to speed by the start of next week.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:59 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Monday, Briefly -- I spent a good deal of my weekend assembling the responses from the Comic Book Galaxy Retailing Poll. Expect a long post with all the results within the next day or two.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:37 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
ADD Elsewhere -- Hey, I've just posted my first essay to thisisby.us. The essay itself may or may not be familiar to you if you spend any amount of time here, but I'd appreciate if you would click over and maybe give my debut effort there some support. I just learned about this site, which pays for content based on the feedback from readers, and it looks like a great place to get your ideas out and possibly pick up some beer money.

If you like what you see and decide to post your own writing, let me know. I'm curious to see what develops now that I've dipped my toe in.

Labels: linkblogging, meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:18 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
FAQ ADD: Frequently Asked Questions about The ADD Blog -- Here's a handy primer to the who, what, where, why, when and how of The ADD Blog.

* Who are you? I'm Alan David Doane, a radio broadcaster since 1986 and a husband and father of two. I live in Upstate New York.

* What's this blog about? Comics, mostly. I've been reading comic books since 1972, and writing about them since the mid-1990s for a variety of websites such as Silver Bullet Comic Books, Newsarama, and this one here, Comic Book Galaxy. In print I've contributed to The Comics Journal and other magazines. On this blog, in addition to writing about comics I also cover anything else that interests me, including real life, music and movies. But since my main interest in life has been comic books for 35 years, mostly what I write about is comic books.

* How long have you been blogging? Since June 2nd, 2002. There have been a couple of lengthy hiatuses along the way, but I never stop writing about comics for long.

* So you really like superheroes? You must be new around here. It's a fairly common misperception if you say you like comic books that you must mean superheroes. But superheroes are only one genre among many that define the comic book artform, so equating a love of comic books with a love of superheroes is like assuming someone loves only westerns because they like movies. Probably my favourite genre within the comics artform is autobiography, like the works of Robert Crumb, James Kochalka, Harvey Pekar and Jason Marcy.

* Wait, you're the guy that hates superheroes, right? No, some of my favourite comics of all time are superhero stories, like Miller and Mazzucchelli's Daredevil: Born Again or Ellis and Hitch's The Authority. I do hate bad superhero comics, though, and these days, that's mostly what the corporate comic book publishers are turning out. I'd like to see that change, so that future generations of comics readers can enjoy the drama and excitement that the very best superhero comics can offer.

* But you are the guy that hates the direct market, right? Not really, I just think now that the whole world is reading comics again, it's time for those who claim to be professional comic book retailers to actually be professional. I wrote extensively about this in a multi-part essay called "A Future For Comics." Here's Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four; and Part Five.

* So what kind of comics do you like? Well, there's no one word that encapsulates the comics that excite and engage me the most, although I tend to call 'em artcomics or artcomix. You might think of them as undergrounds, alternatives, or even "black and white independent filth." I don't universally love any form of comics, though -- there are good and bad comics in every category, and I'm most committed to finding and writing about good comics, no matter what label someone might want to slap on them.

* Who makes the kind of comics you like the most? You can take a look at my fairly extensive list of recommended comics, graphic novels and related publications, but offhand the creators I almost always enjoy include Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, Robert Crumb, Eddie Campbell, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Warren Ellis, Renee French, Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez, Harvey Pekar, Paul Hornschemeier, James Kochalka, B. Krigstein, Jason Marcy, Barry Windsor-Smith and Yoshihiro Tatsumi. To name a few. The publishers that seem to release the books I like the most include Fantagraphics, Drawn and Quarterly, Top Shelf and Pantheon Books.

* How can I find out what kind of comics I will enjoy the most? Find critics whose tastes clearly intersect with your own, and follow their recommendations into places you might previously have avoided. If Critic A's explanation of why they like a book you like makes sense to you, then find a book they recommend that you haven't read, and try that one. Watch the magic happen. This is a large part of why criticism matters in every artform, including comics.

* How much are my comics worth? On average, if you're lucky, you'll get about 12 cents from a dealer for any random comic book. That's half of what they'll charge when they throw it in their quarter bin. There are comics that are worth a lot of money, but the chances are that you don't have them. Because the comics that are worth the most money are some combination of old, in excellent condition, highly desirable, and extremely rare. If you must put a price on your comics, go to your library and check out The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. It is far, far from perfect, but it will give you a rough idea what your books may be worth. Remember that condition counts for a lot, and grade your comics accurately. Finally, remember that if you try to sell your comics to a comic book dealer, chances are, at best, they will give you 50 percent of the values listed in the Overstreet guide. Why? Because they have bills to pay. If you want to get the maximum return on valuable comics you may own, you'll have to sell them some other way, such as through an auction service or on eBay. This is much more time-consuming, though, so think about what's most important to you: Selling them fast (to a dealer for less money), or getting the most money (selling them to individual collectors).

* Which comics should I be buying as investments today? None. Occasionally a new comic book will be highly sought-after and demand high prices, but the vast majority of comic books being published today are published in enough numbers that they'll never be worth more than cover price, if even that.

* Why should I buy comics? There's only ever one real answer to that, and that is because you like to read them. If everyone bought only the comic books they genuinely love, then the publishers will make many more of those sorts of comics. Multiple covers and other schemes designed to make people buy comic books they don't read may be good for the short-term bottom-line of the corporate sector of the comic book industry, but they are disastrously destructive to the longterm health of the comic book artform. That's because they sour the suckers who buy into the "investment" aspect of comics on the idea of comics in general. So for your own best interests and those of comics as a storytelling medium, please, buy only the comics you enjoy. And tell your friends about them.

* I want to make comics. What should I do? Make them. Do your best to improve your craft, whether it's writing, drawing, or both. Tell stories that have the most personal meaning and importance to you as a human being. Educate yourself about the pitfalls of working in comics (low pay, companies taking your rights away without proper compensation and benefits, etc.) and be sure you always watch out for your best interests. If a publisher offers you a contract, go over it with your own attorney to be sure your interests are protected. Corporations will always protect and promote themselves over the interests of any individual creator. This doesn't mean "don't work for corporate comic book publishers," it just means "know what you're doing before you do."

* Will you review my comic? I'll certainly consider it. The address to send me review copies is near the top of the sidebar on the right side of this page.

* Why didn't you review my comic? Although I try to review every comic I receive, it's not always possible or even desirable to review every single thing that I read. If I didn't review your comic, it doesn't mean it's no good. But good or bad, the comics most likely to get reviewed by me are the ones that elicit a strong reaction as I read them. The least likely comics to get reviewed by me are ones that are simply average, mediocre comics. If they're spectacularly good or spectacularly bad, though, chances are very good they will be mentioned here.

* Where do you recommend I buy comics from? If you're talking mail-order, I strongly recommend Lone Star Comics; both because they offer excellent and timely service, and because if you click over to them from this site and buy something, it helps support my own efforts here. If you're talking about specific comic shops I recommend, there is a list of outstanding comic shops in the links in the sidebar. I've visited every one of them, and they're all worth a visit.

* I'd like to advertise on The ADD Blog. Can I do that? Sure. Just send me an e-mail and we'll talk.

