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Lost in collecting- Om's Journal by oldmilwaukee6er
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403 posts in this topic

The Lady Speaks. . .November 2nd Pulls

 

I’m doing the Wednesday pulls this week because OM didn’t have a single book, whereas I had four. Three are subscriptions and the fourth was a random purchase for reasons I’ll explain later.

 

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This week’s haul.

 

So, there’s not much to say about Lady Mechanika, Dishonored, or Faith. I’m enjoying them for the most part. Dishonored just makes me want the new game so badly, but that could also be due to the brilliant live-action commercials they’ve been airing. Faith is interesting because the main story is actually very short in the issue and that would frustrate me, but they then include two shorter stories to further flesh out Faith in other contexts. (As you can tell from the cover, one of those shorter stories involves Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton. I guess it’s Valiant’s way of endorsing one candidate over the other).

 

The one I want to talk about is Lost Boys. I grew up on this movie. It came out when I was ten and I’ve probably watched it a thousand times in my life. Only Beetlejuice, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), Heathers, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Mothra vs Godzilla (1964) come close on the rewatch list.

 

The Lost Boys was a formative movie for me. Not only did it have sexy vampires (Jason Patric and Keifer Sutherland) and awesome jokes, it had the two Corey’s. Now, anyone who grew up in the 80’s knows that the two Corey’s were catnip for almost every tween/teen girl. And this was their first appearance together! The movie just screams late 80’s goth signaling the transition to early 90’s grunge.

 

The comic picks up after the events of the movie. Skye and Michael are dating. Michael is working at an old folks' home. Sam is running the comic book store. Their mom is still working at the video store. The Frog brothers (Edgar and Alan) are training with Sam’s grandfather to become members of the Santa Clara Vampire Hunter Union. Most of the first issue is setting up where the characters are now and seems to be focusing on Michael and Skye’s odd relationship.

 

It’s been a while since any vampires have been seen in Santa Clara, but of course that changes by the end of the issue when the SCVHU is slaughtered (save Sam and Michael’s grandfather, naturally) by a new pack of vampires (presumably led by David or at least a David doppleganger since the original died at the end of the movie).

 

There were two covers to choose from. The first hearkens back to the original movie poster while highlighting that there is a new generation (of mostly female) vampires.

 

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I'm not sure who the guy in the sunglasses is on the issue cover. It's supposed to be reminiscent of Michael, but Michael is no longer a vampire as it stood at the end of the movie.

The second cover, however, was the one I chose. It was absolutely essential that I get the second cover.

 

cover2_zpse00a7jzi.png

 

Why did I need this cover? Well, the strangely oily saxophone player from the Boardwalk was the scariest character in the movie for me. From the overly buffed body to his disturbingly small head, this guy terrified me the first time I saw the movie. And as many things from my childhood, he’s become a meme. I was convinced he was going to be the head of the vampire crew. In my mind there was no other path for this particularly greasy musician. I was disappointed that he was just a saxophone guy in the end.

 

Do I plan on collecting this title? No. Is it a good story? Sure. There's a lot of potential here. Did I have to have this cover? Yes. Kudos to them for making a cover of one of the most identifiable background characters in modern cinematic history.

 

Edited by TheLadySpeaks
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Once a collector learns to live without…

OK… the lady made the comment that about how she was dominating the journal these days and how my hiatus has extended another month. This domination continued FRI night at the local comic store (LCS) where she shut me out 4 – 0 on new book pulls. This is part due to my lack of orders from Previews the past two months, as well as my busy schedule. As she closes out her first quarter at the college, I know her schedule will fill up and she may not write as much. Therefore, I have to get back into the habit of journaling to close out the year and think through new collecting goals for 2017.

 

I wrote long about how “once a collector learns to live without, the passionate need to possess diminishes” (after Rinker or Welch). So what have I done in a month? Well… I guess living without. I have not really purchased any comics since my X-Men #9 and 12. I skipped Mighty Con Milwaukee- perhaps the last best one before it morphs into something bigger. I read Han Solo and Star Wars, and read through all 5 of The Massive TPBs while on jury duty. I enjoyed it… the perfect forced downtime. My most interesting modern pulls have been:

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My work schedule has been humming along and when I not too tired, I have enjoyed the balance of evenings and nights free of grading. I have been averaging three site visits per week, which both provides quality windshield time and demanding writing time. Proposal work has been steady and cool buildings explored include a convent in rural Wisconsin, a historic 1887 school, an old ice cream company, and a few homes. Just last night I finished a 4-day online meeting for big online University. It was the perfect time to double down on a little professional development ahead of some more institutional change (including going to Blackboard Ultra). I also have a night course starting in mid-December for a little extra holiday monies. SPEAKing of holidays… the lady and I booked a little winter holiday in Paris, that includes an $86 flight into Venice for her birthday dinner. Surprisingly to us, the whole jaunt is cheaper than going home to Montana for Christmas and well, one hopes the parents understand.

 

FINALLY, fall is my favorite season.

Our Halloween party, an open house eclectic mix of family, friends and coworkers, was a RUMP FEST (L- Om & Lady; R- Om MON for work)!

halloween2016_zpsrahefciv.jpghalloween2016%202_zpsxihjhku2.jpg

 

Whew bwoy, we went all out with $$$ worth of food, beer, & booze to accompany the lady’s much lauded shrimp dip and roasted veg tray. It was a slow burn, yet proceeded until 4AM at the corner spot bar. I stayed up another hour cleaning up before trying disc golf on short rest at a beautiful course in kettle moraine country, where I… played solid through 11 holes before puffing some super skunk and then having a giant anxiety attack until properly hydrated. Eeeeeep. o.O

 

Is there such a thing as a 3-day hangover? We think so…

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SO… FRI we popped our heads up and after the LCS shared some happy hour maki at the lil sushi place down the block. Yesterday was a glorious 30 holes of disc golf and now SUN I am watching my fave sport- English Premier League Football (Go Liverpool!). Today I talked the lady into a comic pick run starting in Northern Illinois and ending at Chicago Comics before 7pm tonight.

 

The goals are…

1. Finish my Spawn run, specifically- 156, 168 upgrade, 169, 174 Gunslinger, 216, 218, 221, 222, 223, 230, 244

2. Deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s (I’m craving the crust, and the lady has already had the other contenders)

3. Windshield time during the last Indian summer day of the year

4. Possible stop at Mar’s Cheese Castle

 

 

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The Lady Speaks. . . Sunday Road Trip!

Soundtrack:

 

OM had the great idea that we should spend the last lovely day of the fall (this is a fair assumption given that we live in Wisconsin and today was nearly 70 and it’s November 6) heading south toward Chicago and hit up a bunch of comic book stores for back issues. I’ll let him tell you what he was looking for.

[Om- Spawn, dammit. I really thought I was going to finish this run. The books I am seeking are pretty recent and I thought I would get lucky with a few older issues. Plus picking comics in Chicago is nostalgic for me.]

 

As for me, I was seeking Grendel back issues and Munchkin back issues. Munchkin, it was announced in this month’s Previews, ends its run with #25 in February of 2017. I have thoroughly enjoyed this comic and am very sad to see it end. Because I have loved it so, my issues haven’t been kept as pristine as one would hope. We removed all the free cards from issues 1-12 and a lot of the early issues were treated as reader copies (i.e. placed around the house strategically to read at one’s leisure). Now the comic is ending, I feel compelled to go back and re-collect the best issues of 1-12 that I can possibly find.

[Om- Truth be told, I hoarded the cards and am asking $25 for the set.]

 

When it comes to Grendel I’m looking at some very specific mini runs and the original Comico line which has 40 issues all told in it. Other than the Comico run, I’m looking for Warchild, Behold the Devil, and one of the Grendel Tales stories (right now I cannot remember which one because I didn’t write it down because it wasn’t until recently that I learned that there have been something like 6 different mini-runs under the banner of Grendel Tales).

 

Other back issues I’m always looking for are Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children (an old indie DC imprint called Piranha Press), Detective Comics 267 (1st appearance of Bat Mite), Detective Comics 230 (1st appearance of Mad Hatter), Captain Britain 8 (1st appearance of Psylocke), X-Men 129 (1st appearance of Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost), and X-Men 266 (1st appearance of Gambit). I’m also on the lookout for Nightmares and Fairytales TPB (2008) and Annabelle’s Story (2010). I’m not particular about condition.

