wolfinthewoods

Definitely. I try to remember that. I just get stuck in my head the ideal of what I want, and if that ideal doesn't match what I think I am able to accomplish I just don't try in the first place. It's a terrible habit I need to break, especially if I'm going to ever get any decent amount of writing done :|

I think their perfectionism is pretty well known, or at least their intense work ethic. I was just watching something recently (can't remember, a docu I believe) that had a segment on Japanese work culture and how the Japanese government had to even force workers to take a vacation because it was eating into their economic activity. The Japanese were working so much that they weren't spending enough to stimulate their economy creating a downturn. One employer locked the doors and shut the power off at the office, and the workers broke into their own office building and did their work by flashlight and their own wifi hotspots. Crazy.

Yep, I'm sure a few things I've read in the past through FB were Bande Dessinee before I was even aware of the designation. It wasn't until the past two years that I started to pursue Euro stuff specifically.

Sweet! I'll take a look at those sites. It's been something I've been meaning to do, but up until now I've been mostly content with grabbing recommends from Reddit and TCJ.

Honestly, I feel that way about most things internet without having any kind of over-arching ailment (well, aside from Chronic Depression :/ ). The amount of stuff, and the depth of the rabbit holes, get too damn daunting to where I just throw up my hands most of the time.

I read it a couple of months ago, and honestly I've kind of forgotten most of the overall plot. I mostly enjoyed the dynamic between the characters. From what I remember I think they did exist, just in a pocket dimension or something? I finished the first series and didn't look back. Which is funny, because I was originally turned onto it through the newest Black Hammer stuff that featured the daughter of the original Black Hammer after she's largely retired. After reading the first series I had no desire to return to her story for whatever reason. Just stopped being intrigued by the universe I guess.

Interesting, however sitcoms in general really aren't my cup of tea as well. It was mentioned in other places that Roseanne was one of the few shows to depict working class life somewhat accurately, and with some dignity. A lot of the time the working class is shown in a shallow, stereotypical depiction of what upper-class people imagine it's like.

Yes! Kids shows are particularly egregious about this. All the kids shows are about rich kids and their rich parents. That's not to say that kids shows need to explicitly put the problems of class society front and center (although, some small discussion of class and social relations would be nice) but consistently showing kids living out these hyper-capitalist consumerist fantasies is pretty cringe-worthy.

Exactly. The thing that repulses me the most is the fake-y, artificial looking life that is so often represented in entertainment, and then that is what is spun as "normal". Which I imagine is why these upper-class people even in real life look like the shallow Stepford Wives aesthetic that the movies and tv depict them as, life depicting art it seems.

In my initial short searches I did earlier, Antonio Gramsci comes up as addressing the issue of "cultural hegemony", where art and entertainment tends to represent the dominant bourgeois culture, which makes a lot of sense. I've heard of Gramsci in passing, but haven't read anything by him yet. I think it's a good place to begin regarding a critical analysis.

Although, even without a thorough critical analysis, it's pretty straightforward to realize that the economic barrier for art, entertainment and creating media in general leads to an over-representation of the wealthy since they have the money and means to create and distribute media to the masses, which in turn consolidates their dominance of the popular narrative.

What's particularly sad about this, is that people that grow up working-class are absorbing messages from media that marginalize their narrative, and cause them to internalize a narrative that leads them to being oblivious towards their class standing and even hostile towards it. The whole "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" concept that causes people to denigrate the poor and working class, even if they themselves are a part of it.

Is this a book whose message I agree with or want to explore right now? ...Do I really want to read for 300+ pages.... Do I really want to read for 200 pages? ....Should I go with something high concept, or settle for trope-y genre fiction? ....Let's look at reviews on goodreads...the average is 4 stars, but this person says this book is a GIANT waste of time, do I want to chance it? ....I really like 's books, but am I tired of hearing the same voice and themes explored? ...I'm reading too much fiction, I need to read some non-fiction. ....Non-fiction is just some author spending 300 pages trying to sway me to a particular point of view, or their just explaining on concept verbosely and repetitively for 300+ pages.... Maybe I'll just read a comic, eh all these series are just spins on older, better drawn and written ones.... I'll just grab ten different books from the library, one of them has to be good, right? ....All ten of these books look like they're just a damn waste of time! Why do I need to muse on the history and sociological implications of the toothbrush for 400 pages?! ....Maybe books are just overrated, why do I think I need to read anyways? ....What am I really getting from all of this reading? Is someone awarding me a prize at the end? Is this like those old book competitions in school where I win a pizza party after reading 200 hundred books? Aaaaaaaaagggggghhhh!!!