* I want to publish comics. Any advice? Loads. First, realize that no new comics company can be expected to make any money whatsoever within the first five years of its existence. If you do not have the capital shored up to protect against that fact, and do not have the confidence that your books will be of such high-quality as to ensure a large readership that builds over the first three years, then do not start your new comics company until you can meet those marketplace realities. Wishing will not make it so, and if you build it, history has shown that they will not come. Be aware that no one wants your new superhero universe or American-created manga-style comics. No one.

Also: Just because you like a writer or artist, that does not mean that readers will like their work. The worst thing an editor or publisher can do is be buddies with the talent they publish. If your judgment is thus compromised, you owe it to yourself, your creators and your readers to seek out blunt, critical analysis of the quality of the work and its likelihood of success before publishing it. If you must publish comics and are not already an established company with a well-known line and a reliable slate of books, then start your new company with one bulletproof book that is so well done and wildly entertaining that it can serve as the foundation of a steadily-growing company over the course of the next five years. History has shown time and again that this is the most reliable way to build a brand and create a publishing company. Finally, if you cannot afford a full-time publicity department that is dedicated to getting your books the maximum exposure possible, then you cannot afford to be a publisher. Hiring the talent and printing the books is no more than 50 percent of the equation that results in a successful book.

* As a reader, how can I make comics better? Don't continue to buy and support comics that do anything less than dazzle you with their ingenuity, their quality storytelling, and their elegance of purpose and design. The only reason any publisher can continue to produce bad comics is because people buy them out of habit or to have a "complete collection." Just stop, and comics will get better.

Also: Go through your collection regularly, and pluck out any comics you haven't felt the need to re-read for a year or more. Set them aside, and evaluate whether you really want to spend a portion of your rent money providing space for comics you no longer want or need. Throw them out, trade them, give them away, or sell them on eBay. Make room for better comics in your home, and in your life. Make careful note of the creators and publishers who tend to create books that you are not still excited about months after you first read them. Reconsider investing your money in their books in the future. Would you return time and again to a restaurant that served you bad food? There's so much more out there, waiting to be discovered. What are you waiting for?

* How often is this blog updated? 14 times a week, according to one statistic I saw recently, which averages out to twice a day, every day. Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less. You can always subscribe to The ADD Blog RSS Feed if it makes your life easier.

* Who are your favourite critics and bloggers? Roger Ebert, Tom Spurgeon, Chris Allen, Rob Vollmar, and Johanna Draper Carlson all come to mind. They, and other favourites of mine, are linked from the sidebar on the right side of this page.

* How can I become a critic? Probably the best information I've seen on this subject is Johanna Draper Carlson's thoughts on how to review comics. My to-the-point advice is: Be passionate, be truthful, and seek out diversity.

Labels: lists, meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:19 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Independence Day -- Happy Independence Day to all my U.S. readers. There's not much more I personally value more than independence, so I hope everyone, everywhere will take a moment sometime today to recognize genuine independence in some form and pay it the respect that it deserves, whether it's independent thinking, independent film, your local independent restaurant, movie theater, bookshop or comics store, and of course, independent comics. Those are the good ones, after all.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:52 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Diabetic Again -- This is a post I've been thinking about writing for a week or so now, and I can tell you it won't have anything to do with comics, not directly anyway. So if you're here for the funnybook chit-chat, come back later.

I wrote a couple-three weeks back about how I had experienced a bit of a health scare -- I won't go into the gory details, but something happened one afternoon that sent me immediately to the doctor's office. I was diagnosed with a fairly simple and common infection, and given some antibiotics. Within three or four days, I not only felt fantastic, but I had managed to kick my major, major caffeine habit that I had fostered under many years of working in morning radio. The nurse practitioner that I saw told me that caffeine and alcohol would only aggravate my condition, and as it was pretty painful in the beginning, I didn't want to make it any worse. After the symptoms cleared up, it just seemed like a good idea to kick caffeine once and hopefully for all. So I have gone from drinking 4-8 cans of Diet Mountain Dew per day (the diet version because I am diabetic and sugared sodas are definitely not on the menu for me) to drinking nothing but water, lots of it, and about one bottle of Diet Green Tea (no sugar, no caffeine, plus hopefully some antioxidants) every day.

During my visit to the doctor's office, the subject of my diabetes came up, and here's where it gets complicated and hard to talk about for me. But since I resumed blogging here, I don't feel the need to stick solely to the subject of comics, and I feel like I want this blog to be an honest discussion of whatever is on my mind, so again, feel free to click somewhere else if this is not of interest to you. I'm writing this one for me, really, not for you. Although those of you that stick around, I am extremely grateful to you, and you might even learn something about the arrogance and denial that have fucked up my health a bit. And it even ties into Comic Book Galaxy, to a degree. If you've read this far and keep on reading, and you've followed this site a while, you may even find some questions answered.

Where to start? Well, I was first diagnosed with Type 2 ("adult onset") diabetes on (you'll love this) Friday the 13th of November, 1998. I had been overwhelmed with fatigue and peeing every 30 minutes around the clock for weeks, so I knew something was wrong, but even with a family history of the disease (my mother was diabetic), I was ignorant and arrogant enough to actually hope, when I first went to see the doctor because of these symptoms, that maybe I was just suffering some sort of urinary tract infection.

I wasn't, of course. I found out that day that my blood sugar was 307, 300 percent of what a healthy person's reading would be. The news that I was diabetic hit me, at the grand old age of 32, like a brick to the skull. It was raining that day, and as I drove from the doctor's office to the supermarket, I remembering crying and feeling quite a bit like I had been handed a death sentence.

A lot of that emotion stemmed from the fact that I knew little to nothing about diabetes, despite my mother having had it (at this time she had been dead for four years, a victim of Alzheimer's and brain cancer). When I went to the store I bought healthier foods for the most part, but having yet not had any education about my disease at all, I also bought a big jug of orange juice. Mom had always had one in the fridge, and I realize now it was in case her blood sugar went too low. Orange juice has an enormous amount of sugar in it, so while it's good for reviving you if you're hypoglycemic (as in-control diabetics can sometimes become), for me, hyper-glycemic, it was not a very good thing to be drinking.

Luckily for me, within a week or two I had seen a nutritionist and done everything in my power (thank God for the internet, even in 1998) to learn as much as I could about diabetes. So I soon learned not to drink OJ unless it was medically necessary (and even then, it wouldn't take much to get your sugar back up to normal), and I began a radical diet program that consisted of -- amazing, for an American -- eating fewer calories than I was burning every day. This strict meal plan coupled with mild but committed exercise -- usually a half-hour or so walk every day -- allowed me to lose a mid-size child's worth of weight in less than a year, my blood sugar returned to low enough averages that my doctor cut the amount of diabetic medication I had to take every day, my eyesight improved, my libido returned to an 18-year-old's level, basically, life was incredibly good.

