Please allow me to introduce myself, (I’m a man of poor health and bad taste),woo woo, woo woo
First up, this blog will be primarily concerned with films and comics (although not necessarily in that order) as these are the two storytelling media that haunt my waking (and some sleeping) hours. Yep, another wannabe film-maker, who spends too much time/money watching/reading/writing about films and comics rather than making his own.
For those who haven’t been scared off, I’ll also be writing about various other pop-cultural-things and maybe even moaning about my real life!
Anybody left? Okay the format of this blog will be fairly rough and ready, originally I wanted to rip off another fine blog (Dave’s Long Box http://daveslongbox.blogspot.com/) where Dave, if that is his real name, reviews the old comics in his collection) but then I realised that my back issues were mostly from that early 90’s period, where Jim Lee/Rob Liefeld were supreme overlords of the comic book world(and probably had characters called Supreme Overlord). And I really don’t feel like reading those again, for fear of actually making myself dumber (as if such a thing were possible!) So I’ll probably just talk about the stuff I pick up from now on.
When it comes to comics, I’ve got four people to thank/blame for my on again/off again addiction:
My Mum: Yes I do believe it was my mater who supplied me with my first dose of comic crack (for free, but then the first hit it always for free). I’ve still got that first comic somewhere, I think its an issue of the Defenders where Angel has been blinded. From then on I was hooked for a couple of years. I managed to shake of the effects until-
Biff Butler: Kid at school, and now lead singer of Apartment 26 (nu-metaaaal!) who weaned me back on to comic crack with the X-men, yes dammit, Jim Lee's dynamic art and attractive ladies was enough to warp my 10/11 year old mind. In that time I became a proper marvel zombie, with only a scant few issues of DC lining my collection and a few early Image titles now lining my cat's litter box. During this period, I also worked on my own rubbish comic characters, with such names as One-shot, Bodycount and Virus. Oh yes, I read Image. Anyway I finally managed to give up comics, when Marvel started their Age of Apocalypse crossover (the first time round) and I finally decided there was no way I could afford to buy that shit. Until-
Ed Knowles: Best Bud that he is, asks me when I’m 22 years old and working in IT support, if I’ve looked at the Marvel website recently. “No,” I say. “For I am a grown man and I have put away childish things. And those Movie Maniac Figurines don’t count cos they’re collector’s items!!” But I look at it anyway cos I’ve got hours and hours to kill in my job and limitless web-browsing capability. (ah when Broadband was a privilege, not a right.) So the Marvel website has free Flash-based samples of their recent comics (and an advert to have people dressed as superheroes come to your birthday, but Rogue looked my aunt…) and I start to check out what has happened to my favourite mutants in recent years. And y’know what, its good! Marvel Comics finally employed some decent writers, like Peter Milligan on X-Statix, Brian Michael Bendis on Daredevil and-
Grant Morrison: Writing the New X-men. Which blew apart my tiny little skull (ok my skull is fairly normal sized, but it is shaped like an egg). Morrison revolutionised the X-men with one issue, then re-examined all its previous motifs and made them seem like new, e.g. The Academy as a School, Magneto, Genosha, Imperial Guard. The idea of these new students, studying at the academy and saying to Professor X, “No, fuck you, baldy! You don’t know shit!” was a breath of fresh, if blue, air.
So that’s the culprits, if you like this blog, go up and shake their hands when you see them on the street (apart from Grant Morrison, he won’t have a fucking clue what you’re going on about). Or if you don’t like the blog, go up and punch them in the face (apart from my mum, dude its my mum! Oh and maybe Ed, nah, punch in the face, I can’t stop you.)
Next on Friends of James: Okay I’ll talk some more… about film and comics and stuff (promise).
For those who haven’t been scared off, I’ll also be writing about various other pop-cultural-things and maybe even moaning about my real life!
Anybody left? Okay the format of this blog will be fairly rough and ready, originally I wanted to rip off another fine blog (Dave’s Long Box http://daveslongbox.blogspot.com/) where Dave, if that is his real name, reviews the old comics in his collection) but then I realised that my back issues were mostly from that early 90’s period, where Jim Lee/Rob Liefeld were supreme overlords of the comic book world(and probably had characters called Supreme Overlord). And I really don’t feel like reading those again, for fear of actually making myself dumber (as if such a thing were possible!) So I’ll probably just talk about the stuff I pick up from now on.
When it comes to comics, I’ve got four people to thank/blame for my on again/off again addiction:
My Mum: Yes I do believe it was my mater who supplied me with my first dose of comic crack (for free, but then the first hit it always for free). I’ve still got that first comic somewhere, I think its an issue of the Defenders where Angel has been blinded. From then on I was hooked for a couple of years. I managed to shake of the effects until-
Biff Butler: Kid at school, and now lead singer of Apartment 26 (nu-metaaaal!) who weaned me back on to comic crack with the X-men, yes dammit, Jim Lee's dynamic art and attractive ladies was enough to warp my 10/11 year old mind. In that time I became a proper marvel zombie, with only a scant few issues of DC lining my collection and a few early Image titles now lining my cat's litter box. During this period, I also worked on my own rubbish comic characters, with such names as One-shot, Bodycount and Virus. Oh yes, I read Image. Anyway I finally managed to give up comics, when Marvel started their Age of Apocalypse crossover (the first time round) and I finally decided there was no way I could afford to buy that shit. Until-
Ed Knowles: Best Bud that he is, asks me when I’m 22 years old and working in IT support, if I’ve looked at the Marvel website recently. “No,” I say. “For I am a grown man and I have put away childish things. And those Movie Maniac Figurines don’t count cos they’re collector’s items!!” But I look at it anyway cos I’ve got hours and hours to kill in my job and limitless web-browsing capability. (ah when Broadband was a privilege, not a right.) So the Marvel website has free Flash-based samples of their recent comics (and an advert to have people dressed as superheroes come to your birthday, but Rogue looked my aunt…) and I start to check out what has happened to my favourite mutants in recent years. And y’know what, its good! Marvel Comics finally employed some decent writers, like Peter Milligan on X-Statix, Brian Michael Bendis on Daredevil and-
Grant Morrison: Writing the New X-men. Which blew apart my tiny little skull (ok my skull is fairly normal sized, but it is shaped like an egg). Morrison revolutionised the X-men with one issue, then re-examined all its previous motifs and made them seem like new, e.g. The Academy as a School, Magneto, Genosha, Imperial Guard. The idea of these new students, studying at the academy and saying to Professor X, “No, fuck you, baldy! You don’t know shit!” was a breath of fresh, if blue, air.
So that’s the culprits, if you like this blog, go up and shake their hands when you see them on the street (apart from Grant Morrison, he won’t have a fucking clue what you’re going on about). Or if you don’t like the blog, go up and punch them in the face (apart from my mum, dude its my mum! Oh and maybe Ed, nah, punch in the face, I can’t stop you.)
Next on Friends of James: Okay I’ll talk some more… about film and comics and stuff (promise).
posted by James Plumb at 12:06 pm
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