The boys sounds similar to Powers and similar comics
I always wanted to read a superhero comic where the hero discovers his super strength, and goes to stop a robbery or something, head full of hero mythology. But of course when he punches the guy in the head, it doesn't knock him out or across the room - it obliterate his entire face in a gory mess.
Basically dealing with the real consequences of being incredibly strong.
Remember that guy who wanted video games to be incredibly gory all the time, like if you jumped off a too tall building instead of going 'oof' and your health bar going down a little, he wanted your leg to splinter and the bone to be visible and...
What I'm saying is sometimes fantasy mediums should retain some element of fantasy. :P
If you want fantasy you can read every other comic about superheroes, though. Exploring the boundaries of those fantasies, and their intersection with reality - the psychology of power, the real effects of fantastical abilities - is a lot more interesting once you've read plenty of the generic fantasies.
this is pretty much what the Boys is, what you are describing here.
There are some good ones here and there, but it's rare to see one that's really brilliant
I find there are more webcomics doing interesting graphical narrative stuff than print comic books
what enormous ignorance!
shock!
dismay!
what are some contemporary print comic books that you would say are worth reading
the boys
Tell me about the boys
I don't think you'd like it, from what I know of it.
What makes you say that? It sounds interesting.
A lot of good comics with interesting takes on the mythology get too caught up in their own storylines and lose the thematic thread, though, or can't avoid falling back into comic superhero mode.
Evil Multifarious on
0
BobCescaIs a girlBirmingham, UKRegistered Userregular
edited December 2010
Hmm. My back is still sore after it got jolted when the bus went into the back of someone yesterday. japan is suggesting maybe doing a personal injury claim. I'm not entirely sure about this...
The boys sounds similar to Powers and similar comics
I always wanted to read a superhero comic where the hero discovers his super strength, and goes to stop a robbery or something, head full of hero mythology. But of course when he punches the guy in the head, it doesn't knock him out or across the room - it obliterate his entire face in a gory mess.
Basically dealing with the real consequences of being incredibly strong.
Remember that guy who wanted video games to be incredibly gory all the time, like if you jumped off a too tall building instead of going 'oof' and your health bar going down a little, he wanted your leg to splinter and the bone to be visible and...
What I'm saying is sometimes fantasy mediums should retain some element of fantasy. :P
If you want fantasy you can read every other comic about superheroes, though. Exploring the boundaries of those fantasies, and their intersection with reality - the psychology of power, the real effects of fantastical abilities - is a lot more interesting once you've read plenty of the generic fantasies.
this is pretty much what the Boys is, what you are describing here.
Well, that and a fuckton of degrading sex. I like the general themes of The Boys, I just wish Garth Ennis didn't go to the same well so often.
the conclusion that The Boys ultimately falls on is: Super-heroes are bad. It's a bad idea for random people with incredible godlike powers to be running around fighting crime and shit. They aren't cops or soldiers or anyone trained or qualified to do those things, their super-powers do not automatically psychologically equip them to deal with the sort of world they enter.
But they enter it anyway, because of the glamor and the prestige and a misguided sense of "power and responsibility", at least for the good ones. Some are just fucking assholes who happened to luck out and now have super-powers.
Most super-hero comics posit that whenever a sociopath or selfish cocksucker ends up with super-powers, they'll don a mask, give themselves a clearly evil name like "Doctor Malicious", and start robbing banks.
The Boys states the idea that actually, those people would be far more likely to become super-heroes, given that heroes get all the glory and the prestige and love of the public and basically everyone loves the good guys and they always win.
But, that doesn't actually make them good people. In fact, that sort of mentality eventually detaches you from mundane humanity and you start to go bonkers and pursue greater heights of boundary-pushing, because normal life just doesn't cut it for you anymore.
Eh, the whole "let's deconstruct superheroes and show how they'd all be horrible, dysfunctional, abusive scumbags in real life" trope has been done for at least the past 20 years, so at this point I doubt there's much new insight to be gleaned from yet another tilt at the superhero windmill.
You can't hint at juicy gossip. Either share it, or stop teasing us. This is not a burlesque show.
[chat] may remember that I was a bit indiscreet in my reaction to discovering my dad's contact info a while back. (Haven't talked to him since I was a teenager. Kind of thought he might be dead.)
As a result of that if you plug my dad's name in to google the first thing that pops up now is me going, "HOLY CRAP!"
Which does kind of screw my anonymity here... but whatever. I'm a relatively boring [chat]er.
Anywho... another family member (one I've never spoken with directly actually...) may have tracked ME down as a result. Need to confirm he's for real... but if so, very cool.
I need to read more, it's just so expensive to get into a graphic novel series and I have a hard time reading light fluffy stuff while working on a Professional Writing degree.
