SILENCE! #224
May 8th, 2017
NO TRESPASS BY ORDER, BY DRUNKEN DISORDER MORE LIKELY OLD PRICK
When you dine at the devil’s table you better make sure you bring your own cutlery. Also bring your own napkin. Some sort of hand santitizer wouldn’t go amiss either. Basically, everyone knows the Devil’s a bit of a prick so take precautions. This should all really go without saying. The real question is why are you dining at the Devil’s table in the first place? Obviously you’re better off not dining at the Devil’s table. Tell you what, if you’re dining at the Devil’s table you deserve everything coming to you (unless you’re buttering him up for a reduced membership fee at the Devil’s Gym with its Olympic sized swimming pool that isn’t full of school kids and old people taking up too much lane space with an impossibly slow breast stroke. It’s a great gym.)
Gary Lactus and Bobsy are creeping up the creaky wooden stairs in the old haunted house that is your ear mind, hoping not to knock anything over and disturb the SILENCE! #224.
<ITEM> Sip a glass of cold Champagne wine, The rug that we lie on feels divine.
<ITEM> SILENCE! LIVE! is happening again. Thursday May 11th from 7pm ish at the Bishop’s Finger 9-10 W Smithfield, London EC1A 9JR. We have a vague theme of Big Press/Small Press.
<ITEM> Comic Pop Up should be fun too! It’s on Saturday May 13th in Brighton
<ITEM>Swiftly the diphallactic duo swiftly swoop into the Reviewniverse where they guff on about Secret Empire, Hero Killers, Batman: Botchmen, Guardians Of That Galaxy, Bullwhip, Aliens: Dead Orbit, Predator Hunters, Hawkeye, Black Bolt, Champions and Shaolin Cowboy
And don’t forget (we’ll stop going on about it soon)…
@silencepod
@frasergeesin
@thebeastmustdie
@bobsymindless
@theQuietusFilm
@kellykanayama
[email protected]
This edition of SILENCE! is proudly sponsored by the greatest comics shop on the planet, DAVE’S COMICS of Brighton. It’s also sponsored the greatest comics shop on the planet GOSH! Comics of London.
May 9th, 2017 at 5:34 am
Secret Empire reminds me from the outside in a lot of ways to Final Crisis in its method of disorientation and reordering (also probably because that book is a large influence on Hickman and Morrison has always been a large one on Spencer)
There is also a thing with it where it is the first time a villain of an event comic since Tony Stsrk in Civil War really got under the skin of people.
It is just a shame it has such spineless politics and the writer and editor are clowns online.
May 9th, 2017 at 10:24 am
Lovely podding as always chaps.
It’s been cracking watching the twitter war unfold over Secret Empire, I’m still slightly bewildered by it and think it probably wouldn’t be so massive if Nick Spencer wasn’t so clearly a thundering cunt (Axel Alonso isn’t white, so probably not after non-white genocide. Just really shit at his job).
It feels like the inevitable end point of the internet’s past few years of going “Thing X can be interpreted as Thing Y and as such shouldn’t exist”, which has and always will be a shit argument. Obviously it’s pretty bloody stark with Secret Empire, but I still think asking authors generally to close off their work to the potential of negative interpretation is a nonsense. And people need to be better at acknowledging that if they want to play Lit student and say “this can be read as this”, they also need to be better at acknowledging that it doesn’t suddenly make that reading absolute and canonical.
In the abstract, a Captain America story is being used to tell a story about fighting fascism in America, which is what Captain America’s for. It might be being done in a way that’s total dog shit that no one would possibly want to read, but I still don’t think that makes it offensive. Though that cause isn’t helped by Nick Spencer coming off like the second coming of Elliot Rodgers.
That’s far too many thoughts than the books deserved anyway.
Aliens was fucking great, I’ll take a bit of Stokoe drawing clunky machines and slimy beasties every month. He handled the pacing expertly when we got to the tense scary bits and all. More comics like this please.
May 9th, 2017 at 1:09 pm
I hear you Harry, but I think that reflects a point I tried to make about in’t pod the propaganda function (or potentiality) of certain images and scenes.
For instance, ‘Fascist Cap holding Mjolnir aloft while lightning strikes all around’ – isn’t just a comic ‘being done in a way that’s total dog shit’.
In my view it’s something much worse than that: simple, straightforward, pro-fascist propaganda, and its authors should be held to account for either their ignorance of the meaning of their own work (this is the charitable view); or for simply peddling such monstrous views.
May 9th, 2017 at 1:51 pm
Aye and I get that, and do agree with a lot of what you said in the pod. And usually when it comes to any fiction I hate the idea that authorial intent is something that matters when it comes to how a reader takes a work. BUT, when the interpretation of work (and I totally get its perhaps barely interpretation with this, rather a big obvious jack boot to the chops) crosses over into “Nick Spencer is intentionally writing fascist propaganda, let’s tell him to die on twitter” then he does have a right to say “Look, I fucked that up but here’s what I meant”.
