{"id":11613,"date":"2007-07-28T16:58:04","date_gmt":"2007-07-28T23:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/07\/28\/bt07-the-ridiculous-and-the-sublime-or-is-it-the-other-way-around.html"},"modified":"2007-07-28T16:58:04","modified_gmt":"2007-07-28T23:58:04","slug":"bt07_the_ridiculous_and_t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/28\/bt07_the_ridiculous_and_t.html","title":{"rendered":"BT07 – The Ridiculous and the Sublime … or is it the other way around?"},"content":{"rendered":"

These, perhaps, don’t count as “comics” in the super-heroic DC\/Marvel sense — but what the heck.  Penny Arcade is a damned funny online comic<\/a>, and their recent expansion into print publication of their back issues (complete with copious and amusing notes) has been most welcome.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Penny Arcade: The Warsun Prophecies<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Vol. 3 <\/i>(Dark Horse) [collects 2002]
w. Jerry Holkins; a. Mike Krahulik<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Penny Arcade: Birds are Weird<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Vol. 4 <\/i>(Dark Horse) [collects 2003]
w. Jerry Holkins; a. Mike Krahulik<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Though they focus mostly the video gaming industry, Gabe and Tycho tackle everything from genre movies and TV to comics to pretty much whatever else pops into their heads.  Their sense of humor is something of an acquired taste, bitter in its hilarity, like licking chocolate-covered razor blades.   Even where you don’t understand what a strip is about (even with the commentary), it’s still usually interesting.  Unless you have utterly no knowledge of or interest in video games, you’ll probably find a few chuckles, several winces, and a coughing fit in each of these volumes.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Promethea<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Book 5  <\/i>(ABC) [collects #26-32]
w. Alan Moore; a. J.H. Williams III<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 Moore wraps up his “Apocalyptic Series” with, appropriately, the end of the world, and the unexpected birth of the new one.  As with the entire series, everything is a mix of edgy straight-up adventure, interesting social structure, and utterly bizarro mysticism.  Moore pulls in some of his other ABC heroes, like Tom Strong, which trikes an almost incongruous contrast to the sophistication of the Sophie\/Promethea pairing.  Then things get really weird, before they get kind of normal, until the final issue which … which …<\/p>\n

Dude — that must be most excellent acid.  I’m sure it’s all terribly important and profound, but my head just went all loopy every time to read any of it, so I’ll just nod and say, “Far out.”<\/p>\n

Williams on pencils and paints does a fabulous job.  Mick Gray on inks, Jose Villarrubia and Jeromy Cox on colors, and Todd Klein on design, all deserve a mention for a visually stunning collection.<\/p>\n

I sure hope someone got the message that Moore was trying to get across here, because … well … I didn’t.  But I more or less enjoyed the ride.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(listening to: Webber, Andrew Lloyd & Tim Rice, “What’s the Buzz” from <\/i>Jesus Christ Superstar)<\/small>
(listening to: Backyardigans, “Please and Thank you” from <\/i>The Adventure Begins)<\/small>
(listening to: O’Connor, Sin\u00e9ad, “Why Don’t You Do Right ?” from <\/i>Am I Not Your Girl?)<\/small>
(listening to: Birmingham Symphony, “End title” from <\/i>Henry V)<\/small>
(listening to: Carroll, Edward (Trumpet), William Neil (Organ), Alcock “Voluntary in D – Vivace” from <\/i>For Their Majesties’ Pleasure & Delight)<\/small>
(listening to: Baez, Joan, “The Cherry Tree Carol” from <\/i>Vol. 2)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These, perhaps, don’t count as “comics” in the super-heroic DC\/Marvel sense — but what the heck.  Penny Arcade is a damned funny online comic, and their recent expansion into print…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogathon","category-media-comics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10340,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/02\/14\/media_arcade.html","url_meta":{"origin":11613,"position":0},"title":"Media arcade","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Feb-07 7:15am","format":false,"excerpt":"I love TV news. I love Penny Arcade, too, though for very different reasons. One is an insightful, occasionally outrageous, entertaining, informative part of my day. The other is...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/media-pa.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":37479,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/05\/marvel-marvel-marvel-marvel-heroes-heroes-heroes-heroes.html","url_meta":{"origin":11613,"position":1},"title":"Marvel Marvel Marvel Marvel Heroes Heroes Heroes Heroes","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Jun-13 8:15am","format":false,"excerpt":"We betaed this on multiple occasions. \u00a0I found the crafting process goofy, but, more importantly, it suffered from just this problem.If it were a fabulous game, it could have overcome that. \u00a0It is not, and the money-making possibilities of costume alternatives makes the problem even worse.Reshared post from +Doyce TestermanAs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12464,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/24\/might_as_well_make_me_dec.html","url_meta":{"origin":11613,"position":2},"title":"Might as well make me decide between my children … um, wait …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 24-Apr-08 1:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Eagle Awards fan poll is out for comics this-n-that. For most of the questions, I was amazed by how few name\/titles I recognized (and not just on the British...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51131,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/15\/the-convergence-bump-for-dc-comics.html","url_meta":{"origin":11613,"position":3},"title":"The Convergence bump for DC Comics","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-May-15 3:59pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I've read more DC Comics issues the past few months than I have the previous year. The Convergence event is ... well, damned goofy in its premise, but getting the opportunity to revisit some classic DC heroes and teams has been priceless. Most (though not all) of the titles I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8903,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/03\/27\/super.html","url_meta":{"origin":11613,"position":4},"title":"Super!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 27-Mar-06 1:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The LA Times is (rightly) annoyed by continuing efforts by Marvel and DC to lock down the term \"super hero\" with a trademark. Tickets to the California Science Center's latest...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15373,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-o-is-for-observed-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":11613,"position":5},"title":"BT09 – O is for Observed (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 8:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"First off, a hearty thanks to all my donors. With my latest sponsorship, I'm now at $616 for the Denver Dumb Friends League. I feel great that I've been able to gather so much support for them -- again, my deepest thanks. \u00a0 The Order, Vol. 1, \"The Next Right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11613\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}