Eh, the whole "let's deconstruct superheroes and show how they'd all be horrible, dysfunctional, abusive scumbags in real life" trope has been done for at least the past 20 years, so at this point I doubt there's much new insight to be gleaned from yet another tilt at the superhero windmill.
We're more in line for a wrap-around to the norm. The world sucks just enough now for it to be popular.
What I'm saying is: show Iron Man beating down Ben Bernanke and everyone would be happy.
Eh, the whole "let's deconstruct superheroes and show how they'd all be horrible, dysfunctional, abusive scumbags in real life" trope has been done for at least the past 20 years, so at this point I doubt there's much new insight to be gleaned from yet another tilt at the superhero windmill.
Seriously. They also usually just do it to such an absurd degree that it becomes just as unrealistic as the shit they are supposedly unbuilding.
Eh, the whole "let's deconstruct superheroes and show how they'd all be horrible, dysfunctional, abusive scumbags in real life" trope has been done for at least the past 20 years, so at this point I doubt there's much new insight to be gleaned from yet another tilt at the superhero windmill.
uh
done by who, Lawndart?
Alan Moore is really the only person I can think of who has done that, via Watchmen
sure, super-hero comic books went through a hilariousy "dark" period in the 1980's and 90's (well, the 90's was more XTREME than dark but whatever) where super-heroes became gun-toting mercenaries with Oedipus complexes and shit
but there was no self-aware commentary there, just an irrelevant industry that was trying to modernize itself and doing badly
you might think that this is something that has been done to death for decades but I think that's just you wishing it was
I need to read more, it's just so expensive to get into a graphic novel series and I have a hard time reading light fluffy stuff while working on a Professional Writing degree.
You will end up writing user manuals for "Accounting Pro 3000".
I'm starting to wonder if one of our new PhD students might be a little slow.
Just one?
Yeah, excluding the guy who I am pretty sure couldn't read, generally you kind of accept that everybody is good at science.
The new simulation guy just seems waaay below the baseline. And yet his constant confusion about even the most mundane things seem to really fit with him becoming some old, doddering professor.
Your title automatically denigrates your ability to pass judgement on scientists.
No, I'm just a hypocrite.
This statement does not stand in contradiction with mine. ARE YOU GOOD AT NOTHING?
I need to read more, it's just so expensive to get into a graphic novel series and I have a hard time reading light fluffy stuff while working on a Professional Writing degree.
You will end up writing user manuals for "Accounting Pro 3000".
I need to read more, it's just so expensive to get into a graphic novel series and I have a hard time reading light fluffy stuff while working on a Professional Writing degree.
You will end up writing user manuals for "Accounting Pro 3000".
There is absolutely no shame in that. Technical writing pays like a motherfucker. I have no delusions of writing stuff I want to write full time immediately out of school, or maybe ever. I'm just getting the degree because it opens up new possibilities for me job-wise, and then I'll get something that supports myself and write in my off-hours.
I need to read more, it's just so expensive to get into a graphic novel series and I have a hard time reading light fluffy stuff while working on a Professional Writing degree.
You will end up writing user manuals for "Accounting Pro 3000".
There is absolutely no shame in that. Technical writing pays like a motherfucker. I have no delusions of writing stuff I want to write full time immediately out of school, or maybe ever. I'm just getting the degree because it opens up new possibilities for me job-wise, and then I'll get something that supports myself and write in my off-hours.
Also, good user manuals are hard to come by. So like, try not to suck at it.
there's actually very little in the way of comic books that actively try to analyse and take apart super-hero mythology and concepts
there's a lot of "gritty" and "dark" comic books out there that might make the claim they're trying to do some higher level deconstruction of the genre, but really they just end up being an extreme example of the same bullshit.
Eh, the whole "let's deconstruct superheroes and show how they'd all be horrible, dysfunctional, abusive scumbags in real life" trope has been done for at least the past 20 years, so at this point I doubt there's much new insight to be gleaned from yet another tilt at the superhero windmill.
You may have also heard that suburbia is not as tranquil and wholesome as it seems...
I need to read more, it's just so expensive to get into a graphic novel series and I have a hard time reading light fluffy stuff while working on a Professional Writing degree.
You will end up writing user manuals for "Accounting Pro 3000".
There is absolutely no shame in that. Technical writing pays like a motherfucker. I have no delusions of writing stuff I want to write full time immediately out of school, or maybe ever. I'm just getting the degree because it opens up new possibilities for me job-wise, and then I'll get something that supports myself and write in my off-hours.
Slip paragraphs of slash-fics into 1500 page technical manuals just to keep em on their toes
I need to read more, it's just so expensive to get into a graphic novel series and I have a hard time reading light fluffy stuff while working on a Professional Writing degree.