[Om- I guess if I’m being honest I would have also picked Usagi Yojimbo books. Or a few other things off my want list. And I expected to make some dollar book finds too.]

 

I’m going to give a rundown of my impressions of each comic stop. OM has his own opinions.

 

The first place we hit was Comix Revolution in Mount Prospect. This was a small, sparse store. The guy working was a bit brusque, a bit of a meathead looking guy. There were very few back issues. Most of what they had was Marvel and DC. Very few indies. Disappointing.

[Om- One bookshelf of back issues, which the guy fanned through in big stacks, bending the books in half. There were some Usagi Yojimbos, but none for me and no Spawns either

Rating- spawn_zps2731235c.png But only for the Usagis

 

 

Next, we tried like heck to find Pastime Comics & Games in Niles. I don’t think this place exists, or if it does it’s on an alternate plane. So we moved on.

[Om- We were early and drove around some before giving up.

Rating- spawn%20eyes_zpsczlmh9zp.jpg Flaming Spawn eyes. We doubt your existence card shop.

 

 

Our next stop was Aw Yeah Comics in Skokie. Another sparse store. The guy at the counter was super friendly and told us that they had just sold all their back issues two weeks ago. Apparently, the offer was one that they couldn’t refuse. I didn’t really look around this store all that much because I was distracted by a rack of writing journals.

[Om- Somebody made them an offer they could not refuse, so they sold all their back issues.

Rating- No Spawns

 

 

Dark Tower Comics in the Lincoln Park area was our next stop. This store was set up kind of weird. Again, heavy on the Marvel, DC, Vertigo and kids’ comics. They did have a bunch of back issues and I was able to pull 4 Grendels out at $1 apiece. I also picked up a couple of Munchkins. Two positives about this store: 1) they had a public restroom and 2) the automatically bagged and boarded your raw comics. But the girl working was a bit of a fake geek girl who was more interested in putting together some IKEA shelving than helping customers.

[Om- That line above was mine, actually, said perhaps unfairly and with a bit of spite. After much digging, there was some Spawn, lots of Curse of Spawn $1 issues and a ½ box of unpriced Spawn that I found, including a #244 marked $1. I asked “Are these Spawns for sale?” FGG “No, they still have to be priced.” Me “OK” (then to the lady) “Figured, there is one that is on my list marked $1” FGG- (AFTER finishing the lady’ s transaction, capitulating) “Oh well, I suppose…” Me “No, don’t worry about it. I’m not going to use a debit card for $1.”

Rating- spawn_zps2731235c.pngspawn_zps2731235c.png And a spawn%20eyes_zpsczlmh9zp.jpg because I know there was at least 2 books for me in there.

 

 

Our last stop before lunch was at Alley Cat Comics in Andersonville (like N Wrigleyville). This is a small store. Great location and a very cool store. Sadly, it was full of people waiting for their brunch times and they just stood in the aisles. This was also the first (but not last) store that seemed to display its moderns based on themes as opposed to standard publisher and alphabetizing. I found my needed Grendel Omnibus 1, though, so I was happy. I’ve never seen Omnibus 1 in the wild so I felt like I had to purchase it. After leaving Alley Cat OM did make the observation “All these places are terrible!”

[Om- Ugh, by brunch we were in the northern portion of hell. Amazingly, I found parking in the neighborhood not far from the store. Super cool building down this faux alley. Books are by genre- and Spawn is a super hero? Anti-hero? Fantasy? WTF. Tried to look in back issues and did successfully, but had to move around this yoga dude all posing, stretched out 6 long boxes wide. Two dad-bods just standing in front of a cool display of Black Mask books right on rack. I just had to stop and back into them reaching for a Young Terrorist. Funny.

Rating- spawn%20eyes_zpsczlmh9zp.jpg You could be SO cool if you weren’t so try-hard. ALSO, I picked a Space Usagi ashcan that is foxing pretty bad.

 

 

Lunch: Lou Malnati’s in Evanston, near Northwestern. Food was excellent. Service was pretty awful. I chalk that up to it being a big-named franchise location near a college campus. I don’t expect great service at a place like that. Our overly moist waiter managed to screw up just about everything except the pizza order (and truly we ended up with a much better salad than we had originally ordered). Plus, we had to ask for everything twice.

[Om- Sigh, I hate you big city. Just trying to show my lady something nice!

Rating- spawn_zps2731235c.png I got the Buttercrust®, damminit

 

 

After lunch we walked to Comix Revolution’s Evanston location. It was only a 10 minute stroll through the heart of Evanston and after Lou Malnati’s pizza, a walk is indeed a good idea. This was a very hip store with a ton of indies, but again, the books were organized thematically which makes finding something like Munchkin difficult. Is it a kids’ book? A video game book? A fantasy/science fiction book? (For the record, all superhero books are science fiction/fantasy, whoever told these kids differently did them a great disservice). There were very few back issues here, but it was a cool enough store that I might visit again (if I can stomach Evanston again).

[Om- I did a bunch of research from RCheli’s thread, but neglected to heed the warning in the title "I Went to Nearly Every Comic Store Around Chicago So You Wouldn't Have To"

Rating- spawn_zps2731235c.png Just for the gaul to still ask $11.95 for those three Small Press Expo shirts from 2001. Hilarity.

 

 

From there we hit the last store of the day Comix Gallery in Wilmette. Just to repeat—again, comics were arranged in some sort of esoteric thematic manner and they mixed their graphic novels in with the comics which was slightly irritating. However, this store is the first one we found that had a sale section for TPB’s. The other thing this one did that the others didn’t is that they had a vast number of bundled comics for sale, but no rhyme or reason to how those were organized. There were some back issues but most were 3/$1 raw copies in overstuffed long boxes. The guy working was very chatty and that was fun because everywhere else had been less than friendly. I did end up buying some more Munchkins, though.

 

So all in told I cut my Munchkin list nearly in half. I still need 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 12. I knocked Grendel Omnibus 1 off my list and found Behold the Devil 8 (I need 5-7) and Warchild 3, 8, and 10 (I need 2 and 9).

[Om- The lady found a Greendale (Neil Young) hardcover for me for $4. She knows a few of the family obsess over that album, incl. me. The guy had some great theories as to why I was striking out on Spawn- such as, McFarlane has the printing down to science to the point whereby they are basically putting the books directly into the fans hands, leaving only stores that order big to have back issues. He also said concept art for the movie caused people to buy up back issues and also noted that McFarlane has a way of creating small demand surges by limiting reprinting, giving the feeling that ‘the floppies are the material’ and so some fans may have multiple copies. Great chat, could have talked here for hours, but it was time to get the hell outta dodge.

Rating- spawn_zps2731235c.pngspawn_zps2731235c.pngspawn_zps2731235c.png For conspiracy theories at least.

 

 

The way I see it, the day wasn’t a total loss. Now we know which comic books NOT to hit and we know that Sunday might not be the best day to do such a trek as brunch can interfere with picking comics. Plus, we got out of the house, I avoided grading for another day, and we saw some lovely fall color.

[Om- And I got to spend time with my special lady friend. Ten Spawns!!! (… left to go)

 

 

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Maus’ Evolution in Underground Comix

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The importance of the Maus graphic novels is well established in academia. Art Spiegelman was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992 (Awards and Citations- Letters) for his efforts, and numerous publications and internet resources continue to elaborate on Maus’ importance in comic narratives, trauma literature (e.g. Orvell, 1992; Rothberg, 1994; & Berlatsky, 2003). However, limited scholarly attention is given to Maus’ evolution in underground comix movement. The following is an attempt to establish a printing history of the formative u-comix comprising Spiegelman’s development of Maus, including its serialization in RAW and printings prior to the tale being collected in graphic novels in 1986 and 1991 (Maus: A Survivor’s Tale I: My Father Bleeds History and Maus: A Survivor’s Tale II: And Here My Troubles Began, respectively).

