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Episode 1362 Talkback: Comic Talk
Pants
Posts: 567
Topics of discussion in this episode include upcoming comic conventions, the Eisner Award nominations, the 75th anniversary of Superman, the Injustice Gods Among Us video game, Superman Family Adventures and some TV talk including a healthy discussion on Dr. Who. (1:03:55)
Listen here.
Listen here.
Comments
* On the flip side of your statements, I was very pleased to find that many of the books I read this year were actually on the Eisner nomination list - unlike previous years. In particular, the best single issue (one-shot) category has some great books you should seek out - the Mire from Becky Cloonan, Post York by James Romberger, and Lose #4 from Michael DeForge are frickin' amazing.
*Has Jamie D. lost his mind? Superman I is the best of the Supes films and he doesn't find Futurama funny. Mr. The D, I feel for you and your synapses [please note: this bullet point was offered with affection and a wee bit of snark]
*re: bullet point above - thanks goodness Shane's in the house to keep things sane.
Thanks again for all you do, gentlemen. It helps me get through the work day.
-chris
http://thecomicforums.com/discussion/1859/will-eisner-comic-industry-award-nominees-2013#latest
It isn't just you guys, though, I noticed that John Barrowman pronounces it wrong, too.
Superman 2 isn't really much better. Superman can kiss someone and make them forget stuff?
TV
Futurama: 3 seasons prior to 1st cancellation were very funny. Post cancellation, not so much
Big Bang Theory: Ever watch it without a laugh track?
The prosecution rests.
Community: Refuse to watch a minute of S4 because of the way Harmon was treated
Dr. Who - lets just say I turned the show off at the 40 min mark
Pants: woah woah woah spoilers!
The snuggles watcher: so it was about the bear and he uh had uh fabric softener and it was cute and stuff
Pants: I started playing injustice gods among us and well the joker kills, oh spoilers, batman and then he takes over as the new robin......
I can't get into dr who but I like hearing people talk about it cause it sounds interesting. Just to me it isn't. So could you all not talk about it until pants has caught up so you can actually talk about it?
chris
Doctor Who. I want to say first that I am loving the Doctor Who talk. I love listening to Pants talk about his experiences as it reminds me of how excited I was when I first started watching the show and then re-watching it with the new series. I'm sorry that you got spoiled about the Face of Boe. I was like Shane and I had to rewind that part a few times and I really geeked out over that little tibit. If you watch Torchwood, it's a bit more adult than Doctor Who but still very awesome. Another very good spin-off series and a show that feels more like the classic Doctor who series is The Sarah Jane Adventures. It's more geared towards kids but I always found it pretty fun and you do get guest stars which is a lot of fun.
Great show as always and keep up the Doctor Who talk. I have also been to Barnes and Noble and there are some amazing swag there. I love the build-a-Sonic Screwdriver set where you have different pieces to make your own custom Sonic Screwdriver. I like the Monopoly Board a whole lot and I love the pieces that you use like the 4th Doctor's scarf and the 2nd Doctor's recorder. Audible has some amazing stories you can get as well that is narrated by stars of the current show and it's a lot of fun as well as radio dramas of lost episodes that are really well done. It's a great time to be a Doctor Who fan. Oh, I met Peter Davison last year at NYCC and he was such a cool person. I also met Colin Baker at NYCC and he was also extremely nice. I got Peter so sign my DVD cover of the Five Doctors. An amazing story using the first five Doctors.
Also, you'd be hard pressed to find someone with a better grasp of art (in general), comic art (specifically), or the history of the comics medium than Frank Santoro.
chris
Someone said that the Eisners are AN indicator of quality, and you misinterpreted that as an extreme belief that the Eisners would be the only way to track creative merit.
And then you said that the Eisner judge was still living by his blacklist--which was a casual comment made months before he became a judge--even though the guy refuted it:
http://ifanboy.com/articles/eisner-judge-frank-santoro-and-his-before-watchman-blacklist/
This happens every year when the Eisners come out, and it isn't just you.
People see that their favorite mainstream comics didn't get on the list, and they pout.
I love DC, but it's pretty clear that on CGS and on the boards here DC is far and away the most popular publisher (Pants newfound love for Hawkeye notwithstanding). That's fine and all, but I think it's safe to say that EVEN HERE for the past 10 months or so people have been expressing a sort of malaise in terms of what DC puts out.
So why is it all that surprising to see even fewer DC books than usual on the Eisners list?
Even in the best of times, it's not like mainstream superhero comics clean up at the Eisners. Waid won for Daredevil last year. Alan Moore won for Supreme in the '90s. I know there are other instances, but the Eisners aren't really THAT much more friendly to mainstream superheroes than the Oscars are to action/scifi/horror/genre films (which DO win some awards, but usually aren't even nominated for the big ones). You expect to see things like Fables, or before that things like Sandman, Bone, Strangers in Paradise and Cerebus, getting Eisner noms.
Put it this way, I've loved Bendis's X-Men but don't expect to see it on the Eisners list. It's well done, but it's fairly standard superhero fare. Same with Grant Morrison's Batman: I've LOVED some of it, but wasn't shocked that it rarely (if ever?) made the Eisners list. And whatever anyone thinks of it, Morrison's Batman was obviously more "intellectual" or "avant garde" than Snyder's Batman. Yet people are dumbfounded that Snyder's fairly standard (however well-done) tales of Batman fighting bad guys hasn't made the Eisners list? It's sort of unbelievable to me. Are you guys equally as indignant that The Avengers didn't win best picture?
Awards like the Eisners are about ART and INNOVATION more than ENTERTAINMENT value. For better or worse--much as I love my entertainment too, sometimes more than unique artsy stuff--that's what they're about. Wanting a bunch of Superman, Batman, X-Men and Spider-Man books on the list sort of defeats the purpose. That's what the Wizard Magazine awards were for.
I never said that I think that more DC books should be on the Eisner list so don't put words in my mouth. I'm not pouting either. I just pointed out that fact that not having more books on the Eisner list doesn't necessarily mean they are a failure creatively. Here is the the original post "Total number of Eisner nominations for DC Comics: 3 (2 being merely cover artists) Commercially successful? Maybe. Creatively? Not so much". That statement doesn't say that the Eisners are AN INDICATOR of quality does it? It states that DC is not successful creatively and the way we know this is because they only garnered 3 nominations.
For the record Django Unchained was the best movie I saw last year.
Yeah, the New Adventures line kinda takes that aspect and runs with it, frequently turning the chessmaster into full-on manipulative dick, and at this point in the series Ace had had enough and left for awhile. It's kinda why I don't like a lot of what I've read from the NAs, though some of them are really good. And to be fair, Benny's an awesome character, and had enough of a following that Virgin Publishing started a line with her as the lead after they lost the Doctor Who license to BBC's in-house publishing arm.
I liked Pants' excitement over a video game and how's he learning it. I'm just not into them. Maybe I'll try them out. Some girl friends of mine keeping pushing me to try them.
Eisners': Ah, yeah. Same discussions almost every year....ho-hum.
Non-funny/Non-interesting TV: Hm...I'm still a BIG fan of TBBT. I even watch it WITHOUT the "laugh track" (I actually think that it's filmed either partly in front of a studio audience or they play the video in front of an audience) and I STILL laugh! Sheldon is getting a little tiresome, but I think the Raj character is growing a lot and as you said Penny is still hot (but not as hot as she was in the first season).
Dr. Who: I listened to your review...since I will probably not watch it, but it's interesting (once again) to hear Pants' enthusiasm about the show.