Lilith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
reflectedeve) wrote2008-07-26 06:11 pm
reflectedeve) wrote2008-07-26 06:11 pm
and her head has no room
Okay, wow, what a day I'm having. I went out with some friends (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
omnia_mutantur and her husband); they'd invited me to go see an exhibit at a small local gallery. The exhibit itself was nifty; a small room full of photos of women (of all ages and sizes, though ethnicity was extremely limited) with tattoos. The photos, women, and ink were all beautiful (in many ways, not all conventional) It was inspiring (I want, so badly). Also, I was encouraged to see the local tattoo parlor I've been researching listed in the thank-yous on the artist statement.
Also, we visited my friends' local comic shop, in Union Square. I'm a loyal regular at another shop in Harvard Square, but it's nice to see all the local options, and this one was fantastic. I wound up picking up Comic Book Tattoo. When I first heard about this, it struck me as an expensive and pretentious vanity project, and honestly, it probably is. However, it also contains some really gorgeous and diverse art, and some intriguing stories (though I know less about the latter; I still need to read them), both by creators I adore and some who are completely unknown to me. I've been disappointed in the Flight anthologies, but this strikes me as something like what I wanted from Flight. It set me back a bit, tsk . . . but I'm being so good about getting my comics from the library lately, it's just one slip.
Then we went back to my friends' new house, did the tour, and curled up to watch a History Channel documentary on the superhero genre in comics. It was pretty impressive, actually, considering the amount of material it had to cover in a short time, but it really got me thinking.
I've recently embarked on a mission to do some essential reading in my "field" lately, aided by my new library card . . . I finally read The Dark Knight Returns, the first volume of The Maxx and Planetary, and I have Blankets to read next. After that I plan to start in on The Spirit (Eisner's original), The Authority, Preacher, reread Watchmen and Jimmy Corrigan, finally read American Splendor, Black Hole . . . and so on. Most of the ongoing series that have kept me so occupied for the last few years (largely Vertigo titles) have ended, and it's good time to really sink my teeth into the works that have and are shaping comics as they are today.
And I'm left with a lot of conflicting thoughts. I grew up on superhero comics, then moved to some more independent/"serious" work (with a very brief dalliance with manga); for a few years, I actively dismissed and badmouthed the superheros. Now I'm coming into a new appreciation of that genre, and of its historical and thematic importance; I am, however, sort of struggling with the current accepted "greats" (both the "parents" of Vertigo/the most celebrated works of the contemporary mainstream, and of the leading lights of the indie/graphic novel/autobiographical contingent). I've started to really crave scholarship about this stuff . . . I miss school more right now than I have in two and a half years. (Except that I was never in school for this. The only thing I want to be in school for now is comics: primarily from a vocational angle, but the academic/critical one is looking increasingly appealing as well.)
I think I'm going to want to try and write more about comics in the future. (You never know, with me: I have ten thousand projects at once, and I often don't finish any of them. But I feel as though I have some essays, or at least questioning posts, brewing.) I also think I may go back to my recommendation project of last year; I kept mentioning titles toomnia_mutantur, which she hadn't read, and well. I can be a resource, and would like to be!
This post . . . is probably going to be largely crossposted to my RL journal. I'm posting here, though, because this journal is where I live lately: I've been feeling more at home with fandom (for the most part) than with my scattered collective of RL friends and acquaintances. (Not to malign those of you who read here as well! I love you all. And part of the reason you're here is that . . . I feel like I can talk about more things in front of you. I censor myself so much more over there.)
So I was wondering!
[Poll #1230176]
There's no guarantee that I'll do any or all of these things, and if I do, I have no idea what the frequency will be. But most such posts will be locked, particularly if they include my original art or link to any of my RL-oriented internet accounts. I don't want to spam anyone who doesn't want to see this stuff, and I know many of us don't know each other well. :)
I should probably go to the grocery store now, but I think I'm going to go watch that Dark Horse interview from SDCC, and then curl up with some movie and draw.
omnia_mutantur and her husband); they'd invited me to go see an exhibit at a small local gallery. The exhibit itself was nifty; a small room full of photos of women (of all ages and sizes, though ethnicity was extremely limited) with tattoos. The photos, women, and ink were all beautiful (in many ways, not all conventional) It was inspiring (I want, so badly). Also, I was encouraged to see the local tattoo parlor I've been researching listed in the thank-yous on the artist statement.Also, we visited my friends' local comic shop, in Union Square. I'm a loyal regular at another shop in Harvard Square, but it's nice to see all the local options, and this one was fantastic. I wound up picking up Comic Book Tattoo. When I first heard about this, it struck me as an expensive and pretentious vanity project, and honestly, it probably is. However, it also contains some really gorgeous and diverse art, and some intriguing stories (though I know less about the latter; I still need to read them), both by creators I adore and some who are completely unknown to me. I've been disappointed in the Flight anthologies, but this strikes me as something like what I wanted from Flight. It set me back a bit, tsk . . . but I'm being so good about getting my comics from the library lately, it's just one slip.
Then we went back to my friends' new house, did the tour, and curled up to watch a History Channel documentary on the superhero genre in comics. It was pretty impressive, actually, considering the amount of material it had to cover in a short time, but it really got me thinking.
I've recently embarked on a mission to do some essential reading in my "field" lately, aided by my new library card . . . I finally read The Dark Knight Returns, the first volume of The Maxx and Planetary, and I have Blankets to read next. After that I plan to start in on The Spirit (Eisner's original), The Authority, Preacher, reread Watchmen and Jimmy Corrigan, finally read American Splendor, Black Hole . . . and so on. Most of the ongoing series that have kept me so occupied for the last few years (largely Vertigo titles) have ended, and it's good time to really sink my teeth into the works that have and are shaping comics as they are today.
And I'm left with a lot of conflicting thoughts. I grew up on superhero comics, then moved to some more independent/"serious" work (with a very brief dalliance with manga); for a few years, I actively dismissed and badmouthed the superheros. Now I'm coming into a new appreciation of that genre, and of its historical and thematic importance; I am, however, sort of struggling with the current accepted "greats" (both the "parents" of Vertigo/the most celebrated works of the contemporary mainstream, and of the leading lights of the indie/graphic novel/autobiographical contingent). I've started to really crave scholarship about this stuff . . . I miss school more right now than I have in two and a half years. (Except that I was never in school for this. The only thing I want to be in school for now is comics: primarily from a vocational angle, but the academic/critical one is looking increasingly appealing as well.)
I think I'm going to want to try and write more about comics in the future. (You never know, with me: I have ten thousand projects at once, and I often don't finish any of them. But I feel as though I have some essays, or at least questioning posts, brewing.) I also think I may go back to my recommendation project of last year; I kept mentioning titles to
omnia_mutantur, which she hadn't read, and well. I can be a resource, and would like to be!This post . . . is probably going to be largely crossposted to my RL journal. I'm posting here, though, because this journal is where I live lately: I've been feeling more at home with fandom (for the most part) than with my scattered collective of RL friends and acquaintances. (Not to malign those of you who read here as well! I love you all. And part of the reason you're here is that . . . I feel like I can talk about more things in front of you. I censor myself so much more over there.)
So I was wondering!
[Poll #1230176]
There's no guarantee that I'll do any or all of these things, and if I do, I have no idea what the frequency will be. But most such posts will be locked, particularly if they include my original art or link to any of my RL-oriented internet accounts. I don't want to spam anyone who doesn't want to see this stuff, and I know many of us don't know each other well. :)
I should probably go to the grocery store now, but I think I'm going to go watch that Dark Horse interview from SDCC, and then curl up with some movie and draw.