I didn't feel arrogant about it at first. For quite some time -- two or three years, I would say -- I felt extremely lucky. Blessed. I had been diagnosed with an incurable illness (I heard diabetes lumped with AIDS and cancer as incurable illnesses in a radio commercial one day, and it brought me to tears), and I had, through modern medicine and what seems to me now an enormous force of will, managed to bring my blood sugar levels basically to normal. All the complications of the disease -- blindness, amputations, heart disease, death -- seemed a lot further away than they did on that rainy day back in November of 1998.

But, as they do, things changed.

My job changed in late summer of 1999, and I think that's where it began. I had made my 30 minute walk a part of my daily routine at work, using my break time to keep myself healthy. When I switched jobs and started working at an all-news radio station in Albany, I now had to sit in a chair basically for seven or eight hours a day with no opportunity at all for exercise. I more or less stuck to my meal plan, but between the lack of opportunities for movement at work and the two-hour, 110 mile or so commute every day, I was just too exhausted by the end of the day to consider exercising at home.

That all-news radio job lasted about two years, then I decided to move on to a Public Radio station in 2001. The new job actually began a week and a day before the attacks of September 11th. The pay was out-of-this world compared to my Glens Falls radio days, or even the Albany job that immediately preceded it. I was a producer, editor and anchor, and also assignment editor for reporters ("bureau chiefs") over a wide swath of the northeastern United States. So I had mad cash, a lot of responsibility, felt like I was genuinely making a better world through my work in radio (a first in what was then about 15 years in broadcasting), and more or less thought I was on top of the world. As you might guess, I would trace the beginning of my arrogance to this period.

Because I had previously had such great control over my blood sugar, I went from 1998 and testing three or four times a day, to maybe once a day by 2000, and probably once a week or less by 2002 or so. I left the Public Radio station in late summer of 2004 under what I felt were less-than-ideal circumstances, and that's where I think the depression set in, depression that I experienced I would say from that time up until maybe the beginning of this year, 2007. So, for two or three years, beginning in August of 2004, I entered what was probably the darkest and most hopeless period of my life.

I said that this post would intersect with Comic Book Galaxy, and here's where that happens. I'm not going to bother digging into the CBG archives to come up with specific dates, so I admit that some of this may be hazy on exact details, but the crucial point is that sometime in 2005 or 2006, when things started to go wrong here (during the "New Comic Book Galaxy" phase that introduced a ton of new columnists and features), I was just too depressed and up my own ass to keep things on course here. I tried the best I could, because there's nothing in life I love more than this site except my family -- but as problems cropped up and had to be dealt with, my main method of dealing with them was just to end them.

So I fucked up this site quite a bit during this time. Offhand, I would say I owe huge and sincere apologies to Derik Badman, Johnny Bacardi, Mike Sterling, JC Glindmyer, Marc Sobel, Ed Cunard and Shawn Hoke, great contributors all; and all of whom came onboard CBG only to leave suddenly because of my inability to think my way through the various issues that came up during this time. Chris Allen, Rob Vollmar and Chris Hunter were an unbelievable help in trying to help me keep this thing going, but as 2005 rolled into 2006, my posting and ability to manage this site were increasingly sporadic.

I took a new radio job in late April of 2005, a time that coincided almost to the day with the accident that destroyed my red car. And while the decision not to buy a new one was based as much on ideology as budget constraints, I have to say that the lack of freedom was yet another blow to my ego and sense of self. These days I am a lot more philosophical about being carless -- if not proud -- but when the accident happened, it was just more crap to deal with, at a time when I wasn't dealing well with all the crap that was already on my plate.

The new job was stressful at first -- there was a lot to wrap my brain around, because although I had been in radio 19 years at that point, I was now doing things and charged with responsibilities I had never experienced before. The learning curve was steep, but eventually I came to grips with it, and came to love it more than any radio job I have ever had. That was a big part of coming out of what I now realized was probably a pretty deep depression, and for most of 2007, I have felt pretty good about my family and my job, while more or less ignoring my diabetes.

I think it was a combination of arrogance stemming from how quickly and effectively I got it under control circa 1998, and the subsequent improvement I experienced in many areas of my health. And dealing with all the different things I did in radio from 1998 to 2007, I find that it was really easy to just forget the fact that I am diabetic. Any of my fellow diabetics may or may not be shocked when I tell you this, but I don't think I tested my blood sugar more than once or twice a year over the past two or three years.

Physically, I felt fine -- artifically propped up by all that caffeine in the Diet Mountain Dew I drank like water -- and I was actively avoiding my doctor, for a number of reasons. Primarily I assumed -- wrongly -- that my sugar was still under control. He had also been a huge fan of the Public Radio station I worked at, so I was a bit humbled by the fact that I no longer worked there. Also, his very pro-active (and very wise) approach to managing my diabetes was just not something I felt I could deal with during this time, late 2004 to early 2007. So, I went to ground, abandoned totally my monitoring of my disease, and as any diabetic will tell you, when it comes to monitoring your blood sugar, out of sight is out of mind.

When I went in to the doctor's office a few weeks back, that was the beginning of digging my way out of all this. Emotionally I feel much better than I have in years -- I don't think I'm suffering from clinical depression anymore -- and I've started monitoring my blood sugar multiple times daily. My highest fasting blood sugar has been 180, and the lowest, this morning, after a few days back on my proper meds and with some real adjustments to my diet, was 135. But I know I've probably done some damage to my body in the time I was out of touch with my diabetes, and I know I have a lot of work to do before I can start to feel that it's under my control again.

I will say that there could not have come a better time for Michael Moore's Sicko, about the abhorrent state of U.S. health care even for people with insurance. Just in the past three weeks, I have experienced some of the stupidity, contempt, bureaucracy and outright hostility the system here in Los Estados Unidos has for people with serious, life-threatening issues. I have been confronted with a lack of knowledge and thoughtfulness by people in a position to help me, that made me realize a meeker, or poorer person than myself might have just given up. Hell, maybe I would have, myself, if I was still in the depression I was in not that long ago.

There's a scorched-earth war on right now against the health and well-being of anyone in this country who needs health care but isn't spectacularly wealthy. Anyone who tells you different is either lying or incredibly naive. I really wonder how much longer I'll be able to afford to take care of myself and my family, even with both my wife and I working full-time jobs. But the lesson of the past few weeks, and of the past few years of my living in denial about a gravely serious disease I will have the rest of my life, has made me realize more than ever that if I don't take full command of my life and my health, no one else will. On this day before Independence Day, 2007, the message I am getting is that here in the United States, our leaders and our health care system are staggeringly indifferent to the health and safety of the people. Of course, I need to watch out for my own health. Because it's crystal clear that no one else is going to do it, and in fact, the current system would prefer if we all just quietly suffer and die while politicians and pharmacological companies and anyone who profits from this clusterfuck of U.S. health care gets richer, and richer, and richer.

This is not a compassionate nation. In fact, health care is our national catastrophe, and we should all be ashamed. And we should all demand change, right fucking now. The billions we've wasted on the lie that is the Iraq war could have saved millions of lives. Lives not taken in the name of U.S. aggression, and lives of those receiving poor-to-no health care right here at home.

