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Mad Men-- "The Summer Man"

"I'm a grown up."

Well, I guess Henry Francis finally says the words we've wanted him to say to Betty since their creepy affair started.  And rightly so as Betty has spent most of this season (and I guess most of the previous 3 seasons) acting about as mature as her daughter Sally, throwing tantrums whenever anything didn't go her way.  When she see's Don, the ex-husband who she never really knew or knew too well (you decide) in a restaurant, during what could be an important meeting for her new husband, she throws a fit and locks herself away in the women's room.  "I'm a grown up" Henry scolds her on the way home.

I know there are plenty of people who see Betty as an immature child, someone who possibly got the fate that she deserved, even if Henry didn't deserve to get stuck with her, but I wonder how can we expect Betty to be anything more.  Her father doted on her and protected her, giving her no reason to grow up on her own.  Don Draper lied to her, used her as part of his suburban family man disguise.  Did Don ever really care for her or was she just another part of the persona that Dick Whitman adopted.  Her friends, like Francine who makes a wonderful reappearance this episode, coddle her, absolving her of any and all blame in everything she does.  Betty Draper has never been held responsible for anything so is it any wonder that she has no idea how to take responsibility for anything?

Of course, it's not like Don Draper is any better.  "Don Draper" was Dick Whitman's own way of avoiding responsibility and growing up.  This latest episode shows him finally realizing that a bit.  He's spent so much of this season drunk, lost and just wandering through life, refusing to accept that he had a hand in losing everything.  He's built a successful business; isn't that what grown ups do?  He drinks all day; isn't that what grown ups do?  He gets blowjobs in the back of taxi cabs from young women; isn't that what grownups do?  Don Draper should have everything yet Dick Whitman has nothing, a lost and scared little boy, back on the farm and intimidated by anyone bigger than him.

Then there's Peggy and Joan, just as lost in their own ways as Don and Betty.  What's their role in this new company and, more importantly, what's their role in this world?  Joan has to watch as her husband prepares for basic training, leaving to get sucked into a bigger war than anyone really knows.  A strict mother figure at work (at least to those men-child that Sterling Cooper Draper Price have had to hire,) she continues to show us that that is almost as big a disguise as Don Draper is.  It's an act because she's just as scared and lonely outside of work as well.  And Peggy just tries to help, to stand up for herself and her fellow woman.  Is that ambition?  Did she really just reinforce what the remaining men-children think of her, that she's a "humorless bitch?" 

More and more, Mad Men is about the masks we wear and who we are when we take them off.  With the loss of nearly everyone who knows him, Don has been forced to look at his own mask and as ask "why?"  Why does he wear the mask if everyone eventually leaves him?  Why does he wear the mask if no one really knows who Dick Whitman is?  With the 1960s quickly moving along, that question spreads to everyone as they have to evaluate who they are and why do they do the things that they do?  Mad Men can never fully lose those masks; that would be taking away the heart and soul of the show.  But it can explore how do we wear and use those masks.

@ Popdose: musings on Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon's Daytripper #10

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Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba's Daytripper has been one of the most fascinating comics of the past year.  It's more of a reflection on the time we have in this world, rather than a unified and complete story.  After reading the last issue, I immediately jotted down my thoughts on it and the series for Popdose.

After nine issues of this, I guess I hoped that in the final issue Moon and Bá would give us an explanation to the apparent many lives of Brás, to give us some idea what was actually happening, how we we seeing these separate but connected versions of his life and these many deaths occurring at various points in his life. This last issue, instead of ending with Brás death, begins with his birth seventy six years ago but quickly jumps to the current day, with Brás getting some news from the doctor. In this final issue, Moon and Bá twist the conventions of this series that they set up beginning with the origins of life. It begins with birth. Throughout this series, Bá and Moon have never been morbid or brooding. For a book that has concluded each issue with the death of the main character, Daytripper has never been about death. Moon and Bá have been showing us all of the possibilities that exist for one person and all of the opportunities, both good an bad, that we face. Each issue has been about reminding us to live because life is finite and you never know when it will end.

You can read the full review here.

I think someday I want to do a whole post just looking at the cover images for this series.

@ Indie Pulp-- a review of The Beasts of Burden: Animal Rights

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Over at Indie Pulp, I wrote a few words about Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's Beasts of Burden: Animal Rights...

Of course, it’s easy for the threats to seem more real when Jill Thompson is painting them.  More and more, I become convinced that Thompson can draw and paint everything.  Her animals are so full of life and character in this book.  The greatest compliment to pay her I think is to simply say that I could see any of my own dogs being characters in this book.  Between the five main dogs and one cat, she captures just the individual personalities that dogs can have.  Without over-exaggerating or becoming too cartoony, her dogs are real dogs.  She knows how to show us the different breeds, their expressions and even their mannerisms perfectly on the page.  Similarly to Grant Morrison’s WE3, which also featured a team of animals drawn by Frank Quitely, Evan Dorkin’s Beasts of Burden stories comes together so well because the artist knows how to draw animals and make them look like real animals, not some overly cartoonish simplification of what they think a dog or a cat should look like.

You can read the full review here.

Random Thoughts on a Friday Night

I was cutting the lawn this evening so I blame these thoughts on engine fumes.
  1. Comics have become a lifestyle.  I don't know if that's a good thing.  Maybe more on this later.
  2. I want comics (and all entertainment) really that make me feel something, dammit.  If you're not making me feel, you're not doing your job. Marvel and DC, you're lagging way behind here right now.  
  3. Can we stop talking about "target audiences" when talking about Scott Pilgrim, the book or the movie?  I'm sure that Edgar Wright and Bryan Lee O'Malley weren't trying to limit their audience in anyway to only 20-somethings who have nothing better to do than play video games and go to the movies.

