I Wanted to Travel :: John Gibbons

View On WordPress

Watchmen #8: Old Ghosts

by Alan Moore; Dave Gibbons and John Higgins

DC

1985 ad for various 2000AD reprint albums from Titan. The two shown are Rogue Trooper Book One (cover by Dave Gibbons) and Robo-Hunter Book Three (cover by Ian Gibson). I don't remember some of these being published as hardcovers. Don't think I've ever seen one.

Batman/Catwoman Special #1 (2022) pin up by Dave Gibbons

What I’m reading these days #5

Previously:

* What I’m reading these days #01 * What I’m reading these days #02 * What I’m reading these days #03 * What I’m reading these days #04

Hey everyone, I hope you're doing all right! It's been a long while since I wrote one of these posts, almost 5 years actually... Yeah, recently I've been more focused on sharing scans than texts like these or artbook reviews, sorry!

Anway, these days I'm reading four cool books at once so I figured I could make you (re)discover something, so let's go!

What a surprise, yes, I'm reading Dragon Ball again, last time was 6 years ago so I thought I could revisit this cool universe that always brings me back to my childhood. In France we have a "Perfect Edition" which has a bigger format than usual mangas, a new translation and all the original colour pages so it's a great pleasure to read! I'm always in awe when looking at Toriyama's watercolours, they were absolutely beautiful.

I'm not going to dive much further into Dragon Ball because I've already talked about it a lot, maybe take a look at this old article. 

///

Now something completely different, if you are an avid TV show enthusiast, you might have watched the sci-fi show The Expanse. I discovered it after a few seasons had already aired and really enjoyed it (except maybe the last two seasons which had some flaws in my opinion). I quickly learned that before being on TV it was a very good series of books by a couple of authors writing under a single name: James S.A. Corey. So naturally I started buying and reading these books, loved them and realised that the adaptation was quite good. It took some years but I eventually finished reading the nine books and at that moment, just when I thought I was out of this amazing universe, I saw that there was a collection of The Expanse short stories published under the title Memory's Legion.

So that's what I'm reading right now and just like the rest of the series, it's very cool and definitely fills some interesting holes in the Expanse's lore (plus I always enjoy good sci-fi short stories)! You will learn a little bit more about the guy who came up with the Epstein drive that made space travel a lot easier in the story, the backstory of a cruel but intriguing character (Cortazar), the life of a young Amos (even before he was called Amos), etc. It's a very good read if, like me, you've finished the main series and still want more!

///

Let's keep our heads towards the sky for this next book: Moonfire by Norman Mailer. I stumbled upon it in a bookstore in Lyon, France and the cover immediately caught my eye. It's a small but thick book which contains as much text as photos from NASA's Apollo 11 mission (the first time humans beings walked on the Moon back in 1969). Being an astronomy and space exploration fan I just had to buy it and I'm glad I did!

Actually I thought it would be a historico-scientific recollection of this incredible event of the XXth century but that's because I didn't know Norman Mailer! I will let you read his Wikipedia page but he wasn't "just" a writer, he also was a journalist, a poet, an essayist and so on. So instead of simply telling us what happened in that important period of human history, he includes himself in the story as a character and shares his thoughts about the situations, the people, the technology, etc. It makes for a surprising yet very interesting read as he takes this unique opportunity to analyze, criticize even our modern society and more specifically the USA's society of the time.

I'm about halfway through the book and I really enjoy Mailer's way of telling the story but also the incredible photos of the event, most of them taken during the mission itself by astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, I cannot stop looking at these shots and wonder what their experience was like. They freakin' walked on another celestial body (actually only two of them did while Collins was busy being the loneliest person in the history of Human life, flying above the far side of the Moon)!

///

A couple of my friends work at a local comic book shop and thanks to them I often discover very cool comics, mangas and bandes dessinées (what we call european comics in France). Also it's worth mentioning that the french publisher Urban Comics (they publish a lot of american comics here) is trying to make a selection of their books more affordable and compact for people who don't have much money or space in their home that they can dedicate to comic books. And so in this effort they have started a collection called "Urban Nomad" in which all prices are below 10€ (approx. 10 USD). The first one I picked is Watchmen.

