Moving Forward, and beyond ...

BY CHRIS HLADY

Read Crisis (1985) up until Flashpoint (2011), and figured it deserved a lot of discussion.

So am organizing an event for lovers of comics to meet and catch up with the characters they once loved, and can love again.

Event flows from 5pm - 10pm. Although some elements will be unique, the general theme will be one of embracing the love of comics with others.

We all grew up dealing with boredom, and for many of us, comics became one kind of answer. It's fun to immerse oneself into a creative team's world for awhile. It widens our imagination, and leads us to possibilities that may turn into careers or lifelong loves.

Many of us leave this world behind as grown-ups. It serves its purpose, but then we move on. Nothing wrong with that. Perfectly natural. Why, even in marriage vows, there's talk of leaving behind childish things. One thing that shouldn't be left behind is a sense of idealism and new possibility. This can take many forms, but there is usually something positive in the motivation.

Once upon a time, there was a famous shelving of comics, as "bad for you" and "leading teenagers into juvenile delinquency. The comics industry created a Comics Code Authority to be an inspection on whether comics were maintaining a wholesomeness, and avoiding "dangerous" modes of expression. To be sure, "market forces" are a dubious gauge of "moral development," but it's become the norm to "discover" entertainment and educational material in an unending game of "hide and seek."

How do we know what's good, anymore? So-called "politically correct" material may put a "spotlight" on what's questionable, or even bad, but "human buzz" is the best test of what's entertaining, and more informed opinion can give us clues about what has real staying power in the field. Good examples for staying power in Jack Kirby, so-called King of Comics, particularly in the 1960s, and Neal Adams' work in the late 60s and early 70s. Highlights from different eras define different genres, like Will Eisner's Spirit, and Carl Barks' Donald Duck.

After the 1980s, a time of Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and Neil Gaiman, the comics industry went through surges of better production values, but less universally recognized talent. Some work broke the "entertaining value" but it's debatable about the "education" elements.

So what makes the cut? Does it matter? That's why we need discussion, based on fun, creation, and shared experience.

Come join us Wednesday, December 9, 2015, above Cobra Collectibles at 555 Sargent Ave., between 5pm and 10pm, and we'll make Winnipeg's discussion part of the Red River Comics Clubs Report on Comics in the 21st Century and beyond.

Walking Dead Flashbacks

Hello Me Lovelies,

Okay, this will be mostly about comics, even though it's written while watching Talking Dead. I'm looking at my "Read" List, which includes Detective Comics 439, Superman Family 165, World's Finest 223 and 225, and Death of the New Gods 1-8. I have more to say about the Crises stories I've also recently read. Coming soon.

"Just Survive Somehow."

Way back when I began reading comics in the mid-70s, it was definitely a survival mechanism. Trying to make sense of how powerless it is to be human, comics empowers the reader. For a little while, they are given a tour of some other people's imagination, unlocking amazing adventures in the mind.

In 'Tec 439, the main story is Night of the Stalker, an amazing expose of the Caped Crusader, while delivering some amazing golden and silver age stories as well.

I'll stop there and read now. Can hardly wait.

Cheers.

P.S. Updates to follow.

Comic Books: Always Crap or Mostly-Always Crap? Discuss.

I'm ticked. Not unusual, but this time it's got me writing a post.

Been trying to understand DC Comics -post Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

After that, generally speaking, there was Zero Hour, Kingdom Come, Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, Countdown, Final Crisis, Flashpoint and New 52.

Now there must be some way to refer to this besides "a waste of thirty years," but right now, I'd be willing to write it all off as crap.

Reseting the Bar, Part 1 - New Fun Comics

It's been a while since I've drawn, so this is super rough. At the same time, I was really happy to receive a reply from a big-time icon in the world of comic books, and that got me thinking about the beginning of comic book companies.*

What if, I asked myself, a new company was being developed today?  Forget the past specific history, and just go along an intuitive parallel development?  Why not?   I'll see how far I can take it.

