Halloween 2006: Rise of the Machines
Here's a scan of the defective part that nearly caused me to scrap my entire computer system last Tuesday (click on it for a larger version). This is (was) a USB 2.0 PCI-slot card that connected my scanner, digital camera and iPod to my computer.Apparently at some point, this thing burned out - literally - and rather than my system just tell me "Hey, I can't see your scanner, camera or iPod anymore", it would simply freeze on start up as it couldn't initialize the card and give me one of three or four different error messages related to the Motherboard.
Luckily, I was able to figure this out after talking with Dell tech support in India for several hours. I was this close to transferring all of my backup data to my MacBook and working off of that until a new desktop could be delivered from Dell in 10 to 14 days.
The new USB 2.0 card I put in my computer came from CompUSA and cost $35. The one that nearly destroyed my livelihood and may or may not have burned my house down I got off of eBay for $12. Moral of the story? You tell me.
The High Horse I Rode In On
Newsarama posted these preview pages from New Avengers #26. These were painted by Alex Maleev and they really struck me. There's a big to-do about kids in the US forsaking Marvel and DC's traditional super-hero fare for Manga. Maybe that's what happens when a culture invents an art form and the publishers/suits beat the dead horse long after it left the Alpo plant because they're so terrified of creative risk.These pages are a huge step in the right direction for giving American comics more of a unique vision and voice without borrowing so heavily from Asian culture. I hope we see more like them.
8 Comments:
Nice colors and composition. The art nouveau touch and the rectanglism reminds me of Gustav Klimt. And BTW to borrow stylistic elements from modernistic painters is a common technique in certain manga and anime, even mainstream anime, e.g. Samurai Shamploo (van Gogh) or Elfen Lied (Klimt). I respect japanese culture a lot, I find them a very artistic people. Ever seen a shodo (=japanese calligraphy) competition or visited an oekaki site?
The second one definitely drew inspiration from Gustav Klimt's The Kiss. This style also reminds me of David Mack's work. If you haven’t, I recommend picking up Kabuki (1994).
You're right about the Manga threat though. The problem with having an industry making up half of all the written material in Japan is there's going to be a lot of crap. I believe yes DC and Marvel are losing their younger audiences but once you reach a certain age you drift back to comics, more specifically of the independent variety.
As a computer tech, USB sucks ass. When it works, it's pretty cool but running both power and data through the same bus really leads to lots of problems. That and the problem that Windows seems to really hate USB.
As far as comics go, I lost interest in them when I got to high school. Was only when I stumbled across UF, back in '98, that I realize how cool comics are. What's really cool is that the web allows so many styles (and skill levels) to shine.
For me, getting into manga was simply because I could start at the beginning of a story and sometimes even get to the end, whereas there are so many comics that have gone on for so long in DC and Marvel that I honestly just feel lost. And being a full-time student, I really don't have much time to read anything other than comics to begin with, so honestly, I'm just oversimplifying it for myself.
I guess if maybe DC or Marvel could find something new to create and not at such a high volume (crossovers and alternate universes after the third comic and all that junk), I could get into it, but I'd really rather take it easy with reading a comic. I mean, I hate waiting for the next volume of this or that manga to come out, but the wait doesn't make the whole thing so hectic.
Both of those are refreshing. For some reason, they infuse me with a hope that I won't die alone in a studio apartment on Nob Hill with 40 robo-cats sometime in the future
Very very similar artwork to Slaine: The Horned God, art by Simon Bisley.
Both artists probably huffing the klimt!
Brilliant wrap up! "The blood portal...in the store room."
I was on the floor, literally rolling around.
I've worked in a few cafe's before, not a Starbucks but close enough. This comic tickles me.
I stopped reading comics in high school because of the "new" style. Since I grew up collecting the 'classic' x-men comics the change in art seemed more like it was mocking the readers and the characters than it was enhancing the storyline. After all, there's nothing like opening a comic to see a character that looks so much like the character in my kid sister's 'learn to read' kindergarten books. It's nice to see a return to the traditional styles.
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