I have watched the movie adaptation when it came out... 14 years ago (ouch!) and really liked it but kind of forgot about it, which is a good thing because now I can re-discover the story in its original format: on paper!

And what a story! Since the first pages I was sucked in by the strength of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. The story is so good and feels so contemporary that I have to keep reminding myself that this was made in 1986-87! If you don't know anything about Watchmen I won't spoil it for you but the story takes place in a version of our world where masked vigilantes are already has-been, one of the reasons being the accidental transformation of a man into a God-like version of himself. Because of this event, the course of history is different from the one we know and live in, and in this context one of the few remaining masked vigilantes (pictured on the cover) is investigating a series of murders among his former colleagues. This is all extremely well integrated into the politico-historic context of the time (though once again it's somewhat different from our reality) and it's easy to recognize the quality of Moore and Gibbons' work!

///

Well, that's it for now, I hope you've discovered something, if so let me know! And I'll try not to wait five more years to write a "What I'm reading these days" again. See ya!

Old naval slang

A small collection of terms from the 18th - early 20th century that were and probably still are known among sailors.

Admiralty Ham - Royal Navy canned fish Batten your hatch - shut up Beachcomber - a good-for-nothing Cape Horn Fever - feigned illness Cheeseparer - a cheat Claw off - to avoid an embarrassing question or argument Cockbilled - drunk Cumshaw - small craft - Chinese version of scrimshaw Dead Marine - empty liquor bottle Donkey's Breakfast - mattress filled with straw Dunnage - personal equipment of a sailor Flying Fish sailor - sailor stationed in Asian waters Galley yarn - rumour, story Hog yoke- sextant Holy Joe - ship's chaplain Irish hurricane- dead calm Irish pennant - frayed line or piece of clothing Jamaican discipline - unruly behaviour Knock galley west - to knock a person out Leatherneck - a marine Limey - a British sailor Liverpool pennant - a piece of string used to replace a lost button Loaded to the guards - drunk Old Man - captain of the ship One and only - the sailor's best girl On the beach - ashore without a berth Pale Ale - drinking water Quarterdeck voice - the voice of authority Railroad Pants - uniform trousers with braid on the outer leg seam Railway tracks - badge of a first lieutenant Round bottomed chest - sea bag Schooner on the rocks - roast beef and roast potatoes Show a leg - rise and shine Sling it over - pass it to me Slip his cable - die Sundowner - unreasonable tough officer Swallow the anchor - retire Sweat the glass - shake the hour glass to make the time on watch pass quickly - strictly forbidden ! Tops'l buster - strong gale Trim the dish - balance the ship so that it sails on an even keel Turnpike sailor - beggar ashore, a landlubber claiming to be an old sailor in distress Water bewitched - weak tea White rat - sailor who curries favor with the officers

Sailors' Language, by W. Clark Russell, 1883 Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases. Edward Fraser and John Gibbons, 1925 Sea Slang, by Frank C. Bowen, 1929 Royal Navalese, by Commander John Irving, 1946 Sea Slang of the 20th century, by Wilfried Granville, 1949 The Sailor's Word Book, by Admiral W.H. Smyth, 1967

Two Massive DC/Marvel Omnibuses Coming this Summer

Covering around 25 years of DC/Marvel crossovers, the two comic book giants are giving fans young and old the chance to appreciate classic characters together in memorable tales.

Press release:

The vast and varied history of DC versus Marvel returns to print for the first time in decades with two massive volumes collecting the universe-bending comic book crossovers between the greatest characters in pop culture! These fantastic stories, originally co-presented by the two powerhouse comic book publishers, have been highly sought after and hard to find for most readers—but they’re making their return in DC Versus Marvel Omnibus and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus,both publishing on August 6, 2024.

Who would win: Superman versus Spider-Man? Batman versus Captain America? The X-Men meeting the Teen Titans? DC Versus Marvel Omnibus collects crossovers between the core DC and Marvel characters, from 1976’s Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man to 2000’s Batman/Daredevil. Included are stories from some of comics’ most revered talents, namely Dennis O’Neil, George Pérez, Dan Jurgens, Chris Claremont, Walter Simonson, J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, Gerry Conway, John Romita Jr., and more. DC and Marvel fans alike can’t miss these thrilling pieces of unearthed comic book history!

DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus features stories, first told in 1996, of the two superhero universes fused together into a new Amalgam Universe, combining DC’s and Marvel’s heroes, villains, and mythologies. The result was a series of unforgettable one-shot comic books starring the likes of Dark Claw (Batman and Wolverine), Super Soldier (Superman and Captain America), Iron Lantern (Iron Man and Green Lantern), and many more! These stories, from creators such as Peter David, Dan Jurgens, Mark Waid, Dave Gibbons, Ron Marz, José Luis García-López, Gary Frank, Bill Sienkiewicz, Claudio Castellini, and more, represent one of the most fun and unlikely periods in comic book history, and now are available in one omnibus. Included in this volume are the historic DC Versus Marvel miniseries and its sequels, perfect for fans of both DC and Marvel!

DC Versus Marvel Omnibus collects Batman/Captain America #1, Batman/Daredevil #1, Batman/Punisher: Lake of Fire #1, Batman/Spider-Man #1, Daredevil/Batman #1, DC Special Series #27, Darkseid vs. Galactus: The Hunger #1, Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances #1, Incredible Hulk vs. Superman #1, Marvel and DC Present Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans #1, Marvel Treasury Edition #28, Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights #1, Silver Surfer/Superman #1, Spider-Man and Batman #1, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1, and Superman/Fantastic Four #1.

DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus collects DC Versus Marvel #1-4, DC/Marvel: All Access #1-4, Unlimited Access #1-4, Bat-Thing #1, Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, Bullets and Bracelets #1, Challengers of the Fantastic #1, Doctor Strangefate #1, Iron Lantern #1, Legends of the Dark Claw #1, Lobo the Duck #1, Speed Demon #1, Spider-Boy #1, Super Soldier #1, Thorion of the New Asgods #1, X-Patrol #1, and more, plus a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes material.

DC Versus Marvel Omnibus (9781779523259) and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus (9781779523266) will both be published on August 6. The two volumes will each have a direct-market-exclusive cover available only in local comic book shops, while supplies last.

How many have you read?

The BBC estimates that most people will only read 6 books out of the 100 listed below. Bold the titles you’ve read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2 Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkein 3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bible 7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell 9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens 11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare 15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier 16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien 17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks 18 Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger 19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffeneger 20 Middlemarch – George Eliot 21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell 22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald 23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens 24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams 26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh 27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky 28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame 31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy 32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens 33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis 34 Emma – Jane Austen 35 Persuasion – Jane Austen 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres 39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden 40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne 41 Animal Farm – George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving 45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins 46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery 47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy 48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood 49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding 50 Atonement – Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel 52 Dune – Frank Herbert 53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons 54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen 55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth 56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon 57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez 61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck 62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov 63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt 64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas 66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac 67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding 69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie 70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens 72 Dracula – Bram Stoker 73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett 74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson 75 Ulysses – James Joyce 76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath 77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome 78 Germinal – Emile Zola 79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray 80 Possession – AS Byatt 81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens 82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchel 83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker 84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro 85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert 86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry 87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton 91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad 92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery 93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks 94 Watership Down – Richard Adams 95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole 96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute 97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas 98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl 100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

As found in the original post I saw by @macrolit

My total: 43/100

Two Massive DC/Marvel Omnibuses Coming this Summer

Covering around 25 years of DC/Marvel crossovers, the two comic book giants are giving fans young and old the chance to appreciate classic characters together in memorable tales.

Here is the official press release:

The vast and varied history of DC versus Marvel returns to print for the first time in decades with two massive volumes collecting the universe-bending comic book crossovers between the greatest characters in pop culture! These fantastic stories, originally co-presented by the two powerhouse comic book publishers, have been highly sought after and hard to find for most readers—but they’re making their return in DC Versus Marvel Omnibus and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus,both publishing on August 6, 2024.

Who would win: Superman versus Spider-Man? Batman versus Captain America? The X-Men meeting the Teen Titans? DC Versus Marvel Omnibus collects crossovers between the core DC and Marvel characters, from 1976’s Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man to 2000’s Batman/Daredevil. Included are stories from some of comics’ most revered talents, namely Dennis O’Neil, George Pérez, Dan Jurgens, Chris Claremont, Walter Simonson, J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, Gerry Conway, John Romita Jr., and more. DC and Marvel fans alike can’t miss these thrilling pieces of unearthed comic book history!

DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus features stories, first told in 1996, of the two superhero universes fused together into a new Amalgam Universe, combining DC’s and Marvel’s heroes, villains, and mythologies. The result was a series of unforgettable one-shot comic books starring the likes of Dark Claw (Batman and Wolverine), Super Soldier (Superman and Captain America), Iron Lantern (Iron Man and Green Lantern), and many more! These stories, from creators such as Peter David, Dan Jurgens, Mark Waid, Dave Gibbons, Ron Marz, José Luis García-López, Gary Frank, Bill Sienkiewicz, Claudio Castellini, and more, represent one of the most fun and unlikely periods in comic book history, and now are available in one omnibus. Included in this volume are the historic DC Versus Marvel miniseries and its sequels, perfect for fans of both DC and Marvel!

DC Versus Marvel Omnibus collects Batman/Captain America #1, Batman/Daredevil #1, Batman/Punisher: Lake of Fire #1, Batman/Spider-Man #1, Daredevil/Batman #1, DC Special Series #27, Darkseid vs. Galactus: The Hunger #1, Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances #1, Incredible Hulk vs. Superman #1, Marvel and DC Present Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans #1, Marvel Treasury Edition #28, Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights #1, Silver Surfer/Superman #1, Spider-Man and Batman #1, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1, and Superman/Fantastic Four #1.

DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus collects DC Versus Marvel #1-4, DC/Marvel: All Access #1-4, Unlimited Access #1-4, Bat-Thing #1, Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, Bullets and Bracelets #1, Challengers of the Fantastic #1, Doctor Strangefate #1, Iron Lantern #1, Legends of the Dark Claw #1, Lobo the Duck #1, Speed Demon #1, Spider-Boy #1, Super Soldier #1, Thorion of the New Asgods #1, X-Patrol #1, and more, plus a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes material.

DC Versus Marvel Omnibus (9781779523259) and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus (9781779523266) will both be published on August 6. The two volumes will each have a direct-market-exclusive cover available only in local comic book shops, while supplies last.

13 books!

I was tagged by @wheel-of-fish, thank you! I'm to answer these 13 (apparently 12) questions, tag 13 (or maybe 12) people and add a shelfie.

1) The last book I read:

Maim Your Characters: How Injuries Work in Fiction by Samantha Keel. (What can I say, I'm planning to horribly injure a character in a fic maybe hopefully.)

2) A book I recommend:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, which I recommend so much that I'm trying to push my school's English department to make it one of required readings.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

I don't even know how many times I've reread The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel at this point.

5) A book on my TBR:

I really should get around to Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, even though I genuinely just... don't care about Thomas Cromwell or Mantel's interpretation of him.

6) A book I’ve put down:

Like did not finish? Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson, multiple times.

7) A book on my wish list:

Well, I really want Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes from the Dungeons & Dragons game, but since they are upwards of $80, that's probably not happening.

8) A favorite book from childhood:

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. Somehow this completely unrealistic, ecologically and biologically inaccurate, and occasionally morally pedantic "stranded on a desert island" book lodged itself in my heart.

9) A book you would give to a friend:

I actually did give The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck to a friend. (And he lost it in a move. But bought me a new copy!)

10) There was no tenth question so I am making up my own; a fiction book you own:

The entire A Song of Ice and Fire series.

11) A nonfiction book you own:

Way too many, but uh... Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons.

12) What are you currently reading:

Blood on the Page Volume One: A Writer's Compendium of Injuries by Samantha Keel and Tudor: The Family Story by Leanda de Lisle.

13) What are you planning on reading next?

You know, I kind of want to re-read The Hunger Games trilogy.

My shelfie:

This is one of my shelves.

Tagging: @meilas @from-aldebaran, @pureanonofficial, @nanasalt, @symphony-in-a, @box5intern, @emotionalmotionsicknessxx, @andrewlloydwebber, and my brain is friend and I can't think of others so whoever else wants to do it!