First, a little background.  Growing up as the seventh of eight children, relatively-poor, in a middle-class neighbourhood, I was afforded the luxury of loving comic books, and dreaming of, one-day, joining the profession.  It wasn't much of an ambition, but nothing seemed as much fun.  So, there you have it.

Now, life has a way of interfering with the best laid plans of mice and men, you know of course, and it happened to me, as well.  While I was able to make artwork a priority, I didn't find a way to make it economically sustainable.  I even tried a couple of trips to the San Diego Comic Con (where I met Jack Kirby, among others), in the early nineties.  No luck.

There were a few problems with my career path.  I wasn't nearly focused enough, and I wanted to make my own worlds, rather than work within established expectations.    Funny thing is, people only tend to shell out the dinero when working within those expectations.  Fair enough.  I didn't HAVE to make a living as an artist.

Twenty years later, the art's been few and far between, but it's never too late to give it another shot.  Who knows if the economics will finally make sense?  So here we have it - New Fun Comics.  Fairly descriptive.  Fairly simple.  New.  Fun.  Comics.  An interesting challenge, to be sure.  Perhaps, if I do enough pages, a style and tone will be set that gets people to jump on board.

The primary purpose here is development and experimentation.  I'm not sure what "new" will mean, or what "fun" will mean.  I'm not even sure what "comics" will mean?

It is 2012, after all.  It's a braver and bolder new world
than we've ever seen before.  It's nigh impossible that this project will have legs, but the basic fact is, it's time to get a move-on, and make a difference.



* Comment discussing scope of task.

Over 48 Years Ago

For the last little while, I've been contributing the occasional comment to the Jim Shooter blog, as a way of keeping my toe in the watery world of Comics.

On another matter, I, myself, just turned 48 years of age last Friday. The completion of four dozen circuits of crawling about this slippery planet, futilely trying to make sense of anything.

At this point, I'm not disillusioned enough to think I have an audience. If anyone visited cared a wit about the words contained herein, I'd be absolutely flabbergasted. It is not for readership that I write, then, it is for something else.

Recently, on December 13, 2011, I walked out on belief in God, and kept walking. With the death of Christopher Hitchens, I decided to take another look at "anti-theism" and found some clarity, if not happiness.

So what if there is no God, maybe humanity can take a smarter role in not letting our often-beautiful planet become a wasteland. Do comics play any role in saving our planet? Perhaps, in the absence of an "absolute creator," solutions may be found with those creative voices we have, which are not just writing for entertainment purposes.

Life is still serious business. Some might say unforgiving in every way. It is so unbelievably vast, from an individual human perspective. If comics have conveyed anything to modern culture, it is a belief that anything is possible, and as one famous character, Spider-Man (created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko), came to understand more than 48 years ago, "with great power come great responsibility."

Human beings may be small in their ability to change the world, but neither does it diminish their duty to make a difference, anyway they can.

Progress 2011

September 13, 2011 -
Can this be the first day of a new world?

My, how life moves along. It's the year of the Rabbit, by the Chinese Calender. This is my fifth, of those, my forty-eighth year. You might ask me, "how did you find your way to this Google Blogspot? It that what you endured all that time, to become?"

I don't know how I'd answer you, only knowing that this is merely a stopover on life's journey, and it may or may not resonate with you.


The word of the day is Proprietary. Does publishing a blog on blogspot, a division of Google, mean that Google is the ultimate owner of this post? Does my contribution become meaningless, knowing your viewing of same is dependent on that internet giant? User-content value, lending legitimacy to ... who knows what.

What will the world look like in the future? Will it resolve the property issues that give the glory to the giants, at the expense of the ants? Points to ponder, as a new world emerges, and people come to terms with the ever-occuring fall-out.

To think, ten years ago, I never even heard of J. K. Rowling.

