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bigredrobot:

My long-standing, one-sided feud with Neail Gaiman and his twee-goth masterpiece Sandman, are well-documented, so I won’t go into it here, but Sandman is, basically, the Radiohead of comics.

Also, anything Geoff Johns has ever done. I just don’t relate to it in any fashion whatsoever. It might have something to do with having not read a non-Frank Miller-written DC comic until I was well into my 20s, or it might be just that I’m too big of a snob, but I do not get the guy’s appeal in the least. Same with the other “Weird Jeff,” Jeph Loeb. I mean, people swear by Long Halloween and (ugh) Hush, but you literally could not pay me to read either of those.

I think Garth Ennis is overrated. I mean, bless you if you like his stuff, but I tried and … nope. It’s not for me. Hitman is okay, I guess, but I read the first two trades and didn’t feel any sort of burning desire to see the thing through to the end.

I’m also not really on the “white cartoonist bemoans his life” train, ie. indie sacred cows Chris Ware and Dan Clowes. Their styles are fantastic, but it’s in service of some dull bullshit that doesn’t interest me in the least. Same with Seth, though Wimbledon Green is some A++ stuff. (I haven’t read the sequel, The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists, but it’s on my Wish List.)

Come to think of it, Kevin Huizenga’s really the only cartoonist doing that sort of thing that is at all interesting. And he’s not really doing autobio stuff so much as magical realist, quasi-autobio stories. Anders Nielsen’s in the same boat, I guess, but some of his stuff is a little too up its own ass.

This just in: Dylan hates everything. I approve.

2014’s been a weird year, so part of me is just happy with being on an even keel at this point, to be honest. (That sounds really depressing, but it’s not meant to be.) But it’s the fall, which I love – I’m very happy when the days get colder and the trees turn new colors before they fall apart. Fall also means I start baking more, and the experimentation with sugars and chocolate and oats to make the ideal cookies is exciting in a truly nerdy way (75% dark brown sugar, 25% pure cane sugar, leave the dough in the fridge overnight – makes the cookies chewier).

What else? Looking for Moondog albums on vinyl. WGN’s Manhattan, which isn’t exactly “happy,” but is very good. The prospect that a new issue of Ganges might be on the horizon. Falling back in love with the Mirah album from earlier this year. Stuffs like that, I guess – and spending more time with Kate, the dogs, and friends.

Oh! Something that’s made me excited and happy recently, that’s been odd but wonderful: there was a week recently where I found myself looking after a few dogs in the neighborhood during the day because their owners were otherwise engaged. It wasn’t a big deal, but meant that every day at lunch, I’d go and visit these three dogs who’d be so ridiculously happy to see me, and we’d hang out. That was pretty great.

(Seriously, baking, listening to good music and hanging out with dogs while it’s autumnal and dark outside: That’s pretty much my definition of an ideal day. Just add in some good reading and I’m all set.)

I’m kind of impressed by the way that the interesting – to me, at least – announcements from Marvel at NYCC (Kathryn Immonen and Rich Ellis doing a Peggy Carter series! Getting Nicole Perlman to do comics!) have been overshadowed if not entirely drowned out by the “bigger” announcements, which seem almost comically regressive and conservative. The latter things are what’s going to make them all their money, of course, but I do wish that they’d announced less at the show to give some of the other announcements some room to breathe.

Which is to say, it’s probably a combination of a) and c), but we both know that so many people are going to buy Secret Wars and all its related projects that Marvel definitely hasn’t lost its mind.

Wolverines is still an absolutely nutzo idea, though.

I’m… cautiously excited? I enjoyed the show a bunch when it was on, but there’s a lot about the idea of Frost and Lynch returning 25 years later that makes me very nervous, not least of which is the fact that it’s 25 years later. I’m already bracing myself for the televisual version of “Free As A Bird,” to be honest.

Earlier today, I wondered how viable it would be to curate a daily podcast feed about culture that, every morning, would release a short episode by different people touching on a particular news story/anniversary/event. Like, one day, it’s rachelandmiles talking about rumors about the new X-Men movie, the next it’s dynamofire about some music that I’ve never heard of because I’m old, and so on and so on.

The answer is, of course, “not viable at all,” because I’d want those people to be paid for what they did and ha ha ha I’m not a media mogul. And yet, there’s something about the idea that sticks with me and, I suspect, will continue to do so for awhile.