 

The first appearance of Art Spiegleman’s Maus in print is well known to u-comix collectors, but less know to academia- the 3-page story titled simply “Maus,” which appeared in Apex Novelties’ Funny Aminals [sic] in 1972. Funny Animals was a one-shot anthology title of anthropomorphic comix edited by Terry Zwigoff (later the director/producer of the movie “Crumb”) and featuring a collection of seminal u-comix artists, including Robert Crumb, Jay Lynch, Shary Flenniken, Bill Griffith, and Spiegelman. Apex Novelties’ Don Donahue recalls thinking that Spiegelman “had outdone himself.” Oddly, the Funny Aminals story was not reprinted verbatim in the larger Maus story, rather it is Spiegleman’s first attempts to render his beast fable, e.g. cats as Nazis, mice as Jews. It was also a more detailed artistic style than what would eventually be adopted for the Maus graphic novels. Figure 1, excerpted from Brown (1988), illustrates Spiegelman’s evolution toward a more simple, elegant, and austere format for which to present his father’s Holocaust survival tale. “I didn’t want people to get too interested in the drawings,” Spiegelman said, “I wanted them to be there, but the story operates somewhere else” (Brown, 1988, pg. 103).

 

In the case of Figure 1, Spiegelman takes two panels in Maus I to illustrate what one panel shows in Funny Aminals. Most academics, e.g. Doherty (1996), Rothberg (1994), or Huyssen (2000), would agree that this self-revision was both justified and effective in avoiding pitfalls associated with visual representation of the Holocaust, e.g. what Huyssen (2000) terms psycho-comikitsch.

 

Figure 1. Comparison of styles from Funny Aminals to Maus I (after Brown, 1988).

 

Funny Aminals pg. 10 (more detailed)

maus3_zpsyyehfuqa.jpg

 

Maus I pg. 117 (more austere)

maus4_zpskawbtxop.jpg

 

 

The next development followed two years later and again appeared quite different (Figure 2). The 4-page “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” from Head Press’ Short Order Comix #1 (1973) is a more personal, expressionistic story portraying a prisoner who is remorseful over the death of his mother (Johnston, 2001).

 

Figure 2. “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” in Maus I

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Maus I pg. 99

 

 

Exhibitions of Spiegleman’s art have shown that he first used the format of Maus in Prisoner (Feinstein, 2006). And its inclusion (or direct reprinting) is used effectively to underscore the theme of Spiegelman’s relationship with his family (Figure 3). “Prisoner” provides important direct testimony to the emotional breakdown of father and son at the death of Anja and the survivor’s guilt, complete with Spiegelman in prison clothing reminiscent of Auschwitz (Huyssen, 2000). It reinforces the theme that Spiegelman will never be able to re-create Anja’s lost narrative nor her voice- as her journals were lost to the Nazis, her re-created notebooks lost to Vladek and the garbage, and her testimony forever lost after her suicide (Rothberg, 1994; Huyssen, 2000).

 

Figure 3. The effect of “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” on the Maus characters

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Maus I pg. 104

 

 

Art Spiegelman Short Order Comix #1 “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” preliminary artwork original art group of 58 pieces (FMR Eric Sack collection; currently for sale by Heritage Auctions). This auction was what inspired me to resurrect this article, originally included in the 2006 “Supplement” to the Fogel’s Underground Comix Price Guide and include it in my journal.

 

lf%202_zpsxwopqejf.jpg

 

lf%203_zps4fkc0nsn.jpg

 

lf%204_zpsbq4bg9cd.jpg

 

lf%207_zpsltyyyajc.jpg

 

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The auction description notes “this group of art contains many of the preliminary sketches and rough scripts that were used to produce the piece. In fact, there are 58 pages of preliminary artwork and notes in this group… some in color…some in graphite only. To say that Spiegelman is meticulous could be quite an understatement. The finished work speaks for itself, to be sure; however you can see the power of the story forming as he refines panels and the viewer’s POV for increasingly more dramatic and effective storytelling….”

Because “Prisoner” breaks abruptly from the metaphor that so defined Maus, that it is actually another early development of the larger Maus tale is often overlooked by contemporary u-comix collectors. While “Prisoner” stands apart stylistically from the beast fable, it cannot be separated from the entirety of Spiegelman’s family story. Consider… The art for both u-comix developments “Maus” and “Prisoner” are dated 1972, which supports the notion that Spiegelman was artistically contemplating how best to render his family’s survival tale. “Prisoner” is reprinted entirely within Maus I, pages 100-103, and the intense, personal style of “Prisoner” is one Spiegelman uses effectively to offset the ascetic tone of the larger Maus beast fable. Finally, Prisoner’s publication year (1973) represents the first copyright listed in the indicia of Maus I.

 

Following Short Order Comix #1 in 1973, “Maus” was reprinted in several u-comix until Spiegelman became editor of RAW in 1980. All of these appearances reprint the original 3-page “Maus” storyline from Funny Aminals and they include:

• The Apex Treasury of Underground Comix (Apex Novelties, 1974)

• Comix Book #2 (Magazine Management Co., 1975)

• Breakdowns (Belier Press, 1977)

 

By 1977 the original 3-page “Maus” had run its course in u-comix, culminating in Spiegelman’s own anthology Breakdowns (1977). Around then, Spiegelman had made the decision to do a larger work and began to see / interview his father more frequently (Feinstein, 2006). Spiegelman’s first chapter of the larger Maus tale was incorporated into RAW Vol. 1 #2 as small-format mini comix attached to the magazine’s back cover. Subsequent chapters followed with each successive issues of RAW (Kartalopoulos, 2005; Table 1).

 

Maus%20Table_zpsqumgisc1.jpg

 

 

While Spiegelman had already created an outline and basic chapters for Maus through an unsuccessful proposal for a French magazine titled A Suivre, RAW provided him with an outlet for his work and a necessary deadline (Kartalopoulos, 2005). In 1986, Panteon Books complied RAW’s first six chapters of Maus into one volume for publication, titled “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale I: My Father Bleeds History.

 

And the rest is history.*

 

 

 

*It is worth noting that some pages, e.g. Chapter 1: The Sheik, were redrawn or edited slightly for book compilation (as shown in Kartalopoulos, 2005).

 

References

Berlatsky, E. (2003). Memory as forgetting: The problem of the postmodern in Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and Spiegelman’s Maus. Cultural Critique, 55, 101-151.

Brown, J. (1988). Review: of mice and memory. The Oral History Review, 16(1): 91-109.

Doherty, T. (1996). Art Spiegelman’s Maus: graphic art and the holocaust. American Literature, 68(1), 69-84.

Feinstein, S. (2006). Witness and legacy: Contemporary art about the Holocaust. University of Tennessee- Knoxville. Retrieved from SOMETHING.

Huyssan, A. (2000). Of mice and mimesis: Reading Spiegelman with Adorno. New German Critique, 81: 65-82.

Johnston, I. (2001). On Spiegelman’s Maus I and II. Malaspina University-College Liberal Studies 112 website. Retrieved from http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/introser/maus.htm.

Kartalopoulos, B. (2005). A RAW history. Indy Magazine, Winter. Retrieved from SOMETHING

Orvell, M. (1992). Writing posthistorically: Krazy Kat, Maus, and the contemporary fiction cartoon. American Literary History, 4(1): 110-128.

Rothberg, M. (1994). We were talking Jewish: Art Spiegelman’s Maus as holocaust production. Contemporary Literature, 35(4): 661-687.

Spiegelman, A. (1986). Maus: A Survivor’s Tale I: My Father Bleeds History. Pantheon Books, NY.

Spiegelman, A. (1991). Maus: A Survivor’s Tale II: And Here My Troubles Began. Pantheon Books, NY.

Young, J.E. (1998). The holocaust as vicarious past: Art Spiegelman’s Maus and the afterimages of history. Critical Inquiry, 24(3): 666-699.

 

Edited by oldmilwaukee6er
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Great post. I really learned a few things reading it. Thank you so much for taking the time to prepare it.

 

I wish I had a deeper understanding to make a contribution, but one comment I'll make is that looking at those preliminary drawings made it pretty obvious that Krigstein was one of Spiegelman's influences.

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The Lady Speaks. . .November Video Game Roundup

 

I’m not going to get political, but I must say that the election results threw me for a loop. As a result, I’ve been finding myself seeking escapist activities more than usual. So despite my best intentions of not buying Dishonored 2 right out of the gate, I bought Dishonored 2 about a week and a half ago. Being an Amazon Prime member gave me a 12% discount off the standard price, so I feel good about that.

