I’m pretty slammed and distracted by my new Kickstarter (laumched yesterday) so what better post to write than another She Has No Head!/Random Thoughts mash-up (TM Chad Nevett!), especially since I haven’t done one since 2011 – what have I been doing with my time?! Also, I’m sure you noticed, but in case not, Chad has been back on CSBG of late, stirring things up, so make sure to check out all that.
Random She Thought: It’s She Has Random (Largely Narcissistic) Thoughts Time! Get Excited!
Link Thought: Kickstarter for the new Storykiller novel i.e. non-comics-y stuff, 1979 Semi-Finalist for blog-y comics stuff, 79semifinalist for twitter-y comics stuff, Kelly Thompson on CBR for review-y comics stuff.
Random She Thought: Show of hands, who is surprised that Superman/Batman got pushed? That’s right, NOBODY. I mean, I think this is a good thing in that I didn’t think there was any chance we were going to get an actual good movie in 2015…but given how much I hated MoS I guess I don’t think we’re getting a good movie anyway and so this just looks like more disorganized “we have no idea what we’re doing” BS. Still, 2015 was ALWAYS ambitious.
Random She Thought: There are rumors that the delay is largely to do with a leg injury Affleck suffered. That may be true. Perhaps some WB/DC exec went over to his house and took a lead pipe to him so that they’d have a nice reasonable excuse that didn't have to do with fear, poor planning, and generally not knowing what the fuck they're doing.
Random She Thought: Did you guys read EGOS #1 from Image last week? I freaking loved it. So smart. Great strong voice and really subverted tropes and stereotypes to create a more interesting book. Definitely did everything a #1 issue can hope for. Check it out if you’re looking for something a bit different. The CBR forums are of course arguing madly over my review. This is nothing new though.
Random She Thought: I am epically sad that Gillen and McKelvie's Young Avengers is now over. That said, I'm super pumped for their Image series The Wicked and The Divine..so I guess it all equals out?
Random She Thought: I wrote a thing over on Lit Reactor about 12 comics I’m really excited to read in 2014. You guys probably know about all of them already, but it might be worth a look. Sue did her own list on DC Women Kicking Ass and I was glad to see our lists weren’t identical. There’s definite crossover, but ultimately some variety (whew!). Oh, and if you want a HUGE list of what’s coming in 2014, Rob Bricken over on io9 has been doing some great comics coverage and did a great write up for the best/weirdest/wildest comics 2014 has to offer.
Random She Thought: I continue to be super pumped about Mike Del Mundo’s art on the upcoming Elektra, in part because though his covers are always incredible I’ve never really seen his sequential art…I am so curious to see what it will be. This weekend Marvel editor Sana Amant tweeted this teaser image:
Annnnd with that, I remain really excited!
Random She Thought: I pretty regularly give comics as gifts, mostly to my brothers, one of whom is quite interested in comics (we got into the hobby together as kids though he fell away from it over time), and the other who indulges me and sometimes likes what I give him. He has very little time to read these days but he texted me last summer to ask me if the second volume of Saga was out yet (I’d given him volume 1 for Christmas the previous year). This was a pretty awesome text to receive. It’s maybe lost on you guys because you don’t know how infrequently we communicate…even by text. Anyway, trust me, it was cool. It got me thinking about the books I’ve given the most over the years. I didn’t do an official count but I’ve bought and gifted at least three copies each of the following: Stumptown Volume 1, Hawkeye (Fraction/Aja) Volume 1, Demo Volume 2, DV8: Gods & Monsters, Hark! A Vagrant, Saga Volume 1, and Saga Volume 2. I think Saga Volume 1 probably rules the list – with maybe half a dozen copies total? This year I bought four copies of Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole & A Half…man I love that book. I would hand it out on the street to strangers if I could afford it.
Random She Thought: I read pitifully few graphic novels again this year. What is wrong with me???
Random She Thought: I also saw far too few movies last year. I’m dying to see American Hustle, Wolf of Wall Street, and Her…I hope I’ll get to all of those before they leave the theater.
Random She Thought: One of the only movies I remember seeing in theaters this year (though there were certainly far more than one) was Prisoners. Did you guys see this movie? Really dark but it was great. I love detective stories, though Prisoners is maybe not a true detective movie, more of a hybrid, but one of my favorite things about it was the detective part of the story. I loved Detective Loki and would totally watch a series about Detective Loki. Speaking of the words TRUE DETECTIVE…did you guys see this show? Absolutely fantastic. Easily my new favorite show (until Game of Thrones comes back on).
Random She Thought: OH, and Iron Man 3…I saw that in theaters. Oh, and Man of Steel of course..wish I could block that one out.
Random She Thought: Weirdly, in a year in which I saw so few movies I saw Catching Fire in the theater THREE TIMES. Crazy, right? There are three factors that contributed to that weirdness though. #1. I fucking loved it. #2. I am fascinated by adaptations, both as someone that creates original material that may one day be adapted, and as someone interested in adapting original material to new mediums. And I struggle to think if I’ve EVER seen a better book to film adaptation. Not just in terms of it being a great film that can stand on its own, but in how smart it was about adapting the material while still being really faithful to the original source material. So good. #3. I was visiting family for the month of December in Utah and so there was little to do and going to the movies during the day is like half the price as going in NYC. That last fact left me feeling like even though I think living in NYC is good for me socially…maybe it’s actually bad for me because I never want to leave the house since everything is so goddamn expensive. Hmm.
Random She Thought: Speaking of adaptations, or lack therof. Shia LaBeouf, amirite? I know I didn’t actually add a commentary after his name, but do I have to? Just saying the dude’s name is mind boggling at this point. This is either the greatest/most terrible/longest punked prank/social experiment (which Daniel Clowes BETTER be in on) or the dude has just LOST IT.
Random She Thought: I got an iPad for Christmas and I pretty much just use it to read comics on, which is probably a total waste of an iPad. Man, has it made reading digital comics better though.
Random She Thought: I’ll never stop loving and wanting print, and even with the perfected iPad digital reading, I still prefer print, but the convenience of digital comics combined with not having to store the books makes it hard to resist. That said, I hate the idea on some level that I don’t “own” the books…they just kind of…live somewhere I can access them. That part sucks. I can’t think too much about it or it starts really bothering me. Especially since they cost the same (usually) as print…and despite not costing nearly the same amount of money to produce.
Random She Thought: I mean…seriously. Fuck, now I’ve started thinking about this again and it’s got me annoyed all over again. Prose books wouldn’t dare to charge the same amount for a hardcover and a paperback the same way they don’t dare to charge the same for a paperback and a digital copy. It’s just common sense. So how did comic book readers get swindled into this digital deal where the price is the same. Fuck.
Random She Thought: I mean, here, let me narcissistically bring it back around…the digital copy level of STORYKILLER is $10 (and includes some digital extras), the deluxe limited edition signed illustrated hardcover is $35. Big price difference because one costs a hell of a lot more to produce from illustrations to printing and shipping costs, not to mention you now own a physical copy of something that exists in “limited edition” form only. Grrr. Still mad about digital comics, but proud of myself for my commitment to cyclicality and narcissism!
And on that note, have a good week everyone!