April 1986. Long ago, back in the prehistoric days when you could still potentially buy both a new comic book and a candy bar for a single U.S. dollar, DC had a protracted flirtation with digest-sized comics, obviously intended to capture some of the supermarket checkout rack space normally dominated by Archie Comics. With very few exceptions, they were all-reprint, with a diverse array of material ranging from Golden Age reprints to '70s horror comics to recent DC highlights. This issue, #71 of the BEST OF DC BLUE RIBBON DIGEST line (which was only a "series" in a very technical sense), was one of the last, if not the last, of this eight-year experiment, and it sort of highlights why it became unworkable.

Let's suppose that you're a kid in early 1986, and while in line at the grocery store, you persuade your parental figure to buy you this comics digest. If they could spare the $1.50 plus tax, there was no obvious reason to object — it's a comic with a silly cartoon character on the cover and seems to have some Superman and Batman stuff, no big deal. What it contains, however, is a very peculiar assortment of recent material, including, inter alia:

"The Day the Earth Died" from SUPERMAN #408 (Paul Kupperberg/Ed Hannigan/Curt Swan/Al Williamson), a story about Superman's nuclear anxiety that begins with a rather harrowing dream sequence where Superman sees Metropolis destroyed by nuclear attack, leaving him the only survivor.

"Mogo Doesn't Socialize" from GREEN LANTERN #188, the now famous Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons short that introduced Mogo, the Green Lantern who's a planet.

Three ridiculous Keith Giffen stories: Blue Devil fighting the Trickster (from BLUE DEVIL #8); Ambush Bug trying to hassle Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman into guest-starring in his new miniseries (from ACTION COMICS #565); and a short in which the Atari Force's alien pet Hukka is terrorized by a robotic toy (from ATARI FORCE #20).

A tongue-in-check Batman adventure from BATMAN #383 (Doug Moench/Gene Colan/Bob Smith) in which our hero, in both his identities, desperately tries and repeatedly fails to get some sleep.

A solo story for Katana from BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS (Mike W. Barr/Jerome K. Moore) in which Tatsu murders some guys and recovers a stolen Japanese artifact with no dialogue or sound effects other than running radio commentary on a baseball game.

The well-known Alan Moore Swamp Thing story ("Rites of Spring," from SWAMP THING #34, drawn by Stephen Bissette and John Totleben) where Abigail Arcane and the Swamp Thing get very high on one of his psychedelic tubers and Abby gets her monsterfucker card punched, which editor Barbara Randall said had to be carefully recut not for content, but to get it to fit the page format.

This was a reasonably representative sampling of DC's 1985 output, but it's a weird lineup that's all over the place in tone and content. I have no idea what a hypothetical kid would have made of "Rites of Spring" upon encountering it in this format (by the time I happened upon my copy of this digest years later — for 50 cents — I'd already read it in TPB), but it would have been apparent that we were not in Riverdale anymore.

One nice thing about the digest series is that they often had some thoughtfully selected material; the themed issues are worthwhile, chosen with care even if the size and quality of reproduction were far from ideal. DC has occasionally put out conceptually similar packages, but not on a regular basis, usually in something more like regular comic book dimensions (the Walmart specials, for instance), not on a regular basis, and not on supermarket checkout racks.

Which books influenced the way you think about politics the most?

The worth of this question can be measured by how difficult I'm finding it to answer. On the one hand, far too many books come to mind, reputable and disreputable and in-between, fiction and philosophy, journalism and polemic, comic book and conspiracy theory, plus 20+ years on the internet. On the other hand, there's no one book, or even several books, I could recommend to demonstrate the way I think about politics; I learned most about politics from watching politics, in the ages first of cable television and then of the internet not primarily a bookish enterprise. And because politics is famously the art of the possible, and because what's possible changes year by year, neither politics in general nor my politics in particular can stand still. I learn something every year, though not always from books. I don't mean by this to be cynical; one has one's values, but they vary in their expression with the affordances of the moment. For me, the deepest hope—not belief, but hope; not yet a reality but an aspiration—is in the potential of human freedom against all totalizing systems. I doubt I got that from a book, though. More likely it came from somewhere else, in early experience, and prepared me to recognize the theme whenever I did encounter it in books. Nor have I been wholly dead to the genuine sublimity of those totalizing systems, given what I have jokingly called my protracted education at the hands of Catholics and Marxists.