You will end up writing user manuals for "Accounting Pro 3000".
There is absolutely no shame in that. Technical writing pays like a motherfucker. I have no delusions of writing stuff I want to write full time immediately out of school, or maybe ever. I'm just getting the degree because it opens up new possibilities for me job-wise, and then I'll get something that supports myself and write in my off-hours.
Also, good user manuals are hard to come by. So like, try not to suck at it.
Chapter One: fuck alla y'all, this shit's for nerds
Dread Pirate Arbuthnot on
0
DynagripBreak me a million heartsHoustonRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I don't think you'd like it, from what I know of it.
What makes you say that? It sounds interesting.
A lot of good comics with interesting takes on the mythology get too caught up in their own storylines and lose the thematic thread, though, or can't avoid falling back into comic superhero mode.
I have put you into a box and The Boys does not fit into that box.
Man, everyone in Questionable Content just shits on Faye constantly. If I were her, I would have strangled Dora to death and then framed Marten for it.
Dread Pirate Arbuthnot on
0
BobCescaIs a girlBirmingham, UKRegistered Userregular
I need to read more, it's just so expensive to get into a graphic novel series and I have a hard time reading light fluffy stuff while working on a Professional Writing degree.
You will end up writing user manuals for "Accounting Pro 3000".
There is absolutely no shame in that. Technical writing pays like a motherfucker. I have no delusions of writing stuff I want to write full time immediately out of school, or maybe ever. I'm just getting the degree because it opens up new possibilities for me job-wise, and then I'll get something that supports myself and write in my off-hours.
Also, good user manuals are hard to come by. So like, try not to suck at it.
Chapter One: fuck alla y'all, this shit's for nerds
I remember a buddy of mine complaining about "the old cliche of a super-hero having an illicit affair with their teenage sidekick" and how it's so lame and overdone
and i asked him to name an example of that actually happening in comic books, and not just in the minds of fanfic writers or parodies of comic books
he thought about it
only to realize actually it's not really a cliche at all because even though it seems like a totally obvious story to tell, it really hasn't been told that much if ever
I remember a buddy of mine complaining about "the old cliche of a super-hero having an illicit affair with their teenage sidekick" and how it's so lame and overdone
and i asked him to name an example of that actually happening in comic books, and not just in the minds of fanfic writers or parodies of comic books
he thought about it
only to realize actually it's not really a cliche at all because even though it seems like a totally obvious story to tell, it really hasn't been told that much if ever
Eh, the whole "let's deconstruct superheroes and show how they'd all be horrible, dysfunctional, abusive scumbags in real life" trope has been done for at least the past 20 years, so at this point I doubt there's much new insight to be gleaned from yet another tilt at the superhero windmill.
uh
done by who, Lawndart?
Alan Moore is really the only person I can think of who has done that, via Watchmen
sure, super-hero comic books went through a hilariousy "dark" period in the 1980's and 90's (well, the 90's was more XTREME than dark but whatever) where super-heroes became gun-toting mercenaries with Oedipus complexes and shit
but there was no self-aware commentary there, just an irrelevant industry that was trying to modernize itself and doing badly
you might think that this is something that has been done to death for decades but I think that's just you wishing it was
it really hasn't
Watchmen is the big one, but Rick Veitch was deconstructing superhero tropes back in the early '90s.
Eh, the whole "let's deconstruct superheroes and show how they'd all be horrible, dysfunctional, abusive scumbags in real life" trope has been done for at least the past 20 years, so at this point I doubt there's much new insight to be gleaned from yet another tilt at the superhero windmill.
uh
done by who, Lawndart?
Alan Moore is really the only person I can think of who has done that, via Watchmen
sure, super-hero comic books went through a hilariousy "dark" period in the 1980's and 90's (well, the 90's was more XTREME than dark but whatever) where super-heroes became gun-toting mercenaries with Oedipus complexes and shit
but there was no self-aware commentary there, just an irrelevant industry that was trying to modernize itself and doing badly
you might think that this is something that has been done to death for decades but I think that's just you wishing it was
it really hasn't
There's really only three people doing it, Ennis, Millar, and Moore.
I need to read more, it's just so expensive to get into a graphic novel series and I have a hard time reading light fluffy stuff while working on a Professional Writing degree.
You will end up writing user manuals for "Accounting Pro 3000".
There is absolutely no shame in that. Technical writing pays like a motherfucker. I have no delusions of writing stuff I want to write full time immediately out of school, or maybe ever. I'm just getting the degree because it opens up new possibilities for me job-wise, and then I'll get something that supports myself and write in my off-hours.
Also, good user manuals are hard to come by. So like, try not to suck at it.
Chapter One: fuck alla y'all, this shit's for nerds
tell us about debits and credits cass!