 

dishonored2_zps1jh6t5eh.jpg

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the original game and have been looking forward to the second installment since it was announced earlier this year. Dishonored’s artwork is inspired by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (most famous for the giant yellow umbrella installation they did along a California highway in the 1990’s), Sergey Kolesov, and the aesthetic of Steampunk. This combination created a dark and gritty FPS.

 

98ba7e62-539b-4d1c-a7f2-fc7fddf3ac9b_zpsqxrproij.jpg

 

In Dishonored, you play as Corvo Attano a man who has been framed as the murderer of the Empress of the Isles (and mother of his child, the Princess Emily). Your goal is to uncover the plot and handle the conspirators. Dishonored allows for multiple ways to play the way, but it essentially boils down to either a stealthy/humane approach or a violent/chaotic approach. The world adapts to the choices you make and plot vital characters respond to you accordingly. You are equipped with magic and with a variety of weapons. Ultimately the goal is to play as stealthy as possible. I played it through twice—the first time was violent as heck as I learned the game, the second was stealthier but by no means bloodless.

 

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Dishonored 2 picks up years after the events of Dishonored. Some of you may remember that I’m also collecting the comic book which fills in the gaps between the two games. Emily is on the throne. Corvo is her bodyguard. On the anniversary of her mother’s death, a woman claiming to be Emily’s aunt named Delilah arrives and immediately imprisons Emily or Corvo. Delilah is a character from the original game’s DLC The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches. (I admit that the politics of this game, an evil tyrant taking over control of a country and imprisoning/killing dissidents, artists, etc seems a bit on the nose as of late).

 

Dishonored 2 gives you the option of playing as either Emily or Corvo. Unlike the first game which took place in the city of Dunwall, Dishonored 2 moves you around the Empire of the Isles. The world is more adaptive to your actions than in the original game and there seems to be even more pressure to not go the violent/chaotic route. Unfortunately, on my first playthrough (which I’m about 6 hours into), I cannot seem to master the stealth and my world is full-on chaotic. I’ve already killed at least one major character, Paolo. I know that there are only two endings, despite the claims that you can play as you want and there are multiple paths. You either are low chaos and the ending is good, or you're high chaos and wind up with a tyrant dictator on the throne. I know how my game is going to end unless I figure out some stealth quickly. It's also very hard to reduce chaos once you get to the point of having high chaos, but it's very easy to go from low to high.

 

The artwork of Dishonored 2 is gorgeous. The steampunk aspects have been ramped up with the addition of clockwork soldiers.

 

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The works of Agustin Casasola, Victorian postcards, and eschews the photorealism of other popular FPS such as Call of Duty. It helps that the same artistic creative team remained in place. The attention to detail throughout the game is simply amazing. From the condemned due to Blood Fly barriers, the canceled concert posters, the propaganda posters, the litter blowing in the streets, and the various accoutrements of the citizens’ houses the game is absolutely stunning. I think I play so violent just so I can explore without worry.

 

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Look at this whaling scene! Details!

 

Despite how fun the game is and the gorgeous immersive world, there is something missing from Dishonored 2. I can’t put my finger on it, but the game lacks a bit of the soul that the first game had. That’s not to say that is a simple retreading with a new plot because it’s not. Maybe it’s because the game doesn’t want you to take it as serious so it’s ramped up the gore and bizarre situations. Maybe the steampunk elements seem superficial due to steampunk’s proliferation of popular culture. Maybe it’s the new gear, magic abilities, and metrics that they put into play. Like I said, I can’t quite put my finger on what’s different. I’m still enjoying it and I have no major complaints.

 

The other game I picked up is Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. I found this one at Mega Media Exchange for $10. I was eyeing No Man’s Sky but I’m waiting for it to hit the $10 mark. Currently it’s selling for $20.

 

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Om encouraged me to buy Mordor since I’m a huge Dragon Age fan and don’t have a good fantasy slasher to play at the moment. Plus, I know the lore well enough having read the books and seen the movies. It’s a perfect blend of escapist fantasy and button mashing.

 

You are Tallon, a Ranger who has been killed by the Black Hand of Sauron and you are “banned from death” which makes you someone who lives in the shadows. (The intro to this game is one of the most pointless I’ve experienced yet). You are assisted by someone known as The Wraith who appears to be Elvish. The goal of the game is to get to the Black Hand of Sauron and kill him. You do this by taking down Uruk captains.

 

The game a straightforward slash and dash except that it has some annoying RPG aspects. You can level up abilities, add runes to weapons, and there are a ton of little side things you can do (such as gathering plants which help your health and give you power points, the mechanism by which you level up). I don’t like that the ranged weapon aspect is so limited. Also the map of goals and such isn’t very clear at first. Plus there’s a bunch of Wraith things you have to do like find forges to open up new parts of the map. I think the most frustrating part of the game right now is the Uruk captains. If one kills you, it immediately goes up a level but then another unknown captain can challenge it to a duel and one of the dies and a new unknown falls into place (because you only learn about them through fighting them or if you interrogate another Uruk). I’m still learning since I’ve only put in about 90 minutes at this part.

 

This game is brutal in the sense that you kill indiscriminately and with relish. You know, a typical button masher in many regards.

 

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As has become the norm, the text on the screen that tells you what’s going on is rather small (larger than Dragon Age, but not as large as Dishonored 2) and it’s a game that’s constantly telling you things, some of which you already know but then random new information pops up. I know that I as I play more, this will irritate me less. After all, I forgive that sort of nonsense in games like Assassin’s Creed and Dragon Age. It’s just so different from Dishonored 2 that the adjustment takes a bit longer.

 

Overall I’m enjoying Mordor because it’s a button masher with a dash of stealth. The graphics are good but it’s a bit glitchy. As long as those glitches work in my favor (such as Uruk’s walking into walls and never turning around or falling into the ground and getting trapped), I’m happy.

 

ETA: The voice actor for The Wraith is the same as the Cheshire Cat from the American McGee Alice games, so that's pretty cool. Also, I learned that you can play as woman.

 

ETA: Mordor is the first game to use the speakers in the controller which is super neat.

 

Edited by TheLadySpeaks
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Progress check for 2016

In 2016 I put forth many of the collecting goals below. As I begin to brainstorm my 2017 goals, it is a nice exercise for me to review the previous year’s progress and reflect upon any changes.

 

In 2016, I wrote how I wanted MORE FOCUS and MORE RESULTS and LESS STRESS in my collecting life, and as Meatloaf famously sang “Two outta three ain’t bad.” 2016 was far less stressful of a collecting year, and I stayed relatively focused. However, I do not feel as though I have achieved as many collecting “results.”

 

Buy Zap Comix #16… Achieved, but frankly this was easy and also my first purchase through Midtown Comics :thumbsup

 

Advance my Zap Comix project in general… Not achieved. This goal seems so foreign to me now. I think it means submit more Zap Comix to CGC and update my registry set. This goal did not progress at all and upon reflection there are some obvious reasons. 1- CGC was not set up at WW Madison as I had (wrongly) assumed, and 2- The New Case fiasco. Ugh, it really had me questioning the role of third-party certification in my collecting. I think, if I am honest, I want to get out of the Registry game altogether, i.e. that I am playing a game I cannot win, but more on that later.

 

Sell at least one thing per month… Somewhat a fail. After a couple of good sales to kick off the year, I did not set up at a convention or sell a book the second half of 2016. After an early addition, the ASM fund currently stands stagnant at $3000. The interesting thing is that the STRONG urge to own an ASM1 is fading. I do not think of the money, indeed enjoy it as extra savings for the time being.

 

Submit my ‘homegrown hardcovers’ for Zap Comix and Freak Brothers to bookbinder… Complete!

 

Submit a panel and attend WW Madison (APR16) Complete! And hopefully regional popular culture conference (OCT16) Fail. In fact, the lady skipped the Midwest PCA due to a scheduling conflict. That is ok, a little scholarship is good.

 

On-site submit my high grade raw / PeeGeeX Freak Brothers at WW Madison (and maybe a few Zaps). Fail. No such thing as on-site grading or submission at WW Madison. Could have done it at WW Chicago, but decided to spend my money in other ways.

 

Run collect / Dollar box grind Usagi Yojimbos with less emphasis on condition. I would call this a success. I probably bought more Usagi than any other title in 2016 and I only have about 14 issues remaining to be current.