@ Indie Pulp-- The Walking Dead V12: Life Among Them

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Over at Indie Pulp this week, I wrote a bit about The Walking Dead V12: Life Among Them.

There have been stretches during The Walking Dead where it felt like Kirkman was only interested in physically and emotionally torturing his characters. Whole volumes have been about taking Rick and the other survivors to the darkest and most dangerous possible corners of their souls, places that most likely would destroy you and me. Some characters have been lost in those places while others have come out only to find a road leading to even darker shadows of human cruelty. Even in the moments of quiet, Kirkman always reminds us of the zombies just outside the gates. Life Among Them actually shows us some hope and peace for the characters. The last time we saw real hope was with the discovery of the prison where Rick’s group sought sanctuary and safety, but even that was overshadowed by the discovery of the dangerous convicts residing inside.

 You can read the full review here.

@ Popdose: a bit about Ellis and Cassaday's Planetary

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Last week at Popdose, I wrote a bit about Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's secret history of the 20th century in Planetary:

Warren Ellis and John Cassaday know where the bodies are buried.  Not literal bodies but the fictional corpses of the 20th century heroes and legends.  In a 1998 short introductory story, Planetary literally began with a buried body at the bottom of a missile silo; a victim of a radioactive bomb who became a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde kind of character.  In that story, Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and The Drummer investigate an Army general’s involvement, trying to discover exactly what happened to a once brilliant scientist that turned him into a raging monster.  That was the first body, or story, that Ellis and Cassaday dug into, showing us a familiar story from a slightly different point of view.  And that’s what they continued to do over the next 10 years as Planetary explored the stories and histories created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, John Woo, Alan Moore, Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Walter B. Gibson, Ishiro Honda and so many other 20th century storytellers.


You can read the full review here.

Its a tragishamockery of a comic book show-- Blago meets the Wizard

Via Boxwatcher who posted a link to this on twitter.

Autographs & Photo Ops Pre-Sells Available Now! Don't Miss Your Chance To Meet Rod Blagojevich!
Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich To Appear @ Chicago Comic Con Rod's Appeal: Blagojevich To Appear At Chicago Comic Con!

Former Illinois Governor To Sign Autographs, Pose For Pictures, Meet Fans At Pop Culture Festival Saturday!

The verdict is in! Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will appear at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con on Saturday at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. Blagojevich will sign autographs, pose for pictures and meet fans at the pop culture convention.

The photo session will begin at 10:30 a.m., with autographs to follow at 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

“I'm looking forward to meeting loyal supporters and other fans on Saturday,” said Blagojevich, whose many recent television appearances included a stint on “Celebrity Apprentice.”

“Wizard World Chicago Comic Con is all about pop culture, and Rod Blagojevich is as relevant to today's news as it gets,” said Gareb Shamus, CEO of Wizard Entertainment. “We think the court of public opinion will show him to be a popular figure at the show.”

Blagojevich joins 500 other celebrities, artists and industry pros at Chicago Comic Con, which continues through Sunday. William Shatner, Adam West, Linda Hamilton and James Marsters are among the stars in attendance.


I guess if he can make money at Wizard World (at this point, I absolutely refuse to call it Chicago Comic Con) so my tax dollars don't have to pay for his defense, this isn't the worst thing in the world but what's Wizard thinking?  How low are they willing to prostitute themselves?

I wonder if he'll be signing at the fountain?  As I said on Twitter, have fun at your funny book show, people.  I'm waiting for April I guess.

Popdose catchup-- Invincible Iron Man v4: Stark Disassembled

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Over at Popdose, I mused a bit on the presumed guilt and sins of Mr. Tony Stark.

In the end, when Tony wakes up and sees the world around him, a world that he’s largely responsible for, Fraction gives Tony his own little reboot.  This is not a Crisis on Infinite Earths or even Spider-Man: Brand New Day level reboot but Fraction does give Tony a small one and a slight bit of absolution from his sins.  If there were questions you needed to think about before reading Stark: Disassembled, there’s one you’ve got to ask when the book is done; “does Tony Stark deserve the saving that he got?”  He’s not judged guilty of his actions but he’s also not left completely off the hook either.  Fraction leaves him as a man completely aware of his sins but now left having never actually committed them.  It’s a paradox that Fraction has set up, judging Tony both guilty and not guilty of any supposed crimes and sins.\

You can read the full review over at Popdose.

Popdose catchup-- The Werewolves of Montpellier

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This is a couple of week's old but I forgot to post it here.  Over at Popdose, I wrote a bit about Jason's The Werewolves of Montpellier:

Jason never lets you get close to his characters.  In this book, like in most his other books, he never easily lets you into the story.  He draws every panel from practically the same viewpoint.  Once he establishes a scene, he rarely shifts to give you another view of the room characters are in or follows a character as they walk out of a panel.   He never moves any closer or farther away from his characters.  Sven and all of the other characters remain visually constant to us, never changing.   They never get closer or move away.  Jason keeps his images very 2-dimensional and has no use for any kind of dramatic depth to his drawings.  Add in the fact that all of Jason’s characters are animal-like men and women- cats, dogs and birds- and it almost feels like Jason does everything he can visually to hold his readers at a distance and to never let them fully into his story.

You can read the full review here.

Jason has become one of my favorite storytellers.  There's an odd sameness about his books.  He's a wonderful cartoonist but it's like he doesn't care about actual cartooning.  With all of his characters looking the same, he's more concerned about how the story is being told than about the story.  That actually frees him up to create some of the most absurd stories around.