8/28/2012

Three Points of Interest

1. I'm through with doing Show Notes, at least in their current form. They've clumped together magnetically and turned into a small millstone around my neck; I just don't have time anymore. Sorry to those of you that liked them. I liked them, I think some of my better short-form criticism has been squirreled away in bits and pieces, but - I just can't keep up!

2. Earlier today I made my Comics Alliance debut, through the good graces of Sean Witzke and Matt Seneca, and editor Andy Khouri. It's part of Sean's & Matt's comprehensive reading of DC's 2004-06 Solo anthology, specifically the issue (#8) dealing with Teddy Kristiansen. In case you're curious as to the European stuff Kristiansen's been doing, Image just released an English edition of his 2007 album The Red Diary, with a bonus flip-side alternate localization titled The Re[a]d Diary, in which Steven T. Seagle scripts the comic from simply 'reading' its visual attributes rather than consulting a textual translation. Anyway, thanks to Sean & Matt for having me on board for the discussion.

3. I also did a longform essay the other week, a tricksy thing I'm really happy with. It's a supplemental piece for the gaming webcomic Project: Ballad by Michael Peterson & Kevin Czapiewski, which necessarily (voluntarily!) brushes up against the strip's concerns, though I'll admit I conceived it primarily as a homage to a slightly older thing: the reflective (windy), personal (indulgent), searching (tedious) mid-'00s internet realm of the New Games Journalism -- a term coined, I believe, by also-a-writer-of-comics Kieron Gillen -- specifically invoking the style of infamous scene presence Tim Rogers. *Actually* though, it's an attempt to trace my own critical impulses back to certain traits of my youth, and talk about religion and shit; I think it's the first video game review of 2012 to reference St. Augustine of Hippo. I also hide a Eurocomics review in the middle. Thanks a million to Michael & Kevin for having (tolerating) me!