 

Run collect / Dollar box grind Spawn with more emphasis on condition. Ongoing. However, this goal – more than the others- really is beginning to weigh on me. I would like to be current on Spawn. This goal will take priority in late 2016 and early 2017 and it is my hope to become current on Spawn soon.

 

Paint my Usagi Yojimbo custom action figure (by summer). Haha! That didn’t happen. This was somewhat of a stretch goal to begin with and a little outside my normal comfort zone. Not certain what to do with this goal for 2017.

 

Downsize in general- books, clothing – and generally be WAY MORE SELECTIVE what I bring into the house (figure out some sort of measurable metric here). Some progress, but yet not. I have slowly become more discerning with Modern comics, and I see Modern comic collecting continuing through 2017. I also greatly downsized clothing and the majority of my books and have been very discerning there. Yet none of this has fully translated to my comic book collecting as a whole and my collection is the largest it has been for years and getting larger.

 

Take my niece (9) and nephew (8) on two Lost World of Wonders shopping sprees ($50ea/trip; $200 total). Fail! I tried this a few times, but in the era of the helicopter parent and the over-scheduled kid, there is not much room for funny books. For my nephew, I focused more on sports and was present at several sport events throughout the year. I saw my niece perform three times in 2016- twice in theater and once in dance, and I have been pulling Boom Comics’ Backstagers for her to read. The wee nephew I play with, whatever he wants, and he has taken to calling me “his friend.”

 

Good old-fashioned road trip (possibly Boston via Canada to see niece / gf OR to Colorado via I-90 and visit MN / ND / CO friends OR maybe Montana for in laws). Fail fail fail. To be fair, the lady was really opposed to the road trip idea.

 

Do more sticker art; put up 200+. Total fail. I didn’t even paint in 2016; not one stroke. Terrible.

 

I am going to make a new friend and generally let go of 2 toxic relationships (one work and one personal). Mostly achieved. I did well to let go of two toxic people in my life and move past (and eventually toward forgiving). However, I still struggle with making new friends, and one old friend re-entered my life and that needs a little active managing (as the lady quickly points out).

 

And then some other pretty specific stuff related to clean living (e.g. 1 vegetarian meal per day; FAIL), exercise (can always do better, but not bad), fixing stuff around the apt (plumbing work and electrical work done; great room plaster ceiling still slowing collapsing), & finding a new/fun/exciting job with less stress that allows me to do all of this (new F/T job, but it is perhaps only a stop-gap)

 

 

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OM and The Lady Speaks. . . A Lovely Weekend

 

[OM] This last weekend was a glorious 3-day weekend filled with quiet, calm hobbying. FRI I was off work and the lady had a solid 5-hour block of teaching, so I spread out of my closet storage and into the living room. I watched movies all day FRI, including some Fung Fu Panda and O Brother Where Art Thou, and generally organize the collection. As I was organizing, I was doing so with an eye toward downsizing and began pulling out stacks of books, comics, Atari video games, and DVDs. I had in mind another run to Half Price Books and figured if I could net $100 with a salted pile of junk I would be happy. Also, the Burnham Bowl comic shop was SUN, and I figured if I went through the effort of setting up at the show and netted $100 for my efforts I would be happy. In the end, we netted $92 after about 35min waiting at Half Price SUN and were happy to have earned a comic shopping spree and cheeseburgers.

 

[TLS] I did my part and added a number of science fiction books (hardcover and softcover), about 8 PS games (2,3, & 4), DVD’s (Simpson’s mostly), and graphic novels (Preacher and Dresden Files were the highlights). I spent 0$ at Half Price which is a huge accomplishment for me.

 

[OM] After Half Price, we hit Burnham Bowl for a quick pick, and just the act of purging some items impacted both of our shopping (we each had a $20 budget after the $2 entry). The lady was done after about 5 minutes and circled back to the bar to get the burgers working. The place was full, with both full dealer’s tables and good attendance throughout. Picking was good, and my first stop was John Hauser’s booth (packed cheek-to-cheek) where I saw a few guys oogling a pair of ASM 129 and IH 181 for which someone had just paid $1000. I wandered through slowly, touching base with a few dealers here are there and picking where I could. After a while, I slipped back out to the bar to touch base with the lady and enjoy lunch.

 

[TLS] At Burnham I made one trip through and when one of the vendors tried to talk to me I noped out of there and went straight to the bar for a burger and a Mountain Dew. Somedays I just don’t want to make small talk at a show. This was one of those times.

 

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Me, when someone tries to talk to me at a show and all I wanna do is look at stuff and not be talked to.

 

[OM] After lunch, I went back in for one last turn through the room, with my talked-up goal of using the Half Price Books monies to buy one nice X-Men book. I found the same dealer where I bought X-Men #9 & 12 from last show and set myself to digging for another nice book. He (DVD) was in the middle of a deal that fell apart for an X-Men #14 1st Sentinels. I waited for the deal to be done and scooped up the following book for $80:

 

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[TLS] I am pleased with this purchase. It's a good use of communal monies made through the sacrifice of hobby goods.

 

[OM] After that, we went to Lost World of Wonders, as I was looking for some oversized card holders for a 1977 Star Wars ad pak sticker set I uncovered in my digging. The lady is also looking for Munchkin comics with the card still attached, and ended up pulling MANY bundles of Grendel comics totaling close to $100. I also found a nice copy of Spawn #244 ($4), and now have just 8 issues to go in order to be current on Spawn.

 

[TLS] I had jokingly told OM that we could easily spend that Half Price money at Lost World and I was right. I’m the target audience for those pre-packaged bundles that comic book dealers put together. Slap a mini series in a bag with a board and a price of about $7 and I’ll buy it. And that’s what happened with the Grendels. I picked up Behold the Devil, War Child, Devil in Our Midst, and a few others. This knocked a few titles off my want list. Yes, I have them in various forms but now I have the individual issues.

 

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The first academic article I ever published was on Grendel and I have never been able to fully quit the series since then.

 

Plus I was able to score three more Munchkin with cards which leaves only 1,2, and 8 on my list. I'm not sure why I feel the need to recollect issues 1-12 except that the series is ending in a few issues and part of me thinks the cards will make 1-12 worth more. "More" being a relative term, I acknowledge.

 

[OM] All in all, a lovely weekend where I downsized some items I will not miss into a new Silver Age X-Men comic. And while my collection still needs work, it is small victories like this that keep me positive heading into 2017.

 

[TLS] The bin we freed up in the Half Price purging is now going to work in my closet. I was able to unload several PS2, PS3, and PS4 games that were taking up space and in reality were never going to get played again (X-Men Wolverine, Star Wars Battlefront II, Arkham Knight are just a few examples). I was also able to narrow down my graphic novels.

My goal with my books, graphic novels, and video games is simple. I want to keep only those that I still enjoy reading and rereading (the rereading is key) OR that will provide good material for my scholarship. If a book does neither, then it is gone.

 

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I'm very impressed you put together this list, and then circled back to check on your progress. The very act of doing that had to help with your collecting. I'm thinking about doing the same thing for myself for 2017.

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Great post - what a lot of fun you guys have collecting together.

 

Thanks for the kind words, it helps keep us motivated and does not go unnoticed! We do have a lot of fun, at times we have collected together in the past, c. 1998-1999 in Billings MT and then again in Baton Rouge 2003-2005 (before a store closed down). She likes to write because it gives her an outlet, she is always journaling or thinking through academic ideas. I like to write and explore the positive side to writing as an outlet. Scholarship light.

 

You put together this list, and then circled back to check on your progress… I'm thinking about doing the same thing for myself for 2017.

 

Yes! I do not have a lot of people in real life IRL that I can talk about my collecting with, even my LCS mgr likes to talk more about music. I like putting my goals out there and then checking back in periodically- have I completed it? Is it still important? Why or why not? The more I write, the more I feel the need to move the collection forward. It is like I am talking through a behavioral economics problem.

 

Top 3 Purchases for 2016

In thinking back on 2016, it occurs to me that I have been priced out a few collectibles, including…

Underground comix (the books I covet are generally >$300), poison bottles (even plain ones fetch >$30), and Nemadji tourist pottery (most pieces now fetch $20-30+ locally). Therefore, my list represents a little of the past and present in my collecting.