Anyway, the spirit of the question calls for a list, so I'll provide one. It's a narrative list arranged chronologically by my age when I read the book in question with a little summary of what it taught me. I've avoided the temptation of pretending that canonical political philosophy has taught me more than it did: with respect to Plato, Hobbes, Marx, Mill, Foucault, and the like, mostly I read that material in too abstract a mood for it to matter or too late for it do more than confirm what I'd already learned elsewhere.

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen (read age 12) - The world is comprised of systems in dynamic interaction with individuals and ideologies; art may replicate this in significant form; the proper attitude of the artist is an implied sardonic skepticism, albeit open to apolitical spiritual rapture and cosmic consciousness.

William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (read age 14) - The political winds can shift like that, between the acts; when power is at stake, you can't depend on personal loyalties; a smooth speech is better than a good cause; the crowd will always kill the poet; those who plead their freedom often have, beneath their own awareness, an envious resentment of power; the artist can manipulate the audience's political sympathies for pedagogical purposes.

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (both read age 15) - The modern problem is the reconciliation of individual and collective such that neither is enslaved to the other, the populace starved by the rich, the citizen trampled by state and society; the novel (unlike nonfiction forms) is almost unlimited in its ability to examine this theme, encompassing fantasy and naturalism, sermon and treatise, journalism and prophecy.

Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae (read age 18) - We are ruled by darker forces than we know, especially if we refuse to know it; the whole complex problem of sex and sexuality is primordial, infinitely more fundamental than the comparative superficies of race and class that political philosophers and pundits prefer to discuss; art and politics both are contra naturam—sex, by contrast, is the tragic collision of art and nature—and therefore under the sign of beauty; the critic's sensibility should be cosmic and unyielding, itself a mark carved hopelessly into nature's loam.

Edward W. Said, Culture and Imperialism (read age 21) - Empire is the primary political fact, inescapable even for artists and angels; the most powerful move a critic can make is to ally art to empire, the more improbably or counterintuitively the better, this to establish the critic's own cultural empire; the critic may rhetorically take the side of the oppressed in a suave rhetoric the oppressed could never master, and charisma will dispel (almost) the consequent air of fraud.

Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment (read age 27) - Our genius is our tragedy: the laws we codified to escape and then to master nature have enslaved us precisely because we identify them with nature; we have strangled everything spontaneous and tender in ourselves—and have projected out of ourselves and "other" and slaughtered that, too—in the name of this conquest, necessary to progress as in fact it was, with consequences even including the modern reduction of culture to the machinic product of industries consecrated to entertainment propaganda.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons (read age 32) - Liberalism is not innocent; in destroying every metaphysic but freedom and utility it has cleared the path of psychotic anarchy and brutal tyranny; the artist must understand every inch of this dilemma from the inside.

Albert Camus, The Rebel (read age 35) - The urge to rebel against tyranny and its dialectical concomitant in the urge to become a tyrant in turn are structures of human consciousness traceable through the whole of human culture from ancient myth to modern art, with political philosophy in between; the artist's abundant vision may teach the moderation that preserves the impulse to freedom and holds in abeyance the drive toward tyranny.

Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (read age 39) - The enemy is the reduction of the human to a calculus, any calculus, with whatever alibi (liberal, fascist, communist; race, class, nation); the solution is collective creativity.

Finally, for a wild card:

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (read and reread between ages 15 and 40) and Sacvan Bercovitch, The Office of the Scarlet Letter (read age 25) - This is how American politics in particular works: it doesn't; it is sublimated as a cultural conflict about the limits of freedom and necessity waged over open-ended and contested symbols, including Hawthorne's own text; the proper ambition of the American writer is to write a text of such permanently productive ambiguity.

Dave Gibbons & John Higgins's cover art for 1987's Who Watches the Watchmen ? RPG book from Mayfair Games. Also used in 1998 as the cover for one the French edition of Watchmen (from Delcourt).

Happy 76th Birthday, Gordon Edwards !

