Glamourpuss

You may not remember, but when this blog originally launched, I began an enormous Cerebus re-read project. I ended up finishing the re-read (oh god, even the text-only portions of Latter Days, which was enough to make me want to jam a menorah through my brain), but not the chronicling. Probably for the better. There’s only so much to be said about a creator who can so willfully dismantle everything appealing about his creation just to spite his dwindling fanbase for rejecting his cloud-cuckoo-land formulation of anti-feminism. It’s a pretty singular act of creative self-immolation, and Sim’s continued defense of his “philosophy” tends to sway between denying that his arguments lead to the conclusions they plainly do (basically trying to have the cake he’s already eaten), and insisting that a feminist/leftist/homosexualist cabal is the reason his ideas aren’t more widely accepted.

So naturally, the announcement of his new comic project has caught me somewhat by surprise.

Now, after you’ve digested that link (assuming you can stomach the awful Flash site, complete with horrible typography and retina-charring pink-on-white halftone EVERYWHERE), you probably had the same impending trainwreck feeling deep in your gut that I had. Famous misogynist launches new comic book series with female lead, exploring the nuances of the world of fashion? I can’t imagine what motivated him to even start this project, let alone bring it to market.

Naturally, the thing that fascinates about Sim is that he’s a damned fine cartoonist, probably one of the best and certainly one of the more driven. His grasp of caricature, lettering, world-building, and pacing is second-to-none, and even when his writing declined into a melange of projection, ministering, and revenge fantasy,  his artistic standards remained high. But he did have his longtime collaborator, Gerhard, turning out those incredible backgrounds up until the end of Cerebus, so who knows how his first solo flight in several decades will turn out. Will we get the silhouette-heavy backgrounds of High Society?

In the end though, I have to admit I’m somewhat torn on this one. It seems unfair to dismiss a new book based solely on the unfortunate ideas of its author. This could turn out to be perfectly enjoyable. I’m inclined to doubt that outcome, but I can’t quite shake the feeling that I should at least give the book a chance. Maybe I’ll see what the general comic blogging public has to say about before I venture in.

(Link via Metafilter).

We’re Back!

Oh, Hi. We have a comics blog, don’t we. I’d almost forgot about that, and I’ll bet you had too, seeing as it’s been months and months since we’ve posted. But we haven’t been idle all this time, oh no. We’ve been working hard on launching a new version of this site. Well, not for the whole time obviously. That would be kind of sad. But we eventually did just that, and here it is. You’re soaking in it.

We’re getting our comics blogging legs back at the moment, so excuse the dust and bleary-eyed expressions on the faces of your humble authors. We’re on a new blogging platform, at a new URL (comics.successless.org). The old one might work, but it probably won’t. Sorry for the inconvenience. I’ll put up a redirect page when I get a chance for all you stragglers.

Anyways…let me know if anything about this new design isn’t working for you. I know there are a lot of broken pictures. I’m trying to fix that, but they may have disappeared into Blogger’s database, never to return. Wish me luck on that one. Otherwise, kick the tires, see how the seats feel, leave a comment or two if you so desire. Actual content: coming soon.