 

 

#1- CGC 8.5 Mr. Natural #1 1st print (eBay). 2016 saw me slab 20+ high grade Zap Comix & sell off my best copy of Freak Brothers #1. I bought and sold just a few books after Slabgate 2016, but this copy was too good to pass up.

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#2- X-Men #12 VG 1st Juggernaut, O: Professor X (Burnham Bowl). It was a good year for X-Men books with 9, 12 and 14 added to my copies of 1 and 2. I see this trend continuing in 2017 with a goal of collecting 1-19 in raw GDVG to VGFN.

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#3- B^tch Planet #1 logo variant (WW Chicago). My modern collecting continued throughout 2016, a combination of minor spec’ing off Previews and run collecting Spawn & Usagi Yojimbo.

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Honorable mention

TMNT 1991 Space Usagi action figure, loose with all accessories (not pictured; WW Chicago)

 

Usagi Yojimbo #38 (WW Madison). The last issue of volume 1 Fantagraphics series and a somewhat tough one.

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Rust #1 Chromium cover (Spawn preview; WW Madison)

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Any cool- Kudranski Spawn or Spawn picked from my LCS incl. #152 153 162 163 174 203 204 205 206 209 211 212 213 214 215 (but particularly #174)

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2017 is the year I complete my Spawn run!

 

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The Lady Speaks. . .Gambling Video Games

 

Today OM and I heard a bit on NPR about casinos losing money because Gen X and Millennials don’t gamble like the Boomers did. In order to try and attract younger new blood to the casinos, a guy has developed Danger Arena, a skill based video game that offers 45 second FPS scenarios in which money is rewarded on a series of metrics. One play costs $5. Payouts range from $1 to $5000. I found an article from November 2016 on NJ.com that discusses what we heard on NPR.

LINK

 

To be fair, there is no data on what the average payout is or how often the game paysout. That kind of information could dramatically skew in favor of Danger Arcade.

 

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The game is clearly designed to capitalize on arcade nostalgia.

 

The NPR segment discussed how the game is randomized. “First, through random bonuses - you know, cash prizes while you're playing - and second, by randomly assigning the game a level of difficulty. So each round of "Danger Arena" is played on what's called a map, which affects how hard it is to shoot the bots. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's downright impossible.” (http://www.npr.org/2016/12/16/505811899/casinos-demographic-problem-how-to-replace-older-slot-players)

 

NPR concludes that because Danger Arena pays out the same as a slot machine but it’s a FPS the game feels even more stacked against you than a typical slot machine does. In other words, a gambling video game could be a hard sell even to younger hardcore gamers. I'll discuss this down further.

 

This triggered a conversation between OM and I that I hope to continue (he was dropping me off at work and we didn’t have a ton of time to discuss). I immediately dismissed the concept out of hand and OM wanted to know why.

 

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From a superficial perspective the graphics look cheesy as all get-out and resembles a typical gambling machine. The only noticeable difference is the hand held controller that is reminiscent of a console game. It’s an odd choice for a FPS when most arcade games have plastic guns for you to shoot with.

 

I see this concept failing for one a few reasons—the lack of rewards, the lack of satisfaction, and the inability to improve your gameplay. Additionally, anyone who has been gaming since the 80’s is already familiar with the concept of the “computer won’t let me win.” Contemporary games seems to have remedied that somewhat with difficulty options and continuous tutorials but when one goes back to play an old NES game, the familiarity of being beat by the computer comes rushing back. Millenials are less familiar with this feeling because they didn't necessarily grow up on the brutality of NES and Atari 2600. Gen Xers know this frustration all too well and I know from personal experience it turned me off of a number of games. Add to that the knowledge that Danger Arcade is a gambling machine and already many gamers are going to be hesitant to play. A gamer needs to feel that there is a possibility of winning the game.

 

When I teach my video game class I assign Jane McGongial’s Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Granted McGonigal is coming at video games from an incredibly optimistic viewpoint. She truly believes that if we were to incorporate more gaming aspects into our real lives we wouldn’t be so perpetually dissatisfied and bored.

 

McGonigal lays out various ways video games improve our real lives in ways other than escapism. Video games offer us challenges we don’t get in our everyday lives, they offer us the ability to fail for fun and to improve our skills, they connect us with people when in our real lives we are often isolated and lonely, they provide us with intrinsic rewards that are more satisfying than extrinsic rewards (getting a badge or high score vs money for a job), and they allow us to problem solve in new and exciting ways. Video games trigger in us a feeling of fiero which is that excitement that causes you to pump your fist in the air and exclaim “Woo!” It’s a sense of accomplishment.

 

Danger Arena doesn’t offer any of this. Because each game is randomized there is no opportunity for fun failure because there is no way to improve your skills. You can get a super easy screen followed by an exceptionally hard one followed by another hard one. And since the game is only 45 seconds long, you don’t have time to adapt and develop a new strategy. At $5 a game the only reward is extrinsic, if you are lucky enough to win money. Otherwise, you’re just spending.

Yes, video games cost money. But the reality of a $60 game is that it’s a one-time purchase (DLC is another matter) and there’s potential for replaying that game. Plus a $60 game gives, on average, 20 hours a play time for a main storyline. That ends up being $3 an hour for gameplay. Some games, like Skyrim you can play forever as side quests continually generate. You can control the difficulty level in many games which means you can start on easy, defeat the game, and then replay it on more difficult settings. Most games encourage completionists with Easter eggs, hidden quests, fetch quests, etc. None of that is present in Danger Arena.

 

The only motivation is the possibility of winning money and winning money isn’t why people play video games (despite the rise in e-sports, the allure of gaming still comes down to beating the game or beating your competitor). I suspect that even online poker fiends wouldn’t be attracted to Danger Arena. Danger Arena misleads with its claim that it’s a “skill based” gambling machine. There is no skill involved. The randomized maps remove any possibility of skill development.

 

It's true that slots aren't skill based. They also don't advertise as being skill based. But by adding the gaming component Danger Arena raises the stress level by making you think that what you do matters to the end result. Slots don't do this. They are low stress. I have a hard time seeing why someone would want to play a more stressful version of video slots. Especially since video slots now have movie clips and stuff for you to watch. Danger Arena is 45 seconds of potential sucking that you paid $5 for.

 

If you spend $60 on Danger Arena, you’ve bought 12 games at 45 seconds each. That’s less than 12 minutes of gameplay in a game that doesn’t allow for improvement, doesn’t allow for success, and doesn’t allow you to control difficulty. No savvy gamer is going to go in on that. Even hardcore perma death gamers aren’t going to be interested in spending that kind of money for so little reward.

 

 

For people who would be attracted to slot games Danger Arena will seem too demanding and too complicated. It will be intimidating to many, including casual gamers. For hardcore games it will appear cheesy and not fun because you can't improve. For those who gamble online, this isn't going to get them into a casino.

 

Now, I could be wrong. Maybe this will take off like gangbusters, but in my experience when someone designs something like this with young people specifically in mind it tends to fail. First, due to cynicism and skepticism on the part of many young people. They know when they're being marketed to and they don't appreciate it. Two, for not fulfilling either of its promises well enough. If you're going to call it a skill based gambling game then let there be a skill element to it.

 

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In the end I just don’t think this is going to be attractive to many. Plus, the promise of just one gambling video game isn’t going to be enough to get people under 45 into a casino. Perhaps if they did tournament style events, but then that would be infringing on e-sport territory.

 

I don't like gambling (except for betting on horses) and I don't like casinos. I do enjoy gaming. This is not enough of an attraction to get me to a casino.

 

ETA: For clarification about skill and fun failing. Currently I'm playing Shadow of Mordor because it's a delightful button masher with a hint of stealth. Plus, it's the type of game you can hop in and out of with ease. It doesn't require marathon sessions.

 

Anyway, when I die in Mordor all the Uruk Captains I've been chasing go up a level. Then they may get promoted or they may win a duel and go up a second level. This means they get harder to beat. But it also means that I can adapt my strategy, learn from my previous errors, and when I take down one of the suckers I did it on my own. The computer didn't do it for me.

 

If I am playing Danger Arena I may win money on a super easy screen. If I win on one screen, I'm tempted to roll my money over and try again. But this time, the screen is nearly impossible and I lose money plus now I'm doubting whether I earned the original money in the first place.