Well, credit cards are basically free money, so max that shit out.
Posts
this is pretty much what the Boys is, what you are describing here.
That was from the heart galahad, I LOVE YOU!
pleasepaypreacher.net
i rocket jump to and from everyone and every thing
i killed a mage with howling blast in the air and rocket jumped to avoid fall damage
it was pro
Now send me your bank details. So I can give you my love.
What makes you say that? It sounds interesting.
A lot of good comics with interesting takes on the mythology get too caught up in their own storylines and lose the thematic thread, though, or can't avoid falling back into comic superhero mode.
Well, that and a fuckton of degrading sex. I like the general themes of The Boys, I just wish Garth Ennis didn't go to the same well so often.
Have you done the goblin flex yet? You have to!
pleasepaypreacher.net
But they enter it anyway, because of the glamor and the prestige and a misguided sense of "power and responsibility", at least for the good ones. Some are just fucking assholes who happened to luck out and now have super-powers.
Most super-hero comics posit that whenever a sociopath or selfish cocksucker ends up with super-powers, they'll don a mask, give themselves a clearly evil name like "Doctor Malicious", and start robbing banks.
The Boys states the idea that actually, those people would be far more likely to become super-heroes, given that heroes get all the glory and the prestige and love of the public and basically everyone loves the good guys and they always win.
But, that doesn't actually make them good people. In fact, that sort of mentality eventually detaches you from mundane humanity and you start to go bonkers and pursue greater heights of boundary-pushing, because normal life just doesn't cut it for you anymore.
[chat] may remember that I was a bit indiscreet in my reaction to discovering my dad's contact info a while back. (Haven't talked to him since I was a teenager. Kind of thought he might be dead.)
As a result of that if you plug my dad's name in to google the first thing that pops up now is me going, "HOLY CRAP!"
Which does kind of screw my anonymity here... but whatever. I'm a relatively boring [chat]er.
Anywho... another family member (one I've never spoken with directly actually...) may have tracked ME down as a result. Need to confirm he's for real... but if so, very cool.
We're more in line for a wrap-around to the norm. The world sucks just enough now for it to be popular.
What I'm saying is: show Iron Man beating down Ben Bernanke and everyone would be happy.
Seriously. They also usually just do it to such an absurd degree that it becomes just as unrealistic as the shit they are supposedly unbuilding.
I just like the HBK aspect, but yeah the wink is nice.
pleasepaypreacher.net
uh
done by who, Lawndart?
Alan Moore is really the only person I can think of who has done that, via Watchmen
sure, super-hero comic books went through a hilariousy "dark" period in the 1980's and 90's (well, the 90's was more XTREME than dark but whatever) where super-heroes became gun-toting mercenaries with Oedipus complexes and shit
but there was no self-aware commentary there, just an irrelevant industry that was trying to modernize itself and doing badly
you might think that this is something that has been done to death for decades but I think that's just you wishing it was
it really hasn't
You will end up writing user manuals for "Accounting Pro 3000".
FOR THE EMPRAH
Mojo_Jojo: Failed everything.
OH GOD FINALLY A NEW VERSION
There is absolutely no shame in that. Technical writing pays like a motherfucker. I have no delusions of writing stuff I want to write full time immediately out of school, or maybe ever. I'm just getting the degree because it opens up new possibilities for me job-wise, and then I'll get something that supports myself and write in my off-hours.
Also, good user manuals are hard to come by. So like, try not to suck at it.
there's a lot of "gritty" and "dark" comic books out there that might make the claim they're trying to do some higher level deconstruction of the genre, but really they just end up being an extreme example of the same bullshit.
see: All Punisher books ever written.
You may have also heard that suburbia is not as tranquil and wholesome as it seems...
Slip paragraphs of slash-fics into 1500 page technical manuals just to keep em on their toes
Chapter One: fuck alla y'all, this shit's for nerds
there's a lot of ideas, notions, stories that people assume are cliche or overdone or been going on for years and years
because they're not hard ideas to think of, and it seems obvious that someone would've done them already, right?
surprisingly that's not often the case.
yeah. he does. it just feels a bit stupid.
Dunno. If it's still sore tomorrow I'm gonna head to the doctors to get it documented anyway.
and i asked him to name an example of that actually happening in comic books, and not just in the minds of fanfic writers or parodies of comic books
he thought about it
only to realize actually it's not really a cliche at all because even though it seems like a totally obvious story to tell, it really hasn't been told that much if ever
Watchmen is the big one, but Rick Veitch was deconstructing superhero tropes back in the early '90s.
so fucked
in all of our games
gonna be raped by the undead from here till ragnarok
There's really only three people doing it, Ennis, Millar, and Moore.
The rest are 90's stereotypes
Well, credit cards are basically free money, so max that shit out.