Which he hasn’t done properly at any point of course, he’s insisted he’s not being political and rambled on like a total tit. Good work, Nick.
I dunno, I think I’m on side with your opinion generally but probably read it, as you said, charitably. I think he’s just entirely ignorant and has gone steadily off the rails throughout its publishing. Loved hearing your take on it, as ever, I always come away with new stUff to think about.
May 9th, 2017 at 1:52 pm
Yeah my thing at first was maybe the key is not to imbue these characters with as much power and cultural cache as we have but I guess we are well beyond that point at this point.
May 9th, 2017 at 2:15 pm
The problem with telling a fascist Captain America story is that Marvel isn’t equipped to do it. Nick Spencer certainly isn’t and why they let Tom Brevort talk to other people is beyond me. Nobody involved in this is constitutionally equipped to tell such a difficult story. Plus let’s be real, any points made about trying to be timely are utter shit. Its another cynical ploy to raise sales after a thousand OTHER cynical ploys to raise sales. Everybody knows this won’t matter by the end of the summer. Its been clear every step of the way that this story should have been shut down in a pitch meeting and that Marvel is full of stubborn little man babies who don’t have the backbone to apologize and will keep doubling down on their bullshit. Can you imagine being someone who actually got pulled into comics recently and finding out Marvel has utter contempt for you as a customer? I would never read a comic again.
May 9th, 2017 at 2:24 pm
It’s a cynical ploy to raise sales, in the same way that every story Marvel make in the hopes more people read it is a cynical ploy to raise sales though? I absolutely get not wanting to read it, but it’s the idea that it’s somehow abhorrent that it even exists I don’t understand (unless you take it as them writing pro-fascist propaganda, that I can understand people not wanting to exist).
I’m coming off like Nick Spencer’s weird big brother here, so I’ll stop quasi-defending the existence of something I fundamentally think is bollocks. I am genuinely interested in the reaction to it though, rather than being a troll-y devils advocate. Honest.
May 9th, 2017 at 2:34 pm
I think we are operating at a pretty high level of cynicism in this regard. We know it won’t matter because a soft reboot is coming. We knew it was temporary from the get go and how often have we been told “Nothing Will Ever Be The Same Again!!” Also, the rise of Fascism in America and worldwide is very real and very scary and attempting to cash in on it is cynical beyond belief.
May 10th, 2017 at 12:06 am
I’m cool with darling bobsy calling me Stokie, but in return I get to call him Bobso.
May 10th, 2017 at 10:31 am
Exceedingly satisfied with this new arrangement.
May 10th, 2017 at 12:42 pm
I thought this was a lovely episode, good catwork, bad burping. Had to skip the bit about Space Friends though ‘cos I’ve pure no’ seen the ‘hing yet.
Also not sure I wanna give Trump’s Pals Marvel my money, but the capitalist bargain is bad all over. Dunno.
DC can be proper edgy and make it that Dr Manhattan is living on that blue planet from Moore’s Swampster Comics. Get as much Moore into these dogshit comics as possible.
Comics!
May 11th, 2017 at 1:27 am
On the topic of Spencer’s politics
https://amazingcavalieri.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-primer-on-nick-spencers-shitty.html
May 11th, 2017 at 11:32 am
I also loved Aliens: Dead Orbit. captured he mood and feels of the original fillum. And Mr Stokoe was born to draw xenomorphs and future tech. Lovely
May 12th, 2017 at 3:17 pm
Hiya. Just wanna say Silence! Live was great. If you weren’t there you missed out and if you were there it was great to meet you. As usual Beast, Lactus and Lord Nuneaton Savage were fine hosts and Bobsy was missed.(would have loved some CIA Batman debate and possible Twin Peaks digression). We enjoyed some in-depth after-Pod chattage with Dougie, Gareth, John and the Fantasticast boys. Amy says you’re all comix geniuses.
May 13th, 2017 at 10:15 pm
I was gonna post that, Nate. Anyone still doubting Spencer would stoop to the foulest possible opportunism should look it over*.
*This is still the charitable read
May 13th, 2017 at 10:17 pm
Which is to say: great pod, stamp all over Secret Empire’s shitty face imo tbqhwy tyvm
May 14th, 2017 at 12:03 am
I hope “To Be Quite Honest”but can only guess at the rest of that acronym. I’m guessing “With Your Tiny Young Venereal Mind”
May 14th, 2017 at 10:45 am
Sounds good to me, in my opinion, to be quite honest with you, thank you very much!
May 14th, 2017 at 3:02 pm
Ahh! Thank you.
May 14th, 2017 at 11:17 pm
I’m glad that these reprehensible comics are at least fueling the ranting Bobsy content that I crave.
I look forward to the inevitable crossover between fascist Cap and CIA Batman as they team up to destabilise the socialist dimension.