 

While winning money may feel good, it's not a satisfying victory because on some level I know the computer aided me. Just like if I were to play Danger Arena on a super hard level and it takes 6 shots to bring down a robot as opposed to 1 on the easier level or that the target area is 6 times as small as it was on a different screen, I know it's the computer doing the heavy lifting. That's not satisfying, that's frustrating and what's worse is that I cannot improve because the game won't let me.

 

 

Edited by TheLadySpeaks
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The Lady Speaks. . .Wizard World Cruise Update

 

OM pointed me to the Wizard World Cruise Homepage where the following message was posted:

 

Unfortunately, due to multiple talent having new filming schedule conflicts beyond our control, we have been forced to cancel the Wizard World Cruise.

 

Anyone who purchased a cruise package will be automatically refunded in full to the credit card you used to purchase. Refunds will be processed on Wednesday, June 22nd. If you used a prepaid card or gift card to purchase the cruise or your credit card is no longer valid, please contact Rose Tours for your refund (215-663-8800 or 888-491-7673) or email us at jeannie@rosetours.com to make alternative arrangements.

 

It will take approximately 7-10 business days for your refund to appear on your credit card depending on your financial institution.

 

We will also be offering anyone who purchased a cruise package a VIP pass to your local Wizard World Convention. You will still receive your cruise refund in addition to your VIP pass. All guests have been notified how to receive this pass. If you did not receive notification, please call Rose Tours for info on how to receive your pass.

 

We apologize for the cancellation.

 

I suspected months ago that the cruise wouldn't make it. Of course there's no real concrete evidence that it failed for reasons other than the ones they listed above, but recent financial woes certainly had to play into the canceling of the cruise.

 

In early October Wizard fired their Chief Marketing Officer and then slapped him with a $1 million lawsuit. http://www.comicsbeat.com/wizard-world-sues-stephen-shamus-for-1-million-but-who-are-the-10-john-does/ Even earilier in 2016, April as a matter of fact, Wizard's CEO resigned after Wizard posted a $4.3 million loss, cut back to 19 cons (versus 25 from 2015), and sold off its share of ConTV. http://www.nerdandtie.com/2016/04/25/wizard-world-ceo-john-macaluso-resigns/

 

As I wrote months ago, the cruise was going to be wildly expensive with the celebrities they were securing and there weren't many hardcore con fans who would be able to afford it. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9319833#Post9319833

 

 

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What's cooking this week

 

Spawn is improving and the market is responding (and this month's cover was even better)...

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Plus The Lady is cooking up some Gwenpool holiday hate ... gwen_zpsuftemui0.jpg "Wait... wha?!"

 

 

And why this was a good week to be an underground comix fan at the LCS...

 

 

More to come! I gotta go dig my car out of the snow in -18C. *cry*

 

 

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The Lady Speaks. . . Gwenpool Holiday Special: Merry Mix-Up (aka Gwenpool Holiday Sneer)

Gwenpool%20Holiday%20Mixup_zps3mb0wf4q.jpg

(Om- Six dollars for deez nutz!? What. The. Butt?)

 

 

In what seems to be a tradition (if two years in a row counts as tradition) I will be reviewing Marvel’s Gwenpool Holiday Special. The cover lets you know you’ll also be seeing Deadpool, Red Skull, The Punisher, and Spider-Man (Miles Morales version). Just in case that isn’t enough, the first page lays out that you will encounter Gwenpool, the Punisher, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Galactus, Fin Fang Foom, and Red Skull. For some reason this annoys me. Either put it on the cover or put it in the interior page, but why spread it across both and not have the same characters each time? Plus there are ton of other characters who aren’t highlighted on the cover or interior pages such as the Avengers small cameo, Rogue, Squirrel Girl, MODOK, and Thanos. Okay, only Squirrel Girl has a significant role.

 

From a publishing perspective the breaks between the stories aren’t as clean as I would like and it took me a couple of read throughs to figure out that the Spider-Man story was NOT connected to the Fin Fang Foom story.

 

From an enjoyment perspective, I didn’t enjoy this issue at all. Last year there were a couple of sweet moments and the main storyline was friendly. This year there’s a weird fairly aggressive undercurrent \ of political opinion that undermines a lot of the good Marvel has done. I was left feeling like maybe I’m overly sensitive to alt-right attacks or that I’m looking for trouble where there isn’t any. But OM reacted similarly to a few key points in the issue without any prompting from me. I expected goofy irreverent humor similar to last year’s issue. Instead I was left thinking that Marvel is trolling its fans.

 

First of all, Gwenpool is hardly in the issue at all. She appears in one story that is broken up into two parts (but doesn’t actually bookend the issue because Deadpool gets the final story) and she has a really lame cameo in the Spider-Man story. That’s all. And she is once again lamenting missing her family in an alternate universe (Earth TRN565) but it’s not organic. It feels really forced, like an add-on to the story. ALSO, Gwenpool doesn’t really fight ANYone.

 

1. Anyway something has gone off in the world and Gwenpool is hanging out with her friends Batroc, Mega Tony, and Terrible Eye learning about new holidays, including Christmas with Galactus instead of Santa Claus. One is Soulstice Reunion where you’re visited by dead loved ones, e.g. the Red Skull Story. There is a dark passage in here about how it’s not always joyful and that some are visited by “Abusive partners whose death may have provided a relief no one living would ever dare admit out loud.”

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*Needle scratch* Did a comic rated Teen+ just tell the reader that they may be visited in perpetuity by an abusive former partner? Is Marvel gas-lighting domestic violence victims? As in you wished this person dead who abused you so it’s your fault they’ll haunt you forever?

 

 

The other big holiday discussed is Pantsgiving. Pantsgiving is when you give ugly hot pants to your loved ones. Naturally Pantsgiving plays a significant role in the issue, e.g. portions of the Fin Fang Foom & Deadpool stories.

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This story ends with Gwenpool heading out to find Santa because she knows something is wrong with this universe. It’s not the same as it was last year.

 

 

2. Spider-Man’s story is fairly straight forward and has a pretty predictable deux ex machina. He has to battle Fin Fang Foom to protect Christmas. Spider-Ma subdues Foom only to end up facing MODOK, Thanos, and the Red Skull except Galactus shows up to save the day. Spider-Man receives a bunch of gifts from Galactus. This story includes a not-at-all subtle attack on secularism. “The secular world has made a colossal alien with a turning fork hat the face of Christmas, which should tell you all you need to know about the secular world.” And that is why Galactus is being worshipped as Santa Claus? We brought it upon ourselves by not choosing one religion? Galactus is God as well? (Om- Seriously, is this a Secret Wars thing? Didn’t Secret Wars make Dr. Doom a god and Galactus Santa!?)

This story does try to tack on a holiday message about the season being for good will and stuff but then Galactus reminds us it’s also about eating huge meals (Om- wocka wocka!).

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3. Happy Pantsgiving: A shop owner named Ronnie (I’m not familiar with current Marvel universes but she appears to be Big Ronnie, proprietor of a superhero costume shop) summons Fin Fang Foom to work as an advertisement for her clothing store which sees the majority of its business on Pantsgiving. Even weirder, the story ends with the Punisher lecturing us about the true meaning of Pantsgiving, which basically boils down to showing your loved ones you love them enough to wear the ugly pants they buy you. It’s not about consumerism, people, it’s about embarrassing the ones you love through the purchasing of ugly consumer goods. Get it straight! :makepoint:

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I felt the most for Fin Fang Foom who runs back to Ronnie heartbroken that he couldn’t help her. It’s a touching scene until the Punisher shows up to lecture us all.

 

 

4. Instead of a last year’s cute story about the new Ms. Marvel negotiating a Christian holiday as a Muslim, this year we get a story about Red Skull missing Hitler because Hitler “really knew how to cheer me up.”

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It has a Dickensesque scene where Red Skull goes to his Christmas past (with Hitler as the guiding ghost) to watch himself kidnap the Pope. The entire story is a mean- spirited attack on inclusiveness which seems weird for a holiday issue but is in line with the overall tone of the comic. It’s fueled by Red Skull’s anger at the phrase “Hail Hydra” being replaced with “Hail hatred” because the social media arm of the bad guys is trying to not alienate other bad guys. No fewer than three “Go *spoon* yourselves” are dropped. But then there’s the odd exclamation of “What. The. Butt?” which sounds like something Erin from The Office would say.