I'm not depressed anymore, I'm just pissed off. And determined to get myself better. This is a big change for me, and I hope you'll consider what you can and should change, yourself. If you're in denial about your health, or if you are in a position to effect or demand change in the way this country cares for its people -- all its people -- I hope you'll do so. If the people of this country can't watch out for each other, it's not a country worth saving. And right now we're all in grave danger, because of a corrupt and dysfunctional health care system. A good country is one that cares for and protects all its people before it wastes it resources elsewhere. This one has a lot of work to do to get where it should be, but luckily there are great examples -- Britain, Canada and France, for example -- of countries that get health care much more right than this one. What's needed is monumental change, which I fear will only be effected by monumental outrage. I'm starting to feel it. Are you?

Labels: essays, meta, radio, real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:04 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 5 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Viewer Mail -- My most recent review has garnered a couple of comments...like this one from Jim:

"Sigh. And me being a Green Lantern fan boy/continuity porn junkie who hasn't been too happy with Hal's regular series lately, I thought Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps was outstanding. Powerful, intense, full of big bombastic scenes of congregating evil and high octane unleashed drama (I thought the sniper sequence was 'cool' in an action-packed way), I loved the entire issue, and it felt good to be twelve-years-old again, if only for a few minutes. Oh, well. I did enjoy your thoughts on the book!"

See? You don't have to agree with me to be civil -- cheerful, even! More simpatico with my take on the book, Is uspect, was Andre, who had this to say:

"Hey Alan!

This…

'Johns's writing always reminds me of an 8-year-old playing in the tub, making up stories with his action figures as he neglects to wash his ass.'

...is probably the funniest line I’ve read on the Internet this year. Well done, sir."

Keep those cards and letters coming, folks!

Labels: corporate comics, meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:07 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Thursday Afternoon Excuses -- Ach, an entire day got away from me. Sorry for the lack of updates today, but when I was not at work I was working on a brochure design for a friend of mine who just opened a new business. She was quite grateful at the way it turned out, but I was grateful she asked so I could learn a new skill. It's funny how those lending a hand can benefit everybody involved.

Comics-wise, still working on the Fletcher Hanks anthology Fantagraphics recently released; I managed to read one or two more stories last night. Hanks's mind must have been a bizarre and fascinating landscape.

Looking forward to next week; with the Independence Day holiday falling on Wednesday, I'm taking Thursday and Friday off from work, as I'd imagine a lot of people with accumulated vacation days will be doing. I also found a nifty Independence Day post of mine from a couple years back that I want to expand on and re-post.

Labels: meta, real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:53 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
New Comic Weblog Updates -- No one at the new comics weblog updates page will answer my e-mails, but I sure would like to have The ADD Blog listed on there. Am I wrong in thinking there's a place for li'l ol' Doaney on there? If you like what you read here and think I should be listed, would you do me a favour and e-mail the site with your feelings?

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:30 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Not Tired at All -- I am usually asleep by 9:30 in the evening, sadly. It's a remnant, I think, of getting up at 3 in the morning to go to work every day, which I did circa 1997-2004. But here I am at 9:38 PM all awake and everything. Exciting.

My son's Fifth Grade Recognition event went well -- he's off to Middle School next year, and while I think the idea of a 5th Grade "graduation" is a bit silly, I have to admit that the emotional speech by the principal and an entertaining and moving video presentation did get to me after all.

After the ceremony, Mom and I slipped the boy a cash-filled congratulations card, which he was thrilled to get. He was also genuinely grateful that both of us were there -- the above-mentioned hideous work hours kept me from being able to attend a lot of school events for either he or his sister in their elementary years, but now that I am a 9-to-5 kind of guy and also working much closer to home, it's a bit easier to slip out for an hour or so to be there for my kids, which increasingly I am coming to realize is the very best thing you can do for them.

If you poke around in the "contents" section of the sidebar, you'll find I added some older posts from 2002-2003 that hadn't previously been in the archives. I don't know if you care much about old posts one way or the other, but while surfing Comic Book Galaxy's saved pages at Archive.org, I found a goodly amount of stuff that I had thought lost. So I tried to grab as much of it as I could and post it, back-dated, into the ADD Blog archives. Have a look if you're so bored inclined.

I'll be adding older posts as time allows over the next few days. I'm also thinking of integrating the Kochalkaholic and A Criminal Blog stuff I've written into the archives here, just to have it all in one place...

One other thought I had today, you know what is kind of cool? Remember a few years ago when this blog, Dirk Deppey's Journalista and AK's Title Bout were all fairly widely-read internet thingies? It's kind of neat that after our various 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness(es) that we're all back and in b-i-bidness one way or another.

Hey, wait a minute, maybe I am getting tired after all. One look at the cat sleeping comfortably on the rocking chair in our living room, and I can feel the energy drain right out of me. I think I'll read some more Fletcher Hanks and hit the hay. You have a good night and we'll chat again soon.

Labels: meta, real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:37 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
8,396 -- That's about how many words I wrote on this blog this week.

It's good to be back.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:32 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Labels -- It'll take me a while to label years worth of blog posts, but I've started using Blogger's Labels function to group posts. Click on the label at the end of each post to see other posts on the same subject(s). Labels include art, corporate comics, culture, equal marriage rights, essays, FCBD, five questions, good comic shops, industry, linkblogging, lists, memes, meta, movies, music, pre-ordering, pull list, radio, real life and reviews. As always, your comments and suggestions are much appreciated!

Labels: lists, meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:23 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Blogging About Blogging -- Since I resumed regular blogging here, I have learned a number of things.

1. Blogger seems a bit...diminished to me. Posts and especially template changes seem to take forever to go through, although I'm learning that sometimes it may just be my machine the changes aren't showing up on. Because...

2. Internet Explorer realy does suck like everyone says, and I've switched to Firefox. Firefox seems to be a huge improvement in internet browsing, but with Blogger there may be cache and cookie issues, which require workarounds for me until I figure thing out. Workarounds like...

3. Add a question mark to the end of a URL and then hit shift+reload, and you will actually see the newest version of a webpage. Something to do with making a dynamic call to the server, kind of like an agitated drunk in a bar. "Garcon!" Anyway, I learned much of this either because of switching to Firefox and Googling the problems I was having, or because of problems I've had establishing...

4. RSS Feeds. I'll be honest with you, I don't much see the point of them -- I'm really old, and I like my bookmarks just fine. If I like your site, chances are, pathetically, I check it several times a day to see what you're up to. And I guess I kind of assumed everyone was as bored/neurotic/desperate for information as I am. But no, Johanna let me know pretty clearly that a lot of people are hooked on RSS these days with no plans to go into rehab. Now, if you have been checking this site several times a day, you probably know I have had a number of RSS misfires, at least one of which required ointment to heal. I don't wanna make a big deal about it in case it once again doesn't work, but I have once again attemtped to create a working RSS Feed for The ADD Blog. Please try it out if you're RSS-savvy, and after a couple more updates here let me know if it seems to be working right. if it isn't, and chances seem to favour that outcome, there's always...

