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| The Militarization of Officer Joe |
Go to: MAD Magazine, by Desmond Devlin (via Kevin Melrose)
The militarised response to protests over the police killing of unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri has provoked outrage among many in the comics community. Brett Shenker collects a sampling of their tweets.
On the other hand, Casey Johnston notes how Facebook's tendency to filter for uncontroversial feel-good content makes it more difficult to discover Ferguson-related posts.
Everyone else is linking to this Jon Kudelka cartoon.
Mike Dawson muses on the Kajieme Powell police shooting.
Sean Howe's profile of Frank Miller, who's currently in the spotlight for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, is the best comics-centric summary of his career so far. His portrait of the man paints the rise, fall, and possible redemption of one of the industry's most influential, not to mention outspoken, figures from the last 30 years.
According to Alan David Doane, the accompanying photos taken by Richard Burbridge have generated speculation about Miller's health. Bill Sienkiewicz quashes the rumours. I really admire how Miller has successfully retained his firebrand persona. It's something that animates everything he draws. But my one takeaway from these articles is how much he's weathered as a person and as an artist. 9/11 galvanised Miller in a thoroughly unpleasant way. His divisive rant on the Occupy Wall Street movement exhibits no empathy towards the concerns of people half his age. And that's a little disheartening for even a curmudgeon like me.
Milo Manara's alternate cover to Spider-Woman #1 has sparked outrage for its suggestive pose, dredging up the usual issues of female representation and the industry's systematic failure to attract a larger female audience. Manara's own confused response did him no favours by ranging from the "women are naturally sexy" excuse to mentioning Ferguson, the current Ebola crisis, and Islamic fundamentalism. Meanwhile Tom Brevoort defends the publication of the cover. Tom Spurgeon and Amy Reeder each give a more nuanced response.
The marriage of Manara's sensibilities to American superheroes is actually rather atypical. The resulting image is erotic, but in a freakish rather than a seductive way. I'm not sure if I like it. But if Manara was trying to emphasise the inherent weirdness of superheroes, I think he might have succeeded.
Yale Stewart has put his webcomic JL8 on hiatus after admitting to sending unsolicited photos (NSFW) of himself fondling his privates to two women with whom he was involved. Before that, Stewart was threatened over the phone. He has since apologised for his gross behaviour.
What's interesting is the indirect manner in which the social media firestorm arose in the first place. Ulises Farinas initially accused Stewart of cynically capitalising on tragic events as a means to self-promotion, most recently the selling of his Ferguson desktop wallpaper. This prompted references to the existence of various "dick pics." Now, sending erotically-tinged messages isn't odd in this day and age, but the practice turns ugly when its unasked for. Stewart's actions can't be condoned, but neither should the making of threatening phone calls. Turns out the Web is still a very clumsy tool when wielded as a means to mete out justice. Who'd have thunk?
Only Stewart knows what was on his mind when he fashioned the Ferguson wallpaper, so I'll give him the benefit of doubt. But given the circumstances, employing the military-style Green Lantern Corps to call for unity might not have been the best choice.
Chris Sims on the splendid mess that is "Crisis on Infinite Earths." Even I could tell back then that the motive behind the series was editorial's desire to mold its diverse properties into a much more homogeneous unit. In retrospect, that it didn't succeed wasn't all that surprising. Not that it stops DC from continuing to shoehorn Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman into the same milieu.
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