 

 

5. We finally get back to Gwenpool who is heading to the North Pole using a rewritten holiday song as clues about Santa’s whereabouts. She sees one monster and destroys it. Then she talks to Santa who whines about being tired and how he used his magic to give himself a vacation. Monsters and weird holidays rushed in to fill the void. Santa is less concerned about the havoc he’s wrecked than he is about the other holiday’s being upset with his actions.

 

 

6. Then there is a Deadpool Halloween story involving Squirrel Girl and a random appearance by Rogue (who literally adds nothing to the story). This is the final story in the issue and it’s pretty disappointing. Squirrel Girl is running a Deadpool contest and Deadpool wants to win it. In the meantime Leather Boy tries to kidnap her squirrel and presumably strangle it to death until Deadpool saves the day. There is a bit of discussion regarding the ethics of letting Deadpool enter and win a costume contest based on him but really, this story was a big zero (Om- I liked this story a little better and enjoyed the “deez nuts” joke, but The Lady puts it best below. A shame too, because I enjoyed Chynna Clugston Flores “Blue Monday” for Oni Press).

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Once again Gwenpool wasn’t even in it. I think this story existed solely to get in all the popular catch phrases that have been circulating since the movie.

 

I can’t help but feel that Marvel is showing its politics with this issue and it’s not funny. All the great diversity we’ve seen from Marvel in recent years is being mocked in this issue. Everything from Captain Marvel finally getting pants to Leather Boy’s stereotypical sexuality is a slap to the face. I’m sure many will argue they’re trying to be funny and timely but none of this feels funny or even like a joke gone bad. It feels hostile. Is this what we have to look forward to for with Marvel?

 

I don’t even care about Christmas, so replacing Santa with Galactus doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that Marvel is chastising us for shooting for tolerance. They seem to be embracing the idea that we’ve created our own monsters by trying to be cognizant of other belief systems and that by trying to be inclusive we’re actually handing power to evil beings. That’s not a good message.

 

TL;DR If you’re a Gwenpool fan, she’s not in this one very much and doesn’t really do anything. There’s more Red Skull and Fin Fang Foom in this issue than anything. If you’re looking for holiday cheer, you’ll most likely find holiday sneer.

(Om- If you are the old-schooler that cringes at the inclusivity and diversity of modern comics and want to see some old-school baddies like Fin Fang Foom and Red Skull juxtaposed against popular newbies … Pull out a $10 bill because this is your one read this year (yes, new comics ARE expensive).

 

 

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Very interesting read. I remember being skeptical of the cruise too when I saw it. The demographics don't fit. I love cruising but I could never get my wife to cruise Norwegian. We sailed on it the first time when we were first married and were disappointed with it then. People stayed in the pools all day drinking beers and never got out. So no surprise they had to drain and refill the pools every day. There are better cruise lines than Norwegian for close to the same price (celebrity for example)

 

On the other hand, there might be kids (to me, anyone under 25 is a kid) who would be into the cruise esp with the guests, but kinda of pricey given the up charge in your analysis. Who wants to go on a cruise to see these people? Much easier to go to a ww con

 

The biggest thing about your post for me is what this might say about wizard. Even though their cons are mixed, they are plentiful and often the only ones I can fit on my schedule. So I don't want them to go out of biz

 

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Very interesting read. I remember being skeptical of the cruise too when I saw it. The demographics don't fit. I love cruising but I could never get my wife to cruise Norwegian. We sailed on it the first time when we were first married and were disappointed with it then. People stayed in the pools all day drinking beers and never got out. So no surprise they had to drain and refill the pools every day. There are better cruise lines than Norwegian for close to the same price (celebrity for example)

 

On the other hand, there might be kids (to me, anyone under 25 is a kid) who would be into the cruise esp with the guests, but kinda of pricey given the up charge in your analysis. Who wants to go on a cruise to see these people? Much easier to go to a ww con

 

The biggest thing about your post for me is what this might say about wizard. Even though their cons are mixed, they are plentiful and often the only ones I can fit on my schedule. So I don't want them to go out of biz

 

Ultimately I think WW's attempt to be bigger than SDCC is somewhat backfiring.(And I do believe that is the driving force. In the 90's Wizard was THE name in comic cons and now they've been blown out of the water by SDCC, NYC Comic Con, Dragon Con, and others). I foresee a contraction of some of the smaller markets (I think Madison is probably axed for 2017) and concentrating on larger markets. There's too much competition from local cons. Even in Chicago they are facing serious competition from C2E2 (which we are going to check out this year) which isn't quite a local con.

 

The reliance on big name stars is a double-edged sword for WW and I don't know how they can gracefully strike a balance. WW Chicago fluctuates from year-to-year. 2016 was a great mix but 2015 was heavy on celebs and light on other aspects. 2014 was another celeb-heavy year but 2013 was a nice balance. They need consistency.

 

As for the cruise, that was a ridiculous idea. I have no idea how they thought that was going to work. It was a total demographic misread, despite their protestations that it had to do with the filming schedules of (I'm assuming) Reedus and Hemsworth since no one else was that big of a draw.

 

ETA: WW Madison is currently scheduled for September 22, 23, and 24, 2017 and it seems to be pushing the gaming side of things more heavily. The only celebrity listed thus far is Lou Ferrigno. Other highlights listed so far include a replica of Tow Mater from Cars, a replica of Herbie the Love Bug, Thor the Tribute Impala from Supernatural, and Mach 5 the Speedracer Car.

Edited by TheLadySpeaks
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The Lady Speaks. . .Best of 2016

 

This is a best of list that only serves to highlight what I read, watched, played in 2016 and not actually ranking things that came out in 2016. Some of the things I simply discovered in 2016. Things are ranked from my favorite to my least favorite (which doesn’t mean something is bad, just that it wasn’t as good as other things on the list).

 

Movies (seen in theater):

 

Doctor Strange—This one was a pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed it and thought it was incredibly well done. Gorgeous visuals, solid acting. Easily one of my all-time favorite Marvel movies.

 

Rogue One (This is worth its own post, really)—This was a good, solid movie. But it left me traumatized. I knew what was coming because I’m a Star Wars fan, but I still wasn’t prepared. The third act is magnificent.

 

Captain America: Civil War—My feelings about this movie are the same as they were earlier in the year. Bloated, CGI heavy, waste of a good villain but still a ton of fun with characters you care about.

 

Assassin’s Creed—I think this movie was unfairly panned by the critics. It’s not great, to be sure, but it’s not a bad movie by any stretch. And while I don’t love the way they did the Animus, it makes sense in the context of the movie. I enjoyed it and would love to see a sequel. It had enough of those “Yes!” moments that you get from playing the game to make up for boring exposition. They did squander the gorgeous 15th century scenery by being too true with the smoke, smog, and general haziness.

 

Suicide Squad—I have nothing new to say about this movie.

 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice—I hope Wonder Woman doesn’t suck, but I’m not very optimistic at this point.

 

Purchases of the Year:

X-Men 244 (1st Appearance of Jubilee)

Wimmen’s Comix box set

Big Daddy metal statue

 

Graphic Novels:

Grendel Omnibus 1-3

iZombie 1-4

Massive 1-5

Wicked + Divine 1 & 2

Dragon Age: World of Thedas 1 & 2

Mass Effect Omnibus vol 1

American Born Chinese

Mass Effect Omnibus vol 1

Dresden Files Omnibus vol 1

 

Comic Books:

Munchkin

Assassin’s Creed: Locus

Assassin’s Creed: Templars

Dishonored

Assassin’s Creed

Tank Girl (various titles)

Faith

Jem and the Holograms

Art Ops

The Hunt

 

Video Games (purchased and played in 2016, not necessarily coming out in 2016):

Dragon Age Origin

Dishonored 2

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

Shadow of Mordor

Assassin’s Creed: Unity

Fallout 4

 

Cons of the Year:

WW Madison

WW Chicago

Mighty Con Milwaukee

Burnham Bowl--Don't get me wrong, BB is great but I rarely find anything there anymore. I'm in it for the burgers, mostly.

 

 

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