Now I Wish I Went
by T. Hodler
Friday, May 15, 2009
That‘s the Dan I know!
On the other hand, I don’t know if this report is accurate, Dan, but I would like to point out that you have had months to digest Asterios Polyp, so that’s no excuse–for you.
It’s impossible to tell much from this post that mentions Frank’s panel, but maybe more details will be revealed.
Also: I feel like maybe we should be arguing about this, but really, I get tired just thinking about it. Maybe you guys have the energy.
Reviews soon.
Labels: clueless critics, Dan Nadel, David Mazzucchelli, Frank Santoro, good critics, panels, TCAF
Nothing brings out my crankiness more than the combination of a panel discussion and a comics convention. I can’t argue with that characterization of me at all, really. I don’t think we really need to comment on Brandom Graham’s post, though. Ironically I just picked up a graphic novel of his while in Toronto! But mostly to me this is one of those no-win arguments: weird generalizations about hipsters and New York Times readers are not really worth dignifying: that way lies a massive fruitless time suck.
No wonder Dan didn’t want me to go to that panel. Well, I had to watch the table, but still…
I wrote a rambling tour diary which, in theory, I’ll post soon. I’m super hungover. Actually, I’m drunk at 10a.m. –
Got blitzed and danced to P-Funk all night long! Woo-Hoo! Pittsburgh’s good for dancing! and back issues.
I hear you, Dan. That post wasn’t written by Brandon Graham, by the way. It’s a different Brandon.
As one of the panelists, I can testify that Chris Randle’s blog posting is very accurate. He caught the dynamics of the panel well. I really wish we had taped the panel, because it would make a great feature for Comics Comics.
TCAF was great, and the only problem was there wasn’t enough time to talk to everyone or see all the panels (I missed Frank’s panel and didn’t really get to talk to him, alas). And it would have been great if Tim had been there. Oh well, there will be future events.
I forgot to ID myself in the last post. That was me, Jeet.
I agree with Dan that Soderberg’s post fails to bring enough to the table to justify further discussion. I looked at it twice this week and passed, and this was a slow-ass week. It seemed like something where you’d have to complete the arguments and shore up the definitions before you could begin engaging them, which is wearying.
BTW: I thought the obvious antecedent to Supermen! was the Fletcher Hanks book, not Dan’s.
Also, I don’t agree that Feiffer’s been left out of the conversation because he’s hard to categorize. I think it’s because for whatever reason comic book people felt the need to create their literary arm without ever referencing other forms of comics. It’s why fans of those kinds of comics in the 1990s when asked to describe the comics they liked hoped to God the person asking them had maybe read Maus instead of using the much more widely-read Doonesbury. It’s why a lot of people still think Sabre was more important to the rise of graphic novel than Die Stadt.
Besides being glad that you talk about all this, I really want that Anya Davis book now.
I think Bill Kartalopolous was at Frank’s panel, as well as head heckler Jim Rugg, and they can probably describe things better than I did, certainly from a more educated standpoint, if nothing else. The highlights for me were definitely watching taciturn Dash Shaw react to manic Frank Santoro. I can’t wait til their buddy movie comes out.
Oh, something else that is totally unconnected to this post: I’ve just seen the “PB Galery” and the great Ben Jones “Cartoon Workshop” series. It made me think of this book by diceindustries: DER GROßE MALSPAß.
A bit of a long link here, it’s only in german:
https://www.pictopia.at/comic-szene/diceindustries-in-der-kabinett-comic-passage-am-09.05.09.php
It’s published by the KABINETT, Vienna: http://kabinett.jimdo.com/
My god… Anya Davidson of course…
I think Robin is gonna write about our panel, Dustin.
After the panel, Robin was like “who was that guy who kept–“
“Jim Rugg.”
hahaha (we’re gonna get you Jimmy)
I think Dan and I talked about Jim more than any other artist all weekend. haha.
Jim has got it–there’s something good in his Kool-Aid. I LOVED the direction he was coming from in the panel. Bill K. and I were talking about it at a party on Sunday and he was also surprised to learn that was Jim. I told Jim it was his expression–he looked LIVID whenever he’d say something, which he seemed surprised to hear.
@Dan and Tom – You guys are right re the manga/”hipster” post. I just kind of hoped I would provoke someone into a rant, but that’s not really a very healthy motivation.
I also now feel totally guilty about sounding so harsh about “Supermen”. I have a huge amount of respect for Greg’s work in general. The book wasn’t my favorite thing, but it’s good and I think I was too harsh (last hour of 2-day comics fest, etc. etc.). Also, jeeez, would someone tell me when they’re gonna post panel discussion comments? I hate panels. It’s a no win game.
Sorry, Dan! I actually liked your crankiness in person, despite being more of a happy warrior in these situations myself, but I probably could’ve mentioned that I was taking notes on the panel when I went over to the PictureBox table afterwards to ask you a follow-up question.
What’s worse is that I completely forgot the names of all the old magazines you reeled off, except Wonder World (Wonderworld?)
Hey Dan,
I don’t think you were (or came across as) unduly harsh about the “Supermen” book. The book itself is a mixed bag. There are some great things in it — it’s great to have a nice version of the Daredevil versus the Claw story — but it could have been more rigorously edited. The fact is, “Art Out of Time” has raised the bar for everyone. If “Supermen” came out 10 years ago it would be the book of the year; but now everyone has to try harder.
Jeet
I will have the audio from the panel ready very soon. I don’t know how much i will write about it. I ain’t gud at that writing thing.
The Brandon Graham that wrote that posting is a different guy from the one that does comics. The comic making Brandon was watching my cat while I was at TCAF for increased irony.
I had a good talk with Jim the next day, I appreciate where he is coming from, I just don’t agree with him.
As far as linkages with Fletcher goes, I think people should remember that Fletcher Hanks was published in the original Raw series, well before most of us were doing anything with comics.
I definitely am suspicious of art that REQUIRES a lot of context or scholarship in order to interact with it on some level, but that’s probably the uneducated bumpkin in me. While I’m not sure that’s where Jim was coming from with his remarks, I find it hard to read those nutty 70’s Kirby stories and think of the stories as anything more than just throwaway pap.
Sometimes I wonder if, considering the small number of bona fide brilliant artists working in the first forty years of comics (relative to other media) we don’t heap too much praise on comics’ “founding fathers.” Just because something is “the best” within that small group of comics, it’s hard to take anything starring a guy named “Captain America” seriously past a point. I’m talking story, not art/storytelling.