Games, nihilism

-New idea: since the Marvel/DC binary seems to be like a particularly foul odor cutting through all layers of resistance, why not apply that model to other things for which it makes little sense? First up: Fantagraphics vs. Drawn & Quarterly. For years, fans of art/literary comics have cherished each company as the two outstanding publishers of worthwhile comics in North America. Creators have moved between the two fairly freely, and good will has generally prevailed. NO MORE. Here are a few talking points to get us started:

• Chris Ware left Fantagraphics because Gary Groth is a crazy tyrant who wanted Ware to draw more like Peter Bagge.
  
• Fantagraphics saw that Chris Ware had become nothing more than a hack, and kicked his ass to the curb. Shows what a second rate operation D&Q is to pick up on Gary Groth's sloppy seconds.
• Fantagraphics was built on the back of Peter Bagge, Dan Clowes, Los Bros Hernandez, and Chris Ware. The only ones left are Jaime and Gilberto, and the latter is doing a lot of work for other companies now; you almost couldn't consider him a Fantagraphics artist anymore. That just leaves Jaime Hernandez, and everyone knows he's just a glorified Archie artist.
• D&Q should stand for "Dull" and "Québécois," cause all they have is boring, autobiographical Canadians. And wannabe Canadians like Joe Matt.
• Fantagraphics sounds like the name of a porn company. Oh wait....
• Draw & Quarterly doesn't care about Black people. Where are all the Black D&Q characters? There's not a single Black character in Clyde Fans.
• Why is Kim Thompson using a girl's name? Is he trying to fool people into thinking he's a woman? FACT: Chris Oliveros is not ashamed to admit he's a man. FACT: Oliveros is willing to let the comics he publishes do his talking for him; he doesn't need to hide behind misleading first names.

Seems like I was going to add another one or two in there, but I can't remember what they were. Ahhh, that's probably enough to get you started. Go to it!

-The discussion about Paul O'Brien's possible anti-FBI/TCJ agenda brought up the age-old question about love of genre vs. love of medium (or art form, but that's a debate probably best left aside for the time being). On the face of it, I'm tempted to label all the genre camp as mental midgets, but maybe that's unfair. I mean, yes, anyone who only watches horror movies, to the absolute (and possibly angry) exclusion of all other genres, wouldn't be someone I consider an expert on cinema. Someone who only watched horror movies produced by Lion's Gate or Screen Gems, to the exclusion of all other studios/production companies, would be even weirder; I don't know if I'd consider them an expert on horror movies, even. Someone who likes only torture movies...well, you get my point.

BUT, to love a medium so much that the love encompasses all genres, no matter how stupid--that's a level of dedication which I just don't have. Many of us know music fans who express enthusiasm for nearly every imaginable genre out there--you know, the types who claim to like At the Gates and Justin Timberlake equally. These folks bug the shit out of me because I don't know how seriously I should take their opinions. There's no way I'm ever going to like early 21st century bubblegum pop. Should I trust the critic who likes Christina Aguilera as much as Neil Young? Should this equal enthusiasm make me question my own love of Neil Young? Does my massive (and rarely played) collection of 60s punk make me a mental midget?

I suppose one way to guard against this is to take sort of a transcendentalist* approach to art: there are certain genre works that are so good, they transcend the stupid hackwork usually associated with the genre. Hey, that sounds familiar...didn't someone say something like that re: a certain comic about growing up in post-revolutionary Iran?

It's a frustrating topic. I have an anti-humanist streak when it comes to humans' ability to understand ourselves, which is really sort of a haunting, revolting irony given what I've done with my life. But on the other hand, it's incredibly annoying to see superhero fans treat superhero comics Marvel and DC comics as the sum total of the industry. I mean, it's fine insofar as their personal reading habits go, but they have to expect the rest of us (you know, the 10% of the Direct Market reading any non-superhero material at all) laugh at them. If someone told you he or she only watched reality television, you would probably look at said person as someone who probably has nothing useful to say about the general state of television in 2007. Fortunately for us, most exclusively Marvel/DC readers are more concerned with the finer points of continuity than with pontificating on the industry as a whole. But they sure are touchy.

*I'm making a joke; no need to tell me about Henry David Thoreau or anything. I've read Ghosts, dude.