5. The Google Group. I've created one so you can subscribe to an updates mailing list for this blog. Subscribe here. Yes, I know it's the 20th century way of getting things done. But I was born in early 1966, so that not only makes me old, it makes me older than Star Trek. And anyone that old should know...

6. Blogging about blogging is a sin. Yes, Mike, I know!

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:11 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Subscribing to The ADD Blog -- If you'd like to receive an e-mail notice whenever I update this blog, please join the ADD Blog Updates group at Google. Thanks!

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:26 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Changes -- I'm fiddling with the template today. I've moved the very long "Recommended" list to its own page, because it was adding unnecessary length to the sidebar. I also switched the archives from weekly to monthly, in the hopes of that taking up less sidebar real estate too. Blogger is ungodly slow today, so the changes may take a while to go into effect. Drop me an e-mail if you notice anything terribly wonky.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:10 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Erstwhile -- Having seen this word misused at least twice this week on blogs I respect, I'm gonna just point out that this word means FORMER, not "intrepid," "awesome," or anything else. ERSTWHILE=FORMER.

Thank you.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 8:54 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Pressing Issues of the Day -- Weighing in on recent kerfuffles in the comics blogosphere...

#1: Johanna is Right -- A lack of diversity is why superhero comics don't matter anymore. A lack of diversity in creators, storylines, characters, and readers. A lack of diversity is why Manga has made the inroads that it has in the past decade, and the people up in arms about what Johanna had to say about diversity would know that if they paid attention to the real-world readership of comics as a whole rather than the inbred, moronic discussions at the superhero convenience stores whose days are numbered across North America.

#2: Tentacle Rape -- I looked and looked, on CNN.com and elsewhere, and could find no news coverage whatsoever of anyone or anything with tentacles raping anybody, anywhere, with their tentacles or anything else. Perhaps those upset by this imaginary scourge would do well to read point #1, above.

#3: San Diego Comicon -- As usual, Tom Spurgeon has a great guide to the San Diego Comicon. My plans in two words: Not going. As usual. Oops, that's four words.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:38 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Maybe I'm Vague -- Despite the interpretations of a couple of my favourite bloggers (hi, Chris and Bill!), I swear my recent "Where I'm At" post was an explanation of how I am trying to resume regular blogging here, NOT quitting again. That trick NEVER works!

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:28 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Where I'm At -- It's been nearly two years since the ill-fated launch of "The New Comic Book Galaxy," and while my posting here has been pretty limited the past few months, the site is never far from my mind. Other than my kids, it's probably the most rewarding thing I've ever been involved in, and if anyone is even still reading this, believe me, I really regret that the site has not managed to regain any momentum in calendar year 2007.

This came to mind this morning for a couple of reasons...firstly, I realized that the site's seventh anniversary is this September, and it hit me how unexciting that prospect is to me, and likely anyone else, because of the slow petering out of the vitality that once resided here. Second, one of the columns slated for "The New CBG" back in '05 was a series of pieces on the now-defunct but much-missed Albany, NY comics shop/indy publisher FantaCo. Former FantaCo employee Roger Green was to have written the columns for the new version of this site, but that never came to pass for one reason or another. He mentions that in passing in this terrific remembrance of the Counterfeit Cerebus incident at FantaCo (and other shops) in the 1980s. I was really looking forward to Roger's FantaCo columns, and even though they never materialized, I still read his blog daily and love his personal, intimate writing.

But it never quite made it to Comic Book Galaxy, and soon after "The New CBG" launched, things started going wrong and a lot of momentum was lost. I don't know if I could have somehow prevented it, if so, I apologize. As I say, I feel the absence of a vital, alive Comic Book Galaxy as much as anyone.

For months I have told myself I will somehow get it back together, the magical combination of inspiration, vision, passion, fascination and free time. Oh, and, money. That's always an issue, isn't it?

My passion for comics is as strong as ever, I promise you. But everything else has been lacking, and to be totally honest, I can't see any light at the end of this particular tunnel. A number of factors suggest themselves as contributing causes.

* I write all day for money. This is a big part of the inertia that has settled in. I just don't feel like writing about anything by the time I get home in the evening, and even if I did, the kids expect dinner and help with their homework and sudddenly it's 9 PM and damn, yawn, tomorrow's another day.

* The sense of urgency I felt when CBG was created in 2000 has diminished. This is actually quite a good thing, in my opinion. Back in the days when Marvel and DC could still be called "mainstream comics" without sneer quotes around the term, artcomix -- you know, the good, worthwhile comics published by folks like Fantagraphics, Drawn and Quarterly, Top Shelf, Pantheon, First Second, etc. -- needed help. I'd like to think Comic Book Galaxy was at least in some small way a participant in the total revolution that has occurred in the comics artform in the past few years. I don't know that we need to push as hard as we used to, I think the tipping point has passed, maybe around the time Time named Fun Home the book of the year, correctly. But seriously, it seems like a lot of the work I thought we were doing has come to fruition, all to the betterment of good comics.

That all said, man, I miss being "Alan David Doane: Comics Blogger." If you loved or hated this blog in its heyday, there's no denying it was a blast to write, and I appreciate every reader who read what I had to say, especially those who found actual value in my opinions from time to time. Believe it or not, I still have opinions, and I still want to share them with anyone who wants to know what I think, but after all of the above, I really am left kind of scratching my head wondering how to recreate this blog so that it still in any way matters in a world where Dirk, Tom, Johanna and a select few others really have good blog writing about comics kind of all sewn up. And I don't bother to read the shitty or otherwise aggravating blogs anymore, because really, I'm 41 years old and who has the time to spare for that sort of obnoxiousness?

When I started this blog post, I thought maybe I would come to some sort of conclusion about the fate of Comic Book Galaxy. I haven't, really, but it's been kind of a relief to share with you -- whoever you may be -- what has been going on and where I am at, vis a vis comics and this website. The one thing that I have learned while talking to you (myself, really, but you know what I mean) is that a new approach is called for. None of the old methods seem to be working for me anymore. I miss having a dialogue with comics readers, and more importantly I miss having a dialogue with comics. So I can promise you that I am thinking about how to renew that public love affair, but, I'm not promising dinner and a movie, not just yet.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 11:28 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 11 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
April Showers -- And now it's April. Sorry once again for the lack of posting, which recently prompted a prominent (and even reputable!) comics journalist to drop me a line asking what the hell is going on. The short answer is, for me, online, not much. The long answer is mostly boring and involves work and family and blah blah blah, and hey, look, you're bored already.

So just to make it worth your while having stopped by, I thought I'd note that yes, it is still my desire to resume this blog full-time. I just need to find the time and wherewithal to make that happen.

I made that most painful of comics decisions this week, switching comics shops. Ever see that Seinfeld episode about switching barbers? It feels a lot like that, like leaving your girlfriend or cheating on your wife. It's made even harder because I love the staff at my old shop, and their selection is probably the best between New York City and Canada. But financially, having now not worked in Albany for close to three years, I can no longer justify the expense for gas to get there, which has in recent months kept my comic-shop visits to once a month (if that)...