(26/12/1947 - 28/02/2003)

Today, we are celebrating the birthday of the Kink who stayed in the band for the shortest amount of time, since he only stayed during 1978, replacing John Gosling and then being replaced himself by Ian Gibbons. There are not a lot of informations about him around the Internet, so I tried to gather some content about him. And while searching for information, I found out he was Welsh ??

First, I'm going to share some videos I found on YouTube. Here's a video of the Pretty Things during the time where he was in the band. I knew he was part of the band previous to being with the Kinks, but I was surprised to see he had such a large part in their sound during the mid 70s !

Now, here are two videos of Gordon, alongside Ray, performing some Kinks songs acapella. First link is Lola, second link is Waterloo Sunset.

Next, here are some extracts of "Ray Davies: A Complicated Life" related to Gordon.

I wish I could add more, but the other books doesn't seem to mention him much...

Finally, I don't really know how to conclude this post... Maybe I'll add more things through the reblogs. Maybe I won't.

[Now, for the long talk, this post is the first of a (hopefully) long series where I celebrate the Kinks' birthdays with some fanart while sharing some content about them. I'm going to try to keep the costumes consistent, making them look the same way as mobile games' birthday cards (a bit like how Bandori and D4DJ and Project Sekai had matching birthday outfits for their characters).

I'll try to stay committed to it, but I am still uncertain about whether my hyperfixation will still be here by July or not. I originally planned to wait until February, but for that reason, I decided to start in December so I could do Gordon and Pete sooner.]

Well, Halloween’s coming and you may be thinking of doing something spoopy. In 2020, Whispers Estate, an 1894 home in Mitchell, Indiana was sold for only $130K, including furnishings, plus several ghosts. 

The previous owner had tours, but the current owner books the 3 bdm house for overnight stays to groups of 10 people or less. (No one under 18- it’s apparently too creepy.)

Dr. John Gibbons and his wife Jessie, who reportedly adopted abandoned/orphaned children, lived there. The Dr. also had his office in the home. Several family members, including the Dr., died in the house which is said to be the source of the haunting. 

In addition, many patients died there as well. 

One of the children, a 10-year old girl named Rachael, started a fire in the front parlor, and being badly burned, died 2 days later in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

You can stay in Rachel’s room. They say that you can still hear, and sometimes see, her running around the house.

A 10-month old infant, Elizabeth, died in the master bedroom of unknown causes.  There have been numerous reports of the smell of baby powder, children singing or crying, doorknobs jiggling, and doors popping open.

Jessie died in the same bedroom of double pneumonia, and guests have reported waking to the sound of labored breathing and coughing, or feeling like someone is sitting on their chests.

There is reportedly a portal/vortex that runs up through the house from the front parlor into the 3rd-floor room/attic.

Visitors have reported sighting a shadow, which is now called ‘Big Black,’ an entity which psychics says ‘is not of this world.’

Other guests reported Dr. Gibbons whispering in their ears before he groped them. 

And, as if that isn’t enough, there are supposedly 4 graves in the backyard, not including, what psychics call a pit-grave, which they say contains amputated limbs, internal organs, aborted fetuses, etc. Sheesh, what a place!

https://whispersestate.godaddysites.com/

The hurrieder I go

THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #440

May 1988

By John Byrne, Jerry Ordway, Dennis Janke, Anthony Tollin, Albert DeGuzman, and Dave Gibbons.

Superman is excited for his upcoming date with Wonder Woman, and several other things happen.

SCORE: 10

This story was a good sample of what the super titles were under Mike Carlin. Not only Superman is a fleshed-out character, but also the other arcs in the book continue to evolve (and these particular plots would take two more years to reach their climax).

The beauty of Batman guessing Superman's identity, and the priceless reaction he gets is what makes this issue memorable. I am not sure why Ordway was feeling nostalgic for Golden Age Batman here, but I think it's all fine.

Of course, in the same issue, Clark discovers that the scrap book that was sent to him by some anonymous source, and that Batman used to deduce he was Clark Kent, was his mom's (something we readers knew from the start, two years before).

Also as a funny note, it was revealed that despite Batman's efforts to hide his identity with lead, Superman already knew he was Bruce Wayne.

And if this wasn't enough, the issue ends with the date between Superman and Wonder Woman... although you can already imagine that the date wouldn't go well, as Superman started the night by kissing her.

Classic story coming up...