An end of an era is taking place, and although my poor brain is pock-marked by distraction, wear and tear, it is only right to take a moment and give the author her due.
 
The series certainly came at the right time for me, as I was complementing medical disability social assistance, with a new job,  the current one, and in need of a new way of looking at things.  It crept in quietly, at the request of a "friend," but became quite an influential force over time.
 
It must have been after re-reading such books as Winnie the Pooh, Charlotte's Web, and even Anne of Green Gables.  I can't quite recall where the Narnia series fit in, but all that was part of trying to build a new way of approaching the world, to replace a shattered hopeless reality, of sorts.
 
It was also in anticipation of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, but the first Harry Potter movie set the stage, in a nice, contemporary, magical kind of way.
 
The new millennium had been sort of humdrum.  The fizzle of Star Trek was taking place.  Insurrection hadn't renewed any sensations, and Nemesis was yet to disappoint, but wherever there is a vacuum, there will surely be something to take its place.  In the world of film, it was Lord of the Rings, with Harry Potter making a strong charge.
 
Around the time, the movies were being released, I figured it was time to do some reading. something meticulously avoided, probably due to the lack of good stuff.
 
Digging into Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J. K. Rowling, was a totally fresh experience.  It was lively, and it jumped off the page. Such good writing.  I wasn't so impressed with the movie, which has been the case with each release, EXCEPT each movie serves to remind me of the beauty of that writing.
 
I read the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets out loud.  It was certainly a gateway into a marvellous new world, and along the way, I was continuing a process of re-examining growing up, and learning.  It helps put things in perspective.
 
That was 2001.  Wow, not so long ago.
 
In 2002, Nemesis buried the Star Trek franchise, no longer connecting the way it had.  The 2nd HP film came out.  The 2nd Lord of the Rings thrilled with the reinterpretation of the Tolkien classic.  At that time, I finally dug in and read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so it was good times.
 
A good friend of mine, Leanne, lent me books 3 and 4 of the Harry Potter series, which I devoured enthusiastically, especially Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  What a wild ride, and I got to meet my favourite Rowling character, Sirius Black.  The way the lives of the older generation were interweaved into a grand tapestry was a constant thrill.  
 
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was cool, too, and introduced Portkeys and the Quidditch World Cup, and the House-Elf Liberation Front, and Death-Eaters.  Great stuff.
 
So, when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out, in 2003, it became the first of the series I bought in hardcover.  And did it disappoint?  Not in the slightest, except for a certain death, but these are things you have to get over. 
 
Later that year, I enjoyed seeing Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, with family, in Saskatoon.  I'm sure I was wildly enthusiastic about the Harry Potter series as well.
 
In 2004, we got the nifty third HP film, and in 2005, the harrowing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince book, and the fourth HP film.  All that was pre-Facebook, but weren't things lively and magical back then, all the same.
 
2007 brought us the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the sixth HP movie.  What a magical time that was, in Assiniboine Park, celebrating in tents and happy crowds, amongst wonderful exhibits, and joy.
 
Oh, what a thrill going through that final book, finding out the goings-on, and sharing the amazing journey of "the boy who lived" life to the fullest. Thank you Joanne.  What wonderful times of joy you shared.
 
2009 gave us the sixth film.  2010, the seventh.  Now, here, in 2011, we are on the eve of the eighth and final movie.  What a thrill ride it's been.  Even after viewing the final movie (in IMAX-3D yet), there will always be those wonderful words of which to return, if I ever need a smile.
 
As well,  for anyone who has shared those words, there will be a common bond, points of reference, and a kinship to draw upon.  As Lucy Maud Montgomery so nicely pointed out, in Anne of Green Gables, "Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think.  It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."
 
I hear some talk of fans not knowing what to do, afterwards.  I would just recommend, read the books, and … live your lives, appreciating your friends, and even your enemies, along the way.


Copyright 2011 Chris Hlady