On the bright side, the shop I'll now be getting my books at is close to home, so I will be able to better keep up on timely comics issues...you KNOW you were aching to hear my rant about Captain America's tragic demise, right?

Right?

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:46 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Groundhog Day -- It seems only appropriate after weeks of online hibernating to pop my head up today and say hi.

Hi!

If you're still checking in here occasionally, you're no doubt aware that my hoped-for New Year's return to regular posting on Comic Book Galaxy didn't materialize. There are a lot of niggling factors involved -- personal, professional, financial -- but mostly I had hoped somehow that things would just come together (as they often have in the past) and that we'd be back in the swing of things by now. So far, not so much. Seriously, if this matters to you, please know it also matters to me, and I sincerely apologize for the delay. I know eventually I'll get things back on track, and I appreciate your patience in the meantime, more than you know.

In other news, my birthday was a week ago yesterday. I turned 41, and am now forced to accept that I am, indeed, a man in my 40s. It is enough to give one pause, but as I try often to remember, much preferable to the alternative.

Someone asked me the other day what comics I am reading, and the truth is, as always, as many of the good ones as possible. At the moment I find myself surprisingly energized by Garth Ennis's Punisher MAX series -- Ennis's clarity of vision for the character is just riveting, and the plots are tight, suspenseful little exercises in storytelling. I'm also enjoying most of the stuff Ellis and Brubaker are doing these days. Of course, Brubaker and Phillips's Criminal is absolutely fantastic. If you're not reading it, you're missing probably the best monthly title being published today. But Brubaker and Phillips have been achieving that goal for years now and only get better, month after month.

Labels: meta, real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:27 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Holiday Hiatus -- As you've probably noticed, the site has not been updated in a while, and likely will not be for the next few weeks, at least.

We've experienced serious technical difficulties throughout 2006, and some of those remain unresolved, but at the moment finances and time-management are the main problems. Keeping Comic Book Galaxy alive and active is always a top priority for me, and no one is more disturbed than I am at the recent inactivity on the site. My hope is that by the beginning of 2007 we'll be back in action in some manner, but at the moment that is more a hope than a definitive plan of action.

As always, thanks for your interest in Comic Book Galaxy, and I hope you and yours enjoy a peaceful and prosperous holiday season.

ADD

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:13 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Random Thoughts While I Should Be Sleeping -- In no particular order...

1) I can't believe there are still people who draw a distinction between "TPB" and "GN." Gang, the battle's over --they're all graphic novels.

2) Upstate New York really needs a comic book convention, and it needs Rick Olney to have nothing to do with it. Sorry, Rick, but, there it is.

3) Artists who guarantee a buy from me: Tom Raney, Chris Sprouse, JH Williams, Bryan Hitch, Frank Quitely, Sean Phillips, John Cassaday, Darwyn Cooke, Erik Larsen, Gene Ha, Jacen Burrows, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Cameron Stewart, Barry Windsor-Smith. This started as a list in my head of the superhero artists who still give me a visceral thrill, and I could add a batch of qualifiers -- for example, Quitely needs to go back to fuller pencils and a real inker (himself or someone else), and Raney certainly has been mostly mis-used since Stormwatch with Warren Ellis. But these artists all still really get a rise out of me. I would love to see Ed Brubaker do something with Tom Raney, or Ellis write something for BWS. I suppose it's not a coincidence how many of these artists have done some of their best work with Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Ed Brubaker or Warren Ellis, the four writers whose corporate comics work has most excited me in the past decade. But yeah, you don't have to be a writer-artist to grab my attention, miscast as I sometimes am as an artcomix indie snob.

4) Seriously, dude, ALL TPBS ARE GRAPHIC NOVELS. Stop worrying about it.

5) You know what is a REALLY under-rated run of great comics? Wildcats Vol. 2 #8-28 by Joe Casey and Sean Phillips. GREAT FUCKING RUN OF COMICS THERE. If you like Godland or Marvel Zombies or Sleeper, and you haven't read those Wildcats issues, hunt 'em down. You'll thank me for it.

6) Also, if you love Hitch and Neary art, Wildcats Vol. 2 #5 is ALL HITCH AND NEARY, and worth tracking down. Came out in the middle of the Ellis/Hitch/Neary/Depuy glory days of The Authority, and still gorgeous to look at.

7) Studio 60 started off semi-strong; love having Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford together and back on my TV (well, computer, but, same diff), but Amanda Peet? Drop her down an elevator, Aaron, she's excess baggage. Pretty, but utterly dispensible.

8) Boston Legal is back. Downloading the first ep of Season 3 now. This is good news. Not as good as having The Shield, 24 or Entourage back on would be, but it helps. Downloading The Unit for my wife; it's watchable, but...but...

9) Confidential to Harlan Ellison -- if you had died after writing "The City on the Edge of Forever" 40 years ago, we would all remember you as a great writer. Now we will all remember you as a dirty, cranky old fuck who couldn't wrap his brain around the internet. Or much of anything else.

10) I really miss Hunter S. Thompson.

11) Back to bed now.

Labels: industry, meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:13 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Possibly the Greatest Invention Ever -- It's Snippy!

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:56 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Return of The King -- Welcome back, Dirk. You have no idea how much you've been missed.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:09 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
A Criminal Blog -- Because I don't have enough blogs, I've dedicated one to the newest title by my favourite writer/artist team. I kick things off with my review of Criminal #1, which arrives in comic shops Wednesday, October 4th. At A Criminal Blog you'll find links to a PDF preview, so check out the preview, the review, and most importantly of all, let your retailer know now that you want a copy of Criminal #1, solicited in the current Previews.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:49 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Thursday Afternoon Linkblogging -- Yesterday was an insane day at work, to the point I felt like I was in the engine room of The Titanic with Dixie Cup in hand to help me stem the rising tide. I also had an allergy attack late in the day that floored me for about four hours, which was probably brought on in part from the stress at work. I am a sneezing, coughing mess of a man, yes indeed, I am.

The San Diego Comicon coverage I have most enjoyed this year has been that generated by good pal Christopher Allen. If you haven't been keeping up, his threatening-to-become-an-epic multipart saga is here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5. Part 6 should wrap things up, if we're lucky, maybe tonight or tomorrow. It's personal, witty writing from one of the best minds writing about comics today, so give it a look.

There are some wonderful SDCC photos up right now at the Fantagraphics blog, and I especially enjoyed this Eric Reynolds post, which has lots of pics and also runs down Eric's favourite titles from the convention. There are a half-dozen books on that list that I'd cut off a toe for. Sure, one of your toes, but that doesn't make it any less difficult. In fact, you might even put up a struggle.

Warren Ellis isn't kidding. Ignore him at your own risk. If you decide to look, though, have a melonballer handy to scoop out your eyeballs afterward.

Oh, Comic Foundry's video coverage of San Diego was very good -- professional looking, witty and informative, plus you get to see some famous nerds walk and talk -- and in one case, chew gum. Here's the red carpet interviews, featuring a couple extremely rude jackasses interrupting the goings-on; also, a travelogue, also worth a peek.

Although his commentary on the comics industry is generally undercooked and overblown, I liked Dorian's post on gays behaving badly.

