SILENCE! #73
August 20th, 2013
FUCK A JOHN WAYNE
Disembodied Narratorbot X-15735 is sad to say that Gary Lactus is no longer with us…he is in Edinburgh doing some ‘stand-up’, ‘comedy’ mission. Ha ha, You thought that Disembodied Narratorbot X-15735 meant he was dead! Gullible meatbags.
But seriously I disintegrated him this morning.
So you get solo-Silence with The Beast Must Die – STOP CRYING! – as Disembodied Narratorbot X-15735 was saying, you get solo-Silence. Boo-hoo , all better now.
<ITEM> a brand new one-off theme tune and a GOSH comics jingle? Surely you spoil us Beasty one..?
<ITEM> TBMD slot himself into The Reviewniverse to talk about some stuff, including Incredible Hulk, Catalyst Comix, Dial H (final issue), Prophet and a bit more too!
<ITEM> A small play depicting Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin talking about Satellite Sam…? Stop, my beating diodes!
<ITEM> a long winded monologue about comics virtuoso Michel DeForge, taking in Lose no.5 and Very casual.
<ITEM> A personal message from Jesus no less
NO MORE ITEMS! Go away now and come back next time. Disembodied Narratorbot X-15735 promises that you will get the Complete Deal, The Full Works, The Whole Kt and Kaboodle….The one true SILENCE!
SILENCE! is proudly sponsored by the two greatest comics shops on the planet, DAVE’S COMICS of Brighton and GOSH COMICS of London.
August 20th, 2013 at 6:08 pm
Loved the DeForge monologue Beastie, it’s easy to forget why you still bother with comics sometimes so reminders like this will always be appreciated round my way!
August 21st, 2013 at 1:41 am
John Wayne Was a Nazi!
Cheered when you made the catalyst comix TDKSA connection I absolutely agree. And I also agree that TDKSA was a great comic. Everyone hated it because they wanted more TDKR but i think Miller was already cringing at the wave of grimdark pretenders that came in the wake of that book. So instead he delivered a very unMiller book, oddly hopeful and futurist. He made every hero so exciting. Captain Marvel’s last stand was so we done “say the word warrior go out with a lion’s roar!” makes me embarisingly misty eued.
Those color choices! Insane in the best way possible. Plus my favourite Batman quote of all times “I was sentimental– back when I was old”
August 21st, 2013 at 1:51 am
Oh man and DeForge! Oh boy oh boy Ant Comic what a read. I wanted add that what I loved about Ant was that it displays a distopia but not the sort that we see in stuff like 1984 where there is a strong top down control and observation. Instead it’s this psychedelic incomprehensible world where nobody including those at the top really know what is going on and the disparity more comes from your ultimate insignificance and confusion rather than any palpable oppression. I think he paints a very contemporary distopia and it just resonates like crazy. There’s also something reassuring in that meaningless chaos like “well at least we have a sand box to play with” I thought that really came through in the last page where the little work prophet any reels off all the possible futures he is seeing. I think I would still be here typing tomorrow if I went I to how amazingly well his characterization is done and how disturbingly believable his psychopaths are.
August 21st, 2013 at 1:53 am
Worm prophet ant* stupid iPhone
[/word vomit]
August 21st, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Can’t say anything about DeForge you didn’t address already really. Not overly familiar, but I read the whole of his Ant comics in one sitting (sneakily at work). Brilliant stuff. I know he’s young and massively talented, and has already done a huge body of work.
A friend loaned me CF’s Powr Mastrs, and I have to admit I found it pretty hard work. It did look pretty nice though.
August 21st, 2013 at 8:48 pm
I found DKR incredibly positive and hopeful when I first read it, in the way Bruce Wayne is able to, after some fannying about, escape his untenable situation for a truly brighter and more satisfying old age. He’s too old to be Batman, but he’s too driven to be Bruce, but he’s too loud to be Old Batman so he burns it all down to become New Bruce, and bosh: smiling. You see Nolan’s Bruce Wayne managing the same trick in his third Batman movie, so I’m guessing Goyer saw the same thing.
Turns out we were both wrong, though. Because he’s Batman again in DK2 (“Jackson Pollock’s Batman,” the young me called it, because I wanted to be noticed).
I dunno. I liked it at the time, but he’s changed and I’ve changed, and that horrendous militant Wonder Woman that everybody seems to get excited about makes me fucking rage. The minor ending is more The S Stands For Skulls shit, the major ending is spurious and hateful, but the last line is one of the best last lines of any comic ever /hyperbole
I think that, as with DKR or Watchmen, or latterly the fin de siecle works of Ellis and Moore, the poisonous ripples spinning out of these grand comics milestones almost make me wish they’d never happened.
Disclaimer: I’m in a shitty mood.
Good monopodde, though, Beastie. Fraction sounding like Kenny Everett, there.
I read DD as well. Pretty good, but a bit of a light back half of that two-parter. Kind of really hoping it isn’t another superhero in the chair at Neldock Law. Probably Kirsten instead. I also read Superior Foes of Spider-Man, which was pretty good. Of a body with the sort of side-on superhero stories Joe Casey does, like Nixon’s Pals, etc..
I also read Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, which meant that I was up ’til 4am arguing with thin air about whether it was actually a good comic or not. Results inconclusive.
//\Oo/\\
August 21st, 2013 at 9:35 pm
Yes, Michael DeForge is awesome. I hate him. Bastard.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:25 pm
Great solo show there, TBMD. Nice musical bits, too. Glad you talked about DeForge. This Canadian is ashamed to have read Chester Brown but not DeForge. Will rectify that soon!