Funnily enough I just read the original Black Hammer series recently. Pretty good while it lasted. There were some moments that were confusing, but I was able to keep track of what was going on for the most part. I think it was easier to focus on the interpersonal stuff in Black Hammer and gloss over the underlying explanation. With DoT even the character relationships are hard to follow, if and when there is any. There are a lot of side stories that tend to take front and center. Honestly, the main character is not very interesting and forgettable. I couldn't even tell you his name right now. Ironically the conceptual stuff is both what makes the series good, and also it's Achilles heel.

Read the most recent issue of Department of Truth. The series has an excellent premise and a lot of incredibly interesting ideas it explores, but I think it's plot gets lost in the conceptual framework it's created. I completely devoured the first 20+ issues with zest. However, the last few issues have got more bogged down with exposition and digressions that I am losing track of what the hell is even going on amymore. I'll keep reading, not with as much anticipation as before though.

Been watching the Legion tv show which has rekindled my interest in X-Men. It got me to revisit the beginning of the modern X-Men with Claremont's legendary run. I haven't read these in decades, so I am looking forward to see how well they hold up. My library was able to get the Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume 1 on Interlibrary Loan which has something like the first 20-30 issues of the run. Looking forward to it. It's amazing how much Claremont created and how it's basically the X-Men bible going forward. One of these days I'd like to jump into the original run up until the Claremont era since I have read very little from the original run. I'm especially interested in the 70s stuff with Neal Adams that led into Uncanny, which always seemed like a prototype for the Claremont stuff, at least from what I've seen of them.

I had no clue about comics from Quebec honestly. Although if someone had mentioned French-Canadian comics and there being crossover with Bandee Desinee in Europe I wouldn't have been suprised. I know there's a fair amount of French music from Canada. I live fairly close to Canada on the US/Canada border and one of the radio stations I can get out here is exclusively in French, there's some great sounding music on there too.

Yeah, relatively new. It's been around a year and a half, maybe two, that I've started looking into BD with any focus. I suppose I had more of an exposure than most by being into the alternative comix scene in the US which has some association with BD at times, especially Fantagraphics Comics. So that definitely helped in getting me into them. I'm sure there were.a.few scattered BD I've read in the past that didn't even register with me as such in the past, but nothing I can recall.

For sure! It's nice the signal/noise ratio is low on the fediverse, but at times it needs a little signal boost. It's also a good way for me to immerse myself and get more familiar with BD stuff in general, a win win on all fronts. I've learned a lot even in the past week or two.

I know there is some tags at the bottom of the article. I didn't pay close attention to them. I did try the Angouleme tag, which was suprisingly scant, only a few articles from a 4 or 5 year span. In the next week or so I am going to find some sites that cover BD exclusively, or at least have a larger focus, as TCJ seems to only have a sprinkly at times.

Those were the publishers mentioned at the counter festival, which were mostly smaller, independent publishers. I made a note of them for that fact alone since it hadn't occured to me to look at the BD output outside of the mainstream publishers.

Definitely. My motto these days is "the perfect is the enemy of the good". Although I don't always adhere to it completely. The past few months my writing has fallen off since I fell into the "it wont be good enough" mindset. I'm trying to shake myself out of it, but it's a difficult habit to break.

For sure. I feel lile that about drawing. It's another skill I'd love to aquire, but the level of detail that is desirous to obtain is daunting. Sometimes I yearn for a return to a child's simplicity of being able to make something without getting hung up on it looking "good". I feel that way about most things, writing, learning about new things, etc. It's what I aspire to attain most, the act of doing something irregardless of the percieved level of competence.

Absolutely. I love watercolor. Keep meaning to get into it myself. I'm currently blissfully unaware of it's difficulty lol.

I found Djinn a few months ago. I've read the first four volumes digitally, but have held off reading more because I want to get the other volumes in trade since it's such a gorgeously drawn series. I've really enjoyed it so far though. I'll have to look for more by Dufaux when I'm through, same for Miralles.

No problem, I enjoy being able to contribute to such a small, intimate little community. I hope you're treating yourself well. Stay strong, friend <3

Well, I appreciate the primer you linked in this thread. I was already reading Blackshirts and Reds, but now have some other material to read in conjunction with it. Take care, friend <3