That's all for now...

Labels: linkblogging, meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:52 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Spurge's Comicon Wrap-Up -- A great summary of Tom Spurgeon's Comicon experiences, divided into easy-to-digest numbered segments.

It well and truly sucks that Tom's backpack was stolen; I'd be apopleptic if some asshole ripped off my sunglasses, because A) I love them and B) They're prescription and cost me about the same as my monthly rent payment. C'mon, you cretin -- do like the bald guy from Midnight Oil said and GIVE IT BACK.

Also: Damn, what are these two new Fantagraphics reprint projects? Enquiring minds want to know! C'mon, guys, I can keep a secret, honest!

Labels: culture, meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:29 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
UPDATED: Chris Allen's Con-Blogging -- Maybe it's because he actually lives in San Diego that I enjoy Chris's writing about the Comicon so much. He lacks the starry-eyed wonder of nerds travelling in from East Bumfuck, thrilled beyond all reason to learn who will be inking Jim Lee on some fill-in issue of Green Arrow, or whatever. Instead, he delivers the only con-gossip I'm interested in, actual con-gossip.

Update: Chris has posted part two of what looks to be his three-part look at his San Diego experiences.

Labels: culture, meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:48 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Bad Articles and Kneejerk Defenses -- You know, it's not that hard to be an online journalist, but it's even easier if you can do lousy work and defend it by whining about how hard it is. Christopher Butcher once again calls for minimum standards for online journalism. The usual suspects whine about their terrible lot in life.

Bonus Fallacy: The fucking idiots in Newsarama's comments section are a reliable "Wiki" that serve to self-correct shitty articles.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:28 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing (Larry King Stylee) -- It's Monday of an apparent four-day holiday weekend, and I have to go to work; how do other people remember to plan out their vacation time so well? Hey, didja notice Galaxy OG Rob Vollmar is back, with a new satellite blog called Ramble On? You may know Rob as the uber-talented writer of The Castaways and Bluesman, but he was also here on that fateful day back in 2000 when we launched Comic Book Galaxy. I'm thrilled to have him back writing about comics again, as he is one of the most thoughtful and considered commentators on the subject. You might also have seen his comics writings at Ninth Art, and in the pages of The Comics Journal. His first major piece for Ramble On is the first in a series of essays titled Rage of Angels, go take a look.

Watched Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby last night; it's part of my Roger Ebert Film Series, which is really just me going through Ebert's 2006 Movie Yearbook (a wondrous collection of all his critical writing fro the past 18 months or so) and picking out movies that I missed the first time around. Million Dollar Baby was very good, especially in terms of the acting and cinematography. Ebert feels, if I recall his review correctly, that it's virtually perfect with nothing that isn't needed for the film to work as it does. I might disagree a bit on that; I think the first scene with Maggie's hillybilly relatives was a little heavy-handed and could have used a rewrite, and the last half-hour (everything after the final boxing match, basically) could have been condensed, rewritten or disposed of altogether. When the fateful moment occurs, we know what the implications are, and I think we see a bit too much of the natural course of events from then on out. The movie was shot from the first draft of Paul Haggis's script, and maybe that's my problem. Seems to me it would have been wise to tighten up the last part of the story. But up until that, it is perfect, and overall is still an excellent film and well worth your time if you haven't seen it.

Also watched, on Ebert's recommendation, a kinda-sorta sci-fi film called Primer. It allegedly cost $7000.00 to make, and unlike Ebert, I think it looks that way, although that's not a criticism, just an observation -- the look totally works for the purposes of the film. What didn't totally work was the film itself; its early Bendis-like dialogue (a bunch of only semi-convincing technobabble designed to overcome the viewer's disbelief at what a certain invention can do) gives way to vague intimations of goings-on only partially discernable. It's possible I wasn't watching closely enough (although I felt I was giving the film my full attention), but it seemed to me like the film really lost track of its own timeline(s), moments and motivations. At the middle I was intrigued by the Lathe of Heaven-like possibilities, but by the end I was just glad it was over and a little exhausted from trying to keep straight a film I suspect even the director couldn't explain. That can work when the focus is on tone and feeling, but Primer is not about tone and feeling, and if it is, it is not about it very convincingly.

Oh, hey, I wrote a review over the weekend, did you see it? Better late than never, I look at Jaime Hernandez's Ghost of Hoppers, which is some damn fine comics. Read the review, more importantly, buy the book. Good stuff. Will Maggie ever not be hot?

All right, the sun's coming up and the day awaits. If you're in the US and enjoying the day off, well, enjoy your day off.

Labels: meta, monday briefing

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:32 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Look, Up On The Internet, It's a Kerfuffle! -- Christopher Butcher takes people who should know better to school on the basics of journalism. Being that Butcher is one of the two or three most insightful comics journaliasts alive, you'd think they'd listen, but the comments section of that post reveals a little nanny-nanny-nanny-neener-neener-neenerism, and also my two cents.

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:40 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Great Advice for Good Bloggers -- I'd say the Christopher Butcher model is most reflected in this piece on blog post frequency by Eric Kintz. Butcher may not post every day, but it's almost always compelling and link-worthy.

Participants in the new mini-phenom of co-opted group blogs [Blog@Newsarama, Comics Should Be Good] would do well to read this essay. I've bookmarked both of them and even linked 'em in the sidebar, but honestly the dozens and dozens of posts they've racked up in the past week all run together in a blur when I try to think about them. [via Lost Remote]

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:16 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 3 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
ADD Blog Hits The Big 0-4 -- It took me a while rooting around on webarchive.org, but this page has my first-ever ADD Blog posting, from four years ago today. The reason that page isn't in the archives in the sidebar over there on the right, as you may or may not know, is that eventually this blog mutated into its own site, addblog.com, before coming back home here to Comic Book Galaxy. Therefoe this is the third or so incarnation of the blog, and the fact that it works at all is a minor miracle given my technical abilities and the whims of the Blogger interface.

I do want to thank Neilalien for all his advice, technical help and suggestions over the years. In addition to being one of the longest-lasting and most entertaining comics bloggers, he is also unmatched in his knowledge and understanding about how the internet and blogging works (or should work). It's very possible I wouldn't still be doing this if not for his friendship and help, so, thank you, Neil.

Thanks also to my friend and fellow-Galaxy co-conspirator Christopher Allen, whose friendship, feedback and occasional wet-noodle lashings have been invaluable in how I approach my writing, my blogging, and my waitresses (hah!). Seriously, Chris and I have been doing this thing together and seperately for a long time now, and getting to bounce ideas off a noggin as sharp and observant as his has been a genuine thrill and a real education. I still want to be Chris Allen when I grow up.

And thanks to all of you for reading this blog, whether you're just visiting for the first time or you actually remember all the way back to June of 2002. Remember how big cell phones were way back then? They were enormous! Ha ha!

Anyways, thanks for stopping by these past four years here at the ADD Blog!

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:22 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
An Infusion of Vitamin ADD -- If you enjoy my writing -- hey, you're here, right? -- you might be interested to know I have added a ton of my older opinion columns to the commentary page and quite a few previously unlisted reviews to my brand-new alphabetical ADD reviews archive.

So, if you ever wondered what I thought of a bunch of comics I forgot ever reading, never mind actually reviewing, check 'em out.

Keep in mind many of the opinions you'll read are quite a few years old, and may not completely reflect my thoughts circa 2006 CE, but, I kind of got a kick out of scanning through the ancient archives...

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:44 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 3 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Tim Still Reads the ADD Blog -- And this is what he has to say about that and some other interesting stuff, too:

In fact, I've been wanting to comment on it for awhile now. I just let stupid self-doubts about not being in "the proper demographic" trip me up, I guess. I'm 52 & still a fan of comics ... well, some comics. I'm delighted with the explosion of non-superhero comics during the past 10-15 years, and ADD Blog has clued me in to several of them (the work of James Kolchalka, for instance). Yet I also enjoy traditional superhero comics, although nowhere near as much these days. And I think what I find unsatisfying is the demand for "realism."

Now, I'm not talking about smart, energetic, thought-provoking work like Mark Millar's Ultimates, or the return of noir sensibility to street-level heroics. What leaves me feeling empty & cheated is the "realism" in traditional superhero titles -- if graphic killing, rape, and psychological trauma is necessarily more real than, say, compassion or wry humor or a genuine sense of awe & wonder. This is evident in most popular entertainment today, not just comics -- the operative worldview seems to be, "the uglier something is, the more real it is."

Again, don't mistake this for a plea for all-ages work in the worst, fluffy bunny sense of the phrase. (Although I think "Owly," for example, is far more adult than the slaughterfest of characters we're seeing in too many DC comics these days.) And it's not a plea to ban anything dealing with the darker side of human nature, either -- such works are vital, if they're truly exploring that darkness, rather than simply exploiting it & pandering to the "kewl"-craving audience.

What I'm seeing is a vast timidity of imagination, a drawing back from that genuine sense of awe & wonder, a feeling that it's a lie, or an illusion, or a tantalizing but unrealistic goal. Granted, the current state of the country, and of the world, certainly supports such a bleak worldview. All the more need for that awe & wonder, then! Which is why I absolutely love the work of, say, Grant Morrison. He seems to be one of the few writers of traditional superhero comics who revels in wonder, who looks beyond the current edgy trends.

I see a lot of online talk about older comics work being dated (the same for a lot of films, novels, music, as well). Well, some of it is silly or poorly written or logically absurd -- there's basic assembly line work in any era, and some of it has its place, too. But when I look at something like the Superman Showcase which recently came out, I can see why its contents excited & thrilled Grant Morrison -- it's like a piece of naive but honest folk art, with a certain childlike purity to it. And Grant's been able to infuse his own work with much of that same sensibility, with the addition of 21st century insight & his own remarkable intelligence.

So, I know I'm rambling a bit here, trying to say too much at once, and probably not doing as well as I'd like. I just feel sad at times for so many people who can't see beyond immediate & often brutal sensation to something more -- a deeper, more complex & nuanced experience of life. And I don't see why comics can't offer some of that, just as much as any other art form -- people like Grant Morrison & Alan Moore are proof of that, to say nothing of the wealth of independent creators at work today.

Now, maybe this is just the nostalgia-ridden fear of someone grown older & uncomfortable in this newer world, someone who wants all the reassurances of a recognizable, longtime worldview. That's a possibility I won't discount ... but I honestly don't feel that's the case. I enjoy a certain amount of nostalgia as much as anyone who lives long enough; but I still seek out new expressions of art, new modes of expression. I don't want to retreat to a cocoon of oldies stations & Silver Age reprints; while I enjoy the best of that, I also want to know about the newest music & comics & painting & films, etc.

So what's my wish for comics? I'd say it's for a larger, more expansive, more emotionally & philosophically richer universe -- not merely an acceptance of the darkest & shallowest aspects of contemporary culture, one which says there's really nothing more than that. I want the dissection of despair I get from Chris Ware, but I also want the rapturous loopiness of Seaguy. I'm sure you've heard the Biblical quote, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." That's my wish for comics, then: More vision. More wonder. More joy -- and yes, more genuine sorrow, rather than "the shock of the year -- nothing will ever be the same again!"

David, I enjoy & appreciate your online work. I've discovered some wonderful new work thanks to your reviews & comments. And if I don't always agree with your every word, I'm always grateful for the obvious passion & dedication you show for this wonderful art form.

Thanks for listening!

Hey, thanks for writing, Tim. It's extremely gratifying to know someone so eloquent and intelligent makes this blog a stop on his web-surfing itinerary...

Labels: meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:49 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Checking In -- Yes, I've been busy. Sorry about that. I don't have anything solid to tell you here, but I wanted to check in. How about some
BULLET POINTS

• I had part two of what seems to be a three-part root canal treatment today; the good news, the dentist was able to save my tooth, which had been giving me a good amount of agony prior to me finally going in and getting it taken care of. Contrary to popular belief, root canal therapy (as it's really known) is actually pretty painless, although having my mouth wide open for two hours today was pretty fatiguing. Additionally, I forgot to eat before going in, and thanks to my diabetes had some low blood sugar during and after the dentist visit...luckily it was Josh's birthday at work today, so, yum, cake. His six-week old daughter is adorable.


• The new Tool CD 10,000 Days (no, it isn't officially out yet) is fucking awesome. It's not quite as good as Lateralus in my opinion -- I think that 2001 release is one of the ten best CDs ever released (and thanks to d. emerson eddy for turing me on to it), but some of the tracks on 10,000 Days are Lateralus-worthy, certainly. A woman I work with who I share similar musical tastes with generally was shocked to learn how much I love Tool. Well, as Brian Towne said to me years ago, I do indeed have a dark side, and Tool provides it with an aurally perfect soundtrack.


• The new Complete Peanuts volume (1959-1960) starts off with a surprisingly astute Whoopi Goldberg interview (I hate it when Gary Groth refers to Schulz as "Sparky," though, I really do...), and then astounds with a couple of wonderous story-arcs right off the bat, from the first week of 1959. Wonderful stuff. This series is deep into the very best of Schulz's work, now, and will stay there for at least another five or ten volumes. Get 'em, I'm telling you.


• Jesus, 24 was good this week. And there are now THREE Robocop cast members running around on there, do you realize that? The latest addition from that movie is a perfect villain for the show, he really is -- although for a tenth of a second I thought it was David Cross, which would have been even more fucking awesome.


• Also really enjoying The Sopranos this season. If 24, The Shield and The Sopranos were all on at the same time, my head would explode.


• I really feel like no one is reading this blog lately. Am I crazy? Let's find out. Send me an e-mail with the subject line I'M STILL READING THE ADD BLOG and include your name and address. I will pick one e-mail at random and send you at least 50 bucks worth of free graphic novels. Just to see how many people are still reading along. Fellow bloggers, please don't link to or talk about this offer, I only want entrants who discover it right here, reading this post, without any help.


• What else? All cell phone companies suck, you realize that, right? I thought Sprint was